COLLECTIVE MADNESS



Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."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.

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Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 13034916:00 After Karnataka polls, Deve Gowda's dynastic and distrusted party could be kingmaker

In the absence of a clear trend in favour of either the ruling Congress or the principal opposition BJP in the run-up to the Karnataka assembly elections, the third player, HD Deve Gowdas Janata Dal (Secular), is hoping for a fractured mandate where it could emerge the kingmaker,

like it did in 2004.

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, however, insists that his party will be the king, though he fails to convincingly explain how the magical figure of 113 seats in the 224-member assembly will be achieved. A recent survey by research agency Cfore has predicted that JD(S) tally will actually fall from the present 40 seats to 27.

Read the full story by M Gautham Machaiah here.

13:07 BJP to announced list of 108 candidates soon, Congress by April 14

BJP will be announcing its first list of 108 candidates for the Assembly polls soon. Congress, on the other hand is expected to release its list of all 224 candidates by April 14, according to News18.

09:35 Lingayat issue: MHA steers clear, says minority affairs ministry to take a call

The Ministry of Home Affairs today virtually washed its hands of the issue of granting religious minority status for the Lingayat and Veerashaiva Lingayat community in Karnataka saying the issue is beyond its jurisdiction and the Ministry of Minorities Affairs would look into it.

An MHA spokesperson also said a decision on the issue is not expected anytime soon as the model code of conduct has been in force in Karnataka, where Assembly election is due next month.

The ministry has received a communication from the Karnataka government recommending grant of religious minority status for the numerically strong community.

"However, the subjection is beyond the jurisdiction of the MHA and hence forwarded to the Ministry of the Minorities Affairs, which is the competent authority to take a decision on it," the spokesperson told reporters here.

Asked whether the MHA has given any opinion on the recommendation of the Karnataka government before forwarding it to the Ministry of the Minorities Affairs, the spokesperson said the question does not arise as it was not an issue to be examined by the MHA. (PTI)

07:40 Kannada outfits call for Karnataka bandh on April 12 over Cauvery row

Pro-Kannada outfits today called for a bandh in poll-bound Karnataka on April 12 in a counter to the ongoing stir in neighbouring Tamil Nadu for an early setting up of the Centre to form Cauvery Management Board (CMB).

The Karnataka bandh call came amid the DMK-led opposition parties observing a state-wide shutdown in Tamil Nadu on Monday, demanding early setting up of CMB to ensure water for farmers as per the Supreme Court orders.

Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami, his deputy O Panneerselvam and other AIADMK leaders had also observed a day-long fast in Chennai on Monday seeking formation of CMB. (PTI)

16:06 Congress deploys cabinet ministers and partys state-level working president to counter BJPs claims

CM Siddaramaiah and party General Secretary KC Venugopal have deployed two cabinet ministers and the party state unit working president, in a bid to factually counter to claims on finances and politics by the BJP, according to a report by The Economic Times.

Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and state working president Dinesh Gundu Rao have been addressing press conferences and quickly responding to BJPs claims.

14:22 A state-wide survey conducted by the Association for Democratic Reforms and Daksh reveals that the much-hyped Indira Canteen Scheme - food joints opened in the cities of Karnataka to serve extremely economical (read: subsidised) food - has not been perceived by the public as intended.

The scheme was started following the success of Amma Canteen in Tamil Nadu. The Indira Canteens served over one crore meals within the first two-and-a-half month in Bengaluru.

Read the full data story here.

12:30 Congress to release 35 separate manifestos: M Veerappa Moily

Congress party will be issuing 35 separate manifestos for the assembly election. M Veerappa Moily, who is heading the drafting committee has said that the party was preparing manifestos for the 30 districts of Karnataka, one for the states four regions and one for the entire state, according to a report by Business Standard.

The manifestos will be released in mid-April, possibly by party president Rahul Gandhi and the CM Siddaramaiah.

M Veerappa Moily has served as the state's CM froom 1992 to 1994.

10:25 Siddaramaiah carrying lemon during campaign is "hypocrisy": BJP

BJP, on Wednesday accused Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of 'hypocrisy' for campaigning with a lemon in hand, but "antagonising" people by bringing in Anti-Superstitions Bill to "demean and criminalise" Hindu traditions.

"Campaigns with a lemon in hand, but brings in Anti-Superstitions Bill to demean and criminalise Hindu traditions. Hypocrisy thy name is @siddaramaiah," Karnataka BJP said in a tweet. BJP also posted a photograph showing Siddaramaiah campaigning with a lemon in hand.

The party also mocked Siddaramaiah by asking him to take classes from the "brilliant mathematician" and AICC convenor Priyanka Chaturvedi for claiming low attendance at Amit Shah's rallies in Karnataka. (PTI)

09:39 RSS men sitting in every ministry and giving orders, alleges Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi today accused the Narendra Modi government of "disrespecting" and "demolishing" various institutions by having RSS men "sitting in every ministry and giving orders."

On the fifth lap of his tour of election-bound Karnataka, Gandhi said if voted to power, the Congress would free these institutions from the RSS control.

"I don't know if you all know that in every single minister's office, there is an RSS man sitting and giving orders. So what can you expect.... nothing but disrespecting the institutions. The banking system of the country has been demolished by having this structure," he said. (PTI)

08:31 Election Commission in Karnataka to review poll-preparedness

Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat, who is on a three-day visit to the poll-bound state, to check election-preparedness, released a booklet as part of voters' awareness drive yesterday.

Rawat was accompanied by two other election commissioners, Sunil Arora and Ashok Lavasa.

After releasing the booklet, the CEC held a meeting with state chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar and other senior officials. (PTI)

20:16 Modiji talks about employing the youth. It has been 4 years of his reign, and India is seeing the worst state of employment in the last 8 years: Rahul Gandhi during his address in Magadi.

15:06 Election officials search planes of Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah

The special aircraft of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and BJP national chief Amit Shah were today searched by officials after they landed at Hubballi airport in north Karnataka to campaign for their parties in the run-up to the May 12 assembly polls.

The exercise involving three district level officers was described by officials as being in line with the Election Commission's directive to ensure free and fair elections in Karnataka.

"It was a random search by a team led by (election) nodal officer Karpale. We searched the planes in which Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah had arrived. It was not intentional," Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad district S B Bommanahalli told PTI.

12:16 Rahul Gandhi interacts with traders in Davanagere

Interacting with traders in Davanagere, Rahul Gandhi said, Modi Government gave us one of the most complicated GST in the world. Only Sudan & Pakistan have a GST system which is more complicated. We will fundamentally change the GST and simplify it when we come to power at the Centre in 2019.

11:22 Nitish Kumar to visit Karnataka and campaign on April 12

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will visit the state on April 12 to campaign for his party Janata Dal (United)s candidates, who will be contesting in about 30 constituencies.

"We will be contesting elections in between 24 to 30 seats in Karnataka on our own. Nitish ji will be visiting the state on April 12 to kick-start the campaign," JD (U) (Nitish Kumar faction) Karnataka Unit President Mahima Patel told reporters here.

Both factions of the JD (U) have not officially announced an alliance with the BJP, yet. (PTI)

09:00 Rahul Gandhi to meet 111-year-old seer, hold rally in Magadi

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is currently on his fifth round of campaigning in Karnataka. Today, the scion will be holding a corner meeting in Holalkere at noon, followed by a meeting with 111-year-old Lingayat seer of Siddaganga Mutt Shivakumara Swamy, at around 14:30.

Gandhi will then address a public meeting at Magadi around 18:00.

08:27 Amit Shah calls Siddaramaiah governments resolution on Veershaiva-Lingayat a conspiracy

BJP President Amit Shah said yesterday, Many have expressed concern over Siddaramaiah governments resolution on Veershaiva-Lingayat community. This is nothing but a conspiracy to mislead people before the elections and stopping BS Yeddyurappa from becoming the CM. We will not let this happen.

20:04 Amit Shah rejects Congress governments demand in Karnataka to make Lingayat a separate religion. Shah said that there is no separate religion for Lingayats, and assured Veershaiva seers that there will be no division. Shah said that this is the commitment of the government.

19:27 Rahul Gandhi said, "It has been four years of PM Narendra Modis reign. He has never asked people anything. Everything is Mere Mann ki baat. Who will listen to the countrys mann ki baat?"

15:02 Yogendra Yadavs Swaraj India party to field 6 candidates

Psephologist-turned-politicians Yogendra Yadavs Swaraj India party has said that it will field six candidates in the Karnataka assembly polls.

The party also Tweeted-out the names and constituencies of the six candidates: Puttannaiah (Melukote constituency), Linge Gowda SH (Maddur), Vaijanath Patil (Yadir), P Ramesh Chander (Mahadevapura), KP Bhootaya (Challakere) and Shailendra (Hanur).

13:43 CM Siddaramaiah is now addressing the rally.

13:39 Rahul Gandhi said, When PM Modi speaks about corruption in Karnataka, guess he doesn't see the stage properly. On his left side is Shri Yeddyurappa, who has been to jail and on his right side are several other ministers who were also in Jail.

13:37 "PM Modi has written a book about how students can counter stress during exams. But, after all the hard work the students put in, the Modi government announced that the paper was leaked," Rahul Gandhi has said in Karnatakas Shivamogga.

13:34 The amount of money Narendra Modi ji gives for development for Dalits and Adivasis across the country, is the amount of money Congress spends in Karnataka alone: Rahul Gandhi in Shivamogga.

13:31 They (BJP) have destroyed the banking system. This is just the beginning, says Rahul Gandhi.

13:28 Rahul Gandhi takes a jibe at PM Modi, says, On one hand paper leaks, on the other hand, Election Commissions dates leak.

13:23 Congress President Rahul Gandhi is addressing at rally at Shivamogga. CM Siddaramaiah is also present.

12:29 Rahul Gandhi to visit Siddaganga Mutt, meet 111-year-old Lingayat seer tomorrow

Rahul Gandhi will go to Holalkere in Chitradurga district on Wednesday. Holalkere is a Lingayat stronghold. The Congress president will then go to Tumkur, where he is expected to meet the 111-year-old seer of Siddaganga Mutt Shivakumara Swamy, a revered Lingayat pontiff.

11:11 Act against Shah, Yeddyurappa for violating model code of conduct: Congress to EC

On Monday, Congress approached the EC demanding action against BJP president Amit Shah and the party's Karnataka unit chief BS Yeddyurappa for allegedly violating the model code of conduct in the state by offering Rs 5 lakh to the family of a deceased person.

The opposition party has also asked the EC to conduct a time-bound probe into the matter.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi identified the deceased person as "Mr Raju". The deceased was a BJP activist, killed in Mysuru in March 2016.

Singhvi raised questions over the timing of the aid allegedly offered when Shah, Union minister Ananth Kumar and Yeddyurappa visited Raju's family last Friday, three days after the EC announced the Karnataka Assembly polls schedule.

The Congress submitted a memorandum to the EC, accusing the BJP of using money to influence votes in Karnataka, and said the ruling party at the Centre resorted to the "desperate measure, foreseeing its inevitable defeat in the May 12 Assembly polls. The BJP however has said Shah did not give any money to Raju's family. (PTI)

10:29 BJP president Amit Shah to attend two events today in Kaginele and Bagalkot

Shah will be speaking at an OBC Convention in Kaginele around 3:30 pm and will be having an interaction at Shivayogi Mandira at Badami, Bagalkot at around 6:00 pm.

09:15 R Roshan Baig, Naseer Ahmed, Nasir Hussain and Suraj Hegde and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson met Chief Election Officer (CEO) of Karnataka and filed a memorandum on 18 lakh missing voters, according to the partys Shivajinagar unit Twitter handle.

08:37 Rahul Gandhi to campaign in Shivamogga and Davangere

Congress President Rahul Gandhi will take up campaigning in the state. Gandhi will be visiting Shivamogga and Davangere and is expected to address public meetings there at 12:35 pm and 05:45 pm respectively, according to the Congress.

08:34 Good morning! This live blog will keep track of the latest political developments in the poll-bound state of Karnataka, through the day. The southern state is heading for assembly polls of May 12. The result will be declared on May 15.

22:28 Congress President Rahul Gandhi will visit Karnataka on the 3rd and the 4th April. He looks to tour the districts of Shivamogga, Davangere, Chitradurga, Tumkuru and Ramanagara. These are places that are covered by BJP President Amit Shah.

19:54 The EC has decided to launch a special drive on April 8 at all polling stations in the state aimed at providing opportunity for women, people with disabilities, primitive tribes and all weaker sections of the society.

19:43 The Election Commission (EC) has put 1156 Flying Squads and 1255 Static Surveillance Teams in place to ensure the Model Code of Conduct for the Karnataka polls.Also the sqauds seized Rs 8,56,850/, 550 sarees, 38 sewing machines, 96 cookers, 5 vehicles. Overall the EC squads took Rs 1,21,47,570 cash, 139 litres of liquor, 568 sarees, 2 kg 464 gms of gold worth Rs 49,17,000, 160 laptops and 8 vehicles.

15:38 People have made up their minds to throw out Siddaramaiah government: Amit Shah

BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday claimed that the people of Karnataka have made up their minds to "throw out" the Siddaramaiah-led government in the Assembly polls, as they were "disappointed" with it on several fronts, especially corruption.

Shah, who was on a tour of Mysuru, Mandya and Ramanagara districts, said that his party would put up a good show during the polls in the old Mysuru region.

12:35 Siddaramaiah to contest from Chamundeshwari, where his political journey began

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to contest the upcoming Assembly polls from Chamundeshwari assembly constituency. Siddaramaiah is currently elected from the Varuna seat.

The chief minister has however represented the Chamundeshwari constituency five times before and campaigned there recently to reconnect with the people, according to a news report.

According to reports, Siddaramaiah has taken the step to allow his son Dr Yathindra to contest from Varuna seat.

No Karnataka chief minister has been re-elected to office since Janata Partys Ramakrishna Hedge in 1985.

12:45 Shiv Sena to go solo in Karnataka Assembly polls

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s NDA ally Shiv Sena has said that it will contest around 60 seats against its the BJP in the upcoming Assembly polls in Karnataka. The announcement was made by party MP Sanjay Raut.

In the past, the Sena had fielded its candidates against the BJP during elections in Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat (last year).

"Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had already announced that our party is going to contest elections independently and as a part of it, we have decided to go solo in Karnataka as well. We will contest around 50-60 seats but will support the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), which represents the Marathi people living in disputed areas between Maharashtra and Karnataka," he said, according to PTI.

11:42 BJP brings out 'charge sheet' against Congress government

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday brought out a 'charge sheet' against the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka in three booklets, listing its alleged failures on law and order, agriculture and ignoring capital Bengaluru.

The BJP claimed that the crime had increased by three-fold in the state and the atrocities were being committed on Dalits, women and children. The saffron party also claimed that there were increasing attacks on honest officials and killings of Hindutva activists.

BJP also listed steep rise in farmers' suicides in the last three years, drug mafia ruling the roost in the states capital and poor infrastructure in the city, in the charge sheet.

11:42 Good morning! This live blog will track the latest developments from the state of Karnataka which will be heading for the crucial Assembly polls on May 12. The counting of votes and the result announcement will happen on May 15.

This blog will campaign latest political developments in the state keep an eye on the campaigns.Congress president Rahul Gandhi today accused the Narendra Modi government of "disrespecting" and "demolishing" various institutions by having RSS men "sitting in every ministry and giving orders."

Interacting with the city's traders here, Gandhi said if voted to power, the Congress would free these institutions from the RSS control.

"I don't know if you all know that in every single minister's office, there is an RSS man sitting and giving orders. So what can you expect... nothing but disrespecting the institutions. The banking system of the country has been demolished by having this structure," he said.

"Who is Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksey? These are the people who arise when you don't respect the financial institutions like the Reserve Bank of India."

"We are also seeing Piyush Goyal (with scam tumbling out)," he said.

Fugitive diamond merchant Modi and his uncle Choksey are at the centre of the Punjab National Bank fraud.

Gandhi had yesterday targeted Union Minister Piyush Goyal for his alleged links to the promoter of a company in default of Rs 650 crore.

Gandhi said former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had advised against demonetisation.

He claimed that the chief economic advisor, the Union finance minister and the entire Cabinet were unaware of the demonetisation plans of the Prime Minister.

"The entire cabinet was locked up prior to the demonetisation. They (Cabinet ministers) were not let out of the room," he alleged.

Asked how the Congress would solve the unemployment problem, Gandhi said it would do so by encouraging small and medium scale businesses in construction, agriculture and other sectors.

He also said China is successful in creating jobs because its government imparts skill training to its workforce.

"In Modiji's government, there is no talk on (imparting) skills," he said.

Gandhi said the banks should give loans also to small and medium scale entrepreneurs, but this benefit is being usurped by 15 big names in Indian business.

"Anil Ambani has Rs 45,000 crore of loan and to help him, the Rafale (fighter jet) contract was given to him," he said.

In a letter to Congress leader Randeep Surjewala, Ambani, however, had refuted the allegation saying that Dassault's decision to choose Reliance as its joint venture partner was an independent agreement between the two corporate private sector entities and the two governments had nothing to do with it.NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is seen at the site from which it reached down to drill into a rock target called 'Buckskin' on lower Mount Sharp in this low-angle self-portrait taken August 5, 2015 and released August 19, 2015. The selfie combines several component images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 1,065th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars, according to a NASA news release. REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Handout THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - TM3EB8J17BD01

If all goes as planned, future missions to Mars by NASA could have robotic bees on board to survey the red planet. The US space agency has awarded funding to a combined team of researchers from the University of Alabama and an unnamed team in Japan for development of a new kind of Mars explorer.

The team has been awarded USD 125,000 to develop Marsbeesa swarm of robot bees that could fly in the windy Martian atmosphere and process the obtained data to the receivers.

NASAs earlier rovers though extremely successful are very slow and travel only on the surface. It is painstaking and time consuming to cover a large geography of Mars from that rover. The Marsbees, flying in a swarm, could cover a large area without any difficulty. The scientists could also get a new perspective to look on Mars from the bees.

Detailing the Marsbees, the NASA announcement said these bees would be about the size of a bumblebee, but with bigger wingsapproximately the size of a cicada.

The officials at the space agency are still to decide on whether they will go with flapping winds, fixed wing configurations or rotors. Notably, though, the Japanese team has successfully demonstrated their expertise in developing robots that fly using flapping wings.

The bees would be reporting to a base on Mars similar to a rover. The rover could form a base for the bees from which they could be launched and return back to in order to recharge their batteries. The data obtained from sensors on the bees can be transmitted via Wi-Fi.

The researchers working on the project need to show that the micro-bots they are building can fly well in the thin Martian atmosphere and are able to carry useful sensors. The bees should also be able to clean the dirt off their bodies and wings.

The project is still in the very early stages, of course. NASA expects such research to take around a decade to prove their feasibility. It is one of the 25 research projects funded as NASA continues to study the Red Planet amid plans to send humans there.Though it may not rank high up in the innovative jailbreaks you would have heard of, nonetheless, it is as effective as it gets. Two alleged FARC (a Marxist militant group in Colombia) guerrillas escaped the maximum security wing of the largest prison in Bogota, Colombia after getting a prison guard drunk.

The incident came to notice last week on Saturday when a prison guard found his colleague in an inebriated state. Notably, he let the prisoners go out to buy more liquor.

The officer had been drinking with the prisoners, he was drunk. He couldnt even stand up and supposedly let the prisoners through the main gate to buy booze, according to the testimony of one guard that was leaked to W Radio and reported by Colombia Reports.

As per the reports sent to the director of the prison, the guard refused to take the breathalyser test and allegedly failed to notify his superiors about the escaped prisoners.

The prison is in disarray as the corruption is rampant inside, said a warden in his testimony. There is a new guard that makes and breaks La Picota (prison), they take bribes, they give benefits to the inmates, they let them out in exchange for large sums of money, it is a mafia, W Radio quoted the anonymous official as saying.

The two prisoners who escaped were John Rincon who has been in the prison since 2003 serving a 40-year sentence for kidnapping, extortion and conspiracy to commit a crime and Olmedo Vargas was imprisoned in November 2017 for theft and was due to be tried.

However, it is not clear why they were in prison, as under the amnesty deal signed between FARC and the Colombian government, both should have been released a year ago, the report said.

Nevertheless, police have notified the transport terminals and airports about the fugitives and the efforts to recapture them are being made.Donald Trump

The US and Israel have agreed to continue their close coordination on countering Iran's "malign influence" and destabilising activities, amid Saudi Arabia's change in position on the Jewish nation, the White House said.

US President Donald Trump called Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday and discussed the developments in the Middle East.

Trump's call comes amidst a statement from the Saudi Crown Prince who said Israel has a "right" to a homeland, a shift in Saudi Arabia's position.

"Trump spoke today with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to address recent developments in the Middle East," the White House said in a read out of the call.

"President Trump reiterated the commitment of the United States to Israel's security and the two leaders agreed to continue their close coordination on countering Iran's malign influence and destabilising activities," the White House said.

Trump spoke earlier with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, who asked the President to promote the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and emphasised Saudi Arabia's support for the creation a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Trump and the Saudi king also discussed the situation in Yemen and Iran's activities across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia and Israel still have no formal diplomatic relations, but improvements in their ties have accelerated in recent years.

Both countries see Iran as their biggest outside threat and the US as their key ally.

Prince Salman said he believes that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation.

"I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations," he said.Donald Trump

President Donald Trump today said the US cannot afford to have a USD 500 billion a year trade deficit with China, asserting that America need to do "something very substantial" about the trade deficit.

"We have a problem with China. They've created a trade deficit, and I really blame our representatives and, frankly, our preceding presidents for this. They have a trade deficit of USD 500 billion a year. It's not something we can live with, Trump told reporters during a media interaction with visiting Baltic leaders.

Trump, however, praised Chinese President Xi Jinping calling him a "tremendous person" for whom he has a great respect.

"Two of the most incredible days of my life were spent in China. Many of you were with me. He's a tremendous person," Trump said, recollecting his visit to the country last year.

Trump said his administration will be working with China. "We'll be negotiating with China. Our relationship is very good with China, and we intend to keep it that way. But we have to do something to seriously relieve that trade deficit. We can't have a USD 500 billion a year trade deficit, he said.

The US has to do something on trade with certain countries, he said.

"And obviously, China is the leader in terms of deficits. We've never had a situation where a country -- nor has there ever been in -- in history, a situation where a country has done that to another country, he said.

Trump said the US has helped rebuild China. "Over the last 25 years, if you take a look at what's happened. We have helped rebuild China. So we intend to get along with China, but we have to do something very substantial about the trade deficit. And with that, nothing is easy. I campaigned on that. I talked about that. China won't be the only country, but I did, in fact, campaign on it, Trump said.

Amid escalating trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies, China yesterday imposed tariffs on 128 American goods, retaliating for Trump's decision last month to slap import duties of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium.

Trump's decision to impose heavy tariff on steel and aluminium was primarily targeting China which has long been accused of flooding the global market with the metals.

Trump has accused China of unfair trade practices which he says harm US businesses and swell the bilateral trade deficit.Donald Trump

The US will deploy military to secure its international border with Mexico, President Donald Trump has said, asserting that America's existing laws were "horrible" and enabled caravans of illegal immigrants' entry into the country.

Trump has been a great proponent of building a wall along the US-Mexico border. He is seeking billions of dollars from the Congress for this initiative, but has been unable to get the funding so far.

Trump believes that the wall along the Mexico border is a permanent solution to stop large influx of illegal immigrants smuggling of drugs into the US.

"We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the United States," Trump told reporters at a joint White House news conference with Baltic leaders.

Soon thereafter, he held a meeting with his top officials including Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

During the meeting, they discussed the administration's strategy, "which includes the mobilisation of the National Guard," the White House said.

Trump and senior officials also agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organisation, it said.

A week earlier, Trump received a briefing from senior administration officials on the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America.

At that time, he had "directed a vigorous administrative strategy to confront this threat and protect America's national security," the White House said.

Earlier, Trump told reporters that the Mexican border was very unprotected by the US laws.

"We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States, and we're going to be able to do something about that hopefully soon. Hopefully Congress will get their act together and get in and create some very powerful laws, like Mexico has, and like Canada has, and like almost all countries have," he said.

"We don't have laws. We have catch and release. You catch and then you immediately release, and people come back years later for a court case, except they virtually never come back," he said, justifying his move to use military to protect the international border.

"It's something we have to do. Now, the caravan, which is over a thousand people coming in from Honduras, thought they were just going to walk right through Mexico and right through the border," he said.

Trump said that he had told the Mexicans that their caravan of illegal immigrants crossing into US needed to stop.

"If you look at the caravan of thousands of people coming across, I told Mexico, look, you have a cash cow in NAFTA. NAFTA's been great for Mexico. Has not been good for the United States," he said.Fintech company Afterpay [ASX:APT] experienced a 4.7% drop in share value this morning.

This comes after governance firm Ownership Matters uncovered a loophole in their system which allows underaged, resourceful kids to purchase any alcoholic beverage, or any other adults-only item, searchable on Afterpays supported retailer list.

Founded in Sydney, back in 2014, Afterpays shares have surged nearly 400% in the past 12 months, the buy now, pay later business model a hit with young and old alike.

Miguel Launcha, the Spanish Mickey Mouse, purchases $250 worth of booze

On 2 January, 2000, Miguel Launcha was born. At least thats what appeared on Afterpays records when Ownership Matters looked into them.

In reality, it was a presumably under-aged teen, accessing the site from an IP address in Melbourne, who counterfeitly inputted the name, and date of birth, of the mysterious El Mickey Mouse, in order to swerve the registration process and open up the doors to buy now, pay later alcohol.

Using a pre-paid Visa card, originally under the name of Giftcardholder, Launcha was able to register the card under his own name, and proceeded to purchase more than $250 worth of alcohol.

Afterpays response?

In an effort to quell the worries of parents, and to the dismay of their under-age children, Afterpay said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange that they were revamping their systems to curtail alleged under age usage of its service by dishonest users.

They went on to say that customers were legally obligated to identify their birthdates, and that merchants were obliged to only sell to those above the legal drinking age. Though it is unknown how many of these dishonest users respect legal obligations, especially those that are only enforced via an enter your birthdate field.

When questioned about the potential for other shortcomings in their convenience-first registration and business model, Afterpay stated that they would welcome any further reviews from regulators.

Regards,

Ryan Clarkson-Ledward,

For Money Morning

PS: If you want to lay down a little money on the hottest corner of the ASX right nowbut you dont know your way around the small-cap sectorthis report is for you. Get access now (free).Blue Sky Limited [ASX:BLA] shares have dropped by nearly 20% today. Currently trading at US $8.47, down from $10.40 on 28 March.

The investment funds share price plunged by 9% before it went into a trading halt on Wednesday, 28 March  from $11.43 to $10.40.

Blue Sky Limited is a fund manager that invests in alternative investments, which can be outside of the stocks and bonds market.

Why the share price decline?

Blue Sky requested a trading halt on Wednesday after a report emerged from Glaucus Research Group  a US short seller  giving them time to prepare a response.

Glaucus alleges that Blue Sky is overstating the value of its assets, return on investments and its management fees, as reported by Business Insider.

According to the opinion report, Glaucus estimates that Blue Skys shares are worth $2.66, 77% below the last closing price.

The report suggests that Blue Sky inflates its assets under managements  the total market value of assets that Blue Sky manages on behalf of investors  and charges its clients outrageous fees.

By overstating its fee earning AUM, we believe that Blue Sky not only defies standard reporting practices followed by major publicly listed asset managers, but it unjustly inflates the Companys stock price.

Not only are Blue Skys ludicrous upfront fees an abusive practice that gouges the very investors Blue Sky claims to serve, but Blue Skys revenues will continue to shrink as it runs out of suckers to pay such exorbitant fees.

Whats next for Blue Sky Ltd?

Blue Sky resumed trading today, after yesterday releasing an announcement in response to Glaucus, saying the report includes analysis of the financial position and performance of Blue Sky and its investments that is fundamentally flawed and inconsistent with market practice.

The company also held a live teleconference this morning discussing the response, which will be made available on their website.

As to what will happen next to Blue Sky remains unclear. Although if their announcement yesterday is anything to go by, it looks as though they wont go down without a fight.

Regards,

Dannielle Rawlings,

For Money Morning

PS: Blue Sky Limited has had quite significant growth over the past couple of years  although still has potential to soar. Sam Volkering, Money Morning Editor, argues that the biggest potential gains can be found in the sector with the biggest potential risk, small-cap stocks. If youre interested in learning more, check out his free report Top Three Aussie Small-cap Stocks. You can download this free report here.Madan has also been nominated for the Alternative Broker Specialist of the Year (Business for Self) Award and can once again relate to the hoops self-employed house hunters have to jump through.

Im self-employed and I know what kind of challenges a self-employed person goes through when theyre looking for a house, she said. Getting nominated in these two categories is really special.

Equitable Bank is sponsoring the Alternative Broker Specialist of the Year Award at the April 20 gala at the Liberty Grand in Toronto, and according to Joe Flor, its important for the lender to support its broker partners.

Its about continually growing our brand and having that brand recognition, said Equitable Banks director of national sales. Were growing in the channel year-over-year, in terms of market share and our presence, and to have the opportunity to be in front of our peers and broker partners to present an award that is suited around the alternative side definitely cements us as one of the big players in that space. For us, its an honour and a means to continue growing our brand.

Flor says the CMAs are the single largest event in the Canadian mortgage industry, and sponsoring an award is an opportunity for Equitable Bank to present itself in front of the industrys biggest players.Late last week, international property portal Juwai.com has announced the cementing of its alliance with Chinese online retailer and Amazon competitor JD.com  a move that will see real estate in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia marketed to JDs customer base.

The arrangement, which is slated to officially launch this month, will involve Juwai listings appearing on the JD online catalogue. The set-up would allow Chinese shoppers to browse real estate in the same manner as they would JDs other offerings like shoes, watches, and electronics.

The deal is expected to augment Juwais current 2.2 million monthly users with JDs audience of almost 300 million. JD also specifically requested that Canadian property be included among listings because they see such strong demand for it.Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier?

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Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.Having a liver transplant impacted Dan Westmorelands life in more ways than one. The Midlander said there was emotion in knowing the liver he received came from his daughters late boyfriend, Ralph (Tad) Lemon III.

It was a tragedy on one hand, but it was a blessing on the other hand, said Westmoreland, 63.

After Lemon had a fatal brain aneurysm in July, his family requested that his liver go to Westmoreland. The organ was determined to be a match, and the transplant took place at Medical City Fort Worth.

Dr. Omar Haq, transplant hepatologist and medical director of the liver transplant program, said Westmorelands situation of getting an organ through directed donation was rare.

Hes grateful for the gift that he received even though it was under difficult circumstances, Haq said in a phone interview.

Months after the transplant, Westmoreland is scheduled to share his story today during the annual Donate Life Month ceremony at Medical City Fort Worth. He plans to convey the importance of organ donation.

I am living proof, Westmoreland said. I would not be here today if it wasnt for a donor. In my mind  and Ive mentioned it before  to me, a donor is a hero.

The event, co-sponsored by LifeGift, will give attendees the opportunity to register as organ, eye and tissue donors. Nearly 116,000 people await transplants, according to the Donate Life Texas website.

Westmoreland received a complete liver, according to Haq. He said increasing the pool of donors will make a difference for those awaiting transplants.

There is no [alternative] means at this time to keep these patients alive, to keep these patients going and maintain their quality of life, Haq said.

Westmoreland was told that his liver disease required a transplant but later had to wait for the procedure.

Its hard to describe the feeling, he said. Its like you know if you dont receive the organ what the outcome is going to be. Its going to be death.

Throughout the process, Westmoreland said Medical City Fort Worth took measures to make him feel comfortable. He was also assigned a transplant coordinator.

You can contact them with any questions and concerns 24 hours a day, he said. You dont know how important that was for me because I was going back and forth [home].

During the process, Westmoreland also felt support from relatives. He said his life is back to how it was before liver disease and appreciates he can again take care of his wife.

My immediate family stood right by me through this whole thing, Westmoreland said. You really dont know how that feels until you have been on the other side of the fence, knowing your life could be gone.

Westmoreland said it crossed his mind that his life was saved but another was lost. Talking to Lemons father helped to put him at ease.

Lemon had told his family that he was an organ donor, and Westmoreland urges others who have registered to communicate those wishes to their loved ones. For Midlanders who arent donors, he hopes the option is one they will consider.

It just saves lives, Westmoreland said. By being an organ donor, trust me, theyre a hero and their legacy will live on.(Bloomberg) -- A Mexican bishop says hes reached a truce with drug traffickers in the state of Guerrero to stop a killing spree of candidates ahead of elections July 1st, an indication of how weak the state has become in the face of rising violence.

Bishop Salvador Rangel told reporters he held several meetings with traffickers from different criminal groups after as many as nine candidates were reportedly assassinated in the state, several of them in the town of Chilapa.

READ ALSO: Mexican governor warns citizens to not travel to U.S. via Reynosa-McAllen bridge

His actions arent an isolated incident, coming after the leading presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, floated the idea of an amnesty for some criminals in the form of shortened prison terms. Pacts with criminals have also taken place in other crime-ridden countries in the region such as El Salvador. Still, it is highly unusual for the church to intervene in the face of rising violence in Mexico.

Last year was the most violent this century in Mexico, with murders rising even further in the first two months of this year. Guerrero has seen some of the worst bloodshed, including the disappearance of 43 students in 2014 allegedly at the hands of police allied with heroin traffickers.

Mexicos federal government criticized the bishops actions, saying laws must be followed, while some local electoral authorities reacted more positively.

RELATED: Gangs block roads with burning cars in western Mexico

"Theres no place for doubt here. Laws must be respected and carried out," said Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete Prida in response to the bishops actions. He acknowledged the spike in violence in Guerrero and said the government has identified the criminal groups responsible.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Philip Sanders

2018 Bloomberg L.P.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 2 Vote(s) - 5 Average

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Page: 1 2 3 4 5 ... 9 Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report Rager

Est. 2010

User ID: kaput

04-04-2018 04:17 AM



Posts: 1,128









Post: #1 Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

Advertisement

Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

Special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly told President Trump's lawyers last month that he does not consider the president to be a criminal target at this point in his investigation.



But Mueller also said that he still considers Trump to be a subject of his investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election and emphasized the need to interview the president as part of the probe, The Washington Post reported.



The special counsel made the disclosures to Trump's lawyers last month during negotiations over a possible interview with the president.





http://thehill.com/homenews/administrati...nal-target Trump is a Russian agent. Mueller will bring him down! He knows all about what trump has done!Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: reportSpecial counsel Robert Mueller reportedly told President Trump's lawyers last month that he does not consider the president to be a criminal target at this point in his investigation.But Mueller also said that he still considers Trump to be a subject of his investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election and emphasized the need to interview the president as part of the probe, The Washington Post reported.The special counsel made the disclosures to Trump's lawyers last month during negotiations over a possible interview with the president. (This post was last modified: 04-04-2018 04:18 AM by Rager .) LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:19 AM











Post: #2 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

So basically what any non-brain damaged person knew a year ago? Rager

Est. 2010

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:21 AM



Posts: 1,128









Post: #3 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-04-2018 04:19 AM) So basically what any non-brain damaged person knew a year ago?

I wouldnt go that far. More like any rational person. All this circumstantial evidence of everyone other than trump, and they were already getting the guillotine ready with no word from mueller til now. I wouldnt go that far. More like any rational person. All this circumstantial evidence of everyone other than trump, and they were already getting the guillotine ready with no word from mueller til now. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:21 AM











Post: #4 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

Well looks like the leftist liberals are going to need a new narrative. how about but but muh feelings are hurt LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:22 AM











Post: #5 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

Rager Wrote: (04-04-2018 04:21 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-04-2018 04:19 AM) So basically what any non-brain damaged person knew a year ago?

I wouldnt go that far. More like any rational person. All this circumstantial evidence of everyone other than trump, and they were already getting the guillotine ready with no word from mueller til now.

Either way, they'll need another meaningless distraction to keep the man from doing his job for the next 7 years. Either way, they'll need another meaningless distraction to keep the man from doing his job for the next 7 years. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:23 AM











Post: #6 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

Can we now get into who is colluding with Russia, I.E. Uranium One LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:26 AM











Post: #7 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-04-2018 04:23 AM) Can we now get into who is colluding with Russia, I.E. Uranium One

Apparently not because all the witnesses seem to die mysteriously. Apparently not because all the witnesses seem to die mysteriously. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:30 AM











Post: #8 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

The mission now is defense not offense. They will sacrifice a lot to save Obama. Maybe even Clinton takes a car ride. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:30 AM











Post: #9 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-04-2018 04:26 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-04-2018 04:23 AM) Can we now get into who is colluding with Russia, I.E. Uranium One

Apparently not because all the witnesses seem to die mysteriously. I seem to have heard that story before I seem to have heard that story before LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:42 AM











Post: #10 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

smells like a trap



to ease tension and perhaps get trump to meet him

"now that the heat is off"

hopefully trump refuses any & all attempts of such LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:48 AM











Post: #11 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

A year and a half of loudmouthing from the left for what? Where is he man? He said mueller was gonna take down trump, but it turns out he isnt even a target so... how uninformed has he been this entire time? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 04:58 AM











Post: #12 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report





Trump thread with muellers team actually being the source=ignored



Anti trump threads with anonymous sources=instapinTrump thread with muellers team actually being the source=ignored LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 05:23 AM











Post: #13 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

Anything anti-Trump liberal trash gets pinned but this pro-Trump info gets the boot.



f*#k you mods we see what you are. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 05:25 AM











Post: #14 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report







Sucks to be you he-man



Even though you wont ever accept how wrong you are, were.



HahahahahaSucks to be you he-manEven though you wont ever accept how wrong you are, were. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 05:27 AM











Post: #15 RE: Mueller told Trump's lawyers he is not a criminal target of Russia probe: report

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-04-2018 05:25 AM) Hahahahaha





Sucks to be you he-man



Even though you wont ever accept how wrong you are, were.





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UK May Have Staged Skripal Poisoning To Rally People Against Russia, Moscow Belie Adios

lop guest

User ID: kaput

04-04-2018 06:36 PM











Post: #1 UK May Have Staged Skripal Poisoning To Rally People Against Russia, Moscow Belie

Advertisement Quote: Moscow is becoming more and more suspicious that the UK was responsible for the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal, according to Russian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko. We have very serious suspicion that this provocation was done by British intelligence, Yakovenko told Russias NTV channel. He acknowledged that Russia has no proof of this suspicion, but alluded to the bizarre behaviour of the UK government since the Skripals were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury last month. The Britons are claiming a leading role in the so-called containment of Russia. To win support from the people and the parliament for this containment of Russia, a serious provocation was required. And the Britons may have done a really savage one to get this support, said Yakovenko.



Londons reluctance to share information on the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal has led Moscow to strongly suspect that it was the actual perpetrator of the crime, the Russian ambassador to Britain said.



The poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury triggered the worst diplomatic conflict between London and Moscow in years. The UK accused the Russian government of using a military grade nerve agent against the former spy and, according to Moscow, is stonewalling all attempts by Moscow to learn details of the ongoing investigation into the incident.



Moscow is increasingly convinced that Britain is the real culprit behind the attack, according to Russian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko.



The diplomat added that London had gained both short-term and long-term benefits from the poisoning. The short-term gain is that Theresa Mays government managed to spin this story to whip up support both at home and in Europe, while sidelining its failures to negotiate more favorable terms for exiting the European Union, Yakovenko said. The long-term benefit is that it improved Londons standing in the ongoing confrontation between the West and Russia.



The Britons are claiming a leading role in the so-called containment of Russia. To win support from the people and the parliament for this containment of Russia, a serious provocation was required. And the Britons may have done a really savage one to get this support, he said.



The ambassador said that details of British investigations into the deaths of several high-profile people with Russian ties have been kept from the public. These include former Russian intelligence officer Aleksandr Litvinenko, Georgian tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, fugitive Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky and Russian whistleblower Aleksandr Perepilichny. He said he hoped there would be a public disclosure of relevant facts in relation to the Skripal case.



I am sure Russia will not allow the Britons to escape the legal field. They will have to give answers, he said.



After the poisoning in Salisbury, the UK convinced some of its allies to follow its lead by expelling Russian diplomats. The US was the most receptive to the call, kicking 60 Russians out of the country, which dwarfed the UKs expulsion of 23 people. European countries that chose to show solidarity with London expelled between one and four diplomats each. Ukraine expelled 13. https://guyfawkesrevolt.news/uk-may-have...-believes/ LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 06:37 PM











Post: #2 RE: UK May Have Staged Skripal Poisoning To Rally People Against Russia, Moscow Belie

That's not hard to believe. Adios

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 06:41 PM











Post: #3 RE: UK May Have Staged Skripal Poisoning To Rally People Against Russia, Moscow Belie

Not in the slightest!

It's not like the Tories haven't had a history of doing this before. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 07:01 PM











Post: #4 RE: UK May Have Staged Skripal Poisoning To Rally People Against Russia, Moscow Belie

I struggle with that, as if that was the case then why have we had a British-Russian Year of Culture, a British-Russian Year of Literature, a British-Russian Year of Language and last year the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. since the Ukraine stuff has kicked off there has been a ramping up of British-Russian events...



we have had many firsts including the first time in 300 years the Russian patriarch has visited the UK... along with others like the first time Russian has loaned anyone some stuff (portraits - cosmonaut stuff) and first and only time we have ever loaned anyone the Elgin marbles... etc



I mean, if it was all about creating anti-Russian sentiment they have done a really poor job, the BBCs epic war and peace was to celebrate the Year of Literature, and if anyone could make the Russians enraged it would have been the BBC portraying the characters in War and Peace as, well....



seriously, you can not throw a rock without hitting a Russian themed event.... this year I am being dragged to the Russian State Opera (Madam Butterfly) and Russian State Ballet (Gizzelle) not my cup of tea but since this bumping heads with Russia kicked off my partner has made a few her dreams come true like being able to see the Russian state ballets Swan lake, (she cried with joy, though not so good for me being dragged along)



I just struggle with this notion of them creating anti-Russian sentiment.. they've not gone after the cash in Londongrad, nor stopped the kiddies coming over to school in the UK.. heck in the few years they'll mostly be wearing the same school ties as those in Parliament..



Personally I find it all highly perplexing..... and try to ignore it.. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 07:13 PM











Post: #5 RE: UK May Have Staged Skripal Poisoning To Rally People Against Russia, Moscow Belie

Russia tried to kill Skripal to boost the turnout for Putin's reelection. Simple as that. NoContract

CENSORED

User ID: 1337

04-04-2018 07:19 PM



Posts: 2,319









Post: #6 RE: UK May Have Staged Skripal Poisoning To Rally People Against Russia, Moscow Belie

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-04-2018 07:01 PM) I struggle with that, as if that was the case then why have we had a British-Russian Year of Culture, a British-Russian Year of Literature, a British-Russian Year of Language and last year the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. since the Ukraine stuff has kicked off there has been a ramping up of British-Russian events...



we have had many firsts including the first time in 300 years the Russian patriarch has visited the UK... along with others like the first time Russian has loaned anyone some stuff (portraits - cosmonaut stuff) and first and only time we have ever loaned anyone the Elgin marbles... etc



I mean, if it was all about creating anti-Russian sentiment they have done a really poor job, the BBCs epic war and peace was to celebrate the Year of Literature, and if anyone could make the Russians enraged it would have been the BBC portraying the characters in War and Peace as, well....



seriously, you can not throw a rock without hitting a Russian themed event.... this year I am being dragged to the Russian State Opera (Madam Butterfly) and Russian State Ballet (Gizzelle) not my cup of tea but since this bumping heads with Russia kicked off my partner has made a few her dreams come true like being able to see the Russian state ballets Swan lake, (she cried with joy, though not so good for me being dragged along)



I just struggle with this notion of them creating anti-Russian sentiment.. they've not gone after the cash in Londongrad, nor stopped the kiddies coming over to school in the UK.. heck in the few years they'll mostly be wearing the same school ties as those in Parliament..



Personally I find it all highly perplexing..... and try to ignore it..

Fantastic post . Good to see someone else who is awake Fantastic post . Good to see someone else who is awake "Well, I'll put it this way: you can certainly say belief in God makes people behave worse. That can be proved beyond a doubt. "

Christopher Hitchens







Perception is a personal experience , not a universal application















Lunaticoutpost.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program , anaffiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.Amazon, the Amazon logo, MYHABIT, and the MYHABIT logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.Don't be a pest to the forum.No profanity in thread-titles or usernamesNo excessive profanity in postsNo Racism, Antisemitism + HateNo calls for violence against anyone..This website exists for fun and discussion only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. The content of posts on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of LunaticOutPost.Com. The owners or administration of this website can't be hold responsible for content hosted on sites that posters link to in; including, but not limited to, posts, signatures, private messages and such. This site may contain content not suitable for minors and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.In accordance with industry accepted best practices we ask that users limit their copy / paste of copyrighted material to the relevant portions of the article you wish to discuss (no more than 50% of the source material) provide a link back to the original articleIf you are a legal copyright holder or a designated agent for such and you believe a post on this website falls outside the boundaries of "Fair Use" and legitimately infringes on yours or your clients copyright please contact [email protected] This website is owned by :Marco ZwaneveldDrijfriemstraat 522516 XR The HagueNetherlands.I will not rent, sell, share or otherwise disclose your personal information to any third party.We might contact you from time to time regarding your purchases or the services (like forums and announcement lists) you have subscribed to.Some of the 3rd party advertisers on lunaticoutpost.com may use cookiesto track peformance and/or to serve relevant ads.If you wish to read more and/or opt out of such cookies, please visit: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/Plainview Mayor Wendell Dunlap use a formal proclamation Tuesday to draw attention to the invaluable service provided by volunteers locally and across the nation.

April 3 is National Service Recognition Day, and Runningwater Draw RSVP joined in the sixth annual celebration with a special program and reception Tuesday at St. Alice Parish Hall, 1114 Houston.

National Service Recognition Day is a national effort recognizing the positive impact of national service, thanking those who serve and encouraging more citizens to give back to their communities. It's a special recognition sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and Cities of Service.

By issuing his proclamation, joined more than 4,778 local leaders across the nation highlighting the impact of national service in addressing local problems and meeting community needs.

Dunlap recognized the first Tuesday in April as "National Service Recognition Day." As part of that celebration RSVP volunteers as well as local 4-H members were invited to participate in a service activity benefiting the clients of the Faith In Sharing House (FISH). They were asked to bring a one-cup, dry ingredient measure to assist with the project.

According to Irma Shackelford, local RSVP director, national service shows the best of the American Spirit - people turning toward solving problems instead of looking away - and working together to find community solutions.

Runningwater Draw RSVP has been serving the area communities in Floyd, Hale and Lamb counties for the past 44 years. RSVP enables volunteers age 55 and over to contribute their time, talent, experience, knowledge and interests to enrich the life of older adults through significant community service.There's still time to register online for the Texas Downtown Association's Downtown Plainview Regional Roundtable on Friday, April 6.

The event will focus on small business and will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Single Point Building at 114 W. Eighth (corner of West Eighth and North Austin).

Cost is $60. Register online at http://www.texasdowntown.org/regional-roundtable.html.

According to TDA, the Regional Roundtable Program is designed to give TDA members and others networking and educational opportunities within their regions. Roundtables are half- to full-day events and include a presentation, discussion, networking and lunch. Roundtables are a way to showcase the host community's downtown and share initiatives and strategies that have been helpful to that community.

Regional Roundtables are open to TDA members and non-members alike.

Presenters at Friday's Downtown Roundtable will be Andrea Glenn of The Rusty Rose and Alysia A. Cook, PCED, IOM, principal of Opportunity Strategies, LLC.

According to event organizers, "The focus of this roundtable is small business. Join us to learn from an established Downtown Plainview business owner who maintains a brick-and-mortar location as well as an online store. Our second session will focus on building your downtown business through excellent customer service from an experienced secret shopper."

The opening presentation, the SeeSaw of Brick & Mortar and Online Presence - How One Business Both, is from 10:15-11:30 p.m. Andrea Glenn, owner of The Rusty Rose and a 2017 Forbes Main Street Awards winner, will share tips and tricks on how to run a successful brick-and-mortar store as well as an online store by incorporating social media for both.

According to program literature, as a boutique owner, Glenn understands that it is a necessity in today's retail and business world to use different social media avenues to attract customers to a traditional brick-and-mortar store as well as a website, and will share her methods and best practices.

From 12:30-1:45 p.m., Alysia Cook will offer a presentation on Eight Secrets from a Secret Shopper. "TDA Roundtable participants will learn the Top 8 lessons learned from a professional Secret Shopper," TDA explains. "This presentation is to better understand the main factors that influence the customer experience and is valuable information to take back home to share with your local businesses. The audience will hear the eight things they and other downtown stakeholders can do to ensure the customer experience is a fantastic and memorable one for tourists and residents alike."

Roundtable participants will take a Downtown Plainview Walking Tour from 2-3 p.m., with the event adjourning at 3 p.m.

Alysia Cook with Opportunity Strategies specializes in customized training, professional facilitation, and strategic planning services. Clients include downtowns, chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, local governments, non-profits, associations, and businesses. For 25 years, Cook has presented hundreds of training programs for elected officials, community leaders, leadership groups, and volunteers in several states; programs designed to prepare communities for development and to attract and retain quality businesses.

She is an international public speaker, serves on the board of directors of the Texas Downtown Association, and serves on the faculty for the Texas Basic Economic Development Course, the Community Development Institute, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management. Alysia is a graduate of LSU-Shreveport, Economic Development Institute, Community Development Institute, and Chamber Institute. Alysia has earned the Professional Community & Economic Developer (PCED) and Institutes for Organizational Management (IOM) certifications, and is a certified Texas Friendly Hospitality Instructor.

Andrea Glenn is a graduate of Texas Tech with a degree in Ag Communications. She opened The Rusty Rose in 2010 and moved her shop to its current location in 2014. She and her husband Dustin aspire to the "work hard play hard theory" and can be seen at rodeos, team roping events and generally having fun in life that transcends into her business. Glenn loves being downtown. "I enjoy the sense of community with other business owners, the old buildings and I think it is the perfect place for boutiques and mom-and-pop type stores."LyondellBasell

China's proposed tariffs on certain U.S. petrochemicals are expected to have a limited impact on Gulf Coast exports even as new production capacity comes online to serve growing Asian markets.

The proposed tariffs, announced Wednesday, would include low-density polyethylene used in films and shopping bags, as well as PVC, polycarbonates, acrylates and some other chemicals. But they do not cover styrene or ethylene glycol, major U.S. chemicals exports to China used to make plastics, foams and polyester.DANBURY - Hospital officials and state lawmakers highlighted the case of a baby abandoned last year behind a downtown grocery store during an effort Wednesday to bring more attention to the states Safe Haven law.

The law allows parents of newborns to leave babies at any emergency room with no questions asked and no criminal liability. The aim of the law is to prevent unwanted babies from being abandoned, or worse, by their parents.

That was the case last year when a newborn was found behind a grocery store on Main Street. Anny Castillo, the babys mother, later turned herself in to authorities. She faces a potential prison sentence on several felony charges including child abandonment and risk of injury to a minor.

Last year we had a child that was placed behind a grocery store on a cold evening, said Kim Morgan, the executive director of United Way of Western Connecticut during a press conference at Danbury Hospital Wednesday. That will have long-lasting impacts for both the child and the mother.

No girl ever grows up thinking she will abandon her baby, Morgan said, but difficult circumstances sometimes distort decision-making.

These are women who carried their babies to full terms, she said. It speaks to the love and compassion they have for the child.

Castillo told police she gave birth alone in her bathroom, but felt she couldnt provide the care the baby needed, court documents show. She told authorities she was unaware of the states Safe Haven law.

Legally abandoning a baby can destroy peoples lives, said Dawn Martin, the director of patient care services at the hospital. We will take any baby at any time without a lot of questions. Thats what we do here.

State Rep. Michael Ferguson said a proposal moving through the legislature would require that the states Safe Haven laws be taught to high school students throughout the state.

Similiar legislation proposed last year in response to the Castillo case failed to win support of the full legislature. City officials however have taken it upon themselves to include instruction about the law in the schools curriculum.

Last year we had a sad situation where a baby was abandoned behind a grocery store, Ferguson said. It shows just how important it is to educate people about the Safe Haven law. Its important that people have this information.

The case against Castillo remains pending.Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media

Applications are being accepted for the next session of the Community Culinary School of Northwestern CT, which trains adults about all aspects of working in a professional kitchen.

The class will begin April 23. It includes 12 weeks of hands-on culinary and food safety instruction. The school also arranges internships for all students, trains them in the life skills necessary to getting and keeping a job and assists with job placement.In the race for a Pearland ISD trustee position, licensed school psychology specialist Crystal Carbone and Bellaire High School Assistant Principal Al Lloyd both say they have expertise to address serious issues they see facing the district - teen suicide, campus safety and communications obstacles between the board and parents.

They are vying in the May 5 election for Position 3. Incumbent Pam Boegler did not seek re-election to a third term.

Teen suicide

There is an epidemic of teen suicides in the area, Carbone said.

"Our district had more suicides in the last three years than any other district in the surrounding area," she said. "That has been part of the problem in our district; we have not been very vocal about the epidemic we're facing."

Two students from Pearland High School committed suicide in March 2017 and a Dawson High School student's attempt to hang himself from a stairwell on campus on Nov. 30 was thwarted by teachers, Pearland police reported.

Carbone, 35, who is married to Pearland City Councilman Tony Carbone, is a full-time mother to their three children. With a dual master's degree in clinical and school psychology from University of Houston-Clear Lake, she said her training gives her the tools to focus on mental health issues.

She advocates swift intervention for at-risk kids and supports using questionnaires to assess students' mental and emotional states.

She said the district needs to be better at identifying factors that add to student stress, such early start class times at the high school level.

Carbone has served on the Pearland Library Board, was a founding member of the Pearland ISD Education Foundation and has held clinical, research and administrative positions in mental health.

Lloyd, too, said more needs to be done to help kids before it's too late."I would not be afraid to talk about (suicide)," Lloyd said. "We need to have more mental health awareness rolled out to our teachers and staff and everyone who works with PISD. I would look at adding a department for the social and emotional needs of kids and student support services stocked with all types of mental health professionals."

He advocates for wrap-around services that would address needs of students' family members as well.Lloyd has been employed with Houston ISD for over 25 years. He taught and developed vocational programs at HISD and is a magnet coordinator for special schools with the district. He is in his first year as an assistant principal at Bellaire High. He said he has traveled around the world on training missions with HISD to learn best practices and has helped institute them at the district. A Bellaire High graduate, Lloyd has a master's degree in education from Concordia University in Austin.

Conversations regarding student safety while on campus have increased due to school shootings in other parts of the country, and since a student was apprehended on a Pearland campus for bringing a gun to school in March.Lloyd and Carbone like the recent security upgrades fast-tracked throughout the district and the recent discussions within the district to increase the presence of qualified school resource officers on campuses.

Pathway for communicationBoth candidates made appearances at a recent town hall meeting for parents hosted by Pearland ISD trustee Mike Floyd at a local restaurant, Spring Creek Barbeque. They reiterated Floyd's call for more open communication between board members, administration and parents. Superintendent John Kelly has expressed disapproval for the idea of having town hall meetings at school district facilities as Floyd has proposed.

Lloyd said he supports town hall-style meetings, something he said has proven beneficial in HISD, where such meetings are held on various campuses.

He has said that Pearland needs to be more open to learning techniques from other school districts that could improve transparency.

"I feel that the boardroom itself, regardless of who is in there, should be the most welcoming face around," Lloyd said. "There should be training for people there to create that atmosphere for visitors. That's something I would look at doing."

Carbone said open-forum meetings between trustees and parents held at the local level of individual campuses can be a solution to communication obstacles."You can have places where parents can come to and feel heard," Carbone said. "They come to school board meetings and still don't get responses. And you're talking about their kids."

Bathroom controversyLloyd weighed in on the 2017 controversy that landed PISD in the national news. A 6-year-old who identifies as female but whose biological sex is male, was not allowed to use the girls' restroom in her class at a PISD elementary school. As a compromise, she was permitted to use the nurse's bathroom after her mother advocated for a solution. The child has since transferred out of PISD.

"I definitely think a lot things could've been resolved with more communication in a room with a parent on how we can help the family," Lloyd said. "The laws may change, but we want to work with families and not make them feel like we are against them.

"The main (thing) is not to deny a child a place to use the restroom."

Lloyd said individual, gender-neutral restrooms could be a solution in future building designs.

The public nature of the situation worried Carbone, too."In my ideal world, these issues would be dealt with privately and on a case-by-case basis in the school setting," she said.

In most cases, however, she said the nurses' office restroom could be the best solution.

"It was huge mistake on behalf of the district to pull out this child and make it a schoolwide issue," she said. "We have to educate them as they come."

Early voting begins April 23 until May 1. General elections are May 5.A group of faculty at Loyola University Chicago went on strike Wednesday after two years of negotiations with the Jesuit school over job security, wages and benefits failed to produce a contract.

Instructors gathered on campus in the early morning hours for a daylong protest of their employment conditions, according to Janet Venum, a spokeswoman for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73, which represents 360 non-tenure track faculty in Loyola's College of Arts and Sciences.

This is the first contract the instructors have attempted to negotiate since forming the union in 2016 and becoming the university's first faculty bargaining unit. Loyola has 4,000 faculty on staff, 12 percent of whom are represented by the union, according to the university.

Adjunct faculty are part-time or full-time instructors who teach college classes, but often for much lower pay and less job security than their peers on the tenure track. As a result, many cobble together multiple jobs to make ends meet, without any guarantee they will have a class to teach from one year to the next.

"I've been with the university now for over a decade. That means that I've been let go and rehired 20 times. At what point do you say this is a person who has invested in us and she deserves to have us invest in her in return?" said Alyson Paige Warren, an adjunct instructor in the English department and a member of the bargaining committee.

The length of teaching appointments is one of the issues that brought negotiations to a halt this week, Warren said. Many instructors are employed on a semester-to-semester basis, but want at least a one-year contract for part-time and full-time workers. University leaders say they need more hiring flexibility because of enrollment fluctuations.

"When the numbers drop, like during the 2008 recession, people look at schools that are less expensive," said the Rev. Tom Regan, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola. "We can't offer contracts that could result in having to raise tuition. That would be cutting off our nose to spite our face."

Warren said the union understands the school needs flexibility, but implored administrators to understand that instructors need predictability. If an instructor is let go for poor performance that's one thing, but creating a system of "disposable faculty" to ensure no one has seniority or can teach enough classes to qualify for health insurance is unacceptable, she said.

"That kind of instability has nothing to do with enrollment numbers. That kind of instability has to do with the university trying to work this kind of gig economy to be able to get out of certain responsibilities," said Warren, who works four jobs.

Regan said the administration has met many of the union demands, including higher wages and improved benefits. Loyola agreed to a raise for instructors, increasing their per course pay from between $4,000 and $4,500 to $6,000, he said.

Pay is important, but instructors say the nontenured system at Loyola needs to change in a way that reflects the university's social justice mission, with respect for all employees.

"The respect is nil and the situation is constantly precarious," Warren said. "I've had classes cancelled three days before school started, after I've already put in all of the time creating the syllabus and getting the prep work done. I've had classes taken away from me and given to other instructors to fulfill their contracts because the university treats us as disposable."

Wednesday's strike was supposed to be a one-day action, but Warren said there will be other disruptions if the union is unable to reach an agreement with the administration.

The two sides are scheduled to meet again April 20.

"It's a fluid discussion at this point," Regan said. "We're very pleased with the faculty that we have and we'll do everything we can to keep them. We're so close at this point that we are expecting to get a collective bargaining agreement signed within one or two more sessions."

In 2016, Loyola fought the establishment of the union and appealed the vote on religious grounds, arguing that the National Labor Relations Board had no authority over the Jesuit school. University leaders said they had the right to govern the school in accordance with their Jesuit values and beliefs, free from government interference. The labor board rejected the university's appeal in March 2017, but agreed to exclude faculty in the theology department from the bargaining unit.

Other private universities, including Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and Saint Xavier University in Chicago, have objected to adjunct faculty unions on religious grounds. Still, adjuncts have made significant inroads in collective bargaining in recent years, said William Herbert, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College.

Herbert tracked a 30 percent increase in faculty bargaining units at private universities in 2016 alone, compared to four years earlier. While one of those units involved tenured and tenure-track professors, the rest were constituted of contingent faculty - adjuncts, lecturers and graduate assistants who teach college classes.

Nontenured positions now account for more than 70 percent of all instructional staff appointments in higher education, according to the American Association of University Professors, a trade group.

Colleges and universities say using these instructors is necessary in the face of budget cuts and volatile enrollment trends. But the university professors organization has documented that the greatest growth in contingent appointments happens during times of economic prosperity. The group worries that the insecure relationship between contingent faculty and their schools can damage student learning, faculty governance and academic freedom.Dozens of countries have sided with Britain against Russia after Moscow was accused of using a military-grade nerve agent to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in England last month. Boris Johnson, Britain's foreign secretary, now stands accused of publicly misrepresenting the evidence in the case.

Britain's top military laboratory said Tuesday it cannot verify the nerve agent in the March 4 poisoning came from Russia.

Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, told Sky News that although the substance used in the attack had been identified as Novichok - a class of chemical weapons developed in the former Soviet Union and Russia - it was not clear whether it had been made in Russia.

Sky News tweeted #Salisburyattack: Scientists have not been able to prove that Russia made the nerve agent used in the spy poisoning. Porton Down lab's chief exec reveals the details in this interview"

"We have not identified the precise source," Aitkenhead said, though he added creating such a substance was "probably only in the capabilities of a state actor."

These comments appear to contradict remarks Johnson made in an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle on March 20. Asked how the British government could be so sure Russia was behind the attack, Johnson deferred to "the people from Porton Down," who he said were "absolutely categorical."

"I asked the guy myself, I said, 'Are you sure?' And he said there's no doubt," Johnson said. However, it was not clear from the comments whether Johnson was saying Porton Down had confirmed the nerve agent had come from Russia or whether it was Novichok.

Diane Abbott of the opposition Labour Party called on Johnson to explain the apparent discrepancy. "It seems Boris Johnson misled the public when he claimed that Porton Down officials confirmed to him that Russia was the source of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack," Abbott said in a statement Wednesday.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn later told reporters that Johnson had "egg on his face" and that he "needs to answer some questions."

Supporters of the government's position say it was never Porton Down's responsibility to determine the precise source of the nerve agent used against the Skripals. The British government released a statement Tuesday that said Aitkenhead's comments did not contradict the official line on the poisoning.

"This is only one part of the intelligence picture," the statement from Prime Minister Theresa May's office said, pointing toward "our knowledge that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents probably for assassination - and as part of this program has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks," among other factors.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Porton Down reiterated this: "Our experts have precisely identified the nerve agent as a Novichok. It is not, and has never been, our responsibility to confirm the source of the agent."

However, Johnson's comments to Deutsche Welle struck many in Britain as too ambiguous. Public opinion of the top British diplomat is mixed in Britain, in part because of his backing of Brexit ahead of Britain's vote to leave the European Union in 2016. As a journalist and frequent talk show guest before that, he was seen by many critics as using a bumbling demeanor to mask a loose grip on facts.

"Serial liar Boris Johnson caught lying again?" Kevin Maguire, an editor at the left-wing Daily Mirror, wrote on Twitter.

British journalists also noticed Wednesday the Foreign Office had deleted a March 22 tweet that said Porton Down had concluded the nerve agent used in the attack was "produced in Russia."

Paul Waugh tweeted "Just found this cached tweet of @foreignoffice, now appears to be deleted.Big Qs for FCO."

The Foreign Office told the HuffPost it had deleted the tweet, which was recounting a Moscow briefing by British Ambassador Laurie Bristow, because it "was truncated and did not accurately report our Ambassador's words."

Russia has seized upon the discrepancies as evidence it had no role in the poisoning. In the aftermath of the attack, Moscow had offered a dizzying array of alternative theories for the poisoning, prompting Johnson to say on March 19 Russia was trying to "conceal the needle of truth in a haystack of lies and obfuscation."

Speaking Tuesday in Ankara, Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin cited the Sky News interview with Aitkenhead in calling for a thorough probe into the poisoning. The Russian Embassy in Britain also noted the deleted Foreign Office tweet in a message on Wednesday.

Russian Embassy, UK tweeted "22 March: 'Porton Down lab @dstlmod clearly established that the source of Salisbury toxic agent was Russia'3 April: "'@dstlmod never had the task to establish the source of the toxic agent'"

Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter were found unconscious on a park bench in the medieval city of Salisbury last month. The elder Skripal was a former Russian military intelligence officer and double agent for Britain who had been living in Britain since 2010 after a spy swap between the two countries. He remains in serious but stable condition in a hospital; Yulia Skripal is awake and alert.

Twenty-six countries, including the United States, have joined Britain in expelling Russian diplomats after the poisoning. Moscow has responded with its own expulsions.

A number of countries have said Aitkenhead's remarks have not changed their assessment that Russia was behind the attack on the Skripals. "Nothing has changed," German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters on Wednesday.The Trump administration on Tuesday rolled out $50 billion in penalties against China for the alleged theft of American tech innovations. Also on Tuesday, President Donald Trump continued his assault on a leading source of American tech innovations.

It was the latest reminder that Trump's agenda can owe less to a coherent economic vision than his own wandering sense of grievance.

The mixed messages from Washington come as Beijing is sending a clear one: It will respond swiftly and in kind to each U.S. escalation. Overnight, the Chinese government unveiled $50 billion worth of tariffs it will impose on 106 American products, including soybeans, airplanes and cars. "If someone wants a trade war, we will fight to the end. If someone wants to talk, our door is open," Wang Shouwen, vice-minister of commerce, said at a press conference. U.S. stock purchases plummeted on the news.

Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that he will not be backing down: "We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!"

Amid the burgeoning trade war focused in part on which economic superpower will dominate tech, Trump launched his fourth attack on Amazon within the past week. He kicked things off by implying in a Tuesday morning tweet that the company benefits from a sweetheart deal with the U.S. Post Office in the face of ample fact-checking to the contrary:

"I am right about Amazon costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy. Amazon should pay these costs (plus) and not have them bourne by the American Taxpayer. Many billions of dollars. P.O. leaders don't have a clue (or do they?)!"

He followed up later in comments to reporters. "You take a look at the Post Office. And the Post Office is losing billions of dollars, and the taxpayers are paying for that money, because it delivers packages for Amazon at a very below cost [sic]," he said. "You have retailers all over the United States that are going out of business. . . . We're giving a subsidy to Amazon."

The president's campaign against the online retail giant (whose chief executive Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post) appears to be losing its bite. After wiping out about $75 billion of Amazon's market value in the past week, investors largely shrugged off Trump's comments. The company's stock dipped briefly but finished the day up 1.46 percent.

That may be because despite Trump's tirade - and a Vanity Fair report on Monday that the president is "obsessed with Bezos" and aiming to exact a cost on the tech chief - there is little evidence that presidential pique will translate into policymaking. "Inside the White House, there are no active discussions about turning the power of the administration against the company, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity," Bloomberg News's Jennifer Jacobs and Spencer Soper report. "None of the five people was aware of any ongoing discussion about turning Trump's tweets into action against Amazon, not on the legal or regulatory fronts, or even regarding its reliance on the U.S. Postal Service, which has drawn the lion's share of Trump's wrath."

Indeed, Trump's attacks could prove self-defeating. "The more traditional approach would be to gather facts and build a case before you go public with it. We're not seeing that happen here," Wells Fargo Securities senior analyst Ken Sena tells me. That is, by tweeting from the hip - and lacing his criticism with suspect claims and his evident animus toward Bezos - Trump may be undercutting a substantive legal challenge to Amazon's market position. (It would hardly be the first time Trump's tweets worked against him in a lawsuit.)

On the other hand, Sena noted in a research note this week, investors need to be wary of the possibility that the president's criticism could provide grist to foreign governments looking to target the company - an odd fact considering the administration's broader push to protect U.S. tech dominance. "At a time when the U.S. and China vie increasingly for global technology leadership, a U.S. crusade against Amazon does not make sense to us," Sena writes. "More specifically, the competitive ability to harness data and compute resources, where [Amazon Web Services] offers important strategic value to the U.S. and many of its industry leaders [and] customers of the AWS Cloud, will become more important (not less) to broader economic and industry leadership in the years to come."

The tariffs that the Trump administration presented Tuesday - on a tech-heavy list of 1,300 products, from semiconductors to X-ray equipment - are "designed to penalize China for discriminatory policies that the United States says put its companies at a disadvantage in the Chinese market," The Washington Post's David Lynch writes. "Trump has complained that the Chinese government forces U.S. companies to surrender their proprietary technology in return for access to local customers and steals other trade secrets via cybertheft."

Whether the tariffs will help even the tech industry more than they hurt remains up for debate. "Trump's latest protectionist move threatens to upend global supply chains for corporations such as Apple and Dell, raise prices for American consumers who have grown accustomed to inexpensive electronics and aggravate tensions between the world's two largest economies," Lynch writes.

Meanwhile, Trump's gripes with Amazon have focused in particular on two potential vulnerabilities for the company in Washington: The company's arrangement with the Post Office and its tax treatment. It's true that the company "probably gets a pretty good deal," on its package deliveries, Bloomberg's Joshua Gallu and Mark Milian write. "David Vernon, an analyst at Bernstein Research who tracks the shipping industry, estimated in 2015 that Amazon was paying the postal service $2 per package, which is about half what it would pay publicly traded United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. A Citigroup research note released last April estimated that every delivery by the postal service's parcel business - not just of products from Amazon - should cost $1.46 more to reflect its 'true economic cost.'"

Trump cited that figure on Tuesday (though he called it $1.47). But the notion that taxpayers are subsidizing the company's deliveries doesn't hold up. Per Bloomberg: "The Postal Service says it makes money on the Amazon deal, and it's legally prohibited from charging shippers less than its delivery costs."

On taxes, Trump accuses Amazon of undercutting brick-and-mortar retailers by skirting sales taxes. The company collects sales taxes on products it sells directly in every state that levies them. But Amazon only collect the taxes on third-party sales in Pennsylvania and Washington. Third party transactions account for roughly half the company's sales. South Carolina is suing Amazon to force it to collect sales taxes on those outside sellers. Some tax experts argue Amazon would actually benefit from wider collection of third-party sales taxes, because it offers vendors a service, for a fee, that helps them navigate the patchwork of varying rates across the country.

Trump faces a simpler challenge if he chooses to press his anti-Amazon campaign: The company is broadly popular, and he isn't. In a "flash online survey of nearly 20,000 Yahoo Finance readers" on Tuesday, the outlet found "70% of our survey respondents have a positive impression of Amazon, compared with just 26% who have a positive impression of Trump." And Business Insider's Josh Barro did some back-of-the-envelope math to find that Amazon Prime users likely outnumber Trump voters by a substantial margin: "Trump will likely be seeking reelection in 2020 at a time when nearly half the 240 million adults in the US are users of Amazon Prime," Barro writes. "Does he really want to have a fight over whether Amazon should have to pay higher prices for shipping - which, in turn, would likely mean a higher Prime membership fee, or maybe even an end to free two-day shipping?"

Or as billionaire investor Peter Thiel - Trump's sometimes-tech whisperer and his Tuesday evening dinner companion - put it in a 2016 interview, the company presents a slippery target, "because the whole goal is to make things cheaper."

The company has drawn some criticism from across the ideological spectrum in Congress, with Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., alike raising concerns about its size. One of Amazon's home-state senators, Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., pushed back in a statement to me on Tuesday, refocusing on the president's own inconsistency. "If he wants corporations to pay more, why did he push a massive tax break for them?" Cantwell said. "We need action not distractions."Fifty years ago today, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he was supporting African-American sanitation workers after the public works department refused to compensate the families of two men who died on the job.

For as much attention as King receives for fighting against racial injustice, he spent much of his life speaking out against economic inequality - an issue that is still at the center of many of today's political conversations.

Yet 50 years after the Kerner Commission delivered a report to President Lyndon B. Johnson on the unrest in African-American communities, recent data show much of what King fought to dismantle remains in place. An Economic Policy Institute report released in February found:

"With respect to homeownership, unemployment, and incarceration, America has failed to deliver any progress for African Americans over the last five decades. In these areas, their situation has either failed to improve relative to whites or has worsened.

"In 2017 the black unemployment rate was 7.5 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 1968, and is still roughly twice the white unemployment rate. In 2015, the black homeownership rate was just over 40 percent, virtually unchanged since 1968, and trailing a full 30 points behind the white homeownership rate, which saw modest gains over the same period. And the share of African Americans in prison or jail almost tripled between 1968 and 2016 and is currently more than six times the white incarceration rate."

Another report from the EPI showed the wage gap between blacks and whites is the worst it has been in nearly four decades.

"Changes in unobservable factors - such as racial wage discrimination, racial differences in unobserved or unmeasured skills, or racial differences in labor force attachment of less-skilled men due to incarceration - along with weakened support to fight labor market discrimination continue to be the leading factors for explaining past and now the recent deterioration in the economic position of many African Americans."

Much attention was paid to the economic anxieties of Donald Trump supporters during the 2016 election, especially the white working-class. Most black voters who come from a working-class backgrounds were drawn to Hillary Clinton's economic message.

The economy continues to be a major concern for black Americans due to the community's economic woes.

African Americans have the highest poverty rate - 27 percent - despite being only about 12 percent of the population, according to the State of Working America report. The poverty rate of white Americans is less than 10 percent.

According to public policy organization Demos, the economy remains a major priority for black voters with nearly one in four saying it is the most important problem facing the country today. Nearly six in 10 blacks said the absence of good jobs is a big problem in their communities.

Perhaps this was something Trump was aware of when he promised to improve black voters' communities. The black unemployment rate reached record lows during Trump's presidency, a fact he is quick to note when he is accused of ignoring the concerns of African Americans.

Despite improvements, there remains a gap between the quality of life of black and white Americans - and that is an issue King championed half a century ago years after activists before him brought the issue into the national conversation.

Theodore Johnson, senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, wrote for The Washington Post about why black are often loyal Democrats where they are so ideologically diverse:

"By the mid-1930s, blacks voted increasingly for Democrats - even though their party identification didn't change - because of the Democratic Party's progressive economic and civil rights policies, such as the extension of New Deal programs to blacks and the desegregation of the military in the late 1940s.

"Despite this history, there is still no clean alignment between how blacks describe their political ideology and which candidates they vote for. As recently as 2012, studies show that 47 percent of blacks identify as liberal and 45 percent as conservative, but 93 percent voted for the reelection of Barack Obama."

At one point, this suggested there could be an opportunity for black voters to be drawn to the GOP's economic message. Under Trump, that seems unlikely. In addition to the GOP losing black voters in 2016, it has lost black voters in the local races since then that have been viewed as a referendum on Trump,

Despite African Americans traditionally voting Democratic, some have accused Democrats of taking black voters for granted, which is part of the reason black voter turnout in 2016 was lower than previous elections. The question many are asking now is whether lawmakers move forward in making a reality of King's dream of economic equality for working class people of color.French President Emmanuel Macron renewed his pledge to overhaul swathes of the French economy on Wednesday, disregarding a crippling train strike that is poised to last weeks and students blockading universities across the country.

The government is "calm and most determined" to implement a reform of state-owned railway operator SNCF, spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told reporters following the weekly Cabinet meeting. "Protests mustn't keep us from making the changes for which we were elected less than a year ago," he said.

SNCF said about 30 percent of its employees, including 74 percent of drivers, were on strike on Wednesday, leaving only one in seven high-speed trains running, about one in five regional trains, and about one in three Paris commuter services. Several campuses including Paris's Sorbonne university were blocked as students protested a plan to make applications more selective.

Undeterred by the demonstrations, Macron's Cabinet today approved a housing policy plan and examined an immigration bill as well a constitutional reform. Changes at SNCF, the indebted national railroad, will deny future hires the job security, early retirement and special pensions of existing workers while opening lines up to competition, a recipe for reform which Macron plans to apply to the rest of the euro region's second-largest economy.

All the same, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe canceled a three-day trip to Mali later this week due to the strikes.

In his first year in office, Macron pushed through a liberalization of labor law and cut taxes on capital, and is now planning to overhaul jobless benefits, simplify France's retirement systems, and streamline parliamentary procedures. Protests against Macron's earlier measures were timid and quickly faded, but the SNCF's 74,000 employees are heavily unionized and united.

The next strike runs from 8 p.m. on Saturday April 7 until 8 a.m. on Tuesday April 10. Unions have planned a series of two-day stoppages every five days until June but Thierry Nier, deputy head of the CGT union, the largest at the SNCF, said on France Info Wednesday they could be called off if there are advances in the talks.

Air France unions have called for strikes on April 7, 10, and 11 in an unrelated pay dispute at the national airline. There is also a strike of garbage collectors in the Paris region.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said it's too early to judge what impact the strikes could have on the economy. "It's our ability to hold firm in our determination to transform the SNCF that's decisive for the image we have overseas," he told LCI television.

Meanwhile, students have blocked universities in Paris, Montpellier, Toulouse, and Nice to protest what they say are more selective admissions procedures. About 10 sites are blocked across the country, according to BFM.

"As long as we are in discussion or debate about the law, then it's normal," Higher Education Minister Frederique Vidal said on France2 Wednesday. "But I can't accept that students are hit, that buildings are damaged like in Nice. There are many false claims out there."

French strikes have generally been unsuccessful for the past 20 years. Unions failed to stop President Nicolas Sarkozy raising the retirement age in 2010, nor Francois Hollande making it easier to fire workers in 2016.

But memories are still vivid of 1995, when a series of massive strikes forced the government to back down on making cuts to the country's welfare and pension system. Likewise, the 1968 student protests in Paris that led to civil and labor unrest, bringing the country to a standstill and almost sparking a constitutional crisis.

Public opinion is split on the current dispute. An Ifop poll released over the weekend showed 46 percent think the SNCF strike is justified, while 53 percent say it isn't. But just two weeks earlier, 42 percent had said the strikes were justified.

"The Battle for Public Opinion Begins," was the headline in Wedbday's Le Parisien newspaper.Nearly two months after Anthony Borges was shot numerous times while shielding classmates from gunfire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the 15-year-old has been released from the hospital, his attorney said.

CNN reported that the boy had barricaded a door to try to protect his fellow students when he was shot five times on Feb. 14 in Parkland, Fla.

Seventeen students and staff members were killed, and 17 others were injured in one of the deadliest school massacres. Anthony is the last of the wounded survivors to be released from the hospital, according to CNN.

Anthony told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday morning that he had thought he was "going to die" and that now he just feels lucky to be alive.

"I feel good," he said.

Anthony's attorney, Alex Arreaza, said Wednesday that the teen was released over the weekend and that, although he is thinner and weak, Anthony is in "good spirits."

Arreaza told The Washington Post that one bullet had "clipped" the teen's liver and three others had hit his legs. He said that because of the boy's injuries, doctors had to remove part of one of his lungs.

Arreaza said that Anthony cannot speak for long periods of time without becoming winded and that the teen will need physical therapy and possible treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

But, he said, the boy is "happy he's home."

"He's a little shellshocked right now," Arreaza said. "But his spirits changed completely once he got home. The most noticeable thing is that he was smiling a lot more."

Anthony was asked on the "Today" show whether he knew he was a hero - and he shook his head.

"He's a hero in my book," his attorney said. He added that Anthony is "the real deal."

Arreaza said it's unclear at this time whether the teen will return to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He said last month that the teen's family intends to sue Broward County, Broward County Public Schools and the Broward County Sheriff's Office for failing to protect the students.Companies pay billions of dollars each year for specific trainings in hopes of boosting their overall performance. Companies attempt to improve culture through offering craft beer, ping pong tables, and catered lunches on Friday, among many other things.

These are all great ideas, but isnt solving the elephant in the room thats holding companies back. When it comes to cultivating a high performing culture and company, it starts by addressing your employees well being -- in particular, their fatigue levels.

Forty-three percent of Americans rarely get a good nights sleep on weeknights, while two-thirds admit that their sleep needs arent being met. The average person admits to needing 7.5 hours of nightly sleep to feel refreshed. Yet, theyre only getting six hours and 55 minutes of sleep.

This may seem insignificant, but factor this number up over the course of the year and a large sleep debt forms.

Related: 15 Unexpected Things That Are Stealing Your Sleep

In a Sleep in America poll, 29 percent of workers reported falling asleep or coming close to it while at work. Costs attributed to sleep deprivation in the U.S. alone was $411 billion. To break this down further, a fatigue cost calculator developed through the Sleep Matters Initiative at Brigham Health for the National Safety Council estimated that an employer with 1,000 workers is expected to lose about $1.4 million dollars each year due to fatigue.

Sleep deprived workers arent merely costing companies money, theyre also affecting a companies culture, reputation and ability to impact the world, as well as recruiting and retaining talent. If you want to cultivate a high performing company and culture, it starts with injecting sleep into the DNA of the company for these three reasons.

1. Mental performance.

Whats a lost hour or two when theres more work to do -- or more hustling as we like to call it these days? Everything.

While you may hear people clamor about how little sleep they need, this is a false narrative thats sending a message that sleep is disposable and optional. Sleep is nutrition for your brain and when youre not properly recharging, your mind isnt able to cognitively perform at a high level. In fact, sleeping consistently for only six hours nightly over a two week period leads to the same cognitive performance as someone staying up for 24 consecutive hours.

With all of this said, to help swing the fatigue pendulum in a more positive direction, designate an area for naps and recharging or invest in a few nap pods. A 20-minute nap isnt going to cure the sleep-loss epidemic, but it can slightly improve employees' reasoning skills, memory, and creativity, while lessening the chances of developing burnout.

2. Leadership

High performing and emotionally savvy leaders are cultivated through consistent high-quality sleep. While leadership requires a high level of executive brain functioning, leadership also requires you to be charismatic and inspiring.

However, when youre sleep deprived, your ability to charm and inspire others decreases. This happens due to it being harder to control emotions and connect effectively with others. When youre sleep deprived, your prefrontal cortex (logic and reasoning) experiences lower activity while your amygdala (heightened emotions) increases in activity.

This leads to a workforce that is irritable, short-tempered, and less empathetic toward one another and the potential customers they interact with.

Related: 16 Things That Lack of Sleep Can Do to You, According to Science

When it comes to improving your workforces ability to lead themselves and others, establish sleep-friendly policies. For example, support boundaries between work and leisure by establishing specific cutoff times where employees can make themselves unavailable until the next day.

3. 'Presenteeism.'

In 2011, Harvard scientists estimated that sleep deprivation costs U.S. Companies $63.2 billion in lost productivity, mainly because of "presenteeism." While absenteeism garners most of the spotlight, the workers who show up but produce subpar work is as big of an issue.

In fact, researchers discovered that for every hour of sleep lost the night before, employees waste approximately 8.4 more minutes browsing online during the workday.

To help with presenteeism issues, start implementing flexible start times to accommodate individuals chronotypes. Some people thrive early in the morning while others take a little longer due to being night owls that fall asleep later. To accommodate night owls, allow them to arrive mid-morning.

Lastly, to keep productivity high and maintain cohesion, designate times in the middle of the day (11 am to 3 pm, for example) for when the entire team needs to be present. Being flexible with start times leads to employees being more likely to function at their best and to have higher engagement.

Its time to change the narrative about sleep. With proper amounts of sleep, your employees will recharge their brains, strengthen their bodies, and arrive at the workplace in a more friendly and productive mood, which is beneficial to your company's workers, customers and bottom line.

Related: How CEOs Optimize Their Sleep Schedule

Sleep isnt the enemy nor a sign of weakness, its your most important asset to creating a high performing company and culture.

Related:

To Build a High-Performing Company Your Team Needs a Good Night's Sleep Every Night

Want to be More Successful? Go to Bed.

10 Secrets to Sleeping Better -- And Being More Productive the Next Day



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his promised border wall is built.

Speaking during a visit with Baltic leaders, Trump said he's been discussing the idea with his Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis.

"We're going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," he said, calling the measure a "big step" that had rarely been done before.

Federal law prohibits the use of active duty service members for law enforcement inside the U.S., unless specifically authorized by Congress. But over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support.

The White House counsel's office has been working on the idea for several weeks.

Trump has been deeply frustrated about the lack of progress building what was the signature promise of his campaign: a "big, beautiful wall" along the Mexican border. He's previously suggested using the Pentagon's budget to pay for building the wall, arguing it is a national security priority, despite strict rules that prohibit spending that's not authorized by Congress.

The Department of Homeland Security and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. At the Pentagon, officials were struggling to answer questions about the plan, including rudimentary details on whether it would involve National Guard members, as similar programs in the past have done.

But officials appeared to be considering a model similar to a 2006 operation in which former President Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border in an effort to increase security and surveillance.

Under Operation Jump Start, 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to assist border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained. Over the two years, about 29,000 National Guard forces participated in the missions, as forces rotated in and out.

Active duty U.S. troops weren't used for the operation because legal prohibitions.

In addition, President Barack Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in 2010 to beef up efforts to battle drug smuggling and illegal immigration.

Texas has also deployed military forces to its 800-mile border with Mexico. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, now Trump's energy secretary, ordered the deployment of 1,000 Texas National Guardsmen to the Rio Grande Valley in summer 2014 in response to a sharp rise in the numbers of children crossing the border alone.Before Google Maps and GPS, before knowledge of magnetic compasses traveled from China to Europe, Viking sailors journeyed across the North Atlantic. A thousand years ago, the trip between Norway and Greenland by longboat took about three weeks. Viking navigators used shadows cast by a sun compass, a ring with a central fin like a sun dial's, to identify geographic north.

But such compasses work only when the sun shines, not on foggy or cloudy days. In 1967, Danish archaeologist Thorkild Ramskou proposed that the Vikings had a backup tool for navigation. Perhaps, he suggested, they tracked the sun through the clouds using chunks of crystal called sunstones.

Sunstones sound wild, even mystical. But two optics researchers, Denes Szaz and Gabor Horvath at Budapest's Eotvos Lorand University, calculated that the Vikings could have used sunstones to orient their ships on the long voyage to Greenland.

The sunstone trick hinges on a property of sunlight called polarization. Polarization simply means that the light has a non-random orientation. When sunlight travels through the atmosphere, it forms polarized rings, with the sun at the center like a bull's eye.

Animals such as fish and migratory birds are able to detect the polarization of the sun's rays and use it to navigate. Human eyes, though, need help. Crystals such as calcite, also called Iceland spar, can reveal the direction of polarization, a bit like a prism that reveals the rainbow within white light.

"Rotating such a crystal in front of our eyes to and fro, the intensity of skylight transmitted through the crystal changes periodically," Horvath said. Put another way, the sunstone brightens as it aligns with polarized skylight, even on cloudy days. When the sunstone is brightest, the crystal points at the sun, allowing a theoretical Viking ship to get its bearings.

Archaeological evidence that Vikings actually used sunstones is scant. In 2013, a crystal of Iceland spar was found amid the wreckage of a British ship that sank in 1592. "This raised the possibility that the sky-polarimetric navigation method might have been used still, even in the 16th century," Horvath said.

Much older Viking legends, like the "The Saga of King Olaf," refer to navigation by solarsteinn - a sunstone. And the theory holds up in experimental tests: A physicist named Guy Ropars, at France's University of Rennes 1, built a sunstone device and used it to find the location of the sun to within 1 percent of the sky, Science magazine reported in 2011.

The most recent work by Horvath and Szaz gauged the success of a Viking ship navigating from Norway to Greenland by sunstone. They simulated a Viking boat that sailed beneath a sky with randomly changing meteorological conditions. The scientists modeled the properties of sunstone crystals based on laboratory tests and planetarium experiments, Horvath said.

After running the simulation 36,000 times, they concluded that a sunstone could guide Vikings through fog and clouds, as long as a navigator identified the sun once per three hours. Given that time frame, "the navigation success was very high," Horvath said - between 80 and 100 percent, as the scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science. If the simulated Vikings used calcite sunstones once every four hours or more, they missed Greenland and sailed all the way to Canada.

A lot of uncertainty surrounds this model. "Nobody knows what the Vikings' navigation practices were," Horvath said. He suspects they overestimated the success rate. The researchers assumed no strong winds or storms blew the ships off course and that the Viking ships didn't drift away at night. And other navigation techniques could have aided the Vikings, too, Horvath pointed out. Early sailors were keen observers, monitoring wave patterns, familiar islands and even the paths of migrating whales.It was an all-too-common occurrence Tuesday when an armed assailant  this time at YouTube headquarters in the Bay Area  walked into a crowded area and opened fire.

But while the attack at the San Bruno complex that left three people wounded and the shooter dead mirrored so many recent bloodbaths around the country, the type of weapon and number of rounds the shooter was limited to may have prevented another national tragedy, mass shooting experts said Wednesday.

Power of weaponry, the number of bullets and the ability to shoot more rapidly are the things that make mass shootings more deadly, said John Donohue, a professor at Stanford Law School who studies gun violence. The fact that she only had a handgun and it was apparently restrained to the legal limit in California is all to the good.

Nasim Aghdam, 39, used a legally-purchased 9mm Smith & Wesson semiautomatic handgun in the rampage, police said, and had fired it that morning at an unnamed gun range near the YouTube campus.

California law prohibits new purchases of high-capacity magazines, which suggests Aghdam was limited because of that restriction to 10 rounds before she would have to reload.

High-capacity magazines, which hold well over 10 bullets and have been seriously restricted in California in recent years, are critical features in many of the countrys mass shootings with high body counts, Donohue said.

Police have not said when and where Aghdam purchased the firearm or how much ammunition she had, but San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said she fired quite a few shots before turning the gun on herself.

In the end, Aghdam lay dead while paramedics rushed three victims with gunshot wounds to San Francisco General Hospital. Two women, ages 32 and 27, were released Tuesday night and a third victim, a 36-year-old man, remained hospitalized in serious condition.

Aside from the size of magazine, Aghdams use of a handgun over a high-powered rifle  like an AR-15-style weapon  increased the survivability of the attack, experts said.

Theres no question if you get shot by a handgun anywhere other than the most vital regions, youre better off than getting shot with an AR-15, Donohue said. In Sandy Hook, there were almost no survivors. The smaller the caliber, the more your ability to survive if you dont get shot in the head or heart from someone shooting wildly.

AR-15-style rifles have been used in many of the deadliest recent attacks, including at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a 2012 massacre in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 kids and six school staff and faculty dead.

In the October shooting in Las Vegas, Stephen Paddock fired on a crowded country music festival, killing 58 with several similar rifles. Omar Mateen the year before killed 49 people with such a weapon inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, and in February, a former student killed 17 people with an AR-15-style rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

AR-15-style rifles were developed for combat but manufactured and produced for consumers. The wounds from such guns can be so devastating that a shot to the leg or arm can cause massive blood loss, experts said.

But even though AR-15-style rifles have been used in many of the deadliest mass shootings, handguns are used more often, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist and researcher at Northeastern University, and co-author of Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder.

Most mass killings dont involve assault weapons, he said. Theyre hard to conceal and handguns are lighter and easier.

The shooter in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, for example, used two handguns to kill 32 fellow students and faculty in the third-deadliest shooting in recent U.S. history. Elliot Rodger used knives and handguns to kill six people and wound 14 more in a rampage in Isla Vista, Calif., in 2014.

Handguns are also the preferred weapons of female assailants, who only make up about 5 percent of mass shooters, Fox said.

But since theres no death toll other than the shooter, Tuesdays attack doesnt fit the widely accepted definition of a mass shooting, in which four or more people are killed.

The attack, though, had some of the hallmarks of so many mass shootings because the shooter indiscriminately targeted her victims, police said.

Still, the attack was not completely random, and its not clear if the shooter was even seeking a high body count. Police said Aghdams motive for the attack had to do with the policies and practices of YouTube and she was angry at the company for skimping on revenue driven by her page.The woman who authorities say shot three people at YouTube's headquarters on Tuesday before killing herself was fueled by anger at the company and its policies, according to police and family members.

"It is believed the suspect was upset with the policies and practices of YouTube," said Ed Barberini, the chief of police in San Bruno, California, where YouTube's headquarters is located. "This appears to be the motive for this incident."

Police said Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, of San Diego, opened fire on the YouTube campus with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun she had legally purchased. Aghdam fired seemingly indiscriminately at people before turning the gun on herself, police said.

"There's absolutely no link or relationship that we've identified between our suspect and anybody who was at the scene at the time of the incident," Barberini said at a news briefing Wednesday.

In the hours before the shooting, authorities said Aghdam, who had been reported missing on Monday, encountered local police officers in another city but did not set off any alarms during that interaction. She then headed to a local gun range on Tuesday before traveling to YouTube, Barberini said.

Before she visited the gun range, police in Mountain View, California, said they encountered Aghdam sleeping in her car there early Tuesday morning. Mountain View, home to Google, YouTube's owner, is about 25 miles south of San Bruno. Aghdam's relatives have said that they warned police that Aghdam, an active YouTube user, had expressed frustration with the company and claimed it was restricting her content.

The Mountain View police said in a statement Tuesday that Aghdam never mentioned YouTube to the officers and did not discuss harming herself or anyone else.

"Throughout our entire interaction with her, she was calm and cooperative," the Mountain View police statement said. "At the conclusion of our interaction with her, she in no way met any reason for us to speak with her further or possibly detain her."

Police said they spoke to Aghdam's father and brother, but neither of them mentioned "anything about potential acts of violence or a possibility of Aghdam lashing out as a result of her issues with her videos."

Google did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday about whether the company had been contacted by police or any authorities about Aghdam.

The attack in San Bruno marked the latest high-profile burst of gun violence to transform a seemingly safe space into a chaotic scene of bloodshed and fear, and it came as the country's debate over firearms and public safety remains fraught in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, high school massacre.

The violence began about 12:45 p.m. in a courtyard outside the company's headquarters, just south of San Francisco. Witnesses described seeing a woman shooting a gun in the courtyard as others ran for their lives.

Police in San Bruno said they were called at 12:46 p.m. on Tuesday about gunshots and, after arriving two minutes later, found three people who had been shot and injured. A fourth person was also taken to the hospital after injuring an ankle while fleeing. Two people injured in the shooting were released from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Tuesday night, according to a spokesman. A third patient - a man in his 30s - was in serious condition Wednesday morning.

Aghdam appeared to be an active user of YouTube who had posted videos about veganism, fitness and animal cruelty. Channels believed to be linked to her were published in English, Farsi and Turkish, and each had several thousand subscribers; all were taken down by late Tuesday.

In videos and written posts on a website that appeared to be hers, she said that YouTube was discriminating against her and filtering her videos to keep them from getting views. One post said that "you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system."

Aghdam's father told the Bay Area News Group that she recently expressed to relatives relatives that YouTube was censoring her videos and stopped paying her for them. "She was angry," he said. He also said he had told police she might be going to YouTube because she "hated" the company. Her brother told KGTV, a television station in San Diego, that he warned police "she might do something" after learning Agdham had traveled to the Bay Area.

The Mountain View police said that after they found Agdham early Tuesday, they called and spoke with her father and brother.

"At no point during that conversation did either Aghdam's father or brother make any statements regarding the woman's potential threat to, or a possible attack on, the YouTube campus," police said. "Also, there was no indication from either Aghdam or her family that she may have been in possession of any weapons."

The family then called back an hour later and said that Agdham had become upset with YouTube, which may have been the reason she was in the area, police said. The police statement said Aghdam's father "did not seem concerned that she was in the area, and wanted to simply let us know that may have been a reason for her move up here."

Neither relative could be reached for comment about the Mountain View police account. A woman who answered the door at her father's house closed it when a reporter visited Wednesday. In a statement posted outside the home, the family said it was "in absolute shock and can't make sense of what has happened."

"Although no words can describe our deep pain for this tragedy, our family would like to express their utmost regret, sorrow for what has happened to innocent victims," the family statement said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families."

A newspaper was sitting outside the family's home on Wednesday. The lead story was about the shooting at YouTube.

John Rundell, who lives next door to her parents, said he was shocked, describing the family as "wonderful."

Rundell said her father had mentioned her dislike of YouTube and was "really worried" when she went missing. After the shooting Tuesday, Rundell said he was in the family's home and described them as destroyed by what happened.

"You have a 40-year-old kid that does something crazy, it's . . . I feel really bad for them," he said.

Barberini, the San Bruno police chief, said his investigators were not aware of what information was relayed and to whom.

"I don't know what concerns were conveyed to that police department or how or where those concerns were relayed to," Barberini told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday morning.

The YouTube shooting is unusual in that most acts of mass violence are carried out by men. An FBI examination of active shootings between 2000 and 2013 looked at 160 attacks and found that just six involved female shooters. A recent Secret Service study of mass violence last year in the United States found that there were 28 such violent incidents - including the shooting rampages in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas - and all were carried out by men.

The gunfire on Tuesday set off panic around the offices of YouTube, San Bruno's biggest employer, which has been in the process of expanding its space for years. Susan Wojcicki, YouTube's chief executive, posted on Twitter: "We will come together to heal as a family."

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google, said in a statement that he was "grateful to everyone inside and outside the company for the outpouring of support and best wishes."

"I know a lot of you are in shock right now," he said. "Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy."

- - -

Julie Tate, Derek Hawkins and Devlin Barrett in Washington and Roxana Popescu in Menifee, California, contributed to this report, which has been updated.

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Video:

Video Police identified Nasim Najafi Aghdam as the suspect in the YouTube shooting on April 3. Aghdam reportedly felt YouTube was censoring her videos.

URL: https://wapo.st/2GvC8lR

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Video Embed Code

Video: Three people were shot by an attacker on April 3 at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, Calif. The shooter later killed herself.(Patrick Martin,Melissa Macaya/The Washington Post)

Embed code:Gun-rights activists are praising city council members in Alamo Heights and Hollywood Park for repealing their local ordinances that prohibited anyone other than an authorized police officer from carrying a loaded rifle or shotgun on public streets.

Anytime that the second amendment is respected, and even better promoted, thats a very good, very healthy and very American thing, David Amad, vice president of Open Carry Texas, said Wednesday. The truth of the matter is state law has pre-empted all of these different city ordinances for some time. Its really just a formality.

To get them erased from the books, thats always a good thing, he added.

City council members in Hollywood Park and Alamo Heights voted late Tuesday and early Wednesday to repeal their open carry ordinances, less than a week after the Olmos Park City Council did the same.

All three of the ordinances were in clear violation with state law, which allows individuals to openly carry a long gun without a license. Texas also prohibits municipalities from pre-empting state law by regulating the transfer, ownership or carrying of firearms.

The laws came to light early last week after CJ Grisham, the president and co-founder of Open Carry Texas, was tased while being arrested at a small gun rights demonstration in Olmos Park. Two other activists also were arrested at that time.

More Information AT See More Collapse

Police charged Grisham, a retired Army sergeant from Temple, with assault of a police officer, interfering with the duties of a public servant and obstructing a roadway, according to court records.

A spokeswoman for the Bexar County District Attorneys Office said Wednesday that prosecutors are reviewing all three charges.

The arrests drew the ire of gun-rights activists who say Grisham and his peers were lawfully practicing their First and Second amendment rights and that the police departments response to the demonstrations were unwarranted.

They also say the arrests follow a pattern of similar behavior by Olmos Park police. Between Feb. 7 and March 17, three other activists who were openly carrying weapons in the small city were arrested, detained or threatened during similar demonstrations, the group says.

During a short presentation Wednesday, Alamo Heights Police Chief Rick Pruitt suggested the City Council repeal its ordinance, which was passed on Oct. 12, 1964, but he assured residents that the police department was aware of their concerns.

We will investigate all cases of individuals displaying rifles and shotguns.  Were going to observe the behaviors out there because its not the possession or display of weapons. Its the conduct of the individual thats going to initiate police action, he said.

Hollywood Park Mayor Chris Fails said the ordinance there had been on the books for at least three decades. No one in the city was aware the ordinance existed, he said, and the police department was not enforcing it.

Im a big supporter of the Second amendment . . . Im glad we have our ordinance in line with state law, he said.

eeaton@express-news.netA fire started in a neighboring building eventually brought down the roof of a Southwest Side home Wednesday afternoon.

It was one of three fires San Antonio firefighters battled on a windy, difficult day where gusts reached over 30 miles per hour.

San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Joe Arrington said the wind has put the department in a heightened state of readiness, and they're using an "embellished" response to fight the fires. Usually, three engines and one ladder will respond to a given fire, but due to the wind four engines and two ladders are responding.

RELATED: Gun found in New Braunfels student's car after threatening social media post, officials say

More than a dozen units responded to the 500 block of Ceralvo Street around noon.

The home had one person inside at the time, who was able to leave before the flames spread. Other family members who lived in the home watched first responders put out the blaze.

Fire Chief Charles Hood said the fire traveled from a nearby building to a car and then to the house.

"It's expected on a day like today," Hood said. "The smallest fire can turn into something like this."

Though the cause of the fire is unclear, Hood advised cigarette smokers to take extra precautions given the gusty winds.

Earlier in the day firefighters had responded to the 3900 block of Meadowlark around 11 a.m. Arrington said the fire destroyed the home's garage and a significant portion of the living space of the home.

RELATED: SAPD: 2 trapped in submerged SUV after rolling into San Antonio River

An additional response team went to the fire as a precautionary measure, as wind was blowing the fire towards neighboring homes.

The cause of the fire is unknown.

"They're still sifting through it," Arrington said. "They'll be there for a while."

Crews were also called to an apartment complex in the 6100 block of Northwest Loop 410.

Michael Shackelford, the director of policy and resource at the Alamo Community Group, said contractors were soldering in an empty apartment unit and caught some insulation on fire.

The blaze was extinguished before it could do any serious damage.

Two units were affected, and no one was injured.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSATwo men were trapped in a submerged SUV Wednesday after rolling down a ravine into the San Antonio River, police said.

After the two freed themselves, the driver told police he swerved to avoid hitting a dog around 7:20 a.m. while traveling westbound on Steves Avenue near Mission Road.FLORESVILLE  A woman Wednesday told the Wilson County jury that convicted a former San Antonio lawyer of trafficking that she had sex with the man because he told her that would be a form of payment to represent her.

Mark Henry Benavides was convicted Tuesday on six counts of continuous trafficking of persons. He immediately was taken into custody and is being held in Wilson County Jail for the duration of his trial.

During the first phase, six women testified that they had sex with Benavides, 48, who videotaped the encounters with the women at a downtown motel. The women, who are not being identified, said they felt they had no choice but to comply with his wishes so he would keep them out of jail, get their cases dismissed or lessen their legal troubles.

Prosecutor Meredith Chacon warned the jury in her opening statement that they would see more people victimized by the defendant and more disturbing videos but asked them to keep in mind the reason they need to see them.

In her opening statement, defense attorney Monica E. Guerrero told the panel they would hear from Benavides himself, and his family, and they would each ask the jury to show mercy.

On Wednesday, six additional women who either hired Benavides or had him as a court-appointed attorney told similar stories of being picked up by Benavides and taken to a motel or the courthouse for sex. Each said they felt they could not say no to the man.

Under direct questioning by Chacon, one former client, 30, told the jury she met Benavides when he represented her then-boyfriend in an assault case. She said Benavides later became her lawyer in a theft case.

He said sex would be a form of payment, she told the jury. I didnt want to, but needed to to make my lawyer happy.

When asked by Chacon what she felt could happen if she didnt comply, she replied, He would drop my case if I didnt have sex with him.

Prosecutor Jay Norton introduced three videos that were shown only to the jury that contained Benavides and the woman.

In one, Benavides tells the woman he is married, has two children, was running for judge and liked to have sex with other women.

Also Wednesday, another witness testified she had sex in a room used by jurors in Bexar County and that an employee caught them in the act.

We were in the jury room, we were having sex, and someone walked in and caught us, she said. It was a lady.

Janet Villarreal told the jury she was a clerk in Bexar County Court-at-Law No. 6 at that time, which she believed to be around 2010, when she walked into a jury room and saw two people having sex.

I was dumbfounded, turned around and walked away, she told the jury.

Villarreal said she told her court coordinator about what she saw and that Benavides went into the coordinators office. Shortly after, she said Benavides passed by her and said he had stepped out of the room and that his clients boyfriend went in and they had sex when he stepped out.

After that, Villarreal said Benavides hardly ever was in that court.

Another witness, 29, told the jury Benavides would have sex with her in a jury room of the 399th state District Court.

Another former client, 32, told the jury once she realized she was going to have to have sex with him to stay out of jail, she started trying to avoid him. She said he began calling and texting her and her mother and her fiance.

She said he told her he wanted her to call him on Tuesdays so they could meet up. When she didnt show up in court on a Tuesday, a warrant was issued and she was put in jail.

I was not going to have sex with him every Tuesday, she told the jury. Id rather go back to jail than do that over and over.

With each witness, defense attorneys Guerrero and Liza Rodriguez asked them why they did not take the opportunity to leave or run and tell authorities if they felt forced. Each said she was too afraid and felt he had all of the control.

Benavides faces up to life in prison and is not eligible for parole.A New Braunfels High School student is facing charges after police found an unloaded pistol in his car in the school's parking lot.

Superintendent Randy Moczygemba addressed the incident in a brief statement Wednesday on the school district's website.A new, experimental aircraft now being developed by NASA could make it possible to fly from New York to London in the same amount of time it takes Houstonians to drive to Waco.

Called the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, the plane aims to achieve what its name suggests: reduce the ear-splitting, sonic boom that occurs when a plane breaks the sound barrier. This technology, essentially, would allow commercial airlines to travel faster than the speed of a sound  and do so quietly, marked only by a "gentle thump" or about as loud as a car door closing, said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator of the agency's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, during a news conference Tuesday.

And doing so means cross-country, commercial flight times would be cut in half.

"I believe today is a new beginning for NASA Aeronautics," Shin said. "People flying on commercial supersonic flights in the future will say April 3, 2018, was the day it all began."

Federal officials announced their plans Tuesday for this new experimental plane -- or X-plane -- at a Washington, D.C., news conference, which was aired on the agency's website. Those plans include awarding California-based Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. $247.5 million to build the plane, set to embark on its first test flight in early 2021.

The plane being built for NASA will never transport passengers -- a point that Dave Richardson, the director for air vehicle designs and technologies at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, emphasized during the Tuesday news conference.

"This is a purpose-built experimental research aircraft," he said. "It is not a prototype for a supersonic business jet. It is not a prototype for some weapons system. It is not a derivative or some other modification of an existing airplane."

Instead it will test technologies to make supersonic flight quiet and efficient, as well as collect data from communities on whether they are able to hear any sonic booms when the plane flies overhead.

This data will be provided to the Federal Aviation Administration in the hopes that it will develop new rules about supersonic passenger flights. Currently, the FAA bans these flights over land, in part because of concerns on how they would impact communities and infrastructure on the ground.

Sound was a problem in the 1970s when the Concorde -- an aircraft that could cross the Atlantic in just over three hours by traveling twice the speed of sound -- was built by European manufacturers and began making transatlantic flights, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

In March 1973, the FAA banned the Concorde -- and any future supersonic civil aircraft -- from flying over land after residents complained about the sonic boom, saying it was a nuisance and a safety issue, according to a February 2017 Washington Post article. The Concorde stopped flying in 2003.

NASA hopes to fix this problem with its experimental plane, and the Trump Administration is on board. President Donald Trump's fiscal year 2019 budget proposal for the space agency fully funds the plane at $88.3 million. A total of $274.1 million for the project is projected out over five years in the proposal.

This plane "would open a new market for U.S. companies to build faster commercial airliners, creating jobs and cutting cross-country flight times in half," according to the budget proposal.

The key, officials said Tuesday, is the shape of the plane, or more specifically, the shape of the wing.

"Future supersonic aircraft seeking to achieve a low-boom ... will rely on a swept wing design in order to fly at supersonic speeds without producing a loud sonic boom," according to NASA's website.

This shape sends supersonic shockwaves away from the aircraft in a way that prevents them from coming together in two sonic booms, according to the agency's website.

Lockheed Martin must hand the constructed plane over to NASA by Dec. 31, 2021. After that, NASA will survey four to six communities between mid-2022 and 2025. Those communities have not yet been picked, but officials say they will survey both urban and rural areas that vary in size.

Commercial companies already have entered the fray.

For example, Denver-based Boom Technology is developing a commercial plane that can travel 1,450 mph, for example, cutting a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo from 11 hours to less than six. Japan Air Lines has invested $10 million in the company, and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group also has invested, according to the company's website.

Boom expects to have these planes in the air transporting passengers by 2023, according to a June 2017 CNBC article.

The flights won't be cheap. Roundtrip travel from San Francisco to Tokyo would cost about $6,400, while a roundtrip ticket from New York to London would cost about $5,000, Boom's website states.

Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.We have officially crossed through the looking glass on the subject of trust in the traditional news media.

Yes, we're in a land described in the Lewis Carroll classic where meaning is exceedingly hard to pin down.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."

A new Monmouth University poll says that three of four Americans believe that traditional news organizations report "fake news."

I've been arguing for more than a year that the term should be shunned because its original meaning - that is, fabricated stories intended to fool you - has been so purposely blurred and tainted.

That's largely the doing of President Donald Trump, who wants nothing more than to have the American public distrust the reality-based press which often reports unflattering - but true - things about him.

Just Tuesday he was tweeting about the "Fake News Networks, those that knowingly have a sick and biased AGENDA."

The poll set out to measure American beliefs about "fake news," without clarity about its kaleidoscopic meanings.

Are we talking about factual journalism that a politician doesn't like (for example, The Washington Post's reporting on the sexual misconduct of former Alabama judge Roy Moore, which his wife labeled "fake news")? Or about flat-out lies such as "the pope has endorsed Donald Trump" that circulated on social media during the presidential campaign?

The poll never manages - or really tries - to differentiate between those meanings, or a bunch of others.

Naturally, pro-Trump media outlets made hay with it, none more so than Breitbart News, which splashed a clumsy photo illustration of a trash fire labeled CNN, accompanied by a huge headline: "77 percent believe traditional media guilty of fake news."

It sure sounded bad, even though the 800 respondents, by a 48 to 35 percent margin, did allow that they trust CNN more than the president.

Chris Cillizza of CNN tweeted a cry of frustration: "ARGHHHHHHHHHH."

Dig down a layer, though, into the poll's substance and, while you'll find cause for legitimate alarm, you'll also find a troubling conflation of terms.

Consider Question 39a, which asks whether traditional major news sources like TV and newspapers report fake news stories "on purpose in order to push an agenda or do they tend to report them more by accident or because of poor fact checking?"

"When you see the result, you don't know what it means," argued Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of American Press Institute, who has a background in polling with Pew Research.

"It could mean stories I don't like, stories that are critical of a person I like, stories that have a factual error, stories that are fundamentally wrong, or stories made up out of whole cloth by pranksters or political propagandists," he said.

Patrick Murray, director of Monmouth's polling institute, said that conflation doesn't worry him.

The poll's aim, he said, was not to tease out what people mean when they use the term but to measure their overall views.

"The term has become amorphous, but conceptually, it means a lot of people think the media can't be trusted."

And, he added, "there's no question that Donald Trump has been very successful at framing how people see the media. He has undermined trust."

Now that "fake news" can mean almost anything, it has come to mean almost nothing.

In that way, it's become about as useful as the term "the media" - so general as to be pointless. (Are we talking about Fox News, your Facebook feed, NPR, the Chicago Tribune, or some unholy combination of everything you see on a screen, read on a printed page or hear on the airwaves?)

Given that confusion, it's no surprise that many people say they don't trust the media.

And if "fake news" includes "factual coverage that I don't like," it's no wonder the negative numbers are so high. If it also includes "editorial decisions" that reflect negatively on a particular officeholder, it's even less wonder.

It's tempting to say, then, that this poll's findings are just as meaningless as the term itself. It's tempting to dismiss the findings as mortally flawed.

But the Humpty Dumpty effect is worrisome. When words can mean anything, and a truth-averse president has made himself the master of meaning, democracy is in peril.In what's already being dubbed the "Trump-Xi trade war," the U.S. and China this week introduced competing lists of products that they say will be subject to aggressive new tariffs. Although the lists cover goods roughly equal in value, they seem to be laying the groundwork for decidedly different strategies.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said it plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on more than 1,000 Chinese products, totaling about $50 billion of annual imports, in retaliation for what it alleges are unfair trade practices. Trump's list was notable for how hard it worked to minimize the pain felt by American consumers and Chinese businesses. It avoided disrupting major sectors, and seemed to focus on products that could easily be substituted.

By contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration produced a heavily concentrated list that targeted politically sensitive industries such as planes, beef and soybeans. Covering only a little more than 100 products, but worth about the same as the U.S. list, these tariffs seemed designed to place severe pressure on key companies and constituencies.

The lists are signaling different intentions and running different risks. But taken together, they paint a pretty clear picture of where this dispute is headed.

Trump clearly hopes to pressure Beijing to open up its markets while minimizing disruptions for Americans. In fact, he seems to be trying to reach a quick negotiated settlement, as the tariffs won't take effect for at least 60 days. Xi's list is meant to cause concentrated political and financial pain. In other words, while the U.S. tried to soften the blow, China sharpened the knife.

There are risks to each strategy. By being so tentative, the Trump administration could appear eager to settle and fearful of launching the hardline attacks it has talked about. That won't help its negotiating position. It isn't lost on any Chinese technocrat that Trump faces much more political pressure than Xi ever will, which is why China can target its tariffs on Trump voters in soybean states. If Trump appears weak, expect China to simply wait him out until he folds.

A major risk for Beijing, meanwhile, is that it will reinforce the world's suspicions about its trade intentions. Most other countries complain openly about the same issues that Trump is retaliating against. By inflicting pain from the start, China is confirming that it will fight tooth and nail to avoid truly opening up.

The specific products China is targeting may also create vulnerabilities. Slapping tariffs on corporate jet makers may play well on state media, for instance, but the reality is that there's only a couple of competitors in jet markets worldwide, all of whom will likely raise prices in China. Same thing with soybeans, where the U.S. and Brazil are the dominant global suppliers. If China buys exclusively from Brazil, it can expect to start paying significantly more for the privilege.

More broadly, this dispute is laying bare a fundamental misconception on which both Republican and Democratic administrations have staked their credibility: the belief that China truly wants to support a free-trade regime. China's highly aggressive tariffs suggest no interest in negotiating a more open trade and investment environment. To the contrary, they demonstrate just how seriously China takes challenges to its centralized economic model.

Both sides have indicated they intend to negotiate. Each has shown a willingness to levy tariffs and incur costs in defense of their position. But China certainly seems willing to punch harder where it hurts.

- Balding is an associate professor of business and economics at the HSBC Business School in Shenzhen and author of "Sovereign Wealth Funds: The New Intersection of Money and Power."

For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view.Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross recently instructed the U.S. Census Bureau to add a citizenship question to the 2020 decennial census. Adding such a question will have tremendously negative consequences for Texas. It will lead many people in every state, especially in Texas, not to respond to the census, thus reducing the official size of the population.

Many undocumented residents will not want to answer a citizenship question and will not respond to the census, and hence will not be counted in the population. Given the anti-immigrant sentiments of President Donald Trump and other officials in Texas, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, undocumented residents are certainly worried about answering a citizenship question and facing the risk of deportation.

Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution states that seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be assigned to the states based on counts of the population obtained through the decennial census. The census is required to count everyone residing in every state. The number of House seats that a state receives determines the size of its delegation to the Electoral College. And the amount of federal dollars that a state receives is based on the total number of people living in the state. To obtain the maximum benefit politically and economically, states need to have all those living in their states counted in the decennial census.

We have prepared population projections for the 50 states for the year 2020. We then used these numbers to apportion the U.S. House of Representatives, distributing the 435 seats among the 50 states. Our research shows that there will be in 2020 (actually in January 2021) a net change of nine seats in the U.S. House. Texas will gain three seats, Florida will gain two, and Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina and Oregon will each gain one. Nine states will each lose one seat: Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

In the 2010 apportionment, Texas gained four seats. Owing to its high rate of population growth between 2000 and 2020, Texas therefore has gained or will have gained seven seats in the U.S. House. No other state has gained as many seats as Texas. In 2020 we expect that Texas will have 39 seats in the U.S. House, second only to the 53 seats claimed by California.

An estimated 1.7 million undocumented persons lived in Texas in 2016, representing over 6 percent of the population. If some or all of them do not respond to the census, and are thus not counted in the 2020 enumeration, Texas will suffer both economically and politically. What will happen?

Our research indicates that if half, three-quarters or all of the undocumented residents in Texas do not respond to the 2020 census, Texas will only gain two seats, not three. Its other seat will instead go to Alabama or to Montana. And if the unthinkable occurs and the U.S. government decides to use the number of citizens living in each state, not the total population, as the basis for apportioning the U.S. House, then Texas will lose two of its new seats (California will lose three, Florida two and Arizona one).

In 2015 alone, the federal government used Census Bureau population data to distribute more than $675 billion in funds to the states. Texas received over $40 billion of these federal funds, and this is based on the size of its population, which numbered over 27 million residents. If 500,000 or more undocumented Texans do not respond to the 2020 census, the state will lose several billion dollars in federal funds each year starting in 2021.

The attorney general of Texas needs to join the attorneys general of California, New York, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and eight other states in the multistate lawsuits now being filed to block the Trump administration from adding the citizenship question to the 2020 census. Adding the question will cause many million fewer Americans to be counted in the census and it will violate the Constitution.

It will cause the state of Texas to lose several billion dollars each year in federal support, and it will result in Texas losing one or maybe two of its House seats. Adding a citizenship question to the census will not be good for Texas.As an exercise in both empathy and grand strategy, try to imagine being a pro-American Syrian.

Perhaps you saw two of your children killed when a tank attacked your home. Perhaps your street was leveled by barrel bombs. Perhaps your neighborhood was surrounded and slowly starved into submission. Perhaps you watched your daughter being lined up by soldiers who were choosing their rape victims for the day.

While visiting the Middle East over the last few years, I met Syrian refugees who told me all these stories. Many of them expressed their intention to go back home and fight the regime of Bashar Assad. In June 2013, the Obama administration announced it would give direct military support to American-aligned opposition forces.

It was a cruel illusion. American efforts to arm the rebels were generally a joke. But support from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States for jihadist forces in Syria was deadly serious. As was Irans support for its proxies, which kept Assads regime from collapse.

American policy in Syria since the outbreak of civil war in 2011 has been a story of confusion, hesitation and betrayal. President Obamas special adviser for transition in Syria, Frederic Hof, recently provided an important part of the historical record. In a blog post on the Atlantic Councils website, he described Obama-era policy on Syria as a series of commitments broken and red lines ignored.

(Obama) would deal with internal dissent, says Hof, by taking officials through multistep, worst-case, hypothetical scenarios of what might happen in the wake of any American attempt, no matter how modest, to complicate regime mass murder.

Eventually it became clear to Hof that the real reason for this reluctance was an overriding desire to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, even if this meant sacrificing Syrian children and their parents.

The Syrian conflict, in Obamas description, was someone elses civil war. This is one area of disturbing foreign policy continuity between Obama and Donald Trump. In July 2017, the Trump administration ended the covert CIA operation to arm anti-Assad rebels.

Now the president has frozen more than $200 million intended for Syrian reconstruction and announced  apparently against the advice of his military  Well be coming out of Syria very soon.

This would involve the withdrawal of about 2,000 American troops. Let the other people take care of it now, says Trump. (On Wednesday, the White House said the troops will stay until ISIS is eliminated, so its unclear when the troops will leave).

Just to be clear, the other people are Russians, Iranians, Hezbollah terrorists and members of the Assad regime.

The immediate result of an American withdrawal would be a major escalation of the conflict in eastern Syria. It would also remove protection from our few remaining allies on the ground  rewarding their faith with one more parting slap.

Years of poor decisions  and no decisions  have left a wicked problem in Syria. But American forces are making a difference. And their withdrawal at this point would be an act of strategic imbecility. It would leave Russia as the undisputed power broker at the heart of the Middle East. It would cede oil fields under the control of American-allied forces. And it would reward Irans search for regional hegemony.

Does Trump even realize the incoherence of objecting to the softness of the Iran nuclear agreement while proposing to surrender Syria to Iran?

There are perhaps 3 million Syrian refugee children in camps and communities  some traumatized by violence, some bullied and harassed as outsiders, some forced into labor, some subject to radicalization, some 40 percent out of school. Our indifference is storing up generations of resentment and rage.

The final victory of Iran, Russia and Assad would send a number of clear messages: That mass murder works. That the use of chemical weapons works. That the forced starvation of civilians works. That the rules of war and condemnations by America can be ignored with impunity.

And the slow-motion betrayal of Syria has sent a message to every refugee I met and to every potential friend of our country: It can be dangerous to trust in America.STAMFORD  A brother and sister face drug charges following a raid of their South End home.

Capt. Richard Conklin said officers in the Narcotics and Organized Crime squad completed an investigation into crack cocaine deals in the South End with the arrests of Danny Turkvan, 46, and his sister, Alessandria, 29.

Conklin said police were conducting surveillance of Danny Turkvans Lipton Place home after he twice sold crack cocaine to an undercover officer.

Conklin said police arrested Turkvan Friday afternoon after watching him make a deal with another man. Conklin said Turkvan was found with more than 21 grams of crack cocaine and $390 in cash.

Conklin said police also found more than 18 grams of marijuana in Alessandria Turkvans bedroom. Conklin said they also found various bags used for street sales and a digital scale.

Conklin said the crack cocaine was worth about $2,100.

Danny Turkvan, who is on probation, was remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections and his court appearance bond was set at $400,000. He was charged with operating a drug factory, illegal possession of narcotics with intent to sell and two counts of sales of narcotics.

His sister was also charged with operating a drug factory, sale of illegal drugs and possession of a controlled substance.President Trump is erratic, lacks stability and hasnt shown himself fit to hold office, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday, but she hasnt given up the notion of working with him.

I do not believe he is a good president. I do not believe he is fit to be president. I do not believe that we have the stability in the executive office that we need to have, Feinstein, D-Calif., said during an interview with The Chronicles editorial board.

I think theres an erratic behavior there that is deeply concerning, Feinstein said.

But Feinstein, who is trying to win support for a new assault weapons ban  a bill for which she has no Republican co-sponsors  noted that she would need Trumps signature on any measure she can get through Congress.

I dont have a choice if I want him to sign something that Im doing like assault weapons, Feinstein said. Theres nothing I can really do about it until either a house changes (into Democratic control) or theres a constitutional crisis.

So thats what makes what Bob Muellers work so important, Feinstein said, referring to the special counsels investigation into possible collusion between Trumps 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government.

Feinstein brushed aside talk of impeachment before Muellers probe is finished.

The senator angered many Democrats last year when she said of Trump, The question is whether he can learn and change. If so, I believe he can be a good president.

Asked Tuesday whether she still held out hope of working with Trump, she said, What difference does it make what I hope or dont hope? I mean, it is what it is. The ability to do something about it is small because we (Democrats) dont control either one of the houses. And thats just a fact of life.

Feinstein said she lost faith in Trumps ability to be true to his word after his flip-flops concerning two issues that are dear to her: gun control and the fate of young immigrants covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. Trump canceled the program last year, potentially exposing to deportation about 690,000 young immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors.

But he appeared to be open to giving Democrats an opportunity to propose legislation to protect DACA recipients during a January meeting at the White House that was open to the media.

Were going to do DACA, Trump told Feinstein. But the next day, he reversed field. And this week, Trump tweeted that DACA is dead.

Even more painful to Feinstein was when Trump changed his mind on curbing assault weapons. In February, she was among a bipartisan group of 17 legislators who met with Trump for a televised meeting on gun control. There  with the cameras rolling and Feinstein seated next to him  Trump demanded that legislators come together on one terrific bill on guns that would expand background checks and perhaps include Feinsteins proposed ban on assault weapons.

Trump also directed lawmakers to consider Feinsteins new assault weapons ban. Dianne, add what you have also, Trump told her. Cameras caught Feinstein rubbing her hands gleefully at the suggestion.

And that lasted for 24 hours, until Trump changed his mind, Feinstein said Tuesday.

Ive served under Republican and Democratic presidents, said Feinstein, who was first elected to the Senate in 1992. There was always a sense of stability. A presidents word always meant something. It didnt change the day after.

Feinstein conceded she has heard from more liberal Democrats that she has not been tough enough on Trump.

Im not a name-caller. I dont call people names. All people want to hear, it appears, are epithets about him, she said. My job is to get legislation passed or get problems solved or find money to help solve those problems.The British Embassy in Zimbabwe has sought to distance itself from allegations that it is backing President Emmerson Mnangagwa to win in the upcoming 2018 harmonised elections. This comes after Professor Welshman Ncube, the spokesperson for the coalition MDC Alliance spoke out against the British and the Chinese for seemingly backing President Mnangagwa.

Said Ncube,

We think it is inappropriate for the British and the Chinese to pick a horse in this election. They should, instead, insist on Zimbabwe abiding by international norms and standards for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections.

Responding to the allegations, Simon Thomas, the Deputy Ambassador at the British Embassy Harare said that his country did not care about who wins the polls. He insisted that his countrys only interest in the election was that it should be conducted under free and fair conductions. Writing on microblogging site Twitter, Thomas said,

This simply isnt true. Let me be clear: no throwing our weight, no backing horses, ?? (United Kingdom) isnt backing ANYONE in the ?? (Zimbabwe) election! We dont much care WHO wins. We care a lot HOW they win. And well continue to press all sides for a free and fair election.

The dates for the elections are yet to be proclaimed although the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced that the elections will be held between July 21 and August 21.

 Pindula

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Related Zimbabwe Latest News- Elderstatesman, Professor Ben Nwabueze, says he supports TY Danjuma's call for self-defence

Nwabueze, a professor of law, quotes sections of the constitution to back Danjuma's argument

- He accuses the federal government of not doing enough concerning herdsmen and farmers' clashes

A top Nigerian elderstatesman, Professor Ben Nwabueze, has declared his support for the call by former Defence minister, General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd) on Nigerians to defend themselves against killer herdsmen because the military was allegedly colluding with the killers.

Professor Nwabueze, a senior lawyer, was quoted as saying that General Danjuma only re-echoed section 33 of the 1999 constitution, which guarantees Nigerians the right to self-defence.

The lengthy statement reported by Vanguard reads:

Anarchy and a consequent ethnic cleansing loom in the horizon if the attacks, killings, destruction of properties and displacement of people by herdsmen continue unchecked and unpunished, given the failure or inability of the federal government to take action to that effect, a state of things that may likely force the communities at the receiving end to resort to self-defence, as is guaranteed to them by section 33(1) & (2) of the constitution.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation for Oyegun, others reportedly splits APC governors

Gen TY Danjuma (rtd), former minister of Defence, was only re-echoing the guarantee of the constitution when, in a statement on 24 March, 2018, as reported in the newspapers, he called on Nigerians to rise up and defend themselves against the murderous attacks by herdsmen and against the larger design at ethnic cleansing.

The action which the aggrieved individuals may take in self-defence, guaranteed by the constitution, must be viewed in the context of the extraordinary situation created by the herdsmen insurgency and the means they employ - Ak47 and other sophisticated weaponry. Faced by an attack by such means, self-defence using sticks, bows and arrows is futile and meaningless.

What is the value in guaranteeing a person the right of self-defence and then denying him the appropriate means to exercise the right effectively when the need to do so arises? Self-defence, to be effective and meaningful in the prevailing context, must be by means proportioned to the means employed by the attackers. Disarming the citizenry and leaving them unprotected against the killer herdsmen would only render nugatory, to a large extent, the constitutional guarantee of self-defence, viewed again in the context of the extraordinary situation created by the herdsmen armed insurgency and the failure or inability of the Federal Government to stop it.

The general did not just get up one happy, glorious day to make the call. He was moved to do so by the extraordinary situation, with its tragic effects, created by the herdsmen and the Federal Government.

The result of Nigerians rising up to defend themselves may be indiscriminate killings, on both sides, ethnic cleansing and anarchy. Our hope and wish is that such should not in fact happen. The experience of the United States does not lead us to think otherwise. The US constitution, adopted with effect from 1787, underwent its second amendment in 1791. The amendment provides: A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed

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Should allowing Nigerians to keep and bear arms ever lead to anarchy and ethnic cleansing, then, the blame for that should be laid squarely on President (Muhammadu) Buhari for failing to disarm the killer herdsmen at the early beginnings of the conflict. Had that been done, the killings, the destruction of properties and the displacement of persons might not have occurred to the point of their escalation to a national calamity, and the point where self-defence becomes a national issue. Still armed with Ak-47 guns, the herdsmen were thus enabled to kill people in Kaduna state on 29 March, 2018, and even on the very days the President was on a visit to some of the affected States - Plateau, Taraba, Zamfara and Benue.

We must admit to ourselves that the affairs of this country have not been, and are not being, conducted with a due sense of responsibility as well as a due sense of shame. Is it not a shame that the herdsmen should have been allowed to inflict so much slaughter and havoc on innocent, law-abiding citizens without being disarmed at the initial stages of the conflict and without the wrath of the law being brought down on them? And we unashamedly castigate Gen Danjuma for calling on Nigerians to rise up to defend themselves.

Legit.ng earlier reported that

Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit Nigeria- Some gunmen have invaded a community in Rivers state

- The gunmen were said to have forcefully gained entrance into the residence of a community leader in Rundele, Emuoha local government of the state

- The community leader Chief Goodluck Umetor was kidnapped in the process while two others were killed in a clash between rival cult groups

Two people have been reportedly killed in Rundele, Emohua local government of Rivers state. The individuals killed were said to be members of rival cult groups that had clashed during a heated argument in the area.

The incident, which happened in Mgbuelia village in Rundele, was said to have caused panic among residents of the area as the sound of gunshots in the community forced people to remain indoors.

Also, a community leader, Chief Goodluck Umetor, was kidnapped by some gunmen who invaded his residence in the same community. The kidnap incident happened shortly after the clash between the rival cult groups.

READ ALSO: Suspected herdsmen attack guard in Enugu community

Legit.ng gathered that gunmen had forcefully gained entrance into the house belonging to Umetor and kidnapped him. No word has been heard from the gunmen since the kidnap which happened on Monday, April 2.

A resident of the community said the chief was kidnapped after the gunmen shot sporadically at about 10pm.

There was an argument among some youths and there was serious shooting, which led to the death of two persons. It happened on Sunday when the village was observing their hunting festival.

But on Monday night, at about 10 pm, we heard the sound of gunshots and later, we noticed that our chief had been kidnapped. We have not heard anything from those who kidnapped our chief since then," the resident said.

READ ALSO: Daddy Freeze blasts Bishop Oyedepo over story of resurrected dead man

Confirming the incident, the police spokesperson in the state, Omoni, said only one person was shot in the incident. He, however, said he has heard that the victim has died in a hospital.

The police spokesperson also said that effort is being made by the force to ensure that the community leader is rescued in less than no time.

There was a clash between rival cult groups and one person was shot; I learnt that he later died in the hospital. On the chief that was kidnapped, we are already combing the bushes within the area to arrest the kidnappers and rescue the victim, Omoni said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the chairmen of Takum and Wukari local councils of Taraba state, Shiban Tikari and Daniel Adi, on Sunday, January 28, escaped being killed by gunmen in different locations in the state.

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It was gathered that while Adi was attacked by suspected herdsmen who were said to be uncomfortable with the recent implementation of the open grazing law, Tikari was attacked by armed bandits in the state.

Sources had also said that Adi was under severe attack by suspected herdsmen in Gindi Doruwa, a few kilometers to the administrative headquarters of Wukari local council.

He said some suspected herdsmen were and killed a Tiv man on his farm, which prompted him and his security personnel to visit the village when the incident happened.

Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Pa Conleth Omeka says he is giving Governor Rochas Okorocha just two months to conduct elections into local government councils in Imo state

- Omeka wants a review of the law that empowers governors to dissolve local government administrations

- He says Okorocha's refusal to conduct the elections had caused untold hardship in the state

A 90-year-old visually-impaired man, Pa Conleth Omeka, has vowed that he would lead a protest against Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state if the latter fails to conduct local government elections within the next two months.

The Punch reports that Pa Omeka explained said there was no need for general elections in the state if for seven years, Okorocha had vehemently refused to conduct elections into local government areas.

Omeka, the national coordinator of Nigeria Patriots Pioneers Liberation Movement, who addressed a press conference, maintained that the inability to have democratically elected chairmen and councilors in the local government councils was spreading hunger and poverty in Imo state.

READ ALSO: Danjuma only re-echoed section 33 of the constitution on self-defence - Nwabueze

We sincerely call on President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to take urgent steps to review and amend the section of the constitution that empowers governors to dissolve and run affairs of the councils as their personal empire and to grant the 774 local government areas in the country full autonomy.

We call on all members of the Imo state House of Assembly to live up to expectations as they are a legitimate organ under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to checkmate the excesses of the governor.

We are advising the Imo state House of Assembly to take urgent and necessary steps to compel the governor to conduct local government election in the state in May or before the middle of June, 2018; failing to do so, the Imo state House of Assembly should, as a matter of urgency, take constitutional legislative measure to impeach the governor.

I am a 90-year-old blind man and I was a frontline political activist in the first and second republics. We were detained during the agitation for the independence of Nigeria.

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I am pained by what this generation is going through. I shall lead a state-wide protest if the governor fails to conduct LGA elections in May this year, he stressed.

The report quoted Okorocha as earlier saying local government elections would be conducted in June, 2018.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo had criticized Rochas Okorocha for saying that Igbo people play the worst politics in Nigeria.

Recently, Okorocha had called for a change in strategy if the southeast was to attain political relevance in Nigerias political space.

In response, Ohanaeze challenged Okorocha to carry out a critique of his remarks and come up with a more appreciable opinion.

What does Nigeria need right now? (Nigerian Street Interview) | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit Nigeria- Seventy two students from the Bayero University Kano have bagged first degree as the school commenced its convocation on Tuesday, April 3

- The school would confer 8,634 graduands with certificates in various disciplines at the five-day long 34th convocation events

- The vice chancellor of the university, Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello, said 5,401 first degrees would be awarded to deserving graduands at the convocation

The Bayero University Kano on Tuesday, April 3, commenced its five-day long 34th convocation events with 8,634 graduands expected to be conferred with certificates in various disciplines.

According to the vice chancellor of the university, Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello, 5,401 first degrees; 70 PhDs; 1,833 masters degrees, and 656 postgraduate diploma certificates would be awarded to deserving graduands at the convocation, adding that 72 students were due for first class degrees, Daily Trust reports.

Legit.ng notes that during the commencement of the convocation on Tuesday, 932 candidates from five selected faculties were conferred with first degrees honours.

READ ALSO: Orji Kalu hits back on Buhari's critics, says they're Nigeria's problem

The faculties include Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Computer Science and Information Technology, Earth and Environmental Sciences as well as the Faculty of Communication.

According to the VC, 25 graduated with first class honours, while 283 others obtained second class upper division. Professor Bello added that 399 students had second class lower division while 205 others finished with third class degrees, besides 20 others who had pass.

The VC sated that the convocation events were scheduled for five days so as to give ample opportunity to graduands in the different faculties to celebrate their academic exploits.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, the Yobe state governor, on Saturday, February 24, offered automatic employment to 38 graduates of the state university who graduated with first class degree.

The governor announced this at the maiden convocation ceremony of the university, which was held in Damaturu.

A total of 2,290 students from five academic sets beginning from 2012/2013 to 2016/2017, received various degrees and diploma certificates from the institution.

18-year-old teenager studying for Phd makes startling revelation | Faces of Nigeria - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Aside the cost of maintenance and modernisation of nuclear weapons, Nigeria has warned that they also remained a threat to all mankind

- The country said the cost of maintenance and modernisation of the weapons are both outrageous and inexcusable

- It highlighted the 1996 advisory opinion of the ICJ, which affirmed that the threat or use of nuclear weapons constitutes a crime against humanity

The Nigerian government has warned that the continued existence of nuclear weapons remains a threat to all mankind.

It stated this in its statement to the general debate of the 2018 substantive session of the UN disarmament commission by Faisal Ibrahim, first secretary, permanent mission of Nigeria to the UN.

The statement read: ''The cost of maintenance and modernisation of these weapons are both outrageous and inexcusable, when compared to resources allocated by states for more useful and productive ventures.

READ ALSO: Buharis critics are yesterdays lawless, reckless leaders - Orji Kalu

''These more useful and productive ventures could further the growth, development, prosperity and other peaceful and positive articulation of human endeavours.''

It highlighted the 1996 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which affirmed that the threat or use of nuclear weapons constitutes a crime against humanity.

The country added that the ICJs opinion also affirmed that the threat or use of nuclear weapons constituted a violation of international law, including international humanitarian law.

Nigeria reiterated its view about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences that could result from either a deliberate use and/or unintentional explosion of nuclear weapons.

It said these consequences should serve as a compelling reason for all states to address the question of the continued possession of nuclear weapons.

The statement added: ''Nuclear weapons still remain the ultimate agents of mass destruction and their total elimination should be the final objective of all disarmament processes within the broad spectrum of goals being pursued by the United Nations.

''To this end, my delegation heartily welcomes the adoption of the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which opened for signature on 20 September 2017.

''My delegation remains proud to have participated actively in the processes leading to its adoption, as well as being one of the first countries to sign the treaty.

''Our commitment was guided by Nigerias principled position on the denuclearization of the world.''

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Nigeria stressed that the universalisation of the Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was dependent upon strict compliance with its three pillars: disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

It noted: ''As a state Party to the Treaty of Pelindaba, Nigeria welcomes the establishment of Nuclear Weapon Free Zones (NWFZ) in parts of the world.

''The treaty serves as a shield for the continent of Africa, including preventing the stationing of nuclear explosive devices on the continent and prohibiting testing of nuclear weapons.''

Nigeria noted that the NWFZ serves as a measure to ensure a world free from the fear or possibility of the use of nuclear weapons.

It, therefore, called on all member states to support efforts to replicate it in the remaining parts of the world, including in the middleeast.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that US said he likes envoy Nikki Haleys warning to UN member states and that he is, indeed, watching their votes.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that vote in favor Thursday of the United Nations resolution rejecting Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital.

Speaking to reporters at the White House Wednesday, Trump also expressed support for a letter sent by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, in which she warned member states against supporting the resolution.

What is working well and what needs improvement in Nigeria? - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: LegitZamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari, says all the 24 governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have agreed with President Muhammadu Buhari that the party should elect a new National Working Committee.

The governor disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday, April 4, after Buhari met with some governors.

President Buhari had at the party's National Executive Committee's meeting last week declared as illegal, a proposal for the extension of the tenure of the John Odigie-Oyegun-led NWC of the party.

READ ALSO: Another senator Mustapha Bukar from Katsina dies at 63

Yari said: We consulted and all the 24 governors of the APC are in the same page with Mr. President that we are going to respect our party constitution, we are going to respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, therefore, we collectively agreed that we will have congresses at all levels - local, state and national."

President Muhammadu Buhari and five governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held a meeting on Wednesday, April 4, to decide the fate of John Odigie-Oyegun-led national working committee of the party.

Those who attended the meeting with the president included governors in support of Buhari's stand over the non-extension of Oyegun's tenure as party chairman.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

The governors who were reportedly present at the meeting included governors of Zamfara, Abdulazeez Yari; Plateau, Simon Lalong; Imo, Rochas Okorocha; Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje and Ogun, Ibikunle Amosun.

APC official tells why his party could be voted out in 2019 on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit- Nigeria is preparing to diversify its energy mix, with the inclusion of nuclear energy to its electricity grid

- Turkey, on the other hand has formally kick started construction of its maiden nuclear power plant

- The nuclear power plant is being constructed by Rosatom  Russias largest electricity generating company

As Nigeria prepares to diversify its energy mix, with the inclusion of nuclear energy to its electricity grid, Turkey, on the other hand has formally kick started construction of its maiden nuclear power plant  the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.

A ceremony marking the start of construction, took place in the Turkish province of Mersin, on Tuesday, April 3.

Legit.ng gathered that the ceremony was attended by Russian President, Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Erdogan.

Nigerian government signed an agreement with Russias Rosatom late last year. Photo credit: State House

READ ALSO: Governor Masari bags Tunisian award of science and technology

The nuclear power plant is being constructed by Rosatom  Russias largest electricity generating company.

Last year, the Nigerian government also signed an agreement with Russias Rosatom - on construction and operation of a nuclear power plant and a research center in Nigeria.

Addressing those gathered at the ceremony, President Putin said: The first power unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant is expected to be launched in 2023. Thanks to the Akkuyu project, new, modern, well-paying jobs will appear in Russia and Turkey  along with the development of advanced production capacities and technology.

The object will use advanced engineering solutions and cost-effective and reliable technologies. The highest safety standards and the most stringent environmental regulations will be observed. I am sure that, in 2023, all of Turkey will feel returns of the energy generated at this high-tech facility.

Giving his remarks, Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, said the 2023 launch of the nuclear power plant would coincide with the centenary of the Republic of Turkey. With the commissioning of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in 2023, Turkey will join the family of countries with nuclear power. Akkuyu will meet 10% of all our electricity needs, he emphasized.

On his part, Rosatoms Director General, Alexey Likhachev, informed the gathering: Rosatom is building in Turkey a cutting edge, tried and tested generation III+ nuclear power plant featuring four power units based on the Russian VVER-1200 design which meets the worlds highest safety standards.

Legit.ng checks reveals Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is the largest joint project between Russia and Turkey.

It is important to emphasize that the project is progressing according to plan in efficient cooperation with our Turkish partners, he added.

After their opening statements, the leaders of the two countries signed off on the start of construction work and a symbolic button was pressed to mark the pouring of the first concrete into the base of the reactor building of power unit 1 of Turkeys first nuclear power plant.

READ ALSO: Group launches global media campaign for Atiku ahead of 2019

Meanwhile, a Nigerian anti-corruption youth group, the Creative Youth Initiative Against Corruption (CYIAC), has emerged the winner of the Innovative Category of the first UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action Awards.

Ms Foluke Michael, the Project Director of CYIAC in a statement said the Innovative Category top award was presented to the group in Bonn, Germany by Mr Markus Hipp, the Director, BMW Foundation.

Female aerospace engineer from the Tsaigumi UAV team on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit Newspaper- John Boyega has spoken about his supposed encounter with a Nigerian media personality

- The actor said he doesnt know who Toke Makinwa is

- He also disclosed he will be investigating the incident further

Legit.ng had earlier reported that popular media personality Toke Makinwa had claimed to have been assaulted by bodyguards of British/Nigerian actor John Boyega at a restaurant in Lagos.

Boyega in a recent interview vehemently denied that any such thing happened. Asked by OAPs Kaylah Oniwoh and Daddy Freeze on Cool FM, he said he doesnt even know who Toke Makinwa is.

He also continued saying when he visited Lagos the last time, he never had bodyguards and in that case, the story is false. He also said he will be reading more on the topic later.

READ ALSO: BBNaija's Teddy A and Bam Bam speak up on toilet session in the BBNaija's house

Watch him speak about the incident in the video below (start from the 7 minute mark)

The actor also said he plans to shoot a low budget Nigerian movie with about $20-$25million (N9billion).

Were developing a few Nigerian stories and choosing one which makes sense budget-wise. Were probably looking at an indie budget of $20-$25 million.

He also spoke about his admiration for actress Genevieve Nnaji. Im very interested in original Nigerian stories. I grew up on Nollywood. The first Nollywood film I ever watched was Blood Sisters with Genevieve Nnaji, the 26-year-old actor told CNBC Africa.

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Omoni Oboli Interview: About the Nigerian Movie Industry | Star Chat on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit.ng News- Governor Godwin Obaseki orders disengaged staff to hand over government property in their possession to the appropriate authorities

- He directs the immediate redeployment of the permanent secretary in the ministry of environment Obahiagbon

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state has sacked the commissioner for environment and sustainability, Reginald Okun and retired the general manager, of the state waste management board, Aiyamenkue Akonofua.

Their sack was announced in a statement signed by secretary to the state government, Osarodion Ogie, and made available to journalists in Benin on Wednesday, April 4.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Another senator Mustapha Bukar from Katsina dies at 63

The statement directed the officials to handover their assignments to the most senior government official in their offices with immediate effect.

They are also to handover all government property in their possession to the appropriate authorities, it said.

The governor also directed the immediate redeployment of the permanent secretary in the ministry of environment, Obahiagbon.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

Although no reason was given for the governments action, Legit.ng learnt that the reported failure by the ministry of environment to pay sweepers in the state likely prompted the removal of the officials.

Meanwhile, the tenure elongation of the John Odigie-Oyegun-led executive and other party officials has reportedly caused division among governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Premium Times reports that governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna and Simon Lalong of Plateau simply said they (governors) have agreed not to speak to the media.

The news outlet, however, quoting an unnamed source, reported that the governors had a heated debate over the tenure elongation of party officials.

What is working well and what needs improvement in Nigeria? on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ngBy Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Readers, I accidentally published the following cryptic list at the end of Water Cooler, twice:

pyramid

river

foreigners

One reader thought it was a cry for help; another proposed that it was a haiku. In fact, it was a do-list for me, some bite-size essays that werent post-worthy, but that I wanted to say. So, as partial penance for publishing an open thread on Monday, Ive written them up. Each starts with the reminder word, in italic, like Foreigners:

Trade

China is firing back at the Trump administrations latest trade penalties by setting far bigger targets for U.S. goods. Beijing says it will place 25% tariffs on some $50 billion worth of critical American exports, including soybeans, airplanes and autos [Wall Street Journal]. [T]he tariff rate and the sum of goods match an earlier White House proposal that would hit a broader range of goods, including dishwashers, medical equipment and machine tools. The new volleys sharply ramp up the severity of the trans-Pacific trade skirmish and heighten the stakes for both countries. The high-profile targets also raise the pressure on Beijing, leaving China few further options in a trade fight. The U.S. could take months to trigger its tariffs while China didnt set timing on its retaliatory measures.

Handy chart of our imports from China [MarketWatch]:

Theyre selling us opium, arent they?

The Hidden Economic Rationale Of China-Europe Rail [Forbes]. If we look at the where the highest frequencies of trans-Eurasian trains depart from in both China and Europe we often find massive high-tech (or other) industrial zones. These trains are linking cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu and Zhengzhou  the new arteries of Chinas manufacturing empire  with Duisburg, Hamburg and Warsaw  Europes industrial giants. These are the places where the ideal cargo for these trains is manufactured: high value, heavy weight electronics and machinery. These are products which the clients often want to get to their destinations as soon as possible and are valuable enough to make the extra $1,000 per container that they cost over ocean shipping more or less inconsequential  an additional thousand bucks means little when the value of the container is measured in seven figures.

Politics

2020

Sorting Through the 2020 Democratic Primary Already (Quietly) Underway [Cook Political Report]. Finally, there is the matter of ideology. On a scale of moderately liberal to very liberal, is the Democratic Partys center of gravity closer to the left of center, like Biden and Hillary Clinton, or much further to the left like Sanders and Warren? Right now, the midpoint of the party would seem to be closer to the latter. I disagree, vehemently, and I think my worksheets (here, here, here) show that Cook is wrong. I think the center of gravity is shifting left, that the liberal Democrat nomenklatura is doing everything it can to prevent that (Blue Dogs), and that they will lose (see the mini-essay on River.)

2018 Midterms

TX: In Texas, Ted Cruz Is Facing an Unusual Challenge: A Formidably Financed Democrat [New York Times]. Its kind of Ann Richards-level enthusiasm, in the crowds he gathers, said Harold Cook, a Democratic strategist in Austin and former executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, referring to the outspoken Democrat who served as Texas governor from 1991 to 1995 before losing to George W. Bush. I havent seen a response like Beto ORourke is getting in a very long time. Beto has got that thing, that star-power deal that you cant predict in advance.' Really? Beto and Ann Richards in the same league? Can Texas readers comment? WI: Walker warns of Dem wave in Wisconsin after liberal wins state judicial race [The Hill]. Tonights results show we are at risk of a #BlueWave in WI. The Far Left is driven by anger & hatred  we must counter it with optimism & organization, Walker tweeted. Lets share our positive story with voters & win in November.' Whatever the #BlueWave may be, its not far left. WI-08: How to make it as a maverick from Trump country [McClatchy]. Gallagher, of Wisconsin, has cemented his image as a rising star  one with an unusually independent reputation in todays Republican Party. In an era of intense political tribalism, Gallagher is the rare House member from a strongly pro-Trump district who has broken sharply with the White House over a range of issues, including the firing of ex-FBI Director James Comey and the Russia-related investigations. Even more rare: he has done itso farwithout sparking crippling conservative backlash. FL-27: Donna Shalala Wont Discuss Working for Lennar During Housing Bust, Profiting Off Health-Care Work [Miami New Times]. Im shocked.

New Cold War

Foreigners: For a long time, inspired by memories of psychologists who related the rise of the Nazis to German methods of toilet training, I mocked conservatives by placing their concerns about borders under the heading of sphincter control. Now, however, I find liberal hysteria over Russians or even foreigners just as disconcerting, just as worthy of being mocked, and by placing it under the same heading. What a time to be alive. Pyramid: Over the last couple of years, weve run through several warmongering and fearmongering narratives, and it has occurred to me that they all have the same shape: An inverted pyramid. At the top of the narrative, widening out, theres a vast construct of speculation and hysteria and connecting the dots, with a lot of people busily working away, building the next story. But the origin of the narrative, what would be the apex were not the entire pyramid uneasily balanced upon it, is very, very small: A few putative facts that we cannot verify, supplied by access journalists working with the intelligence community. This is true of the Skripal story; the apex is the nature of the poison, which we were unable to examine, and which the OPCW ought to be able to examine, with the UK government is not letting it do. This is also true of the Russian collusion story; the apex there is the report from the 17 [sic] intelligence agencies, where again access journalists working with the intelligence community supplied the facts, if facts they were. In each case, although the base of the enormous inverted pyramid has grown to enormous size, the apex remains the same size, as small and fragile as ever. The Iraq WMD stories had the same shape. Perhaps there is a heuristic here.

Realignment and Legitimacy

Google Workers Urge C.E.O. to Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project [New York Times]. Thousands of Google employees, including dozens of senior engineers, have signed a letter protesting the companys involvement in a Pentagon program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video imagery and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes. We believe that Google should not be in the business of war, says the letter, addressed to Sundar Pichai, the companys chief executive. It asks that Google pull out of Project Maven, a Pentagon pilot program, and announce a policy that it will not ever build warfare technology.' Democrats are really behind the curve on militarism, arent they? Hax Philes: Talking politics in a bipartisan relationship [WaPo]. Interesting comments from readers.

Stats Watch

ADP Employment Report, March 2018: ADP sees no let up for strength in the monthly employment report [Econoday]. The employment report has proven strong to robust over the last five reports, and if March makes for a sixth straight strong result then ADP may start getting new believers in its accuracy. And but: This month the rate of ADPs private employment year-over-year growth remained in the tight range seen over the last year [Econintersect]. ADP employment has not been a good predictor of BLS non-farm private job growth.

Purchasing Managers Services Index, March 2018: New orders remain strong but did ease in March, pulling down the services PMI [Econoday]. Prices, as in other anecdotal surveys, are accelerating with higher input costs increasingly being passed through to customers.

Factory Orders, February 2018: The book on Februarys factory sector, the month before tariffs on metals hit, is now closed [Econoday]. Excluding aircraft as well as other transportation equipment, orders managed only a 0.1 percent increase vs Januarys 0.4 percent rise. Yet there is definitive strength in the February report as orders for core capital goods (nondefense ex-aircraft) surged 1.4 percent with shipments for this reading also up 1.4 percent. The latter is a direct input into GDP and will help the first-quarter showing for business investment And but: The data in this series is noisy so I would rely on the unadjusted 3 month rolling averages which declined but remains in a long term improvement trend [Econintersect].

Institute For Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Index, March 2018: Unusual strength eased a bit in March for ISMs non-manufacturing sample as the index came in near expectations [Econoday]. The employment result is strong as is once again the breadth of this report, underscored by the industry score which shows 15 reporting monthly growth and only 2 reporting contraction. And: This suggests slightly slower expansion in March than in February [Calculated Risk]. And but: Both services surveys [ISM and Markit Services] are in expansion  but their intensity of growth were different [Econintersect].

MBA Mortgage Applications, week of March 30, 2018: Purchase applications for home mortgages fell a seasonally adjusted 2 percent in the March 30 week, shrinking the year-on-year gain [Econoday].

Consumer Spending: Why Consumer Spending Growth Is Slowing [Wall Street Journal]. Weak consumer spending in recent months has puzzled Wall Street. The answer may lie with cautious Main Street lenders [a story Mosler would agree with. lambert]. [I]n a recent note, Cantor Fitzgerald strategists pointed to another possible cause, saying that tightened lending standards by credit card, auto and other lenders may be squeezing consumer finances. Since 2011, the Federal Reserves quarterly senior loan officer survey had consistently found a net loosening of credit standards on consumer loans and credit cards. That began to shift at the end of 2016, though. More respondents said they tightened standards than not in four of the past five quarterly surveys.

Commodities: Bahrain discovers offshore oilfield containing 80bn barrels' [BBC]. By comparison, neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the worlds top oil exporter, has 266bn barrels of proven reserves.

Commodities: Miners, commodities hit as US-China trade war heats up [Mining.com]. Copper, which is seen as a barometer of global economic conditions due to its multiple uses in manufacturing, transportation, construction and power sector, fell 2% on the London Metal Exchange to $6,668.5 a tonne.

Shipping: FMCSA moves to exempt mirrorless truck from federal regulations [Freight Waves]. Stoneridge believes the [MirrorEye] system meets the requirements under National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)s standards which are cross-referenced by the [Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs)] and would maintain a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety achieved without the exemption because CMS meets or exceeds the performance requirements for traditional mirrors. Indeed, the cameras give more coverage. What happens when they fail?

Shipping: With unemployment at a nearly two-decade low, the grueling downsides of life behind the wheel make recruitment tough, casting a grim demographic cloud over the business. The average age of a for-hire long-haul trucker rose from 42 years old in 2002 to 49 in 2014, according to the American Trucking Associations. Training schools can end up being costly for recruits, and that may have to change if companies want to build a pipeline of drivers that meets shipping demand [Wall Street Journal].

Capital Spending: [C]ombined U.S. and Canadian planned capital spending declined 36 percent in March compared to February. March spending for the two nations totaled $32.28 billion compared to Februarys $50.65 billion. The research organization reported 254 planned U.S. and Canadian projects in March [Industrial Reports] .Planned U.S. project spending dropped by 41 percent in March with $27.76 billion in planned investment compared to the February total of $42.44 billion. Canadian planned investment fell to $4.52 billion in March compared to $8.21 billion in February. Projects in both nations ranged in value from $1 million to $2 billion.

Tech: Fifty (or Sixty) Years of Processor Developmentfor This? [Electronic Engineering Journal]. Dennard Scaling and Moores Law are dead, Now what? a 4-act play by Dr. David Patterson. With this chart:

I dont see the death of Moores Law as having entered conventional wisdom. Has nobody sent flowers?

The Bezzle: Tesla produced 2,020 Model 3 cars in the past seven days, missing its goal of making 2,500 vehicles a week by the end of March [Wall Street Journal]. Delaying that milestone adds more pressure for Tesla to meet its already-delayed target of building Model 3s at a rate of 5,000 a week by the end of June. The efforts have become a kind of test bed for whether an automotive supply chain can be built beyond the long-established factory networks of big car manufacturers. That leaves Tesla in a make-or-break period where it must prove it can handle mass production or face severe financial consequences.

The Bezzle: Its Wheelmageddon: San Francisco Is Being Overrun by Techs New Favorite Toy [Vanity Fair]. No, its not Techs New Favorite Toy. Its another squillionaires bright idea: The sudden epidemic is primarily the work of former Lyft and Uber executive [of course it is] Travis VanderZanden, who founded Bird, the dockless electric-scooter start-up thats taken over the sidewalks and streets of Los Angeles, and more recently San Francisco and Washington. VanderZanden, who has raised $100 million in a bid to create the Uber of electric scooters, is facing stiff competition from Jump, an electric-bike brand, and LimeBike scooters. But Bird, in a potentially flawed strategy to win venture-capitalist hearts and minds, seems to be focusing most intently on the Silicon Valley crowd. Externalities: Just witnessed someone on a Bird scooter slam into a group of pedestrians at high speed on a sidewalk. Terrifying!! How is this safe @BirdRide ?? Do we have to treat our sidewalks like roads now?

Mr. Market: Stock Rotation Comes to Emerging Markets [Bloomberg]. It isnt just a technology selloff in emerging markets. Its a full-fledged rotation away from cyclical stocks and into defensive ones. Lets bust that jargon: Companies whose fortunes are closely tied to economic growth, such as those making car parts, have fallen out of favor in the past month. Firms whose products are in demand regardless of economic cycles (no matter what, people will shave) are rallying in their stead.

Mr. Market: A Fascinating Way To See Bubbles Within The Stock Market [Business Insider]. A new charting method: It shows the sector composition of the S&P 500 by market cap since 1974. As you can see, sector bubbles manifest when they suddenly explode as a percentage of the S&P 500. The dotcom bubble is very prominent, represented by the ballooning info tech sector stocks. The credit bubble appeared much more gradually as seen in the rise of financial sector stocks.

Five Horsemen: Amazon, the markets Great White Hope, sinks lower as trade war bites [Hat Tip, Jim Haygood].

NakedCap Mania-Panic Index: The mania-panic index improved to 23 (worry) on yesterdays Amazon-led rebound. [Hat Tip, Jim Haygood]. (The NakedCap mania-panic index is an equally-weighted average of seven technical indicators derived from stock indexes, volatility (VIX), Treasuries, junk bonds, equity options, and internal measures of new highs vs new lows and up volume vs down volume  each converted to a scale of 0 to 100 before averaging, using thirty years of history for five of the seven series.)

Facebook Fracas

Exclusive: Facebook CEO stops short of extending European privacy globally [Reuters]. Zuckerberg told Reuters in a phone interview that Facebook was working on a version of the law that would work globally, bringing some European privacy guarantees worldwide, but the 33-year-old billionaire demurred when asked what parts of the law he would not extend worldwide. Were still nailing down details on this, but it should directionally be, in spirit, the whole thing , Zuckerberg said. He did not elaborate. So we can take that as a No?

Can We Be Saved From Facebook? [Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone]. Its our collective misfortune that this perhaps silliest-in-history supercorporation  a tossed-off hookup site turned international cat-video vault turned Orwellian surveillance megavillain  has dragged us all to the very cliff edge of modern technological capitalism. Weve reached a moment in history where many companies are more powerful than even major industrialized nations, and in some cases have essentially replaced governments as de facto regulators and overseers. But some of those companies suck just a little too badly at the governing part, leaving us staring into a paradox. The Russians call this situation a sobaka na sene, a dog on the hay. Asleep in the manger, the dog itself wont eat the hay. But it wont let you eat it either.

Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App [Bloomberg]. The Messenger scanning systems are very similar to those that other internet companies use today, the company said.

Health Care

OPINION | Is a for-profit health system our best choice? [Citizen Times]. As a retired physician whose practice was 97 percent supported by Medicare, I was able to experience directly the joy of practicing under a nonprofit single-payer insurer. I was able to focus on the needs of my patients without concern for their ability to pay. I now refer to myself as The Last Happy Doctor to demonstrate the demoralizing effect of for-profit insurance on the practice of medicine. From Asheville, NC, by a PNHP member. PNHP has been really good at getting local doctors to publish editorials and letter like this, not that the national media ever notices.

Medicaid Expansion Uncertain as Maines Deadline to Fund It Passes [Governing]. Attorney General Janet Mills said Tuesday she has found a funding source for expanding Medicaid in Maine, which could snuff some arguments against expansion but is sure to cause ongoing controversy about her authority to spend the money. With tobacco settlement money. LePage, bless his heart, is correct that this is a gimmick. OTOH, if people get care because of it

Water

For millions of Americans, lack of access to water isnt just a drought problem [Los Angeles Times]. Water poverty affects nearly 1.6 million people in the United States, but it remains a stubbornly invisible crisis. Before widespread solutions can be rolled out, however, we need to know who exactly is getting by without the taps and the toilets the rest of us take for granted. But such granular data simply doesnt exist.

State OKs permit letting Nestle draw more water in west Michigan [Detroit News]. State officials on Monday cleared Nestle Waters North America for a permit to increase groundwater withdrawals 60 percent from a west Michigan aquifer, a move denounced by environmentalists. Life in in the colonies! And:

The state department acknowledged most of the more than 80,000 public comments opposed the permit, but most of them related to issues of public policy which are not, and should not be, part of an administrative permit decision, [DEQ Director C. Heidi Grether] said. We cannot base our decisions on public opinion because our department is required to follow the rule of law when making determinations.

We ran into the same issue with permitting on the landfill. Im not sure what the resolution is, particularly when the permitting tends to be locked in before opposition builds.

Class Warfare

Interview: Reviving the Poor Peoples Campaign [Labor Notes]. Leaders of todays Poor Peoples Campaign have spent the last year traveling and building local coalitions in cities around the country. Led by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Liz Theoharis, the Campaigns aim is to launch a new movement with 40 days of mass actions, including civil disobedience, at 30 state capitols, beginning May 13. Information on getting involved locally is at poorpeoplescampaign.org. This:

[Rev. Nelson Johnson] I envision a movement as streams flowing toward each other. A river doesnt have to ask permission to get to the ocean, it develops the power to carve a new highway through the landscape. That is a movement, you cant manage that.

River: This is the metaphor Ive been using and Im glad Im not the only one. I wrote:

I am with Sanders that elections come and go. Last night, a friend said to me things now remind them of flooding on the Missisippi or the Ohio, which were a regular news story in my childhood in the midwest; nightly reports of the height the water reached, the river cresting, having reached flood stage, and the volunteers with sandbags, and the decision about which towns to save, and which to abandon to the water. There is an enormous mass of water upstream now, and its heading downstream, toward us, and it is not in our power to stop it. That flood will overwhelm whatever went on in both convention halls. Ive seen three headlines about the Clinton speech, and they each used the phrase Moment of Reckoning. I think thats true, but not necessarily in the way Clinton thinks. Until the power imbalance between capital and labor is addressed, Im long sandbags.

I may sound pessimistic in the worksheets Ive been doing, but Im really not; nothing either major party is doing  including what the Democrat leadership is doing to squander its wave  affects the mass of water upstream to the slightest degree.

Do Weak Labor Laws Actually Spur More Teacher Strikes? [Governing]. In the states currently striking, strikes are technically illegal and can cost a teacher his or her job. But, [Agustina Paglayan, a fellow at the Center for Global Development] says, teachers know that will never happen. They cant fire every teacher in the state. The teachers unions [in the striking states] are not especially strong, compared to most other states on the coast, for example. And its very interesting that were getting these sort of wildcat, organized, Facebook-facilitated strikes in a way weve never seen before, says Nat Malkus, director of education policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. What does it say about this situation that were seeing workers get a ton of traction without, or even in spite of, the unions?' Thats a good question!

Short staffing leads to long waits for Social Security disability hearing decisions [WaPo]. Staffing and service issues have plagued Social Security for years, and President Trumps proposed budget for fiscal 2019 would make things worse. The disability hearing process can be particularly vexing because there are too few administrative law judges, who hear appeals, and they have too few support staff members. Neoliberal sabotage with privatization the goal; the same old playbook.

News of The Wired

Words fail me:

That Hayden and his ilk are styling themselves as enabling brave truthtellers Im gobsmacked. These people have lost their minds.

* * *

Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Todays plant (Bob):

Bob challenges: Guess that tree from the roots! Cf. Matt 7:16.

* * *

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the NC fundraiser. So do feel free to use the dropdown and click the hat to make a contribution today or any day. Here is why: Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of small donations helps me with expenses, and I factor that trickle in when setting fundraising goals. So if you see something you especially appreciate, do feel free to click the hat!Where are all the leaders? openDemocracy. On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther Kings assassination.

Deep learning neural network used to detect earthquakes TechXplore (David L)

New study shows seafloor erosion now occurring like coastal land loss PhysOrg

Brexit

Frances spring strikes: 4 key questions Politico

New Cold War

Imperial Collapse Watch

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Tariff Tantrum

Trump Tranaition

Can Democrats survive an assault from the left? The Hill

Court Gives Florida 1 Month to Revamp System for Restoring Felons Voting Rights Governing (UserFriendly)

Cynthia Nixon Starts Campaign For Governor by Attacking Unions UCOMM (Jeff N)

Crypto Exchanges Charge Millions to List Tokens, Report Says Bloomberg. David F proposes a new mais bien sur category.

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Only Black People Prosecuted Under Mississippi Gang Law Since 2010 Jackson Free Press

Gunz

Fake News

Facebook Fracas

The Bezzle

From Dana D: Jack Ganssle is a programmer who likes to point out bone-headed programming mistakes. From http://www.ganssle.com/tem/tem346.html: spent a night in a Hub by Premier Inn hotel in London. The room, though small, was very high-tech, and sort of felt like being in a spaceship. The hotel has a very innovative design and cleverly uses limited space. All room functions are controlled by a bedstead switch panel. The next morning, as is my wont, I got up early. The panel had crashed. I couldnt turn any lights on. Reception had to reboot the room. And a picture from his flight back:

Teslas Model 3 Is Now Americas Best-Selling Electric Car Bloomberg (Kevin W)

John McAfee charges $105,000 per tweet to promote your ICO MarketWatch (EM)

What Kind of Hyper-Enthusiastic Market is this that Blindly Keeps Pursuing Scams to Make a Fortune Overnight, even if They Already Crashed the First Time? Wolf Richter (EM)

Mobile home loan delinquencies are a warning sign for the economy Business Insider (Dr. Kevin)

Bond Market Has A $745 Billion Bet Against the Dollar Bloomberg (furzy)

As opioid crisis evolves, anonymous company loopholes remain a gap FairShare

A note on personal income and spending Angry Bear

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour (Tracie H):

Late to post this bonus antidote from AFXH:

Incredible. From the Kruger National Park page: We were following a lioness carrying her cub for around 2kms when we could see she was getting really tired. Suddenly, an elephant showed up and looked as if it was wanting to help the tired lioness! pic.twitter.com/a2ambIZlym  Yashar Ali  (@yashar) April 1, 2018

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.Irish Water and Tipperary County Council are progressing the Clonmel Regional Water Supply Scheme North Storage project.

The project includes the construction of a new reservoir and the construction of over 4km of new water mains and booster station, which will benefit the northern area of Clonmel. Irish Water has signed a contract with John Craddock Ltd to deliver the project.

Works are due to begin in the coming weeks and are expected to be completed in 2019.

This project is needed to increase the security of the water supply for businesses and residents in North Clonmel. The existing supply is currently fed from a pumped system with no effective storage in place. The project will increase treated water storage capacity with the construction of a new reservoir.

The works associated with the proposed development include the construction of a new 4,000m3capacity reservoir in the townland of Giantsgrave, a new booster pumping station at Rathronan and over 4km of new water mains.

Commenting on the project Lisa Cogan, Irish Water Regional Lead, said We are delighted to progress the project to deliver the Clonmel Regional Water Supply Scheme North Storage Reservoir. This project will improve the security of the water supply for the people of North Clonmel and surrounding areas. Once complete the new reservoir and water mains will provide a more reliable service for customers and support current and future economic development in the area.

Irish Water spent over 526 million on water and wastewater services in 2017.Capital investment in the region of 700 million per year is needed for a sustained period of several decades to address the poor condition of Irelands water infrastructure. Works have been prioritised to address the most critical issues in line with commitments outlined in Irish Waters Business Plan up to 2021. Delivery of the business plan will involve a 5.5bn investment in capital spending on drinking water and wastewater quality and capacity and new infrastructure up to 2021 while achieving efficiencies of 1.6bn.A Tipperary school teachers performance in Clogheen Drama Groups recent production of Martin McDonagh's play The Cripple of Inishmaan wouldnt look out of place on Broadway in New York.

Cahir Boys National School teacher Kevin OFarrells depiction of The Cripple Billy Claven has been acclaimed across the county, echoing sentiments that were not lost on the St. Paul's Community Centre audiences. I only had experience of pantomimes that were so upbeat and comic, and my part in The Cripple of Inishmaan was so dark at times. Getting into that kind of mindset was a big challenge for me, 23-year-old Kevin tells The Nationalist.

The biggest part of the role was to get sympathy and empathy from the audience for the character. Some people have told me that they were nearly in tears and thats what the part of The Cripple Billy is all about. The audiences seemed to really enjoy it and it was totally different for them to see me in this sort of role, the son of Martina and John OFarrell from Cahir continues.

Director Liam Wall feels The Cripple of Inishmaan deals with issues that are prominent in Irish society today. McDonagh deals with clerical abuse, which we are not all terribly in touch with. We shouldnt close our eyes to it if it does exist and McDonagh deals with it in a black humourish kind of way. He deals with equality for women which is absolutely current and the abuse of women which couldnt be stronger with the #MeToo campaign at the present time. He looks at suicide and the isolation of a character like The Cripple Billy in society.

"Kevin gave a powerful speech in the middle of the play: there are many people around here on the island that are crippled more than I am, not on the outside but on the inside. Its a sentiment that travels across the world. In a humourish kind of way and you had to dig sometimes for it, the play focuses on all the issues that are still in todays society, Liam explains.

Liam says The Cripple of Inishmaan was the best play Clogheen Drama Group have ever put on, heaping praise on the dedicated cast which also included Hannah Sheehy (Eileen Osbourne), Margaret English (Kate Osbourne), Conor OFarrell (Johnnypateenmike), Kevin OConnor (Bartley McCormick), Annette Meaney (Helen McCormick), John Noonan (Babbybobby), Michelle Shaw (Mammy ODougal) and Gerry Griffin (Dr. McSharry). We have had nothing but positive feedback. The cast told the McDonagh story excellently in our own small way out in Clogheen. I thought it was the best play we ever put on and thats what people have told us, Liam praises.

The Cripple of Inishmaan cast.

We have a very experienced and dedicated group the last seven years, who have been through Brian Friel, John B. Keane and Marina Carr. Marina Carr had very dark humour, so about half the cast had been through that kind of thing. We then had to search for three young people around the 20 mark, but they weren't around Clogheen. At that age they were away in college, Dublin or Australia. But we managed to get Kevin OFarrell, Kevin OConnor and Annette Meaney, who all had experience on stage and they absolutely took their roles on to beat the band. Kevin OFarrell in particular was outstanding. He wouldnt look out of place on Broadway in New York. He was absolutely out of this world. I directed him to a certain extent, but then he took on the role and brought it to a height that I didnt think was possible, Liam adds.

The backstage crew - which included Trisha Hickey, Paula Gleeson, Cathy McGrath, Nora Noonan, John Noonan, Elaine Noonan, James English, Margaret Tobin, Patsy McGrath, Tracey Allen, Fred Halley, PJ English, Philip Lawlor, Miriam Hally, Ger Flynn and Mattie Maher - were also praised for their hard work.

Have you got news for nationalist.ie? Contact dylan.white@iconicnews.ie.Charles J. Kickham was born on 9th May 1828. Last year the Kickham Country Committee decided that in future years his weekend should be celebrated over the May bank holiday rather than the traditional August date which seemed to clash with both a number of festivals and also Summer holidays.

The change comes into effect this year with Kickham Weekend taking place in Mullinahone over the May bank holiday. This years festival will stretch from Thursday 3rd May to Sunday 6th May. Thursday is to be devoted to the primary school children in our parish schools with competitions for them in Art, Creative writing and Poetry and an exhibition of their work.

A special effort is being made to raise awareness about Kickham and his times and the folklore of his native Mullinahone. The schools have been visited by members of the committee and they met with a great reception from both teachers and pupils.

More visits to the schools are promised when they re-open after Easter.

Festival Events

The festival will be officially opened on Friday night by writer/ journalist Billy Keane, the son of the great John B. The topic will focus on rural Ireland.

One of the big events of the Saturday will be another historic walk in the afternoon and that night there will be a talk on the famous old IRA hideout in the area call Katmandu.

Sunday will have the anniversary Mass for Charles Kickham and his first biographer James Maher. The oration at the graveside will be delivered by Dr. Vincent Comerford of Grangemockler who in 1982 wrote the most modern biography of Charles J. Kickham which is its title. Crocanoir on Sunday brings the festival to an end with a gathering of poets and writers.

The festival will also see an improved exhibition of old local photographs which began last year. Eugene OMeara is anxious to get his hands on some of those promised photographs for the exhibition. Music will take place in the village pubs over the nights of the festival.The NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, will visit the United States of America on Thursday, 5 April and Friday, 6 April 2018.

On 5 April, he will participate in a Town Hall event at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, delivering remarks and taking questions from students. He will also visit the Lockheed Martin F-35 production plant.

On 6 April, the Secretary General will visit US Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. He will also visit the 80th Flying Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, meeting participants in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program.

In the afternoon, Mr. Stoltenberg will travel to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, where he will visit North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command (NORTHCOM), together with Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

Still and video images will be available from the NATO website after the event.(Natural News) Americans are scared to death of cancer, and righteously so. Mutated cells that multiply uncontrollably can take over organs, including the most complex organ in the body, the brain. Nearly half of all Americans will get some form of cancer in their lifetime, and approximately half of those victims will die from it. Or will they? What if you found out today that many people who die from cancer die from the treatments given to them by medical doctors and oncologists, and from the continued consumption of more chemicals after those very same patients are diagnosed, operated on, treated with radiation, and prescribed chemotherapy? Are you on the drip right now? Lets have an intelligent discussion and get to the root of this massive pandemic-style problem.

Big question: Would you try to put out a gasoline fire by throwing more gasoline on it? Nobody in their right mind would. So then why do millions of Americans believe chemotherapy is the first choice of care for cancer  a disease caused by the consumption of chemicals? Its time for you to second guess everything mainstream media and specialists at that multi-million-dollar top notch facility keep preaching, and take a look at the chemicals youre consuming.

Walk into the health war blindly and you get shot  the best way to prevent or beat cancer is to stop consuming chemicals

If you could filter all of the chemicals out of everything you eat, drink, breathe in, and put on your body today, you could probably fill up a shot glass. Your filtering organs are being overwhelmed, your cells are getting choked out, and the cumulative effect of all of this is the mutation of cells that will eventually gang up and attack your good cells. Which cells will win the war?

Do you eat food every day that contains insect killer and weed killer? Genetically modified corn, soy, and canola are just a few of the known staple foods Americans consume daily that contain pesticides (in their genes) that come from chemicals.

How many prescription drugs do you take daily? Most of them are made in laboratories using chemicals. This process causes your body to be acidic on a continual basis, thus inviting cancer cells to proliferate. Many vaccines and most flu shots contain deadly chemicals, including mercury (listed as thimerosal), aluminum, and even formaldehylde  embalming fluid for the dead.

Many conventional meats in America must be treated with bleach and ammonia because when they come from the horrific mass-production factories (called CAFOs) they contain bacteria and viruses, including salmonella and E. coli. If youre not eating organic meat and eggs, youre probably consuming residual amounts of highly toxic chemicals.

Industrial-based chemical-loaded food coloring invades so many realms of food, medicine and candy in America its just insane. From gummy bears to cough syrup, and from kids cereals to birthday cake, people are shoveling chemicals into their bodies and wondering what went wrong, and if their top notch cancer specialist can save them.

If you think all organic food is safe, youre wrong. Organic food imported from China is often loaded with heavy metal toxins from industry runoff. Organic canola oil comes from rapeseed, which is toxic to all humans. Poison doesnt really matter if its expeller pressed or not.

If you need to lose weight, forget about products that say light or zero on the label, because they probably contain synthetic, artificial, lab-made, chemical-dosed sugar substitutes that cause cancer. Youll be really light weight when youre dying from cancer and chemotherapy. Want to lose weight? Eat only organic fruits and organic vegetables (no meat, no dairy, no gluten, no processed anything) for a few weeks and check the scale.

Top 10 chemical causes of cancer cell development

Chemical insecticides and herbicides, including GMOs and glyphosate Chemical-based pharmaceuticals and vaccines, including flu shot Bleach and ammonia in foods Chemical-based food coloring Heavy metal toxins from industries that pollute farms Chemicals from automobiles and industries in cities Radiation and nuclear chemical pollution and leakage Chemical-based artificial sweeteners Nitrates and nitrites (chemical compounds commonly used to preserve meats)

And the #10 (and maybe most popular) chemical that causes MORE cancer

Chemotherapy.

Lets take an inside look at numbers 9 and 10 now. These are both powerful chemicals that should never be ingested for any reason, much less on a daily basis. Theres a powerful corrosion and rust inhibitor people use in wood stove boilers called sodium nitrate. This same chemical is used as part of a deadly bait developed by the USDA to poison wild hogs to death  and quickly. Guess what? Sodium nitrate is found abundantly in most of the popular brands of sausage, lunch meat, sandwich ham, cured meats, hot dogs, and yes, wait for it bacon. According to scientific research, sodium nitrate consumption increases your risk of pancreatic cancer by nearly 70 percent. Combine those nitrates and nitrites with the amino acids in the meat, and then with the hydrochloric acid in your stomach and the formula turns into nitrosamines  the same stuff Big Pharma uses to induce cancer in lab rats for testing. Are you a lab rat dying of cancer, while still running on the corporate wheel to find the cure? Sodium nitrite is so dangerous that cancer experts have declared processed meat entirely unsafe for human consumption. Stop eating chemicals!

Toxic medicine that literally CAUSES MORE of what its supposed to be treating

Cancer is a warping of good cells, so badly that they turn and attack your good cells. As long as your body takes in chemicals, the bad guys get stronger and multiply even faster. Nearly every U.S. hospital brews and breeds cancer on multiple fronts. First off, nearly all hospital food is processed, genetically modified, and severely lacking nutritional value. Childrens hospitals still serve hot dogs, knowing they cause cancer! Then, hospitals are breeding grounds for superbugs (bacteria and viruses like MRSA that are now immune to antibiotics and pharma drugs). So, God forbid you get cancer and go to the hospital for treatment, youll be getting dosed with food that causes cancer, cancerous bacteria and viruses, and medicine that causes cancer too. How absurd.

You read that right. Conventional cancer treatments involve treatments that yield a miserable three percent cure rate at best, while causing new cancers to develop elsewhere in the body. It gets worse. People suffering from cancer who get chemotherapy often end their lives in great pain. Chemo can trigger and catapult aggressive tumors too. Chemotherapy literally reduces life expectancy and speeds up the deterioration of the immune system on the cellular level, all according to the reputable New York Academy of Sciences journal. Plus, breast cancer patients who opt out of chemo live four times longer! Millions of Americans die from chemo, but the hospitals say it was the cancer that came back. Okay, but what caused that cancer to come back? That, my friends, is the question of questions to consider very carefully.

Find out more about chemicals that literally cause cancer, including chemotherapy, at Chemotherapy.news. The old saying, Theres safety in numbers holds no water in the United States of America. The masses are the ones dying from cancer and chemo. Seek natural remedies for your organic body and mind! Do yourself one huge favor: Dont Eat Cancer and it wont eat you. Period. This has been a public service announcement from Natural News, the best health news on the planet.

Sources for this article include:

Telegraph.co.uk

AntiCorruptionSociety.com

Chemotherapy.news

NaturalNews.com

PCRM.org

GetCancerCure.com(Natural News) The Marxist Left is about to hand President Donald J. Trump a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a chief executive hell-bent on ending flagrant violations of U.S. immigration law.

If youve kept up with the news this week, you know that a caravan consisting of about 1,500 people, most of them from Honduras between the ages of 15-35, is heading unimpeded through Mexico to the U.S. border, where they are expected to try to cross and demand asylum.

At this point, it is unclear exactly whats going on. Some reports claim that the Mexican government has intervened and deported at least a portion of the migrants. Other reports claim that Mexico City is prepared to interdict all of the migrants. Still, others note that the migrant horde is continuing its passage through Mexico with the U.S. as their final destination.

This whole event is little more than a political demonstration created by Left-wing activists to push an open borders agenda in the face of increasingly strenuous enforcement of immigration law by a duly-elected president.

Now, if the latter reports are correct and the migrant horde reaches the U.S. border, Trump will be forced to act  in defense of the country.

Before the horde arrives, Trump  as commander-in-chief  has every authority, I believe, to call in the U.S. military and seal at least the portion of the border that is under threat of being overrun. Taken to its extreme, the president may even go so far as to seal the entire border, at least temporarily. (Related: Mexico AIDING Easter invasion of illegals into the U.S.; Trump WARNS.)

Marxist Democrats will howl and Left-wing anarchists will squeal, but the president would be right to defy anyone  especially activist federal judges  to overrule him and claim a higher authority to act.

There is no greater responsibility for the president of the United States to protect and defend our country. And while certainly an invasion of migrants isnt the same as an armed invasion by a foreign power, neither Trump nor anyone else has any idea who is in that horde. Most of them are very likely harmless people, but remember, the notorious MS-13 gang has its origins in Honduras and El Salvador. Plus, there could terrorists sprinkled among the group as well.

We just dont know. The president doesnt know. So he cant afford to take any chances.

Plus, if Trump doesnt act, it will send a horrible signal to the rest of the world that hes a bluffer, he can be cowed into backing down, and that the U.S. border really is a sieve that no one in power seems interested in guarding.

For his part, the president already seems to be thinking along these lines.

As reported by The Washington Times, Trump told White House press pool correspondents that hed deploy the military along the border if need be.

We are going to be guarding our border with our military. Thats a big step, he said, adding that he has already been talking with Defense Secretary James Mattis about using elements of the military to guard the border and help civilian border authorities.

We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way never showing up for court, Trump said at the White House, according to the Times. If it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and so pathetic  its like we have no border.

In 2006, then-President George W. Bush said he would order up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the U.S. border, to assist civilian border authorities. He was right to do so then, and Trump is right to do so now.

Stay up to date on this story at InvasionUSA.news.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

WashingtonTimes.com

TheGatewayPundit.com

TheNationalSentinel.com(Natural News) When the law blatantly discriminates against you for being a man, simply self-identify as a woman in order to correct this gross injustice. This is what an Argentinian man recently did after discovering that he would have to work five years longer to achieve retirement simply because hes a male rather than a female.

Sergio Lazarovich, who now identifies as Sergia, had worked for many decades as a tax preparation specialist in Argentina, and would have had an additional five years to go before finally gaining his freedom from being a wage slave. But once he realized that female workers in Argentina are allowed to retire earlier than male workers, he saw an opportunity for early release from his labor prison.

Recognizing that this disparity is unfairly discriminatory against males, and seeing the current state of gender confusion in the public realm, Sergia came up with a plan. With the help of his lawyer, Sergia filed the necessary paperwork to change his official gender status to female, which in turn allowed him to retire half a decade earlier than if he had remained a male.

It was a brilliant way to turn one of lifes many lemons into lemonade by capitalizing on the LGBT mafias crusade for anything goes gender identification. It further sets an example for anyone else out there whos discriminated against  mainly straight, white males these days  to take matters into their own hands and achieve justice.

Argentinian law allows any person to change their gender on identity documents to match their self-perception, without having to provide evidence of hormone treatment or gender reassignment surgery, explains the Daily Mail Online about how easy it is to self-identify as the opposite sex in Argentina.

Suddenly LGBTers are against equality when those outside of their community take advantage of ridiculous gender identity laws

But once the LGBT mafia caught wind of the fact that their own special interest legislation had backfired in support of someone outside their community, all hell apparently broke loose. Sergia is now being accused of falsifying his alternate gender for a purpose other than degeneracy and attention-seeking, and LGBTers everywhere are fuming with rage over the matter.

Since Sergia is a heterosexual man whos been married to the same woman for more than 25 years  and has never once actually considered himself to be a woman trapped inside a mans body  he apparently doesnt qualify for equal treatment under Argentinas loose laws of gender fluidity, according to the LGBT mafia.

But Sergia is sticking to her guns, emphasizing that Argentinian law is unfair and unjust. Furthermore, if any random LGBTer can change his or her gender on a whim for pretty much any reason, then Sergia is entitled to the exact same treatment under the law, no matter what her reasons for altering her gender in the eyes of the law.

His conviction is that it is unfair that, because he is a man, he has to work five years more than a woman, a relative of Sergio, now Sergia, reportedly told the Argentinian newspaper Informate Salta about the situation.

He has been working on this for more than three years and was advised by lawyers and the first plan was to make a complaint to the State citing discrimination. But it was an option that could have taken many years and no one could guarantee that the court would rule in his favor.

When confronted personally about her alleged false gender identify, Sergia held nothing back in responding: I dont have to explain anything to anyone.

To this we say, more power to him  or her, if you prefer.

Sources for this article include:

DailyWire.com

NaturalNews.com(Natural News) If youre a resident of zip code 49507 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, chances are youve been exposed to high  or even dangerous  levels of lead. And unlike the ongoing crisis in Flint, the culprit is the paint on your windows, reported Wood TV.

Lead exposure has plagued Grand Rapids for years. And nowhere is the problem more prevalent than in zip code 49507.

According to a recent report by the Kent County Lead Task Force, the Grand Rapids zip code harbored the highest number of lead poisoning incidents in the state of Michigan during 2015 and 2016.

And things are not getting any better  2016 and 2017 have witnessed a shocking 40 percent jump in the prevalence of lead-related health problems.

In Flint, leaky old pipes have contaminated local water supplies, which was further compounded by an outbreak of the deadly Legionnaires disease. But in Grand Rapids, its the widespread use of cheap lead-based paints on windows that threatens lives.

Experts suspect the shortage of affordable housing and the lack of responsible construction practices are contributing to the skyrocketing risk of lead poisoning in zip code 49507 and elsewhere in Grand Rapids.

From 2015 to 16, testing did go up slightly, but the percentage of kids with high tests still continue to climb, warned Paul Haan of the Healthy Homes Coalition of West Michigan, who believes its high time to find out the exact reason for the high incidence rate. (Related: Toxic pollutants in Michigan driving people out of their homes.)

Grand Rapids residents advised to renovate or replace old windows

In the meantime, Haan advised Grand Rapids residents to take steps in protecting their loved ones by refurbishing or removing windows with lead-based paints.

Maintaining those old windows or replacing them if theyve outlived their lifespan is one sure fire way to clean up a lot of lead, he suggested.

One victim of lead exposure who earned her happy ending is Larissa Adams. A resident of Grand Rapids, she was only a year old when a blood test detected high levels of lead in her young body.

I still didnt know enough about it until all these years later and Im thinking to myself she might not have not risen to her full potential if this hadnt been taken care of, remembered Larissas mother Lyree Adams.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that lead is especially dangerous to children because their developing bodies absorb much greater amounts of it than adults do. Lead poisoning is known to cause behavioral and developmental disorders, comas, convulsions, and even death.

In the case of the toddling Larissa, the old window was filling the air with lead-contaminated dust.

The dust from the windows, lifting and closing the windows, was creating a dust and she was crawling at the time, putting her hands in her mouth, Adams explained.

The Adams family hurriedly replaced the old windows of their apartment. The renovation worked; 11 years later, the healthy Larissa is completely free from lead.

Kent County leaders working on anti-lead poisoning campaign

Kent County Commissioner Carol Hennessy reassured residents of Grand Rapids that community leaders are aware and on top of the situation.

Its going to be very, very broad based in terms of education, and then we will be working on health policy to get more doctors to actually test the blood levels of children, she promised.

The Kent County Lead Task Force has already updated the Commission with their latest findings. Their recommendations will factor into a plan to reduce lead exposure in Grand Rapids and the rest of the county.

Find out if you and your family are at risk from lead and other heavy metals. Visit HeavyMetals.news.

Sources includes:

WoodTV.com

WHO.int(Natural News) David Hogg has been whining not just about his disdain for the Constitution, specifically the Second Amendment, but also for the fact that Fox News host Laura Ingraham dared to mock his failure at getting into four colleges, which she apologized for but shouldnt have. Hogg, still just a child, cant take the criticism and called for a ban of Fox News because he was exposed for how obviously ill-equipped he is to get in those schools, but is obviously controlled enough to be a useful idiot for the Communists.

(Article by Tim Brown republished from GunsInTheNews.com)

So, a US Marine veteran decided to, as gently as a Marine can do, rebuke him in a letter.

Joe Newby of Conservative Firing Line wrote a letter to Hogg, in which he both sympathized with the loss of friends in the Parkland high school shooting on Valentines Day this year and gave him a rude awakening to the reality of life itself, something that a true friend would do.

DAVID, I UNDERSTAND HOW YOU MUST FEEL AFTER LOSING 17 OF YOUR CLASSMATES. AS A 10-YEAR VETERAN OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, I KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO LOSE COMRADES AND FRIENDS IN A SENSELESS ACT OF BLOODY VIOLENCE. WE ALL DEAL WITH OUR LOSSES IN VARIOUS WAYS. SOME OF US DO SO QUIETLY, WHILE OTHERS COMFORT THEMSELVES WITH PRAYER, CONFIDENT THAT THE DAY WILL COME WHEN WELL ALL BE REUNITED. YOU, HOWEVER, CHOSE TO BECOME A PUBLIC SPECTACLE.

Indeed, Hogg chose to be the public spectacle he has become. And while there are tens of thousands of kids and many adults who agree with his position, its the fact that he is obnoxious and hypocritical in what he says about the issue of the Second Amendment and then how he behaves about it.

For instance, Newby continued:

He then blasted Hogg for being upset that people called him out on his attacks and lies, and even more that Laura Ingraham would expose his failure to get into college.

David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPAtotally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY  Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018

NOW YOURE UPSET BECAUSE LAURA INGRAHAM TWEETED SOMETHING ABOUT YOU BEING REJECTED FROM FOUR COLLEGES AND ARE DEMANDING HER ADVERTISERS FACE BOYCOTT UNLESS THEY DROP HER. LETS GET SOMETHING STRAIGHT  YOU CHOSE TO BECOME A PUBLIC FIGURE AND YOU CHOSE TO USE YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT FREE SPEECH RIGHT TO EXPRESS YOURSELF AND CALL FOR RESTRICTIONS ON A FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT. AND YOU CHOSE TO LET THE WORLD KNOW THAT YOU WERE REJECTED BY THOSE COLLEGES. NO ONE FORCED YOU TO DO THAT  YOU DID IT ALL BY YOURSELF. NOW YOURE MAD BECAUSE SOMEONE DARED TO RESPOND.

Of course, this is the real world. Hogg has demonstrated nothing but vitriol for gun owners and National Rifle Association members. He disdains the US Constitution, freedom and the Second Amendment, except for himself, of course. Oh, the hypocrisy.

Hogg chastises people about guns and yet, didnt utter a peep when a rapper, who was convicted on felony gun charges (against the Second Amendment, I might add) was hired to perform during Hoggs March for our Lives event in DC. Hogg was also silent when students, who were engaged in his national walkout, flooded stores and trashed them.

Still, Newby said the one thing that really got to him was Hoggs sticky posted Tweet in which he hypocritically wrote, Can we please not debate this as Democrats and Republicans but discuss this as Americans? In the comments if you see someone you disagree with do not attack each other talk to one another, this applies to me too. WE MUST WORK TOGETHER TO SAVE OUR FUTURE.

Can we please not debate this as Democrats and Republicans but discuss this as Americans? In the comments if you see someone you dissagree with do not attack each other talk to one another, this applies to me too. WE MUST WORK TOGETHER TO SAVE OUR FUTURE.  David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 12, 2018

Unfortunately, Hogg, like most gun grabbers, is not interested in debate. Hes interested in shouting you down, profanely I might add, and silencing his opposition. Hogg is not interested in facts, much like Georgia Democrat Representative Erica Thomas, who just cannot accept reality but just makes up her own despite the facts. Hes not interested in a discussion either.

Newby concluded:

THIS CERTAINLY DOESNT LINE UP WITH YOUR OWN ACTIONS BEFORE AND SINCE THIS TWEET. IN FACT, YOUR ACTIONS AND STATEMENTS SINCE THIS TWEET HAVE EXPOSED YOU AS A RANK HYPOCRITE. HERES THE BOTTOM LINE  IF YOURE GOING TO BE A PUBLIC FIGURE YOU NEED TO PUT ON YOUR BIG BOY PANTS AND GROW UP. YOU CANT TRASH AND LIE ABOUT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS AND EXPECT NO BACKLASH WHATSOEVER. THATS NOT THE REAL WORLD. SO EITHER GROW UP AND DEAL WITH THE CRITICISM LIKE AN ADULT OR DO US ALL A FAVOR AND SHUT UP.

I tip my hat to Joe. Ive probably been harsher on the little Commie that Joe was, but at least we both were willing to do something that President Donald Trump was unwilling to do, stand for the Constitution and rebuke this ignorant boy-child and urge him to think about the fact that he is being used, controlled and manipulated and should his ideology win the day, he and those around him will grow up in an America that is fully totalitarian with no means of beating back tyranny.

Read more at: GunsInTheNews.com(Natural News) Last week, an AP American History teacher by the name of Julianne Benzel appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to describe a scenario in which she was put on paid leave for daring to question the student gun control walkout, even though she never explicitly gave her opinion on it or condemned the protesters that did choose to participate.

During a separate interview with The Daily Wire, Benzel explained that she asked her students to think about whether or not they believe it is a good idea for the school to be allowing students to walk out of class in support of a political cause. Considering the fact that the school apparently has no problem with students participating in an anti-gun protest, does that mean that the school would also have to back a student-led pro-life demonstration? Benzel encouraged her students to go home and discuss the issue with their parents.

On the morning of the walkout, Benzel was informed just thirty minutes before arriving at school that she had been placed on administrative leave because a few of her students had apparently complained about how she had questioned the schools decision to support the anti-gun student walkout.

However, in her interview with Tucker Carlson, Benzel mentioned that one of her very brave students was planning on finding out whether or not the school will allow pro-life students to participate in a walkout in the same way that the school allowed students to walk out in support of stricter gun control laws. Thus far, it appears as though the pro-life walkout is still only in its planning phases, but when it does eventually happen, the school had better be okay with it if they want to avoid coming across as a bunch of partisan, left-wing school administrators.

Frankly, injecting the debate over abortion into the debate over gun control and the Second Amendment reveals the sheer hypocrisy of the political left. Why is it that liberals want to make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to obtain a firearm as a means of decreasing senseless violence and murder, yet are perfectly okay with the idea of innocent, defenseless, unborn babies being crushed into pieces and vacuumed out of the womb? Are lives that come to an end as a result of gun violence somehow more important or valuable than lives that come to an end before birth?

Just weeks following the tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut where 20 young children and six adults were killed, Barack Obama addressed the country and used the classic if we just save one life argument to advance his gun control agenda: Because while there is no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence completely, no piece of legislation that will prevent every tragedy, every act of evil, if theres even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if theres even one life that can be saved, then weve got an obligation to try. (Related: Gun control is incredibly popular among people who live under tyranny and oppression dont they get it?)

First, more gun laws do not save lives  for proof, all one has to do is look at New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Second, Barack Obama doesnt seem to care about saving even one life when he openly supports Planned Parenthood and what he and other leftists call a womans right to choose. The people today who are marching in the streets for more gun control are just as hypocritical  they claim that they want to save lives, yet they fail to take into account all of the innocent lives that are lost due to their support of pro-choice policies and legislation.

Sources Include:

DailyWire.com

Breitbart.comLocal media reports and official documentation suggest that the Defense Ministrys Acquisition and Technology Logistics Agency (ATLA) is making steady progress on operationalizing a new supersonic anti-ship missile, the ASM-3 (formerly known as the XASM-3). As Navy Recognition has previously reported, MOD plans to begin mass production of the weapon in 2018 after having completed development at the end of 2017.

By Ben Rimland



Local media reports and official documentation suggest that the Defense Ministrys Acquisition and Technology Logistics Agency (ATLA) is making steady progress on operationalizing a new supersonic anti-ship missile, the ASM-3 (formerly known as the XASM-3). As Navy Recognition has previously reported, Japan's Ministry of Defense (MOD) plans to begin mass production of the weapon in 2018 after having completed development at the end of 2017.

A concept of use infographic published by Japanese MOD (Ben Rimland/Navy Recognition translation)



A concept of use infographic published by MOD provides a look at how the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces (JASDF) may employ the weapon in a contingency. The missile can take either a direct course of travel when launched low near the edge of the targeted vessels radar range, or instead it may take a pop-up profile, climbing high from a low angle of launch or instead staying at an already high altitude from an elevated attack approach. Survivability of the firing F-2 is of chief concern in either attack scenario. Per the infographic, a direct and low attack allows the F-2 to fly under the radar, while the pop-up profile may put the F-2 within radar detection range, but beyond the scope of the targeted ships SAMs.

Two XASM-3 missiles fitted on a Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 Fighter during recent tests (May 2017). Picture via twitter user @MR2AW11SP



A recent report in the Mainichi Shimbun provides further detail on the history of the weapons development and ATLAs plans for further utilizing the guidance and propulsion technology of the ASM-3. The weapons development period ran from 2003 to 2017, during which a total of 15 test launches proved the designs viability. Research and development costs totalled 39 billion yen, approximately $367 million. MOD is also planning on employing the ramjet propulsion system and inertial/composite guidance technology of the ASM-3 to design a land-based, truck mounted variant, as well as a ship-based version with longer range (ed. note: The XSSM which Navy Recognition covered previously).



Ben Rimland is an independent researcher on Asia-Pacific security issues. His academic research pertains to Japanese defense policy and American security policy in Asia. He can be found on twitter at @JPNsecuritywonk

Video showing Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 Fighter test launching a XASM-3 missile. ATLA video.



About ASM-3 supersonic anti-ship missile

Designed and manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), ASM-3 is capable of reaching Mach 3 speeds thanks to its ramjet engine fed by two air intakes (in a similar fashion to MBDA's Meteor air to air missile or to the French ASMP-A air-launched tactical nuclear missile).

ASM-3 basic specifications:

Full length: 6000 mm

Full width: 950 mm

Missile body diameter: 350 mm

Maximum speed: Mach 3 or more

Firing range: 80nm (about 150km) or more

Weight: 940kg

Power: Integral Rocket Ramjet

Navigation and seeker: inertial / GPS (intermediate stage) + active / passive seeker (terminal phase)Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee.

In remembrance of the civil rights leaders' life and legacy, people across the Bay Area on Wednesday are slated to gather at various commemoration events.

[NATL] Then and Now: Scenes From DC After MLK's Assassination

Below is a list of some of those events taking place around the region:

University of California, Berkeley MLK Event

When: 12 p.m.

Where: Campanile Esplanade

Details: A bell on the East Bay campus will toll 39 times to remember each year of King's life. People will then sing two anthems from the civil rights era.

Oakland MLK Event

When: 1 p.m.

Where: In front of the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Details: The event will feature a news conference and public reading of King's 1967 speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence."

San Jose MLK Event

When: 3:45 p.m.

Where: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library

Details: Local students and community members will ring 50 chimes in King's memory starting at 4:01 p.m. Attendees will then join together in a community prayer. A civil rights era exhibition will then be unveiled.

San Francisco MLK Event

When: 4 p.m.

Where: Grace Cathedral

Details: Two of King's speeches will be played during the event. Cathedral bells will also toll 50 times.

[NATL]The 1963 March on Washington in Photos

San Francisco City Hall MLK Event

When: 11 a.m.

Where: City Hall

Details: A commemoration program in honor of King is planned.San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to name San Francisco International Airport's Terminal 1 after the city's first openly gay politician, the late Harvey Milk.

The legislation went to the full board for approval after the city's Board of Supervisors budget and finance committee voted last month to recommend it.

Milk was elected to the board in 1977 and assassinated the following year, along with Mayor George Moscone, at City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White. Milk was known as a pioneer for gay rights and also fought for migrant farm workers, low-income tenants, laborers and homeless youth.

"I can't tell you the depth of what this means not only to the LGBT community but also to its allies," Assemblyman Tom Ammiano said Tuesday at the board meeting.

"Rather than turn the community inward, he asked that we turn the community outward and look at other marginalized communities and embrace them and give them empathy, be angry with them and adopt their goals as well," Ammiano said of Milk.

Ammiano worked with Milk in 1978 to defeat the Briggs Initiative, a proposition that would have banned LGBTQ people from working inCalifornia public schools.

"He fought for progressive causes and tried to make the world a better place," said former Supervisor Harry Britt at today's meeting. Britt was appointed to the board in 1979 by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein to fill Milk's seat after his assassination.

"It was a great surprise as a gay man to see that it was possible," Britt said of Milk's accomplishments. "And it means a great deal to me, as it still does to lesbians, gay men and queers of various kinds all around the world, that we're still honoring him."

The terminal's naming has been a long time in the making, as former Supervisor David Campos first attempted it in 2013, however, that idea was abandoned in the face of opposition. Instead, Campos reached a compromise agreement to form a committee to recommend which of SFO's terminals or other facilities should be renamed.

In 2017, following a vote by the Airport Facilities Naming Advisory Committee in support of the renaming, Supervisor Hillary Ronen introduced new legislation to begin the process of renaming the terminal.

Also at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, supervisors unanimously voted on final approval for a ban on the sale of fur products citywide.

The ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Katy Tang, also received unanimous support in the first Board of Supervisors vote last month.

The ban will go into effect on Jan. 1 and San Francisco will join Berkeley and West Hollywood as the only U.S. cities to remove all fur clothing and accessories from shopping racks.Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton's precautionary lockdown was lifted Wednesday afternoon, according to Atherton Police, and no threat was found.

Police called the school saying there was a possible unspecified threat against the school, according to school officials.

Officers swept the campus as a precaution, according to the school.

Further information was not available.

Refresh the page for updates on this developing story.Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith issued statements Tuesday evening after receiving criticism for a jail reform report she requested be commissioned that ended up not being heard by the county's Board of Supervisors.

Smith called the motion carried not to move the item to the meeting's consent calendar "unfortunate" and cited its author, former Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney in Idaho, as a national expert.

"Critics were quick to point out flaws in his report, yet Mr. Raney was not given the opportunity to describe the scope and process of his review in an open forum," Smith said in a statement.

That statement was released at 5:50 p.m., and another followed it at approximately 7 p.m., which addressed comments sheriff's candidate and former Undersheriff John Hirokawa made outside meeting chambers regarding recent allegations that Smith sexually assaulted a colleague early on in her career.

"I am highly offended by opportunists hiding under the guise of the #MeToo movement to make political points to aid my critics," Smith's second set of comments stated. "The most recent false allegations show that women, at any level, are not immune from sexist attacks even today."

Smith said that the allegations that she pulled interview tapes from an internal affairs investigation, hiding accusations that she had sexually harassed a male co-worker, were "determined to be false over 25 years ago by County Counsel through an independent and thorough investigation."

Smith said that she refuses to let the allegations distract her from her duties as sheriff.

Hirokawa and former Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell spoke out against the report done by GAR Inc. and called for Smith's resignation prior to the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning.

Cordell called the 66-page document "a convoluted puff piece" because it points out existing issues within the jail system in the county yet praises Smith and her staff for their work.

The report followed several reform efforts that resulted from the 2015 death of Santa Clara County jail inmate Michael Tyree at the hands of former guards Jereh Lubrin, Rafael Rodriguez and Matthew Farris.

In the wake of the death, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution establishing a Blue Ribbon Commission on Improving Custody Operations, which was chaired by Cordell. The commission worked to receive public recommendations, discuss an inmate welfare fund and interview the inmates themselves to gauge what could be done.

Hirokawa stated that he believed the survey conclusions that came from the commission two years after Tyree's death "somewhat critical."

The commission's survey called for a higher level of community involvement in regulation the jails moving forward, but the GAR report stated that wasn't necessarily appropriate.

Hirokawa was confused as to why the sheriff's office contracted the report instead of the county-associated commission.

"Why wouldn't you go back to the original, go back to the baseline that reported on how the inmates were feeling?" Hirokawa asked. "This is a propaganda piece for the re-election of Laurie Smith."A woman who believed she was being suppressed by YouTube and told her family members she "hated" the company opened fire at YouTube's headquarters in California, wounding three people before taking her own life, police said.

Investigators do not believe Nasim Aghdam specifically targeted the three victims when she pulled out a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and fired off several rounds in a courtyard at the company's headquarters south of San Francisco on Tuesday, police said.

At this point in the investigation it is believed the suspect was upset with the policies and practices of YouTube," San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said at a news conference Wednesday. But she gave no warning she might attack the company when she spoke with police earlier Tuesday morning, and authorities have said there was no evidence linking her to any individual at YouTube.



Before Tuesday's shooting, Aghdam visited a gun range, police said.

Police officers from San Bruno and South San Francisco were seen visiting on Wednesday a gun range not far from YouTube's headquarters. San Bruno officers arrived late Wednesday morning at the Jackson Arms Shooting Range in the city of South San Francisco and spent nearly two hours there.

Five officers from South San Francisco visited Wednesday afternoon. The officers did not speak with reporters.

The Jackson Arms Shooting Range has surveillance cameras inside and outside of the facility.

Barberini said investigators have not yet found a letter or manifesto from Aghdam that would provide any clues about what led to Tuesday's shooting. Authorities have said she told family members that she "hated" the company and felt her content was being suppressed by YouTube practices and policies.



A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that Aghdam used the name "Nasime Sabz" online.

A website in that name decried YouTube's policies and said the company was trying to "suppress" content creators.

"Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!" one of the messages on the site said. "There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!"

Barberini said investigators are still piecing through collected evidence and hope to examine additional evidence in hopes of pinpointing what exactly made Aghdam upset.

"There's a lot of follow-up that needs to be done," Barberini said. "We have investigators going in several different directions following up on everything."

In another online rant, she complained that YouTube censored her content by imposing an age restriction on one of her workout videos because they were too racy, NBC Bay Area's Investigative Unit found. She said the company failed to do the same thing for famous pop stars.



Officers in Mountain View, about 30 miles from YouTube's headquarters, said they encountered Aghdam around 1:40 a.m. Tuesday. They said she was sitting in a vehicle in a parking lot and that she may have been sleeping.

The officers spoke with Aghdam for around 20 minutes, they said, and she told them she was currently living out of her vehicle and that she came to the area to stay with family and find a job.

"At no point during our roughly 20 minute interaction with her did she mention anything about YouTube, if she was upset with them, or that she had planned to harm herself or others. Throughout our entire interaction with her, she was calm and cooperative," Mountain View police said.

They let her go, saying there was no indication she needed to be detained.

Police said they ran the vehicle's license plates and confirmed it belonged to Aghdam. The check on the license plates also revealed to police that she had been reported missing in San Diego County on March 31.

Police said they phoned Aghdam's family after the encounter in the parking lot to let them know she'd been located. Aghdam's father said there had been family issues at home, but according to police, he did not express concern about the reason his daughter had left.

Aghdam's father said, however, that he called back and told police he thought his daughter might be upset at YouTube and that could be the reason she was in the area.

"At no point did her father or brother mention anything about potential acts of violence or a possibility of Aghdam lashing out as a result of her issues with her videos," police said in a statement.

The suspect's family released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying: "Although no words can describe our pain for this tragedy, our family would like to express their utmost regret, sorrow for what has happened to innocent victims."

U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials were searching homes Wednesday where the shooter had lived in Southern California, NBC San Diego and NBC Los Angeles reported.

Dozens of agents were seen outside a home at the 4S Ranch neighborhood in San Diego. NBC LA reported that Menifee police arrived at the home of Aghdam's father early Wednesday morning.

Her father refused to answer questions from NBC LA's reporter but said that everything there is to know about his daughter could be found on her YouTube channel.



One of the shooting victims  a 36-year-old man  was in serious condition on Wednesday, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital told NBC Bay Area. Two other victims, a 32-year-old woman and a 27-year-old woman, were released from the hospital Tuesday night, the spokesman said.

Officers and federal agents responding to multiple 911 calls Tuesday swarmed the company's campus sandwiched between two interstates in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings on the campus when the fire alarm went off.

He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, "Come get me." He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw the shooter without any security check during working hours.

There was somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound.

He said he realized it was an active shooter incident when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door. He jumped on his skateboard and took off.

Officers discovered one victim with a gunshot wound when they arrived and then found the shooter with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound several minutes later, Barberini said. He said two additional gunshot victims were later located at an adjacent business.

NBC Bay Area and Associated Press writers Sudhin Thanawala, Janie Har, Juliet Williams and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.One YouTube employee said he had just returned from lunch when shots were fired at the company's San Bruno, California, headquarters.

The employee, who did not give his name, told NBC Bay Area he ran into a closet and hid, still clutching part of his muffin. He stayed in the closet for around 10 minutes, and then he heard the fire alarm go off and "a woman yelling like she was mad."

At that point, he said, he and other nearby employees started running en masse toward the building's exits.

Senior software engineer Zach Vorhies, 37, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings on the campus when the fire alarm went off.

He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter and heard them yelling, "'Come at me, or come get me.'"

He said he saw somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound.

He said he realized it was an active shooter incident when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door. He said he jumped on his skateboard and got out of the way.

Authorities said a woman believed to be the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot after wounding four people.

Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to the window and saw a woman firing a gun on a patio below.

Arnspiger said she called out, "'Shooter,' and everybody started running." She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while someone called 911 repeatedly for updates. She said it was "terrifying."

Google employee Ricardo Luis Horna, 29, said he was on campus in a nearby building and saw his colleagues running from the building at 901 Cherry Ave.

"My colleagues got my attention. I ran outside to the parking lot. I ran into my car with my manager and drove off," he said.



Horna described "chaos" in the parking lot, where employees scrambled into vehicles and drove away from the campus. Horna said he drove to a restaurant "about 10 minutes away."

Janice Antonio works in a Kaiser Health facility near the YouTube campus. She said she heard sirens approaching and wondered if there was a fire.

But "then more sirens came, and I thought that was weird," Antonio told NBC News. "So the next thing you know...we're on lockdown."

Another witness, who gave his name only as Jesse, told NBC Bay Area he was getting a hamburger at a nearby Carl's Jr. restaurant and heard gunshots.

"I knew the shooter was right by me, because you could feel the sensations of the bullet," he said.

Jesse said he and other diners rushed to the aid of a victim who had been shot in the leg. They helped drag her inside the restaurant and tried to help stop the bleeding, he said.

Will Hudson said a friend who works for YouTube texted him about the shooter.

"I think there might be a shooter in my building," read one text. "The fire alarm went off so we started to evacuate and then people (started) running saying there was a shooter."

Hudson said the friend made it safely back to San Francisco and was in contact with his family. Hudson said he's become used to hearing about gun violence but has never been so close to it before.

"It just feels strange. It feels like it could really be anyone. That's really the strangeness of it," he said.

Television news footage showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they went by. Officers patted down people grouped outside, and police vehicles surrounded the area.Strong, gusty winds will be blowing across New England on Wednesday. And in the near future, more of that wind energy will be harnessed and put to good use.

The Massachusetts Electric Distribution companies are expected to select offshore wind projects for negotiation later this month. This comes after several project proposals for offshore wind farms were submitted last year, in accordance with an order from the Governor.

In 2016 Gov. Charlie Baker signed the order mandating that the state use 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2027. The Environment Massachusetts Research and Policy Center says thats about 10-15 percent of the states annual electricity consumption.

That same policy center released a study in March saying that Massachusetts could produce more energy from offshore wind than any other state.

The report went on to say that if all the offshore wind power was harnessed in Massachusetts waters, it would be equal to 19 times the states annual electric consumption.

Even though offshore wind has been slow to evolve in Massachusetts so far, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has been working to prepare for it.

In recent years, the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal was constructed, and specifically designed to assemble and deploy offshore wind turbines.

The Wind Technology Testing Center was also built in Charlestown, offering certification tests for turbine blades.

The nations first offshore wind farm opened in 2017 off of Block Island, after years of debate and controversy.As Facebook asks its users whether they think the social media platform is "good for the world," we want to hear what you have to say.

Sound off with your responses below.

[[478689763, C]]



Here's how to do it: Grab your phone, device or computer with camera capabilities. Click "record your video" above to get started. A new prompt will pop up and ask you to "Make a video." Hit the red circle and you're on!



A couple quick tips: Say your name and where you live. Record from a quiet spot, keep your video under 30 seconds, and be sure to click "I'd like to share this video with NBCChicago.com." Please use respectful language and tone.



What happens after you record? If you clicked "I'd like to share this video with NBCChicago.com," we'll get the video. It will be reviewed and among those considered to be posted online or used on TV!As police investigate reports of "zombie-like" raccoons in northeast Ohio, Cook County experts say such sightings are also unusually high in northern Illinois.

The animals are believed to be suffering from a viral disease known as distemper.

Donna Alexander, the aministrator for the Cook County Animal and Rabies Control, said the latest necropsy report for 2018 showed 43 percent of raccoons evaluated had distemper, an unusual spike for the county.

The highest spike on record in the county came in 2016, when 45 percent of raccoons showed positive for distemper.

"Its very serious for the raccoon and its very serious for the companion animal population as well," Alexander said.



WKBN-TV reports Youngstown police have received more than a dozen calls in the past three weeks about raccoons acting strangely in the daytime.

Photographer Robert Coggeshall said he was playing with his dogs outside his home last week when one such raccoon approached them. Coggeshall says the animal would stand on its hind legs, show its teeth and fall over backward.

The raccoon Coggeshall saw and 14 others police responded to were euthanized.

The state Department of Natural Resources says the animals were likely suffering from distemper, not rabies. The viral disease causes coughing, tremors and seizures and leads raccoons to lose their fear of humans.

Authorities are asking residents to report raccoons behaving unusually to their local police station.

Last year, police in Hanover park reported sightings of "zombie" coyotes, which were infected with sarcoptic mange.A bill to ban bump stocks in Connecticut is one step closer to become law Tuesday night.

House Bill 5542 passed a Judiciary Committee vote Tuesday.

Bump stocks are devices used to make weapons fire more rapidly.

The Las Vegas shooter used one to fire on hundreds of concert-goers in just seconds.

Some people argue that its good to modify your weapon so you can hit your target effectively.

Gov. Dannel Malloy released the following statement on the vote:

Make no mistake, this is a step in the right direction, Governor Malloy said. As we have heard  loud and clear  from students and activists in recent weeks, Connecticut cannot afford to sit back while Congress continues to capitulate to the demands of the NRA while ignoring the demands of the vast majority of the American people. The legislation passed today is the definition of common sense. These cheap and deadly devices  which allow weapons to fire at machine gun-like speeds  have no place in our society. It is truly unfortunate that some Republicans are so beholden to the NRA that they wont even support this no-brainer bill.



The bill now goes to the General Assembly.The Connecticut State Police Union has established a memorial fund for Trooper First Class Kevin Miller, who was killed in a crash on I-84 while on duty last week.

Miller served with the Connecticut State Police for 19 years and was assigned to Troop C in Tolland. He had previously served for Troop K in Colchester and Troop E in Montville. He was killed in a collision with a tractor-trailer on I-84 in Tolland last Thursday.

On Tuesday, Connecticut State Police Union President Andrew Matthews spoke to the media about Millers death.

The loss of trooper miller is an immeasurable loss to our agency, Matthews said.

The union has established a memorial fund to support Millers family. Miller is survived by his mother, Linda, a 13-year-old son, a 10-year-ld daughter, and their mother, Jennifer. The funds will go directly to the children, and the union will help the family establish the estate and take care of their needs for the future.

It doesnt matter if you knew our brother Kevin or not on the job, because sometimes you dont meet each other because there is so many of us but it affects every trooper because it could be any one of them at any time, Matthews said.

Anyone wishing to donate can send checks payable to The Connecticut State Police Union, Inc. Checks should be mailed to Kevin Miller Memorial Fund, Connecticut State Police Union, 500 Main Street, East Hartford, Connecticut 06118-1034. Please do not send cash and please include Kevin Miller Memorial Fund in the check memo.

Calling hours for Miller will be held Thursday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and again from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, 615 Silver Lane in East Hartford.

A Mass of Christian burial funeral service will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at the same location.

The Connecticut State Police Union has established a Kevin Miller Memorial Fund. Anyone wishing to donate can send checks payable to The Connecticut State Police Union, Inc. Checks should be mailed to Kevin Miller Memorial Fund, Connecticut State Police Union, 500 Main Street, East Hartford, Connecticut 06118-1034. Please do not send cash and please include Kevin Miller Memorial Fund in the check memo.New Britain health officials have issued a warning after a deceased feral cat found in the Belvedere neighborhood tested positive for rabies.

The New Britain Health Department said the animal came into contact with several humans in the neighborhood, in the areas of Stanley Street and Marlin Road. The animal tested positive on April 2.

Residents in the area had previously been warned to be on the lookout after a rabid cat attacked at least five people. Any residents who encountered the animal should check with a doctor for treatment.

Tom Barrett, who lives in the neighborhood, was one of the people attacked by a feral cat.

"All I did was walk on the deck and the cat, I dont know where it came from but first of all caught me up here which didnt draw blood but on my leg it did draw blood," Barrett said.



Rabies is commonly spread by wild animals but stray cats and dogs may also become infected. Rabies can spread from a bite or scratch from an infected animal, or contact with an infected animals saliva. Humans and pets can all be at risk. Health officials encouraged residents to take precautions against rabies infection by avoiding wild or unfamiliar animals, and ensuring pets are up to date on rabies shots.

Rabies has a 100 percent fatality rate if left untreated, and cannot be cured once symptoms appear.

Health officials suggested the following tips to reduce the risk of an encounter with any wild or infected animals:

Discourage wild animal foraging by not leaving pet food or other food outside and by securing garbage cans. Do not feed strays.

Avoid feeding, touching or housing stray or wild animals. If you see an animal that is sick, injured, dead, orphaned or behaving oddly, leave it alone and contact New Britain Police Department, Animal Control Division, at the number below - do not try to handle the animal yourself.

Pets should be kept on leash and observed at all times when outdoors. Outdoor food and water stations for pets should be removed immediately after use; excess food should never be left unattended.

Anyone who may have been exposed to rabies should immediately clean the wound with soap and water and seek medical attention. Anyone with questions can contact the New Britain Health Department at 860-612-1611.

Anyone who suspects an animal may have rabies should report it to the New Britain Police Department Animal Control Division at 860-826-3000.Republicans have started to line up to run for the vacated Congressional seat left by Elizabeth Esty.

Manny Santos, the former Republican Mayor of Meriden, was the first to enter the race back in February, with the thought he would be challenging Esty.

Now the race has a higher profile, Santos acknowledged.

Santos, who was born in Portugal, came to America with his parents when he was 5. He later joined the Marines and graduated from the University of Connecticut before working in engineering and as an analyst for a health insurance company.

He said he thinks the Fifth Congressional District is more competitive than even before Esty dropped her re-election bid.

Santos added that a vote for him, is one for support of President Donald Trump.

"My intention is to support this administration's policies, which I agree with most of them and the ones I don't agree on. I'll voice that opinion as well, he said.

Other Republicans have voiced intentions to run in the 24 hours after Esty announced her decision, including Mark Greenberg who faced Elizabeth Esty in 2014, and Dan Carter who ran against Richard Blumenthal in the race for the US Senate in 2016.

I understand their needs in the district. They are tired of lip service, Carter said of running.

Mary Glassman, the former Democratic First Selectman of Simsbury also confirmed to NBC Connecticut her plans to replace Elizabeth Esty.

Multiple sources also told NBC Connecticut that Danbury State Representative David Arconti has been discussed as a possible replacement, as well.

Elizabeth Esty will qualify for her congressional pension, but the decision to finish her third term will impact the amount taxpayers will owe her.Sexual assault victims in rural areas now have more help in their corner.



Texas Health Resources has placed special forensic nurses as part of its sexual assault nurse examiners program, or SANE program, at several of its rural hospitals.



The SANE launch at Texas Health Azle is part of region-wide expansion effort.



Texas Health Resources also has expanded its SANE Program services at Texas Health Alliance, Texas Health Arlington Memorial, Texas Health Cleburne, Texas Health Texas Health Denton, Texas Health HEB and Texas Health Kaufman.



The forensic nurses' job is to collect evidence for police but also provide comfort during a victim's most difficult time.



"After we find out their bodies are OK, then we do start the evidence collection part," said Cindy Burnett, a sexual assault nurse examiner, the first ever at Texas Health Azle.



Nurses in the SANE program are trained for crisis intervention, emotional support, health treatment and forensic evidence collection.



"What's happening in many hospitals is that they meet those medical needs, but they don't have the specialized treatment of people that have been trained for SANE," said Burnett.



Up until now, sexual assault victims had to drive to bigger hospitals for a forensic examination.



Program directros said when victims of sexual assault have to be transferred, they often times do not follow through with the sexual assault forensic exam.



It also created challenges for police investigating the crime.



Azle Police Chief Rick Pippins is excited to have a SANE program nurse at the community hospital.



"They've been trained and educated on how to locate to collect and preserve this evidence for us and to do so in a very timely fashion and that can sometimes make all the difference in the world," said Pippins.



Since expanding the SANE program to rural hospitals last fall, the forensic nurses have already treated 19 sexual assault victims.



Burnett was called into action her first official night of the job.



"We want to give that empowerment back to them because they've had that taken away from them during the assault," said Burnett.



Nurses in the SANE program also work with prosecutors and testify in court on the behalf of victims.



The expansion is thanks to three large donations in 2017: the W.W. Caruth Jr. Foundation at Communities Foundation of Texas donated $3.5 million, The Moody Foundation donated $1.5 million and an anonymous donor donated $1.5 million to enable the Texas Health SANE Program expansion.

Fort Worth is adding another partner to its growing stable of sister cities.



After a two-year search and selection process, the Fort Worth City Council voted Tuesday to approve Nimes, France as the city's ninth sister city.

Fort Worth Mayor, Betsy Price, accepted the invitation from the mayor of Nimes with enthusiasm and the proposal was approved by the Fort Worth City Council at Tuesday nights council meeting.

Nimes is the first sister city to be added to Fort Worth since Guiyang, China was added in 2011.

The two cities are well suited for each other because Nimes, like Fort Worth, is experiencing significant demographic and financial growth, Chair of the Long Range Planning committee of Sister Cities, Pat Miller said.

Fort Worth officials also said the partnership with Nimes will build a relationship of cultural exchange between the communities through international education, exchange, and commerce.

Officials of Nimes visited Fort Worth in January to discuss programs that would be of interest to both cities. An official signing trip to France will be planned for fall or spring of 2019.

In addition to Nimes, Fort Worth has sister city partnerships with Bandung, Indonesia; Budapest, Hungary; Guiyang, China; Mbabane, Swaziland; Nagaoka, Japan; Toluca, Mexico; Trier, Germany and Reggio Emilia, Italy.

For more about Nimes or joining the delegation, go to www.fwsistercities.org.Recent headlines detailing airline mishaps involving dogs may have instilled doubt in the minds of pet owners that their animals will be safe in transit.

But data provided by the federal government, as well as the professional experience of a North Texas businesswoman who has successfully shipped thousands of pets over the last 20 years, indicate that mistakes are the outlier and far from the norm.

A lot of the negative is sensationalized by the media. They do not focus on the good stuff, said Angela Passman, owner of Rockwall-based World Pet Travel.

Last month, United Airlines was involved in two, highly-publicized incidents  one in which a dog died after a flight attendant reportedly told its owner to place it in an overhead bin, and another where a dog was mistakenly sent to Japan instead of Kansas City.

However, according to statistics provided by the Department of Transportation, those situations are far from an indication that the business of shipping animals is a dangerous one.

In 2017, domestic airlines transported 506,994 animals, of which 24 died, 15 were hurt and one was lost, according to the DOT. That puts the incident rate at roughly one for every 12,674 animals transported.

Travelers can often do themselves and their animals a great service by being as prepared as possible, according to Passman. That includes properly marking the kennels that their animals will be traveling in with information including the name and description of the animal, its originating airport, its destination, its flight number and other basic information including a photograph of the animal.

When animals are transiting through an airport they are most often taken out of their kennels for a potty break. They get a chance to rehydrate, eat, Passman said. When [an airline worker] takes [an animal] out of the temporary kennel and puts him back into his crate his picture is there. It is kind of mistake proof. You are not going to put the wrong dog in the wrong kennel.

A common mistake that pet owners make is waiting until the last minute to handle the travel arrangements for their animal, according to Passman. At a minimum, Passman prefers to have two weeks to properly plan for an animals transport.

In addition, many of her clients have balked at the price associated with shipping an animal on an airplane.

For example, Passman said that the cost to send a Chihuahua on a domestic flight can easily be between $700 to $1,000. And the cost to send a Doberman on an international flight can be much more expensive  between $2,000 and $3,000.

More than anything else, Passman stresses that someone who is considering shipping their animal to contract with the services of a professional, like herself, who is a member of the International Pet and Animal Transportation Association (IPATA) which is a network of legitimate and certified pet shippers.Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he supports President Donald Trump's plan to deploy the National Guard along the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration.



President Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday night direction the National Guard to be deploying to the border.



Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the president and border-state governors are working to "immediately" deploy the National Guard to the border, with some troops potentially arriving later Wednesday.



"My top priority as Governor is ensuring the safety and security of Texans, and securing our southern border has always been essential to that mission," said Abbott in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. "In my time as Governor, Texas has maintained a continuous presence of National Guard members along the border, and weve added hundreds of permanent Department of Public Safety troopers to the region. Todays action by the Trump Administration reinforces Texas longstanding commitment to secure our southern border and uphold the Rule of Law, and I welcome the support. Going forward, Texas will continue to implement robust border security efforts, and this partnership will help ensure we are doing everything we can to stem the flow of illegal immigration.



In recent years, Texas has bolstered Homeland Security patrols along the border with members of the Texas National Guard and Texas Highway Patrol.



Abbott added that the president's decision is consistent with actions taken to secure the border by the previous two administrations under President Barack Obama (2010) and President George W. Bush (2006).



In past deployments, the National Guard has served in a support role to the Border Patrol since Guard members are banned from making arrests under a law dating back to the 1800's.

"The idea is that with the National Guard troops there in a support role it allows for max use of border patrols agents time for law enforcement," said Dr. Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at SMU.

Trump's announcement came hours after he pledged "strong action today" on immigration and a day after he said he wants to use the military to secure the southern border until his "big, beautiful wall" is erected.



In a tweet early Wednesday, Trump said that "Our Border Laws are very weak" and that Democrats "stand in our way" of new laws. He added, "We will be taking strong action today."



"The threat is real," Nielsen said at an afternoon briefing, adding that Trump was signing a proclamation to put the deployment into effect. "It's time to act."



Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he'd been discussing the idea of using the military at the border with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.



"We're going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," Trump said, calling the move a "big step."



Federal law prohibits the use of active-duty service members for law enforcement inside the U.S., unless specifically authorized by Congress. But over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support. The White House counsel's office has been working on the idea for several weeks, according to a senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans.



Trump has been frustrated by slow action on building a wall along the Mexican border. He's previously suggested using the Pentagon's budget to pay for the wall, arguing it is a national security priority, despite strict rules that prohibit spending that's not authorized by Congress.



Nielsen said the administration was considering a model similar to a 2006 operation in which President George W. Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border, with a focus on assisting U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel.



"We are anxious to have the support," she said.



Under Operation Jump Start, 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to assist the border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained. Over two years, about 29,000 National Guard forces participated as forces rotated in and out. The Guard members were used for surveillance, communications, administrative support, intelligence, analysis and the installation of border security infrastructure.



In addition, President Barack Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in 2010 to beef up efforts against drug smuggling and illegal immigration.



Texas also deployed military forces to its 800-mile (1,290-kilometer) border with Mexico. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, now Trump's energy secretary, sent 1,000 Texas National Guardsmen to the Rio Grande Valley in 2014 in response to a sharp increase in Central American children crossing the border alone.



Trump met Tuesday with top administration officials, including Mattis, Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to discuss the administration's strategy to address what White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders described as "the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America."



In addition to mobilizing the National Guard, Trump and senior officials "agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organizations," Sanders said.



Trump has been fixated on the issue since he grudgingly signed a spending bill last month that includes far less money for the wall than he'd hoped for.

The $1.3 trillion package included $1.6 billion for border wall spending -- a fraction of the $25 billion Trump made a last-minute push to secure. And much of that money can be used only to repair existing segments, not to build new sections.



Trump spent the first months of his presidency bragging about a dramatic drop in illegal border crossings. Indeed, the 2017 fiscal year marked a 45-year low for Border Patrol arrests. But the numbers have been slowly ticking up since last April and are now on par with many months of the Obama administration. Statistics show 36,695 arrests of people trying to cross the southwest border in February 2018, up from 23,555 in the same month of the previous year.



At last week's meeting, Trump "directed a vigorous administrative strategy to confront this threat and protect America's national security," Sanders said. Tuesday's briefing was a follow-up to discuss the plans.



Three teenagers have been arrested after allegedly trying to smuggle $143,000 worth of Fentanyl, a powerful opioid, over the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego thwarted the alleged narcotic smuggling attempts over the weekend after discovering the teens were carrying packages of fentanyl strapped to their bodies.

The first incident happened Friday, March 30 around 7:20 p.m.

CBP officers said they encountered a 17-year-old male Mexican citizen at the San Ysidro Pedestrian East border crossing.

CBP officers said they were conducting inspections at the primary booth and noticed inconsistencies with the teen. They did a visual search of him and discovered something odd on his back.

A CBP officer conducted a pat-down search for weapons and found the odd lump was two packages strapped to the teen's back. Officers said it was fentanyl weighing over 4 pounds.

The estimated street value of the fentanyl was $141,000.

Then, on Saturday, March 31 around 8:29 p.m., CBP officers said they encountered a 15-year-old male Mexican citizen at the same border crossing.

The teen was instructed to be examined further. CBP officers said that's when they noticed a bulge on the teen's back and found two packages strapped to him of fentanyl weighing just under 5 pounds.

The fentanyl carries an estimated street value of $143,000.

Ten minutes later, CBP officers at the same crossing encountered a 17-year-old male U.S. citizen. Again, officers said they noticed a bulge on the teen's back and discovered two packages strapped to him.

These packages of fentanyl weighed just under 5 pounds and also had a street value estimated at $143,000.

"These cases all involve juveniles allegedly attempting to smuggle a dangerous and lethal narcotic such as fentanyl. Fentanyl is known to be 50 to 100 times more deadly than heroin," said Pete Flores, Director of Field Operations for CBP in San Diego. "The dangers associated with the unfamiliarity of handling fentanyl can be deadly."

The teenagers were arrested and turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for further processing. CBP officers seized the narcotics.

The seizures from over the weekend come after CBP officers stopped two other suspected smuggling attempts by teenagers last week at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.The woman who killed herself after opening fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday in San Bruno last lived in San Diego, California, at least four senior law enforcement officials tell NBC News.

Investigators said Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, approached an outdoor dining area at YouTubes headquarters and began firing. Four victims were transported to area hospitals with gunshot-related injuries.

The suspect apparently knew at least one of the victims. NBC 7s Mari Payton has the latest on the shooting.

Aghdam has a robust presence on YouTube. In a video posted in January 2017, she says YouTube discriminated and filtered her content. In the video Aghdam says her channel used to get lots of views but that after being filtered by the company, it received fewer views. In a Facebook post from February 2017, Aghdam blasted YouTube saying, There is not equal growth opportunity on YouTube.



The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit learned the license plate on a car towed from YouTubes campus Tuesday is registered to Aghdam.

[NATL] In Photos: YouTube Shooting Unfolds in Chaotic Scene

The San Bruno Police Department (SBPD) said at this time, there is no evidence that the shooter knew any of the victims or that any of them were specifically targeted.



Police said that they received numerous 911 calls regarding gunshots near the area of Cherry Avenue and Bay Hill Drive in San Bruno around 12:46 p.m. They responded to the scene within two minutes.

The 911 emergency call describes the first minutes of the scene: "From one of the witnesses coming in, they identified a female in a white shirt. That's the one we have down in the center court area with the gunshot wound in the chest," an officer can be heard saying. Another officer responds: "So confirming she is the suspect."

The first officer replies: "Affirmed, that's what we are told. There is a handgun about 20 feet to the south of her."



San Francisco General Hospital said it received three patients: a 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition.

Television news footage showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they went by. Officers patted down people grouped outside, and police vehicles surrounded the area.

A local economic study estimates 40 percent of construction costs in the county are due to regulations. To what extent could unwarranted red tape be cut? NBC 7s Gene Cubbison is joined by Matt Adams and Bruce Reznik to discuss.

Videos and photos on social media showed YouTube employees walking out of offices with their hands raised. SWAT teams surrounded the campus, guns drawn.

On Twitter, YouTube employees reported hearing multiple gunshots inside the campus, using the hashtag "#YouTubeShooting." A few were live tweeting what they saw while they were hiding in their offices.

"I am hiding barricaded holy s__," tweeted an employee with the Twitter handle @_lilchen.

"I got evacuated outside with my hands up. Im with other people. I dont think the shooters been found that I know of. I saw blood drops on the stairs I walk up everyday. Im shaking. This is surreal. I hope my colleagues are okay," she tweeted a few minutes later.

And then, an update: "I am behind another building with colleagues. There are helicopters. There are lots of police nearby. I dont know if the shooter has been found. If you hear theyve been found, tell me. Im safe for now, but dont feel safe until theyve been found."

Law enforcement agencies across the United States have ramped up security for the 4th of July holiday and in San Diego, the U.S. Coast Guard, Harbor Police and other officials are prepared.

Workers in offices close to the YouTube headquarters reported closing blinds, keeping quiet as police are nearby.

A person with the first name "Erin: live-tweeted as SWAT teams descended on the YouTube office.

"There is a shooting - people are running out of the building with their hands up. I cant believe I am watching this," she tweeted.

She described a chaotic scene with ambulances in front of the building, sirens everywhere and police officers with rifles.

"We are seeing @YouTube employees being brought out with hands up!" one of her tweets said.

YouTube product manager Todd Sherman tweeted that he was sitting in a meeting when he heard people running "because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake."

"After exiting the room we still didnt know what was going on but more people were running. Seemed serious and not like a drill," he tweeted. "We headed towards the exit and then saw more people and someone said that there was a person with a gun. S___."

"At that point, every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves," Sherman's next tweet read. "I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front."

A YouTube employee who was inside the building spoke to NBC Bay Area and said he was getting back from lunch when the fire alarm went off. He said he heard a couple of gunshots and heard a woman yelling and cursing "like she was mad."

Marco Tartaglia, who works at a Walmart near the complex on Cherry Street, told NBC Bay Area he heard about 15 shots from the direction of the YouTube building, from what sounded like inside.

We heard the shots first, and that immediately drew us over to the window to see what the hecks going on, and next thing you know, you see people streaming out just running, dozens of them, just running out the front exit, Tartaglia said.

President Donald Trump said he has been briefed on the situation. "Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved," he said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein tweeted out: "My stomach sinks with yet another active shooter alert. Im praying for the safety of everyone at YouTube headquarters."

The YouTube campus is a small one compared to that of its parent company, Google.

"This is a terrible day in the United States, when once again we have a multiple-casualty situation that has confronted us," Andre Campbell, a surgeon at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, told reporters.

Tim Cook, Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all tweeted out statements in support of the victims.

"There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support," Pichai tweeted.

Malaysia's parliament on Monday passed a new law prohibiting fake news that critics fear will be abused to silence dissent ahead of a general election.

Despite criticism from opposition lawmakers that the anti-fake news legislation will lead Malaysia closer to dictatorship, the bill was approved after a heated debate with 123 lawmakers voting for it and 64 against. The bill originally proposed a 10-year jail term and a fine of up to 500,000 ringgit ($128,000) for offenders, but the government later reduced the maximum prison sentence to six years.

Rights activists say the law appears aimed at shutting down discussion of a multibillion-dollar financial scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is widely expected to call for national elections in the next few days.

They also fear the bill, which covers all media and extends even to foreigners outside Malaysia, could be used against critics of gerrymandering or other aspects of the electoral process after parliament last week swiftly approved controversial new constituency boundaries for the elections, which are due in August but widely expected soon.

"The existing laws are sufficient, why do we need one more act? This will see one step forward to dictatorship, this is more than autocracy," opposition lawmaker Lim Guan Eng told parliament.

Azalina Othman, minister in charge of law, said social media such as Twitter and Facebook have acknowledged they are unable to monitor fake news on their platforms. She said the bill gives power to the court, not the government, to decide what is fake news.

"No one is above the law. We are all accountable for our actions," she said.

Government officials have accused the opposition coalition of using fake news to win votes and warned that any news about the indebted 1MDB state fund that has not been verified by the government is fake.

The U.S. and several other countries are investigating allegations of cross-border embezzlement and money laundering at 1MDB, which was set up and previously led by Najib to promote economic development, but which accumulated billions in debt. The U.S. Justice Department says at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB by associates of Najib, and it is working to seize $1.7 billion taken from the fund to buy assets in the U.S., potentially its largest asset seizure ever.

Najib, who denies any wrongdoing, has fired critics in his government and muzzled the media since the corruption scandal erupted three years ago.

Support for Najib's ruling coalition has dwindled in the last two elections. In 2013, it lost the popular vote for the first time to the opposition. Yet analysts say Najib is expected to win a third term due to infighting in the opposition, the unfavorable electoral boundary changes and strong support for the government among rural ethnic Malays.

Other Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore and the Philippines, have also proposed laws to clamp down on fake news.A 17-year-old Florida student was arrested after he bit the head off a live chicken at his high school.



The teen and others allegedly broke into the chicken coop at University High School in Volusia County and bit the head off one of the chickens, WESH reported.

"I think it's pretty sadistic and I think there's some psychological issues that need to be addressed here," Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.

The chickens had been donated to the school to help with their agriculture, science and culinary arts program. Students had built the coop and pen the chickens were kept in.

The teen told deputies he has an anger management issue and violent tendencies. He was charged with felony animal cruelty and trespassing.

"Thinking in a bigger picture, 10 or 20 years down the line, you know, most serial killers get their start by killing animals. That's where they hone their craft. Here, I'm thinking of a kid, even though he hasn't been in trouble, that's not a typical high school prank," Chitwood said.What to Know A Miami Police Department officer was arrested on Tuesday.

He is accused in a domestic violence incident that allegedly occurred Monday.

A Miami Police Department officer has been arrested, accused in a domestic violence incident involving strangulation.

Officer Joey Diaz was arrested on Tuesday over the incident that occurred on Monday, MPD said. Jail records show the case relates to strangulation.

"It is an unfortunate situation when we have to arrest one of our own," MPD wrote on Twitter. "Today, we charged officer Joey Diaz with Battery for a domestic-related incident."

Further information was not immediately known. Please check back with NBC 6 for updates.On the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon joined the "Wendy Williams Show" for her first national television interview since announcing her run and tackled the thorny subject of unarmed black men being shot by police across the nation.

Williams asked Nixon about the spate of shootings, most recently Stephon Clark on March 18 in Sacramento, California. Two officers responding to reports of a man breaking windows fatally shot Clark in his grandparents' backyard saying they thought he was moving toward them with a gun. They found only a cellphone. Clark was shot seven times from behind on the right side of his body and once from the front, a private autopsy found. Police earlier said they had shot at him 20 times.

"There have been so many senseless killings in the news, most recently Stephon Clark," said Williams. "How can we change that?"

"The Clark case is just one of many and every time one comes even thought it doesn't surprise us it's still sickening and devastating," said Nixon.

"Is it a black thing... A black man thing?" Williams asked.

"Yes, I think it is a black man thing," Nixon said. "Too often our elected leaders will talk about killings when it's children in a school but... when it's young men of color who are being shot by the police and they're unarmed.. if were going to say black lives matter we have to mean it and we have to implement change."

Nixon also cited the exclusion of a black female legislative leader from the state's budget negotiations as an example of where the Democratic Party needs to improve when it comes to promoting women leaders.

Nixon called black women the "cornerstone" and "backbone" of the Democratic Party, but added that black women will stop showing up for the Democratic Party "if the Democratic Party doesn't start showing up for them."What to Know Mysterious white powder sparked a brief scare and partial shutdown at Port Authority Bus Terminal

Guardsmen were seen roping off exits and entrances and corralling commuters into a designated area inside the terminal

The area that was shut down was reopened to regular pedestrian traffic in about an hour as the substance was deemed non-hazardous

A white cleaning substance strewn on the ground sparked a brief scare and partial shutdown at Port Authority Bus Terminal Wednesday morning before authorities deemed it non-hazardous within an hour.

The NYPD says it received a call around 9 a.m. some suspicious powder outside the terminal. News 4 obtained a photo of some lines of powder next to the entrance, and shortly after 10 a.m., an NYPD spokesman tweeted, "The earlier suspicious substance at the Port Authority subway station has been deemed non-hazardous."

[NATL-DC] These Images of the Abandoned Owings Mills Mall Will Give You Chills

The area was reopened to normal pedestrian traffic. Earlier, guardsmen were seen roping off exits and entrances and corralling commuters into a designated area inside the terminal as they investigated.

The Eighth Avenue south pedestrian entrance was blocked for a time, as was subway access to the mezzanine level. Bus traffic into and out of the terminal was not affected, but the MTA reported its buses experienced delays in the area because of the police activity.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

Customers and workers at several nearby businesses say they were told to close up shop and get out. One man inside the terminal reported that he was taking refuge in a Starbucks and told that he "might be stuck here for awhile."

The crowds seemed orderly, and the guardsmen appeared calm as they attended to the scene.

At a separate crime statistics briefing later Wednesday afternoon, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller told reporters, "It was a cleaning substance found on the stairs."

The heavy emergency response took many back to last December, when police say 27-year-old Akayed Ullah set off a homemade pipe bomb in the busy transit hub, injuring five people and setting off panic during the morning commute. Some of the same officers who responded to that explosion helped direct commuters to safety Wednesday morning.

"The people that serve New York, the policemen and security, are state of the art and world class," said witness Joshua Valentine. "I always feel safe with them."The family of a student who died after being attacked by classmates in Delaware is suing her attackers and the school district.

Sixteen-year-old Amy Joyner-Francis died in 2016 after she was attacked by classmates in a bathroom at Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington. She died from a pre-existing heart condition.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports that the lawsuit filed Monday seeks compensatory and punitive damages from the school district and two students charged in the attack. The filing alleges the school district failed to monitor bathroom activities, which amounts to negligence in its duty to protect Amy.

The suit follows the state supreme court overturning a criminally negligent homicide and conspiracy conviction of one of the students last month. She will be resentenced next month.The man police say gunned down a young mother along a Pottstown, Pennsylvania, sidewalk on Easter Sunday has been arrested in Connecticut.

U.S. Marshals took 36-year-old Bobbie Mitchell, Jr., into custody on Tuesday at a home in Waterbury, Connecticut, Montgomery County prosecutors said Wednesday.

Mitchell is accused of shooting Siani Overby, 23, several times outside a home along Johnson Street early Sunday. She died on the sidewalk.

Investigators said Overby confronted Mitchell demanding that he take a paternity test and provide child support for her 18-month-old son.

Mitchell is awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania where he'll face first-degree murder and related charges.The Philadelphia District Attorney's office filed a motion Wednesday in support of trying as an adult the teenager who is accused of shooting a father and community activist last September.

Marvin Roberts, who was 16 at the time Gerard Grandzol was killed on Sept. 7, has requested through his defense attorney to be tried in juvenile court.

"This was absolutely a heinous crime," Philadelphia District Attorney told NBC10. "This is a case that belongs in adult court."

Grandzol's killing, which police say occurred during an attempted carjacking, has gained considerable attention, in part because of Grandzol's well-known community activism. Investigators also described the shooting as particularly horrific: The 38-year-old man was shot twice in the face as his 2-year-old daughter sat in the back seat of his car.

The motion filed Wednesday opposed one filed by Roberts' attorney on March 16 requesting that his trial be held in juvenile court.

"The defendant committed a brutal, premeditated murder without provocation. The defendant's actions both during and after the killing warrant prosecution as an adult," the DA's office wrote in the brief. "The limits of the juvenile justice system are wholly insufficient to adequately address the seriousness of this senseless killing."

Grandzol's widow has pressed Krasner to push for a trial on adult charges for Roberts. She recently told reporters that she planned to move to out of the city because she no longer felt safe in her own home.

Marvin Roberts, now 17, and his brother Maurice Roberts, 21, are being held in Grandzol's death.

Investigators allege the younger brother pulled the trigger last September in the 1500 block of Melon Street, two blocks south of Fairmount Avenue.

But Marvin Roberts' attorney, Eileen Hurley, said her client is not beyond rehabilitation.

The "defendant is clearly amendable (sic) to treatment," she wrote to Judge Kathryn S. Lewis.

Krasner disagrees.

"We're not seeing remorse," he said. "The evidence of guilt is overwhelming."

After filing the response, Krasner told NBC10 that he has not spoken to Grandzol's widow directly, but that his office did notify her of his office's opposition to a trial in juvenile court.

"What I can say to her is, 'Your grief is valued and we will do whatever we can to support that,'" Krasner said. "We are here to do whatever we can to make sure justice is achieved."

The U.S. and Mexican governments are sparring over immigration and trade, but the two countries are joining forces on the high seas like never before to go after drug smugglers.

The United States, Mexico and Colombia will target drug smugglers off South America's Pacific coast in an operation that is scheduled to begin Sunday and last for the foreseeable future, Coast Guard officials told The Associated Press.

U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Paul F. Zukunft teased the idea during a recent defense conference in San Diego, saying the United States "can't do it alone."

"It's no secret we are besieged with the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States," he said.

U.S. and Mexican forces have routinely worked together at sea, but the latest effort "marks a significant step in terms of information sharing, collaboration and cooperation between the United States, Mexico and other partner nations," according to the Coast Guard.

The Americans and Mexicans will exchange intelligence more freely than in the past, which could mean sharing information on well-traveled routes for drug smugglers or preferred paths for specific smuggling organizations, Coast Guard spokeswoman Alana Miller said.

They will also board the other country's vessels to view operations and gain expertise, Miller said. In 2015, three members of the Mexican navy boarded a Coast Guard vessel during a port call in Huatulco, Mexico, but this operation calls for more frequent exchanges, and they will be at sea.

The operation will last "for the foreseeable future as long as it's working for everyone," Miller said. "It's sort of open-ended."

Traffickers over the years have increasingly turned to the sea to move their illegal goods, traversing an area off South America that is so big, the continental United States could be dropped inside. Smugglers routinely move cocaine out of countries like Colombia to Central America and Mexico via fishing boats, skiffs, commercial cargo ships  even homemade submarines.

The operation comes after five years of record seizures by the Coast Guard. But U.S. officials say because of limited resources, the U.S. military's smallest service still catches only about 25 percent of illegal shipments in the Pacific.

Even so, the Coast Guard annually seizes three times the amount of cocaine confiscated at the U.S.-Mexico border. Yet ocean smuggling has not grabbed lawmakers' attention like the flow of drugs across the nearly 2,000-mile-long (3,200-kilometer-long) land border, where the Trump administration wants to spend billions to build a continuous wall.

As much as 20 percent of the cocaine moving through South America ends up in the United States, and most of it lands first in Mexico from seafaring smugglers. The hope is boats will be stopped before their shipments are loaded onto Mexican trucks that fan out on various routes bound for the U.S. border, authorities said. Large boats can cart 20 tons (18 metric tons) of cocaine or more.

Mexico has historically been among the Latin American countries that are most reluctant to join operations with the U.S., which can be traced back to the Mexican-American War that was fought 170 years ago. The United States cannot open military bases in Mexico, and U.S. officials, for instance, cannot venture into Mexican waters without prior permission, even if they are chasing drug vessels.

The Coast Guard now stops its pursuit and alerts Mexican authorities if suspicious boats cross into their territorial waters.

It's unclear whether this new cooperation will affect those restrictions.

Treaties with nations such as Colombia have allowed U.S. authorities more latitude, such as permitting Coast Guard officers to board Colombian-flagged ships. U.S. officials have touted Colombia's joint anti-drug efforts as a model for the region.

The U.S. and Mexican military relationship has strengthened since the two nations signed the 2008 Merida Initiative to work together in the drug war. There have been more cross-border trainings, especially with the Mexican Navy, which is considered less corrupt than the Mexican Army and has raised its profile with the captures and killings of drug bosses.

The combined operation was planned in a series of meetings over the past year. The maritime services signed letters of intent to work together to fight organized crime while respecting each country's sovereignty and territorial waters.

David Shirk, associate professor of political science at the University of San Diego, said the operation falls in line with Trump's vow to go after the "bad hombres," while President Enrique Pena Nieto has recognized organized crime is so severe that Mexico needs help.

"With more walled-off sections of the border, we've seen drug trafficking organizations literally go underground or offshore," he said.

Last year, the Coast Guard seized more than 455,000 pounds (206,000 kilograms) of cocaine worth more than $6 billion and brought more than 600 suspected traffickers back to the United States for prosecution. The Coast Guard has been criticized for holding suspects on ships where they cannot easily access lawyers. Shirk said joint operations could lead "to serious violations of suspects' rights at sea and possible human rights violations in the process."

Coast Guard officials say they respect suspects' rights. Where suspects will be sent with the three countries participating in the operation will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

U.S. military officials have been reluctant to openly discuss details of the cooperation with their Mexican counterparts, sensitive to the Mexican public's historical view and recent barbs between the two presidents.

Jorge Chabat, a political scientist at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City, said he doubts the combined operation will get much negative reaction from a Mexican public tired of drug violence.

"The more insecurity we have, the less nationalism we have in Mexico," he said.

Ultimately, he doubts the joint operation will make much difference.

"This is something they have to do to maintain drug trafficking at the same level, and not allow it to grow," he said. "That's the most you can do. You can't just surrender."

Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat contributed to this report.Teachers working in the San Diego Unified School District have reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract, a San Diego Education Association spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. A teachers union spokesperson said paid maternity leave will be offered for the first time to San Diego Unified educators.

"I'm thrilled that we have a tentative agreement with our teachers, nurses, and counselors to provide a quality education for all of our students," Kevin Beiser, President San Diego Unified School Board said.

The agreement was reached at 1:40 a.m. Wednesday.

The district released details including a 2-percent raise in the 2018-2019 school year with staggered payments: 1 percent to be paid July 1 and 1 percent to be paid by February 2019.

There will also be a one-time 1-percent payment made on August 1 to members of the teachers union.

A 3-week maternity leave will be included in the contract for those union members who have worked in the district for at least one year. SDEA president Lindsay Burningham said this is the first time SDUSD educators will be eligible for paid maternity leave.

Also, there will be access to the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program for permanent and probationary union members.



Before Tuesday's bargaining session, the teachers union had shared their most recent offer with members.

It included a 2 percent one-time payment for the 2017 - 2018 school year with an additional 2.5 percent raise effective July 1, 2018, three weeks of maternity leave and caps on class sizes at 36 students for secondary schools and 34 students for 4-6 classes with 24:1 for TK-3 grades.

In December, trustees approved $47 million in broad cuts. School officials sent a survey to parents in January asking parents to weigh in on what services are considered priorities.

SDUSD tried to cut $124 million from their $1.4 billion operating budget last year. Most of the money came from cuts to employees. The district issued more than 1,500 layoff notices and offered early retirement options that attracted 1,100 people.

There are 850 fewer people employed in the district in the 2017-2018 school year.

Employee salaries cost the district's general fund $65 million less this year but employee benefits rose by $32.4 million partly due to the early retirement incentive paid out over 5 years.

Get more on the district's budget in this SD Explained report.Washington, D.C.'s delegate to Congress just sent a letter to the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee calling for a hearing on our nation's cellphone security after learning of rogue spy devices found in the District.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is a senior member of the committee and wrote to committee Chairman Trey Gowdy requesting the hearing "to address the reported actions of foreign actors and criminals who are infiltrating the cellphone activity in the nation's capital and perhaps elsewhere."

Norton said the hearing is "critical to ensuring that everything possible is being done to protect the privacy rights of American citizens."

The spy technology mimics a cellphone tower and tricks nearby phones into connecting to it, enabling the device operator to track a phone user's location and intercept calls.

On Tuesday, Norton told the News4 I-Team she was concerned about a recent revelation from the Department of Homeland Security in response to questions from an Oregon Senator. DHS said the rogue devices were detected sometime last year but did not disclose how many were found or their specific locations. The agency also didn't determine who was operating the devices.

"I think the federal government is implicated in wanting to protect their own ability to overhear everything everywhere, are not protecting their own citizens who also are being overheard," said Norton.

DHS said "malicious use" of cellphone site simulators in the DC area is a "a real and growing risk."

The technology, sometimes referred to the by the brand name StingRay, can be as small as a suitcase. It can be driven into a target area and basically mimics the signal of the closest cellphone tower to trick nearby phones into connecting to it instead.

DHS says the spy technology may threaten national and economic security.

"Whatever your secrets are, they're all out there," said Norton. "Nobody that I know, at least not the average person, is encrypting their devices so as to keep or maintain their own privacy."

Prior controversy surrounded law enforcement use of similar technology and the ability to track people and conversations without a warrant. But this is the first time the federal government has publicly confirmed it found unauthorized devices.

Norton told the News4 I-Team it stands to reason that other countries would be using the technology to spy on us. After all, it's long been used by American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the District's Metropolitan Police Department.

"I don't think there's any way of keeping foreign governments from trying to spy on us or, for that matter, us trying to spy on them," said Norton. "But I do think the federal government has an obligation to protect the privacy of its own citizens, and that is where it is at fault."

She worries about local residents who live near government buildings or the thousands of high-ranking officials and military members who live in the capital region. The technology can harness info from hundreds of cellphones at a time.

In a study on mobile device security published last year, DHS also warned these rogue devices could keep cellphones connected to them from making emergency calls. The report says, "If this type of attack occurs during an emergency, it could prevent victims from receiving assistance from public safety services and first responders."

Norton said the federal government needs to demand more security from the cellphone industry.

"They're not going to undertake what to them may be costly measures unless they have to do so," she said. "The federal government isn't holding them accountable, and therefore they're doing nothing."

She also believes Congress and the federal government have "an obligation at least to warn residents about the risks of eavesdropping and encourage them to adopt encryption measures."The head of the Washington, D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs said the agency will try to find a "solution" to a food truck parking dispute outside the headquarters of NASA and the offices of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The parking scheme was first revealed in a News-4 I-Team investigation in February.

A group of food truck operators have squatted on a set of prime public parking meter spaces for more than a year, according to the I-Team report, causing controversy with nearby businesses and other food truck vendors.

The I-Team review found the food truck operators work collaboratively and share a set of older cars. After the lunch hours are complete, operators move their food trucks from the metered parking spaces, but immediately move some of their fleet of shared cars into the spaces. Doing so blocks access to those spaces to others and allows the truck operators to squat on the spots around-the-clock and through the weekends.

Truck workers and neighboring businesses told the I-Team the food truck blockade of the parking spaces has continued for more than a year -- without interruption. Truck workers said the cars parked overnight at the meters incur parking tickets, which they regularly pay as a cost of their business.

The parking operation monopolizes valuable parking in a densely populated section of DC. The operators of neighboring businesses said the food trucks are siphoning customers from traditional bricks-and-mortar cafes.

There are problems with the parking and we recognize that, said DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs director Melinda Bolling during a DC Council hearing about the agencys budget. Bolling said, We are working with all the parties to find a solution.

Bolling said she expects to broker a solution by the end of April, before the weather warms.

The pursuit of a solution could be challenging, according to multiple DC officials who spoke with the I-Team. DC parking and regulatory officials said the trucks are not violating parking rules, nor are they breaking the Districts food truck policies.

The DC Food Truck Association, which represents the nearly 500 food trucks in DC, will be part of a task force to help the DC government settle the parking dispute, according to Bolling.

DC Food Truck Association political director Che Ruddell-Tabisola said the DC government should consier expanding the number of designated food truck zones it operates, to provide more curb space for the growing number of trucks. There are ten zones, offering approximately 100 parking spaces.

Ruddell-Tabisola said, Thats really what this is about. We havent had a new food truck zone open since 2015. Its incredibly hard.Wednesday marks 50 years since Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Events around D.C. and across the country are honoring his memory and carrying on his legacy.

Among the local events:

The A.C.T to End Racism Rally began at 7 a.m. with an hour-long silent march from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial to the National Mall, followed by an interfaith service. Then, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., a rally and call to commitment on the Mall featured speakers such as Danny Glover, DeRay Mckesson, Louis Gossett, Jr., Yolanda Adams and more.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser laid a wreath at the MLK Memorial at 11 a.m.; D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton also attended.

[NATL] The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Initiative to Observe the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Assassination started at 3 p.m. at Shepherd Park at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Ave and Malcolm X Avenue SE. Speakers will include Parkland High School survivor Demitri Hoth, local gun violence activist Zion Kelly, D.C. Councilmember Trayon White and more. The event included musical performances and a 39-second moment of silence to remember King at 6:05 p.m.



Drummers for Justice held a drumming circle in memory of King at the Reeves Center at 14th and U streets NW from 5 to 7 p.m.

[NATL]The 1963 March on Washington in Photos

Washington National Cathedral honored King with a Choral Evensong service sung by the Girls Cathedral Choir. A recording of King's final Sunday Sermon was played from 6:15 to 7 p.m.

The People's March For Justice, Equality and Peace held a candlelight vigil, and a march will travel from Howard University to Ben's Chili Bowl at 1213 U St. NW. Organizers said the march was in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights and more. The march ended outside Ben's Chili Bowl with speeches and music.

Bishop Michael Kelsey, the New Samaritan Baptist Church choir, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and dignitaries and leaders gathered to honor King's legacy at The Memorial Foundation (633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) at 6:30 p.m.



The Washington National Cathedral will hold a special service Wednesday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his death. News4's Shomari Stone reports.A former youth ministries director at a Rockville church has been convicted of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl during a youth event at the church.

Brian Patrick Werth, who had worked at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church on Montrose Road, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday.

Montgomery County Police said Werth, 32, had inappropriate sexual contact with a teenage parishioner on or about May 20, 2016.

Police also said Werth had been texting the girl since summer 2014, and had sent her graphic sexual messages.

Werth admitted to sexually abusing the girl, according to prosecutors.

"A camp counselor or a teacher or a youth minister should know these things and not take advantage of those awkward feelings that teens often feel," said Ramon Korionoff, spokesman for Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office.



Werth was arrested in 2016 and charged with one count of fourth-degree sexual offense, one count of sexual abuse of a minor, and second-degree assault.



Werth was suspended from his duties at the parish and school when the allegations surfaced and was later fired, the Archdiocese of Washington said in 2016.

"The Archdiocese of Washington takes seriously its responsibility to the children entrusted to its care," the statement continued. "The Child Protection Policy of the Archdiocese of Washington mandates criminal background checks, applications and education for all employees and volunteers who work with young people."

Werth had cleared a background check and other requirements, the statement said.After finding out a 16-year-old girl may be in danger, Fairfax County police detectives are asking the public for help finding the Mount Vernon High School student who has been missing for more than a month.

Angelica Flores of Alexandria was first reported as missing on Feb. 17 after leaving a juvenile facility called Shelter Care. She was supposed to stay at the facility while waiting for a court proceeding and left without permission.

She is affiliated with gang members and associates of gang members, a police report said.

Flores is 4 feet 11 inches tall, about 110 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair, possibly dyed red.

"We want to find her and bring her home," Fairfax police officer Reem Awad said.

More than 250 juveniles, including 184 kids thought to have run away, have been reported as missing in Fairfax County this year. One of those missing young people, Jholie Moussa, also attended Mount Vernon High School before she was found killed.



Those cases do not appear connected, officials said, but local lawmakers questioned whether authorities should investigate missing juvenile cases differently.

"I have concerns whether people in different communities are treated the same when situations like this arise," state Senator Scott Surovell said.

Police say they have guidelines but there are too many missing juveniles to do a public appeal for each individual.

"We don't put every one out unless it rises to some sort of level of danger," a police spokesperson said.

Anyone who has seen Flores, or has any information about her whereabouts, is asked to please call Detective Craddock at 703-223-4046. Tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1000 if their information leads to an arrest.What to Know A father killed his 2-year-old daughter and the child's mother after he was ordered to pay $600 in monthly child support.

The defendant's lawyer compared him to Kunta Kinte, drawing gasps in court, and argued he confessed under duress.

Prince George's County has more domestic violence deaths than any county in Maryland, one organization's data says.

NeShante Davis was strapping her 2-year-old daughter Chloe into her car seat on a cold February morning when she was shot in the back. Then, the gunman shot the little girl twice in the head.

The shooter was the toddler's father, a jury determined Tuesday.

Daron Boswell-Johnson was convicted on all counts in the Feb. 2, 2016 murder of Davis and Chloe Davis-Green in Fort Washington, Maryland. He faces a maximum sentence of life without parole.

After a seven-day trial, the jury deliberated for about two hours and found Boswell-Johnson guilty of first-degree murder and weapons charges.

Boswell-Johnson confessed to the crime, hours of police interrogation video showed. Then 25, he said he waited outside Davis home, confronted her over the $600 monthly child support he recently had been ordered to pay and shot her and the toddler. Davis was 26. Her daughter never got to celebrate her third birthday.

Detectives who interviewed Boswell-Johnson testified he led police on the route he took to the crime scene and drew a map to where he said he dumped the gun. Police never found it.

Boswell-Johnsons lawyer, Antoini Jones, worked to sow doubt in jurors minds. He said Tuesday that Boswell-Johnson made his statement to police under "psychological pressure" after he was questioned for more than 10 hours.

Jones compared the defendant to Kunta Kinte in the television miniseries "Roots." Like Kinte finally said his name was Toby as he was being beaten, Boswell-Johnson finally said he committed the crime as detectives questioned him, Jones said. The comparison drew gasps.

Also, Jones challenged a detective about how police verified the alibi of another man they initially questioned, and asked why the detective never reviewed Davis phone records.

Thirteen of the 16 jurors plus alternates were women.



The high-profile domestic murder trial was prosecuted by Joseph Ruddy and Prince Georges County States Attorney Angela Alsobrooks, who is running for county executive and has spoken movingly about getting justice for domestic violence victims and their family members.

There were more domestic violence deaths in Prince George's County in the past five years than in any other county in the state, according to data from the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence. Fifty-five people, including victims and their abusers, died in the county from July 2012 through June 2017, the data says.

Davis, a second-grade teacher, was shot near her car on the 1300 block of Palmer Road. She was taking her daughter to day care before heading to work. Her cousin heard gunshots and then saw Davis lying facedown about 7 a.m. The 2-year-old was found with two gunshot wounds to the head. Her mom had just strapped her into her car seat.

Initially, Boswell-Johnson told detectives he woke up about 7 a.m. at his family's apartment on Pennsylvania Avenue in District Heights and got to work at an auto glass shop in Gaithersburg about 8:15 a.m., video of the police interview shows.

But surveillance cameras at his apartment complex showed his gray Ford Escape leaving about 5:55 a.m. -- when he said he had been sleeping -- and returning about 7:30 a.m., police and prosecutors say. His SUV had a distinctive "donut" spare tire on the front driver's side wheel, prosecutors showed.

Then, Boswell-Johnson admitted that he went to Davis' home the morning of Feb. 2, the police video showed. He said he had never showed up there unannounced but that he had wanted to see his daughter before she went to day care that day.

Davis was surprised to see Boswell-Johnson outside her apartment as she carried her daughter, he said on video.

To complete silence in the courtroom, Boswell-Johnson then admitted in the taped interview with detectives that he went to Davis' apartment angry, with a gun in his waistband.

"I want you to take the child support off," he recalled saying, with the gun now in his hand.

Davis kept walking, and he said he then opened fire.

He said he didn't remember how many times he shot his daughter. At one point in the video, he appeared to say "yes" when a detective asked him if he shot the child accidentally. He was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of use of a firearm in a crime of violence.

Jones argued that prosecutors did not have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Boswell-Jones committed the brutal crime.

"Rush to judgment. That's what the evidence will show in this case," he said in his opening statement.

For hours of interrogation, Boswell-Johnson refused to say where the gun was, the video showed. Then, he agreed to draw a map. He said he dumped a .357 handgun in a plastic Walmart bag near an apartment complex in Shady Grove, close to where he worked. The gun was loaded, and additional bullets were in the bag, he said.

As Boswell-Johnson described in the video where the gun could be found, he said something in a low voice: "I'm going to jail for life, man."

After Boswell-Johnson drew a detective a map of where he said they could find the gun, he asked him to relay messages to three people: his mother, the mother of his two other children and his girlfriend. Prosecutors showed the jury an enlarged copy of the note he scribbled in the police interview room.

"I know I failed you as a son, and I can just imagine how you're feeling," he wrote to his mother.

"I am not the monster they are making me out to be," he wrote to the mother of his first two children. "I told the truth in everything."

To his girlfriend, he apologized.

"Sorry you have to go through this," he wrote. "I know my life is over at this point." Then, he asked her to visit him in jail.

The killings shook many communities in Maryland, from Capitol Heights, where Davis taught, to Bowie, where she studied education at Bowie State University.

Davis was a valued teacher at Bradbury Heights Elementary School. She worked for years as a teacher's aide at the school, graduated from Bowie State and was in the middle of her first year of teaching when she was killed.

"NeShante was going places," Alsobrooks said.

Her little girl was "smart, articulate and sassy," she said.

Boswell-Johnson could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Prosecutors and Davis' family are expected to speak publicly Wednesday morning.The woman who opened fire Tuesday at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, triggering a massive police response as employees ran from the building, has been identified as Nasim Aghdam of San Diego, NBC Bay Area's Investigative Unit confirmed.

Police, who late Tuesday also confirmed Aghdam, 38, as the shooter, said she died by a self-inflicted wound. San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said four victims were transported to local hospitals, with three of the victims suffering from gunshot wounds.

"It was very chaotic, as you can imagine," Barberini said.

Aghdam, who police initially said was 39, approached an outdoor patio and dining area at YouTube's headquarters and began to shoot a 9mm handgun, according to law enforcement officials.

Officials initially said the motive behind the shooting was a domestic dispute, but San Bruno police late Tuesday released the following statement: "At this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted."

Binders containing hundreds of sweet recipes mysteriously disappeared overnight from Mr. Holmes Bakeshop, a three-month-old start-up in San Francisco's Tenderloin that's growing in popularity.

Officers located Aghdam asleep in a Mountain View parking lot early Tuesday morning, police told NBC Bay Area. The officers made contact with Aghdam after her license plate matched that of a missing person. She confirmed her identity and her family was notified, police said.

Senior officials said they don't believe the shooting at YouTube headquarters is connected to terrorism.

San Bruno Police Department

San Bruno police said that they received numerous 911 calls regarding gunshots near the area of Cherry Avenue and Bay Hill Drive in San Bruno around 12:46 p.m. They responded to the scene within two minutes.

The 911 emergency call describes the first minutes of the scene: "From one of the witnesses coming in, they identified a female in a white shirt. That's the one we have down in the center court area with the gunshot wound in the chest," an officer can be heard saying. Another officer responds: "So confirming she is the suspect."

The first officer replies: "Affirmed, that's what we are told. There is a handgun about 20 feet to the south of her."

[NATL] In Photos: YouTube Shooting Unfolds in Chaotic Scene

San Francisco General Hospital said it received three patients: a 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition.

Television news footage showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they went by. Officers patted down people grouped outside, and police vehicles surrounded the area.

Authorities on Tuesday responded to an active shooter situation at the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno.

One witness, Jesse, told NBC Bay Area he was at a fast-food restaurant nearby and heard at least 20 shots within two minutes.

I knew the shooter was right by me because you could feel the sensations of the bullet, he said.

Jesse said he and other diners came to the aid of a woman who'd been shot in the leg. They helped her into the restaurant and tried to slow down the bleeding, he said.

Listen to the initial 911 emergency calls reporting a shooting at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, California.

On Twitter, YouTube employees reported hearing multiple gunshots inside the campus, using the hashtag "#YouTubeShooting." A few were live-tweeting what they saw while they were hiding in their offices.

"I am hiding barricaded holy s__," tweeted an employee with the Twitter handle @_lilchen.

"I got evacuated outside with my hands up. Im with other people. I dont think the shooters been found that I know of. I saw blood drops on the stairs I walk up every day. Im shaking. This is surreal. I hope my colleagues are okay," she tweeted a few minutes later.

And then, an update: "I am behind another building with colleagues. There are helicopters. There are lots of police nearby. I dont know if the shooter has been found. If you hear theyve been found, tell me. Im safe for now, but dont feel safe until theyve been found."

Jesse said one woman was shot in the leg escaped inside the Carls Jr. Diners helped the woman to try and stop the bleeding. He also said he saw another woman shot multiple times inside YouTubes courtyard.

Workers in offices close to the YouTube headquarters reported closing blinds, keeping quiet as police are nearby.

A person with the first name "Erin" live-tweeted as SWAT teams descended on the YouTube office.

"There is a shooting  people are running out of the building with their hands up. I cant believe I am watching this," she tweeted.

She described a chaotic scene with ambulances in front of the building, sirens everywhere and police officers with rifles.

"We are seeing @YouTube employees being brought out with hands up!" one of her tweets said.

YouTube product manager Todd Sherman tweeted that he was sitting in a meeting when he heard people running "because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake."

"After exiting the room we still didnt know what was going on but more people were running. Seemed serious and not like a drill," he tweeted. "We headed towards the exit and then saw more people and someone said that there was a person with a gun. S___."

"At that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves," Sherman's next tweet read. "I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front."

A YouTube employee who was inside the building spoke to NBC Bay Area and said he was getting back from lunch when the fire alarm went off. He said he heard a couple of gunshots and heard a woman yelling and cursing "like she was mad."

Marco Tartaglia, who works at a Walmart near the complex on Cherry Street, told NBC Bay Area he heard about 15 shots from the direction of the YouTube building, from what sounded like inside.

We heard the shots first, and that immediately drew us over to the window to see what the hecks going on, and next thing you know, you see people streaming out just running, dozens of them, just running out the front exit, Tartaglia said.

President Donald Trump said he has been briefed on the situation. "Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved," he said.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein tweeted out: "My stomach sinks with yet another active shooter alert. Im praying for the safety of everyone at YouTube headquarters."

The YouTube campus is a small one compared to that of its parent company, Google.

"This is a terrible day in the United States, when once again we have a multiple-casualty situation that has confronted us," Andre Campbell, a surgeon at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, told reporters.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all tweeted out statements in support of the victims.

"There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support," Pichai tweeted.A Middleborough, Massachusetts police officer is out of surgery and recovering at Mass General Hospital after he was seriously injured during a SWAT training accident in Bridgewater on Wednesday morning.

Bridgewater police and fire said they received a call shortly after 11 a.m. from a member of the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT team requesting an ambulance for an officer who had been injured in a training exercise on the grounds of MCI-Bridgewater prison.

When they arrived, emergency crews found a Middleborough police officer with a serious wound to one of his hands. He was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The officer's name is not being released by police.

Bridgewater police said preliminary investigation indicates that the officer was using a 37 mm projectile launcher loaded with training rounds to aid in the SWAT training exercise when the device exploded in his hands. Investigators believe the device malfunctioned.

"The officer was conducting high-level training as a member of our regions vital SWAT unit when what appears to be a terrible accident occurred that left him with serious injuries," Middleborough Police Chief Joseph Perkins said. "We wish our officer all the best as he receives treatment for his wounds."



The 37 mm launcher is used for a variety of SWAT operations, police said, including smoke screens, flares, decoy noisemaker rounds, "flash bang" stun grenades and training rounds that emit smoke and noise.

The incident remains under investigation.A judge has dismissed most of the complaints in a federal lawsuit filed against a Rhode Island school district and state education officials over a silly string fight between two students.

The Providence Journal reports the judge's order issued Friday dismissed all complaints brought by the Zell family except those against Rachel McGinley, a student at Chariho High School.

The Zells say in their lawsuit their daughter now has a seizure disorder after McGinley hit her in the head with a cellphone.

The Zells say their daughter had inadvertently sprayed the girl with silly string during a Spirit Week event at the school. Chariho administrators said their daughter started the fight by spraying McGinley in the face at close range.

The Zells' lawyer says she plans to file an appeal.Two years after coming in second to Donald Trump in the New Hampshire Republican primary, Ohio Governor John Kasich spoke at New England College Tuesday night, presenting a sharp contrast to President Trumps policies.

On DACA, Kasich commented, "So its Easter and you wake up and find out weve been shipped out, I mean, come on, leaders dont do that."

When asked if he would receive Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office, like there is talk of Trump doing, Kasich responded, "You mean like now? No. Not now. Receive him to do what?"

On the media, Kasich said, "Im very concerned about the assault on the press where its all 'fake news.'You wrote something that I dont agree with, thats fake."

The 2016 Republican presidential candidate says he doesn't know if he'll run again for the White House. He is in his last year as governor and says he must finish that first. He's term-limited and cannot seek re-election.

"All of my options are on the table. But that doesnt mean yes or no or this or that, I really dont know. I want to finish my term and nine months and then we go through the elections and then we will see where we are."



But the former congressman, one of President Donald Trump's most outspoken Republican detractors, says he's "trying to be a voice that brings about stability and objectivity in our country.''

Kasichs appearance drew some big-name New Hampshire Republicans and even a former Connecticut congressman.

Former Rep. Christopher Shays said, "I think he is the best candidate, the best American to run for president and I would love him to be our president."

Governor Kasich, who focused his presidential efforts in New Hampshire, says hell be back to speak in the Granite State in November, but his biggest supporters hope he is back long before that.Immigration advocates will descend upon the Massachusetts State House Wednesday to lobby for immigrants, refugees, and allies.

The theme of the 22nd annual Immigrants' Day is "Immigrants Get the Job Done."

Advocates plan to meet with lawmakers and push for funding for English classes and basic adult education. They also want to highlight the key role immigrant workers play in fields like healthcare and technology.

Among those expected to speak at this year's event are Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta, Senate President Harriette Chandler, and Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell.

Another speaker expected to talk will be a DACA recipient.

Former President Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to provide temporary protection and work permits to hundreds of thousands of immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally after being brought here as children. President Donald Trump ended the program last year but gave Congress six months to pass legislation enshrining it.

The fate of the program has been in question due to Congress and Trump not being able to come to a deal on it.

According to the Immigrants Day website, organizers say they will also be registering voters.

Last year, more than 1,600 people attended Immigrants' Day. The event starts at 11 a.m.Top environmental protection officials in Vermont are pushing back against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its planned rollbacks of fuel efficiency guidelines on future fleets of new vehicles.

Those guidelines, spelled out under the Obama administration, were aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

"It's not a good idea," Vermont Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore said of the EPA's announcement this week that it will loosen efficiency standards. "It does feel like a significant step backwards."

The EPA had previously wanted cars, SUVs and pickups from model years 2022 to 2025 to average about 36 miles to the gallon in real-world driving conditions. That's roughly 10 miles above today's standards.

However, those were Obama-era expectations. The Trump White House calls the standards too stringent and too costly on manufacturers, and announced Tuesday that it wants rollbacks.

"This is another step in the president's regulatory agenda  deregulatory agenda," Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the EPA, said at an announcement Tuesday.

Moore and her counterparts from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut wrote an op-ed circulated this week that was critical of that decision.

In the op-ed, the state environmental protection chiefs implored the EPA to not touch the standards.

"Do not roll back vehicle emission standards," the environmental officials from the four New England states wrote. "Give our agencies and our states a fighting chance of fulfilling our mission to protect public health and address the greatest environmental challenge of our time."

Pruitt argued that many Americans are priced out of modern efficient vehicles, so instead of buying them, are holding onto older cars that spew more pollution.

"I think the focus in the past has been on making manufacturers in Detroit  making manufacturers in various parts of the country  make cars that people aren't going to buy. And our focus should be on making cars that people purchase actually more efficient," Pruitt said.

Moore told necn Wednesday that she disputes a claim from Pruitt that higher standards are technologically impractical for auto manufacturers.

"We do believe that the efficiency standards are very possible," Moore said in an interview with the news station. "We also believe they're good for consumers, in addition to being good for the environment."

Rob McDougall, the chief of the environmental protection division of the Vermont Attorney General's office, said Wednesday it's too soon to know if the state would sue the EPA to try to preserve the stricter fuel efficiency standards.

"We're going to continue to fight for the standards," McDougall said. "Everything's on the table as we try to fight for the clean air all Vermonters want and deserve."

Norwich author's b Norwich author's b

Norwich author John Piercy who, with his Polish wife Krystyna, has travelled over 105,000 miles in mercy ministries to help very old and disabled survivors of the Holocaust at Auschwitz, has written a very practical new book on the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation, called No Better Way. Mike Wiltshire reports.



Sheringham Christians sew and cycle for Uganda

2018: An army of people held a Sew-athon at a Sheringham church back in February to help a Ugandan community, and a team from that church is now planning to cycle 256 miles to help the same charity. Tony Rothe reports.



The Reed People charity, based at Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham, has been working with the village of Lumpewe in Uganda to re-build and equip their primary school, and to support the ongoing work and eventual expansion of the school.



The 12 hour Sewathon event held at Lighthouse on February 24 had 240 participants with a variety of skills and abundant enthusiasm. 140 pillowcase dresses were made, 30 skirts, 53 headbands, 3 fabric bags, 430 sanitary pads were cut out ready to be sewn together, and 59 triangles of bunting were decorated by the children.



Organiser Jo Mutton said Once again people turned up at the event offering their time and were happy to pitch in with whatever needed to be done - cutting, sewing, ironing as well as the invaluable role of tea/coffee making, washing up and general tidying up. The men prepared and cooked around 100 hot lunches, and numerous people generously supplied delicious cakes and biscuits to sustain the team throughout the day. We were overwhelmed with the unity that this generated.



Ten days later, four men from the charity, Ian Mutton, Mark Welch, his dad Keith and Matthew Wells travelled to Uganda with dresses, headbands and the sanitary pads which they distributed, as well as progressing the building work. Their purpose was to put wiring in place in the classrooms to provide lighting and power and also to construct a safe access/veranda to all five classrooms.



Following a similar visit last year one of the male leaders of the community in Lumpewe said: The biggest talk of the village from both women and men is the gift of sanitary towels and panties. Due to the dire poverty, very few could afford to buy monthly pads for self and daughters or a new pant, and it was a challenge of many and a cause of school absenteeism for school going girls. That challenge is no more and less school absenteeism of girls of that age has been reported in our school and even other schools around.



To find out more about Reed People and the project in Lumpewe, visit : http://reedpeople.org



Back in Britain, funds are being raised by a 256-mile sponsored bike ride starting on Thursday April 12 from Prestatyn in North Wales, and hoping to arrive in Sheringham in North Norfolk at around 10.30am on Sunday April 15. They are intending to average 75 miles a day, with the final 30-odd miles on the Sunday morning.



Those taking part are Ingrid and Martin Fleetcroft, Derek Baldry, Ian Mutton, Matthew Mutton (a year 10 student at Sheringham High), and Sarah Atkinson. If anyone would like to sponsor them please visit : http://reedpeople.org/donate/



All money raised will go towards the development of educational facilities in Lumpewe.



The next Sewathon will take place at Lighthouse on Saturday November 17 when as well as continuing with the pads and pillowcase dresses/headbands, they hope to make boys shorts out of no longer wanted t-shirts, as well as washbags.



To read our previous story about the Reed People Sewathon, click here .



Do you have a news story or forthcoming event relating to Christians or a church in North Norfolk?A thin beam of invisible laser light has been used to safely charge a smartphone across a room. The experiment by researchers at the Univeristy of Washington lends credence to the futuristic idea that one day all computers could operate without any plugs or wires  thats both for data and power.

The revolutionary smartphone-charging laser system, which functions from up to 40 feet away, detects devices through inaudible acoustic chirps, according to its desginers at the university. It then zaps a couple watts of power at them using laser beams. Importantly, it does it safely and is potentially scalable to computers.

If one were to add to this news the speculation that there may soon be a shift away from traditional Ethernet to 5G wireless for infinitely fatter and faster data networks, then conceivably the end of all physical connections between computers may become a reality in the not-too-distant future.

Charging over the air, called Wireless Power Transfer (WPT), is in use now at short ranges, using coils and magnetic fields. We see WPT in inductive consumer charging systems such as toothbrushes and smartphones, for example.

However, range is limited. To send power over longer distances, or to provide more power, a radiative power-beaming transmission form is needed, such as a laser or microwave. The problem with that, though, is those are hazardous to humans  you cant allow people to get in the path of the beam.

The University of Washington researchers say they have solved that major safety problem.

The laser emitter will terminate the charging beam before a person comes into the path of the laser, says Shyam Gollakota, an associate professor at the institutions Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and one of the developers, in a news release published by the university.

The group claims to be able to shut down the laser when someone crosses the path, and to do it so quickly there no chance that the person becomes injured. They achieve this through the use of what they call a rapid-response safety mechanism, which ingeniously uses low-power, guard laser beams to surround the principal high-power beam. If the low-power sensor beams become interrupted, the adjacent main beam is quickly shut down before injuries can occur.

The guard beams are able to act faster than our quickest motions because those beams are reflected back to the emitter at the speed of light, claims Gollakota. The researchers say the human subject would have to be traveling at more than 98 miles per hour before the system might fail to turn off.

Delivering greater than a watt of power across the room, minimizing the exposure of the resulting high-power lasers to human tissue, and finally ensuring that the design meets the form-factor requirements of a smartphone are satisfied, the team claims in an abstract of their paper.

And it can potentially charge a smartphone as quickly as a standard USB cable, they say.

Additionally, wireless, laser-based charging of other devices, such as cameras, tablets, and even desktop computers, could all be possible, the researchers say.

Add wireless data to that mix, and for the first time, its possible eventually there will be no umbilical cords at all for computing.NEW MILFORD  A black and white photo of some 20 women walking across the town green in the late 1890s hangs at the entrance of the New Milford Historical Society and Museum.

It is believed the photo documents the renaming of town hall as the Roger Sherman Town Hall  the first project undertaken by the Roger Sherman Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

On Saturday, the chapter will kick off its 125th anniversary celebration with a tea at the museum, where guests can view that photo and other artifacts pertaining to the organizations history. The original membership applications line one wall, along with photos of the women.

Its pretty impressive that this organization is celebrating the 125th anniversary and still going strong, said Bonnie Butler, the chapters regent, or president. Its because of vibrant, hardworking women who keep it going.

The tea, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., will feature speakers, and visitors can reserve a time to have a silhouette done for $30.

Other events planned are a gala, a concert, a Revolutionary War encampment and a program on Roger Sherman  the patriot who lived in New Milford and is the only Founding Father to sign the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution.

Its going to be exciting, said Mary Schenzer, the chapters historian. We have a lot of fun things in the works.

More Information For more information about the DAR event (www.RogerShermanDAR.org), or to RSVP for the tea or a silhouette appointment, call Bonnie Butler at 860-354-5129. See More Collapse

The Roger Sherman chapter was established on May 8, 1893, making it the ninth chapter in Connecticut and the 174th nationwide. The national organization was founded in 1890.

Through the years, the women have worked to preserve history, support the military and promote education. The chapter was recognized in 2014 as the Connecticut DAR Chapter of the Year for

outstanding service and commitment.

The Roger Sherman chapter has done something to help the causes of all American wars since the Spanish-American War, Butler said.

In World War I, the chapter sent chickens to France, helped orphans and donated money. The organization presented Quilts of Valor to veterans and brought the Wall that Heals, a replica of the Vietnam Memorial, to town in October 2016.

Butler and Schenzer said bringing the memorial to town was one of their most memorable initiatives. They recalled how moved some of the veterans were, and how some waited until nightfall so they could visit it privately.

After 50 years, it was still very emotional, Schenzer said.

The exhibit includes a section comparing the real-life DAR service with its portrayal in The Gilmore Girls, a television show about a single mother and her daughter living in small-town Connecticut in the early 2000s.

The show, though it has been off the air for a decade, still has a strong fan base, contributing to a themed festival held locally.

The Roger Sherman Chapter was invited to host a booth at the latest festival in Kent, where it had a slideshow and genealogist for women interested in joining local chapters.

Lisa Roush, the curator of the museum, said it was fitting the two organizations are working together for this exhibit, especially because they share founding members.

She said the museum has artifacts that belong to the women, but the chapter history is coming from current members.

Schenzer was always drawn to the DAR because of her grandmothers involvement and her own love of history.

She has eight storage boxes of the chapters history, including scrapbooks from the late 1800s and early 1900s documenting their efforts.

Guests will be able to look through these scrapbooks during the tea.

The person keeping the scrapbooks took pains to make them beautiful, she said, adding many of the pages have drawings.The first-ever chemical analysis of plastic collected from beaches around Lake Geneva detected cadmium, mercury and lead -- sometimes in very high concentrations that exceed the maximum permitted under EU law. The abundance of toxic chemicals that are now restricted or banned in plastic production reflects how old the plastic litter could be, reports the study published in Frontiers in Environmental Science. The study -- one of very few to examine plastics in freshwater lakes -- indicates that like oceans, freshwater habitats are also affected by plastic pollution.

"Plastic debris in freshwater lakes are likely to pose the same problems to wildlife as marine plastics. In this respect, entanglement and ingestion are of greatest concern," says Dr. Montserrat Filella, lead author of this research, based at the Department F.-A. Forel, University of Geneva, Switzerland.

"The hazardous chemicals we find associated with these plastics is also worrying. When they are eaten by animals mistaking them for food, the acidic and enzyme-rich conditions in the stomach could accelerate how quickly these toxins are released into the body, affecting the animals concerned."

Dr. Filella collected litter from 12 different pebble beaches around Lake Geneva, one of western Europe's largest freshwater bodies. She found more than 3,000 pieces of plastic debris, which included identifiable objects (toys, pens, cotton buds), bits of identifiable objects (piping, plant pots, food wrappers), and plastic fragments that couldn't be identified to their original source, including expanded foam and polystyrene.

"A lot of the plastic was similar to that found on marine beaches, such as bottle tops, straws and polystyrene," says Dr. Filella. "In contrast, there was an absence of nurdles -- pellets used as a basis for plastic production -- and a lower incidence of plastic filamentous fibers from commercial fishing, such as rope, netting and cord."

The lack of these items, often dominant on marine beaches, can be attributed to differences in the use of the marine environment and the freshwater Lake Geneva.

More than 600 of the collected plastic items, representing the different types of litter found, were subsequently analysed for toxins using X-ray fluorescence. This is a non-destructive technique that can determine the chemical composition of materials.

"We detected the frequent presence of hazardous elements, such as bromine, cadmium, mercury and lead, in very high concentrations in some cases," says Dr. Andrew Turner, co-author of the study, based at the University of Plymouth, UK. "The abundance of these toxic elements, which are now restricted or banned, reflects just how long the plastic has been in the lake. For example, mercury is a metal that to our knowledge has not been used in plastics for decades."

Bromine, present in compounds used in flame retardants, was above the maximum level allowed under RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances - a European Union directive) in 19 plastic items. High levels of cadmium, associated with bright colours, were present in 57 items. Mercury was found in plastic items that were red or reddish-brown, suggesting its use as pigmentation -- a process believed to have ended in the 1950s. Lead, used to stabilize or color plastics, was present in nearly a quarter of the items analysed, with 65 of these exceeding RoHS levels.

"Freshwater systems have been largely overlooked with regards to the impact of plastic; most studies thus far have focussed on the oceans. This is one of only a handful of studies of plastics in lakes, and the first of its kind to be undertaken in Lake Geneva," explains Dr. Turner.

Dr Filella continues, "The impacts of plastic-bound toxic elements on lake wildlife are currently unknown but should form the basis of future research."Immigrant youth from specific racial-ethnic groups in the USA tend to have lower rates of certain mental disorders compared to their non-immigrant peers,reports a study published in the April 2018 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP).

The study was conducted by a team of epidemiologists from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health in the US and the Offord Center for Child Studies at McMaster University in Canada. They examined the lifetime prevalence of mood, anxiety, and behavior disorders (attention deficit, oppositional defiant, conduct, and substance use disorders), as well as mental health service use in 6,250 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years who were part of a national database. Youth were classified by both self-identified race-ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, Asian) and immigrant generation (first, second, third, or greater).

The authors found that prevalence rates of mental disorders among immigrant youth differed by immigrant generation and by racial-ethnic group. Consistent with the "immigrant paradox" in earlier studies, foreign-born Asian youth had lower rates of both emotional and behavior disorders, but by the second generation, they had significantly higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders compared to non-immigrant white youth. The authors also report a general trend for lower rates of behavior disorders among foreign-born Asian and Hispanic youth, and among both immigrant and non-immigrant black youth compared to non-immigrant white youth.

"Many of these differences were not apparent when immigrant generation and race-ethnicity were considered separately," said lead author Dr. Katholiki Georgiades, an Associate Professor and the David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at McMaster University and the Offord Centre for Child Studies. "This underscores the importance of joint consideration of these characteristics in studies of disparities in adolescent mental disorders and service use."

"One of the most concerning findings was that most immigrant youth with mental disorders were significantly less likely to receive mental health services than their non-immigrant peers" said senior author Dr. Kathleen Merikangas, Senior Investigator and Chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch in the NIMH Division of Intramural Research Programs. "This finding highlights the need to address cultural and economic barriers to mental health service use for youth with mental disorders from immigrant families, particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds."

These findings could have major public health implications because children living in families with at least one foreign-born parent represent the fastest growing segment of the US population and are projected to represent up to one-third of the child population in the next few decades, according to the US Census Bureau. Identifying barriers to recognition of mental disorders and access to treatment for these youth will therefore be of increasing importance.Luxury automobile manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India on Tuesday reported a rise of 83 percent in its 2017-18 sales which increased to 4,609 units.

According to the company, the "sterling performance" was on account of a sustained product launch offensive in the last 12 months, along with a steadily expanding retail footprint and enhanced service and brand experience programmes.

Besides, the company announced plans for 2018-19, with at least "ten product actions lined for the new financial year".

"The aggressive product plan for FY 2018-19 will help in sustaining the strong growth momentum achieved by the company in 2017-18," the company said in a statement.

Also Watch: Kymco Ionex Electric Scooter Solution First Look | Cars18The American consumer returned in force to automobile showrooms in March, lifting an industry that had been plodding along in a post-sales boom hangover.

The biggest players in the North American market reported gains Tuesday -- some eye popping -- compared to March 2017.

General Motors was up an unusually high 16 percent, followed by Fiat Chrysler's 14 percent sales jump. Ford rose 3.4 percent and Toyota gained 3.5 percent.

Analysts expect the industry as a whole to report a two-to-three percent sales rise.

German auto giant Volkswagen, while a relatively small player in the North American market, reported a stunning 17.8 percent sales rise -- signaling a continuing recovery from a scandal over diesel emissions cheating.

Analysts credited the good news to automakers' increased reliance on fleet sales, Americans' appetite for SUVs and light trucks, and recent tax cuts that gave individuals and corporations more spending money.

"March proved to be a lion for the domestic automakers, with double and even triple-digit sales increases posted for redesigned SUVs," Rebecca Lindland, executive analyst at Kelley Blue Book, said in prepared remarks.

While trumpeting retail market share gains, GM announced it would stop the decades-old industry practice of announcing sales totals on a monthly basis, switching to quarterly reports instead.

The company accounts for 18 percent of the North American market. Its move could frustrate analysts' efforts to compile a monthly snapshot of the industry, especially if other automakers follow suit, said economist Charlie Chesbrough of Cox Automotive.

"Measuring monthly sales is already difficult," he said in a statement. "Having incomplete data will make it even more challenging."

- Good news in March -

For the time being, March numbers suggested US consumers were in a buying mood, as were government agencies and companies looking to replenish aging fleets.

Chesbrough said little had changed in economic fundamentals to explain sales gains, except for the potential impact of December's tax cuts that fattened some consumers' paychecks -- and gave corporations major tax reductions.

"The impact of tax reform may now be kicking in and lifting the market above previous expectations," Chesbrough said.

Fiat Chrysler was among the biggest beneficiaries. Its Jeep SUV brand had a 45 percent sales jump, helping lift the automaker out of months of decline.

Crossovers, pickups and SUVs also lifted GM, which highlighted robust sales of Chevrolet's newly redesigned Equinox crossover and Traverse mid-size SUV.

"The job market is strong, consumer confidence is at decade-high levels and we see clear evidence that business owners are taking advantage of tax reform to upgrade their fleets," GM's chief economist Mustafa Mohatarem said in a statement.

GM had made a point last year of reducing its reliance on fleet sales, but announced that, year over year, commercial deliveries in March had risen 19 percent.

Ford's fleet sales were up 8.7 percent while retail sales to consumers were up less than one percent.

Nissan posted a decline of 3.7 percent, even while selling more of its popular Rogue SUVs than Toyota sold of its stalwart RAV4.

Honda gained 2.7 percent but its newly redesigned Accord sedan continued to struggle.

The Japanese automaker blamed a lack of public interest in sedans and deep discounts by competitors.

SUVs helped lift luxury car brand BMW sales by one percent, while its sister Mini brand struggled, down 9.1 percent.

Tesla reported first-quarter production totals that fell short of its goal of 2,500 Model 3 sedans per week.

Still, the company said total output was up 40 percent from the previous quarter.

Also Watch: Allen Ko, Chairman, Kymco talks about India Plans | InterviewMumbai: In a major achievement, India has overtaken Japan to become the world's second largest producer of crude steel in February, the Steel Users Federation of India (Sufi) said quoting the World Steel Association data.

At present, China is the largest producer of crude steel in the world, accounting for more than 50 percent of the production.

India's crude steel production was up 4.4 percent and stood at 93.11 million tonnes (mt) for the period April 2017 to February 2018, compared with April 2016 to February 2017, which has helped India to overtake Japan and becomes the second largest producer of crude steel in the world, the federation said in a statement here.

India overtook the US in 2015 to become the third largest producer of crude steel.

Attributed the growth in steel production to the right policies undertaken by the Modi government, Nikunj Turakhia, president, Sufi said, "The government has taken host of steps to curb imports, push local demand with initiatives like 'Make in India', implementation of the GST and infrastructureprojects, to encourage the domestic market."

According to the World Steel Association, India produced 8.4 mt of crude steel in February 2018, up 3.4 percent over February 2017.

Turakhia said the steel ministry is working proactively to lay down the road map to achieve 300 million tons by 2030 and "we seem to be on the right track".

"In addition, quick resolution of various big-ticket steel mills under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the National Company Law Tribunal is expected to further hasten the process of achieving higher capacity utilisation," he added.In the recent times, we have come across several statements that Indian men have said about women. Apparently, eating chowmein leads to rape," rape by two men is not gangrape", boys will be boys they commit mistakes"- the list is long. Latest to be added to the list of stupid and senseless statements, is from a professor from Kerala who reportedly said that women who wear jeans and act like men give birth to transgenders.

Please take a moment to let the weirdest statement of our times sink in.

During a counseling session held in Kasargod, this apparent educated" professor Rajith Kumar, who has been conducting health awareness" classes for several years now, said:

Well, the man did not stop giving gyaan" on the un"scientific reason for the birth of trans but went a step ahead to teach about how autistic kids are born.

This might come as a shock to Mr. Kumar, but it is our duty to let him know that acting like men" or wearing jeans" has nothing to do with the reproduction system of a woman. The child, whether a girl, boy or a transgender is born irrespective of the dressing choice" of the mother.

Though science has still not come clear on why people are born transgenders but such people are those who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. For instance, a person who is assigned male at birth by doctors, but grows up to identify as a girl/woman, is a transgender woman, or a trans woman.

As far as autism goes, Scientists suspect that a faulty gene or genes might make a person more likely to develop autism while there are also other factors present, such as a chemical imbalance, viruses or chemicals, or a lack of oxygen at birth. Theres no mention being a rebel that cause autism.

Raising concern over such irresponsible remarks, Kerala minister of health and social justice KK Shailaja released a press note stating that Professor Kumar has been barred from participating in government programmes. We are mulling legal action against him for making such derogatory comments," Deccan Chronicle quoted the minister saying.

In his defense, professor Kumar shared a video on his Facebook page saying his only intention was to save children from leading life in wrong ways."

Kerala, considered as the most educated state in India, has been experiencing backlash over the rising instances of sexism against women. Recently, another Kerala professor said women in his college were not wearing the hijab properly and deliberately exposing their chests like sliced watermelon.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News hereNew Delhi: A wary Bhim army after the violent Dalit protests on April 2, against the alleged dilution of rights given to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, that claimed at least 10 lives, has urged its members to practise caution.

Vinay Ratan Singh, Bhim Army President and a close confidant of its jailed founder Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, told News 18 that they had been urging their workers not to post anything on social media that may further raise tensions

Our cause is a just one. We are protesting for our basic rights as citizens of India. We dont want people to say that the movement has become violent and delegitimise the entire movement. If there is anyone who has an interest in maintaining peace, it is us. That is why we have urged our workers and supporters not to post anything on social media that could lead to violence. They are free to share their opinions on any public platform, but we have asked them to refrain from provoking any other community. Violence is not the way of the Bhim Army, Singh said.

The Bhim Army has a significant followership on social media platforms, with over 1.5 lakh followers on its Facebook page alone. In its posts, Bhim Army urged people to stay within the confines of the constitution and blamed the RSS for infiltrating the Dalit protests and instigating violence.

A Facebook post, credited to Chandrashekhar Azad, reads, Friends, on April 2, us Ambedkarites protested for our rights by staying within the confines of the constitution. However, police and Manuwadi forces fired shots upon innocent and peaceful protesters.

On Monday, Bhim Army supporters took to the streets in several key western UP towns such as Saharanpur, Meerut, Hapur, Agra and Baghpat.

In Saharanpur, where the Bhim Army is headquartered, their supporters even occupied the citys main crossing at Ghantaghar Chowk.

Bhim Army and its founder Chandrashekhar shot to national prominence last year after a caste conflict broke out in Western UPs Saharanpur district. The Bhim Army, in protest against alleged atrocities on Dalits, had called for a Mahapanchayat in Saharanpur on May 9, 2017. While the police denied permission for the public meeting, invitations had already gone out on social media. Hundreds had started making their way to the venue of the meeting when things turned sour. Supporters of the Bhim Army clashed with the police, following which Chandrashekhar was booked by the police.

A month later, he was arrested by a team of UP Police in Himachal Pradeshs Dalhousie.

Chandrashekhar was booked by the UP Government under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and has been lodged in jail ever since.New Delhi: The Election Commission has supported a PIL in the Supreme Court that seeks a restraint on candidates against contesting from more than one seat.

Under the existing legal regime, a candidate is allowed to contest from up to a maximum of two constituencies in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly polls.

In the 2014 general elections, BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi had contested from two seats  Vadodara and Varanasi. He later retained Varanasi.

Filing an affidavit, EC has now said that the Representation of the People Act should be amended to restrict a candidate to contest from one seat.

According to the commission, it conveyed its views to the Central government twice in the past when it sent its proposals in 2004 and 2016. EC said that letting a candidate contest from two seats is an "avoidable and unnecessary" burden on public exchequer.

It is also injustice to voters of the winning candidate who opts to vacate that constituency and retain another, maintained the commission in its affidavit.

The affidavit asserted that the EC stands firm on its proposals sent to the government, which have not been acted upon so far.

EC further said that its stand has been supported also by the Law Commission in its 255th Report on Electoral Reforms, which has also found it inappropriate for a candidate to contest from two constituencies.

The Commission has also said that in case the top court thinks that such a restraint is not required, an express provision should be made in the RP Act to ensure that the candidate is made to pay for the re-poll for the constituency he opts to quit.

In 2004, the EC had proposed that the candidate should be asked to shell out Rs 5 lakh in case of a legislative assembly seat and Rs 10 lakh for the Lok Sabha seat.

The Commission's response has come to a PIL filed by Supreme Court lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay.

On Wednesday, the case came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

The counsel for the EC submitted that their stand is on affidavit. Attorney General KK Venugopal also appeared and agreed to assist the Court.

However, the Central government has yet not clarified its stand on the matter as to whether it is agreeable to such a restriction or not. It sought time to file the affidavit and the bench adjourned the case after six weeks.New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, had acquired permanent status over years through years of existence, making its abrogation impossible.

While this may seem like a dent to the stand taken publicly by many senior leaders of BJP, the truth is that the judiciary and senior political figures from Congress to BJP have shown respect to article 370 over the last many decades.

Atal Behari Vajpayee, in 2003, had even shown willingness to discuss an autonomy resolution passed by the J&K assembly which recommended sweeping changes between centre-state relations and gave the state greater autonomy.

Recently, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also talked about holding discussions to give greater autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. Though his own party  the Congress distanced itself from comments made by him, calling them his personal views.

The fact is that at least three Prime Ministers of India (one each from BJP, Congress and United Front) had talked about preserving article 370. And this is excluding the views of India's first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, under whose leadership article 370 was furnished, through which the state acceded to India and which gave Kashmir autonomy over all matters except defence, external affairs and communication.

The last time such a suggestion was made it was by BJP's own founding member and former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

On June 26, 2000, the state Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir passed autonomy resolution. Headed by the then Chief Minister of the state, and the president of National Conference, Farooq Abdullah, the Assembly passed a resolution that recommended sweeping changes in Centre-State relations. At that time BJP, headed by Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and deputy PM LK Advani, set aside the resolution.

But two years later, Vajpayee expressed the Centres willingness to discuss the question of J&Ks autonomy.

We had not set aside the resolution on autonomy (passed by the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly) without giving it a thought. We were ready for talks. We are ready for talks even now, Vajpayee had said on a visit to the state in May 2002.

Before Vajpayee, the manifesto of United Front government, which came to power in 96 and was headed by Deve Gowda, contained the words maximum autonomy as a promise to Kashmir.

The UF governments minimum programme, published on June 5, 1996, said respecting Article 370 of the Constitution as well as the wishes of the people, the problems of Jammu and Kashmir will be resolved through giving the people of that State the maximum degree of autonomy'.

Just the year before, Gowdas predecessor, Congress PV Narasimha Rao had also said while talking on the issue of Kashmir, in Burkina Faso, on November 4, that as far as J&Ks autonomy was concerned sky is the limit.

Rao had said that he would consider any Kashmiri demand that was something short of Azadi and was within the framework of Indian constitution.

Although both these statements, by Rao and Gowda, riled many observers and political appointees, who continued to attack both these PMs for their statements years later. Former governor of J&K Jagmohan, in his autobiography Frozen Turbulence, went on to say that Raos comments were not only hollow, cowardly and careless, but also betrayed an infirm mind".

National and regional parties have also at various points in last several years batted to give J&K greater autonomy. CPI (M), in a statement issued in July 2000 right after the states assembly passed the autonomy resolution, said, While the CPI(M) stands for greater autonomy within the scope of Article 370 of the Constitution, it also advocates regional autonomy for Jammu and Ladakh within the state.

In fact, BJPs own alliance partner in the state  PDP  talked of autonomy in their own election manifesto for 2014 Parliamentary elections.

The third point in PDPs manifesto reads: In the last 65 years, the Parliament has never deliberated on J&K in any substantive and serious manner. All the well-meaning announcements made by different Prime Ministers be it the P V Narasimha Raos sky is the limit for autonomy, or Atal Bihari Vajpayees insaniyat kay dairay main or Manmohan Singhs making borders irrelevant need to be institutionalised for them to have an impact on the ground.

So when Chidambaram talked about seriously examining whether the state could be given greater autonomy and if so, consider on what areas we can give autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir, he was only reiterating a point that has been promised by Indian Prime Ministers, national party leaders, and leaders of J&Ks own regional parties, and promised to the state through article 370 of the Indian constitution.New Delhi: Amid Pakistan criticising India for attacks in Kashmir, Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria met Pakistan National Security Advisor Lt Gen (Rtd) Naseer Khan Janjua on Tuesday in Islamabad. Sources at the Ministry of External Affairs said that the Bisaria and Janjua discussed cross border terrorism in Kashmir.

The Indian High Commissioner sensitised the Pak NSA on issues of India's concern. Constructive discussions took place on improving the bilateral relationship, a source said, adding that the meeting was scheduled a week earlier.

The Pakistan government on its part said that both countries agreed to work on improving bilateral ties. Pakistan and India have agreed to explore the possibilities of more cooperation and of improving bilateral relations to ultimately take it towards the comprehensive process of dialogue, government of Pakistans official Twitter handle said.

The meeting comes just two days after Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi accused India of launching a "brutal crackdown" in Kashmir after terror groups suffered a major setback following killing of 13 terrorists in counter-insurgency operations.

A special meeting of the Federal Cabinet chaired by Abbasi condemned the suspension of internet services and urged the international community to take cognisance of the gross and systematic human rights violations of the Kashmiris in India Occupied Kashmir (IOK)

Abbasi's statement late on Sunday night came after Indian security forces gunned down 13 militants in three counter-insurgency operations. Three Army jawans and four civilians also died in Anantnag and Shopian districts of Jammu and Kashmir.Bhopal: In a move that may raise several eyebrows, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has accorded Minister of State (MoS) status to five babas associated with Narmada river awareness committee.

Narmadanand, Hariharanand, Computer Baba, Bhayyuji Maharaj and Yogendra Mahant were appointed to a committee set up for the conservation of the Narmada on March 31. Three days later, they were granted the special status.

As members of the committee, they have been given the MoS status, a General Administration Department official said. The MoS status brings in monthly allowance of Rs 7,500 each and various perks to these saints.

Among the five Hindu religious leaders, Computer Baba and Yogendra Mahant had earlier announced to take out a rally against Narmada plantation scam during a meeting in Indore. They had also decided to stage dharna at state secretariat.

As Assembly elections are due in the state this year, the main opposition Congress dubbed the decision as an attempt by the BJP to exploit the respect these religious leaders enjoy in the society.

"It's a gimmick to score political points. This is also an effort by the chief minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) to wash off his sins. He ignored conservation of the Narmada. These saints should inspect where the state government has planted six crore saplings (along the river banks) as claimed by the CM," said Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi.

Meanwhile, Congress AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh is busy in his Narmada Parikrama these days and is scheduled to complete his spiritual and apolitical journey on April 9 in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh.

Defending the state governments decision, Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal said the opposition party dislikes anything related to saints.New Delhi: Maldives has declined an invitation by India to send a ministerial-level delegation to the Defence Expo, a biennial exhibition of weapons and military hardware, which will be held in Chennai next week, official sources said.

The decision by Maldives is seen as an apparent snub to New Delhi which was critical of the Abdulla Yameen government for imposing emergency in the island nation earlier this year.

Sources told PTI that Maldives has conveyed to New Delhi that its defence minister would be travelling abroad and it would not be possible for him to lead a delegation to attend the expo, which will be held from April 11-14 in Thiruvidandai, south Chennai.

In February, Maldives had declined India's invitation to participate in the eight-day mega naval exercise -- Milan -- from March 6-13.

Ties between India and Maldives nosedived after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen declared emergency on February 5 following an order by the country's Supreme Court to release a group of Opposition leaders, who had been convicted in widely criticised trials.

On February 21, India had reacted strongly over the extension of emergency by a month. The emergency was lifted 45 days later.

China has been trying to expand its influence over Maldives and it had appeared to be supportive of President Yameen's decision to clamp emergency.

Interestingly, Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa paid a rare visit to Maldives this week. Bajwa met Maldivian defence minister Adam Shareef Umar and called on Maldives President Yameen.

Sources said India has also invited China for the Defence Expo but there has not been any response from Beijing.New Delhi: In a sharp attack on the central government, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday complained of step-motherly treatment by the Centre in terms of revenue distribution, claiming that the people of Delhi are receiving far less than they were contributing to income tax revenues. At the heart of this problem, Kejriwal said, was that Delhi's identity was neither that of a full state nor a Union Territory.

The people of Delhi contribute Rs 1.5 lakh crore in income tax. The total tax kitty of the central government is around Rs 9 lakh crore. Delhi contributes more than any other city in the country. In fact, it contributes more than some big states like Punjab and Haryana," Kejriwal said in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.

He added, "Collecting income tax is the job of the Centre but they have to distribute it among the states. The Central Finance Commission decides which states get how much of the tax. When I saw the list of states, Delhi was not even mentioned. We don't get any of the income tax money that our people contribute."

Claiming that at the heart of the issue was Delhi's unique status, he asked, "Are we (Delhi) a state or a Union Territory? We are neither. What is our identity? If we are a UT, then Centre has to give us Rs 52,000 crore. If we are a state, then make us part of that list. I'm not saying they should give us the entire Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Give us Rs 2,000 crore if need be but at least put us on the list."New Delhi: Days after Dalit protests across the country against the dilution of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar, claiming that he was walking on the path shown by the architect of the constitution.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Western Annexe of Parliament House, Modi did not make any direct reference to the Bharat Bandh protests that singed large parts of north India on Monday. We are walking on the path shown by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. At the core of Dr. Ambedkar's ideals is harmony and togetherness. Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission, he said.

The Prime Minister added that it was the Vajpayee-led NDA government that had started identifying places of significance related to Ambedkars life and his government was proud to pay tributes to chairman of the Drafting Committee of Indias Constitution.

There are two places in Delhi, which are associated with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, on whom the Vajpayee government had made crucial decisions. It was our Government that got the opportunity to work on them and pay tributes to Dr. Ambedkar,he added.

At least nine people were killed in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh on Monday while thousands were detained by the police and hundreds were left injured as the Centre and state governments struggled to control the massive protests that erupted across the north, west and east India over the Supreme Courts alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act.

While six were killed in cross-firing in Madhya Pradesh alone, two in Uttar Pradesh and one Rajasthan. Curfew was imposed in several places and over 400 people were arrested in Uttar Pradesh alone. A former BSP MLA was also among those arrested in UP.New Delhi: Public sector banks (PSBs) wrote off Rs 2.41 lakh crore worth of loans between April 2014 and September 2017, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

Writing-off non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans is a regular exercise conducted by banks to clean up their balance sheet, and achieving taxation efficiency, Minister of State of Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in a written reply.

"As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on global operations, public sector banks have written-off (including compromise) an amount of Rs 2,41,911 crore from financial year 2014-15 till September 2017," the minister said.

Writing off loans is done, inter-alia, for tax benefit and capital optimisation, he said.

"Borrowers of such written off loans continue to be liable for repayment," he added.

Shukla said that recovery of dues takes place on ongoing basis under legal mechanism, including SARFAESI Act and debt recovery tribunals.

"Therefore, write-offs does not benefit borrowers," he added.

The minister said RBI has apprised it that borrower-wise credit information is not available for disclosure.

The RBI Act provides that credit information submitted by a bank should be treated as confidential and not be published or otherwise disclosed.New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed concern over Aadhaar Act being too open-ended and allowing the government to expand its scope in the future to collect more biological attributes.

Justice DY Chandrachud, part of a Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, asked attorney general KK Venugopal whether it would not amount to "excessive delegation of powers" to Aadhaar body UIDAI by the Parliament.

Referring to provision of the Act that say biometric information means photograph, finger print, iris scan, or such other biological attributes of an individual as may be specified by regulations, the bench asked the AG to define the other attributes.

"Tomorrow, UIDAI (Aadhaar body) may even say give your blood sample for doing DNA test," Justice Chandrachud said, adding, Isnt it excessive delegation if you give Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) the authority to add whatever as biometric and decide mode of collection.

To this, Venugopal replied that he cannot comment on the future, but the apex court could examine any additional requirements.

Blood, urine, DNA may be added, but that will be subject to examination by the courts, just like right now the court is examining whether collection of fingerprints and Iris scans are a violation of privacy, he said.

The top lawyer also referred to several judgments of the American Supreme Court which have upheld the fingerprint imaging for social security card. However, the bench observed that the position taken by the European courts including by the German court was diametrically different to the position taken by US courts.

The bench also asked Venugopal that the people, opposed to the scheme, say that it violated the doctrine of proportionality.

Venugopal asserted that the Aadhaar scheme satisfies the test of proportionality by showing a rational nexus between the means and the goal. He added that all subsidies were part of right to life with dignity and would prevail over the right to privacy.

But the bench was not convinced and said "pervasive use" of fingerprints beyond a specific purpose appeared to be problematic and breaches proportionality.

The advancing of arguments remained inconclusive and would continue on Thursday.

Earlier, the Centre had said that the Aadhaar Act was a "fair and reasonable law" which complied with the tests prescribed by the historic verdict on the right to privacy.

The apex court had refused to pass an interim order extending the deadline of March 31 for linking of Aadhaar with the welfare schemes where benefits are transferred to citizens from the Consolidated Fund of India.

The bench is hearing on clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law.New Delhi: Taking note of the widespread violence during Mondays Bharat Bandh protests by Dalit organisations, the National Commission of Scheduled Caste (NCSC) has asked three states to furnish details on the scale of violence and if there was any conspiracy behind the incidents/

Protests by Dalit organisations during Bharat Bandh turned violent and left 10 people dead, hundreds injured and property worth crores destroyed in the affected states. Seven died in Madhya Pradesh, two in Uttar Pradesh and one in Rajasthan.

On Wednesday, Murugan Loganathan, NCSC Vice-Chairman, told News18 that the commission has written to the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

We have written to all these states to send a detailed report on the scale of violence, on an urgent basis. We expect to get it by tomorrow, said Murugan.

Murugan further added, One cannot rule out the fact that this violence must have been the result of some instigating force or a conspiracy. The commission has also asked the "states to submit evidence to prove such a conspiracy, if any.

Soon after violent protests engulfed several states, including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and some others, Congress accused the BJP of fueling tensions to get an edge in the upcoming elections.

BSP supremo Mayawati too hinted at a conspiracy and said, We condemn the act of violence. Some anti-social elements were sent to disrupt the Bharat Bandh and they were the ones who were involved in violence. Police and administration should identify such people and punish them.

On Tuesday, a mob of 5,000 people, protesting against Mondays Bharat Bandh, set ablaze houses of Dalit MLA Rajkumari Jatav and former MLA Bharosilal Jatav in the Hindaun City, District Collector, Karauli. While Rajkumari Jatav is from the ruling BJP, Bharosilal Jatav is a former Congress legislator who also served as a minister in the state.

Mondays Bharat Bandh was called against a March 20 order issued by the Supreme Court that banned automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Murugan said that soon after the SC verdict, the commission had called an urgent meeting on March 22 and by March 28, they approached President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, apprising them about the repercussions of the verdict and why a review petition must be filed.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to roll back its earlier order but also agreed to hear the review petition on April 10.

To the question of why the government changed its stand in the court from arguing that the "act was misused" to filing a review petition, Murugan told News18, "Of course there were instances of misuse but even implementation was not proper. The commission now has 35 thousand cases pending.New Delhi: The government on Tuesday announced that all public higher education institutes must apply for the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) or face penalty.

The Centre on Tuesday unveiled a list ranking top higher education institutes across various categories. The rankings listed Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and IISc-Bangaluru as the top institutes in various categories.

THE NEW SYSTEM

Higher Education Secretary, R Subrahmanyam, said at the launch of NIRF, For the public institutions that have been receiving grants from the government, participation is mandatory this year onwards.

It has been agreed that public funded institutes that take grants and not take part in NIRF, will henceforth face some sort of penalty or fund cuts. Since pubic is paying for them, they owe a responsibility, said the secretary, adding that HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has given a go ahead to the decision.

In its third edition of India Rankings, a total of 2,809 institutions took part in 9 categories. Collectively, these institutes submitted 3,954 distinct profiles, some in multiple disciplines and categories. There were 301 universities, 906 engineering institutions, 487 management institutions, 286 pharmacy institutions, 71 law institutions, 101 medical institutions, 59 architecture institutions and 1,087 general degree colleges.

These higher education institutes were judged broadly on teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practices; graduation outcomes; outreach and inclusivity and perception.

Subrahmanyam added, These rankings will bring transparency to the education system as the institutes are funded by the public. It will also increase the level of competition among them.

Speaking at the launch, Javadekar said that the idea behind these rankings is to promote quality education and encourage competition to make the institutes perform better and set new benchmarks of performance.

He also spoke about setting up world class institutes and granting autonomy to the IIMs.

Satya Pal said, We must have healthy competition, become global leaders in education and for that, we must create our own brands so that other countries follow us.

WHO STANDS WHERE

The India Rankings 2018 provide a common overall rank across all disciplines for those institutions that have more than 1,000 students.

The institutes were judged on sub-parameters, including research impact, publications, citations, highly-cited papers and even patent information about institutes collected from third party databases to obtain an unbiased picture.

The Rankings have listed IISc-Bengaluru on top in the Overall Category, followed by II-Madras and IIT-Bombay.

In the Management category, IIM-Ahmedabad has ranked number 1 followed by IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Calcutta.

IISc-Bengaluru stands out as the number one university while JNU ranks second, followed by BHU, Varanasi.

On the other hand, Miranda House, Delhi University has topped the college rankings followed by St Stephenss College, Delhi. Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirappalli stood third.

The ranking of general degree colleges started last year and this year the number of participating institutes have gone up by 100%, with 1,087 colleges applying for it.

This year also saw the beginning of limited rankings of institutions in new fields like medicine, law and architecture.

While All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi has ranked first in medicines, IIT-Kharagpur has topped in architecture and National Law School of India University, Bengaluru in the law category.Kathmandu: Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will press India to exchange millions of dollars held in Nepal in demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bank notes, during a visit this week.

Governments of the two countries are yet to agree on how to exchange the old bank notes, which are estimated to be worth $146 million or Rs 950 crore. These notes were held by individuals and informal sectors when Prime Minister Narenda Modi made the announcement in 2016.

Demonetisation had caught countries such as Nepal and Bhutan, where the Indian currency is widely used, off-guard.

The Indian demonetisation has hurt Nepali nationals. I will raise this in my meetings with Indian leaders and request them to resolve the issue, Oli told the Nepal parliament late on Tuesday.

India is Nepal's largest trade partner and the supplier of the bulk of consumer goods. Rupee is widely used by businesses and individuals who keep their savings at homes in Indian bank notes.

Oli will meet PM Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind and other officials during the visit starting on Friday.

Central Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) officials said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) verbally agreed to allow every Nepalese national to exchange up to Rs 4,500 worth of demonetised notes in a meeting in March last year.

"But nothing has been communicated to us formally so far," NRB Deputy Governor Chinta Mani Shivakoti told Reuters.

A senior Indian government official, with direct knowledge of the RBI's views, said the central bank was unable to exchange the old currency notes in Nepal or any other country because there was no such provision made in the rules that the government issued at the time of demonetisation.

"Only the federal government can take a decision in this regard now," the official said.New Delhi: The CBSE on Tuesday decided to cancel the re-examination of the class X Mathematics paper after evaluating 1000 randomly-selected answer scripts from examination centers in Delhi, Panchkula and Patna regions.

Anil Swarup, the secretary for School Education, shared the table with the media to show how the pass percentages of the 1000 students were compared with their last years performance to arrive at the decision.

The Board compared the pass percentage of these (1,000) students to the corresponding figure for last year and found that there was no unusual spike or change in performance. In fact, the pass percentage of this sample size is less than that of last year, said Swarup.

According to the table on sample evaluation, Delhi region reflected 89.36 per cent as its pass percentage, which was in contrast to its earlier percentage of 93.62 per cent in 2017. In Panchkula region, 84.77 percent of the students evaluated passed the paper this time as against 99.18 percent last year. The Patna regions sample evaluation threw up a pass percentage of 73.55 percent, which was much different from 98.93 percent last year.

The Delhi region includes schools from the Capital and National Capital Region (NCR), Panchkula region covers schools in Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir. Schools in Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkand come under the Patna region.

Interestingly, since the board exams were optional for the Class X  the pass percentage of last year is an average of the Board results and internal evaluation done by the school. This is because of the provision that though the question paper was set by CBSE, the students had the liberty to choose to have their paper evaluated either by the Board or their school.

Explaining why there are re-tests for class 12th but not for class 10th, Swarup said: There is no denying that the paper has been leaked, but it has evidently had no impact on the performance of students. Moreover, we also had to see what implications our decision would have on the future of students. Heavens are not going to fall if we do not conduct a re-test of a Class X examination. But if we do, 14 lakh students are going to be put through a lot of inconvenience."

He further added that since Class X paper is not as competitive an exam as class XII, the Board did not hold a re-test. It is for this reason we announced re-examination of the Class XII Economics paper, because it has serious implications for the student's future, he added.

This was in line with CBSEs circular on Tuesday, where the CBSE emphasised, Class X examination is essentially a gateway for Class XI, it thus remains largely an internal segment of the school education system. It is therefore felt that the board must address the primary concern of a large section of the students. Therefore, the Class X Maths re-examination will not be held anywhere in the country, it said.

Further it added: On the other hand, Class XII exams are a gateway to higher education and various professional competitive exams which have limited seats... Therefore, giving undue advantage to a handful of beneficiaries of the alleged leak of the Economics paper would not be in larger interest of the students.

The Board found that a random evaluation did not indicate sudden spikes or unusual patterns, giving any impression of passing on widespread benefits of alleged leaks.

Swarup said that after the complete evaluation, if the Board finds an unusual pattern in performance of students at a particular centre, action will be initiated against the centre. We want to catch the culprits, not punish the students, said the Secretary.

The Human Resource Development Ministry has constituted a High Powered Committee to examine the process of conducting the Central Board of Secondary Education exams.

The Committee will have experts and would be headed by V S Oberoi, ex-Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development. The Committee is expected to suggest measures to safely conduct CBSE examination through the use of technology. The Committee is expected to submit the report by 31 May, 2018.New Delhi: Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, is not a temporary measure, Supreme Court observed on Tuesday. Article 370 had acquired permanent status over years through years of existence making its abrogation impossible, Supreme Court observed. The Centre has been given three weeks to respond.

Though this is still an observation, Supreme Courts view on J&Ks special status has already created ripples in political circles. A senior Congress leader said, With Supreme Court observing that Article 370 had acquired permanence, does the BJP still stand by its demand to abrogate Article 370? Not that it was part of agenda of alliance or whatever nomenclature they formulated to justify their alliance with the PDP.

The PDP, BJPs alliance partner in the state, has said called SCs observation a significant reiteration of Jammu and Kashmirs special status.

While Article 370 safeguards the territorial integrity of J & K, it plays a bigger role safeguarding the religious, cultural & linguistic integrity of our state . The Honble Supreme Courts observation regarding its permanent status is a welcome assurance to our people. Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 4, 2018

Both the PDP and the BJP had agreed in their agenda of alliance that the constitutional authority of Article 370 will not be tinkered with. Though there have been differences of opinion between leaders of the two parties on this issue off late.

State BJP leaders have said time and again that the special status of J&K is not a sacred cow who cannot be touched while Mehbooba Mufti, the Chief Minister and PDP supremo, went as far as to state that there will be no one in Kashmir left to shoulder the tricolour if J&Ks special status was abrogated.

Lets be clear on the fact that the mandate we received was for development not for the abrogation of Article 370. Though we feel that the special status of J&K is a roadblock to the development of the state but considering the mandate we have to work around it for now, a BJP leader based out of the valley, who did not wish to be quoted, told News18.

In its reply to a question about governments stand on the abrogation of Article 370, Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir told the Parliament on March 27 that no such plan was under consideration.

While the BJP has been raising the issue of abrogation of Article 370 in its political rallies, its spokesperson Virender Gupta recently said that time has come when the people of Jammu and Kashmir should say goodbye to Article 370.

The Union government hasnt made its stand on article 370 clear in the courts.

Apart from claiming that a wider debate was required in context of J&Ks special status, Attorney General KK Venugopal only bought more time when the issue of article 35A came up in Supreme Court last October, pleading that any submission made before the court would jeopardise the work of the government appointed interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma.

Arun Sharma, BJPs spokesperson in J&K, said that his party would take a considered view of Supreme Courts observation after holding a meeting of senior leaders.

Asked about the seemingly different stand taken by the BJP in its political rallies and in court, Sharma said, The government and the party operate in different ways. The government gives its view after taking so many things into consideration and the party works on its own ideology, so there are bound to be differences between the views of the two.

All eyes are now on the Centres response in three weeks. Perhaps it will shed light on what the governments stand is on Article 370. The matter attains importance ahead of the crucial 2019 General Elections.

Abrogation of Article 370, along with construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and implementation of Uniform Civil Code, was one of the core promises by BJP in its 2014 general election manifesto.LIVE NOW auto-refresh LIVE NOW

Salman Khan Bail LIVE Updates: Actor Returns Home, Waves at Fans as Teary-eyed Salim Khan Looks On In a big relief for Salman Khan, the Jodhpur Sessions Court has granted the actor bail in 1998 blackbuck poaching case. The court has granted bail on surety of Rs 50,000 and set May 7 as the next date of hearing. News18.com | April 07, 2018, 21:22 ISTBollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, who has landed at Jodhpur airport on Wednesday afternoon for the 19-year-old case linked with the poaching of two blackbucks, misbehaved with his driver post arrival.

The actor, along with Salman Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam, has been accused of poaching blackbucks on the midnight of October 1-2, 1998 during the filming of the popular Hindi film Hum Saath Saath Hain. Two blackbucks, protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, were killed on the outskirts of Kankani village near Jodhpur.

In a video shared on Twitter, Saif, agitated with media questions, misbehaves with his driver. He asks him to close the window, put the car in reverse gear or else he says he'll hit him. "Sheehsa upar karo aur reverse kar lo warna padegi ek," he said.

A Jodhpur court will pronounce its verdict in the 1998 black buck poaching case on Thursday. The final arguments were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment. All actors, including Salman, Saif, Tabu, Sonali and Neelam, will be present in the court for the pronouncement of the verdict. While Salman is facing charges under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, other actors have been charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code.

Salman's counsel HM Saraswat had earlier denied the allegations saying there were several loopholes in the prosecution's story. "Prosecution has failed to prove the allegations. It engaged in tampering and fabricating evidence and documents as well as roping in fake witnesses to prove its case. It even failed to prove that the black bucks were killed by gunshots. Hence, such investigation cannot be trusted," he had said.He has choreographed action for Christian Bale in The Dark Night and for Tom Hardy in Dunkirk among over three dozen films in a career nearing 30 years. Hollywood's famous action director Tom Struthers, who is now working on some high-octane stunts for Bollywood film Race 3 in Abu Dhabi, finds Indian superstar Salman Khan no less a professional.

Race 3 marks the second time that Struthers is working with Salman, with whom he last collaborated for Tiger Zinda Hai -- also widely shot in Abu Dhabi. He loved the experience both times.

"I think you can expect the same kind of enthusiasm and high-octane action in 'Race 3' as 'Tiger...', but there's nothing I can tell you about (the plot)," Struthers told IANS over phone from Abu Dhabi, which is fast becoming a much-loved shooting destination for filmmakers.

He considers Salman as an actor who is sought after and "well-liked".

"I am very fortunate that in my career I have worked with good, professional people. Salman is among the highest-paid actors in the world... I've worked with people like Christian Bale and Tom Hardy. I consider them to be friends and I consider them to be very, very professional.

"Never once have they been unprofessional with me. Salman is in the same category. He was kind, caring about his people, and concerned about his artistes. He cares about where he is going as an actor and about what he is doing about the character he is playing," added Struthers, whose first tryst with Bollywood was with Nikkhil Advani's 2013 film "D-Day".

For Race 3, being directed by Remo D'Souza and starring Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem, apart from Salman, Struthers is choreographing the opening and closing sequences. He hopes these stunts, details of which he was guarded about, are something that the audience would love.

Struthers, along with Indian action director Anl Arasu, enlisted the help of the Armed Forces of the UAE, employing a Blackhawk helicopter, Oshkosh trucks, NIMR military vehicles, and Humvees for the shoot. twofour54 is providing the team production services as well as the support of its government and travel services department to ease the process.

The Australian stunts star finds Bollywood becoming more professional with time.

"I think Bollywood is in a great place right now. They are experimenting with culturally different professionals in the camera, stunts, action-directing departments," he said, and reminisced how, when he came on board for "D-Day", he knew nothing about Indian films or Indian culture.

"When Nikkhil Advani called me and said he wanted to meet me, I said, 'Why not? It will be a new experience, I will learn and you grow with experiences, so yes, absolutely'. So, I met Nikkhil and he convinced me to come to India... And rest is history, as they say.

"I enjoyed every moment in India. People have been super nice to me. I have never found anyone unpleasant. And as far as I am concerned, what more can you ask for," he said.

Struthers had missed a chance to visit Jodhpur when the team of his mentor Christopher Nolan was in the Rajasthan city to shoot scenes for The Dark Knight Rises.

As for his filmography, he says it's not purely action-heavy films that attract him.

"I love doing the action, but it's also important for me to tell a story. I often choose films not because they have big budgets, but because I like the script, the story, the actors that are to be cast... All that is a part of what I do... I feel fortunate that I am at a stage in my career when I can do that... To pick and choose the films. It's not just a financial game.Last month, a whistleblower blew the lid off one of the worst-kept secrets in the worldbreaches of personal data are occurring with alarming regularity and this data is being used to influence a large section of the population into making choices that have immense strategic implications for nations. As Christopher Wylie, a former Director of Research at Cambridge Analytica, told the Observer, We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people's profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons.

There should have been no reason for us to be shocked by what Cambridge Analytica has done. That it was using personal data for psychographic profiling has been well known. Its website openly boasts of having played a pivotal role in winning presidential races and claims to have up to 5,000 data points on over 230 million American voters. Nobody has questioned as to how this data was obtained.

Immediately after the revelation, the IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warned the CEO of Facebook, Mr Mark Zuckerberg you better note the observation of the IT Minister of India. We welcome the Facebook profile in India, but if any data theft of Indians is done through the collusion of Facebook system, it shall not be tolerated. We have got stringent power in the IT Act, we shall use it, including summoning you in India."

Thereafter, the complete issue degenerated into a political slugfest between the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Congress about which of the two parties had, in the past, engaged with Cambridge Analytica.

Sadly, this is a familiar and typical Indian response. We tend to ignore crucial issues till they literally hit us in the face. Thereafter, we adopt a mix of bluster, threats and political finger-pointing to show how serious we are about the matter at hand. Unfortunately, in this mix, the crux of the real problem remains unaddressed, till it comes to haunt us again.

Facebook, and other MNCs like Google, Amazon etc, do not need to collude in data theft. They already own our data. Facebook terms of use have the following conditions, For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook. And if you are a Facebook user outside the United States, You consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.

Finally, your legal rights, You will resolve any claim, cause of action or dispute (claim) you have with us ... exclusively in the US District Court for the Northern District of California or a state court located in San Mateo County, and you agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purpose of litigating all such claims.

Therefore, summoning Mark Zuckerberg will not solve the problem. We have accepted Facebook's terms to surrender our personal data because the government has no law to protect our data. Facebook and Cambridge Analytica are only the visible manifestations of the more serious problem  how personal data of millions of internet and social media users in India is being used with impunity by technology companies, data brokers, commercial enterprises, analytical firms and governments, with scant regard to its larger impact on national integrity and security.

How did we get here? The cost of saving data has plummeted and more and more data is being stored by everyone, from governments to private companies to data brokers. As the volume of data grew, it was not possible to analyse this by human intervention. Therefore, sophisticated algorithms were created which helped in data analytics for creating individual profiles of users. These algorithms are essential for the billions of dollars that Amazon, Google and Facebook earn, but they are also opaque and focused only on keeping us hooked.

What we see on the Facebook is not necessarily what our friends post, or different viewpoints on a particular subject, but what the algorithm determines we should be seeing. Therefore, anything that we like is going to be fed more to us. This creates an echo-chamber which further reinforces our beliefs and biases. It also sharpen divisions in society by playing on our fears.

The potential of social media is enormous and there was a quick jump from commerce to politics and then to warfare. Even as Cambridge Analytica was seducing politicians around the world with promises of voter influence, use of data as an information warfare tool was gaining ground. If companies can create sophisticated algorithms for psychographic profiling of individuals, why not nation states that have much greater resources at their disposal. The shockwaves caused by the alleged Russian attempts to influence voting in the US and other European countries is a clear indication of the power of information warfare.

In India, we are facing our own challenges. There is a vicious social media campaign in Kashmir directed from across our borders. There is no doubt that this will only grow in scale and scope in the future. There is also no doubt that we are ill-prepared for this kind of warfare.

The start point in this war has to be the protection of our data. The government recently released a White Paper on a Data Protection Framework for India. It was a comprehensive document but completely overlooked the national security perspective of data. The White Paper has raised some apprehensions on data localisation and the economic impact of a strict data protection law. While respecting this view, it must be also be stated that this is the argument often extended by foreign technology giants who wish to continue exploiting our data. The European Union, Russia, China and many other countries have extremely strict data laws and there has been no significant impact on their economy. In any event, we must value national security over commercial interests.

Former US President Barak Obama, in a BBC interview conducted by Prince Harry, said, One of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different realities. They can be cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases...The question has to do with how we harness this technology in a way that allows a multiplicity of voices, allows a diversity of views, but doesnt lead to a Balkanisation of society.

In India, we have our own vulnerabilities and fractures in society. Limiting how social media uses our personal data to increase these fissures is essential for protecting the character of India.

(The author is former Northern Commander, Indian Army, under whose leadership India carried out surgical strikes against Pakistan in 2016. Views are personal.)A large section of the media portrayed as if the violence that unfolded during the Bharat Bandh rallies across the country was wrecked by Dalits themselves. But the reports about the incidents of violence show that violence happened to Dalits. What is also indisputable in light of these facts is the predictable pattern of violence against Dalits each time they have risen in protest.

If one only looks at the names of those who died in incidents of violence across the country on Sunday, most among dead turned out to be Dalits. Rakesh Jatav, Deepak Jatav, Bimal Baudh, Aakash Jatav, Mahabir Singh, Rahul Pathak are those who were killed in Madhya Pradesh.

Those who fired upon Dalits, who were protesting against the dilution to the SC/ST act, showed their desperation in preventing Dalits from exercising their fundamental, democratic right. In Rajasthan, Pavan Kumar was killed in police firing, in Barmer, members of Karni Sena clashed with Dalits, and one more youth was killed in police firing in Uttar Pradesh.

The disturbing thing in the event that transpired on April 2 is not only the individual deaths of Dalits, but a familiar pattern in which Dalit activism is always put down by force. It is put down forcefully, or in connivance with, by those who enjoy social and political heft in national power corridors and those who claim to represent the wishes of the 1.2 billion strong Indian democracy.

History and statistics bear testimony to how law has been used repeatedly to suppress Dalits, tribals and other socially backward sections of the society. Nobody disputes the fact that it is only during protests from these sections of the society that police fires more aggressively than it does in other cases.

So oppressive is the systemic reaction to Dalit movements that even when Dalits try to break out of caste politics and vote for a candidate of their choosing they they are killed, and their houses set on fire.

Is it a mere coincidence that the states which saw maximum incidents of violence on April 2 are from the same regions - Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, in North India - which have seen most cases of crimes against Dalits? Most cases of rape of Dalit women are reported unsurprisingly from these regions. It is, therefore, not hard to deduce that the oppressors, seeing Dalits come out on roads against them on Monday, had a personal stake in brutally putting them down?

The April 2 movement was perhaps unique in the overwhelming response ordinary citizens got when they called for a people's movement against dilution in the SC/ST act, sans any political party interference.

Without caring for patronage from any party, small, gradual ripples across the country created a huge wave in the end. The response to Bharat Bandh was so enormous that even the ruling party, which boasts of having maximum Members of Parliament from socially backward classes, was taken aback by the success of the movement.

To analyse the violence that unfolded in the country on April 2, it is perhaps important to note that the states from which most of the violence was reported are governed by the BJP. Punjab has the highest percentage of Dalits in the country, but hardly one instance of serious violence was reported from there.

It is a given that any party that is in power, in order to maintain its sway over the people, gives its members a licence to exercise the party's writ, even if it means breaking laws. And the state paraphernalia is unlikely to actively obstruct them, as they go about silencing critics and taking down the opposition. Take, for instance, the attack on Dalit protesters by Karni Sena men in Rajasthan.

The attitude on display by those in power toward the protests of April 2, if one sees their social break-up and their equations with the parties in power, one understands why the protests were treated differently than protests that have broken out in other states lately.

The examples are the Jat agitation in Haryana or the protests carried out but Karni Sena in Rajasthan. Despite having carried out several acts of violence, including arson and murder, police's attitude toward these mobs was far milder. At the same time, consider how disproportionately heavy handed was the police response in case of the Bhima Koregaon protests.

The coverage and administrative actions during April 2 protests were clear examples of blatant biases in both departments of the society. Whenever weaker sections rise in protest and demand to be treated equally, they are alleged to be dividing and breaking up the society. They are held guilty of promoting casteism.

The April 2 protests also show us one other important social phenomenon. They show the restlessness and hunger among young Dalits of this country. And each Dalit youth who came out on roads that day knows there are thousands, if not millions, across the country who feel the same way. The systemic murder of Rohit Vemula in Hyderabad University and the manner in which the Supreme Court on March 20 diluted the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, has shaken the confidence of Dalits across the country and made them feel more insecure than ever before.

But, having said all this, there is one final thing to be acknowledged about what happened on Sunday.

The manner in which the young and the old, men and women, from Dalit communities in cities and villages, across the country came out to protest on April 2 to demand the right to live with dignity, will go down in history as the first chapter in a new narrative that is unfolding right in front of us.

(The author is a senior journalist. Views expressed are personal.)Kolkata: In the wake of violence during filing of nominations for the panchayat polls in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Wednesday has decided to file two petitions in the Supreme Court against the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The party also held a demonstration in front of the State Election Commission office over the issue.

Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh said, Our legal cell is working on the modalities to file petitions before the apex court seeking intervention in the situation where ruling party (TMC) workers are assaulting and preventing our candidates from filing nominations for the panchayat elections.

It is unfortunate that the state election commission announced the poll dates on instructions from the Bengal government. We would like request the SC to postpone the election as the situation is not conducive to conduct polls in Bengal. We are hopeful that the apex court will listen to our plea on urgent basis, Ghosh said.

Following the demonstration, BJP leader Mukul Roy met AK Singh, State Election Commissioner, to express his concern over political clashes in the districts. BJP claims that its candidates are unable to file nominations for the panchayat polls in the wake of threats and assaults by workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The state election commissioner also realizes the entire situation. But his hands are tied. The power lies with the state government. So although he is sympathetic, he can hardly do much. We are asked for central paramilitary forces. He agreed with us but he cannot get that done, Roy said.

Speaking to News18 over telephone from New Delhi, BJPs lawyer Partha Ghosh said, I am working on the petition and it will be filed at the earliest. The context of the matter will be briefed by the party.

Meanwhile, Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi separately met Singh and two top state bureaucrats  chief secretary Malay De and home secretary Atri Bhattacharya  on Wednesday to assess the ground reality.

The meetings followed a day after a BJP state delegation met the Governor and complained about the alleged attacks taking place across the state.

Rubbishing the allegations, Trinamool Congress general secretary Partha Chatterjee had said, People of Bengal have stopped considering the Governor as a neutral person. Why are the opposition parties so scared of the rule of law?

ADG, Law and Order, Anuj Sharma said, Some incidents of violence were reported in Bengal and were instigated by outsiders. Presently the situation is peaceful.

In Delhi, hours after Governor met the state election commissioner and two senior bureaucrats, a team of Trinamool Congress MPs led by Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek OBrien met home minister Rajnath Singh and levelled complaint against the Bengal Governor.

State Election Commission has announced a three-phase panchayat polls in West Bengal on May 1, 3 and 5. The counting of votes would take place on May 8.New Delhi: Telegu Desam Party leader N Chandrababu Naidu recently broke away from the NDA demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh. He was in Delhi this week to meet leaders from parties across political spectrum to drum up support for his demand. Sumit Pande and Bhupendra Chaubey caught up with him in the capital and sought his views on a host of issues, including formation of an alternative front against the BJP and the Centre.

Mr Naidu, recently Railway Minister Piyush Goyal made an allegation that Naidu government is unwilling to give an account of money given by the Centre.

I have a track record of 40 years during which I have run one of the most honest governments. No opponents or critics have made such allegations. Till yesterday, when Im with you, Im good. When Im demanding rights for my state, you are mud-slinging.

They gave Rs 1,000 crore for underground drainage and Rs 1,500 crore for building capital (Amaravati) and we have given utilisation certificates. The PM made a statement that we are going to construct a capital which is better than Delhi. Is Rs 1,500 crore sufficient for that? I have built Hyderabad and Cyberabad, you have not built anything.

The allegation is that you are worried about your lack of popularity on the ground and that is why you are raising this issue of special category status but Jaganmohan Reddy is walking away with all the popularity.

Im not worried about Jaganmohan Reddy or tainted parties. This government is promoting tainted political parties. Even the first accused and second accused (in the cases against Jagan Reddy) are sitting in PMO. What is the indication they are giving? This case is about a Rs 43,000 crore fraud or corruption. Around 11 chargesheets have been filed. Every Friday they have to appear before the court. And PMO is entertaining them. What is the message you are giving?

What happened between you and Mr. Modi that made the TDP leave the NDA?

You are taking support from tainted parties. You take their support I dont mind, but you are blaming me and my state.

Do you or Mamata Banerjee want to pilot a Federal Front?

This government talked about Team India. Corporative Federalism is a reality. You are blaming state government, you are throwing mud at me? Is it corporative federalism? They may have aspirations to build their party, but they cant damage regional leadership.

What is the role of Congress in the alternative front?

Some time in political transformation, so many things happen. I have seen National Front, United Front, UPA and NDA. I always want to do development and build the nation.

I have developed Hyderabad. After 2004, the then PM Dr Manmohan Singh when he went to USA, he said we are building cities, come and see Hyderabad. Who has done that? He took pride in what I had done. That is the pride we have created for India.

Is Congress your enemy or friend?

I dont have any enemies or friends. In politics, we sometimes fight with people of different ideologies in different states. We used to fight Congress for the last so many years. After 2014, Congress is not relevant in Andhra. BJP never was a force.Davanagere (Karnataka): Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Narendra Modi government of "disrespecting" and "demolishing" various institutions by having RSS men "sitting in every ministry and giving orders."

Interacting with the city's traders here, Gandhi said if voted to power, the Congress would free these institutions from the RSS control.

"I don't know if you all know that in every single minister's office, there is an RSS man sitting and giving orders. So what can you expect... nothing but disrespecting the institutions. The banking system of the country has been demolished by having this structure," he said.

"Who is Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi? These are the people who arise when you don't respect the financial institutions like the Reserve Bank of India."

"We are also seeing Piyush Goyal (with scam tumbling out)," he said.

Fugitive diamond merchants Modi and Choksi are at the centre of the Punjab National Bank fraud. Gandhi had on Tuesday targeted Union Minister Piyush Goyal for his alleged links to the promoter of a company in default of Rs 650 crore.

Gandhi said former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had advised against demonetisation.

He claimed that the chief economic advisor, the Union finance minister and the entire Cabinet were unaware of the demonetisation plans of the Prime Minister.

"The entire cabinet was locked up prior to the demonetisation. They (Cabinet ministers) were not let out of the room," he alleged.

Asked how the Congress would solve the unemployment problem, Gandhi said it would do so by encouraging small and medium scale businesses in construction, agriculture and other sectors.

He also said China is successful in creating jobs because its government imparts skill training to its workforce.

"In Modiji's government, there is no talk on (imparting) skills," he said. Gandhi said the banks should give loans also to small and medium scale entrepreneurs, but this benefit is being usurped by 15 big names in Indian business.Voters pose outside a polling booth in Karnataka.



People were seen standing in queues to cast their votes in the early hours itself, factoring in that the temperature may go up later in the day. Also, it has been raining in different parts of south interior Karnataka for the last couple of days during the evening hours.



Senior citizens were seen in good numbers standing in queues at various polling stations to cast their votes early.



State BJP chief and party's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa, and Pradesh Congress Committee G Parameshwara were among the first to cast votes in Shikaripura in Shivamogga and Yaggere in Tumakuru respectively.



Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda along with wife Chennamma cast their votes at Paduvalahippe in Hassan district. Film actors Ramesh Arvind, Ravichandran, also scion of Mysuru royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar were among the prominent personalities to cast their votes early today.



There are reports about delay in polling due to some technical issues with the electronic voting machines (EVMs) from different parts of the state.



Election for the Jayanagara seat in Bengaluru has been countermanded following the death of BJP candidate and sitting MLA BN Vijaykumar.



The Election Commission has also deferred the polls for Rajarajeswari Nagar constituency to May 28 after a massive row erupted over a large number of voter ID cards being found in an apartment.



Suspecting something fishy, both Congress and BJP have pointed accusing fingers at each other in the matter. "Today people of Karnataka are standing in queues to create history & show the nation the way to liberal, progressive, peaceful & compassionate politics & governance. I thank them for their support & wish them well," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted.



Over 2,600 candidates are in the fray-- more than 2400 men and and over 200 women. The total voters including service electors according to the 2018 final rolls are 5,06,90,538, of whom 2,56,75,579 male voters, 2,50,09,904 female and 5,055 transgender voters.



Officials said 58,008 polling stations have been set up across the state, of which 12002 have been designated as "critical", with over 3,50,000 polling personnel on duty. Police have made elaborate security arrangements for the smooth conduct of polls that will go on till 6 pm.



"82,157 people have been deployed for poll duty that includes DSPs, home guards and civil defence, and forest guards and watchers," Karnataka DGP Neelamani N Raju said. This also includes about 7,500 personnel from states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Kerala and Goa, she said, adding, central forces have been deployed.



One among the interesting aspects of this election is that four candidates who have served as Chief Minister of Karnataka are in the fray-- Chief Minister Siddaramaiah (Chamundeshwari and Badami), B S Yeddyurappa (Shikaripura), H D Kumaraswamy (Chennapatna and Ramanagara) and Jagadish Shettar (Hubli-Dharwad Central.)Bengaluru: The special aircraft of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and BJP national chief Amit Shah were on Tuesday searched by officials after they landed at Hubballi airport in north Karnataka to campaign for their parties in the runup to the May 12 assembly polls.

The exercise involving three district level officers was described by officials as being in line with the Election Commission's directive to ensure free and fair elections in Karnataka.

"It was a random search by a team led by (election) nodal officer Karpale. We searched the planes in which Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah had arrived. It was not intentional," Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad district S B Bommanahalli told PTI.

Shah and Gandhi arrived by separate planes at Hubballi airport from New Delhi.

Soon after their arrival, a team led by election nodal officer Karpale and Hire Gowda and Yogananda searched the planes to check for possible poll code violations.

"We did not find anything in the luggage. There were two other people with Shah. We did not check their names," Gowda told reporters after completing the search operation.

Gandhi, on the fifth leg of Karnataka tour, left for Shivamogga and addressed public meetings there and in Davangere.

Shah, also on the fifth lap of Karnataka tour, addressed an Other Backward Classes convention at Kaginele in Haveri district and had an interaction with the seers of Veerashaiva community at Shivayogi Mandir in Badami taluk of Bagalkote district.Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan would share the dais on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti. The increased interaction between the two leaders is being watched keenly in the political circles and has set the rumour mills abuzz.

The two leaders have met four times in the last one month.

Nitishs party Janata Dal (United) has said that April 14 event would be a historic moment. This comes after the recent nationwide upheaval over amendment in SC/ST Act and communal strife in Bihar.

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, the third non-BJP alliance partner in NDA, would also attend the function. Its leader and union minister Upendra Kushwaha has endorsed Paswan and Nitishs point of view. Both had criticised BJP leaders for making provocative statements and stressed the need to take all sections of society along.

Post BJP leaders' communally polarising statements, political observers feel Nitishs JD(U) and Paswan's LJP fear getting alienated from the Muslims and Dalits.

Lohiaite Nitish has been close to the ideology of Jan Nayak karpoori Thakur, who propagated caste struggle instead of class struggle and fought for the rights of Backward classes.

Nitish hails from Kurmi community, but, after his falling out with Lalu Prasad and except during initial years, he never endorsed caste politics. Though, he kept endorsing Karpoori Thakurs ideology, who had for the first time identified Most Backward Classes (MBCs) among OBCs.

Nitish went a step ahead and created a separate group called Mahadalits among Dalits in 2007, a step vehemently opposed by Ram Vilas Paswan as he saw in it an attempt to divide Dalit vote bank. On the recommendations of Mahadalit Commission, 18 of the 22 Dalit castes, Dhobi, Musahar, Nat, Dom and others, were carved out. They constituted 31 percent of total Dalit population.

Later on Chamar, Paasi and Dhobi were also included into the list which further disturbed Ram Vilas Paswan. Interestingly, now only Dusadh and Paswan community are out of Mahadalits. Dalits have 16 percent vote share in Bihar, including five percent shares of Dusadh community which has been rallying behind Ram Vilas.

Clearly, Nitishs move damaged Paswans image as a Dalit leader. With Paswan cozying up to Nitish, a demand has been put forth to the CM  abolish the distinction between Dalits and Mahadalits and include Paswan community in the list of Mahadalits.

Nitish Kumar is likely to make an announcement in this regard on April 14. Many JD(U) leaders believe It will help him consolidate non-Yadav OBC/EBC and Dalit vote bank.

Not only Paswan and Dalit Sena, headed by his MP brother Ramchandra Paswan, but other leaders, including Mahadalits, have raised this demand. Senior JD(U) leader Shyam Razak, from Dhobi community, says, Only perception was created when Nitish ji formed Mahadalit Vikas Mission and Commission. They are getting priority in welfare schemes. Nothing else. There is no division in reservation as is the case with OBC and EBC in our state.

So what are the options before Nitish? A senior JD(U) leader said, If he merges Dalits and Mahadalits, then he will lose whatever support he enjoys among Mahadalits. So, he will simply include Paswan community in the list of Mahadalits.

Talking to News18, states urban development minister Maheshwar Hazari said, We have also requested to treat Dusadh community as Mahadalit. We will again raise our demands on April 14. We are hoping he (Nitish) will listen to us.

Nitish avoids attending any function organised by caste based groups. Just a week ago, Paswan community celebrated Baba Chauharmal birth anniversary, whom they revere as god. Leaders across party lines, including deputy CM Sushil Modi, headed to Mokama, where his temple is built, and Patna. Nitish, though, stayed away.

Thus, Nitish attending Ambedkar Jayanti function organised by Dalit Sena assumes significance.

It will also give him a chance to offset the loss of Mahadalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, who joined hands with Lalu Prasad Yadav.New Delhi: At the end of the 20th straight day of no business being done in both Houses of the Parliament, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar on Wednesday announced that no BJP or NDA MP would take their salaries for the 23 days of the second half of the Budget Session that is headed for a complete washout.

Kumar put the blame on Congress for stopping deliberation in both Houses and said, We are ready to discuss everything, but the Opposition did not allow the Parliament to function.

The party had stopped important bills from being passed, which led to a "criminal wastage" of the taxpayer's money, the parliamentary affairs minister told reporters here.

Ruckus prevailed in both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday as well, as opposition parties and those from Tamil Nadu went to the Well and continued with their protests, forcing their adjournment without transacting any substantial business.

While the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for a record 11 times, the Lok Sabha was adjourned due to the protests for the first time till noon within four minutes after it met and then for the day after the listed papers were laid.

Before adjourning the Lok Sabha for the day, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she was unable to take up the notices for no-confidence motion against the government, served by several opposition parties, as there was no order in the House.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition protests forced the adjournment of proceedings for the day without transaction of any business as members trooped into the Well and shouted slogans, drowning every other voice.

MPs belonging to the Congress, Trinamool Congress, BSP, TDP and parties from Tamil Nadu - DMK and AIADMK - were in the Well even before Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu could settle down in his chair.

Unlike the past days when listed papers were allowed to be laid on the table peacefully, Naidu had to go through the exercise on Wednesday amid chaos as members persisted with slogan shouting.

The Congress and the BSP led the charge against the government, accusing it of being "anti-Dalit", in an apparent reference to the Supreme Court ruling on the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Members of the main opposition party also raised the issue of India's biggest bank fraud, alongside the TMC.

The session is scheduled to end on Friday.Bengaluru: On the last day of his five-day tour of hometown Mysore, chief minister Siddaramaiah visited several villages in Chamundeshwari constituency.

He has already declared that he would be returning to his old seat Chamundeshwari by fielding his son Dr Yatheendra from his seat Varuna. But the voters response to Siddaramaiah was muted at many villages in Chamundeshwari. Some even took him to task for not doing enough for their villages.

When Siddaramaiah told them that it was the fault of current JDS MLA G T Deve Gowda, they shut his mouth by saying that being chief minister he could have released funds for the development work.

According to some local Congress leaders, the public response is poor and Siddaramaiah may have taken a huge risk by shifting to Chamundeshwari from a safe seat Varuna just to ensure that his son gets an easy entry to the state Assembly.

Siddaramaiah won five times from Chamundeshwari between 1983 and 2008. First time as an independent. Second time on Janata Party, third time on Janata Dal, fourth time on JDS and the last time on Congress ticket. After the delimitation of constituencies, he moved to newly created Varuna for strategic reasons and has won twice from there on Congress ticket.

The current MLA of Chamundeshwari GT Deve Gowda is a strong leader in Mysore district and former PM H D Deve Gowda is working on a strategy to reduce the winning chances of his one-time shishya Siddaramaiah.

Speaking to News18, Gowda said: Siddaramaiah is a megalomaniac. He is arrogant. He is abusing my party. The voters of Chamundeshwari will not like that. He will be defeated this time."

The BJP is not considered a strong party in this seat and it is still searching for a suitable candidate who can take on Siddaramaiah. The chief ministers followers allege that BJP has a secret deal with the JDS to defeat Siddaramaiah. The chief minister is also not mincing words about it. Speaking to media in Mysore he said that JDS had joined hands with the BJP to defeat him in Chamundeshwari.

The semi-urban seat has 72,000 Vokkaligas and 30,000 Lingayat votes. The Backward Classes, Muslims, SC/STs together have over a lakh votes. Siddaramaiah is confident of getting votes from all castes and religions. He told News18 that BJPs caste politics will not work here as the voters see him as their chief minister, not as a Kuruba or OBC.

His local campaign managers explain that getting a thin crowd at some villages is a minor thing and overall he has got a great response.

Veteran Congress leader H Vishwanath, who crossed over to the JDS after his relationship with Siddaramaiah soured, maintains that it is not going to be easy for the chief minister this time. Speaking to News18, he said, The hubris will finish him. He thinks too much of himself."

Another veteran Dalit leader V Srinivasa Prasad, who joined BJP after a public spat with Siddaramaiah, has vowed to defeat him this time. Speaking to News18, he said, Siddaramaiah has insulted all Dalits by humiliating me. We will teach him a lesson this time.

However, a Vokkaliga leader from Chamundeshwari Mavinahalli Siddegowda believes that voters elect a tall leader like Siddaramaiah and not someone like G T Deve Gowda just because he is a fellow Vokkaliga.

Siddaramaiah is also playing a sentimental card by telling the voters that it is his last election and the people must back him one last time.Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party may have missed out on securing a Rajya Sabha seat for BSPs Bhim Rao Amdedkar, but the party does have an opportunity to send him to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council as elections to them are scheduled for April 26.

There are 13 seats up for grabs as the term of some of the big big names like SP National president Akhilesh Yadav, SP Spokesperon Rajendra Chaudhary and SP State President Naresh Uttam come to an end.

As per the figures, support of 29 MLAs is required for one MLC berth; in this case Samajwadi Party, along with Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress, will be able to send only two candidates to the Council while BJP will be able to send its 11 candidates comfortably. In such a scenario, the biggest challenge will be to decide the name of the candidates who will be entering Legislative Council.

It remains to be seen if Akhilesh Yadav nominates himself for the Legislative Council or will he send Naresh Uttam Patel, which might send a political message to the Patel community ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha Polls. Meanwhile, name of Rajendra Chaudhary is also doing the rounds in political circles.

However, with the option of two seats in Legislative Council, Akhilesh Yadav might secure one seat for a Samajwadi Party candidate and for the second seat he might send BSPs Bhim Rao Ambedkar, who lost Rajya Sabha elections recently.

If Ambedkar is chosen for the Legislative Council, it will be seen as a gesture from Akhilesh to show respect and to strengthen the relations further with the Bahujan Samaj Party ahead of the general elections next year.New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday hit back at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu and said that their party's commitment to the people of Andhra Pradesh would remain solid with or without him.

"I am very pained to see our erstwhile partner entering into a blame game. BJP makes friends. We are not in the habit of ditching. We value friendship but more than that, we value the people of India," union minister Prakash Javadekar said.

Javadekar said that when it came to development funds, the Modi Government had been "magnanimous" with Andhra Pradesh, even occasionally incurring the wrath of other state governments.

"Other states questioned us - why are you doing so much for Andhra? But we defended our decision. Since the newly carved state did not have Hyderabad, we had to maintain a balance."

He added, "TDP may have gone away from us, but our commitment to Andhra Pradesh's people is still solid."

Javadekar even insisted that Naidu's political fortunes would have been in the doldrums had it not been for his alliance with the BJP. "If there was no BJP and Modi, TDP would not have won the number of seats they did. Those who understand Andhra politics know which way the wind was blowing."

When asked if the party was veering towards the YSR Congress, he said, "If someone says we are going towards YSRC, that is ridiculous."

In an exclusive interview with News 18, Naidu had alleged that the Prime Minister's Office was shielding "tainted" parties. Javadekar said the allegations were "frivolous" and that "nobody would believe" Naidu if he raised corruption allegations against the Prime Minister.

When asked how the BJP saw Naidu cozying up to opposition parties, including the Congress, party spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said, "Congress is responsible for the plight of the people of Andhra Pradesh. The way the division was done was to the detriment of the Andhra region. Congress has no credibility left in Andhra Pradesh and if Chandrababu Naidu wants to share the stage with them, he will be seen as a rank opportunist."Washington: US President Donald Trump defended his embrace of Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, saying good relations were important but claiming no one had been tougher on Russia.

"If we got along with Russia, that would be a good thing not a bad thing," Trump said, days after congratulating the veteran Russian leader on his controversial re-election and suggesting they meet at the White House.

"Just about everybody agrees with that, except very stupid people," he said, adding "probably nobody's been tougher to Russia than Donald Trump."

Trump's renewed a long-standing call for better relations with Moscow despite a series of conflagrations and crises, including Russian meddling in the US election and the poisoning of a Russian double agent on British soil.

His comments on Tuesday came as he hosted leaders from the three Baltic states  which have had a torrid history with their larger neighbor Russia.

Standing side-by-side with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid and Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, Trump doubled down on his courtship of Moscow.

"I think I could have a very good relationship with president Putin," Trump said. "It's a real possibility that I could have a good relationship."

"It's possible I won't," he added.

Trump has faced criticism at home for his attitude to Putin, particularly by non-Republicans who suspect his campaign was aided by Moscow.

A Dutch lawyer with direct knowledge of contacts between Russian intelligence and a top official in Trump's campaign became the first person sentenced in special prosecutor Robert Mueller's sprawling investigation on Tuesday.

'Unpredictable leadership'

The trio of Baltic leaders came to the White House with what officials described as a series of concrete suggestions to deter Russian aggression.

A senior Lithuanian official who asked not to be named said they would ask the US to send Patriot long-range anti-aircraft missiles more frequently for war games.

They also want to become a part of NATO's larger European anti-missile shield.

Trump has spooked many in states that gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, by cozying up to Putin and by questioning American commitment to NATO.

But the later stance won approval from Grybauskaite, who, after Trump's prompting, suggested his stance had been instrumental in getting allies to play more for common defense.

"We need leadership, sometimes, for decision-making -- even unpredictable leadership," she said. "We're seeing this kind of leadership in President Trump."

Trump has repeatedly suggested that NATO allies are not paying enough into the bloc's coffers.

In reality there is no common NATO budget, but member states are encouraged to spend two percent of their own GDP on defense.

"Since I came in, many, many billions of dollars additional have been paid by countries that weren't paying, and now they're paying," Trump said. "And they will have to pay more, frankly. They're going to have to pay more."Washington: US President Donald Trump is under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller but is not currently considered a criminal target, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Mueller is investigating possible collusion between Russia and Trump's campaign, a probe the president has denounced as a "witch hunt."

The newspaper, quoting three anonymous sources, said that Mueller considers Trump a subject of the investigation, meaning there is currently not enough evidence to bring criminal charges.

Additionally, Mueller told the president's lawyers that he is preparing a report on Trump's actions and possible obstruction of justice, the Post said.

Mueller, a former FBI director and federal prosecutor, was named last May to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

US intelligence agencies say Russian President Vladimir Putin himself was behind a hacking and disinformation effort to disrupt the election and boost Trump's chances of winning.New Delhi: The United Nations Security Council updated its consolidated list of terrorists and individuals on Wednesday and named Dawood Ibrahim and Hafiz Saeed, among hundreds of other Pakistan-based outfits and individuals.

The list is yet another blow to Pakistan as the US Department of State on Tuesday updated its sanctions list to include terrorist Hafiz Saeed and members of his political parties in it.

Identified as an Indian national but holding several Pakistani passports, the UN has even mentioned Dawoods address as Karachi, along with details of his family members. He is the most wanted terrorist in India, with direct links to several terror cases, including the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

In the UN list, accessed on Thursday, Hafiz Saeed finds mention as the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). His close aide Zaki-ur-Rehman, identified by the UN as chief of operations of LeT finds himself on the list too. Other LeT members include Haji Muhammad Ashraf, Mahmoud Bahaziq, Arif Qasmani, Mohamed Yahya Mujahid, Abdul Salaam, Zafar Iqbal, wanted by the Interpol.

This sanctions list comes a day after the US designated Milli Muslim League (MML), the political front of Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud Dawa, as a foreign terrorist organization.

In a simultaneous move, seven members of MML central leadership body were also designated as foreign terrorists by the US. The US also added Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) to the list of terrorist groups. TAJK is said to be a front of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which according to the Trump administration, continues to operate freely inside Pakistan.

There are over 130 individuals listed from Pakistan in the latest UN sanctions list. Osama Bin Ladens heir apparent Ayman al Zawahiri too appears on top of the list and the UN list identifies him as being born in Egypt and that it believes he is in Afghanistan/Pakistan border. Osamas other aide, Amin Ul Haq, also appears on the list but he was repatriated to Afghanistan in 2006.Moscow: The head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency said on Wednesday the poisoning of a Russian former double agent in Britain was a "grotesque provocation" by the British and US security services.

"Even when it comes to the grotesque provocation with the Skripals that was crudely concocted by the British and American security services, a number of European countries are in no rush to unquestioningly follow London and Washington but prefer to look into what has happened in detail," SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin said at a security conference.

He also warned that Moscow and the West must avoid the risk of escalating their current standoff to the dangerous levels reached at the height of the Cold War.

"It's important to stop the irresponsible game of raising stakes and to stop the use of force in relations between states, not to bring matters to a new Cuban Missile Crisis," he said, referring to the 1962 standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

'A new Iron Curtain'

Naryshkin said that for Washington, "fighting the non-existent so-called Russian threat has become a real fixation" comparable in scale to the Cold War era.

"It has reached such proportions and developed such ludicrous characteristics, that it's time to talk about the return of the grim times of the Cold War," Naryshkin said.

He suggested that the West wants to shut itself off from Russia as it once did from the Soviet Union, saying that "seized by fear of changes, the West is ready to put up a new Iron Curtain around itself."

Britain has said it is "highly likely" that Russia was responsible for the attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in England.

Moscow has angrily denied any involvement.

British authorities say the Skripals were poisoned with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok.

The British defence laboratory analysing the nerve agent said Tuesday that it could not say whether it came from Russia. Moscow hailed that as a vindication of its repeated denials of involvement.

The Kremlin has demanded an apology from British Prime Minister Theresa May and her government for implicating Russian President Vladimir Putin in the nerve agent attack, saying this "idiocy has gone too far."

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a visit to Ankara late on Tuesday that Britain's "theory will not be confirmed in any case because it is not possible to confirm it."

London has rallied EU countries in support of its stance.

"The British foreign secretary who has made accusations against President Putin, (and) the British prime minister will have to somehow look their EU colleagues... in the eye," Peskov said.

"Somehow they will have to apologise to the Russian side," Peskov added. "It will certainly be a long story, the idiocy has gone too far."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has pointed the finger at Putin himself, saying it was "overwhelmingly likely" that the Kremlin leader ordered the attack.Riyadh: King Salman reiterated Saudi Arabia's support for a Palestinian state after his son and heir apparent said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land - a rare statement by an Arab leader.

The king also emphasised the need to advance the peace process in a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday night, made after Israeli security forces killed 16 Palestinians last week during a demonstration along the Israel-Gaza border. The number rose to 17 on Tuesday.

King Salman reaffirmed "the kingdom's steadfast position towards the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital", state news agency SPA said on Tuesday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised King Salman, thanking him for his support.

"President Abbas expressed his gratitude and appreciation ... for his supportive positions of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian cause and the cause of Jerusalem and its sacred sites," said a statement published by the official Palestinian WAFA news agency.

Abbas also praised Saudi Arabia for continuing to support the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the statement said.

The report did not refer to the comments by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an interview published on Monday by U.S. magazine The Atlantic, which are the latest public sign that ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel may be growing closer.

Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland, Prince Mohammed was quoted as saying:

"I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations."

Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines, does not recognise Israel. It has maintained for years that normalising relations hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war, territory Palestinians seek for a future state.

Increased tension between Riyadh and Tehran has fuelled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to work together against what they see as a common Iranian threat.San Bruno, California: An Iranian-born woman who blogged about veganism had railed online about dictatorship and accused YouTube of limiting viewers of her videos before opening fire at its California corporate headquarters, wounding three people and killing herself.

San Bruno police on Wednesday were investigating why Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, of San Diego, opened fire with a handgun on Tuesday at the company owned by Alphabet Inc's Google. A review of her postings online in Persian and English showed glimpses of resentment and anger at the video-sharing company.

"BE AWARE! Dictatorships exist in all countries. But with different tactics. They care only for short term profits," she wrote on a website called NasimeSabz.com, which translates as "Green Breeze" from Persian.

"I am being discriminated. I am being filtered on YouTube. I am not the only one," Aghdam said in an English language video on YouTube before her channel was deleted on Tuesday.

A man was in critical condition and two women were seriously wounded in the attack at an outdoor patio at YouTube's Silicon Valley headquarters, which employ about 2,000 people. Police said Aghdam seemed to have chosen victims at random.

The shooting came in the midst of a particularly intense phase of the United States' long-running debate on gun rights, following the killing of 17 students and educators at a Florida high school in February. While mass shootings have become a regular occurrence in the United States, they are rarely carried out by women.

Writing in Persian on her Instagram account, Aghdam said she was born in the Iranian city of Urmiah and that she was not planning to return to Iran.

"I think I am doing a great job," she wrote. "I have never fallen in love and have never got married. I have no physical and psychological diseases. But I live on a planet that is full of injustice and diseases."

WARNING FROM FAMILY

Californian media reported that Aghdam's family had warned authorities that she could target YouTube prior to the shooting. The San Jose Mercury News quoted her father, Ismail Aghdam, as saying he had told police that she might go to YouTube's headquarters because she "hated" the company.

Efforts to reach her relatives by phone were unsuccessful.

Her family in Southern California recently reported her missing because she had not been answering her phone for two days, police said.

At one point Tuesday, Mountain View, California, police found her sleeping in her car and called her family to say everything was under control, hours before she walked onto the company grounds and opened fire.

A survivor of the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Parkland, Florida, weighed in on the YouTube incident on Wednesday.

"The YouTube HQ shooting is proof that this is NOT just schools," Jaclyn Corin said on Twitter Wednesday. "Our country has a GUN problem. End of story."

Gun rights advocates have argued that more armed guards and citizens could prevent mass shootings.

YouTube has long faced complaints about alleged censorship on its site, and says it attempts to balance its mission of fostering free speech while still providing an appropriate and lawful environment for users.

In some cases involving videos with sensitive content, YouTube has allowed the videos to stay online but cut off the ability for their publishers to share in advertising revenue.

Criticisms from video makers that YouTube is too restrictive about which users can participate in revenue sharing swelled last year as the company imposed new restrictions.New Delhi: After a woman shot at three people before killing herself at YouTube headquarters near San Francisco, Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday said that he had no words to describe the tragedy, and he along with the CEO of the video-sharing website were supporting the employees.

There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support (sic), Pichai tweeted.

Social networking site Facebook also activated its 'Mark Yourself Safe' feature for the 'Shooting at the YouTube HQ, San Bruno, California, USA', and are posting latest developments on the incident.

Illustration by Mir Suhail.

Besides the Google CEO, Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella offered their condolences on Twitter.

From everyone at Apple, we send our sympathy and support to the team at YouTube and Google, especially the victims and their families, Cook said.

Nadella wrote on Twitter, On behalf of all of Microsoft, our hearts are with everyone at YouTube and Google today and all those affected.

A New York Times reporter, who covers technology and Google, said that the San Bruno police chief appreciated the YouTube employees for coming to the rescue of injured co-workers.

San Bruno police chief also said praised the youtube employees for coming to the aid of an injured victim. On what is a really hard day, I could see that they were there for each other. It was great to see, Daisuke Wakabayashi said.

The shooting was the latest in a string of mass killings carried out in the United States in recent years. Most recently, the massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school has led to calls for tighter restrictions on gun ownership.

Dozens of emergency vehicles quickly converged on the YouTube campus, and police could be seen on televised aerial video systematically frisking several employees leaving the area with their hands raised.

One of the victims, a 36-year-old man, was listed in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A 32-year-old woman was listed in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. Authorities did not release names of the victims.Kirti Kulhari poses for photographers on her arrival at the special screening of 'Blackmail' held at Sunny Super Sound in Juhu, Mumbai on April 3, 2018. (Image: Viral Bhayani)All the new Star Wars comics, graphic novels, and collections arriving in 2021 and beyond

Every single new Star Wars comic books arriving in the next few months that you need to get excited aboutGamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn moreBROOKFIELD  An author and former master sergeant will discuss a local companys role in the Iraq War at a free program at the Brookfield Historical Society next week.

Marc Youngquist will discuss his book, The 143rd in Iraq, at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Brookfield Museum.DANBURY  Mayor Mark Boughton has proposed lowering Danburys property tax rate, even as city spending is expected to increase slightly in the next annual budget.

The unlikely combination follows a more than 8.5 percent increase in the citys tax base last year after a city revaluation  completed every five years  cataloged growing property values, especially of highly sought-after apartment buildings.

The citys financial situation remains challenging, though, amid more than $5.6 million in lost state revenues, said Boughton, a candidate for governor.

If we didnt have the cuts from the state, wed be in great shape, he said Tuesday afternoon. All of our fixed costs went up, but it was all within reason and weve been table to take care of everything without any one-time money.

Boughton unveiled the planned $257 million budget to the City Council on Tuesday night. The council will debate the particulars of the proposal over the next several weeks and finalize it next month.

The proposal is $6.5 million more than the city allocated this year, or a 2.6 percent increase.

It does not include any new initiatives, but neither does it call for any layoffs or major departmental cuts like budgets in recent years, Boughton said.

The citys ongoing hiring hiring freeze will remain, with the exception of police, emergency services and public works personnel, he added.

It is very much a maintenance budget, Boughton said.

The proposal includes a $4 million increase to the Danbury Public Schools budget for a total of $132.7 million.

The additional money is less than the $7 million increase that district officials have said is necessary to deal with booming enrollment, but it is in line with the partial increase Boughton and the council have granted the district every year for the past decade.

The lions share of that increase, about $3.2 million, will pay for planned salary increases for teachers and staff, including contractual increases under the districts union contracts.

The remainder and another $1.8 million in expected state grant funding to the district would cover almost two dozen proposed staff positions, including several new teachers and staff to work cover the expansion at Danbury High School.

Despite the increases in costs and cuts in state funding, the city can finance its larger budget and simultaneously lower its property tax rate on homes and vehicles.

Because of the growth in the tax base, the lower rate would still be able to raise about $7 million more next year, or $213 million total, according to the citys estimates.

The sale and revaluation of apartment buildings, in particular, drove much of the growing value, Boughton said. But the impact of the revaluation on homes varies widely across the city  some owners will pay more in taxes as their value jumps, while others will pay less, he added.

The proposal also includes increasing water rates by 2.75 percent and sewer rates by 2.95 percent to help fund a planned overhaul of the wastewater treatment in Danbury that also serves Bethel, Brookfield, Newtown and Ridgefield.

The plan also includes $9.8 million for more than a dozen capital projects, including $2.4 million in road paving and drainage improvements.

Given the same economic climate facing cities across the state, comparitively speaking, the city of Danbury is faring much better than most, Boughton told the council.DANBURY - The lesson to take from U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Estys mishandling of the case of her chief of staff, who was accused of abusing a female employee, is the need for more vigilance about workplace harassment, observers said.

The whole situation is and should be a wake-up call to all employers in every possible setting, sending out the word that intimidation, harassment and violence of any kind should never be tolerated, said Patricia Zachman, the president and CEO of the Danbury-based Womens Center. Any employers failure to respond appropriately can and will have serious consequences, as the congresswoman is learning very much the hard way.

Estys surprise decision on Monday to drop her campaign for a fourth term as a result of her mistake was being treated as a cautionary tale by activists and educators.

What has happened to Elizabeth Esty should make everybody aware of how important it is to be proactive, and how important it is to have strong laws about sexual harassment that protect workers, said Marcy May, a professor of history at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. The way she handled this is disturbing; she was aware of a public action by her staff chief that he harassed a woman, and he continued to be employed by her.

Estys precipitous withdrawal from the midterm election campaign came in the wake of reports by Hearst Connecticut Media that she gave her chief of staff, Tony Baker, a glowing job recommendation despite his threatening behavior toward a young woman named Anna Kain, whom he dated while working in Estys Washington, D.C., office. Baker eventually got a new position with Newtown-based Sandy Hook Promise.

Esty, a three-term Democrat who has been an outspoken advocate for victims of sexual harassment and abuse, said she was wrong to follow an attorneys recommendation that she negotiate a severance deal with Baker. The 2016 deal included a nondisclosure agreement barring Esty from disparaging him, and a recommendation letter in which Esty praises his devotion to his work and setting high performance standards, among other accolades.

Esty signed that letter three months after Kain told Esty that Baker had punched her in the back, threatened to kill her, and had been restrained in a court order from contacting her. Esty had also learned through her own investigation that Baker had, in Estys words victimized many of the women on my staff.

Nonetheless, when Sandy Hook Promise called Estys office about whether Baker would be a good hire for the nonprofits Ohio state office, Esty recommended him, she told Hearst Connecticut Media.

Baker was recently fired by Sandy Hook Promise, which has refused to comment on the scandal.

Esty suggested part of the problem was the lack of standard workplace protections in Congress.

An advocate said that was no excuse for a lawmaker such as Esty who is well attuned to the plight sexual harassment victims.

It should not be confusing - the laws are in place and the support networks are there, said Glori Norwitt, an activist and the chairperson of the Womens Center board of directors. If a company or an employer doesnt know what to do, there are social service agencies such as the Womens Center that can offer quick and professional assistance.

An academic expert said it was ironic for a lawmaker such as Esty, who has been so outspoken in the fight against sexual harassment and abuse, to be so inept in protecting her own staff from workplace hostility.

I do think that it is demonstrative of the cognitive dissonance between our behavior as individuals and our behavior as elected leaders who are champions of a cause, said Howell Williams, assistant professor of political science at Western Connecticut State University, who had scheduled Esty to speak to his class on Thursday.

Esty on Monday cancelled local appearances, including Williams class and a town hall meeting on Thursday in Newtown.

There was a disconnect between the behavior of the congresswoman as an individual responsible for maintaining a safe workplace environment, and the policies and speeches she made on the same issue, Williams said. Those two identities did not fuse in the same body.BROOKFIELD  Joseph Kyek decided he wanted to be a police officer after watching a state trooper work with his K-9.

Kyek, who was a part-time dispatcher in New Fairfield at the time, said he was struck by the bond between them when he saw the handler throw a treat for the police dog to fetch.

I remember the love that dog had for that handler and its the greatest thing in the world, Kyek said.

Years later, Kyek is now the Brookfield Police Departments second K-9 handler.

He works alongside Major, a 3-year-old German shepherd recently acquired by the department. The other police dog, Argo, joined the ranks in 2016 after Bruno, a beloved 8-year-old K-9, died.

Having a second police dog is critical because it means a dog is available on two shifts, Kyek said. He and Major work the midnight shift, while Sgt. Jeff Osuch and Argo work evenings. Other local towns can also use the K-9s.

The dogs are trained to sniff out drugs, track suspects, find missing people and more.

The dog is just another tool in our toolbox, he said. What they can do for us with their nose alone  just finding a missing person or finding evidence or the drugs or the weapons  we cant even come close to with our nose. That tool you cant replace.

Capt. Peter Frengs said the dogs also provide a sense of security for their handlers.

[The K-9s are] always watching everything theyre doing, he said. For these guys as handlers, knowing that they have that backup, even though its a dog, its huge for them.

The department purchased Major in November with a $60,000 donation from the estate of Kenneth and Ann Gleszer, Danbury residents who gave $600,000 for K-9s to police departments in Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield, Ridgefield, Newtown and New Milford.

Kyek and Major also use a specially-equipped vehicle, which the department bought for $71,000 with money from its outside services fund. The car includes a device that regulates the temperature inside to ensure Major doesnt get too hot or cold. Kyek can also open the door remotely, so Major can jump out to help his handler in an emergency.

The police dog, who was named by Huckleberry Hill Elementary School students, was certified in January. But he will continue to train 16 hours a month with other local police K-9s and will earn a recertification each year.

When Kyek and Major began training together, Kyek said the dog obeyed only his trainer, not his new handler. But Major grew to respect Kyek after the officer began hand-feeding him.

If Im the guy whos feeding him, he understands Im a good guy, Kyek said. Food comes from me, water comes from me, the ball comes from me. Everything good in his life  petting  everything comes directly from me. He basically understands that Im Dad.

Kyek said he rarely lets other people pet Major, to ensure that the dog continues to obey him. If Kyek sent the K-9 after a suspect, for example, it would be important for Major to carry out his order if he tells the dog not to bite.

Kyek said he has developed a deep bond with Major, who lives with him outside work.

Just the way he just stares at me, its like Im his whole world, Kyek said.

Kyek, who has been a patrolman in Brookfield for five years, said he grew up with German shepherds and often attended sessions Osuch, the other handler, held.

He said being a handler combines his love for dogs and his love for his job.

Every day, I dont come to work by myself, Kyek said. I have my partner. We work together. We go home together. He makes those quiet, rainy nights in the car a lot better.An OECD report on automation project forecasts fewer job losses to automation.

Building on the expert assessment carried out by Carl Frey and Michael Osborne in 2013, the paper estimates the risk of automation for individual jobs based on the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). The analysis improves on other international estimates of the individual risk of automation by using a more disaggregated occupational classification and identifying the same automation bottlenecks emerging from the experts discussion. Hence, it more closely aligns to the initial assessment of the potential automation deriving from the development of Machine Learning.

The implications for jobs and skills of the developments in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have dominated recent debates on the Future of Work and the changes brought about by digital technologies. Since Frey and Osborne (2013) shocked analysists and policy makers worldwide with a study suggesting that 47% of jobs in the United States are at high risk of being automated, several other researchers and institutions have contributed to the debate, all produced estimates in the high double digits. All these studies stem from an assessment by experts of the risk of automation for a subset of occupational titles, based on the tasks these occupations involved. This allowed identifying the so-called bottlenecks to automation  i.e. the tasks that, given the current state of knowledge, are difficult to automate. These include: social intelligence, such as

the ability to effectively negotiate complex social relationships, including caring for others or recognizing cultural sensitivities; cognitive intelligence, such as creativity and complex reasoning; and perception and manipulation, such as the ability to carry out physical tasks in an unstructured work environment. These bottlenecks were used to compute a risk of automation for occupational titles that were not included in the expert assessment and for countries outside the United States.

More recent studies, exploiting the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), brought the estimates of the share of jobs at risk of automation down significantly. These studies show that there is considerable variation in the tasks involved in jobs having the same occupational title and that accounting for this variation is essential to gauge the extent of the problem. Arntz, Zierhan and Gregory (2016), for instance, put this share to 9% in the United States. While this figure is only a fraction of the estimate provided by Frey and Osborne, it translates to approximately 13 million jobs across the United States, based on 2016 employment figures. As job losses are unlikely to be distributed equally across the country, this would amount to several times the disruption in local economies caused by the 1950s decline of the car industry in Detroit where changes in technology and increased automation, among other factors, caused massive job losses.

The current study aims to go beyond providing an estimate of the share of jobs at high risk of automation by also highlighting the significant changes that jobs will undergo as a result of the adoption of new technologies.

Here are the studys key findings.

* Across the 32 countries, close to one in two jobs are likely to be significantly affected by automation, based on the tasks they involve. But the degree of risk varies. About 14% of jobs in OECD countries participating in PIAAC are highly automatable (i.e., probability of automation of over 70%). Although smaller than the estimates based on occupational titles obtained applying the method of Frey and Osborne (2013) this is equivalent to over 66 million workers in the 32 countries covered by the study. In addition, another 32% of jobs have a risk of between 50 and 70% pointing to the possibility of significant change in the way these jobs are carried out as a result of automation  i.e. a significant share of tasks, but not all, could be automated, changing the skill requirements for these jobs.

* The variance in automatability across countries is large: 33% of all jobs in Slovakia are highly automatable, while this is only the case with 6% of the jobs in Norway. More generally, jobs in Anglo-Saxon, Nordic countries and the Netherlands are less automatable than jobs in Eastern European countries, South European countries, Germany, Chile and Japan.

* The cross-country variation in automatability, contrary to expectations, is better explained by the differences in the organization of job tasks within economic sectors, than by the differences in the sectoral structure of economies. About 30% of the cross-country variance is explained by cross-country differences in the structure of economic sectors and 70% is explained by the fact that, within these sectors, countries employ different occupational mixes.

* Overall, despite recurrent arguments that automation may start to adversely affect selected highly skilled occupations, this prediction is not supported by the Frey and Osborne (2013) framework of engineering bottlenecks used in this study. If anything, Artificial Intelligence puts more low-skilled jobs at risk than previous waves of technological progress, whereby technology replaced primarily middle-skilled jobs creating labor market polarisation

* A striking novel finding is that the risk of automation is the highest among teenage jobs. The relationship between automation and age is U-shaped, but the peak in automatability among youth jobs is far more pronounced than the peak among senior workers. In this sense, automation is much more likely to result in youth unemployment, than in early retirements.

* This unequal distribution of the risk of automation raises the stakes involved in policies to prepare workers for the new job requirements. In this context, adult learning is a crucial policy instrument for the re-training and up-skilling of workers whose jobs are being affected by technology.

Nedelkoska, L. and G. Quintini (2018), Automation, skills use and training, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 202, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/2e2f4eea-en.A request for renewable energy proposals by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has yielded three bids for generating power with offshore wind farms.

The deadline for submitting the renewable energy proposals to DEEP was Monday. DEEP officials received a total of 27 bids, according to agency spokesman Chris Collibee.

In addition to three proposals involving offshore wind farms, there were 20 involving fuel cells and four that would use anaerobic digestion, which processes plant materials into methane gas for heating and power, Collibee said.

One of the three offshore wind power proposals is a joint venture between Eversource Energy and Orsted, a Danish company, that was announced before the deadline. The wind farm the joint venture partners are proposing would produce 200 megawatts of electricity in federal water 65 miles off the coast of New London.

Two other offshore wind projects were revealed publicly Tuesday. One is proposed by Providence, R.I.-based Deepwater Wind, which launched the nations first commercial offshore wind farm off Block Island at the start of 2017 and the other is coming from Vineyard Wind, a New Bedford, Mass. company.

Details on the Vineyard Wind proposal submitted to DEEP werent immediately available Tuesday. But the Vineyard Wind project, which is scheduled to begin construction some time in 2019, calls for building an 800-megawatt offshore wind project in a 160,000-acre area 14 miles south of Marthas Vineyard.

The Deepwater Wind submission to DEEP calls for 200-megawatts from the company from its Revolution Wind project to Connecticut. The Revolution Wind project is located in federal waters roughly halfway between Montauk, N.Y. and Marthas Vineyard, Mass. Deepwater Wind has a pending proposal before Massachusetts officials to supply energy from Revolution Wind to that state as well.

Were ready to put Connecticut on the map when it comes to offshore wind, Jeffrey Grybowski, Deepwater Winds chief executive officer, said in a statement. Were the best fit to help make Connecticuts renewable energy goals a reality.

Revolution Wind Connecticut could be developed as a stand-alone project or as an expansion of what is being proposed to serve Massachusetts, depending upon the outcome of the two states procurement efforts.

Part of the Deepwater Wind proposal also calls for an optional energy storage component, in which power generated by the Revolution Wind project could be stored and delivered during periods of peak electricity consumption.

If approved, construction work on the Revolution Wind project would begin in 2022 and it would go into operation by 2023, according to Deepwater Wind officials.

The off-shore wind farms have the support of Connecticut labor leaders as well as the chairman of the state Port Authority.

Wind energy has the potential to help power Connecticut's maritime economy, said Scott Bates, the Authoritys chairman. This is an industry that is custom designed to leverage our deepwater ports. Connecticut is uniquely positioned geographically and logistically to support development of off-shore wind projects from southern New England to the mid-Atlantic states.

Sean Daly, the business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 90, in Wallingford, said the unions skilled electricians have already installed grid-scale solar projects in the state, as well as the two wind turbines in Colebrook.

Now we are ready to help bring this new source of clean energy to Connecticut, Daly said in a statement. This development will be good for our workers and their families, and it will be good for our communities."

Keith Brothers, president of the New London-Norwich Building and Construction Trades Council, said the building trades workforce in the region is eager to do whatever is needed to support this growing industry.BRIDGEPORT - Two men have been arrested after police said they sold thousands of dollars worth of untaxed cigarettes to convenience stores and gas stations in Bridgeport and New Haven.

Amar Masri, 47, of Garfield Avenue and Hushiar Ramadhan, 43, of Jones Court, Milford, were charged Wednesday with possession/sale of untaxed cigarettes and conspiracy to possess/sell untaxed cigarettes.HARTFORD  As U.S. Representative Elizabeth Estys handling of alleged abuse in her office has once again thrust sexual harassment into the national spotlight, the Connecticut Legislature is eyeing reforms to improve sexual harassment training and increase reporting.

A top priority for state senate Democrats, the Times Up Act was approved by the Legislatures Judiciary Committee late Tuesday night. It would enforce some of the most stringent training requirements in the nation.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy applauded the vote Wednesday.

Ive heard some push back because the law that weve submitted would require the training of firms down to the size of three individuals, Malloy said. Someone said, why do you want to do that? Because sexual assault occurs within two individuals, so if you have three you better be talking about it.

Connecticuts sexual harassment laws have not been updated since the early 1990s, according to the Connecticut Womens Education and Legal Fund.

The new bill would require companies with three or more staff to provide sexual harassment training and education to all their employees. The law now says employers with 50 or more staff have to provide training just to their supervisors.

Connecticut is one of three states that currently requires sexual harassment training of private sector companies, according to the National Womens Law Center. In California, companies with 50 or more staff must do the training and in Maine, companies with 15 or more.

The bill, which will be forwarded to the state Senate for a vote, would also require training in strategies like bystander intervention. It says companies with three or more staff must email sexual harassment information and remedies to employees or post it on company websites, in addition to posting it at work.

It is a strong step, said Kate Farrar, executive director of CWEALF, in an interview Monday. The training requirements and the changes to that in the bill are about how we really need to modernize (from) where weve been.

Sixteen Republicans voted against the bill, while a coalition of 25 from both parties supported it. Several Republicans voiced concerns about expanding training requirements to mom and pop shops.

The Connecticut Business Industry Association argued in testimony the new requirements would be expensive and burdensome for local companies.

Basically, it is blanketing the entire population of Connecticut. I think the formal training sessions are more easily managed by larger companies, said Mark Soycher, CBIA Human Resources Counsel who conducts trainings, in an interview Wednesday. For a small company, it is telling them they have to shut down for a period of time to do the training.

While it objects to the mandate, the CBIA supports teaching bystander intervention and spreading sexual harassment training to nonsupervisory employees, Soycher said.

The bill allows businesses to suspend and withhold pay from any employee  including executives  during an investigation. It also increases the time for an employee to file a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities from 180 days to three years.

The CHRO received 158 sexual harassment complaints in 2017, out of 2,490 overall new complaints.HAMDEN  In the middle of the fiscal year, the town is grappling with a shortfall of state aid in the millions that politicians are fighting to get back.

The town is facing a $2.1 million shortfall in state funding for the car tax reimbursement, which has forced cuts to town departments in the current fiscal years budget.

Sen. George Logan, R-Ansonia, and state Rep. Michael DAgostino, D-Hamden, are advocating for a fix to the problem during legislative session with H.B. 5324: An Act Concerning Municipal Funding.

The impact of losing over $2 million of expected state revenue from the car tax reimbursement error has (had a) massive impact on Hamden, Mayor Curt B. Leng said in a text message. Its forcing cut backs throughout Town departments in the existing fiscal year to reduce a deficit were already in and further effects us moving forward because it puts us in a position of catch up in the next budget moving forward.

On top of overall cutbacks in state aid, the reimbursement cut is an extra hit to the town and something many other cities and towns are not experiencing, said Logan, whose district includes Hamden.

The Office of Policy Management is holding $5 million that DAgostino said he believed was allocated for the car tax reimbursement, but Appropriations Committee members said that money is considered part of the general fund.

Theres money available but because of the overall financial crisis we have OPM wont release it, Logan said. Its left Hamden in a very tough pickle.

Torrington and Bridgeport are experiencing similar situations and also advocating for larger reimbursements. Of the $5 million that OPM is holding, DAgostino said the three municipalities have agreed to share it if its released, with Hamden getting about $1 million from that pot.

Those funds are available, he said. They dont impact anyone else and they should be released.

Its going to hurt folks in so many areas in terms of property taxes, devastating impact all throughout Hamden, because now the town has to figure out how to make cuts in middle of the budget year, Logan said, and that is a very tall order.

State lawmakers in 2015 capped municipal car tax rates at 32 mills; in return, the state was supposed to pay back municipalities, such as Hamden, that lost money from the change because they were taxing cars as personal property at a higher rate. The town raised taxes that year to 45 mills.

The first year the reimbursement was distributed, Hamden received nearly $4.5 million but this fiscal year the town received only around $330,000.

The state this year allowed municipalities to increase their car tax rates to 39 mills to make up for other cuts in state aid, but they calculated reimbursements on old tax rates before towns had property revaluations. Written into the 2017-18 budget was a fix that said that for any town that experienced revaluation changes resulting in an increased tax rate of more than 4 mills, the state would reimburse those municipalities up to 45 mills, Leng said.

Bridgeport, Torrington and Hamden fell into this category and wouldnt have been reimbursed at a reasonable rate without a special fix to the budget.

DAgostino said when he voted for the budget, he was under the impression the reimbursement to make the towns whole was guaranteed.

Fixing this reimbursement loophole is the right thing to do and I appreciate our legislators working to do the right thing for our taxpayers, Leng said.

Even if the fix is implemented to reimburse the $2.1 million, Hamden will still be $2 million short from the revenue the town anticipated and received the year before for the car tax municipal reimbursement line.NEW HAVEN  A West Haven woman was sentenced to five years in prison for robbing three banks in 2016 and 2017, including ones in Woodbridge and West Haven.

Courtney Worthington, 31, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer to 60 months, followed by three years of supervised release, John H. Durham, U.S. attorney for Connecticut, said in a news release.Aiken County administrator Clay Killian, from left, Aiken County EMS Chief Daryl Davis, Logistics Officer Laurie DeRosier, Compliance Officer Jimmie Williamson, Paramedic Roy Nakkula and advanced EMT Edgar Gonzalez all pose for a picture after winning two awards at the S.C. EMS Symposium in Myrtle Beach on March 14.You have permission to edit this article.

Edit CloseApril 4, 2018

Whether youre captivated by rustic log cabins, love Victorian-era houses, or youre mad for Mid-Century Modern, the Logs to Lustrons Tour on May 5 in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore will satisfy your interest.



The Logs to Lustrons Tour features 13 landmark sites spanning over a century of architecture, including restored residences not normally open to the public and vacant buildings in need of a new use. Nine interiors will be open for the tour sponsored by Indiana Landmarks, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and Dunes National Park Association.



For those who want a deeper understanding, theres an illustrated talk, Logs, Glass & Metal: A Century of Architectural Legacy at 7 p.m., May 4. Speakers include: Todd Zeiger, Director of Indiana Landmarks Northern Regional Office; Cliff Goins, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Special Events Manager; and the Shymanski family, restorers of the Oscar and Irene Nelson house and outbuildings. Cost is $10 per person ($5 for Indiana Landmarks members). Children 16 and under are welcome and free, but must have a ticket. Buy tickets online or by calling 800-450-4534.



The May 5 tour includes three Swedish landmarks: the Gust Lindstrom Site and its World War I-era Wahl Barn, which has been restored and repurposed as an environmental preschool, the restored Oscar and Irene Nelson House and outbuildings, and the Charles and Mathilda Nelson House. Moving into the twentieth century, the tour takes you to U.S. Steels Good Fellow Lodge, open for the first time to the public, the centerpiece of a youth camp overlooking the Little Calumet River that the company maintained from 1941 to 1976 for employees children. Youll also tour architect-designed International-style housesMeyer House and Solomon Enclaveand two prefabricated post-World War II enameled steel Lustron houses.



These tours depart from the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center every 15 minutes from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., Central Time. Each tour lasts approximately two hours. Visitors take the tour at their own pace, visiting or skipping sites as they choose, with guides at each site.



The cost for the tours on May 5 is $30 per person ($25 for Indiana Landmarks members). Children 16 and under are welcome and free, but must have a ticket. Timed-entry tickets are available online, or by calling 800-450-4534.



Children on the tour can earn a Junior Ranger Badge by completing drawings of sites on the tour in a booklet supplied by the national lakeshore. Hands-on programs will be presented at several sites, including log construction at Bailly/Chellberg Contact Station and brick making at the Oscar and Irene Nelson site.



The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was established in 1966, after which the National Park Service acquired the historic structures within the park boundaries, including the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair Century of Progress homes, the Swedish landmarks, and others. Indiana Landmarks is working with the National Park Service to determine a long-term solution for four of the tours historic structures.





Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is one of 417 units of the National Park System ranging from Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty. Located in Northwest Indiana, the park includes 15 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and 15,000 acres of biodiverse beaches, woods, prairies, and marshes. Up to 2 million visitors come to the Indiana Dunes each year. For more information visit the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore's website.



Indiana Landmarks revitalizes communities, reconnects us to our heritage, and saves meaningful places. With nine offices located throughout the state, Indiana Landmarks helps people rescue endangered landmarks and restore historic neighborhoods and downtowns. People who join Indiana Landmarks receive its bimonthly magazine, Indiana Preservation. For more information on the not-for-profit organization, call 317-639-4534, 800-450-4534, or visit Indiana Landmarks' website.



Dunes National Park Association works to curate and protect Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore while amplifying education opportunities and enjoyment of one of the most biodiverse parks in the nation. The DNPA is designated as a friends group working to build a community dedicated to conserving this national treasure for current and future generations. Its all-volunteer board works shoulder-to-shoulder with the park and its fellow partners. Join us! Explore membership and volunteer opportunities at the Dunes National Park Association's website.Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

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Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Managing Editor

Having lived and worked in Indy on and off since 1977, and currently living in Carmel, I've seen the city change a great deal. I love covering the arts in all its forms, and the places where the arts and broader cultural issues intersect.

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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.Facebook said on Tuesday that it had found and removed more than 270 accounts and pages controlled by Russias Internet Research Agency, the so-called troll factory that became notorious for posting fraudulent and divisive material on the platform during the 2016 presidential election.

The company said most of the accounts and pages were in Russian and aimed at users in Russia and neighboring or nearby countries, including Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. The company did not claim the new accounts and pages had violated the companys policies, but it said they had been taken down because of the Internet Research Agencys past fraud.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, told Reuters that the Russian company, which operates under several names, has repeatedly acted to deceive people and manipulate people around the world, and we dont want them on Facebook anywhere.

In a blog post, Facebooks chief security officer, Alex Stamos, said that uncovering this activity took months of work by our team. He said the company had taken down 70 accounts and 138 pages on Facebook and 65 accounts on Instagram, which Facebook owns.WASHINGTON  It should have been Scott Pruitts finest moment.

Mr. Pruitt, the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, has sought to make his name as the Trump administrations most effective eraser of regulations on American industry. On Tuesday, he formally announced his most sweeping regulatory rollback to date: a plan to weaken President Barack Obamas stringent rules on planet-warming tailpipe emissions.

Mr. Pruitts proposal is designed to unravel a signature piece of Mr. Obamas environmental legacy, hand a victory to the American automakers and please his boss, President Trump. But instead of basking in glory, Mr. Pruitt is caught up in a swirl of allegations of impropriety  most recently centered on the fact that last year he rented a room in Washington from the wife of a prominent lobbyist.

Mr. Pruitt unveiled his rollback in a hastily announced presentation at E.P.A. headquarters after canceling a plan to speak at a suburban Virginia auto dealership, a more public setting that might have exposed him to questions about the lease arrangement, or about his first-class air travel at taxpayer expense over the past year, for which he has also faced criticism. Mr. Pruitt declined to field questions at the event.

Late Monday, Mr. Trump phoned Mr. Pruitt to reassure him that his job was safe. Keep your head up, keep fighting, we got your back, Mr. Trump told Mr. Pruitt, according to an administration official. Then on Tuesday morning, John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, called Mr. Pruitt to reaffirm the presidents sentiment, the official said.When Ms. Gonzalez went to check on Bella at 5:50 p.m., she found the girl unconscious, the police said. Mr. Jenkins called 911 just after 6 p.m. to summon help at their apartment on Beach 105th Street. An ambulance crew rushed the girl to St. Johns Episcopal Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Mr. Jenkins, Ms. Gonzalez and Ms. Boyd were taken to the 100th Precinct for questioning on Monday night.

While the family had no prior contact with Administration for Childrens Services, the citys child welfare agency, the authorities began to suspect Bella had not died of natural causes after discovering bruises on her ankle, thigh and abdomen area, the law enforcement officials said. Her injuries were at different stages of healing, one of the officials said, indicating some were fresh and others were older.

Image Mark Jenkins Credit... New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

Child welfare workers removed the baby from the home on Monday.

Mr. Jenkins had been arrested in 2004 after he fired around 12 shots and hit a 20-year-old man in the back in the Bronx, officials said. Investigators believed he had been called to the scene of a domestic dispute and, on arriving, took out a gun and fired.

He was sentenced to 8 years in prison, but was paroled a year early in September 2011. His supervised released ended in 2016.

Three other arrests are sealed.

The police in the past also responded to two domestic incidents involving Mr. Jenkins and Ms. Gonzalez, though details about the encounters were not immediately available. Neighbors at the building on Tuesday said they had not seen any sign of trouble.She said that she had contacted YouTube, but that the sites support staff told her that her workout videos contained inappropriate scenes and needed to be restricted from younger audiences.

This is what they are doing to vegan activists and many other people who try to promote healthy, humane and smart living  people like me are not good for big business, like for animal business, medicine business and for many other businesses. Thats why they are discriminating and censoring us, she said in the video on Facebook.

YouTube had pulled down all of her channels as of Tuesday night.

A 2009 story by The San Diego Union-Tribune quoted a woman with the same name as Ms. Aghdam at an animal rights protest outside Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps base in Southern California. Two dozen attended the protest organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals against the use of pigs in military trauma training.

For me, animal rights equal human rights, said Ms. Aghdam, then 29, who attended the protest carrying a plastic sword and wearing a wig and jeans painted with drops of blood.

The shootings on Tuesday took place in a courtyard at YouTubes offices, the police said. Those offices, like other Google facilities, maintain light security, with employees using badges to go through security gates or doors. Usually, the main lobby is attended by a receptionist. There are no visible metal detectors or armed guards.

San Bruno is about nine miles south of San Francisco, with a population around 43,000. YouTube is the citys biggest employer, and many workers commute here from San Francisco. Though YouTube is owned by Google, it operates in a separate office, about 20 miles from Googles main campus in Mountain View, Calif.

Image Nasim Aghdam in an undated photograph. Credit... San Bruno Police Department, via Associated Press

Outside the YouTube headquarters, armed police officers waded into a crowd of 200 or so employees who had evacuated to a nearby parking lot Tuesday afternoon. The police asked for employees who had witnessed something firsthand to come forward, and about two dozen, some visibly distraught, walked over to the officers.In format, though, Bobbie Clearly is a mockumentary in which the locals spend a lot of time answering questions about Casey and Bobbie from an unseen, unheard PBS reporter. Among those interviewed are Caseys earnest mother, taciturn father and gay brother, Eddie; two of Eddies doofus classmates; Caseys friends Megan and Meghan, who think they are just alike but arent; and Derek, an enthusiastic glad hand who was, at the time of the murder, Bobbies Big Brother.

The interview framework  a tired shortcut for the hard job of developing character through action  has the paradoxical effect of distorting character instead. When people rehearse facts they have no other reason to mention, and perform versions of themselves for unseen interlocutors, they come to seem thick and often foolish.

The playwrights comic opportunism doesnt help. When Derek, speaking of the documentary, wonders whether it might get nominated for an Oscar like Lord of the Rings, he is plainly being painted as an idiot. And when the survivors band together to produce a series of Miltons Got Talent fund-raising shows that we are roundly invited to mock, the plays more serious concerns are contaminated with a farcical off-taste.

These are standard freshman problems, the kind the Underground program, now in its 11th season, is designed to help playwrights learn to solve in the most efficient way possible: in front of a sophisticated audience. Even so, I wish the production, directed by Will Davis, achieved better control of its tone, which seems to wander wherever it wants instead of heading beelike toward its goal.

On the other hand, Mr. Davis makes the most of the small Black Box space, configured by the set designer Arnulfo Maldonado as an encompassing corn crib. Mr. Davis also does right by the plays moments of highest tension and emotion, neither pushing them toward unwarranted resolution nor batting them away. He thus keeps us engaged in the unanswerable questions it is a dramatists job to pose. Why does grief work so differently in different lives? Why is life so impossible for some people?He has been very consistent essentially since the 1980s, said Eric S. Edelman, a former under secretary of defense for policy in the George W. Bush administration. He knows very little about the world, about history, about the policy details. But he does have strong convictions and they are remarkably durable and apparently impervious to contrary evidence.

They include, Mr. Edelman said, the belief that his predecessors were gullible, and that he will do better; that allies have exploited the United States, and must pay back their debts; that free trade is bad; and that military force should be used sparingly, but that we should be strong and scary and that will make people afraid to screw with us.

All those convictions were on vivid display in the East Room on Tuesday.

Mr. Trump reiterated his contention that the North American Free Trade Agreement is a phenomenal deal for Mexico and a horrible deal for the United States. Mexico, he complained, ran a trade surplus of more than $100 billion with the United States.

He claimed that no one had been tougher on Russia than him, pointing to his recently passed $700 billion defense budget. But Mr. Trump said nothing about his administrations expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats as a punishment for the countrys role in a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter living in Britain.

I could have a very good relationship with Russia, he insisted. And with President Putin. And if I did, that would be a great thing.

Mr. Trump praised his three Baltic guests and promised that the United States would be a steadfast ally. But he slammed other NATO members for not paying their fair share of the alliances costs.

Nor did Mr. Trump spare a more favored ally, Saudi Arabia, which he said was pressing the United States to stay militarily engaged in Syria. The White House said the president spoke on Monday with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, and Mr. Trump seemed to refer to the conversation at the news conference. I said, Well, you know, you want us to stay, maybe youre going to have to pay, he recalled.Its kind of Ann Richards-level enthusiasm, in the crowds he gathers, said Harold Cook, a Democratic strategist in Austin and former executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, referring to the outspoken Democrat who served as Texas governor from 1991 to 1995 before losing to George W. Bush. I havent seen a response like Beto ORourke is getting in a very long time. Beto has got that thing, that star-power deal that you cant predict in advance.

But political analysts say Mr. ORourkes chances are a long-shot at best, despite his fund-raising skills. He remains unknown to many voters, even as he has kept up a hectic travel schedule and visited 228 of the states 254 counties. In the Democratic primary last month, Mr. ORourke lost a number of counties to two lesser-known Democratic rivals, including the Hispanic-dominated border area of the Rio Grande Valley, parts of East Texas and the northern Panhandle region.

On Monday, Mr. Cruz formally began his re-election campaign at a venue that has become one of his favorite political backdrops  the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, 17 miles southwest of downtown Houston. His speech and his surroundings were plastered with references to his new campaign slogan: Tough as Texas. It is meant to evoke the resilience of the state as it reeled from and united in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

At a campaign event on Tuesday night in San Antonio, Mr. Cruz acknowledged Mr. ORourkes success in fund-raising and the challenge for Republicans this November.

Thats a whole lotta money  theres no doubt about that  and it has been clear for some time that the hard left is energized and theyre mobilized and theyre angry at the president, Mr. Cruz said, according to The Texas Tribune. And we are seeing all across the country, the far left giving millions of dollars to liberal Democrats running for office, and it underscores that Republicans cannot take November for granted.Rebecca Dallet, a Milwaukee County Circuit judge favored by liberals, was elected on Tuesday to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, The Associated Press reported, reducing the hold of conservative justices over the states highest court.

Judge Dallets defeat of Michael Screnock, a Sauk County Circuit judge who had the backing of conservatives, was immediately being held up as a sign of Democratic enthusiasm ahead of the November elections, in a state that narrowly chose President Trump in 2016.

The election was officially nonpartisan, and it involved candidates who were little known in Wisconsin until a few weeks ago. It was held during an off season for voting, on a day when snow and freezing rain were predicted in parts of the state.

Still, the realities of this race fell firmly along partisan lines, as have many Wisconsin Supreme Court races in recent years. And it came at a moment when seemingly every contest across the country is being examined through the lens of the approaching midterm elections. A series of recent races in states like Pennsylvania, Alabama and Virginia has shown Democratic strength.Britains military laboratory has not established whether the nerve agent that poisoned a Russian former double agent and his daughter came from Russia, the laboratorys chief executive said on Tuesday.

We have not verified the precise source, the executive, Gary Aitkenhead, told Sky News. Mr. Aitkenhead said his laboratory, the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, had confirmed that the poison was Novichok, or from its family of nerve agents, and that it was of military grade.

We provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions they have come to, Mr. Aitkenhead said. He said it was not our job to say where it actually was manufactured.

The British authorities have blamed Russia for the March 4 poisoning, with Foreign Minister Boris Johnson suggesting it was overwhelmingly likely that President Vladimir V. Putin had ordered the attack. Last week, investigators said the nerve agent had been smeared on the front door of the home of the former spy, Sergei V. Skripal, in Salisbury, England.AL MUKALLA, Yemen  Houthi rebels in Yemen hit a Saudi Arabian oil tanker with a missile on Tuesday, an attack that could escalate the three-year-old conflict even as the leader of the United Nations expressed optimism about renewed diplomacy to end it.

In a statement carried on Al Mayadeen television in Yemen, the Houthis said the missile strike avenged the Yemeni civilians killed Monday in a Saudi aerial assault on Al Hudaydah, the only Yemeni seaport controlled by the rebels. At least 14 people, including children, were killed after they ventured outside their residential building to get some fresh air in the stifling midmorning heat, witnesses said.

The Saudi-led military coalition, which has been bombing the Houthis and their allies since March 2015, has said its attack on Al Hudaydah struck military targets.

The Houthis have no air force. But they have enraged the Saudis by repeatedly firing missiles into Saudi Arabia, most notably a seven-missile barrage launched late last month. The Saudis claim that the weapons are supplied by Iran, Saudi Arabias regional rival. Iran denies it.Just because two people live at the same time, and are engaged in two different worlds, and talk to each other 10 times during the course of their lives, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend cautioned David Margolick, does not make a book.

But Mr. Margolick is a stubbornly contrarian journalist. So despite Ms. Townsends skepticism, he was game when the filmmaker Lawrence Schiller suggested that this seductive paradigm of two opposites whose legacies not only intersected but were also bound together would, indeed, make a book. As a journalist himself, Mr. Schiller photographed those two contemporaneous figures  the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, Ms. Townsends father.

Mr. Schiller had envisioned a modest 40,000 words to contextualize a lavishly illustrated volume to memorialize the assassinations of King and Kennedy 50 years ago this spring. Mr. Margolick wrote 120,000 words.Theaster Gates, a Chicago artist known for his engagement with urban issues, is coming to Waterville, Me., a city with a population of roughly 16,000.

Colby College announced Wednesday that Mr. Gates has been appointed the first distinguished visiting artist and director of artist initiatives at the Colby Museum of Arts Lunder Institute for American Art, a research center.

I said yes because I was really just excited to be in a place where things are quiet, where I could actually not be distracted by the big city, Mr. Gates said in an interview.

I think that sometimes the challenge is that, as a black artist or as an artist who works in the city or someone who has a public practice, its hard to take off the public profile, he added. If the art practice is going to continue to grow, I need time to retreat and so one of the things that Im excited about is that I get a chance to retreat.LONDON  Treasures taken by British troops 150 years ago could be returned to Ethiopia on a long-term loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum, the institutions director said.

A crown, a chalice, a wedding dress and a selection of jewelry are among the items in the museums collection that are included in a new exhibition, Maqdala 1868, set to open Thursday.

Ahead of the exhibition, which has been organized in consultation with the Ethiopian Embassy in London to observe the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Maqdala, the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tristram Hunt, told the Art Newspaper that he had made a clear statement to the ambassador, saying that if Ethiopia is interested in pursuing the long-term loan of the Maqdala items we would stand ready to assist.

Mr. Hunt was not available for comment. A spokeswoman for the museum said in an email, There have already been a number discussions about further collaboration, including long-term loans of the collection.Reworking ballets isnt new to Ms. Masilo, whose previous works are Swan Lake, Carmen and Romeo and Juliet. She brings an emphatic urgency to her character  she moves with clipped efficiency  yet her production suffers from uneven pacing. At times, it feels like an abridged retelling, although with twists in the characters, the music and the movement.

Mixing contemporary dance and traditional Tswana movement, the dancers shower the stage with brisk, complex footwork and forceful arms. Ms. Masilos Giselle is a feminist. While Adolphe Adams music is referred to, the score is a contemporary one by the South African composer Philip Miller.

Along with passages of silence, there is also chatter  the dancers erupt from time to time in a mix of languages, including English. Leave me alone! Giselle shouts at Hilarion (Tshepo Zasekhaya), the villager who loves her. In the second half, Albrecht (Xola Willie)  the man who betrayed Giselle with another woman  doesnt hide his anguish as he moans while rolling and writhing across the floor. (His death scene seemed to be on a loop.)

In interviews, Ms. Masilo has talked about how she is reacting against the prettiness of Romantic-era ballet. But the classic Giselle isnt simply pretty. Its been called the Hamlet of ballets, and with the right dancer, thats glitteringly true. Giselle is an emotional roller coaster of a role in which the heroine must transform herself from a human into a ghostly being. In Ms. Masilos dance, it is her Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, who encapsulates more effectively the supernatural quality of the tale. Played by a man, the commanding and lithe Llewellyn Mnguni, the character is a Sangoma  a traditional South African healer.The brothers, then, may have been subject to the prejudice of individual bigots, but when it came to American law, they were able to use loopholes  their ability to blend in, legally speaking  to their benefit. In 1832, the year they turned 21, they claimed their freedom from the captain and his wife, using the money they had saved up to declare a very American independence, going boating at Niagara Falls and buying a horse named Bob. (Chang and Eng kept meticulous ledgers, and Huang deduces quite a bit from their purchases.) They became citizens in 1839, even though the 1790 Naturalization Act  which wouldnt be repealed until 1952  was supposed to apply to free white persons only.

They were even able to marry white women, despite Americans panic at the time over racial mixing. In 1843, having retired from touring a few years before, Chang and Eng married Adelaide and Sarah Yates, two sisters from Wilkes County, a rural corner of North Carolina. The couples settled down just outside Mount Airy, N.C.  later the inspiration for the town of Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show  to make room for their sizable families.

Huang devotes a short chapter titled Foursome to the question of sex. The couples had to deal with considerable physical and logistical challenges. (According to interviews with their widows, Chang and Eng would alternate weeks as the complete master who dictated how he wanted to go about business, with the other brother blanking out.) But the widespread social disapprobation that greeted their arrangement was beyond their control. The most vociferous indictments came from the abolitionist papers in the North, which declared so bestial a union as this yet another sign of how slavery had corrupted the Southern soul.

And the twins did seem determined to be identified as Southern gentry. In addition to owning slaves, they supported the Whigs and became ardent supporters of the Confederacy, sending two of their sons to fight in the Civil War.

Huang is right to point out the cruel irony in all of this, but when he characterizes his subjects as two brothers formerly sold into indentured servitude and treated no better than slaves, he inadvertently downplays the incomparable brutality of the slaveholding system in order to heighten the contradictions.

As Huang shows elsewhere, Chang and Eng were treated better than slaves; if anything, what really rankled them were instances when they compared themselves to white men and felt they werent given the respect they were due  such as their first trans-Atlantic journey, when they were booked in steerage rather than first class. In the excellent 2014 study The Lives of Chang and Eng, Joseph Andrew Orser argues that the twins deliberately made claims to whiteness.Niobe is most closely associated with tears, as noted in William Shakespeares Hamlet:

A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor fathers body, Like Niobe, all tears. Why she, even she  O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer!  married with my uncle 

It was arrogance that was Niobes undoing, and the cause of her tears.

The story of Niobes tears began at a ceremony held to honor the Titan Leto, mother of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis. In a fit of arrogance, Niobe bragged that she was superior to Leto because she had more children (either 12 or 14, depending on the version of the myth).

When the twins heard this, they came to earth and killed all of Niobes children. In deep anguish, she ran to Mount Sipylus to beg the gods to end her pain. Zeus felt sorry for her and turned her into a rock, so she would not feel anymore.

However, even as a rock, Niobes tears continued to flow, and the stream that pours from the real Weeping Rock in Manisa, Turkey, symbolizes a mothers eternal mourning.

Deb Amlen contributed reporting.

_____



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What would you like to see here? Contact us at europebriefing@nytimes.com.If Dr. King came back and seen the way things are, he wouldnt be pleased with it. No, he wouldnt be pleased at all. All right. I call us sanitation engineers because were supposed to run the job, not let the job run us. I was 24 years old when I started. But back then, it was a different ball game. Back then, the working condition, it was unbearable. After three weeks, when I got my first check, I broke down and cried. We were working full time. And at the same time, the wages were so low, we was qualified to get food stamps. We were determined that we was going to get a union organized, that we would see justice. We were striking about the wages, fair treatment and dignity. When we heard that Dr. King was coming to Memphis to help us in that sanitation strike, we were very surprised. We knew then that there was somebody that cared about our struggle. We was at Mason Temple this particular night. Dr. King said, the Lord allowed me to go to the mountaintop and to look over into the promised land. And he said, I might not get there with you, but we will make it to the promised land. Everybody was just jubilated, just excited, not knowing the next day would be a day of silence. Because of Dr. Kings death, that was one of the reasons that Mayor Loeb went on and signed that union into a decree. We got what we wanted, but at the same time, we lost the great leader. He never thought in terms of his personal welfare, but always in terms of the cause which he dedicated his life to. I really had a lot of animosity. I came from the streets. I was a street thug. And Dr. King was the one that taught me, through his humility and his leadership. I said, thats the way Id like to be.  united will never be defeated. The workers united will never be defeated. The workers united will never be defeated. The workers united will never be defeated. There are still some unsolved problems need to be solved. What do we want? 15. When do we want it? Now! What do we want? 15. When do want it? Now! It is what it is until somebody can roll his sleeves up and get out there and fight.1. It looks a lot like a trade war.

Hours after the White House outlined $50 billion in tariffs on largely high-tech Chinese products, China announced its own tariffs on $50 billion worth of American goods.

Chinas list focused on agricultural products that come from the Republican-dominated farm belt, where lawmakers might be expected to have some influence with President Trump. Above, harvesting soybeans in Illinois.In other cases, a change in the pay culture has been pushed from the outside. At Mills & Reeve, a British law firm whose audit determined it was paying women an average of 32 percent less than men, a major impetus has come from big clients that have started to request more female representation among the firms attorneys.

Its increasingly something were asked for as part of tenders and pitches, to give details of our diversity, said Claire Clarke, a managing partner.

Some efforts predate the new rules, but have come into focus because of the requirements. The British bank Barclays, for example, has sought to hire, and retain, more senior female executives by offering a new 12-week internship targeted at experienced women who are coming off a career break and introducing greater flexibility in existing jobs.

Supporters of the British regulations acknowledge that transparency alone wont solve the problem. But without it, companies and regulators in countries seeking to enforce equal pay laws would have scant evidence that a gap existed  and face less pressure to address it. Jake Rosenfeld and Patrick Denice, sociologists at Washington University, found in a study that salary transparency raised wages, in part because even being cognizant of gender pay disparity helped change norms.

Such is the case in Iceland. The country has gone further than any other, becoming the first to require employers to submit to external audits to prove they are paying women on a par with men. The thinking was that unless equal pay laws were applied more forcefully, the imbalance might never close.

Icelands government has vowed to completely close the nations gender pay gap by 2022, after women walked out of their jobs en masse in protest on a chilly afternoon in October 2016.Chinas proposed new tariffs cover a significant chunk of what it buys from the United States. The protections on the $50 billion of goods announced on Wednesday, together with those on the $3 billion worth of products that Beijing unveiled earlier this week in retaliation for American tariffs on global steel imports, account for about a third of Chinas American imports.

By contrast, because the United States imports significantly more from China, tariffs on the same amount of products make up roughly one-ninth of its Chinese imports. That gives the United States more room to find other Chinese products to target.

Even as Chinese officials struck a defiant tone on Wednesday, they still said they wanted to avoid escalating the conflict.

Chinas attitude is clear, Mr. Zhu, the vice minister of finance, said. We dont want a trade war because a trade war would hurt the interests of both countries.

China could still fight back in other ways. Its control over its domestic economy and news media, and its homegrown internet, give it a strong hand in controlling public opinion and minimizing the potential impact on its consumers. In the past, China has mobilized its vast ranks of consumers to turn up their noses at products from Japan, the Philippines and South Korea during political disputes, though getting Chinese consumers to stop buying iPhones and Chevrolets could be trickier.

The two sides are clashing with the future in mind. President Trump instituted his latest round of tariffs against China while citing Beijings government-driven efforts to retool the countrys economy to focus on the technologies of the future. Known as the Made in China 2025 program, the plan specifies efforts to build up cutting-edge industries like robotics, aerospace and electric cars.

Many companies in Europe and the United States say they fear the program will create state-supported competitors, an argument that has won backing in the Trump administration. Some companies say that Beijing finds ways to force them to hand over technology if they want to sell their wares in China, an allegation that Chinese officials dispute.Good Wednesday. Heres what were watching:

 Another bank takes steps toward gun safety.

 The next steps in the tariffs tit-for-tat.

 Investigators are looking into the motive behind the shooting at YouTubes headquarters.

 What happens after Spotifys direct listing?

 Alexis Ohanian of Reddit speaks to Corner Office about online platforms, fatherhood and Metallica.

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What Brexit teaches us about Trumps trade skirmish with China

Britains decision to leave the European Union provides pointers for investors as President Trump ratchets up trade tensions with China.

In the weeks following Britains vote in 2016 for Brexit, fears grew that the post-war economic order was under serious threat. But European stock markets recovered, including Britains. Investors came to see that the European Union was not going to break up, and Britain was not going to erect tall walls around its economy. Looking back, the panicky early reaction to Brexit seems to have sprung more from a fear of the unknown than any big threats to the global trading system. Investors took a deep breath and gained some perspective.HOUSTON  A cyberattack on a shared data network forced four of the nations natural-gas pipeline operators to temporarily shut down computer communications with their customers over the last week.

No gas service was interrupted, the companies said, and the interruption of customer transactions was merely a precaution. It was unclear whether any customer data was stolen.

The attack highlighted the potential vulnerability of the nations energy system, cyberexperts say. Beyond consumer and business data  energy companies possess much proprietary information about their holdings, trading strategies and exploration and production technologies  the increasing dependence of pipeline infrastructure on digital systems makes them a particularly ripe target. Control valves, pressure monitors and other equipment connected to wireless networks are vital to daily functions of everything from refineries to oil wells.

With nearly 2.5 million miles of oil, gas and chemical pipelines crisscrossing the country, intrusions into control systems could do more than disrupt deliveries, said Andrew R. Lee, a cybersecurity expert at the law firm Jones Walker in New Orleans. The risks include explosions, spills, or fires, which easily will threaten human life, property and the environment, he said.Behold, the banana. Whod have thought it would be one of the most contentious fruits of the 1990s? It could be a spin doctors nightmare on either side of the Atlantic if a row about selling bananas sparks a multibillion-dollar trade war. Nobody with any sense wants a tit-for-tat trade war. That is a blind alley if ever I heard of one. Its a tale of how trade restrictions can trigger geopolitical feuds when countries use things like tariffs to protect their own industries. What became known as the banana wars started like this. European companies were importing fruit tax free from former colonies in places like the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific to help support their developing economies. Meanwhile, Europe had tariffs and quotas that restricted the fruit that American companies were shipping to Europe from Latin America. And that limited their access to the worlds biggest market for bananas. The U.S., together with several Latin American countries, repeatedly turned to the World Trade Organization to mediate the dispute. This case has been lost four times. But before the W.T.O. ruled that it could strike back, the U.S. announced a plan to put tariffs on European luxury goods. And that got the Europeans mad. What the Americans have done this last week is clearly unacceptable. Its illegal and its outside the system. Tensions ran high. Each side accused the others of breaking the rules. The European Union is the largest member of the W.T.O. And if you allow them to get away with not abiding by the rules, you start to chip away at that system and saying, is the W.T.O. reliable? Can we count on it? In 2009, Europe agreed to cut back its restrictions on Latin American bananas. But even disputes with a clear-cut resolution can seem to be part of a larger story. For example, what could be called the chicken wars is just one of many disputes between the U.S. and China. The Obama administration will once again take action to hold China accountable. Back in 2010, the Chinese accused the U.S. of dumping underpriced chicken onto its market. So China punished the U.S. with antidumping tariffs. The Americans went to the W.T.O. And they won. Years later, just a month after China lifted the chicken tariffs, President Trump started 2018 with a protectionist bang, widely thought to be aimed at China. He put tariffs on washing machines and solar panels, and made other threats too. It will be 25 percent for steel. It will be 10 percent for aluminum. Threats of retaliation poured in within days. We are discussing different U.S. products from which import tariffs can be imposed. Two weeks later, the president stoked growing fears that a trade war with China could be looming. He announced tariffs on consumer goods to punish China for stealing intellectual property from American companies. This is the first of many. The Chinese immediately responded with threats to retaliate against American products. These unilateral moves could test the strength of the global system for resolving trade disputes. Whether the product is technology, cheap chickens or, yes, even bananas.As Rocco Rorandelli documented the Balkan journey of Syrian refugees from Greece to Germany, he discovered rural landscapes plagued by explosive reminders of a past war: land mines.

Off-limits forests ring Sarajevo. Minefields dot Bosnias Trebevic mountainsides. Large areas of Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina remain plagued by mines and other live bombs two decades after the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Mr. Rorandelli, a Rome-based photographer who specializes in global social and environmental issues, was struck by how the locals dealt with the deadly reality underfoot. Even though the land was there, he said, it was as if it did not exist.According to most estimates, there are more than 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States, and it seems as if you can find some version of beef and broccoli at almost all of them: velvety wok-fried meat in brown sauce, served in a forest of green. The dish has been part of the Chinese-American restaurant-food canon since at least the 1950s, a few decades after broccoli first rode to popular heights on the backs of the southern Italian immigrants who championed it on our shores. The dish is a standard at high-end restaurants and scruffy takeout shops alike, wherever there is a market for the sweet-salty-crisp flavors that Americans claim as a birthright.

But it would be a trial to find such a dish in China. Its diaspora food, said Jonathan Wu, who until it closed recently was the chef at the elegant dim-sum bar Nom Wah Tu on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a genre unto itself. Wu, an American of Chinese descent, ate the dish a lot when he was growing up outside Hartford, a home-cooked variety in which his mom reversed the proportions to provide a lot more broccoli and rice than beef. The broccoli was his favorite part, he said, lightly tossed in a wok that never got very hot on her electric-coil stove, and mixed with a sauce she never thickened beyond its base of pungent oyster cut through with soy. She kept it simple, he said. Streamlined.In the past six years, we, both in our 60s, have hiked 400 miles in Joshua Tree National Park and about 2,800 miles in other areas of the country. Around 90 percent of our hikes are in areas with no established hiking trail. We prefer hiking in the desert to hiking in mountain areas because it is difficult to get lost. You can die from a fall or from hiking in 100-degree or more weather without adequate water, and so on, but nobody should get lost. Except in rare circumstances, you can climb a hill to see where you are, and virtually always you can follow your footsteps back. This article makes Joshua Tree and other desert areas sound much more dangerous than they are. With only a day of adequate preparation, anyone should be safe. Have a GPS, compass, trekking poles, a personal locator beacon and water. Never hike alone. Go see our beautiful country and deserts. Its very safe. Dan and Vicky Graybill, Langley, Wash.

I know Joshua Tree National Park as my childhood playground, when it was a monument. My father discovered it in the late 1950s. He moved his young family from the Los Angeles area to be brought up in the park. We hiked many miles as a family in Joshua Tree and slept in the shelves of its weathered rocks. We ate lunches of burritos and pickled pigs feet my mother packed, sitting cross-legged in the cool of caves. My fathers Size 16 feet walked many miles here. He cursed the influx of rock climbers to his park but still found serenity there well into his 80s, pulling his walker out of the trunk of his car. He visited with his friend David, who was blind. David would steady my father, and my father guided David. My father and I walked in the park after the burial of my mother. After my mothers death in 1996, my father set up a hidden camp, out of view of the rangers. He arrived in the morning and percolated his coffee over a campfire. He spent days of peace, walking in the cool mornings, resting on a cot wedged among creosote, juniper and boulders in the heat of day. When the purple shadows of evening fell, he made his way out, saying good night to the mountains around him. The rangers at the entrance got to know my father, and at times they greeted him with an apple pie. Antoinette Billings, Riverton, UtahI admit that I approached Chappaquiddick with a measure of skepticism and a tremor of dread. The ongoing, morbid fascination with all things Kennedy is an aspect of American culture I find perplexing and somewhat dispiriting. Compulsive Kennedyism encourages our unfortunate habit of substituting mythology for history, of dissolving the complexities of American political life into airy evocations of idealism and tragedy. The lives and deaths of Kennedy family members provide grist for endless conspiracy theorizing, tabloid salaciousness, celebrity-worship and superstition. A movie about one of the sadder, tawdrier episodes in the saga could only feed this syndrome.

But it turns out that Chappaquiddick, directed by John Curran from a script by the first-timers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, is more diagnosis than symptom. Forsaking sensationalism for sober, procedural storytelling, the film examines the toxic effects of the Kennedy mystique on a handful of people involved in a fatal car crash in the summer of 1969.

The basic facts are hardly obscure. Late on the night of July 18, an Oldsmobile driven by Senator Edward M. Kennedy ran off a bridge on an island near Marthas Vineyard and plunged into a pond. Mary Jo Kopechne, a former aide to the senators brother Robert, died inside the car. Kennedy waited until the next day to report the incident and provided an account that was, to put it mildly, less than fully credible.

Exactly what happened remains unknown, and the gaps and ambiguities in the record provide the filmmakers with room for speculation and embellishment. (A recent article by Jenna Russell in The Boston Globe performs a sensitive and thorough fact-check.) In this version, Kopechne (played by Kate Mara) stays alive while trapped in the car, fighting for air as Kennedy (Jason Clarke) dawdles. Nothing beyond a close collegial friendship between them is implied. They were drawn together by shared grief over the death of Robert Kennedy, who had been assassinated the year before, and left a party together for a heart-to-heart talk.A jury concluded Mr. Desormeau had done just that in 2014, when he claimed to have witnessed a man sell drugs to two women on a street corner in Jamaica, Queens.

According to Mr. Desormeau, after observing those two transactions, he and his partner got out of their unmarked car and stopped the man, Roosevelt McCoy, in front of a nearby Jamaican restaurant. Mr. Desormeau testified that he quickly recovered crack cocaine from behind Mr. McCoys waistband.

But surveillance videotape from the Jamaican restaurant showed Mr. McCoy shooting pool inside the restaurant when the detective said he was outside dealing drugs. The two detectives can be seen approaching Mr. McCoy inside the restaurant, bringing him outside and then searching him. On the video, they do not appear to find any contraband.

The case raised troubling questions about the prevalence of police perjury, particularly because a gun arrest which Mr. Desormeau and his partner made in Manhattan less than three months later became the subject of additional charges, including perjury. That case is pending.

The Times examined Mr. Desormeaus career in an article in October. More recently The Times investigated the phenomenon of testilying within the New York Police Department in a series of articles.

On Wednesday, Justice Aloise criticized Mr. Desormeau for undermining his fellow officers, but did not address the broader issue of police perjury, other than to suggest that Mr. Desormeaus actions could encourage a tendency to regard police testimony with undue skepticism. It helps feed the false narrative that police officers are not to be trusted and their testimony is not to be believed, Judge Aloise said.

Then Judge Aloise accused the prosecution of allowing Mr. McCoy, who was the main witness against Mr. Desormeau, to lie on the witness stand. Mr. Desormeau had said he found a rock of crack cocaine on Mr. McCoy, and testing indicated that the twist bag in which the crack was found contained DNA that matched Mr. McCoys sample.Virginia Katchmar sleeps in a storage unit in Rochester near Lake Ontario. Four hundred miles away, Sheila Cummings has been living in a homeless shelter in Hempstead, Long Island, since she was evicted early last year from her apartment.

Both women say they would be better off in New York City, where there are more legal protections and services to help people return to permanent housing than in their hometowns.

Though they do not know each other, Ms. Katchmar and Ms. Cummings have joined a growing coalition of homeless people, tenants and their advocates that is pushing the state legislature to expand to all of New York State the tenant laws and other protections available only in the city and a few other counties. With rent regulations set to expire in June 2019, the coalition, the Upstate/Downstate Alliance, is hoping to bring attention to their cause.

This is a moment right now when the state legislature and the governor have to be thinking about tenant protections and tenant protections as a tool, said Celia Weaver, research and policy director of New York Communities for Change, which is part of the coalition. Its a tool to combat homelessness.Today what unites us is more important than what divides us, he declared.

Skepticism abounds, and many details, including the division of staffing and budget for a unified conference, remain unresolved. The longtime chief deputy under Ms. Stewart-Cousins, Senator Michael N. Gianaris of Queens, who has clashed with Mr. Klein, is expected to remain in the leadership. In the past, Mr. Klein and Mr. Gianaris have also run rival Democratic political operations.

Still, the accord represents a watershed for fractious Democratic politics in the state and a political coup for Mr. Cuomo as he faces his most serious primary challenge. For years, Mr. Cuomo had said it was not in his power to arrange a shotgun marriage between Mr. Klein and Ms. Stewart-Cousins, but as a deal came together the governor was very much in the middle of it.

In a brief phone interview, Ms. Nixon said Andrew Cuomo cant have it both ways  claiming he was powerless to corral the I.D.C. for years and then taking credit for it disbanding on Wednesday. She accused Mr. Cuomo of working from the old playbook of centrist politics.

He is trying hard to evolve, she said, but I think its a little too late.

Ms. Nixon noted the accord came less than a week after lawmakers struck a deal on a $168 billion budget, when the states priorities were set. Ms. Stewart-Cousins had been excluded from those discussions.

I would have the leader of the Senate Democrats in the room negotiating, she said.

Mr. Cuomos team touts his progressive record, which includes approving a minimum-wage increase, paid family leave and some of the tightest gun-control measures in the nation, despite a Republican State Senate.

Mr. Cuomo has burnished those credentials since Ms. Nixon emerged on the scene, and on Wednesday he personally called Bill Lipton, the state director of the liberal Working Families Party, to describe the Senate unity agreement, according to three people familiar with the call.

Mr. Cuomo is actively seeking the endorsement of the Working Families Party, which has its own ballot line in New York. He has also been calling other leaders across the state on the phone to sell the unity package as key to helping the Democrats win a Senate majority.The audit comes two days after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo declared a state of emergency at Nycha and ordered an independent monitor appointed to oversee repairs of the agencys dilapidated buildings. The governors action came after years of budgetary shortfalls at the agency and a recent state report that identified unacceptable public health hazards like mold and rodent infestations at Nycha developments.

The findings of Mr. Stringers audit were shared with Nycha months ago to allow the agency time to fix the problems before the reports public release. In a formal response to the comptroller on March 22, Vito Mustaciuolo, the Housing Authoritys acting general manager, said that corrective action had been taken to address all the safety issues raised by the audit. But additional letters from the agency indicated that corrective action could mean a work order was created or caution tape posted, not that the equipment has been fixed.

Mr. Mustaciuolo did not directly address the question of why so many of its own inspection reports were inaccurate or missing. Nycha is committed to improving its oversight of playgrounds, he wrote. He added that Nycha doesnt have the money to fix all the dangerous conditions, writing, "Given Nychas limited funding, damaged or hazardous equipment may be removed or not replaced.

Jasmine Blake, a spokeswoman for the Housing Authority, said on Wednesday that the agency had accepted most of the comptrollers recommendations and was working toward implementing them. She said the agency was already taking steps to correct hazardous conditions within 90 days.

The auditors found a pervasive lack of knowledge within the Housing Authority leadership about the state of the playgrounds. When they first asked Nycha officials to submit a list of all the playgrounds the agency managed, for example, Nycha submitted a list of only seven playgrounds, the report said. In fact, auditors, through site inspections, found the agency manages 788 playgrounds.Since the beginning of the 20th century, New York has had the largest Jewish urban community in world history. Three new books explore the influence of the Jews and other immigrants on the city, from Jewish refugees first arriving here in the 17th century, to the 20th-century arrival of the Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, which substantially changed the demographics of the city going into the new millennium.

In Jewish New York: The Remarkable Story of a City and a People (New York University Press), Deborah Dash Moore, Jeffrey S. Gurock, Annie Polland, Howard B. Rock and Daniel Soyer start with the arrival of 23 Jewish refugees from Recife, Brazil, in 1654, and then chronicle the growth of Jewish influence on the city through the 21st century, citing the success of several prominent New Yorkers, including two former Brooklynites, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Bernie Sanders.

The authors acknowledge that much of this history has been well-trodden, which is why this synthesis of the three-volume City of Promises (by the same authors) intentionally focuses on the periods before and after the great waves of immigration from the 1840s through the 1920s, which created what the essayist Milton Klonsky called the Ghetto of Eden.Richard Kostelanetzs bookstore might as well be one of his avant-garde art projects.

It is only open on the last Sunday of each month. And open means that he posts a reminder on Facebook and tapes up a paper sign  with Kostis Last Sunday Bookstore scrawled in black marker  outside 1051 Wyckoff Avenue, the industrial building in Ridgewood, Queens, where he lives, and waits for the rare shopper who might wander in.

And when they do, Mr. Kostelanetz, 77, a writer and an artist known also as Kosti, holds court at a small card table in a tiny corner room of the building.

Its the equivalent of the academic office hour, said Mr. Kostelanetz, who cares little about gaining customers.But today, everyone would work together for two solid hours: Men, women, teenagers, Ukrainian, African-American, Asian, Latina, Jewish, first-timers and veterans, concentrating intently at two long tables in a basement with no phone service.

Ms. Lebed, who grew up in the neighborhood and has been teaching the workshop for 10 years, gave the diverse crowd some basic pointers. Hold the egg gently  they are not hard-boiled or hollowed-out. If you make a mistake in wax, it becomes part of your design, she explained. So just make the same mistake on the other side too, and youre prefect. The class nervously laughed.

The museum held its first workshop in 1977, the year after it opened in its more cramped original space on Second Avenue to accompany a pysanky exhibition. The classes were so popular that weve been scheduling them every year since, said Maria Shust, director of the museum.

Each student first drew some basic lines with the cone-tipped kistka, heating it on a small white candle and then dipping it into a square of dark bees wax. The first layer of wax would result in those areas on the egg remaining white. The students dipped their eggs in yellow dye in two communal Mason jars at the front of the classroom. And then started etching some more wax designs. Those areas would remain yellow, as they then dipped the egg in orange dye. More wax. Then red dye. More wax. And finally black dye. Anything not covered in wax at that point would be painted black, as each successive dye covered the one before it. But the wax areas would retain the color before the wax was applied.In the eyes of many of his peers, Alfred W. Crosby was the father of environmental history, and he owed that distinction in large part to his childhood infatuation with Christopher Columbus. He revered him as much as he did his comic strip hero Superman.

That fascination led him, as a scholar, to delve into the biological and cultural impact of Columbuss voyages to the Americas. And to purse that investigation he expanded the historians toolkit.

In groundbreaking feats of interdisciplinary research, he incorporated studies of biology, ecology, geography and other sciences in his efforts to chronicle and understand human events  work that introduced sweeping explanatory concepts like the Columbian Exchange and ecological imperialism.

For historians, Crosby framed a new subject, the historian J. R. McNeil, author of several books on environmental history, wrote.Drue Heinz, who used her riches to fund literary prizes, support The Paris Review and start a publishing house, died on Friday in Lasswade, Scotland, at Hawthornden Castle, which she had purchased in the 1980s and turned into a writers retreat. She was 103.

Her death was announced by Heinz Endowments, a foundation established by members of the family behind the H. J. Heinz foods empire. Ms. Heinzs third husband, Henry John Heinz II, known as Jack, was a chairman of the company.

The British-born Ms. Heinz gave generously to the arts and had an affinity for literature. In the fall of 1970, intrigued by the literary quarterly Antaeus, she sent a letter on Heinz stationery  with its famous pickle logo  looking to purchase a subscription.

After contacting Daniel Halpern, the editor who founded Antaeus in Tangier, Morocco, with the writer Paul Bowles, she agreed to do substantially more: help fund the publication.The Depression years were difficult for the family, and Timothy Kaiser said that being on the receiving end of public charity left his father with a sense of obligation that he carried his entire life. After graduating from high school, Herbert worked briefly at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and then, in 1942, joined the Navy, serving on the submarine Dragonet, which was stationed off Japan in August 1945 when the atomic bombs were dropped on that country.

He attended Swarthmore on the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1949, the same year he married Joy Dana Sundgaard, a fellow student. He took a job with the State Department and was posted to Glasgow in 1950. Later in that decade he developed an expertise in Eastern European affairs, and his career included postings to Yugoslavia, Austria, Poland and Romania. He retired in 1983.

Mr. Kaiser was fluent in a number of languages, which enabled him to understand the nuances at play in the politically and socially divided areas where he worked. He needed those skills when he and Joy set up their nonprofit.

Besides the tensions and factions within South Africa, the Kaisers had to deal with the international pressure that was causing many prominent people and companies to withdraw investments from that country. Raising money for their fledgling organization was difficult. But eventually a number of companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Kelloggs and Pfizer International, signed on, and community leaders in South Africa got behind the effort.

Scholarship money alone, though, wasnt the answer. The organization found that it also needed to provide other kinds of support for students, both during apartheid and after.

South African blacks have had to cope with decades of poor primary and secondary education, as well as social neglect, Saul Levin, Mesabs chief executive, said in 2005. Students who come into universities from rural areas are shellshocked. I have had students who tell me theyve never had a bank account or ridden in an elevator.

Thus, accommodations were made for the programs students, like allowing them to repeat failed courses or to cut back on their course load if they were having academic trouble. A mentoring program was established.The term itself is a relic from the 1990s, the moment in which the ongoing crisis over North Koreas nuclear ambitions began. At the end of the Cold War, the only nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula were American. The problem, from an American perspective, was that North Korea wanted to acquire nuclear weapons capabilities of its own. Ultimately, President George H.W. Bushs administration chose to withdraw American nuclear weapons from South Korea as part of an effort to seek a diplomatic solution to the Norths nuclear ambitions. For a moment, it seemed like it would work: After the 1991 withdrawal of American nuclear weapons, South Korea and North Korea signed in 1992 a joint declaration on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Denuclearization was conveniently abstract. That allowed it to capture different aspects of what James Baker, Mr. Bushs secretary of state, called the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula. It covered at the same time the nuclear weapons that the United States withdrew from South Korea, the so-called nuclear umbrella of extended deterrence provided by the United States, and North Koreas own nuclear weapons ambitions. It was a shapeless, ill-fitting word. But the alternatives  disarmament or nonproliferation  were just too narrow. Diplomats couldnt squeeze everything that mattered into them.

Today, of course, things are very different than they were in 1992. There are no American nuclear weapons in South Korea (although the North Koreans dont believe that, and some South Korean politicians have called for their return). More important, North Korea has moved in fits and starts to build a nuclear weapons capability that may be as large as 60 nuclear weapons, including a small number that can strike the United States.

But diplomats rarely throw phrases away, even once they are outdated. During the 2000s, denuclearization stuck around because the Joint Declaration was North Koreas only written commitment to abandoning its nuclear weapons after Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003. And so even as the situation has changed, many American policymakers have repurposed denuclearization as a synonym for North Koreas disarmament.More than any love for Dr. King, then, it was the promise hed made to black Indianapolis  his core constituency in the upcoming state primary  and probably the very danger of the mission that brought Kennedy to 17th and Broadway that night. But once there, he embraced Dr. King more passionately than he ever had in life.

He arrived late, by which time things had grown darker, colder, rainier, angrier: many in the crowd, especially more recent arrivals, already knew Dr. King was gone. Some taunted whites there; others, gang members, were bent on violence. They kill Martin Luther, and we was ready to move, one later said.

Draped in his brothers old overcoat, Kennedy climbed the rickety steps leading to the back of a pickup truck that would serve that night as his podium. This little bitty, small white man started talking, and you could see it was Robert Kennedy, Darlene Howard, who lived in the neighborhood, later told the filmmaker Donald Boggs. And I thought, Oh, my God, theyre going to kill him.  Nearby, one of Kennedys advance men, Jerry Bruno, eyed the crowd apprehensively, as well he might: Hed been on duty in Dallas when President Kennedy was killed.

I have some very sad news for all of you, Kennedy began, before making his grim announcement. He then described how Dr. King had dedicated his life to love and to justice, and he pleaded for the love and understanding for which Dr. King had always stood. Then he said something startling. For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling, he said. I had a member of my own family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

Everyone knew that already, of course, but it was something Robert Kennedy had never mentioned publicly before, and it seemed to leach out any remaining venom in the crowd. After he spoke we couldnt get nowhere, a gang member later told Karl Anatol and John Bittner of Purdue University.

Kennedy then cited some lines from Aeschylus Agamemnon. Whether it was strangely tone deaf or the ultimate in respect to do so in such a setting really didnt matter; words like pain, heart, despair, awful, grace and God resonated in black Indianapolis. So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love, he concluded. All told, he spoke that night for around six minutes. But unlike so many other American cities, Indianapolis didnt burn that night or over the next few days, as did Washington, Chicago, Baltimore and scores of other American cities.It will be hard, if not impossible, to shut down the supply, but we have to try.

On the demand side, we can do things to try to prevent addiction. But the new Medicare guidelines, which cover disabled individuals and those 65 and older, would only make things worse.

They would deny coverage to any patient taking more than 90 milligrams of morphine or the pharmacologic equivalent daily for more than seven days, except for those with cancer or in hospice (an exemption from this guideline is possible but burdensome). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate that some 1.6 million Medicare beneficiaries are prescribed opioids that meet or exceed this arbitrary threshold, so the change, if it goes into effect as planned next January, will suddenly put a very large number of people at risk of severe opioid withdrawal and the return of pain and suffering. This could well drive many of them to synthetic opioids.

Instead, we need a rational drug policy both to rein in the excessive prescribing of opioids and to help the people who are already dependent on them.

First, we need a national prescription database. The state-level databases that we have now are not enough. They allow clinicians to identify patients who doctor shop and are high consumers of opioids, but patients can still fill their prescriptions in nearby states, and no one is the wiser.

We also have to deal with doctors who contribute to the epidemic. The Drug Enforcement Administration, using that national prescription database, should identify clinicians, particularly those who arent pain specialists, who are outliers in their opioid prescribing patterns, review their treatments and clamp down on inappropriate and excessive prescribing.

This is tricky; we do not want to discourage doctors from adequately treating pain out of fear of legal sanction. But those who adhere to current standards of care should have little to fear.To the Editor:

Re Trumps Perversion of Leadership, by Frank Bruni (column, April 4):

It is in his contempt for the very office he holds, his effort to make the presidency bend to him instead of giving it the respect it deserves and that we demand, that Donald Trump does the most damage.

He luxuriates in his boorishness, somehow perceiving that changing what came before means repudiating every shred of decency, renouncing every ounce of compassion, rejecting every hint of morality.

Even as we watched others in this office falter, we never sensed that the very essence of what made us a great country was under attack. We took comfort in the unshakable belief that our highest office was bigger than any one person, that its underlying principles were greater than the mistakes of omission or commission of any temporary holder, our structure stronger than any errors committed on one persons watch.

But that understanding has been shaken to the core. President Trump has made us question the fundamental belief of the greatness of the office of the presidency. And beyond all else, this we can never forgive.

ROBERT S. NUSSBAUM, FORT LEE, N.J.

To the Editor:

Re Firms Shudder as Trumps Tweets Mean Business (front page, April 4):

Shouldnt our president be promoting American business in general, not denigrating specific companies? Just one more example of insensitivity at the White House.To the Editor:

A Test for Israel in Gaza (editorial, April 4) doesnt mention, or minimizes, basic facts that led to the situation in Gaza.

First, we withdrew entirely from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, removing every Israeli resident, home, factory and synagogue. We are not responsible for the well-being of the people of Gaza.

In the years after our disengagement, billions of dollars in aid poured into the Gaza Strip. Instead of improving the lives of Palestinians, Hamas, internationally recognized as a terrorist group, misappropriated these funds, using them to build rockets and to dig terror tunnels with the intent of harming Israeli civilians.

Second, the restrictions that exist on Gaza are not the cause of the situation there but rather a result of Hamass refusal to renounce violence. This is not Israels condition, but rather that put forward by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations as part of the Quartet framework. If there were no terror, there would be no restrictions.To the Editor:

Efrain Rios Montt, Guatemalan Dictator Convicted of Genocide, Dies at 91 (obituary, April 2) ends with a quote from the writings of David Stoll, a professor of anthropology at Middlebury College.

On the one hand, Mr. Stoll calls General Rios Montt a monster. But then he counters it by saying that to some General Rios Montt was a hero of mythic proportions.

Considering the thousands of Mayan men, women and children who were massacred and the hundreds of villages that were erased in the scorched-earth campaign led by General Rios Montt, its hard to imagine who would hold him up as a hero rather than as the monster who was so clearly depicted in the testimony of nearly 100 survivors at his genocide trial.

PAMELA YATES, BROOKLYN

The writer is the director of the documentary film 500 Years, which addresses the Rios Montt genocide trial.Thats because if the boomers were destructive, they were also creative. Indeed, you can make a reasonable case that theirs was the last great burst of creativity in Western history, the last great surge of mass cultural invention. The boomers were the last generation to come of age with some traditional edifices still standing, the old bourgeois norms and Christian(ish) religion and patriotic history, which gave them something powerful to wrestle with, to rework and react against and attempt to overthrow. And because they came of age within a stable-seeming (though not for long) common culture, their revolution was experienced as a communal experience itself, something that united millions of people simply by virtue of their being young and Western in 1965 or 1969 or 1975.

In an essay on Golden Ages in his Prejudices: Philosophical Dictionary, Robert Nisbet argued that a great period of ferment and achievement often features a dialectical antinomy. This is a fancy way of saying that you need ideas and trends and forces in tension with each other (community and individualism, the secular and the sacred, new ideas and settled consensus, younger and older generations) to ignite what he calls the blaze of creativity. We can debate just how golden their achievements really were, but in hindsight his description applies to the period of the boomer takeover  it was the tension between a multitudinous younger generations utopianism and libertinism and mysticism and an older generations attachment to patriotism and family and religion that shaped and stamped the rise of rock n roll, the rebel cinema of the 1970s, the New Age reinvention of religion, the New Journalism and the postmodern wave in the academy and the libertarian ascendancy in the G.O.P. and more.

In the movies and television, this tension led to an extended reworking, deconstruction and reinvention of classic American genres (the Western, the war movie, the gangster flick, the sitcom), something that happened first in cinema and then extended more gradually into TV. What we often think of as two golden ages  the auteur years in 1970s Hollywood, and then the more recent golden age of television  are really part of the same generational takeover; it just took longer for boomer influence to work itself out on the small screen. But it did eventually: what David Chase did with The Sopranos and David Simon with The Wire, and before them figures like the just-passed Steven Bochco and Matt Groening and yes, Roseanne Barr, was all an extension and an echo of the era-defining pop cultural ferment that began in the 1960s and took off in 1970s.

But now we are in the twilight of that era  and it is not at all clear that the boomers successors are prepared to react against boomer hegemony with anything like the same creativity and vigor. In part thats because technological and social change has left the rising cohorts of Americans fragmented, polarized, alienated from one another, too divided by belief and taste and language to build something new together. And in part its because the boomers themselves contributed mightily to fragmentation, leaving too little standing when they tore things down and rebuilding haphazardly and self-interestedly, bequeathing a spirit of transgression and permanent revolution thats run out of things to deconstruct and is either feeding on itself, lapsing into torpor, or generating niche forms of radicalism on the further left and right that are too weak as yet to produce revolution or renewal. (Indeed it is not a coincidence that conservatism, itself decadent in this late-boomer dispensation, is desperate to claim boomer culture for its own  think of Ted Cruzs love of The Simpsons or the new pro-Roseanne ardor on the right.)

As Nisbet writes in the same essay, golden ages give way to ages of iron very easily. If there is no community, then there is nothing to challenge, nothing to fuel the dynamism required for a golden age, and if there is nothing but transgression and dissent, there is nothing to give acts of transgression the purpose, substance and meaning that make them something more than just puerile self-indulgence. Both problems define our age; everyone fancies themselves a rebel, even Sean Hannity and Donald Trump, but the traditional forms and structures that would give rebellion purpose and clarity exist only through as effigies to be torn down in ritual re-enactments of the original revolution, now decades in the past.As I write this, Chinas announcement of a new round of tit-for-tat tariffs has stoked fears of trade war and sent stock futures plunging. If this mornings futures hold, the S&P 500 will be about 10.5 percent off its January peak, around 6 percent off its level when Gary Cohn, the last of the Trump globalists, was pushed out.

My question is, why such a large fall?

One good answer is, thats a stupid question. The three rules you need to bear in mind when discussing the stock market are (1) the stock market is not the economy (2) the stock market is not the economy (3) the stock market is not the economy. And stocks move for all sorts of reasons, or no visible reason at all. As Paul Samuelson famously quipped, the market has forecast nine of the last five recessions.

Another answer is that the trade war is a signal: Trump, Navarro et al are showing that they really are as unhinged and irresponsible as they seem, and markets are taking notice. Imagine how these people would handle a financial crisis.

Still, I think its worth noting that even if we are headed for a full-scale trade war, conventional estimates of the costs of such a war dont come anywhere near to 10 percent of GDP, or even 6 percent. In fact, its one of the dirty little secrets of international economics that standard estimates of the cost of protectionism, while not trivial, arent usually earthshaking either.Both exit polls in 2017 and analysis of recent generic congressional ballot polls  which indicate a Democratic lead  show that willingness to vote Republican or Democratic is highly correlated with ones opinion of President Trump. That can mean only one of two things: Either people who voted for Mr. Trump without liking him are so discouraged they arent even answering polls (unlikely) or millions of Trump voters are intending to vote for Democrats in the fall.

That probably shocks political pros from both sides of the aisle. Mr. Trumps first year in office, while tumultuous, followed a predictable script. He signed the Republicans signature agenda item, a giant tax-cut bill. He pursued a traditional business-friendly Republican program for deregulation and promoted conservative priorities like stricter immigration policy. He appointed the conservative judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, regularly attacked the news media and provoked liberals with culture-war tweets (like berating N.F.L. players for kneeling during the national anthem).

This combination of stoking racial resentment and promoting Republican policy was supposed to be his ticket to victory. Yet his job-approval ratings continued to fall during the year, hitting a nadir about the time he endorsed Roy Moore, who lost in Alabamas special Senate election.

Its not a surprise, though, if you look at the characteristics and beliefs of these reluctant Trump voters. According to the George Washington University Battleground Polls from September and October 2016, which also tracked voters who disliked both candidates, these people were largely self-described independents and ticket splitters. They leaned Republican, but they were not hardened partisans. Instead, they were willing to break with their preferred party when personalities or circumstances permitted.

These polls also make crystal clear how much Mr. Trump bothered them. In both sets of the battleground polls, these voters strongly thought Republicans were best able to handle taxes, jobs, the economy and foreign affairs. Yet when they were asked the identical questions about which of the two candidates they trusted more, they backed Mrs. Clinton or rated the two evenly. They also strongly thought Mr. Trump did not have the temperament for the job, nor was he honest and trustworthy.Last Friday, as observant Jews hurried with last-minute preparations for Passover, one Orthodox Jew was in Albany, holding up the New York State budget. He was insisting that this roughly $168 billion package include a special provision that would allow religious schools to meet the states educational requirements by using their long hours of religious instruction.

In recent years, education activists, among them former Hasidic yeshiva graduates, have pushed aggressively to bring the yeshivas into compliance with the states education laws. Simcha Felder, the state senator from Brooklyn who represents the heavily ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Borough Park and Midwood, was on a mission to get legal permission for the state to turn a blind eye to the near-absence of secular instruction in many yeshivas. The upshot? Tens of thousands of children would continue to graduate without the most basic skills.

I know about the cost. I was one of those kids.

I was raised in New Yorks Hasidic community and educated in its schools. At my yeshiva elementary school, I received robust instruction in Talmudic discourse and Jewish religious law, but not a word about history, geography, science, literature, art or most other subjects required by New York State law. I received rudimentary instruction in English and arithmetic  an afterthought after a long day of religious studies  but by high school, secular studies were dispensed with altogether.

The language of instruction was, for the most part, Yiddish. English, our teachers would remind us, was profane.Background reading:

 President Trump said on Tuesday that he planned to deploy the National Guard to the border with Mexico to confront what the White House calls the growing threat posed by illegal immigrants and crime.

 Three days of presidential tweets contained many false and misleading accusations. Heres a fact-check.

Tune in, and tell us what you think. Email us at thedaily@nytimes.com. Tweet me at @mikiebarb. And if youre interested in advertising with The Daily, write to us at thedaily-ads@nytimes.com.

How do I listen?

If you dont see an audio player on this page or to subscribe to The Daily for free, follow the instructions below.

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You can listen and subscribe to The Daily from any podcast player. If youre reading this from an iPhone or other Apple mobile device, tap this link to listen in Apple Podcasts. If youre on an Android device, tap this link to listen in Stitcher or this link to listen in RadioPublic.For years, scientists have disagreed about which species of baleen whale came first, and how the toothless species were related.

Body structure suggested one set of relationships; molecular data suggested another.

Now, researchers in Germany and Sweden have sequenced the DNA of six of the living species, of which there are at least 10.

The relationships are so complicated, however, that the senior researcher Axel Janke said family tree is too simple a metaphor. Instead, the species, all part of a group called rorquals, have evolved more into a network, sharing large segments of DNA with even distant cousins. Scientists expressed surprise that there had been so much intermingling of baleen whales, given the variety of sizes and shapes.Call it Liza with a $.

Divesting herself of a trove of bugle beads and showbiz memorabilia, Liza Minnelli is putting more than 1,900 items from her designer wardrobe and extensive archives of Hollywood ephemera up for auction in May.

But before her one-of-a-kind Halston flapper dresses, her Cabaret bowler and annotated shooting script, several large-format Annie Leibovitz portraits, an engraved silver baby cup, a watercolor portrait of her at age 3, and a $20,000 check made out to (and endorsed by) Andy Warhol are put on the block, some noteworthy pieces are being installed at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, Calif., in a monthlong exhibit called Love, Liza. It opens April 4.

I woke up one day and thought, Honey, you aint gonna wait till youve bought the farm and leave your life on someone elses doorstep, Ms. Minnelli, 72, told The New York Times last week through her colleague and confidant Michael Feinstein. My life is a gift of flowing friendships and relationships, all collected in these objects. Its with many emotions that I share them.

And its with many emotions, including joy, that her most ardent fans likely will receive them.

The sale is being conducted by Profiles in History, an auction house based in Calabasas, Calif., that oversaw sales of Debbie Reynoldss vast collections. It will include not only Ms. Minnellis personal effects, like the waitress uniform, complete with LINDA name tag, that she wore in the 1981 film comedy Arthur, but also objects that once belonged to her famous parents, Judy Garland and the director Vincente Minnelli.But improved analysis of drone video could be used to pick out human targets for strikes, while also better identifying civilians to reduce the accidental killing of innocent people.

Without referring directly to the letter to Mr. Pichai, Google said in a statement on Tuesday that any military use of machine learning naturally raises valid concerns. It added, Were actively engaged across the company in a comprehensive discussion of this important topic. The company called such exchanges hugely important and beneficial, though several Google employees familiar with the letter would speak of it only on the condition of anonymity, saying they were concerned about retaliation.

The statement said the companys part of Project Maven was specifically scoped to be for non-offensive purposes, though officials declined to make available the relevant contract language. The Defense Department said that because Google is a subcontractor on Project Maven to the prime contractor, ECS Federal, it could not provide either the amount or the language of Googles contract. ECS Federal did not respond to inquiries.

Google said the Pentagon was using open-source object recognition software available to any Google Cloud customer and based on unclassified data. The technology is used to flag images for human review and is intended to save lives and save people from having to do highly tedious work, the company said.

Some of Googles top executives have significant Pentagon connections. Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman of Google and still a member of the executive board of Alphabet, Googles parent company, serves on a Pentagon advisory body, the Defense Innovation Board, as does a Google vice president, Milo Medin.

In an interview in November, Mr. Schmidt acknowledged a general concern in the tech community of somehow the military-industrial complex using their stuff to kill people incorrectly, if you will. He said he served on the board in part to at least allow for communications to occur and suggested that the military would use this technology to help keep the country safe.

An uneasiness about military contracts among a small fraction of Googles more than 70,000 employees may not pose a major obstacle to the companys growth. But in the rarefied area of artificial intelligence research, Google is engaged in intense competition with other tech companies for the most talented people, so recruiters could be hampered if some candidates are put off by Googles defense connections.What could be better?

Many of our colleagues wish they had a better sense of what our readers are saying about their coverage. There is a lot of feedback to keep up with and sort through. Wed love to have a tool that would enable us to aggregate reader feedback (emails, social media posts, comments and more) in a faster and more systematic way.

Youve invested time in coming up with creative ways to use social media. What are some of your favorite uses of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram?

I appreciate Twitter when reporters bring us along on a journey, telling a story with their tweets. Rukmini Callimachi, our correspondent who covers Islamist extremism, took her followers along as she traveled with an embed into western Mosul, for example, introducing us to villagers and showing us what she saw.

When Julie Turkewitz, a national correspondent, traveled with a group of students from Parkland, Fla., to the state capital to demand more gun control, she tweeted scenes from the bus along the way. Her tweets were gripping and immediate, and they gave us a window into a scene we couldnt have otherwise gotten.

Twitter is also an indispensable tool for journalists and just about anyone else to be part of a conversation about the news as its unfolding.For library lovers and assorted bibliophiles, the set of Sharon Washingtons solo show, Feeding the Dragon, at the Cherry Lane Theater, is a geeky pleasure  long, neat rows of colorful books; card catalogs along the edges; big multipaned windows above gleaming hardwood floors. To anyone who feels most at home surrounded by things to read, it feels like an invitation: Want to hear a story? Yes, please.

Ms. Washington (Dot, The Scottsboro Boys) dips into her familys past to tell what is a childrens story, really, which comes as a surprise. Framed as a fairy tale, its a fond and fractured memoir of the girlhood years she spent living, with her parents and grandmother, in a three-bedroom apartment on the top floor inside the St. Agnes branch of the New York Public Library, on the Upper West Side.

A typical American family, Ms. Washington says. Living in a not-so-typical place.

There is enchantment built into that premise, as if they were a family of lighthouse keepers, or had license to roam a museum after dark. When you factor in New York real estate envy (their living room was big enough for a baby grand piano, bought secondhand), the library apartment takes on an even more magical shimmer.

But for Ms. Washingtons father, George, it was hardly a glamorous life. From 1969 to 1973, when the family moved to a less romantic branch, he took care of that library, polishing the floors and shoveling coal into the basement furnace  feeding the dragon, as young Sharon thought of it, her imagination stoked by books.The story of the fashion scene in Rwanda today is a story of hope.

In a country often defined by its horrific genocide in 1994, when an estimated 800,000 people  mostly Tutsi men, women and children  were killed in 100 days, a new generation of passionate designers want s to create a future where their African nation is known for producing stylish clothes and accessories and not only its dark, traumatizing past.

The government is priming these designers for success through an initiative called Made in Rwanda, aimed at supporting the production of local goods and limiting imports  sending Rwandan designers abroad to participate in trade shows and not taxing them to import fabrics and other materials they need for their designs are two examples of the help Made in Rwanda offers.

On my recent trip to the Rwandan capital of Kigali, a city of verdant hillsides and 1.1 million people, I met Daniel Ndayishimiye, who, in 2016, established Fashion Hub Kigali, a nongovernmental organization that is also supporting designers. Fashion Hub helps more than 100 designers in Rwanda by offering them training and access to tools such as pattern cutters and sewing machines. Mr. Ndayishimiyes father and brother were killed in the genocide, but he said that he has every reason to look ahead, not back.A family in California whose son was permanently scarred by bedbug bites has been awarded nearly $1.6 million by a civil jury.

It was the highest amount ever paid to a single family in a bedbug case in the United States, according to the familys lawyer.

Lilliana Martinez, 34, said that the problem began in 2012, two years after she and her husband moved into an apartment in Inglewood, Calif. They discovered that their 3-year-old son, Jorge Maravilla, had red spots all over his body, including on his face.

Concerned, they took him to the hospital. The diagnosis? Bug bites.

As soon as I found out, I was horrified, because I had never seen something like that before, she said.That could mean trouble for the states farmers in the Central Valley and elsewhere. China is Californias third most valuable destination for agriculture products, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation, just behind the European Union and Canada. The states exports to China totaled more than $2 billion in 2016. Three products alone, all facing tariffs, accounted for most of those exports: $530 million in pistachios, $518 million in almonds and $161 million in wine.

The tariffs add another layer of uncertainty for growers in California, and in particular those in the wine industry, which already faces growing production costs. The full impact of the tariffs is not yet clear, but experts are warning of significant decreases in exports of those products. Fluctuating prices in steel could also affect the price of farm equipment.

John Aguirre, the president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, said that the trade war with China threatened to derail long-running efforts by winemakers to expand into the Chinese market. That could carry repercussions well into the future.

We not only face the prospect of short term harm to wine grape prices, but really missing out on the longer term opportunity, he said. Once you lose market share, other countries have filled that void and its very difficult to reclaim lost ground.A group that is suing Harvard University is demanding that it publicly release admissions data on hundreds of thousands of applicants, saying the records show a pattern of discrimination against Asian-Americans going back decades.

The group was able to view the documents through its lawsuit, which was filed in 2014 and challenges Harvards admissions policies. The plaintiffs said in a letter to the court last week that the documents were so compelling that there was no need for a trial, and that they would ask the judge to rule summarily in their favor based on the documents alone.

The plaintiffs also say that the public  which provides more than half a billion dollars a year in federal funding to Harvard  has a right to see the evidence that the judge will consider in her decision.

Harvard counters that the documents are tantamount to trade secrets, and that even in the unlikely event that the judge agrees to decide the case without a trial, she is likely to use only a fraction of the evidence in her decision. Only that portion, the university says, should be released.Fifty years ago, Senator Robert F. Kennedy climbed onto the back of a flatbed truck to deliver the news to a largely African-American crowd in Indianapolis that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated.

Kennedy was running for the Democratic nomination for president, but he scrapped his prepared remarks after hearing that King had been killed on April 4, 1968.

In their place, he delivered a largely improvised speech that might have become a footnote to history had the tumult of 1968 not soon taken his life, too.

Tensions were running high that night in Indianapolis. The first three months of the year had been turbulent, and the year before had been a violent one. Days earlier, faced with growing dissent over the war in Vietnam, President Johnson had shocked the nation with an announcement that he would not seek re-election, leaving the Democratic field open.The coverage became so distorted that it prompted a reporter for Breitbart News who covers border migration, Brandon Darby, to push back. Im seeing a lot of right media cover this as people coming illegally or as illegal aliens. That is incorrect, he wrote on Twitter. They are coming to a port of entry and requesting refugee status. That is legal.

In an interview, Mr. Darby said it was regrettable that the relatively routine occurrence of migrant caravans  which organizers rely on as a safety-in-numbers precaution against the violence that can happen along the trek  was being politicized. The caravan isnt something thats a unique event, he said. And I think people are looking at it wrong. If youre upset at the situation, its easier to be mad at the migrant than it is to be mad at the political leaders on both sides who wont change the laws.

As tends to be the case in these stories, the humanitarian aspects get glossed over as migrants are collapsed into one maligned category: hostile foreign invaders.

In November, Mr. Trump touched off an international furor when he posted a series of videos on Twitter that purported to show the effects of mass Muslim migration in Europe. Initially circulated by a fringe ultranationalist in Britain who has railed against Islam, the videos included titles like Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches! Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary! and Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!

The assailant in one video the president shared, however, was not a Muslim migrant. And the other two videos depicted four-year-old events with no explanation.

These items tend to metastasize irrespective of the facts, but contain powerful visual elements to which Mr. Trump is known to viscerally respond.

Last February, Mr. Trump insinuated that some kind of terror-related episode involving Muslim immigrants had taken place in Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden, he said at a rally in Florida, leaving Swedes and Americans baffled because nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. They took in large numbers. Theyre having problems like they never thought possible.WASHINGTON  A witness who is cooperating in the special counsel investigation, George Nader, has connections to both the Persian Gulf states and Russia and may have information that links two important strands of the inquiry together, interviews and records show.

Mr. Naders ties to the United Arab Emirates are well documented  he is an adviser to its leader  but the extent of his links to Russia had not been previously disclosed.

Mr. Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, has a catalog of international connections that paved the way for numerous meetings with White House officials that have drawn the attention of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. For example, Mr. Nader used his longstanding ties to Kirill Dmitriev, the manager of a state-run Russian investment fund, to help set up a meeting in the Seychelles between Mr. Dmitriev and a Trump adviser days before Donald J. Trump took office.

Separately, investigators have asked witnesses about a meeting Mr. Nader attended in 2017 with a New York hedge fund manager, where he was joined by Jared Kushner and Stephen K. Bannon, who at the time were both senior advisers to Mr. Trump.

I think Im increasingly viewed now as not just a Republican but as something different, kind of a hybrid, he said in a half-hour interview on Tuesday, shuttling between stops in an S.U.V. I have people of all shapes, sizes, philosophies and party preferences that approach me. But what does that mean? I dont know. Im on television, so all the sudden they want to talk to me. Television moves everybody up, right?

That remains to be seen, electorally. A University of New Hampshire poll released in February found that 60 percent of the states Republicans would support Mr. Trump again in a primary; 18 percent planned to vote for someone else. Another recent poll was more generous to Mr. Kasich, though it still showed Mr. Trump with a clear edge. And while some prominent Republicans in the state, like former Senator John E. Sununu, remain vocal Kasich defenders, few sitting officeholders have made a point of consistently challenging Mr. Trump.

Mr. Kasichs case against Mr. Trump rests as much on tone as substance. The governor, a longtime supporter of free-trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, has been sharply critical of the presidents tilt toward protectionism on trade, saying it runs afoul of the Republican Party he knew. He has also lamented the presidents bid to dismantle DACA, the program aimed at protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation.

On this and other issues, though, Mr. Kasich has sought to contrast himself with Mr. Trump most pointedly as a spokesman for national decency. Rarely was he more animated on Tuesday than during a discussion of the presidents Easter morning tweet declaring, NO MORE DACA DEAL. On Easter, the governor said on Tuesday, later adding, Come on, leaders dont do that.

Officially, Mr. Kasich says, another run for president is not on his immediate radar, but he is keeping his options open, maintaining the relationships required for any prospective campaign.

Regardless of his eventual choice, Mr. Kasich has succeeded, at least, in installing himself permanently in the grand drama of the Trump era, drawing a pack of reporters to New Hampshire in an off-year on the pretext of a question-and-answer session at a college and ensuring that the news media will continue to track his doings once his term expires in January.It is no wonder that our kids dont think that rules and consequences apply to them, Ms. Stewart said. We are not modeling what consequences look like in the real world.

Ms. DeVos is facing new pressures after Republicans linked the guidance to the February mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and President Trump assigned her to lead a school safety commission that will consider whether to repeal the guidance.

Ms. DeVos has declined to say publicly whether she believes that racial bias plays a role in the disproportionate rates at which black students are punished in school. But according to attendees at Wednesdays meeting, the secretary opened her remarks by acknowledging that the conversations were taking place on the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination, and that racial disparities in discipline were a problem in the country.

Evan Stone, co-founder of Educators for Excellence, which represents nearly 30,000 educators across the country, said the acknowledgment gave him hope. Still, we have a real uphill battle ahead, said Mr. Stone, who attended the meeting with Ms. Leuzzi and five other teachers who are part of the group.

Members of Congress urged Ms. DeVos not to make a decision on the guidance until the G.A.O. report was made public. The Education Department did not issue a response to the G.A.O. findings, as is customary, and did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

The Obama administration guidance was issued based on data that showed that, in 2012, black students were being suspended at three times the rate of their white peers. According to the G.A.O. analysis, in the 2013-14 school year, black students accounted for 15.5 percent of all public school students, but represented about 39 percent of students suspended from school.The YouTube shooter, Nasim Aghdam, was widely known on Iranian social media as Nasim Sabz, which means Green Nasim, because of her advocacy for animal rights, healthy living and veganism. Her specific style of videos made her relatively famous among Irans growing YouTube and Instagram influencers. For instance, one showing a rabbit where she explains the differences between vegetarianism and being vegan. In another video, she explains the benefits of eating a papaya. One of her most well-known videos here is one where shes wearing a revealing purple dress. Dont believe what you see, is a message appearing in the video screen. Im being discriminated, and filtered on YouTube, and Im not the only one. And if you go and check my videos, you see that my new videos hardly get views. She also criticizes YouTube, and makes a physical protest, a year ago, by going on the streets, posting what she claims to be a picture of herself holding up a sign saying, YouTube dictatorship. And then there is a video that gives more insight, if you will, into the life of Ms. Aghdam. She had fled her native Iran decades ago. In that video, she explains that even though she was a member of the Bahai faith, which is a persecuted faith in Iran, she doesnt really like life in the United States. And she literally says: In Iran they kill you by axe. But in the United States they kill you with cotton, an Iranian expression for saying that she is dying a slow death in the United States. She was also repeatedly being teased online for her comments. Many Iranian users in social media would ridicule her, would tell her that shes crazy. And in one video she actually explains that shes doing very well, and that its actually the people who are making those comments who are mentally ill. She also criticizes Instagram, by saying that her followers are all real. She actually has several Instagram accounts. She also had a Telegram channel. Before she attacked the YouTube office, and subsequently killed herself, one of her last posts there is a childhood photo of herself posing between flowers, with one flower stuck in her hair.PARIS  A jihadist fighter from Mali was brought before the International Criminal Court on Wednesday to face charges of rape, torture and sexual slavery, crimes that prosecutors say were perpetrated while he was the head of the police during a jihadist occupation of the ancient city of Timbuktu.

At the hearing in The Hague, prosecutors said that Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, 40, had committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in 2012 and 2013 by abusing, whipping and torturing residents who violated strict religious laws.

He forced young women to marry jihadist fighters, which led to repeated rapes and sexual enslavement of young women and girls, they said.

Officials say girls were forced into marriages, some lasting only a few days or a few weeks, in an attempt to provide a justification for their being forced to have sex. If a girl ran away, she would be tracked down and brought back, said a lawyer working on the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details. Children were born from these forced marriages.NAIROBI, Kenya  A dispute between the speaker of the Somali Parliament and the countrys president briefly threatened on Wednesday to turn violent, the latest development in a complex controversy over the proposed leasing of a major port to a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates.

Conflict was avoided, partly because of the efforts of an African Union soldier, but the dispute also highlighted the fragility of the federal government under the leadership of its new president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known by the nickname Farmajo, who was elected last year in a process marred by corruption.

Mr. Mohamed leads a weak federal government that is trying to wield power and influence over six states, while the Shabab, an offshoot of Al Qaeda, regularly challenges its rule with acts of terrorism.

Last year, Somaliland, a stable and semiautonomous region in the countrys north, signed a deal with DP World, a port management company based in the Emirates, to operate the port of Berbera.BOA VISTA, Brazil  Brazils top court ruled early Thursday that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can be sent to prison while he continues to appeal his corruption conviction  an explosive decision that upends the nations politics and appears to quash his bid to return to power.

There was more at stake than the legal fate of Mr. da Silva, 72, a towering and divisive figure in Brazilian politics who has a considerable lead in the polls for Octobers presidential election.

The 6-to-5 ruling against the former president, who has called his prosecution an underhanded ploy to keep him off the ballot, is likely to call into question the legitimacy of the election in the eyes of many Brazilians.

No matter how many roses the mighty kill, they will never manage to stop spring, Mr. da Silvas Workers Party said in a statement posted on Twitter after his fate became clear.Theyre dressed in their brand new school polo or dress, and mum is usually crouched down next to them, proudly displaying their new Big Kid off to Big School with their lunchbox neatly packed into the Big Bag hanging off their backs. Its a Big Milestone.

But it was the Big Hats that got to me.

Right before my oldest started school, we moved overseas to the Middle East. A family adventure! New beginnings! We were escaping the clutches of the expensive Sydney housing market and the idea that going on an overseas trip beyond Bali would take seven years to save for.

My oldest began school six months earlier than her peers at home in Australia. It was indeed an exciting day for her and we did the obligatory First Day photo in her uniform. It might have been entitled First Day Of ELEMENTARY School, but still we had it, and she looked cute and happy and everyone applauded the Big Milestone.

But once January rolled around and the boredom of creating school lunches day in and day out had already set in for me, I realized what my daughters photo was missing. It was the Big Hat.

The Big Hats were a stark reminder to me of how far I was from home. How different my daughters childhood would be from my own. Not worse  in fact, likely much more privileged  but it was almost painful.LONDON  Nearly 10 months after the fire in Londons Grenfell Tower residential high-rise that killed at least 71 people, many of the families left homeless are still living in hotels or other temporary accommodations.

More than 200 households were displaced by the fire on June 14 that ripped through the 24-story tower, whose residents were mostly low- and middle-income. Additionally, nearly 100 families from nearby towers damaged by the fire are also still in emergency accommodations, Dominic Raab, a junior housing minister, told lawmakers last week.

The local council that oversees the upkeep of Grenfell and the recovery process has spent about $280 million to secure new housing for the displaced families. Many of them complain, though, that they are dissatisfied with their options and that their needs are not being met. The council spent nearly $30 million alone on hotel bills between June and February, according to figures obtained by the Press Association under the Freedom of Information Act.



We kept saying we didnt want to live higher than the third floor or in a large tower block because of the trauma we went through, said Asma Kazmi, a mother of three who survived the fire.PARIS  In what is emerging as the first serious test of the determination of President Emmanuel Macron to stick to his reform agenda, France on Wednesday endured the second day of a train strike that left stations empty, platforms deserted and millions of travelers frustrated.

French unions, blindsided by the pace of Mr. Macrons labor and fiscal reforms, have been spoiling for a fight. The terrain they have chosen, the countrys heavily used rail network, has the potential to either make the president buckle by crippling Frances economy or infuriate its citizens and turn them against the unions.

Other French governments have foundered as train strikes have stretched on, and this has the potential to last until June.

The stakes are high. If Mr. Macron wins  he is trying to overhaul the train workers ultra-protected job status, among other targets  he will be seen as a great French reformer, said Guy Groux, a labor specialist at Sciences Po, the leading political science institute. Meanwhile, the prestige of a leading union, the hard-left CGT, will be at risk, said Mr. Groux.WASHINGTON  President Trump has instructed his military commanders to quickly wrap up the American military operation in Syria so that he can bring troops home within a few months, senior administration officials said on Wednesday. He dropped his insistence on an immediate withdrawal, they said, after commanders told him they needed time to complete their mission.

The presidents decision to keep the 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria for the immediate future came in a meeting of the National Security Council in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday, hours after Mr. Trump had told a roomful of reporters that its time to bring American forces home from a conflict that has been a crucial battlefield in the fight against the Islamic State.

At the meeting, Mr. Trumps top military advisers told him they had drawn up plans to pull American troops out of Syria immediately. But they also presented a plan for the forces to stay longer to clean out the residual pockets of Islamic State fighters and to train local forces to stabilize the liberated territory so that the group could not regain a foothold.

How long do you need to do that? the frustrated president asked Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, according to an official present for the exchange.Mr. Zarrab, who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the authorities, testified that he had also paid bribes to Zafer Caglayan, then Turkeys economy minister, and Suleyman Aslan, the general manager of Halkbank, for assistance in carrying out the scheme.

Image Mehmet Hakan Atilla in a photo from social media.

Mr. Atilla is to be sentenced on April 11. His lawyers have asked the judge, Richard M. Berman of Federal District Court, to temper justice with mercy. They argued that federal guidelines call for only four to five years in prison and that Mr. Atilla should serve significantly below that.

But prosecutors told the judge that at a time when the United States and other nations were engaged in the momentous undertaking of depriving the government of Iran of funding for its malign and deadly activities  including its pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and its support of terrorism  Atilla was a key player in massively undermining those efforts.

In seeking the stiffer penalty, the government said that Mr. Atillas sentence should be more than 15 years and comparable to 20-year sentences imposed in analogous cases.

Atillas offenses simultaneously opened a multibillion-dollar channel of illicit funding for the government of Iran and relieved crucial financial pressure on Iran during negotiations to limit its nuclear program, the office of Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan, wrote.Step by step instructions on how to lock and unlock your Aadhaar biometrics online

Aadhaar Act complies with test prescribed by verdict on privacy: Centre tells SC

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Justifying the Aadhaar Act, the Centre has told the Supreme Court that it was a "fair and reasonable law" which complied with the tests prescribed by the historic verdict on the right to privacy.

A nine-judge Constitution Bench, on August 24 last year, had declared the right to privacy as a fundamental right and termed it as an intrinsic part of the Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The Centre on Tuesday referred to the verdict and said the reasonable restrictions, which are applicable on right to life, would also govern the right to privacy.

It told a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, which is examining the validity of Aadhaar scheme and its enabling 2016 law, that the privacy verdict provided that State can seek certain information if there are a law, a legitimate state interest and the proportionality doctrine to weigh citizens' privacy and the State's interests.

"The lead (privacy) judgment of Justice DY Chandrachud says that existence of law, legitimate state interest, and proportionality, are the tests to be applied to judge the privacy violation, if any," Attorney General KK Venugopal told the Bench which also comprised Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan.

UIDAI unveils Virtual ID in beta form; service providers to use new feature soon

"The Aadhaar Act meets the standards and has adequate safeguards. The Aadhaar Act is a just, fair, and reasonable law. It is in pursuance of a larger public interest, including preventing dissipation of social welfare benefits, prevention of black money and money laundering ...," he said, adding that these were all "legitimate State interests".

The Aadhaar scheme also satisfies the test of proportionality by showing a rational nexus between the means and the goal, he said, adding that all subsidies were part of the right to life with dignity and would prevail over the right to privacy.

Venugopal said a law, which is constitutionally valid, does not become "invalid" on the ground of improper implementation and, moreover, the Aadhaar Act has kept the invasion to privacy, if any, to the minimum level.

Referring to separate concurring privacy verdicts penned by other judges, the attorney general said they recognised that right to privacy was not "absolute" and legitimate state interests can override it.

At the outset, he read out the answers given by Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), to the queries of the lawyers representing those opposed to Aadhaar. Pandey had made a presentation before the top court to allay apprehensions over the Aadhaar scheme.

Venugopal said UIDAI cannot provide authentication failure rates at the state level since it does not track the location of the authentication transactions. Referring to the data, he said the biometric failure rates stood at 6 per cent for fingerprints and 8.54 per cent for iris at the national level.

"It must be stated that authentication failures do not mean exclusion from or denial of subsidies, benefits or services since the requesting entities are obliged under the law to provide for exception handling mechanisms," he said.

In response to a question as to how a leprosy patient or a person who does not have a mobile number, is being enrolled for Aadhaar, the top law officer said, "Aadhaar enrolment is done for all residents, even of residents with Leprosy. The biometric exception process is defined in the UIDAI resident enrolment process.

"In the case of a leprosy patient who may not be able to do fingerprint authentication, iris authentication can be used for update (and add the mobile number). This was the reason for multi-modal enrolment and authentication being selected for use in Aadhaar."

As part of the exception handling mechanism, UIDAI has already implemented a digitally signed QR code into eAadhaar which allows agencies to verify the Aadhaar card in an offline manner and trust the data, he said.

On the issue of Aadhaar for minors, he said school officials, if permitted to act as 'introducer' can enrol only when there is a parental consent to enrol.

Responding to a query whether a child can opt out of Aadhaar after attaining majority, he said "it is not permissible under Aadhaar Act, 2016. However, residents have the option of permanently locking their biometrics and only temporarily unlock it when needed for biometric authentication as per Regulation 11 of the Aadhaar (Authentication) Regulations, 2016."

The advancing of arguments remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused to pass an interim order extending the deadline of March 31 for linking of Aadhaar with the welfare schemes where benefits are transferred to citizens from the Consolidated Fund of India.

The Bench is hearing on a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law.Amit Shah meets Raman Singh at airport, discusses upcoming C'garh visit

India

pti-PTI

Raipur, Apr 4: BJP president Amit Shah held a meeting with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and other leaders of the state at the Raipur airport, during a brief stopover before proceeding on a tour of Odisha. Notably, the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh are due later this year.

Shah was at the airport for about one-and-a-half hours before leaving for his Odisha tour, Singh told reporters after the meeting. During the meeting, there was a discussion on Shah's upcoming visit to the state, the chief minister said.

Shah is likely to visit the state by this month-end when he will take a review of the tasks that he had assigned to the party office-bearers and the organisation during his visit in June last year, he said. The two leaders also discussed preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bijapur district on April 14, he said.

The prime minister would launch the 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme, the government's mega healthcare initiative, from Bijapur on the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, he said. Under the scheme, the government plans to open of 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres in the country to provide people-centric comprehensive primary health care. Also, an over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approx 50 crore beneficiaries) in the country will be provided treatment coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

Meanwhile, Shah also took stock of the Chhattisgarh government's recently concluded 'Lok Suraj' campaign, for redressal of public's grievances, and the 'Jansampark Abhiyan' (to connect with people across the state), Singh said.

The BJP chief was welcomed by party's state unit president Dharamlal Kaushik, general secretary (organisation) Pawan Sai, Rajya Sabha MP Saroj Pandey and other leaders at the airport.

PTIWho is Neerja Bhanot & How Pan Am-73 flight was hijacked in Sept 1986?

Arjun Rampal's brother-in-law booked for molesting air hostess, clicking her obscene pictures

India

oi-Madhuri

Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal's brother-in-law Amit Gill has been booked on Tuesday for allegedly molesting an air hostess, reports Mumbai Mirror. He also threatened her that he will share her nude photos online.

It is learnt that Gill had invited the woman to his Mumbai residence before she was leaving for Abu Dhabi. He spiked her drink and 'touched her private parts' and also filmed her obscene pictures.

Gill and the woman had met through a mutual friend at a suburban hotel in the Maharashtra capital.

"My common friend told me she had invested around Rs 80 lakh with Gill, and he was offering good returns. She advised me to also invest with Gill and said he could also help me get the Rs 5 lakh a friend in Dubai owed to me, as he [Gill] knew several people in there," Mumbai Mirror quoted the victim as saying.

However, turns out that Gill neither gave the principal amount back to her, not did he give the interest which came out to be Rs 6 lakh.

The incident came to light after the air hostess decided to reach out to the Police and file a complaint in the matter.

A case has been registered under sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc), 354 (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).This toxic foam can be hazardous to health

According to reports, the foam is toxic and reports say it is carcinogenic. It causes breathing difficulties, irritation on the skin, besides spreading an unbearable stench. Whenever it rains, the lake overflows, spilling the froth onto roads, blocking traffic.

Dumping of untreated waste is the main reason behind frothing

Taking note of the cringeworthy state of the lake, the national green tribunal had last year asked Karnataka government to file replies on a PIL that was filed.

Foam has become a major problem for residents in vicinity of the lake

Each time a frothing incident takes place, the government including the civic authorities and district in-charge minister make fresh promises, none of which have materialised.

Last year, the foam had spilled onto the streets

Last year in September, due to heavy rainfall froth from Bellandur lake spilt on to the streets. Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) had claimed to have cracked down on industrial effluents, action on domestic effluents remained primarily through notices.Cops debunk rape complaint, woman immolates self outside Yogi Adityanath's house

India

oi-Madhuri

A 32-year-old married woman from Barabanki, who was allegedly raped by her maternal uncle, tried to immolate herself near Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence in Lucknow on Tuesday. The police had slapped 'weaker' charges against those people who had allegedly raped her.

The incident happened at around noon at the chauraha near the CM's residence. The woman suffered 40 per cent burns and was immediately shifted to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civil Hospital. The victim is currently in critical condition.

The woman had earlier alleged that on September 3, the maternal Uncle of her husband and another unidentified person raped her. At that time, the police refused to lodge any complaint under the influence of her rapists. She has since been running door to door of senior police officials but no action was initiated.

Later, on the advice of her relatives, the woman reached Lucknow to lodge her complaint directly with the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his 'Janata Darbar'. Since the chief minister was not in town, a frustrated woman poured kerosene on her body and walked towards the CM's residence.

According to the police, as per their previous investigation, it was revealed that the woman had not been raped and instead filed a fake case over a monetary dispute. However, after the self-immolation attempt, SP of Barabanki has been asked to review the whole matter.

''During our inquiry, we scanned the CDR of the mobile phones of the accused to find he was not present in or around the area mentioned in the complaint. Even the locals said the allegation was false," Asandara police station officer, Dhirendra Kumar Verma was quoted as saying.

Verma said, ''The woman and her husband had purchased a truck with a bank loan. When they failed to pay EMI, the bank seized the truck. The couple later filed the fake rape case to force the uncle to repay. When we got to know this, we filed the charge sheet against the uncle under IPC section 406 (criminal breach of trust).''

Meanwhile, Additional Director General (ADG), Lucknow zone, Rajeev Krishna said that the SP of Barabanki will review the whole matter. "There won't be any action right now (against police). As per the CrPC and the law, the investigating officer (IO) is the authority to decide."Maharashtra: 15-year-old girl gangraped multiple times in Thane; 33 booked, two minors among 26 held so far

DTE MCA CET 2018 Results declared, steps to check

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

DTE MCA CET 2018 Results have been declared by DTE Maharashtra. The results are available on the official website.

The Department of Technical Education (DTE) Maharashtra held MAH MCA CET exam on March 3, 2018. MCA CET results will be used for admission to the first year / direct second year postgraduate technical courses in Computer Application in Maharashtra state.

The Government of Maharashtra has established "admissions regulating authority and state common entrance test cell" as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions & Fees) Act. 2015.

The Commissioner of State CET Cell is Competent Authority for conducting CETs for admission to various courses in professional courses. Director, Technical Education, Maharashtra State, Mumbai shall act as Nodal Officer for conducting the CETs under Technical Education. The results are available on dtemaharashtra.gov.in.

How to check DTE MCA CET 2018 Results:

Go to DTE CET website, dtemaharashtra.gov.in

Click on the link "Click Here for MCA 2018 Result"

Enter registration number

Submit

View your results

Download results

Take a printoutFuelling violence for the sake of votes is 'political corruption': Shiv Sena

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Summing up the recent developments across the country, the Shiv Sena, in the editorial of its mouthpiece Saamna, launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre. The editorial pulled up the Union Government over the violence during a nationwide bandh by Dalits to protest the softening of provisions of the SC/ST Act and said it reflected 'weak leadership' at the Centre.

Saamna editorial also raked up the multi-crore Punjab National Bank scam, saying that while diamond jeweller Nirav Modi "looted" the nation, the present government was "breaking" the country.

Sena also slammed the BJP for accusing the Congress of fuelling violence with an eye on votes and said if the same logic is true then it would also hold true for riots in Asansol (West Bengal).

The Asansol-Raniganj belt had witnessed clashes between two groups over Ram Navami celebrations, resulting in the death of one person. Two police officers were also injured in the clashes.

"Creating a social divide and fanning riots for the sake of votes is political corruption. Nirav Modi looted the nation, however, the present dispensation is breaking the nation," the Sena said, lashing out at the ruling NDA.

If PM Modi is famous among the masses, he should have made attempts to stop Dalits from indulging in violence, said the Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.

Six people were killed in Madhya Pradesh, two in Uttar Pradesh and one in Rajasthan in the wake of the nationwide shutdown call given by Dalits who were protesting against the Supreme Court verdict on the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Other states hit with violence included Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi.

Congress Rahul Gandhi tweeted,"Keeping Dalits at the bottom of the society is in the RSS/BJP's DNA. Those who challenge this thinking, they suppress them with violence. Thousands of Dalit siblings are now on the streets demanding protection of their rights from the Modi government. We salute them."

"We were not part of the initial Supreme Court judgment. We have come up with a strong, comprehensive review petition and filed it in the apex court. "We, the government, do not agree with the judgment of the Supreme Court. We are committed to the Dalits. We want Dalits to progress and we are at their service," said Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Some BJP leaders also blamed the Congress for inciting Dalits over the matter.

The Supreme Court had on March 20 diluted the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, in a bid to protect honest public servants discharging bona fide duties from being blackmailed with false cases under the Act.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)As Karnataka polls on May 12, here are the top ten constituencies to watch out for

In poll-bound Karnataka, aircrafts of Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi searched

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

In the poll-bound Karnataka, the special aircrafts of both Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah were searched after they landed at the Hubbali airport. The presidents of the Congress and BJP are in Karnataka on a poll campaign. Elections in Karnataka would be held on May 12 while counting will take place on May 15.

The exercise involving three district-level officers was described by officials as being in line with the Election Commission's directive to ensure free and fair elections in Karnataka.

"It was a random search by a team led by (election) nodal officer Karpale. We searched the planes in which Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah had arrived. It was not intentional," Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad district S B Bommanahalli said.

Shah and Gandhi arrived by separate planes at Hubballi airport from New Delhi.

Soon after their arrival, a team led by election nodal officer Karpale and Hire Gowda and Yogananda searched the planes to check for possible poll code violations.

"We did not find anything in the luggage. There were two other people with Shah. We did not check their names," Gowda told reporters after completing the search operation.

Gandhi, on the fifth leg of Karnataka tour, left for Shivamogga and addressed public meetings there and in Davangere.

Shah, also on the fifth lap of Karnataka tour, addressed an Other Backward Classes convention at Kaginele in Haveri district and had an interaction with the seers of Veerashaiva community at Shivayogi Mandir in Badami taluk of Bagalkot district.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Is Modi govt giving step-motherly treatment to states ruled by opposition parties?

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi, April 4: The biggest challenge the Narendra Modi government at the Centre is facing today is the "united protest" lodged by all the opposition parties. After the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) left the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over the issue of grant of special category status to Andhra Pradesh, almost all the opposition parties have decided to join hands to fight the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections together.

Continuing with its efforts to bring together all opposition parties under one roof, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said that regional parties must join hands with the TDP to raise concerns over the "injustice" meted out by the NDA government at the Centre to states ruled by opposition parties.

The TDP chief, on his first visit to Delhi after his party snapped ties with the ruling NDA, said his priority was to press the Centre to give a special status and funds to Andhra Pradesh.

"Today my priority is my state. We quit the NDA because the government was ignoring our demands. This is injustice," Naidu, who met several opposition leaders in the national capital on Tuesday, said.

The CM also had discussions with Hema Malini and Jayant Sinha of the BJP and leaders of some NDA allies. He pointed out that regional and Left parties had supported the TDP's efforts in Parliament to bring in a no-confidence motion.

"We are thankful to them. We need their support to pressure the Centre so that states are not ignored." Naidu said. A TDP leader said Naidu had told his party MPs that he would not "beg" for a special status for Andhra Pradesh and that there was little chance of any kind of a reconciliation with the NDA.

Naidu, who met the party leaders in Parliament, also discussed the special status issue with Left leaders. "We all met. We discussed the issue of a special status for Andhra Pradesh.We also questioned the trustworthiness of the Prime Minister. We discussed how frustrating it is for members of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh," CPI(M) leader Mohammad Salim said after meeting Naidu.

He said the Left leaders assured Naidu that they supported him. "We said we are all with him.We should all combine the issues and take on the government on the floor of the house rather than going to the well. He was very appreciative of that," Salim said, adding that Naidu endorsed the proposal to move together.

Naidu also had a "fruitful meeting" with Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders on the opposition strategy followed in Parliament which helped the TDP garner support from other parties.

"Naidu thanked the TMC for its strong support to the no-confidence motion notice brought in by the TDP," TMC MP Derek O'Brien said. Among the other issues discussed by Naidu and the leaders were the proposals of the 15th Finance Commission and coordination between like-minded parties.

He also met leaders from the Congress, SP, BSP, AIADMK, DMK and Shiv Sena. Naidu met Veerappa Moily of the Congress, Sharad Pawar of the NCP and Harsimrat Kaur Badal of SAD.

The meetings that took place at the Central Hall of Parliament were aimed at garnering support for the no-confidence motion against the NDA government.

Naidu met Farooq Abdullah (NC), Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), D Raja (CPI), V Maitreyan (AIADMK), Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal) and Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party), among others, a statement issued by the chief minister's media unit said.Is PM Modi scared of firing Yashwant Sinha from BJP?

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi, April 4: There is no doubt that the Narendra Modi government is mighty miffed with two senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders--Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha--for continuously raising questions against it. While actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha has indicated that he might fight the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections as an "independent candidate", the former finance minister Yashwant Sinha stated that he won't leave the party.

Recently, the former finance minister was trolled by supporters of the BJP government for meeting West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the national capital. Senior Sinha in detail documented how he was abused on Twitter by "bhakts" in a column he wrote for NDTV. In the column, senior Sinha said that "he (PM Modi) cannot fire me because he is scared". Read the entire column below to know the kind of torment the veteran leader had to endure on Twitter:

I have not been a great admirer of social media and have kept away from it generally all this while. My wife is on Facebook and I was aware of the rubbish which was uploaded through it.

I kept telling her that the opinions expressed were not really representative of the ground reality, that it only provided an opportunity to irresponsible elements to vent their ire against people they did not like - and that too in a language that was often uncivilised and offensive.

A year ago, however, I myself fell victim to the urge when I allowed my friends to persuade me to join Twitter. Since the number of characters in Twitter is limited, I imagined that the scope for mischief would also be limited. How wrong was I?

Shatrughan Sinha and I met Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, on the afternoon of March 28. No sooner did the news become public on social media than the trolls got after me with the vilest of abuses on Twitter.

Many of the trolls referred to Mamata Banerjee as "Mamata Bano", described her as being strongly pro-Muslim and totally anti-Hindu; referred to the communal clashes taking place in Asansol and Raniganj and how Hindus were being allowed to be butchered by Muslims under her rule; accused me of hobnobbing with such undesirable elements and roundly condemned me for joining hands with her.

When I could not take it anymore, I decided to respond and tweeted late in the evening the same day that "a simple thing like meeting an old ministerial colleague from the Vajpayee days like Mamata Banerjee has upset the trolls so much that they are resorting to pure abuse. Shows that the message has gone home. Keep it up, Bhakts."

This was clearly a mistake on my part, for it let loose a new avalanche of the vilest abuses by trolls. This time they went further and accused me of betraying the BJP, of being a traitor to the cause, and warning me of dire consequences. Some of them criticised me for jeopardising the career of my son, and even went to the extent of doubting his paternity!

My tweet though was retweeted 1,671 times and had 4,103 'likes'. When the abuses got even worse and would not stop, I tweeted the next day: "Sorry to note that social media has become a platform for anti-social elements to abuse and curse those they are told to abuse and curse. Shows the depths to which we have descended as a society.

Can anyone justify such vile abuses?" To this somebody responded by saying that social media had provided a mechanism and voice to common people and an opportunity to call the bluff of journalists and politicians. I responded to this tweet as follows, "Express your views by all means. But do it without abusing others."

This brought some support for me but also another torrent of abuse. The trolls accused me of doing what I was doing because I was marginalised and not given a post by Prime Minister Modi, that I was prepared to go to any extent for 'kursi' which had been the sole aim of my life all along. Some trolls went to the extent of saying that if I dared to criticise Narendra Modi/Amit Shah, then I deserved worse treatment.

On April 1, when it was said that my status in the BJP was like a torn shoe which truck drivers hang in front of their trucks, that I had become totally irrelevant in politics and that Modi would not throw me out of the party and make me a martyr, I responded by saying, "He cannot fire me because he is scared."

This again led to a flood of abuse. I responded to one by saying, "Your abusing me shows I am still relevant.' At this stage I was travelling by car between Pune and Mumbai and my internet was fortunately working. I noticed that the trolls would not give up.

They kept haranguing me, abusing me, challenging me and praising the powers that be. I again made the mistake of responding, perhaps because I had time on my hands, and therefore tweeted as follows, "I did not realise that a simple tweet from me would lead to so many dogs barking. Please continue to bark. I am enjoying it."

All hell broke loose after this. I tweeted again, and again all hell broke loose, after which I closed the chapter by saying, "I am taking the advice of well-wishers and not responding now so that I deny the trolls their Rs. 10 per abuse." The abuses have not stopped, the trolls are still cursing me and it is going on and on.

What is the narrative the troll are using against me? For want of anything else to accuse me of, their constant refrain is that I want a job even at this ripe old age and I am frustrated because Modi will not give me one; that I am useless in any case and do not deserve any post; that Modi has done right by casting me aside and making me irrelevant; that he is smarter than Vajpayee whom I had conned into giving me important jobs in his government; that I am a 'nalayak' (ill -intentioned) father who does not even bother about the future of his son; that I should retire, go to the jungle and spend the rest of my life in spiritualism and in seeking God.

The second part of the narrative is more dangerous. According to this, by criticising a Prime Minister who has been elected by hundreds of crores of people of this country, I am behaving like a traitor and an anti-national who deserves nothing except abuses. Modi is not only India, he is the world, so goes the refrain. Anyone who does not agree with this should be drowned in the sea.

Social media has clearly become anti-social. One can block, bar, "unfriend' those that one does not like but that will not shut them up. They will carry on except for the fact that you will not see what they are saying against you. As lots of people have told me, some of our netas maintain an army of trolls who are paid to abuse people they do not like.

The trolls are generally less educated or uneducated, are ignorant, know nothing about people they are asked to abuse and their backgrounds, and tweet what they are given to tweet without thinking, without verifying. Some of their abuses are unprintable.

If such language is used for those in power, the law of the land is enforced without losing any time. But that is the privilege of the high and mighty, not of ordinary mortals like me. The choice before me is stark - walk out of social media and avoid those heartaches, or continue, face the criticism and go on challenging the narrative.

I have enough strength of character to settle for the latter.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 13:46 [IST]Ktaka polls: Rahul, wholl be Congress CM candidate, Siddaramaiah or Kharge? BJP wants to know

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bengaluru, April 4: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to know who will be the Congress' chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections. While the BJP has announced former CM BS Yeddyurappa as its CM candidate, the Congress is yet to officially name any leader as the prospective man to hold the top job if the party comes to power in the state once again.

Attacking the Congress, Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda demanded that the party president Rahul Gandhi should declare the party's CM candidate before the elections. Gowda, who was also the state's former CM, said that while the incumbent Congress CM Siddaramaiah is a "self-declared" CM candidate, son of veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyank Kharge, too has named his father as the future CM of Karnataka.

"Kharge's son has declared that his father would be the CM and Siddaramaiah is a self-declared candidate. Rahul Gandhi should make it clear," Gowda tweeted in Kannada.

Recently, the Election Commission (EC) announced the polling and counting dates for Karnataka. While the polling for the 224-member Legislative Assembly will take place on May 12, the counting of votes will be held on May 15 in the southern state.

Both the BJP and the Congress often don't declare the names of their respective CM candidates during state elections. Sometimes the tactic work in favour of the parties, at times it backfires too. Now, it needs to be seen if the Congress will follow in the footsteps of the BJP and name either Siddaramaiah or Kharge as its CM candidate.

Many say that the BJP asking the Congress to declare its CM candidate is a ploy to divide the party in Karnataka. "It is a well-known fact that Siddaramaiah will be made the CM of the state once again, if the party wins the polls. The BJP has no other issue so it is trying to bring division in the Congress," alleged a Congress leader.Bengaluru comes out against Mahadayi verdict amidst cries of "we want justice"

Industries need not wait for statutory clearances for 3 yrs, can start work in K'taka

Ktaka polls: Will scientist-turned-AAP leader be able to defeat Jagadish Shettar in his home turf?

India

oi-Maitreyee

Bengaluru, April 4: In this election season, Karnataka's Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency will witness a classic David versus Goliath battle. If on the one hand, it is former chief minister and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jagadish Shettar, on the other hand is debutant politician from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Santosh Nargund. While the AAP in March has announced that 41-year-old Nargund, an aerospace specialist and seasoned civic activist, will contest the Karnataka Assembly elections from the prestigious Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency, the BJP is yet to announce its first list of candidates for the upcoming polls.

Nonetheless, it is obvious that it will be Shettar who will fight the elections from the constituency which has sent him to the state Assembly as its representative for a record five-time. If the 62-year-old BJP leader once again contest elections from the Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency and win it too, then he will definitely create a new record.

Recently, the Election Commission (EC) announced the polling and counting dates for Karnataka. While the polling for the 224-member Legislative Assembly will take place on May 12, the counting of votes will be held on May 15 in the southern state.

When OneIndia met Nargund recently in Bengaluru, the self-confessed political novice who is busy campaigning door-to-door in his hometown, said that his fight is against the "misrule" of Shettar for more than two decades in Hubli-Dharwad.

"The city has become unlivable. There is a mess all around Hubli-Dharwad. It has turned into a village without any modern amenities," said Nargund, who was a former scientist with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

"Lack of administration and mismanagement by the sitting MLA Shettar is the reason behind all the problems of Hubli-Dharwad. I want to bring change in Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency and that is why I have joined politics," said the soft-spoken AAP leader, who has the credit of filing hundreds of RTI applications.

The twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad, considered to be the second-largest conurbation in Karnataka after Bengaluru, today is reeling under severe water scarcity, lack of garbage disposal system, massive traffic congestion, lack of green cover and depleting lakes, to name a few problems.

The main grouses of the 2.3 lakh voting population of the constituency are that they get water supply only once in 10 days, garbage is strewn all over places and the promised multi-crore Hubli-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit System is still waiting for completion.

"The pride of North Karnataka, Hubli-Dharwad, has been left abandoned by Shettar. He is answerable to our problems. Unfortunately, he is making tall claims that his constituency has 24X7 water supply and all, which are big lies," said retired government employee Somnath BR, who clarified that he owes allegiance to no political party.

Since the BJP has already sensed "anti-incumbency" wave against Shettar in his home turf, sources stated that the leader of the Opposition in Karnataka might not contest election from his "favourite" constituency as there is a lot of anger against him. "The party will soon announce the list of candidates for the upcoming elections. The first list is likely to have big names from the BJP. We will soon know from where Shettar will contest polls," said a BJP leader from Bengaluru, who did not wish to be named.

The Congress too is toying with the idea of fielding a strong leader against Shettar from the constituency. So, thus Nargund, has an edge over his opponents in his debut election?

"I have almost 15 years of civic work behind me. I was working with the DRDO and later with private firms in Bengaluru, however, I always used to visit my hometown to do work for my fellow people," said Nargund.

Nargund's commitment to his native place is well-established by the list of work which he has done so far. Some of the works which he has done as an activist and listed on the AAP website are:

 Filed hundreds of RTI applications and conducted social audits to prevent misuse of government funds of crores of rupees

 Prevented loot of 123 acres of government land valued at over Rs 3000 crores through PIL

 Travelled throughout the state to conduct awareness among citizens about Sakala Act, to get their government work done without paying bribes and without delays

 Responsible for planting over 60,000 trees so far

 Continuously engaged in saving lakes of Hubli-Dharwad

 Helped thousands of people and institutions in converting solid waste to compost manure to make the city clean

 Set up several Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) facilities across the city

 Practising chemical-free farming as a natural/organic Farmer

 Introduced eco-friendly electric auto rickshaw service 'nimma P.A.' with Women Drivers and operating with fare meters for the first time in Hubli and the country.

But does an activist stand any chance against seasoned leaders like Shettar who belongs to the country's biggest party? "I have been doing a door-to-door campaign for the last three months now. I can gauge people's sentiments. They want change and they are tired of misrule," smiled Nargund.

However, Nargund, whose father PS Nargund, a much-respected mazdoor union leader, is not detached from the reality of electoral politics. "We are trying our best, but winning elections against money and muscle power is a hard task. We are challenging the traditional system," signed off Nargund.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Karnataka election may be the last where netas can contest from two seats

Karnataka election: With son shaky in Chittapur will father Kharge return to bail him out?

The man who has not missed a single Karnataka election since the first in 1952

Karnataka Election: Nitish Kumars JD(U) to contest 30 seats on its own

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Karnataka Assembly Election 2018 got more crowded with Nitish Kumar of the JD(S) stating that his party would contest around 25 to 30 seats. The move comes in the wake of the party trying to increase its presence beyond Bihar.

Currently, the party has just one MLA in Nagaland outside Bihar. It had another MLA in Gujarat, but Chhotubhai Vasava switched over to the Sharad Yadav faction and floated a party called the Bharatiya Tribal Party.

The party has indicated that it would contest the election on its own. In Bihar, the party is in power with the support of the BJP.

Karnataka poll date leak: Final report in two days

Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar would be visiting Karnataka on April 11. On that day he would formally launch the election campaign.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Karnataka: Will Congress not allow Kumaraswamy to be CM for full 5-year term?

Is it chief minister Kumaraswamy or chief manager of Congress Ktaka ATM? BJP has an answer

All is well between Congress, JD(S)? Kumaraswamy meets Rahul as Karnataka waits for full cabinet

Karnataka elections 2018: Anti-corruption activist begins 'One Vote, One Note' campaign in Bengaluru

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

It was way back in 1952 Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP) candidate Shantaveri Gopala Gowda started 'one note, one vote' campaign in Shimoga district of Karnataka. Inspired by Shantaveri Gopala Gowda, Ravikrishna Reddy restarted the 'one note, one vote' campaign in Jayanagar. Ravikrishna Reddy is President at Forum for Building Bribe Free Karnataka.

As the Election Commission gears up to keep a check on the money factor in the upcoming Assembly polls, voters of Jayanagar constituency witnessed an independent candidate asking them not just for votes, but 'notes' too.

Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav, environmental and anti-corruption activist SR Hiremath and Kannada writer Devanuru Mahadeva flagged off Ravikrishna Reddy's 'one note, one vote' campaign in Jayanagar 4th block.

Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav, " Everyone wants change, this will happen when we take time to changing this country." I know Ravikrishna for years "One vote One note is a great idea. Politics is all about money-power-more money. We should break this nexus by this campaign." Yadav was the first among the supporters to contribute to Ravikrishna Reddy's fund. "I cant vote here (Bangaluru), but can give 'note'," Yadav added.

Ravikrishna Reddy thanked Dr. K Shivaram, Rtd Assistant Director Veterinary Department, for donating two-month pension amount to his campaign.

K Shivaram said, "In these days it is difficult to find honest people. I am always against corruption. We should make a beginning to see that honest person win the election. If one honest person gets elected then many Ravikrishna Reddy will come up. One vote One vote One note is a beginning. so that common people should think about the system."

On the other hand, a few local residents appreciated the Ravikrishna Reddy's initiative, however, doubted the effectiveness of the campaign.

"People are adjusted to corruption.'One vote One note' seems to be a good campaign.However, not only politicians but also people are corrupt to the core. Corruption is deeply rooted in our society. We have reached a stage where people are not ready to vote without taking money".Karnataka: Will Congress not allow Kumaraswamy to be CM for full 5-year term?

Is it chief minister Kumaraswamy or chief manager of Congress Ktaka ATM? BJP has an answer

All is well between Congress, JD(S)? Kumaraswamy meets Rahul as Karnataka waits for full cabinet

Karnataka elections 2018: Firebrand Hindu leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal joins BJP amid fanfare

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Amid fanfare, former union minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a function held at party headquarters in Bengaluru on Wednesday. BJP State President BS Yeddyurappa, MLC V Sommanna welcomed the leader. Also, JD(S) MLA Basavaraj Khuba, Nagappa Saaloni and another former union minister Basavaraj Patil Anwari joined the party.

Yatnal's joining the party was a much-awaited political development ahead of the assembly polls in Karnataka. His homecoming is considered as a boost to the saffron party in the North Karnataka region amid Lingayat-Veerashaiva religion issue raised by the Congress. Currently, Yatnal is an independent member of the legislative council.

Yeddyurappa said, "Many Congress, JDS leaders are in touch with me. Former Congress MLA Malikayya Guttedar has assured that he will formally join the party on April 8-9 and is all set to bring few more leaders to the BJP. "

"Yatnal and others joining the party BJP will definitely help BJP win 150 seats in the elections. Besides, we will win all the assembly seats in his home district Vijayapur (Bijapur)," Yeddyurappa said.

Supporters were brimming with joy for their leaders joining the party. Basanagouda Patil Yatnal's supporters hailed him as Hindu Huli (Tiger) of north Karnataka. They are relieved that their leader has a place in the saffron party.

Yatnal was in Janata Dal (Secular) for three years and quit the party as State general secretary in ahead of 2013 general election. Then speculations were rife that he would join the BJP sooner or later. Yatnal joined the party a month after he was invited by BJP national president Amit Shah to meet him in Delhi for talks, ahead of the assembly polls in the state.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Karnataka elections 2018: Party worker attempts suicide as Basanagouda Patil Yatnal returns to BJP

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

A BJP worker attempted suicide by consuming poison to express his discontent over former union minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal joining BJP on Wednesday. He was rushed to the hospital and said to be out of danger. BJP State President BS Yeddyurappa, MLC V Sommanna welcomed the leader. Also, JD(S) MLA Basavaraj Khuba, Nagappa Saaloni and another former union minister Basavaraj Patil Anwari joined the party.

Also, BJP workers protested outside the party office in Bijapur as Yatnal formally joined the BJP in Bengaluru on Wednesday. According to reports, Bijapur district MLAs and senior leaders are not happy with Yatnal's return to the BJP. Local and district leaders is miffed with the party leadership for inducting Basanagouda Patil Yatnal without taking them into confidence.

Yatnal's joining the party was a much-awaited political development ahead of the assembly polls in Karnataka. His homecoming is considered as a boost to the saffron party in the North Karnataka region amid Lingayat-Veerashaiva religion issue raised by the Congress. Currently, Yatnal is an independent member of the legislative council.

More details are waited.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Karnataka elections: Tough battle ahead for Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to contest his 'last election' from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru. In the 2013 elections, Siddaramaiah had won from Varuna constituency, which is considered a safe seat for the incumbent CM. Siddaramaiah has decided to field his son Dr Yathindra, who will be making his electoral debut, from Varuna seat this time around.

Siddaramaiah won five times from Chamundeshwari between 1983 and 2008. First time as an independent. Second time on Janata Party, third time on Janata Dal, fourth time on JDS and the last time on Congress ticket.

Siddaramaiah has been in Mysuru for around four days now and touring his constituency to connect with the people. Despite having won from Chamundeshwari, it may not be easy for him to repeat the feat for several reasons.

The current MLA of Chamundeshwari is JD (S)' GT Deve Gowda who is a strong leader in Mysore district. In this constituency, Vokkaligas constitute the dominant community, followed by the Kurubas, Nayaks, Lingayats and Dalits. Vokkaligas are considered JD (S)'s vote bank and have traditionally voted for HD Deve Gowda-led party.

GT Devegowda has been openly inviting Siddaramaiah to contest from Chamundeshwari against him. His confidence stems from the fact that two influential leaders -- Dalit leader V Srinivasa Prasad and former Congress MP A H Vishwanath- are backing him. V Srinivasa Prasad, who joined BJP after a public spat with Siddaramaiah, has vowed to defeat him this time. Speaking to News18, he said, "Siddaramaiah has insulted all Dalits by humiliating me. We will teach him a lesson this time."

Siddaramaiah would hope to get the support of the Kuruba and Lingayat communities. Siddaramaiah is from Kuruba community, but caste politics may not work here as the voters see him as their chief minister, not as a Kuruba or OBC.

Siddaramaiah's move to field his son from Varuna may also be seen by the people as an attempt to promote dynasty politics. The has also not given a strong reason for choosing Chamundeshwari seat over Varuna. He, in fact, expressed his dilemma when he told voters that the people of Varuna also wanted him to contest but he opted for Chamundeshwari.

Finally, Siddarmaiah has resorted to making a sentimental appeal to the voters by saying that this is his 'last election'. This sentimental appeal may work to an extent but what people really want is development. A News 18 report says that people of Chamudeshwari feel that he has not done enough for their villages. When Siddaramaiah told them that it was the fault of current JDS MLA G T Deve Gowda, they shut his mouth by saying that being a chief minister he could have released funds for the development work, the report further said.

So, all in all, Siddaramaiah is taking a huge risk just to make the entry of his son into politics easy. This is exactly the way his move to not contest from Varuna will be seen, and this perception is going to hurt the Siddaramaiah.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Karnataka polls: Rahul Gandhi visits Tumkur's Siddaganga Mutt

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Congress President Rahul Gandhi visited the Siddaganga Mutt here on Wednesday as a part of his two-day visit to Karnataka. Accompanied by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and senior Congress leaders, Rahul also met the mutt's pontiff Shivakumara Swami to seek his blessings ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Gandhi is on a two-day campaign in central Karnataka, which faces an intense battle between the ruling Congress and the BJP, ahead of state assembly polls on May 12.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi accused the Narendra Modi government of "disrespecting" and "demolishing" various institutions by having RSS men "sitting in every ministry and giving orders."

"Interacting with the city's traders here, Gandhi said if voted to power, the Congress would free these institutions from the RSS control", he said.

He also took a swipe at Modi over the rising prices of petrol and diesel and posted a video that dubbed him the "king of misinformation" on the issue.

The video of Modi talking about reducing petrol and diesel prices at a rally is interspersed with images of Bollywood actor Salman Khan bursting into peals of laughter.

"The poor and the middle class bear the brunt of rising fuel prices. In this video, our PM is quite obviously talking about some other country," Rahul Gandhi tweeted, using "#PeTrolled" as the hashtag.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15Names of doctors SK Sarin, Suresh Kumar, Sandeep Budhiraja to be sent for Padma awards: Delhi CM

Kejriwal govt calls for federal probe as CAG points to corruption in Delhi

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Delhi government would seek a federal investigation after the Comptroller and Auditor General flagged irregularities in the financial administration of the National Capital.

The Delhi government would seek a CBI probe into at least 50 instances of government resources being misused. Among the important findings tabled by deputy chief minister, Manish Sisodia in the Delhi Assembly was untracked funds amounting to Rs 7,270 crore and instances where ration shop owners cornered subsidised grains meant for the poor.

Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal said that none would be spared while promising exemplary action. At least 50 cases flagged by the CAG would be referred to the CBI for investigation, the government also said.

Not one toilet constructed under Swachh Bharat Mission in Delhi: CAG

In addition to financial irregularities, the CAG also highlighted cases of administrative oversight and inaction that resulted in delayed projects and inefficient operations.

According to the report, the government till March 31 last year failed to collect 3,105 utilisation certificates for Rs 7,269.69 crore released in grants. Of the total amount, 64% (amounting to Rs 4,939 crore) was outstanding for two to 10 years.Cannot order for use of traditional remedies like Red Ant Chutney as cure for COVID-19: SC

Dont want terrorists to know what software is being used: Centre to SC on Pegasus row

Cant make an exception says SC while rejecting plea seeking COVID-19 compensations for lawyers kin

SC declines Shree Padmanabha Swamy Temple Trust's plea to exempt it from audit of 25 years

Pegasus snooping row: SC to set up independent probe panel, give formal order next week

Ayodhya: SC trashes plea for summoning IICF Trust records says its interference in 2019 verdict

Madhya Pradesh: Curfew to remain imposed in Gwalior, Bhind and Morena

India

oi-Madhuri

Tension continued in Madhya Pradesh, two days after the Dalit protests triggered violent clashes in North India, with the death toll rising to 11 with two more deaths were reported on Tuesday in Madhya Pradesh, and the homes of Dalit politicians were set on fire in Rajasthan.

Meanwhile, Curfew will remain imposed in various areas of Gwalior, Bhind and Morena, to be relaxed only between 10 am and 12 noon.

Internet services restored in Gwalior, while it remains suspended in Bhind and Morena.

50 people were arrested for pelting stones at a police party in Morena on Tuesday.

Monday's protests in Madhya Pradesh left seven people dead and 175 injured, including 51 policemen.

Arms licenses in Bhind district's Mehgaon, Gohad and Machhand to remain suspended following incidents of violence during protests over SC/ST Act.

In Rajasthan, a mob of nearly 5,000 people burnt down the houses of a sitting and a former MLA - both Dalits - in Hindaun town, Karauli district.NDA MPs give up salary to protest Parliament disruptions

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

NDA lawmakers have decided to not take salary and allowances for 23 days as Parliament has not been functional.

Speaking to reporters, Union Minister Ananth Kumar said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance (BJP-NDA) MPs have decided not to take salary and allowances for 23 days as Parliament has not been functional.

The Congress, along with other opposition parties had stopped important bills from being passed, which led to a "criminal wastage" of the taxpayer's money, the parliamentary affairs minister told reporters.

"We discussed the issue with the prime minister, the BJP president and other NDA constituents and decided to give up the salary of 23 days of the part II of the Budget session...the money is given to us to serve the people.

"BJP-NDA MPs have decided to not take salary & allowances for 23 days as the parliament has not been functional. This money is given to serve the people & if we are not able to do so we have no right to take the people's money," Kumar was quoted as saying by ANI.

He further hit out at the Congress party, "It's because of Congress's undemocratic politics that Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have not been functional. We're ready to talk about all the issues but they are not letting the houses function."

The decision is an effort to blame the opposition for the disruptions in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha that had moved a no-confidence motion against the government.

Both the houses of Parliament on Wednesday once again witnessed disruptions for the 20th consecutive day. Apart from the passage of the Union Budget, no major Bill has been cleared during the session.

The second part of the session which began on March 5, is scheduled to end on Friday.

OneIndia NewsUP: Statue of BR Ambedkar that was painted saffron repainted to blue after outcry

Rahul to visit birthplace of Lord Parasuram and Ambedkar besides seeking blessings of Mahakaleshwar

No other govt honoured Ambedkar as we did: Modi

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Apr 4: Hitting out at political parties for politicising the legacy of B R Ambedkar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said no regime had honoured the Dalit icon like his government had.

The prime minister said his government had given Ambedkar his rightful place by completing projects conceived in his memory.

The 26, Alipur Road house where Ambedkar died would be dedicated to the nation on April 13 on the eve of his birth anniversary, Modi said. He was addressing a gathering at the inauguration of the Western Court annexe meant to provide accommodation to MPs.

Lamenting that everyone had dragged Ambedkar's name for political gains, Modi said it was his government that completed the Ambedkar international centre though the idea was conceived when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister. The previous UPA government had dragged its feet on the project for years, Modi said.

The PM's remarks come soon after widespread protests over a Supreme Court verdict putting in place safeguards to prevent misuse of a law to prevent atrocities of SCs and STs.

PTIKarnataka: Will Congress not allow Kumaraswamy to be CM for full 5-year term?

Is it chief minister Kumaraswamy or chief manager of Congress Ktaka ATM? BJP has an answer

All is well between Congress, JD(S)? Kumaraswamy meets Rahul as Karnataka waits for full cabinet

Siddaramaiah's Lingayat resolution is a 'conspiracy' to mislead people: Amit Shah

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

BJP president Amit Shah continued his relentless attack on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the Karnataka government's proposal for granting separate religion status to the Lingayat community. Shah, who is campaigning in Karnataka these days, dubbed Siddaramaiah government's move as an attempt to stop BS Yeddyurappa from becoming chief minister of Karnataka.

The BJP and several sections of the society have accused the Siddaramaiah government of dividing society to draw political mileage ahead of the assembly elections.

The BJP chief slammed Congress government's demand in Karnataka to make Lingayat a separate religion and assured Veershaiva seers that there will be no division.

"Many have expressed concern over Siddaramaiah govt's resolution on Veershaiva-Lingayat community. This is nothing but a conspiracy to mislead people before the elections and stopping BS Yeddyurappa from becoming the CM. We will not let this happen," Amit Shah said.

Even on Saturday (March 31), Shah had alleged that Congress is playing minority status card for Lingayat community to prevent Yeddyurappa from becoming Chief Minister of Karnataka.

[Congress playing Lingayat card to stop Yeddyurappa from becoming CM: Amit Shah]

Siddaramaiah, in an interview published in the Economic Times, had rubbished BJP's allegations that his government's Lingayat move was aimed at stopping Yeddyurappa.

"That is not my intention. This is an initiative taken up by sections of Lingayats. The government has done what can be done under the law. We are not interested in whether Yeddyurappa is going to lose his community votes or not..I have no political intent. There has been a demand from the community. I did not establish the Lingayat religion or the demand for it. It was established by Basaveshwara.

The BJP is locked in a keen fight with the Congress in the Karnataka Assembly elections, scheduled for May 12.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 158 lakhs of the covishield and covaccine arrived to Tamilnadu

Police were in search of the murder and the beheaded of a young man in Dindugal

Tamilnadu police arrested more than 2 thousand history sheet rowdies across the state

Tamil Nadu bandh over Cauvery issue today: All you need to know

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Tamil Nadu will witness a state-wide bandh called by the DMK-led opposition parties on Thursday to condemn "the failure of the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) as per the Supreme Court direction and the indifference of the AIADMK government.

The day-long bandh will be backed by farmers, students, lawyers, traders, trade unions, film associations and others.

The decision for a statewide bandh was taken at an all-party meeting, convened by the DMK at the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam. The meeting was attended by several opposition parties in the state including the Congress, the CPI and CPM, VCK and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi among others.

No bus service between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka

In the wake of the bandh interstate, bus services between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will remain disrupted on Thursday. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has announced it will not operate its daytime buses and will decide on running night services by evening.

The vehicles especially buses from Tamil Nadu stopped its services at Hosur in Krishnagiri district on Wednesday midnight around 1 am.

Similarly, buses which already reached across Karnataka including Bengaluru asked to return to Hosur on or before 4 am on early Thursday morning.

Trains will run as usual

No train services will be affected. A senior official will be the South-Western Railway said that all trains that operate towards TN route and all of them will operate as per schedule.

Chennai's Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) is expected to run skeletal services since drivers affiliated to the trade union of the ruling AIADMK are likely to report to work.

Farmers in delta districts have decided to block trains in different areas. Workers of different parties will block main roads.

Govt offices to remain open

However, government offices, including those belonging to the Central Government, would continue to work on Thursday, as per reports.

Chemists Association to support the bandh

The Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association, which has over 30,000 members will join the traders association's agitation.

Petrol pumps to stay open

Fuel outlets in the State will not participate in the Opposition-sponsored bandh on Thursday. The 4,650 pumps in the State would remain open during the bandh since only certain political parties and organisations had called for it.

No disruption of milk supply

Tamil Nadu Milk Dealers Employees Welfare Association, said that members would provide in-principle support to the bandh. Milk shops would remain open and members have been asked to ensure milk supplies to consumers. Members would wear black badges.

However, since a section of retailers is participating in the bandh, they will not stock milk.

On Tuesday, The ruling AIADMK held a day-long hunger strike across the state with Chief Minister K Palanisami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam sitting on fast here while in districts, the protest was led by other ministers and party leaders.

The Supreme Court in its 16 February verdict had reduced the Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water from 177.25 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), which was less than 192 TMC allocated by a tribunal in 2007.

On the other hand, Karnataka's share of water was increased by 14.75 TMC.

The Centre has failed to set up the CMB within six weeks of the apex court's 16 February order. The deadline ended on 29 March.TN: 'Govt must form Cauvery Management Board', says Kamal Haasan

India

oi-Madhuri

Kamal Haasan, the actor-politician who recently launched his political party Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM), on Wednesday said that the Tamil Nadu government is acting subservient to the centre instead of standing up for the rights of the people of the state. He also said the government must set up a Cauvery Management Board (CMB).

Speaking to the media, Haasan said,''To our dismay, we are witnessing a repeat of what happened in 2016. While the responsibility of constituting with Centre, TN Govt cannot hallucinate that it fulfilled its duty by holding a farcical one day fast and filing a contempt petition.''

''We would bring to notice of the public at large, the key issue surrounding this dispute has also the possible solutions that we all need to work on,'' Hassan further said in a press meet in Trichy.

In February, the Supreme Court has directed Karnataka to release 177.25 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water to Tamil Nadu. This reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water by 14.75tmcft from the 192tmcft allocated by a tribunal in 2007. It also directed the centre to frame a "scheme" within six weeks to implement the decision.Link PAN with Aadhaar by this date, if not your PAN could become inoperative

Union Home Ministry advises states, UTs to make use Aadhaar for prison inmates, visitors

India

oi-Madhuri

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday has directed all the State and Union Territories to make use of Aadhaar for identification of visitors to jails to ensure that facilities are being availed by authorized individuals.

In a written reply to Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Mos Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said,''Prisons is a State subject as per entry 4 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The administration and management of prisons is primarily the responsibility of respective State Government.''

"However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has advised all States and Union Territories (UTs) to make use of Aadhaar for identification of visitors to ensure that facilities are being availed by authorized individuals," Ahir also told in the Lok Sabha.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also advised all States and UTs that prison inmates should also be Aadhaar seeded so that various aspects of day to day prison administration like production before court, return to prison, transport, health facilities, interview, free legal aid, parole, temporary release mechanism, educational/vocational training, release from prison etc. can be regulated by use of Aadhaar.Hyderabad rape case: The rapist will be caught and killed in encounter, Telangana minister

Viral picture of Hyderabad cop feeding homeless woman restores our faith in humanity

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Hyderabad, April 4: If you are thinking love, compassion and humanity are just bookish words; then you definitely need to rethink. The recent viral picture of a Hyderabad traffic policeman feeding a poor, old and destitute woman on a street reiterates our faith in humanity, which we thought is long "dead".

Thanks to the kind gesture of Kukatpally Traffic Police Station home guard, B Gopal, for feeding the homeless woman with his hands near Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), the picture of which went viral, today the old woman has a roof over her head.

On Monday, chief public relations officer to Telangana DGP, Harsha Bhargavi, tweeted to inform that the destitute woman has been shifted to an old age home.

"Not just left behind... the old woman is shifted by Cyberabad Police to Anand Ashramam (an old age home in) Cherlapally with the help of jail authorities," Bhargavi tweeted.

Not just left behind... the old woman is shifted by @cyberabadpolice to *Anandashramam, home, Cherlapally with the help of jail authorities @cpcybd @TelanganaDGP https://t.co/VuOo0MVYZd  Harsha Bhargavi (@pandiribhargavi) April 2, 2018

It is the tweet (below) accompanied by the picture of Gopal feeding the homeless woman that garnered wide-scale appreciation for the policeman who went beyond the call of duty to take care of a helpless person.

This gesture of Kukatpally traffic PS Home Guard B.Gopal (1275) towards a homeless woman by feeding her at JNTU shakes the heart @cpcybd @cyberabadpolice @TelanganaDGP @TelanganaCMO pic.twitter.com/tL7VO7Vt5J  Harsha Bhargavi (@pandiribhargavi) April 1, 2018

When reporters asked Gopal what pushed him to feed the woman, the cop said that he was moved by her deplorable state. He not only bought puris and curry for the old woman but also fed her with his hands as she was too weak to eat on her own. "I took care of the woman like my mother," Gopal said.

People on social media simply could not stop praising the traffic policeman.

This is called change, not only friendly police , also called social responsibility   Satya (@SatyaRajulapudi) April 1, 2018

This is real humanity..........great job Mr. B. Gopal, 1275, proud of you and your department, every "rich person thinks about poor" then our gdp and so called parameters may as high as ever and it never come down...........police should be a role model for society.....  Abdul Gafoor (@abdulgafoorhse) April 1, 2018

Really, we need more "heroes" like Gopal to look after those who have been abandoned by society.Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump

Thousands of terrorists might have been airlifted out of Kabul: Trump slams Biden

Never in history has withdrawal from war been handled so badly: Trump

US unveils list of 1,300 Chinese products for tariffs

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

The Trump administration on Tuesday, April 3, came out with a list of 1,300 Chinese exports worth $50 billion that the former is eyeing to impose tariffs on. The latest move comes as a retaliation to China's recent imposition of tariffs on 128 American goods which itself was a counter-measure to the USA's imposing steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

The Trump administration has planned the trade penalty vis-a-vis China for its alleged theft of secrets, technology and patents.

Many of the tariffs would target China's aerospace, tech and machinery industries while others would affect medical equipment, educational material and medicine.

China understandably condemned the US move saying it would take up the matter with the World Trade Organisation and take "corresponding measures of equal scale and strength against US products". The Chinese embassy in the US informed about it.

The latest tariffs by the US would not come into effect soon. The US administration will hold a public hearing for American businesses in May and the decision of tariffs could be applied after that.

Not all in the US are happy

The US business leaders, however, did not agree with the Trump administration's drastic step on China. They said though it rightly took up the problem aiming to restore fairness in Washington's trade with Beijing, its remedy was not right.

Top sources in the US Chamber of Commerce said that imposing taxes on goods that are used regularly by job creators and consumers in the US was not the solution to the problem. The commerce body is known to be a strong opponent of Trump's trade policies.

US lobbies working for the country's farmers have also appealed to the Trump administration to refrain from imposing the tariffs for they fear China would do the same, hurting the interest of the US farmers since the Asian power is one the largest buyers of their crops.

"We continue to urge the administration to listen to farmers across rural America who can't afford new taxes on their exports," CNN Money quoted Max Baucus, a former Democratic senator from Montana and co-chairman of Farmers for Free Trade, as saying.Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump

Trump to deploy military to Mexico border, till the wall comes up

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

It seems US President Donald Trump cannot get over his frustration for not being able to quicken the process of building a wall along the border with Mexico. A couple of days after threatening to kill the Daca deal and Nafta if Mexico did not stop sending drug and people into the US just after sending a greeting on the occasion of Easter, Trump said he had decided to ask the military to guard the US-Mexico border till the much talked about wall came up.

At a lunch meeting with leaders of the Baltic states on Tuesday, Trump said he spoke with US Defence Secretary James Mattis and decided to deal with the issue militarily. He said the US has "very bad laws" for its border and to overcome that, the US administration would guard the border with military forces. "That's a big step," the president said.

He said the US could not afford to allow illegal immigrants on its soil who disappeared and never showed up for legal hearings.

Trump clarified his position later at a joint press conference saying he was preparing to assign the task of securing the border to the American military and he would have more talks with Mattis and others on the issue in some time.

The recent federal spending bill that Trump signed reluctantly did not approve of such funds for the wall, making the president unhappy. And then the news of youngsters entering the US through Mexico border made him more apprehensive, said experts.

According to CNN, Trump privately spoke about funding the construction of the wall through the US military budget although initially, he wanted the Mexican authorities to pay for it - something the latter strongly refused.

Earlier US presidents too sent troops to Mexico border

However, Trump is the not first American president to send troops to the US-Mexico border.

In 2006, Operation Jump Start whereby National Guard personnel were deployed at the borders started and went on for two years. This operation, which took place during the reign of President George W Bush, saw over 6,000 troops being sent to states like California, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona to restore secondary border fence and build several metal barriers to stop illegal immigrants from entering the US territory.

Bush's successor Barack Obama also did the same in 2010 as part of a plan to secure the border though it was also his administration which had established the Daca policy. That year, officials said nearly 1,200 National Guard troops would be stationed along the US-Mexico border for up to one year to help the US Customs and Border Protection with vigilance and intelligence network.

At the state level too, the then Texas governor Rick Perry had said in 2014 about deploying near about 1,000 National Guard troops to protect the country's southern boundary.

Despite these precedents, Trump's announcement sounded surprising for many officials in Pentagon, a CNN report said, for many officials were not clear about what he meant by his words.

The report said either the states sharing a border with Mexico could send National Guard deployed by their own governors or the defence department could send National Guard personnel - either active or federally activated to carry out the duty of safeguarding the border.

The report also added that deploying federal troops require some procedures and documents - like an operational statement, a strategy and even an informal exit strategy. It also asks for identifying rotational forces.Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump

Nobody tougher than me on Russia: Trump pats his own back on Moscow policy

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

US President on Tuesday, April 3, reiterated his support for Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin saying good relations with Moscow were key but at the same time, nobody was tougher on Russia than him.

Trump of late has shown a complete non-alignment between his personal stand on Russia with that of the US state.

The president has congratulated Putin after the latter won his fourth presidential election and also expressed his desire to host a summit with Putin in Washington while at the same time, America's political and diplomatic circles have resented Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election and have supported the expulsion of several Russian diplomats from the US as a penalty for the poisoning of a former spy in Salisbury, England. Washington also cautioned Trump against congratulating Putin on his election win but the president did not pay heed to it.

Trump defended his action saying having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing and most agree with that, "except very stupid people". He also patted his own back saying nobody has been tougher than himself on Moscow.

Trump's critics, however, said the president neither took up the election interference nor the spy poisoning issue with Putin during their talks, suggesting that he was not ruthless enough while facing the Moscow strongman.

Trump praises Baltic states for Nato spending

Trump's latest remarks on Russia came at his luncheon meeting with leaders from the three Baltic states - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia -- that border Russia and have a disturbing history of dealing with a hit.

The Baltic presidents, following their meeting with Trump, vowed to carry on with their Nato's defence-spending responsibilities hoping that it would only strengthen the security in the alliance's eastern side where Russia lies.

The Baltic heads of government also requested Trump to contribute more to deter the Russians by increasing the US military presence in the region but the latter did not commit to any fresh military deployment and instead praised the three countries for meeting their responsibilities on Nato's defence spending. He said other member countries of the Nato should follow suit.

Trump has shown a major disappointment with the Nato's functioning after coming to power saying its members were not doing enough in spending, a statement which had left many heads of state stunned and uncomfortable in Brussels in May 2017, when Trump went there for his first Nato meeting.Trump's trade tariffs: China says its ready to retaliate

International

pti-PTI

Beijing, Apr 4: Expressing firm opposition to the new duties targeting USD 50 billion worth of Chinese products, China on Wednesday said it was ready take countermeasures in retaliation against the new round of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

"Disregarding strong representations by China, the US announced the tariff proposals that are completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes," China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said.

The Trump administration yesterday published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports that could be targeted for tariffs. The US plans to apply the tariffs to about USD 50 billion worth of goods to punish China for its alleged theft of trade secrets, including software, patents and other technology. Trump is demanding that China cut down USD 375 billion trade deficit by USD 100 billion in about a month.

China reacted sharply to the new tariffs, again raising fears of a trade war between the two largest economies of the world. The MOC said the US published the list in disregard of the mutually-beneficial and win-win nature of the China-US commercial cooperation of the past 40 years, the appeal of the Chinese and American business communities and the interests of consumers, it said.

The move went against the interests of China, the US and the world economy, violating the basic principles and spirit of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), it said. China has already slapped tariffs on 128 US products including wine and pork totalling to USD 3 billion in retaliation to Trump's move to impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium. China plans to immediately bring relevant US practice to the dispute settlement body of the WTO, and is ready to take countermeasures on US products with equal force and scale that will be published in the coming days, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have the confidence and ability to respond to any US trade protectionist measures," the MOC said. Yesterday, another Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media that China will not shy away from a trade war and fight till the end.

"We keep reiterating that China won't initiate a trade war, and a trade war is the last thing we want. However, we will not be afraid of it. If someone is bent on waging it and even closing in on our doorstep, then we will keep them company and let's see who last to the end," he said.

"China has the determination and capability to take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate and lawful rights and interests. They may have their list, but we also have our own," he said in comments posted on the Foreign Ministry's website and added that the door for negotiations is still open.

Trump signed a memorandum on March 22 that could impose tariffs on Chinese imports and restrictions on Chinese investment in the US. The memorandum is based on a Section 301 investigation, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017 into the alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices.

PTIUN lists Dawood as terrorist based in Islamabad, mentions Karachi address

International

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

The latest list of terror organisations and terrorists released by the UN Security Council lists 139 entities from Pakistan alone. India's most wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar is also among the list, who has held several passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, as per the United Nations Security Council.

The list, headed by Osama bin Laden's heir apparent Ayman al-Zawahiri, also includes Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The UN terror list is formulated after identifying the individuals who have lived in Pakistan and have links to outfits that have used the territory for carrying out subversive or terrorist activities.

According to the UN Security Council, Dawood has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, the report said. The UN claims that he owns a palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Noorabad, Karachi, it added.

The UN has even mentioned Dawood's address as Karachi, along with details of his family members.

Dawood, wanted in India as the mastermind of the Mumbai bomb blasts in 1993 and accused of crimes such as match-fixing and extortion, accrued a vast property portfolio across the Midlands and south-east in the UK as well as India, the UAE, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Cyprus and Australia.

LeT's Hafiz Saeed is listed as a person also wanted by Interpol for his involvement in terrorist activities. The LeT is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

Apart from them, Haji Mohammed Yahya Mujahid, LeT's media contact, and Hafiz Saeed's deputies, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal, are also listed. Like Hafiz Saeed, they are all wanted by the Interpol. The LeT is listed with its various aliases, such as al-Mansoorian, Paasban-i-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle Hadith, Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, the report said.

The UN data claims that first person on the list Ayman al-Zawahiri is still hiding somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, the report said. Several of his lieutenants are also on the list who, the UN believes, are hiding with him.

The report, however, did not give the total number of entries in the updated UNSC list.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 19:32 [IST]Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump

What is Daca deal that Donald Trump administration hates so much?

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

US President Donald Trump recently thundered against the Daca deal saying "caravans" of immigrants were heading to towards the US and would enter the country via the Mexico border, something the former strongly wants to fortify to prevent illegal immigrants who he thinks pose a grave threat to America's security.

{image-donald-trump-1522835231.jpg www.oneindia.com}

After tweeting "NO MORE DACA DEAL!", Trump followed it up with another tweet on the next day saying: "DACA is dead because the Democrats didn't care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon... No longer works..."

Now, what is this Daca deal that Trump described as one to protect several thousands of young immigrants who were brought to the US illegally as children?

What is Daca?

The Daca or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme is one which provides relief to certain unregistered immigrants - many of whom arrived in the US as minors - by safeguarding them from immediate deportation. The recipients, also called 'Dreamers', have the capacity to request "consideration of deferred action" for a period of two years, which could be renewed.

Daca, however, did not grant "legal status" anybody having a criminal past could not apply for the same. The aspirants should have been under 31 years of age as on June 2012; had to arrive in the US before 16 and continuously lived in the country since June 15, 2007. The applicants also need to have a high school diploma, general educational development certificate, honourable discharge from the military or still enrolled in school.

Established by the former Barack Obama administration in June 2012 to spend less time and money on low priority case, the Daca programme was always a cause of irritation for the Donald Trump administration because it thought it compromised America's national security.

What's the radius of Daca?

Nearly 8,00,000 'Dreamers' are under the Daca's scope and it is believed that Daca gave a security and certainty to kids who did not break the law.

Trump administration's stand on Daca

Last year, the Trump administration let know its plan to phase out the programme and initially set March 5 for it and asked the Congress to pass a law related to the young immigrants.

The Trump administration also said last year that no new requests would be granted under Daca. However, a lower court order made it mandatory for the administration to continue accepting renewal applications under Daca and the Supreme Court rejected the government's request to interfere. The Trump administration has since been trying to figure out ways to deal with those under Daca and also lambasting the Democrats for not trying to find a way out.

Eventually, Trump came out to blast Mexico and also the Democrats on Easter Sunday and announced that the Daca deal was off. He said the border patrolling officials couldn't do their work properly because of "liberal laws like Catch & Release". He even advised the Republicans to opt for the nuclear option to pass tough legislation.

Earlier in 2018, Trump released "four pillars" of immigration reform which among others, spoke about a legal provision for granting legal status for Daca recipients and others who would be eligible for a similar status. The White Houe gave an estimated count of 1.8 million people but the idea was trashed by the Senate.

Former President Obama criticised the Trump administration's over timing to see an end to the Daca story and called it "self-defeating" and "cruel". He also questioned what made the current administration take such an aggressive step on Daca.Kuwait CityKuwait will recruit Ethiopian nationals to make up for a deficit in domestic workers, authorities said Tuesday, following the grisly murder of a Filipina maid in the Gulf state. The Philippines banned its citizens from working in Kuwait after the body of 29-year-old Joanna Demafelis was found in a freezer earlier this year, bearing signs of torture. We aim to open the door to the recruitment of Ethiopian workers to fill the deficit of domestic servants and reduce prices, General Talal Al-Maarifi, head of Kuwaits General Department of Residency Affairs, told AFP. Ethiopia five years ago instituted a similar ban, following reports of abuse and complaints that employment agencies lured its citizens to work under illegal and appalling conditions. The ban was lifted last Thursday. Maarifi said there were more than 15,000 Ethiopians currently living and working in Kuwait.Kuwaiti police in March 2017 detained a woman for filming her Ethiopian maid falling from the seventh floor without trying to rescue her. The 12-second video shows the maid hanging outside the building, with one hand tightly gripping the window frame, as she begs for help. Rights groups have voiced alarm over the plight of workers in the Gulf and other Arab countries, where migrant labour is regulated under a system known as kafala. The kafala, or sponsorship, system ties migrant workers visas to their employers, prohibiting workers from leaving the country or changing jobs without prior consent.WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to deploy the military to secure Americas southern border, as a caravan of Central American migrants headed north through Mexico toward the United States. The US leader has spent three days attacking the Mexican government for failing to block the estimated 1,500 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras from walking north toward the border. Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military, Trump told journalists. In an evening statement, the White House clarified that Trumps plan involved mobilizing the National Guardnot active duty military troops, which would be barred by US law. Senior officials including Defense Secretary James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford and Chief of Staff John Kelly briefed Trump last week and follow-up discussions Tuesday, it added. President Trump and senior officials present also agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organizations, the statement added. Trump accused Mexico of abetting and profiting from illegal immigration, which he pledged in his 2016 election campaign to halt. The caravan makes me very sad that this could happen to the United States, where you have thousands of people that just decide to walk into our country and we dont have any laws that could protect it, he said. If it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and so pathetic... its like we have no border, added the president -- who lashed out at his predecessor Barack Obama for allegedly weakening border security, without elaborating on his claims. He also railed against the US Congress for not tightening laws on immigrants, and against Democrats for stalling the border wall he promised to build during his campaign. Trump had previously suggested the military could help fund and build the wall, but it was the first time he proposed US troops to patrol the 3,200-kilometer frontier. The Pentagon had no immediate comment on Trumps remarks. In the past 12 years, National Guard troops have been deployed twice to bolster border security, but none have been there since 2010. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said he was seeking further information about the announcement.Mexico has asked the United States, via official channels, to clarify the announcement by @POTUS on the use of the military on the border, Videgaray said on Twitter. The Mexican government will decide its response based on said clarification, and always in defense of our sovereignty and national interest. The Trump administration has sharply bolstered spending on patrolling the border, and intensified crackdowns on undocumented immigrants inside the country. But the president remains frustrated that other initiatives by his administration to slow both legal and illegal immigration have been stalled or blocked. After a years delay, Congress budgeted $1.6 billion last month to begin construction of the wall, a small portion of the $25 billion Trump asked. The initial funding might only pay for 100 miles of wall, and Trump last week proposed that the Pentagons budget be tapped to build the rest. We need to have a wall thats about 700-800 miles, he said Tuesday. The US presidents rekindled anger over immigration was apparently sparked over the weekend by media reports on the migrants heading across Mexico. Like each of the last five years, the so-called caravan set off recently from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, partly in protest at conditions faced by migrants, and partly to help migrants safely reach the US border. Trump says the phenomenon is proof of the need for a wall. The caravan which is over 1,000 people coming in from Honduras thought they were just going to walk through Mexico and right through the border, Trump said. We cannot have people flowing in our country illegally, disappearing and, by the way, never showing up to court.Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

From No More Fake News

First, two quotes to give a bit of background.

5G speed, for people who must download a whole season of their favorite show in two seconds:

"It's the next (fifth) generation of cellular technology which promises to greatly enhance the speed, coverage and responsiveness of wireless networks. How fast are we talking about? Think 10 to 100 times speedier than your typical cellular connection, and even faster than anything you can get with a physical fiber-optic cable going into your house. (You'll be able to download a season's worth of 'Stranger Things' in seconds.)" [CNET.com]

Lunatic 5G installation of small transmitters packed close together every few hundred feet:

"The next big thing in cellular technology, 5G, will bring lightning-fast wireless Internet -- and thousands of antenna-topped poles to many neighborhoods where cell towers have long been banned."

"Wireless companies are asking Congress and state lawmakers to make it easier to install the poles by preempting local zoning laws that often restrict them, particularly near homes. The lobbying efforts have alarmed local officials across the country. They say they need to ensure that their communities do not end up with unsightly poles cluttering sidewalks, roadsides and the edges of front yards."

"They also are hearing from residents worried about possible long-term health risks. Until now, much of the cell equipment that emits radio-frequency energy has been housed on large towers typically kept hundreds of feet from homes [also harmful to health]. The new 'small cell' technology uses far more antennas and transmitters that are smaller and lower-powered, but clustered closer together and lower to the ground." [The Washington Post]

I keep hammering on this 5G issue, because it contains the blueprint of a future only elite madmen want.

For the rest of us, it's a catastrophe in the making.

I've covered the extreme health dangers of 5G in another article. Here, I want to flesh out the hidden agenda.

A few decades ago, a movement was started to create an interconnected power grid for the whole planet. We were told this would be the only way to avoid wasting huge amounts of electricity and, voila, bring all nations and all people into a modern 21st century.

But now, it's a different story, a classic bait and switch. The bait was the promise of One Grid for all. The switch is what 5G will bring us:

100 billion or more NEW devices online, all connected to the Internet and the Cloud. What could be more wasteful? What could be more ridiculous? This is the opposite of sane energy use.

Who really cares whether his 5G-connected refrigerator keeps track of the food items inside it and orders new items when the supply dwindles? Who has to have a 5G driverless car that takes him to work? Who must have a 5G stove that senses what is being cooked and sets the temperature for four minutes? Who lives and who dies if a washing machine doesn't measure how much soap is stored inside and doesn't order new soap? Who is demanding a hundred devices in his home that spy on him and record his actions?

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Lancet Editor in Chief Dr Richard Horton said: Politics ultimately determine our health

(Image by CNS (Citizen News Service)) Details DMCA



The most hard-hitting message around World Tuberculosis Day 2018 for us was on twitter by Shirin Aliabadi, who tweeted that Dr Richard Horton (Editor in chief of The Lancet) said, politics is, in many ways, the ultimate determinant of our health. Decisions made by politicians determine our well-being in so many ways.



Elected parliamentarians, especially in democracies, must be held to account, as to why a tiny minority of rich people get richer and enjoy the highest quality of life, whereas the majority of the populations are forced to live in inhumane conditions that put them at increased risks of not just TB, but several other infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases; as well as put them at high risk of facing exploitation, abuse and violence at different levels.



Booker Prize winner and noted writer-activist Arundhati Roy had rightly said that "There's really no such thing as the 'voiceless'. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard."

Despite political decisions majorly determining our health and well-being, it is indeed shocking that health and social security has slipped so far out of the political radar.



TB gets on political radar but is it high up?



Even if late, TB is definitely moving up the ladder as a priority for not only national TB programmes (NTPs), but also beyond NTPs within Ministries of Health, and at times, further beyond for other ministries and stakeholders. When we talk of pushing TB up on the political agenda, one of the most historic meetings was the first-ever "WHO Global Ministerial Conference: Ending TB in Sustainable Development Era" held in Moscow, Russia, in November 2017. Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed the #endTB agenda in this meeting of over 75 ministers of health as well as of other non-health disciplines (especially from high-burden TB countries), and other stakeholders and affected communities. These ministers endorsed the Moscow Declaration and acknowledged that TB (including its drug resistant forms) causes more deaths than any other infectious disease worldwide, and is a serious threat to global health security. Earlier, over 190 governments had promised to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in UN General Assembly 2015, which includes goals to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as well as to end TB by 2030. Last month in Delhi, the Indian Prime Minister gave another thrust to the promise of ending TB by 2025 in India.



One of the key leads in organizing the WHO Global Ministerial Conference was Dr Mario Raviglione (then head of the WHO Global TB Programme). Dr Raviglione is now the Director, Global Health Centre, University of Milan, and was the key expert for World TB Day 2018 Webinar, who reiterated the political (and public health) significance of TB getting on the agenda of G20 meeting in Germany (2017), G7 meeting in Italy (2017), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Viet Nam (2017), among others.



But does this indicate that TB is high up enough on political agenda? Or for that matter, is health security high up on political agenda? For instance, will Prime Minister of India's commitment to end TB by 2025 give a thrust to TB agenda in political decision making? Probably early next year India goes to general elections and let us hope that public health takes centre-stage in politics.



Progress made to stop TB but not enough to #endTB



Dr Mario Raviglione who spearheaded the global fight against TB for several years, said that efforts to prevent TB have been successful but not enough to end the epidemic. Soft political and financial commitments have posed major challenges.



Dr Mario Raviglione said that 53 million lives were saved from TB, and TB deaths fell by 22% during 2000-2016. This is a commendable achievement where the world, especially the high burden TB countries, built up a strong fight to stop TB as per the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets. But progress is clearly way off track to end TB by 2030. As per the latest WHO Global Tuberculosis Report, 1.7 million TB deaths occurred in a year, 5000 TB deaths every day! Out of these, were 400,000 people living with HIV (PLHIV) who died due to TB in the same year. MDR-TB is now at crisis level, with only 1 in 5 being able to access existing care services. Half a million women and 250,000 children died of TB in 2016. With the call to end TB reaching its zenith, we have to ensure that TB rates decline faster enough so that we can keep the promise to end TB, and also make better progress on other SDGs.



Accountability of each actor in multisectoral partnership



Since TB was threatening to reverse gains made in other health 'silos', partnerships had to be eventually forged between TB programmes and those on HIV, diabetes, tobacco control, to name a few. These partnerships are at different levels, but all are gearing towards not only improving TB programme outcomes, but also of those addressing other specific health issues.



But delays in forging partnerships despite compelling and scientific evidence, is not acceptable. Who is accountable for avoidable disease burden, as well as for averting preventable untimely deaths? As per the latest WHO Global TB Report, 400,000 TB deaths occurred in PLHIV. With scientific evidence, policies and programmes being in place to prevent, diagnose, treat TB in PLHIV, each of these 400,000 TB deaths could have been averted and both TB and HIV programmes would have fared better, only if we could translate scientific evidence into public health benefits with utmost diligence and urgency.



Unless we determine and monitor accountability of different actors who need to do their part to end TB, multisectoral partnerships can seldom become very efficient. But the good news is that, in the Moscow meet, governments and other partners agreed to progress on multisectoral accountability framework, so that the world gets on track to end TB by 2030 as per SDG targets.



The deadly mismatch



On one hand political leaders commit to end TB by 2030, but on another hand they also promote questionable development policies that exacerbate inequalities in society - one manifestation of which is increased risk for diseases like TB.



Wardarina, Co-Chair of Asia Pacific Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (AP-RCEM), who has been a part of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) for past several years, rightly pointed out such contradictions: "We have to look into SDGs critically, focussing on the existing contradictions, and not just on their progress and implementation. For us the contradictions are that along with the SDGs, we also have a lot of unjust trade and investment agreements, massive land and resource grabbing, patriarchy and fundamentalism, militarism and conflict, retaliatory governance. All these need to be addressed, if we aim to achieve the sustainable development goals."



If we truly want a world where no human being is forced to suffer inhuman treatment, and end TB and other preventable/ avoidable causes of human suffering, then it is critically important to ensure that the gap between 'haves' and have-nots' is reduced as much as possible.



But it is the political decisions that make us chase a 'development model' which not only further widens this chasm between the rich and the poor, but also puts the poorest of the poor at highest risk of undergoing even more severe forms of suffering, including elevating TB risk. A report released by Oxfam, around the time of recent World Economic Forum, showed that in 2017, 1% of the world's richest owned 82% of the global wealth. This report also showed that in India, 1% of its population owned 58% of the nation's wealth in 2016, and in 2017 this inequality worsened with 1% owning 73% of the wealth. How can we expect to have social equity if only a miniscule percentage of our population enjoys the highest quality of healthcare, education, lifestyles, while the vast majority of the people are forced to live with appallingly poor quality of healthcare, education, and are deprived of even the most basic amenities. Renowned Indian socialist leader Dr Ram Manohar Lohia had advocated a ratio of not more than 1:10 between the lowest and highest incomes. An unbridled income gap brews inequality, exploitation, imbalance, injustice and unrest in society.



Dr Mario Raviglione also said in the webinar that migrants, refugees, prisoners, and ethnic minorities face higher risk for TB, and also face discrimination and barriers to accessing care. "To prevent latent TB converting into active TB disease we need food security and compulsorily have to address malnutrition" rightly said Dr Raviglione, pointing out another area where NTPs need to partner effectively with government programmes to end hunger (one of the SDGs is to end hunger by 2030). It is apparent that addressing all forms of inequality and injustices will also have a positive ripple effect on TB programmes' performance too.



There is hope



Over 950 doctors and 150 junior doctors (who are pursuing post-graduation studies or seeking advanced super speciality training) in Quebec province of Canada recently declined to accept a salary hike, saying that they cannot, in "good conscience", accept an increase in their salary when nurses and other healthcare staff and patients are facing hardships due to cuts in health budget. These doctors believe that only stronger public health systems can deliver health security to all. When public health systems are reeling under resource crunch, how can raising the salaries of doctors be justified? If nurses and other healthcare staff are forced to work in stressful and challenging conditions, and lifesaving healthcare services slip beyond the reach of people, then how will the tall promises of health security and universal health coverage be delivered? These doctors have appealed that instead of raising their salaries, government should rather utilize these resources in strengthening the public health system, so that nurses and other healthcare staff can work in better and secure conditions, and healthcare services are within the reach of all those in need, especially the most deprived or terminally ill.

Public health systems are getting weakened, not strengthened with aggressive privatisation and other chronic issues that ail the system. Oxfam tweeted on 3rd April 2018 "Sorry state of India's #Healthcare. Nearly 2000 Primary Health Centres (PHC) in India do not have a single doctor, meanwhile 61% operate with just one doctor. Guidelines suggest 2 doctors minimum per PHC." If we are to deliver on SDGs, ensuring health security for the 'last person in the queue' is of utmost urgency. And delivering healthcare and other social security and welfare benefits to the most marginalized cannot be privatized, so do we believe.



Canadian doctors have indeed shown a silver lining for those who believe in strong public health systems. Other doctors and people from all sectors should emulate them, be inspired by their conscience and agree to share resources equitably with all.



Low domestic funding to #endTB is bad politics and economics



Evidence shows that 22 countries with the world's highest numbers of TB cases (India shares biggest TB disease burden globally) could earn significantly more than they spend on TB diagnosis and treatment if they fully fund and effectively implement the WHO strategy to end TB. So not funding TB control is a bad economic decision and bad politics, right?



Dr Mario Raviglione said in the webinar that the global fight against TB faces a financial crunch of US$ 2.3 billion. TB research funds are short of US$ 1.2 billion! Unless governments step up to fully fund the fight to end TB and deliver on other SDGs, promises will remain merely words, and fail to translate into action.



Another bad politics, and bad economic decision, is not to implement tobacco control effectively. An important report provides the vital evidence that the tobacco industry and the deadly impact of its products cost the world's economies more than US$ 1 trillion annually in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity. Tobacco kills more than 7 million people every year worldwide. More than 6 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 890 000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Who should be held to account for not protecting people from tobacco (including secondhand smoke) despite over 180 governments ratifying the global tobacco treaty (formally called the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - FCTC)? It is not a coincidence that around 80% of the world's 1.1 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries, and major tobacco companies and industries are headquartered in the richer nations. No prizes for guessing that it is the low- and middle-income countries that are reeling under the severest impact of non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease and stroke, cancers, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, etc)!



Corporate interference in development policy?



Is it not bad politics to make funding decisions that do not serve the best of interests of the majority of our population? Who is influencing these political decisions that make the rich, richer, and deprive communities from accessing basic services? While corporate interference in development policy making needs to be further investigated, but there are no prizes for guessing who is financially benefitting due to such policy decisions that only serve the interest of the rich!



To end TB we need to deliver on all SDGs



One of the most important statements made by Dr Mario Raviglione in the World TB Day 2018 Webinar was that "approach to ending TB cannot be different or other than the approach for comprehensive development." Only by ensuring that sustainable development becomes a reality for everyone, where "no one is left behind" we can progress towards ending TB, as well as achieving all the other SDG targets and goals.



World Health Day: Health security, SDGs and politics?



Let us hope that on 2018 World Health Day, and before the governments meet for World Health Assembly 2018 next month in July, health security and all SDGs begin to take centre-stage in politics in every country. Amen!



Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant, CNS (Citizen News Service)

(Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant, both are part of editorial team of CNS (Citizen News Service). Be welcome to visit www.citizen-news.org)Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

China pledged to continue to respect and protect its citizens' freedom of religious belief in a white paper published Tuesday (April 3).

As a socialist country under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China adopts policies on freedom of religious belief based on national and religious conditions to protect citizens' right to freedom of religious belief, build active and healthy religious relationships, and maintain religious and social harmony, said the white paper published by the State Council Information Office, titled "China's Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief."

Protecting freedom of religious belief, properly handling religious relations and adapting them to the times, and curbing religious extremism are common tasks facing all countries around the world, said the white paper.

China will uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation and provide active guidance to religions so that they can adapt themselves to the socialist society, it said.

The major religions practiced in China, which are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism, have a total of nearly 200 million believers and more than 380,000 clerical personnel, according to Xinhua news agency.

The Chinese government supports all religions in upholding the principle of independence and self-management, according to the document.

The religious activities of foreigners in China are protected in accordance with the law, the white paper said.

Foreigners may attend religious activities at temples, mosques, churches, and other sites for religious activities, but shall conduct religious activities in line with law, it stressed.

Religious extremism and violent terrorist activities are dealt with in accordance with the law, the document noted. China opposes all extremism that seeks to instigate hatred, incite discrimination and advocate violence by distorting religious doctrines or through other means, it said.

"China takes measures against the propagation and spread of religious extremism, and at the same time, carefully avoids linking violent terrorism and religious extremism with any particular ethnic group or religion," the white paper said.

There are about 5,500 religious groups in China, including seven national organizations, and about 144,000 places of worship registered for religious activities in China, including 33,500 Buddhist temples of different schools, 9,000 Taoist temples, 35,000 Islamic mosques, 6,000 Catholic churches and places of assembly spread across 98 dioceses, and 60,000 Protestant churches and places of assembly, according to the white paper.

About 20,000 prominent religious figures are serving as deputies and members at all levels of people's congresses and committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, according to the document.





Council on Foreign Relations Report

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is officially atheist, but it has grown more tolerant of religious activity over the past forty years following extensive efforts to eradicate religion under Mao Zedong, according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Amid China's economic boom and rapid modernization, experts point to the emergence of a spiritual vacuum as a trigger for the growing number of religious believers, particularly adherents of Christianity and traditional Chinese religious groups, the CFR reported on March 15, 2018, and added: "While China's constitution allows religious belief, adherents across all religious organizations, from state-sanctioned to underground and banned groups, face intensifying persecution and repression."

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(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).The Pasig River and its tributaries meander from Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay for some 25 kilometers, passing the towns and cities of San Juan, Quezon City, Taguig, Taytay, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Makati, and Manila, very much a prominent, or at least ubiquitous, part of those communities. It was a major transport route for goods and people during the Spanish colonial era, and as such was immortalized in Jose Rizals novel El Filibusterismo: One morning in December the steamer Tabo was laboriously ascending the tortuous course of the Pasig, carrying a large crowd of passengers toward the province of Laguna. However, since the 19th century that was the novels setting, the Pasig has become, in many parts, polluted with debris and virtually impassable. Its good news, therefore, that officials from ten government agencies conducted an inspection of the river ferry system at Guadalupe, Makati, yesterday preparatory to pitching at the afternoons Cabinet meeting the establishment of the Pasig River Ferry Convergence Program. The plan, according to program manager Julia Nebrija of the Department of Budget and Management, is to increase the total number of ferry stations to 29 by 2022. Seventeen stations will be built in Manila, Mandaluyong, Makati, Taguig, Pasig, and Marikina in addition to the current 12 in Intramuros to Guadalupe. One ferry stop is likely to be built at the commercial/residential Rockwell area, given the volume of activity there. There will also be stations at Ayala Circuit Makati, Pasig City, and Quinta Market. There will be 24 air-conditioned boats fetching passengers every 15 minutes, to carry some 76,000 commuters a day or 19.8 million a year. The government also plans to construct 12 more bridges on the Pasig River. The ferry system is currently operated by the Metro Manila Development Authority. DBM Secretary Ben Diokno says that they are looking to bid out operations to a private operator by mid-year. He also said that they plan to establish the new ferry system by December this year to provide ease to travelers at the start of the hectic holiday season.As far as plans go, this is one of the best the government has ever had. There have been sporadic attempts through the years to make the ferry viable as a business, but it has been operating in fits and starts despite it being a logical and obvious solution to the motor traffic problem. I rode the ferry on several occasions many years ago, going from Guadalupe to Binondo. It was always a pleasant journey, back then best taken when not in a hurry, but perfect for whenever I craved fresh oriental lumpia, Savory chicken, and other goodies from the area. The river was a faster and easier route than driving from Makati to the heart of Manila. Stations added along Laguna de Bay would also give access to the lakeside towns and open up new possibilities in tourism. Day trips and weekend visits to Laguna would be more feasible particularly for those without private vehicles, and lead to a boost in income for handicraft makers, restaurateurs, and hoteliers there. I assume that the ferry system program will go hand in hand with environmental rehabilitation of the river. It is considered eighth among the top 20 polluting rivers in the world, according to a June 2017 study conducted by scientists of the Ocean Cleanup Foundation. And as a pathway for all sizes of plastic debris, the Pasig River contributes to the plastic waste that flows into the worlds oceans, more than half of of which comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka, said hydrogeologist Dr. Christian Schmidt. A recent Rappler news item says that Presidential partner Honeylet Avancena allegedly wants the rehabilitation of the Pasig River discussed at this months Cabinet meeting. Thats another good sign for the rivers revival but I hope that this time around efforts will be more effective, thorough, and lasting than those in the past. And when the revitalized ferry system is established, new novels and stories will be written about it and the travels and adventures that will certainly take place. Dr. Ortuoste is a writer and communication consultant. FB and Twitter: @DrJennyOWould you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

Enough is enough.

That was the refrain chanted over and over by the thousands of demonstrators who gathered to protest gun violence in America.

On March 24, 2018, more than 200,000 young people took the time to march on Washington DC and other cities across the country to demand that their concerns about gun violence be heard.

More power to them.

I'm all for activism, especially if it motivates people who have been sitting silently on the sidelines for too long to get up and try to reclaim control over a runaway government.

Curiously, however, although these young activists were vocal in calling for gun control legislation that requires stricter background checks and limits the kinds of weapons being bought and sold by members of the public, they were remarkably silent about the gun violence perpetrated by their own government.

Why is no one taking aim at the U.S. government as the greatest purveyor of violence in American society and around the world?

As journalist Celisa Calacal recognizes, "It is often the case that police shootings, incidents where law enforcement officers pull the trigger on civilians, are left out of the conversation on gun violence. But a police officer shooting a civilian counts as gun violence. Every time an officer uses a gun against an innocent or an unarmed person contributes to the culture of gun violence in this country."

Enough is enough.

The systemic violence being perpetrated by agents of the government has done more collective harm to the American people and our liberties than any single act of terror or mass shooting.

Violence has become our government's calling card, from the more than 80,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year on unsuspecting Americans to the military's endless wars abroad.

Indeed, the day before thousands of demonstrators descended on Washington DC to protest mass shootings such as the one that took place at Stoneman Douglas High School, President Trump signed into law a colossal $1.3 trillion spending bill that gives the military the biggest boost in spending in more than a decade.

With more than $700 billion earmarked for the military, including $144.3 billion for new military equipment, you can be sure this financial windfall for America's military empire will be used to expand the police state here at home.

This will put more militarized guns and weapons in the hands of local police and government bureaucrats who have been trained to shoot first and ask questions later.

Enough is enough.

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By ursulafaw

Cecile Richards is the CEO of Planned Parenthood and author of a new book, "Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding The Courage To Lead." Richards met with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump during the transition, at which point Kushner told Richards that Planned Parenthood had made a big mistake by becoming political, but not to worry, he had a solution.

People:

"The main issue, he explained, was abortion," Richards writes. "If Planned Parenthood wanted to keep our federal funding, we would have to stop providing abortions. He described his ideal outcome: a national headline reading 'Planned Parenthood Discontinues Abortion Services.' "According to Make Trouble, Kushner said that if Richards agreed to the plan then funding could increase, but he urged them to 'move fast.' "'If it wasn't crystal clear before, it was now. Jared and Ivanka were there for one reason: to deliver a political win,' she writes. 'In their eyes, if they could stop Planned Parenthood from providing abortions, it would confirm their reputation as savvy dealmakers. It was surreal, essentially being asked to barter away women's rights for more money.' It takes a lot to get [Richard's husband] Kirk mad, but it looked like his head was about to explode. "Richards explained that there was 'no way' Kushner's proposal would work and that they'd continue to fight for funding."

Quite the charmer, Jared. And Ivanka was no different, in fact, she was arguably worse.

"'Honestly, it felt almost like a bribe,' Richards remembers telling her, 'I know there are people who will disagree with me, and maybe I shouldn't have just shut down the conversation, but I did what I thought was best.' "Since the meeting, Richards and Ivanka Trump have clashed publicly -- mainly because of Ivanka Trump's decision to remain silent about Republican attempts to defund Planned Parenthood. "'At the time, [Ivanka] sounded like she was sympathetic, but I will tell you this White House has been worse for women than any administration I've seen in my lifetime,' Richards told PEOPLE in July 2017 about her meeting with Ivanka Trump. 'It's been very, very disappointing.'"

This was a typical Trumpish negotiation:

1. Oversimplify the issue;

2. Negotiate the publicity, that's at least as important as the underlying issue, if not more so;

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My guest today is Bob Koehler, author, activist and peace journalist. Welcome back to OpEdNews, Bob.

Joan Brunwasser: I'm sure that many of our readers are not yet familiar with your most recent piece, Change is Coming. Let's bring them up to speed. What precipitated it?

Bob Koehler: Hi Joan; it's good to be back. What precipitated this week's column? Oh, the last 10,000 years or so of human violence ....More specifically, of course, it was the March for Our Lives events all across Planet Earth, including one here at Union Park in Chicago, which I attended. Like so many of us, I've been deeply stirred by the activism that has emerged in this country since the horrific Parkland shootings last month -- as though enough is finally enough, and energized young people are not going to let go of this issue till something changes. I want to give my voice over to this movement.

JB: So, what do you see that's different this time?

BK: Something is stirring up the national spirit. One analysis of "why now?" that makes a pragmatic point is that the Parkland murders occurred in an affluent community, that is, a community that cannot be dismissed, relegated to the margins of public compassion, or written off, ho hum, as "them." So when the young survivors of this latest mass shooting began organizing and speaking out so articulately, they conveyed a stunning reality: This could happen anywhere. It could happen to your children. To their immense credit, the Parkland teens reached across the line to young people of color and created a movement that transcended any artificial division. A true national movement emerged out of this coming together. With the ascension of Trump to the presidency and all the chaos and unconcealed racism that has come with it, an enormous number of people in this country had already been aware that our social structure is in danger of collapse. I believe, as young people across the country speak out about the violence they have personally endured, people just plain get it in a way they can no longer avoid facing.



The number of bullet holes in this poster are the number that can be shot in the time it takes to read it

(Image by tvdflickr) Details DMCA



JB: How does this tie in with the Women's Marches, both last year and this? Or doesn't it?

BK: I certainly think they're connected. Maybe the issues the two marches focus on differ superficially, but they both address violence, marginalization, dominance -- a problematic, unfair social structure. Both movements are about people uniting in compassion to create a world where everyone is safe and has a chance to live a full life. And the larger unity beyond that pulls in the movement to address climate change and create an environmentally sustainable society. I hope the next step is that such principles finally gain political traction.



You Don't Need a Gun to Be Powerful (left), You Can Put a Silencer on a Gun But Not on Me (right)

(Image by Mobilus In Mobili) Details DMCA



JB: Tell us more about the march itself. You participated, correct? I haven't heard you so enthused since the huge Chicago Sanders rally in 2016. Am I misremembering?

BK: Thousands of people were jammed into tiny Union Park, two miles west of the Loop. The morning was bitter cold. I put on both a sweater and my winter jacket, and did not regret being dressed so protectively. I was near the back of the crowd, but the organizers presented the event on a giant screen, so I could see the speakers close up. One young person after another addressed the crowd with a personal story about violence in their lives. In between speakers and performers, including rap and poetry, the crowd would chant "vote them out!" The participants were diverse in age, race, gender and everything else. As I noted in my column, the creative diversity of the signs people held was extremely compelling. Some of them (which I enjoyed, of course) were borderline obscene, like "Truck Fump" and "FCK the NRA." This was completely the opposite of what I call "spectator culture," where the role of the American public is to watch TV, shop, cheer for their team and allow themselves to stay trapped in a mental cage defined by the media, making minor choices on trivial issues and avoiding all serious thought about the future or who we are as a society. The young speakers broke though this barrier with passion and anger.



sign reads: I shouldn't have to know how to draw this [picture of an AR-15 semi-automatic]

(Image by Tom Hilton) Details DMCA



JB: There's a tremendous amount of energy out there, largely fueled by outrage. We've all seen this before: Occupy, the Women's March and now. Are you worried this force will gradually dissipate into nothingness? How do we keep that from happening?

BK: It won't -- it can't -- dissipate into nothingness, though it can disappear from the media for a while. If that happens, if the size of crowds at major public events diminishes for a while, that's no reason to give up hope. The 2018 elections are coming up. "Grab 'em by the midterms," one of the signs at the Chicago rally proclaimed. Political involvement -- holding pols accountable -- may be the next major focus of this movement. There's always some way to stay involved. Write, talk, blog, communicate with your reps. Never give up hope. The terrible irony is that it takes the deaths of schoolkids to wake people up, to inflame and empower a movement for change. I hope people can feel empowered simply by the need to prevent the next killing. This keeps me focused.

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From Reader Supported News

"You can't come into court to espouse a position that is heartless." -- Senior US District Judge Nichlas G. Garaufis, US District Court for Eastern District of New York, September 26, 2017

Lawyers in all sorts of courts argue heartless positions every day without fear of reprimand from a judge, who may also be heartless. The admonition from Judge Garaufis is an anomaly filled with hope, not least because he was admonishing the Trump administration for its heartless immigration policy.

Specifically, the judge was chiding lawyers from the US Department of Justice for the government's rigid unwillingness to adjust their schedule ending the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), the program designed to provide justice to some 800,000 immigrants who were brought to the US as children and have grown up here to be as American as anyone else. Judge Garaufis pointed out that the government's heartless action affected more than just the 800,000 young people, but also their families, employers, and communities.

As soon as the Trump administration announced its plan to end DACA, its defenders took the government to federal court. The National Immigration Law Center, attorneys general of 16 states (including New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, California, and Vermont), and other plaintiffs sued the US to prevent the government from ending DACA. The National Immigration Law Center issued a statement September 5, condemning the administration's attack on DACA:

"This is a defining moment for our country. We are being called upon to choose which side of history we are on: Are we going to stand with young people who have grown up in our country and are striving to achieve their dreams? Or are we going to allow policymakers to erect barriers that block youth from contributing their best to this country, which is their home? ... [Trump's decision] is a morally bankrupt choice."

In the courts it was a different story after the preliminary procedural activity. On January 9 (Nixon's birthday) US District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco issued a nationwide injunction requiring the US to leave its DACA program in place until the issue had been fully litigated. On February 12, Judge Garaufis in Brooklyn issued a second nationwide injunction complementing the first. In response to the government's objections, the judge wrote in his 55-page decision:

"... the court finds that a nationwide injunction is warranted in these cases. First, it is hard to conceive of how the court would craft a narrower injunction that would adequately protect Plaintiffs' interests. Plaintiffs include not only several individuals and a nonprofit organization, but also 16 states and the District of Columbia... Furthermore, there is a strong federal interest in the uniformity of federal immigration law... Because the decision to rescind the DACA program has a 'systemwide impact,' the court will preliminarily impose a 'systemwide remedy.'"

In that same opinion, preventing the Trump administration from carrying out mass deportations under DACA, the judge observed that: "One might reasonably infer that a candidate who makes overtly bigoted statements on the campaign trail might be more likely to engage in similarly bigoted action in office."

Before the Brooklyn court issued its injunction, the US had appealed the California injunction to the Supreme Court. When two federal district courts disagree, the Supreme is more likely to intervene to settle the differences. Here, two federal courts were in agreement. On February 26, the Supreme Court declined to hear the DACA case, allowing it to proceed in district court and, as needed, federal appellate court. The Supreme Court made no ruling or comment on the merits of the DACA case. The Supreme Court's decision leaves DACA in place as the legal process proceeds, perhaps until it eventually reaches the Supreme Court on appeal at some unknown date in the future.

On March 29, in Brooklyn federal court, Judge Garaufis ruled against a US motion to dismiss the case. He rejected the US Justice Department argument that, just because the president repeatedly makes racially and culturally bigoted remarks -- like calling Mexicans thugs, animals, and bad hombres -- that doesn't prove his actions against minorities are based on his bigotry.

Ruling that the suit against the government's immigration plans, Batalla Vidal v. Baran et.al, can go forward, Judge Nicholas Garaufis wrote: "Plaintiffs have alleged sufficient facts to raise a plausible inference that the DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] rescission was substantially motivated by unlawful discriminatory purpose... Or to put it in lay terms, the immigrant Dreamers, people who were brought here as children and have grown up as American as you or I, were and very likely still are targets of the president's vitriolic hatred expressed at the start of his campaign when he called all Mexican immigrants criminals, drug dealers, rapists, and "some good people."

Rejecting the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the case, Judge Garaufis wrote dryly: "Although the use of racial slurs, epithets, or other racially charged language does not violate equal protection per se, it can be evidence that official action was motivated by unlawful discriminatory purposes." Again, in lay terms that means that when a known bigot does something obviously bigoted, then perhaps his bigoted action is derived from his expressed bigotry. Just maybe.

Judge Garaufis's ruling should allow the case to go to trial and be determined by the evidence. As the judge wrote: "The court does not see why it must or should bury its head in the sand when faced with overt expressions of prejudice. The court is aware of no authority holding that this rule does not apply simply because the speaker is, or is running to be, the President of the United States."

Do we really want to be the kind of country needs its courts to enforce common human decency? That's the kind of country America seems to be these days, and it's taken a good deal of time to get here. At a time when the Congress is filled with quisling Republicans and feckless Democrats, it appears as a slightly hopeful sign when some courts put at least some check on the president's cruel destructiveness.

The people affected by DACA are very different from our president, not least because they were not born into a rich family of practicing racists. The president's decidedly un-Christian burst of twitter spittle over Easter weekend offered no hope. "NO MORE DACA DEAL," he spluttered all in caps before going on to claim a fever-dream "caravan" of immigrants swarming across the border was somehow true (along with others like "DACA is dead because the Democrats didn't care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon... No longer works. Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!").

Bigotry is soul-destroying for everyone, as our bigot-in-chief in the White House demonstrates almost daily. To be a decent nation within the norms of common decency and the intent of the US Constitution, we must resist and reject bigotry in all its forms. But for hope to be realized, a lot more of us need to bring the callous politics of bipartisan cruelty to an end. There may or may not be light at the end of the tunnel for any of us. There is a hint of light at the end of the tunnel for DACA, but there may only be the Supreme Court at the end of the tunnel, a court where many parties have pleaded positions that are heartless and the court has affirmed their heartlessness.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

From Telesur

Music unites Palestinians when politicians fail.

Rim Banna passed away at the age of 51. Her death on March 24, after a decade-long battle with cancer, brought grief to Palestinians everywhere.

Rim, a Palestinian Christian from Nazareth, united the Palestinian people across political and geographic divides.

When she sang for the Homeland, nothing mattered but Palestine. Christians and Muslims, Fatah and Hamas, Gaza and Ramallah, all became one.

Through her soulful and warm voice, she imparted sorrow, yet celebrated life. Her songs "Fares Odeh" and "Sarah" were poetic interpretation of precious young Palestinian lives cut short by Israeli soldiers.

The butterfly will carry you to the back of a cloud

The gazelle will run with you to a hollow of sycamore

The scent of bread will take you, a martyr, to the embrace of your mother

The star said to him, "Bring me to the courtyard of my house."

"Take me to the mattress of my slumber."

Sleepiness climbed up my sides

And settled in my head."

Music unites Palestinians when politicians fail. In fact, while for years the collective calls for "Palestinian unity" has gone unheeded, Palestinian music has continued to bring Palestinians closer.

Deep-rooted Palestinian culture is what makes Palestinians who they are, a people with a unique and lucid identity, despite 70 years of exile, ethnic cleansing, sieges, numerous borders and wanton killings.

And when Rim sang, her voice penetrated through the seemingly impregnable Apartheid walls, checkpoints, military curfews and unbridgeable distance.

It was during the First Intifada (popular uprising) of 1987 that Rim gained access to the hearts and homes of many Palestinians; initially in Palestine and, eventually, all over the world. Her voice, soft and reassuring, gave hope to those who lived under a seven-years long, relentless Israeli military campaign. Israeli tactics, then, aimed at breaking the spirit of the rebelling Palestinian people.

Rim's music offered new, modern renditions of traditional Palestinian songs, but without erasing the historical and cultural identity of that music.

Her music belongs to the Palestinian music genre of nationally-driven and culturally-centered art form, aimed at reintroducing -- and, sometimes, reinventing -- the past in a more relatable fashion.

While Israel is doing its utmost to deny and erase Palestinian culture, such cultural icons as Rim Banna, but also Reem Kelani, Kamilya Jubran and Shadia Mansour, among others, have reasserted Palestinian culture, thus identity, around the globe.

Although a rarely publicized form of resistance, cultural resistance is at the heart of the Palestinian fight for freedom.

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Schools across Oklahoma are closed today for a third day as teachers continue their strike demanding more funding for education and increased pay. Oklahoma's public education budget has been slashed more than any other state since the start of the recession in 2008, and its teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation. Scores of teachers are planning to begin a 123-mile protest march today from Tulsa to Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, thousands of teachers continue to protest in Kentucky, demanding a reversal to a provision in a recently passed bill about sewage treatment that gutted their pension benefits. On Monday, every school in the state was closed either due to spring break or in anticipation of a massive rally in the capital of Frankfort, where teachers filled the rotunda of the Kentucky state Capitol, chanting "Fund our schools!" This year's wave of teacher rebellions began in West Virginia, where teachers won a 5 percent pay raise after an historic strike. We speak to four guests: Oklahoma teacher Andrea Thomas, Kentucky state lawmaker Attica Scott, retired Kentucky teacher Mickey McCoy and labor journalist Mike Elk.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: Schools across Oklahoma are closed today for a third day as teachers continue their strike demanding more funding for education and increased pay. Oklahoma's public education budget has been slashed more than any other state since the start of the recession in 2008, and its teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation. Scores of teachers are planning to begin a 123-mile protest march today from Tulsa to Oklahoma City.

Meanwhile, thousands of teachers continue to protest in Kentucky, demanding a reversal to a provision in a recently passed bill about sewage treatment that gutted teacher pension benefits. On Monday, every school in the state was closed either due to spring break or anticipation of a massive rally in the capital of Frankfort, when teachers filled the rotunda of the Kentucky state Capitol, chanting "Fund our schools!" This is Kentucky Education Association President Stephanie Winkler.

STEPHANIE WINKLER: There will be no more bills like that after November. We have to fight for every single new teacher. You can tell me all you want, "It's not going to hurt you." If you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us!

AMY GOODMAN: This year's wave of teacher rebellions began in West Virginia, where teachers won a 5 percent pay raise after an historic strike. The protests have also inspired teachers in other states, including Arizona, where union members are threatening to strike unless their demand for a 20 percent wage increase is met. The teacher protests in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona have been described by some as a "red-state revolt." In 2016, Donald Trump won all four states. Meanwhile, in higher education news, nontenured faculty at Loyola University Chicago are planning to go on strike today.

For more on teacher uprisings, we go to Oklahoma and Kentucky. We're joined by four guests. In Oklahoma, Andrea Thomas, a 9th and 11th grade English teacher at Newcastle High School outside of Oklahoma City, has taught for 19 years, is now on strike. Mickey McCoy is a retired English teacher and school board member in eastern Kentucky, taught for 27 years. Also in Kentucky, we're joined by Democratic state Representative Attica Scott, who serves on the House Education Committee. In 2016, she became the first African-American woman to serve on Kentucky's state Legislature in 20 years. And we're joined by Mike Elk, senior labor reporter at Payday Report and a correspondent for The Guardian. Elk's recent piece is headlined "'Arab spring for teachers': educators in Oklahoma join wave of strikes."

Mike, let's begin with you in Oklahoma. Just give us an overview of what's taken place.

MIKE ELK: Well, Amy, after the successful West Virginia strike -- a lot of teachers here had already been talking, prior to the West Virginia strike, about organizing some sort of walkout. But when they saw teachers in West Virginia win that nine-day strike, that historic strike, it gave them a lot of confidence to keep pushing. And so, what happened here is that over a hundred school districts throughout the state now are out on strike.

And in some of these school districts, the Democratic superintendents of the schools are actually quite supportive, because of how bad the funding cuts are. My colleague and I, Karina Moreno, the brilliant public administration professor at Long Island-Brooklyn, crunched the numbers. And Oklahoma has cut more from its state budget since 2009 than any other state in the country. It has one of the lowest tax rates on oil and natural gas. The tax rate is effective 3 percent tax rate on oil and natural gas production. In comparison, Texas, neighboring Texas, which pays its teachers a starting salary of $18,000 more, taxes oil and natural gas at an effective rate of 8 percent.

So what we're seeing here is that teachers are demanding a lot more in terms of funding. Already the state has passed a $6,000 pay raise for teachers. But teachers are saying it's about a lot more than a pay raise. It's about funding classrooms. It's about having textbooks. I've talked and interviewed so many teachers that are telling me that they can't even get proper supplies or textbooks. They can't assign homework, because they can't risk losing a $200 textbook. And they tell me that their students know the state's not investing in education. And this is at a time that Oklahoma is booming. You know, you go to downtown Oklahoma City or go to downtown Tulsa, and the place is booming with oil money. So it's a question of taxation, and it's a question of rolling it back. And we're seeing teachers here make a very bold stand. And almost every teacher I talked to emphasizes that this is strike not about raises, but about making sure they get more money for the classroom.

And, you know, it looks like it will go on for at least a week or two. The superintendent in Tulsa, where I'm at, just announced that she would close schools for an entire week. And she's appearing later today, the superintendent of Tulsa, at a rally to kick off a 123-mile march from Tulsa to Oklahoma City, that's expected to take a week. So this strike here will go on for a while, and it looks like the strike in Kentucky will go on for some time, too. And it's going to be incredible to see what kind of ripple effect this has.

AMY GOODMAN: So, let's go to Andrea Thomas, Andrea Thomas who is in Oklahoma City. You're a teacher. You've been a teacher for almost two decades, you and your husband, in the Oklahoma schools. Talk about why you're striking and what you're demanding.

ANDREA THOMAS: Yes. Well, the Legislature, you know, they have passed the $6,000 raise. And we can live with that. What we're fighting for now is for the kids. Like, I've seen so many signs that have said, "We're here for the kids. We're here for the kids." I've had students come and support us. It's about funding for the classrooms. It's about technology. You know, we're lacking in technology at our school. It's about being able to implement safety measures. We haven't -- you know, in our society today, we'd love to implement more safety measures, but it's so hard to do. Our librarian, she -- you know, we don't have a library budget. If she wants new books for our library, she has to do fundraisers. It's about class size. And my class sizes have grown immensely in the past few years, you know, classes of 35. And it's just so much harder to have a relationship with your students and do what's best for them, whenever you have so many --

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This piece was reprinted by OpEdNews with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.



(Image by Global Research) Details DMCA



The White Helmets are Black Helmets. They are al Qaeda, and the Canadian government supports them financially and politically.[1]

Canadian MP Arif Virani explains on his Facebook page that,

"Today in Parliament, we received a delegation from the White Helmets. These men and women are part of Syria's civil defence system, who literally risk their lives each and every day to come to the aid of bombing victims of the Syrian civil war. They are Syria's only functioning first responders in what "has been a bloody conflict that has destroyed Syrian infrastructure over the past several years. It was honour to receive them and to hear about the heroic work they are doing. It is now incumbent upon us to ensure that others learn about the life-saving work they are doing, and for us to assist them in their efforts. To learn more about the humanitarian assistance being provided by the White Helmets, go to www.syriacivildefence.org "[2]

The photos above feature Raed Saleh[3], Mounir Mustafa, and Manal Abazeed.

Reality contradicts Virani's aforementioned assessment.

The White Helmets are a product of a covert intelligence op.[4] and part of the Western war propaganda apparatus that sells mass murder, extreme misogyny, sectarianism, anti-Christianity, and Supreme International Crimes, as "humanitarian".

They ARE NOT affiliated with the International Civil Defence Organisation (ICDO).[5] They are a propaganda construct. A terrorist PR front.

It is a bitter irony, on this Easter weekend, even as East Ghouta, Syria, is being liberated, and former captivesfeel "reborn", that our government should continue to support anti-Christian[6], sectarian terrorists and their Public Relations fronts.

*

Mark Taliano is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and the author of Voices from Syria, Global Research Publishers, 2017.

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The State Security Department and the Second Investigation Department under the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania on March 26, 2018 presented to the society and media representatives the Assessment of national security threats.

It is possible to say, that the document is entirely devoted to Russia and its confrontational foreign policy. Taking into account that Lithuania falls in the sphere of Russian interests it is clear why Russia has become the main threat to the national security of the Republic of Lithuania.

At the same time, many other threats have not been named by the analysts. While Lithuanian government can't think of anything more than Russia, it's fundamentally important to define other threats to the country.

In appliance with published assessment, the terrorist threat level in Lithuania remains low. Apparently the authors of the report underestimate this kind of threat. It's known, that more and more Islamic militants flee to the European countries under the guise of refugees due to the situation in Syria. It's not a secret that Lithuanian government always openly and uncompromisingly supported a tough fight against international terrorists, that naturally increases the risk of possible revenge on their part.

France is a good example of this. On March 29, 2018 a driver tried to ram a car into a group of soldiers out jogging near their barracks. The attack followed a hostage-taking in the southwest of France on March 23, in which four people were killed. In connection with this, the ignoring and minimizing terrorist threat by Lithuanian government are seen as unacceptable.

Another serious problem which Lithuania has encountered is the energy crisis. "Today Lithuania has the highest electricity deficit among the Baltic States. The country's demand in 2016 was 12.25 TWh of electricity, but its own generation was only 3.97 Twh," said Lithuania's Energy Minister Zhigimantas Vaiciunas speaking of Lithuania's energy strategy until 2030. The fact that Lithuania is fully dependent on other countries' energy resources endangers the very idea of state independence. And of course, authorities should pay more attention to this issue.

Besides the Russian actions, the loss of citizens' confidence in the acting parliament also presents the danger to Lithuania. Thus there was a public protest at the Independence Square in Vilnius near the parliament building this week, during which protesters urged the parliament to disband.

The protest followed the unsuccessful impeachment of lawmaker Mindaugas Bastys, who was accused of allegedly cooperating with foreign intelligence and security officers, as well as criminal figures and thus grossly violating the constitution.

Even Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite commented these disturbances and said " Lithuania's lawmakers should stop "quarrelling" and start to work for the state and its people."

Eventually the situation when n early all political groups in the parliament have stopped to fulfill their duties and got involved into squabble, undermines the stability and violates constitutional order of Lithuania.

While the authorities concern only about one single threat - possible Russian aggression -- they are distancing themselves from the people. According to the Eurostat data 30.1% of Lithuanian residents were below the poverty line last year and it was one of the worst indicator in Europe. By the way, as the Eurobarometer survey stated in February, Lithuanian residents mostly concerned about food and services rising prices. The majority of Lithuanian residents -- 65% -- called the price increase the most serious problem .

All these facts show that government in Lithuania risks to become weaker and to lose the support of society. Maybe, officials for a moment have to stop playing global politics and take care of the way the Lithuanians live. As well as they should define the real threats...Quicklink Not Found

Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them.



To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here.Im a loyal MR reader and follower of your work. Im so grateful for your work and your generous spirit. Im sure you get inundated with email and other correspondence but Im adding to the pile by requesting that someday youll post advice for a Oaxaca or Mexico City visit. I assure you that it would be carefully studied and utilized. Happy Easter!

Here are my tips for Mexico City, taken from an email I sent to a friend a while ago, note I start with food but do not end there:

1. Your number one task is to find a seller of tlacoyos in the street. This is likely a solo woman with a stand, on a corner. They are all over Mexico City, though whether in Condesa I am not sure. The vegetarian offerings are no worse, also, with beans and blue corn tortilla and cheese. Get these, and they are in general quite sanitary. You simply need to ask around, they will not be in highly visible places. I think about them often.

2. Ask for tacqueria rather than tacos, the latter might lead you into a restaurant.

2b. Most food in Condesa will be fine but underwhelming, think Clarendon. Try to find street food there.

3. The street food is the best food there and it is safer to eat than the restaurant food (though the latter is usually safe too).

4. Try a sandwich once or twice, just ask around, no need for a fancy place, these usually close by mid-afternoon. My favorite sandwich is the Hawaii, though I believe that is a purely subjective judgment, I do not think it is the best per se. The whole bakery culture there is quite interesting and often neglected by food people but it is important.

5. When you take a taxi out to the pyramids, there is excellent food along the way, in the middle of nowhere, have the driver stop and bring you somewhere. The pyramids are one of the best sights in this hemisphere, by the way, better than those in Egypt I think. There are also smaller pyramid sites on the way to the big pyramid site, worth visiting and also near some superb food.

6. Favorite fancy place there is Astrid and Gaston, not cheap but it wont bankrupt you either. Peruvian/Mexican fusion, nice to sit in too.

7. If you need a break from Mexican food, the Polish restaurants there are quite good, that would be my back up choice. Of Asian food the Japanese offerings might be the best. French and German can be quite good there, though not original. Avoid American. Other Latin cuisines will in general be quite good there, including the steakhouses.

8. Go to Coyoacan (a suburb, sort of, but not far) and see the Frida Kahlo museum. The food stalls (comedores) there are not only excellent, but they look the most sanitary and mainstream of just about any in Mexico. Even your aunt could be tempted to eat there. A good stop, try a whole bunch of things for $1.50 a piece, you could spend two hours there eating and not get bored and get to sample a lot of the main dishes. Also a fun hangout.

9. When we flew into the airport, we immediately asked the taxi driver to bring us somewhere superb for a snack. Of course there was somewhere within five minutes, right nearby. Do this if you can open a line of communications.

9b. Walking is often the wrong way to find great food there, unless you are walking and asking. Walking and looking doesnt work so well, because you are on the wrong streets if you are walking to just be walking around. Vehicles are the key, or asking and then walking to follow the advice, not to follow your walking instincts.

10. Chiles en Nogada is a seasonal dish, superb, I am not sure if they will still have it but ask around and get it if you can. It is delicious and a real treat, not to be forgotten.

11. Treat breakfast as a chance at some street food, dont fill up on a traditional breakfast, least of all a touristy Mexican one. It will always be OK, but rarely interesting, even if it sounds somewhat authentic. Get a tlacoyo or something in the street. Any food represented by an Aztec word will be excellent, pretty much as a rule.

The non-food tips I will send separately. But the food is all about improvising, not about finding good restaurants. Most of the mid-tier restaurants are decent but for me ultimately a bit disappointing. Either go fancy or go street. Dont trust any of the guidebook recommendations for mid-tier places, they will never be bad but mostly disappoint compared to the best stuff there.

Non-food

The Anthropology Museum is a must.

My personal favorite museum is Museo del Arte Popular, the popular art museum downtown, but I consider that an idiosyncratic preference.

Visit the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the murals there, and across the street House of Blue Tiles, get a juice there and see their murals too. Then walk from there down to the Zocalo on the main street, there is the number one walk in Mexico for a basic introduction to downtown. In fact that is the first thing I would do to get an overview of downtown and the older part of the city, even though that is not where you will end up hanging out.

The mural sites are in general excellent, I believe the best one is called Ildefonso.

I often find male clothes shopping there to be highly profitable, good mix of selection and prices. Polanco is the part of town you would go to for that, right near Pujol and also Astrid and Gaston, in fact.

Hotel Camino Real is a classic site, you can get a drink there at night with the funny colored lights. The movie Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia was shot there in part, a great film. The Mexico City movie is Amores Perros, a knockout. Y Tu Mama Tambien is another, you probably know these already. I also like the old Mexican movies of Luis Bunuel, made while he lived there for a while.

The classic Mexico novel is Roberto Bolano, *The Savage Detectives*, a great read and one of the best novels of the latter part of the 20th century, the English translation is first-rate too, as good as the Spanish in my view.

I dont like much of the music, but perhaps that is the point. Control Machete, a Mexican rap group, works pretty good as soundtrack while you are being driven around the city.

The Alan Riding book, while now badly out of date, is still an excellent overview of the older Mexico, great for background, Distant Neighbors it is called.

Have a cabbie drive you around different neighborhoods, to see rich homes, poorer sections, particular buildings. Mexico City is first-rate for contemporary architecture although most of it is quite scattered, no single place for walking around it that I know of.

Art galleries there are good for browsing, often in or near Polanco, the wealthy part of town.

Insurgentes is a good avenue for cruising.

Avoid Zona Rosa altogether at all costs, bad stuff, lots of pickpockets, no redeeming virtues whatsoever, do not be tempted.Progressive Content Not Found

Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing.



To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here.Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"In Bottom-Up, Rob Kall offers a blueprint for human surviving and thriving that everyone can follow. Using personal stories from his many famous contacts (from Capra to Quinn), he shows how in every aspect of life we can reconnect with that which is in our DNA by replacing our artificial and oppressive hierarchical priorities via a return to a consciousness based on the kind of egalitarian relationships that we honored for most of human history."



Four Arrows, aka Don Trent Jacobs, PhD, EdD, author of Unlearning the Language of Conquest and Teaching Truly: A Curriculum to Indigenize Mainstream EducationWould you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

A Playlet

Holy Week 2018

Carmine Gorga

cgorga@jhu.edu

Scene 1.

Jesus enters Jeruedusalem triumphantly on Palm Sunday, with people shouting Hosanna.

Scene 2.

On Holy Friday, people shout "crucify him." And Jesus dies on the Cross, uttering these last words: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Scene 3.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated.

Scene 4.

What links MLK to Jesus is that they were both talking truth to power. They both addressed the issue of money and power. What people still do not understand is that both Jesus and MLK had nothing against money and power. They were only against the immoral use of money and power.

Scene 5.

Jesus was very clear about the moral use of power and money: Through his actions and his words, he pointed out that the right approach to money and power is through economic justice. MLK reached the same conclusion during his final days on earth: he called for the implementation of economic rights. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a moral leader, also called for a Bill of Economic Rights ("economic bill of rights") during his last Presidential Address on January 11, 1944.

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Pavlov's Experiment

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If you wonder how Donald Trump constantly gets away with destroying the line between fact and falsehood, you are not alone . But if you learn how the president has inadvertently harnessed powerful principles of behavioral science, you'll understand how we are all participating in his alternate reality.

This story begins in the 1890's when Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov noted a curious phenomenon while studying the digestive process in dogs. That dogs salivate at the sight of food was well known--it's a natural (unconditioned) response wired into the dog's physiology.

Something else, though, struck Pavlov that would have far-reaching implications. He observed that his laboratory dogs would also salivate at the sight of the lab assistants who brought them food. This led to his hypothesis that a neutral stimulus (lab assistants) can acquire through association (conditioning) the power to produce the same salivation response as the original unconditioned stimulus (food). This process of shaping and controlling behavior came to be known as classical conditioning.

Pavlov demonstrated how classical conditioning works with his famous experiment in which dogs were conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell alone after a period of associating the bell ringing with the presentation of food.

Little did Pavlov suspect that his astute observation and simple experiment would launch a new field of behavioral psychology.

But there would have to be more developments in that field to get us to Donald Trump's brainwashing or "mind control" technique.

In the 1920's American psychologist John Watson saw in Pavlov's work the key principle that he believed explained all human behavior. He boldly proclaimed that at birth humans are more or less the same "globs of protoplasm" with no inborn traits or personalities--just empty "globs" waiting to be shaped by parents, society, and other influences in accord with Pavlov's principle of classical conditioning.

"It's nurture, not nature that determines human behavior," Watson declared in a sweeping behavioral manifesto: "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select -- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes,even beggar-man and thief."

Watson's theory proved too simplistic to explain all of human behavior. But other behavioral psychologists, including the early pioneers Clark Hull andB. F. Skinner, built on Watson's work and developed more nuanced and complex forms of conditioning that built the field of behavioral and cognitive psychology. Today "cognitive behavior therapy" is among the leading treatments for psychological disorders.

One of the most effective methods behavioral psychologists use to treat fears and phobias is "desensitization." When a psychologist subjects a fearful patient to systematic prolonged and increasingly intense exposure to the object of his fear the person will eventually become "desensitized" to the terrifying experience. Prominent cognitive behavior therapist Dr. Barry Lubetkin offers the example of a person who is afraid of snakes:

"At first, you would introduce the person to superficial non-threatening experiences, like just talking about snakes. Then slowly you might show pictures of snakes followed by some videos that are more graphic and alive. At some point, you would introduce actual snakes and finally inundation with snake experiences resulting in habituation and indifference--eventually, the person stops reacting."

Of course, snake phobia is not an everyday problem that we need to be overly concerned with. More common ones like fear of flying, of public speaking, elevators (a "big one" according to Lubetkin) can impair a person's quality of life. Behavior therapists address these fears with the same principles as illustrated in treating the snake phobia.

So how much does this have to do with Donald Trump? A lot, it turns out. The more I have observed the president's behavior, the more I have concluded that just as psychologists use desensitization to diminish pathological behavior, President Trump has applied the method to normalize pathological behavior. For example, his barrage of "alternative facts" and his constant charges of "fake news" have become so relentless that many no longer react with anger or disbelief. Whether he is doing this unwittingly or intentionally isn't clear, but the results are the same.

To explore this insight further I talked to Dr. Barry Lubetkin, director and founder of The Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York City and author of two important books on treating psychological problems.

I asked Dr. Lubetkin if Donald Trump's propensity to lie, as documented by news media, and his brutal denigration of those who oppose him has harnessed desensitization to normalize these behaviors.

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From Alternet

Let's get the money out of politics. Then we can deal with the NRA.

Parkland shooting survivor and activist David Hogg recently asked why John McCain has taken over $7 million from the NRA (not to mention other millions they and other "guns rights" groups have spent supporting him indirectly).

McCain's answer, no doubt, would be the standard politician-speak these days: "They support me because they like my positions; I don't change my positions just to get their money." It's essentially what Marco Rubio told the Parkland kids when he was confronted with a similar question.

And it's a bullshit answer, as we all well know.

America has had an on-again, off-again relationship with political corruption that goes all the way back to the early years of our republic. Perhaps the highest level of corruption, outside of today, happened in the late 1800s, the tail end of the "Gilded Age." (Gilded, of course, refers to "gold coated or gold colored," an era that Donald Trump is trying so hard to bring back that he's even replaced the curtains in the Oval Office with gold ones.)

One of the iconic stories from that era was that of William Clark, who died in 1925 with a net worth in excess, in today's money, of $4 billion. He was one of the richest men of his day, perhaps second only to John D. Rockefeller. And in 1899, Clark's story helped propel an era of political cleanup that reached its zenith with the presidency of progressive Republicans (that species no longer exists) Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.

Clark's scandal even led to the passage of the 17th Amendment, which let the people of the various states decide who would be their U.S. senators, instead of the State Legislature deciding, which was the case from 1789 until 1913 when that amendment was ratified.

By 1899, Clark owned pretty much every legislator of any consequence in Montana, as well as all but one newspaper in the state. Controlling both the news and the politicians, he figured they'd easily elect him to be the next U.S. senator from Montana. Congress later learned that he not only owned the legislators, but in all probability stood outside the statehouse with a pocket full of $1,000 bills in plain white envelopes to hand out to every Member who'd voted for him.

When word reached Washington, D.C., about the envelopes and the cash, the U.S. Senate began an investigation into Clark, who told friends and aides that, "I never bought a man who wasn't for sale."

Mark Twain wrote of Clark: "He is as rotten a human being as can be found anywhere under the flag; he is a shame to the American nation, and no one has helped to send him to the Senate who did not know that his proper place was the penitentiary, with a chain and ball on his legs."

State Senator Fred Whiteside, who owned the only non-Clark-owned newspaper in the state, the Kalispell Bee, led the big expose of Clark's bribery. The rest of the Montana senators, however, ignored Whiteside and took Clark's money.

The U.S. Senate in 1899 launched an investigation, and, sure enough, found out about the envelopes and numerous other bribes and emoluments offered to state legislators, and refused to seat him. The next year, Montana's corrupted Governor appointed Clark to the Senate, and he served a full eight-year term.

Clark's story went national, and became a rallying cry for clean government advocates. In 1912, President Taft, after doubling the number of corporations being broken up by the Sherman Act over what Roosevelt had done, championed the 17th Amendment (direct election of senators, something some Republicans today want to repeal) to prevent the kind of corruption Clark represented from happening again.

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From Smirking Chimp

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers



March For Our Lives student protest for gun control

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The eruption of youth protests over gun violence in schools and other issues is another indicator that the 2020s could be a decade of transformation where people demand economic, racial and environmental justice as well as peace. Students who are in their teens now will be in their twenties then. They will have experience in how protests can change political culture.

Some view the youth awakening in these protests as reminiscent of youth movements in previous generations, others are less optimistic. We cannot predict the role this generation will play, but throughout the history of mass movements, youth have been a key factor by pushing boundaries and demanding change.

One of the slogans in the actions against gun violence is "adults failed to solve the problem." The truth is, as many youth are aware, those currently in power have failed on many fronts; e.g., climate change, wealth disparity, racial injustice, never-ending wars and militarism, lack of health care and more. These crises are coming to a head and provide the environment for transformational changes, if we act.

Beware of Democratic Party Co-option

One of the challenges youth, and older, activists face is the Democratic Party. Democrats have a long history of co-opting political movements. They are present in recent mobilizations, such as the Women's March and March for our Lives, which both centered on voting as the most important action to take.

Big Democratic Party donors, like George and Amal Clooney, provided massive resources to the March for Our Lives. The corporate media covered the students extensively, encouraged attendance at the marches and reported widely on them.

As Bruce Dixon writes:

"It's not hard to see the hand of the Democratic party behind the tens of millions in corporate contributions and free media accorded the March For Our Lives mobilization. 2018 is a midterm election year, and November is only seven months away. The Democrats urgently need some big sticks with which to beat out the vote this fall."

Democratic politicians see the gun issue as an opportunity for the "Blue Wave" they envision for 2018, even though the Democrat's history of confronting gun violence has been dismal. When Democrats controlled Congress and the presidency, they did not challenge the culture of violence, confront the NRA or stop militarized policing that is resulting in hundreds of killings by police.

Ajamu Baraka writes:

"Liberals and Democrat party connected organizations and networks have been quite adept at getting out in front of movements to pre-empt their radical potential and steer them back into the safe arms of liberal conformism."

Indeed the history of the Democratic Party since its founding as a slave-owners party has been one of absorbing political movements and weakening them.

For this new generation of activists to reach their potential, they must understand we live in a mirage democracy and cannot elect our way out of these crises. Our tasks are much larger. Violence is deeply embedded in US culture, dating to the founding of the nation when gun laws were designed for white colonizers to take land from Indigenous peoples and control black slaves.

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From Counterpunch



(Image by Photo by Marco Verch | CC BY 2.0) Details DMCA



President Donald Trump promised to "make America great again." The slogan defined his campaign and his presidency. His bluster was often forgiven because of the sentiment attached to that slogan -- it inspired a hope that Trump's policies would protect the U.S. economy and ensure that the declining standard of living of Americans would be reversed.

A year into his presidency, there is little evidence of any improvement. Inequality continues to define the American economic landscape -- CEOs, new government data show, can make up to a thousand times more in their salaries than their employees. It is impossible to suggest that high inequality and joblessness should be the character of a Great America. Red hats with that slogan are easy to produce, but it is a bitter pill if these are made -- as they often are -- in Bangladesh, China and Vietnam.

President Trump has now announced a tariff policy on aluminium and steel, which he hopes will redouble efforts by the manufacturing sector to kick-start a languid economy. Trump framed his tariff policy around the framework of national security rather than economics. Other powers, mainly China, he said, were "assaulting our country." It was to prevent this assault that the U.S. would build a high wall around these key sectors of its manufacturing. It was clear that this was less about economics and more about politics when Trump announced speedily that "good friends" -- Canada, Mexico, Australia -- would be excluded. Australian and Canadian firms are major producers of aluminium through Rio Tinto and through the subsidiaries of the American aluminium giant Alcoa. The largest aluminium producers in the world are Chinese and Russian, but the materials are mainly used in Eurasia rather than exported to the U.S.

Chinese export of steel to the U.S. accounts for merely 3 percent of the U.S.' steel imports. The major countries from where steel goes to the U.S. are Canada, which will likely be excluded from the tariff, and Brazil, which will not be excluded. Brazil's private steel companies, Gerdau and CSN, are subsidised by very favorable loans from the government bank, BNDES. Brazil's right-wing government, already in the midst of political turmoil and with little guarantee that it will be able to win the elections later this year, has asked the Trump administration for an exception. If Trump gives Brazil the exception, the policy will appear to be more smoke and mirrors than based on reality.

China is the rhetorical target of Trump's policy, even though Chinese firms export neither aluminium nor steel to the U.S. But this anti-China move is part of a process at the Trump White House. Trump had released a national security report that identified China as a "strategic competitor," and the 2017 Report to Congress on China's WTO Compliance has strong words that China is a cyber-thief and a cyber-spy.

Trump's advisers on tariff policy are Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Economic Adviser Peter Navarro and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. These three men share an obsession with China. They believe that China is undermining America's capacity to become great again. Their views are grounded less in economics and more in politics.

U.S. businesses fear retaliation

The tariff policy pointed its fingers at China. Trump has defined the project of making American great again in opposition to China. It is as if a halt to China's advance will somehow contribute to the greatness of America. But it is clear that Trump will not be allowed to push too hard against China and that his policies will not impact China negatively. Commercial lobbies in the U.S. responded negatively to Trump's China policy because they feared retaliation. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 44 other such associations wrote a stinging letter to Trump asking him not to impose tariffs against China. If the U.S. did so, they wrote, it would "trigger a chain reaction of negative consequences for the U.S. economy." Apple, Google and Walmart are among the firms that say that they would not like a trade war with China. They rely upon China for production and for markets. It would be catastrophic for them if China fought back.

Interestingly, the data on U.S.-China trade deficits used by the Trump administration as a dog whistle about Chinese "unfairness" are out of date. The statistic bandied about is that China has an advantage of about $375 billion over the U.S. -- a very high number. However, this is an illusion. Most of the goods that come to the U.S. from China are not entirely made in China but are made along the global circuits of production -- some are even made in the U.S.

Components come from around the world into China, where they are utilized in the goods produced for exports. When the value of these components is factored in, the trade deficit drops to $200 billion (based on the World Input Output Database). The U.S. consumption patterns benefit not only China but a range of countries, including the U.S. An attack on China will impact many other countries more than China itself.

Europe's retaliatory tariffs indicate that the Europeans are not in a trade war but want to send a political message to the U.S. They have put tariffs on blue jeans and on cranberries. The latter is significant. It is a key industry in Wisconsin, House Representative Paul Ryan's State. It is a little message to Ryan and to America's iconic product (blue jeans). Cecilia Malmstrom, the European Commissioner for Trade, said that a trade war was not on the cards. "A trade war has no winners. If it does not happen, all the better."

China is likely to file a lawsuit against the U.S. in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The U.S. has shown a propensity to ignore the WTO when its rulings are adverse. In 2002, President George W. Bush slapped a 30 percent tariff on steel on national security grounds. The WTO ruled against the U.S.; Bush ignored the WTO. The Europeans imposed tariffs on goods made in congressional constituencies that were up for re-election. Bush abandoned the tariffs to make sure that his party would not be hurt in the midterm elections. The retaliatory tariff on cranberries harks back to that feint by the Europeans.

But the U.S. had been developing bilateral treaties outside the WTO and multilateral arrangements that it dominated in order to undermine the WTO. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), whose purpose was to exclude China, was a way to develop new trade standards favoring the West -- standards such as new kinds of intellectual property protections, new forms of investor settlement mechanisms and restrictions on state-owned enterprises. Trump had trashed the TPP in the early part of his presidency, but there are now signs that he might return to that table if it enables him to push China off balance.

This column originally appeared on Frontline (India).Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

From Common Dreams

Once again more Americans are being excluded from the bargain than added to it: democracy is taking on the airs of a gated community.

The Declaration of Independence's idea of all men being created equal was almost accurate in so far as the wording is concerned: if you were a man, if you owned property and if you were white, you were pretty much set. The overwhelming majority of Americans were excluded from the bargain, among them women, who represented more than half the population, slaves, Native Americans, the poor, the weirdly colored, the irreligious, the young. As white supremacy goes, you could hardly have found better advocates than the Founders.

Over time we've gotten much closer to the ideals of the Declaration. The Bill of Rights became more inclusive. "Diversity" busted out from aspiration to reality. But the pendulum has been swinging back. Once again more Americans are being excluded from the bargain than added to it: democracy is taking on the airs of a gated community.

It's been systematic. Voting districts have become a parody of fairness. They're drawn not to represent the people in them but to maximize the electoral benefit to the party in power. That's how you end up with just a 1 percent difference in actual votes cast between parties for House of Representative elections in the 2016 election, but a 5 percent advantage for Republicans in actual number of seats.

That 1 percent difference would not exist but for the draconian voting rules in about half the states, which make it more difficult for the young, the poor and minorities to vote, again suppressing the traditionally Democratic vote. The hysteria over voting fraud that's led to all these rules is based on made-up fears. There is no fraud. The statistically risible exception aside, there are no undocumented immigrants voting, no citizens voting twice or dead citizens voting thrice, even in West Virginia. But voting rules such as strict ID requirements have themselves become the fraud, a form of poll tax masked by other means. If those rules were not in place, we'd have a very different make-up in the House of Representatives today and in state houses across the country.

Now the Trump Administration has come up with a new way to further gerrymander voting districts in Republicans' favors. For the first time in 70 years, the Census Bureau will follow the Justice Department's order and ask respondents whether they are U.S. citizens or not. There is zero reason to do so, because the question is already asked on the Census Bureau's annual community survey, and because the reason the Trump administration is giving for asking it, that it would allow for better enumeration of minorities and compliance with the Voting Rights Act, is laughable. This is not an administration concerned with minorities or voting rights.

But it is an administration concerned with reducing immigrants' rights starting with reducing immigration outright. If you doubt that, just have a look at the featured image under the "Immigration" tab at the White House. No Emma Lazarus imagery of huddled masses here, no Statue of Liberty beacon, no smiling faces of the sort of immigrants -- which is to say, most immigrants -- who've been disproportionately powering this country's economy since the 1990s. No, the only smiling face is that of a beefed up Border Patrol agent surrounded by his paramilitary posse in the sort of posture ready for assaults. This is not an image about immigration or immigrants, but about putting the cuffs and knuckles on either. Of course the Census form is going to ask you whether you're a citizen. E pluribus unum is giving way to your papers please.

The reason Trump & Co. want the question asked is to intimidate immigrants who are fearful enough as it is of answering questions by a government interrogation, and to suppress the number of immigrants who will take part in the census. That in turn will diminish the number of immigrants counted and certain populations overall, and the Medicaid, food stamps and school aid dollars those populations will receive. Come redistricting time fewer minorities or immigrants will have been counted, and just like that, the country's diminishing white majority will have been given an artificial booster shot that translates into whiter, and need it be said, more Republican, districts. Keep in mind that the Census is not about counting Americans, but counting all people living in the United States, documented or not. That's what the Constitution requires.

All questions added to the Census take extensive testing first to determine validity or usefulness. The bureau, for instance, just decided that it would not add an ethnic category of "Middle Eastern/North African" because more testing is needed. (I have my doubts: the proposal has been tested, and to make people like me, of Arab descent, have to notch up the box that says "white," if we have to notch a box at all -- itself a problematic issue -- is no weirder than making blacks or Hispanics do so. But I can also understand that the nation is not too eager or ready to concede that there may be 4 million of more Arabs lurking about in these parts.)

The one about citizenship was never tested. What's taking place in effect is the most systematic attempt in the nation's history at gerrymandering what's left of our democracy. It is a lurch back to the earlier days of the whites-only Declaration, and it is pure Trump.

At least 12 states are prepared to sue the administration over the fraud as of this week, with more certain to join. Naturally, Florida is not among them. One-party states where minorities and the poor count only as three-fifth of human beings generally aren't. But let's not pretend that this has anything to do with counting right. It has to do with counting white.Posted Wednesday, April 4, 2018 3:30 am

Wednesday, April 4

 Story time, 10 a.m., Webster County Library, Marshfield. A free weekly kids event that includes stories and a craft. For more information, call the library at 468-3335.

 AA meeting, noon, Marshfield Nazarene Church, east entrance. For more information, contact John at 417-224-5573.

 Music Jam, 1:30 p.m., Marshfield Senior Center, 427 W. Washington St., Marshfield

 Quill and Ink Creative Writing class, 3 p.m., Webster County Library, 219 W. Jackson St., Marshfield. Open to the public, no fees.

 Open gym hallwalking, 3:30-6 p.m., Marshfield Community Center, 110 E. Commercial St. Donation of $1 is suggested. Children must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, call 859-6055 or email melaniefraker@gmail.com.

 TOPS Mo. 686 Strafford, 4:30 p.m. weigh-in, Strafford High School.

 Pound Cardio Class, 6-7 p.m., Marshfield Community Center (back cardio building), 110 E. Commercial St. Cost is $5 per class. For more information, call Trisha Tindall at 417-224-0721.

Thursday, April 5

 Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce, noon, Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce office, 1329 Spur Drive, Suite 130.

 Open gym hallwalking, 3:30-6 p.m., Marshfield Community Center, 110 E. Commercial St. Donation of $1 is suggested. Children must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, call 859-6055 or email melaniefraker@gmail.com.

 TOPS 0534 Marshfield meeting, 3:30 p.m., Webster County Library, 219 W. Jackson St. Visitors welcome.

 Strafford Elementary School Carnival, 5-7:30 p.m., Strafford Elementary, 310 W. McCabe St.

 Logan-Rogersville Educational Foundation, 5:30 p.m., 1717 E. Republic Rd. For more information, visit www.lrfoundation.org.

 TOPS 1039 Conway, 5:30 p.m., Conway Community Building, 589-6056 or 589-2121.

 Marshfield Lions Club meeting, 6:30 p.m., 210 Maple St. All are welcome.

 Gamblers Anonymous, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 2818 E. Bennett St., Springfield. For information, call Karen at 417-894-7959.

 Taekwondo class, 7-8 p.m., Marshfield Community Center, 110 E. Commercial St. Cost is $5 per class. For more information, contact Pat Blinzler, 417-839-0433.

 AA meeting, 8 p.m., Holy Trinity Church, 859-6031.

Friday, April 6

 AA meeting, noon, Marshfield Nazarene Church, east entrance. For more information, contact John at 417-224-5573.

 Family roller skating, 4-8 p.m., Marshfield Community Center, 110 E. Commercial St. Cost is $5 per skater per two-hour session (4-6 p.m. recommended for young skaters).

 Celebrate Recovery, meets Friday nights at the wareHouse at 33 Stevens Drive. Dinner starts at 5:45 p.m., with meeting at 6:30 p.m. Group meetings are designed to aid in the recovery process from addiction, destructive habits, anger or whatever is causing trouble in your life. For more information, call Misti at 417-241-3997 or Dale at 417-241-1544.

 Pound Cardio Class, 6-7 p.m., Marshfield Community Center (back cardio building), 110 E. Commercial St. Cost is $5 per class. For more information, call Trisha Tindall at 417-224-0721.

 AA meeting, Diggins ABC Group, 7 p.m., Diggins Baptist Church, Highway 60 and NN, 417-464-1750.

 Bingo night, sponsored by the Marshfield Firefighters Association, 7 p.m., Uptown Cafe, 210 W. Jackson St., Marshfield.

 Dance, 7-10 p.m., Conway Senior Center. Cover charge is $5, with Country Persuasion performing.

 Guardians of the Children monthly meeting, 7 p.m., Webster County 911 administrative offices, 565 S. Prairie Lane, Marshfield.

 Unchained Biblical 12-step meeting, 7-8 p.m., CrossBridge Church, 302 S. Clay St., Marshfield. Open to all addictions and support needs. Childcare and dinner provided.

April 7-8

 20th annual Show-Me Gourd Art Festival, Ozark Empire Fairgrounds, Springfield, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 7 and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 8. Admission is $5 for the weekend; kids 12 and under are free. Free parking. For more information or to register for workshops, visit www.showmegourdsociety.com.

Saturday, April 7

 Elkland Community Wide Yard Sale, junction of Highway 38 and Route AA. No fees for sellers or buyers. Set up starting at 6:30 a.m. All small animals must be confined. Concessions offered and restrooms will be open. For more information, contact Elkland Lions Club president Elden Moore at 417-759-2490.

 Breakfast served by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4101, Marshfield, 7 to 10 a.m. at the post on East Jackson Street. Donations accepted. Service officer available.

 Addicts, Coffee and Recovery, 10 a.m., the wareHouse, 33 Stevens Drive, Marshfield, 859-0640.

 Chili supper and talent show, 5:30-8 p.m., Marshfield Christian School, 114 Commercial St., Marshfield. Talent show portion of event hosted by MCS begins at 7 p.m.

 The New Webster County Jamboree Show, 7 p.m., 538 E. Madison, Marshfield. Live music ranging from classic country, top 40, bluegrass, Christian country and Southern gospel.

Sunday, April 8

 Greenwood Community Club meeting, 2 p.m. at the schoolhouse.

 Al Anon, 6 p.m., Fellowship Bible Church, 4855 S. Farm Road 205, Rogersville, 417-619-4788.

 Addicts, Coffee and Recovery, 6:30 p.m., the wareHouse, 33 Stevens Drive, Marshfield, 859-0640.

Monday, April 9

 Preschool Story Time, 10 a.m., Webster County Library, Marshfield. A free weekly kids event that includes stories and a craft. For more information, call the library at 468-3335.

 Open gym hallwalking, 3:30-6 p.m., Marshfield Community Center, 110 E. Commercial St. Donation of $1 is suggested. Children must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, call 859-6055 or email melaniefraker@gmail.com.

 Pound Cardio Class, 6-7 p.m., Marshfield Community Center (back cardio building), 110 E. Commercial St. Cost is $5 per class. For more information, call Trisha Tindall at 417-224-0721.

 Cub Scout Pack 800, 6:30 p.m., 859-0972.

 Gamblers Anonymous, 7-8 p.m. conference room at St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton Catholic Church, corner of Cox and Republic Road, Springfield. For information, call Karen at 417-894-7959.

 AA meeting, 7:30 p.m., at Marshfield Nazarene Church, east entrance. For more information, contact John at 417-224-5573.

 Al Anon meeting, 7:30 p.m., at Marshfield Nazarene Church. Contact Jane at 417-224-5654.

Tuesday, April 10

 Making Financial Decisions, 9-11 a.m., OACAC Webster County Neighborhood Center, 211 N. Clay, Suite D, Marshfield. Join Sarah Lowe, Bear State Bank, and others interested in reviewing budget basics and new tips to stretch your dollars. Call 859-4589 to register for this free program. Child care not provided.

 Its Showtime, 9:30 a.m., Webster County Library, Marshfield. This weeks feature is Cat Ballou, starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin. The film showings are free and open to all residents every Tuesday morning in the meeting room of the Garst Memorial Library, 219 W. Jackson in Marshfield. For more information, contact the library at 417-468-3335.

 Story time at the Library, 10:30 a.m., Rogersville Branch Library, 104 N. Beatie St. A free weekly kids event that includes stories and a craft. For more information, call the library at 753-3220.

 Rogersville Area Chamber of Commerce meeting, 11:45 a.m., Storybook Barn, 9658 E. State Highway D, Rogersville. The chamber meets every second Tuesday of the month. For more information, call 753-7538.

 SOS Closet open, 1-4:30 p.m., building behind Marshfield Christian School. Gently used clothing store providing free clothes to Marshfield school children and their families. No income guideline requirements for families and no limits on used clothing. Store provided by the Marshfield Public Schools Foundation with assistance of Marshfield R-I School District.

 Wildcat Closet, 1-5 p.m., every Tuesday, Logan-Rogersville Upper Elementary School, 306 S. Mill St., Rogersville. Open to all families in the Logan-Rogersville School District and is operated by LR PTA. Donations also accepted outside shopping hours in the maroon bin by the doors of the Wildcat Closet.

 Open gym hallwalking, 3:30-6 p.m., Marshfield Community Center, 110 E. Commercial St. Donation of $1 is suggested. Children must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, call 859-6055 or email melaniefraker@gmail.com.

 TOPS MO 1234 Rogersville, 5:45 p.m. at Rogersville Church of Christ off Center Street across from Citizens Bank of Rogersville.

 Crossroads to Recovery N/A meetings, 6 p.m., CrossBridge Church, 302 S. Clay St., Marshfield, 417-838-3013.

 Taekwondo class, 6-8:30 p.m., Marshfield Community Center, 110 E. Commercial St. Cost is $5 per class. For more information, contact Pat Blinzler, 417-839-0433.

 Logan-Rogersville FFA booster club meeting, 7 p.m., LRHS Agricultural building.

 Overcomers: Victory in Christ Recovery Support Group, 7 p.m., Glorious Church, 3935 W. Sunshine, Springfield, 417-890-4420 or 417-865-1468.

 Webster County Republican Central Committee meeting, 7 p.m., Sheilas Place, 915 S. Marshall St., Marshfield. Everyone is welcome.

Future events

April 13

 Night of the Arts, 5-8 p.m., Marshfield High School, 370 State Highway DD. Event will feature art displays and activities, along with demonstrations from the culinary arts, speech and theatre, and industrial arts departments. Paintings will also be for sale by Katelynn Loder for her senior project. Free admission.

April 14

 Concerned Women for America meeting, 10:30 a.m., Webster County Library, Marshfield. The topic is sexual exploitation of minors. Everyone is welcome.

 Dancing with the Stars, starting at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:15 p.m.), Marshfield High School gym. General admission $5 in advance, $8 at the door, with opportunities to vote with dollars to support MHS Project Graduation. Advance tickets available at The Marshfield Mail and Bear State Bank.

April 16-17

 Auditions for the upcoming Marshfield Community Theatre musical production of Annie, 6:30 p.m. (children) and 7:30 p.m. (adults) April 16-17 at MCT building, 430 McNabb Rd., Marshfield. Callbacks and dance call are April 19. For more information, including character descriptions, visit marshfieldtheatre.org/annie.

April 17

 OACAC Internet Safety Class, 10 a.m. to noon, OACAC Webster Co. Neighborhood Center, 211 N. Clay, Suite D, Marshfield. Free, but childcare not provided; please make arrangements. Kindles will be distributed to income eligible families that meet guidelines. To register, call 859-4589.

April 18

 MHS Senior Showcase 2018, 5-8 p.m., Marshfield High School. Second annual event will include more than 100 high school seniors presenting research, products and experiences from their year-long senior projects. Presentations will run continuously throughout the event. Refreshments will be served.

April 19

 Seventh Annual Webster County Senior Resource Fair, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 515 E. Washington, Marshfield. Free event will include informational booths, vendors, food, drinks, music and door prizes.

April 21

 Community Spring Fling, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Harmony Baptist Church, 5150 S. State Highway 125, Rogersville. Food, fun and fellowship will be offered.

 A Night Under the Sea, 6-8 p.m., Cogdill Early Childhood Center, 218 W. McCabe, Strafford. Tickets for the annual daddy/daughter dance are $3 in advance, $5 at the door. Event is presented by the Strafford Preschool/PACE Booster Club.Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

From Alternet

Trump just handed voters another reason to vote for Democrats in some of 2018's most important races.



(Image by White House Photo) Details DMCA



President Trump's escalating trade war with China is poised to roil key economic sectors of numerous 2018 political battleground states, where Republican incumbents already are facing a Democratic surge.

On Wednesday, China announced tariffs worth $50 billion in retaliation against Trump's just-imposed tariffs on Chinese steel, aluminum and high-tech goods. The Chinese will impose a 25 percent tariff on 106 U.S. products including soybeans, cars and chemicals, it announced. It will also target U.S. corn, cotton, beef, orange juice, whiskey, tobacco, and several lubricants and plastic products.

Beyond the boasts by White House National Trade Council director Peter Navarro on Fox Business on March 2 that no country would dare retaliate "for the simple reason that we are the most lucrative and biggest market in the world," the Chinese tariffs are not just going to hurt the economies of Trump-won battleground states; they are poised to strike states with some of 2018's most contested House and gubernatorial races.

The impact on Trump-won states was noted by the National Review's Jim Geraghty in his Wednesday "Morning Jolt" column. He focuses on the fact that Trump is undermining his political base, but the tariff war will impact many states that are battlegrounds in 2018. Take Pennsylvania, where court-ordered redistricting has imposed a new congressional map where Democrats are poised to pick up three to six seats. They need 24 to regain the House majority.

Geraghty, a Republican, wrote, "Here's how the tariff conflict is playing the Trump-won state of Pennsylvania... 'China is a top-five market for Pennsylvania's producers,' said William Nichols, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. 'The agriculture community is concerned about trade and the direction of the nation's trade policy, and this week's news of retaliatory tariffs on American goods being traded with China is further cause for alarm.'" Pennsylvania exports $413 million a year in agricultural and related products to China.

Then there's the impact in Wisconsin, where Democrats on Tuesday won a seat on the state Supreme Court, alarming the GOP and causing Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who is up for re-election, to send out a series of panicky tweets about the coming blue voter wave. Wisconsin is where 95 percent of the American production of ginseng is based, which was hit with a tariff starting Monday.

There's also an open-seat governor's race in Michigan, the battleground state where Trump beat Clinton by 11,000 votes, which has a large hog and soybean industry -- as do other Trump-won states.

"The timing of this to affect our markets is at a bad time," Bob Dykuis, of Dykuis Farms, told the National Review. "When about 25 percent of the product is exported, you kind of live and die by that as far as your markets. The Chinese announcement has affected the last couple of days dramatically on the futures."

When you compare the locations of industries facing new tariffs with 2018's battleground House districts, as tallied by Ballotpedia, you see states like California, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Michigan and Iowa with competitive races where a trade war cannot possibly help Republican incumbents. Ballotpedia counts six such competitive seats in California, and one each in those other four states.

Here again, take Trump-won Nebraska. "We want to sell more products to China not less," Nebraska Pork Producer Association Executive Director Al Juhnke told local television. "If it goes on long term, it's going to affect our rural economies here in Nebraska and the upper Midwest," Juhnke said.

A prolonged trade war could put the wider agricultural economy in a tailspin, because, for example, livestock like hogs consume other tariff-targeted grains like soybeans. There's no way that the ripple of effects of toying with regional livelihoods is not going to be a factor in 2018's most competitive elections.

Whether incumbent governors and congresspeople seeking re-election, or GOP candidates running in open seats, it is becoming harder and harder for Republicans to distance themselves from Trump's ill-conceived policies.Ductless Heating and Cooling Systems Market Robust pace of Industry by 2025

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Ductless Heating and Cooling Systems Market: SnapshotOwing to factors such as growing demand for energy efficient devices, infrastructure development across various economies, rising income of people in the emerging countries, and lower operating cost, the demand in the global ductless heating and cooling systems is expected to expand at a significant CAGR during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025. On the other hand, lower capacity than ducted air conditioners and high initial cost is expected to challenge the market from attaining its true potential in the near future. However, trends such as growing use of ecofriendly refrigerant and growing concern for indoor air quality will keep the market in good condition until 2025.Application-wise, the global ductless heating and cooling systems market is gaining maximum demand from the residential building, considerably more than the commercial and industrial building sectors. Residential building includes all sorts of structures such as apartments, houses, cottages, and condominiums. In these structures, ductless heating and cooling systems are used to maintain the temperature, and since they are easy to install and consume less energy, the demand is escalating. Residential buildings frequently use mini split ductless heating and cooling systems as they offer lower capacity and lower operating cost.Request Sample Copy of the Report @This report on the global ductless heating and cooling systems market has been compiled to serve as a credible business tool for the audiences such as the manufacturers of these systems, end-use market participants of different segments, government and research organizations, and environment support agencies. 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Moreover, the key segmentation and the competitive scenario of the market have also been included in the study.Global Ductless Heating and Cooling Systems Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe rising demand for energy efficient devices and the rapid pace of infrastructure development across diverse nations worldwide are some of the major factors anticipated to fuel the growth of the global ductless heating and cooling systems market in the next few years. In addition, the increasing income of consumers and their rising inclination towards enhancing their lifestyles are expected to accelerate the growth of the overall market in the next few years.Request TOC of the Report @On the contrary, the requirement of high initial cost and lower capacity of ductless heating and cooling systems in comparison with ducted air conditioners are projected to curtail the growth of the global market in the coming years. Moreover, several concerns related to the government regulations for refrigerant are likely to restrict the growth of the overall market. Nevertheless, the rising awareness among consumers regarding the concern for indoor air quality and the rising use of ecofriendly refrigerant are expected to contribute towards the development of the market.Global Ductless Heating and Cooling Systems Market: Region-wise OutlookFrom a geographical perspective, in 2015, Asia Pacific led the global ductless heating and cooling systems market and is anticipated to remain in the topmost position throughout the forecast period. The robust growth of the Asia Pacific market can be attributed to the tremendously rising population and the economic growth in several developing economies. In addition, a substantial contribution from India, China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia is expected to contribute extensively towards the development of the Asia Pacific market in the coming years.Furthermore, the increasing use of ductless heating and cooling systems in commercial and residential buildings is anticipated to accelerate the growth of the market in the near future. The rising demand for ductless heating and cooling systems from China and the untapped opportunities in India are projected to fuel the growth of the overall market in the next few years. The research report has provided the market share, size, and growth rate of the regional segments in order to offer a clear picture of the global market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Key Players Mentioned in the Research Report are:At present, the global ductless heating and cooling systems market is highly competitive and fragmented in nature. 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In addition, the SWOT analysis, recent developments, and mergers and acquisitions if any have been listed in the scope of the research study.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Packaged Water Treatment System Market Predicted to Restrict the Growth by 2025

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Global Packaged Water Treatment System Market: SnapshotThe global packaged water treatment system market is prognosticated to witness a strong demand on account of the need of municipalities to achieve the balance between available resources and supply of pure water to residents. In this regard, cities around the world are expected to take to drinking water treatment solutions at a significant rate. Small-scale packaged waste water treatment (PWWT) plants could gain a high demand owing to sterner government protocols and attentiveness to environmental protection.Not just housing estates but also public and domestic service enterprises are anticipated to up the demand in the global packaged water treatment system market due to the dire need for municipal waste water treatment. 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Additionally, the product segmentation, technological developments, primary applications, and the competitive landscape of the market have been listed in the study.Request TOC of the Report @Global Packaged Water Treatment System Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe increasing population and the robust pace of urbanization are some of the key factors anticipated to boost the demand for packaged water treatment systems across the globe. In addition, the stringent regulatory framework and the sustainability related to the environment safety are some of the major factors projected to encourage the growth of the overall market throughout the forecast period.On the flip side, the lack of skilled laborers required for advanced technologies and the unstable market and economic conditions are predicted to restrict the growth of the overall market throughout the forecast period in the coming years. Moreover, the rising demand for eco-friendly formulations and zero liquid discharge are some of the challenges being faced by the key players in the global market. Nonetheless, innovations and technological advancements in this field and the rising investments by developed and developing nations are likely to accelerate the growth of the market in the near future.Global Packaged Water Treatment System Market: Region-wise OutlookThe research report has been categorized on the basis of geography in order to offer a strong understanding of the global market. Some of the key segments in the market are the Middle East and Africa, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and North America. Among the research study, the Middle East and Africa is anticipated to the lead the global packaged water treatment system market throughout the forecast period. The high growth of this region can be attributed to the rising demand for fresh water by diverse industries across the globe.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Furthermore, the improving living standard among consumers in the Middle East and Africa region and the lack of the underground/surface fresh water sources results in the imperative to reclaim the waste water. This is projected to fuel the growth of the market in the near future. Furthermore, Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness healthy growth throughout the forecast period. The expected share of each segment and the growth rate have been included in the scope of the research report.Key Players Mentioned in the Research Report are:Some of the key players operating in the packaged water treatment system market across the globe are GE Water & Process Technologies, Enviroquip, Westech Engineering Inc., WPL International, Smith & Loveless Inc., RWL Water, CST Wastewater Solutions Inc., Napier-Reid Ltd., Metito, Corix Water Systems, and Veolia Water Technologies. The rising number of players expected to enter the global market is anticipated to enhance the competition throughout the forecast period.The company profiles of the leading players operating in the market have been listed in the research report. In addition, the company profiles, product portfolio, financial overview, latest developments, and the SWOT analysis have been discussed in the scope of the research study. 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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Cloud Computing in Education Market is Anticipated to Gain a Strong Impetus over 2025

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Global Cloud Computing in Education Market: SnapshotAs the rapidly expanding education sector faces sustainability issues and budget restrictions, cloud computing is increasingly being seen as one approach to relieve these pressures. As capacity requirements of an educational institution begin to fluctuate and as new services and applications become available, the association with cloud allows institutions to meet the needs of their constituents in a cost effective and quick manner. As the trend of the greater usage of mobile computing devices gathers strength, cloud computing becomes a more obvious choice for educational institutions as it provides users the access to storage, applications, and a vast number of other resources from almost any device.Moreover, cloud computing provides an economical and highly flexible means to make the limited resources more useful for a larger set of consumers. The rising set of institutional sourcing options makes it necessary for IT leaders to analyze and integrate more providers and options. Cloud computing presents itself as a viable tool in the scenario owing to the several monetary and flexibility benefits it provides.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Real-life classroom experiences show that cloud is a good tool for collaboration and teaching. As the technology is still emerging, it presents the need for implementation of customized and standardized services. Evaluation in the sector could help bring vast changes in the rural education sector, an application area that presents vast untapped opportunities that companies in the cloud computing sector should consider for promising returns. This report analyzes and discusses the present and the prospective future growth opportunities in the field of cloud computing in education.Global Cloud Computing in Education Market: OverviewThe international market for cloud computing in education is envisioned to leverage the booming opportunities originated from the loud acceptance of upgradable cloud services in the education industry. A countable number of educational institutions have given the green light for cloud computing to meet the requirement of streamlining academic procedures such as evaluation, administration, and most importantly, learning. The global cloud computing in education market is prophesied to win lucrative perks from the demand to implement centralized systems for the purpose of effectively managing academic administration processes, thus curbing the burden on the management staff.Request TOC of the Report @The report offered here on the global cloud computing in education market could see a segmentation pattern which introduces classification criteria such as deployment model, service model, and end user.The global cloud computing in education market report is a crucial guide for businesses wanting to ensure a visible progress in the industry. With customizations procured as per the needs of the interested parties, the publication holds the potential to rightly direct the existing as well as budding players to penetrate the global market.Global Cloud Computing in Education Market: Trends and OpportunitiesAcross the world, the cloud computing in education market is anticipated to gain a strong impetus due to the elevating adoption of the technology in higher education and K-12. For the forecast period, higher education is predicted to mark a larger share in the global market amongst other end users. The domination of this possible end user segment could continue until the end of the forecast period.Since most end users prefer the services offered by platform as a service (PaaS) providers, this service model market is expected to gain traction over markets in the category. The important change in the cloud ecosystem is principally attributed to the implementation of PaaS. However, software as a service (SaaS) is foreseen to hold a significant percentage of share in the global cloud computing in education market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Owing to the amplified number of security features offered at a reasonable price, the community cloud as a probable deployment type segment is foretold to grasp a marked share in the world cloud computing in education market.Global Cloud Computing in Education Market: Regional OutlookSpecifically in the developed countries of Canada and the U.S., the demand for cloud computing in education is prognosticated to move levels higher as they look to ride on the elevating focus on production innovations. Most innovations in this field are judged to receive a strong push from the rigorous research and development activities performed in the cloud computing sector. As a result, North America is expected to leave no doubts in the minds of the research analysts for coming forth as a larger revenue holder in the global cloud computing in education market.The Asia Pacific market is forecasted to be propelled by the shift toward cloud solutions for sophisticated services such as tracking, sharing, and collaborating sundry variants of a document. Much of this demand is expected to birth from end users such as universities and schools.There could be a few challenges that the top regions of the cloud computing in education market could face, i.e. rigidly designed cloud-based systems and account management and data protection risks. Nevertheless, such constraints are estimated to lose their effect eventually with the advent of momentous opportunities such as developing potential markets, employment of adaptive cloud services, and application of cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.Global Cloud Computing in Education Market: Companies MentionedAmong others, the sovereign brands operating in the worldwide cloud computing in education market could be Ellucian, Amazon Web Services, NetApp Inc., NEC Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, VMware Inc., IBM Corporation, Cisco System Inc., and Adobe System Inc. With the intention of popularizing their offerings at a global platform, the major vendors in the market are envisaged to take advantage of acquisitions and mergers and inauguration of novel products.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Bioprocess Technology Market Slated to Expand at a Good Clip to 2025

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Global Bioprocess Technology Market: SnapshotBioprocess technology is a vital part of biotechnology that deals with processes combining the complete living matter or its components with nutrients to make specialty chemicals, reagents, and biotherapeutics. The processes form the backbone of translating discoveries of life sciences into useful industrial products. Various stages associated with the bioprocess technology include substrates and media, biocatalysts, volume production, downstream processing, purification, and final processing. Over the past few years, the application of bioprocess technology in the development of a variety of next-generation biopharmaceutical products is gaining traction in the market.One of the rapidly emerging areas of application is in the manufacturing of key oligosaccharides (OS)galactooligosaccharides and fructooligosaccharides. These OS have promising uses in food ingredients owing to their several health benefits. These are confirmed to possess certain prebiotic functions and will help meet the growing demand for prebiotic for treating various chronic ailments. Recent technological advancements in bioprocessing methods have further expanded the scope of their applications. Conventionally, whole cells or enzymes that are partially purified are used to synthesize both the OS. Enzymes play a vital role in the synthesis process. Fructooligosaccharides can be synthesized by the degrading fructan using the enzyme Inulinase or by the transglycosylation process of sucrose while galactooligosaccharides is produced using lactose. However, the complete conversion poses a challenge, since biocatalysis does not remove digestible carbohydrates found as a result of enrichment processes of oligosaccharides. Various bioengineering techniques for the removal of digestible carbohydrates are being developed. This includes downstream separation technologies, specific fermentation strategies, and further bioconversion using enzymes. Next-generation manufacturing strategies facilitate purification of sucrose-based fructooligosaccharides.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Bioprocess Technology Market: OverviewBioprocess technology forms the backbone of the biotechnology industry. In a bioprocess living cells such as bacteria, enzymes, and chloroplast or their components are used to procure desired products. The process is leveraged to develop industrial products, processes and techniques to fulfill the needs of society. The different stages in bioprocess includes formulating raw materials, substrates and media, the conversion state, biocatalysts, downstream processing, volume production, purification and processing the final product.Bioprocess technology finds application in end use industries for manufacture of biomaterials such as pharmaceutical supplements, antibiotics, food and agricultural products, vaccines, and enzymes. It also finds application in the production of alternative products for treating maladies, the creation and evaluation of safer food materials, and making of biodegradable and environmental-friendly chemicals. As techniques and instrumentation become further sophisticated, bioprocesses may find applications in other domains where chemical processes are now used.Request TOC of the Report @A TMR Research report presents a comprehensive evaluation of the global market for bioprocess technology. It does so through qualitative insights and historical data. The report makes verifiable projections about market size. It segments the market based on different parameters and studies the size and potential of each segment. The research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every aspect of the market, including regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Global Bioprocess Technology Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe most prominent growth drivers in the global market for bioprocess technology are the significant expansion in the biopharmaceutical industry, increasing thrust on research and development, higher demand for vaccine, and progress in the field of technology. Besides, bioprocesses steal a march over conventional chemical methods with the use of living materials for production. This is because bioprocesses typically need lower temperature, pressure, and pH, which is a measure of acidity. Second they can use renewable resources as raw materials and consume less energy.Offsetting such benefits is the steep cost of instruments required for bioprocess. Another factor countering the growth in the global market for bioprocess technology is the strict regulations.Depending upon the type, the global bioprocess technology market can be segmented into cell counting, cell culture, cell line development, cell expansion, single-use bioprocessing, virus filtration, flow cytometry, biologics safety testing, tangential flow filtration, and pyrogen testing. Of these, the cell culture segment leads the market with a dominant share.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Bioprocess Technology Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global market for bioprocess technology can be divided into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and the Rest of the World. Among them, North America accounts for maximum share. The stellar growth in the North America market has been brought about by a strong demand for good quality biologics, and a very strong emphasis on research and development by prominent players in the region. Going forward, however, Asia Pacific is slated to expand at a good clip to outshine other regions vis-a-vis growth rate. The market in the region will likely be propelled by the expansion in the biopharmaceutical industry, rising government initiatives, development in research and development, higher investments by key market players, and the trend of outsourcing production to Asia Pacific countries full of cheaper, high skilled manpower.Companies Mentioned in ReportTo present a detailed assessment of the competition prevailing in the global market for bioprocess technology, the report profiles companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Philips Healthcare, Becton, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Dickinson and Company, and Alere, 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Variable Displacement Pumps Market Projected to Hamper the Growth by 2025

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Global Variable Displacement Pumps Market: SnapshotVariable displacement pumps is one of the two popular types of hydraulic pumps that make positive displacement; the other being fixed displacement pumps. Variable displacement pumps used in hydraulic systems employ closed center systems. These are gaining prominence over the fixed type since they can be made to vary the flow rate and the outlet pressure, which enables the user to vary the displacement, even if constant speed motors are used. As a result, they are increasingly preferred for a variety of industrial hydraulic applications having variable energy needs. This makes variable displacement pumps useful in making the efficient use of energy available in industries and in bringing down the requirement to the lowest levels. This facility managers and engineers can meet the soaring demand for energy for other processes. A key benefit of using variable displacement pumps is that they make hydraulic pumps structurally more efficient.Traditionally, in fixed displacement pumps, there are several instances during operations when the mechanical energy is being converted to heat energy, thereby causing significant losses. In variable displacement pumps when the actuators are not working, the oil present in the circuits also remain stationary, thus producing energy only when required. Even when actuators must be operated at reasonably low speeds as needed in some portions of the operating cycle, variable displacement pumps prove helpful. Since they can be used to power a variety of tools and customized for numerous applications in industries such as automotive, mining, and construction, they are more expensive to install and need more supervision than fixed displacement pump. Some of the most popular types of variable displacement pumps are rotary vane pumps and bent-axis axial piston pumps.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Variable Displacement Pumps Market: SynopsisTo control the amount of flow in fixed displacement pumps, the speed of the pump has to be altered, which is not energy-efficient and requires manual control. These two factors make fixed displacement pumps undesirable for industrial applications, wherein variable displacement pumps are preferred instead, as they allow flow management via valves that control speed of hydraulic actuators. As the requirement for energy conservation escalates across the world, engineers at various industries such as construction, mining, and automotive now are constantly looking to reduce energy consumption at the production sites. Concurrently, the demand in the global variable displacement pumps market is estimates to expand at a healthy CAGR during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025.This report on global market for variable displacement pumps is a thorough analysis of all the prominent factors that are expected to influence the demand over the course of next few years. It also highlights some of the trends and opportunities available for the players to strategically plan and gain advantage over their competitors. In the section on company profiles, several key players have been analyzed for their product portfolio, market share, and recent developments. The global variable displacement pumps market can be segmented on the basis of type into piston and vane, on the basis of application into hydraulic and IC engine, and end-use industry into construction, automotive, oil and gas, mining, agriculture, material handling, and plastic. Geographically, the report studies the opportunities available in the regions of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World.Request TOC of the Report @Global Variable Displacement Market: Drivers and RestraintsProsperity of the construction industry is the primary driver for the incremented demand for variable displacement pumps, which are used to gain better control over large machine activities. Over the course of next few years, construction industry is anticipated to continue surging due to the rising population and rapid urbanization, and consequently positively influencing the variable displacement market. Similar positive impact is expected from the automotive industry too, which is at an all-time peak, with extended demand from several emerging economies such as India, China, and Brazil, and Japan.By type, piston pump earns maximum uptake owing to their advanced technical properties such as wide volume functionality and pressure efficiency range. By application, hydraulic machine have the maximum demand, and is expected to remain most profitable segment through-out the forecast period, serving the end-use industries, which is dominated by the construction sector, and followed by automotive and oil and gas.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Variable Displacement Market: Regional OutlookCurrently, vastly populated Asia Pacific is the most profitable region for the players, with rapid economic growth of several countries, improving lifestyle of the urban population, and increased investment in the end-use industries such as construction, automotive, and agriculture. Developed countries such as the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and France have moderate construction going on, although the industries of automotive and oil and gas will ensure healthy demand coming from North America and Europe during the forecast period. In addition to it, the liberalization of foreign trade and investments and the change in industrial policies is resulting into rapid industrialization in China for the past three decades. As China and India reside vast population base, this factor is contributing to the increasing demand for variable displacement pumps in the Asia-Pacific region.Companies mentioned in this research reportSome of the prominent players identified by the report in the global variable displacement pumps market are: Bosch Rexroth AG (Germany), Eaton Corporation (U.S.), Parker Hannifin Corp. (U.S.), Danfoss A/S (Denmark), Hawe Hydraulics (Germany), The Oilgear Company (U.S.), Yuken Kogyo Co., Ltd (Japan), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Japan), Atos Spa (Italy), and Casappa Spa (Italy).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Paolo Grassi with Fire and Water "ignites" the MIA Photo Fair 2018 in Milan

paolo grassi, mia photo, photography, art, Le Corbusier

www.lephotoart.com/mia-photo-fair

Milan, Italy, April 4, 2018 - Great appreciation of the public for Paolo Grassi's photographs, proposed at the recently concluded edition of MIA Photo Fair at The Mall in Milan Porta Nuova with the project "Da fuoco e acqua".During the international exhibition dedicated to art photography, the exhibition space of the photographer was crowded by an attentive audience who appreciated the images printed manually with an innovative technique developed by Paolo Grassi himself, derived from an ancient photographic process, called "resinotype".In contrast to the original printing process of the early 1900s, the "resin-pigmentype", as the author has named it, uses only natural, non-toxic and environmentally friendly products such as carbon black pigment and water.The audience listened attentively to the illustration of the process of realization of the works given by the artist present at the exhibition and was particularly fascinated by the transformation of the latent image into a visible image by means of a pigment distributed with the brush on the sheet of watercolor paper.A particular appreciation concerned photographic images with essential forms and others, almost abstract, performed "with a process of removing the superfluous", as Grassi defines them, according to a principle similar to that with which Michelangelo performed his own works.A great effect on the public has also had a direct view of the prints made on sheets of watercolor paper mounted in an essential way with which the effect of the relief tones was perceived, almost like a three-dimensional photograph.Paolo Grassi thanks the scientific committee of the MIA Photo Fair, composed by Fabio Castelli, Gigliola Foschi, Roberto Mutti and Enrica Vigano for the admission of their project within the "Proposal MIA" exhibition section.During the exhibition the author presented the book "Architettura della fotografia" which illustrates his artistic journey started at the end of the 70s of the twentieth century, in which Paolo Grassi compares photographic, artistic and architectural languages from the perspectives bibliographies of Umberto Eco, Le Corbusier, Pierre Restany, and the catalog "MIA Photo Fair 2018, from fire and water" both available in the main online bookstores (IBS, Amazon and La Feltrinelli) in paper or e-book versions.For more information, visitLephotoart.com, or Limited Edition Photography Art, aims at enhancing and disseminating works by Paolo Grassi, an artist from the mid-1970s of the art galleries and collectors of art. Twentieth centuryLephotoart.comPiazza G. Matteotti 454033 Carrara MS Itayinfo@lephotoart.comPhone: Paolo Grassi +39 0585 027081Request the full confidential version ebook PDF with a mail to info@lephotoart.comBerlins housing prices are steadily increasing

www.accentro.co.uk/services/latest-news/

www.accentro.co.uk

Rents as well as purchasing prices increased heavily on the Berlin housing market in 2017. Thats the conclusion of the Housing report Berlin 2018 developed by CBRE and the Berlin Hyp. Therefore median asking rents in 2017 increased by 8.8 percent to 9.79 Euro per square meter and asking prices for condos by even 12.7 percent to 3.706 per square meter. So the price dynamic of the German capital grew strongly. Last year, asking rents only increased by 5.6 percent and prices for condos only by 9.6 percent.Market figures contradict with the numerous forecasts that already spoke an impending price decline for Berlins housing market. The current ZIA-spring report already warns about declining housing prices in the German capital. CBRE on the other hand predicts that there is no end of rising rent and purchase prices in Berlin. One year ago CBRE was forecasting a slower price development  but this prognosis got now revoked. The main reason for this trend is the dynamic development of Berlin regarding its population, economic strength and offered jobs that will last in the future.Berlins residential invesment market is uniqueA further issue is that housing construction cannot hold up with the fast speed of influx. Berlin grew by around 30.000 households in 2016 while there were only 13.659 flats to be finished. Even though construction numbers are on the rise the ready to move in apartments cannot hold up with the influx in 2017. Berlin is moreover with Cologne tail light of the 7 German metropolises regarding the ratio in apartment building construction per 1.000 residents.This leads to less flats coming on the market. According to the housing market report the number of offered rent apartments decreased in 2017 as loads of tenants dread of moving due to the high rising asking rent. Even advertised condos decreased significantly by 12.5 percent. CBRE states that owners have low incentives of selling due to rising prices and missing investment alternatives.An even heavier increase in price as seen at condos could be shown at apartment buildings in Berlin. The average price per square meter has, compared to the previous year period, increased by 16.4 percent to 2.621 Euro. According to CBRE the current investment boom in the German capital will last. Regarding size, price development and liquidity, the Berlin residential investment market is unique in Germany  and therefore very attractive for investors, says Michael Schlatterer, Team Leader Market Intelligence at CBRE.For further information go to:ACCENTRO GmbH is a real estate service provider that specialises in the retailing of large housing portfolios. Our fortes include:- the socially responsible, tenant-sensitive selling of large housing portfolios,- the exit-oriented asset management of housing portfolios,- and investment consultancy in either area.ACCENTRO looks back on more than fourteen years of experience in the privatisation business, and act as sales partners of major housing associations.ACCENTRO GmbHMarketingUhlandstrae 16510719 BerlinOffshore Decommissioning Market - Segmentation Detailed Study with Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: OverviewOffshore decommissioning is the process of disassembling offshore oil platforms, which also includes burying the holes drilled into the ground for exploration and extraction purposes. Mature oil platforms can have an adverse impact on the surrounding environment, which necessitates their removal. The global offshore decommissioning market is likely to remain a key sector of the global oil and gas industry in the coming years, as the latter is likely to emphasize increasingly on offshore petroleum extraction. Well plugging and abandonment is likely to remain the key segment of the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years, with the extensive scale of the operation key in ensuring a steady dominant share for the segment in the global market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: Key TrendsThe global offshore decommissioning market is likely to exhibit steady growth in the coming years due to the rising number of mature oilfields, which no longer remain commercially viable. The high number of aging platforms in shallow water is also likely to remain a key driver for the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years.On the other hand, the high cost of offshore decommissioning projects could hinder the growth of the global offshore decommissioning market. Due to the large scale of offshore oil and gas platforms, significant expenditure needs to be dedicated for effective offshore decommissioning projects. Since the expenses go toward removing a nonfunctional asset rather than expanding the existing capacity, many players in the global oil and gas industry have remained reluctant about offshore decommissioning. The technology required to carry out offshore decommissioning efficiently are also lacking in several regions, as is systemic support from the regulatory framework. This is also likely to restrain the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years.The rising use of techniques to maximize and prolong the viability of oilfields is also likely to restrain the growth of the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years. Refilling and other techniques can help extend the operational lifespan of oilfield by a few years, and result in further profits for the oil and gas operator. This remains a key challenge for the offshore decommissioning market in the coming years, as offshore decommissioning remains unprofitable both economically as well as logistically compared to these techniques.Request TOC of the Report @Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: Market PotentialOil and gas operations in the North Sea are likely to be vital to the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years. The U.K. and Norway are among the leading oil producers operating in the North Sea and are likely to remain among the key consumers of offshore decommissioning technology in the coming years. As a result, Europe is likely to be the leading regional offshore decommissioning market over the coming years.Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: Geographical DynamicsFollowing Europe, North America is also likely to retain a significant share in the global offshore decommissioning market due primarily to the rising role of the U.S. in the global oil and gas sector. The U.S. has traditionally been a major player in the oil and gas industry and is a leading operator of offshore oilfields at present. The rising prominence of Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia in the global oil and gas sector is also likely to drive the Asia Pacific market for offshore decommissioning in the coming years.Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: Competitive DynamicsThe leading players in the global offshore decommissioning market include AF Gruppen ASA, Amec Foster Wheeler Plc, John Wood Group Plc, Ramboll Group, Aker Solutions ASA, and Tetra Technologies Inc.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comGlobal Coagulation Analysers Market: Regulatory Challenges May Restrain the Market Growth of Coagulation Analysers

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Market Research Report Search Engine (MRRSE) recently announced the addition of a new research study to its comprehensive collection of research reports. The research report, titled Coagulation Analysers Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012 - 2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017 - 2027) offers a detailed analysis of the market, providing insights into the market dynamics that are expected to influence the overall market positively in the next few years. Furthermore, the product segmentation, drivers, barriers, key geographical segments, and the competitive scenario of the global Coagulation Analysers market have been elaborated upon in the research report.Request Free Sample Report @The global coagulation analysers market is estimated to be valued at US$ 756 Mn in the year 2017 and is projected to reach a value of US$ 1,514 Mn at the end of the year 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 7.2% during the period of assessment. Coagulation analysers are designed to handle multiple blood samples at one time by using a bar code system, which eliminates the need to manually label each test sample.Rise in the prevalence of blood clotting disorders in North America, particularly in the U.S.In order to monitor the effectiveness of anticoagulants, regular blood tests such as PTT, PT and D-dimer are carried out through coagulation analysers using anticoagulant therapy. Abnormal bleeding in patients can occur due to disorders in the blood clotting system, blood vessels or platelets. When the body is unable to produce clotting factors to stop bleeding, this may lead to clotting disorders. A type of clotting disorder is deep vein thrombosis in which there is a formation of blood clots within the deep veins, commonly in the legs. According to CDC, about 900,000 people in the U.S. could be affected each year due to this disease. It is also suggested that around 60,000-100,000 people in the U.S. die due to this disease. This ever increasing disease burden of blood clotting disorders is expected to drive the U.S. coagulation analysers market during the period of assessment.Rise in point of care testing in developed countries driving market revenue growthNumerous point-of-care assays are available for various types of coagulation tests. These assays are easy to perform and their main advantage is that they possess a faster turnaround time than their laboratory counterparts. Portability, easy usage, and connectivity are the factors that are increasing the demand for point-of-care testing. In order to control the adverse effects of anticoagulation therapy, immediate results of coagulation testing are needed, and this demand is met by point-of-care testing. In various developed countries, self-testing of prothrombin by patients at home is popular. This type of testing provides accurate and quick results, leading to the growth of the global coagulation testing market during the period of assessment. Moreover, the rapidly expanding pharmaceutical industry has induced public and private groups to focus on the safety profile of such products, leading to the growth of the global coagulation testing market during the assessment period.Complete Outlook of Report @Regulatory challenges may restrain the market growth of coagulation analysersEven though point-of-care testing has its obvious benefits, it still faces challenges such as increase in testing variability due to a less controlled testing environment, repeatability and reproducibility in results; and it also carries a risk of multiple infections due to blood borne pathogens. Moreover, stability testing and a lack of operator training in home care settings are some of the challenges likely to restrain the global coagulation analysers market.Global coagulation analysers market analysis by product typeBy product type, the standalone analysers segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 435 Mn in the year 2017, and is projected to reach a valuation of US$ 831 Mn in the year 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period. Standalone analysers is the largest segment in the global coagulation analysers product type category.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:US President Donald Trumps planned summit with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is likely to be postponed until September, after the wholly month of Ramadan, Reuters has learned.

Five US sources knowledgeable of the conference who requested to remain anonymous told the news agency that the summit to take place at Camp David will not be held as planned in May due to tight diplomatic calendar of the Administration.

Two sources told the agency that the lack of Secretary of State, as Presidents pick Mike Pompeo is yet to be confirmed by the Senate, also motivated the postponement.

President Trump was set to welcome in May Washingtons GCC allies, namely Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain amid the ongoing crisis opposing Qatar on one hand to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt on the other hand.

The quartet have severed ties with Qatar over its alleged support for terrorism.

The Trump administration has tried to defuse the crisis under the leadership of sacked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, but to no avail, as the crisis became further complex between the UAE and Qatar.

A spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council denied that the delay in staging the conference was tied to the crisis, Reuters reports.

President Trump according to a US official discussed the delay of the conference last month with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman during his visit to Washington. They agreed to hold the summit after the holy month of Ramadan to end mid-June.

The US leader is expected to host Qatars Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani next week, followed by a meeting with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Reuters reports.Cystic Fibrosis Global Key Players - AstraZeneca Plc, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc, and Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc Market Analysis & Forecast 2018 to 2022

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Cystic FibrosisOverviewCystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disease that causes mucus to build up and clog some of the bodys organs, particularly the lungs and pancreas. Cystic fibrosis affects the cells that produce mucus, sweat and digestive juices. Symptoms include wheezing, breathlessness, repeated lung infections, inflamed nasal passages or a stuffy nose and severe constipation. Risk factors include family history and race (Northern European ancestry). Treatment includes antibiotics, mucus-thinning, bronchodilators and oral pancreatic enzymes.Click here for sample report @Fibrosis-pipeline-review-h1-2018Top Companies mentionedAstraZeneca PlcBoehringer Ingelheim GmbHCatabasis Pharmaceuticals IncIonis Pharmaceuticals IncJHL Biotech IncJohnson & JohnsonKamada LtdCystic Fibrosis Industry Major OutlookPharmaceutical and Healthcare latest pipeline guide Cystic Fibrosis - Pipeline Review, H1 2018, provides comprehensive information on the therapeutics under development for Cystic Fibrosis , complete with analysis by stage of development, drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The guide covers the descriptive pharmacological action of the therapeutics, its complete research and development history and latest news and press releases.The Cystic Fibrosis (Respiratory) pipeline guide also reviews of key players involved in therapeutic development for Cystic Fibrosis and features dormant and discontinued projects. The guide covers therapeutics under Development by Companies /Universities /Institutes, the molecules developed by Companies in Pre-Registration, Filing rejected/Withdrawn, Phase III, Phase II, Phase I, IND/CTA Filed, Preclinical, Discovery and Unknown stages are 2, 1, 5, 28, 25, 1, 56, 35 and 1 respectively. Similarly, the Universities portfolio in Phase II, Phase I, Preclinical, Discovery and Unknown stages comprises 2, 1, 9, 9 and 1 molecules, respectively.Cystic Fibrosis pipeline guide helps in identifying and tracking emerging players in the market and their portfolios, enhances decision making capabilities and helps to create effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage.Cystic Fibrosis - Competitive AnalysisKey players are making innovative developments in Cystic Fibrosis industry. The same will help in improving the market performance. Heavy investments are made by major players in the R&D sectorScopeThe pipeline guide provides a snapshot of the global therapeutic landscape of Cystic Fibrosis.The pipeline guide reviews pipeline therapeutics for Cystic Fibrosis by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources.The pipeline guide covers pipeline products based on several stages of development ranging from pre-registration till discovery and undisclosed stages.The pipeline guide features descriptive drug profiles for the pipeline products which comprise, product description, descriptive licensing and collaboration details, R&D brief, MoA & other developmental activities.The pipeline guide reviews key companies involved in Cystic Fibrosis therapeutics and enlists all their major and minor projects.The pipeline guide evaluates Cystic Fibrosis therapeutics based on mechanism of action (MoA), drug target, route of administration (RoA) and molecule type.The pipeline guide encapsulates all the dormant and discontinued pipeline projects.The pipeline guide reviews latest news related to pipeline therapeutics for Cystic Fibrosis..ContinuedFor Detailed Reading Please visit @Fibrosis-pipeline-review-h1-2018Wise 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.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaHigh-resolution Melting Analysis Market - Real Time Analysis & Forecast 2017 - 2025

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High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: SnapshotThe global market for high-resolution melting analysis is gaining momentum on account of the advancements in molecular biology. High-resolution melting analysis involves the microscopic study of double-stranded DNA samples to successively detect polymorphisms, epigenetics, and mutations. The study involves the amplification of the region where the mutational analysis needs to be carried out and generation of multiple copies of that region in the sample tube. The applications of high-resolution melting analysis in molecular biology are expansive, which is expected to play to the advantage of the market. TMR Research throws light on several market forces that are expected to contribute to the growth of the market over the coming. Moreover, a multifaceted approach to understand the knit and grit of the market was followed during research and analysis.Request Sample Copy of the Report @One of the most important applications of point high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis is the detection of point mutation. The conventional method of SNP typing is expensive and time-consuming which shifts the focus on HRM analysis. Testing of zygotes has also emerged as an important application of HRM analysis, which is propelling demand within the global market. Apart from the above-mentioned applications, intercalating dyes used for the transition of double-standard DNAs to single-stranded ones are another key area that is projected to contribute to the growth of the market.Genetic testing centers have been specifically very successful in North America which has given an impetus to the market. On the other hand, prominence of academic Institutes and research centers in Europe has also contributed to the growth of the regional market.Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: OverviewHigh resolution melting analysis is a powerful and strong methodology in molecular biology for the purpose of detecting epigenetic differences, polymorphisms, and mutations in double-stranded DNA samples. It was first discovered and developed by the Idaho Technology and University of Utah. High resolution melting analysis has several advantages over genotyping technologies such as cost effectiveness, it is powerful and fast as compared to genotyping technologies, and it is comparatively simple. Based on products and services, the global high-resolution melting analysis market can be segmented into software and services, consumables and reagents, and instruments. In terms of application, it can be segmented into epigenetics, pathogen identification, species identification, mutation scanning, and SNP genotyping.Request TOC of the Report @The global market for high-resolution melting analysis is likely to have a fruitful future owing to ongoing research and developments in this field sponsored by several leading companies operating in this particular field. For instance, FDA in the U.S. approves many treatments which are made for addressing a specific genomic profile or genetic makeup of the tumor of the patient.Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe prime factors that are boosting the growth of the market comprise the growing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, COPD, chronic diseases such as cancer, and other different infectious diseases. The prime benefits associated with high-resolution melting analysis are optimization of therapies, patient compliance, drug safety, cost savings on several treatments, and disease diagnosis. In return, these are also expected to propel the demand for DNA testing services. Moreover, rising awareness pertaining to the applications of high resolution melting analysis technologies for HLA typing, mutation discovery, and DNA mapping are additional aspects that are anticipated to propel the growth of the high-resolution melting analysis market during the forecast period. High resolution melting analysis is a technology employed for assessing melting curve plots of amplified gene. This particular technology is basically used for gene mutation scanning, microbial species identification, methylation profiling, and other different diagnostics based on PCR. Thus, mutation scanning and other applications are likely to gain prominence over time owing to rising prevalence of advancements in technology of molecular biology, genetic disorders, and growing awareness pertaining to SNP typing.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: Market PotentialGrowing government budget provision for research and development in the field of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and applied life sciences is a crucial factor heightening the demand for numerous diagnostic techniques and tools. For instance, in 2015, the Obama led administration announced the introduction of the Precision Medicine Initiative with a huge investment of US$216 mn in the Presidents budget of 2016. This initiative is further expected to have positive impact on the growth of the high resolution melting analysis market.Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: Regional OverviewRegion-wise, the market can be segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Rest of the World. North America is expected to perform extremely owing to factors such as robust adoption of advanced technology in healthcare, numerous genetic testing centers, strong biotech and pharmaceutical industry, prevalence many academic universities, and high prevalence of diseases. Asia Pacific has also been identified as one of the potential regions where the market can grow steadily owing to dynamics such as rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as HIV, COPD, and cancer, growing cases of genetic disorders, and rising private and public expenditure on genetic testing and molecular diagnostic.Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: Competitive LandscapeThe top drawer companies operating in the market are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Kapa Biosystems, Idaho Technology Corporation, and Roche Molecular Systems.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Plasma Etching Equipment Market: Future Forecast Assessed on the basis of how the Market is Predicted to Grow

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Plasma etching is a type of plasma processing used extensively in the fabrication process of integrated circuit. Plasma etching is also referred to as dry etching system, as the conventional etching technique is carried out with various corrosive wet chemical acids. During the process of plasma etching, the material to be etched is converted from solid state to gaseous state by the plasma of the process gases and a vacuum pump is used to extract the gaseous products.Generally, three basic etching processes including ion etching, chemical plasma etching and reactive ion etching are used to fabricate integrated circuits depending on applications for which it is used. The overall market growth of plasma etching equipment is majorly dependent on the growth of the semiconductor market across the globally. The global plasma etching equipment market is anticipated to experience a stable growth during the forecast period owing to the extensive technological advancement taking place in the integrated circuit manufacturing techniques across different parts of the world.Browse report detailsIn order to provide an exhaustive analysis of the market, the global plasma etching equipment market is segmented on the basis of product type and geography. Different types of plasma etching equipment available in the market includes barrel type plasma etching equipment and planar type plasma etching equipment. In addition, cross sectional analysis of the above mentioned segment across different regions including Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle-East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America is also provided in this report.Rising demand for compact, energy efficient and electronic devices having enhanced performance is predicted to trigger the need of developing miniature semiconductor integrated circuits. For miniaturizing integrated circuit, the circuit have to undergo advanced circuit fabrication process with small geometries and thus requires precise pattern transfer. This in turn is anticipated to boost the demand for plasma etching equipment during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025.Get an exclusive brochure of this reportIn addition, enormous technological upgradation taking place in the IoT (Internet of Thing) application in order to provide technologically advanced smart devices to different consumers across the globe is also predicted to accelerate the demand of advanced semiconductors in the coming eight years, thereby affecting the market of semiconductor etching equipment positively in the near future. Among the different process of semiconductor etching, plasma etching used the most as plasma etching process consumes less chemical and is most suitable for automation and single wafer manufacturing. Further, plasma etching provides the waterless method of etching material and thus protect water sensitive wafers from getting contaminated.In spite of so many factors driving the market, the global plasma etching equipment market is predicted to witness a sluggish growth rate due to fluctuating nature of the semiconductor equipment industry. In many cases, manufacturing of equipment outpace the demand from different end users segment, which in turn results in huge inventory pile up. Thereby forcing the equipment manufacturers to lower the price for clearing the stock and thus results in less revenue inflow. This in turn, is anticipated to hinder many semiconductor equipment manufacturers to enter into the market, thereby affecting the market negatively.For Detail Analysis Get Table Of ContentGeographically, the global plasma etching equipment market is majorly driven by the Asia Pacific region in terms of growth during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. The primary factor behind this regions dominance is attributed to the rising demand for smart devices such as smart television sets, smart phones, tablets and various other IoT devices among others. Increasing demand for smart and portable devices is expected to trigger the demand for miniature integrated circuits, which in turn is anticipated to boost the demand for plasma etching equipment market rapidly in the coming years.In addition, this region is also anticipated to dominate the market throughout the forecast period owing to huge concentration of semiconductor manufacturers in countries such as Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and China among others.Despite of the presence of limited plasma etching equipment manufacturers across different parts of the world, huge competition exist among the vendors due to strong market penetration of some existing manufacturers in the market. Some of the major players operating in the market includes APPLIED Materials Inc. (The U.S), Lam Research Corp. (The U.S) and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (Japan) 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:Terminal Automation Systems Market: Present Scenario and the Growth Prospects with Forecast 2025

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Terminal automation systems are a combination of hardware and software, which are utilized for enhanced safety of various types of terminals. A terminal generally refers to storage facilities of products such as oil, gas, and chemicals among others. It can also refer to the distribution centers, from where the products are sent to the point of sales (POS) locations. Oil terminals are usually located near the refineries or in close proximity of docks, from where petroleum products can be discharged by the marine tankers.Similarly, terminals for chemicals and petrochemicals are also utilized for safe and efficient storage of chemicals, prior to transportation to its desired destinations. Additionally, terminals are also utilized for effective distribution of stored products, via different modes of transportations, such as roadways, railways and marine. Hence, the important roles played by terminals has rendered the need for effective monitoring and heightened security of these terminals. Terminal automation systems aids monitoring and safety of these terminals.Get Report DetailsIn general, terminal automation system aids in coordination of operations, such as receipt, reconciliation, storage and distribution of products, prevention of fraud, raising alarms for untoward events and ensuring overall safety of the terminal among others. It consists of various sub systems and covers a wide variety of hardware and software solutions. Terminal automation systems require relatively less real-time process control and can offer superior transactional capabilities.Terminal automation systems market is primarily being driven by the higher level of safety and security provided by these systems. The oil & gas industry, coupled with the chemical industry, is slowly recovering from the recent downturn faced for the past few years. This has been boosting the demand for terminal automation systems offering higher safety, effective management and efficient distribution of these products, as the demand for petroleum products continue to grow at a fast pace globally.Brochure With Latest Advancements and ApplicationAdditionally, the demand for terminal automation systems is being further boosted by the recent upgrading of Greenfield terminal infrastructure across the globe. Such upgrading has increased the application of various components of terminal automation systems. Furthermore, the growing regulatory stringency, pertaining to environmental concerns and public health hazards, has been further boosting the demand for terminal automation systems.However, factors such as extended timelines for regulatory approvals and relatively slow recovering process of the chemical industry have been restraining the growth of the terminal automation systems market. The recent growth in interest for shale gas and growing exploration of shale gas can offer unique growth opportunities for the terminal automation systems market globally.Get Table of Content for detail analysisThe terminal automation systems market, on the basis of architecture, has been segmented into hardware and software. On the basis of hardware, the market has been further segmented into sensors, networking components, programmable logic controller (PLC), access control systems, and others. Others segment includes flow meters, valves, actuators, weigh scale etc. Several vendors offer proprietary software solutions, such as PLC interface and real-time host interface among others, for these systems.Based on end-use industry, the market for terminal automation systems has been segmented into oil & gas, chemicals and others. Oil & gas was the largest segment in 2016, owing to the presence of large number of terminals and growing automation of such terminals globally. The global market for terminal automation systems, by region, has been segmented into five major regions. They are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), South America and Middle-East & Africa (MEA).The major companies of the terminal automation systems market globally are Schneider Electric SE (France), Emerson Electric, Co. (The U.S.), ABB, Ltd. (Switzerland), Siemens AG (Germany), Honeywell International, Inc. (The U.S.), TechnipFMC Plc (The U.K), Rockwell Automation Inc. (The U.S.), Larsen & Toubro, Ltd. (India), Implico GmbH (Germany) and General Electric, Co. (The U.S.) among various other companies.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Wine Market: Industry Analysis, Opportunity Assessment and Forecast upto 2025

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Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from grapes, without the addition of acids, enzymes, sugars, water, and other nutrients. Yeast helps in the consumption of the sugar in the grapes and converts it into carbon dioxide and ethanol. Different yeasts and different varieties of grapes produce different types of wine.The variations in wine result from the complex interaction between the biochemical developments of the grapes. Grapes that are ideal for wine-making are mostly grown between the 30th and the 50th-degree latitude in both the Southern and Northern hemisphere. Wines that are not produced from the grapes are developed from rice and different fruits such as cherry, plum, elderberry, and pomegranate. The earliest known traces of wine include wines from China, Iran, and Georgia.Obtain ReportThe global market for wine has been segmented on the basis of type and distribution channel. In terms of type, the global wine market has been segmented into sparkling wine and still wine. Still wine has been further sub-segmented into rose wine, red wine, white wine. Still wine is estimated to hold a prominent part of the wine market due to its easy convenience and popularity among the consumers.In terms of distribution channel, the global wine market can be segmented into online distribution channel of wine and offline distribution channel of wine. The offline distribution channel of wine can be further sub-segmented into supermarkets and hypermarkets, specialty stores, and convenience stores.Request BrochureThe online distribution channel of wine is anticipated to expand rapidly during the forecast period due to rising internet facilities, easy convenience, and the presence of a large number of brands. However, the offline distribution channel of wine is estimated to dominate the market due to the presence of organized retail networks of wine in the developed and developing regions. Supermarkets and hypermarkets have been more popular in selling wine among consumers in recent years.The global wine market is primarily driven by the rise in population consuming wine and considering it as a way of social recognition. Changing lifestyle and rising income among consumers are fuelling the global wine market. However, rising prices of wine due to high production costs are creating a restraint for the global wine market. Wine is mainly consumed among some sections of the population, as all the sections cannot afford wine. Moreover, rising government rules and regulations and imposition of taxes are hindering the expansion of the global wine market.Request Table of ContentAdditionally, different product innovation of wine and rising application of wine in different food and beverage products are generating opportunities for the global wine market.In terms of region, the global wine market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America.North America and Europe are expected to hold a major share of the wine market due to the rising grape production in these regions. The U.S is projected to dominate the wine market in the near future due to increasing grape cultivation and modernized processing methods. However, Asia Pacific, which includes China, India, and Japan, is likely to expand rapidly during the forecast period due to the rising number of retail companies of wine in the region.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Office Furniture Market: Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast upto 2025

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The global office furniture market includes all furniture assets in an office such as cabinets, tables, seating furniture etc. Furniture is an important part of modern offices. Office furniture differentiates corporate buildings from residential buildings. Office furniture is also associated with employee productivity and overall work lifestyle of an employee. Employee ergonomics is heavily dependent on the seating furniture and desk furniture at the office. Most employees spend most of their daylight time in office; hence, offices need to provide them with good furniture.Rising service industry, especially information and technology services is a key driver for growth of the global office furniture market. In recent years, service industry has grown significantly. Unlike manufacturing industry, service industry requires big corporate offices instead of big production plants. Service industry is human resource intensive. Quality and scale of the services is heavily dependent on human resources of a service company.Obtain ReportTo acquire and to retain skilled employees, service companies need to improve work life of its employees. Furniture is a key aspect of work life of an employee in a service industry. Hence, service companies tend to buy quality furniture to acquire and retain employees. The growing service industry is expected to boost the global office furniture market in the near future.Multiple IT parks and commerce zones have standard furniture throughout the building, usually leased to companies. Large scale manufacturing of office furniture and standardization of office furniture helps office furniture manufacturers to minimize the costs. Due to automation in office furniture manufacturing, manufactures can design standard desks, cabinets, or seating systems at much lower cost as compared to customized requirements. Standardization of office furniture in IT parks and commerce zones is expected to boost the global office furniture market in the near future.Request BrochureLimited land for tree planting to harvest wood is a key restraint for wooden office furniture. Though demand for wooden furniture is high, supply of wooden furniture is limited to the availability of the wood resource. Wood production is limited to trees available for harvesting. Due to limited production of wood resource, other types of office furniture such as plastic/fiber or glass furniture are expected to capture some share of the wooden office furniture market.Metal office furniture is expensive as the metallurgical process needed to acquire refined metal is expensive. However, strength and lifespan of metal furniture is much better than other types of office furniture. Metal office furniture segment is expected to expand significantly in the near future.Request Table of ContentPlastic and fiber office furniture is lightweight as compared to wooden or metal furniture. It is also on an average, cheaper than wooden or metal furniture. Some type of plastic and fiber material are not sturdy and have a shorter lifespan while some fiber materials are very sturdy and have a longer lifespan. Prices of products in this category vary greatly depending on quality of plastic/fiber material used.The global office furniture market can be segmented on the basis of furniture type, material type, and geography. On the basis of furniture type, the market can be segmented into seating, storage units, tables, ceiling and others. On the basis of material type, the market can be divided into four segments: wood, metal, plastic/fiber, and others. Others segment includes hybrid and glass furniture.On the basis of geography, the global office furniture market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America.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:Mammography Market - Current Trends and Future Aspect Analysis 2017 - 2025

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Global Mammography Market: OverviewThe global mammography market is growing at a significant pace, owing to the increasing cancer cases worldwide. The key players in the market, government organizations, and NGOs are making notable efforts to create an awareness and offer treatment to patients, which is expected to enhance the growth of the market in the near future. Thus, the market is likely to register a strong growth rate in the forecast period.Global Mammography Market: Key TrendsThe high prevalence of breast cancer worldwide and the rising number of innovations concerning screening and diagnostics are estimated to offer lucrative opportunities for key players operating in the market. The improving healthcare facilities in the developing economies are projected to supplement the markets growth in the coming years. Furthermore, governments across the globe are making efforts to provide treatments at low cost in order to reach a large number of audience in the near future.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Mammography Market: Market PotentialTechnological advancements in the healthcare sector and the emergence of innovative devices and effective therapeutics are the key factors projected to fuel the growth of the global mammography market throughout the forecast period. In addition to this, the rising number of cancer cases across the globe is expected to accelerate the growth of the overall market in the near future.On the other hand, the lack of awareness among patients in several developing economies and the high cost of treatment are estimated to curb the growth of the global mammography market in the next few years. Nonetheless, the use of digital mammography devices is predicted to generate promising growth opportunities for the key players in the market.Global Mammography Market: Regional OutlookIn the previous years, the North America market for mammography held a major share of the global market and is estimated to retain its position over the forecast period. The rising number of breast cancer cases and the increasing women population are the key factors anticipated to encourage the development of the North America market in the coming years. In addition, the availability of advanced therapeutics and healthcare infrastructure are predicted to accelerate the markets growth in the near future.Request TOC of the Report @On the other hand, the development of the economy and the rising popularity of medical tourism are projected to augment the growth of the Asia Pacific market in the next few years. The increasing contribution from China and India and the rising awareness among patients are predicted to supplement the markets growth in the forecast period. Moreover, the favorable government initiatives and the enhancement of the healthcare sector are likely to contribute towards the growth of the Asia Pacific market in the near future.Global Mammography Market: Competitive AnalysisThe global market is projected to grow progressive throughout the forecast period. The rising emphasis of the leading players on introducing new therapeutics and devices to offer enhanced products to patients is likely to encourage the growth of the overall market in the coming years. As a result, several new players are predicted to participate in the market in order to create a brand name across the globe.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Some of the leading players operating in the mammography market across the globe are I.M.S. Srl, GE Healthcare, Hologic, Planmed Oy, Phillips Healthcare, Fujifilm, Siemens Healthcare, Mindray Medical International Limited, Toshiba Medical Systems, and Metaltronica. The research study provides a detailed overview of the competitive landscape and throws light on the key strategies and policies that have been adopted by them in order to sustain in the global 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Global Male Hypogonadism Market Projected to Register a Value of US$ 3,300 Mn by 2026

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Market Research Report Search Engine (MRRSE) recently announced the addition of a new research study to its comprehensive collection of research reports. The research report, titled Global Market Study on Male Hypogonadism: North America to Remain Largest Market for Male Hypogonadism during 2017 - 2026 offers a detailed analysis of the market, providing insights into the market dynamics that are expected to influence the overall market positively in the next few years. Furthermore, the product segmentation, drivers, barriers, key geographical segments, and the competitive scenario of the global Male Hypogonadism market have been elaborated upon in the research report.Request Free Sample Report @Lack of sex hormones, generally referred to male hypogonadism, results into several health risks such as osteoporosis and heart disease, owing to thinning of bones. The global market for male hypogonadism comprises several patented brands with high market penetration. Growth in geriatric population along with rising incidences of rheumatoid arthritis and obesity are primary factors influencing prevalence of male hypogonadism.Mounting cases of testosterone deficiency in men is a key factor underpinning prevalence of male hypogonadism globally. Several governments across the globe are driving awareness about hypogonadism treatment methods, such as testosterone replacement therapy (TST), among patients. As low testosterone levels have been witnessed to exacerbate chronic conditions, they result into disorders associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. The advent of TST however has enabled reduction in number of cases related to male hypogonadism to a certain extent, and with growing awareness about the treatment among people, the market will gain an uptick in the near future. Availability of selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) is further expected to accelerate the market expansion. This is mainly because the development and freely available SARMs has resulted into the provision of better treatment procedure for patients with androgen deficiencies.According to a new Persistence Market Researchs Report, a steady expansion will be reflected by the global male hypogonadism market during the period 2017 to 2026. The global market for male hypogonadism is forecast to surpass revenues worth US$ 3,300 Mn by 2026-end.Topical Gels will continue to Account for Largest Market Revenue ShareBased on drug type, topical gels will continue to account for the largest revenue share of the global male hypogonadism market. Topical gels, available in the form of a semi-liquid state, comprise an active ingredient that can be applied locally and offers maximum efficacy. Facilitation in application and removal of topical gels has further boosted their demand among patients with male hypogonadism. Transdermal patches will account for the smallest revenue share of the market during 2017 to 2026.Complete Outlook of Report @In North America, relatively higher prevalence of chronic diseases are observed on the back of lower testosterone levels of the regions male population. This has further created high demand for testosterone replacement therapy, which in turn has contributed significantly to the revenue share of the region in the male hypogonadism market. North America will remain dominant in the market, in terms of revenues. The market in North America is also projected to exhibit the highest CAGR through 2026.Key Research Findings from PMRs ReportOn the basis of therapy, testosterone replacement therapy will continue to lead the global male hypogonadism market, in terms of revenuesBy disease type, Klinefelters syndrome will continue to account for a relatively larger revenue share of the male hypogonadism market during 2017 to 2026Competition TrackingNature of the global male hypogonadism market is highly competitive, which can be attributed to presence of many small and large suppliers. However, occasional eruptions of competition have been observed emanating from local manufacturers from different countries. New companies are also entering the male hypogonadism market as treatment developments and innovations pave numerous opportunities for these players.Strategic alliances will remain key among vendors in order to produce and market drugs worldwide, and increase their market reach. Key players identified by PMRs report include IBSA Institut Biochimque, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Eli Lilly and Company Ltd., Ferring, Allergan Plc., Merck & Co. Inc., Bayer AG, Finox Biotech, AbbVie Inc., Endo International Plc., Laboratories Genevrier, and Astrazeneca Plc.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:Hospital Lighting Market - Share and Growth Factors Impact Analysis 2017 - 2025

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Global Hospital Lighting Market: OverviewLighting in healthcare plays a critical role not only in enhancing the patient experience but also in improving the healthcare staffs ability of catering to the various levels of care required by the patients. As a result, the global market for hospital lighting is likely to reach new heights.By application, the global hospital lighting market can be segmented into dentistry, operating room, doctors offices, kitchen, maternity ward, patient rooms, laboratory, library, bathrooms, first aid ward, corridors and staircases, and waiting areas. Based on technology, the LED, CFL, florescent, and renewable energy. By product, the global market for hospital lighting systems can be segmented into surgical lights, surface-mounted lights, and troffers.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Hospital Lighting Market: Key TrendsSince good illumination ensures the safety of patients, allows smoother operation of activities, creates an amiable environment, and promotes a sense of well-being among the patients, the global healthcare lighting market holds vast potential for growth. The LED lighting is expected to emerge as the leading segment by technology, thanks to the growing deployment of LED based fixtures across various parts of hospitals.The florescent lighting systems are also gaining traction. They are being increasingly installed across hospitals by virtue of their relatively lower costs and power saving capabilities. By product, troffers are likely to claim the largest share in the global market for hospital lighting. By application, the patients wards segment might represent the largest share in the global market for hospital lighting.Request TOC of the Report @Global Hospital Lighting Market: Market PotentialEnhancement of user experience is increasingly being acknowledged by some leading hospitals. For instance, the new Beacon Childrens Hospital in South Bend (US), features a two-story atrium that has pleasant, soft-green lights. These firefly lights give a splendid appearance to the entire ambience of the hospital. The nature and healing theme of the hospital is designed to aid patients recover faster. With a forest mural, interactive games, and tree sculptures along with these lights, the hospital aims at boosting interaction between fellow patients, staff, family, and the physical space itself. The hospital welcomed its first patients in May 2017.The global market for hospital lighting has been witnessing collaborations, partnerships, and mergers. For instance, an emerging non-profit, Market Driven Community Corporation (MDCC) made an announcement in April 2017 pertaining to its signing a contract for installing LED lighting systems at Rochester General Hospital (New York, US).Global Hospital Lighting Market: Regional OutlookThe global market for hospital lighting can be segmented into Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and North America. North America currently holds the dominant position in the global market for hospital lighting. Beneficial government initiatives and technological advancements in the area of lighting solutions have been the key factors driving the growth of the market.The countries such as India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan are witnessing an increase in the number of hospitals. This can create significant opportunities for the growth of the market. The expanding healthcare infrastructure in Asia Pacific and growing preference for efficient lighting solutions in the region have also been accelerating the expansion of the hospital lighting market in the region. The Middle East and Africa and Latin America are also bursting forth with opportunities.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Hospital Lighting Market: Competitive AnalysisKoninklijke Philips N.V., Acuity Brands Lighting Inc., KLS Martin Group, Eaton Corporation PLC, Hubbell Incorporated, General Electric Company, Cree Inc., Zumtobel Group AG, and Trilux Lighting Ltd are some of the leading companies operating in the global market for hospital lighting.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ICT Market 2018-2021 Global Public Sector Software

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Press Release - 04 April 2018Global Research and Development News --. .Report Description-' 'Public sector software refers to solutions that are specifically designed for the organizations in the public sector. It enables public sector companies to monitor, detect, and report their operations. With an increase in the Internet penetration in emerging countries, the adoption of software solutions is expected to grow. Also, with the use of wireless networks for mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, these IT systems require an improved operational efficiency. Furthermore, with the adoption of cloud-based services and the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), IT systems have become more vulnerable to data threats.. . Get Sample Report' 'Technavios analysts forecast the global public sector software market to grow at a CAGR of 13.28% during the period 2017-2021. Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global public sector software market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the licensed solutions and pay-per-use solutions. Integrated services and third-party. The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global Public Sector Software Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. Key vendorsCisco SystemsSymantecMicrosoftSAP Other prominent vendorsInforJuniper NetworksHCL TechnologiesSalesforceTech Mahindra Market driverIncreased adoption of mobility solutionsFor a full, detailed list, view our report Market challengeAvailability of open-source solutionsFor a full, detailed list, view our report Market trendDemand for integrated software suitesFor a full, detailed list, view our report Key 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?. . 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A Saudi oil tanker sailing in the Red Sea off the port of Hodeidah came under attack Tuesday afternoon after Houthi rebels who control the port city assaulted the vessel before being repelled by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

The tanker was in international waters at the time of the attack, according to coalition sources, which said the rebels were kept at bay.

The vessel was able to continue its journey following the attack though it sustained minor damage.

Saudi Arabia is leading a Pan-Arab coalition in Yemen to shore up the internationally recognized government of President Mansour Hadi, which has been flashed out of the capital Sanaa by the rebels. The rebels also control much of the countrys northern territories.

The latest attack comes in the wake of the launch of several ballistic missiles against Saudi Arabia. The missiles were intercepted by the coalition and Saudi forces.

The coalition, France and the US have accused Iran of supporting the rebels and supplying them with weaponry and the banned missiles. Teheran has denied any wrongdoing.Chemicals Professional Survey Report 2018 Global Industrial Catalyst Market | BASF SE, Exxon Mobil Chemical Corporation, AkzoNobel N.V.

Industrial Catalyst

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Press Release - 04 April 2018Global Research and Development News --. .Report Description-' ' This report studies Industrial Catalyst 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 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025. This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringAlbemarle CorporationBASF SEExxon Mobil Chemical CorporationAkzoNobel N.V.. . Get Sample Report' 'Chevron Phillips Chemical CompanyArkema SAThe DOW Chemical CompanyEvonik Industries AgDu PontClariant AGCRI Catalyst CompanyUmicoreArkema SaHoneywellRanido On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoHeterogeneousHomogeneous By Application, the market can be split intoPetroleum RefiningChemical SynthesisPetrochemicalsOthers By Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndia. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents' 'Global Industrial Catalyst Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of Industrial Catalyst1.1 Definition and Specifications of Industrial Catalyst1.1.1 Definition of Industrial Catalyst1.1.2 Specifications of Industrial Catalyst1.2 Classification of Industrial Catalyst1.2.1 Heterogeneous1.2.2 Homogeneous1.3 Applications of Industrial Catalyst1.3.1 Petroleum Refining1.3.2 Chemical Synthesis1.3.3 Petrochemicals1.3.4 Others1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Industrial Catalyst2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Industrial Catalyst2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Industrial Catalyst2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Industrial Catalyst3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Industrial Catalyst3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Industrial Catalyst Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Industrial Catalyst Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Industrial Catalyst Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Industrial Catalyst Major Manufacturers in 20174 Global Industrial Catalyst Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Industrial Catalyst Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Industrial Catalyst Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Industrial Catalyst Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 Industrial Catalyst Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2013-2018E Global Industrial Catalyst Sales Price4.4.2 2017 Industrial Catalyst Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)5 Industrial Catalyst Regional Market Analysis5.1 North America Industrial Catalyst Market Analysis5.1.1 North America Industrial Catalyst Market Overview5.1.2 North America 2013-2018E Industrial Catalyst Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.1.3 North America 2013-2018E Industrial Catalyst Sales Price Analysis5.1.4 North America 2017 Industrial Catalyst Market Share Analysis5.2 China Industrial Catalyst Market Analysis5.2.1 China Industrial Catalyst Market Overview5.2.2 China 2013-2018E Industrial Catalyst Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.2.3 China 2013-2018E Industrial Catalyst Sales Price Analysis5.2.4 China 2017 Industrial Catalyst Market Share Analysis5.3 Europe Industrial Catalyst Market Analysis5.3.1 Europe Industrial Catalyst Market Overview5.3.2 Europe 2013-2018E Industrial Catalyst Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.3.3 Europe 2013-2018E Industrial Catalyst Sales Price Analysis5.3.4 Europe 2017 Industrial Catalyst Market Share Analysis5.4 Southeast Asia Industrial Catalyst Market Analysis5.4.1 Southeast Asia Industrial Catalyst Market Overview5.4.2 Southeast Asia 2013-2018E Industrial Catalyst Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.4.3 Southeast Asia 2013-2018E Industrial Catalyst Sales Price Analysis5.4.4 Southeast Asia 2017 Industrial Catalyst Market Share Analysis5.5 Japan Industrial Catalyst Market AnalysisResearchMoz 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 Night Vision Devices Market Analysis 2018 Forecasts To 2023: Meopta, Newcon Optik, Optix, Sofradir EC, Thales

Global Night Vision Devices Manufacturers, Global Night Vision Devices Industry, Global Night Vision Devices Prospectus

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Global Night Vision Devices MarketDescription:-Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Global Night Vision Devices market 2018: Global Analysis, Industry Size, Share, Trends, Application Analysis and Growth Opportunities Forecast to 2023 To Its Research DatabaseNight Vision Devices Market: Global Industry Analysis, Market Size, Share, Trends, Application Analysis, Growth and Forecast, 2018-2023 provides a deep and thorough evaluation of the night vision devices market by device (goggles, cameras, scopes, others); by technology (image intensifier, thermal imaging, infrared illumination); by end-user (military segment, civil segment); and by geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa). The report also analyses the competitive structure of the night vision devices industry and provides the profiles of major players operating in the market. Some of these include Meopta, Newcon Optik, Optix, Sofradir EC, Thales.Beginning with a global overview, the report explores the dynamics that have a strong influence on the night vision devices market and can also impact its future growth. Taking 2018 as the base year, the report covers historical market scenario from 2010-2017 and provides forecasts till 2023. This includes the study of value and volume trends and pricing history. Growth inducing factors, market restraints and recent developments have also been analysed in the report in order to provide deeper knowledge about the industry. On a regional basis, the report examines the night vision devices market in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. For each of these regions, the report studies the night vision devices market in detail for latest trends, outlook and opportunities.Segmentation by Device:GogglesCamerasScopesOthersSegmentation by TechnologyImage IntensifierThermal ImagingInfrared IlluminationSegmentation by End-User:Military SegmentCivil SegmentSegmentation by Region:Asia-PacificEuropeLatin AmericaNorth AmericaMiddle East & AfricaCompetitive Landscape:MeoptaNewcon OptikOptixSofradir ECThalesThe price margins for the products along with the various success and risk factors for manufacturers have also been covered in the report. Moreover, in order to determine market attractiveness, the report analyses the night vision devices industry along the parameters of the porters five forces model. This model examines the degree of competition in the night vision devices industry by analysing the threat posed by new entrants and substitutes, and the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers. Swot analysis of the market has also been presented in the report which highlights the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats pertaining to the night vision devices industry. Furthermore, the value chain analysis of the night vision devices industry has also been covered in the report. This comprises of all the activities in the value chain, such as the procurement of various raw materials, manufacturing and sales of the products, and their distribution.Request a sample copy @Highlights of The Night Vision Devices MarketHistorical and current scenarioTrends and developmentsMarket forecastPrice analysis and forecastPorters five forces analysisSWOT analysisValue chain analysisThe report is a result of exhaustive primary and secondary research undertaken by analysts having years of experience in the night vision devices industry. All the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry have been covered and the collected data has been analysed and presented in the form of easily comprehensible charts, graphs and tables.Table of Content1 Introduction1.1 Research Objectives1.2 Stakeholders1.3 Scope of the Report1.4 Assumptions and Limitations2. Research Methodology2.1. Data Collection2.1.1 Primary Sources2.1.2 Secondary Sources2.2 Market Size Estimation2.2.1 Bottom-Up Approach2.2.2 Top-Down Approach2.3 Data Validation3. Executive Summary4. Global Night Vision Devices Market4.1 Industry Overview4.2 Key Industry Developments4.3 Market Trends4.3.1 Key Market Indicators4.3.2 Historical Market Trends4.3.3 Market Forecast4.4 Price Analysis4.4.1 Key Price Indicators4.4.2 Pricing Structure4.4.3 Historical Price Trends4.4.4 Price Forecast4.5 Market Breakup By Region4.6 Market Breakup By Device4.7 Market Breakup By Technology4.8 Market Breakup By End-User5. Global Night Vision Devices Market: Value Chain Analysis5.1 Overview5.2 Research and Development5.3 Raw Material Suppliers5.4 Inbound Logistics5.5 Production5.6 Marketing5.7 Outbound Logistics5.8 Consumers6. Global Night Vision Devices Market: SWOT Analysis6.1 Overview6.2 Strengths6.3 Weaknesses6.4 Opportunities6.5 Threats7. Global Night Vision Devices Market: Porters Five Forces Analysis7.1 Overview7.2 Threat of New Entrants7.3 Threat of Substitutes7.4 Bargaining Power of Buyers7.5 Bargaining Power of Suppliers7.6 Intensity of Rivalry8. Competitive Landscape8.1 Market Structure8.2 Key Players8.3 Key Success Factors9. Performance By Region9.1 North America9.1.1 Overview9.1.2 Market Trends9.1.3 Market Segmentation9.1.4 Market Forecast9.2 Europe9.2.1 Overview9.2.2 Market Trends9.2.3 Market Segmentation9.2.4 Market Forecast9.3 Asia Pacific9.3.1 Overview9.3.2 Market Trends9.3.3 Market Segmentation9.3.4 Market Forecast9.4 Latin America9.4.1 Overview9.4.2 Market Trends9.4.3 Market Segmentation9.4.4 Market Forecast9.5 Middle East and Africa9.5.1 Overview9.5.2 Market Trends9.5.3 Market Segmentation9.5.4 Market ForecastBrowse full 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.Contact Us:Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltdsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (Us)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk)Maharashtra, Pune  411028System-in-Package (SiP) Die 2018: Global Market Key Players- InsightSiP(France), Fujitsu(Japan), Amkor Technology(US), Freescale Semiconductor(US)

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In this report, the global System-in-Package (SiP) Die market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of System-in-Package (SiP) Die in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanRequest a Sample Report @Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingASE Global(China)ChipMOS Technologies(China)Nanium S.A.(Portugal)Siliconware Precision Industries Co(US)InsightSiP(France)Fujitsu(Japan)Amkor Technology(US)Freescale Semiconductor(US)On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into2D IC Packaging3D IC PackagingOn 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, includingConsumer ElectronicsAutomotiveNetworkingMedical ElectronicsMobileOthersIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal System-in-Package (SiP) Die Market Research Report 20181 System-in-Package (SiP) Die Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of System-in-Package (SiP) Die1.2 System-in-Package (SiP) Die Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 2D IC Packaging1.2.4 3D IC Packaging1.3 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Segment by Application1.3.1 System-in-Package (SiP) Die Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Consumer Electronics1.3.3 Automotive1.3.4 Networking1.3.5 Medical Electronics1.3.6 Mobile1.3.7 Others1.4 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 EU Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 South Korea Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of System-in-Package (SiP) Die (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers System-in-Package (SiP) Die Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 System-in-Package (SiP) Die Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 System-in-Package (SiP) Die Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 System-in-Package (SiP) Die Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 United States System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 EU System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 Japan System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.9 South Korea System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.10 Taiwan System-in-Package (SiP) Die Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 United States System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 EU System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.6 South Korea System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.7 Taiwan System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)5 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)6 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Consumption and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)6.2 Global System-in-Package (SiP) Die Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2013-2018)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesContinuedAccess Complete 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Technological Innovations in Global Small Motors Market Poised to reach US$ 10 billion by 2026.

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Fact.MR has been actively involved in offering comprehensive research data concerning various topics which are associated to industrial reference and investor utility. This particular research report titled Small Motors Market Forecast, Trend Analysis & Competition Tracking - Global Review 2017 to 202 has been added to the wide online database of Fact.MR which discusses the present as well as future market scenario. Readers can access knowledge related to market volume, regional expanse as well as competitive landscape prevailing in the global small motors market. In order to study development patterns, this smart assessment also focuses on market dynamics, which talks about drivers, restraints and opportunities estimated to influence the concerned market during the period until 2017 to 2022.Request For Sample Report-Forecast Highlights on Global Small Motors Market1- As per the forecast of Fact.MR, the DC brush motors (cored) segment is slated to touch a value of nearly US$ 2,560 Mn in the year 2022. This represents a negative CAGR growth during the assessment period of 2017-2026. The DC brush motors (cored) segment is estimated to account for nearly one-third of the revenue share of the product type segment by the year 2017 end and is expected to lose in market share by the year 2026 end.2- As per the forecast of Fact.MR, AC small motors segment will reach a value of nearly US$ 2,920 Mn in the year 2026. This represents a sluggish CAGR growth during the forecast period. The AC small motors segment is estimated to account for more than one-fourth of the revenue share of the supply source segment in the year 2017 end and is expected to gain market share by the end of the year 2026.3- As per the forecast of Fact.MR, the consumer electronics segment is slated to reach a value of nearly US$ 2,520 Mn in 2026. The consumer electronics segment is expected to lose some market value by the end of the year 2026. The largest share is contributed by the North America region in the consumer electronics segment.4- Fact.MR forecasts that the consumer appliances segment will exhibit a CAGR of 1.1% from 2017 to 2026. Consumer appliances segment is estimated to account for nearly one-fourth of the revenue share of the application segment by 2017 end and is expected to lose some market share by the end of the year 2026.Browse Full Report With TOC-Minimal Opportunity in HB Stepper Motors and DC brush motors (coreless) MarketsThe DC Brush Motors (coreless) segment of the small motors market is considerably smaller than all others and may not even exceed a value of US$ 50 million by the end of the eight-year study. Companies will have to devise customized strategies to attain a modicum of success in this niche segment of the small motors market. The HB Stepper motors segment is comparatively larger in comparison but is nonetheless predicted to record a sluggish CAGR of 2.7% for the forecast period. Along with North America, companies would do well to target either the Europe or APEJ HB stepper motor market as both have a similar market opportunity in the long run.Consumer Appliances and Consumer Electronics Hold the Key in Small Motors MarketThe consumer appliances and consumer electronics segment consist of more than half the share in the global small motors market in 2017. However, both segments are on track to lose BPS over the long term. The absolute dollar opportunity is greater in the consumer appliances segment as it is likely to be in the range of US$ 225 million. Miniaturization is a notable trend that has had an outsized impact on all industries, particularly consumer appliances and consumer electronics. North America on account of its affluent population, high disposable income, and robust communications infrastructure should hold maximum share in both segments of the small motors market.Aerospace and Healthcare Segment Exhibit Strong Growth in Small Motors MarketThe aerospace and healthcare segments have great potential in the small motors market with a massive gain in BPS projected in the former. The aerospace segment is estimated to cross a value of one billion dollars by the end of the forecast period.Continued@@@Check For Discount On This Report-About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; thats why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MRSuite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandTelephone: +353-1-6111-593Email: sales@factmr.com/Web:Pregnancy Personal Care Products 2018: Global Market Key Players- Johnson & Johnson, L'Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Estee Lauder, Clarins Group In this report, the global Pregnancy Personal Care Products market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.



Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Pregnancy Personal Care Products in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), covering

North America

Europe

China

Japan

Southeast Asia

India



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Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players including

Johnson & Johnson

L'Oreal

Procter & Gamble

Unilever

Estee Lauder

Clarins Group

Expanscience Laboratories, Inc. (Mustela)

Mama Mio US Inc. (Mio)

Noodle & Boo

Novena Maternity

Nine Naturals, LLC

On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into

Stretch Mark Minimizer

Body Restructuring Gel

Toning/Firming Lotion

Itching Prevention Cream

Nipple Protection Cream

Breast Cream

Stressed Leg Product

On 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, including

Pregnancy 0-3 months

Pregnancy 3-6 months

Pregnancy>6 months



If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.



Table of Contents



Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Market Research Report 2018

1 Pregnancy Personal Care Products Market Overview

1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Pregnancy Personal Care Products

1.2 Pregnancy Personal Care Products Segment by Type (Product Category)

1.2.1 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)

1.2.2 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017

1.2.3 Stretch Mark Minimizer

1.2.4 Body Restructuring Gel

1.2.5 Toning/Firming Lotion

1.2.6 Itching Prevention Cream

1.2.7 Nipple Protection Cream

1.2.8 Breast Cream

1.2.9 Stressed Leg Product

1.3 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Segment by Application

1.3.1 Pregnancy Personal Care Products Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)

1.3.2 Pregnancy 0-3 months

1.3.3 Pregnancy 3-6 months

1.3.4 Pregnancy>6 months

1.4 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Market by Region (2013-2025)

1.4.1 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)

1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)

1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)

1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)

1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)

1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)

1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)

1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Pregnancy Personal Care Products (2013-2025)

1.5.1 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)

1.5.2 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)



2 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Market Competition by Manufacturers

2.1 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)

2.1.1 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)

2.1.2 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)

2.2 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)

2.3 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)

2.4 Manufacturers Pregnancy Personal Care Products Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type

2.5 Pregnancy Personal Care Products Market Competitive Situation and Trends

2.5.1 Pregnancy Personal Care Products Market Concentration Rate

2.5.2 Pregnancy Personal Care Products Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers

2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion



3 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)

3.1 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)

3.2 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)

3.3 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)

3.4 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

3.5 North America Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

3.6 Europe Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

3.7 China Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

3.8 Japan Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

3.9 Southeast Asia Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

3.10 India Pregnancy Personal Care Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)



4 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)

4.1 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Consumption by Region (2013-2018)

4.2 North America Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)

4.3 Europe Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)

4.4 China Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)

4.5 Japan Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)

4.6 Southeast Asia Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)

4.7 India Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)



5 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

5.1 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)

5.2 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)

5.3 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Price by Type (2013-2018)

5.4 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)



6 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Market Analysis by Application

6.1 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Consumption and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)

6.2 Global Pregnancy Personal Care Products Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2013-2018)

6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities

6.3.1 Potential Applications

6.3.2 Emerging Markets/Countries



Continued



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International Conference on Molecular Microbiology 2018 is scheduled to be held during December 03-04, 2018 at Chicago, Illinois, USA. This Molecular Microbiology 2018 anticipates more than 200 participants around the globe with thought provoking Keynote lectures, Oral talks and Poster presentations, Symposia, Workshops, Exhibitions and Career development programs. The attending delegates include Editorial Board Members of related Conference Series LLC Ltd Journals. This is an excellent opportunity for the delegates from Universities and Institutes to interact with the world class Scientists. The intending participants can confirm their participation by registering at Molecular Microbiology 2018 along with your colleagues.Molecular Microbiology 2018 is one of the well-established conferences among Microbiology Conferences organized by Conference Series LLC LtdConference Series LLC Ltd Organizes 3000+ Global Events Every Year across USA, Europe & Asia with support from 1000 more scientific societies and Publishes 700+ Open access journals which contains over 100000 eminent personalities, reputed scientists as editorial board and organizing committee members. The Conference Series LLC Ltd website will provide you list and details about the conferences organize worldwide.Conference Series LLC Ltd47 Churchfield Road, London, UK, W3 6AYUK - 0-800-014-8923America - 1-800-216-6499molecularmicrobiology@americaconferences.orgGrowing worldwide construction industry & Rising Demand for Easy and Fast Construction booming the growth of Global Zero-energy Building Market

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Market Research Future published a raw research report on Global Zero-energy Building Market that contains the information from 2015 to 2023. Global Zero-energy Building Market is expected to grow at CAGR ~10.12% from 2017 to 2023.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 55 market data tables and 45 figures spread in 111 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Global Zero-energy Building Market Information from 2017 to 2023"Ask Sample for this Report @Governments across regions are seen promoting and developing their construction & infrastructure sector as it has been contributing growth and development in several ways. Some of them are reduction in transaction costs, increase in durability of capital goods, fostering higher trade and investment, expanding the demand & supply diversification. The emerging nations are particularly bringing various reforms and regulations to boost their infrastructure growth.The Zero-energy industry has been projected to see high growth in the future, with its influence reaching across the economy with significant environmental and social benefits being generated to protect the people and the planet. Governments across all regions are seen promoting and developing their construction & infrastructure by providing tax incentives for zero-energy building. The industry is gaining momentum and is predicted to exhibit robust growth, creating opportunities for equipment producers, material suppliers, and service providers. The report segments the global zero-energy buildings market by application (residential and Non-Residential), by equipment (Lighting, walls & roofs, HVAC Systems and others), and by geography (the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific and Others). HVAC systems are one of the most important and energy-consuming parts in the entire building structure. The HVAC systems segment accounted for the largest market share and is anticipated to continue dominating the market over the forecast period.Access Report Details @The benefits of zero-energy building are numerous; they can positively influence various environmental, economic, and social factors. As global warming becomes an increasingly pressing issue, Zero-energy buildings are becoming increasingly relevant, with its importance continuing to grow.Impact on Workplace Productivity and Health:Construction activities are increasing, across the globe, particularly in countries such as India and China. People have been focusing more on energy efficient construction due to its advantages such as reduction of overall impact on environment and human health. Sustainable development is the most vibrant and enigmatic global topic in the construction industry in more than a decade. According to Environmental Protection Agency, sustainable buildings can make their surroundings healthier and more sustainable by efficiently utilizing resources, creating a healthy and productive work flow that lower a company's waste production. One more reason for sustainable building construction concerns the resale value. Increasing awareness among architects & construction companies about environmental and social impacts of their buildings, has brought about a surge in sustainable building designs and construction.Sustainability, Emerging Economies & the Developing WorldSustainability in built environment is becoming a strong force in the construction industry to achieve social and environmental benefits and to lower negative environment impacts. Developing countries play an important role in achieving growth in two major ways. Firstly, the potential economic and social impacts of environmental degradation play a vital role in developing countries. They are the most vulnerable to climate change and tend to be more dependent than advanced economies on the exploitation of natural resources for economic growth.Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports. Johnson Controls International Plc (U.S.) SunPower Corporation (U.S.) Kingspan Group (Ireland) General Electric (U.S.) Siemens AG (Germany) Schneider Electric SE (France) Solatube International, Inc. (U.S.) Saint-Gobain (France)This research report provides insights, on various levels of analysis such as industry analysis, and market share analysis for the leading players along with their profiles. It also helps in studying the target segments by providing views on emerging & high-growth segments. The market data comprises the basic assessment of the competitive scenarios & strategies in the global Zero-energy Building market, including high-growth regions and/or countries, and political, & economic environments. The project report, further, provides views on both the historical market values and pricing & cost analysis.If Interested Please ask for 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 Components, Application, Logistics 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.comThank You.Meltblown Polyester Nonwoven Market Report  Actionable Insights and Recommendation 2017 - 2025

Meltblown Polyester Nonwoven Market

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Melt blowing is a technique used for the manufacture of thin sheets of nonwoven fibers. It is a method by which polymer melt is extruded out through tiny nozzles and subjected to high-speed blowing gas. Due to presence of gas, the extruded polymer forms a nonwoven polymer sheet. Different polymers are used as raw materials in the process of melt blowing. The process starts with a polymer resin and ends with a finished, self-bonded fabric with superior properties.Some of the commonly used polymers include polypropylene, polyesters, polyamides, and polystyrenes. The fibers obtained are ultra-fine in nature compared to the fibers obtained by any other manufacturing process such as spun bound. The filaments obtained by this technique are generally of the size of 25 microns. However, by modification, the size can be reduced up to 1 micron even. Due to the fine size of filaments, the nonwoven fabric obtained is soft and durable. Meltblown fabrics are known to have high insulating properties and good barrier properties, which makes them useful in a variety of applications.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Meltblown Polyester Nonwoven Fabric Market: TrendsMeltblown fabrics have special properties such as absorbency, thermal insulation, cushioning, wash-ability, strength, sterility, liquid repellence, and bacterial barrier. Meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics are used in products required for maintaining the hygiene such as hair caps, filters, wiping cloths, and masks. One of the leading fields of application of meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics is disposable diapers and feminine care products.Exclusive properties of meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics coupled with their low cost are expected to drive the market in the next few years. These fibers can be manufactured in such a way such that they can function as a woven fabric. Meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics are used in combination with or as a component of home furnishings, apparels, engineering materials, and health care, industrial as well as consumer goods.The market for meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period, primarily due to increased demand for these fabrics in absorbent hygiene products such as baby diapers and feminine care products.Meltblown polyester nonwoven fabric is expensive compared to spunbond polyester nonwoven fabric, due the usage of compressed air that consumes a large amount of energy. Due to high manufacturing costs associated with meltdown process, spunbond polyester nonwoven fabrics are more preferred, which could be a potential restraint for the market for meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics in the near future.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @Meltblown Polyester Nonwoven Fabric Market: Region-wise OutlookIn recent years, the demand for meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics in Asia Pacific was substantially higher as compared to other regions. This is primarily due to increased use of these fibers in countries such as Japan and China. In order to meet the rising demand, different countries have established well-equipped plants for the production of specialized meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics. North America and Europe followed Asia Pacific, in terms of demand for meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics. The consumption of nonwoven fabrics in Europe is low; however, it is expected to rise further in the near future.Demand for meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics in countries in Latin America such as Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina is expected to increase in the next few years, due to growth of the health care industry in these countries. Hence, the market for meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics in Latin America is expected to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period. Demand for meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics in Middle East & Africa is estimated to increase at a sluggish rate in the near future.Meltblown Polyester Nonwoven Fabric Market: Key PlayersMajor players operating in the global meltblown polyester nonwoven fabrics market include 3M, Toray Industries, Inc., Kimberly-Clark Professional, and GINNI Filaments 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. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Measles Testing Market to Register a Stout Growth by End 2024

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Being one of the most common causes of death among kids, measles has become a global problem despite the fact that there are cost-effective and safe vaccines available for its prevention. This highly contagious disease killed an estimated 134,200 people in 2015, according to findings of the World Health Organization (WHO), which amounts to nearly 15 deaths on an hourly basis.However, growing awareness among the general population regarding vaccination and timely detection and diagnosis has resulted in a significant drop in mortality. Measles vaccination brought about a massive 79.0% reduction in deaths resulting from measles between 2000 and 2015 and this has resulted in measles vaccine emerging as one of the most effective buys in public health.Request to View Brochure of Report -The report on the global Measles Testing Market is a comprehensive and strategic source of data and provides readers with in-depth insights and forecasts pertaining to various segments of the overall market. The impact of ongoing, past, and future trends on the performance of the measles testing market has been gauged and profitable recommendations have been offered based on that.The common prevalence of measles among children around the world and the rising awareness regarding immunization and vaccination are key factors driving this market. The measles testing market has also received a major boost from organizations such as the United Nations Foundation, American Red Cross, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), WHO, and UNICEF. For instance, the Measles & Rubella Initiative launched in 2001 has encouraged patients and physicians alike to work toward the elimination of measles, thereby driving the demand for measles testing. Apart from this, advancements in immunodiagnostics and the entry of new players will aid the measles testing market.Request to View ToC of Report -The worldwide market for measles testing is segmented on the basis of geography into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Rest of the World. North America has emerged as the leading regional segment in the global market and this can be primarily attributed to a high presence of measles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2013, the number of new measles or rubeola cases in the U.S. stood at 187; the number of reported German measles or rubella cases was 9 and the number of mumps cases was 584. These figures have driven the need for timely measles testing and prevention. The North America measles testing market is also propelled by the growing presence of established and new players providing a slew of testing solutions.Africa and Asia present immense opportunities for growth as parts of these regions are teeming with the prevalence of a number of contagious diseases and infections. Countries with weak healthcare infrastructures and lower per capita income are more are risk of contracting measles and the need for measles testing becomes even more imperative here. This factor is sure to boost the measles testing market in Asia and Africa.Beckman Coulter, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Eiken Chemical Co., Ltd., Biomedical Diagnostics, Dako (acquired by Agilent Technologies), BioMerieux, DiaSorin, Abbott Laboratories, and Bio-Rad are some of the prominent companies operating in the global measles testing market. These players are involved in various domains of measles testing, including immunodiagnostics and clinical chemistry.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Global Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare Market Forecast 2018 BASF SE, Akzo Nobel NV, Nease, E & C Chemicals

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Global Market Study Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare Market Provide Forecast Market Report 2018  2023 presents an detailed analysis of the Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare which researched industry situations, market Size, growth and demands, Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market outlook, business strategies utilized, market Trends, competitive analysis by Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market players, deployment models, opportunities, future roadmap, value chain, major player profiles. The report also presents forecasts for Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare investments from 2018 till 2025.In this report, the Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market worth about xx billion USD in 2018 and it is expected to reach xx billion USD in 2023 with an average growth rate of x%. United States is the largest production of Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare Market and consumption region in the world, Europe also play important roles in global Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market while China is fastest growing region.Request For Sample at:Top manufactures include for Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market such as:1. BASF SE2. Akzo Nobel NV3. Nease Comapany4. Kaivac Cleaning systems5. E & C Chemicals6. Magnum Research Corp.7. International Products Corp.8. ChemWorks9. Coastal Industrial Ltd.10. Caroll Company11. Applied Industrial Technologies12. Newton Distributing Co13. Abatix Corp.14. Lubrication Engineers15. Fuller Industries16. MacDermid Autotype17. Dow Chemical Company18. Eastman Chemical Company19. Huntsman Corp.20. Spartan Chemical CompanyThe 126 page Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare report promises you will remain better informed than your competitor, With approx. 200 tables and figures examining the Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market, the report gives you a visual, one-stop breakdown of the leading products, submarkets and market leaders market revenue forecast as well as analysis and prediction of the Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market to 2025.Geographically, Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market share and growth rate in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), covering regions beThe report provides a basic overview of the Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure, Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare research report includes historic data from 2013 to 2017 and forecasts from 2018 to 2025 which makes the reports an invaluable resource for industry executives, marketing, sales and product managers, consultants, analysts, and other people looking for key industry data in readily accessible documents with clearly presented tables and graphs.Research Methodology Involved: The research usage of both primary and secondary data sources with Bottom-up and Top-down Approaches. These approaches are used to validate the global Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market size, CAGR and estimate the market size for manufacturers, regions segments, product segments and applications (end users).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 Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare based on end-use industry and region, in terms of value. With the data triangulation procedure and validation of data through primary interviews, the exact values of the overall parent market, and individual market sizes were determined and confirmed in this study.Browse Full Report:Key Highlights Of the Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare Market:The fundamental details related to Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare industry like the product definition, cost, variety of applications, Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market demand and supply statistics are covered in this report.Competitive study of the major Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare players will help all the market players in analyzing the latest trends and Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare business strategies.The deep research study of Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market based on development opportunities, growth limiting factors and feasibility of investment will forecast the Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market growth.Finally, Cleaning Chemicals in Healthcare market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.Automotive Lubricants Report is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional marketAbout Us9dimenresearchstore.com is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@9dimenresearchstore.comUS President Donald Trump has congratulated President Fattah al-Sisi for his landslide victory in the presidential elections, which recorded a poor turnout as main opposition figures withdrew from the process they deemed unfair.

The two leaders and allies according to the White House held a telephone conversation a day after the incumbent Egyptian President was announced winner with 97 per cent of the votes with a turnout put at 40 per cent.

Al-Sisi contested for a second term in office against his ally turned-candidate for the circumstance, Moussa Mostafa Moussa.

Trumps office said that both leaders affirmed he strategic partnership between the United States and Egypt, and noted that they look forward to advancing this partnership and addressing common challenges.

The Trump administration has emerged as one of al-Sisis foreign major supports despite democratic and human right deficit. Trump views the Egyptian leader as a close ally in the fight against terrorism.

Observers criticized the electoral process even before its kickoff after potential opponents to the general-turned president cancelled their bids over threats or found themselves arrested before candidacy registration.

The autocratic leader in 2013 removed the countrys first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi before winning subsequent elections the following year by a large margin; 96.9 of valid votes.SCHWING Technologies is attending Indointertex 2018 with thermal cleaning systems

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Neukirchen-Vluyn, April, 4, 2018. Indointertex, the international trade fair in Jakarta that takes place between April 4-7, 2018, will be all about the clothing and textile industry along with its machines and accessories.The cleaning expert SCHWING Technologies recommends its VACUCLEAN thermal vacuum pyrolysis system to remove adhering plastic waste with virtually no residue.At the PT. Jabar Mulia Engineering booth 105, SCHWING expert Sunil Chalishajar will inform visitors about fully automized solutions by the German technology leader that are energy-efficient and eco-friendly. The systems are easy to install and remove waste plastic residues from tools and parts  reliably and gently.This includes spin packs or spinnerets as well as melt-blown dies up to six meters long. The benefits for the manufacturing clothing and textile industry include shorter machine downtimes and higher service lives of cleaned tools and machine parts.Further Information:SCHWING TechnologiesSCHWING Technologies has been operating since 1969 and is the worldwide technological leader for high-temperature systems for thermal cleaning, thermo-chemical finishing and heat treatment of metal parts and tools. The owner-managed company constructs, manufactures and operates its systems at its headquarters in Neukirchen-Vluyn in Germany's Lower Rhine region. Built upon the achievements of German engineering, the medium-sized business is globally the best-known specialist in the removal of plastics. Among its around 2,500 international clients are companies from the plastics and fiber industries, as well as from the chemicals and automobile sectors. With its 80-strong personnel, the company is equipped with the tools and systems for any cleaning need and delivers the best economy, ecology and quality. SCHWING is also a reliable service partner for contract cleaning by cleaning more than 250,000 tools and parts each year to the highest environmental and qualitative standards. In the words of Ewald and Thomas Schwing, the two managing directors at SCHWING Technologies GmbH, So far, there has not been a single component that we have not been able to free from polymers and inorganic contaminants.Press contactNicola LeffelsendSCHWING Technologies GmbHOderstrae 747506 Neukirchen-VluynT +49 2845 930 146redaktion@schwing-tech.comTelemonitoring Platforms and Systems Market to Record Sturdy Growth by 2023

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The future of the global Telemonitoring Platforms And Systems Market looks bright with continuous advancements in the field of information technology. Telemonitoring platforms and systems facilitate easy evaluation of patients medical conditions by doctors and physicians on a regular basis. They allow healthcare providers to manage and monitor patients disease condition in an effective manner and subsequently decide appropriate treatment for them. Over the past few years, there has been an upswing in the adoption of these platforms and systems, owing to the fact that they offer improved health care quality at much lower costs. On the basis of function, the market can be categorized into glucose level telemonitoring systems, cardiac telemonitoring systems, COPD telemonitoring systems, and blood pressure telemonitoring systems.Telemonitoring platforms and systems are being increasingly acknowledged across the globe for their multiple functions such as weight records, vital signs check, blood pressure monitoring, and assessment of oxygen saturation. The increasing popularity of home healthcare setting is working in favor of the market. Moreover, the widening base of geriatric population is providing a significant boost to the growth of the market.Request to View Brochure of Report -However, the patient record transfer and electronic storage in telemonitoring platforms and systems can potentially lead to privacy and security breaches. Ineffective management of these problems can serve as an opportunity for invaders to access confidential data and possibly alter, steal, or even delete records of patients. These issues are, thus, limiting the market from realizing its utmost potential. On the other hand, increasing government initiatives, particularly in emerging economies, to improve healthcare facilities in rural areas are estimated to unfold tremendous growth opportunities for the global telemonitoring platforms and systems market.The key segments studied in the report on the basis of geography are Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. North America and Europe will, collectively, account for a substantial share of the overall revenue pie. The primary factors behind the outstanding growth of these regions are growing incidence of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and COPD and the increasing implementation of the information and communication technology in the healthcare sector. Moreover, rising acceptance of the approaches pertaining to telemedicine among healthcare professionals.Request to View ToC of Report -Asia Pacific is likely to emerge as a promising market over the forthcoming years. The growth of the region can be attributed to the presence of massive population base and easy availability of cheap and skilled workforce. The reducing costs of healthcare and communication services and technological advancements in telemonitoring systems are also propelling the growth of the region. Furthermore, decreasing willingness among patients towards getting hospitalized and improving quality of care at healthcare setups along with the reducing therapeutic errors are providing a fillip to the market in APAC.Key players in the global telemonitoring platforms and systems market are paying high attention to technological advancements and product innovation to enhance their visibility in this highly competitive arena. The growing trend of telemedicine is expected to attract new players to venture into the market. This will further intensify the competition in the market. Some of the prominent companies operating in the global market are GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, CARDIOCOM LLC, AMD Global Telemedicine Inc., McKesson Corporation, Cisco Systems Inc., InTouch Health Inc., OSF Healthcare, Vidyo Inc., KORE Telematics, and ViTel Net.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Hexafluoroacetone Derivatives Market : Challenges and Opportunities Report 2017 - 2025

Hexafluoroacetone Derivatives Market

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Hexafluoroacetone derivatives are chemical compounds which are colorless, nonflammable, and hygroscopic. They are derived from hexafluoroacetone which exhibits highly reactive properties with water, forming corrosive acids. These derivatives are typically used for organic synthesis and as a chemical reagent in various manufacturing processes, especially in applications such as textile coating, solvents, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, and other agrochemicals. Hexafluoroacetone derivatives are employed as intermediaries in a range of chemical processes. The rising global textile trade due to the increasing domestic consumption of the product and disposable incomes is resulting into continuous improvements in the production of textile and the raw materials required in the industry. The shift from conventional to advanced technologies in the global textile coating process has fueled the demand for the incorporation of a variety of chemical compounds.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Hexafluoroacetone derivatives are soluble in water and most organic solvents which has resulted in their increasing incorporation into the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. They exhibit the strong ability to dissolve in a variety of polymers such as polyesters, polyamides, polyacrylonitriles, polyacetals, and hydrolyzed polyvinyl esters. The rapid depletion of arable land is a key global concern which has led to the increasing use of agrochemicals around the world. Additionally, the rising global population and urbanization have led to an increasing need to improve the agricultural yield. Major chemical companies are focusing on developing products such as hexafluoroacetone for plant protection which is in line with the trend in the global agrochemical industry. Hexafluroacetone derivatives stimulate the growth of the plants, either by improving the biosynthesis process or through the environment-friendly nature of the fluorochemicals. Hexafluoroacetone derivatives act as building blocks for the manufacturing of synthetic pharmaceutical products. They increase the drug bioavailability due to their hygroscopic nature and enhance the medical power of the drug as well as its anti-inflammatory effects. Pharmaceutical companies are investing extensively in the incorporation of new raw materials into the production of a variety of drugs due to the superior physical properties of hexafluoroacetone derivatives.In terms of geography, the hexafluroacetone derivatives market can be distributed over North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Consequently, growing urbanization and the rising establishment of chemical companies in Asia Pacific are projected to fuel the demand for hexafluoroacetone derivatives. The escalating population and need to improve agricultural productivity in the region drive the market in Asia Pacific. North America and Europe account for a larger market share due to the presence of prominent chemical companies and technological advancements for the easy incorporation of chemicals into a wide range of applications in these regions. Key players in the industry are focusing on capturing the market in emerging economies such as China and India which are characterized by a rapidly expanding chemical industry, increasing population, rising expenditures, and low-cost labor.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @Major companies in hexafluoroacetone derivatives market include Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Halocarbon Products Corporation, Central Glass Co., Ltd., Sinochem Lantian Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Sanhe Pharmachem Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Dayangchem Co. Ltd., Leap Labchem Co., Ltd, Solvay S.A., and 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. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Stereotactic Surgery Devices Market to Witness Exponential Growth by 2023

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Stereotactic surgery is a minimally invasive technique to perform actions such as biopsy, ablation, lesion, stimulation, injection, radiosurgery, and implantation. Stereotactic surgery devices include radio frequency generator, stereotactic frames, and image-based planning software that are customized for these types of surgeries. With a 3D coordinate system, the stereotactic surgery helps the surgeons in detecting the exact location to perform the procedure. Owing to its apparent benefits and rapidly improving healthcare infrastructure across the developed as well as developing nations, the demand in the global stereotactic surgery devices is expected to increase at a healthy CAGR during the forecast period of 2015 to 2023.This report on the global Stereotactic Surgery Devices Market has been created to serve as a credible business document for the audiences such as the manufacturers of stereotactic surgery devices, traders and distributors, research and consulting companies, hospitals and medical schools, and governing bodies. The report includes an analysis of all the factors that may influence the demand for these devices until 2023. It also contains profiles of a number of key vendors currently operating in the global stereotactic surgery devices market, estimating their market share and overviewing their product portfolio and latest strategic developments.Based on equipment type, the global stereotactic surgery devices market can be segmented into the gamma knife, proton beam, and line accelerator (LINAC) machines. Application-wise, the market can be segmented into brain tumor treatment, Parkinsons disease, arteriovenous malformations treatment, Epilepsy, and others including trigeminal neuralgia. Geographically, the report studies the potential of the regions such as North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America.Request to View Brochure of Report -The growing preference of surgeons across the world for minimally invasive surgery is the primary driver of this market, as it provides several benefits to the patients such as quick recovery and mortality and morbidity. In addition to that, the prevalence of arteriovenous malformations, Parkinsons disease, and epilepsy is promoting the adoption of stereotactic surgery for neurosurgeries. This factor is also expected to increment the demand for these devices significantly during the forecast period. Rising geriatric population across the world, diseases caused by changed lifestyle such as diabetes and obesity, increasing demand for enhanced drugs, and growing awareness among the patients are some of the other factors favoring the growth of the global stereotactic surgeries devices.Parkinsons disease currently serves the maximum demand in this market as far as disease type segment is concerned, which is a reflection of increasing preference of stereotactic surgeries over traditional levodopa therapy, which often left to long term complications into the patients.Request to View ToC of Report -With robust healthcare facilities and high adoption rate of new technology, countries such as the U.S. and Canada make North America the most lucrative region for the players in this market. However, Asia Pacific is projected to increment the demand for stereotactic surgery devices at most prominent rate during the forecast period owing to improving healthcare infrastructure in several emerging economies such as Japan, India, China, Malaysia, and South Korea.The global stereotactic surgery devices market exhibits stiff competition between the leading companies such as Alliance Oncology, Micromar, adeor Medical AG, Monteris Medical, Elekta AB., and Inomed. Development of new products with reduced planning time and enhanced clinical outcomes is the primary strategy adopted by these players to gain ground over their competitors.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Electricity Generating Tires Market : Competitive Intelligence and Tracking Report 2017 - 2025

Electricity Generating Tires Market

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Environmental concerns such as pollution caused by greenhouse gases, vehicle emissions, industrial effluents, and other harmful exhausts have become a key concern around the world. The hazardous effects of pollution on the environment and human lives have led to rising awareness among industries which motivates them to opt for environment-friendly production processes and commodities. Changing consumer preferences for environment-friendly products have resulted in the use of renewable processes for power generation in an effort to reduce the global carbon footprint.The automobiles sector has been under the radar for contributing significantly to the rise in global pollution levels. Technological advancements in the production of automobiles such as the introduction of electrically operated vehicles and usage of advanced materials are in line with the global shift toward environment-friendly products. Automobile manufacturers are investing extensively into research and development to offer innovative solutions and cater to the changing consumer demands. Battery-operated vehicles are an emerging trend, especially in Asia Pacific. This technology was pioneered in North America and Europe, indicating that the market in these regions is already mature. This has led to the curbing of pollution caused by vehicle emissions. However, the need for batteries to generate power has limited the use of electric vehicles to short trips. Goodyear unveiled the concept of electricity generating tires at the Geneva Auto Show in 2015. Piezoelectric materials are employed to generate electricity through the mechanical strain on the tires of a moving vehicle. Electricity is produced by converting the heat and motion into electric current when the vehicle moves.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Increasing awareness about pollution among consumers and technological advancements in the automobile industry are the key factors driving the electricity generating tires market. Also, the rising disposable incomes and expenditure boost the demand for innovative automotive solutions offered by manufacturers. The cost incurred in the incorporation and maintenance of the piezoelectric system is a major factor restraining the development of the market.In terms of geography, the electricity generating tires market can be distributed over North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Consequently, the increasing population and rising establishment of automobile manufacturing plants in Asia Pacific are projected to fuel the demand for electricity generating tires. In addition, low labor costs and mounting disposable incomes are likely to propel the market in Asia Pacific. North America and Europe account for a larger market share due to presence of key automobile companies and technological advancements in the development of innovative automobile solutions in these regions. Key players in the industry are focusing on capturing the market in emerging economies such as China and India which are characterized by a rapidly developing automobile industry, high GDP, swift industrialization, and increasing investments of global automobile players into the region.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @The electricity generating tires technology is being pioneered by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company; however, its potential competitors such as Bridgestone Corporation, Michelin SCA, Continental AG, Pirelli & C. SpA, Nokian Tyres PLC, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd., and Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. could adopt this technology as well.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Atomic Emission Spectrometry Market to Reflect Impressive Growth Rate by 2023

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Use of intensity of light emitted from plasma, flame, spark or arc at a specific wavelength for chemical analysis of the sample is referred as atomic emission spectrometry (AES). Atomic emission spectrometry is used for quantitative analysis of an element in the chemical sample. Identity of the element depends on the wavelength of the atomic spectral line and quantity of the detected element depends upon intensity of the light emitted. Atomic emission spectrometry (AES) is widely used in life science, food and drug safety, petrochemical and forensic science industry for analysis of the samples for quality.Development in the technology is resulting in increased availability of the portable and user friendly atomic spectroscopy instruments. In addition, technology advancement is also resulting in expansion of the application area of the Atomic Emission Spectrometry (AES) Market into biotechnology, pharmaceutical chemistry, environmental testing, and clinical applications including proteomics, tissue analysis and toxicology. Thus, technology advancement is observed to be the prime driver for the growth of the global atomic emission spectrometry market. While on the other hand, stringent regulatory norms and requirement of skilled personnel are some of the factors that are observed to be limiting the growth of the global atomic emission spectrometry market.Request to View Brochure of Report -Geographically, the global atomic emission spectrometry market has been segmented into four major geographies namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). North America comprises cumulative atomic emission spectrometry market for the U.S and Canada. Europe comprises cumulative market of atomic emission spectrometry in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and Rest of Europe (RoE). Asia Pacific comprises cumulative market of atomic emission spectrometry in China, India, Australia, New Zealand and rest of Asia Pacific (RoAPAC).Rest of the World (RoW) comprises atomic emission spectrometry market in Latin America, Middle East and Russia. Currently, Europe and North America are leading the global atomic emission spectrometry market. Highly developed research infrastructure, higher healthcare spending, availability of government funding and skilled professionals to perform the analytical process are some of the factors that are driving the atomic emission spectrometry market in Europe and North America. Asia Pacific atomic emission spectrometry market is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period 2014 to 2020.Request to View ToC of Report -Rapidly developing research and development (R&D) infrastructure, government support to boost the growth of the medical, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors in the respective country and increasing spending capacity are some of the factors that are anticipated to drive the growth of the atomic emission spectrometry market in Asia Pacific. China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are the most attractive market for atomic emission spectrometry in the Asia Pacific owing to relatively developed regulatory framework, availability of skilled personnel and high awareness about the technique. Latin American countries including Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are anticipated to show significant growth compared to other economies in the RoW region.Some of the key players contributing to the global atomic emission spectrometry market include, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Perkin Elmer, Inc., Agilent Technologies, Inc., Bruker Corporation, Waters Corporation, Shimadzu Corporation, AB Sciex and others.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Metallized Films Market Size & Share by Application, Type and Region - Global Forecast to 2025

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The report "Metallized Films Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 ", has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts.The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global Metallized 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 @Metallized films can be defined as polymer films coated with a thin layer of aluminum wire. Metallized films offer a glossy metallic finish of aluminum foil, which is in high demand in pharmaceutical and food & beverages sectors, due to the cost-effective packaging solution offered by metallized films. However, they are also utilized for wrapping films, labeling films, peelable and non-peelable lidding films, etc. These films help reduce weight and cost of the material. Metallized films are manufactured through a metallization that employs aluminum as a raw material for further vapor deposition process. Other than aluminum, metals such as nickel or chromium can also be utilized, which are further heated and evaporated under vacuum.Metallized films have a reflective silvery surface, like aluminum foil, and they are considered to be highly combustible. The reflective silvery coating helps reduce the porousness of the film to light, water, and oxygen. Properties of metallized films such as higher strength, the capacity to get heat sealed, and a lower thickness at a lower cost than an aluminum foil offer them a favorable advantage over aluminum foils and covers.Shift in global packaging market is further anticipated to boost the global demand for metallized films. Additionally, metallized films are also employed to achieve barrier properties, which are needed to increase the shelf-life of the product. Metallized films offer smooth metallic appearance of a polyester film at reduced weight and cost. They are preferred due to their high tensile strength, transparency, reflectivity, gas and odor barrier properties, and electrical insulation. Technological advancements have equipped manufacturers to supply metallized films according to the thickness and width specifications required by end-users. These films are applied to aluminum in order to provide a tough and resilient surface to the application, which helps perform many post-forming operations. Metallized films are available in a large variety of finishes including silver, gold, pewter, and copper. They are abrasion and corrosion resistant. Metallized films are free of hexavalent chrome, heavy metals, and substances of very high concern. They can also be defined as the finest solution when it comes to high gas barrier levels, aroma, and flavor preservation. Manufacturers of metallized films offer a variety of adhesion promoting polyester films along with a combination of plasma gases to obtain excellent metal adhesion, general gas barrier, and a significant improvement of the water vapor barrier.View Full Report @Based on end-use industry, the metallized films market can be segregated into food, pharmaceutical, electrical, industrial, and others. Metallized films are widely utilized for food and pharmaceutical packaging. For packaging, metallized films are used in various forms such as pouches, lids, candy wrappers, labels, etc.In terms of geography, the metallized films market is segregated into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and ROW. Europe and North America are expected to dominate the metallized film market due to expansion of the automobile industry and the increase in demand for packaged food products in the region. Asia Pacific is witnessing an increase in demand for metallized films due to the rise in disposable income and high rate of consumption for packaged foods in the region.Major players operating in the global metallized film market are Cosmo Films Ltd., Sierra Coating Technologies LLC, Avery Dennison Corp., Accrued Plastic Ltd., Invico S.A., Taghleef Industries Group, Innovia Films Ltd., Jindal Poly Films Limited, Dunmore Corporation, Flex-Film International BV, Polinas Plastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Polifilm Group, Manucor S.p.A., and Klockner Pentaplast Ltd.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.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.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IV Filters Market Estimated to Flourish by 2025

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Intravenous filters are medical disposable devices used for the removal of impurities present in IV solutions, parenteral nutrition, and other medications administered to patients. Impurities present in IV fluids leads to phlebitis at the site of insertion and severe infectious diseases which is a key concern for medical practitioners. Ideal IV filters maintain high flow rates, retains a variety of impurities, tolerates the pressure exerted by the electronic infusion devices, and does not bind with the I.V. medications. IV filters are primarily used for removal of fluid contaminants such as particulate matters, bacteria, endotoxins, undissolved drug particles, air embolism, and fungi. Depending on size of impurities and viscosity of solution/medication to be administered, there are different types and sizes of IV filters available in the market. I.V. filters have extensive applications in IV therapy, chemotherapy, antibiotic therapy, epidural anesthesia, and administration of total parenteral nutrition to patients.Usage of I.V. filters has increased rapidly over the last decade due to increased incidences of infections and phlebitis through intravenous medications and solutions. Increasing pressure to minimize the rate of infections worldwide is likely to drive the market for global I.V. filters during the forecast period. It is observed that more than 96% of patients administered with IV therapy have the problem of phlebitis. Phlebitis causes redness, swelling, induration, inflammation, and pain at the site of insertion of the IV line. As these filters are widely used in I.V. therapy, chemotherapy, antibiotic therapy, and administration of nutritional supplements, the growing number of patients undergoing these treatment therapies is likely to boost the demand for I.V. filters in the near future.Request to View Brochure of Report -Newborn babies are more susceptible to infections through administration of total parenteral nutrition and lipid infusates, therefore use of lipid filters is highly recommended in neonate patients. Increasing awareness about potential risks of IV infections through infection control programs, and new initiatives taken by hospitals and governments to minimize infection rates is likely to contribute to the growth of I.V. filters. On the flip side, high cost and under rated importance of I.V. filters in developing and underdeveloped countries would be the restraining factor for the global I.V. Filters Market during the forecast period.The global I.V. filters market is broadly segmented into five categories, based on type of filters, product, size, end-user, and region. There are two types of filters available: In-line filters and add-on filters. In-line filters are the integral part of infusion sets whereas add-on filters are separately available as a single unit. The market for in-line filters is projected to account for the dominant share till the end of 2025. By product, IV filters are segmented into bacterial & endotoxin filters and lipid & TPN filters. The bacterial & endotoxin filters segment dominated the market and is likely to continue its position till end of 2025. By size of I.V. filters, these are further sub-segmented into 1.2 m, 0.45m, 0.22m, and 5m. End-users of I.V. filters includes hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and others such as nursing homes and long term care centers.Request to View ToC of Report -In terms of geography, the global I.V. filters market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominated the market in 2016 and is likely to maintain its position till the end of 2025. Followed by North America, Europe is the second leading contributor to the global I.V. filters market. High healthcare expenditure and increased adoption of infection prevention practices in these regions are expected to be the key drivers of the I.V. filters market during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is projected to witness highest growth rate from 2017-2025 owing to healthcare reforms in developing countries, growing number of middle income group people with increased healthcare expenditure, and initiatives taken to prevent infection related complications.The market in Latin America and Middle East & Africa is likely to grow at steady growth rates during the forecast period.The key players operating in the global I.V. filters market includes Pall Corporation, Smiths Group plc., B. Braun Melsungen AG, Vygon SA, CODAN MedizinischeGerate GmbH & Co. KG, Obex Medical Limited, and MPS Medical, Inc.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Magnetic Stirrers Market to Witness an Outstanding Growth by 2025

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Magnetic stirrers are laboratory equipment used to mix solid and liquid components to form homogenous mixtures using rotating magnetic fields. A magnetic stirrer comprises small magnetic stirrer bar, which is immersed into the solution to be mixed and a rotating magnet attached to the bottom plate. A rotating magnetic field is created by the rotation of the magnet at varying speeds.The magnetic stirrer bar is usually coated with plastics such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which is a chemically inert material. Magnetic Stirrers are extensively used in analytical chemistry labs for mixing chemical components and in biological laboratories to prepare cell culture media. Most of magnetic stirrers are available with hot plates to maintain the required temperature while mixing the solutions. Magnetic stirrers are ideal for the non-viscous solutions for small volumes ranging from 50ml to 5000ml and for the reactions which need to be carried out in a closed vessel or system. Small magnetic bar is inserted into the solution, minimizing the risk of contamination. Magnetic stirring can be advantageous for solutions requiring constant mixing for a longer duration. These stirrers are available with varying rotating speeds, temperature, and number of rotation positions.The magnetic stirrers are required in chemical & biological laboratories, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and academic institutes. Growth of the global Magnetic Stirrers Market is primarily driven by increasing number of biological and chemical laboratories and companies across the globe. The development of new designs provides multiple stirring positions on a single platform, which reduces time and improves work efficiency. Properties such as minimized risk of contamination and time efficiency have increased demand for the product among scientists worldwide. Growing pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and polymer industry in developing economies such as India, China, Brazil, and Malaysia, are likely to boost market growth during the forecast period. However, restricted expenditure on R&D and lack of skilled professionals in the underdeveloped countries are likely to restrain the global magnetic stirrers market.Request to View Brochure of Report -The global magnetic stirrers market has been broadly segmented based on product type, type of display, number of stirring positions, portability, end-user, and region. In terms of product type, the market has been bifurcated into regular magnetic stirrers and hotplate magnetic stirrers. The regular magnetic stirrer segment accounted for the largest market share in 2016. It is likely to continue to sustain its position till 2025. The hotplate magnetic stirrers segment is projected to expand at the highest CAGR during forecast period.Based on display, the market has been divided into digital and analog display magnetic stirrers. Analog magnetic stirrers were commonly used. However, presently, end-users prefer digital magnetic stirrers. In terms of number of stirring positions, the market ranges from single stirring positions to multiple stirring positions. Based on portability, these equipment are available in bench top models and battery powered portable models. The bench top models segment dominated the market and is likely to account for the largest market share by the end of 2025. In terms of end-user, the magnetic stirrers market has been segmented into chemical and biological research institutes, pharmaceutical, chemical, and biotech companies, and academic institutes.Request to View ToC of Report -In terms of region, the global magnetic stirrers market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is projected to account for the largest market share by the end of 2025. Europe is anticipated to be the second largest market for magnetic stirrers. The market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Growth of the market in the region can be attributed to emerging economies such as India, China, and Malaysia, increased R&D budgets, and growing investments by pharmaceutical and chemical companies. The market in Latin America and Middle East & Africa is likely to grow at moderate growth rate during the forecast period.Key players operating in the global magnetic stirrers market include DWK Life Sciences, Inc., 2mag AG, Scilogex, LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., PAW Bioscience Products, LLC., IKA-Werke GmbH & Co. KG, Thomas Scientific, Inc., Yamato Scientific America, Inc., Torrey Pines Scientific, Inc., and Labnet International, Inc.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Research Study on Global HER2 Antibodies Market Highlighted with Recent Trends and Upcoming Opportunities

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A latest research report titled as HER2 Antibodies Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 has been recently added to the vast portfolio of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) online research offerings. This report is a professional and in-depth analysis on the present state and future prospect for the global market. It provides valuable information to the industry insiders, potential entrants or investors. It includes an exhaustive enquiry with the reliability of logic and the comprehensiveness of contents.Request For Free Sample Report @The demand in the global HER2 antibodies market is projected to increment at a robust CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025, primarily gaining from growing awareness regarding the prevalence of HER2 positive breast cancer. As per the figures provided by The American Cancer Society, 252,710 women were to be diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S in 2017, with one in five females suffering from HER2 positive breast cancer. The global HER2 antibodies market is estimated to be worth US$ 21,669.1 mn by the end of the forecast period, i.e. 2025, considerably up from its evaluated worth of US$ 10,087.8 mn in 2016.Trastuzumab Emerges as In-demand Therapeutic Drugs TypeBased on the type of therapeutic drugs, the global HER2 antibodies market has been segmented into five major classes, viz. Trastuzumab, Ado-trastuzumab emtansine, Lapatinib, Everolimus, and Pertuzumab. Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is the first approved in the U.S. in 1998, and remains the gold standard for HER2-postive breast cancer. In 2016 too, Trastuzumab accounted for the most substantial chunk of the market at 62.1% shares terms of revenue. However, Tykerb is likely to emerge as a significant threat given its oral bioavailability. Growth in incidence of breast cancer and rise in cost burden for its treatment can drive the market during forecast period. Trastuzumab account for the prominent share in the HER2 antibodies market. However due to the high cost of products the market for the HER2 breast cancer is restraining the market during the forecasted period. However the market for HER2 antibodies is experiencing entry of large number of new drugs in the market. Few have already arrived and other more promising drugs are on their way to launch in this marketNorth America and Europe to Remain Most Lucrative RegionsGeographically, the HER2 antibodies market has been bifurcated into the regions of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. In 2016, North America accounted for the most prominent share of 42.7% of the global HER2 antibodies market, followed by Europe with less than a quarter of the global demand. This strong demand from the two regions is attributed to well-established health care infrastructure coupled with awareness of population regarding the treatment of HER2 breast cancer. The market in North America and Europe is expected to dwindle during the forecast period due to maximum top selling brands in these regions will be encountering by their exclusivity and patent expiry.Browse Full Report with TOC @Revenue-wise, U.S. is the most profitable country-wide market for HER2 antibodies in North America while Rest of Europe and Germany market leading the Europe region. Asia Pacific may provide an attractive market for the HER2 antibodies because of increasing per capita income and increasing healthcare facilities and awareness regarding HER2 breast cancer. Besides Asia Pacific, Latin America region too is focusing on increasing the diagnostic rate of cancer and types of cancer, which will be driving the market during forecast period. Governments and non-profit organizations in the region are striving to spread awareness and control the increasing incidence rate of breast cancer. The incidence of cancer in Middle East & Africa is currently lower than that in countries such as the U.S. and the U.K. However, it is expected to rise rapidly compared to other regions in the next decade.Novartis AG, Genentech Inc., Abnova Corporation, Pfizer, Inc., InvivoGen, Biocon Limited, Bio-Techne, and Celltrion, Inc. are some of the key companies currently operating in the global HER2 antibodies market.Enquire about this Report @About Market Research Reports Search EngineMarket 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:Kuwait Tuesday announced the recruitment of Ethiopian maids to replace Filipina house workers after Philippines authorities banned their nationals from working in the Gulf country following reports of abuses and the assassination of 29-year-old Joanna Demafelis.

She was found in a freezer in the apartment of her employers, a Lebanese-Syrian couple, over a year after her assassination.

We aim to open the door to the recruitment of Ethiopian workers to fill the deficit of domestic servants and reduce prices, General Talal Al-Maarifi, head of Kuwaits General Department of Residency Affairs, told AFP.

Philippines issued a ban on sending citizens to Kuwait and other countries in the region. Manila has voiced concerns over violation and ill-treatment of its nationals in Kuwait. The Asian country further took a firm stance following the discovery in February of Demafelis in a freezer.

A Kuwaiti court condemned the couple in absentia. The husband, a Lebanese is currently in custody in Lebanon and his wife is also reported in prison in Syria, her home country.

Ethiopia instituted a similar ban, five years ago, following reports of abuse and complaints that employment agencies lured its citizens to work under illegal and appalling conditions. The ban was lifted last Thursday, AFP reports.

There are currently 15,000 Ethiopians living and working in the Gulf country, authorities say.

Kuwaiti police in March 2017 detained a woman for filming her Ethiopian maid falling from the seventh floor without trying to rescue her, reports say.

The 12-second video shows the maid hanging outside the building, with one hand tightly gripping the window frame, as she begs for help.

The new measures to resume recruiting Ethiopian maids is to compensate house workers deficit during the coming wholly month of Ramadan during which families are faced with more domestic work.Air-handling Units Market Forecast Report Offers Actionable Insights 2017 - 2025

Air-handling Units Market

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Air-handling unit is an integrated, box-type equipment operated to carry out one or more of the following operations: circulation, cooling, heating, humidifying, cleaning, dehumidifying, and mixing of air. This is done while controlling the parameters such as temperature, flow rate, humidity, and density. The basic function of an air-handling unit is to take air from outside and condition it by controlling the above-mentioned parameters and supply it to the user. The user may be a house, an office, a building, or any other workplace. A typical air-handling unit has a housing, which is made of metal, where all components of the unit fit into. A cooling coil or heating coil used for cooling or heating dehumidifies or humidifies the air depending on the requirement.A fan, which controls the pressure and flow rate required by the system, is typically a centrifuge with blades of any one of the following types: backward inclined, forward curved, backward curved, and airfoil. Based on placement of the fan, there exist two varieties of air-handling units: blow-through units where the fan is placed before the coil and draw-through units where the fan is placed after the coil. Filters function to remove contaminants and particles of various sizes present in the air. Based on application, filters are classified into panel filters (applied where the use of filtration is less), HEPA filters (applied where high filtration is required), and electrostatic filters (applied where the efficiency of filtration is high). Humidifiers control the humidity in the air. Commonly used humidifiers are of spray type, stream pan type, and stream grid type.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @The air-handling units market can be segmented on the basis of type of unit used, geography, end-user application, and capacity. Based on type of unit, the market has been segregated into packaged units, modular units, and custom units. The packaged air-handling unit is employed for smaller buildings and commercial complexes, as they come with fixed components. The modular air-handling unit offers the option of selecting individual components and assembling them at the site location. The custom unit mostly concentrates on user-required configurations. They are generally employed for industrial purpose. The packaged type segment of the air-handling units market accounts for a major market share, owing to the size of packaged units and demand for these types in residential construction.Based on geography, the air-handling units market can be divided into North America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. New technologies and customized designs of air-handling units are expected to drive the markets in Europe and North America. Asia Pacific is estimated to hold a major share of the global air-handling units market during the forecast period, due to economic growth of the region and increase in EPC activities in the region.Based on application, the air-handling units market can be classified into residential, commercial and industrial. The commercial application segment is estimated to hold leading share of the air-handling units market in the near future, due to demand for these units in the commercial sector such as hospitals, shopping malls, and schools. Based on capacity of the air flow rate, the air-handling units market has been segmented, into low, medium, and high capacities. The low capacity segment is estimated to hold a major share of the market in the near future, owing to use of low-capacity units in residential buildings and small businesses. For commercial and industrial applications, medium and high capacity units are employed.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @The air-handling unit technology has not changed for decades. Some new components and concepts such as direct-drive fans, energy recovery, condensate gathering from cooling units, fan arrays, UCV lights are emerging in the air-handling units market. This factor is likely to drive the air-handling units market during the forecast period.Some of the key players in the global air-handling units market are Carrier Corporation (the U.S.), TRANE (the U.S.), Wolf GmbH (Germany), GEA Air Treatment (Germany), HOLTOP (China), Cuoghi Srl (Italy), Zeco Aircon Industries Private Limited (India), DAIKIN (Japan), Trosten Industries Company LLC (Dubai), Systemair AB (Sweden), and Barkell Ltd. (the U.K.). Companies have their own design teams, which help develop a wide variety of products as per the requirement.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Pharmaceutical Robots Market - Current Scenario and Future Growth Analysis 2017 - 2025

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Global Pharmaceutical Robots Market: OverviewPharmaceutical robots find application in laboratories and pharmacies and in various drug manufacturing processes. Robotics are also used by hospitals for numerous pharmaceutical applications that include mixing hazardous oncological drugs and formulations emitting harmful radiations. Over the past few years, the adoption of robotics in the pharmaceutical industry has been markedly slower than in other industries. Nonetheless, in recent years, the application of robotics and automation technologies in pharmaceutical manufacturing, production operations, and distribution systems, has gathered pace.Robots find wide applications in automating a variety of repetitive tasks, mainly in hazardous environments. The application of different types of pick-and-place machines for the development of different pharmaceutical products is growing too.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Pharmaceutical Robots Market: Key TrendsThe soaring demand for new drugs and formulations has egged a number of pharmaceutical companies to explore new ways to make better and less expensive drugs. This is a key factor propelling the pharmaceutical robots market. The demand for automated filling, inspection, and packaging in pharmaceutical manufacturing are other factors driving the market. The use of robots in potentially hazardous settings such as those prone to radioactive radiations, biological dangers, and cross-contamination in cleanrooms has boosted the uptake of robots in the pharmaceutical industry. Various advantages of using pharmaceutical robots include remarkably high precision and speed in drug formulation, significantly reduced overhead costs, elimination in human error, and high reproducibility. Rising awareness of these benefits is expected to fuel the application of pharmaceutical robots.Global Pharmaceutical Robots Market: Market PotentialRobotic technologies are increasingly being adopted in automated syringe assemblies, inspections, and packaging. The use of pharmaceutical robots is gaining prominence in sterile environments. This is attributed to their dexterity and reliability in reducing risks arising from environmental contamination and in eliminating cross-contamination between humans and components. Witnessing the vast potential of robots in the pharmaceutical sector, leading manufacturers of pharmaceutical process equipment are making product innovations.Request TOC of the Report @Steriline, a global manufacturer and supplier of specialized process equipment in the pharmaceutical sector, has recently expanded its robotics solutions for the aseptic processing of pharmaceutical products. The European manufacturer will preview its new Robotic Pulsed Light Sterilizer (RPLS1) at interpack 2017, a leading event scheduled to take place in Dusseldorf starting May 4, 2017. The robotic solution is the first-of-its kind to adopt the pulsed light sterilizer technology for ready-to-use (RTU) nest sterilization. RPLS1 can be connected to any RTU filling machine and can sterilize cartridges, syringes, and vials. Easy and cost-effective to install, the robotic device boasts of a processing capacity of 120 tubs/h. Besides enhanced efficiency, it is safe as well, claims the company.Global Pharmaceutical Robots Market: Regional OutlookThe regional markets for pharmaceutical robots covered in the report are North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific, among them, is a lucrative market that is expected expand at a significant CAGR over the forecast period. The growing number of domestic industrial robotic companies, advances in the pharmaceutical sector, and soaring investment in the robotics industry are the key factors boosting the pharmaceutical robots market in the region. In addition, growing number of conferences and exhibitions aimed to create awareness about the adoption of automated technologies is also expected to stimulate the demand for pharmaceutical robots.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Pharmaceutical Robots Market: Competitive AnalysisMajor companies operating in the global pharmaceutical robots market, profiled in the report are Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., FANUC Corporation, KUKA AG, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, ABB Ltd., Denso Corporation, Seiko Epson Corporation, Marchesini Group S.p.A, Universal Robots A/S, and Yaskawa Electric Corporation.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comHealthcare Human Resource Software Market size 2018  Competitive Landscape | Company Profile | Key Developments and Forecast till 2023

Human Resource Software Market

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Human Resource Software Market in healthcare is around 1 billion and it is expected to grow up to 1.4 billion till 2023 at very low CAGR of 2.3% annually.Regional Analysis:North America is the largest market for the healthcare human resource software market. This is because of development in healthcare sector.Asia pacific is expecting the high growth on HR software market due to rapidly boosting in the development of the industries in this regions and increase in the number of healthcare organization. In developing countries like India and china it is expecting there will be catalyse industry growth over the forecast period. Europe is also expecting the substantial growth because of increase in the number of several corporate offices in healthcare sectors.Key Players:Paychex, Inc. (US), Paycom Software, Inc. (US), SumTotal Systems Inc. (US), SAP SE (Germany), Ceridian HCM, Inc. (US), Taleo Corporation(US), PeopleAdmin(US), Kenexa Corporation(US), Workday, Inc. (US), Halogen Software Inc(Canada), SuccessFactors (US), CoreHR (Ireland), Ultimate Software (US), International Business Machine (IBM) Corporation (US), EmployWise (India) and Oracle Corporation (US).Access Sample Page:Market Scenario:Human resource (HR) software maintains the confidential data like information of employee, address, contact number and financial data. HR software is only software that provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model which is useful in total employee life-cycle management capabilities and is a key driver for growth of HR software market. Human resource department operates various functions like recruitment, salary hikes, vacation leaves, bonus, training, management and payment benefits management. HR software offer various benefits like document control and security. Introduction of the new tools in the software like advertisement management, candidate searching, and linkup with Facebook and LinkedIn contribute for the growth of HR software market.Increase in automation of healthcare fuel the growth of HR software market. HR software helps in minimizing the time exhausted on administration, increasing popularity and awareness regarding the benefits of HR software led to the ameliorating HR software market during the forecasted period. But rapid increase in cybercrime which may harm data security can hamper the market growth. The complexity of software increases as the size of organization increase.Study Objectives Global Healthcare Human Resources (HR) Software Market:To provide detail analysis of market structure with the forecast for next 6 years of the various segments ofGlobal Healthcare Human Resources (HR) Software Market.To provide the detail information about drivers and factors restraining the market growth.To provide the key players and their role in HR software market.To provide the trends and opportunities in HR software market.To analyze the market by porters five force analysis, price analysis etc.To provide the analysis of market for segments by type administration software, development model, end user and region.Segmentation:HR software market has been segmented on the basis of administration software which are payroll, time and attendance, benefits management and others. On the basis of type of software like Recruiting, software-as-a-service (SaaS), core HR and others. By Organizations Type, Medium Businesses, Large Enterprises, Small Business. By user end, they are Pharmaceuticals, hospital and laboratories and other. By region it is segmented as North America, Europe, Asia-pacific and Middle East and Africa.Access Discount Page @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.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comSemiconductor Fabrication Software Market - The Increasing Advent of Smart Electronic Devices Along with IoT

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Increasing technological advancements in different smart devices is boosting the market for semiconductor fabrication software. Increasing demand for smart semiconductor devices along with technological shift from the planar field effect transistor designs to FinFET architecture design is fueling the market. The market has been segmented into by software type which includes process control software, fab management software, IC physical design and verification and computer-aided engineering (CAE) software among others. The market for semiconductor fabrication software, by geography is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa and South America.Download PDF Sample for this Research Report @The market for semiconductor fabrication software by software type is segmented into software type which includes process control software, IC physical design and verification, fab management software, and computer-aided engineering (CAE) software among others. Computer-aided engineering (CAE) software segment is holding the largest market share in terms of revenue in the semiconductor fabrication software market. Shift from the analog, discrete and logic devices to memory devices owing to growing high growth potential of semiconductor memory devices for example 3D DRAM and 3D NAND is also contributing in the positive development of the fabrication software market globally.Obtain Report Details @The growing adoption of FinFET (fin-shaped field effect transistor) architecture is considered to be one of the prime drivers for the growth of global semiconductor fabrication software market. The increasing advent of smart electronic devices along with IoT (Internet of things) is also fueling the market for semiconductor fabrication software. In addition, shift from planar field effect transistor designs to FinFET architecture design is also one of the prime driving factors for the market. Moreover, increasing technological advancement and upgradation in terms of features among digital cameras, tablets, smartphones, PDAs, and PCs are some of the prime diving factors for the market.Obtain Report Details @Asia Pacific and North America is holding the highest market share in terms of revenue in semiconductor fabrication software market globally. Increasing number of semiconductor manufacturing hubs is one of the prime factors driving the market across Asia Pacific. In addition, China, Japan, Taiwan and India are contributing a major share in the semiconductor fabrication software market across Asia Pacific. Moreover, The U.S. is leading the market share across North America, followed by Canada and Mexico. In Europe, Germany, U.K., France, Italy are holding a prominent position in the semiconductor fabrication software market. In Latin America, Brazil and Argentina are anticipated to register positive development over the forecast period from 2016 to 2024. Furthermore, UAE and Saudi Arabia are dominating the market across Middle East and Africa.Transparency 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 recommendationsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Thoracic Drainage Devices Market Size(Volume & Value)  Latest Growth, Development Trends and Forecast to 2025

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"The Latest Research Report Thoracic Drainage Devices Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, & Forecast 2017 - 2025 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"This report on thoracic drainage devices market studies the current as well as future prospects of the market globally. The stakeholders of this report include companies and intermediaries engaged in the manufacture, commercialization, providing thoracic drainage devices products for pneumothorax and pleural effusion treatment as well as new entrants planning to enter this market. This report comprises an elaborate executive summary along with a market snapshot providing overall information of various segments and sub-segments considered in the scope of the study. This section also provides the overall information and data analysis of the global thoracic drainage devices market with respect to the leading market segments based on product type, application, end-user, and geographies.Get Sample Copy of this report @Thoracic Drainage Devices Market: Key SegmentsBased on product type, the thoracic drainage devices market has been majorly segmented into: thoracic drainage system, trocar drain, unsecured needle, secured needle, pleural drainage catheter, and thoracic drainage kit. In terms of application, the thoracic drainage devices market has been broadly classified into thoracic surgery & pulmonology, cardiac surgery, general intensive care & emergency medicine, infectious disease, oncology & pain management, and military/damage control/disaster medicine. In terms of end-user, market is divided into ambulance services, hospitals & specialty clinics, urgent care or outpatient care, ambulatory surgery centers, and military surgeons. The hospitals & specialty clinics market further segmented into pulmonologist, cardiologist, infectiologist, anesthesiologist and other medical specialties.Each of the market segments have been extensively analyzed based on the market related factors such as incidence and prevalence of pleural effusion, pneumothorax, hemothorax, spontaneous pneumothorax, tension pneumothorax, traumatic pneumothorax and cardiac tamponade, available treatment options, and thoracic drainage device products. Moreover, historical year-on-year growth have been taken into consideration while estimating the market size. The market size and forecast in terms of US$ million for each segment has been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025. The report also provides the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) for each market segment for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.The market overview section of the report explores the market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that currently have a strong impact on the thoracic drainage devices market and could influence the market in the near future. Market attractiveness analysis has been provided in the market overview section in order to explain the intensity of competition in the market across different geographies. The competitive scenario among different market players is evaluated through market share analysis in the competitive landscape section of the report. All these factors would help market players to take strategic decisions in order to strengthen their positions and expand their shares in the global thoracic drainage devices market.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Geographically, thoracic drainage devices market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The market size and forecast for each of these regions has been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year. The report also provides with market size and forecast for major countries in the respective regions. A detailed qualitative analysis of factors responsible for driving and restraining the market growth and future opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. This section of the report also provides with market attractiveness analysis, porters five forces analysis, and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global thoracic drainage devices market.Companies Mentioned in ReportThe key players operating in the thoracic drainage devices market are Teleflex Incorporated, Vygon S.A., Medtronic plc., Cook Group Incorporated (Subsidiary: Cook Medical), C. R. Bard, Inc. (Becton, Dickinson and Company), MAQUET Holding B.V. & Co. KG (Getinge Group), Utah Medical Products, Inc., Smiths Medical, ATMOS MedizinTechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Sinapi Biomedical, and Medela.The global thoracic drainage devices market is segmented as follows:Global Thoracic Drainage Devices Market, by ProductThoracic Drainage SystemTrocar DrainUnsecured NeedleSecured NeedlePleural Drainage CatheterThoracic Drainage KitGlobal Thoracic Drainage Devices Market, by ApplicationThoracic Surgery & PulmonologyCardiac SurgeryGeneral Intensive Care & Emergency MedicineInfectious DiseaseOncology & Pain ManagementMilitary/Damage Control/Disaster MedicineGlobal Thoracic Drainage Devices Market, by End-userAmbulance ServicesHospitals & Specialty ClinicsPulmonologistCardiologistInfectiologistAnesthesiologistOther Medical SpecialtiesUrgent Care or Outpatient CareAmbulatory Surgery CentersMilitary SurgeonsGlobal Thoracic Drainage Devices Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeGermanyFranceItalySpainU.K.Rest of EuropeAsia PacificIndiaJapanChinaAustralia & New ZealandRest of Asia PacificLatin America (LATAM)BrazilMexicoRest of LATAMMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaView Sample PDF @Table of Content1. Preface1.1. Report Scope and Market Segmentation1.2. Research Highlights2. Assumptions and Research Methodology2.1. Assumptions2.2. Acronyms Used2.3. Research Methodology3. Executive Summary3.1. Global Thoracic Drainage Devices Market Snapshot3.2. Market Opportunity Map4. Market Overview4.1. Product Overview4.2. Global Thoracic Drainage Devices Market Size (US$ Mn) Forecast, 2015-20254.3. Global Thoracic Drainage Devices Market Outlook4.4. Porter's Five Forces Analysis4.5. Global Thoracic Drainage Devices Market - Product Pricing Analysis4.6. Global Thoracic Drainage Devices Market - Pricing Analysis for Thoracic Drainage Procedures, by Application4.7. Global Thoracic Drainage Devices Market - Number of Procedures, by Application, 201520254.8. Key Mergers & Acquisitions in Medical Device Industry4.9. PESTLE Analysis5. Market Dynamics5.1. Drivers and Restraints Snapshot Analysis5.2. Drivers5.3. Restraints5.4. OpportunitiesAbout 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Steel Rebar Market : Competitive Landscape & Growth Opportunities 2017 - 2025

Steel Rebar Market

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Steel Rebar, also known as reinforcing bar is widely used in the construction industry, majorly in concrete reinforcement. It serves as a tensioning device and assists to hold the concrete in a compressed state. Concrete can carry a heavy load for compression but is very weak in tension. To allow concrete to carry tensile load, steel rebar is used. Steel rebar is commonly used for concrete construction its thermal co-efficient value is close to the thermal co-efficient value of concrete.Deformed steel bars, a type of steel rebar, have ribs, lugs, or deformity on the bar surface. These steel bars bind two materials strongly, limit cracks in concrete, avoid slippage and have higher tensile strength than mild steel rebar. Mild steel rebar is used to support the tensile stress of slab beams.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Steel rebar is a cost-effective product that could be used for concrete masonry and concrete reinforcement. Conversely, aluminum is an expensive with less tensile strength alternative for the same applications. However, steel rebar comes with several drawbacks. In the production of steel, various types of wastes are discharged in water which can cause water pollution. Its manufacturing also releases CO2 causing greenhouse effect. It is also responsible for emission of hazardous gases such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide in the air, causing air pollution. The corrosion tendency of steel leads to deterioration of constructions where rebar is used. While these drawbacks will continue posing threat, increasing construction activities worldwide, especially in emerging nations, will keep the demand for steel rebar high in the coming years.Steel rebar, commonly known as steel reinforcement or reinforced bar, is a steel bar or a mesh of steel wires used in concrete constructions and concrete masonry as a tension device in order to provide support to concrete structures. Concrete exhibits high strength when compressed, but is equally weak under tension. Steel rebar acts as the tensioning device, thus providing strength to concrete structures. It makes these structures stable under strength and tension. Steel is used in concrete reinforcement as it offers high tensile strength and has a thermal co-efficient value, which is close to the thermal co-efficient value of concrete. Furthermore, it is one of the cheaper options that can be used for concrete reinforcement and concrete masonry. Aluminum is a costlier substitute for steel with less tensile strength.However, steel rebar has several disadvantages. These include the corrosion tendency of ferrous materials. This leads to intrinsic deterioration of structures where steel is used. Production of steel adversely affects the environment. For instance, it leads to emission of hazardous gases such as carbon oxides, sulfur oxide, and nitrogen oxide in air. It also is responsible for emission of CO2, thus leading to the greenhouse effect. Production of steel results in discharge of wastes into water, thereby leading to water contamination. The steel rebar market has been expanding due to the rapid infrastructure development, especially in housing, commercial, and industrial infrastructure, in developing nations. The market for steel rebar is expected to expand significantly in the next few years owing to the rapid industrialization in developing nations. There exists a need for substitutes for steel rebar considering its various disadvantages.Some substitutes such as basalt rebar and fiber reinforced polymer are eco- friendly and possess high tensile strength. These substitutes are anticipated to seize some share of the steel rebar market due to the environmental and corrosive effects of steel. Basalt rebar possesses numerous advantages over steel rebar and also has thermal co-efficient almost equal to that of concrete. The industry is experiencing continuous innovations and advancements due to the rapid technological advancements and high end applications of steel rebar. The newer grades that are being introduced are Fe-500, Fe-550, and Fe-500D. Similarly, in terms of application, a newer range of steel rebar that is corrosion resistant, epoxy coated, and earthquake resistant is being used increasingly in applications than the conventional rebar.Based on application at the site of work, the steel rebar market can be segmented into mild steel bars and deformed steel bars. Mild steel bars are used to support the tensile stress of slab beams. Deformed steel bars come with deformity or lugs or ribs on the bar surface. It has higher tensile strength as compared to the mild steel rebar and avoids slippage, limits cracks in concrete, and also binds two materials strongly.Based on its finish, the steel rebar market can be divided into black rebar, epoxy coated rebar, and fabricated rebar. The use of these finishes depends on the environmental conditions that the bars are subjected to. Black rebar is a conventional uncoated rebar used at sites with minimum exposure to moisture, with minimum chances of catching rust or corrosion. Epoxy rebar is usually found in marine applications where there is a high chance of corrosion due to water. Black rebar is the preferred rebar is widely used owing to its cost effectiveness.In terms of end-use industry, the steel rebar market can be segregated into construction and infrastructure, manufacturing, and oil & gas industry. The construction and infrastructure sector dominates the steel rebar market. The segment is expected to expand during the forecast period due to the rapid development and industrialization in developing countries such as China and India. This is anticipated to result in real estate and infrastructural developments.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @In terms of geography, the global steel rebar market can be segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, North America, and Latin America. The market for steel rebar is dominated by North America owing to the large number of construction activities in the region. Asia Pacific is also a key consumer if steel rebar, led by the rapid industrial and infrastructural development in developing countries such as India and China. This results in the need for steel rebar for housing, industrial construction, and other infrastructural construction. Consumption of steel rebar has increased significantly in Asia Pacific. Europe and Middle East & Africa are the other major consumers of steel rebar.Major players operating in the global steel rebar market include Arcelor Mittal, Saudi Iron & Steel Co., Tata Steel, and Zamil Steel Holding.The steel rebar market is expected to expand significantly in North America and developing countries in Asia Pacific due to its cost effectiveness and increase in construction and infrastructure development activities in these regions.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Ferrochrome Alloy 2018 Global Industry Key Players - GLENCORE , Fondel Corporation , Hernic Ferrochrome , ICT Group , Vipul Corporation Market Analysis And Forecast To 2025

World Ferrochrome Alloy Market

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World Ferrochrome Alloy MarketExecutive SummaryFerrochrome Alloy market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, Analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.Request a Sample Report @The Players mentioned in our reportGLENCOREFondel CorporationHernic FerrochromeICT GroupVipul CorporationWestbrook Resources LtdFerro Alloys Corporation Limited (FACOR)S.C. Feral S.R.LBalasore Alloys LimitedENRCAfarakVyankatesh Metals & Alloys Pvt LtdShyamji GroupTataChina Minmetals CorporationGlobal Ferrochrome Alloy Market: Product Segment AnalysisHigh CarbonLow CarbonMiddle CarbonGlobal Ferrochrome Alloy Market: Application Segment AnalysisMetallurgical IndustryRefractoryChemical IndustryOtherGlobal Ferrochrome Alloy Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaTable of Content-Key Points CoveredChapter 1 About the Ferrochrome Alloy Industry1.1 Industry Definition and Types1.1.1 High Carbon1.1.2 Low Carbon1.1.3 Middle Carbon1.2 Main Market Activities1.3 Similar Industries1.4 Industry at a GlanceChapter 2 World Market Competition Landscape2.1 Ferrochrome Alloy Markets by Regions2.1.1 USAMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.2 EuropeMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.3 ChinaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.4 IndiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.5 JapanMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.6 South East AsiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.2 World Ferrochrome Alloy Market by TypesHigh CarbonLow CarbonMiddle Carbon2.3 World Ferrochrome Alloy Market by ApplicationsMetallurgical IndustryRefractoryChemical IndustryOther2.4 World Ferrochrome Alloy Market Analysis2.4.1 World Ferrochrome Alloy Market Revenue and Growth Rate 2012-20172.4.2 World Ferrochrome Alloy Market Consumption and Growth rate 2012-20172.4.3 World Ferrochrome Alloy Market Price Analysis 2012-2017Chapter 3 World Ferrochrome Alloy Market share3.1 Major Production Market share by Players3.2 Major Revenue (M USD) Market share by Players3.3 Major Production Market share by Regions in 2017, Through 20223.4 Major Revenue (M USD) Market share By Regions in 2017, Through 2022Chapter 4 Supply Chain Analysis4.1 Industry Supply chain Analysis4.2 Raw material Market Analysis4.2.1 Raw material Prices Analysis 2012-20174.2.2 Raw material Supply Market Analysis4.2 Manufacturing Equipment Suppliers Analysis4.3 Production Process Analysis4.4 Production Cost Structure Benchmarks4.5 End users Market AnalysisContinued.Complete Report Details @Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaGlobal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Market Forecast 2018 PARROT, Yamaha, Microdrones, Aeryon

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Global Market Study Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Market Provide Forecast Market Report 2018  2023 presents an detailed analysis of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which researched industry situations, market Size, growth and demands, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market outlook, business strategies utilized, market Trends, competitive analysis by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market players, deployment models, opportunities, future roadmap, value chain, major player profiles. The report also presents forecasts for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) investments from 2018 till 2025.In this report, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market worth about xx billion USD in 2018 and it is expected to reach xx billion USD in 2023 with an average growth rate of x%. United States is the largest production of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Market and consumption region in the world, Europe also play important roles in global Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market while China is fastest growing region.Request For Sample at:Top manufactures include for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market such as:1. PARROT2. Yamaha3. Microdrones4. Alpha Unmanned Systems5. Aeryon6. CybAero7. DJI8. XAIRCRAFT9. Ehang10. ZERO TECH11. TXA12. Ewatt13. Jinhua14. Zhongke15. Aite16. HanheThe 126 page Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) report promises you will remain better informed than your competitor, With approx. 200 tables and figures examining the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market, the report gives you a visual, one-stop breakdown of the leading products, submarkets and market leaders market revenue forecast as well as analysis and prediction of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market to 2025.Geographically, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market share and growth rate in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), covering regions beThe report provides a basic overview of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) research report includes historic data from 2013 to 2017 and forecasts from 2018 to 2025 which makes the reports an invaluable resource for industry executives, marketing, sales and product managers, consultants, analysts, and other people looking for key industry data in readily accessible documents with clearly presented tables and graphs.Research Methodology Involved: The research usage of both primary and secondary data sources with Bottom-up and Top-down Approaches. These approaches are used to validate the global Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market size, CAGR and estimate the market size for manufacturers, regions segments, product segments and applications (end users).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 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based on end-use industry and region, in terms of value. With the data triangulation procedure and validation of data through primary interviews, the exact values of the overall parent market, and individual market sizes were determined and confirmed in this study.Browse Full Report:Key Highlights Of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Market:The fundamental details related to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) industry like the product definition, cost, variety of applications, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market demand and supply statistics are covered in this report.Competitive study of the major Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) players will help all the market players in analyzing the latest trends and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) business strategies.The deep research study of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market based on development opportunities, growth limiting factors and feasibility of investment will forecast the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market growth.Finally, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.Automotive Lubricants Report is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional marketAbout Us9dimenresearchstore.com is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@9dimenresearchstore.comDIUs Master course Non-Destructive Testing starts with almost 30 new students

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The English Master NDT, offered since 2013 at the Dresden International University started again this year. The 28 new students originate from Countries such as China, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Korea. This is the biggest admission a course like this has achieved.After a year of intense studies of the physical fundamentals as well as the theoretical background of the different acoustics, electromagnetics and optics based Non-Destructive-Testing techniques the students take part in the accredited DGZfP BC course in their second year. Afterwards they are moving into a research placement for three months followed by a master thesis lasting around six months. The BC course allows the students to move straight to a Level 3 in an NDT technique of choice later. The research placement as well as the master thesis is due to be run outside DIU with either an academic or an industrial organisation provided the organisation can offer a research topic of adequate high scientific value.Collaborations between academia and industries are possible. More information to be found onDresden International University was established in April 2003. Currently more than 2.900 students are registered in 38 courses of studies. About 33% of these students are foreigners from 30 nations. Intercultural competence of students and staff, language training and international community life are different factors of DIUs internationalization. Since 2003 DIU has intensified its international activities in order to attract foreign students to study in Dresden.Betani Slavovaassistentmarketing & communicationDresden International UniversityFreiberger Str. 37, 01067 DresdenTel.: 0351 - 40 470 103Fax: 0351 - 40 470 110E-mail: betani.slavova@di-uni.deIn a premature baby like Dane, enterovirus can cause liver failure, which can lead to brain damage and heart failure. Enterovirus has no available medical cure, so Danes own immune system had to fight the disease.

The next six weeks were a harrowing, daily effort to keep Dane alive and help him grow healthy enough  and large enough  to receive a liver transplant. We knew this was a stretch. He would be the smallest transplant the team had ever done, Fuerch said. But he wasnt giving up, so we werent going to either.

The team has a track record of succeeding with unusually challenging transplants. In 2017, 40 percent of Packard Childrens liver-transplant recipients weighed less than 40 pounds, making it the national leader in transplanting babies and small children. The hospital also had much shorter mean wait times than most transplant centers: 2.2 months, compared with 13.5 months nationwide.

And Dane needed a new liver quickly. Even as his care team worked to stabilize his blood levels every day, his failing liver was not doing its job of clearing his blood of protein byproducts like ammonia. This meant he needed continuous hemodialysis, which circulated his blood to clean it externally and return it to his body. We had to balance the risks of bleeding, clotting and infection and work to optimize his nutrition, said Cynthia Wong, MD, clinical associate professor of pediatric nephrology and medical director of chronic dialysis. With his multiorgan failure, this was the only option to save his life.

Tremendous moment of success

When the interventional radiologist put in a dialysis catheter, it was a tremendous moment of success, said Waldo Concepcion, MD, professor of surgery and chief of pediatric kidney transplantation. Being able to dialyze him so the medical team could stabilize him was very, very critical to his survival.

In the early hours of May 23, 2014, 6-week-old Dane, weighing just under 5 pounds, received his new liver from a surgical team led by Carlos Esquivel, MD, PhD, professor of surgery and chief of the division of transplantation, and Concepcion.

About six weeks after Danes surgery and his slow, rocky recovery, A.J. and Ted were finally able to pick him up and hold him for the first time since his birth. But soon after his new liver stabilized, Danes kidneys failed. He now needed peritoneal dialysis to do the work of his kidneys.

It was a completely innovative process of doing the kidney transplant.

On Oct. 8, after six months in the hospital, A.J. and Ted were able to take Dane home, where he would need 11 hours of peritoneal dialysis each day until he could receive a kidney transplant.

Although they were concerned about their son, the family knew of Packard Childrens outstanding kidney-transplant track record. In 2017, the program performed 46 pediatric kidney transplants, as well as nine transplants in patients age 18 or older, making it a national leader in kidney-transplant volume. Patients come from across the Western United States and even internationally to benefit from the programs expertise.

A.J. hoped to be a living kidney donor for Dane. But Dane needed a perfectly sized kidney, which could only come from a deceased donor. The odds were stacked against Dane both in terms of the complexity of the anticipated surgery and the scarcity of potential donor kidneys, Ted said.

On April 7, 2017, one day before Danes third birthday, Concepcion and Amy Gallo, MD, assistant professor of surgery, performed Danes pioneering kidney transplant.

He was tiny, but we modified and tailored his own kidney vein to be able to drain the new kidney, Concepcion said. It was a completely innovative process of doing the kidney transplant using only what the patient had available, which was that one vein.

It was one of the most complicated of the kidney transplants performed at Packard Childrens in 2017, though it was not unique: The team also transplanted two other children who had been referred from outside California due to challenging vascular access, as well as a patient who needed a second kidney transplant after becoming immunologically sensitized to the first transplanted organ.

Within 24 hours of his kidney transplant, Dane showed signs of dramatic improvement. He was discharged after 10 days.

Today, Dane loves playing with his little brother, Carter. Hes just really happy now. Hes super-social and loves his toys and going to music class, A.J. said. Finally, after three years, were feeling relaxed  like, OK, hes going to be OK.Qliktag Software Publishes The Internet of Products Book Based on a Concept Wider than the Internet of Things

www.theinternetofproducts.com

http://www.Qliktag.com

https://twitter.com/qliktag

Newport Beach, California, April 5th - Innovative software company Qliktag Software Inc., announces the launch of their new book The Internet of Products.  Decoding the Larger World of Pseudo-connected Internet of Things.The book brings to light the larger opportunity that lies in the world of pseudo-connected internet of things or everyday things that dont have a direct connection to the internet themselves. The potential this wider group of objects has to participate in the IoT world and impact areas such as healthcare, automobile, retail, apparel, and lifestyle is the next big technology paradigm shift.The Internet of Products book launch comes at a time when a fundamental shift is already happening in the technology space surrounding product information flow, retail technology and the Internet of Things. The authors believe that some technologies alter the course of how we do things in a significant way and at the intersection of Product Data Management and the Internet of Things lies a new game-changing technology development that clearly has the potential to cause a paradigm shift.While the phenomenon of the internet of things is gaining momentum, it ignores the larger word of things one uses in daily life which cant connect directly to the internet.- comments Dilip Daswani, CEO of Qliktag Software Inc. As a result, weve been conditioned to thinking the Internet of Things applications can apply only to smart homes, wearable devices, cars or appliances that can go online. We dont associate it with non-connected everyday objects like potatoes, toothpaste, a bicycle or medicines. But what if they could go online too? , Dilip adds.IOT or the Internet of Things has been around for some time now but there has been an equally exciting technology space that has been evolving in parallel which is wider and potentially opens the doors to more innovative applications in future, says Neil Sequeira, co-author and Director of Product Management & Marketing at Qliktag. In order to grasp the possibilities that lie on the Internet of Products concept, we need to first dispel the existing notions about the IoT, E-commerce, and IoP all being the same thing. The Internet of Products allows products or entities you wouldnt normally associate with IoT enabled objects to participate on the internet, send and receive information without directly connecting themselves, Neil adds.The book presents some interesting use cases where the underlying concepts of IoP have played a role in solving business challenges or creating innovative IoP applications that have real-world relevance.Studying the challenges businesses face today and understanding the role the Internet of Products is playing in helping them solve these challenges in real-time is remarkable and highlights the true potential of Internet of Products, adds Sharan Ahluwalia, Content and Communications Strategist at Qliktag Software Inc. Weve tried to keep the theoretical explanations to a minimum and compile some of the innovative things organizations have done in order to open the readers perspective to what is possible and how they can apply these inspiring ideas to their own fields of interest comments Sharan.The authors believe that the book and the concepts covered by it will help readers look at products or things in a different way in the context of how they participate on the internet. The Internet ofProducts is currently available as a paperback or Kindle e-book through Amazon and information about the book is available onAbout Qliktag SoftwareQliktag Software Inc. is an innovator of mobile software solutions working towards intuitive technology solution that bridge the gap between brands and buyers fostering stronger relationships and more personalized connections between the two. Headquartered in Newport Beach, California, USA The Qliktag Platform is a one-of-a-kind solution for managing product data and building innovative, digital experience and interactions. With a combination of a full-featured PIM solution and an internet of things platform, the Qliktag Platform is an enabler for driving new-age digital businesses for the consumer products industry.Website:Twitter:ContactKim SimonalleDirector, Client Experience Qliktag Software Inc. Kim.Simonalle@qliktag.com 203-583-9350Qliktag is a collaborative product information management platform with a complex & flexible global standards based data model. It enables brands, retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and other entities to aggregate, manage, enrich & distribute trusted, accurate product information to all the various parties within the omni-channel retail environment that depend on it. Equipped with an innovative engine & mobile SDK capable of generating rich customer experiences, mobile ready digital labels, SmartLabels & more, the Qliktag platform delivers a unified consumer experience both online and off.Qliktag Software Inc.4590 MacArthur Blvd.,Suite 500,Newport Beach, CA 92660Brain Monitoring Market Top Players 2018 - Philips Healthcare (Netherlands), Medtronic plc (Ireland), Natus Medical Inc. and others.

Brain Monitoring Market

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Brain Monitoring Market - Competitive AnalysisThe brain monitoring market is currently dominated by various players. Due to rising prevalence of neurological disorders various existing and new marketers are continuously coming up with innovative products to control this condition. The global brain monitoring market is currently dominated by numerous players.GE Healthcare is one of them by holding a strong share in the market. The company is a global leader that develops and manufactures brain monitoring devices. The prime emphasis of the company is on production of innovative products. Product portfolio of company includes MAC 800, MAC 2000 Resting ECG System, MAC 5500 HD, CardioDay 2.5 Holter ECG, SEER 1000, SEER 12 Digital Holter ECG Recorder, CASE* Exercise Testing System, and others. On November 28, 2017, GE Healthcare acquired UK based company, Puridify to bring improvements in the process development phase and small-scale manufacturing for variety of biopharmaceutical applications. Further, the company has also invested heavily in various research and development activities to bring innovative products in the market and to cater to the unmet market needs.Access Sample Page:In today's dynamic environment, many businesses are on the hunt for companies in the same industry for horizontal mergers, and acquisitions. Integration among companies offer various benefits such as diversification of products and services, selling of products to larger market, reduction in the cost of production, and the amount of external competition.Key players of Global Brain Monitoring:Key players profiled in the report are Philips Healthcare (Netherlands), Medtronic plc (Ireland), Natus Medical Inc. (U.S.), Nihon Kohden Corporation (Japan), Siemens Healthineers (Germany), GE Healthcare (U.K.), Compumedics Ltd. (Australia), Electrical Geodesics Incorporated (U.S.), CAS Medical Systems, Inc. (U.S.), and Advanced Brain Monitoring (U.S.).Brain Monitoring Market - OverviewThe brain monitoring market is growing mainly due to rising geriatric population. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, the brain monitoring market is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period. The market is forecasted to demonstrate a spectacular growth by 2022, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a striking CAGR during the anticipated period (2017  2022).Brain monitoring is defined as the process of studying and reporting the brain functioning. Brain monitoring devices are used in case of various diseases such as epilepsy, Huntingtons disease, headache disorders, dementia, Parkinsons disease, strokes, sleep disorders, traumatic brain injuries, and other. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases globally. It is also stated that about three fourths of people with epilepsy are living in low- and middle- income countries do not get proper treatment.Notably, rising prevalence of neurological disorders is the primary driver for brain monitoring market. Neurological disorders are on rise worldwide. According to a study published in Neurology India journal in 2014, it is found that out of total population of India, around 30 million people were suffering from neurological disorders in India.For more Enquiry @Table of Content:1 INTRODUCTION1.1 DEFINITION1.2 SCOPE OF STUDY1.2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE1.2.2 ASSUMPTIONS & LIMITATIONS1.2.2.1 ASSUMPTIONS1.2.2.2 LIMITATIONS1.3 MARKET STRUCTURE:2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 RESEARCH PROCESS:2.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH2.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH:3 MARKET DYNAMICS3.1 DRIVERS3.2 RESTRAINTS3.3 OPPORTUNITIES3.4 MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS4 MARKET FACTOR ANALYSIS4.1 PORTERS FIVE FORCES MODEL4.2 BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS4.3 BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS4.4 THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS4.5 THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES4.6 INTENSITY OF RIVALRY5. GLOBAL BRAIN MONITORING MARKET, BY DEVICESContinued Full TOCAccess Discount Page @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.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comMedical Devices Market 2018 | Key Players: Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, Medtronic, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV., Baxter International, Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co., Cardinal Health, Boston Scientific Corporation

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The, Medical Devices Market inquire about report is developing with the quick pace; chiefly due the prospering Healthcare Sector. As per a current report distributed by the Market Research Future, The Medical Devices Industry Research report is blasting and anticipated that would pick up unmistakable quality over the conjecture time frame. The Market is anticipated to exhibit a colossal development by 2023, outperforming its past development records as far as esteem and volume.You can get easy access to sample report here, please click:Market Synopsis of Brazil Medical Devices Market:The World Health Organization (WHO) defines medical device as any instrument, apparatus, machine, appliance, implant, software, material etc. intended to be used for medical purposes and which does not achieve its primary intended action by pharmacological, immunological or metabolic means, but which may assisted these function. Brazil is the largest economy in South America and spends 8.3% of GDP on healthcare in 2014.Brazil has an extreme dependence on imports with regards to medical devices with the domestic market being highly consolidated with a handful of players. The U.S. leads the bandwagon of exporters followed by Europe. The imports are also poised to grow in the future with China challenging the western hegemony in low end devices.Technology and product development remain the main growth engines for the market for medical devices. Advancements in connectivity and processing power of devices, growth of healthcare mobile applications, development of stronger biocompatible materials and cloud integration are the leading themes in technology. Falling cost of production and rising manufacturing capacities in electronic industry, demand for early detection and noninvasive therapies such as those of cancer etc., need to curtail the rising cost of healthcare, growing awareness and spread of information technology, development of user friendly devices etc. are further fueling the market. Market constraints are high cost of imported medical devices and high sales tariffs, low penetration of medical devices in Brazil and differential connectivity in inaccessible regions of Brazil. The poor regulatory framework has led to poor quality devices especially made by developing nations, which competes with high quality devices reducing the share of high tech devices segment. Political turmoil, the weak Brazilian Real etc. remain economic threats to the market.Taking all factors into consideration, we expect the Brazil medical devices market to reach around US$ 1844 million from US$ 1100 million in 2017, by the end of the forecast period at a CAGR of ~9%.Key Players for Brazil Medical Devices Market:Some of the key players in this market are: Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, Medtronic, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV., Baxter International, Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co., Cardinal Health, Boston Scientific Corporation, St. Jude Medical Inc., Hitachi Medical Corporation, Siemens Ltd and others.Intended Audience:Medical Devices ManufacturersMedical Devices SuppliersPrivate Research LaboratoriesResearch and Development (R&D) CompaniesMarket Research and Consulting Service ProvidersGovernment Research LaboratoriesContract Manufacturing OrganizationsAny query or specific requirement? Ask to our industry expert, please click:Regional Analysis of Brazil Medical Devices Market:The healthcare sector of Brazil is divided between private and state with the public healthcare accounting for approximately 45% of total health expenditure in 2014. Local manufacturing represents a poor outlook which is limited to consumables and ordinary articles and there are a handful of high tech devices manufacturers. Another important factor to be considered is the extreme dependency of Brazil on imports which account for approximately 75% of total market for medical devices. U.S. medical device suppliers dominate the scenario with Europe in the second position. China is expected to substitute the western nations especially in low end devices which will be the fastest segment. Among the regions of Brazil, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Parana tops the healthcare expenditure list. The differential healthcare regional availability in Brazil with extreme social and economic differentiation of the Brazilian population are further threats to the market. Brazil also has poor healthcare in its vast rural areas with a few cities dominating the scenario such as Sao Paulo.Segments:Brazil medical devices market has been segmented on the basis of product type which comprises monitoring devices, diagnostic devices, diagnostic molecular devices, drug delivery devices, surgical devices, bio implants and stimulation devices, automation and robotics and others. On the basis of therapeutic application; market is segmented into general surgery, diagnostic imaging, respiratory, orthopedics, cardiovascular, dental, neurology, ophthalmology, ear-nose-throat (ENT), nephrology and urology, and others. On the basis of end users; market is segmented hospitals, ambulatory and home.What makes our report unique?1) An extensive research study on the Global Medical Devices market, and its entire ecosystem, describes the market trends, drivers, restraints and opportunities of the Medical Devices market.2) We provide you the longest possible market segmentation based on type of products, procedures and geography and describe the market share region wise.3) The report gives a bird eyes view on the competitive landscape which includes mergers and acquisitions, collaborations, market strategies, and new product launches.....CONTINUED FOR TOCFeel free to get in touch for discounts and customized details:About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.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. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comSmart Retail Systems Market Size : Intel Corporation, Nordic Solutions, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Wipro Technologies

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Smart Retail Systems Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 to its huge collection of research reports.The global Smart Retail Systems market is comprehensively assessed in this report bears ponders on top-need development viewpoints and how they could affect amid the fulfillment of the figure residency under thought. The investigators have played out a splendid activity of exhaustively surveying every development factor of the market, other than indicating how certain market limitations could represent a danger to players in the coming years. So, the report likewise gives data on top patterns and openings and how players could take advantage of them to take up the difficulties in the market. This could be a valuable rule for players to concrete their situation in the business or make a rebound in the market.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:From the territorial division perspective, the global Smart Retail Systems market has been isolated into various topographies that could essentially impact development sooner rather than later. The report discusses factors that assistance the main locale to grab hold of a great looking offer of the market. It likewise reveals insight into different areas trailing the main one and how they could add to the market within a reasonable time-frame. The creators of the report have utilized factual data to introduce a more profound investigation of the market in view of its land ponder.Regarding market rivalry, perusers could adjust their techniques to basic patterns of the global Smart Retail Systems market for picking up an edge over different members. While profiling a portion of the solid names of the business, the report has made a point to enable perusers to see how these players could support their status in the market or could keep up it in the future.Table of ContentsGlobal Smart Retail Systems Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Smart Retail Systems1.1 Smart Retail Systems Market Overview1.1.1 Smart Retail Systems Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Smart Retail Systems Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.3 Smart Retail Systems Market by Type1.3.1 Hardware1.3.2 Software1.3.3 Service2 Global Smart Retail Systems Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Smart Retail Systems Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)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 Intel Corporation3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Smart Retail Systems Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Nordic Solutions3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Smart Retail Systems Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Larsen & Toubro Infotech3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Smart Retail Systems Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Wipro Technologies3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview4 Global Smart Retail Systems Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)4.1 Global Smart Retail Systems Market Size by Type (2013-2018)4.2 Global Smart Retail Systems Market Size by Application (2013-2018)4.3 Potential Application of Smart Retail Systems in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Smart Retail SystemsRead Complete Table of Content @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Global Smart Retail Systems Market Size (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2013-2018)Table Global Smart Retail Systems Revenue (Million USD) Comparison by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Global Smart Retail Systems Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)Figure United States Smart Retail Systems Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure EU Smart Retail Systems Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Japan Smart Retail Systems Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure China Smart Retail Systems Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure India Smart Retail Systems Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)To Get Discount Of This Report Click here @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.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.comLow Voltage Switchgear Market 2018 Global Leaders: Eaton, General Electric, Mitsubishi Motors, Hitachi, Schneider Electric, Fuji Electric, Hubbell Incorporated, Rittal, ABB

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Market Research Future published a research report on Low Voltage Switchgear Market Research Report- Forecast till 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Market Scenario:The low voltage switchgears can be described as a combination of several components such as circuit breakers, lightning arrestors, current transformers, protection panels, and disconnections. They are used to effectively control and distribute electric power across residential, commercial and industrial premises in order to prevent electrical circuits and equipment from unregulated power thwarts.Technology giants such as Eaton Corporation Plc. (Ireland), General Electric (U.S.), Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (Japan), Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan), Schneider Electric SE (France). Eaton Corporation Plc., a prominent player in Low Voltage Switchgear Market provides centralized control and protection of low voltage power equipment and circuits in industrial, commercial, and utility installations such as generators, motors, feeder circuits, and transmission and distribution lines. General Electric, a key player in low voltage switchgear market, has designed a range of low voltage switchgear. It has designed a product known as AKD 20 low voltage switchgear that delivers enhanced arc flash protection. It fits into a smaller area for the most common configurations and replaces the AKD-10 switchgear. Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is an S-N Motor Control Mitsubishi Electrics S-N Series contactors which are perfect for the control of 3 phase power, either for direct control of a motor, to supply power to a drive or servo, or even for the control of resistive loads, such as heating and lighting. The company has designed a compact and rugged S-N series that is built to meet global standards and provide safe, dependable solutions that are used and trusted across the globe.Get Sample of Report @The major factors driving the growth of the low voltage switchgear market is the favorable government regulation towards the integration of sustainable energy resources across residential and commercial establishments. Net metering, Feed in Tariff, subsidies, and tax rebates are some of the key reforms which will encourage the product demand. Further, rapid expansion of micro-grid networks provide the increasing off-grid energy demand across the emerging markets will further complement the business outlook.The global low voltage switchgear market is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 9% during the forecast period 2017-2023.Regional AnalysisThe global color detection market is studied for Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific market accounts for the largest share in the low voltage switchgear market. It is observed that China low voltage switchgear market size is about to show significant growth towards the clean energy deployments. The nation has countersigned a substantial growth towards renewable adoption pertaining to its ambitious clean energy targets. Thereby, continuous adoption of sustainable energy technologies along with large scale energy demand from manufacturing plants will positively influence the product deployment.Key PlayersSome of the prominent players in the global low voltage switchgear market: Eaton Corporation Plc. (Ireland), General Electric (U.S.), Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (Japan), Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan), Schneider Electric SE (France), Siemens AG (Germany), Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (Japan), Hubbell Incorporated (U.S.), Rittal (Germany), ABB (Switzerland) among others.SegmentsThe global low voltage switchgear market is segmented by protection, product, rated current, rated voltage, installation, and by application. By protection segment the market is sub-segmented into circuit breaker and fuse. The circuit breaker is further segmented into ACB, MCCB, MCB, MSP and MPCB. The fuse is sub-segmented into Fuse-switch disconnector, Switch disconnector with fuse and others. By product the market is segmented into fixed mounting, plug-in, and withdraw able. The rated current segmented into  1000 Ampere, 1001 to 5000 Ampere and > 5000 Ampere. The rated voltage consists of  250 Volt, 251 to 750 Volt and > 750 Volt. The installation segment consists of AC and DC. The application segment consists of substations, distribution, power factor correction, sub-distribution, and motor control.Get complete Report @Intended Audience Technology Investors Original Equipment Manufacturers Industrial end-users Government bodiesAbout 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.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comIndustrial Communication Market: Growing Need For Interconnectivity Between Various Devices And Sharing of Data

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The rapid developments in the field of science and technology are expected to aid the expansion of the global industrial communication market over the forecast period. Industrial communication systems allow us to integrate data networks that are highly futuristic.The report includes key information about the major trends, restraints, growth drivers, and opportunities in the global industrial communication market. The market forecasts, supply and demand ratio, Porters five force analysis, value chain analysis, and key segments of the market are discussed in the report. The report also reveals the prominent recent developments in the competitive landscape, the market shares held by the major firms, and the business strategies adopted by them.Get PDF Sample for this Research Report @Increasing adoption of IoT, growing need for interconnectivity between various devices and sharing of data, necessity of increasing safety and productivity are some of the key growth drivers of the global industrial communication market. The increased adoption of the IoT is likely to make considerable changes in the way different products are manufactured, developed, transported, and distributed. Growing number of end-user industries such as aerospace, transportation and automotive, defense, paper, cement, electrical and electronics, energy and power, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, food and beverages, mining, glass, fabrication or engineering, water and wastewater, and chemicals and fertilizers will benefit the market for industrial communication.The key communication protocols such as industrial Ethernet, wireless communication, and Fieldbus can be the major segments of the industrial communication market. Of these, the Fieldbus protocol appears to present significant prospects, owing to its widespread adoption in key process industries. Fieldbus has a strong hold particularly in the emerging economies such as India, Japan, and China. It is likely to present extensive opportunities as they are able to integrate with wireless devices, increasing the level of efficiency.Download and view full ToC @Besides Fieldbus, Ethernet is also expected to witness an upsurge in demand as it is steadily becoming popular due to its better performance outputs when compared to other systems. This can be attributed to the enhanced bandwidth capacity, increased network coverage, and increased transmission efficiency. The increasing deployment of this protocol in the industrial robot market is also responsible for the promised growth of this segment.The wireless protocol segment might also undergo tremendous growth during the forecast period, displaying a favorable CAGR. Increased usage of standardized wireless technologies such as Bluetooth technology and wireless WLAN will contribute towards growth.Obtain Report Details @Based on geography, the global market for industrial communication can be segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and the Rest of the World. The countries of Asia Pacific, being some of the major global producers of consumer electronics, are expected to drive the demand for industrial communication. Also, emerging economies such as India, China, and Japan have become hubs for large scale automotive production, boosting the growth further.The major companies operating in the global Emerson Electric Company, Texas Instruments Incorporated, General Electric, Schneider Electric SE, TE Connectivity Ltd, Infineon Technologies AG, Siemens AG, and Rockwell Automation, Inc. Several market players are concentrating their energies on product development through increased investments in research and development activities.Transparency 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 recommendationsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Aluminum Nitride (AIN) 2018 Global Industry Key Players - Tokuyama , American Elements , Materion , Toyo Aluminium K.K. , Kyma Market Analysis And Forecast To 2025

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World Aluminum Nitride (AIN) MarketExecutive SummaryAluminum Nitride (AIN) market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving revenue growth and profitability.The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry players.Request a Sample Report @The players mentioned in our reportTokuyamaAmerican ElementsMaterionToyo Aluminium K.K.KymaGoodfellowSurmetNoah TechnologiesCrystAl-NH.C.StarckHexaTechCeradyneTaiwan NitrideAngang GroupBeifang MaterialsHefei MokJiechuangAT&MLuoyang DiscovererCW NanoTritrust IndustialGlobal Aluminum Nitride (AIN) Market: Product Segment AnalysisAluminum Nitride (AIN) powderAluminum Nitride (AIN) GranuleGlobal Aluminum Nitride (AIN) Market: Application Segment AnalysisOpticsLightingElectronicsRenewable energySemiconductorGlobal Aluminum Nitride (AIN) Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeSEAChinaIndiaTable of Content-Key Points CoveredChapter 1 About the Aluminum Nitride (AIN) Industry1.1 Industry Definition1.1.1 Types of Aluminum Nitride (AIN) industry1.2.1.1 Aluminum Nitride (AIN) powderAluminum Nitride (AIN) Granule1.2 Main Market Activities1.3 Similar Industries1.4 Industry at a GlanceChapter 2 World Market Competition Landscape2.1 Aluminum Nitride (AIN) Markets by regions2.1.1 USAMarket Revenue and Growth Rate 2012-2017Market overviewMajor players Revenue in 20172.1.2 EuropeMarket Revenue and Growth Rate 2012-2017Market overviewMajor players Revenue in 20172.1.3 ChinaMarket Revenue and Growth Rate 2012-2017Market overviewMajor players Revenue in 20172.1.4 IndiaMarket Revenue and Growth Rate 2012-2017Market overviewMajor players Revenue in 20172.1.5 SEAMarket Revenue and Growth Rate 2012-2017Market overviewMajor players Revenue in 20172.2 World Aluminum Nitride (AIN) Market by typesAluminum Nitride (AIN) powderAluminum Nitride (AIN) Granule2.3 World Aluminum Nitride (AIN) Market by ApplicationsOpticsLightingElectronicsRenewable energySemiconductorChapter 3 World Aluminum Nitride (AIN) Market share3.1 Major players Market share by production3.2 Major players Market share by Revenue3.3 Major Regions Market share by Production in 2017, Through 20223.4 Major Regions Market share By Revenue in 2017, Through 2022Chapter 4 Supply Chain4.1 Industry Supply chain Analysis4.2 Raw material Market analysis4.2.1 Raw material Prices analysis 2012-20174.2.2 Raw material Supply Market analysis4.2 Manufacturing Equipment Suppliers Analysis4.3 Production Process Analysis4.4 Production Cost Structure Benchmarks4.5 End users Market AnalysisContinuedComplete Report Details @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The Aircraft Manufacturing Global Market Was Valued At $565 Billion In 2017 According To TBRCs Latest Report

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Aircraft manufacturing includes manufacturing complete aircrafts, developing and making aircraft prototypes, aircraft conversion and complete aircraft overhaul and rebuilding. It also includes gliders, helicopters, target drones and ultra-light aircrafts.Order the report atThe market was valued $565 billion in 2017 due to increased passenger air travel due to low ticket prices owing to steep decline in fuel prices, thereby leading to increased demand for passenger aircrafts.The aircraft parts manufacturing, repair and maintenance is split into four segments: civil and military helicopters; civil and military aircrafts; civil and military gliders; civil and military drones and others.Download a sample of the report atThe USA was the biggest player in aircraft parts manufacturing, repair and maintenance companies market in 2017, accounting for one third of the market. And it is followed by China.The top five competitors in the market are Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier Aerospace, Embraer, Textron Aviation. Airbus a European multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells civil and military aeronautical products worldwide. In addition to its primary civil aero plane business, the company has two divisions for other products and services: Defense and space and Helicopters, the latter being the largest in its industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries.About The Business Research Company.The Business Research Company is a Business Intelligence Company which excels in company, market and consumer research. It has offices in the UK, the US and India and a network of trained researchers in 15 countries globally.Contact Information.The Business Research CompanyEurope: +44 207 1930 708Asia: +91 8897263534Americas: +1 315 623 0293Email: info@tbrc.info47 Anchorage Point,42 Cuba Street, Canary Wharf,London, England,E14 8NEGlobal Internet Of Things (IoT) Device Management Market Growth Drivers and Competitive Landscape Analysis Market Size, Share and Growth Analysis Research Report 2018-2022

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Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Device Management Market Professional Survey Report 2018. The report provides all the key features of the worldwide market and gives a predictive investigation with respect to its future scope of growth through 2022, factoring in the factors that will drive and restrain its course of expansion and the key trends and regulations affecting several aspects of the market.Get Sample Copy@:The report provides a details study of the current state of the Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Device Management Market, with details with respect to the working, design, types of products available in the market, processes involved in the manufacturing of the products, and the potential impact on growth prospects of the vast regulations levied on the import, export, and global sales of this heavily popular commodity.Segment by Geography:North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa.Key players:Advantech, Aeris, Allegro Software Development Corporation, Ampl?a Soluciones S.L., ARM Ltd., Bosch Software Innovations GmbH, Devicepilot, ETI Software Solutions, IBM, Microsoft, Particle, Proximetry Inc. (Relayr), PTC, SiteWhere LLC., SmithMicro Software, Telit, Tibbo Systems, Wind River, WSO2, Xively (LogMeIn), ZentriMarket segment by Type, Internet Of Things (IoT) Device Management can be split intoProvisioningAdministrationMonitoringDiagnosticsMarket segment by Application:AutomotiveManufacturingSmart citiesAvail 20% Discount and Customization On This Premium Report@:The market research report on the Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Device Management Market reports come with an all-inclusive account of the analysis of trend and forecasts of the market together with correct figures, facts, and data pertaining to the market, figures and numerous other important data relating to the industry. Everything connected to the said market is accumulated in the said source.For More enquiry @Table of Contents:Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Device Management Market Research Report 2018-2022Chapter 1: Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Device Management 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 Internet Of Things (IoT) Device Management Market ForecastAbout HIM,HealthCare Intelligence Markets supply market intelligence reports in the domain of personalized drugs & diagnostics after going through a rigorous research process. The healthcare and pharma industry is constantly evolving as trends are getting replaced at a rapid pace.Name: Shreyas TannaCompany: Healthcare Intelligence MarketsAddress: 601, Winterberry Purple, Koregaon Park, Pune, 411001Mail Id: sales@healthcareintelligencemarkets.comContact No: +91 7400242424Software Defined Wide Area Network (SDWAN) Market 2018 Global Leaders: VeloCloud, Versa Networks, Cloudgenix, CenturyLink, Silver Peak, Talari Networks, Viptela, Nuage Networks, Ecessa

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Market Research Future published a research report on Software Defined Wide Area Network Market Research Report- Global Forecast to 2022  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2022.Software Defined Wide Area Network Global Market  OverviewThe Global Software Defined Wide Area Network Market is growing with the rapid pace. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, The global market of Software Defined Wide Area Network will grow moderately over the forecast period. The market is forecasted to witness slow but steady growth by 2027, which will be a surplus growth at a moderate CAGR during the projected period (2016-2027).Software-defined wide-area network is an automated, programmatic approach to managing enterprise network connectivity and circuit costs. It extends software-defined networking into an application that businesses can use to quickly create a smart hybrid WAN  a WAN that comprises business-grade IP VPN, broadband Internet, and wireless services. Hybrid WAN architectures enable companies to manage their growing number of applications, particularly when using the cloud.Enterprise customers are demanding more flexible, open, and cloud-based WAN technologies, rather than installing proprietary or specialized WAN technology that often involves expensive, fixed circuits, or proprietary hardware. It has increased the usage of many devices such as smartphones, tablets and notebooks to access business applications driving the SDWAN market.Get Sample of Report @Moreover, the Bring your own device (BYOD) policies adopted by enterprises are also increasing the demand for SDWAN. Traditional networks with complex architecture can be easily upgraded into simplified networks with the help of SDWAN. However, with implementation of SDWAN, enterprises must invest in new software solutions, hardware equipment and design and integration increasing the overall cost. Implementation of SDWAN will help in reducing the costs in the long run.Massive proliferation of data, worldwide, and increased flexibility offered by SD-WAN solution is the primary growth driver in the global SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) market. Soaring popularity of cloud computing is also leading to growth in the market.One factor, serving to crimp growth in the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network), , is the steep cost of implementing such solutions. Further, the dearth of standardization and resistance by users of WAN architecture is also expected to be a major restraint to the growth of the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market. Security concerns could restrain the growth of SDWAN market as the new set of rules and technologies used for managing networks are not tried and tested.Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:November, 2017  Verizon partnered with Cisco to offer its software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) platform to its wholesale customers. The Verizon SD-WAN is powered by Cisco Meraki, and designed to allow wholesale customers more control over internal network operations and costs. The move adds SD-WAN services to the Virtual Network Services portfolio of its Verizon Partner Solution (VPS) division. VPS is a wholesale service provider offering voice, data, and Internet products to 150 countries.September, 2017 - China Telecom Global (CTG) selected Versa Networks as its primary vendor for software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and software-defined security. CTG is the global subsidiary of China Telecom, one of Chinas state-owned telecommunication companies. Versas multitenant SD-WAN and SD-security will be deployed in 15 CTG cloud hubs globally. At its customers branch offices, CTG will deploy Versas software on x86 appliancesMany of these companies have Chinese connections. But it also serves local businesses from its more than 30 branch offices. The SD-WAN software will help CTGs customers connect their branch offices to their headquarters and also help customers connect to public clouds.June, 2017 - Service provider CenturyLink is now offering three managed hybrid software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) bundles to give customers more connectivity options. These SD-WAN bundles are based on the previously announced managed SD-WAN offering provided by Versa.November, 2017- VMware announced plans to acquire VeloCloud, one of the leading companies in the fast-growing software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) market. Software-based SD-WAN offerings from companies like VeloCloud can aggregate multiple types of connections, including broadband, MPLS and cellular, to create more reliable connections that are often less expensive than a pure MPLS use.Key PlayersSome of the major players in Global Software Defined Wide Area Network Market includes Cisco Systems (U.S.), VeloCloud Inc. (U.S.), Versa Networks (U.S.), Cloudgenix Inc. (U.S.), CenturyLink, Inc. (U.S.), Silver Peak (U.S.), Talari Networks (U.S.), Viptela (), Nuage Networks (U.S.), and Ecessa Corporation (U.S.) among others.Software Defined Wide Area Network Market  SegmentationThe Global Software Defined Wide Area Network Market is segmented in to 4 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding; Segmentation by Deployment: Comprises Cloud, and on-premise Segmentation by Component: Comprises virtual appliance, physical appliance, hardware, software and hybrid among others Segmentation by Application: Comprises BFSI, manufacturing, healthcare, IT, and retail among others Segmentation by Regions: Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the WorldGet Complete Report @Regional Analysis of Software Defined Wide Area Network Market:North America is dominating the global software defined wide area network market with the largest market share due to high demand of network architecture & growing need of central networking and therefore is expected to grow with highest revenue by 2022 followed by Europe. Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region due to growing investment of major players in the region and therefore is expected to grow with a highest growth rate.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.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comChristian anti-balaka militants on Tuesday attacked the United Nations base in Tagbara, about 300 km northeast of the capital of the Central Africa Republic, killing one peacekeeper and wounding 11, the UN said in a statement.

According to the UN mission in the central African nation, the ensuing gunfight lasted hours, and 22 anti-balaka were also killed.

The statement also indicated that about 21 dead civilians were discovered including four children, near a church in Tagbara.

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.

The 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission and France intervened militarily to push out the Seleka alliance but the country remains plagued with violence. The UN Security Council approved an extra 900 peacekeepers in November to help protect civilians. In total, 13 MINUSCA peacekeepers have been killed in the country last year alone.

Central African Republics President Faustin-Archange Touadera has reportedly asked Russia for a military assistance during talks at the Black Sea resort of Sochi in October.

Russia is proposing to supply arms for two battalions totaling 1,300 men, who were recently trained by the European Union.Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Segmentation and Major Players Analysis 2025

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Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) IndustryNew Study on 2018-2025 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Global Key Player, Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Forecast added to Wise Guy Reports DatabaseGlobal Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingLabArchivesPerkinElmerID Business SolutionsDassault SystemeseLabJournalLabguruMestrelabHivebenchDocollabLabfolderLab-AllyBenchlingsciNoteTry Sample Report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSpecific ELNNon-specific ELNOn 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, includingPharmaceuticalsChemicalsBiologyAcademicFood and BeveragesOthersSome points from table of content:Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Research Report 20181 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN)1.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Specific ELN1.2.4 Non-specific ELN1.3 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Segment by Application1.3.1 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Pharmaceuticals1.3.3 Chemicals1.3.4 Biology1.3.5 Academic1.3.6 Food and Beverages1.3.7 Others1.4 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 Japan Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.9 Southeast Asia Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.10 India Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.6 Southeast Asia Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.7 India Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)For Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @5 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)6 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Consumption and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)6.2 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2013-2018)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/Countries7 Global Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 LabArchives7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 LabArchives Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 PerkinElmer7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 PerkinElmer Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 ID Business Solutions7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 ID Business Solutions Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Dassault Systemes7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Dassault Systemes Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 eLabJournal7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 eLabJournal Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Labguru7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Labguru Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Mestrelab7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Mestrelab Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Hivebench7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Hivebench Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Docollab7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Docollab Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Labfolder7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Labfolder Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Lab-Ally7.12 Benchling7.13 sciNoteContinued.For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comWise 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,Ph: +91 841 198 5042Top Industry Analysis of Global Vacuum Tumblers Market Research Report 2018

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The Global Vacuum Tumblers Market Research Report 2018 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Vacuum Tumblers industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Vacuum Tumblers Industry analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Vacuum Tumblers industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Browse a complete report sample:In this report, the global Vacuum Tumblers market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Vacuum Tumblers in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), covering United States, EU, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.Global Vacuum Tumblers market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingBIRO ManufacturingBlentech CorporationM & M Equipment CorpMPBS IndustriesMetalbud NOWICKIXindaoPSS SVIDNIKFPEC Corp.Orbital Food MachinerySuhner AGTorreyDorit-DFT GmbHOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoHigh Volume Vacuum TumblerLow Volume Vacuum TumblerOn 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, includingHomeholdCommercialKey Topics Covered:Chapter One: to provide Vacuum Tumblers Market OverviewChapter Two: to provide Global Vacuum Tumblers Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter Three: to provide Global Vacuum Tumblers Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)Chapter Four: to provide Global Vacuum Tumblers Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)Chapter Five: to provide Global Vacuum Tumblers Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter Six: to provide Global Vacuum Tumblers Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter Seven: to provide Global Vacuum Tumblers Manufacturers Profiles/AnalysisChapter Eight: to provide Vacuum Tumblers Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter Nine: to provide Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter Ten: to provide Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter Eleven: to provide Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter Twelve: to provide Global Vacuum Tumblers Market Forecast (2018-2025)Chapter Thirteen: to provide Research Findings and ConclusionChapter Fourteen: to provide AppendixContact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West RoadGlobal Solar Charge Controller Market Study Represent Significant Growth and Value during 2017 - 2025

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An extensive forecast study, titled Solar Charge Controller Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 has been broadcasted to the online repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE). This 172-page precise study encapsulates valuable details about the market current scenario as well as its future projections on a global and regional level. It further intensely aims to provide major insights into the markets growth throughout the above-mentioned forecast period in terms of volume and revenue (in US$ Mn). Moreover, the research also investigates market expansion in some of the prime regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA).Request Free Sample Report @As governments around the world focus their efforts on curbing pollution, the demand for alternative means of deriving power will surge. Against this backdrop various markets recorded tremendous growth in the recent past, the global solar charge controller market being one among them. Transparency Market Research has opined that the market is currently in a transitional phase, chiefly driven by various government initiatives and the shifting preference toward renewable sources to derive energy. Coupled with this, technological innovations and commercialization of solar charge controllers will ensue robust growth in the market.Contrary to aforementioned growth drivers, the market players often incur huge expenses on installation. Furthermore, the maintenance cost of solar charge controllers is really high, thus hindering the smooth sail of the market. Nonetheless, the rising investment in infrastructural development and continued advancements in technology will offer immense opportunities for the growth to the global solar charge controller market in the coming years.Demand for MPPT Charge Controllers to Surge as Tests Indicate Better Performance in Cold and Temperate ClimatesTo present an in-depth overview, the report segments the global solar charge controller market in terms of type and end use, part from region. Based on type, the solar charge controller market is classified into pulse-width modulation (PWM) charge controller, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) charge controller, and simple 1 or 2 stage controls. Of these, TMR has observed rising penetration of PWM across diverse end-use industries. A PWM solar charge controller snips excess solar voltage, which in turn results in a loss of total power. As a result, the excess voltage generated by the solar array is reduced to the voltage value of the battery. Over the last couple of years, PWM solar charge controllers is therefore witnessing high demand. However, in the coming years, the MPPT segment is likely to gain momentum, as it has been established through tests that MPPT charge controllers outperform PWM charge controllers in cold and temperate climates.Browse Full Report with TOC @By end use, utility scale, commercial and industrial buildings, and solar home systems constitute the key segments in the global solar charge controller market. Of these, holding the largest share in the market, utility scale emerged dominant in 2016. Besides this, impressive growth is on cards for industrial and home systems segments as the world realizes the benefit of solar power.Asia Pacific to Continue Exhibiting Lucrative Prospects through Forecast PeriodIn terms of region, the global solar charge controller market has been classified into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. Among these regions, Asia Pacific holds the maximum share in the global solar charge controller market. The rising demand for solar charge controllers from economies such as India, China and Japan will create lucrative prospects for the market in the region. The Asia Pacific market is also estimated to be exhibit the highest growth during the course of the reports forecast period due to the increase in the demand from industrial and residential segments. Demand witnessed in Europe and North America might get a little affected in the coming years as they are mature markets, while the Middle East & Africa and the Latin America are identified as emerging markets and are expected to show considerable growth opportunities during the forecast period.Key players in the global solar charge controller market are expected to benefit from the emerging market. Prominent players in the global solar charge controller market are OutBack Power Inc, Xantrex Technologies, Genasun LLC, Luminous Power Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Wenzhou Xihe Electric Co., Ltd, Phocos, Beijing Epsolar Technology Co., Ltd, Steca Elektronik GmbH, and Sollatek among others.Enquire about this Report @About Market Research Reports Search EngineMarket 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:Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market by Cause, Treatment, Application, Trends, Growth Rate and at a CAGR of 5.6% by 2023

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The Global Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market Is Expected To Grow At A CAGR Of 5.6% During Forecast Period 2017-2023.Regional Analysis:The Americas dominates the global cubital tunnel syndrome market owing to large patient population. Additionally, increasing geriatric population, changing lifestyle, and increasing healthcare expenditure have boosted the growth of the market in America. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the number of Americans ages 65 and over is projected to be more than double from 46 million in 2016 to over 98 million by 2060. Additionally, increasing awareness among the people regarding different monitoring procedures and well-developed technology has also contributed to the growth of the market.Access Sample Copy @Europe is the second largest cubital tunnel syndrome market, which is followed by Asia Pacific. Huge geriatric population, availability of funds for research, and government support for research & development projected to drive the market in Europe.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region in the global market due to the presence of a increasing patient population, continuously developing economies, and increasing need for the better treatment. According to the WHO report published in 2015, Asia's elderly population is projected to reach nearly 923 million by 2050.Whereas, the Middle East & Africa owns the least share of the global cubital tunnel syndrome market due to the presence of poor economy, especially, in Africa region. The market of this region is dominated by the Middle East due to well-developed healthcare sector and huge healthcare expenditure.Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market - Key Players areSome of the major key players in the global cubital tunnel syndrome market: Eli Lily and Company (US), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (UK), Pfizer Inc., Depomed Inc., Novartis International AG (Switzerland), Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. (US), Bristol-Myers Squibb and Company (US), Sanofi S.A. (France), Debiopharm Group (Switzerland), Baxter Healthcare Corporation (US), Biogen Idec Inc. (US), Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC. (US), and Amgen, Inc. (US).Market Scenario:Global cubital tunnel syndrome market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% during forecast period 2017-2023. Cubital tunnel syndrome is a condition of increased pressure on the ulnar nerve in the elbow. The ulnar nerve controls muscles and feeling in the hand. Furthermore, it can be caused by direct pressure, stretching, or decreased blood flow to the ulnar nerve. According to the WHO (2014), the incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome is >3 new cases per 1000 persons every year.For more Enquiry @Women are 3-4 times more susceptible than men. Increasing prevalence of the cubital tunnel syndrome is the major driving factor for the growth of the market. Moreover, increasing healthcare expenditure, and strong encouragement from the government have also contributed to the growth of the market. According to research, geriatric population is more likely to suffer from this disease; According to the Aging World in 2015, 562 million (or 8.0 %) were aged 65 and over across the globe, this has increased the prevalence of the diseases and contributed to the growth of the market. However, lack of awareness among people and high cost of surgeries may restrain the growth of the market.Segmentation:The global cubital tunnel syndrome market is segmented on the basis of causes, treatment, and end users.On the basis of causes, the market is segmented into injury, noncancerous fatty tumors, bone tumors, inflammation, and others.On the basis of treatment, the market is segmented into diagnosis & therapy. The diagnosis is further segmented into nerve compression tests, X-ray, electrodiagnostic studies, MRI, and others. The therapy is further segmented into non-operative, and operative. The non-operative is further classified into NSAIDs and steroids.List of Tables:Table 1 Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Industry Synopsis, 2017  2023Table 2 Global Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market Estimates And Forecast, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 3 Global Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By Region, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 4 Global Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By Causes, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 5 Global Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By Treatment, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 6 Global Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By End Users, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 7 North America Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By Causes, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 8 North America Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By Treatment, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 9 North America Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By End Users, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 10 US Market By Causes, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 11 US Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By Treatment, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 12 US Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By End Users, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 13 Canada Market By Causes, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 14 Canada Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By Treatment, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 15 Canada Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Market By End Users, 2017  2023, (USD Million)And moreGet 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.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comDevice as a Service Market 2018 by Global Leaders: VMware, Motorola Solutions, Citrix Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Plantronics, Polycom, Amazon, Capgemini SE

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Market Research Future published a research report on Device as a Service Market Research Report- Global Forecast 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Market HighlightsIn this rapidly changing world of technology, device as a service market is projected to show major growth prospects during the forecast period. Major factor driving the device as a service market is the increasing demand for smart office solutions. Predictability is another major factor responsible for fueling the growth of device as a service market.The global Device as a Service Market, by geography, has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. As compared to other regions, the device as a service market in North America is expected to witness significant growth and hold the largest market share during the forecast period. U.S and Canada are anticipated to drive the growth of device as a service market. This is owing to the presence of large number of established key players like HP, Oracle Corporation and Microsoft Corporation in that region. In addition to this, the region also has a well-established infrastructure which allows higher penetration of devices and ultimately provides better connectivity. Increasing demand for increased and centralized security is expected to be another major factor responsible for driving the growth of device as a service market.Get Sample of Report @In the global device as a service market, Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness relatively faster adoption and is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period as compared to other regions. Within Asia Pacific, device as a service market is projected to contribute faster to the growth of revenue backed by increasing need for centralized and secured workplace solutions in countries such as Japan, China, South Korea and India.The device as a service market is growing rapidly over 9% of CAGR and is expected to reach at approx. USD 8 Billion by the end of forecast period.Key Players:The prominent players in device as a service market are  Hewlett-Packard (U.S.), Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), VMware, Inc. (U.S.), Motorola Solutions, Inc. (U.S.), Citrix Systems, Inc. (U.S.), Plantronics (U.S.), Polycom (U.S.), Oracle Corporation (U.S.), Amazon, Inc. (U.S.), Capgemini SE (France) are the profiled companies in the report.Also, Accenture PLC (Ireland), Dell, Inc. (U.S.), Lenovo Group Ltd. (U.S.), SYNNEX Corporation (U.S.), NComputing (U.S.), Computers Now (Australia), Connection (U.S.) are few other major players in the device as a service market. These companies have not been profiled in our study, but it can be taken up as a part of customization, as per client requirements.Market Research Analysis:It has been observed that North America is estimated to account for the largest share of the market, whereas Asia-Pacific market is projected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. The major growth in device as a service market in North America is attributed to technological advancements and increasing demand for cost effective solutions for maintaining the changing volatility in the organizations in that region.SegmentationThe device as a service market has been segmented on the basis of component, device type, deployment, organization size and vertical. The organization size segment is bifurcated into small and medium sized enterprises and larges enterprises. Out of which, the large enterprises segment holds the largest market share for device as a segment market whereas, small and medium enterprises segment is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. This is owing to the technological advancements and growing demand for wireless technology applications.Get Complete Report @Intended Audience Technology Investors Research/Consultancy Firms Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) Government Bodies Consumers IT & Telecommunication CompaniesAbout 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.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comTop Industry Analysis of Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Market Research Report 2018

Top Industry Analysis of Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Market Research Report 2018

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The Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Market Research Report 2018 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Industry analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Browse a complete report sample:In this report, the global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), covering United States, EU, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingPanasonic CorporationSchneider ElectricSiemens AGLG DisplayHannStar Display CorporationAU Optronics Corp.Chi Mei CorporationSAMSUNG DisplaySHARP CORPORATIONMitsubishi Electric CorporationDisplaytechInnolux CorporationOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoby TechnologiesPlasma Display (PDP)Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED)Otherby Panel TypesA_MVAASVMVAS_PVAP-IPSOn 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, includingDomestic UseIndustrial UseKey Topics Covered:Chapter One: to provide Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Market OverviewChapter Two: to provide Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter Three: to provide Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)Chapter Four: to provide Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)Chapter Five: to provide Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter Six: to provide Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter Seven: to provide Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Manufacturers Profiles/AnalysisChapter Eight: to provide Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter Nine: to provide Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter Ten: to provide Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter Eleven: to provide Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter Twelve: to provide Global Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) Market Forecast (2018-2025)Chapter Thirteen: to provide Research Findings and ConclusionChapter Fourteen: to provide AppendixContact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West RoadGlobal Automatic Strapping Machines Market 2018 - Signode, Dynaric, MJ Maillis, Cyklop, Fromm, StraPack

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Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the Automatic Strapping Machines Market across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of Automatic Strapping Machines 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 PP Pipe industry, and estimates the future trend of Automatic Strapping Machines on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares Automatic Strapping Machines performance both in terms of volume and revenue.The market research report explores the Automatic Strapping Machines Market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of Automatic Strapping Machines 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 Automatic Strapping Machines Market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Automatic Strapping Machines. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Automatic Strapping Machines Market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportSignodeDynaricMJ MaillisCyklopFrommStraPackMoscaSamuel Strapping SystemsTranspakPolychemYongsunThe competitive landscape of the global market for Automatic Strapping Machines is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Automatic Strapping Machines Markets production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Automatic Strapping Machines Market globally.Inquire Before Buying @The Global Automatic Strapping Machines Market 2018 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Automatic Strapping Machines production volume, data pertaining to demand and Automatic Strapping Machines supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Automatic Strapping Machines 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 Automatic Strapping Machines 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 -Automotive Instrument Cluster Market Growth to Boost The Demand for Safety Solutions |Arizton

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The introduction of clusters that stores information from multiple sensors in the vehicle and displays them on the centralized panel for the driver is propelling the growth of the global automotive instrument cluster market.The instrument cluster shows vehicle status data such as speed of the vehicle, engine rpm, transmission data, fuel levels, trip data, seat-belt indicator, door status, and several warning/check indicators.According to a recent market research report on Global Automotive Instrument Cluster Market, the hybrid and digital clusters are gaining immense popularity in the global market.Arizton's report states that , the introduction of programmable clusters that allow the driver to choose among the multiple skins, animations, and 2D or 3D graphics will transform the automotive industry.The automotive instrument cluster market is estimated to reach values of approximately $12 billion by 2023, growing at CAGR of around 9% during 2018-2023.View Report: Automotive Instrument Cluster Market  Global Outlook and Forecast 2018-2023Innovative Solutions to Increase Sales of Instrument ClusterThe growing applications for semiconductors in the global market are hybrid and electric vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), infotainment systems, and telematics. The rapid electrification in the automotive industry is augmenting the demand for advanced automotive instrument cluster in the world market. The growing trend of implementing digital design solutions will create new opportunities for leading vendors in the global market. The leading manufacturers are focusing on enhancing and making improvements in the design and aesthetics of the clusters available in the market to attract new consumers.Recently, Visteon introduced SmartCore, cockpit domain controller to operates a vehicles instrument cluster along with the infotainment units. In April 2017, Visteon won the contract to supply this technology to the second-largest Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor. Additionally, top vendors are engaged in introducing virtual cockpits. Audi, in 2016, debuted one of the first ever virtual cockpits that combined instrument cluster and infotainment units.Read: Global Automotive Instrument Cluster Market to Worth $12 Billion by 2023Safety Solutions such as ADAS Gains Popularity in the MarketIn the recent years, the automotive industries have witnessed dynamic changes and introduction of innovative solutions especially in the area of cockpit electronics and advanced technologies such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Focus on vehicular safety is propelling the implementation of ADAS systems with varied functionality like TPMS, PAS, ACC, BSD, NVS, LDWS, and others. The introduction of these technologies will propel the growth of the automotive instrument cluster market. These functions have already been commercialized and implemented in high-end luxury vehicles. OEMs are actively investing in the efficient manufacturing process and exploring means to reduce the cost of these technologies such that they can be available for the mass mid-segment vehicles. With the increased emphasis on automotive safety, both by government regulatory bodies and end-users, the demand for ADAS systems is expected to increase during the forecast period.Read: Automotive Instrument Cluster Market in APAC to Worth $4 Billion by 2023Demand for Instrument Cluster in Connected and Hybrid CarsThe increasing focus on technologies which are primarily involved in developing the cars ability to connect with the other vehicles and devices to enhance the driving experience is gaining immense traction in the global market. To achieve this, mobile operators and automakers collaborate to deploy network technologies that support widespread, high-bandwidth connectivity and enable remote management of the vehicle with the SIM card. Thereby a connected vehicle ensures optimizing the operation and maintenance of the vehicle as well as enhancing the convenience and comfort of passengers. The use of integrated circuits to establish a connection and communicate with other devices and the interconnectedness between systems will drive the demand for instrument cluster in the global market. The establishment of stricter fuel economy and safety regulations is resulting in the development of connected and hybrid cars in the global market. The hybrid cars market is seeing steady growth globally which shows the increasing demand for such automobiles and the reduction in the total cost of ownership of hybrid cars is fueling this growth.The leading vendors in the automotive instrument cluster market are Continental AG, Denso, Magneti Marelli, Nippon Seiki, and Visteon Corporation.Order a report for the detailed analysis:About Arizton Advisory & IntelligenceArizton  Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services.Arizton has gained a paramount standpoint in the market research arena as it offers top of the line solutions to clients to assess market landscape and to finalize foolproof business strategies. We are committed to provide inclusive market research reports and consulting services to clients from diversified industries including Consumer Goods & Retail Technology, Automotive and Mobility, Smart Tech, Healthcare and Lifesciences, Industrial Machinery, Chemicals and Materials, IT and Media, Logistics and PackagingArizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports.Arizton Advisory & IntelligenceChicago, Illinois, 60605Mail: enquiry@arizton.comCall: +1-312-465-7864Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Inspection Equipment Market in Asia-Pacific Expected To Reach At A CAGR Of 14.72% Over The Forecast Period 2017-2021

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Inspection Equipment Market in APAC 2017-2021" to its huge collection of research reports.About Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Inspection EquipmentPCB inspection equipment uses cameras, X-rays, and ultrasonic or UV radiation to detect defects in PCBs. As electronic devices are being miniaturized, PCBs used in these devices also require miniaturized components and interconnections, which leads to the occurrence of many defects. PCB inspection equipment such as automatic optical inspection (AOI), automatic X-ray inspection (AXI), thermography modules, and SAM modules is used widely for detecting defects and ensuring the quality of PCBs.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Technavios analysts forecast the printed circuit board (PCB) inspection equipment market in APAC to grow at a CAGR of 14.72% during the period 2017-2021.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the printed circuit board (PCB) inspection equipment market in APAC for 2017-2021. The report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:ChinaTaiwanSouth KoreaOthersTechnavio's report, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Inspection Equipment Market in APAC 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 vendorsGardienManncorpNordsonOMRONVision EngineeringView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Other prominent vendorsBrukerGlenbrook TechnologiesHB TechnologyKohYoung TechnologyMirtecSAKITRIMarket driverIncreasing use of X-ray systems for inspection due to advent of BGAs, chip-scale packages, and flip-chipsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeIncreasing complexity in fault detection due to mounting of miniaturized componentsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendEmergence of Industry 4.0For a full, detailed list, view our reportBrowse Report @Key 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.For More Information Kindly Contact :ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Mobile Accessories Market 2018 by Global Leaders: Samsung Electronics, Sony, Panasonic, JVC Kenwood, Plantronics, Griffin Technology, Sennheiser Electronics

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Market Research Future published a research report on Mobile Accessories Market Research Report- Global Forecast 2022  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2022.Market Scenario:The rapid proliferation of smartphones and other handheld mobile devices with a strong distribution network has spurred the Mobile Accessories Market globally. The increasing disposal income and rising urbanization across regions such as Latin America and Asia-Pacific has fuelled the market of mobile devices as well as mobile accessories. The demand for mobile accessories are increasing due to the high consumption of smartphone in emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil among others.Mobile phone accessories include protective cases, headphones or earphones, power bank chargers, memory cards, batteries, and portable speakers. The demand of protective accessories such as tampered glasses, and screen guards is increasing to protect smartphones from physical damage. The growing demand for wireless mobile accessories such as Bluetooth headsets, wireless charger among others is one of the crucial trends that is driving the market of mobile accessories. The increasing adoption of E-commerce and E-banking have triggered the demand for mobile devices worldwide that in turn is further contributing to the growth of Mobile Accessories Market.Get Sample of Report @Hence the market for Mobile Accessories is expected to grow at US ~$104 billion by end of 2022 with CAGR of ~6% between years 2016 to 2022.However, the user preference over mobile accessories and Security issues in online shopping are some of the restraining factor in Mobile Accessories Market.Key PlayersThe prominent players in the market of Mobile Accessories are- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (South Korea), Sony Corporation (Japan), Panasonic Corporation (Japan), Apple Inc. (U.S.), JVC Kenwood Corp. (Japan), Plantronics, Inc. (U.S.), Bose Corporation (U.S.), Griffin Technology (U.S.), Otter Products, LLC (U.S.), Sennheiser Electronics GmbH & Co. KG (Germany) among others.Segments:Global Mobile Accessories Market has been segmented on the Basis of Products, Distribution Channel and Price Range. The Product includes Headphone/earphone, Protective Cases, Power Bank, Portable Speakers among others. Distribution Channel are Online, Offline among Others. Price Range include Premium, Medium, and Low.Regional AnalysisAsia-Pacific is dominating the market of Mobile Accessories Market due to the high number of smartphone and other handheld devices in regions such as China and India. Growing mobile phone users and internet based activities such as online shopping in this region are also contributing in the growth of Mobile Accessories market. North America is the second largest Mobile Accessories Market due to the high adoption of smartphone users and internet based services in this region. Europe is expected to register healthy growth in the Mobile Accessories Market due to increasing demand of mobile phones and mobile accessories.Get complete Report @Intended Audience Accessories Manufacturers Smartphone Accessories Suppliers Phone case and display protector manufacturers E-commerce and Retail Portable battery manufacturersAbout 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.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com'Like' us on Facebook Follow us:

Posted on: Apr 04, 2018



The 'Emergency Instrument'

It was possibly one of the toughest times India was going through post-independence, politically, socially, administratively and, most importantly, democratically. A state of Emergency had been declared whereby the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution were suspended. Dissenting voices in politics, media and civil society were also systematically suppressed. It was in this critical period (that lasted for 21 months between 1975 and 1977), that Mr. Parashuram Sahu arrived as the police officer-in-charge in Rayagada in the state of Odisha.

He had his task cut out. There was widespread discontent and even protests against the government and being a police officer, an instrument in the hands of the government, was a very challenging and dangerous profession. But still, he carried out his duties with all honesty and sincerity. He came to know of a plot to blow up a factory in nearby Theruvali. Alerting his units there, he decided to himself take a train to Theruvali to monitor the situation. He wasnt aware of the 'welcome committee' that had been planned for him at the railway station.

As he alighted from the train, he was mobbed by a dozen masked men. They grabbed him and began dragging him away. In a daze Parashuram screamed out,



Dont think you can get away! My units are waiting in jeeps just outside the railway station. They will catch and imprison all of you...



The mob hesitated for a moment but continued to drag him away. Living up to his name, the warrior incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Parashuram put up a fight but he was badly outnumbered. He saw a pyre set up at a distance and realized that the mob wanted to burn alive the police officer-in-charge who had come to thwart their plans! He prepared himself for the inevitable end. That was when, out of nowhere, a couple of burly men dressed in purple and red appeared and began to shout at the mob.



Arey! This is the police inspector! What are you doing to him? Let him go... LET HIM GO!

The shouts unnerved the mob. The masked men possibly thought that there were more people coming to rescue the police officer. In a hurry, they threw Parashuram and ran away. The two men rushed to him and ensured that he was okay. They raised him up and Parashuram could see the policemen from his unit coming towards him at a distance.



God is with you sir. Dont worry about anything.



Thank you, gentlemen, Parashuram said, You saved me! Who are you two?



We are devotees of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He has protected and saved you. Sairam.



Saying so, the two men left as suddenly as they had come.

Parashurams interest in the name of Sri Sathya Sai outlasted the Emergency and he began to make enquiries about the same. Destiny made him come face to face with Mr. Brahmananda Panda during a meeting in the Inspection Bungalow. Brahmananda Panda was the state president of the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation in Odisha! Parashuram expressed his interest in Sri Sathya Sai Baba and Mr. Panda whetted his appetite by narrating the glories and stories of Baba. By the end of the conversation Parashuram felt himself falling in love with this Baba who practiced and preached human values and universal love. He still remembers the parting statement of Brahmananda Panda that sealed the deal for him:



Arey Inspector sab! Ap tho ab tak chor pakadte aye ho. Ab se, chor nahi chitta chor ko pakdo. (Oh Inspector! Till now you have been catching thieves. From now on, instead of the thief, catch the stealer of hearts.)

Sri Brahmananda Panda was both 'near and dear' as Swami would say. He was the pioneer of Sai Seva in Odisha.

That was the beginning of Parashurams association with his Swami. (Beginning in this birth of course because our association with God spans several lifetimes.) He purchased a large photograph of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and installed it at his home. Soon, vibhuti and kumkum began to pour profusely out of the picture, and it went on like this for six months. Even without seeing Swami, Parashuram accepted Him as his God and by early 1980s, became the convenor of the first Samithi (the smallest administrative unit of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation in India) in the Kalahandi district of Odisha at Bhawanipatna.



From Despair to Faith



In the meanwhile, in the same Bhawanipatna, another story was unfolding. Mr. Prasanna Naik, having completed his schooling in Braja Mohan High School, was in search of a job. He was the eldest son, the second among eleven siblings in his family. Even before he could get a job, tragedy struck his family. Having battled valiantly for a while, his father succumbed to cancer. The mother was in deep sorrow and, soon, in deep debt as well. Taking care of eleven children was not easy and the family was almost on the streets, having sold off all the gold and jewels at home.

Prasanna knew that the responsibility of the family was now on his young shoulders but was he still too raw to take on such a responsibility? He spent sleepless nights worrying about what would happen and kept trying to get himself employed. He began to do little odd jobs to support his family. He had a colleague who was a devotee of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He encouraged Prasanna to attend bhajans. In those dark days, Prasanna found solace and comfort in attending bhajans at the newly started Samithi which was being headed by Parashuram. The happiest time of the day for him was when he sat in front of the photograph of Sathya Sai Baba, singing the glory of God. It also gave him the necessary strength and courage during the rest of the day.

As his acquaintance with Swami grew, so did his desire to see Him face to face. Convinced that having a darshan of Swami would provide the relief and joy his family lacked, Prasanna decided to travel to Puttaparthi. This was a brave decision for someone who had never ventured out far from his district, let alone the state! His colleague too joined him in his decision after which a couple of others too came along. The quartet set out of Odisha into Andhra Pradesh.

At Vishakapatnam, they were in for a rude shock. A devastating cyclone had struck Andhra Pradesh and the rail transport in several areas had shut down. There was no way to travel beyond the coastal city! (It has been estimated that the cyclone left 134 people and 43,000 livestock animals dead in its wake.) It was a divine coincidence that the quartet came across a marriage party which was headed via buses to precisely Puttaparthi! The marriage was to be performed there with Swamis blessings.

That was how Prasanna landed in Puttaparthi and had his first darshan of Swami. It was love at first sight for him. Then and there he decided to do something as service to the One who had been his totem of strength and solace in the dark times. It was the time of the Dasara festival and Prasanna saw that there was a band of about 200 people who did service to the devotees in different parts of the Ashram. This was the PS (Prasanthi Seva) brigade. Prasanna saw that Swami was very happy with the services rendered by the PS and He granted them padanamaskar and vibhuti prasadam at the end of the festivities. Prasanna immediately went and enlisted in the PS. He promised to visit Prasanthi Nilayam multiple times a year and render service. Satisfied and happy, he returned to Odisha.

True to his faith, the visit indeed solved his problems because he got a secure and well-paying job in the State Bank of India (SBI) immediately on his return from Puttaparthi. Expressing gratitude to Swami in his heart, he took up the job and also plunged himself into the activities of the Samithi. Seeing his love and dedication for Swami, Parashuram agreed to him staying in the Samithi building itself.

A Pure Thought from a Pure Heart is More Powerful than a Mantra



There were many others like Prasanna in Bhawanipatna who were magically pulled towards Bhagawan. It is simply the lack of opportunity to interview many others that only Prasannas story has been presented as an example and a sample.

The Samithi in Bhawanipatna grew and embraced many people in its welcoming arms, including the king of Kalahandi, Sri Pratap Kesri Dev. In fact, the royal family let out its own darbar hall for bhajans and other activities of the Samithi! After years of successfully running the Samithi in this manner, Parashuram had a noble thought. Bhawanipatna did not have a good school. Inspired by Swamis philosophy of educare, he wanted to start a school for the children of Kalahandi district.

Armed with this inspired thought, Parashuram approached the state-president of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations, Odisha. It was the revered Sri Brahmananda Panda. He shared his idea and sought approval for the same.



Are you crazy? How do you intend to get funds for building the school? What about the land? Where are the buildings? Where are the teachers?



Sir, the One who has provided the inspiration for the school will provide for all that the school needs too, was Parashurams confident reply.



It will be difficult to give you an official go-ahead with no proper plans in place. However, I shall give you the unofficial permission. May Swami guide you and bless you. Mr. Brahmananda Panda knew the mysterious and magical way. After all, he had been blessed to be near and dear to Bhagawan for many years during which time he enjoyed hundreds of his own personal experiences .

Mans adversities become Gods opportunities and mans problems become Gods miracles. The devotees at Bhawanipatna were to soon witness the reality of this statement.



You Do Your Best and God Will Do The Rest



Here comes step 1 in building a 'Sai School' - the seed of selfless sacrifice.



There was no fund-collection drive or appeals for donations. Parashuram gathered about Rs. 25,000 (equivalent of about Rs. 2.8 lacs in 2018) and deposited it with the Sri Sathya Sai Trust of the state as surety of finances to start and run a school. That was hardly a sufficient amount but it was a good start. He did not spare a thought about how he would recover his savings.



Then came the problem of getting a suitable piece of land at an affordable price. Nothing seemed to be available at Bhawanipatna at an economical rate. The affordable lands were all very far off. That was when the devotees came up with a plan - an audacious one at that.



Right next to the Samithi building was a large pond. The place was often the home to snakes and other creepies and crawlies. It was actually a Government-owned land which was supposedly meant for the construction of the DRCS (Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies) office. However, the land was always water-logged and was thus unused. Why not take over the pond and convert it into the land for building the school?

Children, adults and animals alike laboured with love to convert a lake bed into a Sathya Sai Centre in the seventies (pics above).

In the nineties another part of this marshy area was transformed into the Sathya Sai School.

That is step 2 in building a 'Sai School' - not allowing any problem to dishearten or discourage the inspiration.



The district collector, Mrs Meena Gupta, was approached for permission to buy the pond at a low price. The district collector was positively inclined towards the Sathya Sai organisation because she had seen the excellent service it had rendered over a decade. In fact, the organisation had adopted a nearby village, Gananathpur, and had transformed it into a model village worthy of emulation all over India. She had also been impressed with the health camps, particularly the eye-camps that the SSSO there had been organising under the able leadership of Parashuram. She decided to wholeheartedly help and, within a few weeks, the pond belonged to the Bhawanipatna Samithi of the SSSO!

A glimpse of the service activities at Gananatpur which continue to this day



(It must be mentioned here that Gananatpur was recognised as the ideal model village in the divine presence of Bhagawan Baba during His 60th Birthday Celebrations in Prasanthi Nilayam.)

Power of Samashti



Step 3 in building a 'Sai School' lies in harnessing the divine power of Samashti or the Divinity in unity. When there is purity and unity, Divinity manifests. With Divinity come miracles. The devotees in Bhawanipatna decided to perform Shramadan (charity of ones untiring efforts) towards building the school. They would come to the pond beside the Samithi building and start digging with tools and implements that they fetched from home. Their goal was to drain the pond and level the ground to make it suitable for construction!

The great Karma Yajna began and it was indeed a sight to witness as hundreds of sincere devotees of all ages toiled hard to build a temple of learning. Any free time that anyone found during the day, they would appear at the site and work. Such sacrifice inspired many other non-devotees also to join in the efforts rather than be passive bystanders. A certain Sri Raghunath Senapati offered his trucks free of charge for the use of the volunteers. Thus, human muscles and mechanical muscles worked in harmony for the love of God and the work went on for months. That was how the foundation of the school was dug without spending even a single pie! Then came gifts from society - truckloads of cement! Inspired by the continuous service activity they were witnessing; some contractors and builders spontaneously came forward and offered cement for the construction of the school.

The devotees were thrilled as if the school building had already been erected. Naturally so. How could the school building not come up on a foundation that had been reinforced with love and selfless sacrifice?



The Universe Stretches Out to Help



The devotees had already embodied Step 4 in building a 'Sai School' - complete faith that nothing is impossible when the intent is that of pure and selfless service. However, everything happens at the perfect time. Parashuram knew that he had to get a source of income to start funding the school building. The funds that all the devotees had built up would be barely enough to construct a few rooms.

Then came a flash of inspiration and a neat idea. A few rooms were constructed in a land in their possession. Parashuram converted these into shops and in no time, all the shops got rented out. The amazing thing was that these shopkeepers, being aware of the pure intentions behind the building of these shops, agreed to pay a years rent in advance to do their bit towards the coming school. Thus, the construction of the school building began in right earnest. Nature too seemed to celebrate the noble project because it provided rain exactly when it was needed and offered dry days when that was the need!

The shops whose generous tenants did their bit for the school by paying rent in advance

Finally, in 1993, Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Mandir was inaugurated with love and dedication to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. When the school started, many devotees who were teachers volunteered their services without any remuneration. It was a Prema Yajna, a ritual sacrifice of love, by hundreds of devotees over year that ensured the creation of a school. The breeding place of vermin would now be the birthplace of responsible citizens of the country!

The first batch of students were enrolled totally free, without any fees.

The inauguration was both - the culmination and the beginning of the building efforts - as far as the school was concerned

A success story

The results produced by the school in the first year of its existence itself were so good that many came seeking admission. Now, a minimal fee was introduced and a tiny remuneration for the teachers was possible. Over years, the school grew in its reputation for its good results and focus on building character in students. In 1997, a team from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) certified it as worthy of the CBSE affiliation. The certificates and honours awarded by the school thus gained nationwide recognition. Within a decade of its existence, the school began to procure Centum results where every student passed the Board Exams with first class grades.

The fees and salaries have grown today but the school still takes fees much lesser than the other schools and pays its teachers more comparatively. All this is made possible by the spirit of love and sacrifice with which it has been nurtured. Today, the school has also been certified as a model one by the Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vahini programme. It is indeed an apt reward as the school celebrates its Silver Jubilee in 2018.

The school stands ready, gearing up to celebrate its Silver Jubilee

The lessons from this success story are crystal clear. All the resources that one needs to start a Sai School or any Sai Project for that matter are purity and selflessness. Whatever else is needed, Swami will grant at the correct time provided we dont violate the basic necessities of purity and selfless intent.

"There is no dearth of resources in our country Bharat. But there are very few who have the noble intention of doing good to society. When you undertake a sacred task, even Nature will extend all its help."



- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

So, there you are. It all starts with compassion in the heart, transforms into passion in the hands and results in innovation in the head. That is the 3HV, the unity of the head, heart and hand.



- Aravind Balasubramanya

Radio Sai Team

Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Market 2018- ABB Ltd., Komatsu Ltd., OutotecOyj

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.The global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining market is the subject of our latest report which tracks important events in the market such as technological developments, product launches, mergers and acquisitions, and others. The report offers top-line quantitative and qualitative information pertaining to the market size, trends, and its trajectory. The report profiles key players in the market and tries to gauge the overall competitive landscape too.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:Our extensive report begins with an overview of the market for Automated Equipment for Smart Mining which also includes a product/service description. It then goes on to discuss the factors promoting or limiting the market. To that end it factors in macro-fundamentals, changes in technologies, new policies, and micro-trends. To further unravel the prospects of the global market for Automated Equipment for Smart Mining, it segments it depending on various parameters such as products, technology, applications, and end users. It also attempts to understand the size and share of each segment and the reasons behind it. The intent is to help players tap into the lucrative segments to maximize their profits.The report then proceeds to study the geographic regions in the market for Automated Equipment for Smart Mining to understand which ones hold out massive promise and which ones are already saturated. Banking upon market leading analytical tools such as SWOT Analysis and Porters Five Forces, it tries to uncover the degree of competition players are faced with. It factors in opportunities and threats from various sources such as new companies, substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers and customers, competitive rivalry, etc. to understand the road ahead for existing players.To add weight to the information on the global market for Automated Equipment for Smart Mining, the report resorts to statistics and graphs enabling readers to spot key trends immediately.Table of ContentsGlobal Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Market Research Report 20181 Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Automated Equipment for Smart Mining1.2 Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Excavators1.2.4 Load Haul Dump1.2.5 Drillers & Brakers1.2.6 Robotic Truck1.3 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Segment by Application1.3.1 Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Mining1.3.3 Military1.3.4 Oil & Gas1.3.5 Others2 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type3 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)6 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Consumption and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)6.2 Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2013-2018)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesComplete table of content is available at:List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Automated Equipment for Smart MiningFigure Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Production (K Units) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2013-2025)Figure Global Automated Equipment for Smart Mining Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2017Figure Product Picture of ExcavatorsTable Major Manufacturers of ExcavatorsFigure Product Picture of Load Haul DumpTable Major Manufacturers of Load Haul DumpFigure Product Picture of Drillers & BrakersTable Major Manufacturers of Drillers & BrakersFigure Product Picture of Robotic TruckEnquiry For Discount Visit @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.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.comRoot Canal Market Trend 2018 | Booming Growth at ~ 8.0 % | by Top Leaders, Type and Drug till 2023

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The Global Root Canal Market is expected to reach USD 21.0 billion by 2023, and the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of ~ 8.0 % during the forecast period 2017-2023.Regional Analysis:The Americas account for a significant market share owing to high expenditure on the health care especially of the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, the greater number of dental procedures due to greater dental healthcare penetration in the U.S. and Canada drives the root canal market. The high concentration of the major hospitals in the developed countries of this region coupled with good reimbursement rates is adding fuel to the market growth. Moreover, the large share of dental procedures especially the root canal treatment in the returns of hospitals favors the market. The large number of medical devices companies in the U.S. is also a cause for the faster development of root canal market in the US.Get Sample copy @Europe is the second largest market in the world due to growing medical devices industry and healthcare penetration. 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 due to its large medical devices industry.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly; China and India are likely to lead this market due to the fast-growing healthcare 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 the healthcare industry in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the future root canal market in the region.Key Players in the Global Root Canal Market:Some of the key players profiled in the report are Kerr Corporation, Dentsply Sirona, LM-Instruments Oy, Schutz Dental GmbH, Ultradent Products Inc., Pelton & Crane, 3M, Confident Dental Equipment Ltd., Benco Dental and others.Root Canal Market Scenario:A root canal is a dental procedure involving the removal of the central pulp from the tooth. A root canal is performed when the pulp of a tooth is injured, inflamed or infected. The objective of the root canal is to save the structure of the tooth and to prevent infection of the gums and other teeth. Common causes of the root canal treatment include deep decay due to the cavity, a chip or crack in the tooth, an injury to the tooth, infection, and others. The most common symptoms of damaged pulp include pain, swelling, and a heat sensation in the gums.A nonsurgical root canal treatment is carried out for managing the infection or inflammation in the tooth. A secondary root canal treatment is carried out when the problem is not solved with the first root canal procedure. An apicoectomy is a microsurgical procedure in which the infected tissue and tip of the root of the tooth are removed due to the failure of the regular root canal treatments. A pulpotomy is the removal of the nerve and diseased pulp from the crown of the tooth with an aim to save the root nerve intact. A pulpectomy is the removal of whole pulp from both the root and crown. According to American Association of Endodontists (AAE), more than 15 million root canals are performed every year and over 41,000 root canals are performed each day, with 89% of patients are satisfied after root canal treatment by an endodontist.Check Discount @Segments:The global root canal market has been segmented on the basis of types, drugs, devices, and end user.Based on the types, the market has been segmented as a nonsurgical root canal, secondary root canal, apicoectomy root canal, pulpotomy root canal, and pulpectomy root canal.Based on the drugs, the market has been segmented as anesthetics, painkillers, antibiotics, and others.Based on the devices, the market has been segmented into crowns, endodontic instruments, consumables, others.Based on the end user, the market has been segmented as dentistry hospitals and clinics, research and academics, and others.List of Tables:TABLE 1 GLOBAL ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY TYPE, 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 2 ASEPTIC ISOLATORS FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION, 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 3 CONVENTIONAL ROOT CANAL FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION 2017-2023 (USDMILLION)TABLE 4 NO-SCALPEL ROOT CANAL FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 5 MINIMALLY INVASIVE ROOT CANAL FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 6 GLOBAL ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY DRUGS, 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 7 ANESTHETICS FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION, 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 8 PAIN KILLERS FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 9 ANTIBIOTICS FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 10 OTHERS FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 11 GLOBAL ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY PATIENTS, 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 12 HUMANS FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION, 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 13 ANIMALS FOR ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY REGION 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 14 GLOBAL ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY END USER, 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)TABLE 15 NORTH AMERICA ROOT CANAL MARKET, BY COUNTRY 2017-2023 (USD MILLION)And moreFor more Inquiry on this Report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comImmunoassay Instruments - Worldwide Market Size, Growth rate and Future Analysis

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The immunoassay instruments market is growing with a considerable rate due to rising incidence of chronic infectious diseases, increasing preference for personalized medicine, and technological advancements. Investments in emerging economies, and focus on developing compact, reliable and portable immunoassay instruments are some of the factors giving ample opportunities to the immunoassay instruments market to grow in the coming years.Explore Report Sample at:Immunoassay is a laboratory based diagnostic procedure that is performed using an immunological reaction of antibodies. The formation of antibody antigen complexes in blood samples and other body fluids are measured by immunoassay instruments and are usually engaged to detect analytes in quantitative or qualitative manner. Qualitative analyses of immunoassay test include immunoassay tests by detecting human chorionic gonadotropin in urine samples for pregnancy. Immunoassay is done in multiple steps with reagents being added and washed away at different points during the assay.Some of the factors driving the immunoassay instruments market are enhanced discovery of specific biomarkers, extensive use of immunoassays in oncology and rising geriatric population. Implementation of excise duty by the U.S. government and high cost associated with technologically advanced immunoassay systems are some of the factors restraining the immunoassay instruments market to some extent.Explore Report at:Some of the competitors in the immunoassay instruments market are Beckman Coulter, Inc., F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, BioMerieux, Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Sysmex Corporation, DiaSorin S.p.A., Siemens Healthcare, and Merck Millipore Corporation.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:Anti-Tack Agents Market Report for Period 2018 till 2024 Blachford, Evonik Industries, The HallStar, Hans W. Barbe, Struktol, Stephenson Group, Ocean Chemical nd Others.

Anti-Tack Agents Market

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Global Anti-Tack Agents market report emphasizes on detailed analysis of companies and manufacturers like Baerlocher GmbH, Struktol, Stephenson Group, King Industries, Polmann, PT. Sejahtera Mitra Lestari, Ocean Chemical, Croda International, Aoda, Blachford, Evonik Industries, Sasco Chemical, Lion Specialty Chemicals, The HallStar, Hans W. Barbe, Kettlitz-Chemie GmbH and Others.This market study includes data about global market statistics, market share, company performances, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc. The Global Anti-Tack Agents market report provides detailed segmentation of Global Anti-Tack Agents Market based on product type, application, end user and regional segmentation. The regional segment is further bifurcated on country level.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Anti-Tack Agents Market 2017 @Top Manufactures of Global Anti-Tack Agents market:BlachfordEvonik IndustriesSasco ChemicalLion Specialty ChemicalsThe HallStarHans W. BarbeKettlitz-Chemie GmbHBaerlocher GmbHStruktolStephenson GroupKing IndustriesPolmannPT. Sejahtera Mitra LestariOcean ChemicalCroda InternationalAodaOthers(Note: We can profile additional players without extra charges)Global Anti-Tack Agents Market: Key Product Type:StearatesFatty Acid EstersFatty Acid AmidesOthersKey Application Types for Global Anti-Tack Agents Market:TiresIndustrial Rubber ProductsothersKey Regions for Global Anti-Tack Agents Market:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)(Note: We can provide specific country or region specific report on request)The Global Anti-Tack Agents Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Anti-Tack Agents Market. 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Moreover, import/export data across any particular country as per requirement.The report finally provides detailed research report conclusion, which provides summary of entire report and vital suggestions from analysts particular to Anti-Tack Agents Market which will help existing as well as new players who wish to enter this market.Enquire before Buying @ put actual website like for exampleTable of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Anti-Tack Agents1.1 Definition and Specifications of Anti-Tack Agents1.1.1 Definition of Anti-Tack Agents1.1.2 Specifications of Anti-Tack Agents1.2 Classification of Anti-Tack Agents1.2.1 Stearates1.2.2 Fatty Acid Esters1.2.3 Fatty Acid Amides1.2.4 Other1.3 Applications of Anti-Tack Agents1.3.1 Tires1.3.2 Industrial Rubber Products1.3.3 Other........................Continue (Global Anti-Tack Agents Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Market Reports Company:Market Reports Company delivers high quality precise research studies which include data about top manufacturers and market survey of various industries. We also work as a consulting company and publisher of market research reports. We are specialized in providing customized reports according to clients needs and requirements which ultimately help them grow in industry and beat their competition.What We Offer:Customized Reports: We provide customized research reports on your demand.Region Specific Study: We have resources all over the world so, if you are Interested in region specific study please contact us.How we work: Perfect blend of primary and secondary research to provide best result.Expertise: Team of Industry experienced research associates and experts, primary and secondary sources, 24*7 customer care service and post-sale support.Contact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website: marketreportscompany.comEmail: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United StatesBaby Sleeping Bag Market to Set Phenomenal Growth from 2018 to 2025

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HTF MI published a new industry research that focuses on Baby Sleeping Bag market and delivers in-depth market analysis and future prospects of Global and United States Baby Sleeping Bag 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 [0-6 months, 6-18 months & 18-36 months], products type [] and various important geographies like United States, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America & Middle East and Africa].Get Access to sample pages @The research covers the current market size of the Global and United States Baby Sleeping Bag market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data along with company profile of key players/manufacturers. The in-depth information by segments of Baby Sleeping Bag 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 and United States Baby Sleeping Bag Market.The study provides company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of key manufacturers of Global and United States Baby Sleeping Bag Market, some of them listed here are Bon Bebe, Carter's, 1st Years, The Gro Company, Halo, Nested Bean, Little Giraffe, Love To Dream, Aden & anais, Inc., Swaddle Designs, Baby Deedee, Bebe au Naturel, Cotton and flannel, Polyester, Cotton Muslin & Other (wool, bamboo, etc.). 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 and United States Baby Sleeping Bag (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as . Further the research study is segmented by Application such as 0-6 months, 6-18 months & 18-36 months 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 Baby Sleeping Bag in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering United States, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America & Middle East and Africa and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2017 to 2022.Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Following would be the Chapters to display the Global and United States Baby Sleeping Bag market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Baby Sleeping Bag, Applications of Baby Sleeping Bag, 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 Baby Sleeping Bag, 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, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America & Middle East and Africa, Baby Sleeping Bag Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Baby Sleeping Bag Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Baby Sleeping Bag;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [], Market Trend by Application [0-6 months, 6-18 months & 18-36 months];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global and United States Baby Sleeping Bag;Chapter 12,13, 14 and 15, to describe Baby Sleeping Bag sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Enquire for customization in Report @What this Research Study Offers:Global and United States Baby Sleeping Bag 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 @Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a six-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 segmentsThanks 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 1218Scar Treatment Market 2018 Global Analysis By Key Players - Allergan, Biodermis, Absolute MS, Quantum Health, Avocet Polymer Technologies, Oculus Innovative Sciences, Merz GmbH

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A recent report published by Infinium Global Research on scar treatment market provides in depth analysis of segments and sub-segments in global as well as regional scar treatment market. The study also highlights the impact of drivers, restraints and macro indicators on the global and regional scar treatment market over the short term as well as long term. The report is a comprehensive presentation of trends, forecast and dollar values of global scar treatment market. According to report the global scar treatment market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.1% over the forecast period of 2018-2024.Get Sample Copy of this Report:Segment CoveredThe report on global scar treatment market covers segments such as, type of treatment and application. On the basis of type of treatment the global scar treatment market is categorized into type of products and type of therapeutic procedures. On the basis application the global scar treatment market is categorized into atrophic scars, contracture scars, acne scars, keloid scars, stretch marks, hypertrophic scars and post-surgical marks.Geographic CoverageThe report provides regional analysis covering geographies such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World. In this section the key trends and market size for each geography is provided over the period of 2016-2024. The countries covered in the North America region include the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; while Asia-Pacific includes China, Japan, India, South Korea, Malaysia, and among others. Moreover, Germany, U.K., France, Spain, and Rest of Europe are included in the European region. The U.S. drives the growth in the North America region as it is the largest market in the region. The Asia-pacific region offers a substantial potential for the market growth owing to rapid growth in markets such as India and China. The APAC region is projected to experience a growth at a CAGR of x.x% over the period of 2018-2024.Companies Profiled:The report provides profiles of the companies in the global scar treatment market such as, Allergan, Biodermis, Absolute MS, Quantum Health, Avocet Polymer Technologies, Oculus Innovative Sciences, Merz GmbH, Scarguard Labs, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and Revitol Corporation.For More Enquiry on This Report:Report Highlights:The report provides deep insights on demand forecasts, market trends and micro and macro indicators. In addition, this report provides insights on the factors that are driving and restraining the global scar treatment market. Moreover, IGR-Growth Matrix analysis given in the report brings an insight on the investment areas that existing or new market players can consider. The report provides insights into the market using analytical tools such as Porter's five forces analysis and DRO analysis of scar treatment market. Moreover, the study highlights current market trends and provides forecast from 2018-2024. We also have highlighted future trends in the scar treatment market that will impact the demand during the forecast period. Moreover, the competitive analysis given in each regional market brings an insight on the market share of the leading players. This report will help manufacturers, suppliers and distributors of the scar treatment market to understand the present and future trends in this market and formulate their strategies accordingly.About UsInfinium Global Research and Consulting Solutions is started with a single motto of being business partner of first choice. We at Infinium work on the strengths of our clients to ensure we help them consolidate their market position. We firmly believe in the fact that if you are able to develop newer opportunities then you find there is no dearth of opportunities for you. With our strategic research approaches and deep dive in the market segments, we try to find out new opportunities that our clients can encash with their existing resources. Our experts with over 100 years of cumulative experience in research offer the best in the industry services to our clients to ensure that they achieve their business goals.Contact UsInfinium Global Research,Toll Free:U.S. + Canada: 1-800-638-0796,Website :Email: sales@infiniumglobalresearch.comSwitch Applications (Pty) plans to bring Atmospheric Water Generators into South Africa with WaterMicronWorld Technology by end of the month.

WaterMicronWorld

The company WaterMicronWorld,Ltd has taken the initiative to bring Atmospheric Water Generators into South Africa own retail franchise stores. These retail franchise storefronts will serve two primary purposes, (1) in cities where tap water is questionable at the most we can provide a much safer and purer alternative along with convenience, (2) servicing our machines along with stocking parts and filters will allow us to handle customer needs or repairs in a much shorter period of time, stated Mr.Rainman in a recent interview.In most part of Africa, municipal water have poor quality throughout the country and with many local businesses, condo or home owners has been the first to take advantage of the convenience of making water in their own premises. No longer is the need to transport bottled drinking water, especially with high fuel cost, traffic, and the driving time to get pure, safe drinking water, states Mr.Rainman.Atmospheric Water Generators - Water from Air Technology, extracts water from air and converts it to pure and fresh drinking water. Atmospheric Water Generators are essential for everyone wanting pure and clean drinking water in these days without the threat of municipal contaminates, or transporting and storing expensive bottled water. No water source on this planet is as pure or abundant as water from our own air. Atmospheric water generators simply and reliably deliver safe drinking water from the air we breathe.The WaterMicronWorld Atmospheric Water Generators household/office units extract water from air from 15 to 30 liters per day, purer than any water source on the planet. WaterMicronWorld also manufactures large industrial Atmospheric Water Generators capable of producing 60,100,160, 200, 250, 500, 1500, 3,000 and up to 5,000 liters of water in a single day."Every Drop Counts"WaterMicronWorld is the leader 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 population of the world continues to increase, yet the clean and drinkable water supply continues to decrease. Throughout history humans have always looked down while looking for a source for their water needs. They have always extracted from holes in the ground, wells, ponds, lakes, rivers and aquifers. All of these sources have one thing in common, which is that we are taking water out faster than nature can replace it.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.Ltd41/183 Rimklongchonprathan PrachuabkhirikhanThailand 7710Contact: Robert RainmanPhone: +66810167702INTRODUCING YI THE SMART CAMERA FOR YOUR CAR IN SOUTH AFRICA

Yi Dash Camera

www.syntech.co.za

Press ReleaseNick Gormannick@syntech.co.zaSyntech4th April 2018INTRODUCING YI THE SMART CAMERA FOR YOUR CAR IN SOUTH AFRICAThe brand that is pioneering the way forward for smart cameras in South AfricaDrive SmarterDrive SaferSyntech HQ, Cape Town, April 4th, 2018. The Yi Smart Camera range has arrived in South Africa. The brand is pioneering the way forward for smart cameras in the country, and leading the pack is the Yi Smart Dash Camera. This camera has features that will take your driving experience to new heights. The Smart Dash Camera fits easily to your dash of your car and will enhance your drive on South Africas roads, giving you amazing performance at an affordable price.Features include ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist System)  a visual recognition algorithm, which sends real-time audio alerts in the event that you stray from your lane or get too close to the vehicle in front of you.The camera features full HD quality, with amazing images even at high speeds. The Yi Smart Dash Camera uses a 165-degree ultra-wide-angle lens, which can monitor three lanes comfortably, and reduces your blind spots. The camera is ultra-sensitive, and has night vision, for added safety, which sets this smart camera apart from its rivals in South Africa. This smart camera performs at optimum levels, even in low light conditions when accidents are more prone to happen.The Yi Smart Dash Camera features a world-class processor and is able to record at 60fps. Designed to capture exhilarating moments, fast-paced scenes, and instantly provide accurate collision recordings. The camera provides awesome quality HD pictures, ad optimised storage space to capture more footage. G-Sensor technology allows the camera to automatically save footage in the events leading up to a collision and immediately afterwards. The Yi Smart Dash Camera records at 1296p  super high definition, making it the safest in smartest choice for your car in South Africa.Syntech OverviewSyntech was established in 2002. Our product ranges are sourced from a variety of international manufacturers. We distribute a number of top brands and distribute an extensive range of computer-related products throughout sub-Saharan Africa.Our objective is to create solutions. We have developed our product range by offering complete solutions with several focused products that cater for individual reseller requirements. Our long-standing relationships with our suppliers ensure that we provide products which have been developed in accordance with market demands. Our distribution-orientated business structure and advanced logistics system ensure that all our clients can expect and be assured of cost-effective solutions being delivered on time. For further information, please visitor contact us on nick@syntech.co.za +27 21 514 5300Unit 1, 4 Tanzanite street, Montegue Park, 7441Greenhouse Film Market worth US$ 6,900 Mn by 2025

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Transparency Market Research has released a new market report titled Greenhouse Film Market (By Thickness  150 microns; Resin Type  LDPE, EVA/EBA, LLDPE, PVC, Others; Application  Vegetables, Flowers & Ornamental, Fruits; Region  North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20172025. According to the report, the global greenhouse film market is projected to be worth US$ 6,900 Mn by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 8.1% from 2017 to 2025. Greenhouse film covers the frame of a greenhouse where crops are cultivated. It defends the crops from extreme temperatures, diseases and pests, and provides them with suitable growing conditions.Request Sample Report @Increase in adoption of greenhouse cultivation for high yield of crops is boosting the demand for greenhouse filmsTemperature plays a crucial role in greenhouse cultivation. Climatic conditions such as fluctuating temperatures, humidity, wind, rain, and snow affect the yield of crops. Excess or lack in any of these conditions can have a negative impact on crops. Greenhouse films covering greenhouse structures help in cultivation of crops at a time of the year when they cannot be grown outdoors. However, greenhouse cultivation involves additional investment such as heating system in greenhouses during winter, labor cost, etc. Additional resources required for greenhouse cultivation include heating and ventilating systems for balancing temperatures, pollination, electricity, and water. Government of various countries are encouraging farmers to adopt greenhouse farming, thereby boosting the demand for greenhouse films. Governments of India, Canada, Poland, etc. are providing subsidies to farmers for greenhouse farming, electricity, heating system in greenhouses, etc.The global greenhouse film market can be segmented based on resin type, thickness, and applications. On the basis of resin type, the greenhouse film market can be divided into low-density polyethylene (LDPE), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or ethylene butyl acrylate (EBA), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and others. Other resins include polycarbonate and high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The LDPE resin segment constituted the dominant share of the greenhouse film market, in terms of volume and revenue, in 2016. In terms of thickness, the global greenhouse film market can be classified into greenhouse films 150 microns. Greenhouse films with thickness more than 150 microns accounted for a major share of the greenhouse film market in 2016. The trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. Applications of greenhouse films include vegetables, flowers & ornamental, and fruits cultivation. Greenhouse films were primarily used for vegetable cultivation in 2016. The trend is anticipated to continue during the forecast period.Read Report Overview @Asia Pacific anticipated to dominate the greenhouse film market by 2025In terms of revenue, Asia Pacific led the greenhouse film market in 2016 and is expected to continue its dominance during the forecast period. The region is expected to witness a healthy growth in greenhouse cultivation. China accounted for a major share of the greenhouse film in Asia Pacific owing to the increase in adoption of greenhouse farming. Asia Pacific was followed by Europe which has a mature greenhouse film market. Spain, Italy, and Poland were the major consumers of greenhouse film in Europe in 2016. Other key consumers of greenhouse film in Europe are the Netherlands, Greece, and France. The U.S. dominated the greenhouse film market in North America in 2016 with nearly equal consumption of greenhouse film for cultivation of vegetables and flowers. The U.S. was followed by Canada in terms of demand for greenhouse films in 2016. The trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. In Latin America, Mexico and Brazil were the major markets for greenhouse film in 2016. These countries are expected to retain their position in the market during the forecast period.Middle East & Africa is considered a lucrative market for greenhouse films owing to the rise in adoption of greenhouse cultivation and increase in awareness about greenhouse technology in Israel, Turkey, and Iran. The greenhouse film market in the region is expected to expand at a significant CAGR during the forecast period. Turkey accounted for a major share of the greenhouse film market in Middle East & Africa in 2016 and is anticipated to retain its dominance during the forecast period.Get More Information @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:Blackout Curtains Global Market Top Key Players  JINCHAN , Major , HunterDouglas , MOLIK , Ellery Homestyles and Forecast to 2025

Blackout Curtains Market

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Global Blackout Curtains MarketWiseGuyRerports.com Presents Global Blackout Curtains Market Research Report 2018 New Document to its Studies Database. The Report Contain 105 Pages With Detailed Analysis.DescriptionGlobal Blackout Curtains market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingJINCHANMajorHunterDouglasMOLIKEllery HomestylesEliteCollochomeWonderGorgeous HomesBest Home FashionGet sample Report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Blackout Curtains in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoHorizontal Pull TypeLift TypeOtherOn 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, includingHouseholdCommercialTransportationOtherComplete Report Details @Table of Contents -Major Key PointsGlobal Blackout Curtains Market Research Report 20181 Blackout Curtains Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Blackout Curtains1.2 Blackout Curtains Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Blackout Curtains Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Blackout Curtains Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Horizontal Pull Type1.2.4 Lift Type1.2.5 Other1.3 Global Blackout Curtains Segment by Application1.3.1 Blackout Curtains Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Household1.3.3 Commercial1.3.4 Transportation1.3.5 Other1.4 Global Blackout Curtains Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Blackout Curtains Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Blackout Curtains (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Blackout Curtains Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025).7 Global Blackout Curtains Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 JINCHAN7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 JINCHAN Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Major7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Major Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 HunterDouglas7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 HunterDouglas Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 MOLIK7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 MOLIK Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Ellery Homestyles7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Ellery Homestyles Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Elite7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Elite Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Collochome7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Collochome Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Wonder7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Wonder Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Gorgeous Homes7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Gorgeous Homes Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Best Home Fashion7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Blackout Curtains Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Best Home Fashion Blackout Curtains Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview..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)Economy Minister Says Georgia-Israel Trade Turnover to reach $1 billion

By Gvantsa Gabekhadze

The Georgian Economy Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili claims that the Georgia-Israel trade turnover will reach $1 billion over the course of the next five years.Developing trade and economic relations was one of the main topics of discussion at Kumsishvilis recent meeting with the Minister of Economy and Industry of Israel, Eli Cohen.Trade turnover between the counties increased by 31 percent in 2017 compared to 2016, while export increased by 28 percent during the same period. Juice, beer, wine, mineral water and nuts are Georgias main export products to Israel, the Georgian Economy Ministry reports.Currently there are 271 Israeli companies operating in Georgia, the total sum of the investments of which reaches $124 million.The ministers agreed to deepen cooperation in various fields of economy and found several sectors interesting for future cooperation such as maritime transport, logistics, advanced technology and tourism.As for tourism, the number of Israeli tourists visiting Georgia increased by 26 percent in 2017 compared to 2016.Israel is the seventh country from where the largest number of travellers came to Georgia in 2017.Top Industry Analysis of Global Surgical Blades Market Research Report 2018

Top Industry Analysis of Global Surgical Blades Market Research Report 2018

http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1499941.html

http://www.qyresearch.com/

The Global Surgical Blades Market Research Report 2018 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Surgical Blades industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Surgical Blades Industry analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Surgical Blades industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Browse a complete report sample:In this report, the global Surgical Blades market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Surgical Blades in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), covering United States, EU, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.Global Surgical Blades market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingHill-RomSwann-MortonHuaiyin MedicalKAI GroupFeatherSteriLanceManiSurgical SpecialtiesShinvaHu-FriedyAileeShanghai SurgicalGeisterOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoDisposable TypeReusable TypeOn 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, includingHospitalClinicOtherKey Topics Covered:Chapter One: to provide Surgical Blades Market OverviewChapter Two: to provide Global Surgical Blades Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter Three: to provide Global Surgical Blades Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)Chapter Four: to provide Global Surgical Blades Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)Chapter Five: to provide Global Surgical Blades Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter Six: to provide Global Surgical Blades Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter Seven: to provide Global Surgical Blades Manufacturers Profiles/AnalysisChapter Eight: to provide Surgical Blades Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter Nine: to provide Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter Ten: to provide Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter Eleven: to provide Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter Twelve: to provide Global Surgical Blades Market Forecast (2018-2025)Chapter Thirteen: to provide Research Findings and ConclusionChapter Fourteen: to provide AppendixContact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersTel: 0086-20-22093278(CN)Email: sales@qyresearchglobal.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch, established in 2007, focuses on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, and data base &seminar services. The company owns large basic databases (such as National Bureau of Statistics Database, Customs Import and Export Database, Industry Association Database, etc.), expert resources (including industry experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D in industries of energy, automotive, chemicals, medical ICT consumer goods, etc.), professional survey team (the team members obtained more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years deep expert interview experience), and excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team).Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West RoadDermatoscope Market to Witness a Pronounce Growth by 2024

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Dermatoscopy is a process through which the examination of skin lesions can be determined using an instrument, i.e., dermatoscope. The instrument is used by dermatologists to distinguish benign tumors and malignant (cancerous) lesions, especially in the diagnosis of melanoma. Modern dermatoscope uses the liquid medium and polarized light in order to cancel out the skin surface reflection. The images or videos are digitally processed using a digital epiluminescence dermatoscope. 3Gen introduced the first polarized dermatoscope known as DermLite, which allows visualization of skin structures using an immersion fluid. The convenient method of detection and different optimization of images as compared to glass dermatoscope added an advantage over vascular pattern diagnosis. However, new developments in dermatoscope allow image at the cellular and vascular level, paving way for earlier diagnosis and treatment of cancer disease.High prevalence of skin cancer disease, rise in patient awareness about skin cancer, growth in research and development initiatives, reduction of the frequency of unnecessary surgical procedures, and high cost of treatment and diagnostic imaging procedures through MRI and X-ray devices are important driving factors of the dermatoscope market.Download Report Brochure @According to the American Academy of Dermatology 2017, the World Health Organization has estimated that more than 65,000 people worldwide are likely to die of melanoma. In 2017, 9,730 deaths due to melanoma are estimated in the U.S. According to the WHO, 2015, the number of new cases of cancer is expected to rise by about 70% over the next two decades. Growth in technologies such as USB imaging and video technology of imaging melanoma is likely to fuel the growth of the global dermatoscope market. However, introduction of biological agents for melanoma detection and new technologies such as SPECT and PET are expected to hamper the market growth.The global dermatoscope market has been segmented based on product, technology, modality, application, and geography. In terms of product, the dermatoscope market is classified into contact dermatoscope, hybrid dermatoscope, and non-contact dermatoscope. Polarized dermatoscope (non-contact dermatoscope) is a rapid growing product segment owing to increase in prevalence of skin cancer diseases globally. In terms of technology, the market is classified into LED, xenon, halogen, and ultraviolet. In terms of modality, the market of dermatoscope is classified into hand-handled, trolley mounted, and headband.Request for TOC @According to the Skin Cancer Foundation 2017, more than 419,000 cases of skin cancer are projected to be reported in the U.S. each year, out of which are likely to be 168,000 squamous cell carcinomas, 245,000 basal cell carcinomas, and 6,200 melanomas; these are linked to indoor tanning. In terms of application, the market is classified into skin tumors, scabies, warts, fungal infections, and others. Based on geography, the market is distributed over North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.Geographically, North America dominates the global dermatoscope market due to increase in number of melanoma cases among men owing to tanning and ultraviolet rays. Early-phase diagnosis and treatment of the disease is driving the medical biotechnology market, which in turn is expected to drive the North America dermatoscope market. Europe is the second leading market for dermatoscope as there are favorable government policies regarding health care infrastructure and awareness among population against skin cancer.The market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a higher rate due to rise in population, changing lifestyle, increase in awareness about skin cancer, and growth in per capita expenditure. In addition, economic growth and rise in medical tourism along with research and cancer laboratories are supporting the health care infrastructure improvement in developing countries such as India, Brazil, and China. Thus, all the above mentioned factors collectively support the growth of the dermatoscope market in Asia Pacific and Latin America.Obtain Report Details @The major players operating in the global dermatoscope market include FotoFinder Systems GmbH, Optilia Instruments AB, Dino-Lite, 3Gen, Rudolf Riester GmbH, NIDEK CO., LTD., ILLUCO Corporation Ltd., KIRCHNER & WILHELM GmbH + Co. KG, and Canfield Scientific, 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. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Global Insect Growth Regulators Market Professional Survey Report 2018 - Bayer AG, Central Life Science OHP, Syngenta AG,

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Insect Growth Regulators Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies Insect Growth Regulators 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 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringBayer AGCentral Life ScienceOHPSyngenta AGDow AgroSciences LLCHelm Agro USNufarm LimitedRussell IPMValent USA LLCMcLaughlin Gormley King Company (MGK)Sumitomo Chemical Company LimitedControl SolutionsTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoChitin Synthesis InhibitorsJuvenile Hormone Analogs and MimicsEcdysone AntagonistsEcdysone AgonistsBy Application, the market can be split intoAgricultureResidentialCommercialBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaTable of ContentsGlobal Insect Growth Regulators Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of Insect Growth Regulators1.1 Definition and Specifications of Insect Growth Regulators1.1.1 Definition of Insect Growth Regulators1.1.2 Specifications of Insect Growth Regulators1.2 Classification of Insect Growth Regulators1.2.1 Chitin Synthesis Inhibitors1.2.2 Juvenile Hormone Analogs and Mimics1.2.3 Ecdysone Antagonists1.2.4 Ecdysone Agonists1.3 Applications of Insect Growth Regulators1.3.1 Agriculture1.3.2 Residential1.3.3 Commercial1.4 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 Insect Growth Regulators2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Insect Growth Regulators2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Insect Growth Regulators2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Insect Growth Regulators3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Insect Growth Regulators3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Insect Growth Regulators Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Insect Growth Regulators Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Insect Growth Regulators Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Insect Growth Regulators Major Manufacturers in 20174 Global Insect Growth Regulators Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Insect Growth Regulators Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Insect Growth Regulators Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Insect Growth Regulators Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 Insect Growth Regulators Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2013-2018E Global Insect Growth Regulators Sales Price4.4.2 2017 Insect Growth Regulators Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @5 Insect Growth Regulators Regional Market Analysis5.1 North America Insect Growth Regulators Market Analysis5.1.1 North America Insect Growth Regulators Market Overview5.1.2 North America 2013-2018E Insect Growth Regulators Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.1.3 North America 2013-2018E Insect Growth Regulators Sales Price Analysis5.1.4 North America 2017 Insect Growth Regulators Market Share Analysis5.2 China Insect Growth Regulators Market Analysis5.2.1 China Insect Growth Regulators Market Overview5.2.2 China 2013-2018E Insect Growth Regulators Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.2.3 China 2013-2018E Insect Growth Regulators Sales Price Analysis5.2.4 China 2017 Insect Growth Regulators Market Share Analysis5.3 Europe Insect Growth Regulators Market AnalysisContinue...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.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @Oral Contraceptive Pills Market is Expected to be Worth US$22.9 bn by 2023

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Companies in the global oral contraceptive pills market are focusing on untapped markets with unmet needs and improving their hold in the market. A case in point would be Mankind Pharma. This Indian-based company has expanded its business by exporting oral contraceptive pills to countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Some of the other strategies adopted by players include, launching of new products and increased effort in research and development of efficient products that have minimal side effects.As per Transparency Market Research (TMR), Teva Pharmaceutical and Allergan (Actavis) plc. are the two leading companies within this market. Some of the other local players in the market include: Taj Pharma, Alkem, and Zydus Alidec. It has been observed that a majority of the players offer combination oral contraceptive pills owing to their efficiency, low cost, and being most popular among women for birth control.Request for Sample Copy of Report @According to TMR, the global oral contraceptive pills market is expected to be worth US$22.9 bn by 2023. On the basis of type, the position of combination oral contraceptive pill segment remains undisputed and is estimated to be worth US$18 bn by 2023. The segment is also identified as the fastest growing segment within the market. On the basis of category, the generic oral contraceptive pill segment will lead in the market. The segment will also witness highest growth rate in the forecast period, said a TMR analyst.On the basis of geography, North America shall continue to have a dominant hold over the market within the period from 2015 to 2023. However, Asia Pacific will expand at the fastest rate and emerge the most promising regional segment within the oral contraceptive pills market. High population and growing awareness among the people about the availability of oral contraceptive pills as an easy method to control birth will be key reasons behind the growth of this market.Request for TOC @Government Initiatives to Spread Awareness Programs Aids GrowthThe growing incidence of unwanted pregnancies is becoming a key factor fueling the demand for oral contraceptive pills. It has been found that the oral contraceptive pills are most consumed by women falling under the age group of 15 and 44. As per the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. alone accounted for 37% of the total unwanted pregnancies in North America between 2006 and 2010. The staggering growth of unintended pregnancies, not just among unmarried women, but also among those married will is fueling the growth of the global oral contraceptive pills market, said a TMR analyst.It has been found in one of the studies by The United Nations, that there has been an increase in the number of married women using at least one method of contraception, boosting the growth prospects of this market. Some of the other factors propelling the demand for contraceptives include the growing awareness among women, increasing efforts taken by governments to spread the awareness of contraceptives, NGOs initiating awareness programs across nations, and increasing maternal age. Late pregnancies are also aiding the growth of this market.Enquiry for discount on this report @Religious and Ethical Norms to Deter Market from Growing to its Fullest PotentialAcross many countries in the Middle East, oral contraceptives are restricted by various ethical, social, and religious barriers. This will act as a impeding factor for the growth of the oral contraceptive pills market. Oral contraceptive pills are perceived as a means of abortion and thus their sales suffer in these areas. Strict legal frameworks and policies towards reproductive rights in many countries will also challenge the growth of this market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Molecular Point-of-care Diagnostics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Molecular Point-of-care Diagnostics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Point-of-care diagnosis involves medical tests performed at or near a patients location. These tests can be performed outside a clinical laboratory, and primarily include diagnosis done at physicians office, in an ambulance, or on-field diagnosis. Molecular diagnosis involves analysis of biological markers and has wide applications in disease monitoring and testing, risk analysis, cancer diagnosis, and others. These tests were designed as physicians needed quick analysis of samples to diagnose diseases and avoid complications. Traditional microbial testing methods were non-specific, lengthy, and time consuming procedures. Molecular diagnostics have armed doctors with highly specific, quick, and accurate diagnosis methods. Presently, point-of-care testing has become an integral part of the diagnostics market, and widely used in emergency rooms, community health centers, school health programs, and home testing.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Based on application, the global molecular point-of-care diagnostics market can be segmented into infectious disease, oncology, autoimmune disease, hematology, and others. In terms of test location, the market can be categorized into point-of-care tests and over-the-counter tests. The global molecular point-of-care diagnostics market is driven by quick and accurate results, and ability to carry out tests without laboratory set-up. The market is also driven by consistent rise in emergency medical cases. The trend is also shifting from hospital testing to point-of-care testing, where patients can be diagnosed in shortest possible time, and also reduce hospital stay. Increase in awareness about diseases and available diagnosis and treatment methods has given rise to the concept of preventive health care, with patients being actively involved in disease diagnosis. In 2007, Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waiver policies were modified stating that FDA approved tests for home use also qualify for CLIA waiver. This boosted the growth of the home diagnostics market which is dominated by immunochromatography based cassette kits. These trends coupled with advances in the biotechnology sector are likely to propel the molecular point-of-care diagnostics market. Growing burden of diabetes and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, dengue, malaria, flu, and many other diseases have demanded better diagnosis services in short span of time such as molecular point-of-care diagnosis. Cases of drug abuse are also on the rise in the countries in the West. According to a survey conducted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Britain has the largest number of drug addicts in Europe. The survey also details that cannabis abuse is highest and cocaine abuse is rising rapidly. These incidences also support market growth.Geographically, the global molecular point-of-care diagnostics market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Majority of the molecular point-of-care diagnostics market is concentrated in North America and Europe owing to increase in demand for near patient testing and diagnosis of disease at molecular level. Asia Pacific is an emerging market and is expected to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period due to increase in per capita income, vast population base, developing medical sector, and rise in trend for medical tourism. High cost of molecular point-of-care diagnostics and lack of awareness hamper the growth of the market in regions such as Latin America and Middle East & Africa.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Key players operating in the global molecular point-of-care diagnostics market include Abbott, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., bioMerieux, Danaher, DiaSorin, Sysmex, and Siemens Healthineers.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.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @Genome Engineering Market to Expand at a Remarkable CAGR of 14.2% from 2015 to 2023

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A new study by Transparency Market Research indicates that the degree of competitive rivalry in genome engineering rivalry market is likely to remain moderate over the forecast period owing to the presence of a limited number of international and regional players. Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and Sangamo Biosciences Inc. are among the prominent revenue contributors to the market. The entry of small regional players in the arena is prompting global players to pay high attention to product innovation.To develop innovative, technologically advanced and differentiated products, the leading companies are banking on agreements with laboratories and research institutes and pouring funds into ongoing research and development projects, says the author of the report. The global genome engineering market is anticipated to reach a valuation of US$7.21 bn by 2023 from US$2.30 bn in 2015, expanding at a remarkable CAGR of 14.2% from 2015 to 2023.Request for Sample Copy of Report @North America to Remain Ahead through 2023, thanks to Upswing in Research and Development ActivitiesBy end user, the market will be dominated by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies throughout the forecast period. The growth of the segment can be attributed to the rising use of genome engineering technologies in drug discovery and therapeutics. North America will continue to be the frontrunner in the global arena until 2023, rising to a valuation of US$3.68 bn. The widening applications of genome engineering resulting from the increasing research and development activities are contributing to the growth of the region. Asia Pacific will be the most promising regional market, thanks to the increasing government incentives.Increasing Funding by Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Organizations to Augment Genome Engineering MarketPharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide are increasingly realizing the need for advanced gene editing technologies for detecting genetic anomalies. As a result, the number of research and development activities is rising at a significant pace. Large organizations are focusing towards cell mutation to curb genetic and cell diseases. To encourage the development of technologies relating to gene editing, pharmaceutical companies are either funding ongoing projects of medical firms or entering into a collaboration with them, says a TMR analyst. Therefore, the increasing research and development activities in the field of gene editing is paving for genome engineered techniques.Request for TOC @The growing investments by governments and non-government organizations in genome research and technological advancements along with the funding by pharmaceutical and biotechnology are providing a fillip to the global genome engineering market.Rising Opposition on Ethical Grounds to Hamper Growth ProspectsOver the past few years, genetic engineering has received a lot of opposition on ethical grounds from several health, social, and religious organizations. According to the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH), genetic engineering of human embryos leads to complications in human genes and has, therefore, prohibited its funding. In addition, various social organizations are persistent about the ban of genetic engineering as the alteration in animal genes can adversely affect the genetic makeup of the coming generations of the animal along with hampering the lifespan of the genetically engineered animal.Obtain Report Details @Along with the rising ethical concerns, the stringent regulatory framework for the approval of genetic modifications in plants, animals, and human genome are acting as a major bottleneck in the growth of the global genome engineering market. Nevertheless, the growing adoption of genome engineering technologies in agriculture for crop improvement is opening new avenues for players in the 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. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Semiconductor Production Equipment Market 2018 Global Leaders: Qualcomm Technologies, Micron Technology, Applied Materials, Atecom Technology, Tokyo Electron, Screen Holdings, Teradyne

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Market Research Future published a research report on Semiconductor Production Equipment Market Research Report - Global Forecast 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Semiconductor Production Equipment Market  OverviewRaised production levels of semiconductors have increased the demand levels for the semiconductor production market as well. Market Research Future which concentrates in market reports associated to the semiconductors and electronics sector among others lately issued a report on this industry. The industry for semiconductor production equipment is projected to develop at USD 63 Billion in terms of revenue by 2023 while expanding at a CAGR of 7% in the years from 2017 to 2023.Information and communications products have contributed in a major way to the rising levels of demand for the sector. Fast pace of technological development in different aspects of this field has been conducive to further expansion of the industry. Rapidly growing hybrid vehicle industry is expected to act as a catalyst for further development of the sector in the forecast period.Get Sample of Report @Segments:The global semiconductor production equipment market has been segmented on the basis of type, product, dimension and regionGlobal Semiconductor Production Equipment Market By Equipment Type: Front-End Equipment Backend Equipment OthersGlobal Semiconductor Production Equipment Market By Products: Dicing Machine Probing Machines Sliced Wafer Demounting Cleaning Machine Wafer Edge Grinding Machine Polish Grinders OthersGlobal Semiconductor Production Equipment Market By Dimension: 2D 5D 3D OthersGlobal Semiconductor Production Equipment Market by Regions: North America Europe APAC Rest Of The WorldKey PlayersThe prominent players in the global Semiconductor Production Equipment Market are  Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (US), Micron Technology Inc. (US), Intel Corporation (US), Applied Materials Inc. (US), AlsilMaterial (US), Atecom Technology Co., Ltd (Taiwan), Tokyo Electron Limited (Japan), LAM RESEARCH Corporation (US), KLA-Tencor Corporation (US), Screen Holdings Co., Ltd (Japan), Teradyne Inc. (US), ASML Holdings N.V. (Netherlands), and Samsung Group (South Korea) among others.Competitive AnalysisDue to the lucrative potential of this market, the contenders in the industry are aiming to grow their market portion to a by the usage of major assets to enable growth transformations which will be good for the long run transformation of the sector. This outlook is favorable for the volume driven growth of the sector. Diverse products will increase the demand levels of the industry which will lead to speedy growth in the market. The industry is maintaining the growth potential of the market through continuous ongoing course advances and supporting financial flexibility to spend in the finest strategies when they arise.Regional AnalysisThe regional analysis of semiconductor production equipment market is being studied for region such as Asia pacific, North America, Europe and Rest of the World. North America is one of the leading region across the world in terms of market share in semiconductor production equipment market as the companies are producing the chips which is required to manufactures other products. The semiconductor production equipment market in Europe region is expected to witness rapid growth in the forthcoming period. Whereas, Asia-Pacific countries like China, Japan and India is an emerging market for semiconductor production equipment market and expected to be the highest CAGR in the coming years as the companies are taking interest in producing the semiconductor production equipment which is required to meet the demand of customers.Industry Updates:Feb 2018 AEM Holdings is purchasing Afore Oy which is a Finland based semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker for 7.58 million in cash and shares. The consideration for the arrangement will be divided into 4.97 million in cash and new AEM shares of 867,555 which are valued at S$4.24 million. Afore is expected to deliver AEM with high-performance test proficiencies and solutions in the micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) field which AEM perceives to be a high-growth semiconductor end-market.Jan 2018 Chinese state-owned, Naura Microelectronics Equipment Co., Ltd which is a semiconductor manufacturing dealer has recently declared that it had finalized a deal worth US$15 million acquisition of Akrion Systems LLC, which is a US based supplier of surface preparation for solar and semiconductor devices. The deal is said to be one of the first pioneering Chinese acquisitions of a U.S. company which has been passed by CFIUS under the current administration.Get complete Report @Intended Audience Semiconductor production equipment manufacturing companies Original equipment manufacturers Semiconductor production equipment providers Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Manufacturers Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Panel Technologists Research and development companies Market research and consulting firms Solution providers Technology standards organizations Technology investors System IntegratorsAbout 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.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comHow to survive in the dying flow computer market?

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Industry Essence published a new syndicate market research report on Flow and Virtual Flow Computer Market: Segment Analysis, Trends, Opportunities, Competitive Intensity, and Forecasts 2016-2022.Industry Essence, a market research and consulting company based in Houston, Texas, U.S., states that the Global Flow Computer Market is projected to reach decline at an annual rate of (1.6)% between 2016 and 2022.Get PDF Sample Brochure for Professional & Technical insights at: industryessence.com/index.php/reports/details/596The syndicate report on the flow computer market provides deep dive analysis of flow computer as well as virtual flow computer markets. A flow computer is an important part of the oil and gas flow measurement systems, therefore the front runners are always interested in understanding this market.Key Pain Points for Flow Computer Market: Tumbling oil and gas prices have affected the oil & gas markets resulting in investment contraction in flow measurement instrumentation market Intelligent flow measurement devices such as intelligent flow meters are gradually being used as substitutes to flow computers The emerging virtual flow computing solution is posing a threat to the traditional flow computer devicesThe report covers comprehensive insights on flow and virtual flow computer market, it includes: -Insights from industry experts, industry associations, technology standard organizations and forums, and R&D professionals -Market sizing, trend analysis, and forecasts. -Qualitative & quantitative analysis of market revenue drivers, restraining factors, and growth opportunities. -Analysis of entire market value chain and different stakeholders present. -Market effectiveness by Porters five forces analysis -Market segmentation (analysis, market sizing, and forecasts) By Stream Installation (upstream, midstream, and downstream), By Type (Single Stream Flow Computers and Multi Stream Flow Computers), By Mounting Method (Panel-Mounted Devices and Field-Mounted Devices), By Component (Device Market, Software Solutions, and Service Market), By Geography (North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific, and LATAF region) -Market analysis by different regions around the globe. -Market share and comparative analysis of major industry participants. -Analysis of organic and inorganic business strategies adopted by companies. -In-depth profiling of minimum 20 key market participants (it includes business summary, key financials, business diversification, market competence, expansion strategies, and SWOT analysis of major companies) -Companies profiled- ABB Group, Badger Meter, Inc., Cameron International Corporation, Dynamic Flow Computers Inc., Emerson Electric Co., FMC Technologies Inc., Hoffer Flow, Honeywell International Inc., Kessler-Ellis Products Co. Inc., Meci,, OMNI Flow Computers Inc., Process Control Kft, Schneider Electric SA, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Contrec Europe Limited, Endress+Hauser, Flow Systems Inc., Krohne Messtechnik GmbH, Phoenix Flow Measurement Ltd, Siemens AG, and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. among others.Industry Essence provides market research and consulting solutions to its clients. We provide extensive market research solutions for 14 different business domains. Our solutions are focused on niche and emerging technologies, products, and service markets around the globe. The market research services help frontrunners to take intelligent, strategic and well informed business decisions.Our experienced Analyst and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) Team is committed to provide you the best possible solution by their strong industry experience in primary & secondary research, data analysis, finance, economics, and in analytics fields. Insights from these experts help business leaders in tracking:-Trends in Emerging Technology, Product, and Service Markets-Business Expansion, Diversification, and Investment Opportunities-Micro & Macro (PESTEL, Customer, and Supplier) Market Factors-Market Impressions  Revenue Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities-Different Market Segments/Applications-Competitive BenchmarkingIndustry Essence portfolio includes comprehensive ranges of market research reports, research and management consulting solutions, and customized B2B research solutions. Our teams in United States and India are serving clients around the globe. To know more about our offerings, drop an email at: info@industryessence.comMike Lewismike.lewis@industryessence.comIndustry Essence606, Freeport Street, Houston, Texas 77015, USAMike Lewismike.lewis@industryessence.comIndustry Essence606, Freeport Street, Houston, Texas 77015, USAGuaranteed Accurate Medical Translation Service from Shakti Enterprise

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The healthcare industry in India has rapidly increased over the few decades and new players with innovations and technology have further pushed the industry. Moreover, increase in the consumer awareness will help in the growth of the healthcare industry. Pharma companies, national and international have immense opportunities to cover the Indian market, especially rural areas. However, with the increase in healthcare or medical prospects, there is also a need for translation service that can deal with translating important medical documents to make it understanding easily. Medical translation services like Shakti Enterprises have been working with leading healthcare companies and pharma companies to make the communication easy. Be it about translating the medication, medical records or web content, translation or interpretation is essential.Over the years, Shakti Enterprises has been dealing with leading companies like Apollo, Arca, Olivia, Asence, and others. This has made the company even strong and confident to approach more healthcare companies worldwide. Every medical company that deals with worldwide customers understand that medical translation is very important. A slight inaccuracy in the diagnosis or record can lead to negative consequences.Wide Medical Translation Work:The company has been translating a wide range of medical documents for over multiple languages. Whether the content needs to be translated into simple English language or any other language, with the experienced team of medical translators, you can get the documents translated. There are no limits to the medical translation service from Shakti Enterprise. With the use of latest CAT tools software like Trados 2007, Trados Studio 2011, Word Fast Pro, etc., Shakti Enterprises engages in creating right terminology for medical. One of the best things about Shakti Enterprises is they update themselves with the latest translation tools to ensure that with the changing medical languages, documents also get translated accordingly.Expertise in Medical Document Translation:Shakti Enterprises one of the leading medical document translation services has been majorly relying on experienced translators. Every linguistic expert with right training belongs to different branches including- medicine, biochemistry, pharma, etc. With this expertise, you are guaranteed about professional medical translation service for all types of medical documents. From phrases to terminology, everything is taken into considerationQuality Medical translation works offered are: Clinical protocols and clinical protocol synopses Case Reports Forms Physician Manuals Patent Applications Patient Reports Medical website content translationMaintenance of Medical Documents:There are some medical documents that updated on the regular basis throughout the basis. This is especially true for medical device manuals, clinical trial documents, and clinical protocols. To provide cost-effective translation updates, company ensure that translation documents are saved as memories and maintained well in digital format.Get Medical Translation service from the Certified Company:One of the reasons why Shakti Enterprise is the right company is because it is a certified company which certainly gives the confidence that healthcare clients receive accurate translation work. In fact, every medical translator hired by the company is certified by internationally accredited translation organizations. Having a certified company for medical document translation on your side will certainly give you a sense of confidence of getting right translation.A strong network of native medical translators and medical translation tools has made Shakti Enterprise one of the leading medical translation services in Mumbai, India. Apart from regular document translation, the company also takes care of manual, medical brochure, medical website content and apps. Being the cost-effective service, Shakti Enterprises has been offering medical translation for more than 4 decades, making it the most trusted one.2/F, North B5, District New Delhi, KLJ Tower, C-Block Community Center, Netaji Subash Place, Pitampura, Wazirpur, Delhihttp:Smart City Market 2018 Global Leaders: IBM Corporation, Siemens AG, Hitachi Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd

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Market Scenario:A smart city uses electronic data generated through sensors which is collected from citizens, devices, and systems to manage assets and resources efficiently. Smart city is a vision of urban development combining information and communication technology with administration to reform, manage, and modify city assets and to direct its evolution.The global Smart City Market is anticipated to generate USD 1933 billion by the end of forecast period of 2022.Request a Sample Report @Dominant Players:Some of the key players in global smart city market include IBM Corporation (U.S.), Siemens AG (Germany), Hitachi Corporation (U.S.), Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. (China), AT&T Inc. (U.S), Oracle Corporation (U.S.) Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), Cisco Systems, Inc.(U.S.), Schneider Electric SE (France), Ericsson (Sweden), and others.Market Dynamics Drivers:The drivers of the market such as increasing urbanization, advancements in sensor technologies, growing adoption of smart devices, growing interconnectivity between devices, development of protocols for side area low power network systems, and growing network capability and capacity are the prime drivers of the market.The adoption of information technology by public and private sectors especially the law enforcement, waste management, and other community services has created antecedents for its adoption. The attractive economics of connected devices such as automation, reduced human intervention, and faster implementation as well as correction are economic drivers of the market.The high potentialities of smart cities can result in huge savings due to efficient management of assets and resources especially in fields of traffic and transportation systems, power plants, water supply networks, schools and libraries, hospitals. Further smart cities help to connect to citizens which helps in managing the evolution of cities for betterment of citizens. Advancements in data management, big data, analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning is providing a further boost to the smart city market.Restraints:The restraints that may hamper the smart city vision market growth are poor communication, lower adoption of information technology in developing regions, high capital investment, lack of awareness, and concerns over data security and privacy. Lack of social coherence, communalism, and threat of misuse of data for political gains are the social determinants of the market.Segments:To generate a comprehensive view of the market so as to enable the reader to take an informed decision the global smart city market has be segmented by components, application and regions.On the basis of component the market has been segmented into hardware, software and service. The hardware component accounts for the largest market share which is growing at a CAGR of 30.65 %.On the basis of application the market has been segmented into utility, transport, government, residential, education, healthcare and others. The transport component accounts for the largest market share which is growing at a CAGR of 30.34 %.Browse Full Report Details @Regional Analysis:The global smart city market is dominated by North America led by the U.S. owing to large scale adoption of internet of things, developed infrastructure, prosperous cities, high democratic index, presence of advanced players, and focus towards energy saving. North America is followed by Europe led by Germany, France and the U.K. however the Scandinavian nations of Norway, Finland, Luxemburg, Iceland, and Denmark are expected to generate a faster growth in the European region. However the global growth is expected to be led by Asia-Pacific due to the increasing government initiatives and high investment in real estate and urbanization. Japan dominates the Asia Pacific landscape with China, South Korea and India account ting for the fastest growth in the market.The Middle East and Africa region is expected to be dominated by the Gulf economies of UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and others owing to their high wealth and booming real estate sectors.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 FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comControversies About the Master Plan of Tbilisi

By Vladimer Napetvaridze

On 27 March, Tbilisi city hall organized public discussion about Tbilisi Land Use Master Plan. The City Hall presented remarks about the project and criticized organization "City Institute" author of the master plan. The position of City Hall was unacceptable for representatives of City Institute and they left the meeting, stated that the authorities of Tbilisi City Hall don't understand what the General Plan means.The meeting was attended by representatives of the opposition parties who openly criticized the city government, which eventually turned into a conflict between government officials and the opposition, and the session was disrupted.Kakha Kukava, a former mayoral candidate, said that this topic can lead to ending Kaladze's political career: "Kaladze should know that if Narmania's political career as a Mayor of Tbilisi has ended because of "City Park" issue, his career as a Mayor, will be ended because of the issue of Tbilisi master plan," said Kukava.Another former mayoral candidate, Aleksandre Elisashvili stated, there is no logical argument, why the City Hall of Tbilisi, refuses to adopt the master plan document: I haven't heard even one logical argument, why the City Hall of Tbilisi doesn't accept the master plan. They are just looking for reasons to refuse adoption of this document and continue chaotic constructions in Tbilisi. For example, according to the master plan, it should be categorically forbidden to build a new building at Zhvania street, but despite these recommendations, Kaladze is building new living blocks there," Elisashvili said.Representative of European Georgia, Elene Khoshtaria call this meeting the trial of authors of master plan: Ive been invited here to take part in a discussion about master plan of Tbilisi. I came with a naive interest to at last find out what is this master plan. Instead of this, I appeared at the trial process of a group of master plan authors. We attended a controversy between City Hall of Tbilisi and the organization they hired.Rusudan Mirzikashvili, the representative of the Tbilisi City Hall, spoke about the alternatives of the master plan of Tbilisi: I cant speak about the action plan we are working on, but this plan is working out and soon will be presented. This concerns the introduction of specific regulations. This means, that the concern of the large part of society, that Tbilisi will have problems without the master plan is groundless," said Rusudan MirzikashviliRefusal of the master plan document is already the second fact when current authorities of Tbilisi City Hall refuses to accept a service as a result of the agreement signed by the previous government of Tbilisi. There have been a lot of discussions the master plans topic. Let's now discuss this issue with a different angle. In the given case, there are three sides:- The population who fill the state budget with their own taxes, of which more than 800 million GEL is transferred annually to Tbilisi City Hall budget;- Tbilisi City Hall, whose main function is to properly distribute the budget;- A private or state organization, which gets an order to provide specific services and therefore the money from the budget.The question arises: what will happen if a customer (in this case City Hall) is not satisfied with the service performed by the hired organization? When government already paid money, but can't get a result? Who is responsible for the wasted resources from the budget?2,8 million GEL has been spent for the master plan project.Global Geriatric Care Services Market Insights on Trends, Drivers and Opportunities until the End of 2019

MRRSE

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been acting as an impressive data source when it comes to evaluating various industrial verticals. The research report titled Geriatric Care Services Market offers a clear insight about the Geriatric Care Services assessed over the global platform. This analysis proves beneficial for readers & new investors who are aiming to enter the market for Geriatric Care Services in the near future.Get Free Sample Report @Global geriatric care services market. According to the research report, titled Geriatric Care Services Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019, the market shows a positive growth trend due to several reasons. Research analysts have studied this market using SWOT analysis to highlight the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing the market. Additionally, the research report uses Porters five forces analysis to shed light on the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitute products or services, the bargaining power of customers (buyers), the bargaining power of suppliers, and the intensity of competitive rivalry.According to the research report, the global geriatric care services market is expected to surge at a CAGR of 5.90% from 2013 to 2019 to reach a figure of US$850 bn by the end of 2019. The global geriatric care services market is expected to grow due to the convenience they offer and the cost-efficient solutions they come with. Furthermore, the lack of nursing home options in developing countries will also fuel the home care services segment in the coming years.The global geriatric care services market is segmented on the basis of type and geography. The types of geriatric care services in the global market are home care, adult day care, and institutional care. The home care segment is further divided into health care and non-medical care. The health care is inclusive of medical care, telehealth, physiotherapy services, palliative care, and hospice care, whereas the non-medical home care sub-segment includes personal care, meals and grocery, home making, rehabilitation, and others. The adult day care segment is composed of non-medical care and health care. The institutional care segment is sub-segmented into nursing homes, hospital-based, assisted living, and independent senior living. The nursing home sub-segment includes hospice care and palliative care.Geographically, this market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. Of all the regions, North America is expected to dominate the global geriatric care services market in the coming years. This regions success will be closely followed by Europe.The research report on the global geriatric care services market offers a complete analysis of the competitive landscape of the market. It profiles some of the key players in this market such as GGNSC Holdings LLC, Amedisys Inc., Brookdale Senior Living Inc., Genesis HealthCare LLC, Home Instead Senior Care Inc., Gentiva Health Services Inc., Senior Care Centers of America, Sunrise Senior Living LLC, Kindred Healthcare Inc., Extendicare Health Services Inc., and Skilled Healthcare Group Inc. The research also shares a comprehensive overview of the global geriatric care services market by sharing details pertaining to the financial overview, research and development activities, business and marketing strategies, and investment outlook of the key companies for the near future.Each of the segments have been analyzed on the basis of their current and future market size for the period 2011 to 2019, in terms of revenue generation in USD billion, considering 2011 and 2012 as the base years. The compounded annual growth rate (%CAGR) for each market segment has been provided for the forecast period 2013 to 2019 along with the estimations of market size.A list of recommendations has been provided for new entrants to help establish a strong presence and for existing market players to increase market share. A competitive landscape, mapping all the market players is provided in this report. The players profiled in this report include Amedisys Incorporated, Brookdale Senior Living Incorporated Extendicare Incorporated, Genesis HealthCare Corporation, Gentiva Health Services Incorporated, GGNSC Holdings, Home Instead Senior Care Incorporated, Kindred Healthcare Incorporated, Senior Care Centers of America, Skilled Healthcare Group Incorporated, Sunrise Senior Living Incorporated. Each of these market players are profiled in this report considering parameters such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, product portfolio and recent developments.To Access Complete Report with TOC Visit @The global geriatric care services market is segmented as follows:Geriatric Care Services Market, by TypeHome CareHealth CareMedical CarePhysiotherapy servicesTelehealthPalliative CareHospice CareNon Medical Home CarePersonal careHome makingMeals and GroceryRehabilitationOthersAdult Day CareHealth CareNon Medical CareInstitutional CareNursing HomesPalliative CareHospice CareHospital BasedAssisted LivingIndependent Senior LivingAbout Market Research Reports Search Engine (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.comGlobal Agriculture Drone Market Poised to Gain Tremendous CAGR of 21.3% during Forecast 2018-2026

Market Research Hub

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Drones are one of the latest things being talked about. Countries around the globe are increasingly using drones for spraying crop, pesticides on the farming filed. The agriculture use of drones has recently gained traction due to the tremendous growth in population leading towards the growing demand for food. To elaborate further on this market, a fresh report titled "Agriculture Drone Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2018  2026" has been broadcasted to the wide database of Market Research Hub (MRH). This extensive research study deeply analyzes and forecasts the market for stucco at the global and regional level. Moreover, the report also throws light on all the major trends and technologies playing an influential role in the agriculture drone market's growth over the forecast period.Request Free Sample Report:As per the study key findings, the global agriculture drone market revenue stood at US$ 293.6 Mn in 2016 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 21.3% during the forecast period from 2018 to 2026. In the present scenario, drones are available in different sizes and shapes and are still in the process of development. Manufacturers of agriculture drones are incessantly innovating agri-drones in terms of the functionality to stay ahead of the rising competition.Geographically, the report has segmented the agriculture drone market into North America, Middle East & Africa (MEA), Europe, Asia Pacific, and South America; the regions are examined in terms of revenue and volume generation along with the CAGR for the period from 2018 to 2026. It has been analyzed in the study that demand for drone technology is expected to increase in the coming years as countries across the globe become increasingly aware of the technology and are ready to adopt UAVs in farms for a number of applications.Some of the prime findings from the study include:- Factors leading to the growth of agriculture drones market are growing awareness about precision farming, need to enhance the yield and demand for food.- North America dominated the agriculture drone market in 2016 and is expected to remain the dominant regional market over the report's forecast period as well.- The market has been analyzed on the basis of type, and application. The type segment has further been categorized into fixed-wing, multi-rotor and hybrid drone. On the basis of application, the market has been divided as crop scouting, spraying, field mapping and others. Spraying is one of the dominated application globally.Browse Full Report with TOC-This research also offers detailed analysis on the product and business strategy of the leading players in the market. They are Ag Eagle Aerial Systems, Agribotix LLC, Delair Technologies Inc., DJI Innovate, Aerovironment Inc., Honeycomb Corporation, Precision Hawk, Drone AG, Parrot SA, Yamaha Corporation, Sentera LLC. Ideaforge India Private Ltd.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 Details:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free : 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email : press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite :Read Industry News at -Hydroxyapatite Market Growth, Demand and Analysis of Key Players and Segments- Research Forecasts to 2023

https://www.futuregenicreports.com/Reports/Hydroxyapatite-Market

Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Hydroxyapatite in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.Topic Covered in Hydroxyapatite Market Report: Introduction to Hydroxyapatite Industry Overview of Hydroxyapatite Industry Hydroxyapatite Industry Development Factors Analysis Imports and Exports Market Analysis Hydroxyapatite Market forecasts from 2018-2023, including market volumes, Value ($), Consumption is provided by regions, by types, and by applications.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuregenicreports.com/Request-Sample/101006Industry Top PlayersSofSera, Fluidinova, Bio-Rad, Bonesupport AB, GE Healthcare, Sigma Graft, Berkeley Advanced Biomaterials, Zimmer Biomet, Nano Interface TechnologyMarket SegmentsMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia) Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers Medical Grade Hydroxyapatite (HAP) Research Grade Hydroxyapatite (HAP)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into Orthopaedic Dental Biochemical ResearchFor More Information @About UsFuture Generic Reports is a market research and consulting organization, offering premium collection of market research reports, custom research and consulting services to corporations, no-profit organizations and government institutions across the globe.The wide range of information is presented by a team of well-trained researchers of specific sectors through exhaustive research. We deliver premier market research services that cover all industry verticals, including chemicals and material, automotive, healthcare, electronics & semiconductor, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and technology and media.We believe in building an eternal bond with our clients through offering them inclusive research study meeting their specific requirements. Our services are tailored specifically to our clients by proposing them the potential outcome, based on our in-depth analysis and insights for exploring the growth strategies through providing the best possible decision for quality production.Contact UsFuture Genic ReportsUSA Office244, Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email: sales@futuregenicreports.comGlobal Car Dashcam Market 2018 Expected to grow Due to Innovation in Wireless Connectivity Technologies By 2022

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https://www.futuregenicreports.com/Reports/Car-Dashcam-Market

Market Overview"This report studies the Car Dashcam market. A ""dash cam"" is exactly what its name promises it to be: a camera that's mounted in or around your car's dashboard. The cams are easily attached using a suction cup mount; direct dash friction mounts (those sticky rubber pads) and even built right into a not-too-conspicuous replacement rear mirror for your ride. Powered by batteries, hardwired into vehicle's 12-volt system or via cigarette lighter, the dash cam faithfully records all it sees.The introduction of stringent safety regulations by governments and transport authorities across the globe has substantially contributed to industry expansion. Moreover, increasing awareness about the benefits such as continuous vigilance offered by such car DVR systems among the public has positively influenced industry growth. Increasing industry-wide competition has led to a declining trend in the dashcam prices leading to the large-scale adoption of such cameras among users.Request Sample Report @Innovation in wireless connectivity technologies is anticipated to propel further the demand for such advanced dashcams among automobile users. Awareness campaigns across the globe, such as theTeen Safe Driver Program in the U.S. that encourages the use of such digital video recorders have favorably impacted the industry. Funding initiatives and governmental schemes such as the In-Car Camera Incentive Program offered by the American Family Insurance Company have kept the industry prospects upbeat in the recent years.Industry Top PlayersBlackview, First Scene, 360 (QIHU), Philips, Nextbase UK, PAPAGO, DOD, SAST, Garmin, DEC, Qrontech, REXing, HUNYDON, Kehan, JADO, Blackvue, DAZA, iTRONICS, Fine Digital, Cobra Electronics, Cansonic, HP, YI Technology, Auto-voxDashcams enable recording of video footage that can be used to track down law offenders, examine details of accidents, and incidents of misconduct on roads. Dashboard cameras are widely used in police patrol vehicles as they assist law enforcement authorities to easily track down license plates of law-breakers and offenders helping them in reducing the road rage incidents and subsequently enhancing road safety.Market SegmentsMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.) Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers Single Channel Dashcam Multi-Channel DashcamMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Passenger Vehicle Commercial VehicleFor More Information @About UsFuture Generic Reports is a market research and consulting organization, offering premium collection of market research reports, custom research and consulting services to corporations, no-profit organizations and government institutions across the globe.The wide range of information is presented by a team of well-trained researchers of specific sectors through exhaustive research. We deliver premier market research services that cover all industry verticals, including chemicals and material, automotive, healthcare, electronics & semiconductor, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and technology and media.We believe in building an eternal bond with our clients through offering them inclusive research study meeting their specific requirements. Our services are tailored specifically to our clients by proposing them the potential outcome, based on our in-depth analysis and insights for exploring the growth strategies through providing the best possible decision for quality production.Contact UsFuture Genic ReportsUSA Office244, Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email: sales@futuregenicreports.comPyroxenite Market Growth to Be Fuelled by 2025

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pyroxenite-market.html

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=24923

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Pyroxenite is an ultrabasic rock that consists of minerals that belong to the pyroxenes group predominantly, ferromagnesian minerals other than olivine. Ferromagnesian minerals is a commercial source of magnesia coupled with silica, particularly used in metallurgy applications. Pyroxenite is used as a fluxing as well as sintering agent in blast furnace operations, particularly in the steel & iron industry. Pyroxenite offers several benefits over dolomite, which also is used as a fluxing agent in the steel manufacturing process.Read Report Overview @Pyroxenite aids in increasing the productivity of this process by 4%5% and helps in reducing the usage of dolomite. In addition, it helps in reducing the coke content, due to its high content of minerals such as magnesium oxide and silica content in an assimilated form. This further reduces the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Apart from the steel industry, pyroxenite is used in the construction industry, particularly for building the kitchen counter tops, interior decorations, and walls.Pyroxenite plays an important role in the steel & iron industry. Rise in demand for cutting the manufacturing costs and increasing the production capacity is the primary factor driving the pyroxenite market. Continuous focus on high-value steels provides the manufacturer with a competitive edge to opt for quality material. This further enhances the growth prospects of the pyroxenite market. Rising prices of raw materials, high production costs and increased mining activities are some of the factors hindering the growth of the market for pyroxenite. However, development of new products for faster execution in construction projects, recovery of the automotive steel sector, and focus on the new markets are factors anticipated to offer new opportunities for players operating in the pyroxenite market.Geographically, the global market for pyroxenite can be segregated into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe are expected to dominate the global pyroxenite market during the forecast period. In terms of production of steel, China is a leading market for pyroxenite, followed by Japan, the U.S., India, South Korea, and Germany. For the last few years, the market size of the steel & iron industry has been declining, due to over-production and price drop. This, in turn, is impacting the pyroxenite market as well. In terms of consumption of pyroxenite, China dominates the pyroxenite market in Asia Pacific, due to the rise in consumption of steel, particularly in the construction industry in the country.Furthermore, rising investments in the infrastructure and decreased dependence on industrial imports are factors fueling the pyroxenite demand in China. The demand for pyroxenite in the U.S., Germany, and France is also likely to increase in the next few years, due to rising demand for steel in automotive, pipelines, machinery & equipment, and motor industries in these countries. Steel manufacturers in developing economies in Latin America and Middle East & Africa are entering into partnerships to develop good-quality steel products that would meet the specific needs of different industrial applications.Request to view Sample Report:Major players operating in the global pyroxenite market are Tata Steel, Bharat Mining Company, Foskor (Pty) Ltd., and Vale SA.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Smart Parking Market 2018-2023 Global Key Players: Amano McGann, Smart Parking, IEM SA, IPS Group, Klaus Multiparking Systems, Omnitec group, Robert Bosch GmbH

Smart Parking Market 2018

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Smart Parking Market 2018Smart Parking Market Share, Size, Trends, And Business Opportunity Analysis Report 2018 include historic data, with forecast data to 2023. Smart Parking Market report is helpful for future strategy development, and to know about Market Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, And Global market size, share, Growth, Trends, key players forecast to 2023Global Smart Parking Market Information by Parking site (On-street, Off-street), by Solutions (Security & Surveillance, Valet & Parking Reservation and other) By Application (Transport Transit, Government, Commercial) - Forecast to 2023Get Sample Report of Smart Parking Market @This report has a complete understanding of market value and quantity, technological progress, macro-economic and governmental policy based on past and present data along with the current and upcoming trends in the market.This report provides valuable information for companies like manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, traders, customers, investors and individuals who have interests in this industry.Market Synopsis of Smart parking MarketThe growth in the Automobile Industry directly translates into increasing demand in the smart parking market. Smart parking systems enables individuals to save time and reduce traffic problems as well as improves the way people commute. Increasing number of automobile and lack of efficient parking management systems are some of the factors driving the demand for smart parking across the globe. These systems help in making the cities greener, cleaner, and technologically advanced by offering several opportunities for the reuse of commercial and municipal parking areas and garages. Moreover, cellphone-enabled automated solutions and low-cost sensors boosting the market for smart parking.However, the lack of awareness about the smart parking advantages especially in under-developed regions is projected to limit the growth opportunities. The lack of funding initiatives is further projected to hinder the industry growth for smart parking.Key PlayersThe key players in global smart parking market are Amano McGann, Inc. (U.S.), Smart Parking Limited (Australia), IEM SA (Switzerland), IPS Group Inc. (U.S.), Klaus Multiparking Systems (Germany), PArklayer (India), Omnitec group (UAE), Mindteck (India), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany) and Dongyang Menics Co., Ltd (South Korea)Smart Parking Global Market  OverviewThe world is facing increasing urbanization while technology has been incorporated by cities for many years. However, the pace at which this adoption takes place is increasing rapidly as disruptive digital technologies have the potential to solve major metropolitan challenges such as safe parking. Smart cities hold the promise to potentially make urban areas more efficient and more secure. Smart parking is the most adopted and fastest growing solution across the Airports, universities, shopping centers and city garages. The ability to connect, analyze and automate data gathered from devices, powered by and described as the Internet of Things, is what makes smart parking possible. It has the power to employ big number of small, cheap, and energy efficient sensors which collaboratively collect and process wide range of parameters such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, water quality, pollutants and many more in different industries.Global Smart Parking Market  SegmentationThe Global Smart Parking Market is segmented in to 3 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Parking Site : Comprises On-street and Off-streetSegmentation by Solutions : Comprises Security & Surveillance, Valet & Parking Reservation, and othersSegmentation by Application : Comprises transport transit, government, and commercialSegmentation by Regions : Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:Key strategies followed by most companies within the global Smart Parking market were merger & expansion.On September 2017, Amano McGann had partnered with ITR to expand its base in South Carolina to provide sales, services, and support in this region. The company has partnered with various companies to expand its base in different regions. On 22 May, 2017, Amano McGann, Inc. had partnered with PSX to provide sales, service, and support in Colorado. The partnership with Parking Panda will provide an unprecedented digital access to thousand of parking garages. The partnership with Aprica on 29th June, 2015, will provide EMV to parking payment system globally.On March 1, 2017, Smart Parking Limited has launched a new smartspot gateway solution to meet the needs of amrt city operators. It will provide a comprehensive information about the connection of smart vehicle parking sensors. On December 8th, 2016, Smart Parking Limited has expanded its services at Fistral Beach. Smart Parking Limited has been working with Fistral Beach operators in order to manage the site car parking. Smart Parking Limted has also expanded its base in Canberra in order to deliver SmartPark solution which will enable the drivers to identify the parking space on-site.On April 2016, IEM SA has launched Presto Park as its new brand for the user of on-street parking. It is installed with a set of unique portal with online services that will ease the life of drivers. The design of the product are made autonomous so as to reduce the energy consumption by the equipment.In January 2017, MIndteck became partner with CMMI Institute to provide organization with effective processing and improve their performance. In 2016, the company had expanded in Midwest so as to implement growth strategy in U.S. The company has also provided innovative smart parking solution to New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). This will expand its base in different region to cater different customers and clients.The report for Global Smart parking 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 Full Report on Smart Parking Market @Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology3 Market Dynamics4 Market, By Parking Site5 Market, By Solutions6 Market, By Application7 Regional Market Analysis8 Competition AnalysisContinued.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 9312sales@marketresearchfuture.comMarine Cargo Handling Market to Expand with Significant CAGR | 2025

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The marine cargo handling industry plays a vital role in the transfer of goods between the seller and buyer. However, more than 90% of the international trade being directed by sea. Cargo ships are types of ships or vessels that carry cargo, material, and goods from one place to the other. Various types of ships such as bulk container ships, rely primarily on shore-side cargo handling equipment to discharge or load their cargo. Marine cargo handling ships or containers are used to import or export various goods in inland waterways or oceans through national or international borders, wherein handling is carried out by the government or private port companies.Read Report Overview @Containers are the most preferred transported method of cargo form across globe, as they are transported by land, air, and water transportation systems. The cargo handling of the containers on ships becomes very dangerous, as they are exposed to strong wind and harsh weather in the sea. However, higher competition among marine cargo handling companies is estimated to put a downward pressure on prices. This is a major restraint for the expansion of the marine cargo handling market. Increasing demand for goods fuels the export and import of various goods internationally, via sea, land, or air. Transportation of goods internationally via ships is most economical, which in turn boosts the marine cargo handling market.In terms of type of cargo, the marine cargo handling market can be segmented into bulk, containerized, and break-bulk. Bulk cargo vessels range from 50,000 to 150,000 DWT, and are considered to be one of the bigger vessels. These vessels included ore carriers, bulk carriers, combination carriers, and timber carriers for dry bulk, oil, and ore. Break-bulk general cargo ships are self-sustaining in cargo handling, i.e. they do not require on-shore handling equipment.In terms of cargo equipment, the marine cargo handling market can be segmented into container handling crane, stackers-reclaimer, ship loader, ship unloader, forklift, specially designed truck, and passenger gangway. The container handling crane is specially designed crane to load and discharge containers from ships and to the ships.The global marine cargo handling market is anticipated to expand significantly due to increasing marine traffic. Emerging nations such as India, China, Brazil, and Russia are investing in new marine port construction. However, cargo operators are capitalizing on advanced technology equipment to reduce loading and discharging time and improve its operating efficiency. This is likely to boost the marine cargo handling market. However, stringent fuel consumption and emission regulations in the U.S. and Europe are replacing with hybrid and electric equipment by diesel-based equipment. This is also likely to fuel the marine cargo industries. Additionally, rising burden from increasing traffic at marine ports is expected to raise the demand for cargo handling equipment. High initial investment is required in order to install advanced cargo handling equipment, which is limiting the growth of hybrid and electric equipment, particularly in Asia Pacific. This may act as a restraint for the expansion of the marine cargo handling market.In terms of geography, the global marine cargo handling market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific is a key player in the global marine cargo handling industry. Asia Pacific is estimated to continue its dominance in the global marine cargo handling market due to the anticipated expansion of the end-use industries. Asia Pacific is followed by Europe and North America, in terms of market share. Ports on the east west and gulf coasts of the US contain public facilities governed by port authorities and private-held terminals. The west coast trade has accounted for more than 50% of the total container of water-borne trade in the U.S.Request to view Sample Report:Key players operating in the global marine cargo handling market include NEW LIGHT CARGO SYSTEM LLC, Holt Cargo Systems Inc., Cargo Express Inc., Shell Global, Blue Water Group LTD, and OCEANAIR CARGO 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:GPS Tracking Device Market is Projected to Reach at a CAGR of 13.0% by Regional Outlook, Segmentation, Trend, Share, Size, Application and Forecast to 2024

GPS Tracking Device Market  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024

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Global GPS Tracking Device Market accounted to USD 1.5 billion in 2016 growing at a CAGR of 13.0% 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.A GPS tracking unit is a device, normally carried by a moving vehicle or person, that uses the Global Positioning System to determine and track its precise location, and hence that of its carrier, at intervals. The latest trend in this market is growth in commercial vehicle leading to the growth of GPS system, they are in small in size, easy to carry, which may further develop the market in future. There is need of GPS tracking devices for several applications like Transportation & Logistics, Construction, Oil & Gas, Metals & Mining, Government; others will create a huge market for the GPS tracking devices.FREE | Sample Copy is Available@Global GPS Tracking Device Market By Type (Standalone Tracker, PBD Device, Advance Tracker) By Deployment type (Commercial Vehicle, Cargo and Container, Others), By Application (Transportation & Logistics, Construction, Oil & Gas, Metals & Mining, Government, Others) By Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa)  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Major Market Competitors: Calamp Corporation, Sierra Wireless, Inc., Orbocomm Inc., Queclink Wireless Solutions Co., Ltd, Shenzhen Concox Information Technology Co., Ltd, Laird PLC., Tomtom International Bv, MeitrackGroup, Teltonika UAB, Atrack Technology Inc., Trackimo LLC,Geotab Inc., Shenzhen Coban Electronics Co., Ltd, Xirgo Technologies, Inc., Maestro Wireless Solutions Ltd., Ruptela UAB, Spy tech, Inc., Verizon Wireless among others.In 2017, Volkswagen sign a deal with Sierra wireless Inc. to use the GPS tracking devices in their cars.Competitive Analysis:GPS Tracking Device Market is highly fragmented and is based on new product launches and clinical results of products. Hence the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, clinical trials, market initiatives, high expense on research and development, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of flow cytometry market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and South America.Major Market Drivers and Restraints: Commercial Vehicles increment leading to large supply of GPS system Smaller Size, Longer Life, and High ROI Low Prices Several Environmental Factors Leads to Poor User Experience Advancement in the SoftwareSpeak to our Expert for more Details @Some Major Countries Covered in This Report:- U.S., Canada, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil among others.In 2017, North America is expected to dominate the 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:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comAerospace Materials Market : Key Growth Factors and Forecast 2025

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Aerospace materials are generally metal alloys that have either gained prominence or have been developed for the aerospace industry. These materials should possess properties such as heat resistance, strength, and light weight. Furthermore, fatigue resistance and corrosion resistance are the must-have properties for these materials. Aluminum was the most widely used material during the early phase of the aerospace manufacturing industry due to its exceptional light weight, state of the art, and inexpensive nature. As much as 70% of the aircraft was made from aluminum. Its ready availability made it applicable everywhere from engine components to fuselage. Extensive research & development made opportunities for other alloys and composites that can be used as aerospace materials and are more efficient than aluminum. Other composites and alloys include graphite, titanium, fiberglass, honeycomb materials, and carbon fiber reinforced polymers.Read Report Overview @In terms of material type, the market for aerospace materials can be segmented into steel, aluminum, titanium, super, composites, and others. In terms of aircraft type, the market for aerospace materials can be segregated into helicopters, commercial aircrafts, business & general aviation, military aircrafts, and others.The market for aerospace materials is anticipated to witness robust expansion due to the increment in passenger transportation. Increased passenger transport is estimated to boost the demand for aircraft. This, in turn, is projected to inadvertently augment the expansion of the aerospace materials market during the forecast period. In terms of material type, aluminum alloys segment held a prominent share of the market in 2016. The segment is projected to witness robust expansion in the near future due to its exceptional fatigue resistance and strength. However, the evolution of composite materials and their increasing demand can act as a restraint for the expansion of the aluminum alloys segment of aerospace materials in the near future. In terms of aircraft type, the commercial aircraft segment held a significant share of the market in 2016. Increase in passenger transport is a key factor boosting the expansion of the commercial aircraft segment. Increasing air traffic is fueling the demand for commercial aircraft, which in turn is likely to propel the expansion of the aerospace materials market during the forecast period.In terms of geography, North America held a significant share of the aerospace materials market in 2016 and is anticipated to expand considerably in the near future. The market for aerospace materials is anticipated to expand in the region due to the significant investment in research & development by governments in the aerospace sector. Presence of key aircraft manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and others is a major factor that can propel the expansion of the market in North America in the near future.North America is followed by Asia Pacific in terms of share of the aerospace material market in 2016. Asia Pacific is witnessing considerable expansion in the aerospace sector, which is attributed to the booming aerospace industry in emerging economies such as India and China. Japan is considered to be an attractive market for aircraft manufacturers due to the easy availability of raw materials and cheap labor. Rising number of low cost carriers and increasing air traffic are key factors propelling the expansion of the aircraft manufacturing market, which in turn is estimated to boost the expansion of the aerospace materials market in the region.Request to view Sample Report:Key players operating in the aerospace materials market are Alcoa Corporation, Du Pont, Toray Industries, Inc., Teijin Limited, Constellium N.V., ATI Metals, and Cytec Solvay Group. Companies are adopting various strategies such joint ventures, acquisitions, and new product development to increase their presence in the 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.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 Market Study on Commercial Refrigeration Equipment: Food and Beverage Retail Segment Expected to be the Most Attractive Segment

MRRSE

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been acting as an impressive data source when it comes to evaluating various industrial verticals. The research report titled Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market offers a clear insight about the Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market assessed over the global platform. This analysis proves beneficial for readers & new investors who are aiming to enter the Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Market in the near future.Get Sample Report @Research presents a comprehensive forecast of the global commercial refrigeration equipment market in a newly published report. The report analyzes the global commercial refrigeration equipment market in terms of market value and volume and provides information on the key market dynamics, value chain analysis, competition landscape, pricing analysis and other qualitative analysis frameworks, including market attractiveness analysis, absolute $ opportunity analysis and Y-o-Y growth comparison by segments in order to support stakeholders for decision making and market analysis.To assess market opportunities and present a clear picture of the global commercial refrigeration equipment market performance, the report is categorically split into three sections  By Product Type, By Application, and By Region. The report begins with an overview of the global commercial refrigeration equipment market followed by a detailed analysis of drivers, restraints, and trends influencing the market. The subsequent sections include a comprehensive market analysis of the global commercial refrigeration equipment market by product type, application, and region and sets the forecast within the context of the global commercial refrigeration equipment market. This study further discusses key regional trends contributing to the growth of the global commercial refrigeration equipment market and analyzes the degree to which drivers are influencing the markets in each region.The final section of the report includes the global commercial refrigeration equipment market competitive landscape to provide report audiences with a dashboard view of leading companies operating in the global commercial refrigeration equipment market. The report highlights recent developments, strategy, and SWOT analysis of key market players active in the global commercial refrigeration equipment market. Some of the market players featured in the report are Standex International Corporation, Lennox International Inc., Daikin Industries Ltd., Illinois Tool Works Inc., AHT Cooling Systems GmbH, Whirlpool Corporation, United Technologies Corporation, Manitowoc Company, Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Qingdao Haier Co. Ltd., Fujimak Corporation, Hoshizaki Corporation, Electrolux AB, Dover Corporation, Ingersoll-Rand PLC.Research methodologyThe report considers various aspects based on extensive secondary research to deduce the market size of the global commercial refrigeration equipment market. Furthermore, key data points such as region-wise split and market split by product type and region; and qualitative inputs from primary respondents have been incorporated to arrive at appropriate market estimates. The forecast presented in the report assesses the total revenue generated and expected revenue contribution in the global commercial refrigeration equipment market.The report begins with sizing the market in terms of value and volume for the base year, which forms the basis for forecasting how the market is anticipated to take shape in the near future. Given the characteristics of the market, gathered data is triangulated via different analysis based on supply side and demand side drivers and other key dynamics of the global commercial refrigeration equipment market. To develop the market forecast, Persistence Market Research has also conducted a factor analysis to understand the impact of various forces/factors on the target market. The report provides forecasts not only in terms of CAGR but also presents a detailed analysis based on key parameters such as Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth to understand market predictability and to identify the right opportunities in the global commercial refrigeration equipment market.Access Complete Report @Another key feature of this report is an analysis of the global commercial refrigeration equipment market and the corresponding revenue forecast in terms of absolute dollar opportunity, usually overlooked while forecasting the market. However, absolute dollar opportunity is critical in assessing the level of opportunity that a provider can look to achieve, as well as to identify potential resources from a sales and delivery perspective in the global commercial refrigeration equipment market. Also, to understand key segments in terms of their growth in the global commercial refrigeration equipment market and to determine overall market performance, Persistence Market Research has developed a market attractiveness index to help providers identify existing market opportunities in the global commercial refrigeration equipment market.About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comPolymer Stabilizer Global Market Top Key Players  Akzo Nobel , BASF , Clariant , Evonik Industries , Solvay , SONGWON and Forecast to 2022

Polymer Stabilizer Market

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Global Polymer Stabilizer MarketWiseGuyRerports.com Presents Global Polymer Stabilizer Market 2018-2022 New Document to its Studies Database. The Report Contain 133 Pages With Detailed Analysis.DescriptionPolymer stabilizers are chemicals that are used as additives to manufacture plastic products. They are used directly or in combinations with other chemicals to prevent oxidation, uncontrolled recombination, chain scission, and crosslinking reactions.The analysts forecast the global polymer stabilizer market to grow at a CAGR of 5.07% during the period 2017-2022.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global polymer stabilizer market for 2018-2022. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of polymer stabilizers by type (heat stabilizer, antioxidants, light stabilizer, and others), end-user (packaging, automotive, building and construction, consumer goods, and others), and region (APAC, EMEA, and the Americas).Get sample Report @The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC EMEAThe Global Polymer Stabilizer Market 2018-2022, 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 Akzo Nobel BASF Clariant Evonik Industries Solvay SONGWONMarket driver Increasing demand for light stabilizers in polymers and plastics For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Increasing prices of polymer stabilizer affecting market growth For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Increasing demand for lightweight plastic products in automotive applications For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2022 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Complete Report Details @Table of Contents -Major Key PointsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: RESEARCH METHODOLOGYPART 04: INTRODUCTIONMarket outlinePART 05: MARKET LANDSCAPEMarket ecosystemMarket characteristicsMarket segmentation analysisPART 06: MARKET SIZINGMarket definitionMarket sizing 2017Market size and forecast 2017-2022PART 07: FIVE FORCES ANALYSISBargaining power of buyersBargaining power of suppliersThreat of new entrantsThreat of substitutesThreat of rivalryMarket conditionPART 08: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY TYPESegmentation by typeComparison by typeGlobal polymer stabilizer market by heat stabilizers  Market size and forecast 2017-2022Global polymer stabilizer market by antioxidants 2017-2022Global polymer stabilizer market by light stabilizer  Market size and forecast 2017-2022Global polymer stabilizer market by others  Market size and forecast 2017-2022Market opportunity by typePART 09: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPEPART 10: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY END-USERSegmentation by end-userComparison by end-userGlobal polymer stabilizer market by packaging 2017-2022Global polymer stabilizer market by automotive 2017-2022Global polymer stabilizer market by building and construction 2017-2022Global polymer stabilizer market by consumer goods 2017-2022Global polymer stabilizer market by others 2017-2022Market opportunity by end-userPART 11: REGIONAL LANDSCAPEGeographical segmentationRegional comparisonPolymer stabilizer market in APAC  Market size and forecast 2017-2022Polymer stabilizer market in EMEA  Market size and forecast 2017-2022Polymer stabilizer market in Americas  Market size and forecast 2017-2022Key leading countriesMarket opportunityPART 12: DECISION FRAMEWORKPART 13: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGESMarket driversMarket challengesPART 14: MARKET TRENDS New product developmentsIncreasing demand for lightweight plastic products in automotive applicationsPART 15: VENDOR LANDSCAPEOverviewLandscape disruptionCompetitive scenarioMajor market vendors..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)Small Wind Power Industry 2018 Production, Segmentation, Consumption and Forecast to 2023

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Report DescriptionIntroductionThe world economy continues to experience intense growth and restructuring. Natural resources are diminishing at alarming rates and irretrievable destruction is being done to the environment. Fossil fuels remain in high demand as their accessibility decreases and the environmental concerns rise. It is projected that the small wind power market will grow at a promising pace in the forecast period. Small wind power is among the cleaner power generation technologies, and it has the least negative impact on the environment. Small wind turbines have the capacity up to 100 KW. These turbines have numerous applications in residential, commercial, providers, farms, and small industrial facilities.GET SAMPLE REPORT @One of the major drivers for the growth of small wind power market, is the government initiatives and policies, which play a major role. In Japan and EU countries, policies such as feed-in tariffs, net metering, tax credits, and capital subsidies are the key energy policies geared precisely towards small wind. The small wind power sector has been promoted, particularly from the growing global trend of feed-in tariffs (FITs). For instance, Denmark is preparing for the introduction of a feed-in tariff (FIT) for small wind turbines. The planned remuneration is 0.33 euros per Kilowatthour (kWh) for units up to 10 Kilowatt (kW) and 0.20 euros/kWh for up to 25 kW. Such supportive policies, will allow the small wind sector to grow substantially.For the purpose of study, small wind power market has been segmented into grid connectivity, axis, and region. On the basis of grid connectivity, Off-Grid accounted for the largest market share and is projected to have the highest CAGR of 14.06% during the forecast period. An off-grid solution works individually and is not coupled with the electricity distribution system. On the basis of axis, Horizontal Axis accounted for the largest market share and is projected to have a CAGR of 13.03% during the forecast period. Vertical axis turbines are primarily powered by wind coming from all directions. These turbines are largely applied for urban and low noisy area.Key PlayersSome of the key players of global small wind power market are Kingspan Group Plc. (Ireland), Northern Power Systems Corp. (U.S.), Bergey Wind Power Co. Inc. (U.S.), Ennera Energy and Mobility, S.L. (Spain), and Eocycle Technologies Inc. (Canada). Shanghai Ghrepower Green Energy Co., Ltd (China), Guangzhou HY Energy Technology Co., Ltd (China), XZERES Wind Corporation (U.S.), Endurance Wind Power Inc. (Canada), Aeolos Wind Energy Ltd (U.K.), and City Windmills Holdings PLC (U.K.) are among others.Objective of Global Small Wind Power Market Analysis & Forecast, from 2017 to 2023 To provide detailed analysis of the market structure, along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments included in global small wind power market (for the next five to ten years), with the analysis of its development and demand in the market To identify high growth regions and countries To study regional and country-specific demand and forecast for global small wind power market To cover the key segments of grid connectivity, axis, and region. To finalize unit breakdown for all different classifications required for forecasting, considering various factors To identify forecast demand for all probable segments for all the regions, and to collect the historical figure, data through primary and annual reports to derive the regional and country level market size To identify historical trends to forecast and estimate the future value dataTarget Audience Manufactures Wind farm owners, operators, and developers Research Institutes & education institute Potential investors Government agencies Electric utilities Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerKey Findings Global small wind power market is expected to reach USD 8,601.9 million by 2023. By grid connectivity, Off-Grid accounted for the largest market share of 63.84% in 2016, with a market value of USD 2,224.9 million and is projected to have the highest CAGR of 14.06% during the forecast period. By Axis, Horizontal Axis accounted for the largest market share of 65.07% in 2016, with a market value of USD 2,267.9 million and is projected to have a CAGR of 13.03% during the forecast period. Based on region. Europe accounted for the largest market share of 41.32% in 2016, with a market value of USD 1,440.2 million and is projected to have a CAGR of 13.98% during the forecast period.Regional and Country Analysis of Global Small Wind Power Market Estimation and ForecastGeographically, the global small wind power market has been divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific region holds the largest market share in small wind power market. In European Union, the small wind power boom is part of a wider move from fossil fuels to renewable energy. European governments have supported small wind projects with positive incentives as part of their carbon emission reduction goals. The recorded small wind capacity, installed in Europe had been above 272.6 MW by the end of 2015. U.K. leads the market, with 15% of global installed capacity, in 2015.Americas is the second largest market for the small wind power in 2016. According to Department of Energy report 2015 on Wind Energy, 80% of small wind turbines that are manufactured in the country are being exported to Europe. U.S. is the largest market in Americas region for small wind power. In terms of installed capacity, it was the second largest country, across the globe, with installed capacity of 230.4 MW with total cumulative units installed of 160,995, by the end of 2015.Table of Content: Key Points1 Executive Summary2 Market Introduction3 Research Methodology4 Market Dynamics5 Market Factor Analysis6 Global Small Wind Power Market: Industry OverviewContinuedACCESS 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Aquaculture Healthcare Market: Global Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2012 to 2016 and Forecast 2017 to 2023

Aquaculture Healthcare Market

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Global Aquaculture Healthcare Market: By Product Type (Drugs, Feed Products),By Species (Salmon, Sturgeon, Turbot, Carp, Sea bass, Trout, Others), By Disease Type (Viral Infections, Bacterial Infections, Parasitic Infection, Fungal Infections), By Route of Administration (Oral, Parenteral, Immersion, Spray), By Distribution Channel(Veterinary Hospitals, Veterinary Pharmacies, Online Pharmacies),and Geography Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2023Market Outline: Aquaculture Healthcare MarketAquaculture refers to the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of aquatic organisms such as aquatic plants, fishes, and other animals in the lakes, ponds, rivers, and oceans. Aquaculture healthcare is considered as an essential part to prevent or cure the various diseases such as injuries, parasitic diseases, bacterial, viral, and fungal infections among others. Aquaculture healthcare is an essential part of the herd management to reduce the loss of aquatic products due to various diseases.A sample of this report is available upon request @Market Dynamics: Aquaculture Healthcare MarketDrivers Increase in the aquaculture farming and rise in demand for healthy aquatic food products around the world Increase in the R&D activities and government support for the development of newer diagnostic tests and therapeutics for aquaculture Rise in prevalence of various diseases due to rise in water pollutionRestraints Stringent regulations for the approval of newer therapeutics Lack of knowledge about aquatic animal diseases in veterinary professionals Adverse effects associated with the drugs and vaccinesTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Market Scope: Aquaculture Healthcare MarketGlobal aquaculture healthcare market is segmented on the basis of product type, species type, disease type, route of administration, and distribution channel, and regionBased on the product type, aquaculture healthcare market is segmented into the following: Drugso Vaccineso Antibioticso Antifungalso Parasiticideso Anti-Viral Drugso Others Feed Productso Nutritional Feedo Medicated Feedo Non-Medicated FeedBased on the species type, aquaculture healthcare market is segmented into the following: Salmon Sturgeon Turbot Carp Seabass Trout OthersBased on the disease type, aquaculture healthcare market is segmented into the following: Viral Infections Bacterial Infections Parasitic Infection Fungal InfectionsBased on the route of administration, aquaculture healthcare market is segmented into the following: Oral Parenteral Immersion SprayBased on the distribution channel, aquaculture healthcare market is segmented into the following: Veterinary Hospitals Veterinary Pharmacies Online PharmaciesBased on the region, aquaculture healthcare market is segmented into the following: North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East and AfricaNeed more information about this report @Competition Assessment: Aquaculture Healthcare MarketSome of the players in the global aquaculture healthcare market include: Zoetis (Pfizer, Inc.) (U.S.) Archer Daniels Midland Company (U.S.) Virbac S.A. (France) Merck & Co. Inc. (U.S) Bayer Animal Health (Germany) Elanco (U.S.) Alltech (U.S.) Benchmark Holdings Plc. (U.K.)Key Features of the Report: The report provides granular level information about the market size, regional market share, historic market (2012-2016) and forecast (2017-2023) The report covers in-detail insights about the competitors overview, company share analysis, key marketdevelopments, and their key strategies The report outlines drivers, restraints, unmet needs, and trends that are currently affecting the market The report tracks recent innovations, key developments and startups details that are actively working in the market The report provides plethora of information about market entry strategies and regulatory framework The report analyses the impact of socio-political environment through PESTLE Analysis and competition through Porters Five Force Analysis in addition to recent technology advancements and innovations in the marketGet 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 @Global Tele radiology Market Scenario Focusing on Improvements Shaping Industry Growth

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been acting as an impressive data source when it comes to evaluating various industrial verticals. The research report titled Teleradiology Market offers a clear insight about the Teleradiology Market assessed over the global platform. This analysis proves beneficial for readers & new investors who are aiming to enter the Teleradiology Market in the near future.Get Free Sample report @The highly fragmented market for teleradiology features the presence of a large number of regional players, with the exception of some large companies with international presence, such as vRad, Inc., Radiology Reporting Online, and USA Rad. North America and Europe, the regions with some of the largest vendors in the global teleradiology market, will be the key enablers of teleradiology practices across the world and play a central role in the overall development of the global market.Acquisitions of small, regional players, and long-term contracts with remotely located community hospitals and other healthcare service providers, especially across emerging markets such as Asia Pacific and Latin America, will allow teleradiology companies to expand their global footprint. Although less in number than in the European market, teleradiology companies in North America will contribute the largest share in the overall revenues of the global teleradiology market from 2015 through 2023, thanks to their global presence.Rise in Healthcare Expenditure and Improved Healthcare Infrastructure to Enable Widespread Adoption of TeleradiologyThe vast improvement in telecommunication networks, enhanced data transfer speeds, and improved digital infrastructure of remote parts of the world has revolutionized the global teleradiology market in the past few years. In the next few years as well, developments across the data transmission field will be prove to be a major driver of the global teleradiology market, allowing its evolution from an ancillary radiology discipline to a mainstream practice.Radiology is a cost-intensive diagnostic modality owing to the high prices of the technologically advanced medical imaging machines central to the field. This factor, in combination with the factor of unavailability of broadband networks in urban dwellings has remained one of the toughest challenges for the teleradiology market in the past years. However, substantial rise in healthcare expenditures and widened broadband networks in the past few years have enabled the widespread expansion of teleradiology practices on a global front. These factors have especially allowed the teleradiology market in extending its reach to emerging economies such as Latin America and Asia Pacific, considered to be the regional markets with the most lucrative growth opportunities.Asia Pacific to Provide Most Attractive Growth OpportunitiesNorth America is currently the leading regional market for teleradiology and is expected to provide considerable growth opportunities over the next few years as well. The market in the region will be driven by the digitally advanced healthcare infrastructures, integration of teleradiology services in the workflow of a vast number of medical imaging service providers, and high healthcare awareness among the population. The rising prevalence of a number of cancers in the region has also led to an increased need for effective teleradiology services in the region.Nevertheless, Asia Pacific will provide the most lucrative growth opportunities for the global teleradiology market in the coming years. Factors fueling demand for teleradiology services in the region will be the rising expenditure on health and wellbeing, improving healthcare infrastructure, and widening network of high-speed broadband services.The global teleradiology market is expected to expand at a favorable 11.3% CAGR over the period between 2015 and 2023, and rise from a valuation of US$1,354.6 mn in 2014 to US$3,632.6 mn in 2023.A detailed qualitative analysis of factors responsible for driving and restraining the market growth and future opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. This section of the report also provides with market attractiveness analysis, and a heat map analysis providing a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global teleradiology market.Access Complete Report @A list of recommendations has been provided for new entrants as well as existing market players to assist them in taking strategic initiatives to establish a strong presence in the market. The report also profiles major players in the market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, and recent developments. The global teleradiology market is highly fragmented with most of the private companies operating in this space. Majority of firms operating in the region are local, except for a few companies such as vRad, Inc., USA Rad, which have international presence. Some of the key players in the global teleradiology market include Agfa-Gevaert N.V., Cybernet Medical Corporation, Everlight Radiology, Global Diagnostics Ltd., InHealth, Medica Reporting Ltd., ONRAD, Inc., Radisphere National Radiology Group, Inc., Radiology Reporting Online (RRO), RamSoft, Inc., Sectra AB, Telemedicine Clinic, Teleradiology Solutions, Inc., TeleDiagnosys Services Pvt Ltd., The Telelaudo, Virtual Radiologic and (vRad).The global teleradiology market has been segmented as follows:Teleradiology Market, by ModalityX-RayUltrasoundComputed TomographyMagnetic Resonance ImagingNuclear ImagingAbout Market Research Reports Search Engine (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.comGlobal 1,2-Hexanediol Market 2018 - Ube Industries, BASF, Sami Labs Limited

Global 1,2-Hexanediol Market

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Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the 1,2-Hexanediol Market across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of 1,2-Hexanediol 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 PP Pipe industry, and estimates the future trend of 1,2-Hexanediol on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares 1,2-Hexanediol performance both in terms of volume and revenue.The market research report explores the 1,2-Hexanediol Market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of 1,2-Hexanediol 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 1,2-Hexanediol Market based on major product types, application and end users industries of 1,2-Hexanediol. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for 1,2-Hexanediol Market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportUbe IndustriesBASFSami Labs LimitedHuber Research GroupSabinsa CorporationEvonik Degussa GmbHJonas Chemical CorporationDalian Synco ChemicalShouguang Tai Fine ChemicalJiaxing Buyun Fuxin Chemical FactoryDiscovery Fine Chemicals Ltd.The competitive landscape of the global market for 1,2-Hexanediol is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, 1,2-Hexanediol Markets production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the 1,2-Hexanediol Market globally.Inquire Before Buying @The Global 1,2-Hexanediol Market 2018 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, 1,2-Hexanediol production volume, data pertaining to demand and 1,2-Hexanediol supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of 1,2-Hexanediol 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 1,2-Hexanediol 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 -Automotive Connectors Market 2018-2022 Global Key Players: TE Connectivity, Delphi Automotive, Yazaki, Sumitomo Electric, Japan Aviation Electronics, Amphenol

Automotive Connectors Market 2018

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Automotive Connectors Market 2018Automotive Connectors Market Share, Size, Trends, And Business Opportunity Analysis Report 2018 include historic data, with forecast data to 2022. Automotive Connectors Market report is helpful for future strategy development, and to know about Market Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, And Global market size, share, Growth, Trends, key players forecast to 2022Global Automotive Connectors Market Information Report by Connection Type (Wire to Wire, Wire to Board, Board to Board), by System Type (Sealed, Unsealed), by Application (Body Control & Interiors, Engine Control & Cooling System and others) and by Region - Global Forecast to 2022Market ScenarioConnectors are electromechanical components essential for connecting electrical circuits together. In automotive industry, the connectors are used in the automotive-oriented equipment to connect electrical devices and wires.The global automotive connectors market is majorly driven by rise in the security needs in the automobile. Connectors are used in a majority of security systems in automobiles. With the increase in theft of automobiles, there is an increased need of security systems in the automotive, which further leads to the growth of the automotive connectors market. With the booming smart car industry, the use of connectors in the smart cars is increasing. This leads to the growth of the automotive connectors market. The increase in electrification in the vehicles is also expected to drive the demand of the automotive connectors market in the region.Get Sample Report@Key PlayersThe key players of Automotive connectors market are TE Connectivity (Switzerland), Delphi Automotive (U.K.), Yazaki Corporation (Japan), Sumitomo Electric (Japan), Japan Aviation Electronics Industry (Japan), Amphenol Corporation (U.S.), Hirose Electric Co., Ltd. (Japan), Hu Lane Associates Inc. (Taiwan), Korea Electric Terminal Co. Ltd. (South Korea), Kyocera Corporation (Japan) and others.Intended AudienceAutomotive connectors manufacturersDistributer & Supplier companiesEnd Usersconsultants and Investment bankersGovernment as well as Independent Regulatory AuthoritiesProduct AnalysisProduct matrix which gives a detailed comparison of the market for different recycled product typesAdditional InformationRegulatory LandscapePricing AnalysisMacroeconomic IndicatorsGeographic AnalysisGeographical analysis across 15 countriesCompany InformationProfiling of 10 key market playersIn-depth analysis including SWOT analysis, and strategy information of related to report titleCompetitive landscape including emerging trends adopted by major companiesRegional Analysis of Automotive Connectors MarketAsia-Pacific is expected to dominate the global automotive connectors market due the boom in manufacturing of vehicles in developing nations such as India and china and the evolution of concept & increase in manufacturing of electric vehicles. In Europe region, the rise in strict government regulations for the safety of automotive and passengers and the increase in safety concerns amongst the consumers is contributing to the growth of the automotive connectors market in the Europe region.The report for Automotive Connectors 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.Get Complete Report Details of @Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology3 Market Dynamics4 Global Automotive Connectors Market, By Connection Type5 Global Automotive Connectors Market, By System Type6 Global Automotive Connectors Market, By Application7 Regional Market Analysis8 Competitive AnalysisLIST OF TABLESTABLE 1 GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTORS MARKET, BY CONNECTION TYPETABLE 2 GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTORS MARKET, BY SYSTEM TYPETABLE 3 GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTORS MARKET, BY APPLICATIONTABLE 4 GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTORS MARKET, BY REGIONSTABLE 5 NORTH AMERICA AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTORS MARKET, BY CONNECTION TYPE..LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 1 RESEARCH SYSTEM TYPEFIGURE 2 GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTORS MARKET: BY CONNECTION TYPE (%)FIGURE 3 GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTORS MARKET: BY SYSTEM TYPE (%)FIGURE 4 GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTORS MARKET: BY APPLICATION (%)FIGURE 5 GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTORS MARKET: BY REGIONContinued.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 9312sales@marketresearchfuture.comMonochloroacetic Acid (MCAA) Market to grow with a CAGR of approximately 4% by 2024.

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The monochloroacetic acid market products are in a form of dry powder, liquid and pellets. The products have various application in the end-user industry such as personal care, oil & drilling, textiles, pharmaceutical and textiles." Monochloroacetic Acid (MCAA) Market size will surpass USD 1.2 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Monochloroacetic acid chemical compound is primarily used for producing carboxymethyl cellulosics. Growing demand for carboxymethyl cellulosics in oil drilling activities, is increasing the market growth for monochloroacetic acid. Carboxymethyl cellulosics several applications in food industry for the purpose of thickening, modifying viscosity, and emulsifying stabilizer is driving the monochloroacetic acid (MCAA) market growth.Further cellulosics is also used as food additives and in various ice-creams products with wide range of application in items other than food such as paper products, detergents, textile sizing, toothpastes, and paints will likely to foster (MCAA) market growth.Rapidly growing application in end-user industries such as pharmaceutical, paper, textiles, personal care, food & beverages and oil & gas is fueling the market growth. Growth in textile and food industry owing to shift in consumer fashion trend and consumption pattern towards packaged food products respectively is boosting the monochloroacetic acid market in the forecast timespan.Request for Sample Copy of this Report@Ethanol and ascetic acid are major component for producing monochloroacetic acid, these component are derived from crude oil. Fluctuation in crude oil prices owing to lower demand and greater supply of oil will adversely affect the manufacturing prices of the Monochloroacetic acid. This factor may pose as a challenge for the growing MCAA market in forecast period.Among the two processes, chlorination process holds significant share of the monochloroacetic acid market. This includes adding up of chlorine in the process for killing particular bacteria and other microbes. Prominent companies use the chlorination process for manufacturing their product.The major application for this market are surfactants, cellulosics, agrochemical and thioglycolic acid(TGA). There is a substantial demand for cellulosics in the market which will promote growth at the rate of 4.5% over the forecast period. The market will be dominated by surfactants segment owing to increasing application in personal care and household products. Moreover, surfactants segment is projected to cross USD 175 million by 2024.Browse key industry insights from the report, Monochloroacetic Acid Market in detail along with the table of contents:Asia Pacific region is likely to hold 60% share of the global monochloroacetic acid market by 2024. This region is dominated by China, Indonesia, India and Vietnam which supports various application of the product in the end-user industry such as pharmaceutical, textile and personal care industries. Further, North America market will witness an increase by CAGR of 2.5% owing to development of pharmaceutical industry.The leading companies in monochloroacetic acid market are S.R. Drugs, Denak, CABB GmbH, Swati Chemical, AkzoNobel, Niacet, PCC SE, Xuchang Dongfang, Shiv Chem, Shandong Minji, JUBILANT, Daicel, Abhishek Impex, Merck KGaA, Alfa Aesar, , Anugrah and Dow Chemical.Request for Inquiry before buying this Report @Monochloroacetic Acid (MCAA) market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD million from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments:Monochloroacetic Acid (MCAA) Market by Processo Chlorinationo HydrolysisMonochloroacetic Acid (MCAA) Market by Producto Dry Powdero Liquido PelletsMonochloroacetic Acid (MCAA) Market by Applicationo Cellulosics,o Agrochemicals,o Surfactants,o Thioglycolic Acid (TGA)o OthersThe above information is provided on a regional and country basis for the following:o North America? U.S.? Canadao Europe? Germany? UK? France? Spain? Italyo Asia Pacific? China? India? Japan? Australia? Indonesia? Malaysiao Latin America? Brazil? Mexicoo MEA? South Africa? GCC?Report ContentChapter 7. Monochloroacetic Acid (MCAA) Market, By Region7.1. Global MCAA market share by region, 2016 & 20247.2. North America7.2.1. North America market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.2.2. North America market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.2.3. North America market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.2.4. North America market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.2.5. U.S.7.2.5.1. U.S market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.2.5.2. U.S. market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.2.5.3. U.S. market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.2.5.4. U.S. market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.2.6. Canada7.2.6.1. Canada market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.2.6.2. Canada market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.2.6.3. Canada market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.2.6.4. Canada market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.3. Europe7.3.1. Europe market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.3.2. Europe market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.3.3. Europe market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.3.4. Europe market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.3.5. Germany7.3.5.1. Germany market estimates and forecast, 2013  20247.3.5.2. Germany market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.3.5.3. Germany market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.3.5.4. Germany market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.3.6. UK7.3.6.1. UK market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.3.6.2. UK market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.3.6.3. UK market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.3.6.4. UK market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.3.7. France7.3.7.1. France market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.3.7.2. France market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.3.7.3. France market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.3.7.4. France market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.3.8. Spain7.3.8.1. Spain market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.3.8.2. Spain market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.3.8.3. Spain market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.3.8.4. Spain market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.3.9. Italy7.3.9.1. Italy market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.3.9.2. Italy market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.3.9.3. Italy market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.3.9.4. Italy market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.4. Asia Pacific7.4.1. Asia Pacific market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.4.2. Asia Pacific market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.4.3. Asia Pacific market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.4.4. Asia Pacific market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.4.5. China7.4.5.1. China market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.4.5.2. China market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.4.5.3. China market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.4.5.4. China market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.4.6. India7.4.6.1. India market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.4.6.2. India market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.4.6.3. India market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.4.6.4. India market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.4.7. Japan7.4.7.1. Japan market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.4.7.2. Japan market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.4.7.3. Japan market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.4.7.4. Japan market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.4.8. Australia7.4.8.1. Australia market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.4.8.2. Australia market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.4.8.3. Australia market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.4.8.4. Australia market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.4.9. Indonesia7.4.9.1. Indonesia market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.4.9.2. Indonesia market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.4.9.3. Indonesia market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.4.9.4. Indonesia market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.4.10. Malaysia7.4.10.1. Malaysia market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.4.10.2. Malaysia market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.4.10.3. Malaysia market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.4.10.4. Malaysia market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.5. Latin America (LATAM)7.5.1. LATAM market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.5.2. LATAM Market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.5.3. LATAM Market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.5.4. LATAM Market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.5.5. Brazil7.5.5.1. Brazil market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.5.5.2. Brazil market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.5.5.3. Brazil market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.5.5.4. Brazil market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.5.6. Mexico7.5.6.1. Mexico market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.5.6.2. Mexico market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.5.6.3. Mexico market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.5.6.4. Mexico market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.6. Middle East & Africa (MEA)7.6.1. MEA market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.6.2. MEA market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.6.3. MEA market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.6.4. MEA market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.6.5. South Africa7.6.5.1. South Africa market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.6.5.2. South Africa market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.6.5.3. South Africa market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.6.5.4. South Africa market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  20247.6.6. GCC7.6.6.1. GCC market estimates and forecast, 2013 - 20247.6.6.2. GCC market estimates and forecasts by process, 2013  20247.6.6.3. GCC market estimates and forecasts by product, 2013  20247.6.6.4. GCC market estimates and forecasts by application, 2013  2024Chapter 8. Company Profiles8.1. AkzoNobel N.V.8.1.1. Business overview8.1.2. Financial data8.1.3. Product landscape8.1.4. SWOT analysis8.1.5. Strategic outlook8.2. CABB GmbH8.2.1. Business overview8.2.2. Financial data8.2.3. Product landscape8.2.4. SWOT analysis8.2.5. Strategic outlook8.3. Daicel Corporation8.3.1. Business overview8.3.2. Financial data8.3.3. Product landscape8.3.4. SWOT analysis8.3.5. Strategic outlook8.4. Denak Co., Ltd8.4.1. Business overview8.4.2. Financial data8.4.3. Product landscape8.4.4. SWOT analysis8.4.5. Strategic outlook8.5. The Dow Chemical Company8.5.1. Business overview8.5.2. Financial data8.5.3. Product landscape8.5.4. SWOT analysis8.5.5. Strategic outlook8.6. PCC SE8.6.1. Business overview8.6.2. Financial data8.6.3. Product landscape8.6.4. SWOT analysis8.6.5. Strategic outlook8.7. Niacet Corporation8.7.1. Business overview8.7.2. Financial data8.7.3. Product landscape8.7.4. SWOT analysis8.7.5. Strategic outlook8.8. Xuchang Dongfang Chemical Co. Ltd.8.8.1. Business overview8.8.2. Financial data8.8.3. Product landscape8.8.4. SWOT analysis8.8.5. Strategic outlook8.9. Shandong Minji Chemical Co., Ltd.8.9.1. Business overview8.9.2. Financial data8.9.3. Product landscape8.9.4. SWOT analysis8.9.5. Strategic outlook8.10. Shiv Chem Industries8.10.1. Business overview8.10.2. Financial data8.10.3. Product landscape8.10.4. SWOT analysis8.10.5. Strategic outlook8.11. Abhishek Impex8.11.1. Business overview8.11.2. Financial data8.11.3. Product landscape8.11.4. SWOT analysis8.11.5. Strategic outlook8.12. Merck KGaA8.12.1. Business overview8.12.2. Financial data8.12.3. Product landscape8.12.4. SWOT analysis8.12.5. Strategic outlook8.13. Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd.8.13.1. Business overview8.13.2. Financial data8.13.3. Product landscape8.13.4. SWOT analysis8.13.5. Strategic outlook8.14. Alfa Aesar8.14.1. Business overview8.14.2. Financial data8.14.3. Product landscape8.14.4. SWOT analysis8.14.5. Strategic outlook8.15. Anugrah In-Org(P) Limited.8.15.1. Business overview8.15.2. Financial data8.15.3. Product landscape8.15.4. SWOT analysis8.15.5. Strategic outlook8.16. S.R.Drugs and Intermediates Pvt. Ltd.8.16.1. Business overview8.16.2. Financial data8.16.3. Product landscape8.16.4. SWOT analysis8.16.5. Strategic outlook8.17. Swati Chemical Industries8.17.1. Business overview8.17.2. Financial data8.17.3. Product landscape8.17.4. SWOT analysis8.17.5. Strategic outlookBrowse full Table of Content @About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnologyContact UsArun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1 888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Go Rugged with South Africas Leading Supplier of Heavy-Duty Devices

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There are several disadvantages of using regular smartphones. Although regular phones are good for mundane operations, they are not suitable for heavy-duty applications. Most smartphones tend to break if they fall from great a height. Ordinary devices are prone to damages, as they are brittle and cannot operate in rough external conditions. Rugged Mobile understands the necessity of heavy-duty handhelds. Its extensive range of rugged devices is designed with durable materials to extend unprecedented strength and support.All its rugged computers come with ultra-tough exteriors which can withstand severe shock and tough industrial circumstances. This is why rugged devices are apt for a number of industrial applications, from mining, construction to field research.Some Benefits of Rugged HandheldsApart from high durability, rugged devices are recognised for a host of advantages.To begin with, rugged devices can function in all types of exposed working conditions, as all the products are rigorously tested according to military standards. Some of the parameters on which rugged handhelds are tested include temperature range, MIL-STD and IP rating.Due to the rugged quality of the devices, rugged handhelds are immune to ballistic shocks and extreme temperatures.Rugged devices come in various forms, as tablets, notebooks, mobile phones and handhelds, serving myriads of functions, from scanning, collecting data, crunching numbers, browsing graphics to mobile ticketing.Some devices have barcode scanning facilities and are suitable for logistical operations.Most of the rugged devices come with one or more 2500mAH batteries, allowing users to use the device for a long period of time.Products on OfferJagged in appearance and available with easy-to-use interfaces, Rugged Mobiles impressive range of heavy-duty products have a number of pronounced advantages over regular smart devices, which are incompetent for rough operations. Some of its key products are listed below:Algiz 8XAlgiz RT7Algiz 7Algiz 10XNautiz X1Nautiz X2NAUTIZ X4Nautiz X8Nautiz eTicket Pro IIFor more information about Rugged Mobile, visit their official website:About Rugged MobileBased in Johannesburg, Rugged Mobile is South Africas leading destination for heavy-duty appliances. Its impressive range of rugged devices, which includes various types of mobile phones, notebooks, tablets and handhelds, is one-of-its-kind, boasting a number of advantages. Operational in extreme conditions, Rugged Mobiles ultra-rugged devices are fit for any types of field activities, from mining, farming, logistical applications to scientific research.186 Smit Street, Fairland, JohannesburgGauteng, 2195, South AfricaTel: 011 476 4779Health for allTaiwan can help

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan

https://www.taiwantoday.tw/images/WHA.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWs8OztQgmk&feature=youtu.be

Achieving Universal HealthThe World Health Organization (WHO) constitution states that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being. In Taiwan, this principle is realized through the National Health Insurance (NHI) program, a global benchmark in universal medical care. Taiwans expertise in developing this system warrants sharing with the international community through the World Health Assembly (WHA)the decisionmaking body of the WHO.Launched in 1995, the NHI is a compulsory single-payer social insurance plan covering virtually every citizen and foreign resident. It offers convenient access to inpatient and outpatient services, dental care, prescription medications and traditional Chinese treatments at affordable prices. Users are free to choose doctors and hospitals from over 25,000 contracted facilities, enjoy short wait times and seek specialty care without referral.Social justice is the pillar on which the NHI has been built. Premiums come from the government, employers and employees, with the fee set as a proportion of salary, currently 4.69 percent. Workers pay 30 percent, employers 60 percent and the government the remaining 10 percent. There is also a 1.91 percent levy on supplementary earnings like bonuses and stock dividends to ensure contributions reflect a users full income. For households below the poverty line, the premium is fully subsidized.The NHI has secured consistent improvements in public health while keeping costs in check. Since its establishment, average life expectancy has risen from 74.5 to 80.2 years, while health disparities between socioeconomic groups as well as urban and rural areas have narrowed. In addition, health care expenditure totaled just 5.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2016, significantly lower than the average of 9 percent for that year among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW).This cost-effectiveness results from minimized administrative spending. Related expenses accounted for a mere 0.9 percent of total outlays in 2017, the lowest ratio in the world, the MOHW said.Administrative efficiency, as well as oversight of service utilization and quality, is achieved through a powerful centralized information technology system. Every user carries a unique NHI card that tracks personal data including diagnoses, drug allergies and prescriptions, major illnesses and palliative care directives. This strengthens service delivery, promotes medical R&D and provides a potent tool to halt the spread of epidemics. In case of emergency situations such as the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, authorities can request real-time data updates, enabling rapid identification of potential patients.The NHI has earned widespread acclaim at home and abroad. In an MOHW survey conducted last year, 85 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with the program. And every year the ministry welcomes scores of foreign delegations eager to learn about the Taiwan model, including more than 50 groups in 2017 alone.In line with the universal right to health on which the program was founded, the government has enacted several amendments in recent years to expand coverage. The second-generation NHI, unveiled in 2013 to ensure the systems financial stability, enrolled Taiwans 60,000 prison inmates. And since December 2017, babies born to foreign residents previously eligible to join at six months oldhave been included at birth.As evinced by the NHI, Taiwan has fully embraced the WHOs founding principle and stands as definitive proof that health for all is an achievable goal. Taiwan would relish the opportunity to attend the 71st WHA May 21-26 in Geneva so it can share its extensive expertise in the realization of this objective with the international community.Weitere Artikel:Der Film "Ein perfektes Paar" mit deutschen Untertiteln:Quelle: Auenministerium von TaiwanTaiwan (R.O.C.) hat in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland die Taipeh Vertretung eingerichtet. Hauptsitz der Taipeh Vertretung liegt am Gendarmenmarkt in Berlins historischer Stadtmitte. Aber auch in Hamburg, Munchen und Frankfurt am Main unterhalt sie Buros. Die Taipeh Vertretung gliedert sich in verschiedene Abteilungen, die Dienstleistungen fur Deutsche und Uberseechinesen anbieten. Dazu gehoren Visa- und Passangelegenheiten, Informationen zu Wirtschaft und Handel bzw. zu Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur sowie Offentlichkeitsarbeit.Taipeh Vertretung in der Bundesrepublik DeutschlandFrau Sabrina H.C. KuLeiterin der PresseabteilungMarkgrafenstr. 3510117 BerlinTel.: 030 - 20361 404FAx: 030- 20361 410E-Mail: pressetaipeh-berlin@gmx.deCatalytic Converter Market 2018-2023 Global Key Players: Faurecia SA, Benteler International AG, Eberspacher, Calsonic Kansei, Yutaka Giken Company, Tenneco

Catalytic Converter Market 2018

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Catalytic Converter Market 2018Catalytic Converter Market Share, Size, Trends, And Business Opportunity Analysis Report 2018 include historic data, with forecast data to 2023. Catalytic Converter Market report is helpful for future strategy development, and to know about Market Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, And Global market size, share, Growth, Trends, key players forecast to 2023Global Catalytic Converter Market Information Report, By Product (Two-Way Catalytic Converter, Three-Way Catalytic Converter, Diesel Oxidation Catalyst, Others), By Material (Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Others), By Application (Entry-Level Segment, Mid-Size Segment, Full-Size Segment) and By Region - Forecast to 2023Market Scenario:Catalytic converter is a device used in the exhaust system of an automobile for the removal of harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbon from it. The catalytic converter also helps in improving the efficiency of vehicles.The major driver for the growth of the catalytic converter market can be attributed to the introduction of stringent rules and regulations by the government of various nations worldwide with the objective of protecting the environment and preventing the hazardous effects of global warming. The increase in demand for automobiles is also driving the growth of the catalytic converter market. The huge investments made by the automobile manufacturers for research and development so as to reduce the effect of harmful gases emitted from the vehicles can also be associated with the growth of the market.The catalytic converter market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 7.5% during the period 2017 to 2023.Get Sample Report of Catalytic Converter Market @Key Players:The key players of catalytic converter market are Faurecia SA (France), Benteler International AG (Germany), Eberspacher Group(Germany), Calsonic Kansei Corporation (Japan), Yutaka Giken Company Limited (Japan), Tenneco, Inc. (U.S.), Futaba Industrial Co., Ltd. (Japan), Sango Co., Ltd (Japan), Magneti Marelli S.p.A (Italy), Bosal International N.V. (Belgium) and others.Regional Analysis:The Europe region is expected to dominate the catalytic converter market owing to the high presence of automobile manufacturers in the region. Rapid research and development activities along with the introduction of stringent emission norms such as Euro-VI is contributing to the growth of the catalytic converter market in the Europe region. The Asia-Pacific region is also expected to grow rapidly in the market as the developing nations of the region are emerging as a hub for the automobile manufacturers.Intended Audience:Distributer & Supplier companiesEnd Usersconsultants and Investment bankersGovernment as well as Independent Regulatory AuthoritiesProduct Analysis:Product matrix which gives a detailed comparison of the market for different recycled product typesAdditional Information:Regulatory LandscapePricing AnalysisMacroeconomic IndicatorsGeographic Analysis:Geographical analysis across 15 countriesCompany Information:Profiling of 10 key market playersIn-depth analysis including SWOT analysis, and strategy information of related to report titleCompetitive landscape including emerging trends adopted by major companiesThe report for Catalytic Converter 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.Get Complete Report Details of Catalytic Converter Market @Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology3 Market Dynamics4 Global Catalytic Converter Market, By Product5 Global Catalytic Converter Market, By Material6 Global Catalytic Converter Market, By Application7 Regional Market Analysis8 Competitive AnalysisLIST OF TABLESTABLE 1 GLOBAL CATALYTIC CONVERTER MARKET, BY PRODUCTTABLE 2 GLOBAL CATALYTIC CONVERTER MARKET, BY MATERIALTABLE 3 GLOBAL CATALYTIC CONVERTER MARKET, BY APPLICATIONTABLE 4 GLOBAL CATALYTIC CONVERTER MARKET, BY REGIONSTABLE 5 NORTH AMERICA CATALYTIC CONVERTER MARKET, BY PRODUCT.LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGYFIGURE 2 GLOBAL CATALYTIC CONVERTER MARKET: BY PRODUCT (%)FIGURE 3 GLOBAL CATALYTIC CONVERTER MARKET: BY MATERIAL (%)FIGURE 4 GLOBAL CATALYTIC CONVERTER MARKET: BY APPLICATION (%)FIGURE 5 GLOBAL CATALYTIC CONVERTER MARKET: BY REGIONContinued.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.CONTACT US:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312sales@marketresearchfuture.comElderly Care Market 2018 Global Researcher's Study by Gentiva Health Services Inc., Genesis HealthCare, Kindred Healthcare, Inc., NTUC HEALTH CO-OPERATIVE LTD, ST LUKES ELDERCARE LTD

"Elderly Care Market"

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The Global Elderly Care Market accounted for USD 863.7 billion in 2016 growing at a CAGR of 8.4% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market reports contain data for historic year 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.Download Free PDF Brochure @Global Elderly Care Market, By Type ({Home Care (Health Care, Non-Medical Home Care), Adult Day Care, Institutional Care (Nursing Homes, Hospital Based, Assisted Living, Independent Senior Living)}), Product Type (Pharmaceuticals, Housing & Assistive Devices, Technology); Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East, Africa) and Forecast to 2024.Global Elderly Care Market Company Analysis: Amedisys Brookdale Senior Living Solutions Japan Senior Living Investment Corporation. Econ Healthcare Group Epoch Elder Care Extendicare Inc. Gentiva Health Services Inc. Genesis HealthCare Kindred Healthcare, Inc. NTUC HEALTH CO-OPERATIVE LTD ST LUKES ELDERCARE LTD Samvedna Senior Care Goldencare among others.Definition of Global Elderly Care Market:Senior citizens need assistance with daily activities as well as healthcare requirements. Elderly careis the fulfilment of the special needs and requirements in terms of medical support that are unique to senior citizens.Summary of Market Drivers and Restraints: Rising geriatric population Increased life expectancy Prevalence chronic illness among aged population Growth in health expenditure by senior citizens Rise of technology-enhanced senior care Easy reimbursement policies Lack of qualified employee Cost affordabilityFor More Details In-Depth Inquiry @Scope of the Report: On the basis of type, global elderly care market is segmented into home care, adult day care, and institutional care. On the basis of product types, global elderly care market is segmented into pharmaceuticals, housing and assistive devices, and technology. On the basis of geography, global elderly care market report covers data points for 28 countries across multiple geographies such as 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.Competitive Analysis:The global elderly care market is highly fragmented and is based on new product launches and clinical results of products. Hence the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, clinical trials, market initiatives, high expense on research and development, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of global elderly care market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and South America.Read more about the Global Elderly Care Market Visit @Key Topics Covered:1. INTRODUCTION2 MARKET SEGMENTATION3 MARKET OVERVIEW4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY5 PREMIUM INSIGHTS6 GLOBAL ELDERLY CAREMARKET, BY PRODUCT TYPE7 GLOBAL ELDERLY CAREMARKET, BY SERVICE8 GLOBAL ELDERLY CARE MARKET, BY GEOGRAPHY9 GLOBAL ELDERLY CAREMARKET: COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE10 GLOBAL ELDERLY CARE MARKET, COMPANY PROFILES10.1 EXTENDICARE10.2 BROOKDALE SENIOR LIVING SOLUTIONS10.3 KINDRED HEALTHCARE INC.10.4 GENESIS HEALTHCARE10.5 MILLENNIA PERSONAL CARE SERVICES10.6 ALMOST FAMILY10.7 BAYADA HOME HEALTHCARES10.8 AMEDISYS10.9 ENCOMPASS HOME HEALTH10.10 TRINITY HEALTH10.11 LHC GROUP, INC.10.12 INTERIM HEALTHCARE10.13 BENESSE STYLE CARE CO., LTD.10.14 ECON HEALTHCARE GROUP10.15 EPOCH ELDER CARE10.16 ST LUKE'S ELDERCARE LTD.10.17 NICHIIGAKKAN CO. LTD.10.18 ROSEWOOD CARE GROUP10.19 KAIJIAN HUAZHAN SENIOR CARE SERVICE10.20 UNITED MEDICARE PTE LTD.11 APPENDIX12 ABOUT DATA BRIDGE MARKET RESEARCHRelated ReportGlobal Healthcare IT Market  Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Healthcare IT Market, By Product (EHR, RIS, PACS, VNA, CPOE, MHealth, Telehealth, Healthcare Analytics, Supply Chain Management, Revenue Cycle Management, CRM, Claims Management, Fraud Management), By End User (Providers (Hospitals, ASCs, Home Healthcare, Diagnostic Centers, Pharmacies), Payers (Private, Public)), By Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Rest of the World)  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.Data Bridge adepts in creating satisfied clients who reckon upon our services and rely on our hard work with certitude. Get 10% Discount on Report by emailing sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com . We are content with our glorious 99.9 % client satisfying rate.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comTungsten Carbide Powder Market Report for Advanced Technologies, Market Opportunities and Outlook 2024 in Global Industry

Tungsten Carbide Powder Market Report 2024

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Competitive Landscape:The global tungsten carbide powder market is highly 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.Ask for Free Sample Report Visit @Tungsten Carbide Powder Market - Market Analysis:The Global Tungsten Carbide Powder Market accounted for USD 15.22 billion in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% 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.Tungsten Carbide Powder Market - Market Definition:Tungsten carbide powder is a compound containing atoms of tungsten and carbide. Tungsten carbide powder can be pressed and molded into different shapes and sizes for usage in cutting tools, abrasives, industrial machinery, jewelry, and other tools & equipment. This powder is characterized by high thermal conductivity, extreme stiffness, and intense strength. The latest trend in this market is high demand from industrial machinery apart from the transportation, mining & industrial engineering sectors. Besides, growing mining & construction, industrial engineering, transportation, oil & gas, aerospace & defense industries are further driving market demand for tungsten carbide.Speak to Analyst Visit @Major Market Drivers: Growing demand for industrial machinery Increasing product demand in transportation, mining, construction and industrial engineering sectorMarket Restraints: Highly toxic property of tungsten carbide powders Oversupply of tungsten by ChinaTungsten Carbide Powder Market - Market Segmentation:The tungsten carbide powder market is segmented on the basis of grade into rotary drilling & mining grades, metal forming & wear grades, submicron grades, corrosion resistant grades, general purpose grades, and other gradesOn the basis of application, the market is segmented into machine tools & components, cutting tools, dies & punches, abrasive products and others.On the basis of end-user, the market is segmented into mining & construction, industrial engineering, transportation, oil & gas, aerospace & defense and others.On the basis of geography, the tungsten carbide powder market report covers data points for 28 countries across multiple geographies such as 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. In 2017, Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the market.Read more about Report Visit @Tungsten Carbide Powder Market - Major Market Competitors:Some of the major players in tungsten carbide powder market include Sandvik AB, Kennametal Inc., Ceratizit S.A., Extramet, Federal Carbide Company, Guangdong Xianglu Tungsten Co., Ltd, Nanchang Cemented Carbide Co., Ltd., Jiangxi Yaosheng Tungsten Co., Ltd., Japan New Metal Co., Ltd., China Tungsten Online (Xiamen) Manu. & Sales Corp., Eurotungstene, Reade International Corporation, Buffalo Tungsten Inc., Lineage Alloys, Inc., DMEGC, Global Tungsten & Powders (GTP), Zigong Huagang Cemented Carbide New Materials Co., Ltd., H.C. Starck and many more.Related ReportGlobal Thermoplastic Elastomers Market  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Thermoplastic Elastomers Market, By Product Type (Styrenic Block Copolymers (TPE-S), Thermoplastic Olefins (TPE-O), Elastomeric Alloys (TPE-V or TPV), Thermoplastic Polyurethanes (TPU), Thermoplastic Copolyester, Thermoplastic Polyamides); Application (Automotive, Building & Construction, Electrical & Electronics, Household Appliances, Medical, Adhesives, Sealants & Coatings, Others)  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: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comZirconium Oxide Flap Disc Market to Register Substantial Expansion by 2025

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Zirconium Oxide Flap Disc Market: OverviewZirconium oxide, also called zirconium, is a white crystalline oxide of zirconium. Calcining zirconium compounds produce zirconium. Technically, zirconium is chemically inert and is slowly reacted by highly concentrated acids such as hydrofluoric acid and sulfuric acid. Flap discs are grinding and finishing tools, which are used in applications such as weld grinding, rust removal, deburring, weld seam blending, and edge grinding. A zirconium flap disc consists of three components: backing plate, adhesive, and abrasive cloth flaps. Many companies manufacture zirconium flap discs, as these flap discs are more advantageous than grinding wheels.View Report Preview:Zirconium Oxide Flap Disc Market: Dynamics and TrendsZirconium flap discs offer various advantages over grinding plates. This is driving the market for zirconium oxide flap discs. Demand for zirconium flap discs is increasing across various industry verticals such as construction, automotive, aerospace, and electronics due to their chemically inert nature. Zirconium flap discs also last longer compared to grinding wheels. Further, they provide maximum contact with the grinding surface, which positively affects the grinding quality.The zirconium oxide flap disc market is also driven by the increase in demand for grinding applications in rotors, shafts, landing gear, fasteners, and other products. Zirconium oxide flap discs are also play a vital role in ensuring safe landing and take-off in aircraft. Implementation of stringent quality measures for aircraft components are driving the need for proper grinding, thereby boosting the demand for zirconium flap discs in the aerospace industry.Rise in innovations in automobile, construction, and aerospace industries is estimated to propel the demand for zirconium flap discs, as they reduce time and costs toward grinding procedures.Zirconium flap discs work slowly and are also expensive than grinding wheels. This is likely to hamper the market during the forecast period.Zirconium Oxide Flap Disc Market: SegmentationBased on component, the zirconium oxide flap disc market can be segmented into backing plate, adhesive, and abrasive cloth flaps. The abrasive cloth flaps segment can be further divided into medium abrasives, coarse and extra coarse abrasives, and fine and ultra-fine abrasives.In terms of the metal processing type, the zirconium oxide flap disc market can be classified into iron, steel, and others. The iron segment is anticipated to account for major share of the market due to its vast applications in various industry verticals. The metal is being employed in various industrial verticals due to its low cost. This has been increasing the scope of grinding, thereby augmenting the need for zirconium flap discs.Based on application, the zirconium oxide flap disc market can be split into grinding, stock removal, weld blending, and others. Grinding and stock removal segments are expected to hold key share of the zirconium oxide flap disc market. Demand for zirconium flap discs has been rising owing to the increase in demand for grinding in various verticals. This has been contributing to the overall market growth.Based on end-user industry, the zirconium oxide flap disc market can be segmented into aerospace, automotive, construction, and others. The aerospace segment is expected to constitute significant share of the market during the forecast period. It is projected to be followed by the automotive segment. Demand for zirconium flap discs has been increasing owing to the rise in demand for grinding of parts such as landing gears in aircraft. The automotive industry segment is likely to hold key share of the market, due to the increasing demand for metal finishing.Zirconium Oxide Flap Disc Market: Regional OutlookAsia Pacific is predicted to be an emerging market for zirconium oxide flap disc, due to the rise in demand for grinding activities in various industry verticals in the region. North America and Europe are also expected to hold key shares of the market. Germany is contributing significantly to the zirconium flap disc market in Europe, led by the growth in the automotive industry. This trend is estimated to continue during the forecast period.The presence of a high number of small, medium, and large-scale vendors of zirconium flap discs in Asia Pacific is also driving the market in the region.Request to view Sample Report:Zirconium Oxide Flap Disc Market: Key PlayersProminent players operating in the global zirconium oxide flap disc market include 3M, TYROLIT Group, KLINGSPOR Abrasives, Weiler, Camel Grinding Wheels Works Sarid LTD, Metabo, DRONCO, and Saint-Gobain.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Wireless Gas Monitoring Market to increase rapidly by 2025

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Wireless technology of gas monitoring eliminates the physical and economic barriers associated with wired gas detection devices. Toxic and combustible gases seep into industrial processes such as oil & gas production facilities, refining & petrochemical, chemical production, and power generation. These gases can cause serious hazards if they get released into the environment. Toxic H2S and combustible methane are the common and dangerous gases that can cause potential danger to life and property. Therefore, companies often employ gas detection systems in order to minimize the risk to personnel and plant safety.View Report Preview:A typical gas detector identifies and monitors gas leaks by generating an electronic signal (sound or visual). Installation of traditional wired gas monitoring system incurs additional cost, as it requires a network of wires. Space constraint is another issue faced while installing wired gas monitoring systems in specific applications such as oil & gas production platforms or confined space entry operations in coal fired power plants.Wireless gas monitoring system can save up to 90% of installed cost and time and can be applied in field and plant networks, sensing leaks that might not otherwise be detected by sparsely distributed wired units. These wireless systems offer high accuracy, flexibility, and reliability in detecting gas leaks. Wireless gas monitoring or detection systems are available as stand-alone monitors, rapid deployable systems, self-healing mesh-radio systems, and replacements for traditional fixed or hard wired systems. The latest wireless systems can be interfaced to Internet for real-time alarm and data sharing.High industry safety standards implemented by regulatory bodies across the world is a key driver of the wireless gas monitoring market. Companies dealing with toxic gas emissions are mandated to follow all health safety & environmental norms established by regulatory bodies. Wi-Fi can communicate directly with other IP devices either locally or through Internet Protocol (IP) network. This is another factor driving the wireless monitoring system market. Installation of wireless gas monitoring is hassle-free and provides continuous monitoring. The traditional wired devices may sometimes fail due to the breakage of wire. Repairing or replacing such wires may prove a time consuming task. However, battery life and interconnectivity issues may hamper the wireless gas monitoring market. Wireless modules are battery powered, thereby requiring replacement of batteries. Interconnectivity issues may arise due to IP network related problems.The wireless gas monitoring system market is expected to expand primarily in North America, as the region is technologically advanced and has presence of several manufacturers of wireless gas monitoring systems. Rapid industrial growth in Asia Pacific makes the region attractive for wireless gas monitoring systems. Europe is also anticipated to account for major share of the market, as the region is known for its high industrial safety standards. Presence of major oil & gas producing countries makes Middle East & Africa as well as Latin America a beneficial region for the wireless gas monitoring market.Key players operating in the wireless gas monitoring market are Pem-Tech, Inc., TROLEX, United Electric Controls Company, City Technology Ltd., RAE Systems, General Electric, Siemens AG, Status Scientific Controls Ltd., Yokogawa Electric Corporation, RKI Instruments, and Sierra Monitor Corporation.Request to view Sample Report:The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Thermoplastic Composites Market to Record Study Growth by 2024

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Thermoplastic composites can be categorized as discontinuous and continuous composites. Long fiber thermoplastics and short fiber thermoplastics are the two extensively used types of thermoplastic composites. Thermoplastic composites have achieved rapid acceptance as a suitable alternative to metal assemblies, die castings, and traditional plastic materials in the market. Factors such as high impact strength, high rigidity, and better surface quality coupled with less product rejection, high resistance to extreme temperatures, and creep resistance in constant load and severe environments have led to the thermoplastic composites market being more attractive than metals and thermoset.View Report Preview:The applications of thermoplastic composites have witnessed significant growth in the aerospace and defense industries, consumer goods, electrical and electronics, and automobile in emerging economies due to rapid urbanization. Constantly rising fuel costs have compelled the aerospace industry to look for lightweight and more fuel efficient designs for its existing models. These factors are expected to drive the market for lightweight composites to achieve sustainable development. The extensive usage of thermoplastic composites in various other segments such as consumer goods and electronics is expected to further augment the thermoplastic composites market.Growing usage of thermoplastic composite materials in vehicle components such as chassis, wheels, hoods, and roofs in racing and high-performance vehicles is being considered to be a critical driving factor for the growing penetration of thermoplastic composites in the automobile industry. Lower cost for consumers and improvement in product performance through innovation is expected to further augment the market growth. The relatively higher cost of raw materials poses the biggest challenge to the industry and acts as a restraint to an otherwise booming industry. Consumer goods, and electrical and electronics are the other major application segments of thermoplastic composites.Asia Pacific is expected to be the leading regional market during the next few years on account of the growing population and rapid urbanization in emerging economies such as China and India. Increasing workforce and subsequent development of industrial infrastructure in this region has led to the steady growth of major industries such as automotive, electrical and electronics, aerospace, and consumer goods. Japan, which is among the pioneers in electronics industry, is another market in Asia anticipated to witness steady growth in thermoplastic composites.Europe is expected to follow suit on account of the presence of well-established and influential automotive markets in Germany and Italy. Europe is also home to some of the biggest players in the aerospace industry, hence the thermoplastic composites market is also expected to rise in that segment. Similar factors are expected to play an important role in the market growth of thermoplastic composites in the North America region, especially the U.S. which houses several automobile and aerospace giants. Latin America is anticipated to witness a steady growth rate during the next few years due to the rise of automotive industry in growing economies such as Brazil. Thermoplastic composites market also caters to the growing requirement of consumer goods in Brazil. Hence, it is expected to grow into an important market in the near future. The Middle East and Africa region is expected to rise at a steady pace on account of the presence of fast growing economies such as the GCC countries and South Africa in this region.Request to view Sample Report:Major players in the thermoplastic composites market include Royal Tencate NV, Cytec Industries, The Dow Chemical Company, Celanese Corporation, BASF SE, Bayer MaterialScience, Royal DSM, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC).The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Tetrahydrofuran Market to observe high growth by 2024

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Tetrahydrofuran Market: OverviewTetrahydrofuran (THF) is a general-purpose, highly volatile organic solvent. It is a colorless, water-miscible, and mobile liquid. THF offers very good solvent power for numerous organic substances and is used as a starting material for various syntheses.At present, THF is produced by either of two methods: the Reppe process and the furfural process. The Reppe process is preferred over the furfural process as the former is completely synthetic, and thus unlike its counterpart, the availability of raw materials is not dependent on agricultural conditions.View Report Preview:In spite of being used as a starting material for various syntheses, THF can even be used as a coating agent, adhesive, reaction medium, or extractant.The chemical is highly volatile and flammable, so care must be taken that it is stored and handled in an environment where atmospheric oxygen is excluded or limited. Also due to its volatile nature, care must be taken that the contents are used quickly once the container is opened, as it is said to have limited shelf life post exposure to the environment.Tetrahydrofuran Market: Market TrendsTHF distilled pure has many applications as a solvent, reaction medium, or starting product for syntheses. It can be used alone or along with other solvents in the leather industry as part of coating systems. The magnetic tapes used in electronic devices such as computers can be made abrasion resistant by applying a coat of THF.The chemical is also used for the production of PVC adhesives as well as for the fabrication of PVC pipe systems that are used in industrial processes in heating and cooling systems.THF can be used for the production of highly concentrated solutions, due to its high solvent power.It is used on a wide scale in the pharmaceutical industry as a reaction medium for the synthesis of organometallic compounds.THF is said to cause eye irritation, skin problems, nausea, dizziness, etc. under conditions of prolonged exposure.Of late, a substitute for THF, called 2-methyl tetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF), is being used in industries as well. The latter is said to be better than THF in terms of its chemical properties such as its stability in acidic conditions, less impurities, lower volatility, higher saturation concentrations, higher reaction yields, etc. This compound may be a potential restraint in the market for tetrahydrofuran in the coming days.Keeping in mind the present applications of THF as well the development of its substitute like 2-MeTHF, it can be said that the market may face a gradual downfall in the near future due to the development of substitutes having better physical and chemical properties.Tetrahydrofuran Market: Region-wise OutlookTHF is being widely used in Asia Pacific due to the large number of industries in developing countries like China, Japan, and India. China is said to be an important market of tetrahydrofuran due to the establishment of various end-use industries like PVC, coatings, adhesives, etc.The region of North America also has a significant market for THF due to its use in the petroleum industry, followed by Europe and then Rest of the World.Tetrahydrofuran Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the market for THF are Sigma-Aldrich Corp., TCC Chemical Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Dairen Chemical Corporation, Saudi International Petrochemical Company, and Ashland Inc.Request to view Sample Report:The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Pretreatment Coatings Market to increase rapidly by 2024

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Global Pretreatment Coatings Market: SnapshotThe global market for pretreatment coatings derives much of its growth from the significant increase in the sales of the automobiles. Since pretreatment coatings is an essential pioneering stage for powder coatings, which offers superior finish and increased shelf life of the coating to the metal surface, their usage on metals, such as steel, copper, aluminum, zinc alloys, and galvanized steel has accelerated.View Report Preview:This market is witnessing remarkable gains on account of the wide-ranging application of pretreatment coatings across a number of end users, such as the automotive, furniture, industrial and household appliances, electronics, and the agricultural equipment industries, owing to its ability to offer longevity to products by shielding their components against corrosion. This, as a result, will drive the global pretreatment coatings market considerably in the years to come.On the other hand, the increasing environmental concerns over metal finishing may limit the growth of this market in the near future, as toxicity of chromate has emerged as a major issue of concerns across the world. However, the augmenting investments by companies for the development of the zirconium-based chemistry blend in order to provide a conversion coating of zirconium oxide on clean metal surfaces will offer lucrative opportunities for the future progress of this market.Global Pretreatment Coatings Market: OverviewPretreatment coatings form a crucial precursor stage for powder coatings and offer excellent appearance along with improved shelf life to the metal surface. The global market for pretreatment coatings is witnessing tremendous growth owing to their extensive applications across several end-user industries, including agricultural equipment, automobiles, industrial and household appliances, electronics, and furniture owing to its ability to provide long life to products by providing their components a protection against corrosion. The process of coating pretreatment includes chromating and phosphating process. Some of the metals for which powder coatings are used are aluminum, steel, zinc alloys, copper, and galvanized steel.Global Pretreatment Coatings Market: Key TrendsThe rising spending on construction activities is providing a fillip to the global pretreatment coatings market. The increasing sales of automobiles are also working in favor of the market. Moreover, the robust growth of end-user industries, including aerospace and electronics, particularly in emerging countries is propelling the market. On the flip side, the growing environmental concerns regarding metal finishing are hampering the growth of the market. Chrome toxicity is a major concern as it can have adverse implications on the environment. Nevertheless, constant efforts by market players to develop eco-friendly coatings are likely to shape the future of the market.Global Pretreatment Coatings Market: Market PotentialThere is a growing consumer preference for multi-functional pretreatment coatings, which provide functionalities beyond just aesthetic and protective properties. Over the past few years, the market has experienced an upswing in the demand for coatings that are environment-friendly and cost-effective. For instance, in December 2016, LOT Polish Airlines decided to opt for chrome-free aerospace primer coating system manufactured by PPG Industries for corrosion resistance to repaint a 737-400 airplane and three Embraer E175 jets, because it is eco-friendly and offers superior shine and gloss. Analysts predict that there will be an increase in the demand for such coatings in the near future and thus, more players will get involved in research and development activities to address this market need.Global Pretreatment Coatings Market: Region-wise OutlookThe key regions covered in the report are Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific will represent a large share in the market, on account of growing domestic demand. The easy availability of resources and increasing disposable income are also contributing to the growth of the region. Moreover, the expansion of the aerospace sector, especially in the Indonesia, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia is driving the demand for pretreatment coatings in the region.The sharp rise in the demand for chrome-free pretreatment coatings coupled with stringent government regulations for reducing air pollution is the primary factor fueling the growth of Europe and North America. Germany and France will be among major revenue contributors in Europe. Rising vehicle production along with the increasing demand for replacing aging vehicles is translating into the greater uptake of pretreatment coatings in the region. In Latin America, Brazil is expected to be a sight of high growth throughout the forecast period. Its proximity to the U.S. is an important factor promoting set up of production facilities in the country.Global Pretreatment Coatings Market: Competitive LandscapePlayers in the global pretreatment coating market are involved in partnerships and collaboration activities to expand their shares in the market. Companies are investing sizeable funds in the research and development activities to enhance their visibility in this highly competitive arena. Some of the prominent companies operating in the market are Chemetall, 3M Company, AkzoNobel N.V., Kansai Paint Co. Ltd, Axalta Coating Systems, Abrasives Inc., Barton International, Troy Chemicals, Cym Materiales, Henkel, PPG Industries, and Nippon Paints.Request to view Sample Report:The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Global Cloud Access Security Brokers Market Size, Share, Trends and Future Growth Predictions till 2024

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been acting as an impressive data source when it comes to evaluating various industrial verticals. The research report titled Cloud Access Security Brokers Market Offers a clear insight about the Cloud Access Security Brokers assessed over the global platform. This analysis proves beneficial for readers & new investors who are aiming to enter the for Cloud Access Security Brokers market in the near future.Get Free Sample Report or View Summary of Report Visit @Cloud Access Security Brokers Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024, the cloud access security brokers (CASB) market was worth US$ 3,371.4 Mn in 2015 and is expected to reach US$ 13,218.5 Mn by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 16.7% from 2016 to 2024. North America was the largest market for cloud access security brokers in 2015. The growth in this region is being driven by the presence of a large number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), start-ups, and large corporate enterprises.CASB services provide a security platform for cloud silos. A large number of SMBs and large corporates currently rely on cloud computing technologies to store their information and extract it whenever required. Security over the cloud is one of the major concerns facilitating the growth of cloud security solutions. CASB services play a significant role in providing solutions encompassing control & monitoring, risk & compliance management, tokenization, data leakage prevention, and cloud data encryption. These solutions are capable enough to provide complete cloud security, avoiding data leakage and the risk of security breaches at access points and nodes.The report provides cross-segment analysis of the CASB market, based on cloud deployment type and components comprising software and services. Segmentation on the basis of deployment type includes SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. IaaS platforms are expected to emerge as the fastest-growing platforms, owing to their augmented IT delivery capabilities, increased scalability, and flexibility. However, the SaaS platform held the dominant position in terms of CASB cloud deployment type in 2015.Software solutions that are particularly used for data leakage prevention and control & monitoring held the largest market shares in 2015. Furthermore, these segments are growing at a significant pace owing to rising threat of security breaches. Frequently changing cloud regulations by governing bodies are making it difficult for cloud storage vendors to ensure compliance. This has enabled cloud storage vendors to outsource the security platform to the CASB providers, empowering the CASB risk & management compliance market to expand at an expected CAGR of 18% from 2016 to 2024. However, cloud data encryption is expected to be the fastest-growing software solution segment, expected to advance at the rate of 20.2% over the forecast period from 2016 to 2024.Access Complete Report @The research report provides a comprehensive assessment of stakeholder strategies, and the imperatives for success in the CASB market. The report also includes competitive analysis of various market segments based on deployment type, components encompassing software and services of CASB, and in-depth cross-sectional scrutiny across different geographical segments of the cloud security systems market. In order to aid in strategic decision-making, the report includes the winning strategies adopted by key players. The report segregates the CASB market geographically into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America.For a detailed understanding of the CASB market, all these segments have also been estimated in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) for the geographies mentioned above. The market research study analyzes the CASB market worldwide, and provides historical revenue estimates in terms of US$ Mn for 2014 and 2015, along with the market forecast for the period 2016 to 2024. Market forecasts have been analyzed considering the impact of various economic, political, social, legal, operational, and technological factors influencing market growth.The CASB market is segmented as follows:Cloud Access Security Brokers Market, by Cloud Deployment TypeSoftware as a Service (SaaS)Platform as a Service (PaaS)Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)Cloud Access Security Brokers Market, by ComponentsSoftwareCloud-basedControl and MonitoringRisk & Compliance ManagementCloud Data EncryptionData Leakage PreventionTokenizationOn-premiseControl and MonitoringRisk & Compliance ManagementCloud Data EncryptionData Leakage PreventionTokenizationServicesConsultingSystem IntegrationOperation and MaintenanceAbout Market Research Reports Search Engine (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:Tea Tree Essential Oil Market 2018 Global Analysis By key Players  ATTIA, Health and Beauty Natural Oils, Kanta Group, Paras Perfumers, Ausoil

Tea Tree Essential Oil Market

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Tea Tree Essential Oil Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com adds Tea Tree Essential Oil Market Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2025 To Its Research Database.Report Details:This report provides in depth study of Tea Tree Essential Oil Market using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organization. The Tea Tree Essential Oil Market report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organization such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organization.Global Tea Tree Essential Oil market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer;The top key players including;ATTIAAOSHealth and Beauty Natural OilsKanta GroupAusoilBontouxThe Australian Essential OilParas PerfumersCharkit Chemical CorporationAlbert VieilleAugustus OilsAzelis UK Life SciencesAdvanced BiotechRequest a Sample Report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Tea Tree Essential Oil in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPure Essential OilCompound Essential OilOn 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, includingSkin CareMedicalOthersThis 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 Tea Tree Essential Oil Market Research Report 20181 Tea Tree Essential Oil Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Tea Tree Essential Oil1.2 Tea Tree Essential Oil Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Tea Tree Essential Oil Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Tea Tree Essential Oil Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Pure Essential Oil1.2.4 Compound Essential Oil1.3 Global Tea Tree Essential Oil Segment by Application1.3.1 Tea Tree Essential Oil Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Skin Care1.3.3 Medical1.3.4 Others1.4 Global Tea Tree Essential Oil Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Tea Tree Essential Oil Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Tea Tree Essential Oil (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Tea Tree Essential Oil Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Tea Tree Essential Oil Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)7 Global Tea Tree Essential Oil Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 ATTIA7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Tea Tree Essential Oil Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 ATTIA Tea Tree Essential Oil Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 AOS7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Tea Tree Essential Oil Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 AOS Tea Tree Essential Oil Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Health and Beauty Natural Oils7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Tea Tree Essential Oil Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Health and Beauty Natural Oils Tea Tree Essential Oil Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Kanta Group7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Tea Tree Essential Oil Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Kanta Group Tea Tree Essential Oil Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Ausoil7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Tea Tree Essential Oil Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Ausoil Tea Tree Essential Oil Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Bontoux7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Tea Tree Essential Oil Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Bontoux Tea Tree Essential Oil Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 The Australian Essential Oil7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Tea Tree Essential Oil Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 The Australian Essential Oil Tea Tree Essential Oil Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Paras Perfumers7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Tea Tree Essential Oil Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Paras Perfumers Tea Tree Essential Oil Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Charkit Chemical Corporation7.10 Albert VieilleContinued.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The News in Brief

Ombudsman Says Work Safety Law is Step Forward



The Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria says that the Legislative Herald of Georgia has published the Law of Georgia on Safety at Work and the attached amendments.



Adoption of the mentioned law should be assessed as a step forward, she says.



The law establishes a mechanism for enforcing the obligations in the field of safety at work.



In particular, the supervisory body [the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs] is granted the authority to inspect safety norms and use sanctions in case of detection of violations in the high-risk and hazardous workplaces.



The adopted law is better than the initially submitted draft law, as the parliamentary working group, with the involvement of the representatives of the Public Defender, took into consideration a number of remarks, Lomjaria said.



She said that the amount of sanctions has been significantly increased and certain provisions of the draft law have been improved.



However, it should be criticized that a number of principled remarks of the Public Defender, concerning the expansion of the scope of the law and authorizing the supervisory body to unconditionally inspect an employer, have not been considered in the law, Lomjaria said.



Another subject of the Public Defender's criticism was the financial side of the draft law, as it did not consider budget resources for strengthening the supervisory body, including for increasing the staff resources.



The sanctions envisaged by the Law on Safety at Work will take effect on 1 August, 2018.



The Georgian Government, in agreement with its social partners, shall define a list of potentially high-risk, hard, hazardous and harmful workplaces.



The Public Defender hoped that the Government will timely adopt the mentioned legal act, while the safety requirements will be effectively fulfilled in practice, which will improve the situation of the employees.







Former Official Says Justice Minister must Resign



Former Deputy Minister of Justice Davit Jandieri stated on Wednesday that Minister of Justice Tea Tsulukiani must resign in the wake of the sexual harassment scandal involving the former head of the National Agency of Public Registry Papuna Ugrekhelidze.



Jandieri claims that the minister knew about the misbehavior of her employee and did nothing to prevent illegalities.



Moreover, she was protecting Ugrekhelidze, Jandieri said.



Ugrekhelidze resigned on Tuesday after his former employee openly accused him of sexual harassment.



Ugrekhelidze says the woman is lying.

(By Messenger Staff)



Goat Milk Infant Formula Market 2018 Global Key Players: Red Star, Guanshan, MilkGoat, Herds, Fineboon, Jinniu, Shengfei, ShengTang, Holle, FIT, Vitagermine

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Reportsandinsights.com Presents Global Goat Milk Infant Formula Market Size, Status and Forecast 2023 New Document to its Studies Database. The Report Contain 102 Pages With Detailed Analysis.DescriptionGoat Milk Infant Formula, aslo known as breast milk of goat milk formula. It is a manufactured food designed and marketed with fresh goat's milk as the main raw material for feeding to babies and infants, usually prepared for bottle-feeding or cup-feeding from goat milk powder (mixed with water) or liquid (with or without additional water).Get Sample Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Goat Milk Infant Formula in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversDGCDanone (Sutton Group)Ausnutria Dairy (Hyproca)Baiyue youlishiYaTai-PreciousRed StarGuanshanMilkGoatHerdsFineboonJinniuShengfeiShengTangHolleFITVitagermineMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversFirst Class (0~6 months)Second Class (6~12 months)Third Class (1~3 years)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Goat Milk Infant Formula market.Chapter 1, to describe Goat Milk Infant Formula Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Goat Milk Infant Formula, with sales, revenue, and price of Goat Milk Infant Formula, 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 Goat Milk Infant Formula, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;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 2013 to 2018;Continued..Complete Report Details @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsGlobal Goat Milk Infant Formula Market Size, Status and Forecast 2023Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Goat Milk Infant Formula Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 First Class (0~6 months)1.2.2 Second Class (6~12 months)1.2.3 Third Class (1~3 years)1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.2 Canada Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.2 France Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.3 UK Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.4 Russia Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.5 Italy Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.2 Japan Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.3 Korea Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.4 India Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market Status and Outlook (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 DGC2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Goat Milk Infant Formula Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 DGC Goat Milk Infant Formula Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Danone (Sutton Group)2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Goat Milk Infant Formula Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Danone (Sutton Group) Goat Milk Infant Formula Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Ausnutria Dairy (Hyproca)2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Goat Milk Infant Formula Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Ausnutria Dairy (Hyproca) Goat Milk Infant Formula Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Baiyue youlishi2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Goat Milk Infant Formula Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Baiyue youlishi Goat Milk Infant Formula Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 YaTai-Precious2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Goat Milk Infant Formula Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Type 12.5.2.2 Type 22.5.3 YaTai-Precious Goat Milk Infant Formula Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Red Star2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Goat Milk Infant Formula Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Type 12.6.2.2 Type 22.6.3 Red Star Goat Milk Infant Formula Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.14.1 Business Overview2.14.2 Goat Milk Infant Formula Type and Applications2.14.2.1 Type 12.14.2.2 Type 22.14.3 Holle Goat Milk Infant Formula Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.15 FIT2.15.1 Business Overview2.15.2 Goat Milk Infant Formula Type and Applications2.15.2.1 Type 12.15.2.2 Type 22.15.3 FIT Goat Milk Infant Formula Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.16 Vitagermine2.16.1 Business Overview2.16.2 Goat Milk Infant Formula Type and Applications2.16.2.1 Type 12.16.2.2 Type 22.16.3 Vitagermine Goat Milk Infant Formula Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)..CONTINUEDAbout UsReports and Insights is initiated by a group of like-minded vibrant young industry professionals who have come together with a singular mission to develop a one-stop-shop for the best-in-class insightful, market research & intelligence reports spanning various industry verticals, segments that would provide global corporates, start-ups with quality actionable insights enabling them to strategically understand, develop and grow their market position.CONTACT US :Reports and Insightssales@reportsandinsights.comPh: +1 424 2554 365 (US)Goose Creek, SC (29445)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. High around 85F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low around 65F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.Environment, healthcare and education would be the main focus for Dion Adams if elected to represent the 4th Congressional District.

"Aside from healthcare and the environment, jobs is what we really need in the 4th District," the Democrat said. "We need to find new industries for new jobs."

Those jobs would come from three areas -- cleaning up the environment, expansion of healthcare and investment in education, Adams said.

"There are a lot of jobs to be created if we appropriate our money correctly. There is plenty of money out there. If we can buy bombs, we can buy books. We have to set our priorities," said the Big Rapids resident.

The Aug. 7 primary will see Adams face off against fellow Democrats Jerry Hilliard and Zigmond "Ziggy" Kozicki. The winner will face incumbent Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, in the Nov. 6 general election. Mark Bignell has withdrawn from the 4th District race. Instead he has decided to run for the 33rd State Senate District.

Adams, Hilliard and Kozicki recently appeared for a Democratic Town Hall at the monthly meeting of the Women of Michigan Action Network. For information about Kozicki, see the Daily News article from March 10: https://bit.ly/2HaTwtz

Adams graduated from Ferris State University with an associate's of applied science in heavy equipment technology and is the retired owner of Underdog Diesel.

Adams, who is vice chair of the Mecosta County Democratic Party, describes his platform priorities as:

 Environment -- "Without clean air, water and soil nothing else matters, especially here in Michigan. We need to be better stewards of our Great Lakes," he said.

 Single Payer Universal Healthcare -- "With that all our lives would be enhanced and greatly improved. It would improve our work ability to do a job," he said. "Healthcare is a right, just like clean water is a right. Medicare for all is a great first step, but it doesn't go far enough."

Medicare should include preventive, dental, vision and mental, Adams said.

"We could go to another job without worrying about losing our benefits. The cost of our healthcare would be less. We wouldn't use emergency services as much, which really raises the cost of our healthcare," Adams said.

 Education --"Education is one of the building blocks of success," he said. "My goal is to leave this place a little bit better than I found it. One thing we give our children is a solid education and up to two years of college."

All children should have the best education that the country can afford and that means bringing back funding for public schools, he said.

"Public schools are getting an unfair shake with the taxes going to the charter schools. We need more teachers in education, which means more jobs. A teacher is one of the most unappreciated workers in the United States," Adams said.

For more information about Adams' campaign, visit: www.dionadamsforcongress.comThe Diocese of Saginaw has canceled the 2018 Bishops Ball and postponed the August MYFaith youth event citing, "with sensitivity and care for the Catholic and greater community during this difficult time," according to a press release from the diocese.

"A celebration during this time would not be in keeping with the heartache felt in the local church community," the release stated. The Bishops Ball was scheduled for April 27 at Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw. Event sponsors as well as those who have purchased tickets will receive a full refund, according to the release.Gladwin Mayor Pro-Tem John Caffrey made a motion to hire the Michigan Municipal League for $15,500 to find a new city manager during Mondays council meeting, resulting in a 4-4 tie and a heated debate.

Councilwoman Linda Winarski seconded the motion and Gladwin Mayor Dee Jungman asked for a roll call vote.

Councilmembers Sarah Kile, Nancy Bodnar, Roger Gardner and Mike Smith voted against paying the MML to find a new city administrator. Caffrey, Winarski, Carol Darlington and Dave Crawford voted to spend the money for the nationwide-search the MML provides.

After the tied vote, Caffrey said he wanted to bring it back to the next meeting. Jungman said no, it had already been voted on.

Weve wasted two months on this, she said, noting that City Administrator Bob Moffit tendered his retirement letter on Feb. 5 to be effective on July 5.

However, Bodnar noted the MML estimates 16 weeks to find a candidate, so the city still would be absent a manager even if they hired the MML.

Were opening up a huge can of worms, Caffrey said regarding not hiring the MML, noting that they should look eight-miles down the road, referring to the former Beaverton City Manager Chris Olson who was hired via an in-house search and subsequently left the city.

Winarski said that if they do get a administrator via the MML that is not a good fit, the MML will do another search within two years at no charge.

Caffrey said it would take too much time for the council to do the interviewing and hiring themselves. Other council members who voted it down agreed the taxpayers hired them to do a job. They said it is part of their job to find the right person for the soon-to-be vacant seat.

Its not just the price, Kile said, noting that it is their responsibility as elected officials not to pass the buck.

Yes, I think (the MML) will do a good job, but I think we can do just as good of a job, Kile said of finding a replacement for Moffit.

Gladwin County Housing Director Lauren Essenmacher noted that as a taxpayer, Until you decide what youre going to do, get an ... ad out there. Get them in the papers.

Gladwin Police Chief Duane Bean told council that he was interested in the position, even if it was for the interim. Bean said he would either try to do both jobs or have someone cover for him while he attended to city administrator duties.

If we are without a administrator for one month, two months or three months, we arent going to fall apart, Darlington said.

Jungman said taxpayers have told her they are against the expense and they are who she answers to.

She noted after the meeting she was shocked at the statements made during the meeting about how the city would be sorry by doing the search in-house.

There is a skill set you need to keep up with, Moffit said. There is a shortage of people like me out there. I will work with you and not leave you in a hard spot.Several area organizations plan to attend Tuesday's Equal Pay Day activities in Lansing.

Members of The American Association of University Women - Midland, Zonta Club of Midland, Midland League of Women Voters and W.O.M.A.N. will attend a lobby training session at United Methodist Church, 215 Capital Ave., Lansing. At noon that day, they will attend the Equal Pay Day Rally on the steps of the State Capitol Building sponsored by the Michigan Equal Pay Day Coalition. In the afternoon, Michigan legislators will be urged to consider and pass bills to ensure that equal pay for men and women soon becomes a reality.

Equal Pay Day, created in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity, is the symbolic day when women's earnings "catch up" to men's earnings from the previous year.

Locally on Tuesday, Grounds Coffee, a female-owned business at 4951 Eastman Ave., will give a 20 percent discount on beverages to all women customers.

And, AAUW members will be distributing home-baked cookies cut with a chunk taken out. This missing chunk symbolizes the bite taken out of a woman's paycheck.

On Monday, the Midland City Council will read its Proclamation declaring Tuesday as Equal Pay Day in Midland. All women are encouraged to attend.

Through April 24, a billboard near U.S.-10 recognizes the lack of Equal Pay/Gender Wage Gap by illustrating a whole dollar for men and a dollar with a 20 percent section ripped off for women. Zonta Club of Midland, AAUW - Midland and Midland League of Women Voters are the sponsors.

For more information on Equal Pay Day, contact Judy Donahue at judydonahue57@gmail.com or Kim Steinke at kimsteinke@me.comSHEPHERD, Mich. (AP)  Prosecutors say no charges will be filed against a county sheriff who accidentally left a loaded service weapon in a Michigan school gym locker room.

The Mecosta County prosecutor's office recently made the determination after being asked to review the case by the Michigan attorney general's office. Isabella County Sheriff Michael Main apologized after leaving his backup gun at Shepherd Middle School last month, calling his mistake inexcusable.Photographer Terry Fincher's work would influence how countless other war photographers capture life and death on battlefields across the world.

His work in Vietnam in the late '60s is still seen as powerfully stunning, decades later. He was able to snap photos of military and civilian life in a war zone the way few others could.

REMEMBER THE FALLEN: 35 years ago, the U.S. dedicated one of its most touching war memorials

He would take captivating photos in the theater of war until the fighting ended in 1975, capturing the war at both ends, at its most vicious and its most futile. He would do five tours in all.

March 29 marked 45 years since the last U.S. troops left Vietnam in 1973.

A MIRACLE: The historic week in 1972 when no Americans died in Vietnam

Working for The Daily Express in London, Fincher is not as well-known as other war photographers but Getty Images recently singled out his work as some of the most arresting documents of the war.

He didn't just take graphic photos of war zones. He also captured beauty and celebrity as seen in his Getty archives. One of his favorite subjects was Muhammad Ali.

Fincher died in 2008 at the age of 77. He took photos of the landscapes around him until his death.

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com.Every little boy deserves a Western-theme birthday party, complete with all his best buddies, pizza, cake and a cowboy hat. And thats exactly how Courthouse Clyde celebrated his first birthday.

The party was thrown by the Midland County Probate Court, with staff also dressed in Western button down shirts and jeans, in the courthouses historical lobby at high noon Wednesday.

Clyde, whose first day on the job as the probate and family courts therapy dog came when he was a the tender age of 8 weeks old, maintained his good boy status during his party. He wore a red cowboy hat with a number "1" emblazoned across the front and a red hankie tied around his neck, and patiently watched his guests dine on pizza and cake until he received his treat  a sweet potato cookie with yogurt frosting.

Judge Dorene S. Allen thanked Clydes family and friends, including courthouse staff, the Midland Juvenile Care Center therapy dog Dory, law enforcement and some of the workers completing renovations on the building, for attending his party.

Weve enjoyed all of you, she said, adding everyone is very much a part of Clydes story. This has been a longtime dream of mine to have a therapy dog here.

Allen said probate staff members signed on 100 percent with having a therapy dog, and have joined her in all the fun of watching Clyde grow into his role. Clyde attends hearings to help ease peoples fears and stress in all sorts of tough cases, from child abuse and neglect to matters involving people with Alzheimers and other disabilities.

He gets requests for appearances now, its really fun, she said, adding staff has learned Clyde also functions as a reward for juveniles who come before the court.

Theyll run up to the office and they say, Katy, Ive been really good, prompting deputy probate register Katy Mishler to check with probation agents. A good report equals a visit with Clyde.

Mishler, who has a degree in animal science and has trained therapy dogs before, is Clydes trainer. Clydes forever home is with Allen.The Clare County Sheriffs Office is asking for help to find a 50-year-old man who has been reported as missing since Monday, March 26.

William Bill Irwin Rouech Jr. was last known to be at his business north of Harrison, and family and friends have not heard from him since, a media release states.The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Kelly Dame.

Tuesday, April 3

3:01 a.m. -- Police investigated a parking complaint in the 2100 block of Tennessee Street.

Monday, April 2

1:48 a.m. -- Police made a warrant arrest at Eastman Avenue and North Saginaw Road.

10:37 a.m. -- A deputy investigated a sex offender registry violation.

7:49 p.m. -- A Homer Township man, 44, reported he was the victim of an identity theft. The amount billed to a fake cell phone account in the man's name is $180.37.

9:54 p.m. -- A Saginaw man, 57, was arrested on a Calhoun County warrant for child support. The man was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped in Ingersoll Township for speeding. The man is $17,000 behind in child support payments.

10:06 p.m. -- A deputy was sent to Jerome Township for a report of kids who might be fighting. The group left before the deputy arrived.

11:35 p.m. -- A Sanford woman, 31, was arrested in Homer Township for driving while her license was suspended.

Sunday, April 1

2:12 a.m. - A 49-year-old man was arrested in Lee Township for domestic assault. A report is being sent to the prosecutor's office for review.

8:51 a.m. - A deputy was sent to Jerome Township for a report of two loose dogs harassing the caller's cattle.

12:48 p.m. - Officers were called to a domestic assault at an Ivy Lane address.

4:02 p.m. - Deputies were sent to Lincoln Township to check the well being of a 90-year-old woman. The woman was fine.

6:55 p.m. - Police investigated a bond violation and made a warrant arrest in the 5300 block of Dublin Avenue.

8:50 p.m. - A Hope Township woman, 26, was arrested on two warrants, and cited for driving without insurance and improper plate, after a traffic stop in Edenville Township.

9:39 p.m. - Police stopped a driver for improper plate and driving without insurance at East Buttles and Townsend streets.

9:44 p.m. - A deputy checked M-20 in Homer Township for a report of two vehicles speeding and possibly racing. The vehicles were not found.

10:36 p.m. - Deputies were sent to Larkin Township for a report of a suspicious person standing in a roadway. The person was not found.

10:56 p.m. - A Beaverton man, 32, was arrested in Lincoln Township for driving while his license was suspended.

11:27 p.m. - A deputy as sent to Mount Haley Township for a report of loud music. The homeowner agreed to turn down the volume.

Saturday, March 31

1:03 a.m. - A motorist was arrested in the 4400 block of North Saginaw Road for drunken driving.

1:47 a.m. - Officers were sent to a domestic assault at a North Saginaw Road address.

1:58 a.m. - A motorist was arrested at Perrine Pointe and North Saginaw Road for drunken driving.

2:23 a.m. - Deputies were sent to a Mills Township home for a report of a loud party. When they reached the scene, it was quiet.

4:12 a.m. - A Midland man, 25, was arrested for drunken driving after a single-vehicle traffic crash in Lee Township. No one was hurt.

7:41 a.m. - A Midland man, 26, was arrested on two warrants at an Edenville Township home.

11:09 a.m. - A deputy was sent to Greendale Township for a report of a possibly drunken driver. It is believed the driver reached Gladwin County before the deputy could get into the area. The report was forwarded to Gladwin County authorities.

8:34 p.m. - A deputy was sent to Jerome Township for a report of a goat that was killed. Upon investigation, it appears the goat was attacked by an unknown animal.

8:57 p.m. - A deputy was sent to Greendale Township for a report of a speeding black Camaro on M-20. The car was not found.

11:57 p.m. - A motorist was arrested for driving while license suspended in the 1000 block of Commerce Drive.

Friday, March 30

10:05 a.m. - Deputies were sent to Jerome Township to assist CPS workers in investigating a report of drug use in a home with children. No drug activity was noted in the home.

11:16 a.m. - A motorist was arrested at Perrine Road and Highland Street for driving while license suspended.

11:30 a.m. - Officers assisted probation and parole officers in the 200 block of West Ellsworth Street.

3:05 p.m. - A Warren Township woman, 69, reported a $150 car stereo was stolen sometime within the last 1 1/2 years.

3:08 p.m. - A Porter Township resident, 60, reported receiving numerous unwanted phone calls from a Midland man, 51. The resident was advised to file for a personal protection order.

3:24 p.m. - A deputy responded to the Midland Law Enforcement Center for a report of harassment.

3:59 p.m. - A South Lyon man, 40, reported someone broke into his hunting camper in Greendale Township and stole gear, valued at a total of $250. There are no suspects.

5:50 p.m. - Officers were called to the 6800 block of Eastman Avenue to investigate a report of retail fraud.

8:24 p.m. - A deputy was sent to Greendale Township for a report of littering. The resident said a person delivered a Buyer's Guide to the home. A deputy contacted the delivery person and asked them not to deliver to the home in the future.

9:19 p.m. - A deputy investigated a report of a personal protection order violation in Lee Township. The caller asked the deputy to leave the scene before the investigation was completed.

10:26 p.m. - A wallet, containing $15, was stolen from a Lincoln Township home.

10:32 p.m. - Police were called to the 3900 block of East Patrick Road for a report of loud music.

11:10 p.m. - Deputies and paramedics were sent to a Warren Township home for a report of a man, 54, who might be overdosing. The man was taken to the emergency room for treatment.

11:25 p.m. - Police were called to an overdose in the 300 block of Burning Bush Lane.

Thursday, March 29

12:41 a.m. - A Midland man, 24, was arrested in Lincoln Township for driving while his license was suspended.

1:58 a.m. - Deputies were sent to a Village of Sanford business for a report of a man being disorderly after a clerk refused to sell him cigarettes.

9:30 a.m. - A deputy was sent to a Homer Township address to investigate a report of child neglect and abandonment. Child Protective Services in Saginaw County is investigating the case.

1:05 p.m. - A report about a domestic assault, involving two sisters in Jerome Township, is being sent to the prosecutor for review.

5:10 p.m. - Property, valued at a total of $1,300, was stolen from two unlocked vehicles while they were parked at a Homer Township address.

5:35 p.m. - A Lee Township man, 46, was arrested at his home on two warrants.

8:11 p.m. - A purse, with $250 inside, was stolen from a vehicle while it was parked at a Jerome Township home. The purse was found in a ditch nearby, but the money was gone.

10:52 p.m. - A deputy was sent to a Greendale Township home for a report of the home being searched while the residents were away. Nothing was stolen or damaged.These are some of the best Week 5 high school football performers in MichiganPM Kvirikashvili Says Georgia Gained $2.7 Billion from Tourism in 2017

By Tea Mariamidze

Georgian Prime Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated that the income from tourism in 2017 amounted to $2.7 billion, adding last year more than 7.5 million tourists visited Georgia.The PM expects that this year, the number of visitors will exceed 8 million.On March 29, at the presentation of the National Tourism Administration report 2017, the PM stated that tourism has become Georgias locomotive.I am sure that in 2018 we will have more than 8 million tourists. Our economy saw and will see significant income from tourism, the PM added.Kvirikashvili also highlighted that Georgian government pays much attention to increase the service standards and safety of the tourists in the country.The PM once again underscored that since January 1, 2018, Zurab Pololikashvili has been the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) after being elected by the 22nd Session of UNWTO General Assembly.Before that Pololikashvili was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the Kingdom of Spain, the Principality of Andorra, the Peoples Democratic Republic of Algeria and the Kingdom of Morocco and Permanent Representative of Georgia to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) up to December 2017.Pololikashvilis election means that Georgia established its place in world tourism and is one of the most attractive countries for the tourists in the world. It also means that reforms, implemented in the country, brought positive results, the PM added.Kvirikashvili expressed hope that the positive trend of tourism development will continue in the future.According to the head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration Giorgi Chogovadze, in 2017, Georgia hosted 7,554,936 international visitors (tourists, transit, other), which was 18.8 % increase year-on-year. As for tourists alone, last year Georgia hosted 3,478,932 tourists (+27.9 percent).The top 5 countries from where the largest number of visitors came to Georgia in 2017 were: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey and Iran.La Poma bike park is the ultimate destination for slopestyle riders in the winter time. I knew I had to check it out. Myself along with fellow Canadians, Griffin Paulson and Simon Karrer headed to Barcelona for the month of February. It was an amazing time filled with lots of great riding and progression. It was amazing to have such good friends pushing you every session.WSOP Announces Expanded BB Antes, Return to Rozvadov

April 04, 2018 Mo Nuwwarah

The calendar has turned to April, which means less than two months remain before poker's marquee event, the World Series of Poker, gets under way for its 49th running.

Every year, WSOP staff implements a few tweaks here and there in an effort to continue to evolve the product, and one such change for 2018 will see expanded use of the big blind ante format. Big blind antes will see use in a variety of tournaments at a variety of stakes, the WSOP announced in a press release, including introduction into the ultra-popular Daily Deepstack events.

Additionally, a separate presser announced the return of WSOP Europe at King's Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic for a second straight year.

Big Blind Antes

Big blind antes have been one of the hottest topics in the poker industry over recent months. Some see a radically more efficient system that makes poker more enjoyable for everyone. Others see a solution in search of a problem. PokerNews has covered the issue in depth.

Having been first introduced at ARIA for their signature high roller events, the big blind antes have gained more widespread acceptance in recent months. They've been used at a big L.A. Poker Classic side event  tournament director Matt Savage has been one of the biggest proponents of the format  and in high rollers across the industry.

The most famous brand in poker, the WSOP dipped its toes in the water with a January announcement that big blind antes would be used in this coming WSOP's high roller events. The company then announced the format would be tested in upcoming Circuit high rollers as a way of "testing best procedure and looking for player feedback."

Evidently, feedback has been positive enough to leave WSOP decision-makers encouraged. Eight numbered bracelet events this summer will utilize big blind antes, each at a different price point ranging from $1,000 to $1 million.

Additionally, weekly high rollers, mega satellites, and 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. Daily Deepstacks will use the big blind antes.

The WSOP's use of the format could be even greater in the future.

"This range of buy-ins and events will allow WSOP staff to monitor implementation and help decide whether to expand the use of the big blind Ante in the future," wrote Seth Palansky, WSOP vice president of corporate communications.

Exactly how to implement big blind antes has been a topic of discussion as well. There hasn't been an industry consensus regarding the mechanics of the innovation. Short stacks in the big blind put in the ante first, then the blind in some structures but vice versa in others. Exactly how many chips a short-stacked player is eligible to win has been the subject of heated debate.

The WSOP laid out their methods in the press release. Players in the big blind pay the big blind first, followed by the ante. That's the way Daniel Negreanu has vehemently argued is best, although it's a fundamental change from the way poker has historically operated.

Crucially, the WSOP has also included the following: "No matter how many chips a participant starts with, he or she can always win the entire ante." Players who complain that the format is unfair to short-stacked players should be able to put their concerns to bed at the WSOP.

In addition to the satellites, high rollers and Deepstacks, here's a complete list of the WSOP events using the big blind ante:

Event #5: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Holdem (June 1)

Event #13: $1,500 No-Limit Holdem (June 5)

Event #20: $5,000 No-Limit Holdem (June 8)

Event #45: $1,000 No-Limit Holdem (30-minute levels) (June 22)

Event #54: $3,000 No-Limit Holdem (June 26)

Event #74: $10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Holdem (July 11)

Event #77: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Holdem (July 13)

Event #78: $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop No-Limit Holdem (July 15)

WSOPE Running it Back at King's

The history of WSOPE has been one of migration. After a 2007 debut in London, famously won by 18-year-old phenom Annette Obrestad, the event bounced around a couple of different venues in the old English city before moving to France for a few years. There, it found a home first in Cannes and then in Enghien-les-Bains. Yearly running of the event halted in 2014 before a return in 2015 in Berlin.

In 2017, the WSOP struck a multi-year partnership with King's Casino proprietor Leon Tsoukernik to have the venue near the Czech-German border host the event. Running back-to-back with a Circuit stop, the WSOP guaranteed over 20 million in prize money across about a month of poker. Eleven bracelet events were held, including a 4 million guaranteed Main Event and a 111,111 High Roller for One Drop.

WSOPE at King's Casino in 2017.

When the WSOP initially announced the partnership in 2017, they hinted that WSOPE could return to becoming a yearly event. Still, some in the industry expected 2018 would be skipped, as WSOPE had only run every other year dating to 2013.

Not so, to the benefit of European players looking for a big tournament series with bracelets on the line close to home.

"We have long searched for a great venue and host for WSOP Europe and we believe weve finally found it, said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart in the press release. Kings Casino has been a terrific host and with their expansion complete, were pleased to commit to holding WSOP Europe annually each October in Rozvadov.

Schedule details have yet to be released, but the WSOP will make its return to Rozvadov Oct. 11 through Nov. 2. Ten bracelet events will run this year, but the listed dates likely correspond to the entire festival including a WSOP Circuit stop, if everything is run in accordance with 2017.

Tsoukernik remains bullish on continuing to hold WSOPE going forward.

"By all measures our inaugural WSOP Europe was a great success," he said. "Now that Kings Casino is firmly established as Europes most popular poker venue, we have doubled down and have made a bigger commitment to bring WSOP Europe to Rozvadov annually."You may not recognize Aaron Goldstein by name, but theres a good chance youve heard of the folks hes played with. From City and Colour to Elliott Brood, Donovan Woods, and Cowboy Junkies, the Canadian songwriter and producer has offered his wicked pedal steel to a number of noteworthy names. Cutting his teeth out on the circuit with such a blend of acts has certainly done Goldstein well, though the flip-side of being such an in-demand session musician has been that its been a bit since hes put out his own material.

This is changing with Goldsteins newest project, Espanola. Pronounced like the name of the town atop Highway 6, Espanolas earthen sound feels indicative of the roads that Goldstein has traveled for years now. His new song, Outside Saskatoon, is exemplary of this, featuring Goldsteins gritty vocals laid bare across a relentlessly forward-moving, pedal steel-centric Americana arrangement.







Goldstein tells PopMatters, Back in 2013, I spent two weeks writing at the Dunk in Prince Edward Island. The following year, I recorded some of those songs way out on the plain in Saskatchewan, on a grid road near the town of Delisle. I loved everything about Sinewave Studios  from Chad Mason who ran the place, to the tape machine he was using, to the sheer isolation.

Youd walk out the front door and there really wasnt much to see 360 around except for snowy prairies, some wooden fence, and the odd silo. Perfect solitude. To be honest with you, todays release was supposed to be two jams from this album I mention, that Ive been working on for nearly five years. But then I got to thinking about that trip to Saskatchewan, Hal Mills out in PEI, the people I spent time with in both of those provinces, and this new song, Outside Saskatoon, just sorta wrote itself.Get the SC business stories that matter.

Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free.Adam Parker has covered many beats and topics for The Post and Courier, including race and history, religion, and the arts. He is the author of "Outside Agitator: The Civil Rights Struggle of Cleveland Sellers Jr.," published by Hub City Press.Andre's on the Folly River operated for more than a quarter of a century and was typical of the area's seafood restaurants.Food editor and chief critic

Eating all of the chicken livers just as fast as I can.Gregory Yee covers the city of Charleston. He's a native Angeleno and previously covered crime and courts for the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, CA. He studied journalism and Spanish literature at the University of California, Irvine.Development of Anaklia Special Economic Zone

By Levan Khutsishvili

On March 27, 2018, Anaklia City signed the memorandum of cooperation with Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) which covers an agreement about shared experience and collaboration. ASEZA is located in Jordan and is considered as one of the most strategic and successful projects of recent years.Aqaba is one of the largest special economic zones in Jordan and is based on a strategic location around the Aqaba ports on the Red Sea. The Aqaba Multicultural Special Economic Zone also includes Jordan Coast, Port Infrastructure and Airport. ASEZA was founded in 2001 with a purpose of developing tourism sector, service sector and industry. By this time, the economic zone has already managed to attract more than $ 16 billion worth of investments and a big number of international companies in the region.This cooperation is important for development of the Anaklia City and Special Economic Zone in Anaklia. Besides, ASEZA is collaborating with one of the worlds largest economic zone  Incheon in South Korea and with largest economic zone on border of China-Kazakhstan  Khorgos.It is to become regional logistics and business hub. In the frames of the initial stage we plan to develop the logistics and industrial parks within the territory of about 400 hectares, positioned as regional logistics, distribution and transportation centres. The Anaklia SEZ will become the frontier business centre for international companies to serve the consumer markets of the Caucasus, central Asia and north-western Iran, said, Executive Director of Anaklia City - Keti Bochorishvili in the interview with Emerging Europe.Development of the Special Economic Zone will significantly contribute to development of local economy. Major growth is expected due to the port and all other infrastructural developments that has been implemented in recent years.Economy will grow based on three major pillars of demand: the demand from newly arrived Anaklia-citizens, the demand from port-related activity, including hinterland transport, and the demand from the special economic zone, which will be a drive for employment generation, export development, foreign direct investment, technology transfer, economy transformation from agriculture to manufacturing, experimental environment for countrywide reforms and maximization of value addition in Georgia. With low labor costs, a business friendly environment, a growing economy, a suitable location, government incentives and favorable living conditions, the SEZ in Anaklia will have a compelling argument to draw foreign companies to Georgia, stated Ms. Bochorishvili.Cooperating with the largest economic zones in the world, Anaklia City Management Team focuses on bringing successful international experiences to Georgia.Deanna Pan is an enterprise reporter for The Post and Courier, where she writes about education and other issues. She grew up in the suburbs of Cincinnati and graduated with a degree in English from Ohio State University in 2012.The South Carolina House voted to replace Santee Cooper's entire board of directors and to stop the state-run utility from charging customers for the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project. FileCharleston, SC (29403)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High around 85F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A clear sky. Low 68F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor

Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.Assistant Columbia bureau chief

Adcox returned to The Post and Courier in October 2017 after 12 years covering the Statehouse for The Associated Press. She previously covered education for The P&C. She has also worked for The AP in Albany, N.Y., and for The Herald in Rock Hill.PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 13:01:46

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 Reduced Opex and Increased Future Production CapacityTo 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: April 04, 2018Time: 7:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Argex Titanium Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 15:00:21

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Bacanora Minerals Ltd.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Calgary, Alberta (FSCWire) - Bacanora Minerals Ltd. (AIM:BCN). has issued a press release with the following headline:Bacanora Provides Corporate Update and Zinnwald Lithium Project ReviewTo 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 Bacanora Minerals 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/Bacanora Minerals Ltd.Source: Bacanora Minerals Ltd. (AIM: BCN)Date: April 04, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Bacanora Minerals 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 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 11:37:10

Press Information

Coherent Market Insights

Contact Us





Mr. Shah





Coherent Market Insights





1001 4th Ave,





#3200





Seattle, WA 98154





Tel: +1-206-701-6702



Mr. Shah

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email

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/bacillus-subtilis-market-1253





# 550 Words

Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702CEO+1-206-701-6702

Global Bacillus Subtilis Market Outlook:Western European economies of Germany, U.K., and France are the major contributors to the growth of the bacillus subtilis market for waste water treatment. According to World Health Organization (WHO), in 2015, out of 912 million people living in the WHO European region, more than 60 million people were devoid of proper water sanitation facilities and an additional 14 million people did not have access to safe drinking water. Increasing awareness about waterborne diseases is expected to propel the growth of bacillus subtilis market in near future.Bacillus subtilis is utilized in applications such as feed additives, pesticides, and starch processing which directly cater to the food industry. Increasing demand for food & beverages in Asia Pacific economies such as China and India has in turn boosted Bacillus subtilis market growth. With a population of 1.3 billion, China has surpassed the U.S. as the worlds largest consumer of food and beverages. According to the China Britain Trade Council, the food industry in China had overall turnover of US$ 514 Bn in 2014. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the food processing industry in India was valued at US$ 258 Bn in 2015. These factors are expected to fuel the growth of the bacillus subtilis marketSample Copy of This Report@ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1253 The pharmaceutical industry in India and China is thriving due to a population boom in these countries. The economies together accounted for 36% of the worlds population in 2016. The low cost of labor and raw materials for pharmaceuticals has resulted in India becoming a hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India accounted for 20% of the worlds supply of generic drugs. Also, with government initiatives such as Pharma Vision 2020, the pharmaceutical industry is slated to grow in India. This is expected to result in increased pharmaceutical applications where the microbe is used as an antigen bearer and thrombolytic agent.Key factors driving the growth of the market include an increasing demand for probiotics due to the associated health benefits with its consumption such as increased immunity, gut health, and reduced risk of cancer. Also, increasing demand for enzymes in leather, starch, paper and textile applications has bolstered market growth of bacillus subtilis.Global Bacillus Subtilis Market Taxonomy:By Product Type:< 100 Billion CFU/g, 100-300 Billion CFU/g, >300 Billion CFU/gBy Application:Cleaning AgentStarch Processing, Waste Water Treatment, Pollution Treatment, Pesticide, Feed Additive, Probiotic Drink, Pharmaceutical, OthersBacillus subtilis is utilized for foliar application using conventional spray equipment. It is compatible with most of the commonly applied fertilizers and pesticides. In pharmaceuticals, bacillus subtilis strains are utilized in the bacterial vaccines as antigen bearers and antigen cellular manufactories. These drinks are particularly popular in South Korea and Japan due to traditional predilection towards consumption of therapeutic foods and beverages. Furthermore, the bacterium is also used as a feed additive to poultry and livestock feed. The consumption of bacillus subtilis by poultry has been observed to lead to improved gut health and resistance to diseases.Request To View Table of Content: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1253 Major players in the bacillus subtilis market include Bayer AG, BASF SE, Jocanima Corporation, Tonglu Huifeng, Kernel Bio-tech, Wuhan Nature's Favour Bioengineering Co., Ltd., Real IPM, ECOT China, and Qunlin.PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 13:01:51

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Bird River Resources Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Calgary, Alberta (FSCWire) - Bird River Resources Inc. (CSE:BDR). has issued a press release with the following headline:Bird River Resources Oil and Gas Operational UpdateTo 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 Bird River Resources 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/Bird River Resources Inc.Source: Bird River Resources Inc. (CSE: BDR)Date: April 04, 2018Time: 7:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Bird River Resources 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 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 20:59:17

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Canyon Copper Corp--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Canyon Copper Corp (TSX Venture:CNC). has issued a press release with the following headline:Canyon Copper Stakes 3,562 Hectares at Bootleg Lake Property, SaskatchewanTo 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 Canyon Copper 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/Canyon Copper CorpSource: Canyon Copper Corp (TSX Venture: CNC, OTC Pink: CNYCF, WKN: A2DYVZ, ISIN: CA1387636022)Date: April 04, 2018Time: 2:58 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Canyon Copper 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 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 10:02:01

Programme returns to Uganda to work with local entrepreneurs

Citi Launches Volunteer Africa 2018

Citi

Belinda Marks

+44 20 7508 3082

belinda.marks@citi.com

Citi (NYSE: C) has today launched its Volunteer Africa programme 2018, returning to Uganda to help a new group of local SMEs and entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

Now in its third year, the program is attracting further support and becoming more global than ever, welcoming Citis EMEA Markets and Securities Services business to join global Citi Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB) and Capital Markets Origination (CMO) on the programme.

This year, 27 Senior Analysts, Associates and Senior Associates from CIB, CMO and EMEA Markets and Securities Services, will spend four and a half weeks working with local entrepreneurs based in Jinja and Mbale, using their skills and experience to help come up with ways to improve the overall business including growth, employment, and future investment opportunities.

Manolo Falco, Head of EMEA Corporate and Investment banking at Citi, commented: This is now the third year of the programme and we are immensely excited about what will be achieved and the long term impact for both volunteers and entrepreneurs. We are particularly pleased that this year will see analysts and associates from across global CIB, CMO and EMEA Markets working together, a fantastic and unique opportunity to build networks across businesses and geographies. I look forward to working with our dynamic group of volunteers this year. 

Citi works in partnership with Balloon Ventures, a social enterprise that runs development programs to give micro-enterprises the training, funding and support needed to grow, create jobs and build communities. Balloon has identified 18 entrepreneurs that our Citi volunteers will work with throughout the programme. The entrepreneurs run a broad range of small businesses including health clinics, fruit farms, restaurants and tailoring businesses.

Phil Drury, EMEA Head CMO commented: It gives me great pleasure to be involved in Volunteer Africa for the second year. Ultimately this programme is about achieving a positive impact. Firstly, supporting the entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, employ others and build local economies. Also to enable Citis Junior Bankers to develop their skills, build their knowledge of developing economies and establish strong networks with colleagues across the firm.

The Citi Volunteer Africa programme launched in April 2016 and saw 12 Analysts and Associates from across Citi Investment Bank in EMEA volunteer their skills in Kenya, supporting small businesses to achieve sustained growth. The project received the personal support of Manolo Falco, Head of CIB EMEA. In the second year, 24 Analysts and Associates volunteered their skills in two cities in Uganda - Jinja and Mbale. The project was once again backed by Manolo with further support from Phil Drury, Head of CMO EMEA.

Leo Arduini, Head of EMEA Markets & Securities Services, commented: We are thrilled to be involved in Volunteer Africa 2018, a project that we have followed closely over the last two years and can see the direct impact it has not only on the entrepreneurs we work with on the ground, but also for our employees here at Citi. It is such a tremendous learning experience for everyone involved and gives Citi and our volunteers the opportunity to affect real change in the community.

About Citi:

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://new.citi.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 14:03:02

CLIFTON, N.J., April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Comodo CA, a worldwide leader in digital identity solutions, and CertCenter AG, an independent certificate management company, have joined forces to help customers keep their websites operational in the wake of Google's plan to distrust certain TLS/SSL certificates, starting with the release of Chrome 66.

The alliance comes at a critical time as thousands of customers are required to replace their existing certificates and will need help navigating that process. Comodo CA's TLS/SSL certificates solutions have been fully integrated into CertCenter's Certificate Management Suite and APIs so customers can order and quickly replace a comparable product that will be trusted by Google Chrome and other leading browsers.

"With the release of Chrome 66, thousands of websites will be at risk, that is going to have a major impact on businesses globally," said Bill Holtz, CEO, Comodo CA. "This strategic partnership enables customers to benefit with our industry-leading issuance speed combined with CertCenter's trusted expertise, allowing them to quickly install the right solutions that meet customers' needs so that they can stay operational."

"We would like to help all website administrators who are currently suffering from the fear that they will not receive their replaced certificate in time," said Andreas Mallek, CEO at CertCenter.



"Even for those who have forgotten to think about the timely replacement, we would like to help out with a complimentary certificate with Extended Validation (EV) or a discounted Domain Validated (DV) certificate," said Luis Federico Reimers, head of marketing and sales at CertCenter.

Reimers also pointed out the need to raise the awareness among both the site operators as well as the users. A connection between a browser and a server should not only be encrypted (as is the case with all domain validated certificates). Modern TLS certificates with Extended Validation (EV) helps to distinguish between the good guys and bad guys as the site operator's real identity will show up in the browser's address bar.

Customers and partners can learn more and take advantage of those promotional offers by visiting https://release-party.com or https://release-party.de.

About Comodo CA

A trusted advisor by enterprises globally for more than two decades, Comodo CA provides digital identity solutions for businesses of all sizes - protecting their employees, customers, intellectual property and overall brand - from damages caused by fraudsters impersonating people and devices.

As the largest commercial certificate authority with over 100 million SSL certificates issued worldwide, Comodo CA has the experience and performance to meet the growing need to secure transactions and create online trust. For more information, visit ComodoCA.com or via twitter @Comodo_SSL.

About CertCenter

CertCenter offers cutting-edge tools and APIs to manage X.509 based certificates. Whether SSL/TLS, Code Signing, E-Mail Encryption or Client Authentication; As a multi-award-winning and independent partner to the leading Certification Authorities, CertCenter offers smart solutions, especially for the hosting industry, SMBs, and the enterprise market. For more information, visit CertCenter.com or via twitter @certcenter_us.

Lisa Johnson 425-766-8736 Lisa@ljstratcomm.comPR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 14:02:02

SAN DIEGO, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crown Bioscience, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Crown Bioscience International (TWSE:6554) and a global drug discovery and development services company providing translational platforms to advance oncology, inflammation, cardiovascular and metabolic disease research, will showcase their scientific expertise at this year's American Association for Cancer Research's International Conference (AACR) in Chicago, IL on April 14th - 18th.

CrownBio's scientists will present more than a dozen scientific posters describing their latest efforts to revolutionize preclinical development of cancer treatments. These scientific posters will demonstrate the combined power of CrownBio's integrated oncology platform to advance oncology pipelines using their exhaustive patient-derived xenograft (PDX) collection, innovative humanized tumor models and three dimensional ex vivo cultures that recapitulate the in vivo tumor microenvironment. Featured work will show data from novel models that enable precise evaluation of new cancer therapeutics, including bi-specific T-cell engagers (BiTEs), targeted cancer immunotherapies and combinatory immunotherapies.

"I am excited to share Crown Bioscience's cutting-edge research with colleagues at AACR," said Dr. Henry Li, Crown Bioscience's Vice President of Translational Oncology. "The data presented will exhibit the utility of our clinically relevant solutions to identify critical biomarkers and improve preclinical evaluation of cancer therapies."

"Crown Bioscience is honored to play a leading role in presenting opportunities for scientific advancements at AACR," said Laurie Heilmann, Chief Business Officer. "The work of our dedicated scientific team exemplifies Crown Bioscience's commitment to helping researchers solve global health challenges through continued innovation of our scientific translational platform."

Delegates can request copies of the posters and learn more about Crown Bioscience's scientific translational platform at booth #3012.

About Crown Bioscience Inc.

Crown Bioscience is a global drug discovery and development solutions company providing translational platforms to advance oncology, inflammation and metabolic disease research. With an extensive portfolio of relevant models and predictive tools, Crown Bioscience enables clients to deliver superior clinical candidates.

Media Enquiries:

Jody Barbeau

Crown Bioscience Inc.

marketing@CrownBioscience.com

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Crown Bioscience Inc. via Globenewswire

PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 19:29:15

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Far Resources Ltd.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, BC (FSCWire) - Far Resources Ltd. (CSE:FAT). has issued a press release with the following headline:Far Resources Provides Corporate UpdateTo 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 Far 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/Far Resources Ltd.Source: Far Resources Ltd. (CSE: FAT, FWB: F0R, WKN: A2AH8W, ISIN: CA30734R1001, OTC Pink: FRRSF)Date: April 04, 2018Time: 1:29 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Far 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 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 10:01:34

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Great Atlantic Resources Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Great Atlantic Resources Corp. (TSX Venture:GR). has issued a press release with the following headline:Great Atlantic Plans Diamond Drilling on Its 100% Owned Keymet Project Bathurst, New BrunswickTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Great Atlantic Resources Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Great Atlantic Resources Corp.Source: Great Atlantic Resources Corp. (TSX Venture: GR, FWB: PH01, WKN: A1JZ4T, ISIN: CA3900871045)Date: April 04, 2018Time: 4:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Great Atlantic Resources Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)Increasing prevalence of diabetes is expected to drive growth of the insulin delivery devices market over the forecast period. The global insulin delivery devices market was valued at US$ 11,326.9 million in 2017 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 11.3% over the forecast period (20172025)

Insulin Delivery Devices

PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 09:39:42

Press Information

Coherent Market Insights

1001 4th Ave, #3200



Seattle, WA 98154



Mr. Shah

CEO

2067016702

email

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/





# 730 Words

1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154CEO2067016702

Advancements in technology in devices is a factor fueling growth of the insulin delivery devices marketIncreasing awareness and growing demand for insulin delivery devices for diabetes control are factors contributing towards the market growth. North America, followed by Europe are the largest markets for insulin delivery devices. Increasing prevalence of lifestyle associated diseases, implementation of awareness programs regarding diabetes, and higher adoption rate of advanced medical devices contributes towards the growth of the market in North America. For instance, in 2010, according to Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, insulin pumps were more widely used on the American side of the Atlantic than on the European side. As a result, insulin pumps is expected to gain demand quickly during the second half of the forecast period. Furthermore, In 2016, the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention in partnership with the Emirates Diabetes Society and Ministry with AstraZeneca Gulf, has launched Circle of Care, an education and support Programme aimed to improve the well-being of people in the UAE living with or at risk of developing type 2 diabetes thus expected to boost the growth over the forecast period.To understand Research Methodology, please click: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1352 Key players in the market are focusing on developing next generation devices to remain competitive, while seeking ways to enhance their design capabilities. For instance, in October 2017, Eli Lilly and Company announced its plans to invest US$ 72 million in an insulin manufacturing project at one of its Indianapolis facilities. The investment will be used to replace an existing insulin vial filling line and allow Lilly to meet growing demand for its insulins - including Humalog (insulin lispro) and Humulin (human insulin) - while upgrading to state-of-the-art technology and preparing for its insulin pipeline.The global insulin delivery devices market was valued at US$ 11,326.9 million in 2017 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 11.3% over the forecast period (20172025).Increasing prevalence of diabetes is expected to drive growth of the insulin delivery devices market over the forecast periodIncreasing prevalence and incidence of diabetes is a major factor driving the insulin delivery devices market growth. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2014, about 29.1 million people in the U.S. have diabetes with a healthcare burden of around US$ 245 Bn and with an estimated 4.69.2% of pregnant women affected by gestational diabetes. Moreover, the Australian government launched National Diabetes Strategy (201620), for an action to prevent diabetes and support the people living with diabetes. Thus, rise in government initiatives to support diabetic patients is expected to favor growth of the insulin delivery devices market.Development of systems and devices for improved drug delivery is expected to be factor for growth of the market. When compared with vial and syringe regimens, insulin pens offer a greater clinical efficacy, improved quality of life, and increased dosing accuracy, particularly at low doses. Thus, introduction of insulin pen devices has aided patients with diabetes mellitus in easier and more convenient treatment regimens. For instance, in January 2014, Novo Nordisk launched the NovoPen Echo in the U.S. market. This is the first and only pen device available in the U.S. with half-unit dosing and a memory function that can record the dose and time passed since the last injection.Ask for customization: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1352 Insulin is vital for people suffering from type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. In the past, patients with diabetes had to inject insulin using large glass syringes and reusable needles, both of which needed sterilization by boiling after each use. Improvements and innovations has led to development of insulin delivery devices such as pens and insulin pumps. Furthermore, insulin analogs have become available that enable both continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion(CSII) using an insulin pump and insulin therapy using multiple daily injections (MDI) to more closely match physiologic insulin patterns. Type or dosage of insulin can be changed, to meet the individual needs of the patient. Insulin can be packaged in vials (bottles), cartridges or prefilled pens. The cartridges are used with pen injectors whereas the vials are used with syringes.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.coherentchronicle.com/PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 13:51:15

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Jadestone Energy Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Singapore (FSCWire) - Jadestone Energy Inc. (TSX Venture:JSE). has issued a press release with the following headline:Jadestone Results for 9M Period to Dec 31, 2017To 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 Jadestone Energy Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Jadestone Energy Inc.Source: Jadestone Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: JSE, ISIN: CA46989Q1000, WKN: A2DHZ1)Date: April 04, 2018Time: 7:51 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Jadestone Energy Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 05:31:02

Fiorano scalability enables an efficient distribution platform with a 360-degree view

Lakshya Internet Transforms Its B2B Retail with Fiorano iPaaS

Fiorano Software

Sumit Kuhite, +1-650-326-1136

mediarelations@fiorano.com

Fiorano Software announced today that Lakshya Internet has implemented the Fiorano Cloud Platform (iPaaS) to scale its emerging B2B ecommerce business, transforming traditional distribution methods in India. Lock The Deal (LTD) is the company's technology-enabled end-to-end distribution platform for retailers, offering a wide range of products and brands. LTD's analytics are leveraged to claim benefits of cost efficiency, increased reach, higher level of customer engagement and quick, deep insights on buying behaviour.

Explaining the business challenges and strategy, Anurag Choube, Vice President, SAR Group, said, We selected the Fiorano Cloud platform for its ability to scale on demand and effortlessly connect to any combination of cloud or on-premise applications. With Fiorano API, onboarding new retailers onto the platform has become faster. Fiorano enables rapid development and effective utilization of resources to add new services giving us a competitive edge in today's demanding environment.

Fiorano seamlessly synchronized data across multiple systems (e.g. SAP, WMS, CRM, WMS [Vinculum], CRM, Holisol and Far-Eye), eliminating the previously error-prone manual interventions. Fiorano provides a flexible and robust integration layer for Business Orchestration and for the Web Service Arbitration engine that controls the flow of information between various systems used by Lakshyas vendors. Fiorano also offers a full record of process integration, providing a 360-degree view for monitoring.

About Lakshya

Lakshya Internet was set up by the SAR group, a leading market player in the energy storage and water/air purification industries that employs over 4,000 people. Its services include logistics & warehousing, Salesforce automation, warranty and collection management. It has a mission to remove inefficiencies in retail distribution, allowing access to the widest range of products at transparent prices and terms.

About Fiorano

Fiorano, a Silicon Valley based USA (California) Corporation, is a trusted provider of Digital Business Backplane and enterprise integration middleware, high performance messaging and peer-to-peer distributed systems, since 1995. Global companies including AT&T Wireless, LOreal, NASA, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Scotland, US Coast Guard and Vodafone have deployed Fiorano to achieve digital transformation, yielding unprecedented productivity.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403006PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 16:02:01

SAN ANTONIO, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rackspace today announced that it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of its 2018 Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Managed Service Providers, Worldwide.

The Gartner assessment, performed by the firm's IT industry analysts, evaluates service providers based on the completeness of their vision and their ability to execute. It categorizes providers in quadrants labeled Niche Players, Challengers, Visionaries, and Leaders. Rackspace was among the 20 providers assessed by Gartner, and is one of three providers in the Leaders quadrant.

"In our view, being recognized as a Leader in this Magic Quadrant for two years in a row is a testament to the breadth and depth of our portfolio and our expertise in delivering next-generation IT services," said Joe Eazor, CEO of Rackspace. "Businesses within every industry are moving to consume IT in a more-agile and cost-efficient manner, as a service, across multiple public and private cloud platforms and technologies. We are constantly adding new capabilities to help businesses navigate and operate in this complex environment."

Rackspace serves more than 140,000 customers worldwide, including a majority of the Fortune 100, and maintains data centers on five continents. The company helps customers through every phase of their digital transformation including planning, implementation, ongoing operations management, and optimization, across applications, data, security, and infrastructure.

"We are pleased to be recognized by our customers and Gartner. We feel it defines us as one of the pre-eminent leaders in offering managed services for all of the world's leading public cloud platforms," said Prashanth Chandrasekar, vice president and general manager, Managed Public Clouds at Rackspace. "Rackspace offers our customers a truly differentiated, next-generation services experience that uses a broad end-to-end approach to help accelerate digital transformation. Leveraging our expertise across the world's leading hyperscale public clouds, we help customers choose the right public cloud for their specific technical and business needs based on a data-driven framework. We enable customers to migrate applications in a rapid fashion to the public cloud and then ensure the highest levels of ongoing performance at the lowest total cost, using our cost and architecture optimization tooling. We will continue to invest in our multi-cloud technology and specialist talent to drive significant value for our customers."

Rackspace now has one of the largest workforces of cloud experts in the world. The company began offering managed cloud services for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure in 2015. Two years later, it expanded its portfolio to include managed support for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and the Alibaba Cloud. Rackspace provides distinct offerings and varying service levels for AWS, Azure, GCP and Alibaba, delivering 24x7x365 access to certified experts, tooling and automation, migration services, architectural guidance, deployment, advanced monitoring, proactive optimization and remediation. Rackspace serves more than 1,100 customers across its managed public cloud portfolio.

In 2017, Rackspace expanded its offering for AWS to include Fanatical Support for AWS Professional Services. It also announced an enhanced, strategic channel relationship with AWS to streamline the experience for customers moving to AWS by providing solution and migration advisory services, migration service delivery and advanced migration tooling. As an AWS Premier Consulting Partner, the highest tier within the AWS Partner Network, Rackspace has also earned a range of AWS Competencies including Migration, Storage, Microsoft Workloads, Oracle, DevOps, and Marketing and Commerce.

Rackspace also expanded its Azure capabilities in July 2017 to include more robust support for hybrid Microsoft cloud deployments with the launch of Fanatical Support for Microsoft Azure Stack. This offering provides a consistent and agile experience across Azure and Azure Stack, including portal, API, and service architecture.

In addition, Rackspace became the first managed services partner for GCP in 2017 and was chosen as Google's exclusive managed services partner to provide Customer Reliability Engineering (CRE) support. The CRE support offering will deliver greater value to customers by allowing Rackspace engineers to work on everything from inspecting and helping optimize customer code and design, to implementation and operational procedures.

Rackspace's multi-cloud approach allows it to deliver greater value to customers by managing multiple IT platforms and technologies. In addition to its managed cloud offerings for the leading public clouds, Rackspace's broad portfolio of managed, next-generation IT solutions includes other infrastructure solutions across managed colocation, managed hosting and private clouds - along with services for applications, data, and security. These services include database administration for most relational and non-relational databases, technical and functional support for packaged applications like SAP, Oracle, Sitecore and others, along with Rackspace Managed Security for advanced cloud security and compliance requirements.

For more information on Rackspace's position as a Leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Managed Service Providers, Worldwide, please view a complimentary copy of the full report here.

Source: Gartner, "Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Managed Service Providers, Worldwide", Craig Lowery, Mark D. Ray, et al., 29 March 2018.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Rackspace

Rackspace is a leading provider of IT as a service in today's multi-cloud world. It delivers expert advice and integrated managed services across applications, data, security and infrastructure, including public and private clouds and managed hosting. Rackspace partners with every leading technology provider, including Alibaba, AWS, Google, Microsoft, OpenStack, Oracle, SAP, and VMware. The company is uniquely positioned to provide unbiased expertise on which technologies will best serve each customer's needs. Rackspace has been honored by Fortune, Glassdoor and others as one of the best places to work. Based in San Antonio, Texas, Rackspace serves more than 140,000 business customers from data centers on five continents. Learn more at www.rackspace.com.

Media Contact:

Megan Ketterer

210-312-0331

megan.ketterer@rackspace.com

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Rackspace Hosting via Globenewswire

PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 08:58:01

The Oxford China Forum 2018 will establish an arts sub-section to examine the export of contemporary Chinese art and literature

For Oxford China Forum

Cece, 15974109090

561672799@qq.com

The Oxford China Forum 2018 went ahead as planned starting on 3rd March 2018 and finishing on 4th March, Greenwich Time. This year the topic for the forum was A New China.

Forming a contrast from previous years forums, the venue of this years Oxford China Forum was moved to the Oxford Debate Club. For the first time, this unique and well-known debating community invited scholars, writers, artists, and entrepreneurs all representing China, and held in-depth discussions on topics such as the economic transformation of modern China and developments in both the cultural and political spheres of China.

Since its establishment in 2013, the Oxford China Forum has been held three times with resounding success. By relying on Oxford's resources, we were able to link China up with the rest of the world, indirectly solve problems relating to information asymmetry, and providing a platform to rethink the country.

This year, the Oxford China Forum has deliberately added an art sub-section themed around "The Roots and Reforms of Art and Culture". It emphasises the value of Oxford University students reflecting on Chinese traditional culture as well as the future of Chinese culture and art. The forum invited well-known Chinese artists Jin Xing, Xu Bing, Tai Xiangzhou, and Jiang Shanqing to discuss Chinese culture and contemporary art in the current art scene.

According to the planner, Zhou Jiayu, the original intention of the Oxford China Forum arts sub-section was to provide young Oxford students with a means to appreciate and observe contemporary art, as well to make it their mission and responsibility to propagate Chinese culture throughout the world.

In addition to this, the forum also invited well-known writers Yan Geling and Feng Tang, entrepreneurs Yu Dong and Tao Tao, scholars and academic representatives from related fields to attempt discussing the seven sub-sections of international relations, philosophy, literary, the state of rural China, artificial intelligence technology, arts, and entrepreneurship to reconstruct a true social ecology of a modern China. This discussion was centred on the ideas of Chinas foreign diplomatic relations, the modern lessons provided by Confucianism, the predicament regarding the modern state of literature, problems with rural Chinas next generation, the future development of artificial intelligence, media relations, changes in art, entrepreneurial innovation, and other issues.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403006PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-04 07:02:02

Toyoda Gosei to Exhibit at Auto China 2018

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Takatomo Abe

inquiry@mail.toyoda-gosei.co.jp

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. will exhibit at the 15th Auto China 2018, to be held at China International Exhibition Center in Beijing from April 25 to May 4.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403005

Toyoda Gosei Booth (Graphic: Business Wire)

The Toyoda Gosei booth will feature various products that contribute safer, more environmentally-friendly, and more comfortable vehicles. The company will also exhibit next-generation concepts for the age of autonomous driving and electric vehicles.

Toyoda Gosei views China as a key market with promising growth, and will continue to meet customer needs there for further business growth in the country.

Main exhibits

1. Next-generation concepts

Next-generation cockpit module

These modules create relaxing interior spaces in which more of the driving is left to the vehicle. In addition to an instrument panel and console box that function as a human-machine interface (HMI), a next-generation steering wheel is able to sense the drivers condition with cameras and sensors.

Next-generation front module

Grille modules comprising the radiator grille and other exterior components are equipped with cameras and millimeter wave radar for autonomous driving systems. Exterior communication lamps will also serve an HMI function to inform people around of the vehicles conditions and intentions. A plastic body is used to reduce the weight compared with metal.

2. Wire frame demonstration car for safety and environmental friendliness

Toyoda Gosei manufactures products that contribute to improved safety performance, such as airbags and millimeter wave radar compatible emblems, and products that contribute to improved environmental performance, such as plastic fuel filler pipes, lightweight weatherstrips and automotive LED products. This demonstration car makes it easy to understand the location and features of each of these products.

About Toyoda Gosei

Established in 1949 and headquartered in Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, Toyoda Gosei is a leading specialty manufacturer of rubber and plastic automotive parts and LEDs. Today, the Toyoda Gosei Group provides a variety of high-quality products internationally, with a network of approximately 100 plants and offices in 18 countries and regions. Through its flexible, integrated global supply system and leading-edge technologies for automotive safety, comfort, and environmental preservation, Toyoda Gosei is a global supplier that aims to deliver the highest levels of quality, innovation, and satisfaction to customers worldwide.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403005The National Pension Commission (PenCom), on Wednesday issued compliance certificates to more than 4,000 firms to enable them bid for Federal Government contracts.

Aminu Farouk, the head, Research and Corporate Strategy Department, PenCom, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said as at March 23, about 353 firms had complied with the requirements as stipulated in the Pension Reform Act 2014, and were cleared to secure Federal Governments contracts.

The 353 companies pushed the total sum of the companies the commission issued compliance certificates since PenComs inception to over 4000, Mr. Farouk said.

According to him, the certificate is evidence that they have fully paid the contributions of their employees.

The compliance certificates issued to the firms meant they had fully paid the contributions of their employees and had paid the premium for Group Life insurance covering their employees fully.

Thus, in the event of death in active service, their families will be paid benefits to the tune 300 per cent of the deceaseds full annual salary and allowances, Farouk said.

He appealed to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to support the initiative of issuing certificate of compliance to deserving firms.

Some MDAs often accept spurious evidence of compliance from contractors and being reluctant to ensure that companies bidding for works fulfilled their obligations relating to pensions as enunciated in the Public Procurement Act 2007.

The commission posited that methods deployed by MDAs include, the exclusion of the pension requirement in the advertisement for contractors or acceptance of spurious evidence of compliance from them.

We once again appeal to them to support the laudable initiative, he stressed.

According to Mr. Farouk, some of the firms cleared by the commission included Reynolds Construction Company Limited, which has 3,643 employees and has also contributed N726.43 million.

Others are: Leadway Assurance Company Limited, with 283 employees, and has contributed N133.02 million, Ghazi Shipping and Trading Company Limited, with five employees contributed N3.13 million, AIICO Insurance Plc, with 264 employees contributed N135.11 million.

Mr. Farouk also said Cornerstone Insurance Plc with 204 employees, contributed N132.20 million, Linkage Assurance Plc, which has 231 employees, contributed N65.50 million.

NSIA Insurance Limited with 99 employees, contributed N27.95 million, while Solid Trust Insurance Brokers Limited with nine staff contributed N5.03 million.

Risk Analyst Insurance Brokers Limited, has nine employees and contributed N2.42 million.

Prorisk Insurance Brokers Limited has nine staff and contributed N2.42 million, while Image Brokers Limited has 16 employees and contributed N1.51 million.

Wib Insurance Brokers Limited with three staff, contributed N855,499.58 and Denos Insurance Brokers Limited with nine staff, contributed N660,240.12, said Farouk.

ADVERTISEMENT

Similarly, Geo-Chem West Africa Limited with 19 employees contributed N3.86 million, while Setraco Nigeria Limited with 2839 employees contributed N455.05 million.

North South Power Company Limited, with 331 employees contributed N114.65 million, just as Oriental Energy Resources Limited with 43 employees contributed N41.59 million, among several others.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

Cameroons army has freed 18 hostages, including seven Swiss and five Italian tourists, who were kidnapped by English-speaking separatists in the restive southwest region, the government spokesman said.

Issa Bakary said on state television late on Tuesday that the 18 hostages who also included six Cameroonian municipal officials had been abducted on Monday.

He said they were freed hours later by the armys elite Rapid Intervention Battalion.

The group was abducted on its way to the Twin Lakes in Mount Manengouba National Park, about 300 km (186 miles) northwest of the capital, Yaounde, he said.

The kidnapping occurred on the same day that Prime Minister Philemon Yang was chairing a meeting with the tourism board to promote tourism in the Central African country, state television said on Wednesday.

Mr Bakary said the group was kidnapped by secessionist terrorists, a term used by the government to refer to the English-speaking separatists, who want to carve out a new state, Ambazonia, from mainly French-speaking Cameroon.

The Ambazonian Defence Force (ADF), the main Anglophone separatist group battling state security forces, denied any involvement in the kidnappings.

ADF does not take hostages. ADF arrests enablers and collaborators and does not arrest foreign nationals, Cho Ayaba, a leader of the Ambazonian Governing Council, to which the ADF is loosely affiliated, said.

The ADF has been responsible for most of the shootings that have killed more than 20 state security agents in a year-long uprising against President Paul Biyas Francophone government.

The separatist group says Mr Biyas government has marginalised the English-speaking minority.

However, a number of smaller armed groups have emerged in recent months in reaction to a government crackdown that has included razing villages in rural Anglophone Cameroon near the Nigerian border.

(Reuters/NAN)Sani Aliyu is the Director-General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA). In this exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES Ayodamola Owoseye and Nike Adebowale, he speaks on why the largest survey of people living with HIV will be conducted from June in Nigeria and the reason why Nigeria still records high rate of Mother to Child HIV transmission of HIV.

PT  The world just celebrated World Tuberculosis Day to call attention to one of the deadest diseases affecting people living with HIV. What is your agency doing to prevent people with HIV from having Tuberculosis (TB) and providing treatment to those of them who already have TB?

Aliyu- You are quite right, HIV and TB are considered deadly twins and TB is the commonest cause of death in people living with HIV. And that is partly because of the prevalence of TB in our communities. Tuberculosis is so common, virtually most of us would have been exposed to tuberculosis at some point in our lives. What happens is that the disease becomes inactive in you and if your immune system drops, it becomes activated.

We at NACA have been working very closely with the federal ministry of health to design programmes that will reduce that frequency and incidence of TB in people living with HIV. For example, during the World TB Day, we engaged with the federal ministry of health, we were there, shoulder to shoulder with the minister, to show our solidarity.

Some years back, when there were issues with diagnosing TB, there is a new diagnostic tool which is based on PCR, which has been rolled out across a lot of sites in the country. NACA, actually worked with the Global Fund to deliver that and most of the machines that are currently used for Rapid Test in hospitals for TB were delivered through NACA.

There is also a very strong need that when people are diagnosed with HIV, an assessment is made as to whether they have been exposed to TB or not and if there is evidence that they have been exposed to TB and they have active Tuberculosis, then they need to be placed on full treatment. If there is evidence that they dont have active TB, then they can go on to prophylaxis, which will prevent them from developing active TB. Our approach nowadays is across the board. The first thing is to make sure you do not have active TB because if you have active TB and we put you on prophylaxis, (the drug for prophylaxis is only one drug) you will end up developing resistance. But if you dont have active TB, that Isoniazid which is the name of the drug, would stop it from activating from latent to active TB and it is only given for six months. So when people are placed on treatment for HIV, they will also be started on Isoniazid to prevent them from developing TB and it is now part of our national guideline across the board.

We are also doing a lot of works in the communities through other partners to make sure that people are aware of common symptoms of TB. So if you have cough that has lasted for more than two weeks, you have night sweat, losing weight, think of TB, because it is unlikely to be malaria. If you are having a cough that has been lasting for more than two weeks and losing weight, it is unlikely to be pneumonia, because if it is pneumonia for two weeks you will likely be in the hospital bed.

TB is a chronic illness, which takes a while before it actually brings a person down. You can continue to go to work for weeks, while you have TB and you are coughing before you realised you need to go the hospital. The awareness of the common symptoms of TB is important because if you know that you have TB, you will need to be put on treatment. Same way if diagnosed with TB, the next thing is to have an HIV test done. If you have HIV with TB, it is a different issue. We need to treat HIV as well to bring your immune system up so that as you are on treatment for the TB, the TB can be cured. If we give you treatment for TB without treating the HIV, work done is zero, because even if you are treated for TB, the first place the drug may not work very well. Secondly, the person might end up surviving from TB and dying from another opportunistic infection related to HIV.

There is a lot of work we have been doing and TB is really important. There are a lot more people with TB in the world than there is with HIV. It is estimated that there are up to 500 million people being exposed to TB in the world, while with HIV, about 30 million people living with the virus throughout the world. So you can see the difference. Out of every one person with HIV, we have 20 people who have been exposed to TB, so its a big problem.

PT- Do you have the statistics of people living with HIV and TB in Nigeria?

Aliyu- Yes we do, but I dont have the figures straight away. There are figures. I dont want to quote figures available in terms of active TB and people living with HIV. In estimate, we have about three million Nigerians living with HIV, probably up to five to ten per cent of them would have active TB at any point in time.

PT- How will you rate the success of the TB/HIV programme?

Aliyu- Definitely, there has been progress, but the progress is very slow. We have had major challenges both in terms of trying to get clinics to put people with HIV straightaway on prophylaxis for TB. There has been concern in the previous years that if you treat latent tuberculosis with Isoniazid, what you are doing is that you are increasing the risk of resistance to Isoniazid. That actually hasnt been proven and there is no evidence based for it. In fact, there is very good evidence based, that if you have HIV and you are put on Isoniazid for prevention, for prophylaxis, your outcome is much better. Because you can still develop TB, while on treatment for HIV because TB and HIV, TB usually tends to come in at much higher CD4 count, that is the level of the immune system. You can have TB when your CD4 count is about 400 to 500 for instance. A lot of people would have been on treatment for a year, two years for a CD4 count of 400 to 500. So if they are not treated for latent tuberculosis, it means a year down the line and after taking HIV drugs, they could still come up with TB. And that is why it is so important to get rid of that latent TB infection in people living with HIV.

PT- Currently, Nigeria has been using estimated data for people with HIV in the country and the federal government is planning to conduct a survey for a more accurate data. When will the survey be conducted and where? And what do you stand to achieve? How will this improve HIV campaign in the country?

Aliyu- The survey will be starting, hopefully, by June this year. The survey is partly sponsored by the United States government and Global Fund. It is the largest HIV survey ever done in the world. Partly because of the size of our population. We will be doing it across the country. We have gone very far in getting the initial stages of the survey. For instance, training is about to start and most of the guidelines have been written. From the Nigerian side, ethical approval have been given by the relevant government body and we are waiting for ethical approval from the U.S. side in order for us to get started. Equipment have also been procured and we are already starting to link up with state governments. We will be doing advocacy to state governors and also to traditional rulers.

The survey will cover the whole country, what it will show is where the issues are when it comes to HIV. At the moment, a lot of the surveys that are being done in the past have very wide confidence interval. Confidence interval means that they are not very precise because the sample sizes have been relatively small and the methodology has been different. This time around, we want to have more precise figures. We want to know right down to the state level and the sub states structures as well where people living with HIV are likely to be. So that, not only government but also our donors can target and channel resources towards those areas.

A common thing that is now happening over a year or two among our partners, is there has been challenges in getting people living with HIV. There are parts of the country that you will go to test people, and you will test and test, only few people will be positive. This increases the cost of delivering the programme because these test kits are expensive. If I have to test 10,000 people to get a handful that are positive, it is not good use of public resources. What we will prefer is to put resources in and get a high yield that will enable us to pick up a larger number of people having the disease and then linking them up to care. So that is what we are trying to do with the survey. The survey will tell us where the issues are, to enable us put in more resources in such areas. Nobody should be left behind. If you have HIV, it is important you are diagnosed. Dont forget we are talking about public health interventions, and with public health interventions, it goes beyond just the individual as we are looking at larger numbers. The more people we can pick up, the better for the overall response.

We are doing the survey to help us to channel public resources and use them more effectively, more efficiently and in an equitable manner. So you dont come to me and say, why am I funding HIV programmes in a state and not in another? Then I can say to you, we have saturated the other state with HIV testing last year and our survey shows there are maybe three or four times more people in the state we are funding, that is why we are channelling those resources there. It is a very important survey. I will like to appeal to our people and communities that when the survey comes, there will be a lot of publicity and they should please not be afraid and engage with us. We will be doing lots of testing, data for the overall good of the country and the overall good of the national response. And once we have the data, we will be able to have more robust national response to the HIV epidemic.

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PT- What population size is the survey looking at?

Aliyu- You might say its a small number, but the sample size will be about 3000 to 4000 per state. I think in total it is about 160,000 sample size that will be taken, including paediatrics and adults. You might say with a population of 180 million people, that is still a drop in the ocean. But it is not just the sample size that matters. It is also the methodology and the method of sampling.

We will be going down to enumeration areas, it will be right down to the ward levels. Enumeration areas will be selected in a scientific way and then they will be sampled. And it is not just HIV we will be looking for. We will also be looking for Hepatitis B and C. When we come to you and ask for your blood, you might think you dont have HIV, which by the way unless you are celibate or born before 1981, there is no way you can be 100 per cent sure you are HIV free. So it is important you all come out and get tested to know your Hepatitis B or C status. A lot more people die from Hepatitis than from HIV in Nigeria.

In a way it is a win, win situation for us all. We are grateful to our donors and supports of our principals in governments, particularly the federal government that has given us all the support we need to make sure that this survey becomes a reality. We hope that the survey will finish by the end of the year, just before the elections and results will be ready by early next year.

PT- Will the Nigerian government also fund the survey?

Aliyu- The government is supporting it, maybe not directly with money but with our resources and human capacity.

PT- How do you intend to harmonise the data from the private laboratories with the ones you will collect at the

national survey?

Aliyu- The survey will determine HIV prevalence at community level, not at the facility level. What you raised is a very important issue. We increasingly know that a lot of HIV tests are being done in the private sector. In the past, we had been unable to pick up those results. More recently, the last time we collected data for HIV testing, we actually had to approach facilities directly and ask them how many people did you test and what is your result? That is a very inefficient way. The Federal Ministry of Health has been trying to roll out DHIS, that is the health information management system, and providing platforms for the private sector to make report. Particularly reporting mandatory diseases, which are communicable diseases like Lassa fever and other infectious diseases.

It is important that we have a mechanism that allows the private sector deliver information to the main servers in the Federal Ministry of Health. I think what we need is incentives to allow the private sector to do this because it will cost money to employ somebody to put in data and then send it. Externally, in countries like the UK, until recently, doctors were paid for every report made. I am not saying we should pay everybody, what I am saying is that we need to develop an incentive scheme that will support our private sector to provide us with relevant information that we can use to manage our health systems. 40-45 percent of Nigerians actually use private health facilities, which is a huge number. So it is a gap we have in data, that we really need to fill.

PT- Funding for HIV seems to be going down and Nigeria has been advised to own their campaign. With the health sector being under funded in this country, what do you think will be the future of HIV campaign in Nigeria, if the fund stops or reduces to the minimal?

Aliyu- We cannot sit down and allow this to happen. We know about one million people living with HIV and 95 per cent of them are being catered for by the U.S. Government and Global Fund, while five per cent by the government of Nigeria. We are working to reverse this with our principals. President Muhammadu Buhari has already made commitment that 50,000 people living with HIV will be put on treatment every year, consecutively. Though that is a drop in the ocean and will take a long time, but it is an excellent beginning. We already have 60,000 people in Taraba and Abia that are currently on treatment.

More importantly, what we have done with the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, we have put up a proposal for a national treatment programme for the country. The national treatment programme will be the future platform for delivering HIV services in the country. Essentially, what it will entail is, we will pull resources from the treatment budget of NACA and the treatment budget in the Federal Ministry of Health into the national treatment programme. The national treatment programme will work directly with state governments. So, just like we have in Taraba and Abia, where we channel funds to the state governments and they deliver the programmes, we will channel funds through the national treatment programmes to activate, beginning with five plus two states to start running HIV programmes. We will support those states with procurement of commodities, because everything you do at a large scale is much cheaper. For example, when it comes to HIV drugs, we know our partners, the U.S Government and others, they have easier access to markets at a lower rate because of their ability to negotiate costs.

We will build on that for the national treatment programme because we will have an economy of scale that will allow us to procure commodities and then deliver them to those states under the national treatment programme. If it works very well, what we plan is we start taking over sites that are currently not being used by our partners and deliver care to the people, and if in the next five years or 10 years, the US Government says to Nigeria we are done, it means we will have a platform that will allow us to continue the treatment programme.

Those one million on treatment for HIV, will continue to be around for another 30- 40- 50 years and they will continue to require drugs to allow them to live useful lives and somebody needs to look after them. Who would continue to do so? It is not going to be the U.S Government of Global Funds for the next 30-40 years. It would be Nigerian government and we need to work out a solution before it becomes a much larger problem that will be difficult to handle.

In the long term, what we are looking at is increased funding across the board for the health sector. We talk about Abuja Declaration, where we look at 15 per cent funding to the health sector. We cannot increase the pie for HIV funding in Nigeria, without increasing the overall health budget. The US government funding on average is about $400 million every year in Nigeria. Global Fund is about $110 million every year. The entire size of the HIV response in the country is about $700 million every year. How much is the budget for the Ministry of Health last year? It was less than $1billion. You cannot put all your money into one disease condition, so we need a different mechanism.

Prof. Isaac Adewole. Minister of Health

Lets increase the pie for the entire health sector and in that process, we will increase the HIV funding. We are trying to bring in the private sector, to help us set up a HIV Trust Fund and we are also building on our links with the states to encourage them to set up State Health Insurance Scheme that will allow people living with HIV to key in because if you are on treatment for HIV, you got to be on treatment for life. Certainly, at the moment there is no cure.

PT- On the state funding, the minister complained some weeks ago that some states have not contributed a kobo to HIV funding. How have you been working with them? What is the state of HIV in these states not providing counterpart funds and can you name some of them?

Aliyu- You want to put me in trouble with the states and be declared persona non-grata with them! We have only started advocacy visits, so rather than going to the states and be banned from landing at the airport. The term counterpart is wrong, what we are saying is that the state governments used their own money to fund the current structure that exists in the states through the State Agency for the Control of Aids to run HIV programmes. Most states have budgets but a lot of them dont release anything for it. Sometimes, you dont blame the governance but blame the budgeting process, the issue of finance and also the lack of awareness at an executive level that HIV is still an issue. Most governors I have I met, when I tell them they havent released anything for HIV in three to four years are often shocked and dont know that is the case.

That is why we are working through the state health commissioners and through the commissioner of budget and commissioner of finance to make them aware of this issue. We agreed at the National Economic Council for states to put 0.5 to one per cent of their federal monthly allocation towards HIV in their states. We are not saying give us the money, we are saying use the current arrangement in your state and fund HIV programme properly. Most of the money could have gone principally into prevention, because at the moment I am not aware of any state government that is currently running treatment programmes.

Taraba and Abia, we run it through the federal government budget. I am not aware of any state government looking after people with HIV on treatment. They do not directly implement treatment programmes. What they do is provide services in terms of prevention, awareness, testing, and intervention in terms of key vulnerable population, that platform that is required to keep the epidemic in control. What we are saying is put your money into what will benefit your people most. HIV is important, they really need to fund HIV properly. There are states that are doing very well and am happy to name them. Kaduna State is exemplary in terms of their funding for HIV. Lagos State is also doing well. There are states that have State Agency for the Control of Aids (SACA) while they also have a governor chairing the agency. I will not mention states that are not doing well, but my challenge to the governors is, you did not object when we presented this to you so it is about time you put your money where your mouth is and fund HIV programmes properly in your states.

PT- It seems the world is missing the target of eliminating Aids by 2020. Going by the 2016 figure, we had about 160,000 new infections in children globally. Why is this and what can be done about it?

Aliyu- In Nigeria, we have a challenge with prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV. Other countries are doing well, like in Cuba, it has been eliminated. Belarus, not a problem, in Australia, it is no longer considered a public health emergency. In the UK, and in my almost 20 years of working in HIV field, I have not had a single patient who had a child born with HIV. We are having issues with Nigeria, partly because of the culture we approach ante-natal care and partly because of ignorance as well, especially among our pregnant mothers and lack of awareness. For instance, we know a large number of our women do not access ante natal care the normal way. If you look at our data for prevention of mother to child transmission, provided a pregnant mother goes to a facility for ante-natal care, nine out of 10 times is very likely to get a HIV test done. But when we have 45-55 percent of pregnant women not accessing facility care, maybe going to Traditional Birth Attendant or going to places of worship to deliver, then access to those mothers becomes really difficult.

What NACA has been doing is looking for a way of chasing those mothers and getting them to have an HIV test done and linking them up with treatment. That is the only way we can address prevention of mother to child transmission. We have to work outside the normal arrangement that the rest of the world had and we also need to integrate prevention of mother to child transmission into other maternal and child health services. We should not treat HIV as a separate issue in health care, it needs to be a holistic care. I am so delighted that the Saving One Million Lives has a component of prevention of mother to child transmission within it.

At the last meeting, which was chaired by the minister, directives were given that the Saving One Million Lives programme should invest in procuring test kits for testing pregnant mothers of HIV. We are also doing more work when it comes to maternal and child health week. Our aim is that for the two maternal health week that takes place every year, it provides us an opportunity to test all pregnant women within that period. Hopefully, we will pick up those women that need to go on HIV treatment because if you have HIV and you are pregnant and you deliver and you are on treatment and virological suppressed, there is less than one per cent chance that you will transmit the virus to your baby. But if you are pregnant with HIV and you do not do anything about it and you deliver, 3 to 4 out of 10 babies will get infected.

Nigeria contributes the largest number of babies born with HIV in the world. It is a burden, a sore on the nations conscience and something that has to stop. The wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, has just been appointed by UNAIDS as a special ambassador on prevention of mother to child transmission and at that level, we hope to really key in and address this problem once and for all. It is a problem that can be solved. No Nigerian child should be born with HIV it is not right, we have the resources and the ability to stop it and we should not allow it to continue.

PT- Substance abuse is a problem Nigeria is tackling and this has been a major contributory factor to spread of HIV in many societies. What is NACA doing to stem the tide and control HIV transmission through drug use?

Aliyu- We have what we call key population. These are population that are at higher risk of having HIV, people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, female sex workers etc. We have always had a programme that targets this vulnerable group of people. In Nigeria, injection drug use has never been a major issue in terms of transmission of HIV, but an issue in transmitting other viral infection like Hepatitis B and C.

The drug epidemic in Nigeria has not really been needle-based because most of it has been smoking. So the drugs were not being delivered in a way that transmits blood infections. Up north for instance, at the moment, there is an ongoing epidemic of codeine-related addiction. But we know that there are certain parts of the country, where as youths become more exposed to western culture, they start injecting drugs. That is really a safety issue. We are working very closely with NDLEA, we have had meetings and also attended some of their drugs-related conferences and we have been supporting the cause very closely. Drugs need to be controlled because if it is not controlled, epidemics like HIV and other blood-borne infections will rage and it mostly affects the youth. NACA will continue to work with other agencies of government, including how we can do programmes in addiction centres.Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have finally resolved their differences on the position of President Muhammadu Buhari regarding the extension of the tenure of party officials.

The decision followed a second meeting between Mr. Buhari and the governors in his office on Wednesday.

The president on Tuesday met with the governors over his decision to oppose tenure elongation for national and state APC officials.

Mr. Buhari, last week, told a meeting of APC National Executive Committee (NEC), that its earlier decision to extend the tenure of the partys officials by one year was against the APC constitution and that of Nigeria.

Tuesdays meeting deadlocked as the governors remained divided on whether to support the presidents new decision or not.

The governors later met alone Tuesday night after which they returned to the presidential villa to meet with the president.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State said, Gentlemen of the press, you know yesterday, we left you in the dark after the meeting and today, we have seen so many captions that there is disagreement between the governors over the issue of party Chairman or about the party leadership.

No. We had a meeting with Mr. President yesterday (Tuesday), and we extended the meeting today and we followed up with the consultations with the president now.

We consulted and all the 24 governors of the APC are on the same page with Mr. President that we are going to respect our party constitution, we are going to respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

So, therefore, we collectively agreed that we will have congresses at all levels  local, state and national.

The national chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, had also on Tuesday, inaugurated a 10-member committee headed by the governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, to advise the party on the proposal by the President.

Although, Mr. Oyegun had given the committee till Friday to submit its report, Mr. Yari told journalists that the committee will submit its report today (Wednesday).

The Zamfara state governor said they will also meet with the National Working Committee of the party today to look at the possibility of setting up a national convention committee as well as a timetable for the congresses.

So, there is no deadlock in our meeting, we have progressed and very soon you will have the names of the convention committee members as well as the timetable, he said.

The chairman of APC governors forum, Rochas Okorocha of Imo state said there was no crisis in the APC.

We want to use this opportunity to advise the media operatives to stop spreading rumours of crisis in APC. There is no single crisis in APC.

The issue was one of people who believe that we did not have enough time to organise a party congress and run election.

Some people felt that it was a good idea but the most important thing is that, if we do that we will be contravening both our party constitution and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is the major issue that we have that they call crisis. We do not have virus, he said.

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Mr. Okorocha said the decision to hold congresses does not mean the Oyegun-led NWC has failed.

He also said the decision does not mean that they cannot come back or that they cannot re-contest their positions.

We are simply saying that their tenure has ended and those who wish to re-contest can re-contest and can be elected into our party structure. So we are all one as a family and we are set to go for 2019 elections in victory, the Imo state governor said.The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Wednesday confirmed that 54 persons were killed by suspected cattle rustlers in Bawar Daji District, Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara state last week Wednesday.

The agency also confirmed that a woman and her child were among those who lost their lives during the attacks.

The agency which disclosed this based on-the-spot assessment conducted by staff recorded 71 persons injured with over 7000 displaced persons.

NEMA said the attacks affected places like Baudi, Tungan Turkish, Doka, Zanoka, Akuzo and Dogon Ruwa.

About 30 houses and other essential commodities were razed, also 1000 cattle were carted away by men of the underworld, the agency said.

The head, Nema Sokoto Operations, Suleiman Muhammad, who led other staff of the agency on the assessment said government delegations sent to the area had to suspend their visit due to security challenges.

Displaced persons, mostly women and children, are currently taking refuge in neighbouring Hayin Dan Bawa, Anka and Gusau, capital of Zamfara.

The agency is expected to prepare a comprehensive report to be forwarded to the federal government for necessary action.

PREMIUM TIMES last week reported how bandits attacked Bawar Daji in Anka Local Government Area, killing over 32 persons.

Zamfara State Governor, AbdulAziz Yari Abubakar, alongside security chiefs and members of the State Executive Council on Friday visited Emir of Anka over the killings.

Governor Yari during the condolence visit to the Emir directed the security agencies to shoot anybody found with arms in the bush.

The governor said the laws of the country allow only security personnel to carry arms.

It is criminal for any person who is not a security personnel to carry arms, therefore I have ordered the security agencies in the state to shoot at sight any person who carries AK 47 or any other weapons in the bush, be Fulani, Hausa or any tribe.

The bandits have wasted too much of lives in the state and therefore they too do not deserve to be alive, he said.

Mr Yari threatened to remove any district or village head in the state whose domain harbours the armed bandits.

The Emir of Anka, Attahiru Ahmad, while responding to the governors comment lamented how the judiciary and police were sabotaging efforts to end the killings.

The bandits attacked the area after some members of the community held a meeting to discuss measures to be taken against banditry during the 2018 farming season.

The bandits had earlier threatened that there would be no farming activities in the area in this years rainy season.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of $1 billion to Nigerian Defence authorities for the purchase of security equipment to fight insecurity in the country.

This was revealed Wednesday by the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, while speaking with journalists at the end of a security meeting chaired by the president.

Of recent, our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari gave approval for the purchase of more equipment for the military, worth $1 billion, he said.

Mr. Dan Ali also said Wednesdays meeting was a normal meeting of security agencies in the country.

As usual, we discussed the current activities that affected most of the states in the federation like Taraba, Zamfara and other states, he said.

The minister also said the recent deployments to Zamfara and other neighbouring states of Sokoto and Katsina is expected take care of the security challenges in the area.

Of course, the strength of security personnel has increased including the Air Force additional quick response group, they have added enough manpower in that area, he said.

On Leah Sharibu, the only Dapchi school girl still in captivity with Boko Haram, Mr. Dan-Ali said, Well, we are making all available efforts to see that the girl is returned safely.ADVERTISEMENT

The metro patrol of the Lagos State Police Command Tuesday arrested an 80-year-old man for attempting to kidnap three children around the Oluwole market, near Waterside, in Apapa.

The man, identified as Muftau, was arrested in a boat along Apapa-Olodi Apapa waterside while trying to flee from an angry mob.

According to an eyewitness, Adetunji Salami, the suspect was caught with the children after allegedly touching their foreheads with money brought from a white envelope.

When we asked why touching them, he quickly joined a canoe going to Olodi Apapa. We then stopped the boat midway and he was dragged down, he said.

When one of the children was asked about the incident, he said the suspect had rubbed money on his forehead.

The boy who spoke with our reporter in Yoruba language said, He approached us and asked how he could get to Olodi Apapa. We directed him and (he) brought out money to touch our foreheads.

Mr Muftau denied ever having any contact with the children.

But some traders in Oluwole market said they had seen him patrol the market and thought he was a lunatic because of his unkempt appearance.

The police officers intervened while the mob were assaulting the suspect and took him away to Area B Police Division for interrogation.

When contacted, the Lagos Police Spokesperson, Chike Oti, said he had heard about the incident but was yet to get the details.

They are with the CP (Commissioner of Police) and as soon as they are done, I will give out details, Mr Oti, a superintendent of police, told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone.

He did not get back as at press time.The News in Brief

Police Arrest 855 for Domestic Violence in 2018



The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia stated that 855 individuals were detained in the last three months for domestic violence.



Director at Human Rights Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Londa Toloraia made a statement on the issue during the briefing on Thursday, noting that the majority was detained on charges of domestic violence, threat to the family members, or damaging their health.



Statistics show that since January 1 of 2018, police has detained 424 people for domestic violence in Tbilisi, 78 in Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi regions, 76 in Kvemo Kartli, 68 in Kakheti, 66 in Shida Kartli, 40 in Adjara region, 39 in Samtskhe-Javakheti region, 25 in Samegrelo, 25 in Guria region and 14 people have been detained in Mtskheta-Mtianeti region.



In order to protect the victims, law enforcers issued a restraining orders for the detained forbidding any form of communication with the victims, stated Toloraia.







International Experts to Check Cableways of Georgias Ski Resorts



Experts from the Austrian Doppelmayr Garaventa group, which installed the ski-lifts in Georgias ski resorts will carry out the inspection in Gudauri, Hatsvali, Goderdzi and Bakuriani after the March 16 accident in Georgias popular ski resort Gudauri, which left 11 people injured.



Georgias First Vice-Premier and the Minister of Economy, Dimitry Kumsishvili and the representative of Doppelmayr, Valery Yashin held a meeting on Thursday.



It was noted that the employees working at Georgian ski resorts will be re-trained. In the course of practical retraining, special simulator will be used.



The parties also agreed that the inspections will be carried out in accordance with the experience of recognized companies in the world.



In April, representatives of the Leitner company will arrive and inspect the cableways installed by them in Bakuriani and Mestia and they will once again re-train the staff.



The visit of the ropeway producing company Poma is also planned, who will carry out the inspection of the ski-lifts installed by them in Gudauri and Mestia.

(By Mariam Chanishvili)



The Nigerian government has warned that the continued existence of nuclear weapons remains a threat to all mankind.

It stated this in its statement to the general debate of the 2018 Substantive Session of the UN Disarmament Commission by Faisal Ibrahim, first secretary, Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN.

The cost of maintenance and modernisation of these weapons are both outrageous and inexcusable, when compared to resources allocated by States for more useful and productive ventures.

These more useful and productive ventures could further the growth, development, prosperity and other peaceful and positive articulation of human endeavours, the statement said.

It highlighted the 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which affirmed that the threat or use of nuclear weapons constitutes a crime against humanity.

The country added that the ICJs opinion also affirmed that the threat or use of nuclear weapons constituted a violation of international law, including international humanitarian law.

Nigeria reiterated its view about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences that could result from either a deliberate use and/or unintentional explosion of nuclear weapons.

It said these consequences should serve as a compelling reason for all states to address the question of the continued possession of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons still remain the ultimate agents of mass destruction and their total elimination should be the final objective of all disarmament processes within the broad spectrum of goals being pursued by the United Nations.

To this end, my delegation heartily welcomes the adoption of the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which opened for signature on 20 September 2017.

My delegation remains proud to have participated actively in the processes leading to its adoption, as well as being one of the first countries to sign the treaty.

Our commitment was guided by Nigerias principled position on the denuclearization of the world.

Nigeria stressed that the universalisation of the Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was dependent upon strict compliance with its three pillars: disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

As a State Party to the Treaty of Pelindaba, Nigeria welcomes the establishment of Nuclear Weapon Free Zones (NWFZ) in parts of the world.

The treaty serves as a shield for the continent of Africa, including preventing the stationing of nuclear explosive devices on the continent and prohibiting testing of nuclear weapons.

Nigeria noted that the NWFZ serves as a measure to ensure a world free from the fear or possibility of the use of nuclear weapons.

It, therefore, called on all Member States to support efforts to replicate it in the remaining parts of the world, including in the Middle East.

Nigeria stressed the need for peaceful uses of outer space, particularly, preventing the weaponisation of the outer space to preserve peace and security to the benefit of all mankind.

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In this regard, we strongly support the negotiation of a treaty preventing an arms race in outer space and for interim transparency and confidence-building measures toward that end.

Nigeria remains committed to using its space science capabilities for developmental purposes and, to that end, we have embarked on several developmental projects.

Some of which include desertification sensitivity index, population dissymmetric analysis and carbon emission assessment, among others.

Nigeria firmly believes that space technology has the immense potential to benefit both developed and developing countries.

And in this regard the UN needs to promote equal and non-discriminatory access to outer space, irrespective of levels of social, economic or scientific development.

Nigeria wishes to highlight the efforts of UN Regional Centres for Peace and Disarmament in terms of their contributions to disarmament measures and other future challenges.

It noted the valuable input of the Centre in Africa, particularly in its efforts to ensure the provision of a robust programme on capacity-building and in extending technical assistance to many States on the continent. (NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The BBC has launched a new company named BBC Studios heralding what it called a new chapter for the its content creation.

The newly created BBC Studios, the merger of BBC Worldwide and the old BBC Studios, brings the BBC Group into line with the rest of the industry to ensure the creative and commercial success of the organisation in face of

increasing competition for viewers.

According to a statement, the new BBC Studios, officially, will see content through the full life cycle of

development, commissioning, production and co-production, sales and distribution and will underpin the creation of new BBC-owned intellectual property.

Following the March announcement to set up a production office in Sydney, Australia, BBC Studios is developing new

production opportunities in Beijing, China.

The move follows a series of BBC productions such as The Blue Planet II which went viral in China last year.

Award-winning executive producer Matthew Springford, who has over 20 years experience in factual program-making, will be based at the BBC office in Beijing alongside the BBC Studios distribution team.

It will be working with Chinese TV stations and digital platforms to co-develop and co-produce original content and new formats across all factual genres.

Leading a staff of around 3,000 and overseeing an annual turnover of 1.4 billion pounds (1.96 billion U.S. dollars), CEO Tim Davie said: BBC Studios has what it takes to create and export quality British programs in this new age of content.

(Xinhua/NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed a fresh meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) for Monday.

The meeting according to the national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, is to discuss the report of its technical committee on tenure elongation for party officials.

APC NEC meeting of February 27 had extended the tenure of the National Working Committee (NEC), and those in the states by one year.

The tenure of the officials is expected to end in June.

However, President Muhammadu Buhari took advantage of another NEC meeting last week to announce that the February 27 decision was against the constitution of the party and that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and would also attract legal battles.

Consequently, the party set up a ten-man technical committee headed by the governor of Plateau state, Simon Lalong to review the position of NEC.

The committee, alongside APC governors, submitted its report to the NWC led by Mr Oyegun Wednesday afternoon.

The NWC also met with the governors after which the national chairman addressed the press and announced the decision to convene another NEC meeting.

Today the governors and the NWC decided to sit and look at the issue that is seemingly dividing us. I want to say that all the issues you have been talking about have been totally resolved (and) we are back as one united family, he said.

Mr Oyegun also said the NEC at its last meeting authorised the setting of the technical committee.

Their report was sensitive and so NEC will meet on Monday and that the report will be ready before NEC meeting on Monday 9th April. Appropriate decisions will be taken when we receive the report, he said.

Mr Oyegun also said the leadership of the party is strongly behind our president.ADVERTISEMENT

There is a new ray of hope in the fight against Africas most endemic killer, Malaria, as a new research discovers a pill that can make human blood poisonous to mosquitoes and even kill the blood-sucking insect.

The new discovery by a group of scientists indicates that the disease-carrying mosquitoes die after feeding on the blood of humans given super-strength doses of Ivermectin.

Ivermectin belongs to a class of drugs known as antihelmintics. It works by paralyzing and killing parasites.

When injected with super doses of the drug, your blood will not just repel but also becomes poisonous to mosquitoes for up to a month, the research suggests.

A team of British-led researchers split 139 volunteers from Kenya (which reports more than six million new cases of malaria each year) into three groups.

The malaria patients were randomly chosen to be given 600mcg/kg or 300mg/kg of ivermectin for three days or were given a placebo.

The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, reveals that both doses of ivermectin are poisonous to mosquitoes for up to 28 days.

It also shows 97 per cent of mosquitoes died two weeks after feeding on the blood of patients given the higher dose of ivermectin.

The scientists drawn from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KMRI) and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDCP) fed the mosquitoes in cages using blood samples taken from the volunteers.

The most exciting result is the fact that even one month after the subjects took ivermectin, their blood was still killing mosquitoes, lead researcher at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), Menno Smit told TechTimes.

The researchers believe that the 300mcg/kg dose offers the best hope due to adverse effect from higher doses.

This new finding could be a relief for Nigeria and Africa which contribute the highest global recorded cases of malaria.

It tends to work as a completely new type of anti-malarial drug that kills mosquitoes, as opposed to existing drugs that target the parasite.

Disease-carrying mosquitos kill more than 750,000 people a year, many of whom are children, global figures show.

According to the 2016 World Health Organisation (WHO) report, malaria killed 429,000 and infected 212 million people in 2015 with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 90 per cent of the cases and 92 per cent of the deaths.

It noted that children under five years of age were particularly vulnerable, as an estimated 70 per cent of them died of the disease.ADVERTISEMENT

The Network of Police Reforms in Nigeria has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order an investigation into the more than 80,000 ghost officers discovered in the police payroll.

In a statement on Tuesday, the group said such investigation would demonstrate the governments seriousness in the fight against corruption.

This egregious and scandalous act of corruption should not be swept under the carpet, Okechukwu Nwanguma, NOPRINs National Coordinator, said.

Some people should be held responsible and made to account for this grand corrupt act of self-enrichment. 

PREMIUM TIMES reported last week how 80,115 ghost officers were discovered following the integration of the payroll of the Nigeria Police Force into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The data, obtained from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, showed the staff count of police officers stood at 291,685 with a gross salary of N22.3 billion, as against the 371,800 often quoted as the number of members of the Nigeria Police Force.

In February, there were simultaneous protests in Abuja and Port Harcourt to kick against the planned integration of the police payroll into the IPPIS.

Mr. Nwanguma said the resistance was a clear indication that a powerful clique was involved in perpetuating the fraud.

The police are charged to prevent crime and to apprehend criminals, he said.

When the police themselves become involved in crimes such as this one, then public safety and national security are at great risk.

This is why the president should ensure that this criminal act of cornering public funds using false identities is investigated and all those responsible unraveled and held to account.ADVERTISEMENT

A crowd of supporters on Tuesday at the Murtala Muhamemd International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, welcomed the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, to Nigeria from his New York base as he begins his presidential campaign.

The crowd, mainly youths and students of higher institutions of learning across the country, arrived the airport in different vehicles, T-shirts with Mr. Sowores pictures, musical instruments and placards singing the praises of the publisher.

Security at the airports found it difficult to control the crowd which arrived the scene almost an hour before the arrival of Mr. Sowore and his team on board Delta Air Lines from New York. The aircraft landed at 2:30pm local time.

The crowd sang and danced to several melodious songs played by the instrumentalists before the arrival of Mr. Sowore who many of them saw as the hope of a new Nigeria.

Immediately the publisher stepped out of the terminal, the shout of Mr. President rented the air.

In a brief interview with aviation journalists inside the terminal, Mr. Sowore, who wore a brown suit with a white shirt to match, said he was in the country to formerly declare his presidential ambition.

He said even in his sleep, he could govern the country better than President Muhammadu Buhari if elected as the next President of the country.

He said his election would usher in a new dawn for Nigerians and would permanently put an end to godfatherism, cabals and mafias who he said had ruled the country for decades without any major improvement on the lives of the people and the country.

When asked why he wanted to go for the highest political position in the country, Mr. Sowore said had all the experiences and exposure to steer the ship of the country at that level and would not back down on his ambition.

He said: I am coming from New York and I have just arrived Nigeria to lead a movement to change power in the country. Some of the movement members are probably the people you saw outside. I am here to undertake a series of rallies, town hall meetings and others across Nigeria.

It is over for the old people, it is over for the cabals, it is over for the mafias that have been running Nigeria down. That is what I am here to do and this is going to go on till 2019 and there is no going back.

A crowd of supporters on Tuesday at the Murtala Muhamemd International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, welcomed the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, to Nigeria from his New York base as he begins his presidential campaign. A crowd of supporters on Tuesday at the Murtala Muhamemd International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, welcomed the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, to Nigeria from his New York base as he begins his presidential campaign. Sowore supporters A crowd of supporters on Tuesday at the Murtala Muhamemd International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, welcomed the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, to Nigeria from his New York base as he begins his presidential campaign. A crowd of supporters on Tuesday at the Murtala Muhamemd International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, welcomed the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, to Nigeria from his New York base as he begins his presidential campaign. A crowd of supporters on Tuesday at the Murtala Muhamemd International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, welcomed the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, to Nigeria from his New York base as he begins his presidential campaign. FILE: A crowd of supporters on Tuesday at the Murtala Muhamemd International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, welcomed the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, to Nigeria from his New York base as he begins his presidential campaign.

I have been doing activism for over 30 years, I have never done anything less than a national politics. So, there is no less position. The position that is most important to Nigerians today is the position of the president. I am more than qualified. I told you many times, I can run Nigeria better than President Muhammadu Buhari even in my sleep.

There is no need going to become a local government chairman, counselor or a Senator when I can run the country as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. What else do you want me to tell you? he queried.

He also debunked insinuations that he was being sponsored to vie for the political office, describing the claims as baseless.

The Movement of the People. Yesterday airport arrival.

I dont respond to allegations that are baseless, he said. As you know, I am a well-known reporter, I report with hard facts, I dont report baseless allegations. I am the most transparent candidate and I am raising my funds on line.

ADVERTISEMENT

Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are currently meeting with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party at the partys office in Abuja.

The meeting is expected to discuss modalities for the partys congresses and national convention to elect a new set of officials to run the affairs of the governing party.

It is a follow-up to the meeting held Tuesday and Wednesday between the governors and President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa.

Mr. Buhari had reversed his earlier decision to support the extension of the tenure of members of the NWC and state branches by one year.

The tenure of the John Oyegun-led NEC is expected to end in June.

While Tuesdays meeting between President Buhari and the governors deadlocked, with governors divided for and against the tenure elongation, a second meeting held by the governors alone led to a compromise.

They subsequently met with Mr. Buhari Wednesday morning and announced that they had all agreed to support his idea for fresh elections in line with the partys and Nigerian constitution.

Governor of Zamfara State, who also chairs the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), told State House correspondents after their meeting with the president that their earlier meeting was successful.

He said they would also meet with the NWC of the party today to look at the possibility of setting up a national convention committee as well as a timetable for the congresses.

So, there is no deadlock in our meeting, we have progressed and very soon you will have the names of the convention committee members as well as the timetable, he said.Months after a bill to regulate non-governmental organisations (NGOs) failed in the National Assembly, the government has announced plans to profile NGOs.

The federal government says the profiling is to ensure compliance with regulations against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Francis Usani, Director, Nigerian Financial intelligence Unit (NFIU) said this at a regional workshop on money laundering organised by the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), on Wednesday, in Abuja.

Mr Usani who is also the National Correspondent of GIABA, said that the profiling would address some deficient NGOs in the country.

According to him, Recently, the budget office is doing something to address some deficient NGOs and also engaging the NFIU to profile some NGOs in the country.

This is going to be a continuous exercise to profile and see the NGOs that are actually committed to their main cause and those not committed to any cause; these will probably be delisted and maybe their registrations be removed.

There has been this misunderstanding by some NGOs who had come out to oppose the regulations put in place by the government but these are for international best practices.

We cannot just let NGOs to run around the streets of Nigeria unmonitored or uncoordinated otherwise this will lead to serious problems.

He added that the workshop was pertinent to ensure consistency in sensitising non-profit organisations to their obligations.

He said that the workshop would also make NGOs better acquainted with the requirements of Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations.

It is just very crucial that NGOs need to be sensitised because most of them do not really understand their obligations under the AML/ CFT regulations and laws.

Like obligations to report transactions to the relevant authorities, to keep record of their transactions, to conduct due diligence on their sponsors.

These are necessary because they could ignorantly receive donor funds from people whose aims are basically to finance terrorism or maybe cause some kind of mayhem.

The NGO bill failed in the parliament after it was opposed by civic groups, activists and many Nigerians who saw it as governments efforts to stifle NGOs.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 3-day workshop is aimed at developing effective frameworks and structure to fight against money laundering and terrorist financing through non-profit organisations (NPOs).

The Director-General of GIABA, Kimelabalou Aba said the workshop was a follow-up to a previous regional workshop on preventing terrorist abuse of non-profit organisations held Lome, Togo, in 2017.

Mr Aba recalled that the 2017 workshop highlighted gaps in the implementation of AML/CFT requirements by NGOs.

Lately we have noticed that NPOs have been used by terrorists or terrorist organisations in order to raise funds; it is within that framework GIABA organised this workshop.

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This workshop is directed towards reporting entities namely NPOs in order to help to be better equipped so as not to be used for terrorist purposes.

He also reiterated the organisations support to member countries to fight the menace of terrorist financing and money laundering.

Our efforts are no doubt yielding results, nonetheless, the dynamic nature of the criminal world and the continuing menace of terrorism and terrorist financing make it imperative for us to keep partnering and exploring better ways to deal effectively with the problems.ADVERTISEMENT

The hope of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) customers of getting improved power supply in Kano has been dashed.

This followed the collapse of newly installed 60 MVA transformer at Kofar Danagundi transmission station in Kano metropolis.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the transformer serving the area got burnt and was replaced with a new one, which was commissioned on March 23, but worked for only two days before it broke down.

Sani Bala-Sani, the Head, Corporate Communications of KEDCO, however told NAN in Kano on Wednesday, that effort was being intensified by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to rectify the anomaly.

The transformer was installed last week. It only worked for two days Tuesday and Wednesday before it developed a problem, he said.

According to him, the company is supplying electricity to the three states under its jurisdiction, Kano, Katsina and Jigawa.

He called on customers, especially those in Central part of Kano metropolis to exercise patience as effort was being made to repair the transformer.

Mr Bala-Sani expressed satisfaction with the improvement in power supply to Kano from the National grid.

The power supply has improved considerably compared to what was obtained in the past few months. Yesterday (Tuesday) we received 231 megawatts, he said.

He called on customers to ensure prompt payment of their bills to enable the company serve them better.

One of our challenges is non-payment of bills by customers. We received N3 billion bills from TCN in March but we were able to collect less than N1.8 billion from customers, he said.

He said the company had taken stringent measures toward improving revenue collection which include installation of pre-paid meters, setting up Task Force as well as engaging community leaders to tackle defaulting customers.

On Kumbotso Transmission Station which was also gutted by fire two years ago, Bala-Sani said the TCN had yet to bring a new transformer from Kaduna for installation at the station.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ekiti on Wednesday said that 218,000 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were yet to be collected in the state.

The commission said this just as it formally issued a Notice of Election, which stated that the governorship election would hold in the state on July 14.

It said that this was in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Law.

The INECs Public Relations Officer, Taiwo Gbadegesin, disclosed this at a public enlightenment forum in Ado Ekiti.

He, however, said that not less than 500,000 PVCs had so far been collected by their owners.

Mr Gbadegesin advised those who were yet to pick their PVCs to do so, saying that they would be disenfranchised during the forthcoming election without the PVCs.

He said that the 500,000 PVCs already collected by would-be voters did not put an end to those that would be qualified to vote in July.

He said that the PVCs for those that registered between April 2017 and date were yet to be delivered to the state from its national headquarters in Abuja.

The INEC image-maker said that the cards would be distributed to their owners as soon as they were delivered to the Ekiti State office of INEC.

Mr Gbadegesin said that university students and youth corps members, who had completed their stay in the state and had since left, might be those who had not collected their PVCs.

Alternatively, he said, the commission was also suspecting persons who might have done double registration.

They might be afraid that they could be arrested if they showed-up at the state office of INEC for collection, he said.

Mr Gbadegesin said that the commission would still sensitise would-be voters ahead of the election.

The PRO also called on the various political parties to sensitize their followers and party members on the need for them to collect their PVCs.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The Osun State Police Command has arraigned a 38-year-old police sergeant, Ajayi Sunday, before Osogbo Magistrates court for allegedly aiding the escape of two crime suspects from prison.

The police officer was arraigned on Wednesday.

Mr. Sunday, a police prosecutor at magistrates courts in Osogbo, was docked before Magistrate A. O Ajanaku on a two count charge bearing on negligently permitting escape of the two accused people, Kaseem Oladehinde and Idowu Hassan who were standing a trial in a case of assault, malicious damage and stealing.

The prosecutor, Elisha Olusegun; a police inspector said that the arraigned police officer and others at large conspired to commit an offence of negligently permitting the escape on November 1, 2017 at about 5 p.m. in Osogbo.

Mr. Olusegun told the court that the offences were contrary to sections 517 and 137 and punishable under section 138 of the criminal code cap 34 volume 11.laws of Osun State 2003.

However, the defence counsel, Taiwo Awokunle, pleaded with the court to grant his client bail saying the police officer (Sunday) was presumed innocent of the allegations until the contrary is proved beyond reasonable doubt.

The magistrate; A. O Ajanaku, granted the defendant bail of N500,000 with two sureties in the same amount.

Mr Ajanaku said one of the sureties must be a civil servant of level 14 from Federal Civil Service while the second surety must be a landed property owner.

Both sureties must swear to affidavit of means and provide evidence of tax clearance payment with three passports photograph and the addresses of the sureties must verified the police, the magistrate said.

Mr Sunday was, however, remanded in Ilesa prison when he could not meet the bail conditions granted to him.

The case was adjourned till May 23 for hearing.Free Wheelchair Mission, SD Mines Engineering Students and South Dakota-based RPM & Associates produce first-of-its-kind test track that improves efficiency of wheelchair testing, design and production.

Media Contact

Delaine Moore

***@hkamarcom.com

7144260444 Delaine Moore7144260444

End

-- Today, Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM), a world leader in mobility solutions for people with disabilities in developing countries, announced the completion of its groundbreaking wheelchair test track. Newly installed and operating at the Irvine headquarters, the test track will provide valuable data that will help improve the design and life-span of FWM's wheelchairs. The project was built in partnership with engineering students at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SD Mines) and Rapid City, South Dakota-based RPM and Associates, Inc. (RPM)."We are incredibly grateful for the partnership with SD Mines and RPM to produce this test track," said Don Schoendorfer, founder and president, FWM. "We set out with a simple mission to help as many people in need as we could, and through tremendous support and partnerships like this one, we have helped over one million people gain a life of independence and hope. This test track is an incredible asset to help even more people by being able to produce better designed, longer-lasting wheelchairs for developing nations in a fraction of the time."FWM has distributed more than one million wheelchairs at no cost to people with disabilities in 93 countries since 2001. Until now, the organization evaluated wheelchair designs by field-testing samples in a developing country  an expensive process that took a year or longer to complete and often produced ambiguous data. Using durable, steel frames and mountain bike tires the chairs are designed to withstand the rugged terrain of third world countries. Previous studies show that with normal use and maintenance, the chairs typically last three or more years.The test track enables wheelchairs to be assessed more conveniently in our office in Irvine, CA, and compresses three to five years of field testing into a few months  replacing the laborious and time-consuming process of testing wheelchairs in the field.Test wheelchairs are fitted with instrumentation to measure acceleration and strain. These test wheelchairs are kept stationary while positioned on a conveyor belt moving at varying speeds. Obstacles attached to the belt simulate the same types of obstacles wheelchair users encounter in their home countries. Adjustable manikins will sit on each of the wheelchairs to replicate varied sizes and needs of users. Data from the instrumentation will show forces and stresses in real time on the chair and its user. This will permit comparison of design options in very controlled and reproducible test conditions which will result in continued improvements in design, comfort and longevity of the wheelchairs. It will also allow comparison testing and comparisons of wheelchairs offered by peer organizations around the world."The RPM Companies are honored and privileged to be a small part of the FWM team. RPM & Associates and its sister companies, RPM Solutions and RPM Innovations, combined their many years of experience in engineering and manufacturing to provide this first of its kind test track. It is very gratifying to know that our expertise is being utilized by FWM to provide more reliable and durable wheelchairs to those in need around the globe," said Robert P. Mudge, President, RPM & Associates, Inc.More than 70 million people worldwide are in dire need of a wheelchair, yet do not have the resources to obtain one. That need will continue to grow due to aging, natural disasters, political unrest and traffic accidents. FWM just celebrated distributing its one millionth wheelchair and has no plans to slow down. The goal is to deliver its next million wheelchairs by 2025, half the time it took to give out the first million.Additionally, as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Wheelchair Providers (ISWP), Schoendorfer is offering the test track services to other members of ISWP who also are producing wheelchairs for the developing world."By all of us working together, we can bring the gift of mobility to the millions more in need," Schoendorfer said.Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM) is a humanitarian, faith-based, nonprofit organization that provides wheelchairs at no cost to people with disabilities living in developing nations. In collaboration with a network of like-minded partners, Free Wheelchair Mission has provided more than one million wheelchairs to those living with a disability in 93 developing nations since 2001, providing dignity, independence, and hope through the gift of mobility. Learn more at freewheelchairmission.org.Founded in 1885, the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a science and engineering research university located in Rapid City, S.D., offering bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. The university enrolls 2,778 students with a student-to-faculty ratio of 15:1. The SD School of Mines placement rate for graduates is 96 percent, with an average starting salary of $63,000. Find us online at www.sdsmt.edu.RPM & Associates, Inc. is a manufacturing firm founded in 1982 by Rob Mudge, Deb Mudge and Rob's parents, Jim and Phyllis Mudge. RPM & Associates, Inc. is a South Dakota corporation located in Rapid City, serving coal-fired power plants, mining operations, cement plants, and chemical processing plants. RPM & Associates is focused on solving wear problems using innovative ideas, automatic welding systems, creative machining, and proper material selection. Learn more at www.RPMandAssociates.com.RALEIGH, N.C., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 10 Federal, a leader in automated self-storage operations, is pleased to announce the official release of the DaVinci Lock, a new overlock system for the self-storage industry.

The DaVinci Lock reinvents the overlock workflow. The industry currently uses keyed overlocks that require the property manager or maintenance team to remove the overlock. The DaVinci Lock changes that workflow to put the customer in the position to be able to remove the overlock.

The DaVinci Lock system is comprised of two components.

The DaVinci Lock: At standard 4-digit combination disc lock that has a unique DaVinci Serial Code engraved on the back of it. The DaVinci Software System: The software 'decrypts' the DaVinci Serial Code and returns the unlock combination code.

Through various workflow options such as a customer facing website or the DaVinci Call Center, the self-storage customer is able to make their delinquent payment, enter the DaVinci Serial Code, receive the unlock combination code and remove the DaVinci Lock on their own.

The DaVinci Lock System improves the customer experience by creating a method for an overlock to be removed day or night. Further, it saves the property time and money by freeing the property manager from the overlock release process, or if the facility is unmanned, it solves the overlock release challenge for the self-storage owner. For more information, visit www.DaVinciLock.com.

SOURCE 10 Federal

Related Links

http://www.10federal.com

LOS ANGELES, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- April 16 and 17, the U.S. Commercial Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the USC Marshall School of Business will host the 31st annual Asia/Pacific Business Outlook (APBO). APBO is North America's premier event for business leaders who want to expand their trade and investment in the Asia/Pacific region.

With the Trump administration's trade policies toward Asia  and China in particular  making daily headlines, APBO is a "must-attend" event for media in 2018.

This year's conference will feature keynote speeches from such in-the-know experts as former U.S. Ambassador to China, the Honorable Gary Locke; APCO Worldwide Chairman for Greater China, James McGregor; and Vice President and Managing Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, Wendy Cutler.

A full roster of speakers and more information about the conference is available at http://apboconference.com/speakers/.

WHAT: 31st Annual Asia/Pacific Business Outlook Conference

WHEN: April 16 and 17, 2018

WHERE: The LA Hotel, Downtown (333 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071)

WHO: A unique mixture of over 50 leading academic, business and government experts

WHY: Be the first to hear directly from the speakers, participants and a nationwide group of about 300 American managers looking to become more competitive in the dynamic Asia/Pacific marketplace.

The USC Marshall School of Business and the U.S. Department of Commerce have been working together on APBO since 1988 to help exporters and investors take advantage of tremendous opportunities and overcome challenges in the constant changing economies of Asia. More than just a business conference, APBO is a comprehensive networking and learning experience designed to provide business leaders with the contacts and the latest, relevant and valuable information availableall focused, organized and distilled into two invaluable days, including private one-on-one appointments with senior commercial officers from American embassies and consulates in 18 economies.

Interested media, please contact Matthew Simmons, USC Marshall Media Relations, at [email protected] or at 213-821-9868.

SOURCE USC Marshall School of Business

Related Links

http://www.marshall.usc.edu

DUBLIN, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Industrial Rubber Market by Application (Automotive, Building & Construction, Industrial Manufacturing, Polymer Modification, Wire & Cable, Electrical & Electronics, Bitumen Modification), Type, Product, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global demand for industrial rubber is projected to witness moderate growth of 4.6% between 2017 and 2022. The industrial rubber market is estimated to be USD 26.99 Billion in 2017 and is expected to reach USD 33.82 Billion by 2022.

The industrial rubber market is witnessing growth due to its expanding application area, technological advancements in the industry, and its growing demand in the Asia Pacific. Industrial rubbers are some of the most versatile materials used in almost every industry. Industrial rubber is increasingly being used in the automotive, building & construction, industrial manufacturing, polymer modification, wire & cable, electrical & electronics, bitumen modification, coating, sealant, & adhesive, medical & healthcare, and other applications.



This growth of the market can be attributed to the robust economic outlook for the Asia Pacific, and the increasing motor vehicle production and sales across the globe. The industrial rubber market is expected to witness significant growth in a number of emerging economies, such as India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Brazil. The industrial rubber market in developed economies, such as the US and Japan will witness market gains below the global average, owing to sluggish growth in durable goods consumption and automotive production.



Based on product, the mechanical rubber good segment is expected to lead the industrial rubber market during the forecast period. This segment will witness steady growth due to the global output of motor vehicles and industrial machinery equipment.



The use of industrial rubber in the automotive, building & construction, and other applications is expected to increase in the Asia Pacific region, followed by South America and the Middle East & Africa regions over the next 5 years. This growth in the use of the industrial rubber can be attributed to the increasing population and the growing disposable income in these regions. Based on type, the synthetic rubber segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2017 and 2022, in terms of value.



Industrial Rubber Market



APAC is estimated to be the largest industrial rubber market in 2017. High industrial production capacities in China and increasing investments in the automotive industry of India, Thailand, and Indonesia are expected to fuel the growth of the industrial rubber market in APAC. Europe ranked second in the consumption of industrial rubber in 2016; this trend is expected to continue, owing to the recovering economies of the region. The automotive industry contributes a major share to the GDP of several European countries. Therefore, the growing automotive industry, owing to the rising demand for vehicles globally, is driving the industrial rubber market in Europe.



The growth of the automotive industry is one of the key factors driving the industrial rubber market. Moreover, the growing building & construction industry in the Asia Pacific is also propelling the demand for industrial rubber. Overcapacity of industrial rubber in the Asia Pacific is one of the major challenges faced by the industrial rubber industry. This is mainly related to over investments in the production of industrial rubber in China in the past few years.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction

1.1 Objectives of the Study

1.2 Market Definition

1.3 Market Scope

1.4 Currency

1.5 Unit Considered

1.6 Limitations

1.7 Stakeholders



2 Research Methodology

2.1 Research Data

2.2 Market Size Estimation

2.3 Data Triangulation

2.4 Assumptions



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Opportunities in Industrial Rubber Market

4.2 Asia Pacific Industrial Rubber Market, By Application and Country

4.3 Industrial Rubber Market, By Application

4.4 Industrial Rubber Market, By Type

4.5 Industrial Rubber Market, By Region



5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Increasing Demand From the Automotive Industry

5.2.1.2 Growing Demand in Asia Pacific

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Environmental Regulations and Health Hazards Associated With Industrial Rubber

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Growing Demand for Eco-Friendly Rubber

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Volatility in Raw Material Prices

5.2.4.2 Overcapacity in Asia Pacific

5.3 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.4 Macroeconomic Indicators

5.4.1 GDP Growth Rate Forecast of Major Economies

5.4.2 Automotive Industry Analysis

5.4.3 Rubber Industry Analysis



6 Industrial Rubber Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Natural Rubber

6.3 Synthetic Rubber



7 Industrial Rubber Market, By Product

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Mechanical Rubber Good

7.3 Rubber Hose

7.4 Rubber Belt

7.5 Rubber Roofing

7.6 Others



8 Industrial Rubber Market, By Application

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Automotive

8.3 Building & Construction

8.4 Industrial Manufacturing

8.5 Polymer Modification

8.6 Wire & Cable

8.7 Electrical & Electronics

8.8 Bitumen Modification

8.9 Coating, Sealant & Adhesive

8.10 Medical & Healthcare

8.11 Others



9 Industrial Rubber Market, By Region



10 Competitive Landscape

10.1 Overview

10.2 Market Share Analysis

10.3 Competitive Scenario

10.3.1 Expansions

10.3.2 Joint Ventures

10.3.3 Acquisitions

10.3.4 Agreements



11 Company Profiles

11.1 Lanxess

11.2 Sinopec

11.3 The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

11.4 Kumho Petrochemical

11.5 TSRC Corporation

11.6 Nizhnekamskneftekhim

11.7 JSR Corporation

11.8 LG Chem

11.9 Versalis S.P.A.

11.10 Zeon Corporation

11.11 Other Key Market Players

11.11.1 Petrochina

11.11.2 Exxonmobil

11.11.3 Sibur

11.11.4 Group Dynasol

11.11.5 Kraton Corporation

11.11.6 Synthos

11.11.7 Trinseo

11.11.8 Asahi Kasei Advance Corporation

11.11.9 American Synthetic Rubber Company

11.11.10 Lion

11.11.11 Firestone Polymers

11.11.12 Indian Synthetic Rubber Private Limited

11.11.13 Rishiroop

11.11.14 UBE Industries

11.11.15 Tosoh Corporation



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/7d7gh6/33_82_bn?w=5





Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

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SYDNEY, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently the Australian online retailer, 4WD Supacentre just passed an epic milestone of over 400,000 Facebook followers. This positive news comes after an impressive string of brand new product releases in the first quarter of the year to add to dozens of product lines that offer the same unbeatable value for money that the Adventure Kings moniker has come to represent!



The company started in 2012 and is heading into its 6th year of operation and whilst being a relatively young organization, the knowledge base of the team is grounded with plenty of experience in product development and research to create what is now their industry shaking strategy of providing good quality gear within a very affordable price range. Over the last few years Adventure Kings has single-handedly changed the way that many Australian's camp.



Due to the increased cost of living in major cities across the country, and less disposable income than has been available for decades, an affordable break from the everyday stresses and strains of working life has become the go to choose for many Australian families and young couples.



No matter the style of camping or 4WDing Adventure Kings offers a range of great gear that suits most setups. With recovery gear, cooking equipment, and even performance vehicle upgrades and modifications like Suspension and exhaust systems, more Aussies can now escape the hustle and bustle of city life and get in touch with nature whilst still bringing many of the creature comforts required to make trips away more enjoyable.



Adventure Kings 4WD and camping gear offers many of the same features and quality found with more expensive brands on the market and by selling much larger quantities than the competition for dramatically reduced prices, Adventure Kings is able to offer well designed and performance-oriented gear at incredibly affordable prices.



The recent industry push for budget-oriented camping gear has been reflected through the entire range of gear in the Adventure Kings lineup with Rooftop Tents priced at nearly one third of similar units on the market whilst maintaining comfort, weatherproofing, durability and ease of use, whilst the range of LED Spotlights in the Adventure Kings lineup are around 10 times more affordable than similar performance counterparts on the market.



The affordable price point and feature packed nature of the Kings range has attracted many Aussies who simply cannot afford "the top brands" but desire the functionality and practicality of well-built gear!



Thanks to all the tough work by Adventure Kings, it has come to be that many other brands have had to reduce margins to remain competitive on the Australian market but in doing this have failed to match the reputation for excellent value for money the Adventure Kings brand has always represented.

Media Contact:

O.J Aba

2 Stanley St Silverwater NSW Sydney Australia

PH: 1800 88 39 64

1800883964



Photo(s):

https://www.prlog.org/12700921



Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE 4WD Supacentre

Related Links

https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au

COLUMBUS, Ga., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leader in voluntary insurance sales at U.S. worksites, announced today that it has been named winner of PR News' 2018 CSR Awards and Nonprofit PR Awards for its Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Aflac's 2016 CSR Report, "Everyone Has the Power to Do Good," features employees and independent sales agents who have championed social responsibility efforts in their respective communities.

"We are thrilled that PR News has recognized Aflac with this award, because it is the content of the report that drives the quality of the report," said Aflac Senior Vice President, Chief Brand and Communications Officer Catherine Hernandez-Blades. "We are proud of our reputation as a company that does things the right way, with transparency, honesty and ethics. It has been our company's commitment for more than 60 years, and this award serves as confirmation that doing good in the community is very good for business."

PR News recently celebrated the communicators who work hard to make the world a better place via corporate social responsibility and nonprofit initiatives. The awards luncheon, which took place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., featured campaigns, stories and programs, plus a keynote from Bob Filbin, chief data scientist at Crisis Text Line. The award winners were judged on the impact of the communications campaigns executed in the last 18 months and on the positive influence these companies and programs have had on society.

Notable highlights from Aflac's report include raising more than $110 million in contributions for childhood cancer support services and research; strengthening the company's emphasis on diversity, gender parity in pay, and ethics in the workplace; and reducing the businesses' carbon footprint through its Smart Green program. In the report, Aflac employees and independent sales agents licensed to sell Aflac products, who embody this year's theme, "Everyone Has the Power to Do Good," share stories about their work, bringing to life Aflac's ethical business practices, a productive and diverse workplace, philanthropic efforts and environmental sustainability initiatives. Aflac's report is guided by GRI standards and focuses on key CSR dimensions, as defined by Reputation Institute, considered the gold standard in reputation tracking.

In addition to the Sustainability/CSR Report win, Hernandez-Blades received the CSR Professional of the Year award.

Visit Aflac's CSR microsite to access this year's report.

ABOUT AFLAC

When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For more than six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leader in voluntary insurance sales at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day PaySM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures 1 in 4 households. Aflac insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For 12 consecutive years, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. In 2018, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America for the 20th consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of World's Most Admired Companies for the 17th time. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day PaySM, visit aflac.com or aflac.com/espanol.

Media contact  Darcy Brito, 706.320.2358 or [email protected]

Analyst and investor contact  David A. Young, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX 706.324.6330, or [email protected]

SOURCE Aflac

Related Links

http://www.aflac.com

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Yesterday, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry appeared on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, a national radio show which airs on more than 240 stations across Louisiana and the country. On the show, A.G. Jeff Landry discussed the Louisiana Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down Governor John Bel Edwards' executive order on sexual orientation and gender identity.

A.G. Jeff Landry commented, "This is a great victory for our system of government in this country, and in the state of Louisiana, because the system worked as it should." A.G. Landry continued, "The governor of the state of Louisiana embarked on Washington-style politics where he would try to basically govern in the state of Louisiana by executive fiat. As the Attorney General, I was not going to put up with that -- I stand for the rule of law... the courts saw to it that our system of government requires laws to be created through the legislative process and not through some sort of executive fiat."

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, the host of Washington Watch and a former Louisiana legislator, added, "We were looking for the courts to uphold the Constitution and validate the fact that the Constitution said the governor doesn't have this authority. So, the court was not being an activist court as we've often seen in Roe v. Wade or in the Obergefell case where they're creating law. This is a case where the courts actually upheld the Constitution."

To listen to the full interview, click this link: https://soundcloud.com/family-research-council/ag-jeff-landry

SOURCE Family Research Council

Related Links

http://www.frc.org

DES MOINES, Iowa, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Denim, provider of an intelligent, intuitive mobile and social media advertising automation platform for financial services companies, is pleased to announce former AIG and Athene executive Charlie Turri is joining the company as chief technology officer (CTO).

As CTO, Turri will drive aggressive growth of the company's tech team by doubling full-time employees by year-end 2018. He will lead Denim's technology strategy, including building the financial services industry's smartest, most robust artificial intelligence (AI) platform which will be trained by the more than 1 billion anonymized, aggregated data points the company has collected on consumer engagement with ads powered by its platform. Turri will drive the company's efforts to activate this data to help Denim customers achieve more effective consumer engagement via mobile and social media.

"With such an enormous dataset on consumer engagement, Denim is positioned to change the way insurance and financial services companies go to market, drive growth, and achieve digital success," said Gregory Bailey, CEO and founder of Denim. "Adding Charlie Turri to our team of industry experts is the next major step in Denim's quest to reimagine the way financial services companies market, engage, and sell with intelligent, data-driven technology."

Prior to joining Denim, Turri served as vice president of IT for Athene USA where he led application development, program management, quality assurance, and enterprise architecture. Turri also held various leadership roles at American General Life & Accident Insurance, an AIG company in Nashville, Tennessee. During his time at AIG, Turri collaborated with company leadership to set the strategy for application development, information security, and infrastructure groups. He also led the design and execution of numerous technology solutions, including a first-of-its-kind mobile app that transformed the process of issuing an insurance policy across the industry for decades to come.

"There is so much opportunity in the insurtech and fintech space to make vast improvements for insurance and financial services companies and the consumers who rely on them," said Turri. "I'm thrilled to be able to use my experience as an insurance industry executive to take Denim's technologies  and our customers' successes  to the next level."

About Denim 

Denim is reimagining the way financial services companies market, engage, and sell with intelligent, data-driven technology. Designed with today's mobile and social consumers in mind, Denim's patent-pending platform saves time and money by enabling marketing teams to scale micro-targeted, hyper-local mobile and social media ad campaigns on behalf of any number of agents or advisors. With a focus on delivering a simple and intuitive platform, Denim not only delivers results, it's enjoyable to use. To learn more, visit denimlabs.com.

Media contact:

Tim Laehn, Director of Marketing

515-212-5590

[email protected]

SOURCE Denim

Related Links

https://denimlabs.com

NEW YORK, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- American Media, Inc. (AMI), the leading publisher of celebrity journalism and health and fitness magazines in the United States, has launched a first of its kind celebrity podcast network featuring a full slate of shows from Us Weekly, RadarOnline and Soap Opera Digest.

"While we are excited to further establish our authoritative and trusted reporting of celebrity scoops and culture to a new platform, we are even more excited by the incredible reaction from the listening audience who have enthusiastically embraced these shows making many of them among the highest ranked in the category," said Dylan Howard, AMI Chief Content Officer.

"The success of these programs right out of the gate underscores that our brands are committed to delivering our unique brand of compelling, entertaining, and trusted celebrity journalism to our fans no matter where they want to read, or listen."

The full slate of new podcasts includes:

Get Tressed With Us! - Each week, Us Weekly provides the scoop on Hollywood's hottest hair, beauty and style trends.

- Each week, provides the scoop on hottest hair, beauty and style trends. Watch With Us! - Weekly TV recaps on your favorite TV shows and the latest small-screen scoops and gossip!

- Weekly TV recaps on your favorite TV shows and the latest small-screen scoops and gossip! #TBT With Us! - Us Weekly unlocks the vault for this weekly show to dust off the best (and most shocking!) bombshell stories, riveting feuds, and Hollywood love affairs we simply couldn't get enough of.

- Us Weekly unlocks the vault for this weekly show to dust off the best (and most shocking!) bombshell stories, riveting feuds, and love affairs we simply couldn't get enough of. In Case You Missed Us - A weekly recap highlighting dish from Us Weekly 's favorite A-List guest stars, who chat reality TV, relationships, and a whole lot of gossip!

- A weekly recap highlighting dish from 's favorite A-List guest stars, who chat reality TV, relationships, and a whole lot of gossip! Royally Us - As the world readies for prince Harry and Meghan Markle's May 19 nuptials, Us Weekly spills the latest on what they know best: The Royals! This weekly podcast is everything you need to know about the royal family.

- As the world readies for prince nuptials, spills the latest on what they know best: The Royals! This weekly podcast is everything you need to know about the royal family. Teen Mom Time - This weekly program from Radar Online dishes the latest gossip and scoops about one of MTV's biggest franchises.

- This weekly program from dishes the latest gossip and scoops about one of MTV's biggest franchises. Dishing With Digest - This weekly program from Soap Opera Digest dishes the latest soap news and allows listeners to get up close and personal with the biggest names in daytime.

AMI Studios develops, creates, produces and distributes the programming slate. Tom Freestone, Executive Producer of AMI Studios, said AMI would increase its output by an additional five series by the end of April, and projects that the company will be on track to become a top 10 publisher in the United States for unique monthly audience.

The podcasts are available on Apple, Google Play, Stitcher, and various other platforms, and can also be downloaded at usmagazine.com/podcasts and radaronline.com/podcasts.

About American Media, Inc.

American Media, Inc. (AMI) owns and operates the leading print and digital celebrity and active lifestyle media brands in the United States. AMI's titles include Us Weekly, OK!, Star, Men's Journal, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Mr. Olympia Contest, National Enquirer and other celebrity titles. AMI also manages 12 different digital sites including Usmagazine.com, OKmagazine.com, RadarOnline.com, MensJournal.com, MensFitness.com, MuscleandFitness.com and other digital and social properties. AMI's magazines have a combined total circulation of 5.3+ million and reach more than 51 million men and women each month. AMI's digital properties reach approximately 61 million unique visitors monthly.

SOURCE American Media, Inc.ROHNERT PARK, Calif., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ameritech Financial, a document preparation company headquartered in Rohnert Park, California, is gearing up fundraising efforts to benefit local nonprofits in anticipation of the 2018 Sonoma County Human Race. The Human Race is an event for which local individuals and businesses work together to raise money for nonprofits in the Sonoma County area. Ameritech Financial is proud to be a part of the Sonoma County community.

"We provide a service to clients nationwide, but we are a solid part of this community," said Tom Knickerbocker, executive vice president of Ameritech Financial. "The excitement around this event definitely demonstrates that."

Ameritech Financial helps federal student loan borrowers apply for and recertify enrollment in income-driven repayment plans. The Rohnert Park headquarters is staffed by local Northern California professionals who have taken up the challenge to fundraise for their favorite local nonprofits.

This year, the Ameritech Financial team is raising money for Redwood Empire Food Bank, The Abused Children's Fund and the Sonoma County Humane Society. Whatever funds that Ameritech team members raise will be matched by the company.

"This effort is a great way for our company to come together and for us to join with our community," said Knickerbocker. "We're very much looking forward to our final results and to participating in the race."

About Ameritech Financial

Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education.

Ameritech Financial is a member of the Association for Student Loan Relief (AFSLR), and each representative on the phone has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA).

Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional customer service.

Contact

To learn more about Ameritech Financial, please contact:

Ameritech Financial

5789 State Farm Drive #265

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

1-800-792-8621

[email protected]

Related Links

Ameritech Financial home page

SOURCE Ameritech FinancialROHNERT PARK, Calif., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Community colleges may represent savings for students who can live at home while completing courses that give them credits that they can transfer to a four-year college. That approach is gaining traction, but community college may not always be the cheap option for some. Students who need to take out loans for community college may face difficult repayment later. Ameritech Financial, a document preparation company that assists borrowers with federal repayment plan applications, reminds borrowers that if they are having trouble making their student loan payments, there are a variety of federal options that may help.

"We encourage all students to do what they can to reduce the costs of college and therefore reduce their loan obligations," said Tom Knickerbocker, executive vice president of Ameritech Financial. "But there are many ways that students may walk away with more debt than they anticipate. We're here to help if that debt becomes unmanageable and if a borrower needs a little extra assistance in navigating the repayment landscape."

Community colleges typically cost much less than traditional four-year schools. When students live near a community college, they can reduce costs even more by living at home. However, students who do borrow to fund a community college education should minimize that debt by seeking scholarships and grants (often through completion of the FAFSA) and by completing their program as quickly as possible. Borrowers who extend their education may accumulate more debt. And those who do not complete the program may not see high enough earnings to afford to pay down their debt.

Community colleges may rely on remedial coursework to help prepare underprepared students for college-level work. A recent report described how schools have been over-enrolling students in those programs which charge students for taking the classes but do not provide credits toward graduation or transfer. These courses may extend the time students need to complete their program as they must first complete the remedial courses before those required by the program. That extra time and those extra courses add to the cost of college.

Federal student loan borrowers who find themselves with student debt they have trouble paying down may consider federal repayment options. Countless borrowers find value in income-driven repayment plans (IDRs) that base payments on income and family size, catering repayment to each borrower's unique situation. Such plans even end in forgiveness of any remaining balance after 20 to 25 years in the program.

"At Ameritech Financial, we help borrowers understand and apply for IDRs that might help them better afford their payments," said Knickerbocker. "Higher education remains essential for higher earnings throughout life, but the costs can become prohibitive for many. While community college may reduce costs for some, community college students are not immune to student debt and should be careful about borrowing even small amounts."

About Ameritech Financial

Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education.

Ameritech Financial is a member of the Association for Student Loan Relief (AFSLR), and each representative on the phone has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA).

Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional customer service.

Contact

To learn more about Ameritech Financial, please contact:

Ameritech Financial

5789 State Farm Drive #265

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

1-800-792-8621

[email protected]

Related Links

Ameritech Financial home page

SOURCE Ameritech Financial

Related Links

https://ameritechfinancial.com

STAINES-UPON-THAMES, United Kingdom, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK), a leading global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that Angus Russell will succeed Melvin Booth as non-executive chairman of the Company's Board of Directors when Mr. Booth retires from the Board in May 2018.

A director, member of the Audit and Portfolio Committees and chairman of the Mallinckrodt Board since June 2013, Mr. Booth, age 73, has elected to retire. Commenting on his decision, Mr. Booth said, "It has been a tremendous privilege to serve on the Mallinckrodt Board of Directors since the company became public in 2013, and a particular honor to serve as chairman. I am grateful to my fellow Board members, to our talented management team and to our more than 3,500 employees for their hard work and commitment to this great company. I am particularly proud of our efforts in transforming the company to one focused on treatments that can make a difference in the lives of patients with serious and complex conditions."

"I've had the opportunity to get to know and work with Angus Russell since he joined the Board in 2014," Mr. Booth continued, "and with his deep experience in the pharmaceutical industry I am confident that Angus will be an exceptional chairman when he assumes the role in May."

Mr. Russell, age 62, joined the Mallinckrodt Board of Directors in August 2014. He currently chairs the company's Portfolio Committee and is a member of its Audit Committee. Mr. Russell served as chief executive officer of Shire Plc from 2008 until his retirement in April 2013 and was a member of its Board of Directors from 1999 to 2013. From 1999 to 2008, Mr. Russell served as chief financial officer of Shire. Prior to joining Shire, he served at ICI, Zeneca and AstraZeneca. He was a director of InterMune, Inc. from 2011 to 2014. Mr. Russell is a chartered accountant and holds an honorary Doctor of Business Administration from Coventry University, U.K.

Mallinckrodt also announced the planned retirement of Diane Gulyas from its Board in May 2018. Ms. Gulyas also chose not to stand for re-election. During her five years as a director of the company's Board, Ms. Gulyas served as a member of the company's Human Resources and Compensation Committee.

"I am honored to become chairman of the Board and to serve with such accomplished directors," said Mr. Russell. "Mel's service for the past five years spanned an important period in Mallinckrodt's history as it created and executed on its strategic vision as a newly independent company. On behalf of the other Directors, I thank both Mel and Diane for their service. I look forward to welcoming the new Board directors announced separately today, and to helping the company complete its transformation, delivering value to patients and shareholders."

ABOUT MALLINCKRODT

Mallinckrodt is a global business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. Areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology and ophthalmology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics and gastrointestinal products. The company's Specialty Brands segment includes branded medicines and its Specialty Generics segment includes specialty generic drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients and external manufacturing. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com .

Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website.

CONTACTS

Investor Relations

Daniel J. Speciale, CPA

Investor Relations and Strategy Officer

314-654-3638

[email protected]

Media

Rhonda Sciarra

Senior Communications Manager

908-238-6765

[email protected]

Meredith Fischer

Chief Public Affairs Officer

314-654-3318

[email protected]

SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc

Related Links

http://www.mallinckrodt.com

ALBANY, New York, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Transparency Market Research has released a new market report titled "Automotive Lane Keep Assist System - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017-2025." According to the report, the global automotive lane keep assist market is expected to expand at a CAGR of more than 15 % during the forecast period.

Rise in awareness about safety among vehicle owners is projected to boost the growth lane keep assist system market for automotive during the forecast period. Accidents triggered especially due to driver negligence or distraction causes damage to both the occupants of the vehicle and the vehicle. Lane keep assist is an active system, which aims to reduce the number of accidents by mitigating the effects of driver fatigue, inattention, or laxity. Rise in demand for passenger safety, increasing focus of governments of several nations to reduce road accidents, and increasing consumer preference for vehicles equipped with advanced safety systems such as lane keep assist system are expected to boost the demand for lane keep assist system during the forecast period.

Request a Sample PDF for Research Insights at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=41732

Personal safety and security is a key factor that is expected to drive the global lane keep assist system market during the forecast period. Stringent regulations have been laid down by the European Union, mentioning certain mandatory requirements to be followed regarding lane keep assist system (LKAS). As per these requirements, the lane keep assist system needs to be operational for vehicle speeds ranging between 72 km/hr. and 108 km/hr. The minimum radius of the road for the operation of the LKAS on a curved road is 250m and that for a straight road is 1000m. Increasing concerns about safety by government bodies are providing assistance to lane keep assist system.

Based on components, the electronic control unit (ECU) segment dominated the lane keep assist system market, by accounting for a prominent share, in terms of revenue. ECU is a major component of the lane keep assist system, which actuates the electric power assisted steering to steer the vehicle back within the lane, if the vehicle departs outside the lane. The ECU is responsible for the actions performed by the lane keep assist system. Government emphasis on active safety systems for automobiles is boosting the lane keep assist system market with eminent components.

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In terms of sales channel, the aftermarket segment holds a major market share as compared to other segments. This is due to the increased awareness about safety systems and frequent replacement of electronic components owing to their shorter lifespan and malfunction. The aftermarket segment is anticipated to expand at a significant growth rate during the forecast period.

Based on vehicle type, the passenger vehicle segment accounted for a prominent share of the market owing to the increasing demand for passenger vehicles globally, primarily for local and intercity transport. In 2016, in terms of revenue, the passenger vehicle segment dominated the lane keep assist system market. Demand for lane keep assist system is expected to remain high owing to the higher number of accidents caused in this segment of vehicle. Decline in vehicle loan rate and awareness about advance safety features are providing lucrative opportunities to vehicle consumers to opt for vehicles with active safety systems.

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Europe dominated the global lane keep assist system market for automotive in 2016. Europe and Asia Pacific are anticipated to dominate the market during the forecast period owing to the high rate of adoption of the technology and rising awareness about safety systems in these regions. This, in turn, clarifies the penetration level in these regions at initial stages, being quite on a higher side than other mass manufacturing regions. The market in Europe is also expected to expand at a significant growth rate owing to safety norms and improved road infrastructure that assists the function of lane keep assist system. Safety regulations imposed by the European Union regarding the testing and implementation of lane keep assist system in the region in order to ensure safety are boosting the auto manufacture's economy. Europe being the home to some of the major auto manufacturers are upgrading the product in order to provide superior performance.

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Prominent players operating in the global lane keep assist system market include Robert Bosch GmbH, Denso Corporation, Delphi Automotive PLC., Continental AG, Valeo, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. Increasing competition among manufacturers to provide a better product is anticipated to boost the lane keep assist system market during the forecast period. Robert Bosch GmbH is a major supplier of lane keep assist systems. Benefit from the formation of strategic alliances with regional players and continuous upgradation of the technology allows Robert Bosch GmbH to lead the lane keep assist system market for automotive. Expansion and presence of major auto manufacturer countries increases the sales of Robert Bosch GmbH. In September 2017, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Valeo launched its new invention LiDAR sensor, which ensures optimal and continuous operation in all weather and road conditions by cleaning away rain, mud, snow, dust, and obstructions. Improvement in components such as sensors is expected to enhance the performance of the lane keep assist system.

Global Lane keep assist system market for automotive are segmented as follows:

Lane keep assist system Market: By Component Vision sensor/camera EPAS Actuator Electronic Control Unit Others



Lane keep assist system Market: By Sales Channel Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) Aftermarket



Lane keep assist system Market: By Vehicle Type Passenger Vehicles Commercial Vehicles



Lane keep assist system Market: By Region/ By Countries/ By Sub-regions North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. France Italy Spain Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China India Japan ASEAN Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa (MEA) GCC South Africa Rest of MEA



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SOURCE Transparency Market ResearchAvant Energy is a Mexican company focused on the development, construction and operation of energy infrastructure for the oil, natural gas, refined products and power sectors, and works on this development with US logistics group Savage Companies and rail operator Kansas City Southern de Mexico as commercial partners.

Luis Farias explained that 260 md will be allocated to increase the operating capacity of the terminals that make up the network, while the rest will concentrate on maintaining a strategic inventory of hydrocarbons. "We estimate that only in Altamira the investment will reach 200 md; while in Queretaro, we will allocate another 60 md," he explained. "In addition to the investment in fixed assets, working capital is required to buy and inventory the petroleum products, as well as to give credit to customers, this initial capital is around an additional 250 md," Farias ended.

Mexico's Energy Secretary, Pedro Joaquin Coldwell, said that SUPERA will contribute to increase energy security and highlighted the efficiency with which the system will operate: "under the previous model, prior to the energy reform, private investment was limited to modernize and expand infrastructure, which put national energy security at risk, our current inventory level is only three days of sales, well below the world standard that is 30 days," he commented.

About Avant Energy:

Avant Energy is backed by capital from Mexican and international institutional investors, managed by affiliates of Riverstone Holdings LLC, an energy focused private equity firm, which include Riverstone's CKD (RIVERCK15 registered and listed in the Mexican Stock Exchange).

For more information:

www.avant.energy

www.savageservices.com

www.riverstonellc.com

www.kcsouthern.com

SOURCE Avant Energy

Related Links

http://www.avant.energy

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Bankers Cobalt Corp. (TSXV: BANC) (OTCQB: NDENF) (FSE: BC2) (the "Corporation" or "Bankers") is pleased to announce further high-grade copper results from the ongoing drill program at the Kabolela North concession in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kabolela North, Hole KADD013 has returned 3.69% Copper over 6m from 72m - 78m depth extending the zone originally discovered in Hole KADD011(3.17% copper over 4m from 28m) and Hole KADD012 (2.01% copper over 6m from 34m; including 1m @ 0.3% cobalt from 39m).

A total of 1,537 meters have been drilled to date on the first ever drilling campaign conducted at Kabolela. Thirteen holes have been released to date with additional holes pending from the Kabolela discovery zone.

Stephen Barley, President and CEO states, "We are excited by our initial drilling at Kabolela North. To place our results in perspective, public records for the operating Boss Mine located three kilometers west of Kabolela show an estimated mineral resource of 75.1Mt averaging 2.2% copper and 0.2% cobalt. Copper is an important aspect of our business plan as cobalt invariably comes as a credit to copper in the DRC and regional geology indicates the frequent occurrence of high grade copper with pods of higher grade cobalt similar to our recent results."

Note: Mineralization at Kabolela North may not be necessarily indicative of mineralization at the Boss Mine which will be determined with additional work at Kabolela North.

Adam Anderson, Bankers' DRC Exploration Manager states, "The drill target at Kabolela North is a shallow, fault hosted, sub vertical high-grade supergene copper zone of dominantly chalcocite mineralization with more abundant malachite at surface and with zones of cobalt. Drilling to date has now demonstrated continuity between three sections and a possible south plunge to the fault hosted mineralization which appears open to the south west. Further drilling is required to confirm the concept at this early stage of exploration." (Click here for maps of the Kabolela property)

All drill core has been submitted to SGS Lubumbashi for copper and cobalt determination by AAS. The initial drilling program is intended to provide information on the orientation, width, and strike length of the mineralization discovered to date. Mineralization is contained in two sub-parallel fault hosted zones and is open along strike at this early stage of exploration. Drill hole KADD013 intersected a 6-meter-wide (downhole width) zone of carbonate altered breccia with disseminated and blebby chalcocite mineralization.

Drilling is continuing to follow up these results and provide additional structural information on the mineralization. Drill sections are being developed to further display the deposit parameters and this will require additional drill holes.

Hole ID From To Interval Cu% Co% KADD013 72 78 6 3.69 <0.05

Note: Intercepts calculated using a 0.35% Cu cutoff and all samples are 1m in length, no internal waste and sample lengths are measured downhole as true widths of the mineralization are not known at this time.

The Corporation also plans to release additional geochemical results from Kabolela South and an update on its 600,000m[3] dump located to the south of the property shortly.

Assay QAQC

Bankers Cobalt has implemented an industry best practice QAQC program. All core samples are picked up on site by Banker's geologists or delivered by the drillers to Banker's personnel. All samples are delivered by Banker's personnel to the SGS Laboratory in Lubumbashi, DRC for cobalt and copper determination. Check assay standards and blanks are submitted every 20 samples with each assay job and are then reviewed for accuracy. Coarse reject splits will be done every 20 samples for duplicate samples of diamond core. Umpire assaying will be performed by ALS Chemex in Johannesburg, South Africa at a rate of 5% of submitted samples. Selected core samples are also being sent to ALS Chemex in Johannesburg, SA for multi-element analysis to identify geochemical signatures associated with mineralization in the concession.

Qualified/competent person -- National Instrument 43-101 and JORC Code

The geological information in this announcement has been reviewed by Mr. Adam Anderson, a competent person (as defined in the JORC Code, 2012 edition) and Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG), a recognized professional organization for the purposes of the Australian Securities Exchange listing rules. Mr. Anderson, who has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release, is also a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101

Mr. Anderson is the DRC Country and Exploration Manager for Bankers. He has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralization, the type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a competent person as defined in the JORC Code and as a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

About Bankers

Bankers is a natural resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of cobalt and copper mineral properties in the DRC to world-class Canadian standards. As battery production for EV's surges, demand for cobalt will probably exceed supply for many years. According to a recent report by Transparency Market Research, global sales of lithium-ion batteries are expected to reach US$70B by 2024, for a compound growth rate of 11.6% over the years beginning in 2016. Bankers efforts are intended to supply feedstock for processors having excess capacity and address the supply chain custody and verifiable sources of ore issue being imposed on processors in the DRC by consumers. Bankers holds rights to 26 separate mineral concessions strategically located in the southern DRC Copperbelt and having a total area of more than 391 km. Bankers has the intention to acquire interests in additional concessions. All concessions were obtained as either new grants or through reputable DRC partners and have clean title with no government involvement, making Bankers one of the few, and perhaps only, junior public mining company in the DRC to have 26 concessions capable of being currently explored and developed. Bankers has an experienced operations team operating in the southern Cobalt-Copperbelt of the DRC. Bankers believes it is the front runner in advancing cobalt and copper exploration by a junior mining company in the DRC.

Reader Advisory

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws including statements relating to the outlook of the business of the Corporation, including statements relating to the Corporation's drilling program, timing, execution and results of such program, the Corporation's intention to acquire additional concession, the Corporation's ability to explore and develop the concessions, the results of any development and exploration, the ability of the Corporation to meet standards for verifiable supply chain custody, and the Corporation's status as a leader in the junior mining sector for cobalt and copper in the DRC. Although the Corporation believes considering the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate, that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them as the Corporation can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of the Corporation its securities, or its financial or operating results.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF BANKERS COBALT CORP.

"Stephen Barley"

President & CEO

For further information:

Phone: +1-604-684-6730

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.bankerscobalt.com



SOURCE Bankers Cobalt Corp.Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus V.Makei meets the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia

04-04-2018

On April 4, 2018 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, met with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Lukas Parizek.

During the meeting, the parties discussed current state and prospects for the Belarusian-Slovak cooperation, implementation of joint projects in trade and economic spheres, interaction within international organizations.

The parties paid attention to the development of relations between Belarus and the European Union and exchanged views on issues on the international agenda.

   

print versionSHENZHEN, China, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BitKan, one of China's leading provider of cryptocurrency services, announced today that it has secured $10 million in Series B funding round in bid to build momentum in the marketplace for the company's newly-launched social network hub "K Site" and expand international operations.

This round of equity financing was led by a new investor ZHONGYUNHUI Capital, with additional support from another new investor IDG Capital and existing investor BITMAIN. This infusion follows a $2.4 million Series A funding in 2016 and a $300,000 angel round in 2015.

BitKan has been one of China's best-known bitcoin and cryptocurrency data sites for over four years. Founded in 2012, the website features price viewing, latest news articles, mining monitoring, price alert and E-Wallet services.

Enhance China's Crypto Community Value

"The capital injection will finance the development, promotion and operation of K Site as well as related products and services, such as E-wallet, payment and big data," said Yu Fang, BitKan's CEO.

The new social media-like hub, dubbed "K Site", is a new feature within BitKan's app. K Site will host a variety of groups based on interests, and produce quality contents including micro-blogs, full articles, videos and Q&A sessions. To maintain a high content quality standard, users will be charged a small fee to join the groups. "Free content can only attract page views, but putting up a paywall can improve content quality considerably, " said Yu.

As fabricating media reports, fake ICO white papers and scams have fueled China's cryptocurrency market, investors and enthusiasts are in urgent need of valid information that can effectively guide investment decision-making. Introduced during last month's Satoshi's Vision conference in Tokyo, K Site aims to build a neutral, trustworthy crypto community where useful, reliable, indepth news and discussions can be shared.

"K Site's target is in line with BitKan's company philosophy," said BitKan's president Liu Yang. As many rivals are busy with ICOs to make quick money, BitKan is fully concentrated on refining products and have a high sense of social responsibility, he added.

K Site will also have its own token dubbed "KAN", which can be used to pay the coin-to-coin exchange fees and reward best-loved content. Though KAN will be listed on exchanges, there won't be an ICO.

The number of content payers in China is increasing rapidly, and is estimated to reach 188 million by the end of 2017, according to a report published in December 2017 by consultant firm iMedia Research. Specifically, users in cryptocurrency industry are most motivated to pay for contents. 46.2% users will pay for financial content.

The Series B investors are optimistic on K Site's market prospect given BitKan's existing strong user base. "BitKan has more than 1 million users worldwide, and 10% of them are using the E-wallet service. They are eager to know more about this field, and have the habit to pay for information, " said Huang Ruilong, CEO of ZHONGYUNHUI Capital, a Shenzhen-based financing firm.

K Site will launch an open beta on April 20th, and BitKan has already started a plan to invite qualified content producers to open accounts in K Site.

Expand Overseas Business

The investment will also speed up the company's international expansion by extending BitKan's user base broad, according to Yu.

BitKan is one of the first Chinese cryptocurrency startups that branch out to the western world. To date, BitKan has more than 1 million registered users globally, 40% of which are from outside China. Both BitKan website and app are available in English, Chinese, Japanese and Russian.

The startup embarked on an international road as early as 2015, with close cooperation with western media outlets such as bitcoin.com, BitcoinMagazine, Cointelegraph and Bitsonline.

Now the formerly Shenzhen-based firm is recruiting international talents after setting up three new offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo recently. At the beginning of the year, the company was valued at $100 million, compared with only $16 million in 2016.

Accepting ZHONGYUNHUI Capital, IDG Capital, and BITMAIN to be its Series B investors is part of BitKan's drive to expand overseas business. "These investment firms are well-known outside China. Thus, adding them to our shareholders is beneficial for BitKan's global expansion, " said Liu.

SOURCE BitKanThe corporate citizenship program will focus its giving on opportunities that best align with the company's values and core beliefs in three key areas of community, education, and family. Participants of the program are encouraged to help the community through four different areas of volunteerism, charitable giving, public affairs, and environmental sustainability. For example, Boston Mutual will match employee donations to any qualifying cause that fits within one of the three key focus areas, and employees are granted one full workday each year to volunteer at a service organization or charity of their choosing. The Making An Impact program team will also work closely with the company's Activities Committee, a volunteer group of employees, to coordinate on larger initiatives throughout the year.

"As a mutual company, and as part of the Boston Mutual brand, corporate citizenship is in the essence of who we are and what we do," said Paul A. Quaranto, Jr., Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President at Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company. "Our commitment to the Boston Mutual family extends to the members of the communities where we live and work, and I'm looking forward to continuing our goodwill with this new program."

Based on current employee engagement and long-term relationships and activities, Boston Mutual has selected four signature partners that embody many of the key traits the company embraces, including The Salvation Army, My Brother's Keeper, United Way, and the Town of Canton, Massachusetts. Along with these signature partners, Boston Mutual will continue to support a wide variety of national and regional charitable causes and organizations, including the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, Joslin Diabetes Center, and Junior Achievement.

To learn more about Boston Mutual's new corporate citizenship program, please visit www.bostonmutual.com/about-us/#corporate-giving or contact [email protected].

About Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company

Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company is a national insurance carrier providing flexible insurance products for working Americans in the private and public sectors. Boston Mutual offers a range of insurance coverage options for both individuals and employers, with a product portfolio that includes life, critical illness, disability, and accident insurance coverage. Founded in 1891, the company, which is headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts, has enjoyed a long history of financial strength and stability. For more information, please visit www.bostonmutual.com or follow the company on Facebook (/BostonMutualLifeIns) or LinkedIn (/company/boston-mutual-life-insurance).

Media Contact:

Meredith D'Agostino

Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company

[email protected]

(800) 669-2668 x276

SOURCE Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company

Related Links

www.bostonmutual.com

NEW YORK, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- After nearly half a century of being solely available in the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, Bounty Rum has paved its way into the United States. The portfolio includes: Bounty White, Bounty Gold, Bounty Spiced, Bounty Dark, Bounty Lime and Bounty Coconut, and pays tribute to the heritage of Saint Lucia, as it captures and conveys the island's most dynamic and festive qualities.

Bounty Rum

To mark its debut in the United States, Saint Lucia's most popular and beloved rum brand has earned some of the highest scores from the Ultimate Spirits Challenge over other prestigious rum brands. Bounty Premium Gold Rum and Bounty Premium Dark Rum rank as two of the six "Finalist and Great Value" contenders within the USC rum category, with scores of 94 and 93 points respectively.

Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2018 Results:

Product Name Score Award Tasting Notes Bounty Gold Rum, 40% abv 94 Finalist | Great Value Cocktail Recommendation: 4 stars Mild, but not meek for what is an extremely versatile rum. Charred banana leaves, grilled pineapple, pickled watermelon rinds, under-ripe bananas, tarragon, vanilla, pimento berries and orange oil are anchored with Caribbean pepper heat and smoke that is present throughout, but not overdone.







Bounty Dark Rum, 43% abv 93 Finalist | Great Value Cocktail Recommendation: 3 stars This bold and complex rum shows dense flavors: charred caramel, dark chocolate and pastry creme. The palate reasserts these flavors but also shows a crisp citrus streak. At slightly over-proof, a perfect candidate for a rum old fashioned.

"After 45 years of gaining popularity with American visitors to Saint Lucia, we are proud to finally bring Bounty Rum, the Spirit of Saint Lucia, to the United States," exclaims Benjamin Jones, managing director of SPIRIBAM North America, the Saint Lucian rum brand's importer. "Bounty Rum has uncanny brand loyalty to those who appreciate fine Saint Lucian rum craftsmanship and for the people in love with the culture of the island. There is no other rum brand that can deliver this fantastic level of quality, value, heritage and genuine time-honored revelry from an already enthusiastic fan base."

Bounty Rum has been launched across 15 American states in 2018 thus far, and SPIRIBAM plans to have distribution in more than 25 American and Canadian markets by the end of 2018. Customers across the United States (with the exception of those from AL, IL, KY, MI, MS, NH, SD and UT) can order Bounty Rum and have it conveniently shipped directly to their home. To order, simply visit www.bountyrum.com and follow the "SHOP NOW" button.

Bounty Rum is produced by St. Lucia Distillers, which is located in the beautiful and agriculturally rich Roseau valley in Saint Lucia. The brand was established in 1972 as the principle brand of St. Lucia Distillers, a united venture created when the last two distilleries of Saint Lucia merged. Bounty rums are double distilled from Guyanese molasses and aged two to three years in ex-bourbon casks. Enjoyed by generations of Lucians, Bounty Rum is known for its distinct, clean and smooth mouthfeel and clean, medium-bodied profile which makes it a versatile rum and ideal for mixing.

Media Contact:

Benjamin Jones

Phone: 401-783-0300

Email: [email protected]

Related Links

www.bountyrum.com

www.spiribam.com



SOURCE Bounty Rum

Related Links

http://www.bountyrum.com

Highlights

Final drill results received where 13 of 15 reported drill holes intersected significant zinc mineralization;

Drill hole NC17-261 intersected 23.0m of 4.2% Zn Eq. from a starting depth of 11.0m including 8.3m of 6.0% Zn Eq.; and

of 4.2% Zn Eq. from a starting depth of including of 6.0% Zn Eq.; and Callinex expects to release an updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate within 15 days and PEA in late-May.

VANCOUVER, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Callinex Mines Inc. (the "Company" or "Callinex") (TSX-V: CNX;OTCQX: CLLXF) is pleased to announce final drill results where 13 of 15 reported drill holes intersected significant zinc mineralization ("Zn Eq.") at the Company's 100% owned Nash Creek Project located within the Bathurst Mining District of New Brunswick (See Figures 1 and 2). The drill holes were completed to test for extensions of mineralization along the margins of the Nash Creek Deposit while also confirming historic drill holes completed at the Hickey Zone during the 1970s.

Significant results include:

Drill hole NC17-261 intersected 23.0m of 4.2% Zn Eq. from a starting depth of 11.0m including 8.3m of 6.0% Zn Eq.;

of 4.2% Zn Eq. from a starting depth of including of 6.0% Zn Eq.; Drill hole NC17-273 intersected 10.0m of 2.6% Zn Eq. from a starting depth of 29.0m including 5.0m of 3.8% Zn Eq.; and

of 2.6% Zn Eq. from a starting depth of including of 3.8% Zn Eq.; and Drill hole NC17-279 intersected 23.0m of 2.6% Zn Eq. from a starting depth of 62.0m including 8.0m 3.7% Zn Eq. and a separate intersection of 8.0m of 3.7% Zn Eq. from a starting depth 106.0m .

*For complete drill results along with zinc equivalent calculations refer to Table 1.

With final results now received, Callinex anticipates announcing an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate within 15 days, subject the completion of the resource model by Tetra Tech Inc. The updated mineral resource estimate will include an additional 59 drill holes completed in 2017 that materially expanded the size of the Nash Creek Deposit to the north, where mineralization remains open for expansion.

The 2016 mineral resource estimate for the Nash Creek Deposit estimates a near surface indicated resource totaling 712 million pounds Zn Eq. and inferred resource totaling 88 million pounds of Zn Eq. (See Table 2). The Company's Superjack Project hosts an additional near-surface inferred resource totaling 328 million pounds of Zn Eq. in the Bathurst Mining District (See Table 2).

Callinex also anticipates announcing results for its maiden Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on the Nash Creek and Superjack Project in late-May. In September, 2017 the Company engaged P&E Mining Consultants Inc. and has since completed significant work towards completion of the PEA.

Following the completion of the PEA, the Company will commence an extensive 2018 exploration program consisting of diamond drilling, ground geophysics, soil sampling and prospecting to discover additional deposits within the 20 km long land package.

The PEA is expected to have a base-case scenario of a standalone open pit operation with potential to process between 15 to 20 million tonnes of material using dense media separation ("DMS") as a pre-concentration process before the material would be delivered to an on-site conventional flotation mill. The Company is anticipating a head grade of approximately 5 to 7% combined zinc-lead when utilizing DMS.

The Project benefits from tremendous infrastructure within close proximity. The Nash Creek Deposit is located approximately 1 km from Provincial Highway 11, high-voltage transmission lines and only 25 km by road to Glencore's Brunswick Smelter, deep water port, railway and power plant near the town of Belledune (See Figures 1 and 2).

J.J. O'Donnell, P.Geo, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 and a Consulting Geologist for Callinex, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.

Figure 1: Map of the Bathurst Mining District of New Brunswick

Figure 2: Plan Map of the Nash Creek Deposit

Table 1: Nash Creek Drill Results

Nash Creek Drill Results(1)(2)(3) Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Zn Eq. (%) Zn (%) Pb (%) Ag (g/t) NC17-252 81.00 85.00 4.00 4.55% 3.28% 1.01% 16.88 including 81.00 82.00 1.00 12.24% 8.57% 2.99% 46.30 NC17-253 15.00 19.00 4.00 3.76% 3.18% 0.12% 20.85 NC17-253 36.00 40.00 4.00 3.18% 2.63% 0.32% 12.27 NC17-256 8.00 13.00 5.00 2.57% 2.06% 0.31% 10.46 NC17-256 24.00 32.00 8.00 3.37% 2.48% 0.43% 22.25 NC17-258 12.00 16.00 4.00 3.50% 2.28% 0.94% 17.33 NC17-261 11.00 34.00 23.00 4.21% 2.80% 0.92% 26.75 including 16.70 25.00 8.30 5.97% 4.15% 1.17% 34.77 NC17-262 71.00 77.00 6.00 4.88% 4.29% 0.40% 10.26 including 72.00 76.00 4.00 6.17% 5.47% 0.50% 11.78 NC17-264 16.00 30.00 14.00 2.17% 1.58% 0.32% 13.65 including 21.00 26.00 5.00 3.99% 3.11% 0.45% 21.08 and 36.00 42.00 6.00 2.24% 1.55% 0.22% 21.72 and 48.00 51.00 3.00 1.97% 1.41% 0.16% 18.33 and 60.00 64.00 4.00 1.55% 0.29% 1.03% 15.43 and 138.00 140.00 2.00 2.78% 1.73% 0.90% 11.24 and 163.00 170.00 7.00 1.72% 1.09% 0.56% 6.04 NC17-265 7.00 19.15 12.15 2.05% 1.20% 0.59% 14.75 including 7.00 13.00 6.00 2.89% 1.58% 0.96% 20.30 including 9.00 12.00 3.00 3.32% 1.59% 1.36% 23.67 NC17-267 16.90 30.30 13.40 2.28% 1.69% 0.32% 13.77 including 16.90 24.60 7.70 2.95% 2.22% 0.39% 16.91 and 28.50 30.30 1.80 3.70% 2.77% 0.55% 19.47 NC17-270 50.25 51.60 1.35 2.40% 1.95% 0.19% 12.45 NC17-272 21.00 24.00 3.00 1.45% 1.15% 0.18% 6.10 and 31.00 33.00 2.00 1.67% 1.46% 0.20% 1.44 and 39.50 41.00 1.50 2.47% 1.99% 0.31% 9.29 and 58.00 60.00 2.00 1.70% 0.27% 1.38% 9.85 NC17-273 29.00 39.00 10.00 2.55% 1.64% 0.50% 20.87 including 34.00 39.00 5.00 3.81% 2.47% 0.75% 29.98 NC17-279 62.00 114.00 52.00 1.90% 1.64% 0.20% 3.67 including 62.00 85.00 23.00 2.60% 2.30% 0.24% 3.56 including 62.00 70.00 8.00 3.70% 3.18% 0.35% 9.43 and 106.00 114.00 8.00 3.68% 2.98% 0.46% 12.82

Notes(1)(2)(3)(4):



1. Zinc equivalent grades are based on the following metal prices: zinc US$2,525/t (1.15/lb), lead US$2,205/t (1.00/lb), and silver US$18.0 per oz. Metal recoveries of 100% were applied in the metal equivalent calculations. The zinc equivalent calculation is as follows: ZnEq = 100 ((Ag Price in (g) x Ag Grade) + (Pb Price*2204.6 x Pb Grade(%)/100) + (Zn Price*2204.6 x (Zn Grade(%)/100))/Zn Price*2204.6).



2. The numbers may not add due to rounding.



3. All intervals are reported as core width drilled thicknesses; true thicknesses are estimated to be 80-100% of drilled thicknesses.



4. Drill holes NC17-268 and NC17-275 did not intersect any significant mineralization.

Table 2: 2016 Mineral Resource Estimates for the Nash Creek and Superjack Projects

Indicated Mineral Resources Project Tonnes Zn Eq. (%) Zn

(%) Pb (%) Ag

(g/t) Cu (%) Contained Zn Eq. ('000 pounds) Nash Creek 9,033,000 3.58 2.79 0.57 18.16 n/a 711,991 Total 9,033,000 3.58 2.79 0.57 18.16 n/a 711,991















Inferred Mineral Resources Project Tonnes Zn Eq.

(%) Zn

(%) Pb

(%) Ag (g/t) Cu (%) Contained Zn Eq. ('000 pounds) Superjack 3,211,000 4.63 3.01 0.78 29.46 0.27 327,618 Nash Creek 1,113,000 3.58 2.83 0.57 15.51 n/a 87,883 Total 4,324,000 4.36 2.96 0.73 25.87 0.20 415,501

Notes:





1. Resources are categorized according to CIM Definition Standards; it cannot be assumed that all or any part of Inferred Mineral Resources will be upgraded to Indicated or Measured as a result of continued exploration. 2. The Nash Creek mineral resource estimate includes the Hickey Zone and Hayes Zone. 3. The Superjack mineral resource estimates includes the Nepisiguit A (the "A Zone") and Nepisiguit C Zones (the "C Zone"). 4. Zinc equivalent resources for the Nash Creek Project were calculated using metal prices of $0.90/lb for zinc, $0.87/lb for lead, and $17.73/oz for silver. Metallurgical recoveries have been assumed to be 90.5% for zinc, 81.5% for lead and 50% for silver. A cut-off grade of 2.0% Zn Eq. was utilized in the resource estimate. 5. Zinc equivalent resources for the Superjack Project were calculated using metal prices of $1.12/lb for zinc, $1.06/lb for lead, $2.97/lb for copper and $20.38/oz for silver. Metal recoveries have been assumed to be 100% for zinc, 72% for lead, 86% for copper and 70% for silver. A cut-off grade of 1.5% Zn Eq. was utilized in the resource estimate.

QA/QC

Individual samples were labeled, placed in plastic sample bags, and sealed. Groups of samples were then placed in security sealed bags and shipped directly to SGS Canada Inc in Garson, Ontario for preparation then onto Burnaby, BC for analysis. Samples were crushed to 75% passing 2mm and pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns in order produce a 250g split. All copper, zinc and silver assays were determined by Aqua Regia digestion with a combination of ICP-MS and ICP-AES finish, with overlimits (>100 ppm Ag, >10,000 ppm Zn, and >10,000 ppm Cu) completed by fire assay with gravimetric finish (Ag) or Aqua Regia digestion with ICP-AES finish (copper and zinc). All samples were analyzed for gold by Fire Assay of a 30 gram charge by AAS, or if over 10.0 g/t were re-assayed and completed with a gravimetric finish. QA/QC included the insertion and continual monitoring of numerous standards and blanks into the sample stream at a frequency of 1 per 10 samples, and the collection of duplicate samples at random intervals within each batch at a frequency of 1 per 10 samples.

SGS Canada Inc carried out some or all of following methods to obtain the assay results for Callinex: G_LOG02 Pre-preparation processing, G_WGH79 Weighing and reporting, G_PRP89 Weigh, dry, crush, split, pulverize, G_SCRQC QC for crush and pulverize stages, G_CRU22 Crush >3kg, G_DRY11 Dry samples, GE_FAA313 @Au, FAS, AAS, 30g-5ml (Final mode), GE-IC14A Aqua Regia digestion/ICP-AES finish, GE_IMS14B Aqua Regia digestion/ICP-MS package, GE_IMS14 Aqua Regia digestion, GO_FAG303 30g, Fire assay, gravimetric finish (Au)(Final Mode), GO_FAG313 30g, Fire assay, gravimetric finish (Ag)(Final Mode), G0_ICP13B Ore Grade, Aqua Regia digest/ICP-AES. Ag >10ppm was analyzed by ICP and GO_XRF77B-pyrosulfate fusion.

About Callinex Mines Inc.

Callinex Mines Inc. (TSX-V: CNX ;OTCQX: CLLXF) is advancing its portfolio of zinc rich deposits located in established Canadian mining jurisdictions. The portfolio is highlighted by its Nash Creek and Superjack deposits in the Bathurst Mining District of New Brunswick. Callinex is actively exploring these projects in support of an updated resource estimate and maiden PEA planned for Q2 2018.

Additionally, Callinex is exploring its projects in the Flin Flon Mining District of Manitoba which notably include the Pine Bay and Big Island Projects. These projects are located within 25 km to an operating processing facility that requires additional ore within four years.

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.

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future expenditures. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to complete the proposed drill program and the timing and amount of expenditures. Except as required under applicable securities laws, Callinex does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

SOURCE Callinex Mines Inc.

Related Links

www.callinex.ca

Casual-dining traffic and sales down according to the Technomic Chain Restaurant Index

Technomic decodes the health of the restaurant industry with its monthly performance trackerTHE WOODLANDS, Texas, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CB&I (NYSE:CBI) today announced it has been awarded a contract by Jinneng Science & Technology Co., Ltd. for the license and engineering design of a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China.

The unit will use CB&I's CATOFIN technology to produce 900,000 metric tons of propylene per year. It will also utilize CATOFIN catalyst and heat generating material from CB&I's catalyst partner, Clariant. Once the unit is complete, it will be the world's largest single-train PDH unit.

"CB&I's CATOFIN technology offers unmatched reliability and optimization," said Daniel M. McCarthy, CB&I's Executive Vice President of Technology. "For our customers who license the technology, these benefits result in lower capital and operations costs for their projects and investments."

About CB&I

CB&I (NYSE:CBI) is a leading provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry. With more than 125 years of experience, CB&I provides reliable solutions to our customers around the world while maintaining a relentless focus on safety and an uncompromising standard of quality. For more information, visit www.CBI.com.

Important Information For Investors And Shareholders

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding CB&I and represents our expectations and beliefs concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. When considering any statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or use or contain words, terms, phrases or expressions such as "achieve," "forecast," "plan," "propose," "strategy," "envision," "hope," "will," "continue," "potential," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "should," "could," "may," "might" or similar forward-looking statements, we refer you to the cautionary statements concerning risk factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" described under "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our Annual Report filed on Form 10-K filed with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2017, and any updates to those risk factors or "Forward-Looking Statements" included in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, which cautionary statements are incorporated herein by reference.

Investors: Scott Lamb, +1 832 513 1068, [email protected]

Media: Gentry Brann, +1 832 513 1031, [email protected]

SOURCE CB&I

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CHICAGO, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CellPoint Mobile, a global provider of sales and payment-side technology solutions for the travel and passenger transportation sectors, took another step in its national expansion with the opening of a Chicago office. Established to help facilitate faster, "1-click" product delivery to airline and travel sector customers in the region, the company's new US location will be led by Head of Application Delivery Karim Lanquedoc and a team of front-end developers.

"Our mission is to implement our products as fast and seamlessly as possible for our clients," explains Jan-Willem Luijters, Senior Vice President and Head of Delivery for CellPoint Mobile in charge of overseeing global projects. "With the new Chicago office joining our other technology hubs in Pune and Copenhagen, our implementation and development processes can 'follow the sun,' reducing time-zone-related delays and delivering timely results for our clients."

Since 2010, CellPoint Mobile has made it easy for airlines, travel companies, and passenger transportation providers across the globe to deploy a variety of mobile payment solutions quickly and cost-effectively. The company's payment solutions allow customers to integrate alternative payment methods (APMs), including PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, into their payment processes. CellPoint Mobile's global development and implementation teams, including the new team in Chicago, play an instrumental role in making these solutions a commercial reality.

CellPoint Mobile's Chicago office is it's seventh around the world (in addition to the Chicago, Pune and Copenhagen tech hubs, the company also has corporate presences in London, Miami, Dubai and Singapore). This expansion reflects the CellPoint Mobile's rapid growth, and demonstrates its commitment to supporting its customers' needs in the most efficient, timely way possible. One of CellPoint Mobile's key differentiators is the ability to help companies get to market quickly with the payment, booking and merchandising solutions that are right for them; regional and global implementation teams facilitate that capability.

Native iOS developer Karim Lanquedoc will lead the Chicago team. He joins CellPoint Mobile most recently from Red Foundry, a prominent app development shop also in Chicago. Karim previously held senior lead engineering roles at Punchkick Interactive, ComPsych and Branchfire. His expertise in front-end app development  along with that of the Chicago-based team  will help streamline product delivery to CellPoint Mobile customers in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

"With Karim and his team now in Chicago, we are able to shrink the time window between project initiation and completion for our customers in the region," continues Luijters. "For airlines, rail and ferry operators, and other travel companies that need mobile booking and payment solutions, this speed is a significant advantage."

About CellPoint Mobile: We Make Travel Easier for airlines, travel companies and their customers.

CellPoint Mobile provides airlines, ground transportation providers, hospitality firms and travel companies across the globe with flexible, configurable solutions that help them collect revenues from the mobile channel and profitably manage interactions and transactions from both the selling side and the payment side. Dedicated to a client-first, mobile-first culture since 2007, CellPoint Mobile provides companies with the fintech and travel-tech solutions they need to get to market quickly: booking, payments, alternative payment methods, ancillary sales, loyalty transactions, communications, stored payment capability, real-time reporting, reconciliation, connections to payment service providers (PSPs) and acquirers, and more. Serving companies on five continents, CellPoint Mobile has locations in Miami, London, Copenhagen, Dubai, Pune and Singapore. Visit www.cellpointmobile.com to learn more.

SOURCE CellPoint Mobile

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www.cellpointmobile.com

Foreign Ministry of Belarus hosts meeting of the National Commission of the Republic of Belarus for UNESCO

04-04-2018

On April 4, 2018 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Head of the National Commission for UNESCO, Vladimir Makei, chaired the meeting of the Commission dedicated to the results of its work in 2017.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the results of the activity of five thematic committees of the Commission (on culture, education, science and education in the field of natural sciences, information, youth affairs and UNESCO clubs). It was noted that with the assistance of the Commission in Belarus unique projects have been implemented in the field of integrated education of children with special needs, protection of historical and cultural heritage, education and international youth cooperation.

Concrete steps were determined for including Minsk's Nezavisimosti Avenue into the Belarusian tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage List. Nezavisimosti Avenue may become the foundation for a joint nomination by several countries for inclusion into the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Participants of the session discussed priority tasks in Belarus' work in UNESCO taking into account the fact that Belarus had been elected to the UNESCO Executive Board. A plan to guide the work of the National Commission on UNESCO Affairs in 2018-2019 was adopted during the session. In particular, there are plans to stage events in Belarus in honor of the jubilees of Regina Salomea Rusiecka and Stanislaw Moniuszko as well as events to celebrate the 400th anniversary since the world's first primer was published. Apart from that, seminars and conferences on sustainable development will be arranged as well as events to highlight Belarus' joining the UNESCO Creative Cities network.

V.Makei presented the commission's diplomas to representatives of the subcommittees, who made a significant contribution to the advancement of cooperation with UNESCO in education, science, culture, and youth movement.

   

print versionBROOKLYN, N.Y., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Chris Carey Advisors has been named "Turnaround Consultant of the Year" by M&A Advisor, the renowned leadership organization for restructuring, M&A and financing professionals. Chris Carey Advisors joins Ernst & Young, JP Morgan, KPMG, Morgan Stanley, PNC, Raymond James and Wells Fargo, among others, in the 12th Annual M&A Advisor Turnaround Awards program.

The Brooklyn-based financial and business advisory firm earned the "Turnaround Consultant of the Year" award specifically for its recent turnarounds of Benco, Inc. (Fairfield, NJ), EZ Mailing Services, Inc. (Elizabeth, NJ) and a major real estate developer in Brooklyn, NY.

Benco , tri-state specialists in building materials and installation services, in 2012 suffered significant losses and negative net worth. With Chris Carey Advisors' turnaround expertise, the company grew 500% with annual bookings in 2017 in excess of $10M and a substantial profit with significant accumulated shareholders equity.

EZ Mailing provides store delivery services to leading retailers, long haul trucking and small parcel shipping services throughout the U.S. After the company filed for Chapter 11 in 2016, Chris Carey Advisors helped the firm transition to profitability: In 2017, EZ Mailing reaped $43M in revenue and $3M of EBITDA and has won business from retail giants such as Amazon, Forever 21, H&M and Phillips-Van Heusen.

Chris Carey, founder and CEO of the firm, also has been named "Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Year" by M&A Advisor in 2017 and "Turnaround of the Year" by the Global M&A Network as the best value-creating restructuring transaction for 2016; "Entrepreneur of the Year" by New Jersey magazine; and "Small Business Philanthropist of the Year" by the Community Foundation of New Jersey. He has been featured in numerous business periodicals, including Business Week, Forbes, Inc., The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and is a frequent speaker at high-profile industry and business conferences.

SOURCE Chris Carey Advisors

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http://www.chriscareyadvisors.com/

SEATTLE, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world's leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, is pleased to announce that it will hold its Cloud Security Alliance Congress North America on December 10-13, 2018, at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate in Florida in collaboration with MIS Training Institute (MISTI), the international leader in information security and audit training.

With today's announcement, the CSA and MISTI are also opening their call for speakers. Cloud Security Alliance Congress North America is a must-attend for cloud professionals looking to stay abreast of technology and industry advancements on all things cloud. The Congress event will be attended by thought leaders, policy and decision makers, representing key industry organizations, cloud customers, and the R&D community. Early-registration pricing is available through September 16, 2018.

"This year's CSA Congress promises to be the most insightful and comprehensive program to date," said Jim Reavis, CEO, Cloud Security Alliance. "In addition to a speaker roster packed with the brightest minds in the industry, we look forward to hearing from a wide variety of presenters and panelists who will be bringing new concepts and ideas that push known boundaries and make the audience look at familiar topics in a fresh light."

"Cloud security has become de-facto," said Tony Keefe, President and CEO, MISTI. "MISTI is thrilled to be partnering with the CSA to create a forum for any cloud security stakeholder to learn from and engage with their peers in today's era of advanced cloud technologies and capabilities."

The event agenda will be comprised of three tracks covering the following topics:

Secure digital transformation

Cloud migration best practices

Achieving trust in the cloud

Technology governance

Compliance in the cloud

Identity and Access Management in the cloud

Incident response and forensics in the cloud

Application development in the cloud

Interested individuals are invited to submit vendor-neutral papers through May 7, 2018, with an eye to new research, demonstrations, case studies, real-life stories and actionable recommendations that help security practitioners become better business partners who enable their organizations.

Programmed sessions and panel discussions (all panelists must be included in the submission) will be 45 minutes in length. Talks submitted by public relations or marketing firms on behalf of a proposed speaker must include the speaker's contact information; incomplete submissions will not be considered. Submitters will be notified the week of May 21, 2018. Those with questions in advance of submitting a talk should contact Katherine Teitler, Director of Content at MISTI, at [email protected].

To stay up-to-date on the latest event news, visit Cloud Security Alliance Congress 2018.

About the Organizers

About Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world's leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, training, certification, events and products. CSA's activities, knowledge and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud  from providers and customers, to governments,entrepreneurs and the assurance industry  and provide a forum through which diverse parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem. For further information, visit us at www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa .

MIS Training Institute (MISTI)

Founded in 1978, MIS Training Institute (MISTI) is the international leader in audit, IT audit, and information security training, with offices in Boston and London, and has trained more than 200,000 delegates across five continents. MISTI offers a variety of courses and conferences focused on the wide-ranging needs of internal and IT auditors and information security practitioners. The curriculum covers up-to-the-minute topics and provides proven audit and security practices. Training courses are available in a variety of formats and attendees benefit from proven strategies and lessons learned in the real world. Go to www.MISTI.com to learn more.

SOURCE Cloud Security Alliance

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http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.org

SALT LAKE CITY, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Deborah Eldridge has joined Western Governors University (WGU) as Academic Vice President, Teachers College. Dr. Eldridge will lead program strategy, curriculum development, accreditation, and licensure for the online Teachers College, which offers programs leading to teacher licensure as well as graduate programs for teachers. WGU's Teachers College is one of the largest in the country, with more than 20,000 enrolled students in all 50 states.

Learn more about WGU's Teachers College at www.wgu.edu/online-teaching-degrees.html.

"Dr. Eldridge's experience and leadership will ensure that the programs and curriculum offered at WGU will continue to produce high-quality, well-prepared teachers," said Sarah DeMark, Vice President of Program Development at WGU.

Before coming to WGU, Dr. Eldridge was a Senior Vice President at the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), the governing body that formed from the merger of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). While serving in that role, she drafted the preliminary policies and procedures of CAEP and provided overall administration for all accreditation operations.

Prior to her work at CAEP, Dr. Eldridge was engaged in teacher preparation as a professor of literacy education, department chair of Curriculum and Instruction at Hunter College and Montclair State University, an Associate Dean responsible for accreditation at Hunter College, and then Dean of Education at Lehman College of the City University of New York. She was the primary author of two Teacher Quality Partnership grants/awards from the United States Department of Education: one for Lehman College and one for the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Eldridge is a nationally recognized presenter on accreditation, and is the author of numerous books and articles on teacher preparation and accreditation.

WGU's Teachers College, the first fully online teachers college to earn NCATE accreditation for its programs leading to teacher licensure, offers bachelor's, post-baccalaureate, and master's degrees for aspiring and already-licensed teachers and K12 leaders. Established in 2003 with the support of the U.S. Department of Education, WGU's Teachers College is a leader in STEM education and a top producer of math and science teachers throughout the nation. The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) ranked WGU's secondary math education program in the nation's top one percent and the National Science Teachers Association nationally recognized WGU's eight science programs.

About WGU

Established in 1997 by 19 U.S. governors with a mission to expand access to high-quality, affordable higher education, online, nonprofit WGU now serves 95,000 students nationwide and has 103,000 graduates in all 50 states. Driving innovation as the nation's leading competency-based university, WGU has been recognized by the White House, state leaders, employers, and students as a model that works in postsecondary education. In just 21 years, the university has become a leading influence in changing the lives of individuals and families, and preparing the workforce needed in today's rapidly evolving economy. WGU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, has been named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, and was featured on NPR, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in The New York Times. Learn more at www.wgu.edu.

Contact for media inquiries:

Joan Mitchell  VP of Public Relations

801-428-5463

[email protected]

Contact for enrollment information:

866-225-5948

wgu.edu

Follow WGU:

http://www.facebook.com/wgu.edu

http://www.linkedin.com/companies/western-governors-university

http://twitter.com/wgu

http://www.youtube.com/WesternGovernorsUniv

http://google.com/+wgu

http://news.wgu.edu/news/news.xml

SOURCE Western Governors University

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HASSELT, Belgium, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Eurofins Digital Testing, a global leader in end-to-end quality assurance and testing services, today announced that it has acquired Edge Testing Solutions, a leading independent pure-play software testing provider in the UK, to extend its software testing capabilities including managed, functional, performance and automated testing, across additional private and public sectors. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Eurofins Digital Testing is a leader in end-to-end quality assurance (QA), providing test tools, test services and training to validate software, digital media services, IoT devices, and content. It is part of the larger Eurofins Group, a leading provider of multi-industry analytical services, with an international network of more than 400 laboratories across 42 countries, over 35,000 employees, and sales of over 2.54 billion euros (approx. 2.98 billion dollars) in 2016, with a 4 billion euros (approx. 4.9 billion dollars) revenue objective by 2019.

Edge Testing delivers a broad range of managed testing services to clients across the telecommunications and media, financial services, utilities, retail, and public sectors. This includes managed, functional, performance and automated testing, undertaken both onsite and remotely from Edge Testing's Glasgow and Birmingham based Digital Test Hubs. Edge Testing also offers consultancy and training services together with a dedicated device lab, as well as the Edge Academy that provides a pool of qualified testers for customers to develop their own testing capabilities in an efficient, flexible and cost-effective manner.

As part of the acquisition, Eurofins Digital Testing will retain Edge Testing's team of more than 250 people, and gain additional test labs in Glasgow, Scotland and Birmingham, England.

"Edge Testing has an impressive track-record as one of the UK's fastest growing and largest independent software testing companies," said Johan Craeybeckx, Business Line Director, Eurofins Digital Testing International. "Their highly-complementary testing solutions will further augment our capabilities to help meet evolving quality assurance needs in increasingly competitive and evolving markets. We look forward to a bright future together."

"We are remarkably proud and delighted to join Eurofins Digital Testing and collaborate to extend our software testing across the globe," said Brian Ferrie, CEO of Edge Testing Solutions, a division of Eurofins Digital Testing. "This is an exciting opportunity for our staff and our customers as we look to embark upon our next stage of growth. Being part of Eurofins Digital Testing will take us to a new level. Together we look forward to providing a broad range of managed test tools and services and helping customers operate in a more nimble, DevOps manner to thrive in competitive markets."

Eurofins Digital Testing helps TV operators and other companies worldwide reduce development, testing and deployment cycles to accelerate service delivery, and support a more continuous delivery environment. Through its suite of automated test tools, professional testing support services, staffing of onsite personnel, and training, Eurofins Digital Testing helps increase test coverage and consistency to provide service validation, insights into the end-user experience, and performance monitoring for quality assurance.

At the upcoming 2018 NAB Show, taking place April 7-12 in Las Vegas, Eurofins Digital Testing will be demonstrating its suite of automated test solutions in Renaissance Suite #1032.

More information about Eurofins Digital Testing can be found at: http://www.eurofins-digitaltesting.com/. Additional details about Edge Testing Solutions can be found at: http://www.edgetesting.co.uk/.

About Eurofins Digital Testing:

Eurofins Digital Testing is a leader in end-to-end Quality Assurance (QA), providing test tools, test services and training to validate digital media systems for operators worldwide. Eurofins Digital Testing is part of the Eurofins Group. Eurofins Digital Testing operates globally with test lab facilities in Belgium, Sweden, UK, US, Poland, Japan and Hong Kong, and serves video providers around the world, including Conax, Freesat, Freeview, Kabel Deutschland, Liberty Global, Sky Deutschland, tivu, Vodafone Group, Zenterio, and others. For more information, visit: http://www.eurofins-digitaltesting.com/.

SOURCE Eurofins Digital Testing

Related Links

https://www.eurofins-digitaltesting.com

COSTA MESA, Calif., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Converze Media Group http://converzemedia.com, the leading remnant advertising agency on the west coast, is announcing several key hires and plans for new, larger office space. Since its founding in 2009, led by managing partners Tedd Barr and Phillip Yancey, Converze Media quickly grew to become one of America's top-billing remnant ad agencies, widely known for its expertise in radio advertising. Now, Converze diversifies by further expanding its television department.

Effective April 1, 2018, Peter Burton joins Converze as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Burton brings 28 years of media experience, most recently as General Manager of Los Angeles station KSWD-FM, known to Southern California's classic rock fans as 100.3 The Sound. "Tedd and Phillip's philosophy matches the multi-media approach we took at The Sound," says Burton. "Every brand has unique challenges and goals, so I'm excited to help lead the amazing team at Converze in developing innovative solutions with measurable results." Barr says, "Burton is a perfect fit for this position as we continue to grow and apply additional structure to the agency. Converze recently made the list of the fastest growing private companies in the OC Business Journal. We are excited to add Peter as well as several other accomplished senior level members to our team."

Beginning March 26, 2018, respected Los Angeles agency veteran, Linda Southern, brings her vast experience to Converze as Senior Media Director. Most recently, Southern was SVP/Media Director of Campbell Ewald Advertising in Los Angeles, where she built the buying department, working with accounts such as Kaiser Permanente and Chevy. "Linda brings with her a tremendous amount of experience and strong relationships to the team and will help us build depth to our already strong buying department," says Yancey.

Julie Figures, formerly of Ocean Media, joined Converze 8 months ago as head of the agency's television department. At Ocean Media, Julie contributed to the success of a wide range of advertisers, including Priceline.com, Legal Zoom, and Ancestry.com. Working with Julie on Converze's newly expanded television team is Tara Lawrence, formerly a valuable member of the senior buying team at Ocean Media for the last 7 years.

"The addition of Linda, Julie, and Tara will make our top notch buying group even stronger. Their relationships in the media community will help advertisers get the best possible return on investment," comments Yancey. "Our growth has been quick, and people are noticing," he adds.

To allow for the companies forecasted growth, Converze Media plans to move its headquarters to a new, larger, updated facility in Huntington Beach, California, in July of this year.

Contact: Tedd Barr Converze Media Group Phone 714-975-8660 575 Anton Blvd Suite 750 Costa Mesa, CA 92626



SOURCE Converze Media Group

Related Links

http://www.converzemedia.com

NEW YORK, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pregnant women's fluoride exposure is linked to lower IQ in their children at one- to three-years-old, according to a study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine (2018), and at levels commonly found in U.S. women, reports the Fluoride Action Network (FAN).

Researchers, Thomas et al., found that, for every increase of 1 milligram per liter of fluoride in pregnant women's urine, their offspring averaged 2.4 points lower IQ scores at age 1-3 years-old. This finding is statistically significant and was adjusted for confounders.

They write, our findings "suggest higher in utero exposure to fluoride has an adverse impact on offspring cognitive development that can be detected earlier, in the first three years of life."

This builds upon previous research from the same prestigious team funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) showing in utero fluoride levels associated with lower IQ in 4 and 6-12 year-olds (Environmental Health Perspectives, 2017)

Although fluoridated salt rather than fluoridated water was the main source of fluoride in Mexican pregnant women in these two studies, fluoride intake is similar and applicable to those consuming artificially fluoridated water. For example, the Mexican women's urine fluoride levels are similar to levels found in pregnant women in fluoridated New Zealand (Brough et al. 2015).

Michael Connett, JD, FAN's Legal Director said, "This new finding from NIH's fluoride/IQ study further strengthens the evidence of fluoride's neurotoxicity. The fluoride levels at issue in the study are within the range that pregnant women in the U.S. will receive, so the findings are clearly relevant to our ongoing case against the EPA."

Michael leads FAN's legal challenge against the EPA, under the Toxic Substance and Control Act, to ban the deliberate addition of fluoride chemicals into public water supplies, ostensibly to fight tooth decay.

Paul Connett, PhD, FAN Director says, "The scientific evidence that swallowing fluoride lowers tooth decay is very weak. Even if it did, what's more important children's brains or teeth? The archaic practice of fluoridation must end."

FAN's Campaign Director Stuart Cooper adds, "Even though U.S. agencies funded this important study, they are doing nothing to notify or warn pregnant women in fluoridated communities of this potential threat to the brain development of their children. If they won't, we will."

SOURCE Fluoride Action Network

Related Links

http://FluorideAction.net

In order to redeem the offer, customers will need to present proof of following the brand via their cell phone screen at the register. The giveaway will take place all day during normal business hours. Pretzelmaker is also exclusively offering its rewards members a $1 small all-natural lemonade. The lemonade offer will be redeemable from April 27 through May 11.To become a member of Pretzelmaker Rewards, download the app on Google Play and the App Store .

"For a delicious deal on National Pretzel Day, you know who to follow," said Lisa Cheatham, Director of Marketing, Pretzelmaker. "Pretzelmaker has always been a trailblazer when it comes to innovative pretzel products and our social media pages are the place to go for insider knowledge of new menu items, deals and fun. We can't wait to see our fans in-store on April 26 and connect with them on Facebook and Instagram."

For more information and store locations, visit our website www.pretzelmaker.com or join us on social media: follow @pretzelmaker on Twitter; add @pretzelmakerpics on Instagram; follow "Pretzelmaker" on Snapchat; or become a fan of the brand on Facebook www.facebook.com/pretzelmaker.

*Limit one offer per guest during the day of the promotion. Counts vary by store. Valid only at participating U.S. stores. No purchase necessary. No cash value.

About Pretzelmaker - www.pretzelmaker.com

Since 1991, Pretzelmaker has specialized in serving fresh baked, hand-rolled soft pretzel products, dipping sauces and beverages. Long recognized as an innovator in their industry, the brand is credited with inventing the popular Pretzel Dog, Mini Pretzel Dogs, and the portable Pretzel Bites. Following integration in 2010, the Pretzelmaker brand now also includes Pretzel Time. Pretzelmaker is currently the second largest soft pretzel concept in the United States and is also rapidly expanding worldwide with locations in Canada, Guam, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Qatar.

SOURCE Pretzelmaker

Related Links

http://www.pretzelmaker.com

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- fusionZONE Automotive, LLC, the automotive industry's highest-performing dealer website solution, today announced that it will acquire MotorWebs, Inc., a privately-held web design company specializing in the creation and management of car dealership websites. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both fusionZONE and MotorWebs. The specific terms of the acquisition have not been publicly disclosed.

With this acquisition, fusionZONE further extends its reach in the digital automotive retail space and lays the foundation to expand its offerings to both dealer groups and single-rooftop dealerships. Both companies are approved Toyota website providers, and the acquisition will make fusionZONE one of the largest providers in the Toyota Digital Dealer Solutions (TDDS) program, as well as one of the largest website solution providers in the automotive industry. The merger will bring more service, technology, and enhancements to fusionZONE's dealer clients.

MotorWebs, which is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 2002 by husband-and-wife team Ron and Jan Clayton, with a vision to build the most service-centric company in the industry. Since its inception, the company has prided itself on prioritizing existing dealer clients above prospecting for new clients, and has experienced incredible organic growth as a result.

fusionZONE, born in 2009, also was founded by a husband-and-wife team, Brett and Karen Sutherlin. Brett currently serves as CEO and Karen serves as COO. Headquartered in Pacific Palisades, CA, and with offices in California and Florida, fusionZONE quickly became one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the automotive industry. In late 2017, it entered into a strategic alliance with Primus Capital, a private equity firm out of Cleveland and Atlanta. With the current landscape of website providers serving dealers, fusionZONE has plans for more acquisitions over the next 12-18 months.

"Ron and Jan Clayton deserve high praise for the amazing business they have built," said Brett Sutherlin, CEO of fusionZONE. "Both Karen and I immediately recognized the synergies of this deal, and have had a great time brainstorming with Ron and Jan to find additional areas of value creation for our customers. MotorWebs and fusionZONE are aligned in offering the absolute best to dealers in terms of technology and customer support. We immediately knew we could really scale the business."

"We have been watching the growth of fusionZONE and have been impressed with the high level of satisfaction reported by fusionZONE customers," said Ron Clayton, Founder of MotorWebs. "Seeing the similarities between the two companies made this an easy decision for us."

As part of the acquisition, fusionZONE will open a third office in Seattle and will retain MotorWeb's current employees.

About fusionZONE Automotive, LLC

fusionZONE Automotive offers automotive dealers the nation's fastest, most cutting-edge customized and responsive websites. With the sole objective of driving website conversions and leads, fusionZONE Automotive websites help dealers sell more cars.

fusionZONE also offers complete, progressive digital marketing solutions, streamlining the digital process for dealerships of all sizes.

fusionZONE Automotive websites are designed to not only garner as much traffic as possible for dealer clients, but also to actively convert that traffic into leads and sales.

fusionZONE is based in Pacific Palisades, CA and Lakeland, FL.

Media Contact:

Gina Reuscher

(888) 576-1136

[email protected]

SOURCE fusionZONE Automotive, LLCARLINGTON, Va., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Gibbs & Cox, Inc., has been awarded a contract by PMS 317 for Engineering Support Services on the Amphibious Transport Dock (LPD 17) and Amphibious Ship Replacement (LX[R]) Class Ships. The LX(R) Class is the replacement for the LSD 41/49 Classes, and will be a derivative of the LPD 17 Class. Under this contract, G&C will provide Program Management for Engineering Support Services, Class Engineering and Technical Support to both LDP 17 and LX(R) Class Ships, and manage the PMS 317 Engineering Services Design Site.

"We are thrilled with this opportunity to provide technical services to PMS 317," stated Chris Deegan, President and Chief Executive of Gibbs & Cox, Inc. "Gibbs & Cox has supported the U.S. Navy for over 84 years, and we are honored to have been selected to join the PMS 317 organization."

About Gibbs & Cox, Inc.

Gibbs & Cox Inc. is a global leader in maritime engineering and design, with over 8,000 vessels built to our designs since 1929. Gibbs & Cox supports military and commercial clients in the U.S. and internationally with all phases of marine design as well as construction and lifecycle management. Gibbs & Cox's breadth and depth of high performance commercial and military vessel skills are augmented with the acquisition of Donald L. Blount & Associates (DLBA). DLBA specializes in the technical development of high-performance marine craft. Independent and privately held, Gibbs & Cox is headquartered in Arlington, VA, with offices in Newport News and Chesapeake, VA; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; New Orleans LA., and Washington, D.C.. Learn more at www.gibbscox.com.

SOURCE Gibbs & Cox, Inc

Related Links

http://www.gibbscox.com

DUBLIN, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Global Biostimulants Market Size, Market Share, Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Trends, Key Players, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2017 - 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global biostimulants market was valued at US$ 2.06 Bn in 2017, and is expected to reach US$ 3.82 Bn by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 10.7% from 2017 - 2025.

Market Insights

There has been an upsurge in the demand for organic food products across the globe. This is fuelling the demand for efficient crops, furthermore to meet the demand for food in the growing world population. Agriculture is a key indicator having an impact on a particular country's economy along with livelihoods of the individuals. Thus, presence of good quality arable land is gaining significant traction among agriculture product producers especially in countries such as Denmark, India, Poland and Germany. Since, these countries are among top 25 countries, when analyzed according to the arable land statistics in 2013.

Also, arable land is expected to grow at a moderate growth in the near future, which is expected to spur the demand for agricultural products referred to as biostimulants. Definition of biostimulants varies according to particular region, for instance in Europe biostimulants definition as proposed by European Biostimulant Industry Consortium (EBIC) is Plant biostimulants contain substance(s) and/or micro-organisms whose function when applied to plants or the rhizosphere is to stimulate natural processes to enhance/benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and crop quality.



Of different crop types, fruits and vegetables segment is expected to record highest growth in the forthcoming years. However, row crops segment holds largest market share throughout the forecast period. There is an increased consumption of row crops such as pulses, oilseeds and cereals and cultivation of row crops accounts for significant share in the total cultivated land. This is further intended to increase adoption of biostimulants among growers, thus fuelling the biostimulants market growth.



Among different regions, Europe is anticipated to dominate the market in terms of revenue share contribution, followed by Asia Pacific and North America. Asia Pacific is expected to record highest CAGR during the forecast period. Improving supply chain in countries such as China and India, technological advancements, and growing awareness among growers regarding usage of biostimulants are some of the key factors bolstering the biostimulants market growth in the region.



Key Trends:

Asia Pacific serves as potential market for biostimulants due to government support for sustainable agriculture industry

serves as potential market for biostimulants due to government support for sustainable agriculture industry Increasing awareness among growers related to improved crop quality and yield

Mitigation of territorial and social cohesion through economy development, owing to agriculture being an important indicator in overall economy especially in Europe and Asia Pacific

Key Topics Covered:



1. Preface

1.1. Report Scope and Description

1.2. Research Methodology



2. Executive Summary

2.1. Global Biostimulants Market Snapshot

2.1.1. Global Biostimulants Market by Crop Type, 2015

2.1.2. Global Biostimulants Market by Application, 2015

2.1.3. Global Biostimulants Market by Active Ingredients, 2015



3. Market Summary

3.1. Market Overview

3.2. Value Chain Analysis

3.3. Market Dynamics

3.3.1. Drivers

3.3.2. Challenges

3.3.3. Future Prospects

3.3.4. Impact Analysis of Drivers and Challenges

3.4. Attractive Investment Proportion

3.4.1. By Crop Type

3.4.2. By Application

3.4.3. By Active Ingredients

3.5. Market Positioning of Key Players



4. Global Biostimulants Market Size, By Crop Type, 2017 - 2025

4.1. Overview

4.1.1. Market Share Analysis by Crop Type, 2015 vs. 2023

4.2. Fruits and Vegetables

4.3. Row Crops

4.4. Turf and Ornamentals

4.5. Other Crop Types



5. Global Biostimulants Market Size, By Application, 2017 - 2025

5.1. Overview

5.1.1. Market Share Analysis by Application, 2015 vs. 2023

5.2. Foliar

5.3. Seed

5.4. Soil



6. Global Biostimulants Market Size, By Active Ingredients, 2017 - 2025

6.1. Overview

6.1.1. Market Share Analysis by Active Ingredients, 2015 vs. 2023

6.2. Acid-Based Biostimulants

6.2.1. Amino acid

6.2.2. Fulvic acid

6.2.3. Humic acid

6.3. Extract-Based Biostimulants

6.4. Seaweed extracts

6.5. Other Plant Extracts



7. Global Biostimulants Market Size, By Region, 2017 - 2025

7.1. Overview

7.1.1. Market Share Analysis by Region, 2015 vs. 2023

7.1.2. Attractive Investment Proportion

7.2. North America Biostimulants Market Analysis, 2017 - 2025

7.3. Europe Biostimulants Market Analysis, 2017 - 2025

7.4. Asia Pacific Biostimulants Market Analysis, 2017 - 2025

7.5. Latin America Biostimulants Market Analysis, 2017 - 2025

7.6. Middle East & Africa (MEA) Biostimulants Market Analysis, 2017 - 2025



8. Competitive Landscape

8.1. Competitive Dashboard

8.2. Company Profiles

8.2.1. BASF SE

8.2.2. Bayer AG

8.2.3. Italpollina Spa

8.2.4. Valagro

8.2.5. Biovert S.A.

8.2.6. Arysta LifeScience Limited

8.2.7. Agrinos

8.2.8. Biostadt India Limited

8.2.9. Koppert B.V.

8.2.10. Omex Agrifluids Ltd.



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/j9ql57/global?w=5





Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

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ALBANY, New York, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The global cross laminated timber or CLT market was valued at around US$ 670.2 Mn in 2016 and is anticipated to expand at a stable CAGR of 15.1% during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, according to a new report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled 'Cross Laminated Timber Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017-2025.' Expansion of the global CLT market is driven by the rise in demand for cross laminated timber as a sustainable construction material. In Europe and North America the demand for cross laminated timber is boost by architects' and engineers' preference for wood-based building products instead of concrete and steel. Europe accounts for a major share of over 50% of the global cross laminated timber or CLT market, led by favorable government building codes and expansion in the construction industry.

Rise in Demand for Cross Laminated Timber as a Sustainable Building Solution in the Construction Industry is Projected to Drive Market Expansion

Timber as a construction material is renewable, and buildings that use cross laminated timber create multiple environmental benefits compared to the ones that use materials that are manufactured from fossil-fuel intensive processes that use steel and concrete. The advantages of cross laminated timber associated with the environment are structure passivity and performance, renewability, reduction in carbon footprint, etc.. The only constituents of a CLT building system are wood and a non-toxic/non-VOC adhesive. Cross laminated timber building materials do not introduce any toxins into the indoor environment, providing clean indoor air quality. Additionally, cross laminated timber wall systems are naturally breathable and are integrated with appropriate mechanical systems. This creates a healthy indoor environment that maximizes occupants' comfort and health.

Request a Sample of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=33632

Production of Cross Laminated Timber in Europe and North America Likely to Offer Attractive Market Opportunities

In terms of consumption, Europe constituted a prominent share of the cross laminated timber market. Cross laminated timber was originally developed and used in Germany and Austria in the early 1990s. Since then there has been an increase in the usage of cross laminated timber in European countries for the construction of residential buildings and educational institutes. The main drivers of the cross laminated timber market in Europe are the green development movement, changes in building codes, and consistent marketing efforts by CLT manufactures. The building codes in Europe ascribe more importance to the usage of wood in the construction business. North America holds a prominent share of the global cross laminated timber market. Acceptance of cross laminated timber as a construction material in Europe has led to an increase in its usage in other regions such as North America. The demand for cross laminated timber is driven by architects and engineers who prefer wood-based building materials and building systems. In the U.S., cross laminated timber is accepted as a construction material, especially for residential buildings. U.S.-based companies have also started to produce CLT panels for use in the construction of temporary roads and working platforms in the oil & gas and heavy construction industries. Moreover, European CLT companies see North America as a promising region of the market. For instance, KLH recently started a sales joint venture with the Idaho Forest Group.

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Adhesive Bonded CLT to Dominate the Product Segment and Residential Buildings to Dominate the Application Segment of the Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market

The global cross laminated timber market can be segmented based on product, application, and region. In terms of product, the cross laminated timber market can be classified into adhesive bonded CLT and mechanically fastened CLT. There is high demand for adhesive bonded CLT, typically in the residential building sector. Adhesive bonded cross laminated timber uses environmentally friendly adhesives. The material is cheaper compared to mechanically fastened CLT as no labor cost is involved in the application of adhesives.

Based on application, the global cross laminated timber market can be divided into residential buildings, educational institutes, government/public buildings, and industrial & commercial spaces. The residential buildings segment holds a significant share of the global cross laminated timber market. Residential buildings can reap many benefits by using cross laminated timber instead of concrete and steel. Designers/architects in Europe prefer cross laminated timber for a variety of reasons including aesthetics, cost effectiveness, and environmental performance.

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Europe Dominates Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market

In terms of region, Europe accounted for major 60% share of the cross laminated timber market in 2016. Presence of key players such as Stora Enso, Mayr-Melnhof Holz Holding AG, Binderholz Bausysteme GmbH, KLH Massivholz GmbH, and HASSLACHER Holding GmbH in the region is attracting a higher number of customers for cross laminated timber. Germany dominates the cross laminated timber market in Europe. In terms of volume, the market share of the sub-region is anticipated to rise by 1.2% during the forecast period. Germany is a prominent country of the cross laminated timber market as the product was first developed and introduced in the construction sector in the country. The consumption of cross laminated timber in Germany is high due to its widespread acceptance among architects and builders.

Germany is followed by Austria, where large producers dominate the cross laminated timber market. Producers such as Stora Enso engage in research and development of products for the residential and non-residential sectors. In Asia Pacific, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are the major consumers of cross laminated timber. Earthquake prone countries such as Japan have shown significant interest in using cross laminated timber as a construction material for residential and non-residential buildings. The Japanese government has announced an action plan to foster demand for cross laminated timber. The demand for cross laminated timber in Australia and New Zealand is predicted to rise in the near future. The demand for CLT in MEA and Latin America is low as compared to Europe and North America due to gaps in knowledge regarding the usage of cross laminated timber.

Ask for Discount on Premium Research Report (US$ 5795) With Complete TOC: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=33632

High Degree of Competition Exists among Established Players

Key players profiled in the global cross laminated timber market include Stora Enso, Mayr-Melnhof Holz Holding AG, Binderholz Bausysteme GmbH, KLH Massivholz GmbH, HASSLACHER Holding GmbH, Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation, Nordic Structures, Ed. Zublin AG, Eugen Decker Holzindustrie KG, Sterling Lumber Company, and W. u. J. Derix GmbH & Co.

Binderholz Bausysteme GmbH launched NEW ETA-06/0009 for BINDERHOLZ CLT BBS. 3-ply solid wood panels are used as a load bearing layer for CLT BBS, which have an immediate effect on application. The company is involved in continuous innovation related to CLT BBS. This has helped it to increase the modulus elasticity of the BBS by 12,000 N/mm. This innovation has helped lower deflection value of the product, which has helped save costs in construction projects.

Global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market, by Product

Adhesive Bonded CLT

Mechanically Fastened CLT

Global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market, by Application

Residential Building

Educational Institute

Government/Public Buildings

Industrial and Commercial Spaces

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SOURCE Transparency Market ResearchFit First's flagship TalentSorter platform combines psychological research, predictive analytics, machine learning and a proprietary algorithm to identify the key traits that contribute to success in a specific position. The software not only effectively pre-screens applicants for their likely fit in the role they are applying to, but develops a customized ideal candidate profile and prepares an interview guide to ensure recruiters and hiring managers ask the right questions. The end result is a shorter, more effective, and cost-efficient recruiting process along with lower employee turnover and higher employee satisfaction rates.

In the past, access to high-powered data analytics and screening tools were limited to Fortune 500 companies with big budgets. Fit First co-founders Jan van der Hoop and Tim Brennan aim to level the playing field by designing platforms that are scalable to companies of any size, in any industry.

"We are honoured to be recognized by HRTech Outlook as a leader in the human resources technology industry," says van der Hoop. "For more than 10 years we've been proud to help companies save time and money by streamlining their recruiting processes and finding the right candidates by hiring for "fit first," rather than wasting valuable time sorting through resumes and work histories that don't actually provide much value in predicting how successful an applicant will be. Being named one of the top 10 recruitment software solution providers by our fellow industry experts is confirmation that we are leading a much-needed shift in thinking around how talent and opportunity are matched up."

Fit First's newest platform, MyHiring.Guru, is aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. The program offers one-stop recruiting service to SMBs, from placing job ads online and collecting applications, screening candidates for "fit" and ranking them in order, to preparing customized interview guides.

"Hiring the right candidates is just as important to the small business owner as it is to large multinationals with in-house recruiting teams and HR experts," says van der Hoop. "With TalentSorter and now MyHiring.Guru, we aim to broaden the reach of this technology so that every company, regardless of size or industry, can access its benefits."

About Fit First Technologies Inc.

Fit First Technologies Inc., based in Halifax, NS, combines advanced I/O psychology research, behaviour modelling algorithms, and machine learning, to develop custom predictive solutions for hiring, employee and team performance. The TalentSorter engine provides unlimited use, flat-cost, dynamic assessment used by organizations for the screening of candidates for their likely fit in the role. For more information visit www.TalentSorter.com or www.MyHiring.Guru.

About HR Tech Outlook

Published from Fremont, California, HR Tech Outlook is a technology magazine, which gives information about the latest technologies in the industry that helps the technology, business leaders, and start-up ecosystems to achieve business goals. A panel of experts, technology leaders and board members of HR Tech Outlook magazine has finalized the "Top 10 Recruitment Software Solution Providers 2018" and short listed the best vendors. For more info, visit: http://www.hrtechoutlook.com/.

SOURCE Fit First Technologies InternationalTORONTO and SPOKANE, WA, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Hydro One Limited ("Hydro One") (TSX: H) and Avista Corporation ("Avista") (NYSE: AVA) today announced the achievement of an important milestone in the regulatory approval process of their proposed merger. The companies and the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ), the only intervenor in the case, have reached a settlement agreement in the merger proceeding currently before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska ("RCA"). The settlement agreement has been filed with the RCA. Avista serves customers in Juneau, Alaska through its subsidiary utility, Alaska Electric Light and Power Company ("AEL&P").

"This positive step forward speaks to the long-term benefits of the union of Hydro One and Avista for customers, communities, employees and shareholders," said Mayo Schmidt, President and CEO, Hydro One. "I would like to thank the CBJ for working with us to reach this significant milestone."

"We're pleased to have been able to collaborate with the CBJ, on behalf of the residents of Juneau, to arrive at an outcome that is beneficial and that represents Avista's continued commitment to the Juneau community," Avista President Dennis Vermillion said. "AEL&P customers can expect their utility to continue to operate as it does today, with reliable energy service, local decision-making and a continued focus on community giving and support. We're excited about the future partnership with Hydro One and are confident that this partnership will benefit AEL&P's customers."

The settlement agreement includes specific commitments that preserve the ownership structure and current operations of AEL&P, ensure customer rates will not be impacted by the transaction, enhance community giving and provide a $1 million rate credit over five years for AEL&P's customers. This rate credit would begin at the close of the transaction.

The settlement also clarifies that the transaction will not affect the ownership of Snettisham or RCA approval requirements for any future transfer of Snettisham, formalizes AEL&P's interconnection process and outlines a process for a biennial AEL&P system and planning presentation.

Please refer to rca.alaska.gov for the joint application, full settlement agreement and complete list of commitments.

The settlement agreement is subject to RCA review and approval. The parties have requested a decision from the RCA within 30 days of filing the settlement agreement.

An all-party settlement agreement was filed with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission on March 27, 2018. The transaction received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on January 16, 2018 and from Avista shareholders on November 21, 2017. Hydro One and Avista continue to anticipate closing the transaction in the second half of 2018.

Applications for regulatory approval of the transaction are still pending with utility commissions in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Alaska. Approval must be obtained from the Federal Communications Commission. Also required is clearance by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, and compliance with applicable requirements under the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, as well as the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

About Hydro One Limited

We are Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider with more than 1.3 million valued customers, over C$25 billion in assets and 2017 annual revenues of nearly C$6 billion. Our team of over 7,400 skilled and dedicated regular and non-regular employees proudly and safely serves suburban, rural and remote communities across Ontario through our 30,000 circuit km of high-voltage transmission and 123,000 circuit km of primary distribution networks. Hydro One is committed to the communities we serve, and has been rated as the top utility in Canada for its corporate citizenship, sustainability, and diversity initiatives. We are one of only five utility companies in Canada to achieve the Sustainable Electricity Company designation from the Canadian Electricity Association. We also provide advanced broadband telecommunications services on a wholesale basis utilizing our extensive fibre optic network. Hydro One Limited's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: H).

Forward-Looking Statements and Information

This press release and the joint application and settlement agreement to which it refers may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Words such as "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "attempt," "may," "plan," "will", "can", "believe," "seek," "estimate," and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking information. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or actions and involve assumptions and risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking information. Some of the factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from the results expressed, implied or forecasted by such forward-looking information, including some of the assumptions used in making such statements, are discussed more fully in Hydro One's filings with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Hydro One does not intend, and it disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking information, except as required by law.

About Avista Corporation

Avista Corporation is an energy company involved in the production, transmission and distribution of energy as well as other energy-related businesses. Avista Utilities is our operating division that provides electric service to 382,000 customers and natural gas to 347,000 customers. Its service territory covers 30,000 square miles in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and parts of southern and eastern Oregon, with a population of 1.6 million. Alaska Energy and Resources Company is an Avista subsidiary that provides retail electric service in the city and borough of Juneau, Alaska, through its subsidiary Alaska Electric Light and Power Company . Avista stock is traded under the ticker symbol "AVA." For more information about Avista, please visit www.myAvista.com .

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the company's current expectations. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than historical facts. Such statements speak only as of the date of the news release and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations. These risks and uncertainties include, in addition to those discussed herein, all of the factors discussed in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017.

SOURCE Hydro One LimitedThe solar array consists of 35,520 panels and will be constructed on approximately 17 acres of a 75-acre landfill site located in Brooklyn, Ohio. Sized at approximately 4.0MW (DC), the array will be large enough to supply approximately 5% of the electricity consumption for 16 county-owned commercial buildings. This is equivalent to powering roughly 500 residential homes.

It will be one of the largest solar arrays built in Ohio and will offer many economic benefits to Cuyahoga County. The County could save as much as $3 million on utility bills over the next 25 years through the solar agreement. The array will be built on an otherwise unproductive landfill site, and the 20-year land lease will help the City of Brooklyn offset maintenance costs of approximately $400,000 over the course of the next 20 years.

Cuyahoga County will purchase 100% of the power generated through a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Cleveland Public Power (CPP), who will purchase the power from IGS Solar. A 20-year lease was signed for IGS Solar to utilize the land. Cuyahoga County will have the opportunity to purchase the system before the end of the initial 10-year PPA term, if desired.

Cuyahoga County's strength in regional thought leadership and driving collaboration around complex projects has been critical to the success of the long-term planning of the project.

"I'm proud of the work our Department of Sustainability has done in developing and executing this innovative project," said Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish. "We are growing renewable energy production in Northeast Ohio, partnering with the City of Brooklyn to increase economic and environmental benefits for county residents, and saving money. Our county is committed to projects like this one. The solar landfill installation, which is the largest in the State of Ohio, will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and develop our clean energy economy into the future. It is crucial that local governments take action to help solve our global issue  climate change."

With strict rules enforced by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for projects built on closed and capped landfills, this project is the first of its kind in the State of Ohio. The Ohio EPA does not allow for extensive, below-surface work on landfills. Thus, to maintain the integrity of the landfill cap, the developers will utilize a ballasted solar racking system in which the panels and supports rest on concrete blocks, rather than driven steel posts.

Nearly all the product and labor involved in the engineering, design and installation has been/will be performed by highly-skilled Ohio-based residents, which was a main priority for the County. The development and construction of the array has been expected to sustain approximately 100 jobs in the region.

The project will allow businesses to relocate to the area with more options, as the City of Brooklyn will be able to offer competitive electric distribution in their city - meaning a customer will be able to choose between connecting to Cleveland Public Power's grid, or First Energy's grid. This offers more choice for businesses looking to build or invest in the area, and more choice is likely to mean lower costs.

IGS Solar, a turn-key commercial and residential solar provider based in Columbus, Ohio, will own, operate and maintain the array that will help integrate solar energy into the County's energy portfolio, while helping to better control the long-term energy costs for their county-owned buildings.

According to Patrick Smith, vice president of IGS Solar, this project is a testament to the creativity and commitment that Ohioans have for building a sustainable future. "We hope that opportunities for solar in Ohio continue to grow, and that this project is a shining example of what is possible," he said. "Working with Cuyahoga County and the local teams to design this project that will help control the County's energy costs using this renewable energy source, has been a great success. We look forward to being a long-standing sustainability partner to them well into the future."

Sustainability is layered into the County's long-term, strategic plan, as it believes a sustainable region focused on fighting climate change, is critical to keeping the region thriving.

"This solar array will enable the County to continue to contain long-term energy costs for our facilities, while also supporting renewable energy development," stated Mike Foley, Director of the Department of Sustainability for Cuyahoga County. "With the current challenges around our state's renewable energy initiatives, we believe the obligation is in the hands of the local governments and private industry to do the right thing when it comes to sustainability."

There are currently 70 other closed and capped landfills that the County views as other potential sites for development, as it develops potential plans to replicate this project model in the future.

"This project is the culmination of a cooperative effort among Cuyahoga County, Cleveland Public Power, the Cities of Cleveland and Brooklyn, Enerlogics, McDonald Hopkins, the Ohio EPA and IGS Solar," added Foley. "Working with these expert partners to turn a brownfield site into productive land and generate renewable energy has been nothing short of remarkable. It's been an extraordinary journey and we are all very excited about this project."

About Cuyahoga County

Cuyahoga County is a county with 1.3 million people, 59 local governments, a Great Lake on its northern border, a Cuyahoga rivershed running through it and miles of greenspace and trails. The Department of Sustainability's mission is to develop and execute projects that preserve the region's natural resources while simultaneously reducing county operating costs and creating a clean energy economy.

About IGS Solar

IGS Solar, a turn-key commercial and residential solar provider with significant solar assets under development, provides businesses, homes and communities with an opportunity to participate in creating a sustainable energy future with no upfront investment. As an affiliate of IGS Energy, IGS Solar is dedicated to delivering innovative solar energy solutions. For more information, contact Patrick Smith, Vice President, at 614-448-7655 ([email protected]) or visit IGSsolarpower.com. Connect with IGS Solar at linkedin.com/company/igs-solar.

SOURCE IGS Solar

Related Links

http://www.igssolarpower.com

RYE, N.Y., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Insight Vacations, the award-winning global leader in premium escorted journeys, is thrilled to be celebrating its 40th anniversary this April. While some might argue that 40 is the new 30, Insight couldn't be happier to look back and remember every unforgettable moment from the past four decades, and all the experiences and innovations that have become a reality.

Over the last 40 years Insight Vacations has perfected the art of guided vacations, and has become the leader in its class through a combination of passion, knowledge and outstanding travel expertise. To celebrate this special milestone, Insight is offering great savings on its most exciting summer trips to Europe and North America. Travelers can save 10% on 40+ Premium Journeys departing between May and July 2018.*

"This significant milestone marks the time to look back on all that we have accomplished," says Phil Cappelli, president of Insight Vacations. "We're so proud to have brought immersive travel experiences to our guests, and can't wait for them to see what we have planned for the next 40 years. Space is extremely limited on this superb Anniversary Celebration of 40+ Premium Journeys and this special offer won't last, so we encourage travelers to book their dream summer vacation with us now."

Travelers can choose from a wide selection of guided vacations , including Britain & Ireland, the Western Mediterranean, Central & Eastern Europe, Northern Europe & Russia, USA & Canada and our European Discoveries collection.

Here are 3 unforgettable journeys that are on sale as part of Insight's 40th Anniversary Celebration:

Spectacular Scandinavia & Its Fjords: This 16-day journey begins in Copenhagen where a Local Expert walks guests through Denmark's charming capital. They'll see Hans Christian Andersen's iconic "Little Mermaid" gazing across the harbor before heading to Copenhagen Cathedral, where a real life royal wedding took place between the Crown Prince of Denmark and Princess Mary. From there, it's on to Sweden to take in the charms of Stockholm with a Local Expert who takes guests through the cathedral where many Swedish kings were crowned, the courtyard of the Royal Palace, and City Hall, whose "Golden Hall" is covered with 18 million gilded mosaic tiles. Nature lovers will get their fill in Norway, where they'll pass waterfalls, rivers, ice fields, lakes, and snow-capped peaks around Geirangerfjord, and journey through Hardanger, Europe's greatest mountain plateau, a true wonder.

Best of Spain & Portugal: This well-paced 16-day journey hits all the must-see attractions of each country, while leaving plenty of time for guests to indulge in local cuisines and cultures. In Lisbon, travelers tour spacious avenues and elegant squares, see the Monument to the Discoveries and ancient Belem Tower, and visit Jeronimo's Monastery, built during the city's Age of Discovery. In Madrid, they enjoy an immersive Insight Experience at the Prado Museum, where an expert art historian guides them through the world's finest collection of paintings from Spain and around the world. Gaudi's extraordinary masterpieces await travelers in vibrant Barcelona, where guests spend time with a Local Expert learning about the history and architecture of the highly revered Sagrada Familia. Later that evening, they enjoy a festive Catalan Celebration dinner with the freshest cuisine and regional wines.

Great Western American Adventure: This magnificent 15-day journey highlights the glorious landscapes and diverse cities of the American west, encompassing dramatic canyons, quaint coastal towns and verdant wine country along the way. In San Francisco guests spend a day seeing the iconic cable cars and visiting Haight-Ashbury, the home of the flower-power movement, before heading to the enchanting Sonoma Valley for a private dinner with local wine. As the trip heads down the California coast, guests stop at the legendary Hearst Castle, then follow the scenic 17-Mile Drive to the beachside town of Monterey. In Los Angeles they'll take a sightseeing tour that includes Grauman's Chinese Theatre and a stroll along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, then spend time browsing the historic LA Farmers Market. A thrilling ATV tour of Monument Valley with a Navajo guide is on the agenda in Utah, then guests head to Lake Powell for a leisurely cruise through the spectacular Antelope Canyon. The trip culminates with visits to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks before ending in Sin City itself, Las Vegas.

For reservations, contact your favorite travel agent,

call Insight Vacations at 1-888-680-1241, or visit www.insightvacations.com

Join the conversation on social media using the hashtags

#INSIGHTVACATIONS and #INSIGHTMOMENTS

* Terms & conditions: Prices are per person, twin share, land only. Single supplements apply. Full payment is required at the time of booking. Offer applies to new bookings made from April 1, 2018  April 30, 2018 only, is subject to availability and can be withdrawn or amended at any time without notice. Discounts featured in our brochure are subject to conditions and many can be combined with this promotion (incl. Frequent Traveler and Family/ Group Discount). Please contact Insight or your travel agent for further details. Last Minute Deals are not combinable with Early Payment Discount. Please quote promotional code at time of booking.

About Insight Vacations

As a global leader in premium escorted travel, Insight Vacations has been crafting magical journeys for almost 40 years that embody The Art of Traveling in Style. Through meticulous planning, detailed preparation and boundless passion, Insight's collection of award-winning itineraries showcases the most outstanding destinations in Europe and North America. Guided by a highly-skilled Travel Director, guests can look forward to traveling in smaller groups, savoring authentic dining and enjoying a range of immersive Insight Experiences. To find out more, visit insightvacations.com

About The TreadRight Foundation

Created as a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation's (TTC) family of brands, The TreadRight Foundation is a not-for-profit that works to help ensure the environment and communities we visit remain vibrant for generations to come. Founded by Brett Tollman, Chief Executive, TTC, to date TreadRight has supported more than 40 sustainable tourism projects worldwide. To learn more about our past and current work at TreadRight, please visit us at TreadRight.org.

Insight Vacations is a member of the family-owned The Travel Corporation (TTC) and is renowned and trusted for its outstanding quality, service, value, reliability and financial stability.

SOURCE Insight Vacations

Related Links

http://www.insightvacations.com

ATLANTA, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE), the premier annual event for critical communications today launches IWCE's IoT Saving Lives, a new one-day conference focused on the vast array of the Internet of Life Saving Things (IoLST) that interface with public safety operations. The conference will take place May 14 in Santa Clara, CA during the Internet of Things World, the world's biggest IoT event bringing the best technologies, strategies and case studies for every vertical that IoT will impact.

"Following our successful IWCE 2018 conference in Orlando last month, we're very excited to introduce this new intimate conference focused on the Internet of Life Saving Things. With presentations from thought leaders, we'll cover all of the hot topics professionals in the critical communications industry are focused on. We look forward to bringing the industry together for a day of learning this spring," said Stephanie McCall, Event Director, IWCE's IoT Saving Lives.

McCall added, "We are proud to expand the educational opportunities beyond our flagship event. Our industry is changing quickly and we wanted to make sure we offered our community a way to continue to stay on top of important topics in an intimate setting."

The conference will cover the Internet of Life Saving Things that interface with public safety operations such as smart devices, applications, sensors, disaster relief, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, GPS/GIS/location services, mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), enhanced Push to Talk over cellular (PoC), cloud computing and cybersecurity. In addition, the conference will also examine how FirstNet and smart cities will interact with the Internet of Things (IoT) environment to support public safety, as well as the operational requirements and considerations for public safety agencies as IoT sensors and devices are implemented.

The conference agenda will cover the following topics:

Defining Internet of Life Saving Things

What Connectivity is Needed for True IoLST?

The Internet of Life Saving Things Ecosystem

Managing the Data Tsunami in an IoLST World

Cybersecurity Considerations for IoLST

What Do NG911, FirstNet and Smart Cities Mean to the Idea of the IoLST?

Sponsors will showcase new technologies that will enhance public safety capabilities at tabletops throughout the day as well as participating as thought leaders on panel discussions. In addition, a Tech Lightning Round will allow sponsors to share knowledge in a lightning fast format.

To register to attend IWCE's IoT Saving Lives, visit: iwceexpo.com/IoTSavingLives. Use promo code ERG3 to save $50 off.

To sign up for email updates on any of IWCE's upcoming events, click here. Stay connected with @iwceexpo on Twitter and Facebook and be sure to follow our LinkedIn company page.

IWCE is the producer of IWCE's Critical LTE Communications Forum November 6-7, 2018 in Chicago, IL; the International Wireless Communications Expo will take place March 4-8, 2019 in Las Vegas, NV; and IWCE's Online Conference is a series of free-to-attend webinars that take place throughout the year and are focused on the hottest topics that were presented at the live event.

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS EXPO (IWCE)

IWCE (International Wireless Communications Expo) is the premier annual event for critical communications, featuring an exhibit hall with over 400 exhibitors and a five-day comprehensive conference program. Over 7,000 individuals attend from a diverse group of industry professionals including product distribution, government, public safety, critical infrastructure, business enterprise and more. IWCE 2019 will be held March 4-8 in Las Vegas, NV. For more information, visit http://www.iwceexpo.com.

About KNect365

IWCE is part of KNect365, a member of the Informa Group. KNect365 provides businesses with the connections that help them continue to grow. With a mission to give access to extraordinary people and exceptional insight, KNect365 provides unique opportunities to learn, establish relationships and do business through a range of products and services, from digital communities to live events.

Informa, KNect365's parent company, has over 7,500 colleagues in more than 20 countries and a presence in all major geographies. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.

MEDIA CONTACT

Nadira Ramatally

Director of Marketing

IWCE

(770) 618-0121

[email protected]

SOURCE International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE)

Related Links

http://www.iwceexpo.com

PHILADELPHIA, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- InvestEdge, the leading provider of innovative financial advisory solutions, today announced its technology now powers the management and measurement of more than $1 trillion in assets under management across its more than 100 clients. InvestEdge provides an integrated suite of tools that simplify and streamline portfolio management, trading and rebalancing, performance reporting, compliance monitoring, data aggregation and more.

"Advisory firms choose InvestEdge because we have a proven track record and highly scalable technology that can grow with their firm," said Brian Burns, President of InvestEdge. "Over the last two decades, our solutions have enabled advisors to navigate considerable industry shifts, most notably increased regulatory requirements."

InvestEdge's compliance solution, which set the standard for electronic, real-time monitoring more than 15 years ago, has been a key driver of the company's growth. Today, wealth management firms rely on the InvestEdge solution to improve compliance workflows and minimize risk across their organizations.

"As advisors continue to migrate to a fiduciary standard, it's becoming even more critical for firms to have airtight documentation of client interactions and compliance actions taken throughout the year," said Jeff Cowley, Director of Product for InvestEdge. "We give advisory firms the tools they need to establish proactive, firm-wide policies and practices that create a culture of compliance."

With InvestEdge's compliance solution, advisors can prepare for regulatory audits with the knowledge that their platform has been fully vetted and time-tested against stringent OCC Reg 9 standards. Therefore, advisors are well-positioned for the expected changes to SEC standards. Even the largest firms with multiple investment channels have used InvestEdge's best-in-class technology to successfully streamline preparation for regulatory audits.

"Compliance will remain a key focus as InvestEdge continues to grow and enable growth for our clients," said Cowley. "We are always innovating our solutions to introduce new ways for advisory firms to improve workflows and generate revenue."

About InvestEdge, Inc.

InvestEdge is a leading provider of innovative advisor solutions to financial institution firms. Our integrated platform provides a full-suite of tools that simplify complicated wealth management processes and reduce overall operational risk. The full-stack solution automates key front office functions like easy-to-use portfolio management, trading/rebalancing, performance measurement, reporting, compliance/fiduciary monitoring, and data aggregation tools. Thru our subsidiary MMxCHANGE, we bring an industry first marketplace for client and investment portfolio solutions.

SOURCE InvestEdge, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.investedge.com

STOCKHOLM, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The press conference held in connection with the publication of Essity's interim report for the first quarter of 2018 will also be available via webcast and it is possible to join by phone.

The interim report will be published on April 27, 2018 at approximately 08:00 CET. The subsequent press conference will be held at 10:00 CET at Essity's headquarters, Waterfront Building, Klarabergsviadukten 63, Stockholm, Sweden.

At the press conference, President and CEO Magnus Groth will present and answer questions regarding the report.

Press conference:

Date: Friday, April 27, 2018

Time: 10:00 CET

Venue: Essity Headquarters, Waterfront Building, Klarabergsviadukten 63, Stockholm, Sweden

Link to webcast: https://essity.videosync.fi/2018-04-27_q1

The press conference will be webcast live at www.essity.com. It is also possible to participate in the press conference by telephone by calling +44 (0) 203-009-57-10,

+1-866-869-23-21, or +46 (0)8-506-921-85. Call in good time before the conference starts. Provide the code "Essity" or the conference ID 2584918.

For further information, please contact:

Karl Stoltz

Media Relations Manager

+46-8-788-51-55

[email protected]

Johan Karlsson

Vice President Investor Relations

+46-8-788-51-30

[email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/essity/r/invitation-to-essity-s-q1-2018,c2486289

The following files are available for download:

http://mb.cision.com/Main/15798/2486289/815104.pdf Invitation to Essityas Q1 2018

SOURCE EssitySAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The global IPTV market size is expected to reach USD 117.07 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., progressing at a CAGR of 13.7% during the forecast period. Increasing demand for application-based services based on the internet would be the key factor driving the industry growth.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661327/Grand_View_Research_Logo.jpg )



Improving internet infrastructure is transforming telecom operators into complement digital service providers (CDSP). At the same time, they are also transitioning towards broadband internet protocol, which leads end-users to access television as an IPTV service. Additionally, favorable government initiatives in India, such as digitization of cable TV and Direct-to-Home (DTH) services, are anticipated to open new avenues over the next few years.

Changing preferences of end-users are giving rise to intense competition between cable TV and IPTV providers. Growing demand for over-the-top (OTT) services is estimated to influence the IPTV market positively. The digital broadcasting ecosystem is widening at a fast pace leading to growth in consumer demands, thereby unfolding immense growth opportunities for service providers. This is also prompting key players to diversify their revenue streams by providing IPTV services along with OTT and pay-tv services.

Furthermore, growing investments in network infrastructure owing to increasing number of IPTV subscribers are likely to work in favor of the market. Rapid advancements in compression, transmission, and watermarking technologies are encouraging telecom providers to add internet protocol television to their service offerings. Services offered in internet-based TV include HD video calls/conferencing, smart home, and video games, tend to consume heavy data traffic and higher bandwidth. This is encouraging customers to upgrade to broadband products that support higher data speed.

Moreover, favorable government regulations governing the industry are making it easier for new entrants to foray into the market. Similarly, improvements in the internet infrastructure and widespread internet connectivity in households are supplementing the revenue growth. In addition, the market is undergoing vertical integration, wherein telecom operators are collaborating with TV manufacturers to develop TV units with built-in set-top-boxes. Such collaborations are being complemented with joint marketing agreements between TV manufacturers and telecom operators to promote IPTV services.

Browse full research report with TOC on "Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Subscription Type (Subscription-Based, Subscription-Free), By Region, Competitive Landscape, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/internet-protocol-television-iptv-market

Further Key Findings From the Report Suggest:

The subscription-based segment is expected to witness the highest CAGR of 11.1% over the forecast period. The growth can be attributed to increasing demand for Video on Demand (VoD) services

Asia Pacific is poised to dominate the overall IPTV market in terms of number of subscribers. The region is projected to witness a CAGR of over 8.0% from 2017 to 2025. Growing internet penetration and increasing awareness about internet-based TV services are contributing to the growth of the region

is poised to dominate the overall IPTV market in terms of number of subscribers. The region is projected to witness a CAGR of over 8.0% from 2017 to 2025. Growing internet penetration and increasing awareness about internet-based TV services are contributing to the growth of the region Latin America is expected to be the most promising region during the forecast period. The region is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of just over 21.0% during the same period, owing to increasing shift from digital terrestrial broadcasting to IPTV and cable networks

is expected to be the most promising region during the forecast period. The region is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of just over 21.0% during the same period, owing to increasing shift from digital terrestrial broadcasting to IPTV and cable networks The key players in the industry are Verizon Communications, Inc.; AT&T, Inc.; ARRIS International Plc; and Huawei Technologies Co.; Ltd.

Browse related reports by Grand View Research:

Data Analytics Outsourcing Market - The global market for data analytics outsourcing is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 25% from 2015 to 2022.

POS Terminals Market - The global retail point-of-sale terminals market size was valued at USD 13.31 billion in 2015.

Mobile VoIP Market - The global mobile VoIP market size was valued at USD 27.5 billion in 2015.

Digital Asset Management Market - The global digital asset management market size was valued at USD 1.45 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow significantly owing to the expanding densities and volumes of digital assets.

Grand View Research has segmented the global IPTV market on the basis of subscription type and region.

IPTV Subscription Type Outlook (Number of Subscribers, Million, 2014 - 2025) Subscription-based IPTV Subscription free IPTV

IPTV Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; Number of Subscribers, Million, 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. Asia Pacific China India Japan Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East and Africa (MEA)



Read Our Blog By Grand View Research: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/blogs/technology

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc

Phone: +1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: [email protected]



Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com

SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.SAN JOSE, Calif., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- KWHCoin, the blockchain-based renewable energy company using a digital currency that converts renewable distributed energy resources to digital tokens, today announces that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nurse In Hand (NIH) Emergency Response. NIH is a social enterprise providing post-crash emergency response along Kenya's Road Network, covering 800 miles of roadway from the Coast to Uganda.

NIH is leveraging technology to be efficient and effective in responding to road accidents in Kenya, with the possibility to scale up to East and Central Africa and other emerging economies. Through the NIH Emergency Response Web and Mobile solution, an alert is sent from either a mobile phone, or a crash-alert device. This device is fitted in public, private or transit vehicles.

The energy to launch this project will be entirely green from the solar panels that power the containers which will be placed alongside the road to serve as temporary triage/command center to all the vehicles that will be used to transport.

Under the MOU, KWHCoin will support NIH in establishing renewable energy resources for medical stations, develop a token model as a reward for renewable energy generation, and develop a structure for installing energy efficient mobile units throughout Kenya's road network.

"We're excited about the partnership between KWHCoin and the Nurse in Hand Emergency Response Organization. This partnership further supports our goal to become the internet of energy and create a more defined token model for our KWHCoin Network," said Monica Shepard, Project Director, KWHCoin.

KWHCoin is a blockchain-based renewable energy company using a digital currency that converts renewable distributed energy resources to digital tokens The energy generation used to back KWH tokens are generated from numerous renewable energy sources including solar power generators, solar communities, microgrids, electric vehicles, energy storages, wind energy, and hydroelectric power generators. All the energy converted to KWH tokens is generated through 100% clean, renewable energy. Our mission is to lead the change in supplying humanity with clean energy. With support from clean energy advocates, nations, companies and charitable organizations we plan to provide a viable solution for the 1.2 billion people who currently lack access to energy. The Grid will provide 100% clean, renewable energy, direct from solar and distributed energy resources, that access all renewable elements. www.KWHCoin.com

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE KWHCoin

Related Links

https://www.kwhcoin.com

SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to the two major embryo destruction incidents in the United States in March 2018, it is "A Tale of Two Cities." Where the Cleveland-based University Hospital Fertility Center (UHFC) has taken several steps to engage its patients and accept responsibility, the San Francisco-based Pacific Fertility Center has done almost nothing to date and refuses to respond to legal enquiries. The law firm of Peiffer Rosca Wolf Abdullah Carr & Kane (PRW) has filed class action lawsuits on behalf of patients in both San Francisco and Cleveland. For more information on the Pacific Fertility Center case, go to https://www.pacificembryolawsuit.com/.

During a news conference today, PRW said Pacific Fertility Center failed to respond by a Monday deadline to a letter urging the clinic to "take responsibility, ensure that this never happens again, and immediately implement a plan to try to make things as right as possible for  your clients."

On March 15, 2018, PRW filed a class action lawsuit after Pacific Fertility Center acknowledged that it may have destroyed 2,000 embryos and eggs. PRW filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of a Sacramento couple who were to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) this month at the Pacific Fertility Center. Earlier that same week, PRW had filed a similar class action lawsuit in the wake of the destruction of 2,000 eggs and embryos by UHFC, which later revised the estimated losses to 4,000 eggs and embryos.

PRW Partner Adam Wolf said: "When I was a young lawyer, a mentor offered me sage advice: If you make a mistake, own it, learn from it, and do what you can to make things right. While nothing can ever undo the tragedy at Pacific, we hope that Pacific will at least start taking some of the constructive steps that its colleagues at the University Health Fertility Center in Cleveland already have."

Attorney Tracey Cowan said: "Although the incidents at Pacific and University Hospitals took place within hours of each other, the responses by each entity have been quite different. Cleveland's University Hospitals, unlike San Francisco's Pacific thus far, has exhibited a degree of transparency that is lacking from Pacific. We hope that, after considering the response from University Hospitals, Pacific will take a similar path."

The letter from PRW reads, in part, as follows:

"First, University Hospitals has advised its clients on an on-going basis as to what transpired with regard to their embryos. While Pacific maintains that its investigation is ongoing, surely it knows more than what it has told its clients. Additionally, our Pacific clients are getting vastly different information, some of it contradictory, depending on with whom they speak at Pacific. Because our clients are scared and confused by the lack of information and contradictory information coming from Pacific, we hope for more transparency and honesty immediately."

"Relatedly, University Hospitals has taken responsibility for its tank failure. It would, we surmise, quell some anger of Pacific's clients if Pacific were to do the same."

"Second, University Hospitals has offered a more generous package of free services to its clients. In addition to agreeing to perform all future procedures free of charge, it has agreed to refund all storage fees paid by its clients and to waive all storage fees for the next seven years."

"Third, University Hospitals has been clear that it will not ask its clients to release any legal claims related to its tank malfunction. Pacific, on the other hand, continues to include releases and arbitration clauses in the 'consents' that it sends to its affected clients. While Pacific's consents should not be interpreted to release any claims related to the Tank 4 failure or to alter the forum for bringing such claims, it would be appropriate for Pacific, like University Hospitals has done, to state this explicitly. Moreover, we have seen contractual provisions in the recent consent forms we have reviewed that our clients are legally obligated to pay for services they have been assured orally are being provided by Pacific free of charge. While we assume this is due to oversight, the lack of attention to detail in the wake of this tragedy is deeply troubling."

"Finally, University Hospitals recently filed a pleading with the Ohio court, where the claims against University Hospitals were brought, that outlines its intent to commence a voluntary settlement process imminently."

Couples that entrust eggs/embryos for storage do so often after having exhausted other avenues of conception. In some cases, individuals and couples store eggs at an early age in anticipation of starting a family later in life. In still other cases, families with modest means will go deeply into debt to finance IVF procedures (which often must be repeated) and to pay for short- or long-term egg/embryo storage. For many older individuals and couples, a stored egg or embryo may be their only hope for giving birth with a lower risk of serious complications.

The couple were planning to schedule a transfer of one or more of their embryos this month. In the meantime, Pacific Fertility stored the embryosalong with thousands of other embryos and eggsin a cryo-storage tank, Tank No. 4, at Pacific Fertility's laboratory. The couple paid $600 a year for the storage of their eight embryos.

In March, the couple received devastating news. Pacific Fertility emailed them a notice informing them that their stored tissue "may have been impacted" when the liquid nitrogen in Tank No. 4 fell below necessary levels. The Pacific Fertility email continued: "We are incredibly sorry that this happened and for the anxiety that this will surely cause. We are heartbroken by this situation and our thoughts are with each of you who may have been touched by this event."

The couple was informed that several hundred other Pacific Fertility clients received the same email.

The law firm Peiffer Rosca Wolf Abdullah Carr & Kane maintains offices in San Francisco, Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles, Missouri, and New Orleans. PRW is available on the web at https://prwlegal.com. PRW is nationally recognized for its handling of a number of cases involving embryo loss/related cryogenic issues.

SOURCE Peiffer Rosca Wolf Abdullah Carr & Kane - San Francisco, CA

Related Links

https://prwlegal.com

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

LiCo Energy Metals Inc. ("the Company" or LiCo") (TSX-V: LIC) (OTCQB: WCTXF) announces its proposed Exploration Programs for both its Teledyne & Glencore Bucke Cobalt Properties located in Ontario Canada situated in Bucke & Lorraine Townships, 6 km east-northeast of Cobalt, Ontario.

Glencore Bucke Cobalt Property

A surface exploration work program including geological mapping and prospecting is recommended to further evaluate the geological potential of the Property. Management believes that potential remains on the Property for the discovery of parallel mineralized zones to that of the Northwest and Main zones.

A two-phase drilling program of up to 4,000 m of diamond drilling program has been planned by LiCo to continue to test the mineralization along strike of the Northwest and Main zones along strike to the south, with the intent of completing a 43-101 compliant resource estimate upon its completion, as well as testing any other targets that may be generated from the surface mapping and prospecting programs.

In 1981, Teledyne Canada Ltd., completed 36 diamond drill holes totaling 10,903 ft (3323.3 m) on the Property, and delineated two mineralized zones, named the Main Zone and Northwest Zone, measuring 500 ft (152.4 m) and 200 ft (70.0 m) in length respectively (Bresee, 1982). Based on the surface drill program completed by Teledyne, historical reserves of 60,000 tons in the geologically inferred category, and 15,000 tons in the probable category, at an average grade of 0.45% Co, 3.0 oz/t Ag was estimated (Linn, 1983). The reserve estimate is a historical estimate as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The historical reserve estimate contains categories that are not consistent with current CIM definitions. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. No attempt was made to reconcile the historical reserve calculations as reported by Teledyne Tungsten. LiCo is not treating the historical reserve estimate as a current mineral resource or mineral reserve.

Teledyne Cobalt Property

A surface exploration work program including geological mapping, prospecting, and mechanized stripping is recommended for the Property. Planned work will compile and evaluate historical showings and past exploration work to generate exploration targets on both the unpatented and patented mining claims. As at Glencore Bucke, management believes that potential remains the west of the Teledyne Main Zone for the discovery of parallel mineralized zones.

A two-phase drilling program of up to 1500 m has been planned to extend the known mineralization on the Main Zone and follow up on targets generated from the Phase 2 surface exploration program.

From 1979 through to 1980, Teledyne Canada Ltd., completed 6 surface diamond drill holes and 22 underground diamond drills for an aggregate of 3,160.8 m on the Teledyne Cobalt Property. Based on the surface and underground diamond drill programs, historical reserves of 60,000 tons in the geologically inferred category, and 40,000 tons in the probable category, at an average grade of 0.45% Co, 0.6 oz/t Ag was estimated (Linn, 1983). The reserve estimate is a historical estimate as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The historical reserve contains categories that are not consistent with current CIM definitions. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. No attempt was made to reconcile the historical reserve calculations as reported by Teledyne Tungsten. LiCo is not treating the historical reserve estimate as a current mineral resource or mineral reserve.

The proposed multi-phase diamond drilling programs follow up the successful completion of the Company's Teledyne & Glencore Bucke Phase 1 diamond drilling programs during the fall of 2017. Here, LiCo completed a combined 32 diamond drill holes totaling over 4,100 m of drilling with results published by the Company on January 26th, 2018 (Glencore Bucke Phase 1 Summary) and March 8th, 2018 (Teledyne Phase 1 Summary). The proposed diamond drilling programs are intended to satisfy LiCo's current flow-through financing obligations for 2018.

Mr. Tim Fernback, President & CEO of LiCo comments, "Now that we have all the results tabulated from our successful Phase 1 exploration programs at Glencore Bucke and Teledyne Cobalt, LiCo has prepared additional drilling exploration programs on both Properties that assist LiCo in progressing towards completing a 43-101 Compliant resource estimation on both Properties. LiCo's Phase 1 diamond drill programs were designed to confirm and extend the existing known mineralization along strike and up and down dip, and LiCo was successful in completing this objective. We are very excited about commencing our multi-phase phase diamond drilling on both the Teledyne and Glencore Bucke properties for 2018 and 2019."

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., an independent consulting geologist and a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101.

About LiCo Energy Metals: https://licoenergymetals.com/

LiCo Energy Metals Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's focus is directed towards exploration for high value metals integral to the manufacture of lithium ion batteries.

Glencore Bucke Cobalt Project (Cobalt, Ontario) : The Company has purchased a 100% interest from Glencore Canada Corporation (subsidiary of Glencore plc) in the Glencore Bucke Property, situated in Bucke Township, 6 km east-northeast of Cobalt, Ontario, subject to a back-in provision, production royalty and off-take agreement. Strategically, the Glencore Bucke Property consists of 16.2 hectares and sits along the west boundary of LiCo's Teledyne Cobalt Project. The Property covers the southern extension of the #3 vein that was historically mined on the neighbouring Cobalt Contact Property located to the north of the Glencore Bucke Property. Diamond drilling in 1981 on the Glencore Bucke Property delineated two zones of mineralization measuring 150 m and 70 m in length.

Ontario Teledyne Cobalt Project (Cobalt, Ontario):

The Company has an option to earn 100% ownership, subject to a royalty, in the Teledyne Project located near Cobalt. Ontario. The Property adjoins the south and west boundaries of claims that hosted the Agaunico Mine. From 1905 through to 1961, the Agaunico Mine produced a total of 4,350,000 lbs. of cobalt and 980,000 oz. of silver. A significant portion of the cobalt that was produced at the Agaunico Mine located along structures that extended southward onto the Teledyne property. The Company completed a total of 11 diamond drill holes totaling 2,200 m in the fall of 2017. The drilling has confirmed cobalt mineralization present on the Property which is consistent with historical grades as reported historically by Cunningham-Dunlop (1979) and Bressee (1981), disclosed in earlier news releases. These reports are available in the public domain through MNDM's AFRI database.

NI 43-101 Reports for both the Teledyne and Glencore Bucke Properties, are publicly available on www.SEDAR.com as well as the Company's website. LiCo's recently completed diamond drilling program (September to December 2017) consisted of both twinning and infill drilling of the historical drill holes located on both the Teledyne Cobalt and Glencore Bucke Properties.

Purickuta Lithium Project (Chile):

The Purickuta Project is located within Salar de Atacama, a salt flat encompassing 3,000 km2, being about 100 km long, 80 km wide and home to approximately 37% of the worlds Lithium production and Chile itself holds 53% of the world's known lithium reserves (Source: Bloomberg Markets - June 23, 2017, "Lithium Squeeze Looms as Top Miner Front-Loads, Chile Says"). The property is 160 hectares large and is enveloped by a concession owned by Sociedad Quimica y Minera ("SQM") and lies within a few kilometers of a property owned by CORFO (the Chilean Economic Development Agency) where its leases land to both SQM and Albermarle's Rockwood Lithium Corp. ("Albermarle") for lithium extraction. Together these two companies, SQM and Albermarle, have a combined annual production of over 62,000 tonnes of LCE (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent) making up 100% of Chile's current lithium output. As reported in The Economist (June 15, 2017 - A battle for supremacy in the lithium triangle), the Salar de Atacama has the largest and highest quality proven reserves of lithium. The combination of the desert's hot sun, scarce rainfall, and the mineral-rich brines make Chile's production costs the world's lowest. This together with a favourable investment climate, low levels of corruption, and the quality of its bureaucracy and courts makes Chile a favourable place to conduct business.

Dixie Valley Lithium Project (Nevada, USA):

The Company has an option to acquire a 100% interest, subject to a 3% NSR, on a large lithium exploration project at the Humboldt Salt Marsh in Dixie Valley, Nevada. Some important geological similarities exist between various lithium brines, notably geothermal activity, a dry climate, a closed basin, an aquifer, and tectonically driven subsistence exist at Dixie Valley along with Clayton Valley and various lithium bearing salars in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.

Black Rock Desert Lithium Project (Nevada, USA):

The Company has entered into an option agreement whereby the Company may earn an undivided 100% interest, subject to a 3% NSR, in the Black Rock Desert Lithium Project in southwest Black Rock Desert, Washoe County, Nevada.

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., an independent consulting geologist and a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Tim Fernback, President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information:

This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.

Contact:

Phone: +1(236)521-0207



SOURCE LiCo Energy Metals Inc.INDIANAPOLIS and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) and Sigilon Therapeutics today announced a global collaboration to develop encapsulated cell therapies for the potential treatment of type 1 diabetes. Sigilon is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company that is focused on discovering and developing "living therapeutics" with its Afibromer technology product platform. Lilly is a global biopharmaceutical company and a worldwide leader in diabetes care, offering a wide range of therapies and a strong commitment to cutting-edge research.

Encapsulated cell therapy is an emerging area of biopharmaceutical research that aims to unleash the therapeutic potential of cells to treat serious diseases without the need for immunosuppression. This approach holds promise to address chronic conditions, such as type 1 diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, pancreatic beta cells are destroyed by the immune system, leading to hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and long-term complications if glucose levels are not managed effectively.

In the Lilly-Sigilon collaboration, Sigilon will create proprietary products comprised of induced pluripotent stem cells, a type of stem cell derived from adult cells, engineered into differentiated insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells and encapsulated using Sigilon's Afibromer technology. The goal of these products will be to restore insulin production over sustained periods, without triggering an immune reaction.

Research leading to the discovery of Afibromer biomaterials was funded by grants from JDRF International and the Leona M. Helmsley and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and conducted under the leadership of Daniel Anderson, Ph.D., and Robert Langer, Sc.D., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston Children's Hospital.

"At Lilly, we endeavor to change the frontiers of what's possible in medicine, both through our own scientific labs and in collaboration with other leading researchers," said Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president for clinical and product development and incoming president of Lilly Research Labs. "We are excited to be collaborating with, and investing in, Sigilon as they seek to develop encapsulated cell therapies, a potentially disruptive technology that could result in meaningful clinical advancements for chronic diseases such as type 1 diabetes."

"We are very pleased to partner with Lilly, a worldwide leader in diabetes care, as we seek to apply Sigilon's game-changing technology to the area of insulin-dependent diabetes," commented Paul Wotton, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Sigilon Therapeutics. "At Sigilon, published studies have shown the ability to overcome the immune foreign body response with our proprietary Afibromer technology. This holds the promise for the creation of state-of-the-art allogeneic cell factories to be transplanted into patients, without the need for immune suppression. Our cell engineering and delivery system-based platform may allow us to program and control dynamic protein delivery for the long-term treatment of debilitating diseases."

Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will receive an exclusive worldwide license to Sigilon's Afibromer technology for islet cell encapsulation. Sigilon will receive an upfront payment of $63 million and Lilly will make an undisclosed equity investment in Sigilon. Sigilon is also eligible to receive up to $410 million in development and commercialization milestones, as well as single to double digit tiered royalties on future product sales should the collaboration yield a commercially successful product. Sigilon will be responsible for all development activities and costs related to the collaboration until submission of an investigational new drug application (IND). After an IND is submitted, Lilly will be responsible for all clinical development and commercialization activities and costs related to the collaboration.

Sigilon was founded and created by Flagship Pioneering, a life science innovation firm, which unveiled the company in 2017 with $23.5 million in capital. Doug Cole, Managing Partner at Flagship Pioneering and Chairman of Sigilon's Board added, "We believe that unprecedented innovation, such as that at Sigilon, is necessary to uncover new solutions for patients. Sigilon's product platform offers the possibility of realizing the full potential of cell therapies, and we look forward to seeing the outcome of Lilly's and Sigilon's collaboration for type 1 diabetes."

As a result of this transaction, Lilly will incur an acquired in-process research and development charge to earnings of approximately $0.05 per share in the second quarter of 2018. The company's reported earnings per share guidance for 2018 is expected to be reduced by the amount of the charge. There will be no change to the company's non-GAAP earnings per share guidance as a result of this transaction.

About Eli Lilly and Company

Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at www.lilly.com and http://newsroom.lilly.com/social-channels.

About Sigilon Therapeutics

Founded and created by Flagship Pioneering in conjunction with Daniel Anderson, Ph.D., and Robert Langer, Sc.D., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sigilon Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops immune-privileged living therapeutic implants for the treatment of chronic diseases. Treatments based on Sigilon Therapeutics' Afibromer technology platform include cell implants that act as responsive "living therapeutics," providing more natural control for diseases that are currently treated with intermittent injection or infusion. Initial areas of focus include hematologic, enzyme deficiency, endocrine and metabolic disorders. More natural control would restore health and free patients from the need for therapies that are disruptive to quality of life. For more information please visit www.sigilon.com or follow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Sigilon_Inc.

C-LLY

Lilly Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements (as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) about the benefits of a collaboration between Lilly and Sigilon, and reflects Lilly's current beliefs. However, as with any such undertaking, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the process of drug development and commercialization. Among other things, there can be no guarantee that Lilly will realize the expected benefits of the collaboration, or that the collaboration will yield commercially successful products. For a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from Lilly's expectations, please see Lilly's most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company

Related Links

http://www.lilly.com

STAINES-UPON-THAMES, United Kingdom, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK), a leading global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced it has nominated two new members for its Board of Directors. Both Paul R. Carter and Anne C. Whitaker have extensive experience in the branded pharmaceutical industry and will join the Mallinckrodt Board pending shareholder vote at the Annual General Meeting in May, 2018.

For more than 25 years, Mr. Carter, age 57, has held a variety of leadership roles in the biopharmaceutical industry, serving as executive vice president, commercial operations of Gilead Sciences, Inc. from 2014 to 2016, and senior vice president and head, international commercial operations from 2006 to 2014. Prior to joining Gilead, he served as regional vice president, China and Hong Kong at GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK), and also held roles at Sterling Health Ltd. which was acquired by GSK in 1995, Bovis International and Arthur Andersen and Company. Mr. Carter also serves as a healthcare advisor to a number of biotechnology companies and is on the Boards of Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., and Hutchison China MediTech Ltd. Mr. Carter is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA), and holds a BA Honours degree in Business Studies from the University of West London in the U.K. He is expected to serve as an independent director on the Mallinckrodt Audit Committee.

With more than 25 years of pharmaceutical experience, Ms. Whitaker, age 50, has since 2017 served as chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors of KNOW Bio, LLC and Novoclem Therapeutics, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of KNOW Bio. Previously with Valeant Pharmaceuticals from 2015 to 2017, Ms. Whitaker served as executive vice president and company group chairman with responsibility for the company's branded pharmaceutical segment including key businesses like Salix, Dendreon, and Orapharma as well as the Canadian and Western Europe regions. Prior to that she served as president, chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors at Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. from 2014 to 2015; as president of North America pharmaceuticals and consumer health at Sanofi S.A. from 2011-2014; and in various roles at GSK, most recently as senior vice president and business unit head of the Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Urology Division. Ms. Whitaker is currently on the Board of Cree, Inc. and holds a bachelor of science in chemistry from the University of North Alabama. Ms. Whitaker is expected to serve as an independent director on the Mallinckrodt Human Resources and Compensation Committee.

"Paul and Anne bring extensive commercial experience, and have worked with branded pharmaceutical products at all stages of the product life cycle and across a very diverse range of therapeutic areas, including direct involvement in drug development, innovation and international markets," said Melvin Booth, Chairman of the Board of Mallinckrodt. "Both have proven themselves to be strong strategic and operational leaders with solid records of delivering results in challenging and competitive markets. I am confident that our Board and Mallinckrodt will benefit from their unique experiences, diverse insights and strategic counsel."

ABOUT MALLINCKRODT

Mallinckrodt is a global business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. Areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology and ophthalmology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics and gastrointestinal products. The company's Specialty Brands segment includes branded medicines and its Specialty Generics segment includes specialty generic drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients and external manufacturing. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com .

Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website.

CONTACTS

Investor Relations

Daniel J. Speciale, CPA

Investor Relations and Strategy Officer

314-654-3638

[email protected]

Media

Rhonda Sciarra

Senior Communications Manager

908-238-6765

[email protected]

Meredith Fischer

Chief Public Affairs Officer

314-654-3318

[email protected]

SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc

Related Links

http://www.mallinckrodt.com

DUBLIN, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Management Decision Market by Software, Service, Deployment Type, Function (Credit Risk Management, Collection Management, Customer Experience Management), Organization Size, Industry, And Region - Global Forecast to 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The management decision market is expected to grow from USD 3.09 Billion in 2017 to USD 6.18 Billion by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.9% during the forecast period, owing to the increase in need for business agility and faster operational decisions.

In addition, the rapidly changing regulations across countries are expected to contribute to the growth of the market. Moreover, enterprises consider management decision as an important part of their decision-making processes to improve operational efficiency of the organizations.

Rapidly changing competitive scenarios have encouraged enterprises to adopt management decision solutions to improve the operational efficiencies. The Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) companies deal with critical credit management and need to effectively manage collection management and fraud detection management for its day to day financial operations. Increasing number of repeatable operation decisions daily is expected to drive the demand for management decision software in the BFSI vertical. These are some of the key aspects that have contributed to the large adoption of management decision solutions by the BFSI industry. The BFSI industry has been a major contributor, in terms of the revenue generated, in the management decision market.

The credit risk management segment is estimated to dominate the management decision market in 2017. Credit risk management is an important process as it directly impacts the revenue management of an organization. Management decision software assists lending institutions, banks, and other enterprises in making a critical decision related to credit risk by offering benefits, such as minimizing compliance risks, enhancing business responsiveness, and streamlining workflow processes.



Management Decision Market



North America is estimated to account for the largest market size and dominate the management decision market in 2017, while Europe is expected to reach the largest market size by 2022. North America has a high concentration of BFSI, telecom and IT, and healthcare and life sciences companies that largely contribute to the adoption of management decision solutions. However, the Asia Pacific (APAC) region is expected to provide high growth opportunities for the providers of management decision software. This is attributed to the increasing commercial investments by several companies in developing countries.



The major software and service providers in the management decision market include FICO (US), SAS (US), TIBCO (US), Oracle (US), IBM (US), Sapiens (Israel), Experian (Ireland), ACTICO (Germany), Pegasystems (US), Equifax (US), Parmenides (Germany), Decision Management Solutions (US), OpenRules (US), and Sparkling Logic (US). These players have adopted various growth strategies, such as new product launches, product upgradations, and partnerships with technology companies to maintain their position in the global market.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction

1.1 Objectives of the Study

1.2 Market Definition

1.3 Market Scope

1.4 Currency

1.5 Stakeholders



2 Research Methodology

2.1 Research Data

2.2 Market Size Estimation

2.3 Research Assumptions and Limitations

2.4 Limitations



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Market Opportunities in Management Decision Market

4.2 Market By Component

4.3 Market By Deployment Type

4.4 Market By Function

4.5 Market By Organization Size

4.6 Market Top 3 Industries and Regions



5 Market Overview and Industry Trends

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Increasing Need for Business Agility

5.2.1.2 Growing Need for Faster Operational Decisions

5.2.1.3 Compliance With Government and Industry Regulations

5.2.1.4 Accelerated Roi in Organizations

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Resistance of the Middle Management to Adopt Management Decision Software

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Big Data and Cloud to Provide Efficiency in the Management Decision Software

5.2.3.2 Increased Spending on Analytics

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Managing Cultural Changes

5.3 Management Decision Market: Use Cases



6 Management Decision Market, By Component

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Software

6.3 Services

6.3.1 Deployment and Integration

6.3.2 Support and Maintenance

6.3.3 Consulting



7 Market By Function

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Collection Management

7.3 Customer Experience Management

7.4 Fraud Detection Management

7.5 Pricing Optimization

7.6 Credit Risk Management

7.7 Others



8 Management Decision Market, By Deployment Type

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Cloud

8.3 On-Premises



9 Market By Organization Size

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Large Enterprises

9.3 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises



10 Management Decision Market, By Industry

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance

10.3 Retail and Consumer Goods

10.4 Telecom and IT

10.5 Healthcare and Life Sciences

10.6 Manufacturing

10.7 Government

10.8 Transportation and Logistics

10.9 Energy and Utilities

10.10 Others



11 Management Decision Market, By Region

11.1 Introduction

11.2 North America

11.3 Europe

11.4 Asia Pacific

11.5 Middle East and Africa

11.6 Latin America



12 Competitive Landscape

12.1 Overview

12.2 Market Ranking

12.3 Competitive Scenario



13 Company Profiles

13.1 IBM

13.2 FICO

13.3 SAS

13.4 Oracle

13.5 Pegasystems

13.6 Tibco Software

13.7 Sapiens International Corporation

13.8 Experian

13.9 Equifax

13.10 Actico

13.11 Key Innovators

13.11.1 Parmenides

13.11.2 Sparkling Logic

13.11.3 Decision Management Solutions

13.11.4 OpenRules



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nrfs3t/management?w=5





Media Contact:

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

BOSTON, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CereVasc, LLC, a company focused on improving the care of patients with communicating hydrocephalus announced today the addition of Mark Licari to the senior management team of CereVasc, LLC. Mr. Licari, a very successful manufacturing operations professional, brings years of experience to CereVasc from previous positions with Cytyc Corporation as Vice President of Worldwide Service & Technical Operations, Constitution Medical as Vice President of Program Management and most recently as Vice President of Operations, Drug Delivery Systems at Insulet Corporation.

"We are delighted to have Mark join our team. I have worked along side Mark for more than 20 years and his drive and attention to detail are a perfect match for our stage of development as we move the eShunt System into manufacturing. Mark's immediate mission is to manage that transition to manufacturing in anticipation of the first human use of the eShunt System planned for later this year," said Dan Levangie, President & C.E.O. of CereVasc, LLC.

"While it's still early in the development of this technology, we believe we have the potential to transform the treatment of patients who deal with the shortcomings of our current, 60-year-old open surgical approach and Mark is an important addition to our very focused team," Mr. Levangie continued.

About CereVasc, LLC

CereVasc, LLC is a medical device company focused on the development of novel, minimally invasive treatments for patients with neurological diseases. Their first product, the eShunt System is an endovascular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt and associated delivery componentry designed to avoid the need for invasive surgery, general anesthesia and hospitalization associated with the current surgical treatment of communicating hydrocephalus using ventriculo-peritoneal shunts.

SOURCE CereVasc, LLC"We built Maxwell on the premise that technology should empower humans, not replace them," said Maxwell CEO John Paasonen. "We believe that personal guidance is critical to the mortgage process, and with the right technology, mortgage lenders can create the most delightful experience for the borrower. This award, along with the $1B we facilitate every month, affirm our core philosophy."

Maxwell enables mortgage lenders across the nation to collaborate with their homebuyers in a modern digital workspace, on any device, with connectivity to thousands of financial institutions to automate documents and with integrations into other leading mortgage technology providers. Maxwell's proprietary algorithms, built on its network of data aggregated across loans, enable its lenders to move efficiently by accelerating processing and underwriting. Today, lenders using Maxwell are closing loans more than 45% faster than the national average.

In late 2017, Maxwell announced its most recent funding round, led by the investment arm of Anthemis Group, with participation from Route66 Ventures and Assurant Inc., along with its existing investors. The new round brings the total capital raised to date by the company to $5 million.

About HousingWire

HousingWire is the nation's most influential industry news source covering the U.S. housing economy, spanning residential mortgage lending, servicing, investments, and real estate operations. The company's news, commentary, magazine content, industry directories, and events give more than one million industry professionals each year the insight they need to make better, more informed business decisions. Winner of numerous awards, including a 2012 Eddie Award for national editorial excellence in the B2B Banking/Business/Finance category, HousingWire has been recognized for excellence in journalism by the Society of Business Editors and Writers, the American Society of Business Press Editors, the National Association of Real Estate Editors, and Trade Association Business Publications International.

About Maxwell

Maxwell empowers mortgage lenders to be more connected, productive and successful by intelligently automating their workflow with homebuyers and real estate agents. The platform is used by hundreds of mortgage lenders, banks and credit unions nationwide to serve their customers. Founded in 2015, Maxwell is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association and is proud to be built in Denver, Colorado.

Connect with Maxwell:

https://www.himaxwell.com

https://www.facebook.com/maxwellHQ

https://twitter.com/ilovemaxwell

*IMAGE: Send2Press.com/300dpi/18-0404s2p-mmadeeasy-300dpi.jpg

*Image Caption: Maxwell powers modern digital workspaces for hundreds of mortgage lenders in the U.S.

This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com

SOURCE Maxwell

Related Links

http://www.himaxwell.com

MILWAUKEE, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC) (NYSE: MTG) today announced the promotions of Mike Kull to the position of Vice President, Managing Director  East Central Region, Jane Coleman-Porter to the position of Vice President  National Accounts, and David Schroeder to Vice President  Claims, effective immediately.

"MGIC's strongest differentiator is its people," said Jay Hughes, Executive Vice President of Sales and Business Development. "Mike Kull and Jane Coleman-Porter both illustrate why. Mike's persistence, work ethic and sales skills have significantly advanced MGIC's position. His collaborative style has earned him many fans in our home office and field alike, and I look forward to his success in his new role. We are also excited to bring Jane's talents to bear on national account coverage. Her intense competitive drive and energetic personality have helped Jane sustain impressive market share in her assignments, and I feel great optimism for her success on the national team."

"David has been with MGIC for 18 years, earning the trust and respect of his colleagues through successive positions of ever-increasing responsibility," said Tim Mattke, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at MGIC. "With the retirement of Carla Gallas earlier this year, it was a tremendous pleasure to hand over the reins to someone with the credentials and character that David brings to this important role."

Ms. Coleman-Porter has 22 years of experience in the mortgage insurance industry; 11 years with MGIC. Jane most recently served as Senior Account Manager in Ohio, and was the 2014 recipient of MGIC's National Salesperson of the Year award. Jane holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Marketing from Ohio University.

Mr. Kull joined MGIC in 2008 as an Account Manager after nine years at PMI in Ohio. His early successes growing his territory earned him MGIC's National Account Manager of the Year award for 2012. Mr. Kull was promoted to Vice President  National Accounts in January 2014, and spent the last four years growing relationships, volume and market share in his accounts. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from West Liberty State College.

Mr. Schroeder joined MGIC in the year 2000 as a senior business analyst and within a few short years had moved within the company from Project Manager to Applications Development Director, and eventually Director of Claims Business Systems. Mr. Schroeder earned a Bachelor of Arts in Finance; Insurance and Risk Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

About MGIC

MGIC ( www.mgic.com ), the principal subsidiary of MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE: MTG), serves lenders throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and other locations helping families achieve homeownership sooner by making affordable low-down-payment mortgages a reality. At February 28, 2018, MGIC had $196.5 billion of primary insurance in force covering approximately one million mortgages.

From time to time MGIC Investment Corporation releases important information via postings on its corporate website, including corrections of previous disclosures, without making any other disclosure and intends to continue to do so in the future. Investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information can be found at http://mtg.mgic.com under Investor Information.

SOURCE Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation

Related Links

http://www.mgic.com

From July 22-24, at the McCormick Place, TradersEXPO will provide traders with the most relevant trading content to navigate the current market, allowing them to adapt their strategy to build, manage, and protect their portfolios. Created by Kim Githler, MoneyShow is in its third decade of providing free investing and trading education to individuals wanting to secure their financial future. Because each trader has different needs, there are more than 100 sessions to help you gain confidence in your trading strategy. For additional event details and free registration, click here: ChicagoTradersEXPO.com .

Traders will find expert-led workshops covering a wide variety of topics for successful trading, in addition to a lineup of exciting special events. Inside the Interactive Exhibit Hall, they'll discover the newest in trading products and services to determine the best fit for their portfolios. The exhibit hall gives traders the opportunity to browse, comparison shop, and "test drive" the latest in trading tools and technological innovations. The conference will provide traders invaluable access to network with thousands of other attendees and dozens of exhibitors for one of the largest gatherings of sophisticated traders in the US.

2018 Featured Speakers:

John Bolinger Harry Boxer Linda Raschke Anne-Marie Baiynd Tom Sosnoff Daniel Gramza Alexander Elder Marvin Appel Todd Gordon Brad Keywell

2018 Special Events:

Back to the Futures The All-Stars of Options Trading Trading Cryptocurrencies Live Trading Challenge Women in Trading



Attend TradersEXPO

At TradersEXPO Chicago, held at the McCormick Place, July 22-24, 2018, traders will find everything they need in one placeeducation, tools, products, strategies, and networking with fellow traders from around the country. For information, schedule of events, and to register free to attend visit ChicagoTradersEXPO.com.

Photos/logos/testimonials

SOURCE MoneyShow

Related Links

https://www.moneyshow.com

NEW YORK, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Large numbers of Americans do not have the knowledge associated with financial decisions, according to an annual survey released today by the TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) at the George Washington University School of Business. In the second wave of the survey, U.S. adults answered, on average, only one-half of the 28 survey questions correctly.

The 2018 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index (P-Fin Index) reveals that financial literacy is the lowest in the area of comprehending risk with only 35 percent of questions on risk answered correctly, on average. Given that risk and uncertainty are inherent in most financial decision-making, low knowledge levels on this topic carry implications for Americans' overall financial well-being.

Compared to the 2017 findings, personal finance knowledge remains strong on the topics of borrowing and debt management with 60 percent of those questions answered correctly. For many individuals, knowledge and understanding of debt-related topics may emerge from confronting accumulated debt across the life cycle, often from a young age because of student loans.

"The annual P-Fin Index provides a deep understanding of the state of financial literacy among U.S. adults," said Stephanie Bell-Rose, Head of the TIAA Institute. "Given the link between financial knowledge and financial outcomes, individuals would clearly benefit from increased financial literacy levels. This is particularly important in an ever-changing financial landscape."

"Less than one in five U.S. adults demonstrated a relatively high level of personal finance knowledge by answering more than 75 percent of the survey questions correctly," said Annamaria Lusardi, Academic Director of GFLEC. "Low levels of financial literacy, among not only the young but also people close to retirement, show we need to step up the effort to promote financial knowledge across the entire population."

The P-Fin Index found that financial literacy is significantly higher among men than women; with a share of 21 percent of men answering 75 percent of the P-Fin Index questions correctly compared to a share of 12 percent among women.

Additionally, individuals who have participated in a financial education class or program answered more P-Fin questions correctly on average than those who have not received financial education. This positive correlation shows the importance of financial education in schools and the workplace.

The P-Fin Index is unique in its capacity to robustly measure an individual's overall personal finance knowledge. The survey-based assessment tool asks 28 questions, covering eight areas of functional knowledge:

Earning  determinants of wages and take-home pay Consuming  budgets and managing spending Saving  factors that maximize accumulations Investing  investment types; risk and return Borrowing/managing debt  relationship between loan features and repayments Insuring  types of coverage and how insurance works Comprehending risk  understanding uncertain financial outcomes Go-to information sources  recognizing appropriate sources and advice

The report was authored by Paul Yakoboski, Senior Economist at the TIAA Institute, GFLEC's Academic Director Annamaria Lusardi, and Andrea Hasler, GFLEC's Assistant Research Professor in Financial Literacy. It includes demographic breakdowns by age, gender, race/ethnicity, education level, household income and exposure to financial education.

The full report can be found here.

About the TIAA Institute

The TIAA Institute helps advance the ways individuals and institutions plan for financial security and organizational effectiveness. The institute conducts in-depth research, provides access to a network of thought leaders, and enables those it serves to anticipate trends, plan future strategies and maximize opportunities for success. For more information about the TIAA Institute, visit www.tiaainstitute.org and follow us on Twitter @TIAAInstitute.

About TIAA

TIAA (TIAA.org) is a unique financial partner. TIAA is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, medical, cultural and government fields. TIAA has $1 trillion in assets under management (as of 12/31/2017) and offers a wide range of financial solutions, including investing, banking, advice and education, and retirement services.

About GFLEC

Founded in 2011 at the George Washington University School of Business, the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) has positioned itself to be the world's leading center for financial literacy research and policy. Through rigorous scholarship and research, wide-reaching education, and global policy services, the Center works with partners in Washington, D.C., throughout the United States, and across the globe to raise the level of financial knowledge. GFLEC builds on more than 20 years of academic research by Professor Annamaria Lusardi, an early contributor to financial literacy as a field of study. The Center collaborates on policy work with key institutions such as the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Italian Financial Education Committee. For more information about GFLEC, visit www.gflec.org.

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Connect on LinkedIn

SOURCE TIAA Institute

Related Links

http://www.tiaainstitute.org

HARRISBURG, Pa., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today announced that Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association, LLC, which operates Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Dauphin County, gained the award in the fifth auction for a Category 4 casino.

Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association, LLC's bid of $7,500,003 secures a location for placement of a Category 4 casino in a 15-mile radius area with a center point in West Cocalico Township in Lancaster County. It should be noted that the Category 4 location, selected today, serves only as the center point for calculating the 15-mile radius in which the Category 4 facility must be located. In addition, a Category 4 facility may not be located within a municipality that has opted out of the placement of a Category 4 facility.

This was the second Category 4 award for Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association, LLC which was low bidder at an auction held on January 10, 2018 with a bid of $50,100,000. The center of that Category 4 location is in the Borough of Yoe in York County.

Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association, LLC is required to pay the bid price to the Commonwealth within two business days, and then has up to six months to submit an application for the Category 4 Slot Machine License.

The application will contain the precise site of the proposed Category 4 casino, as well as detailed plans and information concerning the proposed building plan, amenities, employment projections and other related information. Once the application is received and determined to be complete, the Board will post public information about the project on its website for interested persons to review.

A Category 4 Slot Machine License permits the entity to operate between 300 and 750 slot machines. The entity could also petition for permission to initially operate up to 30 table games for an additional fee of $2.5 million with the capability of adding an additional 10 tables games after its first year of operation.

The results of the three other auctions:

January 24, 2018 : Stadium Casino, LLC, which holds a Category 2 license and will construct a casino in Philadelphia , was the high bidder with a bid of $40,100,005 . The center of the Category 4 location is in Derry Township in Westmoreland County .

: Stadium Casino, LLC, which holds a Category 2 license and will construct a casino in , was the high bidder with a bid of . The center of the Category 4 location is in in . February 8, 2018 : Mount Airy #1, LLC which operates the Mount Airy Casino Resort, was the high bidder with a bid of $21,188,888.88 . The center of that Category 4 location is in the City of New Castle in Lawrence County .

: #1, LLC which operates the Mount Airy Casino Resort, was the high bidder with a bid of . The center of that Category 4 location is in the in . February 22, 2018 : Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment Inc., which operates the Parx Casino in Bucks County , was the awarded bidder with a bid of $8,111,000 . The center of that Category 4 location is in South Newton Township in Cumberland County .

Today's auction marked the first in the "subsequent round" of auctions initiated after the Board received no bidders at the last auction held during the "initial round". Per the Board's procedures announced prior to the start of the Category 4 auction process, "If at any time there are no required minimum bids made at an initial auction, the Board will consider the initial auctions to be completed", and thereafter, the Board will schedule the first of any "subsequent auctions." In this subsequent round of auctions, the two holders of the Category 3 Slot Machine Licenses at Valley Forge Casino Resort and Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin may participate in conjunction with all the Category 1 or 2 License holders, even if those holders have already been the winner at one or more Category 4 Casino Auctions.

Subsequent auctions are planned every two weeks in order to award 10 available Category 4 licenses. The next public auction is scheduled for Wednesday, April 18, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. in its Harrisburg Public Hearing Room in Strawberry Square. As with all auctions, the event will be streamed live from the Board's web site.

The Gaming Control Board will hold a subsequent round if all 10 available licenses are not auctioned off in the initial round. If that occurs, successful bidders in the initial round could compete for additional Category 4 casino locations in the subsequent rounds.

Additional information on the Category 4 auction process is available on the Board's web site at www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov.

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board :

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is tasked to oversee all aspects of the state's casino industry, along with oversight of new gaming initiatives to the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act recently approved through the signing of Act 42 of 2017.

The Commonwealth's casino industry currently consists of 10 stand-alone and racetrack casinos in operation, along with the two smaller resort casinos. These facilities collectively employ 18,000 people and annually generate approximately $1.4 billion in tax revenue from slot machine and table games play. The largest portion of that money is used for property tax reduction to all Pennsylvania homeowners.

Additional information about both the PGCB's gaming regulatory efforts and Pennsylvania's gaming industry can be found at www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov. You can also follow the agency on Twitter by choosing @PAGamingControl.

CONTACTS: Doug Harbach or Richard McGarvey

(717) 346-8321

SOURCE Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

Related Links

http://www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov

Going back to whisky at its most uncomplicated, Naked Grouse is not about age statements, but a skilled approach and respect for the liquid. The aging process, along with a blend of Single Malts results in a rich and fruity whisky with a soft spice finish.

The new 43% ABV Naked Grouse Blended Malt is made from a selection of the finest single malts (The Macallan, Highland Park, Glenturret and Glenrothes).

Naked Grouse is the result of a clear understanding of the meticulous art of blending coupled with the care and craftsmanship from our Master Blender. After the blending process, the whisky is added to the first-fill sherry casks for at least six months. The whisky then goes through a final chill-filter before bottling.

As a result, Naked Grouse has a buttery toffee scent on the nose which is malty and reminiscent of orchard fruits. On the palate sultanas, rich fudge and cooked apples come through, followed by a finish of soft spice and toasted oak. Designed to be enjoyed in the liberating moment with family and friends where people can truly be themselves, the packaging is simple yet distinctive, reflecting the 'live naked' personality and letting the quality of the whisky shine through.

Chris Vogt, US Brand Manager, said: "The launch of a Blended Malt was in response to increasing popularity of Single Malts and demand from bartenders and consumers for an accessible full-flavored premium whisky. With a Blended Malt we can use the individuality and character of single malts to create a flavorful whisky which stands out from the crowd and at a price point perfect for simple cocktails. We also wanted to create a disruptive brand which that challenges the traditional stereotypes of Scotch whisky and appeal to a consumer entering the category."

The versatility of Naked Grouse allows it to be enjoyed on its own, in mixed drinks, and highball serves for an alternative start to an evening. Naked Grouse does things differently and isn't tied to conventional whisky rules  encouraging people to be themselves. A modern Scotch for free spirited minds who choose to #LiveNaked, Naked Grouse embraces celebrating your true self, harnessing that liberating moment of release. Loosen the tie, shut the laptop and get back to the real you. The naked you. nakedgrouse.com

In the spirit of "Living Naked", this April Naked Grouse is sponsoring a Cocktail Competition through Liquor.com seeking bartenders to create and submit cocktails that reflect a bartender's real, authentic and Naked personality. Winners will participate in a "Live Naked" experience program with a bartender in a different city. To learn more visit nakedgrouse.liquor.com

Awards & Accolades

Five-Stars / Highest Recommendation (F. Paul Pacult's Spirit Journal, March 2018)

Chairman's Trophy (96pt rating at 2018 Ultimate Spirits Challenge blind tasting)

Notes to Editors

Naked Grouse is available in 750ml, RRSP $34.99, 43% ABV.

Available today in Colorado, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania.

About Edrington

Edrington owns some of the leading Scotch whisky and rum brands in the world, including The Macallan, Brugal, The Famous Grouse, Highland Park, Cutty Sark, The Glenrothes and Snow Leopard vodka. Edrington Americas added Tequila Partida to its portfolio in 2016.

Edrington is headquartered in Scotland and employs around 3,000 people in its companies and joint venture operations worldwide, with over 70% employed overseas.

Edrington Americas is headquartered in New York, NY with regional offices in Dallas, Chicago, Miami and Orange County.

Edrington is committed to Giving More and is owned by a charitable trust, The Robertson Trust, which has donated over 230 million to a variety of charitable causes since 1961.

SOURCE Edrington

Related Links

http://nakedgrouse.com

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The NCCN Foundation has announced five recipients for this year's Young Investigator Awards. The grantees come from National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Member Institutions, and will each receive up to $150,000 in funding over a two-year period. This marks the eighth year for the NCCN Foundation Young Investigator Awards supporting career development for innovative cancer researchers.

"It is so inspiring to learn about the new ways these up-and-coming researchers are trying to solve today's cancer treatment problems," said Deborah Armstrong, MD of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Armstrong chaired the 2018 YIA Proposal Review Committee. "Not only do we have a chance to identify where tomorrow's game changing discoveries will come from, but we can also provide funding to support this potentially life-saving research."

The 2018 awardees are:

These five awardees were selected out of a pool of 48 applicants nominated from across the 27 NCCN Member Institutions. The NCCN Oncology Research Program (ORP) will manage and oversee the projects for the next two years. The awardees will then present the results from their research at the NCCN 25th Annual Conference in 2020.

Several past YIA Awardees participated in this year's NCCN Conference, presenting their work as part of the general poster session. Those presenters included:

"With past Young Investigator Awards, we've seen researchers more than deliver on their promise to make significant contributions to the cancer care landscape," said Marcie R. Reeder, MPH, Executive Director, NCCN Foundation. "Awardees have gone on to be published in high-impact journals, have distinguished research careers, and some have wound up on NCCN Guidelines Panels. By giving them a leg-up at this early point in their career, we can make sure to keep the research pipeline primed for future breakthroughs. That means more cures, better prevention, and improved care for the next generation of people with cancer."

The 2018 NCCN Foundation Young Investigator Awards were made possible through support from AbbVie Inc., AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Genentech, Inc., Gilead Sciences, Merck & Co. Inc., Sharp & Dohme Corp., Takeda Oncology, and Pfizer Inc.

For more information about the NCCN Young Investigator Awards, visit NCCN.org/patients.

About NCCN Foundation

NCCN Foundation was founded by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) to empower people with cancer and advance oncology innovation. NCCN Foundation supports people with cancer and their caregivers at every step of their treatment journey by delivering unbiased expert guidance from the world's leading cancer experts through the library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients and other patient education resources. NCCN Foundation is also committed to advancing cancer treatment by funding the nation's promising young investigators at the forefront of cancer research, initiating momentum in their careers and furthering the betterment of patients through their groundbreaking innovations. For more information about NCCN Foundation, visit http://www.nccnfoundation.org.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT.

Clinicians, visit NCCN.org. Patients and caregivers, visit NCCN.org/patients. Media, visit NCCN.org/news. Follow NCCN on Twitter @NCCNnews and Facebook @National.Comprehensive.Cancer.Network.

Media Contact:

Rachel Darwin, NCCN

267-622-6624

[email protected]

SOURCE National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Related Links

http://www.nccn.org

VANCOUVER, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Nevsun Resources Ltd. (TSX: NSU) (NYSE AMERICAN: NSU) plans to release its first quarter 2018 financial and operating results on Thursday, April 26, 2018, after close of trading. A conference call and webcast will follow on Friday, April 27, 2018, at 8AM Vancouver / 11AM Toronto, New York / 4PM London.

Please call in at least five minutes prior to the conference call start time to ensure prompt access to the conference. Dial in details are as follows:

North America: 1 888-390-0546 / +1 416-764-8688 / +1 778-383-7413

UK: 0800 652 2435 (toll free)

Other International: +1 416-764-8688 / +1 778-383-7413

The conference call will be available for replay by phone until Friday, May 4, 2018, by calling 1 888-390-0541 / +1 416-764-8677 and entering passcode 234828 #.

A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's website www.nevsun.com or by clicking https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1649965/DC887833D1B31D813DF4323AF596A2DA

About Nevsun Resources Ltd.

Nevsun Resources Ltd. is the 100% owner of the high-grade copper-gold Timok Upper Zone and 60.4% owner of the Timok Lower Zone in Serbia. The Timok Lower Zone is a partnership with Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation ("Freeport") which currently owns 39.6% and upon completion of any feasibility study (on the Upper or Lower Zone), Nevsun Resources Ltd. will own 46% and Freeport will own 54%. Nevsun generates cash flow from its 60% owned copper-zinc Bisha Mine in Eritrea. Nevsun is well positioned with a strong debt-free balance sheet to grow shareholder value through advancing Timok to production.

NEVSUN RESOURCES LTD.

"Peter G.J. Kukielski"

Peter G.J. Kukielski

President & Chief Executive Officer

SOURCE Nevsun Resources Ltd.RESTON, Va., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New American College of Radiology (ACR) and Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) breast cancer screening guidelines are the first to recognize that African-American women are at high-risk for the disease and should be screened as such. The ACR and SBI now call for all women to have a risk assessment at age 30 to see if screening earlier than age 40 is needed. The societies also newly-recommend that women previously diagnosed with breast cancer be screened with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The ACR and SBI continue to recommend that women at average breast cancer risk begin screening at age 40.

"The latest scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports a continued general recommendation of starting annual screening at age 40. It also supports augmented and earlier screening for many women. These updates will help save more lives," said Debra Monticciolo, MD, FACR, chair of the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Commission.

According to 2015 National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data, since mammography became widespread in the 1980s, the U.S. breast cancer death rate in women, unchanged for the previous 50 years, has dropped 43 percent. Breast cancer deaths in men, who have the same treatment as women but are not screened, have not declined.

Factors that contributed to the ACR/SBI reclassification of African-American women include that:

African-American women are 42 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women despite roughly equal incidence rates

African-American women have a two-fold higher risk of aggressive  "triple-negative"  breast tumors

African-American women are less likely to be diagnosed with stage I breast cancer, but twice as likely to die of early breast cancers

African-American women have a higher risk of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations than those of Western European ancestry. These carriers are at much higher risk for breast cancer.

"Since 1990, breast cancer death rates dropped 23 percent in African-American women  approximately half that in whites. We changed our approach to help save more African-American women and others at higher risk from this deadly disease," said Wendy B. DeMartini, MD, FSBI.

For more information regarding the proven effectiveness of regular mammography screening at reducing breast cancer deaths, please visit RadiologyInfo.org, MammographySavesLives.org and EndTheConfusion.org.

SOURCE American College of Radiology

Related Links

http://www.acr.org

DUBLIN, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "North American International Auto Show Highlights, 2018" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This research highlights the new vehicle announcements and launches that were part of the North American International Auto Show in 2018. Being among the first few shows in the year, the NAIAS showcased vehicles that will play a key role in the American market over the year. With nearly 50% of the product launches coming from the SUVs, crossovers, and trucks segments, the large vehicles are expected to be among the most popular choice from most automakers in 2018. The other most popular direction that automakers have headed was in performance models, which were dedicated vehicles as well as performance variants of standard models.

The 2018 NAIAS witnessed the return of Ford Ranger to the US market after a gap of 5 years and the first vehicle upgrade of the Mercedes Benz G Class since 1979 on its 40th anniversary. The Chinese automaker, GAC, made its presence for the third time in this event, displaying all vehicles in its product lineup and launching a new sedan and concept. The two all-new vehicles launched at the event were BMW X2 and GAC GA4.

The event also hosted Automobili-D, which is a technology event where various suppliers, tech startups, and universities demonstrated their products and capabilities to the public. The event witnessed the presence of more than 100 exhibitors who showcased their portfolio in fields such as connectivity, autonomous tech, last-mile transport and eMobility. Suppliers such as Hella and Magna demonstrated their technology in demo vehicles for quick autonomous adoption. Air mobility company, Airspace X, had its prototype on display showcasing the growing interest among tech startups for on-demand air travel.



List of vehicle announcements by major auto OEMs at the NAIAS 2018:

1. Ford Ranger

2. Chevrolet Silverado

3. RAM 1500

4. BMW X2

5. Ford Edge

6. Jeep Cherokee

7. Mercedes-Benz G Class

8. Acura RDX Prototype

9. BMW i8 Coupe

10. Hyundai Veloster

11. Mercedes-AMG 53

12. Ford Mustang Bullit

13. VW Passat GT

14. Volkswagen Jetta

15. Toyota Avalon

16. Kia Forte

17. GAC GA4



List of vehicle concepts and design experiments that had a strong focus on autonomous and connected future on display at the NAIAS 2018:

1. Infiniti Q Inspiration

2. Honda Insight

3. GAC Enverge Electric

4. Lexus LF1 Limitless

5. Nissan X Motion



The major themes of NAIAS 2018 are expected to be in the direction in which the automotive industry is headed in 2019 as well as in the years to come.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary

Executive Summary-Key Highlights

Executive Summary-Official Announcements

Executive Summary-Future Outlook

2. NAIAS Top Trends

Trend 1-Decreasing Sedans Announcements at NAIAS

Trend 2-Performance Variants on the Rise

Trend 3-Chinese OEMs Increasing Interest in the US Market

Trend 4-Tech Co's Grab Attention at Automobili-D

3. SUVs and Trucks Announcements

Top Themes Among SUVs/Trucks

2019 RAM 1500

2019 Chevrolet Silverado

2019 Ford Ranger

Mercedes-Benz G Class

Ford Edge

Jeep Cherokee

Acura RDX

BMW X2

Concepts

Future of SUVs/Trucks in US

4. Performance Vehicle Announcements

Top Themes Among Performance Vehicles

Audi A7

Ford Mustang Bullitt

Hyundai Veloster N

MINI Hardtop and Convertible

BMW i8 Coupe

Mercedes AMG 53 Models

Future of Performance Vehicles in US

5. Growth Opportunities and Companies to Action

Growth Opportunity-Utility Vehicles

Strategic Imperatives for Success and Growth

6. Conclusions

7. Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/vnscpc/north_american?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

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"Matt Hood is a proven performer when it comes to moving brands forward," said Michael A. Klump, Founder and President of Argonne Capital Group , which owns On The Border and other restaurant brands. "We have been laying the groundwork to achieve great things, and we are excited to add his strategic and disciplined leadership to capitalize on the opportunities before us."

Hood brings a track record of leading brands to outperform through innovative marketing programs and strong operations as evidenced by his previous leadership positions as Chief Marketing Officer at The Habit Burger Grill, Chief Marketing Officer of BJ's Restaurants, and SVP of Marketing and Brand Development for Carino's Italian Grill. Hood is a respected restaurant industry leader, who has also served as the national Co-Chair of Dine Out for No Kid Hungry and an industry consultant for Google. Coincidentally, Hood started his restaurant career at Brinker International, Inc. during the time it acquired On the Border in 1994 and is quite familiar with the brand's strong roots in providing customers a unique "cantina" experience.

"I am very excited about the future of On The Border," said Hood. "This is a world-class brand with a unique position in the casual dining industry thanks to its vibrant experience, its attractive off-premise offering and a strong licensing presence. I look forward to working with the team to help this brand reach its enormous potential."

Hood is a graduate of Kellogg Graduate School at Northwestern University, where he holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration. He also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Advertising & Public Relations from Texas Christian University. He also serves on the Operator Advisory Board for Technomic and is a former Board Member and former Co-Chair for the National Restaurant Association's Marketing Executives Group (MEG).

About On The Border

On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is the world's largest Mexican casual dining brand with 158 restaurants in 32 states, Puerto Rico and Asia. Known for its award-winning Margaritas, house-made salsa, and sizzling mesquite-grilled fajitas, On The Border is a fan-favorite destination for authentic, contemporary Mexican food and vibrant good times. Owned by Border Holdings, LLC.

Follow On The Border on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnTheBorderMexicanGrillandCantina, become a fan on Instagram and Twitter @OnTheBorder. For more information, visit www.ontheborder.com.

Contact: Kim Miller

305-631-2283

[email protected]

Contact: Sloane Perras

888-869-7899

[email protected]

SOURCE On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

Related Links

http://www.ontheborder.com

NATICK, Mass., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Examity, the world leader in online proctoring and identity verification, has been named to the Boston Business Journal's annual Fast Fast 50 list, which recognizes the 50 fastest-growing private companies in Massachusetts each year. The announcement follows the recent appointment of Examity CEO and education technology veteran Michael London to Governor Charlie Baker's Commission on Digital Innovation and Lifelong Learning in March.

"We are honored to be included among the leading companies in a region that is, in many ways, becoming a hub for innovations in education technology," said London. "This award recognizes the Examity team's commitment and dedication to creating a more secure online learning environment as the role of digital learning accelerates, worldwide, across a range of settings."

Recent research indicates that online education in the U.S. has grown for the fourteenth straight year. Nearly one-third of all college students now take at least one course online. Acceleration across the online learning market has fueled demand for technologies that can ensure quality and integrity in online exams.

Examity, which has raised a total of $22 million in venture funding to date, recently announced more than 50% growth for the fifth straight year, including the launch of more than 60 new partnerships in the second half of 2017.

"The Fast 50 award is a reflection of not just our past growth, but our continuing momentum in the coming year," said Tobey Choate, Chief Administrative Officer at Examity. "We're excited to keep up that momentum in 2018 and beyond."

Examity now works with more than 300 education providers around the country, including Boston University, Northeastern University, and Penn State, and is the only proctoring provider to offer a full suite of authentication and ID verification options, including live, record-and-review, and fully automated proctoring solutions.

About Examity

Examity was founded to meet the needs of the growing number of online education and certification programs looking to ensure integrity. Examity provides a cost effective and flexible test integrity solution including live, recorded and automated options. Examity's proprietary solution, examiGO, streamlines the authentication process using leading-edge mobile technology to confirm identification. Since its founding five years ago, Examity has partnered with 300+ institutions and certification programs worldwide. For more information, visit Examity.com or follow the company on Twitter @examity.

SOURCE Examity

Related Links

http://www.Examity.com

HARRISBURG, Pa., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wednesday, April 4 2018 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis. Inspired by Dr. King's enduring legacy, the officers of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder, issued the following joint statement:

"Today, the struggle for civil rights and economic justice and a fair society continues. Though we have made much progress in the five decades following the death of Dr. King, we have much more work to do. Working people regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, orientation or creed must come together in solidarity to achieve decent wages, fair and safe working conditions, better housing and education for our families and dignity in our retirement.

Dr. King's assassination came while he was in Memphis standing with striking AFSCME-represented sanitation workers, who were fighting for dignity, respect and one of the most basic of all economic rights, a safe workplace. Their slogan 'I Am a Man' entered the hymnal of Labor in 1968, and has grown to represent the essential decency and dignity that labor unions defend and promote for working people. In rememberance of Dr. King's selflessness, and in resolve to continue his work for equality and justice, union brothers and sisters have joined together through the I AM 2018 campaign to redouble the Labor movement's commitment to the values and principles embodied by Dr. King.

We choose to 'walk in the light of creative altruism', to come together in unity and strong labor unions to lift up all working people. We reject 'the darkness of destructive selfishness' that the rigged economic system and corporate special interests have imposed through decades of catastrophic public and economic policies that have resulted in furthering discrimination and inequality. We choose to work on behalf of all working people, for all those who seek a voice at work and in their community."

SOURCE Pennsylvania AFL-CIOHARRISBURG, Pa., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- During a ceremony at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) today recognized 46 students who participated in the 26th annual Alcohol Awareness Poster Contest, part of Alcohol Awareness Month.

"The Alcohol Awareness Poster Contest is a great way for students across the commonwealth to show off their artistic talents and deliver positive messages that can influence their peers to avoid underage drinking and instead find fun, safe, healthy activities to do," said PLCB Chairman Tim Holden. "The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board commends these young artists, and encourages them to make smart choices as they go through life."

In their winning designs, students focused on positive messages about the benefits of being alcohol-free and healthy alternatives to drinking, such as hobbies and extracurricular activities.

The PLCB will use the designs to create folders, notebooks, and magnets to distribute throughout Pennsylvania. In addition, grade winners will have their artwork reproduced in a calendar. Students who created the best pieces received cash prizes.

Nearly 770 students from 15 counties participated in this year's contest, using crayons, ink, colored pencils, paint, and computer-generated imagery to create their posters. Entries were judged on presentation and message. Since the poster contest began in 1992, almost 36,000 entries have been submitted.

This year's winning posters will be displayed in The State Museum of Pennsylvania from April 2 through April 5.

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.

MEDIA CONTACT: Shawn M. Kelly, 717.303.8522

2017-18 PLCB ALCOHOL AWARENESS POSTER CONTEST WINNERS

Reproductions  $100 each

County Student Grade School Berks Angelle Rescigno 8 Tulpehocken Junior High School Butler Mei Lien Mansfield * 3 Mars Elementary School Butler Gabriella Rossi * 3 Mars Elementary School Chester Kerry Reynolds * 11 Home School Lancaster Gage Petersheim 10 Conestoga Valley High School

Grade winners  $50 each

County Student Grade School Allegheny Pavithra Kumar 1 Franklin Elementary School Berks Abby Norman 7 Tulpehocken Junior High School Berks Edyn George 8 Tulpehocken Junior High School Butler Emilia Carrabba 3 Mars Elementary School Butler Sara Biaggini 4 Mars Elementary School Carbon DeAnna Strouse 11 Weatherly Area Senior High School Cumberland Maria-Catalina Heil * 2 Immaculata Academy Home School Dauphin Cama Enders 5 Halifax Elementary School Dauphin Kortlynd Shomper K Upper Dauphin Area Elementary School Jefferson Kira Fry 12 Brockway Area High School York Hermiony Valdes 6 Allen Middle School York Caterina Zannino 9 York County School of Technology York Tori George 10 York County School of Technology

Special Recognition

County Student Grade School Berks Jillian Avery * 1 Schuylkill Valley Elementary School Berks Lauren Avery 1 Schuylkill Valley Elementary School Berks Dorothy Liu 6 Reiffton School Berks Lauren Bryant 7 Tulpehocken Junior High School Berks Damien Hoover 7 Tulpehocken Junior High School Berks Makayla Barrett * 8 Tulpehocken Junior High School Berks Bradyn Erb 8 Tulpehocken Junior High School Butler Sage Mahan 2 Mars Elementary School Butler Abigail Schirato 2 Mars Elementary School Butler Camden Hoffman * 3 Mars Elementary School Butler Carter Snyder 4 Mars Elementary School Butler Lucas Boyle 6 Haine Middle School Cumberland Marie-Laurence Heil * 4 Immaculata Academy Home School Cumberland Samantha Brooker 5 Broad Street Elementary School Dauphin Nola Cusick 5 Halifax Elementary School Dauphin Ella Lebo 5 Halifax Elementary School Dauphin Mahnoor Azim 9 Middletown Area High School Delaware Reid Graham 4 Media Elementary School Jefferson Savannah Buttery 12 Brockway Area High School Lehigh Zenon Hrycenko * 10 Lehigh Valley Home School Luzerne Sawyer Bowser 6 Valley Elementary/Middle School Mercer Emma Gruver 9 West Middlesex Junior/Senior High School Washington Ben Hardy 9 Trinity High School Washington Kaden Kolson 9 Trinity High School Washington Koen Weichel 9 Trinity High School Washington Jonathan Chopp 10 Trinity High School Washington Brenna Beck 12 Trinity High School York Steven Nolte 5 Shallow Brook Intermediate

* Previous Alcohol Awareness Poster Contest winner

SOURCE Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

Related Links

http://www.lcb.pa.gov

TUCSON, Ariz., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharos Diagnostics recently expanded testing services to provide routine testing capabilities in chemistry, hematology and immunoassay as well as Valley Fever (Coccidioidomycosis) testing. The broadened menu compliments the laboratory's existing esoteric mass spectrometry testing services allowing Pharos to better serve regional customers' diagnostic testing needs. Pharos recently rolled out and completed a soft launch of these services and is actively processing samples for human and veterinary clinics and hospitals in the region.

Coccidioidomycosis (cocci) infection comes from inhalation of a soil-borne fungus which normally affects the respiratory system. However, it can spread throughout the body and is occasionally fatal. This fungus is typically found in the arid southwestern United States including southern California, Arizona, southwest Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah, as well as some South American countries. Cocci testing for the identification of the fungus is currently one of the most requested tests by veterinarians in the US southwest region. Humans and animals (particularly dogs) are susceptible to cocci infection and Pharos Diagnostics is uniquely positioned to support both veterinary and clinical practitioners in diagnosing cocci infections because of the laboratory's CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) certification.

Valley Fever illustrates the importance of One Health, the initiative converging human and veterinary medicine to improve health for people and animals. Pharos Diagnostics and Pharos Veterinary Diagnostics are uniquely positioned to identify best practices in One Health medicine to deliver best in class diagnostics across species to both doctors and veterinarians.

Pharos Diagnostics provides faster turnaround time, better accuracy, and lower costs to veterinary, clinical and academic customers.

As the leading commercial mass spectrometer laboratory in Southern Arizona, Pharos Diagnostics is proud to be a participant and supporter of the Tucson area's rapidly growing center of diagnostic excellence.

About Pharos Diagnostics LLC.

Pharos Diagnostics LLC. is a privately-held corporation headquartered in Tucson, AZ primarily serving the western and southwestern regions of the United States and operates Pharos Veterinary Diagnostics to serve the veterinarian community. Pharos Diagnostics is CLIA-certified and meets all regulatory, fair billing practice and state and federal requirements. To learn more visit www.pharosdx.com, www.pharosvetdx.com or call 520-355-4500.

For more information, please contact Mike Bergthold at (602) 885-3795.

SOURCE Pharos Diagnostics

Related Links

https://pharosdx.com

"We are thrilled to be the first airline in the world to put the E190-E2 into commercial service. We will be able to fly farther, faster, and more often, and are proud to offer an improved passenger experience," said Widere President & CEO Stein Nilsen. "The GTF engine consumes less fuel, generates fewer emissions and produces much less noise, reinforcing our commitment to lowering our carbon footprint and impact on the environment."

Widere is the largest regional airline in Scandinavia, operating more than 450 flights per day to 46 domestic and international destinations. The E190-E2 is the airline's first turbofan-powered aircraft, which will allow it to expand its route network, particularly to international destinations. The airline has been a part of the Pratt & Whitney family since the late 1940s, when it began operating Wasp R-1340 radial engines. Widere's focus on reducing environmental impact and adopting green technologies makes the GTF engine a perfect fit.

"On behalf of the entire Pratt & Whitney team, I'd like to congratulate Embraer and Widere on this exciting occasion. We are honored to power the E190-E2 and look forward to delivering the GTF's significant economic and environmental benefits when it enters service in just a few short weeks," said Chris Calio, president, Commercial Engines at Pratt & Whitney. "Widere currently operates our PW100 engines, and we are proud to power the airline's growth and extend our successful 70-year relationship for many years to come."

The E190-E2 aircraft received certification from the Agencia Nacional de Aviacao Civil (ANAC), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and from the European Aviation Safety Administration (EASA) last month, and is scheduled to enter revenue service with launch customer Widere later this month.

In addition to being selected as the exclusive engine for the E2 commercial aircraft, Pratt & Whitney's APS2600E auxiliary power unit (APU) is the sole-sourced APU for the E2 family. The APS2600E APU gives airlines greater flexibility, by increasing the altitude ceiling for ETOPS and other operations, and providing a significant increase in electrical power delivery, to meet the needs of today's airlines.

The E190-E2 marks the third aircraft platform powered by the GTF engine. The aircraft has more than 17% reduction in fuel burn than the current generation E190, with NOx emissions 50% below the ICAO CAEP/6 regulation and a cumulative noise reduction of ICAO Chapter 4 minus 17 to 20dB.

About Pratt & Whitney

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines and auxiliary power units. United Technologies Corp., based in Farmington, Connecticut, provides high-technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries. To learn more about UTC, visit its website at www.utc.com, or follow the company on Twitter: @UTC.

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning future business opportunities. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to changes in levels of demand in the aerospace industry, in levels of air travel, and in the number of aircraft to be built; challenges in the design, development, production support, performance and realization of the anticipated benefits of advanced technologies; as well as other risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those detailed from time to time in United Technologies Corp.'s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Pratt & Whitney

+1 (860) 565-9600

[email protected]

SOURCE Pratt & Whitney

Related Links

http://www.pratt-whitney.com

NEW YORK, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of leading organizations today announce The Audacious Project: Collaborative Philanthropy for Bold Ideas, a joint endeavor housed at TED, the non-profit devoted to ideas worth spreading, to surface and fund critical ideas that have the potential to impact millions of lives.

The Audacious Project invites visionary social entrepreneurs, nonprofits and individuals to dream bigger than they have ever imagined -- and to shape those dreams into multi-year plans that are viable and sustainable. The project invites donors to pool resources and work together in service of these ambitious ideas. The hope is to create collectively a model of philanthropy that mimics the way in which promising startups are funded, so the projects can be more ambitious, more collaborative and more effective.

Each year, the project will identify up to five ideas that stand out as thrillingly bold and have a credible path to execution, scale and impact. Nominations come from the coalition of partners and an application that is open to the public. All ideas will be fully researched and vetted before being publicly unveiled in a special session at the annual TED Conference in Vancouver.

These TED Talks will be shared online at AudaciousProject.org following the session, and members of the TED audience -- and people around the world -- are invited to support each initiative financially (and in other ways) alongside participating members of The Audacious Project coalition. Each project includes a specific budget that matches its ambition -- and a timeline that spans years.

Leading up to today's launch of The Audacious Project, this coalition of nonprofit organizations, foundations and individuals worked together to raise over $250 million to help power the inaugural ideas, which will be unveiled at TED2018.

"TED is dedicated to sharing ideas that matter," said Chris Anderson, TED Curator. "But many of the ideas that matter most require funding on a scale that most people and organizations would never believe was available to them. This initiative is designed to surface those ideas and help turn them into widely-supported action plans."

Watch the reveal of The Audacious Project recipients on April 11 live from the TED2018 stage in a session that will be livestreamed exclusively on Facebook Watch at facebook.com/TEDBackstage.

THE AUDACIOUS COALITION

A remarkable group of individuals and organizations have come together and are playing a key role in facilitating the initiative. Among them are the Skoll Foundation, Virgin Unite, the Dalio Foundation, Scott Cook & Signe Ostby, Laura & John Arnold, ELMA Philanthropies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will draw on 100&Change, its global competition for bold solutions to critical problems, to identify and vet high quality projects. And the Bridgespan Group, a leading global social impact advisory firm, is playing a key role in supporting this collaboration and working with entrepreneurs on investment-ready plans.

Jeff Skoll, Founder and Chairman of the Skoll Foundation, said: "To crack the code on the world's most pressing problems, we need to bet big on entrepreneurs capable of both vision and action at scale. This new venture takes the signature TED mantra of ideas that matter to a whole new level -- from ideas that matter to problems that can be solved."

Chairman of Virgin Unite Sir Richard Branson said: "We want to support extraordinary projects that will change millions of lives for the better. We know we are stronger together, so we are thrilled to work with TED, Skoll Foundation and a wonderful group of partners to catalyse The Audacious Project. Audacious is a brilliant way to unite individuals and foundations, no matter how big or how small, to tackle the world's most complex challenges and collaborate like never before. A big thanks to the teams leading these inspiring, hopeful Audacious projects to change the world."

Ray Dalio of the Dalio Foundation said: "We are excited to support the big and bold ideas of social entrepreneurs committed to large-scale change. TED has created a superb model for identifying and sorting through game changing philanthropic shapers -- people with big visions and the talents to make them into realities. It's really remarkable."

RUNNING THE AUDACIOUS PROJECT

At TED, The Audacious Project will be overseen by the TED Prize team, which has spent the last 12 years identifying some of the world's most gifted change-makers and scaling their imagination about their work. This team is being expanded under the leadership of Executive Director Anna Verghese, and they will now focus all their energy on this new initiative. Verghese said, "We find ourselves at a critical moment in time, faced with urgent challenges. Taking these on requires radical, international collaboration among individuals and organizations, a sharing of ideas and an active pooling of resources. This is precisely what The Audacious Project is all about."

"If ever there was an aptly named project, it's Audacious," said Laura and John Arnold. "Big thinkers often feel that limited scope increases funding opportunities. This project allows entrepreneurs to imagine without resource constraints. We believe The Audacious Project will inspire the bold, visionary thinking needed to solve today's most urgent problems."

"The Audacious Project is an ambitious approach to addressing the most urgent challenges for the world's poorest people and the innovative entrepreneurs who want to help them. It's very exciting to see so many leaders in philanthropy join forces in this catalytic model," said Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Julia Stasch, President of the MacArthur Foundation, said: "When we launched 100&Change, we hoped others would join us by making big bets and supporting solutions at scale -- at a level far greater than what is typical in philanthropy. We see significant benefit in collaboration and believe The Audacious Project's complementary approach will inspire organizations to think big and believe solutions are possible."

Tom Tierney, Chairman and Co-founder at The Bridgespan Group, commented: "The Audacious Project offers an unprecedented opportunity for ambitious social entrepreneurs and far-sighted philanthropists to collaborate effectively in pursuit of breakthrough results -- for our communities and our planet."

Applications for 2019 are open to the public. Put forward an idea for consideration, learn more or support an existing project at AudaciousProject.org.

ABOUT TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks delivered by today's leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED's annual gathering in Vancouver, Canada, its TEDWomen and TEDGlobal conferences, and at thousands of independently organized TEDx events around the world, then made available, free, on TED.com and other channels.

TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include, among many others, TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities; subtitles and interactive transcripts thanks to thousands of volunteer translators worldwide; and the educational initiative TED-Ed.

SOURCE TED

Related Links

https://www.ted.com

LOS ANGELES, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Recycled Karma Brands, LLC has appointed Jene Park to the position of Creative Director in a move establishing the company as a true leader in the Women's Contemporary and Designer apparel space  with a focus on graphic tees, fashion bodies and active wear.

Recycled Karma Brands names Jene Park, Creative Director

Jene Park, the creative director and chief operating officer at Thomas Wylde, is a visionary known throughout the apparel industry for her design aesthetic. In her role with Recycled Karma Brands, she will oversee all brand, image, product and design teams. The first new collections with Park at the helm will launch Holiday 2018. She will be creating a new signature collection for the company, as well as extending the current contemporary line.

Park, is an industry veteran with more than 25 year's experience touching all aspects of design, product development, production, sales, marketing and logistics. Born and raised in South Korea, Park came to Los Angeles in the early 90s. A graduate of FIDM in L.A., she won the Maison Lesage scholarship granting her the opportunity to study techniques at couture houses in Paris. Prior to Thomas Wylde, Park worked with BCBG Max Azria Group for more than a decade and had her own design, development and production consulting company, Jen E. Jen, with clients including Vera Wang, St. John, True Religion, Seven and Vince.

"We are thrilled to have Jene's aesthetic and vision for RKB as we continue to extend and elevate the RKB labels across all channels from high end collections to specialty," notes Jane Pak and Ted Houston, Co-Presidents of Recycled Karma Brands. She is the perfect fit for the company, which is known for vintage and retro licensed tees. Park has always been known to have a rock and roll element to her design collection and is drawn to music and lyrics for inspiration. She notes, "Everybody has a little bit of rock and roll attitude in them (if not, you should)."

About Recycled Karma Brands, LLC

Recycled Karma Brands is a privately held full service multi-label apparel branding company known for vintage inspired looks, quality garments and elevated fashion designs. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the office houses the design, business development, sales, marketing, production planning and management activities. Known as one of the key full service contemporary fashion apparel companies, the company is focused on bringing partners the most desired look and feel, elevated fashion bodies, treatments, washes, styles, quality and value.

Recycled Karma, the brand, launched in 2009. The company is partnered with the world's biggest brands through licensing, branding, manufacturing and private label partnerships at the nation's top boutiques, department stores and retailers. With a focus on vintage, classic and retro inspired brands, the portfolio of licenses include: AC/DC, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, KISS, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Disney, Coca Cola and Elvis Presley.

For more information about Jene Park and Recycled Karma Brands, or to book an interview, contact Jane Pak at 310.600.6454 or email, [email protected].

SOURCE Recycled Karma Brands, LLC"The proprietary all-natural sweetener system and flavor profile of our new Virgil's Zero Sugar line is pure genius," said Val Stalowir, CEO of Reed's Inc. "And with a product this special and brilliant, we feel only a genius can adequately describe it. We are actively looking for a true genius spokesperson to tell our story," added Stalowir.

Anyone 18 years of age or older may apply and make their case on why they should be the new "Virgil's Genius Spokesperson". Contestants can enter via video submission at www.virgils.com. The submission deadline is May 31, 2018. Any and all forms of genius will be considered.

Unveiled earlier this month at the Natural Foods Expo West in Anaheim, CA, Reed's new line of Virgil's Zero Sugar is set to hit grocery shelves nationally in early Summer. Available in 12oz. cans, Virgil's Zero Sugar will be featured in six flavors, including Root Beer, Black Cherry, Vanilla Cream, Cola, Lemon Lime and Orange.

The chosen winner will be an integral part of the official launch of Virgil's Zero Sugar, representing the brand at public events and in the company's upcoming advertising campaign.

To learn more about the launch of the Virgil's Zero Sugar and the company's search for a genius, contact John Rarrick at [email protected] or 845.480.4262. To learn more about the Virgil's Genius Contest, visit www.virgils.com.

About Reed's Inc.

Established in 1989, Reed's has sold over 500 million bottles of its category leading natural, handcrafted beverages. Reed's is America's #1 selling Ginger Beer brand and has been the leader and innovator in the ginger beer category for decades. Virgil's is America's #1 selling independent, full line of natural craft sodas. The Reed's Inc. portfolio is sold in over 30,000 retail doors across the natural, specialty, grocery, drug, club and mass channels nationwide. Reed's Ginger Beers are unique to the category because of the proprietary process of hand brewing its award-winning products using fresh organic ginger combined with natural spices and fruit juices. Reed's Ginger Beers come in three levels of increasing ginger intensity that deliver a delicious and powerful ginger bite and burn that only comes from fresh ginger root. The Company uses this same handcrafted approach and dedication to the highest quality ingredients in its award-winning Virgil's line of great tasting, bold flavored craft sodas.

SOURCE Reed's, Inc.LE FRANCOIS, Martinique, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 14, 2018, 15 of the world's top bartenders visited Le Francois, Martinique, and competed for a chance to claim the title as the Global Ti' Punch Cup Champion. Hosted by Rhum Clement at Habitation Clement, this competition was the final stage of the brand's biennial Ti' Punch Cup campaign designed to raise awareness and promote the history and culture behind Martinique's signature cocktail, the Ti' Punch.

Rhum Clement

After three competitive rounds filled with passion, creativity and energy, Bethany Ham of Clifton's in Los Angeles, California, took home the title of Ti' Punch Cup Champion and will hold this title for two years. Dave (Ching Yin) Lam of Shenzhen, China, followed in second place and Yannick Brunot of Fort-de-France, Martinique, followed in a close third.

In the first round of the competition, contenders re-created their Ti' Punch signature cocktail, which qualified them to participate in this final round in Martinique. Of the contestants, five were eliminated leaving Martinique, Spain, France, Switzerland, USA (New York), Germany, the United Kingdom, USA (Los Angeles), Belgium and China to compete. The second round challenged the remaining 10 contestants on speed, aroma and taste, and technique and presentation. The contestants raced against each other to choose from various local fruits and spices from the "marketplace" and were given seven minutes to prepare in a Ti' Punch recipe that was complementary to a creole crawfish dish prepared by local celebrity chef Guy Ferdinand of Petitbonum in Le Carbet, Martinique. All of the competitors displayed quick wit and superb creativity, however, it was Yannick Brunot (Martinique), Dave Lam (China) and Bethany Ham (USA) who ranked higher than the rest to proceed to the final round.

The final round truly tested the three finalists on their speed and endurance. Yannick Brunot, Dave Lam and Bethany Ham were required to juice 12 limes, open two coconuts and use the ingredients in a new Ti' Punch variation. Yannick of Fort-de-France, Martinique, completed the round at 6 minutes and 54 seconds, Dave Lam of Shenzhen, China, at 4 minutes and 48 seconds and Bethany Ham of Los Angeles, California at an unmatched 3 minutes and 21 seconds. After a stellar performance and record of high scores in the previous rounds, Bethany rightfully won her title as Ti' Punch Cup Champion!

Winning Ti' Punch Signature:

Pelee Punch

1.75 oz. Canne Bleue

.75 oz lime juice

.5 oz demerara syrup

.75 oz Kronan Swedish punsch

.5 oz falernum

Preparation

Add all ingredients to tin, add a small amount of crushed ice, whip and dump into vessel (half a tiki pineapple if available), add more crushed ice, give a little swizzle and top with crushed ice. Place dehydrated fruits and a fresh bouquet of mint on the side of the drink and finally, dust entire drink with white powdered sugar.

From March 12  16, the 15 international bartenders visited the island of Martinique. The represented countries included: Martinique, Spain, France, Switzerland, USA (New York), Germany, United Kingdom, USA (Los Angeles), Belgium, China, Amsterdam, Vietnam, Greece, Italy and Denmark. In the days leading up to the competition, the international bartenders were given an in-depth tour of Habitation Clement and received a comprehensive education behind the brand, while also being immersed in an interactive workshop showcasing local spices and fruits. The remaining days were spent discovering the local lifestyle and heritage of the island while learning about Martinique's culture.

"It's amazing to host such a group. After a determined campaign to bring Martinique, and the Ti Punch, to the world, it's with pleasure we host so much talent on our island, as they become our future ambassadors," explains Audrey BRUISSON, global marketing manager.

Since being founded in 1887, Rhum Clement has always valued the importance of conveying the beauty and allure of Martinique through its portfolio of world-class rhum agricole. Ti' Punch Cup was created to do just the same, as it commemorates the island's signature cocktail: the Ti' Punch!

Media Contact:

Benjamin Jones

Phone: 401-783-0300

Email: [email protected]

Related Links

www.rhumclementusa.com

www.spiribam.com

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SOURCE Rhum Clement

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LONDON, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5371634







The report also includes macroeconomic indicators along with an outlook on rice flour for global market.It includes drivers and restraints of the global rice flour market and their impact on each region during the forecast period.



The report also comprises the study of current issues with consumers and opportunities for rice flour manufacturers.It also includes value chain analysis.



In order to provide users of this report with comprehensive view of the market, we have included detailed competitiveness analysis, including key market players and their strategy overview. The dashboard provides detailed comparison of rice flour manufacturers on parameters such as total revenue, product offerings, and key strategy. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis by source, type, origin, application, sales channel, and region.



The report includes rice flour market company profiles and the revenue generated from the companies across North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC, and MEA.By source, the global rice flour market is segmented as white rice and brown rice.



By type, the market is segmented as long grain, medium & short grain, and pre-gelatinized.Furthermore, by origin, the global rice flour market is segmented organic and conventional.



By application, the market is segmented as bakery & confectionary, breakfast solutions, baby food, and others.By sales channel, the market is segmented as direct sales and indirect sales.



For the calculation of revenue collection of average regional prices were obtained through primary quotes from numerous rice flour manufacturers, retailers, and distributors.



All key end users have been considered and potential applications have been estimated on the basis of secondary sources and feedback from primary respondents.Country demand patterns have been considered while estimating the market for various end users of rice flour in the different regions.



Top-down approach has been used to estimate the rice flour market by countries.Global market numbers by product type has been derived using the bottom-up approach, which is cumulative of each country's demand.



Company-level market share has been derived on the basis of rice flour penetration. The market has been forecast based on constant currency rates.



A number of primary and secondary sources were consulted during the course of the study.Secondary sources include Factiva, Hoover's, and company annual reports and publications.



The report provides detailed competitive and company profiles of key participants operating in the global market. Some of the major companies operating in the Global Rice flour market are Associated British Foods PLC, Ebro Foods, S.A., Ingredion Incorporated, Archer-Daniels Midland Co., Wilmar International Limited, General Mills, Inc., Bunge Ltd., Whitworth Bros. Ltd., The Soufflet Group, Shipton Mill Ltd., KRONER-STARKE GmbH, Caremoli Group, Belourthe SA, Bressmer & Francke (Gmbh & Co.) KG, and EDME Food Ingredients Limited.



The market has been segmented as below:



Global rice flour market  By source

White rice

Brown rice



Global rice flour market  By type

Long grain

Medium & short grain

Pregelatinized



Global rice flour market  By origin

Organic

Conventional



Global rice flour market  By application

Bakery & Confectionary

Breakfast solutions

Baby Food

Others



Global rice flour market  By region

Direct

Indirect

Modern Trade Formats

Departmental Stores

Convenience Store

E-commerce

Other



Global rice flour market  By region

North America

Latin America

Europe

APAC

MEA



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5371634



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +1 (718) 213 4904

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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The Muslim village of Husan is located in The Fields of Bethlehem, only four miles from where Jesus Christ was born. Eight children had died due to landmines planted by the Jordanians in 1948.

In 2010, Kuhn was called to the region by Daniel Yuval, age 10, after his tragic accident in the Golan where he lost his right leg to a landmine during a rare snowfall. As a young survivor, Daniel called upon this American mother to help bring forth unanimous legislation at The Knesset in March 2012.

California vintners, Shirley and Paul Dean, Owners, Spiriterra Vineyards in Napa Valley heard her plea to turn MINES TO VINES--replacing minefields with vineyards and orchards worldwide. Inspired by the story of young Daniel, they donated funds for both Israelis and Palestinian deminers to work together on this historic project.

The Vatican was inspired by Kuhn's work, and sent His Eminence Cardinal Peter Turkson to walk the minefields of The Holy Land. Together, they traveled to Qasr al-Yahud, the Baptismal Site of Jesus, to raise both awareness and funds to remove landmines. This Easter Week, the historic landmine removal began at Qasr al-Yahud. "Tragically, it took the footsteps of a young Israeli boy to raise global awareness to remove landmines at the sacred site along the Jordan River where three monolithic faiths converge," stated Heidi Kuhn, CEO, Founder. "I salute the brave efforts of The HALO Trust deminers who are removing the landmines at the Baptismal site of Jesus."

"The senseless horror of landmines deaths reminds us that war continues to kill long after peace treaties have been signed," said Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. "As a Californian, a Member of Congress and an American, it is my honor to support Roots of Peace in their vital mission to protect the world's children from these deadly remnants of war."

Heidi Kuhn, CEO, Roots of Peace, was invited to Kensington Palace to hear the 'call to action' by Prince Harry to eradicate all landmines by 2025 in tribute to his mother, the late Princess Diana of Wales. "My mother was shocked and appalled by the impact that landmines were having on vulnerable people--and on children in particular. She didn't understand why more people were not willing to address the cause of so much suffering."

Roots of Peace will travel to Hanoi, Vietnam on Earth Day 2018 to plant a symbolic tree of life.

Projects for Good will feature a LIVE Facebook on United Nations International Landmine Awareness Day. Donations will be designated towards turning MINES TO VINES in Quang Tri, Vietnam.

DONATE: https://projectsforgood.com/projects/478/story

For further information, please visit www.rootsofpeace.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Denice Zeck: 202-355-8875

Raymond Chavez:

[email protected]

Mobile: +1 571 919 - 9664

SOURCE Roots of Peace

Related Links

http://www.rootsofpeace.org

"Erika brings to our clients substantial industry experience and global insight across best-in-class business functions," said Constantine Alexandrakis, leader of Russell Reynolds Associates' US Region. "Having worked with international teams across the Americas and Asia, Erika has both a keen understanding of global commerce and experience in advising the C-suite on how to drive transformative change programs."

Prior to joining Russell Reynolds Associates, Osterling was a Senior Director of Services for GE Oil & Gas. In this role, she was responsible for leading the Flow and Process Technologies Services business, leading a global team of over 100 people at more than 10 sites. Previously, Osterling was a Director of Sales, working in both Singapore and Jakarta. She also worked within GE Power, holding Senior Manager roles in Business Operations and Channel Strategy. Osterling began her career at GE Transportation, working in Supply Chain and Services. Additionally, she has held Marketing and Sales Strategy roles at Avery Dennison, PepsiCo and Cameron.

Osterling holds a BS in industrial engineering from Tecnologico de Monterrey, with honors, and an MBA in general management from Harvard Business School.

About Russell Reynolds Associates

Russell Reynolds Associates is a global search and leadership advisory firm. Our 425+ consultants in 46 offices work with public, private and nonprofit organizations across all industries and regions. We help our clients build teams of transformational leaders who can meet today's challenges and anticipate the digital, economic and political trends that are reshaping the global business environment. From helping boards with their structure, culture and effectiveness to identifying, assessing and defining the best leadership for organizations  our teams bring their decades of expertise to help clients solve their most complex leadership issues. www.russellreynolds.com

Contact:

Vijaya Singh

Russell Reynolds Associates

212-351-1987

[email protected]

SOURCE Russell Reynolds Associates

Related Links

http://www.russellreynolds.com

WEST ORANGE, N.J., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) is accelerating its efforts to address the social determinants of health through its new Social Impact and Community Investment Department. The ambitious initiatives underway at RWJBarnabas Health aim to eliminate disparities, enhance equity and create social and physical environments that promote good health.

Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship and age that factor into general health, including economic stability, education, access to healthy food, affordable housing and safe living environments. RWJBH is effecting change through initiatives aimed at impacting both the individual and broader public policy.

"It is essential for health care providers to play a leadership role in addressing systemic inequities that prevent people from good health. While it could take generations before we see the full impact of our efforts, we regard this as our most important work," said Barry H. Ostrowsky, President and Chief Executive Officer of RWJBarnabas Health. "We will hold ourselves responsible for the long-term well-being of our citizens. In partnership with our communities, we will improve the population's overall health, support the betterment of our citizens' day-to-day lives and ignite a critical, positive, cohesive change in our communities."

The Social Impact and Community Investment Department (SICI) at RWJBH is a unique collective impact approach to building communities' whole health, and a key driver of the system's mission. A wide spectrum of initiatives are being co-designed alongside communities within the RWJBH footprint, aimed at eliminating health care disparities and addressing social determinants of health.

Priorities for interventions were determined from recommendations and research studies from a wide range of local, national and international sources as well as through the direct input of our communities through community advisory boards and via partnerships with traditional and non-traditional community-based organizations. The SICI intervention pillars focus the system's efforts on Education, Economic Stability, Neighborhood and Built Environment, Employee Engagement and Volunteerism, and Global Health.

The system's practice is distinct from other efforts because it is led by the policy arm. RWJBH believes that to have a long-term, sustainable impact on the community, it is necessary to make long-term changes through municipal, state or federal policies.

Michellene Davis, Esq., Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for RWJBH, created and leads the SICI Department across the system. "RWJBarnabas Health is proud to serve richly diverse communities across New Jersey. We recognize that there are certain socially constructed barriers impacting the health outcomes of the families that we aim to serve. As a member of the communities in which we are located we aim to be both in and of these communities by co-designing long term sustainable solutions through a collective impact model with non-traditional and traditional partners," said Ms. Davis.

Ms. Davis continued "We are laser-focused on strategies that address needed changes in systems, structures and policy that will impact the long-term health and well-being of our neighbors who are food insecure, who encounter challenges in access to safe neighborhoods and healthy environments, equitable educational resources or stable employment. Each of RWJBarnabas Health's efforts in this space builds upon each other to amplify our system's direct impact within the communities we serve."

Ms. Davis also oversees the areas of Policy Development and Government Affairs, External Affairs, Healthy Living and Community and Employee Wellness and Engagement and Global Health. She also created RWJBH's Women's Leadership Alliance and the Corporate Institute for Internship.

One critical shift for the system is recognizing that RWJBH facilities are anchor institutions, and vital economic engines in their communities. Local community health improvement means that the system is embedding into core business areas, including hiring, purchasing and investment practices. As example, RWJBH has engaged every segment of its corporate assets to not only purchase directly from locally-owned businesses, with a primary equity focus on local Minority and Woman-Owned Business Enterprises, but to encourage vendors to subcontract with local businesses, provide goods for their services from local MWBEs and incorporate these practices into their businesses.

To further its anchor mission, the system is a founding member of the Healthcare Anchor Network, a national collaborative of health care systems sharing best practices in this space, and sharing a policy and communications platform to effect change across the nation.

Following are several of the many initiatives driven by the mission and pillars of the SICI Department:

Employee Engagement and Volunteerism -- SICI Service Rally

As a core component of the system's mission, during the week of January 15  19, 2018, more than 400 employees together served their communities at a grassroots level during the first of many volunteer opportunities that revolved around the SICI practice 's intervention pillars and included activities such as serving meals at a food pantry (food insecurity), assembling trauma relief kits for the US Virgin Islands (Global Health) and hygiene kits for local organizations (housing security).

As a core component of the system's mission, during the week of  19, 2018, more than 400 employees together served their communities at a grassroots level during the first of many volunteer opportunities that revolved around the SICI practice 's intervention pillars and included activities such as serving meals at a food pantry (food insecurity), assembling trauma relief kits for the US Virgin Islands (Global Health) and hygiene kits for local organizations (housing security). Economic Stability -- Food Insecurity

Recognizing the need to expand access to all community members, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center's (NBIMC) greenhouse and farmers market recently became the state's first hospital-based vendor to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. RWJBH has connected the dots between access to healthy food and health outcomes, and, as a result, has established a greenhouse, which provides more than 5,000 pounds of fresh fruit and produce to an area in Newark designated a food desert. Produce grown at the Beth Greenhouse is sold at a weekly farmer's market located in NBIMC's lobby. The Beth Greenhouse format will be replicated across the RWJBarnabas Health system at other key sites where access to nutritious, affordable food is a community need, including Jersey City , Toms River , and New Brunswick .

Recognizing the need to expand access to all community members, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center's (NBIMC) greenhouse and farmers market recently became the state's first hospital-based vendor to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. RWJBH has connected the dots between access to healthy food and health outcomes, and, as a result, has established a greenhouse, which provides more than 5,000 pounds of fresh fruit and produce to an area in designated a food desert. Produce grown at the Beth Greenhouse is sold at a weekly farmer's market located in NBIMC's lobby. The Beth Greenhouse format will be replicated across the RWJBarnabas Health system at other key sites where access to nutritious, affordable food is a community need, including , , and . Economic Stability  Youth Workforce

Youth Workforce Development is grounded in the premise that healthier communities require stable economic resources. As a result, the current efforts of the RWJBH Corporate Institute for Internship, sponsorship of the Newark Summer Youth Employment program and other internship programs hosted across the system shall be enhanced to achieve promising career pathways and viable employment with special emphasis on back office and front line careers in the health care sector, urban agriculture, construction and entrepreneurship. This pillar of the Department aims to create a collaborative effort with business and industry partners, schools, and community and 4-year colleges to create awareness and workforce preparation opportunities as well as provide on-the-job training and mentorships for participating youth.

Youth Workforce Development is grounded in the premise that healthier communities require stable economic resources. As a result, the current efforts of the RWJBH Corporate Institute for Internship, sponsorship of the Newark Summer Youth Employment program and other internship programs hosted across the system shall be enhanced to achieve promising career pathways and viable employment with special emphasis on back office and front line careers in the health care sector, urban agriculture, construction and entrepreneurship. This pillar of the Department aims to create a collaborative effort with business and industry partners, schools, and community and 4-year colleges to create awareness and workforce preparation opportunities as well as provide on-the-job training and mentorships for participating youth. Global Health  Puerto Rico Outreach

The Global Health office directs SICI medical global affairs initiatives which aim to advance medical best practices and health equity in the United States and around the world. As example, in late fall, RWJBH physicians and care teams conducted an assessment trip and three relief missions to Puerto Rico where they provided critical medical care, equipment and supplies to hurricane victims of the ravaged island in hospitals and mobile clinics.

About RWJBarnabas Health

RWJBarnabas Health is the most comprehensive health care delivery system in New Jersey, with a service area covering five million people. The system includes eleven acute care hospitals  Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, Community Medical Center in Toms River, Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City, Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, RWJUH- New Brunswick, RWJUH- Somerset in Somerville, RWJUH- Hamilton, RWJUH- Rahway and Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston; three acute care children's hospitals and a leading pediatric rehabilitation hospital (Children's Specialized Hospital), a freestanding 100-bed behavioral health center, trauma centers, a satellite emergency department, ambulatory care centers, geriatric centers, the state's largest behavioral health network, comprehensive home care and hospice programs, fitness and wellness centers, retail pharmacy services, a medical group, multi-site imaging centers and an accountable care organization.

RWJBarnabas Health is New Jersey's largest private employer  with more than 33,000 employees, 9,000 physicians and 1,000 residents and interns  and routinely captures national awards for outstanding quality and safety.

About RWJBarnabas Health Social Impact and Community Investment Department (SICI)

RWJBarnabas Health's SICI Department is effecting change through collective impact, working with non-traditional and traditional collaborative partners to benefit the individual and the community. SICI is led by its policy arm, as the system believes that sustainable, long-term change can only be effectuated through policy changes at the federal, state and local level. The practice includes a wide spectrum of community outreach programs, national and local partnerships, and initiatives that elevate the quality of life of individuals and communities.

SOURCE RWJBarnabas HealthLADERA RANCH, Calif., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Select Capital Corporation, the dealer manager for private offerings and public non-traded real estate investment trusts sponsored by SmartStop Asset Management, LLC, announced today that the company has hired Laurie Levassar and Michelle Moore as directors of national accounts.

Levassar and Moore will be responsible for developing strategic partnerships with broker-dealers and building the selling group for Select Capital Corporation nationwide.

"We are pleased to welcome Laurie and Michelle, who each bring to the firm a strong background and many fruitful relationships in the broker-dealer industry," said H. Michael Schwartz, chief executive officer of SmartStop. "Their history of success and deep understanding make them valuable additions to our team."

Levassar brings 19 years of experience to her role at Select Capital Corporation. Prior to joining the company, she served as vice president of strategic accounts with NorthStar Securities, where she was responsible for expanding distribution and strengthening the firm's broker-dealer relationships on the West Coast and central region. Levassar earned a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University.

Moore, who has 17 years of experience, previously served as senior vice president, national accounts for SC Distributors. She was responsible for building and managing ongoing relationships with broker-dealer partners and providing sales, marketing and due diligence support for its registered investment products. Moore earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Davis and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University. She serves on the education and women's initiatives network committees for the Investment Program Association.

About Select Capital Corporation and SmartStop Asset Management, LLC (SmartStop)

Select Capital Corporation is the dealer manager for private offerings and public non-traded real estate investment trusts sponsored by SmartStop Asset Management, LLC, a diversified real estate company focused on self storage assets, along with student and senior housing. SmartStop has approximately $1.5 billion of real estate assets under management, including 113 self storage facilities located throughout the United States and Toronto, Canada, comprised of approximately 71,000 units and 8.2 million rentable square feet. SmartStop's real estate portfolio also includes five student housing communities with approximately 2,800 beds and 1.1 million square feet of space, as well as three senior housing communities with approximately 350 beds and 250,000 rentable square feet of space. SmartStop is the sponsor of SST IV, Strategic Storage Trust II, Inc., and Strategic Storage Growth Trust, Inc., all public non-traded REITs focusing on self storage assets. The facilities offer affordable and accessible storage units for residential and commercial customers. In addition, they offer secure interior and exterior storage units as well as outside storage areas for vehicles, RVs and boats. Additional information regarding SmartStop is available at www.SAM.com and more information regarding SmartStop Self Storage in the United States and Canada is available at www.smartstopselfstorage.com.

Contacts Julie Leber Lauren Burgos Spotlight Marketing Communications Spotlight Marketing Communications 949.427.5172 ext. 703 949.427.5172, ext. 702 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Select Capital CorporationAUSTIN, Texas, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, St. David's HealthCare announced the acquisition of The Austin Diagnostic Clinic (ADC)a primary and specialty care physician groupand its plans to integrate ADC's clinic operations into the St. David's HealthCare system. As part of the acquisition, which was effective on April 1, 2018, ADC will retain its name and operations, and it will align its 154 physicians and providers, as well as 700 employees, including technical and support staff, with St. David's HealthCare.

"The Austin Diagnostic Clinic is comprised of exceptional physicians who are known for high quality, compassionate care and service," David Huffstutler, president and chief executive officer of St. David's HealthCare, said. "This acquisition will provide a platform for St. David's HealthCare to expand access to primary and multispecialty care and will allow us to serve even more patients within the Central Texas community."

A newly created board of directors, governed by physicians from ADC and St. David's HealthCare, will oversee ADC's operations.

"In order for us to continue providing care to our growing community, we felt that alignment with another entity was critical," Dr. Ghassan Salman, chief executive officer of The Austin Diagnostic Clinic, said. "St. David's HealthCare is a prestigious hospital system. We have developed a strong relationship with its leadership over the years. This was the natural decision."

ADC's main clinic is located inside St. David's North Austin Medical Center. It has the largest number of specialties and providers housed within the hospital. Additional clinic locations include Cedar Park, Round Rock, Westlake, Steiner Ranch and Circle C in Southwest Austin, with nephrology locations in Georgetown, Kyle, Lockhart, Bastrop, San Marcos, Marble Falls and Luling.

St. David's HealthCare

With more than 119 sites across Central Texas, St. David's HealthCare includes seven of the area's leading hospitals and is one of the largest health systems in Texas. The organization has been recognized with a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awardthe nation's highest presidential honor for performance excellence. St. David's HealthCare is the third-largest private employer in the Austin area, with more than 10,200 employees.

St. David's HealthCare is a unique partnership between a hospital management company and two local non-profitsSt. David's Foundation and Georgetown Health Foundation. The proceeds from the operations of the hospitals fund the foundations, which, in turn, invest those dollars back into the community. Since the inception of St. David's HealthCare in 1996, more than $425 million has been given back to the community to improve the health and healthcare of Central Texans.

The Austin Diagnostic Clinic

The Austin Diagnostic Clinic is a group of 154 doctors and providers practicing in 21 medical specialties at nine locations throughout Central Texas. The organization's vision is to be the premier multispecialty clinic providing compassionate care and excellent service. ADC doctors have been caring for Central Texans and their families since 1952.

Media Contacts:

Kat Harris or Erin Ochoa

Elizabeth Christian Public Relations

512.472.9599

SOURCE St. Davids HealthCare

Related Links

https://stdavids.com

COLCHESTER, Vt., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Common Text for the First-Year Seminar program at Saint Michael's College in Vermont for 2018-2019 will be Hamilton: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) by Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015). Its selection was considered highly unusual by Director of Admission Michael Stefanowicz. "I was excited to hear that Hamilton: the Musical is our selection for the incoming class. Given the current political and racial tensions in the country, it could not be more timely."

Peter Vantine, director of the First Year Seminar program and professor of Modern Languages, recently announced the selection to the campus. For more than a decade, the Seminar has been asking students to read a common text before arriving on campus, which the first portion of their seminar studies focuses on. All members of the College community also are invited to read and join discussions about the Common Text.

This is the first year that the "text" of a musical show, rather than a book, has served as a Common Text for the First-Year Seminar, Vantine said.

Miranda's musical is inspired by historian Ron Chernow's biography Alexander Hamilton. It is the story of the life and death of an important figure in United States history. Hamilton was an impoverished orphan who emigrated from the Caribbean to New York, eager for an education before fighting in the American Revolution and becoming a founding father. It also tells the story of his marriage and family. On both the political and personal fronts, it is a tale of ambition, struggle, triumph, and a fall from grace. Whether or not Hamilton finds redemption is one of many questions that may evoke a range of responses. This dramatic retelling of his life and of a pivotal period of American history contains both comedy and tragedy, and its many levels of meaning combine personal, social, and political dimensions. In 2016, Hamilton earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and eleven Tony Awards.

Musically, Hamilton blends rap, hip-pop, pop, R&B, and the traditions of musical theater. "The lyrically rich text and engaging music of this historically-based piece of musical theater lend themselves to exploration, discussion, and debate within a wide range of interdisciplinary perspectives," Vantine said. "Lin-Manuel Miranda's text, music, and theatrical production also fit well with the First Year Seminar program's effort to promote reflection on diversity, given the intentionally multicultural focus of the musical's conception and performance."

Students will be asked to use the original cast recording, to ensure that all are experiencing and examining the same version of the musical. Vantine advised students and the wider community that they can purchase the music on CD from any music store, or download it in digital form from online retailers such as iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play (for approximately $20).

"It is readily available from a variety of sources," he said. "We suspect students will be inclined to download or stream the music on their phones, which should allow them to listen to it easily and repeatedly. However, we will also expect them to read the full lyrics, since the work's words, its story, and the interplay between these elements and the music is at the heart of this year's selection."

However, Vantine said he and fellow faculty do not expect students to travel to New York City and purchase very expensive tickets to see the musical on Broadway, "nor can we offer to take them all to a show there or elsewhere. Our focus will be on this work of art as a text and piece of music."

"I hope that many faculty and staff outside of the FYS program will also be inspired to undertake this common reading and listening experience", Vantine said, thanking the College's student life VP Dawn Ellinwood and former Common Text director Will Marquess of the English department for their reading, listening, and thoughtful deliberations in the selection process. "I am also grateful to all those who submitted recommendations for our consideration. It is a pleasurable challenge to explore a wide range of excellent texts as we work to select one each year, and there are quite a few that would indeed also be excellent choices."

About Saint Michael's College

Saint Michael's College, founded in the great Catholic intellectual tradition, which also recognizes the principles of social justice and compassion, is a selective, fully residential Catholic college in Vermont's beautiful Green Mountains. Our closely connected community delivers internationally-respected liberal arts and graduate education near Burlington, one of the country's best college towns. To prepare for fulfilling careers and meaningful lives, young adults here grow intellectually, socially, and morally, learning to be responsible for themselves, each other and their world.

For more information, contact:

Mark Tarnacki

802.654.2795

[email protected]

SOURCE Saint Michaels College

Related Links

http://www.smcvt.edu

SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Surrozen, a preclinical-stage company advancing drug candidates that promote the repair and regeneration of human tissues, today announced two appointments to expand its leadership team. Craig Parker, a biotech industry veteran recently of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, has been appointed CEO, and Hans Clevers, M.D., Ph.D., professor of molecular genetics at the Hubrecht Institute, has been appointed scientific co-founder of Surrozen.

"The broad therapeutic potential of the Wnt pathway is largely untapped. Surrozen's technology platforms render this pathway accessible to drug discovery in an unprecedented manner, paving the way for a new class of regenerative medicines," said Mr. Parker. "I couldn't be more confident in Surrozen's first-rate team and science, or more honored to lead the organization at this exciting time."

Mr. Parker will replace Dr. Tim Kutzkey, a managing partner at The Column Group, who will assume the role of chairman of the board. Dr. Clevers joins Christopher Garcia, Ph.D., Roeland Nusse, Ph.D., Calvin Kuo, M.D., Ph.D., and Claudia Janda, Ph.D., as a company scientific founder, and will remain on Surrozen's Scientific Advisory Board.

"The challenge of producing Wnt has been a great source of frustration in the field, impeding the advancement of organoid technology and a deeper dissection of Wnt signaling," said Dr. Clevers. "Surrozen's ability to generate potent and selective Wnt pathway agonists with drug-like properties is a real breakthrough. I'm thrilled to join an esteemed group of co-founders as Surrozen continues its rapid pace of discovery and further innovates with its technology platforms."

Surrozen was launched in 2016 with a focus on harnessing the Wnt pathway for applications in regenerative medicine. Founded on breakthrough science from Dr. Garcia's laboratory at Stanford University and backed by The Column Group, Surrozen has implemented a broad platform of "surrogate" Wnts with the potential to unlock stem cell control in a wide array of human tissues. Under the scientific leadership of Chief Scientific Officer, Wen-Chen Yeh, M.D., Ph.D., and Vice President of Biology, Yang Li, Ph.D., the company is building a broad pipeline of engineered Wnt pathway agonists. These agonists drive tissue regeneration in situ, with the goal of addressing a variety of critical unmet medical needs with first-in class molecules.

About Craig Parker, M.B.A.

Mr. Parker brings more than 25 years of science and business experience across leadership positions in both public and privately-held biopharmaceutical companies, as well as within financial organizations. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Jazz Pharmaceuticals. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Scientific Affairs at Geron Corporation, as well as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Human Genome Sciences until the company's acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline. He began his career in various positions at financial institutions on Wall Street, where he was one of the top-ranked biotechnology research analysts. Mr. Parker serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, and chairs the institute's Leadership Council. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of vTv Therapeutics Inc. Mr. Parker earned a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the University of Chicago, an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and attended the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

About Hans Clevers, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Clevers is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has received numerous honors and awards, including the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and Knighthood in the Order of the Nederlands' Lion. He was formerly president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (2017-2018) and president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (2012-2015). He serves on multiple Scientific Advisory Boards, and was a founder of several companies, including U-BiSys which later became Crucell. Dr. Clevers' laboratory first identified the existence of adult stem cells in the gut, which divide to regenerate the intestinal lining. His lab further elucidated the central molecular pathways which govern regeneration in the gut and other adult tissues, identifying key proteins that enact growth signals stimulated by the Wnt proteins. Currently, Dr. Clevers studies the role of Wnt-pathway proteins and organoids in regenerative and personalized medicine. He serves as a Professor in Molecular Genetics at the University Medical Center Utrecht and as the Director of Research of the Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. Dr. Clevers earned his master's of science in biology, M.D., and Ph.D. at the University of Utrecht.

SOURCE Surrozen

Related Links

http://surrozen.com

WAYNE, Pa., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tekni-Plex, Inc. has acquired Dunn Industries, Inc., a manufacturer of specialty extrusion tubing for medical device applications.

Dunn, based in Manchester, New Hampshire, is known for its tight tolerance, small diameter medical device tubing. Dunn has expertise in a wide range of thermoplastic materials and offers both standard and custom-engineered tubing solutions. Its product line is also a complementary addition to the microextrusion tubing manufactured by Tekni-Plex's Natvar business unit. Going forward, it will be known as Dunn Industries, a Tekni-Plex business, with Dunn's former president Duane Dunn as its general manager.

"Tekni-Plex already has a significant stake in the medical device market via its Colorite medical compounds and Natvar medical tubing business. We are now looking to grow the number of solutions we provide by expanding our product offering and manufacturing capabilities. With speed-to-market a critical concern in this market sector, as well as the desire for additional support from suppliers, this acquisition will help make Tekni-Plex an even stronger partner to medical device companies around the world," explained Paul J. Young, president and chief executive officer, Tekni-Plex.

Founded in 1987, Dunn manufactures medical tubing with outer diameters as small as 0.008 inches (outer diameter) x 0.004-inches (inner diameter) and as large as 0.480 inches for a wide variety of applications. Products include single and multi-lumen, coextruded, striped or braided. Applications range from simple, single lumen catheters used for drainage, to complex, multi- lumen applications for coronary angioplasty and drug delivery devices. The acquisition will also augment the non-PVC materials in the Tekni-Plex portfolio, such as polyurethane, PEEK, acetyl, nylon, EVA and TPE.

"Because of Tekni-Plex's existing global manufacturing footprint, including its new production capability in China, Dunn's technology will now reach new geographic regions. This will help medical device companies find faster solutions and bring their products to market via reduced timelines," Dunn said. "On behalf of the Dunn employees, we look forward to growing our customer base via Tekni-Plex's global reach."

The Dunn Industries purchase is the seventh acquisition Tekni-Plex has made in the past four years, supporting its strategy to grow its business via both organic and acquisition paths. Tekni-Plex has a solid track record of successful business integrations, having acquired companies with innovative plastic and rubber products to further drive growth.

About Tekni-Plex, Inc.

Tekni-Plex is a globally-integrated company focused on developing and manufacturing innovative packaging materials, medical compounds and precision-crafted medical tubing solutions for some of the most well-known names in the medical, pharmaceutical, personal care, household and industrial, and food and beverage industries. Tekni-Plex is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and operates manufacturing sites across eight countries worldwide to meet the needs of its global customers. For more information visit www.tekni-plex.com.

SOURCE Tekni-Plex, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.tekni-plex.com

LONDON, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Telit, a global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced a strategic partnership with the AddSecure Group, which provides customers across Europe with IoT solutions for smart cities, smart grids, alarm security and other mission-critical applications. The partnership is the latest example of Telit's rapidly growing relationships with industry, network, technology and integration partners across Europe and the rest of the world.

AddSecure has committed to using a variety of Telit solutions in existing and future projects. These will include Telit modules supporting the latest Low Category LTE/LPWA technologies, in addition to 2G and 3G, giving AddSecure and its customers' maximum flexibility for choosing the technology and service provider that best match their unique requirements. For more information, visit https://www.telit.com/m2m-iot-products/cellular-modules/.

"AddSecure is rapidly growing, both organically and by acquisition, as a leading supplier of secure critical communications in Europe," said Stefan Albertson, AddSecure CEO. "Our partnership with Telit ensures that we have access to the industry's broadest, deepest portfolio of IoT solutions, which will be key for growing our market share over the long term."

"Our strategic relationship with AddSecure is the latest example of how Telit is the go-to partner for companies worldwide that want to provide their customers with reliable, high-performance IoT solutions," said Carlos Perez, Telit President of Sales. "AddSecure will enhance our partner ecosystem by giving enterprises, governments and other end users even more options for mission-critical IoT solutions."

About Telit

Telit (AIM: TCM), is a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) enablement, with an extensive portfolio of wireless connectivity modules, platforms, virtual cellular IoT operator, and professional services, empowering hundreds of millions of connected 'things' to date, and trusted by thousands of direct and indirect customers, globally. With nearly two decades of IoT innovation experience, Telit continues to redefine the boundaries of digital business, by delivering secure, integrated end-to-end IoT solutions for many of the world's largest brands, including enterprises, OEMs, system integrators and service providers across all industries, enabling their pursuit of enterprise digital transformation.

About AddSecure

AddSecure is a leading player in the secure critical communications sector. We provide more than 40,000 customers and partners around Europe with secure communications solutions within monitored alarms and critical IoT communications. Our solutions, which help save lives, protect property and secure vital societal functions, are flexible, easy to install and help boost our customers' competitive edge. For more information, please visit www.addsecure.com

Copyright  2018 Telit Communications PLC. All rights reserved. Telit and all associated logos are trademarks of Telit Communications PLC in the United States and other countries. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contacts

Leslie Hart

Telit

919-415-1510

[email protected]

Gaby Lechin

Valerie Christopherson

GRC for Telit

+1 949 608 0276

[email protected]

SOURCE TelitORRVILLE, Ohio, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Reflects continued execution of the Company's strategic roadmap, including prioritization of key growth categories

Ainsworth acquisition strengthens current pet food portfolio with addition of high-growth, on-trend brand

Acquisition significantly expands presence in fast-growing premium pet food category

Annual cost synergies of $55 million expected within first three years after acquisition

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE: SJM) ("Company") announced today the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, LLC ("Ainsworth") in a transaction valued at approximately $1.7 billion, after an estimated tax benefit of $200 million. The Company also announced today it will explore strategic options for its U.S. baking business, including a potential sale.

Proposed Acquisition of Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, LLC

Ainsworth is a leading producer, distributor, and marketer of premium pet food and pet snacks, predominately within the United States. Approximately two-thirds of Ainsworth's sales are generated by its Rachael Ray Nutrish brand ("Nutrish"), which is driving significant growth in the premium pet food category. Ainsworth also sells pet food and pet snacks under several additional branded and private label trademarks.

Strategic Rationale

Benefits of the transaction are expected to include the following:

Pet food and pet snacks has become the largest center-of-the-store category in the U.S. Food and Beverage market, generating over $30 billion in annual retail sales across all channels, and remains one of the fastest-growing categories. This acquisition and the addition of the high-growth Nutrish brand will increase the scale and further accelerate the growth profile of the Company's pet food business.

in annual retail sales across all channels, and remains one of the fastest-growing categories. This acquisition and the addition of the high-growth Nutrish brand will increase the scale and further accelerate the growth profile of the Company's pet food business. Nutrish holds a leading position and is one of the fastest-growing brands in the premium dry dog food segment within the grocery and mass channels, a key growth driver for the overall category. The addition of Nutrish to the Company's portfolio will significantly expand the Company's presence in this area, complementing the Company's Nature's Recipe  brand.

brand. The transaction further strengthens the Company's position in dog snacks with the presence of Nutrish in fast-growth segments, including natural meats and long-lasting chews.

While Nutrish has a relatively smaller presence in premium cat food, the brand is well-positioned for significant growth in this segment. This will help accelerate opportunities in the Company's current pet food portfolio.

Executive Comments

"Ainsworth Pet Nutrition is an excellent strategic fit for our Company, as the Rachael RayTM Nutrish brand adds another high-growth, on-trend brand to our pet food portfolio," said Mark Smucker, Chief Executive Officer. "Their team has done a tremendous job growing this business, building Nutrish into one of the most recognizable premium pet food brands in the United States. We look forward to working with the talented Ainsworth team, as we know their passion for pets runs as deep as ours."

"Smucker's decision to acquire Ainsworth Pet Nutrition validates the power of the Ainsworth company mission," said Jeff Watters, President & CEO of Ainsworth. "At Ainsworth, our goal has been to improve the lives of pet families everywhere by making high quality pet food accessible to all pet parents. This single-minded focus has resonated with consumers and will continue to resonate under Smucker leadership."

"After five generations, our family, in partnership with L Catterton, made the decision to sell Ainsworth Pet Nutrition to The J. M. Smucker Company," said Sean Lang, Executive Chairman of Ainsworth. "We took great care to find the right home for our brands and our people, to whom we are so grateful. The J. M. Smucker Company, also a fifth-generation family company, is led by a like-minded family to our own. We expect the combined horsepower of these pet care organizations to achieve great things."

"It has been an important goal of mine to help create pet food with the same care I use when creating my recipes, as well as a brand that has been able to donate over $27 million to help animals in need," said Rachael Ray. "So I am pleased that The J. M. Smucker Company is committed not only to maintaining the high quality of the Nutrish brand, but continuing the philanthropic efforts of the brand through donations to The Rachael Ray Foundation, which helps those animals that are less fortunate than our own."

Financial Impact

The Company anticipates the acquired business to contribute net sales of approximately $800 million in the first full year after closing the transaction.

Annual cost synergies of approximately $55 million are expected to be fully realized within three years after closing, with approximately $25 million anticipated in the first year. After giving effect to the first year of synergies, the Company expects the acquired business to generate earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ("EBITDA") of approximately $110 million in the first full year after closing the transaction, excluding one-time costs, and contribute approximately $0.25 of accretion to the Company's adjusted earnings per share.

Transaction Details

The all-cash transaction, which the Company will fund with debt, is valued at $1.9 billion, prior to an expected tax benefit related to the acquisition with a present value of approximately $200 million. After factoring in the estimated tax benefit and anticipated annual cost synergies of $55 million, the purchase price represents a multiple of approximately 12 times EBITDA.

Ainsworth is a privately-held company headquartered in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In addition to its headquarters, the transaction includes two manufacturing facilities owned by Ainsworth, which are located in Meadville, Pennsylvania and Frontenac, Kansas, and a leased distribution facility in Greenville, Pennsylvania. The Company anticipates that over 700 Ainsworth employees will join the Company in conjunction with the transaction. Ainsworth operates two additional manufacturing facilities that are primarily used to provide contract manufacturing services to third-party pet food distributors. Those facilities and the associated business are not included in this transaction.

The Company expects to incur approximately $50 million in one-time costs related to the acquisition, the majority of which are expected to be cash charges. Approximately two-thirds of the one-time costs are expected to be recognized in the first year after the closing of the transaction.

The transaction is expected to close early in the Company's fiscal year beginning May 1, 2018, subject to customary closing conditions including receipt of required regulatory approvals.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch provided committed financing for the Ainsworth transaction.

Strategic Review of the Company's U.S. Baking Business

The Company is reviewing strategic options, including a potential divestiture, for its U.S. baking business that primarily encompasses products sold in U.S. retail channels under the Pillsbury, Martha White, Hungry Jack, White Lily, and Jim Dandy brands, along with all relevant trademarks and licensing agreements, and the Company's manufacturing facility in Toledo, Ohio. The Company holds a 20-year, perpetually renewable, royalty-free license for the use of the Pillsbury brand name and related trademarks, which is transferable at the Company's discretion. The Company's baking business in Canada, which consists of products primarily sold under the Carnation, Eagle Brand, Five Roses, Golden Temple, and Robin Hood brands, is excluded from this review.

The Company's U.S. baking brands are expected to generate net sales of approximately $370 million for the Company's fiscal year ending April 30, 2018, and are primarily reported in the Company's U.S. Retail Consumer Foods segment. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of the Company's 2019 fiscal year.

"We regularly review our portfolio to ensure it aligns with our strategic priorities," said Mark Smucker. "Pillsbury, Hungry Jack, and Martha White remain iconic brands, and this well-run business has been a solid contributor to our financial performance over the years. However, our current strategic priorities include an increased emphasis and allocation of resources toward growing our coffee, pet, and snacking food businesses."

There can be no assurance that the Company's exploration of strategic options will result in any transaction or other action by the Company, or the timing thereof. The Company does not intend to comment on or provide updates regarding these matters unless and until it determines that further disclosure is appropriate or required based on then-current facts and circumstances.

The J. M. Smucker Company Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, such as projected net sales, operating results, earnings, and cash flows that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements. The risks, uncertainties, important factors, and assumptions listed and discussed in this press release, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed, include: the ability of the parties to satisfy closing conditions for the Ainsworth transaction, including receipt of required regulatory approvals, without unexpected delays or conditions; the ability to successfully integrate the acquired Ainsworth business in a timely and cost-effective manner; the ability to achieve cost efficiencies in the amounts and within the time frames currently anticipated and to effectively manage the related one-time costs; the ability of the Company to successfully complete a potential divestiture of its U.S. baking business in a timely and cost-effective manner; the ability to obtain required financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; the ability to maintain an investment grade credit rating; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet deleveraging objectives; volatility of commodity, energy, and other input costs; risks associated with derivative and purchasing strategies employed to manage commodity pricing risks; the ability to implement and realize the full benefit of price changes that are intended to ultimately fully recover costs; general competitive activity in the market, including competitors' pricing practices and promotional spending levels; the loss of significant customers, a substantial reduction in orders from these customers, or the bankruptcy of any such customer; impairments in the carrying value of goodwill, other intangible assets, or other long-lived assets or changes in useful lives of other intangible assets; and risks related to other factors described under "Risk Factors" in other reports and statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made, to reflect new events or circumstances.

About The J. M. Smucker Company

For 120 years, The J. M. Smucker Company has been committed to offering consumers quality products that bring families together to share memorable meals and moments. Today, Smucker is a leading marketer and manufacturer of consumer food and beverage products and pet food and pet snacks in North America. In consumer foods and beverages, its brands include Smucker's, Folgers, Jif, Dunkin' Donuts, Crisco, Pillsbury, R.W. Knudsen Family, Hungry Jack, Cafe Bustelo, Martha White, truRoots, Sahale Snacks, Robin Hood, and Bick's. In pet food and pet snacks, its brands include Meow Mix, Milk-Bone, Kibbles 'n Bits, Natural Balance, and 9Lives. The Company remains rooted in the Basic Beliefs of Quality, People, Ethics, Growth, and Independence established by its founder and namesake more than a century ago. For more information about the Company, visit jmsmucker.com.

The J. M. Smucker Company is the owner of all trademarks referenced herein, except for the following, which are used under license: Pillsbury is a trademark of The Pillsbury Company, LLC, and Dunkin' Donuts is a registered trademark of DD IP Holder LLC.

Dunkin' Donuts brand is licensed to The J. M. Smucker Company for packaged coffee products sold in retail channels such as grocery stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, and drug stores. This information does not pertain to Dunkin' Donuts coffee or other products for sale in Dunkin' Donuts restaurants.

SOURCE The J. M. Smucker CompanyHARRISBURG, Pa., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today approved the Change of Control of the Category 3 Slot Machine Licensee Valley Forge Convention Center Partners, L.P., operator of the Valley Forge Casino Resort in Montgomery County, to Boyd Gaming Corporation.

Under the agreement approved by the Board, the license held since March 2011 by Valley Forge Convention Center Partners, L.P. will be transferred to Boyd Gaming Corporation., a publicly traded company based in Las Vegas, NV. While body Gaming operates more than 20 casinos in the United States, it is their first Pennsylvania casino property.

The Board also included in its approval that Boyd Gaming must pay to the Commonwealth a change of control fee of $1.35 million.

A PowerPoint presentation provided by representatives of Boyd Gaming is available on the Board's web site as part of the April 4, 2018 information under the Meetings tab on the PGCB's web site, www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov.

The next meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled for Wednesday, May 2, 2018 in the PGCB's Public Hearing Room located on the second floor of Strawberry Square in Harrisburg immediately following the Category 4 Casino License auction.

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board :

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is tasked to oversee all aspects of the state's casino industry, along with oversight of new gaming initiatives to the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act recently approved through the signing of Act 42 of 2017.

The Commonwealth's casino industry currently consists of 10 stand-alone and racetrack casinos in operation, along with the two smaller resort casinos. These facilities collectively employ 18,000 people and annually generate approximately $1.4 billion in tax revenue from slot machine and table games play. The largest portion of that money is used for property tax reduction to all Pennsylvania homeowners.

Additional information about both the PGCB's gaming regulatory efforts and Pennsylvania's gaming industry can be found at www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov. You can also follow the agency on Twitter by choosing @PAGamingControl.

CONTACTS: Doug Harbach or Richard McGarvey

(717) 346-8321

SOURCE Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

Related Links

https://gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov/

LOS ANGELES, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The world's most popular app for meeting new people, Tinder, has teamed up with renowned author, political commentator and progressive activist, Sally Kohn, for the release of her new book, "The Opposite of Hate."

With millions of fans between them, Tinder and Sally Kohn will celebrate their mission to end hate by hosting two star-studded karaoke events in New York and Los Angeles, with party co-chairs Katy Perry and Shonda Rhimes.

"In my fight to champion acceptance, equality and inclusivity, it was imperative for me to partner with a brand whose mission is to bring people with diverse backgrounds together, and Tinder was the obvious choice," said Sally Kohn. "With their massive and diverse user base, Tinder has facilitated more new connections among people from all walks of life than any other platform in the world."

"As one of the world's leading social platforms, our global user base is representative of many backgrounds and lifestyles," said Tinder's Head of Brand, Rosette Pambakian. "Tinder's mission is to be radically inclusive and advocate for acceptance, which perfectly aligns with Sally's unwavering dedication to perpetuate love and end hate. We are proud to stand with her in spreading this message and promoting her new book."

In "The Opposite of Hate," Kohn talks to leading scientists and researchers, investigating the evolutionary and cultural roots of hate while highlighting how we can ultimately end hate one step at a time.

While Sally Kohn is impacting the lives of her readers, Tinder is working to make the world a more inclusive place one initiative at a time. From launching More Genders (introducing more than 30 genders and the ability for users to identify in the way that best describes their gender) to petitioning Unicode to create an Interracial Couple Emoji, Tinder is working to ensure that all its users are represented and accepted.

The parties will take place on Friday, April 6 in New York at The Guggenheim Museum and Saturday, April 27 in Los Angeles at GIPHY Studios.

About Tinder

Launched in 2012, Tinder is the world's leading social app for meeting new people. With its global reach, people in more than 190 countries around the world are swiping right to connect with others. Each day, 26 million matches are made on Tinder with more than 20 billion matches made to date. In December 2014, Tinder had zero paying members and it has rapidly grown to more than 3 million subscribers today, making it a top 5 grossing non-gaming app globally.

About Sally Kohn & The Opposite of Hate

CNN's Sally Kohn has a talent for making friends across the political aisle. While establishing herself as a leading progressive voice as a commentator on Fox News, she went head-to-head with her colleagues on divisive issues, engaging in heated arguments but also developing unexpected friendships. But since the 2016 election and the epidemic of hate that surrounded it, Kohn began to wonder: Where did all this hate come from and how can we get beyond it?

Drawing upon cutting-edge research from psychology, sociology, and the neurosciences, and from examples in history and even today's twitter trolls, Kohn uncovers the evolutionary and cultural roots of hate in its most subtle and obvious forms--from implicit bias to racism to genocide. She travels across the country and worldwide for exclusive interviews with fascinating and inspiring people who have left hate behind, including a former white supremacist who is now a practicing Buddhist and a former Palestinian terrorist who now works with Israelis to forge understanding and peace. With her trademark humor, intelligence, and wit, Kohn boldly confronts her own prejudices and suggests that we all share some responsibility. She offers concrete tools for combating the crisis of hate sweeping our nation, showing readers the power of connection and our shared humanity.

At a moment when bitter partisan politics have divided Americans, The Opposite of Hate is a thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful look at one of the most pressing issues of our time.

SOURCE Tinder

Related Links

https://tinder.com

PHILADELPHIA, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Total Retail, the preeminent source for executives looking for the latest news and analysis on the retail industry, in conjunction with Radial, a leading omnichannel commerce technology and operations provider, released the 2018 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report today.

One hundred publicly traded retailers were ranked on their omnichannel efficiency. Each retailer was scored based on the omnichannel experiences they currently offer their customers, including the following seven criteria: does it offer buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS); does it offer the ability to search for in-store products on its website, including stock availability; does it offer a shared cart across sales channels; are loyalty points able to earned and redeemed across channels; are products able to be returned across channels; does it offer customer service in five or more channels; and is its product pricing consistent across channels.

"Consumers today are channel blind; they just want great retail experiences," says Melissa Campanelli, editor-in-chief/content director of Total Retail. "Retailers that persist with fragmented omnichannel strategies that ultimately don't give consumers the single, perfect experiences they crave will be left behind. This report will help retailers benchmark themselves against their competitors when it comes to the omnichannel services they offer, as well as help them create the successful omnichannel strategies they need to survive today."

Several key findings were extracted from the report. DSW and UGG tied for the top spot for the second straight year, joined in a three-way tie by newcomer LIDS. Conversely, for the second straight year, off-price retail chains can be found at the bottom of the rankings. Ross Stores, Marshalls and T.J. Maxx are all are in the bottom half of the rankings. The companies to make the biggest improvement in the rankings year-over-year include Steve Madden, Sears, and LIDS. Likewise, the companies that saw the biggest decline in their ranking year-over included Lumber Liquidators and Macy's.

Additional trends to emerge from this year's research include the proliferation of BOPIS programs. In 2017, 63 percent of the retailers studied didn't have a BOPIS program; that number was reduced to just 48 percent in 2018. Retailers are focused on increasing customer loyalty. Nearly three-quarters of the retailers enable customers to earn and redeem loyalty points across channels, increasing from 42 percent in 2017. Lastly, product returns remain a pain point for retailers. Surprisingly, the number of retailers that offer cross-channel returns decreased year-over-year (85 percent in 2017 vs. 78 percent in 2018).

In addition to the top 100 ranking, the five companies that tied for first and second places were profiled. This report serves as a blueprint for retailers on how to deliver the seamless, quick and enjoyable experiences that consumers now demand. Furthermore, retailers can also utilize the data to benchmark themselves against their competition.

Total Retail's 2018 Top 100 Omnichannel Retailers report can be downloaded for free here.

About Total Retail/NAPCO Media/Radial

Total Retail is the go-to source for retail executives looking for the latest news and analysis on the retail industry. Featuring a daily e-newsletter (Total Retail Report), daily-updated website, podcast channel, virtual and in-person events, and research reports, Total Retail offers retail executives the information they need to do their jobs more effectively and grow their professional careers. For more information, visit www.mytotalretail.com.

NAPCO Media, Total Retail's parent company, has been a leading information source in the markets it serves since 1958. NAPCO Media continues to evolve with information distribution methods and specializes in the creation and cross-channel distribution of exceptional content. Our mission is to build community between our audience and our clients. For more information, visit www.napco.com.

Radial is the leader in omnichannel commerce technology and operations, enabling brands and retailers to profitably exceed retail customer expectations. Radial's technical, powerful omnichannel solutions connect supply and demand through efficient fulfillment and transportation options, intelligent fraud, payments, and tax systems and personalized customer care services. Hundreds of retailers and brands confidently partner with Radial to simplify their post-click commerce and improve their customer experiences. For more information, visit www.radial.com.

Contact: Joe Keenan, 215-238-5435, [email protected]

SOURCE Total Retail

Related Links

http://www.mytotalretail.com

SANTA CLARA, California and BOSTON, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Trianz, a global digital transformation consulting and technology services firm, is contributing as a Sterling Sponsor towards the Massachusetts General Hospital-hosted Aspire Spring Gala, to be held on Apr. 5, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/452308/PRNE_TrianzUpdated_Logo.jpg )



Aspire is a program run by the Massachusetts General Hospital, a non-profit organization, for children, teens and adults afflicted by autism and Asperger's Syndrome to provide them with financial assistance, knowledge and other essential skills necessary to lead a complete and independent life. In its eighteenth edition this year, the Aspire Spring Gala intends to continue helping individuals with these disorders to improve their self-awareness, social competency, and stress management capabilities.

Trianz, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, consistently strives to make a difference in society by supporting community programs that are of economic, social and environmental importance.

Speaking on the sponsorship, Sri Manchala, CEO and President of Trianz, said, "We are happy to be supporting the 2018 Aspire Gala as a Sterling Sponsor, and are glad our contribution will help Aspire to extend its services to more program participants and thereby, enable them to reach their full potential."

About Aspire

Aspire is a highly successful, therapeutically-based program that serves children, teens and adults with high cognitive autism spectrum disorder and related social profiles. Additionally, the program supports more than 15 area school districts and conducts workshops serving 700 education and private sector professionals each year. Aspire works to develop participants' social skills and help them develop greater independence. For more details, please visit: https://giving.massgeneral.org/aspire-gala/

About Trianz

Trianz simplifies digital evolutions through effective strategies and excellence in execution. Collaborating with business and technology leaders, we help formulate and execute operational strategies to achieve intended business outcomes by bringing the best of consulting, technology experiences and execution models. Powered by knowledge, research, and perspectives, we enable clients to transition to a digital enterprise by leveraging Cloud, Analytics, Digital, Infrastructure and Security paradigms. With offices in Silicon Valley, Washington DC Metro, Rosemont, Chicago, Austin, Boston, Denver, Irvine, Raleigh, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Dubai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, we serve Fortune 1000 and emerging organizations across industries globally. For more information, visit http://www.trianz.com.

Trianz Media Team

[email protected]

+1-408-387-5800



SOURCE TrianzThe well-known Chinese media proprietor, journalist, and talk show hostess Yang Lan also visited as a guest and witnessed the multi-party cooperation ceremony.

DaDaABC, based in Shanghai, provides fixed one-on-one online English teaching services for children ranging from 4-16 years old. It received around 100 million USD in the round C financing from Tiger Global and TAL Education Group in Jan 2018.

According to Zhi Hui, the Founder & CEO of DaDaABC: "This cooperation is a symbol of upgrading our industry value chain, and it is an attempt for us to transform from knowledgeable provider to service supplier through strategic integration. We have always been committed to providing our students with a learning experience that is up to international standards to enhance their competitiveness on the global stage."

Experts in the education field have commented that this teaching material not only helps children acquire literacy skills but also plays a role in enriching children's worldview, which has a significant influence on their future.

Shawn Clark, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at McGraw-Hill Education emphasized: "As a company, we are very careful about choosing partners that align with our "Wonders" teaching methods and curriculum. DaDaABC's leading one-on-one teaching model and advanced technology, together with our teaching materials based on our learning science principles, can help ensure the highest level of student performance. We are confident DaDaABC will be an excellent partner. We also want to thank DaDaABC for choosing us to be their partner."

DaDaABC has successively reached long-term strategic cooperation with internationally renowned publishers such as National Geographic Learning and Oxford University Press, and successively introduced the "Primary Longman Express" and "Oxford Reading Tree" and other authoritative original English textbooks. DaDaABC has also jointly set up the DaDaABC Anti-piracy Alliance with these renowned publishers to raise awareness of copyright protection and set a model for the industry.

Analysts generally believe that DaDaABC's teaching methods and research never seek the easiest way. The fixed one-on-one teaching pattern has already been challenging for operations, and the insistence on using excellent original materials is another tough path to take. However, Mrs.Zhi and their team stressed: "Though the negotiation process has never been easy, we still stick to what we believe - delivering a true online school based on core education principles. This is our original intention. No matter how hard it would be, we will all keep going."

DaDaABC is now the No. 1 education brand in China, with the most powerful partner network of world-renowned publishers and the largest platform with worldwide original English teaching materials. Its word-of-mouth reputation, conversion rates, course completion rates consumption rates, and renewal rates also make DaDaABC stand out from other brands in the same industry.

Another focus of the press conference was the exclusive strategic cooperation between DaDaABC and Mad Science, which specializes in the field of children's STEM education worldwide.

Mad Science originated from Canada and is a world-renowned, child-focused scientific education institution equipped with advanced scientific teaching facilities and course systems. Commenting on its strategic collaboration with DaDaABC, Sophie Huang, CEO of Mad Science mentioned: "Our views on education are very much consistent with those of DaDaABC. This partnership signifies our integration of online and offline education and provides our children with a more comprehensive and interactive course with a science and language learning experience."

Mad Science's decision to collaborate with DaDaABC largely relies on their belief that DaDaABC's advanced AI and online-streaming technologies can help Mad Science users enjoy an enhanced learning experience.

Moreover, this strategic partnership conference helps convey DaDaABC's philosophy to the public: DaDaABC is not only a platform that is equipped with valuable resources, including professional foreign teacher resources, excellent original teaching materials, and authoritative assessment systems, but it's also an aggregator that brings together multiple service ends of the industry to form a terminal service end matrix to connect these resources with their exclusive fixed one-on-one teaching methods.

Mrs. Zhi remarked: "I particularly value the customized, one-on-one online content of "Wonders" and the exclusive partnership built up with Mad Science. I have always believed that the fundamental logic behind an education platform is particularly important, as well as the teaching methodology and user experience. Some people said that we should be fully prepared for rapid expansion, however, I think we should be prepared to stay patient and operate carefully because we have to be responsible to our students and parents. Respecting the rules of education has always been at the core of our company, and although we value technology and have greatly invested in this domain, I still believe that education matters the most and should be our foundation. Only in this way, can we help empower our children."

While speaking about the future development of DaDaABC, Mrs. Zhi mentioned: "We are grateful for all the support we have gained from our valuable partners, and we want to thank them for choosing DaDaABC. We will continue to seek more collaborations, not necessarily for the purpose of competition but for the goal of combining each parties' strengths to benefit our children who are the future of our country, and it's of our responsibility to make a contribution."

Background Introduction:

About DaDaABC

DaDaABC is a professional organization specializing in K12 online English education. After years of development, DaDaABC has formed key advantages, including self-research, a network of foreign teachers in Europe and the United States, a one-on-one fixed teaching model, a graded curriculum, diversified course categories and fully functional coverage of mobile terminals. Its "100% Transparent Classroom" system allows parents to monitor their children's learning using mobile devices anytime, anywhere, and achieve efficient, convenient and personalized home-school collaboration.

DaDaABC is committed to building an "international school without walls" and always adheres to the teaching-oriented principle, through the establishment of "Brain Spark." By collaborating with the Highlights Press, McGraw-Hill Education, and FLTRP, they can import qualified teaching content such as PLE, Reach, Highlights and a number of authoritative tutorials (including electronic versions), and training and evaluating systems. It maintains parity with schools from domestic first-tier cities as well as private schools from Hong Kong in terms of teaching resources.

In 2015, DaDaABC obtained round A financing from Dragon Capital, Pegasus Fund, and Qingsong Fund. In 2016, DaDaABC gained hundreds of millions of yuan in round B funding from Yonghua Capital. In December of the same year, it also raised a few hundred million yuan in round B+ financing led primarily by Oriental Fortune Capital. Among them, Yonghua Capital ranked third place with the most IPO exits of domestic VC/PE institutions in the first half year of 2017, and the total amount of funds managed by the Oriental Fortune Capital exceeded RMB 20 billion. In January 2018, DaDaABC gained 100 million U.S. dollars in round C financing jointly invested by the world-famous hedge fund Global Tiger Fund and the domestic education giant TAL Education Group, becoming one of the industry's invisible unicorns.

About McGraw-Hill Education

McGraw-Hill Education is a learning science company that delivers personalized learning experiences to help students, parents, educators and professionals drive results. McGraw-Hill Education has offices across North America, India, China, Europe, the Middle East and South America. It publishes learning materials in over 60 languages. https://www.mheducation.com/

About Mad Science

Mad Science is a children-focused Canadian Science Education brand and was introduced to China in 2013. Their products include Magical Scientist, which was dedicated to providing Chinese kids aged between 3-12 with interesting and interactive science learning experiences and global education resources. Their courses are all under the guidelines of the STEM learning approach and U.S. teaching methods. Now, plenty of international schools in China have started their after-class lessons with Magical Scientist from Mad Science; the Mad Science courses in Shanghai were launched with lesson topics authorized by NASA.

SOURCE DaDaABCMINNETONKA, Minn., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- UnitedHealthcare with Global Healthcare Resources has launched the Step Up for Better Health Sweepstakes, a national initiative to encourage walking and in support of Boys & Girls Clubs.

The sweepstakes celebrates National Walking Day (April 4) and runs throughout Move More Month (April), enabling people to become eligible for a chance to win one of hundreds of walking-related prizes, including:

Grand Prizes : Apple Watch (10 available);

: Apple Watch (10 available); First Prizes : $100 gift cards to Foot Locker (100 available); and

: gift cards to Foot Locker (100 available); and Family Prizes: NERF ENERGY Game Kits (100 available).

People can sign the pledge to walk more and enter the sweepstakes at uhcwalkingmaps.com, an online resource that provides information about the potential health benefits of walking and offers 10,000-step walking routes in more than 50 cities, helping people visualize what that distance looks like in their local areas*. UnitedHealthcare will donate $1 on behalf of each of the first 25,000 people to sign the pledge to Boys & Girls Clubs to help reduce childhood obesity and encourage kids to become more active.

Studies have shown walking can help people maintain a healthier weight, strengthen bones, ward off depression and prevent or manage various chronic conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

"We hope our Step Up for Better Health Sweepstakes helps encourage people to become more active and use walking as a way to improve their health," said Sam Ho, M.D., chief medical officer of UnitedHealthcare. "Walking can be a simple, accessible and effective way for most people to help improve their well-being, so we encourage all who are capable to get or stay active in April and year round."

UnitedHealthcare offers various wellness programs that help encourage people to take charge of their health**.

For example, UnitedHealthcare Motion is a digital wellness program that provides eligible plan participants access to wearable devices that may enable them to earn more than $1,000 per plan year by meeting certain daily walking goals***. Through the program, enrollees will later this year have the option to receive and start using Apple Watch (initially paying only tax and shipping), and apply program earnings toward the full purchase price of the device.

UnitedHealthcare Motion is available to employers with self-funded and fully insured health plans nationwide. The program may enable employees to earn up to $4 per day in financial incentives based on achieving "FIT" goals, which stands for:

Frequency: complete 500 steps within seven minutes six times per day, at least an hour apart;

complete 500 steps within seven minutes six times per day, at least an hour apart; Intensity : complete 3,000 steps within 30 minutes; and

: complete 3,000 steps within 30 minutes; and Tenacity: complete at least 10,000 total steps each day.

Since UnitedHealthcare Motion's inception, participants have collectively walked more than 180 billion steps and earned nearly $30 million in rewards. Among eligible employees, 66 percent registered their devices, with more than two-thirds of those active with the program.

UnitedHealthcare developed the program in collaboration with Qualcomm Life, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, and leverages its open ecosystem of integrated devices. The program uses Qualcomm Life's medical-grade connectivity and expertise in HIPAA-compliant, secure data transmission from integrated devices to UnitedHealthcare via the program's mobile app.

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.2 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter.

CONTACT:

Will Shanley

UnitedHealthcare

(714) 204-8005

[email protected]

*Check with your doctor to determine what activity level is right for you.

** Participation in any UnitedHealthcare product or program is not a requirement to participate in the sweepstakes.

***Financial incentives may be less due to limits under applicable laws.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. Open to legal residents of 50 U.S. and D.C., 18 or older. To Enter: Visit www.UHCWalkingmaps.com ("Website") between 12:01 AM CT on 3/29/18 and 11:59 PM CT on 4/30/18, follow online instructions, and agree to take the "Step Up for Better Health" Pledge to be healthier. Prizes: Grand (10): Apple Watch (ARV $329); First (100): $100 Foot Locker gift card; Second (100): NERF ENERGY kit (ARV $35). Limit 1 entry per person. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received for each drawing. See Website for drawing dates, details, limitations & Official Rules. United HealthCare Services, Inc., Minnetonka, MN 55343

SOURCE Global Healthcare ResourcesCHICAGO, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- UpCity, the leading online marketplace for growth-minded small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) seeking vetted marketing agencies and professionals, announced that its team of analysts will be working closely with Columbus marketing firms to curate, research, and qualify the best performers, culminating in its announcement of its 2018 Top Agency curated lists on April 17th. The 2018 Top Agencies List will give Columbus SMBs the most transparent and thorough means of finding trusted and reviewed marketing services providers. In addition, Columbus marketing agencies and professionals also benefit from UpCity's all-in-one platform to reach as many as 150,000 qualified new business prospects monthly, locally and nationally.

According to a recent Forrester study, close to 75% of people use online search and marketplaces to find services and products, and this trend is impacting business purchases as well, with companies searching an average of 11 times prior to visiting a business site. In addition, online reviews are trusted by businesses 12 times more than product descriptions.

Now time-pressed SMBs in Columbus have a simple way to find vetted specialists in marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), PPC (pay-per-click), web design and public relations. UpCity has developed a proprietary methodology and algorithm to create clarity for SMBs seeking reliable, strong marketing pros. At the same time. UpCity offers a path to hassle-free growth for those marketing providers, via a stream of ready-to-act SMBs, much the way OpenTable works for restaurants and Match.com brings together people seeking relationships, based on interests.

UpCity consultants will be working with regional agencies and professionals to identify and validate the top performers, in preparation for the April 17th announcement.

Dan Olson, UpCity Co-founder and CEO, said Columbus' hundreds of thousands of small businesses are like so many across the country which seek marketing help and direction. He notes, "The majority of small to medium-sized business owners know they need to invest in marketing in order to grow, but don't know where to turn. Providing them with access to validated marketing providers saves them time and gives them confidence in stepping forward. It's also rewarding that we can match those marketing professionals with business decision-makers committed to executing marketing programs."

According to the 2018 Hubspot Agency Growth Report, the majority (60%) of agencies and service providers cite getting new customers as "their biggest pain" and 55% "need more sales and marketing" to hit their goals. With approximately 150,000 ready-to-act SMBs turning to UpCity per month, the platform is delivering on its promise to solve the biggest marketing challenges both sides of this marketplace share.

About UpCity

Now in its seventh year, UpCity covers 300+ local US markets and Canada, ranging from major cities, like New York, to cities of approximately 75,000 people. With 150,000 small-to-medium businesses coming to its marketplace monthly and having vetted and validated over 15,000 agencies, UpCity is the most trusted, and most turned-to, source for local businesses seeking digital marketing agencies and professionals to help them meet expansion and customer acquisition goals.

UpCity helps agencies grow and run their businesses, via strategic counsel, scalable revenue and marketing services, and operations tools.

CONTACT: Jim D'Arcangelo, SVP, Growth Marketing [email protected] 215.520.7579

SOURCE UpCity

Related Links

http://www.upcity.com

"Our bridge loan program offers short-term, non-recourse loans for multifamily properties that are being repositioned as part of a new business strategy," said Sandor Biderman , senior vice president and chief production officer at Walker & Dunlop. "Being one of the largest multifamily lenders in the country  and having completed more than $1.3 billion in bridge loans since the inception of the program  we have the experience to deliver flexible solutions that meet our customers' varying needs."

Built in 1967 and renovated in 2007, Zen Apollo is a Class B, 274-unit, mixed-use apartment community with an ideal location in Washington, D.C. Nestled between the Logan Circle and City Center neighborhoods, the property enjoys immediate access to public transportation and nearby amenities such as restaurants, nightlife, grocery stores, and upscale retail. Local attractions include the Smithsonian Museums, National Monuments, and the White House.

1801 L Street, located in midtown Sacramento, California, is a mixed-use apartment community with five stories and 176 units. Built in 2006, the property sits on 1.77 acres adjacent to two of the highest-income neighborhoods in the city. The property also features excellent access to major thoroughfares and the heart of Sacramento. 1801 L Street's amenity package includes a pool, spa, concierge, dry cleaning service, gym, as well as several penthouse units.

The agreement with Walker & Dunlop will allow each borrower to refinance the properties with a 12-month term, flexible prepayment options, and a competitive rate. Both properties are well-positioned with ample time to convert to permanent HUD financing in early 2018.

This agreement is the latest example of the company's commitment to preserve and develop new housing opportunities in thriving communities across the nation. Brian V. Casey, senior vice president and head of the bridge loan program at Walker & Dunlop stated, "Our team has experience in markets spanning from coast to coast. Our ability to complete transactions both in California and Washington, D.C. within such a short period of time exemplifies the broad reach of our national production platform."

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the largest commercial real estate services and finance companies in the United States providing financing and investment sales to owners of multifamily and commercial properties. Walker & Dunlop, which is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, has over 600 professionals in 28 offices across the nation with an unyielding commitment to client satisfaction.

SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.walkerdunlop.com

DENVER, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Welltok, the leading enterprise Software as a Service company for consumer health, announced today that it raised $75 million in a Series E2 funding round with participation from new and existing investors. The financing will carry Welltok through its next phase of growth as well as support continued product development, expansion in new market segments and integration of acquired assets and capabilities.

"What continues to attract investors and customers is the depth and breadth of our platform and services, and our ability to deliver an unparalleled personalized experience for consumers on behalf of their sponsors," said Jeff Margolis, Welltok's chairman and CEO. "No other company has the full spectrum of capabilities required to make big data small in a way that allows organizations to proactively manage the health of a population  one consumer at a time."

Welltok's consumer activation platform systematically applies machine learning to both healthcare and non-healthcare data to understand and predict individual needs. It then connects consumers with relevant ROI-based programs and resources that ultimately activate and engage consumers in their health. Additionally, the company's technology-enabled services leverage advanced analytics and multi-channel communications to reach consumers in ways that they are most likely to be receptive and take action. By optimizing health programming and activating consumers, Welltok powers growth and retention initiatives, impacts healthcare cost trends and defragments the consumer experience for leading payers, employers, health systems, pharma and health services companies.

The additional funding is another significant milestone for Welltok, which won global recognition for its security and privacy capabilities last month. The company also recently acquired Tea Leaves Health, an analytics and consumer marketing technology platform used by 30 percent of the top health systems. The strategic combination is helping propel Welltok's growth in the provider market while enhancing insights derived from consumer and medical data sets. Welltok's proprietary data set, combined with sponsor-provided data, creates the industry's most comprehensive view that informs program design and drives consumer activation.

Participants in the funding round include new investors Future Fund Management Agency, Ziff Davis, NF Trinity Capital (Hong Kong) Limited and ITOCHU Corporation. Additionally, the vast majority of existing investors demonstrated their continued enthusiasm for the Welltok vision, including strong participation from New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners and Georgian Partners.

About Welltok, Inc.

Welltok, the leading consumer health enterprise Software as a Service company, is on a mission to empower consumers to achieve their optimal health. Its award-winning CafeWell Health Optimization Platform connects consumers with available and relevant benefits, resources and rewards by designing personalized action plans. Additionally, the company's technology-enabled services leverage both advanced analytics to derive meaningful consumer insights and multi-channel communications to reach consumers through the right channel with the right message. Welltok drives greater consumer engagement and healthcare value for customers across the healthcare continuum including payers, employers, pharmacy retailers and health systems. Follow Welltok on Twitter @Welltok.

Media Contact:

Erica Sniad Morgenstern

415.697.3496

[email protected]

SOURCE Welltok

Related Links

http://www.welltok.com

SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- XOJET, the leader in on-demand private jet travel, signs an official partnership with Monticello Motor Club, the world's premier automotive playground and private race track. The news follows XOJET's elevated investment into its branded client franchise and commercial retail enterprise, continuing to create robust membership benefits for XOJET Access Solutions program clients.

"Our elite members enjoy a wide variety of activities and we are committed to providing them access to exclusive opportunities. Monticello Motor Club is a world class facility that matches XOJET's commitment to unparalleled service and experience," said James Henderson, president of commercial operations for XOJET.

XOJET Elite Access and XOJET Preferred Access program members will now receive track access at Monticello Motor Club (MMC) through the "Taste the Track" driving experience. The opportunity allows XOJET clients to experience life as a MMC member and enjoy the thrill of high-performance driving on the 4.1-mile course. As the official private jet partner for Monticello Motor Club, MMC members will receive value-added benefits with XOJET, such as special introductory pricing for charter or XOJET Access Solutions membership.

"Our members travel to MMC from various parts of the country  even the world  and it's important that we provide them the convenience of access to exclusive transportation options like those provided by XOJET," said Ari Straus, Monticello Motor Club CEO and managing partner. "XOJET provides the very best in client-centered aviation services, and our members deserve nothing less."

Monticello Motor Club joins XOJET's robust partnership network of world-renowned brands including Pinehurst Resort, Canyon Ranch, Butterfield & Robinson, Mandarin Oriental, Hertz, Creative Artists Agency, Etihad Airways, Pebble Beach Resorts, Yellowstone Club and Vail Mountain & Beaver Creek Resort.

"Offering our clients the ability to enjoy exclusive benefits underscores our understanding of what luxury and value mean in today's on-demand economy," remarked Henderson.

XOJET Access Solutions members receive priority to the country's largest on-demand fleet of Challenger 300 and Citation X super-mid jets even on peak days, access to a charter-brokerage network of 1,200 varying cabin-sized aircrafts, a 24/7 dedicated Aviation Advisor, and flight rewards of up to 4%.

For more information visit: xojet.com/monticellomotorclub

About XOJET

Founded in 2006, XOJET is the largest on-demand private aviation services platform in North America, blending the expertise of a fleet owner-operator with the client-centric approach of a leading brokerage. Built upon the foundation of trusted advice and personalized service, the company now serves over 5,000 businesses and individual clients. XOJET owns and operates the largest on-demand fleet of Bombardier Challenger 300 and Cessna Citation X super mid-size private jets. The company also offers a suite of industry-leading membership programs, providing XOJET clients with preferential fleet access and pricing, a broad range of value-added travel services, and access to a portfolio of world-class and distinguished brands. XOJET's commitment to safety has earned the industry's highest ratings, including ARGUS Platinum, Wyvern Wingman and ISBAO Stage III. XOJET is principally owned by TPG and Mubadala Investment Company, two of the most successful private capital investment firms globally. For more information, please visit www.xojet.com.

About Monticello Motor Club

Monticello Motor Club, the world's Premier Automotive Country Club and Private Race Track, features 4.1 miles of smooth race-grade asphalt dedicated to the driving pleasure of its members  individuals and families who are passionate about motorsports, who relish the driving experience, and who seek a place of belonging among like-minded people. In its 10th year and just 90 minutes from New York City, MMC is more than a race track. It is a luxury family destination with an array of services and amenities. For more information, please visit www.monticellomotorclub.com.

Contact: Caitlin Sawyer, 212.868.1900 x602, [email protected]

SOURCE XOJET

Related Links

http://www.xojet.com

NEWTOWN, Pa., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Xyntek, a Global Leader in IT, Automation, & Compliance solutions have committed to participate in several upcoming industry technology shows and conferences in the upcoming months. The shows and conferences range in size and agenda, and will involve roundtable discussions along with live demonstrations of the company's core capabilities. Xyntek will be showcasing their latest technologies and solutions specifically in the areas of Pharmaceutical Track & Trace (Serialization), Machine Vision, Collaborative Robotics, Big Data & Analytics, Industry 4.0 / IIoT integrated solutions, and Biometrics.

Xyntek will be showcasing their latest technologies and solutions specifically in the areas of Pharmaceutical Track & Trace (Serialization), Machine Vision, Collaborative Robotics, Big Data & Analytics, Industry 4.0 / IIoT integrated solutions, and Biometrics.

First up is the premier AIA event, The Vision Show , from April 10-12th at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA. With the growing presence of digitized manufacturing processes and facilities that can benefit from robotics, machine vision, and smart manufacturing, Xyntek's booth will be a huge attraction at the show, as they will be exhibiting their latest advanced machine vision and collaborative robots integrated solutions. The Vision Show is where great networking opportunities, collaborative discussions surrounding the latest machine vision, imaging components, and solutions take place. Registration is found at The Vision Show Registration.

On April 17th - 19th, Xyntek and Antares Vision, will be exhibiting at Interphex at the Javits Center in New York City. Interphex (International Pharmaceutical Expo) is the premier pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device development and manufacturing event where you can "Experience Science through Commercialization". With drug counterfeiting on the rise globally and regulatory deadlines continuing throughout the coming years, the Xyntek and Antares Vision booth will feature Live Demonstrations of Antares Vision's turnkey and industry leading Track & Trace solutions. The Xyntek experts will be presenting solutions centered around serialization and aggregation on the plant floor, along with the full software solution for managing serialized product through the supply chain. Registration is open at Interphex Registration.

Xyntek will be showcasing their Packaging Technology Solutions and associated Manufacturing Automation capabilities at two Pack Expo events:

Pack Expo East will be held April 16 th - 18 th at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

will be held at the in Philadelphia. Pack Expo International will be held October 14 th - 17th at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago , Illinois.

These premier Processing and Packaging Expos let visitors explore an incredible 1.2+ million net square feet of exhibits, while examining the latest machines and solutions in the Packaging Industry. Registration is open directly at Pack Expo Registration.

Mac Hashemian, P.E., CEO of Xyntek explains, "Xyntek's investments in the upcoming conferences, shows, and memberships aligned in our core technical & business process competencies, demonstrates our commitments to our customers and our partners. By participating and taking active roles in these events and industry alliances, we able to offer our insights, lessons learned, and recommendations to others in the space. Allowing us to better understand the needs and concerns of our customers, as it relates to regulations and advances in technology is on top of our priorities for the year. We encourage all within the industry to register for these fantastic shows, and engage in collective conversations with your peers, colleagues, vendors, and industry experts on the various solutions and offerings available in the Industry. "

About Xyntek

Founded in 1986 by a group of Real-Time Automation & System Solution Engineers, Xyntek, Inc. is a Global Leader in Real-Time IT and Industrial Automation solutions and continues to be an industry leading Turnkey Systems engineering firm for Serialization and Track & Trace globally. Since 2012, Xyntek has been the exclusive North America Partner and Distributor of Antares Vision technology.

Xyntek's business is based on providing high-end technical services & solutions that allow our customers to maximize the benefits of IT and Automation technologies, while adhering with regulatory mandates. The innovation and creativity that we bring to each client opportunity is based on a combination of industry-specific technical knowledge and business processes. Our real-time turn-key design & implementation services are utilized by the world's top companies looking for an edge in the dynamic and quickly evolving global business & technology environment.

Xyntek Contact :

Paul Demetriou

Xyntek, Inc.

(215) 493-7091

[email protected]

www.xyntekinc.com

SOURCE Xyntek, Inc.Rental markets appear to be easing, with weekly rents rising 1.1% over the March 2018 quarter compared with a growth rate of 1.5% over the March 2017 quarter.

This slowing trend in rental growth is evident across five of the eight capital cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin and Canberra, according to CoreLogic.

On an annual basis, Sydney is the only capital city where weekly rents are increasing at a slower rate relative to the same period a year ago.

CoreLogic's Tim Lawless attributes the slowdown in rental conditions to the combination of record levels of new dwelling construction over recent years, higher than average levels of investment which supports the introduction of rental stock, and diminished rental demand as more first home buyers become active in the housing market.

He said with dwelling values slipping lower across most cities, and rents gradually tracking higher in most markets, rental yields have seen some upwards pressure - albeit from a low base in some cities.



Darwin remains the highest yielding capital city.

Despite a 1.6% fall in weekly rents across Darwin over the past twelve months, gross rental yields (5.8%) remain the highest of any capital city due to the fact that dwelling values are falling at faster rate than weekly rents. Hobart is also showing a high gross rental yield profile, averaging 5.0%.

Weekly rents were up 11.7% across Hobart over the past twelve months, which is a slightly lower rate of growth than housing values; as a consequence, Hobart yields remain high but have trended lower over the year.Childrens publisher Toon Books is marking its 10th anniversary with the release of The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America, a bilingual graphic novel for young readers by Jaime Hernandez, co-creator of the acclaimed Love and Rockets indie comics series.

The book, which launches today, includes a story adapted by co-author Alma Flor Ada and an introduction by co-author F. Isabel Campoy. The Dragon Slayer is being published simultaneously in hardcover and paperback, and in English- and Spanish-language editions.

An Eisner and Harvey Award-winning cartoonist, Jaime Hernandez, along with his brother Gilbert (the two are informally known as Los Bros), was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame last year for their work on Love and Rockets, the comics series aimed at adults that launched in 1981.

While Jaimes comics have often included passages designed to resemble kids comics, The Dragon Slayer will be his first work conceived and produced specifically for children. During a Skype interview from his studio in California, Hernandez said that Toon Book publisher Francoise Mouly asked him to do a kids books years ago. Childrens authors Ada and Campoy, who are also Latin American literary scholars, were brought in to adapt one of the stories for Hernandez, and to provide an introduction and overview of the stories and their place in Latin American culture.

I held off for years [doing a childrens comic] but I thought now was the time to do it, Hernandez told PW. I have kid [characters] in my adult comics, but they play by my rules. Now that Im writing for children, Im playing by their rules. I was a little nervous because now Im speaking directly to kids and to the parents who will let them read [the book].

The Dragon Slayer is the title story in this collection of classic folk tales from Mexico. The three stories were chosen by Hernandez in consultation with Mouly, who supplied him with a reference book, Latin Folk Tales from Around the World, from which to choose the works. Hernandez says he has always been interested in Latin American folk tales, but the three stories selected were all new to me. I had never read any of them, but they had that ring of truth that I connected to my own childhood.

He was attracted to these stories because, he said, they are so crazy. But he also explained that the characters in two of the stories reminded him of his own iconic characters, Maggie and Hopey, the female stars of Love and Rockets. Indeed, the women and girls in these folk tales steal the show, and they do the same thing in my comics, he said.

In the title story, The Dragon Slayer, a resourceful and kind girl is forced out of her home by her three jealous sisters, like a Latina Cinderella. She eventually manages to marry a prince, but only after defeating a dragon and saving the prince, all by herself.

 The Dragon Slayer stood out, Hernandez said. Its a princess story but the princess has to do everything. She was Cinderella but she had to work to get everything she wanted. She reminds me of my character, Maggie. She always wants to fix things.

In the story Martina Martinez and Perez the Mouse, the heroine, Martina, rejects every suitor, eventually marrying a sweet little mouse (hey, its a folk tale). But one day, while shes cooking, her tiny husband falls into a big pot of soup. All the neighbors offer sympathy but no one actually provides any assistance. Sympathy but no help, Hernandez noted with a laugh. Thats life. Its a funny and old-fashioned kind of story.

Hernandez said that Archie, Dennis the Menace, Hot Stuff, and Richie Rich were among his favorite kids comic books when he was growing up. His adult comics are noted for a drawing style influenced by those series. Sometimes his adult comics feature passages that use what he calls his Charlie Brown style, which features a simplified style referencing the work of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz. I went with a more cartoony style for these stories. It just feels right.

Asked what he expected children to take away from these classic folk stories, Hernandez said, I just hope they like the imagination of the stories, like I did when I was a kid, for the sheer wackiness about them, without anyone getting hurt.

The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America by Jaime Hernandez. Toon, $16.95 Apr. 3 ISBN 978-1-943145-28-7The following is an editorial from the April 15, 1968, issue of Publishers Weekly, written by the magazine's then editor-in-chief Chandler B. Grannis. The piece, titled "Can Violence Be Denied Its Victory?," was written in response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was fatally shot in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968.

Modern Americans like to think of their society as one marked by scientific achievement and the advance of humanistic culture. But once again we have seen this pretension brutally shattered. Once again the American heritage of violenceperpetuated by nostalgic tradition, racial fear, a confusing war, misapplied nationalism, and television programminghas struck down one of our noblest and most needed citizens.

In expressing the nation's shock over the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, the President said that violence must be denied its victory. This can only come about, however, when the people---businessmen, workmen, writers, scientists, all of usinsist on takingand paying forthose practical steps toward social construction to which Dr. King devoted his life.

The need for these steps is rendered all the more poignant by the fact that, as unrest mounts in many cities, some of the very measures in question are being cut back by Congress and state legislators.

As more than one observer has pointed out, Congress has just slashed a whole series of programs necessary for the betterment of educational and employment opportunities. Children and young people are chief victims. The Headstart program for overcoming some of the worst handicaps under which poor children begin school is being cut back in Congress by $27-million; health centers by another $27-million; legal services by $9-million; community action support by $30-million; the Neighborhood Youth program by another $30-million; the Job Corps by $10-million; Work Experience projects by $25-million.

Recently, even those who are most committed to vigorous educational programs have been in retreat. Under the Office of Education budget proposals, Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (PW, March 4 [1968]) may be cut about 53.5%---or over $53-million---for fiscal 1968; and Title III of the National Defense Education Act, a title which involves matching funds from the states, may drop 80%, or over $60-million.

Congressional pressures are towards further slashes. It is hardly surprising if such moves are regarded as almost deliberate slaps at the poor, the critics, and the Negro community.

Good will, to be sure, has been expressed. Counter to the terrible episodes of burning and looting and shooting, there have been spontaneous demonstrations of friendship and concern. A fine example was, on Palm Sunday, the "Walk for Understanding" in Newark, New Jersey, which brought out 25,000 people, white and black, from the homes and churches of the city and all its polite suburbs, to march through riot-torn areas.

Such demonstrations, matched in many other places, may make the climate a little easier for peaceful improvement. But will these gestures be followed by meaningful legislative action?

Specifically, can bookmen and other people of good will help mobilize the pressures that will restore cuts in educational and library programs, in youth projects, in job training?

In his most famous speech, Dr. King spoke of the modest but unattained dreams he had for America. They were dreams not for his race alone, but for all those to whom much hope has been extended and then denied.

Bookmen, concerned as they are with education and with the opportunities that depend upon reading and learning, have a particular role in seeing that violence shall not have a victory, and that the reasonable dreams of a great America will come true.

Chandler B. Grannis was the editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly at the time of this writing. He died in 2002 at the age of 90.EUROSTAR trains start to run regularly between London and Amsterdam today. The departure of the 08.31 from St Pancras International marks the first extension of Eurostar services to a new country since the original routes to France and Belgium were launched in 1994.

The addition of Rotterdam and Amsterdam to the Eurostar network has been discussed for many years, but has only became technically possible with the arrival of the new Siemens Velaro e320 sets, which are compatible with the Dutch traction current and signalling systems.

From now on there will be two departures a day from London to the Netherlands, calling at Brussels, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The return journey must be made for the time being on a Thalys service, with a change to a London-bound Eurostar at Brussels. Eurostar hopes that talks between the Dutch and British governments will result in international boarding areas, complete with passport controls and immigration checks, being made available at Amsterdam and Rotterdam in due course.

Eurostars new chief executive Mike Cooper said: The departure of our first commercial service to Amsterdam represents a historic milestone for Eurostar and the growth of international high speed rail. With the Netherlands becoming increasingly popular as a business and tourism destination, the potential for our new route is significant and we look forward to offering our customers a fast, seamless connection between these key European cities.

Although international routes have been open access since 2010, no competitor has yet challenged Eurostar in London. Deutsche Bahn announced its intention to start running to London after a DB Intercity train staged a ceremonial visit to St Pancras in October 2010, but services from Germany have yet to begin.Spanish public broadcaster RTVE and Mexicos Canal Once have inked an agreement to exchange original video content.





Through the deal, which will initially last until the end of 2018, both broadcasters will also consider the possibility of co-producing new formats.This deal is very important for our network as it will enable us to continue meeting the audience demands, said Jimena Saldana, director, Canal Once.This alliance has been formed following months of intense work between both broadcasters. Were going through an increasing globalisation of the TV market and public networks have to work together, added Eladio Jareno, director, TVE, RTVEs TV division.Based in Mexico City, Canal Once , which is owned by the Instituto Politecnico Nacional, is available throughout Mexico and part of the US thanks to local agreements with DIRECTV and VEMOX, among other platforms.Australian free-to-air broadcaster Channel Nine has been banned from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, after flouting strict broadcast rules.





The network aired behind-the-scenes footage of the dress rehearsal of the event, despite a media blackout respected by 16,000 volunteers and spectators at the rehearsal, organisers said. Details were supposedly kept under wraps for the opening of the Commonwealth Games on 4 April.Channel Nine, however, aired mobile phone footage on its 6pm news on Sunday 1 April  a move the network has since acknowledged to be an error. The network aired behind-the-scenes footage of the dress rehearsal of the event, despite a media blackout respected by 16,000 volunteers and spectators at the rehearsal, organisers said.The broadcasters media accreditation has been withdrawn until Thursday (5 April), with a decision on whether to lift the ban then expected today (4 April).There has to be a consequence, the same way theres a consequence for athletes and officials  there needs to be accountability in the media, said Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Corporation chief executive Mark Peters. Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive David Grevemberg said: When people are given privilege to come in and watch an event and they break the rules with that, thats not high performance  thats infringing the spirit which these Games really represent.Channel Nine said it is in discussions with the Commonwealth Games authorities, and hopes to have the situation resolved ASAP.As an indication of just how far mobile video has travelled, literally, the forthcoming NAB Show will feature a custom 11-seat vehicle, dubbed the Next Gen TV Autonomous Transport.





The vehicle will display local broadcasts powered by the newly released ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmission standard while shuttling attendees between the Central and South Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC).The van, supplied by Keolis North America, will include LG Electronics ATSC 3.0 television receivers and monitors that will display live broadcasts over the air from an experimental Sinclair Broadcast Group Next Gen TV transmitter facility more than ten miles away. The shuttle will transport attendees from the southwest corner of the outdoor/mobile media exhibits to the South Hall during exhibit hours beginning at noon on Monday 9 April.Once again, NAB Show is the place to see groundbreaking technology applied in new ways, said NAB CTO Sam Matheny. This is the first time an autonomous vehicle and Next Gen TV have been combined to provide a powerful glimpse of the future. Riding in a driver-less vehicle is a revealing moment for people to see where the future of mobility is taking us, and viewing live HD broadcasts while doing so really highlights one of the great opportunities that broadcasters have in deploying the ATSC 3.0 standard.An identical but stationary shuttle will be featured in the Road to ATSC 3.0 exhibit in the Central Hall Lobby, co-sponsored by NAB , the Consumer Technology Association and the Advanced Television Systems Committee. In addition to highlighting the mobile reception capabilities of ATSC 3.0, the exhibit will showcase demonstrations of next-gen capabilities, including UltraHD TV, HDR video, immersive audio, and personalised and addressable content.The key to success for ATSC 3.0 is the standards flexibility, said LG Electronics USA SVP of public affairs John Taylor. Broadcasting high-definition pictures to moving vehicles like this  as well as Ultra HD to fixed receivers, interactive services, advanced emergency alerting and other advanced features of the standard  underscores the broad value proposition of Next Gen TV.On March 28, 2018 thousands of Ghanaians took to the streets of the capital Accra to protest a deal their government recently inked with US diplomats. Demonstrators came to show their objections to a multi-million-dollar agreement to strengthen military ties between the United States and Ghana. While the agreement is multi-faceted, a dominant theme is opening the door for a strong US military presence in the country. The deal allows American forces to use Ghana as a geographical asset in operations in the region, such as utilizing runways, and also permits the use of Ghanaian radio channels.

Also highlighted in the agreement is more joint exercises with American units. Officials in the country tried to play down the significance of the recent deal, presenting it as merely an extension of a two-decades-long relationship between the United States and Ghana, a West African country that has frequently been a host for bilateral military drills for a variety of nations.The Trump administrations recent actions to expel 60 Russian spies and close a key west-coast consulate used for espionage constitute an important response to growing and reckless Russian aggression. The outrageous attack in the United Kingdom, which the United States, the U.K., France, and Germany described as the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since WWII, is only the latest example of Russias campaign of hybrid warfare against the U.S. and our friends.

Actions against Russian intelligence-gathering in the United States, strong diplomatic statements in concert with our allies, recent sanctions for election-meddling, and public disclosure of a multiyear Russian cyber espionage campaign against critical infrastructure are all good steps. But to deter future Russian aggression, we must think creatively about imposing direct costs on the Putin regime.

First, the administrations new national security team needs to once and for all banish the notion that Russia can somehow play a positive role in the war on terror. A more realistic assessment can already be found in the new National Defense Strategy (NDS), which labeled Russia not as potential partner, but as a strategic competitor. There is ample evidence to support the claim that Russia prioritizes undermining the U.S. more than it does combatting radicalization. For example, earlier this month reports highlighted how Russia-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab deliberately exposed a highly classified U.S. cyber counterterror operation. Kaspersky's ties to the Kremlin are so well-documented that last December, Congress directed the U.S. government to remove Kaspersky products from its networks.

Second, building on the Bipartisan Budget Act, we must end the last two years of legislatively-mandated defense cuts and continue the process of rebuilding our military, which will not happen overnight. As we do so, we can deploy more forces forward in Eastern Europe, reversing the post-Cold War drawdown that has left us with about 10% of our Cold War military footprint in Europe. At the same time, we must build on the Nuclear Posture Review and modernize our strategic forces to both defend our homeland and provide for increased operational flexibility. By all accounts, the Pentagons forthcoming Ballistic Missile Defense Review is also moving in the right direction by emphasizing the need to counter threats from Russia.

Third, we must make Vladimir Putin and his closest associates feel economic pain as a result of his foreign aggression. Pursuant to the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), the Treasury Department produced both classified and unclassified lists of senior Russian political figures and oligarchs. This list is critical because Putin's kleptocratic governance system relies on the support of corrupt oligarchs, whose loyalty is contingent on their ability to spend ill-gotten gains and enjoy life in the West. If these Kremlin-aligned oligarchs start to come under intense financial pressure as a result of their support for the Putin regime, the U.S. could have a key opportunity to disrupt Putins power base inside Russia.

While the unclassified oligarch's list was criticized for cribbing names from public reports, the classified list contains far more detail. This classified list should be scrubbed of any information that could jeopardize intelligence sources or methods, and then released publicly to expose high-level Russian corruption. The President should then sanction those on the list closest to the Putin regime.

No effort to push back against Russia can be successful without the active support of our allies. As Russia responds to widespread condemnation of Salisbury by expelling a reciprocal number of western diplomats, the U.S. has an important opportunity to unite its allies. For example, European nations have remained divided on implementing new sanctions on Russia. In the aftermath of Salisbury, the U.S. and U.K. should work together to escalate economic pressure against the Kremlin and bring Europe fully on board with tough financial measures. To that end, the EU should reform its sanctions renewal process to make sanctions indefinite, subject to a unanimous vote to remove them. As during the Cold War, Russia cannot hope to match the united political and economic strength of the free world.

Critically, we cannot afford to leave any allies behind. The administration must not abandon Americas friends in Syria to Putin and his genocidal client state, the Assad regime, or his terror-sponsoring ally, Iran. A hasty withdrawal from Syria would prove especially damaging because it would provide Assad and his Russian and Iranian benefactors with the opportunity to reclaim areas currently under coalition control in northeastern Syria. By a conservative estimate, these areas generated three-quarters of the oil that Syria produced on the eve of the war.

As we saw from the Obama administrations hasty retreat from Iraq, leaving power vacuums in the Middle East does not end well. All too often, they lead to greater American involvement and expenditures down the road after events have spiraled out of control. Instead, the administration must build on its initial success against ISIS and develop a post-ISIS strategy on the ground in the Middle East that both protects our allies and limits the influence of malevolent actors such as Russia.

After Salisbury, it is increasingly clear that public condemnationand even sanctions that fail to touch Putin personallyis no longer adequate. Fortunately, as the muted Russian response following the clash between U.S. forces and Russian mercenaries in Deir al-Zour demonstrates, where Russia encounters strength, it stops pushing. By fortifying our military posture, inflicting real costs on Russian leadership as a result of its actions, and standing with our allies, we can take important steps to deter Russian aggression both at home and abroad.

Rep. Mike Gallagher is a Marine Veteran representing Wisconsin's 8th District. He currently serves on the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees.Moscow announced last week (March 29) that 60 American diplomats would be expelled, delivering a mirror response to every Western country that had sanctioned Russia in solidarity with the United Kingdom (see EDM, March 29). What appeared to be a tit-for-tat response in a diplomatic row was in fact an escalation of the crisis, sparked a few weeks ago by an attempted assassination on British soil with the use of a weaponized chemical agent. This escalation has manifested itself, first of all, in the sharp and aggressive language used by the official representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ezhednevny Zhurnal, March 28). Some mainstream Russian experts tried to defuse the tensions and argue that the traditional punishment of severing diplomatic ties makes little sense when more communication is urgently needed (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 28). But their voices were lost in the furious assertions that Russiawhich has a new arsenal of nuclear missiles, described in much detail during President Vladimir Putins address to the parliament last monthwould not tolerate any censure (Newsru.com, March 22).

Putins missiles-of-March were for the most part just fanciful designs (see EDM, March 1), but a stream of propaganda visuals seeks to present them as ready for combat deployment (Gazeta.ru, March 23). The second test of the Sarmat (RS-28) heavy inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) was rushed, but in fact it will take many more tests before this product will be ready to replace the aging SS-18 Satan (Krasnaya Zvezda, March 30). The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that new groupings of long-range cruise missiles are now positioned in every strategic theater, while in fact not a single new weapon system of this class has been deployed (RIA Novosti, March 24). The most worrisome news was actually Moscows demand that a limited area over the Baltic Sea be closed to air traffic because of Russian missile tests, which galvanized protests in Latvia (Newsru.com, March 30). These bluffs and posturing target the gaps in Western solidarity, which has proved stronger in recent weeks than Moscow had envisaged (see EDM, March 29).

Another assault on Western unity aims at presenting the U.S. as the main driver of the confrontation, portraying other participants in the curtailing of diplomatic ties (except certainly the U.K.) as victims of American blackmail (Grani.ru, March 29). Austria, for that matter, has been praised for resisting U.S. pressure (RBC, March 29). The U.S. move (including the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle) was indeed much stronger than the Kremlin had expected after the problem-free March 20 telephone conversation between Putin and President Donald Trump (Kommersant, March 28). Now Putins aides and courtiers assume that the reshuffles at the White House National Security Council and the State Department signify a possible shift toward a tougher course against Russia, which needs to be discouraged and pre-empted (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 26). Moscow is already suggesting that the curtailing of Russian international propaganda channels may be met with further restrictions on the work of Western media outlets inside Russia (Newsru.com, March 30). The problem with such retaliation is that the U.S. might, in turn, execute further punitive measures in areas of economics, finance and technologywhere Russia has no capabilities or competitive edge (Russiancouncil.ru, March 28).

The export of Russian natural gas to Europe, which used to be perceived as a potential political lever, is presently so valuable for Moscow that it is doing everything possible to bracket it out of the political fray (Rosbalt, March 29). Gazprom is deeply worried about the competition from the expanding U.S. export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) (Kommersant, March 30). It is even prepared to settle its financial dispute with Ukraine according to the verdict of the Stockholm arbitrage, swallowing the initial rejection (Forbes.ru, March 29). Russian businesses are adjusting their budgets, adding greater costs for all kinds of financial services involving Western banks (Carnegie.ru, March 30). The most painful squeeze, however, would arguably come from undermining Russias ability to export corruption, which Moscow relies on to spread its crime and espionage, including in its interference in the 2016 U.S. election (see EDM, July 17, 2017). The U.K. has now taken the lead in blocking this channel as its parliament opens hearings on the inflow of dubious Russian money into such safe havens as the London real estate market (Newsru.com, March 29, 2018).

Meanwhile, the corruption issue has also exploded in the Russian domestic political arena. Already in the first week after Putins firmly managed re-election, protests erupted in the Moscow region because of poisonous fumes being emitted by local overflowing rubbish dumps (Gazeta.ru, March 30). Regional authorities had been profiting from this dirty business; and to try to mollify the public outrage, they so far have only been re-directing columns of trucks with unsorted and untreated waste to other, less politically charged dumpsites (Novaya Gazeta, March 31). The March 25 tragedy in Kemerovo has produced even greater political resonance: 64 people died in a fire in a shopping mall, caused by glaring (and in Russia strikingly common) violations of safety measures, covered by bribes and officially sanctioned racketeering (Navalny.com, March 28). Putin paid a short visit to Kemerovo, where long-sitting governor Aman Tuleev was eager to present the public indignation against his corrupt rule as extremism sponsored by external forces (New Times, March 27). Tuleev has since resigned, but the ultimate responsibility for building the predatory system of power, which regularly disregards the well-being and lives of millions of Russians, rests with Putin (Moscow Echo, March 27).

The shock of the horrible inferno brought about by the banality of greed, as well as the grieving for dozens of perished children, has made the Russian population unresponsive to the governments propaganda onslaught calling for mobilization against Western pressure. The expulsion of diplomats appears to be just another quarrel of little consequence; and the sanctions targeting huge and small fortunes evacuated by bureaucrats of various caliber to London or New York can hardly be portrayed as a great injustice to average Russians. Denials of involvement in the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning ring as false as denials of responsibility for the Kemerovo tragedy. Putins missiles provide no deterrent against Western solidarity and no consolation for Russias deteriorating social infrastructure. Putin showcases resolve to counter the U.S. challenge and compassion for the shattered families and communities, but neither is convincing. He feels compelled to escalate the external crisis, counting on confusion in Western policymaking. But his own confusion in governing the post-election and post-illusion Russia will not be overcome by pseudo-patriotic posturing.

Dr. Pavel K. Baev is a senior researcher at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO).

This article appeared originally at The Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor.WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his promised border wall is built.

Speaking at a lunch with Baltic leaders, Trump said hes been discussing the idea with his Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis.

Were going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military, he said, calling the measure a big step.

We really havent done that before, or certainly not very much before, he said.

Trump has been deeply frustrated about the lack of progress building what was the signature promise of his campaign: a big, beautiful wall along the Mexican border. Hes previously suggested using the Pentagons budget to pay for building the wall, arguing it is a national security priority, despite strict rules that prohibit spending thats not authorized by Congress.

The Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on how such a plan might work.

Sending military to the border, in the form of National Guard troops, has been done before. In 2006, under Operation Jump Start, 6,000 troops were sent to the border in an effort to increase security and surveillance. The operation used the National Guard to assist border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained.

The number declined during the second year to about 3,000.

Over the two years, about 29,000 National Guard forces participated in the missions, as forces rotated in and out.

The Guard members were used for surveillance, communications, administrative support, intelligence, analysis and, in some cases, the installation of border security infrastructure. Over the two years, more than 30 miles of fencing and 13 miles of road were built, and more than 86 miles of vehicle barriers were installed.

Active duty U.S. troops were not used for the operation because there are prohibitions on using so-called Title 10 troops for law enforcement and similar duties within the United States.

In addition, President Barack Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in 2010 to beef up efforts to battle drug smuggling and illegal immigration. Again, the troops did intelligence, surveillance, analysis and other support as more border patrol and customs agents were hired.

At that time, officials also emphasized that the Guard forces would not be working on the front lines or interacting with people crossing the border.

Trumps announcement came a day administration officials said theyre crafting a new legislative package aimed at closing immigration loopholes.

Trump also called on Republican lawmakers to immediately pass a border bill using the Nuclear Option if necessary to muscle it through, as part of a flurry of tweets on the subject over the last several days.

The president has also been declaring protections for so-called Dreamer immigrants dead, accusing Democrats of allowing open borders, drugs and crime and warning Mexico to halt the passage of caravans of immigrants or risk U.S. abandonment of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump has been seething since realizing the major spending bill he signed last month barely funds the wall he has promised supporters. The $1.3 trillion funding package included $1.6 billion in border wall spending  far less than the $25 billion Trump made a last-minute push to secure. And much of that money can be used only to repair existing segments, not to build new sections.

Among the new measures the administration is pursuing: ending special safeguards that prevent the immediate deportation of children arrested at the border and traveling alone. Under current law, unaccompanied children from countries that dont border the U.S. are turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services and undergo often lengthy deportation proceedings before an immigration judge instead of being immediately deported.

The administration is also pushing Congress to terminate a 1997 court settlement that requires the government to release children from custody to parents, adult relatives or other caretakers as their court cases proceed. Officials complain that many children never show up at their hearings.

The proposals appear the same as those included on an immigration wish list the White House released in October but failed to gain traction during negotiations over the border wall. Such proposals are likely to face opposition from moderate Republicans and Democrats going into the midterm elections. But Trump appears intent on ensuring the issues remain at the forefront of public conversation, even though the spending bill was widely seen as the last major legislation likely passed this year.

Trumps past calls to for the nuclear option  changing Senate rules so that a simple majority of 51 votes is needed to advance legislation, instead of the current 60 votes  have been dismissed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell says Republicans will welcome the 60-vote margin if they return to the minority. The current 51-49 Senate split favors Republicans.

Trump announced last year that he was ending DACA, the program that protects young Dreamer immigrants and allows them to work legally in the country, but the Department of Homeland Security is continuing to issue renewals because of a court order.

Notably, Trumps favored solution for extending the protections mustered only 39 votes in the Senate, meaning it couldnt have passed even if the rules had been changed.

Trump also warned Mexico to halt the passage of about 1,100 migrants, many from Honduras, who had been marching in a caravan along roadsides and train tracks in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

If it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and so pathetic, Trump claimed. Its like we have no border.

These Stations of the Cross migrant caravans have been held in southern Mexico for at least the last five years. They began as short processions of migrants, some dressed in biblical garb and carrying crosses, as an Easter-season protest against attacks against Central Americans as they cross Mexico.

The caravan that once numbered 1,150 or more people actually halted days ago in the town of Matias Romero in the southern state of Oaxaca, where participants slept out in the open. After days of walking along roadsides and train tracks, the organizers now plan to try to get buses to take participants to the final event, an immigrants rights conference in the central state of Puebla later this week.

___

Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego; Lolita C. Baldor, Catherine Lucey, Darlene Superville, Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking and Zeke Miller in Washington; and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.A tectonic shift is taking place in Middle East politics. We may be on the verge of seeing a historic normalization of relations between Israel and several major Arab states. And it is all thanks to Iran.

On March 13, representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, gathered at the White House for a one-day meeting on the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The conference was convened by Trump administration senior adviser on Middle East peace Jared Kushner. And what was most noteworthy was that an Israeli delegation also attended, marking the first ever publicly acknowledged diplomatic meeting involving these countries and the Jewish state.

The signs of change keep coming. A week ago, an Air India flight from New Delhi flew through Saudi and Omani airspace en route to Israels Ben-Gurion Airport. This was the first direct scheduled passenger flight that had been allowed to take that route, since the Kingdom and Sultanate previously would not admit that there was any such destination. The new route cuts two hours off the flight, and is so disruptive that Israels national airline El Al is suing the government for an injunction until they too can use the shorter and less expensive route. Meanwhile, in a more pointed message, jets from Israel and the United Arab Emirates flew side by side in the Iniochos 2018 joint military exercise in Greece. And on Tuesday, Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, better known as MbS, met in New York City with representatives of major American-Jewish organizations, including AIPAC, the Conference of Presidents, the Jewish Federations of North America, ADL, AJC and Bnai Brith.

The strategic convergence of Israeli and Arab interests is not a new phenomenon. The countries have been pushed together by Irans growing and threatening regional presence, as well as the collapse of energy prices since 2014. What is new is the open acknowledgement of the burgeoning relationship, and its translation into broader policies.

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir, who was in Washington last week with the crown prince, cautioned against expecting too much too soon. He said that the kingdom maintains its policy of withholding diplomatic recognition of Israel until a peace deal has been concluded with the Palestinians. He also called the Trump administrations decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem a setback.

But the U.S. embassy move simply recognizes the current regional state of play. The old diplomatic framework is broken, and a new paradigm is rapidly emerging. The Palestinian issue is no longer the marquee concern it once was. Iranian expansionism, nuclear and missile proliferation, and radical extremism, are the critical issues pushing Israel and the Arab states together. Palestinian leaders have shown no great willingness to adapt to the new circumstances. And to the extent the Hamas faction draws closer to Iran, it puts itself on the wrong side of the peace equation. The fact that both Israel and Saudi Arabia are actively defending their territory from Iranian-supplied rockets sums it all up.

Much credit goes to MbS for moving toward a more public affirmation of the new regional dynamic. It is part of the crown princes vision for a more progressive kingdom, with an increasingly western orientation, a more liberal view of womens rights (such as doing away with the requirement to wear the black, full-body covering abaya) and zero tolerance for teaching or preaching Islamic radicalism. MbS is looking to move Saudi Arabia to a new level of development, and that future will include Israel.

The stakes are important for the United States. The Obama administrations attempted outreach to Iran was more alienating to Sunni-Arab countries than President Trumps Jerusalem embassy move. The fatally flawed 2015 nuclear agreement not only emboldened Tehran to expand its regional insurgent network, but it also pushed Arab countries to plan for their own nuclear weapons programs as a means of self-defense. So what was sold as a means of creating nuclear-free stability resulted in increased instability and the potential for regional nuclear proliferation.

In the new model, the United States and Israel provide credible nuclear deterrence while also pushing back on Irans military adventurism. The Arab states can focus on building new economic and social models for development while combating extremism at home and facing Iranian-backed insurgencies abroad. The Palestinian issue will persist, but only as a sideshow, until President Abbas or his successor makes substantial moves toward a peace deal. And it may not be long before we see a Saudi embassy in Jerusalem as well.

Reprinted with permission from The National Interest. James S. Robbins is senior fellow for national-security affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC.When Arab officials descend on Washington this month for the annual IMF and World Bank meetings, the discrepancy between paeans to the liberal economic order and the demands of economic distress and conflict will become apparent once again. Some Arab central bankers and finance ministers will hail from countries wracked by civil war and insurgency (Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen) or the burdens of refugees and trade disruptions (Jordan and Lebanon). Others will represent countries struggling against mounting debt and economic change. (These include Egypt, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, among others).

Most Middle Eastern and North African countries need financial assistance, massive infrastructure financing, or humanitarian aid, and the IMF has four active programs in Arab countries totaling billions of dollars. Far from making recourse to the IMF only during times of severe economic crisis, Arab capitals relationships with the IMF have evolved to near perpetual dependency. Jordan has had eight IMF programs since 1989, often with one program beginning as another concludes.[i] Egypt in November 2016 negotiated its fifth IMF program -- a $12 billion facility. It is hard to imagine these countries freeing themselves from this cycle.

After decades of IMF financing, commitments to reform, and billions of dollars, what have these countries to show? Social indicators such as unemployment, poverty, and income inequality actually worsened in the majority of states that accepted IMF intervention through the 1980s and 1990s -- even in those states that religiously followed IMF prescriptions.[ii]

Is reform helping?

Three years before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted, the World Banks Doing Business report ranked Egypt as the worlds top economic reformer.[iii] Yet behind all the growth and capital inflows, average Egyptians saw little benefit from the economic reforms praised by outside observers and investors. Just across the Gulf of Aqaba, Jordans economy has fared little better: The official unemployment rate stands at 18 percent.[iv] A third of Jordans population lives below the poverty line, and after years of fiscal consolidation, the countrys debt-to-GDP ratio sits precariously at 95 percent.[v]

Years of reform have arguably not made these countries or their societies more resilient, and in fact might have contributed to an undermining of social safety nets. In fairness, many of the regions social programs have long been fiscally unsustainable, but all Arab countries have had implicit social contracts since their independence whereby the state provided a baseline of social welfare, with benefits including health care, education, subsidized food and energy, and often a government job.

The criticisms hurled from anti-Bretton Woods activists are not without merit, but without external pressure it is difficult to imagine governments reforming their economies on their own. Inefficiencies abound in MENA markets -- from anachronistic labor regulations to poor access to finance -- but nothing stands taller than government-subsidized energy. The International Energy Agency reports that in 2016 the Middle East, with just 3 percent of the worlds population, spent some 30 percent of the worlds annual $260 billion on fossil-fuel consumption subsidies.[vi] [vii] Regardless of the publics expectations, these expenditures are wasteful, and in any event most of the benefits go to societys richest.

The reputation of the Washington Consensus and its international implementers, the IMF and World Bank, has taken a beating since the late 1990s. The IMF often pushed one-size-fits-all recommendations on a diverse set of countries, and this has often fueled volatility, lengthened recessions, and expanded inequality. The global financial crisis of 2008-2009 and its painful hangover have dulled the edge of the Consensus, which is an informal set of policies introduced in the late 1980s espousing trade and capital account liberalization, deregulation, and restrained government spending. The liberal economic order has much going for it. But much of the Arab world seems poorly positioned to give more than lip service to the Consensus and the IMFs mandates. This is especially true in the wake of the financial crisis, the Arab uprisings, and the emergence of the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank,[viii] seen by many in the less-industrialized world as an alternative to Western domination of global finance.

Economically stressed countries and the IMF often find themselves in awkward conversations: the IMF underscoring the need for higher taxes, fewer subsidies, and spending cuts, and recipient countries excusing themselves from pushing reform because of regional security issues or restive publics. Arab states such as Jordan, with more than a million Syrian refugees, can with some degree of truthfulness assert their precarious grip on stability. Egyptian politicians might argue their country is too big to fail.

This is not the end of the liberal economic world order in the Arab world or anywhere else. Even Marx and Engels pointed out in the Communist Manifesto that the market system is uniquely productive and had accomplished wonders. At the moment, those Arab states most desperate for funding have few other options, especially in an era of limited assistance from the wealthier Gulf States, but the dialogue must evolve. The largest funders of the IMF and World Bank -- the United States being the most significant -- have every right to expect their dollars to result in tangible reforms. Yet for the best parts of the Consensus to remain relevant, its recommendations should be flexible to accommodate local conditions. Otherwise, the same policies that helped pull millions out of poverty might be given little more than a polite nod.

The author is an employee of the United States Government (USG), which is funding his fellowship at the Wilson Center. All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis are those of the author and do not reflect the official position or views of the USG. The views expressed are the author's own.

[i] The International Monetary Fund and Jordan, Issues Paper, IMF, November 19, 2004.

[ii] El-Said, Hamed and Jane Harrigan, Economic Reform, Social Welfare, and Instability: Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, 1983-2004, Middle East Journal, Volume 68, No. 1, Winter 2014.

[iii] http://www.doingbusiness.org/~/media/WBG/DoingBusiness/Documents/Annual-Reports/English/DB08-FullReport.pdf

[iv] http://jordantimes.com/opinion/fahed-fanek/extended-families-tolerate-unemployment

[v] http://www.petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nws_NewsDetails.aspx?lang=2&site_id=1&NewsID=334714&Type=P

[vi] Ball, Jeffrey, The New Age of Renewable Energy, The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, The American University in Cairo, Winter 2018.

[vii] If Not Now, When? Energy Price Reform in Arab Countries, Annual Meeting of Arab Ministers of Finance, IMF, April 2017.

[viii] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/2015-07-27/out-bretton-woodsThe United States used to think regularly about the islands of the South Pacific. On her tour of the region in 1943, Eleanor Roosevelt had a message for Americans troops stretched out across the Pacific Islands. Every day, she told them, Franklin Roosevelt goes down to the map room in the White House and notes on the maps where you are and what you are doing.

The previous year, FDR had pointed to the hundreds of islands in the South Pacific that appear only as small dots on most maps. But, lest anyone misjudge their importance, he declared that they cover a large strategic area.

Studying the geography of the South Pacific was a strategic necessity for fighting and winning the Second World War, but that was by no means the first or the last time American strategy focused on the region. As early as 1825, US president John Quincy Adams demanded a larger navy to ensure the flourishing of commerce and fishery extending to the islands of the Pacific. And as recently as 2012, secretary of state Hillary Clinton affirmed that America knew the Pacific Islands were strategically and economically vital and becoming more so.

The region remains strategically vital to the US for two key reasons. First, it is in US interests to prevent the emergence of a regional hegemon that could threaten America and its allies; and second, the US wants to maintain the free flow of goods and ideas to Asia.

The Trump administration put a new spin on this old concept with its call for a free and open Indo-Pacific, and broadened the strategic geography of the Western Pacific to extend into the Indian Ocean region. As both Michael Auslin and Rory Medcalf have been pointing out for the better part of a decade, the shift to focusing on the broader Indo-Pacific is long overdue, although it does risk privileging the Indo over the Pacific in American strategic thinking.

Given the rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape  or, more accurately, seascape  of the South Pacific, the region poses several strategic challenges to the US and its allies. As Australian National Universitys Joanne Wallis has argued, over the past several years the South Pacific has seen the creation of alternative regional institutions, increasing Chinese investment and strategic focus, diminished New Zealand and Australian influence, and US strategic neglect.

As a result, while new sources of funding and development in the Pacific Islands have become available with less conditions, there has been environmental degradation, greater corruption and crime, and pressure on the long-term sustainability of natural resources, including fisheries. While none of these challenges is new, the increased number of external actors in the region has exacerbated them.

Moreover, fewer strings attached hardly ever means no strings attached. Indebted Pacific Islands need look no further than Sri Lanka, which recently had to hand over its deep-water port at Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease in exchange for urgently needed debt relief. This practice, dubbed debt-trap diplomacy, is a concern for smaller nations for whom the price of economic engagement is fast becoming political compliance. And, in the case of indebted littoral states with deep-water ports, such political compliance can have clear security implications.

From a military standpoint, no less from a commercial and diplomatic one, US presence in Asia is predicated on unfettered access. The US Naval War Colleges Andrew Erickson has pointed out that as that access becomes more contested by Chinas militarisation of outposts in the South China Sea and Chinas development of long-range precision strike weapons, the strategic importance of American bases in the Pacific will grow.

Currently, the three Pacific Island nations of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau are joined with the US in Compacts of Free Association. This allows the US to reject the strategic use of, or access to, compact states in exchange for political rights, development funding, and defence by the US.

But Americas special economic and political relationship with these sovereign states has recently come under stress. Were it to change, and China step into that vacuum, American bases in Guam and the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands could come under threat, and unimpeded sea lines of communication to American allies in Asia would become vulnerable to disruption.

Australia and New Zealand have recently announced a renewed focus on the Pacific Islands. As Anna Powles and Jose Sousa-Santos have previously pointed out, shifts within the regional order make it less clear that the Pacific Islands will be such ready partners if the terms of engagement are framed wholly in terms of strategic competition.

For the US, increasing aid and investment in the region, working to combat the effects of climate change, growing the capacity of the islands to police their waters and combat illegal fishing, strengthening anti-corruption norms, and ensuring that it expeditiously delivers funding to the compact states can all play a part here. But perhaps the biggest strategic challenge is one of time and attention paid to an important region that often slips under Washingtons radar.

Yale historian Paul Kennedy is best known for his famous 1987 work The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. But it is his first book, The Samoan Tangle, which explicitly deals with this region, that might be the most prescient. Why, Kennedy asked, was so much written and debated about a small island group in the Pacific? His answer, in large part, was overlapping interests  economic, strategic, and cultural  between the countries jostling for power in the South Pacific.

The South Pacific has once again become a region of great strategic competition and one worthy of much more attention. The US would be wise to further invest in ensuring that the Pacific nations retain their independence, freedom, and sovereignty, not only for the sake of US interests but also the benefit of the citizens of those countries.Athens-based band Walden is once again performing at the Georgia Theatre in Athens on April 12 at 8:30 p.m. The band is performing with The ViThe Athens music scene can be a bit intimidating to navigate with all the upcoming shows this season. This fall there are a few big concerts  from genres like dream pop and indie rock  lined up for every type of music lover. Here are nine notable shows you wont want to miss.TORRINGTON  Molly Spino, a city native and member of the Board of Education, said Tuesday she will seek the Republican nomination to represent the 65th District in the state House of Representatives.

Spino made her announcement in the auditorium of Torrington City Hall, in front of an audience of Republican elected officials and well-wishers.

She said decisions made at the state level in Hartford have hurt Torrington and its residents, including tax increases and an inadequate commitment to fund city schools. She put the blame, in part, at the feet of Michelle Cook, the current 65th District representative.

Our city deserves better. Residents of the 65th District deserve a stronger voice in Torrington  one who speaks up on the states challenging fiscal issues, Spino said. Theres no question that Connecticut faces major challenges, and those hurdles require fresh perspectives, whose connections are closer to the people that they serve than Hartford insiders and party leaders who are making the states problems worse.

Spino cited her knowledge of the city and support of its citizens  particularly when it comes to small businesses, which she and her husbands family have run  as well as her experience in the Marine Corps, as positive aspects to her candidacy.

House Republican Leader Themis Klarides, who accompanied Spino at City Hall, said Spino is the kind of candidate who would allow Republicans to take control of the state government, which is narrowly split.

I cant tell you what we need more than a multigenerational Torrington resident who served in the military, who has three lovely children, a husband, who knows small business because they have lived it and worked it for years  somebody like Molly Spino  and a strong woman, Klarides said. Thats why were here to support and do whatever she needs  and have you guys do whatever you have to do  to make sure shes standing up there with us next year.

Klarides said Spino and other candidates would allow state residents to see the partys vision come to fruition, which is not the travesty Connecticut has suffered for the past several years under Democrat leadership.

After the formal remarks, Spino said she had been considering running for the 65th for a few years, after being involved in Todd Schallers 2016 run for the seat.

While she considered the idea, she said she spoke and worked with Rep. Jay Case, R-Winsted, and Rep. Brian Ohler, R-North Canaan  both in attendance Tuesday  and felt comfortable when visiting the Legislature.

Her stint on the Board of Education, to which she was elected in November, motivated her further, she said.

Working through the budget  seeing the problems we have in Torrington  a lot of that stems from the issues that we have coming from Hartford, whether its education mandates, whether its special education, or whether its (Education Cost Sharing) funding or alliance grant money, Spino said. Its motivated me more, to get more involved. I know I can do more.

Spino said she was excited at the chance to represent her hometown at the state level.

I love Torrington. Torringtons where I was born and raised. After I got out of the military, I came back here. This is the only place I wanted to raise a family, Spino said. Its a beautiful place to live. I love our teachers; I love our education system  we have a lot of caring, dedicated, hard-working people in this town, and they need better representation.

The 65th District is entirely made up of a portion of the city of Torrington.

Cook, the Democrat incumbent, was elected to a fifth term in 2016.TORRINGTON  A new book filled with photos of Torringtons past has captured the positive effect immigrants had on the citys development, spirit and growth.

Images of America: Torrington, by Elizabeth A. Kaczmarcyk on behalf of the Torrington Historical Society, took two years to complete, according to Executive Director Mark McEachern.

The book is a photo album of sorts, with lengthy captions describing each scene, naming people in the photograph and providing the date the picture was taken.

Names of some of the citys founding families  Besse, Workman, Cameron, Davey, Janssen, Dautrich and Gleeson, and later, Haddad, DeMichiel, Abbate, Toce and others  can be found throughout the publication, as well as the many churches, businesses, schools, civic and social clubs and individual enterprising citizens who left their mark. A labor of love, the book is a treasure trove, with each photograph telling a story.

Using photographs with illustrative captions, instead of lengthy essays, was the authors goal, McEachern said.

Elizabeth wanted to focus primarily on the images at the historical society, and she chose to do a historic summary for each chapter and provide a brief history of Torrington, based on that chapter, McEachern said. She spent untold hours on the captions for each photo and the chapter introductions.

Kaczmarcyk worked with society staff members Gail Kruppa and Carol Clapp, as well as McEachern, to develop the chapters for the book.

She had the benefit of our knowledge, and we proofread everything very carefully, over and over again, McEachern said. It was a team effort that made us all feel that we were part of the project.

Torringtons diverse population is the focus of the book.

In 1910, McEachern said, one-third of Torringtons population were immigrants, one-third were children of immigrants, and one-third were natives or older immigrants whose families settled here a generation before.

It highlights the ethnic history of Torrington, and thats significant and will mean a lot to the people who read this book, McEachern said.

Kaczmarcyk, a Torrington native who lives in Hartford, said the book began as an account of Slavic immigrants coming to the city, based on her mothers history.

Many years ago, I decided to write about Slovak immigrants, but I never did anything with it, she said. Eventually I contacted Arcadia, but they said they didnt do books on specific groups like that, that it had to be comprehensive. So I reached out to the Torrington Historical Society.

Kaczmarcyk was living in Seattle, and returned to Connecticut in 2015 and started working on the book.

It was a little daunting at first, because I wasnt familiar with the historical societys archives, and Id just go in every day, for a few hours a week, just to see what was there and going through it, Kaczmarcyk said. They were all very welcoming and so willing to help. Working with Mark McEachern, Gail Kruppa and Carol Clapp, the archivist and librarian, was just fantastic.

The books first chapter, Immigration, explains her approach.

If one looks carefully, traces of Torringtons immigrant past are still visible all around town, Kaczmarcyk wrote. Cameron and Pulaski streets, the Germania Singing Society building, Fuessenich Park, and Besse Pond are just a few of the places that remind locals and visitors of the immigrants who came to Torrington in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Kaczmarcyk said in the 1830s, the English arrived, followed by a wave of Irish, German, Swedish and Scottish immigrants, followed again by Germans in the 1890s who established a prosperous downtown business district on lower East Main Street with saloons, restaurants, a high-class hotel and a performance hall.

But it was the massive influx of Poles, Italians, Slovaks, Lithuanians, Hungarians and others that most shaped Torringtons future, Kaczmarcyk wrote. With a force as powerful as the Naugatuck River, these immigrants came by the thousands in the early 1900s, doubling Torringtons population and then doubling it again, at first threatening to undermine wages and overwhelm infrastructure, but soon leading to a sharp increase in overall prosperity ... for nearly 100 years, Torrington was a true ethnic mosaic that exemplified prosperous, industrious small-town America at its best.

As families arrived and settled in the growing city, businesses and industry established themselves in many ways. Many arrivals opened their own businesses  barber shops, markets, small craftsmens shops, hotels and restaurants, while others worked in factories such as American Brass. The books chapters: Places of Worship, Farms, Factories and Floods, Schools, Businesses, Recreation, and Public Service and Civic Engagement, all share information about the families behind each institution and how they developed over time.

These days, much of Torringtons industry is a memory, but the families who founded it can be easily found within the pages of the book.

We are honored to have collaborated with Elizabeth Kaczmarcyk in bringing the richness of our photographic collections to light and presenting a fascinating overview of Torringtons history to the public, in a way that is visually interesting and factually informative, McEachern said. Ms. Kaczmarcyk concludes her introduction with ... words that speak both for her and the historical society.

I hope this book helps to illustrate how thousands of hardworking citizens, whether forgotten or remembered, produced so many enduring civic benefits while striving to improve their lots and their community, Kaczmarcyk said.

My primary interest is how immigration developed everything, she said. What I discovered was that for the most part, Torrington was very welcoming when people came here.

Copies of the book can be purchased at the Torrington Historical Society, 192 Main St., or online at www.torringtonhistoricalsociety.org.

Kaczmarcyk will sign books and talk at 6:30 p.m. April 11, at the Carriage House Gallery at the Torrington Historical Society. The public is invited. For information, call the society at 860-482-8260 or email torringtonhistorical@snet.net.WINSTED  Northwestern Connecticut Community Colleges annual Mad River Literary Festival will be held April 10 and 11 starting at 6:30 p.m. in Founders Hall Auditorium on its campus in Winsted.

The festival coincides with the publication of the annual Mad River Anthology, a journal of student writing in almost continual publication since the college was founded in 1965.

On April 10, a community reading emceed by NCCC public speaking students and featuring community members and students, will be highlighted by readings by three faculty poets  Kateri Kosek, Jacqueline Welsh and Jim Kelleher.

Poets Daniel Donaghy and Margo Schilpp will read on April 11.

Readings each night will be followed by a reception and book signing.

About the writers:

Daniel Donaghy is the author of the poetry collections Somerset (NYQ Books, 2018), Start with the Trouble (University of Arkansas Press, 2009), and Streetfighting (BkMk Press, 2005).

Raised in Philadelphia, he is now professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University, where he has received the Board of Regents Teaching Award and the CSU Norton Mezvinsky Trustees Research Award.

He is currently the poet laureate of Windham County.

Margot Schilpps fourth book of poems, Afterswarm, is forthcoming in early 2019. She is also the author of Civil Twilight (2012), Laws of My Nature (2005), and The Worlds Last Night (2001), all from Carnegie Mellon University Press.

Her poems have appeared widely in literary magazines.

Schilpp earned an MFA at the University of Utah. She teaches at Southern Connecticut State University and at Quinnipiac University and lives in New Haven with her husband, poet Jeff Mock, and their daughters, Paula and Leah.

In addition to teaching English at NCCC, Kateri Kosek mentors in the MFA program at Western Connecticut State University, where she received an MFA in creative writing.

Her poetry and essays have appeared in Orion, Creative Nonfiction, Catamaran, Terrain, Northern Woodlands magazine, and she has written for the Berkshire Edge, Winsted Journal and Poughkeepsie Journal.

She has been a resident writer at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska, and lives in the Berkshires. She is working on a book of essays about birds.

Jim Kelleher has published three books of poetry: Quarry (2008), Mick (2011), and Selected Poems (2017). His individual poems have appeared in Yankee, Christian Science Monitor, The Country and Abroad, am,ong others.

Kelleher teaches tech ed at Torrington Middle School, and literature and composition at NCCC.

Jacqueline Welsh was a poet first, next a teacher, then a mother. Today, she teaches at the University of Hartford and Northwestern Connecticut Community College.

The Mad River Literary Festival is sponsored by the Center for Teaching, the English Department, the Student Senate, the Cultural Planning Committee, and funded by the Northwestern Community College Foundation and the Peggy Andl Fund.

The festival is free and open to the public.

For further information about The Mad River Literary Festival and the annual Mad River Anthology, contact professor Jessica Treat at JTreat@nwcc.edu.ANSONIA  On Wednesday, exactly 50 years to the day when civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the city will gather to remember the dream lives on.

A celebration of Kings life and legacy, featuring an unveiling of a bronze bust created in his honor, will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Ansonia Armory, 5 State St.

The historic moment will feature community members from local schools, churches and the city to witness the bust of King created by Albanian-born artist/sculptor Vasil Rakaj, an Ansonia resident.

Rakaj, who attended the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts, is an international artist whose works include a 6-foot-tall statue of Mother Teresa created in 1996. His works have appeared at the White House, Buckingham Palace, the United Nations and the Vatican.

The Valley-Wide Dr. King Bust Committee has been working for more than a year to raise funds to complete the project. Ansonia will be only the second city in the state to have a bust honoring King, according to the Rev. Alfred Smith Jr., pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church. The other is in New Britain.

The Ansonia bust will be installed at Veterans Memorial Park.

This bust will be proof positive that with all of us, black, white, Hispanic, working together, we can do great things, Smith said.

Macedonia Baptist Church, along with area churches, community members, Mayor David Cassetti and others, wanted to see a bust created to ensure Kings legacy lives on, Smith said. According to the churchs mission statement, the idea behind the bust is to memorialize the transformative legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and to inspire the Ansonia community and surrounding Valley communities with love, equality, justice and compassion for all Valley residents.

Cassetti is proud the busts home will be Ansonia.

I think it is a fitting tribute to a man who fought his entire life for equality for everyone in a peaceful way, and led by his Christian beliefs, Cassetti said. I think we would all do well to follow in his footsteps. This will serve as a reminder of that for anyone who passes by.

For some, the importance of the bust had to do with the citys history.

Its no secret that Ansonia has had its share of challenges as it pertains to race, said Ansonia Chapter NAACP President Greg Johnson. There have been times when some have viewed the town as biased and unwilling to compromise. Thats why the unveiling of Dr. Kings bust is that much more significant here. In and of itself the unveiling of a monument to one of the most prominent members of the civil rights movement is cause for reflection and celebration, but when its unveiled in a town that has had high profile racial tensions is a positive step in the right direction. I look forward to more steps, walks and leaps in that direction.

For information and to donate to the project, visit: http://macedonia

bcac.org/mlk-bust.An electoral watchdog in Cambodia has cautioned would-be international observers to think twice before accepting an invitation to participate in the countrys upcoming general ballot, which is expected to be neither free nor fair amid a ban on the main opposition party.



On Wednesday, the countrys National Election Committee (NEC) issued a press release welcoming prospective observers to register for the July 29 vote by submitting an application between April 23 and July 25.



The committee noted that only international NGOs, international organizations and various countries that are invited and accredited by the government or NEC will be eligible to take part in observation, and that they will be required to submit a report on their conclusions following the completion of the electoral process.



Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), told Reuters News Agency Wednesday that potential observers should be aware of the political situation in Cambodia before signing on to participate in Julys ballot.



They should be more cautious in responding to the invitation, he said.



Many of them have standards on prerequisite principles for their engagement decision.



The invitation follows the dissolution of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in November on allegations the party engaged in a plot to topple the government, and comes amid an ongoing crackdown on NGOs and the mediaactions widely seen as part of a bid by Prime Minister Hun Sen to ensure his ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) remains in power for another term.



Earlier, Comfrels coordinator for election observers Kan Savang told RFAs Khmer Service that his organization will wait until May 14the registration deadline for political parties and candidatesto decide whether it will take part in the election.



He called on Cambodias political leaders to resume talks as soon as possible to create a favorable environment for a free and fair election, noting that donors such as the U.S. and EU had withdrawn electoral aid because they said the vote lacks legitimacy, absent the CNRP.



We are currently frustrated by the lack of funding and resources due to international sanctions, he added.



Kan Savangs concerns were echoed by Sam Kuntheamy, executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (NICFEC), who told RFA his organization would also wait until after the registration deadline to decide whether to join the election.



CPP spokesperson Sok Eysan on Wednesday said Cambodias ballot is on track to proceed, whether or not NGO observers take part.



For those civil society organizations that are waiting to see if there is any negation between the ruling party and the opposition, I think they will have to wait forever, he said.



The idea of a possible negotiation is just wishful thinkingit will never happen. Whether there are observers from the NGOs or not the election will surely proceed as planned.



CNRM summoned



Also on Wednesday, RFA obtained a copy of a summons sent by Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor Sieng Sok to the six founders of the Cambodian National Rescue Movement (CNRM), which was established in January in response to the dissolution of the CNRP, and which the government has labelled illegal.



Those summoned include former CNRP president and CNRM president Sam Rainsy, his wifeCNRP lawmaker Tioulong Saumura, CNRP deputy president Eng Chhay Eang, and CNRP lawmakers Ho Vann, Tok Vanchan and Nuth Rumduol. All six people left Cambodia after the CNRP was banned and are living in self-imposed exile in France and the U.S. to avoid what are seen as politically motivated court cases.



The summonses, dated March 30, are identical and accuse the six of attempting to overthrow the legitimate government and other crimesmuch like accusations made last year against the CNRP and its officials.



In the document, the court demands that they appear from May 22-30 for questioning related to forming the CNRM, inciting chaos in society, affecting national security, and attempting to overthrow the legitimate government of Cambodia.



Ho Vann told RFA that he was not surprised by the summons, noting that any effort to reinstate the CNRP and restore true democracy to Cambodia is met with similar allegations from the government.



We strongly dismiss all allegations that we are traitorswe have never committed any acts that warrant such accusations, he said.



We love our country. Thats why we have formed this movement to rescue our nation and people.



The Phnom Penh Post quoted Chhay Eang as saying he has no plans to honor the summons, calling Cambodias justice system a tool of Hun Sen, while Sam Rainsy suggested the document was probably another expedient invention by a paranoid Hun Sen's CPP.



Banned from visits



Meanwhile, Am Sam Ath, the head of investigations for rights group Licadho, blasted Cambodias government Wednesday for violating the rights of Meach Sovannara, the CNRPs former media director, after the General Department of Prisons (GDP) of the Ministry of Interior denied a request by CNRP lawmakers to meet with him.



Meach Sovannara and 15 other CNRP members are serving a term of up to 20 years in Prey Sar Prison on insurrection charges for clashing with police over the closure of a protest site in the capital in 2014.



On Tuesday, the GDP issued a letter stating that Meach Sovannara is grounded for breaking the internal regulations of the prison, referring to accusations by Hun Sen that he was communicating with people outside of Prey Sar using a smart phone. Prison authorities found no cellphone during a subsequent search of Meach Sovannaras cell, but said he was using a television to send messages.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.Chinese Catholic clergy get ready to celebrate Holy Saturday Mass as part of Easter celebrations at the government-sanctioned South Cathedral in Beijing, March 31, 2018.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has asserted its control over all religious practices among its citizens, suggesting that the Vatican will only have limited control over the Chinese Catholic Church in the event of a bilateral deal on the appointment of bishops.

"Religions in China must be Chinese in orientation and provide active guidance to religions so that they can adapt themselves to the socialist society," reads a white paper on religious affairs published this week.

Religious believers must "be subordinate to and serve the overall interests of the nation and the Chinese people ... and support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party," the white paper said, which includes "integrat[ing] religious teachings and rules with Chinese culture."

On Tuesday, former top religious affairs official Chen Zongrong told a news conference that any potential power-sharing deal between Beijing and the Vatican over the appointment of Chinese Catholic bishops wouldn't affect religious freedom in the country.

China and the Vatican are reportedly close to a deal on bishops, which could bring the country's six million officially sanctioned Catholics back into the Vatican's fold, and legitimize an estimated 10 million Catholics loyal to Rome in the eyes of the Communist Party.

Chen told the news conference: "I disagree with the view that preventing Rome from having full control over the selection of bishops hinders religious freedom ... I believe there is no religion in human society that transcends nations."

"The Chinese constitution clearly states that Chinas religious group and religious affairs cannot be controlled by foreign forces, and [foreign forces] should not interfere in Chinese religious affairs in any way," he said.

His comments came as Beijing published a white paper on religious affairs saying that it "adheres to the principle of independence and self-management, [and] actively guides religions to adapt to the socialist society."

"Actively guiding" is a key phrase that has appeared under the administration of President Xi Jinping, and denotes a view of religion as a dangerous foreign import, with officials warning against the "infiltration of Western hostile forces" in the form of religion, particularly Christianity.



Online sales of Bible banned

The white paper came as Chinese Christians reported via social media that the Bible has been banned from online selling platforms like Taobao.

Taobao, JD.com, and Dangdang have all banned the sale of ISBN-free Bibles and related spiritual books, including those published by the official Christian conferences, a Taobao seller confirmed to RFA.

"We can't sell ... Protestant Christian books, the Bible, and [related] spiritual books ... without an ISBN code," the seller said, in reference to the International Standard Book Number. Chinese ISBNs start with the number 7, and can only be issued by the General Administration for Press and Publications (GAPP) under the State Council.

He said the ban had taken effect at the start of the week.

"They said it was because these are restricted [internal] publications," he added.

The Communist Party has intensified government control over religious activities with a set of tougher regulations since September 2017, sparking fears of further human rights violations targeting religious believers and ethnic minority groups.

The updated rules increased punishments for unsanctioned religious activities and stepped up supervision of certain groups in a bid to "block extremism" and tackle "terrorism," and include a ban on any activities that harm unspecified "national interests."

Wu Fan, editor-in-chief of the U.S.-based Chinese-language magazine Chinese Affairs, said Xi Jinping's administration treats religious work as ideological work in the communist tradition.

"The religious affairs that Xi Jinping is talking about are in fact mass line ideological work," Wu said. "Religions are expected to follow the leadership of the party, according to [Xi's] Chinese dream."

"Basically, they have completely changed the meaning of religion," he said.

Wu said the party is now insisting that people's spiritual lives become fused with the political goals of the ruling party.

"In insisting on this hard-wired connection, they are controlling religious believers," he said. "The Communist Party is an atheist organization, so it's utterly ridiculous that it should be in charge of people who believe in a god."

A Protestant pastor in the southern province of Guangdong who identified himself as Ma Ke, or Mark, agreed, saying that the recent emphasis by Xi Jinping on the "Sinicization" of religion will result in the stifling of religious belief.

"I have just read the white paper ... and I felt that they are still going in the same old direction," he said. "Unlike in other, free and democratic countries, they want all religions to serve this government."

"But a fusion of religion [and state] can only have one outcome; a total lack of genuine religious belief, which is why other countries don't do the same thing as China," he said.

According to the white paper, "actively guiding religions in adapting to the socialist society means guiding religious believers to love their country and compatriots, safeguard national unity [and] ethnic solidarity."

Doesnt bode well

Anthony Lam, of the Holy Spirit Study Center in Hong Kong, said the white paper doesn't bode well for any future deal with the Vatican, echoing other Catholics around the world who have called on Rome to withdraw from any deal with China.

"This tug-of-war has been going on for so long, which shows how important the key issues are to both parties," Lam told RFA. "The appointment system [for bishops] must comply with canon law [and] all appointments must be made unanimously."

"Otherwise, the entire world will be against us," he said. "The Catholic Church cannot make an exception ... for China."

Reported by Yang Fan and Lin Ping for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.North Korean laborers barred under U.N. sanctions from working abroad are now moving back into China in an apparent violation of restrictions aimed at punishing Pyongyang for its illicit nuclear weapons and missile programs, sources along the border say.



Though workers formerly sent into China to earn foreign currency for North Koreas cash-strapped regime are still under U.N. orders to return home, no new lines of returning workers are being seen, sources working on the border say.



Instead, North Korean workers have been observed entering China in defiance of the rules, they say.



This week, on April 2, around 400 female North Korean workers were sent to Helong city in [Jilin provinces] Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture, an ethnic Korean living in Yanbian told RFAs Korean Service, speaking on condition of anonymity.



It seems like Kim Jong Uns recent visit to China is showing some results, the source said, referring to an anticipated relaxation of trade restrictions in response to recent China-North Korea diplomatic contacts.



Speaking separately, a source in Chinas Dandong, a port city lying on the Yalu River across from North Korea, told RFA he had seen a group of buses carrying North Korean workers arrive on March 30 from North Koreas Sinuiju city, just across the border.



They had young women on board who appeared to be North Korean workers, RFAs source said, also speaking on condition he not be named.



The buses crossed the Yalu Rivers railway bridge and dropped the workers off at the Dandong customs post, he said, adding, There appeared to be roughly more than 100 of them.



'Ready to be assigned'



North Korean workers crossing the border into China can enter the country only with a border pass called a River-Crossing Pass, issued by the North Korean government, the source said.



According to an agreement between North Korea and China, these passes are supposed to be valid for only 30 days, but North Korea issues passes valid for periods of from six months to a year, and China does not argue over this extended period of validity, he said.



Meanwhile, China-based North Korean trade workers visiting North Korea for end-of-year performance reviews are actively recruiting workers to send back to China, sources say.



I have received multiple phone calls from traders in Pyongyang saying that workers are ready to be assigned, and asking me to find companies in which to place them, one Chinese business partner of a North Korean trading firm said.



I had received calls like this even before Kim Jong Uns China visit, but Ive been getting even more of them recently, he said.



In September 2017, the U.N. Security Council adopted resolutions prohibiting companies from accepting North Korean workers in response to a nuclear test the North conducted earlier that month.



Three months later, the Council unanimously passed an additional resolution requiring all North Korean workers in other countries to return home within two years.



The resolution was drafted by China and the United States in response to a ballistic missile launch that Pyongyang said was capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.



Reported by Joonho Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Richard Finney.United Nations ambassadors and their aides attend a UN Security Council meeting about the ongoing violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, at the United Nations in New York, Sept. 28, 2017.

Myanmars agreement to receive a delegation from the United Nations Security Council is a positive step towards improving relations with the international community, which has been highly critical of the Southeast Asian nation for months over its handling of the Rohingya crisis, former politicians and other officials said Wednesday.

The decision on Monday comes after Myanmars months-long refusal to allow an independent U.N.-mandated mission into the country to investigate reports of major atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims during a crackdown by the military in Rakhine state.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh during the crackdown. Survivors, witnesses, and rights groups have widely documented extrajudicial killings and incidents of torture, rape, and arson by soldiers who targeted Rohingya communities in response to deadly attacks by a Muslim militant group late last August.

Both the Myanmar government and the military have denied that the army committed the atrocities.

The U.N. has charged that the campaign amounted to ethnic cleansing, while its human rights investigator for Myanmar said it bore the hallmarks of genocide.

The details of the visit have yet to be hammered out, and it remains unknown if the delegation will be allowed into Rakhine state.

Nevertheless, the chairman of a Myanmar-appointed panel set up to advise Aung San Suu Kyi on the Rakhine crisis expressed his approval that the country has agreed to receive the U.N. Security Council delegation.

Surakiart Sathirathai, a former deputy prime minister of Thailand who chairs the advisory board, said he was pleased by the news during a press conference in Singapore after he and his colleagues met with Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday in Myanmars capital Naypyidaw.

Veteran U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson resigned from the panel in January, criticizing it as a whitewash and accusing Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he had considered a long-time friend, of lacking moral leadership. He also questioned Sathirathais commitment to implementing the recommendations on Rakhine state issued by an earlier panel chaired by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan.

Sathirathai also commended Bangladesh for agreeing to let Win Myat Aye, Myanmars minister of social welfare, relief, and resettlement, visit border camps where Rohingya refugees live.

Myanmar political analyst Yan Myo Thein called the Myanmar governments decision to allow in the Security Council an important step forward in the countrys international relationship with the U.N.

I think Myanmar can build more trust and understanding with the international community, he told RFAs Myanmar Service. I believe this good relationship will support Myanmars economic development as well.

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have reportedly been invited to observe the visit by the U.N. delegation, he said.

Though ASEAN has a stated policy of noninterference in the internal affairs of its 10 member countries, a group of regional lawmakers took the organization's members to task in November for failing to confront the Rakhine crisis during the ASEAN summit in Manila, saying their inaction was a blow to the blocs credibility and threatened the security of all member nations.

Easing the pressure

Myanmars former information minister Ye Htut said the visit by the U.N. Security Council delegation would ease some of the pressure on the country imposed by the international community over the crisis.

The international community has asked us to accept back the Rohingya refugees and grant them the right of citizenship, he said. As long as Myanmar cannot do everything the international community has asked of it, it will face pressure.

But Ye Htut cautioned that State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi must find a way to win the support of ethnic Rakhine residents of the religiously and ethnically divided state before the delegation arrives.

The problem can get worse by agreeing to the U.N. Security Councils visit without the support of the Rakhine ethnics, he said.

Though Myanmar has agreed to repatriate Rohingya refugees who want to voluntarily return to northern Rakhine, officials have verified and approved only 500-some names on an initial list of more than 8,000 provided by Bangladesh.

The U.N. and rights groups have warned that Rohingya who return will continue to face systematic discrimination, if not violence, in Myanmar where they are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denied citizenship and access to basic services.

The likelihood of a call for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to address Myanmars handling of the crisis has receded now that the bodys members will visit the country, Ye Htut said.

The U.N. Security Council has discussed the Rohingya crisis several times since August 2017, and U.N. agencies have condemned the actions of the Myanmar military and the governments refusal to acknowledge or stop them.

Former Rakhine state chief minister Maung Maung Ohn told RFA that if the Security Council and the Myanmar government can work together, their cooperation would result in more development in the poor region that could resolve its problems.

In the past, most international officials visited places that were selected in advance and met people whom they were told in advance to meet, he said. It will not be effective if they [the Security Council delegates] come to Myanmar and do the same.

When I served as Rakhine states chief minister, I mostly permitted international officials to travel wherever they wanted, but they went only to places where they could meet people who would tell them what they wanted to hear, he said. How freely the officials will be able to travel this time will depend on how much trust the Myanmar authorities and the U.N. Security Council members can build.



Ursula Mueller (R), the UN's deputy humanitarian chief, talks to Rohingya Muslims at an internally displaced persons camp in Sittwe township, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, April 4, 2018. Credit: RFA IDP camp visits

On Tuesday, Aung San Suu Kyi, who also serves as Myanmars foreign affairs minister, met with Ursula Mueller, assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), who is on a weeklong visit to the country.

During their meeting in Naypyidaw, they discussed humanitarian programs to be linked with development, capacity building, education, the empowerment of women, and ways to enhance cooperation between Myanmar and the U.N., the official Myanmar News Agency reported.

Mueller is observing the humanitarian requirements that have been caused by conflict not only in Rakhine state, but also in Shan and Kachin states in the north, where fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups has displaced tens of thousands of residents.

On Wednesday, Mueller met with Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine leaders in the state capital Sittwe, and members of the state government. She also visited local internally displaced persons (IDP) camps that house Muslims who fled communal violence in 2012.

She talked with people who temporarily live near the [Dar Paing Muslim] refugee camp, not with refugees who live in the camp, said camp official Thein Aung.

Muellers visit coincided with one by Scot Marciel, U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, who met at the Sittwe Hotel with seven Muslim administrative officials from the Thetkaibyin IDP camp.

We told him about our hardships in the camp, suffering for six years, said Kyaw Hla Aung, who spoke with Marciel.

We told the envoy how badly we need health care and schools in the camp, he said. And we told him to ask the government to let some 500 students who had completed the matriculation exams to attend colleges in other states and regions because they are not permitted to attend Sittwe University.

The seven camp leaders prepared to meet Marciel in a teahouse inside the camp, but they received a phone call around 8 p.m. on Monday and were informed that the ambassador and his team would not be allowed in Thetkaibyin camp, Kyaw Hla Aung said. Instead they were invited to meet the American delegation at the hotel.

I told him he would have seen with his own eyes the reality of our lives and how we are struggling if he could have visited the camp, he said We told him to try to get there in the future. We told him we want to return to our former homes, and we asked him to raise the matter with Naypyidaw.

Marciel also met with leaders from the Arakan National Party, a political party that represents the interests of the ethnic Rakhine people in Rakhine state, to discuss their views on the repatriation of the Rohingya.

Rakhine lawmakers table motion

Also on Tuesday, some members of the Rakhine state parliament urged the government not to resettle returning Rohingya in southern Maungdaw township, a majority-Muslim area that was the focal point of the crackdown along with neighboring Buthidaung and Ratheduang townships.

However, the motion was tabled at the request of Tun Aung Thain, a lawmaker representing Buthidaung.

Hardcore terrorists who approached from the sea tried to get to the Mayu mountain range in the past and systematically committed various terrorist acts, he said, referring to the mountain range spanning part of Maungdaw and Buthidaung, where Muslim militant training activities were believed to have taken place before deadly attacks on police outposts last Aug. 25.

Bringing them [Rohingya refugees] into the southern parts would be like asking for more of that kind of trouble, he said.

The session accepted the motion and decided to discuss it on a later date.

Meanwhile, violence continued to rock northern Rakhine state on Wednesday with an attack on ethnic Mro villagers that killed a woman in northern Rakhines Maungdaw township, said Tun Shwe, chief of Thit Tone Khwa Sone village. The Mro are a small ethnic group living on Myanmars borders with Bangladesh and India.

Three Mro men and five women from Laymyo Kaydi village of the larger Thit Tone Khwa Sone village tract were attacked while they were fishing at around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, he said.

Those who escaped informed authorities, who summoned police and soldiers. After the police and troops discovered the dead womans body, they had it transported to Maungdaw Hospital, he said.

Though there was a buildup of police and soldiers in northern Rakhine during and after the crackdown, there are now indications that officials are starting to scale back on security personnel stationed in the region.

Thirty police officers on patrol in troubled Rakhine will be transferred out of the state, local policemen who declined to be named said on Wednesday, adding that authorities have not yet made an official announcement.

A police chief in the region issued the order a few days ago in response to the ongoing problems in Rakhine, they said, but could not provide any further details.

Reported by Thinn Thiri, Zarni Htun, Min Thein Aung, and Wai Mar Tun for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.Chinese authorities in Tibets Nagchu county are promising cash rewards for leads to criminal activity, including efforts to promote Tibets national culture or language or ties to exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, according to a recently issued official notice.



The March 13 document, a copy of which was obtained by RFAs Tibetan Service, offers amounts up to 100,000 yuan (U.S. $15,856) for information on the activities of what it calls criminal gangs, a term loosely defined to include persons or organizations advocating separatism, a charge often leveled against Tibetans calling for greater cultural or religious rights.



Awards of 50,000 yuan are also promised for information, to be verified by police investigation, regarding gambling, drug trafficking, and the abuse of religion, power, and family connections to illegally encroach on property, the document says.



Other offenses listed include fundraising activities, environmental activism, the lending of money at high rates of interest, and the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, according to the notice, which promises confidentiality in informants dealings with the police.



Calls by RFA seeking information from the telephone hotline number listed on the Nagchu notice rang unanswered on April 3.



A notice circulated in February by the Public Security Bureau (PSB) of the Tibetan Autonomous Region meanwhile targets Buddhist monasteries believed to be using religion to control, to incite, or to coerce the masses to resist the [Chinese Communist] Party and government.



The 22-point notice also criminalizes persons urging the protection of Tibetan culture and use of the Tibetan language, calling such efforts reactionary and narrowly nationalistic, and warns against contacts with the Dalai Lama and foreign hostile forces supposedly loyal to him.



Behavior specified as illegal includes support for the Dalai Lamas Middle Way approach calling for greater autonomy for Tibet while acknowledging Beijings sovereignty over Tibetan areas now part of China.



Reported by RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.International rights groups on Wednesday called for the immediate and unconditional release of six Vietnamese activists ahead of their trial on charges of subversion, as new information emerged detailing nearly 100 prisoners of conscience languishing in Vietnams jails.



Prominent rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, his colleague Le Thu Ha, and citizen journalists Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Trung Ton, Truong Minh Duc and Nguyen Bac Truyen, are to be tried Thursday in Hanoi for activities aimed at overthrowing the peoples administration, under Article 79 of Vietnams Penal Code. They face life imprisonment or even capital punishment if convicted.



The six are accused of affiliation with Brotherhood for Democracyfounded by Dai in 2013 to defend human rights and promote democratic ideals in Vietnamand have campaigned for victims, advocated for religious freedom, and supported political prisoners and their families.



Troi, Ton, Duc and Truyen have also campaigned against Taiwanese steel firm Formosa, which dumped toxic waste into the sea along the coast of central Vietnam in April 2016an environmental crisis official media has said Brotherhood for Democracy exploited to stir up public dissent.



Dai and Ha were arrested in December 2015 and charged with conducting propaganda against the state, under Article 88 of the Penal Code, but were charged instead under Article 79 in July 2017. The other four were arrested in July last year under the same charge.



New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement Wednesday urging Vietnam to drop charges against the six defendants and release them from custody.



The only crime that these activists have committed is to campaign tirelessly for democracy and defend victims of human rights abuses, said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watchs Asia director.



The Vietnamese government should thank them for their efforts to improve the country instead of arresting and putting them on trial.



London-based Amnesty International called the upcoming trial unfair and said the activists are facing trumped-up charges.



Authorities should start by immediately dropping the ludicrous charges against the six activists facing trial tomorrow and set them free without conditions, said James Gomez, Amnesty Internationals director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.



Also on Wednesday, a consortium of international organizations including Reporters Without Borders, the Viet Tan pro-democracy group, Brotherhood for Democracy and Frontline Defenders added their voices to the chorus calling on the Vietnamese government to free the six activists.



We condemn the arrests of these six human rights defenders and call on the Vietnamese government to immediately release them and withdraw all charges and release other peaceful activists and advocates of free expression who have been arbitrarily detained, the groups said in a joint statement.



Meanwhile, Trois wife, Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, told RFAs Vietnamese Service that she and the wives of Dai, Ton, Duc and Truyen had been refused the right to attend Thursdays trial, and recently traveled to the Hanoi Peoples Court to demand that the proceedings be opened to the public.



We have written many letters  including petitions to ask for permission to attend the trial but they only received our letters without giving any answer, Trang said.



Even though it should be open to the public, in fact it is not. This has happened in other dissidents trials before, so we are worried that this will also happen to us.



Prisoners of conscience



Amid the calls to drop charges against the six activists, Amnesty International said that at least 97 prisoners of conscience are currently being held in Vietnams prisons, many of whom it said are kept incommunicado in squalid conditions and routinely subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.



Viet Nam is one of Southeast Asias most prolific jailers of peaceful activistsa shameful title no one should aspire to, Gomez said in Amnestys statement.



The 97 prisoners of conscience that we are aware of in the country are all brave women and men who have been robbed of their freedom for nothing but promoting human rights.



Amnesty said that its number is likely an underestimation, noting that it is impossible to know the real figure, due to the shroud of secrecy the Vietnamese authorities operate under.



Among the 97 prisoners of conscience are lawyers, bloggers, rights defenders, environmental activists and pro-democracy campaigners Amnesty said had used peaceful methods, but were mostly handed lengthy jail sentences in show trials.



It said 88 are male and nine female, 40 are activistspolitical, social and environmentaland 57 are religious followers, including 37 from indigenous groups. Of those whose ages are known, two are under 25 years old, 75 are between the ages of 25 to 64, and 18 are 65 years old and above.



The new figure constitutes an increase from previous years, Amnesty said, despite some releases due to completed sentences.



Gomez said that he expects the list of prisoners of conscience to grow longer, unless Vietnams government ends its practice of jailing and harassing peaceful opponents.



Viet Nam must immediately release everyone who has been jailed for nothing but peacefully speaking their minds, and take their obligation to respect human rights for everyone seriously, he said.



Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.Dozens of angry villagers screamed in anguish and beat their own faces outside a hospital in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz on April 3, a day after dozens of people were killed and wounded when the Afghan military unleashed an aerial assault on what it said was a gathering of Taliban leaders.

But eyewitnesses and villagers who survived the attack claim the air strikes in the Taliban-controlled Dasht-i Archi district in Kunduz Province did not target militants, and killed dozens of civilians -- including children -- who had gathered for a religious ceremony.

Residents of Dasht-i Archi claim no members of the Taliban were present as hundreds of people gathered for dastaar bandi, a ceremony marking the graduation of young men who have memorized the Koran, Islam's holy book.

I swear to God, I will kill myself if the government is not held accountable, screamed one man who sunk to his knees in front of the Zone Hospital in the provincial capital, Kunduz.

I lost my nephew, yelled another man.

The government are infidels, shrieked another man as he raised his hands toward the sky.

Blame Game

Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish rejected claims that the strikes targeted civilians, telling a news conference in Kabul on April 3 that aerial footage and images showed Taliban members gathered in a compound with vehicles and motorbikes, carrying Taliban and Pakistani flags. He alluded that if any civilians were killed, they were killed by the Taliban.

But other government officials admitted that a number of civilians had been killed in the strikes.

"The Afghan National Army, based on precise information, tried to destroy it to save the people from great disaster, but there are reports that, unfortunately, civilian casualties were also caused in the attack," President Ashraf Ghani's office said in an April 3 statement. Ghani said an investigation into the deadly air strikes had been launched.

Nasruddin Saadi, the district governor of Dasht-i Archi, said on April 3 that the air strikes hit a mosque and religious school, killing and wounding around 150 people.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the same day that its investigators were in the area looking into "disturbing reports of serious harm" to civilians.

Swaths of Kunduz Province, located along the border with Tajikistan, are controlled by the Taliban. The militants have twice seized control of the provincial capital in recent years. The province has been the scene of a number of deadly air assaults, including in 2015 when U.S. air strikes destroyed a hospital, killing 42 people, most of them patients and medical staff.

'Everything Was Destroyed'

Amanullah, a resident of Dasht-i Archi, located around 80 kilometers from the provincial capital, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on April 3 that the air strikes hit a ceremony for which hundreds had gathered in the Gojar Akhundzada mosque and nearby fields. He claimed around 50 civilians were killed and scores injured.

"The helicopters first fired artillery and then rockets, said Amanullah as he stood outside Zone Hospital. Everything was destroyed. The area was littered with dead bodies and body parts.

There was nobody there to help us, added Amanullah, who only goes by one name. There were no ambulances. We had to transport the wounded by car to Kunduz city.

Amanullah claimed there were no Taliban fighters present at the religious ceremony in the district.

There were only civilians, he says. Most were clerics and religious students. It was a graduation ceremony for students."

Another man at the hospital, who did not want to be identified, claimed 50 civilians were killed.

The attack lasted a long time, he said. There were no vehicles to transfer the wounded. We had to drive the wounded here ourselves."

A middle-aged man standing in a dark corridor of the hospital said the air strikes had caused a devastating scene.

We found my cousin in the rubble and brought him here to the hospital, he says, wiping his face with his scarf. It was his graduation day."The European Union on April 3 criticized Kosovo's deportation of six Turks who were political foes of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying it "raised questions" about both Pristina's and Ankara's "respect" for human rights.

The deportations on March 29, which were approved by Kosovo's interior minister and intelligence chief, prompted their dismissal a day later by Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who said the officials took action without his permission.

The Turks who were deported had ties to the Fethullah Gulen movement that Erdogan blames for a failed 2016 coup attempt against his government. Gulen, a Muslic cleric, and his followers have denied the allegations.

Both Kosovo and Turkey have applied to become members of the EU.

"The arrest and subsequent deportation of six Turkish nationals legally residing in Kosovo raise questions about the respect of the due process of law," EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said. "The rule of law is a fundamental principal of the European Union."



Kocijancic noted that Kosovo, "in line with its determination to build a free and democratic future," as part of its association agreement with the EU is required it to show "full respect for the rule of law" and promote "universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms."

"Arbitrary procedures concerning arrest, detention, or exile go against these principles," she said.

"As for Turkey, while we understand the need to bring the culprits of the coup attempt...to justice, any alleged wrongdoing or crime should be subject to due process and well established international norms when seeking extradition," Kocijancic said.

"The right of every individual to fair trial needs to be fully respected. As a European Union candidate country and a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey has subscribed to these principles," she said.

Facebook says it has deleted dozens of pages linked to a Russian "troll factory" that was indicted in the United States for political activities aimed at influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The company said in an announcement late on April 3 that it had removed 70 Facebook accounts, 138 Facebook pages, and 65 Instagram accounts, 95 percent of which were in the Russian language.

It said the deleted accounts and pages had 1 million followers on Facebook and 500,000 on Instagram, mainly in Russia, Ukraine, and nearby countries such as Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

The pages deleted discussed domestic and international political issues, promoted Russian culture and tourism, and touched on "more everyday issues," Facebook said, providing samples of the deleted pages in its announcement.

The network said many of the deleted articles and pages were posted by the Russian-based Federal News Agency, known as FAN, which it said appears to be connected to a St. Petersburg "troll factory" known as the Internet Research Agency or IRA, which was indicted by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller in February.

Russian media organization RBC last year reported that FAN and IRA once shared the same street address and had other connections. One of the people that it said made decisions at FAN was named in the Mueller indictment.

'Bad Actors'

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg told Reuters in an interview that FAN "has repeatedly acted to deceive people and manipulate people around the world, and we don't want them on Facebook anywhere."

He added that it was clear that FAN and other actors targeted by Facebook's latest round of deletions were "controlled and operated" by IRA.

Under a new policy, Facebook said it would take down all postings that are spread by what it sees as "bad actors," even if the postings themselves seem harmless.

The St. Petersburg troll factory IRA was among three firms and 13 Russians indicted on charges they conspired to meddle in the 2016 election by spreading posts that supported U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign while disparaging his opponent, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Russia has denied meddling in the election and Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he would not extradite to the United States any of the individuals named in the Mueller indictment.

Facebook said it is rooting out anything on its networks connected to IRA, which it said sponsored pages during the 2016 election on hot-button U.S. political topics, such as immigration, border security, and police violence, taking a generally pro-Trump stance.

"The IRA has consistently used inauthentic accounts to deceive and manipulate people. Its why we remove every account we find that is linked to the organization -- whether linked to activity in the U.S., Russia, or elsewhere," Facebook said.

Facebook first disclosed in September that Russians used its networks to try to meddle in U.S. politics, using false names to spread posts both before and after the 2016 elections.

Facebook's expanded campaign against what it sees as "bad" Russian actors could provoke a backlash from Russian regulators.

In October, Google announced that it was removing FAN stories from its search index. Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor asked Google for an explanation, saying that it needed to protect free speech. Google later reinstated FAN, reports said at the time.

With reporting by Reuters

KABUL -- Six Afghan soldiers have been slightly wounded in a bomb attack in the capital, the Defense Ministry says.

The ministry said in a statement that two magnetic bombs placed on a power transmission tower exploded in Kabul on April 4 when members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) were passing by.

Earlier, officials at the Ministry of Public Health said three people had been transferred to hospital for treatment following the attack, which took place near a Defense Ministry building.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which comes as the Western-backed government in Kabul has been struggling to fend off the Taliban, the Islamic State, and other militant groups since the withdrawal of most NATO troops in 2014.

On March 21, a suicide attack outside a Shi'ite mosque in Kabul killed at least 29 people, as people in the capital celebrated the new year holiday Norouz.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack.

With reporting by Khaama Press

Kosovos parliament on April 4 voted to establish a panel to investigate how and why six Turkish citizens who are opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were arrested and deported to Turkey.

The March 29 deportations were approved by Kosovo's interior minister and intelligence chief, moves that prompted their dismissals a day later by Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who said the officials took action without his permission.

The deportations also brought criticism from rights groups and the European Union, which on April 3 said they "raised questions" about both Pristina's and Ankara's "respect" for human rights.

Haradinaj on April 4 said he told the EU and Washington that this was a mistake and an accident and I have asked them for their understanding and help to fix this."

Both Muslim-majority countries have applied for EU membership, although Kosovos candidacy appears to be further along than that of Turkey, which has quarreled with the bloc in recent years over various political, cultural, and military matters.

The deported Turks reportedly had ties to the Fethullah Gulen movement that Erdogan blames for a failed 2016 coup attempt against his government. Gulen, a self-exiled Muslim cleric living in the United States, and his followers deny the allegations.

Avdullah Hoti, the parliamentary head of the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), called for the April 4 emergency session on the matter, saying he was "shocked" by the arrests.

"Instead of being interviewed by authorities in Pristina, they were urgently deported to Turkey," Hoti said.

The arrested and deported Turks were the principal and the teachers of Mehmet Akif College in Pristina.

With reporting by Reuters

As the mystery surrounding the arrest and deportation of six Turkish nationals from Kosovo to Turkey threatens to drive a wedge between the two countries, a crisis between the prime minister and the president may also be deepening.

The March 29 expulsions, which were approved by Kosovo's interior minister and intelligence chief, prompted the two men's dismissal a day later by Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.

Haradinaj said he was not informed about the operation to deport the six, who were arrested over ties to schools linked to the Fethullah Gulen movement that Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup.

A Muslim cleric, Gulen's organization preaches nonviolence and denies any connection to the takeover attempt.

But Kosovar President Hasim Thaci, who has publicly endorsed the deportations, saying the six were a danger to the fledgling countrys national security, must approve the sacking of Kosovar Intelligence Agency chief Driton Gashi.

Analysts say Thacis hesitance in cutting Gashi loose could be a sign of growing discontent between him and Haradinaj -- two former Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) guerrillas and longtime foes who fought Serbian repression of Kosovos ethnic Albanian majority during the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

If Thaci does not dismiss the [AKI] chief, then he takes on all the sins of this event. It will prove that he is the person who initiated and implemented it, said political analyst Artan Muhaxhiri.

"This will be a great blow to [Haradinaj] and his cabinet because the prime minister will have to work further with a person (Gashi) who has an extremely important position he does not trust, Muhaxhiri added.

Turkeys ties with impoverished Kosovo run deep.

Turkey is a major political and financial supporter of Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Turkish firms run the tiny Balkan country's sole airport and electricity network and are building two highways worth around $2 billion.

Ankara accuses Gulen, a Muslim cleric based in the United States, of masterminding the July 15, 2016, coup attempt and has declared his movement a terrorist operation. Gulen rejects the charges.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech during a meeting of his Justice and Development Party in Ankara on March 30 that the Turkish intelligence agency MIT had brought the six Turks back "in coordination with Kosovar intelligence," fueling rumors of discord between Thaci and Haradinaj.

A day later, Erdogan said he was "saddened" by Haradinajs response and that the prime minister would "pay" for the sackings.

Is there any role played by President Hashim Thaci, who is known to be very close to the Turkish government? asked Julien Hoez, an analyst and contributor to Vocal Europe, a group dedicated to raising issues related to democracy, human rights, and rule of law in Europe.

After all, it seems that Turkeys Erdogan has a parallel state in Kosovo that executes decisions without the knowledge of the incumbent prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, he added.

Haradinaj, the leader of the center-right Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), was approved by parliament as prime minister in September.

He was nominated by Thaci to form a new government after his coalition struck an agreement with several smaller parties to give his bloc the majority needed to rule.

The sometimes uneasy relationship between Thaci and Haradinaj was seen by many as a necessary evil to end a three-month political stalemate following inconclusive June elections.

The two leaders have clashed over issues such as border demarcation with neighboring Montenegro and, most recently, the March 26 arrest of senior Serbian official Marko Djuric by Kosovar police.

Thaci reportedly disregarded Haradinaj in ordering special police units to arrest Djuric in the divided northern town of Mitrovica and expel him after he entered the country without an official permit. The incident has fueled fears of renewed instability in the region.

To some degree, their cooperation was never more than strategic and temporary, said Florian Bieber, a Balkans expert at the University of Graz.

After all, they were political opponents for most of the past two decades. The rift now brings in additional instability and, ironically, might be a response to the split of [the single-largest party in parliament] Vetevendosje, which is reducing the pressure on the ruling coalition to hold together, Bieber added.

A group of 12 lawmakers from Vetevendosje, which has 32 seats in parliament, recently broke away from the party to form an independent group. The move was triggered by internal disagreements over leadership.WASHINGTON -- Outgoing White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster has called for stronger measures against Russian "threats" and "provocations," arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin is mistaken in thinking the West will not push back against the Kremlin's "hybrid warfare."

The comments were some of the strongest to date on Russia by McMaster, whose last day at the White House will be next week.

"For too long, some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats. Russia brazenly, and implausibly, denies its actions, and we have failed to impose sufficient costs, McMaster said in an April 3 speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

McMaster cited what he called Russia's use of "hybrid warfare" -- using economics, politics, and cybertools to undermine adversaries -- and insisted that Moscow would not prevail over the West.

He also cited the poisoning of ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, who remains hospitalized after being exposed in Salisbury, England, to a military-grade nerve agent in March -- an attack the British government has accused Russia of carrying out.

Mr. Putin may believe that he is winning in this new form of warfare. He may believe that his aggressive actions in Salisbury, in cyberspace, in the air, and on the high seas can undermine our confidence, our institutions, and our values, McMaster said. Perhaps he believes that our free nations are weak and will not respond to his provocations. He is wrong."

McMaster's hawkish approach to Russia contrasted with President Donald Trump's often conciliatory rhetoric toward Moscow. His successor, former UN Ambassador John Bolton, shares similarly tough views on Russia.One man has been killed and six firefighters injured in a fire that broke out at a shopping center for children's goods in Moscow.

The chief emergency official in Moscow, Ilya Denisov, told reporters that two firefighters were injured while extinguishing the blaze at the Persei Dlya Detei (Perseus For Children) shopping center on April 4.

According to Denisov, the fire was fully extinguished and the lives of the injured firefighters are not in danger.

The blaze came 10 days after a fire at a shopping center in the Siberian city of Kemerovo killed 64 people, including dozens of children, and raised severe concerns about safety in such buildings.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Twitter that the April 4 fire affected 80 square meters at the box-shaped shopping mall in eastern Moscow.

"The firefighters behaved heroically. Several rescuers turned for medical assistance. Unfortunately, an employee of the shopping mall died. I express my condolences to his relatives and friends," Sobyanin wrote.

Media reports cited emergency and firefighting officials earlier as saying that at least 115 people were evacuated from the building.

Investigators said that at the mall in Kemerovo, fire exits were blocked, the public-address system had been shut off by a guard, and the fire alarm system was out of service.

President Vladimir Putin blamed the fire at the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) mall in Kemerovo on "criminal negligence" and "carelessness," and vowed that those responsible would be punished.

With reporting by RIA Novosti, Interfax, TASS, and DozhdIt's a meeting to chart a future for Syria, featuring the major players involved in the country's brutal seven years of war.

But the United States will not be there.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will sit down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rohani on April 4 in Ankara for the highest-level talks on Syria's future in five months.

The problem is that, more often than not, Russia, Turkey, and Iran have shown conflicting priorities and divergent interests both for Syria and the entire region.

That, many veteran observers and experts say, means the meeting could end up being more an exercise in public relations rather than substantive policy decisions.

"It's not clear to me what they can agree upon," said Mark Katz, a Middle East scholar at George Mason University, in Virginia. "I think for these guys the optics will be good enough."

All three countries have their own agendas in Syria.

Tehran has long supported the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the Shi'a Alawite base that he draws support from, but it is also a foe of NATO ally Turkey.

Moscow has supported Iran economically, including some of its nuclear programs, and Syria is Moscow's closest ally in the Middle East.

Turkey opposes Assad, and has clashed on and off with Russia for centuries.

"From the beginning, this triangular alliance between Moscow, Ankara, and Tehran, is an alliance of convenience," said Marc Pierini, a former European Union ambassador to Turkey, Syria, Libya, and Tunisia."It is very unusual because of the divergent interests [they have]."

Then there is Washington -- long a dominant force in Middle East politics -- with which all three countries have conflicting agendas.

'Common Denominator'

Iran is a decades-old enemy and fiery rhetoric has increased between Tehran and the United States since Donald Trump became president. Turkey is a NATO ally with currently tense relations with Washington, particularly over U.S. support of Kurdish militias fighting in Syria. And Russia views the United States much as the Soviet Union did: a geopolitical rival who should be thwarted wherever and whenever possible -- bilateral relations recently described by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as "worse than during the Cold War."

Yet all three simultaneously need some sort of U.S. presence to balance out countervailing forces: for example, to restrain Israel from taking more aggressive action against Syrian government forces and Iranian proxy militias. Or to help organize and fund a reconstruction effort in Syria once the conflict finally ends.

"For the moment it makes it look like they're the ones all making the decisions and, of course, without the United States. And they all like that idea, they're making policy independent of the United States, that is their own basic common denominator," Katz said.

Then there is the fact that each wants to keep one or the other off balance: Turkey wants to keep Iran at bay but wants to see Assad go; Russia wants closer ties with Turkey but also needs Syria for its Mediterranean naval base in Tartus; Iran wants to maintain supply lines to Hizballah in Lebanon and keep Turkey from moving into Iraq.

"They're certainly not going to tell one another what's really on their minds," said Patrick Clawson, director of research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It will be a consequential meeting, but one fraught with a lot of differences."

Astana Process

The last meeting between Putin, Rohani, and Erdogan took place in November, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Dubbed the Astana Process -- after the Kazakh capital city where the three countries first started a joint effort -- that meeting, and the ones that preceded it accomplished little, and in the months that followed there was increased military action in Syria by all three and their proxies.

Syria, meanwhile, has continued to conduct chemical weapons attacks on opposition forces in civilian areas, despite global condemnation.

"Nobody in the West believes that the Astana Process will produce a lasting result, so it will have to go back to the UN tables in Geneva, and to have a fruitful discussion there you need a solid, consistent position from the U.S. and a solid position from the U.S.-European perspective, which isn't there," said Pierini, who is a scholar at Carnegie Europe.

Meanwhile, Turkey's actions and its warmer ties with Moscow, Pierini continued, appeared motivated in part by domestic politics and nationalist politicians who consider the Kurds to be a threat to the Turkish state.

"The real risk for the West...is that both Iran and Russia might give a green light to Turkey to extend its operations into eastern Syria, east to the Euphrates [River], all the way to the Tigris [River]," Pierini said, where there are some 2,000 U.S. forces operating along with British and French units, and Kurdish militias.

"That would be immensely complicated," he said.

Role Reversal

Where Russia is concerned, its actions in Syria have long been part of a strategy aimed at standing up to the United States for major geopolitical crises, veteran Russian analyst Olga Oliker said. But that poses risks for Moscow.

"Russia's approach seemed to be this: stand up to the United States, let's say in Syria, then make a deal, and then it is a shared responsibility. But now Russia is facing the model: Russia stands up to the United States -- again, let's say in Syria -- the United States flails, and Russia is left holding the bag on Syria," she said in a conversation last month at the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute in Washington.

"Russia is left to figure out the end game, with the United States to some extent playing the role of the spoiler. It is a reversal of roles!" she said.

Steven Cook, an expert at the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations who focuses on Arab and Turkish politics, said that, as much as anything, the Ankara meeting is a reminder of Russia's success in moving into the vacuum left by the United States' disengagement in the region.

"In Syria, the Russians have demonstrated political will and staying power," he wrote in an analysis this week. "This is more important than, for example, the size of Russia's economy, which has been used as an indicator of Moscow's weakness."

"The Russians are not going away, they have a strategy to weaken the West, and it starts in the Middle East. Moreover, Moscow no longer has the ideological baggage of communism, making it easier for it to make inroads in the region," he concluded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he hopes a meeting of the global chemical weapons watchdog on April 4 will help to defuse a major diplomatic row that arose over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England.

Britain has accused Russia of using a nerve agent to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who were hospitalized in critical condition after being found collapsed on a bench in the southern city of Salisbury on March 4. Moscow denies involvement.

Putin -- seizing on a statement by a British laboratory head who told reporters the "precise source" of the nerve agent had not yet been determined -- accused Britain and other Western countries on April 3 of rushing to blame Moscow without sufficient evidence.

The chief executive of Britain's defense laboratory at Porton Down, Gary Aitkenhead, said in an interview with Sky News earlier on April 3 that scientists "have not verified the precise source" of the weapons-grade Novichok used, but he added that an attack with such a highly toxic chemical weapon was "probably only within the capabilities of a state actor." He also said it was not the laboratory's job to say where the poison was produced.

Putin, speaking at a news conference in Ankara after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on April 3, said the British official's statement showed the need for an international investigation into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33.

Russia requested a meeting of the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is to discuss the case behind closed doors.

"We want a thorough investigation. We would like to take part in it, and we count on receiving relevant materials as the issue involves citizens of the Russian Federation," Putin said.

"We have raised 20 questions for discussion," he said. "I hope that during this discussion, everything will be clarified."

Putin repeated Russia's claim that the nerve agent could have been produced by some 20 nations using materials that are available on the open market.

Putin asserted that Aitkenhead's statement provided evidence that British accusations of Russian involvement in the poisoning -- which led to the West's expulsion of more than 150 Russian diplomatic staff over the incident -- were unfounded.

"The speed at which the anti-Russian campaign was launched causes bewilderment," said Putin, who responded to the Western expulsions by throwing a similar number of Western diplomatic staff out of Russia.

'Idiocy'

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that, after Aitkenhead's statement, Britain should apologize for what he called "mad accusations" that "have no foundation whatsoever."

"The idiocy has gone too far," Peskov said.

The chief of Russia's foreign intelligence agency (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, claimed at a security conference in Moscow on April 4 that the Skripal case was a "grotesque provocation" staged by U.S. and British security services.

Aitkenhead said in the Sky News interview that London's conclusion that it was "highly likely" that Russia was behind the poisonings was made after his lab concluded that Novichok, a nerve agent Moscow developed during the Cold War, was used.

"It's our job to provide the scientific evidence that identifies what the particular nerve agent is," he said. "But it's not our job to say where that was actually manufactured."

He said his Porton Down laboratory "provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions that they have come to."

While the toxic agent "probably" was produced by a "state actor," Aitkenhead said there was "no way" it was made at Porton Down, which is eight kilometers from Salisbury. Russia has charged that the facility could have made the Novichok.

A U.K. government spokesman said on April 3 that London's conclusion that Russia was behind the poisonings was based in part on Moscow's history of investigating ways to use nerve agents in assassinations, its record of state-sponsored assassinations, its stockpile of small quantities of Novichok, and its previous targeting of former Russian intelligence officers.

"It is our assessment that Russia was responsible for this brazen and reckless act and, as the international community agrees, there is no other plausible explanation," the spokesman said.

Yury Filatov, Russia's ambassador to Ireland, said Moscow is demanding that Britain provide "every possible element of evidence" it has on the poisonings at the OPCW meeting on April 4.

If the United Kingdom does not show more evidence, he said, "there are ample grounds to assume that we are dealing with a grand scale provocation organized in London aimed to discredit Russia."

Britain's Foreign Ministry accused Russia of calling the meeting as a "diversionary tactic" to undermine its investigation into the poisonings. British authorities have invited OPCW experts to take chemical samples from Salisbury for analysis.

Meanwhile, Sergei Skripal remained hospitalized in critical condition on April 3, while Yulia Skripal's condition has improved.

Skripal was a colonel in Russias military intelligence agency until he was arrested and charged with spying for Britain. He was released in a 2010 spy swap and moved to Britain.

With reporting by Sky News, Reuters, AP, AFP, TASS, and Interfax

During the final months of Almazbek Atambaev's term as Kyrgyz president last year, his candor rankled many inside and outside of Kyrgyzstan.

Atambaev had kept a relatively low profile since officially leaving office on November 24, but after his election as head of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK) on March 31, Atambaev was back in front of a microphone and returned to making controversial comments-- though this time about the man he selected and helped elect as president: Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

After the closed-door meeting in which he was elected SDPK party chief, Atambaev was asked about his relationship with Jeenbekov.

Atambaev said his successor was an "old friend" that he had known for 23 years. But he added that "sometimes, as an older brother, I have to say something."

He then proceeded to say that Jeenbekov had done a poor job handling the crisis that erupted when the thermal power plant (TPP) in Bishkek broke down in subfreezing January weather just a few months after repairs and renovations that cost some $386 million.

"All the tenders, all the preparation was carried out by the team of Prime Minister Jeenbekov," Atambaev claimed.

He also recommended that Jeenbekov convince his brother, Asylbek, to resign as a member of parliament and so avoid any hints of the clan politics that characterized and eventually helped lead to the downfall of Askar Akaev, the first Kyrgyz president, and his successor, Kurmanbek Bakiev.

Atambaev said he had discussed the matter with the president, urging him to convince his brother to quit parliament.

Asylbek Jeenbekov -- who was democratically elected as an SDPK lawmaker -- was not invited to the March 31 SDPK congress at which Atambaev was elected. Several other SDPK deputies were also not invited.

'Emotional Comments'

Presidential spokeswoman Tolgonai Stamalieva replied to Atambaev's critical statements by saying that President Jeenbekov had no plans to hold a press conference as it would be "inappropriate" to respond to Atambaev's "emotional comments."

Stamalieva said Jeenbekov had spoken with Atambaev about these issues before the SDPK congress and "Almazbek Sharshenovich [Atambaev] already knows the position of the president on all these matters that were raised."

But Stamalieva defended the president against Atambaev's charges about the breakdown of Bishkek's TPP.

"The president of the country has no connection to the scandal around the tender for the modernization of the Bishkek TPP," she said. "The agreement for the tender was signed in 2013 when Sooronbai Jeenbekov was the governor of Osh Province."

"Society will find out the whole truth [about the breakdown] after an investigation into the reasons for the January accident is finished," she said.

Stamalieva continued, saying "the launching of the repaired [TPP] took place on August 30, 2017, without the participation of Sooronbai Jeenbekov. He had stepped down as prime minister on August 21 to participate in the presidential race."

Stamalieva also noted that Jeenbekov had not taken part in the planning for the 2017-2018 winter but reminded reporters that "when he was prime minister during 2016-2017, the long winter passed without serious incident, except for a small issue at a kindergarten in Tokmak" during which the heating failed.

Serious Rift

A serious rift between Atambaev and Jeenbekov was bound to break out as the former president had made it clear he expected Jeenbekov to continue his policies and to keep his advisers and other aides in place throughout the presidential administration.

The resignation from the presidential administration in late February of Farid Niyazov, a well-known journalist and long-time close ally and adviser of Atambaev, was the first sign that Jeenbekov was not going to continue to surround himself with his predecessor's people. It became clear that Niyazov was pressured to leave his post.

Atambaev's greatest achievement as president, arguably, was his ability to keep the country stable and together after a popular uprising had ousted President Bakiev in April 2010, followed by bloody interethnic violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan a few months later.

In his last several months of his presidency, Atambaev launched almost daily attacks against anyone in the opposition or the press who dared to counter him, with several individuals and press outlets being saddled with lawsuits and criminal charges seen by many observers as politically motivated.

During the presidential election campaign, Atambaev attacked Jeenbekov's primary rival -- Omurbek Babanov of the Respublika party and harshly criticized his supporters in the western Talas Province, telling them to move to Kazakhstan if they disagreed with policies in Kyrgyzstan.

Atambaev also wrought incredible harm to Kyrgyz-Kazakh relations by repeatedly criticizing and insulting the leadership and policies in Kazakhstan after Babanov was welcomed in Almaty by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev in September, in a meeting seen as an endorsement of the opposition candidate just weeks before the Kyrgyz presidential election.

For Jeenbekov to move Kyrgyzstan forward he was clearly going to have to make some changes from the previous administration. The resignation of Niyazov was seen as the first personnel move toward that change.

The Kyrgyz news site Kloop noted that Jeenbekov might have even started this feud with Atambaev back in February when he addressed a meeting of the Security Council and ordered them to rein in rampant corruption in government.

Atambaev had credited himself with doing just that and, Kloop wrote, "Atambaev probably took this as criticism directed at him."

Whoever started this current row between the two leaders, it appears to be reaching a critical point.

Jeenbekov said when he was campaigning and immediately after he was elected that he would continue Atambaev's policies.

If Jeenbekov allows Atambaev to criticize him without pushing back and to offer warnings couched as advice, then many will view Jeenbekov as nothing more than Atambaev's stooge and conclude that Atambaev continues to run things in Kyrgyzstan.

To avoid such a scenario, Jeenbekov may have to find a way to distance or even totally remove Atambaev from Kyrgyzstan's political scene, something which will now be more difficult to do since Atambaev heads the SDPK, the party to which Jeenbekov himself belongs.

And Atambaev added at his fiery March 31 press conference that he intends to prepare the SDPK for the 2020 parliamentary elections, indicating that the former ex-president has no intention of leaving Kyrgyz politics anytime soon.

Based on material from RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service (Radio Azattyk)

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL

Russian lawmakers have given preliminary approval to a bill that would oblige draft-age men to report for military service even if they have not received a conscription notice.

The legislation, which passed in the first of three readings in the State Duma late on April 3, appears to be aimed at improving conscription rates in Russia, where a lawmaker said recently that some 164,000 men are currently evading the draft.

Under the legislation, call-up notices would be delivered to future conscripts by registered mail-delivery services and could be signed for by adult relatives or legal representatives.

If the addressee does not receive the summons for some reason, he would be obliged to report for service anyway.

Failure to do so -- or refusal to accept a summons -- would be considered evasion of the draft, which is punishable by up to one year in prison or service in a disciplinary battalion of the military.

The bill received 341 votes in favor in the 450-seat Duma, the lower parliament house. If given final approval in the Duma, it will go to the upper house and then to President Vladimir Putin for his signature.

A deputy chairman of the Duma defense committee, Andrei Krasov, said earlier that about 164,000 men in Russia are currently evading 12-month military conscription, which is mandatory for men aged 18-27.

Deferments are provided to university students, men holding a Ph.D degree, men providing the sole support for disabled relatives, parents of at least two children, and some employees of military-oriented enterprises.

The sons and brothers of servicemen killed or disabled during military service are released from conscription.

The Russian armed forces have more than 1 million personnel, of which one-third are conscripts and the others serving under contracts.

With reporting by MeduzaThe presidents of Iran, Turkey, and Russia have expressed determination to "speed up their efforts to ensure calm on the ground" in Syria, saying after a summit in Ankara on April 4 that they are committed to achieving a "lasting cease-fire."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and President Hassan Rohani of Iran agreed that the conflict can be ended "only through a negotiated political process," according to a joint statement posted on Rohani's website on April 4.

Erdogan hosted the Russian and Iranian presidents for the second such tripartite summit on war-ravaged Syria in less than six months. The leaders said after their April 4 meeting that a third summit will be held in Tehran at a date that is yet to be announced.

Speaking to reporters, Putin highlighted what he called the three leaders' "firm commitment to the consolidation of sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic."

He also endorsed a proposal by Erdogan for the three countries to jointly provide humanitarian aid to Syria and called on other nations to join the effort.

"What is foremost for us is getting results. We must get results. We have no tolerance for delays. People are dying here," Erdogan told reporters.

In their joint statement, the three leaders said they were also determined to "protect civilians in the deescalation areas as well as to facilitate rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to these areas."

The three countries are deeply involved in the seven-year war, cooperating to create "deescalation zones" to reduce fighting while backing separate sides: Russia and Iran support President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey supports rebels seeking his ouster.

They have also sponsored a series of negotiations on the Syrian conflict in Kazakhstans capital, Astana, which they argued were a parallel process to support UN-supported peace talks in Geneva.

Russia and Iran have given crucial military and diplomatic backing to Assad's government throughout the war, which began with a government crackdown on protesters and has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Relations between Russia and Turkey soured badly after Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November 2015, weeks after Moscow began a campaign of air strikes that shored up Assad and turned the tide of the war.

But Putin and Erdogan have taken steps to mend ties since then as both countries relations the West have deteriorated.

After bilateral talks with Putin in Ankara on April 3, Erdogan said Turkey and Russia would continue their cooperation "focusing on our common interests" in Syria.

Rohani held separate talks with Erdogan and Putin on April 4 ahead of the trilateral summit.

Before traveling to the Turkish capital, the Iranian president said that foreign forces operating in Syria without approval from the Damascus government should leave.

Iranian state TV quoted Rohani as saying late on April 3 that he would discuss with Erdogan and Putin Syrias reconstruction and work on a new constitution.

The three presidents held a similar three-way meeting in the Russian city of Sochi in November.

The aim of the Ankara gathering is to "reorganize and renegotiate the zones of influence in Syria as well as to reflect on the future of Syria's north after U.S. withdrawal," Jana Jabbour, a professor of political science in Paris, told the AFP news agency.

Elizabeth Teoman of the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that "Erdogan likely wants to use the summit to secure Russian and Iranian support for expanded operations in northern Syria or Iraq."

On April 3, U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted to decide "very quickly" whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria now that they have nearly completed their primary mission of defeating the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

A senior U.S. administration official on April 4 said Trump has agreed to keep U.S. troops in Syria "a little longer" but does not want a long-term commitment.

The official said Trump wants to ensure Islamic State is defeated and called on other nations in the region to help provide stability in Syria.

"Were not going to immediately withdraw, but neither is the president willing to back a long-term commitment," the official said.

Trumps director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, on April 4 said the White House will announce its troop decision on Syria relatively soon.

He told reporters that senior national security leaders met on April 3 and that "some decisions were made," without being specific.

In addition to carrying out air strikes against IS, the United States has deployed about 2,000 troops in Syria, including U.S. special operations forces who have advised the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and helped them recapture territory from IS.

Turkey's military and pro-Ankara rebels seized the SDF-controlled Afrin enclave in northwest Syria last month, disregarding U.S. warnings that such a move could destabilize the region further.

Despite the calls for a lasting cease-fire, Erdogan has indicated that Turkey could extend its operation to other areas near its southern border that are controlled by fighters led by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, which Ankara considers as a terrorist organization.

"We are aware that many Syrians are waiting for when we complete our work on demining Afrin and rebuilding infrastructure so that they will be able to return to their homes," Erdogan said.

"I reiterate that we will not stop until we bring peace and stability to the areas controlled by the People's Protection Units," he said, specifically mentioning the strategic city of Manbij.

Jabbour said that Moscow and Tehran would give free rein to Ankara against the YPG in exchange for bringing the Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups to the negotiating table.

More than 340,000 people have been killed and millions have been internally displaced or have fled Syria since the conflict broke out following antigovernment protests in 2011.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Darya Komarova was a cub reporter in 2012 when she scored an interview with Stanislav Govorukhin, a top Russian film director who that year was working as the campaign chief for Vladimir Putin ahead of Russias presidential election.

Govorukhin had traveled to Cheboksary, the capital of the Chuvash Republic, some 670 kilometers east of Moscow, to stump for Putin and had agreed to meet with Komarova, a reporter with the biggest local newspaper, Progorod.

Komarova was elated, telling family and friends that she was about to meet a famous person. Making it all the sweeter was the fatter paycheck she had been promised by the newspaper for the interview.

Komarova met Govorukhin at a local restaurant, where she says he laid out his quid pro quo for the interview.

He proposed that I spend the night with him. I rejected him, and he threatened to cancel the interview. I was ashamed. I had already told all my friends and colleagues that I was going to interview a famous person -- Stanislav Govorukhin, Komarova recounted in a recent interview with RFE/RLs Tatar-Bashkir Service.

Shocked but unfazed, Komarova stood her ground.

I first told him that he would have to pay me for my lost time if he refused to do the interview, but it didnt work. Then I told him I would leave the room and stir up a scandal. Apparently, that frightened him," Komarova recounts. After that, I asked him a few questions and we finished.

Komarova later contacted Govorukhin to check a few facts from the interview. His nonchalance over the phone overwhelmed her.

He picked up the phone but didnt remember me. It was funny. I thought, 'He must have had a lot of provincial journalists.' This isnt about Govorukhin, but the fact that such behavior becomes commonplace. Thats what so scary.

RFE/RLs Tatar-Bashkir Service contacted Govorukhin by telephone but he declined to comment on the allegations.

Im at a hospital and cant talk, Govorukhin said.

But Govorukhin has previously denied having ever met Komarova for an interview, a copy of which is available on the journalists Facebook page.

Komarova says she was scared and confused at the time but then largely forgot the incident after colleagues she confided to largely brushed off the whole thing with a laugh. She also was wary about bringing it up with her husband.

My husband was against me working as a journalist, and then this happened. Maybe thats why I did not dwell on it. Now Im able to laugh at the whole thing involving Govorukhin. It just seems funny to me how some high-ranking people react when they see a pretty girl. However, this is no laughing matter. In all these situations, it is disgraceful how these men behave.

Komarova continued in journalism, including work as a contributor to RFE/RL, before she became a campaign manager for Ksenia Sobchak, the former TV personality who made a failed run in Russias recent presidential election.

Then public allegations emerged that numerous female journalists working in Russia had been harassed, an indication that the global #MeToo movement exposing cases of sexual harassment and abuse appeared to be spreading to Russia.

Among the first to come forward were several female reporters who accused Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky of sexual harassment.

Slutsky is a member of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, (LDPR), whose leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, called Sobchak a whore during a TV presidential debate.

The developments led Komarova to post details of her own experience on Facebook.

After that, Komarova said she was harshly criticized on social media (from many fake accounts she suspects were solely created to target her) and attacked by others she assumes were friends or fans of Govorukhin.

Komarova said she was disappointed by the reaction of Alena Arshinova, a State Duma deputy from Chuvashia, who in a posting on Facebook defended Govorukhin and cast doubt on Komarovas claims, saying she had worked alongside him during the 2012 campaign.

Sympathy, or justice for that matter, for victims of alleged sexual harassment appears to be in short supply in Russia.

On March 21, the State Dumas Ethics Commission heard the Slutsky case after accusers officially filed complaints. The committee, however, ruled that Slutsky had not committed any violations of behavioral norms, prompting more than 20 media outlets to pull their journalists from covering the lower house of Russias parliament.

Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has questioned why so many victims of sexual harassment have waited so long to file complaints.

If he groped you, if he harassed you, why did you remain silent? Why didnt you go to the police? Why did so much time pass, and then you went to the Ethics Commission?" Peskov told students at a Moscow university on March 29.

Peskov noted that women in the United States and elsewhere have been speaking out increasingly about sexual harassment, sometimes years after an alleged offense occurred, and suggested that Slutsky's accusers were making "something of a fashion statement."

Were trying to keep up with the mayhem thats been happening in America, he said.

A State Duma deputy from Tatarstan, Fatikh Sibagatullin, from the ruling United Russia party, on March 23 compared journalists to servants, sparking outrage.

To a certain degree, we are all servants before someone, I guess, says Komarova. Our deputies often forget that they are servants of the people and not the other way around.

Komarova predicts sexual harassment in Russia will only be addressed once there is a frank, public debate about the problem.



In my case, I just wanted to show that this happens so often, she says.

Komarova regrets that she herself didnt come forward sooner.

Maybe if I had talked more openly about what happened to me, then no one would have experienced the same thing, she says, before adding a bit of advice.

"As a journalist, I can only urge [anyone] to turn on your Dictaphone. Its important that you have evidence. As a woman, I urge anyone not to keep this to themselves.Russia has lost a vote by the global chemical-weapons watchdog for a new joint investigation, including Russian participation, into a nerve-agent attack in Salisbury, England, against a former Russian spy in England.

Moscow, accused by the British government of carrying out the attack, was seeking to be involved in a new investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Reuters reports that China, Azerbaijan, Sudan, Algeria, and Iran backed the Russian motion at the OPCW's April 4 closed-door meeting, while 17 members abstained.

Meanwhile, Russia's United Nations ambassador has called for an open meeting of the UN Security Council to be held on April 5 about the poisoning of the Skripals.

Vasily Nebenzya made the request on April 4 at the end of his speech to a Security Council meeting on chemical weapons in Syria.

Earlier on April 4, Britain's delegation to the OPCW dismissed Moscow's proposal for a joint British-Russian investigation into the poisonings as "perverse."

"It is a diversionary tactic, and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer," the British delegation said in a tweet during the meeting.

In a statement read out at the session, the European Union said it was "imperative" that Russia "responds to the British government's legitimate questions, begins to cooperate with the OPCW Secretariat, and provides full and complete disclosure to the OPCW."

In Berlin, a German government spokeswoman said it continued to "share Britain's view that there is a high likelihood that Russia is behind" the attack. "Nothing has changed," Ulrike Demmer said.

Russia's envoy to the international chemical weapons watchdog charged after the April 4 meeting that Britain's work with the agency on the case has not been transparent.

Aleksandr Shulgin said: "Russia as well as other states that are members of the executive committee have been pushed aside from this investigation."

"They tell us that they can inform us of the results of this investigation...only with the goodwill of Great Britain," Shulgin said. "But, knowing how our so-called partners have conducted themselves, we are not going to count on their goodwill."

Britain has accused Russia of using a nerve agent to poison Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, who were hospitalized in critical condition after being found collapsed on a bench in the southern city of Salisbury on March 4.

OPCW experts have taken samples from the site and sent them to certified laboratories for analysis, but are still awaiting the results.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 3 said he hoped the OPCW meeting would help to defuse a major diplomatic row that arose over the poisoning.

Britain, the United States, two dozen other countries, and NATO have expelled a total of more than 150 Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning, and Moscow responded in kind. On April 4, Russia's Foreign Ministry said it was expelling one Hungarian Embassy staff member in response to Budapest's decision to expel a Russian diplomat.

Putin -- seizing on a statement by a British laboratory head who told reporters the "precise source" of the nerve agent had not yet been determined -- accused Britain and other Western countries of rushing to blame Moscow without sufficient evidence.

The chief executive of Britain's defense laboratory at Porton Down, Gary Aitkenhead, said in an interview with Sky News on April 3 that scientists "have not verified the precise source" of the weapons-grade novichok used in the attack because it was not the laboratory's job to say where the poison was produced.

But he also said that an attack with such a highly toxic chemical weapon was "probably only within the capabilities of a state actor," and there was no possibility that Porton Down was involved.

"It's our job to provide the scientific evidence that identifies what the particular nerve agent is," he said. "But it's not our job to say where that was actually manufactured."

Aitkenhead told Sky News that the British government's conclusion it was "highly likely" that Russia was behind the poisonings was made after his lab concluded that novichok, a nerve agent Moscow developed during the Cold War, was used.

He said his Porton Down laboratory "provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions that they have come to."

Russia has charged that the Porton Down facility could have made the novichok.

'Grotesque Provocation'

Speaking during a visit to Ankara, Putin said the British official's statement showed the need for an international investigation into the poisoning of the Skripals.

"We want a thorough investigation. We would like to take part in it, and we count on receiving relevant materials as the issue involves citizens of the Russian Federation," Putin said.

Putin repeated Russia's claim that the nerve agent could have been produced by some 20 nations using materials that are available on the open market.

Putin asserted that Aitkenhead's statement provided evidence that British accusations of Russian involvement in the poisoning -- which led to the West's expulsion of more than 150 Russian diplomatic staff over the incident -- were unfounded.

"The speed at which the anti-Russian campaign was launched causes bewilderment," said Putin, who responded to the Western expulsions by throwing a similar number of Western diplomatic staff out of Russia.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that, after Aitkenhead's statement, Britain should apologize for what he called "mad accusations" that "have no foundation whatsoever."

"The idiocy has gone too far," Peskov said.

The chief of Russia's foreign intelligence agency (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, claimed at a security conference in Moscow on April 4 that the Skripal case was a "grotesque provocation" staged by U.S. and British security services.

'Brazen' And 'Reckless' Act

A U.K. government spokesman said on April 3 that London's conclusion that Russia was behind the poisonings was based in part on Russia's history of investigating ways to use nerve agents in assassinations, its record of state-sponsored assassinations, its stockpile of small quantities of novichok, and its previous targeting of former Russian intelligence officers.

"It is our assessment that Russia was responsible for this brazen and reckless act and, as the international community agrees, there is no other plausible explanation," the spokesman said.

Yury Filatov, Russia's ambassador to Ireland, said Moscow was demanding that Britain provide "every possible element of evidence" it has on the poisonings at the OPCW meeting on April 4.

If the United Kingdom does not show more evidence, he said, "there are ample grounds to assume that we are dealing with a grand-scale provocation organized in London aimed to discredit Russia."

Sergei Skripal remained hospitalized in critical condition on April 3, while Yulia Skripal's condition has improved.

Skripal was a colonel in Russias military intelligence agency until he was arrested and charged with spying for Britain.

He was released in a 2010 spy swap and moved to Britain.

With reporting by Sky News, Reuters, AP, AFP, TASS, and InterfaxReporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned what it called "the growing trend" of major Russian television channels playing down or even ignoring bad news.

A deadly fire at a shopping center in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on March 25 "was left uncovered for half a day while other dramatic events in recent months have been played down," the Paris-based media watchdog said in a statement on April 3.

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putins activities "get systematic coverage," RSF said. It called on Russian authorities to guarantee the absence of state interference in media outlets' editorial policies.

The fire in Kemerovo killed 64 people, including dozens of children.

Some privately owned Russian media outlets began live coverage from the scene "as early as midday," RSF said, apparently referring to Moscow time. The fire broke out in the late afternoon in Kemerovo, which is four hours ahead of Moscow.

However, the three leading TV networks "did not report it until their evening news programs and then only gave it brief mention after long reports about the results of the previous weeks presidential election" in which Putin won another term.

Russias major TV channels include state-run Pervy Kanal and Rossiya 1, as well as NTV, which is controlled by state-owned natural-gas giant Gazprom.

"By saying nothing about the fire for so long, the state-controlled TV channels were partly to blame," said Johann Bihr, the head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.

RSF said deadly school attacks in the Russian cities of Perm and Ulan-Ude in January were among the "negative" events in recent months that the main, Moscow-based "federal" TV networks have covered only partially or belatedly or have ignored altogether.

"Dissimulation of bad news is consistent with the Russian governments media policies, of which the federal TV networks are the main tool," the nongovernmental organization added.

It said that "self-censorship is the rule" at these TV networks, whose executives are "often summoned for briefings" at the Kremlin.

Russia ranked 148th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index.KYIV -- Ukraine's revolutionary electronic asset-declaration system has been praised by the countrys Western partners and local anticorruption activists as a crowning achievement of the post-Maidan government.

But those same partners and activists have more recently warned that the transparency project is being undermined and used as a tool to quash the work of government critics.

Alarm bells began ringing well before Ukrainian lawmakers on April 3 failed to pass laws that would abolish subsequent e-declaration requirements for activists and NGOs who fight against entrenched corruption that were signed into law by President Petro Poroshenko last summer.

Proponents of the NGO requirements argued they were needed to promote transparency.

But the U.S. State Department and European Union representatives said otherwise of the NGO requirements, and urged Ukrainian officials to repeal them as soon as possible. They said the requirements would put undue burdens on those NGOs and activists, and hamper their work.

The e-declaration system was designed to help prevent corruption by granting the public and anticorruption watchdogs access to income and asset information of Ukrainian public servants who are involved in handling money from the state budget.

The alarms are growing louder now.

Colleagues, frankly this is one of those days when, unfortunately, I am ashamed of our decisions, parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy told lawmakers inside the Verkhovna Rada after the failed votes.

Lawmaker and anticorruption campaigner Serhiy Leshchenko said afterward that Poroshenko, who had called for the NGO law to be scrapped but failed to get most members of his own political faction and those of its coalition partner to vote to repeal it, was playing a cynical game that would destroy Ukraines relations with partners in the West.

If only Ukraines politicians showed as much zeal at fighting corruption within their own ranks as they do in going after civil society organizations, tweeted Michael Carpenter, the senior director at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and former deputy assistant secretary of defense. Sadly, its blindingly obvious why they dont.

Ukraines anticorruption activists and NGOs were given until April 1 to file their assets and income in e-declarations, or else face prosecution. Some did, including the head of Transparency Internationals Ukraine office, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, and Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) leaders Daria Kaleniuk and Vitaliy Shabunin.

We have fulfilled the law, no matter how absurd it was, Shabunin said in a video published on March 30.

According to accounting done by the Kyiv Post newspaper, Shabunin disclosed 889,543 hryvnya ($33,800) in income at the current exchange rate -- a fraction of what many Ukrainian officials make.

As expected, attacks meant to discredit the activists began almost immediately afterward, with populist lawmakers taking the lead.

Radical Party lawmaker Ihor Mosiychuk called them foreign agents, echoing the label assigned by the Russian government to describe NGOs there who receive outside funding.

Those so-called antigraft activists have been working in Ukraine for foreign money, helping to turn Ukraine into a raw material base for the rest of the world, Mosiychuk said, according to the Kyiv Post.

His party leader, Oleh Lyashko, is among those who the activists have accused of corruption in connection with dubious private lottery winnings amounting to 570,000 hryvnya (roughly $21,660) and personal income of 20 million hryvnya ($760,000), despite having no business interest for years.

On Facebook, Anastasia Krasnosilska, another AntAC activist, expressed disappointment that public attention was now on the declarations of those working to combat corruption instead of on the declarations of public officials and the creation of an anticorruption court needed to prosecute those charged with corruption-related crimes.

The government has achieved its goal with e-declarations for NGOs, she conceded.BATKEN, Kyrgyzstan -- The governors of Kyrgyzstan's southern Batken district and adjacent Isfara district of Tajikistan are scheduled to meet on April 4 following a clash between Kyrgyz and Tajik residents in an area close to a disputed segment of the border between the two Central Asian nations.

The Batken regional administration officials told RFE/RL on April 4 that two people were hospitalized after the April 3 clash it said occurred after a Kyrgyz woman attempted to build a fence in her backyard on the disputed part of the border.

Tajik Border Service chief Muhammad Ulughojaev told RFE/RL that after the woman in the village of Uch-Dobo ignored the protests of people from the nearby Tajik village of Hoja-Alo, residents on both sides started throwing stones at each other.

He said a Tajik border guard who tried to calm the crowd of some 50 people was seriously injured.

Clashes occur frequently along Central Asian borders as many segments of them have remained in dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.WASHINGTON -- A senior U.S. administration official says President Donald Trump has agreed during a meeting with his national security team to keep U.S. troops in Syria "a little longer" but does not want a long-term military commitment there.

The official told Reuters on April 4 that Trump wants to ensure the Islamic State (IS) extremist group is defeated and is calling on other nations in the region to help provide stability in Syria.

"Were not going to immediately withdraw, but neither is the president willing to back a long-term commitment," the official said.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on April 4 that a continued U.S. military presence in Syria would not be a long-term endeavor, and she described the IS group as "almost completely destroyed."

Trumps director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, on April 4 said the White House will announce its troop decision on Syria relatively soon.

Coats said Trump took part in "a significant discussion" with his national security team on April 3 about the U.S. commitment in Syria.

Shortly before that meeting, Trump said he wants to decide "very quickly" whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria now that they have nearly completed their primary mission of defeating IS militants.

"As far as Syria is concerned, our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of ISIS," Trump said at a news conference on April 3 with the presidents of the three Baltic nations.

"We've completed that task and we'll be making a decision very quickly, in coordination with others in the area, as to what we will do," he said.

The mission is "very costly for our country and it helps other countries a hell of a lot more than it helps us," Trump said.

"I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation," Trump said.

The United States has deployed about 2,000 troops in Syria, including U.S. special operations forces who are advising and aiding the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces recapture territory from IS.

Some of Trump's top advisers spoke elsewhere in Washington on April 3 about the need for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq and Syria to finish off IS, which once controlled large swaths of both countries.

The Associated Press, citing U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that Trump's entire national security team -- including CIA chief Mike Pompeo, who has been nominated to be the next secretary of state -- strongly advised Trump against a hasty withdrawal from Syria during the April 3 meeting.

On the agenda at the meeting was the fate of $200 million in U.S. stabilization assistance for Syria that the White House put on hold after Trump said during a speech last week that he wanted to leave Syria "very soon."

The State Department was expected to spend the money to help rebuild war-battered infrastructure, including power, water and roads, in areas the United States helped liberate from IS.

'Total Chaos'

Ilham Ahmed, a senior Kurdish official in Syria's Raqqa province, said any decision by Trump to pull out of Syria would cause "total chaos" and endanger areas recently liberated from IS while empowering Turkey to step up its campaign against the Kurdish-led militias that were U.S. partners during the campaign against IS.

Pentagon officials have warned that Turkey's attacks on Kurdish forces in the Afrin area of Syria could give IS the "breathing room" it needs to regroup and re-emerge in Syria.

Other Trump advisers have warned that a premature U.S. withdrawal from Syria would cede the country to Iran and Russia, which have supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

General Joseph Votel told a conference at the United States Institute of Peace on April 3 that the military campaign against IS has been largely successful, but it is not over.

He said the United States has to fight IS remnants in eastern Syria. Votel is commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations across the Middle East, including Syria.

"The hard part, I think, is in front of us, and that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, addressing the long-term issues" like the reconstruction of towns and cities badly damaged by the fighting and by the Islamic State group's scorched-earth tactics, he said.

"There is a military role in this, certainly in the stabilization phase," Votel said.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

A Ukrainian man who was freed from a Russian prison and returned home in a high-profile prisoner exchange in 2016 has died at the age of 75.

Yuriy Soloshenko died on April 4, deputy parliament speaker Iryna Herashchenko wrote on Facebook.

According to Herashchenko, Soloshenko had been diagnosed with cancer several years ago.

Despite his age and illness, Soloshenko "endured imprisonment with dignity," Hennadiy Afanasyev, who was released from Russian custody along with Soloshenko in June 2016, wrote on Facebook.

Afanasyev called Soloshenko "our hero" and "my grandpa."

A former electronics plant chief, Soloshenko was arrested by Russian authorities in Moscow in August 2014 and accused of trying to buy restricted components for the S-300 air-defense missile system. He was sentenced to six years in prison in October 2015.

Afanasyev is a Crimean photographer who was arrested months after Russia seized control of the peninsula and sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of plotting a terrorist act against the Russian-imposed authorities.

Soloshenko and Afanasyev were exchanged for two people -- also Ukrainians -- who were in Ukrainian custody on charges related to their alleged support for Russia-backed separatists.

Their release was seen as an attempt by Moscow to erode support in the West for the continuation of sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its takeover of Crimea and its support for the separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 10,300 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Justice Department has filed suit in federal court to revoke the naturalized U.S. citizenship of two Bosnian-born Muslims who allegedly concealed their involvement in war crimes during the wars of the early 1990s in the former Yugoslavia.

The suit accuses the two of murdering "civilians and prisoners in Bosnia-Herzegovina and then fraudulently obtaining refugee status and eventual U.S. citizenship by "concealing their crimes."

The suit, made public on April 4, alleges that the 46-year-old Bosnian Muslim man and 45-year-old Muslim woman were part of an elite unit of the army of Bosnia-Herzegovina that attacked the village of Trusina on April 16, 1993.

It said the attack, which became known as the Trusina massacre, targeted Bosnian Croats who resided in the village because of their Christian religion and Croat ethnicity.

The suit says that altogether, attackers in the elite unit killed 22 unarmed people in Trusina, including women and the elderly.

The Justice Department identified the two as Edin Dzeko and Sammy Rasema Yetisen. Yetisen was also known as Rasema Handanovic and Zolja.

Both were part of a firing squad that executed six unarmed prisoners of war and civilians, and Yetisen proceeded to make sure all six were dead by shooting them again, the suit says.

It also says that Dzeko killed a crippled elderly man, and then shot dead the mans wife in the back after she would not stop crying.

The Justice Department said that Dzeko and Yetisen subsequently fled to the United States where they "fraudulently obtained refugee status and later naturalized into U.S. citizenship."

Each requested and received refugee status from the United States, claiming themselves to be victims of persecution, the complaint says.

After allegations of their involvement in the killings came to light, Dzeko and Yetisen were extradited to their home country and were convicted in a Bosnian court for war crimes. Yetisen was the first woman convicted by a Bosnian court of war crimes.

Dzeko, who was convicted in 2014, remains in a Sarajevo prison where he is serving a 13-year sentence.

Yetisen, who pleaded guilty in 2012 and cooperated with authorities, testified against Dzeko. She was released after serving 5 1/2 years in a Bosnian prison and now resides in Oregon, according to the suit.

War criminals will find no safe haven or shelter within the United States, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.



Bosnia's war resulted in the death of an estimated 100,000 people and the displacement of some 2.6 million. Bosnian Muslims often were the victims of massacres and human rights violations.

As part of the 1995 Dayton accords, Bosnia was divided into two constituent states: a Muslim-Croat federation and the Serbian entity, Republika Srpska.



The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established at The Hague in 1993 to prosecute crimes committed in the Balkan wars of the early 1990s.

It ceased operations in December 2017 after sentencing some 90 individuals -- including some top Bosnian Serb and Croat commanders -- for crimes against humanity, genocide, and other war crimes.

Many Serbs complained about the process, pointing to the fact that about 80 percent of all indictments were against Serbs.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan ServiceMrs. Brickenden was a renowned artist whose water colours and acrylics were sold through Montreal galleries and the Art Gallery of Ontario. The Brickendens are at the vanguard of patients and families who are creating new rituals around dying in Canada. They were one of the few couples in Canada who received a doctor-assisted death together. It was on March 27 in a Toronto retirement home.Their children, who watched from the foot of the bed, say the couple drew their last breaths at almost the same moment. George and Shirley Brickenden met during 1944 Christmas in Halifax. He was in the Navy and she was in the Air Force. They had four children: Pamela, now 71, Dal, now 69, Saxe, now 60 and Angela, now 54.



The Brickendens at their marriage

A few days before death he couple sustained an interview to explain what it meant to them to die at a time and place of their choosing, as at least 2,149 Canadians and likely hundreds more have done since assisted dying became legal in this country. When the federal government, in response to a Supreme Court of Canada decision, passed a law in June, 2016, that permitted medically assisted dying for people who were suffering intolerably from a grievous and irremediable condition and whose deaths were reasonably foreseeable, the Brickendens decided to find out if they qualified. Mrs. Brickendens body was wracked by rheumatoid arthritis. Her heart was failing and suffered an attack in 2016. On the other part, Mr. Brickenden began fainting. He passed out repeatedly; his daughter found him unconscious in the bathroom on the day of his 95th birthday. His heart was faltering. And that was all: their assisted death was approved. A family reunion took place before the scheduled death. They told their children that they did not want to linger if their health eventually failed. They met all the criteri a. And at the announced time, they died together.A Columbia University-led team of astrophysicists has discovered a dozen black holes gathered around Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The finding is the first to support a decades-old prediction, opening up myriad opportunities to better understand the universe.

"Everything you'd ever want to learn about the way big black holes interact with little black holes, you can learn by studying this distribution," said Columbia Astrophysicist Chuck Hailey, co-director of the Columbia Astrophysics Lab and lead author on the study. "The Milky Way is really the only galaxy we have where we can study how supermassive black holes interact with little ones because we simply can't see their interactions in other galaxies. In a sense, this is the only laboratory we have to study this phenomenon."

The study appears in the April 5 issue of Nature.

For more than two decades, researchers have searched unsuccessfully for evidence to support a theory that thousands of black holes surround supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of large galaxies.

"There are only about five dozen known black holes in the entire galaxy -- 100,000 light years wide -- and there are supposed to be 10,000 to 20,000 of these things in a region just six light years wide that no one has been able to find," Hailey said, adding that extensive fruitless searches have been made for black holes around Sgr A*, the closest SMBH to Earth and therefore the easiest to study. "There hasn't been much credible evidence."

He explained that Sgr A* is surrounded by a halo of gas and dust that provides the perfect breeding ground for the birth of massive stars, which live, die and could turn into black holes there. Additionally, black holes from outside the halo are believed to fall under the influence of the SMBH as they lose their energy, causing them to be pulled into the vicinity of the SMBH, where they are held captive by its force.

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While most of the trapped black holes remain isolated, some capture and bind to a passing star, forming a stellar binary. Researchers believe there is a heavy concentration of these isolated and mated black holes in the Galactic Center, forming a density cusp which gets more crowded as distance to the SMBH decreases.

In the past, failed attempts to find evidence of such a cusp have focused on looking for the bright burst of X-ray glow that sometimes occurs in black hole binaries

"It's an obvious way to want to look for black holes," Hailey said, "but the Galactic Center is so far away from Earth that those bursts are only strong and bright enough to see about once every 100 to 1,000 years." To detect black hole binaries then, Hailey and his colleagues realized they would need to look for the fainter, but steadier X-rays emitted when the binaries are in an inactive state.

"It would be so easy if black hole binaries routinely gave off big bursts like neutron star binaries do, but they don't, so we had to come up with another way to look for them," Hailey said. "Isolated, unmated black holes are just black -- they don't do anything. So looking for isolated black holes is not a smart way to find them either. But when black holes mate with a low mass star, the marriage emits X-ray bursts that are weaker, but consistent and detectable. If we could find black holes that are coupled with low mass stars and we know what fraction of black holes will mate with low mass stars, we could scientifically infer the population of isolated black holes out there."

Hailey and colleagues turned to archival data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory to test their technique. They searched for X-ray signatures of black hole-low mass binaries in their inactive state and were able to find 12 within three light years, of Sgr A*. The researchers then analyzed the properties and spatial distribution of the identified binary systems and extrapolated from their observations that there must be anywhere from 300 to 500 black hole-low mass binaries and about 10,000 isolated black holes in the area surrounding Sgr A*.

"This finding confirms a major theory and the implications are many," Hailey said. "It is going to significantly advance gravitational wave research because knowing the number of black holes in the center of a typical galaxy can help in better predicting how many gravitational wave events may be associated with them. All the information astrophysicists need is at the center of the galaxy."

Hailey's co-authors on the paper include: Kaya Mori, Michael E. Berkowitz, and Benjamin J. Hord, all of Columbia University; Franz E. Bauer, of the Instituto de Astrofisica, Facultad de Fisica, Pontificia, Universidad Catolica de Chile, Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Vicuna Mackenna, and the Space Science Institute; and Jaesub Hong, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.The US is home to a large community of people who trace their ancestry to India. According to American Community Survey conducted in 2016, the US is home to over 3.45 million Indians and another 4.12 million mixed race American-Indians- meaning people born to couples whose one partner has roots in India and other is a foreign citizen.

They are referred as Indian Americans, Indo-Americans and Asian Indians by various US government departments. For example, the US uses the term Asian Indian to describe the community to avoid confusing with indigenous Indians (Red Indian) natives of America.

Indian Groceries in USA

For several reasons, Indians remain faithful to their native cuisine. Hence, they depend upon supplies from India and the Indian subcontinent to fulfill these needs for spices, various types of food grains, pulses and cereals, condiments and pickles imported from India for their daily food.

With a little over one percent of Americas population of Indian origin, several online grocery stores that offer stuff from India have sprung up over the years. Many are available online. Here we look at the top 10 online Indian grocery stores in the US.

Top Indian Grocery Stores in USA

Most online stores selling Indian groceries in USA offer free home delivery, if your order is worth a fixed value or higher. While some online stores selling Indian products have a lower limit of US$65 to qualify for free delivery, others require minimum orders worth US$ 100 and above. Check the free delivery options of these websites.

Patel Brothers are selling Indian grocery items in USA since 1974. However, ensure the large diaspora of people from India get access to these groceries, the company opened its online grocery store in the year 2000.

Patel Brothers USA offers the entire range of groceries from national and regional brands of India. Additionally, you can also buy online religious requirements, sweets, snacks, bakery, household items and cosmetics from India and the subcontinent.

iShopIndian was established in the year 2000. Other than being an online grocery store that sells national and regional Indian brand grocery products in the US, the company also has a wholesale division to assist neighborhood retailers to stock popular products.

iShopIndia has a distribution center at Wauvasota, Wisconsin. Additionally, iShopIndian also sells cooking utensils required for various special dishes from the Indian cuisine, cook books, beauty products, incense and religious requirements from India.

KhanaPakana was launched in 2006 and claims to have over2.5 million users every month. The company ranks among the topmost online stores for Indian groceries in US and operates from Floral Park, New York.

KhanaPakana website states, it is operated by a team of food lovers. The company ranks as the topmost importer, distributor and retailer of Indian grocery items in US and Canada. You can also buy products from other Asian countries online through this website.

Pragathi.com is much more than an online grocery store for Indians living in the US. It is the largest Indian portal in the US with over 20,000 product and service listings in more than 30 categories.

Other than groceries, you can also buy Indian garments, handicrafts, home decor, religious requirements and lots of other stuff through Pragathi.com. It was launched in August 2013. The website states it offers over 30 classifieds categories for people to share their products and services online as receives over 1.3 million unique visitors every year.

Indian Grocery stocks gourmet food and snacks from various top brands including from India in almost every grocery segment. We carry more than 3000 Products and about 200 Brands procured from India and within US.

We also carry latest movie DVDs and old classics, the website says. The website sells ethnic Indian gifts ideal for special occasions and festivals, religious requirements, gourmet food and organic food from India too. Indian Grocery products can be also ordered through its mobile website.

VedicPro stocks top brands from India and the Indian subcontinent, South East Asia and Far East. It caters to customers across the US. The company operates from Floral Park, NY and stocks Indian grocery, spices, herbal, natural and Ayurvedic products as well as stuff including health, personal care, food supplements, snacks and other requirements. VedicPro sells online groceries in retail and has a wholesale division too. It has been in business since 2006.

India Bazar operates from Plano, Texas. The company was established in 2004, by Kishore Pabari and his family. The company imports grocery items from across India and the Indian subcontinent as well as other parts of Asia. You can shop for some top as well as regional favorite brands from India online from India Bazar as well as a whole lot of stuff from neighboring countries including Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines, to name a few.

GroceryBabu operates from Union, New Jersey. The website lists over 700 assorted grocery, household requirements, religious paraphernalia and other common stuff from India and the Indian subcontinent on its online store.

GroceryBabu ships within mainland USA only. You can also place a request for any specific product from India with GroceryBabu who will try and deliver it, if possible under import laws of the US and available in India.

Based out of Waltham, Massachusetts, Desimart is another popular online grocery store that sells Indian products online. Desimart has a fairly extensive range of Indian groceries from topmost and regional brands, ready-to-eat snacks, cereals and food grains, religious requirements, sweets and tinned stuff, among other Indian products. Desimart promises Indian groceries in a click to emphasize its swift delivery systems.

Zifiti.com offers a very wide selection of Indian grocery items as well as ready-to-eat snacks, sweets, Indian beverages, bakery products, cosmetics, health supplements and nutritional products as well as traditional goods.

Zifiti.com has a program which allows Indian vendors to register as sellers on its website. This program is aimed at making a broader range of products from India available to the Asian Indian community of the US. The company continually adds newer products to its existing portfolio.

Special Mention: Amazon.Com

Keeping in mind the huge Asian Indian population of USA, global online retail giant, Amazon also offers several grocery items from India to customers in USA. Understandably, the range of Indian grocery items offered in USA by Amazon is not as extensive as those of specialized stores catering to the community.

However, given the wide reach of Amazon in the American market and its extensive operations in India, the online store may soon step up its offerings of Indian grocery items in coming days.

Indian Grocery in USA: Pros & Cons

While majority of persons of Indian origin settled in US would love to get a taste of home, there are certain pros and cons involved in buying Indian groceries online. Here we take a look at some of these factors.

Americas Food & Drug Administration (FDA) enforces strict regulations on imported food to ensure they are free of contaminants and harmful chemicals. Therefore, some grocery items you buy online in USA may taste different than in India.

On the other hand, groceries exported from India to the American market are generally of superior quality since companies wish to earn precious foreign exchange from this lucrative market.

Indian groceries in USA cost more. This is due to various costs such as logistics, storage and handling of products bound for sale in America. Hence, the price you pay is fairly reasonable.

Always check Indian products bought in the US for production and expiry date when delivered. Unless they have long expiry from date of purchase, do not accept them.

Never accept broken or tampered packages of Indian grocery since they could be contaminated in transit from India.

Read labels carefully when accepting deliveries of Indian groceries since many do not contain warnings for people suffering from various allergies.

Insight into Asian-Indians of USA

USA has attracted migrants from India since decades. Some migrated directly on basis of their parent working and residing in the US. Others arrived on shores of America as students and settled there after completion of studies. A large number of people from India were hired by US-based companies directly and call the new country their home, having acquired American citizenship.

A visit to any part of the US will reveal that people of Indian origin can be found anywhere. Predominant Indian communities living in the US include those from Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and a large population from Tamil Nadu. Understandably, there are people of Indian origin from other states too.

Hence, grocery products you get online in the US will be primarily for these communities.

More Online Indian Grocery Stores

There are few more online stores in USA that sell Indian groceries.

Grocery On Wheels : Caters to customers in California state only.

: Caters to customers in California state only. Pushmycart : Sells online groceries from India throughout USA.

: Sells online groceries from India throughout USA. Bazaarprime : Claims quick delivery of Indian groceries in USA.

: Claims quick delivery of Indian groceries in USA. Desi911 : Online Indian groceries delivered across USA.

: Online Indian groceries delivered across USA. Desiclick: Also sells seasonal Indian sweets, Yoga requirements and other ethnic products along with groceries from India.

In Conclusion

Any visitor to the US will be surprised by the number of brick-and-mortar grocery stores that also sell India-made food stuff and household requirements. They also offer online shopping for customers residing within a small radius of the store.

You can find such stores in every major city and town in the US where there are large concentrations of Asian Indian people. However, the range of products these small stores sell would usually be very limited and possibly geared for a specific Indian ethnicity.

Before concluding, we recommend you explore prices and free delivery options offered by various online stores selling Indian groceries. Location of their central warehouse also matters since delivery schedules will depend upon its distance from your place.

In recent years, several Indian entrepreneurs are manufacturing typical Indian products such as sweets, pickles and spice mixtures in US itself to sell to the wide Asian Indian diaspora. Some online stores selling Indian grocery items offer these excellent variants too at lower rates.The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged St. Petersburg, Florida resident Gregory M. Bercowy with a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the stock price of Aureus, Inc., a penny stock company incorporated in Nevada.

The SEC alleges that between August 4 and August 15, 2016, Bercowy, who is associated with a state-registered investment adviser, sold shares of certain Fortune 500 companies, including Abbott and Apple, in his relative's brokerage account in order to buy over three million shares of Aureus at a total cost of more than $2.8 million. According to the SEC's complaint, while Bercowy was accumulating these shares of Aureus, he entered (and later cancelled) a large number of orders to buy Aureus shares at prices higher than the then-current price of the stock. The orders allegedly were intended solely to maintain or boost the stock's price. The price per share of Aureus securities increased from $0.52 on August 4, 2016, to $1.62 on August 16, 2016. According to the SEC's complaint, Bercowy stated in recorded phone calls with a representative of a brokerage firm that he and others were trying to boost Aureus's stock price.

The SEC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, charges Bercowy with violating Section 17(a)(1) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 9(a)(2) and 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5(a) and (c) thereunder. The SEC seeks a permanent injunction against future violations, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, a penny stock bar, and monetary penalties.

The SEC's case was investigated by J. Lauchlan Wash, Trevor Donelan, Deena Bernstein, and Amy Gwiazda of the SEC's Boston Regional Office, in coordination with the Enforcement Division's Microcap Fraud Task Force. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in this matter.This item is available in full to subscribers.

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Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.A dozen stories beneath Stockton Street in San Franciscos Chinatown, the digging is done, and the final station for Munis $1.6 billion Central Subway is beginning to rise toward the street.

Muni officials on Tuesday announced the end of excavation and said the Central Subway is on track to begin taking on passengers by December 2019.

The subway, a 1.7-mile extension of Munis T-Third line, was originally projected to open by the end of this year. But troubles with the underground excavation of the Chinatown station at Washington Street  using mining techniques to keep the street open  slowed construction.

The opening date for the subway has been a point of dispute. An independent monitor has projected the opening by the end of 2019 in recent reports, but subway contractor Tutor Perini told members of the Board of Supervisors in December that opening might be delayed to 2021.

Now Playing: A first look inside the cavernous Chinatown Station of Muni's Central Subway. Video: SFChronicle

Standing where the tracks will pass through the Chinatown station, Ed Reiskin, the MTAs transportation director, said the end of excavation was a significant milestone and that the project is moving ahead.

Were holding with the December 2019 projection, he said. Representatives of Tutor did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

As Reiskin spoke, dozens of workers hustled around the cavern, installing waterproofing on the walls and rebar on the floors.

Acting Project Manager Albert Hoe said the next steps involve pouring the subway floor and installing the station entrances and concourse, the tracks, and electrical and mechanical systems. He said he expects those to be completed by the middle of 2019. Then Muni will take over and start testing and training.

Neighbors of the Chinatown station will welcome the winding down of construction, which has disrupted business and traffic, even though Stockton Street remained open.

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Cheryl Brinkman, chairwoman of the MTA Board of Directors, said delays are unfortunately common on major infrastructure projects, especially in dense urban areas. But she said she hopes the opening of the subway will bring new business and vitality to the neighborhood as well as providing better mobility for people who now have to crowd aboard sluggish Muni buses.

I hope they feel that will make up for the years of impact, she said.

Elsewhere along the Central Subway line, progress is also being made, Hoe said. Subterranean stations at Yerba Buena/Moscone Center and Union Square should be completed by the end of the year.

Mayor Mark Farrell, who toured the station Tuesday, said it was awe-inspiring to be down here and pronounced it the future of San Francisco. He also supported a future extension of the subway.

We need to be digging not just to North Beach but beyond, he said.Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Tuesday in a memo to his staff that the shooting at YouTube headquarters that left several injured was a horrific act of violence.

There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter (at) YouTube today, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki posted on Twitter. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement and first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured and impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.

More than 1,700 people work at YouTubes San Bruno offices. YouTube is a subsidiary of Mountain Views Google, but operates with some independence.

Many leaders from tech companies, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, expressed concern and support for YouTube on social media on Tuesday.

Thinking of everyone at YouTube and Google at this awful moment, Sandberg wrote on her Facebook page.

Horrible and truly tragic day for YouTube and Google, Bezos tweeted. We are wishing all the very best for the injured and all those affected.

Pichai said the companys security team and law enforcement evacuated employees from the buildings.

I was like, Is this real? said employee Tim Ashley, 29. He said he left his keys and wallet at his desk.

As employees waited outside the building, some said they received emails from YouTube managers telling them to stay safe, but the only information they got came from news reports.

Ashley said YouTube offered to pay for Uber and Lyft rides for employees to get home. Company shuttles also lined up to take employees to San Francisco.

President Trump weighed in on the shooting. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved, Trump tweeted. He also thanked law enforcement officers and first responders on the scene.

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Ted Kartzman, a YouTube staffer, responded to Trump that his thoughts and prayers were not needed.

Do something about the proliferation of guns, he added. And dont suggest arming software engineers.

Twitters CEO Jack Dorsey responded to Trumps tweet by linking to a March for Our Lives website that encouraged efforts like funding gun violence research and universal background checks.

We cant keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it wont happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots, Dorsey tweeted. Its beyond time to evolve our policies.A fast-growing number of California cities and counties, including San Francisco, are buying electricity for their citizens, taking over a job formerly filled by utility companies such as Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

Now the utilities have proposed a change in the way such civic power programs operate  a change that could raise costs for the new programs customers.

Californias three large investor-owned utilities on Monday filed a proposal with state regulators to change the way customers of such programs as CleanPowerSF compensate the companies for long-term power purchase contracts that the utilities signed years ago on their behalf.

Customers of community choice aggregation programs all face a small monthly fee intended to pay their share of such long-running contracts. But in Mondays filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric said the states formula for calculating this power charge indifference adjustment, or PCIA, fee no longer works.

Instead, it has dumped excess costs on utility customers who dont belong to a community choice program, the companies say. According to PG&E, community choice customers last year paid only 65 percent of the costs associated with such contracts, many of which date back to the mid-2000s and involve large-scale solar power plants and wind farms. As a result, PG&E customers who do not also belong to a community choice program paid $180 million more than they should have, effectively subsidizing those programs, according to the utility.

We can achieve the states clean energy goals while also supporting customer choice and treating all customers fairly and equally, said Steve Malnight, PG&Es senior vice president of strategy and policy, in a press release.

PG&E did not offer an estimate of how much the PCIA fee would change under the utilities proposal. For customers of CleanPowerSF, it is currently less than 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Community choice program administrators in general agree that the PCIA formula needs changes, although they disagree that other utility customers are subsidizing their programs. On Monday, the California Community Choice Association, which represents such programs, filed its own proposed changes with the commission.

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As more communities embrace the opportunity to achieve their climate and economic goals through the purchase and development of power, concern has grown about the lack of transparency and predictability of the power charge indifference adjustment, said Beth Vaughan, the groups executive director, in a statement.

Authorized by the state Legislature in 2002, community choice aggregation works as a kind of buyers club for electricity. City and county governments band together to buy electricity  often renewable  in bulk on behalf of their citizens. The incumbent utility company continues to distribute that electricity and provide natural gas service, while owning all the infrastructure.

The first such program, Marin Clean Energy, launched in 2010, and 10 others are now operating in the state.Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to testify before Congress in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data-privacy scandal.

Zuckerberg has agreed, she said in a meeting with The Chronicles editorial board in San Francisco on Tuesday morning. The question is whether it will be one committee or two. Both the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Feinstein is the ranking Democratic member, and the Commerce Committee have extended invitations to have Zuckerberg offer testimony.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has accepted his multiple invitations to speak before Congress about the companys response to the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee announced Wednesday morning that Zuckerberg would testify on April 11 at 10 a.m, and the Senates Judiciary and Commerce committees said later that day they would hold a joint hearing on April 10.

This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online. We appreciate Mr. Zuckerbergs willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions on April 11th, said Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N. J., the ranking Democratic member of the committee.

Facebook now plays a critical role in many social relationships, informing Americans about current events, and pitching everything from products to political candidates, said Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Our joint hearing will be a public conversation with the CEO of this powerful and influential company about his vision for addressing problems that have generated significant concern about Facebooks role in our democracy, bad actors using the platform, and user privacy.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., had told The Chronicle Tuesday that the Facebook CEO would speak before one or both committees.

A Facebook spokesman confirmed Zuckerbergs planned appearances.

Though data privacy is the ostensible topic of the committee hearings, Russian election interference will likely come up as well.

Zuckerberg posted Tuesday on his personal Facebook page a description of the companys crackdown on pages and accounts associated with the Internet Research Agency, an organization tied to Russian security forces that has engaged in online-influence operations to sway public opinion in many countries, including the United States.

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Facebook also announced that Zuckerberg would hold a call with the media Wednesday afternoon to give an update on Facebooks efforts to better protect peoples information.

Facebooks openness to third-party developers helped establish it a force in social networking and fueled its fast growth over the past decade. But Facebook has reconsidered its policies following revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm which did work for the Trump campaign, obtained data unscrupulously through an academic who tricked Facebook users into handing over information about themselves and their friends with an online quiz.

The company is restricting access to data, requiring advertisers to verify that users have opted in to data sharing and taken other steps to make it harder to obtain users data surreptitiously through apps.As San Brunos largest employer, YouTube is a prominent fixture in the city.

The company employs more than 1,700 people in San Bruno and plans to add 350 more annually over 20 years, the citys Community Development Director David Woltering said in a report last year.

YouTube, which has been owned by Google since 2006, has more than 1 million square feet of office space in San Bruno, roughly 57 percent of the citys office space, according to CoStar Group, which tracks real estate data. YouTube owns several buildings in San Brunos Bayhill Office Park. It purchased two buildings, 900 and 1000 Cherry Ave., in 2015, CoStar Group said.

A third building, 901 Cherry Ave., is where one person died and three others were wounded in a shooting on Tuesday. YouTube leases the building from Gap Inc. The Gap building was one of the earliest commercial buildings in the state to have a green roof. Designed by architect William McDonough and commissioned by Gap, the 70,000-square-foot roof is covered in native grasses and wildflowers, meant to evoke a coastal savannah ecosystem.

YouTube recently purchased an additional six properties in the same office park.

I definitely think about them when you think about San Bruno office space, said Jesse Gundersheim, San Francisco market economist for CoStar Group.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

San Brunos second-largest employer is Walmarts eCommerce division, with about 1,400 employees, according to the city.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer J.K. Dineen contributed to this report.An apparently disgruntled video maker shot and wounded three people before fatally turning the gun on herself Tuesday at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, setting off a chaotic scramble as workers dived for cover, hid behind locked doors and ran from the building.

San Bruno police officers and San Mateo County sheriffs deputies rushed to the office park two minutes after the first reports of gunfire came in at 12:46 p.m. and found dozens of workers streaming from the exits.

Near the front door of the building at 901 Cherry Ave., they came across one victim with a gunshot wound, and in an ensuing search of the premises found the shooter with an apparent self-inflicted fatal gunshot wound. Two other gunshot victims were found at nearby businesses where they apparently had taken refuge, police said.

Law enforcement sources identified the shooter as Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, of Menifee (Riverside County), and a Chronicle review of her social media accounts found that she was a prolific YouTube user with several accounts that she complained had been heavily censored by the company.

Late in the afternoon, Aghdams vehicle was towed from the scene. Her accounts on YouTube, Facebook and Instragram, meanwhile, were removed.

On a website consisting of a collage of photos and video posts, many of them about her vegan beliefs, Aghdam rails against YouTube for restricting views on her videos and for what she said was skimping on revenue driven by the traffic to her YouTube page.

Now Playing: YouTube shooting: latest news Video: San Francisco Chronicle

There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!! Aghdam wrote. Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!

Its unclear how Aghdam gained access to YouTube headquarters. Her body was found inside the building following the shooting, police said.

Her three gunshot victims were rushed to San Francisco General Hospital. A 27-year-old woman was later listed in fair condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 36-year-old man in critical condition, hospital officials said. A fourth person was treated for a sprained or broken ankle.

The violence unfolded in a matter of seconds, and several YouTube employees took to social media to report hearing gunfire and hiding or running for their lives. Some simply let people know they were safe. Hundreds of workers were evacuated by police, who made everyone hold their hands up as they filed out onto the street.

It was very chaotic, as you can imagine, said San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini.

Workers who were in the building described a terrifying scene as people rushed away from Aghdam, who was wearing body armor and firing a handgun, witnesses and police said.

Jesse Pineda of San Bruno said he was getting a hamburger at Carls Jr. across the street from the YouTube offices when he heard three shots in rapid succession. A young woman emerged from the office, shot in the left leg.

He helped drag her into the restaurant before hearing more shots. He then ran back toward YouTube and looked through the doorway, where he saw a woman on the ground.

She was dead, Im sure of it, Pineda said. Those 10 shots were rapid fire  it was no mercy. There were four more shots after that. I wish I had had a gun but I didnt. I had to be smart and get out of there. I had to be fast.

Eyewitnesses said the entire episode took about 30 seconds. Some had assumed the shooter, whose face was covered, was a man.

I was in the courtyard and we heard the gunshots, then saw him, Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi, a YouTube product manager, wrote on Facebook. He had a shooting mask on, full body armor and was calmly walking and firing a handgun. We jumped to the floor then ran as fast as we could.

Abdul-Kafi said he was OK, but I dont know about a lot of coworkers.

As word filtered out to the crowd waiting behind the police lines that the shooter was dead, many shook their heads sadly and walked away.

At about 3:15 p.m., dozens of strike teams and officers from several local law enforcement agencies packed up their weapons and body armor and trudged back to their patrol cars. At least two armored vehicles remained at the scene late Tuesday afternoon as search teams went room by room, floor by floor looking for evidence and making sure the threat was over. Barberini said investigators would be processing the crime scene late into the night.

Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at San Francisco General Hospital, said none of the victims had yet undergone surgery. He said all of them were awake, talking and aware of what had happened to them.

Once again, we are confronted with a specter of a mass casualty situation, Campbell said. This is unfortunate, and it continues. Youd think after weve seen Las Vegas, Parkland, the Pulse nightclub shooting, that we would see an end to this, but we have not. This is a terrible day in the United States when once again we have a multiple casualty situation.

The incident prompted elected officials to respond with sorrow and condolences. On Twitter, President Trump said, Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.

Chad Hurley, the co-founder of YouTube, tweeted, Praying for my friends @YouTube!

YouTube spokesman Chris Dale said the shooting was especially hard given how tight knit the workers are in the company.

It feels like the entire community of YouTube and all of the employees were victims of this crime, Dale said. Our prayers are with (the victims) and their families.

Officials at Google, which owns YouTube, confirmed in a statement that four employees had been hurt in this horrific act of violence.

Were doing everything we can to support them and their families, a Google spokesman wrote. We will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy.

Aghdam used YouTube to post videos that covered a mix of topics, from vegan cooking to workouts to parodies of music videos.

A message on her YouTube pages late Tuesday said that the profiles were taken down due to multiple or severe violations of YouTubes policy against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content or other Term of Service violations.

The company Tuesday night declined to answer questions about Aghdam and her deleted accounts, and referred questions to an earlier statement on the shooting issued by Google CEO Sundar Pinchai.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

On an Instagram post dated March 18, Aghdam claimed YouTube was using its tools to censor and suppress people who speak the truth and are not good for the financial, political gains of the system and big businesses.

Aghdam was also an animal-rights activist, featured in a 2009 story in the San Diego Union-Tribune about a protest by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals against the use of pigs in military trauma training. She dressed in a wig and jeans with large drops of painted blood on them, holding a plastic sword at the demonstration outside the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.

For me, animal rights equal human rights, Aghdam told the Union-Tribune at the time.

Outside the YouTube headquarters Tuesday, employees huddled together and waited for authorities to take witness statements as helicopters circled overhead.

One group of employees  who declined to provide their names, citing a YouTube media policy  said they were sitting at their desks working around 1 p.m. when they heard, pop-pop-pop.

The noises sounded like they came from the courtyard, the employees said. But they initially dismissed the sound as that of people moving equipment. Then, people started running like something serious was happening.

One employee said he saw two shattered glass doors. The group hid inside an office for about 20 minutes until police came and cleared them out.

Just south of YouTube, a Carls Jr. employee, Michael Finney, 21, spoke of helping the wounded woman who came to the restaurant. He said he was working at about 1:30 p.m. when a young woman stumbled in with a gunshot wound to her left leg. She had been shot in the parking lot, he said.

She was pretty calm, Finney said. I got a bungee cord and tied it around her leg to stop the bleeding. I asked her why someone would shoot her and she said she didnt know.

Fed Krysko, 21, of San Bruno said he was visiting a friend at Carls Jr. when employees began coming out of YouTube with their hands up.

This is insane, Krysko said. Ive lived here seven years and theres never been anything like this before. This is what you see happening all over the country, but not in San Bruno.

Todd Sherman, who identified himself as a YouTube product manager on his Twitter page, said he was sitting in a meeting and then heard that people were running. First thought was earthquake, he said.

We headed towards the exit and then saw more people and someone said that there was a person with a gun, Sherman wrote on Twitter. I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peeked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front.

Sherman wrote that he and his co-workers spread out in different directions after the incident.

Were such a quiet town  this is bizarre, said Terry Jones, a 23-year resident of San Bruno, who was among the crowd that lingered after the shooting. Weve got some lunatics, sure, but its unusual to have something go so big.

I guess that pipeline explosion was the last time, he said, referring to the rupture of a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. natural gas pipeline in a San Bruno neighborhood, which killed eight people in September 2010.

He shook his head sadly, saying, At least it wasnt little kids getting shot.

Chronicle staff writers Lizzie Johnson, Hamed Aleaziz, Jenna Lyons, Dominic Fracassa, J.K. Dineen, Erin Allday, Joaquin Palomino, Cynthia Dizikes and Sophie Haigney contributed to this report.A proper pot of mafe starts with the right kind of peanut butter, says Nafy Flatley.

But its different from what most Americans consider peanut butter, she says, because in her home country of Senegal, the peanut butter is made from scratch, with no sugar.

Our neighbors had a grinder we would use to make it fresh, says Flatley. Not only did it taste better than the store-bought peanut butter she gets here the U.S., but it was much more affordable to make food from scratch. In Senegal, her family would also grind its own beef, buy live fish off the beach and drink milk warm, straight from her grandpas cow.

Mafe (MAH fay) is ground-nut stew, an everyday dish from West Africa and one that Flatley makes often. Its a cheap meal with a flexible recipe, and this day she is using beef with broccoli, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and sweet potatoes. She remembers that her mom and grandma would serve mafe with rice for lunch, their biggest meal of the day. Everyone in Senegal comes home around noon to eat lunch together, and then returns to work or school, she says. Its also the last meal she made before emigrating from Senegal to the U.S. in 1998 in search of education and the American dream (which, thanks to shows like Baywatch and Beverly Hills 90210, she thought was basically beaches and teens with cars and jobs).

That emphasis on fresh foods and cooking from scratch is one of the things she misses most about Senegal.

Today, Flatley and her sister Oumou are teaching me how to make Senegalese food at Oumous home in Brentwood. The sisters want me to experience an important part of Senegalese culture called teranga, which means hospitality in Wolof, the national language of Senegal. I show up to a friendly atmosphere with a boisterous soundtrack of kids playing (Flatleys three sons along with her two nieces and nephew) sprinkled with a mix of Wolof, English and French words (French is the other major language in Senegal).

When it comes to teranga, Flatley and her family go hard. What started as a one-dish cooking session quickly grows to an entire feast. When she hears I am pregnant, she insists on knowing any smells that might upset my stomach. They serve snacks and homemade baobab juices, all while cooking and tending to the kids. And they do it in style: Both women are dressed in traditional Senegalese clothing, beautiful form-fitting skirts with tops and head wraps in vivid shades of orange and yellow. It makes my typical cooking uniform of old clothes and an apron look sad in comparison.

Teranga Juice is the name of Flatleys business, which is the only company in the U.S. that sells bottled baobab fruit juice. Its available at stores throughout the Bay Area, including Rainbow Grocery and the CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) farmers market in San Francisco as well as Drivers Market in Sausalito, with Berkeley Bowl in the near future.

Paul Kuroda / Special to The Chronicle

Her path was not typical. After college, she worked as a marketing manager in Silicon Valley, but when her first son was born early in 2009, she took time off to care for him and her mother, who was dealing with early dementia. Her mother suggested she bring a little bit of Senegalese culture to the U.S. by selling baobab juice. Her grandmas homemade baobab juice was the taste of her childhood, a refreshing drink that also helped with her sickle cell anemia. (In Africa, baobab has been eaten for centuries for its medicinal qualities.)

Teranga Juice launched in January 2017. Flatley imports dried baobab fruit directly from Senegal, which she describes as a tart and sweet fruit similar to tamarind, but a bit grainy like a pear and creamy like almonds. Her juices are intensely flavored, made with only a few natural ingredients, and barely sweetened with maple syrup. She also partners with ice cream shop Salt & Straw, which uses her white hibiscus ginger coconut baobab juice for its vegan ice cream, and is working on packaging her mafe to sell at Rainbow Grocery.

As the two sisters cook in the home kitchen, its fascinating to notice the little traces of outside cultures that have influenced Senegalese cuisine. Like the Vietnamese fish sauce Flatley added to the mafe, which gave the stew a dash of umami: A lot of Senegalese people fought for the French in Vietnam, and came home with Vietnamese spouses. Its why Vietnamese spring rolls are a popular street food in Dakar, where Im from.

Her sister throws together a quick beignet dough  inspired by French beignets, as Senegal was a French colony for many years  for dessert, flavoring it with coconut and an entire orange peel, pith and all. We make these for big occasions, like weddings, naming ceremonies or religious holidays (Muslim and Christian) that my family celebrates with other African immigrants in the Bay Area, she says.

Photos by Paul Kuroda / Special to The Chronicle

As the women cook, the kids wander through the kitchen, finding little ways to be involved. Flatleys oldest son, an 8-year-old budding cook, stirs the mafe on the stove. Nearly all the kids wander past Oumou longingly when she fries up golden beignets in a skillet.

In Senegal the women usually cook alone in the kitchen, but its different here. Its more chaotic, but we make it work, Flatley says. When her youngest son, nearly 2 years old, demands extra attention, she sets him on the counter to help mix the dough for pasteles, Senegalese empanadas.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

When it is time to eat, the women create a dining area for the children with a large cloth on the ground. In Senegal, we eat from the same dish on the floor using our hands or a spoon, Flatley says. Sometimes, we separate by gender and children, and sometimes we eat together.

As she sets a large platter of fluffy broken white rice covered in the sunset-colored mafe with chunks of beef, carrots and broccoli, there is a yell of happiness from the kids quickly followed by silence as everyone sits on the floor, grabs a spoon and digs in.

One taste tells me why they are so quiet: The mafe has a complex tasting sauce, creamy and nutty, slightly sweet and sour with a hint of heat at the end. I am fed until I cant move, and then sent home with leftovers because thats teranga.

Leena Trivedi-Grenier is a Bay Area freelance writer. Email: food@sfchronicle.com

Nafy Flatleys guide to exploring Senegalese and African culture locally:

For cultural events, Flatley likes to support Sanoca, the Senegalese Association of Northern California. In April, they host a Senegalese Independence Day celebration with food and festivities, this year on Sunday, April 8 (tickets available here).

For dining out, she enjoys Bissap Baobab in San Franciscos Mission District. Its a good option; they offer a slightly Americanized version of Senegalese food, and I take friends and family here when I dont want to cook. She suggests trying their mafe, yassa (chicken, lamb or tilapia cooked with onions, lemons, mustard and garlic), and dibi (grilled meat with yassa sauce and plantains).

For Senegalese ingredients, local buying options are slim. When she needs something specific, she swings by an African Caribbean grocery store in Oakland called Man Must Wak, or an Arab Halal African grocery in San Francisco called Salama Halal Meat. Flatley imports her baobab from Senegal directly, so locals can purchase the fruit by reaching her through her website, www.terangajuice.comWASHINGTON - President Donald Trump floated the idea Tuesday of deploying troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we are going to be guarding our border with our military," Trump said at the White House.

He continued: "That's a big step, we really haven't done that before, or certainly not very much before."

That's not exactly true. Long-standing concerns about the security of the southern border, cited by Trump, led to National Guard troops being deployed by the thousands under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

It also wasn't immediately clear why soldiers would be needed: The number of people crossing illegally into the country has plummeted over the past decade and is at the lowest level since 1971.

- Operation Jump Start, President Bush, 2006-2008

At the height of the war in Iraq and months before a troop surge there, Bush federalized 6,000 National Guard troops in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Another battle, across the border in Mexico, was simmering as Mexican officials declared war on drug cartels in late 2006, sparking waves of killings and instability that threatened spillover.

Despite the presence of armed U.S. soldiers and airmen, their mission was mostly passive, Customs and Border Patrol said. Laws known as "Posse Comitatus" forbid using the military for domestic law enforcement outside military bases, leaving troops focused on conducting surveillance from ground stations and helicopters, installing fences and vehicle barriers and training.

Troops were typically expected to avoid capturing suspected drug traffickers or undocumented migrants and instead report activity to federal agents, but orders that activate troops to the border impacted what military personnel could do.

Under Title 10 for instance, Guard troops are under the command of the secretary of defense, using federal funds. Troops activated under Title 32 are federally funded but are under the command of the state governor, where they have more flexibility for law enforcement operations.

Officials said at the time that it was a necessary augmentation that allowed agents to pivot from administrative and infrastructure tasks and focus on ground operations.

But the $1.2 billion price tag raised questions about the use of troops to fulfill a Department of Homeland Security mission, as National Guard troops were exhausted from rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There were also tensions on the border after a deadly 1997 incident involving the military. A U.S. Marine shot and killed an American high school student carrying a .22 rifle who was mistaken for a hostile person as he herded goats at the Texas border, leading to a temporary halt of military activity there.

DHS pointed to some successes, including large drug seizures and an incident in which Guard troops dove into the Rio Grande to save a Central American migrant from drowning.

- Operation Phalanx, President Obama, 2010-2016

The successor to Jump Start began with an Obama authorization to deploy 1,200 troops along the border, again amid fears that violence would spread on the U.S. side after some high-profile killings north of the border, The Post's Nick Miroff reported in 2011.

Another reason: Customs and Border Protection agents needed time to fill their ranks following staffing shortfalls.

National Guard troops deployed a fleet of UH-72 Lakota helicopters later in the mission with infrared camera arrays to detect movement from the sky at night and through some of the foliage migrants use as concealment.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

A release from the Guard said the helicopters typically included a Border Patrol agent on board. The Lakotas used powerful radio equipment that helped agents communicate with one another and Guard units spread over vast areas.

The Guard touted the deployments as a way for troops to get hands-on experience in the mission, which cost $110 million in 2010, its first year.

But the Government Accountability Office issued a report in 2011 detailing Pentagon concerns about the lack of strategy for troops plugged into an ongoing, permanent mission executed by DHS.

The spectrum of how troops could operate depending on their orders left DHS struggling to figure out how to best utilize them, the report found.

There were other government worries.

"Department of State and DOD officials expressed concerns about the perception of a militarized U.S. border with Mexico, especially when State and Department of Justice officials are helping support civilian law enforcement institutions in Mexico to address crime and border issues," the report found.

The Federal Aviation Administration also said it had concerns that unmanned drones would be able to detect and avoid other aircraft operating near the border.

In late 2011, Obama scaled back the mission to focus on aerial surveillance.

Other notable deployments occurred during this period. In 2014, then-Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, dispatched about 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the southern border after an influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America seeking asylum in the United States Air Force bases were used as temporary shelters for the children.A woman shot and wounded three people, before killing herself, on Tuesday at the San Bruno campus of YouTube. The violent and chaotic incident, which sent YouTube workers racing for the exits or barricading themselves into rooms, is the latest example of how Washingtons failure to embrace sensible gun control measures has put every single person who lives and works in this country at risk.

Law enforcement officers in San Bruno and the San Mateo County Sheriffs Office are still investigating the shooter, 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam of Menifee (Riverside County). According to a Chronicle review of Aghdams social media accounts, she was an animal-rights activist and prolific YouTube poster whod complained that the company was censoring her content.Heres a quick quiz: Which of these two statements is true?

1. African Americans are more likely than other racial groups to be shot by criminals.

2. African Americans are more likely than other racial groups to be shot by police officers.

Theyre both true, of course. But in our hyper-polarized political environment, we have a hard time acknowledging both truths at the same time. And that makes reasonable discussion about race and criminal justice almost impossible.

People on the right harp on the first truth, coupling it with another one: The vast majority of black victims of gun violence are shot by other blacks. They trot that out whenever an African American is gunned down by police, as if to say: Why are you complaining about police shootings, when you shoot each other so often?

Thats a non sequitur, and a racist one at that. The fact that black males are disproportionately involved in criminal homicides does not justify the disproportionate shooting of them by the police. The basic principle of a just society is that public officials should treat everyone the same, regardless of race. Anything less renders some people second-class citizens, as the Black Lives Matter movement has reminded us.

But even if we eliminated every police shooting in America, black lives would still be imperiled. And thats because of rampant unemployment, poverty, and  yes  crime in majority-black communities.

My fellow liberals know all of this, of course, but were often reluctant to admit it. We seize upon the second truth, about police misconduct, and downplay the first one. Talking about black-on-black crime seems to play into the hands of white racists. And it diverts us from the larger question of inequities in criminal justice, or so we say.

Thats a big mistake. The same principle that makes it wrong for black people to face greater risk of police violence makes it wrong for them to be at greater risk for criminal violence. If black lives truly mattered, no African American would have to grow up under threat for his or her life. And it wouldnt matter where that threat came from.

Why cant we all acknowledge that simple truth? We made a good start in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., shootings, when the mostly white survivors noted that black children have a much larger chance of dying from gun violence than their white peers do.

And we heard the same theme during last months massive March for Our Lives protest in Washington, D.C. Student speakers from Parkland were interspersed with minority youth, who reminded the crowd that their own lives have always been marred by guns. That doesnt get nearly as much ink as school shootings, where victims tend to be white.

But then another unarmed black man was killed by police, and our politics returned to its polarized norm. Stephon Clark was shot at least seven times in his grandmothers backyard in Sacramento. Police initially said that Clark had advanced toward the officers with what they thought was a firearm. But an autopsy showed that most of the shots that struck him were in his back.

And all he was carrying was his cell phone.

The news sparked protests across Sacramento, where the mayor promised a full investigation. He also acknowledged that blacks in the city dont feel safe, and that all of us must push aggressively to change what must be changed.

True enough. But heres what he didnt say: Black safety is endangered by violence from criminals, not just from police. Of course we need to change the way that law enforcement officials are trained, monitored, and evaluated. But we also need to change the poverty and crime that menaces so many black lives, in so many cities across our land.

And it all starts with reasonable gun control, as the Parkland protesters correctly emphasized. The more we focus on police shootings  while diminishing the far greater danger of civilian violence  the harder it becomes to sustain a bipartisan movement to regulate the scourge of firearms in our society.

Admittedly, no gun-control measure could have saved Stephon Clark from dying at the hands of the police. But because hes black, Clark was at greater risk of being killed by a criminal as well as by a cop. And until we admit that, too, nothing will really change.Citing her common-sense approach, to city government, the San Francisco Police Officers Association has endorsed Angela Alioto for mayor.

Her understanding of the city and her commitment for public safety make her the best choice, said POA President Martin Halloran.

If thats fact, former Supervisor Alioto was the only choice the union had.

There was no way the POA was going to endorse either Supervisor Jane Kim or former state Sen. Mark Leno , whom they perceive as being anti-police.

The feeling is mutual  neither Kim nor Leno sought the cops backing.

And while the union had endorsed Supervisor London Breed in past elections, they pretty much broke ties with her when she joined the call for police reforms after the the police shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview in 2015.

Alioto, on the other hand, has a long and unbroken record of support for the police union, dating back to her days as a city supervisor in the 1980s and 90s. She is also supporting the unions Taser initiative on the June ballot.While California Democrats are running against President Trump as the national keepers of the resistance, California Republicans are trying to find their voice in taking the opposite position: Theyre running as the resistance to the resistance.

The GOP is expressing its anti-resistance by taking on Californias sanctuary state laws. The measures prohibit local law enforcement from giving immigration officials nonpublic information about inmates releases or keeping inmates in custody beyond the scheduled release so federal agents can pick them up.

Polls show the intensity is off the charts for the issue among Republican voters, said John Thomas, a strategist who is running a GOP congressional campaign in Orange County  center of a Democratic vs. Republican battle that could help determine which party controls the House next year.

Thomas said his research is showing that when opposition to sanctuary laws is cast as supporting local law enforcement, it gains support among nonpartisan voters.

And Republicans need every voter they can find. With the likelihood that no GOP candidate will be on the November ballot in the race for U.S. Senate, the party is desperate to give core supporters a reason to vote.

Thats why voters recently received an email fundraising pitch from Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox encouraging supporters to stand against Xavier Becerra, the state attorney general and sanctuary state champion. Fellow GOP hopeful Travis Allen, an Orange County assemblyman, devotes much of his stump speech railing on sanctuary-city-loving Bay Area liberal elites like Gov. Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and the poster sanctuary city of San Francisco, whose streets glitter with smashed glass from car break-ins.

Both candidates invoke the name of Kate Steinle, who was killed on a San Francisco pier in 2015 by a man who had been deported multiple times, as the dark side of sanctuary laws. (A jury acquitted the man of murder and manslaughter after his attorneys argued that the gun had fired accidentally.)

Such a strategy ignores all of the empirical evidence (that) shows that immigrants  unauthorized or not  commit far fewer criminal acts than others, said Louis DeSipio, professor of political science and Chicano studies at UC Irvine. They are just trying to use these examples to scare people.

Nevertheless, the campaign is gaining momentum among the GOP. Last week, the all-Republican Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to join a Trump administration lawsuit seeking to overturn the state sanctuary law. Several small cities in the county and elsewhere have backed similar stances.

Its the type of liberal-California-in-chaos story line that plays well on Fox News, Trumps news source of choice. First question to Cox during an interview Monday on Fox: So how do you explain this anarchy in California? It seems like things are falling apart at the seams. The government in Sacramento is being pushed back on, rightfully, by these local communities. How are you going to change this if you win the governorship?

Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel, a naturalized immigrant from South Korea, wrote in an opinion piece this week for the Wall Street Journal that condemning the sanctuary law has nothing to do with race or politics. Instead, she said, its about protecting Americans and their constitutional rights.

Her husband, Republican National Committee member Shawn Steel, circulated her column Wednesday in an email blast to supporters  a sign that national Republicans are embracing the issue.

Trump himself tweeted on March 28, My Administration stands in solidarity with the brave citizens in Orange County defending their rights against Californias illegal and unconstitutional Sanctuary policies.

Taking on sanctuary laws is a more likely road to success for California Republicans than endorsing Trumps wall, given dismal poll numbers in the state for both it and the president.

What theyre trying to do is embrace part of the Trump message and not embrace Trump, DeSipio said. Casting opposition to sanctuary policies as a law-and-order issue is a way for them to hold on to the suburban voters, who are the swing voters of 2018.

Many of those voters  particularly in Orange County  are feeling insecure as their long-white neighborhoods become more Latino and Asian, DeSipio said.

Mentioning the name of Becerra  who has an ethnic name and is perceived to defend a Latino issue  is a way to raise this fear of the new, this fear of the change that is coming to California, DeSipio said.

But Cox said Wednesday hes not seeking to tap an anti-sanctuary fervor to score political points.

I wouldnt say something unless I believed it, he said.

The idea of sanctuary laws is offensive to Republicans who believe in the rule of law, Cox said. They want to see local law enforcement cooperating with federal law enforcement. They dont want them working against each other.

Over the past 10 days  thanks to his appearances on Fox and elsewhere railing against sanctuary laws  Cox said online contributions to his campaign have doubled to roughly $10,000 a day.

Allen, too, has seen interest in his campaign rise along with the anti-sanctuary movement. Two weeks ago, his campaign posted an online petition encouraging Californians to ask their local cities to oppose the state law. Since then, Allen said, more than 30,000 state residents from more than 300 cities have signed the petition.

But isnt he afraid of alienating Latino and Asian voters, who may read his anti-sanctuary rhetoric as anti-immigrant or racist?

Absolutely not, Allen said. Every community values a legal immigration system.

Whatever you call it, its the anti-resistance message that Allen and Cox are riding into the June primary.San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin was clearly out of control and appeared to be intoxicated the night he ripped into fire officials at the scene of a four-alarm blaze in North Beach, according to internal memos by the commanding officer and others at the scene.

On Tuesday, Peskin denied the allegation.

In a memo, Fire Department spokesman Lt. Jonathan Baxter, said I noted that Supervisor Peskin was uneasy on his feet and I could smell the odor of alcohol.

He appeared intoxicated, based on his red eyes, slow responses and an uneasy stance, the lieutenant continued. It is my opinion, based on my training and experience, that Supervisor Peskin was intoxicated.

Two other ranking firefighters, Assistant Deputy Chief Anthony Rivera and Capt. Sherman Tillman, stated in separate memos that they smelled alcohol on Peskin.

Now Playing: Fire raging through building on Union Street in North Beach Video: San Francisco Chronicle

In a report submitted two days after the St. Patricks Day fire, Fire Department Deputy Chief of Operations Mark Gonzalez said he arrived at 659 Union Street just as horns signaled firefighters to clear out of the building so the flames could be drenched with water.

I noticed that Supervisor Peskin was in the middle of the street ... he was yelling in the general direction of the (command post), waving his arms around and pointing his fingers at our members, Gonzalez wrote in a March 19 memo to his boss, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes White.

Upon seeing Gonzalez, the memo states, Peskin started yelling, Gonzalez, Gonzalez, get over here! Your people have screwed this up ... why isnt there any water on this fire.

There were many expletives laced throughout his emotional diatribe as he was pointing his finger at my face, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said he tried to explain the situation and told Peskin to stop distracting the firefighters.

Peskins response: Im going to destroy you, and he repeated it, Gonzalez wrote. He was also yelling, Where is the chief? I want her resignation. This starts at the top.

Later Gonzalez, Baxter and Hayes White met with Peskin in the intersection Columbus Avenue and Union Street in front of the burning building to try and explain their handling of the fire.

Peskin became argumentative, verbally attacked the chief and said Gonzalez was unqualified and an idiot, Baxter wrote in his March 21 memo to Gonzalez.

The chief, who had already received an angry call from Peskin on her cell phone as she was driving to the fire, responded by walking away.

The fire gutted the three-story building  a mix of retail, restaurants and largely empty apartments  but adjacent buildings were saved. No one was injured.

Fire brass say they had texted Peskin, who had been dining in nearby Chinatown, to alert him to the rapidly spreading fire in his district.

The memos were obtained from the Fire Department under a public records request.

When asked Tuesday to comment on being intoxicated that night, Peskin, who was in a Board of Supervisors meeting, replied via text: untrue.

He has, however, since apologized to the chief for his conduct. Peskin also co-sponsored a resolution passed unanimously by the Supervisors Tuesday commending the firefighters for their work on the fire.

Cops for Alioto: Citing her common-sense approach, to city government, the San Francisco Police Officers Association has endorsed Angela Alioto for mayor.

Her understanding of the city and her commitment for public safety make her the best choice, said POA President Martin Halloran.

If thats fact, former Supervisor Alioto was the only choice the union had.

There was no way the POA was going to endorse either Supervisor Jane Kim or former state Sen. Mark Leno, whom they perceive as being anti-police.

The feeling is mutual  neither Kim nor Leno sought the cops backing.

And while the union had endorsed Supervisor London Breed in past elections, they pretty much broke ties with her when she joined the call for police reforms after the the police shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview in 2015.

Alioto, on the other hand, has a long and unbroken record of support for the police union, dating back to her days as a city supervisor in the 1980s and 90s. She is also supporting the unions Taser initiative on the June ballot.President Trump tweeted his thoughts and prayers Tuesday for those shot at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, a go-to reaction to mass shootings that gun-control advocates have criticized as a substitute for action.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene, Trump tweeted.

Police said three people were wounded Tuesday when a woman opened fire with a handgun before she fatally shot herself. Law enforcement sources identified the woman late Tuesday as Nasim Aghdam, a disgruntled YouTube video maker.

Now Playing: YouTube shooting: latest news Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Offering thoughts and prayers has been a common response among public officials to mass shootings in recent years. Trump offered thoughts and prayers after a Kentucky school shooting in January in which two children died. In February, he tweeted prayers and condolences to the 17 people killed in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Gun-control proponents have made the phrase an issue, saying it disguises officials failure to take measures to limit mass shootings. After the Florida shooting, a student at Stoneman Douglas High tweeted, Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers wont fix this.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon agreed, saying Tuesday that those with the authority to reduce gun violence in this country have once again offered nothing more than thoughts and prayers. Right-wing lawmakers crow about law and order while bending at the knee for the (National Rifle Association)  the industry flacks for the ultimate threat to public safety. The hypocrisy is lost on no one.

After the Florida shooting, Trump offered contradictory signals on gun control, at one point urging members of Congress to work on one terrific bill that could include a ban on assault weapons and expanded background checks to cover all commercial gun sales, both of which are opposed by the NRA. The president quickly abandoned the idea, and eventually proposed funding for providing rigorous gun training for some school employees and improving criminal checks for gun buyers.

Trump tweeted that arming school employees would be a big & very inexpensive deterrent.Vehicle thefts have decreased in seven of the nine Bay Area counties since last year, according to data released by the California Highway Patrol Monday, with Marin County reporting a reduction of nearly 17 percent.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma counties all reported fewer vehicle thefts, reflecting a downward trend across the state. Thefts had increased for two years running, but in 2017 they plunged 6.2 percent, the steepest drop since 2014.

Napa and Santa Clara counties were the only two that saw increases. The numbers come from the state Department of Justice vehicle theft database, a Bay Area CHP spokesperson told the Chronicle.

There were 4,961 vehicles stolen in San Francisco last year, the CHP found, down almost 14 percent from 2016. That might still sound like a lot of cars. But according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, that number represents just about one percent of the county's DMV-registered vehicles as of 2017. (If your car is that unlucky one in a hundred, don't despair  according to the data, CHP's recovery rate in 2017 for San Francisco thefts was 93 percent.) In the city itself, the San Francisco Police Department similarly noted an 11 percent decrease in thefts from 2016 to 2017.

Ranked by percentage, Napa County experienced the greatest increase in vehicle thefts of the Bay Area counties, jumping by about 33 percent from 2016. But that's an increase from 254 to 287 thefts, and 287 is less than a tenth of a percent of Napa's registered vehicles. The other county that had more thefts, Santa Clara, reported a 1.8 percent increase from last year.

If you're in San Francisco, you should probably worry more about getting your car broken into than stolen. Auto burglaries in the city were up 24 percent in 2017, though they dipped in January, an SFPD release said.John Mack Flanagan, one of the top names in Top 40 radio at KFRC, the Big 610, in the 1970s, died March 31 of congestive heart failure.

Flanagan died in his sleep at home in Daly City, with his wife of 53 years, Joann Flanagan, by his side. He was 71.

John was one of those people you worked with and you admired, said Bobby Ocean, who was on the air at KFRC in 1973 when Flanagan joined the station. You wouldnt get to KFRC unless you were really good, and John fit in right away. He had presence, this ability to be on the air with such presence that you could feel him as well as hear him.

Flanagan spent nearly 40 years in Top 40 radio. He started his career when he was in high school only to be interrupted when he was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. He carried a tape recorder and interviewed his fellow foot soldiers on dangerous search-and-destroy missions, for later broadcast back home.

Flanagan was a member of the Broadcast Legends, which includes military veterans, and died just two weeks after appearing at their annual luncheon in South San Francisco. An article on the event, featuring a photo of Flanagan in an Army T-shirt, appeared in The Chronicles Radio Waves column in the Sunday Datebook last weekend. It had already gone to press when Flanagan died.

He is remembered as one of those quintessential Top 40 personalities with a booming voice, said Radio Waves columnist Ben Fong-Torres. As I got to know him it turned out his heart was as big as his voice.

Flanagan was on the air at KFRC from 1973 to 1979. His show followed the famed Dr. Don Rose, who did the morning drive. Rose was hyper with gags and wake-up calls. The voice that followed him was deep and smooth while still energetic enough for AM.

Flanagan would introduce a song, like Lyin Eyes by the Eagles, by saying, She lives in a fine mansion on top of the hill. Shes got everything money can buy. The only thing she is missing is true love, and make it sound like he was issuing heartfelt advice, not just selling a song.

It wasnt what he said, it was how he said it, Ocean said. The guy on the radio can become your invisible friend and John turned that up some.

Johnnie Mack Flanagan was born Nov. 15, 1946, in Concordia, Kan., and named after Johnny Mack Brown, who was in cowboy movies. Flanagans dad was a prosperous car dealer who died young, and Flanagans mother moved him to Roswell, N.M. At South Junior High, he met Joann Shields in the hallway, and by the time they reached Roswell High School they were a couple for life.

In summer 1964, after his junior year, Flanagan was hired as an on-air host by KRSY, a local country-western station. That was the end of his interest in school, and by graduation he was working full time. Always in a hurry, he and Shields eloped.

On the air, his full name was rhythmic and a better handle than most made-up radio names. But Flanagan could never stand being called Johnnie, so he shortened it by one syllable

From the start it was John Mack Flanagan, Joann said.

On March 31, 1968, as President Lyndon Johnson was telling the nation that he would not seek re-election to concentrate on ending the war, Flanagan was flying to Vietnam to begin his tour in-country. His radio interviews were sent to hometown stations, and Flanagan did enough of them to earn the Army Commendation Medal.

After his discharge, he moved to Tucson to work in Top 40. He was working at a Phoenix station when KFRC recruited him. As Flanagan arrived in San Francisco, Ocean was headed to Los Angeles for a five-year stint at KFRCs sister station.

I left, he was the new guy, Ocean said. I came back, and he was the hero.

But KFRC was going to reward only one hero, and that was Rose. Flanagan was never paid more than the union minimum of around $30,000. When he heard that Rose was paid $300,000, Flanagan protested loudly. He was offered a raise, but it was too little and too late, so he quit KFRC.

He built a studio in his Daly City home and did commercials and voice-overs before returning to the airwaves, where he bounced around through the 1980s and 90s.

His last big break came when KABL-FM became K-BIG 98.1 playing classic hits from the 70s. Flanagan was hired as one of the first and most prominent DJs. At one point, his ratings nearly topped the market leader, KGO, in the time slot. That job lasted until the format was switched.

After one final short stint at a station in Santa Rosa, he retired from radio in 2000. He got a job in security, wearing a suit and working the front desk at the Embarcadero Center. He lasted there 14 years, longer than he was at any radio station.

People would recognize his voice, said his wife. He was humble about it.

After retiring in 2014, Flanagan self-published a memoir entitled Tight & Bright: A Diskjockey Vietnam Memoir. He also became interested in B Western movies, like the cowboy actor he was named for. He started a newsletter and built a collection of 1,000 Westerns on DVD.

We watched them over and over again, Joann said. We were big fans of the John Wayne movies from the 1930s.

In 2016, he was inducted into the National Disc Jockey Hall of Fame. He chose to give his induction speech at a senior center in Daly City. There, in a room used for sewing classes, Flanagan described his induction as the greatest thing thats ever happened to me. Ive never had any recognition in my 36-year-and-two-month career. Nobodys ever said, Hey, its you.

One year later he was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. By then hed been suffering for years from a heart condition, and his doctor had given him two weeks to live.

With the grace of God, Im standing here, but not by much, he said during his induction speech. They may have to carry me out on a stretcher.

But he walked out and walked back in to the Broadcast Legends luncheon six months later. As he was leaving, Flanagan was asked by Fong-Torres to record an introduction for the Internet radio station Moonalice.

Fong-Torres held up his phone, and the voice sounded strong as ever. Hey there. Im John Mack Flanagan. Youre listening to Ben Fong-Torres on Moonalice Radio, he said.

Those were his last radio words.

Services are pending. Survivors include his wife, Joann; daughter, Kelly Ann McLaren of Concord; and granddaughter, Dylan Catherine McLaren.A family in Southern California whose son was permanently scarred by bedbug bites has been awarded nearly $1.6 million by a civil jury.

It was the highest amount ever paid to a single family in a U.S. bedbug case, according to the familys lawyer.

Lilliana Martinez, 34, said the problem began in 2012, two years after she and her husband moved into an apartment in Inglewood, Los Angeles County. They discovered that their 3-year-old son, Jorge Maravilla, had red spots all over his body, including on his face.

Concerned, they took him to the hospital. The diagnosis? Bug bites.

As soon as I found out, I was horrified, because I had never seen something like that before, she said.

The doctor told the couple to search their house for pests, and thats when they found the bedbugs.

Her daughter, who was about 3 months old at the time of the infestation, was also bitten, the bugs feasting on her back as she slept, Martinez said.

On Monday, after deliberating for a day, a civil jury in Alhambra ordered the owner of the apartment, Amusement Six Apartments, to pay the family $1,593,500.

Their lawyer, Brian Virag, recently won a case that awarded $3.5 million to residents of a large apartment complex in Los Angeles that was infested with bedbugs.

I really think its important to give a voice to those who dont have a voice or who cant stand up for justice on their own, Virag said.

Martinez said she and her husband told the management company, Westland Industries, about the infestation right away and were instructed to throw out all of their furniture, including the babys crib.

The management company then sent someone to fumigate the apartment, blanketing it in white powder.

All we could do is just vacuum a little place on the floor, Martinez said.

She and her husband slept in that spot, their children between them.

How am I going to lay my newborn baby and my 3-year-old right where everything is? she recalled thinking at the time. But we didnt have anywhere else to go.

They continued to get bitten and made numerous complaints. Finally, after they had lived with the bugs for nearly four months, the management company removed the carpeting in the apartment, which helped end the infestation. They stayed for two more years before eventually moving out in 2014.

That year they sued Amusement Six Apartments for breach of warranty of habitability, emotional distress, negligence and breach of contract, among other charges.

The family endured slum-type living conditions in the apartment, according to the complaint, including a cockroach infestation. They also suffered discomfort, sleeplessness, property damage and emotional distress, according to court documents, as the bedbugs infiltrated their belongings.

The lawyers representing the company declined to comment Wednesday.

Jorge, now 8 years old, had the strongest reaction to the bites. He still has scars on his legs, arms and torso from constant scratching, Martinez said. Shes hoping they can find a way to remove the marks with some of the money.

The jurys verdict was a great relief, Martinez said, and brought justice to her son. They went to court for him, she said, because this marked him for his life.YouTube star Logan Paul was asked to leave Yosemite National Park Tuesday after multiple run-ins with park officials and several noise complaints from visitors.

"He was not singled out," says park spokesperson Jamie Richards. "Every visitor who behaved as he did would be treated in the same way."

The controversial YouTuber with more than 17 million followers on his channel cruised around the park in a converted school bus with friends to celebrate his 23rd birthday for several days including the Easter holiday. Paul posted a 12-minute video of his adventure that includes footage of Paul and his friends driving mini motor bikes in the valley and jumping into a river as well as multiple clips showing fan mobs swarming Paul and his bus.

The mini movie also includes a clip of an unidentified park ranger who tells Logan that his bus is illegally parked.

"A couple of issues with that," the ranger says, "if everyone who wanted to camp wherever they felt like it did, think of how trashed this place would be. So there's that. And there's the fact that you took up how many spots? Five spots."

Logan goes on to say the ranger didn't cite him and Richards confirms that the park's first interaction was a warning.

"We like to start by educating people," Richards says.

Paul later received two citations during his visit. The first was for "unsafe operations" as Richards explains that Paul's group drove around the park with people riding inside a tent strapped to the roof of the bus.

The second citation was for food storage violations. "Protecting bears is critical here in the park," Richards says. "Coolers, food and food scraps at his camp site were unsecured."

Finally, Richards says the park received noise disturbance complaints from visitors over the course of Paul's time at Yosemite.

"People come to Yosemite to enjoy the outdoors," she says. "They come here because it's a peaceful and beautiful place. When one person's visit disturbs another, we have to make contact."

Park officials say he left after 1 p.m. Paul's Yosemite video has been watched more than 3.5 million times.

He sparked a torrent of controversy in January after posting a video showing a dead body hanging from a tree in a Japanese forest known as a frequent site of suicides and later apologized for uploading the video.Every Wednesday morning, SFGATE finds the biggest headlines in local (and sometimes national) beer. Check back here weekly for news, events, and information about special releases from your favorite local breweries.

SFGATE has launched a beer newsletter! Called the Taploid, it will contain some key stories from this column, as well as other, more nationally-spanning industry news. To sign up, head here, enter your email at the top, and check the box marked "Taploid."

San Diego's Green Flash, which also owns the nearby Alpine Beer Co., sold in a foreclosure sale, according to a mildly surprising report made public Tuesday. The investor group that seized control was only identified by its corporate title, WC IPA LLC, but Green Flash told the Lincoln Journal Star that the group of investors "includes a number of individuals with extensive experience in both the craft beer and food and beverage industries." The news come following reports that the brewery took on a "considerable amount of debt" to build a $20 million production facility in Virginia Beach in 2015. Earlier this year, the company pulled distribution from 32 markets and let go of 33 employees.

Fieldwork co-founder and head brewer Alex Tweet is in hot water, facing down a felony assault charge related to a road rage incident in September 2017. Tweet seems relatively nonplussed by the ordeal, telling the Chronicle last week that "it's going to be a complete nonissue after next week." Tweet is due in court for a pretrial hearing on April 5.

San Francisco Brewing Co. is preparing to open its new Ghirardelli Square outpost in late April, complete with a patio (with fire pits), a restaurant, and a fill-your-own-beer bar. Get more details on the bar here.

Humble Sea in Santa Cruz is throwing a fundraising event "for a cause we give a s**t about: the ocean." Ales for Whales, as it's called, collects funds for scholarships for high school students who want to participate in the California Ocean Alliance's summer Marine Scientist in Training program. Tickets for the April 7 event are on sale now for $12, and rumor has it, ticket holders will get to pet a real live starfish.

Drake's is revamping their summer seasonal Kick Back Session IPA, by selling it year-round and in cans. In addition, a portion of the beer's sales will benefit the East Bay Regional Park District, as it has in the past; over the last two years, Kick Back earned $20,000 for park cleanup and restoration in around a dozen East Bay parks.

A new San Jose brewery called Camino Brewing is officially swinging open its doors this Saturday, April 7 for its grand opening celebration. There's not much info about the party, but there is a Facebook page for the event.

Three major beer distributors  Columbia Distributing, Eagle Distributing, and Morris Distributing  are banding together to throw a big fundraiser for those affected by the fires in Sonoma County. The event, called Battle of the Brews, is a big beer festival taking place at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, featuring macro beer producers and craft breweries like Knee Deep, Crooked Goat, Faction, North Coast and more. Get tickets here for the Saturday, April 7 event.

Alvarado Street has got the April Fool's jokes:

The SF Brewers Guild's free brewery shuttle is taking a tour of the southern part of San Francisco on Wednesday, April 4, beginning at Triple Voodoo at 6:30 and looping around to Harmonic, Magnolia's Smokestack, Speakeasy, Ferment.Drink.Repeat, Barebottle, Laughing Monk, and Seven Stills. Get the details here.

A new cider bar is headed to Rockridge by the end of 2018, according to Eater SF. Owners Olivia Maki and Mike Reis are calling the business the Redfield Cider Bar and Bottle Shop, and they hope to open it by the end of the year.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.WASHINGTON  Sen. Elizabeth Warren is requesting that the Federal Reserve Board of Governors hold a formal vote on whether to accept a plan from Wells Fargo & Co. to address consumer abuses.

In a letter to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, Warren, D-Mass., said it is important for Senate-confirmed central bank governors to vote on enforcement decisions so Congress and the public can hold them accountable.

In February, the Fed board voted unanimously to order Wells Fargo to limit its growth and improve its corporate governance in response to the banks unauthorized accounts scandal and other problems.

Given the breadth of the wrongdoing at Wells Fargo and the enormous number of consumers affected, the Feds governors  not its staff  should be responsible for determining whether Wells Fargo is complying with the consent order, Warren wrote in the letter she sent Powell this week.

The Feds consent order sent a powerful message to Wells Fargo and other big banks that there could be real consequences  if they break the law, Warren wrote. The public deserves to see that the (Fed) board is strictly enforcing its order.

The Feb. 2 consent order requires Wells Fargos board of directors to submit a written plan within 60 days to improve its oversight and risk management. Because that plan is due this month, Warren asked Powell to respond to her request by April 19.

Warren, a leading critic of Wells Fargo, had questioned Powell about the Feds sanctions on the San Francisco bank during a March 1 Senate Banking Committee hearing. At the hearing, Warren objected when Powell said approval of Wells Fargos plan would be delegated to the staff in serious consultation with Fed board members.

Powell agreed to Warrens request to consider requiring a board vote on the plan. In the letter, Warren asked Powell to formally commit to such a vote.

A Fed spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.

The consent order prohibits Wells Fargo from increasing its total assets beyond $1.95 trillion, where they stood at the end of last year, until the Fed determines the bank sufficiently improves its governance and controls.

The move was the most serious regulatory action against Wells Fargo since it agreed in 2016 to pay $185 million to settle investigations by other regulators into the banks creation of millions of accounts for customers without their authorization.

The practice was initially reported by the Los Angeles Times in 2013.

Since then, Wells Fargo has admitted that it engaged in other questionable practices, including charging auto-loan customers for insurance they did not need and charging improper fees to mortgage borrowers.

Warren also asked in the letter for Powell to publicly release a third-party review that will be undertaken to determine whether Wells Fargo is implementing its remediation plan. Powell said at the hearing he would see if that was possible.

Under questioning from Warren, Powell said that the growth restriction would not be easily lifted, but that the bank would not have to fully implement its remediation plan before it was removed.WASHINGTON  The Trump administration escalated its aggressive actions on trade Tuesday by proposing 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports to protest Beijings alleged theft of American technology.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a list of 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment. The suggested tariffs wouldnt take effect right way: A public comment period will last until May 11, and a hearing on the tariffs is set for May 15. Companies and consumers will have the opportunity to lobby to have some products taken off the list or have others added.

The latest U.S. move risks heightening trade tensions with China, which on Monday slapped taxes on $3 billion in U.S. products in response to earlier U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Chinas going to be compelled to lash back, warned Philip Levy, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and an economic adviser to President George W. Bush.

Indeed, China immediately threatened to retaliate against the new U.S. tariffs, which target the high-tech industries that Beijing has been nurturing, from advanced manufacturing and aerospace to information technology and robotics.

Early Wednesday in Beijing, Chinas Commerce Ministry said it strongly condemns and firmly opposes the proposed U.S. tariffs and warned of retaliatory action.

We will prepare equal measures for U.S. products with the same scale, according to regulations in Chinese trade law, a ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

The U.S. sanctions are intended to punish China for using strong-arm tactics in its drive to become a global technology power. These include pressuring American companies to share technology to gain access to the Chinese market, forcing U.S. firms to license their technology in China on unfavorable terms and even hacking into U.S. companies computers to steal trade secrets.

But some critics say that American businesses will end up being hurt.

If youre hitting $50 billion in trade, youre inevitably going to hurt somebody, and somebody is going to complain, said Rod Hunter, a former economic official at the National Security Council and now a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP.

Representatives of American business, which have complained for years that China has pilfered U.S. technology and discriminated against U.S. companies, were critical of the administrations latest action.

Unilateral tariffs may do more harm than good and do little to address the problems in Chinas (intellectual property) and tech transfer policies, said John Frisbie, president of the U.S.-China Business Council.

Even some technology groups contending with Chinese competition expressed misgivings.

The Trump administration is right to push back against Chinas abuse of economic and trade policy, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank. But imposing tariffs on producer goods will inadvertently hurt Americans through reduced capital investment and lower productivity growth.

Trump dusted off a Cold War weapon for trade disputes: Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, which lets the president unilaterally impose tariffs. It was meant for a world in which much of global commerce wasnt covered by trade agreements. With the arrival in 1995 of the World Trade Organization, Section 301 largely faded from use.

China has been urging the United States to seek a diplomatic solution and warning that it would retaliate against any trade sanctions. Beijing could hit back at American firms that depend on the Chinese market: Boeing, for instance, or American soybean farmers, who send nearly 60 percent of their exports to China.YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno still had yellow police tape blocking off areas as employees returned to work Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after a disgruntled video maker shot three people and killed herself.

Employees filed into a packed auditorium to ask questions and hear remarks from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, company co-founder Sergey Brin and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. Employees came up to a microphone, one by one, and posed questions about Tuesdays shooting, according to a YouTube employee who was present and declined to provide his name.

Several employees told The Chronicle that YouTube and its parent company, Google, instructed them not to talk to the media.

Questions posed to the executives included: What is the company going to do now? Will YouTube change any policies in response to this tragedy? And what else could have been done?

The shooter, identified as 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam, told relatives for almost a year that the company had unfairly limited access to her content on animal abuse and veganism.

Executives didnt have many concrete answers on what can and will be done, the employee said, but they vowed to address the issues raised.

San Bruno police were still investigating at the scene of the shooting Wednesday afternoon, and employees were given the option of going back to work or taking the rest of the day off. Many took the latter option, giving the headquarters an eerie feeling, the employee said.

Broken glass doors still showed signs of the previous days chaos, as investigators milled around the company grounds, the employee said. Meanwhile, YouTube employees stood in a line and waited to be escorted into the headquarters in small groups to grab things theyd left behind while running from the shooter.

Counselors were also made available for those who wanted to speak with them.

Its crazy, the employee said, as he walked to his car to go home after the company assembly. He said he was still processing the trauma of Tuesday and was in disbelief that something like this could occur at work, where its supposed to be safe.

A female employee, who also declined to give her name, said YouTube had done everything it could to make her feel safe. She said Wednesdays meetings made her feel better.

Employees have described YouTube as a small, tight-knit community, where many workers recognize each other. Some employees said they knew the victims but declined to identify them. One shooting victim, a 36-year-old man, remained in the hospital Wednesday in serious condition, while two women rushed to the hospital have been released. A fourth person suffered an ankle injury.

One employee, who declined to provide his name as he walked into work Wednesday morning, said he was in a different building from where the shooting occurred, but the incident had been stressful.

I never thought Id be running from a gun, he said.

He added that he had no reservations about returning to work.

Large swaths of the campus remained blocked off Wednesday afternoon, including two parking garages that are attached to the campus. San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini on Wednesday said the shooter parked her car in the rear of a neighboring business and accessed the campus via a parking garage.Cannabis businesses in California aren't allowed to operate within 600 feet of schools, but sometimes, you can't stop the kids from coming to you.

That's what happened when an enterprising San Diego Girl Scout made waves earlier this year when she sold more than 300 boxes of cookies outside a SoCal dispensary in six hours, according to her dad.

The business model kicked off a heated debate. Selling cookies outside a dispensary: Inappropriate way for a kid to pass the time, or simply a savvy show of understanding that the munchies probably shift the demand curve for samoas and thin mints? Cautionary tale or embodiment of the Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism?

It depends whom you ask, but it turns out a majority of Americans are fans of the San Diego Girl Scout's smart thinking, or at least believe Girl Scouts should be able to sell cookies outside any legal business, a YouGov poll released Tuesday found.

The poll sampled 6,932 people in the U.S. in early February; 67 percent said Girl Scouts should be able to sell boxes outside any legal establishment, 17 percent said they should be forbidden from selling outside "controversial" establishments like dispensaries, and 16 percent were unsure.

Support for the girl's apparent understanding of the market forces at play was particularly strong with higher earners  among people who earned at least $80,000 a year, 79 percent supported her freedom to do business outside any legal establishment, compared with 64 percent of those earning less than $40,000 a year and 67 percent of people with salaries in between.

It's not the first time the issue has surfaced  smart cookie Girl Scouts were setting up shop outside the Green Cross in San Francisco as early as 2014. With national support for legalization on the rise and the popularity of Girl Scout cookies something of a constant, it probably won't be the last, either.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on TwitterIncreased competition is lowering fares to some of Europe's most popular summer destinations: Paris, Rome and Barcelona.

And for the first time in a long time, these deals are good for peak summer season, which runs from roughly June 15 through August 15.

Anytime you can snag a round trip fare from California to Europe for less than $1,000, you have a good deal on your hands. But those sub $1,000 fares are almost never available during peak summer season.

But there they are. Today on Google Flights, I'm finding July and August roundtrips to Barcelona, Paris and Rome from all three Bay Area airports for as little as $620 round trip. If you can fly in early June or late August, fares are just $498 round trip.

Why? Competition.

Last month, Norwegian Air launched midsummer nonstop flights from Oakland to Rome for about $500-$600 roundtrip (plus fees- but even with fees, still a great deal).

This month, French Bee (nee French Blue) began selling deep summer roundtrip tickets between San Francisco and Paris for around $500 (plus fees). Also this month, Norwegian jumps into the Oakland-Paris market with nonstops going for around $500-$600 roundtrip. The Bay area to Paris market is already served with nonstops on United, Air France, and XL Airways. Add in one more competitor and voila! Fare sale!

Look what happens when I search for July roundtrips between Bay Area airports and Rome, Paris and Barcelona.

This week American, British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus (all Oneworld carriers) began to fight back by lowering their one-stop fares from San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. So this means that in order to get the lowest fares, you'll have to make a stop along the way in London or Dublin, or Philadelphia or Dallas.

If you are tempted by these fares, I suggest booking them as soon as possible because they won't last. As we approach summer season, fares will skyrocket and by late May or June you'll likely pay twice as much-- in the $1,000 to $2,000 range for midsummer flights to Europe. Don't let those deals fly away!

NOTE: Fares available on Google Flights on Weds April 4 and subject to change.

Read all recent TravelSkills posts here

Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here

Chris McGinnis is the founder 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.A man entered a building on UC Berkeleys campus early Wednesday morning and assaulted a female school employee in a chemical attack, authorities said.

At approximately 1:35 a.m., the woman entered a restroom in Wheeler Hall, a building on campus that houses the schools English department. She encountered a man and told him to leave because the building was closed, according to the UC Berkeley Police Department.

The man then followed her out of the restroom and threw a caustic chemical at her, officials said.

The woman suffered chemical burns and was transported by the Berkeley Fire to a local emergency room, while the man fled the scene.

UC Berkeley police searched the area but could not locate the suspect.

ALSO 3 Men Arrested On Suspicion Of Home Invasion RobberyA 27-year-old Fremont resident was charged with attempted murder for firing 12 rounds at a vehicle after an argument last month in a drive-thru line, police said.

Allan Hsu, 27, of Fremont allegedly got into a verbal dispute with three people around 2:47 a.m. March 30 in the drive-thru line at the Brookvale Shopping Center in Fremont, according to the Fremont Police Department.A man assaulted a woman Tuesday evening in San Franciscos Mission District after she bumped into him while they were boarding a Muni bus, police said.

Around 6:45 p.m., a man in his late 20s or early 30s began hitting a 35-year-old woman after she bumped into him while they were boarding Muni, according to the San Francisco Police Department.An apparently disgruntled video maker shot and wounded three people before fatally turning the gun on herself Tuesday at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, setting off a chaotic scramble as workers dived for cover, hid behind locked doors and ran from the building.

San Bruno police officers and San Mateo County sheriffs deputies rushed to the office park two minutes after the first reports of gunfire came in at 12:46 p.m. and found dozens of workers streaming from the exits.

Near the front door of the building at 901 Cherry Ave., they came across one victim with a gunshot wound, and in an ensuing search of the premises found the shooter with an apparent self-inflicted fatal gunshot wound. Two other gunshot victims were found at nearby businesses where they apparently had taken refuge, police said.

Law enforcement sources identified the shooter as Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, of Menifee (Riverside County), and a Chronicle review of her social media accounts found that she was a prolific YouTube user with several accounts that she complained had been heavily censored by the company.

Late in the afternoon, Aghdams vehicle was towed from the scene. Her accounts on YouTube, Facebook and Instragram, meanwhile, were removed.

On a website consisting of a collage of photos and video posts, many of them about her vegan beliefs, Aghdam rails against YouTube for restricting views on her videos and for what she said was skimping on revenue driven by the traffic to her YouTube page.

There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!! Aghdam wrote. Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!

Its unclear how Aghdam gained access to YouTube headquarters. Her body was found inside the building following the shooting, police said.

Her three gunshot victims were rushed to San Francisco General Hospital. A 27-year-old woman was later listed in fair condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 36-year-old man in critical condition, hospital officials said. A fourth person was treated for a sprained or broken ankle.

The violence unfolded in a matter of seconds, and several YouTube employees took to social media to report hearing gunfire and hiding or running for their lives. Some simply let people know they were safe. Hundreds of workers were evacuated by police, who made everyone hold their hands up as they filed out onto the street.

It was very chaotic, as you can imagine, said San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini.

Workers who were in the building described a terrifying scene as people rushed away from Aghdam, who was wearing body armor and firing a handgun, witnesses and police said.

Jesse Pineda of San Bruno said he was getting a hamburger at Carls Jr. across the street from the YouTube offices when he heard three shots in rapid succession. A young woman emerged from the office, shot in the left leg.

He helped drag her into the restaurant before hearing more shots. He then ran back toward YouTube and looked through the doorway, where he saw a woman on the ground.

She was dead, Im sure of it, Pineda said. Those 10 shots were rapid fire  it was no mercy. There were four more shots after that. I wish I had had a gun but I didnt. I had to be smart and get out of there. I had to be fast.

Eyewitnesses said the entire episode took about 30 seconds. Some had assumed the shooter, whose face was covered, was a man.

I was in the courtyard and we heard the gunshots, then saw him, Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi, a YouTube product manager, wrote on Facebook. He had a shooting mask on, full body armor and was calmly walking and firing a handgun. We jumped to the floor then ran as fast as we could.

Abdul-Kafi said he was OK, but I dont know about a lot of coworkers.

As word filtered out to the crowd waiting behind the police lines that the shooter was dead, many shook their heads sadly and walked away.

At about 3:15 p.m., dozens of strike teams and officers from several local law enforcement agencies packed up their weapons and body armor and trudged back to their patrol cars. At least two armored vehicles remained at the scene late Tuesday afternoon as search teams went room by room, floor by floor looking for evidence and making sure the threat was over. Barberini said investigators would be processing the crime scene late into the night.

Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at San Francisco General Hospital, said none of the victims had yet undergone surgery. He said all of them were awake, talking and aware of what had happened to them.

Once again, we are confronted with a specter of a mass casualty situation, Campbell said. This is unfortunate, and it continues. Youd think after weve seen Las Vegas, Parkland, the Pulse nightclub shooting, that we would see an end to this, but we have not. This is a terrible day in the United States when once again we have a multiple casualty situation.

The incident prompted elected officials to respond with sorrow and condolences. On Twitter, President Trump said, Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.

Chad Hurley, the co-founder of YouTube, tweeted, Praying for my friends @YouTube!

YouTube spokesman Chris Dale said the shooting was especially hard given how tight knit the workers are in the company.

It feels like the entire community of YouTube and all of the employees were victims of this crime, Dale said. Our prayers are with (the victims) and their families.

Officials at Google, which owns YouTube, confirmed in a statement that four employees had been hurt in this horrific act of violence.

Were doing everything we can to support them and their families, a Google spokesman wrote. We will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy.

Aghdam used YouTube to post videos that covered a mix of topics, from vegan cooking to workouts to parodies of music videos.

A message on her YouTube pages late Tuesday said that the profiles were taken down due to multiple or severe violations of YouTubes policy against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content or other Term of Service violations.

The company Tuesday night declined to answer questions about Aghdam and her deleted accounts, and referred questions to an earlier statement on the shooting issued by Google CEO Sundar Pinchai.

On an Instagram post dated March 18, Aghdam claimed YouTube was using its tools to censor and suppress people who speak the truth and are not good for the financial, political gains of the system and big businesses.

Aghdam was also an animal-rights activist, featured in a 2009 story in the San Diego Union-Tribune about a protest by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals against the use of pigs in military trauma training. She dressed in a wig and jeans with large drops of painted blood on them, holding a plastic sword at the demonstration outside the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.

For me, animal rights equal human rights, Aghdam told the Union-Tribune at the time.

Outside the YouTube headquarters Tuesday, employees huddled together and waited for authorities to take witness statements as helicopters circled overhead.

One group of employees  who declined to provide their names, citing a YouTube media policy  said they were sitting at their desks working around 1 p.m. when they heard, pop-pop-pop.

The noises sounded like they came from the courtyard, the employees said. But they initially dismissed the sound as that of people moving equipment. Then, people started running like something serious was happening.

One employee said he saw two shattered glass doors. The group hid inside an office for about 20 minutes until police came and cleared them out.

Just south of YouTube, a Carls Jr. employee, Michael Finney, 21, spoke of helping the wounded woman who came to the restaurant. He said he was working at about 1:30 p.m. when a young woman stumbled in with a gunshot wound to her left leg. She had been shot in the parking lot, he said.

She was pretty calm, Finney said. I got a bungee cord and tied it around her leg to stop the bleeding. I asked her why someone would shoot her and she said she didnt know.

Fed Krysko, 21, of San Bruno said he was visiting a friend at Carls Jr. when employees began coming out of YouTube with their hands up.

This is insane, Krysko said. Ive lived here seven years and theres never been anything like this before. This is what you see happening all over the country, but not in San Bruno.

Todd Sherman, who identified himself as a YouTube product manager on his Twitter page, said he was sitting in a meeting and then heard that people were running. First thought was earthquake, he said.

We headed towards the exit and then saw more people and someone said that there was a person with a gun, Sherman wrote on Twitter. I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peeked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front.

Sherman wrote that he and his co-workers spread out in different directions after the incident.

Were such a quiet town  this is bizarre, said Terry Jones, a 23-year resident of San Bruno, who was among the crowd that lingered after the shooting. Weve got some lunatics, sure, but its unusual to have something go so big.

I guess that pipeline explosion was the last time, he said, referring to the rupture of a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. natural gas pipeline in a San Bruno neighborhood, which killed eight people in September 2010.

He shook his head sadly, saying, At least it wasnt little kids getting shot.

Chronicle staff writers Lizzie Johnson, Hamed Aleaziz, Jenna Lyons, Dominic Fracassa, J.K. Dineen, Erin Allday, Joaquin Palomino, Cynthia Dizikes and Sophie Haigney contributed to this report.On what had been a quiet, otherwise ho-hum afternoon in San Bruno, a fast-food worker and a man just stopping for a burger found themselves suddenly grasping for makeshift tourniquets and dragging a gunshot victim to safety.

Usually, the loudest sound around Cherry Avenue is a car backfiring.

Its scary enough at school, but near where you work? said high school junior Robbie Caoile, who was working one building away from YouTubes headquarters when gunfire there sent him scrambling for cover on Tuesday. Where does it stop?

According to police, a woman stormed onto the YouTube campus before 1 p.m., shooting and wounding three people before killing herself.

Law enforcement sources identified the shooter as Nasim Nafaji Aghdam, 39, of Menifee (Riverside County), a disgruntled video maker who had complained online about being censored by YouTube.

Jesse Pineda and his girlfriend, Leslie Paladini, had stopped for lunch at the nearby Carls Jr. when the shooting began. Suddenly, Pineda found himself racing outside to drag a bleeding young woman who had been shot in the left leg to safety across the street.

Travis Ganley and restaurant employee Michael Finney, 21, leaped in to help. The three men lay the shooting victim on a booth bench and got to work to stop the bleeding  with wadded-up napkins, then a shirt.

She was pretty calm, Finney said of the unidentified woman. He said he tied a bungee cord around her leg, and asked the woman why she was shot. She responded that she didnt know.

Paladini stayed in the car, horrified, as gun smoke rose from YouTubes soaring, glass-walled complex.

I freaked out, Paladini said. I didnt know what it was, or where it was coming from  there were just a lot of shots.

Pineda, meanwhile, went back toward the YouTube building to try and help more victims. He said there appeared to have been a catered courtyard party going on when the shooter walked in.

The chef was freaking out and pointed to a girl in the courtyard, saying, Shes dead, shes dead! Pineda recounted. The woman on the ground was apparently the shooter.

Some residents of the San Bruno neighborhood raced to the scene, as police and emergency vehicles swarmed in and as YouTube employees fled their offices in a panic.

Its so sad to see the stuff happening, people getting killed right here, said Nancy Gonis, who has lived in San Bruno since 1972 and ran over when she heard the sirens blaring.

Just think about whats happened recently  from a school, with those children getting shot, to that vet in Yountville, and now to this. Its a very scary world were living in.

She was referring to the killing of 17 people at a Florida high school on Feb. 14, and the March 9 murder-suicide that took the lives of three health care workers at a treatment center for veterans in Yountville.

At the Jamba Juice two doors down from Carls Jr., manager Thomas Matela greeted police as they filtered away from the crime scene, shaking their hands and letting them use his restroom.

I heard, like, 12 gunshots  bam-bam-bam  and closed my door right away, Matela said. Not even five minutes went by and all the cops I could imagine showed up. They came fast, and Im glad they did. There are too many crazy people in this world.

Matela closed early, and a couple of his employees hung by the door afterward to quietly talk about what they had seen  officers with assault rifles rushing to the scene, fire engines screaming up to the curb, frightened employees running from the sounds of gunshots.

Two of the employees working in the area, Robbie Caoile and Rocio Navarro, were juniors at a nearby high school, and they had just participated in an anti-gun march at their school last month in the aftermath of the Florida massacre.

This eruption of violence mere steps away from where they work shook the pair.

It all happens in the blink of an eye, Rocio said. You wake up every day questioning, Is my school safe? And now this? This?MENIFEE, Riverside County  Upset relatives of YouTube shooter Nasim Najafi Aghdam said Wednesday that they warned authorities she might take her hostility toward the online video-sharing company to a dangerous level, but that those warnings were not heeded.

Aghdam was angry for a year at YouTube for limiting the videos she posted about exercise and animal rights, family members said, adding that these concerns were passed on to law enforcement authorities when she was reported missing Monday from her home in unincorporated San Diego County.

A woman standing outside the familys house in Menifee on Wednesday identified herself as a relative of the shooter and spoke with anguish as she walked toward the entrance of the home. She said she felt bad for the victims and blamed police for not taking more action before Tuesdays shooting at YouTubes San Bruno headquarters.

Aghdam shot two women and one man in a courtyard at the video-posting company around lunchtime before fatally shooting herself, authorities said.

I feel so bad for these people shot, said the self-proclaimed relative, who spoke in a heavy accent and declined to give her name to The Chronicle. She was angry of YouTube, so be careful, and police said, We are going to watch her. But they didnt watch her.

Her message to the whole world was to stop eating meat, and YouTube filtered it because of business.

The relative, who was in her 30s or 40s, said Aghdams father warned police to be vigilant when he reported his daughter missing  and then again after Aghdam was found sleeping in her car at 2 a.m. Tuesday in Mountain View.

He reported her missing and police then call after they find her at car nearby YouTube, the female relative said. And then the parents warned police: Be careful, (because) maybe shes angry with YouTube. The woman added that Aghdam expressed this anger for one year as her videos were filtered.

The Mountain View Police Department issued a statement Wednesday saying that its patrol officers encountered Aghdam at around 1:40 a.m. sleeping in her car, but that she mentioned no threats and did not seem to be a danger to herself or others.

Officers called the family in Riverside County, the statement said, and though Aghdams father said YouTube had recently done something to her videos that had caused her to become upset.... he did not seem concerned that she was in the area. The family did not mention anything about potential acts of violence or a possibility of Aghdam lashing out as a result of her issues with her videos, it said.

The department wrote that Aghdam told officers she had left her familys home due to family issues and was in the process of looking for a job while living in her vehicle.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said Wednesday his department had no warnings of potential trouble from Aghdam.

Aghdam immigrated to the United States from Iran at about age 18, the woman who would not give her name said at the Menifee house. She said the whole family has been distraught over the shootings.

I feel sad for whole world hearing this bad news, she said, her voice breaking. Im so sorry for those people shot. Hopefully, nothing (permanent) happened to them (and) they get better.

The womans sadness quickly turned to frustration as she slapped a car parked on the driveway of the familys home.

How come for drivers license we have to (do) eye exam? she said, her voice rising. How come for getting stupid guns we dont need mental doctors or something?

Nasims aunt, who identified herself only as Leila, said her niece had no history of mental illness. The shootings came as a complete shock, she said.

No, I didnt have any idea, Leila said as she hustled past a phalanx of television cameras into the family home. She was a really good person, loving.

Neighbor John Rundell, 61, said Nasims father, Ismail Aghdam, came to him Tuesday night and tearfully spilled out his sorrows.

He told me he called and reported her missing and he was concerned because she was mad at YouTube, Rundell said. He was teary-eyed. He was pretty upset, trying to hold back. I feel bad for the guy. They are really good people.

Rundell said the Aghdams were a big family and lots of grandchildren often visited.

They were really nice people, like the best neighbors you could ask for, he said.

Rundell said the family moved into the neighborhood about five years ago, and that he and Ismail Aghdam talked a lot when they were both outside.

He didnt see Nasim Aghdam as much, but remembered that she recently painted the house, an impressive feat considering the home is a large two-story affair, beige-colored with red and green trim.

She had a rabbit, he said. One time the rabbit was sick and she asked if I knew of a place she could take it. He said he told her about a veterinarian he knew.

Its just sad, Rundell said. I feel for the whole family.

Neighbors were taken aback by all the fuss in this quiet, upper middle-class subdivision of Menifee, a town of about 77,000 mainly known as the place where the late World War II hero and actor Audie Murphy bred racehorses. Most people didnt know the Aghdams well, but often saw them outside gardening.

A few remember Nasim Aghdam painting trim on the house  and all of them had heard of Tuesdays shooting spree.

I think its pretty sad, said Wendy Perez, who was out walking with her 10-year-old son, two daughters, 16 and 5, and her Maltese Poo named Daisy. Obviously she had mental issues for her to commit such a horrendous crime. My thoughts and prayers are with the family. Im sure its not easy for them.

Not everyone on the block was so generous with their condolences, however.

It kind of depends on how you look at it, said one man sitting in his pickup truck and surveilling the hubbub. If shes the one who did the shooting, Im kind of glad shes not here anymore.

A man who identified himself as Aghdams brother told a television station in Riverside County that he also had warned police about his sister, and that he didnt know where she got her gun.

Chief Barberini said Wednesday that Aghdam legally owned the weapon, a 9mm pistol.

Aghdam had an extensive presence on social media, which she used to express support for animal rights and complain that YouTube had unfairly clamped down on traffic to her videos.

She wrote on one website: There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!! Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!Some of William and Grace McCarthy's 100-year-old photos of Yosemite look like they could have been taken yesterday. Others  like a shot of their boxy Studebaker wedged beneath a hollowed-out Giant Sequoia not so much.

The McCarthys were an adventurous couple who traveled around the country in the early 20th century, photographing scores of California landmarks along the way. Now, their vacation memories are available for the public to peruse. The California State Archives recently published about 3,000 crisp black-and-white photos, originally donated in 1996, to its website. The resulting collection is remarkably eclectic, stretching from roughly 1905 to 1938.

MORE HISTORY: Photos show what Tahoe looked like in early 1900s

Little is known about the McCarthys, beyond their apparent love of photography. William McCarthy was an armaments expert by trade, according to archivist Jessica Herrick. He worked at the Benicia Arsenal in 1903, and was promoted during World War I. He and his wife Grace had no children, leaving them plenty of time for sojourning in their car.

"That's when car culture was starting to get going," Herrick said. "(They) really took advantage of the travel opportunities that an automobile provides."

RELATED VIDEO: The beautiful sights and sounds of Yosemite. Story continues below.

Yosemite had been designated a national park in 1890, well before the couple's 1917 visit, but it wasn't quite as developed as it is today. Guard rails and fences are conspicuously absent in early photos, though they start to appear in later shots.

Anyone who has visited Yosemite knows its most famous sights, like Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls, are unfailingly photogenic. But Herrick said the collection's variety is its best quality. As a photographer, McCarthy didn't limit himself to just shooting the landscape or snapping portraits of his wife  he was "interested in everything."

"It's fascinating," she said. "The sorts of photos people take today, they were taking 100 years ago."

MORE HISTORY: Here's what San Francisco looked like 100 years ago

The collection can be viewed in its entirety on the California State Archive's website.MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Despite advances the country has made since the Rev. Martin Luther King. Jr. was slain while fighting poverty and racism, the age of bullies and bigots is not fully behind us, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday.

The remark was one of two thinly veiled references to President Trump that Holder made during his appearance at a symposium on the first of three days of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of Kings assassination.

King was supporting striking sanitation workers when he came to Memphis in 1968. He was talking with friends on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4 when he was struck by a rifle bullet and killed.

Museums, colleges and activists have organized three days of marches, speeches and conferences to remember King and his legacy. His daughter, Bernice King, and Holder toured a new King-centered photo exhibit at the National Civil Rights Museum later Monday.

This is a very emotional time for me and my family, she said.

Holder, the first black U.S. attorney general, spoke at a symposium sponsored by the University of Memphis and the museum. He was introduced by U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, an Alabama Democrat who won a special election in December.

Holder said he is proud that the nation has made progress in the past 50 years achieving racial, social and economic justice. He said women, minorities, students against gun violence and members of the LGBTQ community have been inspired by Kings nonviolent protests and have launched movements calling for fairness, opportunity and justice.

But in remarks that appeared to reference Trump without mentioning his name, Holder also noted that Kings dream of equality for all has not been reached.

Were still marching, we are still striving, and were still calling on our nations leaders to act with a sense of justice, compassion and common humanity, Holder said. The unfortunate fact is that in 2018, Americas long struggle to overcome injustice, to eliminate disparities and eradicate violence has not yet ended, and the age of bullies and bigots is not fully behind us.

Holder said he has spoken with young people who feel lost in their own country and are fearful that Americas too-long-standing divisions are threatening to tear our nation apart.MADISON, Wis.  Rebecca Dallet, a liberal Milwaukee judge, easily defeated conservative Michael Screnock Tuesday in the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court, fueling optimism among Democrats for more victories in the fall midterms.

The race for a 10-year seat was nonpartisan in name only, with millions in ad spending and public endorsements from Joe Biden, Eric Holder and the National Rifle Association.

Biden recorded a robocall for Dallet in the campaigns final days. Screnock, a Sauk County circuit judge, was endorsed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker and backed by about $400,000 from the state GOP.

Dallets victory narrows conservative control of the court from 5-2 to 4-3. The court has been a reliable ally of Walker and Republicans who have controlled the governors office and Legislature since 2011.

Walker is up for re-election in November, along with Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the 99-member state Assembly and half of the state Senate.

People are pretty motivated on the left, from what I can see, said Doug Clawson, a communications professional who cast his ballot in a Madison public library as cold rain fell outside.

He said a Dallet win would send a message that were not kidding around here and maybe to borrow an axiom from the right: Were going to take our country back.

Dallets victory follows a surprising Democratic win in January in a special election for a state Senate seat held by Republicans for 17 years. Two other special legislative elections are coming this June, giving Democrats more chances to build momentum heading into the fall.

But Wisconsin Supreme Court races havent always been reliable predictors of what will happen in the fall. Conservative candidates won in both 2007 and 2008, victories that came in between huge Dem wins in the fall 2006 and 2008 elections.

Dallet, 48, has been a Milwaukee County circuit judge since 2008 and previously worked 11 years as a prosecutor. She will join the court in August.

Screnock, 48, was appointed judge by Walker in 2015. Before that he was part of a team that defended Walkers Act 10 law that ended collective bargaining for most public workers.

In Brookfield, a conservative-leaning western suburb of Milwaukee, Michael George backed Screnock based on one issue.

Hes for NRA and the Second Amendment and I think thats a good thing. Thats what we need right now, said George, a Republican.

Several voters in liberal Madison said they were motivated to vote against Screnock because of his NRA support.

I dont want to support anyone whos backed by the NRA right now, said Phil Ouellette, 59, who works in advertising.

Screnock said hes devoted to the rule of law and a strict interpretation of the Constitution, arguments that winning conservative candidates used in recent state Supreme Court elections.WASHINGTON  Special counsel Robert Muellers team of prosecutors has informed President Trumps attorneys that the president is not currently considered a criminal target in the Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations and demanded anonymity, said the president is considered a subject of Muellers probe  not a target. A subject is typically someone whose conduct is of interest to investigators but prosecutors are not certain theyve gathered enough evidence to bring charges.

The designation could change at any time, though. The development was first reported by the Washington Post.

Trumps designation as a subject came up as prosecutors and the presidents legal team have been negotiating the terms of an interview with him. The president has said he wants to speak with Muellers team, but his lawyers have not publicly committed to allowing him to be questioned.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow declined to confirm or discuss the conversations with Mueller.

The Justice Department typically treats people involved in investigations as either witnesses, subjects or targets. Muellers determination that Trump is a subject suggests hes more pivotal to the investigation than a mere witness, a designation for someone who has observed events of interest to agents and prosecutors.

The government will say youre a subject trending to witness or youre a subject trending toward target, said Sharon McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan.

Though targets tend to be people the government is gathering evidence against with the goal of prosecuting, subjects have a much looser, broader definition.

A subject means were still looking at you, McCarthy said.

Muellers team has signaled that theyre interested in discussing several key episodes in the early parts of the Trump administration as they probe possible obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors have told the legal team they want to question Trump about the firings of former FBI Director James Comey and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.1 Military to border: President Trump said Tuesday that he planned to order the military to guard parts of the southern border until he can build a wall and tighten immigration restrictions, proposing a remarkable escalation of his efforts to crack down on migrants entering the country illegally. Trump said he was consulting with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis about resorting to military deployments. The active-duty military is generally barred by law from carrying out domestic law enforcement functions.

2 Cosby trial: The judge in Bill Cosbys sexual assault retrial in Norristown, Pa., gave his legal defense a huge boost Tuesday, ruling his lawyers can call a witness who says the accuser talked about framing a celebrity before she went to police in 2005 with allegations about the comedian. Judge Steven ONeill also helped the defense case by ruling that jurors can hear how much Cosby paid accuser Andrea Constand in a 2006 civil settlement. ONeill ruled that Marguerite Jackson can take the witness stand after he blocked her from testifying at the first trial  which ended in a hung jury  saying her testimony would be hearsay. Jacksons testimony is crucial to a defense plan to portray Constand as a greedy liar.WASHINGTON President Trump pledged strong action today on immigration, a day after he said he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his big, beautiful wall is erected.

In an early-morning tweet Wednesday, Trump said Our Border Laws are very weak and said Democrats stand in our way of new laws. He added, We will be taking strong action today.

Trump did not offer further details and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that hes been discussing the idea of using the military at the border with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Were going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military, Trump said, calling the move a big step.

It wasnt immediately clear exactly how the proposal would work or what kind of troops Trump wanted to deploy, but the White House later said Trump wanted to mobilize the National Guard.

Federal law prohibits the use of active-duty service members for law enforcement inside the U.S., unless specifically authorized by Congress. But over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support. The White House counsels office has been working on the idea for several weeks, according to a senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans.

Trump has been frustrated by slow action on building a wall along the Mexican border. Hes previously suggested using the Pentagons budget to pay for the wall, arguing it is a national security priority, despite strict rules that prohibit spending thats not authorized by Congress.

At the Pentagon, officials struggled throughout the day Tuesday to answer questions about the plan, including rudimentary details on whether it would involve National Guard members.

But the administration appeared to be considering a model similar to a 2006 operation in which President George W. Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border.

Under Operation Jump Start, 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to assist the border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained. Over two years, about 29,000 National Guard forces participated as forces rotated in and out. The Guard members were used for surveillance, communications, administrative support, intelligence, analysis and the installation of border security infrastructure.

In addition, President Barack Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in 2010 to beef up efforts against drug smuggling and illegal immigration.With a pounding storm headed for California, state water officials said Tuesday that Oroville Dams crumbled spillway could get its first test since being rebuilt in the wake of last years near-catastrophe.

The 700-foot-deep Lake Oroville is just 36 feet below capacity this week, officials said, and its water may have to be released through the restored half-mile-long concrete chute, which partially collapsed in February of 2017. The spillways failure triggered concerns that a wall of water would pour uncontrollably from the dam.

Work crews have been laboring to reconstruct much of the spillway since then. The planned $710 million, two-year fix isnt expected to be completed until after a second phase of construction this year, but officials say the chute is in working order after last years first phase was finished.

Hopefully we dont need to use the spillway, said Erin Mellon, spokeswoman for the California Department of Water Resources, which operates the reservoir. But if it is needed, weve done a lot of hydraulic monitoring. Were confident in the construction.

If the spillway has to be used, state officials said their concern is not so much the structural integrity of the dam, but rather the flow of water down the chute. Much of the newly built spillway consists of temporary roller-compacted concrete, which has a much rougher surface than the permanent concrete and is likely to make for more turbulent discharges.

The temporary concrete could wear amid prolonged water releases, officials said. They expect cutoff walls that were built around the temporary concrete during last years construction to soften the blow of the streaming water.

Inspectors will be on site around the clock to monitor the performance of the spillway and correct any problems should the floodgates open.

To lessen the chances of having to use the outlet, dam operators began releasing water more aggressively from the reservoir this week through the power plant, which has served as the primary means of discharging water during the recent construction. The dam also has a handful of deep outlets in the lake that can be used to drain water, which managers said they may employ.

Forecasters say a giant weather system from the central Pacific will probably make landfall by Friday. State officials say that they dont think Lake Oroville will fill to its rim, but theyre taking precautions should they have to use the spillway late this week or early next.

Problems at the dam emerged Feb. 7, 2017, when the main spillway partially collapsed as large amounts of water were being released from the lake. When managers closed the chute to take inventory, water was let out from an emergency spillway  essentially an unpaved hillside  which also began to erode.

Fears that a blast of water would gush out of the reservoir prompted authorities to evacuate nearly 200,000 residents downstream. Before any problems occurred, however, dam operators were able to put the main spillway back into use, at least enough so that the reservoir level dropped.

Lake Oroville, which is about 75 miles north of Sacramento, is the states second-largest reservoir. It provides drinking water to parts of the Bay Area and Southern California.DANVILLE (BCN)

Danville police arrested an Oakland man for robbing a CVS pharmacy at gunpoint on Tuesday morning.

Police said a suspect wearing a surgical mask entered the store on San Ramon Valley Boulevard shortly before 8:10 a.m. and approached the pharmacist. The man allegedly demanded pharmaceuticals and flashed a black semi-automatic pistol.

The man then took the medicines and fled the store in a gray Toyota Prius, according to police.

A witness gave police a detailed description of the vehicle and officers were able to find the car using a license plate-reading camera system.

Jonathan Szkotak, 33, was arrested on Tuesday evening in his Oakland home. He was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on suspicion of robbery, and has since been released on a $100,000 bail bond.

Police are also investigating Szkotak in connection with a similar Danville robbery last year.

###SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

San Francisco housing activists opposing a bill that aims to increase housing near public transit statewide called on the city's Board of Supervisors today to take a stance against it.

But the group's calls were drowned out at times by other housing activists in support of Senate Bill 827, as the two groups shouted and chanted over each other during a rally held outside San Francisco City Hall.

Introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, SB 827 would exempt approved developers of housing near major transit stops and transit corridors from various local requirements, including controls on density, height limitations, floor area ratio, and minimum parking requirements, among others.

At today's rally, opponents of the bill argued that it takes away power from local jurisdictions and communities by preventing them from participating in decisions regarding land use, zoning, livability and sustainability and applying a one-size-fits-all strategy to the state's housing shortage.

Several San Francisco organizations and individuals opposing the bill have banded together, with support from supervisors Aaron Peskin and Jane Kim, to write a letter urging the Board to adopt a resolution to oppose SB 827.

"In the name of affordability, it would reward real estate speculators with enormous windfalls and weakens our city's ability to incentivize and create more affordable housing. It would not require the actual building of a single affordable unit, but instead allows entitled projects to be bought and sold over and over again; making money for speculators and not producing critically needed housing," the letter said.

Additionally, opponents say if passed, the bill would lead to higher real estate prices and higher rents, resulting in displacement.

"A few months ago the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to rebuke the bad days redevelopments. We took the name of Justin Herman off of that plaza at the base of Market Street," Peskin said.

"We learned from our mistakes on displacement. In mowing down neighborhoods. It was called redevelopment. Are we going to repeat those darks years?" Peskin said.

Proponents for SB 827 at today's rally included members of the group YIMBY Action.

YIMBY Action member Sonja Trauss, who's also running for District 6 Supervisor, said that there's a clear housing shortage and not building more housing would lead to displacement.

"The people say this will cause displacement by tearing down existing rent control housing or existing multi-family housing and that is not true," Trauss said.

"There are people who are legitimately concerned about preventing displacement and I'm one of them," she said. "The path to doing that is to strengthen the demolition controls we already have, that are already strong, and to expand rent control and just cause [eviction] around the whole rest of the state," she said, in addition to providing tenants with access to lawyers.

"Those are all important sorts of ways of protecting people, but not building housing actually will displace people," Trauss said.

###

(415) 430-7091

Ivy Lee for Jane Kim (415) 554-7973

laura@yimbyaction.orgSAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Police last month arrested a man who is suspected of breaking-in to several vehicles throughout San Francisco after officers allegedly caught him red-handed.

Brian Vandercourt, 18, of San Francisco, was arrested after plainclothes officers were conducting an auto burglary abatement operation in the Fisherman's Wharf area, near North Point and Taylor streets, around 2 p.m. on March 25, according to police.

The officers then noticed a vehicle similar to one that had been reported as being involved in auto burglaries. As the officers began following the vehicle, they saw a man wearing a red hoodie exit the vehicle's passenger side and peer into random vehicles, police said.

Officers recognized the man's clothing as fitting the description of a suspect who previously broke into several vehicles in the Richmond District, police said.

As the officers watched, the man returned to the vehicle, which then drove back to the area of North Point and Taylor streets. Once there, the suspect again exited the vehicle and began looking into parked vehicles, before breaking a car window and taking a bag.

The suspect returned to his vehicle and the vehicle then pulled up to another car on Bay Street. Once again, the same suspect exited his vehicle, smashed the car's window and took a backpack from inside, police said.

That's when the plainclothes officers moved in and arrested the suspect burglar, identified as Vandercourt.

The suspect driving the vehicle Vandercourt was in drove off and officers were unable to locate it.

After completing an investigation, officers determined that Vandercourt is allegedly connected to several other car break-ins across the city. Officers arrested him on suspicion of five counts of second-degree burglary, two counts of possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools, conspiracy and resisting arrest, police said.

###Bay Area universities and organizations are honoring the legacy of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated 50 years ago today in Memphis, Tennessee.

A noon rally in Berkeley will include students and faculty from University of California at Berkeley, City Council members, residents and local workers marching on Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way. The "Great Bear Bell" in the university clock tower will ring 12 times to mark the hour, then 50 times for King.

Oakland activists will gather at 1 p.m. in front of the Ronald Dellums Federal Building for a news conference and shared reading of King's 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence."

Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, former California Superintendent of Public Instruction Wilson Riles and Daniel Buford, director of the prophetic justice ministry at Allen Temple Baptist Church, will speak at the event.

At 3:45 p.m., San Jose State University community members will ring chimes in the library that carries King's name, say a community prayer and announce a new exhibition.

The exhibition will feature Civil Rights-era posters, banners and memorabilia, as well as student photography from an alternative spring break trip last month through the South.

UC Berkeley's alumni chorus will perform a spring concert at 7 p.m. in Hertz Hall for its "Voices of Change" program. General admission tickets are $20, senior tickets are $15 and students will be admitted for $10. The event will also feature speeches by local activists Carl Anthony and James Peterson.

The Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Foundation hosted a memorial this morning in the San Francisco City Hall rotunda.

U.S. Rep Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, traveled to Memphis today to speak at the official ceremony in MLK's place of death, the Lorraine Hotel. She also planned to speak at a union rally for the 50th anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike.

###OAKLAND (BCN)

A criminal justice reform advocate was convicted of second-degree murder today for fatally shooting his sister's boyfriend during an argument at her home in East Oakland in October 2016.

DeAngelo Cortijo, 24, admitted during his trial that he pointed a gun only inches away from the head of 26-year-old Jamad Jerkins outside his sister's apartment at 2558 35th Ave. at about 10 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016, but claimed that he didn't pull the trigger and didn't kill Jerkins on purpose.

Cortijo said he pointed his 9mm revolver at Jerkins because Jerkins didn't obey his commands to leave.

Cortijo testified that he was "scared" of Jerkins because Jerkins' "words were aggressive."

Asked by prosecutor Alex Hernandez what Jerkins had said that made him so frightened, Cortijo said Jerkins said, "Man, I'm not going anywhere."

Cortijo claimed that the gun went off when Jerkins pushed it away from his head, saying, "I did not pull that trigger."

Jerkins was struck in the stomach by a single bullet and was transported to Highland Hospital in Oakland to be treated for his wounds but was pronounced dead there the next day.

Jerkins was dating Cortijo's sister, Patricia Cortijo, and living with her at the apartment but had decided to leave and move back in with another woman who was the mother of his children, Oakland police said in court papers.

Jerkins was attempting to collect his belongings at the apartment but DeAngelo confronted him, an argument ensued and DeAngelo pulled out a silver revolver and shot Jerkins in the stomach, police said.

Cortijo's attorney Alphonso Mance said in his opening statement in the trial that Cortijo was afraid of Jerkins because Jerkins was a much bigger man and was acting in an aggressive manner.

Jurors, who deliberated for one full day, acquitted Cortijo of the more serious charge of first-degree murder and also found that an allegation that he caused Jerkins' death by personally and intentionally discharging a gun wasn't true.

That clause would have added 25 years to life to the state prison term of 15 years to life that Cortijo faces when he's sentenced by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gloria Rhynes on May 2.

In addition, jurors acquitted Cortijo of a kidnapping charge he faced for allegedly forcing another man to drive him away from the crime scene at gunpoint.

Oakland police said when Cortijo fled after the shooting he approached a man who happened to be sitting in his car outside the apartment, brandished his revolver, forced himself into the man's car and threatened to shoot the man if he didn't drive him to 2218 24th Ave. in Oakland.

The man told police that he tried to refuse to drive Cortijo but was afraid of being shot so he drove to 24th Avenue against his will.

Cortijo was arrested in the 2200 block of 24th Avenue the day after the fatal shooting.

Cortijo was an intern at the National Center for Youth Law in Oakland and used his personal experiences in juvenile detention and foster care to influence foster care and juvenile justice reform bills.

###

272-6280

Defense attorney Alphonso Mance (510) 272-6600SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A Russian citizen accused of hacking into records of three Internet technology companies appeared in shackles in federal court in San Francisco today and agreed to remain in custody for the time being.

Yevgeniy Nikulin, 30, of Moscow, waived his right at today's session before U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth Laporte to have a hearing on whether he should be detained in custody while awaiting trial.

Laporte set a court date for Nikulin to appear on April 17 for a status conference before U.S. District Judge William Alsup, the trial judge assigned to the case.

Nikulin was charged by a federal grand jury in San Francisco in a nine-count indictment in 2016 with breaking into the computers of LinkedIn, Dropbox and a now-defunct social question-and-answer company called Formspring in 2012.

He was arrested in the Czech Republic in 2016 on a U.S. request transmitted by the Interpol international police organization and was extradited to the U.S. last week after lengthy proceedings.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Abraham Simmons said Nikulin's defense attorney today requested removal of the shackles placed on him by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Laporte instructed defense and prosecution lawyers to submit briefs during the next two days on whether their filings concerning the request should be submitted under seal, Simmons said.

The indictment charges Nikulin with three counts of computer intrusion for the purpose of gaining information worth more than $5,000 from each of professional networking company LinkedIn Corp. of Mountain View; file storage firm Dropbox Inc. of San Francisco; and Formspring of San Francisco in 2012.

In the case of Formspring, Nikulin additionally faces two counts of conspiring with three unidentified co-conspirators to sell stolen user names, emails and passwords for 5,500 euros, and selling the stolen information for more than $1,000 between June 2012 and May 2013. The indictment does not identify the buyer.

Nikulin is also charged with two counts of aggravated identity theft of employees of LinkedIn and Formspring and two counts of using those identities to send unauthorized commands causing at least $5,000 in damage.

In a statement last week, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Nikulin "is accused of breaking into the computer system of several important American companies using stolen identities, and potentially gaining access to the personal information of millions of Americans."

"This is deeply troubling behavior once again emanating from Russia," Sessions said.

###

436-7700SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The San Francisco International Film Festival focuses in this, its 61st year, on Bay Area ethos and values -- diversity and inclusiveness, creativity, innovation, technology, global and health issues - explored through 183 films and diverse programs.

The festival opens today and runs through April 17, spanning seven San Francisco and two East Bay venues, and includes tributes, awards, mixed media programs and special guests.

Opening night at the Castro Theatre is "A Kid Like Jake," starring Claire Danes in a drama focusing on efforts of a young New York couple to deal with their 4-year-old's ambiguous gender proclivities.

Closing night is director Gus Van Zant's biopic of artist John Callahan's "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot," starring Joaquin Phoenix as the artist who overcame alcoholism and dealt with his quadriplegia through his darkly humorous cartoons.

"Sorry to Bother You," set in Oakland and directed by Oakland rapper Boots Riley, is a sci-fi satire about a black telemarketer who alters his voice. As the centerpiece film in the festival, it screens at the Castro and the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland.

Documentaries of interest include a portrait of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, titled "RBG," "Come Inside my Mind," about a Bay Area favorite, Robin Williams; a look at revolutionary humanist and children's television icon Fred Rogers; "Three Identical Strangers," the true story of triplets separated at birth who serendipitously reunite, only to discover secrets regarding their family; and "Half the Picture," in which women in the movie industry spotlight their absence from directorial positions in the industry.

Awards will be given this year to actor Charlize Theron (on Sunday), film writer and educator Annette Insdorf (April 14), filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (April 15), director Wayne Wang (Saturday) and short filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky (April 15). Director Gary Madden will deliver the annual State of Cinema address, discussing cinema as dreamscape.

Past festivals have been rich in musical programs, and this year promises to be no exception. Indie rock group Blonde Redhead performs its original score to acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu's 1932 silent film, "I Was Born, But..."

"A Thousand Thoughts" is director Sam Green's "live documentary" about the Kronos Quartet -- a mix of documentary footage, Green's narration and live music.

And Marc Cappelle's Red Room Orchestra will provide musical accompaniment to selections from Stephen Parr's Oddball Films collection.

In addition to the Castro and Grand Lake, films will be screened at San Francisco's Roxie and Victoria theaters, screening rooms at YBCA and SFMOMA, the Dolby Cinema and the Creativity Theater at the Children's Creativity Museum and BAMPFA in Berkeley.

###SAN JOSE (BCN)

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., San Jose State University community members this afternoon will ring chimes in the building that carries his name, say a community prayer and announce a new exhibition.

At 3:45 p.m., students, faculty and community members will gather in the university's library, where chimes will be rung once for each year since his untimely death.

Those in attendance will then listen to a prayer led by "a diverse clergy from Silicon Valley," the college's event page states.

Chimes will ring at the time King was struck in the neck by a bullet on the third-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Following the prayer tribute, a new exhibition that will debut on the second floor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library featuring work done by students on the university's spring break last week will be discussed.

The exhibition will feature Civil Rights-era posters, banners and memorabilia, as well as photographs taken during an alternative spring break trip some SJSU students and others took last month through the South.

SJSU journalism students, junior high and high school students, community organizers, a community college student, retired educators, business people and leaders joined associate professor Michael Cheers for a "special learning opportunity" in which they had the chance to visit civil rights landmarks, museums and parks in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The exhibit will include quotes cued by interview questions asked by students such as "What would Dr. King think of the progress and setbacks over the past 50 years?" and "Was Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in vain?"

The event today is sponsored by Ujima Adult and Family Services Inc. in San Jose and the African American/Black Student Success Center at SJSU. The ceremony will take place in Room 225.

###SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

San Francisco Board of Supervisors today voted unanimously to name San Francisco International Airport's Terminal 1 after the city's first openly gay politician, the late Harvey Milk.

The legislation went to the full board for approval after the city's Board of Supervisors budget and finance committee voted last month to recommend it.

Milk was elected to the board in 1977 and assassinated the following year, along with Mayor George Moscone, at City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White. Milk was known as a pioneer for gay rights and also fought for migrant farm workers, low-income tenants, laborers and homeless youth.

"I can't tell you the depth of what this means not only to the LGBT community but also to its allies," Assemblyman Tom Ammiano said today at the board meeting.

"Rather than turn the community inward, he asked that we turn the community outward and look at other marginalized communities and embrace them and give them empathy, be angry with them and adopt their goals as well," Ammiano said of Milk.

Ammiano worked with Milk in 1978 to defeat the Briggs Initiative, a proposition that would have banned LGBTQ people from working in California public schools.

"He fought for progressive causes and tried to make the world a better place," said former Supervisor Harry Britt at today's meeting. Britt was appointed to the board in 1979 by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein to fill Milk's seat after his assassination.

"It was a great surprise as a gay man to see that it was possible," Britt said of Milk's accomplishments. "And it means a great deal to me, as it still does to lesbians, gay men and queers of various kinds all around the world, that we're still honoring him."

The terminal's naming has been a long time in the making, as former Supervisor David Campos first attempted it in 2013, however, that idea was abandoned in the face of opposition. Instead, Campos reached a compromise agreement to form a committee to recommend which of SFO's terminals or other facilities should be renamed.

In 2017, following a vote by the Airport Facilities Naming Advisory Committee in support of the renaming, Supervisor Hillary Ronen introduced new legislation to begin the process of renaming the terminal.

Also at today's Board of Supervisors meeting, supervisors unanimously voted on final approval for a ban on the sale of fur products citywide.

The ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Katy Tang, also received unanimous support in the first Board of Supervisors vote last month.

The ban will go into effect on Jan. 1 and San Francisco will join Berkeley and West Hollywood as the only U.S. cities to remove all fur clothing and accessories from shopping racks.

###

464-5985SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Two suspects broke into a woman's home Tuesday in San Francisco's Lakeside neighborhood and held her at gunpoint before taking her personal belongings, police said.

At about 4 p.m., officers responded to a report of a home invasion robbery in the 700 block of Junipero Serra Boulevard, according to police.

At the scene, officers learned that the pair entered the victim's house and pointed a gun at her. The suspects rummaged through the house and took cash, jewelry, tablets, a phone, a watch, a wallet and a purse, police said.

The suspect then fled in a vehicle. The victim, a 48-year-old woman, was unharmed.

One of the suspects was described as a man between 25 and 30 years old, according to police. A description of the other suspect and their vehicle was not immediately available.

###The woman who killed herself after shooting multiple people at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno on Tuesday afternoon had visited a local gun range earlier that day, the city's police chief said today.

Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound by officers who responded to a shooting reported at 12:46 p.m. at the popular video company's headquarters at 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno police Chief Ed Barberini said at a news conference this morning.

Three people at the campus were struck by the gunfire and were taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, while a fourth suffered an injured ankle while evacuating, Barberini said.

Of the three shooting victims -- two women ages 27 and 32 and a 36-year-old man -- the two women were discharged from the hospital Tuesday night while the male victim has been upgraded from critical to serious condition, hospital officials said this morning.

Barberini said investigators have determined Aghdam visited a local gun range earlier on Tuesday, but declined to identify the business.

He said officers at the scene recovered a Smith & Wesson 9mm semi-automatic handgun that was registered to Aghdam.

Investigators have processed the entire scene at the YouTube campus and are serving search warrants at two Southern California residences associated with the suspect.

Aghdam had been reported missing last week by her family in San Diego County but was spotted sleeping in her car in Mountain View around 1:40 a.m. Tuesday in a parking lot in the 600 block of Showers Drive, Mountain View police said in a statement this morning.

Police said Aghdam cooperated with officers during the encounter and said she had decided to leave her family's home "due to family issues," and had come to the Bay Area to look for her a job.

Mountain View police said that during the 20-minute encounter, she did not mention YouTube or any plans to harm herself or others, and was "calm and cooperative."

Mountain View police talked by phone with Aghdam's father and brother and the family confirmed there had been issues at home, but did not mention any potential threat or that she may have been in possession of any weapons.

Aghdam's father called back about an hour later to tell police that Aghdam had "made a series of vegan videos for her channel on YouTube and that the company had recently done something to her videos that had caused her to become upset," police said.

"He did not seem concerned that she was in the area, and wanted to simply let us know that may have been a reason for her move up here," police said.

Barberini, the San Bruno chief, confirmed that the shooting appeared to be related to Aghdam being upset over "policies and practices" regarding her YouTube account, but said the investigation is ongoing.

He said she did not appear to have any connection to any of the victims or other employees at the YouTube campus.

San Bruno Mayor Rico Medina said the city "is no stranger to a crisis," a reference to the deadly PG&E pipeline explosion in 2010, and thanked first responders and YouTube for their response to Tuesday's shooting.

"Our hearts and thoughts are still with the victims," Medina said. "No one goes to work thinking that this is what will happen to them."

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki wrote on Twitter later Tuesday, "There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter at YouTube."

"Our hearts go out to all those injured and impacted," Wojcicki said. "We will come together to heal as a family."

A 28-year-old man is in stable condition after being shot in Antioch on Tuesday night, according to police.

Officers responded at 9:31 p.m. to the 2200 block of L Street on a report of gunshots heard in the area.

They arrived to find the victim suffering from several gunshot wounds nearby in the 2100 block of Peppertree Way.

The suspect or suspects fled prior to the officers' arrival and remain at large today. No suspect description was immediately released by police.

Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to call Antioch police at (925) 778-2441, or can send a tip by text message to 274637 (CRIMES) using the keyword "ANTIOCH."

A 20-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries in a stabbing Tuesday night in San Francisco.

Around 9:45 p.m., officers responded to a report of a stabbing in the 800 block of Van Ness Avenue, police said.

Officers determined that a 23-year-old man stabbed the victim with a knife. The suspect, however, was not apprehended.

The victim was taken to a hospital, according to police.

Further details about the case were not immediately available from police.

Two suspects broke into a woman's home Tuesday in San Francisco's Lakeside neighborhood and held her at gunpoint before taking her personal belongings, police said.

At about 4 p.m., officers responded to a report of a home invasion robbery in the 700 block of Junipero Serra Boulevard, according to police.

At the scene, officers learned that the pair entered the victim's house and pointed a gun at her. The suspects rummaged through the house and took cash, jewelry, tablets, a phone, a watch, a wallet and a purse, police said.

The suspect then fled in a vehicle. The victim, a 48-year-old woman, was unharmed.

One of the suspects was described as a man between 25 and 30 years old, according to police. A description of the other suspect and their vehicle was not immediately available.

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of home invasion robbery and other crimes for allegedly taking items from two University of California at Berkeley students at gunpoint on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The two students were walking into an apartment building in the 2600 block of Regent Street at 12:32 p.m. Tuesday when two men who had been loitering nearby with a group of men approached them, according to police.

One of the two suspects took out a handgun and demanded the victims' property, police said.

The suspects fled south on Regent Street but officers flooded the area and within minutes and stopped three men who matched the descriptions provided by the victims, according to police.

One of the men was found in possession of a loaded, semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine as well as stolen property belonging to one of the victims, police said.

The suspects were identified by police as Enkhbilig Tingis, 20, of Berkeley, Purev Narmandakh, 21, of San Francisco, and Purevochir Munkhtur, 21, of Martinez.

The three men have been booked into the Berkeley City Jail on suspicion of home invasion robbery, conspiracy, possession of stolen property and several firearms-related offenses.

A vegetation fire closed Hecker Pass Highway in Gilroy in both directions for several hours on Tuesday due to a large tree limb falling on PG&E power lines, according to police.

The Gilroy Fire Department, along with multiple other agencies such as the San Jose Fire Department and the Morgan Hill Fire Department, worked near the 2200 block of Hecker Pass Highway in order to extinguish the fire that sparked around 2:40 p.m.

Gilroy police Sgt. Jason Smith said the other departments came in, as well as Cal Fire, for a mutual aid response while police helped PG&E establish a perimeter around the area.

The fire was declared controlled at 5:40 p.m. At that time, the area remained closed while PG&E worked on restoring power they had to cut for safety purposes.

At least 10 PG&E workers were on scene minutes after it was reported, spokeswoman Mayra Tostado said.

The tree limb had knocked out power to 592 customers, as well as setting fire to greenery. Tostado said that 500 customers had power by 5:27 p.m., but the 92 served by the specific power line that was disabled did not have power until 5:50 a.m. today.

Tostado said crews had left and reopened the highway in both directions by 4 to 4:30 a.m. today.

The highway was closed approximately a half-mile west of Santa Teresa Boulevard, police said. Smith said the fire burned about an acre.

Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith issued statements Tuesday evening after receiving criticism for a jail reform report she requested be commissioned that ended up not being heard by the county's Board of Supervisors.

Smith called the motion carried not to move the item to the meeting's consent calendar "unfortunate" and cited its author, former Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney in Idaho, as a national expert.

"Critics were quick to point out flaws in his report, yet Mr. Raney was not given the opportunity to describe the scope and process of his review in an open forum," Smith said in a statement.

That statement was released at 5:50 p.m., and another followed it at approximately 7 p.m., which addressed comments sheriff's candidate and former Undersheriff John Hirokawa made outside meeting chambers regarding recent allegations that Smith sexually assaulted a colleague early on in her career.

"I am highly offended by opportunists hiding under the guise of the #MeToo movement to make political points to aid my critics," Smith's second set of comments stated. "The most recent false allegations show that women, at any level, are not immune from sexist attacks even today."

Smith said that the allegations that she pulled interview tapes from an internal affairs investigation, hiding accusations that she had sexually harassed a male co-worker, were "determined to be false over 25 years ago by County Counsel through an independent and thorough investigation."

Smith said that she refuses to let the allegations distract her from her duties as sheriff.

Hirokawa and former Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell spoke out against the report done by GAR Inc. and called for Smith's resignation prior to the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning.

Cordell called the 66-page document "a convoluted puff piece" because it points out existing issues within the jail system in the county yet praises Smith and her staff for their work.

The report followed several reform efforts that resulted from the 2015 death of Santa Clara County jail inmate Michael Tyree at the hands of former guards Jereh Lubrin, Rafael Rodriguez and Matthew Farris.

In the wake of the death, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution establishing a Blue Ribbon Commission on Improving Custody Operations, which was chaired by Cordell. The commission worked to receive public recommendations, discuss an inmate welfare fund and interview the inmates themselves to gauge what could be done.

Hirokawa stated that he believed the survey conclusions that came from the commission two years after Tyree's death "somewhat critical."

The commission's survey called for a higher level of community involvement in regulation the jails moving forward, but the GAR report stated that wasn't necessarily appropriate.

Hirokawa was confused as to why the sheriff's office contracted the report instead of the county-associated commission.

"Why wouldn't you go back to the original, go back to the baseline that reported on how the inmates were feeling?" Hirokawa asked. "This is a propaganda piece for the re-election of Laurie Smith."

Bay Area universities and organizations are honoring the legacy of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated 50 years ago today in Memphis, Tennessee.

A noon rally in Berkeley will include students and faculty from University of California at Berkeley, City Council members, residents and local workers marching on Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way. The "Great Bear Bell" in the university clock tower will ring 12 times to mark the hour, then 50 times for King.

Oakland activists will gather at 1 p.m. in front of the Ronald Dellums Federal Building for a news conference and shared reading of King's 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence."

Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, former California Superintendent of Public Instruction Wilson Riles and Daniel Buford, director of the prophetic justice ministry at Allen Temple Baptist Church, will speak at the event.

At 3:45 p.m., San Jose State University community members will ring chimes in the library that carries King's name, say a community prayer and announce a new exhibition.

The exhibition will feature Civil Rights-era posters, banners and memorabilia, as well as student photography from an alternative spring break trip last month through the South.

UC Berkeley's alumni chorus will perform a spring concert at 7 p.m. in Hertz Hall for its "Voices of Change" program. General admission tickets are $20, senior tickets are $15 and students will be admitted for $10. The event will also feature speeches by local activists Carl Anthony and James Peterson.

The Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Foundation hosted a memorial this morning in the San Francisco City Hall rotunda.

U.S. Rep Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, traveled to Memphis today to speak at the official ceremony in MLK's place of death, the Lorraine Hotel. She also planned to speak at a union rally for the 50th anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike.

The San Francisco International Film Festival focuses in this, its 61st year, on Bay Area ethos and values -- diversity and inclusiveness, creativity, innovation, technology, global and health issues - explored through 183 films and diverse programs.

The festival opens today and runs through April 17, spanning seven San Francisco and two East Bay venues, and includes tributes, awards, mixed media programs and special guests.

Opening night at the Castro Theatre is "A Kid Like Jake," starring Claire Danes in a drama focusing on efforts of a young New York couple to deal with their 4-year-old's ambiguous gender proclivities.

Closing night is director Gus Van Zant's biopic of artist John Callahan's "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot," starring Joaquin Phoenix as the artist who overcame alcoholism and dealt with his quadriplegia through his darkly humorous cartoons.

"Sorry to Bother You," set in Oakland and directed by Oakland rapper Boots Riley, is a sci-fi satire about a black telemarketer who alters his voice. As the centerpiece film in the festival, it screens at the Castro and the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland.

Documentaries of interest include a portrait of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, titled "RBG," "Come Inside my Mind," about a Bay Area favorite, Robin Williams; a look at revolutionary humanist and children's television icon Fred Rogers; "Three Identical Strangers," the true story of triplets separated at birth who serendipitously reunite, only to discover secrets regarding their family; and "Half the Picture," in which women in the movie industry spotlight their absence from directorial positions in the industry.

Awards will be given this year to actor Charlize Theron (on Sunday), film writer and educator Annette Insdorf (April 14), filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (April 15), director Wayne Wang (Saturday) and short filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky (April 15). Director Gary Madden will deliver the annual State of Cinema address, discussing cinema as dreamscape.

Past festivals have been rich in musical programs, and this year promises to be no exception. Indie rock group Blonde Redhead performs its original score to acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu's 1932 silent film, "I Was Born, But..."

"A Thousand Thoughts" is director Sam Green's "live documentary" about the Kronos Quartet -- a mix of documentary footage, Green's narration and live music.

And Marc Cappelle's Red Room Orchestra will provide musical accompaniment to selections from Stephen Parr's Oddball Films collection.

In addition to the Castro and Grand Lake, films will be screened at San Francisco's Roxie and Victoria theaters, screening rooms at YBCA and SFMOMA, the Dolby Cinema and the Creativity Theater at the Children's Creativity Museum and BAMPFA in Berkeley.

###Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, who as dictator of Guatemala in the 1980s ordered fierce tactics to suppress a guerrilla insurgency and was later convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, died Sunday in Guatemala City. He was 91.

The cause was a heart attack, according to his lawyers, Jaime Hernandez and Luis Rosales. The general had dementia and had suffered lung and heart problems in recent years.

In the panoply of commanders who turned much of Central America into a killing field in the 1980s, Rios Montt was one of the most murderous. He was convicted in 2013 of trying to exterminate the Ixil ethnic group, a Mayan Indian community whose villages were wiped out by his forces.

A Guatemalan judge found that the general had known about the systematic massacres, in the hillside hamlets of the El Quiche department, and had done nothing to stop them or the aerial bombardment of refugees who had fled to the mountains.

The conviction, seen as a landmark in human rights law, was overturned shortly afterward. At his death he was being retried in absentia.

But the general was also a paradox. He began his political career as a reformer and became an evangelical preacher and teetotaler. Though reviled by many, he was a hero to others who believed his beans and bullets policy had helped keep Guatemala from falling under the power of Marxist-led guerrillas.

President Ronald Reagan was Rios Montts most prominent admirer. After meeting him in 1982, Reagan said the general was getting a bum rap on human rights.

I know that President Rios Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment, he said. I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and to promote social justice. My administration will do all it can to support his progressive efforts.

Jose Efrain Rios Montt was born on June 16, 1926, in the highland town of Huehuetenango. He joined the army as a young man and was trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas in the Panama Canal Zone.

Guatemala has long been under the shadow of U.S. influence. Leftist president Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown in a CIA-backed coup in 1954, an event in which Rios Montt, then a young junior military officer, played a minor role.

In 1970, he became army chief of staff, but lost his post as a result of political rivalries and was sent to Washington to join the faculty of the Inter-American Defense College.

Rios Montt returned to Guatemala in 1973. The next year he ran for president as the candidate of a coalition supported by the center-left Christian Democrats. He lost after what was widely seen as fraud directed by military commanders. He was then sent out of the country as military attache to Spain.

In the late 1970s, after returning to Guatemala, Rios Montt reinvented himself. He took a Dale Carnegie course in human relations, abandoned Roman Catholicism, became a preacher in the California-based Church of the Word, and struck up friendships with American evangelists, including Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

With his slicked-back hair, bushy mustache, charismatic speaking style and reputation for personal rectitude, Rios Montt built an enthusiastic following. On March 23, 1982, he and a handful of other officers staged a successful coup. He became head of a three-man junta.

By that time, leftist guerrillas had seized power in Nicaragua and were mounting strong campaigns in El Salvador and Guatemala. Determined to crush the Guatemalan insurgency, Rios Montt intensified the scorched-earth campaign that had been waged by his predecessor, Gen. Romeo Lucas Garcia. In his first five months in power, according to Amnesty International, soldiers killed more than 10,000 peasants.

Thousands more disappeared. Hundreds of thousands fled their homes, many seeking refuge across the border in Mexico. Nearly all victims were indigenous people of Mayan extraction.

Rios Montt liked to say that a true Christian carried the Bible in one hand and a rifle in the other.

If you are with us, we will feed you, he told Guatemalan peasants. If not, we will kill you.

Rival officers deposed Rios Montt in a coup on Aug. 8, 1983, after he had effectively ruled as dictator for 17 months. He remained a public figure, however, running for president in 1990 and 2003. Supporters portrayed him as incorruptible, and said he had brought a measure of peace to a country that was careening toward anarchy.

Rios Montt served several terms in Congress, which gave him immunity from prosecution. When his last term expired in 2012, he lost that immunity.

By then, advances toward civilian democracy in Guatemala had made it feasible to indict him. An exhaustive truth commission investigation provided much evidence. More came from the excavation of mass graves.

Rios Montts trial opened in January 2013. He and his former chief of intelligence were charged with responsibility for massacres in 15 Ixil Maya villages in which 1,771 unarmed men, women, and children were killed.

The general, who was then 86, protested his innocence.

I never did it, he testified at his trial. Of everything that has been said here, there has never been any evidence of my participation.

In pronouncing her verdict after a five-month trial, Judge Yasmin Barrios said she was completely convinced of Rios Montts guilt. She sentenced him to 80 years in prison.

Relatives of victims who packed the courtroom, many wearing colorful Maya clothing, erupted in cheers of Justice! and Yes, it was genocide! The generals co-defendant was acquitted.

For Guatemala, it broke ground that these people are no longer untouchable, Jo-Marie Burt, a Latin America expert at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, said of the trial. The Rios Montt trial was another example of Latin America leading the way in showing that it is possible to bring war criminals to trial and to bring some measure of reparation to the victims, and to rewrite the historical record so that its a more accurate reflection of what happened and who was responsible.

Rios Montt is survived by his wife, Maria Teresa; a son, Enrique, who served as army chief of staff but resigned after being charged with embezzlement; and a daughter, Zury, a former member of Congress who is married to a Republican former member of the U.S. Congress, Gerald C. Weller. Another son, Homero, a military doctor, was killed in 1982 when guerrillas shot down a helicopter in which he was traveling.

Consider the thousands of unarmed men, women and children killed by the army while he sermonized about morality, and he is a monster, wrote David Stoll, a professor of anthropology at Middlebury College in Vermont. Consider the hopes invested in him by many Guatemalans, including poverty-stricken Catholic peasants, and he becomes a hero of mythic proportions.Facebook said Tuesday that it had found and removed more than 270 accounts and pages controlled by Russias Internet Research Agency, the troll factory that became notorious for posting fraudulent and divisive material on the service ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Saying that most of the accounts and pages were in Russian, Facebook did not claim the accounts had violated the companys policies, but it said they had been taken down because of the Internet Research Agencys past fraud.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Reuters that the Russian company, which operates under several names, has repeatedly acted to deceive people and manipulate people around the world, and we dont want them on Facebook anywhere.

In a blog post, Facebooks chief security officer, Alex Stamos, said that uncovering this activity took months of work by our team. He said the company had taken down 70 accounts and 138 pages on Facebook and 65 accounts on Instagram, which Facebook owns.

Stamos said that more than 1 million people had followed the Facebook pages and that 493,000 had followed the Instagram accounts. He said the company would update a tool to allow Facebook and Instagram users to find out whether they had followed the pages and users.

The Menlo Park company also deleted $167,000 worth of ads purchased by the Russian-controlled pages.

The Internet Research Agency came to widespread attention with a profile in the New York Times Magazine in 2015 describing how its paid trolls posted false stories and inflammatory comments on various sites across the Internet.

In September, Facebook disclosed that it had discovered and taken down several hundreds fraudulent profiles and pages, most of them praising Donald Trump, denigrating Hillary Clinton or simply spreading inflammatory memes and comments on such divisive issues as race, immigration and guns.

In February, Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the election, indicted 13 Russians associated with the Internet Research Agency.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, who is on the House Intelligence Committee, said he is pleased that Facebook had made its actions public.Karim Kadim / Associated Press

BAGHDAD  Irans influence is looming large as Iraqis prepare to head to the polls for parliamentary elections in May, with many in the country worried that Tehran may be looking to strengthen its political grip on Baghdad through the ballot box.

Iranian support and military advisers helped Baghdads Shiite-led government beat back the Islamic State. But with Islamic State militants now largely defeated militarily, Irans expanding influence has emerged as one of Iraqs most divisive issues ahead of the balloting.1 New president: Sierra Leones election commission declared main opposition candidate Julius Maada Bio as the West African nations new president Wednesday, giving the opposition party its first presidency in 10 years. Bio won a runoff vote Saturday with 51.8 percent of votes cast, the commission said. The former military leader running for the Sierra Leone Peoples Party beat ruling party candidate Samura Kamara, who received 48.2 percent. More than 2.5 million people, or 81 percent of eligible registered voters, cast ballots. The winner will now lead efforts to continue rebuilding the country after the devastating 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic and a mudslide in August that killed some 1,000 people in the capital, Freetown.

2 Statue questions slavery: Two Danish artists unveiled a statue Wednesday of a black woman  a piece questioning the Nordic countrys colonial past in the Caribbean and its role in slavery  in the capital, Copenhagen. The nearly 23-feet tall sculpture, dubbed I am Queen Mary, is said to be the first statue of a black woman publicly displayed in Denmark. It depicts a black woman named Mary Thomas sitting in a chair, holding a torch in one hand and a cane cutter in the other in a reference to plantation slaves struggle for freedom. Thomas was a slave who led an uprising in the former Danish colony of St. Croix in 1878.ANKARA, Turkey  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that his military wont stop trying to oust Syrian Kurdish fighters from Syrias north, as he met with the leaders of Russia and Iran for talks on resolving the conflict.

The three countries, which have teamed up to work for a Syria settlement despite their differences, reaffirmed their commitment to Syrias territorial integrity and the continuation of local cease-fires. They called on the international community to provide more aid for war-ravaged Syria.

Erdogan, President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani were holding their second summit to discuss Syrias future since attending a similar meeting in Sochi, Russia, in November.

Erdogan said Turkish troops, which last month took control of the northwestern enclave of Afrin, would move eastward into Manbij and other areas controlled by the U.S.-backed Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey considers to be terrorists.

I say here once again that we will not stop until we have made safe all areas controlled by the (YPG), starting with Manbij, Erdogan said.

He stressed that Turkeys fight against the YPG would not distract from efforts to eliminate the remnants of Islamic State group from the country.

Erdogan said the Turkish and Russian militaries were discussing the possibility of establishing field hospitals in Syrias Tal Abyad town to take care of people injured in attacks in the Damascus eastern Ghouta suburb. He also spoke of plans to establish bakeries to help feed those in need.

Be it the Turkish armed forces, be it the Russian armed forces, (we) want to quickly establish a field hospital so that initial treatment can be provided, Erdogan said.

The three leaders summit meeting came as the U.S. said its military mission to eradicate the Islamic State in Syria was coming to a rapid end but offered no timetable for withdrawal. President Trump had said earlier that the primary U.S. mission was to defeat Islamic State and weve almost completed that task. He said Tuesday he wants to bring troops home to start rebuilding the U.S.

Trumps comments conflict with views of his top military advisers, some of who spoke at a separate event in Washington about the need to stay in Iraq and Syria to finish off the militant group, which once controlled large swaths of territory in both countries.Page Content

A staffing agency that placed a worker with a client company satisfied its own duty to provide meal periods and was not liable for the client's meal-period violations, the California Court of Appeal ruled. Even if an employer knows that employees are working through meal periods, that alone won't subject the employer to liability, nor is an employer required to police meal breaks, the court said.

Aerotek is a global staffing agency that places temporary employees with its clients. One of its client companies operates a food-production facility in South San Francisco. In September 2010, Aerotek entered into a contract under which it provided temporary employees to work at the client employer's facility. The contract stated that it was the client employer's responsibility to manage and supervise the work these employees were assigned to perform. Under the contract, it agreed to comply with federal, state and local laws that applied to the Aerotek employees' services.

Aerotek maintained an employee handbook with policies that applied to these temporary employees, including a requirement that hourly employees be given an uninterrupted 30-minute meal break after working five hours. The policy required that the meal break be free of work duties and that employees record the time they started and ended the break.

[SHRM members-only HR Q&A: What are the meal and rest break requirements for California employees?]

The client employer set the Aerotek employees' work schedules and managed their shifts and breaks. It had its own meal-period policy that applied to its employees but not to Aerotek's temporary workers.

Every Aerotek temporary employee who worked at the client's facility received the Aerotek employee handbook and went through an orientation, which took place at the client company and was conducted by Aerotek and the client's representatives.

Aerotek hired the plaintiff to work as a temporary hourly employee at the client employer from Sept. 10 to Oct. 4, 2012, and from Jan. 16 to April 30, 2013. Her time records show that on several days, she took her meal breaks more than five hours after starting work or, in a few instances, did not take a meal break at all. She never questioned anyone at the client employer about her breaks and did not claim that Aerotek prevented her from taking meal breaks within the first five hours of work.

The plaintiff filed a lawsuit alleging that Aerotek and the client employer failed to provide meal periods. Aerotek filed a motion for summary judgment, seeking to have the claim against it dismissed before trial. The trial court granted the motion, and the plaintiff appealed.

Meal-Period Requirements

As a nonexempt employee, the plaintiff was entitled to meal periods during the workday, the court first noted. A meal break must be provided after no more than five hours in a workday, according to the California Supreme Court's leading decision on the scope of an employer's duty to provide meal periods (Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 53 Cal. 4th 1004). If an employer violates these requirements, it must pay premium wages.

In Brinker, the court held that an employer satisfies its duty to provide meal periods "if it relieves its employees of all duty, relinquishes control over their activities and permits them a reasonable opportunity to take an uninterrupted 30-minute break, and does not impede or discourage them from doing so." An employer is not required, however, to police meal breaks to ensure that no work is performed. Even if an employer knew that employees were working through meal periods, that alone wouldn't subject the employer to liability for premium pay, the court found.

The trial court determined that Aerotek had provided the plaintiff with compliant meal periods, based on evidence that it adopted a lawful meal-period policy that the plaintiff repeatedly acknowledged receiving, and she admitted she was unaware of any Aerotek actions that prevented her from taking meal periods.

In addition, the trial court rejected the plaintiff's claim that Aerotek should have investigated potential violations that were revealed in the time records and found no support for her position that Aerotek had a duty to ensure that the client employer implemented Aerotek's policy. It also found no support for the plaintiff's claim that Aerotek was automatically liable for any failure by the client employer to provide meal periods.

The appeals court agreed with all of the trial court's conclusions and affirmed its decision dismissing the plaintiff's claim against Aerotek.

Serrano v. Aerotek Inc., Calif. Ct. App., No. A149187 (March 23, 2018).

Professional Pointer: The court dismissed the only claim against the staffing agency in this proceeding. The plaintiff could still prevail on her claim against the client employer if she could show that it prevented her from taking her meal breaks after the first five hours of work.

Joanne Deschenaux, J.D., is a freelance writer in Annapolis, Md.US space agency NASA has started to create a supersonic manned aircraft that may cause no eardrum-battering sonic boom.



It announced plans to grant a $247.5 million contract to Lockheed Martin, an American aerospace, and defense group to design and build a new plane, Xinhua news agency reported.



In this Low-Boom Flight Demonstration contract, Lockheed Martin is obliged to completing the design and fabrication of an experimental aircraft, known as an X-plane.



The plane is expected to cruise at an elevation of more than 16,700 meters, at a speed of more than 1,500 km per hour, but create a sound about as loud as a car door closing instead of a sonic boom, according to NASA.



Once NASA accepts the aircraft from its contractor in late 2021, the agency will perform additional flight tests to prove the quiet supersonic technology works as designed, aircraft performance is robust, and it's safe to operate in the country.



According to its plan, beginning in mid-2022, NASA will fly the X-plane over select US cities and collect data about community responses to the flights.



The agency said this dataset will be provided to US and international regulators for their use in considering new sound-based rules regarding supersonic flight over land, which could enable new commercial cargo and passenger markets in faster-than-sound air travel.



The X-plane's configuration will be based on a preliminary design developed by Lockheed Martin under a contract awarded in 2016. The proposed aircraft will be 28.65 meters long with a wingspan of nearly 9 meters, which have a fully-fuelled takeoff weight of about 14,650 kg.



The jet will be propelled by a single General Electric F414 engine, the powerplant used by F/A-18E/F fighters, according to NASA.



"This is probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. We're all pretty excited," said Jim Less, a primary NASA pilots who will fly the X-plane after Lockheed Martin's pilots have completed initial test flights.

Read more news:

US officials heading to India for trilateral meeting with Japan

How to Start a Website, a Guide for Novices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!National unions will hit the streets to stage a series of marches and mass meetings around the country from April 17.

The ACTU will start with a mass meeting outside Melbourne's Town Hall in Swanston St on April 17.

Other events will be organised in cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Townsville, Rockhampton, Fremantle, Darwin and Townsville.

The rallies will coincide with May Day celebrations and were endorsed at an ACTU executive meeting on Wednesday.

The executive resolved to 12 days of community action as part of its national campaign to change industrial relations rules.Two days after his four-year anniversary at the National Broadband Network, chief executive Bill Morrow has called it quits from one of the hardest jobs in telecommunications.

Departing NBN boss Bill Morrow. Credit:Sasha Woolley

In an email to staff, Mr Morrow said it was with a heavy heart he was leaving the NBN to pursue the next chapter of his career. Its understood he has not yet lined up another role and will remain at the NBN Co until the end of the year.

The NBN board will now spend the next nine months finding a new chief executive. The leaving date means Mr Morrow will finish up at the NBN Co shy of the completion of the network.

He has continually promised the network's roll out remains on track for 2020 despite late-2017 delays in activating customers on hybrid fibre coaxial cable connections.State of Emergency

Navid Kermani; trans., Tony Crawford

State of Emergency. By Navid Kermani.

Polity $32.40

You could call this a kind of dark travelogue, as German-born writer Navid Kermani takes us through some of the most treacherous, war-torn places on earth, creating vivid pictures of daily life there. In the Kashmir city of Srinagar when he walks back to his houseboat at night the tension is palpable. Likewise when taking the highway into Baghdad, his driver speeding at about 160 kilometres an hour, with the city war weary and worn out, under "a fog of melancholy". But there's light in the dark, especially when he visits the Sufis of Pakistan and sees the frenzied splendour of wandering dervishes "like ageing hippies". His journey takes in Afghanistan, Tehran and Syria before finishing at a refugee camp on Lampedusa; it could be relentlessly grim, but Kermani is a superb writer with an unaffected poetic touch.HAVE YOU SEEN THE LISTERS? 

(M) 88 minutes

If he doesn't burn out first, Anthony Lister might turn out to be the great and lasting Australian contemporary artist he wants to be. Or he might just embody the worst aspects of contemporary art in one sinuous, underfed frame - the artist who turns notoriety into a purpose, his pictures attracting attention because of his latest arrest or visit to rehab, an unmade bed that says very little. I'm guessing that's his nightmare.

It's hard to tell which is more likely from Eddie Martin's documentary. The film is highly revealing, but perhaps a little too reverent and personal. Lister has granted him extraordinary access to private material about his own wife and children  but those kids are still fairly young, too young perhaps to offer meaningful consent.

That pushes the film into darker waters, to do with privacy, although Martin is too experienced to be unaware of these shoals. We don't know what he left out, for instance. He made the Lionel Rose documentary, Lionel, and the superbly revealing (and equally personal) All This Mayhem, about two skateboarding brothers embroiled in drugs.The gigs, the pair's first in Australia, are part of a short jaunt ahead of a "more extensive" tour later on, Lee noted in a video post on Wednesday.

The duo, who go by the name Radnor & Lee, will be performing at Brisbane's The Triffid on May 17, Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre on May 19 and Sydney's Metro Theatre on May 20.

Sydney's own prodigal songwriter Ben Lee will return to Australia for a series of gigs with How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor.

The unlikely friends formed the band two-and-a-half years ago, and released their self-titled debut album in November, ahead of gigs in the US and South America earlier this year.

Radnor, an actor and director best known to TV fans as HIMYM's jittery architect Ted Mosby, and Lee first met on the set of the sitcom more than 12 years ago.

"[Ben] came by because they were going to use a song of his on the show, and it didn't end up happening. But we really connected and stayed friends," Radnor told Today on Wednesday.

He also discussed the odd collaboration on US TV last month with confessed Grandpaw Would fan Jimmy Fallon.

"We got together, wrote a song, it went well. We got together the next week, did another song. [Ben] said, 'Let's make a record/' And suddenly, we have a band, which is insane," said Radnor, who currently stars in the musical drama Rise.Given the right material, the BAFTA-winning actress has a gift for making the ordinary extraordinary. She brings a compelling blend of rawness and complexity to her roles, investing her characters with strength and vulnerability. She's captivating as a woman under pressure: getting exasperated, sometimes making rash decisions, prone to eruptions of temper and blasts of wry humour, mustering the resolve to battle on.

Anyone who's seen Sarah Lancashire's performances in Sally Wainwright's Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax knows that her presence in a cast is sufficient reason to tune in to a series.

When we meet her as Miriam Grayson in Kiri, a four-part drama made for Channel 4, she's a social worker with 30 years experience. She knows her department, her territory and her clients well, and she's briskly going about her business.

As she does this  visiting her office, checking in with her boss (Claire Rushbrook), dropping in on clients who might appreciate a food package, appearing in court  she's frequently accompanied by her ageing, ailing dog, Jesse, and carrying a trusty hip flask, whose boozy contents are regularly imbibed, starting with a generous slosh in her morning cuppa.

Miriam will impatiently bat away questions that she deems to be irrelevant or misguided and react to attitudes that she finds objectionable with a brusque retort. She creates the impression of a woman confident in her views who's not to be messed with. She's devoted to her dog and her job, and she has a prickly relationship with her ageing mother (Sue Johnston).

On the morning we meet Miriam, she's also taking nine-year-old Kiri Akindele (Felicia Mukasa) for her first unsupervised visit with her biological grandparents, Tobi (Lucian Msamati) and Rochelle (Andi Osho). Kiri, who has Nigerian heritage, has spent five years with a white foster family, Jim (Steven Mackintosh) and Alice (Lia Williams) Walker and their son, Si (Finn Bennett), and the Walkers are preparing to adopt her. But before that process gets underway, Miriam believes the child needs and deserves to know something about her heritage, and the Walkers hesitantly agree to the visit. It does not go as planned and, by the end of the first episode, the circumstances surrounding a tragedy look pretty clear.

But from there, Kiri starts to develop in unexpected ways, detailing the workings and the histories of two troubled families. Submerged secrets and hostilities emerge as detective inspector Vanessa Mercer (Wunmi Mosaku) politely but pointedly pursues her investigation.SBS Viceland, 9.30pm

Sometimes a film comes along that divides audiences into lovers and haters, and it quickly becomes apparent that some people will stop talking to you if you don't bow before the movie's greatness. Such is the case with Yorgos Lanthimos' The Lobster, which Wikipedia describes as an "absurdist dystopian black comedy". It is about people staying in a beachside hotel who have 45 days to copulate or become an animal. It is a visually striking film, but (to me) incoherently structured. Don't ask fans what it means. As with 1970s hippies, their eyes tend to glaze over and they say, "meaning isn't everything". True, but I knew Nicole Kidman (who has great instincts for the new, such as Birth) would soon be in a Lanthimos film (and she is: The Killing of a Sacred Deer). Millennials I love dearly think The Lobster is the best film ever made. I bow to their passion, but otherwise I can't side with them on this.

Scott Murray

Family Guy

7Mate, 9.30pmAustralian consumers face higher than average out-of-pocket costs and this translates into people often avoiding visiting a GP, failing to fill scripts and not acting on a specialist referral due to cost," Leanne Wells, CEO of CHF, said. Consumers Health Forum CEO Leanne Wells. Credit:Dean Sewell The expense is made all the more difficult by the uncertainty and complexity of the relationship between treatment and costs with varying levels of cover, or no cover, provided by health funds and by Medicare." The report urges doctors to make their fees publicly available, but Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Michael Gannon said the situation was complex and providing the information would be "utterly meaningless". He said the biggest contributor to the growth of out-of-pocket costs in the past five years was the freeze on Medicare rebates, which led to insurers freezing their no gap schedules.

"When it comes to something like breast cancer there should be no reason for a delay getting absolute best practice multidisciplinary care within the public system, so privately insured patients are entitled to think that any out-of-pocket costs would be nominal, and that [breast cancer-related] finding is of concern to me," Mr Gannon said. In regards to insurers, CHF said there needed to be more promotion of no gap providers and assurances of no hidden costs, as well as strengthening of informed financial consent procedures. Rachel David, CEO of industry body Private Healthcare Australia (PHA), said the two treatment areas singled out - cancer and autoimmune disease - were largely treated as out-patients or specialist consultations and legislation prevented health funds from covering the gap for these. "Until this is addressed by the government, the problem is with the Medicare Benefits Schedule and what doctors charge, rather than the funds," she said.

"For in-hospital treatment for which health insurance is able to pay, most patients receive no or known gap services. We need to work co-operatively with government, doctors and providers." Both PHA and the Australian Private Hospitals Association pointed out problems with the methodology, saying it was based on "solicited complaints" and did not break down the costs to show where each component came from. Loading Alison Verhoeven, CEO of Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, said the large out-of-pocket amounts weren't surprising because a person may need to see multiple providers. "It can be difficult for people to negotiate fees with their doctors, particularly when they are very unwell and with the limited information currently available about what might be a reasonable fee," she said.

"There are often unexpected fees too, for example, when additional services are ordered or a recommended service isnt covered by Medicare." The CHF report also found that many respondents believed a patient would be exposed to more costs if they used their private health insurance. One-third of the respondents said the costs were not explained to them before treatment. Choices CEO Alan Kirkland said he wanted to see a more transparent private health system in which consumers were given clear information at the right time, not when it is convenient for specialists, hospitals or health insurers. Average prices for common procedures such as knee replacement surgery, gall bladder and colonoscopy should be publicly available, he said. People should be able to find out as early as possible whether the specialist is likely to charge them an out-of-pocket cost so they have the opportunity to ask their GP for other options."

The CHF report said rural and regional travel benefits needed to be improved with the reforms announced in October 2017 being adopted by all funds. Loading Mark Diamond, CEO of the National Rural Health Alliance, said Australians in rural areas generally paid more in out-of-pocket costs and fewer GP visits in rural areas were bulk billed. Services in the country can cost considerably more than in cities, he said. And costs really blow out when you add travel and accommodation to the out of pocket bill to access adequate medical care. In response to the breast cancer finding, Breast Cancer Network Australia CEO Kirsten Pilatti said their own research showed women with private health insurance typically paid around double the out-of-pocket costs of those who did not hold private health insurance.Two ACT childcare providers have had their taxpayer subsidies suspended since July last year for breaking territory or national laws.

A federal government-run register of dodgy childcare providers showed Almighty God Blessing Family Day Care in Belconnen and Jubba Family Day Care in Dickson were slapped with immediate funding suspensions in July and October respectively for "non-compliance with state or Commonwealth [laws]".

Two Canberra family day care providers have had their funding suspended since July last year. Credit:Peter Braig

Phone numbers listed for each service were disconnected when The Canberra Times called on Wednesday and neither appeared in a national register of approved providers.

The two services - among 53 throughout Australia who had their subsidies suspended or cancelled between July and December 2017 - were named and shamed on the federal government's Child Care Enforcement Action Register, updated Tuesday.Almost half the homes destroyed by last month's Tathra bushfires contained asbestos, but authorities say the town is safe and there is no risk to residents.

Bega Valley Shire Council waste services manager Toby Browne said 30 of the 68 homes razed by the fires, which began on March 18, contained asbestos.

A police officer takes photos of the aftermath of the Tathra bushfires, which destroyed 68 homes. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Browne said he expected up to 6000 tonnes of fire-damaged asbestos waste would be removed from the New South Wales seaside town in the coming weeks.

When work begins on Monday, waste will be taken to Eden Waste Depot on the NSW far south coast. The tip will be closed to the public for up to four months.The Turnbull Government's obsession with keeping Liddell Power Station going at almost any cost sends mixed messages about its allegedly source-agnostic energy policy.

While high profile back bencher, Tony Abbott, has repeatedly questioned Mr Turnbull's claims to be indifferent to where power comes from, citing Snowy 2.0 as proof he is in the renewables camp, the push to force the sale of Liddell to anybody willing to keep it going suggests the opposite.

While the Coalition has repeatedly said it has no intention of using taxpayer dollars to subsidise either the overhaul or the future operation of Liddell, these assurances need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Given its current owners, AGL, don't think a life-extension beyond 2022 is economically viable, it would be a brave operator who took the plant on without a guarantee of contingency funding from the public purse.When Luke Dunn stopped by the McDonald's drive-through in Braddon on Thursday night, he was only after one thing - a milk snake.

The Canberra snake catcher had been called out by a staff member who spotted the bright red, black and yellow reptile (that's milk snake not milkshake) lurking under the franchise's bins.

Snake handlers Emma Carlston and Luke Dunn with the exotic milk snake they captured from McDonald's Braddon on Thursday. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

Milk snakes are native to the Americas and illegal in Australia, but a common pet in the US. They are also alarmingly similar in colour to the venomous coral snake so Mr Dunn wasn't taking any chances.

"It was dark, I didn't know what I was dealing with, I just threw it in the bag and got it home," he said.The pet dog that killed its owner, Tania Klemke, in her Canberra home last year had its ear severed by a machete in what ACT Policing say was a violent home invasion seven months earlier.

Ms Klemke was mauled to death in October 2017. Police were forced to shoot the animal after it attacked them when they attempted first aid on Ms Klemke.

A photo of Tania Klemke posted by her son Cody in 2013. Credit:Facebook/cody.klemke

On Wednesday, ACT Policing said two men wearing balaclavas burst into the home on Molesworth Street in Watson on March 17, 2017, and threatened the occupants.

ACT criminal investigations manager Harry Hains said the two men had not been acting alone.The shock and panic came the following day, in Melbourne, when Costello announced he was exiting politics to spend more time with his family and pursue business opportunities. But, just over a decade later, could a comeback be on the cards?

For 11 years, Australia had been served by one prime minister, and one treasurer. For all the friction between them, Howard and Peter Costello had delivered political and economic stability through tumultuous times. The party was in sound health, knew what it stood for, and was well placed to regroup quickly. Howard kick-started that process at the Wentworth by anointing Costello as his successor.

On election night in 2007, as John Howard stood up in Sydney's Wentworth Hotel conceding the defeat of his government and the loss of his seat, there was obvious disappointment among the Liberal Party faithful. But there was no sense of panic or shock.

For the conservative side of politics, the cost of Costello's departure turned out to be massive. As the global financial crisis shook the world economy in the months following the election, Costello's credibility in economic management, which would have given the Opposition a potent advantage, was missing in action.

It got worse for the Liberals. As the Labor government began to unravel from the top, who would have been better placed to exploit this situation than Costello, whose sharp wit and cut-through rhetoric had dominated the House of Representatives for a decade?

Alternative histories are, by definition, fake news. Yet it is hard to imagine a Costello-led Coalition would not have come roaring back into office against Julia Gillard's dispirited Labor in 2010.

Last November, Peter Van Onselen wrote a cheeky piece in The Australian suggesting the Liberal Party should draft Howard back into the federal leadership. It was fanciful of course. Howard will be 79 this year and has nothing left to prove in politics.

Costello, who turned 60 last year, most definitely does. While he never challenged Howard for the leadership, he was poised to accept it just two months before the 2007 election, when a delegation of senior ministers told Howard he should consider his position. The election loss was a vindication of Costello's stance, but a negative one.The Sydney Royal Easter Show's return to a greater agricultural focus was successful, with 777,945 people attending the 12-day show at Homebush, said the show's general manager Murray Wilton.

The show is the biggest celebration of the country coming to the city in Australia, and with huge crowds in a year where Easter and school holidays didnt line up, we couldnt be happier, said Mr Wilton, the RAS General Manager Agriculture and Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Showgoers this year told us they really enjoyed the focus on agriculture mixed with the circus theme, he said.

Bull rider Jason O'Hearn competes in the show's Royal Rodeo Series. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Last year's longer show of 14 days attracted 922,827 visitors, and coincided with school holidays and perfect weather, which past annual reports show boost attendance.A mentally-ill Korean sex offender will serve at least one year in jail for each of the four women he attacked on the streets of Sydney's CBD before he gets deported.

Yongseok Ji pleaded guilty to nine counts of indecent assault, two counts of common assault and one count of sexual intercourse without consent over the attacks that occurred between January and July 2015.

The 27-year-old kitchen hand cried in the dock with his head bowed as he was sentenced in the NSW District Court on Wednesday to a maximum 8 years in prison.

Judge Helen Syme said Ji, who likely suffers schizophrenia, is expected to be deported when his four-year non-parole period expires mid-2019.

Since November 2014, Ji had been living in Australia unlawfully on an expired visa and was taken to Villawood Detention Centre in June 2015.A rare portrait of Toulgra, an Aboriginal youth suspected of being involved in resistance against early settlers on the Hawkesbury River. It was purchased by the State Library of NSW. Credit:Steven Siewert

A pencil drawing of a 14- or 15-year-old Aboriginal teenager named Toulgra, who was later sent to Norfolk Island on suspicion of being involved in colonial wars during the "secret river" days of the early colony, has been acquired by the State Library of NSW for $237,000.

The 1802 drawing by French artist Nicolas-Martin Petit, an artist on Nicolas Baudins expedition to Australia, is considered unique and highly significant, said library staff. It was found between the pages of a book in Bath, Britain.

Compared to other Indigenous portraits of the time, the pencil drawing is neither cartoonish nor heroic. What made it so "wonderful and special" was that it was "loving and sympathetic", said Ronald Briggs, a curator at the State Library of NSW and an Indigenous services librarian.

He said Toulgra received a "warm welcome back to country" when the portrait arrived in Australia.Salim Mehajer will spend his first night out of custody since January, after $200,000 was posted to secure his bail from Silverwater jail.

The disgraced former deputy mayor of the now defunct Auburn council, who last month claimed he did "not deserve" to be behind bars, left the jail about 5.30pm on Wednesday.

Salim Mehajer leaves Silverwater on Wednesday evening. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Mehajer walked out of jail wearing a suit, hugging his father Mohamed Mehajer, lawyer Zali Burrows and friend Samir Bargshoon before getting into a waiting Mercedes.

The 31-year-old property developer has been in prison since January 24 after he was charged with perverting the course of justice and conspiring to cheat or defraud over an allegedly staged car crash in October last year. The incident occured while he was on his way to face separate assault charges in court.Brisbane City Council lord mayor Graham Quirk has been accused of turning his back on local manufacturers after he handed jobs created by the new $7.5 million New Farm ferry terminal to China.

In October 2017, the council announced the terminal would be upgraded to improve accessibility and boost capacity as part of the councils $52 million upgrade program to terminals along the Brisbane River.

An artist's impression of the upgraded New Farm Park ferry terminal Credit:Brisbane City Council

At the time councils public and active transport chairman Adrian Schrinner said the terminal would be a larger dual-berth terminal and have a new gangway and pontoon.

It has now been revealed the manufacturing of the pontoon and gangway has been done in China and ratepayers would payor a senior council employee to travel to China up to four times to inspect the works.Samantha had her appendix and gallbladder removed before doctors discovered the cause of her pain. Credit:Jason South

It was not until the 31-year-old finally underwent a laparoscopy, about two years after her initial emergency department visit, that she was diagnosed with endometriosis. Such is the difficulty in identifying the disorder.

But the surgeries could have been unnecessary.

Her gallbladder was next to go, following another hospital admission.

Searching for the cause of Samantha Styles excruciating pain, doctors removed her appendix.

Samantha is now one of number of younger women choosing to undergo drastic treatments to alleviate the symptoms of endometriosis, which sees the tissue that usually lines the uterus spread to other parts of the body, and can cause infertility.

In Samanthas case, she is now taking a drug that effectively puts her into an early (but reversible) menopause.

While many women might want to avoid menopause and its difficult symptoms altogether, for Samantha it has been the lesser of two evils.

She describes the pain of endometriosis as "like someone carving out your insides like a pumpkin".

"And there are other times it feels like someone is stabbing you in the back and your pelvis and your thighs."A man has fronted court in a wheelchair and pleaded guilty to killing a woman and her teenage daughter in a horror crash outside a school in Cranbourne East last year.

Thomas Charles Adamson, 27, may have been more than three times the legal blood alcohol limit when he crashed into Ma Li Dai, 44, and her daughter Xinyu Yuan, 14, outside Lighthouse Christian College on August 9.

Thomas Adamson has pleaded guilty. Credit:Jason South

Ms Dai and her daughter were in their Toyota and pulling out of the school's car park after a parent-teacher night when Adamson's Holden Commodore smashed into their car about 7.20pm.

Police previously alleged Adamson had a blood alcohol reading of between 0.12 and 0.165 at the time. Police said in the days after the crash he had been involved in a dispute with someone he knew at a pub before the crash and was seen driving erratically.A hostage and two police officers who shot a man during a siege in Perth almost three years ago, leaving him a paraplegic, have been awarded a total of almost $57,000 in compensation.

The normally peaceful Mosman Park street was thrown into chaos by the siege. Credit:Emma Young

Daniel John Ashley burst into the Mosman Park property in June 2015, armed with weapons including a replica gun and a baton, taking his ex-girlfriend and four other people hostage before police shot him in the torso and face.

Daniel Ashley pleaded guilty to a number of offences relating to the 2015 siege. Credit:Facebook

Criminal Injuries Compensation chief assessor Helen Porter said the officers and one of the hostages thought they were going to die and suffered psychological effects, including nightmares and anxiety.Partial protection doesn't work. Any sex education teacher could tell you that. Prof Meeuwig said the previous Labor federal government had in 2012 completed marine parks plans that the scientific community, oil and gas sector, commercial fishing industry and recreational fishing community had all eventually agreed they could live with. The plan was going through the Senate when former prime minister Tony Abbott won government and suspended them, beginning yet another review that ended in a redraft, that led to the current tabled plans. The scientific review took over three years and the recommendations further eroded the already marginal 2012 plans, Prof Meeuwig said. The tabled plans have gone even further, completely ignoring the review and throwing the baby out with the bathwater. They are no longer acceptable. And WA has had some diabolical rollbacks.

While Ningaloo Reef itself is protected under WA state law, the Gascoyne marine park west of Ningaloo would have the protections proposed in the 2012 plan reduced by 73 per cent, with a large area to remain open to recreational fishing. It would also be open to applications for commercial fishing including trawling, and oil and gas exploration and mining. Mermaid Reef marine reserve, off Broome, is a ring-shaped reef encircling a shallow lagoon full of diverse corals and marine life. The WA government describes it as an aquarium in the middle of the ocean, with some of the best diving in Australia. Cuddles the potato cod at Mermaid Reef off Broome. Credit:Annabelle Sandes. Designated a sanctuary zone (pink) in the 2012 plan, the new plan downgrades it to a National Park (green), with recreational boating and commercial shipping allowed to transit through, and the pumping out and refilling of ballast tanks and the disposal of certain kinds of boating waste in the area also allowed.

Also in the north-west, the Argo-Rowley Terrace Marine Park had the area designated as National Park in the 2012 plan reduced in size by 45 per cent, with the rest open to all extractive activities, including trawling. The 2012 plans for Perth Canyon Marine Park, just off Two Rocks (as seen in the video above), had also been severely affected, Prof Meeuwig said. The National Park protection drafted in for the canyon head, a biodiversity hotspot, was moved further offshore so the vital area was now open to fishing and boating. Geographe marine park, off Geographe Bay, now only had marginal protection with one tiny square of National Park, less than 2 per cent, amid much larger regions of recreational fishing, boating and potentially commercial fishing. Bremer Marine Park, off Bremer Bay, had 2012 National Park designations moved far offshore, out of sight and out of mind, Prof Meeuwig said. The release of the draft plans in late 2017 prompted a public statement signed by renowned conservationist David Suzuki and more than 1400 other scientists across the world describing Australian waters as a global asset. The letter said the scientific community was deeply concerned about the future of the Australian Marine Parks Network and the apparent abandoning of science-based policy by the Australian Government.

Profesor Meeuwig said the plans, if the Greens disallowance failed, would in principle be locked in for 10 years and raise questions about Australia's investment in its 'blue economy'. Loading If the disallowances succeeded it would mean an opportunity to get it right, and build on more than a decade od public consultations, and decades of research already undertaken. If Australia wants to lead on ocean protection we need to do it in an evidence based way and that means proper protections, she said. If these plans get through it means the government can basically tick a box, saying weve put protections in place. We havent; this isnt good enough. Lets get it right.

Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said West Australians could be proud of the governments marine park management plans, which balanced conservation with certainty for those who made their living from oceans. Weve introduced new national park zones to provide additional protection for the World Heritage listed Ningaloo and to adjoin Geographe Bay with an existing marine park zone in state waters," he said. He said Mermaid Reef was still 100 per cent zoned National Park (green) and, for Bremer, the green zone was extended significantly from what was proposed in 2012 to include Bremer Canyon, home to spectacular aggregations of marine animals. Importantly, weve also made more areas open to commercial fishing which means less economic impact on our ports  for Fremantle, the impact is reduced by 61 per cent, for Albany, 40 per cent," he said. Previous statements by Mr Frydenberg said the government's support for the fishing industry in these plans had been warmly welcomed by tuna, prawn and other seafood producers around Australia.Coles Inglewood, and Woolworths in Singleton, South Fremantle and Cottesloe will be among 16 supermarkets across Australia to bring forward a deadline to get rid of disposable plastic bags.

The three Woolworths will stop from Wednesday and Inglewood Coles from April 30, as part of an early roll-out across Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

Plastic bag litter by Perth's Swan River. Credit:Emma Young

The move will bring supermarkets in these states into line with Tasmania, South Australia, Canberra and the Northern Territory which are already subject to bans.

The rest of Woolworths WA supermarkets and other businesses will follow from June 20 and Coles supermarkets and other businesses from July 1.Political lobbying can be high-profile or less prominent. Last Wednesday I was in the Senate Courtyard as part of the supporting cast in a lower-profile activity. Hands Off Our Charities (HOOC), representing more than 160 non-government organisations across the social and political spectrum, is campaigning against proposed federal government legislation which will have the effect not just of weakening their voice in public debates but also undermining their core strength.

The laws set out to prevent foreign donations to Australian entities which participate in public debate, but they vastly over-reach. One consequence is that anyone who donates $250 or more in any year to an NGO which makes public comment must sign a statutory declaration to swear that they are an Australian citizen. The not-so-hidden agenda behind the move has been to hobble left-activist social-media lobby group GetUp! In 2016 the government post-election analysis once again focussed on GetUp! to help explain its disappointing performance.

Hands Off Our Charities (HOOC), representing more than 160 Nnon-Ggovernment Oorganisations across the social and political spectrum, is campaigning against proposed federal government legislation. Credit:Andrew Quilty

The membership of HOOC includes a broad range of social and economic NGOs on the centre-left of the spectrum, including peak bodies like the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and the Australian Council for International Development as well as the Australian branches of international organisations like Oxfam, Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, Save the Children, Amnesty International and CARE. It also includes the Uniting Church in Australia, Anglicare and Caritas Australia, the Catholic Church's international aid and development agency.

This sausage sizzle event, chaired by the Caritas CEO, brought together leaders of ACOSS, Amnesty International and Farmers for Climate Change to present a submission to three parliamentarians, Andrew Leigh, Rachel Siewert and Rex Patrick representing Labor, the Greens and the NXT respectively. Should each of these parties vote against the legislation they would be just short of a Senate majority to block the legislation.One in seven new jobs created last year was in Canberra's tourism industry, with employment in the sector growing twice as fast as other industries.

Around 17,000 people now work in tourism industries, the latest Tourism Research Australia figures show, with an extra 1100 roles created last year alone.

Capital Brewing Co. opened last year and now employs 30 people. Pictured is Capital Brewing Co., venue manager Fergus Lynch and marketing manager Sam Kennedy-Hine. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

That's an increase of 7.1 per cent on the previous year, compared to general employment growth of 3.1 per cent.

Tourism now contributes 2.9 per cent of the ACT's gross state product, up 0.1 per cent on 2015-16 figures, and brought $2.3 billion into the territory's economy last financial year.Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer has opened up the possibility of extending the freeze on compulsory superannuation contributions, saying ending it would dent wage rises.

Employers contributions were set at 9 per cent of each workers wage in 2002. In 2013 the Gillard government began a seven-year program of gradual increases to lift the rate to 12 per cent by 2019.

In its first budget, the Coalition froze the rate at 9.5 per cent, and later extended the freeze until 2021.

Labor is understood to be considering bringing the date forward so that the contribution rate would begin climbing again in 2019.The descendants of Sir John Monash have issued a blistering statement asking a rebel group of climate sceptic government MPs to stop using the Australian war-hero's name to push for "horse-and-buggy era" policies.

Seven of Sir John's descendants blasted the group, which includes former prime minister Tony Abbott, Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen and Liberals Eric Abetz, Kevin Andrews, Craig Kelly for using the Monash name without first checking.

Sir John Monash turned Victoria's Latrobe Valley into an electrical powerhouse.

The group is calling itself The Monash Forum and is pushing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to spend more on coal; either through propping up ageing coal-fired power plants or building new ones.

A two-page document, featuring John Monash's photograph, urged coalition MPs to join the group and said the organisation is in "honour" of Sir John's role in turning Victoria's Latrobe Valley into an "electrical powerhouse". He established the Yallourn Power Station and opened up the area's brown-coal fields during his tenure as chairman and general manager of the then newly-created State Electricity Commission of Victoria.Since then, moneys been rolling in. At first in a trickle (the December budget update lifted the 2017-18 revenue estimate $3.6 billion) and then a flood. By the end of February the government had taken in $5.5 billion more than it had expected in predictions made just three months earlier .

His budget pencilled in a wafer-thin surplus of $7.4 billion in 2020-21. Without the Medicare levy increase, it would have been even less: a "rounding error" surplus of $3.15 billion, a mere fraction of a per cent of GDP.

Just quietly, the budget is in an excellent position to deliver tax cuts. A year ago, it wouldnt have been thought possible. Certainly the Treasurer Scott Morrison didnt think it was possible. He used the May budget to announce a tax increase (a hike in the Medicare Levy) without which he wouldnt have been able to credibly continue to promise a surplus by the end of the decade.

Its an astounding $3 billion ahead on company tax. Its the suddenness of the jump thats important. When China began pushing up coal and iron ore prices in 2016 tax collections barely moved. Mining companies used their losses to cut their tax bills. The belated jump in tax payments suggests theyve been used up. From here on, tax payments should climb with profits.

The government is $1 billion ahead on income tax. Thats $1 billion ahead of what it expected just three months ago. Remember that proud boast of a record 420,700 jobs created in the past year? Most of those extra jobs were unexpected. The budget predicted jobs growth of 1.5 per cent. The economy has delivered growth of 3.3 per cent. Most of the newly hired workers are full-time and paying serious tax.

Treasurer Scott Morrison's budget fortunes are rapidly improving. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

So big has been the jump in revenue that in two months so far this financial year, November and February, the budget has been in surplus. In those months the government took in more revenue than it paid out, something it hasnt done for a decade.

The question facing the Treasury in the lead-up to next months May budget is how much of that boost in revenue is permanent. How much of it can be baked into predictions of future income as guaranteed, and able to be given away in tax cuts, should the government want to do that instead of strengthening the projected surplus.A deputy principal of a Melbourne Catholic secondary school has been charged with child porn offences following raids across Melbourne that allegedly uncovered abuse material featuring victims as young as newborns.

The man appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week charged with a string of offences including accessing child abuse material and knowingly possessing material.

Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton Credit:Jason South

Police confirmed on Wednesday that a 48-year-old man from Richmond who had been charged after recent raids had appeared in court last week and was due to appear again on July 6.

It is understood that he has been handed an interim suspension from teaching by the Victorian Institute of Teaching.One of the frontrunners to replace Robert Doyle as Melbournes lord mayor has proposed placing lockers for homeless people around the city centre to avoid their possessions being confiscated.

Sally Capp, one of five confirmed candidates for May's Town Hall by-election, also wants to build four housing units modelled on another successful CBD centre, which combines small apartments for the homeless with support services.

Sally Capp, second from left, on Flinders Street on Wednesday talking with the Salvation Army's Brendan Nottle. Credit:Eddie Jim

Ms Capp is the head of development lobby group the Property Council. She has taken leave to run for lord mayor, in the wake of Mr Doyles resignation following sexual harassment allegations.

Homelessness and rough sleeping have become a significant issue for the council, as those forced onto the streets by rising property prices and boarding house closures head into the city centre to use the many services for the disadvantaged based there.As media scholar Siva Vaidyanathan shows in his forthcoming book Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy, due out this spring, social media companies such as Facebook truly believe that they are forces of good in the world  so much so that they have been blinded to the negative effects of their systems. Their naive utopianism made it impossible for the companys engineers to foresee (and thus forestall) the ways bullies, racists, propagandists and trolls would hijack their sites for their own ends. And when those things happened, they saw the problem not as one inherent in social media, but one that could be fixed with a few new lines of code.

And thats the underlying problem with Facebook, Twitter, Google, and anyone who looks to those companies for answers. They believe that, ultimately, social problems have technological solutions. Its a deliciously tempting idea, one which many people well outside of Silicon Valley subscribe to: that were one tweak, one update, one new release away from fixing our society and politics.

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The response to the fake-news crisis suggests as much. Flagging items as unproven, a move Facebook made when it was under fire for its role in spreading false stories, fundamentally misunderstands why news consumers believe and share misinformation. There are a series of ideological and tribal motivations for passing along fake stories, as well as an underlying belief system that treats outside arbiters with suspicion. Its the same set of motivations that undermined fact-checking efforts over the past decades: motivated to believe false stories about the opposition, conservatives regularly attacked fact-checkers for left-wing bias.

The cause of the current crisis in democracy, in America and elsewhere, is not fundamentally a technological one. Its a social and political one. The fraying of social bonds, of shared understandings of true and false, of political norms, and of commitments to democracy may have been abetted by technological change, but they were not caused by it. The solutions, if they exist, will be social and political: civic education, community building, and yes, regulation. Social media may assist with these efforts, but wont drive them. That will only result from a broader social change.Jakarta: The daughter of Indonesia's former president Sukarno has apologised to all Indonesian Muslims after she was accused of reading a poem that blasphemed and insulted Islam.

In the poem, read at Indonesia's Fashion Week, Sukmawati  sister of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri  is alleged to have denigrated the adzan, or call to prayer, and suggested a traditional Indonesian hair bun is prettier than the full-faced veil worn by strict Muslims.

Sukarno, Indonesia's founding father and first president. Credit:File

The reading of the poem titled Mother Indonesia has prompted calls for a rally on Friday from the hardline GNPF Ulama, a conservative Muslim organisation, who declared "the call of Jihad is back" and urged people to support police in the "arrest, trial and jail Sukmawati, the religious blasphemer".

The outrage generated by Sukmawati's poem is another sign that conservative Muslims in Indonesia plan to flex their political muscles ahead of the 2019 elections.Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia Credit:AP Nebenzia said Russia requested the council meeting because it shares the principle that the use of chemical weapons anywhere "is not acceptable and must be investigated and perpetrators punished, and that impunity is unacceptable." Kuwait's UN Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi told reporters the meeting is scheduled at 3pm EDT on Thursday. At the special meeting in The Hague, Russia and Britain traded accusations of duplicity and untrustworthiness. The British envoy said that a joint investigation, as proposed by Russia, would force "a victim to engage the likely perpetrator."

"To do so would be perverse," acting UK Permanent Representative John Foggo said, adding that Moscow's demand showed "disdain." Russia's envoy to the international chemical weapons watchdog complained that Britain's work with the agency has lacked transparency. Poisoned: Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripa, 66, and his daughter Yulia Skripal, 33. Credit:AP "Russia, as well as other states that are members of the executive committee, have been pushed aside from this investigation," Alexander Shulgin said during a news conference. "They tell us that they can inform us of the results of this investigation ... only with the good will of Great Britain," Shulgin said. "But, knowing how our so-called partners have conducted themselves, we are not going to count on their good will."

The United States and many of Britain's European allies have supported the UK in assigning blame for the poisonings to Russia. Moscow has worked strenuously to undermine the allegation and pressured Britain to provide evidence backing its claim that Russia was responsible. A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Britain needed to provide information about the pets that lived in Sergei Skripal's house in Salisbury, England. Wednesday that Russia has reliable information that there were pets in the Salisbury residence of Sergei Skripal. "Where are the pets? What is their condition?" ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. "This is about living creatures, and if a toxic chemical agent was indeed used in their house, these living creatures should have been hurt." The chief of Britain's defence research lab, the Porton Down laboratory, acknowledged Tuesday it has not been able to pinpoint the precise source of the nerve agent.

Gary Aitkenhead said scientists there identified the substance used on Sergei and Yulia Skripal as a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok. But he added "it's not our job to say where that was actually manufactured." The British government says it relied on a combination of scientific analysis and other intelligence to conclude that the nerve agent came from Russia. Britain is standing by its assessment, but the Foreign Office on Wednesday deleted a tweet from last month saying Porton Down scientists had identified the substance as "made in Russia." Still, Russian President Vladimir Putin had quickly seized on Aitkenhead's comments as proof that British accusations against Russia were baseless. He noted that at least 20 other nations now have the capacity to produce Novichok. Asked Wednesday if Russia expects an apology from Britain, Putin said "we are not expecting anything like that."

"We are just expecting reason to prevail so that international relations don't sustain damage like what we have seen recently," he said after a summit in Ankara, Turkey. "This not only concerns the assassination attempt on Skripal, but also all other aspects of international relations," he said. "We need to work within the framework of sound political processes, founded on fundamental norms of international law, and this will make the world a more stable and predictable place." The poisoning has plunged relations between the West and Russia to their lowest ebb since the Cold War, with more than two dozen Western allies expelling over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain and Russia responding in kind. In Moscow, Russia's spymaster claimed the poisoning was staged by UK and US intelligence agencies. Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the top KGB successor agency, said the poisoning was a "grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and US intelligence agencies."Fleeing civilians walk past the heavily damaged al-Nuri mosque as Iraqi forces continue their advance against Islamic State. Credit:AP

Washington: The White House says the US military mission against Islamic State in Syria is coming to "rapid end" as the terrorist group has almost been "completely destroyed".

However, the announcement on Thursday included no timetable for withdrawal, even as President Donald Trump has insisted it's time for American troops to return home.

A day after Trump said he wanted to "get out" of Syria, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that IS, also known as ISIS, group had been "almost completely destroyed" in the war-torn nation.A disgruntled YouTube video creator who opened fire at the company's headquarters before killing herself practiced at a local gun range hours before the incident, local police said.

Nasim Aghdam, 39, injured four people after she fired numerous shots in a courtyard of YouTube's sprawling campus in San Bruno, about half an hour south of San Francisco, at 12.46pm on Tuesday (local time).

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini confirmed on Wednesday that police in the neighbouring city of Mountain View had called Aghdam's father at 2am on Tuesday to say they had found Aghdam sleeping in her car in Mountain View, about 1100 kms from her San Diego home.

Aghdam's father warned the police that she may be heading for YouTube's headquarters as she "hated" the company.John Dowd, Trump's top lawyer dealing with the Mueller probe, resigned last month amid disputes about strategy and frustration that the President ignored his advice to refuse the special counsel's request for an interview, according to a Trump friend. Trump's chief counsel, Jay Sekulow, and Dowd declined to comment for this report. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred questions to White House lawyer Ty Cobb. "Thank you, but I don't discuss communications with the President or with the Office of Special Counsel," Cobb said on Tuesday.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel's office, declined to comment. The wide-ranging special counsel investigation, which began as an examination of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, has expanded into other areas, including whether Trump sought to obstruct the Russian probe. Mueller's investigators have indicated to the President's legal team that they are considering writing reports on their findings in stages - with the first report focused on the obstruction issue, according to two people briefed on the discussions. Under special counsel regulations, Mueller is required to report his conclusions confidentially to Deputy-Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has the authority to decide whether to release the information publicly. "They've said they want to write a report on this - to answer the public's questions - and they need the President's interview as the last step," one person familiar with the discussions said of Mueller's team.

Trump's lawyers expect he would also face questions about what he knew about any contacts by his associates with Russians officials and emissaries in 2016, several White House advisers said. Trump allies believe a second report detailing Mueller's findings on Russia's interference would be issued later. Ttrump has privately expressed relief at the description of his legal status, which has increased his determination to agree to a special counsel interview, the people said. He has repeatedly told allies that he is not a target of the probe and believes an interview will help him put the matter behind him, friends said. However, legal experts said Mueller's description of Trump as a subject of a grand jury probe does not mean he is in the clear. Under Justice Department guidelines, a subject of an investigation is a person whose conduct falls within the scope of a grand jury's investigation. A target is a person for which there is substantial evidence linking him or her to a crime. A subject could become a target with his or her own testimony, legal experts warn.

"If I were the President, I would be very reluctant to think I'm off the hook," said Keith Whittington, a professor of politics at Princeton University and impeachment expert. "My sense of it is the President - given that information - ought to have pretty fair warning anything he's saying in the deposition would be legally consequential. Depending on what he says, it could wind up changing how the special counsel is thinking about him." Still, several legal scholars and impeachment experts believe Mueller may conclude he does not have the authority to charge a sitting president with a crime under an opinion written by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in 1973 and reaffirmed in 2000. If Mueller finds Trump engaged in criminal conduct, he could detail it in a report, experts argue, and let Congress to decide whether to launch impeachment proceedings based on Mueller's findings. "The President's personal risk is primarily on the impeachment front," Whittington said. "Even if there are not things that lead to indictment, there may be matters that warrant an impeachment investigation and proceedings."

Some of Trump's advisers have warned White House aides that they fear Mueller could issue a blistering report about the President's actions. Several of Trump's public actions have called into question whether he sought to blunt or block the criminal probe, a line of inquiry that prosecutors began pursuing last year. He has repeatedly called the investigation a "witch hunt" that has unfairly sullied his administration and hampered his ability to accomplish his policy agenda. He fired FBI Director James Comey in May after Comey told Congress that the bureau was investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Trump was furious that Comey did not state that he was not personally under investigation, The Washington Post previously reported. Trump also asked top intelligence officials to issue public statements denying the existence of any evidence of coordination between his campaign and the Russian government. Mueller's team has told Trump's lawyers over recent months that they were seeking to learn more about the firings of Comey and national security adviser Michael Flynn last year and the President's efforts to get Attorney-General Jeff Sessions to resign. Nevertheless, Trump has repeatedly expressed an eagerness to sit down for a voluntary interview to answer Mueller's questions - a move Dowd believed would be a mistake, according to a long-time Trump friend.

Dowd told the President the case against him was weak, but warned Trump he could create criminal jeopardy for himself if he agreed to an interview and misspoke under oath, the friend said. Dowd repeatedly pointed to the Trump campaign advisers who have pleaded guilty to making false statements in the Mueller probe - including Flynn, adviser George Papadopoulos and former campaign official Rick Gates. "Mueller hasn't hesitated to [charge] people for lying on some pretty tangential stuff," said Solomon Wisenberg, a former deputy independent counsel in the probe of former president Bill Clinton. However, Sekulow and Cobb gave Trump the opposite advice as Dowd: that it would be politically difficult for Trump to refuse to answer questions after insisting for months there was no collusion or crime, according to three people familiar with their advice. Wisenberg, who interviewed Clinton about allegations that he obstructed justice, said Trump has handled himself well in previous depositions but should be cautious. "I think he would do much better than people think," Wisenberg said. "But there are plenty of instances where a guy walks into a grand jury a subject. He gets out and is told: 'Guess what, you're a target now.' "Washington: President Donald Trump's administration says talks with Beijing could resolve an escalating US-China trade fight after China retaliated against US proposals to slap tariffs on $US50 billion ($65 billion) in Chinese goods by targeting key American imports with similar duties.

Just 11 hours after the Trump administration proposed 25 per cent tariffs on about 1300 Chinese industrial, technology, transport and medical products, China responded with a list of similar duties on key American imports including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals.

Global stock markets, fearful of a trade war between the world's two economic superpowers, were shaken by the salvos between China and the US but have since regained some lost ground.

Trump, who contends his predecessors served the US badly in trade matters, rejected the notion that the tit-for-tat moves amounted to a trade war.GPS, Galileo, Glonass and Badiou  What are the technical consequences of the satellite navigation mass for maritime market-

Posted by Publisher Telecommunication

Satellite locating is the simple answer to the question: Where am I or my object?

Years ago it was unthinkable to get an own position by a ?satellite navigation technology?. The first navigation satellite was launched to the orbit on February 22nd 1978.

But today, almost 40 years later, it is totally different. GNSS (Global navigation satellite systems) are already installed, mostly full operational, but not only by the United States (named ?GPS?) , but also from the USSR (named ?GLONASS?) and China (named ?Baidou?) and also by the European Union (named ?Galileo?)

GPS is the GNSS system operated by the US. It consists of 32 operational satellites orbiting the Earth on 6 different orbital planes. They orbit at a height of 20.180km.

GLONASS is the GNSS system currently operated by the Russian Defense Ministry.

It consists of 21 + 3 reserve satellites since 2011 in operation. They orbit at a height of 19.100km.

GALILEO is the GNSS system being developed by the EU. Actually there are 18 satellties in the Orbit and at the end the system will consist of 30 satellites at a height of 23.222km.

BEIDOU is the GNSS system operated by the Republic of China. It consists of 25 operational satellites at a height of 22.000km.

Reason for the four different systems is, that the Nations want to be independent from the US GNSS system, also another target was and is to precise the positioning information and to offer further services as SAR (Search and Rescue) functions and open services.

What influence do these different systems have to the existing navigation processing today and in the future.

Frankly, no big influence at the moment.

Most of the existing navigation (Electronic Chart plotter) systems and AIS systems (AIS stands for Automatic Identification system) do use the data from the US GNSS system, GPS.

For surveying, navigation, positioning where high precision is not necessary, the future will not change.

Whether the GNSS signal is received by GPS or GALILEO or GLONASS or BEIDOU it will not make any difference for these kine of users.

This implements also the market of commercial vessel monitoring and the marine domain awareness.

National Defense Organisations however will use their own GNSS system for higher precision and nation confidential added values to the positioning.

It is not to be foreseen, that the actual way of determining a position for the maritime market will change in the next decade.

In contradiction to land based position determining. In 2010 there was already the try from the Russian confederation to allow import of smartphones only if these are able to position by means of the GLONASS GNSS system.

This kind of ?import strategy? will probable not be applicable for the Marine Area, as the vessels will sail in international waters and so these vessels will be able to catch other GNSS systems too. But it is not to exclude that maybe Russian Authorities might require systems on board of vessels which work with the Russian GNSS system. Not to be seen today, but who knows?

To be prepared for these kind of national protegesim some innovative manufactures do already built in flexible multi receiving systems.

The build in GNSS antennas and processors into the modern devices are able to work with one, two or even three different GNSS systems.

As an example, the latest development of an AIS (Automatic Identification System) based PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) for inflatable lifejackets from the company Weatherdock in Germany, the ?easyRESCUE-PRO AIS SART? is able to catch and process GNSS data from the US based GPS system and the Russian based GLONASS system.

The next generation will be able to cover GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO, too.

For the user of an AIS PLB this won?t give direct advantages as these devices do transmit the catched position only in the case of an emergency, but then it might help to process the position of the victim in the water faster, more precisely and system independently to rescue the person and to save lifes.

Two big European Navies are already using this device for their military sailors in a quantity clearly above 10.000 units.

These European well known Navies did decide for the devices ?easyRESCUE? due to reliability, high end technology and certification expertise these devices do have.

Weatherdock is the world market leader in AIS based, commercial vessels approved, personal locator beacons. For further information please contact the company Weatherdock under www.easyAIS.com

Weatherdock Cooperation, Germany (Founded 2003)

? World leader in AIS based, commercial vessels approved, personal locator beacons in

the VHF band

? Founder of the year 2008

? Among the best 100 midsize companies in Germany (12.000 applicants for that award!)Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 84F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low near 65F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.The team performed final checkouts of the Parker Solar Probe last week, before the probe shipped to the launch site.

GREENBELT, Md.  Final checkouts are completed here at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to prepare the agency's Parker Solar Probe for launch. Last weekend, the team sealed up the spacecraft and prepared it to ship to the launch site in Florida.

In the wee hours of the morning (approximately 4 a.m. EST) on Sunday (April 1), the "coolest, hottest mission to the sun" took off aboard a C-17 aircraft, bound for the Space Coast of Florida. Once the spacecraft arrives there, it will be prepped for a July 31 launch.

Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab (APL) designed and built the Parker Solar Probe, NASA's first mission named after a living individual: physicist Eugene Parker. The $1.5 billion mission, which NASA manages, is humanity's first mission to study a star. [Gallery: A Parker Solar Probe Clean Room Tour]

The Parker Solar Probe team addressed members of the media on March 28 at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland to share details of the upcoming mission.

Nicky Fox, project scientist at APL, explained that this is a historic mission. The idea for an up-close study of the sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, predates NASA; such a study was first proposed in 1958. It has taken six decades for this mission to come to fruition, "not because we weren't excited," Fox told reporters, "but because we had to wait 60 years for technology to catch up with our dreams."

The probe is currently scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral on July 31 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket; the spacecraft will then race toward the sun at approximately 450,000 mph (720,000 km/h). Parker Solar Probe will arrive at the sun in November and then spend seven years studying the star from 3.7 million miles (6 million km) away, eight times closer than any other spacecraft that's come before it.

A view of the solar limb sensors: If there is an attitude error, these parts of the spacecraft will see the sun first, spurring the probe to adjust its position. (Image credit: Amy Thompson/Space.com)

During the mission, the craft will make 24 orbits around our star, while passing by Venus seven times for gravity assists. The probe will employ its suite of instruments to help unlock the mysteries of the sun, while trying to survive the encounter with our star. Protecting the craft is a one-of-a-kind heat shield, an engineering marvel built to withstand searing temperatures of 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,550 degrees Fahrenheit) during closest approach, Fox said.

If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will orbit the sun, with the shield taking the brunt of the heat, while the key parts of the spacecraft (the instruments and solar cells) remain closer to room temperature. [Watch Purple Lasers Light Up NASA's Parker Solar Probe in Test]

By taking a wealth of measurements and images, the probe is expected to revolutionize our understanding of the sun  in particular, the corona and the solar wind. Why specifically are we going to the corona? According to Fox, "That's where all the magic happens."

As the probe's namesake, Eugene Parker, proposed many decades ago, we know that the sun's shimmering, hazy atmosphere, known as the corona, is approximately 300 times hotter than the star's surface. But this seems to break the laws of nature, Fox said: She compared the sun to a campfire, but as you walk away from the fire, you somehow get hotter.

Parker himself proposed one of the leading explanations for why the corona is so much hotter than the sun's surface, suggesting that the corona is superheated due "nanoflares." A complex system of plasma, magnetic fields and energetic particles that can spark solar explosions trigger these flares. If an abundance of nanoflares erupts from the sun, that could explain the coronal heating.

There are many proposed explanations for what causes the heating, Fox said, but until we can sample the corona, we cannot test those ideas. This is where Parker Solar Probe comes in.

But that's not all it will do.

The red wheel on the top of the spacecraft, dubbed the wagon wheel, simulates the mass of the heat shield during testing. (Image credit: Amy Thompson/Space.com)

The probe will also help improve space-weather models by studying the flow of ionized gases that stream from the sun into space, called the solar wind. Increases in the solar wind can wreak havoc on Earth by damaging communications systems and power grids, as well as increasing radiation threats to astronauts on orbit.

As the stream of particles leaves the sun, it can actually speed up instead of slowing down, Fox said, racing toward the Earth (and other planets) at millions of miles per hour.

"Where we see heat [in the corona], we see the solar wind get energized," said Fox. That wind can bathe all of the planets in solar material, and it can then interact with the Earth's magnetic field and create dangerous space-weather conditions.

Just like with weather on Earth, space weather is closely monitored. In order for scientists to generate accurate forecasts to better protect society from the sun, they need to understand the physics and the mysteries of the corona.

Data that will be collected by the Parker Solar Probe is "the last piece of the puzzle for us to model the sun and its effect on the Earth," Fox said.

Fox added that this mission will also help us better understand other stars in the universe by studying our star in great detail.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.The Parker Solar Probe

JHU/APL

This illustration depicts the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft leaving Earth, after separating from its launch vehicle and booster rocket, bound for the inner solar system and an unprecedented study of the Sun.

In the Clean Room

Amy Thompson/Space.com

A view of the Parker Solar Probe in the clean room at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.



Read about Space.com's tour of the facility here.

Press Time

Amy Thompson/Space.com

NASA researcher Nicky Fox addresses members of the media, explaining the Parker Solar Probe's upcoming mission.

Launch Ready

Amy Thompson/Space.com

A member of the Parker Solar Probe team inspects the spacecraft in the clean room.

Mini-Heat Shield

Amy Thompson/Space.com

Betsy Congdon, lead engineer for Parker Solar Probe's thermal protection system (TPS), holds a sample of the same heat shield that the spacecraft will have.

"Wagon Wheel"

Amy Thompson/Space.com

The red wheel on the top of the spacecraft, dubbed the wagon wheel, simulates the mass of the heat shield during testing.

Communication Tech

Amy Thompson/Space.com

A view of the fan beam (medium-gain) antennas: The spacecraft uses a series of three different types of antennas to communicate with Earth.

Solar Limb Sensors

Amy Thompson/Space.com

A view of the solar limb sensors: If there is an attitude error, these parts of the spacecraft will see the sun first, spurring the probe to adjust its position.

Hardware

Amy Thompson/Space.com

A close-up view of various spacecraft hardware for the Parker Solar Probe.

Data Collection

Amy Thompson/Space.com

When Parker Solar Probe reaches the sun, this solar cup will be exposed to the sun's full force and will collect data about the solar wind.

Electrical Sensors

Amy Thompson/Space.com

A view of Parker Solar Probe's electric field instruments: Long, whip-like structures connected prior to flight will measure the electric field in space.Left: Boeing tests parachutes for its Starliner spacecraft over Yuma, Arizona, on Feb. 22, 2018. Right: SpaceX tests Crew Dragon parachutes on March 4, 2018, over the Mojave Desert in Southern California, examining an abnormal situation in which just one of the two drogue chutes and three of the four main parachutes deployed.

As NASA prepares to send astronauts to space in private space taxis, Boeing and SpaceX are running multiple parachute tests for the crucial re-entry phase.

The tests are another milestone in the journey to start sending astronauts to space from American soil again; since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, NASA's astronauts have used Russian Soyuz spacecraft launching from Kazakhstan to reach the International Space Station.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program will replace most of those Soyuz flights with U.S. company launches from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Test flights may happen as soon as late 2018, but the commercial program's launch date has been delayed by several years due to funding and technical considerations. [NASA Tests SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule's Life-Support Systems]

SpaceX, which received $2.6 billion from NASA in 2014 for the current phase of the Commercial Crew Program, completed its 14th overall parachute test for its crewed version of the Dragon spacecraft on March 4. The test demonstrated how the parachutes would work during an abnormal descent, NASA officials said in a statement; another test is planned in the coming weeks.

Boeing did its first reliability test in February to simulate a parachute landing with its CST-100 Starliner. The company, which garnered $4.6 billion from NASA in 2014, is performing reliability and parachute tests this year to ready Starliner for spaceflight.

"We test the parachutes at many different conditions for nominal entry, ascent abort conditions including a pad abort, and for contingencies, so that we know the chutes can safely deploy in flight and handle the loads," Mark Biesack, a lead NASA engineer at Kennedy Space Center who oversees parachute testing for the agency's Commercial Crew Program, said in the statement.

For SpaceX's parachute test in early March, a Lockheed Martin C-130 aircraft lofted a test vehicle that is supposed to demonstrate the same maximum speeds that SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft would experience during re-entry. The aircraft dropped the vehicle from 25,000 feet (7,600 meters) in altitude over the Mojave Desert in Southern California.

"The test demonstrated an off-nominal, or abnormal, situation, deploying only one of the two drogue chutes and intentionally skipping a deployment stage on one of the four main parachutes, proving a safe landing in such a contingency scenario," NASA officials said in the statement. The next drop test will also skip a drogue parachute and main parachute, but in a different configuration, the agency added.

Boeing's test flight in February used a long, dart-shaped test vehicle that a C-17 aircraft released over Yuma, Arizona, starting a series of reliability tests. Boeing plans to use the dart module twice more for testing. After that, the company will use a high-fidelity capsule simulator that is supposed to be a replica of the Starliner's shape and mass, according to the statement. This simulator will fly to 30,000 feet (9,100 m) in altitude under a large, helium-filled balloon before being released. The tests will examine parachute deployments and system performance.

"In both the dart and capsule simulator tests, the test spacecraft are released at various altitudes to test the parachute system at different deployment speeds, aerodynamic loads and/or weight demands," NASA officials said in the statement. "Data collected from each test is fed into computer models to more accurately predict parachute performance and to verify consistency from test to test."

Boeing's third of five parachute system qualification tests will take place in May, using the same balloon that is performing the reliability tests. In May, the balloon will loft a full-size version of the Starliner spacecraft to an altitude of 40,000 feet (12,200 m). The Starliner will then drop to the New Mexico desert, testing the deployment of three pilot chutes, two drogue chutes and three main chutes for a safe landing.

SpaceX and Boeing plan to wrap up the parachute qualification testing by this fall. Separately, NASA's Orion program, which is intended to send astronauts to the moon or far out into the solar system, is also nearing the end of its parachute testing for the spacecraft. The testing for Orion has, in some cases, reduced the need for the commercial companies to do their own developmental parachute tests, NASA officials said.

"The partners are making great strides in testing their respective parachute systems, and the data they are collecting during every test is critical to demonstrating that their systems work as designed," Kathy Lueders, Commercial Crew Program manager at Kennedy Space Center, said in the statement.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.The COSMOS field in the constellation of Sextans is seen here in infrared light. This region is associated with the part of the sky analyzed by David Sobral of Lancaster University and his research team.

Astronomers have produced one of the largest 3D maps of the young universe, where they pinpoint 4,000 early galaxies from the ancient past  many of which may resemble the Milky Way in its infancy.

The researchers can look into the past like this because of the time it takes light to travel large, cosmic distances. Light quickly fills a room when a lamp turns on, but the light from faraway galaxies can take billions of years to reach the eyes of an observer standing on Earth. So, the objects or events someone sees through a telescope may have actually happened eons ago. Telescopes, therefore, can act as time machines for scientists.

"We used large amounts of data ... to literally slice the universe in cosmic time and time-travel to the distant past with 16 well-defined cosmic-time destinations," said Sergio Santos, a team researcher at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, in a recent statement about the findings. [26 Cosmic Photos from the Hubble Space Telescope's Ultra Deep Field]

The Subaru observatory, on Hawaii's Mauna Kea. (Image credit: Subaru/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

In two new studies, the team of astronomers peered back in time to 16 different epochs between 11 billion and 13 billion years ago. They found light coming from galaxies that existed when the universe was only 7 percent to 20 percent of its current age, the statement said.

To pinpoint these ages, the researchers looked at universal expansion. In general, scientists use the expansion of the universe to determine from which epoch, or from how long ago, light originates. As the universe expands, the light traveling from any one of these 4,000 galaxies gets stretched on its journey to Earth. This caused the wavelength of the light to become redder, a phenomenon known as redshift. Because the redshift is tied to how far away a galaxy is, researchers can use filters to measure particular wavelengths of light and then deduce how far back in time the light is coming from.

This is a map of the cube of space-time covered in the new survey by David Sobral of Lancaster University and the research team. It shows the "look-back time" to the galaxies in billions of years. The circles mark the positions of the 4,000 galaxies from the study. The colors represent the degree of redshift seen. Bluer circles indicate galaxies seen in the more recent past (less redshifted). Green, yellow, orange and red circles indicate successively higher redshifts; they are galaxies that are located progressively further back in time. (Image credit: David Sobral)

David Sobral, an astrophysics researcher at Lancaster University, led the team of scientists in their work charting out the primitive universe. They spotted these early galaxies using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii and the Isaac Newton Telescope in the Canary Islands off the coast of northern Africa.

The team searched for distant galaxies emitting Lyman-alpha radiation, an ultraviolet wavelength associated with young galaxies bursting with star formation. Using 16 different narrow- and medium-band filters, the Lancaster-led team of researchers studied the ancient galactic past in a region of the sky in the constellation Sextans, in an area called the COSMOS field.

Their findings provide insights about the early stages of galaxy formation, the researchers said. They found young worlds that were intensely compact and bursting with stars that were bluer and hotter and that had lower amounts of metal elements compared to the stars of today.

"Some of these galaxies should have evolved to become like our own, and thus we are seeing what our galaxy may have looked like 11 [billion] to 13 billion years ago," researcher Ana Paulino-Afonso, a Ph.D. student in Lancaster and Lisbon, Portugal and co-author on the study, said in the statement.

"The bulk of the distant galaxies we found are only about 3,000 light-years across in size, while our Milky Way is about 30 times larger," Paulino-Afonso added. "Their compactness likely explains many of their exciting physical properties that were common in the early universe."

The work was announced today (April 4) at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science conference in Liverpool, England. The team also published their findings in two papers in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter @salazar_elin. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.HOUSTON  The preparations for the first flight of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft took a minor, but symbolic step forward this week with the reveal of its first mission patch.

The NASA team contracted by Boeing to run Starliner's mission control at Johnson Space Center in Houston debuted their emblem on Tuesday (April 3).

"Boeing Mission Operations (MO) continues to prepare to fly the first Starliner test flight later this year for The Boeing Company," wrote NASA flight director Ed Van Cise, a member of the Boeing MO team, on Twitter. "As part of our prep, we have created our MO patch for that Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission." [Boeing Unveils New Spacesuits for Starliner Astronaut Taxi (Photos)]

The patch features the Starliner capsule, which Boeing is building to fly astronauts to the International Space Station under a commercial agreement with NASA. The Starliner is depicted in orbit over Earth with four points on the planet highlighted by four small stars.

The locations, according to Van Cise, are Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where Starliner is processed and will launch; Houston, base to Boeing's engineering and MO teams; Denver, home to United Launch Alliance, provider of Starliner's Atlas V rocket; and the White Sands area in New Mexico, where Boeing plans to land the spacecraft.

The Starliner OFT mission, which as of Monday (April 2) NASA said was targeted for August, will fly a flight profile similar to when Starliner launches with astronauts, but without a crew.

Following its launch from Space Launch Complex 41, the uncrewed Starliner will dock to the space station. After about two weeks connected to the orbiting outpost, during which performance data will be recorded, the spacecraft will return to Earth, descending under parachutes to an airbag-cushioned landing in the western U.S.

During the flight, a team of NASA ground controllers, including Van Cise and three other flight directors, will command and monitor Starliner from the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center.

"[The operations team's] vast experience in countdown protocol and proven safety and mission assurance practices ensure that safety is built into our system, in our countdown to launch, and throughout our culture," stated Boeing.

If it proceeds to plan, the OFT mission will demonstrate that the Atlas V, Starliner, ground system and Boeing MO team are ready to perform a crewed flight test.

The Boeing Mission Operations emblem was designed by artists Tim Gagnon and Jorge Cartes, who previously worked with space shuttle and space station crews to create their mission patches.

"Honored to contribute to a third spaceflight program," Gagnon wrote on Twitter.

The Boeing MO patch is the first to represent the OFT mission. Boeing is expected to release its own patch for the upcoming flight test.

Boeing previously revealed its CST-100 Starliner program patch in April 2016. The company's official store also recently introduced a series of Starliner products as part of its "shadow graphic" collection saluting the impact of Boeing-built vehicles.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2018 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.



Summit was written by Jessica Grasl and was directed by Chris Grismer. The episode is a thinly veiled analogy of the troubles with North and South Korea. The episode also sees the return of Kim Raver as Dr Andrea Frost who they are clearly grooming as a love interest for Tom (Kiefer Sutherland). No doubt they are relying on the tried and true chemistry they had on 24. Its a little heavy-handed, but a lot less annoying than the Emily (Italia Ricci)/Seth (Kal Penn) plot.As the episode opens, Tom is called to the situation room because East Hanchu (North Korea  in case there was any doubt) has launched a missile over West Hanchu. Tom is brokering a Summit between the two countries on this very day and orders that all the delegates meet at Camp David asap.Emily is left at the White House to find the mole who is leaking information to the press  specifically, Simon Day (Morgan Kelly). As a quick aside, I really enjoyed Kelly on, so Im hoping hell have more to do in the coming episodes. Before Seth heads off to the Summit, Kendra (Zoe McLellan) calls him and Emily into her office to discuss their relationship declaration forms. They are for insurance so that Seth cant sue for sexual harassment later. Emily is very uncomfortable with the intrusion into her privacy  which is ironic given her actions in tracking down the mole.Hannah (Maggie Q), meanwhile, has been pulled off the hacker case to facilitate a defector from East Hanchu who Tom hopes will help with the Summit negotiations. Once again, as she meets with the handler, Chuck (Jake Epstein) warns her not to do something stupid  take out her Bluetooth  and she goes ahead and does it. The show is really still struggling to make this storyline relevant in every episode. It turns out that the defector is none other than Chairman Kims (Tom Choi) son, Joon (Daniel Jun).At the Summit, Lyor (Paulo Costanzo) and Seth run into an old acquaintance and one-time associate of Lyors  Greg Bowen (Dan Jeannotte). At first, Seth is struck by how similar the two are  and how annoying. There is clearly a lot of bad history behind them. Bowen is working for Chairman Kim.Aaron (Adan Canto) advises Tom to use Joon, but Lyor thinks its too dangerous. Meanwhile, Joon isnt saying anything until they rescue his girlfriend, Jung-Min (Eileen Li) who he apparently left at the consulate when he ran! He tells Hannah that his father is unstable and clarifies that hes begging, not demanding, that they save her. The parallels to Kim Jong-un (including the name) are pretty obvious, including having family members killed for disloyalty.Tom has them bring in Dr Frost to help with the negotiations with her missile defense system. Aaron approves of changing the focus of the negotiations to mutual protection rather than mutual destruction. Tom introduces Andrea to President Han (Freda Foh Shen) and Chairman Kim. Han has met her, but Kim has not  because its against the law for him to meet with anyone from Apache Aerospace  or any other weapons company. Tom tells them that hes lifting the law so that they can both acquire the defense system  but Chairman Kim will have to submit to inspections to insure East Hanchu has no nuclear weapons.Tom and Andrea are both pleased with the deal  its a $14 billion contract for her! Aaron and Seth interrupt them with news that the deal has been leaked. Lyor insists that they have to claim it was an anonymous Camp David employee. Bowen runs into them and declares it a disaster. They are now closer to war than ever. Bowen sees himself as the same as Lyor, but Lyor insists that men stick with their leaders even when things look bad  something that Bowen didnt do in the past.Back at the White House, Kendra meets with Emily to caution her about her investigation into the mole, declaring it looks like a witch hunt. Emily sees Seths completed form and that he has described their relationship as intermittent association. Shes not happy  but shes so hot and cold about whats happening between them, she makes me dizzy! Kendra tries to tell her that its business language, not a Valentine  which she shouldnt have to tell her!Emily meets with Simon Day and he refuses to give up his source. Simon tells her that he doesnt care what she does, but maybe her boss should try inspiring more loyalty. Emily then clearly crosses a line by asking Chuck to do an illegal phone dump on Simon. Chuck asks if shes got a warrant and doesnt look too happy about being ordered to do it anyway. Emily insists that its time sensitive to prevent a way and asks Chuck if the President can count on him. Why do I feel like this is definitely going to come back and bite her? It should! Shes indicating to Chuck that Tom sanctions thisAaron and Lyor break the situation down for Tom  and I really liked this scene. They tell him that President Han has to win an election and cant be seen to be helping the enemy. Chairman Kim needs an enemy in order to keep his people focused on that instead of on the other issues in his country to maintain his position as a tyrant. Tom realizes that they have to sweeten the pot.Tom tells the two leaders that Apache Aerospace will lease them the system at a greatly reduced cost. I loved that the two worked together to play them. Andrea acts surprised and angry but both leaders are onboard  even after Tom declares that the West will pay for the East!In the kitchen, Tom and Andrea share some ice cream and we learn that it was all a set up. This was a nice scene that clearly demonstrates that Sutherland and Raver still have that chemistry! Tom has sweetened the pot for Apache too by promising tax breaks and government contracts  which also insures that the two will continue to interact. Andrea compliments Tom on his decision-making, and he tells her that he misses teaching  hes a better instructor. Andrea shares that her DEAD husband was a Classics Professor.This time its Mike (LaMonica Garrett) who interrupts that the deal has once again gone up in flames. This time its because Kim has discovered his son is missing and hes convinced that West Hanchu has him. Aaron and Lyor dont want Tom to tell Kim that they have his son, but as a father, Tom refuses to lie and tells him. He sets up a call with Joon and his father. Kim declares his son a traitor.Kim refuses to go ahead with the negotiations, declaring that Tom has lost his confidence. Lyor suggests that they bring in Moss (Geoff Pierson). Moss returns and tells Tom hes there for his country, not for Tom. In his meeting with the two leaders, he tells them that his word is his bond and that hes never lied to either of them. They agree. Moss then tells them that he personally vouches for Toms integrity.Hannah finally gets important information out of Joon  Kim does have nuclear weapons! Tom goes to Han and Kim and declares the deal null and void because it was based on material disclosure and Kim lied. Chuck cant find the location, and its Andrea who comes up with the proof they need. Tom delivers an ultimatum to Kim: comply or his country will see it as a declaration of war.Lyor proves to be a terrible roommate  is anyone surprised? But Seth is a smart guy. Lyor is very happy to have beaten Bowen. But Bowen thinks that that is all the Lyor wanted. Seth sets Bowen straight. He tells him that the thought at first that Bowen and Lyor were very much alike, but he has come to realize that Bowen is an SOB and Lyor is a standup guy. Lyor didnt take any opportunity to really bad-mouth Bowen when he easily could have. I loved Seth putting Bowen in his place and then not telling Lyor  we know who else is a standup guy, dont we?Andrea and Tom share a quick moment before she leaves. He tells her to call him Tom and she asks to speak candidly. Naturally, Tom encourages her to do so. She tells him that their country now has hope, but its still isolated and being isolated is not a good thing. Its a really heavy-handed opening for the widow and widower not to be isolated from each other  but more importantly, it was also a comment on the current state of US politics.Was anybody surprised to discover that the leak is Moss? Tom confronts him about Simon Day and tells Moss that its a felony to leak classified information. Moss says that President Han called him and he had to help her! Tom accuses Moss of extreme bitterness or a burning desire to remain relevant. Moss tells him that hes a patriot and that Tom is afraid of Moss because he doesnt agree with him. He maintains that all of Toms staff are yes-men.Tom clarifies that he fired Moss because he was disloyal. If anything Moss has done proves to be illegal, Tom promises to hand it over to the Justice Department. Moss fires right back that if Tom comes for him, hed better come hard because Moss knows how to fight (dirty!) and how to win.I was mostly enjoying this episode until the last three scenes. I really didnt need to have Moss come back. Next we have Emily once again put her foot in it. She tells Seth that shes having a hard time letting her guard down for their relationship, and Seth maintains  rightly!  that thats what a relationship is. He tells her that either shes all in or theyre done. She cant commit which is all the clarity that Seth needs. He walks away from the relationship  please, please, please dont have Emily change her mind again this week! Finally, Hannah goes to Aaron who takes her to Tom. Theres a dirty bomb hidden somewhere in the US. Really? Didnt we just do this???Overall, I liked this episode. The acting, as always was terrific, but Im still not sold on the ability of the show to carry a season-long arc, and the biggest weak spot is the intrigue plotline. It still feels like two shows pushed together to me. The show does a good job commentating on real world events. I understand that it wants to set itself apart from other shows like Madam Secretary and that the shows premise relied on the international intrigue plotline, and yet Im also not thrilled with the direction they are taking Emily  honestly, her actions should have her brought before the Justice Department too! Is she on her way out? What did you think of the episode? Happy to see Kim Raver back? Moss? Are you tired of Emilys failure to commit and serial dating her co-workers? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

For the first of the last four Scandal episodes EVER, The Noise sure was a doozy! It was a largely character-driven episode, with Olivia being held accountable for her past actions and others showing us more of who they have always been. And that ending? Dont even get me started! Right off the bat, the characters that I wanted dead at different points of this episode were Cyrus, Jake, Mellie, and Quinn. The latter was more out of annoyance, but well get into that in a moment.



Of note, The Noise was directed by one Darby Stanchfield aka Abby Whelan! It was her first and only time behind the lens for an episode, and she did a solid job. Kudos to you, Darbs!

Now lets get into this bad boy.

Bringing Trouble to An Already Troubled House

The episode kicks off with a dozen of FBI agents packing up various items from QPAs office suite. They are going through every inch of that place, and at one point, an agent gives Olivias white hat a cursory look before carelessly tossing it onto the floor. As this is happening, Special Prosecutor General Lonnie Menken can be heard (and then is later seen) giving Mellie an update on what he knows of the Charlie, who has been flagged as the alleged suspect in the plot to take down Air Force Two.

Lonnie relays that Charlie has no last name, which indicates that his name in itself is an alias; and that he held dozens of false IDs, including one that granted him access to the White House. (Duh! Hes a former super secret spy!) He says that Charlies place of business aka QPA has been secured and protected as a crime scene, and that a search of the premises led to the discovery of a massive stockpile of electronics that are now all being decrypted. (Huck probably already has some self-destruct feature on them, so the feds are unlikely to find anything of value.)

Lonnie states that Charlies coworkers were briefly questioned and released, but that for the time being QPA remains shut down until further notice. Aside from Mellie, Cyrus and Jake are also in on this Oval Office meeting. Mellie asks if the suspect is talking and Lonnie says that despite their methods of persuasion (aka torture), Charlie has remained remarkably tight-lipped.

So how many people among the four knows why Charlie wont be talking? Hes B613 for Gods sake! Hes trained to withstand any method of torture you throw at him. Cyrus knows this and so does Jake. You would think that at least Jake would question Charlies supposed motives here, right? Hes got to have some measure of deductive reasoning!

There I go giving him more credit than he is due. Nehmind.







We get flashed back at bit to Charlie being roughly dragged into everyones favorite black cell, and he is dropped down into a chair and then cuffed to the table. His face is beat up as he stares at Lonnie, who is already seated in a chair across from him. Lonnie states that all of this could stop, and Charlie quips that he has never felt better. When Lonnie asks him if he is ready to talk, Charlie tells him what he had apparently told him before and that is that he is being set up. Outside of that, Charlie says that he has nothing more to give him.

Lonnie interjects then to say that when he asked if Charlie was ready to talk, he meant that the talking involved him addressing Charlie. (This man is so going to die) He goes on to state that he has no interest in keeping Charlie there and that it gives him no great pleasure to see Charlie in pain. He says that he is merely a guy who is there to do his job and that his job today is to see Charlie walk out of that cell a free man. As he is saying this, he pulls out a typed up document and presents it to Charlie. He says that hell cut Charlie a deal, that all he needs is for Charlie to sign the document, and then hell be free to go home.

Charlie gets to reading the document and he is startled when he realizes that it is a confession that he says is filled with lies. Lonnie remarks that he knows that Charlie was hired to assassinate Cyrus, but that it isnt Charlie who they are after. He again states that should Charlie sign that confession, he would be set free. All they need is for him to affirm that the person who hired him to do the deed was Mellie!!





Charlie is gobsmacked when he reads Mellies name, and in that instant, it all came together in his head. Cyrus really is the one behind all of this. Charlie verbalizes what he has worked out about the situation, including his on the money guess that Cyrus also recruited Lonnie. The older man dismisses Charlies conclusion as some admirable concoction of his imagination, and he warns Charlie that his only way home is via him signing the confession. Charlie is steadfast as he says unequivocally that he wont be used by Cyrus to impeach Mellie, and adds that he isnt a traitor.

Lonnie replies that what Charlie would actually be is a patriot, a liberator, and a free man, stating that once Cyrus is President, Charlie would receive a full pardon. He again presses for the confession to be signed, and after a moments contemplation, Charlie tosses the document at Lonnie and tells him to go to hell.





Dont you think this is the end of it, friends. Oh, no. With Cyrus Rutherford Beene, there is more than one way to cook a goose.

Elsewhere in DC, we pick up from where the last episode left off with Olivia opening her apartment door to find Quinn standing on the other side. The two stare at each other in awkward silence for a bit before Quinn states that the feds have taken Charlie. Olivia replies that she knows, and more awkwardness ensues. Olivia motions an uncertain invitation to Quinn to come in, and the other woman accepts.

Once inside, it is clear that Quinn did not come to Olivia in peace. She shares that the federales are crawling all over QPA and that theyve arrested Charlie. As Olivia states that she is sorry, Quinn cuts her off to say that she doesnt give two damns about Cyrus or whether he stated the hijacking for publicity. Olivia interjects to say that what Cyrus wants is the Oval Office, and Quinn couldnt care less about that either. She says that he can have whatever he wants other than Charlie. (Weeeeeell, one should kind of care if the Vice President is looking to take out the sitting President so that he can take her position, but whatev.)

Quinn goes on to say that Olivia shouldnt have gone behind their backs and brought the Cyrus matter to them, and Olivia explains that she didnt think that they would take the case if they knew it was from her. Quinn replies with disdain that Olivia is right about that, but now the case isnt just for Olivia anymore now that QPA has been disrupted. Olivia asks what it is that Quinn is suggesting, and Quinn reluctantly says that they have a common enemy now, so she proposes a partnership. Whatever their differences are, she says that they are to put them aside. When Olivia immediately agrees to this, Quinn is quick to state that she is doing this for Charlie and not for Olivia, and Olivia says that she understands.

I swear, homegirl looks shook AF in this scene. Its like shes bracing herself for a physical throwdown, but none is coming. Instead, she stands up against the gale force that is Quinns ire and endures the assault. It is, after all, the least she can do given the stunt she pulled with with Quinn and Robins lives. I dont recall Olivia being so humbled ever. Its a bit jarring.

Jump ahead some time and that same evening (presumably), and Olivia and Quinn are at the Grant Institute. Present are Fitz and Marcus as well as Abby and David. Conspicuously missing was Huck. Fitz and Marcus have just been briefed on the Cyrus situation, and both men are stunned. Fitz remarks that this is a new low, even for Cyrus and suggests that Mellie be warned that Cyrus is gunning for her. He addresses the latter part to Olivia, who nods in agreement.

Quinn adds that they must also inform Mellie of Charlies innocence and asks if thats something that Mellie could fix, and Fitz says that itll be a hard sell politically. Olivia states then that it shouldnt be too difficult if it can be proven that the special prosecutor is working with Cyrus. At this point, David expresses his disbelief at the idea that Lonnie is involved in this plot, saying that Lonnie is a man with an impeccable record. Quinn counters by reminding David of all that Cyrus has done thus far. She then asks if he thinks that Cyrus would leave to the chance the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Fitz brings the conversation back to the original point at hand by asking Olivia if she wants to talk to Mellie about this or if he should be the one to do it. Before Olivia has the chance to respond, Quinn jumps in to say that she wants Charlie alive, so it cant be Olivia who talks to Mellie. (Ha!)

I guess that answers that question. I mean, Olivia truly is not the best person to go speaking to Mellie about anything. Not after the way their relationship was severed. No siree Bob! So tag, youre it, Fitzgerald.

Olivia speaks then to say that she and the others will see what they can find on Lonnie while Fitz is working on Mellie. The goal is to find something that will help in breaking the Special Prosecutor away from Cyrus, adding that they will do whatever it takes to bring Charlie back home safely.

Next we see Cyrus in his bunker-like hideout and he is restlessly pacing around the worktable that is set in the middle of the room. It isnt long before the heavy steel door beeps and in comes Lonnie. Cyrus guesses that Charlie didnt sign the confession and Lonnie confirms. Cyrus goes on to say that they knew going into this that Charlie was going to be a hard one to crack because old spies...never do anything they dont want to do thanks to all of their training. (Ding, ding!) Lonnie says that his men have training, too, and that what he and Cyrus must exercise is some patience. Cyrus reluctantly agrees with a nod.

Lonnie asks if there is anything else, and when Cyrus shakes his head that there isnt, he heads for the door. Before he can make it out, something occurs to Cyrus and he stops Lonnies departure. He proclaims that they are handling this situation all wrong, stating that it isnt Charlie that they ought to be pressuring.

The Girl Cried Wolf One Too Many Times

The following day, Olivia arrives at the Grant Institute and she heads directly for the conference room. She pulls up short when she spies Huck on the other side of the glass doors, her expression questioning as she takes in the fact that he has papered up the doors and shuttered the rooms blinds. As she steps into the room, she offers Huck a hey and asks him what it is that he is up to. Huck explains that since they will be discussing sensitive information and so they can never be too careful when everyone has a phone in their pocket.

Huck isnt able to look at her directly as he speaks. This is the first time that the two of them have seen each other since the attempted intervention some months ago (710), so they are understandably stilted in their conversation. Huck is noticeably hesitant. He asks if she is back and Olivia replies that she is back for this situation. To this, Huck simply replies, Okay. I dont think that Olivia understood exactly what it was that Huck was asking her...or maybe Im the one reading more into his question than was intended.





Soon, the others are coming into the room. Quinn, Marcus, Abby. They go directly into OPA/QPA gladiator mode and start to give details on what they have been able to put together on Alonzo Lonnie Mencken. Abby puts up his picture on the board, but when she lets go of it, it goes sailing to the floor. Marcus explains that he was unable to find the sticky paper that is used back at their office, so they end up using magnets to hold up their images.

In their research, they uncover that Lonnie and his wife lost their only son 20 years ago when he was gunned down in a mall mass shooting. He had been nine at the time. The child died in his fathers arms. (Damn.) Olivia says then that she recalls this incident, that it is what inspired Lonnie to become a prosecutor and dedicate his life to keeping violent offenders in jail. Marcus adds that Lonnie did all of this while earning a reputation of being tough, but fair. He states that Lonnie is the epitome of an honorable public servant.

Given what they know about Lonnie, Quinn asks the room how it is that someone like Lonnie would end up in bed with Cyrus. She speculates on him possibly having money troubles or if he has recently received a Cezanne by chance. Olivia is lost as to the reference to the painting, and Huck explains that they believe that Cyrus may have used the painting that Glackland gifted him to fund the coup.

Huck doesnt get farther than that with his explanation because Quinn impatiently cuts him off and says that they dont have time right then recap, and she immediately tosses out more finances-related questions in an attempt to find what could be Lonnies motivation. Huck replies that he doesnt see anything out of the ordinary as far as mortgage and credit card debit. Nothing shady going on with Lonnie Mencken. Abby adds that his web history is pretty unexciting as well, proclaiming the man a goody two shoes.

Just then, Quinns phone vibrates. After reading it, she claims that her nanny just texted her that Robins ear infection is flaring up and that the child is screaming bloody murder as a result. She says that Charlie was supposed to pick up her prescription, but obviously he didnt get a chance to do that. Olivia tells her to go handle her business, and Quinn hurries off.

Where is Quinn going? Not to see to her child, thats for sure! She is heading to a waiting car and Cyrus is on the inside. He reached out to her because he wants her to convince Charlie to sign a confession saying that Mellie staged the hijacking as some way to assassinate him. Quinn tells him that she wont be assisting him and demands that Charlie be let go. (Is this their first ever scene together??)

Cyrus tells Quinn that if she wants to help Charlie, she will have to have to help him. He presses her on getting that confession signed, stating that she should do so while Charlie still has a hand left to hold a pen, but Quinn doesnt bite. She instead repeats that she wont be helping. Cyrus doesnt allow her to finish when he shares his assumption that Quinn voted for Mellie despite all that she knows about Madam President, and that Quinn probably wore a cute little Future is Female T-shirt when she went to the polls to cast her ballot for girl power and all that crap. (Ooo, look! Sexism from the cisgendered gay guy!) Cyrus says Quinn ought to be focusing on Charlie, and he asks if she is really choosing Mellie over the father of her child. (Slick.) It is at this point that Quinn declares the conversation over.

As she makes her way towards the door, Cyrus asks in frustration what it is about you people and Olivia Pope. He states that it is as if they are all little wind-up toys, aimlessly fluttering about. Of course, this stops Quinn cold and she declares that none of this has anything to do with Olivia. Annnnd like a fool, she has confirmed something that he already knew: Olivia remains a sore spot, especially for Quinn. He didnt bring up the former Head Gladiator nor insinuate that Quinn and the others are but unthinking robots who do her bidding for nothing. He pressed on a seeping wound and hit pay dirt.

Following her denial, Cyrus presses yet another sore spot, stating that Olivia still believes that she has a shot at getting back to the White House and that she needs Mellie to remain where she is in order for that to happen. He adds that Olivia doesnt care about Charlie, that Olivia has already made her choice, and he asks Quinn if it isnt time that she herself made her own choice. Quinn has no response to give to this, and Cyrus takes that has his opening. He hands her a slip of paper with the number of a burner phone that he says he will have for the next 24 hours. He tells her that if he doesnt hear from her before those hours are up, Charlie will be a goner.

Soooooo Cyrus presents Olivias purported quest to return to the White House as the boogieman that Quinn ought to fear, yet the alternative that hes proposing is her convincing Charlie to confess to a lie so that Mellie will be ousted from office and Cyrus installed as President? Those choices are like trying to decide between dying by firing squad or by a school of piranhas.





Over at the East Wing, Fitz is waiting in the living area when Mellie comes into the room. She asks of Teddys whereabouts, and Fitz tells her that the nanny went to get the child. Fitz uses the opportunity to ask for a moment of Mellies time, and when she grants it to him, he tells her that he would like to talk about Charlie. Mellie lets out an exasperated sigh as Fitz says to her that Charlie is innocent. Mellie guesses that Olivia sent Fitz to her, and Fitz replies that no one sent him. He goes on to say that it was Cyrus who staged all of this and that he is also gunning for Mellies job.

Unsurprisingly, Mellie believes none of this. She dismisses Fitzs claims as something that a bored Olivia came up with since no one wants to hire an ousted Chief of Staff. (Olivia has never been that bored.) When she asks what reason Cyrus would have to hijacked his own plane, Fitz says that it is so Cyrus would garner himself some public attention. He adds that Cyrus wants the presidency and has no intention of waiting until the end of Mellies term.

Mellie still finds this all to be far-fetched and nonsensical, and I cant even blame her. If I were in her, Id be looking at Fitzgerald sideways, too. She goes on to say that what does make sense to her is that Olivia paid Charlie and whoever else from that gang of criminals she employs to help her plan a takeover, and now Olivia is trying to cover it all up because Charlie got caught by the FBI. (Really? LOL!)

I guess I can see how she would believe this. After all, Olivia did momentarily band up with Cyrus and used the dirt that he brought to her to force Mellie to resign (711). Olivia pulled back at the last minute, but thats the kind of move that leaves a nasty taste in ones mouth.

Fitzgerald (being the silver lining kind of dude that he is) says that Olivia has made some insanely bad choices, but that she, in her own way, has always had Mellies and the countrys best interests at heart. He adds that Cyrus has motive to come after Mellie and that there is no way that Olivia would go this far to eff things up for her. Mellie takes in what he says, but when she looks up at him, she warns that he ought to careful or he will mess around and end up being Olivias accomplice. (LMAOOOO!!)

When has Fitzgerald ever been careful when it comes to Olivia? He might hesitate for two seconds and then he dives in right in face first. He is who he is.





Back at his office now, Fitz shares with Olivia and Marcus his failed attempt with Mellie. He says that she wont hear it, at least not from him. Marcus remarks that Mellie has a lot of people in her ear, and Olivia lists those people as being Cyrus and Jake. She says that Mellie would rather trust those goons than to listen to reason because she.

Olivia cant continue along that train of thought, but Fitz finishes it for her: that Mellie wont heed their warning because Olivia had lied to her, and he says that he doesnt blame Mellie for having her guard up. He is matter-of-fact when he says this, not at all cruel, but Olivia gets all up in her feels about it and she slinks away from their little circle like a kitten who has had her hand swatted upon trying to claw at her owners face.

Seeing her reaction, Fitz says to a retreating Olivia that all he means is that Mellie isnt to blame for not taking her/them at their word. Marcus says that they also cant give up on trying to convince her that what they are saying is true, and he proposes being the one to talk to Mellie about this. He says that he may be able to get through to her, and Olivia tells him to go set up the meeting.

Once Marcus departs, Fitz turns back to Olivia to find her staring desolately out into middle space. He asks her if she is okay and Olivia turns back to him with a feigned act of everything being all good, but the mask doesnt hold for long. Fitz attempts to pull her out of her funk by reminding her that she did some good that she did in the White House, and as he is set to say more, Olivia interrupts to tell him that she knows and that they ought to return to work.

Oh, Fitzgerald. He speaks the truth, realizes that it stung and then tries to make it hurt a little less, but shell be alright. She just has to sit in the harsh facts of her past wrongness and muddle her way through it.

Now back in the conference room with Huck and Abby, Olivia tries to think of what else they may be overlooking with the Lonnie situation. Huck wasnt able to uncover anything more, and Olivia suggests that they look at it from the angle of the missing Cezanne. She says that Cyrus didnt just stick a $100 million painting in a closet, and Abby shares that there isnt anything in the White House logs to show that he carried it out himself. She then wonders if maybe Cyrus may have used Hannah to get the artwork out, and Huck gets to looking to see if that was a possibility.

Quinn enters into the room then, and when she is noticed, everyone turns towards her. Huck asks her how Robin is doing and Quinn answers that her daughter is fine, but she isnt looking directly at anyone when she says this. She appears to be struggling with something and Olivia asks if all is well. It takes Quinn a moment to finally spit out the whole of it, and when she does, she states that they are offering Charlie a deal. He is to get immunity in exchange for his cooperation. That cooperation involves him confessing that he hijacked that plane on Mellies orders.

The others in the room are dumbfounded. Olivia asks if it is Lonnie who Quinn spoke to, and Quinn replies that it was actually Cyrus. Olivia is aghast that Cyrus would bring this deal to Quinn directly, and Quinn snaps that he came to her because she is the one in charge. (Um, okay.) Olivia absorbs that hit and then after a beat verbalizes what she believes Quinn wants to do, which is have Charlie take the deal. Quinn assumes that Olivia would make the same decision, and Liv tells her that she wouldnt. Quinn counters by saying that the deal would save Charlies life, and Olivia replies that it would ruin Mellies.





Huck and Abby are sitting silent as mice, probably wishing that they were anywhere but in that room right then. Olivia has said the wrong thing, which from Quinns perspective, substantiated what Cyrus said to her in the car about Olivias priorities: she only cares about protecting Mellie. Quinn snarks that shes not surprised by what Olivia cares most about, and Olivia replies that the accusation isnt fair, arguing that Mellie is the President. Quinn counters by saying that Mellie is Olivias President, that she is the trophy that [Olivia] won for all [her] years of chasing power. She then adds that even after Mellie kicked her out that Olivia still cant seem to let her go. (Eek!) Olivia replies that that isnt what any of this is all about, that if they stop this coup from happening, they will be responsible for what happens next!

Huck interjects here to ask if they can discuss this matter more calmly, but neither woman is hearing this. Abby tried some moments before, but her words fell on deaf ears. Quinn is going to say her peace today!

Foolishly, Olivia gets to moralizing about this matter being between what is right and wrong and democracy (SMH), and Quinn shouts that Olivia lost her right to give such lectures when she ordered Rowan to shoot her in his basement! (Chile) She goes on to say that this isnt about right or wrong or democracy, but about family --- their family, not Olivias.





Another shot straight to the chest and this one hurts something fierce. Olivias eyes shine with unshed tears as she looks to Huck and then Abby. Huck lets out a regretful sigh at the whole thing and Abby appears to be struggling with her own emotions as she stares up at Olivia. Liv then looks back at Quinn who defiantly stares her down. Taking this as her cue, Olivia angrily packs up her things and leaves the room. Once she is gone, Quinns tough facade crack a bit and I just want to kick her in the face.

Yeah, I was the woman who once wanted to drown Olivia in a vat of acid for all the foolery that she engaged in, but I cant take this anymore. Cant we fast-forward to the happy parts now? This is hurting my heart. And no matter how entitled I know that she is to her anger, Im about thisclose to tossing Quinn in a box and shoot her straight into the sun.

The Truth Comes Spilling Out

Later we see Mellie in the Residence watching a news report where Cyrus is being asked for his reaction to the news that a suspect in the hijacking has been arrested. He is asked if he would like to send a message to the suspect, and Cyrus says that he is putting all of his faith in the special prosecutor (Lonnie). He adds that he survived the hijacking for a reason and that reason was not for him to send vindictive messages to the person responsible for his ordeal. He then tells the reporters that he has a job that he must get back to, and off he goes.

Mellie is now staring at the image of Cyrus with suspicion, Fitzs words clearly having made some impression. Jump ahead a bit and she is now in the Oval with Jake. She has shared with him what she was told about Cyrus, and while Jake concedes that there is a possibility that this could be true, it cant see a reason as to why Cyrus would go through all of that. He then asks Mellie if she has a reason to suspect Cyrus, and when Mellie remains mum, Jake guesses that this came to her via Olivia and he wants to know how she managed to do that. (LOL! Olivia is resourceful, Pete.)

Jake is now flustered as Mellie remarks that the accusation is worth ruling out. She brings up what he said on television about him surviving the hijacking for a reason as if he is someone who was anointed, and when she states that they were working to push him out, Jake snaps and says that the only person that they succeeded in pushing out is now being let back in by Mellie. He asks her who is running the Oval, and Mellie replies that she is and that she wants him to look into Cyrus.

Here is another bozo who should have been dead long ago, but here we still are.





Im still trying to work out what his beef with Olivia is. Maybe in one of these upcoming episodes we will be told because right now, his anger towards her has me all kinds of confused. Didnt he declare to Fitz that Olivia was turning into the person that she was destined to be (704)? So when she ended up eating her young, hes upset? He thought he was her special snowflake, didnt he? Up here asking Mellie who is running the Oval. He aint have a damn thing to say about who was running the Oval when Olivia was serving as Mellies puppeteer and he was her B613 sidekick. He was all about serving Command and keeping Mellie in the dark. Now he mad.







Lame.

Back over at the Grant Institute, Fitz is approaching his office when he sees that Huck is waiting for him. He comes into the room and asks Huck if there is something that he wanted, and Huck wants confirmation that the woman that has been in the conference room with them is Olivia. Fitz moves to close the office door to afford them privacy before turning back to Huck to ask him clarify what he means. Huck is referring to the old Olivia, from before all the bad stuff happened. Fitz asks Huck what it is that he thinks, and Huck replies that the woman looks and talks like her, but that he cannot trust himself because he badly wants this to be true and could just be seeing things that arent there. (Aww)

Huck asks Fitz what it is that he sees, and Fitz replies that he sees the old Olivia, too. But he adds that he is in the same situation in that he also wants that Olivia back as much as Huck does, so it could be that they are both seeing things. Huck accepts that, but then says that Fitz feels like he does, and Fitz concurs that he does.

Sigh. Olivias main bae and platonic brother bae arent about to have me curled up in a fetal position, man. Huck using Fitz to confirm his suspicions about Olivias present mental state has been one of the best character moments to come out of this season. Who better than the two who know her best and love her most to signal to the audience that change is afoot with our girl?





Returning to the White House, Jake has arrived at Cyruss office. When he is invited in, Jake proceeds to tell Cyrus that he just had a meeting with the Deputy Attorney General and that the man is under the impression that Lonnie Mencken found his way onto the hijacking case thanks to Cyruss recommendation. Cyrus chuckles at this as he stands from behind his desk, expressing surprise at this. Jake replies that he isnt sure as to what he was told, hence the reason he has come.

Cyrus wonders aloud if Jake just randomly ran into the Deputy AG or if he reached out to him because he heard a rumor. Cyrus goes on to say that he can assure Jake that the rumors are true! Dafuq





Jake is startled as Cyrus outright confesses to having hijacked his own plane. He stares at the old man for a long moment, dumbfounded by this unexpected turn of events, and says that this was not at all how he expected this meeting to go. (LOL!) Cyrus says that he didnt expect it to go this way either, and he states that he is sure that Jake has a pair of scissors or some other lethal office supply in his possession that he intends to use to threaten him into talking. Jake merely claims a nearby seat and stares up at Cyrus in stupefaction.

Cyrus continues by saying that they should skip the threatening part since its a boring waste of time and proposes that they get right into the good stuff. Jake asks what the good stuff is, and Cyrus says that he has a plan that ends with him installed as President and includes a job for Jake in his Administration. Jake appears to still be stunned as he remarks on Cyrus thinking that he will work for him, and Cyrus replies that he thinks that Jake will work with him. Jake tells him then that if this is actually part of his plan, then it is flawed, but Cyrus says that he doesnt think so.

Sitting down across from Jake, Cyrus says that the Admiral can refuse his offer, but in doing so, Jake would be dooming himself to a life as a second-class citizen. He goes on to say that Jake could take him down and save the day, but that Jake will still be nothing more to Mellie than a consolation prize. Jakes interest is piqued now as Cyrus explains that Jake is the thing that Mellie got when she couldnt have Olivia. He then takes this a step further by saying that it would be the same as how Jake was Olivias consolation prize when she couldnt have Fitz.

Sweet Baby Jesus on the Cross

Cyrus is one hell of a gamemaster. He studies all of his potential roadblocks, finds their weaknesses, and then aims with threadlike precision. He tells Jake that in refusing his offer to join up with him, Jake will always remain in second place, always be the second choice. Remember when Jake claimed that he doesnt play second fiddle to anyone, even the President when Olivia only agreed to go to the White House Correspondents Dinner with him because she wanted to see her boo thang (305)? Or when he tells Olivia that hes in love with her, but that she is in love with Fitz (422)?

Yeah. Second fiddle. Forever.

Homeboy must have had a quick flashback of all the times that Olivia burned his behind in favor of Fitz. Lest we not forget what she told him in Til Death Do Us Part (518), you know, where she referred to him as a lesser version of...the man [she] truly deserve[s]. Some of yall still outchea peddling that she didnt mean what she said, butteruh.





Cyrus states that Jake is investigating him because Olivia succeeded in putting a bug in Mellies ear. He says that if Jake blows his cover, Olivia will be proven right and her relationship with Mellie will get back on track. Mellie will get her first choice back and Jake will be out on his ass.

Cyrus acknowledges that he and Jake dont like each other, but the future he sees is of them or it will be of Olivia and Mellie. Jake finally speaks here, saying that Cyrus seems fairly certain of what he is saying, and Cyrus replies that he is and that he believes that Jake will feel the same once he takes the time to consider his offer. As Jake makes to leave the office, Cyrus tells him that he shouldnt take too long to make his decision, for the offer is only available for a limited time. (LOL...I cant.)

Over at the Justice Department, Lonnie is seen coming into Davids office. David asks him over to check in on him and see how the investigation was coming along. He invites him to take a seat, but Lonnie chooses to stand. He tells David that he cant discuss anything regarding the case with him, and David says that he just wondered if Lonnie needed a sounding board. Lonnie turns stone cold serious as he says that he is going to leave now before he has to charge the Attorney General with obstruction of justice.

David follows Lonnie to the door and says that the man that is being questioned is actually innocent and that Lonnie knows this. Lonnie counters by saying that what he knows is that Charlie worked on Mellies campaign on behalf of a firm that was founded by Mellies former Chief of Staff. The campaign, he reminds David, ended with Mellies opponent being assassinated and Cyrus wrongfully being arrested for that matter. Lonnie says that this may all be a coincidence, but he can also put Charlie on the tarmac at the time that Rashads plane blew up and he can link him to the virus responsible for hijacking Air Force Two. (Yall are good.)

As the conversation progresses, David learns that what has put Lonnie on this path is Mellies position on guns. Lonnie speaks of how a disturbed young man walked into a superstore and bought a whole bunch of semi-automatics that he would a week later use to shoot up his son during a trip Lonnie and Adam took to the mall. Lonnie says that Mellie may be the most progressive Republican that the country has had in a century, but that she is exactly like the rest of them when it comes to the guns. David realizes then what compelled an otherwise upright man to fall in with the likes of Cyrus Beene.

Elsewhere and right across from the White House, Olivia sits on a park bench in deep contemplation. (Shout out to the AU! [610]) After a moment, she looks up at the big white building and just stares.

Meanwhile inside of it, Marcus has arrived for his meeting with Mellie and Mellie is annoyed that yet another one of them has come to warn her about Cyrus. She likens them to door-to-door salesmen who keep knocking even after she tells them that she doesnt want what they are selling. Marcus asks her to consider that maybe what Olivia is saying is indeed true and that those who care about her the most are the ones who keep knocking.

Sighing, Mellie says that she isnt just going to believe Olivias word without any hard evidence. (Smart.) Marcus nods in acknowledgement of that as he comes over to take a seat next to Mellie. He tells her that Olivia isnt trying to trick her, but instead trying to save her. Mellie asks Marcus how it is that he can just trust Olivia after everything that she did to him. Marcus corrects her to state that what Olivia did was done to the two of them (i.e. break them up by getting him the press secretary job).

Marcus asks Mellie if she recalls why Olivia did that and Mellie says that it is because Olivia is a condescending, small person. (Zzzz.) Marcus points out that Olivia was trying to make Mellie president and succeeded (Erm.), and that she is right now working to keep Mellie president. (I dont know why.) When Mellie says that Olivia lied to her multiple times, Marcus acknowledges this and says that despite that, he knows that Mellie misses Olivia. Mellie admits to missing having Olivia in her corner and says that she misses her .

Give me a break. Sorry Mellie stans, but I just cant. She misses Olivia, she says. More like she misses having competence keeping her company and propping her up. Go argue with someone else about this.





Marcus assures Mellie that Olivia is still in her corner, adding that he, too, is in Mellies corner and always will be. The two of them get to making fire eyes at each other and Mellie places her hand on top of his. Its about to be on like donkey kong!

Over in the B613 lair, Jake is engaging in his usual voyeuristic activity of watching others unobserved. He watches and listens in on whats happening in the Oval thanks to the camera that hangs from the ceiling of the room. (The cameras. [106]) As it becomes obvious that things are about to get hot and heavy between Mellie and Marcus, he shuts down the feed. He not only got confirmation that Mellie misses her former Chief of Staff, Jake also learned that he apparently is second place with Mellie in one other way. Welp.

Olivia arrives at her old office suite to find the entryway covered in crime scene tape and the door left slightly ajar. She makes her way inside and notes the mess that the agents left in their wake. She makes it to the big office and sees the white hat where it had been tossed on the floor. As she bends down to pick it up for examination, Quinn comes in and says that the hat doesnt belong to Olivia anymore. (Okay, sheesh. Calm all the way down.)

Olivia extends the hat to her as she thanks her for meeting with her, but Quinn just stares at her with hard eyes and doesnt accept the hat. Olivia slowly starts her way around the other side of the conference table when Quinn remarks on how difficult it is to look at the mess that the FBI made of the office. When Olivia says that they really trashed the place, Quinn agrees and adds that the feds dont care about them. Olivia states then that the agents were merely doing their job, that none of this was personal, and Quinn replies that that is what scares her. She says this whole thing is like a giant meat grinder that Charlie is stuck within, and she asks Olivia if she can blame her for wanting to pull him out. Olivia replies that she doesnt blame her for wanting to do that, and she is going to say more, but she stops herself, stating that there is no reason for them to go over it all again. Quinn disagrees. She believes that they ought to.

Quinn recalls what Olivia said to Rowan about Quinn having to die for the Republic if necessary, and Quinn scoffs at the absurdity of that ideal, asking what it is about this idea that is so pure that would justify the deaths of thousands in order to keep it intact. Olivia answers that the United States is worthy of such a sacrifice for it is a nation that is built on the idea that its citizens are its best stewards. (The irony of a Black woman advocating this is not lost on me, friends.) Quinn questions if Olivia truly means Americas citizens or the countrys anointed band of secret assassins.





At this, Olivia admits that she was wrong in what she said and did that day. She says that she tried to tell herself that what she did was for the Republic, but that that was a lie. What she did was for herself and ambitions. She states that she believed that she could fix the world with a few smart chess moves and that the ends justify the means, but then Quinn came along talking about justice, and she was afraid that Quinn would screw her carefully crafted world up. Quinn interjects then to say that she would have indeed screwed it all up, and Olivia calmly replies that Quinn would have had every right to have done so.

After a brief moment, Olivia apologizes to Quinn for all that she had done to her. (Aww) She then essentially says that she had no ground to tell Quinn that Charlie shouldnt accept the deal because of some principle. Quinn tells her that she knows taking the deal is wrong, but that what they arent choosing between right and wrong here, but between being wrong and dead. (Well, thats a slight remix from what she had said earlier.)

Olivia says that she hears Quinn, but that her gut is telling her to protect Mellie. When Quinn sighs over this, Olivia adds that the problem is that she doesnt trust her gut anymore, and that she of all people hasnt the right to tell Quinn to stake Charlies life on an idea. She says that at the present moment, she no longer knows what is right or wrong, but that what she does know is that she trusts Quinn. She says that unlike herself, Quinn never lost her way. She goes on to say that she called Quinn there to tell her all of this and to let her know that whatever it is that she decides to do with Charlie, that she will support it. (Double aww!)







Olivia tells Quinn that this call has to be hers to make, and she extends the white hat to her once more, and this time Quinn accepts it.

This was definitely a moment that these two stubborn ass women needed, and it couldnt have happened without Quinns initial nastiness and Olivia as a result being forced to contemplate all that has been said to her about her past behavior. Fitz still has her at some distance, Mellie wont trust her, the gladiators are still mad at her, credibility is freakin shot. She did this all to herself, but at least, shes owning her ugly and making amends for it. My girl is emerging from the fog, yall!

A really well done scene here between Kerry Washington and Katie Lowes.

Moments later, Cyrus is seen answering his burner phone. It is Quinn calling to tell him that she declines his offer. She says that she gave it some thought, but that she cant have Charlie sign the confession, that its right. Cyrus calls her decision adorable and says that it was considerate of her to have made the call. He then says that unfortunate for her, he no longer needs her help. Quinn asks him what he means by this and he replies that it means that he has made alternate arrangements. Upon Cyrus hanging up on Quinn, the camera pans out to reveal that Jake is in the office with him. He has decided to team up with the devil.







I should have known. Or so it appears. We have been down this path with Jake in the past only for Shonda to fake us out (418, 517-18, 605), so Im expecting something similar to happen here. Ill live in the moment though, and in so doing, I declare that Jake is trash.

Charlie is seen being dragged back into that interrogation room and this time, he is bloodier than he had been when he was brought out to speak with Lonnie. The person he is being summoned by this time is Jake, and Charlie assumes that Jake is there to free him, stating that it was about time that they figured out a way to get him out. Jake soon disabuses him of this belief, telling him that he isnt there to free him. When Jake says nothing more, Charlie studies him for a moment and soon realizes that Jake has been got, too. (Supposedly.)

Jake says to him that they need him to take the deal. When Jake starts in about what will happen if Charlie doesnt sign, Charlie sarcastically asks if they are going to torture him. He tells Jake to look at his face, and Jake has a hard time keeping his eyes on him. Charlie asks if he believes that there is anything else that these people could possibly do to him that they havent already done. And he wonders if Jake believes there is anything that he himself could do to make matters worse for him. (Chaaaaarlie.)

Jake replies then that what he would do wouldnt be directly to Charlie, and realization hits Charlie too late. Jake says that his assignment is to make Charlie signs that confession by any means necessary. Charlie warns Jake not to go anywhere near Quinn and Jake tells him that he cant put whatever happens next on him. He says that he doesnt want to kill Quinn, that he actually likes her and that even Charlie is on his nice list these days, present circumstances notwithstanding. He states that he doesnt want to make Robin an orphan, but that Cyrus has brought in his closer and so he is there to close. (Ill be the happiest girl when Charlie kills him.)

Charlie argues that he cant just take down a president as they are proposing, and Jake tells him that he can and will because he stood next to him at Quinns funeral and saw how much he loves her. He states that it is the reason why rule number one is rule number one of B613, and that is no family. Jake says that when they break rule number one, they lose control, and when that happens, somebody else seizes it. He states that in this situation, it is himself who is in control, that he has seized that which used to be Charlies. (Diiiiiiiie.) He declares that Charlie will sign the document or he wont have any control as to when Quinn goes in the ground.





The following morning, Mellie wakes up purring with Marcus enveloping her in an embrace. (Note: this episode was given an S rating, but at the last minute, Marlies sexy was cut out. We know this because Darby tweeted about the moment, but we the audience didnt see it. I aint even mad since because this aint the swirl hookup that Ive been waiting on.)

I guess them cobwebs got cleaned out last night.





The two are being cute with each other in bed when Rachel knocks on the door and immediately enters without warning. She gets an eyeful and quickly turns away. (Hahaha! Sho wasnt expecting to see that .) Mildly annoyed by the intrusion, Mellie asks Rachel what the matter is.

Mellie is next seen hurrying down the White House hallway and directly to Jakes office. She informs him that Lonnie Mencken just served her with a subpoena because Charlie is claiming that she hired him. (Ah damn. Charlie signed.) Mellie goes on about how a man with no last name is accusing her of hijacking Cyruss plane and that people are actually believing him. Mellie says that something is very wrong here, something that is very Cyrus Beene.

She tells Jake that they (meaning he) immediately need to handle this, stating that they need to get rid of the special prosecutor and bury the subpoena, but Jake speaks up then in a drawl tone, stating that he doesnt think Mellies plan is wise. Mellie is startled by his response and then steps closer up to his desk to ask him if he is hearing what she is saying. She says that POTUS has been served and that when the press gets wind of this, the stock markets will crash and polls will sink, and that the Administration will go down.

Jake interrupts then to say that it is actually Mellie who will be going down. He informs her that B613 no longer serves her and that he doesnt believe it is wise for her to try to take on the special prosecutor without the organization backing her. He tells her that she and Olivia can take their chances. (Bitch.)

Mellie takes a step back and stares at Jake in disbelief. She mutters about how Olivia had been right about the whole thing and Jake being wrong. Mellie then goes on the attack, asking if Jake got his feelings hurt because a woman did his job(s) better than he did, or if this is all because she didnt want to hold hands with him in the Oval. (LOL! Its all of the above and more, Mel.) She frustratingly exclaims that she needs him right now, but Jake is closed off. He tells her that he tried to serve as her adviser and give her his loyalty, but that Mellie didnt want that. He then wishes her luck and leaves the room.

Can a house drop on his already? UGH!

As Mellie predicted, word of the subpoena hit the news, and its hot ass mess. The gladiators are watching the report with Marcus, Olivia and Fitz in the latters office. They all look helpless.

Flashing slightly forward, Olivia is seen sitting alone in the reception area of the Grant Institute. She is clearly experiencing a moment of internal crisis as she bobs back and forth on her perch while pinching on the bridge of her nose. Huck comes out to join her, and like Fitz did earlier, he asks Olivia is she is okay. She looks up at Huck, but isnt able to answer him.

Huck comes to sit down next to her and after a beat, Olivia apologizes to him. Huck says to her that they havent yet lost, and Olivia tells him that she isnt talking about the Mellie situation. Huck replies that it was the old Olivia (this time he means the bad gyal Liv) who did all of those things, and that she is now gone. It is when he seeks confirmation from her of this being true that her phone starts to vibrate. Olivia looks down at her phone and is stunned by what she sees. She tells Huck that she has to go, but before she leaves, Huck has a few things to say to her.

Huck speaking to her is interspersed with Olivia stomping down one of the tunnels that is underneath the White House. Huck tells her that they have all done bad things and hurt people, and that it is what they do next that matters.

Over to the tunnels, Olivia makes it to her destination and finds Mellie waiting there for her. Mellie says that she needs her to do something for her and Olivia nods without hesitation. Mellie asks her to be her Command again and kill Cyrus!





Say what? Oh hell nah! This woman will not be pulling Olivia back down into the dark with these temptatious shenanigans of hers. No, no, and no. Olivia is a chaos fixing addict who should not be given back any part of the roles that he previously inhabited. Is this why Mellie supposedly missed Olivia? Because she handled everything? ARGH!

And you know something? Olivia made a damn big mistake in bringing B613 into the White House. It has NO BUSINESS there. It was never meant to operate under the same roof, let alone be at the beck and call of the President. Now you have Melody outchea talking about Olivia coming back to serve as her Command as if Command is there specifically to do as she needs of them.





Frankly, none of these mofos should even be in that House. Somebody find me Susan Ross STAT!

Anyway, my guess is that Olivia aint killing anybody. First of all, there are only three episodes left in this series, so, yeah. Second of all, shes not about to take 10 steps back after having just apologized to Quinn AND Huck for her past betrayal. Shes heading back towards the light, baby! Shell find some way to rectify this without resorting to murder. If she doesnt, someone else will handle the situation instead. My bet is on Rowan and/or Charlie.

So what did you guys think of the episode? Good, bad, eh? Did you wish dead the same characters that I did or am I being a tad over dramatic with the death wishes? Answer carefully, people.

What do you anticipate will happen is set to happen next?? My guess is that shell make good with Mellie by offering her some apology. I assume that shes good with Abby now and that nothing else will be forthcoming on that front. She may apologize to Jake because, you know, she has repeatedly bruised his second place ego. It would be to her benefit to admit that she used him as toy and that that wasnt cool, even though his entry and constant presence in her life has brought her nothing but bad news. Charlie maybe? He deserves something. Even Marcus. Sheesh, shes done a lot of people dirty. And last, but definitely not the least, will be Fitzgerald. Thats my guess anyway.

Get to chopping it up down in the Comments section below or tweet me your thoughts!Commonwealth Champion Mercy Cherono had an Easter holiday to remember following the delivery of her child.

The track beauty queen and her husband Edmond Ngetich welcomed the bouncing baby girl on Saturday. She goes by the name Kimberly Cherop and her elated father welcomed her into the world with a message on social media.

He wrote: The best gift from God this Easter. Welcome to the world, princess. And to my lovely wife Cherono Ngetich Mercy, congratulations!

The 26-year-old athlete married Ngetich on the 19th of December 2016 at a lavish ceremony soon after Ngetich scooped a Sh10 million jackpot from Mcheza.

The couple made headlines last year after they traveled to Nigeria to seek divine intervention in their marriage and Cheronos injury-plagued career.

VIDEO: Track Beauty Queen Mercy Cherono Seeks Divine Intervention from TB Joshua to Save Marriage and Career

It appears Prophet TB Joshuas intervention has been successful and all is well now for two-time 3000 meters world junior champion.It appears Deputy President William Ruto will have an easy ride to State House in 2022. The DP remains the firm favorite to take over from President Kenyatta as leaders from both sides of the political divide continue to drum up support for his Presidency, four years before the next General Election.

The latest in a long list of lawmakers to declare their support for Ruto is Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo. The Wiper MP is apparently ready to sacrifice his political career to support William Rutos 2022 presidency bid.

Mbogo said he will back the Deputy President because he is a friend indeed who helped a friend in need.

He said the DP has shown he is committed to solving the problems of Kisauni constituents.

The DP has started showing love to the people of Kisauni. Let us stand with him in 2022. I am ready to sacrifice my political career for the benefit of my people.

The legislator noted that Ruto helped secure the release of a valuation report for some 400 acres of land in Junda ward that was occupied by squatters.

Mbogo said Ruto has also promised to ensure 18kms of roads between Kiembeni and Mwakirunge, that connect to Kilifi county at Mkapuni, are tarmacked.

Of Opposition leader Raila Odinga, Mbogo said he has shown the way by teaming up with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

He noted the Coast region has been in the Opposition for a long period yet nothing has been solved.

After former Kisauni MP Karisa Maitha died in 2004, no other MP has solved the problems in the constituency, especially not the squatter problem.

We have had Ananiah Mwaboza, Hassan Joho, and Rashid Bedzimba  none of them helped, Mbogo said.

We cant be in the dark for 20 years. When you marry a wife and she does not bear you children after 10 years, you are allowed to marry a second wife.T he owner of Magners cider on Wednesday emerged as a white knight, and laid out a 102 million rescue plan to save the major wholesale and distribution arm of drinks retailer Conviviality.

Drinks manufacturer C&C said that with the backing of Budweiser-to-Becks beer firm AB InBev, it is in advanced talks to buy Matthew Clark and Bibendum and a number of their subsidiaries. That would safeguard around 2,000 jobs.

Those brands supply thousands of products to hotels, restaurants and pubs across the country.

They are part of Bargain Booze and Wine Rack owner Conviviality, which employs around 2,600 and last week admitted it was days away from administration.

In one of the most rapid corporate collapses of recent years, the business, valued on the stock market at 560 million weeks ago, is now worthless.

Last month its boss Diana Hunter stepped down after a profit warning and the discovery of an unpaid 30 million tax bill. The dividend was axed and trading in its shares suspended.

Todays rescue proposal is on the condition that Conviviality appoints administrators. PwC was expected to be appointed today.

C&C said it would pay a nominal sum for the shares, and would have 102 million of working capital for Matthew Clark Bibendum. Conviviality supplier AB InBev previously urged shareholders to support a fundraising effort.

C&Cs chief executive Stephen Glancey told the Evening Standard: If Matthew Clark had toppled it would have been catastrophic for pubs and suppliers."

He added: The last few weeks have been rather challenging for employees, customers and suppliers alike. We hope todays announcement can put an end to this period of disruption and uncertainty.

He said the purchase would be significant for C&C as it would give the firm access to potentially 27,000 new customers.S ome would have it that the takeover of GKN by Melrose is a victory for spivs and speculators, for hedge funds and haughty arbitrageurs.

For critics of City short-termism  there is no shortage of it  this deal is a symptom of what is wrong with British capitalism: too casual, too happy to see the nations assets flogged off.

A Bloomberg headline last week had it as An $11 billion victory for hostility and hedge fund arbs.

Hedge funds are annoying, but the trouble with stories about their omnipotence is that they assume the hedgies always get it right.

More truthful is that hedge funds fail in the end. If they made a few quid this time, just look at that as an offset to utterly inevitable future losses.

Back to GKN. My man in the pinstriped suit poring over the shareholder registers makes the following point: the ownership of the new company is essentially the same. Melroses top 10 shareholders were all GKN investors. Of the top 25 Melrose shareholders, 22 had shares in GKN.

BlackRock, for example, had 7.2% of Melrose and 6.6% of GKN. Threadneedle has 4.6% of Melrose and 3.6% of GKN. L&G had 3.1% of Melrose and 2.6% of GKN.

In other words, not that much has changed. Newspapers get very excited about activist investors, taking small stakes in businesses and harrying for change. They sometimes have an effect, but they need to take other investors with them, to persuade the City that theyve got a point.

The new GKN will have a British CEO and all of its main businesses will be run by Brits in Britain. If anything, the result of the takeover is to make GKN more British, not less.

Vince Cable intervened, naturally, asking the Government to block the takeover which he saw as a massive blow to our industrial strategy. This had the usual force of announcements from the Lib-Dem leader, amounting to something like throwing a ping-pong ball at a lion. The City shrugged, and carried on. So it should.

Sorrell faces a sorry farewell

How long will you stay at WPP? I asked Sir Martin Sorrell a few weeks back. As long as theyll have me, he deadpanned.

For Sorrell, the notion that investors are aggrieved must hurt. He built the business, regards it as his own. CEOs can run fiefdoms for so long as everything is working. Todays allegations of personal misconduct couldnt have come at a worse time.Here's some interesting UK stats.

The number of new tech companies being set up in the UK rose by almost 60 per cent in 2017 according to new analysis by RSM.

In total, there were 10,016 software development and programming businesses incorporated in 2017, a 59 per cent increase on the 6,300 companies set up in 2016.

The data from Companies House also revealed growth in tech company incorporations across every region in the UK.

London recorded the highest number of annual incorporations at 4,238, a jump of 76 per cent. This was followed by the South East on 1,296, a 40 per cent rise while the North West recorded 707 new tech firms, 29 per cent up on the previous year.

The figures validate the Chancellors recent claim during the Spring Statement speech that a new tech firm is set up in the UK every hour.

Commenting on the figures, David Blacher, head of RSMs technology, media and telecoms team said: "These figures show very clearly that despite the fears of a post-referendum slowdown, the UK tech sector is incredibly vibrant and growing at a remarkable rate.

"There are a number of reasons for this. The UKs universities are playing a key role in developing and nurturing exceptional talent. The country - and London particularly - is also continuing to attract the worlds brightest and best.F rom California to London, the power of social media to provoke and share images of violent action has been on display in different ways this week.

At YouTubes headquarters yesterday an attacker shot and wounded several members of staff. It was a vivid metaphor for the age  an attack on a social media organisation, shown widely on social media.

Meanwhile, in our city, the Metropolitan Police are trying to deal with a sharp rise in the murder rate, with social media being blamed as one of the causes.

Cressida Dick, the Met Commissioner, has pointed to the speed and ease with which the internet can send extreme images filmed on phones, with the result that what once might have been minor fights now escalate fast.

Social media sites, she says, rev people up. People go from slightly angry with each other to fight very quickly.

That, sadly, may have been the case in the death this week of 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, whose murder may have been the indirect consequence of a gang battle made worse by posts on social media showing a fight over the weekend.

This morning also brought the sad news of the death in another incident of 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor.

Not every recent killing is linked to social media but there is enough evidence to demand action.

Its right to expect the companies involved to crack down on online material which incites attacks. And, if they fail, then Parliament has every right to legislate.

Up to now the focus has been on hate material which encourages terrorist acts. But as Londons rising murder rate this year shows, the challenge is closer to home.

The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, will set out a strategy for dealing with serious violence next week. That is welcome.

A decade ago, when the youth murder rate in the capital surged because of knife crime, the authorities worked together to bring it down.

Although the causes have changed, and social media has added new challenges, the problem can be tackled once again.

Londoners are right to be outraged by these shocking deaths on our streets: they can and must be prevented.

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Mind the pay gap

Today is the deadline for Britains larger businesses to report publicly on their gender pay gap. Most firms with more than 250 employees have now produced the data, including the Evening Standard.

They show a difference of 18 per cent in average pay between men and women, driven in many cases by the preponderance of men in the most senior and better-paid executive jobs in companies.

Though employers have grumbled, and issues remain to be resolved over the quality and the auditing of the pay numbers, the overall result of the exercise has been overwhelmingly positive.

It has hugely raised the profile of equal pay and the under-promotion of women, and has spurred many companies (including this one) to do more to create a female-friendly workplace.

Some of Britains largest firms look like missing the deadline.

They have no excuse  and should face stiff censure, while the Tory Government that introduced this progressive policy should be commended.

The real test of its success, however, will come in the next couple of years when we see whether that unacceptable pay gap is starting to be closed.

Eurostar goes Dutch

This morning the first Eurostar full of fare-paying passengers sped its way from London to Amsterdam.

In under four hours, twice a day, you can now travel on a new direct route between the cities (the return journey will remain more complex until border controls are sorted out).

Its the latest link in an old relationship.

In the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, Britain and the Netherlands fought sea battles to control the route between them. Nowadays that journey is an easy train ride.T oday is an important day in the history of gender equality. Not since Jerry Hall got married in a pair of flat shoes have I been this excited for modern feminism. Companies with more than 250 people will have to publish their gender pay gaps  the difference between the median hourly wages earned by women and by men.

Almost all of the 9,000 business and public-sector bodies required to report their pay gap have done so and more than three-quarters have a gap that favours men.

On average, the British median gap in pay per hour is 18 per cent, although some companies, including Ryanair, HSBC and retailer Phase Eight, have disclosed figures of more than 50 per cent. This papers gap is 12.8 per cent so Ill be having words as soon as Ive filed this piece.

And thats why this simple figure is so interesting. Yes, its an average and slightly crude  but it tells you everything you need to know about an organisation and where the women are.

A big gap means that all the senior well-paid jobs with juicy bonuses are held by men and most of the women are stuck in the lower ranking, less well-remunerated positions. And if youre happy with that then great, but I suspect most women wont be.

The figures provide a snapshot of an organisation and allow you to compare data, especially within sectors. They ignite a debate and this kind of transparency is vital to improving equality. If you cant see it, you cant fix it. But there are those who complain that the data is meaningless because it doesnt drill down deep enough. This is nonsense.

Any HR department worth its salt is making sure that they collect a whole raft of stats, especially to make sure that there isnt unequal pay between men and women doing the same jobs. But many senior HR professionals have told me that being forced to publish this data in this way has been the catalyst for some important and long overdue conversations with their senior bosses (usually men).

And they are now developing proper plans to better support women returning after having children and to create better leadership paths. Sometimes you need a stick to nudge behaviour. And its good to break open this stuffy culture of salary secrecy.

Its more polite to ask a colleague who theyre having it off with, than enquire about the size of their pay packet. Theresa May has rightly said the gender pay gap is a burning injustice and has called on business to do their bit.

But so must she. We need a radical reform of childcare and adult social care in this country.

We need a culture shift where fathers can play a greater part in caring for the family and we need to start getting rid of gender stereotypes such as boy jobs and girl jobs.

And gender pay equality could see up to 150 billion added to our GDP, which could cover our Brexit divorce bill. Whats not to like?

Have I got news for Merton  loads of women want a turn on his show

As Have I Got News For You prepares to return for its 55th series, the lack of female MP presenters and how women fare on the show has hit the headlines. Paul Merton says we just dont want the gig and Ian Hislop says were too modest.

Jo Brand, Victoria Coren and Kirsty Young, are regular presenters but only one female politician has ever hosted  Ann Widdecombe. By way of an excuse, Paul Merton offered us a bitchy anecdote about what a nightmare Widdecombe had been when she appeared the second time.

Kirsty Young is a regular presenter of Have I Got News For You / BBC

I have some sympathy, having presented The Wright Stuff on Channel 5 last week when she was a guest  but should you condemn half the population on the basis of one unpleasant experience with one woman? Its time for HIGNFY to get more women on screen and into its famous writing room.

Many of one us are keen as mustard, not that modest (COUGHS) and definitely better than a tub of lard.

* Next Tuesday you can catch me on BBC Radio 4s Great Lives where I tell the story of Jayaben Desai, who led the famous Grunwick strike in north-west London in 1976.

She and other immigrant female workers were treated appallingly and one day she snapped. The 4ft 10in Indian woman in a sari told her 6ft manager: What you are running here is not a factory, it is a zoo.

But in a zoo, there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys who dance at your fingertips, others are lions who can bite your head off. We are the lions, Mr Manager.The man accused of impersonating Muranga Woman Representative Sabina Chege and extorting money from MPs has been detained four days.

25-Year-Old Wazir Benson Masubo Chacha, a former Ministry of Devolution employee, faced Resident Magistrate Christine Njagi on Tuesday.

Investigating officer John Kiprop had asked for a seven-day detention period to allow for complete investigations.

Kiprop added that the suspect would likely escape if released as he has no fixed abode. He further said the seven-day investigation would enable police recover exhibits that are crucial to the case.

But Chachas lawyer, Job Geresa, claimed that his client had mental challenges.

The Magistrate ordered that Chacha be remanded for four days and undergo mental checks.

The suspect was arrested on March 30 at Tarime in Tanzania while trying to escape to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti said on Sunday that Tanzanian police helped coordinate the operation.

He said that he received information from the authorities in Tarime, who said the suspect was planning to sneak out of the country.

Kinoti added that a police dragnet had been widened and more suspects will be arrested in connection with cyberbullying and extorting of money from Members of Parliament.

Also Read: Suspect in Sabina Chege M-Pesa Con Scheme Dated Former Woman RepF ool or knave? Jeremy Corbyn has forced us to ask the question by his extraordinary decision to attend a Seder celebration on Monday organised by the radical group, Jewdas.

In this case, context is all. After more than a week of intense controversy over anti-Semitism in Labour ranks, the party leader chose to spend time with a group that regards the allegations as no more than a smear campaign, describes Israel as a steaming pile of sewage and satirises Jewish Birthright trips to Israel with Birthwrong visits to Spain.

As Wes Streeting, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews, told the Guido Fawkes website: What on earth was he thinking? This demonstrates either extraordinarily bad judgment or a deliberate affront to the majority of British Jews. Probably both. Precisely when statesmanship was most required, Corbyn chose frivolity and contrarianism.

The speed with which the row over anti-Semitism has engulfed Labour has been both shocking and healthy. It has been depressing to see the extent of the problem disclosed and to observe the prickly haplessness with which the party leadership has responded to the crisis.

But it is all to the good that the sustained scrutiny and outrage has forced Corbyn to a point where he must take robust public and sustained action if he still wishes to become Prime Minister. The choice is now emphatically his.

Matthew d'Ancona

Why has this political trauma cut so deep? It has often seemed that the Labour leader is coated in moral Teflon as he has weathered attacks over Brexit, Syria, Cold War espionage, the Skripal poisoning and much else besides.

He not only survived a vote of no confidence by his own MPs and the subsequent leadership contest in 2016, but emerged stronger than ever, defying pundits and polls alike in last years general election.

In contrast, however, the charge of anti-Semitism has broken through his leaderships immune system and caused real damage. This, I think, is because, unlike previous accusations, it strikes at the very heart of his appeal.

It is not ideology that has driven Corbyns popularity. His political gifts reside in an apparently limitless capacity to stretch out a hand, to send good cheer coursing through crowds, to offer a flash of hope in a fog of grey. It was this perceived generosity of spirit that shone against the arid technocracy offered by the Tories last June.

But it is hard  no, impossible  to square this spirit with the structural anti-Semitism that has been revealed by, for instance, the Sunday Timess investigation into Corbynite Facebook groups. The fact that these online communities have or had no formal link to the party is a feeble excuse:

12 senior staff working for the Labour leader and John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, were signed up to groups that featured posts supporting Hitler, claiming that the Holocaust was a big lie!, asserting that the Nazis should have finished off the job and alleging that the worlds financial system is controlled by Jews.

In one of his many statements last week Corbyn apologised for the pockets of anti-Semitism in his party  a variant of the few bad apples formula that first became commonplace when the police were defending themselves against accusations of racism in the early Eighties.

Here I defer to the wisdom of the American comedian Chris Rock. Some jobs cant have bad apples, he says in his latest comedy special. Some jobs, everybody gotta be good. Like pilots. You know, American Airlines cant be like, Most of our pilots like to land. We just got a few bad apples that like to crash into mountains. Please bear with us.

Politicians are not quite the same as pilots. But Rocks point is well made. When an MP, activist or group of Labour supporters makes anti-Semitic statements or uses the language of anti-Semitism, such as referring to a very powerful special interest group, the leaderships response has to be fast and furious. Instead, it has been sluggish, resentful and muddled.

Witness the confusion of Justin Cohen, news editor of the Jewish News, after he interviewed the Labour leader last week. Reasonably enough, Cohen was expecting a moment of emotional authenticity: I wasnt looking for him to break down in tears or announce hes considered quitting over the matter, but I did think it important to hear how it feels deep down for a man who has dedicated his life to fighting racism to face being described by some as anti-Semitic (a view that, I should say, I dont personally accept).

Instead, Corbyn seems to have spoken with a curious diffidence, as if going through the motions.

Herein lies the problem. The Labour leader is never more impressive than when addressing injustice, oppression or suffering. Contrast his naturally empathetic behaviour when meeting the survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster with Theresa Mays emotionally immobilised behaviour at the site. He exudes a DNA-deep compassion that often trumps reservations about his likely competence as a prime minister.

Which is why his response to serious allegations of anti-Semitism in his party has been all the more conspicuous. Gone is the passion and urgency. He sometimes talks about the problem as if fessing up to poor management of the office stationery cupboard. In so doing, he sabotages the very image that has served him so well.Finding the right bridesmaids robes has, for many, become as mandatory a part of wedding preparations as finding the right flowers.

Not only do they ensure the bridal party is photo (OK Instagram)-ready from the word go, but they make a beautiful gift for your gals to keep after the wedding day itself.

Read on for where to find embroidered and personalised robes, whatever your budget.

Affordable

Asda

Diamante 'Team Bride' and 'Bride' robes, 8 each, asda.com / asda

OK, so you might not have pictured yourself wedding shopping at Asda, but the truth is they have quite an impressive selection of stag and hen do gear. Take, for example, these highly Instagrammable pink and white bride and team bride robes.

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Theyre not customisable, but with prices starting at 8, who really cares?

The Little Lovebird

The Little Lovebird / The Little Lovebird

The Little Lovebird is the UKs largest wedding robe supplier, offering great designs at an affordable price. From cotton to silky and printed to plus size, their range is truly extensive, and fully customisable, with over 1000 different possible style and colour combinations available. They ship globally and allow brides total free rein when it comes to personalisation - a bargain given prices start at 15.

Mid-range

Georgina Keeley

Georgina Keeley bridal robes / Georgina Keeley

British designer Georgina Keeley's silky soft robes are made from machine washable silk crepe and come in three colours (Bridal White, Blush & Champagne). For an additional 15 she offers a bespoke embroidery service with delicate silk-embroidered lettering.

Robes come in two sizes (S/M, M/L) and cost 95 each, with an additional 15 for silk embroidery.

Luxe

Olivia Von Halle

@PandoraSykes wears personalised Olivia von Halle robe / Olivia Von Halle

Since launching her brand in 2011, Olivia von Halle has cemented her position as the reigning queen of luxury silk nightwear. If youre looking to really spoil your bridesmaids with beautiful quality robes theyll wear for years to come, look no further.

The navy silk robe Pandora Sykes chose for her wedding starts at 375, with pricing for embroidery available on request. Their Head of Customer Service will work with you to choose the perfect colour, font and style at which point they can confirm prices and lead times.

Sleeper

Silk white robe, Sleeper Hotel collection, $322, The Sleeper / Sleeper

Founded in 2014, Ukranian brand Sleeper is a hot new name in the world of glamorous nightwear. Their 100% silk Sleeper Hotel robes (which now have 30% off) are perfect for an ultra-luxe bridal prep sesh.The day Anna Wintour leaves her position as editor-in-chief of US Vogue, will be the fashion-world equivalent of a change of US president, or the election of a new Pope.

It's hard to imagine the world of fashion weeks and fashion publishing minus Wintour as its stern, sunglasses-at-all-hours-of-the-day-wearing leader.

But perhaps that day is imminent? Could it even be this summer?

According to a story the New York Post ran on Monday night, a host of stunned sources have suggested the 68-year-old may call time on her Vogue reign in July after closing the magazines all-important September issue and following the wedding of her daughter Bee Schaffer to Francesco Carrozzini, the son of late the Italian Vogue editor France Sozzani.

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A Conde Nast spokesperson responded to Page Six saying they emphatically deny the rumours.

And yet despite their denial, speculation swirls. Below, we explore the evidence...

Getty Images for Balmain

Wintour, who took the helm as Vogue editor-in-chief in 1988 and has been artistic director of the entire Conde Nast media group since 2013, holds a tentacle-like influence over the fashion industry. Said to be paid a salary of $2 million a year with a $200,000 clothing allowance, fashions grand high priestess  made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017 - can make or break the careers of fashion designers, photographers and journalists alike.

But in such a tumultuous time for print publishing, can companies like Conde (who underwent a major business restructuring at the end of 2016 which included layoffs and a reorganisation of the creative, research and technology departments) continue to afford employees like Wintour? Could it be time for someone younger, more digitally-savvy?

This would not be the first time rumours of Anna Wintour's departure have gathered pace.

Back in 2009, the year The September Issue (a documentary exposing of the realities of working in Wintours Vogue) debuted, Time magazine suggested declining ad sales at the title might mean a shake-up of leadership. The New York Times said she might be replaced by French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, and some ardent fans decided to champion their support with 'Save Anna' t-shirts.

In 2012 The Cut suggested Obama  a close friend - might reward her for supporting his campaign with an appointment as U.S. ambassador in the UK and, in 2014, US gossip website Radar claimed Wintour was grooming Sarah Jessica Parker as her replacement.

Anna Wintour and Sarah Jessica Parker / Getty Images For New York Fashion Week

These may have been far-fetched, but when, in 2016, US Vogues Creative Director Grace Coddington, who worked alongside Wintour for nearly 30 years, stepped down to pursue outside interests, the rumour mill really kicked into gear.

In October 2017, Conde Nast Chairman and ardent Wintour supporter Si Newhouse Jr. passed away, since then, several of the Conde Nast old guard have left, most notably the three top editor-in-chiefs who announced their exits last autumn: Graydon Carter from Vanity Fair (after 25 years), Cindi Leive from Glamour (16 years) and Wintours long-rumoured rival British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman (after 25 years).

Edward Enniful, British Fashion Awards 2014 / Getty Images

Some say Shulman's replacement Edward Enninful, whos only on his sixth issue at British Vogue, could take Wintour's spot stateside.

As for Wintour, sources say shes eyeing a senior position at the British Fashion Council in London, which, given her new pal is Queen Elizabeth, isnt entirely implausible.

Whether or not Wintour is in fact on her way out, the rumour doesnt seem as far-fetched as it once might have been.68 and Boston

4-5 Greek St, Soho, W1D 4DD, 68andboston.com

Boston, the bar upstairs, looks like glamorous train carriage from the golden age of cocktails but plays it a little bit safe. Wine bar 68, downstairs, is the real gem, with a wonderful way of pricing: every bottle on the list is 20, so choose what you like, not what you can afford. Better yet, if you don't fancy a bottle, they're served by the carafe (14) or glass (5.50). Wines are well picked and Denise Medrano, wine blogger and lover found behind the bar, is always working to update the list  so go back to try something new. Youll probably end up getting drunk here: the pull of another bottle at just 20 is monumentally hard to resist, but hey, thats what Soho is for. If you fancy drinking something more upscale, ask  theyve a few hidden wines kept hidden away for those in the know. Thats you, now.T he US has a rich and varied history when it comes to rock & roll.

From the earliest days of the blues, right up to the glam metal excesses of the 80s and the grunge movement of the 90s, US bands have inspired millions of music fans all over the world through the generations.

While the likes of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers would be more than deserving of recognition when considering the greatest US rock acts, only collective bands without named solo artists feature in the list below.

So, from folk rock icons to punk pioneers and indie favourites, these are the 25 greatest US rock bands of all time.

25. Red Hot Chili Peppers

AFP/Getty Images

Californians Red Hot Chili Peppers became the USs most prominent funk rockers after forming in 1983. Bass player Flea and former guitarist John Fruscianti are widely regarded as some of the best musicians of their generation, while songs like Californication and Under the Bridge and proved some of the most popular tracks of the 90s. The bands longevity is testament to their worldwide appeal and you can guarantee the band will still be jumping around shirtless on stage for years to come.

24. Foo Fighters

Rex Features

After playing drums in one of the most revered bands of the 21st century, Dave Grohl formed Foo Fighters following the death of Nirvanas Kurt Cobain in 1994 in a bid to find a new creative outlet. The band went on to achieve enormous commercial success, releasing their 12th album Concrete and Gold in 2017 and selling-out arenas around the world.

23. Crosby, Stills & Nash

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Nothing personifies the great Americana rock of the 60s and 70s quite like the harmonies of Crosby, Stills & Nash. The group were sporadically joined by Neil Young throughout their career and created some of the greatest folk-rock records of the age. Ohio, which was written by Young in reaction to the Kent State Shootings of 1970 and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, remains one of the finest protest songs ever recorded.

22. The Doors

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The Doors made a huge impact on US rock in the space of six short years after forming in Los Angeles in 1965. Iconic frontman Jim Morrisons vitriolic and frequently unhinged delivery was a key characteristic of the bands sound, but the keyboard stylings of Ray Manzarek were just as significant. Their unique emphasis on organ-led tracks and psychedelic arrangements saw the band ingrain themselves into the rock zeitgeist before Morrisons untimely death in 1971.

21. Van Halen

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Theres a famous scene in Back to the Future where Marty McFly plays his father  then a teenager in 50s America  a Van Halen track to try and convince him hes an alien. Its a great moment, which reflects the impact Van Halen had upon pop culture at large. Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing was so incredibly ahead of its time that for many, he was the second coming of Hendrix. It wasn't all fretboard pyrotechnics, though: the success of tracks like Jump proved that the group could write huge tunes, too.

20. Blondie

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US new wave never got more urgent and essential than Blondie, who were key players in the New York scene of the mid to late 70s. Debbie Harrys group brought fantastic energy, razor-sharp riffs and unforgettable songs to the fore throughout the decade. Fans were also delighted to see the group reform in the late 90s for a string of albums and memorable live shows.

19. The Byrds

PA

Roger McGuinns chiming 12-string guitar playing became one of the most influential and most frequently imitated sounds of the era after the Byrds emerged in the mid 60s. Original compositions like Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) and Eight Miles High, as well as unforgettable Bob Dylan covers My Back Pages and Mr Tambourine Man made an indelible mark and the bands psychedelic approach to folk rock would go on to influence countless musicians in the years that followed.

18. The Velvet Underground

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In the famous words of Brian Eno, The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band. Lou Reeds New York art rockers received a fraction of the commercial success they deserved during their career, but they list among the most influential rock bands of the 60s and 70s. With Andy Warhol on board as their manager from 1965 the band approached their performances like art shows rather than live gigs, pushing boundaries and convention throughout their career. Much like their contemporaries Iggy Pop & the Stooges, the band came to have a huge impact on the music industry after initially enjoying limited commercial appeal.

17. The Pixies

Black Francis of The Pixies / Getty Images

The Pixies were amongst the pioneers of the 90s alternative scene, becoming one of the most distinctive and revered bands of the era thanks to the unique blending of surf rock, psychedelia and grunge in their music. Their dynamic sound, evocative wordplay and characteristic use of loud-quiet song formats would go on to influence the work of contemporaries Nirvana and many others. The Boston group found a new wave of fans after their track was used to devastating effect in the climactic scene of David Finchers Fight Club in 1999.

16. The Band

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The Band first came to prominence as Bob Dylans backing band in the 1960s, before launching their own career with debut album Music from Big Pink. Their rootsy Americana sound and inspired songwriting helped the American-Canadian group become of the of the most critically-lauded groups of the decade. Their classic track The Weight, which was used in classic 1969 film Easy Rider and covered by Diana Ross & The Supremes & The Temptations in the same year, has gone on to become an American standard.

15. The Strokes

New Yorkers The Strokes were hailed as savours of guitar music after breaking through in the early 00s. The group, led by frontman Julian Casablancas and guitarist Albert Hammond Jr, single-handedly made rock music hip again after dance and manufactured pop dominated the charts in the years immediately following Britpop. The groups debut Is This It marked one of the most critically acclaimed albums of its time and the bands ineffable cool endures to this day.

14. Pearl Jam

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

The other great rock band from Seattle, Eddie Vedders Pearl Jam became one of the most popular alternative rock acts of the 90s and helped spearhead the hugely influential grunge movement in the US. The band first made their breakthrough with debut album Ten in 1991 and never looked back, selling an estimated 60 million records worldwide.

13. Metallica

Dave Benett

Metallica helped to shape the sound of contemporary heavy metal after forming in 1981. The formidable qualities of frontman James Hetfields delivery with the dexterous drumming of Lars Ulrich and the virtuoso guitar stylings of Kirk Hammett all sync perfectly together on classic tracks such as Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters and Master of Puppets, which continue to inform and inspire metal and heavy rock musicians.

12. Steely Dan

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LA hipsters Donald Fagan and Walter Becker formed Steely Dan in the early 70s, producing a style of smooth rock inflected with jazz, R&B and soul. Their back catalogue features some of the most virtuosic musicianship youre likely to find on mainstream rock records and its little wonder that so many artists cite them as an inspiration.

Founding member Walter Becker sadly passed away in 2017, but the bands legacy will live on for generations.

11. Talking Heads

Reuters

Talking Heads were one of the celebrated bands who played regularly at the legendary CBGBs club in New York, which helped establish some of the most influential new wave bands of the 70s and 80s. David Byrnes distinctive vocal delivery (not to mention his penchant for oversized suits) gave the band their distinctive post-punk sound, while they also boasted one of the funkiest and most formidable rhythm sections in rock, the form of bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz.

10. Rage Against the Machine

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An inspired melding of rap and thrash metal made Rage a pretty unique proposition for rock fans in the early 90s. As well as producing a string of killer tunes the group also gained reputation as one of the most overtly political bands of the decade too, with revolutionary messages featuring in many of their lyrics.

Their politics would play a further role years later, when fans successfully campaigned to make their track Killing in the Name Christmas number one in the UK in a protest against the X Factor in 2009.

9. Bon Jovi

Listening party: Jon Bon Jovi patiently explained the meaning of each new song / Simone Joyner/Getty Images

Bon Jovi are one of the most commercially successful US rock bands of all time, with more than a 100 million albums sold and followers all over the world. The glam metal of Livin On a Prayer, Bad Medicine and You Give Love a Bad Name and the bombastic balladry of Bed Of Roses and Dead or Alive helped make them a powerhouse in the 80s and the group continue to sell-out arenas.

8. Fleetwood Mac

Singer Stevie Nicks (L) and musician Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac

While Fleetwood Mac were in fact formed as a blues rock group in London in 1967, it was the reincarnation of the band as FM rockers in LA that proved to be the groups most commercially successful move. American musicians Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the group, taking their sound in a dramatic new direction. The best-selling album 1977 Rumours and the impact of tracks like The Chain, Go Your Own Way, Everywhere and Dreams made them one of the most successful groups of the generation with an enduring musical legacy.

7. The Ramones

Memorable night: the Ramones at the Roundhouse on 4 July, 1976

The Ramones might be more familiar to many as a t-shirt rather than a band these days, but the groups impact on US rock culture cannot be understated. The group were pioneers of the US punk scene in the mid 70s, proving the perfect antidotes to the overblown and indulgent prog rock movement earlier in that decade. The groups songs rarely stretched past the two and a half minute mark, but their deeply melodic approach to songwriting set them apart from their contemporaries.

6. Guns N Roses

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Hard rock legends Guns N Roses earned a reputation as the most dangerous band in the world in the late 80s, embodying the rock and roll excesses of the era unlike any other. Their debut album Appetite for Destruction racked up sales of around 30 million worldwide, with standout single Sweet Child O Mine spring-boarding the group to international acclaim. The bands more recent efforts have been slightly less convincing, with long-awaited album Chinese Democracy proving a flop back in 2008, but the group remain one of the most successful acts of their generation.

5. R.E.M

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R.E.M combined country, stadium rock and indie to create some of the most compelling music of the 80s and 90s. The unmistakable vocals of frontman Michael Stipe and the vastly underrated lead guitar work of Peter Buck underpinned the groups sound throughout their career, which spanned from their formation in Georgia in 1980 until their split in 2011. Whether you prefer the groups idiosyncratic early material or the breakthrough mainstream success of albums such as Out of Time and Automatic for the People, the band represent one of the most intriguing groups of their era with plenty to discover across their extensive back catalogue.

4. The Eagles

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Its testament to the bands appeal that the Eagles sold over 100 million records in the US alone, with their music proving incredibly popular over the past five decades. Their carefree brand of soft rock on hits like Take it Easy and Hotel California is just about as quintessentially American as it gets and you can hear the heat of their native California reflected in The Eagles sun-drenched sound. As well as fabulous songwriting and crystalline harmonies, the bands music features some of the slickest guitar playing youre ever likely to hear courtesy of Joe Walsh.

3. Aerosmith

Jason Merritt/Getty Images for John Varvatos

No-one did stadium rock quite like Aerosmith in their pomp. Steve Tyler and co formed way back in 1970 and the sheer longevity of the group is impressive in itself. Their first top 10 single Dream On came in 1976, while their biggest hit I Dont Want to Miss a Thing topped the charts 22 years later in 1998. As well as representing one of the biggest acts of the last forty years with more than 150 million record sales to their name, Tylers group are also responsible for one of the first (and one of the best) rock/hip hop collaborations, the Run DMC mash-up Walk This Way.

2. The Beach Boys

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The Beach Boys blended surf rock with unforgettable pop melodies and stunning harmonies, creating a musical niche all of their own after forming in 1961. There was a joyous precision to the groups songwriting that set them above their contemporaries, while few acts before or since used the record studio in such pioneering ways or with such boundless invention. 1966s Pet Sounds is one of the most lauded classic American albums ever released and Brian Wilson remains one of the most revered figures in the industry.

1. Nirvana

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Nirvana united a generation in the early 90s when Kurt Cobain become an unlikely poster boy for the disenchanted, disenfranchised twenty-somethings of the age. The groups raucous rock arrangements and Cobains trademark drawl spoke to Generation X in a way that few had done before, but that was far from the extent of their appeal.M are Street Market has crammed so much under its roof that its a surprise that rotisserie chickens, cheese wheels and beer kegs dont keep bursting out of the entrance and rolling down the street towards neighbouring London Fields.

Step inside the swish, swish glass doors and the building is abuzz: at the entrance theres the neon-lit florist Rebel Rebel; a deli stacked with locally sourced charcuterie and cheeses; an off-licence stocked with craft ales and organic wines; and a vinyl record store, Stranger Than Paradise, which is run by former Rough Trade East manager Noreen McShane. It couldnt be more plugged into the Hackney zeitgeist if Cambridge Analytica had done the floorplan.

Its set up to be more like a boutique shopping mall than a street-food market, says creator Marc Francis-Baum, who founded the Barworks pub group  which includes The Exmouth Arms, Well & Bucket and 5cc Cocktail Club  and who has a tuning fork for the local vibe. The building embodies reuse and recycle: its a once-dilapidated former Job Centre.

Instead of a hall teeming with traders, the open-plan floor is neatly corralled into a grid formation. Farther up and farther in, the spacious Open Kitchen restaurant is like an upmarket student hall, with long tables surrounding a central bar replete with aspirant writers on MacBooks.

Matt Writtle

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The food here is modern: there are rye biga pizzas, with a special dough developed by the Bread Station, farmed and fired plates, Wiltshire burrata salad with chilli lemon and ice cream from locals Hackney Gelato.

Francis-Baums food muse is Gizzi Erskine, the TV chef, who has spent months scouring Borough Market, Netil360 and the wider area for additions to the markets deli, and who opens her first restaurant, The Dining Room, next month in the market.

The latter is headed up by chef Tim Mawn in the kitchen, formerly of Scotts and Sexy Fish. Expect wood-fired British menu dishes such as steak tartare. It looks like Brunswick Houses hip east London cousin, decorated with stone busts, eclectic chandeliers and pendant lights from local antique dealer Pure White Lines. The 50-seat space also doubles as a furniture shop. If you see something you like, you can buy it.

The first weekends been completely relentless  more than we could have asked for, says Erskine, checking in on the deli, where Secret Smokehouse fish and Cannon & Cannon charcuterie has been scuttling off the shelves as fast as we can restock them.

The markets raw food bar, meanwhile, is only a few weeks away from opening. Were still only at about 80 per cent, says Francis-Baum. But when people walk in, they dont expect to see so much packed into this very old council building. In Hackney theres such a young creative force around. We wanted to tap into that and bring them under one roof, selling them in the deli or at our pop-up shop. Thats currently occupied by workwear clothing brand, M C Overalls, which designed bespoke uniforms for the staff and will offer a capsule collection in the markets pop-up shop during opening months.

If you flag on your journey around the 10,000 sq ft floorspace theres a coffee roastery from the Flying Horse coffee shop, named after the Flying Horse Inn, a staging post founded in 1593 for travellers through Hackney.

London's best markets 1 /12 London's best markets Covent Garden Visit for an eclectic selection of gifts, jewellery, clothes, art and crafts. As well as the main piazza, check out the Jubilee Market which has more stalls and is less touristy. Education Images/UIG via Getty Images Portobello This Notting Hill institution specialises in antiques, and is a good bet for either rare collectibles or unusual bargains. You'll also find clothes, jewellery, art, street food and more. Marco Secchi/Getty Images Borough Market Borough Market is all about the food  from street food and high-quality grab-and-go delicacies to some of the finest hams, cheeses, oils, vinegars and confectionery that the world has to offer. Go early to avoid the crowds. flickr Editorial/Getty Images Columbia Road Flowers, flowers everywhere  that's what you'll get at this Hackney market not far from Shoreditch. In recent years some street food has also been added to the lineup, so there's no need to go hungry. Moment Editorial/Getty Images Camden Market Not so much one market as many, Camden offers an array of weird and wonderful good, from antiques and paintings to jewellery, prints, exotic ornaments and everything Gothic. Camden Lock Market also does a decent line in food and drink, which is far superior to the offerings in the Stables Market. Oli Scarff/Getty Images Brick Lane It's often said that you can find anything on Brick Lane Market, and it's true. Whether its books, beatboxes or beat-up old suitcases you're after, you'll likely find something to suit your needs. Indian and Bangladeshi food abounds in the area, and more recently a host of other street food options have also risen up. Jean-Marc Zaorski/Getty Images Broadway Market, Hackney Artisan food, high-quality produce and hipster coffee dominates this busy Hackney market. It's slightly less busy than Borough, but not by much. If you need a break from the bustle, the area is flanked with pubs, as well some picturesque canal-side seating. Rex Southbank A food market runs at weekends around the back of the Southbank Centre, selling food-to-go, beers and wines and artisan baked goods. Up front, by the river, you'll find stalls selling books and prints as well as more food. Gaztronome Brixton Village Along with sister-site Brixton Market, the Village is home to a host of restaurants as well as some shops and stalls, mainly selling African and Caribbean produce. As for the restaurants, pretty much every cuisine is covered  from burgers and fried to chicken to Colombian, Indian and Japanese. It's easy to see why people talk about gentrification in the area. Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images Maltby Street This vibrant and relatively recent addition to London's market scene is a sort-of sibling to Borough Market, which is just a short walk away. It came about when a few traders at Borough felt squeezed out by rising rents and decided to set up their own foodie hub. It has gone from strength-to-strength and become a destination in its own right, where bars and restaurants rub shoulders with produce-sellers, deli stalls, street food and even a gin distillery. Graham Jepson New Covent Garden Flower Market This flower market near Vauxhall is primarily for trade, and mainly serves florists and other businesses, but you can still pay it a visit. You'll just have to be early  its primary operating hours are from 4am-10am. If you do visit you'll find the largest selection of flowers, plants and foliage anywhere in the UK. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Greenwich Set within a World Heritage site, and just a stone's throw from the historic maritime attractions of the area, Greenwich Market is a rightly popular destination for both London locals and tourists. It specialises in independent and boutique shops, with all manner of arts, crafts, jewellery, homewares and clothes being sold by the people who make them. Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images

The vinyl record store also boasts a DIY podcast studio. Its an educational space as much as anything, says Francis-Baum. Podcasts are booming, but theres nowhere to record them, and we wanted to be on the cusp of that.

They also aim to be green and lean, with zero-plastic packaging from suppliers, no plastic bottles and free filtered water: Were not up to scratch yet but were hoping to catch up with our eco-friendly ambitions the more the months go by.

Cool bloom: Rebel Rebels shop on-site / Matt Writtle

There are further plans afoot: in the summer therell be a collaboration with Brooklyn Beer, which is taking over London Fields brewery in the markets outside bar area, bringing a smokehouse and a barbecue into the al fresco dining space.D iana Henry is the author of 11 cookbooks, the first of which, Crazy Water and Pickled Lemons, was published in 2002, and her latest, How To Eat A Peach, came out last week.

Ive always said my first was my best, and its taken me a great number of years to follow that up with another.

Not an ordinary cookbook, she calls it a book about life, really - a set of menus with delicious stories attached. Its just the way I cook. I dont pick people first. I decide on a menu and then think who would like to eat it. Some of the menus are about places and some of them are just about what you need - as I think all cookbooks should be practical and poetic.

Here, she talks about holding her first-ever dinner party aged 15, and of her mothers baked salmon and stuffing pie that shes never made since...

As a small child, Diana Henrys favourite foods were cake (especially birthday cake), jelly and the smoked ham that she often stole from the fridge. What she did not enjoy was sitting in the familys small galley kitchen in Northern Ireland having to eat mince and potatoes and carrots, and being frequently told by her mother that she would regret not finishing it.

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If you dont eat that mince and carrots, shed always say to me, the crows will come and theyll carry you away, Henry remembers as a four-year-old. And I can still picture all those crows sitting outside on the telephone lines. Id think of myself being lifted up by the shoulders and then wriggling my arms out of my pinnafore - I was always wearing pinnafores - so theyd just be left with a pinnafore and Id fall down back to earth.

Diana Henry has written 19 cookbooks so far / Chris Terry

Fortunately Henry was never hijacked by birds, so there was plenty of time to enjoy her mother Joans cooking. There was spaghetti bolognese - we were the first people to have that in our part of Northern Ireland - to Hungarian goulash, or roast chicken and chips - she always made her own chips from scratch. She was very adventurous, and was always going to do cooking classes near where we lived.

Mainstays included Sunday roasts, which entailed never ending numbers of vegetables bought from Mrs Mitchells greengrocers, and always cauliflower cheese.

Later on when I was in my teens wed have the Birds Eyes condensed and frozen orange juice which youd add water to, to make orange juice with bits in - so wed have a big jug of that with the roast beef, which we thought was quite posh, she laughs. Something else she made a lot was this thing called salmon pie which if I wrote about today people would think I was nuts, but we used to love it. It was basically like the stuffing you put inside a chicken but with a tin of salmon over it. It was baked and then wed have it with tartare sauce that mum made. I have never made it since. So it was funny - there was this economy on the one hand, and then specials on the other.

Laura Edwards

Her father Robin, a farmer and businessman, always did the barbecues and, in a later house, had a griddle put into the work surface so that he could cook chicken and meat there.

His big thing was chicken liver pate and I now love [that]. He would make a complete mess, but that was his thing, and he was a massive food lover, and also a very adventurous eater. I remember he would always just be saying taste that or have a go at that to me. [Henry talks about this in more detail in the chapter entitled 'In my Own Back Yard'.]. Then mum would come home with these sheets from her [cooking] classes and I would go through them to see what shed been learning. She also collected the Cordon Bleu partworks which I would go through until my eyes were sore. They seemed to present a world of glamorous food, with proper instructions and lovely pictures of dinner parties.

While her parents never actually hosted them, preferring buffets with mountains of puddings, free flowing whisky and Frank Sinatra playing, it was the partworks that inspired Henry to create her own dinner party as a teenager - as a kind of fantasy. Im sure I didnt call it that - to me it was just having friends round. But that was as near to being one of those Cordon Bleu partworks as I could get. Today I would think this was a bad menu.

Using the Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, of which Mary Berry was one of the authors, a 15-year-old Henry made a starter, braised beef with red wine for a main course and for pudding a fresh pineapple sorbet - we called it a water ice - served in a pineapple shell.

Laura Edwards

They did not appreciate it! They thought it was mashed potato - probably because they couldnt see it. Id put out so many candles that the first people to arrive thought we were about to celebrate mass! I felt people werent getting into the spirit of things - but I loved it anyway!

This idea of travelling via food is something that has continued throughout Henrys life, whether during her childhood in Northern Ireland or via excursions further afield. Her first trip abroad was to France for a language exchange, but it was her second, a family trip to Portugal - where they ate mountains of sardines, thirst quenching cucumbers and chicken peri peri which I still love - that felt hugely exotic.

From How to eat a peach: Menus, stories and places / Laura Edwards

We were enormously excited but then on the journey from Faro to Lagos my brothers and sister and I just looked at each other. The landscape looked very dry. Wed been expecting light and blue skies, and it didnt look like that. But then when we woke up the next day and we threw open the window shutters of this villa we were in, and couldnt believe it. I just remember sunlight, bougainvillea, and being able to see these bright boats with little faces painted on the side, and the fishermen unloading all these sardines. And I just thought I cant even believe this world exists - it was that intense.

When she started How To Eat A Peach, Henry wanted simply to write a book of menus - but when I started putting them together it became clear to me that they were all about places or that special sense of place. Growing up in Northern Ireland, if you left to go anywhere - even just to Dublin - it was considered exotic. Going places via cooking and via fiction was just what I did. And I have a lifetime of that.A mental health support website aims to boost the wellbeing of London school pupils with talks and celebrity videos discussing issues such as bullying and depression.

Online resource Head Talks offers more than 100 free videos giving advice and personal anecdotes. Speakers include Made In Chelseas Josh Patterson, food writer Melissa Hemsley, Paralympic gold medallist Anne Usher and Olympians Jack Green and Gail Emns.

In single workshops or as part of a wider programme, the talks also address eating disorders, substance abuse and anxiety.

Celebrities gave talks at Wimbledon High School last month with similar events planned at Westminster School, Godolphin and Latymer and in state schools.

Founder Oliver Chittenden, 42, who funds the project through his work as a corporate and political speaker agent, was motivated to launch Head Talks by his own breakdown. He said: It ended up with me in a hospital in Nashville in 2011... All my organs started shutting down and I think it was a response to holding on for so long to the kind of stress that I was under.

People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}}A pensioner has been arrested after stabbing to death a suspected armed burglar he confronted in his home early today.

The 78-year-old was asleep with his wife in their south London house when he heard noises and woke to challenge two men in the middle of a suspected break-in.

The homeowner was confronted by one of the intruders who was armed with a screwdriver and forced to retreat into his kitchen.

Police said there was a struggle in the kitchen and the 37-year-old suspected burglar sustained a stab wound to his chest. The man was rushed to hospital but died at 3.37am.

A man died following a "struggle" at the house in Hither Green, police said / Lucy Young

The second suspect - who police say was also armed - escaped and is being sought by police after the incident in Hither Green, south east London.

The homeowner suffered bruising to his arms but his condition is not thought to be serious.

He was initially arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm but re-arrested on suspicion of murder. He was in custody at a south London police today.

Scotland Yard said officers were called to reports of a burglary in process at around 12.45am in Further Green Road, Hither Green.

A spokesman said: The 78-year-old resident had found two males inside his address.

One suspect went upstairs while the homeowner was forced into the kitchen by the second suspect, armed with a screwdriver.

A struggle had ensued in the kitchen during which one of the males found inside the property sustained a stab wound to the upper body.

Police said the dead mans family have been informed, though the man has not yet been formally identified.

Detectives from the Mets homicide and major crime command have launched an investigation.

Evelyn Henry, who lives on the road, said: I saw flashing lights and lots of commotion in the early hours. It was around the houses opposite me. Im not sure which of the neighbours were targeted.

Forensic specialists assisted detectives at the scene / Lucy Young

Police then came round to ask me what Id seen or whether I had heard an altercation, but I told them I hadnt.

She added: We have had a lot of police activity on the road before and problems with intruders.

Mother-of-two Maribel Garcia, 42, was woken up at 1am as the police searched for the second suspect.

She said: Im not a good sleeper so the blue lights woke me up.

I could see the police cars going round and round looking for someone.

Farmer Tony Martin sparked a national debate about householders rights to protect their property when he was jailed for shooting dead a teenage burglar in 1999

In 2013 the coalition government strengthened the law on self defence to allow householders to take tougher action against intruders.

In a landmark case last year the High Court ruled that householders can use a disproportionate level of force against an intruder in their homes if they reasonably believe it is necessary.

Farmer Tony Martin sparked a national debate about householders rights to protect their property when he was jailed for shooting dead a teenage burglar in 1999.

Mr Martin was living alone at his isolated Norfolk farmhouse, Bleak House, when he discovered Fred Barras, 16, in his home acting as a lookout for another burglar.

The farmer fired his illegal-held pump action shotgun three times towards the intruders, killing Barras.J acob Rees-Mogg is being Menaced. The Beano has sent the dapper Tory backbencher a cease and desist letter for infringing their copyright. Not for Lord Snooty, but Walter the Softy, Denniss nemesis.

It has been brought to our attention that you have been infringing the intellectual property rights of one of our cartoon characters and masquerading as Walter Brown, writes Mark Stirling, head of Beano Studios Scotland. We draw your attention to numerous instances of you distinctly copying the following attributes of the character including: The characters hair parting and style; The characters distinctive round reading glasses; The characters choice of spotty ties and vintage apparel.

The list goes on to include Rees-Mogg and Walters enjoyment of classical music - because he thinks it makes him seem clever - and the characters bullish behaviour with peers and stopping others from having fun. Is this an allusion to upcoming battles between the Lords and Commons over Brexit?

Beano editor Mike Stirling once said that Walter was particularly annoying because he strangles the fun out of everything. He doesnt want to be a kid, he wants to be a grownup and is always snitching on kids who are having fun

Luckily for Rees-Mogg, his behaviour is unlikely to land him with a custard pie in the face or a hiding form Dad. Stirling concludes: A swift response on this matter would be greatly appreciated to avoid getting Teacher involved. I tried to contact Rees-Mogg this morning to see if there was a remedy which would resolve the matter for both parties but he is yet to reply.

Rees-Mogg has taken a bit of a bashing in the press this week. This months GQ leads with the cover headline, Could Jacob Rees-Mogg get any worse? Well have to see.

Authors of their own misfortune

THE Society of Authors, the trade union for writers which counts Lady Antonia Fraser and Philip Pullman among its patrons, is moving to Bloomsbury.

I gather they made a tidy profit on the sale of their Kensington headquarters but chief executive Nicola Solomon pooh-poohs the idea that they will be rolling in loot.

The likelihood is we wont run a profit after capital gains tax, stamp duty and refurbishments, she tells me from her office. At the moment we need a decent space for staff  I am sitting here with gloves on.

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BENEDICT Cumberbatch is playing Patrick Melrose, the upper-class Edward St Aubyn character, but has struggled with his plummy tones. I went to a very posh public school yet I had only one friend from the landed gentry, he says. Ive been trying to knock the corners off my accent ever since I left Harrow.

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MARY Beard may present cultural juggernaut Civilisations, recently returned to the BBC, but she isnt always so high-brow: shes a sucker for an episode of Casualty. It was my real pleasure when the kids were very small, she tells the RTSs Television magazine. Get the buggers off to bed, bottle of wine, Casualty.

Anya Hindmarchs parental pride at meteorological play Pressure

James Seymour, Bert Seymour and Anya Hindmarch (Photo Dave Benett/Getty Images) / Dave Benett/Getty Images

FASHION designer Anya Hindmarch and her husband James Seymour were proud as punch last night: Bert Seymour, Jamess son, was treading the boards at The Park Theatres production of Pressure.

Hindmarch and Seymour married in 1996, with Anya becoming mum to three stepchildren in the process. She has called the experience a baptism of fire but didnt shy away from keeping things in the family: she hired James as her companys financial director soon after.

The play is about predicting the weather for D-Day, so it was something of a busmans holiday for former weatherman Michael Fish. He looked a bit awkward when David Haig, playing the meteorologist adviser to General Eisenhower, uttered the line, This is not a hurricane, as the winds blew hard across the stage.

At least Fish, who denied that a hurricane was on its way in October 1987, clapped politely at the end.

SW1A

WHISPERS of David Miliband returning from New York to save the Labour Party arent going down well with Tim Shipman of The Sunday Times. I once headed to the bar to buy him a drink, he recalls. Id gone 10 feet when he started slagging me off behind my back. Ed would never.

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WHO would have thought Matt Hancock and The Rolling Stones would have something in common? The Culture Secretary sat next to rocker Ronnie Wood at the Brits earlier this year and they discovered that they share the same app designer. Disciple Media produced both Hancocks constituency app and that of the Stones.

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THE Spectators Isabel Hardman doesnt discuss politics with her Labour MP boyfriend John Woodcock. When I do get time with my partner, I have a number of pressing things I need to discuss with him. Like the fact I still havent fixed the damage to the car that I caused by driving into a pillar.

Quote of the day

'Ive been invited to appear on Have I Got News For You but Ive been too busy washing my hair. Liz Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, responds to Ian Hislops suggestion that women are too modest to appear on the panel show

No firm sign yet of the end of Wintour

Wintour is staying: Edward Enninful and Anna Wintour (Photo Dave Benett/Getty Images) / Dave Benett/Getty Images for VogAnother Kisumu man has joined the hunger strike started by an activist last week protesting the deportation of Miguna Miguna.

Paul Mark, a Mamboleo resident in Kisumu, has now joined Boniface Akumu Ogutu in camping at the Kondele roundabout to demand that NRMs self-styled General be brought back by the Government.

Mark started his hunger strike on Monday morning in solidarity with Boniface who claims he last ate on Thursday last week.

The two activists promised to continue going without food until the government obeys court orders.

They said that they are also working on petitions to present to various government institutions.

We believe the hunger strike is the way to go and we will be having night vigils and also demonstrations because the government must respect the constitution, said Mark. Mark noted that the hunger strike is not just about Miguna Miguna citing a number of injustices which he claimed the government has committed against innocent Kenyans.

There are a lot of injustices in our country and this is not just about Miguna Miguna. The people who killed an innocent Kenyan like lawyer Willy Kimani, the Meru University student leader among other Kenyans, have never been brought to book, he said.

What happened to Miguna Miguna can happen to anyone of us and that is why we must fight it now before it spirals out of control.

We are hoping that Kisumu governor Anyang Nyongo will also join us even for a single night vigil. We will not relent in our quest to ensure that the constitution is respected, said Mark.

For Ogutu, the strike will help root for the return of the General and also promote peaceful protests as they seek to compel the government to obey laws.

I do not care even if I die of hunger. I have been very unhappy with the way the state has been abusing the rule of law, said Ogutu.

Miguna has since responded to Ogutu, thanking him for his commitment.

The #NRMKe comrades thank Mr. Boniface Akumu for showing total commitment to the struggle. However, I urge him and others not to die. Instead, we must ORGANISE, MOBILISE and REMOVE the despots from their illegitimate positions of power, wrote Miguna on Twitter.W alk into the Best for Britain offices in Covent Garden and you are greeted by artwork that likens Theresa Mays premiership to the Titanic. The message is hardly subtle.

But for the anti-Brexit campaign group, time is running out. We have six months to make the decisive difference, CEO Eloise Todd tells me matter-of-factly.

The organisation, backed by billionaire investor George Soros, has just launched an advertising blitz across the UK aimed at winning public backing for a second EU referendum. Alongside portraits of nurses, builders and teachers, the ads ask simply When will we know what we voted for? before appealing for a final say on the Brexit deal.

Todd fears Brexit would be damaging for this country generations ahead  but bristles at the suggestion she is a metropolitan Remoaner, preferring to describe herself as a bawdy Yorkshirewoman.

Despite leaving her home town near Hull when she was 18 and working for the European Parliament in Brussels before moving to north-west London, she speaks with a northern twang and is a Hull City fan.

Best for Britain is open about its aim to stop Brexit democratically  and has recently announced plans to take Brexit Secretary David Davis to court in a bid to force a second referendum on the terms of Britains departure from the EU.

Pro-EU rally: Best for Britain hopes to force another EU referendum / AFP/Getty Images

The groups legal challenge centres on a claim that existing UK laws mean that any handover of powers to the EU  which, it argues, could happen under the terms of a transition deal  should be voted on by the public.

But surely the last thing the Brexit-battered public want is a rehash of the bitter, divisive campaign of 2016? Its not a rerun, insists Todd . It would be the first time that people have been able to weigh up the trade-offs.

Ultimately, Best for Britain hopes that such a vote could offer a path to keeping Britain in the EU.

The will of the people can only really be outdone by the will of the people, explains Todd. Its not about trying to subvert democracy. Weve got the opportunity now to have the discussion that we didnt have before.

Best advertising we ever had  thank you, Nick Timothy. Bring it on

She bridles at the suggestion that another London-based organisation may not be best placed to win over Leave voters outside the capital. I come from a Leave area, Ive seen things from both sides. I understand the good and the bad about the EU.

Until last month Best for Britain was just another of several relatively low-key groups set up to oppose Brexit after the referendum. But it was thrust into the limelight when The Daily Telegraph published a front-page splash co-written by Mays former adviser Nick Timothy in which it claimed to reveal financial backing from Soros for the campaign.

Todds face lights up at the mention of it. Best advertising we ever had  thank you, Nick Timothy. Bring it on. The subsequent fallout  the newspapers tone was criticised for its proximity to language used in anti-Semitic attacks on Soros in his native Hungary  helped Best for Britain to raise another 200,000 to fund its fight. Soros is still supportive and has continued to fund it.

Growing in confidence: Best for Britain's Eloise Todd / PA Archive/PA Images

The position of MPs is less clear. A small but vocal minority of Tories  Anna Soubry among them  are showing signs of being ready to defy the Government and vote against the terms of Brexit when they are put before the Commons later this year or early in 2019.

But the position of their Labour counterparts remains, for many of us, a mystery despite the majority backing Remain during the referendum campaign. She understands the reluctance among MPs to nail their pro-Remain colours to the mast. Anyone speaking up on this gets flak. Its not pleasant. Who wants to be an enemy of the people?

There does not seem to be a version of Brexit which is best for Britain

She decries the stifling of proper, sensible debate in the current political landscape and is critical of those who say Remainers should move on. Youve got some politicians in our country hiding behind the will of the people to do damage to them. That seems to me the ultimate betrayal of the people. Its almost giving people permission to screw over some of the poorest communities in our country, who will undoubtedly bear the brunt of Brexit hardest if it goes ahead. There does not seem to be a version of Brexit which is best for Britain.U p to 16,000 women and girls who fled sexual violence in Myanmar are due to give birth just as deadly cyclones threaten their makeshift camps, Penny Mordaunt warns today.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, the International Development Secretary said she was concerned for the safety of newborn Rohingya babies and their mothers as extreme weather and floods build up in Bangladesh.

From the moment these vulnerable newborns draw their very first breath they will battle against the odds to stay alive, said the Cabinet minister, who has ordered a massive British aid effort to save babies born during the season of floods, monsoons and cyclones.

Nearly a million Rohingya refugees have been forced to flee to Bangladesh from Myanmar following persecution.

New humanitarian crisis looms over Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh

They left the south-east Asian nation after Rohingya militant attacks in August last year sparked a crackdown by government security forces that the United Nations and Western countries have said constitutes ethnic cleansing.

There have been widespread reports of sexual violence on them by the Myanmar military, something the army denies, while dozens of their villages have been burned. Ms Mordaunt said Britains 13 billion aid budget is flying out midwives to deliver the babies safely, plus counsellors to help women recover from their traumatic ordeals.

Refugees cradling a baby in the camp / REUTERS

The cramped Coxs Bazar camp is set to see as many as 16,000 women give birth in the midst of the cyclone and flooding season, she said. Born into so much uncertainty, there is a great fear that many lives which have barely begun could so easily be lost.A row erupted today as Boris Johnsons former police deputy claimed officers had been withdrawn from parts of London where killings have spiralled.

Stephen Greenhalgh claimed that the Met could learn from New York by pouring more officers into neighbourhoods where gun and knife crimes are expected to be committed.

The reality is that we have seen the police withdraw, said Mr Greenhalgh, deputy mayor for policing between 2012 and 2016.

We need to get police officers into these neighbourhoods blighted by violence otherwise they will fall in on themselves. We also need the Mayor and all senior politicians to give political cover to police officers to use intelligence-led, targeted stop-and-search to take knives and guns off the streets.

Stephen Greenhalgh / Lucy Young

Government minister Kit Malthouse, who was also a deputy mayor for policing when Mr Johnson ran City Hall, criticised Mayor Sadiq Khan over the spate of shootings and knifings. He retweeted another former top aide of Mr Johnson, Daniel Moylan, who messaged: Tragic events in London in recent days show that @SadiqKhan can only get so far by self-publicity and blaming the Government.

However, Sophie Linden, Mr Khans deputy mayor for policing, argued that funding cuts were leading to the glue of society becoming unstuck. She stressed that 110 million allocated from City Hall would ensure 1,000 more officers on the streets to respond to the rise in stabbings and shootings.T he government should consider negotiating continued membership of the European Economic Area (EEA) after Brexit, an influential committee of MPs has said.

The Commons Brexit committee said following Norways example and joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) should also be an option.

Brexit Secretary David Davis has previously ruled out both proposals, calling them "in many ways, the worst of all outcomes.

However the cross-party committee, in its report on the future UK-EU relationship, recommended that if negotiations on a "deep and special partnership" proved unsuccessful, EEA/EFTA membership should "remain an alternative".

The recommendation caused splits in the committee, with prominent Tory Brexiteers led by Jacob Rees-Mogg voting against its inclusion.

The committee's Brexiteers also voted against the report in its entirety, but were defeated 10-6.

Mr Rees-Mogg said the report served "no useful purpose", adding: "The ExEU Select Committee report is another effort by Remainers to reverse the result. The High Priests of Remain on the select committee voted to thwart Brexit by stealth.

"This serves no useful purpose as select committees' reports are only influential if they are unanimous, dividing on leave/remain lines simply refights the referendum."

In addition to the recommendation, the committee also set down 15 "key tests" for the Government's final deal with the EU to pass.

The guidelines covered everything from the Northern Ireland border issue to the free flow of data between the UK and EU post Brexit.

Labour chairman of the committee Hilary Benn admitted to setting "a high bar" with the tests, but added that they were based on the past pledges of the Prime Minister and the Brexit Secretary.

Theresa May promises there will be 'opportunities' after Brexit

He said: "Our tests set a high bar but they are based on the Prime Minister's vision for our future outside the EU and the statement by the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis MP, that any new deal would be at least as good as what we have now.

"It is vital that UK businesses are able to continue to trade freely and sell services into our largest market after we leave, without additional costs or burdens or a hard border in Northern Ireland and that we maintain close co-operation on defence, security, data and information sharing and consumer safety."

He added: "Should negotiations on a 'deep and special partnership' not prove successful, we consider that EFTA/EEA membership remains an alternative which would have the advantage of continuity of access for UK services and could also be negotiated relatively quickly."

The committee's tests included keeping an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, co-operation on crime and terrorism and tariff free trade between the UK and EU.

The report also calls on the Government to maintain convergence with EU regulations in "order to maximise access to European markets" and advises that any new immigration arrangements "must not act as an impediment to the movement of workers providing services across borders".

A Department for Exiting the European Union spokesman said: "As the Prime Minister said at Mansion House, the UK Government is seeking the broadest and deepest possible partnership with the EU, covering more sectors and co-operating more fully than any free trade agreement anywhere in the world today.

"When we leave the EU we will leave the single market and customs union so that we take back control of our money, laws and borders.C urry house chiefs who backed Leave in the 2016 European Union vote said they felt let down today after it emerged that EU migrants may be granted preferential access to the UK after Brexit.

Downing Street would not deny that ministers are considering a plan for EU citizens to leapfrog workers from elsewhere in sectors where skills are in short supply, as a concession to offer in trade negotiations with the EU.

But it drew bitter condemnation from leaders of the 4.3 billion curry industry who were lured into backing Vote Leave with promises that Brexit would make it easier to bring in top chefs from south Asia.

Enam Ali, founder of the British Curry Awards, said: On many occasions we recall Boris Johnson and others say it was very important that we could bring in chefs from outside the EU because the market needed it. But now it seems as if nobody is entertaining the idea.

Mitu Chowdhury, organising secretary of the Bangladesh Caterers Association, said: We attended every single campaign meeting with Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and Michael Gove and they said that the British curry industry would be a first priority. We think we have been let down.

Mr Chowdhury said granting preference to EU workers would be a disaster as curry houses could be pushed to the back of the queue for visas.

Every day one or two more restaurants close down and in most cases it is because they cannot find the skilled staff, he said.

Last week Brexit Secretary David Davis, a leading Leave campaigner, refused to rule out preferential treatment for EU citizens after Brexit.

Brexiteers outside the Government condemned the idea. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: After Brexit, people from around the world should be treated equally.

Mr Duncan Smith took part in a save our curry houses campaign during the referendum. Former cabinet minister Ms Patel also implied that Brexit would allow restaurants to hire more staff from south Asia.

Mr Johnson had argued that unlimited immigration from Europe combined with efforts to curb overall numbers had caused a crash of Commonwealth arrivals, but he is reported to be among ministers willing to concede preferential access for EU migrants in return for a favourable EU trade deal. He was unavailable for comment today.B oris Johnson has hit back at Jeremy Corbyn after the Labour leader criticised his response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack - accusing the Labour leader of "playing Russia's game".

Mr Corbyn suggested the Foreign Secretary exaggerated evidence that Moscow was to blame for the Salisbury poisoning.

But Mr Johnson said it was "lamentable" that Mr Corbyn was "trying to discredit the UK" over the incident.

The Foreign Secretary has come under fire after an announcement on Tuesday that Porton Down scientists had not verified the source of the Novichok nerve agent believed to have been used in the March 4 attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused Mr Johnson of 'exaggeration' over evidence Russia was to blame for the poisoning / Reuters

The Labour leader said the Tory either had information that he had not shared with the laboratory or it was a "bit of exaggeration" and called for a "responsible" approach to the situation.

It comes as the international chemical weapons watchdog has denied Russia's request for a joint inquiry with the UK into the poisoning of the Skripals.

During a local election campaign visit to Watford, Mr Corbyn said: "He claimed categorically - and I think he used the words 101 per cent - that it had come from Russia.

"Porton Down have not said that, they said that they've identified it as Novichok, they cannot identify the source of it.

"Either the Foreign Secretary has information that he's not sharing with Porton Down or it was a bit of exaggeration.

"I don't know which it is, but I think we need a responsible, cool approach to this."

In an interview on German TV on March 20 when he was asked why the UK believed that Russia was the source of the nerve agent, Mr Johnson said: "The people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical. I asked them that myself. I said 'Are you sure?'. He said 'There's no doubt'."

On Wednesday, the Foreign Secretary hit back on Twitter.

In a series of tweets he said: "It is lamentable that Jeremy Corbyn is now playing Russia's game and trying to discredit the UK over Salisbury attack. Let's remember the key facts:

"1) Porton Down identified nerve agent as military grade Novichok; 2) Russia has investigated delivering nerve agents, likely for assassination, & as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks; 3) Russia has motive for targeting Sergei Skripal.

"28 other countries have been so convinced by UK case they have expelled Russians. In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn chooses to side with the Russian spin machine."

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said Mr Johnson seems to have "misled the public" and claimed he has shown repeatedly that he is unable to represent the country "responsibly".

Porton Down: the British military research base in Wiltshire / PA Wire/PA Images

Meanwhile, a message stating that Porton Down had established that the Novichok nerve agent came from Russia was deleted from the Foreign Office Twitter feed.

The tweet, issued on March 22, said: "Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia."

Explaining the deletion of the tweet, a Foreign Office spokesman said it had been an inaccurate summary of comments made by the UK's ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, at a briefing in Moscow.

Referring to Dr Bristow as "HMA" - Her Majesty's Ambassador - the spokesman said: "A full transcript and video of the briefing have been available on GOV.UK since 22 March.

"An HMA Moscow briefing on 22 March was tweeted in real time by @UKinRussia and amplified by @foreignoffice, to explain what happened in Salisbury to as wide an audience as possible. One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our ambassador's words. We have removed this tweet."T heresa May has vowed to tackle the "burning injustice" of the gender pay gap as the deadline approaches for the UK's biggest companies to report their figures.

The Prime Minister said "major injustices still hold too many women back" as she compared the pay gap to the women's suffrage campaign a century ago.

It comes ahead of Wednesday's midnight deadline for firms with more than 250 employees to publish the average pay gap between male and female workers.

"A hundred years ago, some women first won the right to vote," Mrs May wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

"But for all the welcome progress in the decades since, major injustices still hold too many women back.

"When I became Prime Minister, I committed myself to tackling the burning injustices which mar our society. One such is the gender pay gap."

While the difference in median hourly wages earned by men and women is at an historic low, Mrs May says progress is still too slow and action was needed to close the gap for good within a generation.

"It is essential that we do so. Most importantly, because equality for women is a right, and our whole society is the poorer as long as it remains unrealised," she said.

"There is also a clear economic imperative. It is estimated that if women and men enjoyed parity in their hours, pay and seniority at work then we could see up to 150 billion added to our GDP."

New legislation introduced last year means every organisation with more than 250 staff must publish their gender pay gap, bonus gap and other information about the differences between male and female salaries.

Mrs May said making the figures public "will make for uncomfortable reading", adding: "By making this information public, organisations will no longer have anywhere to hide.

"We will have established a baseline from which to hold them to account in the future.

"Shareholders and customers will expect to see improvements, and will be able to hold organisations to account if they fail to achieve them."

She also called on workplaces to rid themselves of "outdated stereotypes" and recognise that everyone brings their own experience into their role.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission says it will initially contact employers informally at first if they have not published by the deadline, but businesses could ultimately face "unlimited fines and convictions".

Some groups have attacked the mandatory reporting and said the gender pay gap is a crude measure of equality between men and women.

Dawn Butler, shadow women and equalities minister, said: "There is no excuse for companies which fail to meet today's deadline.B rits can rejoice as Spring has finally arrived with temperatures to climb to highs of 16C in parts of the UK.

A wet and cold March has given way to a warm early April as forecasters predict double-digit temperatures across the UK heading towards the weekend.

The Met Office said Thursday and Friday would be clear and sunny for most parts of the country, reaching possible highs of 16C in the South East on Friday.

It follows a wetter than average month in places such as Devon, the Severn Vale and Tyneside in the North East, with widespread snow and heavy rainfall causing disruption.

Two women sit in the sun on Primrose Hill in London / Getty Images

Forecaster Graeme Madge said: "After a cold start, any residual cold in the east and South East will quite rapidly move away.

A man passes beneath a blossoming tree as he walks near a bed of daffodils in St. James's Park / AFP/Getty Images

"Most places across the UK will be clear. It will be bright and sunny and not much in the way of wind.

"Today we are looking at highs of, pretty much everywhere in England, getting into double figures, with parts of the South East possibly 13C.

"Somewhere like Manchester will still be in double figures and only really in the north of England will we struggle to see double figures temperatures today."

He added Edinburgh, in Scotland, could see up to 8C or 9C.

Hot weather in London - July 2016 1 /6 Hot weather in London - July 2016 Workers bask in glorious sunshine by the River Thames Amer Ghazzal/REX Workers spend lunch in the sun Amer Ghazzal/REX People enjoying the sunshine on London Riverside Amer Ghazzal/REX A young woman dips her feet into a fountain in Trafalgar Square Jack Taylor/Getty Images People stroll through St James's Park Jack Taylor/Getty Images A man sits in a deck chair in St James's Park Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Mr Madge said an area of low pressure threatened to bring some rain to western parts of the UK, including Northern Ireland and Wales, on Friday.

He said: "There's a front associated with that low pressure that's going to be trying to make progress across the UK in western areas.

"As far as England is concerned it's not going to make much progress.

"Tomorrow temperatures, pretty much everywhere apart from really north of Scotland, look like they can get into double figures."

Mr Madge said average temperatures for early April in the South East, where he suggested the mercury could reach up to 16C, were around 12C to 13C.

"So the fact that this is early April, it will feel nice," he said.

The warmer weather might not last long though, with the weekend looking "certainly unsettled".

The brief warmth will be welcome respite from what Mr Madge called a "very wet" March.

"Devon had its fourth wettest March since 1910, although that was not necessarily replicated everywhere," he said.

"Pretty much everywhere apart from places like the North West and west of Scotland saw pretty much above average rainfall.

"Some areas, particularly Devon, the Severn Vales and parts of the North East, saw levels approaching double the amount expected for March.B ritain must prepare to face the threat of Islamic State terrorists using drones to attack buildings and other landmark targets, a security expert will warn in a book published next month.

Nicholas Grossman said that IS had already used drones packed with explosives in Syria and that no terror group had done more to exploit the new technology.

He said options for protecting against the danger included using electrical repulsion systems.

But he warned that if the use of drones for commercial deliveries and other purposes becomes more common it will become increasingly difficult to stop terrorists using drones to destructive effect.

There are already concerns about the potential risk that such devices could pose to aircraft if they stray into flight paths, and the possibility that out-of-control drones could injure people. But in his book Drones and Terrorism, Mr Grossman, an academic from the University of Illinois, warns that the age of the drone terrorist has arrived, with IS and other extremist groups already using them for attacks in conflicts overseas.

He says the technology is likely to be exploited further to mount attacks in Western cities. As drones become more commonplace in cities, they will become less conspicuous, making it easier for a terrorist to case or attack a target, he writes.

Electronically repelling drones from restricted airspace, or forcing them to land, would protect landmarks, airports, government buildings or other potential targets  [but] of course someone will find a way around any anti-drone technology.

Perhaps the biggest danger is to airports. If a terrorist could fly a drone into a jet engine during take-off or landing, they could inflict mass casualties.

The warning echoes similar comments by former Scotland Yard counter-terrorism chief Richard Walton. He told the Standard last month that vigilance was needed about potential attacks using drones because there are very few methodologies used by terrorist organisations in their war zones that dont at some stage come over here.

Mr Walton added that both IS and al-Qaeda, which had not gone away, remained globally networked organisations capable of organising attacks.L ogan Paul was fined and told to move on by rangers after he drove and parked illegally in a park in his latest YouTube vlog.

In a YouTube clip, he filmed himself being confronted by a member of the US National Parks Service after he parked his Cool Bus across multiple parking spaces.

Later the vlogger was fined for illegally driving as he rode around the Yosemite National Park with his friends on the roof of the bus.

Mr Paul informed his fans that he was attending the national park to celebrate his 23rd birthday.

The park ranger told Logan Paul that he would not get a ticket because it was his birthday / Youtube/ Logan Paul

Accompanied by his entourage, Paul chose to camp in the car park of the national park.

Paul told viewers: How did we not get kicked out of our spot yet? We are literally camping in a parking lot in Yosemite National Park.

Eventually, the group were told to move along by a park ranger.

In the clip, Paul can be heard telling the park ranger: It was my birthday so we wanted to come to Yosemite we got here at 4am and this was empty.

The ranger informed the Youtube blogger that as it was his birthday he would not get a ticket.

But she said: "If everybody who wanted to camp wherever they felt like it did, think of how trashed this place would be.

According to The Blast, Paul was later apprehended by another park ranger when he was caught driving around the park in his bus while his friends were on top of the moving vehicle in a tent.

The group were cited for illegal operation and fined a small fee.Wedding bells are ringing louder than ever for First son Jomo Kenyatta and his fiancee Achola Ngobi.

Word on the street has it that the couples highly anticipated white wedding is scheduled for this coming weekend. According to an anonymous source, the high profile Kenyan wedding is slated for Sunday, April 8th.

The Jomo Kenyatta wedding will be on April 8th. You guys should look out for it. The venue has been kept hush-hush for obvious reasons, the source disclosed.

The church wedding will mark the culmination of months of covering all traditional Kikuyu marriage rituals. The latest of these traditional ceremonies was the Kuonio itara ritual, which basically means being shown the grooms homestead.

Appropriately named, this ceremony took place at the Kenyatta familys rural home in Ichaweri village, Gatundu South in November 2016.

It was graced by the whos who in government, as well as hundreds of locals who were kept at a distance but followed proceedings on a large screen.

In November last year, days before President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn-in for his second term, Jomo and Achola welcomed a baby girl who was named Wanjiru, after First Lady Margaret Kenyattas middle name.

Fiona delivered the baby girl at Nairobis Aga Khan Hospital.F our members of a British family were killed in a violent crash while on holiday in Florida when their satnav told them to do a U-turn.

The family, from Bristol, were involved in the horrific smash as they returned from the Kennedy Space Centre on Monday.

Adam Stephenson, 30, drove a rented Mitsubishi sedan into the path of the Ford pickup truck, police said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene along with Maryanne Stephenson, 29, Brian Stephenson, 66, and Sheralyn Stephenson, 56.

Adam and Maryanne Stephenson were pronounced dead the scene

The satnav in the vehicle told Mr Stephenson to do a U-turn at a junction due to another crash as he drove back to a property in Davenport where the family were staying.

Deputy Chief Todd Hutchinson, of Titusville Police Department, said the satnav showed they had been re-routed as a result of an earlier collision.

He said: "The GPS had indicated for them to make a U-turn at that intersection which was an illegal U-turn unfortunately and violated the right of way of the pick-up truck.

Brian Stephenson and Sheralyn Stephenson were also killed in the crash

He added: "Our emergency personnel were on the scene within a few minutes.

"There was nothing they could do, all four were pronounced deceased at the scene."

Officers have informed the driver's brother of the incident, which happened at around 6pm on Sisson Road and State Road.

The wreckage of the car involved in the fatal collision in Florida / Splash News

They went to the address that the family were staying in using the destination set into the cars satnav, Deputy Chief Hutchinson said.

He said: "He lost his brother, his sister-in-law and his mum and dad.

"[It is] very, very tragic."

He added: "That was a very tough notification, it was tough for all involved. The job of first responders is to sustain life and to help people at scenes.

"They were very frustrated because there was nothing they could do for these four that died fairly instantly from the violent collision."

The driver of the Ford pick-up truck was taken to hospital with "non life-threatening injuries", the force said.

An Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are supporting the family of four British people who have died in Florida. Our thoughts are with them at this deeply difficult time."R ussia has failed in its bid for a joint UK-Russian investigation into the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter, Boris Johnson has said.

The proposal was voted down in a meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague called by Moscow to insist its experts must be involved in the testing programme and probe.

Britain told the extraordinary meeting the demand was a sign Moscow was "nervous" of what the inquiries will find.

Mr Johnson said Russia's goal was to "obscure the truth and confuse the public".

Boris Johnson dubbed the proposal 'ludicrous' / Getty Images

The Foreign Secretary, who has faced claims he has exaggerated the evidence against Moscow, said countries around the world "continue to share our assessment" about the nerve-agent attack.

He said: "The purpose of Russia's ludicrous proposal at The Hague was clear - to undermine the independent, impartial work of the international chemical weapons watchdog.

"Russia has had one goal in mind since the attempted murders on UK soil through the use of a military-grade chemical weapon - to obscure the truth and confuse the public.

"The international community has yet again seen through these tactics and robustly defeated Russia's attempts today to derail the proper international process.

Moscow called for a joint investigation into the poisoning / AFP/Getty Images

"It shows that many countries around the world continue to share our assessment of what happened in Salisbury and are determined to stand up to Russia's behaviour."

In a vote at OPCW, six of the 41 members backed Russia while 15 voted against, 17 abstained, two were absent, and one was not entitled to vote.

Nick Heath, deputy British ambassador to The Hague, said Russia had failed again in its attempts to "frustrate the process of justice".

Russian officials speaking after the meeting concluded said they had presented a "common sense" case and pointed to the "lies by Tony Blair" over Iraq as they criticised the intelligence about the attack.

Moscow has called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Thursday to discuss the case.

UK ambassador John Foggo accused Russia of showing "disdain" for the independence of the international body, which is conducting tests on samples of the nerve agent used in the March 4 attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

He told the meeting: "The work of the Technical Secretariat must remain impartial.

"Russia's refusal to accept the results of the OPCW's investigation unless Russian experts participate in it suggests that Russia is opposed to the independence and impartiality of the Technical Secretariat and is nervous about what the results will show."

Mr Foggo said that Russia's statements displayed a "wilful ignorance" of the Chemical Weapons Convention and "disdain for the independence and competence" of the OPCW's Technical Secretariat.

The UK was backed by the European Union, which reaffirmed its support for Britain's demand for answers from Russia on how the Novichok agent which it developed came to be used in Salisbury.

Speaking on behalf of the EU, Bulgarian ambassador Krassimir Kostov said: "We have full confidence in the UK investigation and laud UK's collaboration with the OPCW Technical Secretariat, in full compliance with the convention."

Tension between Moscow and London has risen a notch after the head of the Porton Down military research facility said scientists had not verified Russia as the source of the substance used in the attack on the Skripals.

Vladimir Putin seized on the comments from the chief executive of the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Gary Aitkenhead, as he accused the UK of launching an "anti-Russian campaign".T he foreign Office was plunged into controversy today after a tweet claiming British scientists had blamed Russia for the Salisbury nerve agent attack was deleted.

The admission of the Twitter change came as Britain was seeking to counter Russia claims that the West had rushed to judgement.

The FCO message on March 22 stated: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

But this tweet was deleted and yesterday Porton Downs boss said it had identified the poison as from the Novichok family of toxins, developed in the Soviet Union era, but not its source.

Emergency services investigate the scene where the pair were found last month / AFP/Getty Images

The Russian Embassy in London seized on the discrepancies, posting the original FCO tweet and one from Porton Down stressing it had not named the source.

The Foreign Office said the tweet was deleted as it had inaccurately reported words by Britains ambassador to Moscow, Laurie Bristow, accusing Russia of being behind the Salisbury poisoning.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: An HMA Moscow briefing on 22 March was tweeted in real time by @UKinRussia and amplied by @foreignoffice, to explain what happened in Salisbury to as wide an audience as possible.

The head of the British military facility analysing the Novichok nerve agent said it has 'not verified the precise source' of the substance / AFP/Getty Images

One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our Ambassadors words. We have removed this tweet.

The tweet was deleted today, after a review of messages following the Porton Down chief saying his experts had not identified the source of the nerve agent.

Meanwhile, the EU said Russia must cooperate with the chemical weapons watchdogs probe into the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning.

It also called on the Kremlin to respond to legiimate questions from the UK government over the attack which British investigators say was carried out using the Soviet-developed Novichok toxin.

The EU statement appeared to show that the European Union was standing united behind Britain despite Moscow stepping up accusations that there had been a rush to judgement.

It is imperative that the Russian Federation responds to the British governments legitimate questions, begins to co-operate with the OPCW Secretariat, and provides full and complete disclosure to the OPCW, the EU stressed at an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

It added that it was very concerned at reports that Russia may reject the OPCWs findings on the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.T his is the moment SpaceX successfully docked its Dragon cargo spacecraft packed with crew supplies and science experiments at the International Space Station.

The spaceship arrived at the ISS two days after its launch from Florida, delivering around 5,800lbs of research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting lab.

NASA and SpaceX said the cargo pod was installed on the Harmony module of the space station at 9am EDT (1pm GMT).

Incredible footage streamed live during the event, SpaceXs 14th mission to the research facility, showed the pod locking on to the space station.

The Dragon capsule arrived at the International Space Station with crew supplies and experiments / AP

The spacecraft approached the ISS from below, and the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm controlled by Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai and NASA astronaut Scott Tingle reached out to grapple it, NASA wrote in a statement.

Ground controllers in Houston and Canada then took control of the arm to move the Dragon pod to a berthing port, where it was firmly attached to the space station with sixteen bolts, according to Spaceflight Now.

Among the cargo delivered are biological investigations related to measuring astronauts health, a new facility to test how materials react to the harsh conditions of space and an Earth observatory that will study severe thunderstorms, NASA said.

Dragon will now remain attached to the ISS until May, when it will make its way back to Earth with more than 3,500lbs of additional cargo.

It will have NASAs old Robonaut 2 on board, a humanoid robot thats been on the ISS since 2011.

The robot is being returned to Earth for repairs, The Verge reported.F amily and friends have paid tribute to four members of a British family killed in a car crash in Florida.

Adam Stephenson, 30, Maryanne Stephenson, 29, Bryan Stephenson, 66, and Sheralyn Stephenson, 56, all from Bristol, were killed when a pick-up truck collided with their sedan near the city of Titusville on Monday.

Bryan's brother, John, said the family were devastated upon hearing the news.

He told the BBC: "We are devastated at the loss of the four family members Bryan, Sherry, Adam and Maryanne, in such tragic circumstances."

Crash victims: Adam and Maryanne Stephenson

Maryannes mother Nanette Drake, 47, told the MailOnline: She wasnt only my daughter. She was my best friend.

She said her daughter had messaged her every day while she was on holiday with her husband Adam.

The couple were "trying for a family", Ms Drake added.

She was wonderful, lovely, the best daughter a mum could wish for, she was my best friend, Nanette said.

She said Adam was like a son to her.

Police at the scene of the 'violent' collision / WFTV

Titusville Police Department officers said they believed the British family had just left the Kennedy Space Centre in a car they had rented and were driving back to a holiday home.

Data from the global-positioning system device in the car indicated the family were making a U-turn at the junction on Sisson Road following an earlier crash when the collision took place.

Adam and Maryanne Stephenson were pronounced dead the scene

Bryan Stephenson's employers, Emery Brothers building contractors in Bath, said staff were "deeply shocked and saddened" by the news, the BBC reported.

Police said Adam Stephensons brother was also on holiday but had chosen not to visit the space centre.

DC Hutchinson said officers visited the rental home, using the destination entered into the sat nav.

"They located the brother of the driver, and the son of the older couple in the back seat. So he lost his brother, his sister-in-law and his mum and dad," he said. "Very, very tragic."Trauma surgeon in YouTube HQ shooting vents anger over gun violence

Dr Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon called to scene of the shooting at YouTube HQ, has called for an end to the "serious problem" of American gun violence.

Speaking to CNN, he said: "To think that after we've seen Las Vegas, Parkland, the Pulse nightclub shooting, that we would see an end to this, but we have not.

"Gun violence happens every day throughout the United States. It happens here in San Francisco. It happens in the Bay Area. It happens all over the country.

"But I don't see you guys out here because I'd like to make sure that people know that we got a serious problem that we need to address.

"I don't have all the answers...at least we're having a discussion about it nationally...this is a real problem.

"That's the problem, when something like this happens, which is terribly unfortunate, then you guys come out.M andeep Dhillon is in the middle of having her photo taken when I arrive for our interview. Its immediately obvious that she and the camera are in a mutually requited love affair; a photophobe like me has to make the most of this opportunity to ask for tips. Just get some Rihanna on, she tells me.

You might recognise Dhillon, 27, from the BBC Three schoolgirl sitcom Some Girls, or as David Brents sympathetic receptionist in Life on the Road  but her face is about to become much more familiar. She stars opposite David Morrissey in the major new four-part drama The City & the City, the first episode of which airs on Friday.

Its based on China Mievilles genre-bending 2009 novel, in which the citizens of two neighbouring fictional cities  Beszel and UI Qoma  are taught that they must unsee each other. Disregarding this rule  known as breaching  is a crime worse than murder. When Beszel police inspector Borlu (Morrissey) and his sidekick Corwi (Dhillon) begin to investigate the death of a student, they discover she came from UI Qoma, which makes things more complicated than they seem. (And they already seem quite complicated.)

Its a crime thriller set in the craziest universe, basically, Dhillon tells me. She describes her character as a badass who swears like a trooper. What you see is what you get.

David Morrissey and Mandeep Dhillon in The City and the City / BBC/Mammoth Screen

Playing Morrisseys crime partner is a dynamic that Dhillon found refreshing: To actually play a lead, a female lead, and to have a male cop and a female cop, and there not be any sexual tension, she says. It was so much fun to play because we could have bants and have that good friendship vibe.

She admits that she had never seen any of Morrisseys previous work before acting with him (luckily  I would have been really nervous if Id watched The Walking Dead [in which Morrissey plays the villainous Governor]) and that they werent an obvious pairing. He went to Rada; she went to college. He would prepare with notebooks, cutting and sticking things, whereas with Dhillon, As soon as they call action, Im in. As soon as they call cut, Im back to me just being silly and mucking about with the crew.

Despite this, the two actors bonded over their mutual love of music, enjoying shared Kendrick Lamar-listening sessions on set. I remember in rehearsals I was singing Beyonces Lemonade and he was like,  a hushed voice  Its the most amazing album ever.

The youngest of three siblings, Dhillon was raised in Hertfordshire by her mother, a former social worker who now works in the NHS. Was her father around? No. They broke up when I was a baby, so he wasnt part of the family.

It may be her mother who inspired in Dhillon the self-starting streak that led to her getting her hands on the Spotlight casting handbook at the age of 17 and start contacting agents. One put her on the books within three weeks. She got her first job during college, and once she had finished her performing arts course she decided to have a gap year: I guess Im still on my gap year!

Growing up in Hertfordshire, theres nothing going on. Literally nothing, Dhillon tells me. As a child she would watch films and learn the lines by heart, which helped to inspire her desire to act. She says she still knows The Parent Trap word for word.

A former Instagram addict, Dhillon has no social media apps on her phone, preferring to log on consciously. My mind is the most precious thing to me. That is the one thing I try to hold on to. I feel like in England everyone needs to go and have therapy, she says. Shes passionate on the subject of mental health, listing statistics and research studies.

New TV shows to look forward to in 2018 1 /17 New TV shows to look forward to in 2018 The Little Drummer Girl Florence Pugh as Charlie with Alexander Skarsgard as Becker in the John le Carre thriller BBC / The Little Drummer Girl Distribution Limited. The Cry Jenna Coleman and Ewen Leslie Synchronicity Films Ltd/Lachlan Moore Vanity Fair ITV and Amazon's remake of William. M. Thackeray's classic novel starring Olivia Cooke and Tom Bateman ITV Wanderlust Toni Collette and Steven Mackintosh star in BBC's new raunchy drama BBC/Drama Republic Press Charlotte Riley and Ben Chaplin go head-to-head as rival newspaper editors in new drama from Doctor Foster creator Mike Barlett BBC Death and Nightingales Jamie Dornan, Ann Skelly and Matthew Rhys star in a three-part drama for BBC Two BBC Maniac Emma Stone and Jonah Hill star in the limited Netflix series coming September Michele K. Short / Netflix Disenchantment Matt Groening is back and on Netflix with new adult comedy following Princess Bean and friends Netflix / Matt Groening Age Before Beauty Age Before Beauty on BBC One with Polly Walker, Sue Johnston and Lisa Riley follows a family business with plenty of secrets BBC/Mainstreet Pictures/Todd Antony Hard Sun Luther creator Neil Cross has another dabble at the cop show format in this crime/sci-fi drama inspired by the Bowie song Five Years. BBC/Euston Films A Very English Scandal Hugh Grant stars in this drama from Doctor Who/Sherlock writer Russell T Davies, which adapts John Prestons book about the scandal that surrounded Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe BBC/Blueprint Television Ltd Kiri National Treasure writer Jack Thorne pens a four-part drama about the abduction of a young black girl. The ever-reliable Sarah Lancashire is unconventional social worker Miriam, who finds herself being blamed. Channel 4 Britannia Filmed in Wales and Prague, Jez Butterworths historical drama is set in 43AD, when Roman General Aulus (David Morrissey) is attempting to conquer the Celts. Sky Collateral David Hares four-part drama (his first original TV series) explores the repercussions after a pizza delivery man is shot dead. Carey Mulligan plays Detective Inspector Kip Glaspie, who investigates. BBC/The Forge Save Me In the absence of Doctor Foster, Suranne Jones stars as the mother of a missing girl who believes that her ex- (Lennie James, who wrote the show) is guilty of the abduction, forcing him to work to clear his name. Sky Atlantic Troy: Fall of a City Swords and sandals epic in eight parts made in a collaboration with Netflix, written by David Farr (who also wrote The Night Manager). BBC/Wild Mercury Productions Patrick Melrose Benedict Cumberbatch looks right at home in this adaptation of the Edward St Aubyn novels about an outrageous aristocrat struggling to overcome the damage inflicted by an abusive father. Dave Benett

She recently went to Los Angeles to meet casting directors, and says she thinks America is probably 10 steps ahead of us in the UK when it comes to diversity. The roles I would go up for there are all leads, with names like Kate or Becky  not Indian names. She praises the colour-blind casting of The City & the City: Theres nothing in my character that points to me being any religion or heritage. I am who I am, which I love.

Dhillon will appear on screens again later in the year alongside Noel Clarke in Bulletproof. She would love to star in a Marvel film Oh my God, Black Panther. You need to see it!  but confides that shes currently writing two shows of her own. I leave Dhillon to continue conquering our screens, and to go home and put some Rihanna on.T he creators of Stranger Things, Matt and Ross Duffer have branded claims of plagiarism made against them by filmmaker Charlie Kessler as meritless.

Kessler alleges that he pitched his short film The Montauk Project to the Duffer brothers when he met them at the Tribeca Film festival in 2014.

He claims that the short film was used as the basis for 2016 Netflix series Stranger Things which was originally sold to the streaming service with the working title Montauk.

In a statement, the Duffer Brothers lawyer Alex Kohner, called the claim an attempt to profit from other peoples creativity.

Mr. Kesslers claim is completely meritless. He had no connection to the creation or development of Stranger Things. The Duffer Brothers have neither seen Mr. Kesslers short film nor discussed any project with him. This is just an attempt to profit from other peoples creativity and hard work.

Like Stranger Things, The Montauk Project focuses on a small town disturbed by unusual goings on at a nearby government facility.

Stranger Things, Season 2 - in pictures 1 /5 Stranger Things, Season 2 - in pictures She's back Winona Ryder returns as Joyce Byers - and is that a new character on the right? Netflix Downside Up Will Byers is back to reality after spending Season 1 in the Upside Down Netflix Dream team Nancy and Jonathan are teaming up again Netflix Worse for wear Chief Hopper looks as disheveled as ever in the new series Netflix Who ya gonna call? The kids dress up as Ghostbusters for Halloween Netflix

However, members of the Stranger Things cast have previously suggested in an interview with Wired that the inspiration from the series came from Camp Hero, a government lab in New York that was profiled in 1992 book The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time.Ayesha Curry and her sister-in-law, Sydel Curry, visited Napa this past weekend, enjoying an overnight stay at the Archer Hotel and dinner at Charlie Palmer Steak Napa.

Rumors have been floated around that the wife of Golden State Warriors future Hall of Famer Stephen  whos also a superstar brand in the respective worlds of food and wine, beauty and all things family and parenting  was possibly scouting a future site for her restaurant venture International Smoke (recently announcing a second locale in Houston); or perhaps theres a Curry wine label on the horizon; or maybe it was just a girls getaway to celebrate Sydels engagement to Atlanta Hawks guard Damion Lee.

Whatever the case, its encouraging to see the first family of the Bay Area taking stock in our community.

Whether its Steph joining us to play in the PGA Safeway Open, or the rising star entrepreneur Ayesha making a BottleRock appearance and including us in her ever-expanding business portfolio, Napas very own version of Hanging With The Currys is absolutely 100 percent good for business.

Upcoming Chamber events:

Leads Over Lunch, in collaboration with Coles Chop House, will take place on Friday, April 13 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.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Professor Mircea Dumitru, the rector of the University of Bucharest (UB), was unanimously elected chairman of the Balkan Universities Association by members the General Assembly at the fourth conference of the Balkan Universities Association (BUA), which took place in Tetovo, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, March 30-31, 2018. According to a press statement released by UB, Dumitru will serve as chairman for one year, April 2019 - April 2020.

At the same time, Dumitru will be a member on the BUA Administration Board, alongside the current BUA Chairman Leonidas Mitkas, rector of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and Professor Erhan Tabakoglu, rector of Trakia University in Edirne, Turkey. "Culture, scientific research and learning, the transmission of historical traditions to the new generations are powerful tools for mutual knowledge, acceptance of the other, and building real political and religious tolerance. More knowledge and understanding means fewer confrontations and wars," Dumitru is quoted as saying in the press statement.

The newly elected BUA chairman also mentioned some of the objectives of the forthcoming chairmanship, including the co-opting other prestigious universities in the zone and more active social, cultural and political involvement, especially in current national and regional geo-political issues. "The University of Bucharest aims to support the candidacy of other major Romanian universities to become members of the BUA in the hopes that the Romanian higher learning oragnisations can contribute substantially and actively to the development of scientific research and quality education in this geographical area. The University of Bucharest is an active member of several international academic organisations: the Balkan Universities Association, the UNICA Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe, the European University Association, and the Silk Road University Network. "

The Balkan Universities Association is an association of over 60 universities from Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia. BUA aims to contribute to the consolidation of peace and stability in the Balkans through the development of bilateral and multilateral co-operative academic and scientific collaborations among the member universities.

Agerpres.Foreign investors describe the bureaucracy in Romania as uncompetitive compared to other locations in Europe where they are unfolding activities and complain about the lack of transparency and consistency in the adoption and implementation of public policies, reads a press release of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) issued on Wednesday for AGERPRES.

The FIC message for policy makers is that, as long as the index of business milieu perception in Romania suggests rather mistrust, the chances of attracting new significant investments are minimal.

In conclusion, the Council shows, in the short term, the economic outlook looks good and a significant part of the FIC member companies anticipates a growth in business in Romania, but medium and long-term investments, the only ones catalysing sustainable growth, will not materialize if there is no change in the perception of existing investors about the stability and predictability of public policies in Romania.A survey among FIC members shows that more than 70% of them say that the developments in the last 6 months have lowered their confidence in the business milieu in Romania and they believe that it has deteriorated.According to the FIC, foreign investments in Romania reached 4.5 billion euros in 2017, in very slight increase compared to 2015 or 2016, but at half the level recorded in the years 2007 - 2008.Premier Viorica Dancila announced on Wednesday that an additional 30 million lei will be included in the budget of the Ministry of the Interior for the procurement of 550 motor vehicles for the Romanian Police.

"At today's meeting we will adopt a government resolution to supplement the budget of the Ministry of the Interior by 30 ml lei from the reserve fund at the government's disposal for the procurement of 550 vehicles for the Romanian Police," Dancila said at start of the government meeting.

The Prime Minister also announced a set of measures aimed at improving the gendarmes' working conditions, specifically "a 10 percent wage increase, effective as of this month, for taskforce gendarmes, who perform public order missions, the completion of safety works at the Baneasa shooting range and the start of works for a modern, covered shooting range that could be completed within two years and requires about eight million euro in investments."

AGERPRES .Vice-President of the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) Codrut Olaru said on Wednesday that CSM and the Judicial Inspectorate, as well as the Supreme Court (ICCJ) and the Attorney General's Office all signed protocols with intelligence services, while the other entities in the judiciary did not. "We have received correspondence with entities in the judicial system as follows: the Prosecutor's Office with the Supreme Court of Justice and Cassation and Justice, the Supreme Court of Justice and Cassation, the Judicial Inspectorate, and it should be remembered that such a protocol was concluded at the CSM level, a protocol that was denounced by the former CSM management in 2017 at the request of all the members of the CSM (...) As a consequence, all the other entities in the judiciary, be it the National School of Court Clerks, to the National Institute of the Magistrates, the other courts and prosecutor's offices at the level of courts of appeal, tribunals and courthouses, for the period 2005-2018, did not conclude such protocols," Olaru told a CSM plenary session.

He pointed out that this centralisation was based on information received at the CSM level, but there are no written protocols attached.

"Consequently, the whole situation only regarded minimal correspondence we had with these organisations. The specific object of these protocols, given that we are talking about classified correspondence, could not be attached to be made public for reasons that are easy to understand, as a result of which all members are asking them to be able, at the level of the security body of CSM, to analyse specific correspondence with those organsiations. I think we should stock to our point of view which we all embraced in the March 20 meeting, insisting on receiving all these protocols; we will carry out the scrutiny thereof with all the CSM members," said Olaru.

Agerpres.The goal always is for a restaurant to go fully vegan, Ugar told the Globe and Mail. To reduce the animals they kill, for me, isnt good enough.

So last Friday, as the chants of murderer, took off outside his business for at least fourth time, Hunter developed a new plan.

This is who we are and what we do, he said. Theyre offending us; Im going to offend them. So I went and got a deer leg.

Video shows him cutting up the leg, slicing the red meat away from the bone, as protesters decry the recently murdered deer, and ask police at the protest if what the chef is doing is legal. At one point, the officers enter the restaurant to talk to Hunter.

Toronto police told CTV News that they were called to the restaurant twice but did not issue any charges or tickets.

Despite what Hunter described as some initial reliefI felt like I had stood up for myself, he saidhe later came to regret the move, saying he feel like he played into the activists protest.

Ugar told CTV News that Hunters counterprotest had left her feeling sad for a few days.John Bolton, Donald Trump's choice to be the US National Security Adviser, has long been a surrogate for former Vice President Dick Cheney. In almost every sense, Bolton mirrors the war-hawk policies advocated by Cheney before, during, and after his stint as George W. Bushs vice president.

Bolton was the only US ambassador to the United Nations never to have been confirmed by the US Senate. George W. Bush took advantage of the Senate's recess to confer upon the extreme war-hawk a recess appointment. It was Bush's way of paying back Bolton for serving as one of the Bush campaign's disruptive attorney- surrogates during the 2000 Florida presidential vote recount.

Wherever Bolton sees a conflict in the world he, like Cheney, sees an opportunity for US military engagement. Bolton is a standard neo-conservative  someone who, like Cheney, dodged the Vietnam draft but is all-too-willing to commit US troops to foreign battlefields. While at the UN, Bolton and his openly gay assistant and diplomatic valet, Richard Grenell  tapped to be Trump's ambassador to Germany  were known for their constant inability to get along with other delegations, save for one, Israel. Bolton infamously got into heated arguments with the British ambassador over procedures and rules in the Security Council.

While an official in the Reagan administrations US Agency for International Development (USAID), Bolton, according to divorce papers served by his ex-wife, allegedly forced his wife to engage in group sex activities at New York's Plato's Retreat, a swingers sex club, in the 1970s and 80s. A decade later, while an attorney for USAID contractor International Business & Technical Consultants Inc. (IBTCI), USAID, Bolton harassed a female USAID contractor who was working in Kyrgyzstan. According to the contractor, Melody Townsel, Bolton made her life miserable during their time together in Russia.

Townsel told the Dallas Observer in May 2005 the following about Boltons antics: [John Bolton] began chasing [me] through the halls of a Russian hotel  throwing things at me, shoving threatening letters under my door and, generally, behaving like a madman. Townsel added that this went on for two weeks, during which time Bolton routinely visited me to pound on the door and shout threats." Bolton also falsely told Townsels colleagues that she was under federal investigation for misuse of funds and that she was bound for federal prison. Townsel said Bolton made "unconscionable comments about my weight, my wardrobe and my sexuality, hinting that I was a lesbian (for the record, I'm not)." Time magazine and the Toronto Star corroborated Townsels version of events, even as right-wing propaganda mouthpieces like radios Rush Limbaugh called her a liar. In a case of likes attracting one another, Boltons sexist attitude toward women and his insulting demeanor toward subordinates are likely what first attracted Trump to the walrus-mustached former ambassador to the UN.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell privately warned a few Republican senators during Boltons confirmation hearing in 2005 that Bolton was not suited to be the American ambassador to the UN because his former top diplomat for arms control had problems with those who disagreed with him. Former chief of the State Departments Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) Carl W. Ford, Jr. was even blunter when he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Bolton was a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy" and "a serial bully. In the end, the Senate  including Democrats and Republicans  could not bring itself to confirm someone as unqualified and dangerous as Bolton for the UN post.

But Trump sees nothing wrong with Bolton as National Security Adviser. Bolton reportedly plans to conduct a purge of White House National Security Council staffers deemed by him to be disloyal to Trump and prone to leaking information to the media. However, when it comes to leaks, Bolton has several of his own in his dossier.

During the Bush presidency, while Bolton was still serving as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, he is believed responsible for taking part in the leak of national security information from the INR and the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 2003, Bolton, who had virtually declared war on INR, was working closely with Vice President Cheney's staff, including Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, David Wurmser, and John Hannah, as well as Karl Rove, to craft propaganda justifying the war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Bolton was part of the Bush administration cabal that outed the identity of CIA non-official cover (NOC) agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her Brewster Jennings & Associates cover firm. Plame's identity was disclosed by Bolton and his friends in retaliation for her husband, Joe Wilson, a former Deputy Chief of Mission in Baghdad and a former ambassador to Gabon, penning an op-ed in The New York Times that debunked Bush's spurious claim that Iraq received "yellow cake" uranium from Niger. By exposing Plame and Brewster Jennings, Bolton put into jeopardy NOCs around the world, agents who were critical to the CIA's clandestine missions, including identifying networks used for the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Exposure by Bolton, Rove, Libby and others of the Brewster Jennings & Associates counter-WMD operation also resulted in the exposure of allied intelligence NOCs and private business assets working for British and German intelligence agencies, who were assisting the CIA in its efforts to counter the flow of WMDs. The foreign agents worked for Britain's MI-6 (Secret Intelligence Service) and MI5 (Security Service) and the German Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND). The German counter-WMD operation concentrated on the smuggling of nuclear material from the former Soviet central Asian states. The British agents, using "trading company" fronts, had close contacts with assets in Iran, North Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Ukraine, China, India, Pakistan, and Russia.

Bolton also misused National Security Agency intercepts for political purposes. As National Security Adviser, Bolton will have access to all-source intelligence, including NSA communication intercepts. In 2005, Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) revealed during Boltons Senate Foreign Relations Committee UN ambassador nomination hearing that Bolton requested transcripts of 10 NSA intercepts of conversations between named US government officials and foreign persons. Later, it was revealed that US companies [also treated as "US persons" by NSA] were also identified in an additional nine intercepts requested by Bolton. The requests for NSA intercepts by Bolton were as suspicious as those requested more recently by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, apparently for no valid reason other than curiosity or something more sinister.

The following NSA intercepts were among those requested by Bolton and his neo-con cabal in Cheney's office:

 Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and their conversations with their counterparts and officials around the world;

 Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns and his telephone conversations with International Atomic Energy Agency director general Mohammed el Baradei and Britains top non-proliferation official William Ehrman (Bolton was frozen out of negotiations between Burns, Britain, and Libya over the stand down of the Libyan weapons of mass destruction program;

 Burnss conversations with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al Shara over charges by Bolton that Syria possessed WMDs and conversations between Burns and former chief UN Iraq weapons inspector Hans Blix;

 Various phone calls made by Chairman of the Presidents Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board Brent Scowcroft;

 US Special Envoy on North Korea Charles Jack Pritchard and his telephone conversations with US ambassador to South Korea Thomas Hubbard, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs James Kelly, and Richard Armitage;

 New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and his telephone conversations with Secretary of State Powell and North Koreas deputy UN ambassador Han Song Ryol [confirmed personally by Richardson to the author];

 Phone conversations between Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden and his Iranian counterpart, Majlis foreign affairs chair Mohsen Mirdamad;

 Phone calls between Biden, his staff, and William Burns and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman;

 Former President Jimmy Carters phone conversations with Cuban officials before and during his May 2002 trip to Cuba (Carter said he found no evidence to support Boltons claims of Cuban biological weapons development).

Bolton's multiple requests for NSA "raw SIGINT" or signals intelligence evoked the following response from then-NSA director Michael Hayden in an internal NSA memo:

"(U) US law and policy present more serious issues. EO [Executive Order] 12333 recognizes that electronic surveillance is so intrusive that we have established very specific rules to prevent unreasonable intrusion into privacy. EO 12333 tells us that information derived from electronic surveillance is not to be shared unless two criteria are met: US person information has been minimized so as to uphold 4th Amendment protections from unreasonable search and the information provided is of inherent intelligence value.

(U//FOUO) Much of the above would delight many of those who have been clamoring for more extensive access to our databases and other SIGINT derived information. [Emphasis added] These folks usually couch such views in the form of a request for 'raw SIGINT'a formulation that usually connotes little knowledge about our discipline and even less likelihood that any kind of sharing with them would lead to something useful!

(U//FOUO) When I press for an explanation of what these folks mean by 'raw SIGINT' (usually accompanied by an explanation on my part of our production processes: access, collection, processing, translating, analyzing, reporting), Im finally told that what they really want are English language transcripts of intercepted communications. They often seem surprised when I report that that usually that doesnt help us much in terms of dealing with the volume of modern communications and in fact would probably add to our workload. And to those who might have linguists in appropriate languages, I also point out that no one would be served by 'amateur night' with inexperienced analysts second-guessing our linguists about the meaning of guarded conversations in obscure dialects laced heavily with allegorical Koranic references and spoken by interlocutors who seem to easily confuse the 'is' with the 'ought to be.'

Bolton represents the worst American diplomatic face that Washington ever displayed to the world. The Senate rejected him to be Americas ambassador to the UN. The National Security Adviser position does not require Senate confirmation. With Bolton in position at the White House and current CIA director Mike Pompeo in charge of the State Department, the United States will be on a steady course to war. May the human race survive Trump, Bolton, Pompeo, and the other minions of the American neocon right-wing who now control the helm of the American ship of state.The mass expulsion of Russian diplomats came as no surprise. After all, thats why the incident known as the Skripal case was invented. The Western media knew about these plans in advance.

The West is dangerously divided into conservatives  the so-called populists  and those who champion multipolarity in the modern world. Feelings of frustration with the results of US leadership are widespread. The representatives of the West badly need something they can all rally around. Finding a common enemy is the best way to do this, and their choice has settled on Russia, since that country is sticking to its guns. Economic and information wars are in full swing and the isolation of Moscow is the coveted (although quite unachievable) goal.

The anti-Russia campaign is taking place in a particular environment, in which many things are happening at once. The US administration is going through a major reshuffle, with Pompeo and Bolton taking key positions of influence over the presidents foreign-policy decisions. Both are known as Russia hawks. The Skripal case is a European affair, but the US is expelling roughly three times as many diplomats as the UK itself, making Washington more British than London. And interestingly, it has just been revealed that the work to develop the Novichok nerve gas (A234) was done right there in the US. Moscow has documents to support this claim.

Its an obvious attempt to discredit Vladimir Putin. At present the West is losing the ground it has held in Syria. The diplomats are expelled, the rhetoric heats up, threats are made, and further sanctions are discussed, with no evidence whatsoever produced to confirm Russias involvement in the spy-poisoning case.

The campaign was coordinated and prepared in advance. Looking at the headlines in the Western media, one might come to the conclusion that the organizers have accomplished their mission with flying colors. But has it really been such a success? Lets look at the details.

The investigation is going slowly as usual and the results are never convincing, as weve seen in Syria. But thats a horse of a different color. What we have today is a wave of unsubstantiated accusations that have been made without waiting for the OPCW to offer any conclusions.

According to its intelligence reports, at least 20 other countries manufacture and stockpile that nerve gas. This fits with what Moscow has been saying, but the West refuses to listen. It needs unanimity before the NATO summit in July and an external threat to justify rise in military expenditures up to 2% of GDP.

The US has not limited itself to the expulsion of diplomats but has also closed the Russian consulate in Seattle. Additional sanctions are being weighed. This time President Trump is following the advice of his new NSA-designate, demonstrating that he is in a tight spot and has to relent. Moscow will respond, which will greatly complicate the work of the US missions there, including American intelligence efforts. The administrations reaction shows that the US president cannot resist pressure after 14 months in office.

Does it mean that this tit-for-tat war last forever? Is it all doom and gloom? Will the day come when the US president can stand tall and do things his own way? The only condition for a dialog on Moscows part is the mutual realization of the fact that there is no return to the period of late 1980-1990s when NATO kept Russia out in the cold while taking decisions on security issues, such as the bombardment of Serbia in 1999 or illegally making Kosovo a separate state. The inclusion of Russia into the Partnership for Peace program did not prevent the blocs expansion to its borders as well as the Wests attempts to marginalize it internationally. This is the time for a dialog on equal terms.

Lets take a look at the near-term prospects. The House of Representatives has wrapped up its Russiagate investigation with nothing to show for it. It looks like all of Special Counsel Muellers efforts are leading nowhere. When its all over and the dust has settled, Donald Trump will have more wiggle room on his Russia policy. He faces the mid-term elections in November. A summit with the Russian leader held to address burning issues so vital for US security could boost Republican chances. After all, Russia is the only country in the world that can annihilate the US. Like it or not, thats what it is to be treated accordingly. The agenda could include arms control, military activities, bilateral ties, N. Korea, Syria, Ukraine, the Islamic State (IS) and coordination of diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict in Libya.

John Bolton is the right man to contribute into organizing such an event. Known as an inveterate hawk, he would keep the haters of Russia in check. As an old hand at arms control and security issues, he knows the ropes and realizes how important it is for his country. Mr. Bolton is personally acquainted with many leading experts and high placed officials in Moscow. Russian Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, is also dry behind the ears. They can hold professional and pragmatic discussions to prepare the event.

Strategic stability and arms control are the most promising areas where progress can be achieved. Despite all the expulsions and other things to negatively affect the relationship, the chiefs of staff regularly talk to each other and the leaders discuss the prospects for top level talks.

Until now the US president has steered clear of personal attacks and avoided direct finger-pointing. President Putin realizes that Donald Trump has been dealing with domestic difficulties. Putin has been patiently waiting. Despite all the snags on the way, some progress had been achieved with a full-fledged summit on the horizon.

President Trump has invited the Russian leader to visit him in Washington. Such a meeting will take at least a few months to prepare, probably this fall, if it all goes smoothly. The place could also be a neutral country, such as Finland or Slovenia. The two leaders could meet in Argentina, where a G20 summit will take place in November. With no evidence to produce, the hue and cry raised over the Skripal case will gradually die down.

The summit has not been canceled and the ties have not been severed. A shred of hope is still left. The only thing to do is to keep our fingers crossed for better days ahead. But some questions do arise. You cannot build a long-tern relationship with someone whose hands are tied with no prospects of freeing them. After all, the US needs this dialog just as much as Russia does.Christ of the Andes Early in the twentieth century, tensions were rising between Chile and Argentina over the proper delineation of their mutual border in the Andes, and there was a general belief that war was coming soon. But a message from Pope Leo XIII, calling for peace between the two nations, prompted Bishop Marcelino del Carmen Benavente of Cuyo to pledge to erect a statue of Christ on the frontier if peace prevailed. This in turn inspired Angela Oliveira Cezar de Costa, the well-connected leader of a prominent Catholic laywomens group, to make a direct appeal for a peaceful resolution of the dispute to her friend Julio Roca, who happened to be President of Argentina. This initiative broke the tension, as Roca reached out to his Chilean counterpart, German Riesco. The two agreed to arbitration by King Edward VII of Great Britain, who appointed an international commission which handed down a decision in 1902. On March 13, 1904, a massive statue of Christ the Redeemer of the Andes made from bronze salvaged from old cannon was dedicated on the border at 3,832 meters (12,572 feet) above sea level, on the historic pass of La Cumbre, over which San Martin had marched an army to help liberate Chile from Spanish rule in 1817. The dedication didnt go off without a hitch. Somehow the statue, which was supposed to face southwards, so that Chile would be on Christs right and Argentina on his left, faced east, thus presenting Christs back to Chile. This led to some acrimony in Chilean nationalist circles, until one newspaper editor defused the situation by noting that, The statue is placed as it should be. The people of Argentina need more watching over than the Chileans. Afterwards: Sra. Cezar de Costa continued to work for international peace and cooperation, and was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1910 and again in 1911, though the award went to others. Captain Pakenham Stays Aboard In 1904 Capt. Sir William C. Pakenham (1861-1933) was the British naval attache in Japan. On the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, he secured permission from Adm. Togo Heihachiro to serve as observer in the battleship HIJMS Asahi. Pakenham remained aboard for fourteen months, never setting foot ashore lest permission to return be refused. As a result, he endured endless days on blockade duty. But the boredom was worth it. Pakenham had the privilege of being present for the Battle of the Yellow Sea (Aug. 10, 1904), during which Togos squadron blocked an attempt by the Russian fleet at Port Arthur to escape to Vladivostok, and then, nine months later, at Tsu-Shima Strait (May 27-28, 1905), during which he was almost killed, but also witnessed the virtual annihilation of the Russian relief fleet that had sailed all the way from the Baltic. After the war, Packenhams experiences made him a strong supporter of the trend toward the all big gun Dreadnought-type battleship. During World War I Pakenham commanded the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron in the Battle of Jutland (May31-June 1, 1916) and by the end of the war was commander of the Battle Cruiser Force of the Grand Fleet. Pakenham retired as a full admiral in 1926, with the unique distinction of having been in the three biggest battleship fights in history. More...

In February Iraq released video of its Chinese CH-4B UAVs, which are similar to the American Predator. This confirmed what had long been known, that Iraq had been using several CH-4Bs since 2015. With the release of the video Iraq also revealed that these UAVs have carried out nearly 300 airstrikes but spend most of their air time carrying out surveillance. The CH-4Bs can be armed with a Chinese version of the American Hellfire laser guided missile.

This was not the first appearance of the CH-4 in the region. The UAE had already bought some and in 2017 Saudi Arabia agreed to have a Chinese firm set up an assembly plant for combat UAVs in Saudi Arabia. The Middle East has been a major export market for these UAVs and since 2015 Saudi Arabia and the UAE have both been using Chinese UAVs in Yemen combat operations. The most popular of these is the CH-4, which is similar to the American Predator. Pakistan has also been using CH-4s in combat. These Chinese UAVs sell well because many nations have been unable to buy similar American UAVs. The Americans feared that UAV secrets would be sold to enemies of the United States or that the UAVs would be used to carry out war crimes. China saw this as an opportunity.

The CH-4B is an armed version of the original CH-4 that weighs 1.3 tons and has a payload of 350 kg (770 pounds) compared to 115 kg (255 pounds) in the CH-4. All versions can be operated by a local controller and can operate up to 250 kilometers from the operator. In 2016 China announced two major upgrades to the CH-4 that were much awaited by users. This included the optional ability to be controlled via satellite. This includes firing laser guided missiles. CH-4 also received a new sensor system. Improvements in this electro-optical (EO) payload are many. The day vidcam now produces 1080p video feeds. The night sensor is FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared sensor), a technology that has been around since the 1980s, and as the heat (infrared) sensing technology became more powerful, it was possible to spot and identify targets at longer ranges. This was accomplished through the development of more sensitive heat sensors, and more powerful computer hardware and software for putting the images together. The new FLIR for the CH-4 can identify targets up to 20 kilometers away and enable automatic tracking of distant (up to 18 kilometers) targets. This is made possible by a lot of other improvements like better servo control, inertial guidance inside the EO system, auto focusing and computer controlled image enhancement and identification. This makes possible a much more accurate targeting system for the laser guided missiles the CH-4 carries.

The CH-4 and CH-4B are similar in shape to the 1.2 ton American Predator, has a 14 meter (46 feet) wingspan, and is 9 meters (28 feet) long. It has max altitude of 5,300 meters (16,400 feet) and an endurance of over 35 hours (if minimal payload is carried). Max payload (sensors and weapons) for the C-4B is 350 kg which enables it to carry 4 weapons (or electronic devices) under the wings, each weighing up to 100 kg. This reduces endurance but as a practical matter most UAVs of this size rarely stay out for more than 20 hours.

Iraq revealed that China initially provided operators and ground crews with the CH-4s and these enabled Iraqi operators and ground crews to literally learn on the job. This included using Chinese made laser guided missiles. Chief among these are a Hellfire clone, the AR-1. This is a 45 kg (99 pound) missile with a max range of 10 kilometers and a 10 kg (22 pound) warhead. AR-1 can be equipped with either GPS or laser guidance. The other weapon is a copy of the American SDB (small diameter bomb) which is a 128 kg (281 pound) GPS guided glide bomb in the shape of a missile with a penetrating warhead. The Chinese version is the FT-5 and is a 100 kg (220 pound) GPS guided bomb in the shape of a missile. Having CH-4s in Iraq enabled the CH-4 to get its first combat experience and by 2016 Iraqi operators were using armed CH-4Bs to attack ground targets in support of Iraqi troops. This capability was used frequently during the battle for Mosul which involved a lot of action as Iraqi forces closed in on the city in mid-2016 and moved into Mosul itself in late 2016. That battle went on into mid-2017. While the American supported Kurdish forces advanced from the north using American MQ-9 Reapers the Iraqi forces for support from those as well as the CH-4Bs. This gave American forces a chance to see the CH-4B in action and they confirmed that the CH-4B was comparable in performance to the U.S. Predator, which was being phased out and replaced by the larger (4.7 ton) Reapers.

In early 2106 China began marketing a new combat UAV in the Rainbow series; the CH-5. This one is similar to the 4.6 ton American MQ-9 Reaper but a bit lighter at three tons. The CH-5 has a 900 kg payload and used the same weapons as the CH-4B CH-5 made its first flight in 2015, apparently has endurance of up to twenty hours and it entered service in 2017.

The Chinese UAVs are much cheaper (about half the price) than the American originals, but for that you get aircraft and missiles that have not had as many of the bugs worked out nor achieved anything like the nearly two decade track record of the Predator. The CH-4 was developed from the earlier (2010) CH-3. This is a 640 kg aircraft with 12 hours endurance and can carry two AR-1 missiles. Thus it is believed that the CH-5 is a scaled up version of the CH-4.

In 2016 China revealed that is had sold military UAVs to ten countries, mainly in the Middle East and Africa. Most of the military UAVs delivered so far have been CH-3s and 200 smaller unarmed UAVs equipped for surveillance and reconnaissance. At the same time China has become the largest exporter of commercial UAVs which are used by police and commercial firms for a wide variety of tasks. The Iraqi experience with the CH-4B convinced many Arab countries that China had developed suitable substitutes for the American armed UAVs and that helped sales quite a lot, including the deal to open a CH-4 assembly and maintenance facility in Saudi Arabia. At least one of the UAE CH-4s was shot down by Iran-backed Shia rebels in Yemen during September 2016 but none appear to have been lost over Iraq.Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that he has not yet discussed the meeting of the prime minister and the chief justice of Pakistan with Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and would inform when he would met him.

Talking to media at the accountability court, he said that he was not allowed to meet his ailing wife despite doctors recommendations that my presence for the consultations was necessary.

To a query that the judge had said that Sharif had five days including weekend to visit his ailing wife without taking exemption from the proceedings, the former prime minister said that it takes two days while travelling to and from London and the doctors do not hold consultation on weekends.

To a query on Balochistan political changes, he said that serious questions are raised over the changes that had occurred in Balochistan during the past two to three months.  A suspicious person was elected as the chairman senate and it all happened due to these recent changes for which the Baluchistan government was replaced and the loyalties were bought in Senate polls, he said.

Nawaz said that there is no space for the elections delay and they would not accept any doctrine of necessity at any cost.

He said that Imran Khan should inform as to whether his party members voted for the arrow (PPP election symbol) or not in the Senate polls. I do not know any closed door discussions but what Asif Zardari is doing is shameful, he said.

He said that the country was liberated from the British rule and then given in hands of martial law dictators. The people are waiting for a long time on the decisions against them but the chief justice is checking quality of milk, he said.Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday filed a plea in the Election Commission of Pakistan against the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

The PTI chairman asked the commission to summon the prime minister over his remarks of horse trading in the Senate elections.

The PTI request said that he prime minister should be summoned with all the documents and evidences pertaining to horse trading allegations in the Senate elections. The prime minister had accused that the votes were bought for the chairman Senate elections.

The petitioner has also attached the newspaper copies of the prime ministers statement over this. It said that the prime minister has given an alarming statement on the issue.National Security Adviser (NSA) Nasser Khan Janjua remarked on Wednesday that Pakistan has served as the saviour for Afghanistan in the past.

Pakistan respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, he remarked while addressing the International Counter-Terrorism Forum in the federal capital.

The NSA said both Pakistan and Afghanistan have rendered great sacrifices in the war on terrorism. Pakistan is committed to Afghan peace and stability, he added. Pakistan has always extended help to Afghanistan.

Janjua also remarked that Pakistan has lost countless precious lives in the war against terrorism. Pakistan gave the most sacrifices in the war against terrorism, he said, lamenting that the sacrifices have not been acknowledged by the international community.

We supported the US during the Afghan war. Despite our sacrifices, allegations were levelled against us, he remarked.

If Pakistan didn't ally with the US, would Afghanistan be free today? If the Soviet Union didn't fall, would the Berlin Wall have been taken down and 14 countries freed? Would the US have become a superpower if the Soviet Union persisted?

After the fall of Soviet Union, the US and international community moved out of Afghanistan. The international community left us to deal with the aftermath of the Afghan war.

He claimed that 9/11 was a result of the work left incomplete by the international community.

The national security adviser remarked that the US took down the government of Taliban. On the other hand, Taliban labelled the US and the international community as a usurper of their land. Even today, Taliban call this a war for their freedom, he asserted.

He remarked that the US alleged that Pakistan supports Taliban, while the Taliban claim that the country supports the US.

On relations with Russia, the national security adviser shared that Pakistan shares good relations with the Russian Federation. Russia was standing with Pakistan and Afghanistan throughout.

He shared further that the provinces worked together to make the National Action Plan a success.

Janjua, who served as the Quetta corps commander, said the government resolved to fix the problems of Balochistan and has thus brought peace in the restive province now.On the morning of April 6, 2017, floodwaters rushed through the Eastern Bay of Plenty township of Edgecumbe and surrounding rural areas after the Rangitaiki River burst, breaching its stopbank that protected the town.

More than 180mm of heavy rain had fallen in the two days prior as Cyclone Debbie passed through, and when the township flooded rapidly it damaged more than 300 homes. Luckily, no lives were lost.

An aerial shot of the town of Edgecumbe.

But the people of Edgecumbe and surrounding rural areas were left with water-logged homes, farms, orchards and livelihoods.

Flooding overtook and killed off a lot of pastures, meaning cattle had to be moved off-farm for weeks if not months.

What ensued was months of clean-ups, repairs, demolition of homes, massive infrastructure and earthworks projects to rebuild the areas transport access, insurance claims; and hardship for some.

Today  one year on since the adverse event  SunLive has caught up with a farmer and an orchardist affected by the flooding and the man behind the rural response and recovery effort to see how people, their homes and livelihoods fare today and the lessons learned.

Damaged houses from the April 2017 flooding in the Bay of Plenty.

But the recovery work is still ongoing  Bay of Plenty Regional Councils project manager of flood recovery Paula Chapman details how a total of 520 sites of river bank or drain damage have been identified from the Kaituna Catchment Control Scheme through to the Waioeka-Otara Rivers Scheme.

And recently, Bay of Plenty Regional Council released details of its steady progress of addressing the recommendations of the Rangitaiki River Scheme Review. To read about this, click here.

Meanwhile, the Insurance Council has said nearly all claims from the Edgecumbe floods have been partially or fully settled.

One farmer used his silage bales, with sandbags, to try to stop floodwaters entering his property.

The amount of water was too much for a lot of infrastructure in the EBOP.

A milk tanker caught in the floodwaters.

The streets of Edgecumbe township after the flooding in early-April 2017.

Read more stories by about the Edgecumbe Floods here.The government is seeking feedback from the public on a proposal to increase the fuel excise duty by between nine and 12 cents a litre over three years.

This was proposed in the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport released on Tuesday, and includes an equivalent increase in road user charges paid by diesel and heavy vehicles.

We have paid for our land transport system using fuel excise duty since 1927 and using road user charges since 1977, says Transport Minister Phil Twyford.

Money raised from these charges can only be spent on the land transport system, so it is important that people have a say on how much is paid and what it is spent on.

He says the proposed increase of between three and four cents a year over the next three years are comparable with increases under the previous government, with charges going up by three cents a year in 2009 and 2010, two cents in 2012 and three cents again in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

The estimated average cost of three cents a litre extra for a driver of an average car filling up a 50 litre tank once a fortnight is around 75 cents a week or $39 a year, says Phil.

The funding increase will go toward a 42 per cent increase in spending on local road improvements, a 96 per cent increase in spending on regional roads and a 22 per cent increase in local road maintenance along with an 81 per cent increase in road safety and demand management.

He says National Party leader and former Transport Minister Simon Bridges was actively considering raising fuel excise duty further than this increase to pay for Roads of National Significance.

To now suggest a National government wouldnt have raised this duty is fantasy.

Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller says the governments plan will mean local families pay more at the pump, and see less for it.

The money raises will go into the Land Transport Fund, which will be opened up to be used by Kiwirail for the first time.

To give some context, they plan to use $4 billion of the money to pay for trains and trams in Auckland, and only $800 million to improve safety on our regional roads.

He says the increase is a regressive tax that will hurt low income families.

Its going to hurt our businesses and primary producers, and its going to hurt our rural communities who have less access to public transport.

Its entirely disingenuous from a government who were very clear 10 days out from the election when they said there would be no new taxes or levies introduced in their first term of government beyond those they had already announced.

More information on the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport and how to make a submission can be found here.An elderly woman was shaking and looking as if she was about to burst into tears when she asked supermarket staff for iTunes vouchers.

The staff knew something was wrong.

A checkout operator at Maidstone Countdown in Upper Hutt asked customer services manager Carol Sutherland to grab some more $100 vouchers, because the woman wanted five of them.

"I went down to the stand and on the way back, I thought, This isnt right," says Carol.

"I pulled her aside and said, Are these for you? Or have you been asked by someone to get them? "

At first, the woman said they were for her grandsons, but she looked distressed and was shaking.

Sutherland pressed the woman further and found out she had been called by scammers, who knew where she lived, her name, and what kind of car she drove.

She had already been to Pak n Save and bought $300 of vouchers to give to the scammers.

Countdown staff took the woman to the police station, and an officer took her home.

Store manager Gaye Grossett says Countdown had been aware for a while of the iTunes voucher scam. "We encourage our team to be aware when customers are buying large amounts of iTunes, and to try and ask questions to gauge if they are part of a scam.

"I am incredibly proud of my team for having the foresight to realise that the customer was in distress and needed our help.

"We were able to stop the customer from purchasing the cards and get assistance from the police."

A police spokeswoman says the victim was rattled by the experience.



"[We] would like to thank the supermarket staff who realised that something was not right, and supported the victim in reporting it to the police. They did exactly the right thing."

An 81-year-old Hutt Valley woman was tricked into spending thousands on iTunes gift cards in January. Scammers swindled about $5200 from her.

A post on the Apple support website says a string of scams have been taking place in which people are asked to make payments over the phone for things such as taxes, hospital bills, bail money, debt collection and utility bills.

Victims typically receive a call "instilling panic and urgency" to make a payment by buying iTunes cards from nearby shops. They are then asked to pay the scammers by sharing the code on the voucher.

Police urged people to ensure they had the verified identity and legitimacy of anyone they were paying money to. If not, they should hang up immediately.

"Look after your personal details in the same way you would your wallet and other possessions.

"Your personal details are also very valuable to scammers. They will use your details to take out loans or run up debts if they can."

Banks, Immigration New Zealand, Inland Revenue or other government departments never emailed, called or texted customers to ask for money to be sent using money transfer services or vouchers.

"If you receive a request of this nature, its a scam."

- Stuff/AMBER-LEIGH WOOLF AND ELEANOR WENMANThe tech industry is in a state of shock after a woman armed with a handgun opened fire at YouTubes San Bruno, California, headquarters yesterday. The shooter has been identified as 39-year-old Nasim Aghdam, who was reportedly angry at the company for the alleged demonetization, censorship, suppression, and removal of the videos she posted.

The suspected shooter in todays YouTube incident has been identified. Please see press release for details - https://t.co/Xvr2l9bB9s pic.twitter.com/NEBoX3WWK5  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 4, 2018

The incident, which took place around 12:45 pm Pacific Time Tuesday, saw Aghdam shoot four people, including herself. According to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital spokesman Brent Andrew, the victims include a 36-year-old male in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition, and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. A fourth person suffered an ankle injury while fleeing the scene.

When police entered the building at 12:53, they found another woman, understood to be the shooter, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

It appears that Aghdam held a grudge against YouTubelikely her motivation behind the attack. In an Instagram post from March 18, she wrote that the Google-owned site used its tools to censor and suppress people who speak the truth and are not good for the financial, political gains of the system and big businesses.

There is no equal growth opportunity on YouTube or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to, Aghdam wrote on her website. YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views.

BE AWARE! Dictatorship exists in all countries but with different tactics! They only care forpersonal short term profits & do anything to reach their goals even by fooling simple-minded people,hiding the truth, manipulating science & everything, putting public mental & physical health at risk,abusing non-human animals, polluting environment, destroying family values, promoting materialism &sexual degeneration in the name of freedom,..... & turning people into programmed robots!"Make the lie big, Make it simple, Keep saying it, And eventually they will believe it"Hitler... There is no free speech in real world & you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is notsupported by the system. Videos of targeted users are filtered & merely relegated, so that people canhardly see their videos!

After she disappeared for two days, Aghdams family reported her missing to the police. She was later found sleeping in her car in a Mountain View parking lot Tuesday morning. Her father, Ismail, warned authorities that his daughter's anger toward the company could see her target YouTube.

Aghdams channels, which covered topics such as vegan cooking, workouts, animal rights, and music video parodies, have now been removed by YouTube.

The tech world has offered its support to Google and all those affected.

From everyone at Apple, we send our sympathy and support to the team at YouTube and Google, especially the victims and their families. April 3, 2018

Horrible and truly tragic day for YouTube and Google. We are wishing all our very best for the injured and all those affected.  Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 3, 2018

On behalf of the team at @Uber, sending support to everyone @YouTube and @Google, and gratitude to the heroic first responders. Another tragedy that should push us again to #EndGunViolence  dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) April 3, 2018

President Trump also tweeted about the shooting.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent the following note to all Google employees.

Here is the note that @sundarpichai just sent to Googlers worldwide. pic.twitter.com/bdC6KeTl9c  Google Communications (@Google_Comms) April 3, 2018In the main forward-looking scenario, the OPEC expects global economy to grow 5.5 percent in 2021 and almost 4 percent in 2022. | Read MoreThe winery, which has been working in the Chinese market for eight years, currently has several ongoing contracts with distributors that were supposed to be fulfilled at the end of last month, but have been put on hold because of the price increase, Meadows said.

When asked what the winery planned to do in light of the new tariffs, Meadows said, Im still trying to figure that out. My desire is that this would end soon, but unfortunately I feel a bit more pragmatic than that, that its not going to.

Whats going to end up happening is its going to be us that are the ones that are going to have to give, he said. I would say thats probably true of anyone in Napa or anyone in the wine industry. If you want to sell your wine over there, they have plenty of options from other countries.

So the pressures going to come down on us and as employers, if the pressure comes down on you to cut prices, which cuts your profits, youve got to cut somewhere up along the way. And so ultimately it hurts all your workers who are here in the U.S. working.Employees who criticise their boss or colleagues on social media are becoming harder to sack because the Fair Work umpire is recognising their right to privacy.

While employers have treated employees' social media posts as public, new research suggests the Fair Work umpire is shifting its position to provide workers with a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The Fair Work Commission's approach to private social media posts is changing, according to new research. Credit:Shutterstock

Associate Professor Louise Thornthwaite, from Macquarie University's Faculty of Business and Economics, has found a changing approach to social media cases in tribunal decisions.

Her research paper published in the Journal of Industrial Relations says the Commission had tended to consider online posts as public regardless of the circumstances, but more recently had "signalled a shift in reasoning".Vehicle thefts have decreased in seven of the nine Bay Area counties since last year, according to data released by the California Highway Patrol Monday, with Marin County reporting a reduction of nearly 17 percent.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma counties all reported fewer vehicle thefts, reflecting a downward trend across the state. Thefts had increased for two years running, but in 2017 they plunged 6.2 percent, the steepest drop since 2014.

Napa and Santa Clara counties were the only two that saw increases. The numbers come from the state Department of Justice vehicle theft database, a Bay Area CHP spokesperson told the Chronicle.

There were 4,961 vehicles stolen in San Francisco last year, the CHP found, down almost 14 percent from 2016. That might still sound like a lot of cars. But according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, that number represents just about one percent of the county's DMV-registered vehicles as of 2017. (If your car is that unlucky one in a hundred, don't despair -- according to the data, CHP's recovery rate in 2017 for San Francisco thefts was 93 percent.) In the city itself, the San Francisco Police Department similarly noted an 11 percent decrease in thefts from 2016 to 2017.Notions of the family breadwinner may have changed over time, but there is little evidence of an increase in the number of dads staying at home with their children.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies will on Thursday release a new report that shows only a small increase in the amount of fathers who stay at home.

Stay at home dad Nick Breckon is relishing his time at home with son Max, 2. Credit:Scott McNaughton

As a proportion of couple families with children, the increase has been slight  from 4.2 per cent in 2011 to 4.6 per cent in 2016, based on the latest Census data. The number has increased from 68,500 in 2011 to 80,000 in 2016.

The new study says the slow growth in the number of stay-at-home fathers suggests that, "despite changes in attitudes toward involved fathering, and also increased employment participation among mothers, there are factors making this arrangement not workable for many families".Virgin Australia has lost its alliance partner Air New Zealand after the Kiwi carrier decided to end a deal that saw them code-share on flights across the Tasman.

Virgin said on Wednesday that Air New Zealand had decided to pull out of the alliance that had been in place since 2010, in a move tipped to see consumer benefit from increased competition on the busy airspace between the two countries.

The alliance will end in October. Credit:Bloomberg

The deal allowed Virgin and Air New Zealand to code share, split revenue, and offer frequent flyer programs and lounge access reciprocity.

Ending code-sharing in October will reduce the service frequency the airlines can offer, but Air New Zealand's chief revenue officer Cam Wallace said the carrier would be ramping up its services to and from Australia.Judging from his tweets, President Donald Trump appears to have the knives out for Amazon.

But inside the White House, there are no active discussions about turning the power of the administration against the company, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Not much love lost: Donald Trump (with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in the centre) and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos during an American Technology Council roundtable at the White House last year. Credit:AP

None of the five people was aware of any ongoing discussion about turning Trump's tweets into action against Amazon, not on the legal or regulatory fronts, or even regarding its reliance on the US Postal Service, which has drawn the lion's share of Trump's wrath.

Trump expressed a desire to aides last summer to raise the Postal Service's rates for delivering Amazon packages, one person said. His staff explained to the president that the Postal Service is an independent organisation and its mail rates are set by a commission, the person said.After months of conjecture and warnings, and countless hot takes, Spotify's much discussed 'non IPO' actually went off (almost) without a hitch.

The streaming music provider started trading on the New York Stock Exchange overnight, and about the only glitch in the process was the bourse embarassingly hanging the Swiss flag outside its storied headquarters instead of Sweden's.

Arguably the most powerful Aussie in the music business: Merlin Network CEO Charles Caldas. Credit:Pat Scala

After day one, Spotify's closing price gave it a market value of $US26.5 billion ($34.5 billion), well above the valuation implied by its last private financing round of $US8.5 billion.

That's a win in anyone's book. And it might not have happened without the support of an Australian music industry executive.A public servant turned whistleblower employed by the Australian Taxation Office has this morning had his home raided by officers from the ATO and the Australian Federal Police, after speaking with a major joint Four Corners and Fairfax investigation into alleged abuse of power by the tax office.

ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle's home was raided this morning in Adelaide.

Adelaide-based Richard Boyle, who has worked at the ATO as a debt collector since 2005, has told the ABC his rental unit in suburban Edwardstown was raided by a team of four AFP officers accompanied by an ATO investigator.

This is an astonishing use of public resources, to investigate someone who has passionately and with every fibre of my being tried to assist taxpayers in meeting their tax obligations and to enforce taxpayers who are ripping the country off by not paying their fair share of tax, he said.

Mr Boyle said the officers arrived at his door at about 8 o'clock this morning. He was still in his dressing gown and didnt have time to change. Mr Boyle attempted to film the raid but the AFP officers seized his mobile phone, and the phone of his fiancee.A failed bid for two power stations - and some government persuasion - have prompted Alinta to make a bid for AGLs soon to be closed Liddell power station.

Alinta chief executive Jeff Dimery said the company is considering buying Liddell in the NSW Hunter Valley after it was approached by the federal government following its failed attempt to acquire Ecogen Energys assets from fund management company IFM over the Easter long weekend.

Alinta CEO Jeff Dimery wants to make a play for Liddell to grow Alinta's NSW footprint. Credit:Jeremy Piper

Mr Dimery said he disagreed with AGLs position that Liddell needs to be closed soon, arguing the power station can provide both secure and affordable energy for a number of years.

Alinta is willing to invest around $1 billion to acquire and upgrade the plant to extend its life by five to seven years, pushing its closure date to between 2027 and 2029, he said.Nominated for awards in Edinburgh and Adelaide, and with two ABC shows under his belt, you're watching a seasoned comic who sold out the ACMI Cube. Expect him to sell out much bigger stages soon.

Nath Valvo is a man on the rise, and this show suggested he is a long way from hitting his ceiling.

Nath Valvo.

Valvo's shtick is a relentless boyish energy coupled with a naive and likeable charm. No insult comedy here, and few personal stories  this is solid, traditional and very enjoyable stand-up, closest in form to the polish of, say, Wil Anderson.

The gags are tight and keep coming all night. The best bit? Valvo's partner's new meditation sound app, which Valvo, both anxious and introverted, hates.

"What's the most relaxing sound I can think of? The sound of a friend cancelling plans," he jokes.

Cancel yours  and go see him.Kitty Flanagan has lashed out at Viagogo over the way in which they obtained tickets to her upcoming Melbourne International Comedy Festival performances and marketed them.

The high-profile comedian took to social media earlier this week to protest the ticket-reseller buying Google Ad Words under her name.

The tactic means people searching for tickets to Flanagan's upcoming performances will be presented with a link to Viagogo's website, despite the company not being an authorised partner of the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

"Please do not get scammed," Flanagan wrote. "Viagogo are ticket scalpers. The tix... are stupidly priced and will not be honoured by the venues I'm playing [at]."So what's happening, exactly? Well, there's a noise  an indescribable kind of hissing, sizzling, insect rustling  and whatever is making it can reach all the way to London, where we find concert cellist Matilda Gray (Lydia Wilson) and her slightly too-devoted mother Janice (Getting On's Joanna Scanlan).

Strange things are afoot in the Welsh countryside. Things strange enough to drive the tweedy owner of a historic estate to smash every last one of his mirrors and then leap to his death from the roof of his stately home while his horrified groundskeeper looks on.

Lydia Wilson stars in Requiem, the Netflix series written by Australians Kris Mrksa and Blake Ayshford. Credit:Alistair Heap/Netflix

Another horrific, baffling tragedy ensues, but Matilda finds something of a clue involving the case of a girl named Carys who disappeared from the Welsh town of Penllynith some 20 years earlier. Matilda and her colleague Hal (Joel Fry) are quickly on their way to Wales  she to try to get to the bottom of things, he in the hope of getting her refocused and back to work.

In Penllynith they find just the kind of locals you'd expect  lots of guarded, gimlet-eyed types with little inclination to help outsiders intent on reopening old wounds. But for Matilda there might be a way in, in the form of bewildered young Australian Nick (Animal Kingdom's James Frecheville), who has flown over upon learning that he has inherited the old estate.

By the time the second of Requiem's six episodes begins, a flashback has shown Matilda's mother in a very different light, but it's not clear what's at the bottom of everything. Something supernatural? Some human psychosis? Some old-fashioned human evil? Maybe a bit of all three?

AACTA Award-winning writer Kris Mrksa (The Slap, Underbelly) has created a richly detailed and immersive little world in which the estate and its surrounds are the focus of enduring local legends about frightening otherworldly visitors (fellow Australian Blake Ayshford penned the final two of the series' six episodes). Wilson is superb throughout, her performance, like her sharp, blonde fringe, subtly raising doubts about Matilda's sanity as her determination to uncover the truth about Carys becomes an obsession.In the aftermath, H&M chose a lawyer and company insider, Annie Wu, to lead a new four-person team at its Stockholm headquarters focused on global diversity and inclusiveness. "We want to be held accountable," she said in a recent interview. "We didn't recognise that in this now new age of transparency," she added, "what the brand stands for is super important to people." Lost in translation Fast fashion companies, which specialise in low-priced, quickly produced clothing and have grown faster than the apparel industry as a whole for years, are under pressure to be more prolific and provocative as they sell across more borders.

H&M, which added 479 stores last year, now has more than 4000 stores in dozens of countries. Inditex, the enormous parent company behind Zara, has more than 7500 stores in 94 countries. Zara outsources a small fraction of its designs  just 2 per cent of the 20,000 designs it produces each year  and all are sent through multiple reviews before being offered for sale. But some of the outsourced designs have proved problematic. When fashion is contracted out, "there's a lot less control, a lot less oversight and involvement from the company along every step of the process," said Felipe Caro, a business professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has spent years studying Zara. Last year, critics complained that images of frogs on a Zara skirt resembled a cartoon character called Pepe, which was designated a hate symbol of the alt-right by the Anti-Defamation League. The skirt was designed by an independent Spanish artist, Mario de Santiago, who is based in London. In a statement at the time, he said that the frogs had "no connection at all with anything related to hate, violence or discrimination".

Ricardo Cavolo, another artist who designed for the same collection, said in an email that the design process "was pretty fast". He spent two days at Zara's headquarters in Spain, creating paintings on denim that the company then reproduced without making any suggestions or changes, he said. Supply chain experts urge more careful, decentralised vetting procedures that send designs through a central checkpoint at headquarters and also past gatekeepers in the country of sale. Soon after shifting into her new role at H&M, Wu said she visited South Africa, where the importance of soliciting local input quickly became clear. "I thought I was very culturally aware," said Wu, who was born in Taiwan, grew up in New York and speaks Mandarin. "I learned so much more just by being in that office." A homogeneous workforce

A few months ago, during a long day spent styling and photographing products for H&M's website, no-one on the Stockholm set appeared to raise concerns about one more item to process, the hoodie with the offensive message, according to a person familiar with the shoot. Critics said the garment might have been flagged if H&M's team was more diverse. "It's so easy to avoid this kind of controversy," said Angel Sinclair, the founder of the advocacy group Models of Diversity. "If you care about being culturally sensitive, just be more culturally inclusive of talent and managers in the business." H&M has more than 100,000 workers worldwide. But the fashion giant's board is entirely white. And retail experts said that much of the creative process takes place in and around its European home office, far from many of its markets. Wu, who reports directly to H&M's chief executive, Karl-Johan Persson, said she did not know the ethnic or racial backgrounds of the employees and contractors involved with the monkey hoodie. But an internal investigation of the incident  which she declined to discuss in detail  showed "how important awareness-raising is generally," she said.

"There are hundreds of steps of getting a product to market  it's never one point in time where we can say, 'It's your fault,' because there are teams at work on things, there are approval processes throughout," she said. "It's really hard to pinpoint when." Bulwarks against bad taste Fast fashion has produced tone-deaf products for years, passing them off as a rounding error given the enormous volume of items the companies generate each year. But more shoppers have begun calling on retailers to take a stand on social and political issues, such as sexism and gun control. "These incidents are happening in a climate where marginalised communities are feeling more targeted, more under attack, so they're more in tune with these issues," said Melissa Garlick, a lawyer with the Anti-Defamation League. "Fashion companies have a responsibility to the public and to consumers to ensure that they're being sensitive in designing and marketing products  they have to be aware of what lines not to cross."

Several companies have pledged to diversify hiring, retool corporate guidelines and initiate other measures to prevent mistakes from going out the door. Zara now uses an algorithm created to scan designs for insensitive or offensive features. In 2016, it hired a committee of diversity officers. Diversity and inclusion training has become mandatory for all new employees. At H&M, Wu said she was organising workshops to help employees recognise unconscious bias and was also reaching out to anti-racism groups and other organisations. In North America, H&M is planning to hire a New York-based diversity manager. Wu's first two months on the job have yielded commitment from executives but, so far, few specific measures. She acknowledged that raising awareness is not "the Band-Aid" that can fix all of H&M's problems. "We are a very large corporation, and mistakes do happen," she said. "It starts with us scrutinising all of these different processes."Will Hudson said a friend who works for YouTube texted him about the shooter.

"I think there might be a shooter in my building," read one text. "The fire alarm went off so we started to evacuate and then people (started) running saying there was a shooter."

Northern California's Stanford Hospital said it has received four to five patients, but a hospital spokeswoman did not have information on their conditions or their wounds.

Google, which owns the world's biggest online video website, posted on Twitter that the company is coordinating with authorities. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also said it responded to the shooting at YouTube's suburban campus.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on a shooting and that officials were monitoring it.

Hudson said his friend made it safely back to San Francisco and was in contact with his family. Hudson said he's become used to hearing about gun violence but has never been so close to it before.

"It just feels strange. It feels like it could really be anyone. That's really the strangeness of it," he said.

Calls and emails to YouTube representatives seeking comment were not immediately returned.Did you get today's brainteaser?

Here's the solution:

However, as I have found with this one, there are lots of credible answers and there would not have been space in the graphic to head off all the possible solutions.

The first with my intended answer were Tim C (on Facebook), @EENNEEM (on Twitter) and David T (via email).Richard di Natale addressing the National Press Club yesterday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Greens leader Richard Di Natale told the National Press Club yesterday that, because of the changing nature of work, Australia should introduce a universal basic income. His proposal would be costly, unnecessary and would create a permanent underclass.

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A UBI is a liveable, unconditional payment to all citizens. Theoretically, a UBI could be almost cost neutral if it replaced all welfare, health, education, and housing expenditure. However, this is not what the Greens are proposing. Di Natale has called for a UBI in addition to government services.

A UBI equal to the aged pension, which leaves no welfare recipient worse off, would cost an additional $230 billion, according to calculations by the Centre for Independent Studies. To raise this revenue, it would require a 60 per cent marginal income tax for median earners and 80 per cent for high earners.Members of Canberra's education union have joined the ACT government in calling for a review of NAPLAN.

More than 90 per cent of 580 teachers and principals recently surveyed by the Australian Education Union's ACT branch called for an immediate and comprehensive review of NAPLAN and standardised testing in Australia.

Almost two-thirds of survey respondents said the standardised literacy and numeracy testing was "harmful", while 63 per cent said it had diminished students' experience of school.

Glenn Fowler, head of the Australian Education Union's ACT branch, has called for an end to NAPLAN.

Australian Education Union ACT branch secretary Glenn Fowler said the union had heard "hundreds" of testimonials about the stress and anxiety caused by NAPLAN.It was a fatality-free long weekend on Canberra's roads as police stopped dozens of drivers allegedly affected by alcohol or drugs.

ACT Policing conducted 5818 roadside breath tests and 82 roadside drug tests as part of Operation Safe Arrival over the Easter long weekend, catching 21 alleged drink-drivers and 18 drivers allegedly affected by drugs. They also issued 402 traffic infringement notices.

Acting Station Sergeant Marcus Boorman said while hundreds of drivers were caught doing the wrong thing, the majority of people had obeyed the road rules.

He singled out two incidents from Operation Safe Arrival, warning that police would not tolerate speeding or impaired drivers.

"A driver was involved in a collision in Woden driving 0.199, nearly four times the legal alcohol limit," Acting Station Sergeant Boorman said.A Canberra company has made a legally binding commitment to spend nearly $300,000 after a delivery driver suffered "life-changing" injuries when he was hit by a falling glass panel.

The glass fell on the man while panels were being unloaded at the Glass Tech Australia work site, in Hume, in May 2017.

ACT Work Safety commissioner Greg Jones said an investigation into the incident revealed alleged breaches of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

Following the investigation, Glass Tech submitted a proposal for an enforceable undertaking.

Mr Jones said he had accepted the proposal, which will require Glass Tech to spend $164,000 on improvements to safety systems and practices for its workers.In a case that could have ramifications for Canberra's whole planning system, lawyers for the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club will argue planning officials created a "concerning" precedent when they delayed the club's bid to extend the lease on its Narrabundah track because of legislation that was yet to be introduced into the ACT's parliament.

The sport will be banned in the territory after April 30, and ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Helen Murrell ruled in February it would be "futile" to force planning officials to extend the lease because of that.

Members of the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club protest the ban on their sport outside the ACT Legislative Assembly last year. Credit:Karleen Minney

However, in another blow to planning authorities, the ACT Planning and Land Authority has been ordered to pay part of the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club's legal bills, because officials unduly delayed making a decision on the lease.

Chief Justice Murrell found the authority had "refused to exercise an implied statutory duty to make a decision about either and on what terms a further lease would be granted".A top-tier Brisbane law firm partner who filed bogus time sheets to swindle more than $515,000 from clients has been fined $20,000 but hasn't been banned from practising.

Luke James McDonald had been under personal and professional pressure when in 2012 he started adding false hours to 914 electronic time sheets of junior staff.

By July 2013 he was obsessively overcharging.

Over a period of 18 months he scammed 23 clients after his loss of reasoning and sense of proportion failed, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal found.

The misconduct only stopped when the scam was detected.A former Office of Public Prosecutions employee posed as a 15-year-old boy in a bid to coax "naughty" photos from young girls online, a Melbourne court has been told.

Matthew Perriman, 33, currently on bail, faced the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday, after pleading guilty to two counts of using a service to groom a child under 16 for a sexual act.

Crown prosecutor Krista Breckweg told the court that between June 2014 and November 2015, Perriman posed online as a 15- and 17-year-old boy called Toby, using teen service Chat Avenue and Skype.

He spoke to an undercover police officer purporting to be a 12-year-old girl in Perth, sending her topless pictures of an unknown young male and making sexual comments about her photos.

He later spoke to another undercover agent he thought was a young girl, asking for photos "in a bikini or at the pools" and asking "do you want to see my d---?"Police Minister Lisa Neville has strongly defended Victoria Police in the wake of damning allegations of brutality by officers and announced tougher penalties for people who ram patrol cars.

Responding for the first time to details of multiple cases of alleged police brutality published by The Age, Ms Neville said: "You dont tar the whole police force by a few incidents."

Police Lisa Neville speaks for the first time about allegations of brutality. Credit:AAP

She denied Victoria Police has a cultural problem within its ranks or an inability to reliably investigate its own.Napa residents are fortunate to have Queen of the Valley Medical Center, home to some of the nations finest doctors, nurses and hospital workers.

We ask Queen to deliver our babies, care for our elders and come through for us in emergencies. Now its time to ask something else of Queen: to honor the vote of its workers to form a union.

As Chairman of the Napa County Democratic Central Committee, I represent a party that believes all people should have access to healthcare and that care improves when healthcare workers are organized and can use their collective voice to advocate for patients.

Thats why I am disappointed by Queen CEO Larry Coomes response to his caregivers voting overwhelmingly to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers in November of 2016. Instead of bargaining with his employees, hes hired lawyers who are still seeking to overturn the election. Coomes has been quoted saying that he is refusing to abide by orders issued by a federal judge and the National Labor Relations Board because he thinks more caregivers would have been able to vote if the election had taken place inside the hospital rather than through the mail.

This ignores two critical facts:Until recently, Xialene Chang thought attending a top-shelf US university was just something you saw on television.

The Melbourne teenager had always dreamed big, but was content with attending an Australian university, and becoming the first person in her family to get a degree.

That all changed last week when the 18-year-old was offered full scholarships by both Harvard and Stanford.

Xialene Chang has been offered scholarships to both Harvard and Stanford universities in the US.

She filmed her reaction to the news.There was none of the blunt, hostile chef that rattled the pans of viewers of Hells Kitchen. White was charm personified and when he went along to the opening evening of the Night Noodle Markets at Elizabeth Quay he went so far as to make a point of visiting each stallholder, posing for endless selfies. He had already held sway at a sell-out dinner at Rockpool and on the Saturday I was to pick up White and Macri at the Albany Airport. I drove down from Perth to meet them, slightly apprehensive about what I might find in this supposedly temperamental chef. This was, after all, the man who was reported to have had a famous falling out with Matt Preston on MasterChef Australia and I certainly didnt want to be the PR guy on the wrong side of that. I neednt have been anxious. Both White and Macri were the epitome of charm and good grace and I was struck by the way they remembered the names of each person I introduced them to and how genuinely interested they were in everything going on around them. White loved the comfortable charm of the Beachouse at Bayside in Albany where owner Craig Pullin fussed over making sure Whites coffee was made exactly as he likes it  cup warmed first with black coffee added to the cup and warm milk on the side.

This wasnt the glass-and-chrome corporate hotel that White was used to staying in and he revelled in the ambience of the courtyard and the attentive staff at the boutique guest house. There were plenty of other highlights too during his visit to WA. While in Perth he made two visits to Joel Valvasoris Subiaco restaurant Lulu la Delizia, which he declared the best food hed eaten in Australia. Paul Iskovs Fervor pop-up dinner at Three Anchors in Albany changed his views about Australian foraged food and included the best marron hed ever tasted. The marron was cooked to perfection, it was the best marron Ive ever had in my life and Ive been underwhelmed by marron in the past because its always been overcooked, but I thought that was exceptional and I thought the presentation was exceptional as well, he said.

It was simple and allowed the produce to show itself off. White hadnt particularly been looking forward to the dinner; hed had something similar on a previous trip to Australia which he thought had been pretentious and unpleasant. Fortunately, Fervors efforts found favour and the inspiring welcome to country words of local Noongar elder Lester Coyne combined to make an evening White said was a great success. The famous chef marvelled at the produce on offer in the Great Southern, and relished eating grapes from the vine at a winery. He said Iskov and Coyne should put their own travelling show together.

He loved Amy Hamiltons food from Liberte in Albany. I thought Liberte was extraordinary, to serve that quality of food in an environment that is understated and the same time very grand, White said. Its like sitting with an old lady for lunch, very beautiful, very comforting. And sharing platters of food at The Lakehouse in Denmark, sitting by the water and looking out over the vines was a delight. White said hed had no expectations of what the Great Southern would be like.

The only time Id been here before was to Fremantle and Margaret River, but I never have expectations for the simple reason that if you form expectations in your mind then the chances of being disappointed are greater, he said. And I loved all those kangaroos. Thats Australia, without a kangaroo its not Australia is it? Marco Pierre White His knowledge of the wines of the Great Southern received a boost as Lakehouse owners Gary Capelli and Leanne Rogers poured some of their award-winning drops. Its always the obvious places that dominate and today going to the Lakehouse, which is a jewel in the crown is magical and special and understated and thats what Ive discovered more than anything is the understated way of everything, White said at the end of his southern sojourn. Its not showy, its not in your face, and its real.

Going to the Lakehouse and just sharing those platters with a delicious Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, being shown around and seeing all those vineyards. That was a first. Ive never, ever, ever, been to a vineyard before. Ive passed them and Ive looked at them, but Ive never walked between the vines, Ive never tasted grapes off the vine before in a vineyard. Ive had grapes as a child, the last time I had grapes off a vine was as a child in Italy, he said. I have to say and this is one thing I always say to myself and I know I will say it tomorrow morning, but Im a believer that you should always leave wanting more and thats the only way to describe it, I will leave Albany wanting more. He said the producers, restaurants and winemakers hed met during his stay were doing a fantastic job and should continue with what they are doing.

They are doing it really well and Ive been very impressed by the food, from the moment we arrived here and we had that first breakfast at the Beachhouse. We arrived late, breakfast had obviously finished and they couldnt wait to give us breakfast, nothing was too much trouble and it was refreshing. Ive had the most magical and wonderful time. I cant remember the last time I went to a place and everybody was so generous. Would he come back? Yes I would actually. I would just need to be invited.Paris: French rail workers have begun a three-month rolling strike, causing travel chaos and presenting the toughest challenge yet to President Emmanuel Macron's resolve to reform the country's economy.

Nearly one in two train drivers, conductors and signal-box workers went on strike on Tuesday, bringing widespread disruption to Paris commuter lines and France's high-speed TGV network.

French riot police detain a protester during a rail workers demonstration in Paris, on Tuesday. French unions plan strikes two days every week through to June. Credit:AP

Macron wants to transform the heavily-indebted, state-run SNCF into a profit-making public service able to stand up to foreign competition when its monopoly ends in line with EU regulations. The SNCF loses 3 billion ($4.7 billion) annually. Its boss, Guillaume Pepy, estimates each strike day will cost the company 20 million.When Kelli Rowlette received the results from a DNA sample she had sent to a popular genealogy website, she assumed there had been a mistake.

The test showed that her DNA matched a sample from a doctor more than 800 kilometres away - and, although she had never heard of him, Ancestry.com predicted a parent-child relationship between the two.

At the time, Rowlette was not aware that, more than 36 years ago, her parents had struggled to conceive.

Kelli Rowlette said an Ancestry.com DNA test told her she had a different father - her parents' fertility doctor

She did not know her mother had undergone artificial insemination, nor did she - or her parents - know her mother's fertility doctor had allegedly used his own sperm to get her pregnant with Rowlette.On Friday, the sisters' success story came to a tragic end. Amanda and Sara Eldritch were found dead in a car, parked in a rest area near a bridge in Canon City, according to the Fremont County Sheriff's Office. The sisters appear to have died in a suicide pact, a sheriff's spokeswoman said. They were 33 years old. A GoFundMe page created for the twins' mother describes them as "creative, artistic, intelligent, compassionate, kind and generous" people who loved animals, especially their three dogs. They did everything together. They even shared a joint Facebook page, where they described themselves as "actors/vampires" at a local haunted house called City of the Dead and "freelance entertainers" at a local comic book store. They also starred in at least one short horror film. The twins' progress after their pioneering 2015 surgery "surpassed all expectations and they packed an entire lifetime into the last three years", the GoFundMe page read.

"But, there is no cure for mental illness, and they finally succumbed to this insidious disease," the page read. The twins had been battling various forms of their illness since they were young girls. Speaking on The Doctors, their mother, Kathy Worland, described helping her toddler daughters with the "long, drawn-out process" of putting on their shoes or socks. "There couldn't be any wrinkles in their socks, and their shoes had to be tied just a certain way," their mother recalled. "That process could go on for a half-hour, 45 minutes, an hour." Early on, they developed hypochondria and scrupulosity - a pathological guilt about moral or religious issues - Amanda Eldritch told a local TV station in 2016, describing the latter as "a constant fear of going to hell." Their phobias only became worse after they hit puberty. They would each get through an entire bar of soap during every shower, scrubbing until they removed a top layer of skin, they told The Doctors.

"Their OCD just got worse and worse and worse," their mother was quoted as saying in the hospital publication. "After high school graduation, they retreated to their beds. They didn't leave the house until April of the next year." They would use so much hydrogen peroxide on their faces that their eyebrows would turn orange. They would shower for so long that the water would leak through to the kitchen, their mother told The Doctors. "We started losing touch with our friends," Sara told The Doctors. "When it takes you all day to take a shower, you're never going to go meet them somewhere. They just stopped calling us." Their isolation led to depression, and "by the end of our late twenties we just kind of gave up on life entirely," Sara told The Doctors. The deep brain stimulation surgery was the twins' last resort. During the procedure, doctors placed electrode wires under the skin of each woman's head, neck and shoulder. They hooked up the wires to a neurostimulator, also referred to as a battery pack, which was implanted in each of their chests, their doctor, David VanSickle, said in the hospital publication.

"They cut open your chest and then they slide battery packs under your pectoral muscles and hook the wires to the battery packs," Sara Eldritch told The Doctors. "It's basically like a little cloud of electricity that just pulses through your brain constantly. The surgery allowed the twins' doctor to electronically control impulses from the neurotransmitter, according to the hospital publication. "If you don't have that anxiety push to always force you to do the habits, then the habits are relatively easy to retrain," Dr VanSickle told a local TV station. Speaking on The Doctors about two years after the surgery, the twins said they had seen "huge improvements." They were cleaning and showering far less, and finding more time to leave the house. Sara said she felt like her body had been "hijacked for like 30 years, and then I'm starting to get a little bit of control back". "I've heard laughter from them, which I haven't heard for years," their mother said. "Even though they do have a debilitating depression at times, I've seen joy."

They had started working toward spending more time apart from each other, to ease their severe separation anxiety, the sisters told The Doctors. "The goal is that it'll get easier and easier," Amanda said. Some of the people who documented the sisters' plight said they were stunned this week to learn of their deaths. "Amanda and Sara Eldritch appeared on The Doctors two years after their surgery to share their story of hope and newly-discovered happiness," a spokesperson for the syndicated talk show told The Washington Post early on Wednesday morning. "We are shocked and saddened to learn of their tragic passing." "Our hearts are heavy with the passing of Sara and Amanda Eldritch," Littleton Adventist Hospital wrote in a Facebook post. "Sara and Amanda were courageous, inspiring women who shared their story, even when difficult to do so, in hopes it might help others." Kyle Dyer, who reported the story about the twins for 9 News, wrote a lengthy post about the sisters on Facebook, describing how just last autumn, "their mother told me how her daughters were doing very well".Sao Paulo: Brazil's Supreme Court is expected to make a decision on Wednesday on the request of former president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva to stay out of prison while he appeals a corruption conviction.

The country's attorney general is urging the top court to reject a request for habeas corpus calling it an "exaggeration" of the right of appeal.

Attorney-General Raquel Dodge said justice would be failed by delaying Lula's conviction.

He was found guilty last year of trading favours with a construction company for a promised beachfront apartment. The conviction was upheld in January by an appeals court, which increased the sentence from nine to 12 years and one month.Carvana Used Cars Opens in Lexington KY

LEXINGTON, Ky.-- Carvana another e-commerce platform for buying used cars, launched in Lexington today, offering its online car buying solution and free delivery service in its 57th market to date and second market in the Bluegrass State. Customers can shop more than 10,000 vehicles on Carvana.com, finance, purchase, schedule as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery and even trade in their current car in as little as 10 minutes.

Carvana is saving customers valuable time and money by giving them the freedom and flexibility to shop more than 10,000 vehicles on Carvana.com from the comfort of home or on the go via their mobile device. No more weekends wasted at the dealership, no more haggling and hidden dealership fees. Customers purchase their vehicle online and it arrives in their driveway as soon as the next day. Every Carvana vehicle comes with a seven-day test-own period, so instead of four right-hand turns around a dealership block, the customer has time to ensure the vehicle fits their life. All vehicles on Carvana.com are Carvana Certified and have passed a rigorous 150-point inspection, have never been in a reported accident and have no frame damage. Features, imperfections and updated information about open safety recalls are listed on the car's vehicle description page.

Carvana customers rate the company an average of 4.7 out of five stars across more than 15,000 verified third-party reviews, sharing how their exceptional customer experiences are making car buying fun again.

Our mission is to change the way people buy cars, said Ernie Garcia, founder and CEO of Carvana. Expanding into Lexington less than a year after our Kentucky debut in Louisville shows that residents in the area are welcoming that new way to buy cars  and were proud to deliver on it.

Carvana has delivered vehicles to customers in 48 states, and offers free, as-soon-as next-day delivery to residents in 57 markets: Albuquerque (N.M.), Atlanta, Augusta (Ga.), Austin (Texas), Bakersfield (Calif.), Baltimore, Birmingham (Ala.), Bridgeport (Conn.), Charlotte (N.C.), Charleston (S.C.), Chattanooga (Tenn.), Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbia (S.C.), Columbus (Ohio), Corpus Christi (Texas), Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Myers (Fla.), Greensboro (N.C.), Greenville (S.C.), Hampton Roads (Va.), Houston, Huntsville (Ala.), Indianapolis, Jacksonville (Fla.), Kansas City (Kan.), Knoxville (Tenn.), Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville (Ky.), Macon (Ga.), Memphis (Tenn.), Miami, Montgomery (Ala.), Nashville (Tenn.), Newark (N.J.), New Haven (Conn.), Oklahoma City, Orlando (Fla.), Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh (N.C.), Richmond (Va.), San Antonio, San Diego, Springfield (Mass.), St. Louis, Tampa (Fla.), Tucson (Ariz.), Washington, D.C., Winston-Salem (N.C.) and now Lexington (Ky.).

About Carvana

Founded in 2012 and based in Phoenix, Carvanas mission is to change the way people buy cars. By removing the traditional dealership infrastructure and replacing it with technology and exceptional customer service, Carvana offers consumers an intuitive and convenient online automotive retail platform. Carvana.com enables consumers to quickly and easily buy a car online, including finding their preferred vehicle, qualifying for financing, getting a trade-in value, signing contracts, and receiving delivery or pickup of the vehicle from one of Carvanas proprietary automated Car Vending Machines.We are gathered here today to remember a funeral home that never was.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 4/4/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We are gathered here today to remember a funeral home that never was.

Steinbach city council could not ignore overwhelming neighbourhood opposition on Tuesday night and chose to deny a conditional use application for a funeral home to be located at 32 Highway 52 West in Steinbach.

The owner of the building, Schinkel Properties, appealed to council on behalf of a prospective funeral home operator.

Justin Schinkel told council the small chapel would host up to 100 attendees, would not cause significant impact on parking or traffic. He indicated the site could support the required 25 parking stalls for the suggested capacity and added that overflow parking was available on Schinkel Properties owned parking lots across Highway 52.

If the request sounded strangely familiar, it was. In October, Schinkels father, Bob, made a similar pitch as he requested a parking requirement variance to allow the neighbouring Viet House restaurant to move into the building. Council went along with the variation request at the time on the condition that a parking agreement be established with an adjacent property, not one across the highway.

Six months later, with that plan apparently dead and buried, the new funeral home plan prompted no less questions about parking.

Condo and business owners of the Schinkels neighbouring 20 Highway 52 West building spoke out against the plan, with parking the overwhelming issue of the night.

Condo owner Carly Frey shared the frustrations of condo owners who frequently find their parking spots taken up by Viet House restaurant clientele.

"I cant imagine that problem will get any better with a funeral home," she surmised.

Frey heaped skepticism on Schinkels notion that the funeral home could be restricted to 100 guests, arguing funeral attendance is unpredictable.

"Its not something you sell tickets for," she quipped.

Fellow condo owner Devon Friesen shared about hostile reactions he has received from Viet House customers, who have parked in his assigned parking.

"I do not wish to have altercations with people who are grieving whatsoever," Friesen said.

Business owners from El Vecino Foods and Grand Denture Clinic also spoke out about parking problems that already exist.

The Schinkels old foe was there too. Marcel Jodoin reminded council that he spoke out against the plans for the 20 Highway 52 West condo/commercial building in 2011, partly on the grounds of parking concerns for the site.

Jodoin, who has an ownership stake in Kal-Tire, noted that Schinkels plan had no space allotted for staff and only one accessible parking stall. He noted that Birchwood Funeral Chapel funeral director Todd Harder told him Birchwood has 175 parking spaces for 300 seats. Even then, Jodoin said Harder indicated that parking can be a challenge on occasion.

"If council approves this we will have a chronic parking problem at this location," he said.

Jodoins Kal-Tire business partner, Garry Reimer, added that he didnt want more overflow parking ending up at his business, something which already occurs from the Schinkels 20 Highway 52 development.

He also questioned that adequate overflow parking could be found across Highway 52, agreeing with others who stated it would be extremely difficult for elderly funeral attendees in particular to cross the highway.

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Reimer suggested there would be safety concerns for anyone crossing.

"Youre going to be the next person inside that building," he worried.

Justin Schinkel said no parking signs could alleviate some of the parking issues and maintained the project would be a good fit for the neighbourhood. He said one of the buildings previous tenants, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, used the site to do testing for BSE.

"Whats worse? Funerals or testing for mad cow disease?" he wondered.

Mayor Chris Goertzen said the hearing process is a chance for council to hear from the public and, in this case, said the public response was decisive.

"Weve heard," the mayor said, as council voted unanimously to turn down the application.The city of St. Helena will hold a scoping meeting for the environmental impact report on the General Plan update at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, during the regular Planning Commission meeting at Vintage Hall.

The General Plan update is substantially complete, but some additional refinements are necessary to ensure consistency and compliance with state law. In January, the city began to make these additional refinements and finalize the proposed plan. Revisions to the draft General Plan update will include the following:

An updated horizon year of 2040;

Additional policies to address state general plan requirements that have been adopted since the 2010 draft of the General Plan was completed;

Text revisions associated with new state requirements; and

Documentation of sensitive environmental resources and regulatory or capacity constraints in three additional study areas outside but adjacent to the city limits.

Comments on the new EIR may be submitted through May 1 to nhoush@cityofsthelena.org or to Noah House, Director, City of St. Helena Planning and Community Improvement Department, 1480 Main St., St. Helena, CA 94574.Cynthia Nixon and Wendy Williams.

On Wednesday morning, The Wendy Williams Show aired Cynthia Nixons first nationally televised interview as a New York gubernatorial candidate. Host Wendy Williams and Nixon discussed everything from Sex and the City to gun control, the Stephon Clark shooting, and what New York could be doing better. (And yes, Nixon got a Shoe Cam close-up.)

Here are some key takeaways from the segment.

1. Nixon is both embracing Miranda Hobbes and clearly distancing herself from the character.

While any celebrity candidate runs the risk of being reduced to their roles, the reality is that Sex and the City was a major cultural phenomenon and its inevitable that Nixon will continue to get asked about Miranda. Nixon addressed her HBO days head-on here, when Williams remarked that she no longer had her signature red hair.

The red is long gone, she replied. Im sorry. Its a Miranda thing. Im a blonde with a little help these days. Nixon went on to point to the similarities to her character, but not without also demarcating a firm difference. Shes a hard worker like me, shes a total career person like me, she said. But quite a bit more dressed-up and upscale than me.

2. Shes going hard on directly appealing to female voters  especially black women.

By choosing Williamss show  which has a massive viewership of women age 25 to 54  for her first national TV interview of the campaign, Nixon is signaling that shes targeting female voters. (And remember, her first interview after announcing her run was with Glamour.) Its a keen strategy considering the party breakdown by gender, and doubly so considering that her opponent, Governor Andrew Cuomo, likes to play up his masculinity.

More specifically, Nixon is appealing to black women. As political scientist Christina Greer told Politico last month, Her campaign team clearly understands the importance of black women and how theyve been neglected by the Democratic Party writ large, not just by Andrew Cuomo, but at the state, local and national level. So when Williams asked her How can black women help you become governor? she was prepared.

They are the cornerstone, they are the backbone of the Democratic Party and we need to let them lead, Nixon replied. Look at what black women did in Alabama. Look at how they supported Hillary Clinton. She also directly pointed to how thats not currently happening in Albany, where New York senate minority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins was recently excluded from talks about sexual harassment.

Nixon added, Black women are going to stop showing up for the Democratic Party if the Democratic Party doesnt show up for them.

3. Nixon is all for legalizing weed.

As more states legalize marijuana, Cuomo has proposed launching a study to determine whether or not thats a good idea. Meanwhile, Nixon is already all in. While she reportedly told a private fundraiser that much last week, she reiterated it enthusiastically on TV.

I am absolutely for the legalization of marijuana, she said. Lets capture some of that revenue.Photo-Illustration: Stevie Remsberg/Getty Images

Self/Reflection is a week of stories on the Cut about how we feel, versus how we look.

I am not a beautiful woman. I am what you would call pretty but not a knockout, with agreeably symmetrical features, good hair (extensions), and decent skin. And I have always been too insecure to believe that my looks ever accrued me much, but now that theyre slowly fading, I can see the folly of that line of thinking. Good looks will take you far in this world, and like many women whove derived a portion of their identity from their appearance, I find aging to be a particularly diabolical development. I always knew on some level that time comes for us all, but I didnt much care to recognize the notion that it would circle back for me some day.

Now, at 54, I rarely look in the mirror without thinking about how that reflection has changed. Its the same face Ive always had, but more tired, less elastic, vaguely less feminine. And I refuse  in a way that really cant be healthy  to accept it.

To that end, this is the year I started doing yoga, taking hair vitamins, mixing Collagen Peptide in with my morning coffee, and putting four separate products on my face before makeup. The year that I stopped wearing as much black because it washes you out, and started, the very instant my roots grew in, rushing to the hairdresser to get them covered up. Ten years ago, I couldnt be bothered to fix my gray, but today my very well-being seems to depend on it.

Back then, I did a quick swipe of mascara on my way out the door every morning and called it good enough. Now, my a.m. beauty routine is so lengthy and multidimensional that its fortunate that Im a full-time writer who doesnt have to get to an office. And I do it every morning, even if Im just going to be home working all day. I wont even go out to walk my dogs without applying fresh lipstick.

Its clear, Im a prisoner of my vanity in a way I wasnt ten years ago. And while Im not proud of this, Im also not ashamed. Our culture places such a premium on attractiveness that I feel I can be forgiven for trying to preserve what I have left of mine. Still, I sometimes wish I was more like my friend Deborah Copaken, a writer and mother of three who has admirably few fucks to give about her changing appearance: She wears no makeup, doesnt dye her gray streak, wears whatevers comfortable, and says that theres this interesting kind of inverse relationship: The less attractive I get, the more confident I am in the way I dress and look.

My own stance is weird and contradictory and certainly not very feminist: Like my friend, I do care less what the world thinks of me in general and have found this a great gift of age. But in this one respect I am consumed. Back when I was younger, Id feel sorry for elderly women Id see on the street wearing too much poorly applied makeup: clumsily rouged cheeks, too bright lipstick, and vivid blue eye shadow that looked like it was brushed on by a child. Now that I have firsthand knowledge that beauty fades, I can see that they were all simply attempting, poignantly, to draw themselves back in. And boy, can I relate.

I read recently somewhere that women experience a spike in serotonin when theyre grooming, and this makes perfect sense to me. When I was younger, maintenance was a chore. Now I find myself enjoying the transformation that takes place in front of the mirror, the youth and grace I am still able to tease out, even though the returns are diminishing. I now fully expect to become one of those old ladies I used to pity, and younger women who dont yet truly know whats ahead of them will pity me. Im weirdly okay with this.

Meanwhile, I will endure the unglamorous inch-long hairs that now sprout from my chin seemingly overnight, the upper arms that all the chaturangas in the world arent going to tone, and whatever indignity comes next. Because I have no choice in the matter, and because getting older is vastly superior to the alternative. Ill endure it. But that doesnt mean Im going to like it.(L-R) Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, and President Donald Trump at a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on April 3, 2018. Baltic states agreed to enhance cooperation in defense and energy during the United States-Baltic Summit. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Baltic States Seek US Help Against Russia Threat

Trump and Baltic leaders agree to enhance cooperation in defense and energy

The leaders of the Baltic nations Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania visited President Donald Trump on April 3 to seek more military assistance from the United States against Russian expansionism.

President Raimonds Vejonis of Latvia, President Kersti Kaljulaid of Estonia, and President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania met with Trump at the White House to discuss security matters and enhance cooperation in defense and energy.

The Baltic countries with a combined population of 6 million face an uncertain future in their relations with Russia. They have been raising concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putins intentions in the region, especially since Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. They fear that Moscow could use military force against the Baltic states.

These countries have been pressing the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to take additional security measures in the region to deter any potential aggression from Russia.

The Baltic leaders called for a permanent U.S. military presence in the region. During the meeting, Trump did not announce any specific deployment of U.S. troops.

Instead, the White House announced plans to provide nearly $100 million for procurement of large-caliber ammunition and over $70 million in training and equipping programs to boost the capacity of the Baltic countries military.

Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have, said Trump, in response to a question in a press conference with the Baltic leaders, as to whether he saw Putin as an enemy or not.

I think I could have a very good relationship with Russia and with President Putin, and if I did, that would be a great thing. And theres also a great possibility that that wont happen. Who knows?

Trump and the Baltic leaders have also agreed to enhance cooperation in energy security and independence. The countries will collaborate to diversify energy sources, supplies, and routes throughout the Baltic region, including expanding exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas, said Trump.

Too much dependence on Russian natural gas had allowed Moscow to charge high prices to the Baltic nations and made the region vulnerable to Russian influence.

The Baltic countries have moved to increase their independence from Russian gas in recent years. Lithuania began importing liquefied natural gas from the United States in 2017.

This year, the Baltic nations are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their independence following World War I. The independence was short lived, as the Soviet Union occupied and annexed the region during World War II.

Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania were under Soviet rule during the Cold War until they regained their independence in 1991. They joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.

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Trump Discusses Immigration During a Lunch With Baltic LeadersPolice walk outside of the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California on April 3, 2018. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Disgruntled YouTube User Shoots Three at Company OfficesEmployees Tweet From the Scene

A 39-year-old woman, apparently upset about YouTubes policies, shot up the video hosting companys offices in San Bruno, California, on April 3 before shooting herself.

Nasim Najafi Aghdam, a resident of San Diego, came onto the YouTube campus and opened fire seemingly at random with a 9-mm handgun, which she later turned on herself.

It is believed the suspect was upset with the policies and practices of YouTube, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told the Washington Post. This appears to be the motive for this incident.

At this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted, said a statement issued by the department.

Three people were treated for gunshot wounds, and one for a twisted ankle sustained while fleeing the scene.

Two of the shooting victims have been released from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. The third was still in critical condition on the morning of April 4.

According to the Post, Aghdam frequently posted videos about veganism, fitness, and animal abuse.

YouTube Manager Describe Shooting in Stream of Tweets

Todd Sherman, a YouTube project manager, described the assault in a series of tweets sent while he was leaving the YouTube campus in an Uber ride-share car.

Sherman started by telling his followers that he was safe. He followed that by describing people rushing down the buildings halls towards the exits as sounding like an earthquake.

Im safe.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018





We were sitting in a meeting and then we heard people running because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake. https://t.co/gmolQmRXm1  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

Sherman had no idea why people were running but he could tell that something serious was happening.

After existing the room we still didnt know what was going on but more people were running. Seemed serious and not like a drill.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

Then someone told him there was a person with a gun on the YouTube campus.

Sherman related that after he heard there was a shooter on the campus, he was scared to see people running by, because any one of them could have been the shooter.

At that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018



As he left the building, Sherman said he saw blood pooling on the floor. He watched police cruisers rushing towards the campus and unloading officers armed with rifles.

I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

Police cruisers pull up, hopped out with rifles ready and I told them where the situation was as I headed down the street to meet up with a couple team members.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

Another employee, Vadim Lavrusik, decided not to join the throngs fleeing. Instead, he and some coworkers barricaded themselves in an office.

Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers.  Vadim Lavrusik (@Lavrusik) April 3, 2018

Lavrusik was able to escape unharmed.

Safe. Got evacuated it. Outside now.  Vadim Lavrusik (@Lavrusik) April 3, 2018

From NTD.tv

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Accused Florida Shooters Neighbors Sensed Something Amiss with Cruz from a Young AgeFather of YouTube Shooter Warned Police Daughter Was Heading for the Companys HQ

The father of a woman who shot three people before turning the gun on herself at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, California, warned the police his daughter was furious with the company.

Ismail Aghdam, the father of the 39-year-old shooter Nasim Aghdam, said to Mercury News that his daughter told the family that YouTube had stopped everything, and she was angry.

Ismail Aghdam said the family called the police on Monday, April 2, to report his daughter missing.

He told the outlet that his daughter had not answered her cell phone for two days.

Then he warned the police that she might be heading to the companys San Bruno headquarters because she hated YouTube.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 3, Mountain View Police called the family to report that they had found Nasim Aghdam sleeping in her car and that everything was under control.

Our officers made contact with the woman after the license plate of her vehicle matched that of a missing person out of southern California, said Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson, according to a statement made to Mercury News.

The woman confirmed her identity to us and answered subsequent questions. At the conclusion of our discussion, her family was notified that she had been located.

The father described his daughter as a vegan activist and an animal lover.

Nasim Aghdam entered the premises of YouTube and opened fired on employees around lunchtime on Tuesday, March 3, before taking her own life.

The attack left three others injured with gunshot wounds.

Authorities released the identity of the shooter in a statement from the San Bruno police department on April 3.

Sources have confirmed that Aghdam was a user of the video viewing platform and ran a website with a manifesto criticizing YouTube for its censorship and demonetization of her video content, reported ABC News.

The suspected shooter in todays YouTube incident has been identified. Please see press release for details  https://t.co/Xvr2l9bB9s pic.twitter.com/NEBoX3WWK5  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 4, 2018

On her website, Aghdam claimed that YouTube had suppressed and stifled the traffic to her videos.

Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views! the website reads.

Be aware! Dictatorship exists in all countries but with different tactics! They only care for personal and short-term profits and do anything to reach their goals even by fooling simple-minded people, hiding the truth, manipulating science and everything, putting public mental and physical health at risk, abusing non-human animals, polluting the environment, destroying family values, promoting materialism and sexual degeneration in the name of freedom and turning people into programmed robots!

There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!

She also used a quote by Adolf Hitler to describe YouTubes tactics: Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it.

The website also includes videos promoting veganism and photos of a woman, believed to be Aghdam, in dresses and leotards. The website also includes embedded videos from other YouTube creators who talked about the drop in traffic and demonetization of videos.

The 38-year-old also created a video to express her concerns about YouTube.

WATCH: YOUTUBE HQ PERSIAN FEMALE SHOOTER NASIM AGHDAM RANTING AGAINST YOUTUBE pic.twitter.com/9qi42xZNtw  Divine Neet (@DivineNeet) April 4, 2018

Aghdams YouTube videos have now mostly been removed. The video streaming website showed that Aghdams pages had been terminated due to multiple or severe violations of YouTubes policy against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content or other Terms of Service violations.

Aghdams other social media accounts have also been removed or deactivated. She posted online using English and Farsi, the official language of Iran, reported Newshub . Aghdams parents are believed to be Iranian, according to CBS News

The shooting occurred in an outdoor patio and dining area. Officials said the firearm used was a 9 mm handgun.

Heavily armed police responded to the active shooting as employees ran from the building. After an initial search, police found Aghdam dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Three other peoplea 36-year-old man, a 32-year-old woman, and a 27-year-old womanwere transported to local hospitals with gunshot wounds, reported CBS News.

NTD.tv contributed to this report.

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersNasim Aghdam, 38, has been identified as the shooter at the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif. on April 3, 2018. (Screenshot via http://www.nasimesabz.com/)

Nasim Najafi Aghdam Identified As YouTube HQ Shooter

Widespread panic ensued when a female suspect entered YouTubes headquarters building in San Bruno, California, and opened fired on employees around lunchtime on Tuesday, March 3, before taking her own life. The attack left three others injured with gunshot wounds.

Police have now identified the suspect as 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam from San Diego, California, according to a statement released by the San Bruno police department on April 3.

Sources have confirmed that Aghdam is a user of the video viewing platform and ran a website that targeted YouTube for its censorship and demonetization of her video content, reported ABC News.

Investigators initially believed that the shooting was a domestic incident and that she may have been targeting someone at the YouTube facility. However, the police statement at 10:25 p.m. said there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted.

The suspected shooter in todays YouTube incident has been identified. Please see press release for details  https://t.co/Xvr2l9bB9s pic.twitter.com/NEBoX3WWK5  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 4, 2018

According to Aghdams father, his daughter had been venting to the family that YouTube had stopped payments to her for her video content, reported the Bay Area News Group. He said the family had called police to report Aghdam missing on Monday after she didnt answer her phone for two days. He said he had told police that he believed she might go to YouTube because she hated the company.

On her website, she claims that YouTube has suppressed and stifled the traffic to her videos.

Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views! the website reads.

There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!

The website also includes videos promoting veganism, and photos of a woman, believed to be Aghdam, in dresses and leotards. The website also includes embedded videos from other YouTube creators who talked about the drop in traffic and de-monetization of videos.

The 38-year-old has also created a video to express her concerns about YouTube.

WATCH: YOUTUBE HQ PERSIAN FEMALE SHOOTER NASIM AGHDAM RANTING AGAINST YOUTUBE pic.twitter.com/9qi42xZNtw  Divine Neet (@DivineNeet) April 4, 2018

Mountain View police called the family at 2 a.m. on Tuesday to confirm Aghdam was fine after finding her asleep in her car, the father told the news group. He said he did not know that she had a gun.

Aghdams YouTube videos have now mostly been removed. The video streaming website showed that Aghdams pages had been terminated due to multiple or severe violations of YouTubes policy against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content or other Terms of Service violations.

Aghdam other social media accounts have also been removed or deactivated. She posted online using English and Farsi, the official language of Iran, reported Newshub . Aghdams parents are believed to be Iranian, according to CBS News.

The shooting occurred after 12 p.m. in an outdoor patio and dining area of the facility. Officials said the firearm used was a 9mm handgun.

Heavily armed police responded to the active shooting as employees ran from the building. After an initial search, police found Aghdam dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Three other people  a 36-year-old man, a 32-year-old woman, and a 27-year-old woman  were transported to local hospitals with gunshot wounds, reported CBS News.

President Donald Trump said the White House had been briefed about the shooting and thanked law enforcement officers and first responders for their phenomenal response to the incident in a tweet on April 3.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said there are no other threats to the community.

Following an initial search to identify any immediate threats, a perimeter was established with the assistance of responding officers from several allied police agencies. Tactical teams then conducted a thorough search of the campus located at 901 Cherry Avenue. No other suspects were located, nor are there additional suspects believed to be associated at this time, the statement said.

The police investigation is currently ongoing. San Bruno said they will be holding a press conference 9 a.m. tomorrow morning local time.

The next press conference is scheduled for 9am tomorrow morning outside of the San Bruno Police Department, 1177 Huntington Ave.  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 4, 2018

From NTD.tv

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersNational Guard to Secure the Border as Part of Trumps Strategy Before Wall Is Built

President Donald Trump is considering sending the National Guard to secure the U.S.-Mexico border before a wall is built, according to the White House.

The president was briefed last week about a growing influx of illegal aliens, gang members, and drugs pouring across the border. The White House revealed late on Tuesday that Trump was briefed again on the administrations strategy for dealing with the issue, which specifically includes the mobilization of the National Guard.

Trump wont be the first president to send the National Guard to reinforce the border. Barack Obama sent 1,200 National Guard troops to the Mexico border in 2010. Four years prior, George Bush sent 6,000 troops to the border in an operation known as Jump Start.

Trump first suggested using the military to reinforce the border on March 25, when he signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill. That bill only included $1.6 billion for border wall construction, far short of the $25 billion Trump asked for.

In the following days, the president developed that hint and tweeted that the wall should be built by the military. On Tuesday, April 4, Trump told reporters that he plans to have the military guard the border.

We have very bad laws for our border, and we are going to be doing some thingsIve been speaking with General Mattiswere going to be doing things militarily, Trump said during a meeting with Baltic leaders. Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military. Thats a big step.

Trump said that current immigration laws, including those from the Obama era, are very weak and urged Congress to work on immigration reform. The presidents advisers told The New York Times on Monday that he is working on new legislation that would block illegal aliens from claiming asylum.

Under current immigration policies, an alien who crosses the border illegally and is apprehended can make a plea for asylum. Immigration authorities then process the case and release the alien into the United States with a pending court date. Trump has repeatedly lambasted this process, which has come to be known as catch-and-release.

Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release, he tweeted on April 1. Getting more dangerous. Caravans coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW.

The caravan that Trump referred to in the tweet consisted of over 1,000 Central Americans, mostly from Honduras, moving through Mexico toward the United States with the intention of claiming asylum. Trump threatened to end the NAFTA deal with Mexico if the officials there didnt act to stop the caravan.

By Tuesday, Mexican officials said that the caravan had mostly broken up. Trump noted that it was Mexico responding to the pressure he applied. He also suggested that a future NAFTA deal would happen, but would have to feature a border security component.

Ive just heard that the caravan coming up from Honduras is broken up, and Mexico did that. And they did it because, frankly, I said, You really have to do it. Were going to have a relationship with NAFTA. Were going to have to include security in NAFTA, the president said.

Recommended Video: Trump Discusses Immigration During a Lunch With Baltic LeadersOfficials: Shooting at YouTube Headquarters May Have Stemmed From Domestic Dispute

SAN BRUNO, CaliforniaA woman opened fire with a handgun at YouTubes headquarters near San Francisco on Tuesday, wounding three people before shooting herself dead as employees of the Silicon Valley tech company fled into the surrounding streets, authorities said.

Police did not identify the suspect or say what might have motivated the shooting rampage at YouTube, a video-sharing service owned by Alphabet Incs Google.

But MSNBC reported that investigators believe a woman in her 30s approached an outdoor patio and dining courtyard on the campus around lunchtime and began to fire before entering the building.

Senior law enforcement officials believe the shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute, MSNBC and other media reported. A U.S. government security official told Reuters there was no known connection to terrorism.

A YouTube product manager, Todd Sherman, described on Twitter hearing people running, first thinking it was an earthquake before he was told that a person had a gun.

At that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves, Sherman said in a tweet.

I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front, Sherman said.

The shooting was the latest in a string of mass killings carried out in the United States in recent years. Most recently, the massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school has led to calls for tighter restrictions on gun ownership.

In a recording of a 911 call posted online by the Los Angeles Times, a dispatcher can be heard saying: Shooter. Another party said they spotted someone with a gun. Suspect came from the back patio  Again we have a report of a subject with a gun. They heard seven or eight shots being fired.

Dozens of emergency vehicles quickly converged on the YouTube campus, and police could be seen on televised aerial video systematically frisking several employees leaving the area with their hands raised.

One of the victims, a 36-year-old man, was listed in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A 32-year-old woman was listed in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. Authorities did not release names of the victims.

The three patients taken to San Francisco General Hospital were all awake, Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, said at a news conference. All three people were victims of gunshot wounds, Campbell said, but none of them had undergone surgery. A fourth person was taken to a local hospital with an ankle injury from fleeing the scene.

YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki declined to comment to reporters as she left the building.

Its with great sadness that I tell you  based on the latest information  four people were injured in this horrific act of violence, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in letter to employees that was posted on Twitter.

I know a lot of you are in shock right now. Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy, he added.

In a separate tweet, Pichai said he and Wojcicki were focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together.

President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he had been briefed on the shooting.

Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved, Trump tweeted. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.

In response, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey tweeted: We cant keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it wont happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots. Its beyond time to evolve our policies.

Last month, YouTube announced it would ban content promoting the sale of guns and gun accessories as well as videos that teach how to make guns.

Female mass shooters are rare. A recent Washington Post analysis shows only three out of 150 U.S. shootings with more than four victims since 1966 were done by women. In 2015, a husband and wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.

By Paresh Dave

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President Trump Discusses Background Checks For Gun PurchasesRemarks by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Mark Shift in Middle East

RIYADHSaudi Arabias crown prince said in a published interview that both Palestinians and Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land, another public sign of an apparent thawing in ties between the two countries.

Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland, Mohammed bin Salman was quoted by U.S. magazine The Atlantic as saying: I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation. I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations.

Saudi Arabiabirthplace of Islam and site of its holiest shrineshas never officially recognized Israel. For years, the kingdom maintained that normalizing relations would hinge on an Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war  territory that Palestinians seek for a future state. Prince Salmans recent remarks mark a shift in the Saudi kingdoms approach to hopes for achieving peace in the region.

Our country doesnt have a problem with Jews  our Prophet Muhammad married a Jewish woman. Not just a friendhe married her. Our prophet, his neighbors were Jewish, Prince Salman told Jeffrey Goldberg in an interview with The Atlantic.

There are no problems between Christian and Muslims and Jews. We have problems like you would find anywhere in the world, among some people. But the normal sort of problems.

Prince Salman said that he held religious concerns about the fate of the holy mosque in Jerusalem and about the rights of the Palestinian people.

This is what we have. We dont have any objection against any other people, said Prince Salman, who is currently touring the United States to drum up investments and support for his and other nations efforts to contain Iranian influence.

In his remarks, Prince Salman compared the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Hitler, I believe the Iranian supreme leader makes Hitler look good, Prince Salman said.

Hitler didnt do what the supreme leader is trying to do. Hitler tried to conquer Europe  But the supreme leader is trying to conquer the world. He believes he owns the world. They are both evil guys. He is the Hitler of the Middle East. In the 1920s and 1930s, no one saw Hitler as a danger. Only a few people. Until it happened. We dont want to see what happened in Europe happen in the Middle East. We want to stop this through political moves, economic moves, intelligence moves. We want to avoid war.

President Obama believed that if he gave Iran opportunities to open up, it would change, Salman explained. But with a regime based on this ideology, it will not open up soon. Sixty percent of the Iranian economy is controlled by the Revolutionary Guard. The economic benefits of the Iran nuclear deal are not going to the people.

They took $150 billion after the deal  can you please name one housing project they built with this money? One park? One industrial zone? Can you name for me the highway that they built? I advise them  please show us something that youre building a highway with $150 billion.

For Saudi Arabia, there is a 0.1 percent chance that this deal would work to change the country. For President Obama, it was 50 percent. But even if theres a 50 percent chance that it would work, we cant risk it. The other 50 percent is war. We have to go to a scenario where there is no war, he told Goldberg.

Increased tension between Tehran and Riyadh has fueled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to work together against what they regard as a common Iranian threat.

There are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Prince Salman added.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks envisaging a Palestinian state alongside Israel have been frozen since 2014.

Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel last month, which an Israeli official hailed as historic following two years of efforts.

In November, an Israeli cabinet member disclosed covert contacts with Saudi Arabia, a rare acknowledgment of long-rumored secret dealings which Riyadh still denies.

Arab officials told Reuters last year that Riyadh appeared to be on board with a broader U.S. strategy for an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan that is still in its early phases of development after U.S. President Donald Trump moved to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The Epoch Times contributed to this report.

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First Lady Melania Trump Visits United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumStepfather Charged With Killing 3-Year-Old Girl in New York Apartment

A New York man has been charged after a 3-year-old girl was found dead in a Queens apartment on Monday, April 2, according to authorities.

Her stepfather, Marc Jenkins, 32, was charged with second-degree depraved murder and first-degree depraved assault on Tuesday, April 3, according to the Queens District Attorneys office. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison, reported ABC 7

Police responded to a call around 6 p.m. to find toddler Bella Edwards unconscious and unresponsive at an apartment on Beach 105th Street near Shore Front Parkway in Seaside, Queens.

When police arrived, Jenkins was attempting to resuscitate her by performing CPR. Police said Bella and her 3-month-old brother were left alone with Jenkins for about eight hours on Monday.

Bella was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Police then questioned Jenkins and the toddlers mother, Shamikaa Gonzalez, on the night of the incident and the 32-year-old man was subsequently arrested.

District Attorney Richard Brown said the preliminary results of the autopsy showed that the 3-year-old had died from a blunt force trauma to her abdomen, reported ABC 7. Other results are still pending.

A police source told PIX11 that the signs of trauma were consistent with abuse and added that the girls body was covered in bruises, some of which were new while others were healing. The source also said that there were signs of sexual abuse.

This is a terribly disturbing case. The victim here is an innocent little girl, whose body revealed traumatic abuse injuries, Brown said, according to NY Daily News.

The 3-month-old baby boy was also taken to the hospital for medical evaluation. No details about his condition were released. Officials said the child will not be returned to Gonzalez until after the investigation has concluded.

Bellas grieving mother, Gonzalez, told PIX 11 that her 3-year-old was the best daughter that anyone can ask for. She was described as friendly, beautiful, affectionate, smart, and lovable.

She loved and was very affectionate sister to her baby brother Logan, she said. She was loved by many who came to know her.

The New York City Administration for Childrens Services Deputy Commission Eric Ferrero said they were also investigating the case.

Our top priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all children in New York City. As soon as this family came to our attention last night, we immediately launched an investigation with the New York Police Department, and we secured the safety of the other child in this home, Ferrero said in a statement, reported ABC 7.

According to authorities, Jenkins had previously been sentenced to eight years in prison for attempted murder. He served five years and conditionally released by the state Board of Parole in Sept. 2011, reported NY Daily News.

Jenkins is expected to be arraigned on Wednesday, April 4.

From NTD.tv

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersPresident Donald Trump at a Joint Press Conference with the Baltic States Heads of Government in the East Room of the White House in Washington on April 3, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Trump Approval Hits Highest Level in 11 Months Despite Mostly Negative Media Coverage

President Donald Trump earned the highest approval rating in more than 11 months on Wednesday, with 51 percent of likely American voters applauding his job performance, according to Rasmussen Reports.

Trumps rating is higher than President Barack Obamas during the same period. Obama received a 46 percent approval rating on April 4, 2010.

The last time 51 percent of Americans approved of Trumps performance was on April 24 last year. Rasmussen recorded Trumps highest approval rating on Jan. 26, 2017, at 59 percent.

Compared to the three previous presidents, Trump earned his approval rating while facing overwhelmingly negative coverage from mainstream media. Coverage of Trump during his first 60 days in office was three times more negative than Obama and twice as negative as coverage of presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, according to the Pew Research Center.

A survey of media coverage by the Media Research Center showed that news coverage on ABC, CBS, and NBC was more than 90 percent negative in September, October, and November last year.

The majority of Americans are seeing through much of the medias bias. A March 26 Rasmussen poll found that 52 percent of likely U.S. voters thought that reporters who write or talk about Trump are trying to block his agenda.

Rasmussen reports its approval ratings based on a rolling three-day average of survey results from 1,500 likely U.S. voters. The margin of error is +/- 2.5 percent.

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President Trump Discusses Background Checks For Gun PurchasesUtah Man Forced Teen to Watch Boyfriends Murder Before Killing Her: Prosecutors

A Utah man forced a teenager to watch him murder her boyfriend before killing her, according to prosecutors.

Jerrod Baum, 41, allegedly stabbed 18-year-old Riley Powell to death while 17-year-old Brelynne Breezy Otteson watched.

Baum then killed Otteson.

Court documents say that Baum congratulated the couple before killing them because he thought Otteson was pregnant, reported The Associated Press.

But Otteson was not pregnant when she died, according to prosecutors. Its not clear why Baum thought she was.

Baum then tossed the bodies into a mine shaft.

Brelynne Breezy Otteson, 17, was forced to kneel and watch her boyfriend being beaten and stabbed before she was thrown down an abandoned mine shaft, prosecutors said. https://t.co/7fvhG2CrsA  USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 4, 2018

Baum and his live-in girlfriend, Morgan Henderson, lied to police officers when asked if they had seen or heard from the teenagers, who were reported missing on Jan. 2, reported Fox 13. Social media posts indicated that Otteson and Powell planned to meet Henderson at her home on Dec. 29, the last day they were heard from.

The jeep the teens were driving was found in Juab County with the rear tires punctured. Officers believed foul play was involved.

Two weeks after the initial questioning, on Jan. 25, Henderson admitted that she met the teens but that they left 40 minutes later after smoking weed with her.

After being arrested on March 25, Henderson admitted she withheld information on the disappearance and that her boyfriend had murdered the teens.

Baum may face the death penalty.

Court documents show that Baum was convicted of aggravated assault in 1992 and attempted murder, theft, and burglary when he was just 15, reported Deseret News.

In that case, Baum stole three vehicles in succession, and drove to a Burger King and robbed it using a handgun hed found in one of the vehicles. At one point, Baum fired shots at two employees but missed.

While incarcerated at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison in 1994, Baum was charged with more than 30 felonies, along with five others, in connection with a five-hour riot that caused around $40,000 worth of damage.

Baum was released in 2004 but was back in jail soon after for violating parole, although he was ultimately released again in 2005.

Baum was on probation at the time of the teens deaths for drugs and gun-related convictions.

From NTD.tv

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Impatient Wombat Toots Car Horn While Waiting For Carers to Save Her From Possible FloodingPolice search a building at YouTube's corporate headquarters as an active shooter situation was underway in San Bruno, Calif., on April 03, 2018. (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)

Witness to YouTube Headquarters Shooting: I Didnt Have a Gun on Me, But I Wish I Did

A man who witnessed the shooting at YouTube headquarters in California on Tuesday said that he wished he had a gun on him.

The San Bruno Police Department said in a statement that a female entered the building and shot multiple people around 12:46 p.m. at the YouTube campus in the city.

Police officers responding to the scene found a female with a gunshot wound thats believed to be self-inflicted as well as four people who were shot.

The shooter was later identified as Nasim Aghdam, a vegan activist who was angry at YouTube because she believed the company was discriminating against her videos, reported NBC.

Youtube [sic] filtered my channels to keep them from getting views! Aghdam wrote on her website.

There is no free speech in real world & you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system. Videos of targeted users are filtered & merely relegated, so that people can hardly see their videos! she added.

BREAKING: Just spoke to the father of Nasim Aghdam. He says his daughter had been missing for several days. When cops found her in NorCal last night, he warned them she was angry with YouTube. @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/mgCw9ivqos  Tina Patel (@tina_patel) April 4, 2018

Family members echoed the sentiments, saying that YouTubes demonetization left the 38-year-old without an income.

YouTube employees posted on social media websites as the shooting took place.

One of the witnesses told Fox News that he wished he was armed.

I didnt have a gun on me, but I wish I did, he said.



The man said he was ordering food from a store across the street from the YouTube headquarters when the shooting started. He heard more than 10 shots.

The department said that evidence from the scene is being processed by detectives as well as the San Mateo County Crime Lab.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said in a statement, There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter YouTube today.

There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.  Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) April 4, 2018

Here is the note that @sundarpichai just sent to Googlers worldwide. pic.twitter.com/bdC6KeTl9c  Google Communications (@Google_Comms) April 3, 2018

She added, Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.

Sundar Pichai, Googles CEO, sent a letter to employees worldwide saying the company would provide support to all employees in the coming days.

Google owns YouTube.

From NTD.tv

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Texas Sheriff Andy Louderback Talks About MS-13Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) strands from a double helix model on display at the Science Museum April 23, 2003 in London. (Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Woman Receives Shocking News From Ancestry.com DNA Test

A woman who sent in a DNA sample to Ancestry.com was stunned when she received the result.

The popular genealogy offers the testing for $80.

From discovering their ethnicity to connecting with distant relatives, the largest DNA network in the world is helping more people find the singular story in their DNA. Yours is just as unique, revealing traces of your family historywho your ancestors were and where they came from, the company states on its website.

Kelli Rowlette found out a little more than just the origins of her ancestors. She found out the man she grew up calling Dad wasnt really her biological dad.

The DNA test result showed that her sample matched a sample from a doctor more than 500 miles away.

Her parents had had trouble conceiving, so they turned to artificial insemination. But instead of her Dads sperm, the fertility doctor allegedly used his own.

The account comes from a lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court in Idaho, reported The Washington Post.

Gerald Mortimer, a now-retired obstetrician-gynecologist who practiced out of Idaho Falls, has been accused of fraud and medical negligence.

The lawsuit claims that Mortimer never revealed the secret that he used his own sperm in the procedure. But the lawsuit states that Mortimer cried when he learned that the woman he inseminated was moving away. He had been her doctor for several years following the birth.

Unknown to all, ob/gyn adds his own sperm during couple's AI procedure; child finds out at 36 when https://t.co/2msDZA6rJj test reveals his name as probable parent and she recognizes it from birth certificate. https://t.co/yDAYLo0MW7  Erin Murphy (@ErinMurphysLaw) April 4, 2018

Dr. Mortimer cried when Ms. Ashby informed him they were moving, according to the lawsuit. Dr. Mortimer knew Kelli Rowlette was his biological daughter but did not disclose this to Ms. Ashby or Mr. Fowler.

Unexpected results from DNA tests happen with some frequency. The possibility is acknowledged by 23andMe, another company offering the service.

Looking at your genetic data might uncover information that some people find surprising, the website states. This information can be relatively benign. At other times, the information you learn can have profound implications for both you and your family.

Maarten Larmuseau, a researcher in the Department of Biology at the University of Leuven in Belgium, studied the policies of DNA testing companies and found that many didnt require minors to have the consent of a parent or guardian in order to be tested, and only 10 out of the 43 companies studied included statements warning users about the risks of unexpected results.

Nobody is seeing these recreational genetics tests as a real problem, Larmuseau told Vice.

The results of tests that reveal secrets, like, allegedly, Rowlettes, can cause great harm, said Sarah Lowe, an assistant professor of psychology at Montclair State University.

It might have an emotional impact that looks like post-traumatic stress, depression, or anxiety, she said.

From NTD.tv

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First Lady Calls for an End to Grief Caused by Opioids CrisisFollowing in her fathers footsteps, Sandra Sanchez has entered the world of business ownership by opening Integrity Insurance, Taxes & Services on South Street in Danbury.

I decided to be brave and venture out on my own, said Sanchez, who has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. Its been a lifelong dream. My dad had a business (Rebellos Formal Wear and Tailoring) in this town for 60 years. We love this town.

Her husband opened Sanchez Repair Service five years ago at 41 South St. The insurance business is located at the front of the same building.

Integrity Insurance, Taxes & Services offers automobile, motorcycle, boat, home, renters, commercial and business insurance. Sanchez said she is committed to serving the insurance carrier and customer fairly, hence the name of her business.

I named it Integrity because I do business ethically, honestly and with high moral standards, she said. Its good to have because you have to follow guidelines for the insurance carrier and take care of your customer at the same time. You cant do right by both parties if youre not honest.

Sanchez also offers tax, notary and translation services.

Sanchez speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese and said she looks forward to serving Danburys diverse population. Her parents were born in Portugal. She was born and raised in Danbury and attended Naugatuck Valley Community College before earning a bachelors degree from Western Connecticut State University.

She earned her degree at WestConn while raising three children in Danbury. Now that her children are grown  two are students at her alma mater  and her husbands business is established, she felt it was time to pursue her dream of business ownership.

Word is getting out that Im here, Sanchez said. It will just take time for people to know where I am and what Im doing.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton noted that Sanchez is one of several new business owners in the Hat City.

We are fortunate to have people in our community that believe in Danbury, and who are excited to invest in our city, he said. The enthusiasm of small, local business owners has helped make Danbury a leader in Connecticut when it comes to economic development.

Integrity Insurance, Taxes & Services may be reached at 203-917-3131.In early January, I made an annual pilgrimage to that City of Sin -- Las Vegas -- to attend the most prominent technology conference in the world. CES makes headlines every year for the crazy new gadgets emerging from the desert, but this year a different issue took center stage: the lack of women in attendance and on its panels.

As a woman, it was impossible not to notice. The reality is that its all too common. In response to the staid line that there arent enough qualified women to include on panels, last year Mic. compiled a list of 1,000 women in tech to combat organizers "lazy" excuses for not including more female speakers. Unfortunately, the message has clearly not been received. In April, RSA will host the years most prominent cybersecurity conference. Of the 20 keynote speakers the only one who is female happens to be Monica Lewinsky.

Related: Hey, James Damore: Your Beliefs About Women in Tech Are Nothing Like the Reality Women Live in Tech

Im not a cybersecurity expert, but I would wager a guess that there were other qualified female applicants who couldve easily shared their point of view with the conference. The uproar caused RSA organizers to go back to the drawing board and even invite prominent women in cybersecurity to speak after the fact. But, to ask the obvious question, why werent they asked or accepted in the first place? For all the talk of a massive cultural shift in the wake of #TimesUp and #MeToo, it is often the more subtle, ingrained structures of our organizations that -- presumably unintentionally -- hold women back.

Allow me to share a recent experience.

Last month, my PR team and I pitched a panel idea to a prominent tech conference which has made public claims about its commitment to change these notorious gender imbalances. The feedback on our topic was positive. The organizer was excited at the prominent tech companies we would be including in our panel. We were thrilled and began a back-and-forth dialogue to finalize the specific panel participants.

That is when we hit a dispiriting roadblock. The conference organizers approved our initial panel, which included a combination of VPs and a male director-level panelist at leading tech companies. As it became clear that not everyone from our initial list would be able to participate, we shared an alternate panel complete with strong female leaders in the tech space from the same companies that were so important to the conference. But the panel was rejected on the premise that the new director-level participants didnt have senior enough titles. Despite leading large, prominent and important teams within their organizations at Google, Amazon and Facebook, it was their titles that mattered most. Why wasnt this an issue with the initial director-level male panelist?

Related: That Infamous Google Memo Says Plenty About What's Wrong With Tech and Why It's So Hard to Talk About

And what of their call for more female participants? Of the conferences several hundred speakers, only 30 percent of the listed speakers are women. The unfortunate reality is that this phenomenon isnt going to fix itself. Fewer women sit at the C-suite and qualified candidates are held back and denied speaking opportunities simply by the title listed on their LinkedIn accounts. With archaic rules granting preference to company title over experience, we are severely limiting our talent pool.

Representation at these kind of conferences matter. They are where connections happen and deals are made. Every time a woman is shut out from appearing on a panel, it not only limits her ability to share her expertise, but sends the larger message that women are simply not welcome. Continuing to cherish the manel is not a great place from which to start fixing techs larger diversity problem.

While many of these conference organizers are surely well intentioned, they miss the larger point. By putting too much emphasis on rather arbitrary conventions like job title they are denying attendees a diverse conversation with multiple viewpoints. It is time for organizers to ignore the elephant in the room: title does not make the man, or woman.

Related:

How Come Every Tech Panel Is Always a Tech 'Manel?'

4 Award-Winning Companies Share the Secret to Becoming Female-Friendly

Inspiring Books Written by Women and for Women in Tech



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com

NORWALK  Local Democrats and Republicans have picked delegates to send to their partys respective nomination conventions in advance of elections this fall.

At conventions in May, the delegates will cast ballots for their favorite candidates for offices ranging from probate judge to General Assembly, governor and the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The Norwalk Democratic Town Committee chose its 47 delegates at the South Norwalk Community Center on Tuesday evening. The delegate list includes Mayor Harry Rilling, committee Chairman Edwin Camacho, state Sen. Bob Duff, state Reps. Chris Perone and Bruce Morris, and Brien McMahon High School senior Darius Williams.

I feel very honored to be able to participate in the state convention as a delegate, said Williams, the youngest member of the newly seated town committee.

Williams said he doesnt yet have a favorite among the Democrats running for governor.

Norwalks two members of the Democratic State Central Committee  currently Galen Wells and Ronald Kowalski  will participate in the partys state convention in Hartford on May 18-19

The parties had until Wednesday to submit their delegate certification forms to the local town clerks office.

Voter registration and election participation determine the amount of delegates afforded each party. Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in Norwalk but unaffiliated voters top both, according to voter rolls kept by the Registrar of Voters Office.

The Norwalk Republican Town Committee selected 13 delegates during a meeting at the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center on March 26. Delegates include former Common Council members Richard McQuaid, Peter Nolin and John Tobin, District D Republican Committee Chairman John Romano, and newly seated committee Chairman Mark Suda.

Im excited about the convention, Suda said. I cant wait to go and see how it all plays out, how the inner workings of the state (convention) work. We put together a great crew to go from Norwalk here, old, new, experienced, non-experienced.

Kelly Straniti, a former councilwoman, and state Rep. Fred Wilms, both Norwalk residents, will attend the Republican State Convention at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket on May 11-12 as super delegates.

Emerson Straniti  her son  also will attend as a delegate.

Hes been involved in politics since he was really little, Kelly Stranti said. I always did promote public service and encouraged him to get involved. Im really proud of him.NORWALK  Creating conflict is easy, but making peace is hard.

These are words professor Hannah Moeckel-Rieke shared on Wednesday at Norwalk College Communitys 21st annual Academic Festival, which she helped organize.

This years theme was creative leadership to peace, with more than 20 events free and open to the public.

Among them was an open forum with four professors and one alumnus who tackled school safety and gun control. The panelists represented a wide range of opinions, including those who owned guns and others who were in favor of more gun control.

Edward Grippe, a professor of philosophy and the chairman of the integrity committee that hosted the forum, said its time to put more restrictions on gun ownership.

Almost anybody can get it on the internet. Theres a proliferation of guns, Grippe said. Maybe we need to treat ownership like we treat car ownership.

In rebuttal, Professor Thomas Jackson, chairman of the colleges business department, said regulations on gun ownership already exist and that the topic needs to be approached rationally.

Banning weapons is not the solution, he said, since the Second Amendment is not going away.

So I think what we have to do is stop arguing about guns  who likes them, who doesnt. Some guns do need to be outlawed, absolutely, and can be legally, Jackson said. Weve got to start talking about solutions, not argue with ourselves.

Jackson also supported the idea of armed security at the college, emphasizing the importance of having trained personnel who know how to respond to emergency situations. He mentioned his friend and another friends son died in the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Norwalk Community College President David Levinson said this possibility has been discussed but a decision hasnt yet been made. The college has an upcoming tabletop exercise on April 11 when faculty will meet to discuss their roles during an emergency.

Such talks of bolstering security have been under way, he said, with plans to create more restrictive measures for getting into the college and to gather feedback from students and staff. As of now, the college has well over 100 cameras monitoring campus activity.

Levinson said the college takes the issue of school safety very seriously but also emphasized that the issue is a responsibility everyone has to take part in, from staff to students.

The college president also commended students who participated in recent protests to make gun safety a national issue.

We need to create a culture, which I think we do at the college, where people respect one another and respect diversity in terms of race, ethnicity and political beliefs, Levinson said. Unfortunately that tolerance is not what youre seeing on the national scene.

Ana Grigg, a part-time student at the college, said it was timely to have an open forum on school safety.

While she said she didnt feel anxious about her safety as a student at Norwalk Community College, like most students at the forum, she does worry about her daughter who attends fifth grade in Stamford.

Grigg said she is not against people owning guns, but she does think the Second Amendment needs to be revisited.

It was adopted in the late 1700s. What do they have back then? Muskets, Grigg said. Theyve got to change it because the kinds of guns they have right now can cause so much damage.

Other events throughout the day touched on a variety of topics. A guest speaker shared memories of growing up in war-torn Afghanistan, another one led a workshop on nonviolent communication and meditation, and keynote speaker Amada Benavides explained the integration of peace education into school curriculum.

Benavides is the president of the Schools of Peace Foundation based in Colombia. She also helped orchestrate the first Peace Building Institutes at Connecticut Community Colleges, a conference on peace education and studies that Norwalk Community College is holding this week and hopes to continue every year. (Gateway and Housatonic Community colleges are also holding the conference.)

In her keynote address, Benavides said education is one of the starting points to peace.

We should all start to contribute with our grain of sand and enthusiasm to make things different for future generations, Benavides said.Update: According to court documents, the case against Joseph Szeli was dismissed.

NORWALK  A disorderly bar patron was arrested on a host of charges Tuesday night after police said he broke a bar window, exposed himself to bar staff and kicked a police officer.

Joseph Szeli, 38, of Maple Street, Newburgh, N.Y., was held on a $25,000 bond on charges of assault on a peace officer, interfering with an officer, public indecency, second-degree breach of peace and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

Police were dispatched to the area of 80 Washington St. around 10:30 p.m. on a report of a disturbance. Employees of the bar, Johnny Utahs, told police Szeli walked into the bar, began swearing at staff and then smashed a drink to the ground.

Police were also told by staff that Szeli had exposed himself to two employees there. He was removed from the bar at which time police said he kicked and broke a glass door.

An off-duty police officer saw the commotion and followed Szeli to the nearby Stroffolino Bridge. As officers attempted to take him into custody, police said Szeli screamed profanities at officers, pulled away and kicked an officer in the leg twice.

Szeli was given a court date of April 12.EDWARDSVILLE  RASE (Recreation, Arts and Special Events) Board member Debra Pitts was honored at Tuesdays City Council meetings for her 29 years of service to the city of Edwardsville.

Pitts has also served as a clerk at Mount Joy Church, the Illinois High School Association Board of Directors, the NAACP secretary from the Edwardsville branch, the president of the Delta Kappa Gamma Alpha Zeta Chapter, 31 years in Alton High School as an educator and administrator, and various other commitments.

Patton awarded Pitts a plaque for her efforts before she took to the podium to offer her words of thanks.

Id just like to say Im proud to be a part of the Edwardsville community. Ive been here since 1971I came here at 18 from Chicago and attended SIUE. When I graduated in 1975, the teachers in Chicago were on strike  I said, Well, Ill just get a job here and stay for a year and then go back home. Ive been here since, Pitts said. I just want to say thank you and I hope that the work thats being done by the Park Board, RASE Board continues and that everyone in the community feels a part of Edwardsville.

In other business, five raffle licenses were approved at Tuesdays City Council meeting. The licenses were granted to St. Boniface Catholic Church with chances to be sold April 7  May 26; the Edwardsville FOP Lodge 244 with chances to be sold April 14; the Madison County Extension Education Foundation with chances to be sold June 15-16; the Goshen Theatre Project with chances to be sold April 21 and Whitleys Wishes, Inc. with chances to be sold April 14.

All licenses were approved unanimously.

In addition, a Class E Special Event License was approved for St. Boniface Church for the Bonifest Annual Picnic, Friday, May 25  Saturday, May 26.

With none opposed, the license was approved unanimously.

Next was a recommendation from the Public Safety Committee for the approval for the Edwardsville Police Department to purchase two mobile data computers with docking stations, as accounted for in the citys capital budget for fiscal year 2017/18 for the amount of $6,103.62. The purchase received full support at the committee level.

If approved, the EPD would purchase two Dell Latitude 14 Rugged 5414 mobile data computers with docking stations, which will be installed in the departments Ford Explorer squad vehicles.

Alderman Will Krause said the new equipment will go into the soon-to-be acquired new squad cars.

These would be for the upcoming squad car purchases, which have already been approved by Council and essentially they are to allow the computers to be within the cars as the police use them, Krause said.

The ACS Committee also recommended the approval of a contract with Synthetic Turf International/Xtreme Green to install synthetic turf at the future site of a dog park on Schwarz Street.

Currently, the only dog park site in town is located at Joe Glik Park. The new proposed park on Schwarz Street will allow additional spaces for dogs to exercise and interact. The artificial turf will provide a durable, ADA-compliant surface for park users.

With none opposed, the contract was approved unanimously.

The last item on the agenda was the approval of three RASE (Recreation, Arts, and Special Events) Board events, including the Land of Goshen Community Market on May 12 through October 20; Edwardsville Public Librarys Summer Reading Kick-off Party on May 30 and the Rotary Club of Edwardsvilles Criterium set for August 18.

With none opposed, the events were approved unanimously.

The next Edwardsville City Council meeting is set for 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 17 at City Hall. All meetings are open to the public.

For more information about upcoming city meetings or agendas, visit the citys website at www.cityofedwardsville.com.Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. engages in the mining of copper, gold and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining; Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining and Corporate, Other and Eliminations. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico. The South America Mining segment includes Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The Indonesia Mining segment handles the operations of Grasberg minerals district that produces copper concentrate that contains significant quantities of gold and silver. The Molybdenum Mines segment includes the Henderson underground mine and Climax open-pit mine, both in Colorado. The Rod and Refining segment consists of copper conversion facilities located in North America and includes a refinery, rod mills, and a specialty copper products facility. The Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining segment smelts and refines copper concentrate and markets refined copper and precious metals in slimes. The Corporate, Other and Eliminations segment

Read More5 hours ago

3 Oversold EV Stocks to Buy and Hold

Once a group that could seemingly only go up, electric vehicle (EV) stocks have had a rough ride in 2021. First it was fears of rising rates and the corresponding impact on companies with high valuations.

Read Article American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved.

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 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research.A peacekeeper was killed and 11 others wounded when a UN base was attacked early Tuesday in the Central African Republic, triggering heavy fighting that also left 22 fighters dead.



The anti-balaka mostly Christian militia launched the dawn attack on the temporary UN base in Tagbara, near the southern city of Bambari, sparking several hours of gunfire.



"Peacekeepers fired back and after several hours of exchange of fire, one peacekeeper was killed and 11 others were injured," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The soldier was from Mauritania.



The UN mission MINUSCA said 22 anti-balaka fighters were killed and warned that the attack could be considered a war crime.



UN peacekeepers later discovered the bodies of 21 civilians, including four women and four children in Tagbara.



MINUSCA said the bodies were found near a church, and that the deaths resulted from a separate incident using "traditional weapons," indicating the use of machetes or knives.



Reinforcements have been sent to Tagbara, which lies 37 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Bambari.



On Monday, UN peacekeepers were able to win the release of 23 people, including 13 women and three children held by the an ex-Seleka rebel group known as the UPC in Tagbara.



The ex-detainees were allowed to shelter in safety overnight at the base in Tagbara, which was attacked at 5:00 am, MINUSCA said.



The UN mission said an investigation will be carried out to "ensure there is no room for impunity" for the crimes.



Over the weekend, UN peacekeepers carried out a joint operation with CAR forces to rescue 15 people who had been taken hostage in the village of Koumbou by the Lord's Resistance Army.



The CAR 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 -- one of the poorest in the world -- remains plagued by violence between ex-rebels and vigilante militias.



The United Nations is growing increasingly concerned by attacks on peacekeepers that killed 59 peacekeepers last year, a sharp increase from the previous year.



Last year, 15 MINUSCA peacekeepers were killed in attacks.







AFP







Guard caught stealing from traveller at Suvarnabhumi

BANGKOK: A security guard at Suvarnabhumi airport was caught after pilfering B6,000 from a passengers carry-on bag at an X-ray station yesterday evening (Apr 3).

crimepolicetechnology

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 4 April 2018, 12:42PM

A guard manning an X-ray machine at Suvarnabhumi airport is caught with 6,000 baht he allegedly stole from an American traveller. Photo: Sutthiwit Chayutworakarn

Thanat Monthonrat was apprehended by airport police and staff about 5:30pm.

The 25-year-old man works for a company which supplies security staff for the airport. He was assigned to the X-ray machine at the passenger entry portal.

Police said an 89-year-old American traveller complained that six B1,000 banknotes he had in his bag when he gave it up to be X-rayed were missing when he collected it.

Officers went to the scanning spot, where Thanat was working.

A search found B6,000 in B1,000 notes in his uniform pocket, but the guard denied he stole the money, police said.

Surveillance camera footage at the scene provided convincing evidence and Thanat later confessed to stealing the money, according to police.

Thanat said he needed the money to go back to his home province of Prachuap Khiri Khan. He had worked at the airport for less than a month and was paid B580 a day.

According to police, he said the work was too arduous for him and he wanted to go back to his home province to find another job. As he did not have enough money, he decided to steal it.

Kittipong Kittikachorn, deputy general manager of Suvarnabhumi airport, said management of the firm that hired the man had been notified and had been called to a meeting. They would be told to be more careful when screening people for the job.

This offence was committed by an individual, he said. The airports security remained up to standard.

Since the American passenger had already left Thailand, the money would be sent to him, along with an explanation, to boost his confidence in Thailand, Mr Kittipong said.

Read original story here.On Demand

We have a new story every day on the front page of thephuketnews.com. Also like us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/thephuketnews) and be the first to watch all the new stories. Finally you can watch any segment, any time by going to thephuketnews.com/tv where all the stories are listed for you to enjoy. All our programs can be enjoyed in High Definition when watching on the internet.

In-Room VDOWith no Phuket lifeguards on patrol, Chinese tourist drowns at Patong

PHUKET: A 64-year-old Chinese tourist has been pronounced dead after after he was pulled from the water unconscious at Patong Beach this morning (April 4).

tourismpatongdeathaccidentsmarineChinese

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 4 April 2018, 12:49PM

Chinese tourist Teng Yiding, 64, is rushed off Patong Beach with a weak pulse this morning (April 4). Photo: Patong Municipality Fire & Rescue Dept

The tourist, Teng Yiding, 64, from the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning, which borders North Korea, was pulled from the water just after 11am.

A Patong Municipality Fire & Rescue Department officer at the scene, who asked not to be named, told The Phuket News that he was notified of the incident by Patong Police at 11:15am.

Patong Municipality Fire & Rescue Department staff and Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers were soon at the scene.

When we arrived a lifeguard (sic) was trying to revive the man. They were administering CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), but his condition was still very worrying and his pulse was very weak, the municipality rescue official said.

We carried him off the beach as quickly as we could and rushed him to Patong Hospital, he added.

His family is at Patong Hospital now. Patong Police are now investigating what caused the incident, the municipality rescue official said.

The municipality rescue official later confirmed to The Phuket News that the lifeguard on duty was actually a qualified former Phuket lifeguard who was still patrolling Patong Beach free as a volunteer.

The death of tourist Mr Teng, in front of his wife, Wang Enmei, 62, while on holiday in Phuket, comes amid a now deadly embarrassing fiasco of Phuket being unable to organise having qualified lifeguards patrolling the beaches.

At last report, the company that now has a B13 million contract to provide Phuket lifeguards  Bangkok-based consultancy LP Laikhum Co Ltd  has yet to publicly confirm that any of its lifeguards are actually on patrol at Phuket beaches.

According to the contract, quietly offered and award in February, LP Laikhum was obligated to provide lifeguards at Phuket beaches on Mar 1. (See story here.)

Meanwhile, Phuket Vice Governor Thawornwat Khongkaew told The Phuket News late on Monday (April 2), Their first showing will be on April 5 when LP Laikhum lifeguards will line up on Surin Beach to show the Governor they are ready to start work. (See story here.)21:13

Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati supported Monday's 'Bharat bandh' organised by Dalit outfits against what they claimed was 'dilution' of the SC/ST Act by a Supreme Court order, but as Uttar Pradesh chief minister she had herself initiated steps to check the misuse of the law.



Mayawati said she supported the protests against the changes in the SC/ST law but condemned the violence that took place blaming anti-social elements for it.



Various Dalit organisations had called for a nation-wide shutdown or a 'Bharat Bandh' to protest against the apex court ruling.



The court had, on March 20, introduced the provision of anticipatory bail in the act while directing there would be no automatic arrest on any complaint filed under the law.



The BSP backed the bandh but in in 2007 when it was in power, as chief minister, Mayawati had issued two orders to safeguard against the misuse of the Act or false implication of innocent people.



In an order issued on October 29, 2007, by then UP chief secretary Prashant Kumar, it was stated that Superintendents of Police and SSPs must take cognisance of serious offences like murder and rape and carry out the investigations on priority and ensuring prompt justice in the cases of atrocities on members of the SC/ST while ensuring that no innocent was harassed.



"If it is found in investigations that a fake case has been made, action should be taken under section 182 of the IPC," the order had said.



The order was an amendment to an earlier May 20, 2007 missive. The two orders issued by the then chief secretaries specified that action should not be initiated merely on the basis of a complaint but arrests should be made after the accused is found prima facie guilty in the initial probe.



In the first letter, dated May 20, 2007, and sent by the then chief secretary Shambhu Nath, point number 18 dealt at length with the issue of police complaints under the Act.



The missive was issued barely a week after Mayawati was sworn in as UP CM.



The highlight of the directive was that only serious offences like murder and rape should be registered under the Act while the less serious crimes should be dealt under the relevant sections of the IPC.



In case of a rape complaint under the SC/ST Act, action should be initiated against the accused only after sexual assault is corroborated in the medical examination of the victim and if prima facie the charges appear to be true, it said.



The note stated that police should not initiate action merely because a complaint had been lodged by a person from the SC and ST community as there were instances where people use such individuals settle scores with rivals. -- PTI

Experience the great outdoors at Touch of Natures Green Dawgs Day

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill.  What better way to celebrate spring than immersing yourself in one of Southern Illinois most beautiful places?

Southern Illinois University Carbondales Touch of Nature Environmental Center is hosting Green Dawgs Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 8 and everyone is welcome.

The event is free and open to SIU students and the community.

Free canoeing, hiking, zip lining, rock climbing and more

Numerous special happenings are planned throughout the day. Activities include canoeing, hiking, zip lining, rock climbing and more.

In addition, representatives of various environment- and sustainability-focused campus departments, registered student organizations, and community organizations will be on hand to provide information and greet participants.

The day, sponsored with assistance from an SIU Green Fund grant, will highlight various internships and volunteer opportunities for students at SIU as well as ways to get involved in the region. Its a great chance for some professional networking, too.

Learn about wildlife conservation with Project WILD

Participants can also elect to participate in a Project WILD, wildlife-focused conservation education program taking place that day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This conservation and environmental education program is geared toward educators of students in kindergarten through high school, but will also appeal to SIU students, organizers said.

Jenna Parks, Touch of Nature naturalist, and Linda Hauser of the U.S. Forest Service, will lead the workshop at the Indian Building in Camp II. The program explores the connections among all of nature and how to conserve and be environmentally conscious and responsible.

Register in advance for the Project WILD program online at www.ton.siu.edu (select the session option Project WILD) for $25. The fee covers course materials and books to take home.

Free transportation from campus

Free shuttle service will be offered from the SIU campus to Touch of Nature Environmental Center, located about eight miles south of Carbondale on Giant City Road.

The bus will leave from the front of the Student Center every hour beginning at 9:45 a.m. with the last run at 1:45 p.m.; there will not be an 11:45 a.m. shuttle.

Return rides will from the center back to the Student Center are scheduled every hour starting at 10:30 a.m. with the last return bus at 3:45 p.m.; there wont be an 11:30 a.m. bus.

No signup required

Although pre-registration is required for the optional Project WILD program, no advance signup is required for Green Dawgs Days. Participants may come any time that day and enjoy the fun.

For more information, visit www.ton.siu.edu, call 618/453-1121, or email tonec@siu.edu.WASHINGTON  The Trump administration on Tuesday escalated its aggressive actions on trade by proposing 25 per cent tariffs on $50 billion (U.S.) in Chinese imports to protest Beijings policies that require foreign companies to hand over their technology.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment. The suggested tariffs wouldnt take effect right away: A public comment period will last until May 11, and a hearing on the tariffs is set for May 15. Companies and consumers will have the opportunity to lobby to have some products taken off the list or have others added.

The latest U.S. move risks heightening trade tensions with China, which on Monday had slapped taxes on $3 billion in U.S. products in response to earlier U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Chinas going to be compelled to lash back, warned Philip Levy, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and an economic adviser to president George W. Bush.

Read more:

Chinas tariffs on U.S. goods could put pressure on Canadas fruit, wine prices

U.S. markets reeling amid Trump tweets, escalating trade war with China

Trump administrations chaos is harming Asia policy, Elizabeth Warren says

Indeed, China immediately threatened to retaliate against the new U.S. tariffs, which target the high-tech industries that Beijing has been nurturing, from advanced manufacturing and aerospace to information technology and robotics.

Early Wednesday in Beijing, Chinas Commerce Ministry said it strongly condemns and firmly opposes the proposed U.S. tariffs and warned of retaliatory action.

We will prepare equal measures for U.S. products with the same scale according to regulations in Chinese trade law, a ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

The U.S. sanctions are intended to punish China for deploying strong-arm tactics in its drive to become a global technology power. These include pressuring American companies to share technology to gain access to the Chinese market, forcing U.S. firms to license their technology in China on unfavourable terms and even hacking into U.S. companies computers to steal trade secrets.

The administration sought to draw up the list of targeted Chinese goods in a way that might limit the impact of the tariffs  a tax on imports  on American consumers while hitting Chinese imports that benefit from Beijings sharp-elbowed tech policies. But some critics warned that Americans will end up being hurt.

If youre hitting $50 billion in trade, youre inevitably going to hurt somebody, and somebody is going to complain, said Rod Hunter, a former economic official at the National Security Council and now a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP.

Kathy Bostjancic of Oxford Economics predicted that the tariffs would have just a marginal impact on the U.S. economy  unless they spark a tit-for-tat retaliation that results in a broad-based global trade war.

Representatives of American business, which have complained for years that China has pilfered U.S. technology and discriminated against U.S. companies, were nevertheless critical of the administrations latest action.

Unilateral tariffs may do more harm than good and do little to address the problems in Chinas (intellectual property) and tech transfer policies, said John Frisbie, president of the U.S.-China Business Council.

Even some technology groups that are contending directly with Chinese competition expressed misgivings.

The Trump administration is right to push back against Chinas abuse of economic and trade policy, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think-tank. But he said the proposed U.S. tariffs would hurt companies in the U.S. by raising the prices and reducing consumption of the capital equipment they rely on to produce their goods and services.

The focus should be on things that will create the most leverage over China without raising prices and dampening investment in the kinds of machinery, equipment, and other technology that drives innovation and productivity across the economy, Atkinson added.

At the same time, the United States has become increasingly frustrated with Chinas aggressive efforts to overtake American technological supremacy. And many have argued that Washington needed to respond aggressively.

The Chinese are bad trading partners because they steal intellectual property, said Derek Scissors, a China specialist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

In January, a federal court in Wisconsin convicted a Chinese manufacturer of wind turbines, Sinovel Wind Group, of stealing trade secrets from the American company AMSC and nearly putting it out of business.

And in 2014, a Pennsylvania grand jury indicted five officers in the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army on charges of hacking into the computers of Westinghouse, US Steel and other major American companies to steal information that would benefit their Chinese competitors.

To target China, Trump dusted off a Cold War weapon for trade disputes: Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, which lets the president unilaterally impose tariffs. It was meant for a world in which much of global commerce wasnt covered by trade agreements. With the arrival in 1995 of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization, Section 301 largely faded from use.

Dean Pinkert of the law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, found it reassuring that the administration didnt completely bypass the WTO: As part of its complaint, the U.S. is bringing a WTO case against Chinese licensing policies that put U.S. companies at a disadvantage.

China has been urging the United States to seek a negotiated solution and warning that it would retaliate against any trade sanctions. Beijing could counterpunch by targeting American businesses that depend on the Chinese market: Aircraft manufacturer Boeing, for instance, or American soybean farmers, who send nearly 60 per cent of their exports to China.

Rural America has been especially worried about the risk of a trade war. Farmers are especially vulnerable targets in trade spats because they rely so much on foreign sales.

Beijing right now is trying to motivate US stakeholders to press the Trump Administration to enter into direct negotiations with China and reach a settlement before tariffs are imposed, the Eurasia Group consultancy said in a research note.

The next couple of weeks will be very interesting, says Kristin Duncanson, a soybean, corn and hog farmer in Mapleton, Minnesota.

Read more about:Shaw to discuss career, challenges in journalism, historical writing

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill.  John Shaw, the director of Southern Illinois University Carbondales Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, will discuss the perils and possibilities of resurrecting the past in a lecture and discussion later this month.

Shaw will present Resurrecting the Past at noon, April 18, in the Communication Building, Room 1032. Hosted by the School of Journalism, the Global Media Research Center and the Simon Institute, the event is free and open the public.

Shaws experiences to provide valuable insights

Our journalism students are perfecting their skills in deep research, interviewing, and constructing the truth from the evidence they gather, Deborah Tudor, interim dean in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, said. Mr. Shaws experiences as a historian and a journalist will provide valuable insights to help them expand these skills.

Shaw will discuss his career in journalism and historical writing and describe his efforts to chronicle the work of leading diplomats, lawmakers and academics over more than 25 years. He will reflect on the different challenges posed by real time journalism and historical writing.

Daily reporting and historical writing pose very different challenges and require different skills, Shaw said. But the journalist and the historian are both detectives who are trying to understand what really happened. And both are storytellers, trying to persuade their readers to take a journey with them  and stay on the journey until the destination has been reached.

Journalists must allow themselves to be open minded and change their minds

Shaw will argue that while both journalists and historians start their research with a theory of the case they must be open to evidence that challenges and even overturns their preconceptions.

I think you have to allow yourself to be surprised and to change your mind. Its also important to be open to finding linkages and connections that you never expected to find, Shaw said.

Was a veteran congressional reporter prior to coming to SIU

Prior to becoming institute director in January, Shaw, a 26-year veteran congressional reporter with Market News International, and covered political and economic issues for the global news service.

He was a contributing writer for the monthly magazine The Washington Diplomat for the past 20 years. Shaws People of World Influence column profiled international affairs leaders including Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, James Baker, Sam Nunn and Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Shaw is the author of five books including Richard G. Lugar: Statesman of the Senate and JFK in the Senate: Pathway to the Presidency. His latest book, Rising Star, Setting Sun: Eisenhower, Kennedy and the Presidential Transition that Shaped America, will be published by Pegasus Books this spring.

A native of Peoria, Shaw earned his bachelors degree in political science from Knox College in Galesburg. He earned his masters degree in history from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and did graduate work in international relations at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

He has been a congressional analyst for media outlets including C-SPAN, ABCs 20/20, The PBS Newshour, and SkyNews Australia.When Sears went bust late last year, there was a lot of attention on the thousands of employees who lost their jobs and the companys underfunded pension plan.

But there was more to the story than that. In dozens of Sears stores, in five provinces across the country, watch and jewelry repair kiosks run by the same family business had to close as well.

The closure put an end to three decades of the Sears Watch and Jewelry Repair chain that at its prime had 62 locations and more than 250 employees.

Obviously it was shock when Sears went out of business. We became an unsecured creditor and we went in line with everyone else, said Milon Talsania, 42, the vice president of operations for the company.

But now out of the ashes of the former enterprise, the family has regrouped with a new plan to use kiosks in mall walkway areas instead of space inside department stores.

So far nine locations have opened under the new brand Fast Time Watch and Jewellery Repair, and one of them is at Lime Ridge Mall on Hamilton Mountain. The company hopes to expand into Eastgate Square in Hamilton and Mapleview Mall in Burlington over the coming months, said Talsania.

McMaster University business professor Marvin Ryder said watch repair in malls would have a similar business approach to shoe repair and clothing alterations businesses.

They can operate out of nooks and crannies that many malls have trouble renting out. These people can pick it up for a song. And they can turn it into a pretty good business.

I think there is definitely a market for it, he said.

The business was started in the late 1970s by Talsanias dad, Sam, who is now 71 and remains president. He is a mechanical engineer by training, and began by fixing cordless phones in Willowdale before moving into electronic watches and then finally into watch and jewelry repair more generally.

He signed licence agreements to run kiosks at Simpsons, Eatons and Consumers Distributing stores. As those companies exited the Canadian retail space, the Talsanias tied their fortunes with Sears.

The idea of the business was that Sears would sell watches and we would fit the watch strap and provide other after-sales service, said Talsania.

And while in recent years they could see Sears faltering around them, Talsania said business remained strong.

That might sound counterintuitive in an era when people are more likely to use a smartphone to tell the time.

But Talsania insists that watches are making a comeback. Especially from a fashion perspective.

Sure, a lot of his customers might only need a $5 battery. But the small sale is a great start to build relationships with customers, he says. The next time maybe the purchase will be a strap or a new watch.

And what about Aunt Ermas old brooch? They do jewelry repairs as well.

He said not long ago, a woman came in with a locket with a lot of sentimental value that apparently had been blessed by the Pope. And we were able to repair it.

That kind of thing makes him feel good about the work he does, feeling blessed himself that the company is set for a second chance.

When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. Thats what my father taught me and thats what we are doing, said Talsania.New YorkAt least four U.S. pipeline companies have seen their electronic systems for communicating with customers shut down over the last few days, with three confirming it resulted from a cyberattack.

On Tuesday, Oneok Inc., which operates natural gas pipelines in the Permian Basin in Texas and the Rocky Mountains region, said it disabled its system as a precaution after determining that a third-party provider was the target of an apparent cyberattack.

A day earlier, Energy Transfer Partners LP, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP and Chesapeake Utilities Corp.s Eastern Shore Natural Gas reported communications breakdowns, with Eastern Shore saying its outage occurred on March 29. The Department of Homeland Security, which said Monday it was gathering information about the attacks, had no immediate comment Tuesday.

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We do not believe any customer data was compromised, said the Latitude Technologies unit of Energy Services Group, which Energy Transfer and Eastern Shore both identified as their third-party provider. We are investigating the re-establishment of this data, Latitude said in a message to customers.

The company wasnt ready to make a statement or discuss the details of the service disruption yet, Carla Roddy, marketing director at Energy Services Group, said in a brief interview at the companys headquarters in Norwell, Massachusetts.

The attacks follow a U.S. government warning in March that Russian hackers are conducting an assault on the U.S. electric grid and other targets. Last month, Atlantas government was hobbled by a ransomware attack.

The electronic systems help pipeline customers communicate their needs with operators, using a computer-to-computer exchange of documents. Energy Transfer said the electronic data interchange system provided by Latitude was back up and working Monday night. The business wasnt otherwise affected, spokespersonVicki Granado said in an email.

Eastern Shore Natural Gass Latitude system was restored on Monday as well, the company said in a notice to customers. In addition to providing EDI services, Latitude also hosts websites used by about 50 pipelines for posting notices to customers. At least some of the websites went down on March 29 and didnt start returning until Monday, according to Dan Spangler, pipeline manager for data provider Genscape Inc. in Boulder, Colo.

Although all of the sites are back up now, many of them are still missing data for March 30 and April 1, he said. Other than Energy Transfer pipes and the pipelines hosted by Latitude, we havent seen any issues with gas data.

The shutdowns are not operationally serious in the sense that its stopping the natural gas from moving, but it is serious because its causing these companies to use workarounds for communication, said Rae McQuade, president of the North American Energy Standards Board in Houston, which is responsible for developing industry standards.

If somebody is running a business that has some kind of critical asset to it  pipelines, energy, finance  those networks are going to be targets; those networks have been targets, said John Harbaugh, chief operating officer at R9B, a Colorado Springs, Colo., cybersecurity solutions provider.

Many of the close to 5 million kilometres of pipelines that spread across America rely on third-party companies for their electronic communication systems, said Andy Lee, a senior partner at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans. In turn, they depend on those companies to provide security for those systems from attacks.

Latitude is very well known in the industry, the energy boards McQuade said. They have a lot of clients, they are very well respected.

The systems are gaining attention from hackers because theyve proven to be low-hanging fruit that creates an opportunity for ransomware or to sell the information on the dark web, Lee said.

While the EDI systems may be entry points for hackers, they are likely not the ultimate target, said Jim Guinn, managing director and global cybersecurity leader for energy, utilities, chemicals and mining at Accenture Plc, a technology consulting company.

There is absolutely nothing of intrinsic value for someone to infiltrate the EDI other than to navigate a network to do something more malicious, Guinn said by telephone Tuesday. All bad actors are looking for a way to get into the museum to go steal the Van Gogh painting.

He also said there is nothing inherently different about oil and gas EDI systems.

This isnt the first time U.S. pipelines have been targeted. In 2012, a federal cyber response team said in a note that it had identified a number of cyber intrusions targeting natural gas pipeline sector companies. The group, the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, is a division of Homeland Security.

Its important to recognize that this does not appear to be an attack on an operational system, said Cathy Landry, a spokesperson for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. An attack on a network certainly is inconvenient and can be costly, and something any company  whether a retailer, a bank or a media company  wants to avoid, but there is no threat to public safety or to natural gas deliveries.

She said she cannot speak for any of the companies specifically about what may or may not have happened to their systems.

Read more about:Premier Kathleen Wynne has no desire for a trade spat with New York State  but says Ontario had to respond to its Buy American legislation amid concerns about a wider protectionist wave.

My hope is that well see that there will be a change in their attitude, but they knew that we were going to respond. Im always going to stand up for Ontario businesses and Ontario workers, she told reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning.

You know were reacting to a protectionist wave and its not what we want. I dont want to be in a situation where we are in a trade conflict with New York. They are a great partner.

We have had a long history of working together and thats what I would like to see continue. But they knew that if they brought in even a narrow Buy America provision that we were going to have to respond.

On April 1, new rules came into effect in the state requiring American-made iron to be used in some government construction work. Ontario swiftly retaliated  under recently passed legislation  barring government entities and suppliers here from using New York iron.

Wynne  speaking at a home in East York with Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna to announce funds for rebates for eco-friendly renovations  also said she has not had any contact with the state government since both sides enacted their trade-limiting laws.

However, our officials are always reaching out, Wynne added. We made it very clear.

A year ago, then-economic development minister Brad Duguid and International Trade Minister Michael Chan were in the state talking to legislators about the initial round of Buy America legislation that they were looking at, and quite frankly our ministers were able to push back on that and the provision that they brought in is much narrower than it was originally, she said.

Later Wednesday morning, Wynne met with Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to Canada  the first woman to hold the diplomatic position  where she said trade issues would be discussed.

We are obviously looking for a positive resolution in the NAFTA negotiation and my hope is that shell be able to reinforce the idea that this is such a strong partnership, Wynne said.

You know Ive spent a lot of time in the United States meeting with legislators, with governors, and I know that the vast majority of the leadership in the United States at the sub-national level and also in Washington understands how important this partnership is. Im hoping that I can reinforce that with the ambassador here.

To date, Wynne has met with 37 state governors to emphasize the cross-border partnerships, given about $400 billion in trade is conducted between Ontario and the U.S. each year. Ontario is the biggest customer of more than half of all U.S. states.

After meeting with Wynne at Queens Park, Craft gave a speech to the Empire Club, saying NAFTA negotiations remain a priority for U.S. President Donald Trump, particularly the lack of access to Canadian markets for American dairy and telecommunications products.

Prime Minister Trudeau does not share all of President Trumps policy prescriptions to be sure, but they both have their fingertip feel, that visceral sense that we are in a period of great possibility that could turn into a period of peril if we dont respond to the demand from the working people of our countries who want the dignity that results from a good job, Craft said in a wide-ranging, 20-minute speech.

Canada has warned the U.S. needs to show more flexibility in core issues with the trade pact if it wants a deal this spring. Observers have warned consensus is close in only about seven of 30 key areas, with much hard work yet to come.

Craft acknowledged Wynnes argument that the Canadian and U.S. economies are among the most closely intertwined in the world, but insisted that Americans are on the short end of the stick in many trade deals, including NAFTA.

Digital trade, financial services and intellectual property concerns also remain sticking points for the U.S., Craft added, but noted two-way trade between the two nations remains a bright spot despite differences in opinion.

The fact we can have a discussion with our eyes on the horizon is a testament to where we are in our relationship, Craft concluded. We are two great countries with one amazing future.

The audience included David MacNaughton, Canadas ambassador to the U.S., and Monique Smith, a former Liberal cabinet minister who is Ontarios representative in Washington, D.C.

Read more about:WASHINGTONThousands of Google employees, including dozens of senior engineers, have signed a letter protesting the companys involvement in a Pentagon program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video imagery and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes.

The letter, which is circulating inside Google and has garnered more than 3,100 signatures, reflects a culture clash between Silicon Valley and the federal government that is likely to intensify as cutting-edge artificial intelligence is increasingly employed for military purposes.

We believe that Google should not be in the business of war, says the letter, addressed to Sundar Pichai, the companys chief executive. It asks that Google pull out of Project Maven, a Pentagon pilot program, and announce a policy that it will not ever build warfare technology.

That kind of idealistic stance, while certainly not shared by all Google employees, comes naturally to a company whose motto is Dont be evil, a phrase invoked in the protest letter. But it is distinctly foreign to Washingtons massive defence industry and certainly to the Pentagon, where the defence secretary, Jim Mattis, has often said a central goal is to increase the lethality of the U.S. military.

From its early days, Google has encouraged employees to speak out on issues involving the company. It provides internal message boards and social networks where workers challenge management and one another about the companys products and policies. Recently, the heated debate around Googles efforts to create a more diverse workforce spilled out into the open.

Google employees have circulated protest petitions on a range of issues, including Google Plus, the companys lagging competitor to Facebook, and Googles sponsorship of the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Employees raised questions about Googles involvement in Project Maven at a recent company-wide meeting. At the time, Diane Greene, who leads Googles cloud infrastructure business, defended the deal and sought to reassure concerned employees. A company spokesperson said most of the signatures on the protest letter had been collected before the company had an opportunity to explain the situation.

The company subsequently described its work on Project Maven as non-offensive in nature, though the Pentagons video analysis is routinely used in counter-insurgency and counterterrorism operations, and Defense Department publications make clear that the project supports those operations. Both Google and the Pentagon said the companys products would not create an autonomous weapons system that could fire without a human operator, a much-debated possibility using artificial intelligence.

But improved analysis of drone video could be used to pick out human targets for strikes, while also better identifying civilians to reduce the accidental killing of innocent people.

Without referring directly to the letter to Pichai, Google said in a statement Tuesday that any military use of machine learning naturally raises valid concerns. It added, Were actively engaged across the company in a comprehensive discussion of this important topic. The company called such exchanges hugely important and beneficial, though several Google employees familiar with the letter would speak of it only on the condition of anonymity, saying they were concerned about retaliation.

The statement said the companys part of Project Maven was specifically scoped to be for non-offensive purposes, though officials declined to make available the relevant contract language. The Defense Department said that because Google is a subcontractor on Project Maven to the prime contractor, ECS Federal, it could not provide either the amount or the language of Googles contract. ECS Federal did not respond to inquiries.

An uneasiness about military contracts among a small fraction of Googles more than 70,000 employees may not pose a major obstacle to the companys growth. But in the rarefied area of artificial intelligence research, Google is engaged in intense competition with other tech companies for the most talented people, so recruiters could be hampered if some candidates are put off by Googles defence connections.

As Google defends its contracts from internal dissent, its competitors have not been shy about publicizing their own work on defence projects. Amazon touts its image recognition work with the Department of Defense, and Microsoft has promoted the fact that its cloud technology won a contract to handle classified information for every branch of the military and defence agencies.

The current dispute, first reported by Gizmodo, is focused on Project Maven, which began last year as a pilot program to find ways to speed up the military application of the latest AI technology. It is expected to cost less than $70 million (U.S.) in its first year, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman. But the signers of the letter at Google clearly hope to discourage the company from entering into far larger Pentagon contracts as the defence applications of artificial intelligence grow.

Google is widely expected to compete with other tech giants, including Amazon and Microsoft, for a multi-year, multibillion-dollar contract to provide cloud services to the Defense Department. John Gibson, the departments chief management officer, said last month that the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud procurement program was in part designed to increase lethality and readiness, underscoring the difficulty of separating software, cloud and related services from the actual business of war.

Read more about:MONTREALFormer Quebec premier Bernard Landry publicly lent his support Wednesday to the embattled leader of the Bloc Quebecois who is fighting to keep her job after losing 70 per cent of her caucus.

Bloc leader Martine Ouellet has strong convictions and is very motivated by the idea of Quebec sovereignty, Landry said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

This has been a turbulent time for her, said Landry, who was Quebec premier between 2003-05. She remained solid in her convictions regarding the reason both the Bloc and the Parti Quebecois exist  for independence.

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Ouellet has been on the defensive ever since seven of the Blocs 10 MPs quit in late February because of disagreements over her leadership style and political objectives.

Since then, Ouellet has agreed to a confidence vote by the Blocs 20,000 members, but sparked more controversy after she stated she will remain as leader as long as she receives support of 50 per cent plus one.

A confidence vote was only scheduled for 2019, but Ouellet bowed to pressure and agreed to advance the vote, which is now scheduled for early June.

Landry shocked his supporters when he resigned as PQ leader in 2005 after he received only 76 per cent support at a party convention.

The former premier, however, said 50 per cent plus one is enough for Ouellet to stay in her job as head of the federal party.

The circumstances are different  its not the same thing, he said. For me, when I was there, there were discussions, criticisms, which is completely normal and I had nothing against it. But one needs to take the numbers in the context of the circumstances.

Bloc Quebecois members will vote in June on two issues: Ouellets leadership as well as what the partys vision should be.

Voting will take place by telephone or internet on June 1 and 2, with members finding out the results June 3.

Details of the voting process and the questions that will be put to members are to be confirmed at a party convention April 29.

Read more about:OTTAWAThe Liberal government has selected Saskatchewans top elections official to lead Elections Canada into the 2019 federal campaign, the Star has learned.

Multiple sources confirm that Michael Boda, the chief electoral officer of Saskatchewan, is the governments pick to succeed former Elections Canada CEO Marc Mayrand.

The Regina-born and raised Boda has served as Saskatchewans top election official since 2012. He was originally scheduled to stay in that role until 2021.

When contacted by the Star on Wednesday, Boda declined to comment. Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Goulds office also refused to confirm Bodas selection.

Elections Canada plays an integral role in administering our federal elections, wrote Nicky Cayer, a spokesperson for Goulds office, in an emailed statement.

We are actively moving forward in the process to appoint a new chief electoral officer, and are consulting with opposition parties before a new CEO is nominated. We look forward to welcoming a new chief electoral officer soon.

Opposition sources said the Liberals recommended Boda in a letter Wednesday morning, a day after the Star contacted the government to confirm the nomination.

The position of Elections Canada CEO has been vacant since Mayrand stepped down in December 2016. Since then, however, a host of new challenges have arisen to face the agency as it prepares for a general election in 2019.

In 2017, Canadas electronic spy agency warned that it was likely outside groups would attempt to influence the outcome of the election. Earlier this year, a paper published by the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency warned Western governments are facing a torrent of disinformation and propaganda aimed at undermining the democratic process.

Gould has also signaled the Liberals are preparing new rules for third party advertising in the 2019 election, and the government is openly musing about regulations for social media companies that were used to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Because its taken so long, the job has become harder for the new chief electoral officer when they finally get appointed, said NDP MP Nathan Cullen in an interview Wednesday.

Hes going to, in a very short time, devise protections for our vote that have never existed before, because the threats are new, theyre complicated, theyre insidious. We have spending reforms that he has to bring in, and what weve been told by Elections Canada in the past is that  the planning for an election is done a minimum of 18 months before.

Voters may not realize this, but the running of a general election in Canada, with the size, the language and complexity, takes a huge effort.

Cullen and the NDP also took issue with the process leading to Bodas recommendation, suggesting the government did not meaningfully consult with opposition parties about the appointment of an officer of parliament.

Boda has worked on electoral issues for more than a decade, providing advice to countries including Jordan, Pakistan, Ghana, Scotland and the United States. Hes also worked with the United Nations Development Programme and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Boda holds a doctorate of law from Oxford University, as well as a doctorate of political science from John Hopkins.A young man whom Hamilton police shot dead on a Mountain street Tuesday afternoon had been wielding a knife.

I was terrified. Id never seen anything like this, said a neighbour who watched a part of the chaotic encounter unfold outside their townhouse unit on Caledon Avenue.

She and her husband were still shaken as they recalled Wednesday morning how the 19-year-old raised the knife at an officer during a struggle with police on the boulevard.

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Then they shut the door to their unit and heard, pop, pop, pop, said the woman, who didnt want her name used fearing repercussions from neighbours in the complex.

That wasnt the polices fault. They had no choice,  she said.

The 19-year-old was pronounced dead in hospital Tuesday night after being shot on Caledon Avenue, near Tyrone Drive. Hamilton police had been responding to a call about an armed man.

The shooting is under investigation by the Special Investigations Unit, an arms-length agency that investigates incidents involving police in Ontario where a civilian is seriously injured or killed.

On Tuesday night SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon declined to say what the weapon was or if any weapon had been recovered at the scene.

In a statement Hamilton police said its officers were responding to a threat in progress involving a weapon at Victoria Park Community Homes, a townhouse complex near Upper James Street and Mohawk Road East. On scene, officers interacted with an adult male.

Police declined to comment any further, referring all questions to the SIU.

Two officers are under investigation by the SIU. There are four other witness officers.

An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Hamilton.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the SIUs lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529.

The agency is also urging anyone who may have any video evidence related to this incident to upload that video through the SIU website.

Read more about:OTTAWAMore than 600,000 Canadian Facebook users had their personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm that used that data to sell services to political campaigns in the United States and Britain.

Facebook Canada said Wednesday they estimate 622,161 Canadians had their data improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. The U.K.-based firm, which had ties to both the Trump presidential campaign and Brexit, used data harvested through a personality quiz app that collected personal information about users and their social network.

In total, Facebook believes that as many as 87 million users  mostly in the U.S.  had their personal information shared with Cambridge Analytica. Thats significantly more than the 50 million previously reported.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged users expectations were broken.

Knowing what I know today, clearly we should have done more, and we will moving forward, Zuckerberg told reporters on a hastily convened conference call Wednesday afternoon.

We understand ... were not just building tools, but we need to take full responsibility for the outcomes for people who use those tools as well.

He confirmed hell testify at U.S. Congress next week about how Facebook handles personal information and privacy. Zuckerberg said Facebook only finalized the scope of the impact a few days ago.

The ubiquitous social media company has been under fire in recent weeks over allowing third parties to harvest data not only from Facebook users who used their apps, but those users friends and family members.

Cambridge Analytica has been accused of analyzing that data and selling their services to political campaigns and is facing parliamentary investigations in Canada and the United Kingdom and renewed questioning from U.S. lawmakers.

Acting democratic institutions minister Scott Brison said Facebooks latest update was deeply concerning.

While Facebook has begun to take initial steps to address these issues, it is clear that much more needs to be done, Brison said in a statement to the Star. He said hes reached out to Facebook and expects it will co-operate with the privacy watchdogs probe.

Our government takes very seriously its fundamental responsibility to protect the private information of Canadian citizens, and we are taking a whole-of-government approach to this issue, Brison said.

The social media giant has been rolling out measures to improve users privacy, including disabling a feature that up until Wednesday allowed someone to find another person by searching their phone number or email address on the platform, which was a default setting.

It is reasonable to expect that if you have that setting turned on, that at some point in the last several years someone has probably accessed your public information, Zuckerberg said.

In a release Facebook said: Malicious actors have also abused these features and given the scale and sophistication of the activity weve seen, we believe most people on Facebook could have had their public profile scraped this way.

Many Canadians have vowed to log off for good and joined the growing #DeleteFacebook campaign on social media.

I wonder if I can even trust them not to exploit the content of my private conversations, Toronto resident Andrew Sosna, 28, tweeted in response to the latest update.

Sosna later told the Star he never expected his personal data to be used, without his consent, for political gain on such a large scale. He said hell absolutely be deleting his account. That can be a tough call for average citizens who use the platform to connect with friends and family.

A recent public opinion survey by the Angus Reid Institute suggested nearly 75 per cent of Canadians would change the way use the platform, while 10 per cent said they would delete their profile, at least temporarily, because of the data mining scandal.

Cambridge Analytica reiterated on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon that it did not use the data in question in the U.S. presidential election.

When Facebook contacted us to let us know the data had been improperly obtained, we immediately deleted the raw data from our file server and began the process of searching for and removing any of its derivatives in our system, the company said.

According to news reports and the testimony of Christopher Wylie, the Canadian-born whistleblower who helped found Cambridge Anayltica, the firm used Facebook data to advise political campaigns in multiple countries how to tailor their advertising and outreach efforts. The advice was not limited to identifying supporters, however  in one case, the company recommended voter suppression as a tactic.

Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix was also captured by British television outlet Channel 4 bragging about sending sex workers to politicians to discredit them.

Read more about:OTTAWAPrime Minister Justin Trudeau is warning Russia that it will face real consequences for its aggression on the world stage and here in Canada, where he said social media and propaganda have been used to meddle in democracy, including a smear campaign aimed at Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Flanked by Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, Trudeau said that Russia's illegimate and illegal actions  from its 2014 invasion of Crimea to the more recent poisoning on British soil  cannot go unchallenged.

There need to be clear consequences from the international community on Russias continual desire to upset or cause trouble in the international order, international peace, stability and governance, Trudeau said.

Canada last month expelled four Russian diplomats as part of a concerted action with the U.S. and Great Britain to punish Moscow for its alleged involvement in the nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-intelligence officer and his daughter in England.

In a statement at the time, Freeland accused the four Russians of using their diplomatic status to undermine Canadas security or interfere in our democracy.

Asked about that comment Wednesday, Trudeau said that Russian propagandists attempted to discredit Freeland in various ways, through social media and by sharing scurrilous stories about her.

Trudeau offered no specifics but Freeland last year faced questions about her grandfathers wartime role at a Nazi-operated newspaper, a history circulated on pro-Russia social media accounts and websites at the time.

There are multiple ways Russia uses cyber, social media, propaganda to sway public opinion, to try and push a pro-Russia narrative, Trudeau said.

He said that Canada continues to talk with allies about potential further action to drive home the message that its not in Russias self interests or the global interests to continue with these types of behaviours.

Stoltenberg also said spoke out against Russias actions, saying that Moscow had underestimated NATOs resolve and unity to push back against what he called reckless behaviour.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is commending Canada for its strong increase in defence spending. Stoltenberg met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa on Wednesday.

He said that Russias invasion of Crimea triggered the biggest deployment by NATO since the end of the Cold War as alliance members dispatched forces to Eastern Europe to deter further aggression. That includes Canada, which has 450 soldiers in Latvia heading up a NATO battle group.

That pattern of behaviour was underscored again Wednesday when Russia test-fired several missiles into the Baltic Sea, Stoltenberg said.

At the same time we dont want a new Cold War, we dont want a new arms race. We are focussed on how can we respond in a firm, strong, predictable but also measured and defensive way, Stoltenberg said.

Russia is here to stay, Russia is our neighbour so we will continue to strive for a more constructive relationship, he said, whose visit to Ottawa coincided with the 69th anniversary of the founding of the military alliance.

Stoltenberg praised Canadas pledge to increase defence spending after years of decline and boost the size of its military and its commitment to NATO operations, including fighter planes, warships and the recent decision by Ottawa to participate in the alliances airborne warning program.

He said NATO is seeking to increase its naval capabilities, particularly in the north, as a reaction to Russias increased activity in the region. But he said the response would be measured . . . to try to continue tensions low in the high north.

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Institutions forged after the Second World War are under assault from the powers that built themIn 1914, thousands of teenage boys would lie about their age to see action on the battlefields of the First World War.

A century later, 16-year-old Rohan Ashar is travelling to Europe to follow in those soldiers footsteps and learn what they went through.

Hes interested to see what the trenches are like.

Beside the Vimy Memorial they have a bunch of trenches that the Canadian soldiers fought in, Ashar said. I learned a lot about the trenches in history class but (Ive never) actually got to see them myself.

Ashar, from Local Delphi Secondary School in Toronto, is one of 20 students from across Canada who took off this past Monday on a weeklong journey for winners of the yearly prestigious Vimy Pilgrimage Award. Theyll be travelling through France and Belgium to visit the locations where Canada made its mark on the world stage during the First World War.

When he heard hed been selected, he said he felt really excited, because I never expected to win this type of competition.

This year wasnt the first time Ashar had applied; he discovered the award in Grade 10, when he was researching Vimy Ridge for a history project. Although he submitted an application that year, he didnt get in, and decided to focus more on his volunteer work before applying again.

The Vimy Pilgrimage Award is given to students who demonstrate a commitment to volunteer work through outstanding service, positive contributions, notable deeds, and bravery, according to The Vimy Foundations website. Some of Ashars volunteer work was with the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program, doing fundraising for foundations such as SickKids.

A few months ago we set up a lemonade stand and we got, I think, $200, and we donated all that to charity, he said. I like being able to talk to other people about the issues in the world and asking them to help donate to the cause.

One of the volunteer experiences that has impacted him the most has been volunteering at a local care centre.

Theres a lot of elders there, Ashar said. Theres a veteran there who fought in World War II, his name is Jim. He hasnt really opened up about (the war), but I do know that he was a soldier.

Ashar said the main job for volunteers there is to talk to the residents. He usually speaks to Jim about his day-to-day routine, or his grandchildren  although Jim hasnt talked to Ashar about his experiences as a soldier, Ashar said that just speaking to him made him more interested in Vimy and in the Pilgrimage Award.

Ashars family used to live in Mumbai, India, but they immigrated to Canada when he was about 5 years old. Hes called Toronto his home for more than 10 years now, and said that learning more about Canadas history has made him feel more connected to the country.

Obviously, Im excited to see everything, but Im mostly excited to see the Vimy Memorial. (We) learned about it in history and I thought, wow, that looks amazing. Its a beautiful memorial, so actually being able to see it in person (will be) different, he said.

And although its not necessarily on the itinerary for a trip focused on learning about the First World War, hes also excited to see the Eiffel Tower, even if only from a distance.

Ashar may have been surprised by his win, but its not the first time hes surpassed his own expectations. He won first place in the 2016 Gallaudet National Literacy Competition and the Optimist Speech Contest for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

I was obviously happy when I got first place, because I never thought Id be able to do something as big as that, like win a national literacy competition, Ashar said.

He has been hard of hearing since he was born, but says its not too bad.

My challenges inspire me to do greater things.

Representing Toronto in the Vimy Pilgrimage Award is just another one of those things.

When I come back, I want to tell everyone about everything that I saw there, he said.

One of the people he knows hell be sharing it with is Jim.Drivers are regularly ignoring the traffic restrictions imposed as part of the King St. transit pilot, leading one councillor to warn rampant disregard for the rules could undermine the projects goal of improving streetcar service.

Since the pilot was installed last November, city statistics show that far fewer drivers are using King and streetcar service has become more reliable.

But of the drivers who do use the route, many are flouting the new traffic restrictions that prohibit them from travelling straight along King through most major intersections between Bathurst and Jarvis Sts.

A Star photographer filmed five intersections during the Tuesday morning rush for about 15 minutes each. Between seven and 13 drivers passed through each intersection illegally during that time. The offence comes with a $110 fine and two demerit points, but none of the drivers were seen being ticketed.

The numbers observed by the Star suggest that over the course of a three-hour morning rush period, across the entire 2.6-kilometre pilot area drivers could be violating the traffic rules hundreds of times with relative impunity.

Local Councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina) said there is rampant abuse and flogging of the rules on King.

Cressy, a strong proponent of the streetcar project, said he has repeatedly raised the issue with city transportation staff and the police.

My concern and objection is that the rampant abuse of the rules restricts the effectiveness of the pilot. Thats why its critical to get it right, said Cressy.

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The pilot is scheduled to last until the end of the year, after which a new term of council is expected to vote whether to make it permanent. Cressy said if council decides to keep the project, King should undergo a fundamental redesign to make it clearer to drivers what the rules are. He said physical modifications to the street such as pinch points and extended curbs could improve compliance.

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross referred questions about traffic enforcement to the police. We know, however, that for the pilot as a transit priority corridor to be successful, compliance by motorists is critical, he said.

Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati, Torontos director of transportation infrastructure management, said in an email the city is monitoring the pilot to determine where compliance is a problem in order to identify possible solutions and areas for targeted enforcement by the Toronto Police Service. She said the city is considering additional measures, including illuminated signage at some intersections, to further clarify the restrictions.

According to Const. Clint Stibbe of traffic services, police have no current plans to step up enforcement. The pilot is still early. For now, the service will continue to monitor and enforce the rules on King Street at the current levels, he said in an email.

He said police enforce the pilot rules when officers are available and that deployment to the project area varies based on calls for service. He noted that the majority of drivers on King do obey the rules.

Of the five King intersections the Star filmed  Bathurst St., Portland St., Spadina Ave., Yonge St. and Jarvis St.  Yonge had the most offenders, with 13 drivers ignoring the rules in 15 minutes. Jarvis had the fewest, with seven.

According to the latest statistics published by the city, car volume on King has plummeted since the start of the pilot. The number of eastbound drivers at Bathurst between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. has fallen from 1,450 to just 100. Theres been minimal effect on traffic on adjacent streets, with travel time on most of the routes varying by less than a minute and drive time on some streets actually improving.

The reduced number of automobiles on King has freed up space for streetcars, and the TTC says early indications are the pilot is working.

Roughly 85 per cent of westbound streetcars during the morning rush hour now arrive within four minutes of the previous vehicle. Before the pilot only 77 per cent arrived in that time. The duration of the longest transit trips, which take place in the afternoon peak, have also been slashed by between four and five minutes.Police have charged three people with second-degree murder and many other offences after a 19-year-old victim was stabbed and died from his injuries.

The incident occurred March 27 at around 12:30 a.m. at a residence near Mount Albert Rd. and 2nd Concession. York Regional Police responded after hearing reports that two people had been stabbed.

One victim, a 19-year-old man from King, was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The second victim, Keegan Blyth, 19, of East Gwillimbury, was taken to hospital with injuries that were initially thought to be non-life-threatening.

However, on March 29, Blyth died from his injuries at Sunnybrook Hospital. The homicide unit took over the investigation.

Blyth attended Dr. J.M. Denison Secondary School in Newmarket. His death prompted tributes on social media from friends.

Police located two suspects and arrested them on March 28. They were found in possession of drugs. The third suspect was arrested and charged on March 30.

Justin Ryan, 22, of Newmarket, Dimytri Ingram-Piruzevski, 19, of Newmarket, and a 16-year-old Toronto male, are charged with second-degree murder, two counts of assault causing bodily harm, carrying a concealed weapon, unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted weapon, possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, possession for the purpose of trafficking cannabis, and possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime.

The homicide unit is appealing for witnesses. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7865.How much is a 300-year-old red oak, perhaps the citys oldest and largest tree, worth?

Thats the question realtor Waleed Khaled Elsayed is asking on behalf of his client, on whose property the massive tree stands.

About 24 metres tall and with a circumference of about five metres, the oak frames the bungalow with its expansive branches  nine to 12 metres in each direction  and cups the foundation with its roots.

Those roots, Elsayed says, are the problem.

The gnarled invaders have snaked under the foundation of the North York home and curl up against it, threatening the structural integrity of the house and representing about $60,000 to $80,000 in lost opportunity for the homeowner, Elsayed said.

Share your thoughts

He plans to put that price, plus the current value of the property (about $750,000, he estimates) to the city, which a few years ago expressed interest in purchasing it to preserve the oak.

If the city isnt interested, Elsayed said, the homeowner will chop the tree down.

My feeling is nobody wants to save it, he said. And why should the seller suffer? Theyre the one paying the bill.

The potential felling of the tree is disturbing news to some neighbours. Edith George, 65, lives just around the corner from where the old oak holds court, towering over Coral Gable Dr., near Sheppard Ave. W. and Weston Rd. She has been fighting to preserve the tree for the past 12 years, and became emotional when she heard there were plans to cut it down.

It has survived the toxins in the air, water and soil. It gives us hope for a planet thats dying and it has truly earned the right to live, George said.

The oak is protected under the citys municipal code, which requires homeowners to get approval from council before chopping a tree down. Its also recognized as a heritage tree, said city spokesperson Jaclyn Carlisle.

City staff would not support a request for removal and would recommend that council deny a permit request, Carlisle said.

Fines for illegally removing a tree range from $500 to $100,000, plus a possible supplementary fine of $100,000, according to the Toronto municipal code.

According to Forests Ontario, the oaks roots date back before 1793  the year John Graves Simcoe established what was then known as the town of York. The city estimates the tree could be up to 350 years old.

At one time, it was a marker on the Toronto Carrying Place Trail, a major First Nation trading route, according to George.

The property it stands on was once owned by a man who fought on the loyalist side during the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, and later by a descendant of a rebel fighter in the same battle, George told the Star in 2015.

In 2015, council agreed to seek private donations to cover the cost of purchasing the property, creating a parkette and maintaining the tree, said Carlisle. She said the city has made multiple attempts to contact the homeowner to find out how much theyre looking for, but has received no response.

As a result, its my understanding that the city has not formally expressed an interest in purchasing the property at this time, she said.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti (York West) said the situation is nothing less than an emergency, and the city needs to make an offer.

There is absolutely no way we should be saying no to buying this land in an effort to save this magnificent tree, he said.

The oak is exceptionally rare, said Ken Lund, whose company Four Seasons Tree Care maintained it for about two decades until the house was sold to the current owner in 2015.

The oak is strong, sturdy and could live for centuries, he said. When he cared for it, he was never concerned about it posing a risk to the house or homeowner.

It does need a little bit of extra care and attention, Lund said, noting that about once a year hed prune it, clear out dead wood and treat the odd infection. Its a geriatric tree  very old, very mature and deserves a certain level of respect.

Clarification - April 4, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version to make clear that the oak tree is recognized, not, designated, as a heritage tree.Amid concerns the Yonge-Eglinton area could be reaching water and sewer capacity, staff say a proposed two-tower condo development should be put on hold until a review is completed.

A report from staff headed to Toronto and East York community council on Wednesday comes after city planning staff identified growing concerns development in the midtown neighbourhood was outpacing the available infrastructure, like pipes, schools and parks.

But this is the first time staff have drawn a line in the sand over those concerns about basic, hard infrastructure after council gave them direction in December to put a hold on development in the area if necessary to ensure that growth and infrastructure needs are aligned.

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Many question whether the Ontario Municipal Board should be allowed to continue wielding its unelected power over a city crunched for resources.

The proposal, for a 25- and 34-storey condos at Yonge St. between Millwood Rd. and Davisville Ave., was appealed by the developer, Times Group, to the Ontario Municipal Board, a quasi-judicial body that deals with most land use planning disputes, after staff did not issue a final report with recommendations within the required timelines.

Staff are now requesting to fight the Yonge St. proposal at the OMB, saying it would be overdevelopment of the site, would significantly reduce afternoon sunlight on the Davisville Junior Public School and its outdoor play area, and would set a negative precedent for that stretch of Yonge St.

Should the city lose that fight and the development is allowed in some form, staff have recommended the OMB be requested to put a hold on construction moving forward until staff can confirm there is the necessary water, stormwater and sewer capacity.

Councillor Josh Matlow, who represents the area and called for an infrastructure review, said he strongly supports the staff recommendations.

The Yonge and Eglinton area, including Davisville, has seen unprecedented growth for several years and its critically important that along with social services, basic infrastructure can keep up with the pace of new residents moving into the area, said Matlow. This isnt a narrow debate about whether there should be development or not, its about when there is development it should support a good quality of life in our neighbourhood.

Toronto Chief Planner Gregg Lintern told the Star in January that while staff continue to work on a review of the secondary plan for the Yonge-Eglinton area, development pressures need to be paused.

The intent with the recommendation is to signal that applications submitted after November 15 are premature, until adoption of the updated secondary plan, Lintern wrote in an email. City planning would not advance final reports on applications until that time. Staff will work with any applicants to align proposals with the policy directions in the proposed secondary plan update.

A secondary plan sets out planning policies for a specific area within the city, like Yonge-Eglinton.

The South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents Association (SERRA), in a letter to community council, said they strongly support the city planning recommendations to ask for a hold on development.

We are concerned about the lack of infrastructure capacity, president Andy Gort wrote, listing overcrowding on the Line 1 subway and schools already over capacity as additional concerns.

In the Yonge-Eglinton area, prospective condo buyers have long been met with signs warning that their children are not guaranteed to attend the local school.

Gort said the planning divisions recommendations should go further in requesting development be held until those issues are also addressed.Amid calls for Toronto taxpayers to buy a North York home to protect a massive, ancient tree, Mayor John Tory first wants neighbours to launch a crowdfunding campaign to help gauge interest in the purchase.

I dont want people to succumb to a scare message that says the tree is going to be sawed down in the middle of the night, Tory told reporters Wednesday after the Star revealed the Coral Gable Dr. bungalow, and the 300-plus-year-old red oak engulfing it, will soon be on the market.

I suppose that (sawing) could happen, but there are very clear rules against that, and that would require anyone who had any plans for that tree to come forward and seek permission.

I want to encourage, through the media, for some of the interested people in that community to perhaps start a crowdfunding campaign. I think we can see (if) there is sufficient interest, which I think there might well be, on the part of the public on conserving a tree that is clearly very unique.

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If community support is sufficient, Tory added, hell approach a family with connections to the site for a private donation. Then city council could look at also using public funds to buy the land and turn it into a parkette.

A subcommittee of council comprised of Etobicoke-York representatives including Giorgio Mammoliti, whose ward includes the tree, voted Wednesday for city staff to report April 24 on the feasibility of acquiring the property on Coral Gable Dr. in order to preserve the 350-year-old oak tree.

Torys plan is not good enough for Edith George, 65, who lives around the corner and has been fighting to protect the tree for the past 12 years.

Crowdfunding  its too late, she said in an interview. This (purchase) has to be done tomorrow, or yesterday. Mayor Tory and the city have had three years, since city council agreed to seek private donations to cover the cost of purchasing the property. That was never done, city staff now say, because the owner did not respond to multiple requests for an asking price.

The tree has not been maintained properly, and were behind the eightball, George said.

The property has to be bought by somebody who has a lot of respect for Toronto heritage and will have a top-of-the-line arborist take care of it. I want it to be a parkette, and the city can buy it, or a person. But its time for our natural landscape to be put at the forefront.

Waleed Khaled Elsayed, the owners real estate agent, told the Star this week the trees massive roots are under the home, threatening its structural integrity and representing between $60,000 to $80,000 in lost opportunity in a sale.

He plans to put that price, plus the current value of the property (about $750,000, he says) to the city. If the city isnt interested, Elsayed said, the homeowner will chop the tree down.

My feeling is nobody wants to save it, he said Tuesday. And why should the seller suffer? Theyre the one paying the bill.

The oak is protected under the citys municipal code which requires homeowners to get approval from council before chopping a tree down. Its also recognized as a heritage tree, said city spokesperson Jaclyn Carlisle.

City staff would not support a request for removal and would recommend that council deny a permit request, Carlisle said.

Fines for illegally removing a tree range from $500 to $100,000, plus a possible supplementary fine of $100,000, according to the Toronto municipal code.

According to Forests Ontario, the oaks roots date back before 1793  the year John Graves Simcoe established what was then known as the town of York. The city estimates the tree could be up to 350 years old. At one time, it was a marker on the Toronto Carrying Place Trail, a major First Nation trading route, according to George.

Carlisle said Wednesday there is currently no way for citizens to directly give the city money toward an offer on the home.

The city has taken all the necessary steps to establish a fundraising campaign through its official fundraising partner, the Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation, however the city requires the property owners assistance to move this forward..., she said. Once key details are confirmed with the property owner we will be able to initiate a public fundraising campaign.

General donations to the city can be made through the Toronto Office of Partnerships. In the event that a member of the public created a crowdfunding campaign and allocated those funds to the city, the city would at that time determine how best to receive those funds, whether directly or through a fundraising partner.

With files from Samantha Beattie

Read more about:One of the three men charged with assaulting a man with autism in Mississauga last month is also wanted by Toronto police following a fight in a Port Lands nightclub last month.

Police were called to Rebel nightclub around 1:30 a.m. of March 11 after a fight between two groups broke out inside the club, said police spokesperson Katrina Arrogante.

It was reported that the fight was broken up by security and both groups were removed from the club. Arrogante said a police investigation was conducted.

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As a result, police have put out an arrest warrant for Ronjot Singh Dhami, 25, for assault causing bodily harm. He is being held in custody by Peel police ahead of a bail hearing scheduled next week.

Arrogante said Dhami will be arrested and charged by Toronto police if he is granted bail.

Dhami was charged with one count of aggravated assault after police identified him as one of the men allegedly responsible for beating a man with autism in the Square One bus terminal on March 13.

In the security video released by police, three men approached the 29-year-old victim, who was sitting on stairs of the terminal. The trio started kicking and punching him multiple times before fleeing the area.

The victim was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and was later released.

Dhami was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant before surrendering to police on March 26. His lawyer said Dhami denies involvement in the attack. The second suspect, Parmvir Singh Chahil, 21, was also charged with aggravated assault and was released on bail on March 28.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

Peel police are still looking for the third suspect, who they believe goes by the name Jason.The request to demolish a heritage building on Roncesvalles Ave. shows flagrant disregard of the public interest, says local Councillor Gord Perks.

Perks said he regretted a representative for the applicant, Markham-based Propeller Developments, was not in the committee room at city hall on Wednesday for a meeting of the Toronto and East York community council where the application was being considered.

Id like to be able to read them the riot act out loud, Perks said. If they were here I would tell them, dont darken my door again.

Community council rejected the demolition application. It will be considered by council this month.

In 2016, Propeller submitted an application to the city to allow the development of a seven-storey office tower on top of the early 20th-century Dominion Bank branch building on Roncesvalles Ave. at the corner of Howard Park. Ave. After the application was submitted, the city reviewed the two-storey, red brick site and designated it a heritage building.

Staff recommended the earlier proposal to alter a heritage building be refused, saying it would irrevocably alter the character of the heritage building. The development application has been appealed by the developer to the OMB, a provincial tribunal that deals with most land-use disputes.

Before a pre-hearing could be held at the OMB last month, the developer submitted the application to completely demolish the building.

The new application says the reason for the request is to construct a new development on the subject site, but what the developer proposes to build in its place is still unclear.

The Toronto Preservation Board recommended refusal of the demolition application.

Perks called the original request completely unacceptable and the actions taken by the developer reprehensible.

Ive never seen one like this, he said. Ive never seen an applicant with such flagrant disregard of the public interest, good planning, heritage buildings and community opinion.

Propellers owner, Silvano Tardella, could not be reached for comment.

A heritage study submitted by the developer last year in support of their application concluded that the proposal would retain a significant heritage resource with what they called minor alterations.

A letter sent by a lawyer for the developer last month says they now plan to appeal to the OMB the decision to not allow the complete demolition of the building.The Ontario Liberals will go to voters in June painting their recent massive spending on child care and other social programs as pro-business investment.

In a major Canadian Club speech Wednesday, Economic Development Minister Steven Del Duca signalled that affordability and expanding opportunity will be themes of the governments re-election plans.

As a government, were on the side of both employers and employees, because were on the side of Ontarians, Del Duca told a Bay Street luncheon audience of around 200 people at the Fairmont Royal York.

The minister conceded that some business owners have expressed concern about the government raising the hourly minimum wage from $11.60 to $14 now and to $15 next Jan. 1.

I know that some of you, the very employers who have helped turn our economy around, are finding that choice hard. Particularly in businesses where margins are tight, he said.

But  if there are kids who dont look at their future with the same kind of hope as my kids, (and) if there are moms and dads struggling to make a decent wage when all the stats say our economy is strong, then we have to do more for them.

Del Duca noted the government reduced the corporate income tax rate for small business from 4.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent, and (has) been cutting unnecessary red tape to help businesses grow.

Heres the reality of Ontarios 21st century economy: Our competitors arent places that make low-value goods in low-skill and low-wage economies, he said.

We compete with places in the world that create high-value, high-quality goods produced by highly skilled and educated workforces  places such as Germany, Japan, New York and California.

To bolster that, the government has launched pharmacare for everyone under 25 and free university and college tuition for low and middle-income families and has announced free child-care for preschoolers aged 2 and half years and up in last weeks budget, Del Duca pointed out.

For a family with just one child in university, free tuition represents thousands of dollars in savings over four years, he said.

So that more of us, including young moms and dads, have the time and the resources they need to find and keep a great job, were investing in free childcare for preschool-aged children. This investment will save families an average of $17,000 per child during these preschool years.

Never once mentioning Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, who leads Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne in every public-opinion poll and has promised to slash spending by 4 per cent, Del Duca warned you cannot cut your way to the top.

You cannot attract bright, innovative, diverse, educated, globally minded young workers if a government is trying to turn the clock back to a nonexistent past, where there is no climate change, where kids dont need to learn about their bodies and their health in school.

Read more about:WASHINGTONThe auto industry wants Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to go along with U.S. President Donald Trumps move to weaken fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks. Environmentalists want Trudeau to refuse, immediately, and join forces with liberal American states.

The Trump administrations decision to abandon the current Obama-era standards puts Trudeau in the position of choosing between the goal of rapidly reducing emissions and the goal of keeping Canadas car regulations in sync with those of the United States.

Trudeaus government declined Tuesday to offer an opinion on the Trump decision. A spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna said Canada would fulfill its previous commitment to conduct a thorough review of its policy, like the study the U.S. government just completed, and make its decision based on careful considerations of environmental and economic impacts.

Environmentalists urged Trudeau to swiftly speak up in opposition. Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist for Greenpeace Canada, said standing on the sidelines is standing with Trump rather than with the march of history.

Trudeau has been very careful to not criticize Trump, but this one: youve got to pick a side here, Stewart said.

Cutting auto emissions is a significant component of Trudeaus plan to meet Canadas target, under the Paris climate accord, of cutting emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030. Canada is not close to being on track to hit the target, a report released last week showed.

The Obama-era fuel standards being revoked by Trump are for the years 2022 to 2025. They call for automakers to hit a real-world efficiency average of about 36 miles per gallon (6.5 litres per 100 km) or more by 2025, up from a record high of 24.7 miles per gallon (9.5 litres per 100 km) for new vehicles in 2016.

Announcing the decision Tuesday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said the Trump administrations to-be-determined standards would be more economical for car companies.

I think the focus in the past has been on making manufacturers in Detroit, making manufacturers in various parts of the country, make cars that people arent going to buy, Pruitt said. Our focus should be on making cars that people purchase actually more efficient.

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It will take at least months, possibly years, for Trump to soften the standards: the U.S. regulatory process is lengthy, and the move could be tied up in court. The attorney general of California, which has a waiver that allows it to set stricter auto standards than the U.S. government, said he is ready to file suit if needed.

Environmentalists said Canada should continue to align itself with California  by maintaining the current standard, which Obama copied from California  even if Trump weakens the federal standard. A dozen U.S. states, including New York, follow Californias lead, and these states together represent a third of the U.S. car market.

Canada was planning on these standards. There is going to be a market in the U.S. that will be following the higher standards. So I think that Canada should be clear that were not going to roll back environmental standards because the Trump administration thinks we should be, said Dale Marshall, national program manager at Environmental Defence. I dont think our domestic policy, especially our domestic environmental policy, should be set by a regressive U.S. government.

The situation is further complicated by the newly uncertain status of Californias waiver. Pruitt vaguely suggested that he may attempt to have the waiver revoked.

The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, which represents the Canadian interests of Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, said that both Canadian consumers and climate efforts could be harmed if Trudeau decides to maintain a higher standard for Canada than Trump does for the U.S.

CVMA president Mark Nantais said automakers could decide not to sell some models in Canada rather than attempt to meet an overly stringent standard they do not have to meet across the U.S. Nantais said the cost of meeting a separate standard could make cars sold in Canada cost more.

That, he said, could hurt emissions reductions efforts, since higher prices would result in Canadians taking longer to replace higher-emissions older cars with cleaner new cars.

A synchronized market ensures that Canadians enjoy greater environmental benefits with the most advanced energy efficiency technology, Nantais said. He added: Were an integrated industry in autos, were an integrated North American market. Its very difficult to pull that apart.

Environmentalists disagree that maintaining a higher standard might hurt the environment.

Stephen Harpers Conservative government agreed in 2010 to raise Canadas standards to match Obamas in the interest of harmonization.

Clarification - April 4, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version to provide the Obama-era fuel economy targets in litres per 100 km, the standard metric measurement.

Read more about:After a single bullet cut down the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of a Memphis motel on April 4, 1968, long-simmering anger over civil rights ignited across America. Chicago, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and more than 100 other America cities went up like powderkegs, leaving behind dozens of dead, thousands of injured and millions of dollars in damage.

But one American city  primed for violence after years of racial unrest and inequality  avoided upheaval after Kings assassination due to the quick thinking of its mayor, an often-forgotten civil rights figure in his own right.

By 1968, Cleveland was still one of the top 10 largest cities in the country, but the once-mighty Great Lakes manufacturing hub was on the ropes after losing blue-collar jobs to the Sun Belt and homeowners to the suburbs. Racist housing policy had exacerbated tensions between white and Black neighbourhoods, a conflict that exploded in 1966 with riots in the citys Hough neighbourhood. Police brutality during the riots only sharpened the antagonism between the community and law enforcement.

Read more:

50 years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, his children grieve their loving, playful father

Martin Luther King Jr. knew sports could help Black America change the game

A year later, however, Cleveland made history when voters chose Carl B. Stokes as mayor, the first African American elected to run a major American city.

A state representative who had grown up poor in Cleveland public housing, Stokes had already come close to winning the office in the previous election. In 1967, bolstered by the support of the citys business leaders, he won. It was a major milestone for the civil rights movement. King himself called the election a punch against backlash and bigotry and was in Cleveland on the night of Stokess victory.

In his 1973 autobiography, Stokes wrote that he understood his support among Clevelands corporate elite was not necessarily about his polities or politics; he was the establishments wager that a black mayor would safeguard against more rioting. [I]n backing me they were buying insurance, Stokes wrote.

That was all put on the line after Kings assassination.

According to historian Leonard N. Moores book Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power, Clevelands mayor was on stage at a local college on the evening of April 4 when he was told about the assassination. Stokes rushed from the event, heading straight for a local television station. Going live, he urged the community to keep calm.

I appeal to all Clevelanders to do honour to the memory of MLK by reacting to this tragic loss in the peaceful manner in which he lived, Stokes said on camera.

Reports of violence in other cities were already starting to circulate. Stokes then made a decisive move. He knew the citys police  a force Stokes would later blast as self-protective, corrupt and destructive  could intensify the anger in the Black community, sparking more violence. The mayor ordered all white Cleveland police officers out of Clevelands Black neighbourhoods.

Instead, Stokes assembled a group of Black officials and community leaders, a peace patrol. Along with the group, the mayor personally walked the Black neighbourhoods through the long night, calming people, talking them into cooler emotions, he later wrote.

It wasnt just me out there, he added. [W]e had clergymen, athletes, street clubs, militants out patrolling, working to keep the lid on. Obviously, they were out there because I got them together to do it, but they were the ones who really handled it.

While rage and pain lit fires and smashed storefronts across the country, Cleveland stayed peaceful.

The decision by Stokes to withdraw white police from the frustrated black East Side was unprecedented, historian Moore wrote. It was also dangerous, but it worked. After Kings assassination, Stokes was quickly emerging as the most popular African American in the country.

Many in the city  both Black and white  credited the mayor for his actions.

We had our first Town Hall meeting during April, after the loss of Martin, and I remember two little old white ladies running up to me and kissing me and thanking me for saving the city, Stokes later wrote.

The one group that was not enthused with Stokess plan after the King assassination were Clevelands police officers, setting up a bitter conflict between the department and city hall. That tension burst open in July 1968, when a group of black militants opened fire on police officers in the citys Glenville neighbourhood. In the gun battle, three officers, three militants, and one bystander were all killed.

As the violence grew into general rioting, Stokes again pulled white police from the area. This time, Stokes faced political pressure from city leaders as well as the department in the face of an unprecedented event  an armed militant attack on police. The officers were eventually ordered back in.

[A] Black mayor had pulled out the white police, Stokes wrote. This had clearly been a fear all along, that a Black mayor would interfere with the police function of protecting the white community against the Black peril.

Despite his success with the aftermath of Kings death, Stokess support began crumbling after Glenville. Fear, hatred, all the emotions that had been pushed to the backs of peoples minds for almost a year, were now going to come forth.

After 1971, Stokes left politics, later pursuing a career in television broadcasting and as a municipal court judge in Cleveland. He died in 1996 at 68.Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force has held a ceremony to mark the creation of a new command that has control over all GSDF units nationwide.

The Ground Component Command oversees the commands of Japan's 5 regional armies to direct all units in an integrated manner.

The command was set up on March 27th in one of the largest reorganizations of the GSDF since its establishment 64 years ago, in 1954.

The ceremony was held on Wednesday at Asaka Base, which straddles Tokyo and Saitama prefectures.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told the crowd that now more than ever the GSDF needs to be able to respond quickly and flexibly to emergencies on a nationwide level.

The command was launched in response to changes in Japan's security environment. In particular, China's increased maritime activities have heightened the need for more flexible control over GSDF units.

The command has direct control of a new amphibious rapid deployment brigade. The brigade specializes in remote island landings. The command also has a department for coordinating with the US military. It's the first department of its kind set up in the GSDF.

The Commanding General of the Ground Component Command, Lieutenant General Shigeru Kobayashi, says his duty is to use the authority vested in the command to keep the units firmly under civilian control.Last week, the Canadian Union of Public Employees filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission on behalf of 8,500 flight attendants working at Air Canada. The union alleges workers are subject to rampant sexual harassment and discrimination, forced to participate in a sexualized fashion show to display new uniforms and told what kind of undergarments and makeup to wear.

The outcry from flight attendants is just the latest development in the public discussion about sexual harassment in the workplace. #MeToo and the many courageous women and men who have chosen to speak up about their experiences have brought much needed attention to issues of sexual harassment, violence, and gender inequality in the workplace.

Its important to remember, though, that these issues are not new and that women have long faced harassment at work and elsewhere. As well, women have long fought back, sometimes in covert ways, such as gossip and avoidance, and at other times in more overt ways, such as protests, grievances, and lawsuits.

Flight attendants are a case in point. A closer look at the history of sexual harassment and discrimination in the airline industry and the ways in which flight attendants have challenged these practices provides valuable insight on how workers might tackle these issues today.

From the time the first stewardess took to the skies in the early 1930s, female flight attendants have been marketed as part of the air travel experience and subject to strict guidelines regarding appearance. Airlines required a specific age, height, weight, and appearance and monitored this through employee manuals, uniform and grooming inspections, medical examinations, and weigh-ins. Flight attendants also had to resign upon marriage.

Men were not immune from surveillance either. They, too, faced petty regulation of hair length, beards, and clothing, though regulation of women was always more intense, more sexualized, and more infantilizing.

By the 1970s, however, flight attendants were reclaiming their rights over the bodies through grievances and court cases. It was an uphill battle. In 1970, Canadian Pacific introduced a new Executive class for businessmen, promoted with free copies of Playboy and ample sexual innuendo: Next time you fly with us, just tell the stewardess youre in the mood to play games. Shell understand. The airline also created a public debate about whether stewardesses should don midi or miniskirts. Male customers bragged publicly about their right to ogle and be lecherous flyers. The mini triumphed.

Within a decade, women had more success challenging sexist regulations, overzealous discipline, and unfair dismissals due to appearance. When Pacific Western Airlines rolled out a new Stampeder uniform in 1979, featuring a short skirt and red bloomers, two brave women refused to wear it, claiming it led to groping and lewd comments. After filing a grievance, they won a reprieve from the outlandish costume. Air Canada flight attendants followed suit, successfully kiboshing the use of dancing girls on jumbo jets.

Flight attendants also went public. In a brief presented to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, their union took issue with the bunny club attitude of the airlines and human rights cases were used to fight back regulations that targeted flight attendants wearing glasses.

A militant union and vigorous use of legal tools were important, but so, too, were allies. Flight attendants were backed up, not only by other unions, but also by the womens movement. Feminists organized a protest outside the Pacific Western offices during the bloomer grievance. When Wardair was in the hot seat in 1987 for its sexist regulation of womens bodies and its strictures against men wearing earrings, some womens groups threatened to boycott airlines that used sexism to sell.

Over several decades, flight attendants made great strides in altering the sexist and demeaning culture of the airline industry. Nevertheless, as the recent human rights complaint demonstrates, however, sexism is still used to sell in industries where service is part of the job. Rather than assuming this is a never-ending story, we might ask how flight attendants shifted employer actions and attitudes in the past to achieve important gains.

A strong union ready to fight sexism and undue surveillance was critical. Grievances and court cases were pursued with tenacity and an eye on what flight attendants really wanted: safe, respectful workplaces. Workers knew that someone was speaking up for them, and they were also speaking up for themselves. Customers and allies calling out the airlines (reminding them we care about safety not lipstick) can help, too.

These lessons are valuable in our current moment as workers and their supporters think about how to transform the energy of the Me Too movement into concrete gains in the workplace.They are truths so fundamental and durable they have lasted through centuries, become axiomatic, evolved even into cliche too easily taken for granted.

Knowledge is power. The truth shall set you free. An informed citizenry is the bulwark of democracy.

What a timely and important exercise it was, then, for Star reporters to describe this past weekend the roadblocks theyve encountered trying to obtain information vital to an informed understanding of public policy, the facts of important debates, and the ways in which power is wielded.

Star journalists seeking information about such issues as carding of racial minorities by police, mercury pollution that poisoned First Nations communities at Grassy Narrows, or the cost of the Scarborough subway extension have faced unreasonable stalling and  perhaps most important  significant cost to obtain information for which the public had paid. Some have produced bills running to tens of thousands of dollars.

Such costs are very nearly prohibitive for media outlets now dealing with existential economic pressures. They are certainly so for activist groups or private citizens hoping to inform themselves and the people they represent and to hold public agencies to account.

As City Hall reporter Jennifer Pagliaro aptly put it, I am left with the question of whether this system is one set up to legislate secrecy. If so, it is operating just fine. Investigative reporter Rob Cribb told of a wait of three years  and counting  for information from the RCMP.

Brian Beamish, Ontarios information and privacy commissioner, told the Stars Sabrina Nanji that the public expects the government to be accountable and part of that accountability is being able to see the information thats in the hands of the government.

Journalists know their first obligation is to the truth, their first loyalty to citizens, that the essence of their line of work is the discipline of verification in order to independently monitor power.

To provide citizens with the reporting they need to be free and informed, journalists must have access to information without unreasonable cost and delay.

The freedom-of-information system, as it stands, is too slow, too expensive and needs to be fixed.

As American jurist Louis D. Brandeis famously said, Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.Stephen Harper once delivered a passionate and insightful speech in Parliament about the threat to democracy posed by omnibus bills.

In 1994, Harper, then a Reform MP, asked that the Liberal governments 21-page omnibus budget bill be thrown out on a point of order. The bill, he said, was so diverse that a single vote on the content would put members in conflict with their own principles. He went on to suggest that the House committee charged with evaluating budget bills would lack sufficient time and expertise to properly assess all of the measures contained therein.

He was exactly right. But once in the Prime Ministers Office, Harper famously changed his tune. The Tories elevated the abuse of omnibus bills to an art form. They consistently tabled budgets that far exceeded the length of any that had come before, forcing through many controversial measures without due scrutiny or debate.

Harper was by no means the first opposition leader to promise, if elected, to deliver a more democratic approach in Parliament only, once in power, to feed the very cynicism he once decried.

Nor, apparently, was he the last.

The Trudeau government, like its predecessor, vowed to put an end to such parliamentary trickery. Stephen Harper has  used omnibus bills to prevent Parliament from properly reviewing and debating his proposals, read the Liberal platform. We will change the House of Commons Standing Orders to bring an end to this undemocratic practice.

Yet, also like its predecessor, this government seems unable to resist the temptations of overlong bills. For the second year in a row the Liberals have tabled a behemoth budget implementation bill, this one tipping the scales at a Harper-like 560 pages.

Thats simply too long and includes too much to allow for the kind of debate and scrutiny its many important measures demand.

In his governments defence, Finance Minister Bill Morneau insists that Bill C-74, despite its epic length, is not truly an omnibus. That is, all of its measures were outlined in the governments third budget and are therefore related.

Yes, the bill includes a diverse array of significant policies, from changes to the small-business tax regime, to new rules for marijuana taxation, to the Liberals controversial carbon-tax plan. But thats simply the nature of budget bills, Morneaus office insisted in a statement. Our bills are big because they are getting a lot done for middle-class Canadians.

Its worth noting that this is the same argument the government used about its last budget implementation bill, which it deemed absolutely not an omnibus bill. The Speaker of the House, however, disagreed. Using the Trudeau governments own welcome omnibus-limiting rules, he demanded the bill be split up. That document was just over half the length of Bill C-74.

But whether or not the bill is truly an omnibus, it seems clearly to violate the spirit of the Liberals campaign promise not to table bills that prevent Parliament from properly reviewing and debating their proposals. Theres no reason for budget bills to be so unwieldy. Twenty years ago, such bills were regularly one-fiftieth the length.

And surely if the government insists on a broad approach to budgets, it can at least submit its diverse proposals for review by the appropriate committees. The carbon tax proposal, for instance, clearly deserves its own debate.

We can of course appreciate the desire for greater efficiency that long bills allow, particularly for a government whose legislative pace has been as slow as this ones has. But efficiency that comes at the cost of the fundamental democratic oversight role of Parliament cant possibly be the answer.

The Speaker will decide whether Bill C-74 is technically an omnibus bill. But whatever he decides, the Liberals are being disingenuous when they say they kept their promise to end this undemocratic practice.

Read more about:The lesson of history is that genocide is not an event like a thunderbolt, writes Bob Rae, Canadas special envoy to Burma and Bangladesh, in his new report on the crisis facing the regions Rohingya population.

It is, rather, a process that starts with hate speech and the politics of exclusion, then moves to legal discrimination, then policies of removal, and then finally to a sustained drive to physical extermination.

Many elements of that process now seem to be underway in Burma, yet Rae, citing the need for more evidence, stops short of calling the Rohingya crisis a genocide. What is absolutely clear, however, as he rightly concludes, is that Canada can and must do more to help stop the violence and displacement, aid the victims and hold the perpetrators to account.

The United Nations has called Burmas mostly Muslim Rohingya population the worlds most persecuted minority. Baselessly vilified as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, they have long been unfairly denied citizenship and otherwise made subject to myriad discriminations.

Yet in recent years their plight has significantly worsened as violent attacks from government and other nationalist factions have deepened their poverty and forced many into squalid internment camps.

Last summer, after a group of Rohingya farmers took up arms against state security forces, the government responded with, by all credible accounts, a grossly disproportionate, highly indiscriminate crackdown. More than half a million people fled to Bangladesh, another country that doesnt want them, bringing the total number of Rohyinga refugees there to nearly a million.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned at the time that the violence in Burmas Rakhine state was approaching ethnic cleansing. Many others, citing satellite footage of scorched villages and countless accounts of rape and the mass murder of civilians, insisted that bar had already been met.

Genocide or not, the need for urgent action is clear. And Raes report holds a number of useful suggestions for what can be done.

To be sure, Canada has already taken important steps. Over the last year, Ottawa has provided some $50 million in aid in the region. Yet given the scale of the crisis, Rae makes a compelling case that we should be doing more. He recommends, for instance, that we triple our aid to $150 million per year over four years. And he calls on Canada to open its doors to more Rohingya refugees.

A sustainable solution to the crisis will also require a delicate mix of pragmatism and principle in diplomacy. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government has been applying pressure to Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmas de facto leader, whose failure to condemn the violence and refusal to allow independent monitors into the country have left the Nobel Peace laureates once-totemic reputation in tatters.

Trudeau is right to use Canadas strong relationship with Suu Kyi to push her to show some of the courage and humanity that led to her many awards. But, as Rae notes, Suu Kyi alone cannot end the violence.

Although she was elected in a landslide, Suu Kyis power extends only so far; many parts of the Burmese state are still controlled by the military. The challenge for Ottawa and the international community is to find a way to exert real pressure on the still-powerful remnants of Myanmars erstwhile junta. Rae suggests a sensible strategy of simultaneous engagement and targeted sanctions against responsible individuals within the Burmese regime. And he exhorts Ottawa to work with international partners to establish an independent process for investigating and prosecuting all possible war crimes.

There are no guarantees of success, and many lives are still in the balance, Rae writes. But one thing is certain: if we fail to try, the results will be far worse than if we make the necessary effort. Hes right. We must do all we can to help secure safety and justice for this most embattled population.Antler protesters look to cue conversation, April 1

In response to the animal-rights activists who protested in front of the Antler Kitchen and Bar in Toronto, bless them in their tireless efforts to help end the ongoing bloodshed and unspeakable cruelty towards farm animals.

We would never treat our beloved dogs and cats the way we treat farm animals and yet cows, pigs, chickens, lambs, etc. are all feeling, loving, living creatures and they deserve to have a voice and be treated with compassion.

Restaurant owner Michael Hunter was incredibly insensitive to carve a deer leg in the front window in response to this loving protest.

Leonardo da Vinci, an animal-rights activist in his day, said: The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.

I hope the time will come soon.

Christopher Randall, Toronto

I am proudly vegan, but I do not support the protests against Antler Kitchen and Bar.

The protesters may have wanted to point out the hypocrisy of a restaurant claiming to source ethically while selling foie gras, which is produced by force-feeding birds. This practice has been deemed inhumane and banned in numerous countries. Although alternative production methods exist, they are rarely used.

So far, there has been an outpouring of support for Antler  completely counter to the protesters presumed goal. There could have been a different outcome if the protesters had set a clear ask: For the restaurant to stop offering foie gras or to show that its source is from farms that dont force feed.

Instead, the protests morphed into a broad criticism of eating animals  a message ill-fitted to an action against a single business.

Mike Benusic, TorontoYou can skip the Churchillian five-minute conversation with the average voter. The best argument against democracy in Toronto is Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti. For the almost 28 years hes continuously held elected office, he has provided constant refutation of the presumed wisdom of the voting crowd.

And it appears City Hall can never be rid of him. Just three weeks ago he announced hed be leaving the city council seat hes occupied since amalgamation to run provincially for Doug Fords Conservatives. Though the prospect of him as a potential Minister of Anything was horrifying to many of us, at least his clown show would no longer be a 416 shame. Hed be Brampton Centres problem, if they were fool enough to elect him.

But on Monday he announced on Twitter that he would heed the cries of his North York constituents for him to stay and continue representing them. Brampton voters will be spared his representation. Toronto is stuck with him.

Which is not good news for people who care about the city. For decades, his entire public persona has been a performance of cartoonish villainy, aimed at hyping up division and soaking up headlines.

He carries himself, to a startling degree, like a professional wrestling heel, hyping rivalries and alternating between boasts and accusations for their own sake. Hell sometimes suddenly switch allegiances (he has been a member of all three major parties during his time in public life), but all along it seems his only actual allegiance is to himself. He had a famous rivalry with Rob Ford for some years (the late mayor once called him a snake and a scammer), even staging protests against Ford in his ward, before becoming something of a tag-team partner to Rob and Doug after 2010. Then he wielded a gladiatorial thumb in the council chamber indicating His Fordnesss presumed voting wishes.

Which is just the tip of the sky-high flagpole in his penchant for dramatics. Famously, he once stripped topless in council chamber to make some kind of point about nude beaches. He has proposed making the Toronto Islands a red-light district and the ferries floating casinos. Hes sent out press photos of himself with his middle fingers raised at the camera, and once responded to a Star reporters inquiry with the phrase bite me Mammo-style. His every motion at city council, put forward between red-faced rants (he once referred to a neighbourhood in Toronto as a pedophile district), appears to be a joke or a spiteful statement rather than an actual proposed law. Once, he proposed making the entire downtown core a dirt-roads only car-free zone where only horse-and-buggies would be allowed. His 2012 spur-of-the-moment property-tax freeze motion enticed then-mayor Rob Ford to vote against his own budget.

Then there are the scandals. I dont have space to recap all the lowlights of almost three decades in office, but consider briefly: as an NDP MPP under Bob Rae, my colleague Jim Coyle reported in 1998, he earned the nickname Hot Wheels after he billed his expense account about $5,000 for travel in one year from his North York home to Queens Park and another $4,700 for travel within his riding; after being elected to North York city council, he held onto a second public-sector job as a property manager for public housing, and when forced to quit that job after amalgamation, tried to get assurances it would be held open for him if he were turfed from office; then there was the 2013 fundraiser where lobbyists and others gave him $80,000  personally, not for an election fund; and a report that same year he was the beneficiary of very low rent on an apartment owned by a company that does business with the city; he has been found to have broken election spending rules; and he was once reported by CBC to have received $275,000 in mortgage loans from realtors who he helped with council business.

The list could go on. The behaviour does. Through all the outrage and outrageousness, he has persisted as a city councillor. He intends to continue to do so.

It is up to the ward voters who have somehow returned him to office so many times before. It seems they will get another chance to elect someone else this fall. They have tested our faith, they could restore it. Democracy gave us Mammo. Our only hope is that it can finally send him away.

Ed Keenan is a columnist based in Toronto covering urban affairs. Follow him on Twitter: @thekeenanwire

Read more about:Are you a local business owner trying to attract an international clientele? You might want to consider carving up a deer leg in your front window. This spectacle seems to have worked wonders for Michael Hunter, the chef of Antler, a Toronto restaurant whose name is now on the lips of ravenous carnivores around the world. The reason for this, ironically enough, is veganism.

Animal rights activists have staged protests outside the restaurant several times now, denouncing Antlers menu, a mouth watering spread of meaty fare that includes braised rabbit, boar ragu, a double crusted meat pie and the most egregious dish of all in the eyes of his herbivore foes: foie gras.

Late last month Hunter appeared to stage his own counterprotest when he carved a very large piece of deer meat in the restaurants front window (he would later consume it there too), infuriating vegan onlookers and delighting thousands of meat lovers on the internet, where a video of the incident was posted.

Read more:

Antler restaurant passes Toronto Public Health inspection following protests by vegan activists

Animal rights activists say theyre not trying to attack Dundas St. restaurant where owner carved deer leg in front window

Protesters say restaurant owner made show of eating meat in response to animal rights demonstration

According to Marni Ugar, one of the activists leading the charge outside Antler the reason her peers are protesting a local business as opposed to McDonalds or factory farming in general, is because they are interested in neighbourhood grassroots activism.

Little did they know that their neighbourhood grassroots activism would inspire an international carnivore pilgrimage to Toronto.

The internet is now overflowing with statements like these.

From American comedian Patton Oswalt, on Twitter: Next time Im in Toronto Im dining at Antler.

From various other meat-loving corners of the internet, where people appear to have no patience for vegan theatrics:

Im stopping in Toronto from Scotland on my way back to Saskatchewan in April just to come and have dinner here. Very excited to do so after I saw an article of some rude vegans protesting your restaurant on the Internet.

I have a freezer full of venison and bear, but it looks like a trip to the big city is in order to support a fellow hunter/wild game connoisseur! Maybe Ill get some ideas for my own kitchen.

I wish I could come to this restaurant after seeing that stupid video. That cut of meat looked so tasty. Just a trip from here in the U.K. isnt cheap. One day tho me and the wife will make it over. Guess their protest is doing the opposite of what they want.

Indeed. If anything, recent activity outside Antler has probably increased meat consumption rather than curbed it. And though I am a meat eater myself, I have to admit this is a real shame because animal rights activists have a valid, important case to make against factory farming at a time of mounting environmental crisis. Unfortunately though, the movement has a major PR problem. Many of the loudest voices in its ranks are also its most judgmental. And generally speaking people dont change their behaviour when they are being judged, nor when they are branded murderers for enjoying their dinner. They dig their heels in  or in this case  their teeth.

It doesnt help that vegans are one of the last groups weve deemed acceptable to openly deride, perhaps because many vegan activists liken themselves to social justice liberators fighting for the rights of animals in the same way Harvey Milk fought for gay rights and Martin Luther King Jr. fought for Black rights. To many non-vegans, especially those battling myriad human on human injustices such as police brutality, sex trafficking, war crimes etc., this notion comes across as deeply insulting and disingenuous.

Of course there are organizers out there who do an excellent job convincing people like me to eat less meat precisely because they are non-judgmental and frankly, less hysterical. These organizers tend to promote a harm reduction philosophy rather than one of abstinence, knowing that though it may clash with their values it is more likely to produce the results they desire: an overall decrease in meat consumption. Im thinking specifically of the popular campaign Meatless Mondays that encourages meat eaters to eat vegetarian or vegan one day a week.

This strategy certainly isnt kosher if youre an ideological purist. But if youre a vegan who wants people to consume less meat, its a slam dunk.

I have a close friend who would probably fall into the latter camp. I visited her last year in Hong Kong where she lives. During my time there she didnt once discourage me from eating the mountain of egg tarts and pork buns I consumed in that city. Instead she took me to excellent Chinese vegan restaurants that shattered every stereotype I had previously held about vegan food being vastly inferior to food made from animals. In the end her positive strategy of encouraging new dishes rather than discouraging others forever changed the way I viewed food and made me realize that cutting back on meat isnt as daunting a sacrifice as I thought it would be. Had she yelled at me for eating a dozen pork buns to my face I probably would have eaten a dozen more. In other words, Id hate to be a deer right now.Theres a serial killer in the Gay Village.

I didnt hear this statement for the first time on TV and I didnt read it in this newspaper. I heard it spoken aloud by friends and acquaintances in the Village itself long before accused serial killer Bruce McArthur was arrested and charged with murdering six men; long before the Toronto police alleged what many in the citys LGBTQ community  my own peers included  suspected for years.

I didnt believe it because I didnt want to  because who wants to believe there is a serial killer stalking a neighbourhood they frequent after dark? Also, being an affluent white woman who watches Law and Order: SVU on a regular basis, I had a foolishly sunny attitude about police detectives  one born from seeing them solve crimes in 50 minutes or less on TV, all the while treating the vulnerable characters in their midst with kindness and respect. (I swear to God, racism aside, the main reason so many white people jump at any opportunity to defend police against charges of injustice is because they cant imagine their favourite TV cops  often the only cops they encounter  behaving irresponsibly).

Read more:

Toronto police will withdraw application to march in Pride parade

Toronto police, Pride parade discussions reveal rocky relationship

Opinion | Edward Keenan: What is Chief Saunders thinking, adding insult to gay communitys injury?

Unfortunately, Detective Olivia Benson is not a real person. But Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders is. And he not only dismissed ideas about a serial killer stalking the Village; Saunders appeared to suggest in the media in February that the LGBTQ community was unhelpful to police during its missing-persons investigation (a very strange thing to hear when you belong to that community and have listened to people within it speak of literally nothing else for months).

We knew that people were missing and we knew we didnt have the right answers, Saunders told the Globe and Mail. But nobody was coming to us with anything. This statement inspired an image of the chief sitting in his office, twiddling his thumbs by a telephone, waiting for gay men to call him with hot tips about a killer on the loose.

His remarks, in other words, did not inspire confidence in our citys authorities.

But this week they did. Saunders has made headlines again not for saying the wrong thing but for doing the right thing. It turns out there may be a silver lining to all of this tragedy and mistrust. News emerged on Tuesday that Toronto police have withdrawn their application to march in uniform in the 2018 Toronto Pride parade.

You may recall that the force was prohibited from marching in uniform in last years parade as the result of a Black Lives Matter protest the previous summer. The police had hoped to get approval to rejoin the celebration this coming June, a prospect many LGBTQ organizations strongly disapproved of in light of recent events. On Monday Pride Toronto released a joint statement with various groups including the 519 community centre, the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention, and the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention, requesting that Toronto police withdraw their application to march. The frayed relationship between the community and the police, they write, cannot be mended through a parade. Marching wont contribute towards solving these issues; they are beyond the reach of symbolic gestures.

The police appear to have gotten the message.

In Saunders own words, in a statement about the application withdrawal, My hope is that this move will be received as a concrete example of the fact that I am listening closely to the communitys concerns and I am committed thoroughly to building a better, stronger relationship between us.

I cant speak for an entire community, but in my eyes this move is the right one. Regardless of what actually transpired behind precinct doors, even if contrary to popular belief police did everything they possibly could to apprehend McArthur in a timely fashion, the perception still holds among thousands of queer Torontonians that law enforcement routinely dismissed concerns raised by members of the community during the missing-persons investigations and failed to take seriously potential crimes committed against LGBTQ people of colour. Thats not a small thing. Its a major barrier to a constructive relationship between TPS and a vulnerable demographic it claims to serve. In other words, its a major barrier to fighting crime.

Shooting super soakers into a crowd and pretending everything is A-OK does not make it so. That the Toronto police have decided to sit this party out demonstrates they may finally understand this.

Emma Teitel is a columnist based in Toronto covering current affairs. Follow her on Twitter: @emmaroseteitel

Read more about:Deutsche Bank AG (DB) - Get Deutsche Bank AG Report said on Wednesday, April 4, that it had proposed four new representatives of shareholders to sit on its supervisory board, including John Thain, in a reshuffle.

Deutsche Bank shares were down 1.09% in Wednesday morning trading, changing hands at 11.05.

The former Merrill Lynch CEO was nominated to the body which oversees its top executives alongside Mayree Clark, Michele Trogni and Norbert Winkeljohann. The appointments are subject to shareholder approval at the German lender's annual general meeting on May 24. If approved the new board members will replace those whose terms have expired.

Thain, who was also CEO of the New York Stock Exchange and President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs GS, is currently a member of the board of directors of Uber Technologies.

The reshuffle comes amid rising tension between the board and CEO John Cryan. Reports last week suggested that Germany's biggest lender was sounding out candidates to replace the embattled CEO.

London's Times newspaper Richard Gnodde, who heads Goldman Sachs's GS international operations, was approached by the bank, as were Standard Chartered plc CEO Bill Winters and UniCredit SpA boss Jean-Pierre Mustier. Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the story, which quoted a source as saying the relationship between Cryan and the bank's chairman, Paul Achleitner, is "broken."

The stock has been under pressure for more than two years, however, as profit and revenues at its investment banking unit continue to disappoint and shareholders question Cryan's turnaround efforts following a $7.2 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2016 and a $9 billion capital injection in March of last year.

Tensions were further heightened by the bank's decision earlier this month to pay more than $3 billion in employee bonuses for the 2017 fiscal year, despite a 23% fall in the lender's stock price and the lender's third consecutive net loss.

The 2017 bonus payout of 2.3 billion ($2.83 billion) tops the 546 billion payout from the previous year and comes after a $9 billion capital injection last March and consistent speculation that Cryan's tenure at the helm of Germany's biggest bank could be under threat from unhappy investors who have been waiting for his turnaround plans to bear fruit.Back in the day it was just called Google. But the company that has morphed into Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) - Get Alphabet Inc. Class C Report (GOOGL) - Get Alphabet Inc. Class A Report is also a pioneer in the autonomous driving movement.

After developing and then honing the technology over the past decade, the company's self-driving car unit has become enough of a formidable business that it's gone from the "other bets" category at Alphabet to its own unit: Waymo.

Despite these early-mover efforts, though, Waymo isn't the only autonomous driving game in town. In fact, many companies are in on the mix and that goes for technology and automotive companies: Tesla Inc. (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc Report , Apple Inc. (AAPL) - Get Apple Inc. (AAPL) Report , Intel Corporation (INTC) - Get Intel Corporation (INTC) Report , General Motors Company (GM) - Get General Motors Company (GM) Report , Ford Motor Company (F) - Get Ford Motor Company Report , Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM) - Get QUALCOMM Incorporated Report , Broadcom Ltd (AVGO) - Get Broadcom Inc. Report , BlackBerry Ltd (BB) - Get BlackBerry Limited Report -- the list goes on and on.

But arguably the leader in this movement? Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) - Get NVIDIA Corporation Report , which along with Alphabet, Apple and Broadcom, is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio.

Picking an Autonomous Driving Winner

We wouldn't dissect a smartphone, find the chip that powers most of the devices and claim that as the smartphone winner. More often, we'd look at what brand is winning in sales. Right now that's Apple, previously it was BlackBerry and before that, Motorola or Nokia.

When it comes to autonomous driving, though, the measure is different. Because all of these companies will have self-driving features and capabilities, it's impossible to pick one based on the same merits as a smartphone, for instance.

That's why rather than saying the so-called winner or leader in the autonomous driving race is an automaker, I think it will be whatever technology becomes most prevalent.

Some -- like at Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCAU) - Get Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. Report -- may utilize Waymo's technology. Others, like GM, may build out their own technologies. But a large number of autonomous vehicles (AV) will be built of Nvidia's DRIVE platforms.

With the recent self-driving Uber fatality, safety is more paramount than ever. But thanks to Nvidia's new platform, the company is finding alternatives to on-road testing. By being able to create synthetic environments for autonomous driving software, those using Nvidia products can greatly increase the safety of their testing, while also improving the system's capabilities.

Talk about a win-win.

Further, autonomous driving requires an insane amount of computing power. In fact, not long ago, industry insiders said computing power was one of the largest hurdles to full-blown autonomous driving. That hurdle has been cleared, according to Nvidia's senior director of automotive Danny Shapiro. Now it's down to refining the software to be as effective, safe and dependable as possible.

Nvidia can help on both of these fronts, powering A.I. both outside and inside the car. In other words, it offers both the products to make self-driving systems a reality, while also offering the infrastructure in which these systems are built. In a nutshell, it's an autonomous driving ecosystem.

For that reason, it seems probable to me that Nvidia will be one of the biggest winners in autonomous driving. It already has more than 370 partners working with its products -- including Airbus for autonomous air taxis!

Simply put: Nvidia has too many solutions and its technology is too good for the company not to be a big winner in this space. You can't (easily) build a self-driving car system from scratch. Nvidia produces the necessary tools for the hundreds of companies looking to build these complex systems on their own.

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This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author had no positions in the stocks mentioned.ALTON  A U.S. Congressman recently spread good news about Alton to fellow U.S. House of Representatives members, and Tuesday brought the mayor an official copy of his congratulations.

I read it on the House floor, said Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) regarding the city being named winner of the Small Business Revolution  Main Street online voting competition. He said he was pleased to share the news with colleagues from throughout the United States, his speech saved for perpetuity into the Congressional Record.

Any time one of our communities does something great, any time something positive happens in our district, he said he takes the opportunity to brag up his 12th district on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. He said he is particularly happy to do so when there is so much bad news in the country.

Congratulations to them, Bost said of the businesses that will benefit from the win.

Bost read his narrative on March 6 before the House of Representatives congratulating the city, first explaining the process leading to winning the contest, then continuing:

Alton has a rich history, Bost read. It is home to historic buildings, a deep manufacturing heritage, a Lincoln-Douglas debate site, a route on the Underground Railroad, blues musician Miles Davis, and historys tallest man, the 8-foot, 11 (inch) Robert Wadlow.

These days, Alton is undergoing a small business revolution. From a self-pour craft beer taproom to a post office converted into a small business hub, new businesses are popping up all over town. Its an exciting time for the Alton community and they cant wait to show the nation Southern Illinois spirit of innovation.

The crew from Small Business Revolution  Main Street digital series, produced by Deluxe Corp., came to Old Bakery Beer Co., in Alton on Feb. 27 as a surprise to make the announcement. They then interviewed numerous applicants to determine which six Alton businesses would be featured on the series and receive marketing and business advice while sharing $500,000 for improvements.

The mayor said the competition drew 220 applications from Alton businesses hoping to be among the chosen six.

Amanda Brinkman, Deluxe Chief Brand and Communications Officer, among others, returned to Alton on March 23 to announce the businesses they selected for this season. Filming is to begin this month.

People may view the digital show on Hulu.

The city will get a portion of the $500,000 for Downtown beautification work, but Walker said he doesnt yet know the amount.

He said he is pleased Bost called attention to the city from the floor of the House of Representatives.

After Bost presented Walker with the certificate, emblazoned with a gold-colored seal in a protective folder, the mayor said he would bring it to the next City Council meeting to read to aldermen. He also looked around his office, with numerous certificates, photos and memorabilia to locate a place at which to post the certificate.

I will find a place somewhere, he said with a smile.

Reach Linda N. Weller at 618-208-6450 or on TwitterBRIGHTON  The city of Brighton invites local and regional business owners and entrepreneurs to meet the staff of the Illinois Metro East Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to participate in one-on-one counseling sessions. The event runs from 10 a.m.to noon, Friday, April 13 at the Brighton City Hall, located at 206 S. Main St. in Brighton.

Metro East SBDC Director Jo Ann Di Maggio May finds these open house events as an effective way to connect with the local business community.

We always enjoy SBDC Community Days and truly appreciate Mayor Michael Roberts and Brighton serving as our host, said Di Maggio May. It truly takes a team effort to help small businesses survive and thrive.

SBDC staff will be available to talk confidentially with business owners and entrepreneurs on a range of topics including, but not limited to:

 Business financing

 Marketing assistance

 Social media strategy

 Business plans

 Expansion opportunities

 Buying and selling a business

 State and federal regulations

 Exporting and international trade

The SBDC Day includes a one-hour Small Business Lending Workshop at noon, presented by Jeffrey Whitaker of 1st MidAmerica Credit Union. Entrepreneurs and business owners are able to discover the valuable business resources offered by the SBDC.

Attendees who desire to meet privately with an SBDC counselor are encouraged to request a 30-minute appointment by calling 618-650-2929.

Di Maggio May and her staff plan to hold at least ten SBDC Days in 2018.

The Metro East SBDC assists entrepreneurs as well as existing business owners operating in the nine-county Metro East region of Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Bond, Clinton, St. Clair, Washington, Monroe and Randolph. It enhances the regions economic interests by providing one-stop assistance to individuals by means of counseling, training, research and advocacy for new ventures and existing small businesses.

SBDCs in Illinois are funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement among the U.S. Small Business Administration, Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville as a service to the community. To learn how these no-cost services may help your business venture, contact the Metro East SBDC at (618) 650-2929 or sbdcedw@gmail.com.ALTON  In recognition of Womens History Month, local YWCA associations from across the state of Illinois have come together to create a statewide policy council.

YWCA has been working on behalf of women and their families for over a century, making us the oldest womens organization in the nation, stated Dorri McWhorter, CEO of YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, which is spearheading this effort. In an era where womens issues are finally getting the attention they deserve, our goal through this policy council is to amplify the collective voices of hundreds of thousands of women who are served by Illinois YWCA associations.

In Illinois today, women and families are struggling to keep pace. Budget shortfalls, unemployment and underemployment, sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace, the lack of quality affordable childcare, domestic and community violence, and other factors mean the work of the YWCA is as critical as ever before.

We cannot stand on the sidelines, stated Dontae Latson, President and CEO of YWCA-McLean County. With the potential for yet another budget crisis in Illinois, we must come together to advocate on behalf of our communities because when budgets are not passed, women and families suffer the most.

The YWCA Illinois Policy Council will be a mechanism to bring diverse voices to the policy table. Besides its racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity, YWCA organizations also reach younger women who are eager to engage and advocate.

The women we serve, both within the university and in the larger Urbana-Champaign community, are fired up and ready to advocate for themselves and others, stated Andrea Rundell, Executive Director of the YWCA-University of Illinois. To be able to work collectively across the state on policies that matter to all of us is a powerful opportunity that we are eager to support.

There are fifteen YWCA local associations in Illinois that share a national mission to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. Each association offers a unique set of programs and services relevant to its specific community in fulfillment of this mission. Local YWCA affiliates are often the largest providers of childcare services, rape crisis support, and economic empowerment services in their regions. Their work is supported not only by paid staff, but also by extensive volunteer networks.

Affiliates that have joined the statewide coalition are: Alton, Canton, Chicago Metropolitan, Elgin, Evanston-North Shore, Kankakee, Lake County, McLean County (which includes Bloomington-Normal), Northwestern Illinois (which includes Rockford), Pekin, Quad Cities, Sauk Valley, and University of Illinois.For the Telegraph

BETHALTO  1st MidAmerica Credit Union employees rallied recently to show support for our troops through the annual Adopt-a-Soldier program this spring.

The credit union selected members and relatives of employees who serve in the armed forces as recipients. Donated items included personal hygiene products, favorite snacks, magazines, and notes of appreciation for their dedication. Employees filled 24 boxes for 12 local soldiers that are currently serving overseas and stateside.GODFREY  After a heated discussion, the Village Board has decided to take the first step toward a possible sale of the municipal sewer system, by putting it on the market.

The measure that was approved Tuesday night is a signal to private companies, such as Illinois American Water, that the village is open to a sale  a must before companies assess the value of the property, and place a bid. Trustees say the measure will allow them to gauge interest from private companies, and see if the deals they offer are in the interest of citizens.

Im going to call the question, because the residents of Godfrey have a right to know (the possibilities), Mayor Mike McCormick said, after receiving opposition from Trustee Joseph Springman.

McCormick, who has said he is an advocate of privatization, sees numerous advantages in a sale, and has said such a move would increase tax revenue. Springman, however, is staunchly opposed to the sale, and suggested that instead the village should perform a study to see what rate increases are needed to maintain the system, which is currently in need of significant upgrades, some of which are the result of an Environmental Protection Agency mandate put upon the system. Springman opposed obtaining bids from interested parties.

The whole idea behind this is to vote for this tonight to see what they have to say Trustee Jeffrey Weber said. I dont know what your problem is here. For the last two months youve said lets go out and see what the offer is You dont want to hear what theyre going to offer? Is that what youre saying?

Not really, Springman replied.

You want to be educated, or what? Weber replied. So, no matter what they say, youre against it?

Springman, who replied in the negative, said after the meeting that a public utility has the advantage, since it is not charged with making a profit, and those savings can be passed on to residents. But others, like Trustee Mark Stewart, said a private company could bring greater efficiencies to the utility.

We dont know the advantages fully until we go out for a request for proposals, and get those proposals back, he said. But the idea would be that (their) experts could run it better than we could.

Trustee Nathan Schrumpf, who was skeptical of a sale which would ultimately require a super-majority vote to pass, said he was in favor of getting numbers, so options could be fully considered.

I think we could run that sewer plant more efficiently than Illinois American, for the simple fact that they have stockholders, and those stockholders want a return on their money, he said. They are going to charge us to make sure that those stockholder have a return on that investment.

Ultimately, the entire boardvoted unanimously in favor of the measure.

In other business, the board voted to put a measure on the ballot that would allow voters to dissolve Godfrey Township. The township, which shares exact borders with the village, and mostly has the same officials, has been described as an extra and needless layer of government by many local officials.

Less government, Stewart said, after the meeting. More efficient use of resources. I think it will simplify government  less meetings, less public officials, even though were the same people.

Reach Alex Heeb at 618-208-6451 or on Twitter @alexheebsThe recent release of President Trumps $1.5 trillion Infrastructure Plan has sparked renewed discussion about the vital need to rebuild and modernize our nations infrastructure and the role that individual states, local communities and the private sector will have to play in funding that rebuilding.

In the St. Louis region  the countrys freight nexus  those discussions have been underway for some time, and they have resulted in concrete actions that have our metropolitan area well positioned to compete for whatever federal dollars may be available to help address key infrastructure priorities.

The regions highest priority, one with national significance, is the replacement of the 128-year old Merchants Bridge, one of two rail bridges used by six Class I railroads and Amtrak to cross the Mississippi River in St. Louis. Currently, only one train at a time, traveling 5 miles per hour, can cross the bridge, creating a significant rail bottleneck that has impact not just locally, but for the national freight network. Unless addressed, this critical bridge will go out of service in less than 10 years, forcing extensive reroutes and impacting transportation costs to all modes of transportation, as well as the regions ability to compete in the global market.

In contrast, with a price tag of $200 million, replacement of the Merchants Bridge has the potential to greatly improve freight movement in the nation and create more than $456 million in local economic activity over a 20-year period, nearly double the current impact.

Those very real challenges and tremendous opportunities helped propel the project to the top of the list of 20 infrastructure priorities the St. Louis Regional Freightway has worked to develop and build consensus around over the past two years, uniting local governments, Class I railroads, port and barge industries, and other stakeholders in regional freight and manufacturing.

The plan to replace the Merchants Bridge is a prime example of the type of public-private partnership that has potential to succeed in the current funding climate that puts heavy emphasis on private investment. The Terminal Railroad Association (TRRA) of St. Louis has committed to funding nearly two-thirds of the projects cost, with the remainder hopefully to be covered by federal funds currently being sought through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant program. The Missouri Department of Transportation, Bi-State Development and TRRA jointly submitted the application, which is further bolstered by united support from East-West Gateway Council of Governments Board of Directors, a joint letter of support from all four U.S. Senators from Illinois and Missouri, individual letters of support from the regions U.S. House of Representatives, and over 50 private sector letters of support.

We should find out later this year if the application is successful and, if so, the project could begin right away and be completed as early as 2021. Were hoping for a positive outcome and eager to tackle the additional priority infrastructure projects aimed at solidifying the St. Louis regions position as a premier freight gateway and multimodal hub.

Mary Lamie is executive director of the St. Louis Regional Freightway.Tibetan calligrapher Jamyang Dorgee Chakrishar is on a mission. He wants Tibetan calligraphy to attain as much respect and renown as a visual art form as its Chinese or Japanese counterpart.

Dorgee was in the limelight in 2010 when he created the world's longest calligraphy scroll at 165m comprising prayers by 33 Tibetan spiritual masters for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It was made using handmade Tibetan lokta paper and contained 65,000 Tibetan characters.

At the ongoing "Cultural Festival of Tibet" at Delhi's India International Centre, organised in collaboration with the Central Tibetan Administration, Dorgee is surrounded with the quintessential tools of the tradeblack ink, white paper and the red seal which he uses to imprint his name. But where is the famous scroll? "It weighs 52 kilos," he laughs. "I couldn't have carried it here."

They say calligraphers are the embellishers of the 'Word of God'. In the 15th and 16th century, people who invented new calligraphic styles or even expanded and experimented with already existing ones in the Islamic courts of Persia or Turkey were considered figures of divinity and found many royal patrons and garnered great scholarly attention. But Tibetan calligraphy is not as old or illustrious as Islamic or Chinese calligraphy. The Tibetan script, composed in the 7th century, has undergone many transformations but has remained strictly within the confines of a "traditional handwriting" which is either good, bad or passable.



But Dorgee, 68, who has been practising Tibetan calligraphy as a hobby since his school days in Shimla, after his family fled Lhasa in 1959, wants to change that. "For thousands of years, we have devoted too much time in developing the inner science and neglecting the visual arts...we also have the capacity to be with the Japanese and the Chinese in the domain of calligraphy," says Dorgee who was a former joint secretary under the government of Sikkim and later worked as the director of Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamshala. Commenting on how few practitioners of the art form exist, Dorgee says with a hint of sarcasm: "Our spiritual masters like to do it a little bit, but it's not necessary for them to have a perfect handwriting because their brush is divine."



Dorgee retired as a bureaucrat in 2009 and "reformatted" himself into an artist. He currently runs Lhatsun Dharma Centre, in Rabongla, south Sikkim, which teaches Buddhist texts and chantings. Having trained under great masters like Geshe Lobsang Tharchin and professor Samdhong Rinpoche during his Shimla days, Dorgee is now considered to be a master calligrapher who uses the u-med style of brushwork to depict a more free-flowing, artistic interpretation of the Tibetan language, reflective of his devotion to Buddhist wisdom and deities. He has also pioneered the delineation of Buddhist deities in a meticulously detailed style called miniature calligraphy.



Dorgee says that traditional Tibetan handwriting or script is based on the Devanagari model from India. " But Tibet has not been expressive enough in telling the world that their script is from Devanagari. Even Indian linguists make no mention of the fact," he rues.



For now though, Dorgee wants to make Tibetan or Bhoti calligraphy popular through workshops, seminars and exhibitions. The inclusion of Bhoti, the Tibetic language spoken from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution will also go a long way in propagating the richness of Tibetan calligraphy, says Dorgee.



He is now looking forward to April 30 which will be celebrated as Tibetan Calligraphy Day for the first time in India. To be held in Darjeeling, it is being organised by Manjushree Centre for Tibetan Culture. But why April 30? "Because it represents the 30 consonants and four vowels in the Tibetan script," says Dorgee.

China quickly hit back on Wednesday at Trump administration plans to slap tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, retaliating with a list of similar duties on key US imports including soybeans, planes, cars, whiskey and chemicals.

The speed with which the trade struggle between Washington and Beijing is ratcheting upthe Chinese government took less than 11 hours to respond with its own measures  led to a sharp selloff in global stock markets and commodities

Investors are wondering whether one of the worst trade disputes in many years could now turn into a full-scale trade war between the worlds two economic superpowers.

The assumption was China would not respond too aggressively and avoid escalating tensions. Chinas response is a surprise for some people, said Julian Evans-Pritchard, Senior China Economist at Capital Economics, noting that neither said had yet called for enforcement of the tariffs.

Its more of a game of brinkmanship, making it clear what the cost would be, in the hopes that both sides can come to agreement and none of these tariffs will come into force, he said.

Beijings list of 25 per cent additional tariffs on US goods covers 106 items with a trade value matching the $50 billion targeted on Washingtons list, Chinas commerce and finance ministries said. The effective date depends on when the US action takes effect.

Unlike Washingtons list, which was filled with many obscure industrial items, Chinas list strikes at signature US exports, including soybeans, frozen beef, cotton and other key agricultural commodities produced in states from Iowa to Texas that voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

This is a real game changer and moves the trade dispute away from symbolism to measures which would really hurt US agricultural exports, said Commerzbank commodities analyst Carsten Fritsch.

Chinas tariff list covers aircraft that would likely include older models like Boeing Cos workhorse 737 narrowbody jet, but not newer models like the 737 MAX or its larger planes. A Beijing-based spokesman for Boeing declined to comment.

Hours earlier, the US government had unveiled a detailed breakdown of some 1,300 Chinese industrial, transport and medical goods that could be subject to 25 percent duties, ranging from light-emitting diodes to machine parts.

The US move, broadly flagged last month, is aimed at forcing Beijing to address what Washington says is deeply entrenched theft of US intellectual property and forced technology transfer from US companies to Chinese competitors, charges Chinese officials deny.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had shown sincerity in wanting to resolve the dispute through negotiations.

But the best opportunities for resolving the issues through dialogue and negotiations have been repeatedly missed by the US side, he told a regular briefing on Wednesday.

The tariff list from the office of US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer followed Chinas imposition of tariffs on $3 billion worth of US fruits, nuts, pork and wine to protest new US steel and aluminium tariffs imposed last month by Trump.

Publication of Washingtons list starts a public comment and consultation period expected to last around two months.

ReutersPublic sector banks (PSB) have written off Rs 2,41,911 crore under the Narendra Modi-led government. The amount, if recovered, could have accounted for India's annual budgets for agriculture and food subsidy.

"As per Reserve Bank of India data on global operations, PSBs have written off (including compromise) an amount of Rs 2,41,911 crore from financial year 2014-15 till September 2017," stated Santosh Gangwar, minister of state in finance ministry, in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question on the issue.

"Writing off loans is, inter alia, done for tax benefit and capital optimisation. Borrowers of such repaid loans continue to be liable for repayment," the finance ministry said in the Parliament reply.

The government said the recovery of dues is an ongoing pursuit under the several laws like Securities and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFESI) Act, Debts Recovery Tribunals and Lok Adalats.

The finance ministry reply concluded saying write off does not benefit borrowers. The government has recently finalised a Rs 2.11 trillion bank re-capitalisation programme.

Section 45E of the Reserve Bank of India has been invoked by the central bank to refuse sharing borrower-wise credit information.

According to the said section, the credit information submitted by a bank shall be treated as confidential and not to be published or disclosed. Surely, a convenient tool for the defaulting high and mighty as well as banks to hide public accountability on the issue.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is yet to take any major steps to make banks more accountable other than re-funding them with tax payers money. India, is ranked fifth in bad loans in world, and is on top spot among the BRICS nations in the same, a recent report by CARE Ratings revealed.Ahead of the verdict by a Jodhpur court in the blackbuck poaching case, Bollywood actors Sonali Bendre,Saif Ali Khan and Tabu left for the Rajasthan city from here this morning.

The three actors did not speak to mediapersons waiting outside the Mumbai airport while they left from here.

Superstar Salman Khan, meanwhile, arrived in Mumbai from Abu Dhabi where he has been shooting for Race 3.



After arriving, he went to his house and is expected to leave for Jodhpur later today.

A Jodhpur court will announce tomorrow the verdict in the 1998 black buck poaching case against Salman Khan.

Salman Khan was accused of killing two black bucks on October 2, 1998 in Kankani village in Jodhpur during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, and Tabu, who were also shooting for the film, are the co-accused in the case.

Salman Khan, 52, had earlier pleaded innocence in the case, claiming before the court that he had been "framed".It was the most celebrated scene in the 1965 Malayalam classic ChemmeenKaruthamma is about to be married to the fisherman Palani, while her heartbroken admirer Pareekutty, played by Madhu, comes to see her for the last time. Serenaded by the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, the young lovers bid farewell.

I will always sit here and think of you, Madhu tells her. I will sing loudly for you. I will sing and sing until I die of heartbreak. Who can forget that scene with Madhu in the red shirt and mundu, hair slickly parted, voice cracking, handlebar moustache quivering? All you wanted to do was smooth away the frown creasing his brow.

It has been 55 years since he joined the industry, and that frown has stood the test of time. Even in his movies today, his habitual expression is one of careworn worry, deep introspection. As though hes carrying the weight of the whole world.

It is this innate melancholia that made him such a great onscreen lover in the 1960s and 70s. I wonder how much of it spilled over from his offscreen persona. Perhaps not much, since he seems to have lived the good life. He became an actor after getting acquainted with director Ramu Kariat at the National School of Drama, where he studied. Kariat invited him to an audition in Chennai, where he landed his first role in N.N. Pisharodys Ninamaninja Kalpadukal. Since then, he has acted in over 300 movies.

Actor Madhu | Russell Shahul

He seems to have had a loving relationship with his wife Jayalakshmi, who died a few years ago. Hes said earlier that hes never met a woman with a more beautiful soul than his wife, whom he called Thankom. They had a daughter, Uma, after whom he named his production company Uma Film Studio. He went on to produce many hit films like Mini, which won a national award in 1995.

Madhu, 84, lives and breathes cinema. When he completed 50 years in the industry, he said it came as no surprise to him. The only reason I have completed 50 years is, I have not died till now, he said. He did not even have hobbies other than acting. When I get bored these days, I accept a role and act in a movie, the veteran actor joked in an interview.

He entered films at a time when Sathyan and Prem Nazir were the reigning heroes. I think Madhu was able to carve out a niche for himself because he brought with him something unique: an air of goodness. Madhu, like the Pareekutty of Chemmeen, was essentially an good man. He did not possess the suaveness of Nazir, or the machismo of Sathyan, but he had the soul of a stoic; a person so morally incorruptible that hes willing to make the supreme sacrifice that love demands.

I was too young to watch Madhu, the lover of the 60s and 70s. In the movies I watched, he was mostly Madhu, the father, in films like Varnapakittu and Ezhupunnatharakan. What stays with me is Madhus face twisted in pain, because of all those sudden heart attacks with which the director chose to end his life on so many occasions, most often after hearing some shocking news. (It is a technique which Malayalam movie makers have used to the point of exhaustionkilling off a vital family member with a sudden heart attack to mark a turning point in the heros life, when hes either moved to remorse or revenge.)

I remember a joke from the Malayalam parody of the movie Titanic called Titanenic. When the ship with all the film stars is sinking, a man shouts: Hey, somebody put Madhu in the middle so that the ship doesnt tilt to one side. Theyre referring to his heavyset frame. But in so many ways, Madhu has been at the centre of the Malayalam film industry, anchoring it to a set of values that he embodies, not just as an actor, but as a person.He has choreographed action for Christian Bale in The Dark Night and for Tom Hardy in Dunkirk among over three dozen films in a career nearing 30 years. Hollywood's famous action director Tom Struthers, who is now working on some high-octane stunts for Bollywood film Race 3 in Abu Dhabi, finds Indian superstar Salman Khan no less a professional.

Race 3 marks the second time that Struthers is working with Salman, with whom he last collaborated for Tiger Zinda Haialso widely shot in Abu Dhabi. He loved the experience both times.

"I think you can expect the same kind of enthusiasm and high-octane action in Race 3 as Tiger..., but there's nothing I can tell you about (the plot)," Struthers said over phone from Abu Dhabi, which is fast becoming a much-loved shooting destination for filmmakers.

He considers Salman as an actor who is sought after and "well-liked".

"I am very fortunate that in my career I have worked with good, professional people. Salman is among the highest-paid actors in the world... I've worked with people like Christian Bale and Tom Hardy. I consider them to be friends and I consider them to be very, very professional.

"Never once have they been unprofessional with me. Salman is in the same category. He was kind, caring about his people, and concerned about his artistes. He cares about where he is going as an actor and about what he is doing about the character he is playing," added Struthers, whose first tryst with Bollywood was with Nikkhil Advani's 2013 film D-Day.

For Race 3, being directed by Remo D'Souza and starring Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem, apart from Salman, Struthers is choreographing the opening and closing sequences. He hopes these stunts, details of which he was guarded about, are something that the audience would love.

Struthers, along with Indian action director Anl Arasu, enlisted the help of the Armed Forces of the UAE, employing a Blackhawk helicopter, Oshkosh trucks, NIMR military vehicles, and Humvees for the shoot. twofour54 is providing the team production services as well as the support of its government and travel services department to ease the process.

The Australian stunts star, who has also worked on films like Titanic, Braveheart, Blood Diamond, Inception and Terminator Salvation, finds Bollywood becoming more professional with time.

"I think Bollywood is in a great place right now. They are experimenting with culturally different professionals in the camera, stunts, action-directing departments," he said, and reminisced how, when he came on board for D-Day, he knew nothing about Indian films or Indian culture.

"When Nikkhil Advani called me and said he wanted to meet me, I said, 'Why not? It will be a new experience, I will learn and you grow with experiences, so yes, absolutely'. So, I met Nikkhil and he convinced me to come to India... And rest is history, as they say.

"I enjoyed every moment in India. People have been super nice to me. I have never found anyone unpleasant. And as far as I am concerned, what more can you ask for," he said.

Struthers had missed a chance to visit Jodhpur when the team of his mentor Christopher Nolan was in the Rajasthan city to shoot scenes for The Dark Knight Rises.

As for his filmography, he says it's not purely action-heavy films that attract him.

"I love doing the action, but it's also important for me to tell a story. I often choose films not because they have big budgets, but because I like the script, the story, the actors that are to be cast... All that is a part of what I do... I feel fortunate that I am at a stage in my career when I can do that... To pick and choose the films. It's not just a financial game."

-IANSBollywood actor Akshay Kumar and Yuva Sena President Aditya Thackeray on Tuesday inaugurated a public toilet, fully funded by the actor following a tweet from wife Twinkle Khanna, at the famed Juhu Beach.

The bio-toilet, costing around a million rupees, was handed over to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

"Good morning and I guess here is the first scene of Toilet Ek Prem Katha part 2 #WhenYourWalkGoesDownTheToilet," said Twinkle's sarcastic tweet on August 19 last year, showing a picture of a man defecating in public.

Though the tweet evoked mixed reactions, with many complaining about her lack of compassion for the poor, it spurred the action hero Akshay into serious activity and he decided to fund a bio-toilet complex at the beach.

The toilet has a running water facility and separate enclosures for men and women.

Akshay described the effort as "a small contribution on his part to our dear city... but just the beginning" which is expected to be a boon to several thousands of locals and tourists who throng Juhu beach daily.

Aditya Thackeray lauded the initiative after Akshay's free self-defence classes for women, 100 sanitary pad vending machines and other social contributions.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has called for a thorough review of the implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, and said his party was amenable to a joint parliamentary committee on it.

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister was speaking in Delhi on Wednesday. He claimed he arrived in the national capital to share with the nation the promises made by the Centre, the 'facts' of the special status issue and what was promised over it in Parliament. Naidu said 5 crore people of his state were feeling pained and betrayed by the Centre, politicians and Parliament where commitments were made, but were not being fulfilled.

Naidu said after four years of waiting and 29 visits to Delhi, nothing had improved for Andhra Pradesh. "We joined the NDA for the support and hand-holding we needed. That did not come. People are pained, and so we decided it was not worth our being with the NDA, in the Central government. Our people are feeling let down," he elaborated at a press conference.

As part of a PowerPoint presentation titled Status of Implementation of Provisions of AP Reorganisation Act 2014 and Assurances by the then PM, Naidu had a video clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi assuring the people of Andhra Pradesh that they will have a better capital than Delhi. "The last few days, we are fighting for fair treatment for Andhra in Parliament. All other parties are supporting us, but nothing has happened."

We have moved a no-confidence motion only to get an answer to all our questions. All the other non-BJP parties have promised us support. How many parties actually support, we will know tomorrow," Naidu claimed.

The state of Andhra Pradesh is fighting the Centre and I represent Andhra. I need the support of the entire nation, the chief minister said, taking the battlethat has been in Parliamentto the people.

Naidu said if developing states are penalised like this, they will deteriorate, and other states will also decelerate.

Andhra Pradesh will be the only state apart from the special category states to have a revenue deficit even after the completion of the 14th Finance Commission period in 2020, said Naidu, who is in the national capital on a two-day visit.

Naidu lamented that the Centre had written that it will be given only Rs 138 crore more, while the CAG had estimated the revenue deficit for 2014-15 at Rs 16,078 crore. So far, the Government of India had released Rs 3,979 crore.

The chief minister said the bifurcation itself was flawed and unjust.

Naidu said while he was told that the special category status would lapse, the Centre had extended the Central assistance measures and incentives in August 2017 to the SCS states. A new industrial incentive package was also given to the northeastern states last month. But the special assistance measures approved by the Union cabinet for Andhra Pradesh has not been followed up by orders. The state has not been given written communication till date, he said.

Taking up the promises made by the Centre point by point, Naidu said only Rs 5,212.07 crore of the Rs 7,780.07 crore spent on the Polavaram project had been reimbursed. He said while Prime Minister Modi assured a new capital better than Delhi, nothing had taken off on the ground. Naidu demanded Government of India funding for Amaravati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, based on the DPR. So far, only Rs 1,500 crore had been allocated toward infrastructure.

The chief minister demanded a special development package of Rs 25,350 crore for backward districts, as provided in the Reorganisation Act.

Naidu also demanded a new Railway zone with Vishakhapatnam as the headquarters.

Regretting that not a single permanent campus had so far been built in the backdrop of promises to include an IIT, IIM, IISER, a Central university, a petroleum university, an agricultural university and an IIIT, Naidu demanded time-bound completion of infrastructure and recruitment of regular faculty, through adequate allocation of funds.

The chief minister said, despite growing at the fastest pace among the southern states, the gap between Andhra Pradesh and other states in per capita income was visible. This, he said, would continue to widen. This, he said, was because of the bifurcation.

"They (the Centre) want to destroy my credibility. I have built it over 40 years. Is it fair?" asked Naidu, asserting that his state had the highest GDP despite all its problems. He said the Centre constantly charged the state by not giving utilisation certificates after receiving them. "They are constantly attacking us in spite of our growth," he said. Cooperative federalism was not there in practice, the pained chief minister said, asserting that works like the capital city were national projects.

"BJP doesn't have anything in Andhra; they are trying to take the support of tainted parties. I am not worried about that. My only concern is that they are not implementing the Reorganisation Act."

According to Naidu, the BJP, Shiv Sena and YSR Congress did not attend the all-party meeting he convened earlier in the day.

"That shows they are not with us, are weakening us. But I will not be weakened by that. In spite of all the problems we are facing, this fight for Andhra will go on," he said.

We are demanding that the Government of India cooperate with us. That is all I am asking, he declared.

Every day since I pulled out of NDA, they are flinging mud at me, making some adverse comments on Andhra. But I am not shaken by this, he said, concluding the 90-minute-long press conference by asking media to help him 'straighten' the record on the special status demand.Is it the calm before the storm? Or is it a glimmer of hope? Any softening of stand in the India Pakistan relations, which usually oscillate between two extremes, gets viewed through these two prisms. But can the official end to the rather ugly diplomatic spat between the two neighbourswith diplomats in either countries accusing each other of harassmentbe viewed through another lens? The so-called General Bajwa's doctrine.

Indias High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria met Pakistani National Security Advisor Lt. General Naseer Khan Janjua on Tuesday. Constructive discussions took place on improving bilateral relations,'' sources revealed.

In the past few weeks, there has been a tiny step forward, perhaps a return to a semblance of civility, although may be not diplomatically. Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood was granted permission to travel to Ajmer to the dargah to participate in the Urs (death anniversary) of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. Earlier, permission to travel outside Delhi had been denied to Pakistani officials. Across the border, the Indian high commissioner and the military attache were invited to attend the military parade on Pakistan Daya practice that had been stopped for over a decade. The 114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) was also held last week.

The views of Pakistan's Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa do count for a lot. And Bajwa is not a hawk. He is believed to be for peace with India. Could this softening by Pakistan be credited to Bajwa doctrine?

Interestingly, this doctrine doesn't exist. Not officially. It hasn't been spelt out anywhere. Yet, it has become the topic of heated debate. So much so that the Inter Services Public Services (ISPR) has been forced to issue a statement to squash any kind of speculation. In its usual officialese, ISPR denied its existence as well as confirmed that it does exist. If there exists any (such) doctrineit is only related to the security of Pakistan, said the spokesperson.

The origin of the doctrine seems to be an off-the-record interaction of Bajwa, where he candidly expressed his views on everything from the tussle between the judiciary and the civil government in Pakistan to Kashmir and India, and even China. This interaction was then spun into what has now been christened as the Bajwa doctrine.

This is a tactical attempt to cool temperatures on the border,'' claimed Jayadev Ranade, a security and intelligence expert. I don't think you can see anything beyond a tactical measure.''Even as the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aiming to increase the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap for high-end technology in defence, the value of total indigenous production of defence equipment has gone up to Rs. 55,000 crore last year.

Declaring that the upcoming DefExpo-2018, for the first time, will be projecting India's defence manufacturing capabilities to the world, Secretary, Defence Production, Ajay Kumar said domestic production of defence equipment worth Rs. 55,000 crore happened last year.

"India is emerging as a major defence manufacturing hub. DefExpo-2018 will help India as an exporter of defence systems and components," Kumar said, on the occasion of a curtain-raiser briefing on the upcoming DefExpo-2018, which will be organised from April 11-14 near Chennai.

The claims by the ministry of defence came in the backdrop of a SIPRI report on March 12 that reconfirmed Indiayet againemerged as the biggest importer of weapons in the world, with around 70 per cent of defence imports. Moreover, only last month, the Indian Army flagged before a Parliamentary panel the issue that 68 per cent of its weaponry is of the 'vintage' category.

Interestingly, Secretary Kumar simultaneously pitched for an increase in the FDI cap in the defence sector in the draft Defence Production Policy, 2018.

"We are considering an increase in the FDI cap to 74 per cent from the existing 49 per cent. But it will be only for the niche areas, where we have not been able to develop it (technology) and may not be able to develop in next couple of years. So, such niche technology should be made in India," Kumar said, adding it is only the draft policy and changes can be made in it.

As per the new DPP draft policy, India aims to be among the top five countries in aerospace and defence and plans to increase the value of domestic production nearly threefold to Rs 1.7 lakh crore by 2025. The key focus, according to the draft, will be on fighter aircraft, medium lift and utility helicopters, warships, land combat vehicles, autonomous weapon systems, missile systems, gun systems, small arms, ammunition and explosives, surveillance systems, electronic warfare systems, communication systems, night-fighting enablers and so forth.

Kumar also told the strategic partnership model of DPP is likely to be amended. Defence PSUs may be considered as Indian partners for tie-ups with foreign companies. Till now, this provision was only for Indian private companies.

Meanwhile, despite making tall claims over DefExpo-2018, the ministry of defence itself has accepted the number of exhibitors will be down by about 10 per cent from the last edition, held in Goa in 2016.

Kumar said 677 exhibitors, including 523 from India, had confirmed their participation in DefExpo-2018. The figure is far lower than the 1,055 Indian and foreign firms that took part in 2016.

With an aim to make DefExpo-2018 more attractive, an India Pavilion is being set up for the first time under the 'Make in India' theme. Besides, a first-ever combined live demonstration of naval, aero and land systems will take place in the Bay of Bengal. Moreover, to extend its outreach, the DefExpo inaugural ceremony would be webcast on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Periscope.

Two major international collaboration events are also being planned on the sidelines of DefExpo: a joint commission with South Korea on April 9 in Delhi and a military-industry cooperation event with Russia on April 13 at the DefExpo venue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Asia's biggest naval, aero and land systems exhibition on April 12. Though the defence minister will open the event on April 11, the ministry has planned a formal inauguration of the event on April 12 by the prime minister.

Meanwhile, the defence ministry has confirmed that China has not responded to India's invitation to participate in DefExpo.Mamata Banerjees call for a united opposition against BJP has run into trouble in her home state. In West Bengal, the CPI(M), Congress and BJP has called for a common movement against the Trinamool Congress, to check assaults against them by TMC activists, over filing of nominations in the upcoming panchayat polls.

Unprecedentedly, Surjya Kanta Mishra, politburo member and CPI(M)s West Bengal secretary, said in a press conference that the party would have no issues if the BJP joined them in the movement against TMC.

Yes, we are fighting against the TMC, which is throttling democracy. Never in the past was such a reign of terror unleashed in the state. If BJP joins us in our movement, they are welcome. However, in other forums, such understanding is not possible, said Mishra.

Minutes later, BJP leader Mukul Roy came out in support of Mishra. I wholeheartedly support him [Mishra]. The BJP is leading the movement. If he comes and joins us, we are ready to extend our support, said Roy.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh also welcomed the remarks. He [Mishra] must not stop with a mere statement. He should act as well. His party workers are not on the streets, fighting, like us. They should come and join us as the BJP is the one leading from the front, said Ghosh.

This remark from the communist leader comes at a time when the opposition political parties are regrouping against BJP in the national capital.

While TMC filed nominations of over 2000 panchayat candidates so far, BJP could manage only a little more than 1000. The CPI(M) could come up with little more than 300, and the Congress 100.

A CPI(M) leader in the state, however, downplayed the remark of Mishra. Surjo da said this because panchayat elections are fought at the local level and in many states, parties fight without their political symbol.

The leader said in many panchayats, the CPI(M) has allied with the Congress, though in the assembly or in Lok Sabha elections, it would not be the case.The treasury of the 12th-century Lord Jagannath Temple here will be opened for inspection on Wednesday after 34 years amid strong security, a temple official said.

A 17-member team will inspect the physical condition of the floor, roof and wall of the 'Ratna Bhandar' (treasury) between 2 pm to 5 pm, Chief Administrator P.K. Jena of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) told reporters.

The team, including three experts from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), will only examine the structural stability and safety of the 'Ratna Bhandar', Jena said, adding that no one will be allowed to touch the jewellery kept there.

Jewelleries and ornaments of the deities are kept in the 'Ratna Bhandar' which was last inspected in 1984. At that time, only three of its seven chambers had been opened. No one knows exactly what was stored in the other chambers.

The team will comprise Puri 'King' Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deb or his representative, various officials of the temple, experts of the ASI, Puri district collector, and a high court representative, a temple spokesperson said.

To make the inspection process smooth, elaborate arrangements have been made. No devotees would be allowed in the temple premises and armed security personnel would be deployed at the four gates and in the premises, he said.

All the people, irrespective of positions held, would wear only a traditional cotton towel known as 'Gamchha', to be provided by the temple authorities before entering the Ratna Bhandar.

The administration has decided to use battery-powered lights, along with traditional "diya" during inspection.

Only diyas had been used during the inspection in 1984, which had to be stopped after the inspectors heard hissing sound inside the vaults. Because of this, this time, assistance of snake experts has been sought and they would be there for any emergency.

All members of the team will go through a three-tier check before entering the treasure trove, Jena said.

He said the team members would be frisked by police officials to bar them from carrying any metal item or electronic gadget.

They would be provided with 'Gamchha' in the second stage and in the final stage, the inspectors would be scanned by the servitors authorised to check the 'Ratna Bhandar' as per the temple tradition.

Though the frisking and scanning of members will be videographed, no camera would enter the Ratna Bhandar, Jena said, adding that the key of the Ratna Bhandar would be procured by the temple authorities tomorrow from the government treasury in Puri.

Prior to 1984, the Ratna Bhandar was opened in 1978, 1926 and 1905, temple administration sources said.

On March 22, the Orissa High Court had ordered the ASI to inspect the structures of the Ratna Bhandar on March 26 and 27. After the inspection, the ASI said its outer surface was good. The condition of inside structures would be inspected after it is opened.

The high court is monitoring the repair works undertaken by the ASI in the 12th-century shrine since 2016, while adjudicating over a PIL seeking judicial intervention for effective repair and renovation of the temple.Hyderabad Police have banned the flying of drones and other remote-controlled flying devices in the city, from April 8 to May 7, in view of possible attacks that may be carried out through such devices by terror groups or anti-social elements.

"No flying activities of Remotely Controlled Drones or Para-Gliders or Remotely Controlled Micro-Light Aircraft be allowed in the Jurisdiction of Hyderabad City Police Commissionerate limits without prior Police permission in writing," a notification issued by IPS Anjani Kumar, Commissioner of Police and Executive Magistrate of Hyderabad City, read.

"Inputs have been received by intelligence agencies about the possibility of attacks by Terrorist/Antisocial elements by the use of para-gliders, remote controlled drones, remote controlled micro-light aircraft, etc., and there is every likelihood of breach of peace and disturbance of public tranquility and also there is grave danger to human life, health, safety and damage to public property on that account," it added.

As per the notification, government agencies and organizations will need to obtain appropriate clearance from local Police and aviation authorities before launching any Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Unmanned Aerial Survey (UAS) for any purpose.

"Any person contravening this order shall be punishable under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860," the notification further stated.As Chinese space lab Tiangong-1 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on Monday, burning up in the skies over the central region of the South Pacific, residents of the country bid the spacecraft a final farewell.

Regarded as a pioneer of China's future space station, the experimental space lab re-entered the Earth's atmosphere at around 8.15am on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO).

"Tiangong-1 has carried millions of Chinese' space dream. Although it's only aimed to test the technologies for space station, it has many far-reaching effects," Mao Xinyuan, a columnist, was quoted as saying.

The Tiangong-1, measuring 10 metres long and weighing around 8.5 tonnes, was launched on September 29, 2011.

The spacecraft was in service for four and a half years, two and a half years longer than initially planned, making important contributions to China's manned space cause and paving the way for China to become the third country in the world to build a permanent space station around 2022.

"The important role of Tiangong-1 would go down in China's space history. It had helped us accumulate precious experience in constructing space station," said Huang Weifen, Deputy Chief Designer of the Astronaut Center of China.

The Tiangong-1, whose name translates as "Heavenly Palace 1," had previously docked with Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft, and was visited by six astronauts, including two females.

In June 2013, female astronaut Wang Yaping aboard Tiangong-1 delivered a lecture to students on Earth about physics, inspiring public enthusiasm for science and space exploration.

"Although Tiangong-1 was only a transitional platform between the spaceship and space station, it's a key step for China to acquire the spacecraft docking technology, and it demonstrated the possibility of long-time space residence for the Chinese," said Bai Ruixue, a former space journalist and now CEO of a company focusing on public understanding of space science.

"The scientific imagination aroused by it among the Chinese is invaluable," Bai said.

The space lab ended its data service on March 16, 2016.

In September 2016, China launched its new space laboratory, the Tiangong-2, which hosted its first manned mission with two astronauts on board between October and November, Efe news reported.

China plans to start in 2019 the construction of a space station consisting of several modules, which is scheduled to conclude in 2022.

NASA's first space station, Skylab, fell to Earth in an out-of-control re-entry in 1979, burning up harmlessly in the process, CNN reported.

The last space outpost to drop was Russia's 135-ton Mir station in 2001, which made a controlled landing with most parts breaking up in the atmosphere.India has not had a comfortable relation with Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli. He continues to keep India on tenterhooks even during his second tenure as prime minister. This is a novel experience for India's diplomatic staff who had once taken Nepal for granted as a natural ally and protege.

Oli will be visiting India on a three day tour on April 6. This will be his first visit after taking over as the prime minister for the second time. Oli told the media that the visit is focused on building trust with India.

Traditionally, every new prime minister in Nepal (and also the president, now) make their first foreign visit to New Delhi. Oli is sticking to tradition, as he did the last time. But, last time (in February 2016) his visit came after much delay. There were reasons galore, but the most important cause was Nepal being miffed at India's high handedness over its brand new constitution.

Prime Minister Modi had sent then foreign secretary S. Jaishankar to Kathmandu to convey New Delhi's anger against the draft, which, in India's view, discriminated against some communitiesmainly the Madhesis.

Nepal's sovereignty was hit by Jaishankar's trip, and Oli dug his heels into Kathmandu's soil, budging only several months later, once the resultant blockade was over. All the while, he responded happily to overtures from China, much to India's chagrin. At one point it even seemed he would flout convention and make Beijing his first port of call.

This time, too, Oli has toed the invisible line, but he has learnt that it can be circumvented and has already met Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi. Cocking a snook at India's professed big brother image in the subcontinent, Abbasi flew up to Kathmandu on Oli's invitation. The two discussed reviving the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc). It may be recalled that Saarc interactions came to a grinding halt in 2016 after India refused to go to Islamabad for the meet, and succeeded in getting all other member nations, too, to isolate Pakistan.

Oli has also told the Nepali parliament, in a much reported statement, that he will not sign any deal with India that will be detrimental to his country's interests.

Oli believes that India was instrumental in the coup that followed shortly after his return to Kathmandu in 2016, and hence nurses a grudge. He also believes that India had a hand in his subsequent ouster.

With India's neighbourhood policy fast unravelling, every country is becoming more and more crucial. Though Oli is the prime minister of a small country, his visit is extremely important.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held talks in Ankara on Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan ahead of a three-way summit with Russia on the Syrian conflict.

The three countries are working together to try to reduce the violence in Syria despite supporting opposing sides in the war. Russia and Iran are Syrian President Bashar al-Assads strongest backers, while Turkey supports anti-Assad insurgents.

Rouhani said before leaving Iran that foreign forces operating in Syria without approval from the Damascus government should leave - a reference to Turkey and the United States.

Turkey is waging an offensive in northwestern Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia and has pledged to extend its campaign to the countrys northeast. Damascus has described the offensive as an illegal invasion.

Iran believes that the presence of foreign forces in Syria without authorization of the Syrian government is illegal and must be halted, Iranian state television quoted Rouhani as saying in Tehran on Tuesday night.

He said Wednesdays meeting with Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin would discuss reconstruction in Syria as well as work on a new constitution, part of a plan for a political solution to end the seven-year-old war.

Despite their differences Iran, Russia and Turkey are three of the major powers involved in a conflict whose course has been largely defined by foreign interventions, and their influence could increase further if the United States pulls out.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he wanted to get US forces out of Syria but offered no timetable, as his advisers warned of the hard work left to defeat Islamic State and stabilize areas recaptured from the hardline militant group.

Trump told a news conference the United States would not rest until ISIS is gone, but he also suggested that victory was imminent.

Its time, Trump told reporters, when asked if he was inclined to withdraw US forces.The US will deploy military to secure its international border with Mexico, President Donald Trump has said, asserting that America's existing laws were "horrible" and enabled caravans of illegal immigrants' entry into the country.

Trump has been a great proponent of building a wall along the US-Mexico border. He is seeking billions of dollars from the Congress for this initiative, but has been unable to get the funding so far.

Trump believes that the wall along the Mexico border is a permanent solution to stop large influx of illegal immigrants smuggling of drugs into the US.

"We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the United States," Trump told reporters at a joint White House news conference with Baltic leaders.

Soon thereafter, he held a meeting with his top officials including Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

During the meeting, they discussed the administration's strategy, "which includes the mobilisation of the National Guard," the White House said.

Trump and senior officials also agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organisation, it said.

A week earlier, Trump received a briefing from senior administration officials on the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America.

At that time, he had "directed a vigorous administrative strategy to confront this threat and protect America's national security," the White House said.

Earlier, Trump told reporters that the Mexican border was very unprotected by the US laws.

"We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States, and we're going to be able to do something about that hopefully soon. Hopefully Congress will get their act together and get in and create some very powerful laws, like Mexico has, and like Canada has, and like almost all countries have," he said.

"We don't have laws. We have catch and release. You catch and then you immediately release, and people come back years later for a court case, except they virtually never come back," he said, justifying his move to use military to protect the international border.

"It's something we have to do. Now, the caravan, which is over a thousand people coming in from Honduras, thought they were just going to walk right through Mexico and right through the border," he said.

Trump said that he had told the Mexicans that their caravan of illegal immigrants crossing into US needed to stop.

"If you look at the caravan of thousands of people coming across, I told Mexico, look, you have a cash cow in NAFTA. NAFTA's been great for Mexico. Has not been good for the United States," he said.The woman identified by police as the attacker who wounded three people at YouTubes headquarters in California was a vegan blogger who accused the video-sharing service of discriminating against her, according to her online profile.

Police said 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam from San Diego was behind Tuesdays shooting at YouTubes offices in Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco, where the company owned by Alphabet Incs Google employs nearly 2,000 people.

A man was in critical condition and two women were seriously wounded in the attack, which ended when Aghdam shot and killed herself.

The San Bruno Police Department is investigating a motive for this shooting. At this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted, police said in a statement.

Aghdams online profile shows she was a vegan activist who ran a website called NasimeSabz.com, meaning Green Breeze in Persian, where she posted about Persian culture and veganism, as well as long passages critical of YouTube.

A screenshot of a video posted on Aghnams YouTube channel before it was taken down on Tuesday, showed her complaining that YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!

YouTube spokeswoman Jessica Mason could not immediately be reached for comment.

There are hundreds of mass shootings every year in the United States. A national debate around tighter curbs on gun ownership has intensified since the massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school in February shocked the public.ALBANY  The state Senate's Independent Democratic Conference has agreed to fold and have its eight members rejoin the minority Democratic conference, an unprecedented arrangement announced Wednesday at a news conference led by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that at times resembled a political shotgun wedding.

The agreement, Cuomo said at the news conference in Manhattan, would put the conference on track for Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins to become the first woman to lead a Senate majority conference  provided the Democrats pick up two Senate seats in special elections later this month, and the conference can secure the loyalty of Brooklyn Sen. Simcha Felder, a Democrat who since arriving in the chamber has supported the Republicans.

Cuomo, Stewart-Cousins and IDC leader Sen. Jeff Klein said Klein will serve as Stewart-Cousins' deputy leader, realigning the breakaway Democrats with their conference for the first time since the two groups divided in January 2011, when Klein and three other charter members formed the IDC.

Cuomo cited an "attack" on New York's progressive values by the administration of President Donald J. Trump and other Republicans in Washington as the driving force in the unification.

"They are repugnant to all the values that we represent and we hold dear," Cuomo said. "They're against everything that we have fought for and everything that we have achieved."

Wednesday's announcement is an abrupt turn for the two-term Democratic governor, who had previously backed a tentative reunification deal that would enable Democrats to regain the majority in the Senate. Cuomo said the deadline for the original alliance would have come a day after the special elections on April 24, when two Senate seats are up for grabs.

The governor noted that winning the support of Felder  who the governor called "ambiguous" in his loyalties  is needed to secure a one-vote majority.

"We know from his past votes that Sen. Felder does not believe (in) a lot of the issues that this conference wants to pass," Cuomo said. "Simcha Felder I call the question mark."

Senate Republicans were quick to criticize the plan, saying Cuomo only pushed for the deal because he is "scared to death" of Cynthia Nixon, the actress and activist who announced last month she would challenge Cuomo in a Democratic primary. Cuomo denied that Nixon's bid was a factor in Wednesday's unexpected announcement.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday expressed their commitment to hold onto the last bastion of GOP power in state government.

"With important work still to do and only a handful of session days remaining, we expect to govern the Senate responsibly as the majority for the rest of the year," Senate Republican Conference spokesman Scott Reif said. "The other option, which nobody wants, is state government descends into chaos and dysfunction."

In response to Wednesday's announcement, seven Democrats who have mounted primary challenges to the IDC incumbents released a letter to the breakaway conference saying they intend to forge ahead with their campaigns.

In the letter, they blame the IDC for the blockage of progressive legislation in this year's budget.

"While we all support a unified, progressive Democratic majority in the state Senate under the leadership of Andrea Stewart-Cousins, your claims of unity cannot undo the damage that you have done by blocking a single Democratic state senator in the room to advocate for common-sense progressive priorities," the challengers wrote.

Klein said during the announcement on Wednesday that he hoped reunification would prevent primary challenges to IDC members, but was prepared to spend campaign funds to defend their seats. Cuomo noted that the agreement ensured that Democratic senators wouldn't work against other incumbents in the reunified conference.

Nixon, who appeared in Hoosick Falls Wednesday afternoon, where she was endorsed by environmental activist and former EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck, reacted succinctly to Cuomo's shift.

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"If you've set your own house on fire and watched it burn for eight years, finally turning on a hose doesn't make you a hero," she said in a statement.

Cuomo and the former "Sex and the City" star are locked in a tight competition for the nomination to the progressive Working Families Party, which could make this year's gubernatorial election a highly competitive three-way race.

Working Families Party state director Bill Lipton welcomed the latest development in the ongoing Democratic unity talks.

"If this holds, the dissolution of the IDC and the acknowledgement of Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins as the sole Senate Democratic leader are critical steps forward to building a more progressive NY," Lipton said in a statement. "It's a development WFP activists, our allies and our endorsed candidates should be very proud of."

Lipton added that the WFP would not withdraw its endorsements of IDC challengers.

Lisa DellAquila, co-executive director of True Blue NY, an umbrella group that is supporting grassroots challenges to IDC members across the state, said her group's members would still support those primary challenges.

"I don't trust the IDC," she said. "They've made promises before and broken them."

Facing similar primaries in 2014, the IDC also agreed to reunify with Senate Democrats, although at that time the arrangement was for the IDC to continue as a separate conference governing with the Democrats. After Republicans kept the majority in the 2014 elections, the IDC again aligned with the GOP.

"Who's to say after the elections in November they won't reconstitute and go back with the Republicans?" DellAquila said. "That's happened before. When they were safe, they continued to do what they were doing before. There's no reason to trust them now."

Chris Bragg contributed reporting.Albany

If state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has his way, it could become a lot more difficult  if not impossible  to buy an assault rifle using a credit or debit card.

Last month, DiNapoli wrote to nine of the world's largest financial companies and banks, as well as companies that process electronic payments, warning that continued use of their services to purchase weapons could pose a "financial risk" to their bottom lines.

Citing the recent school shooting in Parkland, Fla, where 17 people died, DiNapoli said that firms associated with weapons sales could suffer "widespread negative publicity and reputational harm" as a national debate rages over what should be done to curb such violence.

That could result in "significant financial risk" to financial services companies that process weapons sales if public calls for stricter rules continue to grow, he wrote.

In the letters, he added that financial services companies have already barred purchases of items like lottery tickets, digital adult content, cryptocurriences, and so-called mug shot removal companies because of concerns over "reputational and societal harm."

Letters went to the heads of Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, which have tens of millions of credit card customers.

Also receiving letters was First Data Corp, an Atlanta-based payment processing company that handles 45 percent of all credit and debit payments in the U.S. and covers more than six million merchants around the world.

Another company that processes payments for Internet and mail order retailers, London-based Worldpay Inc., also received a letter.

The $209 billion state worker pension fund, controlled by DiNapoli, holds about $4.5 billion in stock in the nine companies.

"Our nation is struggling with an epidemic of gun violence and association with gun sales has the potential to cause significant harm to these corporations' reputations and financial well being," he said. "We want to hear their assessments of the risks they face and how they can take steps to protect themselves and their investors."

Last month, the financial giant Citigroup adopted restrictions that barred the companies it does business with from selling guns to people under the age of 21 and to require that all customers undergo background checks as part of firearm purchases.

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Citigroup also banned its clients from selling high-capacity magazines and bump stocks, a gun accessory that allows a semi-automatic rifle (also known as an assault rifle) to fire similarly to a fully automatic weapon (also known as a machine gun).

A gunman with an assault rifle used a bump stock to shoot and kill 58 people at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas in October. More than 850 people were injured or wounded.

"As a society, we all know that something needs to change. And as a company, we feel we must do our part," wrote Ed Skyler, a Citigroup executive vice president. "It is not centered on an ideological mission to rid the world of firearms."

He said Citigroup merchants who did not want to comply with the new rules would be encouraged to find another financial services company.

Skyler added, "We know that the actions we are taking today will invite passion on both sides. We don't have the perfect solution but we have come to the conclusion that we must do our part to keep guns out of the hands of those who wish to do harm. And we hope our actions help achieve that vital goal."Troy

Rensselaer County lawmakers are calling for state inspections of large trash trucks, many from out of state, that rumble through a Rensselaer neighborhood to reach a massive dump for construction and demolition debris.

County Legislature Chairman Mike Stammel, who has represented the city since 2001, said such inspections are needed for the Dunn landfill because of issues with "clouds of dust and exhaust smoke ... noisy trucks, offensive smells and trash blowing around the streets."

He is backing a resolution urging the state Department of Environmental Conservation to conduct inspections, as well to test air quality around the Partition Street neighborhood that is the only way in and out for dozens of 18-wheeled dump trucks a day.

"Officials from New York State have confirmed what we have said all along, that household trash and construction debris, from around the country, is being brought to Rensselaer in violation of the landfill permit. Now the state needs to take corrective action," said Stammel.

"Kids in Rensselaer High School have complained about the noisy trucks, offensive smells, and the trash blowing around the streets, and getting caught in trees. Residents deal with almost 80 tractor trailers a day on Partition Street, traffic back-ups, and clouds of dust and exhaust smoke. Enough is enough. We need action," said Stammel.

DEC has visited this facility "no fewer than 12 times in 2018 to conduct several additional inspections to ensure the facility is in compliance with all conditions of their permit," according to a DEC statement. That included "an unannounced vehicle inspection performed just two weeks ago as part of a joint-detail with the city of Rensselaer Police Department."

Stammel said dump owners Waste Connections appear to violating the 2012 permit issued by DEC to operate the dump, which is now drawing debris from New York and six northeastern states. Since opening in 2015, the dump has rapidly grown into the largest construction and demolition debris dump in the state.

That permit is due to expire in 2021, unless DEC chooses to renew it, although the dump could have enough room to take waste until 2036.

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The 99-acre dump  which covers parts of Rensselaer, plus neighboring East Greenbush and North Greenbush  can legally accept concrete, sheetrock, asphalt, masonry, roofing materials, plumbing fixtures, insulation (but not asbestos), empty buckets, wood, plastics and "pulverized waste."

Stammel said the county Environmental Committee, headed by Legislator Jake Ashby, will take up the proposal on Wednesday, with action by the full Legislature expected on April 10.

Said Ashby, "This is an environmental issue that the state should take seriously. How can they knowingly allow an out of state company to openly violate a state issued permit?"OPENING FRIDAY

BLOCKERS: Three parents (John Cena, Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz) try to stop their daughters from having sex on prom night in this raunchy comedy for adults. (R for crude and sexual content, and language throughout, drug content, teen partying, and some graphic nudity) blockersmovie.com

CHAPPAQUIDDICK: This historical drama depicts Ted Kennedy's involvement in the fatal 1969 car accident that claimed the life of a young campaign strategist, Mary Jo Kopechne. (PG-13 for thematic material, disturbing images, some strong language, and historical smoking) chappaquiddickmovie.com

THE LEISURE SEEKER: Traveling in their family RV, John and Ella Spencer (Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren) take one last road trip to the Hemingway House in the Florida Keys before his Alzheimer's and her cancer can catch up with them. (R for some sexual material) sonyclassics.com/theleisureseeker

PANDAS: Kristen Bell narrates this documentary about a researcher who forms a bond with a panda who is about to experience nature for the first time in the mountains of Sichuan, China. (G) imax.com/movies/pandas

A QUIET PLACE: Director and co-writer John Krasinski co-stars for the first time with his wife Emily Blunt in this thriller about a family of four who must live life in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound. (PG-13 for terror and some bloody images) paramount.com/movies/quiet-place

OPENING WEDNESDAY

BEIRUT: A U.S. diplomat (Jon Hamm) flees Lebanon in 1972 after a tragic incident at his home. Ten years later, he is called back to war-torn Beirut by a CIA operative (Rosamund Pike) to negotiate for the life of a friend he left behind. (R for language, some violence and a brief nude image) bleeckerstreetmedia.com/beirut

Love movies? Love talking about them? Love reading about them? Go to Times Union Movies blog, moderated by film fanatic C.J. Lais Jr. and join in the conversation. blog.timesunion.com/moviesCredit: Hugo van Lawick

"Jane": Documentary filmmakers often spend their entire lives searching for a single photograph or tiniest bit of film they can use as the core for their project. Brett Morgen's plight was he had an abundance of footage to use to create "Jane," a documentary that looks at the life and work of Jane Goodall.

The productions, produced with National Geographic Documentary Films, was made using more than 140 hours of never-before-seen 16 mm footage that has been in the National Geographic archives for more than 50 years. The majority of the film was shot by Hugo van Lawick, the renowned nature photographer who was married to Goodall from 1964-1974. That footage has been blended with Goodall's own words and set against a majestic score by Philip Glass.; "Jane" stands out because it puts viewers in a similar place to where Goodall sat and observed for so many years. They get to watch her go from a newborn researcher who grows through each blade of knowledge observed along the way. She's lived a life the way most people can only imagine, and that alone is enough to appreciate the power of "Jane."Detroit

Tunde Wey has been called a lot of things.

NPR once referred to him as "a traveling showman."

Renowned Southern food writer John T. Edge called him a "provocateur."

And plenty of online commenters and detractors have called him "racist," particularly after news coverage of his most recent dining concept Saartj went viral. Named after a South African woman who was displayed in 19th-century Europe because of her large buttocks, Saartj was a monthlong New Orleans lunch counter that highlighted racial wealth disparities by charging people of color $12 and offering white people the option to pay $12 or $30.

Now, the Nigerian-born cook is bringing his "discomfort food" (as the Washington Post called it), back to his original second home: Detroit, where Wey found himself as a 16-year-old sent to study in America.

Well, more like Hamtramck, where the traveling activist first got his start in the local food scene in 2013 as an original co-founder of Revolver, the permanent pop-up space featuring rotating guest chefs.

For the first week of May, Wey will run a different kind of restaurant pop-up inside the community space Bank Suey, which will transform into Saartj's next phase.

Saartj Hamtramck won't just be a rehash of his New Orleans lunch counter, however. The goal here, Wey says, is to highlight the work already being done in the city by Malik Yakini of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and Devita Davison of FoodLab. Both are non-profit advocacy organizations that employ food as a tool for community-based developments that aim to improve outcomes for Detroiters, namely African-Americans. The latter does this mainly through entrepreneurial support and the former through farming. Education is central to the work of both.

Wey wants to keep the exact details of how the Saartj experience will go down as a surprise, but in an extended conversation, he offered some insight into what he has planned, what his goals are and why he's not a racist. (The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.)

Question: Tell me about your upcoming Detroit-area restaurant project. What can guests expect?

Answer: If you go to a restaurant right now  any nice, high-end restaurant  as much as possible folks try to tailor the experience to you. They want to know what you like. I want to take care of guests in a different way. I want to tailor the experience to them and I want to predicate that experience on their privilege. So I'm asking folks to fill out a form and that form just gives us an idea of who's coming. That form asks about race, about gender, about educational attainment level, about income, about mobility. Based on that we're going to create a profile and we're going to create a menu for that individual. We want to present to you, in essence, what your privilege represents.

Q: How is this an evolution of your work?

A: With the thing that I did in New Orleans, it was a 10-minute exchange with a person and there was a moment of feeling. And then you go with that and you think about it. With these dinners, I want to do the same. I want to create that moment of feeling. I want people to enter into the space and then be arrested in a particular way and then have that lead into a conversation.

When you go to eat, you're eating based on your privilege. When you go to a nice restaurant, it's your privilege on a plate. But restaurants, they don't highlight that. It's something that is embedded in your experience. But the dinners we're going to have are going to highlight that. We're going to highlight it in different ways  let folks really take a sharp look at their plate, and then in doing that take a sharp look at themselves and then hopefully begin to look at everything around them and the space that they occupy and think about how we can invest in the self-determination of communities that have been disinvested in.

Q: You were highlighting the racial wealth gap with Saartj in New Orleans and this seems to continue that work. But what in particular inspired the Detroit concept?

A: I am inspired by the work of Malik Yakini and what he represents. I think what he does and the work that Devita Davison does at FoodLab  these people and their work represents models that are in my mind just as viable as a traditional model of development and growth in Detroit.

The way we think about growth, the way we think about development, I think we mostly think about big developers building these new properties, or now we also think about smaller developers buying homes and taking up land to farm and cultivate. But the difference with what Malik Yakini is doing specifically and what these other folks are doing is this emphasis on community self-determination, which is about controlling the resources and determining what direction the community is going to move in  which is about robust debate, which is about individual transformation in those communities so that the work is democratic.

I also can see very clearly how destructive some of these other models are. So the dinner is about uplifting self-determination and having a conversation around self-determination as a tool for community transformation as opposed to relying on an exploitative, extractive, free-market system or relying on philanthropy that controls and dictates how money is spent and to whom it is given.

Q: What's special about the work Yakini and Davison are doing?

A: The reason that we have these inequitable communities is because the racialized capitalist system is working effectively. There has to be an exploitable class for there to be a class that enjoys the fruits of that exploitation. And so the work that Malik Yakini is doing, that Devita is doing, is about upending that racialized hierarchy. It's about flattening it.

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Anything you do that doesn't break the wheel  if you will take the "Game of Thrones" reference  but only has these incremental benefits is just an evolution of the same oppressive system. We need to radically address this. Not just because it's a black issue or a POC (people of color) issue. It's a sustainability issue. It's just not feasible. We can't continue to create communities that are disinvested in. We can't continue to disempower communities under the guise of empowering them and expect that the domino effect will not eventually reach us.

Q: Based on the kinds of people that show up to your dinners, do you feel like maybe you're just preaching to the choir?

A: Do you know what I say? I say, "The choir needs to hear the sermon every Sunday!"

Q: On the other hand, it seems like you've gotten quite a wide-ranging response from your recent work.

A: I was hoping for a conversation to happen. I wasn't expecting how big it became. Internationally, I spoke to German public radio and Australian public radio and a French paper.

Q: I'm sure you must've been accused of racism and received other negative feedback?

A: When you talk about racism, in this context we're talking about control over one's life outcome. That's what racism is. It's a systemic reality that affects the outcomes of a specific racial group. We're talking about wealth. We're talking about health. We're talking about education. These are outcomes.

And so me having a stall and engaging a white person for 15 minutes and giving them a choice to pay $12 or $30  that is an inconvenience for them. That is not racism. They have a choice and it's a short window that the inconvenience transpires over. And then they can leave. Nobody's wealth was affected. Nobody's health was affected. Nobody's education was impacted. Nobody's mortality rate was impacted. For people who are willing to listen to that, when you explain it that way and you define what racism really is, then you understand that all these accusations are just frivolous.

Q: So you won't be reading the reader comments on this story?

A: The project happened in New Orleans and it was over, and people were sending me all this racist stuff. And I said "We're having a public conversation about this." There was a two-week window where people had time to prepare. I was like, "Come! Let's talk about this." I was engaging people. I wasn't belligerent at the stall. I told people what I was doing. I wasn't insulting or belittling. I was just stating facts. And I said, "If you have a problem with the project, come out and let's talk about it." Nobody from that camp showed up. It was all folks who were curious about the work, who had questions and wanted to probe and see what we found out. There wasn't this belligerent and caustic voice that you find online or find in my emails. Anybody who has anything to say and wants to have a conversation, I'm happy to have a public conversation with you. Come through.

Q: You may have just invited Richard Spencer to dinner.

A: Hey, as long as he's respectful and can sit down and listenALBANY  Law students and practicing lawyers gathered at Albany Law School Tuesday evening for a training session and panel on how to represent immigrant clients in criminal matters.

The event, put together by board members of the student group Albany Law Criminal Law Society, explored the legal complexities and implications of non-citizen immigrants  legal or not  facing criminal convictions, and how to best represent them in court.

Panelists agreed that the intersection of immigration law with other areas of law, particularly criminal law, creates murky waters difficult for lawyers to wade through.

"The Immigration Reform Act that was passed on September 30, 1996 really reconfigured the immigration system and made it more complex," said Joanne Macri, chief statewide implementation attorney for the New York Office of Indigent Legal Services. "There are so many different areas (federal and state) that have to be looked at to define whether that immigration consequence is going to be applicable or not."

The most common consequences non-citizen immigrants face are ineligibility for immigration court relief, inadmissibility to the U.S. via immigration statuses (e.g. Green Card, Temporary Protective Status), mandatory detention, ineligibility for citizenship, and deportation.

The training session, led by James Milstein of the Albany County Regional Immigration Assistance Center, addressed everything from the first questions lawyers must ask non-citizen immigrant clients, to the definitions and immigration consequences of charges like aggravated felonies.

For example, non-citizen immigrants face mandatory deportation for committing an aggravated felony. Drug trafficking is considered to be an aggravated felony, and possession with intent to sell has been interpreted to be the equivalent of drug trafficking in immigration law. So if a non-citizen immigrant is found to be in possession of a controlled substance, they can be charged with an aggravated felony and face deportation.

Mary Lynch, professor at the Albany Law School Law and Justice Clinic, stressed this chain of definitions and subsequent severe consequences is a result of the criminalization of immigrants.

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"We wanted folks to recognize that when a citizen does something, it's considered no big deal, but sometimes those same things can get labels under the immigration system that are a very big deal," she said. "So what you consider an aggravated felony for a (non-citizen) immigrant is not what you consider an aggravated felony for a citizen."

While the complexities of immigration make it difficult for lawyers to practice, panelists said it is crucial for all lawyers to understand  particularly as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains more and more immigrants at state and local criminal, civil and family court rooms.

"Immigration law pervades everything now  criminal law, family law, international law," said Brian Wang, a private attorney focusing on immigration and nationality law. "It's an integral part of our society and politics, and has become something everyone has to think about."Hoosick Falls

Gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon is scheduled to visit Hoosick Falls on Wednesday afternoon to meet with residents of the embattled community who learned four years ago that their public and private water supplies had been polluted with a toxic manufacturing chemical.

After a meeting with members of the community to hear their accounts of the fallout of the pollution  including diminished property values and blood testing that revealed many residents have higher-than-normal concentrations of the toxic chemical in their bodies  Nixon will take part in a news conference with former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith Enck, according to her campaign.

Nixon announced last month she will challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a Democratic primary. Her return to the Capital Region this week is focused on the Rensselaer County community where residents continued drinking contaminated water for more than a year after health officials and elected leaders learned about the elevated levels of the dangerous chemical.

Fallout from the discovery of the toxic chemical in the water supply of Hoosick Falls later erupted into a war of finger-pointing between local, state and federal agencies after questions emerged in late 2015 about why it took at least 14 months before residents were warned to stop drinking from the village's contaminated wells.

The state Health Department was one of multiple governmental agencies notified in 2014 that the village's wells were contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. Government emails first published by the Times Union in February 2016 showed that several agencies engaged in months of internal debate about how to handle the situation -- and whether to tell the public.

Enck, a Rensselaer County resident who was appointed to as Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator in 2009 by President Barack Obama, stepped down from her post in January 2017 as part of the transition of President Donald Trump. Enck said she will endorse Nixon for governor on Wednesday.

"As the federal official who alerted the public about the risk of drinking the toxic water in Hoosick Falls, I continue to be concerned that the state of New York has not learned the lessons from their water crisis," she said in a statement provided to the Times Union late Tuesday. "It is time for new environmental leadership in New York. Cynthia Nixon would take a less combative and more collaborative approach to tackling the legacy of pollution, which unfortunately can be found in every corner of our state."

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Nixon's visit to Hoosick Falls strikes at the legacy of an environmental disaster that brought widespread criticism on the response to the crisis by Cuomo's administration and subsequently resulted in areas of Hoosick Falls being declared as federal and state superfund sites. The pollution was traced to the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant in the village of Hoosick Falls, a few hundred yards from the village's public wells and water treatment plant.

Nixon, who is widely known for her acting role in the television series "Sex and the City," has characterized Cuomo as a bully and accused him of failing to clean up the Capitol's political corruption as he nears the end of his second term as governor.

The manufacturing plant on McCaffrey Street, which Saint-Gobain bought in 1999, used the chemical for decades and is the village's largest employer with about 125 workers. It owns a second plant in the village with about 75 workers.

Saint-Gobain used PFOA at its plants until December 2014, when it stopped using the chemical.

blyons@timesunion.com  518-454-5547  @brendan_lyonstuALBANY - After less than three months, Albany Legislator Gary Domalewicz may be about to lose his new role as majority leader as a push is under way for legislators to build up resources to make them more responsive to county citizens.

During Legislature Chairman Andrew Joyce's election he championed changes that would improve resources for constituents. Domalewicz hasnt been willing to follow through on those plans, Joyce said. It's led to unrest among some Democrats, who dominate the legislature.

The vision for the legislature was moving legislative operations into the office of the chair, Joyce said. We havent been able to proceed along this line. There is this effort to maintain the status quo and resistance to this kind of change Ive wanted to make.

Joyce confirmed Guilderland Democrat Dennis Feeney is being considered to replace Domalewicz. The Democrats, who would make the decision, are set to caucus on Thursday.

When reached Tuesday afternoon, Domalewicz said he didnt know of any plans to replace him. He did not return later calls for comment. Feeney did not return a call for comment.

Domalewicz took over as majority leader in January after longtime leader Frank Commisso Sr. resigned from the post amid a push to have him ousted after a 25-year reign.

Cohoes Democrat Gil Ethier said he doesnt have an issue with Domalewiczs governance over the caucus, but cited the disruption among Democrats.

We have a split caucus, and thats not a good position to be in. We have to get someone who can put the caucus together as a whole, Ethier said. The whole fighting is about offices between the chair and majority office. So far, none of this has benefited the public.

Joyce promised to make the body more inclusive and bipartisan, aiming to pull the responsibilities currently parked in the majoritys office under the chairs purview. In turn, he said it would allow legislators to do more in their districts and communicate better with constituents.

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Albany Democrat Merton Simpson said majority leadership wasnt as much a concern as appointing Republicans to committee chairs.

The issue is a disproportionate influence of Republicans. That just doesnt make any sense, Simpson said. For the same reason that the people who are Democrats have problems with (President) Donald Trump, the people of Albany should have a problem with a disproportionate influence of people with similar ideologies to Trump.

Other Democrats have become disenchanted altogether, seeing the fighting as a distraction from addressing policy and issues.

I wish they would all resolve it, said Albany Democrat Chris Higgins. We should be focusing on the constituents of the county.Washington

President Donald Trump offered a measured gesture of support for the embattled head of the Environmental Protect Agency on Tuesday but those words of encouragement for Scott Pruitt also came with a White House warning about the ethical questions surrounding his travel spending and ties to Washington lobbyists.

"I hope he's going to be great," Trump told reporters, declining to reiterate publicly his private praise for Pruitt's work.

In a phone call Monday, Trump told the EPA chief "we've got your back" and urged him to "keep his head up" and "keep fighting," according to two administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

But two other officials, also without authority to be identified, said the praise referred to Pruitt's work in loosening environmental regulations that the Trump administration has argued hamstring manufacturers.

Those officials added the call's tone was not entirely positive  and that the White House is displeased by the cloud over Pruitt. They also said John Kelly, Trump's chief of staff, delivered a warning to Pruitt about the White House's displeasure.

Meanwhile, two Republicans representing left-leaning South Florida districts, Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, joined Democrats and environmental groups on Tuesday in calling on Pruitt to resign or be fired.

In a tweet, Curbelo said Pruitt's "corruption scandals are an embarrassment to the Administration, and his conduct is grossly disrespectful to American taxpayers."

The White House has grown weary in recent weeks of the scrutiny of administration staffing after a wave of departures weakened morale.

Pruitt was one of several Cabinet officials summoned a month ago to meet with White House lawyers and Cabinet affairs staff over ethical questions, where they were warned that further negative headlines could imperil their jobs. Officials said he did not disclose his housing situation at the time.

Pruitt has come under intense scrutiny for his use of a Capitol Hill condominium owned by the wife of prominent Washington lobbyist Steven Hart, whose firm represents fossil fuel companies. An agency ethics official at the EPA has insisted that Pruitt's lease didn't violate federal ethics rules.

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A memo signed by Kevin Minoli contends that Pruitt's $50-a-night rental payments constitute a fair market rate. Pruitt's lease, however, required him to pay just for nights he occupied the unit. Pruitt actually paid a total of $6,100 over the six-month period he leased the condo, an average of about $1,000 a month.

But current rental listings for two-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood show they typically go for far more than what Pruitt paid. A two-bedroom townhome on the same block as the one leased by Pruitt was advertised for rent on Monday at $3,750 a month.

Records show that while Pruitt was living in the condo, he met in his EPA office with a lobbyist from Hart's firm and two executives from an energy company seeking to scuttle tighter pollution standards for coal-fired power plants. EPA also granted a favorable ruling to a pipeline company also represented by Hart's firm.

Democrats from both the House and Senate issued letters Tuesday urging the EPA's inspector general to investigate Pruitt's living arrangements.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Kaplan said the watchdog office is evaluating the requests. It is already probing Pruitt's outsized 2017 travel spending, which has included extensive use of bodyguards and frequent use of first-class airline tickets.HUDSON  Three local radio stations will host a pet food drive Saturday to benefit the Columbia-Greene Humane Society's Food Bank.

The collection  run by Oldies 93.5 FM, The Cat 98.5 FM and WRWD  will run 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 7 at the Hudson ShopRite.

Radio personality Bill Williams from The Cat and Oldies will be on hand to collect donations.

The Food Bank is in desperate need of dry cat food and, for every bag donated, a supporter of the shelter will donate a matching bag.

"Our bank has been a critical service for hundreds of people in the community who have fallen on difficult economic times," said Ron Perez, the president of CGHS and an investigator for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

How the Times Union is driving results A newspaper is a force for bringing to light misbehavior by the powerful, tells the stories of society's most vulnerable, and tracks conversations on the best way to achieve change.

The bank is a free service to cat and dog owners who are experiencing financial hardships, and is open every day from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The shelter gives away more than 35,000 pounds of free pet food each year.

For more information, call 518-828-6044, or visit cghs.org.New York

Seventeen states including New York, the District of Columbia and six cities sued the U.S. government Tuesday, saying the addition of a citizenship question to the census form is unconstitutional.

State Attorney General Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat who announced the new lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, said the plans would have a "devastating effect on New York, where we have millions of immigrants."

"It's unlawful. It's unfair," Schneiderman said at a news conference. He added that it would end a long-standing bipartisan effort to ensure the census is accurate and that the Bureau of the Census carries out its mandate to conduct a full and fair count of the population, including citizens and non-citizens.

Federal funding and congressional representation are at stake in the dispute over the Trump administration's move to reinstate the citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The Census Bureau hasn't included a citizenship question in its survey of all U.S. households since 1950, well before passage of a 1965 law meant to ensure minority groups were fully represented in the once-a-decade count. The NAACP has said the plans for the census will lead to a massive undercounting of blacks.

The lawsuit, which also included the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors as a plaintiff, said adding the citizenship demand to the 2020 census questionnaire was arbitrary and will "fatally undermine the accuracy of the population count."

It asked for a ruling that the citizenship demand is unauthorized and unconstitutional.

A government spokesman did not immediately comment. The Justice Department has said it "looks forward to defending the reinstatement of the citizenship question." The Commerce Department has said the benefits of obtaining citizenship information "outweighed the limited potential adverse impacts."

According to the lawsuit, nearly a quarter of households in New York state did not return their 2010 census questionnaire, requiring an in-person follow-up. It noted that one-in-five New York residents were born in another country.

At the news conference, three other New York Democrats criticized the plan.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez called the citizenship question a "blatant attempt to undermine our Constitution and to undermine our democracy."

How the Times Union is driving results A newspaper is a force for bringing to light misbehavior by the powerful, tells the stories of society's most vulnerable, and tracks conversations on the best way to achieve change.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler said it was a "brazen attempt by the Trump administration to cheat on the census, to undermine the integrity of the census and to attack states ... to steal electoral votes from those states and give them to more congenial states that will vote Republican."

Rep. Carolyn Maloney predicted the lawsuit will end before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"It is unprecedented. It is wrong. And it's got to be stopped," she said of the citizenship question.

The defendants were the U.S. Department of Commerce, responsible for the census, and the Bureau of the Census. Plaintiffs include New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia, New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Providence, R.I.

California's attorney general filed a separate lawsuit last week that seeks to block the citizenship question from being added to the census questionnaire.Columbia County Sheriff's Office

CLAVERACK - A log truck traveling on Route 23 flipped on its side Monday morning after it was sideswiped by a car driving in the opposite direction, Columbia County Sheriff's Office said.

Denise White, 53, of Copake Falls, was driving her 2002 Subaru westbound when she crossed over into the eastbound lane, deputies said. Damon Filli, 39, of Claverack, was driving the 2005 Western log truck eastbound. He swerved to avoid the Subura, but was sideswiped by the car.ALBANY  New York made history this past week when it became the first state to work out a deal to hold the pharmaceutical industry responsible for at least some of the financial costs of the deadly and growing opioid drug epidemic.

Those costs have thus far been borne by taxpayers, as people addicted to powerful prescription painkillers, heroin, fentanyl and other opioids cycle in and out of ambulances, emergency rooms, jails, courts, rehabilitation centers and social service programs. In 2016, more than 3,000 New Yorkers overdosed on the drugs and died.

But the passage Saturday of the Opioid Stewardship Fund in the 2018-19 state budget will now require opioid manufacturers and distributors to pay into a $100 million annual fund designed to cover the costs of prevention, treatment and recovery programs. It was cheered by substance abuse providers and addiction recovery advocates, who say it's only right that the industry which helped create the crisis should help pay for it.

"When BP polluted our ocean they had to pay for the cleanup," said Stephanie Campbell, executive director of Friends of Recovery - New York. "I would suggest that the opioid industry has polluted our environment. They have contributed to the flooding of the market with opioids, which have proven addictive and deadly, and made incredible profits while doing it."

The deal to get manufacturers and wholesalers to pay up came out of a last-minute compromise between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Assembly, who had been pushing for a per-pill tax on opioids, and the Senate, which refused to impose new taxes that studies had shown could potentially be passed down to consumers. Specific language in the Stewardship Act prohibits pill makers and distributors from passing the so-called "assessment" on to purchasers and patients.

Bills are pending in at least a dozen other states to create a tax on the sale of opioids as a way of consistently funding drug abuse treatment and prevention programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Assessments paid into stewardship funds  a tax by another name, really  are another possible redress currently being eyed in places like Delaware and Minnesota.

"We've gotten calls from other states and they want to know, how did you guys do it? Because they've been trying to do it too," said Campbell. "This sets a precedent nationally that we can hold pharmaceutical companies accountable. So we view it as a major accomplishment."

So how will it work?

Any manufacturer or distributor licensed to sell or distribute opioids in New York will pay a collective $100 million a year into the fund, with payments divided based on each group's share of the market  or the total number of morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs), a potency measurement, sold statewide. Those who sell or distribute more MMEs, for example, would pay a larger share. Those who sell or distribute fewer would pay a smaller share.

Each licensed maker and seller must submit an annual report to the state Health Department detailing a list of opioids sold or distributed in the state, the date of sale, gross receipt and strength no later than June 30, and will learn what its share is no later than Oct. 15. The first payments will be due Jan. 1, and must be made quarterly.

All opioids sold in the state must be counted, except those used to treat opioid addiction, including buprenorphine, methadone and morphine.

The program expires in 2024, at which time lawmakers will assess its effectiveness and consider it for renewal.

Price Chopper Supermarkets, which operates a controlled substance warehouse in New York and distributes opioids to its in-store pharmacies, is one distributor that may be unexpectedly caught in the new law's crosshairs.

"There is some ambiguity around the new opioid surcharge law and it is unclear at this time if or how it may affect us," said company spokeswoman Mona Golub. "In the coming days, we'll be speaking with legislative experts and other chain pharmacies that operate in New York state to gain clarity around this law and its effects."

How the Times Union is driving results A newspaper is a force for bringing to light misbehavior by the powerful, tells the stories of society's most vulnerable, and tracks conversations on the best way to achieve change.

Criticisms, concerns

The program is not without its flaws, as opponents and even supporters point out.

The pharmaceutical industry itself is  perhaps unsurprisingly  not a fan, saying the "assessment" is really just another name for a tax, and will have the same unintended consequences as the opioid tax Gov. Andrew Cuomo first proposed in January.

A study of that plan, completed by a pair of Union College economics professors and commissioned by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), found that most of the cost of the tax would be passed on to state residents who do not consume opioids, with higher insurance premiums being one result. It would also encourage people suffering from an opioid addiction to switch to cheaper illegal options, like heroin and fentanyl, which are associated with higher rates of accidental overdose, it concluded.

"We're disappointed that budget makers chose a misguided and flawed assessment scheme that won't solve the complex and multifaceted opioid abuse crisis," said Priscilla VanderVeer, a spokeswoman for PhRMA.

Assemblyman John McDonald III, a pharmacist and owner of Marra's Pharmacy in Cohoes, doesn't dispute that some of the cost may be passed down to consumers, despite language in the bill prohibiting as much.

"The fact is that they have ways, indirectly, to reclaim some of the increased cost  either through price increases at the manufacturer level or by changing the terms of discounts to customers, which are the pharmacies," he said. "So the pharmacies may pay a little bit of it, and the consumer may to a lesser level pick up some of the cost."

Nevertheless, the Stewardship Fund was a financial and political necessity, McDonald said. Revenue was needed to expand treatment and recovery options, and making the industry pay up was the only real palatable option.

"The reality is young men and women are dying because of addiction, and society is mad," he said. "They're mad and they need someone to be mad at, so they're going to go after the two obvious sources  Pharma and wholesalers  who, coincidentally, are the farthest removed from the patient."Albany Police Dept.

ALBANY - A city man was arrested for allegedly robbing the First New York Federal Credit Union on Central Avenue Monday afternoon, Albany police said.

Wynn Sheldon, 52, was charged in connection with the bank robbery at 818 Central Ave. An employee told police that an unknown suspect entered the bank at about 2:10 p.m. and approached the teller with a note demanding money. The teller complied and the suspect fled with an undetermined amount of cash.A team of the 2nd Global Contest of Innovation in Smart Manufacturing from Ningbo, Zhejiang province goes to Los Angeles, the United States to hunt for advanced talents and projects in March, 2018. [Photo/zjscwl.cn]

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province is targeting overseas talents for its development in science and technologies.

The city recently promoted three innovation and startup contests abroad to select potential individuals and projects worldwide.

In the middle of March, the 2nd Global Contest of Innovation in Smart Manufacturing China Hemudu successfully organized its North America Trial in Los Angeles, the United States. Four projects selected from 35 candidates will compete with others at the finals in May in Yuyao, a county-level city in Ningbo.

There was also a contest on life sciences at the University of Tokyo to hunt for talented professionals there.

The 5th Global New Material Startups Contest got started on March 30 and will go to Berlin in Germany and Lyons in France for global projects and talents.

High-level talents from home and abroad are always considered an important driving force for the industrial upgrading. Since the beginning of 2018, Ningbo has comprehensively upgraded its programs and platforms for talents and endeavored to create a friendly environment for innovation and startups by promoting the matchmaking between talents and industries, and introducing more professional powers.

In addition, Ningbo has set up incubators for startups in overseas cities such as Tokyo in Japan, Munich in Germany and Haifa in Israel.As part of the Warrant Wednesday initiative, State Police are looking for several people, including one who is wanted by the Albany, Troy and Mechanicville police as well as the Rensselaer and Warren County sheriff's offices.

Look through the photos above for information on this week's Warrant Wednesday subjects.Menands

A large, white marble gravestone leans precariously in the burial plot of the fabled Van Rensselaer family at Albany Rural Cemetery.

It's pitched at an angle a few feet from a majestic monument to Stephen Van Rensselaer III, the last patroon, who was one of the richest men in America when he died in 1839.

Known as "the good patroon" for his philanthropy, including establishing Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, Van Rensselaer's assets were estimated at $10 million ($68 billion in today's dollars), or 1/65th of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, making him the 10th richest American of all-time, according to Forbes.

But his vast wealth faded away over generations and frost heaves across more than 150 winters exacted a toll on the final resting place of the illustrious clan. Here lie more than a dozen descendants of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a wealthy Amsterdam jewel merchant who inherited the patroonship known as Rensselaerswyck. The vast tract of land included all of present-day Albany and Rensselaer counties.

Cemetery officials have applied for a state grant to straighten, clean and create a new base for the four-foot white marble gravestone for Harriet Van Rensselaer Douw, who died in 1862 at age 20.

"I'm glad to hear they're repairing it," said descendant Philip Van Rensselaer Tilney, 75, of Kennebunkport, Maine, five generations removed from the last patroon. The retired anthropologist and folklorist with the Canadian Museum of History and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. last visited the family plot in 2013. That year, he donated 13 boxes of family papers and correspondence to Charles Gehring, director of the New Netherland Research Center at the State Library and an expert on the Van Rensselaers and Colonial Dutch history.

"My kids weren't interested in all that old stuff," he said. "They don't quite grasp that we might have controlled half of upstate New York if things had gone differently."

"There are a lot of interesting items, including a lock of hair encapsulated in a frame and Civil War correspondence from Van Rensselaers," Gehring said. "The family's only concern is that the collection is preserved and appreciated."

"These papers complement our other Van Rensselaer holdings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries," said Kathi Stanley, head of the State Library's Manuscripts and Special Collections, where the Van Rensselaer Family Papers donated by Tilney are stored and have been catalogued.

Meanwhile, the Van Rensselaer gravestone repair, pending approval, will be undertaken in the fall with a grant from the state Division of Cemeteries, which limits each cemetery to apply for a maximum of 50 gravestone repairs. Last year, Albany Rural received a $52,000 grant to repair 50 gravestones out of more than 135,000 in the cemetery, which was incorporated in 1841.

"We selected the Van Rensselaer gravestone because of the potential hazard it presents," said John Buszta, general manager of the cemetery.

In 2014, a 4-year-old boy was critically injured when a 3-foot high gravestone that weighed hundreds of pounds fell on him as he and his 2-year-old brother played in the cemetery, with adult family members nearby. The boy's name was never released and he spent weeks in pediatric intensive care at Albany Medical Center. The extent of his injuries were unclear. Colonie police called it "a tragic accident" and ruled out any criminality in the case.

"We have never heard anything from the family" and no lawsuit was filed against the cemetery, Buszta said.

More Information Contact Paul Grondahl at 518-454-5623 or email pgrondahl@timesunion.com See More Collapse

In 1987, a 3-year-old boy from Brunswick, N.J. was killed in Parkview Cemetery in Schenectady after a 540-pound gravestone fell on him while he was playing during a family visit. In 1993, a 5-year-old Albany boy was critically hurt when a one-ton monument fell on him in St. Agnes Cemetery in Cohoes while his mother visited her husband's grave.

The state cemetery division awarded more than $650,000 in grants last year to fix leaning monuments and to maintain abandoned cemeteries. The money comes from a $5 fee for every interment or cremation by not-for-profit cemeteries statewide.

"We're very appreciative for the state funding to fix stones and we hope it continues for a good many years, because we never know when stones will start leaning after the winter frost," Buszta said.

Tilney learned of his patroon legacy by chance. "It's an astonishing, absolutely incredible history, but I never appreciated it growing up," he said. His father gave him a family Bible with his family's full surname written out when he went away to boarding school at Groton in Groton, Mass., at age 11.

He has dim boyhood memories visiting Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. with his mother, Olive Van Rensselaer Gawtry, to see a portion of the Van Rensselaer manor house that was dismantled in Albany by architect Marcus T. Reynolds and partially reassembled on the Williams campus.

The son also accompanied his mother to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to view a portion of the Van Rensselaer manor house's great hall on permanent exhibit.

"I don't remember any of that very well, but my mother was intrigued with the family history," he said.

Some local historians have expressed interest in excavating a long-forgotten vault beneath the Van Rensselaer plot, which is believed to contain Schuyler family remains and other items.

"I'm all for excavating the vault beneath the Van Rensselaer plot," Tilney said. "It would be fascinating to see what's under there."

"We have no plans to dig up the vault," Buszta said. "I don't see that ever happening."

Stay tuned.

pgrondahl@timesunion.com  518-454-5623  @PaulGrondahlIrish Water and Tipperary County Council are progressing the Clonmel Regional Water Supply Scheme North Storage project. The project includes the construction of a new reservoir and the construction of over 4km of new water mains and booster station, which will benefit the northern area of Clonmel. Irish Water has signed a contract with John Craddock Ltd to deliver the project.

Works are due to begin in the coming weeks and are expected to be completed in 2019.

This project is needed to increase the security of the water supply for businesses and residents in North Clonmel. The existing supply is currently fed from a pumped system with no effective storage in place. The project will increase treated water storage capacity with the construction of a new reservoir.

The works associated with the proposed development include the construction of a new 4,000m3 capacity reservoir in the townland of Giantsgrave, a new booster pumping station at Rathronan and over 4km of new water mains.

Commenting on the project Lisa Cogan, Irish Water Regional Lead, said We are delighted to progress the project to deliver the Clonmel Regional Water Supply Scheme North Storage Reservoir. This project will improve the security of the water supply for the people of North Clonmel and surrounding areas. Once complete the new reservoir and water mains will provide a more reliable service for customers and support current and future economic development in the area.

Irish Water spent over 526 million on water and wastewater services in 2017.Capital investment in the region of 700 million per year is needed for a sustained period of several decades to address the poor condition of Irelands water infrastructure. Works have been prioritised to address the most critical issues in line with commitments outlined in Irish Waters Business Plan up to 2021. Delivery of the business plan will involve a 5.5bn investment in capital spending on drinking water and wastewater quality and capacity and new infrastructure up to 2021 while achieving efficiencies of 1.6bn.

The project includes the construction of a new reservoir and installation of over 4km of water mains and associated booster pumping station for the northern area of Clonmel.Apple has made a major move towards dramatically improving its artificial intelligence efforts.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that it has hired Google's former search and artificial intelligence chief John Giannandrea. In his new role at Apple, Giannandrea will lead the company's "machine learning and AI strategy." He'll also report directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook, illustrating how important the new role is in Cupertino.

The move could send shockwaves through the tech industry. Apple's Siri has been lagging far behind its competitors in the artificial intelligence market. And as time has gone on, Google and Amazon have both boosted their own services in Google Assistant and Alexa. Apple, hoping to play a larger role in artificial intelligence, has been playing catch up.

MORE: Alexa vs. Siri vs. Google Assistant: Which Smart Assistant Wins?

"Top AI talent is ludicrously expensive right now, so Apple getting Giannandrea makes two statements, said Avi Greengart, research director for consumer platforms and devices at GlobalData. "Apple recognizes that it needs to pay whatever it takes to improve its AI efforts across all its products and services; and that Apples privacy-centric approach to AI is interesting enough to lure top talent."

Apple has been looking to expand Siri's reach. The service has been available in iPhones, iPads, and Macs for years, but is now available in the company's HomePod smart speaker. With HomePod, Apple's Siri is in direct competition with Google and Amazon AI services running on competing speakers, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

One of the biggest complaints about the HomePod this year has been its Siri integration  and its general lack of smarts compared to the Alexa baked into an Amazon Echo.

By hiring Giannandrea, Siri should get a major IQ boost over time, which will allow it to be a more useful companion. Siri is generally pretty good at the basics, such as looking up the weather, setting reminders and dictating text messages, but it has fallen behind Google Assistant and Alexa in terms of general knowledge, shopping skills and controlling smart home devices.

Giannandrea has a long history in the artificial intelligence market. Before joining Google in 2010, he was chief technology officer at Metaweb, a startup that was building technology that could act as the "database of the world's knowledge." The feature was ultimately folded into Google Search as a way to deliver answers to questions users might input into the search box.

Upon joining Google, Giannandrea took on a leadership role in artificial intelligence, where he helped to build Google Assistant. He also played a leadership role in integrating Google Assistant and other AI features into Google Search, Gmail, and other services.

Apple didn't say exactly what Giannandrea will be working on at the company. In an e-mail to employees obtained by The New York Times on Tuesday (Apr. 4), Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company will "make computers even smarter and more personal." But Giannandrea also "shares our commitment to privacy."Ever since it arrived at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, the new Mercedes C-Class has been a regular topic of discussion in the auto industry. Its tagged as a facelift, but it actually falls under the category of an all-new model given the number of changes its had compared to its predecessor. One of those changes is the addition of a diesel hybrid model, which will most likely be referred to as the C 300 de. Its an unconventional move to fit a diesel with an electric motor, but its all part of the Mercedes experience. One of the features of this diesel hybrid powertrain is its torque output, something Mercedes says reaches 516 pound-feet of torque, exactly the same amount of torque that the AMG C 63 has.

The C 300 de name will feature Mercs 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel engine that produces 191 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque

Its an unusual move to fit a diesel engine with an electric motor, but Mercedes has shown itself to be unpredictable from time to time. This one counts as one of those times. The C-Class diesel hybrid model is reportedly taking the C 300 de name. More importantly, it will feature Mercs 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel engine that produces 191 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque with an electric motor that produces around 121 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque of its own, to go with a 13.5 kWh battery pack. The torque figure is really strong because you combine the 400 Nm (295 pound-feet) in the OM654 and 440 Nm (325 pound-feet) from the 90kW electric motor, C-Class engineering chief Christian Fruh told Auto Express.

The massive torque numbers generated by the diesel engine and the electric motor adds up to a staggering 619 pound-feet of torque, a number that would blow the torque figures of the AMG C 63 out of the water. It sounds deliriously tasty having that much torque in a car, but Mercedes has no plans to offer that total because, according to Fruh, that much torque would exceed the maximum capability of the gearbox. As a result, the automaker is capping the C 300 des torque figures at 700 Nm (516 pound-feet), a figure that still stands in its own right.

The C 300 de will be able to post around 38g/km of C02 emissions, well below the 48g/km that the C 350 e produces

Beyond its abilities, the diesel hybrid setup will also feature lower CO2 emissions than any C-Class variant in the market, including the lines resident plug-in hybrid, the C 350 e. According to Fruh, the C 300 de will be able to post around 38g/km of C02 emissions, well below the 48g/km that the C 350 e produces. More importantly, the diesels expected CO2 footprint will fall comfortably below the current emissions regulations. Itll also come with an all-electric range of around 31 miles, thanks in large part to an electric motor thats strong enough to deliver a smooth ride at cruising speeds.

Theres no word yet on when Mercedes plans to launch the C 350 de, but expect it to arrive sometime this year, possibly in the second half of 2018.

References

Read our full review on the 2018 Mercedes C-Class.

Read more Mercedes-Benz news.

Source: Auto ExpressIt is a multinational charity that aims to raise awareness of and money for mens health founded in 2003. It has funded more than 800 programs focusing on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, poor mental health, mens health awareness and healthy lifestyles.

In an attempt to break a Guinness World Record, a British 22-year-old lad, Henry Crew, will travel around the globe on a motorcycle to become the youngest person to do so. His quest will take him 35,000 miles through 35 countries on six continents where he will be raising funds and awareness for the Movember Foundation.

The current Guinness World Record is held by another British man Kane Avellano, from South Shields, who circumnavigated the earth in 233 days while he was just 24. Meanwhile, our 22-year-old Henry set off from the UK yesterday and plans to return by Friday, May 10, 2019, to take a dig at beating the previous record.

While at it, Henry will raise funds and awareness focussing on mens health risks. Losing three of his friends to suicide, Henry is more than determined to raise over 35,000 (nearly $50,000), or 1 for every mile ridden. All of which will be donated to The Movember Foundation.

His companion throughout will be a Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled donated by Ducati UK. The majority of this bike will remain relatively stock. A rear luggage rack, fly screen, and engine guards have been added to the bike. Malle London will provide luggage accessories.

The countries he will be covering 35,000 odd miles will cross over UK, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania,Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Pakistan, India,Bangladesh, India, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Malaysia, Australia (Perth -Brisbane), Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, USA, Morocco, Spain, France and finally back to the UK.

I want to show that anyone can ride a bike and if I can circumnavigate the world, so can you!Mauritius and China have reiterated their determination towards consolidating economic and trade relations by signing the agreed minutes pertaining to the first round of negotiations on the Mauritius-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) yesterday at the Maritim Resort & Spa, in Balaclava.

The signatories were Director of Trade Policy: International Trade Division  Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Narainduth Boodhoo; and Head of the Chinese delegation, and Deputy Director General: Ministry of Commerce, Mr Hu Yingzhi.

A delegation of fifteen members from the Peoples Republic of China was in Mauritius to initiate negotiations on the first ever FTA between both countries and to take stock of the points that were agreed upon during the discussions. Documents were also exchanged between the Mauritian and Chinese delegations so as to determine the position of both countries regarding the possibilities arising with the implementation of the FTA.

In his statement, Mr Boodhoo, underlined that the discussions have been fruitful and constructive in gauging the discrepancies and gaps existing between the two sides with regards to the FTA. The two delegations had the opportunity to exchange views on the four aspects of the Agreement, namely: trade in goods, trade in services, investment possibilities, and economic cooperation but the main focus of this first round of discussions was on trade in goods, he pointed out.

A Joint Feasibility Study was finalised in May 2017 after which negotiations discussing the framework agreement kick-started, he recalled. Now, the following step, he emphasised, will be to complete detailed negotiations relating to market access of both countries after rigorous internal consultations. The next meeting will be held in Beijing during which both countries will proceed to the official exchange of requests regarding market access, Mr Boodhoo announced.

For his part, the Head of the Chinese delegation, Mr Hu Yingzhi, highlighted that the FTA will strengthen and expand the scope of economic cooperation between Mauritius and China as well as eliminate trade barriers. The ability of both countries to share views and negotiate, clearly demonstrates the longstanding cooperation and friendly relations that they have been sharing since 1972, he stated.

The Deputy Director General also underscored that both sides were successful in developing common grounds but more efforts will be required as regards flexibility in the level of their expectations. The first round of negotiations, he pointed out, have already laid the foundation for Mauritius-China economic, trade and investment relations in the coming years.Before the first settlers arrived, forests covered up to 40% of what is now barren Iceland. Reforestation has been challenging, but progress is being made.

One of the iconic and ironic beauties of Iceland is the barren, otherworldly landscape. There are volcanoes and glaciers, all punctuated with those stark rolling vistas oddly void of trees. While many might assume that the bare land has to do with location or climate, it has much more to do with the Vikings.

When the first settlers arrived in the 9th century from what is now Norway, forest covered up to 40 percent of the country. But then humankind does what much of humankind does best and ruined it all. The need for grazing land and fuel was met with a lack of understanding about the dangers of deforestation, and bye-bye, trees. Soil erosion was exacerbated by sheep overgrazing on plants that were already struggling, plus the additional stress from blankets of volcanic ash  all ending in Iceland's surreal (and hard to farm) topography.

But now, thanks to the Icelandic Forest Service with assistance from forestry societies and forest farmers, trees are making a comeback.

Bringing Back Trees

 Forest in Egilsstair, Iceland (E. Hermanowicz/EUFORGEN)

But alas, it's not without some controversy. The only forest-forming species native to Iceland is downy birch (Betula pubescens). Now we all know that we're not supposed to introduce non-native species into an ecosystem; it's maybe the number one ecology no-no. But thanks to a changing climate, much of the downy birch that has been planted over the last half century has failed to thrive, and in fact, is dying. So there has been much effort made in identifying non-native species that are better suited for warmer temperatures, species such as spruces, pines and larch.

So now, the Icelandic Forest Service, with the help of the Euforgen program, is working on producing seedlings locally, from carefully selected parents of these non-native species; most of them coming form Alaska. With the help of these newcomers, the forests are "growing better than anybody ever thought, says rostur Eysteinsson, Director of the Icelandic Forest Service.

New Forests Show Early Progress

From the original 25 to 40 percent of forest coverage a millennia ago, by the 1950s there was a scant one percent coverage. Now it has inched up to two percent. The goal of Icelands National Forestry Strategy? 12 percent of forest cover by 2100, with the use of selected non-native species "ensuring resilience and sustainability."

A return of trees would have far-reaching benefits, not only for the return of farmable soil and helping to prevent the sandstorms that a lack of trees has given rise to, but also in terms of climate change. Given the county's relatively high per-capita emissions of greenhouse gases, mostly due to transportation and heavy industries, Icelands leaders see reforestation as an avenue toward meeting the nation's climate goals. Saving the world, one non-native tree at a time? Sometimes you have to get creative.

You can see much more about the regreening efforts in the video below.Treehugger and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Treehugger.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors)Do you have a news tip?

Want to share good news story, or do you have information that should see the light of day? Then we want to hear from you.

More hereYou do need a visa.

Two weeks - think 3 locations only. Fly in to Brisbane, you can do GC or Sunshine Coast from there. Minimum 4 nights to add the GC or the SC, minimum 6 nights to add both. Add at least another night if Fraser Island appeals. Then fly to Cairns, recommend 5 nights here. Townsville is 5 to 6 hour's drive further south, so there's your 3rd location.

July is our winter and ideal for visiting the north of Australia. Melbourne will be cold, probably wet, and have short daylight hours.The Metro North commuter trains go as far as New Haven.

They are more frequent and less expensive than Amtrak and do not require advance reservations.

Amtrak serves some of the same stations, but tickets should be purchased at least two weeks (or more) in advance for the best prices and choice of travel times. MN trains leave from Grand Central. Amtrak from Penn Station.

Be aware the bridge crossings to the cape can have tremendous traffic jams at certain times in the summer so time your travels accordingly.Hi all,

Ever since I decided to do a solo trip in Vietnam, I've been lurking in this forum and reading up as much as I could on everything. Well, in spite of me being insanely careful about all my belongings, my iPhone was taken from my hands by a guy on the motorbike. I was stepping out of a mini-mart on the infamous "backpacker's street" and took out my phone for about 3 seconds to check on my grab. That's all it took for him to grab and speed away.

Long story short - I went to the police station after with a few locals who helped translate the incident. Today, the iPhone was turned on and the location was at a certain street in District 4. I went to the cops and they basically said they can't do anything about it just yet. That, there's a process involved. Just now, I see that it has arrived at a store in the Ben Thanh market. I had one of my hostel mates phone the police and let them know. They still gave me the same answer. I have a flight back home tomorrow morning at 10 am. My question is - do I drop by before the flight to the store, and try to buy the phone off of the guy? Is that a safe move for a petite, solo female traveler? Or would anyone happen to have friends who could speak to the store owner for me about the iPhone? I have the IMEI number so it should be easy to tell if it's mine or not.

Unfortunately, my travel insurance covers all kinds of thefts besides phones. So, I am a bit desperate. I'd be happy to pay a reasonable sum for the phone and if found after I'm gone, would also pay for the shipping to India. Lost all faith in the cops but still don't want to give up.Re: What would you do in this scenario

6. Re: What would you do in this scenario

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We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.Hi there!

I am a female traveling alone to Japan (not my first time alone, but first time to Osaka). My plane arrives Kansai International Airport at 8:30pm. I am not sure how long it will take in customs and what time I will be out of the airport, and in time to catch the overnight bus to Tokyo.

Im confused on how to catch the overnight bus and which is the easiest company to book with. I am looking at Willer Express and JR Highway Bus.

1.) Do I book the KATE bus ( ) to Umeda Station or to OCAT, and from either Station thats where I take the Willer Express or JR bus?

2.) I cannot find a direct bus from KIX airport to Tokyo on overnight bus. Is there such a thing?

3.) I am taking a carry on luggage, but how do I plan on time considering time in customs and, travel time from KIX into Umeda Statiom or OCAT, and then making sure I am there on time for a bus that departs by midnight bound for Tokyo?

BTW- I heard the Shinkansen begins service at 4 or 5 AM... I considered sleeping overnight in Osaka and taking the Shinkansen, but I dont want that option  I prefer to just sleep on the bus and get to Tokyo immediately.

Please help! I leave in 2 weeks.Itinerary advice please for two week trip around Honshu

Itinerary advice please for two week trip around Honshu

Hello,

We are two people planning our first trip to Japan in September. We've got 17 days and have come up with an itinerary which seems crammed but hopefully realistic.

We've tried to schedule it so we can go to the Danjiri Matsuri festival in Kishiwada, Osaka prefecture. All travelling will be by train and we are planning to buy a JR pass.

But in particular, we're struggling with how best to fit in the Tateyama to Kurobe Alpine Route.

Any thoughts are appreciated please or any places we could skip or increase/decrease our time there. Or any places we have missed?

Day 1 - Arrive in Tokyo in the morning.

Day 2 - Tokyo.

Day 3 - Tokyo.

Day 4 - Day trip to Nikko from Tokyo. Sleep in Tokyo.

Day 5 - Go to Hakone. Spend night in Hakone.

Day 6 - Go to Kanazawa and spend night there.

Day 7 - Set off early and do the alpine trail from east to west. Finish and return to Kanazawa or stay in Matsumoto.

Day 8 - Go to Takayama and spend night there.

Day 9 - Explore Takayama, afternoon trip to see Shirakawa-go. In evening get the train to Kyoto.

Day 10 - Kyoto.

Day 11 - Kyoto.

Day 12 - Go to Hiroshima and Mijayima Island. Travel to Onomichi and spend the night there.

Day 13 - Cycle part of the Shimanami Kaido route from Onomichi and return to Onomichi to sleep.

Day 14 - Go to Himeji Castle. Go to Kishiwada to sleep so we are in time for Danjiri Matsuri festival the following day.

Day 15 - Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri festival.

Day 16 - Go to Koyasan for Shukubo temple stay.

Day 17 - Return to Tokyo.

Day 18 - Fly home.

Any help would be great please! Many thanksLabor Day celebrations were initiated in the 1880's to commemorate the critical struggle of the working-class individuals all over the world. Labor Day celebration is also known as International Workers Day, May Day, or Workers Day. This special day is marked in the first of May each year in most countries including Kenya. The May 1 celebrations in Kenya takes place at Uhuru Park and the big day is addressed by influential leaders of the workers union umbrella union body by the name COTU (Central Organization of Trade Unions), the President of the nation, and the Minister of Labor in Kenya. Many employers look forward to Labor Day in Kenya as they await the official address which approves increases of the minimum wage in the country. This article will look at the history of Labor Day, what it remembers, and different ways in which the celebration has been marked over time in Kenya.

Image: Pixabay.com

Source: UGC

History of Labor Day

Labor Day holiday celebrations date back to the 1880s in the United States associated with the struggle for the eight-hour system and the Chicago Anarchists. The battle for the eight-hour operation had started in the 1860s, and 1886 workers still overworked with some working for ten, twelve, and even fourteen hours a day. Also, striking employees of Railroad were subjected to brutal attacks by the police and the US army.

From that time, the police and the National Guard were increased in numbers and received more powerful weapons that the local business owners financed. All this was done to overpower the striking workers. On May 4, 1886, during the Haymarket Event held in Chicago, an unknown person threw a bomb at the police killing one instantly while six more died later. During the event, many police officers sustained injuries, and as a result, fired to the crowd killing and injuring several workers.

Owing to the Haymarket incident witnessed in 1886, in 1889 International Workers Day was created in memory of those killed that day. As a result of successful protests organized by the American Federation of Labour, May Day was ordained officially as a yearly celebration at the International Second Congress in 1891.

READ ALSO: What is Labour Day and how is it celebrated?

What it commemorates in Kenya

Despite its historical importance, Labor Day today is seen as a significant event where issues surrounding the working class become addressed. These include increment of salaries for Kenyan workers subject to the high cost of living where all prices of essential commodities keep on rising.

Secondly, workers health and safety need to be addressed during Labor Day celebrations in Kenya to ensure that each employer offers conducive health standards as well a work environment as is the right of each worker outlined in the Kenyan Constitution. Thirdly, workers have constitutional rights; hence, Labor Day is an occasion to ease the burden of employees as they receive the necessary attention and recognized as critical players in the development of Kenya.

How has Labor Day in Kenya changed?

Labor Day celebration in Kenya has changed so much over the course of time. In the world of today, Labor Day celebrations have been politicized so much just like other social events like funerals and weddings.

Even though it is a day to address the plight of employees in the country as well as celebrate their achievements, things have changed where politicians use it is a platform to discuss political issues instead. Let us take for instance the Labour Day Kenya 2017 holiday which was characterized by so much politics owing that 2017 was an election year.

Mr. Francis also urged the president to authorize a 22% basic pay increase for workers. Francis Atwoli further warned Kenyans to refrain from applying for jobs in Middle East countries as the process is filled with many crooked agencies as well as unfair masters who mistreat their domestic employees. What is even worse is that those countries lack specific guidelines to enhance the protection and fair treatment of employees.

The presidents speech was mainly political where he urged Kenyans to refrain from politics full of incitement and to vote peacefully in the polls. Dr. Evans Kidero and Mike Mbuvi Sonko who were in the Nairobi gubernatorial race also used the Labor Day platform to appeal for Votes from Kenyans.

Image: Pixabay.com

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Employers condemn 15% salary increase suggestion from COTU

The other way that Labour day has changed in Kenya is that it has since lost the real meaning as individuals employed by various companies need to be the beneficiaries, but still, this is not the case.

Like for instance, in rent years, May Day was marked amidst the strikes by various public servants such as doctors and other medical staff over poor working conditions. Other workers who went on strike in include teachers, Kenya Airway pilots, and personnel as well as employees from other companies who were protesting poor pay and better working conditions.

READ ALSO:

Labour laws in Kenya: Working hours, contracts, and employee rights

Labour Day: Workers bitter after government fails to address wage increment

Gazetted public holidays in Kenya 2019

Governor Mike Sonko's supporters briefly disrupt Labour Day celebrations at Uhuru Park

Source: Tuko News- Kwanza MP slammed NASA leader Raila for humiliating co-principal Wetangula

- The politician openly regretted voting for ex-prime minister in three previous polls.

- The lawmaker welcomed like-minded politicians to forge a political deal ahead of the 2022 polls

Even before the dust settled on the 2017 General Election, talks of the next poll continued to dominate headlines on Tuesday, April 3.

Latest to join the fray is Kwanza MP Ferdinand Wanyonyi.

The lawmaker slammed NASA leader Raila Odinga for humiliating co-principal Moses Wetangula even after delivering votes to him.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Senators had on Tuesday, March 20, voted to remove Wetangula from the seat of Senate Minority Leader and replaced him with Siaya senator James Orengo.

READ ALSO: Moses Wetangula invited to join Jubilee party amid fallout in NASA

Kwanza MP Ferdinand Wanyonyi accused NASA leader Raila Odinga of humiliating co-principal Moses Wetangula. Photo: Ferdinand Wanyonyi/Facebook.

READ ALSO: Kalonzo, Mudavadi react after ODM move to oust Wetangula from position of Senate Minority Leader

The move irked other coalition's partners especially from the Bungoma senator's party, Ford Kenya, among them MP Wanyonyi.

Leaders from the Luhya community alleged it was Raila-led ODM party that plotted to remove him from the plum seat.

He openly regretted voting for ex-prime minister in three previous polls.

"We will never support him again.The people of Trans Nzoia have nothing to do with him,he cannot continue to humiliate Wetangula.We voted for him almost 80%, but how does he appreciate it?" he paused.

He however welcomed like-minded politicians to forge a political deal ahead of the 2022 General Election.

READ ALSO: Luhya unity remains elusive as leaders clash over formation of single party for western region

The politician openly regretted voting for Raila in three previous polls. Photo: ODM Party/Twitter.

READ ALSO: Wetangula, Mudavadi, Kalonzo are squatters in NASA - Aden Duale

"We are firmly behind our party leader Moses Masika Wetangula and we shall support him forever. In case of any coalition agreement, Ford Kenya will be dissolved, we are ready to work with the like-minded people," he said.

His sentiment came at a time leaders from western part of Kenya sharply differed on the proposal to form a single political outfit for the Mulembe nation.

As previously reported by TUKO.co.ke, a section of politicians from the region on Monday, April 2, openly expressed their disapproval for the idea of creating one party for the Luhya community.

READ ALSO: Picha hizi za wachumba-daktari na muuguzi-zitakutamanisha kuoa au kuolewa

Speaker of the Senate Ken Lusaka said the push for formation of a Mulembe party was untimely, selfish, ill-informed, and bound to fail.

He argued although he was fully in support of calls for unity in the region, the time was not ripe for 2022 politics.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Miguna Miguna's return: Chaos at Jomo Kenyatta Int. Airport (JKIA) - On TUKO TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke-Omondi was diagnosed with acute Leukaemia in December 2017

-He flew to India for specialised treatment and was admitted to Apollo Hospital

-The journalist needs KSh 6.5 million for chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant

-The hospital had stopped his treatment after he ran out of funds

A Kenyan journalist who had been technically detained at a hospital in India was on Tuesday, April 3, in high spirits after he resumed his treatment following the assistance of Kenyans.

West Media journalist Dennis Omondi who is battling acute Leukaemia at Apollo Hospital in India, was on the brink of losing hope but Kenyans, in one resolve and act of oneness, whipped each other and managed to raise about KSh 2.5 million by Wednesday, April 4, for his treatment.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Omondi had passionately appealed to Kenyans of goodwill to come to his rescue as the hospital had demanded for payment before continuing with his treatment.

Dennis Omondi during a past assignment before he fell ill. Photo: Dennis Omondi/Facebook

READ ALSO: Matiang'i not fit to serve as Interior CS - MPs told

READ ALSO: Waiguru, Wamalwa meet Raila ahead of Devolution conference in Kakamega

His colleagues in the journalism industry united and asked Kenyans to support them to raise the money under a campaign dubbed #IStandWithDennis and #LetsSaveDennis on Twitter and across all social media platforms and messaging apps like WhatsApp.

Tonight I will resume medication starting with bone marrow test to enable the doctor to know the kind of second chemo to administer. So far we have managed to raise KSh 2.2 million. Our target is KSh 6.5 million. I ask you to continue supporting me. Thanks, he said on his Twitter page.

His wife, who is expecting their second child in mid-May, told TUKO.co.ke she was planning to move houses as she could not afford to raise rent at the moment besides planning to send their young daughter to the village to stay with her grandparents.

READ ALSO: MP Sabina Chege dares man who slept with 13 female MPs to release videos he recorded

The family has sold their prime land and held several fundraisers to raise money but it is still not enough.

Leaders have come to his his rescue as well with Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen urging his colleagues to assist the father of one, assuring them their contributions would not be made public.

READ ALSO: Ibada ya mazishi ya bilionea, 33, yagharimu KSh 588 milioni (habari kamili)

Well wishers can contribute to Omondi's kities using details below:

Mpesa Pay Bill 138182

Acc no.1222903350

Bank: KCB Milimani Branch

Acc name. Dennis Musindi

Acc no. 1222903350

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news

I lost my leg in Afghanistan, almost gave up - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko Kenya- President of Atheists in Kenya urges the church to allow and support polygamous marriages

- He said monogamy should not be the only standard for marriage adding there should be alternatives

- Harrison Mumia argued a lot of men and women in monogamous marriages are hurting

- According to him, men are naturally inclined to have multiple sexual partners

- Mumia was recently exposed for impregnating women and abandoning his children

It seems the controversial debate about polygamy in Kenya is not going to end any time soon.

Atheists in Kenya president Harrison Mumia who does not believe in God now wants the Church to allow and support polygamous marriages.

In a statement seen by TUKO.co.ke on Wednesday, Tuesday, 4, the Atheists Society of Kenya boss applauded Kiambu Woman Representative Gathoni Wamuchomba for opening debate on the issue.

READ ALSO: Socialite Huddah Monroe blasts single parents days after Vera Sidika announced pregnancy

Atheists in Kenya president Harrison Mumia wants the church to accept polygamy. Photo: Daily Nation

READ ALSO: MP Sabina Chege dares man who slept with 13 female MPs to release videos he recorded

Mumia lambasted the church for stigmatising polygamy blaming it for being an obstacle to change.

"Many Kenyans are either biased or stereotyped against polygamous marriages because of the one man one wife religious doctrine that has been propagated by Christianity. The stigma associated with polygamy is a creation of the church. The church remains the greatest barrier to change even as we debate the subject," read a section of his statement.

Mumia says men are naturally wired to have multiple partners.

"We are asking churches in Kenya to accommodate and encourage polygamous marriage ceremonies. We see polygamy as a practical way of addressing challenges that monogamy has presented in our society," he argued.

READ ALSO: War of words erupts between Bungoma Woman Rep and her predecessor over graft claim

According to him, men are naturally wired to have several sexual partners saying monogamy is hurting many married couples.

"Men are naturally inclined to have multiple sexual partners. It's an evolutionary adaptation for survival. Male infidelity is natural and genetic. It's embedded in male genes," he stated.

"Monogamy should not be the only standard for marriage despite being sanctioned legally and socially or portrayed righteous by the church.We must provide alternatives for Kenya," added Mumia.

READ ALSO: 22 funniest memes about conman accused of sleeping with 13 MPs which will make your day

Kiambu Woman Rep Gathoni Wamucomba urged Kikuyu rich men to marry several wives. Photo: Gathoni Wamuchomba/ Facebook

Mumia was on the spotlight recently for impregnating and dumping his children.

As previously reported buy TUKO.co.ke, the father of six children all with different mothers, was badly exposed for his insatiable lust and disregard for sanctity of life.

Nominated senator Millicent Omanga also commended Wamuchomba for urging rich men from her community to marry several wives.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Amazing Story of DJ Euphorique: Uhuru Kenyatta's DJ (Person Documentary) | Faces of Kenya

Source: Kenyan Breaking News- The ODM leader will attend the conference as the 'Father of Devolution'

- Raila is expected to talk about good governance and transparency

- He was to meet the Council of Governors to brief him on the conference but that did not happen

- The conference will commence on April 23 in Kakamega County

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga has confirmed he will attend the upcoming Devolution conference in Kakamega County.

TUKO.co.ke has reliably learned the former prime minister will be the keynote speaker and will attend the conference as the 'Father of Devolution'.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga on April 4, 2018, confirmed he will attend Devolution conference in Kakamega County as "Father of Devolution". Photo: Raila Odinga/Facebook.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Waiguru, Wamalwa to meet Raila ahead of Devolution conference in Kakamega

"We have received confirmation from Raila Odinga that he will attend the conference after he was invited by the organizing committee for the Devolution conference," ODM party Secretary General, Edwin Sifuna, said.

Sifuna added the former prime minister is expected to talk about good governance and transparency, among other things, on the second day of the conference at Kakamega High School, which will end on April 27, 2018.

READ ALSO: Anne Waiguru wants her defamation case against Raila Odinga to resume without further delay

Raila was earlier in the day expected to meet Kirinyaga County governor Anne Waiguru, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa and Murang'a County senator Irungu Kang'ata at his Capitol Hill office in Nairobi for a briefing on the conference.

The meeting however failed to take place with Sifuna saying Waiguru could not make it to the meeting because she was held up in another meeting in Naivasha.

READ ALSO: Raila Odinga finally speaks to Anne Waiguru after Court order and this is what he said

Waiguru and Wamalwa, according to the ODM Secretary General, were to brief Raila on the theme and preparations of the conference.

TUKO.co.ke understands the meeting at Capitol Hill was also part of the ongoing reconciliation talks initiated by Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta on March 9, 2018.

READ ALSO: Picha hizi za wachumba-daktari na muuguzi-zitakutamanisha kuoa au kuolewa

Waiguru, who doubles as the Vice Chairperson of CoG, has not been seeing eye-to-eye with Raila since the infamous National Youth Service (NYS) corruption scandal broke out in 2016.

The ODM leader accused the Kirinyaga governor of being behind the mega heist that led to loss of millions of taxpayers money. She filed for defamation.

It would be interesting to see if Waiguru will drop her defamation case against Raila following the Uhuru-Raila peace deal at Harambee House.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga: Full Speech at Harambee House - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke- The government is set to establish ultra-modern Eye and Dental facilities in all referral hospitals

- Uhuru said the facilities must be built within 12 months putting top officials on notice

- He said the government will set aside KSh 300 million for each referral hospital in Kenya

Kenyans will soon be able to access modern Eye and Dental treatment services at four referral hospitals following an announcement by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The Head of state said the government will allocate funds to establish ultra-modern Eye and Dental facilities in the referral hospitals which must be built within 12 months.

He said the Government will set aside KSh 300 million for each referral hospital including Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Nyeri and Mombasa hospitals.

READ ALSO: Man who allegedly slept with 13 female MPs now claims MP Sabina Chege is hitting back after their break-up

President Uhuru said the government will set up modern eye and dental facilities in Kenya refferal hospitals. Photo: Uhuru Kenyatta/ Facebook

I have seen what less than Sh 300 million can do to uplift the lives of Kenyans. I want to see similar facilities at Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Nyeri and Mombasa, the president said.

Uhuru was speaking on Wednesday, April 4, at Tenwek Hospital grounds after unveiling a Sh 275 million ultra-modern Eye and Dental Centre put up with the assistance of donors.

READ ALSO: Fake pastor, accomplice arrested for sodomising boys at a Kitale primary school

Uhuru empasised days of wastage of public funds are over. Photo: Uhuru Kenyatta/ Facebook

He emphasised days of wastage of public resources was over, and put Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki and her team on notice.

He said he had learnt a great lesson from the Tenwek hospital example which his government is ready to emulate.

READ ALSO: Raila to attend Devolution conference as keynote speaker with invitation from governors

The president the government will emulate the example set by Tenwek hospital. Photo: Uhuru Kenyatta/ Facebook

I have picked several lessons here. You will not be able to blind me again, he told top officials from the Health Ministry.

READ ALSO: Journalist detained at an Indian hospital resumes treatment after Kenyans come to his rescue

He said the National government will work with county government to achieve key agent of Universal Health. Photo: Uhuru Kenyatta/ Facebook

He said the National Government, in partnership with county governments will work towards achieving its key agenda of Universal Health care-a crucial pillar in the Big Four Agenda.

The president, accompanied by Deputy President William Ruto warned government officials who use their positions to enrich themselves.

Uhuru warned top officials against mismanaging public funds

Those who thought they had blinded me should now know they are on notice, he said.

He added government officials starting with cabinet secretaries and their principal secretaries should be fully accountable of their dockets.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga: Full Speech at Harambee House - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko KenyaTwo Tobagonians are weighing in on what they wish to see in Monday's national Budget, to be A court in the Hungarian town of Szekszard has handed a two-year suspended jail term to a Hungarian man for fighting on the side of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" in eastern Ukraine, according to AFP.

"A Hungarian man was handed a two-year suspended jail term on Tuesday for fighting with Russian-backed secessionists in eastern Ukraine in the first ruling of its kind in Hungary," reads the statement.

A judge convicted Krisztian L., 43, for "prohibited recruitment into an armed group participating in armed clashes."

Explaining the light sentence, the judge said that the crime is relatively unknown in Hungary and that the defendant was unaware that he had broken Hungarian law.

The prosecution lawyer appealed the verdict and is seeking a custodial sentence.

According to the report, a former policeman, he travelled to Donetsk in September 2015 where he received training and financial payments for his service. A native of Paks in central Hungary, the man was arrested last year at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport on his return from fighting with the "DPR" terrorist organization against the Ukrainian army.

opUkrainian Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons Vadym Chernysh suggests that the cost of demining operations in Donbas may exceed $800 million.

"The costs will be huge. Ukraine can certainly do something by its own efforts, but we hope that we will receive the donor assistance to solve this problem. We have preliminary confirmations from many countries that they will finance such projects under certain conditions  adoption of a law, observance of standards and so on," Chernysh told a briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The minister compared Ukraine to Croatia. This country has an area of about 50,000 square kilometers. For 20 years, Croatia has spent more than $800 million to demine its territory. These are approximate figures, a full assessment can be made after the occupied territories of Donbas are liberated, Chernysh noted.

olThe government of Mexico has introduced anti-dumping duties on imports of carbon steel pipe from four countries, including Ukraine.

Reuters reported this on Tuesday, April 3, with a reference to the economy ministry of Mexico.

The Mexico economy ministry said on Tuesday it has formally imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of carbon steel pipe from South Korea, Spain, India and the Ukraine after completing an investigation into unfair trade practices, reads the report.

According to the ministry, the investigation was carried out at the request of a company and covered an analysis of the period from April 2013 to March 2016.

At the same time, according to the report, Mexico has previously imposed duties on steel products from several countries after local steelmakers announced reductions in thousands of jobs in 2015 and canceled investments.

iyPrime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has stated that the process of negotiations on a free trade zone with Turkey should come to the final stage.

He stated this at a government meeting on Wednesday and gave a relevant order to First Vice Prime Minister - Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Negotiations with Israel on a free trade zone have been completed, it's time to complete the process of talks with Turkey," Groysman said.

In turn, Kubiv said that this year the government intends to expand sales markets and diversify them. In particular, it is planned to hold meetings of intergovernmental commissions on economic cooperation with Turkey and Croatia.

"There is a proposal to hold the eleventh meetings of the intergovernmental Ukrainian -Turkish commission on trade and economic cooperation in Ankara," Kubiv said.

iyThe European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans in 2018 to sign about 30 agreements of cooperation with Ukrainian companies, including three or four in the field of transport and logistics.

EBRD Director for Ukraine Sevki Acuner said this during a press conference on signing the agreement between the EBRD and Ukrainian private postal delivery and logistics company Nova Poshta, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"This year we hope to sign about 25-30 agreements. We intend to expand our activities in all the areas," Acuner said.

Three or four agreements are likely to be concluded in the field of transport and logistics, Director for Transport at the EBRD Sue Barrett added.

"The agreements are expected to be concluded to the sum of $150-200 million," Barrett noted.

The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the bank's activities in the country in 1993, its total commitments have amounted to almost EUR 12.2 billion in 377 projects.

olA considerable avalanche danger is expected in Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions of Ukraine today, April 4.

The State Emergency Service has reported this with a reference to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center's forecasts.

On April 4, a considerable (III) level of avalanche risk is expected for mountainous areas in Ivano-Frankivsk and Zakarpattia regions, reads the report.

iyThe approved amendments to the law on the voluntary association of territorial communities will give a new impetus to the decentralization reform being carried out in Ukraine.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Hennadiy Zubko stated this when commenting on the law, 6466, On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine On voluntary association of territorial communities, the governments website reports.

The adopted law significantly improves the process of voluntary adherence of territorial communities of cities of regional value to other territorial communities. It will also give a new strong impetus to the decentralization of public authority and the creation of new large territorial communities," Zubko said.

According to him, about 25 million people living in 150 cities of regional value and about 1,000 surrounding territorial communities were waiting for the adoption of this bill.

The vice prime minister thanked MPs for the decentralization laws passed by the parliament in 2015. "Due to these decisions, people have the opportunity not only to take decisions, but also to implement them," Zubko said.

iyPortugal supports Ukraine's stance towards the deployment of a peacekeeping mission in Donbas.

Defense Minister of Ukraine, Army General of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak said this during the joint press briefing with the National Defense Minister of Portugal Jose Alberto de Azeredo Lopes, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We have discussed today the security situation both in Ukraine and in the world. We have discussed the need to deploy a peacekeeping mission in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. I would like to emphasize that Portugal fully supports our stance towards the need to deploy the peacekeepers in accordance with the international rules and UN standards," he said.

According to the minister, the parties discussed the important issues of bilateral defense cooperation. Portugal always supports us on all the international platforms, provides treatment to our soldiers, provides assistance to our Armed Forces, actively participates in the NATO trust funds and the comprehensive assistance package for Ukraine," he said.

Portugal fully supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, National Defense Minister of Portugal Jose Alberto de Azeredo Lopes stressed. "We are resolutely committed to the principle of Ukraine's territorial integrity, its political independence and the restoration of its political and territorial integrity," he said.

olUkraine is ready to exchange for Ukrainian prisoners 23 Russian citizens who are serving their sentences for grave crimes against Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, Ukraine's representative in the subgroup on humanitarian issues of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Iryna Gerashchenko, has said on the 112 Ukraine television channel.

"Today Russians, who were in fact detained for their certain involvement in the conflict under the guise of so-called 'militiamen,' are serving their sentences in Ukrainian prisons for grave crimes against [Ukraine's] territorial integrity and sovereignty. Obviously, these are curators, rather than 'militiamen.' In fact, the Ukrainian side is ready to transfer these convicts, but we also want to free Ukrainian citizens," she said.

"If the Russian side states that 'we are not there,' then the Ukrainian side says 'no, you are here.' And now 23 Russians are in Ukrainian prisons. We are ready to transfer them for the release of Ukrainian hostages," Gerashchenko added.

The Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbas will meet on April 4 to discuss the exchange of prisoners.

opThe Ukrainian Language Education Centre of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies will host the National Ukrainian Teachers Conference, which is scheduled for May 5, 2018.

The Conference Organizing Committee told this to an Ukrinform correspondent.

The conference will be held in the online format and includes five centers from across Canada  Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.

This affords us with the opportunity to engage in the kind of digital practices we are beginning to use with our students and which they already take advantage of themselves. It is an opportunity to improve Ukrainian teacher digital literacy, self-efficacy, technological pedagogy, and practice community, reads the report.

The committee also added that the conference will be opportunity for sharing the best teaching practices, as well as for fruitful discussion and professional learning.

We anticipate broad and sizeable participation in the conference, as the Internet space helps to overcome geographic and time barriers related to teacher involvement, the committee added.

iyPoland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reacted to the incident.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin has condemned the burning of Poland's national flag in the center of Kyiv, calling it an act of provocation.

"I resolutely condemn an act of provocation in front of the building of the Embassy of Poland in Kyiv," he tweeted on April 3. "It is nothing else but another provocation, a sinister attack on our friendship. People with a sincere heart will never insult the symbols of other nations."

Read alsoPolish PM reaffirms support for Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations

Unknown people are reported to have burnt the Polish flag near the Polish Embassy in Kyiv on April 2.

Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reacted to the incident.

"Following the demonstration which took place outside the Polish Embassy in Kyiv on April 2 and the ensuing burning of the Polish flag, Ukraine's deputy ambassador to Poland was summoned to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and presented with a note of protest," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

What is more, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its indignation at the "ostentatious conduct of the demonstrators, and the failure of Ukrainian security officers to react properly."

The Ukrainian Embassy official assured the Polish MFA that the Ukrainian government had condemned this disgraceful act, and ordered the competent services to take action that would lead to identifying the perpetrators and bringing them to justice promptly.

"The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is especially concerned about the fact that it has been yet another anti-Polish incident in Ukraine in the course of recent weeks," the ministry said.SBU press secretary in Lviv region Oleh Oleksandrov said that the attackers had been under constant surveillance from the very start.

An undercover operation by the SBU security service documented a Russia-sponsored plot, one in a series, to further sow discord in Ukrainian-Polish relations.

The SBU Security Service of Ukraine in Lviv region says earlier reports about a burned Polish bus in Lviv was not an April Fool's joke, adding that "terrorists have been detained."

SBU press secretary in Lviv region Oleh Oleksandrov said that the attackers had been under constant surveillance from the very start, to ensure that any casualties are avoided.

"I must clear up the reports that have stirred the media. It's about a Polish bus set on fire on April 1 near the Stryi bus station in Lviv. This incident took place within the framework of an undercover operation to document a crime. Security operatives had actions of terrorist under control to avoid casualties and document the moves of the entire team of perpetrators  from direct executors to those who ordered the act. The attackers were detained April 1. The next day, on April 2, they were charged, and on April 3, the court ruled to remand them in custody pending trial," Oleksandrov said.

Read alsoRussia's covert campaign underway to inflame East Europe - mediaAs UNIAN reported, SBU Chief Vasyl Hrytsak said on Tuesday that the special services had detained two executors of the blast that rocked a Polish memorial at the Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv, who also set fire to a Polish tourist bus.

"According to the information available, terrorist attacks were financed by allies of a former Ukrainian president [Viktor Yanukovych] under the supervision of Russian intelligence," he said.

On March 13, a blast occurred near a Polish memorial at a Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv. According to preliminary police reports, an RGD-5 grenade exploded, resulting in a 20cm-wide funnel forming. Nobody was hurt in the incident. The memorial was not damaged either.

Read alsoPoland's security forces bust group involved in arson attack on Hungarian culture center in ZakarpattiaOn April 1, the media and people on social networks reported that unknown perpetrators had allegedly set fire to a Polish bus near the Stryi bus station in Lviv at night, also pasting it with red-and-black leaflets. The initial reports were ruled out by local officials as an April Fool's joke.Lutsenko said the decisions on the new qualification of Bubenchyk's actions, the definition of his status in the case, and a possible preventive measure are to be taken today.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said he decided to replace a prosecutorial team probing the case of Maidan activist Ivan Bubenchyk as they incorrectly qualified the activist's actions.

"I consider incorrect the qualification of actions of the participant in the Revolution of Dignity, Ivan Bubenchyk, determined by the team of the PGO's Special Investigation Department headed by Serhiy Horbatiuk. Following the meeting, I decided to replace the group of prosecutors regarding this episode of the investigation of Maidan events, which will now be headed by my deputy Anzhela Stryzhevska," Lutsenko wrote on Facebook.

He noted the decisions on the new qualification of Bubenchyk's actions, the definition of his status in the case, and a possible preventive measure are to be taken today.

Read alsoCourt hearings on arrest of Maidan activist accused of killing Berkut officers postponed (Photos)As UNIAN reported earlier, Bubenchyk was detained on the Ukrainian-Polish border while heading for Poland in the morning on April 3. He is charged with killing two Berkut riot police officers and an attempted murder of another one in 2014.

Prosecutor of the Special Investigations Department of the Main Investigation Directorate of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) of Ukraine Oleksiy Donskoy told UNIAN that he had grounds to insist that the suspect had committed the abovementioned crimes."I'm not 'at war' with Poroshenko," says Avakov.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov does not see Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko as a single candidate from the ruling coalition.

"I shudder when I hear an idea about a single candidate. I believe that Poroshenko can be one of the real presidential candidates, along with others. Let citizens choose who they consider worthy," Avakov told Liga.net.

He also spoke in favor of broadening Parliament's powers.

"For example, I believe it will be a right thing to establish a Parliamentary Republic. This would cool heads of those who are fighting for power, eliminate power dualism, and decrease the number of groups fighting each other. After all, what did we witness in recent years? The president always opposes the prime minister, while the latter always confronts the president. This creates imbalance and conflict situations," the minister said.

At the same time, Avakov noted that he is not "at war" with the president. However, he often defends his position on principle matters.

Read alsoAvakov responds to Russian criminal case launched against him"I'm not at 'war' with Poroshenko despite all the vicissitudes that the press enjoys discussing. I'm firmly standing on my position on various fundamental issues, while trying to keep a balance between the power branches. I could, using your terminology, give in the post to the presidential vertical. But I don't think that this would benefit society. I'm not that kind of person. And many people don't like this," he added.

In October last year, media reports claimed that Poroshenko and Avakov quarreled over the fact that protesters managed to set up tents outside parliament.

On October 17, Poroshenko summoned officials from police and interior ministry in the presidential administration, according to sources close to both politicians.

The president was allegedly irritated by the fact that the tents had been set up near the Verkhovna Rada. He allegedly accused Avakov that he allowed the protesters' camp to be installed. However, the interior minister had his own arguments: when choosing between a fight in the streets and "half-empty tents," he chose the latter.

Later, Avakov denied conflict with Poroshenko.Ukraine operates within the legal framework and current legislation, Slobodyan said.

Speaker for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Oleh Slobodyan has said law enforcement agencies of Ukraine will "immediately respond" to violations of the order of entry to and exit from the occupied territory, including Crimea.

Commenting on the conflict that arose as a result of the seizure of a Russian-flagged, Crimean-registered fishing vessel "Nord" by the Ukrainian border guards, he said: "At the moment, the Kerch Strait is in fact completely controlled by the Russian Federation," Obozrevatel reports.

Read alsoRussia accuses Ukraine of "piracy," threatens to deploy navy in Azov Sea

"Regarding threats from the Russian Federation, we will look at the issue from another perspective: we operate within the legal framework and current legislation. Ukraine's position is unambiguous: Crimea is an illegally occupied part of Ukraine, so the law enforcement agencies will immediately respond to violations of the order of entry to and exit from the occupied territory," Slobodyan said.

"I know that measures to protect the interests of Ukraine are being worked out within the framework of cooperation in the security and defense sector. As for what the Russian Federation can do, it is capable of a lot of things, but if it does, we will see then. Let's not jump to conclusions and negative forecasts," he said, adding that Ukraine's capabilities "in this region are now adequate to existing threats."

Read alsoUkraine, Russia face off over fishing boat

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian coast guards on Sunday detained the Russian-flagged, Crimean-registered fishing vessel Nord in the Sea of Azov, along with her crew of 10 fishermen, charging the Nord of illegally crossing Ukraine's maritime borders.

In turn, Russia said the command of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, including naval aviation, was ready "to ensure the safety of navigation in the north-eastern part of the Black Sea and the Azov Sea water area" following the seizure by Ukrainian border guards of a Russian-flagged, Crimean-registered fishing vessel "Nord."Navy Admiral (Rtd), Former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Ihor Kabanenko told UNIAN why the Ukrainian coast guards, having seized the Nord vessel in the waters of the Azov Sea, acted lawfully, and hinted that the situation with the Nord could well be a provocation on the part of Russia.

Ukrainian border guards in the Ukrainian waters of the Azov Sea in March this year detained a Russian-flagged violator fishing boat. It was then taken into the port of Berdyansk for verification and procedural actions. And in a few days, Russia exploited the incident to blame Ukraine for ... piracy. Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated that by seizing the Nord, Ukraine acted similarly to "Somali pirates."

Later, RIA Novosti, referring to a source in the security structures of the annexed Crimea, said that the command of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, including naval aviation, was prepared to "ensure the safety of navigation in the north-eastern part of the Black Sea and the waters of the Sea of Azov" following the incident.

In order to clear up the situation and find out who is actually acting as pirates, UNIAN turned to the Admiral of the Naval Forces Reserve, former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Ihor Kabanenko.

What do you think about the case? Did the Ukrainian coast guards have the right to detain a Russian ship in the waters of the Sea of Azov?

In fact, not many people understand the depth of the incident. And, unfortunately, strategic communications on the part of our authorities are lagging behind the dynamics... Let's try to explain, as they say, in plain words.

Russian accusations and threats are based on the right to freedom of navigation in international waters, which is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, that is, the Nord with the Crimean registration had almost all grounds for navigating in the waters of the Azov Sea beyond the 12-mile zone of territorial waters of Ukraine. Such a right [freedom of navigation] does exist, but this is a completely different story.

The Nord roughly violated Ukrainian legislation when it was "re-registered" in a temporarily occupied territory, which was not recognized by the legislation of Ukraine, and illegally crossed the state border of Ukraine in Crimea (that is, without Ukraine's border control). For this, criminal liability is provided, and Ukraine had all grounds for the detention of the said vessel, as well as the imposition of arrest by the decision of the Ukrainian court.

There is another aspect. The Russian-flagged Nord was fishing in the exclusive maritime economic zone (EMEZ) of Ukraine, which is a gross violation of Art. 56 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ratified by the Russian Federation.

Skeptics may object, because the annexation of Crimea is not recognized by the international community, and the EMEZ in the Azov Sea between Ukraine and Russia is not limited because of the Kremlin's long-term blockade of the issue. But the ship was detained 15 miles from our coast under the flag of another country without any Ukrainian fishing license, not in the vicinity of the possible mediation line of the EMEZ between the two countries. This is a matter of international consideration and, I think, on this issue, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will be on the Ukrainian side.

That is, in fact, in this story, it's not Ukraine who is a "pirate," right?

Russia has actively been encroaching on Ukraine from the sea since 2014. This encroachment, as well as all aggression against Ukraine, has a "hybrid" nature, that is, most events take place in a creeping-and-hidden format, under a surprise factor. Substitution and distortion of facts are being employed, as well as half-truths and lies. The official reaction from the north to the incident with the Nord does not differ from the usual tactics of the Kremlin's actions - the power game "for the freedom of navigation" is unfolding, but fundamental violations, which are primary in relation to what I've said, are being silenced. In the information war, the interpretation always matters, and it must be admitted that Russia is quite cleverly using this factor in its favor.

In fact, real piracy is the illegitimate actions by Russia in the Black and Azov seas, because Russia seized Crimea, seized the property of Chornomornaftogaz, captured Ukrainian offshore gas fields, and built the Kerch Bridge - a pressure valve against Ukraine. And on the part of Ukraine, this is a reaction to a concrete violation of national and international legislation, which has nothing to do with piracy.

Why would Russia spin this story? What are the reasons behind Moscow's use of this situation? The accusation that Ukraine is like "Somali pirates" has already been voiced at the level of the Russian Foreign Ministry...

The situation with the Nord could be planned by Russia as a provocation to "legitimize" the deployment of the naval group in the Azov Sea and further actions. The above is in the "hybrid" aspect of moving Ukraine away from the sea (occupation of marine deposits of Ukraine, construction of the Kerch Bridge, creation of A2/AD zones, etc.)

At the same time, there is a need for an adequate action on the part of Ukraine, first of all, to contain the Kremlin from escalating the crisis at sea, because it's the strategies that are victorious, not tactical actions. The strategy provides for a variety of actions, combined in a single plan. Time will tell whether Ukraine has such a strategy.

It has already been voiced that the command of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation and naval aviation "are ready to provide security in the region" ... How are these statements dangerous to us?

I agree with former SACEUR chief Admiral James Stavridis that soft power (diplomacy) without force (military capabilities) is not power at all. This, in the first place, concerns the sea.

At the time of the Cold War at sea there was a tough confrontation. There were certain "red lines" near which there was a rather intense "friction" of military forces of the parties. However, the parties did not cross these lines because they were guarded by absolutely specific ships, submarines, and planes - a formula based on parity worked.

Where are these "red lines" at sea for Ukraine and who ensures their protection and defense?

This is a serious, not rhetorical question. And, like many others in relation to the protection of Ukraine's national interests at sea, it should be the subject of consideration and decisions by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. The second paragraph of Article 17 of the Constitution of Ukraine does not allow for a double interpretation: "Protection of Ukraine, its sovereignty and territorial integrity are entitled to the Armed Forces of Ukraine." But to ensure defenses at sea, the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine should be given specific tasks and have the appropriate capabilities - human, technical, technological, and organizational resources...

How could the situation develop?

The scenarios may vary: from illegal inspections on board Ukrainian ships under the guise of "fighting piracy and maritime terrorism" and their seizure to maritime embargoes in certain maritime areas (zones) and blocking navigation through the Kerch Strait of vessels that check in the ports of the Ukrainian Azov area

Experience convincingly suggests that the best fuse against such actions is an adequate naval presence in important areas of the exclusive maritime economic zone of the state. This requires appropriate naval capabilities - the moment of truth is coming in relation to what has been done over these four years and is being done now to protect Ukraine's interests at sea.

It is difficult to understand the logic of authorities in this matter. Slogans like "yes, we lost 70% of our fleet in Crimea, and we have nothing now" cannot be perceived today because the law clearly defines responsible parties. And there was enough time to create basic capabilities necessary for Ukraine to respond adequately to the existing threats.

Nadiia Maina

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterNABU has brought criminal proceedings against SAPO.

Director of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk insists there is no feud between his agency and the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).

"There is no feud between the National Anti-corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office," he said at the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on April 4.

"There are certain criminal proceedings and there are certain cases that have been sent to the relevant authorities," Sytnyk added.

Read alsoAnti-graft prosecutor tipped off probe targets on upcoming raids, NABU director claims

However, according to him, "the creation of the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office has delivered NABU from supervision by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO)."

As UNIAN reported earlier, PGO chief Yuriy Lutsenko on March 30 requested that the Prosecutors Qualification and Disciplinary Commission consider the dismissal of SAPO chief Nazar Kholodnytsky due to disciplinary action.

The PGO press service said the motion concerning disciplinary offenses committed by Kholodnytsky was based on the facts revealed during criminal investigations conducted jointly by NABU and the PGO.

The criminal cases against Kholodnytsky are investigated under Article 387 (disclosure of information related to investigative activity, preliminary investigation), as well as Article 384 (misleading a court or other authorized body) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

On April 3, Lutsenko decided to transfer the Kholodnytsky case to the PGO's General Inspectorate, thus having taken it from the PGO's Special Economic Crimes Department.

UNIAN memo. NABU investigates corruption-related crimes committed by high-ranking officials who pose a threat to the country's national security. SAPO is entrusted with supervision of NABU's activity. SAPO also acts in support of prosecution on behalf of the state or government, and represents the interests of Ukrainians and the country during an investigation into corruption-related crimes.The subgroup on humanitarian affairs continued discussing the exchange of prisoners of war.

The next session of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on resolving the situation in Ukraine's east will take place in Minsk, Belarus, on April 18.

Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Martin Sajdik summed up results of the talks held on April 4, the Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA) said.

Read alsoUkraine ready to swap 23 Russians for Ukrainian hostages

The subgroup on economic affairs continued discussing further steps needed to restore mobile communication service from Vodafone Ukraine Company in certain parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The subgroup also continued discussing the payment of pensions, water supply, and the return of the railway cars, which are now outside the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.

The subgroup on humanitarian affairs continued discussing the exchange of prisoners of war and the improvement of conditions for crossing the contact line via checkpoints, in particular, in Stanytsia Luhanska.

The subgroup on political affairs focused on the implementation of the so-called Steinmeier formula and on amnesty.Similar inquiries were filed by other lawmakers.

The National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has launched a probe into media reports claiming that the regime of the former Libyan leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi, could be involved in financing a presidential campaign in favor of Yulia Tymoshenko in 2010.

"Having considered your request, NABU agents have started a probe during which additional information on this issue has been requested in accordance with the procedure established by law," NABU said in an answer to a request filed by Member of Parliament from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction and Vice President at PACE Volodymyr Ariev.

Similar inquiries were filed by other lawmakers, NABU said.

Read alsoNABU chief Sytnyk denies feud with another anti-corruption agency

NABU informs that a decision will be made in accordance with Article 214 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine if its agents "reveal signs of a criminal offense that falls within NABU's jurisdiction."

"The question is whether relevant inquiries will be sent to the law enforcement agencies of Libya to obtain information from the living members of the Gaddafi family," Ariev commented in a Facebook post in which he shared NABU's response.

As UNIAN reported earlier with reference to a London-based Arabic newspaper, Asharq Al Awsat, at least EUR 4 million was allegedly allocated for the Tymoshenko campaign.

One of the closest aides of Gaddafis son Seif al-Islam revealed that he himself had delivered the funds for her campaigns. "I had them in a briefcase and I traveled to Ukraine on a private jet. I arrived at Kyiv airport and delivered the case to the deputy prime minister," he said.

According to RFE/RL, a batch of EUR 500 notes was ordered by the-then Prime Minister of Libya, Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi (now serving a prison sentence in Tripoli). In a comment to RFE/RL, Tymoshenko's press secretary Maryna Soroka said: "This information does not correspond to reality, this is all untrue."Thirteen expelled diplomats may be replaced.

Thirty-seven Ukrainian diplomats remain working in Russia after mutual expulsions.

"There are 37 [Ukrainian] diplomats left. Now we are submitting [candidates] for endorsement to fill the gap," Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Olena Zerkal said at a meeting of the Ukrainian parliament's committee for foreign affairs, Radio Liberty's Ukrainian language service said.

In her words, there could be 13 diplomats.

Read alsoUkrainian activists "bidding farewell" to Russian diplomats in Kyiv (Photo)

As UNIAN reported, in late March, Ukraine expelled 13 Russian diplomats in connection with the poisoning of former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, on March 4, allegedly at the hands of the Kremlin. In response, Russia sent the same number of Ukrainian diplomats home.

Britain alone announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats. Over 30 countries joined it in solidarity. They deported over 150 Russian diplomats. Moscow took retaliatory measures.

According to CNN, the White House announced last week it was expelling 60 Russian staffers and their families in response to the poisoning of the Skripals. Russia was also ordered to close its consulate in Seattle.

The U.S. Department of State then confirmed the United States and Russia could replace diplomats in each other's countries who were expelled last week, describing the process as standard practice for cases in which targeted personnel are ejected as "persona non-grata," and cautioning that any new diplomats would be subject to approval on a "case-by-case basis."NABU believes that Kholodnytsky improperly performed his duties and committed actions discrediting the office and casting doubt on its objectivity, impartiality, and independence.

Head of the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) Nazar Kholodnytsky allegedly impeded investigation in criminal cases against MP Heorhiy Lohvynsky, Oleh Bakhmatyuk, ex-head of the National Corruption Prevention Agency Natalia Korchak, and aide to Oleh Lyashko, Oleksandr Bohachev, as stated in the complaint filed by NABU Director Artem Sytnyk with the prosecutors' qualification disciplinary commission.

In particular, Sytnik requests that Kholodnytsky be dismissed based on the following charges: failure to perform and improper performance of official duties; failure to maintain secrecy of investigation; commission of actions discrediting the office and casting doubt on its objectivity, impartiality, independence, and integrity; gross violation of the rules of prosecutorial ethics; interference with or any other influence on the actions of prosecutors and other officials, Hromadske reports.

In particular, the National Anti-corruption Bureau is investigating the case against Oleksandr Bohachev, an assistant adviser to leader of the Radical Party Oleh Lyashko. According to the investigation, Bohachev tried to bribe the acting minister of health, Ulyana Suprun, by offering her a free apartment.

Kholodnytsky allegedly met in his office with the deputy director of the developer company in question and warned about possible searches, and also revealed the details of the criminal case, urging the man to provide false evidence, giving instructions on what he should be saying during interrogation. Later, Kholodnytsky alleged;y summoned a subordinate who was to conduct a questioning, and instructed him to interrogate the developer as a "witness."

Read alsoTop anti-graft prosecutor confirms his office buggedAlso, NABU detectives are investigating three cases where MP Heorhiy Lohvynsky is in focus. According to the NABU chief's complaint, Lohvynsky visited Kholodnytsky in his office and asked what he was going to do with said cases.

Kholodnytsky allegedly replied that "everything is under control" and that he will tip Lohvynsky about any upcoming investigative actions against him. Then Kholodnytsky summoned a subordinate investigating these cases and learned that he was going to make Lohvynsky suspect in corruption-related crimes. Kholodnytsky alleged;y responded that there was a "political nuance" in the case, as Lohvynsky was supported by Crimean Tatar MPs Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Chubarov, as well as the entire composition of the European Court of Human Rights, where Lohvynsky's wife had been a judge for 8 years. He also recalled that Lohvynsky was widely respected at the PACE. Therefore, Kholodnytsky said he didn't want to "get into a fight with them." Finally, Kholodnytsky noted that the investigation should either be postponed indefinitely, or shut down altogether.

The NABU is also investigating two criminal cases involving businessman and owner of UkrLandFarming agricultural holding Oleh Bakhmatiuk. Kholodnytsky several times tried to persuade prosecutors to suspend the investigation into these cases. When the prosecutors and detectives working on this case gathered for a meeting and decided to move on with the investigation, Kholodnytsky, by his personal order, took the Bakhmatiuk cases from the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office and transferred them for further investigation by the National Police.

Read alsoProsecutors Qualification Commission opens case against top anti-graft prosecutorSince October 2017, NABU detectives have been investigating a criminal case in which the former head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, Natalia Korchak, is in focus, namely the investigation into a car she failed to include in her assets declaration. According to NABU, Kholodnytsky refused to sign a warrant on temporary access to Natalia Korchak's belongings and documents, because he didn't "find it advisable". Also, according to the complaint, Kholodnytsky met with the head Transparency International Ukraine Yaroslav Yurchyshyn and disclosed classified information in the Korchak case, thus failing to maintain the secrecy of the investigation. At the end of the conversation, Kholodnytsky allegedly stated that he was not going to arrest Natalia Korchak, explaining that "this would hurt everyone."

NABU detectives from November 2016 have been investigating the case, where Odesa Mayor Hennady Trukhanov is targeted. During a conversation with his deputy, Kholodnytsky allegedly ordered him not to conduct active investigative actions against certain persons involved in the case.

Read alsoAnti-graft prosecutor tipped off probe targets on upcoming raids, NABU director claims

According to NABU, in the episodes described, Kholodnytsky improperly performed his duties, disclosed pre-trial investigation data to a witness, and committed acts discrediting the office and casting doubt on his objectivity, impartiality, and independence, and rudely violated the rules of prosecutorial ethics.

"I am ready for a study of all accusations that NABU Director and Prosecutor General might voice against at a meeting of the Prosecutors' Qualification and Disciplinary Commission. I am ready to defend my position, but I demand that everything be examined as a whole and that all my words, as well as all the actions that followed, not be concealed. I won't be going on a sick leave, I'll come to a hearing and provide all the explanations that the Commission will require," Kholodnytsky told Hromadske, commenting on the report.

Later on Wednesday, NABU has uploaded on its YouTube channel a compilation (in Ukrainian) of audio records taken over a month with a bug planted in Kholodnytsky's office.International Mine Awareness Day is marked on April 4.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin says that over 1,600 Ukrainians have been killed or injured since 2014 when Russia unleashed aggression against Ukraine.

"A part of Ukrainian soil occupied by Russia [is] becoming one of the worst contaminated lands in the world," Klimkin wrote on Twitter on April 4 on the occasion of International Mine Awareness Day.

In total, two million Ukrainians are affected by mines in Donbas, he said.

According to UNICEF Ukraine, 1,833 people were killed or injured from 2014 to 2017 due to mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) related incidents.

Today is International Mine Awareness Day. In #Ukraine at least 11 children and 113 adults were injured or killed in mine/ERW related incidents in 2017 #IMAD2018#MineFreeUkraine#TogetherAgainstMinespic.twitter.com/zhRr9UOzS9  UNICEF Ukraine (@UNICEF_UA) April 4, 2018

In 2017 alone, at least 11 children and 113 adults were injured or killed in mine/ERW related incidents in Ukraine, UNICEF Ukraine wrote on Twitter, citing data of Ukraine's Health Ministry on casualties among civilians in government-controlled areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

In 2016, their number were 13 children and 127 adults, while there were 14 children and 628 adults in 2015 and 26 children and 901 adults in 2014.

Recent studies from Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), and the 2017 Landmine Monitor paint a terrifying picture. Explosive weapons killed or injured 32,008 civilians in 2016 (out of 45,624 total victims), according to AOVA. The most recent Landmine Monitor recorded a dramatic increase in landmine and explosive remnants of war casualties over the past three years. Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine and Yemen are among the main countries affected.The release of Ukrainian hostages is on the agenda of a new round of the Minsk talks on April 4.

Ukraine is ready to hand over 23 Russian citizens who are serving their terms in Ukrainian prisons in exchange for Ukrainian hostages.

"Those Russians who were detained for involvement in war under the guise of the so-called militants are now serving their terms in Ukrainian prisons for serious crimes committed against Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. It is evident that they are puppeteers rather than militia [puppets]. The Ukrainian side is ready to hand those convicts over, but we also want the release of Ukrainian citizens," First Deputy Speaker of Ukraine's parliament and Ukrainian envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group's humanitarian subgroup on the settlement of the Donbas crisis Iryna Gerashchenko told Channel 112.

Read alsoOHCHR report: Hostages released from detention in Donbas subjected to torture

"If the Russian side claims: 'We're not there,' the Ukrainian side responds: 'No, you are here.' And now 23 Russians are in Ukrainian prisons. We are ready to swap them for Ukrainian hostages to be freed," Gerashchenko added.

The release of Ukrainian hostages is on the agenda of a new round of the Minsk talks on April 4.The Ukrainian side says it is ready to do its best to fulfill the agreements reached by the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk.

Ukraine has confirmed at the Minsk talks of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready for disengagement near the village of Stanytsia Luhanska on April 10 if Russian-led troops observe a full ceasefire.

"The Ukrainian side has confirmed its readiness to continue doing everything possible to fulfill the TCG's agreements on the Easter truce," Darka Olifer, the press secretary of Ukraine's second president and envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group Leonid Kuchma, wrote on Facebook on April 4. "Disengagement near Stanytsia Luhanska may take place on April 10 if there is no shooting there."

Read alsoNext round of Minsk talks on Ukraine scheduled for April 18  Belarusian media

According to her, repairs to the bridge crossing in Stanytsia Luhanska were also discussed at all levels.

"The Ukrainian side has once again stressed that we support repairs to the bridge in line with the parameters approved by the relevant competent authorities," she said. "Security guarantees for repair teams are key in this context."

The Ukrainian side also expects that the self-proclaimed republics "will fulfill their obligations to provide security guarantees to Vodafone Ukraine personnel who are to fix mobile communications equipment," she added.

As UNIAN reported, Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced on April 2 that the disengagement of troops and military hardware was impossible near Stanytsia Luhanska due to ongoing shelling.

UNIAN memo. The Trilateral Contact Group's Framework Decision on the disengagement of troops and weapons along the contact line in Donbas was signed on September 21, 2016. The document mentions three local settlements  Zolote, Petrovske and Stanytsia Luhanska. The sides managed to disengage their forces and military hardware in Zolote on October 1, 2016, and in Petrovske on October 7, 2016. Disengagement near Stanytsia Luhanska was scheduled for October 9, 2016, but it failed because of shelling by the Russian occupation forces. Another deadline for Stanytsia Luhanska was set on March 5, 2018, but it also failed.The worlds largest social media company is under pressure to improve its handling of data after disclosing that information about 50 million Facebook users wrongly ended up in the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica

Facebook is expanding its response to what it sees as malicious actors using the platform improperly and on Tuesday said it had deleted hundreds of Russian accounts and pages associated with a troll factory indicted by U.S. prosecutors for fake activist and political posts in the 2016 U.S. election campaign.

Facebook said many of the deleted articles and pages came from Russia-based Federal News Agency, known as FAN, and that the social media companys security team had concluded that the agency was technologically and structurally intertwined with the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, according to Reuters.

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg told Reuters that the agency has repeatedly acted to deceive people and manipulate people around the world, and we dont want them on Facebook anywhere.

The worlds largest social media company is under pressure to improve its handling of data after disclosing that information about 50 million Facebook users wrongly ended up in the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

Read alsoFT: Facebook's Zuckerberg responds to Cambridge Analytica scandalThe removal of accounts and pages are mainly in Russian. Previously the company had only taken down fake accounts and accounts spreading fake news.

The new policy will include otherwise legitimate content spread by those same actors, Zuckerberg said.

It is clear from the evidence that weve collected that those organizations are controlled and operated by the Internet Research Agency, he added.

Facebook security officer Alex Stamos further detailed in a Facebook newsroom post that majority of accounts removed today were in Russian, and aimed at people living in Russia or Russian-speaking countries like Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. The accounts were posting content about domestic and international political issues, Russian culture and tourism, and stirring debate on everyday topics, according to CNBC.

Read alsoThe Times: Leaked emails expose Russian dirty tricksIn February, the agency along with two other firms and 13 Russians, was indicted by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller on charges it oversaw a criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper in the presidential campaign to support then-Republican candidate Donald Trump and disparage Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.An important explanation of the absence of the BUK-missile on the Russian radar images lies in the flight properties of a BUK-missile.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that investigates the downing of flight MH17 had two independent radar experts examine the radar images provided by the Russian Federation.

"The findings by these radar experts show that a BUK-missile could have been fired from the firing location established by the JIT without it being visible on the radar images," reads the report published on the Dutch Prosecutor's Office website.

An important explanation of the absence of the BUK-missile on the Russian radar images lies in the flight properties of a BUK-missile

Read alsoExpert dissects Russias shifting, self-contradicting MH17 narrative that blames Ukraine"Because of the fact that this speed is much higher than the speed of civil aircraft, the settings of a civil radar station will ensure that such fast objects generally are not visible on the radar images. This is to prevent clutter on the radar image," reads the report.

Furthermore, the radar experts confirm that no other aircraft near MH17 are visible on the radar images provided. The JIT consists of the police and judicial authorities of The Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine.

Read alsoSpanish man gets $48,000 from Russians to play "air-traffic controller" in MH17 fake story

UNIAN memo. All 298 people on board flight MH17 were killed when it was struck by a missile on July 17, 2014, and crashed into fields in the part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia's proxy forces. Two-thirds of the passengers on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were Dutch.

The Joint Investigation Team's preliminary report concluded that the plane was shot down by a BUK missile "controlled by pro-Russian fighters". It was also established that the Buk launcher had been brought from Russia and then hastily taken back.

The JIT conclusions have been disputed by Russia claiming that it was the Ukrainian forces who were responsible for the plane's downing.A State Department spokesman said any requests for new diplomatic accreditation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The U.S. State Department confirmed the United States and Russia can replace diplomats in each other's countries who were expelled last week, describing the process as standard practice for cases in which targeted personnel are ejected as "persona non-grata," and cautioning that any new diplomats would be subject to approval on a "case-by-case basis."

"As always/As with similar incidents in the past, the Russian government remains free to request accreditation for vacant positions in its bilateral mission," a State Department spokesman told CNN in a statement Tuesday. "Any requests for new diplomatic accreditation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis."

"The Russian Federation has not informed us that it intends to reduce the total number of personnel allowed in our bilateral Mission," the spokesperson added. "We therefore understand that the United States may request new diplomatic personnel to fill the positions of diplomats who have been expelled."

The White House announced last week it was expelling 60 Russian staffers and their families in response to the recent poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter in the United Kingdom, allegedly at the hands of the Kremlin. Russia was also ordered to close its consulate in Seattle.

Read alsoU.S. State Department on expulsion of its diplomats: No justification for Russian responseThe Trump administration claimed the expelled diplomats are Russian intelligence agents, and insisted their departure would make the U.S. more secure.

More than 20 countries joined the UK in expelling Russian diplomats over the Skripal poisoning case. Russia denies it was behind the poisoning of their ex-spy and his daughter Yulia, calling the accusation "delirium and nonsense."

On Thursday, the Kremlin announced it was retaliating by expelling an equal number of U.S. diplomats and closing the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg. U.S. personnel have a week to leave Russia, but can also be replaced subject to Russian government issuing new diplomatic visas.Shoigu says NATO rejects the Russian Defense Ministry's proposal to "start a dialogue."

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu says Europe is intimidating itself by "a non-existent Russian threat."

"Non-stop strengthening of the U.S. forces in Eastern Europe is a matter of concern. There is a paradoxical situation: NATO is trying to build up and modernize its military infrastructure at Russian borders, while a myth about the growing danger for Europe is being formed in the public opinion. That is, they intimidate themselves by a non-existent Russian threat, and then systematically increase their military potential," Shoigu said at the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security on April 4, as reported by an UNIAN correspondent in Russia.

According to the minister, today a 10,000-strong contingent with all types of offensive weapons has already deployed in the Baltic countries and Poland.

Read alsoRussian ships lurking around vital underwater cables raise international concern"The activity of the U.S. and other NATO fleets in the Black Sea and Baltics is growing. The number of NATO drills that are clearly anti-Russian has increased, too," Shoigu added.

He also said that NATO aviation flights along Russian border have intensified as well. Since January, Russian planes have taken off for interceptions more than 25 times.

Shoigu believes that the danger of provocations and military incidents has increased, while NATO refuses the Russian Defense Ministry's proposal to "start a dialogue."

Read alsoGermany admits Russian hackers infiltrated foreign and defense ministries - DW"In Brussels, they are not ready for a respectful conversation. In turn, Russia is not going to knock on the closed door, and we do not intend to ignore attempts of forceful pressure on us," he said.The Russian got a flight back to Moscow just a few hours after he landed in Heathrow.

A Russian on the same flight into the UK as Yulia Skripal before returning to Moscow a few hours later is being investigated over the attack.

Britain's spy agencies have red-flagged an individual who arrived at Heathrow on the Russian state-owned Aeroflot flight AFL2570 from Moscow that landed at 2.32pm on Saturday, March 3, the Daily Mail reported.

The Russian then got a flight to Moscow after a few hours on British soil, raising questions as to the purpose of the short visit, security sources told the Mail. The Skripals were hospitalised on March 4.

A senior Whitehall source said the individual had been identified as a "person of interest" by intelligence agencies, and pointed to more than one person being investigated. It is not clear if the person is suspected of delivering the agent, administering the Novichok, or of being linked to the attack in some other way.

Read alsoRussian spy poisoning: Skripal friend questioned over request for porridge  mediaCounter-terrorism officers have previously avoided referring to any suspects with regards to the poisoning. The fact a suspect could not be immediately identified pointed to the prospect of the nerve agent being delivered by post or in Miss Skripal's suitcase.

But it has now emerged intelligence officials believe the would-be assassin, or assassins, may have fled back to Moscow within hours of delivering the lethal agent. Security sources also said the searching of an Aeroflot plane that landed at Heathrow Airport on Friday  described by the Government as 'routine'  was based on intelligence.Russia lost the vote by 15 votes to six, while 17 member states abstained.

Moscow's proposal for a new, joint investigation into the poisoning of an ex-spy and his daughter in England has been voted down at the international chemical weapons watchdog at The Hague.

Russia has accused Britain of blocking access to an investigation being carried out by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the BBC said.

Britain earlier said Russia's call for an inquiry with the UK was "perverse."

Read alsoRussian on Yulia Skripal's plane from Moscow probed over "novichok" attack  media

Russia lost the vote by 15 votes to six, while 17 member states abstained.

China, Azerbaijan, Sudan, Algeria and Iran were among the countries that backed Russia's motion at the OPCW executive council, Reuters reported.

Russia called the meeting to challenge the UK, which has blamed Moscow for the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, southern England.

Russia has strongly denied any involvement and in a press conference after the vote said it had reason to believe what happened in Salisbury was a "terrorist attack." It strongly criticised the U.S. and EU countries for siding with the UK.

At the Hague meeting, UK acting representative John Foggo had said the victim of a chemical weapons' attack was not required to work with the "likely perpetrator."

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson later accused Russia of trying to undermine the watchdog's work and said the international community had "seen through these tactics."Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation has established about 230 wheat procurement centers across wheat growing areas in country in order to facilitate the grain producers to sell their produces at official fixed rates.

ISLAMABAD, Apr 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation has established about 230 wheat procurement centers across wheat growing areas in country in order to facilitate the grain producers to sell their produces at official fixed rates.

The centers were established in order to initiate the wheat procurement campaign for the crop season 2018-19, besides facilitating the farmers, protecting them from the exploitation of middle men and providing them better prices of their produces, said Managing Director PASSCO Muhammad Khan Khichi.

Talking to APP here on Wednesday he said that in this regard the whole country was divided into zones for enhancing the outreach of the corporation and facilitating the growers across the crop producing areas of provinces.

The PASSCO would establish 230 procurement centers in these zones with close coordination of the allied departments of the provinces to make the campaign more effective and transparent, he added.

He said that PASSCO had divided the Punjab Province into 11 zones, where as it had established two zones in Sindh and one in Balochistan provinces respectively to encourage farmers to sell their produces at the nearest wheat procurement centers of the corporation.

The MD said that PASSCO would procure about 900,000 tons of wheat during current wheat procurement campaign, where as the food departments of the respective provinces would also procure the grains in order to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as for keeping the strategic reserves for the country.

The corporation would distribute about 9 million bags among the farmers and in this regard the PASSCO had devised a new mechanism and policy to maintain the transparency in the whole process of sack distribution and eliminated the involvement of local administration in the distribution process, he remarked.

Muhammad Khan further informed that this year PASSCO had invited the applications from the farmers for sacks and a list would be prepared on basis of these applications and these lists would be open on given date and time.

There would be balloting on the basis of received application for ginny gags in presence of farmers, representatives of village organizations, district administration and other notables of these areas to address the complaints of farmers.Sub Committee of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday has recommended initiating criminal cases against those officials who are responsible for letter of credit in petroleum products from Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Sub Committee of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday has recommended initiating criminal cases against those officials who are responsible for letter of credit in petroleum products from Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

The Committee meeting held under the Convenership of MNA Rana Afzal here at Parliament House. The Committee analyses the Audit Paras of Ministry of energy from 1999-2009. The Committee also directed to the Ministry of Energy to establish special task force for irregularities to settle long standing issues of twenty years.

The Audit authorities informed PAC that PSO provided high speed diesel worth rs158 million to Pakistan Motorways but letter of credit was not cashed.

The committee said that seemingly it is internal mishandling and committee has directed to take action against those officials who were responsible in this inconsistency.

The Managing Director PSO told the committee that the concerned officers have been retired from service and action against them is not therefore possible. The Convener committee said this amount belongs to your institution and it is your duty to recover the looted money.

The committee pointing to Secretary Petroleum division Sikandar Sultan that these things may improve if he shows interest in the matter.Thereupon the secretary ensured to establish task force(@FahadShabbir)

Professional Education Foundation (PEF) will dole out educational scholarships to 2000 talented but poor students during this year while the number of the recipients of PEF scholarships will jump to 3000 in 2020, Chairman PEF Hafiz-ul-Haq said this while addressing a meeting in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) here.

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :Professional Education Foundation (PEF) will dole out educational scholarships to 2000 talented but poor students during this year while the number of the recipients of PEF scholarships will jump to 3000 in 2020, Chairman PEF Hafiz-ul-Haq said this while addressing a meeting in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) here.

He said that this foundation was established in 2009 to help the poor student to get professional education in Medical, Engineering, IT and BBA. He said that it is most profitable investment as the foundation invested Rs240,000 on each student during four years while he is earning approximately 500,000 to 700,000 on the completion of his education.

He said that the recipients of PEF scholarships belong to every part of Pakistan.

However, out of these 48% belong to Punjab, 14% to Baluchistan and only 20% to Sindh. The Chairman PEF said that during last 8 years this foundation has emerged as one of the leading funder of the higher education in the country.

About the structure of PEF, he told that it is managed by 12 members board who are providing 20 percent funding to this foundation. Responding to a question, he said that 170 students getting PEF scholarships belong to Faisalabad.

Out of these 85 students are studying in Faisalabad Medical University and the same number of students are enrolled in the University of Agriculture Faisalabad. Earlier, in his welcome address, Usman Rauf Vice President FCCI underlined the importance of education. Later, FCCI shield was presented to Chairman PEF Hafiz-ul-Haq.The Academic Council of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) has awarded the Executive Director of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) Dr S M Junaid Zaidi,

ISLAMABAD, April 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :The Academic Council of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) has awarded the Executive Director of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) Dr S M Junaid Zaidi, the Al-Farabi Golden medal for his contributions towards facilitating scientific collaborations between COMSATS, KazNU and COMSATS Centres of Excellence.

The award was given at ceremony held at Almaty, Kazakhstan, where experts from around the world gathered, including members of COMSATS Coordinating Council, a press release Wednesday said. Dr Zaidi was in Almaty as the Secretary to the Coordinating Council which is holding its 21st annual meeting that is hosted by COMSATS Centre of Excellence in Kazakhstan, Al-Farabi KazNU, from April 3 to 4.

Scientists and academicians from 14 Centres of Excellence of COMSATS belonging to Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Iran, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, and Tunisia, have gathered in Kazakhstan to attend the meeting.

International obervers included representatives of Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre -Turkey, Edibon International-Spain and International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology-Italy also attended the meeting as observers.

Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB), Chinese academy of Sciences, China, has become the 22nd Centre of Excellence of COMSATS and second from China, after approval of the Council.

The induction of TIB in the Network would add to COMSATS' wealth of human and technological resources for achieving sustainable development. The meeting also made important decisions on: programmes conducted by Centres of Excellence for South-South and South-North South triangular cooperation, future plans of the network; International Thematic Research Groups; ongoing programmes of COMSATS including the MS and PhD scholarships, postdoctoral fellowships, telehealth programme, capacity building activities and publication; possibilities of linking programmes with sustainable development goals; and criteria for evaluation of nominated Centres for induction in COMSATS' Network, as well as the role of Technical Advisory Committee in enhancing collaborations among Centres of Excellence and their up-gradation.Majority parents have raised concerns over private schools overcharging for books, monthly fee, stationery, and other items while making it compulsory for parents to buy these things from the school itself.

ISLAMABAD, Apr 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Majority parents have raised concerns over private schools overcharging for books, monthly fee, stationery, and other items while making it compulsory for parents to buy these things from the school itself.

A report aired by a private news channel said, as schooling has become a big looting business these days, owners of private institutions are looting parents in the garb of different charges, including new academic session fee, security fee, laboratory fee and books purchasing from schools.

They are charging huge money for printed notebooks and uniforms and parents are facing extra financial burden as they have no choice but to buy expensive notebooks of concerned schools. A number of parents said that private schools are using different tactics to loot them.

It is easy to buy notebooks from stationery shops at cheaper rates, rather than from schools. But schools are forcibly giving notebooks for minting money, they said. Asma Ali a mother said private schools have crossed the limits by increasing fees annually and other charges with the start of the new academic session.

On start of every new session, all these schools increase not only fees, but also other charges, which add to the miseries of the parents, she added.

Ahmad Javed a father, said "We were hoping that the schools fall in line and stop selling books by private publishers and we are not going to keep quiet as schools continue to mint money from such practices, he added.

Education activists say smaller expenses such as buying a dress for annual day, or a picnic, also add to the financial burden faced by parents. "In some schools. They said the government should take notice of this serious issue to make this profession pious rather than a commercial venture as parents are free to purchase books, uniforms, tie and shoes from the place they want.

A parents Javed sajjad said parents are bearing an extra burden of notebook expenses and fee structure imposed by some educational institutions. "We were surprised after seeing the fee slip of April and visited the school to ask as to why they increased the monthly fee.

The school management replied that they did not increase the monthly fee, they were charging only Rs3,000 for notebooks apart from monthly fees," he said.The ex Chief Justice of AJK High Court Justice and President of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation League, Abdul Majeed Mallick Wednesday said that all the natural resources in the disputed Jammu & Kashmir belonged to the people of the State so complete protection of the natural potential was required to be made till the resolution of Kashmir issue

MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) , April 4 (APP)::The ex Chief Justice of AJK High Court Justice and President of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation League, Abdul Majeed Mallick Wednesday said that all the natural resources in the disputed Jammu & Kashmir belonged to the people of the State so complete protection of the natural potential was required to be made till the resolution of Kashmir issue.

Talking to a group of senior Kashmiri journalists here on, Justice Mallick explained that the waters of Jammu & Kashmir had attained great importance in view of raising energy demand in the region.

He pointed out that India had under taken construction of over 92 Hydel projects on the rivers of Jammu & Kashmir. In the recent past, Senetor Jhone Carry in American Senate. Justice (R ) Majeed Mallick said that the rivers of Jammu & Kashmir state possessed enough potential source of energy more that 60 thousand megawatts.

The retired Judge of AJK HC urged upon the Secretary General of the United Nations that it was responsibility of UN to safeguard and protect the source of waters of Jammu & Kashmir till the decision of the state by its people through the right of self determination.

The JKLL President called upon the United Nations Secretary General to take immediate steps to appoint a special representative of high international repute to take measures to arrange withdrawal of all armed forces from the Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir , to evolve process of reunification of all parts of the state; and to take measures to arrange plebiscite as agreed and decided in the Security Council.

Justice Mallick emphasized that it was important to protect and safeguard the natural resources in all parts of the state and not to allow the any of countries to exploit these resources by depriving the people of the disputed Himalayan State of their valuable assets.

The retired CJ of AJK High Court claimed that benefits out of the earning of energy resource of Salal and Baglihar Hydel Projects was the legitimate right of the people of Indian-held Jammu & Kashmir and the income derived from Mangla Dam project was the legitimate right of the people of Azad Jammu & Kashmir.

"So was the case of Bhasha dam", he pointed out. The aforesaid issue was raised in the meeting in view of the recent conference of Indo-Pakistan waters experts held in Islamabad under the auspices of Jinnah Institute, he underlined.Minister of State and Chairman Board of Investment of Pakistan, Atif R. Bokhari Saturday said the government would take special measures to facilitate local and foreign investors to bring in more investment to Allama Iqbal Industrial City, a prioritized Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) to accelerate the pace of development.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the country's government not to apply sanctions for deviating the level of oil production from the one established under the OPEC + deal on the output cuts while the agreement is in force, according to a document published on the Kremlin's website

Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government to tighten control over the work aimed to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection among people working on a rotational basis in fuel and energy industry, according to a list of directives published on the Kremlin's website.

Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Standing Committee on Agriculture on Saturday called upon the government to get rid of cartelisation in the seed and pesticides sector for development of agriculture sector.

The attacker who has taken several people hostage in an Alfa Bank office in Moscow has been detained, Vladimir Vasenin, the spokesman for the Moscow's office of the Interior Ministry, said

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree on the allocation of 25 billion rubles (nearly $350 million) to support the domestic car industry and 20 percent of this funds will be spent to purchase ambulance cars, the Russian government's press service said on Saturday

Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden on Saturday presented their own plan for the recovery of the European economy on the basis of loans, as an alternative to the proposal of Germany and France to create a 500-billion euro foundation ($550 billion), Austrian Der Standard newspaper reported

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All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Wednesday hold a peaceful protest against brutality and illegal use of power by the Indian army in occupied Kashmir and over martyrdom of 20 people.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) on Wednesday hold a peaceful protest against brutality and illegal use of power by the Indian army in occupied Kashmir and over martyrdom of 20 people.

Speaking on the occasion leaders of APHC strongly condemned the barbaric incident in which 20 people were martyred and hundreds were injured. They said India has issued the license to its army to violate the human rights in Kashmir. They said due to illegal use of power by the Indian forces hundreds of people had lost their eye sight and got serious injuries on their faces.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai Wednesday said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project was a game changer for the country with Balochistan its main beneficiary.

QUETTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai Wednesday said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project was a game changer for the country with Balochistan its main beneficiary.

Speaking at the 9th convocation (2018) of Sardar Bhadur Khan Women's University Balochistan here, the governor said education was essential for the development of a country. That was the reason, the main focus of the provincial government was on educational activities during the past four years, he said, adding seven universities in the province were holding annual convocations regularly.

He said about 34,000 students were getting education in three official universities of the province in which 17,000 of them were girls' students which was a positive sign for the province and the country.

Appreciating the performance of Sardar Bhadur Khan Women's University, he said the faculties would continue their efforts for improving the quality of education. "Books and other international products would be kept in libraries, so that students could easily get the latest knowledge and research," he added.

Referring to renowned mathematician Mariyam Mirza Khani, he said she was given the a Nobel prize medal due to her superior intelligence. It was possible to achieve such Nobel prizes when students should continue their efforts to excel in their respective fields, he added.

The governor said the country was entering a new era of economic development."The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is just a sign of change," he added.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

A missing man found dead from a graveyard in the limits Jaranwala police. Police said that 40-year-old Muhammad Irfan of Mohallah Gilani Park Jaranwala went missing on March 24, his mutilated body was found from a graveyard near Lorry Adda Jaranwala on Tuesday night.

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :A missing man found dead from a graveyard in the limits Jaranwala police. Police said that 40-year-old Muhammad Irfan of Mohallah Gilani Park Jaranwala went missing on March 24, his mutilated body was found from a graveyard near Lorry Adda Jaranwala on Tuesday night.

The police sent the body to mortuary for postmortem. Further investigation was underway.(@FahadShabbir)

Ambassador of Netherlands Ardi Stoios-braken on Wednesday called on Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and discussed bilateral relations besides matters of mutual interest.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :Ambassador of Netherlands Ardi Stoios-braken on Wednesday called on Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and discussed bilateral relations besides matters of mutual interest.

During the meeting the minister said that there is a need of expanding trade cooperation between Pakistan and Netherlands. He said that there is also need to expand cooperation for enhancing capacity of vessels in Ports and Shipping of both countries.

While appreciating the infrastructure development in Gwadar Port the ambassador said that the investment in infrastructure and development on various Ports of Pakistan is of great importance.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

National Security Advisor Lt Gen (R) Nasir Khan Janjua Wednesday said terrorism required International and global response as it could not be fought individually or state or group of countries

ISLAMABAD, Apr 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :National Security Advisor Lt Gen (R) Nasir Khan Janjua Wednesday said terrorism required International and global response as it could not be fought individually or state or group of countries.

"Despite losing children, senior leadership and thousands innocent people in war against terrorism, our resilient is intact," he said while speaking at a session "Dynamic of Internal Security" at International Counter Terrorism Forum (IICTF) organized by National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA).

The NACTA is organizing the Forum to provide an ample opportunity to portray the country's positive and soft image and a nation of courage, perseverance and resilience. He said there was dire need to work to gather to purge the menace of terrorism.

Appreciating NACTA for organizing such an even, he said the whole world was suffering from terrorism and Pakistan was a victim country of it. He said unfortunately despite main suffer in war against terrorism, Pakistan was being blamed for playing double standard.

He said Pakistan remained at front line state against terrorism and its people and personal of security forces rendered matchless sacrifices in this war. He said unfortunately USA and its allied forces abandoned Afghanistan after the collapse of former Soviet Union (USSR) resulting creation of vacuum.

Later the vacuum was filled by radical groups, he added. Janjua said Pakistani leadership formulated National Action Plan (NAP) to tackle the menace of terrorism, adding all the provinces and other stakeholders contributed well and stood like a rock.

He said various operations including Zarb-e-Azb and Raddul Fasad were launched to get required results and now all FATA and others areas had fully been cleared from terrorists. He said Karachi operation had also normalized life in the port city.

Afrasiab Khattak while speaking on the occasion said that Pakistani people and personnel of armed forces made supreme sacrifices and defeated the terrorists. He said it was a common struggle for all Pakistani.

He said in 1980, the West had cleared agenda to defeat communism and they radicalize the society. He said Pakistan had showed strength and perseverance of its people through political leadership who stood united in dealing with menace of terrorism.

He said it was high time to look forward for cooperation for big and small powers. He said Chinese were very serious for peace and their good well should be used. He said political leadership supported NACTA in all its endeavours to make Pakistan a country free from extremism and violence.

It is pertinent to mention here that basic objective of the Forum is to highlight Pakistan's endeavors and achievements in war against terror. The Forum engaged diplomats, governmental officials, parliamentarians, politicians, United Nation Agencies, international organizations, aid agencies, media, civil society and world community at large.

Earlier, one minute silence was observed for victims of terrorism. A documentary, depicting efforts of people, the government and security agencies of the country against terrorism, was also shown on the occasion.(@rukhshanmir)

Pakistan and Canada have agreed to further boost parliamentary linkages and bilateral cooperation in different sectors for benefit of the people of two sides.

ISLAMABAD, Apr 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Pakistan and Canada have agreed to further boost parliamentary linkages and bilateral cooperation in different sectors for benefit of the people of two sides.

This was agreed in a meeting between Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) delegation of the Parliament of Canada at the Parliament House on Wednesday, said a press release.

The Chairman Senate, while welcoming the delegation, observed that Pakistan places its bilateral ties with Canada at high esteem and desires to further expand relationship in different sectors. He said that both Pakistan and Canada have shared objectives and cooperation between the two is on a positive trajectory. Chairman Senate was assisted by Senator Rukhsana Zubairi, Samina Saeed, Anwaaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Faisal Javed, Auranzeb Orakzai, Sitara Ayaz, Talah Mehmood, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif and Secretary Senate Amjed Pervez Malik.

The visiting side headed by Ms. Yasmin Ratansi, MP was comprised of Senator Salma Ataullahjan, Senator Diane Griffin, Mr. Terry Duguid, MP, Mr. Robet Kitchen, MP Mr. Murray Rankin, MP and Mr. Ramesh Sangha, MP.

Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani underscored the need for enhanced parliamentary linkages and suggested for activation of parliamentary groups in respective parliaments to bring people of the two sides more closer.

He said that both Pakistan and Canada have played active role on Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and both have supported each other at different other international forums which is manifestation of the fact that governments of the two sides wants to place ties on a high pedestal.

Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani said that Pakistan and Canada have increased the bilateral trade and economic cooperation recently but there is huge potential to promote it further. He said that Pakistan is a diversified country with bright economic prospects and desires to further expand these ties in different sectors. Chairman Senate also emphasized the need for further cooperation in various sectors along with promoting people to people contacts for better understanding to bring both the countries more closer to each other.

Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani said that Pakistan appreciate the measures of the Canadian government for taking good care of the Pakistanis and expect the other countries of the Western world to follow the Canadian example.He said that he is strong believer in the parliamentary diplomacy as it has added advantage to improve the relations among the nations, where bureaucratic interactions face intertia.

Chairman Senate appreciated the proactive role of Canadian parliament in CPA. He apprised that Pakistan would host post-Election Seminar in collaboration with CPA in May. Both sides also expressed agreement to initiate training and capacity building programmes for officers of the Parliament on more regular basis.

Senators including Anwar ul Haq Kakar, Ms. Sitara Ayaz, Sameena Saeed, Faisal Javed and others said that Pakistan wants peace at regional and global level. Kakar said that Pakistan offered sacrifices for global peace; however, unfortunately, a malicious campaign has been launched by some elements to malign Pakistan.

He said that global community should recognize Pakistan contribution and sacrifices to eliminate terrorism. The Canadian delegation agreed with the views of Chairman Senate and called for more regular interaction at parliamentary and other levels.

During the meeting, Canadian High Commissioner apprized the Chairman Senate that Canadian government will soon introduce scholarship schemes for students from Baluchistan and would extend cooperation for promotion of the fisheries and mining sectors in the province.

Chairman Senate also hosted a reception in honour of the visiting delegation at parliament house during which issues of mutual interest were deliberated at length. The delegation also visited the Gali-e-Dastoor and Senate Museum and expressed interest in the effort to conserve the parliamentary history of the country.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Pakistan Muslim League-N President KP and Advisor to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Engineer Ameer Muqam called on Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, here on Tuesday.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Apr, 2018 ) :Pakistan Muslim League-N President KP and Advisor to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Engineer Ameer Muqam called on Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, here on Tuesday.

Matters of mutual interests as well as political affairs came under discussion during the meeting. The Chief Minister said the PML-N was the most famous political party of the country and its every tenure was linked with transparency, public service and honesty.

He said those who were practicing the negative politics of lies had ruined the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that such elements intentionally created hurdles in the journey of development and prosperity during the five years.

He maintained that Imran Niazi, by joining hands with the king of corruption, had exhibited political jugglery. He said that people of KP would reject the liars in next general elections. He said that KP would be emerged as a developed province like Punjab if its people expressed their loyality with the PML-N in next general election.

Engr Ameer Muqam said that Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif had set new records of public service. He said that Shehbaz Sharif, through his hard work and vision, had made Punjab a developed province. He said that people of KP had now been fed up with PTI's leadership. He said the PML-N would gain victory in next general election in KP as well.ISLAMABAD, Apr 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :Minister of State for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan Wednesday said that improving law and order situation and prudent economic policies of the government has attracted the foreign investors to invest in Pakistan.

Addressing the launching ceremony of HVACR Expo 2018 here, the minister assured government's full support to the local and foreign investors and said that every possible measure will be taken to maintain their confidence and more incentives will be offered for further investment.

He said that now things were improving as the government had managed the power crises besides controlling the menace of terrorism. He added it is ideal time for investors to come and invest in various attractive sectors in Pakistan.

He said that in past government, business community were shifting their businesses and industry to other countries, but due to wise economic policies of present government that turned around economy, the investors had come back.

The minister said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had created a lot of opportunities for local businessmen. "Now it's up to them how they can take maximum advantages from this project, which will be beneficial for many local industries." He said that the country had attained self reliance in many sectors and urged the air-condition industry to promote local equipment for promotion of local industry.

This industry was also grooming well due to country's specific weather conditions, he added. He expressed the hope that during various session of expo, the experts will find out appropriate solutions and recommendations for further promotion of air-condition industry.

He said last year the country had witnessed economic growth rate of 5.5 per cent after 10 years and added per capital income was also increased due to visible improvements in country's economy. He said that the government will continue implementing its economic policies to ensure sustainable development of the country.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam Wednesday emphasized for environmental protection and forestation to get rid off pollution and other threats hazardous to natural beauty and human life.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam Wednesday emphasized for environmental protection and forestation to get rid off pollution and other threats hazardous to natural beauty and human life.

International Union for Conservation of Nature, in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change and the Serena Hotel, celebrated the World Water Day and the International Day of Forests, at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad.

The themes for the day this year were "Water and Nature" and "Forests and Sustainable Cities." The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Climate Change, international organizations, government agencies, academia, the private sector, as well as the media and environment experts.

She also asked the participants to maintain silence for Kashmiri martyrs of recent Indian atrocities. Federal Minister for Climate Change Mushahid Ullah was not present due to his visit to Azad Jammu Kashmir to show solidarity with people of Indian occupied Kashmir.

On behalf of the minister for climate change, Federal Secretary Environment Ministry of Climate Change Khizar Hayat Khan also explained that "due to the loss of forest cover in the watersheds, the flow and quality of water has been reducing, giving rise to trans-boundary and riparian issues." Being an agri-based country, he said, the economic loss is imminent due to reduction in the water flow.

"To reverse this situation we need to take drastic measures to increase the forest cover in the water sheds and rangelands," he added. He said the situation was so dire that the government alone could not be able to tackle it, and require external assistance.

"The role of each and every citizen is very important, as well as that of NGOs who are already contributing to increasing the forest cover in the country." In the welcome address, Country Representative IUCN Pakistan Mahmood Akhtar Cheema quoted a recent study of drinking water quality conducted by IUCN Pakistan in the FATA region that 97% samples were found unsafe mainly due to the presence of microbiological contaminations.

Only 3% sources were found safe for drinking purpose. He proposed that the concept of water treatment through chlorination must be adopted at the government level, adding that IUCN had been working with both government and civil society in Pakistan since over 30 years, with a view to develop nature based solutions to address these issues while spreading environmental awareness.

IUCN's achievements include getting Juniper Forests in Ziarat declared as a Man and the Biosphere Reserves, pioneer to work on mangroves conservation and rehabilitation through regional initiative Mangroves for the Future (MFF) Programme.

IUCN works in partnership with the private sector to offset the impacts of their operations on the natural resources and ecosystems and to arrest the sea intrusion. IUCN Pakistan had implemented several projects on water issues as the prime focus.

Ministry of Climate Change Inspector General Forest Syed Mahmood Nasir said, "Pakistan needs to design urban forests that may result in a temperature reduction of 8-10 degree centigrade". President Chamber of Commerce Islamabad Sheikh Amir Waheed suggested the need for increased afforestation in country and further emphasized that the government should promote private sector investment in natural resource management.

Chairman Federal Flood Commission Ahmed Kamal reflected on flood plains management and National Water Policy. Asian Development Bank Pakistan Country Head Xiaohong Yang mentioned in her remarks that Pakistan was in the list of top effected countries by extreme weather conditions.

The Green House Gas Emissions were getting doubled in two years and by year 2050 it would increase upto 14 times. FAO Country Representative Pakistan, Mina Dowlatchahi said, "For ensuring food security and sustainable development in Pakistan, it is important to take note of the nexus between food security, forests and water.

There was a need for concerted and coordinated action to help conserve natural resources and protect our eco-systems". Ayesha Wafa Khan of Serena Hotel presented a vote of thanks and reflected upon the commitment of Serena Hotels about their environmentally sustainable business.

Representatives of embassies, donors, international organizations, government agencies including UN, FAO, ADB, Embassy of Netherlands, GIK institute, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Federal Flood Commission and academia joined IUCN and Ministry of Climate Change participated at the event.

Presenting the global situation, facts and figures about the importance and issues of water usage and water scarcity, the audience were also briefed about the possible solutions to overcome these.(@rukhshanmir)

Security forces on Wednesday killed two terrorists in Pinsin Kaur, surrounding area of Dasht, district Turbat and Dera Bugti.

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Security forces on Wednesday killed two terrorists in Pinsin Kaur, surrounding area of Dasht, district Turbat and Dera Bugti. According to a statement issued here by Inter Services Public Relations, the terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire during an intelligence based operation (IBO), conducted by security forces in support of Khushhal Balochistan programme.

A Frontier Corps Balochistan soldier also embraced Shahadat. Cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered. The IBO was carried out as part of ongoing operation Radd-ul-Fasaad.(@rukhshanmir)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa food authority has launched a drive against the owners of food outlets who were providing unhygienic food to the public.

ISLAMABAD, Apr 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Khyber Pakhtunkhwa food authority has launched a drive against the owners of food outlets who were providing unhygienic food to the public.

The drive took place in three districts in which several food owners were heavily fined over unhygienic conditions and substandard food,reported private news channel. The food authority officials raided Hershey super store in Tehkal area of Peshawar and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000.

However, a food authority team from Mardan led by deputy director Zeeshan Mehsud and Assistant Director Rukhsar Ali observed different markets and hotels in Mardan.

Dozens of hotel owners were issued warning letters as to improve the cleanliness of they will be heavily fined.

A fine of Rs 35,000 was imposed on owner of Toru Wedding Hall over poor cleanliness condition. ` Food authority officials, in Bannu, discarded the sweets in which toxic food colors were mixed. "The toxic food colors are dangerous for health as written on the color's box and it is not to be used in food items", lamented Rehem Aziz, Assistant Director.

An ice-cream factory was fined over its poor cleanliness condition, unhygienic and substandard food in Dera Ismail Khan.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the government's plea against Islamabad High Court's (IHC) order slashing its Hajj quota.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Apr, 2018 ) :The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the government's plea against Islamabad High Court's (IHC) order slashing its Hajj quota. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar dismissed the plea after going through the arguments placed by Deputy Attorney General Sohail Mahmood and the counsels for the litigants.

During the course of proceedings, Mahmood informed the court that the IHC, in its judgment on March 16, had reduced the government quota of Hajj pilgrims to 60 per cent from 67 per cent whereas it was reverted later by the Federal cabinet.

The court inquired from the law officer how the cabinet could upend a court order. The DAG informed the court that as per the apex court's orders, a committee was formed on the issue. The private Hajj was more expensive than the official one, he added.Minister for Education and Professional Training Engr Muhammad Baligh ur Rahman on Wednesday said that modern knowledge and researches in the world has proved that the trend to learn new languages play vital role in the development of any country.

ISLAMABAD, Apr 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Minister for Education and Professional Training Engr Muhammad Baligh ur Rahman on Wednesday said that modern knowledge and researches in the world has proved that the trend to learn new languages play vital role in the development of any country.

Addressing the Degree Awarding Ceremony held here at National University of Modern Languages (NUML), the minister underlined the importance of languages, and said that no one can deny the importance of languages.

As many as 129 students of different categories including three gold medalists and four PhD's were awarded degrees in a ceremony which also attended by the Rector NUML Major General (retd) Zia Uddin Najam, Director General Brigadier Muhammad Ibrahim, faculty members, parents and a large number of students.

The minister on the occasion said that education sector is improving in the country with the efforts of incumbent government. "Learning more languages could enhance one's critical and analytical thinking" the minister emphasized.

Lauding the role of NUML in modern education and languages programmes, the minister said that the university is prevailing in the country by launching its campuses.

Although, the education is a devolve subject, but the Federal government in consultation with the provinces is making efforts for the development of sector, he added.

The federal education ministry has suggested in the Inter Provincial Minister's Conference (IPMC) to start a programme at regional level under which the students must have to learn at least two additional languages as a choice other than national and local.

He urged the NUML students to provide their services for this languages programme to be initiated at regional level. He stressed the need of characterization of youth besides education and asked the faculty to play their role in this regard.

The students, who learn how to care of others, would be great leaders at local and national level in the future, Baligh ur Rahman said. In coming days, Pakistan will have more employment opportunities he said adding that the country is now on right track as compare to 2012-13, the minister remarked.

He commended the efforts of security forces for restoring peace by sacrificing their lives and added, it has become possible only through the consultation of all stake holders.Commander Turkish Naval Forces, Vice Admiral Adnan Ozbal, who is on an official visit to Pakistan has met with naval field commands at Lahore and Karachi.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Commander Turkish Naval Forces, Vice Admiral Adnan Ozbal, who is on an official visit to Pakistan has met with naval field commands at Lahore and Karachi.

During the visit of Lahore, the dignitary met Commandant Pakistan Navy War College, Rear Admiral Naveed Ahmed Rizvi, a press release Wednesday said. During the visit to Karachi, commander Turkish naval forces called on Commander Karachi, Rear Admiral Ather Mukhtar, Commander Coast, Rear Admiral Moazzam Ilyas and Commander Pakistan Fleet, Rear Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi in separate meetings.

During the meetings, besides discussions on professional matters and bilateral naval collaboration, the commander Turkish naval forces lauded Pakistan Navy's role and commitments in maintaining peace and stability in the region through persistent participation in Coalition Counter Terrorism and Counter Piracy Task Forces.

The dignitary also visited Pakistan Naval academy PNS RAHBAR and interacted with midshipmen and cadets presently undergoing training. Later, he visited Pakistan Navy Ship SAIF. Upon arrival on board, he was received by Commander Pakistan Fleet, Rear Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi and was presented Guard of Honour by contingent of Pakistan Navy.

The dignitary also interacted with the crew of the ship and appreciated the professionalism of officers and men of Pakistan Navy. He laid wreath at Mazar-e-Quaid. The visit of commander Turkish naval forces to Pakistan is expected to further strengthen the bilateral defence collaboration between Pakistan and Turkey in general and the two navies in particular.LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :Columbia University and George Washington University held lectures in early April regarding initiatives from the Punjab province under the leadership of its Chief Minister which aim to eliminate Violence Against Women (VAW) in a holistic manner.

Salman Sufi, Director General-Chief Minister Punjab's Strategic Reforms Unit (SRU) was invited to deliver a lecture on "Innovative approach for combating violence against women in Pakistan" at Columbia University on April 2, said a handout issued here.

He will further be addressing George Washington University on the lecture titled "Pakistan's approach to combat Violence Against Women (VAW)" on April 5. In the said lectures, the DG SRU will highlight the women-centric reforms introduced by the Chief Minister's SRU as well as discuss the Chief Minister's plan of action for the next five years to tackle VAW in Punjab.

Under the guidance of the Chief Minister, the SRU spearheaded the drafting and passage of the historic Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 which criminalizes all forms of Violence Against Women whether it be verbal, physical, economic or psychological abuse as well as cybercrime and stalking.

Prior to this, neither was Violence Against Women present in a well-defined manner in the legislation nor were civil remedies in place for victims of violence. Furthermore, the implementation mechanism of the Act i.e.

one-stop justice delivery centers known as Violence Against Women Centers (VAWCs) will be discussed in these lectures.

The first VAWC was established in Multan in March 2017 and provides all services for victims of violence including FIR lodging, investigation, medico-legal, forensic, prosecution, legal aid, counselling, mediation and rehabilitation.

Till date, VAWC Multan has dealt with more than 1500 cases of Violence Against Women in Multan. Given the success of this state-of-the-art-facility, various provincial governments have expressed their interest to replicate the model.

In these lectures, DG SRU further aims to highlight other women centric reforms spearheaded by the Government of Punjab under the direction of the Chief Minister. These include the creation of Pakistan's first female Assistant Inspector General for Gender Crime part of Punjab Police, Gender sensitization of high school curriculum of Punjab as well as the launch of Women- on-Wheels (WoW) Campaign which aims to empower women by increasing their mobility through the provision of free motorcycle trainings followed by customized motorcycles at a subsidized rate.

Moreover, Punjab Women Protection Authority has been established to maintain, construct and monitor Violence Against Women Centers across the province as well as to raise awareness regarding the rights and protection of women.

The lecture aims to engage students and faculty regarding the crucial issue of VAW in Pakistan and multiple interventions undertaken by the Punjab Government serving to eliminate the issue in a sustainable manner. APP/saa/zqrAmerican citizen Regan Anderson is trying to raise $2,000 so she can travel to Karachi and meet her Pakistani husband and his family.

ISLAMABAD, Apr 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :American citizen Regan Anderson is trying to raise $2,000 so she can travel to Karachi and meet her Pakistani husband and his family.

According to a private news channel, Regan is a creative director and owns a business in Dallas, where they organise art shows as well as assist artists with business consulting. Last year, Regan met Ali Umer who was travelling to the United States to attend a family wedding.

After spending the entire summer travelling together, they married this year in Dallas. Now Regan is raising money to travel to Karachi to be with her husband and meet her in-laws, who could not make it to the wedding owing to financial constraints.

Ali and Regan have taken to social media to promote Regan's "fundmytravel" campaign to raise money. So far the results have been promising. Speaking to channel, Ali said he is surprised by the response they have received so far.

"There is a perception that people don't want to help each other but that has not been the case with us. People have been very generous," he said. Regan feels the same way. "When I started the page initially I was unsure if anything would come of it.

About 75 per cent of my donations came from Pakistani citizens. Ali's family and friends have been very supportive and welcoming. I think people know love when they see it and that inspires them, so they send their help and support," she said during an exchange via Facebook, where she also goes by the name of Khadijah Fatimah Umer.

Regan also hoping to take lots of pictures of the good sides of Pakistan and to check out the Himalayas too if possible during her trip to Pakistan. Ali, who is currently obtaining a degree in Pharmacology, has been playing his part as well. He gives tuitions to earn money and also works as an independent artist so he help as much as he can.Twelve European tourists have been freed after being taken hostage in western Cameroon, where anglophone militants are campaigning for an independent state, the government said on Wednesday.

Douala, April 4 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Twelve European tourists have been freed after being taken hostage in western Cameroon, where anglophone militants are campaigning for an independent state, the government said on Wednesday.

The group of seven Swiss and five Italians "were taken hostage by a band of armed terrorists" in the Southwest Region before being rescued by troops on Monday in a "special operation," the communications ministry said in a statement.

Separately, six municipal councillors in the neighbouring Northwest Region -- another seat of anglophone unrest -- were also released in operations that saw "tens of assailants neutralised, huge stocks of weapons and ammunitions as well as large quantities of drug(s) seized," it said.

Cameroon's government is fighting insurgents demanding a separate state for the two regions. They are home to most of the country's anglophones, who account for about a fifth of the predominantly French-speaking population.

- Legacy of colonial era - The Europeans, members of an organisation called the African Adventure Group, were seized in the area of Moungo-Ndor while they were heading for a tourist site called the Twin Lakes, the ministry said.

The lakes, lying in volcanic craters, have special significance in the local traditional religion, and are deemed to represent the male and female genders. The statement did not say when the group, or the municipal councillors in the Northwest Region, had gone missing.

The anglophone question in Cameroon is a legacy of the colonial period in Africa.

France and Britain divided up the former German colony under League of Nations mandates after World War I. A year after the French-ruled territory became independent in 1961, the southern part of British Cameroons was integrated into a Federal system, scrapped 11 years later for a "united republic".

In recent years, agitation has risen among anglophones, chafing under the perception that they suffer prejudice at the hands of the francophone majority, especially in the judicial system and education.

But demands for a return to the federal structure were rejected by the government. In a spiral of radicalisation, the breakaway movement issued a symbolic declaration of independence for "Ambazonia," their name for the putative state, on October 1.

Cameroon's President Paul Biya met the revolt with a crackdown, including curfews, raids and restrictions on travel. Unrest has increased in recent weeks, with attacks on security forces and civilians and a spate of kidnappings of officials, and new groups are spawning within the separatist movement.

The clashes have prompted around 33,000 people to flee to neighbouring Nigeria. The latest violence comes on the heels of visits to the Northwest and Southwest regions last month by Cameroon's newly-appointed interior minister, Paul Atanga Nji, himself an anglophone.

He said he brought "a message of dialogue, a responsible dialogue, a dialogue with those who know that Cameroon is one and indivisible".Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and his visiting Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said here on Wednesday that the European Union (EU) should maintain dialogue with Russia.

SOFIA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and his visiting Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said here on Wednesday that the European Union (EU) should maintain dialogue with Russia.

"First of all, let us not forget that Bulgaria is presiding the Council of the EU and, as such, it must conduct a policy of dialogue and balance," Radev said at a joint press conference when answering a question on the tensions related to the poisoning row between Britain and Russia.

On Friday, Bulgaria said that it would not expel Russian diplomats, becoming one of the few EU countries that have not done so.

Such a position was taken by Austria, which would be the next chair the Council of the EU, Radev said.

"I agree with President Radev that dialogue is the only source of policy," Grabar-Kitarovic said in turn. According to her, Russia is a world power, and talks should be held with it not only on mutual disputes but also on many other issues such as international security, EU security against terrorism and all other common threats.

The Croatian president called on the EU and Russia to return to dialogue and move towards normalization of ties.(@rukhshanmir)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday congratulated Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. In his congratulatory message, Li said that China-Ethiopia relations have witnessed a rapid development in recent years and reached an all-time high.

BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday congratulated Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. In his congratulatory message, Li said that China-Ethiopia relations have witnessed a rapid development in recent years and reached an all-time high.

China attaches great importance to the bilateral ties and is willing to work together with the Ethiopian side to jointly push forward the Belt and Road Initiative, expand mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and constantly enrich the China-Ethiopia comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.

Ahmed, who was unanimously endorsed by the Ethiopian House of People's Representatives as the country's new prime minister, took office on Monday, weeks after his predecessor Hailemariam Desalegn resigned.Cuba's signature rum, Havana Club, competes with the best known brands in the world even though it cannot be sold in the largest rum-consuming market.

San Jos de las Lajas, Cuba, April 4 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Cuba's signature rum, Havana Club, competes with the best known brands in the world even though it cannot be sold in the largest rum-consuming market.

In Cuba, there are barrels that have been used to age rum for more than six decades -- as long as the US embargo on the island has been in place -- and that give the liquor distilled from sugar cane its unique flavor.

Hundreds of casks rest in the Havana Club warehouses in San Jose, 30 kilometers from Havana, bathed in a sweet woody aroma redolent of vanilla, while bottle after bottle moves down the production line waiting to be filled.

It was in Cuba 150 years ago that light Spanish-style rum was first created, which through natural aging in white oak casks, blending and skill, has evolved into the softer, darker, more subtle version consumed today.

"We are not afraid to say that for us Cuban rum is the best in the world," says rum master Asbel Morales, 49, who has been making rum for three decades. Despite the US embargo, global sales of Havana Club, which is available in 120 countries, grew six percent in 2017, led by Germany and France.

And China, a big market for Cuban cigars, has huge potential. "The US represents 39 percent of the global market for premium rum. For political reasons, Havana Club is excluded from that market and yet despite that we are among the three leading rums in the world," marketing director Sergio Valdes told AFP.

According to the latest ranking by Drinks International magazine, Havana Club is among the top three in sales globally along with Plantation and Bacardi. - Cuban from Cuba- Since 1993, the brand has been co-owned by the Cuban government's Cuba Ron SA, and French company Pernod Ricard, the number two spirits company in the world.

But the family that owned Havana Club from 1934 until Fidel Castro's revolution expelled them from the country, kept the original recipe, and in 1994 the Arechabalas sold the recipe to Bacardi, another Cuban exile company.

A year later Bacardi began selling its own version of Havana Club, produced in Puerto Rico and sold in the US market, with the slogan: "Forced from home. Aged in Exile. Forever Cuban." Pernod Ricard dismisses the Puerto Rican version as an upstart misleading consumers, and sued Bacardi for using the trademarked brand name -- litigation that continues.

"You can't talk about Cuban rum if you don't have the soil, the temperature, the humidity that exists in Cuba," Morales said. The aging process "is not comparable to anywhere else in the world.

It's done naturally with no additives." And Cuba "has very little pollution," he said.

"This makes sugar cane grow more quickly, with a high sugar content and low amount of substances that degrade the molasses," the raw material for rum. Under former US President Barack Obama relations with Washington thawed, which led Cuba Ron to register the "Havanista" trademark in the United States in preparation to sell a seven-year-old version in the US market if the embargo were lifted.

But that seems unlikely under President Donald Trump, so the rum will just keep aging while it waits. London-based rum expert Ian Burrell told AFP the three-year-old versions of the two Havana Clubs are very different, and he can pick out the Cuban style -- aged in Scotch and Irish whisky barrels -- in a blind taste test with its light woodiness and citrus notes.

The Bacardi version -- aged in barrels used for American bourbon -- "is lighter compared to the modern-day Cuban rums. So there is a really big difference between the two products," he told AFP.

"To me as a bartender, both rums can be used in different ways as a base for cocktails that showcase their qualities. I find the Cuban version a little sweeter on the palate with the Puerto Rican version drier." German tourist Curosch Zandi, 41, is a fan.

"Cuban rum? I don't know, there is something special about the taste. Maybe it's about the country," he said after buying a bottle at the Rum Museum in Havana. - Rum master - The human touch is key to a rum's flavor.

"The role the rum master plays, what he has in his mind, nose, throat, identify the profile of product he wants to obtain," Morales said. "Without the master who controls the process from the raw material to the finished product, it is impossible to make Cuban rum." Burrell says a rum master is "like an artist using a palette," blending rums from different distilling columns to create a final product that matches the desired flavor profile.

In Cuba, there are eight rum masters -- including one woman -- who benefit from a tradition passed from generation to generation. And those old white oak barrels are critical. They have been used to age whisky, and are essential to the rich color and natural flavors of the rum.

The master selects the specific barrel for each batch and decides how long to age it there. For example, vanilla notes become apparent after 10 years. The highest quality rums are aged in 60-year-old barrels, in which only oxygen, time and the wood contribute to the smooth liquor's flavor.An appeal that raised some $2 billion to help millions of people in Yemen was a remarkable success of international solidarity for the country's war-weary people

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 4 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :An appeal that raised some $2 billion to help millions of people in Yemen was a remarkable success of international solidarity for the country's war-weary people, but aid alone will not provide a solution to the conflict, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Tuesday after opening a pledging conference for Yemen, Guterres said that more than $2 billion had been promised by Member States before the end of the event. Above all, the UN chief said, " we need a serious political process to lead to a political solution because there was never a humanitarian solution for any humanitarian crisis.

The solution has always been political and in Yemen what we need is a political solution for these pledging conferences not to be repeated in the future." Describing the situation in Yemen as catastrophic, where every 10 minutes, a child under five dies of preventable causes, the Secretary-General stressed that while humanitarian resources are very important, they are not enough; it is essential, he said, that they reach the people in need.

"And for that, we need unrestricted access into Yemen; we need unrestricted access everywhere inside the country." This call was also made by UN aid chief Mark Lowcock, who said during the event: "We need better access across the country.

We want to see Sana'a airport reopen to commercial flights, notably for humanitarian cases." The event was co-chaired by the UN and the governments of Sweden and Switzerland. Pledges were made by 40 Member States and organizations, including the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), for humanitarian action in Yemen in 2018.

International pledges for nearly $2 billion represent almost double the amount raised in 2017 to fund humanitarian aid in the Arabian Peninsula country. Conflict is ongoing there between an international coalition forces supporting President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on the one side, and Houthi militias and allied units of the armed forces on the other, which seized control of the capital, Sana'a.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned about the toll, this has had on non-combatants: forced and repeated displacement of families, massive food insecurity and the collapse of essential services including healthcare and education.

In 2017, the world's worst outbreak of cholera to date affected one million Yemenis, and diphtheria is now on the rise in what was already one of the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the region before fighting erupted.

Latest UN data indicates that a record 22.2 million people some 75 per cent of the population now need humanitarian assistance. The UN chief added that a horrifying 8.4 million of these do not know how they will obtain their next meal.

Lowcock, who is the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, stressed the dire situation faced by millions of families in Yemen. The $3 billion appeal target represented a substantial sum of money, he said, but it was small in relation to the needs of Yemenis.

Many now face a 25 per cent rise in the cost of food, the UN official said, explaining that the country imported nearly all of its daily requirements and had been hit hard by the sharp devaluation of the country's Currency, the Yemeni Rial.

In total, some 190 organizations, 150 of which are Yemeni are involved in the UN-coordinated humanitarian response plan. It has been responsible for scaling up food assistance to seven million people a month, and helped boost access to water, health services and sanitation.

Such support would not be possible without sufficient funding, Lowcock said, before listing other key conditions that needed to be met to enable an effective humanitarian response. All ports in Yemen needed to remain open without restrictions, the UN official said, a sentiment echoed by Ambassador Manuel Bessler, Head of Switzerland's Humanitarian Aid Department, who stressed that Yemenis needed help immediately.

"We heard it again and again, Yemen needs urgent help, it needs access for the people, it needs access for the markets, for the sea ports and airports." The end of last year saw severe delays in unloading basic foodstuffs caused by the enforced closure of much of the country's air, sea and land ports by coalition forces.

Lowcock also called for public sector salaries to be paid across Yemen after months of non-payment; this would prevent another cholera outbreak by providing essential services, he said, and keep children in school, providing essential continuity for them.

Those comments were echoed by Isabella Lovin, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, who told journalists during a break in the pledging conference that every day the conflict drags on "is one day too many" for ordinary Yemenis.

There was the risk, she added, of an entire generation of children going without healthcare and education, while reports of children being recruited by armed groups were deeply disturbing. In response to a question about the progress of UN-led efforts for peace, Guterres told reporters that his Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths had been very encouraged by his recent discussions with representatives of the warring parties in Sana'a and Riyadh.

The Special Envoy would also be going to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Aden for talks, Guterres added. These had brought about positive perspectives for an inclusive Yemeni dialogue, the UN Secretary-General said, adding that the opportunity for peace should be seized and not missed.(@rukhshanmir)

The government said Wednesday that it will open a trauma center this week in Seoul as part of efforts to help victims of major disasters.

SEOUL, April 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :The government said Wednesday that it will open a trauma center this week in Seoul as part of efforts to help victims of major disasters.

The trauma center, located at the National Center for Mental Health in eastern Seoul, is aimed at helping victims recover from major traumatic disasters, such as earthquakes and fires, and provide proper treatment programs, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The ministry said the trauma center is set to begin its service Thursday. The move comes amid growing calls that the government should play a leading role in providing psychotherapy to victims of major disasters after a series of traumatic events in recent years, including the deadly sinking of the Sewol ferry.

The 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry claimed the lives of 304 people, mostly high school students on a school excursion.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

A pair of rare idols stolen from Nepal three decades ago were returned to the country Wednesday by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Kathmandu, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :A pair of rare idols stolen from Nepal three decades ago were returned to the country Wednesday by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The two statues one of Buddha and the other of the Hindu god Shiva and his wife Parvati were stolen in the 1980s when rampant looting saw many important artifacts whisked out of Nepal and into the hands of private collectors.

"The government was unaware of the whereabouts of the statues until historian Lain Singh Bangdel mentioned (in a book) that the statues were on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York," Shyam Sundar Rajbanshi of Nepal's Department of Archaeology told AFP.

The 11th-century Shiva statue, known as the Uma Maheshwor idol, was given to the Met in 1983 while the Buddha -- estimated to be around 700 years old -- was donated by a private collector in 2015.

The two statues were removed from display after the Met learned they were stolen, local media reported. The statues will now be showcased at the National Museum of Nepal in the capital Kathmandu, Rajbanshi confirmed.

Nepal's rich cultural heritage was ravaged by decades of theft from the 1960s to 1980s. Natural disasters and unchecked development also encroached on ancient sites. A devastating earthquake in April 2015 caused extensive damage in the Kathmandu Valley, home to hundreds of sacred Buddhist and Hindu sites.

The UN's cultural agency UNESCO warned if not properly conserved those sites could lose their coveted world heritage status.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has emphasized it is necessary for the international community to move forward the Middle East peace process, Saudi Press Agency reported Tuesday.

RIYADH, Apr 4(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2018 ) :Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has emphasized it is necessary for the international community to move forward the middle East peace process, Saudi Press Agency reported Tuesday.

The Saudi king made the remarks during a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump over the regional developments on Monday evening, according to the report. Increased tension between Tehran and Riyadh has fuelled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to work together against what they see as a common Iranian threat.

The king reaffirmed the kingdom's steadfast position on the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, it said. The conversation came amid rising tensions between Israel and the Palestinians following the bloody clashes in the past days near the Israeli border with Gaza Strip, that have left at least 15 Palestinian protesters killed and 1,200 others injured.

The king expressed his appreciation for a recent statement issued by the White House on its strong stance towards the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen. Recently, the Houthi militias have stepped up its attacks on Saudi targets by firing missiles at the kingdom in retaliation for the Saudi-led Arab coalition's airstrikes in Yemen.

The Saudi leader pledged to make efforts to find a political solution to the Yemeni crisis and provide humanitarian aid to its people. At the same time, the two leaders underlined the importance of the achievements of the concerted international efforts to fight terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, the report added.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince said Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land in an interview published on Monday in US magazine The Atlantic, another public sign of ties between Riyadh and Tel Aviv appearing to grow closer.

Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland, Mohammed bin Salman was quoted as saying: "I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land.

But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations." Saudi Arabia - birthplace of islam and home to its holiest shrines - does not recognise Israel.

It has maintained for years that normalizing relations hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war, territory Palestinians seek for a future state. "We have religious concerns about the fate of the holy mosque in Jerusalem and about the rights of the Palestinian people.

This is what we have. We don't have any objection against any other people," said Prince Mohammed who is touring the United States to drum up investments and support for his efforts to contain Iranian influence.

"There are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries", Prince Mohammed added.Nocturia is a highly prevalent, under-recognized condition associated with disrupted sleep, which results in reduced productivity and negatively impacts health and quality of life1,[2],[3],[4],[5],[6],[7],[8]. Achieving 3-4 hours of uninterrupted sleep is a critical threshold for productivity9. Along with my co-authors, I look forward to sharing with my colleagues the exciting new findings in the elderly population, a particular group that disproportionately suffers from frequent nighttime urination, said Dr. Benjamin Brucker MD, Assistant Professor of Urology and Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University Langone Medical Center. NOCTIVA has the potential to shift the current treatment paradigm for nocturia for the benefit of countless patients.

Truckee, CA (UroToday.com) -- Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc announced that new data from NOCTIVAs pivotal Phase III clinical trials will be presented at the American Urological Association (AUA) 2018 annual meeting in San Francisco as a late-breaking presentation feature in the Next Frontiers plenary session. The presentation will share new data on extending the time to first uninterrupted sleep in elderly patients with nocturia following treatment with AV002 (NOCTIVA).Mike Anderson, Avadels Chief Executive Officer, said, As the first and only US approved nocturia therapy, NOCTIVA continues to demonstrate clinical benefit to a wide variety of patients in efficacy, safety and quality of life. We are pleased that the American Urology Association has recognized the importance of this critical information for the medical community and their patients.NOCTIVA is the first and only product approved to treat nocturia due to nocturnal polyuria. Nocturnal polyuria is the overproduction of urine at night and can lead to nocturia, which causes a person to wake two or more times per night to void. It is estimated that nocturia impacts approximately 40 million Americans.References:1. Bliwise DL, et al. Sleep Med. 2009;10(5):540-548.2. Chen F-Y, et al. Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct. 2007;18(4):431-436.3. Coyne KS, et al. BJU Int. 2003;92(9):948-954.4. Holm-Larsen T. Neurourol Urodyn. 2014;33(Suppl 1):S10-14.5. Kobelt G, et al. BJU Int. 2003;91(3):190-195.6. Tikkinen KA, et al. Eur Urol. 2010;57(3):488-496.7. Weiss JP. Rev Urol. 2012;14(3-4):48-55.8. Abrams P. European Urology Supplements. 2005;3:6(1-7)9. Stanley N. Eur Urol Suppl. 2005;4:17-19.10. Bosch JLH, Weiss JP. The prevalence and causes of nocturia. J Urol. 2010;184(2):440-446.Read More:

Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada (RTSNV), the local affiliate of the national nonprofit Rebuilding Together, will celebrate National Rebuilding Day on Saturday, April 28 (Pictured: Alyssa Bostrom and Virginia Johnson making gutters).

Twenty-two teams comprised of approximately 700 RTSNV volunteers will revitalize 18 homes in Las Vegas, Clark County and Henderson at no cost to recipients, who often live with limited resources and must choose food and needed medicine over critical home repairs.

The homes selected by RTSNV will receive critical repairs as well as maintenance work. Critical repairs include installation of new plumbing and HVAC systems; roof repair; water heater INSERT ment; ADA modifications such of grab bars, safety rails and other accessibility adjustments; and other major home rehabilitation work. Maintenance work completed by volunteer teams on National Rebuilding Day includes exterior painting, xeriscaping, property clean up, debris removal and other minor repairs.

Our work extends far beyond the four walls of the home to impact the health and vibrancy of peoples lives and entire neighborhoods, said Bob Cleveland, executive Director at RTSNV. The repairs we make on National Rebuilding Day and throughout the year transform the lives of our neighbors in need by reducing falls, health and safety hazards and improving safety and mobility.

Those making repairs to the 18 homes include volunteer teams from Bishop Gorman High School; Home Depot; Sears Heroes at Home program; Wells Fargo; Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals (VAREP); Chase Bank; Las Vegas Metro Police Department; Las Vegas Fire Department; Mortenson-McCarthy; St. Rose Dominican Hospital; Southwest Gas; The PENTA Building Group; CBRE Las Vegas; The Raymond Group; National Title Co.; University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV); Keller Williams Realty; NV Energy; United States Air Force (USAF); Sherwin Williams; Aqua Plumbing LLC; Capital One; and Mission Support & Test Services.

Too many of our neighbors throughout the country suffer from the health and economic consequences of living in substandard housing and unsafe communities, said Caroline Blakely, President and CEO of Rebuilding Together. National Rebuilding Month serves as a call to action to encourage everyone to support their neighbors, strengthen their community and ensure everyone is living in safe and healthy homes.

April is National Rebuilding Month, Rebuilding Togethers month-long call to service, which concludes on National Rebuilding Day. Throughout the month, more than 33,000 volunteers will come together to complete more than 1,300 rebuild projects across the country.

Drybar, the countrys premier blowout bar, continues to expand its presence in Las Vegas, opening three locations in the city in just two years. The newest addition, opening April 20, 2018, is located on the first floor of Fashion Show, just steps from Las Vegas Boulevard between the Plaza entrance and Neiman Marcus (Photo credit: Jeff Green).

The third Las Vegas location joins existing shops at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, which opened December 2017, and The Miracle Mile Shops, which debuted July 2016.

Drybar Fashion Show will feature ten styling chairs in a shop spanning 1,858 square-feet. In addition to signature blowouts, the Fashion Show shop will also offer Dry Styling, where those short on time can have curls, braids and more styled.

Located in prime, luxury locations along The Las Vegas Strip, Drybar is thrilled to satisfy the need for amazing hairall the time. All shops feature the signature elements that define the unique Drybar experience, and the Las Vegas outposts boast something unique worth celebrating: wine and Champagne at Fashion Show and full-service bars with signature cocktails at The Cosmopolitan and Miracle Milebecause theres no better place to party than Vegas.

It is amazing to now have three shops in Las Vegas, said Alli Webb, Founder of Drybar. There is so much happening here all of the time, and we are so excited to be able to give even more locals and visitors the confidence that comes with the perfect blowout.

At the core of the experience is Drybars dedication to over-the-top customer service and obsessive attention to every last detail, and the Las Vegas shops are no exception. Drybar Las Vegas locations offer all of the companys signature services including:

Drybars Full Style Menu:

With all styles always available on tap, you can achieve your look of choice from an extensive menu of options including The Straight Up, The Manhattan, The Cosmo, The Mai Tai, The Cosmo-Tai, Southern Comfort, Dirty Martini, The Uptini, Old Fashioned, Shirley Temple or a style from the braid bar. Drybars menu has a look for every hair need.

Drybars Signature In-Shop Services:

Offering in shop services ranging from a Classic Blowout, Uptini (aka an updo), Mudslide Treatment, Bay Breeze Hydrating Shot, Shirley Temple (special service available for ages 10 and under), Barfly Memberships, Dry Pro styling, weddings, group specials and parties, there are endless possibilities.

Drybars Line of Professional Hair Styling Products & Tools:

Aptly named in keeping with the pervasive bar theme, all products are created for the perfect blowout including favorites like Buttercup Blow-Dryer, On the Rocks Shampoo and Conditioner, Triple Sec 3-in-1, Mr. Incredible Leave in Conditioner, Prep Rally, Sake Bomb Nourishing Conditioner and Detox Dry Shampoo.

Drybars Signature Design:

Las Vegas locations maintain Drybars signature design, including custom Italian chairs, tufted fabric walls, marble bars with built-in phone docking stations and flat screens featuring cult favorite chick flicks.

Drybar is based on a simple philosophy: focus on one thing and be the best at it. For Drybar, thats blowouts. Drybar is on track to open 22 new locations in 2018, taking the total to 112 shops nationwide by the end of the year.The head of a Cambodian community organization that promotes land ownership has complained of intimidation after attempting to visit farmers near the countrys border with Vietnam.

The claims come more than two years after the government passed a controversial law regarding the conduct of non-governmental organizations in the country, which Theng Savoen, president of the Coalition of Cambodia Farmer Community (CCFC), says is being misused.

Savoen said his organization, which advocates for the rights of farmers, was blocked by the authorities during visits to Takeo, Tbong Khmum and Svay Rieng provinces since last month, which he feels is a violation of the law.

He added that the tense political situation had allowed local authorities to abuse the law and had led to a climate of mistrust, where groups such as the CCFC were seen as inciting anti-government sentiment.

We think that freedom of assembly and the freedom of association in Cambodia are restricted and are declining by the use of the system of the law on associations and NGOs. On the other hand, we see that the authorities awareness of the law is not really clear, meaning they often prohibited us, asking us to provide notice and to get legal permits, he said, adding that when they did apply for permission their applications were turned down.

We think that there is probably misunderstanding from the authorities over our association, which according to rumors, was said to be opposing [the government] or working to instigate the people to stage a rebellion. This is not true, he added.

Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, denied the allegations.

I dont know if they understand it or not, but I believe that in our Cambodia if we asked for permissionthere will be harmony. But if we act boastfully against other people while walking, there will be no food to eat, he said.

He added that the authorities would not ban any association from conducting activities if the group received permission from the authorities in advance.

However, a leading human rights worker estimated that the restrictions on assembly were set to increase in the run-up to the July national election.

I think it will not be relaxed if we look at the symptoms from now on. Especially, the gathering and rallies of civil society groups, Am Sam Ath, chief of the investigation unit of local rights group Licadho, told VOA Khmer.

Now we see that some civil society organizations that went down to work in the communities found it difficult to gather or rally their members or communities in order to conduct training, he added.As hydropower projects continue to be built along the Mekong mainstream, fishing communities living near the Tonle Sap river in Cambodia say their way of life is already changing.

On Wednesday, regional governments met in Siem Reap for the third Mekong River Commission (MRC) summit.

Long Socheat, a representative of the Tonle Sap fishing community in Pursat province, said in the past fishermen would go out on the lake for two or three days at a time, returning with enough produce to rest in-between trips and live off the proceeds.

But since the resources declined, the cant do that anymore. They have to go and fish daily and dont have time to take a break. If they dont go fishing every day, they will face troubles in their livelihoods, he said.

As a result of dwindling fish stocks, increasingly people are using machinery purchased with micro-loans to fish the lake, which has led many fishing families to fall into debt.

Chin Sokunthor, a fisherwoman from Kratie provinces Sambo district, near the site of one of the largest planned hydropower projects in Cambodia, said if the dam is approved, the community will face the same fate as the Lower Sesan II community, whose homes were recently flooded to make way for a China-backed project.

We tried to prevent the government [from building the dam], but the government has to go ahead. So if it has to be going forward, make sure that the people will not be totally affected, she said in a press conference in Phnom Penh on March 30.

The comments from the two community members were submitted to the four Mekong region governments who will attend the MRC summit where they will discuss the plans for the Sambor hydropower dam.

The development of national power development plan should necessarily engage the public, both females and males of all ages, especially affected communities, in a meaningful consultation process to ensure the plan will not have any negative impacts on the environment, natural resources and the well-being of local people, a statement accompanying the comments reads.

The Cambodian government should disclose relevant information and supporting documents related to the proposed Sambor dam in Kratie province. The government should ensure that affected community members and other relevant stakeholders can effectively and fully participate in consultations and the decision-making process, it added.

Tek Vannara, executive director of the NGO Forum, said civil society groups from other countries would provide more ideas regarding the change in the flow of the Mekong river as well the Mekong basin in advance of the summit.

Separately, regarding each civil society group in each country, they would have requests for the summit in relation to water resource management, the guaranteeing of sustainability of the environment, ecology, livelihood, and agricultural systems, including the water flow in the river, which is a part of preserving the sustainability of living standards and the lives of 65 million people who rely directly on the Mekong river, while another 300 million people rely indirectly on the resources stemming from the Mekong basin, he said.As an opening ceremony featuring symbolic tributes to Australia's indigenous people was getting under way, Aboriginal protesters were gathering outside the Commonwealth Games stadium to get a message across, too.

Flanked and outnumbered by a heavy police presence, about 100 protesters carried banners with the message "Colonisation Is Not A Game" and waved the black, red and yellow Aboriginal flags.

Chanting "No Justice, No Games," they walked up to the stadium at Carrara in the rain Wednesday night and were ushered by police, via a parking lot and soggy paddock, into a field across the road from the main entrance.

Australian Associated Press reported three protesters were arrested by police as they tried to enter the stadium without tickets.

A smaller group halted the Queen's baton relay briefly earlier Wednesday by blocking a road near Main Beach before the route was amended for the final 14 baton bearers to continue.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. quoted protester Wayne Wharton saying "We are calling on the Commonwealth heads of every nation that has come here to demand [Prime Minister] Malcolm Turnbull to initiate a truth commission."

The British established colonies in Australia in the late 1700s after declaring it "terra nullius"  owned by no one  despite the presence of Aboriginal people on the island continent for at least 50,000 years.

Today, Aboriginal people make up just three percent of the population of 24 million and are the most disadvantaged ethnic group in Australia by most measures from health to employment to rates of imprisonment.

Activists, who have dubbed the event the "Stolenwealth Games," aim to highlight that despite former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's national apology in 2008 to Australia's Aboriginal people for past injustices, progress has been slow on the timetable he set for ending indigenous disadvantage.

Prince Charles, opening the 21st edition of the Commonwealth Games on behalf of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, said "sport can be a great force for good which can help create harmony between communities.

"The ancient stories told by the indigenous people of Australia remind us that even though we may be half a world away, we are all connected," said Charles, reading from a message from Queen Elizabeth.

The Commonwealth Games has brought together 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, and the opening ceremony was billed as "a celebration of unity, culture and diversity."

The night included a traditional welcome to land by a local indigenous elder and a smoking ceremony near the end, and highlighted imagery, scenes and sounds of the ancient culture.

Opening ceremony artistic director David Zolkwer said the ceremony was inclusive and "how, as the indigenous people of Australia tell us, we are all custodians of the same world."

Indigenous protests also coincided with previous Commonwealth Games in Australia in 1982 at Brisbane and in 2006 in Melbourne.

Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive David Grevemberg told a news conference earlier Wednesday that organizers "welcomed the right to peaceful protest."As Republicans run into a buzz saw of conservative criticism over a deficit-expanding new budget, GOP leaders and the White House are looking for ways to undo the damage by allowing President Donald Trump to rescind some of the spending he signed into law just 10 days ago.

Rolling back the funds would be a highly unusual move and could put some lawmakers in the potentially uncomfortable position of having to vote for specific spending opposed by a president from their party. But it would also offer Republicans a way to save face amid the backlash over the bill that conservatives, and Trump himself, complain gives too much money for Democratic priorities.

Trump has been talking with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, about the plan over the past couple of days, according to an aide to the House leader who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks. It is not clear how widely the idea has been embraced by other top Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose offices declined to discuss it.

"There are conversations right now," said Matt Sparks, a spokesman for McCarthy. "The administration and Congress and McCarthy are talking about it."

The idea emerged as lawmakers get hammered back home for the $1.3 trillion spending package that, while beefing up funds for the military, also increases spending on transportation, child care and other domestic programs in a compromise with Democrats that Trump derided as a "waste" and "giveaways."

Trump's decision to sign the bill into law, after openly toying with a veto, has not quelled the unrest and may have helped fuel it.

"People are mad as hell about it and mad as hell that they put the president in that situation  that he sign the bill or shut the government down," said Amy Kremer, a founder of the tea party and co-chairman of Women for Trump.

Kremer said Republicans in Congress have lost sight of the voters who propelled them to the majority on an agenda of fiscal restraint. "They are no better than the Democrats," she said.

Lawmakers home on spring recess are feeling the brunt of the criticism. Representative Mark Amodei, a Republican from Nevada, said he encountered a finger-wagging voter back home almost as soon as he stepped off the airplane.

Fox News host Sean Hannity asked, "What happened to the Republican Party?" after Trump signed the bill. "Republicans should be ashamed of themselves," he added.

In some ways, the rescission proposal is as close as Trump can get to the line-item veto, which he called on Congress to enact even though the Supreme Court decided in 1998 that it would violate the authority the Constitution gives Congress on legislation.

The idea centers on a rarely used provision of the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impound Control Act. It allows the White House to propose rescinding funds and sets a 45-day clock for the House and Senate to vote.

Congress could simply ignore the president's request and keep the funds in place.

Sparks didn't specify how much spending could be rescinded or in what categories. But Trump would likely seek to focus on domestic spending he has attacked in recent tweets.

Trump has been particularly upset the package did not include $25 billion he sought for the border wall with Mexico, even after the bill burst through previously set budget caps for military and domestic spending.

Ryan and Trump have not yet talked this week, an aide to the speaker said, but likely will by week's end.

Voting, though, could be difficult, even for fiscally conservative Republicans, since Trump's targets may be popular projects or programs back home, said Gordon Gray, the director of Fiscal Policy at the center-right American Action Forum, who notes the rescission tool is not as popular as it was when introduced in the Nixon era more than 40 years ago.

Passage would not be certain, especially in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim 51-49 majority.Authorities in Cameroon have freed 18 people, including 12 European tourists, who were seized by armed separatists fighting for the independence of the country's English-speaking regions. Dozens of hostages are still in captivity.



Twelve of the 18 former hostages looked tired, hungry and unkempt as they arrived in Yaounde Tuesday. They refused to grant interviews.

Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma said the seven Swiss nationals and five Italians were freed from the bushes of Manyu, an administrative unit on Cameroon's southwestern border with Nigeria, after a battle between Cameroon government troops and armed separatists.

Tchiroma said local residents told the military where the hostages had been taken.

He said the 12 tourists regained their freedom thanks to the collaboration between the population, self defense groups and forces of law and order, and that many hostage takers were neutralized.

How they were kidnapped



Tchiroma said the tourists were visiting a twin lake in the locality of Nguti when armed men seized their vehicle and held them hostage for several days.

After they were freed, the tourists were taken to a hospital for medical care. They will later be handed over to their embassies for return travel formalities.

Six municipal councilors who were kidnapped in the northwest while going to vote in the country's senatorial election have also been freed.

The separatists had warned them not to vote, saying that English speaking Cameroon was now an independent country called Ambazonia and will not accept any election organized by a foreign country.

Last week, a Tunisian was killed in another operation in Manyu Division in which four engineers were freed.

Separatists still hold hostages



Cameroon said at least a dozen other people including two senior state officials are still being held hostage by the separatists.

Didier Bajeck, a spokesperson for the Cameroon military, said allegations the military commits atrocities while fighting separatists are lies that should not discourage the population from working with them.

He said the military has remained professional even though the terrorists are using social media to accuse them of committing atrocities. He said they will fight until all Cameroon is free and all those held hostage released.

Tensions back story



Tensions started in Cameroon in 2016 when English-speaking teachers and lawyers went on strike to protest what they called the overbearing use of French.

The government says hundreds of people, including 30 policemen and soldiers have been killed this year. Embassies in Cameroon have been cautioning their nationals against traveling to the English speaking regions.China announced Wednesday it plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to a similar package announced by the United States.

The Chinese measures would boost tariffs by 25 percent on 106 U.S. products, including soybeans, aircraft and cars.

China's commerce ministry responded with its own measures less than 11 hours after the U.S. issued a proposed list of Chinese goods. The ministry said the question of when the measures will go into effect will depend on when the U.S. tariffs become active.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to impose $50 billion in increased tariffs on Chinese products last month, and on Tuesday the U.S. Trade Representative released a proposed list of 1,300 goods including aerospace, medical and information technology products.

Subject to public review



That list will be subject to a public review process scheduled to run until late May.

"The total value of imports subject to the tariff increases is commensurate with an economic analysis of the harm caused by China's unreasonable technology policies to the U.S. economy," the USTR said.

The United States has accused China of pressuring foreign companies to hand over technology.

China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said Wednesday that accusation is groundless, and that while China wants to resolve the trade dispute through dialogue, if the United States continues the fight then China will too.

Unlike the U.S. list, which includes many obscure industrial goods, China's list targets cotton, frozen beef, soybeans and other agricultural products that are produced in states from Iowa to Texas that favored Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

The U.S.-China dispute has fueled concern it could stymie a global economic recovery if other countries raise their own import barriers.

The prospect of a trade war between the world's two largest economies also has worried stock market investors. U.S. markets opened sharply lower Wednesday. Shortly after the markets opened, the S&P 500 Index fell 1.4 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.8 percent and the NASDAQ Composite Index was 1.6 percent lower.



Trump, however, dismissed the notion of a U.S.-China trade war on Wednesday, tweeting that previous U.S. administrations weakened the country's ability to defend itself on trade matters.

"We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!"

In a subsequent tweet Trump seemed to imply the U.S.-China trade imbalance is so wide that there is only room for improvement.

"When youre already $500 Billion DOWN, you cant lose!"

Despite Trump's claims, U.S. government figures show the U.S. had a $375 billion trade deficit with China at the end of 2017.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also dismissed concerns Wednesday about a burgeoning trade war with China and said recent trade actions between the two countries would probably lead to a negotiated agreement.

"It wouldn't be surprising at all if the net outcome of all this is some sort of negotiation," Ross said in an interview with CNBC.

Ross brushed off worries of a trade dispute, saying U.S. tariffs imposed on China amount to only 0.3 percent of America's gross domestic product.

China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said Wednesday that accusation is groundless, and that while China wants to resolve the trade dispute through dialogue, if the United States continues the fight then China will too.China's ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, arrived at the U.S. State Department on Wednesday for talks with Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan amid a deepening U.S.-China trade dispute.

Cui did not respond to reporters questions on arrival. State Department officials said the meeting had been set up before the United States announced new tariffs on Chinese products on Tuesday, a move that provoked Chinese retaliation.

A U.S. trade official said on Wednesday the United States and China may pursue negotiations to resolve deepening differences over trade, but he declined to say whether any new high-level meetings were planned.The possible closure of a major coastal tourism magnet in the Philippines for environmental cleanup will hurt business, but for a cause that helps everyone longer term, experts say.

President Rodrigo Duterte said via the presidential website in March he would place Boracay Island under a state of calamity. The island may be shut down for two to 12 months, Philippine media reports say, citing other statements from Duterte and cabinet members.

The government is addressing wastewater issues through an improved sewerage system, the countrys environment minister Roy Cimatu said in a March 27 statement.

Boracay, a 10.3-square-kilometer feature in the central Philippines, has been compared to Bali and other Asian beach resort hot spots. Its main white sand beach runs four kilometers, paralleled by a strip of at least 100 hotels.

The Philippines has been very aggressive in its campaign to attract tourists and Boracay is actually the No. 1 selling point of the tourism business in the Philippines, said Maria Ela Atienza, political science professor at University of the Philippines Diliman.

So it will really be a big blow to the tourism industry and we dont know what will happen to these industries depending on Boracay, if they will continue if they can return to operation, Atienza said.

Fear of closure

Government agencies have not finalized any closure of Boracay Island but dropped enough hints to prompt flight and hotel cancellations, analysts and operators report. Domestic media say arrivals in March were normal but expected a fall for this month.

Tourists who read negative news about Boracay are cancelling mid-year reservations, said a manager with Boracay Pito Huts, a 10-year-old group of villas for tourist groups on the island. Villa staff people may be asked to take a vacation if bookings dont pick up, she said.

As a preparation, of course we have to tighten our belts, said the manager, who did not want to be named. We are in the toilet. For June bookings or June tourists its nothing. Thats how we got affected.

The Boracay Foundation, a business association with an environmental focus, declined comment for this report. A Department of Tourism representative said her office could make no statements on the possible closure.

Suspension of business would hurt a network of common Filipinos who sell souvenirs, prepare meals or drive tourists around the island, Atienza added.

Boracay generated $1.076 billion in tourism receipts last year, the local provincial tourism office said, as cited by the Philippine Information Agency, an increase of about 15 percent over 2016. Tourism was 8.6 percent of the Philippine GDP in 2016.

People and waste

Boracay has an ideal capacity of about half a million tourists per year, compared to its 2017 total of 2 million, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said in an online video. More than 300,000 tourists reached the island in January and February this year, it said.

Travelers often visit Boracay during the northern hemisphere winter to escape the cold in spots such as China, Russia and South Korea.

The island should review its carrying capacity, said Alicia Lustica, a coastal ecosystems cluster head with a department research Center. We need also to assist also the volume of waste that has been generated and likewise how people are doing their activities on Boracay Island, Lustica said in the video.

Sewage became an issue because some resorts treat their own inadequately or dump it into the sea, the domestic news website BusinessMirror.com said in January. It cites overbuilding and inadequate infrastructure as additional problems for Boracay.

The nongovernmental organization Global Coral Reef Alliance said more than 10 years ago sewage from uncontrolled development was hurting Boracays coral and fisheries.

The environment ministry also plans to do a massive replanting of trees on Boracay, the minister said in the March 27 statement.

Boracay renewal

A temporary closure would let Boracay clean itself up to become better for tourists, said Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist with Banco de Oro UniBank in Metro Manila.

Its going to hurt us, but I think moving forward we will probably see a lot of pent-up demand for Boracay  just like in any business a temporary renovation  and I think thats how you should probably see whats happening in Boracay, he said.

Travelers would rather see a cleaner island, he added. Today Boracay-bound tourists must pay an environmental impact fee at a boat pier before stepping onto the island.

A cleaner Boracay would motivate other Philippine beach resort areas to protect their environments before they too face shutdown, Ravelas said. You need the one example, and everybody will follow, he said.

Duterte called Boracay a cesspool and ordered his government to fix problems in six months, the presidential office website says. The state of calamity, Duterte said, would let the government offer aid to people facing business losses.Five years ago, Filipina farmer Marivic Dubria would buy Nescafe sachets to serve visitors because she was embarrassed by the quality of the coffee she grew next to her main vegetable crops.

Life was tough for her family in Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, as they struggled to earn $1,000 a year from their produce, with their coffee beans fetching only 20 cents per kilo from local traders.

But Dubria is now one of hundreds of farmers nationwide who are brewing up a storm with training from Coffee For Peace (CfP) - a social enterprise striving to boost growers' profits, protect the environment and foster peace between communities.

Having learned how to grow, harvest and process high-quality Arabica beans at a time when global demand for coffee is soaring - it is set to hit a record high this year - Dubria exports her crop to buyers as far away as Seattle for at least $5 per kilo.

"But it's not all about the money - it's about taking responsibility for the environment and other communities," Dubria told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in her home on Mount Apo while brewing a pot of thick, aromatic, treacle-like coffee.

Beyond helping coffee growers get a better deal, CfP aims to encourage dialogue between communities, with tensions ranging from colonial-era conflict between native Muslims and Christian settlers to land and resource disputes between ethnic groups.

The Philippines is battling to restore order to troubled Mindanao, where militant groups have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, and five decades of communist insurgency and separatist bombings have displaced at least 2 million people.

By bringing people together through trade, businesses with a social mission can help build peace, industry experts say.

"Social enterprise presents an emerging pathway or approach to conflict resolution," said Angel Flores, East Asia business head at the British Council, which backs companies seeking to help people, invest in the environment and tackle social ills. "Being inclusive, participatory and prioritizing community benefit over personal agendas enhances the social fabric from a place of distrust to ... confidence and mutual understanding."

"Farmerpreneurs"

CfP was set up in 2008 on the conflict-hit southern island of Mindanao, after its founders stopped Christian and Muslim neighbors going to war over the ownership of a rice field.

The men were invited to put down their guns and talk over coffee, a tradition which quickly spread across the region.

CfP offers a three-year scheme to train farmers to produce coffee while encouraging native and settler communities and various tribes to harvest and process the beans together.

While the social enterprise buys the farmers' beans above market value  selling them on to local coffee shops and exporting as far as Canada  communities can sell to any buyer, but are encouraged to demand higher prices.

"We don't treat them as suppliers or just part of the chain  they are farmerpreneurs," said CfP senior vice president Twinkle Bautista.

"The aim is to unite the settlers and indigenous people to teach each other, share techniques and tools ... and harmony," she added. "Our product is peace  coffee is just the tool."

For Kagawad Abe and his indigenous community, setting up a processing center through CfP has brought them closer to the Christian settlers  who work with them to process their beans.

"It has also brought women together, and given them a chance to work independently ... to contribute to the tribe," he said.

About 80 percent of CfP's coffee-growing partners are women.

"Just five or so years ago, we didn't really know each other - but now we are talking and working together," Abe added.

CfP says business is booming, having tripled sales to at least $46,000 last year from $15,000 in 2012 and won United Nations and regional awards for promoting peace and development.

Although social enterprises in the Philippines have more than tripled in the last decade to 165,000, many are struggling due to limited state support and a lack of funding, said the British Council and the Philippines Social Enterprise Network.

CfP's success is likely largely due to its unusual mission, said Gerry Higgins, chief executive of Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEIS), Britain's largest agency to support the sector.

"Coffee for Peace is unusual ... there aren't many social enterprises that recognize that if a community is resilient and sustainable, (then) fewer conflicts will emerge," Higgins said.

Conquerors of Coffee

By walking farmers through every step of the supply chain, CfP says they no longer see the coffee industry as "a mystery."

Once dependent on traders and big brands such as Nestle, the world's biggest coffee maker and producer of Nescafe, farmers can now demand higher prices for better quality beans, CfP said.

Yet winning communities over remains a major challenge.

Some are proud of their traditional methods and reluctant to embrace change, while others are wary of civil society groups and used to instant cash or aid, rather than long-term support.

"We had to convince and convince our people, many times, to move from the traditional to the technical way of doing things," said Baby Jerlina Owok, chieftain of a native tribe which has seen their coffee beans almost double in value in recent years.

Yet for women such as Owok and Dubria and their coffee cooperatives, the ambitions are much bigger than making money.

Pointing at huge swathes of coffee trees covering the hills, painting once barren land vibrant shades of green, Dubria spoke about planting more to combat deforestation and soil erosion.

Lastly, she said they need to share their prosperity.

"We need to encourage and help other communities to produce quality coffee," she said. "We want to pull them up  to improve their standard of living  so they can experience what we have."A deadlocked Washington on immigration matters is not new. Congress' inability to address the legal status of undocumented newcomers and reform America's oft-criticized immigration system spans several decades and multiple U.S. administrations. Protracted gridlock helped spur the creation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, as an executive order that bypassed Congress. The current political impasse has blocked a permanent legislative solution benefiting immigrants  sometimes called Dreamers  who were brought to America as children.

Key dates in recent efforts to reform U.S. immigration laws:

June 23, 2007: Then-President George W. Bush renews a call for lawmakers to forge a comprehensive immigration reform package, declaring, "The status quo is unacceptable." Neither house of Congress approves immigration reform during his two-term administration.

December 8, 2010: Majority Democrats in the House of Representatives pass the DREAM Act, which would grant permanent legal status to qualifying undocumented minors in America. The bill was derailed when it failed to get three-fifths backing in the Senate.

May 10, 2011: Then-President Barack Obama calls for an overhaul of America's immigration laws in a speech delivered in El Paso, Texas. Obama rejects calls from immigrant rights advocates to bypass Congress and unilaterally implement changes, saying, "That's not how a democracy works."

June 5, 2012: Obama unveils DACA, which allows undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States before age 16 and have lived in the country for at least five years to obtain renewable two-year permits to work and study in America. Obama declares, "This is not amnesty, this is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship. It's not a permanent fix. This is a temporary stopgap measure." Some 800,000 immigrant youth eventually enroll in the program.

June 27, 2013: The U.S. Senate passes a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would give millions of undocumented immigrants a chance at U.S. citizenship, force employers to verify the legal status of their workers, adjust criteria for legal immigrants coming to America, and dramatically boost U.S. border security. The Republican-led House of Representatives does not vote on the bill, which supersedes many DACA provisions, and it never reaches Obama's desk.

November 20, 2014: Obama expands on DACA with an executive order shielding many undocumented parents of U.S. citizens from deportation for renewable three-year periods.

November 25, 2014: Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio sues Obama over DACA and other executive orders. A federal judge dismisses the lawsuit a month later, as does a federal appeals court in 2015, saying Arpaio lacks legal standing. The U.S. Supreme Court declines to review the case in January 2016.

September 5, 2017: The Trump administration rescinds Obama's DACA executive order, effective March 5, 2018. President Donald Trump challenges Congress to enact a permanent legislative solution for young undocumented immigrants.

September 13, 2017: Trump discusses a DACA fix and enhanced border security measures with Democratic congressional leaders. A day later, Trump tweets: "Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? ... They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own."

October 8, 2017: The White House issues its blueprint for immigration reform, demanding border wall construction, changes to legal immigration, and an end of so-called "sanctuary cities" that do not cooperate with federal authorities in identifying and handing over undocumented immigrants. Most Democrats reject the blueprint but, in the weeks that follow, do not follow through on threats to hold up federal funding extensions that fail to address DACA.

January 9, 2018: A federal court freezes Trump's order rescinding DACA, allowing existing beneficiaries to continue to renew work and study permits. On the same day, Trump holds an hourlong, televised bipartisan meeting with lawmakers on immigration. Trump expresses optimism a deal can pass Congress and pledges to sign it if one does.

January 11, 2018: Trump rejects an immigration compromise reached by six senators of both political parties. Some senators present at the meeting report the president used vulgar language to describe some impoverished nations.

January 19, 2018: On the eve of a federal funding deadline, Trump rejects a Democratic offer pairing a DACA fix with limited border wall funding. Hours later, most Democrats refuse to back a funding extension and the U.S. government partially shuts down at midnight. Federal operations resume three days later when a funding extension is approved after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promises floor debate and votes on immigration proposals.

February 15, 2018: The Senate rejects four immigration proposals, three of which contained a DACA solution. Trump's immigration blueprint and DACA fix receives the fewest votes of all.

February 26, 2018: The U.S. Supreme Court declines to immediately intervene on DACA, effectively keeping Trump's rescinding of the program on hold.

March 22, 2018: Congress passes yearlong funding with no DACA fix.

April 1-2, 2018: In multiple tweets, Trump repeatedly rails against illegal immigration and blames Democrats for Washington's failure to enact immigration reform.A group of dissident former FARC rebels is demanding a prisoner exchange in return for the release of two Ecuadorean journalists and their driver, kidnapped over a week ago on the border with Colombia, the hostages said in a video released on Tuesday.

Colombian TV channels aired the video, which shows reporter Javier Ortega, photographer Paul Rivas and driver Efrain Segarra, of Ecuador's El Comercio newspaper, chained by the neck and explaining that the group is conditioning their freedom on the release of three dissidents imprisoned in Ecuador.

"In the hands of the Ecuadorean government are our lives. We just want to say that they are asking for a prisoner exchange. They ask for the three prisoners for our three lives," said Ortega.

The group, which calls itself the Oliver Sinisterra Front, is one of several gangs of dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas, who largely demobilized last year under a peace deal with the government.

The dissidents rejected the accord and have continued drug trafficking activities on Colombia's southern border with Ecuador, sometimes attacking Ecuadorean security forces.

"The only thing asked by the Oliver Sinisterra Front is the exchange, nothing else," Ortega said, before adding he and his colleagues were physically healthy but emotionally distraught.

Ecuador's government said in a statement on Tuesday it would make every necessary effort to liberate the hostages.

"The video is heartbreaking, seeing them with chains around their necks, but at least we have the comfort of them being OK,"Cristhian Segarra, the son of driver Segarra, told journalists.

"The conditions are clear - their lives are in the hands of the Ecuadorean state."

Colombia is offering a reward of more than $100,000 for information leading to the capture or killing of the groups leader, Walter Artizala, who goes by the name Guacho.Egyptian police raided the office of a news website late Tuesday and arrested its editor-in-chief, according to three of its journalists, including its managing editor.

The raid came two days after the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, an official oversight body, told the website, Masr al-Arabia, to pay 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,849) as a fine for republishing a New York Times article on alleged irregularities during last week's presidential election.

Two journalists at the website quoted the site's lawyers as saying police said they had acted because the website did not have a permit to operate. The journalists said the raid was prompted by the republishing of the New York Times article.

A statement from the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, which was based on a complaint from the national election authority, had on Sunday accused the website of publishing false news.

"The website should have checked the authenticity of the news or commented on it with an opinion," the Council statement said, referring to the New York Times article, which said some voters were offered payments and other inducements to vote.

The New York Times defended its reporting. "We stand by the accuracy of our reporting and strongly condemn any arrests meant to intimidate journalists and stifle freedom of the press," Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the New York Times Co., said in an emailed statement.

Adel Sabry, the website's editor-in-chief, was arrested and is being held at Dokki police station in greater Cairo, according to Mohamed Mounir, Masr al-Arabia's managing editor.

A security source at the police station said Sabry was being held prior to appearing before a prosecutor. Sabry is accused of running a news website without a permit, the source added.

The office of the website was closed and "sealed with red wax," the three journalists said.

Masr al-Arabia is one of about 500 websites that have in recent months been blocked in Egypt, although some are still accessible through virtual networks. Rights groups say the closures amount to a crackdown against freedom of expression.

Authorities say curbing fictitious news is necessary for national security.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi won a second term with 97 percent of the votes on a turnout of 41 percent, official results showed Monday.

Some voters have said they were offered incentives including money and food to cast their ballots, local and international media reported, without saying who had made the offers.

Officials said that if any such incidents took place, they were not state-sponsored and were extremely limited.A group of exiled Venezuelan judges met in Colombias capital Tuesday to hear corruption allegations against Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro, launching a symbolic process that could further tarnish the embattled socialist leader's reputation.

The jurists, known as the Supreme Court in Exile, held a public hearing in Colombias elegant congressional building to review accusations linking Maduro to the giant Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which has acknowledged paying bribes in many Latin American countries.

The proceedings were notably one-sided: While an attorney was assigned for Maduro, his government considers the body illegitimate and both the judges and prosecutor have conflicts of interest, having fled into exile to avoid Maduros reach.

Linked to Odebrecht

Ousted Venezuelan Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who long had access to the countrys investigative files, told the jurists that she has evidence that Maduro sought $50 million from Odebrecht to finance his 2013 presidential campaign. Ortega said that in exchange for Odebrechts help, Maduro promised the construction firm new public works contracts in Venezuela as well as help in facilitating tens of millions of dollars in overdue payments.

Even as the country went through a humanitarian crisis, his priority was (to pay) Odebrecht, said Ortega, who fled Venezuela last year after falling out with Maduros socialist administration. This is a president that has destroyed Venezuela, she said.

Ortega said she had obtained testimony from Brazilian campaign advisers, who said they received millions of dollars from Maduro and his allies, in some cases, in suitcases full of cash. She also said she had tracked payments from Odebrecht accounts into offshore banks linked to Maduros cronies and asked for the Venezuelan president to be tried for corruption and money laundering.

Maduro's lawyer

The lawyer named to represent the president, Andres Lindo, acknowledged he had not spoken with Maduro, but added, I will do my best in the current circumstances to defend him.

The jurists on the panel said they will review the evidence and decide whether the case should go to trial.

The Supreme Court in Exile is made up of 33 jurists who were appointed to Venezuela's Supreme Court last year by the opposition-led congress. Maduro accused them of treason, claiming they were trying to illegally replace a group of Supreme Court justices that had been appointed by his political allies in 2015, before the opposition took control of congress in a landslide electoral victory.

The newly appointed judges were not able to take their seats and instead fled the country to avoid time in prison. Now they live in several countries in the region including Panama, Colombia, Chile and the United States, where the courts president is based.

Rulings ignored

The jurists hold regular meetings via Skype and have issued rulings that include ordering Venezuelas government to let international humanitarian aid into the country and to stop issuing the petro, a crypto-currency that was recently hit with U.S. sanctions.

Maduros government has ignored the rulings. While most countries in the region have tolerated the court in exile and allowed its judges to hold meetings and conferences, none have explicity recognized its legitimacy.

However, the court has received the support of the Washington-based Organization of American States, whose secretary general has accused Maduro of becoming a dictator.Martin Luther King Jr., a man who embodied the U.S. civil rights movement, was assassinated 50 years ago on April 4, 1968.

Here are some key facts about his life.



Early life



Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of Martin Luther King Sr., a prominent local preacher and civil rights leader, and Alberta King, a former schoolteacher. King says he first became conscious of racism at age 6, when a white friend's father prohibited his son from playing with him.



Organizing protests

King rose to prominence in the mid-1950s when as a young preacher he led the successful drive to desegregate public buses in Montgomery, Alabama, forcing the city to end its practice of segregating black passengers. He organized protests throughout the 1950s and 1960s against Southern segregation, the struggle for black equality and voting rights.



Nonviolence

King understood a key to success for the civil rights movement was a strategy of nonviolent protests, which he championed as an alternative to armed uprising. King has said he was inspired by the teachings of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. The movement was tested in places like Birmingham, Alabama, where police used attack dogs and fire hoses to disperse protesting school children and in Selma, Alabama, where a 1965 march is remembered as "Bloody Sunday" because police attacked protesters.



March on Washington

King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech launched what had been a mostly black Southern movement into a nationwide civil rights campaign. By August 1963, the push for equality had grown significantly across the country and 250,000 people, both black and white, traveled to the nation's capital to participate in the March on Washington. The protest was peaceful with no arrests.



Political victories



The civil rights movement came to a crescendo in 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act outlawing racial segregation in public places and King won the Nobel Peace Prize. The following year, the Voting Rights Act banned practices that were used to keep blacks from participating in elections.



Assassination

On April 4, 1968, a single gunshot killed King on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was supporting striking sanitation workers. James Earl Ray, a segregationist, pleaded guilty to shooting King and spent the rest of his life in prison. King, who was 39 years old when he died, gave a speech the night before his death that foreshadowed his assassination.

"And I have seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get there," he said.The family of a British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran on espionage charges has demanded that the British government take a bigger role in securing her release, two years after the young mother was detained while visiting relatives.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. The 39-year-old was arrested at Tehrans airport as she tried to leave Iran in April 2016 and later sentenced to jail for five years on charges of seeking to overthrow the government. Nazanin and her family have maintained she was in Iran on vacation.

In an interview with VOA, her husband, Richard, said their hopes had been raised in recent weeks that her release was imminent  but she is caught in the middle of a diplomatic tussle between London and Tehran.

The head of the prison, of Evin prison, said to her, Look, Ive approved your release. I approved your release months ago, but its not in my hands. And then the judge in charge of parole said, Look, we can move you to guarded house arrest if you want something, but we cant release you at the moment. Theres this problem between the British government and the Iranian government over the interest calculation on an old debt,' Ratcliffe told VOA.

That debt is believed to concern an arms deal that collapsed with the Iranian revolution in 1979, leaving Tehran millions of dollars out of pocket.

Zaghari-Ratcliffes family wants British Prime Minister Theresa May to become more involved in the case, given its apparent political nature.

Last year, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson pledged to leave no stone unturned to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release. He traveled to Tehran to discuss the matter with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Richard Ratcliffe said there has been little communication since then.

Part of what were pushing for now is to meet with the foreign secretary again, to meet with him in the presence of lawyers and to talk through  given it feels like theres a standoff between both governments  what do they think Nazanins rights are?

Richard Ratcliffe hasnt seen his daughter for two years. Gabriella was just a year old when her mother was detained, leaving her in the care of her grandparents.

Now, shes a little girl. She speaks Farsi, she doesnt speak English. Her relationship with both her parents, but certainly with me, is a much more remote relationship. We do sort of funny faces and games on the phone, but shes still too small to really engage on the phone. And there will be  well need to learn to be a parent again, Ratcliffe said.

Family and supporters held an event in London Monday to mark the two-year anniversary of Zaghari-Ratcliffe's detention.

In a statement Tuesday, the British Foreign Office said it is continuing to approach the case "in a way that we judge is most likely to secure the outcome we all want," adding it would not provide a running commentary "on every twist and turn."

Each of those twists continues to cause anguish for Zaghari-Ratcliffe, her family and friends.The first wave that slammed into the beach-front community of Nasau, on Fiji's Koro island, swept away every home in view.

The second tore away most of the concrete house where Rupeni Koto's family  and eight others  were crammed together to ride out Cyclone Winston, the southern hemisphere's first Category 5 storm.

"The kids were terrified," he remembered. "I told them to hold onto whatever you can."

The third wave, the biggest yet, ripped his five-year-old daughter from his arms, sending her floating away, clinging to a door. Around her, the sea churned with trees and debris, and injured people swam desperately toward a steep, brush-covered slope at the back of the beach.

Koto, 53, was one of the lucky ones. He, his wife and all four of their children were washed toward the hillside, where they caught hold of a collapsed tree.

For six hours they clung there, the storm screaming around them, unsure if they were the only people still alive in the village of about 350.

"We reached a stage where we were no longer afraid of death," Koto remembered. "We had gone through so much."

Finally, when the storm died down, they crawled up the hill and found other survivors at the top. Two days later, with no place to live, they got on a boat to Suva, Fiji's capital, and moved in with Koto's 23-year-old son and his girlfriend, who had a rental home there.

Worsening extreme weather linked to climate change is uprooting more people from their homes around the world, creating hardship for many. But the psychological trauma that often accompanies displacement and loss is as much a worry as the economic costs, experts say.

With millions more expected to be forced from their homes as a result of extreme weather and other pressures in coming years, finding ways to deal with the emotional burdens  not just the physical ones  will be crucial, they say.

"We know migration is associated with higher risk of mental health problems like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder," said Susan Clayton, a psychologist interested in displacement at the College of Wooster in Ohio, in the United States.

"It's not just the process of migrating that is stressful, but being in a new place where you may be unwanted or you're less familiar."

'Still Crying'

When Cyclone Winston hit Fiji in 2016  the strongest storm ever recorded in the region  "the shock to the community was beyond our capacity," said Nete Logavatu, a Fiji Red Cross disaster responder. "Months later, when they told the story, people were still crying."

"Fijians are very happy people. They brush things away. But with this one, it was very hard to pick up again," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Winston left no shortage of trauma in the South Pacific nation. Forty-four people died, nine of them in Nasau. Hundreds were injured. Damage across Fiji was estimated at $1.4 billion.

On once-prosperous Koro island, families lost everything  homes, clothes, photos, taro crops and long-established plantations of kava, a shrub that takes years to re-establish and whose roots are used to make a traditional drink.

Until the cyclone, Koro, with its rich soils and excellent transport links to the rest of Fiji, had been one of the country's biggest producers of kava.

Laisiasa Caukiuai, the headman of Tutua, another storm-ravaged village on Koro island, turned stone-faced when asked about his community's struggle after the disaster.

"We lost the crops, everything. After the cyclone, we had nothing," he said. "It's a hard thing to grasp that you're the main earner of the family and overnight you're a beggar."

Two years on, "I'm still feeling poor compared to before," he added.

Crowding In

But for many affected families, financial losses were only the start of their stress.

In the days and weeks after the cyclone, many Koro refugees moved in with extended family, particularly in the capital, on Fiji's biggest island.

"I think half the island came into Suva," recalled Jekope Rabaleinatosia, a Red Cross responder who worked in Koro after Cyclone Winston. "It's normal for Fijian families to have a house with two bedrooms and 20 people in it."

But the disaster shifted family dynamics. Prosperous Koro farmers, used to paying rent for college-age children and other relatives in Suva from their harvest earnings, suddenly found themselves the dependents.

Koto's older son Soane, now 25, insists that hosting his family for eight months did not put a strain on his relationship with his girlfriend  even though she was paying the rent.

"When somebody needs help, we are happy all the time (to give it), no matter," he said.

But for Koto, a quiet man, the situation was disconcerting. He picked up odd jobs doing carpentry  a skill he had learned back on Koro  but he earned far less than from his crops.

His children started at new schools in Suva, but - like many Cyclone Winston survivors - were terrified when they heard heavy rain or wind.

"They go in their room and cover themselves up. Even in me, the fear is still there," Koto said.

Living in his son's crowded home worked because "we all pitched in. But I wanted to be independent," he said.

Taboos

For some of those uprooted by Cyclone Winston, moving in with family meant violating social taboos.

Filipe Nainoca, director-general of the Fiji Red Cross, said that in his home village, as in others across the island nation, a brother-in-law and sister-in-law are not allowed to stay alone together in a house, for instance.

In the aftermath of the cyclone, however, there was little choice. "When you live together, you break all these taboos. But you had to," said Nainoca.

Even where the rules were not being broken, the strain that can accompany long-staying guests often set in, he said.

"You stay for one month, it's okay. Two months is difficult.

Three months becomes a burden," he said. "Who feeds who? Who pays the electricity?"

'I Felt Hopelessness'

Marica Kepa, who manages counseling for the Fiji Red Cross, said the storm forced her agency to rework its approach to disaster assistance, as it quickly became evident that psychological stress was as big a problem as physical losses.

"With other storms, people were up and moving within two or three weeks. But this time I felt hopelessness," she said.

"I told people in Suva, 'If we don't address this now, it's going to be bigger than Winston.'"

Since the cyclone, the agency has made psychological help part of its disaster aid package, training volunteers to explain to parents why their children may climb into bed with them more often or run away from school when the wind picks up.

"You can have all the food and water in the world, but if nobody relieves you of your stress and helps you talk about your problems, it won't work," Kepa said.

Efforts have been largely focused on storm-hit parts of the country, which means people who fled elsewhere have not had the same help, she said, nor the chance to work alongside their neighbors to rebuild, another way to work through stress.

"People in the villages were lucky  we were there," said Kepa, who is based in Suva. "But the ones who came here, none of us talked to them. It's a big thing to move from your island, your comfort zone. And they didn't get help."

Return to Koro?

For Koto, in Suva, the long stay at his son's home came to an end when his eldest child, working in Australia, got together enough money for his father to buy a plot of land in Suva and build a modest house. The family moved in last year.

"For now this is home," Koto said.

Back on Koro island, rebuilding Nasau has been a slow process, with residents divided over whether to reconstruct homes on the beachfront again, or locate them on higher ground.

However, of the more than 100 people who fled Nasau after the storm, all but about 40 had returned by last March, according to Red Cross data.

Koto too dreams of going back one day  preferably to a house built on top of the hill that saved his family.

"My life in the village is different from here  relaxing, free," he said. "You go fishing, you don't have to buy anything. Here every step costs you $2."

But if he does go back, he is no longer sure his children will return with him. After two years in Suva, they have new friends and deepening ties to their community in the capital.

Back in Nasau, "the fear will still be there," Koto said.Immigrant rights advocates accuse federal immigration authorities of making it difficult for immigrants held at two detention centers in Georgia and one in Louisiana to access and communicate with lawyers.

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed the lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and various individual officials.



The three facilities targeted are the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, and the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana.



The lawsuit says the detention centers are isolated, requiring several hours to drive from big cities where lawyers, interpreters and other resources are located. It also says that lawyers who do make the trip often face long waits to see their clients in inadequate conditions.For the first time ever, the number of murders over the past two months in London is higher than in New York. That is despite tight gun controls in Britain. Two murders Wednesday brought the total number of homicides in London this year to fifty. But as Henry Ridgwell reports from London, police say knife crime is to blame for most of the recent killings, fueled by gang wars in parts of the capital.On March 24 in Washington, D.C, an unexpected speaker at the March for Our Lives gun control rally arrested the crowds attention with a bold statement: My grandfather had a dream that his four little children would not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character, said nine-year-old Yolanda Renee King. I have a dream that enough is enough and that this should be a gun free world, period."

WATCH: Yolanda Renee King at the March For Our Lives



Young Yolanda  named for her aunt, Martin Luther King Jr.s eldest daughter, who died of heart disease in 2007  is the only grandchild of the late civil rights leader. Her father, Martin Luther King III, has carried on the work of the family, as have his two remaining siblings.

The late Yolanda King, an actress, gave an interview in the year 2000 about the pressures of being the child of Martin Luther King, Jr.

As soon as people heard me speak, they would compare me to my father, she said. My siblings had the same kind of pressure. There was such a need, like they [Kings followers] were looking for a miracle."

It was impossible to escape it, really, she continued, speaking to a reporter for the Orlando Sun-Sentinel. I found myself trying to be all things to all people. I felt a tremendous sense of responsibility and the pressure of expectation.

The four siblings did not agree on everything. Yolanda King spoke out in favor of gay rights, while youngest daughter Bernice, a church pastor, spoke out against them. Martin Luther King III, like Bernice, stayed in Georgia. Dexter King, like Yolanda, moved to California.

All four King children have had positions of leadership at the King Center at one time or another, but none drew universal praise. The siblings have opposed each other in lawsuits over the fate of the King Center, the use of the funds generated there, and the future of precious objects owned by their father, such as his Bible. The siblings have also had to try to work with their fathers former colleagues.

Both Martin Luther King III and Bernice King have been elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the civil rights organization founded in 1957 and led by their father. But both struggled with the governing board over the direction of the group. Bernice King ended up turning down the job.

More work to do

Meanwhile, racial tensions in the United States are still depressingly high. The country elected a black president  twice  but white supremacist groups are growing bolder, both online and at demonstrations. There are repeated protests over white police killing black men  most recently, this past week in Sacramento, California.

So how should we assess the work of the King family business? Success? Failure? Work in progress?

The work is not finished, says Calvin Baker, a novelist and essayist who chronicles the African American experience in America.

African Americans have always understood this to be a generation over generation struggle, Baker said in emailed comments Tuesday. Every black family is a part of it. The fact of the Kings continued activism in the face of discouraging circumstances, he says, tells as well on the Kings as it does poorly on the nation.

We are in another moment of great trouble, directly descended from our unwillingness to [defend racial equality] 50 years ago, or 40 years ago, or 100 years ago, he says. Will we have this same conversation fifty years hence?

While that question remains unanswered, the three living King siblings seem to have arrived at an answer of their own: its time to pass the baton.

On Monday, they sat for an interview with CBS television, the first time the three have been interviewed together in more than a decade. Bernice King told interviewer Michelle Miller that despite family squabbles, the three are very close. Miller reported that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter encouraged the three to transition out of the work on their fathers legacy, or get out of the family business. While the specific reason was not divulged, all three children talked about their difficulties coming to terms with their fathers death. All of us, to an extent, have not fully had the chance to grieve, Dexter King told the interviewer. Im still working on it.

Meanwhile, Martin Luther King Jr. has only one grandchild, the preternaturally composed nine-year-old who beamed as she quoted her grandfathers most famous speech.

Yet as inspiring as she is, one more King family member is not enough, according to Baker. Lasting change, he says, needs to come from a plurality of the people [who] are willing to embrace this as our shared legacy to fulfill . . . . for as long, and as many generations, as it takes.Mexican officials on Tuesday screened a dwindling group of hundreds of largely Central American migrants who are moving through Mexico toward the United States, seeking to break up the "caravan" that has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump, doubling down on his tough stance against illegal immigration, has railed against those making their way from the Guatemala-Mexico border in the past 10 days.

WATCH: Caravan

Trump repeated threats to torpedo the North American Free Trade Agreement, which underpins much of Mexico's foreign trade, and said he wanted to send troops to the U.S. border to stop illegal immigrants until a long-promised border wall is built.

In response, the Mexican government has said the migrants are being vetted to determine whether they have a right to stay or will be returned to their countries of origin.

Stuck, waiting

Hundreds of men, women and children from Central America were stuck Tuesday in the town of Matias Romero in the poor southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, awaiting clarification of their legal status after officials began registering them.

Confused and frustrated by paperwork, many were uncertain about what lay in store, and desperate for information.

"What was the point of all this then if they don't let us stay?" Elizabeth Avalos, 23, a migrant from El Salvador who was traveling with two children, said angrily. "There's no food, my children haven't eaten since yesterday."

Hundreds of people camped out overnight in a park near the town's train station, with shoes and bags strewn about.

Jaime Alexander Variega, 35, sat alone in a patch of shade and cupped his head in his hands, weeping or praying, his feet still bearing lacerations from walking for four or five days straight through Guatemala from El Salvador.

"We're not safe in El Salvador," said the former security guard, his hat smeared in dirt, explaining he had left his home because of the threats from local gangs. "I know it's difficult to get into the United States. But it's not impossible."

Around them, Mexican migration officials with notepads and pens took basic information from the migrants, asking for names, nationalities, dates of birth and proof of identity.

The caravan was organized by U.S-based advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which seeks to draw attention to the rights of migrants and provide them with aid. The Mexican government says the caravan, which like others travels by road, rail and on foot, has been organized every year since 2010.

Numbers dwindle

Honduran Carlos Ricardo Ellis Garcia clutched a handwritten list of names belonging to more than 100 people who joined the caravan in the southern border town of Tapachula, where it began on March 25, reaching a peak of around 1,500 people.

But by Tuesday the number was down to about 1,100, according to Pueblo Sin Fronteras spokeswoman Gina Garibo.

Many had broken off from the group, eager to move on more quickly, she said. Many others aimed to stay in Mexico because they had family ties there or planned to work, Garibo said.

"Now they're separating these groups," Ellis Garcia said, referring to an estimated 300 people who split from the caravan on Monday. "I don't know what's the deal. We have no answers."

Advocacy groups told Reuters dozens of people left the caravan and traveled to the crime-ridden eastern state of Veracruz, where they were met by migration officials and police.

The government said on Monday evening that about 400 people in the caravan had already been sent back to their home countries.

Geronimo Gutierrez, Mexico's ambassador to the United States, told CNN that Mexican authorities were "looking at the status of the individuals so we can proceed either with a repatriation process" or offer humanitarian relief. That could include granting asylum or humanitarian visas.

Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are among the most violent and impoverished countries in the Americas, prompting many people to leave in search of a better life.

Trump, who ran for office in 2016 on a platform to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico, said he had "told Mexico" he hoped it would halt the caravan.

Political problem

The migrant caravan also poses a political problem for Mexico's unpopular government in a presidential election year.

President Enrique Pena Nieto is barred by law from seeking re-election in the July 1 vote, but the ruling party candidate is running third, well behind the front-runner.

The government does not want to be seen as kowtowing to threats by Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Mexico.

In a country where millions of people have friends or relatives who have migrated legally or illegally to the United States, many Mexicans harbor sympathy for the Central Americans.The head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency is "100 percent certain" that Iran remains committed to developing a nuclear bomb and believes the international community must change or scrap its nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.

Yossi Cohen, who leads the shadowy spy agency, has been holding discussions about the Iranian nuclear program and delivered his assessment in a recent closed meeting with senior officials, according to a person who attended the meeting.

Cohen called the nuclear deal a "terrible mistake," saying it allows Iran to keep key elements of its nuclear program intact and will remove other restraints in a few years.

"Then Iran will be able to enrich enough uranium for an arsenal of nuclear bombs," Cohen said, according to the meeting participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a classified security matter.

Cohen also criticized the decision to lift sanctions on Iran, saying it has resulted in "significantly increased" aggression by Iran, and noted Iran's continued development of long-range ballistic missiles.

"As head of the Mossad, I am 100 percent certain that Iran has never abandoned its military nuclear vision for a single instant. This deal enables Iran to achieve that vision," Cohen said. "That is why I believe the deal must be completely changed or scrapped. The failure to do so would be a grave threat to Israel's security."

Cohen's comments come amid an intense international discussion about the future of the 2015 nuclear deal, in which Iran agreed to curbs and inspections on its nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions.

Critics of deal

His analysis aligns closely with that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a time the Israeli leader is hopeful that U.S. President Donald Trump can negotiate changes to the deal. The issue has sparked some debate inside Israel's security community, with some voices pointing to positive aspects of the deal in that it has delayed Iran's nuclear development.

Trump has set a mid-May deadline for changes while also threatening to withdraw from the deal. However, it remains unclear whether a compromise can be reached, and how Iran would react.

Trump's disdain for the deal has been a welcome development for Netanyahu. The Israeli leader was a leading opponent of the deal, saying it did not contain sufficient safeguards to prevent Iran from reaching the capability to develop nuclear weapons as the agreement's restrictions expire.

Israel and Iran are arch enemies, and Israel has identified Iran as its top threat, citing the nuclear program, its hostile rhetoric, support for anti-Israel militant groups and its development of long-range missiles.

Yet the deal has also set off debate within Israel's security ranks. As head of a powerful agency and a close aide to Netanyahu, Cohen is an influential voice.

Backers of deal

Yet other officials, both active and former, have taken a more nuanced approach by focusing on the positive aspects of the deal.

In a recent interview, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot told the Haaretz newspaper that he knows of no violations of the nuclear deal by Iran, though he said Israel is closely watching and assuming Iran can operate secretly.

"If its intentions change, we will know. Right now the agreement, with all its faults, is working and is putting off realization of the Iranian nuclear vision by 10 to 15 years," he was quoted as saying.*This report originated in VOA's Kurdish service.

MOSUL, IRAQ  Walid Dabagh travels across the ruins of Mosul, hunting for traces of the Islamic State's reign of terror.

Once he finds it, Dabagh replaces the violent graffiti of the group with beautiful paintings recounting life in Mosul's Old City before it was reduced to rubble in a brutal war.

"I want to revive memories of all this lost heritage," he told VOA. "I want the new generation to know what the Old City was like."

Mosul was Iraq's second-largest city and home to more than 1 million people before Islamic State occupied it in mid-2014.

Years of brutal IS rule and the subsequent Iraqi battle to oust the terror group have left thousands dead and reduced much of the city's western side to rubble. The United Nations estimates that 40,000 homes in the city need to be rebuilt or restored.

The Old City, where Dabagh takes most of his artistic inspiration from, used to be a densely populated district and Mosul's liveliest area before IS took control. It is now an open field of shattered concrete and twisted metal left from houses and shops destroyed by nine months of war to expel the terror group from the city.

Unlike IS, which destroyed all places of worship that it deemed un-Islamic, Dabagh's murals show mosques and churches standing side by side. His work attempts to show the diversity and sense of coexistence that prevailed in the city.

Hope for restoration

Dabagh said Mosul residents were hoping that the Old City would be restored and displaced civilians could return soon after IS militants were ousted in July 2017. But he said those hopes were waning because of a protracted reconstruction process by the Iraqi government.

Dabagh's greatest concern is that the Old City's historical treasures could vanish and the younger generation may forget their legacy.

"The new generation might never know what the Clock Church or the minaret were. They are both gone," he added.

The 19th-century Our Lady of the Hour Church, locally known as the Clock Church for its bell donated by the French empress Eugenia de Montijo, was destroyed by IS in April 2016.

850-year-old mosque

A famed minaret that gave Mosul its nickname, "the Hunchback," was part of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his caliphate.

IS militants blew up the 850-year-old mosque and its landmark minaret in June 2017 to keep Iraqi forces from seizing it intact.

Now, more than eight months after IS was removed from Mosul, the recovery from the damage seems slow and disappointing for residents.

The Iraqi government says it gives priority to the reconstruction and normalization of the city, but that task is impossible to undertake without international support.

An international conference in Kuwait in February collected about $30 billion, mostly in credit and investment, to help rebuild Iraq's economy and infrastructure. But that amount felt short of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's government's expectation, which said it needed nearly $90 billion to recover from IS destruction.Human rights and migrant assistance groups in Thailand say Myanmar migrant workers of Muslim and South Asian heritage have faced barriers in proving Myanmar nationality which is a required step in gaining legal status in Thailand.

Many have been unable to satisfy requests from Myanmar consular staff for extra documents that are not demanded from members of other ethnic and religious groups, in order to obtain Myanmar-issued Certificates of Identity required for Thai visas and work permits.

This has left them with the choice of returning to Myanmar to get the requested documents  going through expense and the risk of interrogation by Myanmar police  staying in Thailand where they face arrest as illegal migrants, or paying exorbitant fees to brokers in attempts to circumvent the barriers.

Migrants of all backgrounds were caught in a rush to regularize their status before March 31, when cards issued by the Thai government since 2014, granting the temporary right to stay and work, expired. One Stop Service Centers, hosting Myanmar and Thai officials, were set up across Thailand to speed up the process.

An official at the Myanmar Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population, who asked not to be named because he wasnt authorized to speak to the media, did not deny the extra scrutiny being applied to Muslims and other groups but said details could only be obtained from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Officials at this ministry refused comment.

Taken by surprise

The British-registered Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN), after interviewing Myanmar migrants in Chiang Mai Province, said, Burmese Muslims, as well as Hindu and Buddhist Burma-born Gurkhas of Nepali ancestry, are being required to prove their citizenship by presenting additional documents.

These include standard Myanmar-issued ID cards, household registration forms, and letters from both the police and local officials in Myanmar. According to BHRN, members of other groups could merely present their Thai-issued temporary cards, along with a letter from their employers and proof of residency in Thailand.

Brahm Press, director of the Thailand-based Migrant Assistance Program Foundation, known as MAP, told VOA they had been taken by surprise on this issue, and confirmed that Myanmar migrants with Muslim and South Asian backgrounds were struggling to meet the extra demands from officials.

Preeda Tongchumnum, of the Migrant Working Group, a Thailand-based coalition of NGOs and aid agencies promoting migrant rights, told VOA that Myanmar Muslim migrants were facing the same difficulties in Mae Sot and to a lesser extent in Ranong, both near the Myanmar border.

Citizenship

Min Min, a recruitment agent with the Aye Linn Latt Htut Company, based in the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy, told VOA, Yes, Muslims need more documents than other people. [] Ethnic groups like Mon, Karen, or Pa-O are fine.

Johny Adhikari, secretary of the Thai-Based Myanmar-Born Gurkha Youth Association, which represents Myanmar migrants of Nepali descent, who identify as Gurkha and are mostly Hindu or Buddhist, told VOA, Many Gurkhas are not getting CIs [Certificates of Identity].

He said many have at least one of the requested Myanmar-issued documents but not the full set, adding that brokers were offering to help navigate the process for 12-18,000 THB ($380-580), a high sum for migrants in mostly low-paying jobs.

Under Myanmar citizenship law, only members of officially recognized ethnic groups are automatically eligible. This marginalizes the large communities of Indian, Nepali, and Chinese descent, who have been stigmatized by Myanmar nationalists since the colonial era and who continue to face barriers to citizenship.

Risks on return

A Royal Thai decree, which came fully into force at the start of this year, mandates fines and prison sentences of up to five years for migrants working without a valid permit, and steeper penalties on employers who hire them.

Migrants whose applications remain pending now have until the end of June to regularize their status. According to the Thai Labor Minister, quoted in the Bangkok Post on April 2, 59,217 out of 1,379,252 applicants had failed registration and must leave Thailand.

However, the Migrant Working Group said it expected 900,000 would not be able to complete the process. Thailands migrant community is estimated at more than 3 million, the majority being from Myanmar and without formal immigration status.

Some among the Myanmar Muslim migrant community fled persecution in Myanmar and face grave risks on returning.

A March 27 post on an official Myanmar Police Facebook page announced the arrest on March 25 in Myawaddy of three Muslims from a group of 173 migrant workers returning to Myanmar.

Two men and one woman, shown in a police snapshot, were charged with immigration offences for leaving Myanmar by sea from northern Rakhine State in 2012  a time when Muslims were uprooted by communal riots in the state  and returning to Myanmar without permission.

Aung Naing Soe contributed to this report.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is visiting the U.S. later this week, set to inspect a fighter jet production plant and American military command posts.

The NATO chief is touring a Lockheed Martin F-35 manufacturing factory in Texas on Thursday, as well as participating in a town hall event at Southern Methodist University and taking questions from students.

On Friday, Stoltenberg is visiting the 80th Flying Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, meeting participants in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program and, later, officials at the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

He is also visiting the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.Pakistan and Russia have been able to "transcend" their history of mistrust and rivalry, leading to a rapid improvement and expansion in bilateral political, military and economic ties, says Pakistani Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir.



The minister, currently attending an international security conference in Moscow, told VOA prior to his departure that Islamabad sees Moscow's growing involvement in Afghanistan as an important development for promoting peace and countering terrorism in the war-ravaged country.



The Pakistani military and spies played a vital role in helping the United States funnel arms and funds to assist Afghan mujahideen battling the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, prompting Moscow to sever all ties with Islamabad.



Islamabad's relations with Moscow "stand at a positive place," Dastgir noted. "Both countries have, I believe, been able to transcend their history and to have a fresh beginning."



Dastgir said he was scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, on the sidelines of the ongoing security meeting to discuss how to further mutual defense relations.

Washington tensions

The turnaround in bilateral relations comes as Islamabad's decades-old, but often mistrusted, relations with Washington have again deteriorated in recent years.



The tensions primarily stem from allegations Pakistani security institutions harbor and support Taliban insurgents waging a deadly war on Afghan and U.S.-led international forces in the neighboring country.



The bilateral re-engagement between Islamabad and Moscow gained traction in 2014 when the two signed a defense cooperation framework agreement during the Russian defense minister's landmark visit to Pakistan.



Under the agreement, Pakistan has purchased four Russian Mi35 combat helicopters to bolster counterterrorism efforts and delivery of more aircraft is in the works, along with other military hardware.

Energy deals



Pakistani officials say Russia and Pakistan are also in talks for potential multi-billion-dollar energy deals, while Moscow will also build a gas pipeline linking the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Lahore.



"It is a beginning because, of course, that history of mistrust and essentially standing on two opposite sides is there; but, both countries, because of many geo-strategic reasons, now find it a more optimal path to be cooperating with each other," noted Minister Dastgir.



Pakistani and Russian special forces conducted joint military exercises in 2016 and 2017, and plan to do so again this year, focusing on how to counter terrorism in the region.



Dastgir blamed U.S. President Donald Trump's new South Asia strategy for current strains in mutual ties, saying it seeks to scapegoat Pakistan for U.S. military failures in Afghanistan.



The U.S. has, since January, suspended military assistance to Pakistan until the latter takes decisive action against insurgent "safe havens" on its soil. Pakistani officials reject charges the country supports or harbors the Taliban.



Dastgir, however,said, Pakistan's increased closeness with Russia, or deepening of ties with traditional ally, China, "does not take away anything" from relations with the U.S.

'Regional recalibration'



"I want to emphasize that this need not be in any way a zero-sum relationship with the United States. It is just that Pakistan has done a regional recalibration of its foreign and security policies," he said.

Beijing has also undertaken the construction of infrastructure projects and power plants in Pakistan in the past few years, bringing billions of dollars in investment to help the country overcome its economic challenges and energy crisis, a deal that has further cemented ties.



When asked about U.S.concerns that Russia could be attempting to undermine international efforts to stabilize Afghanistan by maintaining ties with the Taliban,the Pakistani minister said Russians are "very much in Afghanistan, they are in contact with them [theTaliban] and they talk to the them."



Moscow publicly acknowledges ties with insurgents but maintains they are meant to promote a peaceful settlement of the Afghan conflict.



Dastgir echoed Russian concerns that Islamic State is increasing its footprint in "ungoverned" Afghan areas, threatening stability of neighboring countries, including Russia's allied Central Asian states. IS has already carried out major attacks in Pakistan.

Afghan peace talks

Both Islamabad and Moscow support efforts aimed at encouraging the Afghan government and the Taliban to open a peace dialogue to end the war and deter terrorists from using the country to destabilize its neighbors, Dastgir added.



"Our role, as we see it, is now merely as facilitators of the dialogue as envisioned by the Afghan government, so we will facilitate. For us, it is a fact that Pakistan's influence, whatever it had over the Taliban, has greatly reduced in the last half decade," maintained the Pakistani minister.



Dastgir was referring to a single meeting Pakistan hosted between Kabul and Taliban negotiators in July 2015. Islamabad maintains it was also able to persuade the insurgents to return to the negotiating table the following year, but a U.S. drone strike killed Taliban chief Mullah Mansoor, scuttling the peace effort once again.



"We will still be able to talk to them but to expect that Pakistan in any way can deliver the Taliban [to the table] is unrealistic," said Dastgir.



Pakistani officials say that in recent years, Iran and Russia's influence with the Taliban has increased and any future Afghan peace process will not be productive without involving these two countries.



U.S. military commanders, however, maintain that Russians are exaggerating the presence of Islamic State in Afghanistan to use it as a pretext to support the Taliban to destabilize the country, a charge Moscow denies.Last August, Asad Hussein boarded the back of a truck in Dadaab, Kenya, sitting with other passengers among sacks of beans being transported to Somalias capital.

The truck headed east across the desert over the Somali border and deep into territory controlled by al-Shabab, the violent extremist group, on its way to Mogadishu.

The 700-kilometer trip, which Hussein wrote about in The New York Times, represented a chance for him to see where his father grew up. Now, hes preparing for a new journey after being accepted by one of the worlds most prestigious universities.

The 22-year-old refugee plans to join the class of 2022 at Princeton University, in the eastern U.S. state of New Jersey.

Life in a refugee camp

Hussein was born in Dadaab, one of the worlds largest refugee camps, in 1996. His parents and older sister had fled the war in Somalia five years earlier in search of a new life. Dadaab was meant to be temporary, but it became home.

Husseins sister, Maryan, immigrated to the United States in 2005 with her husband and son. Only 11 years later did the siblings reunite, when Maryan returned to Dadaab on a visit that Hussein also wrote about in The Times.

The life in Dadaab is basically stranded, Hussein told VOAs Somali service in a phone interview Monday, after tweeting about his admission a couple of days ago. You are not allowed to work or to do anything just as a refugee, and the word refugee comes with so many restrictions.

Despite those limitations, Hussein said, people were determined to make lives for themselves. They had escaped war, and they were bound to keep fighting.

The key, people told Hussein, was education.

I was always told that, you know, You need to go to school and do something, and things like that. And thats my childhood.

The sprawling Dadaab camps infrastructure includes schools. Hussein said he finished high school in 2014, and for three years I have been trying to get into university.

Meanwhile, Princeton  which admitted just 5.5 percent of all applicants for the class of 2022  has been among some U.S. colleges and universities trying to diversify their student bodies. That includes welcoming academic high achievers who, like Hussein, may not have the financial means independently. Hussein said hes been offered a full scholarship to Princeton, which estimates that tuition, room, board and fees will total $70,010 for the next academic year.

In the universitys 2021 graduating class, 13 percent are international students  with representation from 11 African nations.

Founded in 1746, Princeton has depended since its inception, and depends today, on the talent and contributions of newcomers to this country, its president, Christopher L. Eisgruber, wrote last month in an annual letter to the campus community.

Last week, Princeton joined 30 other colleges and universities in challenging the Trump administrations proclamation to restrict immigration from several Muslim-majority countries. The university filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to support the state of Hawaiis challenge, it said in a news release.

An incredible achievement

Ty McCormick, the former Africa editor at Foreign Policy, invited Hussein to write about President Donald Trumps travel ban after reading his work in The Times.

Hes an extraordinary young man: brilliant, focused, and driven to better himself and those around him, McCormick told VOA.

Although I have become a mentor of sorts, I think its fair to say Ive learned more from him than he has from me. All of the credit for this incredible achievement belongs to him. He overcame tremendous obstacles to get where he is  obstacles most of us cant fully comprehend. My hat is off to him, McCormick said in a written response.

People who can do something

Hussein wrote about the frustrations of camp life for Foreign Policy early last year: The words I write may travel all around the world, but I am confined to the refugee camp where I was born. I cant move freely in Kenya; I need a permit to leave Dadaab. My whole life, it seems, Ive been living the American dream. I just dont know how much longer I can bear to live it outside of America.

Hussein hopes his achievement will change peoples minds about what refugees can accomplish.

When we hear of refugees, we always think of people who are a liability, people who want something, he told VOA.  So Im glad that my story shows that refugees are actually people who can do something.

Now, Husseins journey will take him to the same campus that produced theoretical physicist Richard Feynman, former President Woodrow Wilson and first lady Michelle Obama.

Hussein, an avid fiction reader, said he wants to study English and history. And, for the first time since he was 9, he will live in the same country as his parents and sister.King Salman reiterated Saudi Arabias support for a Palestinian state after his son and heir apparent said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land  a rare statement by an Arab leader.

The king also emphasized the need to advance the peace process in a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday night, made after Israeli security forces killed 16 Palestinians last week during a demonstration along the Israel-Gaza border. The number rose to 17 on Tuesday.

King Salman reaffirmed the kingdoms steadfast position towards the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, state news agency SPA said on Tuesday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised King Salman, thanking him for his support.

President Abbas expressed his gratitude and appreciation ... for his supportive positions of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian cause and the cause of Jerusalem and its sacred sites, said a statement published by the official Palestinian WAFA news agency.

Abbas also praised Saudi Arabia for continuing to support the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the statement said.

The report did not refer to the comments by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an interview published on Monday by U.S. magazine The Atlantic, which are the latest public sign that ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel may be growing closer.

Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland, Prince Mohammed was quoted as saying: I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations.

Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines, does not recognise Israel. It has maintained for years that normalising relations hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war, territory Palestinians seek for a future state.

Increased tension between Riyadh and Tehran has fueled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to work together against what they see as a common Iranian threat.Muslim groups that accused the New York Police Department of illegally spying on them in New Jersey after the Sept. 11 attacks appear on the verge of settling a civil rights lawsuit against the city.

In an order filed last month in federal court in Newark, U.S. District Judge William Martini said the parties had notified him they had reached an agreement. He gave them 60 days to finalize the deal, the details of which were not disclosed.

Islamic community leaders, the lead plaintiff and the plaintiff's lawyers were scheduled to make an announcement about the case Thursday. Neither side commented Wednesday.

The suit was filed in 2012 following reports by The Associated Press that revealed how the NYPD infiltrated Muslim student groups and put informants in mosques as part of a broad effort to prevent terrorist attacks. The effort crossed state lines into New Jersey, where the department collected intelligence on ordinary people at mosques, restaurants and schools starting in 2002, the AP reported.

In 2014, Martini ruled the surveillance program was a legal way to fight terrorism, rejecting the claim it was unconstitutional because it focused on religion, national origin and race. An appeals court revived the suit in 2015 by reversing the decision. Settlement talks began in 2016.

Federal judges have approved settlements in two other suits making similar allegations by Muslim groups in New York City that the NYPD's tactic violated their civil rights.Tensions are mounting in Sierra Leone as people anxiously await the official results of Saturday's presidential run-off. Supporters on both sides have already claimed victory, raising concerns of possible unrest.



At the headquarters of the opposition SLPP, women sell posters of candidate Maada Bio, along with green SLPP wristbands, flasks and whistles. A large group of people dance in front of the giant green office.

Inside, Abubakar Sesay, editor of "Unity," the party newspaper, sits around chatting to his friends. He is confident his party has won based on its private tally but is anxious for the National Electoral Commissionor NEC to announce the official result. He says the rumors are dangerous.

"People just sit there in the comfort of their chairs or their homes and then post all sorts of things  'oh, this will happen tomorrow, some people are planning,'" he said.

"And there are people in our society who are very gullible," he added. "They swallow this information hook, line and sinker, that is what's creating the tension. We are using the mainstream media to appeal to them to be calm."



At the headquarters of the ruling APC party, music is blasted from speakers outside, but the mood is subdued.



President Ernest Bai Koroma had to stand down this year, having served the limit of two terms. The first round of voting was close, with ruling party candidate Samura Wilson Kamara trailing Bio by less than 15,000 ballots.



The APC challenged the first-round results, alleging fraud and delaying the run-off by four days.



One APC supporter, Osman Kanu, is ready to protest the result of the run-off if it does not go the way he hopes.



"The APC, the All People's Congress, won the election, and we the people voted for the All People's Congress vehemently in all districts," he said. "If the results are not credible enough, if the NEC officials do not give the people the right choice, we are prepared to protest, and these are our placards: We need credible results in Sierra Leone."



The rumor mill is working overtime, adding to tensions.



APC supporters claim that members of the international community, specifically Ghanaian President John Mahama and the British High Commissioner, are meddling on behalf of the opposition, accusations those officials have denied.



Most Sierra Leoneans just want to hear the result as soon as possible.

Mohammed Sankoh sits smoking cigarettes with some friends at a roadside stall. He worries that children need to go back to school after nearly a month off, and that parents need to get back to work.



"The common Sierra Leonean doesn't have money for safe keeping, they only live on a day to day basis," he said. "People cannot go to work because they are [afraid] of any outbreak. Then they don't want to leave their children at home when they go to work, so things are just upside down".



The National Electoral Commission has said it expects to announce results Thursday.Tensions are rising across Brazil as it waits for the nation's top court to decide whether former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can remain free while he appeals a corruption conviction.

Da Silva is considered the front-runner in the presidential elections set for October, despite his conviction. If the court decides da Silva should start his 12-year prison sentence, it would end his presidential bid and upend the campaign.

Da Silva was found guilty last year of taking bribes, in the form of major renovations on an oceanfront apartment, in return for steering contracts to a construction company. An appeals court upheld the verdict in January.

An army commander's tweet Tuesday heightened the tension when he appeared to subtly support da Silva's incarceration.

"In Brazil's current situation, it's worth asking our institutions and the people, 'Who is really thinking about what is best for the country and future generations, and who is only worried about their personal interests?' '' General Eduardo Villas Boas tweeted. Many interpreted the comment as a form of pressure on the 11 justices on the Supreme Federal Tribunal and a veiled threat of intervention.

But in a statement to O Globo, one of the country's leading dailies, General Joaquim Silva e Luna, the defense minister, said that Boas' intention was to assure people that force would not be used.

If the high court rules against da Silva, the federal judge who presided over his trial is expected to issue an arrest warrant as early as Thursday.

Authorities in several cities are bracing for demonstrations for and against the ex-president.Martin Luther King Jr., a man who embodied the U.S. civil rights movement, was assassinated 50 years ago on April 4, 1968. Here is a timeline of events before and after his death.



April 3, 1968  King arrives in Memphis Tennessee, to support striking sanitation workers. and checks into the Lorraine Motel.



April 4 (before 6 p.m.)  King exits his room at the Lorraine Motel to attend dinner at the home of a local minister. He lingers on the balcony to talk to his driver in the courtyard below.



April 4 (6:01 p.m.)  King is shot and rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital.



April 4 (7:05 p.m.)  King is pronounced dead. Rioting erupts in more than 100 U.S. cities. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a state of emergency.



April 5  The FBI begins its investigation of King's murder, which will cost over $2 million and involve more than 3,500 investigators.



April 9  King's funeral is held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. More than 50,000 people accompany his mule-drawn coffin through the city.



April 19  The FBI investigation centers on James Earl Ray, 40, whose fingerprint, according to detectives, matched one on the rifle used to shoot King. The convicted armed robber had escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary the previous year.



April 24  Ray obtains a Canadian passport under the name George Sneyd and purchases a plane ticket from Toronto to London.



June 8  Ray is arrested at Londons Heathrow Airport after trying to buy a ticket to Brussels and is later extradited to the United States.



March 10, 1969  Ray pleads guilty to killing King and is sentenced to 99 years in a Tennessee prison.



March 13, 1969  Ray recants his guilty plea, claiming he was coerced. He maintains his innocence for the rest of his life.



1978  Ray testifies before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which later concludes that Ray acted alone. However, the committee concludes there was circumstantial evidence of a conspiracy.



December 1993  Former Memphis restaurateur Loyd Jowers says members of the Mafia paid him $100,000 to plan King's assassination. Jowers says he paid laborer Frank Holt to shoot King.



April 23, 1998  James Earl Ray dies in prison from kidney and liver disease at age 70.



1999  The King family, who believes Ray was innocent, sues Loyd Jowers for King's death. The civil lawsuit ends with a $100 award to the King family, who donate the money to charity.



June 2000  U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno conducts a fourth investigation into Ray's appeal, but finds no evidence of a conspiracy.White House officials on Wednesday laid out plans to send National Guard troops to the United States southern border with Mexico, as part of President Donald Trumps efforts to confront what he says is a growing problem with illegal immigrants.

The decision to deploy the U.S. military to the border represents a major new aspect of Trumps wide-ranging immigration crackdown. But major parts of the move are unclear, including how many troops will be sent, when they will deploy, or what exactly they will do.

It will take time to have the details in place, but we are beginning today and are moving quickly, said Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. We are anxious to have this support.

In the U.S., the active duty military is generally restricted from domestic law enforcement functions, which would include apprehending border crossers. However, U.S. presidents have deployed the National Guard to the border to act in support roles.

Surveillance and support functions

Nielsen said the National Guard troops will help with border surveillance and other support functions. She declined to say how large the force would be, but she did say it would include as many (troops) as is needed to fill the gaps today.

A senior Trump administration official declined to say whether the National Guard troops will be armed, saying those details are still being worked out. But the official said the force would be effective.

Suffice it to say, for individuals looking to pay a smuggler to get in the United States right now, that would be a very unwise investment, the official said.

Trump signed a proclamation authorizing the move Wednesday evening. But states must also approve the decision before deploying their guard members.

Trump repeatedly has threatened to deploy the military to help secure the border, especially as a caravan of Central American migrants makes it way north through Mexico, with some headed for the U.S.

The group of around 1,200 migrants from Central America has been making a 2,000-kilometer (1,200 mile) journey from the Mexico-Guatemala border. Some said they will seek asylum in the U.S., as allowed under U.S. law.

NAFTA threatened

Mexican officials said the caravan has begun to disperse, but some participants said they are going to continue. Trump earlier had warned Mexico that its free trade agreement with its northern neighbor would be jeopardized if it did not stop the caravan before it reached the U.S. border.

Although many of the migrants are fleeing violence, Trump has portrayed the caravan as a national security and economic threat that must be stopped.

Trump officials have complained of a rising level of asylum fraud, and said loopholes in U.S. immigration law must be addressed.

Securing the southern border was a centerpiece of Trumps platform during his 2016 campaign for the presidency, and something he frequently mentions.

WATCH: Border security

The Mexican border is very unprotected by our laws, Trump asserted on Tuesday. We dont have laws. We have catch and release. You catch and then you immediately release. And people come back years later for a court case, except they virtually never come back.

Trump has continually emphasized the need for a border wall  which on Tuesday he said must be 700 (1,127 kilometers) to 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) long. He previously has demanded that Mexico pay for the wall, but he has not emphasized that issue in recent public remarks.

We need the wall. Weve started building the wall, as you know, said Trump, adding that $1.6 billion has now been appropriated by Congress toward building the wall and fixing the existing wall thats falling down or was never appropriated in the first place.

Placating the base

Some see Trumps move to deploy troops as an attempt to placate his base, especially after many conservatives criticized him for recently signing a government funding bill that did not fund the construction of a border wall.

The most likely explanation for the proposed deployment is politics, just like the previous deployments, said Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration analyst at the CATO Institute.

Since the members of the caravan intend to surrender to Border Patrol or Customs Officers and ask for asylum, the troops serve no purpose. They will not deter asylum seekers, Nowrasteh said.

But the military can play an important role, said Mark Krikorian, who heads the Center for Immigration Studies, a hardline immigration group.

Where all the military can help is with all kinds of support functions, like transportation, paperwork, reconnaissance  where they actually do the spotting and identification and tell the border patrol where to go. That sort of thing, Krikorian said. There's a lot they can do, but its not a silver bullet.The U.N. refugee agency says it regrets Israels decision to cancel an agreement to resettle thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers, but remains hopeful that a solution still can be found.

There are about 39,000 Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in Israel, most of them living in poor neighborhoods of Tel Aviv.

On Monday, Israel and the U.N. refugee agency announced an agreement to send some of the refugees to Western countries while allowing others to remain in Israel under temporary visas and find jobs.

This elicited a howl of protest from right-wing allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who consider the Africans illegal immigrants. Netanyahu canceled the agreement the next day.

Earlier, Israel said it would give the refugees a choice: accept relocation to African countries or face extended time in jail. Several NGOs opposed to that took their case to Israels Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the refugees and froze the policy.

What happens next, said U.N. refugee agency spokesman William Spindler, is up in the air.



So, we are back to square one, if you like. And, the controversial policy of sending these people to countries in Africa has been frozen by the High Court in Israel and the countries that were supposed to take them have denied that they are part of this agreement, he said.

Spindler said the UNHCR's offer to work with the Israeli government still stands.

He said the agreement canceled this week would provide a solution for the Africans who are in need of protection from war and persecution. At the same time, he says it would meet the concerns of the local Israeli communities hosting them.



Spindler said the policy of sending refugees to Africa -- reportedly to Uganda and Rwanda -- was widely criticized because it was not in the best interest of the refugees.



Once the refugees arrived there, they find very little possibility to integrate. Many of them do not feel safe there and then they continue long dangerous routes, risking their lives, once again, because many of them went through terrible ordeals before they arrived in Israel. So, once again they will be on the move," he said.



However, Spindler said the current situation is not tenable and ultimately Israel and the UNHCR must find a way out of this impasse.France, Germany and the U.S. observed Syria's deadly use of chemical weapons on civilians one year ago in the town of Khan Sheikhoun by vowing to hold accountable those who were responsible.

In an early morning attack on April 4, 2017, Syrian aircraft dropped sarin gas bombs on the town, killing scores of people, including several children.

A joint statement issued Wednesday by the U.S. State Department on behalf of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and U.S. Acting Secretary John Sullivan said, "... there has been no let-up in the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime, enabled by its backers," after seven years of war.

They blamed Russia for reneging on a promise to ensure Syria would stop using chemical weapons by voting in November to close a U.N. Security Council investigation into Syria's use of the weapons.

"We are committed to ensuring that all those responsible are held to account," the statement continued. "We will not rest until in our efforts to seek justice for the victims of these abhorrent attacks in Syria."

Human Rights Watch marked the year-old attack Wednesday by declaring that global efforts to prevent chemical attacks in Syria have failed. It also said evidence from its investigation and a probe by the U.N. suggests the Syrian regime was responsible for the attack.

"In Syria, the government is using chemical weapons that are banned the world over without paying any price," said Human Rights Watch Middle East director Lama Fakih.

The rights group said since Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution to renew an investigation, the Syrian regime has probably carried out at least five additional chemical weapons attacks.The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday filed denaturalization papers against two Bosnian Muslims convicted of carrying out an execution-style massacre of Croatian villagers during the Balkan wars.

Edin Dzeko, 46, and Sammy Rasema Yetisen, 45, both alleged former members of an elite Bosnian military unit responsible for carrying out the 1993 attack that killed 22 civilians, are accused of hiding their crimes on their refugee, permanent resident and U.S. citizenship applications.

Yetisen, who also goes by Rasema Handanovic, came to the U.S. as a refugee three years after the massacre and became a citizen in 2002, according to court filings. Dzeko was admitted as a refugee in 2001 and naturalized in 2006.

The pair's involvement in the "Trusina massacre" came to light in 2011 when the U.S. extradited them to Bosnia to stand trial for war crimes, the Justice Department said.

A court in Bosnia later found that Dzeko and Yetisen were part of a special forces unit that participated "in a well-prepared and planned attack" on the village of Trusina in central Bosnia, executing six unarmed prisoners of war and civilians, according to court documents. Yetisen later shot each of the six again to make sure they were dead.

"In addition to his participation in the firing squad, Dzeko also killed a crippled elderly man, and then shot the man's wife in the back, killing her because she would not stop crying," the Justice Department said.

Yetisen was convicted of war crimes in 2012 and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison. She returned to Oregon after her release from prison, the Justice Department said.

Dzeko was convicted and sentenced in 2014. He is still serving his sentence in Bosnia.

"War criminals will find no safe haven or shelter within the United States," U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. "We will be steadfast as we investigate and prosecute human rights violators, torturers, and war criminals. This is especially true for those who fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship."

Other cases

The Justice Department has stepped up the pace of denaturalization lawsuits under the Trump administration.

In March, a Bosnian Serb living in North Carolina was sentenced to 18 months in prison for lying about his military service and involvement in war crimes on his permanent resident application.

Milan Trisic, 55, admitted that he'd served in the army of the Serb Republic between 1992 and 1996 as a member of a unit responsible for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and that he lied about his whereabouts during the war when he applied for refugee admission to the U.S.

In February, the Justice Department filed denaturalization lawsuits against five convicted child abusers in California, Maryland, North Carolina and Texas.

"We at [the Department of Homeland Security] are committed to working with our partners across the federal government to target those who seek to break our immigration laws to obtain U.S. citizenship. There will be consequences," DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement.The U.S. State Department on Monday imposed sanctions on Pakistani political party the Milli Muslim League (MML), designating it and its leadership as "terrorists."

The U.S. added the Milli Muslim League and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir as aliases of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and specifically named seven MML leaders as terrorists, according to a statement Monday.

"Today's amendments take aim at Lashkar-e-Taiba's efforts to circumvent sanctions and deceive the public about its true character," said Nathan Sales, the State Department's Counterterrorism Coordinator. "Make no mistake: Whatever LeT chooses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group."

Milli Muslim League and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir were created last year and are linked to Hafiz Saeed, a Pakistan-based U.S.-designated global terrorist and leader of LeT.

Saeed is believed to be the mastermind of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai that killed more than 160 people, including six Americans.

Saeed was added to the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267 sanctions list in December 2008.

In 2012, the United States declared him a "global terrorist" and has offered a bounty of $10 million for information that would lead to his arrest.

In January 2017, Saeed established Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir after the Pakistani government banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the front organization for LeT.

In August 2017, the Islamist cleric formed a political party and named it Milli Muslim League in an effort to find a place for JuD in Pakistan's political arena.

LeT's leader has been trying to create front organizations for some time to dodge growing pressure on the terror group in Pakistan.

Following the State Department's announcement, the U.S. Treasury Department also designated seven members of the MML central leadership body for acting on behalf of LeT.

The sanctions imposed by the Treasury's Assets Control Office bar U.S. companies and U.S nationals from conducting any business with the seven individuals. The designation also blocks their financial accounts and assets.

MML political activity

MML came into prominence after its supported candidates, who contested by-elections in 2017, were able to secure considerable votes. The party's relatively good performance attracted the attention of other established political parties and the country's electoral body.

In October 2017, Pakistan's Election Commission barred MML from registering as a political party after Pakistan's Interior Ministry requested that MML not be allowed to participate in the elections. The ministry accused MML of serving as a front organization for JuD.

The decision, however, was contested by MML in a federal court, which last month asked the election commission to review it.

MML has several offices throughout the country and has an active presence on the internet. The party has launched a website and its social media team is actively spreading the party's messages through its Facebook and Twitter pages.

Saeed has been pushing back against growing pressure on these organizations. Monday's State Department designation comes on the heels of a court order in Lahore, directing the federal and provincial governments of Pakistan to submit a response on why they have barred JuD's humanitarian operations across the country.

In January, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) issued a directive banning individuals and groups placed on terror watch lists by Pakistan and the U.N. Security Council from collecting funds. The directive also banned those groups from arranging any political, social, welfare or religious events in the country. The directive included Saeed's JuD.

The court instructed the federal government to submit a response explaining its reasoning for the decision by April 27.The United States is pushing its allies and partners across the Middle East to ramp up their efforts to destroy the Islamic State terror group, saying the involvement of U.S. forces in Syria is coming to a rapid end.

The pronouncements from the White House come a day after President Donald Trump publicly repeated his desire to bring home the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in Syria, even as top military officials signaled the mission there was not near completion.

The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed, the White House said in a statement Wednesday, using an acronym for the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

WATCH: Analysts take on US-Syria relations



The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated, it continued. We will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans.

Pressed on what that meant for U.S. forces still in the region, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the troops would come home when the battle against IS was over.

As the presidents maintained since the beginning, hes not going to put an arbitrary timeline, Sanders told reporters at the White House briefing. He is measuring it in actually winning the battle.

Sanders said while U.S. forces have made significant progress, the time is coming for regional partners to take on a greater role against IS and other regional threats and to put more skin in the game.

Certainly, thats something the president wants to see happen, for them to step up and for them to do more, she said.

All-hands national security meeting

President Trumps decision to keep U.S. forces in Syria for now and to work on transitioning more responsibility to local forces appears to have been influenced by what multiple sources described as an all-hands national security meeting on Syria at the White House Tuesday that included Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford.

It also comes after phone calls between Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In his remarks Tuesday, Trump referenced his call with the Saudi King and said, Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision and I said, Well, you want us to stay maybe youre going to have to pay.

Despite Trumps public statements, top military officials have been more cautious, urging a continued U.S. role even as the fight against IS winds down.

There still are some areas where they [IS] are present and that we will have to continue to operate on, said U.S. Central Commands Gen. Joseph Votel, who commands U.S. forces in the Middle East.

The hard part I think is in front of us, the CENTCOM commander said. There is a military role in this, certainly in the stabilization phase.

Some analysts warn pulling out U.S. troops now, or even in the near future, could risk a re-emergence of IS, or worse.

The Defeat-ISIS campaign does not end with denying it physical territory and freedom of movement, said Nicholas Glavin, formerly a researcher at the U.S. Naval War Colleges Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups. Supporting stabilization [in Syria and Iraq] is where the U.S. and Coalition will have a decisive and long-term impact.

A withdrawal of U.S. forces would significantly damage the stabilization phase, added Glavin, now studying at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Iranian influence

There is also concern any withdrawal of U.S. troops would allow other regional players and terror groups to gain more influence. Trumps comments on possibly withdrawing from Syria come as Turkey hosted talks with Iran and Russia Wednesday on the future of Syria.

The Trump administration seems to be prepared to turn Syria over to the Assad regime, Iran, Russia, the Turks, Kurds and al-Qaida, said Katherine Zimmerman, a research manager with the Critical Threats Project.

The White House statement made clear that the Trump administration sees the defeat of ISIS in Syria as the trigger for a U.S. withdrawal from the country  rather than correcting course and adopting a strategy to secure Americas long-term interests, Zimmerman added.

The White House pushed back against such concerns Wednesday, saying even if U.S. troops came home, it would not embolden countries like Iran.

No, because the purpose would be to transition and train local enforcement as well as have our allies and partners in the region who have a lot more at risk to put more skin into the game, Sanders said.

Frightening message

Some former officials also say despite the need to push back against Iran and Russia in Syria, theres only so much U.S. forces, at their current levels, can do.

The troops on the ground are actually a problem, said James Jeffrey, a former U.S ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, now with the Washington Institute.

Theres too few to actually do the classic military mission of hold and take terrain, but there are enough of them to get in trouble, Jeffrey told VOA, referencing several recent incidents during which U.S. forces came under fire from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In the meantime, the prospect of pulling U.S. forces from Syria is not sitting well with U.S. allies, including the Kurds and Iraq.

A sudden withdrawal from Syria would send a frightening message, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the United States, said Tuesday, adding Trumps comments, ring alarm bells for us and Im sure for the people of Syria.

Iraqi Ambassador to the U.S. Fareed Yasseen expressed similar reservations.

We still suffer from Syria, Yasseen said. Still to this day, we have insurgents crossing the border.We were recently doing some tree work in a yard in Lincoln and were struck at how different it was from doing the same type of project on our farm. A project that wouldve taken 30 minutes on the farm took us about four hours to complete in town.The Trump administration is weighing further retaliation against Russia for meddling in the election and interfering in the affairs of the United States and its allies, the top U.S. intelligence official said Wednesday.

"This is under considerable consideration and more things will be done  and soon  above where we are right now," National Intelligence Director Dan Coats told reporters at a breakfast briefing. "I would just say stay tuned on that. I think we are becoming more and more aware of the potential for Russia to continue to engage in any number of ways relative to our elections and a lot of steps are being taken."

Russia has been accused of meddling in the 2016 presidential election and of being behind the March 4 nerve agent attack on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in the city of Salisbury, England.

The poisoning plunged relations between the West and Russia to their lowest ebb since the Cold War. More than two dozen Western allies expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain. Russia responded by ordering the same number of their envoys out.

Russia has denied being behind the nerve agent attack. In Moscow, Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the top KGB successor agency, said the poisoning was a "grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and U.S. intelligence agencies."

Naryshkin said the poisoning was the latest example of the U.S.-led efforts to undermine Russia, adding that the Russia-West chill is comparable to the Cold War.

Coats said the U.S. agrees with British Prime Minister Theresa May who said that Russia is the only nation state capable of using the nerve agent in such an attack.

"They [the Russians] either instituted it themselves or they lost control of it and somebody else did it. When you look at the history of it  the Russian malign activities and so forth  it's not hard to come to the conclusion that the Russians were out to send a signal to their other spies who have come out of the cold. Or [it was] just a continued power play by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin just prior to his election," Coats said.

Putin was pushing hard to get as many votes as possible in his re-election bid, so the attack might have been his way of "playing Mr. Strongman" and persuading voters into thinking his is the leader to bring Russia back into power after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s.

He described Putin as "shrewd" and "calculating" and said when dealing with the former KGB officer, the U.S. needs to "go in with eyes wide open and with a high degree of skepticism."

Coats was asked why the U.S. decided to retaliate against Russia by closing its consulate in Seattle, which was near a submarine base, Naval Base Kitsap, as well as Boeing Co. operations.

The Russians didn't decide to open a consulate in Seattle because of "the climate or the nice living conditions," Coats said. "One could assume that they went there because there were [intelligence] collection opportunities."Choosing a church can be complicated in China under the rule of the officially atheist Communist Party  especially in Youtong village, where roughly half the 5,000 residents are Catholics.

Within a mile radius, the village in northern China's Hebei province hosts a Catholic church sanctioned by Chinese authorities, two large "underground" churches, and numerous smaller unofficial house churches, according to villagers.

Youtong provides a snapshot of the muddled and delicate situation for China's estimated 12 million Catholics, with allegiances split between government-sanctioned churches and the underground ones endorsed by the Vatican, amid expectations that a historic accord will soon be struck between Rome and Beijing.

The underground churches are generally tolerated but closely monitored by the authorities. House churches tend to be ignored so long as gatherings are small.

When Reuters visited Youtong on Good Friday, displays of faith were ubiquitous.

Villagers poured into the streets to attend afternoon mass at the official church, whose spire is topped with a large cross that glints in the sunlight high above nearby buildings.

Bright red banners with religious slogans, including the Chinese characters for "Emmanuel," meaning God is with us, or "We have faith in you, Jesus" adorn the gates of many homes.

While some Catholics in Youtong told Reuters that a long-awaited agreement could bring clarity and freedom to practice their religion openly, others said they worry the deal will sow further discord in the community.

Dong Guanhua, an outspoken priest who sparked controversy in 2016 when he claimed at his underground church that he had been appointed a bishop in a secret ceremony 11 years before, said the deal would push more people to unofficial churches like his. The Vatican has said that it has not authorized Dong's ordination and, if it occurred, it was a breach of church law.

"The word 'compromise' sounds good but to some churchgoers it will sound like you are abandoning your faith," he said.

"People say I am trying to break away, but in fact I am sticking to the old road, while the Vatican's policy changes."

The expected deal would allow China to appoint bishops, in consultation with the Vatican, and could lead to the restoration of full diplomatic ties for the first time in seven decades.

On Thursday, the Vatican said an accord on appointing bishops was not imminent but talks were continuing.

While relations among the rival churches are cordial, some villagers warned that local schisms could arise from renewed attempts to push together the state-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which claims independence from the Vatican, and underground churches loyal to Pope Francis.

"Father Dong does not listen to anyone. He has made some people angry. But lots of people like his style, because he tells it like it is," said a man in his 40s who would only give his surname, Pei, a common name in Youtong.

Suspicion and pressure

The large tin-roofed underground church of Pei Ronggui, 84, a retired bishop recognized by Rome, has long been the most popular for village Catholics whose loyalty to the Vatican makes them suspicious of the official church, villagers said.

Exact numbers were not available, but villagers suggested that the congregations of the official church and Pei's were roughly similar, while Dong attracted slightly fewer.

In December 2016, Pei said that Beijing would have to change its attitude toward the Vatican before any deal could work. But Pei, who spent four years in a labor camp after the government raided his church in 1989, appeared to be under pressure from authorities when Reuters recently visited him at home.

Pei, who still gives mass and takes confession, was accompanied by a heavyset man, who declined to identify himself, wearing a belt with a police emblem buckle. The man said Pei could not hear well enough to do an interview, ushering him away.

The same man then followed Reuters journalists for the next 24 hours, joined intermittently by others in as many as five vehicles, underscoring the sensitivity of the situation.

Father Ju Ruibin, at the official church, rescinded an earlier invitation for Reuters to attend Good Friday mass at his church after apparent pressure from the men.

The government spokesman's office for Youtong's district did not respond to a faxed request for comment on the unidentified men and restrictions on Catholics in the village.

Pei Ziming, a retired wedding officiator, considers the proliferation of churches in the village a boon, enabling him to attend services that fit his schedule.

The real issue, he said, is that the Vatican and Beijing have contradictory and competing ideologies, a point he illustrates with a joke: "They say you can see what truly matters to a country by considering its architecture. In many European countries, the biggest buildings are the churches. In China, the biggest buildings are all banks and government offices, because that's where real faith lies."Like most teenagers, Ranim has yet to decide on a career. But the 17-year-old is certain of one thing: She must keep studying to make up for the time she spent out of school, fleeing the war in Syria to reach Austria's capital.

Each week she and about a thousand other refugees and asylum-seekers attend a free, council-run college set up by Vienna's authorities to help young migrants learn German, get counseling, gain basic education, and integrate into society.

"As a refugee, we need to know the language. At the same time, we need to keep learning the basic subjects in school like mathematics and English," said Ranim, who two years ago became one of Vienna's nearly 1.9 million residents.

"They created this college to give us more chances," said Ranim, who declined to give her full name for privacy reasons.

As more people move around the world  spurred by conflict, climate extremes and poverty  the cities and countries that host new arrivals are trying to figure out what kind of welcome to offer.

Investing in the new arrivals, to prepare them to integrate into a new country, can cut the need to support them long term  but can sometimes provoke resentment from local people who may not be offered similar services.

In Vienna, the left-leaning capital of the only western European country with a far-right-wing party in government, finding the correct balance can be particularly delicate.

Migrant inflow

In 2015, Austria took in asylum-seekers equivalent to more than 1 percent of its population, most of them escaping conflict in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

With about 93,250 refugees already living in Austria and tens of thousands of asylum applications in the system, according to the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), Vienna's city councilors say helping migrants become part of their new country is crucial.

"We felt there was a political obligation to support refugees from day one so that they have better prospects and better chances for a job," said Philipp Lindner, a spokesman for Vienna's education and integration department.

But Vienna's welcome for refugees is in some ways in direct opposition to the views of the national government.

In December, Austria's anti-immigration Freedom Party and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's conservatives struck a coalition deal to share power.

Both of Austria's ruling parties have pledged to cut benefits for refugees and have warned that Muslim "parallel societies" are emerging in cities like Vienna.

City spokesperson Lindner said the college for migrants is part of a wider council-led scheme to help them assimilate.

It includes sessions on how to access health care, education, housing and other services, as well as courses on sexual health, rights and cultural values.

Maria Steindl, who has managed the Youth College since its inception in 2016, said that without this free education, young migrants "would be on the streets. They would not have jobs."

"We are building a base so they can make their next steps," she said.

Urban refugees

Today, some 60 percent of refugees worldwide live in cities, UNHCR says.

That trend constitutes a significant shift from the traditional response, adopted by the United Nations a half-century ago, of sheltering displaced people in camps.

But cities are sometimes struggling to adapt to the new responsibilities.

Mayors say city authorities are increasingly called on as first responders to meet migrants' basic needs, and are also required to take long-term responsibility for their well-being.

"Big cities have more challenges with migration than the countryside [does]," Lindner told Reuters by phone. "It's the cities that have the obligation to provide housing, education and ... social welfare services."

Last October, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said he believed cities should be given a bigger voice in deciding and implementing measures to deal with migration.

Planning ahead for migrants and implementing long-term integration programs is a cost-effective way for cities to deal with new arrivals, said Julien Simon of the Vienna-based International Center for Migration Policy Development.

"When you don't deal with an issue and you keep on postponing it, you will pay the price at some point," said Simon, who is head of the center's Mediterranean branch in Malta.

Helping migrants participate in city life is a "win-win" as it helps them contribute positively to their new communities, he noted.

Brighter future?

At Vienna's Youth College, however, Steindl said it was challenging to keep asylum-seeking students motivated against Austria's unfriendly political backdrop.

"Getting asylum status knocked back is a blow to their motivation. But that is the political framework in which we have to work," she said. "The best thing we can do is to invest in the training and education of these young people."

For Iraqi refugee Alaa Al-Dulaimi, the college has offered a chance to finish his interrupted high school education.

"I didn't go to school for almost three years, so I have forgotten a lot of subjects," said Al-Dulaimi, who arrived in Austria at the end of 2014, when he was 17.

With the help of social workers and teachers, the 20-year-old now hopes to pursue further studies, find a job and settle in Vienna for good.

"I feel very welcome. I have lots of friends from Austria. They are very kind people," he said.What would Vladimir Lenin have said?

After the Bolshevik revolution, "while many of the other Kremlin magnates were soon enjoying the trappings of power, Lenin and Nadya [his wife] lived fairly modestly. Their domestic arrangements were similar to the way they had existed in exile  unostentatious," writes Victor Sebestyen, author of an acclaimed new biography on Lenin.

The couple rarely dined in the well-stocked Kremlin restaurant  Lenin's wife could be seen "trudging along the pavements with black bread under her arm and a tureen of soup."

Across from Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square, where the preserved, waxy body of the Soviet leader has been on display since after his death in 1924, there's another shrine  this one dedicated to conspicuous consumption.

Conspicuous consumption

On weekends, the GUM department store is heaving with moneyed Muscovites  and gawping provincial Russians and Chinese tourists, who can't afford what's stocked in the brand name stores that include Cartier, Prada, Hermes, Bulgari, John Lobb and Mont Blanc.

I try on a pair of John Lobb suede brogues. The price? Just $2,600  double the already astronomical price of the same shoes in London.

GUM's artful windows draw tourists' camera lenses almost as much as the Kremlin and the multicolored onion domes of St. Basil Cathedral. About the only people who don't loiter outside the department store for a stare as they enter Red Square are a couple of elderly bearded Italians wearing the style of cap Lenin wore.

They stumble reverently toward Lenin's Mausoleum.

For anyone who has not visited the Russian capital for many years, the makeover is nothing short of astonishing. The city center's infrastructure puts to shame many Western European capitals. Old buildings once in disrepair have been restored; a huge financial center has been built.

Moscow boasts new restaurants with gourmet chefs, funky bars and luxurious hotels. The beefy bodyguards also have changed  they've now grown necks, wear tailored Italian suits and can be as polite as the city center's tourist police.

But what you see in the city center is a far cry from how Russians generally live. Russians on average earn only $558 month. Even skilled workers in the capital would have to work more than several months to afford those John Lobb shoes. The average salary for a skilled educated worker in Moscow is about $1,000 per month.

When I lived here briefly nearly 20 years ago, there were three color choices for clothing  gray, black and risque brown. Not so now. Another thing noticeable is how Muscovites are far more expressive and demonstrative in public than they were in the first few years after the end of Communism. Then in the public space  except, obviously, at protests  Muscovites still adopted the uniform guarded blank Soviet expression, giving nothing away.

Poisoning fallout

With diplomatic tempers flaring over the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, I'd been warned by fellow reporters to be prepared for hostility from Russians. I didn't experience any. There was the normal gruffness and unhelpfulness from officialdom  and the tiresome underlying insinuation that all Western reporters are spies. There were playbacks on my phone  a tell-tale sign of eavesdropping.

Russia Today reporters, with quirky resumes and a penchant for the kind of fare that would have warmed the hearts of grizzled KGB propagandists, are the most hostile. I spotted one I last saw in Ukraine's Donbas region happily identifying to heavily armed pro-Russian separatists Western reporters she thought were spooks. She also had snarled at Western journalists for refusing to contribute money in a whip-round for the separatist cause during a press conference in Donetsk.

State-owned Russia Today has had a field day with the Skripal affair, trotting out ever more dubious characters to support the shifting  often outlandish  explanations offered by Kremlin officials and Russian lawmakers about whom might have been behind the nerve-agent poisoning on British soil. Everyone from the "devious" British themselves to the inculpable Swedes have been blamed. The British, though, are now facing a marketing challenge.

So far, their public case for alleging that the attempted assassination was state-sanctioned has rested on arguments of capability, intent and a pattern of highly aggressive Kremlin behavior, from the annexation of Crimea to cyberattacks on Western states. Add to that multiple odd deaths of Russian dissidents, critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and former spies on British soil.

But the British have failed to prove the Soviet-developed nerve agent Novichok used in the poisoning had been made in a Russian laboratory, allowing the Kremlin to echo mobster Al Capone, who once complained amid a bloodbath in Chicago, "It seems like I'm responsible for every crime that takes place."

On Tuesday, a top scientist at Porton Down, the British defense facility, disclosed that his team had been unable to determine the toxin used had beyond doubt been made in Russia. The scientists had "not identified the precise source," he said. That contradicts a statement made, for example, by Britain's foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, who told German television two weeks ago that Porton Down had been "categorical" about the Russian origin of the substance used in the nerve-agent attack.

The gap between plausibility (who else would want Skripal dead and had the capability?) and proof has prompted charges of the British overstating their case. And that's making it harder for British leader Theresa May to maintain the Western alliance she mustered to punish Russia.

The deputy chairman of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, Armin Laschet, said Tuesday: "If one forces nearly all NATO countries into solidarity, shouldn't one have certain evidence?"

There already was a clear split in Europe, with the Slavic countries most reluctant to join in the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats  Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria have expelled no Russians. "We are seeing the emergence not so much of an Iron Curtain but an Iron Veil," quips a Western diplomat.

Just three percent of Russians believe the Kremlin was responsible for the Skripal poisoning, according to the state-run polling agency VTsIOM. Nine percent think the poisoning was an accident, 17 percent suspect criminals were the perpetrators. And 38 percent say the poisoning was the handiwork of Russia's enemies.

Independent observers are generally circumspect about VTsIOM's polls, but the Skripal findings are not that much different from what I encountered in conversations with Muscovites. The biggest fear of the young, though, is that it will become even harder to secure visas to Western countries  and that Russia increasingly will turn its back on the West and become more closed.

"Many of the good things you see here in Moscow now is because we have been more open to the world," says a 20-something marketing analyst, who moved from Siberia. "I hope we don't step back," she told me.

Deadly fire

We talked also about the awful March 25 shopping mall blaze in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, where she comes from, in which at least 64 people died, including 41 children. She's annoyed with Putin  even though he did visit the town two days after the fire.

Reading the transcript of what Putin said to local officials in Kemerovo on that trip is eye-opening. He's all toughness and brusqueness as he promises to make sure there's punishment for officials and inspectors who failed to enforce building codes and fire regulations. There's little humanity in his words, though, and no emotional understanding expressed of the pain bereaved parents must be enduring or the terror the children must have experienced in their final horrifying moments.

And then there's this chilling line. "We talk about demography, encouraging people to have more children, but look how many kids we lost as a result of this incident," he concluded.

His comment prompted the outrage of Echo of Moscow radio presenter Olga Bychkova. "He's talking about demography!" she exclaims to me. "What do people mean to him? They are serfs and one should have many because one needs working hands! Or livestock? How could he talk like that?"The Washington Post reported Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller told attorneys for U.S. President Donald Trump last month that while he is a subject of investigation, Mueller did not consider him a criminal target at that time.

The Post based its report on information from several people familiar with private negotiations Mueller had with Trump's lawyers in early March about potentially interviewing the president as part of the probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia.

The U.S. intelligence community has assessed Russian President Vladimir Putin directed an influence campaign meant to hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton's chances of winning in favor of Trump. Trump has repeatedly denied there was any collusion and has called the Mueller investigation a witch hunt.

The Post said Mueller told the Trump legal team he is preparing a report about the president's actions and reiterated the need to speak with Trump. Trump's lawyers declined to publicly comment for the article. The paper said Trump and some in his inner circle interpreted Mueller's words as assurance the president's risk of criminal jeopardy was low, while others warned Mueller could be baiting Trump into an interview that could put him in greater legal danger.

A person who is the subject of an investigation but not considered a target can later become a target if evidence emerges linking them to a crime.

Mueller began leading his investigation nearly a year ago. He has indicted 13 Russians on conspiracy charges for their roles in election interference. He also secured guilty pleas from Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former foreign affairs adviser George Papadopoulos for lying to federal investigators about their contacts with Russian officials.

On Tuesday, London-based Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days in prison and a $20,000 fine for lying to investigators about his contacts with a business associate of Trump's one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort and Manafort's deputy, Rick Gates.

Manafort has not been charged with any crimes related to the presidential contest, but faces multiple counts of criminal wrongdoing in connection with years of lobbying efforts in Ukraine for one-time Ukrainian strongman Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled in a popular uprising in 2014 before fleeing to exile in Russia.

Manafort has pleaded not guilty.In 1968, students at Columbia University stormed the school president's office to protest racism and involvement in the Vietnam War. Before the protest ended, they had held the university president for 24 hours and were successful in effecting change.

That same year, college students in North Carolina staged sit-ins at segregated lunch counters that spread to 30 cities throughout the South.

Around the same time, students at Howard University  then called "Black Harvard"  staged sit-ins to call for the resignation of the school's president for neglecting issues brought up by the student body.

Fifty years later, as the United States commemorates the events of that decade and the 50th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., student activists are again a major force in political change in America.

The anti-gun violence movement  including #March4OurLives, which was organized by students who survived a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida  drew hundreds of thousands of people to the nation's capital. At Howard, students have held a dayslong sit-in at the campus administration building to protest alleged corruption.

Jennia Taylor, a senior at Spelman College and a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, said that, like youth activists in 1968, her generation has reached their "tipping point." They are fed up with a lack of political action following school shootings, as well as other issues, she said.

"I think that what has happened is there's peaks in our society  tipping points, as we like to call it  so, we came to that point for our generation," she told VOA.

Taylor, who has started a social justice youth coalition in Georgia after having organized Atlanta's #March4OurLives event last month, said she and her colleagues "absolutely" drew inspiration from Martin Luther King Jr. and youth movements of the 1960s.

"Just to even have a basis of how they organized is so helpful," she said.

"It's not uncommon for high school students and even younger students and, of course, college students, to be involved in a movement," Arwin Smallwood, professor and chair of the history department at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T), told VOA.

"In 1968, most of the students involved were college students," he added, noting in particular the "A&T four" students who staged the first sit-ins to protest segregated lunch counters in the South.

While youths have frequently been involved in social and political movements, Smallwood noted that today's activism, particularly arguing for gun control, resembles movements of 1968 because of the universal relatability, which crosses gender, race and class.

"Most people around the world knew who Martin Luther King was," he said. "Most people felt the same despair, disappointment, hurt and, in some cases, anger."

King's granddaughter, 9-year-old Yolanda Renee King, spoke at the #March4OurLives event in Washington about a week before the anniversary of King's death.

"My grandfather had a dream that his four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," King told a crowd of hundreds of thousands, invoking her grandfather's famous "I Have a Dream" speech from 1963.

"I have a dream that enough is enough, and that this should be a gun-free world, period," she added, going on to lead the crowd in a call-and-response, declaring that "we are going to be a great generation."

Many student activists in the crowd said the elder King's teachings inspired them to participate in the march.

Quintez Brown, a high school student who traveled from Kentucky, told VOA that though he had learned about King in elementary school, he only truly understood his principle of nonviolence after reading one of his books.

"Today's march is an example of MLK's nonviolence direct-action strategy. We are here creating tension in the nation's capital," he said.

"We are here creating conflict. We are creating a disturbance in the nation. We are here to raise awareness because we don't have to be violent. All we had to do was raise our voices up and appeal to the morality of this nation, and we can make change. And MLK helped me realize that, and that's why I am here."Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have detected the most distant star ever viewed, a blue behemoth located more than halfway across the universe.



The star, officially called MACS J1149+2223 Lensed Star-1, has been nicknamed Icarus.



It was a hundredfold more distant than any other lone star previously detected, according to Patrick Kelly, an astrophysicist at the University of Minnesota.



According to a report published by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates the Hubble, the star is so far away, its light has taken 9 billion years to reach Earth.



Kelly said the nickname stuck because the star will appear to grow brighter and then eventually disappear, like Icarus in Greek mythology, whose waxed and feathered wings melted when he flew too close to the sun.



To spot the star, scientists took advantage of a phenomenon called "gravitational lensing"  the bending of light by massive galaxy clusters in the line of sight, which magnifies more distant celestial objects. This makes dim, faraway objects visible that otherwise would be undetectable.



"We will now be able to study in detail what the universe was like, and specifically, how stars evolved and what their natures are  almost all the way back to the earliest stages of the universe and the first generations of stars," Kelly said.



In 2020, NASA plans to launch Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, a more powerful observatory that will find other distant stars like this one.BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday told President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe that they should work towards a new chapter in ties, during the African leaders first state visit to China since he seized power last year.

Mnangagwa, who was sworn in as president in November after a de facto military coup ended Robert Mugabes 37-year rule, has vowed to rebuild his countrys ravaged economy and re-engage with the international community.

China had considered Mugabe a good friend in a relationship dating back to its support for Zimbabwes independence war, but pointedly failed to support him when he was ousted.

Im willing to work with Mr President to jointly map out our future cooperation and write a new chapter in China-Zimbabwe relations for the benefit of our two peoples, Xi said, during a meeting in Beijing.

China has growing interest in investing in Africas natural resources and has poured more than $100 billion into roads, railways, mines, powerlines and factories on the continent over the last decade.

Trade between China and African countries reached $85.3 billion in the first half of 2017, according to Chinese state media.

Xi said China has been happy to see the economic reform policies that Mnangagwa put in place after the peaceful, smooth transfer of power.

Mnangagwa said that Zimbabwe appreciated Chinas political support and goodwill and thanked Xi for sending an envoy immediately upon his inauguration.

That was a great honour, he said.

China continued to invest in large infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe throughout Mugabes rule as his government, sanctioned by Western nations for human rights abuses, increasingly turned to Beijing for help.

With his visit, Zimbabwe would attempt to tap Chinas huge financial resources, technical expertise and modern technology in order to help revive the economy, Mnangagwa told the official Xinhua news agency in an interview on Saturday.

In December, Zimbabwe signed a $153 million loan agreement with China to expand and refurbish its international airport in Harare in a bid to attract investors and tourists, the first such deal under the new government.

Chinas foreign ministry said a trip to Beijing by Zimbabwes military chief one week before the army seized power in the South African nation was a normal military exchange amid speculation at the time he had come to brief on plans to seize power.Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue.

The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website:

We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. By clicking I agree below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. You also agree to our Terms of Service.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.You probably already own one of these. One side of the hammerhead is flat and used for pounding, while the other has a V-shaped notch that can extract nails from surfaces such as wood without damaging the nails or the surface. You want a claw hammer made from materials that can resist harsh weather and reduce the vibrations traveling from the hammer to your arm. Vila recommends Estwings 16-ounce Straight-Claw Hammer With Shock Reduction Grip ($20.97 at Home Depot).In that way, its become about as useful as the term the media  so general as to be pointless. (Are we talking about Fox News, your Facebook feed, NPR, the Chicago Tribune, or some unholy combination of everything you see on a screen, read on a printed page or hear on the airwaves?)The girl, now 15, contacted authorities last month after she looked through old yearbooks and found the former aide. She told police she remembered his face and the way it looked and that the incident occurred in the 2010 to 2011 school year. She told authorities she was allowed by the school aide to have her hand in his pocket for 30 seconds.Then he offered another, according to police: He and Wallen had argued, and as she lunged at him, she ran into a wooden post and collapsed, appearing to be dead. He then buried her in a field. In trying to explain why she was found shot, Tessier allegedly told detectives he had worried he might have buried her alive and fired one round at her to make sure she was not suffering.The UN has refuted Moroccos protests that the Polisario has conducted incursions in the buffer zone east of the security wall at a moment the Polisario, through its officials and media outlets, has admitted moving militiamen to the demilitarized area.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York that the MINURSO had not observed any movement of military elements in the northeast territory, adding that the MINURSO continues to monitor the situation closely.

Dujarrics statements stand in stark contrast to what has been admitted by Polisario officials and propaganda outlets that continue to speak of deployment of militiamen to various localities in the buffer zone.

Dujarric statements, which verge on condoning Polisarios violations of the ceasefire agreement, were lacking in proof.

On December 27, 2017, the Algerian state TV channel broadcasted images of Polisario militiamen parading in the locality of Agouinit in the demilitarized zone monitored by the MINURSO. The UN mission did not denounce such an activity that if it had not been for Moroccan restraint could have caused direct confrontation.

The MINURSO should pull its head from the sand and assume its role in monitoring the ceasefire agreement. Otherwise, its laxity will embolden the Polisario to carry on breaching the ceasefire triggering a Moroccan response that may end any prospects for a political solution.Washington Renews Backing to UN Efforts to Settle Sahara IssueThe United States on Tuesday renewed backing to the ongoing efforts made by the United Nations to find a peaceful, sustainable, and mutually acceptable political solution to the Sahara Issue.

This came during a meeting at the State Department between Acting Secretary of State John J. Sullivan and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

The two officials discussed the deep U.S.-Morocco bilateral relationship and regional issues, including efforts towards achieving regional peace, Spokesperson for the State Department, Heather Nauert, said in a statement.

The United States also expressed its commitment to United Nations-led efforts to find a peaceful, sustainable, and mutually acceptable political solution to the long-standing dispute over the Western Sahara, the Spokesperson said.

Bourita arrived earlier Tuesday in Washington, coming from Paris, where he held talks with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian. He is also expected to meet the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York.

Bouritas trips came against the backdrop of the Polisarios latest provocative acts in the Moroccan Sahara, as the separatist front deployed armed elements in demilitarized areas, including, in Mahbes, Tifariti and Bir Lahlou, to the east of the Moroccan defense berm. Morocco made it clear in a letter to the Security Council Sunday that it shall not tolerate the transfer of any military or civilian structure of the Polisario to the buffer zone that is under the exclusive control of the MINURSO, in line with the ceasefire agreements signed in 1991.

In a reading of Heather Nauerts statement, analysts in Rabat underscore two key points. The first is that any solution goes imperatively and exclusively through the United Nations. This crushes the expectations of the Polisario and its Algerian mentor to have the Sahara issue subject of wider consultations with third parties, such as the European Union and the African Union.

The second point is that at no time does the Tuesday statement refer to a self-determination referendum, an option, although deemed obsolete by many pundits and UN officials, is still upheld by the separatists.

The fact that the word self-determination does not appear in the US State Departments communique is particularly noteworthy and resonates as a pragmatic approach to a case where the option of a referendum is both obsolete and unrealistic.

Analysts also explain that the latest frenzy moves of the Polisario and its attempts to settle in the buffer zone, at the orders of Algeria, which seemingly seeks to transfer the civil populations of the Tindouf camps towards the buffer zone, is an evidence that the separatists and their allies came to the conclusion that the referendum option is no longer viable and should be dropped from their own agenda.

Relatedly, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, did not mention in his 2017 report on the Sahara the impracticable option of the self-determination referendum. This option does not appear either in the draft of the report that he will submit to the Security Council later this April. The UN Chief calls for a new dynamic and a new spirit of compromise and realism. He likewise insists on a political solution on the basis of the guidelines given by Security Council resolutions since 2007, i.e. since Morocco proposed the Autonomy Initiative for the Sahara, deemed by the UN body and the international community as serious and credible.Sufi leader's backer sentenced to death in Iran: The semiofficial Iranian Students' News Agency said a Sufi leader's supporter who rammed a bus into a group of police officers, killing three and injuring 30, has been sentenced to death. The incident occurred in Tehran during February clashes between the Sufi leader's followers and police. Mohammad Salas said he had no intention of killing the officers and was trying to flee the clashes. Iran's clerically overseen government frowns on Sufism, a mystical strain of Islam.In any case, we are happy to report that, in a world where populism of all stripes is on the rise, and liberal democracy seems to be on the defensive, Costa Rica continues to embrace tolerance and civility. On Sunday, voters turned out in larger-than-usual numbers to elect Carlos Alvarado Quesada as president  and to reject the candidacy of right-wing populist Fabricio Alvarado Munoz (no relation), which was based almost exclusively on opposition to same-sex marriage. Mr. Alvarado Munoz, sounding a note of Trumpian neo-nationalism, not only promised to ignore a January ruling in favor of marriage equality by the San Jose-based Inter- American Court of Human Rights but also hinted at pulling the country out of the Organization of American States. Contrary to polls that had shown a dead heat going into election day, 60 percent of the electorate rallied to Mr. Alvarado Quesada and his message of inclusion and respect.To be sure, various objections could be made to the Sirica stratagem. He was positing a judicial power that some (but not all) constitutional scholars would question as a violation of the constitutional separation of powers. And Mueller, unlike Cox, has used the grand jury sparingly  to ratify evidence rather than as an investigative tool. Thats probably because so much of the evidence in Muellers counterintelligence investigation has been classified.American clergyman and civil-rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. in Chicago, 1966. To his right is Wyatt Tee Walker, executive director of SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference). Photo: Ernst Haas/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

This chat will run in the Daily Intelligencer newsletter, which combines a digest of the stories you care about with exclusive political commentary that you wont find on the website. To subscribe to the newsletter, click here.

Im your humble host and editor Ezekiel Kweku, and today Im talking with three members of New Yorks politics team  Jonathan Chait, Ed Kilgore, and Margaret Hartmann  about the legacy and memory of Martin Luther King Jr.

Ezekiel: What do people *forget* about Martin Luther King Jr.? Whats missing or de-emphasized from the publics memory when they think about his life, mission, and legacy?

Margaret: I think for many hes been boiled down to an almost neutral figure who preached racial equality and gave good quotes you can post on your social-media page.

Jon: The degree to which he was a political actor, a shrewd tactician, engaged in negotiation and boundary-pushing, not only a quote unquote moral leader.

Ed: The obvious thing is his broader economic and social vision, and its radicalism. The less obvious thing is how much he was hated by so many white southerners before his assassination. The latter is worth remembering because the ideological (and in some cases, biological) descendants of those who hated him now tend to view him as a race-neutral, quasi-conservative.

Ezekiel: White northerners, too! King said once that the mobs in Chicago were more hateful than the ones in the South.

Ed: True. Im just describing what I know personally, as a cracker who was of sentient age when he was assassinated.

Ezekiel: I would love to hear any recollections you have from around that time if youre willing to share.

Jon: What time? 1968? I was born in 1972.

Ezekiel: I meant Ed, lol.

Jon: Ed, did you ever meet Abe Lincoln?

Ezekiel: Ed actually lent Honest Abe ten bucks and never got it back.

Jon: Haha.

Ed: (Ignoring Jon). I happened to be visiting some of my rural relatives right after the assassination. The nicer among them were unhappy that so many Yankee politicians attended MLKs funeral. But I mostly remember my sweet old maid great aunt saying that if she could find the assassin, shed take him in and hide him and feed him and care for him the rest of his life.

Jon: Wow.

Margaret: Damn.

Ed: This is a woman who never much missed a Sunday in church. And this is what MLK was dealing with. The Letter From a Birmingham Jail was aimed at the nice people of the South.

You can say his legacy was turning people like this  or their descendants, anyway  into lukewarm supporters of desegregation. Or you can say none of them ever quite got it.

Ezekiel: What were the ramifications of King being assassinated when he was? Its always hard to think through counterfactuals, but how do you think that changed the course history would take?

Jon: I think King probably would have become a less popular, more partisan figure had he lived.

He would not have become a civic icon  I wonder who or what would have filled that space, if anybody. Would there be a neutral symbol of civil rights, essentially a modern founder?

Ezekiel: It certainly would have been harder to elide late period Kings anti-war, anti-imperialist, and anti-capitalist message if he hadnt died young. It seems possible that that symbolic role in the popular memory might not have been filled at all.

Ed: I agree the Poor Peoples Campaign would not have been much more popular with King leading it than Abernathy.

Margaret: Im imagining Fox News going after an 80-something MLK and shuddering.

Ed: On the other hand, its not clear the civil-rights movement would have fragmented quite the way it did, with SNCC becoming a Black Power stronghold.

Jon: The movement was already quite fragmented when King was alive. Its not only the right that has engaged in revisionism about what King meant. The left, too, has smoothed over the differences. Many people to Kings left loathed him in his time.

Ed: Yes, but he had a way of holding it together. Even Malcolm X, before his own assassination, was reaching out to King.

Ezekiel: Maybe John Lewis might be the guy. Or perhaps Andrew Young. Both politicians, but that could even make them more palatable.

Ed: I agree that Lewis, who was actually well to Kings left during his life, could have been a transcendent figure. But he largely shunned the limelight back in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Ezekiel: Yeah, Im thinking more about who would be the icon representing the civil-rights movement in memory rather than who could have/would have replaced Kings actual role after his death.

Jon: Really, almost any great politician ultimately becomes memorialized as a non-politician in history. And King wasnt a politician per se, meaning elected official or candidate, but he was engaged in politics.

Ed: Jons right, of course: there are progressive politicians, and then there are social-movement leaders who push the politicians. King did cross the line now and then. Quick aside (yes, another old guy thing): in the six Democratic National Conventions where I worked in the script/speech operation, the only time I was really moved was by John Lewis in 2008. He also went around the rehearsal room thanking everyone there. Just the nicest pol Ive ever met.

Ezekiel: A related question: who are Kings political heirs?

Margaret: According to social media on MLK Day, multiple GOP politicians.

Jon: My thought is that its hard to identify his heirs. You never know how somebody will evolve over time. People have taken sharp turns in their thought as they age, sometimes unpredictably.

Ed: The immediate heirs have been a mixed bag: Andrew Young, Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson. None approached Kings moral authority, though Young and Jackson were skillful pols.

But you can make the argument  actually, many have  that Obama was the Joshua to Kings Moses.

Margaret: Id agree with Obama on moral authority but he couldnt (didnt?) fully engage with the protest aspect of fighting for racial equality.

Ezekiel: I think there are similarities between the flattened memory of King and 08 candidate Obama, but I dont know about between the actual men. I feel like tightest through lines we have from King are Jesse Jacksons Rainbow Coalition and William Barbers Moral Mondays.

Ed: Im a huge fan of William Barber, and agree he is King-like in many respects. The question is whether Kings heirs are found among the pols he enabled, or the prophets whom he inspired.

Margaret: Obviously Obama was fighting to advance equality from a policy side, but as president (and particularly the first black president) he had to stay more neutral in the Black Lives Matter movement than perhaps he would have liked to.

Ed: Youre right: Joshua had a different set of circumstances and constraints than Moses.

Ezekiel: Where, if anywhere, do you disagree with MLK?

Ed: This is a hard one. Id say this: I think we now understand the weaponization of the Declaration of Independence that King and so many civil-rights folk participated in is a two-edged sword, now that its being used by conservatives to undermine democracy. Maybe the 14th Amendment was a stronger pillar on which to rely.

Margaret: Honestly, the conversation has made me realize that I dont have a nuanced enough understanding of MLK to disagree with his message. Im guessing Im typical of many people my age that I dont have a deeper understanding of what he actually did, but its also embarrassing. Im 34 and capable of cracking a book, but I am concerned that we do a poor job of educating kids on the reality of the civil-rights movement.

Ezekiel: I think we would all do well to deepen our understanding of King and the civil-rights movement, and more broadly, the lives of black people in this country between the Civil War and 1968. My biggest disagreement with King  maybe it is less a disagreement with him than it is just a recognition that America has changed over the past 50 years  I dont think the American conscience can be shocked into true repentance anymore. I think it is callused and atrophied. Im still thinking through the consequences of that.Mattis listens to Trumps remarks at a luncheon with Baltic leaders on April 3, 2018. Photo: Pool/Getty Images

Secretary of Defense James Mattiss no-good, very-bad day started out, as have so many recently, at the White House. He sat next to President Trump and the presidents of NATO allies Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, visibly uncomfortable as Trump asserted that NATO had taken in many billions of dollars more than they would have had if you had Crooked Hillary Clinton as president.

Mattiss troubles escalated quickly. During a press conference after the meeting, reporters asked Trump about his recent suggestion that he wants to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

I want to get out, I want to bring our troops home, Trump reiterated, adding that the U.S. has gotten nothing out of its involvement in the Middle East post-9/11. We should have kept the oil then. We didnt keep the oil, he said. I want to rebuild our nation. Think of it: $7 trillion over a 17-year period. We have nothing, nothing except death and destruction. Its a horrible thing,

That is, to put it mildly, not how the commander-in-chief normally describes the deaths of men and women whom he personally has ordered into combat, as Trump has for the past year. Mattis, on the other hand, has said that more U.S. diplomats would be headed to Syria as ISIS is pushed back, and that the military would remain there to support and secure their work. As Trump took the podium at the White House, senior U.S. officials in the campaign against ISIS were at a United States Institute of Peace (USIP) conference ten blocks away, explaining that U.S. forces must remain in Syria for security, counter-terrorism, and peace-building purposes.

The generals who work for Mattis have made no secret of their discontent with the idea of a U.S. pullout, even as Trump has been foreshadowing it in recent weeks. General Joseph Votel, who oversees U.S. military forces in the Middle East, told the USIP audience that in Syria, the hard part, I think, is in front of us, adding, there is a military role in all of this, certainly in the stabilization phase. Earlier this week, a military spokesman told the Associated Press that the mission of the Department of Defense to defeat ISIS has not changed.

This split would have been headline news in most administrations, but it was overshadowed by a more awkward, uh, misunderstanding. At the same meeting with Baltic leaders, Trump proclaimed: Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military.

Deploying regular military forces on U.S. soil is illegal, and by Tuesday evening both the White House and the Department of Defense had clarified that Trump wants to deploy the National Guard to the southern border, which is not unprecedented (it happened under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama). This is not the first time Trump has alluded to using Pentagon money, manpower, and prestige for his border-wall project. Just last week he proposed using funds Congress had appropriated to the military for wall-building  which would also be illegal.

Behind these highly visible differences between the president and his Secretary of Defense lie a host of smaller ones. The recent announcement of a policy that would effectively bar most, if not all transgender people from serving in the military has not tamped down that months-long controversy. Instead, Pentagon spokespeople have been embarrassingly unable to explain the new policy, courts have demanded more information on it, and allegations about White House interference in Pentagon procedure continue to swirl.

Theres also much speculation surrounding how Mattis will get on with the incoming national security adviser, John Bolton, as it seems unlikely that the defense secretary will appreciate his high-drama style and eagerness for war with North Korea. (Nor is Mattis expected to have much respect for Boltons avoidance of combat in Vietnam, which he explained in his book by saying, I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy.) When asked about Bolton, Mattis offered this gem of an endorsement: Last time I checked hes an American. Im not in the least bit concerned.

Of course, American history is full of conflict between presidents and their military advisers. But what you dont find in our history, or in the 71 years since the creation of the Department of Defense, is a president and a civilian secretary in this much public conflict. Weve learned there were disagreements between LBJ and the Pentagon, but much less was known at the time. Even Abraham Lincoln, who famously and personally sacked commander after commander during the Civil War, had only two secretaries of War.

In times past, a secretary of defense who had this many differences with his boss would either quit on his own or be told to do so. Mattis and Trump, though, are both well aware of the high regard in which Mattis is held across Washington  even by those who, in a different administration, would strongly oppose his policy beliefs.

Up to now, it has been assumed that Trump continued to hold Mattis in the highest regard as well. Has that changed? Chief of Staff Kelly, a retired four-star Marine, is the last of Mattiss allies in the Cabinet. We know Trump gets jealous of his subordinates PR, and Mattis has a very high public profile right now, including a New York Times Magazine cover. We know both Bolton and Secretary of State-designate Mike Pompeo disagree with him on North Korea policy. We also know that Mattis once talked Trump out of his support for the torture that both Pompeo and CIA Director-designate Gina Haspel condone.

It may be time to start thinking about Mattis as the Robert Mueller of national security policy. Republican officials in particular should ask themselves what they are willing to do to ensure Mattis remains in the Trump administration. It is definitely time for all of us to ask whether the newly unchained and uninhibited Donald Trump has gotten over his love affair with Americas generals, as with so many of his affairs before them, and what that means for us all.The issue of the African migrants  who entered illegally via Egypt, some more than a decade ago  is a particularly fraught one. Most come from Eritrea and Sudan. They say they are asylum seekers, escaping human rights abuses and war in their native lands. The Israeli government calls them infiltrators, job seekers looking for a better life.Outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster. Photo: Pool/Chris Kleponis-Getty Images

Hours after President Trump told the leaders of several Baltic nations that nobody has been tougher on Russia than he has, outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster gave a speech contradicting him.

In his last public remarks before being replaced by Yosemite Sam cosplayer John Bolton, McMaster said, We have failed to impose sufficient costs on Russia for its foreign aggression. The Kremlins confidence is growing as its agents conduct their sustained campaigns to undermine our confidence in ourselves and in one another.

McMaster criticized Russias so-called hybrid warfare, a pernicious form of aggression that combines political, economic, informational, and cyber-assaults against sovereign nations. He said the Kremlin is careful to deploy tactics deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target states threshold for military response. That includes spreading propaganda and disinformation, and infiltrating social media, he said.

The speech comes two weeks after news of McMasters ouster and a little more than a month since Trump publicly rebuked him for saying evidence of Russias 2016 election interference is incontrovertible.

General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Despite Trumps hesitancy to criticize Russia and Putin, the U.S. has recently made moves to hit back at the Kremlin. Last month, Trump expelled 60 Russian diplomats from the U.S. in response for the poisoning of a former Russian spy and dozens of bystanders in England. A couple weeks before that, long-awaited sanctions for Russias election meddling were finally handed down.

Still, Trump said on Tuesday that he and Putin could have a very good relationship, and he did his part to work toward that last week by congratulating Putin on his not-so-surprise reelection.

McMaster made it clear Tuesday that his feelings toward Russia do not comport with his bosss and it seems that his replacement may not either. The hawkish Bolton said last month that the Trump administration hasnt done enough to respond to Russian aggression and called for retaliation in cyberspace and elsewhere.

I dont think the response should be proportionate, I think it should be very disproportionate, Bolton said.Photo: Facebook/JudgeDallet New Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Dallet, a progressive who won by an unexpected landslide today.

What was generally expected to be another close Wisconsin barn-burner of an election turned into a romp, as progressive circuit county judge Rebecca Dallet easily defeated conservative circuit court judge Michael Screnock for a spot on the states Supreme Court. At the time of this writing, Dallet was winning by a landslide 56/44 margin, with nearly half the votes counted. As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel noted: It was the first time in 23 years that a liberal candidate who wasnt an incumbent won a seat on the high court.

Dallots win, which gives her a ten-year term, reduces the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to a spare 4-3 margin. (It also means six of the seven justices are women). Politically, it will be widely interpreted as a possible omen for November, when Republican Governor Scott Walker, Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, all members of the GOP-controlled State Assembly, and half the GOP-controlled State Senate will face voters. Thats exciting news for Democrats, who have failed to beat Walker in three previous attempts, and who were shocked when Donald Trump and unpopular Republican Senator Ron Johnson won in 2016.

Dallet piled up big margins in Dane County (which includes Madison) and Milwaukee County, precisely where Democrats will need to do well in November. And her election continues the remarkable pattern, of Democratic over-performance in special elections, thats been underway since Donald Trumps inauguration.

Tonights results also make it abundantly clear why Scott Walker tried so hard to avoid calling two state legislative special elections, only doing so when forced to comply with state law by a judge he had himself appointed. This is not a good time for any candidate with an R next to his or her name  or in the case of non-partisan judicial elections like Wisconsins, with an R by association  to face voters in any sort of competitive contest. Odds of a Democratic wave in November continue to rise.Kind and caring Breda was always thinking of othersHes got a lot on his plate right now. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Scott Pruitts job has become almost as unsustainable as hes trying to make the environment.

Two Republican representatives on Tuesday called for Pruitt to step down amid a flurry of unflattering stories about the EPA administrator.

Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Florida representatives who have broken with Pruitts environmental policies in the past, were unsparing in their criticism. Curbelo tweeted his disapproval:

Major policy differences aside, @EPAScottPruitts corruption scandals are an embarrassment to the Administration, and his conduct is grossly disrespectful to American taxpayers. It's time for him to resign or for @POTUS to dismiss him. https://t.co/gXWLDffqam  Carlos Curbelo (@carloslcurbelo) April 3, 2018

In a statement provided to HuffPost, Ros-Lehtinen, who is retiring at the end of her term, echoed Curbelo, saying that when scandals and distractions overtake a public servants ability to function effectively, another person should fill that role.

In the last several days, rumors have swirled about Pruitts possible dismissal. On Tuesday night, President Trump reportedly called Pruitt and reassured him that he had Pruitts back.

NEW: Trump called EPA chief Scott Pruitt last night and said keep your head up, keep fighting, weve got your back.



He reassured him, Im told.



Chief Kelly called this morning to reinforce the presidents message.  Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 3, 2018

But on Wednesday, the president used the kind of wishy-washy language that has been reserved, in the past, for those who were not long for his Cabinet. I hope hes going to be great, he said.

Reporter: Do you support Scott Pruitt?



President Trump: "I hope he's going to be great." pic.twitter.com/zbVwFpxffs  NBC News (@NBCNews) April 3, 2018

Pruitt is dealing with fallout from several revelations of the ethical shadiness that appears to be his modus operandi. Last week, ABC News reported that during his first six months in Washington, Pruitt had rented a room for the low, low price of $50 a night in a Capitol Hill condo co-owned by an energy lobbyists wife. The Daily Beast reported that multiple GOP fundraisers were held at the house while Pruitt lived there, though he didnt attend. And the New York Times reported that while Pruitt was staying at the condo, the lobbyists linked to the house saw their projects approved at the EPA.

The White House is conducting a review of the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Then theres Pruitts travel. The Washington Post reported that Pruitt last year considered renting a private jet for the high, high price of $100,000 a month. This comes on the heels of his already newsworthy penchant for flying first class to avoid liberal abuse, plus his installation of a $43,000 soundproof booth in his office.

Amid this frenzy, Pruitt was unveiling one of the cornerstones of his revanchist environmental policy on Tuesday. He held a news conference announcing the EPAs rollbacks of greenhouse emission targets for cars, where in typical Pruitt fashion, he attempted (unsuccessfully) to restrict every news outlet except Fox News.

For all his corruption and scandal, Pruitt has been enormously effective at knocking back Obama-era policies that anti-environmentalists call job-killers and maintaining the anti-media, anti-elite attitude that binds him to the president. He enjoys support from many corners of the Republican Establishment, the new Florida lawmakers notwithstanding.

Trump may have to choose between a fusillade of damaging headlines about Pruitts indiscretions or the scary possibility that Pruitts replacement wont be quite so aggressive in making Americas air less breathable. Itll be a tough call for the president.VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid: you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery

The lure of the unknown is ever prevalent  but could there be hidden booty?

British caving has achieved so much over the past fifty years, it seemed time to celebrate both the science and exploration.

Marion Dowd presents us with a superb resume of Irelands archaeological remains and what they tell us of the islands past.

Seeking to restore access to one of Mendips renowned sites, the team discovered more than they expected.

The Riesending in Germany was the site of a major cave rescue in 2014. The media reported on it widely with many inaccurate descriptions  so what is the cave actually like both to descend and to push?

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NOTE: Subscribers in Norway or Switzerland (which are outside the EU) should place your order on the Subscription International page or contact us first.A $5.3-million federal funding boost announced Tuesday is focused on job training programs and economic development for Manitoba First Nations.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 3/4/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A $5.3-million federal funding boost announced Tuesday is focused on job training programs and economic development for Manitoba First Nations.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr made the announcement in Winnipeg on behalf of Navdeep Bains, the minister of innovation, science, and economic development. The MP for Winnipeg South Centre outlined details of Manitobas portion of a larger $27-million fund unveiled last month for 45 Indigenous communities through Western Economic Diversification Canada.

"This announcement is an example of the vital role Indigenous Peoples play in Canadas economic prosperity," Carr said. "Our government is committed to advancing reconciliation and renewing the relationship with Indigenous Peoples. Part of reconciliation is ensuring full participation in the Canadian economy."

Indigenous Peoples represent the fastest-growing segment of the Canadian population, the minister noted.

Between 2006 and 2016, the countrys Indigenous population soared by more than 40 per cent; in Manitoba, it was 28 per cent, almost triple the population growth in the rest of the province.

"This is the demographic reality and opportunity facing Canada," Carr told a small audience at Broadband Communications North Inc., a small Indigenous-owned non-profit seeking to outfit First Nations with faster internet service.

The $5.3 million announced Tuesday will support eight programs for Manitoba First Nations.

"With this, hopefully, we can get our people trained and at the end of the day, they can build their own homes," Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation Chief Marcel Moody said.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Ken Sanderson, Executive Director at Broadband Communications North, during the announcement of the federal government's investment of $5.3 million to benefit Indigenous communities in Manitoba.

"And theres a huge market in terms of housing," he added.

More than $360,000 will go to Nelson House for job training; 60 per cent of its population is under 30 and the northern community needs 400 new homes.

"Were trying to create jobs and training for our people to build a stronger economy," the chief said.

Broadband Communications North executive director Ken Sanderson said his companys portion, some $937,000, will lay the groundwork and train people for high-tech jobs.

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"In some of the larger communities, its our hope to train people up in the community. In others that are smaller, were looking at a model where you have a pool of contractors," he said.

"You look at companies like ours and the high costs of serving these communities and the last thing you want to be doing is flying technicians constantly. Its way better if you can have on-the-ground resources you can hire."

Ottawa announced funding in January for an $80-million project to bring high-speed internet to northern Manitoba. Millions more will be invested as part of a $750-million fund the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission rolled out  and some of that will target Manitoba. Private telecommunications companies such as Bell MTS, also are overhauling and expanding their tech networks in the province.

"Thats a huge amount of activity people can be engaged in. And we know these projects are coming, so were gearing people up," Sanderson said.

"In Manitoba, when you look at all the things were doing collectively (as industry), I think we have a substantial story to tell."

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.caManitoba pork processing company HyLife has completed a $176-million expansion and modernization of its Neepawa processing plant, making it one of the most sophisticated facilities of its kind in Canada.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 4/4/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba pork processing company HyLife has completed a $176-million expansion and modernization of its Neepawa processing plant, making it one of the most sophisticated facilities of its kind in Canada.

Company officials said the capital investment was made in response to increasing market opportunities for the company in Japan, China, Mexico and South Korea, where export demand is focused on fresh chilled pork.

In addition to the investment in Neepawa, HyLife has also built a new feed mill in Killarney as well as barn production investments in western Manitoba. The new investments have created 165 additional jobs to bring the number of HyLife employees to 2,000 in Canada.

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The governments of Canada and Manitoba have invested $2 million toward HyLifes processing expansion through Growing Forward 2, the multilateral agreement that provides strategic investments in agricultural programming and projects.

Since three Vielfaure brothers and a couple of other hog producers formed a joint venture in 1994, the company, based in La Broquerie has grown aggressively. It changed its name from Hytek to HyLife in 2011.

When the recently completed capital project was announced less than two years ago, the company was processing about 1.65 million hogs every year at its Neepawa plant and was responsible for about 80 per cent of that hog production, contracting out the rest to third-party producers.

The company is now up to 2.25 million hogs produced annually, two million processed, six feed mills and is exporting to 20 countries.

"Neepawa has been a partner with HyLife since its beginnings here and we look forward to continued positive relationships in the future," said Town of Neepawa mayor Adrian de Groot. "As one of the major employers in this area, HyLife continues to add diversity and opportunity to not only Neepawa but also the surrounding communities."

 staffThey were both shaking as they arrived at Court of Queens Bench on Tuesday.

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This article was published 4/4/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They were both shaking as they arrived at Court of Queens Bench on Tuesday.

Darya Omelchenko, who is embroiled in lengthy, messy legal proceedings with a former employer and is facing a contempt charge, took a seat. Her companion sat on her lap.

Peanut, her 10-year-old shih tzu, calmed down minutes after the clerk said "you may be seated." The tiny, docile pooch, wearing a blue harness with "service dog" emblazoned on it, napped and occasionally snored softly as her owner followed the proceedings.

It was not the first time a canine was in court. In rare cases, a "support dog" has been allowed to accompany its owner inside Winnipeg courtrooms.

In 2016, Manitoba Justice introduced Milan, a three-year-old black Labrador, to comfort crime victims. The victim-support dog was brought in mainly to help traumatized children appear in court. Milan received training from the Vancouver-based Pacific Assistance Dog Society, which primarily trains dogs to assist people with disabilities. It also has support dogs working with crime victims in several provinces.

Approved service dogs appear in court about four to six times a year, according to two spokeswomen for Manitoba Justice and the Law Courts.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Darya Omelchenko received permission to bring her dog, Peanut, into court after her psychologist recommended it.

"Our approach is to allow service animals into the Law Courts building, provided the animal has a service vest or the owner has appropriate documentation," they said in a joint statement.

"Judges generally accommodate persons with service dogs while attending court and encourage notice in advance to facilitate this," they said.

On Tuesday in Winnipeg, Justice Colleen Suche allowed Peanut to attend court with her owner as a "support dog."

Suche said in a March 26 letter to Omelchenkos lawyer, Faron Trippier, that she was granting permission for Peanut to attend the court hearing with her owner as a "support dog."

The Court of Queens Bench judge advised Omelchenko, who is an immigration consultant, to notify the sheriff and trial co-ordinator that she has permission to have her lap dog in court with her.

Omelchenko said she went to see them before she and Peanut showed up at court Tuesday.

"They advised me to have the proper attire for her," said Omelchenko, who went online to order the blue harness collar with "service dog" written on it. "I made arrangements in advance."

Lab Milan has helped children in court.

With Peanut tucked under her arm, the pair breezed through security at the Law Courts.

A registered psychologist hired by Omelchenkos lawyer found that she "has been experiencing a great deal of anxiety during her court appearances." Dr. Kenneth Enns wrote a letter recommending that the court "must seriously consider allowing Peanut to accompany" her into the legal proceedings as a "service dog."

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"It is my professional opinion that there would be significant benefit," the psychologist wrote. "The presence of Peanut helps her to feel less anxiety/fear and less psychological discomfort. I would expect the presence of Peanut would also help her to concentrate better and to process information more clearly."

If nothing else, it brought smiles to the faces of many Tuesday inside the stone-cold corridors of the Law Courts.

"Thats a beautiful dog," a middle-aged man in a suit and tie said, beaming at Peanut.

Peanut is house-broken  and court-broken, Omelchenko said. She can take her dog to the womens washroom, where Peanut will relieve herself on special padding her owner puts down for her.

The tiny pet was fulfilling her purpose in court Tuesday morning, a grateful Omelchenko said. "I appreciate it very much."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.caFrenemies. Photo: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images

On Tuesday, Donald Trump unveiled a list of Chinese imports that he plans to slap tariffs on. Less than 24 hours later, Beijing returned serve, naming 106 U.S. exports that it intends to render unaffordable to Chinese consumers via the imposition of 25 percent duties  the second that Trump follows through on his tariffs threat.

That sound you hear is the worlds two largest economies marching toward trade war  and the markets are recoiling at the noise. The Dow fell more than 400 points in early trading, while stock futures tumbled.

Closer look at how Trump's tariffs are benefitting U.S. equity markets and allies in Europe, Canada + Mexico. GAH!!! pic.twitter.com/AJfHTJc3cY  Joshua Green (@JoshuaGreen) April 4, 2018

And investors are far from the only Americans flirting with a panic attack this morning. Workers and business owners in our nations agricultural sector  which is to say, a considerable number of Trump voters  must now worry about their industrys near-term future, as the threat of steep tariffs on American pork products, ethanol, soybeans, fruits, nuts, and wine all loom.

And so, the president decided to reassure the anxious nation  by reiterating his belief that America has little to lose by waging a prolonged trade war against China.

We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018

When youre already $500 Billion DOWN, you cant lose!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018

There is a scintilla of truth to these ravings: Generally speaking, trade wars are more devastating to countries with trade surpluses than those with a trade deficits. But this does not mean that America cant lose a trade war with China; unless one considers an outcome that produces higher unemployment and slower growth in the U.S.  but even worse economic conditions in China  to be victory.

Still, theres some cause for cautious optimism. The biggest obstacle to Trump following through on his most ill-advised protectionist instincts was never Gary Cohn, but rather, his desire to see green arrows on cable news. The president has told advisers that he sees the stock market as a form of polling  and we all know how desperately our commander-in-chief longs for validating poll numbers.

Trumps morning tweets might signal confidence on the surface, but their subtext is unease. Just a few weeks ago, the president was quite comfortable describing his tariffs as an act of trade war; now, he feels compelled to disavow that term, while tweeting rebuttals to the disconcerting financial news on his television screen.

For the moment, the tariffs announced by both sides are mere threats, not realities. And, as economist Jared Bernstein notes, Trump has plenty of time to find a diplomatic alternative to trade war.

Re escalating trade conflict w/China: timing of when tariffs on either side go into effect is not nailed down. US could do so by June, but could also negotiate for 6 months after that. For now, these are tactical threats that may or may not come to fruition.  Jared Bernstein (@econjared) April 4, 2018

At this point, the rational move for Trump would be to seek a means of simultaneously saving face and the bull market that he inherited. And is there any reason to fear that our president will take anything but the most rational course?Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 4/4/2018 (1272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A select group of Manitobans enrolled in the provinces Special Drug Program has received a temporary reprieve.

About 50 people who were supposed to start paying a deductible on their medications this month have been given the option of a six-month delay. Many raised concerns in February when the government sent letters saying everyone in the program would be transitioned onto pharmacare April 1. That meant theyd soon have to pay a deductible  which is based on the cost of their medication and household income  for life-saving drugs the province is currently paying for.

However, dozens of the roughly 1,100 people in the program  those who need cystic fibrosis drugs only  now have an additional six months to work out their financing before theyre switched to pharmacare. The decision was made after cystic fibrosis patients and advocates expressed concern about the change, a spokeswoman for Manitoba Health said.

"Changes to the Special Drug Program are being made to ensure equity of access to drug coverage for all Manitobans," she said.

Those who access cystic fibrosis drugs have several options for the transition. They can begin payment on their drugs now until their deductible is reached, they can choose to enroll in a year-long instalment payment program, or they can defer payment until October and then pay the full years cost in six months instead of 12.

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Cystic Fibrosis Canada is "grateful" for the decision, said Andrea Pratt McDowell, the organizations regional executive director for the Prairies in an emailed statement.

"While we are concerned about what the future holds for those who are unable to afford their deductibles under the pharmacare program, this six-month extension will help to alleviate the initial burden of having to come up with this money on such short notice," she said.

Tara-Lynn Reeves, 36, raised that concern to the Free Press in February when she got her letter. Reeves, who has used cystic fibrosis drugs since she was a child, expects the change will cost her $7,000 annually. The government said it would allow everyone using SDP to purchase up to a 90-day supply before April 1 to ease the transition, but Reeves was still frantically trying to find money for the drugs ahead of the changeover.

Now, Reeves and the dozens of other people using the drugs will have a few more months to adjust their budgets. While Patricia Caetano, executive director of Manitoba Healths provincial drug programs, said in February she was sympathetic to the disruption, she stood by the decision to axe the program.

"Some people on the SDP have chronic illnesses that are no different from people who are in pharmacare," she said. "I think it would be difficult to defend the current situation to a pharmacare client who struggles to pay a deductible. This is an issue of equity."

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.caA teenaged male was taken to hospital and another has been arrested after a noon-hour stabbing at Glenlawn Collegiate on Wednesday.

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This article was published 4/4/2018 (1272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A teenaged male was taken to hospital and another has been arrested after a noon-hour stabbing at Glenlawn Collegiate on Wednesday.

Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Rob Carver said police responded to an assault at the school at 770 St. Mary's Rd. about noon. A male victim suffering from a stab wound was treated at hospital and released.

Another teenage male was arrested and remains in custody. Carver could not immediately verify whether either the victim or the suspect is a Glenlawn student.

A spokeswoman for the Louis Riel School Division said they had been told to direct media inquiries to the police.Manitoba Premier Brian Pallisters holding company has been flagged for nonpayment of a luxury tax owed on his Costa Rican vacation home for almost a decade, the Free Press has learned.

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This article was published 4/4/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallisters holding company has been flagged for nonpayment of a luxury tax owed on his Costa Rican vacation home for almost a decade, the Free Press has learned.

Penalties for failing to pay the Costa Rican national luxury tax, or under-reporting the value of a qualifying property, are as high as 10 times the amount of tax that should have been paid.

Costa Ricas luxury tax on homes, also known as the Solidarity Tax for the Strengthening of Housing Programs, was instituted in 2009  two years after Pallister and his wife, Esther, purchased their vacation property through a holding company, Finca Deneter Doce S.A.

The tax is assessed in addition to standard property taxes levied by local governments. Its purpose is to tax the wealthy to improve housing for the Central American countrys poor.

Documents obtained by the Free Press reveal Pallisters holding company is on a list of property owners who havent paid the luxury tax.

Pallisters 7,700-square-foot getaway home, which sits on seven acres of land near Tamarindo, along the countrys Pacific coast, is worth anywhere from US$550,000 to more than US$1 million, according to estimates from real estate agents based in the area. (The estimates were based on photos of the home and a description of the property provided by the Free Press  not on actual visits.)

FACEBOOK / Tierra del Sol Arquitectura y Construccion The Costa Rican home of Premier Brian Pallister includes a lavish entryway and an infinity pool.

Previously published photos of Pallisters Costa Rican home show an infinity pool overlooking a forest vista, a modern kitchen with marble countertops, and a lavish entrance way.

The total amount of tax the Manitoba premier owes, irrespective of penalties, could be as much as US$20,000 (CDN$25,600) depending on his Costa Rican homes actual market value, according to an analysis done by the Free Press.

In a statement Tuesday night to the Free Press, Pallister disputed any notion he is in arrears.

"We have never received any legal or accounting advice that our house in Costa Rica was subject to this luxury tax," the premier said. "If we are, then we would be happy to pay it.

"I have always paid all of my taxes in Canada and Costa Rica."

Costa Ricas luxury tax operates on a sliding scale, starting at one-quarter of one per cent of a propertys market value and climbing to more than one-half of one per cent for the most expensive homes. At the base rate, the premiers holding company would be on the hook for anywhere from US$1,375 to US$2,500 a year in luxury taxes, depending on whether his home was judged to be worth US$550,000 or US$1 million.

The threshold for determining whether a homeowner is obliged to pay the tax is based on the construction value of the home itself. If that threshold is met, the value of the surrounding land is also factored into calculating the tax.

FACEBOOK / Tierra del Sol Arquitectura y Construccion Costa Rica home of Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister

According to information supplied by Pallisters company to Costa Rican authorities  and obtained by the Free Press  the premier took out a building permit with the municipality of Santa Cruz in 2008 to construct a one-floor residence on his property. The builder was Jimaco Construction, and the permit declared the value of construction at 105 million colones (roughly US$186,000 at current rates). In 2009, a second permit was taken out for an addition to the home, with a declared construction value of 24.7 million colones (US$44,000).

When the luxury tax was instituted in 2009, homes were exempt if they were valued at less than 100 million colones. According to information Pallister supplied in obtaining municipal permits, the construction value of his home was worth almost 130 million colones at the time.

The exemption levels set by the Costa Rican government vary from year to year. In 2014, for example, the luxury tax kicked in at homes with a construction value of more than 121 million colones; for 2017, the base value was 126 million colones.

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In an article dated Dec. 17, 2009, the website CostaRicaLaw.com published a list of luxury home tax "debtors" -- those deemed by the Costa Rican revenue department to be "currently delinquent in the filing and payment" of the tax. There were hundreds of companies on the list, including Pallisters holding company, Finca Deneter Doce S.A.

In a pair of 2017 emails obtained by the Free Press, a taxation branch official with Costa Ricas finance department asks another government official whether Finca Deneter Doce S.A. has paid the Solidarity Tax (luxury tax), and is told there is no record of such a transaction.

According to Melendez & Bonilla, a Costa Rican law firm that specializes in tax law, the Costa Rican government expects property owners to determine the tax they owe and declare it. It is calculated on an annual basis, and is due annually in mid-January.

However, an email from a Costa Rican lawyer Pallisters office provided to the Free Press, defended the premier.

"To my knowledge, Mr. and Mrs. Pallister have not been told to pay this tax, and actually the house may not even qualify for the tax, but that can only be known if they were to do an appraisal," Paul Oporta wrote.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.caFifty years ago today, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. A man named James Earl Ray was convicted, but as activist Angela Davis said, Racism was Martin Luther Kings assassin.

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This article was published 4/4/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Fifty years ago today, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. A man named James Earl Ray was convicted, but as activist Angela Davis said, "Racism was Martin Luther Kings assassin."

King was a brilliant leader in the African-American struggle for freedom in Americas Deep South. His name forever will be associated with courageous victories in Montgomery, Ala., where he rose to prominence leading a successful 381-day boycott of segregated buses, and Birmingham, Ala., where young people marched in the face of police chief Bull Conners vicious dogs, fire hoses and mass imprisonment.

Mark Humphrey / The Associated Press Files In 2018, the Rev. Jesse Jackson stands on the motel balcony where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. on April 4, 1968. Kings dream of racial equality has yet to be achieved in the United States.

By the mid-1960s, America was exploding with huge anti-war demonstrations and urban rebellions in Watts, Newark, Detroit and elsewhere. As King pointed out, although these were typically called riots, "a riot is the language of the unheard." The unheard were expressing their rage. The Black Panthers were expanding rapidly, Malcolm X was winning converts and it was feared that a revolution was in the making, even though the Kerner Commission, established to investigate these urban uprisings, found that "white racism is essentially responsible."

African-Americans massive struggle for freedom produced a fierce backlash. King was assassinated; Medgar Evers was assassinated; Robert Kennedy, who had turned to the political left in response to Vietnam and racism and poverty, was assassinated; Malcolm X was assassinated; Fred Hampton, along with other Black Panther leaders, was assassinated.

King made his famous "I have a dream" speech at the March on Washington in August 1963, when a quarter of a million people gathered in support of the civil rights movement. Three weeks later, members of the Ku Klux Klan bombed a church in Birmingham, killing four African-American children. The racist hatred was unrelenting.

White voters in the South, angered by the Democrats success in securing passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, moved to the Republicans, as did much of the white working class, leading to the election first of Richard Nixon in 1968 and then Ronald Reagan in 1980. Reagan launched a war on drugs and on the poor, especially the African-American poor  symbolized by his bitterly racist attack on "welfare queens."

There followed deep cuts to social assistance, astonishing levels of black imprisonment and deepening levels of despair and violence in urban ghettoes.

King was radicalized by his experience in an urban ghetto when he moved with his family into a run-down apartment in Chicagos west side in 1966 to take his campaign to the urban north. The poverty was overwhelming; the racism worse than in the Deep South. He said, "I had never seen, even in Mississippi, as much hatred and hostility on the part of so many people" as he faced in Chicago.

Something more radical than the campaign in the Deep South was needed, King believed. In a speech at New Yorks Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his assassination, King said: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defence than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death this madness must cease." He called for a "radical revolution of values" and an all-out assault on the three evils: "poverty, racism and militarism."

By this time King had been jailed 30 times, the FBI had recorded some 50 assassination plots directed at him, had harassed and falsely discredited him and had labelled him "the most dangerous man in America." When he went to Memphis, Tenn., in March and again in April 1968, in support of black sanitation workers striking for the right to form a union, he was beset from every side.

Black urban youth thought his non-violent direct action too timid; the establishment saw him as a threat to the nations stability; most non-black Americans despised him.

Late in the afternoon of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, he was assassinated. Racism, his unrelenting foe, took his life. He was 39 years old.

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King had reached the conclusion that Americas racism, poverty and militarism could only be overcome by a massive redistribution of wealth and power. This has not happened. On the contrary, since his assassination, wealth and power have been further concentrated in the hands of an elite few. The most recent U.S. federal budget features a massive redistribution of wealth  to the already wealthy.

Racism remains: Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, murdered nine African-American people worshipping in a church in Charleston, S.C.; white supremacists and Klan members descended upon Charleston, Va., killing one person and spewing racist hatred, in response to which U.S. President Donald Trump extolled the "very fine people" on "both sides;" a seemingly endless list of African-Americans  Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Treyvon Martin and many more  have been killed by police.

Slavery  brutally inhumane and massively profitable as it was  made racism necessary in America. Kings call to rise up against injustice and to redistribute the countrys wealth to overcome poverty and racism, was his death sentence.

Kings dream  of "that day when all Gods children will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!"  is no closer today than it was 50 years ago. The dream has been shattered by the racist, right-wing assault on the African American fight for freedom and equality, leaving a trail of chaos and violence and an ever-widening gap between rich and poor.

More than ever, America needs what Martin Luther King Jr. called "a radical revolution of values" and an attack not on the African-American poor, but on the triple evils: poverty, racism and militarism.

Jim Silver is a professor in the University of Winnipegs urban and inner city studies program and a research associate for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Manitoba).We must speak with one voice in exposing the regime for what it is  a threat to the peace and security of the whole world, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley last December, trying to drum up support for stronger international sanctions against Iran and maybe even an actual attack on the country. Here we go again.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 4/4/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

"We must speak with one voice in exposing the regime for what it is  a threat to the peace and security of the whole world," said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley last December, trying to drum up support for stronger international sanctions against Iran and maybe even an actual attack on the country. Here we go again.

Those old enough to remember the run-up to the United States invasion of Iraq will recall the deluge of doctored American "intelligence" reports about alleged Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" that were used to justify the attack. "Everybody" was in danger, presumably including Bolivia, Switzerland and Nepal, so everybody must support the invasion.

Seth Wenig / The Associated Press Files United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks during a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters on March 28.

Then-president George W. Bush wanted to overthrow Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator, and the American intelligence services worked overtime to come up with reasons for doing it. We were told that Saddam had been trying to buy "yellowcake" uranium in Niger (false, based on forged documents). The U.S. could not afford to wait for final proof of Saddams intentions "in the form of a mushroom cloud," Bush said.

And former general Colin Powell, Bushs secretary of state, showed the UN General Assembly a vial containing a powder  harmless, one hopes  in order to emphasise that just a tiny amount of a lethal biological weapon Saddam was allegedly producing would kill gazillions of people. (Powell, basically an honest man, later called the speech a permanent "blot" on his record.)

In the end the United States got its war  and found no evidence whatsoever of an active Iraqi program to build weapons of mass destruction. But no lessons have been learned. Haley at the UN was laying a foundation of lies for a comparable Trump adventure in the Middle East. Same story, different day.

The storyline goes as follows: Iran is an aggressive and expansionist power that threatens everybody everywhere. The proof is that it is helping the bad guys in Yemen, known as the Houthis, to launch missile attacks on innocent Saudi citizens. In fact, it is actually giving the evil Houthis the missiles.

The Houthis, a large Shia tribe in northern Yemen, are indeed rebels  and they now control most of the country, including the capital. This greatly angered the Saudi Arabians, who installed the previous government in 2012 as a way of shutting down the Arab Spring uprising in Yemen.

The Saudis didnt like seeing their man overthrown, so they created a nine-country coalition of Sunni Arab states and started bombing Yemen in 2015. According to the UN, at least 8,670 people have been killed and 49,960 injured since the coalition intervened in Yemens war. But on March 25 one of the highly inaccurate Houthi missiles killed one person in a suburb of Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

The anti-Iran propaganda machine went into high gear. "This aggressive and hostile action by the Iran-backed Houthi group proves that the Iranian regime continues to support the (Houthi) armed group with military capabilities," coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said. And the inimitable Haley said that the missile "might as well have had Made in Iran stickers on it."

This is the nub of the matter: is Iran actually supplying missiles to the Houthis that are being fired at Saudi Arabia? If so, then the United States, Saudi Arabias main ally, has an excuse to attack Iran.

The American accusation basically depends on the ignorant but widespread belief that Yemenis, and in particular Shia rebels from the north, are too "backward" to be able to make or upgrade missiles themselves. But most of the Yemeni armed forces weapons, including a variety of short-range ballistic missiles based on the old Soviet "Scud" series, fell into the Houthis hands in 2015-16.

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None of those original missiles could have reached Riyadh, but extending the range of a simple rocket such as the Scud is not rocket science, so to speak. You just reduce the weight of the warhead and lengthen the body of the rocket to carry extra fuel.

The Houthis have lots of people with metal fabrication and basic engineering skills and it appears they did exactly that. The upgraded missile is inaccurate (only one Saudi casualty in at least 40 launches) because lengthening it and lightening the warhead changes the balance, but it cheers the Houthis up because it lets them retaliate for all the bombing.

Janes Information Group Ltd, established in 1898, is the worlds leading independent provider of intelligence and analysis on defence matters. Here is what Jeremy Binnie, Middle East/Africa editor of Janes Defence Weekly, said about Yemens rockets in 2017 in Janes Intelligence Review:

"The Burkan-2 appears to use a new type of warhead section that is locally fabricated. Both Iran and North Korea have displayed Scud derivatives with shuttlecock-shaped warheads, but none of these match the Yemeni version. The range of the Burkan missiles also appears to have been extended by a reduction in the weight of their warheads."

No nonsense about "made in Iran" stickers. The Yemenis arent stupid; they did it themselves. But the other story suits the Trump administrations purposes better.

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.One might expect Manitoba grain farmers to approach spring seeding with optimism and healthy bank accounts, considering last seasons harvests set new records for the fifth year in a row. So why the grim faces?

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 4/4/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Editorial

One might expect Manitoba grain farmers to approach spring seeding with optimism and healthy bank accounts, considering last seasons harvests set new records for the fifth year in a row. So why the grim faces?

The problem is the railroads, yet again the weak link in the supply chain. Grain movement slowed to a crawl over the winter because the railways couldnt keep up with the grain companies requests for cars.

Justin Tang / The Canadian Press FILES Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay

Its a disheartening replay of the transportation bottleneck that held up the crop of 2013, when a number of factors, including heavy snowfalls, reduced rail transportation of grain to a trickle.

Back then, the federal government imposed minimum-movement quotas on the rail duopoly, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway. The Conservative government proposed legislation to make the railways move a combined one million tonnes of grain per week during spring, or face fines of $100,000 a day.

Unfortunately for the grain growers, that proposed solution is still just a proposal. The bill was stalled in the Senate until last week, when an amended version was sent back to the House of Commons, which doesnt sit again until April 16.

For their part, CN and CP say their inability to promptly move this seasons grain shipments was caused by a larger-than-expected crop, and by a harsh winter that iced tracks and froze switches.

But the grain growers say the railways are less than fully forthcoming about their sluggish performance. The Western Grain Elevators Association points to: 1) railway cost-cutting of crews and locomotives; 2) the railways prioritizing higher-value freight, such as international intermodal containers that arrive on ships; and 3) a newly adopted railway strategy called "precision railroading" that moves trains on schedule instead of holding them until their cars are full, a strategy that aims to improve efficiency but actually decreases capacity.

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The successful delivery of grain to its markets impacts more than the farmers who brought the product from seed to silo. It should concern even Manitobans whose only direct connection to grain is their morning bowl of cereal, because when farmers have a good year financially, the bounty trickles down through the Manitoba economy as farmers reinvest by buying vehicles and an array of goods and services.

There have been promising words in recent weeks.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay wrote to both major railways in March, asking them to improve their performance.

The next day, CN interim president Jean-Jacques Ruest said the company will try harder to clear grain backlogs: "The entire CN team has a sense of urgency and is fully focused on getting it right for farmers and our grain customers, regaining the confidence of Canadian businesses and protecting Canadas reputation as a stable trade partner in world markets."

The words are appreciated as a sign of good intentions, but to ensure the railways newfound "sense of urgency" is permanently maintained, the House of Commons should give priority to passing the legislation that would improve public reporting by railways and allow for financial penalties if they fail to deliver railcars on time.

Words without action are as hollow as the holds of ships waiting in harbour to be filled with too-long-delayed Prairie grain.Magna International Inc. designs, engineers, and manufactures components, assemblies, systems, subsystems, and modules for original equipment manufacturers of vehicles and light trucks worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Body Exteriors & Structures, Power & Vision, Seating Systems, and Complete Vehicles. Its Body Exteriors & Structures segment provides body and chassis systems, as well as engineering and testing services; exterior systems, including fascia and trims, front end modules, front integration panels, liftgate modules, active aerodynamics, engineered glass, running boards, truck bed access products, and side doors; and roof systems, such as modular and textile folding roofs, and hard and soft tops. The company's Power & Vision segment offers dedicated hybrid, dual and e-clutch, and manual transmissions; engine drive plates and accessories; AWD/4WD products, rear drive modules, and hybrid and battery electric drive systems; transmission, engine, and driveline components; advanced driver assistance systems, camera systems, ultrasonic sensors, and electronic controllers; interior and exterior mirrors, actuators, door handles, overhead consoles, and camera monitoring systems; head, tail, and fog lamps; signal and other lighting products; and latching systems, door modules, window systems, power closure systems, hinges and wire forming, and handle assemblies. Its Seating Systems segment provides seat structures, mechanism and hardware solutions, and foam and trim products. The company's Complete Vehicles segment offers vehicle manufacturing and engineering services. It also designs, engineers, and manufactures tooling products. Magna International Inc. was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Aurora, Canada.

Read MoreThe 44th president was in important respects a political heir to MLK. But what about now? Photo: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images/Reg Lancaster/Express/Getty Images

On the 5oth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination, there will as usual be many claims about his legacy, from the conservatives who have perversely turned King into an enemy of race-conscious politics to the radicals who evoke his socialist and anti-imperialist tendencies. Truly living legacies, of course, are built on people, not just ideas. So its important to reflect on those who have carried on Kings mission in one respect or another.

Kings most immediate activist heirs were, of course, those who were part of his core leadership group in the Southern Christian Leadership Council. Several went on to political careers, notably 1984 and 1988 presidential candidate Jesse Jackson and ambassador to the U.N. and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young (the late Hosea Williams also won a series of local legislative offices, but was mostly a protest figure in Georgia politics).

Congressman John Lewis was an extremely notable member of the broader group of Kings contemporaries in the civil rights movement, heading up the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 196366 and leading the Selma protests that inspired the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Hes the most important surviving independent figure from that era.

And Kings widow, Coretta Scott King, was for decades (until her own death in 2006) a symbol of her husbands continuing legacy, and was the founder of the King Center in Atlanta that ensures his memory will endure.

Beyond those obvious heirs, though, Kings mantle has always been a matter of some dispute. Those who think of his main accomplishment as the destruction of Jim Crow might well view him as a regional redeemer, whose work made possible not just African-American political participation but the emergence of southern white liberal pols like Presidents Jimmy Carter (whose ascent to the presidency depended heavily on support from Kings family and associates) and Bill Clinton. In contrast, those who view King as a global figure who was himself an heir to Mahatma Gandhi could legitimately see his legacy at work in the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.

Beginning with Barack Obamas explosion onto the national scene in 2004, though, its been difficult to think of anyone else more likely to serve as Kings political heir in the sense of representing the destruction of a barrier to African-American accomplishment that few thought would fall so quickly. Some of Kings own comrades-in-arms viewed Obamas election as president as the reward for their own sacrifices. John Lewis memorably said that Barack Obama is what comes at the end of that bridge in Selma. And in 2007, as reported by David Remnick, Obama himself captured his relationship to the civil-rights movement with a Biblical metaphor he offered at a church service  in Selma.

From the pulpit, Obama paid tribute to the Moses generationto Martin Luther King and John Lewis, to Anna Cooper and the Reverend Joseph Lowerythe men and women of the movement, who marched and suffered but who, in many cases, didnt cross over the river to see the Promised Land. He thanked them, praised their courage, honored their martyrdom. But he spent much of his speech on his own generation, the Joshua generation, and tried to answer the question Whats called of us?

As we now fully understand, Obamas election represented a Promised Land for race relations only in the narrowest sense. Aside from his own self-imposed limitations as a calm and cautious politician, his election inspired  and continues to inspire  a white backlash that ultimately helped lift to the presidency a man whose big political breakthrough was via the twisted belief that Obama was not even American. More and more, Obama looks like a Moses who led his people out of the wilderness but could not taste the milk and honey of full equality.

But if the Moses generation from John Lewis to Barack Obama is still with us, who will represent the Joshua generation, the next and more successful heirs to MLK?

Thats very hard to say. In the arena of conventional politics, Obamas success means that another black president isnt so astonishing an idea, particularly given the Democratic Partys heavy reliance on minority voters and African-Americans own dominant position in so many key Democratic primaries after Iowa and New Hampshire. Looking toward 2020, Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker are legitimate possibilities. And if Democrats grow desperate and need a larger-than-politics savior to bring down Donald Trump, perhaps the likeliest object of a draft is African-American billionaire Oprah Winfrey.

Beyond conventional politics, grassroots civil-rights agitation, aimed especially at mass incarceration and police brutality, and emblemized (if hardly encompassed) by the Black Lives Matter movement, has revived something of the simmering, uncontrollable nature of the civil-rights movement, which King managed somehow to lead if not direct. While these efforts have some clear influence on left-of-center politicians (while providing targets for some right-of-center politicians, just as civil-rights activists did in Kings day), its unclear how and whether they will achieve a truly transracial breakthrough moment in American public life.

For the moment, the leader who most clearly carries on Kings protest legacy is another southern clergyman: North Carolinas William Barber II. His Moral Mondays movement opposing a broad range of reactionary policies emanating from his states dominant Republican Party began on the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington led by King and Lewis (along with A. Philip Randolph, Whitney Young, James Farmer, and Roy Wilkins); in turn it has inspired similar protests elsewhere. Barbers targets are naturally broader than Kings, encompassing discrimination against women, immigrants, and LGBTQ folk, and his goals extend to universal health care and environmental protection. But the ever-frustrated fight for full voting rights remains front and center for Barber and his colleagues.

But its what Barber is planning for next month that most definitively represents Kings legacy: a relaunching of the Poor Peoples Campaign that King was planning when he died, and that was carried on under the leadership of his colleague Ralph David Abernathy, but with at best mixed results.

Starting May 14, clergy, union members, and other activists will take part in the events in about 30 states, targeting Congress and state legislatures. Then, on June 23, organizers plan a large rally in Washington  similar to what King had envisioned .

Aside from mobilizing voters, Barber said the revived campaign will call attention to poverty, racism, and environmental issues. Organizers plan to release a study later this month on poverty in America over the past five decades.

All of Kings legitimate heirs share an understanding that the civil-rights movement was at best a partial success, and that remembering it doesnt just mean holding commemorations or building monuments, well deserved as they are. Martin Luther King Jr. was a preeminently a troublemaker who hoped one day to become a peacemaker. That is an approach which is as relevant today as it was when King was gunned down in Memphis a half-century ago.The following companies are subsidiares of Cigna: Accredo Health Group, Accredo Health Incorporated, Alegis Care, Allegiance Life & Health Insurance Company, Allegiance Re, American Retirement Life Insurance Company, Benefits Management Corp., Bravo Health Mid-Atlantic, Bravo Health Pennsylvania, Brighter, CareAllies, CareCore National LLC, Central Reserve Life Insurance Company, Ceres Sales of Ohio, Choicelinx, Cigna & CMB Life Insurance Company Limited, Cigna Apac Holdings Limited, Cigna Arbor Life Insurance Company, Cigna Beechwood Holdings, Cigna Behavioral Health, Cigna Behavioral Health of California, Cigna Behavioral Health of Texas, Cigna Bellevue Alpha, Cigna Benefits Financing, Cigna Brokerage & Marketing (Thailand) Limited, Cigna Cedar Holdings, Cigna Chestnut Holdings, Cigna Corporate Services, Cigna Data Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, Cigna Dental Health, Cigna Dental Health Plan of Arizona, Cigna Dental Health of California, Cigna Dental Health of Colorado, Cigna Dental Health of Delaware, Cigna Dental Health of Florida, Cigna Dental Health of Illinois, Cigna Dental Health of Kansas, Cigna Dental Health of Kentucky, Cigna Dental Health of Maryland, Cigna Dental Health of Missouri, Cigna Dental Health of New Jersey, Cigna Dental Health of North Carolina, Cigna Dental Health of Ohio, Cigna Dental Health of Pennsylvania, Cigna Dental Health of Texas, Cigna Dental Health of Virginia, Cigna Elmwood Holdings, Cigna Europe Insurance Company S.A.-N.V., Cigna European Services (UK) Limited, Cigna Finans Emeklilik ve Hayat A.S., Cigna Global Holdings, Cigna Global Insurance Company Limited, Cigna Global Reinsurance Company, Cigna Global Wellbeing Holdings Limited, Cigna Global Wellbeing Solutions Limited, Cigna HLA Technology Services Company Limited, Cigna Health Corporation, Cigna Health Management, Cigna Health Solutions India Pvt. 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Note: This sweatshirt is currently available for preorder.Comerica, Inc. engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Bank, Retail Bank, Wealth Management, Finance and Other. The Commercial Bank segment involves in the middle market businesses, multinational corporations, and governmental entities by offering various products and services such as commercial loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services, and loan syndication services. The Retail Bank segment includes small business banking and personal financial services, which consist of consumer lending, consumer deposit gathering, and mortgage loan origination. The Wealth Management segment offers fiduciary services, private banking, retirement services, investment management and advisory services, investment banking and brokerage services. The Finance segment comprises corporation's securities portfolio and asset and liability management activities. The Other category consists of income and expense impact of equity and cash, tax benefits, charges of an unusual or infrequent nature that are not reflective of the n

Read MoreNational Bank of Canada engages in the provision of commercial banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, US Specialty Finance and International (USSF&I), and Other. The Personal and Commercial segment involves in banking, financing, and investing services offered to individuals and businesses as well as insurance operations. The Wealth Management segment focuses on the investment solutions, trust and lending services, and other wealth management solutions offered through internal and third-party distribution networks. The Financial Markets segment includes banking and investment banking services and financial solutions for large and mid-size corporations, public sector organizations, and institutional investors. The USSF&I segment comprises specialty finance expertise activities of subsidiary ABA Bank, which offers financial products and services to individuals and businesses; and activities of targeted investments in certain emerging markets. The Other segment encompasses treasury activities such as asset and liability management, liquidity management and funding operations, certain no

Read MoreOasis Petroleum Inc., an independent exploration and production company, focuses on the acquisition and development of onshore unconventional oil and natural gas resources in the United States. It operates through Exploration and Production(E&P), and Midstream segments. The E&P segment engages in the acquisition and development of oil and gas properties. The Midstream segment offers midstream services, such as natural gas gathering, compression, processing and, gas lift supply; crude oil gathering, terminaling, and transportation; produced and flowback water gathering, and disposal; and water distribution. As of December 31, 2020, the company had 401,766 net leasehold acres in the Williston Basin; and 24,396 net leasehold acres in the Permian Basin, as well as approximately 152.2 million barrels of oil equivalent of estimated net proved reserves. The company sells its crude oil and natural gas to refiners, marketers, and other purchasers that have access to pipeline and rail facilities. Oasis Petroleum Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Read MoreDfcu Limited has hired one of the top law firms in Uganda when it comes to corporate recovery and insolvency as its company secretary, a break from a long-held tradition of hiring individuals rather than law firms.

Dfcus decision to transfer all its legal worries to Ligomarc Advocates, which was announced in a public statement, comes just over a year after the financial institution took over the assets and liabilities of Crane bank. Agnes Tibayeita has been the company secretary for the bank. In getting Ligomarc Advocates on board, dfcu could be preparing a legal showdown with a number of defaulters of the now defunct Crane bank.

It all depends on the strategic intentions of [dfcu] bank, Robert Kirunda, a lecturer of commercial law at Makerere Universitys law school, said.

Many banks tend to look out for experience, expertise and efficiency while looking for a law firm to hire. The banking might be looking for a broader reach, although Ligomarc is one of the biggest law firms in the loan recovery space he added.

It is believed a number of lawsuits are being prepared against dfcu Limited as those who were caught in the middle of Crane banks collapse try to recover whatever they lost.

Sudhir Ruparelia, the proprietor of Meera Investments, recently filed a suit against dfcu, seeking court orders to evict the financial institution from 46 branches. Meera says dfcu is occupying those premises illegally.

Such cases, where a company was declared bankrupt, appear to be Ligomarcs bread and butter. Kabiito Karamagi, a partner at Ligomarc Advocates, has acted as a receiver on behalf of a number of banks.

For example, Barclays bank hired him to be a receiver of Emerald hotel 10 years ago, dfcu Limited hired him to also be a receiver of Pro-Pride Limited, while he recently acted as a receiver for Threeways Shipping Limited on behalf of Standard Chartered bank.

Kabiito is expected to be supported by Joshua Ogwal, another partner in the law firm, who used to be the head of legal affairs at dfcu. He also worked as a principal legal officer for East African Development Bank.

We called Elly Karuhanga, the chairman of the board, William Sekabembe, the chief of business at dfcu, and Agnes Tibayeita but none of the three picked our calls.Zurich Insurance Group AG is a holding company, which engages in the provision of insurance products and related services. It operates through the following segments: Property and Casualty Regions, Life Regions, Farmers, Group Functions and Operations, and Non-Core Businesses. The Property and Casualty Regions segment provides motor, home and commercial products and services for individuals, as well as small and large businesses on both a local and global basis. The Life Regions segment refers to the comprehensive range of life and health insurance products on both an individual and a group basis, including annuities, endowment and term insurance, unit-linked and investment-oriented products, as well as full private health, supplemental health and long-term care insurance. The Farmers segment includes non-claims administrative and management services to the Farmers Exchanges, which are owned by policyholders. The Group Functions and Operations segment comprises the Group s Holding and Financing and Headquarters activities. The Non-Core Businesses segment includes insurance and reinsurance businesses that the Group does not consider core to its operations and that are therefore mos

Read Morefreenet AG provides telecommunication, radio and multimedia, mobile communications, mobile Internet, and digital lifestyle services in Germany. It provides a portfolio of services and products primarily in the area of mobile voice and data services. The Mobile Communications segment engages in distribution and sales of mobile communications devices, and additional services, such as marketing and digital lifestyle; mobile phone accessories, home entertainment, which includes music and video offering, and services, applications, and devices connected to internet; and offers mobile tariff portfolio, which comprises Telekom, Vodafone, and Telefonica Deutschland. This segment also provides postpaid, no-frills, landline, internet, and digital TV services. The TV and Media segment offers planning, project management, installation, operation, services, and marketing of broadcast-related solutions for business-clients in the radio and media sectors, and DVB-T2 services for end users. It offers Freenet TV for terrestrial TV and waipu.tv for IPTV. The Other/Holding segment provides e-commerce/advertising services; digital products and entertainment formats for downloading, displaying, and use on mobile devices; develops and provides communication and IT solutions, and other services; and payment services. The company provides its services under mobilcom debitel, freenet.de, GRAVIS, media broaadcast, klarmobile.de, freenet energy, EXARING AG, callmobile, vitrado, freenet BASICS, freenet MOBILE, CHECKTECH, CARMADA, THE CLOUD, and freenet Business brands. It operates approximately 560 mobilcom-debitel stores, as well as operates GRAVIS stores for digital lifestyle products. The company sells its products through approximately 420 electronic stores; and online platforms. freenet AG was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in BAdelsdorf, Germany.

Read MorePetroChina Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in a range of petroleum related products, services, and activities in Mainland China and internationally. It operates through Exploration and Production, Refining and Chemicals, Marketing, and Natural Gas and Pipeline segments. The Exploration and Production segment engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil and natural gas. The Refining and Chemicals segment refines crude oil and petroleum products; and produces and markets primary petrochemical products, derivative petrochemical products, and other chemical products. The Marketing segment is involved in marketing of refined products and trading business. The Natural Gas and Pipeline segment engages in the transmission of natural gas, crude oil, and refined products; and sale of natural gas. As of December 31, 2020, the company had a total length of 31,151 km, including 22,555 km of natural gas pipelines, 7,190 km of crude oil pipelines, and 1,406 km of refined product pipelines. The company is also involved in the exploration, development, and production of oil sands and coalbed methane; trading of crude oil and petrochemical products; storage, chemical engineering, storage facilities, service station, and transportation facilities and related businesses; and production and sales of basic and derivative chemical, and other chemical products. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China. PetroChina Company Limited is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation.

Read MoreA section of Christian legislators want to probe into allegations that the church has been infiltrated by security and intelligence organs to spy for President Yoweri Museveni.



Last week on Good Friday, the archbishop of Kampala diocese Dr Cyprian Kizito Lwanga revealed that hed been informed by an anonymous caller that the state had recruited several clergy including priests, nuns, catechists to work as undercover agents. Lwanga said the spy agents have since told President Museveni that the archbishop was plotting to overthrow his government.

Kampala archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga (R) talks to Church of Uganda Archbishop Stanley Ntagali

During Easter prayers at Rubaga cathedral, Lwanga again talked about state spies within the church. He cited a case of the priest who recently died under unclear circumstances and later the security personnel went to his residence claiming for a gun that the priest had reportedly been using to do their work.



Security minister Gen Elly Tumwiine all but confirmed Lwangas fears. In an interview with New Vision, Tumwiine said the state spies on all those doing wrong things and that if Lwanga is not doing anything sinister, he has no reason to worry.



Now, led by Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze, MPs Emmanuel Ssempala Kigozi (Makindye Ssabagabo), Moses Kasibante (Rubaga North) and Joseph Gonzaga Ssewungu (Kalungu West), the legislators argue that some of the believers especially in the Catholic church are scared of seeking penitence and holy eucharist owing to suspicion that the presiding priests could be recording their confessions or giving them poison-laced eucharist.



Catholics use penitence to show sorrow and regret for having done wrong while the holy eucharist is a rite that celebrates the death of Jesus Christ. To celebrate the rite, priests with the assistance of nuns serve bread (eucharist) and wine to the faithfuls.



The MPs argue that in his attempts to belittle the church and disorganize power centres, President Museveni is using security organs like CMI, ISO and ESO among others to recruit priests, nuns and other church leaders into spying on each other



The legislators said that it is to the dismay of many Christian believers that the regime has now infiltrated the church with the aim of killing the Catholic institution like the case with Muslims. According to the MPs, it is unfortunate that some priests are being used as intelligence spies, which will in turn kill the trust between the priests and the followers.



Nambooze said that the foundation of the church is the trust between the believers and the priests which all begins with the sacrament of penitence that would require one to have confidence in the priest



We now fear to go for penitence because you dont know the priest; you cant tell whether you are talking to the representative of Jesus or that of Mr. Museveni and if you dont go for penitence, you cannot go for the sacrament of Eucharist and without it you are faulting greatly on the religious teachings, Nambooze said.



Ssempala-Kigozi expressed concern that training priests and nuns was so costly yet the state had now turned the church resources into spying devices onto the church. He added that the believers were getting scared of going for Holy Communion or Eucharist for fear that the bread may be laced.



Training a priest is very expensive and takes a lot of time. I dont see why Museveni uses priests to satisfy his interests. Now he is using the resources of the church to further his interests that is too much. And not only that, I know well that if an intelligence officer messes up, he is killed does he want to kill our priests? Ssempala Kigozi said.



The MPs said that if an independent commission of inquiry headed by some of the retired judges in the country is not instituted to investigate Bishop Lwangas submissions, they have the capacity to do their own investigations.



We dont want this matter to reach the extent where the [Bishop Janan]Luwum-Amin saga reached. Where the archbishop was killed because of the misinformation given to Amin. We have heard that the president has talked to bishop on phone but that is not enough. This is something which touches our faith and we need explanation, Nambooze said.



He wants our religious leaders to reach a situation and ask for security so that the UPDF reserve force [crime preventers] of [Blaise] Kamugisha get jobs of admitting and denying admission of members into church the way it has happened with the Muslim sheikhs, Nambooze added.



The legislators said they were to do more research into the bishops submissions over spies and the recent attacks by one Hebert Kaddu on Church of Uganda bishop Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira before coming up with a comprehensive motion to be tabled before parliament.

During Easter prayers, a man identified Kaddu clad in backcloth, with a big stick ran towards, the altar where Bishop Luwalira was conducting service.

If the report does not come out, we shall make our own report because we have the capacity to make our report. We shall present our facts, government will present their lies and we see what to do [in parliament,] Ssempala said.



According to the MPs, the attempted attack on Bishop Luwalira was demonstration by the state to the clergy that can pick them even from the altar and if need be, harm them as well.

I am a victim of grenade attack in September last year but up to now there is not even a provisional report about the attack but with Kaddu, the incident happened on Sunday and the following holiday Easter Monday police was ready with the report to tell the world everything about that man, Kasibante wondered.



We suspect this is a gimmick to cause panic among our religious leaders such that they can be subjected to state surveillance because they will have no option to ask any kind of protection. Now every bishop is going to be accorded spies in the names of security. As we talk of this physical security, their integrity is all gone, Kasibante said.



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View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Over time, four-time presidential candidate, Dr Warren Kizza Besigye Kifefe has cultivated a cult-like following within the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). But the party he helped found today faces soul-searching questions about his domineering influence, internal politics, and the meaning of his defiance philosophy.

In these series, SULAIMAN KAKAIRE paints a picture of how the retired colonel came to this point and how FDC is unwittingly becoming like the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party over which President Yoweri Museveni rules supreme. The FDC-Besigye story goes back to the NRM from which its first crop was harvested.

Kizza Besigye

Towards the close of the 1990s, some senior leaders within the Movement, as the NRM was then referred to, began thinking about challenging President Musevenis leadership which had swayed from the democratic ideals for which the bush war was waged. Cases of intolerance, corruption and lack of respect for rule of law were festering unchecked.

Among this group was Besigye, Musevenis bush war doctor. He had served as minister of Internal Affairs and National Political Commissar  positions which put him very close to the powerful centre.

When these like-minded colleagues, including Musevenis childhood friend, Eriya Kategaya (R.I.P); Nuwe Amanya Mushega (then public service minister), Bidandi Ssali (then local government minister) and Augustine Ruzindana (then Inspector General of Government), and others seemed to foot-drag, circumstances conspired to thrust Besigye to the fore.

Prof Sabiti Makara, a lecturer of political science and public administration at Makerere University, says: This was a moment that defined his political career. When everyone seemed uncertain of what the future would be likehe walked into it. It was heroic.

Here was a relatively junior member of the revolution stepping up. True, he was staring at the threat of being court-martialled after he penned a stinging critique of Musevenis NRM. But declaring that he would run for president in 2001 still caught the country by surprise. The country was fascinated.

A still-serving minister says His [Besigye] position could not just be taken by some of us. In fact, some of us thought he was spying on us when he approached us about our availability.

My argument was that we should allow the man [Museveni] to take another five years and that challenging him required some more preparation, which had not been done at the time. In hindsight, he was correct; [Museveni] turned out to be a liar about the third term being the last. But, we were also right as it has taken Besigye 18 years and he is still fighting to dislodge him, the minister said.

However, Besigye disagrees.

People will always analyse situations differently and respond differently. Many of my colleagues didnt believe that Mr Museveni would attack the Constitution to abolish presidential term limits. I considered that there was sufficient empirical and logical basis to predict that he would not respect the Constitution. As it turned out, Mr Museveni badly disappointed them; so, they rejoined the struggle.

I consider that I had an advantage of having lived and worked closely with Mr Museveni before and immediately after 1986. My experiences helped me analyse the situation and make the decisions I made. I dont consider that those whose analysis was different were any less committed to the struggle for democratic transition, he said.

CLEARING THE LOG

Besigye had broken ranks with the establishment but he had an uphill task ahead: joining hands with people he had bad-mouthed as political commissar. Several meetings were arranged with the then top opposition leadership in preparation for this new chapter in the struggle for democracy. New rules had to be written even if only to avoid a clash of egos.

You could not just write off Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, then the likes of Al Hajji Nasser Ntege-Sebaggala was another force, said Prof Morris Ogenga-Latigo (Agago MP and former leader of the opposition in parliament).

Ssemogerere was head of the Democratic Party and had carried the opposition flag in 1996 as joint presidential candidate under the Inter-Political Forces Cooperation.

I remember one day we went with Kassiano Wadri (the former secretary general for DP) to Ssemogereres home and we talked to him and said, Paul what do you think you can add to DP that you have not done, why dont you free DP? Latigo recollects.

Fortunately, Ssemogerere was ready to give way.

Sebaggala, with the support of Kampala business mandarins and notable Muslims, remained in the way.

We had to go to him and negotiate an alliance. I was part of that meeting and I remember Sebaggala expressing his reservations about the fact that Besigye was a westerner but the tide was already against him, says Abdu Katuntu, the Bugweri MP.

And like Katuntu, Aswa MP Reagan Okumu remembers how all the political currents at the time were in favour of Besigye: Politics is about moments while leadership is about political moments. Besigye became relevant as a person; that is why most of us were attracted to him because our expectation was that since he had a military background, he would be the man to answer fire with fire, something that Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemwogerere had failed to do.

Besigyes candidature attracted extreme violence from the state apparatus and he came out looking like a resilient force, according to Okumu.

After the 2001 election, whose outcome Besigye unsuccessfully challenged in the Supreme court, the colonel dramatically fled into exile, somehow slipping past the 24-hour military intelligence surveillance which had been thrown around him.

[Going to exile] consoled people in a way that some thought he had gone to prepare for an alternative. Even when he appeared on international and local media channels, his voice was strong and focused, Okumu said.

When Besigye was in exile, a rebel outfit, the Peoples Redemption Army, popped up. Months down the road, attempts were made to link Besigye to this rebel group in a criminal prosecution that turned out to be a publicity milestone for his political career.

Dr William Tayeebwa, head of the department of journalism and communication at Makerere University, notes: The story of his prosecution never left the headline of the newspapers and the frames as coined in the newspaper cultivated a perception of someone who was being witch-hunted for standing against President Museveni. He became a news event that ticked all the boxes of newsworthiness.

EXILE AND KEEPING HOPES ALIVE

A political vacuum was created during the exile months. To some Besigye enthusiasts, this vacuum ultimately resulted in them retreating to their traditional political parties or individual platforms.

According to Besigyes biographer, Daniel Kalinaki, in his book titled, Kizza Besigye and Ugandas Unfinished Revolution, Besigye continued to contact his supporters who had stayed behind, leading into a meeting that was held in January 2002 at former ambassador, Dr Oumo Okirors house in Lusaka, Zambia.

The meeting was consumed by an ideological question of whether to harness the force that had propelled Besigye to the brink of an electoral victory over Museveni into a formal political organisation, or maintain it as a loose allianceEventually a decision was made to form Reform Agenda as a political organisation. However, because political parties were still banned in Uganda, they declared themselves a pressure group, Kalinaki notes.

Kizza Besigye campaigning in Kampala in 2016

The meeting was attended by Winnie Byanyima, James Garuga Musinguzi, Beti Kamya, Spencer Tirwomwe, Sam Njuba, Alex Onzima and Anne Mugisha. But pressure from the security services held back the Reform Agenda plans until around 2003 when Okumu travelled to South Africa for a training course. He made contact with Besigye, but most importantly put the plan into action.

Okumu said he accepted the task because he trusted Besigye as a resilient person.

That was the perception guiding my actions. So, I had to set up the Reform Agenda structures in preparation for Dr Besigyes comeback.

There was no clearly laid-out political ideology to guide the formation of Reform Agenda. Okumu, who was the groups secretary general, admits; our main issue was to use Dr Besigye to weaken the state. Some of us knew that he would not defeat Museveni or change the lives of our people but he could be used to weaken the state.

Besigye was the first and last strong National Political Commissar under Museveni and played a very big role in not only destroying the Uganda Peoples Congress and DP structures but during his tenure as NPC, and later minister of internal affairs, played a critical role in entrenching the NRM by fusing the party into the state apparatus. So, we needed a person like him to destroy what he had created, Okumu says.

Some of the founding members of Reform Agenda were recruited from the Young Parliamentarians Association, a corruption-fighting group of MPs. Among them were Nathan Nandala-Mafabi, Maj John Kazoora, Patrick Oboi Amuriat and Geoffrey Ekanya.

In hindsight, Makara argues that the coming together without a minimum ideological programme set the stage for future internal disagreements.

You cant merely come together to fight an individual; there must be principles guiding you and such principles must be agreeable to all. If you dont agree to (principles)you start looking at each other as moles, he said.

FORMATION OF PAFO

The vacuum created by Besigyes exile and the main political events to shape the 2006 election inevitably turned Parliament into a political stage. Besides, the manoeuvres around the constitutional amendments, including the lifting of presidential term limits, were manifest in YPA discussions held inside the parliamentary canteen.

What emerged was later to be called the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO), which was to become one of the building blocks for FDC. Maj John Kazoora, Bernadette Bigirwa, Lt Guma Gumisiriza, Capt Charles Byaruhanga, Salaamu Musumba, Beatrice Kiraso and Katuntu immersed themselves in these evening-to-late-night sessions.

Coming from a solid UPC background, Katuntu remembers how he and the Movement colleagues eventually realised that a new pathway had to be cut out.

In these discussions, I was the only traditional opposition person, the rest of the group were individuals who had supported President Museveni in the 2001 election. But, throughout our discussions whenever they would vent their anger and I [would] tell them that UPC was a better option, we would end up agreeing that the state of our parties is not okay, hence raising the need for a new political formation, he said.

Katuntu said that after PAFO crystallised, they needed to reach out.

So, we tasked Hon Kazoora who became our main point man. He recruited some of his former colleagues under the Young Parliamentarians Association. This is how people like Adolf Mwesige (current defence minister) joined us and later became PAFOs secretary general. Others were Salaamu Musumba, Emmanuel Dombo, Jack Sabiti and Maj Bright Rwamirama, among others, he said.

These developments coincided with Musevenis removal of the constitutional term limits, which pushed more of his bush war comrades out, into what was initially informally referred to as the Malwa Group.

It had finally dawned on top senior NRM members like Ruzindana, Kategaya, Amanya-Mushega, former army commander Maj Gen Gregory Mugisha Muntu, Miria Matembe, and Dan Wandera-Ogalo that Museveni had other plans for himself.

Wandera-Ogalo had defended Museveni in the 2001 presidential election petition Besigye lodged. Now he was forced to face the reality of the sort of political animal Uganda was dealing with.

How could you explain it to those we had told something else; that 2001 was the last time he is standing? During the 2001 election, I belonged to a group led by Hon Amama Mbabazi, we had convinced some youths who had become rowdy at the time that this man is here for only five years, why not leave him and thereafter bring whoever you want. It was shocking to hear these machinations, Wandera told The Observer.

Wandera says; As senior people in the Movement, we were concerned by these actions. And in response to this, I and other concerned colleagues held discussions that ended into the formation of PAFO, he said.

At this stage, no mention was being made of Besigye. As PAFO attracted members from across the political divide, including Martin Wandera, Dr Frank Nabwiso, [current NRM secretary general] Justine Lumumba Kasule, Ogenga-Latigo, Ben Wacha, Dr Ekullo Epak, Cecilia Ogwal and Wadri, the colonels shadow seemed to only loom as a memory from the 2001 excitement.

Latigo, who was a member of DP, said members had to abandon their old political parties.

I had participated in efforts to make DP great again but I was frustrated by the intrigue. I was chair of the Reconciliation Committee that reconciled the Ssemogerere group and [Francis] Bwengye groupI made a final report and after I submitted it and I requested that we all sign, none of the two groups was willing to make a commitment in a written form. I decided to quit, Latigo said.

Fortunately, there were people, even though from other political formations, whose political views seemed to correspond with ours. That is how we formed PAFO. The argument was stronger from the NRM, who said we cant join parties that we fought. The Ruzindanas, Matembes said we fought UPC, DP; so, we cant join them. So, they argued that if we form another entity, it could work, thats how we ended there, Latigo said.

Wandera says, Under PAFO, we believed that there should be a different way to approach politics and how we should manage the political affairs of Uganda. We believed in institutions above individuals and country above self. This was the belief of members who were leaving President Musevenis Movement and UPC, which had been tied to the personality of former president Apollo Milton Obote.

What Wandera says is rather instructive because Besigye has said in an interview for this piece: Structures [institutions] are meant to serve a purpose; they arent an end in themselves. Current FDC structures were formed after I had left the party leadership. I subjected myself to their choice of flag bearer in 2015 because I believe that they serve our collective interest.

Whereas the intention of PAFO members was to form a political party, the context of the day required them to join efforts with other pressure groups whose common interest was causing regime change. Sabiti-Makara, who has studied political formations in post-independent Uganda, says this was a mistake.

No wonder, 12 years later, the FDC is divided based on the different formations under which people joined FDC, he said.

FORMATION OF FDC

Around 2004, as public interest in the next election two years away began to grow, PAFO opened communication with Reform Agenda. The discussions involved several trips to Pretoria and Zambia and were overseen by, among others, Garuga Musinguzi, Njuba and Ruzindana.

According to Katuntu, these discussions resulted in a lot of compromises made before FDC we see today came about. In one of the meetings held in Pretoria, South Africa, Katuntu said: Gen Muntu told Besigye that dont expect to become the anointed leader when you return to Uganda.

Muntus prescient declaration created a lot of awkwardness. Early Besigyeists like Katuntu remember how we felt uncomfortable with Muntus statement. In fact, the murmur waswhat is Gen Muntu up to?

Unmoved, Muntu reminded everyone that the reason they were leaving NRM is because Museveni is always the anointed leader.

Obviously, Dr Besigye brushed it aside by saying that he is not worried about the competition and his argument was that the meeting involves a small group and as such it cannot bind those who are not party to it and yet they would be interested in the top leadership of the party, Katuntu said.

On their return to Kampala, Muntu pulled Katuntu aside.

While in Kampala, he [Gen Muntu] explained to me that the whole reason he made those arguments was to make it known to Besigye that competition is a culture that must be built within our new political formation. He made the same argument he is making today that you cant give what you dont have, Katuntu said.

Matembe, Ruzindana, Njuba and John Kazoora were also in Pretoria that day. With the exception of Njuba who passed away while holding the position of FDC national chair, all the three individuals have since parted ways with Besigye.

Mugisha Muntu, Ogenga Latigo and Wandera-Ogalos supported the idea of PAFO merging with Besigyes 2001 election platform, Reform Agenda, but maintained that this was not to advance an individual, Besigye.

INTERNAL MANIPULATION

Unfortunately, it appears that this purist thinking was not universally shared. As PAFO prepared for a merger not built around an individual, within the Reform Agenda, the whole idea of FDC was being built around Besigye. Okumu, who at the time acted as the point man for RA, said they were quietly focused on FDC as a Besigye vehicle.

When we were forming the first cabinet, we chose those people who were not too ambitious; to avoid a clash of egos. Fortunately, most of the senior people like Njuba, who acted as the executive director; in essence the founding president, was not ambitious to fight Doctor, Okumu said.

Every individual was selected following a careful and thorough study of their context. For Besigye, it was a done deal. When it came to the deputies, we focused on regions, tribes and religious sects. At the time, we didnt select a deputy from western Uganda since the party president was coming from there. The deputy for central, we selected Sam Njuba because he was an Anglican-Muganda, who represents Mengo [Buganda Kingdom] and Budo. For northern, we selected Prof Ogenga Latigo because he represented Acholi, academicians and Catholics, Okumu said.

A policewoman being rescued by colleagues after a confrontation with Besigye supporters

When it came to the east, Salaamu Musumba was the right choice to represent women, Busoga and Catholics. For the party chairperson, we selected Dr Sulaiman Kiggundu to represent the Muslim community and Buganda but also the business community. For the secretary general, we selected Alice Alaso for gender balance and to represent the Iteso, Okumu said.

Other cabinet members included regional national vice chairmen Tom Butime (West), Dr Vincent Kimera (central) and Alex Onzima (North). Deputy secretaries general Kassiano Wadri (administration) and Ruzindana (research and policy); Sabiti (treasury) and Nathan Nandala-Mafabi (deputy treasurer); Wandera Ogalo (secretary, legal affairs), Reagan Okumu (Foreign Affairs), Ingrid Turinawe (Women Affairs) and Wafula Oguttu (publicity).

Unknown to most, especially those within PAFO, when the aforementioned names were introduced during the first formal meeting at a hotel along Entebbe road, they innocently endorsed them.

Note again that leadership roles were distributed even before the party platform (ideology, values, constitution, slogan and flag) were agreed. Makara points out that the whole idea was forming around Besigye. Latigo says it was only himself and a few other colleagues who voiced some opposition.

In the end, they created a small Platform committee to develop the party principles, ideology, agenda and programmes. I was chair, [David] Pulkol, Richard Kaijuka, Sulaiman Kiggundu, and Yona Kanyomozi were members. Thereafter, that is when we prepared our first national executive committee meeting held in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Then we came back and started preparations for his [Besigyes] return, Latigo said.

SENSING DANGER

Some PAFO members, especially the former Movement lot, were quite discomfited; probably dismayed that they had fled one-man rule only to end up in the makings of another cult of personality.

Some of our members disagreed with the fact that Besigye was being prepared to come back and take over. They didnt like it just like the case was with his candidature of 2001. So, they said they were not willing to join us, Wandera-Ogalo said.

Dombo, Mwesige, Lumumba, Rwamirama, Kiraso, etc walked out at the moment. Kalinaki notes that sometime in 2005, top officials of the new organisation travelled to South Africa to discuss party structures, constitution and electoral reforms. However, it soon turned to the idea- then still unimaginable - of Besigyes return.

Kamya weighed in: We are here discussing these things but it is about six months to the electionFor me, I came here to discuss the election...and for that matter, why dont we ask our chairman to come to Kampala and lead us in the next election because with Besigye as the presidential candidate, half our work is done.

Other participants were, essentially press-ganged into falling into line despite their protestations.

We are not like the MovementThis party does not depend on one person; anybody can be president. Let us establish structures first, Ogenga Latigo reportedly shot back as Kalinaki notes.

Dr Munini Mulera agreed but other Besigye enthusiasts like Nandala and Kiggundu disagreed.

Wandera Ogalo says he can now connect the dots.

There was someone pulling the stringswe were already at cross purposes with our colleagues in Reform Agenda, he said.

BESIGYE RETURNS

Eventually, PAFO, RA and the National Democrats Front headed by Chapaa Karuhanga, entered into the alliance. But the alliance was divided from the get-go. In the run-up to 2006 election, the PAFO lot was gathering signatures to have Muntu nominated, yet the Reform Agenda axis was busy arranging Besigyes homecoming.

But Besigye was doubtful. He remembers how the 2006 election was taking place in a toxic environment. It was right after the removal of term-limits. Many RA activists had also been arrested and charged with treason- linked to the shadowy rebel PRA.

On October 26, 2005, Besigye came back to Uganda and received a heroic welcome from Entebbe airport and addressed a mammoth crowd at Kololo airstrip. After his electrifying return, Besigye grew into a phenomenon and won the public moniker of a peoples president.

In 2013, The Observer reported that he had by then been arrested more than 34 times, more than any other political leader in post-independence Uganda. Bearing the state brutalisation with the quiet fortitude of one who must deliver his people no matter the odds, Besigye became an almost messianic figure.

This appeal for Besigye amongst the downtrodden has made it hard for some people to criticise him, even when he built a power base around himself, hence evolving into an untouchable Museveni of the opposition as his former colleagues will suggest in the next part of this series.

skakaire@observer.ug

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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.Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, credit cards, and other financial services to personal and small business customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt capital market services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and financial institutions. The Insurance and Wealth segment offers life, home, and car insurance products; and pension, investment, and wealth management products and services. It also provides digital and mobile banking, and telephone services, as well as advisory services for savings, investments, and planning for retirement. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, IWeb, and Agricultural Mortgage Corporation brands. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreMarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. (MarkWest) is a master limited partnership engaged in the gathering, processing and transportation of natural gas; the gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage and marketing of natural gas liquids (NGLs), and the gathering and transportation of crude oil. The Company operates in four segments: Marcellus, Utica, Northeast and Southwest. The Marcellus segment provides integrated natural gas midstream services in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. The Company's MarkWest Utica EMG provides gathering, processing, fractionation and marketing services. The Northeast segment assets include the Kenova, Boldman, Cobb, Kermit and Langley natural gas processing complexes, an NGL pipeline and the Siloam fractionation facility. The Company owns a system that consists of natural gas gathering pipelines, centralized compressor stations, two natural gas processing complexes and two NGL pipelines.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan.Authorities at Makerere University Business School (MUBS) have rejected a directive by their parent university, Makerere to increase tuition fees for graduate programmes.



Prof Venansius Baryamureeba, the MUBS council chairperson, has described the directive by Makerere University council to increase tuition fees as illegal and unfortunate. Last month, Makerere University council directed MUBS to revise tuition fees to not less than Shs 5 million and Shs 7 million per annum for Masters and PhD programmes respectively before March 26.

MUBS students However, Prof Baryamureeba says that public education should be inclusive and that the proposed fees by Makerere are more likely to exclude the majority of Ugandans who earn less than Shs 500,000 per month.



While communicating the MUBS council position on the directive, Prof Baryamureeba, in his April 3, 2018 letter contends that whereas MUBS is a public tertiary institution by law affiliated to Makerere University, it is financially and administratively autonomous of Makerere.



"MUBS gets government subvention in addition to the fees paid by students to enable it run all its programmes. Therefore MUBS will not be increasing its tuition fees for all academic programmes including those for the award of Makerere University degrees in the foreseeable future unless government directs all public institutions otherwise," Prof Baryamureeba said.



In his explanation, Baryamureeba said that MUBS would go through an extensive consultative process before it can increase tuition. This would include undertaking stakeholder analysis and consulting all key stakeholders including government line ministries of finance, education as well as the public, students, staff and alumni. However, Prof Baryamureeba says that public education should be inclusive and that the proposed fees by Makerere are more likely to exclude the majority of Ugandans who earn less than Shs 500,000 per month.While communicating the MUBS council position on the directive, Prof Baryamureeba, in his April 3, 2018 letter contends that whereas MUBS is a public tertiary institution by law affiliated to Makerere University, it is financially and administratively autonomous of Makerere."MUBS gets government subvention in addition to the fees paid by students to enable it run all its programmes. Therefore MUBS will not be increasing its tuition fees for all academic programmes including those for the award of Makerere University degrees in the foreseeable future unless government directs all public institutions otherwise," Prof Baryamureeba said.In his explanation, Baryamureeba said that MUBS would go through an extensive consultative process before it can increase tuition. This would include undertaking stakeholder analysis and consulting all key stakeholders including government line ministries of finance, education as well as the public, students, staff and alumni.

"Experience has taught us that abrupt increase of tuition fees at public institutions has always led to strikes by students," said Prof Baryamureeba.

Adding that; "MUBS has not been able to recruit the desired number of students on its graduate programmes even at the current tuition levels. Furthermore, other public universities charge less than what MUBS is charging on similar programmes and MUBS is not ready to price itself out of the market."



According to Baryamureeba, much as MUBS runs Masters and PhD programmes for awards of Makerere University, 100% of tuition fees of these programmes goes to MUBS.

MUBS provides business and management education at the certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. According to the 2016/17 Makerere University Fact Book, there are 716 post graduate students at MUBS of the overall 3186 total postgraduate and PhD enrolments at Makerere University.

Makerere University council headed by Eng Charles Wana-Etyem comprising representatives from the ministry of Education and Sports, ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and other stakeholders, resolved that all new graduate students the minimum tuition for any graduate programme be staked at Shs 5 million.



Makerere University senior public relations officer Ritah Namisango confirmed the tuition fees increment for graduate programmes but said the decision will affect those who will be joining Makerere University in August 2018 and not the continuing graduate students.



According to Namisango, the decision to increase fees was reached following recommendations with reference to findings of the Jamwa report, Prof. Omaswa report and the Visitation Committee Report on the need to charge realistic costs for higher education.



She adds that; "With consultations with the National Council for Higher Education and surveys conducted by the Planning and Development of Makerere University as well as the Quality Assurance Directorate of Makerere University, it is clear that if Makerere University is to solve some of the financial challenges facing the institution, it should charge the realistic unit cost of higher education."Reckitt Benckiser Group plc manufactures, markets, and sells health, hygiene, and home products. The company offers acne treatment creams, facial washes, and cleansing pads; disinfection, hygiene, and first aid products; condoms, sex toys, and lubricants; heartburn and indigestion solutions; and cough and chest congestion, multi-symptom, and sinus remedies for adults and children under the Clearasil, Dettol, Durex, Gaviscon, and Mucinex brands. It also provides analgesics; footcare and footwear products; sore throat medications; and women's beauty products under the Nurofen, Scholl, Strepsils, and Veet brand. In addition, the company offers fragrances and devices; water softeners; home cleaning products; dish washes; toilet bowl cleaners; disinfectants; sprays, baits, and plug-ins for pest control; stain removals; and fabric washing products under the Air Wick, Calgon, Cillit Bang, Finish, Harpic, Lysol, Mortein, Vanish, and Woolite brands, as well as infant and child nutrition products under the Enfamil and Nutramigen brands. It operates in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia/CIS, Turkey, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and internationally. The company was founded in 1823 and is headquartered in Slough, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen Coding GmbH, Allen France SAS, Alpine Automation Limited, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Holdings Inc., Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Arylux Hungary Elektromechanikus Alkatreszgyarto Kft, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix (Suzhou) Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Holdings Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel (Ireland) Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Buell Industries Inc., CAPMAX Logistica S.A. de C.V., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS (Australia) Pty Limited, CS (Finance) Europe S.a.r.l., CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, CSMTS LLC, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures (Australasia) S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur (Shanghai) Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Dorbyl U.K. (Holdings) Limited, Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO (Holding) AG, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elga Skandinavian AS, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, FEG Investments L.L.C., Fasver, Filtertek, Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech (Taicang) Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart (Japan) K.K., Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart Foster Belgium, Hobart International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW (China) Investment Company Limited, ITW (Deutschland) GmbH, ITW (EU) Holdings Ltd., ITW (European) Finance Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW (Ningbo) Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Alpha Sarl, ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components (Chongqing) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components (Langfang) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium, ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS (UK) Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Contamination Control (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Delta Sarl, ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.A., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Finance Designated Activity Company, ITW Finance Europe S.A., ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW France Finance Alpha S.A.S., ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments II Inc., ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics (Thailand) Ltd., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Italy S.R.L. in liquidazione, ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France (Luxembourg) S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings UK, ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW Hungary Finance Beta Kft, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Finance Srl, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lombard Holdings Inc., ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW M FILMS II LLC, ITW MH LLC, ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology (China) Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Plastic (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Philippines Holdings LLC, ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Spraytec, ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Servicios Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Ideal Molding Technologies LLC, Illinois Tool Works (Chile) Limitada, Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Norway AS, Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron (Shanghai) Ltd., Instron (Thailand) Limited, Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Holdings Limited, Instron International Limited, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, International Leasing Company LLC, International Truss Systems Proprietary Limited, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kester Components (M) Sdn. Bhd., Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems (Canada) Inc., Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MOA Enterprises Inc, Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, Norden Olje AB, North Star Imaging Europe, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited (Enping), Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Penta Dnepr LLC, Penta Sever OOO, Penta Volga OOO, Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., Ramset Fasteners (Hong Kong) Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco (Nederland) B.V., Simco Japan Inc., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Hong Kong) Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Taiwan) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes BVBA, Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek (China) Limited, Teknek (Japan) Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V.B.A., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta (Guangzhou) Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Vesta Global Limited, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, ZF TRW (Engineered Fasteners and Components), and Zip-Pak International B.V..Wall Street analysts have given Gramercy Property Trust a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Gramercy Property Trust wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, is about to disclose to the world how the digital revolution has enhanced efforts to reduce poverty.

Back home, President Yoweri Museveni is pulling all stops to ensure fewer people loop on the digital revolution. Mr Museveni feels that not everyone should be on the digital ride; or if you are there, then you ought to be taxed for your participation.

One of the presidents [Museveni, Kim] is looking at social media with closed eyes; the other is taking it as an obnoxious tool which must be discouraged because of its instant influence on the disgruntled citizens.

President Museveni has penned a letter to the minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija, questioning him for not being creative enough to tax a fertile resource  social media participants.

So, the president wants the minister to widen the tax base by levying excise duty on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and all those platforms where people exchange their views that Museveni refers to as gossip.

In his estimation, if Shs 100 is levied per person per day, the treasury would be richer by Shs 400 billion. Not that this tax is not levied already, the president has just become another legendary Oliver Twist who wants some more and more.

The World Bank will partner with LinkedIn to use its data and insights from its 546 million members to identify avenues for re-skilling or up-skilling workers.

According to World Bank, this source of data would help understand which skills are on the highest demand, what industries are gaining or losing workers, and where the workers are located.

LinkedIn is an internet-based business and employment-orientated service that operates via websites and mobile apps. This network is mainly used by professionals including employers who post jobs, and job seekers who post their resumes.

Its revenue comes from selling access to information about its members to potential employers and those in sales profession.

According to Kim, with smartphones, the Internet, and social media, nearly everyone will know everyone. In the eyes of Kim, if governments took serious studies about how their people use social media, they would learn the citizens aspirations.

He maintains the training and education programmes should keep pace with the peoples ambitions.

If they dont, and if aspirations are met with frustration, countries may go down the path of fragility, conflict, violence, extremism, and migration, Jim Kim says.

Certainly with the proposals of new tax on social media, Uganda government is likely to be working counter to the aspiration of its citizens. Many Ugandans have used the social media to market their produce and products.

A photo of the availability of pineapples, potatoes or cows sent by the seller to the potential buyer via social media has often saved time and money spent on transport.

People have been bargaining and negotiating serious economic activities on WhatApp and other social media platforms. The president needs to be informed about how some peoples lives have been rescued by sending prescriptions on these social media channels.

With mobile money and the ease with which social media has made certain phenomena seem easy to be executed in real time has made life better.

And there lies the problem where a country relies heavily on tax for its budget!

That aside, I believe time is now to question the way our tax is used. Unfortunately, the MPs who should be questioning the wanton waste of our taxes are the biggest beneficiaries of this impunity.

We are also limited; we have no powers to withdraw our ability to pay taxes! If we did, we would be breaking the law and the consequences are dire.

The government needs to find alternative means of expanding the tax base. The government should ensure there are no untouchables when it comes to paying taxes, and taxes should be collected with fairness.

One section should not feel overburdened while others are sailing easily. For instance, the waivers that are being awarded and enjoyed by some organisations leave a bitter taste in the mouths of others.

The case of Tullow Uganda v Jackson Wabyona is very telling in this regard of tax waivers. But also its the obligation of the government to truly account to the payers on how the collected taxes are spent.

So, the president should shelve his idea, and the MPs should not pass that bill if it ever comes before them.

The author is the business development director at The Observer Media Limited.Ameriprise Financial, Inc. operates as a holding company. The firm provides financial planning, asset management and insurance services to individuals, businesses and institutions. It operates through the following business segments: Advice & Wealth Management, Asset Management, Retirement & Protection Solutions, and Corporate & Other. The Advice & Wealth Management segment provides financial planning and advice, as well as full service brokerage and banking services, primarily to retail clients through the company's financial advisors. The Asset Management segment provides investment advice and investment products to retail and institutional clients. It also provides products and services on a global scale through two complementary asset management businesses: Columbia Management and Threadneedle. The Columbia Management business primarily provides U.S. domestic products and services and Threadneedle primarily provides international investment products and services. Its international retail products are primarily provided through third-party financial institutions. The segments retail products include mutual funds and variable product funds underlying insurance and annuity separat

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Archer-Daniels-Midland: ADM (Shanghai) Management Co. LTD, ADM (Thailand) Ltd, ADM Ag Holdings Ltd, ADM Agri-Industries Company, ADM Agriculture Limited, ADM Agro Iberica S. L. U., ADM Agro Indust Latur and Vizag Pvt Ltd, ADM Agro Industries India Private Limited, ADM Agro Industries KOTA and AKOLA Pvt. Ltd., ADM Agro SRL, ADM Agroinvestimentos LTDA, ADM Alliance Nutrition of Puerto Rico LLC, ADM Americas S de RL, ADM Andina Peru SRL, ADM Antwerp NV, ADM Arkady Ireland Limited, ADM Asia-Pacific Trading Pte. Ltd., ADM Australia Holdings I PTY Limited, ADM Bio Science And Technology (Tianjin) Co Ltd, ADM Bioproductos SA DE CV, ADM CZERNIN SA, ADM Caribbean Inc, ADM Chile Comercial LTDA, ADM Clinton Bioprocessing Inc, ADM DO Brasil LTDA, ADM Direct Polska SP. ZO.O, ADM Dominican Holdings Inc., ADM Dominicana SA, ADM Edible Bean Specialties Inc, ADM Europe HoldCo SL, ADM European Holdings LLC, ADM European Management Holding GMBH, ADM Export Co, ADM Food Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., ADM France, ADM Germany GmbH, ADM Grain River System Inc., ADM Hamburg Aktiengesesllschaft, ADM Holding (Thailand) LTD, ADM Holdings LLC, ADM Hungary Agro Trading LLC, ADM Industries Centers Ltd, ADM International Holdings Inc, ADM International SARL, ADM Interoceanic LTD, ADM Investments LTD, ADM Investor Services Inc, ADM Investor Services International LTD, ADM Ireland Receivables Company Limited, ADM Israel, ADM Japan Ltd, ADM MALBORK SA, ADM Mainz GMBH, ADM Medsofts Sarl, ADM Mexico Inc, ADM Mexico SA DE CV, ADM Milling Co, ADM Milling LTD, ADM New Zealand Limited, ADM Olomouc S.R.O., ADM Paraguay SRL, ADM Protexin Limited, ADM Pura Limited, ADM Receivables LLC, ADM Rice Inc, ADM Ringaskiddy Unlimited Company, ADM Romania Logistics SRL, ADM Romania Trading SRL, ADM Specialty Ingredients - Europe BV, ADM Spyck GMBH, ADM Szamotuly SP Z O.O, ADM Trading Australia Pty. Ltd., ADM Trading Co, ADM Transportation Company, ADM Trucking Inc, ADM Vietnam CO. LTD, ADM WILD Europe GmbH and Co. KG, ADM WILD Ingredients GmbH, ADM WILD Nauen GmbH, ADM WILD Valencia S.A., ADM Wild Netherlands BV, ADM Worldwide Holdings LP, ADMIS Holding Co Inc., ADMIS Hong Kong LTD, ADMIS Singapore Pte Limited, AOR, AT Holdings II Company, Agri Port Services Investments Ltd., Agri Port Services LLC, Agricolas Madagascar SARLU, Agrinational Insurance Co, Agriserve, Agrograin LTD, Alfrebro LLC, Alfred C Toepfer International Netherlands BV, Alimenta USA, American River Transportation Company LLC, Ameriseed, Amylum Bulgaria EAD, Amylum Nisasta Sanayi Ve Ticarek Anonim Sirketi, Archer Daniels Midland (UK) Limited, Archer Daniels Midland Asia Pacific Ltd., Archer Daniels Midland Erith LTD, Archer Daniels Midland Europe BV, Archer Daniels Midland Europoort BV, Archer Daniels Midland Nederland BV, Archer Daniels Midland Singapore PTE LTD, Arinos Unlimited, Aston Foods & Food Ingredients, Balanceados Nova SA Balnova, Barbados Mills Limited, Bela Vista Bio Etanol Participacoes LTDA, Bern Aqua, BioPolis SL, Biopolis, Campa Sued GmbH & Co KG, Cattleman's Choice Loomix LLC, Chamtor, Ci ADM Colombia Ltda., Controladora ADM Sa De Cv, Crosswind Petfoods Inc., Daavision BV, Eaststarch, Eatem Corporation, Eatem Foods, Elstar Oils, English River Pellets Inc., Epicore Bionetworks INC, Epicore Networks (USA) INC, Erich Ziegler GmbH, Evialis France, Fasco Mills Co., Filozoo SRL, Florida Chemical, Florida Chemical Company LLC, GP Blanching Inc., Global Cocoa Holdings LTD, Golden Peanut Company LLC, Golden Peanut and Tree Nut Seed SA (PTY) LTD, Golden Peanut and Tree Nuts SA, Group Lysac, Guyomarc'h - VCN Company Limited, Guyomarc'h Vietnam CO LTD, HFR Shipping Company Ltd, HRA Shipping Company Ltd, HTI Shipping Company Ltd, Harvest Innovations, Hilltop Grain and Feed, Holding P and A Asia Company Limited, Hubei Meiweiyuan Biotechnology, Ilitchevskiy Maslo Extractionniy Zavod (IMEZ), Invivo NSA Asia PTE LTD, Invivo NSA Philippines Inc, Jamaica Flour Mills Limited, Julius Meijer-Alpharma BV, LLC ADM Ukraine, Liquid Feed Commodities, Malta Industries SA de CV, Malta-Texo De Mexico SA de CV, Master Mix of Trinidad LTD, Medsofts Investment Co, Medsofts L.L.C., Medsofts Trading Co, Mepla Comercio e Navegacao Ltda, NRG Inc, Naviera Chaco SRL, Neovia, Neovia Latina SL, Neovia Nutricao E Saude Animal LTDA, North Star Shipping S.R.L., P and A Marketing SA, PJSC ADM Illichivsk, PT Wirifa Sakti, Pancosma (Shanghai) Feed Additives CO LTD, Pancosma France SAS, Pancosma SA, Premiere Agri Technologies of Mexico Inc, Pura Foods LTD, Rodelle Inc., Schokinag-Schokolade-Industrie Herrmann, Sermix, Setna Nutricion SA, Societe Industrielle Des Oleagineux, Southern Cellulose Products Inc, Soy Investors LLC, Specialty Commodities, Specialty Commodities LLC, Sul Mineira Alimentos LTDA, SzSzV Kft, Toepfer International, Toepfer International Trading (Shanghai) Co. LTD., Vantage Corn Processors LLC, WILD Amazon Flavors Ltda, WILD Flavors, Wild Flavors Inc., Wild Flavors International GmbH, Wild Flavors Singapore Pte. Ltd., Wild Intermare GmbH, Wild Russia LLC, and Wisium SA (PTY) LTD.Herc Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental supplier. It rents aerial, earthmoving, material handling, trucks and trailers, air compressors, compaction, and lighting equipment, as well as generators, and safety supplies and expendables; and provides ProSolutions, an industry specific solution based services, such as pumping solutions, power generation, climate control, remediation and restoration, and studio and production equipment. The company also sells used equipment and contractor supplies, such as construction consumables, tools, small equipment, and safety supplies; provides repair, maintenance, equipment management, and safety training services, as well as offers ancillary services, such as equipment transport, rental protection, cleaning, refueling, and labor. It serves non-residential and residential construction, specialty trade, restoration, remediation and environment, and facility maintenance contractors; industrial manufacturing industries, including automotive and aerospace, power, metals and mining, agriculture, pulp, paper and wood, food and beverage, and refineries and petrochemical industries; infrastructure and government sectors; and commercial and retail service, hospitality, healthcare, recreation, entertainment production, and special event management customers through its sales team, industry catalogs, as well as through participation and sponsorship of industry events, trade shows, and Internet. As of December 31, 2017, it operated approximately 275 locations in the United States, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Herc Holdings Inc. is based in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Roper Technologies: 3089554 Nova Scotia ULC, AC Analytical Controls B.V., AC Analytical Controls Holding B.V., AC Analytical Controls Services B.V., Acton Research Corporation, Acumen PM LLC, Aderant CM LLC, Aderant CRM LLC, Aderant Case Management LLC, Aderant Company, Aderant CompuLaw LLC, Aderant DoD LLC, Aderant Enterprise Holdings Inc., Aderant FM LLC, Aderant Holdings Inc., Aderant Imaging LLC, Aderant International Holdings Inc., 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., Aderant RainMaker LLC, Aderant Redwood LLC, Advanced Sensors Limited, Alpha Holdings of I LLC, Alpha Holdings of II LLC, Alpha Technologies B.V., Alpha Technologies GmbH, Alpha Technologies LLC, Alpha Technologies Services LLC, Alpha Technologies U.K., Alpha Technologies s.r.o., Alpha UK Holdings LLC, Amot Controls Corporation, Amot Controls GmbH, Amot/Metrix Investment Company Inc., Amphire Solutions Inc., Amtech Systems LLC, Amtech Systems Limited, Amtech World Corporation, Ascension Technology Corporation, Atlantic Health Partners Inc., Atlas Healthcare Software Private Limited, Austria, Avitru LLC, Axium Holdco Inc., C/S Solutions Inc., CBORD Holdings Corp., CIVCO Medical Solutions B.V., Cayman Islands, Centurion Research Solutions LLC, Civco Holding Inc., Civco Medical Instruments Co. Inc., CliniSys Group Limited, Clinisys Scotland Limited, Clinisys Solutions Limited, Compressor Controls (Beijing) Corporation Ltd., Compressor Controls Corporation, Compressor Controls Corporation B.V., Compressor Controls Corporation Middle East, Compressor Controls Corporation S.r.l., Compressor Controls Ltd., Compressor Controls Pty Ltd., ConstructConnect Inc., Cornell Pump, DAP Technologies Corp., DAP Technologies LTD, DAT Solutions LLC, DCMH Group Holdings Inc., DCMH Group Holdings LLC, DCMH Holdings Inc., DI Acquisition Subsidiary Inc., DI Dutch Holdings LLC, DI Limited, Dash I Inc., Data Innovations Cooperatief U.A., Data Innovations Europe S.A., Data Innovations LLC, Data Innovations Latin America Ltda, Data Innovations Ltd., Dawning Technologies LLC, Deltek, Deltek Ajera Inc., Deltek Asia Pacific (HK) Limited, Deltek B.V., Deltek Belgie BVBA, Deltek Danmark A/S, Deltek GB Limited, Deltek GmbH, Deltek Inc., Deltek Nederland B.V., Deltek Norge AS, Deltek Pty Ltd., Deltek SAS, Deltek Sverige AB, Deltek Systems () Inc., Deltek Systems (Philippines) Ltd., Deltek Systems ) Inc., Deltek WST LLC, Dominion I Inc., Dynamic Instruments Inc., Dynisco, Dynisco Enterprises GmbH, Dynisco Enterprises LLC, Dynisco Europe GmbH, Dynisco Holding GmbH, Dynisco Holdings Limited, Dynisco Instruments LLC, Dynisco Instruments S.a.r.l., Dynisco Parent Inc., Dynisco S.r.l., Dynisco Shanghai Sensor and Instrument Co. Ltd., Dynisco Viatran LLC, Dynisco Viatran (M) Sdn Bhd, Dynisco-Viatran Instrument Sdn Bhd, FMS Purchasing & Services Inc., FSI Holdings Inc., FTI Flow Technology Inc., Fluid Metering Inc., Foodlink Holdings Inc., Foodlink IT Private Limited, Foundry, Gatan GmbH, Gatan Inc., Gatan Service Corporation, Gatan U.K. Limited, GeneInsight Inc., Getloaded Corporation, Guangzhou MEDTEC Medical Device Co. Ltd, HRsmart Czech Republic, HRsmart Germany, HRsmart GmbH, HRsmart Inc., HRsmart International, HRsmart International Holdings LLC, HRsmart Mexico, HRsmart SA (Pty) Ltd., HRsmart SAS, HRsmart Talent Management Solutions Europe Limited, HRsmart Ventures LLC, Handshake Software Inc., Hansco Automatisering B.V., Hansen Technologies Corporation, Hansen Technologies Europe GmbH, Harbour Holding Corp., Hardy Process Solutions, Horizon Software International LLC, INPUT Inc., IPA Acquisition Subsidiary Inc., ISL Finance SAS, ISL Holding SAS, ISL Scientifique de Laboratorie - ISL S.A.S., IT Holdings LLC, Innovative Product Achievements LLC, Inovonics Corporation, Input S.A.R.L., Instill Corporation, Integrated Designs L.P., IntelliTrans Limited, Intellitrans AB, Intellitrans LLC, Intellitrans Ltd., Job Access LTDA, K/S Roper Holding, K/S Roper Investments, Link Logistics Holding LLC, Logitech Limited, Louis U.K. Limited, Lumenera, MED Professional Services LLC, MEDTEC Inc., MHA Long Term Care Network Inc., MIPS Austria GesmbH, MIPS CZ s.r.o, MIPS Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, MIPS Deutschland Holding GmbH, MIPS Nederland B.V., MIPS Sarl, MIPS Schweiz AG, MIPS Software Iberica SL, MPR Readers Inc., Managed Health Care Associates Inc., Marumoto Struers K.K., Media Cybernetics Inc., Medical Information Professional Systems GmbH, Medical Information Professional Systems NV, Medina Acquisition LLC, Metrix Instrument Co. L.P., NDI Europe, Navigator Group Purchasing Inc., Neptune Technology Group () Co., Neptune Technology Group Inc., Neptune Technology Group S.de R.L. de C.V., Neptune Technology Group Services Inc., Neptune Technology Group Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Nippon Roper K.K., Northern Digital Inc., Off-Campus Advantage LLC, Omega Legal Systems Inc., PAC (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PAC 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, Petroleum Analyzer Company L.P., Phase Analyzer Company Ltd., PowerPlan, PowerPlan Holdings Inc., PowerPlan Holdings LLC, PowerPlan Inc., PowerPlan Intermediate Holdings Inc., PowerPlan Operations ANZ Pty Ltd, PowerPlan Operations Ltd., PowerPlan ULC, Project Cobalt Acquisition Corp, Project Diamond Intermediate Holdings Corporation, Project Torque Intermediate Holdings Inc., QSC 1208 Limited, QSC 1209 Limited, Quantitative Imaging Corporation, RF IDeas Inc., RI Marketing Private Limited, RIL Holding Limited, RMT Inc., RT Merger Sub Inc., Rebate Tracking Group LLC, Redlake MASD LLC, Roda Deaco Valve Inc., Roper Brasil Comercio E Promocao De Productos E Servicos LTDA, Roper Capital Deutschland GmbH, Roper DK Sub Sarl, Roper Engineering s.r.o., Roper Europe GmbH, Roper Finance S.a.r.l., Roper GM Holdings ApS, Roper GmbH, Roper GmbH & Co. KG, Roper Holdings Inc., Roper Holdings LP, Roper Holdings Limited, Roper Holdings S.a.r.l., Roper Industrial Products Investment Company, Roper Industries ApS, Roper Industries Deutschland GmbH, Roper Industries Inc., Roper Industries L.P., Roper Industries Limited, Roper Industries Ltd., Roper Industries Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Roper Industries UK Limited, Roper International Holding Inc., Roper LLC, Roper Lux Sub S.a.r.l, Roper Middle East Ltd., Roper NL1 UK Limited, Roper NL2 UK Limited, Roper Pump Company, Roper S.a.r.l., Roper Scientific B.V., Roper Scientific GmbH, Roper Scientific Inc., Roper Scientific SAS, Roper Scot LP, Roper Southeast Asia LLC, Roper Swiss Finance GmbH, Roper UK Holdings S.a.r.l., Roper UK Investments Limited, Roper UK Limited, Roper UK Ltd., Roper-Mex L.P., Ropintassco 1 LLC, Ropintassco 2 LLC, Ropintassco 3 LLC, Ropintassco 4 LLC, Ropintassco 5 LLC, Ropintassco 6 LLC, Ropintassco 7 LLC, Ropintassco Holdings L.P., SHP Group Holdings Inc., SIRA LLC, Scotland, Shanghai Roper Industries Trading Co. Ltd., Singapore, Sinmed Holding International B.V., Societe de Distribution de Logiciels Medicaux, SoftWriters Inc., Softwriters Holdings Inc., Sohnar Pty Ltd, Spain, Star Purchasing Services LLC, Strata Acquisition Subsidiary Inc., Strata Decision Technology Holdings 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 L.L.C., Struers (Shanghai) International Trading Ltd., Struers A/S, Struers GmbH, Struers Inc., Struers Limited, Struers SAS, Student Advantage LLC, Sunquest Europe Limited, Sunquest Holdings Inc., Sunquest Information Systems, Sunquest Information Systems () Private Limited, Sunquest Information Systems (Europe) Limited, Sunquest Information Systems (International) Limited, Sunquest Information Systems Inc., Sunquest Information Systems Pty Ltd, Switzerland, TLP Holdings LLC, Taupo Holdings Inc., Technolog Group Limited, Technolog Holdings Ltd., Technolog Limited, Technolog SARL, Tennessee, Thailand, The CBORD Group Inc., The Management Group Inc., The Tidewater Healthcare Shared Services Group Inc., Torque Acquisition Holdco Inc., Transcore Atlantic Inc., Transcore CNUS Inc., Transcore Holdings Inc., Transcore ITS LLC, Transcore LP, Transcore Link Logistics Corporation, Transcore Nova Scotia Corporation, Transcore Partners LLC, Transcore Quebec Corporation Inc., Trinity Integrated Systems Limited, UHF Purchasing Services LLC, Union Square Software (International) Limited, Union Square Software Inc., Union Square Software Limited, Union Square Software Pty, Uson L.P., Uson Limited, Utilitec Limited, Utilitec Services Limited, Utility Data Services Limited, Verathon Holdings Inc., Verathon Inc., Verathon Medical, Verathon Medical (Europe) B.V., Verathon Medical (UK) Ltd., Verathon Medical Limited, Verathon Medical Pty Limited, Verathon Medical SARL, Verathon Medical ULC, Viastar Services LP, Viatran, Walter Herzog GmbH, Wisconsin, WorkBook APAC Ltd., Workbook Software A/S, Zetec (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zetec France, Zetec Inc., Zetec Korea Inc., Zetec Rental LLC, Zetec Services Inc., iPipeline, iSqFt Holdings Inc., iSqFt Parent Corporation, iSqFt Sub Inc., iTradeNetwork Inc., iTradenetwork Limited, and mySBX Corporation.Vivendi SE operates as a content, media, and communication company in France, the rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Africa. It operates through Universal Music Group, Canal+ Group, Havas Group, Editis, Gameloft, Vivendi Village, and New Initiatives segments. The Universal Music Group segment engages in the sale of digital and physical recorded music; and exploitation of music publishing rights, as well as provision of the artist and merchandising services. The Canal+ Group segment publishes and distributes premium and thematic pay-TV and free-to-air channels; and produces, sells, and distributes movies and TV series. The Havas Group segment includes communications disciplines, such as creativity, media expertise, and healthcare/wellness. The Editis segment engages in the publishing of literature, educational, and reference books, as well as selling and distribution of books. The Gameloft segment engages in the creation and publishing of downloadable video games for mobile phones, tablets, triple-play boxes, and smart TVs. The Vivendi Village segment provides ticketing services and live performances through Olympia production, festival production, and venues. The New Initiatives segment operates Dailymotion, a video content aggregation and distribution platform, as well as develops ultra-high-speed Internet service. Vivendi SA was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

Read MoreStreetwise: Faded from the Scene

by Frank Dunnigan

April 2018

Until she died in 1960, my grandmother used to lament the absence of the company that delivered a twice-weekly block of ice to her Sunset District kitchen on 21st Avenue until the mid-1950safter she had placed a card in the front window to signal the driver about the quantity needed. She was certainly among the ice companys very last residential customers when my parents finally persuaded her to buy an electric refrigerator from the Sears store at Geary Boulevard and Masonic Avenue, circa 1955.

In the last 20-30 years or so, many other once-popular places and things have also disappeared from the local scenebut check back next month for a column about local institutions that are still alive and well.

Adult Fashion: The market for mens hats tanked the day JFK was inaugurated in 1961, and Friday casual became the style in many workplaces prior to the turn of the millennium. Also long-gone are hats and gloves for women, neckties on men, hosiery on women, and cuff links on men. Personal fragrances (after-shave/perfume/cologne) are now forbidden in many offices, while online access has drastically reduced briefcase usage by everyone.

Auto Body Shops: Once a standard local business, with many operating near 7th Avenue & Lincoln Way in the Sunset, auto body repair facilities are now highly-regulated by local zoning laws and are disappearing from most neighborhoods.

Bank Branches/Tellers: Since the widespread introduction of ATMs in the early 1980s, many bank branches have closed. Direct-deposit has also served to limit the need for in-person transactions. Sadly, this has resulted in the conversion of some once-grand spaces (Hibernia Bank at #1 Jones Street, Bank of America at #1 Powell Street, Security-Pacific at #1 Grant Avenue, and others) to a variety of business ventures that are far less grand than the ornate granite/marble palaces themselvesthe Ice Cream Museum? Bank of America had 60+ branches in San Francisco in 1960 (vs. half that number today)all of which used to be staffed/managed by local residents who had long-standing personal interactions with their customers. Today, many decisions originate in North Carolina, home of the banks headquarters since a 1998 takeover.

Beauty Parlors: Places with names like this once catered to ladies with blue-rinsed bouffant hairstyles. Now, the shops and their customers are fading fast.

Bowling Alleys: There are exactly five remainingthree South-of-Market, one in the Mission, and one in the Presidio.

Children: The long-standing statistic is truethere are more registered dogs than children in San Francisco, creating ripples of change throughout many industries.

Clothing Stores: Neighborhood shopping areas used to include clothing stores. Some of these were Kings Tots & Teens on Ocean Avenue, Portigols Baby Shop at 18th & Geary, Elsa Margo Apparel Shop on Irving, and Barone of California Menswear on West Portalall of which are long-gone.

Coffee Shops: The demise of Zims in 1997 (along with the closure of the Fosters chain nearly 30 years earlier), changed the urban landscape of San Francisco. The demise of hot meals and coffee at all hours was a serious loss to many. The proliferation of Starbucks outlets simply does not fill the culinary gap.

Delicatessens: Changing tastes/rising rents have chased many away: A.G. Ferrari in Laurel Village in 2017, plus Herbs on Taraval, Hermans on Geary, San Francisco Meats & Delicatessen on Ocean, Lees in the Financial District, and many others before that.

Dime/Variety Stores: Fast-vanishing ever since Woolworth closed in 1997. If you had to buy shoelaces, a spool of thread, or a thumbtack right this minute, where would you go? Most people would probably turn to Amazon since few local stores carry such items today.

Downtown Rooftop Flagpoles: These were once a standard feature on downtown buildings, but not any longer.

Driver Education/Training: Once a regular part of junior year in high school, these courses are now offered by private companies.

Field Repair Staff: Growing up in the 1950s, our family had a friendly TV repair man who came out regularly to replace tubes in our RCA-Victor set. Today, it is rare for anyone to come out to repair anything. When TVs and other appliances stop working, they are generally thrown into the trash or left on the sidewalk.

File Clerks: A popular entry-level position in many companies, often leading to promotion within the firmlong-gone.

Flower Stands: The downtown area used to have dozens of them, but today, only a handful remain, often handed down in families.

Funerals: Changing customs have been impacting the mortuary business since late in the last millennium, resulting in numerous closures. (See: Streetwise: Final Services Will Be Held and also Streetwise: Valente, Marini, Perata)

Furriers: Once operating downtown as well as in neighborhood locations (Clement, Geary, Irving, Ocean, Judah, Taraval, and West Portal), they have nearly vanished, and city government is considering laws to shut them down entirely.

Gas Station Attendants: Self-service pumps and automated credit card readers have eliminated another entry-level job. Gas stations themselves are becoming increasingly rare in San Francisco because of high land valuesparticularly along 19th Avenue. (See Streetwise: The Long & Short of It)

German/Danish Bakeries: These have been disappearing for many reasonsrising rents, competition from supermarket bakeries since the early 1970s, and customers who are more health-conscious about fats/sugars.

High Schools: Gone are Commerce, McAteer, Polytechnic, and Wilsondue to shifting attendance patterns. On the Catholic side, Notre Dame de Namur, Notre Dame des Victoires, Presentation, St. Brigids, St. Johns, St. Pauls, St. Peters, St. Rose, St. Vincents, and Star of the Sea are all gone because of declining enrollment and increasing costs.

Hobby Shops: Bills Terminal on Market Street, Chans Trains & Hobbies on Van Ness, Noriega Hobby Shop, and Gamemasters on Geary all began to suffer in the 1970s/1980s, while Internet competition delivered the final blow to Franciscan Hobbies on Ocean Avenue in 2014.

Hof Brau: This style of restaurant once dotted the Tenderloin and downtown area, but changing tastes led to a slow but steady decline beginning 30+ years ago, leaving Tommys Joynt at Van Ness & Geary as one of the few survivors.

Kids Mowing Lawns: Once popular among youngsters, this began to fade about 1977 when long-term drought conditions led to many lawns being replaced with concrete. Sadly, today, many homeowners dont maintain their landscape at all, and parents are often reluctant to allow children to undertake such responsibilities.

Malls/Department Stores: Continuing to disappear, but stay tuned for new developments as Stonestown begins to demolish the old Emporium/Macys building for something new.

Manufacturing/Shipping: Both industries went into a serious decline in in the 1960s. Today, you are not likely to find a cargo ship, sheet metal shop, rag manufacturer or any number of other industrial-type businesses locally.

Martini Lunches: Along with dice-playing, these were Monday-Friday Financial District traditions. Enlightened standards of office behavior and more stringent DUI laws led to a steady decline beginning in the mid-1980s.

Military Presence: Shifting patterns of federal government support have resulted in numerous closures in the Bay Area over the last few decades: Presidio of San Francisco, Fort Mason, Treasure Island Naval Station, Letterman Army Hospital, and the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in the city, plus numerous other installations and military hospitals throughout the Bay Area.

Movie Theatres: Fewer than 20 remaining, down from 50+ in 1980. (Note: the website Cinema Treasures lists 38, though this number includes adult video, live performance venues, and experimental films.)

Neighborhood Pharmacies: Gone are the days when Wakelees on Clement, Daves A-1 on Noriega, Bowermans on Ocean Avenue, and other local drug stores were in business, employing high school students to make free deliveries.

Newspaper Carriers: This once-popular pre-teen occupation has now become adult employment, with few parents willing to allow children to walk neighborhood streets alone in the early morning darkness.

Paper Drives/Rag Drives: Formerly popular school fund-raisers, demand for such materials diminished drastically along with the decline in manufacturing.

Parochial Elementary Schools: Closures continue due to declining enrollment, increasing tuitions, few remaining nuns, plus city-required earthquake retrofitting. Among those closed in recent years: All Hallows, Corpus Christi, Sacred Heart, St. Charles, St. Dominics, St. Elizabeths, St. Emydius, St. Josephs, St. Marys Chinese, St. Michaels, St. Pauls, St. Paul of the Shipwreck. Immaculate Conception merged with St. Anthonys several years ago, and many of the remaining schools, which used to have multiple classes of 50 students apiece at each grade level, are now operating with only one class of about 30 children each, from Grades K-8. St. Gabriels in the Sunset, once the largest Catholic elementary school west of Chicago with 1,200 students, has seen its enrollment drop by more than half. Sadly, the situation is not unique to San Franciscothe Diocese of Oakland closed 5 elementary schools in 2017 due to declining enrollment.

Pennies: Whatever intended purposes there wereparking meters, cheap candy, and contributions to piggy banksfew still exist today. With more retail transactions being performed electronically, it seems only a matter of time before legislation kills off the penny entirely, with final amounts for cash transactions rounded up/down to the nearest nickel.

Print Newspapers: With so many forms of news dissemination and classified advertising, the newspaper business has changed drastically. Now a single-newspaper town (down from four in the late 1950s), home delivery of the San Francisco Chronicle costs over $700 annually (more than $500 for suburban newspapers like the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat) vs. about $25-35 in 1970. Soon, an entire generation will never experience the quiet satisfaction of leisurely leafing through the morning newspaper over coffee at the kitchen table.

Senior Citizens: The good news is that people are living longer. The bad news is that many of them are unable to do so in San Francisco. Although the daily obituary notices in the Chronicle often list almost half the dearly departed as being 90+ years of age, the vast majority of those notices also tell stories about people who were born and raised (plus having raised their own families) in the city, but who often depart this world from a remote locale.

SFPD Mounted Patrol: Once much larger, the unit is now comprised of 1 sergeant, 6 officers, and 9 horses. Fortunately, the terrain of Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, and other San Francisco locales suggests that the mounted patrol will remain active for a long time to comeunlike the San Francisco Fire Department stables that shut down when the last fire horse retired 97 years ago, in 1921.

Shoe Repair: One particular service that has been severely impacted by rising rents in the last 30+ years (often caused by demand for neighborhood space for cell phone stores, nail salons, fast-food eateries), this has often been among the first local merchants to be displaced. Todays throw-away culture often leads people to discard worn footwear without considering the possibility of repair.

Smoking: A huge decline in this practice has been achieved since the time of the US Surgeon Generals first warning in 1964. Locally, there are many legal restrictions in place today, and cigarette vending machines, once found in public places, are long-gone. Distributing cigars in the workplace once celebrated births, though now, the practice might cause an office manager to summon the police.

Toll Collectors: Eliminated from the Golden Gate Bridge in favor of electronic transponder toll processing five years ago (March 2013), it is anyones guess just how long this job will remain on other Bay Area bridges.

Traffic Girls/Boys: Students used to provide a valuable community service. This program began to fade by the 1980s, and when it was revitalized recently, paid adults were hired, eliminating a popular right-of-passage. Streetwise: Stop, Look, and Listen)

Transportation: San Franciscans once relied heavily upon MUNI rather than motor vehicles, with fewer cars parked on neighborhood streets.

Travel Agents: Online systems, plus numerous discount websites for air travel/lodging/car rentals have diminished this business significantly. One local firm, Portal World Travel, continues to operate on Ocean Avenue, more than 70 years after its founding on West Portal.

Typewriter Repair Shops: Deader than the proverbial doornail.

Zoo: Still popular, but ceased to be free in 1970. (See Streetwise: A Fine and Fancy Ramble)

Contribute your own stories about western neighborhoods places!President Donald Trump Tuesday reiterated comments made last week about pulling US troops out of Syria. Speaking at a White House press conference, he said, well be making a decision very quickly in coordination with others, as to what well do.

I want to get out, he added. I want to bring our troops home.

While the remarks echo similar promises made during the 2016 election campaign and are no doubt meant to shore up political support among an American population that is increasingly hostile to the unending wars in the Middle East, they fly in the face of policies enunciated by the State Department and the Pentagon, and military actions being taken on the ground in Syria and the broader region.

Having secured a record military budget of nearly $700 billion, passed with majority support from both Democrats and Republicans, the Pentagon is sharply escalating attacks in countries stretching from Libya to Afghanistan.

In Syria itself, CNN reported this week that the US military has drafted plans to send additional troops into northern Syria to join the more than 2,000 already deployed in the country. The report described Pentagon officials as puzzled by Trumps remarks.

Also on Tuesday, as Trump was making his vow to bring our troops home, Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of Central Command, which oversees US wars in the Middle East, stressed that the threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is not gone and that the military would be remaining in Syria for the stabilization phase.

The hard part, I think, is in front of us, and that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back in their homes, the US military commander said.

Speaking at the same event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, Brett McGurk, US envoy for the coalition against ISIS, stressed that our mission isnt over and we are going to complete that mission.

This mission was defined by ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson two months ago in a speech that spelled out far broader goals than defeating ISIS. Tillerson, who was fired by Trump last month, made it clear that US troops were engaged in a more or less permanent occupation of a large swathe of Syrian territory with neither the permission of the Syrian government nor a mandate from the United Nations. The purpose of this occupation is that of furthering Washingtons original aim of regime change; i.e., ousting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, and countering the regional influence of its principal allies, Russia and Iran.

Outside of Trumps remarks, the only other indication of a change from this policy has been a hold placed by the White House on $200 million in State Department funding for stabilization projects in Syria.

US troops on the ground continue to expand their operations, with reports from Syria of the Pentagon setting up another military base in the Al-Awn region north of the town of Manbij. The movement of US forces to the base, one of more than 20 established in northern and eastern Syria, places American forces in position for a potential direct confrontation with the forces of their ostensible NATO ally, Turkey.

Ankara has vowed to advance on Manbij in order to expel the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which functions as the Pentagons principal proxy ground force in the country but is regarded by the Turkish government as an extension of the Turkish Kurdish PKK, against which it has waged a counterinsurgency campaign for some three decades.

Tensions between Washington and Ankara will only be heightened by a meeting scheduled today in Turkey between the countrys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian and Iranian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani. The three powers, which all have military forces in Syria, are to discuss a joint strategy for ending the bloody seven-year-old conflict in Syria independently of Washington.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon and the military forces that it supports have carried out a series of bombings in recent days that span from North Africa to south Asia.

The bloodiest of these was carried out Monday by attack helicopters of Afghanistans air force, which operates under the control and direction of the US military. The warplanes attacked a religious ceremony and graduation for Madrasa students, many of them 11 years old or younger.

Reports from the scene placed the number of dead at between 70 and 150, with many more wounded. Over 1,000 people had gathered at the ceremony in Afghanistans northern Kunduz province.

While the US puppet government in Kabul responded to reports and photographs from the area of dead and wounded children by claiming that it had killed only Taliban fighters, the United Nations said on Tuesday that it was investigating disturbing reports of serious harm to civilians.

Afghan officials in the area said that most of the victims were civilians. I arrived at the scene right after the airstrikesit was like a butchers shop. Everywhere was covered with blood, the ground was littered with body parts, heads, limbs and other parts, Abdul Khalil told AFP at the hospital in the provincial capital of Kunduz.

The mass killing in Kunduz is part of a broader bombing campaign initiated by the US occupation forces, with the Trump administration providing new rules of engagement that allow the targeting of Taliban forces and the civilian population in areas where they are active. The United Nations report for 2017 recorded a 7 percent increase in civilian casualties over the previous yearthe highest number since the UN began keeping a tally in 2009. One of the steepest increases was for victims of airstrikes, with 295 men, women and children killed and another 336 wounded.

On the same day as the Kunduz bombing, Saudi warplanes, operating with US intelligence, logistical and refueling support, attacked a civilian neighborhood in the blockaded Yemeni port city of Hodeidah. Initial reports indicated 16 civilians killed, at least seven of them children.

The United Nations childrens agency UNICEF issued a report Monday describing the airstrike as one of the deadliest attacks on children in the country since the Saudi bombing campaign began in March 2015. Many children are reported missing as the injured and killed are still being pulled out of the rubble, the agency reported.

As reports of the carnage in Hodeidah emerged, the architect of the war, which has killed at least 13,000 Yemenis outright and threatened millions more with death from famine and disease, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was being feted in the US, lionized by the corporate media and holding meetings with Trump and an array of American billionaires, from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates and Apple chief Tim Cook.

In addition to the Afghan and the Yemeni bombings, AFRICOM, the US African command based in Djibouti carried out other significant airstrikes. It reported that on Monday it had targeted a vehicle in Somalia, killing five al-Shabaab militants. Reports from the country, however, said that three of the victims were civilians, including a well-known Somali poet named Yusuf Dhegey.

The puppet regime in Mogadishu defended the US airstrike with a statement declaring that poetry could be used to incite violence.

And on March 24, AFRICOM used a military drone to assassinate two alleged members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, near the town of Ubari in southern Libya close to the countrys borders with Chad, Niger and Algeria. The strike represents an expansion of US operations into the region, where the Pentagon has set up a number of military bases.

In the midst of these far-ranging acts of aggression and killing, the Pentagon announced that it was sending a fleet of B-1B Lancer bombers back to the Middle East for the first time in two and a half years to carry out airstrikes throughout the region. The strategic bomber, which will be based at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, is capable of carrying some 75,000 pounds of bombs and missiles. Its deployment signals preparations for a far wider conflict in the region that may soon include war with Iran and a confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia.The strike by railway workers and Air France personnel paralyzed France on Tuesday, as Parisian garbage workers, power station workers and students also went on strike.

According to the state railway company SNCF, over one third of the 150,000 employees took part in the strike. Among train crews, which are indispensable for train traffic, participation was considerably higher, at almost 50 percent.

Striking railroad workers at the Saint-Lazare station, Paris

Seventy-seven percent of the train drivers and 69 percent of the inspectors were on strike. As a result, seven out of eight long-distance trains [TGVs], four out of five regional trains and two out of three local trains were canceled.

The SNCF expects train cancellations to remain high on Wednesday. In the next three months, the railroad workers want to continue their labor struggle. The strike will alternate between two days of strike action and three days of work.

Air France had to cancel around one third of the long distance and medium distance flights because of the strike, and half of the domestic flights were canceled. More strikes are planned for the 10th and 11th of April.

While the strike at Air France is focused on higher wages, railroad workers are directly engaged in a power struggle with President Macron's government. Macron is seeking to privatize the railway, shut down railway lines, reduce jobs and abolish the statute that protects the railroad workers from dismissal and guarantees them a pension.

This will make our jobs more and more precarious and we will lose our protections; we will be at the mercy of the bosses. Its unacceptable! Youssef, a striking rail worker, told the WSWS in Paris.

The railway workers are aware that this is not just about their own interests, but about defending social achievements and public services for the entire working class.

Guillaume, another railway worker, told the WSWS, I am at the demonstration because there are government attacks against all the sectors of society. Against train workers, high school and university students, hospital staff and the whole public and private sectors.

Guillaume continued, Now, there is a frontal attack against the train workers to which they are reacting, and this has built up an enormous mobilization behind them. Something has to happen, and it could happen now. One has to reflect, to think about another society, to think about the problem from an international standpoint. It is not only in France that we have problems, but throughout Europe and in countries throughout the world. By showing that we can fight against our own government we can inspire workers in other countries to fight against their own governments. All together, in a struggle against capitalism, we can be successful.

Students in Paris protesting against admission restrictions at the universities

The government has treated the strike as a struggle for power. The government and the parliament are determined to carry out the necessary reforms, said Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, who is responsible for the SNCF reform in the government faction. We expect a hard labor dispute.

The conservative newspaper Le Figaro commented that Macron and the government risked much. If they go down, they could also say goodbye to reform plans in other areas.

On Tuesday, demonstrations of striking workers took place in many French cities. The workers were joined by a large number of students fighting against attacks on public education, named after the Minister of Education, Frederique Vidal. It introduces a selective admission procedure at the universities that makes it impossible for many adolescents to study.

"No to selection"

Strikes and blockades are now taking place in numerous French universities with the aim of reversing the Vidal Law. The conflict escalated when, on the night of March 23, in the city of Montpellier, masked assailants had infiltrated an occupied lecture theater and beaten off the students carrying out a blockade and forcibly evicted them. One week later, the dean and a law professor were suspected of having organized the attack.

Youssef, with whom the WSWS spoke at the demonstration in Paris, believes that the government must be overthrown: The objective of this movement is to get rid of the government. We have to stick together and remain active as long as we can in order to bring down the government. It is a terrible threat to all the public services both for the users as well as the workers.

This will only be possible through a wider mobilization of workers, he said. We can win this struggle, he continued. This only depends on how we mobilize people. The more we are mobilized, the bigger the chance of us stopping this government.

It is possible: we already saw in 1995, when the mobilization was very big, that it was possible to force out the government. Macron is not God on earth. He runs the country, but it is the people who are sovereign. As long as we are mobilized and stay strong, we can change things. We must join with othersstudents, postmen, ambulance drivers, the Carrefour workers. Everyone is being hit: today it is the train workers, tomorrow it will be another sector that will be hit.

The unions, on the other hand, are determined to prevent a fall of the Macron government, which they had already supported in the presidential election.

Laurent Berger, the CFDT general secretary who called for the railroad strike, announced Tuesday that he would be willing to negotiate with the SNCF on a change in the railway workers' statute. You have to see what you need to do to develop the statute of railway workers, but not by blaming them and stigmatizing them, he said.

The head of the union FO, Jean-Claude Mailly, advised the government to compromise in order to prevent a conflagration. The social climate is changing, the grass is dry and it does not take much to inflame it, he said. There are many trouble spots.

Mailly fiercely opposed the so-called convergence of struggles demanded by the rival CGT. One should not improvise, he said. The social weather cannot be predicted. Having multiple trouble spots does not mean they all have to come together, he said, justifying his intention to isolate the different struggles.

Even the CGT, which usually poses as a fighting union, refuses to expand the strike movement. Le Monde quoted a CGT official in Lille who denied a railroader's request to ensure that there was not a single train moving for ten days on the cynical grounds that the union would not order strikes from above.

The railroader Guillaume, who has already been quoted, was suspicious of the unions. Concerning the trade unions, sometimes they can be very useful in building a movement, he said. But later we cannot have illusions on their account. At some point they will turn and betray the movement in order to protect their bureaucratic privileges. We have to be ready to go beyond the trade unions, to go further. As long as workers agree to go further, we must do it. We cannot let anyone put barriers in our way, be it the trade unions or the reformist parties or the government. Its through the organization of the workers by themselves and for themselves that we will be able to overcome these obstacles.

He added, Its certain that negotiating with the government is not the way to get anything. Its more by mobilizing in the streets and in the factories that will overcome Macron. We have to keep together and not be divided. It is only through the struggle of workers all together that we will achieve anything.President Donald Trumps announcement yesterday that the government will deploy the military to the US-Mexico border is a threat to the safety of undocumented immigrants and a fundamental attack on the democratic rights of the entire population.

Trump made his announcement at the White House alongside Defense Secretary James Mattis. We have very bad laws for our border, he declared, and we are going to be doing some things. He continued: Ive been speaking with General Mattis. Were going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military.

Though details of Trumps plan have not been announced, the deployment of the military on US soil to arrest or deter immigrants raises the specter of martial law and violates the basic democratic principle of posse comitatus, which proscribes the military from carrying out law enforcement.

Though the Bush and Obama administrations both deployed the National Guard to perform reconnaissance for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Trumps plan may involve the use of the military for actual arrests and detention operations.

In February 2017, when White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly was heading up the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), he circulated a memo proposing to deploy 100,000 members of the National Guard to states such as California and Texas to round up and deport immigrants. The administration has threatened to withhold funds or even arrest officials of a number of sanctuary cities, some near the border, which have barred local law enforcement from voluntarily turning over information to immigration officials.

Trump made his announcement on the pretext of stopping a caravan of immigrants escaping Central American poverty and violence, tweeting that the group of roughly 1,000 refugees had better be stopped before it gets here. Although the caravan takes place annually near Easter and breaks apart far before reaching the US border, Trump used this years stations of the cross march as a provocation to escalate his anti-immigrant attacks.

In a flood of statements since Sunday, Trump has called on Congress to pass a series of fascistic anti-immigrant measures, including immediate deportation of unaccompanied young immigrants and the mandatory detention of those captured without proper papers.

We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States and were going to be able to do something about that, Trump announced at a press conference with Baltic leaders yesterday. Hopefully, Congress will get their acts together and create very powerful laws.

This is not empty rhetoric. In recent weeks, Trump and his far-right advisers have initiated plans to bar immigrants from using social programs, detain pregnant immigrants, and end protected status for immigrants from Liberia. On Monday, the Department of Justice set a quota for the nations immigration judges, requiring that they dispose of at least 700 cases a year so as to speed up the pace of deportations. This amounts to an order to dispense with whatever remains of due process.

The decision to deploy troops along the border is also a thuggish threat by the imperialist superpower against Mexico. Yesterday, Trump mentioned the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in his comments defending the troop deployment. Addressing reporters at the White House, he said: NAFTA has been a horrible, horrible, embarrassing deal for the United States. This should have been terminated or renegotiated years ago.

In this context, the positioning of soldiers on the border is intended to evoke a historical precedent: during the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920, the US stationed thousands of soldiers along the border, killing 800 Mexican soldiers and 400 civilians.

The Democratic Party does not oppose Trumps measures. In 2010, Obama sent 1,200 National Guard troops to the border region in a move that was praised by Democrats as well as the extreme-right. As Bernie Sanders said in January 2018, If the president wants to work with us to make sure we have strong border security, lets do that.

Neither are the Democrats seriously opposing Trumps cuts in Medicaid and other social programs, his gutting of environmental and occupational safety regulations, his tax cuts for corporations and the rich, or his promotion of generals and billionaires to top White House and cabinet positions.

Their opposition is focused on right-wing attacks on Trump for failing to pursue the US diplomatic and military offensive against Russia in the Middle East and Eastern Europe with sufficient aggressiveness. Their campaign against supposed Russian meddling in US politics and alleged promotion of fake news is being used for the reactionary purposes of preparing for war and imposing censorship on the Internet.

Far from defending democratic rights against Trumps authoritarian methods, the Democrats, in alliance with the intelligence agencies, are spearheading the drive to silence and criminalize political dissent.

Just last week, the Democratic Party overwhelmingly supported a $1.3 trillion budget deal that provides $641 million in added funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency responsible for rounding up and jailing immigrants. They also approved the hiring of hundreds more CBP officials, and signed over an additional $1.6 billion for the militarization of the US-Mexico border, including construction of a wall. They further agreed to give Trump the ability to expand the size of the nations network of immigration internment camps as necessary to ensure the detention of aliens prioritized for removal.

The Democrats have completely abandoned any effort to secure protection for 1.8 million people brought to the US as children who were eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which expired March 5.

They only objected when Trump proposed to take money from the military budget to build his border wall. Last week, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said Trump should instead use the money to help our troops.

Trumps announcement of the troop deployment expresses the profound crisis of bourgeois rule and comes under conditions of increasing tensions between competing factions of the ruling class, largely over questions of foreign policy.

Trump has sought to use the military as a mechanism for strengthening the personalist character of his presidency. In January 2017, he attempted to give his inauguration speech a military cast by deploying a row of soldiers to stand behind the podium. He was thwarted when the soldiers were ordered off the stage mid-speech.

Last month, Trump solidified plans to hold a military parade in Washington, scheduled for November 11, several days after the midterm congressional elections. The parade will be directed by Northern Command, the sector of the Pentagon responsible for military operations in North America.

These moves are aimed not only against Trumps rivals in the bourgeoisie. They are above all directed against the working class.

The announcement of the domestic troop deployment coincides with a growing strike movement led by teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona and Kentucky, which is unfolding largely outside the framework of the corporatist unions. Trump is escalating his xenophobic anti-immigrant campaign in an attempt to undercut the growth of social opposition, divide the working class, and direct the social anger along right-wing nationalist channels. At the same time, the move shows that the ruling class is preparing to respond to the class struggle in the same way it asserts its interests internationally: with brute force.The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka strongly condemns the violence and threats against World Socialist Web Site reporters and members of the SEP and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) by officials from the non-academic workers unions.

Nearly 16,000 non-academic university workers began indefinite strike action on February 28 for a 20 percent wage rise, a medical insurance and pension scheme and other demands. From the outset, the WSWS has provided extensive coverage of the dispute, publicising workers demands and defending their ongoing industrial action.

On March 27, a WSWS journalist and photographer attending a protest meeting of striking non-academic employees were threatened, manhandled and prevented from reporting the event. The meeting was held at the Ananda Samarakoon open air theatre in Nugegoda in the Colombo suburbs.

Within minutes of the WSWS reporter entering the venue, he was seized by several union officials who dragged him towards the stage. He was surrounded by about 20 union bureaucrats who threatened him.

When the journalist explained that he was from the WSWS and insisted on his right to report on the meeting he was grabbed by the neck by another union official who also threatened him and tried to seize his camera. A second bureaucrat standing on the stage kicked him in the neck. The WSWS reporter was then dragged away by two officials and ejected from the meeting.

Union bureaucrats involved in this anti-democratic and violent assault included K. L. D. J. Richmond, Sisira Perera and H. M. R. P. B. Herath. Ordinary workers attending the meeting did not support the cowardly attack.

Union thugs have previously threatened WSWS reporters. On March 20, the University Trade Unions Joint Committee (UTUJC), a coalition of non-academic unions, organised a march on the Sri Lankan parliament. Police stopped the demonstration, erecting barricades at Battaramulla junction near the parliament.

WSWS reporters covering the protest and distributing a leaflet were confronted by a group of union officials led by H. M. R. P. B. Herath, a key member of the University Trade Union Joint Committee at Moratuwa University.

Herath seized leaflets from Dehin Wasantha, a non-academic worker from Motatuwa University and a leading SEP member. Union officials demanded that IYSSE and SEP members stop distributing leaflets, claiming that the WSWS was writing lies and criticising us.

Police arrived during Heraths provocation, supported the union officials and ordered SEP members to leave the area. The SEP members defended their democratic rights and continued the campaign.

Claims by non-academic union officials that that the WSWS is writing lies is patently false. What they claim to be lies, in fact, are the truthlegitimate and accurate exposures of the duplicitous role being played by the unions.

The World Socialist Web Site has posted nine articles and statements about the strike on the Sinhala-language section of the site, two major articles and other news reports in English, and four articles in Tamil. No other media outlet has reported so extensively on the industrial action.

While a union speaker bewailed the lack of coverage by the bourgeois media at the March 27 Nugegoda strikers meeting, S. Kalaraj, a non-academic union branch leader in Jaffna acknowledged at a March 22 mass meeting that the SEP was supporting their struggle. An SEP statement on March 24 condemned a court order obtained by the police at the instigation of the Jaffna vice-chancellor banning strikers picketing the university entrance.

The WSWS has systematically explained the political and economic reasons for the governments refusal to grant the strikers demands or those of other sections of the Sri Lankan working class. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who confront an escalating debt and balance of payments crisis, are imposing International Monetary Fund dictated austerity measures against working people and the rural masses.

SEP statements have made clear that non-academic workers and every other section of the working class can only defend their social rights and living conditions through a political struggle against the Colombo administration and in the fight for socialist policies and a workers and peasants government.

The trade union bureaucracy is completely hostile to this perspective. From the outset, union officials have sought to constrain workers in harmless protests and pathetic political appeals to the government.

Gayan Peiris, branch leader of the National Workers Union, which is affiliated with the ruling United National Party, told strikers on March 20: The [government] officials told us we will not be given a cent. But we, the union leaders have been able to bring the honourable minister to a point where he says something should be given to end the strike.

However, rather than grant the key demands of workers, this something, will be a total fraud which the unions will use to shut down all strike action. This is the experience of every section of the Sri Lankan working class with the unions, which function as an industrial police for the government and business.

SEP statements and articles published by the WSWS have patiently explained the necessity of workers building action committees, democratically controlled by strikers and independent of the trade unions. These committees must organise the fight for non-academic workers rights, expand the struggle and rally support from other workers, youth and the poor. This is one of the essential lessons of the non-academic workers industrial action.

The ongoing strike by non-academic university employees is part of a wave of emerging struggles by education workers and other sections of the working class, not just in Sri Lanka but in the US, Europe and across the world.

The thuggery by union officials against WSWS reporters and SEP supporters is a crude attempt to prevent strikers discussing our analysis and a clear indication that these unions are preparing another betrayal.

The WSWS and the SEP demand the union bureaucracy end its threats and violent attacks. We will not be diverted from telling workers the truth and advancing a political program that meets their needs. We appeal to workers to oppose the unions anti-democratic actions, study our socialist and internationalist program and join and build the SEP.Scientists at the UKs Porton Down military laboratory have not identified Russia as the source of the nerve agent used in the alleged attempted assassination of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Porton Down Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), told Sky News that scientists had not verified the precise source of the material used in the attack in Salisbury on March 4.

His admission confirms that the British establishment is guilty of a criminal hoax, surpassing even that of the dodgy intelligence dossier manufactured to justify the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Notably, the US and British media have been almost silent on Aitkenheads statement, which cuts across efforts by the political establishment to ratchet up tensions with Russia in order to justify not only military rearmament, but moves to suppress domestic political opposition in the name of combatting foreign meddling. While the Guardian reported the story in its online edition, the report had dissappeared from its front page by mid-day.

It is not our job [DSTL] to determine where the agent was manufactured, or by whom, Aitkenhead said. Nor could he confirm that the agent used was novichokthe military grade nerve poison that the British government insists could only have been manufactured by Russia.

At this stage  we have been able to establish that it is novichok or from that family (emphasis added), he said. Asked if Russia could be confirmed as the source, he said that all DTSL had done was provide the scientific information to government who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions that they have come to.

Aitkenheads statements explode the British governments utilisation of the Skripals apparent poisoning to ratchet up NATOs provocations against Moscow.

Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament on March 12 that the agent used against the Skripals was of a type (novichok) manufactured in Russia. Based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world-leading experts at Porton Down  the government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for attempted murder on British soil, she said.

The prime minister did not present a shred of evidence to back up her charge, and her weasel word formulation highly likely was framed so as to leave wriggle room.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson showed no such caution, stating that it was overwhelmingly likely that the Kremlin had authorised the attack. Rejecting Russias continued insistence that it was not involved, Johnson accused Moscow of a haystack of lies and compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler.

Johnson later claimed that Porton Down had now told him they had positively identified the nerve agent as Russian. Questioned on German Broadcaster Deutsche Welle on how he knew that the source of this nerve agent, novichok, is Russian, Johnson replied, When I look at the evidence. I mean the people from Porton Down, the, er, the laboratory [they have samples], they were absolutely categorical. And I asked the guy myself, I said are you sure and he said theres no doubt.

On this basis, Britain sought and won the expulsion of 130 Russian diplomats from 26 countriesmost notably the USand demanded the acceleration of NATO efforts against Russias destabilising activities.

Responding to the statement by Porton Down, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded an inquiry into the Salisbury incident, stating his concern at the the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched.

The provocative and reckless character of these moves was underscored by Defence Minister Gavin Williamson. Addressing British troops stationed on the border between Estonia and Russiapart of the NATO build-up against Moscowhe threatened, The worlds patience is rather wearing thin with President Putin and his actions.

Now it is clear that it is the British government that is guilty of a haystack of lies. As the WSWS warned, The most plausible explanation of the poisoning in Salisbury is that the unfortunate Mr. Skripal, a washed-up double agent, and his daughter are merely expendable pawns in a conspiracy devised by the US and British intelligence agencies to further very definite geostrategic objectives.

In the weeks since the Skripals were found unconscious on a park bench, Britains authorities have refused to provide Moscow with samples of the alleged agent, as is required under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) supervised by the UN Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The British government and a pliant media have constantly changed their storyfrom the Skripals being poisoned by the opioid fentanyl to one involving a military-grade nerve agent. The source of their contamination has also required adjustment from a present brought into the UK by Yulia, to the ventilation system in their car to a door handle on Skripals home.

After claims that the Skripals and Sgt Nick Baileyalso reportedly contaminatedwere unlikely to survive, Bailey was discharged from hospital on March 22. Then, on Thursday, Yulia too made an apparently miraculous recovery. Her whereabouts, along with her father who reportedly remains in a critical condition, are still unknown, and the British government continues to deny Russia access to them.

Aitkenheads statement appears to have caught the government and media on the back foot. When it was revealed he was to speak to Sky News, the suspicion was that he would attempt to substantiate the governments case.

The DSTL chief said that the poison involved was something that is probably only within the capabilities of a state actor (emphasis added), but this still falls far short of Johnsons categorical insistence this is the case.

Moreover, Aitkenheads claim that the agent deployed was an extremely toxic substance for which there is no known antidote only raises further questions. Given Johnsons claim that the novichok supposedly used is ten times more powerful than any other military grade agent, how is it that two of the three affected have now recovered, and why were more people not incapacitated?

Aitkenheads interview came on the eve of the convening of the OPCW today in The Hague to discuss the Salisbury attack at Moscows request. The result of the OPCW investigation is to be announced by early next week.

In the last days, Moscow had upped its denunciations of British allegations, accusing the UK secret services of involvement in the attack.

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the UK and the United States were resorting to open lies, blatant misinformation, with a view to manufacturing a confrontation with Moscow even more dangerous than during the Cold War.

This can be also beneficial to the British government which found itself in an inconvenient situation after failing to fulfil its promises to voters on Brexits conditions, he said, referring to the deepening political crisis over Britains exit from the European Union.

Asked by Sky News to respond to such a grave allegation, Aitkenheads comments were especially noteworthy. He said there was no way that anything like that would ever have come from us or leave the four walls of our facilities.

We deal with a number of very toxic substances as part of the work that we do, he went on. But Porton Down has the highest levels of security and controls and was regularly monitored by the OPCW. [I]f there was any hint that anything that we have would be leaving our four walls then we wouldnt be allowed to operate.

Porton Down is located only eight miles from Salisbury. The secretive facility is the centre of Britains chemical weapons research, which dates back to the First World War. In 2008, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) agreed a 3 million out of court settlement relating to hundreds of ex-servicemen who were used as guinea pigs at the installation between 1939 and 1989. The participants had been told they were taking part in cold remedy studies, but some had been poisoned with sarin and other noxious agents.

In 2003, Porton Down was integral to government propaganda over Iraqs Weapons of Mass Destruction. Just weeks into the Iraq war, chemical weapons expert, Dr David Kelly, who was based at Porton Down, was outed as the source of allegations that the Labour government of Tony Blair had sexed up reports on Iraqs military capability to justify pre-emptive war. Kelly was found dead weeks later on July 17, 2003.

Last week it was revealed that Britains MoD completed a major chemical warfare exercise on Salisbury Plain just days before the Skripals poisoning. The three-week realistic exercise scenario involved 300 military personnel, the Dstl and Royal Marine Commandos in an exercise to test their preparedness for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, an MoD release from February 20 boasted.A female suspect is dead and three people have been hospitalized with serious wounds from a shooting at YouTube headquarters in Northern California Tuesday afternoon. San Bruno, California Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters that the unidentified woman opened fire with a handgun Tuesday around at 12:46 p.m.

Within two minutes of the initial 911 call, police responded with a heavy presence outside the YouTube building. Arriving, they found three victims, two of whom were alongside the body of a woman believed to be the shooter, who evidently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A crowd had gathered outside the building and police frisked and patted down everyone individually, while closing roadways near the building to through traffic.

A senior software engineer, Zach Vorhies, reported that many were calmly leaving the building following the sounding of the fire alarm when he caught a glimpse of the shooter in a courtyard yelling, Come get me.

The alleged shooter has not been identified as of this writing, and no motive or other details have been provided by the authorities. Hospital officials reported that a 36-year-old man was in critical condition, one 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and one 27-year-old woman was in fair condition.

Over 1,100 people are employed at the headquarters of YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, including engineers, sales teams, advertisers and content creators.

Never missing an opportunity to promote the police, President Trump tweeted praise and thanks to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.

While the motive for the shooting remains unclear, what is certain is that American society continues to produce mass shootings on an almost daily basis. An FBI study released in 2014 found that there were 160 mass shootings between 2000 and 2013. In only six of these was the shooter a woman.

This latest shooting rampage follows by seven weeks the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people and triggered mass protests nationally and internationally led by high school students.In the last few weeks, more than 100,000 public service workers employed by federal and local governments have been involved in limited, so-called warning strikes. They are determined to combat poor working conditions and the low wages paid to child care workers, garbage workers, social workers and many others.

On March 28, Frank Bsirske, the leader of the workers union Verdi, announced plans to significantly expand the warning strikes after the Easter break. At a rally in the city of Saarbrucken, Bsirske said that a broad, nationwide mobilisation would be carried out beginning April 9 following the failure of the public employers association to make any sort of offer. The strike wave would include workers involved in child care, waste disposal, airports and hospitals.

The announcement of further strikes is Verdis response to the growing anger and militancy of public employees, who are not prepared to accept constant reductions in staff levels and increased workloads while their wages stagnate or decline.

Bsirskes strike announcement and his criticism of the stance taken by the municipal employers associations cannot hide the fact that Verdiin this, as in all previous contract negotiationsstands on the side of the employers and the government. The union has actively supported the formation of a new grand coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and conservative parties and is actively backing the government. For almost six weeks, the union has placed the current labour dispute on the back burner, limiting its response to short protest strikes and inconsequential pinprick actions.

In fact, Bsirskes exclamations of indignation about the refusal of employers to respond is utterly hypocritical. Three rounds of negotiations with the employers side had already been scheduled at the start of the dispute. The second round of talks on March 12 took place just one day after the new interior minister took up his post and it was common knowledge that the outgoing minister would not make an offer. Even the latest announcement of further warning strikes in the run-up to the third round of negotiations on April 15/16, heavily promoted in the media, was planned in advance to prepare for an eventual sellout.

Many public service workers are familiar with the well-established tactics of the union when it comes to contract bargaining. They are very aware of the close links between Verdi and municipal and state administrationsa dense web of nepotism, complicity and corruption existing at all levels of administration and the trade union hierarchy. The Verdi bureaucratic ladder is a well-worn path for career advancement.

The negotiating partners have known each other for many years. Frank Bsirske was formerly on the employers side and imposed job cuts in his function as a former personnel director in Hanover. The current head of the municipal employers associations (VKA), Thomas Bohle, is a member of the SPD and also a member of Verdi.

The miserable working conditions throughout public service are a direct result of the harsh austerity policies initiated two decades ago by an SPD-Green Party government and implemented since then by all subsequent administrations in close cooperation with Verdi. The government policy of a limit on debt, the so-called debt brake, and the resulting cuts and austerity measures, has led to a massive loss of jobs.

A programme on the ARD television channel at the end of last year revealed that well over 100,000 jobs are lacking in public services. In schools, creches and kindergartens alone, 52,000 additional skilled workers are needed, according to a recent study. Public services are being starved of funds and subsequently face collapse was the conclusion drawn by the report.

The situation is especially bad in the patient care sector. Hospitals, retirement and nursing homes have faced one austerity programme after the other. Strikers told the WSWS that the demand for a 6 percent wage increase is crucial. The current pay level is so low that hardly anyone is prepared to carry out their demanding work. Growing workloads and the pressure to work overtime make the situation even worse. The heavy workloads have led to many nurses and care workers swapping permanent positions for temporary employment, although this is inevitably bound up with financial losses. For many, it is the only way to escape intolerable levels of stress.

In this regard, a letter written by an indignant nurse to the new federal health minister, Jens Spahn (CDU), is significant. Jana Langer is a surgical nurse and writes: Before I blow a fuse, first Mr. Spahn gets a letter. She accuses the minister of lacking any sort of qualifications to head such an important ministry and expresses her indignation that the new minister immediately went onto the offensive against the poor and unemployed receiving paltry Hartz IV social welfare payments.

It is very important that we make clear there is more to human welfare than your ignorant and defamatory announcements in recent weeks directed at people who urgently need our social protection, she writes.

She then addresses the commercialisation of the health care system. Making money out of sickness may be fine for you and may well fill your wallet, but for us it is unethical and reprehensible. Langer asks, Why is it necessary to make horrendous profits out of illness? Why is privatisation being increasingly being promoted? The beneficiaries of this system are shareholders and the managers of facilities; neither patients nor residents benefit from this policy.

The effects of privatisation are devastating. In order to increase profits, cuts to personnel and spending are carried out at the expense of employees, especially nurses and care workers. This was no longer acceptable. She and thousands of my colleagues expected a reversal in this system.

Just a few hours after Jana Langer published this letter on Facebook, she received enthusiastic support from many thousands of colleagues, carers and friends.

With her letter, Langer addressed an issue with far-reaching consequences: the fight against the dramatic deterioration of working conditions in hospitals, nursing homes and throughout public service requires a political struggle against the government.

The new administration is determined to resist and defy popular opinion and opposition to an even greater extent than previous governments. In order to finance its programme of military rearmament, it plans to implement further drastic cuts in social spending and suppress any resistance with police-state methods.

Verdi works closely with the government as it has done with previous governments. The warning strikes reveal the power of public service workers. More than 6 million are employed by federal, state and local governments, working at airports and in the cities, with responsibility for street cleaning, garbage collection and public transport, in day-care centres and social facilities, in hospitals and old peoples homes, in libraries, in theatres or in adult education centres, in administration, swimming pools, forestry, fire stations, etc.

But Verdi has no intention of mobilising this power. On the contrary, its job is to control and suppress such power. In order to fight for better wages and working conditions, to defend their rights and social gains, public service workers must break with the union and set up independent action committees. Such committees should establish contact with other sections of workers in factories and other countries facing very similar problems to organise a joint struggle.The trial concluded last Thursday in Hanoi of Dinh La Thang, a former member of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnams (CPV) highest body, the Politburo, ispart of a two-year campaign by the dominant party faction to purge its main rivals.

The purge followed bitter conflict at the CPVs 12th Congress in January 2016, during which the faction around party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong ousted then Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Thang, a Dung protege, was on trial with other six executives of the state-owned oil conglomerate PetroVietnam (PVN). They face sentences of up to 20 years for alleged mismanagement and deliberate violation of regulations that led to losses of millions of dollars. Thang was sentenced to imprisonment for 18 years.

Thang was already serving a 13-year sentence imposed on January 22 in a trial involving 22 PVN executives over charges of mismanagement and embezzlement. Thang, until his expulsion from the Politburo last May, was also Ho Chi Minh City CPV party boss. He has received the most severe punishment imposed on a former Politburo member, and the first since the 1970s.

These two high-profile trials follow others. In 2016 and 2017, thousands of cases were processed by the courts. Last September, Ocean Bank chairman Nguyen Xuan Son was given a death sentence. Fifty-one other prominent officials and bankers were convicted at the time. The trials are ongoing.

The main targets have been the top management of large energy and banking entities but the crackdown is spreading into real estate, other industrial sectors and CPV regional offices. Like Thang, many prominent defendants have been associated with former Prime Minister Dung.

As well as pursuing factional opponents through the courts, General Secretary Trong has tightened his factions control of the state apparatus. He is secretary of the Central Military Commission and was recently made a member of the Central Party Committee for Public Securitya first for a general secretary. He has also appointed his supporter Tran Quoc Vuong as head of the anti-corruption commission.

Another member of the Trong faction, the partys Central Organisation Commission head Pham Minh Chinh, has been tasked with integrating government and party posts, beginning at the commune and district level. The Diplomat commented in February that many observers expected the process to end in the unification of the posts of party general secretary and head of statea situation that has not existed since Ho Chi Minhs death in 1969.

Both CPV factions are mired in the reactionary, nationalist outlook of Stalinism and support the pro-market doi moi policy that has sought, since 1986, to turn Vietnam into a cheap labour platform for foreign investors. The CPV as a whole backs the use of police-state measures to suppress opposition from workers and the rural poor.

Dung and his faction, however, have pushed for an acceleration of economic reforms, including the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Such moves would undermine significant layers of CPV bureaucracy, whose privileges depend on these corporations.

The Trong faction also fears that the rapid implementation of the doi moi policy was creating conditions for a social explosion and wants economic policy more firmly under the partys grip.

Pro-market restructuring has already led to high levels of social inequality. A tiny layer of the ruling elite enjoy great wealth while most of the countrys 93 million people live in rural poverty or on poverty-level wages. The average annual income is around $US2,200, despite rapid economic growth, this year expected to be 6.5 percent. Foreign direct investment reached $29.68 billion in 2017.

The government is presenting its purge of functionaries in the SOEs as necessary to make their operations more transparent for foreign investors. The Ministry of Planning and Investment has set out a timetable for 375 SOEs, worth a combined capital of $US4.7 billion, to be wholly or partially divested by 2020. The SOEs currently contribute up to one third of the countrys $202 billion annual gross domestic product.

The factional disputes also have been fuelled by rapidly rising geo-political tensions, particularly between the US and China. The Dung faction was oriented more closely to Washington. Dung was behind the whipping up of anti-Chinese riots in 2014 after China placed an oil rig in a disputed area of the South China Sea.

The Trong leadership has continued to develop a close relationship with the US, begun under the Obama administration, including military cooperation. Vietnam has strongly criticised Beijings territorial claims in the South China Sea. In December, the Trump administrations national security assessment defined Vietnam as a cooperative maritime partner and the US is seeking to consolidate it as an ally against Beijing.

The US think tank, the Brookings Institute, noted last month that despite closer military ties with the US, including a week-long visit this year by the US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, Hanoi still seeks a stable relationship with China due to their economic dependence and geographic position. It pointed out that Vietnam has comprehensive or strategic partnerships with 16 nations, including Japan, Russia, India and, more recently, Australia.

Under Trong, Vietnam is seeking to ease tensions with China. Le Hong Hiep, an analyst at Singapores ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute told Reuters: Vietnam will only embrace the US at a pace that doesnt cause an over-reaction from China.

A great deal is at stake economically. China is the countrys largest source of imported goods and largest trading partner overall, but the US is Vietnams largest export market. As a result, the Trump administrations decision to pull out of the Trans Pacific Partnership was a major blow to the Vietnamese regime, which hoped to expand its American markets.Country

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Chavez Cuanto te queremos!



Por culpa de Chavez



Cerveza Polar







Algun dia Colombia volvera a la ideologia de Bolivar







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LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares?



























Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano...



Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos:



Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias.



Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera.



No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje.



En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio.



Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida.



Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella.



Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal.



Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista.



Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen.



Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che?



Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio.



Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora.



Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo.



Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo.



Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania.



No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar.



Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.





Alguna duda?



Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino



Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia.



OZ1



OZ2



OZ3



OZ4



Homenaje a Jason Galarraga



La Victoria de Samotracia



Odalisca



Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008



























La Sierra Nevada de Merida



Nuestro precioso Churum Meru



Homenaje a Picasso



Autoretrato



Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola?

La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.

Mi profesion?

Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.

Sal en la Coca Cola?

A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.

De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:

Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto

Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)

azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)

Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas

Mucha Cafeina

Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio

Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe

Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion

El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.

Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.

Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.

En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).

Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.

La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.

Bebidas Light?

Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el

Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.



Publicado por loretahur



En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur

MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina:

1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias.

2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina.

3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard.

4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos.

5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla.

6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos.

Ahora... sobre la margarina:

1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) .

2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias.

3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno).

4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer.

5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna.

6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo.

7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina.

Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas:

* No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo).

* No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!!



No a la guerra, Si a la Paz



Misterios de la ciencia...



Los costos de la guerra



medicos y capitalismo...



Capitalismo...



medicos (2)



Quien educa a nuestros hijos?



Los Medios...



Sin Palabras...



Chistes feministas

- Cual es el problema, Eva?

- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz...

- Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.

- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...

- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.

- Que es un hombre?

- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.

- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.

- Cual es el truco?.

- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.

- Cual?

- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.





Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Ellas...



Ellas (2)...



Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1

Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije:

-Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro.

Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria.

Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre?

-Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa!



VENGANZA NUMERO 2

Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris.

A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita:

- Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!!

Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta.

La mujer paso quince dias en Francia.

El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla.

Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es:

- Y amor me trajiste mi francesita??

- Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina.



VENGANZA NUMERO 3

El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion.

- No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo.

- Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz.

Te quiero confesar algo.

- Esta bien, esta bien. Habla!

- He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga.

- Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!!



machismo y cibernetica



Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston.

-Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide.

-Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!.



.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.

Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos.

Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco.

Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas



Gol !!!!



Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso!



Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy!

Cynthia Nixon stopped by The Wendy Williams Show today in her first national TV interview since announcing her run for New York governor.

I love New York, and today I'm announcing my candidacy for governor. Join us: https://t.co/9DwsxWW8xX pic.twitter.com/kYTvx6GZiD  Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) March 19, 2018

The mom of three says, The election of Donald Trump was a real wake-up call. Nixon, who is known for her role as Miranda Hobbes in Sex and the City, wants to tackle not only the grassroots issues that affect her community, but also larger issues such as gun control.

Williams and Nixon also spoke about the senseless killings of unarmed black men, an issue that Nixon believes is a black man thing. She also said that if we are going to say black lives matter, we have to mean it.

They also talked about black women, a group that Nixon believes  they are the cornerstone and the backbone of the Democratic Party. She stated that we need to let them lead. Nixon then made a very valid point that black women are going to stop showing up for the Democratic Party if the Democratic Party doesnt start showing up for them.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:By Richy Rosario

Prominent apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela will be commemorated with an official state funeral by the South African government, ABC News reports. South Africas President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Madikizela-Mandela will be put to rest on April 14 during a national funeral.

The 81-year-old activist died on Monday (Apr. 2) at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, reportedly in the company of loved ones and family. She was mainly known for taking charge in the fight against apartheid after her husband, the late Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years.

Ramaphosa publicly praised her legacy in an issued statement: In the coming days, as we mourn the passing of this heroine of our struggle, let us reflect on her rich, remarkable and meaningful life, he stated. Let us draw inspiration from the struggles that she fought and the dream of a better society to which she dedicated her life.

There will be many other memorial functions across the country in almost every province, Ramaphosa contined, reportedly speaking outside Madikizela-Mandelas home. We would like to express our gratitude and our thanks to many across the country and the world who are wishing us well who are wishing her movement well.

When news of the public figures death was made known, the masses swiftly reacted on Twitter:

Mama Winnie. Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela-Mandela. You deserved a year back for every year you were banned. One for every year you were jailed, hounded, terrorized. One for every year you were erased from the liberation you led, by the party you built. Amandla!#Winnie pic.twitter.com/ltjRINEA4D  Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) April 2, 2018

WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela (Sept. 26, 1936-Apr. 2, 2018): Asked in 1994 about possibility of reconciliation with Madiba, Winnie said: I am not fighting to be the countrys First Lady. In fact, I am not the sort of person to carry beautiful flowers and be an ornament to everyone pic.twitter.com/S6R9YWoAkv  Charles Onyango-Obbo (@cobbo3) April 2, 2018

Still an inspiration even after her passing to all the women of South Africa. South Africans pay tribute to anti-apartheid leader and Mother of the Nation, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. pic.twitter.com/VWrAzhoWXW  Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 3, 2018

This post South African Government Hosts National Funeral For Winnie Madikizela-Mandela first appeared on Vibe.After two days of tweets from President Donald Trump on a "caravan" of migrants traveling through Mexico, the Mexican government has said it is dealing with the hundreds of Central Americans making the trek.

The Mexican government said late Monday it had already sent back around 400 marchers to their home countries -- an organizer said Tuesday there were around 1,000 Central American participants, largely from Honduras -- "with strict adherence to the legal framework and full respect for their human rights." It was unclear, though, when those people had been repatriated, or if it was in response to recent pressure.

The group organizing the march, Pueblo Sin Fronteras, told ABC News on Tuesday that the Mexican government on Monday had started meeting with all of the participants and issued them transit or humanitarian visas. Mexico said in its Monday statement that the participants had entered Mexico "without meeting the requirements of law" and would thus be "subject to an administrative immigration procedure."

Central American migrants arrive to a sports center during the annual Migrant Stations of the Cross caravan, organized by the 'Pueblo Sin Fronteras' activist group, as the group makes a stop in Matias Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico, Monday, April 2, 2018. (AP)

No one had been arrested or detained Monday or Tuesday, Alex Mensing, a project coordinator for the group, told ABC News. He said he was not sure what the 400 deportations claim referred to.

With their new paperwork, the "caravan" participants may decide to peel off from the group, but it was unclear how many would do so, Mensing said.

While similar migrant marches have taken place previously, the statement from Mexico's interior ministry said that unlike in past years, the Mexican government would offer refugee status to the Central Americans, when appropriate. Organizers of the march said many of the participants had already planned to claim asylum in Mexico or the United States, through legal, official channels.

Trump launches Twitter tirade and declares 'DACA is dead'

Trump warns of migrant caravan following Fox News report, but organizers say reality far from their portrayal

Story continues

Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which assists migrants and refugees, said it hoped the march would draw attention to the issues of the right to seek asylum and the right to seek refuge. Mexico said it viewed the march in this light, as a "public demonstration" that takes place annually.

Central American migrants participating in the Migrant Stations of the Cross caravan or 'Via crucis,' set up camp at a sports center during the caravan's few-days stop in Matias Romero, Oaxaca state, Mexico, late Monday, April 2, 2018. (The Associated Press)

The current "caravan" set off on March 25 from a city near Mexico's southern border with Guatemala and on Tuesday it was in the town of Matias Romero, in Mexico's Oaxaca state, southeast of Mexico City, according to Pubelo Sin Fronteras. Mensing said the group did not expect to reach the U.S. border for three more weeks. The number of participants this time was "unprecedented," Pueblo Sin Fronteras said in a statement Monday.

After Fox News anchors over the weekend discussed a BuzzFeed article about the march, Trump fired off a series of tweets accusing Mexico of not doing enough to stop the march and tying it to the United States' Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects people who came to the U.S. as children and remained illegally.

Mexico's foreign minister pushed back Sunday, tweeting, "Every day Mexico and the U.S. work together on migration throughout the region."

On Tuesday morning, Trump threatened that the march "had better be stopped before it" reached the U.S. border.

The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our Weak Laws Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

The Mexican government said Monday night, if members of the "caravan" reached any U.S. ports of entry, it would be up to American authorities to decide whether to let them enter the country.

It was not the job of the Mexican government, it said, "to exercise immigration decisions of the United States or any other nation, so it will be the competent authorities of the United States that decide, if appropriate, to authorize or not the entry to its territory of the members of the caravan who request it through the authorized entry and exit ports."

Central American migrants from Honduras sing their national anthem during the annual Migrant Stations of the Cross caravan or 'Via crucis,' organized by the 'Pueblo Sin Fronteras' activist group, as the group makes a few-days stop. (The Associated Press)

The march, versions of which have happened on and off since 2010 -- including twice last year -- will conclude at an official port of entry in California, Arizona or New Mexico, depending on train schedules, Mensing told ABC News this weekend.

Also late Monday, the organizers, Pueblo Sin Fronteras, said it continued to stand with "displaced people" despite Trump's "bullying."

It said the newfound attention on the march has led "right-wing white surpremacists" to threaten and call for violence against the marchers and its supporters, including "personally with hate-filled phone calls and emails" and calls to open fire and carry out drone strikes on them.

President Donald Trump arrives for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 2, 2018. (The Associated Press)

"On April 1, the U.S. President opportunistically invoked refugee caravans as a pretext for threatening immigrants already in the country, specifically DACA recipients, with a so-called 'Nuclear Option' to remove their protections from detention and deportation," Pueblo Sin Fronteras said in its statement, referring to a legislative move Trump has backed. "Trump is trying to turn Central American refugees and other immigrant communities against each other, and use them as a bargaining chip with Mexico."

"In the face of this bullying and these threats of mass violence," the group continued, "we continue to stand in solidarity with displaced people of all races, ethnicities, creeds, abilities, and gender and sexual identities. We invite all those who envision a world where human rights are honored to join us."

ABC News' Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he is inclined to pull U.S. troops out of Syria soon.

"I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation," Trump said during a press conference with leaders of the Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. "It's time. We were successful against ISIS. We'll be successful against anybody militarily, but sometimes it's time to come back home  and we're thinking about that very seriously."

The president said getting rid of ISIS has been the United States' primary goal in Syria and that "we've almost completed that task."

He added that the U.S. will be making a decision very quickly in coordination with others in the area as to what we'll do and suggested that if others, like Saudi Arabia, want the U.S. to maintain a presence, perhaps they should pay for it.

"Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision and I said, well, you know, you want us to stay, maybe you will have to pay but a lot of people, you know, we do a lot of things in this country. We do them for, we do them for a lot of reasons. But it is very costly for our country and it helps other countries a hell of a lot more than it helps us. So we're going to be making a decision, we've had a tremendous military success, Trump said.

Saudi Arabia's young Crown Prince, who is wrapping up a three-week tour of the U.S, urged the U.S. to keep troops in Syria just last week.

The heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman told TIME Magazine on Friday, "We believe American troops should stay for at least the mid-term, if not the long-term," warning of how withdrawal would strengthen Iran.

The president's remarks come after he suggested last week in surprise comments that the U.S. would soon pull out of Syria.

Trump first floated the idea of "coming out of Syria, like, very soon" Thursday during a speech on infrastructure in Ohio.

Story continues

The president also seemed to signal a long-term commitment to the fight against ISIS, saying in his opening remarks of Tuesday's press conference, we will not rest until ISIS is gone."

Trump has previously been deeply critical of his predecessor for forecasting what the U.S. would do militarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, accusing President Obama of revealing the strategy to the enemy by announcing the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a candidate, Trump vowed that he would never do something like that.

While President Trump was voicing his support for a U.S. withdrawal from Syria, three top U.S. officials who lead American efforts in the country were reinforcing the administration's commitment to its efforts there.

Less than a mile from Trump and the White House, a top general, diplomat, and development official laid out a strategy going forward in complete contrast to Trump's calls to "get out."

But at the same time, the top U.S. general in the Middle East, Gen. Joseph Votel talked about the great work ahead.

"The hard part, I think, is in front of us," Votel, the U.S. Central Command chief, told an audience at the U.S. Institute of Peace, "and that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, addressing the long-term issues of reconstruction and other things that will have to be done."

Votel was joined by the U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green and the Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Brett McGurk  and all three discussed the importance of their agencies' work to ensure the defeat of ISIS as a key U.S. national security concern.

None of them discussed the idea of drawing down the U.S. presence in Syria.

"We're in Syria to fight ISIS. That is our mission, and that mission isn't over, and we're going to complete that mission," McGurk added.

A top U.S. diplomat, he also declined to confirm whether Trump had suspended $200 million in U.S. aid to Syria, saying only that it was under a "regular review process" to ensure it's spent as effectively as possible. A State Department official confirmed to ABC News Friday that the aid had been suspended for the time being, but McGurk insisted the review has not hampered the diplomats and development officials' work in the field.

The U.S. has provided nearly $7.7 billion on the Syrian crisis since its start, according to the State Department, including humanitarian assistance to refugees in neighboring countries. As a candidate and in office, Trump repeatedly blasted the amount the U.S. has spent in the Middle East.

"We will have as of three months ago, $7 trillion dollars in the Middle East over the last 17 years. We get nothing, nothing out of it, nothing," Trump said Tuesday.

In contrast, McGurk tried to downplay the total amount the U.S. has spent in Syria: "We have only spent a total of about $100 million [on "stabilization" efforts], and half of that is on counter IEDs, and the coalition has contributed about the same sum, and that is going up as we speak," he said, touting the very kind of burden sharing that Trump is calling for.

ABC News' Elizabeth McLaughlin contributed to this report.The Oklahoma teacher walkouts  a protest against low wages and cuts to school funding  have inspired people to reveal the dilapidated and outdated state of their textbooks.

The two-day protest unfolded a week after Republican Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma signed a $424 million tax plan, which included $50 million reserved for education funding, reported Oklahoma City local station News 9.

Oklahoma textbooks are lacking relevant information. (Photo: Twitter/jamiebh73)

That $50 million, Oklahoma Education Association President Alicia Priest told CNN, will provide less than one textbook per student in Oklahoma. Currently, she said, many of her states textbooks are 20 years old.

Teachers are particularly frustrated by textbooks that are often held together by duct tape, contain outdated content, or are absent altogether from their curriculum. As a result, here are some major world events that modern-day Oklahoma kids potentially arent being taught.

my history textbook is so old it doesnt even have the Oklahoma City Bombing in it. and that was in 1995. #OklahomaTeacherWalkout  lauren  (@nostalgicminter) April 3, 2018

The Oklahoma City bombing

One of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history was the Oklahoma City bombing, which occurred in April 1995 when a security guard named Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck full of explosives outside of a federal building, killing 168 people. But according to a Twitter user named Lauren, her history book is so old, it bears no mention of the event. In 2010, the State Senate voted to require the State Board of Education to include the bombing in the core curriculum, but until then, students received limited information.

One of the reasons its not over yetThis is a textbook from my daughters class. Its a history book and the current President in it is George W. Bush. We can do better Oklahoma. #OklahomaTeacherWalkout#oklaed #oklaleg @gophouseok @oksenategop @housedemsok @oksenatedems pic.twitter.com/F5FE3JcFQh  Jamie (@jamiebh73) March 30, 2018

The Obama presidency

Story continues

Judging from a history book provided by the Owasso public school district in Oklahoma, the U.S. is still years away from its first black president, Barack Obama; affordable health care; the repeal of Dont Ask, Dont Tell; the death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden; and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which, in part, changed the limited time for filing complaints of wage discrimination. As one mom named Jamie tweeted, One of the reasons its not over yetThis is a textbook from my daughters class. Its a history book and the current President in it is George W. Bush. We can do better Oklahoma.

Two Oklahoma teachers shared these photos w/ me. Their students use these textbooks. It blows my mind. pic.twitter.com/kF6Azdlgy4  Alexia Campbell (@AlexiaCampbell) April 2, 2018

The death of Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq

The textbook The World and Its People (the green books depicted) was originally published in May 2004, which means that kids arent learning about President George W. Bushs reelection or the 2006 execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for his crimes against humanity and its subsequent impact on American politics.

Hillary Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state in February 2009, a portion of history not included in an Oklahoma history book. (Photo: Getty Images)

Hillary Clintons tenure as secretary of state

Sixteen-year-old Muskogee High School student Raylynn Thompson told the Washington Post that her history textbook cuts off in January 2009, at the inauguration of President Obama. Back then, Hillary Clinton was still a New York senator, and while she had been offered the role of secretary of state, she hadnt yet started the gig.

Oklahoma science textbooks may not cover climate change. (Photo: Getty Images)

Climate change

Mom Alisha Malaska told PBS that her son, who attends Bethany High School in Oklahoma, was learning about science from a 10-year-old textbook, which likely didnt include facts about climate change. To be fair, climate change is a controversial topic in schools all over the country, as NPR reported in 2016. However, one possible reason for the lack of education is outdated textbooks.

Our textbooks are so outdated they "talk about going to your local librarian so they can talk to you about this new thing called the Internet," says Oklahoma teacher Allyson Kubat, who's rallying with thousands of educators for increased school funding https://t.co/pB0mGjPae3 pic.twitter.com/FD8Fd4ikiB  CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) April 2, 2018

The internet

Oklahoma teacher Allyson Kubat told CNN that her textbooks talk about going to your librarian so they can talk to you about this new thing called the internet. And how to look up information on microfiche.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.A brides parents, who live in China, may not be able to attend her wedding because they were denied visas by the U.S. State Department. (Photo: Getty Images)

Weve seen how American immigration laws have broken apart families, such as when some arrive illegally and have children in the U.S., and then the parent is deported back to his or her country. For authorized immigrants, though, theres another legal hurdle that often causes heartache: obtaining a visa to visit the U.S. for weddings, the birth of a child, or other special occasions, which is often a very difficult process.

This week, Fran Romano went to Florida NBC affiliate WFLA with the story of how her future daughter-in-laws parents, who live in China, have just been denied visas to attend the wedding from the U.S. State Department.

She wants to dance with her father. She wants to dance  because Im going to be dancing with my son, and she wants to dance with her father, Romano told WFLA of future daughter-in-law Yili Lin. But as of right now, they cant, because the U.S. State department decided that there was not sufficient evidence that they would return home after their 30-day visitors visa expires.

Of course, theyre going to return, Romano argued. They have their parents that they take care of. They need to get back to China. They would be coming here for their daughters wedding.

Sadly, this is a common occurrence for family members of immigrants who hail from certain countries. While the citizens of some countries, such as France or the U.K., dont even need a visa to come to their childrens weddings in the United States, others need to apply for a visa.

Theres a presumption by law that anyone applying for a visa needs to show that theyre not immigrating, and in very poor countries its harder for anyone to overcome that, especially if an American son or daughter can sponsor their parent for a green card, Anastasia Tonello, president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

To get one of these visas, would-be visitors have to show that they have a life anchoring them to their home country  other children and grandchildren, a good job, a spouse with a good job. If they have children and grandchildren in the U.S., or a marketable skill that would get them hired easily in this country, that might make it seem as if theyre more likely to try to stay here instead.

Story continues

Tonello has seen a lot of visas denied to families from India. Their son is marrying an American; mom cant come. Theyre having a baby; mom cant come see the baby, she says.

This was a problem even before Donald Trump came into office, Tonello points out, but it might be getting even more difficult under the current administrations immigration policies.

We have the month-to-month visa issuances from the Department of State, and if you compare this year to previous years, visa issuances are down, she says. We could speculate that fewer people are applying, but I know denials are up.

The frustrating thing is that these would-be visitors cant do much to help their cases, because the denials are based on fundamental facts of who they are and where theyre from.

While Romano said her son and his fiancee have taken their story to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., for help, Tonello said that doesnt usually get a denial reversed. If a senator or representative makes an inquiry on a case, [the State Department] has to at a minimum tell them what section of law the person was denied under, she says. In most cases its denial overcoming immigrant intent. The only way senators can help is if there was a mistake.

A glimmer of hope for the family members abroad is that their circumstances might change  if they have a daughter back home who gets married and has a child, for instance.

Tonello says that if Yili Lins parents dont make it to the wedding, she may have another option to have them visit later if she becomes an American citizen.

[Children] end up having to sponsor their parents for green cards only because thats the only way they can get their parents to come, Tonello explains. They cant get visitors visas, so they go through the green card process. Ironically, thats what this whole process was meant to avoid in the first place.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

 Female news anchor asks Facebook if her outfit shows too much skin

 Dad says 6-year-old daughters homework on President Trump seems like indoctrination

 Stormy Daniels fights Twitter troll: You are implying that women with certain jobs cannot be assaulted

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.Photo credit: Getty

From Cosmopolitan

Michael Brown wanted to get into Stanford University since he was in the sixth grade, so when he was admitted this past winter, his hard work and dedication finally paid off. He never anticipated that he'd also get into every one of the other 19 schools he applied to, the top schools in the country.

"It's something I'm proud of because I see my hard work paying off, determination paying off, sacrifices paying off," Brown, 17 and from Houston, told CNN.

Not only does he have his choice of colleges, but the confidence to know he'll be able to go for free, as he's been offered full ride scholarships to every single one - including the eight Ivy League universities. He opened his first acceptance letter, the one from Stanford, back in December at a friend's house. Here was his reaction:

Thats all he ever wanted, his mother Berthinia Rutledge-Brown told People. But after that, other acceptances he didnt expect started to trickle in.

Last Wednesday was Ivy Day, the day when all the Ivy League schools release their admissions decisions. Brown was shocked to find out he'd been admitted to every one.

He was amazed, Rutledge-Brown told People. He sat on the couch and checked Harvard last because he really didnt think hed get in.

Rutledge-Brown had three miscarriages before she had her son, so she said she poured everything she could into making sure he had the best life possible. She works two jobs.

I wanted him so badly and made sure I could give him a good upbringing, she said. I was so excited about being a mom.

She's "very proud" and says the whole process has been a humbling experience. They're both still in shock about all the acceptance letters.

In high school, Brown participated in debate team, mock trial and student government, while also volunteering for political campaigns. He only received one B during his entire academic career. Brown attributes part of his success to programs like QuestBridge, Emerge Fellowship and Breakthrough Collaborative, which match students from lower-income communities to higher education opportunities.

Story continues

Because of these programs, he knows he'll have at least one friend at all the Ivy League schools if he decides to go.

"For me, it's important to highlight that I'm not the only student of color who is achieving," he told CNN. "I want people to be informed and get access to these same programs."

Follow Emma on Instagram.

You Might Also LikeDouala (AFP) - Twelve European tourists have been freed after being taken hostage in western Cameroon, where anglophone militants are campaigning for an independent state, the government said on Wednesday.

The group, comprising seven Swiss and five Italians, "were taken hostage by a band of armed terrorists" in the Nguti area of the Southwest Region before being rescued by troops on Monday in a "special operation," the communications ministry said in a statement.

Separately, six municipal councillors in the neighbouring Northwest Region -- another seat of anglophone unrest -- were also released in operations that saw "tens of assailants neutralised, huge stocks of weapons and ammunitions as well as large quantities of drug(s) seized," it said.

Cameroon's government is fighting insurgents demanding a separate state for the two regions.

They are are home to most of the country's anglophones, who account for about a fifth of the predominantly French-speaking population.

On October 1 last year, the breakaway movement issued a symbolic declaration of independence for "Ambazonia," their name for the putative state.

Cameroon's president, Paul Biya, has met the agitation with a crackdown, including curfews, raids and restrictions on travel.

Unrest has increased in recent weeks, with attacks on security forces and civilians and a spate of kidnappings of officials.

The Europeans, members of an organisation called the African Adventure Group, were seized in the area of Moungo-Ndor while they were heading for a tourist site called the Twin Lakes, the ministry said.

The lakes, lying in volcanic craters, have special significance in the local traditional religion, and are deemed to represent the male and female genders.

The statement did not say when the group, or the municipal councillors in the Northwest Region, had gone missing.New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday aimed at blocking the Trump administration from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 census, saying such a question violates the U.S. Constitutions mandate to count all persons.

In a statement, Schneidermans office said the suit was filed on behalf of 17 states plus the District of Columbia, six cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It comes a little over a week after the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, announced it would add the question. Schneiderman said the decision to add a citizenship question blatantly undermined the Constitutions mandate to count all people.

The prospect of someone saying, I am from the Trump administration knocking on your door to ask a question about citizenship would understandably provoke real fear, Schneiderman said during a Tuesday press conference, flanked by members of New Yorks congressional delegation.

The numbers from the census are used to determine how many seats each state gets in Congress, as well as how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds are allocated. Democratic members of New Yorks congressional delegation said Tuesday that the decision to add a citizenship question was an attack on states, like New York, with high immigrant populations in an attempt to cut their congressional representation and share of federal funding.

It is being added to harm states and cities like New York both politically and financially, said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). We are being unfairly targeted because we have large, diverse immigrant populations which we welcome and support.

Civil rights groups voiced loud opposition to adding the question, noting that the bureau has not tested the question and that immigrant groups will be afraid to respond out of fear about their immigration status. In September, census researchers reported they were already seeing an unprecedented amount of concern about the confidentiality of census responses amid the Trump administrations harsh immigration rhetoric and policies.

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The census already asks Americans about their citizenship as part of the American Community Survey, a smaller annual survey that goes out to about 3 million people. The Department of Justice asked the Commerce Department to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, saying it needed better information to better enforce Section 2 the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law designed to protect the voting power of minorities. Section 2 prohibits discriminatory voting practices.

The census has not asked about citizenship on the decennial form since 1950, and former top Justice Department officials say that the ACS provides adequate data to enforce the law.

On Tuesday, Schneiderman questioned whether U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was really interested in better enforcing the Voting Rights Act.

Jeff Sessions has not brought one case under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act since hes been Attorney General, he said.

A Commerce Department spokesman expressed confidence that the decision to add the citizenship question would withstand legal scrutiny.

We are not going to comment on the specifics of pending litigation, but these cases are without merit. We look forward to prevailing in court and continuing to work with the Census Bureau to conduct a complete and accurate 2020 census, the spokesman said.

This post has been updated.

Related...

Trump Administration Decides To Add A Question About Citizenship To 2020 Census

Trump Administration's Justification For A Census Question On Citizenship Appears Shaky

Census Bureau Expert Adviser Rips Decision To Add A Citizenship Question

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.The words written about Martin Luther King Jr. during his too-short life and in the half-century since his assassination  50 years ago Wednesday, on April 4, 1968  would be impossible to count. King himself left a deep archive of writings, speeches and sermons, too. His spoken orations in particular are a powerful reminder of why he was destined to become part of the pantheon of American icons.

One has to remember that King above all was a preacher, says Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, chair of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the Indiana University Bloomington and an editor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Sermonic Power of Public Discourse.

While she notes that he was so prolific that its near impossible to choose, Calloway-Thomas spoke to TIME about the pieces of Kings work that everyone should know about. They are:

The Death of Evil upon the Seashore (May 17, 1956)

The death of the Egyptians upon the seashore is a glaring symbol of the ultimate doom of evil in its struggle with good.

This sermon was delivered to a massive crowd at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Courts Brown v. Board of Education ruling against school segregation, at an early moment in this phase of the civil rights movement, with the Montgomery bus boycott still ongoing. To Calloway-Thomas, the sermon is noteworthy for the optimistic vision it presented at such a moment. He had to help African-American people imagine themselves, she says. I think the Death of Evil upon the Seashore is that speech.

It wasnt the first time King preached on these ideas, and in fact the link he draws between the Biblical exodus and the story of African-American progress toward freedom and equality was an old one, but those present noted that his delivery that day was particularly moving. He taps into that reservoir, that myth of the Hebrew children in bondage, Calloway-Thomas says, and he elevates it and makes it more publicly known.

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Read the full speech here

Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963)

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

Yes, this is a letter, not a speech or sermon  but Calloway-Thomas says its worth including on such a list anyway. After all, the circumstances that created this letter are inherently linked to the fact that he couldnt deliver a speech in person. At the time, King found himself jailed in Alabama after ignoring an injunction against protests in Birmingham. During that time, a group of clergymen wrote an open letter urging him away from protests. He wanted to respond but, from the jail, his only option if he wanted to answer quickly was to write it down. Ideas have moments and if those moments arent used, you lose that rhetorical moment and it no longer has the force it had, Calloway-Thomas says.

So, in a format she likens to a spoken call and response, he answers the questions that were posed to him about his methods. While also explaining that hes on strong biblical footing, he provides the public with a way to understand the work hes doing. His rhetorical skills are also on display as he uses a story about his 6-year-old daughters early perceptions of racism and segregation to underline that the matter is not theoretical. In the years since, this letter has become one of 20th century American historys most famous documents.

Read the full letter here

I Have a Dream (Aug. 28, 1963)

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

The speech that remains Martin Luther King Jr.s most famous oration  one of the most famous orations in American history, if not world history  is that well-known for a good reason, Calloway-Thomas says. This was the moment when the world as a whole really saw King, and the moment was carefully orchestrated, framed by the Lincoln Memorial. Think about how dazzling that was! she says. Think about the robust visuals and the lovely words echoing from Dr. King. It was an elixir that was made to circulate.

But, she says, the power of his voice and the impact of the image can sometimes overwhelm the full message of the speech. Dr. King had some pretty radical statements in that speech, Calloway-Thomas adds. Most people gloss over the part in that speech where King says that if we overlook the urgency of now therell be a rude awakening. Ive never seen a student go to that section of the speech; people go right to I have a dream and they dont notice the threat.

Read the full speech here

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A Time to Break Silence (April 4, 1967)

We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors.

In this speech, King publicly answers his conscience, as Calloway-Thomas puts it, on the matter of the Vietnam War. With an undercurrent of anguish about the fact that he feels he must speak, and must criticize the choices of Lyndon Johnson, who had often been an ally, he entered the arena of opposition to the war.

This is an unsettling moment. People paid attention, but that meant there was backlash, she says. President Johnson and many others felt that he ought to stay focused on domestic civil-rights issues and leave the foreign policy to them, but in this speech he makes clear why those two topics cannot truly be separated. That idea, Calloway-Thomas says, parallels the experience of earlier fighters for justice, such as Frederick Douglass, who got to the world stage with one kind of story  their personal freedom narratives, in that case  and shocked some of their allies when they showed that their thinking was far more expansive.

Read the full speech here

Ive Been to the Mountaintop (April 3, 1968)

I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.

Start with the date on this one: thats April 3, 1968, the night before King was assassinated. In this speech, which summons Kings primary background as a preacher, he returns to the story of Moses. Rather than speaking on the joy of the Exodus, though, he turns to the end of Moses life, and his death just outside the Promised Land to which he had delivered his people. King casts himself as another leader who may not be there for the end of the journey. He used Christian values and Democratic traditions to bring people together, so its not surprising that he goes to this idea, Calloway-Thomas says. Whats significant here is when it occurred. It was almost apocalyptic. Because it occurred at that time it has lingering significance and carries with it an abundance of pathos.

Of course, as Calloway-Thomas says, we can imagine a scenario in which King gave this speech and then lived. The emotional resonance of his words might be lessened without the seemingly prescient layer of fate, but the story would be there all the same. Heres a man talking about longevity, heres a man talking about gods Will, heres a man talking about going up to the mountaintop and looking skyward toward heaven and looking over into the Promised Land, she says. Its a gorgeous story.

Read the full speech hereLondon (AFP) - British advertising giant WPP on Wednesday revealed it had launched an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct by its chief executive Martin Sorrell, reportedly of a financial and personal nature.

The statement came after The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that WPP was looking at whether Sorrell "misused company assets" alongside "allegations of improper personal behaviour".

Sorrell, 73, denied any wrongdoing but said the company that he founded over three decades ago had no choice but to investigate an allegation of "financial impropriety" made against him.

The advertiser said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange: "The board of WPP has appointed independent counsel to conduct an investigation in response to an allegation of personal misconduct against Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive officer of WPP.

"The investigation is ongoing. The allegations do not involve amounts which are material to WPP," it added.

Sorrell said in a separate statement: "Reports in the media have stated that WPP is investigating an allegation of financial impropriety by me, specifically as to the use of company funds.

"This allegation is being investigated by a law firm. I reject the allegation unreservedly but recognise that the company has to investigate it.

"I understand that this process will be completed shortly."

Sorrell added: "As a significant share owner, my commitment to the company, which I founded over thirty years ago, remains absolute."

News of the probe sent WPP's share price sliding 2.3 percent in early deals on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index.

Long-serving Sorrell has made headlines in recent years regarding his sizeable pay, at a time when traditional advertising groups struggle against fierce competition from the likes of Google and Facebook.

Sorrell received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.A top State Department post dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism has been empty for over a year. (Photo: Robert Nickelsberg via Getty Images)

A State Department position designed specifically to focus on anti-Semitism has remained empty since President Donald Trump took office. Jewish leaders have repeatedly urged the White House to fill the post, and this week they renewed their push.

The Anti-Defamation League, a national human rights organization, sent a letter to Trump on Monday calling on him to name a new special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism.

With such hatred escalating globally, ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt wrote that the U.S. needs its voice on anti-Semitism around the world.

That voice has been silent for the past fifteen months, Greenblatt wrote.

Established by the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004, the special envoy position was most recently filled by Ira Forman, former executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council. Forman served from May 2013 until Jan. 20, 2017, when, like many other top State officials appointed by President Barack Obama, he was let go.

Past special envoys have provided input on anti-Semitism for State Department reports on human rights and religious freedom. The office also held trainings for individuals embarking on foreign postings so they would know how to identify anti-Semitism and what to report to the State Department.

These are things that dont happen unless someone is responsible in the State Department for making sure it happens, Hannah Rosenthal, who served as the special envoy before Forman, told reporters last year.

Although the office still has a presence on the State Department website, its final two remaining employees were reportedly reassigned in July 2017.

Mr. President, by nominating a respected and effective advocate, you will be reasserting Americas moral leadership against anti-Semitism and reassuring Jewish communities that America stands with them and their ability to live securely as Jews wherever they are, Greenblatt wrote on Monday.

The ADLs renewed call to fill the position comes at a time of heightened anti-Semitism around the globe. Last week, thousands of people took to the streets across France to decry the murder of an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor whose death authorities have linked to anti-Semitism.

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In the U.K. last month, Jewish leaders said they would march to Parliament after Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn failed to assuage their concerns about his defense of an offensive anti-Jewish mural in 2012.

The data confirms the anger and concern of these communities, Greenblatts letter stated. Violent anti-Semitic assaults increased 34 percent in Britain according to the Community Security Trust in 2017, and according to the French Ministry of the Interior, increased 26 percent in France during the same period.

Incidents of anti-Semitic rhetoric and attacks have also hit Poland, Sweden, Tunisia and Iran in recent months.

In the U.S., trends that indicated an anti-Semitic spike around the time of the 2016 presidential election have persisted. A report published by the ADL in February showed that the number of anti-Semitic incidents rose nearly 60 percent in 2017, marking the largest single-year increase the organization has ever recorded.

Trumps administration has been fairly cavalier about the dangers of anti-Semitism, at times even peddling ugly stereotypes and conspiracy theories that promulgate bias. Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last summer that he believed a special envoy dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism would actually interfere with the governments efforts to combat bias.

A State Department official told HuffPost on Tuesday that although the envoy position remains vacant, the Office of International Religious Freedom at the Department of State continues actively to support the mission of that office.

Combating anti-Semitism internationally is a priority for this administration, the official said. President Trump and Vice President Pence have publicly expressed their deep concern about high levels of anti-Semitism globally.

This story has been updated with the State Departments response.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Desire Thompson

Police now have reason to believe the deadly SUV crash involving the Hart family was intentional, with the parents at the center of child abuse claims just days before the crash.

Representatives from the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) contacted Jennifer Jean Hart and Sarah Margaret Hart a number of times including the day their vehicle crashed in Mendocino County, Calif. on March 26. NBC News reports DSHS spokeswoman Norah West said Child Protective Services determined Markis, 19, Jeremiah and Abigail (14) were possible victims of child neglect or abuse.

The children along with Jen and Sarah were found dead in the vehicle. Three siblings Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15, and Sierra, 12, are feared dead with authorities still searching for their bodies. Three children are still missing and could be in the ocean, Assistant CHP Chief Greg Baarts told reporters. We are trying to determine a timeline, path of travel, and if there were any stops.

CHP also shared findings from the GMC Yukons on-board computer indicated the SUV stopped then began accelerating before hitting the rugged shorelines 70 feet below the highway. Pure acceleration all the way, said CHP spokesman Cal Robertson.

The most recent report of possible child abuse stemmed from the Harts neighbors Bruce and Dana DeKalb who called CPS after Devonte snuck over to their home begging for food. One of his sisters also went to the DeKalbs last year asking for help. They were all small, Bruce DeKalb said. The one girl, who was 12, looked like she was 7. Both of her teeth were missing, front teeth. She said that she wanted us to take her to Seattle and [her parents] werent treating her right and dont make her go back. He explained how the Harts told us what we wanted to hear, life went on for another eight months, and here we are today. As previously reported, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic assault in Minnesota for beating one of her daughters, who was 6-years-old at the time.

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Devonte captured the hearts of the nation when a photo of him hugging a police officer went viral in 2014. His free hugs mission was one supported by Jen and Sarah who led a lifestyle focused on love, spirituality and peace. The family were often staples at festivals catering to the spiritually and creatively inclined like the Beloved festival and the gathering for The Goonies 30th anniversary in Astoria, Oregon. A video of Devonte hugging artist Xavier Rudd also caught a lot of attention after his viral photo.

Just wanted to take a moment to personally thank you for capturing the video of my son, Devonte, with Xavier at Beloved, Jen said at the time. I was shooting still photos, so I was hoping that a quality video would arise at some point. This moment is forever etched on our hearts, and most likely anyone who was there to witness this raw human love. Devonte was wearing his Free Hugs sign that he travels the country with. Hes hugged thousands, sharing his love for all. There is a long story behind the emotion and why this moment was so special for Devonte. Thank you for enabling everyone to live this moment again through your video. 

Police obtained a search warrant of familys home in Woodland, WA. where they confiscated an iPhone and MacBook laptop. Theyre also looking for bank statements and notes indicating any plans of suicide.

READ: Parents Of Devonte Hart Accused Of Child Abuse Before Fatal Car Crash

This post Authorities Believe Fatal Car Crash Involving Devonte Hart And Siblings Was Intentional first appeared on Vibe.DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain refused entry on Wednesday to a Danish lawmaker and an Irish human rights campaigner who were intending to visit a prominent Bahraini-Danish activist in jail, a Bahraini human rights group said.

A government spokeswoman said Lars Aslan Rasmussen and Brian Dooley were refused entry because they had not followed Bahrain's visa procedures.

Rasmussen, an MP for Denmark's Social Democrats and Dooley, were due to visit Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who played a leading role in pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in 2011 that were put down by the authorities. He is serving a life sentence after being convicted on charges of terrorism and attempting to overthrow the government.

During the regional Arab Spring uprisings, Sunni-Muslim ruled Bahrain, a Western ally and home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, was rocked by mass protests led by its Shi'ite majority which has long complained of discrimination.

Since his imprisonment, the Danish government has made several calls on Bahrain to release Khawaja or to let him be extradited.

A government spokesperson said: "Two individuals were denied entry to Bahrain this morning having failed to follow the country's clearly defined visa and immigration procedure."

"Furthermore, those individuals are likely to have arrived in the full knowledge that their entry would be denied as a result of not following these procedures."

Dooley works as an advisor for the Gulf Center for Human Rights, which Khawaja co-founded prior to his arrest with Nabeel Rajab, another leading activist jailed by the authorities.

We came to show that Al Khawaja and the other human rights activists in prison are not forgotten, and to remind the Danish government that it should be pressing much harder for his release," Rasmussen said, according to a BIRD statement.

Bahrain is about to host its annual Formula One race, watched by millions around the world. The race has been held since 2004 with the exception of 2011 when the uprising forced its cancellation.

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"Preventing members of parliament, human rights groups and journalists from entering the country shows how much the regime has to hide," Dooley said in the statement.

"Formula One fans planning to arrive this week should know what theyre getting into."

(Reporting By Sami Aboudi; Writing By Maha El Dahan; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)This originally appeared on ACLU's Speak Freely blog.

On March 27, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appeared before the House Appropriations Committee to answer questions about the administrations first year in office. While I had no shortage of questions for her, one of my top priorities was asking her about her departments failure to protect the rights of transgender students.

During the Obama administration, the Department of Education issued guidance to public schools explaining that schools should allow students to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity in accordance with basic civil rights law under Title IX.

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betsy devos getty

Win McNamee/Getty Images

I heard from plenty of teachers and administrators throughout Wisconsin who were either already acting in accordance with the new rule, or gladly welcomed guidance on this important issue.

However, Secretary DeVos rescinded the Obama-era guidance in 2017, robbing transgender students of rights which should be afforded to every public school student.

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In February of this year, Secretary DeVos continued to discriminate against transgender students by announcing that her department would not investigate any complaints filed by transgender students who had been banned from restrooms that match their gender identity.

When this happened, I couldnt help but think of Ashton Whitaker, a young man from my home town of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who is currently a first year student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2016, Ashton rightly challenged his school to allow him to use the restroom consistent with his gender identity. Courts affirmed that forcing this young man to use the wrong restroom constituted illegal discrimination on the basis of sex.

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In 2018, we should not need a refresher on basic discrimination. Rescinding someones rights, which have been upheld in court, on the basis of their gender identity is wrong. Refusing to listen to complaints from a certain population of students is wrong.

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Secretary DeVos has consistently shown her willful ignorance when failing to visit underperforming schools, as well as her mean-spirited, anti-LGBT views when denying rights to certain students. At some point, she should realize that as Secretary of Education, she is supposed to represent all students, not just a select few.

Rep. Mark Pocan serves in the United States House of Representatives, serving Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek(Photo: Tom Williams via Getty Images)

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos met with a group of civil rights leaders, parents and teachers Wednesday morning to discuss the impact of Obama-era guidance that calls on schools to reduce their reliance on suspensions and to consider whether racial bias plays a role in their disciplinary practices. The examination of this guidance is part of DeVos work as leader of a new Federal Commission on School Safety, although she has reportedly been thinking for months about rescinding the guidance.

Wednesdays meeting, which took place on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., involved leaders in some of the countrys most prominent civil rights groups, including the NAACPs Legal Defense Fund, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law  all of which are strongly in favor of keeping the guidance. Other participants included leaders from the nations largest teachers union, the National Education Association, as well as teachers from the advocacy group Educators for Excellence and education researchers.

Later on Wednesday, DeVos also met with groups, parents and teachers who want to see the guidance repealed.

Liz King, senior policy analyst and director of education policy for the Leadership Conference, described the morning meeting as frustrating and underwhelming. King spoke directly to Education Department officials about how this administrations actions are having a negative impact on school climate, especially for LGBTQ and immigrant students. She urged DeVos to maintain the existing guidance.

Our children deserve better than this administration, said King, who described DeVos as very pleasant, although she didnt say much.

Evan Stone, co-CEO of Educators for Excellence, left the meeting with a more positive view, although he still suspects advocates of the guidance are fighting an uphill battle. He was heartened that DeVos opened the meeting by acknowledging the large racial disparities in how students are disciplined. DeVos said she was moved by the stories from educators in the room, according to Stone.

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Stones group requested that DeVos come visit some of the communities that have had positive experiences with the Obama-era guidance.

Hopefully the lived experience of teachers who are working to change things will have an impact, he said.

In a country where students of color, students with disabilities and LGBTQ students are disproportionately subject to harsh disciplinary practices, like suspensions and expulsions, the guidance is seen as a tool to help reduce the flow of students who are pushed from school into the criminal justice system. The guidance warns schools that they could be found in violation of federal civil rights laws if they are disciplining some groups of students  like students of color or students with disabilities  at disproportionately high rates. It also encourages schools to adopt restorative justice practices as a way to deal with discipline issues, rather than punishments that push kids out of the classroom.

On the other side of the issue, critics say the guidance helps keep disruptive children in the classroom, putting teachers and students at risk. The guidance came under renewed scrutiny after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in February, when conservative leaders speculated that lax discipline policies allowed the accused shooters behavior to go unchecked. (The schools responses to the suspects behavior appear entirely unrelated to the guidance. The Education Department had also started meeting with critics of the guidance months before the shooting.)

But even before Wednesdays meetings began, DeVos faced critiques from the advocacy groups and civil rights organizations that had not been offered a seat at the table. Groups like the National Womens Law Center sent DeVos a letter slamming what they called the exclusive and non-transparent approach of the summit. The letter was co-signed by groups like the Human Rights Campaign and the National Center for Transgender Equality. It expressed the groups support for the guidance.

A number of other groups asked to be included in Wednesdays discussion but did not receive an invitation. A representative from the National Disability Rights Network told HuffPost they asked the Education Departments Office for Civil Rights for an invitation last Friday, but the agency declined. The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, a group that represents children with disabilities, also asked both the Education Departments Office for Civil Rights and its Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services for an invitation, but did not hear back.

King said it was was glaringly apparent there was no one from the disability community, the LGBTQ community, the Native American community, the Latino community, or the immigrant community in the room.

Additionally, only one of the countrys major teachers unions was invited, with the administration leaving out the American Federation of Teachers.

I find it very offensive that they dont want to hear our opinions, AFT President Randi Weingarten told HuffPost.

DeVos meeting with critics of the guidance included groups like the Manhattan Institute, as well as parents and teachers who believe the guidance should be rescinded. (The Education Department did not respond to HuffPosts request for information about who would be present at this meeting.)

Nicole Landers of Baltimore County is one such parent. She says the relaxed disciplinary practices at her kids schools have come at the expense of student safety. Landers daughter was sexually harassed last year by another student when she was a fifth-grader. Her older son was bullied to the point where he became suicidal. Their tormentors, though, remained in the classroom, and she believes the Obama-era guidance helped make this situation possible.

Whatever intentions were set forth in the guidance, the response to the guidance has been kind of knee-jerk in nature that has ended up hurting all of the children, Landers said. It takes away the rights from the victimized students, as the offending students are left in the classroom to avoid suspensions.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Marty Graham

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A San Diego jury on Wednesday awarded $5 million in damages to relatives of a woman who was found hanged, bound and nude at the estate of her boyfriend, a wealthy pharmaceutical executive, in a mysterious 2011 death that police ruled was a suicide.

The civil court jury found that tugboat captain Adam Shacknai was liable for the death of Rebecca Zahau, 32, who was found dangling by her neck from a second-story balcony at the landmark Spreckels Mansion in Coronado, an upscale island beach town.

Zahau was living there at the time as the girlfriend of Shacknai's older brother, Jonah Shacknai, founder and then-chief executive officer of Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp, which made the acne treatment Solodyn and wrinkle-filler Restylane.

Adam Shacknai, who was staying at a guesthouse on the property, reported discovering her body, bound by the hands and legs and with a T-shirt stuffed in her mouth, in the courtyard of the home.

The death came two days after Jonah Shacknai's 6-year-old son, Max, was critically injured in a fall from a staircase while Zahau was babysitting him. The boy's death days later was ruled an accident.

The San Diego County Sheriff likewise ruled out foul play in Zahau's death, and no charges were brought. Authorities even released an unusual video demonstration of how investigators believed Zahau had managed to tie her own hands behind her back before binding her own legs, slipping a noose around her neck and hurling herself off the balcony.

They said signs of trauma to the top of Zahau's head and blood on her legs were consistent with their conclusion. But Zahau's family vehemently insisted she was murdered and demanded authorities reopen the investigation.

The case drew national attention, with prominent forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht appearing on the "Dr. Phil" show to challenge the county sheriff and coroner's conclusion that Zahau had taken her own life.

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Her mother and sister, Pari Z. Zahau and Mary Zahau-Loehner, ultimately brought a wrongful death suit against Adam Shacknai. Their lawyers argued in court that the victim was bludgeoned into unconsciousness before her body was hurled from the balcony of an upstairs bedroom.

Defense lawyers countered there was no evidence their client ever touched Zahau.

Jonah Shacknai, who was at his son's hospital bedside when Zahau died, testified during the month-long trial he found his sibling's involvement "inconceivable."

The San Diego County Superior Court jury reached its verdict a day after beginning deliberations, essentially rejecting the notion Zahau killed herself.

"Our family can't get her back," her sister told reporters afterward. "But hopefully people will know that she didn't commit suicide and she was murdered, and she doesn't deserve to be treated the way the sheriff's department treated her."

(Reporting by Marty Graham in San Diego; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Leslie Adler)Sao Bernardo do Campo (Brazil) (AFP) - Ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's polarizing election frontrunner and leftist icon, was negotiating his surrender after dramatically skipping a first deadline Friday to start his 12-year prison sentence for corruption.

Holed up with thousands of cheering supporters in the metalworkers' union building in his hometown of Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo, the 72-year-old let the 5:00 pm (2000 GMT) deadline pass without public comment.

This raised the temperature in the standoff between the leftist former two-term president and Judge Sergio Moro, who heads the mammoth "Car Wash" anti-graft probe and who ordered Lula's imprisonment.

Given that Lula was effectively surrounded by a human shield, it was clear that a forcible arrest attempt would trigger violence.

But authorities took pains to reduce tensions, downplaying Lula's defiance and stressing that he was not considered a fugitive -- something that would trigger a preventative arrest warrant.

"Lula did not comply with a judicial order," a spokesman for Moro told AFP, "but everyone knows where he is. He's not hiding or on the run."

- Surrender date still unclear -

Politicians from Lula's Workers Party said he would remain in Sao Bernardo do Campo overnight and that his lawyers were in close negotiations with police over the time and place of the arrest.

"There is a discussion between police and the ex-president's lawyers and the party is following this. The idea is to avoid the judge ordering preventative arrest, which would aggravate the situation," said Congressman Carlos Zarattini.

"Nothing is over yet."

Senator Gleisi Hoffmann tweeted that a Catholic Mass would take place at the union building early Saturday in memory of Lula's late wife Marisa Leticia, who died last year and would now be turning 68.

According to varying Brazilian media reports, Lula was considering surrendering after the Mass or possibly holding out through the weekend.

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Much of Friday, Lula waited in hope that the country's top appeals court, the Superior Tribunal of Justice, would temporarily suspend his arrest warrant. However, the petition was rejected shortly before the deadline expired.

Yet another appeal for an injunction against the arrest was filed late Friday with the Supreme Court.

On Thursday, Moro had given Lula 24 hours to surrender voluntarily to police and begin incarceration in the southern city of Curitiba. Moro said the cell, a separate room with its own toilet, was ready, and that Lula would not be handcuffed -- if he came quietly.

- Loved on the left -

Lula was convicted last year of taking a luxury apartment as a kickback from a big construction company. He lost a lower court appeal in January and saw his sentence increased from nine to 12 years.

To his Workers' Party faithful, Lula is a victim of an out-of-control judiciary preventing him from returning to power.

They remember him for a 2003-2010 presidency that saw tens of millions lifted from poverty and Brazil rise on the world stage.

"Lula is innocent, Lula for president!" supporters chanted outside the union building.

Renata Swiecik, an unemployed mother of four who had joined the crowd, urged Lula not to hand himself over.

"We are here to resist to the end. Lula will not be a prisoner in 2018, he'll be president and help the people once more," said Swiecik, 31.

- Corruption taint -

However, Lula's imminent arrest is being celebrated by many Brazilians.

The "Car Wash" probe, which has revealed systemic, high-level embezzlement and bribery throughout business and politics over the last four years, is wildly popular.

Detractors say that Lula epitomizes Brazil's corruption-riddled elite and his conviction is the biggest "Car Wash" scalp by far.

"I want Lula in prison, I want a better future and with him in the leadership we won't have that," said Maura Moraes de Oliveira, 51, who works as a maid in Curitiba.

"Not only Lula should be locked up, but all the corrupt, a complete cleaning."

Operation "Car Wash" was named after the service station where agents initially investigated a minor money laundering scheme in 2014, before realizing that they'd stumbled on a gargantuan web of embezzlement and bribery at state oil company Petrobras and right through the political classes.

Lula, who grew up poor and with little formal education before becoming a trade union leader and politician, has long said he will go down fighting.

In theory, once someone has been convicted and lost a lower court appeal, he or she is barred from running for office under Brazil's clean-slate law.

Still, even in prison, Lula has the right to register as a candidate. It would then be up to the Superior Electoral Tribunal to rule on whether his candidacy could stand.

Although Lula would almost certainly be blocked, he could use the process to maintain his political influence.The Hague (AFP) - Britain Wednesday slammed as "perverse" Moscow's call for a joint investigation into the poisoning of a former Russian double agent as the world's chemical watchdog met on the scandal.

"Russia's proposal for a joint, UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury incident is perverse. It is a diversionary tactic," the British delegation to the OPCW said in a tweet.

Moscow was seeking to "evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer," it added.

The British delegation to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), led by top chemical weapons expert John Foggo, was attending a meeting of the body's governing executive council in The Hague.

The talks were called by Moscow, after London blamed Russia for the March 4 poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent, called Novichok.

Russia's ambassador to the Netherlands and deputy minister for industry and trade Georgy Kalamanov also attended, along with Foggo.

The Russians hit back on Twitter, saying they had won backing from 14 countries for their joint statement to the council.

"We consider this is necessary to ensure that this problem is solved within the (international) legal framework," the Russian embassy to the Netherlands said in a Tweet.

It added that its statement to the council was "supported by solid facts by experts in this field" and insisted that Russia was ready "to cooperate both with @OPCW and within @OPCW."LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Britain is looking for a "proportionate way" to respond to the threat posed by Russia, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday, after a retired Russian army official said the poisoning of a former spy could start a new world war.

"We need to respond in a proportionate way to this aggressive behaviour from Russia and that's what we're doing," the spokesman said when asked if there was a real risk of triggering a war.

Evgeny Buzhinsky, a retired lieutenant general, was quoted in British newspapers on Tuesday as saying the fallout of the attack could trigger "the last war in the history of mankind".

(Reporting By William James. Writing by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Stephen Addison)YAOUNDE (Reuters) - A group of European tourists traveling in southwest Cameroon were not kidnapped, their Swiss tour operator said on Wednesday, contradicting government reports that separatist militants had held them hostage. Speaking on state television late on Tuesday, government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said 18 hostages had been taken on Monday and were freed hours later by the army's elite Rapid Intervention Battalion. He said the group included seven Swiss and five Italian tourists as well as six Cameroonian municipal officials, who were taken by English-speaking separatists in the restive southwest region. However tour group African Adventures said its clients had simply been stopped on Monday by a group of armed individuals who carried out a check of their documents and vehicles. "Our negotiation carried out with this group resulted in their granting our permission to leave," the tour operator said in a statement on its website. "Shortly before our departure, Cameroon army force special forces arrived on the scene and a brief engagement followed," it added, without elaborating. None of its group was subjected to violence and all were doing well, the company said. The Ambazonian Defence Force (ADF), the main anglophone separatist group battling state security forces, had earlier denied the government version of events. "ADF does not take hostages. ADF arrests enablers and collaborators and does not arrest foreign nationals," Cho Ayaba, a leader of the Ambazonian Governing Council, to which the ADF is loosely affiliated, told Reuters. The ADF has been responsible for most of the shootings that have killed more than 20 state security agents in a year-long uprising against President Paul Biya's francophone government that they say has marginalized the English-speaking minority. However, a number of smaller armed groups have emerged in recent months in reaction to a government crackdown that has included razing villages in rural anglophone Cameroon near the Nigerian border. (Writing by Aaron Ross and Joe Bavier; Editing by Edward McAllister and Robin Pomeroy)So far this week, President Donald Trump has seized upon reports of a thousand-strong migrant caravan making its way from Central America to the United States border to air a laundry list of grievances, magnifying the issue tweet-by-tweet to politicize the group and what he says they mean for the United States.

Mr Trumps comments  delivered both in-person and on Twitter  appeared to follow after Fox News highlighted the caravan of over 1,000 Central Americans who are currently travelling through Mexico. The issue was first reported by Buzzfeed News.

Without further ado, here is what you should know about the migrant caravan and the presidents comments.

Who are they and why are they coming?

The group of over 1,000 migrants are coming primarily from Honduras, and include children, men, and women. They started their journey late last month, and hope that their mass procession will keep them safe from a crack down by Mexican authorities, even though they do not have authorization to be in the country.

Those in the caravan hope that, once they reach the US border, American authorities will grant them asylum  Honduras has experienced high levels of violence and criminality in recent years  or that they will be able to slip into the country illegally. Many have said that they left their home country to seek employment, noting that there is little opportunity to earn a living back home.

Is this the first time we have seen a caravan like this?

No. The mass movement is organised by volunteers with the group Pueblos Sin Frontiers  or People Without Borders  and the group helped organize two similar caravans in 2017. The group has been helping migrants for over 15 years, according to their website.

What is going to happen to the caravan?

Mr Trump said Tuesday that he had been told by Mexican authorities that the caravan had been broken up. Mexican authorities have said that they were planning on breaking it up by Wednesday, and would offer humanitarian visas to the most vulnerable of them  but emphasised that the action was done independent of Mr Trump highlighting the issue.

Story continues

That said, the Buzzfeed reporter covering the issue tweeted Tuesday that Gina Garibo, an organiser with Pueblos Sin Frontiers, told him that the caravan would continue.

We will continue, she said. We have to follow through with our promise. At the end of the day these people have the right to ask for asylum.

What has Mr Trump been saying?

The president, when looking at the migrant caravan, appears to be peering into the Mirror of Erised from the Harry Potter books, seeing in the movement whatever his heart truly desires.

He has used the issue to once again go after the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), saying that the deal is a cash cow for Mexico and appeared to threaten to scrap the deal if the migrants manage to get to the United States.

He has also gone back to the well to once again threaten to withhold foreign aide, this time for Honduras.

The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our Weak Laws Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

Honduras, Mexico and many other countries that the U.S. is very generous to, sends many of their people to our country through our WEAK IMMIGRATION POLICIES. Caravans are heading here. Must pass tough laws and build the WALL. Democrats allow open borders, drugs and crime!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2018

And, hes used the coming migrant caravan to attack Democrats, and paint them as the real failures in Americas debate on what to do to fix its immigration problem. He argued that Democrats are responsible for ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (Daca), even though he himself took executive action to end the program that protects young undocumented people who came to the US as children, and said that the coming migrants would try to take advantage of the program  even though nobody who has arrived in the US after 2007 would qualify for the protections anyway.

Daca has been a frequent source of consternation since Mr Trump announced he would end the program. Democrats and some Republicans have attempted to tie funding for the program to budget deals, but have been unable to reach a deal to do so.The Hague (AFP) - The world's chemical watchdog is to meet behind closed doors Wednesday, after a British laboratory said it had not proved that Russia manufactured a deadly nerve agent used to poison a former Russian spy.

The talks at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have been requested by Moscow which said it wanted to "address the situation around the allegations... in regards to the incident in Salisbury."

"We hope to discuss the whole matter and call on Britain to provide every possible element of evidence they might have in their hands," Russia's ambassador to Ireland, Yury Filatov, told reporters.

On Tuesday, the British military facility analysing the nerve agent used on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, said it was not in a position to say where the substance had originated.

Skripal, who has lived in Britain since a spy swap in 2010, and his daughter have been in hospital since the March 4 poisoning that London and its major Western allies have blamed on Russia.

The 41 member states of the OPCW's executive council are to convene at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) at the organisation's headquarters in The Hague.

The meeting comes after Moscow also received and analysed samples of the Novichok agent used in the attack.

"Russia is interested in establishing the whole truth of the matter," Filatov said.

But Britain's foreign ministry accused Russia of requesting the meeting to undermine the OPCW's investigation.

"This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion," the ministry said in a statement.

"Of course, there is no requirement in the Chemical Weapons Convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator," it said.

- 'Source unidentified' -

Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Porton Down defence laboratory, told Britain's Sky News that analysts had identified the substance as military-grade Novichok, the word used for a category of nerve agents developed in Soviet times.

Story continues

But he added: "We have not identified the precise source."

"It is our job to provide the scientific evidence of what this particular nerve agent is, we identified that it is from this particular family and that it is a military grade, but it is not our job to say where it was manufactured," Aitkenhead said.

"Extremely sophisticated methods" were needed to create the nerve agent, he said, adding that was "something only in the capabilities of a state actor"

Following his remarks, a British government spokesperson said Porton Down's identification of Novichok was "only one part of the intelligence picture".

"This includes our knowledge that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents probably for assassination a- and as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichok; Russia's record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views former intelligence officers as targets," it added.

- 'Anti-Russian campaign' -

The first use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II has chilled Moscow's relations with the West, as both sides have expelled scores of diplomats.

Britain has also suspended high-level diplomatic contact with Moscow.

Moscow has denied any involvement in the incident, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying late Tuesday he hoped the OPCW meeting would put a "full stop" to the issue.

Putin added he had been informed that the British military could not prove the substance was made in Russia.

An "anti-Russian campaign" had been started with surprising speed, Putin said, reiterating Moscow's claim that it should be allowed to take part in the investigation.By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Chinese-born executive pleaded guilty on Wednesday in New York to three criminal counts in connection with a U.S. bribery probe involving a former U.N. General Assembly president.

Julia Vivi Wang admitted to bribery and conspiracy charges, both in violation of the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and to submitting fraudulent income tax returns.

Wang, 57, also entered a plea agreement under which she is expected to cooperate with prosecutors.

The defendant entered her plea before U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan federal court. She faces up to five years in prison on each FCPA count. A sentencing date has not been set. Her lawyer declined to comment.

Wang is among several people charged by U.S. prosecutors since 2015 over alleged influence-peddling linked to the United Nations.

One defendant, billionaire Macau developer Ng Lap Seng, was found guilty last July by a Manhattan jury on bribery charges.

Wang, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had been vice president of South-South News, a U.N.-focused media group, and an organization with the stated mission of promoting U.N. development goals and sustainable development.

Both were led by Francis Lorenzo, a former deputy U.N. ambassador from the Dominican Republic. Prosecutors have said Ng founded South-South News and used it as a bribery conduit.

In March 2016, prosecutors filed a complaint accusing Wang and her late husband of having told Lorenzo they wanted to buy diplomatic posts, such as consol or envoy, with Antigua's government because they viewed it as a "business opportunity."

Wang admitted on Wednesday to having in April 2013 wired $500,000 that had been solicited by John Ashe, a former U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda who was also General Assembly president, to win one such post.

She also admitted to having failed to report about $2 million of income in total for the 2010 to 2013 tax years.

Story continues

Prosecutors have said Lorenzo understood from having spoken with Ashe that some of Wang's payment was meant for Antiguan officials including the prime minister, who was not identified.

Ashe died in an accident at his home in June 2016. Lorenzo pleaded guilty to bribery and money laundering charges. Prosecutors last week asked a judge to sentence Ng to more than six years in prison.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Susan Thomas and Alistair Bell)Asia Times

Security,

Should Washington be worried?

Chinese Defense Minister Says China will Support Russia Against America

Chinas new defense minister Wei Fenghe has reportedly said during a visit to Moscow that China is ready to support Russia against the US.

I am visiting Russia as a new defense minister of China to show the world a high level of development of our bilateral relations and firm determination of our armed forces to strengthen strategic cooperation, Wei said at a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, according to a report by state-run Tass Russian News Agency.

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Second, to support the Russian side in organizing the Moscow International Security Conference the Chinese side has come to show Americans the close ties between the armed forces of China and Russia, especially in this situation. Weve come to support you, he added. The Chinese side is ready to express with the Russian side our common concerns and common position on important international problems at international venues as well.

Wei is attending the seventh Moscow International Security Conference with a delegation of other high-level Chinese military officials. He emphasized to the Russian press that his trip was coordinated directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The annual security conference hosted by Russias Defense Ministry is focusing this year on the defeat of terrorists in Syria. The Russian side is said to be sharing its experience on combating ISIL. Its also providing assessments on future developments in the Middle East, including post-conflict rehabilitation.

Security issues facing Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America will also be in the spotlight of the forum. Special session will address Soft power phenomenon as a tool to pursue military-political objectives, the ministry said in a statement.

Story continues

This first appeared in AsiaTimes here.

Image: Creative Commons.

Read full articleThe head of Russias Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin used a quote from George Orwells dystopian novel 1984 to attack what he called the unprecedented hypocrisy of the West amid worsening relations.

Naryshkin told a security conference in Moscow that the West is engaging in unprecedented hypocrisy to justify their hegemony."

In fact all the norms that regulate intergovernmental relations are given precisely the opposite meanings, he said, reported The Moscow Times, before citing the famous mantra War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" from Orwell's 1984.

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Naryshkin warned of a return to Cold War hostilities.

Countering the inexistent Russian threat has become fixation in Washington. Its grown to such a scale and has acquired such silly features that we can speak about a return to the dark pages of the Cold War, said Naryshkin, a staunch Putin ally appointed to head the SVR in 2016.

The Russian government is accused by Western powers of being behind a chemical attack on the double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Sergei Naryshkin Russia SVR

REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

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They were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent called novichok, first developed by Russia. British scientists confirmed that the substance is novichok and that only a state actor could have created it.

The U.K. said its intelligence suggests Russia is responsible, an assessment shared by its allies, but the Kremlin denies any involvement.

Both Skripals remain critically ill in hospital, though hospital officials said Yulia has regained consciousness and is showing signs of improvement.

Story continues

In response to the attempted assassination, there was a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats and spies across the West. The U.S. kicked out 60 Russians and closed the consulate in Seattle.

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Russia retaliated in kind by expelling diplomats and shutting down Western representations in St. Petersburg.

West-Russia relations have progressively worsened since 2014 when, Moscow invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea as the country was gripped by political turmoil.

Sanctions on Russia followed and NATO increased troop numbers in Europe to deter Moscow from repeating Crimea in the Baltic states.

Since then, Russia has intervened in the Syrian war on the side of the Assad regime, which is accused of committing crimes against humanity, including the use of chemical weapons against civilians. The West is backing some of the anti-regime rebels.

And Russia is accused of trying to undermine Western elections and referendums, including the U.S. presidential election in 2016, through cyberattacks and the abuse of social media.

Now with the Skripal poisonings comes a further deterioration in relations between the West and Russia.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekThe lead designer of a waterslide that killed a 10-year-old boy in Kansas City, Kansas, in 2016 has been taken into custody, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Marshals detained John Schooley, 72, at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on Monday after he arrived on a flight from China, the Marshals Service said in a release. He faces charges of second-degree murder, aggravated battery, and aggravated endangerment of a child.

Schooley played a major role in the creation of Verruckt, a 168-foot-high waterslide that decapitated Caleb Schwab on Aug. 7, 2016, at Schlitterbahn Waterpark, authorities alleged. He was responsible for doing the math that went into Verruckts design, but had no engineering credentials relevant to amusement ride design or safety, according to a lawsuit against the park filed by the state of Kansas last month.

At least 10 other Schlitterbahn customers had been hurt riding Verruckt before Calebs death, according to the lawsuit, including broken toes and concussions.

Verruckt was billed as the world's tallest waterslide when it opened in 2014. (Photo: Dave Kaup / Reuters)

A Kansas grand jury last month indicted Schooley along with the water park, its construction company, park co-owner Jeffrey Henry and former director of operations Tyler Miles on criminal charges in Calebs death. Miles pleaded not guilty last month to involuntary manslaughter. Henry is scheduled to enter a plea to a second-degree murder charge on Thursday, according to The San Antonio Express-News.

Schlitterbahn has denied wrongdoing, and defended Miles, Henry and Schooley in a statement last week.

Jeff Henry has designed waterpark rides the world over, the statement said. Nearly every waterpark that exists today has an attraction or feature based on his designs or ideas. The incident that happened that day was a terrible and tragic accident. We mourn the loss of this child and are devastated for his family. We know that Tyler, Jeff, and John are innocent and that we run a safe operation  our 40 years of entertaining millions of people speaks to that.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Whats going on in Africa?

An enormous crack spanning for miles opened up in the earth outside Nairobi, Kenya.

The 50-feet-deep crevice that sliced through a major highway measures up to 50 feet deep and 65 feet across at its widest point.

Not only has it divided the land, but the crack is dividing scientists, who cant quite seem to come to one conclusion as to how the natural phenomenon occurred.

Geologist Ben Andrews believes the crack is a result of tectonic plates shifting.

"Were seeing a crack that in all likelihood formed over many thousands of years, or hundreds of thousands of years," Andrews told CBS News.

Andrews explained the crack may be one of the first pieces of evidence that a piece of Africa will break off the continent in 50 million years.

But, earthquake geologist Wendy Bohon disagrees.

While she does believe that Africa will split into two in the future, she believes this crevice was caused by the weather.

I think its an earth fissure, the same sort of thing you see in Arizona after heavy rainstorms, Bohon explained. Theyre the result of heavier torrential rains that come and wash away large portions of the dirt.

What Bohons theory does not explain, however, is how the crevice formed along the very point scientists have expected the continent to split.

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Related Articles:Police in Northern California are investigating a shooting at the Youtube headquarters in San Bruno. Nasim Aghdam allegedly opened fire, injuring three people, before turning the gun on herself.

Authorities are scrambling to learn more information behind the attack, including a motive, and theyre looking to the 38-year-old suspects personal Youtube account for clues. Aghdams channel allegedly contained extremist vegan, pro-animal rights content. According to her social media pages, the woman felt Youtube was regulating her channel and prohibiting her rights to free speech.

Youtube, and other streaming services such as Apple and Amazon, have recently been pressured to ban extremist content from their sites, however the focus lately has been on gun-related content. In response to the Parkland mass shooting in February, Youtube announced it would prohibit videos about direct sales and modifying of firearms. Several petitions have also been created, urging the site to remove NRATV and NRA ads.

Many couldnt help but see the irony Youtube being targeted by an alleged vegan extremist with a gun  including Donald Trump Jr., who used the shooting as an opportunity to mock the anti-gun agenda. He went off on a NRA-friendly rant on Twitter.

Some users agreed with Trump Jr.s assessment of the shooting, however many criticized the businessman for making light of the attack, which injured several people. They blasted Trump Jr. on Twitter.

Trump Jr. did not respond to the backlash, he continued tweeting and retweeting content such as, PETA has more mass shooters than the NRA, and PETA is a terrorist organization.

PETA has also not responded to Trump Jr.s comments, nor have they commented on the Youtube shooting.Donald Trump Jr. sparked anger online after he used Tuesdays fatal shooting at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, California, as an excuse to bash liberals.

San Diego resident Nasim Aghdam, 39, allegedly shot several people with a handgun before killing herself on Tuesday afternoon. A motive for the shooting is still under investigation.

In the wake of the attack, President Donald Trumps eldest son wrote this muddled message on Twitter:

You think theres any chance whatsoever that a mass shooters hateful Instagram and YouTube channels would be pulled immediately if they were NRA members as opposed to liberal Vegan PETA activists? Asking for a few million friends in the @NRA  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 4, 2018

The post drew ire from fellow tweeters, who criticized Trump Jr. for politicizing the incident and for offering up comment when the full circumstances were still unknown:

Three people were just shot and the President's son is railing against Vegans on Twitter...  Breetbort (@Breetbort) April 4, 2018

What the hell is the matter with you. Calm down and think before you spout off on serious issuses.people are dead and wounded,it's not a game for you to have political fun with  Kevin Heldman (@kevinjayheldman) April 4, 2018

Doesn't matter that she identified in those ways. She used a gun to kill people. Gun violence kills 10k a year in this country. Unacceptable.  Danny Pharr (@dannypharr) April 4, 2018

Oh shut up, you idiot. This is your fourth or fifth tweet TONIGHT saying the exact same nonsense. Just remember this the next time you open your damn yap about LIBERALS politicizing shootings.  Daniel Fienberg (@d_fienberg) April 4, 2018

He's trying to stay meaningless from his Dad's lead on thoughts and prayers.  Inuyashian  (@TheCompWiz) April 4, 2018

Never seen anyone so excited about people getting shot! Sad!  Michael Coleman (@sacmike) April 4, 2018

"Asking for a [few million] friend[s]" is a sort of immature way to address a serious issue like mass shooting. I wouldn't expect anything else from you. Stay out of policy, it's not your thing, kind of like property management.  m_l_a_d_y (@m_l_a_d_y) April 4, 2018

Shabby statement.  Jason Dittmer (@jddittmer) April 4, 2018

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.The Duke of Edinburgh is in hospital - PA

The Duke of Edinburgh has been admitted to hospital for hip surgery, Buckingham Palace has announced.

The 96-year-old arrived at King Edward VII Hospital in London this afternoon ahead of an operation tomorrow.

It involves a problem with his hip that has been troubling him for around a month, the Telegraph understands.

The Queen, who is at Windsor Castle for the traditional Easter Court, is being kept fully informed about the treatment.

The Duke, who has retired from royal duties, has been absent from various events in recent days, most recently the Easter Mattins Service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on Sunday.

He also missed the annual Maundy Service at St George's Chapel in Windsor last Thursday because of his hip problem, despite being named as a guest in the order of service.

Last week, he pulled out of an official engagement with the Queen and Duke of York because he was unwell, according to reports.

The Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen, pictured on Christmas Day Credit: AP Photo/Alastair Grant

However, he was spotted driving in Windsor Great Park on Wednesday.

The Duke has been admitted to hospital with various ailments over the years including bladder infections, a blocked coronary artery and for abdominal surgery.

He was last admitted last June, after becoming ill with an infection arising from a pre-existing condition.

He spent two nights at the King Edward VII hospital as a precautionary measure on the advice of a doctor.

Peter Kay, professor of orthopedics at Manchester University and a council member of the Royal College of Surgeons, said the most common reason older patients were admitted for planned hip surgery was for a hip replacement, usually due to osteoarthritis or a fracture.

He said between one and two percent of hip replacements were performed on people in their 90s and that the mortality rate had halved in the last few years to just 0.25 per cent.

"It is a relatively safe procedure," he told The Telegraph.

"You have to make sure the patient is fit and well but generally speaking, you will be in hospital around five days and spend six to eight weeks using crutches before walking independently and carrying on with normal life."

Story continues

The Queen Mother underwent a hip replacement on her right hip at the same hospital in 1995, at the age of 95, and another, on her left hip, aged 97, in 1998.

Other planned hip procedures include a partial hip replacement or treatment for other illnesses such as cancer or an infection.

The Duke retired from royal duties last August. Buckingham Palace stressed that the decision was not health-related and that he had the full support of the Queen.By Thin Lei Win ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Asian farmers are growing rice and rearing fish in the same fields to increase their income and reduce weeds, while Ghanaians are using crop residues as compost to boost yields. Such eco-farming techniques could deliver nutritious, environmentally friendly food for a growing world, increase farmers' earnings and make farms more resilient to climate change, according to campaigners. "Agriculture is in transition," Pasquale Steduto, regional program leader for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the Middle East and North Africa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Climate change is adding new uncertainty as well as increasing uncertainty. By introducing agroecology principles, you can reduce the risks of exposure to climate change." Global food production is currently based on extensive use of costly chemical fertilisers and pesticides, which damage the environment and human health, experts said at a three-day agroecology conference, which began Tuesday. Yet less than 30 countries globally, and only two in Africa - Ivory Coast and Mauritius - have laws and policies that support eco-farming, the FAO said. "We have three big challenges to manage - climate change, food security, and the connection between agriculture, forestry, economy and employment," said Stephane Le Foll, a French parliamentarian and former agriculture minister. The solution, he said, is ecological agriculture, which replaces chemical fertilisers with natural methods, such as planting trees amid crops and rotating foods grown to improve soils and deter pests. Le Foll is vice-president of the "4 per 1000" initiative, which seeks to increase carbon held in agricultural soils by 4 percent a year to combat global warming. Soil naturally absorbs carbon from the atmosphere through a process known as sequestration which not only reduce harmful greenhouse gases but also creates more fertile soil. Fertile soils produce more food, which would feed more people and farming that is profitable could resolve unemployment, Le Foll added. Agroecology has proven to work in Africa, where farmers are already grappling with degraded soils and unpredictable weather, said Million Belay, co-founder of the advocacy group Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). In northern Ethiopia, eco-farming techniques provided better yields than chemical fertilisers in five critical crops, including barley and maize, a project by the Institute for Sustainable Development, an Addis Ababa-based charity, found. But donors' focus on commercial agriculture in Africa is holding agroecology back, Belay said. "Philanthrocapitalists like Bill Gates and others come in with a lot of money to promote commercial agriculture," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, referring to wealthy business people who invest in ventures with a social goal. The Gates Foundation was not immediately available to comment. Le Foll said more people could be brought on board by showing that agroecology is profitable. Costs go down while productivity remains the same or even improves, he said. (Reporting by Thin Lei Win, Editing by Katy Migiro. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)Bogota (AFP) - Suspected ELN rebels kidnapped four people near an area of the Venezuelan border marked by recent clashes between the guerrilla group and drug traffickers, police said Tuesday.

Four men who identified themselves as members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) abducted two people from a vehicle near Teorama in the department of Norte de Santander on Monday, a spokesman for Colombia's elite Guala anti-kidnapping police told AFP.

Later, a former mayoral candidate from Teorama and another man who tried to mediate their release, were also taken hostage.

The captors carried heavy weapons and "identified themselves as members of the ELN," the spokesman said.

Authorities say the kidnappings are part of a fight between the ELN and remnants of a Maoist guerrilla group known as the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), a group the Colombian government says is really a criminal gang known as Los Pelusos.

The conflict is over drug trafficking routes, as Norte de Santander is a major coca-producing region near the Venezuelan border.

Peace talks between the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN leadership resumed in the Ecuadoran capital Quito last month.

But clashes between ELN and the alleged EPL members have left at least six people dead and caused some 2,500 to flee their homes, according to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The number of kidnappings in the area have spiked as a result of the clashes, local official Nelson Arevalo said.

"There is a considerably higher number of kidnappings that are not reported because of family members' fears," Arevalo told local Blu Radio.What Were Following

Silicon Valley Shooting: A shooter reportedly attacked the headquarters of YouTube, in San Bruno, California. Heres what we know. The initial reports of the shooting came from employees who described the events on Twitter in real timewhile observers followed an all-too-familiar sequence of shock at the news, hope for a false alarm, and dread of the final outcome.

In Washington, D.C.: Documents and sources from within the Environmental Protection Agency say Administrator Scott Pruitt increased the salaries of two of his closest aides by tens of thousands of dollars, contrary to White House instructions. Read Elaina Plott and Robinson Meyers report. As Special Counsel Robert Mueller moves forward with his Russia investigation, he has yet to issue any public indictments for the hacking of emails from the Democratic National Committee. Heres what that might mean.

Recommended: The Whitewashing of King's Assassination

Around the World: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprised the world on Monday by reversing a decision to deport about 40,000 African asylum-seekersand then, hours later, by reversing that reversal. Meanwhile, China is levying heavy tariffs on a number of U.S. products in retaliation for President Trumps aggressive tariffs on aluminum and steel. Iowas pork farmers could be among the people who will be most affected.

Rosa Inocencio Smith

Snapshot

The Memphis Pyramid overlooks the Hernando DeSoto Bridge across the Mississippi River in this aerial photograph by LaToya Ruby Frazier, who rode in a helicopter to document how the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. has affected the physical structure of cities. See more photos.

Evening Read

Lena Felton retells her grandfathers story of treating Martin Luther King Jr. as a black doctor at Harlem Hospital:

I am still unsure of exactly what kept my grandfather silent about the discrimination he faced in his own lifewhether it was his reserve, or the etiquette with which he was raised, or perhaps some sort of shame. But when he spoke of King, and what he achieved for African Americans, he was reverential, animated. I remember him telling the story of Kings visit to the hospital a handful of times, usually around the big mahogany dining table in his Palisades, New York, home, where we visited every Christmas. In my mind, the story was an exception: It broached a topic otherwise not discussed, offered a glimmer of how my grandfather conceived of his own racial identity. There could be no shame in his background in relation to King, because King was such a hero himself. I see now that it is often easier to talk about race in that way: to frame the collective struggle for equality by focusing on one great man.

Story continues

Keep reading as Lena describes her new understanding of her grandfathers work.

Recommended: Why Big Business Isn't Defending Amazon Against Trump

What Do You Know  About Family?

Some parents counter the overbearing style of helicopter moms and dads by allowing kids to take care of themselves, but whether society treats this free-range approach as virtue or neglect can depend on the parents race and class. In the 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination, both black and white Americans have used his memory to chide black youth more often than to inspire them. And a 1939 Atlantic essay about navigating interfaith relationships found its modern counterpart in a recent, much-criticized Washington Post piece.

Subscribe to The Family Weekly to receive more on American family life in your inbox each Saturday morning.

Can you remember the other key facts from this weeks family coverage? Test your knowledge below:

1. A forthcoming study finds that the household chore that causes the most relationship strain is ____________.

Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.

2. Practitioners say that ____________, the Mormon tradition of gathering family members on Monday nights, can be a slow-paced antidote to hectic modern life.

Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.

3. In 1970, President Richard Nixon derided college students protesting war as ____________.

Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.

Steven Johnson

Urban Developments

Our partner site CityLab explores the cities of the future and investigates the biggest ideas and issues facing city dwellers around the world. Gracie McKenzie shares todays top stories:

For more updates from the urban world, subscribe to CityLabs Daily newsletter.

Recommended: 'Chappaquiddick' Is a Damning Portrayal of a Real-Life Tragedy

Reader Response

When Caroline Kitchener wrote about the relationship discord caused by dishwashing responsibilities, Tiffany shared how her family handles the task:

Our rule: If you cook, youre off dish duty. Since I come home around dinner time and my husband works from home, this often means he cooks and I do clean up. I have come to enjoy washing dishes as a stress reliever. I buy dishes I like, use a dish soap with a scent I like and I try to use a fresh sponge and pretty dish towel. I also have a shrine on the kitchen windowsill that I can see while washing dishes, with an image of the Buddha, a candle, some plants, and a stone that says Find Peace. Ive discovered Im often able to do just that while washing dishes (and its a great respite from family bickering). Our kids (8 and 5) are now old enough to help periodically, and its my hope they learn to do it mindfullytwo skills in one.

Join the dish discussion in our Homebodies Facebook group, or write to us at letters@theatlantic.com.

Verbs

Science-fraud catching, dragon-tail tickling, rock stars aging, trees tree-ing.

Time of Your Life

Happy birthday to Mary Lou (a year younger than Little House on the Prairie); to Jeans mom (a year younger than motels); to Beverlys son Matthew (two years older than NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission); to Carols daughter Jennifer (a year younger than VCRs); to Vicki (twice the age of The Oprah Winfrey Show); to Maheshs daughter Smita (twice the age of the euro); to Michelles husband, Justin (a year younger than Microsoft Windows); to Jans son Will (twice the age of Harry Potter); to Cynthias friend Sheri (a year younger than T-shirts); and to Jennifers husband, Jack, who shares a birthday with Ryans father (both are the same age as the Atomium building, in Brussels).

Do you or a loved one have a birthday coming up? Sign up for a birthday shout-out, and explore the Timeline feature for yourself.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.One person died and three were injured in a shooting reported Tuesday at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, Calif.

Law enforcement officials identified the shooter as 39-year-old Nasim Aghdam of San Diego, according to the Associated Press, but little is known about her motive. San Bruno police said there is no evidence that the shooter was previously acquainted with any of the victims. Two unnamed law enforcement officials previously said that the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute.

The shooter, who was found dead by law enforcement Tuesday, wore glasses and a scarf and carried a big huge pistol, according to a YouTube employee who witnessed the incident from a second-floor window.

YouTube employees said they heard shots and saw people running on social media Tuesday afternoon. San Bruno police said they saw employees fleeing the headquarters upon arriving to the area and found one gunshot victim toward the front of the building. Two other shooting victims were found in adjacent businesses. Four victims were transported to local hospitals, police said, including a 36-year-old man who was in critical condition. One of those people, who did not suffer a gunshot wound, was treated for an ankle injury.

San Bruno police said they found Aghdam, who died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, at 12:53 p.m. in a courtyard area inside the YouTube complex.

Nasim Aghdam, who opened fire at YouTube headquarters in San Buno, Calif. on April 3, 2018, seen in an undated photo provided by the San Bruno Police Department.

Aghdam was an animal rights activist, according to AP, who participated in a 2009 protest with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in Oceanside, California. She was also a prolific YouTube user, posting videos on a range of topics from multiple accounts, according to a report by NBCs Bay Area Investigative Unit. In a video posted in January, Aghdam alleged that the company discriminated and filtered her videos to reduce their number of views; she also published rants attacking the company on her personal website.

Afghdams father, Ismail Aghdam, said that he told police earlier this week that Nasim was angry at YouTube and hated the company. Aghdam had reported his daughter missing on Monday, and early Tuesday morning was informed that she had been found sleeping in her car in Mountain View, about an hour from YouTubes San Bruno headquarters. Ismail said he warned the police that she might be headed toward YouTube.

The majority of shootings are perpetrated by men, according to a 2014 FBI study of 160 active shooter incidents that took place in the U.S. between 2000 and 2013. Women were the shooters in just six of the incidents studied, according to the FBI.A former U.S. Army sniper and two former American soldiers agreed to become hitmen for a crime boss seeking to settle a score with a real estate agent in the Philippines, prosecutors say.

Former Special Forces soldier Joseph Hunter is accused of recruiting ex-U.S. military personnel Adam Samia and Carl David Stillwell for the 2012 hit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Eagan said in opening statements on Tuesday as cited by the Associated Press.

All three have pleaded not guilty to murder conspiracy, and their defense attorneys said that the evidence is too weak to convict them.

Trending: Gay People 'Will Go to Hell': Top Rugby Star Israel Folau Sparks Outrage with Latest Outburst

RTX140DA

Reuters

The trial, to be heard in the Federal District Court in Manhattan, promises a rare glimpse into the world of former professional soldiers turned mercenaries.

Hunter, 52, is accused of being at the center of the plot to murder Philippines estate agent Catherine Lee, while working for South African international crime boss Paul Le Roux.

Don't miss: Eight Martin Luther King Jr. Facts on the 50th Anniversary of His Assassination

A former U.S. Army sergeant, Hunter is already serving a jail sentence for a plot to kill a DEA agent and informant in Thailand.

He allegedly hired Samia and Stillwell, providing them with firearms and silencers and telling them that Le Roux would pay them $35,000 each to kill Catherine Lee.

Samia allegedly shot Lee twice in the face in the back of a van outside Manila, before he and Stillwell dumped her body on a heap of garbage. They were then ordered back to the U.S. after collecting their payment, where they were arrested in 2015.

Most popular: 'We Will Fight for You:' Parkland Campaigners Support YouTube Mass Shooting Victims

Story continues

A photograph of a bloody head timestamped on the day of Lees murder was reportedly found on a mobile telephone in Stillwells possession.

Hunter also allegedly discussed the hit in a covertly recorded conversation in the sting operation in Thailand that led to his arrest for the plot to kill the DEA agent.

The trial continues.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekGeneva (AFP) - The United Nations said Wednesday that it has conducted its first humanitarian mission to Raqa since the Syrian city was liberated from the Islamic State group, warning that returning civilians face enormous risks.

The city, which IS proclaimed part of its "caliphate" in 2014, is littered with unexploded devices, the head of the UN's Syria humanitarian taskforce, Jan Egeland, told reporters in Geneva.

"Homes are still full of bombs (and) grenades. Children are still being maimed and killed," Egeland said, after receiving a report on the visit, which was carried out in recent days.

Roughly 100,000 people have returned to Raqa since IS was flushed out in October by fighters backed by a US-led international coalition.

Egeland said another 100,000 displaced people are waiting near the city and want to go back.

Compounding the risks of returning is the near complete absence of basic services including water, electricity and healthcare.

"It is incredible to have a city with nearly 100,000 people and no public services," the UN official said. "There is no real police (or) law and order."

The battle against IS in Raqa included a heavy bombardment by coalition jets and left much of the city in tatters.

Egeland said the extent of the devastation observed by the UN team again raised the question of whether it was "necessary to totally destroy (Raqa) to liberate it."

Relief work in Raqa had been carried out by local civil society groups, but Egeland said the UN expects to start its own humanitarian operations in the city soon.The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are trying to sack Von Miller again after the Denver Broncos linebacker and his friends caught a 9-and-a-half foot hammerhead shark off the coast of Miami last week, and this time the animal rights group has gotten the government involved.

Miller posted video to social media of the catch during a guided fishing tour:

.@VonMiller's fishing trip in Miami was eventful pic.twitter.com/5STErS3THT  Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 30, 2018

Seeing Von Miller smile as he holds a sharks bloody body should turn any kind persons stomach, PETA official Stephanie Bell told Newsweek in a statement. This man has a reported history of bullying animals  having previously made the news for wrestling an alligator and PETA is inquiring with officials to ensure that Miller is held accountable if killing this animal was, as we suspect, illegal.

Miller often posts video of his fishing and hunting expeditions on social media, and his Facebook show Studio 58 covers similar ground on his travels. Back in 2013, PETA publicly warned against Miller  renowned operator of a chicken farm in Texas  pursing poultry as a business venture.

Miller posted no evidence that he killed the shark, beyond a photo of the Super Bowl 50 MVP posing with the bloodied fish before his guided fishing tour reportedly releasing it back into the ocean:

Von Miller posing with Cam Newton after Super Bowl 50 pic.twitter.com/W4RZqOlXn3  Laces Out (@LacesOutShow) March 30, 2018

That didnt stop PETA from filing a complaint with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, to which FWC spokesman Rob Klepper responded publicly, via TMZ: FWC has received the images and video and is looking into whether or not a violation occurred in this incident.

Story continues

Harvesting hammerhead sharks in state waters is considered a second-degree misdemeanor in Florida and punishable by up to 60 days in jail and/or a $500 fine, according to the Denver Post. Catching and releasing hammerhead sharks, as Miller purportedly did, is not punishable by law.

More from Yahoo Sports:

 Coach asks NFL prospect: What if I punched you?

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 Are Pats and Lamar Jackson a match made in heaven?

 Dan Wetzel: The bromance of Phil and Tiger



      

Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!Paris (AFP) - Four works of art have vanished from the walls of France's national assembly, parliamentary officials said Wednesday, prompting a police investigation to track them down.

Confirming a report by the Canard Enchaine investigative newspaper, the speaker's office said the four artworks had been discovered missing after an annual inventory at the end of last year.

"Searches up until now have not allowed us to locate them," the office said, adding the artworks had been "hanging on the walls of offices" in the lower house of parliament on the southern bank of the River Seine in Paris.

They include a piece by the Greek artist Takis which belongs to France's National Contemporary Art Fund, paintings by French modern artists Herve Telemaque and Richard Texier, and an engraving by an unknown artist.

A legal complaint has been filed and a police source told AFP that investigators from the Banditry Repression Brigade in Paris, which handles art theft, have taken up the case.Brussels (AFP) - France said Wednesday it has decided to extend border checks with countries in Europe's Schengen passport-free zone until the end of October because of the persistent threat of terrorism.

France introduced border controls after the Islamic State group attacks that killed 130 people in Paris on November 13, 2015 and has renewed them every six months since then amid new attacks.

"Considering the number of recent and thwarted attacks, particularly the one in Trebes, that have hit French territory, the government has decided a new extension," the French interior ministry said.

Moroccan-born Frenchman Radouane Lakdim, during a rampage in Carcassonne and Trebes on March 23, killed four people before he was shot dead by police.

A European Commission spokesman confirmed "we received notification from France this week" to extend controls for six months beyond the April 30 expiry date.

Unlike temporary checks to curb migration in the Schengen zone, those linked to security do not require a formal green light from the Commission, the 28-nation EU executive.

A total of 26 European countries, including 22 European Union member states, make up the Schengen zone where no passport is required when crossing borders.

In addition to France, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and non-EU Norway have also imposed border controls, but initially to curb uncontrolled migration.

Those countries grappled with chaos as people fleeing war in Syria and other countries headed to wealthy northern EU countries after landing en masse in Greece in 2015.

However, migrant flows have declined sharply following EU cooperation deals with Turkey and Libya, the main gateways to Europe.

And the commission has since last year said it will no longer allow migration as a pretext to impose border checks because it says order has been restored.

Those countries in November for the first time cited security concerns for renewing the checks even if they also warn of the need to control migration.

Story continues

Permission for the five other countries to continue the checks expires on May 12 and most appear set to request a renewal.

In a letter to the European Commission, Austria's interior minister Herbert Kickl (FPO) asked for a six-month extension of controls on its borders with Hungary and Slovenia.

Though illegal migrant arrivals have decreased, "the smugglers would see the loss of internal border checks as a false signal and intensify their activities," Kickl wrote, according to the Austrian press agency APA.

The commission said it has not yet received notification from Austria.

A diplomatic source said Poland, Hungary and Slovenia meanwhile have complained to EU member states that they are paying an economic price for the border checks, questioning the pretext of security.Veteran journalist Nick Clooney, the father of movie star George Clooney, says that Sinclair Broadcast Groups scripted editorial stunt is beyond the pale and would never have happened in his day.

The right-wing media giant faced widespread criticism this week after video emerged showing a small army of local news anchors at its 170-plus TV stations nationwide reading a carbon-copy script bashing the false news and fake stories of other outlets.

Clooney was a news anchor for more than a decade in the 1970s and 1980s on Cincinnatis Channel 12 WKRC-TV, which is now owned by Sinclair.

I have no idea what these folks are doing for a living, but it isnt news, Clooney told the Cincinnati Enquirer on Monday.

Veteran journalist Nick Clooney has criticized Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which now owns his old television station. (Photo: Michael Loccisano via Getty Images)

Clooney acknowledged that scripted editorials written by the stations owners would have been read on air during his time at the station.

But they would have been clearly identified as such, or the owners would have read them out themselves, he said.

To borrow the credibility of the anchor and the reporter is beyond the pale, Clooney told the Enquirer. If all they want is a puppet, a marionette, you can get them a lot cheaper.

Related Coverage

News Anchor At Sinclair-Owned Station Hits Back At Trump

John Oliver: Sinclair Broadcasters 'Like Members Of A Brainwashed Cult'

Confessions Of A Former Sinclair News Director

Also on HuffPost

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.donald trump mad angry

Getty

Global markets roiled after China announced retaliatory measures against US tariffs on Tuesday evening.

State TV in China reports that Beijing plans to levy tariffs on more than 100 products traded with the US.

Planned measures include 25% tariffs on soybeans, automobiles, and chemicals, according to reports.

US stock futures have plunged, while several European indexes lost more than 1% in Wednesday-morning trade.

President Donald Trump responded to China's announcement by tweeting that the US was "not in a trade war with China."

Global markets were diving Wednesday morning following reports that China planned to retaliate against the US in an escalating trade conflict between the two nations.

China plans to impose tariffs on more than 100 American products with a combined trading value of over $50 billion, swiftly firing back at the US just hours after the Trump administration made similar proposals on Chinese products.

According to Bloomberg, 106 US products are affected, including proposed 25% tariffs on soybeans, automobiles, and chemicals.

The news seems to have spooked investors, with futures markets in the US tumbling along with major European indexes as well as commodities affected by the tariffs. Here's the scoreboard of key assets as of about 12:30 p.m. BST (7:30 a.m. ET):

China's government had effectively preannounced the measures earlier Tuesday, with China's Commerce Ministry saying in a statement that it would "soon take measures of equal intensity and scale against US goods."

Zhang Xiangchen, the Chinese ambassador to the World Trade Organization, urged members to "join with China in firmly resisting US protectionism," according to Reuters.

Story continues

China's ultimate announcement came less than 24 hours after the US announced an initial list of roughly $50 billion worth of products it said would be subject to new tariffs planned by President Donald Trump.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer unveiled the list, which includes a wide array of products such as raw materials, construction machinery, agricultural equipment, electronics, medical devices, and consumer goods.

The 25% tariffs would apply to roughly $50 billion worth of goods coming from China each year. The tariffs are the result of an investigation by the Office of the US Trade Representative, which has accused the Chinese government of stealing intellectual property.

The US's proposed tariffs would target specific industries that China identified as part of its Made in China 2025 plan  an initiative being undertaken by the Chinese government to "comprehensively upgrade Chinese industry."

Xiangchen, the WTO ambassador, said the moves were "an intentional and gross violation of the WTOs fundamental principles of nondiscrimination and bound tariffs."

The trade skirmish between the world's two biggest economies has many fearing a full-scale trade war  something widely expected to negatively affect global economic growth.

Last month, analysts at the Australian bank Macquarie argued that in the scenario of a "full trade war" the US would enter a recession in 2019, with unemployment more than doubling from today's levels.

On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted that the US was "not in a trade war with China."

"We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S.," he said. "Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!"

NOW WATCH: A $700 billion investor dispels one of the market's most common myths  and explains what it means for your portfolio

See Also:

SEE ALSO: Trump rolls out a massive list of $50 billion worth of Chinese products that will face new tariffs(Photo: Maxim Shemetov / Reuters)

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) speculated that the person who opened fire at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, California, might be an illegal immigrant immediately after the first news reports of the attack.

The Republican lawmaker offered his premature thoughts during an appearance on the Fox Business Network Tuesday afternoon, hours before police identified the shooter.

You were going to discuss with me about sanctuary cities and the sanctuary state movement, and it fits right into what youre talking about right now, Rohrabacher told host David Asman, when asked for comment on the shooting.

Rohrabacher went on to link the shooter to criminal illegal aliens as the networks chyron was characterizing the news as an active shooter situation.

Would anyone be surprised? Rohrabacher continued. Would anyone listening to you right now say, Well, this certainly wouldnt be an illegal immigrant there. Well, it could be! Everybody knows that could be! ... Sanctuary city  my foot! We should be making sure we emphasize that any illegal in this state should be sent back whether hes a criminal or not, but especially criminals.

Asman appeared unfazed by Rohrabachers speculation, which was first reported by ThinkProgress.

You make an excellent point, Asman told his guest.

Rohrabacher has come under fire in the past for erroneously blaming innocent people for violence. In September, he called the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a total hoax orchestrated by left-wingers.

Also on HuffPost

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.The U.S. and its allies have failed to impose sufficient costs against Russia for its recent aggressions around the world. Those were the words of National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster Tuesday, in his last public speech before stepping down April 9.

President Donald Trumps top security official said the lack of consequences has emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin.

McMaster laid the blame for costly attacks in cyberspace and the use of a military-grade nerve agent in an attempted murder in the UK last month at Putins feet. He spoke during an address at an Atlantic Council dinner in Washington D.C.

Trending: Gay People 'Will Go to Hell': Top Rugby Star Israel Folau Sparks Outrage with Latest Outburst

04_04_McMaster

Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Kremlins confidence is growing as its agents conduct their sustained campaigns to undermine our confidence in ourselves and in one another, McMaster said, referencing Moscows cyber intrusions targeting the U.S. energy sector and the billions of dollars in damages caused by last years NotPetya cyber attack.

The Kremlins tactics, he said, include infiltrating social media, spreading propaganda, weaponizing information, and using other forms of subversion and espionage. A 2017 report by key American intelligence agencies found the Kremlin mounted a sophisticated misinformation campaign against the U.S. during the 2016 election.

Russia employs sophisticated strategies deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target states threshold for a military response, McMaster said. For too long some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats.

Don't miss: Eight Martin Luther King Jr. Facts on the 50th Anniversary of His Assassination

Read more: Trump still doubts Russia's election interferencethat's giving a green light to Putin, says ex-CIA analyst

Story continues

McMasters tough words against Russia stand in contrast to Trumps softer remarks about Putin earlier in the day. Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing, Trump told reporters. He responding to questions about an invitation he extended to Putin to come to the White House on March 20 during a call in which he congratulated the Russian leader on his election victory.

On March 26 the U.S. joined other countries around the world and expelled 60 Russian diplomats, shutting Moscows Seattle consulate in response to the March 4 poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter with a nerve-agent in Salisbury, UK. Reports later confirmed that Russia can replace all 60 of those expelled on a case-by-case basis.

Top Trump administration intelligence officials have repeatedly warned that the U.S. is not doing enough to push back on Russian aggression. During testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee February 13, the heads of the CIA, FBI and NSA, as well as the Director of National Intelligence, confirmed there is no inter-agency strategy to combat Russian election interference despite the upcoming midterm elections. Officials said Russian interference in the U.S. political system is underway right now.

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I believe that President Putin has clearly come to the conclusion there's little price to pay here, and that therefore [he] can continue this activity, said National Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers during a separate Senate hearing days later.

Trump has remained skeptical of Russian interference in the election and called special counsel Robert Muellers investigation of the matter a political witch hunt.

On Tuesday McMaster said that Mr. Putin may believe that he is winning in this new form of warfare, but he argued that Trump has been pushing back by speaking out against authoritarian regimes and cited sanctions the U.S. has imposed on Russian individuals and institutions as proof of concrete action.

Nevertheless, he said the U.S. needs to impose a high cost in response to cyber aggression, invest in its cyber infrastructure, do more to counter misinformation and work more closely with its allies on these issues.

He also pointed to a threat within the U.S. in that some journalists, academics, public officials, and saddest of all young people have developed and promulgated idealized, warped views of tyrannical regimes.

McMaster will be replaced by John Bolton, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in the administration of President George W. Bush.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekMadrid (AFP) - Spanish police on Wednesday detained Herve Falciani, a former computer analyst at the Swiss branch of HSBC who leaked documents alleging the bank helped clients evade millions of dollars in taxes, a police source said.

"He was arrested in Madrid, in the street on the way to a conference," a top police official told AFP, adding the arrest was made at the request of Switzerland, which is seeking his extradition.

The official did not say why Falciani, a French-Italian national, was wanted by Switzerland.

A Swiss court in 2015 convicted Falciani of aggravated industrial espionage and handed him a five-year prison sentence.

He did not attend his trial and has avoided Switzerland since.

Falciani leaked a cache of documents allegedly indicating that HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped more than 120,000 clients to hide 180.6 billion euros ($222 billion) from tax authorities, sparking the so-called "Swissleaks" scandal.

While he is widely viewed as a whistleblower and hailed as a hero in countries where his leaked information is helping catch tax cheats, Swiss authorities prosecuted him for data theft, industrial espionage, and violating the country's long-cherished banking secrecy laws.

"It is very regrettable that he was arrested, we don't understand it," the president of Spain's tax inspectors union Gestha, Carlos Cruzado, told AFP, adding he witnessed Falciani's detention as he arrived at a university to speak at a conference.

"The paradox is that he was detained at the entrance to a debate on the need to protect whistleblowers and his chair was left empty. We were going to debate the fact that Spain is one of the European countries where fewer measures have been implemented to protect whistleblowers," Cruzado said.

- 'Snowden of tax evasion' -

Falciani became an IT worker for HSBC in 2000 and moved to the bank's offices in Geneva in 2006.

The so-called "Snowden of tax evasion" and "the man who terrifies the rich" then obtained access to a massive database of encrypted customer information.

Story continues

He took the client list in 2007 and went to Lebanon with his mistress the next year planning to sell the data. Swiss authorities described it as "cashing in".

Yet suspicious bankers in Lebanon were not interested in buying the dubiously sourced client list and at least one tipped off their Swiss counterparts to Falciani's activities.

Falciani then got in contact with European fiscal authorities and began passing them the pilfered information, which subsequently led to the prosecution of tax evaders including Arlette Ricci, heir to France's Nina Ricci perfume empire, and the pursuit of Emilio Botin, the late chairman of the Spanish bank Santander.

He rejects that he was only seeking financial gain, insisting he had wanted to expose how banks support tax evasion and money laundering.

- Flight to Spain -

Falciani, 46, was arrested in Barcelona in July 2012 on an international warrant seeking his extradition to Switzerland after he arrived by boat from the port of Sete in France.

He then spent a couple of months in a Spanish prison.

In 2013, Spain's High Court ruled against extraditing Falciani on the grounds that the charges he faced in Switzerland are not considered crimes under Spanish law.

In an interview with top-selling Spanish daily El Pais in 2013, Falciani said that about a month before he fled to Spain, US justice officials who he was collaborating with from Paris warned him his life was at risk.

"I had two options: start a new life in the United States or travel somewhere else to gain time. They told me that the only safe place in Europe would be Spain, which had used my information with success in important cases," he told the newspaper.Madrid (AFP) - Spanish police on Wednesday detained Herve Falciani, a former computer analyst at the Swiss branch of HSBC who leaked documents alleging the bank helped clients evade millions of dollars in taxes, a police source said.

"He was arrested in Madrid, in the street on the way to a conference," a top police official told AFP, adding the arrest was made at the request of Switzerland, which is seeking his extradition.

A Swiss court in 2015 convicted Falciani, a French-Italian national, of aggravated industrial espionage and handed him a five-year prison sentence.

He did not attend his trial and has avoided Switzerland since.

Falciani leaked a cache of documents allegedly indicating that HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped more than 120,000 clients to hide 180.6 billion euros ($222 billion) from tax authorities, sparking the so-called "Swissleaks" scandal.

While he is widely viewed as a whistleblower and hailed as a hero in countries where his leaked information is helping catch tax cheats, Swiss authorities prosecuted him for data theft, industrial espionage, and violating the country's long-cherished banking secrecy laws.

Falciani became an IT worker for HSBC in 2000 and moved to the bank's offices in Geneva in 2006.

The so-called "Snowden of tax evasion" and "the man who terrifies the rich" then obtained access to a massive database of encrypted customer information.

He took the client list in 2007 and went to Lebanon with his mistress the next year planning to sell the data. Swiss authorities described it as "cashing in".

Yet suspicious bankers in Lebanon were not interested in buying the dubiously sourced client list and at least one tipped off their Swiss counterparts to Falciani's activities.

Falciani then got in contact with European fiscal authorities and began passing them the pilfered information, which prompted numerous tax evasion audits.

Falciani rejects that he was only seeking financial gain, insisting he had wanted to expose how banks support tax evasion and money laundering.

Story continues

He travelled to Spain by boat in July 2012 and was arrested in Barcelona on an international warrant seeking his extradition to Switzerland.

Falciani then spent a couple of months in a Spanish prison.

In 2013, Spain's High Court ruled against extraditing Falciani on the grounds that the charges he faced in Switzerland are not considered crimes under Spanish law.Budapest (AFP) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of Europe's most controversial leaders, looks set to win a third consecutive term in office at elections on Sunday, despite a galvanised opposition tapping into voters' discontent.

The strongman nationalist's Fidesz party enjoys opinion poll leads of between 20 and 30 percentage points over its closest rivals Jobbik, a far-right party led by Gabor Vona that has been moving towards the centre, and the leftist Socialists with their candidate Gergely Karacsony.

Opposition hopes of an upset are pinned on a potential surge in turnout due to simmering displeasure with the 54-year-old premier, in power since 2010.

A mainly first-past-the-post election system that was designed by Fidesz favours it over the fragmented opposition parties, but polls show around 40 percent of the eight-million-strong electorate are undecided.

Polls also show a slight majority of Hungarians favour a change in government, while civil groups have urged nationwide tactical voting to foil Fidesz candidates.

"There is anger in the air, and danger for Orban if people turned off by politics in recent years vote en masse," an analyst with Policy Solutions, Andras Biro-Nagy, told AFP.

- Radical right -

A clear win for Fidesz is still widely seen as probable and would cement Orban's plan, declared in 2014, to mould ex-communist Hungary (population 9.8 million) into an "illiberal" state.

It would also keep Orban at the forefront of the deepening division between the European Union's western and eastern members.

Since the 2015 migration crisis Orban has cast himself as a defender of national sovereignty and "Christian Europe" against the "globalist elite".

His tough anti-immigration stance and verbal onslaughts against "Brussels bureaucrats" have gained him followers in central Europe, especially nearby Poland as well as far-right circles in western Europe and beyond.

Story continues

Brussels has hit back by suing Budapest over its refusal to join the EU refugee resettlement plan, as well as laws targeting civil society groups and a university linked to the liberal US billionaire George Soros.

If Fidesz loses on Sunday "an internationalist government" backed by Soros, whom Orban accuses of orchestrating mass migration, will turn Hungary into a "country of immigrants", the prime minister said last week.

An Orban win on the other hand will see his rhetoric turn "increasingly confrontational," an analyst with Political Capital, Edit Zgut, told AFP.

"And Orban will likely become an even stronger point of reference for European radical-right forces," she said.

During the election campaign Orban has stepped up his long-running attacks on the Hungarian-born Soros which have included media blitzes called xenophobic and even anti-Semitic by detractors.

Fidesz posters show the 87-year-old Jewish financier with opposition leaders brandishing wire-cutters ready to take down anti-migrant border fences Orban erected in 2015.

- 'Drifting from Europe' -

Since sweeping into power with a two-thirds majority eight years ago, Orban has transformed Hungary, overhauling its state institutions and constitution.

In recent years, his government's tax policies have benefited an expanding upper middle class while the economy, powered by German car-makers and EU budget transfers, has been picking up.

"We need four more years in power to make our achievements irreversible," Orban said in November.

But critics at home and abroad, including in Brussels and Washington, claim that Orban's reforms have eroded democratic institutions like the judiciary and the press, and that his clampdown on civil groups apes tactics used by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a regular visitor to Budapest.

"Hungary is drifting away from Europe toward the Russian sphere of influence," the Socialists' Karacsony told AFP.

Last month Orban pledged to take "moral, political and legal retribution" on opponents after the election, an apparent threat that alarmed opposition parties.

While the Fidesz election campaign, anchored by the slogan "For us, Hungary is first!" has focused solely on high-pitched warnings about Muslim and African migrants, Orban himself has shunned debate with rivals and appeared in public only at carefully choreographed events.

His aura of invincibility has been shaken though by a wave of recent corruption scandals involving close allies and family members that have heightened unpredictability about Sunday's result.

After a bruising campaign analysts say Fidesz is now unlikely to secure a third consecutive two-thirds majority in the 199-seat assembly, but would only lose an absolute majority if turnout tops 70 percent.

"Whoever does not vote Sunday is voting for Orban," said Jobbik's Vona.JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesias state oil company Pertamina said on Wednesday a cracked underwater pipeline was the cause of an oil spill off the coast of a port city on Borneo island that has prompted a major clean-up operation in the area. Authorities rushed to contain the spill off Balikpapan, which started on Saturday and sparked a fire that killed four people at the weekend. TV footage has shown officials scooping up buckets of oil from the sea and dumping them in pits on shore. The pipe was found ... in a broken condition. There were external factors that caused that, said Togar MP, general manager of Pertaminas refinery in Balikpapan. We are still calculating the volume of the leak and losses, he said at a news conference in Balikpapan, adding the leak was of crude oil. It was not immediately clear if the pipeline had been repaired. A government official in Jakarta said it was unclear what had caused the leak. "It could be that the pipeline is rusty or an anchor hit it," said Djoko Siswanto, director general of oil and gas at the energy ministry. The state energy firm said on Sunday initial tests showed the oil was marine oil used in boats. Balikpapan city, a major mining and energy hub, declared a state of emergency on Monday, warning residents to stay away from the coast because the area was prone to fires. (Reporting by Wilda Asmarini; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Ed Davies and Mark Potter)Rome (AFP) - Italy will on Wednesday begin the process of trying to put together a new government, a month after the country's general election delivered a political stalemate.

Two major forces emerged at the polls: a right-wing coalition led by the far-right, anti-migrant League party which garnered 37 percent of the vote, and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), the biggest single party with just under 33 percent.

Each group has repeatedly spoken of its right to be given the chance to form a government and both have stuck to that line despite coming to an agreement last week on the nomination of the speakers of both houses of parliament.

Both political groups are making hostile noises in the lead up to consultations with President Sergio Mattarella.

On Tuesday night current affairs programme Di Martedi, M5S leader Luigi Di Maio said that he would only deal with either the League or the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which leads the outgoing government and crashed to third at the election with around 23 percent, haemorrhaging seats.

Any deal with Matteo Salvini's League must, Di Maio says, exclude Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, the second largest party in the right-wing coalition and a fierce rival to the M5S.

"Salvini needs to choose between revolution and the restoration. Whether to leave Berlusconi and change Italy or whether to stay with him and not change anything," said Di Maio.

- Tricky task -

Salvini responded on Facebook by saying that, unlike the M5S, the League "excludes any alliance with a PD rejected by the Italian public," and reiterated that the right will discuss a partnership with Di Maio "but without being subjected to vetoes or impositions."

In any case, both will have to make their cases to Mattarella.

Over the next two days Mattarella will meet the Chamber of Deputies and Senate speakers and political leaders for consultations over the make-up of the next government, with the biggest parties pencilled in for Thursday.

Story continues

After his consultations the president will decide who, if anyone, can command enough seats to form a government or whether a fresh round of consultations is necessary.

Finding a solution this week will be a tricky task given how far anyone is from a majority in either the lower house Chamber or upper house Senate.

The right needs 51 more seats in the 630-seat Chamber and 23 in the Senate -- which holds 318 seats -- in order to form a stable majority, while the M5S need to secure the support of 94 more in the lower house and 51 in the upper house.

The PD has refused to work with either the right or M5S despite having enough seats -- 111 in the chamber and 52 in the Senate -- to form a government with either.

- Haggling -

Interim PD leader Maurizio Martina said on Tuesday that his party won't "act as a crutch" for two groups that have such different political ideas from his own party.

PD MP and deputy speaker of the Chamber Ettore Rosato claims the two other groups were just using the threat of an alliance with the PD to gain an upper hand in their private negotiations.

"There's been a concrete agreement for government between Di Maio and Salvini for months. Now they're just stalling," he said on political talk show Porta a Porta on Tuesday.

Little seems likely to change on the PD's part at least until the party votes for a new leader, which Martina has said should take place this month.

If an agreement between the League and the M5S is not struck and the PD sticks to its guns a new government will be extremely hard to form.

But even if Mattarella were to announce new elections there is no guarantee anything would change, unless a new electoral law were drafted.

Federico Fornaro, MP for left-wing party Free and Equal and an election expert, told Wednesday's Il Fatto Quotidiano daily that Italy would remain in political limbo.

"With the current electoral system, going back to the polls would be pointless," he said.Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards has leveled a strong accusation against Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. According to Richardss new book  appropriately titled Make Trouble  the couple tried to bribe her by offering federal funding for Planned Parenthood if the organization agreed to stop offering abortions.

Richards says that the offer came during a January 2017 meeting, to which she brought husband Kirk Adams as a witness.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump allegedly tried to pressure Planned Parenthood into eliminating its abortion services. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The main issue, [Kushner] explained, was abortion, Richards writes, according to an excerpt published by People. If Planned Parenthood wanted to keep our federal funding, we would have to stop providing abortions. He described his ideal outcome: a national headline reading Planned Parenthood Discontinues Abortion Services.

If it wasnt crystal clear before, it was now, Richard continues. Jared and Ivanka were there for one reason: to deliver a political win. In their eyes, if they could stop Planned Parenthood from providing abortions, it would confirm their reputation as savvy dealmakers. It was surreal, essentially being asked to barter away womens rights for more money. It takes a lot to get Kirk mad, but it looked like his head was about to explode.

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards makes the claim in her new book. (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Glamour)

The incident  which Richards says felt like a bribe  brings new scrutiny to Trump, who has expressed support for womens rights while declining to denounce proposed cuts to measures affecting womens health. According to a 2017 New York Times feature, White House officials credited the presidents daughter and adviser with trying to find a common-sense solution amid the roar of abortion politics.

That article also claims that Trump proposed that Planned Parenthood separate abortion from its other health services, which Richards declined to do.

Planned Parenthood issued a statement last April elaborating on the discussions.

Cecile Richards and Ivanka Trump had a cordial and informative meeting shortly after the inauguration, the statement read. The purpose of the meeting, from Planned Parenthoods perspective, was to make sure that Ivanka Trump fully understood the important role Planned Parenthood plays in providing health care to millions of people and why it would be a disastrous idea to block people from accessing care at Planned Parenthood. It was also important to clear up any misinformation regarding the Medicaid reimbursements Planned Parenthood receives and explain that Planned Parenthood is reimbursed the same way hospitals are. Its not a budget line item.

Story continues

Planned Parenthood welcomes the opportunity to meet with anyone to talk about the important role Planned Parenthood plays in providing health care to millions of people and ensure they have the facts.

Senior staff at the White House, including Ivanka Trump, play an influential role in shaping the Administrations policy and negotiations with Congress, which has a profound impact on womens health and lives.

As Cecile Richards said at the Women in the World Summit on April 5, 2017: Anyone who works in this White House is responsible for addressing why women are in the crosshairs of basically every single policy weve seen in this administration.

Though Richardss claims have prompted cheers from some antiabortion advocates, the couple is now experiencing fallout on social media.

I didnt think it was possible for me to hate them more than I did but hey its a new day  Caryn Rose (@carynrose) April 4, 2018

. Offs. @IvankaTrump is no friend of women. Weve known that all along. Shes been playing female supporter. We must not forget this moment. Ivanka is pure fake. Thank you @CecileRichards for speaking truth to power!!!  Diane (@diane32123) April 4, 2018

This makes @IvankaTrump look very bad.  Russell C. Lakey (@RussLakey) April 4, 2018

.@IvankaTrump and @jaredkushner wanted to barter woman's right for some cash.

Think about it.  ALT- Immigration (@ALT_uscis) April 4, 2018

Dear @IvankaTrump and jail bait, You tried to bribe @PPFA to stop abortions? You do realize that the vast majority of Americans cannot be bought when it comes to deeply held convictions, right? We aren't half as shallow as you are.#TheResistancehttps://t.co/sg0dUROlXr  Sarah Connor (@SarahConnor2017) April 4, 2018

Women's rights are not for sale. Planned Parenthood CEO Says Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Offered 'Bribe' to Stop Abortions https://t.co/eqwL70p8WC  Amy Ellis (@amesplaza) April 4, 2018

Amazing. I guess Ivanka is not such a champion of women and womens rights.  Carolinne (@carolinnewport) April 4, 2018

Remember you've been told repeatedly that Javanka, who are registered Independents, were going to advocate for women and #LGBT from inside the @WhiteHouse.#PlannedParenthood CEO Says Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Offered 'Bribe' to Stop Abortions https://t.co/UPq0RSNmky  Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) April 4, 2018

The White House has not yet addressed the claim. Planned Parenthood has issued a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle reiterating its stance on the issue.

As always, Planned Parenthood will do everything we can to stand up for our patients and their right to reproductive health care, it reads. Womens health and rights are non-negotiable  and that includes access to safe, legal abortion. Its a constitutional right that cannot be traded away.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

California high schoolers plan abortion protest in response to gun violence walkout

Jessica Chastain donates to fertility treatment fund for woman who disagreed with her pro-choice views

Largest review of abortion in the U.S. found it to be safe and effective

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



MOSCOW (AP) -- The latest on the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy and his daughter (all times local):

1:00 a.m.

Russia's envoy to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says that although Moscow's proposal for a joint investigation with Britain was rejected, the number of countries that abstained from the vote shows widespread uneasiness with Britain.

Russia called for a session of the watchdog's executive council on Wednesday to further its adamant denials of Britain's allegation that Russia was involved in the nerve-agent poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter.

A Russian proposal to conduct a joint investigation with Britain was defeated, getting only six votes from the 41-member executive body.

But envoy Alexander Shulgin noted that 17 countries abstained, meaning that "more than half of the members of the executive council refused to support the U.S. and U.K. position."

The United States expelled 60 Russian diplomats in solidarity with Britain in the poisoning controversy.

___

12:20 a.m.

Britain says Russia's proposal for a joint investigation of the nerve-agent poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter got only six votes at a special session of the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Russia requested the Wednesday session in The Hague, Netherlands, to push its vehement denials of Britain's allegation that Russia was involved in the March 4 poisonings in England. There are 41 countries on the OPCW's executive council.

The British government has invited experts from the international chemical weapons watchdog to help investigate the March 4 poisonings of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Russia's bid to take part "ludicrous."

Johnson said: "The purpose of Russia's ludicrous proposal at The Hague was clear  - to undermine the independent, impartial work of the international chemical weapons watchdog." British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement. "

Story continues

"Russia has had one goal in mind since the attempted murders on U.K. soil through the use of a military-grade chemical weapon: to obscure the truth and confuse the public."

___

12:10 a.m.

Russia's Foreign Ministry wants Britain to provide information about the pets that lived in the house of the Russian former spy who was poisoned with nerve agent in England a month ago.

Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that Russia has reliable information that there were pets in the Salisbury residence of Sergei Skripal.

"Where are the pets? What is their condition?" she said. "This is about living creatures, and if a toxic chemical agent was indeed used in their house, these living creatures should have been hurt."

It is not clear where Skripal and his daughter were exposed to the poison, which Britain has identified as a nerve agent of the Novichok class. Novichok was developed as a chemical weapon in the Soviet Union, and Britain has alleged Russia was involved in the poisoning.

___

9 p.m.

Russia's U.N. ambassador has called for an open meeting of the U.N. Security Council Thursday on the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in Britain.

Vassily Nebenzia made the request at the end of his speech Wednesday to a council meeting on chemical weapons in Syria.

Nebenzia said Russia requested the council meeting because it shares the principle that the use of chemical weapons anywhere "is not acceptable and must be investigated and perpetrators punished, and that impunity is unacceptable."

Kuwait's U.N. Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi told reporters the meeting is scheduled at 3 p.m. EDT on Thursday.

Nebenzia's request follows a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Wednesday requested by Russia on the incident in the English city of Salisbury.

___

8:40 p.m.

Russia's envoy to the international chemical weapons watchdog has complained that Britain's work with the agency on the poisoning of a former spy has not been transparent.

Alexander Shulgin told a news conference Wednesday that "Russia as well as other states that are members of the executive committee have been pushed aside from this investigation."

He spoke after a special session of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons called by Russia, which vehemently denies Britain's allegations that Moscow was responsible for the nerve-agent poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

The two were found poisoned in the British city of Salisbury a month ago.

"They tell us that they can inform us of the results of this investigation ... only with the good will of Great Britain," Shulgin said. "But, knowing how our so-called partners have conducted themselves, we are not going to count on their good will."

___

7 p.m.

A senior Russian diplomat says a probe into the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain should involve a panel of independent experts.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says that Moscow has suggested that the international chemical weapons watchdog set up a group of independent experts to look into the case.

Britain has blamed Russia for the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Russia has fervently denied its involvement and pushed Britain to provide evidence to back up its claim.

Ryabkov told the Tass news agency Wednesday that the refusal by Britain and its allies to have an independent probe would signal their "intention to sacrifice the truth for the sake of their geopolitical ambitions."

___

4:30 p.m.

President Vladimir Putin says Russia expects Britain and its allies to respect international law to end the simmering diplomatic crisis.

Asked Wednesday if Moscow expects Britain to retract its accusations against Russia over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and offer an apology, Putin said Wednesday that Russia has no such expectations but hopes that "reason will prevail."

Britain blamed Russia for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, accusations which Russia has fervently denied. More than two dozen Western allies have expelled over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain, and Russia responded quid pro quo.

Putin said on a visit to Ankara he hopes Britain and its allies will refrain from actions damaging international relations and return to the framework of international law.

____

4 p.m.

The British government is under pressure to reveal more details of its intelligence on the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning, after the country's defense research lab said it has not been able to pinpoint the precise source of the poison.

The chief executive of the Porton Down laboratory, Gary Aitkenhead, says scientists there have identified the substance used on Sergei and Yulia Skripal as a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok. But he said Tuesday that "it's not our job to say where that was actually manufactured."

The British government says it relied on a combination of scientific analysis and other intelligence to conclude that the nerve agent came from Russia. Russia denies responsibility, and has seized on Aitkenhead's remarks to support its case.

Britain is standing by its assessment, but the Foreign Office on Wednesday deleted a tweet from last month saying Porton Down scientists had identified the substance as "made in Russia."

____

3:30 p.m.

Russia's Foreign Ministry says it is expelling one Hungarian diplomat after Hungary joined other Western nations in kicking out Russian diplomats.

The United States and many European countries last week expelled a total of over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain, which accuses Russia of being behind the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter last month.

Hungary said last week that it was expelling one Russian diplomat who was carrying out intelligence activities.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that it has summoned the Hungarian ambassador to Moscow and informed him of Russia's decision to expel one diplomat from the Hungarian embassy.

____

3:15 p.m.

Britain is rejecting any possibility of having a joint investigation involving Russia into the nerve agent attack in England's Salisbury last month.

The British envoy to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons told the executive council of the watchdog on Wednesday that there is no requirement in the body's convention that would force a victim "to engage the likely perpetrator in a joint investigation."

Acting U.K. Permanent Representative John Foggo said that "to do so would be perverse."

Russia had called for a special meeting of the OPCW's executive council on Wednesday to access developments in the March 4 nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

___

1:50 p.m.

The British delegation at an international meeting says Russia is asking for a joint probe into last month's Salisbury nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and dismissed the offer as "perverse."

During a special meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the British delegation called the offer for a UK-Russian investigation "a diversionary tactic, and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer."

The special council meeting in The Hague was requested by Russia a month after the March 4 attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

____

1:15 p.m.

Russia's Ambassador to the Czech Republic says his country is set to propose a solution to the crisis over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy at an emergency meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Talking to reporters at the Russian embassy in Prague, Alexander Zmeyevskiy says Russia will propose "a civilized solution to the problem" but declined to give any details.

The closed-door meeting of the OPCW started Wednesday morning.

Zmeyevskiy also says his country is not blaming the Czech Republic for being involved in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

Russian officials previously suggested the nerve agent used for the attack may have originated in the Czech Republic, Sweden and Slovakia. Acting Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis called it a lie.

The Czechs expelled three Russian diplomats in solidarity with Britain.

____

12:30 p.m.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is holding an emergency meeting at Russia's request on last month's nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain.

Russia has said that it will push Britain to provide evidence they might have in their hands about the attack in the English city of Salisbury on March 4 which left former double agent Sergei Skripal in critical condition. His daughter, Yulia, is recovering.

The OPCW said the closed-door meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, started in the morning. The Russian delegation plans to brief the media late Wednesday.

Britain's Foreign Office said the move by Moscow to call for the meeting was a "diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion" about the nerve agent attack.

____

11 a.m.

Russia's spymaster says the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter in Britain was staged by U.K. and U.S. intelligence agencies.

Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the top KGB successor agency, said the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia was a "grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and U.S. intelligence agencies."

Speaking Wednesday at an international security conference organized by the Russian Defense Ministry, Naryshkin said the poisoning was the latest U.S. effort to undermine Russia and was akin to its practices during the Cold War.

Britain has blamed Russia for the nerve agent attack, an accusation that Russia has vehemently denied. Consequently, relations between the West and Russia are at their lowest ebb since the Cold War.WAUSAU, Wis. (AP)  The Latest on the Wisconsin Supreme Court election (all times local):

8:45 a.m.

A spring snowstorm could be a player in Wisconsin's election day.

Voters statewide are deciding on a new Supreme Court justice, deciding whether to eliminate the state treasurer and taking on a host of local issues.

But getting to the polls won't be easy for some people. Up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow is expected in the central part of the state. Dozens of schools are already canceling classes.

Turnout is usually around 21 percent for Wisconsin's spring election.

The Supreme Court election has been an expensive and highly partisan race, with Milwaukee Judge Rebecca Dallet backed by liberals and Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock, an appointee of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, favored by conservatives.

___

7:10 a.m.

Polls are open in the Wisconsin race for the state Supreme Court.

Voters are casting their ballots Tuesday in the race between Milwaukee County Judge Rebecca Dallet and Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock for a 10-year term on the high court.

Dallet drew the support of national Democrats, including former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden recorded a robocall for Dallet that went out on Monday night encouraging people to vote for her.

Screnock was the conservative choice  an appointee of Republican Gov. Scott Walker who had the backing of the state GOP and the state chamber of commerce.

Both candidates argue the other can't be trusted to serve as an independent voice on the state's highest court.

___

12:03 a.m.

An expensive and openly partisan Wisconsin Supreme Court race is nearing an end.

Voters cast their ballots Tuesday in the race between Milwaukee County Judge Rebecca Dallet and Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock for a 10-year term on the high court.

The state's spring election is capping weeks of intense campaigning. Dallet drew the support of liberals including former Attorney General Eric Holder and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Screnock was the conservative choice  an appointee of Republican Gov. Scott Walker who had the backing of the state GOP and the state chamber of commerce.

Both candidates argued the other couldn't be trusted to serve as an independent voice on the state's highest court.Fox News personality Laura Ingraham continues to face backlash for mocking a teen survivor of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting.

In a March 28 tweet, Ingraham accused David Hogg, 17, of whining about having been rejected by four of the colleges to which hed applied. Her tweet backfired and prompted Nestle, Hulu, Rachael Ray and other advertisers to distance themselves from the conservative pundit, whose Fox show, The Ingraham Angle, is off the air this week on a pre-planned break.

Ingraham, meanwhile, has apologized for the incident, while Fox News re-released a statement from co-president Jack Abernethy pledging to support her. Amid the media firestorm, a controversial moment from her past has resurfaced. During her senior year at New Hampshires Dartmouth College, she served as the editor of an independent conservative newspaper, The Dartmouth Review, and sent a reporter to secretly record a support group for LGBTQ students.

Ingraham published excerpts of the Gay Students Association meeting, which included people describing their sexual experiences and talking about their sexual identities, according to a 1984 report in The New York Times weeks after the incident. The contemporaneous Times report said the Reviews article named two association officials but did not identify the meetings participants.

At the time of the controversy, The Dartmouth Review had been criticized in the past for articles deriding blacks, women and minorities and was defended by a New Hampshire civil liberties group against a libel suit filed by a black music professor, according to The New York Times.

Ingraham defended her decision to have the reporter record the meeting because the Gay Students Association had refused to reveal how it spent funding it had received from Dartmouth.

It is a freedom of the press issue, obviously, she said at the time.

Rabbi David Seidenberg also outlined the incident in a Newsweek article Monday, writing that a friend of his was outed by the meeting transcript and was terrified about what would happen to her prospects as a result.

Story continues

Comparing Ingrahams 1984 controversy to the one that broke last week following her comments on Hogg, Seidenberg wrote, I hope the day comes when [she] treats people the right way every week, adults and liberals included, without being threatened with a boycott.

Ingraham went on to renounce her actions as editor of The Dartmouth Review in a 1997 Washington Post op-ed. In it, she said that her views and rhetoric about homosexuality have been tempered after learning that her brother, Curtis, is gay, and watching his partner, Richard, die of an AIDS-related illness.

By refusing to give in to bitterness or defeat in the face of a relentless disease, they have shown me what C.S. Lewis meant when he wrote that our ideology and faith must leave room for tolerance and empathy, she wrote. I now regret that at Dartmouth we didnt consider how callous rhetoric can wound ... not to mention how it undermined our political point.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Paris (AFP) - Ten international rights groups called on French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over his country's bombing campaign in Yemen.

Macron is expected to host Prince Mohammed for a three-day trip to France starting Sunday, the latest stop in an international tour by the 32-year-old son of King Salman who is considered the de facto Saudi leader.

A civil war in Yemen, which Saudi Arabia has been bombing since 2015, is considered the world's worse humanitarian crisis by the United Nations with 22.5 million people in need of aid.

"Emmanuel Macron should put Yemen at the centre of his discussions with Mohammed bin Salman as he hosts him in France," said a statement from the rights groups including Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch.

They called for "the end of bombing targeting civilians and respect for international humanitarian law" as well as the "unconditional and permanent lifting on restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid and commercial goods to Yemen".

In November, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies including the United Arab Emirates tightened a pre-existing blockade on Yemeni ports and airports, severely restricting deliveries of food aid and other humanitarian supplies.

The Saudi-led coalition says it has since lifted the restrictions, but a recent visitor to the main port of Hodeida, humanitarian worker Suze van Meegen, described it as a "wasteland" in an interview with AFP in late March.

The UN Security Council warned last month that conditions in Yemen were deteriorating and having a "devastating" impact on civilians.

Jonathan Cunliffe, from the Action Against Hunger rights group, said Wednesday that after a devastating outbreak of cholera last year that saw a million people affected, the country faced new risks from disease.

"This week we're already seeing another disease that has disappeared from most of the world: diphtheria is emerging in the country as well," he told a joint press conference on Wednesday.

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The Saudi-led military intervention began in March 2015 with the goal of rolling back Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels and restoring Yemen's internationally-recognised government to power.

"France, the US, Britain are all implicated in this conflict due to their technical, military, financial support to the coalition," Jean-Francois Corty from the Medecins du Monde group told a joint press conference on Wednesday.

- Macron, rights defender? -

France is a major arms vendor to Saudi Arabia and separate rights groups have accused the country of doing too little to ensure that its weapons are not used in the Saudi military campaign.

Amnesty International says it has documented dozens of Saudi-led coalition military operations that could amount to war crimes due to the deaths of more than 500 civilians.

"Seeing this wave of crimes, it's amazing to see there hasn't been an immediate suspension of all weapon and missile sales to the Arab coalition," Antoine Madelin from the International Federation for Human rights (FIDH) told the press conference.

Three out of four French people believe it is "unacceptable" to sell military weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to a poll by the YouGov group published at the end of March.

Macron has made clear he is unwilling to lecture countries about their human rights records, however, declining to raise the topic publicly with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi or Chinese leader Xi Jinping during meetings.

Prince Mohammed defended his country's actions in Yemen at the UN in New York last week.

"We try as much as we can to solve the problems of the Middle East politically and if things get out of control, we try as hard as we can to avoid all the other impacts," he told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"We will continue to comply, as we always have, with international law," he added after presenting him with a cheque for $930 million (757 million euros) for humanitarian aid in Yemen.By By A. Ananthalakshmi and Joseph Sipalan KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia intercepted a boat carrying 56 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar off its northern island of Langkawi on Tuesday and will allow them to enter on humanitarian grounds, with rights groups expecting further such perilous journeys by sea. The boat had stopped at an island in southern Thailand on Saturday after a storm, with officials there saying the refugees were heading to Malaysia. It had set sail from central Rakhine state in Myanmar, the U.N. refugee agency said. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said in a statement that the boat was carrying 19 men, 17 women and 20 children. It had since been escorted to the peninsula and its occupants handed over to immigration authorities for processing. Malaysia's standard policy has been to turn away refugee boats attempting to make landfall, unless weather conditions are bad, though thousands have managed to enter the country over the years. "Generally all 56 passengers, mostly children and women, are safe but tired and hungry," Malaysian navy chief Admiral Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin told Reuters. "We have provided them with water, food and other humanitarian assistance." According to UN and other rights groups, some 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fled their homes in Rakhine into Bangladesh after militant attacks in August last year sparked a military crackdown that the United Nations and Western countries have said constitutes ethnic cleansing. Buddhist-majority Myanmar rejects that charge, saying its forces have been waging a legitimate campaign against "terrorists" who attacked government forces. Tens of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar by sea following an outbreak of sectarian violence in Rakhine in 2012, some falling prey to human traffickers. That exodus peaked in 2015, when an estimated 25,000 people fled across the Andaman Sea for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, many drowning in unsafe and overloaded boats. Due to the fresh outbreak of violence in Myanmar, rights groups expect another surge in Rohingya boats reaching Southeast Asia, during the months the seas are calmer, even if not at the levels of three years ago. Boats can originate from Myanmar or from overcrowded Bangladesh camps, rights groups have said. Muslim-majority Malaysia, which has not signed the U.N. Refugee Convention and treats refugees as illegal migrants, is already home to more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees. (Editing by Nick Macfie)



The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department has launched an investigation after disturbing video footage has surfaced of an unidentified man dragging a dog from a leash as he drives his car, KTLA 5 reports. A second dog, which also appears to be a German shepherd, kept up with the car but was not on a leash.

The footage was shot by Desiree Durst, who witnessed the incident on March 31 in Lancaster, Calif. Durst told KTLA that she and her family followed the mans car, worried that the dogs were in danger.

I saw him escalating in speed and the male dog was pretty close to being able to keep up, but the female dog just wasnt able to, she told the news station. She started tripping over her feet and then she just started rolling on the ground, and several times she almost went underneath the tire. I was kind of panicking because I was like, Hes going to kill his dog.'

Durst also confronted the man, who responded with anger.

I was honking my horn the entire time trying to get his attention, she said. I had to drive and actually pull up beside him and tell him, Sir, youre dragging your dog; your dogs not able to keep up. At that point, he began to be really aggressive.

He was belligerent, her mother, Carrie Mulalley, confirmed. I know what Im doing; mind your own business.

The man eventually put both dogs in the car and drove away.

Though officials have yet to release any additional information on the case, similar incidents of abusive treatment of dogs have brought stiff penalties. Last September, an Oklahoma couple was charged with animal cruelty after dragging their dog down a Tulsa highway. A month later, an Arkansas man was arrested and booked on charges of aggressive cruelty to animals after he allegedly dragged his dogs behind his motorized scooter. The dogs were later placed with a rescue shelter.

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When Martin Luther King Jr checked into Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel, one of the few in Memphis to give black Americans a friendly welcome, the eyes of the world were upon him.

This was the youngest man ever to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a leader whose oratory on behalf of his people could neither be ignored nor forgotten.

That evening Dr King again showed how his words had the power to change a nation.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness, he told a huge crowd at the Mason Temple Church. Let us stand with a greater determination  to make America what it ought to be  to make America a better nation.

The 39-year-old reverend spoke of narrowly surviving an attempt to stab him to death a decade previously, the blade coming so close to his heart that had he sneezed, he would have died.

In words that have now acquired a chillingly prophetic significance, he told his supporters: I would like to live a long life  But I'm not concerned about that now  I've seen the Promised Land.

I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

James Earl Ray (Getty)

No-one noticed when the following afternoon, on April 4 1968, 40-year-old James Earl Ray checked into a boarding house a block away from the Lorraine.

Why would they? Unlike Martin Luther King, this guy was a loser, a burglar, armed robber and nobody whose only talent seemed to be for getting arrested and escaping jail. That was what he had done a year earlier, slipping out of Missouri State Penitentiary by hiding in a bakery truck.

The fugitive, it would later be reported, was an admirer of Hitler, who wanted an all-white America. When he saw Martin Luther King on a prison television, his fellow convicts claimed, Ray would fly into a rage and promise: If I ever get to the streets, I am going to kill him.

In the shared bathroom at the back of Rays boarding house, there was a window overlooking the Lorraine Motel.

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At 6.01pm that evening Martin Luther King was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine. A single shot was fired. The bullet hit Dr Kings right cheek, shattering his jaw and several vertebrae and severing his spinal cord.

The civil rights leader was pronounced dead at St Josephs Hospital at 7.05pm.

Rays fingerprints were found on a Remington .30-06 Gamemaster rifle dumped near the front of the boarding house.

He was arrested 65 days later, at Londons Heathrow Airport, while apparently trying to flee to what was then the white supremacist haven of Rhodesia, (now Zimbabwe).

On March 10 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King.

He was sentenced to 99 years in jail. The Lorraine Motel was eventually converted into the National Civil Rights Museum.

It was an open and shut case.

Except, of course, it wasnt. Fifty years on, controversy continues to rage about the death of Martin Luther King.

Even during the relatively brief Memphis courthouse proceedings, Ray had leapt to his feet when both the prosecutor and his own defence lawyer Percy Foreman agreed that there was no evidence that anyone else had conspired to kill Dr King.

Ray insisted that he had not intended his guilty plea to be taken as meaning that no others had been involved.

The guilty plea, of course, had allowed him to avoid the executioners electric chair.

Three days after pleading and being sentenced, Ray wrote to the judge saying he wanted to retract his confession.

Never again could the assassination of Martin Luther King be laid to rest and universally accepted as the work of a lone racist with a gun.

After half a century, there has been a profusion of alternative theories presenting Ray as having been directed by shadowy, powerful government forces, either as a paid assassin or as an unwitting patsy.

Some of this was almost inevitable. For such a great man to be killed by such a petty, peripheral figure as Ray seems almost to offend the natural order of things. Many conspiracy theories, it has been noted, spring from the fact that the human mind seems to need grand causes for great events.

But when it comes to the controversy around Dr Kings death, it is rather hard to instantly dismiss everything as the delusions of conspiracy theorists.

For one thing, Dr Kings own family have been among the most prominent in suggesting that Ray might have been framed.

In March 1997, one of Dr King's two sons, Dexter Scott King, visited Ray in prison and said he thought he was innocent.

Until the day she died in 2006, Dr Kings widow Coretta believed what she had told a press conference in December 1999: There is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy  The Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband  Mr Ray was set up to take the blame.

To the King family and many others who lived through the civil rights struggle of the Sixties, the idea of such high-level government involvement in an assassination plot was anything but fanciful.

They had suffered from racial discrimination all their lives, seen police brutality at first hand at civil rights and Vietnam War protests. Moreover, this was the era of assassinations  John F. Kennedy had been killed in 1963, the black leader Malcolm X in 1965.

Dr King knew the FBI had been operating against him. On November 18 1964 none other than J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, had publicly denounced him as the most notorious liar in the country.

A few days later, Coretta opened a package addressed to Dr King, thinking it contained a recording of her husbands speeches. Instead there was a letter that claimed the enclosed tape was of Dr King having sex with other women, although the recording turned out to be so unclear that Coretta dismissed it as mumbo jumbo.

The misspelt letter accused Dr King of being a colossal, evil, vicious fraud, and denounced him as an abnormal beast.

In what many interpreted as a hint that he should kill himself, the letter stated: There is only one thing left for you to do.

Dr King and everyone around him immediately concluded that what became known as the suicide letter was the work of an FBI agent.

We now know that the FBI had been wiretapping Dr Kings phones since 1963 and had started a counterintelligence operation to discredit him.

Hoover, who in one memo called Dr King a tom cat with obsessive degenerate sexual urges, was amazed and frustrated when FBI efforts to plant stories about the civil rights leaders sex life came to nothing.

Small wonder, perhaps, that Dr Kings family could suspect the government of involvement in his murder.

The graves of Dr King and his wife Coretta in Atlanta, Georgia (Getty)

In reaching such conclusions they were assisted by a perhaps unlikely ally: Rays new lawyer William F. Pepper.

It was Pepper who did much to publicise the story that Ray was now telling from his prison cell, in between his four attempts to escape from it.

Ray insisted that the real story was that after escaping from the Missouri State Pen, he had been approached by a blond Cuban going by the name of Raoul.

The mysterious Raoul had got him to buy the rifle and to book a room at the boarding house, Ray claimed.

The convicted mans story was that Raoul had taken the gun and then the Cuban, or an accomplice, had shot Dr King before dumping the rifle where it would be found with Rays prints on it.

In 1993, there was another twist. Loyd Jowers, who had owned Jims Grill, the cafe on the ground floor of the boarding house building, gave a televised confession that he had been paid $100,000 by a Memphis businessman with links to organised crime to arrange the murder of Dr King.

Jowers claimed the real gunman was a rogue Memphis Police Department lieutenant acting on his instructions. This was possible because the fatal bullet had not necessarily come from the Remington rifle. Ballistics tests had failed to prove or disprove its use in the assassination of Dr King.

Adding to the intrigue was Peppers stated belief that green beret snipers from a top secret unit known as Alpha 184 had been after Dr King. They had actually had him in their rifle sights, it was claimed, but before they could pull the trigger, another, unknown gunman had fired the fatal bullet.

It all came to a head in 1999, when the King family brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the now ailing and elderly Mr Jowers. They were represented by Mr Pepper.

In December 1999, after four weeks of testimony involving more than 70 witnesses and thousands of pages of evidence, a Memphis jury unanimously found that Jowers had conspired in the assassination of Dr King with others, including government agencies.

At the post-verdict press conference, Coretta King issued her statement about abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy.

Others, though, begged to differ.

King had gone to Memphis to support striking black sanitation workers (Getty)

In his 1998 book Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr the author Gerald Posner claimed Jowers  who died in 2000  had been spinning a yarn for money.

He quoted a telephone conversation, which he said had been recorded by the authorities, which suggested that Jowers had been hoping to get a $300,000 film deal.

Posner claimed that military order papers cited by Pepper as proof of the existence of sniper unit Alpha 184 had been forgeries. Posner also revealed that a soldier said by Pepper to have been killed as part of the subsequent government cover-up was alive  and suing Pepper for libel.

Posner concluded that Ray really was a lone assassin, and also suggested he might have got away with it had he not panicked and dumped his rifle when he saw two police cars parked near the boarding house.

As for Raoul, Posner claimed to have tracked down the man Pepper suspected of being the mysterious Cuban, only to find he was from Portugal and the records of the auto company which employed him showed he had been working in New York on April 4 1968.

In claiming that Raoul was a figment of Rays imagination, Posner was following the line taken by what some regard as the most thorough government investigation into the assassination of Dr King.

In 1979 the US House Committee on Assassinations reported that Raoul did not exist.

It acknowledged the existence of a counter-intelligence operation against the civil rights leader, but still concluded: No federal, state or local government agency was involved in the assassination of Dr King.

That, though, did not mean the committee accepted the first court verdict that Ray had acted entirely on his own initiative.

Far from it.

Martin Luther King, assassinated in 1968, with Malcolm X, assassinated in 1965 (Library of Congress/ Wiki Commons )

After examining Ray's behaviour, his character and his racial attitudes, the report stated, The committee found it could not concur with any of the accepted explanations for Ray as a lone assassin.

The committee concluded that there was a likelihood of conspiracy in the assassination of Dr King.

In its report the committee outlined a strong suspicion that Ray had killed for money, as part of a broader plot  not a government conspiracy, but a conspiracy nonetheless.

The committee raised the possibility of a conspiracy involving Rays two brothers John and Jerry, despite both mens denials.

The committee claimed James Earl Ray had committed a bank robbery after his escape from prison, which might have helped explain how he had the money to go on the run and cross the Atlantic to England after the assassination.

And, most intriguingly of all, the committee uncovered substantial evidence of a secret bounty on Dr Kings head that was being offered by a covert Southern organisation centred around St. Louis patent lawyer John Sutherland and his associate John Kauffman.

It heard St Louis criminal Russell George Byers testify that in late 1967 or early 1968 he had declined Sutherlands offer of $50,000 to kill Dr King.

In 1968, the committee found, Sutherland and Kauffman had both been campaigning in St Louis, helping to stir up intense support for the US presidential bid of George C. Wallace who was running on the ticket of the American Independent Party (AIP).

So, the committee said, John Ray could have heard about their secret bounty while running his St Louis bar the Grapevine Tavern.

The committee suggested that James Earl Ray could then have acted in the general expectation of receiving the secret bounty, or after reaching a specific agreement, either directly or through one or both brothers, with Kauffmann or Sutherland.

Dr King speaking before crowd of 25,000 Selma To Montgomery civil rights marchers (Stephen F. Somerstein/Getty Images)

There were caveats of course:

The committee frankly acknowledged that it was unable to uncover a direct link between the principals of the St. Louis conspiracy and James Earl Ray or his brothers.

There was no direct evidence that the Sutherland offer was accepted by Ray, or a representative, prior to the assassination.

In addition, despite an intensive effort, no evidence was found of a payoff to Ray or a representative either before or after the assassination.

The committee regretted that the evidence it had uncovered had not been pursued in 1968:

It is a matter on which reasonable people may legitimately differ, but the committee believed that the conspiracy that eventuated in Dr. King's death in 1968 could have been brought to justice in 1968.

But this government account was ultimately not accepted by the King family.

Even before the civil lawsuit of 1999 produced a very different conclusion, the family had been asking President Bill Clinton to look again at the assassination.

As a result, special counsel Barry Kowalski took yet another look at the murder.

But in 2000, Kowalski who had previously been the prosecutor in proceedings against the Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King, sided with those who believed the government had nothing to do with the assassination.

Our thorough investigation, Kowalski said earlier this week, Just like four official investigations before it, found no credible or reliable evidence that Dr King was killed by conspirators who framed James Earl Ray. I remain absolutely convinced this well-supported finding is correct.

James Earl Ray died in prison, of natural causes, in 1998.

After the death was announced, John Campbell, the Memphis assistant district attorney who had investigated  and dismissed  some of the conspiracy claims, insisted: ''He killed one of the greatest men of this century by his own admission. He spent his life in prison, and justice has been served.''

But Dr Kings widow Coretta issued a statement of her own.

The death of the man jailed for murdering her husband, she said, was a tragedy for the entire nation.

Mr Ray had never had a trial, she said. America had never learned the truth.

Fifty years after a single bullet was fired in Memphis, one is left with a troubling conclusion: the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King will endure, but so too will the doubts about his death.The Milky Way stretches about 100,000 light years in diameter yet scientists think that this giant bundle of gas, dust and several hundred billion stars could be getting even bigger.

However, since we sit inside the Milky Way, it's hard to get a good glimpse of its size and shape. Instead, astronomers look at other similar galaxies for clues to the workings of our own.

Predicted for years, researchers have quantified disk growth in two Milky Way-like galaxies for the first time by investigating the light at the edge of their disks. These galaxies could be growing at a speed of 550 yards per second. At that speed, you could circumnavigate the globe in about 22 hours.

Trending: Is DACA Dead? Trump Administration Has Approved 55,000 Applications This Year

On a galactic level, it isn't that quick. But over, time it amounts to a significant growth.

It won't be quick, but if you could travel forward in time and look at [the Milky Way] in three billion years' time it would be about 5 percent bigger than today," researcher Cristina Martinez-Lombilla explained in a statement.

Martinez-Lombilla, a doctoral candidate at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias in Tenerife, Spain, will present her teams work Tuesday afternoon at the 2018 European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Liverpool, U.K.

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4_3_Milky Way_01

JPL-Caltech/NASA

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy. Its shape is determined by the interactions of matterdust, gas and starsand gravity. Our galaxys matter lies mostly in the flat plane of a disk; arms of matter reach out from a bar across the center.

Young, blue stars populate the galaxy's disk, while some star nurseries sit at the very edge. Older, dimmer stars are often found in the galaxy's halo and the bulge around its centre. For this reason, scientific models suggest the galaxy's disk should grow over time, in line with populations of bright, blue short-lived stars.

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4_3_Milky Way_2

JPL-Caltech/NASA

Martinez-Lombilla and team used ground-based and space telescopes to collect optical, near-UV and near-infrared data to detail the disk edges of other galaxies.

Observing the light in these regions, the team tracked how young blue stars moved up and down from the disk. Measuring this light allowed them to figure out how long it will take for stars to move from their nurseries, and how their galaxies were growing.

"The Milky Way is pretty big already," Martinez-Lombilla said. "But our work shows that at least the visible part of it is slowly increasing in size, as stars form on the galactic outskirts."

This growth, however, may be short-livedastronomically speaking. Our galaxy is due to collide with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy in about four billion years. When this happens, the size and shape of the galaxies will warp dramatically as they combine.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekFifty years ago, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., who preached nonviolent resistance to oppression and war, was shot to death in Memphis. He was 39 years old. He left behind a wife and four children and a nation still riven by the divisions he had devoted his life to healing. Yahoo News takes a look back at his life and his legacy in this special report. Jonathan Darman assesses King as a man not without flaws, but with a passion for justice and a conviction that grace can still be found here among us sinners on earth. Senior Editor Jerry Adler looks back on the fateful last year of Kings life, beginning with his electrifying, and controversial, Riverside Church address against the war in Vietnam. National Correspondent Holly Bailey goes back to Selma, Ala., whose poverty moved King to increasingly turn his focus to economic justice, and finds not much has changed in the years since. Reporter Michael Walsh looks at how King almost died in an attack a decade earlier, and how the knowledge of his mortality shaped his ministry and message. Gabriel Nobles video explains how a new generation of activists draws inspiration from Kings message.

As the leader of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. fought for equality for all, and the impact of his message continues to inspire the next generation of leaders. On the 50th anniversary of his assassination, Yahoo News celebrates Kings legacy by highlighting current activists and change makers who have committed their lives to fighting for causes they believe in.

Patrisse Cullors, co-founder, Black Lives Matter

When Patrisse Cullors learned that George Zimmerman had been found not guilty in the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, she was driven to action. I would have never imagined that I would help bring in one of the largest human rights movements for black people in this generation. Cullors learned from King that its OK to be human as an organizer and as an activist. 

Story continues

Ben Jealous, former president, NAACP

Ben Jealous fell in love with social action at the age of 14, when he began working for Jesse Jacksons 1988 presidential campaign. As he surveys the landscape of young leaders being born out of the movements for gun and immigration reform, he reminds us of this message: Dr. King was very clear that peace is not the absence of strife and confrontation but the presence of justice.

Cristina Jimenez, co-founder and executive director, United We Dream

Cristina Jimenez heads United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. As an undocumented immigrant, Cristina was an integral part of the campaign that led to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and she continues to fight for immigration reform. She says that Kings legacy taught her that the importance of building a multiracial cross-sector movement  ultimately brings to life the fact that we do not live single-issue lives. And we can work together toward the vision that we all share for the country.

Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, founder and editor, MuslimGirl

Amani Al-Khatahtbeh was 9 on September 11, 2001, when New York City was attacked by terrorists and she experienced firsthand the backlash against Muslims in America. Later, as a high school student, she launched MuslimGirl.com, a platform where girls like her could be seen, heard and empowered with positive images and a shared narrative. As she reflects on the civil rights movement led by King, she says You would expect that everyone can get behind messages of equality and of justice for all people, regardless of their color, or creed or their religion. We have come a long way since the 60s, but we have a long way to go.

Demitri Hoth and Samantha Fuentes, mass shooting survivors

The voices of Parkland, Fla., students Demitri Hoth and Samantha Fuentes were ignited after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentines Day 2018  for fellow students who lost their lives in the shooting and for young people across the country who are victims of gun violence. Weve been taught from the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. that its through love and not hate, through peace and not violence, that true change happens.

Jamia Wilson, executive director and publisher, Feminist Press

In 2017, Jamia Wilson became the youngest and the first woman of color to head the Feminist Press, which has been publishing feminist literature from around the world for nearly 50 years. Wilson was deeply moved and inspired to take part in the Womens March, spreading the message: No, I am not complicit. She intends to lead in the spirit of Kings grace, a kind of activism that is about power together and power with versus power over and domination over.

Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King and CEO, the King Center

Bernice King, who was just 5 when her father was assassinated, decided at a young age that she wanted to follow in her parents footsteps and continue the fight for equal justice. As a minister and activist, King believes her role is to help equip and empower activist with my fathers nonviolent philosophy.

_____

Read more of our coverage of:Tangiers (Morocco) (AFP) - Home only to grazing sheep just a decade or so ago, a stretch of Moroccan coastline near Tangiers is now abuzz as its new port presses full speed ahead towards expansion.

Inaugurated in 2007, the Tanger-Med port complex, not far from the Strait of Gibraltar, handled 51.3 million tonnes of cargo -- on a par with the Port of London.

Its industrial park, connected to a free-trade zone, is creating jobs at a rate that "exceeds expectations", according to port chief Jaafar Mrhardy.

With 750 companies and thousands of employees, it generated 5.5 billion euros ($6.8 billion) of revenue in 2017.

The port's strategic location, growing industrial zone and cheaper local labour have attracted shippers, truckers and businessmen alike, but its ambitions do not stop there.

Tanger-Med, which expects its Tanger Med II extension to triple container capacity by 2019, is aiming to become the Mediterranean's top port.

"We are positioning ourselves as a 'best cost' country," said Mrhardy, "with proximity to European markets and very competitive costs."

- 2.8 million travellers -

Bulldozers are working on embankments, and three gigantic gantry cranes have already been delivered.

Even in bad weather, the Spanish port of Algeciras is clearly visible on the other side of the strait.

On one of the Tanger-Med I docks, a massive wind turbine produced by a local branch of Spanish renewable energy giant Siemens Gamesa was awaiting delivery.

Nearby, security guards with a sniffer dog scanned cars as they boarded a ferry bound for Italy.

The port's passenger terminal handled 2.8 million passengers last year.

During peak season, it receives up to 33,000 passengers and 9,000 vehicles per day, said Hassan Abkari, director of the port's passenger division.

He said the new port has helped to reduce waiting times and to unclog Tangiers' city centre.

Truckers now use a motorway junction that bypasses Tangiers city, 50 kilometres (30 miles) away. About 290,000 semi-trailers passed through Tanger-Med just last year.

Story continues

Day and night, teams of trucks loop between the docks of the port complex, the storage warehouses and the companies in the industrial zone.

The workshops of "Still Nua Fashion", in an alley of the free-trade industrial zone, receive containers of fabric from China and Turkey.

Designs made in Ireland are cut and sewn, ready for shipment to the United States and Britain.

"We are in the 'fast-fashion' (business)," said Naoual el-Mlih, Still Nua's energetic director. "With very short delivery times, the proximity of the port is crucial."

- 'Time is money' -

For Mohammed Ali Enneifer, a Tunisian who leads a branch of the French cable production company Acome, the port's strategic placement is key.

"Time is money. It used to take three weeks to reach Hamburg, now it's 10 to 12 days," he said of the link with the German port city.

"The connections are direct. We can receive or remove a container in less than 24 hours."

French car manufacturer Renault, which opened a plant in Tanger-Med in 2012, exported more than 300,000 cars last year to the 74 countries served by the port.

Its site employs 8,600 people and "100 percent of the staff is Moroccan", boasted factory director Jean-Francois Gal.

Next year, the port expects to also export cars built in a new Peugeot factory in Kenitra, 200 kilometres to the south, said Rachid Houari, another Tanger-Med director.

Beyond the logistics and customs facilities offered by the port's free-trade zone, the cost of Moroccan labour is another major draw.

"Our parent company in Ireland employs 75 people, at a total cost equal to that of our branch, which has 400 employees," said Mlih of Nua Fashion.

The company plans to move its design services from Dublin to Tangiers, joining a growing crowd of outfits making the same jump.Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin leads parliament in adopting a statement against Latvia reduction of Russian-language instruction in schools - TASS

Russia's parliament has threatened economic sanctions in response to a language reform in neighbouring Latvia that will see older schoolchildren taught in Latvian rather than Russian.

The call for sanctions further raises tensions with Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, members of the European Union and Nato who have been wary of Vladimir Putin's promises to defend the rights of Russian speakers in other countries.

On Tuesday, the leaders of the three countries expressed their concern about Russia's more aggressive foreign policy at a meeting with US president Donald Trump in the White House.

Although Latvian is the official language in that former Soviet republic, a quarter of the population are ethnic Russians, and nearly 100 state-funded schools offer Russian or bilingual teaching.

Donald Trump sits across from Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, and Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis at a meeting on Tuesday Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

A language reform approved on Monday by president Raimonds Vejonis, however, will phase in Latvian-language instruction for all students in the 10th through 12th years by 2021, with the exception of some Russian language and literature courses.

Mr Vejonis said this would form a more cohesive society and a stronger state.

Early education will remain bilingual, with half of courses taught in Russian for schoolchildren and 20 per cent for 7th- to 9th-year students.

Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis arrives at the White House before meeting Donald Trump Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Nonetheless, Moscow reacted angrily to the reform. MP Sergei Zheleznyak called it a language genocide and compared it to the open Naziism toward the Russian population he claimed was occurring in Ukraine, which has been promoting Ukrainian language as it battles Russia-backed separatists in two breakaway republics.

In a statement on Tuesday, Russia's Duma condemned the discriminatory language reform as forced assimilation that infringed on the rights of national minorities.

The state Duma notes that the actions of the Latvian authorities violating the rights and freedoms of our compatriots in Latvia should be followed by the adoption of special economic measures, it said, citing a law that allows for sanctions like banning financial operations and cancelling trade agreements.

Story continues

Vladimir Putin speaks at a rally celebrating the annexation of Crimea, which he has justified in part by the need to protect Russian speakers Credit: David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters

Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, an influential former aide of Mr Putin, called on Russia to take a more active position on Latvia's supposed failure to uphold international agreements.

The statement comes after Latvia expelled a Russian diplomat last month in solidarity with Britain over the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

It also passed a US-style Magnitsky Act banning Russian citizens involved in the death of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky or other human rights violations, just as the other two Baltics have. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson said last month that the Britain would introduce a UK version of the act.

British troops arrive in Estonia, which borders Latvia and Russia, for training operations last year Credit: Estonian Defence Ministry

Ethnic relations have long been a delicate issue in Latvia, where Russian speakers have staged protests against the language reform. The pro-Russian Harmony party controls a quarter of parliament and is led by the mayor of the country's capital, Riga.

Since the opposition of Russian speakers to a new Western government in Ukraine exploded into conflict in 2014, drawing on Russian military support, the Baltic countries have been ramping up military and civil defence training and hosting Nato troops.

Last year, American and Canadian troops were deployed for training in Latvia, and British troops arrived in neighbouring Estonia.Special counsel Robert Mueller is drafting a report about President Donald Trumps actions in office as part of his ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Mueller met with Trumps lawyers in early March to request an interview with the president, saying he needed to ask questions in order to finalize aspects of his investigation, including his determination of whether Trump obstructed justice. Such information would be gathered into a report that would then be sent to officials at the Justice Department.

However, two sources familiar with the conversation said Mueller told the lawyers Trump was not a criminal target at this point.

Theyve said they want to write a report on this  to answer the publics questions  and they need the presidents interview as the last step, one of the sources told the Post.

Mueller reports to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein  since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from Russia matters  and is required to confidentially share his report with him first. Rosenstein then can decide whether to share it publicly.

Its unclear if Mueller believes he can indict the president or not, and there is some debate among legal scholars regarding the ability of the Justice Department to do just that.

Biggest news to me here is that Mueller is writing an obstruction report. Im not sure POTUS can actually be a target if Mueller doesnt believe a sitting president can be indicted. https://t.co/cM1yVHIcvT  Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) April 4, 2018

But Asha Rangappa, a former FBI special agent, noted on Twitter that if Mueller determined Trump had obstructed justice, the report could eventually be used by Congress, who could then decide whether to launch impeachment proceedings.

Trump has said publicly several times that hed be willing to meet with Mueller for an interview, going so far as to say he was looking forward to it. But some members of his legal team have cautioned him against the meeting and urged him to refuse the special counsels request, afraid the president would go off-script.

Story continues

The presidents lead attorney, John Dowd, who was handling interactions with Mueller, resigned in March, reportedly over disagreements with Trump. Sources told The New York Times and the Post that Dowd felt Trump was increasingly ignoring his advice.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Dhaka (AFP) - A Myanmar minister will tour camps for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, an official said Wednesday, the first such visit since Myanmar's army drove nearly 700,000 members of the Muslim minority over the border.

Bangladesh's foreign ministry confirmed that Myanmar's social welfare, relief and resettlement minister Win Myat Aye would visit the congested camps, which are home to nearly one million Rohingya refugees in total.

"His programme has not been fixed yet," Tareque Muhammad, a director-general at the foreign ministry, told AFP. The visit is slated for April 11 or 12.

US and UN officials say the military crackdown which began last August in the mainly Buddhist nation, purportedly to flush out guerrillas, amounted to ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

Another Bangladeshi official told AFP it would be the first visit by a Myanmar minister to the camps, which have sheltered Rohingya refugees since the early 1990s, for more than a decade.

Win Myat Aye is the deputy head of a task force led by Aung San Suu Kyi on the crisis in Rakhine state, and a top official overseeing a stalled agreement with Bangladesh to repatriate some 750,000 refugees.

Myanmar has approved several hundred Rohingya from a list of thousands to return to their homeland but not a single one has yet crossed back.

Meanwhile Myanmar authorities are accused of bulldozing Rohingya villages in Rakhine and seeking to erase evidence at sites where their troops are accused of atrocities.

Myanmar has denied the charge but blocked investigators from visiting an area where thousands of Rohingya, long persecuted in the country, are believed to have been killed.

Even before the latest influx began last August, the camps in southeast Bangladesh were home to roughly 300,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled previous waves of violence.

Rohingya community leaders in the camps said they would welcome the opportunity to raise their concerns about returning to Rakhine with the visiting Myanmar official.

Story continues

"We would like to meet face-to face with the minister," Mohibullah told AFP.

Many of the displaced Muslims have rejected the prospect of returning, fearing a repeat of the persecution that has forced them off their lands for generations.

Refugees demand recognition as a minority, access to health and education and an assurance they can return to their ancestral villages rather than being shunted into resettlement camps in Rakhine.NASA wants to prove that it can fly a plane faster than the speed of sound without blasting American neighborhoods below with sonic booms.

Previously, commercial supersonic travel had been limited to the Atlantic Ocean, where people wouldn't be jarred awake by planes traveling overhead at more than 760 miles per hour. But with an innovative plane design that might subtly morph in the air to tame sound waves, NASA hopes to build a quieter supersonic plane that would revolutionize travel.

Our cross-country flight times would be cut in half. NASA calls it the X-Plane, and the agency just awarded the aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin the $247.5 million contract to build the first one.

SEE ALSO: Finding alien life won't cause chaos and panic, according to scientists

At a news conference Tuesday morning, NASA said that this first X-Plane is a data-collecting experiment expected to take flight in 2021.

The plane will be 94-feet-long, smaller than today's medium-sized commercial aircraft, like the popular Boeing 737. It will typically cruise around speeds of 1.4 Mach, which is approximately 940 mph when traveling at 55,000 feet, according to a NASA spokesperson.

A conceptual graphic of what the NASA X-Plane prototype might look like.

Image: NASA

Today's commercial airliners typically travel between 550 and 590 miles per hour, far short of the 767 mph speed of sound.

NASA aeronautics engineers underscored that this plane isn't a prototype for a defense mission or a private jet  but an experimental plane intended to fly over American communities and see if it is quiet enough to be a real, usable technology.

NASA's goal is to not produce a sonic boom at all, but something that sounds more like a soft thud.

"Im trying not to use the word sonic boom," said Peter Coen, project manager for NASAs Commercial Supersonics Technology Project. "Im trying to ban that from everyones vocabulary."

Getting a plane to produce a thud, as opposed to a thunderous blast, broadly means controlling the strength and position of the shock waves produced by the supersonic-speeding plane as it zooms through the air.

Story continues

NASA's slick X-Plane graphic.

Image: NASA

This is something Lockheed Martin and NASA flight engineers will spend the next couple years developing, so by the time a sound wave hits the ground  possibly in a neighborhood near you  it's weakened to a thump, "not a boom," said Coen.

Lockheed Martin has already designed much of the sleek plane.

If all goes as planned, the experimental plane will make its first flight in 2021. Then, after NASA ensures the plane is safe and passes "acoustic validation tests," the aircraft will begin flying over a variety of U.S. communities in 2023. These flight tests will run through 2025.

"Well be flying over medium-sized cities, urban towns, and rural populations," said Ed Waggoner, program director for NASAs Integrated Aviation Systems Program. "It will be representative of populations that will be exposed to these sounds."

NASA uses cameras with special filters (hydrogen alpha) to capture images of how supersonic planes move through the air and create booms.

Image: NASA

The X-Plane tests will fly over large 50-square-mile areas, giving NASA a diversity of Americans to survey about the low-booms they're hearing  and if they notice them at all.

Today, civilian supersonic flights over land are banned. But once NASA gets feedback from the public, this information can be used to not just advise plane manufacturers in the U.S. of how to build low-boom planes, but engineers all over the world.

"One thing we hope this data will give the international community is that noise level," said Coen. "If your airplane produces less than X [sound decibels], its okay to fly over land."The woman who opened fire at YouTube's offices in California on Tuesday raged against the video-sharing service for what she saw as censorship of her clips on her niche channel covering vegan issues, animal rights, Persian culture and fitness.

Nasim Aghdam, 39, of Southern California, was identified by police officials as the woman who approached the campus around lunchtime and began to fire before entering the building of the Google-owned video sharing service.

One man and two women were shot in the incident before the female shooter apparently committed suicide.

Ms Aghdams family say she was angry with the company and had complained about YouTube supposedly censoring her videos and cutting her ad revenue.

They had reported her missing to police and warned them she might do something after officers spotted her sleeping in a car in Mountain View hours before the shooting.

Suspected shooter Nasim Aghdam

Aghdam had a significant internet presence before her clips were scrubbed and her account deleted in the aftermath of the shooting.

She reportedly posted videos under the name Nasim Wonder1, with some dating back to 2011.

YouTube shooting suspect Nasim Aghdam, who describes herself as a vegan artist, bodybuilder, and animal rights activist, often lashed out at the video platform for censoring and demonetizing her content pic.twitter.com/AsQiCz3SHB

 Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) April 4, 2018

Reported missing by her family

The YouTubers brother told The Mercury News she had been reported missing since the weekend and had stopped answering her mobile phone.

She was always complaining that YouTube ruined her life, he said.

Mr Aghdam says he warned police his sister might do something after realising she had travelled hundreds of miles across the state to Mountain View.

Story continues

Her family say they reported her missing to police

I Googled Mountain View and it was close to YouTube headquarters. And she had a problem with YouTube, he told KGTV.

So I called the cop again and told him theres a reason she went all the way from San Diego to there, so she might do something.

So they didnt do anything, and she got killed  and three or four more people got hurt.

Nasim Aghdam had a number of different social media accounts

Police found her sleeping in a vehicle in a car park the night before the shooting and contacted her family to say she had been found.

Our officers made contact with the woman after the license plate of her vehicle matched that of a missing person out of Southern California, a Mountain View police spokesperson confirmed.

The woman confirmed her identity to us and answered subsequent questions. At the conclusion of our discussion, her family was notified that she had been located.

Ms Aghdams father told local media he had warned police that she hated the company and expressed concern that she may be travelling to the companys headquarters in San Burno.

He told NBC News that YouTube had stopped everything and now she has no income.

Her brother added today would have been her 39th birthday.

Complaints about YouTube

According to NBC, she says in a video posted in January 2017 that YouTube discriminated and filtered her content. In the video, Aghdam reportedly says her channel used to get lots of views but that after being filtered by the company, it received far fewer views.

She complained YouTube had imposed an age restriction on one of her workout videos because it was too racy, yet it hadn't taken the same action for stars like Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj, whose videos, she said, were inappropriate for children.

Suspected shooter Nasim Aghdam posted workout videos on YouTube

"I am being discriminated on and filtered on YouTube and I am not the only one," she said.

Aghdam was angry at YouTube because it had stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform, her father told the Bay Area News Group .

He told NBC News that YouTube had stopped everything and now she has no income.

The suspected shooter in todays YouTube incident has been identified. Please see press release for details - https://t.co/Xvr2l9bB9spic.twitter.com/NEBoX3WWK5

 San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 4, 2018

On the website NasimeSabz.com, identified as hers by the San Francisco Chronicle, she had several posts about Persian culture and veganism, interspersed with rants against YouTube.

Those complaints included claims the company was not sharing enough revenue with people who create videos for the platform.

"There is no free speech in real world and you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system," she wrote in one post.

"There is no equal growth opportunity on YouTube or any other video sharing site."

Law enforcement officials walk toward YouTube offices in San Bruno after a woman opened fire before turning the gun on herself Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu

In an Instagram post dated March 18, Aghdam complains again about YouTube's alleged censorship, saying it was using its tools to censor and suppress people who speak the truth and are not good for the financial, political gains of the system and big businesses.

Her most recent YouTube video came three weeks ago and was titled Leg Exercises At Home Fitness.

Animal Rights activism

Aghdam was also a prominent animal rights protester.

She was quoted in a 2009 story in the San Diego Union-Tribune about a protest by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals against the use of pigs in military trauma training.

Nasim Aghdam was also a prominent animal rights protester Credit: peacethunder.com

She dressed in a wig and jeans with drops of painted "blood" on them, holding a plastic sword at the demonstration outside the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.

"For me, animal rights equal human rights," Aghdam told the Union-Tribune at the time.

A message on her YouTube accounts said the pages were removed due to multiple or severe violations of YouTubes policy against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content or other Term of Service violations.Ottawa (AFP) - NATO does not want a new arms race with Russia, the alliance's secretary general said Wednesday amid heightened tensions following an ex-spy's poisoning in England.

"We don't want a new arms race, so we are focused on how can we respond" in a "firm strong predictable, but also measured and defensive, way," Jens Stoltenberg told reporters alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa.

"We don't want a new Cold War," he said.

He made the remarks when asked about the possibility of new NATO sanctions against Russia after former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in England on March 4.

London and its allies have blamed Moscow for the attack, citing the use of a Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok, Russia's record of targeting dissidents and its history of aggression in recent years, from Crimea to cyber-attacks.

"We will continue to strive for a more constructive relationship with Russia," Stoltenberg said.Panera Bread is the latest company to wait months to inform customers that their data was stolen.

Panera Bread can make you a sandwich in a few minutes, but it will need a little more time to tell you that it leaked your data to the entire internet.

How long? Try, eight months. Thats how much time elapsed between when security researcher Dylan Houlihan first warned the St. Louis-based fast-casual chain about a flaw on its site and the firm actually taking action.

That may be infuriating, but it shouldnt be surprising. We keep seeing these data-breach debacles in part because you cant make a federal case out of them: No nationwide law compels companies to address a data breach quickly, and you shouldnt expect one anytime this year. Or maybe even next.

Lag time

Houlihan first tried notifying Panera last August that its site exposed the data of potentially millions of online-ordering accounts  including customers phone numbers and the last four digits of saved credit cards.

As Houlihan related in a Medium.com post Monday, after multiple messages went unanswered or bounced (spoiler alert: not a good sign when a company doesnt have a catchall security@companyname email address), the company finally assured him that it was working to resolve the problem.

Then nothing changed for months.

Fed up, Houlihan tipped off cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs and data-breach researcher Troy Hunt. After Krebs put in a query, Panera took its entire site offline and then said it had fixed the problem.

But after Krebs published his post Tuesday, Panera began telling news sites that only 10,000 accounts had been exposed. But security researchers found that not only was the vulnerability still there, the total number of customer records could actually top 37 million.

Security consultant Adam Shostacks two-word review of Paneras response: quite poor.

Paneras PR department did not answer requests for comment.

That should look familiar

Denial and delay have been part of the industry data-breach playbook for years. Equifax (EFX) learned in late July of last year that unknown attackers had exploited a vulnerability on its site to access sensitive data of about 143 million Americans  including Social Security Numbers  but didnt loop the rest of us in until September.

Story continues

Yahoo (Yahoo Finances parent company) had data of all 3 billion users exposed in a series of breaches from 2013 to 2016, but we only learned of them after Verizon (VZ) agreed to buy the company. The U.S. has since filed charges against a set of Russian hackers.

Sometimes, you cant even blame hackers for the data breach: Too many companies leave databases open to the web for anybody to click around.

Its positively refreshing when we learn in days about a breach. For example, Under Armour (UA) took only a week to notify roughly 150 million users of its MyFitnessPal app that it had exposed their usernames, email addresses and scrambled passwords.

No federal standard

As of January 1, 48 states had legislation setting various standards for data-breach notification. At the federal level, privacy laws govern the finance and health-care industries, but for other sectors the state of federal data-breach regulation amounts to file not found.

That despite the fact that just about all the industries involved support having one federal standard  if nothing as strict as the European Unions upcoming General Data Protection Regulation, which will impose a 72-hour disclosure timetable.

We would love to see something uniform, said Stephanie Martz, general counsel for the National Retail Federation. We would love to see something that requires notification for anyone that was breached.

Jason Kratovil, vice president of government affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable, said much the same thing, backing a strong federal standard.

So whats the holdup? Kratovil pointed to bipartisan pockets of opposition to having a federal bill override state laws: You can also have states-rights Republicans that are also against preemption.

Martz said the NRF has objected to provisions in past bills that would have reserved the strictest customer-notification rules on retailers.

Both Martz and Kratovil said any bill should scale the severity of its security requirements with the size of firms and the sensitivity of the data they handle.

But the immediate problem facing Congress is a lack of actual legislation. As Martz said: Nothing has even been marked up this Congress.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D.-N.Y.) has a discussion draft of one, the Data Acquisition and Technology Accountability and Security Act. But while it may only be April, few people expect Congress to tackle any other major bills before the midterms.

The White House, meanwhile, has not led on this issue. I havent really seen anything public on these issues, Kratovil said.

You can hope that individual companies can do better  Shostack, the security consultant, said hes seeing significantly more attention to breach prevention from firms. Five years ago, it was only the very largest. Now Im talking with mid-market companies, he wrote.

But considering that data-privacy bills have been getting stuck in legislative mud since at least 2005, things may not get better with a new Congress. As FSRs Kratovil said: If Equifax couldnt cause immediate action and reaction, its had to think of another breach that would.

More from Rob:

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Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at @robpegoraro.BEIRUT (Reuters) - Any move to negotiate with Israel would be an "unforgivable mistake", Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, after Saudi Arabia's crown prince said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land. Saudi Arabia - birthplace of Islam and site of its holiest shrines - does not officially recognize Israel, but Mohammed bin Salman's comments, quoted in the U.S. magazine The Atlantic, are a further sign of an apparent thawing in bilateral ties. They come as mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia faces off against Shi'ite Iran in a regional power struggle. Tehran and Riyadh back opposing sides in the conflicts in Yemen and Syria as well as rival political groups in Iraq and Lebanon. "Movement toward negotiation with the cheating, lying and oppressive regime (of Israel) is a big, unforgivable mistake that will push back the victory of the people of Palestine," Khamenei said in a statement posted on his official website. The statement, which did not explicitly name Saudi Arabia, said it was the duty of all Muslims to support Palestinian resistance movements and it pledged continued Iranian backing for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. After the crown prince's comments, his father King Salman reiterated Saudi Arabia's support for a Palestinian state. Riyadh has long maintained that normalising ties with Israel hinges on an Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war - territory Palestinians seek for a future state. However, Saudi Arabia opened its air space for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel last month, which an Israeli official hailed as historic following two years of efforts. In November, an Israeli cabinet member disclosed covert contacts with Saudi Arabia, a rare acknowledgment of long-rumored secret dealings which Riyadh still denies. Khamenei issued Wednesday's statement in reply to a letter he recently received from Hamas chief Ismail Haniya which criticized the support of Arab governments in the region for the United States. Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, dominates the small coastal strip of Gaza, where this week at least 17 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces. In his statement, Khamenei called on the people of Muslim countries to defeat Israel. "With an intense and planned struggle they should force the enemy to retreat toward the point of demise," he said. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Gareth Jones)Israel suspended a deal with the U.N. refugee agency to take in African asylum seekers after a strong negative response on Facebook to the plans.

The prime ministers office had earlier announced on Monday a plan to resettle 16,000 refugees and migrants in Israel, along with other Western countries, such as Canada.

The deal with the UNHCR would also have confirmed the legal status of those remaining in Israel and cancel the mass deportation of asylum seekers.

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But only hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to Facebook to announce the deal was off. Ive decided to suspend implementation of this accord and to rethink the terms of this accord, the Facebook post read.

RTX5FGJZ

REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Netanyahus chief of staff, Yoav Horowitz, and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat brokered the deal with the UNHCR.

But some members of his Likud party had vehemently opposed the move, while Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who leads the far-right Jewish Home party, said it would turn Israel into a paradise for infiltrators.

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The newspaper Haaretz reported a considerable backlash from within Likud and right-wing supporters led to the decision, with emojis on Netanyahus Facebook page signaling a level of discontent that could translate to a slump in support.

The paper described how Netanyahu was bleeding support after thousands of angry emojis punctuated the video clip that tried to explain the decision logically.

It was intended to replace a plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda in exchange for cash, which became controversial when it emerged the deportations could happen by force. Around 25,000 people protested in Tel Aviv against such a move which posed a public relations problem for the Israeli government.

Story continues

Gadi Wolfsfeld, a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya near Tel Aviv told the New York Times that for someone considered such a political genius to make such a miscalculation, thats the surprising part of the story.

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To sign an agreement and the next day to renege on it, thats awful. I guess that means you cant sign anything with Israel, he added.

There are said to be around 35,000 African migrants in Israel, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan.

On Tuesday, African migrants protested outside the prime minister's office. Eritrean Berhane Negasi told the Jerusalem Post: "Whats going to happen? Bibi [Netanyahu] keeps going in a zig-zag, he makes a decision and then hours later goes back on it. Its not fair to us."

The United Nations refugee agency said that UNHCR continues to believe that a win-win agreement that would both benefit Israel and people needing asylum is in everyones best interests. And we encourage the government of Israel to consider the matter further.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekQAMISHLI, Syria (Reuters) - British Labour officials visited the Kurdish-led authority in northern Syria on Tuesday, pledging to stand with it in the face of threats of attacks. "We're here for a long-term relationship with you, where we can support you against all the people who are trying to destroy your liberty," said Maurice Glasman, a Labour peer in the House of Lords. "We also bring, with a full heart, our solidarity," he said in Qamishli city, in a stretch of the country which Syrian Kurdish forces mostly control. Last month, Turkish forces seized Syria's Afrin region, driving out the Kurdish YPG militia which Ankara deems a menace along its border. Turkey has threatened to march further east. It sees the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has waged a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil. Since the start of Syria's multi-sided conflict, the YPG and its allies have carved out autonomous cantons in the north, setting up a federal system of government. Their power grew after taking vast territory from Islamic State with U.S. help - though Washington opposes their political plans, as does the Syrian government. Syrian Kurdish leaders say they seek autonomy as part of a decentralized Syria, rather than secession. Abed al-Karim Omar, a top member of the self-administration in the north, said the British group that arrived on Tuesday marked the first such public, high-level delegation. "There were meetings previously not declared," he said. "But this is the first visit in this official way." The MPs would discuss Afrin and the tens of thousands residents displaced there, Omar added. Glasman said they would tour parts of northern Syria, meeting fighters of the YPG and its all-female YPJ affiliate, as well as local civil councils. Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle said they would "share that back in England with our parliament and with our people," and that he hoped for better scrutiny of arms sales to Turkey. "We want to say we are with you side by side," he said. (Reporting by Rodi Said in northern Syria; Editing by Tom Brown)Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump's departing national security advisor HR McMaster said Washington has not gone far enough to punish Russia for interfering in US elections and using a nerve agent to poison a former spy in England.

In a speech late Tuesday to the Atlantic Council ahead of his exit from the White House, McMaster told the leaders of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and others that Russia remains a threat to open societies and international peace.

He cited the attempted assassination in England of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a banned nerve agent and the "pernicious" employment of submilitary forms of aggression to attack rivals as evidence that Moscow has not been deterred.

"For too long some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats. Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions. And we have failed to impose sufficient costs," McMaster said.

Analysts saw McMaster's statement as a criticism of Trump, who has consistently tempered his remarks on the Russian president.

The statement came hours after Trump defended his embrace of Vladimir Putin, saying good relations were important and that he had been tougher than anyone else on Russia.

"Probably nobody's been tougher to Russia than Donald Trump," the president said during White House meetings with the leaders of the three Baltic countries -- all of whom say they worry deeply about the threat from the powerful giant on their borders.

"If we got along with Russia, that would be a good thing not a bad thing," said Trump, who recently proposed a White House summit with Putin.

"I think I could have a very good relationship with President Putin," he said.

McMaster, however, warned that Moscow menaces the US way of life, and that Putin has not yet been deterred.

"The Kremlin's confidence is growing as its agents conduct their sustained campaigns to undermine our confidence in ourselves and in one another," he said.

Story continues

"Russia employs sophisticated strategies deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target states threshold for a military response."

"Mr Putin may believe that he is winning in this new form of warfare."

Last month the United States joined nearly 30 European allies in expelling a total of 150 Russian officials, many labelled intelligence agents, to punish Moscow for the attempted murder of Skripal.

On Wednesday the US Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, said the attack on Skripal was "almost like the final straw" and that the US is weighing more actions against Moscow.

"We clearly are in a position now to be undertaking the prospect of additional reactions to this issue," he told reporters.

"This is under considerable consideration and more things will be done, and soon, above where we are right now. Stay tuned on that," he added.

pmh/jmLIMA (Reuters) - Peru's new foreign minister said on Tuesday that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was still not welcome to attend a regional summit in Lima next week, upholding a decision by Peru's disgraced former president. U.S. President Donald Trump and heads of state from across the Western Hemisphere plan to travel to Peru for the Summit of the Americas, which will celebrate the theme "democratic governance fighting corruption" from April 13-14. In his first speech as Peru's foreign minister, Nestor Popolizio said Peru's decision not to invite Maduro to the event reflects the view of a dozen countries that have been pressuring Venezuela to hold free and fair elections. Maduro's refusal to heed calls for democratic reforms "negates even the slightest notion of democracy and represents an insurmountable impediment to taking part in the Summit of the Americas," Popolizio said before a crowd of diplomats and journalists in the foreign ministry. "This is a firm decision that is not up for revision," Popolizio said. Maduro has vowed to attend the Summit of the Americas despite Peru's ban, which the center-right government of former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski announced in February. Maduro says Latin America's right-leaning governments are part of a U.S.-led international conspiracy to topple him and take control of Venezuela's oil resources. Kuczynski had been one of Maduro's most outspoken critics, calling him a "dictator" and demanding he step down. But Kuczynski resigned after a scandal last month and was replaced by his vice president, Martin Vizcarra. Vizcarra declined to weigh in on Maduro and the summit last week, saying he would leave it up to the foreign ministry. (Reporting By Reuters TV and Mitra Taj, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)About Me Scott Because prophetic scriptures are found throughout the bible, it is obvious that a comprehensive, systematic approach would be useful, if not necessary, for the understanding of prophecy. Past prophecies have been fulfilled in a literal manner, as confirmed by the dating of these writings and historical records of confirmation. These past prophecies also serve as a model of how to interpret future prophecies. A literal view of prophecy clearly indicates a certain sequence of events will occur within a single generation, concluding with the Tribulation and Second Advent and these events will be obvious. The prophetic signs appear to be present in this generation and we believe these signs are revealed in the news from around the world. View my complete profileBy Costas Pitas and Guy Faulconbridge

LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Philip, the 96-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, was admitted to hospital on Tuesday for surgery on his hip, Buckingham Palace said.

Greek-born Philip has remained at his wife's side throughout her 66-year reign, the longest in British history, and has earned a reputation for brusque comments and occasional gaffes at some of the thousands of ceremonial events he has attended.

Philip, or the Duke of Edinburgh as he is known in Britain, retired from public life last August, quipping at the time that he was no longer able to stand up much.

He was admitted on Tuesday to a London private hospital regularly used by the royals in preparation for a hip operation on Wednesday, the Palace said.

"His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London this afternoon, for planned surgery on his hip which will take place tomorrow," the Palace said in a statement.

"Further updates will be issued when appropriate."

Outspoken, irascible and intensely private, the former naval officer has been one of the most influential figures in the British royal family for decades. At times blunt to the point of rudeness, Philip is Elizabeth's most important support.

Both the queen, 91, and Philip have suffered some health issues in recent years.

The queen missed a traditional Christmas church service in late 2016 for the first time in decades due to a heavy cold and was hospitalized in March 2013 with symptoms of gastroenteritis.

Last June, Philip spent two days in hospital as a precautionary measure for the treatment of an infection and he pulled out of another event in March because of ill health, according to British newspaper reports.

He did not attend a church service last week attended by the monarch because of a hip problem, a royal source said last week.

Philip also missed the Easter Sunday service at St Georges Chapel, where his grandson Prince Harry is due to marry Meghan Markle next month.

Story continues

His sometimes blunt comments and off-the-cuff remarks have caused both shock and amusement.

A stray remark about "slitty eyes" during a visit to China in the 1980s became symbolic of his gruff and often unguarded manner, which contrasted sharply with the warmer image of the queen and other British royals.

Even into his 90s, his remarks have gotten him into trouble, such as when he exasperatedly swore at a photographer at an event in 2015, ordering him to get a move on with an expletive.

He was born on a dining room table on the Greek island of Corfu on June 10, 1921, the fifth child and only son of Prince Andrew of Greece. Philip has British and German blood through his mother, a great grand-daughter of Queen Victoria.

(Editing by Stephen Addison and Mark Heinrich)An animal rights activist who was furious about having her videos censored has been identified as the woman who shot three YouTube employees at the companys headquarters in California.

Police said Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, shot herself dead after injuring three people in a courtyard at the complex in San Bruno.

A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said.

Police have not yet stated what Aghdams motive in the shooting was but say they the incident is being investigated as a domestic dispute.

Nasim Aghdam turned the gun on herself after opening fire in YouTubes headquarters (nasimesabz.com)

Animal rights activist Aghdam complained that her YouTube videos were being hidden and de-monetised (nasimesabz.com)

Three people were injured in the shooting at YouTube headquarters (Rex)

The location of the shooting at YouTube HQ in San Bruno, California (PA)

Online rants

Aghdam, who posted several videos about animal cruelty, complained that her YouTube channel was being censored and de-monetised.

Her personal website declared: There is no free speech in real world and you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system.

Videos of targeted users are filtered and merely relegated, so that people can hardly see their videos!

MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO

There is no equal growth opportunity on YouTube or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!

People who post on YouTube can receive money from advertisements that accompany their videos, but the company de-monetises some channels for reasons including inappropriate material or having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

Aghdams father said his daughter hated YouTube (nasimesabz.com)

Nasim Aghdam complained about her videos being filtered on her YouTube channel (YouTube)

Fathers warning

YouTube had stopped everything, and she was angry, her father Ismail Aghdam said.

Mr Aghdam said he reported his daughter missing on Monday after she did not answer her phone for two days.

Story continues

He said the family received a call from Mountain View police at around 2am on Tuesday saying they found Nasim sleeping in a car.

He said he warned them she might be heading for YouTube because she hated the company.

Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson confirmed officers located a woman by the same name asleep in a vehicle asleep in a Mountain View car park on Tuesday morning.

YouTube employees exit the building with their hands above their heads (AP)

Workers wait outside the YouTube complex for news (AP)

Ms Nelson said the woman declined to answer further questions but the police spokeswoman did not respond to a question about whether police were warned Aghdam might go to YouTube.

Animal lover

Ismail Aghdam said his daughter was a vegan activist and animal lover.

She featured in a 2009 story in the San Diego Union-Tribune about a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) protest against the use of pigs in military trauma training outside the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in California.

At the demonstration, Aghdam was dressed in a wig and jeans with drops of painted blood on them and held a plastic sword.

She told the Union-Tribune at the time: For me, animal rights equal human rights.

The suspected shooter in todays YouTube incident has been identified. Please see press release for details  https://t.co/Xvr2l9bB9s pic.twitter.com/NEBoX3WWK5  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 4, 2018

Everyone started running

The shooting shook up employees who were inside the building as the sound of gunfire started to ring out.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the buildings second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the suspect on a patio outside.

She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a big huge pistol.

Police are investigating the shooting as a domestic dispute (Rex)

Ms Arnspiger said: It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, Shooter, and everybody started running.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called police for updates.

She added: It was terrifying.

Witnesses described terror before officers arrived and discovered a victim near a front door and then found the suspect several minutes later with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said.

A YouTube spokesman said all employees were a victim of the crime (AP)

He said two additional gunshot victims were found at an adjacent business minutes later.

Google, which owns the worlds biggest online video website, said the companys security team worked with authorities to evacuate buildings and was doing whatever it could support the victims and their families.

YouTube spokesman Chris Dale said: Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime.

Our hearts go out to all those who suffered.

There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.  Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) April 4, 2018

There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support.  Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 3, 2018

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki tweeted to say no words could describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter at the firms headquarters.

She added: Our hearts go out to all those injured and impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai posted a message on the tech giants Twitter page about the horrific act of violence.

He added: I know a lot of you are in shock right now. Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and that officials were monitoring developments.Santiago (AFP) - President Sebastian Pinera's new conservative government in Chile believes the number of foreigners living in the copper-rich South American country is likely over a million, more than double previous estimates.

Lacking official figures, Chile had previously estimated the number of foreigners at around 600,000, equivalent to 2.4 percent of the population -- well below the rates of developed countries.

However, interior ministry official Rodrigo Ubilla told a congressional committee that "a reasonable estimate is that we have more than one million foreigners in Chile," media reports said Wednesday.

Some 300,000 of them would be living in the country illegally, the committee heard.

Most new arrivals are believed to be from troubled countries like Venezuela and Haiti.

The total number of immigrants who arrived in Chile in recent years remains unknown, pending the results of a census carried out in 2016.

The immigration department said it had granted more than 267,000 visas were granted last year, an increase of 53 percent on 2016.

Pinera, who took power on March 11, announced plans to amend his own immigration law -- introduced during his previous 2010-2014 term -- and scrap an initiative presented by the socialist government of ex-president Michelle Bachelet.Police in Northern California defended on Wednesday their decision not to detain the woman who later opened fire at YouTubes offices after they found her sleeping in her car hours before the shooting, saying she gave them no cause for concern.

The shooter, Nasim Najafi Aghdam, wounded three people at YouTubes San Bruno, Calif., headquarters on Tuesday before killing herself. Investigators said they believe Aghdam, an active YouTube user, was upset with the video-sharing sites monetization policies and practices. The 39-year-old Iranian-born woman of Persian descent, who lived in Southern California, was reported missing by her family on March 31 in San Diego County.

According to a lengthy statement issued by the Mountain View Police Department, authorities said they discovered Aghdam sleeping in her car in a parking lot around 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday. Officers ran her license plate and discovered she had been reported missing and was considered at risk because she had never gone missing or left home before.

Aghdam positively identified herself and told police she had decided to leave her familys home a few days prior due to family issues.

She stated she had come to the area to stay with family, and while she was currently living out of her vehicle, she was in the process of looking for a job, the statement read. During our contact with her, she was asked a series of questions, including, but not limited to, if she was a danger to herself or others. At no point during our roughly 20-minute interaction with her did she mention anything about YouTube, if she was upset with them, or that she had planned to harm herself or others. Throughout our entire interaction with her, she was calm and cooperative. At the conclusion of our interaction with her, she in no way met any reason for us to speak with her further or possibly detain her.

Police then called her family to report that she had been found.

The father confirmed to us that the family had been having issues at home, but did not act in any way concerned about why his daughter had left, the statement said. At no point during that conversation did either Aghdams father or brother make any statements regarding the womans potential threat to, or a possible attack on, the YouTube campus. Also, there was no indication from either Aghdam or her family that she may have been in possession of any weapons.

Story continues

Law enforcement officers are seen outside YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., on Tuesday. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

But following Tuesdays shooting, Aghdams brother told San Diegos KGTV that the family was concerned that she was in the Bay Area.

I googled Mountain View, and it was close to YouTube headquarters. And she had a problem with YouTube, he told the ABC affiliate. So I called that cop again and told him theres a reason she went all the way from San Diego to there, so she might do something. So they didnt do anything, and she got killed.

Mountain View police dismissed the suggestion they did nothing and refuted the brothers description of the call.

Her father called us back to let us know that she made a series of vegan videos for her channel on YouTube and that the company had recently done something to her videos that had caused her to become upset, their statement said. Aghdams father stated that she may have been in the area because of this. He did not seem concerned that she was in the area, and wanted to simply let us know that may have been a reason for her move up here.

Police added: At no point did her father or brother mention anything about potential acts of violence or a possibility of Aghdam lashing out as a result of her issues with her videos. They remained calm throughout this second phone call.

The San Bruno Police Department said on Wednesday that a semiautomatic handgun registered to Aghdam was recovered at the scene.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters that Aghdam went to a local gun range on Tuesday morning prior to the shooting at YouTube.

Read more from Yahoo News:UPDATED: A woman who opened fire at YouTubes San Bruno, Calif., headquarters on Tuesday afternoon has been identified by police as Nasim Aghdam.

Aghdam was a YouTube user and posted numerous videos to the site under the name Nasime Sabz. In one January 2017 video, she says that the company engaged in discriminatory and unfair filtering practices, and that her videos used to get many views before she was filtered out. She also complains about a workout video getting age-restricted, resulting in fewer views, and, in another video, her channel being demonetized after YouTubes new February ad policy.

Law enforcement earlier confirmed at a press conference that that shooter is dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. At least four victims sustained injuries and were transferred to the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, but no additional fatalities have been reported yet.

According to CNN, of the victims, one 36-year-old man is in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman is in serious condition, and a 27-year-old woman is in fair condition.

Authorities first confirmed an active shooter situation at about 1:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday, urging visitors to stay away from the area.

We are responding to an active shooter. Please stay away from Cherry Ave & Bay Hill Drive.  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 3, 2018

At about 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday, Vadim Lavrusik, whose Twitter bio says he works in product at the company, tweeted, Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers.

Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers.  Vadim Lavrusik (@Lavrusik) April 3, 2018

Google CEO Sundar Pichai released a memo on Tuesday afternoon saying that the situation was contained.

Story continues

Its with great sadness that I tell you  based on the latest information  four people were injured in this horrific act of violence, Pichai said. Were doing everything we can to support them and their families at this time.

Here is the note that @sundarpichai just sent to Googlers worldwide. pic.twitter.com/bdC6KeTl9c  Google Communications (@Google_Comms) April 3, 2018

More social media reports emerged from YouTubes headquarters throughout the day. Todd Sherman, a product manager at YouTube, tweeted that he was in a meeting when he began to see people running.

We headed towards the exit and then saw more people and someone said that there was a person with a gun. S, he wrote. At that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves.

I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs, he added. Peaked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front.

After existing the room we still didnt know what was going on but more people were running. Seemed serious and not like a drill.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

At that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

YouTubes San Bruno offices host more than 1,700 employees across multiple buildings. The offices are located south of San Francisco, adjacent to a major freeway and close to the San Francisco International Airport.

The shooting is said to have taken place in the main office  a 200,000-square-foot building that is fairly accessible from the outside, with a big open lobby that dons an oversized version of the famous YouTube logo as well as a video wall playing some of the services most popular footage on an endless loop.

There is no word yet on how the suspected shooter was able to enter the building, which sees regular visits from YouTubers and their fans. Visitors are asked to check in at the front desk, and doors are restricted to employees with badges. Large sections of YouTubes office space have an open floor plan. Overall, across multiple buildings in San Bruno, Google and YouTube lease more than 1 million square feet of offices.

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Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Ahmed Boukhari, the Polisario Front's representative to the United Nations, has died following a battle with cancer, diplomats told AFP on Wednesday.

Boukhari, whose represented the group seeking independence for Western Sahara, died on Tuesday, one diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The day before his death, he had written to the UN Security Council rebutting Moroccan charges that Polisario fighters launched incursions in a buffer zone of Western Sahara where a UN mission is monitoring a ceasefire.

Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario fought for control of Western Sahara from 1975 to 1991.

On Sunday, Morocco told the Security Council that Polisario Front fighters had entered the northeastern town of Mahbes in violation of the buffer zone -- and threatened a firm response.

The United Nations said its MINURSO mission had not observed any such movement of fighters.

The Moroccan threats came as the Security Council is discussing a new mandate for MINURSO, which has been monitoring the truce since 1991.

The UN is also seeking to relaunch negotiations on a settlement that have been stalled since 2012.

Morocco maintains that settlement negotiations should focus on its proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara, and rejects the Polisario's insistence on an independence referendum.President Donald Trump wants the military to guard the U.S. border with Mexico.

"Until we can have a wall and proper security we're going to be guarding our border with the military," Trump said Tuesday at the White House.

President Donald Trump said he plans to deploy U.S. military forces to protect the nation's southern border with Mexico while the border wall is being constructed.

"Until we can have a wall and proper security we're going to be guarding our border with the military. That's a big step," Trump said Tuesday at the White House.

"We are going to be doing things militarily," Trump added, saying that he discussed the idea with Defense Secretary James Mattis .

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

While it is unclear which service branch would guard the border, the U.S. Northern Command has an area of responsibility that includes the continental U.S., Alaska, Canada, Mexico and portions of the Caribbean.

Late last month Trump floated the idea of the military paying for the wall on Twitter. The Pentagon also said the president had an "initial" discussion with Mattis about it. But according to two Democratic senators, the Pentagon "has no legal authority" to use appropriated funds for Trump's border wall project. The two Democratic senators wrote a letter to Mattis on Monday stating as much.

"Such a controversial move could only be funded by cutting other vital priorities for our service members, mere weeks after the Department communicated its needs to the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee during omnibus appropriation negotiations," Democratic Sens. Jack Reed and Dick Durbin wrote.

"We conclude that the Department of Defense has no legal authority, with or without a reprogramming request, to use appropriated funds for the construction of a border wall."

The letter from Reed, of Rhode Island, and Durbin, of Illinois, comes on the heels of reports that Trump suggested the idea to "several advisors" after being disappointed by the amount of money allocated for border security in the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill.

Story continues

Trump wanted as much as $25 billion to build a wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico, but the legislation only authorized $1.6 billion for fencing, surveillance technology and other measures.

During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly promised Mexico would fund the wall, but he has backed off those pledges in office, seeking federal money instead.





More From CNBC

Police patrols are being stepped up at New York mosques and Islamic centers in response to fears that a viral anti-Muslim campaign that originated in the U.K. will spread to the city.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams announced the increased security measures at a meeting Monday at the Pakistani American Youth Society in Ditmas Park, the New York Daily News reported.

GettyImages-633102340

Getty Images

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In March, a letter began circulating in the U.K. that said April 3 had been designated Punish a Muslim Day. It laid out a points-based reward system for violence carried out against Muslims, including 50 points to throw acid in the face of a Muslim and 1000 points to burn or bomb a mosque.

As the letter went viral on social media, there were concerns the campaign could spark violence in New York. Adams called for it to be countered by a message of tolerance.

Our message must be just as loud, Adams said. Not punish a Muslim, lets embrace a Muslim, lets embrace a Christian, lets embrace a person of Jewish faith, lets embrace the diversity that this city has to offer.

Don't miss: Spying on Your Husband or Wife's Phone Will Land You in Jail in Saudi Arabia

The NYPD's Intelligence Bureau learned of the threat in mid-March after the flyers appeared, Police Department spokesman J. Peter Donald told local news site Patch.

"While we have not seen any evidence of this threat gaining traction here, it has generated understandable concern," Donald said.

In the U.K., Muslims have been urged to unite and carry on as normal as the day approaches.

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A spokesman for Londons Metropolitan Police told the Evening Standard that though there was no credible information" that anti-Muslim attacks were being planned, police officers remained alert for potential incidents.

Story continues

People from six U.K. communities received the letters, which have been investigated by counterterrorism officials. A number of the letters appeared to have been sent from the northern English city of Sheffield, police said.

Are you a sheep like the vast majority of the population? the letter reads. Sheep follow orders and are easily led. They are allowing the white-majority nations of Europe and north America to become overrun by those who would like nothing more than to do us harm and to turn our democracies into sharia-led police states.

One British Muslim activist has called for April 3 to instead to be designated Love Muslim Day to combat the letters message of hate, with points to be awarded for acts of kindness and charity towards Muslims. Under activist Shahab Adris's scheme, 25 points would be won for buying Muslims coffee with cake, 500 points for fasting with Muslims during Ramadan, and 1,000 points for raising funds to help victims of conflict in Iraq or Syria.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekWelcome Guest! You Are Here:NextShark

Major League Baseball two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani reached another milestone this year by matching a statistic only the greatest living baseball player has ever accomplished. One of the GOATs: Ohtani joined Hall of Famer Willie Mays in an exclusive club after scoring back-to-back triples on Saturday to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 14-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners, reported NBC Sports. According to MLB, a triple is achieved when a batter hits the ball into play and reaches third base without the help of an intervening error or attempt to put out another baserunner.Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit out at Iran on Wednesday after President Hassan Rouhani accused Israel of supporting "terrorists" in Syria.

"Absurdity has no limits: Iran's terrorist regime that sends tentacles of terror across the region accuses Israel of terrorism," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

"If Rouhani is unaware of the terrorist and sabotage activities conducted daily by the Iranian Quds Force in Syria, Israel can provide him with an update," Netanyahu said, referring to the foreign arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Earlier Wednesday, during a summit in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin, Rouhani denounced "the daily support of the Zionist regime for terrorists in Syria", according to the website of the Iranian presidency.

Tehran is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, but Israel does not want its arch-rival to entrench itself militarily next door.

In February Israel carried out major air raids in Syria, including against sites it described as Iranian targets.

Iran has also long supported Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has written to Hamas chief Ismail Haniya pledging the Islamic republic's backing "in any form".

"It is a religious duty and an obligation as human beings ... and, God willing, we will act in accordance with this obligation, as in the past," he wrote.

Excerpts of the letter were published Wednesday on Khamenei's website after de facto Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Israel has a "right" to a homeland, in a notable shift in the kingdom's position.

Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, but behind the scenes their ties appear to have improved in recent years against what they see as a common Iranian threat.London (AFP) - The Russian woman who was poisoned last month alongside her former spy father said she is recovering, in her first public statement since the attack, as Moscow and London unleashed a new war of words during a bitter session at the UN Security Council.

Britain blames Russia for the March 4 poisoning on UK soil of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with what it says was a Soviet-made military-grade nerve agent, a charge the Kremlin furiously denies.

The crisis has sent relations between Russia and the West plummeting with the biggest wave of tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats in recent memory. In the latest expulsions, some 60 US diplomats who were ordered to leave flew out of Moscow airport early Thursday.

A few hours later British authorities released a statement from Yulia commenting on her recovery.

"I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily," she was quoted as saying in comments released by the police.

That statement came on a day of furious rhetoric between Moscow and London at the UN Security Council.

Russia unleashed a blistering war of words against Britain deflecting accusations of poisoning a former double agent in England with Moscow's envoy issuing a series of denials and colourful insults.

"It's some sort of theatre of the absurd. Couldn't you come up with a better fake story?" Vasily Nebenzia, told the council. "We have told our British colleagues that 'you're playing with fire and you'll be sorry.'"

British Ambassador Karen Pierce was on similarly fiery form.

"I won't take any lectures on morality or on our responsibilities," said Pierce, "from a country that, as this council debated yesterday, has done so much to block the proper investigation of the use of chemical weapons in Syria."

- Dead pets -

At one point in the clash Nebenzia mused on the whereabouts of reported Skripal pets, two cats and two guinea pigs.

Story continues

"What happened to these animals? Why doesn't anyone mention them? Their condition is also an important piece of evidence," he said.

A British government spokeswoman later told AFP that both guinea pigs had died and that a cat found in a distressed state was euthanized. She did not mention a second cat.

Yulia and her father Sergei, a former double agent, were found in a critical condition on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury last month.

Yulia appears to have made more of a recovery than her father, who remains unconscious.

Russian state television earlier aired an unverified recording of a phone conversation between Yulia and her cousin who lives in Moscow.

In the call, a woman introducing herself as Yulia Skripal said she was expecting to be discharged from hospital soon and that her father Sergei was "fine".

The hospital where the pair are being treated said in their latest update last week that Sergei remained in a critical condition.

- Russia isolated -

Russia called for UN Security Council talks a day after it failed to win diplomatic support for a joint probe of the spy poisoning at a meeting of the global chemical watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The OCPW meeting also saw a day of bitter rhetoric between Moscow and Britain and its western allies.

London slammed the joint probe idea as "perverse".

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hailed the defeat of Russia's bid.

"The purpose of Russia's ludicrous proposal at The Hague was clear a- to undermine the independent, impartial work of the international chemical weapons watchdog," he said, adding that Moscow's main goal was "to obscure the truth and confuse the public."

Britain is carrying out its own probe, with independent technical assistance from OPCW experts.

Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence, warned that both sides must avoid tensions escalating to the dangerous levels of the Cold War.

He called the affair a "grotesque provocation... crudely concocted by the British and American security services."

OPCW experts have already taken on-site samples which are being analysed in The Hague, as well as in four other certified laboratories. The watchdog said it expected the results by early next week.

But in a move hailed as a vindication by Moscow, the British defence laboratory analysing the nerve agent revealed Tuesday that it could not say whether the substance came from Russia.

The Kremlin immediately demanded an apology from Prime Minister Theresa May and her government for implicating Putin in the nerve agent attack, saying this "idiocy has gone too far."

On Thursday, The Times newspaper cited British security sources saying they believe they have pinpointed the location of a Russian laboratory where the nerve agent used in Salisbury was manufactured.

burs-am/pg/har/jta/cebDave Majumdar

Security,

Should America be worried?

Russia's Dangerous S-400 Air Defense System is Headed to China (And Maybe Turkey)

Russia has delivered to China its first regiment of S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries. Moscow signed a deal with Beijing to sell China the potent weapon system in 2014.

"Two vessels have delivered the first regimental set of S-400s from the port of Ust-Lug, Leningrad Region, to China within the time limit established by the contract. It includes a command post, radar stations, launching stations, energy equipment and other property. It lacks the equipment that was onboard the third vessel," a Russian defense source told the TASS news agency. "The work continues, and the missing equipment is expected to be delivered to the customer in the summer."

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A third vessel carrying additional hardware was caught in a storm enroute from Russia and had to turn back. It appears that the weapon system will not operable until the missing hardware is delivered.

Meanwhile, Russia is pressing ahead to deliver the S-400 to Turkey by 2020. Ankara seems to be pressing ahead to buy the Russian-made weapons despite strong opposition from its NATO ally, the United States.

"A priority task in the sphere of military technical cooperation is the implementation of the contract for supplies of S-400 Triumf missile systems to Turkey," Russian president Vladimir Putin said during of the Russia-Turkey Cooperation Council according to TASS. "We hope that the sectoral intergovernmental commission will look into the prospects for further supplies of Russian-made military hardware to Turkey at its next meeting.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told TASS that Moscow would do everything possible to deliver the S-400 to Turkeywhich has already made a down paymentby 2020. "Turkey did raise this issue. As far as I know, steps will be taken to meet Turkeys wish," Ushakov said.

Story continues

Turkey, for its part, is determined to buy the S-400 despite the threat of sanctions by the United States.

The U.S. understands Turkeys desire to improve its air defenses, a Trump administration official told the Hurriyet Daily News. But we are concerned and have said so publicly about potential acquisition of Russian S-400 missiles, which would have implications for NATO interoperability and which would potentially expose Turkey to sanctions due to the new sanctions law recently passed by Congress.

Turkey points out that NATO allies did not pressure Greece to drop its S-300 purchase in previous year, though that deal came under during a much less antagonistic period in the Wests relations with Russia.

Youve said nothing to Greece but you said that you will not let Turkey acquire S-400, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said according to the Moscow-based TASS news agency. You claimed that the contact with Russia was a mistake. You also said that you might introduce sanctions. We are not going to be accountable to you. We will proceed along the right way without any concessions for the sake of achieving our own goals.

As with many other nations, the Turks are concerned by the U.S. Congress infringement on their sovereignty. More often than not, Congress passes laws where the lawmakerswho often maintain a well-educated but very inexperienced stafffail to consider the second and third order consequences of their actions.

Dave Majumdar is the defense editor for The National Interest. You can follow him on Twitter: @davemajumdar.

Image: Creative Commons.

Read full articleBritains Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson claims to have categorical proof that Russia was behind the attack on the Skripals. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

Boris Johnson faces further embarrassment over his reaction to the Salisbury spy poisoning amid accusations he exaggerated evidence linking Russia to the attack and the Foreign Office deleted an inaccurate tweet.

Mr Johnson has come under fire after an announcement on Tuesday that Porton Down scientists had not verified the source of the Novichok nerve agent believed to have been used in the March 4 attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The statement appeared to contradict claims made by the Foreign Secretary in an interview on German TV on March 20.

Asked why the UK believed that Russia was the source of the nerve agent, Mr Johnson said: The people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical. I asked them that myself. I said Are you sure?. He said Theres no doubt.

4/ Theresa May was guarded with her words. She said they could prove what the nerve agent was and that it was likely to have been used by the Russian state. However @BorisJohnson said officials at Porton Down told him the evidence that it was Russian was absolutely categorical pic.twitter.com/W6O77vQHoS  Chris Williamson MP (@DerbyChrisW) April 3, 2018

In mid-March, Mr Johnson had gone even further, pointing the finger of blame directly at the Russian President.

Our quarrel is with Putins Kremlin and with his decision, he said, and we think it is overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK for the first time since the Second World War.

Tweet deleted

The Foreign Offices embarrassment has been further exacerbated after it emerged a message stating that Porton Down had established that the Novichok nerve agent came from Russia was deleted from its Twitter feed.

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The tweet, issued on March 22, said: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

The Russian Embassy was quick to point out the error on Wednesday afternoon.

Why would @foreignoffice delete this tweet from 22 March? pic.twitter.com/Nvu1BfJw9J  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 4, 2018

A Foreign Office spokesman said it had been an inaccurate summary of comments made by the UKs ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, at a briefing in Moscow, which the FCO had been live-tweeting.

Labour on the offensive

Speaking during a local election campaign visit to Watford, Mr Corbyn said of Mr Johnsons comments: He claimed categorically  and I think he used the words 101%  that it had come from Russia. Porton Down have not said that, they said that theyve identified it as Novichok, they cannot identify the source of it.

Either the Foreign Secretary has information that hes not sharing with Porton Down or it was a bit of exaggeration. I dont know which it is, but I think we need a responsible, cool approach to this.

We need to get to the source of this to prevent it ever happening again.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has said the development raises questions about the Governments approach, and said Mr Corbyn should now be given credit for demanding more evidence before allocating blame.

It doesnt surprise me Porton Down is saying this because the security services were always very cautious in what they said, Ms Abbott said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for proof of Russias involvement in the attack (REUTERS/Umit Bektas)

Putins response

On Tuesday evening, Mr Putin seized on the comments from Porton Down as he accused the UK of launching an anti-Russian campaign.

He called for a thorough investigation into the poisoning, saying that the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes bewilderment.

And Russias media also targetted Mr Johnson.

Responding online, Russia Today claimed that his position as Foreign Secretary was in jeopardy after the controversial comments.

The news site, often considered the international mouthpiece of the Russian state, reported: Boris Johnson put his post in jeopardy after possibly lying about Russia being proven as the source of a nerve agent used in the Skripals poisoning.

And Russias EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov insisted that the nerve agent could have been manufactured anywhere.

Russian news agency Tass quoted Mr Chizhov as saying he was not surprised by Mr Aitkenheads comments, as Novichok is widely known  its formula is even available on the internet.

International meeting

Russia is expected to restate its denial of responsibility at Wednesdays meeting of the OPCWs executive council behind closed doors in The Hague.

Moscow says it has 20 questions it would like raised at the meeting which, apparently, will enable a final line to be drawn under the row.

Britains delegation to the OPCW branded Russias call for a joint UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury poisoning perverse.

In a tweet issued as the OPCWs executive council met at Russias request in The Hague, the UK delegation said: Russias proposal for a joint, UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury incident is perverse.

It is a diversionary tactic, and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer.Top Russian, Iranian and Syrian military leaders all criticized U.S. military intervention in Syria and the region as a whole during the seventh annual Moscow International Security Conference, accusing Washington of having ulterior motives as all four countries battled the remnants of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).

Russian and Iranian officials decried Wednesday what they called U.S. plans to divide the Middle East, where efforts to battle ISIS have played out on the backdrop of a seven-year civil war. Moscow and Tehran are the leading allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who the U.S. attempted to overthrow by supporting the rebels of a 2011 uprising. The U.S. now supports a mostly Kurdish group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, which has eyed greater autonomy for the territory it controls across northern and eastern Syria.

Related: Trump Wants the U.S. Out of Syria, Is It Finally Time to Leave Or Is This One Big Mistake?

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"The United States is set to divide Syria. It has been laying potential groundwork for a new all-against-all war," Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian military general staff's Main Operations Department, according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency.

"Utterly unacceptable are the United States attempts at creating a quasi-state on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. We see that in these areas not only U.S.-controlled bodies of power are being created, but their own armed forces formed," he added.

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ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami took his sentiments a step further, accusing the U.S. of trying to divide the entire Islamic World. In addition to being at odds in Syria, the U.S. and Iran also fall on opposite ends of a regional contest of influence between revolutionary Shiite Muslim republic of Iran and conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has been a key ally of Washington. The U.S. has also attempted to discourage Iraqi participation in the anti-ISIS alliance of Syria, Iran and Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by the State Department.

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"The development and prosperity of Muslim countries is a source of concern for some players, particularly the United States. They are well aware of the fact that, if there is unity and cohesion in the Islamic world, the overall security regime will become a powerful system from the point of view of geopolitics," Hatami said, according to Tass.

"They spare no effort to hinder the creation of the Central Asian security system, because they believe that any consolidation in the security sphere runs counter to the interests of retaining the strength of Americas power, standing and dominance in the world," he added.

Russia and Iran have invited pro-opposition power Turkey to a trilateral Syrian peace process based in the Kazakh capital of Astana, where the leaders of the three countries held their most recent round of talks Wednesday. Russian warplanes and Iran-backed militias have played a major role in restoring much of the country to Assad, who has called on the U.S. and Turkish forces to leave immediately.

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The U.S. and Turkey, united by their opposition to Assad, have been at odds over the Pentagon's support for Kurdish groups, which Ankara considered to be terrorist organizations due to their alleged links to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party. A number of Kurdish fighters have left the U.S.-led coalition battle to take on Turkish and allied Syrian rebel forces in the northwest, where the Kurds have allied with pro-Syrian government forces.

The remaining majority-Arab component of the Syrian Democratic Forces has clashed with pro-Syrian government forces near in Syria's oil-rich east, where elements of ISIS remained active. Also speaking at the Moscow International Security Conference, Syrian Deputy Defense Minister Mahmoud al-Shawa said at the Moscow security conference that the U.S. remained active in the eastern Euphrates region to maintain a stake in the natural resources there.

"The United States decided to invent various pretexts to justify keeping the illegal presence of their bases and troops on Syrian soil with the goal of establishing control and domination over oil fields and dividing Syria through the so-called federation project," he said, according to Tass.

With ISIS largely defeated, President Donald Trump has suggested a speedy exit from Syria, but some of his advisers and experts have pushed back.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekUnited Nations (United States) (AFP) - Russia has asked for a UN Security Council meeting over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in Britain, the country's ambassador to the UN announced Wednesday.

Vassily Nebenzia said Russia was requesting a meeting Thursday at 1900 GMT over the British government's implication of Moscow in the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Nebenzia said the council would soon receive a letter clarifying the Russian position.

The Kremlin has vehemently denied any involvement in the March 4 attack, which Britain says was carried out with a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union.

On March 14, the council held an emergency meeting at the request of Britain over the row, which has triggered a wave of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and inflamed tensions between Russia and Western governments.

A few days after the poisoning last month British Prime Minister Theresa May blamed Moscow, saying "there is no plausible alternative explanation."

Russia has claimed innocence from the beginning.

The British military facility analyzing the nerve agent used in the attack said Tuesday it was military-grade Novichok, a category of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union.

However, it said it could not identify the precise source of the nerve agent.

A former colonel in the Russian military intelligence service, Skripal was accused of "high treason" in 2006 for selling information to Britain and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

In 2010, he was exchanged by Russia in a spy swap with Britain and the United States. Moscow received 10 Russian spies held by Washington for Skripal and three others.Moscow (AFP) - The head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency said Wednesday the poisoning of a Russian former double agent in Britain was a "grotesque provocation" by the British and US security services.

"Even when it comes to the grotesque provocation with the Skripals that was crudely concocted by the British and American security services, a number of European countries are in no rush to unquestioningly follow London and Washington but prefer to look into what has happened in detail," SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin said at a security conference.

He also warned that Moscow and the West must avoid the risk of escalating their current standoff to the dangerous levels reached at the height of the Cold War.

"It's important to stop the irresponsible game of raising stakes and to stop the use of force in relations between states, not to bring matters to a new Cuban Missile Crisis," he said, referring to the 1962 standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

- 'A new Iron Curtain' -

Naryshkin said that for Washington, "fighting the non-existent so-called Russian threat has become a real fixation" comparable in scale to the Cold War era.

"It has reached such proportions and developed such ludicrous characteristics, that it's time to talk about the return of the grim times of the Cold War," Naryshkin said.

He suggested that the West wants to shut itself off from Russia as it once did from the Soviet Union, saying that "seized by fear of changes, the West is ready to put up a new Iron Curtain around itself."

Britain has said it is "highly likely" that Russia was responsible for the attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in England.

Moscow has angrily denied any involvement.

British authorities say the Skripals were poisoned with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok.

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The British defence laboratory analysing the nerve agent said Tuesday that it could not say whether it came from Russia. Moscow hailed that as a vindication of its repeated denials of involvement.

The Kremlin has demanded an apology from British Prime Minister Theresa May and her government for implicating Russian President Vladimir Putin in the nerve agent attack, saying this "idiocy has gone too far."

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a visit to Ankara late Tuesday that Britain's "theory will not be confirmed in any case because it is not possible to confirm it."

London has rallied EU countries in support of its stance.

"The British foreign secretary who has made accusations against President Putin, (and) the British prime minister will have to somehow look their EU colleagues... in the eye," Peskov said.

"Somehow they will have to apologise to the Russian side," Peskov added. "It will certainly be a long story, the idiocy has gone too far."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has pointed the finger at Putin himself, saying it was "overwhelmingly likely" that the Kremlin leader ordered the attack.Russia has dismissed British allegations that the Kremlin was behind the attempted murder of a former double agent as a bluff and accused the U.K. government of a campaign of political provocation.

According to Russian news agency TASS, a spokesperson for the Russian embassy in London said the U.K. governments conclusions are nothing but assumptions not stemming from objective facts or the course of the investigation.

The latest denial comes as Russia called an emergency meeting of the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which President Vladimir Putin says he hopes will end discussion of whether the Kremlin was behind the attack.

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Sergei Skripala former Soviet and Russian double agentand his daughter Yulia were poisoned by a nerve agent in the British town of Salisbury on March 4. Skripal settled in the U.K. after being released from a Russian jail in a 2010 prisoner exchange. The Skripals have been in hospital since the attack. Yulia is now conscious and speaking with doctors, while Sergei remains in a critical but stable condition.

Sergei Skripal poisoning

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The British government said it is highly likely that the attackbelieved to have used the Soviet-era novichok agentwas a Russian attempt to assassinate Skripal. Russia has denied any involvement in what is believed to be the first offensive use of such a weapon in Europe since the end of World War Two.

On Tuesday, Gary Aitkenhead, the head of the U.K.s Porton Down defense research laboratory, said that scientists have so far been unable to verify the source of the novichok nerve agent used in the attack.

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In response, a spokesperson from the Russian embassy in London said that Moscow knew from the very start that British accusations of its involvement were a bluff. The spokesperson claimed that this has now been confirmed by the head of the secret lab.

Russian government officials, including foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, have argued that the British government may have been behind the attack. [The nerve agent attack] could be beneficial to the British government, which has found itself in a difficult situation, unable to fulfil promises they made about Brexit, Lavrov said.

Aitkenhead rejected such suggestions, telling Sky News, There is no way anything like that could have come from us. He explained, It is our job to provide the scientific evidence of what this particular nerve agent is, we identified that it is from this particular family and that it is a military grade, but it is not our job to say where it was manufactured. He added that the agent required extremely sophisticated methods to create, something only in the capabilities of a state actor.

Porton Down

BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

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The attack sparked a diplomatic crisis between Russia and the U.K., which grew to include many of Britains western allies including the U.S. Both sides have expelled dozens of diplomats in response and Russia may yet face additional economic sanctions.

A March 28 statement from Russias foreign ministry argued that London acted contrary to all the norms of international law, ethics and even common sense. The statement argued there could have been involvement of the UK intelligence services, and added, Unless we receive convincing proof of the opposite, we will regard this incident as an attempt on the life of Russian citizens as part of a large-scale political provocation.

The emergency OPCW meeting will convene in the Hague, the Netherlands, on Wednesday, as per the Russian request. During a visit to the Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday, Putin told a news conference. We have raised 20 questions for discussion [at the meeting]. I hope that during this discussion a final line on what has happened will be drawn, Reuters reported.

Vladimir Putin in Ankara, Turkey

REUTERS/Umit Bektas

The U.K.s foreign office says the meeting is nothing but a diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion, the BBC reported. A spokesman for the department added, There is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator.

The OPCW is conducting its own independent laboratory tests of samples taken from Salisbury, the results from which are expected within the next week. Though the organization cannot attribute blame, it could request access to former Soviet Union chemical weapon production facilities to establish whether former weapons have been destroyed.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekLeaders from Russia, Turkey and Iran will meet on Wednesday to plan the future of Syria and how to end the bloody civil war that has dragged on for seven years. But the U.S. and other Western countries are conspicuously absent from the meeting.

The talks, which will take place in Turkeys capital, Ankara, will center on the drafting of a new constitution for Syria and how to secure zones for de-escalation, according to Turkish officials.

All three countries have major stakes in the ongoing war and the future of Syria. Cooperation between them increases the chances that the violence that has killed around 500,000 people could slow down, but consensus between the three regional superpowers also works to highlight how irrelevant U.S. policy toward the region has become, experts said.

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President [Donald] Trump continues to shift his position related to U.S. involvement in Syria, changing from claims that he intends to deploy troops indefinitely to wanting to get out soon," Harrison Akins, a regional security expert at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, told Newsweek. "To these nations, especially Iran and Turkey, who have direct political interests in the conflict, it would be unclear to them what value the United States would have in any talks given the unreliability of any U.S. position under the Trump administration.

Currently, the Pentagon has announced that it plans to send more U.S. troops to Syria, while Trump says the U.S. should withdraw from the country altogether.

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Mikhail Metzel/AFP/Getty Images

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It is unclear, however, exactly how the three countries will find middle ground on Syria's future, since Russia and Iran continue to back Syrias brutal leader Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey still argues that Assad lacks legitimacy. Meanwhile, all three countries have proxy forces in Syria that sometimes clash with one another or undermine the interests of others. Turkey recently launched a strong offensive against Kurdish forces in Afrin, in northern Syria, a group that is backed by Russias allies in Damascus. And Syrias army, together with militias backed by Iran, recently pummeled a Damascus suburb allegedly controlled by rebel groups. Turkey has sharply criticized this offensive.

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Rather than trying to reach a political agreement, however, some regional experts said the meeting will focus on how to divide up the economic opportunities that will arise from the countrys eventual reconstruction.

Its a way for them to divide the spoils, and its mostly about allocation for military and civilian contracts for reconstruction, Benjamin Radd, a Middle East expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Newsweek.

Certain segments of Syrias government have promised conflicting things to Russia and Iran, and now they have to resolve their differences. Each one has invested a lot, and Turkey wants a piece of that pie. So its not just a political sphere of influence. They are strange bedfellows, but its about economic opportunities, Radd continued.

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Its unclear how much the reconstruction contracts will be worth. But Russia, Iran and Turkey will likely foot the bill for reconstruction to ensure the Syrian regime is indebted to them. Then any international aid Syria receives for reconstruction will go to repaying Russian, Iranian or Turkish contractors, Radd explained.

The constitutional element [of the meeting] is laughable. You cant have a constitution written by 10 percent of the country that applies to all of it, Radd added.

Still, even if the meeting focuses solely on economics, some said it could ultimately exacerbate political and religious tensions in Syria.

When Russia and Iran are driving the show, its hard to see how anything good comes out of it. This is especially true when it comes to Syrias aggrieved Sunni populations, Chris Meserole, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution, told Newsweek. Without the U.S. at the table, any deal brokered by Moscow and Tehran risks compounding the political tensions that gave rise to Sunni rebel groups in the first place.

Russia has also hosted ongoing peace talks for Syria that sidelined the U.S. A meeting in January, however, ended disastrously when angry attendees heckled the Kremlin spokesman, delegates bickered over who would run the event and a group of Syrian opposition leaders boycotted the meeting by refusing to leave the airport after landing.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBy Gederts Gelzis RIGA (Reuters) - Russia began testing missiles with live munitions in the Baltic Sea on Wednesday, alarming Latvia, a member of NATO, which says the drills have forced it partly to shut down Baltic commercial airspace. The Russian defense ministry said on Monday that its Baltic Fleet, based in its European exclave of Kaliningrad, was preparing for routine training in the Baltic Sea, including live fire drills to practice hitting air and sea targets. "It is a demonstration of force," Latvia's Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis told Reuters. "It is hard to comprehend that it can happen so close to (our) country," he said. The tests are being carried out in Latvia's exclusive economic zone, officials said, an area of the sea just beyond Latvia's territorial waters where Latvia has special economic rights, as well as further west in the Baltic Sea. Riga has closed some of its airspace for the three days of tests, and Sweden also issued a warning to civilian sea traffic and said there could be delays and disruption to civilian air traffic. The missile tests and military drills follow Russia's massive war games last September, which stretched from the Baltics to the Black Sea. The exercises unnerved the West because of their scale, scope and what NATO said was a lack of transparency. At a time of high East-West tensions, NATO officials worry that any accident involving military weapons and a civilian ship or plane could spark a wider conflict. In Ottawa, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would follow the tests closely, while noting that every nation had the right to carry out military exercises. "We are staying vigilant and we are also increasing the readiness of our forces, especially in the Baltic region," he told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Moscow accuses NATO of stirring up anti-Russian propaganda. "PROVOCATIVE ACTION" Latvia said Russian drills have never taken place so near its territory. Kucinskis noted that the decision to test so close to Latvian waters came after the West's expulsion of Russian diplomats last month, the largest since the Cold War. The diplomats were expelled after a nerve agent attack on March 4 against a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Salisbury, England. Latvian officials said Russia is not breaking any international rules and has the right to exercise. But the Latvian defense ministry summoned Russia's military attache to express its concern. Russia says it is testing its forces after the winter. "Drills lasting for three days in the region where there is very intensive aviation traffic, and given everything else that is happening in relations between the West and Russia, I think that it is a rather provocative action," Latvia's ambassador to Russia, Maris Riekstins, told Latvian Television. (Additional reporting by Johan Sennero in Stockholm, Andrew Osborn in Moscow and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; writing by Robin Emmott; editing by Larry King and Dan Grebler)RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's crown prince said in a published interview that Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land, another public sign of an apparent thawing in ties between the two countries. Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation state in at least part of their ancestral homeland, Mohammed bin Salman was quoted by U.S. magazine The Atlantic as saying: "I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations." Saudi Arabia - birthplace of Islam and site of its holiest shrines - does not officially recognize Israel. It has maintained for years that normalizing relations hinges on an Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war - territory Palestinians seek for a future state. "We have religious concerns about the fate of the holy mosque in Jerusalem and about the rights of the Palestinian people. This is what we have. We don't have any objection against any other people," said Prince Mohammed, who is touring the United States to drum up investments and support for his efforts to contain Iranian influence. Increased tension between Tehran and Riyadh has fueled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to work together against what they regard as a common Iranian threat. "There are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries," Prince Mohammed added. The German foreign ministry welcomed his comments and ministry officials underscored the Saudi role in pushing for an Arab peace initiative as early as 2002. "The prince's comments are very close to the position of Germany and the EU: We need a two-state solution and serious negotiations to achieve that," said one ministry official. "Israelis and Palestinians have a right to peaceful lives in their own country." Israeli-Palestinian peace talks envisaging a Palestinian state alongside Israel have been frozen since 2014. Saudi Arabia opened its air space for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel last month, which an Israeli official hailed as historic following two years of efforts. In November, an Israeli cabinet member disclosed covert contacts with Saudi Arabia, a rare acknowledgment of long-rumoured secret dealings which Riyadh still denies. Saudi Arabia condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last year. But Arab officials told Reuters at the time that Riyadh appears to be on board with a broader U.S. strategy for an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan still in its early phases of development. (Reporting by Stephen Kalin in Riyadh and Sabine Siebold in Berlin; Editing by Mark Heinrich)Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia on Wednesday shrugged off a Yemeni rebel missile attack on one of its oil tankers in the Red Sea saying it had zero impact on the kingdom's crude exports.

The attack Tuesday was "nothing but a failed attempt to affect international maritime safety, an attempt which did not impact the economy or disrupt oil supplies", Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Falih tweeted.

Saudi Arabia leads a regional military coalition allied with Yemen's embattled government in a war against the Iran-backed Huthis, who have ramped up their attacks on the Gulf kingdom.

The latest attack caused "minor damage" to the tanker off the Yemeni port of Hodeida, according to the coalition. No casualties were reported.

Hodeida, Yemen's main port, is controlled by the rebels and under blockade by the Saudi-led coalition.

Tuesday's attack came a day after 16 Yemenis were killed in an air strike on Hodeida province. The Saudi-led coalition has said it was "investigating the report".

Several children were among those killed, the United Nations said, calling it "one of the deadliest attacks" in years on minors in Yemen.

Nearly 10,000 people been killed since 2015, when the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen war. The country now stands on the brink of famine.Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan's state security prosecutor has charged the country's main opposition leader, Sadiq al-Mahdi, with collaborating with rebel groups to overthrow the regime of President Omar al-Bashir, a media network reported Tuesday.

Bashir, backed by Islamists, toppled Mahdi's civilian government in a 1989 coup after which the former prime minister's Umma Party, Sudan's main opposition group, has regularly campaigned against the policies of Bashir's government.

"Sudan state security prosecutor has filed a criminal case against Sadiq al-Mahdi for collaborating with rebel groups for overthrowing the regime" of Bashir, said a report published by Sudan Media Centre, a network close to Sudan's powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).

The charges against Mahdi, some of which are punishable by death, were filed following a complaint made by NISS to state security prosecutor Mutassim Abdallah, the report said.

"Charges against Mahdi have been filed under Sudan's criminal and anti-terrorism laws," the report added.

"Sadiq al-Mahdi, who is heading a registered party, is coordinating with rebel groups for overthrowing the regime."

Senior figures in the Umma Party, including Mahdi's daughter and party deputy head Mariam al-Mahdi, were unavailable for comment late Tuesday.

On Monday Bashir, in an address to lawmakers, had warned of taking "decisive measures" against political parties who align themselves with rebel groups.

The charges against Mahdi came days after he held talks with leaders of some rebel groups in Paris.

Mahdi, who is currently in Cairo, had returned to Khartoum in January 2017 after more than two years of exile in the Egyptian capital.

"I came back to end the war, re-establish peace and work for a democratic transition," he had told supporters soon after returning from exile.

A fixture of Sudanese politics since the 1960s, Mahdi was prime minister from 1966 to 1967 and again from 1986 to 1989.

His government was the last one to be democratically elected in Sudan, before the 1989 coup launched by Bashir.By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - A top Syrian Kurdish politician suggested on Wednesday that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Iraqi government could mount joint operations against Islamic State in the area on the border of the two countries. Aldar Xelil warned of a jihadist revival in eastern Syria, where operations by the U.S.-backed SDF have tapered off since they diverted fighters to the northwest to fight a Turkish offensive. "Iraq is a neighboring state and is also suffering from Daesh terrorism," he said in a telephone interview with Reuters, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. "Daesh is present in the shared area between us, and this points to the possibility of conditions arising that would pave the way for joint actions against Daesh," he said. Xelil is co-chair of the Movement for a Democratic Society, a coalition of mainly Syrian Kurdish parties, and an architect of plans for autonomy in northern Syria. The SDF, which the Kurdish YPG militia spearheads, has been the main partner of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria, helping drive the jihadists out of swathes of northern and eastern Syria last year. But its operations against Islamic State have been sidetracked since Turkey, backed by allied Syrian insurgents, mounted an invasion in northwestern Syria targeting the YPG-controlled Afrin region of the northwest. The SDF sent fighters to Afrin from other areas, and the U.S.-led coalition has said this resulted in limited offensive operations against Islamic State. Turkey views the YPG militia as a terrorist group and a threat to its national security. Turkey and its Syrian militia allies captured Afrin town last month, leading the YPG to declare a new phase of guerrilla war in the northwest. Xelil said the shift in tactics away from direct confrontation meant fewer fighters were needed in the northwest. "The number has reduced a lot," he said. "The surplus number will head to the other areas to strengthen the defence of these areas," against Islamic State and "any other threat". "After Afrin, Daesh has revived and has started to expand in the region, and has benefited a lot from the vacuum," Xelil said. "This is a danger we are thinking about, and we are tying to fine the appropriate means to take measures against the expansion of Daesh," he said. President Donald Trump agreed in a National Security Council meeting on Tuesday to keep U.S. troops in Syria a little longer but wants them out relatively soon, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Hugh Lawson)Top technology CEOs including Twitter's Jack Dorsey and Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi have called for stricter gun control.

It follows the attack on the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, in which a woman shot and injured at least 3 people before killing herself.

Technology CEOs including Apple's Tim Cook and Microsoft's Satya Nadella sent out messages of support.

High-profile technology executives have called for increased gun control in the wake of the shooting at YouTube's headquarters that left at least three people injured and the suspect shooter dead .



The attack at the Google-owned video service's headquarters in San Bruno, California Tuesday was allegedly carried out by Nasim Najafi Aghdam , who killed herself after the shooting, according to law enforcement officials.

Technology CEOs including Apple's AAPL Tim Cook and Microsoft's MSFT Satya Nadella sent out messages of support , but some went further and called for stricter gun control.

Twitter TWTR Chief Executive Jack Dorsey tweeted a link to the March For Our Lives page, a movement that is supporting stricter gun control, in response to a tweet from Donald Trump .

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Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi also tweeted following the incident, sending his support to YouTube and Google using the hashtag #EndGunViolence.

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Aaron Levie, CEO of Box BOX , also sent a tweet with the hashtag #NeverAgain, which arose after the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February.

TWEET

The YouTube shooting has added fuel to the fire surrounding the debate around gun control in the U.S., one that technology companies have been drawn into. Apple and Amazon AMZN were pressured by activists to stop streaming content from the National Rifle Association through the organization's NRAtv channel.

In March, YouTube introduced rules that banned videos promoting the sale of firearms and accessories, as well as tutorials on how to assemble guns.

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- CNBC's Jillian D'Onfro contributed to this report.





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Freetown (AFP) - Hundreds of pro-government demonstrators gathered Wednesday in Sierra Leone's capital to protest what they said was a "stolen" presidential vote, hours before official results are expected.

The outcome of the March 31 ballot -- pitting opposition challenger Julius Maada Bio against the ruling All Peoples' Congress (APC) candidate Samura Kamara -- was due to be announced at the start of the week.

But the country's electoral commission had to interrupt the ballot count after a dispute over the method of tallying results left votes from 11,000 polling stations across the poor West African nation uncounted.

Kamara supporters marched in Freetown Wednesday evening, tearing down Bio posters and alleging "foreign meddling" in the vote, an AFP reporter said.

Security forces erected a cordon around Bio's SLPP party headquarters, where hundreds of supporters had already begun celebrating victory ahead of the expected official result announcement at around 2100 GMT.

Bio narrowly won the first round of voting ahead of Kamara, a close ally of outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma.

A total of 3.1 million people were registered to vote in the first presidential poll since a 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak which killed 4,000 people.

One of the world's poorest nations despite huge mineral and diamond deposits, Sierra Leone is recovering only gradually from war and disease. Its economy remains in a fragile state with corruption widespread in the former British colony.The Hague (AFP) - A Malian jihadist was to appear for the first time Wednesday before international war crimes judges, accused of demolishing Timbuktu's fabled shrines, as well as rape, torture and sex slavery.

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud will be asked to confirm his identity and be told of the charges against him when he appears at the International Criminal Court.

The hearing at 1300 GMT in The Hague comes after Hassan was captured over the weekend by Malian authorities and swiftly transferred to the Netherlands late Saturday.

Prosecutors allege the 40-year-old "committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Timbuktu, Mali, between April 2012 and January 2013."

A member of the Ansar Dine jihadist group, Hassan was the "de facto chief of the Islamic police" in Timbuktu, the ICC said.

The armed groups which swept across the remote northern Mali region in 2012 seizing control of the UNESCO-protected site "imposed their vision of religion, through terror, on a local population who didn't adhere to it," says Hassan's arrest warrant, unveiled at the weekend by the court.

Hassan had about 40 Islamic police under his control and "played a leading role in committing crimes, as well as religious and sexist persecution".

"All infractions" of the strict Islamic laws were "punished by whippings, torture during detention and the destruction of sites devoted to religious practises," the warrant says, adding that Hassan himself took part in the lashings.

He also allegedly "participated in the policy of forced marriages which victimised the female inhabitants of Timbuktu and led to repeated rapes and the sexual enslavement of women and girls," the court added.

Dubbed "The City of 333 saints", Timbuktu's holy shrines were built in the 15th and 16th centuries when it was revered as a centre of Islamic learning and a spiritual hub.

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Extremists, however, see its moderate form of Islam as idolatrous. The jihadists were angered by the long-held practice of worshipping at the shrines and mausoleums of Muslim saints.

- God's work' -

Hassan is the second Islamic extremist to face trial at the ICC for the destruction of Timbuktu, following a 2016 landmark ruling at the world's only permanent war crimes court.

In the court's first case to focus on cultural destruction, the ICC judges found Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi guilty of directing attacks on the UNESCO world heritage site in 2012. He was sentenced to nine years in jail.

Hassan's arrest has been welcomed in Timbuktu. "It's a very important step in the fight against impunity," said Moctar Mariko, head of the Malian Human Rights Association (AMDH).

"Justice must be done, and the other criminals hunted down, arrested and tried," he told AFP, adding that there was overwhelming witness evidence against Hassan.

A former Timbuktu MP said: "This is God's work. He is not sleeping, but keeping an eye on Timbuktu."

"The jihadists committed profanity against the tombs. They raped women. Now it is their turn to be judged," he added, asking not to be named.

The unrest in the former French colony stems from a 2012 Tuareg separatist uprising against the state, which was exploited by jihadists in order to take over key cities in the north.

Although French forces removed the Al-Qaeda-linked groups in 2012 from places such as Timbuktu, the groups have morphed into more nimble formations operating in rural areas, sometimes winning over local populations by providing basic services and protection from bandits.

That insurgency has since spread to the country's centre, where local grievances are exploited by the Islamists in a region awash with guns.John Schneider has a lot of credits on his resume, including his current starring role on the OWN series Tyler Perrys The Haves and the Have Nots, as well as a hit-making musical catalog that spans several decades. However, for many out there, theres only one way to think of him: He still is  and always will be  Bo Duke from beloved classic show The Dukes of Hazzard.

Thats A-OK with Schneider. In fact, hes even celebrating his most famous role this weekend in a completely Bo-centric way. For his 58th birthday on April 8, he will do something hes never done before. Hes going to jump the Dukes famous orange car, the General Lee, over a ravine at his ranch in Louisiana  and fans are invited to come watch.

Now, some folks, especially the new-generation wave of youngsters who are just now starting to enjoy series reruns with their parents, might be shocked to learn that Schneider was never behind the wheel when the 1969 Dodge Charger routinely performed a hair-raising stunt on the CBS series.

All these years people thought I jumped the General Lee, Schneider says, citing how hes seen fans faces just drop when he admits he never did. Its almost like fraud! So I decided I had to do it  and if Im going to do it, I need to do it now.

Catching air over a Louisiana swamp might sound a tad treacherous, but Schneider assures us hes going to be in good hands under the direction of Jack Gill, a stuntman hes known since high school. He not only was one of my doubles on Dukes of Hazzard, he went on to be the stunt coordinator on every Fast and Furious movie that theyve done. So if Jack says, This is safe, you can do it  its safe and I can do it.

But Im still looking at this  swamp, he adds, bursting into laughter. And Im thinking, its kind of like, you cant send someone to the dentist for you? Thats a lot of faith in a 40-plus year friendship, but Im gonna do it.

Schneider says that his main concern is hitting the precise speed he needs to complete the stunt, which translates to about 50 mph as the sweet spot for clearing the swamp. [Thats] plenty fast on a dirt road, he says.

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A dry dirt road, that is. If we have any rain between now and then, thats going to be an issue for me, he admits.

So is he checking the weather app obsessively on his phone? I never look at that. Its never right, he deadpans, then adds, almost as an afterthought, Its supposed to rain tonight.

If that suspense werent enough, theres even more to add to the fun: Schneider, realizing that the General Lee has no reason to make a jump unless theres someone in hot pursuit, set out to find someone whod sit in for the role of Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (portrayed by the late James Best, who passed in 2015).

Big shoes to fill? No problem. Schneider called upon one of his buddies, retired NASCAR star Carl Edwards, to do the honor. The pair met after Schneider sang the national anthem at a race, and Edwards sent word hed like to take a lap in Schneiders car. I had my own General Lee there, Schneider explains. I thought, Thatll be fun.

The two traded off laps, with Schneider hitting 120 mph to Edwardss 150  And we were friends ever since, the actor says.

Schneiders big stunt wont be the end of his birthday celebration. The entire three-day weekend, Bos Extravaganza, will be celebrated with a Southern-style swamp bash, at which his Haves co-stars Renee Lawless and Peter Parros, Dukes co-star Tom Wopat, country music stars Kix Brooks and Paul Overstreet, Duck Dynastys Mountain Man, and more will be attending.

If Schneider himself makes it safely through the jump  or has any nerves left after it  hell be performing music himself. Tickets are available to the general public starting at $20 for a one-day pass (more info here).

Schneider plans to make the event an annual thing. Yes, he plans to make that jump every single year, complete with a different Rosco chasing him.

Another endeavor Schneider has been revisiting of late is his musical career, which he returned to in 2017. This year he decided to make another jump and tackle a monumental project. Hes releasing a new song each week of 2018, with the full collection  dubbed The Odyssey  available at the end of the year.

I was in the music business for a long time, and I stopped for a longer time, he says. [Im] trying to make up for lost time  doing an entire body of work in one calendar year, why not?

Hes working with a slate of top country songwriters, such as Overstreet, Chuck Cannon, Bill Anderson, and more on the project  So thats why Sundays so important, he jokes. I gotta [finish this].

Speaking of music, back to that jump. Does Schneider plan to have Waylon Jenningss famous Dukes theme song, Good Ol Boys, blasting when he attempts the feat?

Well, why not, laughs the actor. Im going to be wearing the yellow shirt!

Read more from Yahoo! Entertainment:An undisclosed number of surveillance devices known as Stingraysused to track and intercept smartphone communications by posing as legitimate cell towersare suspected to be in operation across Washington D.C., leading to fears foreign governments are using them to snoop on the capitol.

Homeland Security revealed in a March 26 response to Democratic senator Ron Wyden that its National Protection and Programs Directorate [NPPD] had spotted anomalous activitythat appears to be consistent with International Mobile Subscriber Identity [IMSI] catchers,the formal name for the technology.

The NPPD acknowledged that the malicious use of IMSI catchers is a real and growing risk and said use by foreign spies would be unlawful and has the potential to threaten the security of communications and personal privacy of U.S. citizens.

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The DHS letter was obtained and first reported by the Associated Press, which said, citing a DHS official, that the alleged devices were found in a 2017 audit. It remains unclear exactly how many devices were discovered or at what locations.

The surveillance equipment is used by law enforcement to track and monitor the phone calls of targets by duping the handset into believing it is connected to an authorized cell tower. According to the EFF, cell-site simulators, another name for the technology, are now used by the FBI, DEA, NSA, Secret Service and ICE, as well as the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and the National Guard.

The cost varies depending on the capability needed, but one Stingray device in a marketing brochure published by The Intercept in 2015 is valued at $134,950. The previous year, a team of mobile security analysts raised concerns that cell phone tracking equipment was in place across sensitive areas in Washington D.C.

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Supreme Court Woman on Phone

Alex Wong/Getty Images

At the time, experts suggested that foreign governments could be spying on the city, which is home to a slew of political and law enforcement entities, from the FBI to the White House. Based on Wydens letter, sent on November 17 last year, it is a suggestion the senator deemed alarming. He said such activity, if found, would pose a significant threat to our countrys national and economic security.

The Democratic official noted that despite the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) establishing a task force to investigate the experts' claims, it had issued no further guidelines on the issue of IMSI cell-catcher surveillance.

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Hide and Seek

Homeland Security official Christopher Krebs noted in his response to Wyden that his agency does not currently have the ability to locate IMSI devices.

He wrote: NPPD is not aware of any current DHS technical capability to detect IMSI catchers. To support such a capability, DHS would require funding to procure, deploy, operate and maintain the capability, which includes the costs of hardware, software and labor. He said the findings had always been shared with federal partners (which were not named) and that work with the FCC remains ongoing.

Mobile security expert Aaron Turner, who was involved in the 2014 D.C. study, told the Associated Press that foreign embassies were likely involved in the use of Stingray technology. He claimed that equipment used by Russia can snoop on targets up to a mile away from the source. Meanwhile, privacy advocates complain that official use of the devices is still shrouded in government secrecy.

The EFF, which has worked with the ACLU on legal cases involving IMSI use, states on its website: Some cell-site simulators are small enough to fit in a police cruiser, allowing law enforcement officers to drive to multiple locations, capturing from every mobile device in a given areain some cases up to 10,000 phones at a time.

Cell-site simulators invade the privacy of everyone who happens to be in a given area [although] the vast majority have not been accused of committing a crime.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekWASHINGTON  President Donald Trump opening a trade war with China may hurt more than American farmers and consumers  it could seriously hamper his partys efforts to retain a House majority.

China on Wednesday announced a $50 billion list of major U.S. exports  including soybeans, corn, beef, cars, whiskey, and aircraft  that it would hit with tariff hikes if the Trump administration goes forward with its plan to raise duties on a similar array of Chinese goods.

The Chinese announcement sent markets spiraling downward around the globe amid rising fears of an impending trade war. It also worried some Republican strategists, who have been hoping that a strengthening economy would buoy GOP chances in the November midterm elections.

To the extent that Trumps tariffs hurt the economy, thats really bad for Republican candidates, said Alex Conant, a former spokesman for Sen. Marco Rubios (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential campaign. If Trump can navigate these trade negotiations in a way that opens new markets, strengthens the U.S. economy and increases American competitiveness, that will be a win for everyone.

Trump appeared to dismiss the potential consequences of a trade war on Wednesday by arguing the U.S. had little to lose, given its trade deficit with China.

When youre already $500 Billion DOWN, you cant lose! the president tweeted.

His number was inaccurate, however  the goods and services trade deficit with China was $337 billion last year.

The White House also sought to calm nervous traders by suggesting the planned tariffs on China were merely part of an opening negotiating tactic.

I dont think people should overreact right now. This is a negotiation using all the tools, Larry Kudlow, the presidents new economic adviser, told reporters on Wednesday.

But officials representing the U.S. farm and consumer technology industries were decidedly less sanguine, warning that tariffs would harm American companies and consumers who rely on low-priced products to run their businesses and budget their households.

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The Trump administrations proposed tariffs and Chinas announced retaliation will hurt commerce, businesses and consumers, Gary Shapiro, the president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, said in a statement. The saying, When elephants fight, the ground gets trampled, is a fair description of how everyone loses when two trading partners start fighting.

A trade war between the two countries could especially hurt rural areas of the U.S. including many places that were key to Trumps election. Iowa, for example, is the largest exporter of pork and corn in the U.S. and the number two exporter of soybeans. Tariffs on those goods could seriously harm the states agriculture-rich economy, prompting alarm from its GOP-led congressional delegation.

I have significant apprehension about it, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a key Trump ally, told constituents on Tuesday. It looks to me like the stage is set for a trade war. We wont probably know the impact of this until we see it in the rearview mirror.

King and other members of his congressional delegation wrote a letter to Trump last month warning about the effects his steel and aluminum tariffs could have on Iowas farmers and manufacturers.

Tim Allen, who chairs the Republican Party of Sioux County, a major agricultural center in Iowa, said he was concerned about the long-term impact of the tariffs on the states farmers.

Hopefully by the time it actually squeezes us we can figure something out, he said.

Rep. Jeff Denham of California is one of the Republicans whose re-election prospects could be jeopardized by President Donald Trump's trade policies. (Photo: Bill Clark via Getty Images)

The prospect of a trade war with China has already become an issue in some vulnerable GOP-held House districts. Democrat Michael Eggman, a 53-year-old almond and bee farmer in Californias Central Valley running for the third time against Republican Rep. Jeff Denham, is making the fallout from Trumps tariffs a major campaign theme. In response to Trumps tariffs, China has announced a 15-percent tariff on almonds, a major cash crop in the district.

Denham claims hes a local farmer, but he has uttered not one word of outrage about these tariffs, Eggman said.

Denham did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment on the tariffs and Chinas retaliation.

With the help of major Republican outside spending, Denham bested Eggman 52 to 48 percent in 2016. This time, the 4-term incumbent has already raised nearly $2 million toward his re-election bid.

Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in the district by 3 percentage points in 2016, making it precisely the kind of seat Democrats need to win to gain a House majority in a year of outsize enthusiasm within party ranks.

For Eggman, the tariff issue is personal. He decided to sell his 20 acres of almond trees several months ago after years of climate change-driven droughts depleted his income, making it hard for him to justify replacing aging trees. Chinas tax on almond exports, which he anticipates would make almond farming even less profitable, makes him glad he got out of the business.

As an almond farmer, you have so many things to worry about that you seemingly dont have control over, Eggman said. But now you also have a president that has such bad foreign policy that he is shooting at the hip to make political points.

Trumps trade actions are likely to aid the GOP in some parts of the country. For instance, miners in northern Minnesota  a state that Clinton barely won  hail the presidents tariffs on steel and aluminum as a welcome move for domestic manufacturers.

Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan, who narrowly won re-election in a Minnesota Iron Range district in 2016, is retiring this year, giving Republicans a pick-up opportunity.

Some Republicans, meanwhile, discount the effects a trade war may have on their chances to retain the House next year.

Were going to spend the rest of the year talking about the pocketbook issues that voters care about, said Matt Gorman, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Were confident that the economic conditions will remain strong and [were] excited to talk about the policies that have made and will continue to make a difference for the middle class.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.A transgender teen whose high school principal threatened to cut her photo from the yearbook because of the students too feminine attire has won the right to dress how she pleases.

On Tuesday, the Caddo Parish School District in Shreveport, La., released a statement that said, Caddo Parish stands by the First Amendment right of students to express themselves, and that belief is supported within the [school boards] approved dress code policy.

Transgender teen Kami Pham won the right to wear makeup and heels in her yearbook photo. (Photo: Courtesy of Tatjana Cotton)

The victory was well-deserved for Kami Pham, 19, a senior at Southwood High School who fought to wear makeup, a wig, and heels in her school photo and at her graduation ceremony May 9.

After Pham had submitted her yearbook photo  which featured her wearing a bright pink shirt, jeans, a black wig, and makeup  her yearbook adviser informed her that Principal Jeff Roberts said the pictures were too feminine. Pham was given the option of finding a new photographer and paying for a new picture in one business day.

I was given no notice to redo a photo someone else had a problem with, Pham tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Plus, I took those photos almost one year ago. No one said anything to me until last month.

Whats more, Phams friend Tatjana Cotton tells Yahoo Lifestyle that teachers are accustomed to Phams look. She wears nail polish and bright colors to class, she says.

A group of Phams friends launched a petition to fight for her rights. (Photo: Courtesy of Tatjana Cotton)

A few days later, Pham intercepted Roberts in the hallway and asked if she could wear heels, a wig, and makeup to her graduation ceremony. She was told her request went against the school dress code.

However, when Pham and Cotton reviewed their dress code on the school website, it was clear Pham hadnt violated any rules.

In late March, Cotton and a group of friends launched a petition, Stop LGBT+ discrimination in North Louisiana schools, that contained an open letter to Roberts and acquired almost 5,000 signatures.

Our principal since 2010, Jeff Roberts  believes in a bigoted ideology that those in the LGBT community are not welcome here, and will not be able to find a place at Southwood, the petition stated. Roberts, citing a nonexistent rule in the Caddo Parish Student Handbook and Southwood High School Dress Code, claimed that Kamis photographs were not to be printed in our yearbook or displayed on our senior wall, because she chose to wear a wig and feminine attire, which Roberts went on to deem inappropriate for someone whose birth certificate identifies them as male.

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We also demand that Kami be allowed in our yearbook, as well as on our senior wall, as well as a formal apology from Jeff Roberts for discriminating and violating the first amendment rights of a student and abusing his authority as principal.

A representative from the school did not return Yahoo Lifestyles request for comment.

I thought we were going to get around 100 signatures, says Pham. It felt good to get that much support and made me push harder.

On Tuesday, Pham was granted a meeting with the student council president and brought along a former employee of the American Civil Liberties Union for backup. We pretended she was my grandmother, Pham says.

A few hours later, Pham received an email confirming that her chosen photo will run in the yearbook. Shes also looking forward to wearing heels, makeup, a wig  and a tuxedo  to her graduation ceremony.

What I did was good for LGBT people, Pham says. They shouldnt be afraid to be themselves.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



House Democrats have called for hearings into the way Donald Trumps administration spends money on itself after a number of scandals over air travel, including the ouster of former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

Representative Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democrat on one of the group's subcommittees, wrote a letter to Republican Chairman Trey Gowdy asking for hearings.

Many agenciesincluding the White Househave refused to provide the information our Committee has requested to conduct our investigation, and without subpoenas, we cannot effectively investigate this matter, the congressmen wrote. We request that you hold a hearing on the extent of these improper flights and why the White House and several agencies have refused to provide the requested documents.

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Gowdy and Cummings had started an investigation into the administrations air travel last year but have not yet received all the information it had requested. Cummings has asked Gowdy to subpoena the administration for requested documents.

Gowdy did immediately respond to Newsweek's request for comment.

In a Medium post, the Democratic members of the Oversight Committee cited, as evidence for the hearings, a number of incidents in which the Trump administrations questionable flight use had made news.

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Last year, Price resigned amid criticism over his use of charter flights at taxpayers' expense. Price had spent over $1 million on private and military flights while in office, as first reported by Politico.

In June of last year, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke chartered a private plane owned by oil company executives between Las Vegas and an airport near his home in Montana for more than $12,000, when commercial flights cost only a few hundred dollars, The Washington Post reported.

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Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt spent $105,000 on first-class flights in his first year in office, according to documents acquired by the Oversight Committee. While in Washington, D.C., Pruitt stayed at a condo owned in part by the wife of the head of a lobbying firm, according to The New York Times. One of its client's projects was approved by the EPAa development that concerned the Democrats.

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Watchdog nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) revealed last month that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spent nearly $1 million on military air flight last year instead of using commercial flights.

This administration's use of expensive private flights is not a series of isolated incidents. Congress should absolutely be investigating, said Jordan Libowitz, communications director of CREW, told Newsweek.

Cummings did not respond to Newsweeks request for a comment beyond the letter.

GettyImages-672836240

Win McNamee/GETTY

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekAfter promising to deploy Americas military to the U.S.-Mexico border, President Donald Trump said he will be taking strong action on the issue early Wednesday.

We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the United States, the president said during a press conference with eastern European leaders Tuesday.

Trump said he would meet later in the day with Defense Secretary James Mattis. Trump vowed that until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military.

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04_04_TrumpBorder

Carlos Barria/Reuters

Early Wednesday Trump took to Twitter to announce: we will be taking strong action today. Trump has been frustrated by his administrations failure to fulfill one of his signature campaign promises: to build a wall on the border and have Mexico pay for it.

Yet Trump cannot deploy active-duty military forces inside the U.S. to enforce the law unless Congress approves, say experts.

I think the president was confused and doesn't know the difference between the National Guard bureau, which serves under Governors, and, of course, active military, which serves under him, said Juliette Kayyem, former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Intergovernmental Affairs, during an appearance on CNN Tuesday.

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The National Guardreservists for the U.S. Armed Forcesare dually controlled by their respective states and the federal government. Some 1,200 members of the National Guard were deployed on the southern border during the Obama administration and 6,000 were deployed under President George W. Bush to help law enforcement.

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Read more: Migrant caravan stopped well before Trump's promise to militarize U.S. border

Kayymen said that if Trump planned to deploy the U.S. military on Mexicos side of the border, it could be seen as an invasion. We cannot use the active military for law enforcement purposes, she added.

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During the same segment, Steve Cortes, a former Trump campaign adviser, said Trump is merely defending the border from a caravan of illegal immigrants coming up from Mexico.

Trump tweeted Tuesday that the caravan of people from Honduras is on its way to the U.S. The groups leaders say they are headed to the city of Puebla outside of Mexico City.

Our Border Laws are very weak while those of Mexico & Canada are very strong, Trump wrote in his tweet Wednesday. Yet many immigrants to the U.S. have fled across Canadas border during Trumps presidency and claimed asylum there. Trump has often cited a skills-based immigration program like Canadas as a touchstone for reforms he plans to make in the U.S.

Fewer people have been crossing into the U.S. illegally during the Trump administration and there has been a 40 percent reduction in the number of those caught, statistics showeven without the wall.

Trump, however, has been frustrated by his failure to get more money to build the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border he promised his supporters during the 2016 election. Last months $1.3 trillion omnibus budget bill gave him just $1.6 billion out of the $18 billion he requested for the project.

The president has tried to use preservation of the DACA immigration program as leverage to secure more money from Democrats for the project. He also reportedly said the military could pay for the wall with some of its budget increase.

Congress must change these Obama era, and other, laws NOW! The Democrats stand in our waythey want people to pour into our country unchecked....CRIME! the president followed up in his Tweet Wednesday.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the threat posed by Iran with the emir of Qatar on Tuesday and also stressed the importance of resolving the rift among Gulf nations, the White House said. "The leaders discussed Irans increasingly reckless behavior in the region and the threat it poses to regional stability," the White House said in a statement. Trump emphasized to the emir "that it is critical to end the Gulf dispute," it said. The White House said Trump spoke on Monday with King Salman of Saudi Arabia about the split in the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as other regional issues, including Syria and Yemen. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by David Alexander)This article originally appeared on the Atlantic Council.

US President Donald J. Trump assured the leaders of the Baltic statesEstonia, Latvia, and Lithuaniaat a White House meeting on April 3 that no one has been tougher on Russia than him.

Hours later, he was almost upstaged by his outgoing National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster who delivered a blistering rebuke of Russia in remarks at the Atlantic Council. McMaster said that the West has "failed to impose sufficient costs" on Moscow for its aggressive behavior that has ranged from cyberattacks to near-fatal poisonings.

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Alex Wong/Getty Images

Russian aggression is strengthening our resolve and our confidence. We might all help Mr. Putin understand his grave error, McMaster said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

McMaster spoke at a dinner hosted by the Atlantic Council for the leaders of the three Baltic states. These were his last public remarks before leaving office. He will be replaced by John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who is well known for his hawkish foreign policy views.

Trump, whose presidential campaign is the focus of an investigation by Special Prosecutor Robert S. Mueller III into links with Russia, was quick to congratulate Putin over a flawed election victory last month and even invited the Russian president to Washington. In his remarks at a joint press conference with the Baltic leaders on April 3, Trump said he thinks that he could have a very good relationship with Putin.

Those prospects would seem bleak given McMaster's assessment.

McMaster contended that the West is engaged in a fundamental contest between our free and open societies and closed and repressive systems.

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In a clear reference to Russia, he added: Revisionist and repressive powers are attempting to undermine our values, our institutions, and our way of life.

McMaster went on to list a series of Russian aggressions, including hybrid warfare that he described as a pernicious form of aggression that combines political, economic, informational, and cyber assaults against sovereign nations.

Russia employs sophisticated strategies deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target states threshold for a military response, he said, noting that these tactics include infiltrating social media, spreading propaganda, weaponizing information, and using other forms of subversion and espionage.

For too long, some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats, he said. Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions and we have failed to impose sufficient costs. The Kremlins confidence is growing as its agents conduct their sustained campaigns to undermine our confidence in ourselves and in one another.

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In March, a former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned in the United Kingdom using a military grade nerve agent that was traced back to Russia. The incident promoted the British government to expel twenty-three Russian diplomats triggering tit-for-tat expulsions, which also included the expulsion of sixty Russian diplomats from the United States.

McMaster said Trumps decision to order the removal of dozens of Russian intelligence officers and close the Russian consulate in Seattle will also help protect our democratic institutions and processes, as these Russian officers orchestrate Russias sustained campaign of propaganda, disinformation, and political subversion.

McMaster called the poisoning an assault on the United Kingdoms sovereignty, a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the first offensive use of nerve agent in Europe since World War II.

The Trump administration has concluded that Russia was also responsible for massive cyberattacksNotPetya and an attack on critical US infrastructure, including the energy sector.

Russia has also conducted numerous intercepts of US, allied, and partner aircrafts and vessels in the Nordic-Baltic region threatening freedom of navigation and endangering our personnel, said McMaster.

Mr. Putin may believe that he is winning in this new form of warfare. He may believe that his aggressive actions in the parks of Salisbury, in cyberspace, in the air, and on the high seas can undermine our confidence, our institutions, and our values, said McMaster.

Perhaps he believes that our free nations are weak and will not respond to his provocations, he said. He is wrong.

The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and organizations in response to Russian meddling in the 2016 US election and cyberattacks, including attempts to the hack the US energy grid.

The United States has also substantially increased funding for the European Deterrence Initiative, which provides billions of dollars to US military and allied forces in Europe to deter Russian aggression and prevent conflict, said McMaster.

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So we are acting, but we must recognize the need for all of us to do more to respond to and deter Russian aggression, especially in four critical areas, he added.

These four areas, he said, are: counter Russian cyber warfare by integrating military, political, and informational instruments of power; invest in cyber infrastructure; share burden of defense, which means all NATO nations must honor the target of spending 2 percent of the GDP on defense; and realize that all of our actions depend on preserving our strategic confidence.In an earlier panel discussion, the leaders of the three Baltic statesEstonia, Latvia, and Lithuaniasaid that they would like a long-standing US troop presence in their region to help them stand up to the threat posed by a revanchist Russia.

We hope that US forces presence in our region will continue it will be a long-standing presence, said Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis. We can find different words to describe this troop presence, he added, noting the sensitivity of the issue.

For all three Baltic countries, the US forces presence in our region is one of the key and most important factor for us, he added.

Vejonis participated in a panel discussion along with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius. Frederick Kempe, president and chief executive officer of the Atlantic Council, moderated the discussion.

Security was high on the agenda when Trump met the leaders of the three Baltic states at the White House on April 3.

All four presidents affirmed their commitment to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which states that an attack on one NATO member will be treated as an attack on the entire Alliance.

The White House said it will provide the Baltic states with nearly $100 million to procure large-caliber ammunition and over $70 million in train-and-equip programs to build the capacity of military and security forces of the three nations.

US forces take part with Baltic troops in training exercises, including SABER STRIKE and BALTOPS. The White House said that more than 5,000 US troops will join multinational forces in the SABER STRIKE exercise later this year, the largest event of its kind to take place in the Baltic region.

In 2017, Russia conducted a massive and provocative military exerciseknown as Zapadthat involved by some estimates up to 100,000 troops.

It is a huge amount compared to the number of soldiers in our national armies, Vejonis said, referring to the Zapad troop levels.

The presence of NATO forces in our region is very crucial for us, he added.

Linkevicius said: Help us to protect ourselves. He sought US leadership in shaping NATOs agenda and support to fill the Baltic states defense capability gaps.

Kaljulaid said the Baltic States currently lack the technical ability to avoid an A2/AD [anti-access/area denial] situation. We need to be able to reach the Baltic states by airplanes if there is a need, she said.

The A2/AD bubble is something we need to prick, she added.

Further, Kaljulaid said, in the past things have gone wrong when Russia has thought that the unity of the West is cracking. We must absolutely stick together, she said.

Ashish Kumar Sen is deputy director of communications at the Atlantic Council. Follow him on Twitter @AshishSen.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBarack Obama sent 1,200 members of the National Guard to the frontier in 2010, following George W Bushs decision four years earlier to boost the military presence there

Members of the California National Guard at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2006. Donald Trump said on Tuesday he wants to use the military to secure the border until his promised border wall is built. Photograph: Denis Poroy/AP

Despite his claim on Tuesday that he is taking an almost unprecedented step, Donald Trump is not the first commander in chief to deploy troops to the US-Mexico border.

Barack Obama sent 1,200 members of the National Guard to the frontier in 2010, following on from George W Bushs decision four years earlier to boost the military presence there.

The United States is not going to militarize the southern border. Mexico is our neighbour, and our friend, Bush insisted in 2006 in a speech on immigration reform that nonetheless announced a large increase in the number of border patrol agents and the deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard members in a two-year operation dubbed Jump Start.

They built infrastructure such as roads and fences and conducted surveillance on the ground and in the air, but left it to the border patrol to make arrests  because of the troops lack of expertise in border enforcement and limits on the tasks that active duty military forces can perform domestically.

Obamas move came at a moment of heightened political tension over border security, with prominent Republicans including John McCain, the Arizona senator, worried about drug cartel violence and demanding enhanced measures, as tighter security in California increasingly led migrants to find entry points to the east.

Several hundred National Guard troops were already on the border to combat the cartels.

Like Bush, the Democratic president hoped, in vain, that a greater military commitment would help bring Republicans to the table for negotiations that would lead to comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US.

The National Border Patrol Council, a union, welcomed the help of the National Guard in conducting aerial surveillance. But a 2012 report by the Government Accountability Office questioned the usefulness of the Bush and Obama operations, which together cost about $1.35bn.

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The report found that there were some benefits from the cooperation, such as a deterrent effect on criminals, and building relationships between various law enforcement branches, but the militarys border assistance was ad hoc and lacking a precise role in a clearly-defined strategy.

Also  not that this is likely to disturb the White House in the current political climate  there were worries that the perception of a militarised border could damage relations with Mexico.

Many migrant advocate groups argue that given the scale of the armed law enforcement presence, the extensive surveillance infrastructure, fencing and numerous checkpoints, the border is, in effect, already militarised.

Texas has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to supplement federal border enforcement programmes. In 2014, amid a surge of Central American families and unaccompanied children crossing the border, Rick Perry  then the Texas governor, now federal energy secretary  ordered state law enforcement officers and the National Guard to the frontier.

The state purchased six high-powered gunboats and Perry toured the border with Sean Hannity, the Fox News host.

In 2015, Perrys successor as governor, Greg Abbott, signed into a law a bill directing the state to lay out $800m on border security over two years.

State lawmakers committed last year to carry on spending, despite Trumps election, the decrease in unauthorised border crossings and the reality that many migrants surrender to US officials as soon as possible in order to seek asylum.

The National Guard troops did not make arrests, with their presence seemingly designed mainly as a deterrent.

An analysis by KXAN local news in 2016 found that most border arrests by state troopers were for drunk-driving and minor drug violations, not the smuggling of people or drugs.

Overall, despite Trumps rhetoric, there is no evidence of an immediate crisis that might call for a drastic response. Border crossings have declined significantly since the mid-2000s, and border patrol statistics show that the number of arrests on the south-west border  an indicator of the rate of illegal crossings  has plunged in this fiscal year compared with last. Apprehensions of unaccompanied children are down 36%, and those of families have fallen by 46%.President Donald Trump has reportedly told top military officials to prepare to withdraw from Syria, a decision that would conclude a four-year battle against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in a country already beset by a seven-year civil war.

Experts consulted by Newsweek are split, however, as to whether Trump's eagerness to leave Syria represents a premature decision or a step toward fulfilling a key campaign promise to end his country's lengthy and costly intervention in the Middle East.

National Intelligence Director Dan Coats told reporters Wednesday that the country's leading national security officials held on Tuesday an "all-hands-on-deck" meeting in which "some decisions were made," according to the Associated Press. But Trump's advisers reportedly pushed back, citing a need to finish off ISIS and check Iranian influence.

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Trump said he would decide "very quickly" whether to remove an estimated 2,000 U.S. troops tasked with helping local allies defeat the jihadis, a task "we've almost completed."

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"The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed. The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated," the White House said Wednesday in a statement.

"We will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans. We expect countries in the region and beyond, plus the United Nations, to work toward peace and ensure that ISIS never re-emerges," it added.

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DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images

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An unnamed senior administration official told The Washington Post on Wednesday that Trump has ordered his top military brass to make plans for the withdrawal, but did not offer any specific timetable. Reuters quoted an unnamed senior administration official the same day as saying the U.S. was "not going to immediately withdraw but neither is the president willing to back a long-term commitment."

ISIS grew out of a merger of jihadi groups in the wake of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and took advantage of unrest in neighboring Syria to spread there in 2013. After covertly sponsoring armed supporters of the 2011 uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, former President Barack Obama began bombing ISIS in Iraq and Syria in 2014, the year the group's self-proclaimed caliphate claimed nearly half of both countries.

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Russia entered the conflict on behalf of Assad in 2015, the same year the Pentagon established the Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly Kurdish group set to replace an increasingly jihadi opposition as U.S. partners in the fight against ISIS. Both the Russia-backed Syrian military and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have largely defeated ISIS in separate campaigns that have sometimes resulted in tense confrontations and tentative alliances between the two forces.

Iran has also played a large role in the battle against ISIS, supporting mostly Shiite Muslim militias in both Iraq and Syria via the elite Revolutionary Guards. Despite both the U.S. and Iran contributing to the battle, Trump and his administration have identified Tehran's growing influence in the Middle East as a threat akin to that of ISIS.

With Iran stronger than ever, some experts said the U.S. was essentially handing an easy win to the revolutionary Shiite Muslim power, even as Trump appeared to take a hardline stance by appointing hawks Mike Pompeo and John Bolton as secretary of state and national security advisor, respectively.

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DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images

"To withdraw now where no U.S. strategic objective has been achieved as such points to the Trump administrations Middle East policy being one of slogans only. 'We have destroyed ISIS'but have we really? 'We will stop Iran and Russian expansion in the Middle East'pulling out of Syria does the opposite and scares allies even more. The list of contradictions does not stop there," Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, told Newsweek.

"There is nothing in this new so-called 'war cabinet' of Pompeo or Bolton that would have suggested this would be the path for the U.S. in the months to come. It might change but for now, it's just all dauntingly confusing and centered on short-term political aims of a White House that is already in a re-election mode," he added.

Paul Salem, senior vice president for policy research and programs at the Middle East Institute, agreed that a U.S. exit would produce "a major strategic victory for Iran" and present troubling mixed messages for allies both in Syria and internationally. He argued that ISIS still presented a threat to the region and compared Trump's statements to both former President George W. Bush's infamous 2008 "Mission Accomplished" announcement in Iraq and Obama's decision to withdraw troops from there in 2011, both of which ultimately led to new U.S. operations in the country.

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"One could make a very valid argument to withdraw, but the biggest impact is the reversal of American policy," Salem told Newsweek. "The administration is not in agreement with itself."

Outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson included containing Iran as a U.S. goal of Syria during a January speech, in which he said that Trump planned to keep troops there as to "not make the same mistakes that were made in 2011 when a premature departure from Iraq allowed Al-Qaeda in Iraq to survive and eventually morph into ISIS," which ultimately filled a power "vacuum" to claim wide stretches of territory.

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Defense expert and retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis said Wednesday he was "sick and tired" of hearing the "vacuum" argument and expressed concern over conflicting reports over whether the president had, in fact, ordered his military officials to leave or not. Dispelling concerns over Iran's potential windfall, Davis said he would like to see Trump enforce his civilian control over the government to give a clear and distinct command to remove all U.S. military presence from Syria.

"Whether its Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen or Syria, every time anyone hints of possibly ending something, you get this voice saying we can't leave because of 'fill in the blank,'" Davis told Newsweek. "We don't need to be in any of these countries."

"It's really pretty clear-cut in the case of Syria," he continued. "ISIS is effectively done.... They don't pose a strategic threat to the U.S. just because they control a few pieces of dirt and villages in Syria," he added, noting that Russia, Syria, Iran and their numerous allied militias were still actively fighting ISIS on the ground.

Davis said a couple thousand U.S. troops would have little impact on the outcome of the rest of the conflict. These soldiers have also come under threat in the northern Kurd-controlled town of Manbij by a fellow member of the NATO Western military alliance.

Turkey considers Kurdish elements of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, including the People's Protection Units (YPG), to be an extension of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party and launched a new operation to battle them in January. The offensive has caused a flight of Kurdish fighters from the U.S.-backed battle against ISIS toward the front lines against Turkey, bringing Kurds closer to Assad and effectively halting the U.S.-led coalitions ground offensive in eastern Syria.

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ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images

The Syrian government and autonomous Syrian Kurds have emerged the foremost powers in the country. While they have fought against and alongside one another throughout the prolonged conflict, Salem said a U.S. departure could push the Pentagons Kurdish allies even closer to the Syrian government in a bid to protect them from Turkey and its insurgent allies.

Assad, the original target of U.S. involvement in Syria, has managed to reverse his fortunes, especially thanks to Russia and Iran, who he considered the only legitimate foreign forces in the country. His government, along with Russia, Iran and neighboring Iraq, have all declared victory against ISIS.

Davis said staying any longer would be more trouble than its worth for the U.S. "There is no enduring U.S. interest in Syria that in any way justifies the continued expense in American blood and treasure," he noted.

"We endure enormous strategic risk with our continued presence there in the potential toaccidentally or otherwiseclash with Russian, Iranian or Syrian troopsnot to mention our own NATO ally Turkeypotentially drawing us into a wholly unnecessary war or rupturing NATO," Davis added. "For this strategic risk, we don't even gain the potential for tactical gain."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekDonald Trump has said he will deploy members of the military to the US border with Mexico until his long-promised wall is built.

Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military, he said at a press conference with Baltic leaders. Its a big step.

He said: We really havent done that before, or certainly not very much before.

The president said he had discussed the option with Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, but did not indicate when he planned to implement it.

Mr Trump has promised a big, beautiful wall on the border since the early days of his campaign, claiming it will help secure the border. But Congress has yet to pass any meaningful funding for the walls construction, despite Mr Trump advocating for $25bn in the last major spending package.

The president has previously suggested funding the wall with money from the Pentagon budget, or making Mexico pay for it.

Some 6,000 National Guard troops were deployed to the border in 2006, under president George W Bush. The troops did not participate in any law enforcement activity, but helped with surveillance and administrative tasks.

Mr Trumps comments came as a caravan of more than 1,000 South American immigrants made its way through Mexico towards the US border.

The migrants  many of whom are fleeing violence in their home countries  are making the journey together to stay safe, and to publicise their cause. Many will attempt to cross into the US, while others plan to stay in Mexico.

Mr Trump has tweeted about the migrants multiple times in recent days, warning that the caravan had better be stopped before it gets to the border.

Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release, Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday. Getting more dangerous. Caravans coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW.

Mr Trump has threatened to pull out of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (Nafta)  a major trade deal between the US, Mexico, and Canada  if the caravan is not stopped. He also criticised a deal that Democrats had hoped to secure on DACA  a programme shielding childhood immigrants from deportation.

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White House officials said this week that the administration was preparing for another push on immigration legislation. The proposals were similar to those the White House released in October, such as cracking down on sanctuary cities and reducing options for getting green cards, according to CNN.

Additional reporting by APAnkara (AFP) - Turkey, Russia and Iran on Wednesday said they were committed to achieving a "lasting ceasefire" in Syria, in a joint statement issued following a summit in Ankara hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Russia's Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their commitment to cooperating for "the achievement of a lasting ceasefire between the conflicting parties", a joint communique said.

The three powers have been working together to speed up the process of finding a political solution in Syria as part of the Astana peace process which began last year.

The Ankara summit at Erdogan's presidential palace was the second such tripartite summit following one in November 2017 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi hosted by Putin.

Erdogan insisted their meetings and the Astana talks were not an "alternative" to the UN-backed Geneva process to find peace in Syria.

But the three leaders said "the Astana format had been the only effective international initiative that had helped reduce violence across Syria and had contributed to peace and stability in" the country.

They added that it had given "impetus to the Geneva process in order to find a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict" in the statement.

"What is foremost for us is getting results. We must get results. We have no tolerance for delays. People are dying here," Erdogan told reporters after the summit.

The three countries have been working together despite being on opposing sides of the civil war.

Russia and Iran have provided military and political support to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey has repeatedly called for his removal and helped Syrian opposition fighters.

Turkey last month drove out Kurdish militia from Afrin city after launching a cross-border offensive in the Syrian region in January, thanks to a reported green light from Moscow which controls airspace in northern Syria.

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The next three way summit will take place in Tehran, Erdogan said, but he did not indicate when that would be.

Some 350,000 people have been killed since the start of the conflict following anti-government protests in March 2011. Millions more have been forced to flee their homes.

Turkey hosts over 3.5 million Syrian refugees, most of whom live in Turkish cities.By Parisa Hafezi and Tulay Karadeniz ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey, Iran and Russia pledged on Wednesday to accelerate efforts to bring stability to Syria, underlining their joint commitment to the country a day after President Donald Trump raised the prospect of withdrawing U.S. troops. A statement by the three countries after a summit meeting of their leaders in the Turkish capital Ankara said they were determined to "speed up their efforts to ensure calm on the ground" in Syria. While their decision to work together has done little to reduce violence, in part because of their own military interventions on opposing sides, it underlined their central role just as questions grow over Washington's presence in Syria. A senior U.S. official said Trump wanted U.S. forces out of Syria relatively soon. "We're not going to immediately withdraw but neither is the president willing to back a long-term commitment," the official said. Around 2,000 U.S. troops are deployed in northern Syria on a mission to battle the remnants of an Islamic State force that once controlled the area. Trump had said on Tuesday it was time to pull them out. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said developments in Syria, where the Syrian army and its allies have driven back rebels in recent years, showed that the United States had "failed to topple the Syrian government" of President Bashar al-Assad. "They wanted to fuel insecurity in order to maintain their own interests but they have gained no success," he told a news conference after talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He added, however, that he believed U.S. forces would stay in Syria. RIFTS CONTINUE Iran and Russia have both strongly supported the Syrian president, while Turkey backed anti-Assad rebels. Those differences have continued on the ground despite their political cooperation aimed at winding down some of the violence. Turkey has waged a military campaign to drive Kurdish YPG fighters from northwestern Syria's Afrin district, while Russian air power and Iran-backed militias have supported Syrian army offensives in the Idlib and Ghouta regions. Iran's state television quoted Rouhani as telling Erdogan and Putin that Afrin should be handed over to Syria's army. "The developments in Afrin can only be useful if they do not violate Syria's territorial integrity, and control of these areas should be handed over to the Syrian army," Rouhani said. Erdogan has said the Turkish army will extend its military operation after Afrin to the town of Tel Rifaat and then further east along Syria's border with Turkey - a prospect which has angered Tehran. "Whatever the intentions are, Turkey's moves in Syria, whether in Afrin, Tel Rifaat or any other part of Syria, should be halted as soon as possible," a senior Iranian official told Reuters before Wednesday's talks. Seated alongside Putin and Rouhani, Erdogan focused on areas of common ground, saying that Turkey wanted to build a mobile hospital to help treat civilians coming from formerly rebel-controlled parts of eastern Ghouta, on the edge of Damascus, which the Syrian army has taken over. Rebel fighters and civilians who were evacuated from eastern Ghouta have been taken to the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, which borders Turkey. Erdogan proposed providing a bakery to help feed refugees and build housing on both sides of the border. "We can save these people from tents and container cities by building housing. We can, all together, make that zone safe," Erdogan said. (Additional reporting by Denis Pinchuk, Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Catherine Evans and Richard Balmforth)The chief executive of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, urged Donald Trump to stop being reactive to shootings and evolve our policies after the president tweeted a response to the YouTube campus incident.

Trump offered his thoughts and prayers to everybody involved in the shooting at the YouTube campus by Nasim Najafi Aghdam, a disgruntled video maker who accused the platform of deliberately reducing her views and earnings.

We cant keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it wont happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots, Dorsey tweeted to Trump. Its beyond time to evolve our policies.

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He then linked to a list of five policy proposals to curb gun violence from the March For Our Lives website.

This is a simple and reasonable approach, and it wont solve all, but its a good start, Dorsey said.

Those five proposals, titled "How We Save Lives", include:

1. Fund gun violence research and gun violence prevention/intervention programs.

2. Eliminate absurd restrictions on ATF.

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3. Universal background checks.

4. High-capacity magazine ban.

5. Limit firing power on the streets.

Jack Dorsey Twitter

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California, Trump had tweeted. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.

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Aghdam, an animal rights activist in her late 30s who lived in San Diego, shot and injured three people at the YouTube campus on Tuesday April 3 before turning the gun on herself. One person is critically injured, another seriously, with the third described as being in a fair condition.

March For Our Lives is a group set up in the wake of the Florida school shooting on February 14, in which 17 people, many of them students, were shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

The campaign group, led by survivors of the attack, calls for tougher action on guns to prevent more shootings, or at least limit the potential loss of live in those that do occur.

They successfully organized a millions-strong march across the U.S. in support of their aims on March 24. Around 800,000 marched in Washington D.C. alone.

We cant keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it wont happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots. Its beyond time to evolve our policies. This is a simple and reasonable approach, and it wont solve all, but its a good start: https://t.co/ADYalbaO57 https://t.co/nbXpH9DDyT  jack (@jack) April 3, 2018

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekTyra Banks and her mother, Carolyn London, strike a pose at the Build Studio in New York City. Theyre promoting their new book, Perfect Is Boring. (Photo: Getty Images)

Having a close mother-daughter relationship is a true blessing, and Tyra Banks and her mom, Carolyn London, certainly have the kind of bond most would dream of.

Banks credits a great deal of her success to her mother, who also happened to be her first photographer and the breathing vessel behind her previous successful modeling career. The duos bond has continued to genuinely grow, leaving many people wondering what their secret was.

Yahoo Lifestyle caught up with them, and London said, People would always ask me, What did you do? Or: How did you do that?,' referring to how well she raised Banks. Their way of answering all these questions and paying it forward to other mothers and daughters came in the form of their new book, Perfect Is Boring. Its a co-written memoir that explores their many experiences together, which includes everything from Bankss mom telling her eight words to always watch for when dating, as well as throwing her a period party when she first began menstruating.

The book also includes the unfiltered truth about how much of an impact London has had on her daughters business decisions. I used to go to my mom for every little tiny decision, Banks explains. Now I go to her for massive things.

While the 44-year-old supermodel has received a ton of amazing insights from her mother, she says her very best advice was: Plan for the end at the beginning. When Banks was at the height of her career, she remembers being backstage before a show and her mother pointing out how many other models similar to her werent around anymore.

Her mother said, They are not on the runway, and its not because they dont want to be. Its because the industry had enough and moved on to the next one. This is not something she wanted to happen to Banks, she continued, telling her, I want you to leave this industry before it leaves you. She began advising Banks about all the tools she needed to create a personal brand that would come in handy post-modeling.

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Banks took that advice to heart, and she began to find other ways to build and establish personal wealth through businesses, such as her previous self-titled talk show and creating Americas Next Top Model.

I didnt wait for the fashion industry to kick me out, Banks says. In 2005, when Victorias Secret offered her another three-year contract, she declined, with her mothers advice foremost in her mind. I knew it was time to leave, Banks says. I thought of myself like a boxer, and I was getting ready for my last fight. I wanted to publicize it really big, and Victorias Secret even televised it as Tyras last walk. We also did a whole hour dedicated to it on my talk show. I wanted to retire big so I couldnt sneak back a year later and get on the runway. I was asked to walk a runway a couple years later, but I was like, Im good.'

Many models have short-lived careers, but thanks to Bankss mom, that isnt the case at all for her. We still see Banks popping up, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Air Force F-16 jet crashed at Nellis Air Force base in Nevada on Wednesday, the third crash involving a military aircraft in the past two days.

The condition of the pilot was not known and emergency responders were on the scene, the Air Force said in a statement.

It added that the jet crashed during routine training earlier on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crashed during a training mission in Southern California. All four crew members are believed to have been killed.

Another Marine jet crashed in Djibouti on Tuesday. The pilot was in stable condition.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Peter Cooney)BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attacked the United States and Israel for their roles in Syria before he boarded a plane for Turkey where he was scheduled to meet President Tayyip Erdogan and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin. "The Americans are against the Syrian government establishing its authority throughout the whole country and are even thinking of a breakup [of the country]," he said in a ceremony broadcast live from Tehrans Mehrabad airport. "There's interference from Zionist forces in Syria which has increased problems. They don't respect Syrian national sovereignty. They bomb areas in Syria. They support terrorists. These are all issues which have increased Syria's problems," he said. The leaders of the three countries are meeting in Ankara for a summit on Syria, bringing together two powers which have been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most forceful supporters, Iran and Russia, with one of his strongest opponents, Turkey. Russia has boosted Assad's military capabilities in the conflict by bringing in key air support. Critics have accused Russia of targeting civilians, a charge Moscow has denied. The U.S. military has primarily limited its intervention in Syria to fighting Islamic State militants rather than targeting forces allied with the Syrian government. Rouhani said there was no military solution to seven years of conflict in Syria, in which 500,000 people have been killed and half the population displaced. Only dialogue could end it, he said. Shiite-dominated Iran is Assads main regional ally and has acknowledged having military advisers and volunteers from its elite Revolutionary Guards in Syria. Tensions ramped up between Israel and Iran in early February when anti-aircraft fire downed an Israeli F-16 warplane returning from a bombing raid on Iran-backed positions in Syria. Israel then launched a second and more intensive air raid, hitting what it said were 12 Iranian and Syrian targets in Syria, including Syrian air defense systems. Senior Iranian political and military officials have denied playing a role in shooting down the Israeli jet or launching a drone into Israeli territory. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Richard Balmforth)Days after President Donald Trumps promise to withdraw troops from Syria "very soon," the U.S.-led coalition vowed Tuesday to continue its mission in Syria after fresh casualties and threats from a partner nation.

The coalition declined to speculate on how the commander-in-chief's comments could affect its presence in Syria, but it said it remained committed to defeating the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) even as fellow NATO Western military alliance member Turkey threatened to storm the northern Syrian town of Manbij, where U.S. Special Forces operate and one was recently killed. Regional reports and photographs also suggested U.S. and allied reinforcements were headed to Manbij.

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"Coalition presence in Manbij will ultimately be determined through political dialogue. Coalition forces are establishing a joint coordination mechanism for operations there," the coalition said in a statement sent to Newsweek.

"While we do not comment on specifics for operational security, Turkey is a member of the Coalition, and our operations are planned and conducted in conjunction and consultation with all partner nations and organizations," it added. "The Coalition is focused on ensuring the lasting defeat of Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group] in Iraq and Syria."

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DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images

The diverse city of Manbij was seized by local rebels in July 2012, about a year after an uprising threatening the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned into civil war. Amid tensions between Syrian Arabs and Kurds, ISIS overtook Manbij in early 2014. In August 2016, a mostly Kurdish, U.S.-backed group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces took control of the city, catching Turkeys ire.

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Turkey, a U.S. ally, considers many of these Kurdish militias, including the People's Protection Units, to be linked to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey and has targeted them despite their U.S. support. Ankara has also taken in the once-CIA backed majority-Arab Free Syrian Army and assisted them in clashes with Kurdish fighters in the region.

As ISIS lost land across northern Syria, both Russian and U.S troops set up positions in Manbij in March 2017, blocking a potential Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army attack. Turkey renewed and intensified its northern Syrian offensive in January, taking the northwestern Kurdish enclave of Afrin last month and once again setting its sights on Manbij. Turkey and the U.S. have offered conflicting statements on whether the two allied nations have reached a deal on the fate of Manbij.

U.S. Special Operations Master Sergeant Jonathan Dunbar and U.K. Sergeant Matt Tonroe were killed Thursday outside of Manbij. The pair were "conducting a mission to kill or capture a known ISIS member when they were struck by an improvised explosive device," Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said in a statement, according to The Hill.

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In response to these deaths, Turkey's official Anadolu Agency reported Tuesday that the U.S. was setting up two new bases in the areaan extension to an observatory in Dadat village and another installation 2.4 miles from the frontline south of Dadat. The report said the U.S. also sent reinforcements Sunday to block a potential Turkish advance against Kurdish groups in the region.

Neither the U.S. nor Turkey have directly threatened to attack one another's forces, but Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag warned Friday that those "who enter into cooperation and solidarity against Turkey" would "become the target of Turkey, just like the terrorists."

The feud between Turkey and Kurdish groups has deeply hindered the U.S.-led coalition's operations against ISIS. Kurdish fighters have fled these front lines to relocate to the battle against Turkey in northern Syria, where they have teamed up with pro-Syrian government forces. As a result, the U.S.-led coalition last month suspended anti-ISIS ground operations in eastern Syria, the only part of the country where the jihadis held any significant territory.

The Pentagon has insisted that Special Forces remain committed to supporting its local allies in the battle against ISIS. The militants have been largely defeated by the Syrian military and Syrian Democratic forces, but pockets and cells remained active throughout the country.

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LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images

Russia has helped the Syrian military and its allies, including Iran-backed and mostly Shiite Muslim militias, retake much of the country previously held by various insurgent groups. As the Syrian government reclaims control over the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta and continues to battle what remained of the opposition and ISIS elsewhere, Damascus has called on the U.S. and Turkey to withdraw immediately, calling their presence illegal under international law.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekIt was around noontime when all of our pages went off and we were notified that a mass shooting had occurred in Sutherland Springs, Texas, recalls Dr. Lillian Liao, a pediatric trauma surgeon and medical director at University Hospital in San Antonio.

Moments earlier, 26-year-old gunman Devin Patrick Kelly opened fire on a packed Sunday church service using a semi-automatic rifle. Twenty-six people were killed, and 20 others were injured. Usually in these types of situations, most people dont survive the shooting. Theyre dead on scene, says Dr. Liao. We had no idea how many victims would come through.

In this third episode of Unfiltered, a new weekly Yahoo News interview series documenting the real, unflinching and unapologetic voices of America, we learn what its like for trauma surgeons to treat victims of assault rifle mass shootings.

An emergency vehicle is parked outside the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

That day, a total of nine victims, four of whom were children, were admitted to the University Hospital from Sutherland Springs where Dr. Liao and Dr. Ronald M. Stewart, the chair of the department of surgery at UT Health San Antonio, treated victims. The trauma team discerned that most of the injuries were located in or near the pelvis because the patients were sitting when the shooting occurred. People who actually were hit any higher up were the ones that didnt survive, notes Dr. Liao, because of the potential for hitting organs that bled more quickly.

For Dr. Liao, the bodily damage caused by the high velocity weapon compared to those by a handgun were worlds apart. Different firearms cause different types of injury when they hit the body. What we see here in this country are really wounds from a handgun, and those create a small hole. An assault rifle type injury, the speed of the bullet creates the ability to penetrate the body and destroy tissue in a way that a handgun cannot.

The left X-ray shows a leg wound from an assault rifle bullet. The right X-ray shows a leg wound from a less destructive bullet, possibly from a handgun. (Photo: Dr. Jeremy W. Cannon)

According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the manufacturing of rifles has more than doubled in the past decade, with more than 4.7 million made and distributed in 2016. From the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., to the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school, AR-15-style rifles have been used in many of the recent mass shootings. The high-speed bullets they project turn sideways upon impact, causing drastic bone and tissue damage very similar to what is seen in military combat zones.

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If it hits a person in their abdomen, Dr. Liao continues, it could take out all of their intestines, the blood vessels in your kidney, and bones. And those people who survive these types of injuries have areas of tissue missing that we cant replace.

What you see in video games or television shows dont really give you the sense of magnitude of tissue destruction. Things are so broken that you dont recognize the body parts that theyre supposed to look like.

In the past, Dr. Liao had always wondered if the one thing shes missing in her trauma training is being deployed to a war zone. Now she finds that is no longer the case: Sadly, I dont have to be deployed to see these devastating high-velocity firearm injuries. Thats really tragic because America, it is thought of as the dreamland. The things that were seeing, the epidemic of mass shooting, shouldnt happen in this country.

Dr. Liao believes one solution lies with bystanders. After Sandy Hook, the American College of Surgeons and government agencies went back and looked at the children who died and the adults that died and how they died, and found that if a bystander could have slowed down or stopped the bleeding at the scene, some of those lives might have been saved. This led to the development of the Stop the Bleed initiative, which focuses on training civilians to stem the bleeding of gunshot victims.

A Stop the Bleed poster. (Image: American College of Surgeons)

When the victims from the Sutherland Springs shooting were brought into the hospital, she observed that many of them had tourniquets fastened on their arms and legs to stop the bleeding. That saved their lives, she says.

Its important to develop a national trauma system where every region of the country could potentially be prepared for a devastating event such as Sandy Hook, Sutherland Springs, Las Vegas, because it will happen again: Its just a matter of when.Chicago (AFP) - The American consumer returned in force to automobile showrooms in March, lifting an industry that had been plodding along in a post-sales boom hangover.

The biggest players in the North American market all posted gains -- some eye popping -- compared to March 2017. Analysts expected the industry as a whole to report a two to three-percent sales increase.

General Motors was up an unusually high 16 percent, followed by Fiat Chrysler's 14 percent sales jump. Ford rose 3.4 percent and Toyota gained 3.5 percent.

"March proved to be a lion for the domestic automakers, with double and even triple-digit sales increases posted for redesigned SUVs," Rebecca Lindland, executive analyst at Kelley Blue Book, said in prepared remarks.

While trumpeting retail market share gains, GM announced it would stop the decades-old industry practice of announcing sales totals on a monthly basis, switching to quarterly reports instead.

The car giant, accounting for 18 percent of the North American market, will instead report sales on a quarterly basis, similar to the electric car maker Tesla.

The move could frustrate analysts' efforts to compile a monthly snapshot of the industry, especially if other major auto makers follow GM's lead, said economist Charlie Chesbrough of Cox Automotive.

"Measuring monthly sales is already difficult," Chesbrough said in a statement. "Having incomplete data will make it even more challenging."

But for the time being, March numbers from major automakers suggested US consumers were in a buying mood.

Fiat Chrysler appeared the biggest beneficiary. Its Jeep SUV brand had a 45 percent sales jump, helping lift the automaker out of months of decline.

Crossovers, pickups and SUVs also lifted GM, which highlighted its newly redesigned Chevrolet Equinox and Traverse SUVs as setting March sales records.

"The job market is strong, consumer confidence is at decade-high levels and we see clear evidence that business owners are taking advantage of tax reform to upgrade their fleets," GM's chief economist Mustafa Mohatarem said in a statement.

Tesla reported first-quarter production totals that fell short of its goal of 2,500 Model 3 sedans per week. Still the company said total output was up 40 percent from the previous quarter.Baum_Jared_UCSO_Booking_03_28_2018

A Utah man forced a teenager to kneel and watch her boyfriend be beaten and stabbed to death, before slitting her throat and throwing their bodies into a mine, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Jerrod William Baum, 41, is charged with killing Brelynne Breezy Otteson, 17, and Riley Powell, 18. According to family members, the teenager couple was last seen in Mammoth, Utah, on December 30 2017. They were reported missing three days later. Their bodies were discovered in the abandoned Tintic Standard 2 Mine about 75miles south of Salt Lake City after three months.

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Wrongly believing that Otteson was pregnant, Baum congratulated the couple on their baby before killing them, USA Today reported. Chad Grunander, Utah County prosecutor, did not elaborate on why Baum incorrectly believed Otteson was pregnant.

Official documents state that Baum forced Otteson to watch him stab Powell to death before dumping his body in the abandoned mine shaft. Baum then cut the teenagers throat.

Baum allegedly killed Otteson and Powell after they visited his girlfriend, 34-year-old Morgan Lewis Henderson. Baum had told her not to have male visitors at the home they shared with Baum's father in Mammoth, south of Eureka.

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Baum is charged with eight crimes, including two counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, desecration of a human body, possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, and obstruction of justice.

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Henderson alerted the authorities to the location of the bodies while in police custody, after she was arrested in a separate case. The authorities believe that she witnessed the killings, and are attempting to understand why she did not come forward to the police sooner.

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Grunander said she may have been threatened, The Herald Journal reported. Grunander did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Henderson_Morgan

County Sheriff's Office

The teenagers families are seeking the death penalty for Baum. He doesnt deserve a life, Bill Powell, Riley's father, said outside the court in Provo, Utah, the Herald Journal reported. We as the taxpayers dont need to support him and give him a life, because he took life.

Nikka Powell, Riley's younger sister, cried as she told reporters: They had a whole life to live."

"Me and my brother were so close, and I was so close to Breezy," she said. "We did everything together. And its just hard to actually realize that theyre gone now."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekSpectators gathered to watch the maiden flight of Russias new high-tech postal delivery drone on Monday, getting a first glimpse at the machine that represents a revolution in mail delivery for the countrys vast, sparsely-populated rural areas.

In front of the crowd, the dronebearing the blue and white logo of Russian Postlifted from its launchpad and began its first journey. But after a few seconds, the $20,000 machine veered out of control and smashed itself to pieces on a nearby apartment building, Reuters reported.

The failed testin which the drone was supposed to deliver a package to a neighbouring villagetook place in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude on Monday, roughly 2,730 miles east of Moscow.

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There were no injuries from the crash, although the egos of local officials are no doubt bruised. Residents who gathered to watch the event could be heard cursing as the drone smashed into the building and tumbled to the ground.

Russian Post drone test crash

REUTERS/Anna Ogorodnik

Russian Post quickly distanced itself from the experiment, saying its representatives only attended the event as guests. It pointed out that the drone was made by a company called Rudron/Expeditor 3M. The same company organized the test, Russian Post said.

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In 2016, Russian Post announced plans to introduce drones for parcel deliveries across the country. It would appear that much more work is needed before a futuristic drone delivery network is feasible.

Alexei Tsydenov, the head of the Buryatia region who was present at the crash site, suggested local Wi-Fi networks might have caused the crash. He said that more than 100 connections in the area could have interfered with the machines control systems.

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Despite the embarrassing outcome of this test, Tsydenov vowed that the project would continue. We wont stop with this, we will keep trying, he said. Those who dont risk dont get a result.

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Russian Post drone crash

REUTERS/Anna Ogorodnik

Logistics companies are investing huge sums of money in drone research. However, a 2014 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decision blocking paid deliveries via drone means U.S. skies are not yet filled with buzzing robot couriers just yet.

However, the promised convenience of drone deliveries for customers and potential cost-savings for companies means prohibition probably wont last. In 2017, Barack Obama issued a presidential directive calling on the FAA and Transportation Department to work with local officials to consider ways to allow U.S. companies to eventually use delivery drones.

Amazon is a leading proponent of drone delivery technology, and is already developing its Prime Air delivery servicethe first successful test of which took place in the U.K. in 2016. In March, the company was awarded a patent for a delivery drone that can respond to human gestures and adjust its behaviour accordingly. The company has also applied for patents covering projects including giant airships serving as mobile warehouses and drones that can self-destruct in an emergency.

While Russias postal drone is an exciting project, for now its self-destruct response seems a little too sensitive.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekDick Krickus

Security, Middle East

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures to the media as he arrives with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., after the Easter weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, April 1, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

Here is why Trump might go to war with Iran.

Why Has Trump Joined the Interventionists in a Crusade to Dictate the Future of the Middle East?

With Mike Pompeo replacing Rex Tillerson at the State Department and John Bolton taking over H. R. McMasters post as national security advisor, the nation has moved a step closer toward war. Both Pompeo and Bolton have stated publicly they favor a pre-emptive war to replace the Mullahs in Tehran. They have been encouraged by hawks who have rationalized it with a cascade of articles, blogs, position papers and media appearances. Since the kinetic proclivities of both men clash with candidate Trumps claim that the invasion of Iraq was a tragic mistake, why has President Trump reversed course on a matter that won him favor among millions of Americans in the 2016 presidential race?

One plausible answer is that James Mattis, H. R. McMaster, and John Kelley urged him to deploy more troops to the Middle East to crush ISIS, to depose Assads regime in Syria, and to force the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan. They too have displayed keen enmity toward Iran fighters responsible for the deaths of many Americans. At the same time, they have endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that denies Iran nuclear weapons for at least ten yearsif not forever. They acknowledge its flaws but given Irans compliance with the JCPOA oppose President Trumps promise to kill the deal in May.

Pompeo and Bolton proclaim the time has come to scrap the JCPOA, to destroy Irans nuclear installations and to expel the radical Mullahs from power. Barack Obama conceded Iran is the worlds leading supporter of international terrorism but like Bush and Clinton preceding him, he did nothing to destroy that evil threat to our Arab and Israeli alliesand possibly our homeland as well. Now with two hawks at his side, President Trump can end the threat of the Iranian jihadists once and for all. To pursue further negotiations with them is senseless; we should follow the advice of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and destroy Irans nuclear assets in a joint American-Israeli pre-emptive strike.

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In addition to their drive for nukes, the zealots in Tehranwith the help of Shia allies like Lebanon-based Hezbollah and disparate Shia militias from as far away as Afghanistanhave kept a brutal dictator in power in Damascus. Whats more, the Mullahs are intent upon creating a corridor from Iran through Iraq and Syria to the Mediterranean Sea. From there, with the help of the Russians, they can dictate the future of the Arab Middle East as well as the strategically vital Persian Gulf. A newly emboldened imperial movement under the control of Tehran will place Saudi Arabia and other pro-American Arab states like Egypt and Jordan at risk, not to mention IsraelAmericas most valued ally in the region. This existential threat represents a dramatic shift in power over a wide area of the Middle East, one that places American security interests at risk. Irans quest to create an Arc of Shia domination in the region thereforeand not just its lust for nuclear weaponsjustifies an American-Israeli military campaign to deny the Mullahs that prize.

In contrast to this narrative, there is an alternative interpretation of Irans international behavior. In a compelling Foreign Affairs essay Vali Nasr asserts Iran is not driven by revolution but rather national self-interest. Iran sees a U.S. led regional order as a roadblock in the way of its ambitions. Because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, tens of thousands of American troops have occupied territory on its western and eastern borders. It sees a Sunni-Arab order as another threat to its security; a fear fed by an eight-year war with Iraqone where Washington sided with Saddam Hussein. In addition, Saudi Arabia and Israel spend more money on defense than Iran does. Its defense budget represents 3 percent of GDP compared to 10 and 6 percent for Saudi Arabia and Israel. To compensate for this handicap, Iran has adopted a strategy of forward defense that relies upon allies like Hezbollah and disparate Shiite militias to contain its Arab, Israeli and American enemies.

If Irans behavior appears more threatening today than it once did it is because of the drastic changes that the Middle East has experienced over the past decade and a half. Gone is the Arab order on which Washington relied for decades to manage regional affairs and to limit Irans room for maneuver. A chain of events, starting with the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, culminated in the implosion of the Arab world, as social unrest toppled rulers, broke down state institutions, and triggered ethnic and sectarian strife that in some cases escalated into full-fledged civil war.

In response to this turbulence, Obama sought to reduce Americas profile in the region; so, among other things, he ignored Hillary Clinton who favored the deployment of a heavy U.S. force to Syria. He also did not withdraw from Afghanistan as promised. In his wake, President Trump has returned to an agenda that rests on the Arab alliance system that includes Israel. But Nasr says this is bound to fail because, Iraq and Syria are weak and broken, unable to control their own territories and ruled by governments that are closer to Iran than to the United States Arab allies. Nor can Saudi Arabia, pick up the slack. Indeed, by invading Yemen, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has entangled his military in a war that damages the political stability and future of Saudi Arabia. Nasr also points to Turkeys decision to seek a fragile alliance with Moscow and Riyadh as part of whittling away at American influence in the region.

One might add that by becoming entangled with unstable Sunni Arab countriessuch as Egypt and Saudi ArabiaIsrael may find itself ensnared in the violent and unpredictable mayhem that will surface should the current leaders in both countries be ousted by internal enemies or ripped apart by jihadist militants who see them as traitors to Islam. In short, Trumps attempt to create an Arab-Israel coalition that pacifies the region may produce just the opposite outcomeone that constitutes a new phase in Americas tragic crusade in the Middle East.

Nasr fears, Based as it is on a warped understanding of the causes of the disorder in the Middle East, the Trump administrations Iran policy is caught in a self-defeating spiral. It is foolhardy then to hope that a new Arab-Israeli alliance will produce a more promising outcome. Rather than conceive of a regional order designed to contain Iran, the United States should promote a vision for the Middle East that includes Iran. It should convince Tehran that it would be better off working with Washington and its allies than investing its hope in a Russian-backed regional order.

American strategists seeking reconciliation with Tehran know that unlike Saudi Arabiathe key to President Trumps Middle East policyIran is not a phony country, that is a bastard child of the Ottoman Empires demise and the meddling of European colonial powers. It has a thousand year-history and whatever regime rules in Tehran, the country as it is constituted today will remain in place. The largely pro-American Iranians that many analysts believe will ultimately replace the theocrats and hardliners in the Republican Guard, will adhere to a nationalist agendaone that keeps Iran intact. The same cannot be said for Saudi Arabia where many Kingdom-watchers predict that Prince Salmans reforms will spawn a bitter struggle within the House of Saud and splinter the country as we know it today. Of course, those eager to even the score with Tehran have ignored other pertinent facts about Iran; for example, in Anbar Province many Americans died at the hands of Sunni terrorists that were funded by Saudi Arabians and religious cohorts in other Arab countries. None of the nineteen killers responsible for 9/11 were Iranians and Sunni insurgents are not being bank-rolled by them. The same, of course, does not hold true for the Saudis. Furthermore, Iran may have a dismal human rights record but is it any worse than that found in Egypt or Saudi Arabia? Turning to JCPOA, whatever its limitations it has served the security interests of the United States. If president Trump voids it, no one knows with certainty what will happen next, but the outcome is likely to be troublesomefor example, Tehran could resume its drive for nuclear weapons. Perhaps as significant, Trumps nullification of the accord will provide Kim Jong-un with a powerful incentive for not reaching a nuclear deal with the United States. To cancel JCPOA then is an irrational posture but in Donald J. Trumps surreal world reason often is an orphan.

It is against this backdrop that we should revisit the pivotal question: Why has President Trump joined the interventionists in a crusade to dictate the future of the Middle East? The answer is driven by internal not external factors. Consider the cascade of bad news that has ravaged the White House in recent weeks: mounting reports that the Mueller investigation will find evidence that President Trump or his entourage have obstructed justice while practicing financial malfeasance if not collusion with Russia; incessant demonstrations on his part that he is not qualified to be commander in chief; and chaos so prevalent in the White House that prominent Washington lawyers have rejected offers to serve in his behalf. He may escape impeachment, but the GOP is likely to lose the House and perhaps even the Senate in November. Furthermore, it is a safe bet that he will engage in other personal and policy actions that emasculate his capacity to govern and deny the country a firm internal foundation to cope with dangerous international challenges.

It is with this dismal future in mind that he is desperate to reverse the massive tide of enmity that is consuming his presidency. To avoid this outcome, he is now exploiting national security to safeguard it. Richard Nixon found his way into the White House by doing so, Ronald Reagan via Iran Contra was almost impeached for following a similar path, and George W. Bush saved what many of his supporters feared was a lost bid for re-election in 2004 by proclaiming in effect while the nation was at war, it was dangerous to remove a commander in chief from his post.

Trumps doleful first year in office demonstrated the limits of the presidency as exemplified by policy failures beginning with his Muslim Ban. He observed a president could be stymied by a plethora of entitiesthe Congress and Supreme Court and even a Mexican judge in one of the fifty states. But as commander in chief the Warfare State allowed him to act on his own. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union provided the rationale for a president to govern virtually without interference from other constitutional authorities. In this century, the Global War on Terrorism materialized and voila, the president was back in business free to start a new crusade in the Middle East or to vaporize Rocket Man in North Korea.

Like Trump, Bibi Netanyahu faces mounting internal threats to his regime that may be sidetracked by a war with Iran. Potential rivals for his job on the right, like Natali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman, are likeminded on this matter and many ordinary Israelis, even those not entirely happy with him, concede that Bibi has been a stalwart in protecting their country. That said, many members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and political leaders in Israeleven those who are concerned about the threat Iran represents for the Jewish Stateare wary of an armed conflict with Tehran. Like many of their colleagues in the Pentagon, they note that unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran is a large country with a well-educated population of eighty million. It has talented engineers and scientists, and battle-hardened troops in addition to Shia fighters from other countries, like Lebanons Hezbollah, that guarantee Iran will retaliate should it be attacked by a joint American-Israeli force. A decade ago, the U.S. Central Command conducted a study that indicated a clash with Iran would necessitate an American fighting force approaching numbers involved in Bushs invasion of Iraq. For their part, strategists in the IDF are not unmindful of Hezbollahs military prowess as well as Irans capacity to attack Israel with sophisticated missiles. Therefore, they conclude a war with Iran will not be a cakewalk.

Against this backdrop, American strategists who see our involvement in the Middle East as problematic, nay a lost cause, have come to the following conclusion: Iran is the key to a viable America agenda in the Middle East. Reconciliation between Shia and Sunni MuslimsIran and Saudi Arabic/Egyptrepresents the greatest hope for stability in the region. Forging a military alliance between the Sunni Arabs and Israel to crush Iran is an exceedingly dangerous one that might precipitate a host of violent outbreaks that represent a greater threat to them than Iran. Shaky governments in Cairo and Riyadh may find they have created a monster that has the capacity to consume them. Even Israel with its dominant military capacity must consider that a clash with Iran may energize enemies of the Jewish State that previously were only latent threats to it.

Despite the difficulties involved and past bad blood, an attempt to dramatically reduce tensions with Iran may produce more positive security outcomes than clashes with it. The same holds true for the leaders in Tehran who badly want to end their countrys isolation from the international community. Meanwhile from the vantage point of Washington, geography and religion dictate that Iran, and not the United States, is best able to influence events in Syria, Iraq, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Central Asia. That does not mean that the United States cannot have a strong voice in a postwar attempt to pacify what has been the worlds most turbulent region, but any hope of achieving reconciliation will be nullified by a clash of arms between American and Iranian troops.

One more thing. As evidence mounts that President Trump and his circle of supporters face bad news from Muellers team of investigators, he is likely to find a way to confront the special prosecutor while engaging Iran on the battlefield to cover up his acts of malfeasance. Republicans who have spoken in favor of allowing Mueller to finish his business-like Trey Gowdey, query if the president has done nothing wrong he should not fear Muellers findings. But despite Trumps assertions to the contrary the case against him and members of his entourage seems to be moving against that claim. Without doubt, Trumps presidency is imperiled and, in turn, our nations security. In response, Congress must reassert its authority to declare war as posited by the Kaine-McCain war powers reform resolution. It is extremely dangerous to allow any president to wage war under the pretext of authority that was created to justify Bushs response to 9/11 almost two decades ago. Furthermore, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, along with their Democratic counterparts, must take measures to safeguard Mueller and to anticipate a constitutional crisis that is certain to materialize when out of desperation, President Trump fires him.

Dick Krickus is distinguished professor emeritus as the University of Mary Washington and has held the H. L. Oppenheimer Chair of Warfighting Strategy as the U.S. Marine Corps University. His forthcoming book is Americas Tragic Crusade in The Middle East and the Trump Malignancy.

Image: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures to the media as he arrives with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., after the Easter weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, April 1, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

Read full articleThe man who designed the worlds tallest water slide has been arrested and charged with reckless second-degree murder over a tragic incident in which a 10-year-old boy was decapitated.

Authorities accuse John Schooley of lacking the engineering expertise necessary for the planning and construction of the "Verruckt" water slide at Schlitterbahn Kansas City. He was arrested at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport after returning from China, NBC reported.

The water park companys co-owner, Jeffrey Henry, has also been charged over the incident which occurred in August 2016. Caleb Schwab died after the raft he was riding on went into the air and hit an overhead loop. Caleb was the son of Kansas Republican state Representative Scott Schwab.

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RTSLSUS

REUTERS/Dave Kaup/File Photo

Henry & Sons Construction Co also faces charges of reckless second-degree murder and 17 other felonies including aggravated battery and aggravated endangerment of a child. Second-degree murder carries a jail sentence of up to 41 years.

The indictment states that neither Schooley nor Henry had the technical expertise to build the ride which was intended to impress the makers of a Travel Channel documentary, NBC reported.

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The indictment also says the decision to build the world's biggest water slide was spur of the moment and that engineers had skipped steps in the design process. It said that "not a single engineer was directly involved in Verruckt's dynamic engineering or slide path design and listed 13 injuries during the 182 days the ride was in operation.

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Also indicted are the Schlitterbahn Kansas City park and its former operations manager Tyler Austin Miles. The company said it will fight the charges and would respond to the allegations made point by point.

Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said in a statement: "We as a company and as a family will fight these allegations and have confidence that once the facts are presented it will be clear that what happened on the ride was an unforeseeable accident." It has reportedly settled with the Schwab family for 20 million dollars.

In his statement, the Schwab family said: "Clearly the issues with Schlitterbahn go far beyond Caleb's incident, and we know the attorney general will take appropriate steps in the interest of public safety."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekNew York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman formally announced on Tuesday that the state would be suing the Trump administration for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

The suit is part of a multistate legal challenge that includes attorneys general from 18 states, six cities and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors, whom all argue that the question violates the U.S. Constitution and unfairly targets blue states with large immigrant populations.

"One of the federal government's most solemn obligations is a fair and accurate count of all people in the country, citizen and noncitizen alike," Schneiderman said in a Tuesday release. "With immigrant communities already living in fear, demanding citizenship status would drive them into the shadows, leading to a major undercount that threatens billions in federal funding for New York and our fair representation in Congress and the Electoral College."

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At a Tuesday press conference, New York State lawmakers came ready to go to bat once again with President Donald Trump and his agenda.

"Time and time again he undermines our Constitution and undermines our democracy," Representative Nydia Velazquez said. "Why is it he can't bring himself to denounce Russia and denounce Putin, but yet he wants to instill fear and intimidate immigrants?"

The census question, she said, was another attempt from Trump to "make America white" again.

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New York representatives plan to hit the Trump administration from all sides: Last month, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, a Democrat, introduced the 2020 Census Improving Data and Enhanced Accuracy (IDEA) Act, legislation that would "protect the integrity of the census" in the face of the administration's attempts to amend it.

Story continues

The 2020 Census Improving Data and Enhanced Accuracy (IDEA) Act has unfortunately become a necessary safeguard against this administrations clear desire to politicize and compromise the 2020 Census," Maloney said at the time. "We cannot accept an incomplete or unfair count in 2020  too much is at stake."

Most popular: Can Tiger Woods Win the 2018 Masters? Betting Odds, Expert Predictions on Golfer's Chances

After taking the Trump administration to court on the travel ban, transgender troops and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Schneiderman says he feels confident that he and his allied attorneys general have a winning case.

"Our constitutional claim is so straightforward," Schneiderman told reporters on Tuesday. "We don't have to prove animus to succeed in our constitutional claim."

But if they did, Schneiderman added, that wouldn't prove too difficult either: "[Trump's] Twitter account is the gift that keeps on giving as far as our lawyers are concerned," he joked. "He clearly has an animus behind this."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekRelatives of a woman who opened fire at YouTubes headquarters in California Tuesday said they told police, "She might do something."

Nasim Aghdam, 39, was identified as the shooter at the video-sharing site's San Bruno headquarters, who injured three people before turning the gun on herself.

Aghdam was reportedly "angry" at the company because it demonetized her videos and cut her ad revenue after a policy change, reports said.

The shooter posted videos last month in which she alleged YouTube tries to "censor and oppress people who speak the truth."

Aghdam's family said she was a passionate vegan activist and often posted videos about animal cruelty, ABC News reported.

She also posted fitness videos on her channel and frequently complained on camera about YouTube filtering her videos.

Some of Aghdams uploads had hundreds of thousands of views.

"YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!" Aghdam wrote on her website. There is no free speech in real world & you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system. Videos of targeted users are filtered & merely relegated, so that people can hardly see their videos!"

YouTube removed Aghdams videos from the site on Tuesday afternoon after the shooting for violating the companys terms of service.

Police said there is no evidence that Aghdam, who opened fire the day before her birthday, knew the victims. Her family claims they warned police prior to the attack.

Aghdam was reported missing by her family over the weekend after she stopped answering phone calls.

Police then reportedly located her vehicle near Mountain View, 30 miles east of YouTube headquarters.

Her family said once police notified them of this, they grew worried and warned officers.

"I Googled 'Mountain View' and it was close to YouTube headquarters, and she had a problem with YouTube," Aghdams brother, who did not want to be identified, told KGTV. "So I called that cop again and told him there's a reason she went all the way from San Diego to there, so she might do something.

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"So they didn't do anything, and she got killed ... and three or four more people got hurt," he added.

A 32-year-old woman was in serious condition, a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition and a 36-year-old man was in critical condition after the shooting, according to a spokesperson at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.

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Female Shooter Dead, 3 Injured After Shooting at YouTube Headquarters in California: Police

Related Articles:A woman suspected of opening fire at YouTube's campus in California is dead after reportedly shooting herself. At least four people have reportedly been taken to hospital after being shot, according to police.

Police Chief Ed Barberini said during a news conference that the female victim found was "believed to be the shooter" but that police and other law enforcement agencies are continuing to investigate the "active" situation. He said at least two victims were found in a building adjacent to the main YouTube offices. At this time, police do not belive this to be an act of terrorism.

One staff member at the San Bruno campus - located 11 miles from San Francisco - said he barricaded himself in a room after hearing shots. Another reported seeing "blood drips" on the floor and stairs as he fled the building as armed police swarmed the site. Product manager Vadim Lavrusik tweeted that he "heard shots and saw people running while at my desk" but he and some colleagues have been evacuated and are safe at this time.

Mr Barberini said the buildings have been evacuated and police are questioning "a few hundred" people to "put the pieces together".

The police have advised the public to stay out of the area of the offices. Footage posted via Snapchat close to the campus shows some people walking down the street with their hands above their heads and police surrounding the building while wearing tactical gear.

The San Bruno City Manager's office told BuzzFeed News that the city received several emergency calls from inside the building and the surrounding area regarding gunshots. Police are currently searching individuals who have been evacuated before allowing them to leave the scene to prevent the shooter from blending in with escaping crowds.

Police have released very little information, however, unconfirmed reports from local media said that the shooter is female, and two people are injured. Employees with shocked expressions, some of them wearing apparel with Googles logo were leaving the scene, The Independent reported from the sprawling San Bruno campus.

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People in surrounding offices have shared some images of the scene on various social media platforms.

Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers.  Vadim Lavrusik (@Lavrusik) April 3, 2018

We are seeing @YouTube employees being brought out with hands up! pic.twitter.com/ZlSMY9FIVm  Erin (@erinjeanc) April 3, 2018

The video streaming company is owned by Google, whose main headquarters are also located in the northern California area. The company tweeted that it has been "coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available".

Todd Sherman, another YouTube staffer, tweeted that he "saw blood drips on the floor and stairs" as he was evacuating. He later tweeted that he is safe and on his way home from the scene.

I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

The San Francisco General Hospital has taken in an unknown number of patients from the shooting incident, according to local news station KCBS. Spokesman Brent Andrew said a 36-year-old man is in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition, and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition. Stanford Hospital Media Relations Spokesperson Lisa Kim has confirmed that four to five patients have been transferred to that hospital but did not comment on the nature or severity of their injuries.

Local news station KTVU spoke with an employee from the fast food restaurant Carl's Jr located next to the YouTube headquarters building. The employee, called Michael, said he helped a Chinese woman who looked to be in her 20s and been shot in the leg. It is unclear if the woman was an employee or whether she saw the shooter. "She was relaxed but scared. She wasn't in shock," he said, adding that he had used a bungee cord as a tourniquet around her wound.

A software engineer named Sepand Parhami told The Independent in San Bruno he had heard a series of pops and then everyone started scrambling. He recounted seeing blood on the stairs. It was kind of a blur," he said.

The YouTube campus is home to roughly 1000 employees at any given time. It is unclear at this time if the suspected shooter was an employee or just visiting the office. It is also unknown at this time what the suspect's motive may have been and if there was any relationship between the shooter and victims.

President Donald Trump tweeted about the incident, sending his "thoughts and prayers". The incident comes on the heels of weeks of debate on gun control reform in the US in the wake of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed. The company also entered the debate for the first time by banning advertisements from gun manufacturers on its powerful platform.Hours before YouTube employees were sent fleeing from a shooter on their campus, the suspected assailant practised her aim at a shooting range.

Shortly afterwards Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, strode into the video streaming giants headquarters and opened fire with a legally obtained Smith and Wesson semiautomatic handgun before fatally shooting herself, authorities said.

An emerging timeline suggests that Ms Aghdam travelled from southern California to Silicon Valley in the days before the shooting, propelled by a sense of grievance at YouTube.

It is believed the suspect was upset with policies and practices of YouTube, San Bruno police chief Ed Barberini told reporters. This appears to have been the motive for this incident.

Her family told San Diego authorities that she had disappeared at the end of March, Mr Barberini said. She resurfaced more than 725 km (450 miles) later in the Silicon Valley town of Mountain View, where police officers discovered her sleeping in the car early in the morning the day before the shooting.

With no reason to detain Ms Aghdam, Mountain View police officers moved on and contacted her family.

In an initial conversation with authorities, Ms Aghdams father gave no indication that his daughter had any weapons or was nursing a grievance against YouTube, the Mountain View police department said. About an hour later, the father called back to say his daughter believed YouTube had done something to upset her but did not hint at looming violence.

The next day, she visited the gun range. She then parked her car behind a business near YouTube's headquarters, entered the campus through a garage and began firing, authorities said.

Mountain View authorities had not communicated with the San Bruno police about their interaction with Ms Aghdam or their conversation with her family, Mr Barberini said.

As authorities executed search warrants on two southern California residences associated with Ms Aghdam, their investigation turned to her online life and her apparent belief that YouTube had worked to silence her.

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Investigators reconstructing Ms Aghdams history have a long digital trail to follow. A website under her name featured angry diatribes about YouTube suppressing her content and impacting her traffic.

Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views! the site says, adding that There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!

Investigators were working to gain access to and comb through Ms Aghdam's social media postings in an effort to further elucidate her motives, Mr Barberini said. She is believed to have acted alone.

In response to a question about allegations that certain users and videos are downplayed, YouTube pointed The Independent to public statements in which Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki expressed grief and thanked first responders.

There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today, Ms Wojcicki said. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.

The website under Ms Aghdams name also features content promoting veganism and featuring animals, buttressing evidence that Ms Aghdam may have been involved in animal rights activism. A 2009 Los Angeles Times story quoted a woman by the same name at a demonstration saying animal rights equals human rights.

Two of the three people who sustained gunshot wounds had been released from the hospital, a spokesman told reporters, and a third is still being treated had seen his condition improve from critical to serious.Law enforcement officials have identified Nasim Aghdam as the person who opened fire with a handgun on April 3 at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., wounding several people before fatally shooting herself. (Photo: Courtesy of San Bruno Police Department via AP)

On Tuesday, a woman opened fire at the YouTube campus in San Bruno, Calif., injuring three people before killing herself. The shooter has been identified by law enforcement as Nasim Aghdam, a 39-year-old San Diego resident who ran an account on the Google-owned video platform covering animal rights, veganism, fitness, and music.

Aghdam, according to her family, was angry with the company and claimed on her various social media accounts that her posts were being censored. Her motive for the shooting is still being investigated, with the San Bruno Police Department noting that at this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted.

While mass shootings have become frighteningly common in the United States, the most shocking thing about the most recent incident for many is the perpetrators gender.

Between 1982 and 2017, there have been 95 mass shootings in the U.S. Of those, only two have been initiated by a solo female shooter. (The San Bernardino, Calif., shooting in December 2016 also had a female shooter, and it is the only shooting in the period to have had a male-female pair working together.)

However, the fact that so few multiple-victim shootings are initiated by women shouldnt come as a surprise, Sherry Hamby, a research professor of psychology at the University of the South and the founding editor of the American Psychological Association journal Psychology of Violence, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Rather, this statistic reinforces what research has already shown about how we socialize both men and women and the kinds of stereotypes  and consequences  associated with both.

School shootings and multiple-victim shootings of any kind are not really unique from other forms of physical violence [when it comes to the gender of the perpetrator], Hamby says. All forms of physical violence are more common among men than women, but not all of them are as dramatically overly represented by male perpetrators as multiple-victim shootings.

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Hamby says this has to do with an often overused but in this case accurate turn of phrase: This speaks to the toxic aspects of masculinity in our culture.

Hamby notes that many shootings are motivated by anger and upset that a shooter feels about rejection by a girlfriend or a female friend who does not wish to pursue a romantic relationship, with many making a former romantic partner or a female who rejected them romantically the first victim of their crime.

Even when there has not been an instance of romantic rejection, Hamby notes, many mass shootings are motivated by a sense of entitlement and a feeling of needing to teach the whole world a lesson, especially when it comes to recognizing and valuing their masculinity, both sexually and otherwise.

This partly has to do with how boys are told from a young age that entitlement is inherently a part of their gender identity. Boys are still taught that they should be able to take upon, throw upon, that it is weak or manly to back down from a fight, Hamby says.

Furthermore, Hamby notes, the media play a big role. There are a lot of images of masculinity in movies and TV that men are people who know how to handle weapons, and while there are certainly lots of women who know how to handle weapons, women dont have their femininity called into question if they dont know how to shoot, Hamby explains. If someone insults your honor in a bar, its not stigmatizing or shameful for a woman to walk away and not punch that person in the face. There are so many social scripts where men are expected to respond in an aggressive way, and if they dont, their masculinity is called into question. Where if they dont, it can harm their social standing.

And this dynamic is only reinforced, she says, by the fact that even in the most positive portrayals of coming of age, manhood is portrayed as something that has to be earned. And if it has to be earned, that means that simply being male or being assigned male or identifying as male doesnt on its own make you a man in the same way we talk about femininity and womanhood.

Conversely, Hamby says, when it comes to women, not only are they not given these same kinds of social messages, but often they are given opposite ones that can lead them to be violence-averse  and in ways that are sometimes problematic.

Even in cases of self-defense, when a situation might really call for violence to protect your personal safety or that of a child or loved one, the messages against women responding in such a way are so extreme that its often hard for a woman to do what she needs to do in self-defense, Hamby emphasizes.

Women, she says, are socially groomed to be the ones to smooth over social interactions, keep situations from escalating into conflicts, to always be conflict-avoidant, and to preserve relationships. Studies have shown that when confronted with conflict directed at them, women are often reluctant to even display verbal aggression in defense.

Hamby says that this is not victim blaming, but it does show the power of social messages and how neither men nor women are being taught to respond in appropriate ways and with reasonable self-protection when presented with conflict. Theres a sweet spot in the middle that everyone should be at, whether they identify as male, female, or nonbinary. But clearly, were failing everyone when we dont teach that sweet spot to all, she says.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



San Francisco (AFP) - Police said Wednesday they had been alerted that the Iran-born animal rights activist who shot three people before killing herself at YouTube's California headquarters, was believed to have a vendetta against the online giant.

The father of Nasim Najafi Aghdam informed police in the Silicon Valley hub of Mountain View that she had gone missing from her San Diego home, and may have travelled to the area because she was furious at YouTube's alleged censorship of her video channels.

But officers in Mountain View -- who found her sleeping in her car early Tuesday -- said they saw no reason to detain her.

Hours later Aghdam, 39, burst into the courtyard of the YouTube headquarters in nearby San Bruno during lunchtime, opening fire with a 9 mm handgun.

She wounded two women and one man before turning the gun on herself as police surrounded the campus of the world's leading video-sharing platform.

Aghdam, who also went by the name Nasime Sabz, was an activist who posted videos on her YouTube channels supporting animal rights and vegan causes, in English, Turkish and Farsi -- as well as bizarre dance and workout clips performed in outlandish costumes.

San Bruno police said her motive appeared to be anger over YouTube's policies.

"At this point in the investigation, it is believed that the suspect was upset with policies and practices of YouTube. This appears to be the motive for this incident," police chief Ed Barberini said Wednesday.

Barberini said they had recovered a handgun registered to Aghdam, and that she had gone to a local gun range on Tuesday before entering YouTube offices via the parking garage.

Of the three wounded, the man remains in serious condition at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, a spokesman said. The two women wounded were released Wednesday.

- Animal rights militant -

Aghdam was one of a number of people in the animal rights community who complained that Google-owned YouTube had placed restrictions on their postings, ostensibly because their videos were viewed as too gory for the general public.

Story continues

She and others also complained about YouTube's small revenue-sharing payments for advertising that runs on their channels.

"Growing on YouTube is not in your hands," Aghdam complained in one video. "It all depends on who is controlling your channel."

In addition to restricting her postings on animal mistreatment, she said, YouTube had blocked others.

"They age-restricted my ab workout video, a video that has nothing bad in it, nothing sensual," she complained.

- Not seen as a threat -

There were no immediate reports of her having been a known threat or having a police record.

Police in Mountain View, where YouTube parent Google is located, confirmed that they found her sleeping in her car just after midnight Tuesday morning.

But they said she showed no sign of being a threat or in trouble, and they had no cause to detain her.

"At no point during our roughly 20 minute interaction with her did she mention anything about YouTube, if she was upset with them, or that she had planned to harm herself or others," police said in a statement.

They said they had reported finding her to her family, and that her father later called back to tell them she was upset with YouTube over its handling of her videos.

"Aghdam's father stated that she may have been in the area because of this," police said, adding that "He did not seemed concerned."

"At no point did her father or brother mention anything about potential acts of violence or a possibility of Aghdam lashing out as a result of her issues with her videos."

- Workout and dance videos -

YouTube blocked all of Aghdam's video channels Wednesday, including one apparently on "hand art," citing "severe violations" of its standards.

Some videos remained available on Facebook and on her personal website, however, where she complained that even her Farsi-language videos had been age-restricted by YouTube, accusing the company of trying to reduce her number of viewers.

"There is no free speech in real world & you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system," she wrote.

Alongside gruesome videos of mistreatment of animals, she also posted exercise and weight-lifting clips, and video and photographs of herself dancing, rapping and posing in evening dress, a skin-tight leather outfit, and full-body camouflage leotards.

One picture carried in the California press showed her at a protest against the US military's use of animals in training, dressed in black, blood painted on her face, and wielding a plastic sword.A woman suspected of going on a shooting rampage at YouTubes headquarters has been named as 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam.

The California resident allegedly shot a 36-year-old man, leaving him in a critical condition. She is also suspected of injuring two women aged 32 and 27 before killing herself.

There is no evidence she knew the victims, according to police, so what could have led her to open fire?

YouTube career

The 39-year-old, who was of Iranian descent, posted regularly on YouTube in Farsi, Turkish and English. In one clip, posted on the platform, she complained the company were censoring her by imposing an age restriction on one of her exercise videos.

She wrote on her website: This video got age restricted after new close-minded youtube employees, got control of my farsi youtube channel last year 2016 & began filtering my videos to reduce views & suppress & discaurage [sic] me from making videos!

The 39-year-old complained the network was stifling free speech, writing: Videos of targeted users are filtered & merely relegated, so that people can hardly see their videos! There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!

The San Bruno police department identified the suspected shooter as Nasim Najafi Aghdam (Nasim Najafi Aghdam)

Aghdam also expressed disbelief at the payment she received for the videos, saying:My Revenue For 300,000 Views Is $0.10?????

Her father, Ismail Aghdam, said she was angry at YouTube because it cut monetisation for the clips she posted on the platform.

He told the Bay Area News Group he reported his daughter missing on Monday and warned police she could go to YouTube because she hated the firm.

YouTube terminated the 39-year-olds account after the shooting. Her Instagram and Facebook accounts were also removed.

A number of videos hosted by Daily Motion were still accessible on Wednesday morning, with adverts playing before the clips.

The West

In remarks on her website apparently aimed at Western governments, she wrote: BE AWARE! Dictatorship exists in all countries but with different tactics! They only care for personal short term profits & do anything to reach their goals even by fooling simple-minded people.

Story continues

She accused them of hiding the truth, manipulating science & everything, putting public mental & physical health at risk and of polluting the environment and promoting materialism.

Her website features a video entitled the health risks of anal sex, alongside comments suggesting the state was responsible for destroying family values and for sexual degeneration in the name of freedom.

The site also features a video by Paul Joseph Watson, the British editor of US conspiracy site InfoWars called The Truth About Popular Culture.

In the video he says: Popular culture is more vulgar, vapid, self-absorbed, hedonistic and dehumanising than at any other time in living memory  for the past few decades pop culture has only served as a sewer pipe of projectile diarrhoea aimed directly at our gawping mouths.

Animal rights

Aghdams father described her as a vegan activist and animal lover. Her website features a number of graphic animal videos, including of animals being skinned while still alive.

A series of photos show her posing with various animals, including a rabbit and lion.

She featured in a 2009 story in the San Diego Union-Tribune about a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) protest against the use of pigs in military trauma training outside the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in California.

At the demonstration, Aghdam was dressed in a wig and jeans with drops of painted blood on them and held a plastic sword.

For me, animal rights equal human rights, she told the paper at the time.Before police even managed to secure YouTubes headquarters, hoaxes were widely disseminated on Twitter: Reuters

The YouTube shooting which left at least three injured and saw hundreds evacuate the California headquarters has sparked a slew of erroneous conspiracy theories, hoaxes and false stories on social media.

Police were called after a shooter opened fire and then fatally shot herself on the video sharing platforms Silicon Valley campus on Tuesday.

The woman suspected of carrying out the shooting in the heart of Americas leading tech hub has now been named by local police as 39-year-old San Diego resident Nasim Aghdam.

The alleged attacker was a prolific video blogger on Youtube and an animal rights activist. Ms Aghdam's father has since told the Bay Area News Group that she was angry with YouTube because the site had stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform.

YouTube posters can receive money from advertisements that accompany their videos, but the company de-monetises some channels for reasons including inappropriate material or having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

Related: New Details on Alleged YouTube Shooter

For more news videos visit Yahoo View.

While the proliferation of misinformation and spurious reporting on social media has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, the response to the YouTube shooting has been deemed one of the most extreme and damaging yet.

Before police even managed to secure YouTubes headquarters, hoaxes were widely disseminated on Twitter. The social media site responded by saying it was "tracking" the accounts and "taking action on anything that violates our rules":

We are also aware of attempts by some people to deceive others with misinformation around this tragedy. We are tracking this and are taking action on anything that violates our rules.  Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) April 3, 2018

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said: Were also aware of the misinformation being spread on Twitter. Were tracking, learning, and taking action. Were working diligently on product solutions to help.

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Here is a selection of wholly false and inaccurate information and accusations which gained traction on social media.

Images of the purported shooter included women wearing head scarves

This was one of the earliest details which was disseminated about what the alleged assailant looked like. Anti-Muslim website Jihad Watch used the "headscarf" claim to hypothesize about a possible "jihad attack" in spite of no official confirmation of the suspect's religion or attire.

Lucian B Wintrich, who writes for right-wing Gateway Pundit blog, appeared to suggest the shooter was a Muslim woman grounded on a local ABC station's report the suspect was a woman wearing a "headscarf."

Twitter users falsely claimed comedian Sam Hyde was the shooter

Hyde, who co-created sketch comedy group Million Dollar Extreme, is blamed by online trolls after many shootings. Some users on online forum 4chan sought to encourage others to "start memeing Sam Hyde" in an attempt to get the hoax on TV.

Conspiracy videos surfaced on Facebook

Far-fetched erroneous conspiracy videos claiming the shooting was "staged" emerged on Facebook.

A clip posted on Facebook said the shooting had been staged in a government false flag operation.

Several YouTubers were erroneously accused of being behind the shooting

Another 4Chan user claimed a YouTube food reviewer whose image has been used in a previous hoax was a photo of the shooter. German YouTuber DragonLord was also falsely identified as the shooter.

Brittany Venti, a YouTube video creator, reposted several tweets that accused her of being the assailant.

One of the first YouTube employees to report the attacks Twitter account was hacked

Vadim Lavrusik, a manager with over 40,000 Twitter followers whose tweets about the attack had garnered a wide audience, tweeted about being on lockdown with his colleagues and later that he had safely evacuated the campus soon after 1pm.

Among other things, the hacker wrote "PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY FRIEND I LOST HIM IN THE SHOOTING" according to the Verge. The tweet reportedly linked to a photo of another popular YouTube video creator.

The hack prompted Mr Dorsey to intervene and say he would look into it.

Misinformation flooded Reddit

Subreddits known for developing conspiracies that extend to other networks linked the shooting as a "false flag" to be "anti-gun". They also postulated the suspect was wearing a hijab and bore a resemblance to leading Women's March co-chair Linda Sarsour.YouTuber Logan Paul and others are voicing their concern in the wake of Tuesdays shooting at the video-sharing site's California headquarters that left three injured and the shooter, Nasim Aghdam, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In a message posted to his social channels, Paul called for "change."

"To my online family, I will not be posting a vlog in light of today's shooting at YouTube HQ," Paul wrote on his Twitter. "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones. Im also tired of typing and reading that exact sentence CHANGE. IS. NECESSARY.

To my online family... I will not be posting a vlog in light of today's shooting at @YouTube. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones.



Im also tired of typing and reading that exact sentence^



CHANGE. IS. NECESSARY.  Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) April 4, 2018



Paul was one of many YouTubers speaking out after the attack.

Im hoping for a hasty recovery, both in body and mind, to all affected by the shooting at YouTube HQ today and hoping for gun control soon so events like today are far less likely to keep happening.  Thomas Sanders (@ThomasSanders) April 3, 2018

My heart just dropped after hearing about the shooting at YouTube HQ... praying for everyone involved and their safety. Its not fair that we cant feel safe anywhere anymore.... :(  Catherine Paiz (@CatherinePaiz) April 3, 2018

I dont even know what to say anymore about shootings, but this one hits close to home. Praying that my friends over at YouTube HQ are okay  Jenn McAllister (@jennmcallister) April 3, 2018

Tyler Oakley wrote: "Catching up now on what's happening at @YouTube HQ. hoping everyone is safe & secure. yet again, hoping for less access to guns, & as a direct result, less possibility for gun violence."

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Many employees ran for their lives Tuesday at the sound of gunshots.

"There were people running down the street," said Lucacio Simoes, 40, an Uber driver who said he went to the area to see if he could help, according to the Los Angeles Times. "I just opened the door and asked if they needed help. I was getting people away from YouTube. At one point I had seven people in the car. I picked up one man... and when he got in the car he just started crying. He was in shock."

A 32-year-old woman was in serious condition, a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition and a 36-year-old man was in critical condition after the shooting, according to a spokesperson at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.

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Related Articles:Wellington (AFP) - New Zealand's parliament has passed legislation to erase historic convictions for engaging in gay sex, saying the bill would help right past injustices.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in New Zealand in 1986, but men who were convicted before then still had the offence listed on their official records.

Lawmakers unanimously passed a bill late Tuesday allowing those convicted of consensual homosexual sex to have their records expunged.

"I would like to apologise again to all the men and members of the rainbow community who have been affected by the prejudice, stigma and other negative effects caused by convictions for historical homosexual offences," Justice Minister Andrew Little said.

"This bill sends a clear signal that discrimination against gay people is no longer acceptable, and that we are committed to putting right wrongs from the past."

The justice department said the convictions related to three offences that were dropped in 1986 -- sodomy, indecency between males and keeping a place of resort for homosexual acts.

It estimates about 1,000 people will be eligible to apply to have their records cleared when the scheme takes effect next year.

To qualify, the sex that led to the conviction must have been consensual and taken place between those aged 16 years or older.

The repealed laws were first introduced in 1908. Under the new scheme family members can also apply to have the records of a deceased relative cleared.

The scheme refers to men because the old laws specifically banned sex between males. Lesbianism was not illegal, although gay women also suffered social discrimination.

New Zealand passed laws banning discrimination against gays in 1993, and in 2013 became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalise same-sex marriage.

Britain last year enacted "Turing's Law", giving a blanket posthumous pardon to almost 50,000 men convicted under old laws in England and Wales.

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Named after the World War II code-breaker and mathematician Alan Turing, it also allows living people to have their convictions erased, although they must apply individually.

Turing received a posthumous pardon from Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 over a conviction in 1952 for gross indecency with a 19-year-old man, triggering calls for a blanket pardon for other men.

Turing did not go to prison but was chemically castrated, and died of cyanide poisoning in an apparent suicide two years later.

A number of Australian states, including New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, have also quashed historical convictions for homosexuality.

Germany went a step further last year when it not only erased the convictions of 50,000 gay men sentenced under a Nazi-era law, but also offered compensation to some survivors.Education Lab is a Seattle Times project that spotlights promising approaches to some of the most persistent challenges in public education. It is produced in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network, a New York-based nonprofit that works to spread the practice of solutions-oriented Read more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.The only proper response from anyone who cares about higher education in Israel, and about democracy in general, should be complete opposition to the adoption of the ethical code Education Minister Naftali Bennett seeks to impose on Israeli academia.

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The ethical code was met with wall-to-wall opposition from heads of academic institutions and intellectuals, from Nobel Prize laureates Ada Yonath and Dan Shechtman to poet Sami Shalom Chetrit and historian Yuval Noah Harari. Because the ethical code must not be allowed to spread within the system.

Dont let them fool you: Under the guise of preventing politicization and all kinds of other excuses, they are trying to create a terror regime heretargeting the mind and mouth of every academic, of every lecturer and, as a result, of every student as well. A real thought police, a system of external supervisors, disciplinary or financial sanction measures, and encouraging snitches among anyone who wishes to harasswith the goal of terrorizing you before you utter a single word.

The Big Brother watches everything (illustration) (Photo: Shutterstock)

Its called an ethical code, perhaps because the way Naftali Bennettthe high-tech entrepreneursees it, people are programmed robots in need of lines of code. This is how blind obedience is achieved among the people: Well open more professional schools for all those Ohanas in the periphery, so they can keep working on the assembly line. And what about those who have made it to academia after all? Bro, Big Brother watches everything.

The approval of the Council for Higher Education is ridiculous in itself. The council is very capable of announcing its opposition to politicization in the academia, while approving a one-sided political move by the education minister. After all, this entire farce was an opportunist move carried out by the Bayit Yehudi leader. The code was worded by only one person, who has past his prime: Prof. Asa Kasher. Kasher wasnt appointed in a bid (they found some kind of breachhis work was voluntary, so there was no need), and no other experts were invited to discuss the need for a code and, of course, its language. It was imposed by the commissar from above, like in the bad old days of bolshevism.

Bennett and Kasher. No other experts were invited to discuss the need for a code and, of course, its wording (Photos: Reuters, Tomeriko)

There is essentially no academic freedom without complete freedom of speech. Thats the meaning of democracy and of the opinion marketplace: The ability to speak your mind, without any fear, to make other people aware of your opinion and perhaps even convince themand academia is the clear incubator for that and the gate to our societys progress.

The attempt to distinguish between proper expression and an indecent political agenda is doomed to failure too. Because everything is political: From the debate on immigrant absorption after the states establishment, through criticism against a neo-liberal economic policy, to the implications of the War of Independenceyes, including that word, Nakba. And if Bennett is afraid, thats no reason for you to be afraid of him.

And anyway, this is 2018. Every Israeli enjoys clearand sometimes radicalfreedom of speech on a daily basis, on Facebook or simply on the street. How can they come along now and try to take academia back 50 or 100 years? The academic years are many students best years. If you want to keep it that way, say a firm no to Bennett and Kasher.As the most hated intellectual in Poland, Jan Gross contends with online abuse, government hostility and threats of prosecution. So when the retired Princeton professor visits his homeland, he takes a small precautionwearing a cap over his silver hair in public, to make himself a little less conspicuous.

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Gross has triggered controversy for nearly two decades with works that explore Polish violence against Jews during and after the Holocaust. That does not make him popular in today's Poland, where the nationalist government considers there has been an exaggerated focus on the country's World War II sins and has embarked on a wide-ranging effort to keeps Polish heroism and suffering in center place.

The effort has included a new law imposing up to three years of prison on anyone who falsely accuses Poland of Nazi Germany's Holocaust crimes.

Sometimes colloquially dubbed "Lex Gross" (Latin for the "Gross Law") because it was inspired by anger against Gross, it has upset Israel and the United States, which consider it a threat to freedom of speech and academic inquiry.

Auschwitz (Photo: AP)

While the government insists the law will not target anyone who tells the truth, the efforts to defend it to a skeptical world have been clumsy and accompanied by remarks that have seemed insensitive to the Jewish tragedy, bringing more attention to the very accounts authorities wanted to silence.

In a recent interview, Gross said the law has had the salutary effect of inspiring more discussions about Poland's past, though he said education in schools is a much better way to achieve that goal. Despite calls for him to be prosecuted under the law, he believes its real aim is to "gag" the way history is written far more broadly.

"I am going to write what I am writing. But young people will think twice before they specialize in that field, and teachers and others will feel very constrained about speaking about and addressing issues of complicity and how the Holocaust played out in Poland," Gross said.

Gross was born in Warsaw in 1947 as the destroyed city was rising from the rubble. His mother hailed from Christian gentry and had been active in the anti-German resistance, helping a Jewish manGross's future fatherto survive in hiding.

Auschwitz prisoners (Photo: AP)

As a student at Warsaw University, Gross was active in a protest movement fighting censorship by the communist dictatorship in 1968. The regime crushed the student protesters and orchestrated an anti-Semitic campaign that forced thousands with Jewish heritage to flee. He was in Warsaw earlier this month for events marking the 50th anniversary of the 1968 persecution, and spoke to The Associated Press from the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, where an exhibition highlights the role of a young Janek Gross and his future wife and co-researcher, Irena Grudzinska, in those dramatic days.

Gross's family, not feeling a sense of Jewishness or identification with Israel, settled in the United States. He got a doctorate in sociology from Yale and focused his early research on the persecution of Polish society under the German and Soviet occupations, getting a Polish Order of Merit for service to the nation.

Gross first challenged his homeland to confront its complicity in killing Jews with the publication in 2000 of "Neighbors," a slim but explosive book about a massacre in the town of Jedwabne in 1941. Revelations that Polesnot Germansclubbed Jews to death, decapitated and drowned them and then burned alive hundreds in a barn, were deeply shocking.

Poland was Hitler's first victim, invaded from two sides, by Germany and the Soviet Union, forced to become the Holocaust's main slaughterhouse, then betrayed by its Western Allies at the hour of victory, abandoned into Communist dictatorship. Just as it was finally a democracy, its people suddenly saw the nation cast as a villain.

While most Poles accept that some individuals behaved terribly, these culprits are widely seen as marginal criminals and blackmailers who do not represent the larger Polish response to the slaughter of the Jews.

Those who hate him most cast Gross as a Jew slandering the nation, and want him imprisoned. To Gross's supporters, though, he is a moral voice of conscience.

He tells the story of a husband and wife who run a tiny, cramped kiosk where he buys newspapers during his regular visits to Warsaw from his home in Berlin. Recently they had one of his books waiting for him to sign, and they offered him shelter should he ever find himself in trouble.

"They tell me 'be careful, but if you need to, you can come to our kiosk and we will hide you,'" Gross said.

There is also a middle ground of those who credit Gross with raising difficult questions but say he sometimes goes too far, for instance with a 2015 claim that Poles killed more Jews during the war than they killed Germans, something disputed due to a lack of firm statistics. Prosecutors have since been investigating whether he committed the crime of libeling Poland.

President Duda (Photo: Reuters)

Critics also fault him for giving short shrift to the Poles who risked their own lives to save Jews, and for ignoring actions by Jews that might partly explain hostility toward them, for instance the welcome and collaboration by some Jews in eastern Poland under the Soviet occupation.

Dariusz Stola, the POLIN museum director, says he disagrees with Gross on a number of important questions, but still considers him the "leading figure for Poland coming to terms with the Holocausta past which many European nations need to face."

When President Andrzej Duda signed the Holocaust speech law in February, the Israeli and American reactions were so sharp that he also sent it to the constitutional court for review, and authorities now suggest it might be struck down in part.

"These guys will wiggle their way out now," predicted Gross.

He voiced pessimism, however, about the larger memory struggle under nationalist rulers.

"You talk about the Holocaust and the second sentence you will hear will be 'Poles were helping Jews,' or 'Poles have so many trees at Yad Vashem.' There is no conversation about the plight of Polish Jews," Gross said. "Has that ever been in the history of any country that 10 percent of its citizens have been murdered in such an extraordinarily brutal way and this is not part of the country's history?"Poland's prime minister claims Jews took part in their own destruction in the Holocaust. His Hungarian counterpart declares that the "color" of Europeans should not mix with that of Africans and Arabs. And the Croatian president has thanked Argentina for welcoming notorious pro-Nazi war criminals after World War II.

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Ever since WWII, such views were taboo in Europe, confined to the far-right fringes. Today they are openly expressed by mainstream political leaders in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, part of a global populist surge in the face of globalization and mass migration.

"There is something broader going on in the region which has produced a patriotic, nativist, conservative discourse through which far-right ideas managed to become mainstream," said Tom Junes, a historian and a researcher with the Human and Social Studies Foundation in Sofia, Bulgaria.

In many places, the shift to the right has included the rehabilitation of Nazi collaborators, often fighters or groups celebrated as anti-communists or defenders of national liberation. In Hungary and Poland, governments are also eroding the independence of courts and media, leading human rights groups to warn that democracy is threatened in parts of a region that threw off Moscow-backed dictatorships in 1989.

Some analysts say Russia is covertly helping extremist groups in order to destabilize Western liberal democracies. While that claim is difficult to prove with concrete evidence, it is clear that the growth of radical groups has pushed moderate conservative parties to veer to the right to hold onto votes.

That's the case in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz partythe front-runner in the Aprril 8 electionshave drawn voters with an increasingly strident anti-migrant campaign.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Photo: AFP)

Casting himself as the savior of a white Christian Europe being overrun by hordes of Muslims and Africans, Orban has insisted that Hungarians don't want their "own color, traditions and national culture to be mixed by others."

Orban, who is friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also the first European leader to endorse Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential race. In 2015 he erected razor wire at Hungary's borders to stop migrants from crossing, and has since been warning in apocalyptic terms that the West faces racial and civilizational suicide if the migration continues.

Orban has also been obsessed with demonizing the financier and philanthropist George Soros, falsely portraying the Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor as an advocate of uncontrolled immigration into Europe. In what critics denounce as a state-sponsored conspiracy theory with anti-Semitic overtones, the Hungarian government spent $48.5 million on anti-Soros ads in 2017, according to data compiled by investigative news site atlatszo.hu.

Hungarian government poster portraying financier George Soros and saying 'Don't let George Soros have the last laugh' (Photo: AFP)

In a recent speech, Orban denounced Soros in language that echoed anti-Semitic cliches of the 20th century. He said Hungary's foes "do not believe in work, but speculate with money; they have no homeland, but feel that the whole world is theirs."

In nearby Poland, xenophobic language is also on the rise. The ruling party's leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, claimed migrants carried "parasites" ahead of the 2015 elections. And when nationalists held a large Independence Day march in Novemberwhen some carried banners calling for a "White Europe" and "Clean Blood"the interior minister called it a "beautiful sight."

Poland's government has also been embroiled in a bitter dispute with Israel and Jewish organizations over a law that would criminalize blaming Poland for Germany's Holocaust crimes.

With tensions running high in February, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki listed " Jewish perpetrators " as among those who were responsible for the Holocaust. He also visited the Munich grave of an underground Polish resistance group that had collaborated with the Nazis.

In the same vein, an official tapped to create a major new history museum has condemned the postwar tribunals in Nuremberg, Germanywhere top Nazis were judgedas "the greatest judicial farce in the history of Europe." Arkadiusz Karbowiak said the Nuremberg trials were only "possible because of the serious role of Jews" in their organization, and called them "the place where the official religion of the Holocaust was created."

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (Photo: Reuters)

Across the region, Roma, Muslims, Jews and other minorities have expressed anxiety about the future. But nationalists insist they are not promoting hate. They argue they're defending their national sovereignty and Christian way of life against globalization and the large-scale influx of migrants who don't assimilate.

The Balkans, bloodied by ethnic warfare in the 1990s, are also seeing a rise of nationalism, particularly in Serbia and Croatia. Political analysts there believe that Russian propaganda is spurring old ethnic resentments.

Croatia has steadily drifted to the right since joining the EU in 2013. Some officials there have denied the Holocaust or reappraised Croatia's ultranationalist, pro-Nazi Ustasha regime, which killed tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs, Roma and anti-fascist Croats in wartime prison camps.

In a recent visit to Argentina, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic thanked the country for providing post-war refuge to Croats who had belonged to the Ustasha regime.

The world's top Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff of the Wiesenthal center, called her statement "a horrific insult to victims." Grabar-Kitarovic later said she had not meant to glorify a totalitarian regime.

Croatia's President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic (Photo: AFP)

Meanwhile in Bulgaria, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, the government includes a far-right alliance, the United Patriots, whose members have given Nazi salutes and slurred minorities. Deputy prime minister Valeri Simeonov has called Roma "ferocious humanoids" whose women "have the instincts of street dogs."

Junes, the Sofia-based researcher, says that even though hate crimes are on the rise in Bulgaria, the problem has raised little concern in the West because the country keeps its public debt in check and is not challenging the fundamental Western consensus, unlike Poland and Hungary.

"Bulgaria isn't rocking the boat," Junes said. "They play along with Europe."

While populist and far-right groups are also growing in parts of Western Europe, countries like Poland and Hungary are proving more vulnerable to the same challenges, said Peter Kreko, director of Political Capital Institute, a Budapest-based think tank.

"In younger, weaker, more fragile democracies," Kreko said, "right-wing populism is more dangerous because it can weaken and even demolish the democratic institutions."WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is postponing until September a summit with Gulf Arab leaders that had been planned for this spring amid an ongoing dispute between Qatar and other US allies in the region, according to five US officials.

The decision to delay the May summit with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council reflects a crowded diplomatic calendar, and the fact that President Donald Trump is without a secretary of state until the Senate confirms current CIA Director Mike Pompeo, two of the officials said.

Other sources, however, told Reuters the delay is also a nod to the fact that Washington has made little progress so far in ending the bitter standoff between Qatar and other Gulf nations, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.Police were responding on Tuesday to a possible shooter at the headquarters of YouTube in San Bruno, California, officials said.

Police in the city south of San Francisco warned people in a Twitter message to stay away from the address where YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc's Google, is based. A police dispatcher said by telephone that it was an "active situation."Police in Northern California say they're responding to an active shooter at YouTube headquarters.

The San Bruno Police Department told people on Facebook to stay away from the area Tuesday. There was no other immediate information.

Google, which owns the online video website, posted on Twitter that the company is coordinating with authorities.

City Manager Connie Jackson says there have been multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting and that police and fire officials have responded.

Television images showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building. Officers then patted down people grouped outside.MISSOULA - Attorneys for a neo-Nazi website publisher and a Montana woman asked a judge Tuesday to decide whether the white nationalist had a First Amendment right to unleash a "troll storm" of anti-Semitic messages and threats against the Jewish woman's family.

US Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch heard arguments in Missoula on whether to dismiss a lawsuit by Tanya Gersh, a real-estate agent from the mountain resort community of Whitefish, against The Daily Stormer publisher Andrew Anglin.Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, appealed to the UN Security Council on Tuesday for immediate international protection for Palestinian civilians, especially in Gaza, amid the clashes on the border.

He charged in a letter to the council that Israel has adopted "a shoot-to-kill policy" during what he called peaceful protests.

Mansour strongly backed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for an independent investigation of the killings and accused Israel of "intentionally, grossly and systematically" violating its legal obligation to protect civilians.A woman who had voiced complaints online about YouTube opened fire with a handgun at the tech company's headquarters near San Francisco on Tuesday, wounding three people before shooting herself dead, authorities and media said.

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It was the latest in a string of mass shootings in the United States in recent years. Most recently, the massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school has led to calls for tighter curbs on gun ownership.

Police did not identify the suspect or say what might have motivated Tuesday's shooting at YouTube, a video-sharing service owned by Alphabet Inc's Google which employs nearly 2,000 people at the San Bruno, California offices.

YouTube headquarters in San Bruno (Photo: Reuters)

The woman approached an outdoor patio and dining courtyard on the campus around lunchtime and began to fire before entering the building, police said.

Two law enforcement officials identified the suspect later Tuesday as 39-year-old San Diego resident Nasim Aghdam, an animal rights activist, said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute.

Nasim Aghdam

San Bruno police officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the identity of the attacker.

YouTube spokeswoman Jessica Mason could not immediately be reached for comment on the identification by media.

Video from Nasim Aghdam's website

X

The website NasimeSabz.com, which media said was linked to the attacker, had several posts about Persian culture and veganism, interspersed with screeds against YouTube.

Those complaints included claims the company was not sharing enough revenue with people who create videos for the platform.

"There is no equal growth opportunity on YouTube, or any other video-sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to," read one posting on the site.

Nasim Aghdam

A YouTube account in the name of Nasime Sabz was deleted on Tuesday evening.

A US government security official told Reuters there was no known connection to terrorism.

Shooter said: 'Come at me'

A YouTube product manager, Todd Sherman, described on Twitter hearing people running, first thinking it was an earthquake before he was told that a person had a gun.

"At that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves," Sherman said in a tweet.

"I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peeked around for threats and then we headed downstairs, and out the front," Sherman said.

In a recording of a 911 call posted online by the Los Angeles Times, a dispatcher can be heard saying: "Shooter. Another party said they spotted someone with a gun. Suspect came from the back patio ... Again we have a report of a subject with a gun. They heard seven or eight shots being fired."

Scene of the shooting (Photo: Reuters)

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the building's second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a "big huge pistol."

"It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, 'Shooter,' and everybody started running," Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates. "It was terrifying," she said.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings when the fire alarm went off. He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, "'Come at me, or come get me.'"

Scene of the shooting (Photo: Reuters)

He saw somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound. Vorhies said he realized there was an active shooter when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door.

He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw the shooter during work hours.

Michael Finney, a 21-year-old supervisor at Carl's Jr. across from the campus, said he came out of the bathroom to see a woman in a booth bleeding from the calf. Two friends were trying to stop the bleeding, using the victim's sweatshirt as a tourniquet, but it wasn't helping, he told the San Jose Mercury News.

"Everyone was figuring out what to do," Finney said. "I was trying to stay calm and see what I could do. Everybody is shocked."

Dozens of emergency vehicles quickly converged on the YouTube campus, and police could be seen on televised aerial video systematically frisking several employees leaving the area with their hands raised.

One victim, a 36-year-old man, was listed in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A 32-year-old woman was listed in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. Authorities did not release names of the victims.

Support sign at Walmart offices (Photo: AP)

The three patients taken to San Francisco General Hospital were all awake, Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, told a news conference. All were victims of gunshot wounds, Campbell said, but none of them had undergone surgery.

A fourth person was taken to a local hospital with an ankle injury from fleeing the scene.

"It's with great sadness that I tell youbased on the latest informationfour people were injured in this horrific act of violence," Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in letter to employees posted on Twitter.

"I know a lot of you are in shock right now. Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy."

In a separate tweet, Pichai said he and YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki were "focused on supporting our employees and the @YouTube community through this difficult time together."

Scene of the shooting (Photo: Reuters)

President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he had been briefed on the shooting.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved," Trump tweeted. "Thank you to our phenomenal law enforcement officers and first responders that are currently on the scene."

In response, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey tweeted: "We can't keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it won't happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots. It's beyond time to evolve our policies."

Last month, YouTube announced it would ban content promoting the sale of guns and gun accessories, as well as videos that teach how to make guns.

Female mass shooters are rare. A recent Washington Post analysis shows only three of 150 US shootings with more than four victims since 1966 were carried out by women. In 2015, a husband and wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.Russian media reported Tuesday that an investigation was opened into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mikhail Verevskoy, 27, who was brutally beaten five days earlier while on his way to his home in St. Petersburg.

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The suspect, identified as Ahmed Kharsha, 36, who is a resident of the port city, was arrested on suspicion of committing the crime and was released shortly after on bail.

Russian police said that he was prohibited from leaving the city and added that they have not ruled out the possibility that the motive behind the fatal attack was anti-Semitic.

Mikhail Verevskoy

The incident took place overnight between March 28-29 when Verevskoy was shopping at the local supermarket on his way home when he was suddenly set upon by his assailant.

One Russian news website claimed that the incident occurred following a fight, but now investigators are looking into whether it was a premeditated murder.

On Monday, he was pronounced dead in the hospital, three days before he was to celebrate his 28th birthday and while his wife is in labor.

Verevskoy studied architecture and civil engineering at St. Petersburg State University and immigrated to Israel in 2010, before drafting into the IDF. He lived in Jerusalem until 2012.

He later returned to Russia where he got married and was an active member of the Jewish community and in St. Petersburgs Choral Synagogue. He also volunteered for a non-profit organization for animals.ISTANBUL - The planned delivery of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries to Turkey has been brought forward to July 2019, the Turkish undersecretary for defence industries said, from the first quarter of 2020.

Turkey and Russia signed the S-400 accord in December, finalising a deal which deepened military ties between NATO member Turkey and the Kremlin.

The deal, reportedly worth some $2.5 billion, has worried the West because the system cannot be integrated into NATO's military architecture.

"We brought forward the delivery date in the accord signed with Russia to provide the S-400 system and got a date of July 2019," Turkish Undersecretary for Defence Industries Ismail Demir wrote on Twitter overnight.Thousands of ultra-Orthodox men welcomed members of the radical Jerusalem Faction who were released from military prison on Tuesday after serving time for refusing to enlist in the IDF.

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The 63 draft dodgers traveled from Prison 4 in Tzrifin to Jerusalem in 12 limousines, disrupting and slowing down traffic.

Haredi draft dodgers welcomed home (:  )

X

The Jerusalem Faction, which often holds demonstrations and blocks roads in protest of the IDF draft, organized a rally of solidarity with the army deserters on Yermiyahu Street in the capital.

Each of the draft dodgers had a sash on that said "Accused prisoner," and they were greeted by the crowds with cheers, song and dance.

Freed draft-dodgers with 'accused prisoner' sashes

The Jerusalem Faction said the event was also in solidarity with Aharon Biala, a prominent Haredi protester who was imprisoned last week for 20 days due to his refusal to enlist.

Crowds welcome draft dodgers

The Committee for Saving the World of Torah said "The Haredi public treasures and admires its heroes, who literally sacrificed their soul to erase the draft lawwhich incriminated many from the world of Torahturning it into a dead letter in the statute book.

Crowds surround draft dodgers' limousines, cheering (Photo: Yishai Porat)

"We're calling on the authorities to start internalizing the fact that the Haredi public does not act against its own beliefs and does not compromise. We won't allow a group that defines itself as the messengers of the Haredi public to continue the liquidation sale of the world of Torah. Our heroes are those young men who face them fearlessly with a burning truth and declare 'This Torah will not be replaced.'"A Palestinian Islamic Jihad member was indicted Wednesday morning for gathering intelligence for a planned attack on an Israeli Navy ship, with the aim of abducting Israeli soldiers.

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On March 12, an Israeli Navy vessel stopped a Palestinian fishing boat and arrested the 10 people on board during routine operations off the Gaza coast after the boat was seen sailing outside the permitted fishing zone.

One of the suspects, Amin Saadi Muhammad Jamaa, a 24-year-old fisherman from Rafah, is a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Arrest of the terror cell (:  ")

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The nine other suspects, also Palestinian fishermen, were questioned and released. Israeli troops did not find any weapons on the boat.

In August 2017, Jamaa was offered $5,000 to carry out the attack, which among other things was meant to be an act of revenge after the IDF destroyed an Islamic Jihad cross-border tunnel, killing several of its militants.

On instructions from his Islamic Jihad commander Ahmad Maqdad, Jamaa allegedly took part in the planning of an attack against an Israeli Navy vessel, that would've been carried out by six Islamic Jihad members in three boats.

During Jamaa's interrogation, the Shin Bet learned the plan was to use one boat for deception. While the Navy vessel would have turned its focus on the deception boat, another boat would have attacked the Navy ship, launching a Kornet guided missile at it, killing and wounding the soldiers on board.

A third boat would have then drawn near to the Navy ship in an effort to abduct one or several of the soldiers on board, so they could be used as bargaining chips in a future prisoner exchange deal.

The Shin Bet investigation also found that as part of his preparations for the attack, Jamaa observed Navy ships on several occasions between August 2017 and March 2018, while sailing in his family's fishing boats. He gathered information about the Navy vessels' locations, the number of soldiers on board and what weapons they had, taking pictures of the ships with his cellphone.

Members of the Palestinian cell arrested, left, and Amin Jamaa, right (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

Jamaa received a certification of appreciation from Islamic Jihad with several questions written on it concerning the Israeli Navy vessels' operations.

When asked how many soldiers were on board the Navy's patrol boat, he responded 12six awake and six asleep, with one soldier stationed at the machine gun.

When asked how far a fishing boat could come near a Navy ship, he answered some 300 meters. He also timed how long it would take a fishing boat to make its way from the shore to a certain spot at sea15 minutes.

Jamaa even noticed the soldiers were watching any fishing boat approaching them, and advised his Islamic Jihad operator to send the second boat to surprise the Navy vessel.

The arrest of the Palestinian cell (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

The indictment noted that five years ago, Jamaa smuggled 500 kg of explosives from Egypt to Gaza at the request of a Hamas member.

A statement from the Shin Bet and IDF said, "This is another link in a chain of terror attacks planned and initiated by Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip in recent months, including a cross-border attack tunnel that was neutralized on October 30, 2017, the firing of mortar shells at Israel on November 30, 2017 and December 28, 2017, and more."

Jamaa denied on Wednesday the crimes attributed to him, saying "I didn't want to blow up the boats, this wasn't my intention."

His lawyer claimed the state "has very much exaggerated the facts. My client may have confessed to the allegations, but not as they are presented in the indictment."

"He wasn't an Islamic Jihad member, but a fisherman who was paid. It's true he was caught with his phone taking pictures of the Navy's Dabur-class patrol boat, but not to carry out an attack," the lawyer, Muhammad Jabarin, added.

Amin Jamaa (Photo: Herzl Yosef)

Daoud Shehab, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, said he had no information about the Israeli announcement but that his group was involved in "open confrontation" against it.

"It's also our right to look for suitable ways to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners," he added.

Defense Minister praised Jamaa's capture, saying "Once again the IDF and the Shin Bet have prevented a terror attack against our forces. The challenges on the Gaza border are varied and complex. The people of Israel have someone to rely on. I hope this time, our friends from the Left won't demand a commission of inquiry."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also praised the Shin Bet and IDF, saying "The security forces will act in any arena to protect the State of Israel and our citizens."

"This is proof of the true intentions of the terror organizations in Gaza, who are trying to disguise their murderous intentions by organizing provocations on the border fence," he added.

Despite the rising tensions on the Gaza border, the Israeli Navy is making preparations for the expansion of the permitted fishing zone off the coast of Gazafrom six nautical miles to nine. The change will go into effect in mid-April, after Passover, and will remain in place for three months.The New Israel Fund's (NIF) Executive Director Mickey Gitzin said Wednesday that his organization is considering filing a lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for libel after he blamed it a day earlier for scuppering a deal with Rwanda , saying that through European states, it had persuaded the African nation to refuse to take in the African migrants slated to be deported from Israel.

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This time he is lying in an unprecedented manner, and we are looking into the legal side and whether we can sue him for libel, Gitzin said, lambasting the prime minister for a second time in two days.

In a Facebook post, Netanyahu asserted that "The Fund endangers the security and future of the State of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, adding that it receives funding from foreign governments and elements hostile to Israel ... such as George Soros."

"We are seriously concerned and are now calling on anyone for whom the State of Israel as a democratic state is important to stand by our side, whether that person agrees or disagrees with us, Gitzin said in his latest appeal, a day after Netanyahu tasked Coalition Chairman MK David Amsalem with establishing a parliamentary committee to investigate its role in allegedly stifling the Rwanda deal.

PM Netanyahu and Mickey Gitzin (Photo: AFP)

Anyone who doesnt understand that today its us and tomorrow its him, doesnt understand what has been going on here in the last year," Gitzin added.

Netanyahus comments, Gitzin argued, were inciting and threatening and intended to distract the general public from more pressing issues.

His goal is to divert the publics attention away from his failings and to terrorize organizations like us to make us afraid, he said, adding that the prime ministers remarks threatened the very essence of Israeli democracy.

There is a strategic danger to the State of Israel here in many aspects, because it doesnt only harm freedom of speech or freedom of struggle, but also the deepest sense of the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora, Gitzin asserted.

The power of the State of Israel in relation to the world, the freedom of expression and individual liberties: These are the things about which he boasts when he travels around the world.

It is not the first time that Netanyahu has lashed out against the NIF and accused it of being a fundamentally foreign outfit operating in a hostile fashion against the State of Israel.

However, Gitzin accused the prime minister of attempting to replenish support he may have lost for the humiliation caused by his flip-flopping on a deal with the UN that was intended to resolve the migrant crisis and put an end to government plans of mass deportation.

Protest against mass deportation (Photo: Zvika Tishler)

Gitzin drew attention to the fact that Netanyahu reneged on the agreement just hours after praising it. This, he concluded, is why Netanyahu is attempting to find a scapegoat in order to explain his shortfalls in dealing with the migrant crisis.

Netanyahu has a different 'devil' every time that is intended to divert attention away from his personal failings, he charged.

We have already seen this with the Arabs in droves, he added in reference to the prime ministers electoral campaign comments in 2015, in which he urged Israelis to vote to counter the high turnout of Arab voters.

And with the comment that the Left have forgotten what it means to be Jewish, and we saw him in Zion Square. We have seen him polarize and divide Israeli society, but this time he is lying in an unprecedented manner and we are looking into the legal side and whether we can sue him for libel, the NIF director said.

He categorically denied any connection whatsoever with the Rwandan government, which was the third country that was supposed to absorb the migrants.

Does he want to check? Let him. Unlike his activities, everything is transparent and open on our internet site, Gitzin said in a dig against Netanyahu, who is embroiled in corruption probes.

In any event, he insisted that It is also legitimate for a civil society to work with governments, but we were never in contact with Rwanda or any other individual from organizations that we fund."

(Photo: Barel Efraim)

This is a prime minister who did the most massive zigzag of his life and was himself shocked by his own decision. After all, only two days ago he said that the deal with the UN was the best thing that could have happened. And suddenly he realized that he has a problem with his political base and chose the most despicable way, he continued.

The NIF has two operative branches: The first provides financial grants and the second is the Shatil movement, which is an initiative for social change. The NIF used the two branches in order to fight against the deportation plan.

It also provides money to organizations that have opposed the deportations such as the activist group South Tel Aviv Against Deportation, an organization that offers succor to the migrants. The NIF branches were also involved in formulating strategy, organizing demonstrations and submitting some of the petitions to the High Court of Justice on the subject.

I say here explicitly, our world view is clear and is against the deportation of refugees. We worked and will continue to work on the matter, he promised.

Despite being in the prime ministers crosshairs, Gitzin vowed that the activities of the NIF would continue as usual in order to promote its core values.

He is attacking us because he knows there is no place that we do not touch. We are also effective, significant and know how to operate and are not scared, and when the prime minister sees an opponent like this he decides that it is at the heart of the issue, Gitzin said.

(Photo: Haim Zach/GPO)

We didnt come to the NIF to be scared, but to change the State of Israel and to turn it into a better place for its citizens, Jews and non Jews, refugees and others. At the end of the day, we see it in the endless donations and letters of support that come our way, he claimed.

The Israeli society appreciates our strong stance and understands that we have become a sacrifice in this media spin, and that we dont have any intention of becoming scared or morally corrupt.

Netanyahus call for establishing a parliamentary committee to investigate the NIF is unlikely to be translated into action, however.

Last October, the Knesset's Legal Advisor Eyal Yinon said that the Knesset had no authority to launch an investigation following Netanyahus calls to establish a parliamentary investigative committee to look into the financing by foreign states of left-wing organizations.

The issues under discussion cannot constitute a matter for a parliamentary investigation since an investigation of this kind of civil society organizations on ideological grounds stand in opposition to basic government principles, Yinon wrote at the time.Hebrew graffiti was spray painted on Palestinian vehicles and their tires were slashed in the village of Far'ata near Nablus overnight Tuesday.

The graffiti said "No more administrative orders" and "administrative price tag."

Police launched an investigation into the incident.THE HAGUE - The British delegation to the global chemical weapons body on Wednesday dismissed a Russian proposal for a joint UK-Russian investigation into the Salisbury poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal as "perverse."

"Is it a diversionary tactic, and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russians authorities must answer," the UK delegation said in a tweet during a special meeting at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.The American Daily Beast news website reported Wednesday that the Palestinian teen provocateur, Ahed Tamimi , who was sentenced to eight months in jail for slapping an IDF soldier and accosting his comrade, was interrogated in an overbearing and intimidating manner and that her interlocutors attempted to flirt with her in a creepy way.

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The Daily Beast claims to have seen the nearly two-hour interrogation video of Tamimi from December 26 last year, saying that her rights as a minor seem to be of little concern to the two male interrogators bearing down on her.

It also reports quotes from her testimony in the investigation after she was filmed in the incident with the IDF soldiers during Nabi Salih riots.

Ahed Tamimi in court (: )

X

During the judicial proceedings, the Palestinian icons defense attorney Gabi Leski said that one of the investigators sexually harassed her client and had therefore approached the attorney general on the matter, but had yet to receive a response.

Handcuffed and sitting at a desk in a police office, Ahed watches and withstands the security officials escalation from theatrical displays of good cop-bad cop and creepy attempts at flirting to terrifying threats against her family, the report claims.

The report goes on to claim that the second interrogator intervened after realizing that his colleagues tactics were failing and therefore resorted to what was described as direct intimidation.

Im an interrogator from Israel. We walk in line with the law ... In all the areas the law is Israeli, the law of the military. And you have to listen to the law, you and all the family, the report alleges Tamimi was told in an authoritative manner.

A variety of tactics failed to nudge the Palestinian provocateur into cooperating with them, leading one of the interrogators, the report alleged, who "becomes flustered, to throw his notepad and remove his gun, telling Ahed that it isnt an interrogation and pleading with her to chat with him. Ahed says nothing.

When that fails, in continues, Tamimi is presented with videos of what appear to be her assault on the IDF soldiers and protests in her hometown.

The expression on her face softens. The interrogator pounces. Your mom, this is the voice of your mom! Whose voice is that? he demands. Clearly distressed, Ahed keeps her lips sealed. He then threatens her with jail time. She remains silent, the article describes, noting that throughout, Tamimi maintained her silence until the interrogator began threatening to arrest her family and friends after which her expression melts into a look of horror followed by melancholy.

Tamimis lawyer responded to the report, saying that her client had maintained the right to silence, even though her interrogation was carried out in violation of her rights between an investigator and a minor.

Leski said that she had filed a complaint to the Police Investigation Unit via the attorney general, but that the former had said it has no authority to investigate the interlocutor since he is not a police officer.

Attorney Gabi Leski (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

Therefore, I again turned to the attorney general in order that the authorized individual open an investigation, Tamimis advocate said.

Since then, despite the fact that this was an invalid investigation in which the Military Intelligence Directorate explicitly threatened to arrest the family relatives of the minor if she continues to maintain her silence, and in which the same interrogator abused his status and related to the appearance of a minor under interrogation in flagrant violation of the law, an investigation has still not been opened by the authorized officials against someone who presented himself as an investigator in the IDFs intelligence branch, she complained.

This is further proof that the law-enforcement apparatus harms the rights of Palestinian minors, and the time has come to realize that a self-respecting society cannot discriminate and harm minors from whatever side, Leski concluded.

The IDF said that the issue was being examined.ISLAMABAD - The United States has placed a small Pakistani political party on its list of foreign terrorist groups, calling it a front for the militants behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The US State Department said Tuesday that the Milli Muslim League is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group founded by Hafiz Saeed, a Muslim cleric who lives freely in Pakistan and often addresses anti-India rallies. The US has offered a $10 million reward for his capture, and the US and UN consider Lashkar-e-Taiba a terrorist group.

Saeed has denied responsibility for the Mumbai attacks, which killed 168 people, and Pakistan says there is not enough evidence to arrest him.

Saeed's spokesman, Yahya Mujahid, said Wednesday that the cleric is not part of the Milli Muslim League or Lashkar-e-Taiba.BAGHDAD - Iraq may carry out special forces operations against Islamic State militants in neighbouring Syria to stop them infiltrating back into Iraq, an expert close to the Baghdad government said on Wednesday.

While troops could be dropped into Syria, the plan did not at this stage involve sending ground forces over the border, Hisham al-Hashimi, who advises several governments on Islamic State, including Iraq's, told Reuters.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday.

The three leaders talked about regional issues and "advancing the examination into the possibility of laying a gas pipeline from Israel to Cyprus and from there to Greece and western Europe," the Prime Minister's Office said.

The two leaders wished Netanyahu a happy Passover and said they were looking forward to their joint meeting in May.The vehicle of Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) came under attack by radical Haredim as he was leaving a synagogue in Beit Shemesh.

The ultra-Orthodox attackers hurled eggs, vegetables and other objects at the car. Porush was unhurt.

The attackers were protesting the fact Porush was taking part in a team working on a new draft law.Dozens of Haredim protested in Beit Shemesh on Wednesday against police plans to perform an autopsy on a baby who drowned at a hotel in Ashdod as part of an investigation into his death.

The protesters blocked Yehuda HaNassi Street and the Kikar HaShabat junction and the streets leading to it.African asylum seekers' joy on Monday afternoon was quickly replaced with heavy concerns in the evening after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to suspend and eventually cancel an agreement with the United Nation High Commission for Refugees, which would have provided legal status to about half of them in Israel.

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The asylum seekers are now worried about being deported against their will to African countries, while Netanyahu and the ministers in his government intend to legislate a law bypassing the High Court of Justice.

Michael Mahari, 23, who came to Israel from Eritrea 2.5 years ago, spoke about how he felt during that turbulent day. "When Netanyahu spoke on Monday, I was so happy, but then I felt bad again," he said.

"I escaped Eritrea because they wanted me to go to the army at the age of 14. I couldn't be there. I ran thinking I'll be better, but now my life is not that good," he recounted. "I want us to have a good life in Israel, to be provided with what we need."

Michael Mahari (Amit Huber)

Mahari said he's afraid of being deported to Africa. "I can't go back to Eritrea, they will just take me to the army and I can't," he added. "My dad is still there. I want to study, to open my horizons. I will not be accepted in any other African country. A while ago my friends went there and their money was taken. They were killed on their way to Libya, I don't want to go there."

He was angry at the prime minister for revoking the agreement. "It's his country, I can't tell him what to do, but I ask him to allow us to live like human beings. We are all human beings, we are all the same, black or whitewe have the same heart, this is my belief."

Johny Cappel, 30, who came from Eritrea, now runs a kindergarten in southern Tel Aviv. "I've been in Israel for nine years, and I came here because Eritrea has an unlimited recruitment policy: you are a slave your entire life. I left my parents, my brothers and my family, because I had seen the massive damage done to my country. You give your life to your country, but you get no rights. That made me an asylum seeker. So in 2009 I fled from Eritrea to Ethiopia. I continued to Sudan, where I couldn't stay since Sudan could have deported me back to Eritrea. After a few years, I was kidnapped and brought to Sinai. In Sinai you have to pay," he told Ynet.

Cappel, like many other asylum seekers, was content with the agreement. "I heard on the news the prime minister saying that the deportation was canceled and that 16,000 asylum seekers will move to Western countries. On the one hand that made me happy, on the other hand, it didn't, since we were in bad shape. We spent our days in fear, we demonstrated. All this time we have worked hard, had difficulties and never thought we'd be surprised, that we'd be happy. On Monday we were happy," he said.

But the joy didn't last long. "After 6 hour and 45 minutes, the prime minister heard all the right-wing people (and changed his mind). I don't know why, it's just a shame and some sort of a game, and all while celebrating the common holiday to Jews and us Christians, when the story of the slaves of Sinai is told. We were very disappointed to hear the decision made was canceled, it was very hard to hear. All we ask is for him (Netanyahu) to reconsider, to make a clear-cut decision," Cappel continued.

Johny Cappel (Amit Huber)

Now, Cappel feels his life is in danger again. "My concerns are not new, they have existed since I came to Israel. You are illegal, you have no future, you don't have a normal life like everybody else has. You don't have work permits, a driver's license, you can't study. The minute one is illegal, one lives constantly in fear," he explained.

El-Haj Hassan, a Sudanese asylum seeker who has been living in Israel for 10 years, told Ynet he too was happy to hear of the UN outline, "but when came morning, he (Netanyahu) withdrew from his decision. And now we are used as pawns in his political game. But this is a humane issue, not a political one. We have been here for ten years, but no solution was offered."

"I petitioned for asylum five years ago, and then I was incarcerated for 18 months and then released. The government is just not interested in solving our problem," he lamented.

Hassan supports the idea of being resettled in safe Western countries, "but if they decide to send us back to the countries we came from, it would suggest the Israeli government ignores the crisis in those countries and supports the Sudanese and Eritrean governments."

"We've still got hope that the Israeli public will stand with us, we'll continue protesting with all the means we have. We thank everyone who supports us in this humane moral conflict," added Hassan.

Kibbutz Movement takes in asylum seekers

The Kibbutz Movement has decided not to wait for the prime minister's decision and is vigorously preparing for the absorption of the asylum seekers in dozens of kibbutzim across the country.

To date, dozens of refugees have been absorbed in kibbutzim throughout the south and north of the country, and many other kibbutzim are due to take part in the project.

"I aspire to reach 100 absorbing kibbutzim. But only once the school year ends, during summer break, a full absorption process will be possible," said Dr. Avi Offer, the Kibbutz Movement's coordinator.

Only two weeks ago, the first out of four Eritrean families28-year-old mom Latina and her nine- and seven-year-old daughters Michal and Yerushalemwere absorbed in Kibbutz Sasa in the Upper Galilee.

A family absorbed in a Kibbuz

"We lived in terrible overcrowding and in bad conditions in southern Tel Aviv, I worked as a cleaning lady, and I couldn't provide for us, it was so difficult," said Latina.

"But today I'm glad and thankful to the kibbutz for taking me in. At first, I was afraid of the unknown, I Googled Sasa and thought it's in Lebanon, but then I was told it's in Israel. I left a whole community, but today I feel good, my daughters are smiling, and we have found a warm loving home."

And Sasa is not the only kibbutz to take in the refugees. The head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, Giora Zelt, said that 12 out of 29 kibbutzim in the regional councilamong them Kibbutz Bar'am, Yir'on, Shamir, Lehavot HaBashan and Mahanayimare preparing to absorb the asylum seekers.

"We don't need Netanyahu's statements, and the deportation isn't relevant to me," added Zelt. "A certain amount of refugees have already been absorbed, and obviously we have to properly prepare the schools and workplaces, exactly as we prepared to absorb the immigrants from the former Soviet Union. One of our most important values is to help the foreigner, the orphan and the widow."

The Kibbutz Movement said it wasn't bothered by "Netanyahu's statements about moving the asylum seekers to the kibbutzim."



"Over two months ago, we said we were willing to be part of any national solution to the asylum seekers' problem in southern Tel Aviv. We said it, and we've done it. But so far, no governmental representative has turned to us, and no plan has been presented."

But not all kibbutz members think the same, and there are some that look at the refugee absorption as long-lasting tragedy.

"On the one hand, I feel sorry for them, but on the other hand, it scares me to bring in a stranger. Most of them are not Jewish and have different customs," said 60-year-old Amiran Shuster from Kfar Szold.

"Eventually, they will not have anyone to marry and built a family with, which is not a good thing to the Jewish people. Now we are being portrayed as the saviors of another nation, but in the long run we'll have to pay the price. This will eventually empower minorities among us and change our country's demographics," according to Shuster.The leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Ankara Wednesday to discuss a resolution to the ongoing Syrian civil war. The meeting marked the second summit meeting held by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian and Iranian counterparts, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani.

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The previous summit meeting between the three was held in Sochi, Russia , in November, 2017.

The leaders of the three powers published a joint statement in the wake of their meeting in which they underlined the importance of creating the infrastructure to allow the millions of Syrian refugees to return to their homeland, Iranian state television reported.

L-R: Iranian President Rouhani, Turkish President Erdogan and Russian President Putin (Photo: Reuters)

The Ankara talks between the three leaders also dealt with their countries' commitment to ensure Syria's territorial integrity, and to ensure localized cessations of hostilities continue. The three also discussed border security issues, humanitarian aid dispersal and drafting a new constitution for the war-torn country.

Erdogan: Kurdish rebels, IS have same goal

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani told the leaders of Turkey and Russia at the summit Wednesday that the Syrian region of Afrin, captured by Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies, should be handed over to Syria's army, Iranian television said.

"The developments in Afrin can only be useful if they do not violate Syria's territorial integrity, and control of these areas should be handed over to the Syrian army," Rouhani said at the summit.

He added that the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group and other terror organization served the interests of certain powers, including the United States.

Leaders of the three countries discussed a resolution to the years' long civil war in Syria (Photo: Reuters)

Erdogan, for his part, said that Syria's territorial integrity depended on maintaining distance from all terrorist organizations, a reference to US support for the YPG Syrian Kurdish militia Ankara considers an enemy. Those who did not understand that IS and the Syrian Kurdish rebels harbored the same goals, he added, will not be able to continue to lasting peace in Syria.

While the road to resolving the conflict was still long and hard, the Turkish leader said, hope of success was growing stronger.

Russia and Iran both provided significant succor to embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whereas Turkey supported rebel groups that sought to depose him. All three countries supported several rounds of peace talks between the Damascus government and Syrian opposition, mediated localized ceasefires in four regions and assisted in reducing violence in the country.

Rouhani before the summit: 'Interference from Zionist forces in Syria has increased problems'

Before the summit, Iranian President Rouhani attacked the United States and Israel for their roles in Syria.

"The Americans are against the Syrian government establishing its authority throughout the whole country and are even thinking of a breakup (of the country)," he said in a ceremony broadcast live from Tehran's Mehrabad airport.

An infant in eastern Ghouta. Iranian President Rouhani said 'interference from Zionist forces in Syria has increased problems' (Photo: AFP)

"There's interference from Zionist forces in Syria which has increased problems. They don't respect Syrian national sovereignty. They bomb areas in Syria. They support terrorists. These are all issues which have increased Syria's problems," he said.

Russia has boosted Assad's military capabilities in the conflict by bringing in key air support. Critics have accused Russia of targeting civilians, a charge Moscow has denied.

The US military has primarily limited its intervention in Syria to fighting Islamic State militants rather than targeting forces allied with the Syrian government.

Rouhani said there was no military solution to seven years of conflict in Syria, in which 500,000 people have been killed and half the population displaced. Only dialogue could end it, he said.

Shiite-dominated Iran is Assad's main regional ally and has acknowledged having military advisers and volunteers from its elite Revolutionary Guards in Syria.

Syrian President Assad's once-crumbling regime has been propped up by Iran and Russia (Photo: EPA)

Tensions ramped up between Israel and Iran in early February when anti-aircraft fire downed an Israeli F-16 warplane returning from a bombing raid on Iran-backed positions in Syria.

Israel then launched a second and more intensive air raid, hitting what it said were 12 Iranian and Syrian targets in Syria, including Syrian air defense systems.

Senior Iranian political and military officials have denied playing a role in shooting down the Israeli jet or launching a drone into Israeli territory.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.BEIRUT  A top Syrian Kurdish politician suggested on Wednesday that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Iraqi government could mount joint operations against Islamic State in the area on the border of the two countries.

Aldar Xelil warned of a jihadist revival in eastern Syria, where operations by the US-backed SDF have tapered off since they diverted fighters to the northwest to fight a Turkish offensive.

"Iraq is a neighboring state and is also suffering from Daesh terrorism," he said in a telephone interview with Reuters, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

"Daesh is present in the shared area between us, and this points to the possibility of conditions arising that would pave the way for joint actions against Daesh," he said.The state filed a response to the High Court of Justice on the issue of the African migrant crisis, and announced that an Israeli special envoy had left for one of the countries with which a deportation agreement had been signed, apparently Uganda, referred to as the "third country" in an official statement to the court.

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Last month, the High Court issued a temporary injunction for the state, ordering it to halt the planned mass expulsion of African immigrants until it submits a response to a petition made to the court against it.

African migrants at Saharonim detention facility (: EPA)

"In view of the recent allegations against the third country, and in view of the current focus of deporting solely to this country now, a number of factual updates have been required, including by the special envoy to the third country responsible for the matter," the statement said.

Claims have recently risen that the country with which Israel has struck a deportation agreement with intends to accept the money for each deportee, only to later expel them from the country. It was also claimed that the aforementioned country will refuse to absorb any immigrant forcibly expelled against his own will.

"Accordingly, this emissary left this morning for the third third country in question, and he is expected to provide answers and updates this evening, and at the latest on Thursday morning."

Meanwhile, the two African countries thought to be the ones taking in migrants deported from Israel are again denying any such agreement was made.

Anti-expulsion protesters (Photo: Barel Efraim)

Ministers with Uganda and Rwanda spoke after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled an agreement with the United Nations to resettle thousands of African migrants to Western nations. Critics in Israel opposed the deal because it would allow many other migrants to remain.

Ugandas foreign affairs minister, Henry Okello Oryem, says that if any migrants deported from Israel arrive in the East African nation "we will insist that the airlines return them to the country where they came from."

He added: "We do not have a contract, any understanding, formal or informal, with Israel for them to dump their refugees here."

Rwandas minister of state for foreign affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, says no deal was ever signed with Israel, adding that "we have a general open policy on the refugees but our condition is that those migrants must be willing to come to Rwanda without any form of constraint."The state has announced that 58 of the 270 asylum seekers detained in the Saharonim detention facility in the Negev will be released Wednesday evening. The migrants have all been previously offered "willing deportation" to Rwanda, but refused.

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In addition, the remaining 212 asylum seekers have also been offered to willingly leave to Rwanda, but they have all refused as well. According to the original deportation plan, their refusal meant they will be incarcerated indefinitely, but since the possibility of deportation to Uganda is still on the table, they will remain in Saharonim.

58 asylum seekers currently detained in Saharonim will be released Wednesday evening (Photo: EPA)

Earlier Wednesday, the state submitted its response to the High Court regarding a petition seeking to secure the release of asylum seekers detained at the Saharonim facility.

The state declared in its reply that an Israeli envoy left to one of the countries with which an expulsion agreement was signedapparently Ugandaand is expected to communicate whether the agreement was still in force.

"In light of claims made against the second third country recently, and focusing the expulsion to that country and it alone, several factual updates must be receivedincluding by the special envoy to third countries entrusted with the matter," the state's response said.

"Pursuant to this logic, an emissary left to the aforementioned second third country (Wednesday) morning and is expected to deliver answers and updates on the evening of the same day, or Thursday morning at the latest," the statement concluded.

Mandelblit, for his part, is expected to make his ruling by Thursday at noon and to announce whether the asylum seekers still detained can be released. "If the attorney general is not convicted he has everything necessary to begin involuntary expulsion to the second third country, detainees will be released from custody," the state elucidated.

In effect, then, the envoy will examine the possibility of forcefully expelling migrants to the third country after a first agreement with said country collapsed.

Difficulties arise after annulment of UN agreement

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reneging on a deal with the United Nations (UN) to resolve the asylum seeker issue, a source close to the matter said Tuesday, "Not only did Netanyahu go back on an excellent agreement, which should've solved Israel's problem vis-a-vis half of the work migrants, he actually admitted Israel is having a hard time offering legal solutions that would be in line with High Court of Justice rulings."

"Now he's placing the responsibility for this upon the High Court's shoulders again, without having good, effective and legal answers himself."

It was further reported Tuesday that the prime minister has been considering bringing a bill proposal to the government's approval that would bypass the High Court's ruling. One of the options on the table is including a "cessation clause," which would allow the Knesset to pass a law that cannot be annulled by the High Court.

But political sources say the prime minister has not yet made up his mind on the matter.

PM Netanyahu is said to be mulling a law circumventing the HCJ on expelling migrants (Photo: AFP)

Different government bodies dealing with the issuethe National Security Council and the ministries of interior, public security and justiceheld consultations on Monday in an effort to create a new, legal outline to resolve the problem, which will be presented to the High Court.

Inside officials stressed the problem has now been exacerbated. Primarily, Israel would have to reexamine the legality of detaining asylum seekers at the Saharonim facility.

They were imprisoned to begin with under the assumption this would be a temporary measure until their eventual deportation. But now, with no concrete solution on the horizon, it is unclear whether asylum seekers can still be legally held in Saharonim.UNITED NATIONS  Russia has requested the United Nations Security Council meet on Thursday to discuss British accusations that Moscow used a nerve agent to attack a former Russian spy in England last month, Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Wednesday.

Nebenzia said the meeting would be convened on the basis of a March 13 letter sent to the UN Security Council by British Prime Minister Theresa May, which said Moscow was "highly likely" responsible for the attack.

The 15-member council first met on March 14, at the request of Britain, to discuss the attack in Britain's Salisbury.Footage was released Tuesday of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participating in Israel's traditional torch lighting ceremony for its 50th Independence Day, during his first term in officethereby lending credence to Culture Minister Miri Regev's desire to have the premier attend the ceremony this year.

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The public spat between Regev and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who said last week he will refrain from attending the ceremony if the prime minister was to attend, began with an initiative by the culture minister to have both Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin attend the ceremony, in contravention of the usual protocol for the event.

PM Netanyahu (L) and Knesset Speaker Tichon at the 1998 torch lighting ceremony

Footage aired by Channel 10 News and the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation Tuesday, however, showed parts of the 1998 torch lighting ceremony, with Prime Minister Netanyahu marching alongside then-Knesset speaker Dan Tichon, reaching the grave of Visionary of the State Theodor Herzl and then speaking.

"I, Benjamin, the son of Benzion Netanyahu, native to the State of Israel and its prime minister on the 50th year of its existence, hereby have the honor to reiterate statements made by the country's first prime minister David Ben Gurion," Netanyahu said then, using the same formula often used by torch lighters themselves.

The prime minister then went on to read excerpts from the Declaration of Independence.

The incontrovertible of Netanyahu's attendance as prime minister stood in contrast to statements by Tichon to Yedioth Ahronoth this past Sunday. "Netanyahu never even dared asking to participate in the torch lighting ceremony," the former speaker said. "His wife would always attend flanked by his two sons, and they would sit behind me without any involvement on their part."

"There are enough ceremonies in Israel in which the prime minister participates," Tichon continued, "but this ceremony represents that which unites and brings us together."

Fmr. Knesset Speaker Tichon said PM Netanyahu would 'not have dared to ask' to attend the torch lighting ceremony (Photo: Knesset website)

Tichon's mistake was originally pointed out by Doron Shmueli, who served as director of the organization that put together the 50th Independence Day ceremony. Shmueli said Tuesday in different media outlets that the initiative to invite Netanyahu to the ceremony was his own.

"Had Netanyahu asked to come himself, I would not have allowed it. I thought it was fitting for the prime minister to come in to read excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, but he most assuredly was not giving a speech."

The office of Knesset Speaker Edelstein responded only to say that their position "remained unchanged," whereas Culture Minister Regev said, "The claim that 'tradition should be upheld because this has never happened' has proven to be false. What was appropriate for the stateliness of our 50th Independence Day, is surely appropriate for the 70th as well."

"What did not perturb then-speaker Dan Tichon, should certainly not disturb current speaker Yuli Edelstein," she stated.Several hundred hard-line Haredi protesters are blocking Jerusalem's Bar Ilan Junction and demonstrating in Beit Shemesh in protest of the rejection of plea by the family of an infant who drowned in Ashdod to forego an autopsy.

Police forces present on the scene have begun dispersing protesters.B'Tselem, a leading human rights group in Israel, urged Israeli forces in a rare step Wednesday to disobey open-fire orders unless Gaza protesters pose an imminent threat to soldiers' lives.

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The non-profit organization said the appeal is a last-ditch attempt to prevent more bloodshed on the volatile Gaza-Israel border.

Nineteen Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since last Friday, including 14 in border protests . The IDF revealed most of them to be terrorists. More large demonstrations are expected along the border this Friday

Israeli soldiers near Gaza border (Photo: AFP)

B'Tselem has never before called on soldiers to refuse orders, but believes firing on Palestinians who pose no imminent threat to the lives of Israeli forces is "manifestly illegal," said spokesman Amit Gilutz.

"As long as soldiers in the field continue to receive orders to use live fire against unarmed civilians, they are duty-bound to refuse to comply," the group said.

The Israeli military has said its tough response is justified because the protests were organized by Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel's destruction.

It said soldiers only targeted "instigators" who burned tires or threw stones and firebombs toward the border fence. The military accused Hamas of using the large crowds as cover to carry out attacks.

In one instance, a pair of gunmen approached the border, and the army said protesters also tried to plant explosives along the fence in several instances.

But in other incidents, some caught on video , those shot appeared to have been unarmed and not actively involved in violence at the time they were struck.

Palestinian protester shot in the back by Israeli sniper

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B'Tselem said that while Israel has the right to defend its border, it is still bound by international norms for the use of live fire. The group said that simply approaching the fence, and even damaging it, does not provide grounds for using lethal force, and that Israel had other options for dispersing the crowds.

"The provisions limit its use to instances involving tangible and immediate mortal danger, and only in the absence of any other alternative," the group said. "Israel cannot simply decide that it is not bound by these rules."

Israel's military is the country's most respected institution, and such criticism, even from a dovish group, is relatively rare. B'Tselem said it would be publishing newspaper ads and take other steps to publicize its campaign.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But the country's defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Tuesday that the military will not change its tactics and warned that anyone who approaches the border is risking his life.

On B'Tselem's campaign, Lieberman said, "I have a practical suggestion: B'Tselem's director is welcomed to convince thousands of Gazans this Friday to stop placing explosive charges near roads, fire at soldiers and violate our sovereignty, and to just safely walk home."

"If that doesn't work," Lieberman continued, "I guess we'll need the IDF."

The tough comments raised the possibility of more bloodshed this Friday, when another mass protest is expected.

Palestinian protesters on Gaza border (Photo: AFP)

On Wednesday, the head of the Arab League called on the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate the deaths of Palestinians killed in Gaza since Friday. Ahmed Aboul-Gheit also said he supports a call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an independent investigation of the events on the border.

Hamas is organizing six weeks of on-and-off border protests in what it says is a campaign to draw attention to a crippling border blockade. The campaign, named the Great March of Return, Is also meant to advocate for the Palestinian refugees's right of return to what is now Israel.

Both Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 in an attempt to weaken the militant group. But the measures have devastated Gaza's economy, while failing to oust Hamas.

Israel said Wednesday it has arrested 10 Palestinians suspected of planning an attack against a navy ship off the Gaza coast.

The Shin Bet security service said the interrogation of the cell's alleged leader revealed a plan to send a decoy boat from Gaza to distract the navy ship while another would fire a rocket at it. The plan called for militants to then try to abduct wounded sailors and keep them as bargaining chips for future prisoner swaps.

Amin Jamaa was being indicted Wednesday at a court in southern Israel.

Members of the Palestinian cell arrested, left, and Amin Jamaa, right (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

The Shin Bet identified him and his cohorts as members of the Islamic Jihad militant group and said they were abusing the easing of Israeli restrictions on Gaza fisherman to collect intelligence on Israel's naval operations along the coast.

"This is proof of the true intentions of the terror groups in Gaza who are trying to hide their murderous plans by staging provocations along our border whose sole purpose is to provide cover for terrorists to carry out their attacks against Israel," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Daoud Shehab, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, said he had no information about the Israeli announcement but that his group was involved in " open confrontation " against it.

"It's also our right to look for suitable ways to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners," he added.

Protests are planned to continue until May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding. The date is mourned by Palestinians as their "nakba," or "catastrophe," when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 War of Independence over Israel's creation. Most of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of Palestinian refugees.Ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) announced Wednesday evening their intention to sponsor as early as next week a redrafting of a migrant deportation bill, this time including a notwithstanding clause that will effectively bar the High Court of Justice from striking the law down.

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Bennett and Shaked have decided to move on new legislation in the wake of the rapid sequence of events in which an agreement was reached with the United Nations to resettle half of the asylum seekers in Israel, only to nix it hours later.

Bayit Yehudi Ministers Shaked (L) and Bennett will commence legislation next week to allow deporting migrants from Israel (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Education Minister Bennett further announced Wednesday that he will seek to promote at the next meeting of coalition heads a general notwithstanding clause, to be inserted into Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, during the Knesset's current hiatus, thereby allowing the law preventing infiltration to be legislated again.

Alternatively, the minister said he will be demanding to amend the law regulating entrance into Israel, without risking the High Court overruling it.

To push the plan forward, Justice Minister Shaked will convene the Ministerial Committee on Legislation next week to begin the legislative process.

58 asylum seekers were freed from the Saharonim facility earlier Wednesday (Photo: Roee Idan)

"This is not a High Court-circumventing bill, but a bill according to which the people are the sovereign. We intend to convene the committee next week to approve a notwithstanding clause that will allow us to remove illegal infiltrators from Israel, without the High Court striking down iteration after iteration of the bill," Bennett wrote on his Telegram account.

"I'm convinced all coalition officials will support this speedy legislative measure," he added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, meanwhile, are still attempting to find an alternative agreement to replace the previous one, which was annulled following scathing criticism from the right.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon announced Tuesday night he will not object to redrafting the bill and inserting a notwithstanding clause into the Basic Law, thereby shielding it from the court's oversight.

Judiciary officials voice concern

A senior judiciary official voiced deep concern with the impending legislative measure, saying that "inserting a notwithstanding clause with a 61 MK majority is nothing less than assassinating the independence, power and jurisdiction of the High Court."

"It has always been the court's opinion that a majority of at least 75 MKs will be necessary to overcome the High Court striking a law down. Sixty-one MKs in favor, however, is an always-available coalition majority and will make all High Court rulings on striking down legislation not worth the paper they were printed on and immediately bypassed by new legislation," he concluded.

PM Netanyahu accepted and then quickly backed out of an agreement with the UN to resettle migrants in Israel (Photo: AFP)

Prime Minister Netanyahu convened a press conference with Minister Deri Monday in which he announced the agreement. Moments later, however, he was inundated by pressures from both central Likud activists and south Tel Aviv residents to annul it.

Senior Likud ministers and other coalition partners also spoke out against the premier, who was forced to bow out of the agreement and announce its cancelation.BEIRUT  Any move to negotiate with Israel would be an "unforgivable mistake", Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, after Saudi Arabia's crown prince said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land.

Saudi Arabiabirthplace of Islam and site of its holiest shrinesdoes not officially recognize Israel, but Mohammed bin Salman's comments, quoted in the US magazine The Atlantic, are a further sign of an apparent thawing in bilateral ties.

"Movement toward negotiation with the cheating, lying and oppressive regime (of Israel) is a big, unforgivable mistake that will push back the victory of the people of Palestine," Khamenei said in a statement posted on his official website.

The statement, which did not explicitly name Saudi Arabia, said it was the duty of all Muslims to support Palestinian resistance movements and it pledged continued Iranian backing for the Palestinian terror group Hamas.Some 500 asylum seekers and activists from the "Stop the Expulsion" movement are demonstrating in Jerusalem's city center in protest of the annulment of an agreement with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

Protesters decried the "abandonment to their fates of tens of thousands of asylum seekers and south Tel Aviv residents."Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Wednesday on the people of Muslim countries to defeat Israel. "With an intense and planned struggle, they should force the enemy to retreat toward the point of demise," he said.

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Any move to negotiate with Israel would be an "unforgivable mistake", the cleric added, after Saudi Arabia's crown prince said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land.

Supreme Leader Khamenei later tweeted, "On days when escalation of oppression & barbarism by the Zionists, in Gaza has saddened and angered those who care for Palestine, we reiterate the perpetual stance of the Islamic Republic regarding the issue of Palestine.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei called on all Muslims to defeat Israel (Photo: Reuters)

"The return of dignity and power to the Islamic nation is exclusively linked to resistancewhile confronting arrogant powers and their wicked plotsand the issue of Palestine is at the top of Islam's international agenda in the face of the arrogant front."

Saudi Arabiabirthplace of Islam and site of its holiest shrinesdoes not officially recognize Israel, but Mohammed bin Salman's comments, quoted in the US magazine The Atlantic, are a further sign of an apparent thawing in bilateral ties.

They come as mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia faces off against Shiite Iran in a regional power struggle. Tehran and Riyadh back opposing sides in the conflicts in Yemen and Syria, as well as rival political groups in Iraq and Lebanon.

"Movement toward negotiation with the cheating, lying and oppressive regime (of Israel) is a big, unforgivable mistake that will push back the victory of the people of Palestine," Khamenei said in a statement posted on his official website.

The statement, which did not explicitly name Saudi Arabia, said it was the duty of all Muslims to support Palestinian resistance movements and it pledged continued Iranian backing for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

After the crown prince's comments, his father King Salman reiterated Saudi Arabia's support for a Palestinian state.

Riyadh has long maintained that normalizing ties with Israel hinges on an Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Six Day Warterritory Palestinians seek for a future state.

Saudi King Salman (L) with his son (Photo: MCT)

However, Saudi Arabia opened its air space for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel last month, which an Israeli official hailed as historic following two years of efforts.

In November, an Israeli cabinet member disclosed covert contacts with Saudi Arabia, a rare acknowledgment of long-rumored secret dealings that Riyadh still denies.

Khamenei issued Wednesday's statement in reply to a letter he recently received from Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh that criticized the support of Arab governments in the region for the United States.

Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, dominates the small coastal strip of Gaza, where this week at least 17 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces.A 26-year-old Palestinian suspected of grand theft auto was shot by police Wednesday after he attempted to breach a roadblock on Highway 90 near Jericho, nearly running over policemen in his way.

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He was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and is in moderate condition.

File photo of police roadblock (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

The police said that the incident began after they responded to a report about the theft of three vehicles from the Neve Midbar Beach at the Dead Sea. Police cars deployed in the area were then called to the scene and erected a roadblock just north of the area.

When one of the suspects arrived at the roadblock, the police ordered him to stop, but he continued driving. Then, according to the police, they attempted to shoot at the vehicle's wheels, but hit the suspect instead.

This took place just one day after an Israeli Arab driver was shot to death by IDF forces after crashing into a bus stop at the Giti Avisar intersection in the West Bank and attempting to flee the scene on foot in what initially seemed like an attempted ramming attack.

A preliminary investigation revealed the driver, Iyad Azbarka from Qalansawe, was actually fleeing from police in a stolen vehicle before crashing it due to his reckless driving.Admitting a mistake is not zigzagging. Admitting a mistake is the right thing to do when a private citizen realizes they were wrong, and certainly when an elected official, whose decisions impact an enormous amount of people, realizes he was wrong.

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Doubling down on a mistake only to avoid tarnishing a false image of leadership is, in fact, the act worthy of public denunciation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to withdraw from the agreement with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, then, is worthy of all plaudits.

The annulled agreement was very bad, and could have set Israel seven years back when it comes to dealing with the problem of infiltration from African countries.

The UN deal was a bad one, and PM Netanyahu was right to annul it (Photo: AFP)

Fence or no fence, hundredsif not thousandsof infiltrators enter Israel every day, only in this instance they have been dubbed "illegal migrants." While the fence makes their lives a little harder, it in no way prevents them from coming in.

The phenomenon of infiltration was halted due to a combination of three disparate factors: the fence, the Islamic State in Sinai and, most importantly, a hard-line Israeli policy vis-a-vis infiltrators who have already made their way into the country, first with southern region detention centers and thenafter laws on the matter were struck down by the High Court of Justiceexpulsion to countries in Africa.

The story is a simple one: if you're a true refugee, who is really persecuted in your country of origin, then asylum in another, relatively tranquil African country is a reasonable response to your plight.

If you have chosen to immigrate for economic reasons, howeversound as those may be, as the economic situation in some African countries is deplorabletransference to another African country with similar economic standing is falling from bad to worse.

Asylum seekers celebrating the decision to abort the deportation plan in south Tel Aviv (Photo: Yariv Katz)

Once all infiltrators reaching Israeli could hope for was Uganda and Rwanda, incentives for economic immigration by way of infiltration of Israel were killed off.

The agreement with the UN's agency, however, which included a partial resettling of migrants in Israel and a partial transference to other Western countriesassuming it would have been implementedwould have changed the map of infiltration incentives completely.

Had Israel become a stopping point before continuing to Germany and Italy, it would have been incredibly worthwhile to try and infiltrate it.

It should be noted, although, that while the annulment was proper, the subsequent attack against the New Israel Fund was an unnecessary, stupid spin. The goal now should be devising a new policy bringing about the same end result: resolving the infiltration issue.

The problem is any new policy drafted may encounter the same old roadblocks put up by High Court justices, who have already terminated different arrangements for dealing with the matter in the past.

Putting together a new solution this time, then, must be accompanied by a redefining of relations between the High Court and the political system. Netanyahu will invest his political resources in that, it should be hoped, rather than futile struggles and useless inquiry commissions.The planned continuation of protest on the Gaza border on Friday, named "Tire Friday" by Hamas, who control the coastal enclave and are orchestrating the demonstrations, may cause ecological damage in the area due to the planned burning of thousands of tires the terror organization says will be used to obscure the vision of IDF soldiers.

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While there are few several groups in Gaza who are actually opposed to the serious ecological risk this poses, no change is expected in the protest.

Video promoting Hamas' tire burning campaign

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Fearing environmental damage, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav Mordechai, sent a letter to the head of the World Health Organization, in which he urged him to speak against the "ecological catastrophe" likely to be caused.

Tire burning at Gaza border protests (Photo: AP)

"The Hamas terrorist organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, has issued an order to burn about 10,000 tires this Friday along the border with Israel," he wrote. "The burning of tires in such a huge quantity will cause severe damage to the ecosystem in the area, will severely harm the life, the flora and health of the residents, and will add to the severe damage to the aquifer and lead to unprecedented air pollution.

"I call upon you, as the head of an international organization whose goal is to promote health and protect natural and environmental resources, to do everything in your power to publicly warn against this ecological catastrophe and to protest Hamas' irresponsible behavior."

More than a dozen rioters were killed last Friday by sniper fire in clashes with the IDF, forcing protesters in upcoming border rallies to employ smoke, as well as mirrors, to blind Israeli forces.

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said on Saturday that Hamas was using the protests as a guise to launch attacks against Israel and ignite the area. He said Israel will target terror organizations in Gaza if the violence drags on.Right from primary school and junior high school, senior high school in Ghana are also considered important and essential, for all the students who may wish to advance to tertiary level of education. With the Western African Examination board involved, admission to the senior secondary level is not a childs play. It requires hard work and commitment in the studies if you are to excel in the Basic education certificate examination and hopefully stay ahead of the competition into joining the right school.

Source:buzzghana.com

Although there are quite a number of schools in the country competing for attention and recognition, there is a tentative list of top senior high schools in Ghana and their categories that may help in shading light on the performance level of the various schools in the region. It is this senior high school ranking in Ghana that has made it possible for the best schools to emerge.

Understanding high schools in Ghana and their categories

The education system in Ghana is based on 6-3-4-4 format. This simply means that first six years are under primary school education which is usually compulsory for every child to be involved in, taking into account that its provided free of charge by the government schools. It typically acts as a foundation for the learning progress of the children in the country. Even though, the curriculum is set for simple reading and writing with part-time drawing and playing, it significantly helps the children mental health, concentration and general discipline.

READ ALSO:List of multimedia schools in Ghana

The middle school, which is the junior high school takes over once the students are done with their lower grades lessons. It runs for the next three years before progressing to the next level with a stipulated pass mark for the national examination conducted in all the participating schools. The Western African Examination Council is usually in charge of the assessment and awards the marks according to the students abilities. The examinations are usually held in between May and June while the entry period for the schools conducted in October/November.

Participating schools are required to upload their Statement of Entries as well as the students selection of senior high schools before being validated. However, other than being a gate pass to the senior secondary category of learning, the examination is also essential for certificatification and also the admission of some students to the technical institution.

The grading system

The grading of the students performance is not entirely based on the councils nationwide examination as the final marks are usually grounded on the continuous internal assessments carried out by the schools and the external examination. Generally, its one of the vital examination certificates for the State, with the participating students having been approved by the Ghana Education Authority.

READ ALSO: UPSA courses and admission requirements for 2018-2019

There are usually nine subjects taught in the junior high school which include; Ghanaian language, English, integrated science, social studies, information technology, moral education, math, basic designing, and French. However, save for the other subjects, the French language is usually optional when it comes to assessment at the national level.

The results sheets and statements are usually released in August to all the participating schools and private candidates. They are sent free of charge by the council, however, thanks to the advancement of technology you can simply check your results online either through your computer or even smartphone. Other than the online technique, you can as well get it through a text message by sending the name of your examination index number and the personal identification number for the result checker card used. Its usually a simple process even though you are still required to follow the guideline as stipulated. The same also applies when checking your result placement for the high school that you have been admitted to, although you will have to merge your index number with the year of completion then sending it to 1060.

As for the certificate, you will have it one month after the examination results have been released. They are printed and submitted by the council to the various schools and private candidates. Nonetheless, they are only produced in a single original copy and hence once misplaced, lost or even damaged by the students, they can never be replaced. Therefore, its always advisable to keep it safe as it is as valuable as your learning endeavors.

Source:YouTube

The scripts, on the other hand, are also kept for three months once exam results have been released, before getting rid of. They are mainly kept for reference in case of any queries relating to the released results. The three-month period is usually for review and scrutiny by an accredited concerned party in areas that had not been ironed out properly. In most cases, its usually the head of schools that tend to seek clarification on why the performance dropped or came as they did. Well, unfortunately, private junior schools tend to be better than their public counterparts in terms of facilities and even the general performance.

The senior secondary school is also another crucial stage for the students. The compulsory program mainly focuses on five subject; English, mathematics, social studies, physical education, and science. Nonetheless, it also provides a platform where the students can freely choose to specialize in either one of other four subjects, which are agriculture, business, general arts, and science. With a successful performance in the national basic examination, merited students can proudly be admitted in the recognized senior secondary schools. Interestingly, many of the senior secondary schools are owned and managed by the state.

The competition for pride, recognition and general uplift of the school performance has made the secondary school, a very competitive category in the country. Every school strives to climb up the ladder and be the biggest SHS in Ghana. There are quite a number of schools in the country which further explains the stiffness of the contest, and that is why there are divided into various sub-groups.

List of Senior High Schools in Ghana and their Categories

Even though the number of junior high schools is more than that of senior secondary schools, its still enormous in the country. They are usually grouped according to their geographical regions. Currently, there are ten main regions under which the schools are sub-divided which include;

Ashanti region

Brong Ahafo

Central Region

Eastern

Greater Accra

Northern Region

Upper East Region

Upper Western

Volta

Western Region.

Generally, there are about five hundred senior secondary schools. Regardless of the number, there are some popular schools that have been dominating and always been on the top list of the senior high school rankings in Ghana such as the Wesleyan High School. It is commonly referred to as Mfantisipim school and is not only among the top senior high school in the country but is also on the top fifty schools list in the continent.

There is a list of well-known and reputable schools which have always been in the top 100 senior high schools in Ghana. These include;

Koforidua secondary school

Ghanata senior high school

Accra Girls secondary school

OReilly Secondary

Labone Secondary

Ghana Secondary school

Adisadell College

Pope John secondary school

Kash Money Brotherhood International School

Achimota secondary school

Keneshie secondary/Technical school

Armed Forces Secondary/Technical School

These and many schools have always been working tirelessly not only to stay ahead of other SHS in Ghana rankings but also facilitate quality kind of education for the students and future leaders of the nation.

The ranking of the senior high schools in the country usually appears in three main categories namely A, B and C. Schools in category A are known for high-class standards when it comes to performance and that is why the top section of the rankings is always reserved for them. Some of the well-known schools that fall under this category include:

Marys Boys Senior High School

St. Peters Mission Senior High School

Presbyterian Senior High School

Shama Senior High School

St. Augustines Senior High school

Dansoman Senior High School

Category b schools in the central region and other parts of the country may post average performance but it is still considered among the best. Overall, category A schools in Ashanti Region seem to have a relatively big portion in the rankings of the high schools.

Private Senior High Schools in Ghana

There are quite a number of well-known senior high schools in Ghana. Usually many of them are also on the top lists of the best senior school rankings and even though their fees are usually high, there is a guarantee of quality services since they have all the essential resources and facilities needed to make learning experience, not only interesting but also worthwhile. Some of the well-known private schools include;

Ghana International School

Lyncolyn Community College

American International School

British International School

Tema International School

Impact of Ranking Senior Secondary Schools

Generally, the ranking of the senior secondary schools tends to have mixed reactions not only in Ghana but across the globe. There are people who perceive it as ideal for the competitive positive growth of education system while some view as it as unnecessary as it only generates meaningless competition and academic rivalry, not to mention widening the gap between the smart privileged students from their slow learning counterparts.

Regardless of the different views, the ranking of schools has made it easier to scrutinize the schools performance for the years it has been operational. Junior students always want to associate themselves with the best performing senior school in the region and hence by cross-checking the list for top schools and how long they have carried the mantle, they will easily have the information they need and work hard to be part of the school as well.

Efforts of schools in various regions, that are now at the top of the bar nationally but earlier on were on a lower slot, like some category b schools in Ashanti region and other areas as well, can be noticed and acknowledged through their current excellent performance.

Additionally, there is always a sense of pride for the best performing schools not only among its students and staff but the entire region and country as well. The Mfantisipim school is among the many top listed schools that have brought a sense of pride for the nation for being number twenty-one in a continental ranking. It has put Ghana on a world map for exemplary education standards.

READ ALSO: Best senior high schools in Ghana according to WAEC

Apart from that, academic competition and the urge to be among the top schools or even raising the bar has really raised the standards and quality of the education system. It has made the students together with their teachers to be on toes boosting their mental abilities and intelligent quotients in pursuit of knowledge and deeper understanding of many of the classroom concepts.

Nonetheless, the ranking of schools as discovered by researchers from the Harvard University, affected the admission of schools significantly. Many people mainly rely on the rank of their prospective schools rather than other small details such as availability of the necessary resources that they may need to pursue their career. This is further propagated by the media who hail the best performing schools and crown them as best in all academic areas.

The ranking has also been perceived to discourage and reduce the morale of some of the students who may be slow in grasping the content, yet still, have a load of pressure hovering around their heads forcing them to catch up with the pace. In as much as its usually based on opinions and the debate between the positive and negative impacts of ranking does not seem to end anytime soon. Meanwhile, the senior secondary schools are always expected to deliver the best quality of education that can be reflected in the performance.

Source: Yen.com.ghA level 400 medical student of University for Development Studies (UDS), Joanna Gunab has emerged as the winner of first ever edition of Kareoke contest in Tamale.

Joanna Gunab, who is physically challenged, rose through all odds to become a first winner in the Kareoke contest organized by the Tamale City Hotel two weeks ago.

Miss Joanna Gunab

READ ALSO: Lilwin will be president  Ghanaian Prophet speaks

According to reports, Joanna who hails from the Upper East Region regardless of her disability, beat all other competitors to emerge winner of the contest.

Although Joanna at the age of 5 suffered some medication complications that affected one of her limbs, she has risen above all difficulties and she is inspiring many others.

From all accounts and indications, the physically challenged medical student is living, laughing and reaching for her dreams regardless of societal challenges.

Miss Joanna Gunab who spoke to Yen.com.gh months ago disclosed that at the age of 5, she fell into a short illness, which resulted in her present condition.

Joanna narrated that she arrived home from school one day feeling ill and was rushed to a nearby clinic, as her family were worried she was not going to make it through a journey to the general hospital.

Joanna suffered medical complications at age 5

READ ALSO: 'Obinim Sticker Challenge' breaks social media as Jon Benjamin 'mocks' him

She said upon her arrival at the clinic, there was unfortunately a blackout which forced the nurses on duty to use a lantern.

She said during the process, she was administered an injection and medication, which rather adversely affected one of her limbs, causing it to stunt in growth.

Joanna told YEN that, growing up, she had to deal with her peers and even adults shunning her and poking fun at her disability.

There were times I wanted to give up cos I thought I didn't amount to anything but my family didn't allow me to do that. They never treated me differently from any of my siblings, she said.

Joanna said she finally gained admission into the Kumasi Girls Senior High School where she faced same challenges, but managed to work hard through her science course to pass her exams.

Joanna Gunab is a proud level 400 Medical Student at UDS

Today, Joanna stands tall among her peers as a proud level 400 medical students at UDS who is inspiring many young students to pursue their dreams regardless of life challenges.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale launches fresh attacks on Samini, Stonebwoy and Yaa Pono

In the video below, the deputy education minister, Mrs Barbara Ayisi, speaks on how President Akufo-Addo inspires her, and how the president's success story must also inspire the youth of Ghana to greater heights:

Yen.com.gh is building a platform where Ghanaians can share local news and own experiences with each other. Witnessing an incident? Want to tell about a local problem? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Message us on Facebook now

Source: Yen- NPP MP insults Ghana Armed Forces PRO

- According to the MP, Colonel Aggrey Quashie is a 'fool'

Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, has gone in hard on the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Colonel Aggrey Quashie, over a row on 'protocol' slots.

The MP, in a previous interview with Accra-based Oman FM, said he will make noise if some of his constituents are not enrolled into the military.

Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong

READ ALSO: Rare photos of Ebony look alike that proves she is hotter than Ebony Reigns

He called for 'protocol slots' for supporters of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), boasting that he was able to get some of his people to be recruited during the police recruitment process.

However, in a sharp riposte, GAF rubbished Mr. Agyapongs claims, insisting recruitment into the military is and will continue to be by merit and not subject to the influence of any politician anywhere.

PRO of GAF, Colonel Aggrey Quashie, added that the words of the Assin Central MP should not be taken seriously.

Enlistment of applicants into the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is always based on merits not political influence or any other means, he said.

He further stated: People think that if I pay money to somebody I can get myself in there. If all your documentation is correct you stand an equal chance like any other person to be picked.

People make these statements because they have the right to say whatever they want to say but we are also focusing on our process. ..There is no way anybody will be recruited by unfair means.

The words of the Colonel appear not to have gone well with Mr. Agyapong who has also decided to fight back.

The maverick MP has described the PROs statement as nonsense, while daring GAF to arrest him if they think he has overstepped his bounds.

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If my people dont go to military and so what. If he [Aggrey Quashie] himself likes, he should resign and come, I will give him a job. As a soldier when you retire, is it not security guard that you become? the MP asked rhetorically.

Useless. Its all over the place, radio, TV, JoyFM that Ghana Armed Forces respond replied what, what, what. I couldnt even see it well. He is an idiot.

READ ALSO: Ghana Police resort catapult to apprehend thief who hid up a tree

He further blasted the Colonel, saying: Now I will talk. If he knows what goes on in the military, like he wont come and talk nonsense that he is a professional and I can go ahead and make noise.

Then I will make noise. They are worse than politicians. They have formed a cartel, when you talk then they come with guns to intimidate you. Come. Come and kill me.

In the video below, the deputy education minister, Mrs Barbara Ayisi, speaks on how President Akufo-Addo inspires her, and how the president's success story must also inspire the youth of Ghana to greater heights:

READ ALSO: My pastor persuaded me to marry a 'married' rich man - Woman reveals

Send us a message via our official Facebook or Instagram page to get it published on YEN.com.gh

Source: Yen.com.ghTurning the ship before it hits the icebergThe BJP has seemingly engaged Capt Amarinder Singh to obliterate Congress in Punjab: Bir Devinder Singh

Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota assumes additional charge as Director General of Police Punjab

Punjab & Chandigarh College Teachers Union supports Bandh call by farmers on Sept 27

Jathedar Raghbir Singh, Head Granthi, Manager and both the Shiromani Committee members of Sri Anandpur Sahib should resign from their posts: Hawara Committee

Punjab CM to hold cabinet meeting every Tuesday, to meet ministers, MLAs from 11.30 to 2.30 PMThank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.The Southern District of Florida blog was started in 2005 by David Oscar Markus , who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis.If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). AEDPA accelerant: examining prospects for speedier capital appeals for "opt-in" states | Main | "The Expansion of Child Pornography Law" 

As reported here via Politico, "Special counsel Robert Mueller obtained the first sentence in his high-profile investigation Tuesday, as a Dutch attorney who admitted to lying to investigators was ordered into federal custody for 30 days." Here is more with an emphasis on sentencing details:

Former Skadden Arps lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, 33, pleaded guilty in February to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with former Trump campaign official Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik, a suspected Russian intelligence operative who worked closely with Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Attorneys for van der Zwaan pleaded with U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson to forgo any prison time, give him a fine and let him return to his London home by August, when his wife is due to give birth. However, the judge said some time in jail was appropriate given van der Zwaan's offense and the fact that he is a lawyer.

We're not talking about a traffic ticket, she said. This was lying to a federal officer in the course of a criminal investigation...This was more than a mistake. This was more than a lapse or a misguided moment."

In addition to the 30-day sentence, Jackson also imposed a $20,000 fine and two months of probation, but she said she would permit van der Zwaan to reclaim his passport and leave the country as soon as his month in custody is completed. It's not immediately clear where or in what type of facility he will serve the 30 days....

Van der Zwaan's defense asked that he be permitted to serve at a Bureau of Prisons center in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. The judge said Tuesday that she would recommend that, but federal policies usually dictate that a sentence of less than six months be served at a halfway house or at the D.C. jail.

One of van der Zwaan's defense attorneys, William Schwartz, argued that leniency was appropriate given the impact of the episode on the Dutch lawyer's family and on his legal career. He is likely to lose his license as a solicitor in the United Kingdom, Schwartz said.

But Jackson was largely unmoved by those arguments, noting that van der Zwaan came from an upbringing of privilege and lacked any hardship that could have mitigated his actions. Van der Zwaan is married to the daughter of a Ukrainian-Russian energy mogul, German Khan, whom Forbes ranks 138th on its list of billionaires, with a net worth of $9.3 billion.

"This glass was dropped on a very thick carpet, which has cushioned him," the judge said of the defendant. She credited him for supporting himself and his wife in recent years, although she noted that van der Zwaan's father-in-law has provided funds to the couple since the attorney was fired from his job....

The fact that prosecutors are not requiring future cooperation from van der Zwaan suggests that they don't see him as a crucial player in the Trump-Russia saga. Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said the defendant's reason for lying remains murky. "To be candid, we don't know what was motivating the defendant," Weissmann said. "We count on people to tell us the truth. We count on people to turn over documents that are responsive."

Defense attorneys said he lied to Mueller's team because he feared being fired if Skadden found out he had recorded work-related conversations without permission, including at least one with former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig, a Skadden partner who oversaw the Tymoshenko report. Van der Zwaan was ultimately fired by the firm late last year, after his inaccurate statements to the Mueller team.

Weissmann said that concern about the consequences at Skadden could have been part of the explanation, but there was "reason to doubt that is simply the sole motive." Mueller's team offered no specific recommendation to Jackson on an appropriate sentence in the case. Weissmann said that was the special counsel office's policy, which he also followed as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn.

Van der Zwaan spoke to the court only briefly during the sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse near Capitol Hill. "Your honor, what I did was wrong and I apologize to the court for my conduct," he said. He also apologized to his family for his actions.

Later in the hearing, Jackson said she did not detect great remorse. "The expressions of remorse, even those made on his behalf, were somewhat muted to say the least," the judge declared shortly before she imposed the sentence.

Jackson also rebuffed Schwartz's argument that van der Zwaan's freedom was curtailed in recent months as he spent his days at a "residential hotel" awaiting legal proceedings. "I'm not really moved by the complaint that he is in his hotel room with nothing to do," the judge said, saying he was not in custody and could have been doing community service to keep busy. Are prisons and jail now, and should they be, our society's modern addiction treatment centers? | Main | "Cast into Doubt: Free Will and the Justification for Punishment" 

April 4, 2018

The intricate realities of the drug war on full display in recent Seventh Circuit ruling on ineffective assistance of counsel in plea negotiations

A helpful reader alerted me to an interesting panel ruling by the Seventh Circuit handed down yesterday in Brock-Miller v. US, No. 16-3050 (7th Cir. April 3, 2018) (available here). The reader rightly noted that this opinion provides a thorough discussion of ineffective assistance of counsel in plea negotiations before ordering the district court to hold a hearing to explore claims of deficient performance by the defendant's lawyer. I also found remarkable the case's accounting of how our federal drug laws can functionally operate to turn a seemingly minor crime into an offense carrying a 20-year mandatory minimum.

Specifically, as the panel opinion explains, LeeAnn Brock-Miller pleaded guilty, "pursuant to a plea agreement, to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin [resulting in] the agreed-upon sentence of ten years imprisonment." What did she do to get this decade-long sentence? According to the opinion, she was driving with three other men (one of whom it seems was her husband) on a highway headed to purchase 54 grams of heroin in Chicago; and according to sentencing testimony: "this car trip was an isolated incident, where she agreed to give the others a ride in exchange for one gram of heroin for herself. Brock-Miller had an extensive criminal history that corroborated her claim that she did not sell drugs but was an addict who simply bought drugs for personal consumption."

Problematically for Brock-Miller, (1) that lone car trip allowed the Government to claim she was part of a drug conspiracy to traffic more than a kilo of heroin, triggering a possible 10-year mandatory minimum, and (2) she had a prior Indiana conviction for Unlawful Possession of Syringes or Needles which the Government claimed was a predicate drug felony under 851 that doubled her potential mandatory minimum term to 20 years in federal prison(!). With the feds threatening this big hammer, the defendant here understandably was amenable to her defense counsel's advocacy to accept a plea deal that called for "only" a 10-year sentence.

But as the Seventh Circuit goes on to explain, the defendant's prior Indiana conviction was not actually a qualifying predicate to double her applicable mandatory minimum and she had a reasonable trial argument that not foreseeable was the "full kilogram of heroin charged in the indictment [for] someone who joined the conspiracy at the very end, in a deal involving only 54 grams." In other words, the defendant had a winning legal argument that her mandatory minimum should not have been doubled, and a viable argument that she should not be subject to any mandatory minimum term at all. Luckily for the defendant, a Seventh Circuit panel helped figure this out and the apparent ineffectiveness of her counsel may allow her to get resentenced in a more fitting way.

But I must conclude by stressing the dark cloud that overwhelms any Brock-Miller silver lining: the very possibility that "an addict who simply bought drugs for personal consumption" could be threatened with a 20-year mandatory minimum federal prison term reveals how dysfunctional and morally bankrupt our federal sentencing laws can be. And I am quite certain that LeeAnn Brock-Miller is not the first person nor the last person to be chewed up by these laws; indeed, sadly, there are many thousands that have come before her, and likely many thousands still to come.

April 4, 2018 at 06:11 PM | Permalink

Comments

"But I must conclude by stressing the dark cloud that overwhelms any Brock-Miller silver lining: the very possibility that "an addict who simply bought drugs for personal consumption" could be threatened with a 20-year mandatory minimum federal prison term reveals how dysfunctional and morally bankrupt our federal sentencing laws can be. And I am quite certain that LeeAnn Brock-Miller is not the first person nor the last person to be chewed up by these laws; indeed, sadly, there are many thousands that have come before her, and likely many thousands still to come."

Doug, you almost have it. It's not the sentencing laws that are immoral--it's (in your opinion) how those laws are used by prosecutors. At the end of the day, the aiding/abetting/conspiracy liability has to be broad, and giving judges the ability to be nice has been shown to be a problem. Putting aside what appears to be an appalling injustice, this sort of prosecution/sentence undermines the confidence of the public at large in the criminal justice system.

Harsh sentences need to be reserved for serious criminality. For moral and practical reasons.

Posted by: federalist | Apr 4, 2018 8:09:40 PM

I am pleased to say that I fully concur with brother Federalist!!

Posted by: Michael R. Levine | Apr 4, 2018 9:23:20 PM

Mr. Behar silent for 30 days? I can breathe again. I concur with brothers Federalist and Levine.

Posted by: Emma from Ireland | Apr 4, 2018 9:25:51 PM

I have to agree a I see nothing in this about a bench slap for the asshole prosecutor who used illegal leverage to basically blackmail a 10 year conviction bon the woman.

Posted by: Rodsmith3510 | Apr 4, 2018 10:59:48 PM

Federalist, you nailed it.

Thats what I have against federal sentenceing, they hammer everyone with mandatories with the flimsiest of history. The feds say they need mandatories to break down cartels and huge drug rings. Ok then, only use them for these cases. Extremely rare of huge drug rings in smalleville USA.. Some in lRger cities of coarse, but not to extent feds say there is.

Also violent crime us not running rampsnt in America these days. Its just Trumps and Sessions ambitions to appear tough on crime. Same crap with building a wall around southern USA, it still will be breached, then we gave to maintain the behemeth.

A good 3rd grader can see thru most of these issues. Dismantle, education and trade prigrams for inmates, then fund 1.2 trillion for DOJ. Doesnt take Wiley E Coyotee super Genius to go figure on these items.

Good job Federalist, and rest if you for picking up what Federalist was putting down....

Posted by: MidWestGuy | Apr 4, 2018 11:17:04 PM

But the laws are part of the problem, federalist, because the lack of any safety valve in the application of MMs (as well as their severity) creates the conditions that can lead to (and prompt) their misuse.

I do always wish prosecutors were much more circumspect in applying these severe laws, but many prosecutors likely believe they are. The (Obama era) prosecutors in this case likely believed they were being "nice" by offering a plea to 10 years when they honest thought the applicable MM demanded 20 years. The laws themselves distort and pervert how prosecutors (and judges) see and seek justice, and the laws need to be profoundly reformed.

Posted by: Doug B | Apr 4, 2018 11:40:51 PM

In the opinion, the court noted that, at various points in its briefing, the government concedes that Brock-Miller's attorney made mistakes. For example, the government commented that "Brock-Miller offers a substantial argument that her lawyer made a real mistake." However, the government argued that "counsel's errors were not sufficiently egregious to meet the Strickland standard for deficient performance."

It appears that the government attorneys are fine with a lengthy sentence for the defendant even though they admit that the defendant's attorney made a real mistake. They thought that the errors were not "sufficiently egregious." From the government's perspective, apparently it was defendant's bad luck that her attorney made a real mistake.

Posted by: Elaine Mittleman | Apr 5, 2018 12:00:31 AM

Doug is absolutely right on this. The law is poorly constructed on sentencing and it will take considerable reform to make things better. But it's also hard to understand how prosecutors, or judges for that matter, fail to moderate their interpretations and inclinations in light of the stark and obvious injustice that is taking place. The one body that should be stepping in to limit these excesses and to give clarity to all concerned, is of course the Supreme Court. Law makers are politicians and many tend to look only to the headlines when proposing and passing new law. The Supreme Court should do its job to ensure where bad law is passed it is effectively scrutinized ... and if necessary modified to reflect the Constitutional protections of fairness and reasonableness.

Posted by: peter | Apr 5, 2018 8:52:19 AM

Gotta say I'm with Doug on this. A law which by design permits this appalling prosecutorial overreach is indeed immoral, and I won't give vent to the adjectives which describe Federalist and his view that conspiracy law needs to be broad enough to ensnare those who are not a part of a conspiracy, since in his view permitting the judge to be "nice" enough to get around this, either at sentencing or on Rule 29 motion is "a problem."

And one cannot claim this is an isolated incident, and the system "worked." How many others are there just like this? 400+ federal cases in my career permits me to opine that the best word is "countless." And, the instances are legion even though the legislative history of MM is amply clear that they were not to apply to this kind of case. Not that this would make a difference.

At bottom, we have a system which entrusts this sort of unlimited and nearly unreviewable discretion to a careerist prosecutor who passed no more than a job interview, and not a judge subjected to Senate confirmation, and it therefore is structured to produce precisely this kind of result. Hell, it was yet worse before the FSA and reduction of the crack numbers. But the hand-wringing by commentators and the bench tends to be focused more upon the unreasonable reach of the fraud guidelines, where defendants tend not to have the same motivation to be involved that a career addict like Brock-Miller had.

Posted by: miketrials | Apr 5, 2018 9:50:31 AM

"At the end of the day, the aiding/abetting/conspiracy liability has to be broad, and giving judges the ability to be nice has been shown to be a problem."

Even if I accept that as true, as this case illustrates, giving prosecutors wide description to be mean has also shown itself to be a problem. So unless "federalist" can find some miracle solution to turn prosecutors into a better class of men, it becomes an inescapable conclusion that the only way to fix the problem is to reform the law to limit prosecutor discretion. After all, this is the solution that we imposed on judges via the Sentencing Commission. So there is precedent.

Posted by: Jeeze o Pete. | Apr 5, 2018 10:42:32 AM

Agree with all of the above, and have seen such ridiculous uses of the MM hammer by prosecutors many many times. Primarily commenting here though to note how refreshing it is to read a comment thread not hijacked by trolls. (And even federalist refrained from ad hominen attacks.)

Posted by: career AFPD | Apr 5, 2018 10:58:36 AM

"ad hominem"

Posted by: career AFPD | Apr 5, 2018 11:00:06 AM

Mr. Behar silent and we already have a longish discussion. Correlation does not equal causation and all that, sure. Not sure how much that matters but we'll see long term.

The "judges the ability to be nice" concept is a bit off since -- disagree with them in specific cases -- they aren't really trying to be "nice" as much as trying to formulate a suitable sentence in a specific case. In various instances, a lesser one is deemed just.

The need for "harsh sentences" in certain instances is not disputed at all. The thing is that there is a range of possibles. At some point, as has been said, it is questionable if the height of the range is worthy of the risks.

We will be left with numerous cases of oversentencing (though some will think that happens less, such as someone here who thinks most felonies might be capital in nature, to take an extreme case) that even fairly strict minded sorts will find to take a possible adjective "distressing" but sigh, we need it to punish the horribles.

But, the specific situation here is "an addict who simply bought drugs for personal consumption" getting a twenty year maximum. When is that even warranted? A few cases? Is that, even granting it, worth the risk of misuse in more numerous cases? And, the alternative won't be probation or something [though we can have whole debate over drug policy, of course] in most cases.

Posted by: Joe | Apr 5, 2018 11:38:17 AM

And I only disagree with this from a cost standpoint, not the outcome itself. 10 years of imprisonment is simply too expensive for the level of criminality displayed here, if it were less so I would see it being fully justified.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Apr 5, 2018 11:49:34 AM

Shon Hopwood, whose book Law Man was very good, noted this ruling:

https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/2016715.pdf

It is somewhat relevant.

Posted by: Joe | Apr 5, 2018 11:53:20 AM

I can speak from experience, anytime I had a case I was working on and the defendant had a prior drug case, it would get threatened - double the stat max or double the mandatory minimum. Rarely did they file the 851, but it was always "close" to being filed and influence many cases I saw or dealt with directly.

Posted by: atomicfrog | Apr 5, 2018 1:21:22 PM

I think. as the 7th Circuit realized, the federal conspiracy law got used a little too loosely in this case and part of that is in the way that the federal statute defines conspiracy. As always judging through the state court lens in which I practice, if I tried to charge conspiracy to traffic in the first degree based on a continuing distribution scheme, I would get directed out. The conspiracy which the evidence proved was to go in with the street dealers for one trip to get 54 grams. (In my state, the larger scheme would have a range of 10-30 or life -- probably resulting in a sentence in the 10-15 range for a first time offender -- and the smaller scheme would have a range of 5-15 -- probably resulting in probation for a first time offender.)

At least in my state, defense attorneys want offenses to have multiple degrees. That way, the facts that trigger a potentially longer sentence are not left to the judge to decide on a preponderance standard but have to be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The downside is that the higher degrees have a higher minimum and that gives the prosecutor leverage when the prosecutors have the evidence and the facts to support the higher degree. But that is the price for having a legal system that ties range of punishment to specific elements of the offense.

Posted by: tmm | Apr 5, 2018 1:58:20 PM

Its kind if like the ASA see what the max sentence could be and if they vary downward, they feel good about it. I believe its just a number to them, has no real value. They have such unweilding absolute power , especially whrpen any MMS are issued or tags like career offender otr Acca. Speaking of which, the stacking is deplorable, need to dump thise..Maybe for the Las Vegas shooter, understandable if were around, want to keep him in wraps.

Posted by: MidWestGuy | Apr 5, 2018 2:08:01 PM

Thank you Doug,

This is very helpful to a case I am working on this week. "A lawyer's failure to learn the relevant facts and make an estimate of the likely sentence constitutes deficient performance."

This quote supports arguments I have been making for a long time about two points. First, A capital defendant should be entitled to a pretrial hearing to determine whether any aggravating factors exist (because in North Carolina the State doesn't have to include aggravators in the indictment or even tell us which ones they think exist. )

Second, In an issue which smacks of ex post facto violations, a prosecutor can increase a defendant's exposure to sentence after the date of the offense by deciding to prosecute or not prosecute a pending charge which could add prior conviction points to a def's record, thus increasing potential punishment. (because the Apprendi Rule does not apply to prior convictions.)

Believe it or not, in NC a murder which was noncapital when committed can become capital when tried!!

Sort of makes it hard to "estimate the likely punishment."

bruce

Posted by: bruce cunningham | Apr 5, 2018 3:12:37 PM

Bruce,

So long as the aggravating offense occurred prior to the murder I really don't see any relevance in the decision of which order to prosecute in. Now, if you are saying that a second offense that actually came after the murder could somehow influence death-eligibility I would agree there are serious problems.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Apr 5, 2018 4:15:09 PM

good question Soronel, the answer is that if the aggravator is the defendant was convicted of a prior crime of violence, then the State can choose to try another pending violent felony before trying the murder. Suppose the Def committed a violent felony on January 1, but the case was pending when the killing occurred. Def had a clean record at the time of the killing, no convictions.

But then the prosecutor decides he/she will try the Robbery on February 1, not to get a robbery conviction, but to get an aggravator of a prior conviction in order to expose the def to death penalty, even though he didn't COMMIT a capital offense at the time of the killing.

For those folks on the list serve who are grammar buffs. The precise aggravator is "the defendant HAD BEEN previously convicted of a violent felony." Through some twisted interpretation of the King's English, our appellate courts have decided that HAD BEEN is not past perfect tense. Past perfect tense is an act in the past, before another act in the past. (the robbery conviction was before the killing. ) Our courts read HAD BEEN convicted to mean the same thing as" HAS BEEN convicted, or present perfect tense.

It is a crazy world when the rules of grammar can be altered with impunity.

bruce

Posted by: bruce cunningham | Apr 5, 2018 6:17:11 PM

Post a comment



The Mekong River Committee was established in 1956 under the auspices of the United Nations to coordinate aid and manage resources in the river basin.By 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam co-signed the Mekong Cooperation Agreement and establish the Mekong River Commission (MRC) (instead of the Mekong River Commission).The Mekong River Commission is currently implementing a five-year strategic plan for 2016-2020 with seven main results and over 190 activities, total cost of US$ 60 million.The plan is to implement priorities of the river basin development strategy on base of management of water resources, to transfer key functions about the river basin management to the country and reform activities of the MRC Secretariat.

Source:VNA- Translated by Huyen HuongPM Nguyen Xuan Phuc congratulated the Federal Republic of Germany to establish new government administration under leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel; and he stressed that Vietnam always respects the good relationship with Germany as well as desires both sides to tighten further cooperation ties in the upcoming time.



The Vietnamese leader highly appreciated cooperation projects between the two countries which have been implementing in the Southeast Asian country in the fields of economy, education and training, culture



At the reception, the German ambassador thanked for cooperation of the ministries and agencies of Vietnam in promoting the bilateral relations.



On the occasion, ambassador Christian Berger focused on measures of strengthening further the Vietnam- Germany relations in the fields of economy, trade, investment, education and culture.



Responding to the German ambassador, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc suggested that the two sides needed to actively promote mutual cooperation relations to harvest better achievements.



Besides that, he welcomed the German businesses and investors in Vietnam; and strongly affirmed that the Government and relevant agencies of Vietnam would continue to create favorable conditions for their businesses and investment.





Source:VNA- Translated by Huyen HuongGiang made the suggestion during a reception for Chief of the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces Lieut. Gen. Dulamsuren Davaa in Hanoi on April 3 who is on a visit to Vietnam.Since Vietnam and Mongolia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral defence cooperation in 2013, the two countries have worked to step up affiliation in delegation exchange, personnel training and experience sharing in UN peacekeeping activities, said Sen. Lt. Gen. Phan Van Giang.He thanked the Mongolian Ministry of Defence for inviting Vietnam to workshops within the framework of the multinational peacekeeping drill Khaan Quest 2016, which is the capstone exercise for the United Nations Global Peace Operations Initiative Programme.Lieut. Gen. Dulamsuren Davaa, for his part, expressed his hope to learn from the VPAs experience in use and management of military equipment and to increase exchange of visits at levels with Vietnam to further expand the two countries ties in defence.Last week, during a meeting with Mongolian Ambassador to Vietnam Dash Bilegdorj, Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich affirmed the Vietnamese Defence Ministry is keen on working with its Mongolian equivalent to implement bilateral agreements more effectively, particularly in delegation exchanges, military health care, logistics and UN peacekeeping mission.

VNSSpeaking at the meeting, the Prime Minister emphasized that Vietnam always respects consolidating and enhancing friendly relations with Switzerland, hoping that the two countries continue to promote cooperation in the fields, especially trade and investment. The PM highly appreciated the two sides for their mutual support in multilateral forums.



Minister Doris Leuthard thanked the warm welcome of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and expressed her impression for the leader at the World Economic Forum in Davos at the beginning of 2017.



Switzerland witnessed the diversified and active development of the Southeast Asian country, added Ms. Doris Leuthard. On the occasion, she congratulated Vietnam on its successes, and expressed her pleasure at the good relations between the two countries in previous time.



After seven years of negotiating Vietnam-European Free Trade Association Free Trade Agreement (Viet Nam-EFTA FTA), Switzerland wants to conclude negotiations this year towards the signing of the cooperation agreement between both sides, opening up cooperation opportunities.



The Minister also informed the Prime Minister about the good working results of the delegation with the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam; the Vietnamese sides active assistances to sign the cooperation agreement on aviation services.

Accordingly, direct flights connecting between Switzerland and Vietnam will be launched twice a week which will contribute to promote cooperation in the fields of tourism, trade and investment.



She said the Switzerland enterprises to Vietnam would focus on seeking the investment and cooperation opportunities in the country, including the field of pharmaceuticals.

The delegation also had meetings on the fields of environment, climate change, biodiversity ...









Source:VNA- Translated by Huyen HuongHow to survive a plague? The title of David Frances documentary account of the the HIV/Aids crisis that tore through the queer community in the 1980s and early 90s United States, and the direct-action activism and self-organising that ensued in the face of official indifference, equally applies to 120 Beats Per Minute, Robin Campillos fictionalised retelling of the comparable life and death dramas played out in France at the same time. Tracking a dozen-odd members of Parisian Act Up through a series of spectacular political interventions and planning meetings, as well as charged scenes of dance, sex, illness and death, the film, writes Ben Walters in his review, is a collective story about collective action, willing to sit with dissensus, ambiguity and irresolution, and all the more enthralling and devastating for it. As a period piece, its revelatory. As a call to arms, its galvanising.

In our cover interview, Roger Clarke talks to Campillo about his memories of the movements energy and iconography (We were creating images  we were directing ourselves) as well as its heightened, confusing passions, how he combined unwanted experience with the mise en scene of William Wylers The Little Foxes to film death, and the influence of Jimmy Someville on the sound editing. Overleaf, Simon McCallum retraces the story of cinemas own opening up to the realities of one of the worst pandemics in history, from early distress calls like Arthur J. Bressans Buddies (1985) and Bill Sherwoods Parting Glances (1986) to more celebrated latter-day fiction and nonfiction movies from north America, Britain and France to Israel.

Is it possible that contemporary British stories are somehow too small for the big screen? Are there inherent limits to our cinematic imagination? Is it really up to domestic television to do the difficult work of national self-scrutiny? asks Will Massa in his feature Atlantic Drift, pointing out a new pattern of leading lights of British independent filmmaking lately applying their talents to distinctly American stories and genres  he counts a dozen features made in the last five years, from You Were Never Really Here to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Baby Driver, Free Fire, Hell or High Water, American Honey, 12 Years a Slave and Andrew Haighs new Lean on Pete, with more to come from Steve McQueen, Yann Demange, Carol Morley and Chris Morris.

There are now several generations of film lovers (and filmmakers) who are likely to be more familiar with the topography and iconography of the United States than they are with those of their own country, Massa worries, or for whom the onscreen experience of class or black and Asian representation, for example, is filtered through an American prism rather than the distinct configurations playing out within their own borders. Cinema can take us there, but all too often it is taking us there. Thankfully there are hopeful counterexamples  but if there was ever a moment for our best artists to be helping us plumb the British psyche, its surely now.

Its amazing how you can get pigeonholed and labelled by the critical community, says Haigh in turn. When Weekend came out, it was: Oh, hes the gay filmmaker; then 45 Years came out, and there was this understanding that I was going to tell British stories about British situations. That has never been my intention. I care about character above all. Lean on Pete may seem like a very different film, but how I feel about Charley is how I felt about Kate in 45 Years or about Russell in Weekend. They are all struggling with similar things, with loneliness, with trying to understand how they can find some kind of meaning or purpose in their life, in order to make themselves happy. Haigh talks to Michael Leader about filming loneliness in his adaption of Willy Vlautins portrait of an unsheltered boy and a worn horses reversal of the Oregon trail in search of security and safety  and about building confidence, trusting in the lived-in quality of veteran actors, and the importance of endings.

Theres something about returning to the place that youre from; whether that be a literal biographical film, or just the landscape and the atmosphere, Michael Pearce tells Nikki Baughan. His bold, visceral thriller debut Beast is shot in his childhood landscape of Jersey, and complements the recent British farm trilogy of The Levelling, Gods Own Country and Dark River in its raw, defined sense of (non-cosmopolitan) place, reimagining a folkloric Jersey trauma from the 1960s  the ravages of the Beast of Jersey  as a properly primal fairytale of a woman in the wild woods of an ambiguous romance. It had to feel like it could have been shot on the Serengeti, with wild animals, says Pearce. He and producer Ivana Mackinnon talk about redefining strong female characters, avoiding psychosexual and procedural cliches, and finding fortune in natural and financial afflictions.

Ealing, Gainsborough, Hammer, Powell and Pressburgers The Archers: all of these British film companies deserve their place in cinema history. But in terms of national and international impact, Woodfall Films  subject of the forthcoming 17-film BFI retrospective and accompanying eight-film Blu-ray box-set  is no less deserving of a position in the pantheon, writes Neil Young, introducing his history of the under-celebrated company formed to bring John Osbornes Look Back in Anger to the screen, which went on to bolster not only first-time director Tony Richardsons subsequent career but to define the new wave of British kitchen sink classics  Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, A Taste of Honey, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.

The company made a grand total of 21 titles  spanning further hits (Tom Jones, The Knack and How to Get It, Kes, O Lucky Man!), misses (The Sailor from Gibraltar, Ned Kelly), films wrongly maligned or neglected (Mademoiselle, Laughter in the Dark) and the plain eccentric (The Hotel New Hampshire). As director Karel Reisz remembered, They were all made by writers who had never written, directors who had never directed, and actors who had never acted, and so on, all the way down the line  and as Young adds, actors from the far-flung corners of the British Isles and the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder, fitting them to a story template of an upstart lower-class outsider seeking to find his way in a rigidly class-bound society.

Its the easiest thing in the world to claim that a film set in the present day, in America or elsewhere, is really a western: usually all thats needed is a stretch of landscape, and a weather-beaten male face or two, and the comparison can be made to stand well enough, begins Jonathan Romney. But Western  the long-awaited third film from German director Valeska Grisebach  fits its title in so many ways that it comes across as virtually an arch-western, despite being set in Eastern Europe. Eleven years after her last film, Grisebach unfolds her identification with (and attraction to) loner masculinity, the politics of Westerners in Eastern Europe and her insistence on withholding her film scripts from her carefully gleaned non-professional actors.

Unlike most of their documentary contemporaries, the challenge for considering the work of Ken Burns and his frequent producing and directing partner Lynn Novick isnt simply to get people to watch  people know about Ken Burns  its to get people to realise the complexity and artistry of what theyre watching, writes Eric Hynes. Take another look at that big book on the shelf  you might find it odder and more provocative than you recall. In a generous, hour-long conversation the two collaborators discuss the work that time does in the context of their latest history epic The Vietnam War, what makes someone interview-worthy, their pursuit of higher common denominators for an art that disarms and reconciles  and the question, now, of whether the American experiment is on the rocks.

Also in this issue: Custody director Xavier Legrand, Dennis Cooper, non-professional actors, Mark Cousins on men and musicals, the success of The Square, the ending of Lindsay Andersons If. and yet more.Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Remarks on USTR's Proposed Tariff List on Chinese Products Pursuant to Section 301 Investigation

2018/04/04

Q: The United States has published a proposed list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs. What is your comment?

A: On April 3, EST, the Office of the US Trade Representative released a proposed list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs pursuant to Section 301 investigation. The Spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce has made clear China's stern position on this issue.

I must stress again that the US side released the proposed tariff list in disregard of China's stern representations and on the basis of no facts. China strongly condemns and firmly opposes such a move which is typical of unilateralism and trade protectionism.

The US side neglected the mutually beneficial nature of the 40-year-old China-US economic cooperation. It turned a deaf ear to the voices of the business communities and ignored the interests of consumers from the two sides. Such a move is in the national interest of neither the US nor China, and it is bad for the global economy.

What the US did severely violates the basic principles and spirit of the WTO. The Chinese side will immediately refer this wrong move by the US side to the WTO dispute settlement system. Meanwhile, in accordance with the relevant stipulations of the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China, we will take proportionate measures of the same intensity and scale on US products. These measures will be announced soon. We have the confidence and capability to counter any measure of trade protectionism taken by the United States.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.This winter has brought many intense and powerful storms, with cold fronts sweeping across much of the United States. On a much grander scale, astronomers have discovered enormous "weather systems" that are millions of light-years in extent and older than the solar system.

The researchers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to study a cold front located in the Perseus galaxy cluster that extends for about two million light-years, or about 10 billion billion miles.

Galaxy clusters are the largest and most massive objects in the universe that are held together by gravity. In between the hundreds or even thousands of galaxies in a cluster, there are vast reservoirs of super-heated gas that glow brightly in X-ray light.

The cold front in the Perseus cluster consists of a relatively dense band of gas with a "cool" temperature of about 30 million degrees moving through lower density hot gas with a temperature of about 80 million degrees. The enormous cold front studied with Chandra formed about 5 billion years ago and has been traveling at speeds of about 300,000 miles per hour ever since. Surprisingly, the front has remained extremely sharp over the eons, rather than becoming fuzzy or diffuse.

"The size, age, speed and sharpness of this cold front are remarkable," said Stephen Walker of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who led the study "Everything about this cosmic weather system is extreme."

While cold fronts in the Earth's atmosphere are driven by rotation of the planet, those in the atmospheres of galaxy clusters like Perseus are caused by collisions between the cluster and other clusters of galaxies. These collisions typically occur as the gravity of the main cluster pulls the smaller cluster inward towards its central core. If the smaller cluster makes a close pass by the central core, the gravitational attraction between both structures causes the gas in the core to slosh around like wine swirled in a glass. The sloshing produces a spiral pattern of cold fronts moving outward through the cluster gas.

One of the most surprising aspects of this new research is that the cold front in Perseus remains sharp, even after billions of years. As the cold front travels through the galaxy cluster, it passes through a harsh environment of sound waves and turbulence caused by outbursts from the supermassive black hole at the center of Perseus.

"Somehow, in the face of all this bombardment, the cold front edge has survived intact," said co-author John ZuHone of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Rather than being eroded or smoothed out, it has actually instead split into two distinct sharp edges!"

"We're not entirely sure what makes this cold front so resilient, but our computer simulations are providing some important clues," said Jeremy Sanders, a co-author from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. "It seems that magnetic fields have draped themselves over the cold front, acting almost like a shield against the barrage of forces from the rest of the cluster."

These Chandra observations, coupled with the theoretical work, provide useful information about the strength of the magnetic field along the cold front. In their simulations the researchers tested the effects of three different magnetic field strengths. With the strongest magnetic field no split was seen in the cold front, and with the weakest magnetic field the cold front became blurred. Instead the simulation with an intermediate strength magnetic field reproduced the split cold front.

The magnetic field along the cold front is equivalent to about one millionth of the strength of a typical refrigerator magnet, and is about ten times higher than in parts of the cluster away from the cold front.

Aurora Simionescu and collaborators originally discovered the Perseus cold front in 2012 using data from the German ROSAT (the ROentgen SATellite), ESA's XMM-Newton Observatory, and Japan's Suzaku X-ray satellite. Chandra's high-resolution X-ray vision allowed the first observation of the sharpness and splitting of the ancient cold front to be performed.

Perseus is the same cluster where astronomers discovered sound waves with a note of B-flat 57 octaves below middle-C plus a giant wave about twice the width of the Milky Way galaxy.

Reference: "The Split in the Ancient Cold Front in the Perseus Cluster," Stephen A. Walker et al., 2018 Feb. 26, Nature Astronomy [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0401-8, preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.00898]. The other co-author of the paper is Andrew Fabian of the Institute of Astronomy (IoA) in Cambridge, England.

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.On Saturday, March 24th the new Fellow showroom on Valencia in San Francisco played host to a Women In Coffee panel, featuring prominent female coffee professionals from around the Bay Area. The discussion was led by Alicia Adams (Director of Coffee of Red Bay Coffee Roasters) and featured business owners Eileen Rinaldi (founder and CEO of Ritual Coffee Roasters), Helen Russell (co-founder and CEO of Equator Coffees & Teas), Trish Rothgeb (co-founder, co-CEO, and Director of Coffee at Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters), and Rachel Konte (Chief of Design at Red Bay Coffee Roasters).

Here at Fellow we pick themes for the store every month, explained manager Jessica Caisse. In honor of International Women's Day we decided March would be Boss Ladies Month' during which we would highlight and celebrate women in the coffee industry. We featured women-owned and operated roasters, promoted women producers, and planned a Women in Coffee' mixer like we've enjoyed at other businesses in the past, where ladies in the industry have a fun night to connect over food and drinks.

Caisse teamed up with Akaash Saini of Equator Coffees and Teas who'd been developing this program and needed a venue. It couldn't have been more perfect timing, Caisse told Sprudge.

Before the panel kicked off, around forty-five guests mingled in the expansive showroom, with food provided by Dripline of Oakland, CA. The owner and head chef, Nora Dunning, is getting a lot of local exposure, says Caisse, She was one of the head pastry people at Farley's and Blue Bottle. Dripline is now becoming one of the hot spots in Oakland. Dripline's food draws from South East Asian flavors and contemporary California cuisinethink a cardamom-spiced muffin dusted with Equator Coffees' Tigerwalk espresso blend.

Drinks were provided by women-owned Inconnu Wine and beer by women-owned Good Food Award winning brewery Sufferfest.

Alicia Adams moderated the panel and touched on issues like diversity, sexual harassment, challenges of being a woman in coffee, and dismantling outdated systems. I was honored and inspired to be moderating a panel of women with so much experience in the coffee industry, Adams tells Sprudge. A lot of them have paved the way for women in the coffee industry, and to hear their thoughts and advice on the more serious topics like sexual harassment and gender inequity while still keeping the conversation positive and uplifting is exactly what we need more of.

[Adams] asked great questions that pushed us toward some illuminating realizations. I learned so much from the other panelists, as well as Alicia, Trish Rothgeb told us.

It's always an honor to represent Women of Color in the Coffee industry, says Rachel Konte. We are unicorns, but that is not holding us back. We need to be seen so others can follow.

It was wonderful to look out at the audience and see more than one kind of person represented, Rothgeb continued. A panel made up of women talking about the coffee lives of women can draw a diverse crowd! This is amazing to see.

The panel lasted a little over an hour and included topics that panelists had different takes on. Some championed transparency in wages while others were more cautious. Compensation is a complex topic and it was interesting to hear how we all manage transparency at different stages of growth, said Helen Russell.

Rachel, Helen, Trish, Eileen, and Alicia were a wonderful team to lead a discussion like this, and the response I've had from guests has been overwhelmingly positive, said Caisse. Communities coming together in this way on a regular basis is so important to the health and vibrance of our industry, and I'm honored Fellow could be a part of it.

Watch the complete video below:

Sprudge is proudly partnered with this Women In Coffee event. Special thanks to Fellow and Equator Coffees, and to all the panelists, our host Alicia Adams, and attendees.

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge.Sectionline Bigry set a track record when winning the $17,500 Omar Hiteman Memorial, one of two in another pair of Lebanon Legends late-closer events, on the Tuesday, April 3 matinee at Miami Valley Raceway.

Winning in 1:51, Sectionline Bigry lowered the track record for sophomore pacing colts by besting heavy-favourite Mindtrip from a first-over trip. Driver Tyler Smith sent Sectionline Bigry after Mindtrip, who took the front after a first-quarter speed battle between Cgs Boy Toy and Colin N Down, pacing through the backstretch. Sectionline Bigry and Mindtrip were head to head around the final turn, with Sectionline Bigry winning by a neck. Skyway Quinton finished third.

The winner of the Omar Hiteman Memorial, for non-winners of two or $20,000 lifetime, is a homebred owned by Harold Lee and Harold L. Bauder. Steve Bauder trains the colt by Pet Rock out of the Cambest mare Aquatic Yankee.

Following a half-hour weather delay as a thunderstorm passed through the area, the $22,500 Dr. Dan Farwick Memorial Trot final, for non-winners of six races or $60,000, went postward.

Elmo Blatch, discovered by owner-trainer David Lough just days before becoming an Amish buggy horse late last year, extended his win streak to five with a 1:56.3 victory. Loughs son, Tylor, positioned Elmo Blatch, the 3-5 favourite, to sit fourth along the pylons in the early going. Following early fractions of :27, :56.2 and 1:25.2 by eventual show finisher Rose Run Spanky, Lough angled Elmo Blatch three-wide around the final bend. After clearing the leader, Elmo Blatch maintained his lead as Starlight AS rallied to the wire for second.

Racing will resume Thursday, April 5 at Miami Valley with a special make-up matinee program at 2:05 p.m.

(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)E.W. Jackson, Virginia US Senate Candidate, Calls for a Month of Brotherhood in April to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Death of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Contact: Vanity Jackson,

757-744-0222,

Media@ewjackson.com



CHESAPEAKE, Va., April 4, 2018 /Standard Newswire/ -- On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. E.W. Jackson, long an advocate of racial reconciliation, is calling April a "Month of Brotherhood" with a moratorium on accusations of racism. Says Jackson, "Racists will pay no attention to this, but the rest of us who want to see our country come together can celebrate the life of Dr. King by taking a step of faith toward his vision."



King famously said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."



Jackson believes that King would be deeply disappointed that fifty years after his death, accusations of racism would be a political weapon of the left against the right, Democrats against Republicans.



Says Mr. Jackson. "No sane American wants to be a racist, or be called a racist. Most Americans want to treat every person fairly based on character and competence. However concepts like systemic racism, white privilege and micro-aggressions, imply that America and Americans are hopelessly and inherently racist. This is not Rev. King's Dream, but a perverse nightmare."



Dr. King said, "I have a dream that...the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood."



"Dr. King's Dream was Brotherhood" says Jackson. "I cannot think of a better way to commemorate his life during the 50th Anniversary of his death than to declare a Month of Brotherhood. Who knows what progress we might make if we begin to give each other the benefit of the doubt instead of defaulting to accusations of racism and stoking racial division."



E.W. Jackson plans a major speech on race later this month in Charlottesville, where the violent confrontation took place over Confederate Statues last year.



www.ewjackson.comCatholics Plan Public Protest Over Holy Cross Professor's 'Drag King' Jesus Blasphemy

Contact: Robert Ritchie, 717-309-1990



WORCESTER, Mass., April 4, 2018 /Standard Newswire/ -- A firestorm of outrage erupted over blasphemous claims made by Prof. Tat Siong Benny Liew, chair of New Testament Studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, that Jesus was an erotic "drag king."



Catholic laity from across Massachusetts plan to gather in front of Holy Cross on Saturday, April 7, at 11:00 AM for a Rosary of Reparation, and to deliver a faith-filled message to the Jesuit-run college: Prof Liew should disavow his attack against Christ or resign his teaching position at the Catholic college.



The Most Rev. Robert J. McManus, bishop of the Diocese of Worcester, called Liew's writings "blasphemous" and added that if he "...disavows them, then he must state so publicly, so as not to create confusion about the nature of Christ."



According to The Fenwick Review, Prof. Liew uses the Gospel of Saint John in his writings to claim that Jesus Christ was an impure "cross-dresser" who had "queer desires," and eroticizes the Passion and Crucifixion of Our Lord, and uses unrepeatable language to attack the holy purity of Jesus and His Apostles.



TFP Student Action, a network of young Catholics, gathered more than 16,045 petitions, urging Holy Cross president Fr. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J. to "correct the scandal" and "remove Prof. Tat-Siong Benny Liew, Chair of New Testament Studies, for openly attacking the Sacred Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ with unrepeatable blasphemy."



The petition can be accessed here.



The Catholic faithful and all Americans of good will are invited to join the rally of reparation.

When: Saturday, April 7, at 11:00 AM



Where: At College St. and Linden Lane, Worcester, Massachusetts.



Why: To offer reparation to Our Lord for the blasphemous claims.

Bishop McManus' full statement regarding the blasphemous writings of Prof. Liew can be found HERE.



For more information, please call Robert Ritchie at 717-309-1990.

The first meeting between the two schools since 2013, was a classic with Loyola edging Mira Costa in the neighborhood rivalry, despite the schools not being located in the same cityRiverbed Technology has announced the appointment of Paul Mountford to CEO, succeeding Jerry M. Kennelly, who is retiring after serving as CEO since co-founding Riverbed in 2002. Mountford joined Riverbed nearly four years ago as SVP and Chief Sales Officer, leading the transformation of the global sales organization and partner program as Riverbed has evolved into a multi-product platform company that delivers a modern IT architecture for the digital enterprise. Mountford has played a key role in the execution of Riverbeds multi-year digital performance strategy, which has included several strategic acquisitions, organic development of digital performance and cloud-based features and functionality, and integration across multiple solutions. Today, Riverbed has a total addressable market surpassing $30 billion.

Im extremely proud of what our team has built at Riverbed the last 16 years, growing from a start-up to a billion-dollar company serving 30,000 customers and every Forbes Global 100 company, said Kennelly. Riverbed is experiencing significant market momentum in todays digital world, and Ive never been more confident about the future of our company and opportunities ahead. After 40+ years in the tech industry, and with Riverbed in a strong position, the time is right for me to retire and hand the reins over to a proven leader in Paul Mountford. Paul has the experience, leadership capabilities, customer-focus, and passion to lead Riverbed through the next phase of growth while continuing to surpass our customers expectations.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank Jerry for his leadership, numerous accomplishments, and dedication over the past 16 years, as well as for setting the foundation and culture at Riverbed for a bright future, said Orlando Bravo, Riverbed board member and a managing partner at Thoma Bravo. The Board is also very pleased to welcome Paul as Riverbeds next CEO. Paul is moving into the role of CEO at a significant time; when businesses of all types are seeking to digitize, thereby requiring the next-gen IT architecture that Riverbed is uniquely positioned to provide. Paul is a strong leader with 30 years of experience running large organizations in the technology and infrastructure markets, and he has demonstrated the ability to drive strategy and vision, inspire high-performing teams, and deliver impactful results that benefit customers, partners, and shareholders.

Riverbed is an incredible company with a history of driving disruptive innovation in the market, and Im honored to lead this team as the next CEO, said Paul Mountford, CEO, Riverbed Technology. We have an extraordinary opportunity in front of us to lead businesses forward as they modernize their IT architecture to take full advantage of cloud and mobile technologies and accelerate their digital strategies. Jerry has created a fantastic culture at Riverbed built on collaboration, customer-centricity, innovation, and community, and I look forward to further building on this culture with the thousands of employees and partners we have around the world.

Prior to Riverbed, Mountford was CEO of Sentillian, a New York-based web intelligence startup focused on monitoring publicly shared content. Mountford also spent 16 years at Cisco in senior leadership roles, including running Ciscos $34 billion Enterprise line of business, initiating and leading the companys Emerging Markets division, and rebuilding and running Ciscos market-leading channel partner program from 2001 to 2006.

Mountford was appointed as Riverbed CEO following an internal and external search by the Riverbed Board of Directors. Mountford will assume the position of CEO immediately, and Kennelly will serve in an advisory role in April, supporting Paul and Riverbed during this leadership transition.Cognizant is one of the worlds leading professional services companies, transforming clients business, operating and technology models for the digital era. Our unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build and run more innovative and efficient businesses. Cognizant today announced that the Madras High Court in Chennai, India, granted Cognizants application for a stay of the actions of the Indian Income TaxDepartment (ITD)and a lifting of the departments attachment of Cognizants bank accounts. As part of the stay order, Cognizant will deposit $75 million (INR 4.9 billion), representing 15% of the disputed tax, to be kept in a suspense account by the ITD, with the remainder marked under lien. The Court further granted the request of Cognizant to address the ITDs collection actions and scheduled a hearing later in April 2018.

Our operations remain unaffected,said Karen McLoughlin, Chief Financial Officer, Cognizant. This dispute is with respect to a lawful, fully reviewed and disclosed transaction, and we are pleased with todays decision that restores appropriate due process. Cognizant is committed to complying with the law in all jurisdictions in which we operate, and we will continue our defense against the assertions of the Indian Income Tax Department in this and other tax disputes.

The underlying dispute involves the Indian Income Tax Departments recent assertion that it is owed additional taxes in connection with a 2016 $2.8 billion share buyback transaction undertaken by Cognizants principal operating subsidiary in India. In that transaction, undertaken pursuant to a plan approved by the Madras High Court, Cognizant paid approximately $135 million (INR 9 billion) in Indian income taxes, which it believes are all applicable taxes owed according to Indian law.

@Technuter.com News ServiceASUS is one of Fortune magazines Worlds Most Admired Companies, and is dedicated to creating products for today and tomorrows smart life. Our comprehensive portfolio includes Zenbo, ZenFone, ZenBook and a range of IT devices and components, along with AR, VR and IoT. ASUS employs more than 16,000 people worldwide and over 5,000 world-class R&D talents. ASUS appoints Leon Yu, as the Regional Head for India and South Asia. Leon joins ASUS India from ASUS Middle East to assume the responsibility from Peter Chang, who has now moved to ASUS headquarters in Taiwan, and heads the Market Development Center for APAC.

In his new role, Mr. Leon will be responsible for building ASUS brand and business in the South Asia region which includes India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, with a focus towards building client relationships, growing business volumes and sales of ASUS branded products and services.

ASUS believes that Mr. Leons in-depth knowledge and experience of the brand, marketing and distribution will bring a new dynamic to the local business particularly in such a highly competitive environment.

Commenting on the appointment Mr. Leon Yu said, I am very pleased to join ASUS India and look forward to building on the momentum and growth that Peter and his team have created here. Ive already begun engaging with our team across India and am eager to continue to build the incredible reputation ASUS has earned in India across product range starting from smartphones, laptops and the ROG series. Leon further added, India is a truly unique market and we are fortunate to have some great relationships and foundations upon which to build further as we work towards fulfilling the vision of ASUS India.

Leon started his career with ASUS about 15 years back where he was integral part of the leadership in ASUS headquarters, Taiwan. He has been instrumental in building and growing businesses for driving sales and market share for different markets. Prior to this, Leon was the Regional Director for ASUS Middle East for 6 years since 2012, where he was responsible for building and executing the regional strategy, resourcing, and business growth. Under his astute leadership, ASUS Middle East doubled the sales of Notebook, Tablet and is now the No.1 Gaming notebook brand in Middle East region.

@Technuter.com News ServiceKiwanis Club takes over Fantasy Forest LAPEER  The annual Fantasy Forest treat walk is under new management by the Kiwanis Club of Lapeer this year, and visitors can expect all...

Disc golf club course debuts in North Branch NORTH BRANCH  Despite the less-than-optimal weather, students from North Branchs Ruth Fox Middle School headed outside on Monday for the first meeting of the...China military tells Russia 'we've come to support you' against US

Participating soldiers learn to use Chinese weapons and equipment prior to joint training on the second day of the \"Cooperation-2017\" anti-terrorism exercise between the Chinese People\'s Armed Police Force and Russian Federation National Guard.

Newsweek :

China's military leadership has pledged its support to Russia as tensions between Moscow and the West further deteriorate into diplomatic isolation, economic sanctions and dueling defense drills.

In his first visit to Russia, newly appointed Chinese Defense Minister Wei Feng attended the seventh Moscow International Security Conference accompanied by a delegation of other high-level military officials. Emphasizing that his trip was coordinated directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Wei said that he had two major messages for Russia at a time when both nations were attempting to modernize their armed forces and strengthen their hands in global affairs in spite of U.S. fears.

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"I am visiting Russia as a new defense minister of China to show the world a high level of development of our bilateral relations and firm determination of our armed forces to strengthen strategic cooperation," Wei said at a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency.

"Second, to support the Russian side in organizing the Moscow International Security Conference the Chinese side has come to show Americans the close ties between the armed forces of China and Russia, especially in this situation. We've come to support you," he added. "The Chinese side is ready to express with the Russian side our common concerns and common position on important international problems at international venues as well."

Russian and Chinese military leadership meets ahead of the Moscow International Security Conference in Moscow, April 3, 2018. The two major powers have pledged solidarity in the face of what they see as U.S. aggression and hegemony. Russian Ministry of Defense

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart command what's often considered the world's second and third most powerful armed forces, respectively, behind the U.S. While the Pentagon has managed to retain a comfortable lead against its leading competitors, Moscow and Beijing have coordinated closely as they both aim to close this gap and check U.S. influence abroad.

Don't miss: Trump Refuses to Acknowledge Threat From Moscow, but Will Arm Russia's Baltic Neighbors

As Russia showed off its military prowess by declaring victory in the Syrian conflict and boosting its military power across Europe, China has invested in international infrastructure projects-especially across Asia and Africa-and expanded its presence in the Pacific. Both countries argue they are looking to work with and not against the U.S., but Washington has viewed their rise with suspicion and has taken countermeasures against perceived challenges to the international order it has traditionally dominated for decades.

In addition to boosting its own military power in Europe and Asia, the U.S. has portrayed growing Russian and Chinese influence abroad as an assault on democracy. The West has singled out Russia especially, accusing it of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential race and other foreign elections.

The nerve agent attack, which targeted both Skripal and his daughter, has led a number of Western countries and their allies to expel more than 100 Russian diplomats and close consulates. Russia has responded in kind, denying responsibility and accusing the U.K. of denying it access to the investigation.

When asked about the global reaction to the case, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang urged "that the relevant parties shall sort out the facts behind the Skripal incident at an early date and properly resolve disputes based on mutual respect and equal-footed consultation," during a regular press conference Tuesday.

"The international community is challenged on so many fronts today. Cold War mentality and group confrontation is the last thing we need. We should all work together to preserve world peace, stability and security and build a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, equality, justice and win-win cooperation," he added.

Russia has also suggested that the U.S. or the U.K. may be the true culprit behind the attack against Skripal in a bid to frame the Kremlin. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the Rossiya-24 station on Thursday that "the Skripal affair was used in order to tighten the ranks of the European Union and NATO, which loosened lately, and to inject another portion of Russophobia" ahead of the Western military alliance's Brussels summit in July, Tass reported.

Participating soldiers learn to use Chinese weapons and equipment prior to joint training on the second day of the "Cooperation-2017" anti-terrorism exercise between the Chinese People's Armed Police Force and Russian Federation National Guard on December 4, 2017. China and Russia have sought increased cooperation between their armed forces and have practiced suppressing threats from home and abroad. In response to Wei's visit, his Russian counterpart also stressed better relations between the two countries, which once formed the world's largest and most powerful communist alliance before falling out in the 1960s. With both Putin and Xi having been re-elected last month, the two presidents have successfully consolidated power in their respective countries.

"Thanks to the efforts of the leaders of our countries, the ties between Russia and China are now reaching a new and unprecedented level, becoming an important factor in ensuring peace and international security," Shoigu said, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.



Broken by siege, Syria rebels face worst loss yet in Ghouta

The expected loss of Eastern Ghouta will deal the rebels the biggest blow yet in their uprising.

AFP, Beirut :

The expected loss of Eastern Ghouta will deal Syria's fragmented rebels their biggest blow yet, leaving them unable to threaten President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and increasingly subservient to competing global interests.

Just weeks after their ill-fated uprising turned seven years old, Syrian opposition fighters have found themselves bussed out of their one-time bastion on the capital's outskirts.

They had overrun the suburb in 2012, setting up independent power structures that served around 400,000 residents and granted them a thriving popular base.

The three main factions-Jaish al-Islam, Faylaq al-Rahman, and Ahrar al-Sham-continually pledged to march on Damascus and rained rockets down on its residential neighbourhoods.

Weakened by a slow and painful half-decade siege, rebels could hardly hold out under weeks of bombing that culminated in negotiated withdrawals, a strategy polished by Syria's regime elsewhere.

"What happened is an absolutely huge loss strategically, militarily, and politically for the rebels. However you look at it, it's a total loss," says Nawar Oliver, an analyst at the Omran Institute.

"Just having a presence at the gates of the capital, near foreign embassies, was enough for rebels to impose themselves as essential players."

Even during Ghouta's dying days, its rebels maintained their deadly ability to lob mortar bombs and rockets on the capital, killing dozens.

It had granted them leverage for years, Oliver said.

"The regime had to talk to them, had to release prisoners, because they held the gates of the capital," he said.

"Now, they're nothing."

After the crumbling last year of the Islamist State (IS) jihadist group's "caliphate" in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, Assad's troops have shifted their focus elsewhere.

Helped by air strikes from steadfast ally Russia, Syrian troops are now in control of 55 percent of the war-ravaged country.

Swathes of the north and northeast are held by Kurdish militia and IS still holds small pockets in the country's centre and east.

The conventional armed opposition still holds most of the southern province of Daraa, a few towns in central Syria, and part of Aleppo province in the north.

They are also present in northwest Idlib, but their influence has been shrinking as Islamist and jihadist groups tighten their grip on the province.

Just like Ghouta, those areas have been designated as "de-escalation zones" meant to pave the way for a nationwide ceasefire.

But after Ghouta, nowhere is safe, Nawar told AFP.

"This is the essential thing the opposition knows now: nowhere is an exception," he said.

The evacuation deals that appear to have sealed Ghouta's fate were preceded by years of similar withdrawals, most infamously in December 2016 from second city Aleppo.

After a bombing blitz, tens of thousands of rebels and civilians were bussed out of their stronghold in the city's east in what was, at the time, their most devastating defeat.

"The fall of Aleppo was the beginning of the end, but Ghouta is more symbolic," said Thomas Pierret, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh.

At the time, mainstream rebels held more territory in Idlib, Homs, and around Damascus-and they still had Ghouta.

"At a rather symbolic level, there was this idea that we still have something. (Ghouta) was a meaningful challenge to the regime," said Pierret.

Now, rebels across the country face three options, Pierret told AFP.

They could reconcile with the regime and join loyalist forces, or could throw their lot in with the opposition's main remaining backer-Turkey.

"The only alternative is the jihadi option. The jihadists would be the only group left fighting the regime and not directly under the control of another state," said Pierret.

Syria's conflict has drawn in a host of international players-including rebel backer Turkey, regime allies Russia and Iran, and the US-led coalition fighting IS.

The "Syrian National Army"-the Turkey-backed force tied to the political opposition-said Ghouta's rebels were welcome to join its ranks.

"Developments in Ghouta and elsewhere make us more insistent on maintaining and organising the SNA," said its spokesman Mohammad Abadeen.

Most of the fighters evacuated from Ghouta belonged to Faylaq al-Rahman, who would likely join ranks with Ankara-backed forces in Idlib and Aleppo.

Ahmad Abazeid, an independent Syrian analyst, said rebels in Ghouta's armed insurgency had been a rare case of more independent decision-making.

"Ghouta's loss shrinks the opposition's manoeuvering space with these other powers, because they now need a foreign ally and civilians need an international umbrella to protect them from a similar campaign," he said.

"Aleppo is Syria's second city, but Damascus is the capital-and losing Ghouta represents the biggest loss in the history of the Syrian revolution," said Abazeid.



GANGACHARA (Rangpur): Leaders of Gangachara upazila BNP distributing leaflets demanding release of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia on Tuesday.Myanmar minister due Apr 11 to meet Rohingyas

UNB, Dhaka :

Myanmar is sending its Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Minister Win Myat Aye next week to visit Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar district.

This will be the first such visit by any Myanmar minister to the largest-ever refugee camps where some 700,000 Rohingyas have taken shelter since last August following an army crackdown in Rakhine. The United Nations has likened it to ethnic cleansing. Minister Win Myat Aye is scheduled to arrive here on April 11 and will visit Rohingya camps on April 12, a

Foreign Ministry source said without elaborating his programme.

Though there have been high-level visits from Myanmar, including minister, no one of them did visit the Rohingya camps. Earlier, Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque said one of the Myanmar ministers will be visiting Bangladesh this month.Turkey hosts critical summit on Syria with Russia, Iran

Rouhani and Putin were in Ankara for the summit with Erdogan.

AFP :

The presidents of Iran, Turkey and Russia met on Wednesday for their second tripartite summit in under six months, aiming to speed the peace process for Syria and bolster their influence in the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted his Russian and Iranian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani in Ankara at his presidential palace for a meeting that could have a critical bearing on developments in Syria.

The meeting is the second such tripartite summit after the first hosted by Putin in November in the Black Sea city of Sochi and will be a new symbol of the increasingly deep cooperation.

The three powers have backed peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana which they argue are a parallel process to support UN-supported discussions in Geneva.

Experts say that Ankara, Moscow and Tehran have quite different interests but have for now decided to team up to take advantage of the waning Western influence in Syria.

The Kremlin's special envoy on the Syria peace process Alexander Lavrentiev said the summit would allow the chance to assess the current situation and set out future prospects.

Hours before the summit, US President Donald Trump said he wanted to "bring our troops back home" from Syria after indicating last week the US would withdraw from the country "very soon".

Jana Jabbour, professor of political science at Sciences Po university in Paris, said the aim of the summit was to "reorganise and renegotiate the zones of influence in Syria as well as to reflect on the future of Syria's north after US withdrawal".

Turkey drove out Kurdish militia from Afrin city on March 18, two months after it launched an offensive in northern Syria supporting Syrian rebels.

Erdogan has indicated Turkey could extend its operation to the YPG-held town of Manbij as well as Ayn al-Arab (Kobane) and Qamishli, all east of Afrin.

"Erdogan likely wants to use the summit to secure Russian and Iranian support for expanded operations in northern Syria or Iraq," said Elizabeth Teoman, Turkey analyst at the

Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

After bilateral talks with Putin on Tuesday, Erdogan said Turkey and Russia would continue their cooperation "focusing on our common interests" in Syria.

Jabbour said Iran and Russia would give free rein to Turkey in the north against the YPG in exchange for bringing the groups it controls to the negotiating table.

"Turkey remains a key player in the Syrian crisis especially because of the opposition groups it controls. A solution to the crisis is unimaginable without Ankara's contribution," she added.Media should run freely and fearlessly

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday ordered the withdrawal of rules punishing journalists held to be responsible for distributing fake news, giving no reason for the change, less than 24 hours after the original announcement. The move followed an outcry by journalists and opposition politicians that the rules represented an attack on the freedom of the press and an effort by Modi's government to rein in free speech ahead of a general election due next year. On Monday, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry of India had said the government would cancel accreditation of journalists who peddled "fake news".

The point, however, when it comes to deterring publication and spreading of fake news; its the Press Council which is the right platform to deal with complaints regarding any fake news. And the Indian PMs intervention in this regard would only empower the government trying to control the media. Most importantly, no government in any country has been given the mandate to control press freedom. Understandably, Modis move followed Malaysia's approval this week of a law prescribing jail terms up to six years for spreading fake news. This move in India may well be negatively influenced by Mr. Trumps eschewing and verbal abuse of the press in America too. Other countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore and the Philippines, are considering how to tackle fake news as well, but human rights activists all across the globe fear tougher laws against it could be used to repress free speech.

In Bangladesh, the journalist community has already registered their protest against the new Digital Security Act. No doubt, the freedom of the press has been put to the sword by introducing the Act. We know, there is a good correlation between press freedom and the different dimensions of human development, economic growth, education, food, and health. But freedom of expression is one of the most precious rights. Though our Constitution has ensured freedom of expression for every citizen, the government has created a frightened atmosphere in the country by introducing the law.

Keeping the journalists in fear is a tool of repression. We are against any kind of repression as it is against freedom of expression. A country cannot be free without freedom of the press.



Take stern action against the culprits

NEWS media reported that field-level officials at the Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP) are worried over their security as they are often threatened and even attacked by middlemen backed by ruling party activists. Their concerns rose further following an attack on an official of Bogura passport office allegedly by a group affiliated with the ruling Awami League activists for not allowing brokers to manage passports. The blow on an honest officer, not a rare case though, will discourage public officials to be honest in service delivery, the most corrupt arena. Five suspects, including the kingpin, so far were arrested but we doubt whether the local administration would be able to take action against them.

When corruption becomes pervasive in every layer of public service delivery in absence of internal accountability due to an unholy nexus between politics and bureaucrats, and external accountability is nonexistent due to the demise of credible elections, the heinous attack and impunity to the thugs emit a message that rights-based society is a far cry.

There are allegations against many officials at DIP but those who want to keep their image clean are being made into victims in different ways, triggering the poor delivery of services to the public. The middlemen, backed by ruling party leaders and activists, and local powerful quarters often demand undue services-- like not checking submitted documents properly and exert pressure in case of poor response. In Cox's Bazar, the local administration allowed several organizations to prepare documents and formalities for the applicants. The situation went from bad to worse in Bogura when a group of ruling party activists loyal to town Juba League office secretary Mostakim Rahman on March 29 chased DIP's regional Assistant Director Shahjahan Kabir when he was on his way to get a bus.

Those who want to fight corruption in the government offices face the similar threat as the bureaucrats who are the top in the administrative service may be corrupt, with exceptions. The country's uplift from the ditch of corruption would be impossible unless the corrupt political high-ups are caught red-handed or the ruling party high-ups take strong action against them. Mysteriously, the entire society is now living in intimidation and people are not coming out to protest the thugs as the law enforcers at the end take the side of perpetrators and innocent people have to suffer.

This cannot be continued in public service delivery for an uncertain period. We ask the government to take stern action against the culprits.Man accused of stabbing SI killed in 'gunfight'

Staff Reporter :

A man accused of stabbing a Sub-Inspector (SI) of Police recently was killed in an alleged gunfight with the Detective Branch (DB) personnel at Gouripur in Mymensingh district early Wedneday.

The deceased has been identified as Ujjal Mia, 28, a suspected drug peddler and an accused in a case of stabbing SI Asaduzzaman Asad, said Ashiqur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the district.

"Police raided a house on Shaikh Siraj Road at Gouripur to arrest Ujjal based on a tip. A skirmish ensued when Ujjal and his cohorts opened fire and hurled bombs at them. Ujjal was hit by a bullet when we fired in self-defence. Later Ujjal was rushed to Mymensingh Medical College and Hospital (MMCH)where on-duty doctors declared him dead," the DB official said.

MMCH emergency medical officer Dr Ashesh Kumar Roy said Ujjal had died before he was brought to the hospital. "He had a gunshot wound in left side of his chest," Ashesh said.

Gouripur Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Delowar Ahmed denied having any knowledge about the gunfight.

On March 27, Ujjal attacked SI Asaduzzaman with a knife in the Old Jail area of Gauripur upazila, police said. A case has been filed over the incident.PP Rathish found dead

Md Joynal Abedin Khan with Mintu Abdur Rahman :

The body of Rangpur's Special Public Prosecutor Rathish Chandra Bhowmik was recovered on Wednesday five days after he allegedly went missing in Rangpur city.

His body was found in an abandoned building in the city's Tajhat Mollapara area around 2:30am. His brother Shushanta Bhowmik and other relatives identified the victim.

Ratish is a victim of extramarital affair of his wife Dipa Bhowmik with her colleague Kamrul Islam Jafri - both assistant teachers of Tajhat High School, said Mizanur Rahman, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Rangpur.

"Dipa Bhowmik alias Snigdha Sarker confessed to Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) that she had an extramarital affair with her colleague Kamrul Islam and they planned to murder Rathish two months ago," Benazir Ahmed, Director General (DG) of the elite force, told the reporters at a press briefing at RAB-13 Headquarters in Rangpur on Wednesday afternoon.

As a reason, he is pointing fingers at a family feud centering extra-marital affair of Dipa, the RAB chief said.

"Both Snigdha and Kamrul are teachers of Tajhaat High School of Rangpur. As per planning, with the help of their two students Sabuj and Rokonuzzaman, they dug a whole inside an under construction building at Mollapara area on Wednesday. They paid tk 600 to the class x students ," Benazir said quoting Snigdha's confessional statement.

They made first made Rathish unconscious as 10 sedative pills were mixed with his food on March 29. Then they (couple) strangled him to death with scarf. The body was packed in an almira to send it Mollahat, the DG said.

On the next day, lawyer Rathish was given 10 sleeping pills through his meal and strangled to death by Kamrul and Snigdha", he added.

"Kamrul went out of the house around 5.00am the next day and came back with a rickshaw-van around 9.00am. They hide the body into an Alimirah in the name of changing it, then the body was taken to Tajerhat Mollarpara area and buried it in an under construction building. Kamrul earlier hired three men to shift the Alimirah on the van," he said quoting Dipa.

The body was then left at the basement of an under-construction building in Mollahat area with the help of their students. They buried the closet with the body inside, the DG said.

Earlier, based on Snigdha's confession, RAB members recovered the body around 2:30am on Wednesday although the body rescue drive started at 8:30pm on Tuesday. The PP's brother Sushanta Bhoumik identified the body of Rathish, according to RAB chief.

Snigdha and Kamrul and their two students Sabuj and Rokonuzzaman have been so far arrested in a case regarding the sensational murder, he said.

The body was unearthed as per the instruction of the deceased's wife. Following murder, her husband was buried there, said RAB-13 commander (Acting) Major Armin Rabbi.

SP Mizanur said at the time that the law enforcers were working on significant information gleaned from the duo.

Earlier in the afternoon, police launched a search around Rathis' home, he said.

They suspended the operation after finding a blooded shirt from the garbage put in a hole, but Subal confirmed it was not his brother's, the SP said.

On Tuesday night, police detained Dipa while her lover Kamrul Islam and his brother Motiur Rahman were picked up police on Monday for their alleged involvement in the disappearance of the public prosecutor.was. Following her information of Dipa, lawmen dug out the body, said Rangpur Kotwali Police station.

Meanwhile, a widely-renowned personality for involvement with various social organisations in Rangpur, there was an uproar from people from various quarters demanding immediate trace to his whereabouts.

The lawyers of Rangpur demanded highest penalty for Dapa and her lover Kamrul, said our local correspondent quoting police. The crimination of Ratish Chandra was completed at South Sawshan area in the city on Wednesday night.

Govt's tall claim on GDP growth just a lip service: BNP

Staff Reporter :

The BNP on Wednesday said the government's tall claim on GDP growth this year at 7.65is nothing but a lip service.

"Limitless corruption of the government has made the national economy empty. They looted public treasury and all banks. Their unlimited plundering has destroyed the financial sector. In these circumstances, the government claim for 7.65 percent GDP in 2017-18 fiscal years sounds empty.

It is totally a lip service," BNP Senior Joint-Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said at a news briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office in the capital.

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday claimed GDP growth during this fiscal year will be higher than initially expected. He made the disclosure on the city yesterday.

The BNP leader also said every road and highway and other infrastructures of the country were ruined. Remittance declined. Foreign and local investment are near to a halt.

There is no development in the ground that justifies big GDP growth. Moreover whatever development is taking place is mainly focused on improving the condition of wealthy party men, poor are only getting poorer, Rizvi said.

The BNP leader expressed concern over the party chief Khaleda Zia's health saying there is no way to know the party chairperson's health condition.

"We are yet to be confirmed the actual health condition of this 73 year old popular national leader (Khaleda)," he said.

The government is depriving Khaleda Zia, now in Dhaka's old central jail, of treatment facilities by creating obstacles in many ways, he added.

"Khaleda Zia's personal doctors have been denied access to visit her in jail to check her health and provide treatment. We are at the same time denied of information relating to the health of our leader," Rizvi said.

He said that the government is causing suffering to Khaleda by snatching away her rights, including the rights to treatment and of getting bail.Arm lost Rajib shifted to DMCH

Bus owners must bear treatment cost : HC

Staff Reporter :

Rajib Hossain, who lost his arm after sandwiched between two speeding buses on Tuesday, was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) from Samorita Hospital yesterday.

Rajib's family transferred him to the DMCH as they are unable to bear the cost of treatment at the private hospital, ICU Medical officer of Samorita Hospital Ltd Dr Hossain told the journalists.

He regains consciousness time to time, but as he is under sedatives, he sleeps most of the time, the official said.

Till Wednesday morning, the medical bill at Samorita Hospital stood at Tk 1.26 lakh, which the family won't afford it, Rajib's maternal aunt said.

They paid around Tk 35,000 only and signed a bond to pay the rest of the money later, the family said. Rajib, 22, a third-year student of Government Titumir College, was undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit of Samorita Hospital.

"When he gains consciousness, he looks for his right arm, but he faints again soon afterwards," the aunt added.

A team from Government Titumir College visited Rajib at Samorita Hospital and gave Tk 10,000 to his family members, family said. They also assured the family of further monetary assistance.

Meanwhile, Shahbagh Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Abul Hasan told the journalists that they had already arrested two of the bus drivers of BRTC and Swajan Paribohan. The drivers will be sent to the court today (Thursday).

The High Court (HC) on Wednesday directed the owners of two buses to bear all the treatment cost of Titumir College student Rajib Hossain who lost his right arm in a collision between the two buses in Bangla Motor area of Dhaka on Tuesday.

The court also issued a rule asking the government and the bus owners to explain in four weeks as to why they should not be directed to give Tk one crore to Rajib Hossain as compensation.

In the rule, the court also asked the government to show cause as to why they should not be directed to strictly enforce the relevant laws and rules for free movement of the people in the streets.

The HC bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice A K M Jahirul Hoque passed the order and issued the rule after hearing a writ petition moved by a Supreme Court lawyer, Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal, in the public interest, seeking necessary order for the treatment of Rajib and ensuring free movement of people.

Barrister Kazal appeared in the court on behalf of the writ petition, while Deputy Attorney General Aurobinda Roy stood for the state.

Eight respondents including Home Secretary, Road Transport and Bridges Secretary, IGP, DMP Commissioner have to comply with the rule within four weeks, the lawyer said.

Rajib, 22, a third-year student of Government Titumir College lost his right arm after it was sandwiched between two speeding buses trying to overtake each other on Tuesday.

Rajib's right hand had been separated from the body when a running bus of Swajan paribohan pinned the hand while he was standing in the gate of a BRTC bus at Karwan bazaar in the city.

Yes, the decision belongs on the local level

No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks

Vote

View ResultsIf you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs.Review by Geoff Wittig

Readers of Outdoor Photographer magazine in the U.S. may be familiar with William Neills work from his long association with the publication. He is probably best known for his beautiful large-format film photography, much of it centered around Yosemite National Park. He has lived adjacent to Yosemite for the past 40 years, which is certainly a nice backyard. But as this gorgeous book attests, his body of work over the decades encompasses as much broader range.

Art Wolf provides the introduction. Following this is a testament to Neills perfectionism and work ethic from John Weller, his former assistant and a highly skilled photographer in his own right.

William Neill is a sensitive writer in addition to his photographic skills, and in a short essay he articulates his artistic philosophy. The Hudson River School landscape painters of the 19th century explicitly sought evidence of the divine in the natural beauty of forest and mountain, and tried their best to express this in paint. Neill likewise has sought spiritual solace and connection to something greater in the beauty of nature, expressed through photographs and rendered with meticulous craftsmanship. Quotes from Minor White and Paul Caponigro nicely illuminate what hes getting at. He also discusses the challenges of curating images to make a coherent statement from 40 years of work.

The first section of images is titled Landscapes of the Spirit, not coincidentally the title of Neills 1998 book. The photographs are gorgeously rendered color images ranging from vivid to delicate. Im a sucker for impeccably composed moody forest images, and these are lovely.

The images range from older 4x5-inch film captures to recent digital images; the grouping is conceptual rather than chronological.

Next is Antarctic Dreams, which speaks for itself. One may be forgiven for thinking its difficult to take a bad photograph in Antarctica, but Ive seen plenty. The images here are lovely, from glaciers and mountains to crystalline ice formations.

Next up is Meditations in Monochrome, a very nice selection of black-and-white images. William is of course known as a master of color, but he began exhibiting at the Ansel Adams gallery with Ansels approval, and he continues to work in monochrome with digital capture and digital printing methods.

By Natures Design is a collection of details and abstracts, ranging from a 1976 image taken with a Pentax Spotmatic to exquisite large format and digital captures. My own experience tells me that creating a worthwhile photograph from this kind of subject is a lot harder than it looks.

Sanctuary in Stone focuses on Yosemite, and includes many of Mr. Neills iconic photographs from the Park. Interspersed with grand images of El Capitan and the valley are delicate close-ups of dogwoods against moving water. The range of photos digs a lot deeper than the customary tunnel view.

Finally, Impressions of Light is a collection of experimental images, most captured with intentional camera motion to yield soft colorful abstracts. Easy to do; very hard to do well. I was immediately tempted to head outside and try some of this myself, which cant be a bad thing.

Wrapping up the book is a full set of thumbnails identifying technical details and dates for all the photographs. I found this fascinating, partly because it is difficult or impossible to tell which images are from large format film versus digital SLR capture, so consistent is the technical and aesthetic quality.

As an aside, this book is an apparent swan song for Triplekite, based in England, a small publisher of high-quality photo books that has ceased operations. They previously printed Dav Thomass beautiful With Trees and Charlie Cramers modest but lovely Yosemite.

William Neill, Photographer, A Retrospective:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon Germany and Canada / Book Depository

Geoff

TOP Contributing Editor Geoff Wittig is a rural family physician with interests ranging from health care quality improvement, medical informatics, and integration of health care delivery to photography and landscape painting. Photo books are a particular area of interest; he admits he has far too many for his own good.

 2018 by Geoffrey Wittig, all rights reserved

Original contents copyright 2018 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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No featured comments yetplease check back soon!KPMG Al Fozan & Partners, a leading provider of audit, tax and advisory services, has established a specialized Research and Economic Studies unit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.



The new unit will conduct research on various aspects of the Saudi economy and publish reports based on such studies. It will also provide advice to investors through in-depth reports about the investment climate, economic impacts on the economy and an analysis of economic indicators relevant to the Saudi economy.



KPMG Al Fozan & Partners appointed Dr Hussein Abusaaq as its chief economist and head of the Research and Economic Studies Unit. Dr Abusaaq will lead the new unit which will cover the different business sectors in the Saudi economy.



Dr Hussein Abusaaq holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Florida, USA, a Masters Degree in Financial Engineering, a Master in Financial Economics from the USA, as well as a BA in Information Systems Management with Honours from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM).



He has published several scientific research papers at global conferences in the US, and has participated in scientific seminars in a number of economic organizations. He served as an Economist at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority since 2004 prior to joining the Ministry of Economy and Planning.



Abdullah Al-Fozan, chairman of KPMG MESA and KPMG Saudi Arabia, said: Establishing this valuable unit coincides with the economic, investment, and development boom being witnessed by the Kingdom, in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 and its proposed programs; which is set to make Saudi Arabia a key attractive destinations for investments in the region and the world.



Dr Abusaaq said: The unit will provide valuable studies related to the investment climate and analysis of economic indicators. It shall also keep track of and examine economic changes and assess all new developments taking place at the local level, including plans, policies and trends related to the economic policy in the Kingdom. - TradeArabia News ServiceEmirates NBD, a leading financial institution in the region, was named The Best Retail Bank in the Middle East, and The Best Retail Bank in the UAE at the recent The Asian Banker's International Excellence in Retail Financial Services 2018 Awards.



Liv., Emirates NBDs digital lifestyle bank for millennials was recognised as The Best Digital Bank in the Middle East only one year into its operations. Emirates NBD was also honoured with The Best Internet Banking Application award internationally at the awards ceremony held in Malaysia recently.



Suvo Sarkar, senior executive vice president & head - Retail Banking & Wealth Management, Emirates NBD said: We are truly honoured to be recognised, for the third time in recent years, as the best retail bank in the region at the prestigious Asian Banker awards. This is a recognition of our commitment to make banking simple, hassle-free and easily accessible for our customers. Our digital platforms continue to lead the market helping customers track their finances, pay bills, transfer money or apply for new products easily and round the clock.



Liv., Emirates NBDs mobile-only bank, won recognition as the Best Digital Bank in the Middle East only a year after it began operations, for its unique proposition built for the UAEs growing millennial customer segment. Liv. provides an intuitive banking experience for customers including instant account opening from smartphones, fund transfers through social media channels, carrying out bill splits with friends, tagging expenses to better manage financials, international 60-second remittances as well as curated daily feeds of selected deals and happenings in the UAE personalised to their preferences.



We are overwhelmed by the customer response to Liv. since its launch a year back, and this recognition. We will continue to enhance Liv.s portfolio of products and services, implementing innovative solutions that will cater to the evolving needs of a younger, digital-first population to provide a fun, social and intelligent banking experience, said Jayash Patel, head of Liv.  TradeArabia News ServiceAlkhabeer Capital, a Jeddah-based asset manager specializing in alternative investments, has posted total operating income and net revenue of SR187 million ($48.2 million) and SR61 million respectively for 2017.



This marks a decline of 10 per cent and 14 per cent respectively from last year. The company has attributed this to a devaluation of Alkhabeer Capitals real estate portfolio, which reflects the downward trend in regional and international real estate markets.



The company closed the year with assets under management (AUM) of SR4.8 billion, an increase of 8 per cent over 2016.



Musaad Mohammad Saad Aldrees, chairman of Alkhabeer Capital said: On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am pleased to confirm that in the context of a very challenging year for our industry, Alkhabeer Capitals results for 2017 are broadly satisfactory. We have made excellent progress in diversifying our business portfolio and product offerings, and our primary objective remains unchanged  to ensure that our shareholders achieve the long-term outcomes that they expect.



Ammar Ahmed Shata, Alkhabeer Capitals executive director, added: 2017 will be remembered as the year that Saudi Arabias economy experienced the full impact of its transformation, which will present key opportunities in 2018 and beyond. We believe Alkhabeer Capital has the focus and capabilities to meet the emerging challenges and opportunities that this evolving environment brings.



Ahmed Saud Ghouth, Alkhabeer Capitals chief executive officer, also noted: The first half of 2017 saw the continuation of the volatile global market conditions, geopolitical tensions, and deep uncertainty that were heralded by 2016. Although the global economic outlook improved moderately in the second half of the year, this did little to improve market performance and investor sentiment. Looking ahead, although challenges might persist, Alkhabeer Capital is well placed to adapt, and we remain committed to identifying and creating new investment opportunities that fit within our overall risk-return profile for our clients and shareholders.



Ghouth added: During the year, we launched the Alkhabeer GCC Opportunity Fund and Alkhabeer Opportunity Fund II, while we restructured our Alkhabeer Real Estate Residential Development Fund II following the significant changes in the Saudi real estate market. Also, we established the Alkhabeer Industrial Private Equity Fund III.



Aldrees concluded: I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Board of Directors for their contribution to our company. I am also grateful for the enormous progress made by our senior management staff, and I must of course thank our teams for their unbridled commitment. Finally, I would like to recognize and thank our shareholders for their continued patience and support. We look forward to the challenges and rewards of a busy year ahead.  TradeArabia News ServiceLeading international consultancy and construction company Mace said its joint venture with technical professional services firm Jacobs has been appointed as the British governments delivery partner for the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.



As per the deal, Mace and Jacobs will act as the Department for International Trades delivery partner, managing the design, procurement and construction of the pavilion in the run up to the opening of the gala show.



The event kicks off on October 20, 2020 and will run for the next six months attracting 25 million visitors, Of this, 70 per cent will be coming from outside the UAE, an unprecedented proportion in the 166 year history of World Expos.



More than 200 participants, including countries, multilateral organisations, corporations and educational institutions are expected to take part.



Secretary of State for International Trade Dr Liam Fox announced in October 2017 that the theme for the UKs participation in Expo 2020 Dubai would be Global Britain  Innovating for a Shared Future.



Mace previously provided project management services for the iconic Seed Cathedral, designed by Thomas Heatherwick as the UKs Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.



The Mace/Jacobs joint venture is currently also delivering design, construction and operations management for the wider Expo 2020 Dubai host site.



Mace was appointed to Expo 2020 in 2014 and now has more than 80 staff working on the programme from its regional hub office in Dubai, said th statement from the company.



Laura Faulkner OBE, UK Commissioner General, Department for International Trade, said: "Were very excited to be working with Mace to deliver the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. The legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games continues to perpetuate with top UK companies such as Mace building on their world class project delivery reputation to support the delivery of a priority UK project, UK at Expo 2020 Dubai."



"The UK presence in Dubai promises to be award-winning and world class and were pleased to be working with Mace on this incredible project," stated Faulkner.



Jason Millett, the chief operating officer for Consultancy at Mace, said: "Were honoured that the Department for International Trade has put its faith in us to deliver this hugely symbolic project on behalf of the UK."



"Maces involvement in 2010s Seed Cathedral in Shanghai was a landmark moment for the company, so its tremendously gratifying to be given the chance to deliver a second iconic Pavilion for the UK. The Department is doing vital work strengthening our economic relationships across the world and preparing for Britains future outside of the EU, and were very proud to be supporting that effort," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceHamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Al Maktoum College of Higher Education in Scotland to strengthen the values of mutual understanding and multiculturalism in their learners, faculty members, and academicians.



The agreement is in line with the UAE Governments approach to build an ambitious generation with higher sense of responsibility and self-confidence and who are capable of shaping the countrys future, said a statement from HBMSU.



The agreement was signed by Dr Mansoor Al Awar, chancellor of HBMSU, and Mirza Al Sayegh, director general, Office of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashed Al Maktoum, chairman of the Al Maktoum College Board of Directors, in HBMSU campus in the presence of senior officials from both sides, it said.



The new strategic partnership aims to stimulate open debates and discussions on issues of common interest such as knowledge improvement, scientific research, and educational advancement to meet the requirements of the 21st century.



The two sides agreed to increase investment in training in vital areas such as multiculturalism, globalisation and contemporary issues, ethics and law, Islamic economy and finance, gender and development, among others that serve the objectives of UAE Vision 2021, it added.



Dr Al Awar said that HBMSU values its latest partnership with Al Maktoum College of Higher Education, a prestigious scientific and knowledge institution which teaches tolerance and peaceful coexistence through its academic and training programs in multiculturalism.



He stressed that HBMSU is fully committed to providing its scholars with the necessary knowledge to enable them to be an exemplary model in terms of respecting other peoples beliefs and practices in line with the UAEs efforts to enhance cultural tolerance and humanitarian communication among peoples in the world.



Dr Al Awar added: We are honoured to sign this strategic partnership that will open new horizons for us to develop national competencies armed with knowledge and noble ethical values that the UAE Federation has consolidated as part of our wise leaderships efforts to shape and build a bright future.



We look into this strategic MoU with confidence and optimism as it focuses on vital areas to establish a strong and diversified economy and ensure a secure and just society based on multiculturalism, globalisation, ethics, law, Islamic economy, and development, he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceMindware, a top regional IT value-added distributor, has signed a major distribution contract with Kodak Alaris, a leading global technology company in digital imaging and information management.



The agreement covers all countries under Mindwares Mena and Pakistan regional umbrella and includes the full range of the Kodak Alaris Information Management (IM) portfolio, from scanners and capture software, to information management solutions, to professional services and support.



Naji Kazak, regional general manager for Kodak Alaris IM, said: We are thrilled to have Mindware as our distribution partner in the MENA and Pakistan region. The demand in the region for document imaging and information capture solutions is massive across several verticals. This is what prompted the partnership between Kodak Alaris IM and Mindware. Our partnership is built on complete understanding and alignment with the Alaris IN2 Ecosystem, designed to remove complexity from information capture to drive business efficiency and growth.



Nicholas Argyrides, chief of sales and marketing & deputy GM at Mindware, said: What we really like about this industry vertical is that its all about solving problems and, undoubtedly, Kodak Alaris is one of the best of its kind in this respect - be it mailroom automation, records management, forms processing or any other type of end-to-end document workflow management.



The partnership with Kodak Alaris is a wonderful milestone in the organizations history as it perfectly supplements the gap we have been noticing in the document imaging & scanning space. As we typically do at Mindware, we associate ourselves with top-notch vendors who deliver industry-leading technologies to our channel partners and their clients, added Argyrides.  TradeArabia News Service

The All-new Hyundai Azera has been named as the best new Large Sedan at the prestigious Middle East Car of the Year (Mecoty) awards for 2018, with judges again recognising Hyundai for its ability to offer outstanding design and quality, as well as excellent value.



Awarded by a jury of leading motoring writers from across the Middle East, the Mecoty awards are the most comprehensive independent awards for carmakers in the Middle East, with the 2018 winners announced during a gala event at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on April 2.



The All-new Azera was named ahead of the joint-finalist in the Large Sedan category, the Opel Insignia, while the Hyundai Sonata was among the finalists for the Midsize Sedan category.



The new Azera clearly sets its own path in terms of design, said Antonio Lee, Hyundais head of marketing for Africa and the Middle East, after receiving the award. It is innovative, sophisticated, and built on more than three decades of experience in understanding what our customers want. This is a great new accomplishment to be added to its many achievements.



First held in 2014, the Mecoty awards reflect the distinct preferences of Middle East buyers, with an emphasis on sedan and SUV models  the two body styles most popular with customers in the region  across a range of sizes. Hyundai has seen considerable success in the Mecoty programme for past years, with the Sonata named as best Midsize Sedan in 2015, and Elantra named best Small Sedan 2016.



Hyundai Motor models lead their segments in several Middle East markets, said Antonio Lee. We have great confidence in the experience we offer to customers and our positive reputation among car buyers. We are pleased and humbled that the Mecoty judges share that confidence. - TradeArabia News Service

UAE-based GP Global (formerly Gulf Petrochem Group) has expanded its European and Asia Pacific bunkering operations with the appointment of five senior traders alongside a new office in Hull, UK and a new branch office in Seoul, South Korea.



Steven Taylor, lead  Physical Supply, West of Suez and Susan Needham, trading operator  Physical Supply West of Suez, both previously of Ocean Connect Marine UK Ltd, a Glencore subsidiary bring over 30 years worth of experience in the market and will lead the brand-new GP Global office in Hull, UK.



At GP Globals London office, Chris Holroyd and Dave Matthews, two seasoned traders, joined as bunker traders, West of Suez and will be developing and growing GP Globals trading desk in the capital. Holroyd, previously of KPI Bridge Oil brings with him over 20 years worth of experience in the industry. Matthews, previously of Ocean Connect Marine UK Ltd, has over nine years worth of experience in the industry with particular skills in risk management and contract negotiations.



Both the Hull and London offices will report into Chris Todd, head of Bunkering, West of Suez at GP Global.



Joining GP Globals Asia Pacific operations as a senior bunker trader is Robin Park, who will lead the Korean operations in the groups new office in Seoul, South Korea. Prior to joining GP Global, Park worked with Asia MBS and Cockett Marine Oil in South Korea as well as Glander International Bunkering in Singapore.



Park will report to Anil Keswani, head of Bunkering, East of Suez at GP Global.



The appointments and new offices follow the launch of GP Globals Southern and Sub-Saharan African trading desks in late 2017 and further consolidate the groups trading business around the world.



We are delighted to have strengthened our UK bunker team with experienced, well respected and seasoned professionals within our industry, said Todd.



Our UK operations continue to go from strength to strength with the opening of our brand-new office in Hull, strategically located close to the P66 and Total refineries in Immingham, and the expansion of our London office. We expect 2018 to be another successful year at GP Globals bunkering division due to the team we now have in place West of the Suez.



Keswani said: We are pleased to expand our East of Suez operations to Korea with Robin on board. The expansion in our Asia Pacific operations is aimed at strengthening GP Globals reach in the Bunkering business.



Prerit Goel, group director at GP Global, said: Our bunkering division enjoyed a successful year in 2017, despite challenging market conditions, and that was down to the people we have in place across our trading desks around the world. With these latest appointments, we are confident that the new team structure both in the UK and Asia Pacific will allow us to capitalise on further opportunities moving into 2018.  TradeArabia News ServiceWork is moving at a steady pace on the fuel farm complex being built by BAC Jet Fuel Company (BJFCO) in the vicinity of Bahrain International Airport (BIA) and will be ready by March 2019, said a report.



A joint venture between Bahrain Airport Company and National Oil and Gas Authority, BJFCO is in charge of developing the project, which will be housing three aviation fuel tanks with a capacity of 10,000 cu m each over a 77,000-sq-m area, in addition to its dedicated operational buildings, reported BNA.



BJFCO was established in 2016 with the goal of restructuring the aviation fuel sector in the kingdom, and constructing and managing a fuel farm complex within the vicinity of BIA, as per directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and in line with Bahrain Economic Vision 2030.



Oil Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, and Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications and Gulf Air Holding Group (GFG) Chairman Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed toured the construction site of the fuel farm complex along with BJFCO board members and senior BAC officials.



The ministers were given a visual presentation by Nabil Helou, the managing director of Amana Pipeline Construction, the main contractor of the project. He explained the various stages of the project, which BAC commenced in mid-2017, in addition to current and future stages, said the BNA report.



Following the briefing, Shaikh Mohammed said: "We are very pleased with the progress so far and with all the efforts by BJFCO and the main contractor. Building a fuel farm complex within BIAs vicinity follows the directives of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister, to relocate the fuel tanks from Arad area in Muharraqs governorate."



"This project is of the highest importance because of its role in developing the oil and gas sector in the kingdom in general, and in raising the efficiency of the airport. All parties involved have been working hard to achieve the vision shared between the Ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, and we look forward to more achievements in the coming period," he stated.



The ministers stressed the importance of finishing the project within the agreed-upon deadline while maintaining the highest levels of quality to achieve the projects objectives.



Kamal bin Ahmed said: "The fuel complex forms an essential part of the strategy behind the Airport Modernisation Programme, which has the support of HRH the Prime Minister, and the support of HRH the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister."



"It also forms a part of GFGs strategic projects, which aim to stimulate sustainable economic growth and generate new revenue streams in line with Bahrain Economic Vision 2030," said the minister.



"Its crucial that we develop this project at the airport to reinforce the Kingdoms position as a centre of aviation fuel services in the GCC region, and our partners have been sparing no effort to ensure its success," he added.Magdi Gamil, cluster director of sales and marketing  Egypt at Fairmont Hotels International, was named the 2017 Presidents Circle winner at AccorHotels' Accelerate Awards for the third year in a row.



The award is established to elevate and recognise the companys most elite colleagues whose excellence has been proven through consistent overachievement of annual goals. The Presidents Circle honour is the highest award afforded to the companys sellers.



Frank Naboulsi, regional vice president and general manager, Fairmont Nile City said: Directors of sales and marketing can only qualify to The Presidents Circle award if they rank within the top 10 per cent of their grouping. Gamil has been a key figure in the strategic development and expansion of the company in Egypt. Moreover, he has been instrumental in the management of Fairmont Nile Citys sales and marketing divisions operations. Gamil is a highly recognised role model who remains passionate about serving the needs of our stakeholders.



Gamil said: I am humbled and certainly honoured to receive such a prestigious award. The sales & marketing team had a weighty contribution to this award with their professionalism, hard work, loyalty, and devotion. The award is a collective effort and is an achievement of each team member; we achieve because we meet the challenges together. With passion, motivation, inspiration, and professionalism, we can do miracles



Gamil has an impressive career portfolio with over 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry in multiple five-star hotels where he held several posts with Starwood Hotels & Resorts before joining Fairmont Raffles Hotels International in 2007 to reach his most recent post as cluster director of sales and marketing - Egypt from 2015 until present. - TradeArabia News Service







(Given DJT's announced intention to

use US troops (perhaps NG) on the border

IMO the CinC should decide what ROE will be. pl

----------

According to the author of the cited article American citizens of Mexican descent want a path to citizenship for those of their ethnic community who are presently residing illegally in the US. At the same time they find it acceptable that there be fairly onerous conditions placed on the "path" to citizenship.

"Latino voters are very comfortable with requirements regarding old or outstanding taxes, criminal background checks, continuous residence in the US and the learning of English. The community is more or less evenly divided on a provision for directly fining people, and a majority oppose touch-back provisions that requires undocumented residents of the US to return to nations of origin to complete the paperwork process." Beyondchron

I can see all that as a reasonable set of aspirations so long as it is combined with a continuing major effort to halt illegal immigration across our borders.

It is at that point that I part company with people like Congressman Gutierrez of Illinois who baldly insists that deportation of illegal residents of the US must stop. Living in the US without citizenship or a proper visa is a violation of US law. Was Gutierrez not sworn to uphold US law?

The president elect of Mexico has recently been in Washington talking about Mexico's hopes and requirements with regard to the US.

Americans should start talking about our demands and desires with regard to Mexico. The Mexican-American lobby operation in the US is seeking to create an ambiance in which only Mexico and Mexican-Americans in the US have "rights." In fact this relationship between the two countries must be one of reciprocity.

What should we want from Mexico in return for the "immigration reform" that it wants here?

- We should insist on the right to reside permanently anywhere in Mexico that we choose after emigrating there legally. There should be a clear path to Mexican citizenship that mirrors provisions in US law. This path should not include a necessary renunciation of US citizenship. US law does not require that for naturalization.

- We should insist on the right to own real property in Mexico on the same basis as Mexican citizens. This should apply to personal as well as commercial property.

- We should insist that net profits after taxes of American owned businesses in Mexico should be fully repatriatable.

- We should demand a joint US/Mexican judicial tribunal that tries drug traffickers and condemns the guilty to execution or imprisonment.

pl

http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/What_Latinos_Want_in_an_Immigration_Reform_Bill_10744.htmlThe balances in the world are changing rapidly after a period of confusion following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Led by President Vladimir Putin, Russia is emerging as a kingmaker, while China is also on the rise. Daily Sabah reports in its article Russia emerges as Turkey's friend in a new world that the United States is going through a period of uncertainty as President Donald Trump tries to "make America great again." His policies create more uncertainties in a world where proxy wars are being carried out. The European Union has been sidelined as it fails to make an impact on the world scene.

Amid all of this, Turkey is emerging as an influential power in a region devastated by proxy wars, terrorism, radicalism and sectarianism. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkey has managed to establish a sound economy, build viable infrastructure and create a viable welfare state. Contrary to the past, it dictates its own policies in a region of turmoil and makes an impact. This does not go down well with foreign powers that are used to manipulating Turkey and steering it according to their own interests. Thus, they have tried several times to topple Erdogan when he served as prime minister and now as head of state.

Putin, much to the dismay of the Western powers, has put Russia back on the world map. Erdogan has turned Turkey into a regional power. That is why both have been targeted by Western powers and are facing a silent war of attrition.

Turkey and Russia have emerged as natural allies and thus the crisis over the downing of a Russian jet fighter was settled by the two countries speedily, and the normalized ties are now setting an example of how their cooperation can create stability, peace and relative order in a region riddled with turmoil.Russia opened Syrian airspace to Turkish warplanes both during the Euphrates Shield Operation in 2016 in northern Syria and now during the operation in the Syrian enclave of Afrin, and thus has helped Turkey rid the region of the terrorists that were threatening our national security.

Turkey in turn has helped Russia become a peacemaker in Syria rather than a country that assists Bashar Assad's killers who are butchering Syrians in the current civil war. Thanks to Turkey, Russia has found a way out of the mess in Syria by launching the Astana process which led to the Sochi summit between Turkey, Russia and Iran that set the stage for a viable peace process. Now Turkey will host a similar summit in Ankara on Wednesday.

Today Putin is in Ankara, but that is nothing new. He meets and discusses issues with Erdogan frequently, which helps to keep relations warm and overcomes any potential problems.

Yet, all this does not mean Turkey is turning its back on the West and its alliance with NATO. On the contrary, Turkey could well be a bridge between Russia and the West in the future. We can help overcome some of the Western prejudices against Russia. Russia is not only our friend but our neighbor; thus it is only normal that we cooperate with them in a warm manner, just like Canada and the U.S. do.

However, it is also true that in times of crisis Russia has backed us while others were reluctant to even show a bit of sympathy as we battled tanks and warplanes during the bloody coup attempt of July 15, 2016.

Russia is providing Turkey not only with the S-400 air defense system but also advanced technology that will boost our defense industry. Russia is building our first nuclear power plant, whose foundations will be laid by Erdogan and Putin today in Akkuyu. Turkey in return is providing goods and services to Russia. This is what good neighbors do  and all of this serves global peace.Yet, this is nothing new. Even at the darkest times of the Cold War, the Soviet Union built Turkey's industrial infrastructure by setting up a massive steel plant, a petrochemical plant and an aluminum plant when our Western allies refused to finance such projects. Why didn't anyone raise objections or claim Turkey was veering off to the Soviet axis then?Despite shared history, Central Asia has long lacked regional cohesion. That could be changing. Since his appointment in December 2016, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has focused on rekindling regional ties in Central Asia. As The Diplomat writes in the article The Rise of Regionalism in Central Asia?, Mirziyoyevs first official trip as president was to Turkmenistan, the most isolated of the five Central Asian republics. Most notably, Uzbekistan has also dropped its longstanding opposition to hydroelectric projects in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan  Karimov once threatened Tajikistan with war over the its proposed construction of the Rogun dam.

For the most part, Uzbekistans neighbors have responded positively to the presidents overtures. Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev recently met Mirziyoyev in the ancient Uzbek city of Samarkand to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, while Kazakhstan has also declared 2018 to be the Year of Uzbekistan. Likewise, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon  who often butted heads with Karimov  has ambitiously announced that bilateral trade between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan would soon reach $1 billion; the total figure in 2017 was $126 million.

These are interesting developments for a region that has never been very closely integrated, despite its shared history under the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan, for instance, has focused its diplomatic efforts since independence on international  rather than regional  engagement, assuming chairmanship of the OSCE in 2010 and organizing the 2017 World Expo in Astana.

Even today, there is no single body that defines Central Asia, unlike the European Union or even ASEAN. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States are both dominated by external powers, while Russias pressure on Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to join the Eurasian Economic Union shows how little say the Central Asian states have in these organizations. To add to this, regional frameworks such as the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination have failed to mitigate bilateral disputes, let alone foster a greater sense of unity.

This seems to be changing under Mirziyoyev. During his address at the United Nations General Assembly last year, the president announced that Uzbekistan considers the region of Central Asia to be as the main priority of its foreign policy. Already, we are seeing greater avenues for multilateral cooperation in Central Asia  the first regional summit in almost a decade took place in March, with four of the five leaders in attendance.

No doubt, numerous challenges remain with regard to the development of regionalism in Central Asia. Opium continues to flow through the region from Afghanistan, creating health, security, and economic risks, while it remains to be seen whether Mirziyoyevs enthusiasm for hydroelectric projects in upstream Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will last, especially if downstream water flows to Uzbekistan start drying up during the summer months.

Nonetheless, stronger regional cooperation would prove a boon to complex cross-border projects like the Turkmenistan-China Gas Pipeline, which passes through all five Central Asian states via four different lines before reaching Xinjiang in China. Discussions are also underway on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which has been in the works since 2002 but has not been implemented because of disagreements over the proposed route. Projects like these require unprecedented levels of cooperation and communication, but would provide considerable benefit to local communities  the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway would create new jobs in cities like Osh, by connecting them to new export markets.

Central Asia has long been neglected by governments and development agencies; as international capital finally starts to flow into the region via the Belt and Road Initiative, however, it is essential that the five leaders put aside their differences and continue this trend toward greater regionalism, in order to reap the maximum possible benefits from these projects.The presentation of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's book titled "The era of independence," which was written in the genre of historical journalism, was held in Moscow. The book reflects the author's view of the newest history of the country and its future, the stages of formation of a sovereign state since its establishment. The author explains the decision-making mechanisms in response to internal and external challenges for the years of independence. The book shows the essence of Kazakhstan's development model, its evolution, basic principles, mechanisms and driving forces.

Consideration of three waves of Kazakhstan's modernization is a big part of the book. Thanks to the first and second modernizations, the tasks of dismantling the totalitarian system and building a market economy, as well as of an early entry into the top 50 most competitive countries of the world were successfully accomplished. The third modernization is aimed at renewing the country and promoting it to top-30 prosperous states in the light of a new global reality.

The ex-head of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, speaking at the book launch, said that the book would be useful for all heads of state and regions: "Today no leader in the Commonwealth, near and far abroad is more experienced and talented, than Nursultan Abishevich. There is a national consensus in Kazakhstan, which is home to members of 140 peoples and nationalities. The reason for this is the President of Kazakhstan. The state has created a unique education - the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan, where all peoples and nationalities are represented. And they delegate these nationalities to the parliament of the republic."

"When Nazarbayev moved the capital from Almaty to Astana, I was the president of Ingushetia. Then Checheno-Ingushetia was divided into two republics, and I was offered to make Nazran the capital of Ingushetia. But I looked at Nazarbayev's experience and said: "No, we will do the same with our capital, as they did in Kazakhstan." And we made Magas our capital," Ruslan Aushev said.

He also sees the importance of the fact that Kazakhstan has become a platform for solving peacekeeping tasks: "Even the Syrian problem is being solved in Kazakhstan, I congratulate the Kazakh people on such a leader. I would like his book to be on the table of those who think about the future, their state, their region, their republic. I hope that Kazakhstan will occupy a worthy place next to such "tigers" as South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore."

The special representative of the Russian President for International Cultural Cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoi, noted that Nazarbayev's book contains the phrase "a great story gives birth to a great future" and compared it with the book of former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew, who made a prosperous state from a state absolutely unsuitable for normal life .

"Kazakhstan is a whole different story. Nazarbayev paid a lot of attention to the history of Kazakhstan, the ethnogenesis of the Kazakh people, how the Kazakh and Kazakhstani nations formed. We remember that during the war, Kazakhstan sheltered, warmed and fed hundreds of thousands of people from the European part of Russia when it was occupied by fascists. Hardworking people who received education in Kazakhstan came there and many of them stayed. The multinational composition of modern Kazakhstan is well-educated people capable of building future Kazakhstan ... In this book, there are very important reflections of Nursultan Abishevich on the past, and of course, above all, he is worried about the future of the country. In recent years, the state management system has been reformed, an understanding is being formed that the country will develop in the direction of high technologies, not just use its richest resources. To a large extent, Kazakhstan is the home country of the Soviet space program. Those high-tech, modern, most breakthrough scientific achievements of the USSR were also carried out in Kazakhstan. And the modernization, a topic that Nursultan Abishevich writes about, is necessary for the country to become even more modern and prosperous," Mikhail Shvydkoi said.

He also recalled that it was the Kazakh president who was the author of the idea of the Eurasian association: "A great deal of the credit for today's EEU belongs to Nursultan Abishevich, who delivering his well-known program speech at Lomonosov Moscow State University, formulated his principles of Eurasian unification for the first time. I am also glad that our presidents have a deep connection, an understanding of the common interests of the fact that Russia and Kazakhstan are two modern states that are not able to develop independently of each other. We have so much together both in the past and in the present, and I'm sure - in the future as well. I think that everyone should read his book, whether you occupy a managerial position or just are a contemporary of this great man. This is a very interesting book just in terms of understanding of what happened to all of us and each of us over the past 28 years."Recently, the artistic and documentary novel Pain, written by the Israeli expert in the sphere of international relations Arye Gut, and co-written by his father Amir Gut, was published. The book was presented in Italy, and after that at a memorial evening at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow, which was dedicated to the the 100th anniversary of genocide against Azerbaijanis in March 1918. Arye Gut shared his thoughts with Vestnik Kavkaza both on the century-old tragedy and on the recent events in Khojaly.

- Arye, what is your novel about?

- On the one hand, the novel is dedicated to the Azerbaijani society's multiculturalism and tolerance, on the other hand, to the most terrible tragedy of the late 20th century, the bloody massacre and acts of genocide in Khojaly. The driver of the idea was my father, who worked on the Azerbaijan State Television as the leading director for more than 40 years. He saw with his own eyes everything that happened during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, when he traveled to these regions.

This is a novel about a romance between an Israeli man and an Azeri woman. The Israeli man comes to Azerbaijan, writes a doctoral dissertation and falls in love with an Azerbaijani woman. This woman is a refugee from the long-suffering city of Khojaly. The novel reveals the whole essence of this tragedy through the fate of the main character Roya. This is a semidocumentary novel with both a lyric line and a terrible tragedy. And the tragedy is revealed not only through statistical data - we met with people who were in Khojaly on that terrible night and saw everything with their own eyes. Durdana Agayeva spent eight days in Armenian captivity, she wrote a book about these terrible days, in fact about life in the concentration camp of the late 20th century.

- What does the Khojaly tragedy and the Holocaust have in common?

- As a Jew, I had a reason to write a book about Khojaly. All this is the story of my family, this is the history of the Jews, who left Ukraine on the last Kiev-Baku train, trying to flee from the Nazis. My grandfather lost 40 members of his family, so the Holocaust is my pain, my tragedy. On the night of the Khojaly tragedy I was 17 years old.

The Holocaust is by no means comparable with any other tragedy in the world. 6 million Jews were killed then. 613 Azerbaijanis were killed in Khojaly. At the same time, it is important that the principle of genocide, when they killed people only because they were Jews or Azerbaijanis, is the same.

It is important that this information is delivered in both Russian and English. My novel 'Pain' was published in Italy with the support of the Italian publishing house Sandro Teti Editore, and its presentation in Rome was attended by more than 300 people, including representatives of the Jewish community, who understand the incident and sympathize with the Azerbaijani people.

- The Khojaly tragedy echoes the 1918 events in many respects. The Jews were among victims of those March events. What does Israel know about this today?

- Israel is in a complex geopolitical environment as well. But we hold events, panel sessions both in the universities and in the framework of a political dialogue with parties and movements, where we talk about the Khojaly tragedy. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation is very helpful in this regard, and the Khojaly Year was held in Israel in 2013. A major photo exhibition 'Justice for Khojaly' was held as part of the Justice for Khojaly international campaign. We, the natives of Azerbaijan, saw that tragedy with our own eyes. The most terrible thing is that innocent people suffer. What was the fault of the children, the old people, who were killed only because they were Azeris?

The 1918 tragedy echoes the Khojaly events. This is a real act of genocide committed against Azerbaijanis. I always write in the Jerusalem Post, in which I work as political analyst and blogger, that the difference between the Khojaly tragedy and the catastrophe of European Jewry is that that the difference between the Khojaly tragedy and the Holocaust is that most of the Holocaust perpetrators were punished after the Nuremberg Trials. And those who were not convicted were punished thanks to Israeli intelligence. The situation regarding Khojaly is different. The perpetrators - the people who are ruling the Republic of Armenia, remain at large, and none of them has been punished. This is scary. The criminals should be punished. Unfortunately, double standards are applied in international relations.The Persei shopping mall has caught fire in Moscow's east today, killing one and injuring three people.

The fire was extinguished, The fire covered 80 square meters. Three firefighters were injured, Ilya Denisov, who heads the Moscow branch of the emergency services, said.

20 people were saved from the burning building, as well as 600 people were evacuated, the Russian emergency services source said.

The fire started on the fourth floor of the building located on Semenovskaya Street, 28-19.

"The fire was given the 2nd rank of complexity, there are injured, visitors are evacuated by the rescue ladder," Sputnik cited a source in the local emergency services as saying.

Earlier it was reported that the fireman can not reach the heart of the fire yet due to the shopping mall's configuration.

An emergency services source also said that two KA-32 helicopters are ready to extinguish a fire in the shopping mall.

Video on social media showed thick black smoke rising from the blue mall building. According to multiple reports, the blaze began in a toys stockroom on the fourth floor. There is the children's club Afina on the 4th floor.Russia is free to send personnel to replace 60 diplomats declared persona non grata by the United States in late March, a US Department of State spokesperson said.

"As with similar incidents in the past, the Russian government remains free to request accreditation for vacant positions in its bilateral mission. Any requests for new diplomatic accreditation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis," TASS cited the source as saying.

"The Russian Federation has not informed us that it intends to reduce the total number of personnel allowed in our bilateral Mission," the spokesperson added.

According to the official, the United States assumes that Moscow is ready to accept new US diplomatic personnel to fill the positions of diplomats who have been expelled from Russia.

On March 26, in the wake of the Skripal incident in Salisbury, a number of EU member countries, the United States, Canada and Australia announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats. In particular, Washington expelled 60 diplomatic workers and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle.

Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced retaliatory measures against counties that had expelled Russian diplomats. In particular, Moscow expelled 60 US diplomats and closed the US consulate general in St. Petersburg.

The director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Yuri Rogulev, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that thus the US has shown that they understand the impasse of constant reduce in the number of diplomats. "So far, of course, it is too early to consider this statement as a step towards reconciliation, but at least this is an answer to the question of what will happen after the expulsion of diplomats. Before, Russia had been in the situation when no formal restrictions were officially announced to replace the US diplomats, but de facto, the number of Russian diplomats was decreasing. This statement of the State Department is caused by the fact that the deportation of diplomats, with subsequent permanent reductions, is a way to nowhere, halting the work of diplomatic missions, which simply cannot perform their functions," he said.

At the same time, there is no certainty that the United States will be followed by other countries that sent Russian diplomats over the Skripal case. "In most cases, we are talking about a very small number of expelled diplomats, with the number of 1-4 diplomats declared persona non grata, the issue of reducing diplomatic representation in these countries does not even arise. As for the UK, there is a very difficult situation there, especially since we had a disproportion in terms of the number of diplomats. To the moment, the UK has had more diplomats in Russia than Russia has in England, and it is difficult to predict if London make the same statement as Washington dis," the director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences drew attention.

Director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, Professor Alexander Gusev, said that both sides were ready ready for such a development. "Even when the US State Department announced the expulsion of 60 our diplomats, it was said that the procedure would be carried out on a rotational basis, and our answer would also be on a rotational basis. It was a complete symmetry: they closed the consulate in Seattle, we closed the consulate in St. Petersburg, but the same number of diplomats will return to represent their countries' interests. Unfortunately, this does not mean any warming of relations, because the expulsion of diplomats is quite a serious step dictated by the attitude towards Russia as a whole," he warned.

The rotation of expelled diplomats in European countries is also quite possible. "The Europeans took measures, sent one or two diplomatic employees, reported to the White House that they had executed Trump's order, but that's all. Everyone understands that these were formal steps, because everyone also knows that the Skripal case was fabricated. It was done to spoil the election campaign, but it was a mistake of the West, because Vladimir Putin's results were higher than ever. Since the main task of the Skrypal case failed, one should expect that it will eventually come to naught," Alexander Gusev concluded.Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has pardoned 64 prisoners today, head of the Presidents Pardon Commission Zviad Koridze said.

Of the 64 prisoners, 41 will be released from prison today while the remaining 23 will receive reduced sentences.

The recent commission meeting was held on March 28-29 in Tbilisi, where 335 cases were discussed, Agenda.ge reported.Kazakhstans Prosecutor Generals Office (PGO) will confiscate over $1.3 million owned by Magzum Abdraliyev, a suspect in the Khorgos case, and now kept with Rothschild Bank Zurich, the PGO said in a press release, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported.

The Khorgos crime was revealed by the Financial Police of Kazakhstan in 2011. The organized criminal group carried out smuggling of goods from China to Kazakhstan. The trial involved 45 defendants, including senior officials of the customs authorities and national security of Kazakhstan.

The members of the organized criminal group were accused of economic smuggling on a large scale across the customs border of the Customs Union, the abuse of power, committing bribery on a large scale.Russian presidents press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will have to offer its apologies to Moscow but "the idiocy has gone too far."

"London somehow will have to offer its apologies to the Russian side, but obviously it is going to be a long story and the idiocy of it has gone too far," Peskov said, commenting the situation over the Skripal case.

The spokesman stressed he was sure the United Kingdoms accusations would never be proved. "The British Foreign Secretary, who accused President Putin, and the British Prime Minister will have to look in the eyes of their EU colleagues after telling them what they told," Peskov added.

He said that the United Kingdoms accusations against Russia on the Skripal case are receiving eloquent counter evidence.

"The situation was iniquitous for us from the very beginning. And now there emerge evidence that these mad accusations the British side voiced just a few hours after the incident are based on nothing. These are telling official evidence from experts," he told journalists commenting on Sky News recent reports on the Salisbury incident.Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in Ankara.

"We have permanent, regular dialogue at practically all levels in all areas of our cooperation. At the political level, we have permanent contacts with you personally. When I was in Iran, I met with your countrys spiritual leader. Our foreign ministers are working all the time, and our military officials keep in touch with each other too," the Russian president said in his opening remarks at his meeting with Rouhani.

Putin noted that Russia and Iran are working together to resolve the most difficult pressing issues of today, including the Syrian problem. "I am very glad to have another meeting with you, since this gives an opportunity to talk about bilateral contacts, discuss what we should do to develop our relations and talk about the international situation, above all, in the region, of course," he pointed out.

For his part, Rouhani noted that he is glad to have an opportunity to meet with his Russian counterpart. "The two countries see eye-to-eye on bilateral and international issues. As for regional issues, we have very good interaction, especially with regard to the Syrian settlement," TASS cited him as saying. "The summit, which you held in Sochi at your own initiative, was a starting point for resolving the Syrian crisis. After that summit, you held the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi, which was quite successful," he said. "And today I am very glad that the second round of the trilateral summit is being held in Ankara," Rouhani stressed.

"We have three important objectives: security and stability, return of refugees and determining the fate of the Syrian Arab Republic by the Syrians," the Iranian president noted. "I do hope that todays summit will contribute to efforts to achieve peace and security in our region," Rouhani concluded.What Russia is waiting for is not apologies but the triumph of common sense in the Skripal case, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"We are not waiting for anything," he said, when asked if Russia wanted Britain to present formal apologies after failing to present any proof of Russias involvement in the Salisbury incident. "We are waiting for the common sense to prevail in the end and for no more harm to be caused to international relations, contrary to what we saw lately," TASS cited the president as saying.

Putin noted that this concerns not just the Skripal case, but "all other aspects of international relations as well."

President Putin urged for following the track of "sound political processes based on international law." Then, he said, "the world situation will become more stable and predictable."The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani met in the Turkish capital Ankara today. The aim of the summit is to speed up the peace process for Syria.

Iran, Russia and Turkey as guarantors of the observance of the ceasefire regime in the Syrian Arab Republic. The first summit in such format was held in Sochi last year.

The presidents "rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism and expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighbouring countries," the joint statement, released on the website of the Iranian presidential administration, read.

The presidents also stressed the importance of separating terrorist groups in Syria from armed opposition, which observes the truce.

"Underlined that, in the fight against terrorism, separating the above-mentioned terrorist groups from the armed opposition groups that had joined and would join the ceasefire regime bore utmost importance with respect to preventing civilian casualties," the statement said.

The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran are confident that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and that the conflict could be ended only through a negotiated political process.

The leaders also welcomed the convening of the first meeting of the Working Group on the release of detainees and abductees "and handover of the bodies as well as the identification of missing persons in Astana on 15 March 2018 with the participation of three guarantors as well as the UN and ICRC, and emphasized the importance of the effective functioning of the Working Group which would help build confidence between the conflicting parties."

"The Presidents called upon the international community, particularly the UN and its humanitarian agencies, to increase its assistance to Syria by sending additional humanitarian aid, facilitating humanitarian mine action, restoring basic infrastructure assets, including social and economic facilities, and preserving historical heritage," the statement reads.

A new a three-way summit will be held in Iran.

The deputy head of the Council of the Russian Diplomats Association, Andrey Baklanov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the new Moscow-Ankara-Tehran summit is held in the conditions of the regime of President Bashar Assad's victory in the long-term political and military crisis in Syria. "These new Syrian conditions have not yet been fully appreciated by the international community or the media. So far, there was a civil war between the regime of Bashar Assad and various oppositions since 2011, and the international community tried to ensure that the parties agree to peace talks. And for 7 years this task was not solved, but the strengthening of Assad's position removed this task," he explained.

"As a result, since the irreconcilable opposition has remained aloof from peaceful efforts, and the moderate opposition agreed on negotiations, the situation has completely changed, and those opposition groups, that planned to join the peace process in strong positions, were defeated," Andrei Baklanov added.

The format Russia-Turkey-Iran has become one of those tools that helped radically change the situation in Syria. "At first this format became a surprise for many, but it was necessary, because the efforts made by the UN were not effective enough," the orientalist said.

"At this summit, I think, the process of further development of the military-political situation will be determined: the updated authorities will be formed more quickly on the liberated territory, the role of the central government will be unshakable. It will be necessary to decide the question of how to consider the demands of the Kurds. Today's meeting takes us to the finish line in the Syrian settlement, which opens the way for further strengthening of the Assad regime and the gradual unblocking of the northern and southern territories," Andrei Baklanov concluded.A new arms race is triggered by claims of some countries to have some privileges compared to other states, Sergei Shoigu said at the Moscow Conference on International Security.

"The claims of individual countries for exceptionalism are prompting a new arms race," Sputnik cited Shoigu as saying.

Elements of the global missile defense system are being deployed, including outside the territory of the United States, on the European continent and in Asia," Shoigu added

According to him, today, no one has any doubts that the "US missile defense system is a serious destabilizing factor, an incentive for the arms race, a flagrant violation of international obligations, including treaties on the elimination of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles."US President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A readout of the phone call issued by the White House said the two leaders "agreed to continue their close coordination on countering Irans malign influence and destabilizing activities" in the region.

The conversation between Trump and Netanyahu also follows the US president's suggestion that he could pull troops out of Syria "very soon," the Hill reported.

Trump has voiced support in recent days for an early withdrawal from the wartorn country. Such a move, however, would go against the advice of many national security officials, who have warned that a US presence is needed in the country to keep Islamic State militants at bay and stave off Iranian influence in the region.HA NOI  The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has asked the Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) to hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting to review personnel matters.

This request was made in response to the Thai Beverage Public Co Ltd (ThaiBev)s query relating to its authority to participate in Sabecos management board.

In a recent letter sent to the Government, ThaiBev has expressed concern that until now it has not been directly involved in Sabecos management board, even though its ownership here has reached 53.59 per cent of charter capital.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue asked the MoIT to handle the Thai beer companys proposal.

In a sideline discussion at the Governments meeting on April 2, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade o Thang Hai said the 2014 Law on Enterprise stipulates that a shareholder or a group of shareholders may officially participate in the companys board of directors and board of supervisors if they own a 10 per cent equity or more for at least six months.

Meanwhile, ThaiBev has held Sabecos stake for about four months.

However, MoIT has sent a document to Sabeco, asking the company to hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting to make decisions on a personnel matter, Hai said.

In December 2017, ThaiBev, through its subsidiary Vietnam Beverage Co Ltd, purchased a 53.59 per cent share of Sabecos charter capital for nearly US$5 billion through an auction on the HCM Stock Exchange.

Sabeco will hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting to elect additional members for the board of directors on April 23. It is likely that ThaiBev will join the board then.

Sabecos management board has seven members including two independent ones. Currently, Sabeco has three members representing the State capital and one representative from Heineken, which holds 10 per cent stake in Sabeco.

Thus, Sabeco now lacks three board members. Vietnam Beverage has proposed three people to join the board, including Koh Poh Tiong, chairman of Beer Group, which owns a 49 per cent stake in Vietnam Beverage; Micheal Chye Hin Fah, legal representative of Vietnam Beverage and a board member of Vinamilk; and Tran Kim Nga, Vietnam Beverage CEO.

VOV online newspaper quoted a representative of MoIT saying that the two sides are discussing the principle of co-operation, creating the most favorable conditions on the basis of compliance with existing law.

Shares of Sabeco, coded SAB, declined 3.8 per cent yesterday to close at VN229,000 ($10.04) per share. Sabecos shares have lost about 20 per cent since its share auction on December 19 last year.  VNSHA NOI  Viet Nam s benchmark VN Index edged down 0.70 per cent to close at 1,188.29 points on Tuesday as investor confidence was dampened by major declines in US stocks.

The VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange had gained a total of 2.5 per cent in the previous two sessions to set its new record high of 1,196.61 points on Monday.

More than 255 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VN8 trillion (US$354.6 million).

Declining stocks outnumbered gainers by 171 to 121, proving the market trading condition was quite negative. Meanwhile, 48 other stocks ended flat.

Large-cap stocks stunned the market as the VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation, dropped 0.87 per cent to the day-close level of 1,160.97 points.

Seventeen of the 30 largest stocks in the basket saw their values decline while 12 others made gains.

The worst decliners among those stocks included FLC Faros Construction (ROS), digital retailer Mobile World (MWG), brewer Sabeco (SAB) and dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM). They each lost at least 3 per cent.

The steep decline of the Vietnamese benchmark index on Tuesday was attributed to poor investor sentiment following the extended losses in the US stocks market.

The US stocks continued to fall on April 2 on rising fears for a potential trade war between China and the US and on a selloff of technology shares.

According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), the US stock market faces further volatility amid the post-growth period.

Therefore, this can still be considered an objective risk to Viet Nam s stock market, BVSC said in its daily report.

Such risks forced foreign investors to turn into net sellers, posting a total net sell value of VN339.5 billion against their net buy value of VN61.2 billion recorded on Monday.

Regarding the potential trade war between the two biggest economies, BVSC was optimistic, claiming that the possibility of the US-China trade war on a large scale is negligible.

Though the VN Index suffered on Tuesday, there were signs that the domestic market was in good sentiments relative to the world as a whole, illustrated by the high trading liquidity of the last two sessions, Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Company (SHS) said.

Investors demonstrated strong confidence in the shares of securities firms, which are believed to benefit from the rise of the markets total trading liquidity.

The average trading volume and value of each session in the first three months of 2018 has reached 356.5 million shares and VN9.32 trillion, raising investors hopes for prosperous first quarter earnings for securities firms.

Securities firms that gained on Tuesday included VNDirect Securities (VND), Vietinbank Securities (CTS), HCM City Securities (HCM) and Saigon Securities Inc (SSI).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index recovered in the last minutes to close at 135.62 points, up 0.17 per cent from Monday and up a total of 2.8 per cent after the last three sessions.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) fell 0.76 per cent to end at 60.45 points, retreating from its previous three-day growth of a total of 2 per cent.  VNSHA NOI  Itochu, Japans second-largest trading company, has spent some five billion yen (US$46.9 million) to buy an additional 10 per cent equity in Viet Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex).

This was reported by Nikkei.

The purchase has raised Itochus stake in Vinatex to 15 per cent, making it the second-largest stakeholder after the Ministry of Industry and Trade (which represents State capital in the garment group).

Earlier, Itochu had acquired roughly 5 per cent stake in Vinatex in its initial public offering in September 2014.

The decision to raise its stake in Vinatex reflects Itochus desire to make Viet Nam a textile export hub for the European market amidst rising labour costs in China, Nikkei reported.

Vinatex operates some 200 sewing factories in Viet Nam. It has invested nearly $200 million to develop facilities for thread and cloth production over the past three years. The company now handles almost everything from material production to sewing.

In 2017, Itochu and Vinatex agreed to sign a contract to develop a supply chain ranging from fibre and thread to cloth and retail.

Earlier in 2015, Itochu cooperated with Doximex, Vinatexs subsidiary operating in dyeing and accessories. The deal is expected to boost the production of high-performance apparel in Viet Nam and export output to Japan, Europe and the United States.

The Japanese trading house may also collaborate with Vinatex to produce sportswear.

Itochu exports apparel from Viet Nam worth some 60 billion yen per year, half of which is produced by Vinatex. The company aims to raise outsourced production and exports to 100 billion yen by 2021.

This figure is based on the fact that Viet Nam has signed a free trade agreement with the European Union and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership with 10 other countries.

Vinatexs shares are trading on the Unlisted Public Company Market at some VN15,000 (66 cents) per share.  VNSHA NOI  The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on Monday issued the Circular No.04/2018/TT-BCT on not applying import tariffs on salt and poultry egg products originating from ASEAN countries.

These products must meet the provisions on origin of goods in the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement and must have the certificate of origin, Form D, in accordance with the current laws.

The import of salt and poultry eggs from ASEAN countries does not fall under the scope of regulations of legal documents on the publication of tariff quotas and regulations on the management of the annual quota for salt and egg products.

In addition, the tariffs on imports of salt and eggs originating in ASEAN countries must comply with the regulations of the Government..

This circular will take effect on May 17, 2018.  VNSThe Viet Nam Writers Association Award for the best translation work of 2017 went to translator Le uc Man for the work Gore ot Uma (Wit Works Woe) from the Russian language by Aleksandr Griboedov (1795-1829).

The translator is popular among the generation of Vietnamese readers who enjoyed his works released during the 1970s.

Born in 1941, translator Man has so far translated over 40 popular Russian works into Vietnamese including novels by Mikhail Lermantov and Boris Vasilyev, plus hundreds of Russian poems.

Diem Anh interviewed Man about the role of translation in the nations cultural life and development.

Could you something about your translation work which won the associations award?

It is a comedy in verse by Aleksandr Griboedov, who has a special fate. It was the first and the only work by Griboedov. However, the work was not published because it satirises the society of post-Napolenoic Russia - a pasquinade on Moscow . It was known among Russian scholars at that time.

The work is comprised of 5,000 verse sentences which feature different situations and emotions. All translators who specialise in literary translation will understand the difficulty in translating a poem or an epic.

The translation work is published by the Viet Nam - Russia Literature Fund.

Could you tell us more about this fund?

The fund was set up in 2012 following a decision made by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to mobilise capital with a view to popularising Russian literature in the world. Every year, the fund suggests a list of classical and modern works to choose from to translate into Vietnamese.

It is called a fund but it doesnt have money. The Vietnamese partner translates the works and Vietnamese publishing houses edit them before printing . One thousand copies of each work will be printed. These copies will be distributed to big libraries in Viet Nam . About 20 Russian works have been translated into Vietnamese since 2012.

Twenty works have been translated in five years. Is that many or a few?

I think this number is not small with the team of translators we have. The number of translators of my generation and older can be counted on ones fingers. There are still many younger people who are good at Russian. But they are busy and seem to be hurried in daily life. It is difficult for them sitting down to think carefully about each word for the translation.

Is it true that a good foreign language learner will not necessarily be a good literary translator?

Yes, it is. To translate a literary work the translator needs four elements: foreign language ability, proficiency in the mother tongue, cultural background, and translation skill.

If the translator lacks one of the four elements he or she will struggle. The translation is the fruit of a process to gain comprehensive knowledge. It is not simple to translate word by word.

You have spent all your life attached to the Russian language and culture. But Russian language and literature are no longer attractive to young Vietnamese. Does it make you sad?

I think that translation has aided national development in different ways during different political, economic, cultural and diplomatic circumstances. According to my observation, translation in Viet Nam has four periods. The longest period witnessed the translation of the Han Chinese script into Vietnamese romanised characters. This was followed by French-Vietnamese translation, from 1905-1954 and the early years of the 1960s. The third is Russian-Vietnamese translation, from 1961-1990 and finally English-Vietnamese translation from 1990 to the present.

It can be said that the translation helps Vietnamese people gain access to the cultures of the Orient, western and eastern Europe and the Soviet Union . Furthermore, translator teams are abundant at present and still cannot manage the number of translation works.

Im not sure about the quality of translation. At present, it is difficult to find out good translators like previous years.

Do you think translation will impact the national development?

Yes, all social reforms have been impacted by translations. Translation is a "soft" weapon with an impact on the development of each country and human civilisation.

The world claims Egyptian civilisation, Roman civilisation and the citadel of Kaymakli in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey as its ancient history. But these civilisations used to be ruined and forgotten because their works were little translated and thus little preserved by successor societies.

Another case, at the beginning of the 19th century, Japan and Viet Nam were in approximately the same economic and social situation. At the mid-19th century, after visiting Europe Japanese Emperor Meiji decided to translate American text books into Japanese to be taught at Japanese schools.

In Viet Nam , at the same time scholar Nguyen Truong To also visited Europe . He submitted dozens of petitions to King Tu uc for economic, social and educational reforms. But his submissions were rejected.

Additionally, the world is flat and only translation can help Vietnamese access the culture and scientific technology of the world.  VNSOTTAWA  Television and film executive Catherine Tait on Tuesday became the first woman to lead Canadas public broadcaster, promising to tell more local stories about women, indigenous and LGBT people, and immigrants.

Tait, 60, said she would also boost digital access to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) content anywhere and anytime. The broadcaster already reaches Canadians in French and English through television, radio, and online.

"In order for public broadcasters to survive and to flourish, we must focus on the services, news and programming that most connect with our public, not just as one audience, but as many audiences," Tait said.

"This is, after all, the power of digital," she said.

"We also need to reach deep into our shared culture for indigenous peoples to tell their own stories, to tell the stories of the many struggles and triumphs of new Canadians, of women and of the LGBTQ community.

"By being inclusive storytellers, we enrich our collective experience as Canadians and as citizens."

Heritage Minister Melanie Joly introduced Tait to reporters outside parliament, calling her a "champion for Canadian content" during her nearly 30 years in the film and television business.

Tait previously worked at Telefilm Canada -- a public funding body for film production -- was a cultural attache to France, co-founded the Brooklyn film and television company Duopoly, and was president of Salter Street Films, which produced the CBCs flagship comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Michael Moores political documentary Bowling for Columbine.

Her appointment to the CBC for a five-year term comes "at a time of great change in broadcasting and media sectors," said Joly, adding that with fake news and global competition for content Canada more than ever needs its public broadcaster to provide "diverse voices, engaging content and trustworthy sources of news and information."

The CBC also got a new board that, with an injection of more than half a billion dollars from the government, is expected to reverse the downsizing of the previous Tory administration.  AFPHA NOI  Nguyen Huu Thong from Viet Nam won the grand prize in the 2017 Smithsonian Photo Contest for his photo, Breakfast at the Weekly Market, announced Smithsonian.com.

In northern Viet Nam, people visit the weekly market to exchange goods and culture, Thong wrote in the description. They usually wake up very early to go to the market and have breakfast there.

The award-winning photo was taken at a weekly market on the occasion of Lunar New Year 2017.

Thong, who hails from the northern province of Bac Giang, will receive a cash prize of US$2,500.

Another Vietnamese photographer, Tran Tuan Viet, won in the Travel category for his photo, Making Incense. Decorated and dyed bundles of incense are left to dry in Quang Phu Cau, a commune in Ha Noi. In Buddhist countries like Viet Nam, incense is an irreplaceable part of traditional festivals and religious ceremonies, Viet captioned his photo.

The Travel category had 10 finalists, including Vietnamese photographer Tran Thanh. Travel is one of the six categories in the contest, others being Natural World, American Experience, People, Altered Images and Mobile and Readers Choice.

American photographer Sara Jacobys image, Rare, received the highest percentage of public votes - more than 38,000 - earning her the Readers Choice award.

This year, the contest received 48,000 submissions from photographers in 155 countries around the world.  VNSPrime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives Director of Switzerlands Federation Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication Doris Leuthard in Ha Noi yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat

HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has affirmed that Viet Nam is keen to foster friendship with Switzerland and hopes the two countries will continue bolstering co-operation in all fields, especially trade and investment.

The PM made the statement while meeting the visiting Director of Switzerlands Federation Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication Doris Leuthard in Ha Noi yesterday after their previous meeting in January 2017 when the PM attended the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He welcomed the two countries signing of agreements to support each other at multilateral forums.

Leuthard said she was impressed by Viet Nams growth as well as delight at the progress of the ties between the two countries over the past few years.

She expressed her hope that negotiations for a free trade agreement between Viet Nam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) would be finalised this year after seven years, so that the deal can be signed soon, opening up new co-operation prospects in tourism, trade and investment.

She said that many Swiss firms were accompanying her on this visit to seek investment and business opportunities, especially in pharmaceuticals, one of Switzerlands strong sectors.

She also had working sessions with the Vietnamese side on the environment, climate change, and biodiversity to explore co-operation potential.

Sharing the Swiss officials hope to speed up the conclusion of negotiations for the Viet Nam-EFTA free trade agreement, PM Phuc said that relevant parties should soon sign the deal. Along with a direct air route between Viet Nam and Switzerland this year, the deal will bring about opportunities to promote investment, trade and tourism partnership between the two sides, he stressed.

He also underscored that Viet Nam welcomed Swiss firms to expand co-operation in Viet Nam, pledging that the Vietnamese Government would continue improving the investment environment and creating optimal conditions for foreign firms, including those from Switzerland, especially in finance-banking, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

The Government leader proposed that Switzerland should share experience with Viet Nam and support the country in building a high-quality education system and combining science-technology research-training.

He also suggested that Switzerland increase scholarships for Vietnamese students, especially in law, banking, high technology and tourism, while strengthening the exchange of students and lecturers as well as co-operation in scientific research.  VNSHCM CITY  The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has approved a three-tier co-operation plan for production of high-quality tra fish breeds in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta from now to 2025.

The VN597 billion (US$26.2 million) plan calls for tra fish breeding chains to produce about 50 per cent of the Deltas demand of 2.22.5 billion high-quality fries a year by 2020.

By 2050, the production chains would supply 100 per cent of the Deltas demand of 2.53 billion high-quality fries a year.

The first of the three tiers includes research institutes and universities that use advanced techniques in selecting tra fish breeders, using tra fish breeding production techniques and transferring the techniques to the second tier.

The second tier includes provincial tra fish breed producing centres, companies tra fish breed nurseries, while the third-tier includes establishments that nurse tra fish from the newborn to fingerling stages.

The plan will upgrade the An Giang high-quality tra fish breed centre and establish three concentrated tra fish breed production areas in An Giang Province.

Four concentrated tra fish breed production areas in ong Thap Province will also be set up.

In the Delta, there are 108 tra fish artificial reproduction establishments and 1,900 households that nurse newborn tra fish to the fingerling stage, mostly located in An Giang and ong Thap provinces, and Can Tho City.

There are about 101,000 tra fish breeders (mature female/male) aged 6-7 years that produce fish fries in tra fish artificial reproduction establishments in the Delta, according to the Research Institute for Aquaculture No. 2.

The delta is now facing a shortage of tra fish fries because of unfavourable weather conditions and small-scale production.

The price of tra fish fries is at VN45,00050,000 a kilo for the kind of fish that produces about 30 fries a kilo, according to the Viet Nam Pangasius Association.

Early last year, the price for this type was VN27,00039,000 a kilo.  VNSHAU GIANG  The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Hau Giang plans to build a safe water-supply network serving 70 per cent of residents in urban areas, with an average of 70 litres per person per day by 2020.

The provinces Peoples Committee approved the project for rural areas at a meeting held on Monday. The aim is to provide clean water to all residents in urban areas by 2030.

The project will be divided into two phases with total estimated capital of about VN1.3 trillion (US$57 million).

Capital sources include state budget funds, ODA (Official Development Assistance), and other loan capital.

Under the draft plan, water supply and drainage networks include three options: using water from water supply plans in Mekong Delta; buying water from the Aqua One Drinking Water Factory; and improving existing water plants and building extra reservoirs.

Consulting engineer Nguyen Quoc Binh said the upgrade of plants and more reservoirs could save a lot of money, compared to other more costly options which will take a long time to implement.



ong Van Thanh, deputy chairman of the provinces Peoples Committee, said the project would require about 85.5ha of land to build reservoirs and good management of surface water.

Planning for water supply and use in the province is part of the national target programme on clean water and environment in rural areas and the programme on building new-style rural areas, according to Thanh.

New medium-sized and large water supply systems for residential areas, schools, medical stations and markets are needed, especially in areas with water scarcity and poor quality of water.

Advanced technology is needed to treat brackish water in the case of saltwater intrusion, such as Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology for treatment.

"The project needs to be adjusted soon to submit to the Ministry of Construction for approval," he added.

Nguyen Hoang Anh, deputy director of the provinces Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said the province had nearly 200 water supply stations operating in rural areas.

He said this project would contribute to exploiting water resources more efficiently and meet the need for clean water.

By 2016, nearly 35,000 households living in rural areas had access to clean water, accounting for 24 per cent of total rural households in the province.

The province has more than 46,000 wells supplying about 90,000cu.m of water a day.  VNSThree pregnant women in the southern province of Tien Giang and another from Bac Lieu Province were given incorrect medicine, and one of them miscarried soon after. Photo vtv24

TIEN GIANG  Three pregnant women in the southern province of Tien Giang and another from Bac Lieu Province were given incorrect medicine, and one of them miscarried soon after.

Director of Tien Giang Province Health Department Tran Thanh Thao yesterday confirmed that the three pregnant women received medical examinations at Tan Phuoc District Healthcare Centre early last month and were informed that they were at risk of losing the pregnancies.

They were prescribed Miprotone, a kind of medicine used to strengthen fetal health. But medical workers in the pharmacy and obstetric departments of the district healthcare centre accidentally gave them Misoprostol, a medication used to start labour, cause an abortion, prevent and treat stomach ulcers, and treat postpartum bleeding due to poor contraction of the uterus.

Two of the three pregnant women suffered from stomach aches and vaginal bleeding after a day of taking the medicine. One fetus reportedly miscarried while the other continued developing thanks to timely intervention and treatment.

The third pregnant woman from Bac Lieu Province never took the medicine because she recognised the mistake.

On Monday, thanhnien.vn reported that pregnant women receiving care at the Tan Phuoc District Healthcare Centre had mistakenly received abortion pills. The Heath Ministry on Tuesday asked Tien Giang Province Health Department to verify and report about the case.  VNSHCM CITY  Many heath facilities are being developed in HCM Citys neighbouring ong Nai Province, especially in rural areas, to improve convenience for the public.

On Monday the Long Khanh Regional General Hospital in Long Khanh District opened four clinics called Health Experts, where doctors from HCM City hospitals will treat patients.

Phan Van Huyen, the hospitals director, said this would help reduce the crowding at HCM City hospitals, where many people from neighbouring provinces go for quality treatment.

Dr Nguyen The Luyen of the trauma and orthopaedics department at HCM Citys University Medical Centre said for instance that patients from other provinces and cities make a beeline for his hospital, with many arriving at 3am to beat the queue.

The visit by experts from HCM Citys hospitals to the Health Experts clinics in Long Khanh would also enable young doctors there to learn from them, Huyen said.

The clinics treat vascular-heart, spine- bone and joint, gastroenterological, and liver problems on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays every week.

In June last year the province Peoples Committee announced an action plan for a project to develop grassroots health facilities.

It plans to earmark more than VN3 trillion (US$131.6 million) for the programme.

Last year a health centre was opened in Tan Phu District besides nine more health stations, according to the Department of Health.

Besides, new departments to treat infectious diseases and newborn babies were opened at the province Paediatrics Hospital in Bien Hoa City.

All health stations in communes and wards had doctors last year, which increased the ratio of doctors to 7.5 per 10,000 population, the department said.

There were 27.5 beds per 10,000 people last year, it added.

Doctors at district health centres perform various kinds of surgeries. Obstetric surgeries have, for instance, been performed at health centres in the districts of Vinh Cuu, Trang Bom and Nhon Trach.

Phan Huy Anh Vu, deputy head of the Department of Health, told ong Nai newspaper this was the result of Project 1816, under which central hospitals send doctors to train and work for a period in smaller hospitals around the country.

"But the district health centres need to learn more sophisticated techniques," he admitted, suggesting that the Ministry of Health should allow them to choose hospitals in the province and elsewhere to learn advanced techniques.

"Many of the hospitals and doctors designated by the ministry to train them are very busy and the training is delayed," he explained.

Dr Ho Thanh Phong, director of the Nhon Trach District Health Centre, said his centre focused on developing various surgical techniques.

It would build one more operating theatre with advanced equipment to speed up treatment, he said.

The centre now has only one theatre. It sends its doctors to other hospitals including the District 2 Hospital in HCM City to learn surgical and anaesthetic techniques.

Not only obstetric surgeries but also other operations to treat trauma and orthopaedic problems are performed at the centre, according to Phong.

Last year more than 250 patients received surgeries between June and year-end.  VNSAs many as 137 health workers in the northern province of Lai Chau got sacked this month after the province reviewed its employment policy. VNA/VNS Photo

LAI CHAU  As many as 137 health workers in the northern province of Lai Chau got sacked this month after the province reviewed its employment policy.

The dismissal has caused concerns because the health workers signed labour contracts of indefinite duration with healthcare centres and hospitals back in 2011.

But last year, the health workers reluctantly signed one-year labour contracts or were told they had to leave their jobs.

Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, spokesman of Lai Chau Province Peoples Committee Ha Trong Hai said in 2011 the provinces Home Affairs and Health departments temporarily employed 258 people to meet staff demand of local healthcare sector.

But just 80 of 258 temporary health employees passed the employment exam in September, 2017. Those who failed or did not take the exam lost their jobs.

Director of the provinces Health Department Nguyen Van oi said the department wanted to keep experienced staff and hoped that others could retake the exams and work again.

Dismissed health workers are very worried because of their sudden unemployment, and submitted petitions to the provinces Peoples Committee.  VNSHA NOI  A product called Himalayan pink salt has been gaining popularity in the health and beauty market in Viet Nam , but experts have said there is no scientific evidence of its health benefits, Lao ong (Labour) newspaper reported.

The so-called salt is sold in mass quantities on several websites, which claim it will help prevent electromagnetic waves from electronic devices and purify the air when heated, the newspaper reported. Some advised customers to use it instead of regular salt for their daily meals, since this pink salt increases the amount of calcium in the body and helps with the treatment of blood pressure and other diseases.

Several spa facilities in Ha Noi are using Himalayan salt stones in their bath, massage and sauna services. Some traditional medicine establishments have also started using the stones to provide foot massages for customers, or incorporating them into the massage tables for full body massage.

Sold at VN450,000-800,000 (US$20-35) each depending on their sizes, the salt stones have become a new means of earning a living for several people. During the winter peak season, a stone seller earns VN20-50 million ($877-2,200) per month, Lao ong reported.

However, health experts in Viet Nam say there has been no specific study on the benefits of the salt. Its air purifying function is yet to be proven since no experiment has ever measured and compared air quality before and after the salt is heated, they say. There is no official study on whether the salt is toxic and whether it can replace regular salt, either.

Not only have its benefits not been proven, some diabetic patients got severe burns after using the Himalayan salt lamps to warm their feet.

Amongst the most popular products in the market, the lamps consist of a wooden box filled with one or two salt blocks, and a light bulb placed inside the blocks that can be lit by connecting to an electricity outlet.

The lamps were advertised to help cure numbness and tingling in the limbs  a symptom diabetic patients often experience  if the patients use them to warm their feet for 20-30 minutes a day. But Pham Van P., 52, a patient with Type 2 diabetes in the northern province of Bac Kan, said the symptom was not relieved although he used the lamp every day in the last two months.

Last month P. got wide and deep burns in his soles because the salt blocks got too hot, but he could not feel them because of the numbness. I didnt feel anything when placing my feet on the blocks, he told Lao ong. Only when I decided to stop using the lamp did I realise my feet had been burnt.

Nguyen Ngoc Thien, deputy head of the Faculty of Foot Care at the National Hospital of Endocrinology, said that diabetic patients should not use these salt lamps to relieve their numbness.

Diabetic patients cant control their blood sugar levels and are unable to feel temperature, he said. One absent-minded moment and they can get burned easily.  VNSHA NOI  Poverty was the most troubling issue for the Vietnamese population in 2017, despite the countrys impressive economic growth over the last decade, said a report released on Wednesday morning.

According to the 2017 Viet Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) - a nationwide survey of more than 14,000 citizens randomly selected across 63 localities, which was officially released on Wednesday - economic concerns topped the three most important issues that the Vietnamese thought were facing the country.

Poverty and hunger got 28.47 per cent of the votes as the most pressing problem, four times higher than worries over economic growth and unemployment, which got 7.78 per cent and 7.35 per cent of the votes, respectively.

Environment issues came fourth with 7.35 per cent votes, slightly higher than concerns over corruption, which got 7.06 per cent.

The findings posed a serious question to the Government about why the Vietnamese peoples concerns over poverty and hunger continued to rise sharply through the years  higher by 3.94 per cent compared to 2016s and 10.43 per cent over 2015s - despite the countrys remarkable achievements in poverty elimination and economic growth.

Room for improvement

The PAPI Index found that all 63 localities generally demonstrated an improvement in governance and public administration, based on surveys of the residents in six parameters, including participation at local levels, transparency, vertical accountability and control of corruption together with public administration procedures and public service delivery.

The capital Ha Noi, however, had a disappointing score of only 34.63 out of 60 in the PAPI Index and was placed in the group of poorest performers. Business hub HCM City was slightly better and was placed in the low average group, with a PAPI score of 35.88.

The best performer, Quang Binh Province in the central region, scored 39.53, while the worst performer was the mountainous province of Lai Chau with a score of 33.

The gap between the best performer and the perfect mark is still quite huge, indicating there is a lot of room for improvement in the coming years, said ang Hoang Giang, co-author of the PAPI 2017 report.

Last year was the seventh consecutive year of the PAPI survey nationwide to measure the performance of local authorities in meeting their citizens needs through face-to-face interview with the residents.  VNSQUANG NAM  The Forest Protection Department in the central province of Quang Nam said it has issued a 15-day work suspension notification to six forest rangers.

The decision was related to two illegal deforestation cases that came to light recently.

Accordingly, two forest rangers, Phan Thanh Minh, head of the forest protection and management station No 3, and ang Thi, have been suspended for negligence in forest management in ong Giang Districts Ta Lu Commune.

In the case of illegal destruction in Nam Song Bung protection forest, four forest rangers were temporarily suspended. They are: A Vo To Vich, head of Cha Val Forest Protection and Management Station, Tran Kim Hoang, manager of Ta Po Forest Protection Station, Nguyen Nhi, ranger of forest area in Cha Val Commune, and Nguyen Truong Tien, ranger of Ta Po commune.

The above individuals were suspended from work for failing to fulfil their duties, thus facilitating illegal logging in the area.

Earlier, 33 trees having a total volume of 72.6cu.m of timber were illegally chopped down in Ta Lu Commune and Song Kon forest area of ong Giang District.

In Nam Giang District, forest destroyers also cut 34 trees, having a volume of 235cu.m.

The authorities concerned have initiated legal proceedings in the two deforestation cases.  VNSHA NOI  Buildings in areas along Belt Road No 3 could rise up to 50 storeys, according to the urban design project which was introduced by the Ha Noi Department of Planning and Architecture on Tuesday.

The project is for a 4.22km-long belt road running from Khuat Duy Tien to Nguyen Xien streets and covering 61.68ha.

On Khuat Duy Tien Street, the project encouraged the development of office and residential housing, which could be 50 storeys in height.

For the Thanh Xuan intersection where Khuat Duy Tien, Nguyen Trai and Nguyen Xien streets meet, mixed-use commercial projects were encouraged to exploit advantages from the metro line.

On Nguyen Xien Street, residential housing projects with an average height of 25-30 storeys were also suggested.

According to the department, the setting up of urban design along the Belt Road 3 will help renovate and coordinate the organisation of landscape on both sides of the road to ensure a harmony between architectural space, urban landscape between the existing construction and the new one, creating a modern, dynamic and civilised Ha Noi urban centre.

Land used in urban design along Ring Road 3 will be managed in accordance with the zoning plan and detailed planning approved by the competent authority.

The high-rise buildings on the southeast of Tran Duy Hung Street and Thang Long Avenue, will be the highlight of the project.

Belt Ring Road No 3 is an important road traffic route of Ha Noi. With a length of about 65 km, it runs through such districts as ong Anh, Bac Tu Liem, Nam Tu Liem, Cau Giay, Thanh Xuan, Thanh Tri, Hoang Mai and Gia Lam.  VNSBy WestKyStar & WKCTC Staff Apr. 03, 2018 | 08:26 PM | PADUCAH, KY

Goodbye Days will be the topic for a book discussion at West Kentucky Community and Technical College April 11 from 11 am to noon in WKCTC's Matheson Library. Director of Library Services Amy Sullivan will lead the discussion.





Zentner will follow up the book discussion with a visit to WKCTC for a public presentation April 23, also from 11 am to noon in the library. He will discuss Goodbye Days as well as The Serpent King and his new book as time allows. He will also answer questions from the audience and sign copies of his books.





Both events are free and open to the public.





Zentner came to writing through music, starting his creative life as a guitarist and eventually becoming a songwriter. He's released five albums and appeared on recordings with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Thurston Moore, Debbie Harry, Mark Lanegan, and Lydia Lunch, among others.





He became interested in writing for young adults after volunteering at the Tennessee Teen Rock Camp and Southern Girls Rock Camp. As a kid, his parents would take him to the library and drop him off, where he would read until closing time.





Zentner is the winner of the William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, the International Literacy Association Award, and the Westchester Fiction Award. His books have been nominated and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and he has been a finalist for the Indies Choice Award and the Southern Book Prize, and been named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start.





His books and audiobooks are available for checkout at Matheson Library and McCracken County Public Library. They are also for sale at WKCTC's bookstore.





For more information about Zentner's presentations, contact Carol Driver, WKCTC Matheson Library librarian at carol.driver@kctcs.edu, 270-534-3170.



Nashville's Jeff Zentner is the author of New York Times Notable Book The Serpent King as well Goodbye Days, and he is well on his way to releasing his third book Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee, which is forthcoming in spring 2019.Holly Morgan Giovinazzo is a candidate for the Upper Ohio Conservation District Supervisor of Wetzel County. The West Virginia Conservation Agencys sole mission is to promote and provide for the protection and conservation of West Virginias soil, land, water and related resources in conjunction with the health, safety and general welfare of the states citizens. They do this by offering programs for landowners and the education of the public, and by sponsoring Envirothon and Conservation Camp for students.

Holly is the daughter of Jake and Sylvia Morgan of New Martinsville, and the granddaughter of Stan and Hilda Smith of Wileyville. She has two delightfully inquisitive children, Lily and Jonas, who work hard to keep her on her toes with their wild imaginations and love for the outdoors.

She is a 2005 graduate of Magnolia High School and holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and Accounting from West Virginia University at Parkersburg. After college, she was employed at Certainteed Gypsum WV and Rain CII Carbon, before taking a hiatus to focus on her children and becoming a stay-at-home mom.

Holly is currently the manager for the Wetzel County Farmers Market, where she spearheaded the beautification of the fence by the market and worked alongside market vendors to help double the customer attendance in 2017.The WCFM also have several pop-up markets at New Martinsville School, Paden City Elementary and Shortline Elementary which added an educational component to the farmers market set-up. She is also the FARMacy manager, a new healthcare program soon expanding into Wetzel County, where medical professionals issue a prescription for locally grown produce as a medicine for improving their health.

Holly is the secretary of the board for the Wetzel County Convention and Visitors Bureau, where she contributes to the planning of the Back Home Appalachian Arts and Music Festival, along with numerous other smaller events for the Wetzel County Museum. She is part of a group working on the revitalization of downtown, and believes wholeheartedly in the works being done to breathe new life into Wetzel County

Holly states her reason for running as, Ive always had a love for agriculture and with my involvement in the local food movement it makes sense for me to take a role in the community that puts me in a position to help landowners and educate young people. I would really appreciate your vote on May 8th.archives 22 Aug - 29 Aug (3) 15 Aug - 22 Aug (1) 8 Aug - 15 Aug (3) 1 Aug - 8 Aug (1) 25 Jul - 1 Aug (3) 18 Jul - 25 Jul (1) 11 Jul - 18 Jul (1) 27 Jun - 4 Jul (4) 20 Jun - 27 Jun (3) 13 Jun - 20 Jun (1) 30 May - 6 Jun (2) 23 May - 30 May (4) 2 May - 9 May (3) 25 Apr - 2 May (4) 4 Apr - 11 Apr (2) 28 Mar - 4 Apr (4) 28 Feb - 7 Mar (1) 7 Feb - 14 Feb (2) 10 Jan - 17 Jan (2) 27 Dec - 3 Jan (2) 13 Dec - 20 Dec (3) 6 Dec - 13 Dec (1) 29 Nov - 6 Dec (1) 15 Nov - 22 Nov (6) 8 Nov - 15 Nov (1) 25 Oct - 1 Nov (1) 18 Oct - 25 Oct (3) 4 Oct - 11 Oct (1) 27 Sep - 4 Oct (1) 20 Sep - 27 Sep (2) 13 Sep - 20 Sep (4) 6 Sep - 13 Sep (3) 30 Aug - 6 Sep (1) 23 Aug - 30 Aug (1) 16 Aug - 23 Aug (4) 9 Aug - 16 Aug (1) 2 Aug - 9 Aug (3) 26 Jul - 2 Aug (4) 19 Jul - 26 Jul (5) 12 Jul - 19 Jul (2) 5 Jul - 12 Jul (7) 28 Jun - 5 Jul (2) 21 Jun - 28 Jun (7) 14 Jun - 21 Jun (4) 7 Jun - 14 Jun (4) 31 May - 7 Jun (3) 24 May - 31 May (2) 17 May - 24 May (1) 10 May - 17 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Moscow has begun the delivery of the S-400 Triumf air defense missile systems to China under the 2014 contract, a source close to the Russian system of military cooperation told TASS on Thursday.

The implementation of the contract has begun, the first shipment has been sent to China, the source said.

According to the source, the shipment includes a control station, a radar station, energy and support equipment, spare parts, various tools and other elements of the S-400 system.

The source also said that the contact with China stipulated neither technology transfer nor licensed production.

In 2017, Russia trained a group of Chinese military servicemen to use the S-400 systems.

Meanwhile, Russias Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation has declined to provide any comments.

Contract with China: In November 2014, it was announced that Russia and China had signed a contract on S-400 supplies, and in November 2015, Russian Presidential Aide on Military Cooperation Vladimir Kozhin confirmed the contract. In June 2016, head of Russias Rostec State Corporation Sergei Chemezov said that the Chinese Army would receive the S-400 systems no sooner than 2018. On December 7, 2017, Chemezov said that the delivery would begin in the near future.

China is the first foreign purchaser of these air defense systems, while the second one is Turkey. In July 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that certain documents concerning the purchase of the S-400 systems had been signed. On September 12, 2017, Russia confirmed that a contract had been made. Turkey is the first NATO member state to purchase the S-400 Triumf systems.

S-400 system

The S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is the most advanced long-range antiaircraft missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range ones, and can also be used against ground objectives. The S-400 complex can engage targets at a distance of 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km.

At present, only Russias Armed Forces are equipped with the S-400 systems. There are plans to supply them to four countries  China, Turkey, India and Saudi Arabia.

More: http://tass.com/defense/985601Coffee Time:

Our name, Bourbon Coffee, originates from the Bourbon varietal of Arabic coffee beans, which has grown wild in Rwanda for over a century.

A UK company has gotten Globus to carry this coffee and it is on sale for 129 rubles a 100 grams. I stretched the budget and got one today. Globus was packed this morning at opening and that is how you can tell easter is coming

I am sipping a cup right now as I write this article and it is really good. may have to sell my body on the street corners and get more coffee. Except, no one would pay for a grouchy bear! 

I will count out my coins and get some more tomorrow. Gotta buy when the price is right

Spring has sprung:

Mother nature wastes no time in Russia. As soon as Old Man Winter finally goes to sleep, she jumps on the band wagon and starts growing. She has to, for six months is the basic winter in our neck of Russia and if you snooze you lose. +7 today and it feels like the Bahamas around here

Ice is melting, the piles of snow to the moon are disappearing and I found our car finally

I have said very little about what happened in Europe:

I wont talk (much) about twice being searched and harassed by police. This is while one of the times, six or seven Muslims walked by and called the cops everything but a white boy, while making interesting love signs with their middle fingers. I asked what about them and their language and finger jesters? I was told to shut up or I would regret opening my mouth.so I shut my mouth, jail is no fun

The cops are scared of the Muslims and that was obvious.I was let go after they discovered I was an American, but they harassed me because they thought I was Russians

I wont say much about all the Russians being finger printed (and sometimes actually pictures taken of them. Maybe blood samples next?) at the border crossings and no, not by the Russian side of the border! Jeez people The European side of the border just plain sucked to get through, Russia was efficient and a breeze. Thank you Russia for making life easier

I will not say much about the cost of food has gone up twice to three times as much as the last time I was there. Seriously, outrageous.example: 5  + for a simple McDooddle Big Mac burger. That is over 6$ and climbing. Thus I went to stores and utilized the fridge in the room and ate much cheaper (easily ate twice for the price of one burger).besides McDs is not really very good for you

I will not say much about the hotel I use to love. It has been bought by new owners and has lost its charm. It is now owned by Turkish people and they have even opened a grocery store up across the street.the standards are totally different and now I will look for a new hotel system as I travel

I will not tell about all that happened, because it was a very poor trip. From 24 hour hate Trump, hate Russia, Hate Iran, Hate China and BBC, CNN and SKY news led the way to the propaganda delights.but I did notice some underlining expressions. The graffiti is becoming sorta, Time for a change! as it is spread out over many many walls and doorways

This sign is also in many doorways. Guards everywhere and cameras to stop you from being an animal 

Some images

I was alone, help

Then we lost most of the train for hours Total of eighteen cars, I was in #2 from the engine

Two cars only after we crossed the border into Europe.Many Russians were taken off at the border and ?????

That is enough and while I had fun, I also found things very interesting and getting bad. Very unhappy people, just like I said once about Ukraine.it is looking rough and being taken over by immigrants. Literally

As the police in Europe told me a dozen times, Move along now, nothing to see here!

Have a nice day, I am and I also am so happy to be back to my Sweetie in a safe and sound Russia

That is why I love Russia

WtRYes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.Companies team up to site IMSR in Idaho

31 March 2018

Share

Terrestrial Energy USA and Energy Northwest have agreed a memorandum of understanding on the terms of the possible siting, construction and operation of an Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) at a site at the Idaho National Laboratory in southeastern Idaho.

Terrestrial Energy USA is an affiliate of Terrestrial Energy Inc and is developing the IMSR for deployment in the US market. Molten salt reactors use fuel dissolved in a molten fluoride or chloride salt which functions as both the reactor's fuel and its coolant, meaning that such a reactor could not suffer from a loss of coolant leading to a meltdown. Terrestrial's IMSR integrates the primary reactor components, including the graphite moderator, into a sealed and replaceable reactor core. The reactor can produce 400 MWt (190 MWe) of energy, and is designed as a modular reactor for factory fabrication.

Terrestrial says the IMSR can be brought to market in the 2020s. The company last year began a feasibility study to site a commercial IMSR at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories' Chalk River site, and the reactor design has already completed the first phase of the Canadian Nuclear Regulatory Commission's vendor design review. It announced in January that it plans to submit an application for design certification or for a construction permit to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission by October 2019.

Terrestrial Energy USA CEO Simon Irish said the agreement with Energy Northwest was a positive step towards the deployment of the IMSR.

"Energy Northwest's considerable expertise in the region will contribute substantially to the commercial success of an IMSR power plant under consideration at the INL site," he said.

Energy Northwest is a not-for-profit joint operating agency comprising 27 public power member utilities from across Washington state. The agency develops, owns and operates a diverse mix of electricity generating resources, including the Columbia nuclear power plant, and says it continually explores new generation projects to meet its members' needs.

"As a major producer of emission-free power, Energy Northwest is excited to examine how this innovative reactor can meet regional energy demand through efficient and clean energy generation," said Mark Reddemann, Energy Northwest CEO. "Terrestrial Energy's IMSR has transformative potential in electric power and industrial heat markets," he added.

Energy Northwest in 2013 signed teaming agreements with NuScale Power and Utah Associated Municiapl Power Systems, as part of the Western Initiative for Nuclear collaboration studying the demonstration and deployment of NuScale small modular reactor power plants. A preferred site for the first NuScale SMR, also at Idaho National Laboratory, was identified in 2016 with an initial plant projected to be operational by 2024.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics

Now that one film of mega hero, Rangasthalam is declared a huge hit, the time has come for another mega project to kick-start its promotions on a huge scale.

Allu Arjuns Na Peru Surya is up for a release soon and the latest we hear is that a dialogue teaser will be released on the 8th of April all over the social media.

The latest stills have caught on quite well over as Bunnys gritty look has gone quite well with the fans. Vakkantam Vamsi directs this film which has Anu Emanuel as the female lead.









Articles that might interest you:Apr 4, 2018 | By David

The automotive sector has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the ongoing growth and improvement of 3D printing systems and the additive manufacturing industry over recent years. Many major car manufacturers are now using FDM technology as standard for rapid prototyping of all kinds of parts, from interior features to crucial engine components, and more advanced techniques like SLS 3D printing are increasingly being implemented for final phase production as well as concepts. At a recent automobile show in New York, Minis design head Oliver Heilmer discussed these developments and how the British stalwarts design practices are being transformed by 3D printing.

(credit: GTSpirit)

One of the most recent offerings from Mini is the Mini John Cooper Works Concept, a stylish, motorsports-inspired iteration of the classic design. Following on from 2012s Mini John Cooper Works GP and debuting towards the end of last year, many elements of the striking updated aesthetic of the car were enabled, or even inspired, by the availability of 3D printing technology.

We can do things now as designers that we couldnt do before we had 3D printing, Heilmer said at the conference, as reported by thedrive. (the) entire door panel is one piece, and when manufactured by 3D printing its much lighter. But we can also change the look and feel of it at any moment, even after the manufacturing starts, without having to create new tools to make it. Before this, it would take more than a year to make a change happen.

(credit: Car Magazine)

Besides the doors, the centre wheel locks for the car were also produced using 3D printing technology, and there are various other 3D printed parts. One of the key benefits of implementing the technology is that directly manufacturing from a digital model enables much higher degrees of precision and complexity in terms of geometry than previously possible. This has great advantages in terms of functionality, as engineers can create the most effective structures to optimize performance or comfort.

Other major limitations that 3D printing technology can eliminate are the ones placed on design freedom by production capacity. In the past, when designing a component a designer would need to take into account not just geometries and materials but also the specific tooling methods available. What tools were used to produce the part would have a serious impact on its quality and even affect the possibility of making it, and this could often hold designers back. With 3D printing, almost anything that can be designed can be realized, and the range of material properties continues to expand.

As well as the renewed potential for designers and engineers, the open-source nature of 3D printing will also change the way that individual car owners relate to their car. The technology allows for a high level of personalization and customization, enabling users to be directly involved in the design process. On the Mini John Cooper Works Concept, the side scuttle (the design elements around the signal lights on the front fenders) can be customized with designs, patterns, colors, and configurations based on the owners preferences.

Theres an emotional aspect behind 3D printing. It frees up the design to allow personal bonding with your car, says Heilmer. Maybe its basic white or gray, or a pattern or design, like a heart or paper airplane. It might be playful or serious.

Posted in Rapid Prototyping

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Apr 4, 2018 | By David

Leading Chinese 3D printing company INTAMSYS has announced that it will be launching a global 3D printing service, for on-demand additive manufacturing. The company, which is a market leader in PEEK and high-performance functional materials, will be offering worldwide shipping to clients and customers for this service. It is also releasing technical data sheets that will give potential users a run-down of all the crucial information about its various materials, so they can make an informed decision about which kind of product and service will suit their own needs.

With its headquarters in Shanghai, INTAMSYS has been a major contributor of additive manufacturing solutions to a variety of industries for many years now, with the help of its materials expertise and its state-of-the-art FUNMAT 3D printers. FUNMAT machines are engineered for highly reliable and affordable 3D printing of high-performance functional materials.

INTAMSYS materials portfolio includes ULTEM 1010, ULTEM 9085, and PPSU. Furthermore, users can choose from engineering-grade thermoplastics and composites such as PC-ABS, Carbon Fiber Nylon, PC, Nylon, ABS, ASA, PLA and others. The companys PEEK offerings are primarily what it is known for, however. PEEK is consistently able to perform at the highest level for engineering applications, due to its exceptional chemical resistance, excellent mechanical properties and flame retardancy in high temperature operating environments. The thermoplastics outstanding bio-compatibility is another strongly desired feature, particularly for research and medical fields, and it means that use of the material has limited environmental impact.

The companys new global 3D printing service will provide the outstanding levels of accuracy, consistence in quality, intricate details, and optimal and repeatable mechanical properties that INTAMSYS is known for. Not only will engineers and designers around the world be endowed with a new level of design freedom, in terms of the structures and geometries that will be achievable, but the potential reliability of parts will also improve, due to the personalized quality control inspections that ensure dimensional precision as well as carrying out stringent visual and warp checks.

Another unique feature of INTAMSYS 3D printing service is the potential part sizes that it is offering. As additive manufacturing for industrial parts becomes more and more commonplace, 3D printing companies and printer manufacturers are increasing their build volumes exponentially to meet demand and simplify the process. INTAMSYS is keeping up with this trend, particularly with its FUNMAT PRO HT machine, an extra-large version of the FUNMAT PRO 3D printer. Clients can order parts up to 450 x 450 x 600 mm, made at the same high level of precision and quality that prototypes and smaller parts would be. This points the way forward for companies to integrate more unibody designs into their operations. The benefits of reducing component numbers and simplifying designs by printing larger parts are many and varied. Production costs will be reduced, as will tooling times and labour costs, as well as potential fixture issues.

INTAMSYS is offering its full range of 3D printing services and materials to a global market, at competitive prices. Quotes are easily accessible, obtained directly from INTAMSYS according to the type of project requested.

Posted in 3D Printing Service

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M Doorn wrote at 4/10/2018 5:11:37 PM:I don't trust the specs that they provide. These are probably material specifications This are no specs of the printed products. At least in Z-direction the strength won't be high, probably below 40MPa. I would like to see evidence of strength by tests done as in the Solvay AM Cup. The highest performance archieved in Z-direction is 80 MPa with PEEK as far as I know.



What better way to enjoy a stiff tipple than with an equally intoxicating tickling of the ivories?

It may be going gently into that good night, but piano lounge culture does live on in the Bay Area, where there are plenty lovely spots to sip a Scotch or Champagne cocktail and take in a ballad or jazzy number amid moody light. Indulge your senses at eight of our favorite spots.

PianoFight

As its name suggests, this Tenderloin hot spot is not your parents' piano bar. With two theaters and a stage for cabaret, PianoFight promises a lively time with musical performances, of course, but also comedy, plays, drag, and more. Plus foodthere's a full menu of cocktails and bar-style eats. There's a community angle as well: PianoFight also serves as HQ for the local nonprofits Tenderloin Walking Tours and Code Tenderloin. // 144 Taylor St. (Tenderloin), pianofight.com







The Alley

A vestige of old-school Oakland founded in 1933, The Alley's claim to fame is as the 50-year home of beloved Bay Area pianist Rodney Dibble (RIP). But the pianoman's spirit lives on in the tunes of pianists Bryan Seet, Jef Labes, and more, who play from the Great American Songbook as well as more modern sounds. Order a whiskey, split a Chelsea steak sandwich with your date, and let these guys do the rest. // 3325 Grand Ave. (Oakland), thealleyoakland.com





Marin Joe's

You've seen its iconic neon sign a thousand times as you've made your way back toward the Golden Gate Bridge from some weekend excursion. But Marin Joe's is more than worth the stop as the only piano bar remaining to nightly showcase North Bay talent. First opened in 1954, the family-owned lounge has a somewhat haute atmosphere, a modestly priced menu of Italian fare, and a lengthy wine list. But best of all, you can still hear live piano five nights a week. We'll cheers to that. // 1585 Casa Buena Dr. (Corte Madera), marinjoesreasturant.com





Bix

Eons ago, this darling of Jackson Square was a discreet gay bar called Gold Street. But for as long as most young San Franciscans can remember, Bix, a supper club for the modern era, has delivered positively decadent Cal-French cuisine (ah, those potato pillows) in an ambience that can only be described as a glamorous. The feeling of the 1930s is apparent in the golden interior, where a sweeping staircase and dining balcony lined with plush banquettes overlook the bar where there's live piano nightlysometimes including vocalists or a jazz trio. This is a next-level date night. // 56 Gold St. (Jackson Square), bixreasturant.com





Martuni's

There are few spots where you can throw back an oversized raspberry lemon drop martini while swaying to the sounds of Sinatra. Enter the gay piano bar, one of the last bastions of such a genre, known for its fast drinks, drag and lively karaoke in addition to nightly piano. Martuni's has a character all its owninviting, softly lit, somewhere between casual and romantic, charming and divey. In other words, perfect. // 4 Valencia St. (SoMa), facebook.com





Noir Lounge

Travel back to the 1940s at the dimly lit Noir Lounge, which takes its inspiration from the Jazz Era and cinema with a seductive setting that includes leather armchairs, deep red draperies, two bars, and jazz trios playing Sunday through Wednesday. Classic cocktails, locally crafted beers, and Napa Valley wines await. // 581 Hayes St. (Hayes Valley), noir-sf.com





Sheba Piano Lounge

Sheba Piano Lounge doubles as a healthy Ethiopian restaurant and, tbh, we can't think of a more interesting way to get our musical fix. In addition to nightly live piano, Sheba offers a vegetarian-friendly menu and a killer take on the bloody Mary. // 1419 Fillmore St. (Western Addition), shebapianolounge.com





Mystic Room + Tavern

While Yelp was quick to label the Burritt Room as closed, this upstairs noir-inspired bar and restaurant simply changed names under new ownership earlier this year. The secret-not-secret Mystic Room + Tavern remains largely unchanged, serving classic cocktails in a seductively lit yet minimalist space. Live music and piano can be heard Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. // 417 Stockton St. (Union Square), mystichotel.comSinomine Resource Exploration Co Ltd (SHE:002738) is a China-based company principally engaged in the provision of solid mineral exploration technical services and construction engineering services. The Company is also involved in the trading business and mineral rights investment business. The Company also provides logistic supporting services, which includes warehousing, logistics, as well as the exploration of production, processing and sales of supporting materials. The Company operates its business in both domestic and overseas markets.

Altech Completes Purchase of Freehold Land over Mining Lease

Perth, April 5, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Altech Chemicals Limited (Altech/the Company) ( ASX:ATC ) ( FRA:A3Y ) is pleased to advise that its wholly owned subsidiary Altech Meckering Pty Ltd has completed the purchase of approximately 92 hectares of freehold land covering its granted mining lease M70/1334, at Meckering, Western Australia.Highlights- Purchase of freehold land covering mining lease M70/1334 completed- Ownership secures mining access- Meckering kaolin mine fully permittedAltech previously announced that it had exercised its option to purchase the freehold land on 17 October 2017. Settlement of the purchase was subject to the subdivision of the registered land title; the issuing of certificates of title for the new lots created; and final payment of the purchase price, all of which have now been completed.Kaolin ore from the Company's Meckering mining lease M70/1334 will provide feedstock for its proposed Malaysian high purity alumina (HPA) plant. Altech received mining approval for its Meckering kaolin mine in March 2017 and a works approval for the construction of a kaolin screening and loading facility in August 2017. The Meckering kaolin mine is fully permitted, with construction of the kaolin screening and loading facility able to proceed upon completion of the balance of project financing.Managing director Mr Iggy Tan said, "Finalising the purchase of the freehold land covering granted mining lease M70/1334 marks the completion of another important milestone in the advancement of our HPA project. The land purchase will ensure unimpeded access to M70/1334 for Altech. The proposed Meckering kaolin mine is fully permitted and construction of the kaolin screening and loading facility and initial mining can proceed once the balance of project finance is secured", he said.To view figures, please visit:About Altech Chemicals Ltd

Altech Chemicals Limited (ASX:ATC) (FRA:A3Y) is aiming to become one of the world's leading suppliers of 99.99% (4N) high purity alumina (Al2O3) through the construction and operation of a 4,500tpa high purity alumina (HPA) processing plant at Johor, Malaysia. Feedstock for the plant will be sourced from the Company's 100%-owned kaolin deposit at Meckering, Western Australia and shipped to Malaysia.



HPA is a high-value, high margin and highly demanded product as it is the critical ingredient required for the production of synthetic sapphire. Synthetic sapphire is used in the manufacture of substrates for LED lights, semiconductor wafers used in the electronics industry, and scratch-resistant sapphire glass used for wristwatch faces, optical windows and smartphone components. Increasingly HPA is used by lithium-ion battery manufacturers as the coating on the battery's separator, which improves performance, longevity and safety of the battery. With global HPA demand approximately 19,000t (2018), it is estimated that this demand will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% (2018-2028); by 2028 HPA market demand will be approximately 272,000t, driven by the increasing adoption of LEDs worldwide as well as the demand for HPA by lithium-ion battery manufacturers to serve the surging electric vehicle market.

Shareholder Roadshow

Perth, April 5, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Diversified minerals explorer and developer, Ardiden Limited ( ASX:ADV ) is pleased to advise that the Company is providing two shareholder briefing meetings to allow for a brief question and answer session in both Melbourne and Sydney.These shareholder meetings will provide many shareholders the opportunity to meet with management and to openly discuss and ask questions about the Company's current exploration and development activities and plans.Details of the shareholder briefing meetings are outlined below.MELBOURNELocation: Rydges MelbourneTime: 1.30pm to 3.30pmDate: Wednesday, 11 April 2018Address: 186 Exhibition Street, Melbourne VIC 3000SYDNEYLocation: Tank Stream HotelTime: 1.30pm to 3.30pmDate: Thursday, 12 April 2018Address: 97-99 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000Shareholders seeking to attend either the Melbourne or Sydney shareholder meetings, will need to confirm their attendance directly with Brad Boyle on bboyle@ardiden.com.au by no later than Monday, 9 April 2018, so seating and catering arrangements can be finalised at each of the venues.Management are looking forward to meeting with and providing an update to shareholders.About Ardiden Ltd

Ardiden Limited (ASX:ADV) is an emerging international diversified exploration and development company possessing a mature multi-element asset portfolio, with a near term development pipeline, focused quality projects located in the established mining jurisdiction of Ontario, Canada.There is a very important change in Donald Trump's rhetoric on the subject of immigration recently and it has everything to do with Congress and the approaching midterm elections.

There's serious danger in ascribing any sort of long-term strategy to Trump's tweets, but you can see him concocting a campaign issue here with a new focus on changing immigration laws.

He's been on a tear about "laws," tweeting four times about them in the four days of April. That's more tweets about immigration laws in four days than tweets about immigration laws than the entire rest of his presidency (four).

Reading his nine April immigration law tweets in order gives you a somewhat coherent view of where he's going with this. The following includes, in order, two tweets from April 1, five tweets from April 2, and one tweet each from April 3 and 4:

From April 1:

Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. "Caravans" coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!

Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!

From April 2:

Mexico has the absolute power not to let these large "Caravans" of people enter their country. They must stop them at their Northern Border, which they can do because their border laws work, not allow them to pass through into our country, which has no effective border laws.....

...Congress must immediately pass Border Legislation, use Nuclear Option if necessary, to stop the massive inflow of Drugs and People. Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws don't allow them to do their job. Act now Congress, our country is being stolen!

Mexico is making a fortune on NAFTA...They have very strong border laws - ours are pathetic. With all of the money they make from the U.S., hopefully they will stop people from coming through their country and into ours, at least until Congress changes our immigration laws!

As ridiculous as it sounds, the laws of our country do not easily allow us to send those crossing our Southern Border back where they came from. A whole big wasted procedure must take place. Mexico & Canada have tough immigration laws, whereas ours are an Obama joke. ACT CONGRESS

Honduras, Mexico and many other countries that the U.S. is very generous to, sends many of their people to our country through our WEAK IMMIGRATION POLICIES. Caravans are heading here. Must pass tough laws and build the WALL. Democrats allow open borders, drugs and crime!

From April 3:

The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our "Weak Laws" Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!

From April 4:

Our Border Laws are very weak while those of Mexico & Canada are very strong. Congress must change these Obama era, and other, laws NOW! The Democrats stand in our way - they want people to pour into our country unchecked....CRIME! We will be taking strong action today.

Got all that? Set aside the threats to Mexico and Honduras for now and focus instead on the larger point he's making in this series: Canada and Mexico have strong laws. The US has weak laws put in place by Democrats. We must change the laws.

There is a lot that is wrong with the arguments Trump makes here (and his similar pronouncements during appearances with Baltic leaders at the White House Tuesday). His main gripes have to do with the idea of people seeking asylum and on protections for immigrants in custody.

CNN's Tal Kopan has done some very good work fact checking him on immigration and US laws.

Trump on immigration fact check

You don't need a Ph.D. in political science to know that lawmakers make the laws. Nor do you need to pay too much attention to politics to know that lawmakers are up for election in November and Republicans, largely thanks to Trump's abysmal approval rating, are facing some very serious headwinds, particularly in the House.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond wrote this week about Trump's increasing interest in the midterms and how he's crafting strategy now that his former communications director Hope Hicks is no longer by his side.

Of course, his miraculous 2016 victory was built largely on the issue of immigration and his pledge to build a border wall. He's danced around his inability to get Congress to approve and fund the border wall in full, although there is money for it in a recent spending bill. Calling US immigration laws weak and in need of fixing feels a lot like a riff on the immigration fears he stoked in 2016.

A bold prediction for the time between now and November is that Trump will be talking a lot more about how weak he thinks US laws are and how he'll need a Republican Congress to change them.Chico, Calif. -- The 17th Annual "Night in Casablanca" at The Palms in Chico will benefit the Court Appointed Special Advocates program (CASA) in Butte and Glenn Counties.

It's a Gala event with a delicious dinner, no host bar, and Live and Silent Auctions. The event runs from 6 - 10 p.m.

Administered under the umbrella of Northern Valley Catholic Social Service, CASA of Butte and Glenn Counties is one of nearly 1,000 CASA programs across the country. Thousands of volunteers are trained, then appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children in the Foster Care system, through no fault of their own. It helps to insure they don't get lost in the overburdened legal and social service stem ... or left in inappropriate group or foster homes.

Volunteers stay with each case is closed and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. Often these children have no one else to turn to for help, and CASA volunteers are the one constant adult presence in their lives.

The program can only accomodate as many volunteers as it can afford to train and supervise and that's why fundraiser like these and community donations are so important.

Action News Now Noon News Anchor Linda Watkins-Bennett will serve for the 5th year as emcee for "A Night in Casablanca."

Tickets are $75. They are available by calling (530) 247-3372. Visit www.nvcss.org/CASA or www.facebook.com/nvcss/CASA for more information.Chico Calif.-- On Tuesday morning, state and city leaders gathered outside of the Board of Supervisors Chambers in Oroville to call on Northern Californians to oppose being a sanctuary state.

Senator Jim Nielsen, Representative Doug LaMalfa, and Governor-Candidate John Cox led the charge on this issue.

They said they formally, on record, oppose sanctuary law, and are calling for people to start upholding federal law and to side with the constitution.

John Cox and Rep. LaMalfa said they value legal immigrants and people who seek permission to be here, but say the country needs a change of direction.

No more to illegal immigration, no more to sanctuary cities, no more to the sieve of a border that we have, which endangers our security and endangers the values we have in this country, said LaMalfa.

LaMalfa said the federal law is crystal clear on this issue, and urged people in the North State to support the constitution.

You locked the door on your front door at your house when you came here probably, you locked your car probably, and we also have an obligation to keep the door locked on the country, but with a gate with hinges, so we can allow people in on our terms, he said.

Senator Jim Nielsen echoed a similar message.

We are a sanctuary state for one class of individuals: felons, who have victimized us, and will continue to, Nielsen said.

Nielsen said the country is at risk, and the government is too powerful.

About 40 people came to the gathering and there were no protesters; everyone who came was against the idea of a sanctuary state.By Malcolm Newman, Managing Director of SCORs EMEA Hub and Chairman of LMG's ILS Taskforce At their simplest ILS are collateralised reinsurance contracts where the investors subscribe for bonds to the value of the maximum exposure under the reinsurance contract with the cedant. Claims are determined by parametric triggers, for example the anticipated modelled loss of a hurricane hitting Miami at a certain wind speed, or the spread of an infectious disease using World Health Organisation data. ILS avoid the need for long and slow claims adjustment as payment can be made immediately after an event, giving the cedant the liquidity to handle its insureds claims. These bonds are issued by Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) often using a multi-cell arrangement, which holds each reinsurance contract in a separate cell with its own assets and liabilities ringfenced from the other cells. Until recently, the London market has been unable to compete for ILS business due to restrictions in the UKs company law which did not recognise segregation of creditors within an entity, and there was no regulatory framework for multi-cell SPVs. The London Market response

To address the London markets inability to offer ILS, the London Market Group (LMG) wrote to George Osborne, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, calling for action. He agreed to set up a joint taskforce involving experts from the insurance industry along with officials from the Treasury, PRA, FCA and HMRC. I had the honour of chairing this high-powered group, which over the course of nearly three years successfully navigated a general election, a change of chancellor and the Brexit referendum, to deliver the legal changes required to enable ILS to be created in London. It was clear from the first taskforce meeting that London needed to bring something new to the ILS market, simply providing another jurisdiction for collateralising property catastrophe risks would not succeed  we needed to innovate. We realised that if London is to become a leading market for ILS it needs to offer more than competitor markets. This is where the advantage of being the largest of the global hubs is a major asset. The London market has a reputation for developing new products, most recently the growing demand for cyber insurance has been met by products developed in London which now has a significant share of the global market. We need to combine our experience and technical know-how to become leading innovators in this burgeoning area of risk mitigation. The progress

After many hours of work and hard negotiation in December 2017, the change in law and regulatory framework received cross party support in both the Houses of Commons and Lords. In addition to working with the Treasury, PRA, FCA and HMRC, the taskforce members also embarked on an education programme, speaking at conferences and holding lectures to raise awareness about ILS vehicles and the possibilities they offer to the London market. The lectures proved very popular and the questions and follow- up demonstrated that the intellectual power of the market was focusing on this topic. So, what will they come up with? Within two weeks of the new law being passed the first ILS authorisation was agreed, a sidecar vehicle to support the property portfolio of a Lloyds syndicate which went on risk from 1st January 2018. This vehicle falls into the category of property catastrophe risk that marked the beginning of the ILS market in the offshore locations, a standard and straightforward ILS instrument. However, it is a positive start and its anticipated that many other ILS vehicles will be developed during 2018. The opportunities

From the beginning people wanted to know the scale of the ILS taskforce ambitions. Two common questions were: What share of the market would London seek? and: What size would the London ILS market reach? These were, in my opinion, the wrong questions  as they are the result of actions that are yet to be taken. The real question is: What solutions can London develop? - it is innovation that will determine the success and size of the London ILS market going forward. As the chairman of the taskforce I have the privileged position of having talked to potential market entrants, as well as the experts currently at work. What have I observed? Firstly: London is an attractive location to conduct the existing ILS business from. It has a strong stable environment, a well-respected regulator, the obvious support of the government, all alongside the intellectual and financial capital required to be successful. Secondly: The geographic connection of London gives it access to risks beyond the traditional ILS exposure of North America. Thirdly: The London market participates in all classes of (re)insurance both for life and non-life. Fourthly: The UK is not an offshore location. Some countries have tax authorities that may become involved if entities in their country wish to transact offshore, bringing additional cost and complexity which can make these products unattractive for cedants. So, as I gaze into my crystal ball what do I see as the future of ILS in London? I see exciting opportunities  as new geographic markets open up for ILS products; more classes of business using ILS vehicles alongside traditional reinsurance when executing their risk management strategies; and new demand for insurance from those who are currently under or even uninsured due to price or lack of capacity. What I am sure about is that London will be a major player in the global ILS market.The Schiphol aviation community has reacted with dismay to news that there will be no extra slots for the airport until the end of 2020.

The airport, which last year almost breached its slot limit of 500,000, was hoping that it would be able to gain extra capacity to meet growing demand.

"The aviation sector, the logistics sector and the travel industry have taken notice of the recent government decision to close Schiphol  and so also the aviation industry  until 2020," a group of companies, including Air Cargo Netherlands (ACN), Dutch shippers group evofenedex and Transport and Logistics Netherlands (TLN), said in a joint letter.

The group said that 750m had been spent on reducing the impact of noise on local residents, while airlines have invested hundreds of millions in new aircraft and alternative fuels.

"However, the government does not seem to pay any attention to all these successful efforts by the aviation sector to further reduce noise and CO2 emissions in the Netherlands," the letter said.

"The aviation sector in the Netherlands urges the government to comply with its agreements and to immediately lift this irresponsible blockade.

"[We] want urgent consultations with the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management in order to quickly reach suitable agreements whereby the efforts of aviation make it possible to increase capacity at Schiphol in a responsible and sustainable manner."

In February, three key players in the Dutch airfreight industry called for more slots to be made available at the airport.

ACN, evofenedex and TLN argued that further delays in opening Lelystad Airport, 45km to the north east of Amsterdam, had prevented the gateway being used as an overflow for flights at Schiphol.

The logistics groups asked for the maximum of 500,000 flight movements per year to be increased to a total of 520,000 per annum.

Meanwhile, local reports claim that airlines are taking the airport to court over its failure to move unused winter slots to the summer, which it normally does.

Read more cargo airport newsThe deal, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, is valued at more than $1.165 billion under the terms of an undefinitized contract action. The agreement enables Boeing to provide engineering services, along with radar warning receivers and aircraft armament equipment for the production and delivery of 22 F/A-18E Hornets and 6 F/A-18F Super Hornets.

A F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212 (VMFA-212), The V in VMFA stands for "fixed-wing" in Navy and Marine Corps aviation unit

Work on the contract will occur in multiple locations in the United States and is expected to be complete in September 2022. More than $275.8 million will be obligated to Boeing at time of award from foreign military sales funds, the Department of Defense said. The Pentagon says that none of the obligated funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.Work on the contract will occur in multiple locations in the United States and is expected to be complete in September 2022. More than $275.8 million will be obligated to Boeing at time of award from foreign military sales funds, the Department of Defense said. The Pentagon says that none of the obligated funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.



The combat-proven F/A-18E/F Super Hornet delivers cutting-edge next generation multi-role strike fighter capability that is available today, outdistancing current and emerging threats well into the future. The Super Hornet has the capability, flexibility and performance necessary to modernize the air or naval aviation forces of any country. Built by the industry team of Boeing, Northrop Grumman, GE Aircraft Engines, Raytheon and more than 1,900 suppliers nationwide, the Super Hornet provides the warfighter with todays newest advances in multimission capability and growth for decades to come in missions, roles and technology. The Super Hornets suite of integrated and networked systems provides enhanced interoperability and support for ground forces as well as the overall force commander. The Super Hornet entered combat on its maiden voyage in 2002 and remains combat deployed today.Do You miss the melodious

music of the 1960's.?

You can listen in to the

long forgotten musical tracksBy Will Lochamy

WRONG



Rep. Patricia Todd of Birmingham proposed a bill that would reduce the penalty for possession of marijuana and help bring our state into the 21st century. The House Judiciary Committee quickly voted it down 7-5, because of course they did. -2

The Alabama State Department of Education gave Birmingham City Schools a "D" on their 2018 report card. The worst part is a "D" is better than most expected. We HAVE to start putting schools first. -8

No, I don't have a quarter! Our parking meter system should go the way of town hall fisticuffs. It's time for our city to join most of the other major cities in this country and get cashless meters. -3

Because we refuse to learn from our mistakes, Birmingham Rep. Arnold Mooney recently spent time writing a bill to allow the Ten Commandments on public property and at public schools. Every year... the same bill, the same attempt to merge church and state, and the same waste of our time. -4

Total: -17

RIGHT

We have one of the best bike-sharing programs in the country, but it can be like playing Frogger to get to the park on one, thanks to our lack of bike lanes. But wait! The Birmingham City Council recently passed the Complete Streets ordinance that could include wide sidewalks, bike lanes, bus lanes, bus shelters, crosswalks, street trees, landscaping, and green spaces. +7



We are home to one of the premier Indy tracks in the world and we get to prove it April 20th-22nd with the Honda Indy Grand Prix at Barber. If green grass and fast cars aren't your things, Alabama native Channing Tatum will be the Grand Marshall, so there's something for everyone to look at. +3



Not only did muralist Marcus Fetch raise enough money to repaint the three vandalized murals (thanks to Melt restaurant and citizens like you), but Birmingham businesses have shown up in droves to hirehim to paint new ones. Youlose, vandals. +6



Birmingham-Southern College is becoming home to a first of its kind "Geodome." It will feature 4k video on a floating screen, surround sound, and will focus on Alabama-centric films. Leave it to the smart kids to come up with something this cool. +5

Total: +21

This month's overall rating: +4

This story appears in Birmingham magazine's April 2018 issue. Subscribe today!Fuzzy's Taco Shop is back.

The Tuscaloosa location at 2321 University Blvd. has been closed since last year for utility issues, but is reopening this month.

The restaurant will host an afternoon of celebrations Saturday, April 14, beginning at 10 a.m., featuring free tacos, burritos, quesadillas and beverages, as well as a live DJ performance and prizes, such as Alabama softball tickets and $25 gift cards.

The first guest in line will win a free taco plate every week for a year. There will also be free chicken, beef and shrimp tacos and quesadillas and $2 margaritas.

Franchisee Dani Monroy said the restaurant is ready to reintroduce its laid-back atmosphere to the community.

Service is provided from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Catering is also available.A Louisiana-based restaurant chain co-owned by the NFL's Drew Brees is looking to make a push in the Southeast, and Alabama is one of its targets.

Baton Rouge's Walk-Ons Bistreaux and Bar plans on opening a location later this year in the Mobile area.

Jami Zimmerman, vice president of public relations for Champion Management, said several locations are being planned along the Interstate 10 corridor and in parts of Tennessee, and Mobile is part of those plans.

The Walk-On's website lists the location as 3673 Airport Blvd.

"In terms of states we are opening in during 2018, we are confirmed to open locations in Texas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi," Zimmerman said. "Development is an ever evolving process with real estate, construction, permitting, weather, etc. so those are the specifics we can provide at the moment."

Just this week, Walk-Ons opened a San Antonio, Texas location, the chain's 19th. Walk-On's offers Louisiana-style cuisine, burgers and seafood.Jeff Drew sits at the dining room table at the Drew family home in Birmingham where he, his parents, John and Deenie Drew, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. often shared meals, including shortly before he was killed.

Jeff Drew remembers the last time the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stayed at his family's house in Birmingham, probably the last supper he ate in Alabama.

Drew was 16. It was in the spring of 1968, a short time before King went to Memphis, where he was shot by an assassin 50 years ago today, on April 4.

"I've done everything I can over these 50 years to forget this date and to forget that time," Drew said. "The last thing I remember was him being here for dinner, and Mom fussing with him not to go to Memphis. Everything after that was horrible. Man's inhumanity to man."

Drew's father, John, operated Alexander and Co. Insurance Agency in Birmingham, which had insured church vans during the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott. His mother, Deenie, was known as the den mother of the civil rights movement. King often stayed at their house on visits to Birmingham from the late 1950s through 1968.

"Mother was trying to get him not to go to Memphis," said Drew. "When it came to Martin's resolve, there was just no argument. He wasn't going to budge."

Of course, King went, and it was the last time they saw him alive.

"I went to Memphis this past summer," Drew said. "I didn't even want to see the Lorraine Motel."

He hates to talk about King, who he knew growing up as "Uncle Mike," in the context of the day he was killed.

"Those of us who were close just can't seem to put this into perspective where we can talk about it without remembering the pain and sadness," Drew said. "You have such a wonderful memory of such a wonderful person. I just don't want to stain that memory by rubbing our nose in the assassination. I don't see too much reason in commemorating his assassination. I do see reason for celebrating the man and his message. That's important. To draw attention to a murder, that's difficult. I think his life's message is more important."

The Poor People's Campaign

Professor Wilson Fallin Jr., 75, who teaches U.S. history three days a week at the University of Montevallo, also remembers the last time he saw King.

The Rev. Wilson Fallin welcomed the Rev. Martin Luther King to his church in Bessemer in 1968 to set the stage for the Poor People's Campaign to stop there. King preached at the church and had dinner with Fallin just a few weeks before King was killed.

Fallin at the time was pastor of New Zion Baptist Church in Bessemer. After King spoke to help set the stage for the Poor People's Campaign Mule Train of 1968, Fallin took King, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth to eat dinner at the home of church member Bessy Wilkins, a woman in her 70s, who cooked dinner.

''They laughed and talked about a lot of things,'' Fallin said. ''The air was tense. There had been some death threats. The death threats were getting a little more intimidating.''

King joked and eased the mood. ''He teased Ralph about being born in the Black Belt and that he thought he knew about collard greens,'' Fallin said. "It was hardly more than a month later that King was killed."

King's last arrest

Former Jefferson County Sheriff's Captain Dan Jordan of Bessemer has also recalled the last time he saw King.

A newspaper clipping shows a photograph of David Orange and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stepping off an airplane in Birmingham on Oct. 30, 1967. Orange and then-Lt. Dan Jordan arrested King, the last of 29 times he was arrested on misdemeanor charges for his civil rights activism.

He and sheriff's assistant David Orange were the two lawmen who arrested King on Oct. 30, 1967, when King got off an airplane in Birmingham. It was the last time King was arrested.

"As soon as he got off the plane, we arrested him," Jordan recalled in an interview with AL.com after Orange died in 2016. They drove him to jail. "He was in the back seat. We knew he was a great man. We knew we weren't dealing with a crackpot. He was already famous."

Jordan, who was a lieutenant at the time, said that when they took King to jail, he noticed that he and King were born on the same day, Jan. 15, 1929. They talked about the coincidence.

King had years earlier been arrested for parading without a permit and was convicted in Birmingham City Court and sentenced to five days in jail. The case was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the conviction. King knew that if he entered Alabama again, he could be arrested and jailed. He announced in Atlanta that he would return to Birmingham and surrender. It would be the last of 29 times he was arrested on misdemeanor charges for his civil rights activism.

Dynamite Hill

For Drew, who first met King when he was about seven years old, the civil rights leader's visits to Birmingham were commonplace, but also historic.

The Drew house was on Center Street, a dividing line between whites and blacks. Blacks were allowed to live on the east side of the street, but when they bought houses on the west side of the street, they were often attacked by the Ku Klux Klan.

The North Smithfield community was nicknamed Dynamite Hill because it was bombed so often.



The home of attorney Arthur Shores, one of the first blacks to practice law in Alabama, was bombed twice in 1963 and targeted in 1965.

King knew that, but stayed in the neighborhood anyway. He tried to keep his visits secret so the Drew family wouldn't be targeted. "Part of his secrecy was to protect the families in the homes he was visiting," Drew said. "He knew he was a target."

History was happening, and that was apparent at the time.

"All of us Dynamite Hill kids, we knew something special was going on," Drew said. "It was like he was leading a rescue mission for the world. He was a giant, and a giant for all men."Aviation company Stewart Industries International is expanding its operation to Birmingham and creating at least 200 new jobs.

Stewart Industries International has leased the former Kaiser Aircraft facility adjacent to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport to enhance logistical support to its existing customers and to provide convenient maintenance support to the east coast-based aviation industry, the company said on Wednesday.

This is an expansion of the work Stewart Industries is performing for Delta Airlines, American Airlines and other aircraft leasing firms and airline operators at its Roswell, New Mexico FAA Repair facility.

Other growth plans include maintenance support to companies associated with aircraft leasing and air cargo freight, Stewart Industries said.

Graham & Co. was first hired in 2014 to market and lease the 1.7 million-square-foot facility and its 180 acres with direct runway access at the airport. The facility was also formerly Alabama Aircraft Industries, which Kaiser Aircraft bought out of bankruptcy in September 2011.

Kaiser Aircraft later went out of business in Birmingham.

"Birmingham is excited to welcome Stewart Industries into our city," Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said in a statement. "Stewart Industries will not only help Birmingham to make a mark in the aviation industry but open the door for hundreds of jobs as well."

Dale Mullinax, president of Stewart Industries international Birmingham, said the new facility is expected to employ 200 people initially, but that number could grow to 500 within a year.

Doris Sewell, chief executive officer of Kaiser Aircraft Industries said Stewart Industries International has the potential to rapidly expand and utilize the full Kaiser facility.

"We have reviewed many proposals during the three and one-half years that our facility has been closed, but our objectives have now been met with the arrival of Stewart Industries International," she said.

Sewell said Stewart Industries will give hiring preference to former Kaiser Aircraft employees, and the company will reinstate Kaiser's former program of training inner city school candidates for the aviation industry.

Michael Bell, bhairman of the Birmingham Airport Authority board of directors said: "The BAA Board of Directors is elated that Stewart Industries is locating to Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport at the Kaiser facility.

"This type of quality tenant brings renewed aviation activity to this unique facility as well as desirable employment opportunities to our community," he said. "It also demonstrates a level of proactive collaboration and leadership by many stakeholders that made this welcomed announcement possible. This is yet another testament that BHM is open for business."The Birmingham City Council will vote next week on an ordinance to allow restaurants to begin selling alcohol at 10 a.m. on Sundays.

The public safety committee of the city council gave its recommendation to the ordinance on Tuesday afternoon after hearing support from local restaurants and tourism officials.

Marco Morosini, owner of Silvertron Cafe, said Birmingham restaurants will see an immediate increase in sales when customers can start buying their mimosas at Sunday brunch at 10 a.m.

Last week, the Alabama State Legislature passed a bill that gave the Birmingham City Council the authority to pass an ordinance to start Sunday alcohol sales at 10 a.m. rather than noon.

A previous version of the law allowed Birmingham to hold a referendum to allow earlier Sunday alcohol sales, but the measure failed to make it to a ballot.

Councilor Hunter Williams, who serves as chair of the public safety committee, said he drafted the ordinance in preparation of Gov. Kay Ivey's signing the bill into law, which she did on March 26.

"This bill will eliminate outdated 'blue laws' that impose unnecessary restrictions on Birmingham businesses that both business owners and taxpayers do not want," he said previously to AL.com. "I expect this bill to be an economic stimulus for the city of Birmingham as well as our restaurants."

The Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Alabama Restaurant and Hospitality Association also supported the ordinance.

Dino Sarris, whose father owns The Fish Market in Southside, told city councilors that eight years ago the oyster bar didn't serve alcohol. He said his father was concerned about the type of crowd that would alcohol would attract.

"I said give me 60 days," he said. "Almost immediately we saw an uptick in sales."

Sarris said it was the restaurant's regular customers that were buying alcohol.

"I don't feel like there is a tremendous amount of risk here," he said. "The city is on a progressive path and I just want to express my support for this ordinance."Several Birmingham officials will visit Chicago this week to learn more about an Apple initiative that teaches teenagers coding skills in the classroom that they can later use in the workforce.

"This is an exploratory visit that could lead to a possible partnership between Apple and Birmingham," said Rick Journey, director of communications for the Birmingham mayor's office. "We're excited by Apple's level of interest in this opportunity by providing significant staff time to the delegation over the next few days."

Mayor Randall Woodfin and others will visit with Apple employees, Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago and others to learn more about Apple's Everyone Can Code program, which expanded to Chicago's nearly 500,000 students this spring.

Other city leaders traveling include Kelvin Datcher, director of intergovernmental affairs; Ed Fields, senior advisor; and Josh Carpenter, director of economic development. Administrators from Lawson State Community College and others are also expected to visit with Apple employees in Chicago this week.

City officials are also expected to meet with Alabama native and Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook as he is scheduled to be in Birmingham on Wednesday. Cook will be in the Magic City to meet with Birmingham area students and receive a human rights award from Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Apple already partners with Lawson State. The college provides certification training for app developers through the Swift App Development Program.

The program provides instruction and training on coding and designing apps. The first course in the curriculum is offered at the Bessemer and Birmingham campus.

Carpenter said the city wants to see how it can expand on the existing partnerships Apple has in Alabama. He said Everyone Can Code would diversify the IT pool in the workforce pipeline in Birmingham.

Apple's Everyone Can Code program in Chicago is a collaborative effort between Mayor's Office of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, local businesses and non-profit organizations.

Everyone Can Code is designed to teach students how to code and prepares them for today's workplace. Students learn Swift, Apple's easy-to-learn programming language.

"At Apple we believe coding is an essential skill, so we've designed Everyone Can Code to give everyone the power to learn, write and teach coding," Cook said in a December statement.

Chicago Public Schools offer Swift Coding Clubs, which bring coding education to after-school programs. These clubs guide students through key coding concepts, introduce them to Swift and walk them through an app design and prototyping project.

Chicago business partners in the program will offer more than 100 internships to high school and college students who have completed the Everyone Can Code curriculum.A Tennessee man is behind bars in Alabama after lawman say he was caught with 82 pounds of methamphetamine packaged as Mexican candy.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday announced the arrest of James Robert Fields. He is 56, and from Memphis.

The sheriff's office Highway Safety Unit on March 29 stopped a Honda for erratic driving on Interstate 59/20 near mile marker 104 near Rock Mountain Lakes. The driver - later identified as Fields - gave permission to search the vehicle for drugs, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian.

During the search, investigators found a large bag containing several smaller bags of Mexican candy in the vehicle's trunk. Deputies noticed the candy felt granular. On closer examination it was discovered that the candy packages contained methamphetamine and not candy.

The Jefferson County sheriff's Highway Interdiction Unit seized 82 pounds in meth disguised as candy.

In total 82 pounds of meth packaged as candy was seized worth an estimated street value of nearly $1.5 million.

Field is charged with trafficking methamphetamine. He remains in the Jefferson County Jail with $200,000 bond.

The Sheriff's Office Highway Safety Unit is a task force comprised of Jefferson County sheriff's deputies and Hoover police officer who have been recognized nationally for their efforts in taking drugs off of the highways and out of communities. This team is responsible for taking over $30 million worth of drugs and drug money out of the illegal drug market.

"That's a good amount of a terrible drug that didn't make it to the streets, along with all the crime that goes hand in hand with it. It's not unusual to see a meth user stay up two or three days on a crime spree of burglaries, thefts and robberies to keep funding the next fix,'' Sheriff Mike Hale said. "This was great work by a team that has a record of success."Crime victims and survivors will be honored in an event set for Sunday at Birmingham's Linn Park.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Peeples, Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale and 22 agencies will host "One Heart in the Park" on April 8. The event is part of the 2018 National Crime Victims' Rights Week.

Wanda Miller, a Jefferson County Sheriff's Office victim assistance officer, said the idea developed, in part, because of a desire to connect crime victims and members of the community with agencies and advocates that can provide assistance and services. "This occasion will emphasize how the crime victims' field can better ensure that every crime victim has access to services and support, and how professionals, organizations and communities can work in tandem to reach all victims,'' Miller said.

According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's "Crime in Alabama" report, there were 25,188 violent crimes reported in Alabama in 2016, a 13 percent increase over 2015. On average, there were 69 violent crimes reported per day in 2016.

Those attending Sunday's event are encouraged to bring photographs of their loved ones who were victims of crime or create a personal statement about their own victimization. Miller said one area of the park will have space dedicated for the display.

Allison Dearing, executive director of One Place Metro Alabama Family Justice Center, said it is critical for a community to support victims and survivors. "We are fortunate to have so many agencies in the Greater Birmingham area who seek to provide counseling, support groups, financial assistance, advocacy and other needed services to individuals and their families who have been impacted by crime,'' she said. "If timely connections are made to appropriate resources, we know that these services have the potential to impact victims of crime in a positive way, especially in the first days and weeks following victimization."

Among the agencies participating in the event are: U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Alabama, Alabama Attorney General's Office, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, Bessemer District Attorney's Office, Crisis Center, One Place Family Justice Center, Junior League of Birmingham, HICA, YWCA, CAPS, Crime Victims Compensation, Birmingham Police Department, Magic City Acceptance Center, Oasis Counseling, Parents Against Violence, FBI, UAB Trauma Unit, Children's Of Alabama, VA Outreach, VOCAL and Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama.

"One Heart in the Park" will be held from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. at the park, which is located at 710 20th Street North. The event is free and open to the public. There will be refreshments and live music.The drive-by shooting that killed a 3-year-old Huntsville girl stemmed from a dispute that erupted after a joke was posted to Facebook, court testimony revealed.

Martin Evenes and Dominique Russell, both 26, appeared in Madison County District Court today for separate preliminary hearings today. The hearings, at times, were emotional. About a dozen of the victim's family members attended, some of them at times in tears,

Judges ruled that prosecutors have probable cause for capital murder charges against both defendants in the March 7 death of Livia Robinson. Their cases now head to a grand jury for consideration of indictments.

Also charged in the killing is Brittany Kingston, 27. An investigator identified Evenes as the shooter, Russell as the driver, and Kingston as a passenger. Kingston's case hasn't yet been called on the court docket.

New details emerged during today's testimony about the Facebook dispute that precede the drive-by. Police have said Livia wasn't the target of the shooting that happened at her 615 Murray Road home in north Huntsville. Today, an investigator testified that a friend of the girl's mother may have been the target. The friend, Ashley Brown, has a child with Evenes. Huntsville police Investigator Frank Rosler testified that a witness told police Evenes was trying to shoot Brown because of an ongoing argument that began with a Facebook post.

Rosler testified that Evenes had jokingly posted on Facebook that his new girlfriend had assaulted him. The girlfriend, Kingston, also is charged in the killing. Kingston's case is set for a preliminary hearing April 18 at 10 a.m.

At some point, the Facebook post was sent to Brown. An argument began between Brown and Kingston, then escalated to include Evenes, as well as Livia's mother, Demetrius McComb, the investigator testified. The arguing continued throughout the day and culminated with the drive-by that left Livia dead that night, Rosler told the court. Police were called about the shooting around 6:30 p.m.

The shooting

Livia was home with her mother, father and Brown. Rosler testified that Livia was standing at the screen door when multiple shots were fired, according to Rosler's testimony. Her mother was standing just behind her, near the door. The mother told police she saw Evenes point the gun and fire. Police previously reported erroneously that Livia was sleeping on the couch.

Russell -- who didn't know Brown or Livia's mother -- drove the car from which Evenes fired at least three shots, Rosler testified. Kingston rode in the back seat, according to police.

One bullet struck a metal piece on the screen door. The bullet deflected and fatally struck Livia, the investigator testified. Livia's father, Leonard Robinson, told police he heard the gunfire but didn't realize his daughter had been hit until the girl walked toward the couch and collapsed. Robinson rushed over to his daughter, who was bleeding from a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

The father hung his head and cried as Rosler recounted the events from the witness stand.

The arrests

Evenes and Kingston were taken into custody at an apartment complex on Mason Court. Russell was captured at his home on Ninth Avenue.

During questioning, Evenes initially denied any involvement in the shooting. Rosler testified that Evenes eventually admitted his own role, as well as those of Kingston and Russell.

Russell -- who brought the gun that Evenes used -- also admitted driving the car, according to testimony. When interviewed by police, Russell hadn't yet found out that a little girl was killed. Once he found out about the child death, Russell handed over the gun to investigators, Rosler said. The gun was hidden under the mattress in his bedroom.

The case

Defense attorneys Larry Marsili and Chad Morgan represent Evenes. During the first hearing, Marsili questioned Rosler about whether police found evidence of intent to kill -- a necessary factor for a capital murder charge.

Rosler testified that one witness told police Evenes said he planned to shoot Brown. Per Alabama law, even if Evenes intended to kill Brown, the intent automatically would transfer to Livia for the purpose of criminal charges.

District Judge Patty Demos found probable cause for the capital murder charge.

In Russell's case, defense attorneys Richard Jensen and Patrick Hill questioned what their client knew about the shooting and what evidence police had to prove intent.

Rosler told the judge he considered the totality of the circumstances to find intent.

District Judge Schuyler Richardson ruled there was probable cause for the charge against Russell.

A grand jury will now consider the evidence against both men. The jurors will be tasked with determining what, if any, charges they should face. Until then, both men will remain in the Madison County Jail without bail.

If convicted of capital murder, the suspects face either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Tim Gann, Madison County's chief trial attorney is prosecuting the case.An Alabama congressman on Wednesday voiced support for President Trump's plan to utilize the military along the Mexican border until a wall can be built.

U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, said in a statement that the use of troops "preserves America's national sovereignty."

"I fully support President Trump's use of our military to secure the border against invasion by foreign nationals," Brooks said in the statement. "Recent, highly-publicized caravans of thousands of foreigners heading for America's border emphasize that it is past time for Congress to reform laws that entice and reward foreign nationals who illegally invade America. For too long, illegal aliens have exploited weak laws and then sought and sometimes gained de facto permanent legal status at great cost and damage to American taxpayers.

"Until Congress gives President Trump funding for the physical border wall, his decision to send troops to the border, consistent with his Constitutional power as commander in chief, not only sends a strong message to the world that our borders will be secure, but more importantly preserves America's national sovereignty."

Trump is expected to sign a proclamation Wednesday that would send National Guard troops to guard the U.S.-Mexican border. In a tweet Wednesday morning, the president said that the White House "will be taking strong action today" on immigration.

Our Border Laws are very weak while those of Mexico & Canada are very strong. Congress must change these Obama era, and other, laws NOW! The Democrats stand in our way - they want people to pour into our country unchecked....CRIME! We will be taking strong action today.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018

Brooks' backing of the Trump policy perhaps should come as no surprise given his stance on immigration issues in the past.

Brooks has long opposed Congress providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and has advocated removing those in the country without proper documentation.

Brooks has also touted his A-plus rating from Numbers USA, which describes itself as a group working to reduce the country's immigration numbers.

On the campaign trail last year in the U.S. Senate race, Brooks was asked to elaborate on a statement he made at a town hall meeting in 2011 when he said he would "do anything short of shooting them" to stop illegal immigration.

"I said would do anything I can lawfully do short of shooting them in order to emphasize my position on border security," Brooks said.

"This was in a town hall meeting where people were questioning my sincerity and my dedication to secure America's borders. I used that as hyperbole to emphasize my position, that I'm willing to do anything I lawfully can do, short of shooting them, which means I want to enforce the law."

Brooks said a surplus in the labor market caused by illegal immigration has hurt Americans and legal immigrants economically.

"It was in that context, and I stand by every word of it," Brooks said.

AL.com reporter Mike Cason contributed to this report.Former Montgomery County District Attorney Ellen Brooks announced today that the investigation of former Gov. Robert Bentley and others is over and that no additional charges will be filed.

The special grand jury empaneled in July 2016 has issued a final report and been dissolved, Brooks announced. The report says no other charges were warranted. It also cites weaknesses in the state ethics law and campaign finance law and suggests that the Legislature address them as soon as possible.

"We found a number of serious concerns about current state law that hinder successful prosecution," the report says.

The ethics law does not cover non-spousal intimate or romantic relationships.

The law authorizes the governor to appoint the Secretary of Law Enforcement and does not prohibit the governor from initiating, directing, or receiving reports on criminal investigations for illegitimate political purposes.

State law does not prohibit non-government personnel from performing the work of a public employee while being paid by a private entity, a so-called "loaned executive" arrangement.

Beginning in February 2017, Brooks oversaw the investigation of Bentley after Attorney General Steve Marshall recused. Bentley resigned on April 10, 2017 and pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor violations related to campaign finances.

The resignation came on the day the Alabama House Judiciary Committee started hearings to consider impeachment of the governor. A special counsel for the committee had determined in an investigation that Bentley had misused his office to try to conceal evidence of an alleged extramarital affair with his former top adviser, Rebekah Mason.

Brooks said today the misdemeanor plea deal did not preclude the special grand jury from bringing other charges. But the report says allegations investigated were not supported by facts or the facts did not constitute a crime.

A year ago, and five days before Bentley's resignation, the Alabama Ethics Commission found probable cause that Bentley violated the ethics law by using public resources for personal use.

Brooks said the special grand jury investigated whether Bentley used his office for personal gain or used state resources for private benefit. But it did not bring charges.

"There was insufficient evidence, in fact no evidence, that former Gov. Bentley or any of the individuals who we investigated actually received any illegal financial gain," Brooks said. "Or they were not covered by the ethics law.

"To win a conviction in court the state of Alabama must prove beyond a reasonable doubt both of those facts. That you are covered by the law and that you received illegal financial gain."

Bentley attorney Bill Athanas issued a statement about the decision not to charge the former governor with ethics violations.

"We appreciate that the grand jury's report confirms what we told the Ethics Commission over a year ago: Governor Bentley never violated the Ethics Act by misusing his official position," Athanas said. "The Commission's contrary finding and referral for prosecution was unsupported, unjustified and simply wrong."

The special grand jury was empaneled and the request of the Special Prosecutions Division of the attorney general's office. Investigators from that team joined Brooks at today's news conference.

Brooks said the grand jury heard from 53 witnesses, reviewed more than 100,000 documents and 35 separate sets of financial records. She said the grand jury reviewed files from other investigative agencies and legislative committees in an effort to get a complete picture.

Brooks was asked to oversee the case when Marshall recused last year because Bentley had appointed Marshall attorney general. Brooks, a prosecutor for 37 years, said she brought no political agenda to the task.

"I'm used to getting criticism from people who say I'm too tough and from people who say I'm not tough enough," Brooks said. "In this case, cases were brought that were supported by the law and by the evidence."

Brooks said the investigation was not limited to Bentley. She said it included matters investigated by the Ethics Commission concerning Rebekah Mason and her husband, Jon Mason, and others.

"We had leads and allegations pertaining to a number of people, and all of those were followed up," Brooks said.

The special grand jury cleared former Alabama Law Enforcement Secretary Spencer Collier of wrongdoing after Bentley had said he fired Collier for alleged misspending.

It was Collier who first publicly accused Bentley of having an affair with Mason and revealed the existence of recorded phone calls that appeared to support the accusation. Collier says Bentley fired him for refusing to interfere with a law enforcement matter. Collier's lawsuit against the governor is pending.

Brooks said the investigation did not address the question of whether Bentley retaliated against Collier. But she noted that the relationship between a governor and the head of state law enforcement, who is appointed by the governor, can be problematic, as the grand jury noted in its report.

The House Judiciary Committee's special counsel's report alleged that Bentley used Collier and other law enforcement to try to contain suspicions about an affair with Mason.

Mason was not a state employee during her time as Bentley's top political adviser. Instead, Bentley paid her with funds from his campaign. She also received some compensation from the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, a tax-exempt organization formed to promote Bentley's agenda.

The grand jury report said the fact that such arrangements - private compensation for a person functioning as a state employee - are not illegal was one of its serious concerns about the ethics law because it created uncertainty about how the law applied to those people.

This story was edited at 5:56 p.m. to reflect that one of the misdemeanor violations Bentley pleaded guilty to came under the ethics law. Bentley attorney Bill Athanas changed his statement to reflect that, as well.

by

on Scribd

Update 1:58 p.m.: Former Montgomery County D.A. Ellen Brooks to announce that investigation of former Gov. Robert Bentley and others has been closed. special grand jury empaneled in Montgomery in July 2016 has issued its final report and has been dissolved. The special grand jury that investigated former Gov. Bentley has issued a final report. It says the investigation determined that no other charges were warranted.

Update 2:15 p.m. The special grand jury reported that although no new charges were warranted, it found "a number of serious concerns about current state law that hinders successful prosecution." Those concerns include: the Ethics Law do not cover romantic or intimate relationships between non-married couples; the law does not prohibit the governor from "initiating, directing, or receiving reports on criminal investigations for illegitimate political purposes;" the law allows non-governmental employees to perform government duties while being paid by a private entity.

Bottom lines in the Bentley investigation closure: 1. It is legal for Alabama politicians to spend your money on girlfriends/boyfriends, as long as they don't get married. 2. It is legal for them to direct cops to do their bidding and enforce their will.  John Archibald (@JohnArchibald) April 4, 2018

Investigation into Bentley complete with no additional charges BUT recommended changes hit directly at Bentley/Rebekah Mason working and personal relationship. #alpolitics  Leada Gore (@LeadaGore) April 4, 2018

In short, Bentley and others wont face charges because its not against the law in Alabama to use your office to enrich your girlfriend. Also, abusing police power for political purposes is not an indictable offense.  Kyle Whitmire (@WarOnDumb) April 4, 2018

Original article continues below.

Former Montgomery County District Attorney Ellen Brooks, who led the investigation that resulted in Robert Bentley's resignation as governor last year, will hold a news conference about the investigation today at 2 p.m.

WATCH LIVE: Former Montgomery County DA Ellen talks about the Robert Bentley investigation. Posted by al.com on Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Brooks will talk about the investigation of Bentley and others, according to the attorney general's office.

No other information was available.

On April 10, 2017, Bentley pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor violations of the campaign finance law and resigned from office.

The plea deal came on the day impeachment hearings against the governor started in the Legislature. A special counsel for the House Judiciary Committee issued an investigative report accusing Bentley of using his power as governor to cover up evidence of an alleged extramarital affair with former top advisor Rebekah Mason.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Special Grand Jury Report on Bentley by Jeremy W. Gray on ScribdGov. Kay Ivey's campaign said five weeks ago she was eager to debate her opponents, but since then has given no indication that Ivey intends to take the stage alongside GOP challengers during two televised debates.

Ivey, who is running for governor for the first time, faces three main opponents for the GOP nomination - Tommy Battle, Scott Dawson and Bill Hightower.

Each has agreed to participate in a pair of upcoming debates. (Despite repeated efforts, AL.com has been unsuccessful in contacting a little-known fourth candidate, Michael McAllister.)

One debate, organized by Reckon by AL.com, is scheduled for April 18 at the Lyric Theater in Birmingham. Battle, Dawson and Hightower have all confirmed they will participate. Reckon by AL.com also is hosting a Democratic debate April 24 with all candidates confirmed to participate.

AL.com asked Ivey during a visit to Huntsville on Monday if she wished to participate in the debates. "My record is an open book, just like it is here with you guys today," Ivey said. "And when those details can be worked out, I'll make myself available whenever I can."

Pressed on whether that answer was intended as a "yes" or a "no," Ivey said: "I am open for the people of Alabama just like I am with you now. So, what's the next question?"

AL.com has been in contact with Ivey's campaign for several weeks regarding her participation in the April 18 debate. Ivey's campaign said it would offer alternative dates in May, citing conflicts for all of April without offering specifics, but the campaign has not done so to this point despite multiple requests.

Another televised debate, organized by Birmingham's WVTM Channel 13, is scheduled for April 12. Ivey declined to participate in that debate.

Ivey has also been reluctant to take part in other efforts proposed by AL.com.

Since January, all leading candidates for governor, save Ivey, have sat for interviews with Reckon columnist John Archibald. Ivey's office has referred interview requests from Reckon to the campaign staff. Campaign manager Mike Lukach said the request was "in for consideration," but has not set a date.

In addition, AL.com has been in contact with Ivey's campaign representatives since Feb. 26, trying to arrange a sit-down interview for a candidate profile. As of Monday, they said they are still reviewing her schedule.

To date, Ivey has participated in one event with the other three Republican challengers. That took place at a candidate forum in Vestavia Hills on Feb. 10 - the day after qualifying ended for the primary elections.

More than a month ago, Ivey's campaign indicated she would be eager to participate in GOP primary debates. Brent Buchanan, a campaign spokesperson, told The Associated Press on Feb. 28 that Ivey is "happy to discuss her record" in a debate.

Battle has since issued two press releases aimed at nudging Ivey toward the debate stage. On Tuesday, Battle issued a statement on Ivey's apparent decision not to take part in debates by suggesting the people of Alabama are not important to her.

Battle, based on the fact that he has raised far more money than Dawson or Hightower, has been considered Ivey's top challenger for the Republican bid.

"I've extended an invitation to her to join us in sharing our vision with the people of the state of Alabama," Battle said. "I've always believed people make time for things that are important to them. The people of Alabama are important to me and sharing my plan for this state with them is important to me."

Ivey's campaign, when asked if the governor's position on not debating had changed, fired back directly at Battle on Tuesday afternoon.

"Is Tommy Battle applying to be governor of Alabama, or campaign scheduler for Kay Ivey?" Ivey campaign manager Mike Lukach said in a statemen to AL.com. "Lately, it would seem the latter. While Tommy is wasting yet another week on media stunts, Kay Ivey is crisscrossing the state to share the success story of Alabama working again. This week she advanced historic legislation that improves education for students in Alabama."

Ivey became governor on April 10, 2017, following the forced resignation of Robert Bentley - who pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges, which required that he leave office. Ivey had previously been twice elected as Alabama lieutenant governor.

More than 30 years ago, it was Ivey who was pushing her opponent to debate and without success. In 1982, Ivey ran for state auditor against Jan Cook and repeatedly called for Cook to debate her before they faced off in the Democratic primary runoff.

Cook refused and Ivey eventually held a press conference on the steps of the state capitol with an empty chair bearing Cook's name, The Montgomery Advertiser reported at the time.

At that press conference, Ivey described Cook as the "least qualified person to ever seek the position of auditor in Alabama," according to The Advertiser report.

Two days later, Cook called for Ivey to "behave in a Christian, lady-like manner," according to The Advertiser.

Asked by AL.com what was different between 1982 and 2018, Ivey said, "Because I've been in office and that situation you described, neither one of us had ever been elected to any statewide office. I've been in office. And some of the other folks that are running hold office, so that's the difference."

Battle is in his third term as mayor of Huntsville while Hightower was elected to the state Senate in 2013. Dawson has never held elected office.

"She had to make a decision," Dawson told AL.com. "She's made her decision. If she doesn't show up, it would hurt her a little bit. So I guess she thinks if she shows up, it's going to hurt her a lot. Alabama deserves to hear from people being elected to office, not being selected to office. There's a difference."

Hightower urged Ivey to reconsider her position.

"The tragedy in not engaging in debate is that the people who are going to vote are not going to have a true understanding of the political landscape and what's available to them," Hightower told AL.com. "That's why you have debates.

"So I would encourage her to engage on that level so we can hear her ideas for the future and she can participate in the greater dialogue about what needs to happen here."Gov. Kay Ivey has crossed the $3 million mark in contributions to her election campaign and pulled further ahead of her challengers in fundraising last month.

Ivey reported raising $402,000 in March, bringing her total to $3.2 million since she started raising money last summer.

Ivey's campaign has spent $1.1 million and has $2.1 million on hand.

Ivey's biggest contributions in March were $25,000 each from the Alabama Forestry Association political action committee, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama and Ozark Striping Company Inc. of Enterprise.

Ivey also received $15,000 each from National Cement, the Alabama Nursing Home Association political action committee, the Alabama Bankers Association political action committee and Global Rental Inc., of Birmingham.

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle raised $137,000 in March, giving him a total of $1.8 million for the campaign. Battle's campaign has spent $479,000 and showed a month-ending balance of $1.4 million.

Battle's biggest contribution in March was $25,000 from Francisco Collazo of Huntsville. Five other people gave him contributions of $10,000 each.

Two other Republican challengers continued to raise significant amounts of money.

State Sen. Bill Hightower, R-Mobile, reported raising $71,000 in March and has now raised a total of $861,000. Hightower's campaign has spent $472,000 and showed a balance of $419,000 to end the month of March.

Evangelist Scott Dawson of Birmingham raised $92,000 in March and has raised a total of $732,000 for the campaign. Dawson's campaign has spent $411,000 and showed a month-ending balance of $321,000.

The top two Democratic candidates also continued to rack up contributions.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox reported raising $114,000 in March, giving his campaign a total of $555,000.

Maddox reported a total of $46,000 in contributions from several political action committees chaired by Michael Echols of Tuscaloosa. Maddox also reported a $3,000 contribution from 2014 Democratic nominee Parker Griffith.

Maddox's campaign has spent a total of $385,000 and showed a month-ending balance of $220,000.

Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb reported raising $78,000 in March, bringing her total to $517,000. The political action committee for the lobbying firm Franklin Resources Group gave Cobb's campaign $25,000 in March.

Cobb's campaign has reported spending a total of $328,000 and has a balance of $191,000.

The Democratic and Republican primaries are June 5.State Rep. Jack Williams said today he's innocent of charges in an alleged bribery scheme and expects to be cleared.

Williams, a Republican from Vestavia Hills, issued a statement one day after his arrest on an indictment by a federal grand jury.

"I have done nothing wrong, and once the facts are presented, I expect to be found innocent by a jury of all the allegations outlined in Monday's indictment," Williams said. "I trust our judicial system and our electoral system; they have both protected individual rights for hundreds of years."

Also charged Monday were former Alabama Republican Party Chairman and lobbyist Marty Connors of Alabaster and G. Ford Gilbert of Carmichael, Calif.

Williams and Connors made an initial appearance in federal court in Montgomery. Arraignment in the case is set for April 18.

Williams said he plans to finish his term in the Legislature. He had previously announced he was not running for reelection but is running for the Jefferson County Commission.

"I have served honorably in the legislature for over a decade and will continue to do so until my term expires," Williams said. "I also will push forth with my campaign for the Jefferson County Commission."

Williams said the statement would be his last public comment about the case and referred questions to his attorney, Jake Watson.

Williams and Connors are charged with participating in a scheme to support legislation to benefit Trina Health LLC, a company owned by Gilbert.

The indictment alleges that Gilbert paid former House Majority Leader Mickey Hammon, R-Decatur, to promote legislation in 2016 to benefit the company and that Williams and Connors knew Hammon was receiving money from Gilbert.

Trina Health operated three clinics in Alabama that offered intravenous insulin treatments. The legislation would have required Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama to cover the treatments.

Williams was chairman of the House Commerce and Small Business and held a public hearing on the bill to help Hammon, according to the indictment. The bill did not pass.

Williams, Connors and Gilbert are charged with conspiracy to commit bribery related to federal programs, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, and honest services wire fraud.

Gilbert and Connors are charged with the substantive offense of bribery related to federal programs. Gilbert is charged with wire fraud, health care fraud, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering.

The most serious charges carry potential sentences of up to 20 years.

Hammon was not charged in the indictment. He pleaded guilty last year to federal mail fraud charges for converting campaign contributions to personal use and was removed from office. Hammon was sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay $50,657 in restitution.SAN BRUNO, Calif. -- A woman opened fire with a handgun Tuesday in a courtyard at YouTube headquarters, wounding three people before fatally shooting herself in what is being investigated as a domestic dispute, authorities said.

Terrified employees huddled inside, calling 911, as officers and federal agents swarmed the company's suburban campus sandwiched between two interstate freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the building's second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a "big huge pistol."

"It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, 'Shooter,' and everybody started running," Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.

"It was terrifying," she said.

Two law enforcement officials identified the suspect later Tuesday as Nasim Aghdam of Southern California and said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

Aghdam was angry at YouTube because it had stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform, her father told the >Bay Area News Group . People who post on YouTube can receive money from advertisements that accompany their videos, but the company "de-monetizes" some channels for reasons including inappropriate material or having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

YouTube had "stopped everything," and "she was angry," Ismail Aghdam said in a telephone interview from his San Diego home.

Ismail Aghdam said he reported his daughter missing on Monday after she did not answer her phone for two days.

He said the family received a call from Mountain View police around 2 a.m. Tuesday saying they found Nasim sleeping in a car.

He said he warned them she might be headed to YouTube because she "hated" the company.

Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson confirmed officers located a woman by the same name asleep in a vehicle asleep in a Mountain View parking lot Tuesday morning. Nelson said the woman declined to answer further questions but the police spokeswoman did not respond to a question about whether police were warned Aghdam might go to YouTube.

Ismail Aghdam said his daughter was a vegan activist and animal lover.

A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said.

Witnesses described terror before officers arrived and discovered a victim near a front door and then found the shooter several minutes later with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said.

He said two additional gunshot victims were found at an adjacent business minutes later. Barberini initially said there were four people who had been shot but later clarified that a fourth person had suffered an ankle injury.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings when the fire alarm went off. He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, "'Come at me, or come get me.'"

He saw somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound. Vorhies said he realized there was an active shooter when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door.

He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw the shooter during work hours.

Michael Finney, a 21-year-old supervisor at Carl's Jr. across from the campus, said he came out of the bathroom to see a woman in a booth bleeding from the calf. Two friends were trying to stop the bleeding, using the victim's sweatshirt as a tourniquet, but it wasn't helping, he told the San Jose Mercury News.

"Everyone was figuring out what to do," Finney said. "I was trying to stay calm and see what I could do. Everybody is shocked."

Google, which owns the world's biggest online video website, said the company's security team worked with authorities to evacuate buildings and was doing whatever it could support the victims and their families.

YouTube's headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.

Inside, Google famously outfitted the office several years ago with a three-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.

"Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime," said Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman. "Our hearts go out to all those who suffered."

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and that officials were monitoring developments.

By Ryan Nakashima and Sudhin Thanawala, Associated Press. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles, Eric Tucker in Washington and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.To bring Amtrak back to Mobile, state officials will have to dedicate $3.5 million over the course of four years to match federal grants aimed at improving an existing rail line.

And to return service to Atmore -- Amtrak's only other stop on the old Gulf Coast route - the state's cost rises by another $8.5 million.

Deadlines for the state's decision are fast approaching. Applications for two federal grants, funded by the fiscal year 2018 omnibus appropriations bill and requiring state matches, are due in May and June.

If the state takes a pass, it risks losing out on a restored Gulf Coast passenger rail service. The route would run between New Orleans and Pascagoula, Mississippi, serving various cities along the way.

"There are grants available right now that Alabama can take advantage of," said Wiley Blankenship, CEO of the Coastal Alabama Partnership who serves as Mobile's city representative on the Southern Rail Commission. The SRC is a 21-member group formed in 1982 to advocate for passenger rail service and pursue funding opportunities to support its mission.

He added, "We'll be having our conversations with lawmakers and with the governor to get us in the loop." The goal, he said, is to "take advantage of those dollars."

Looming response

Also hanging in the balance is the potential to extend passenger rail out of Mobile north toward Montgomery and Birmingham. Studies have been under way for some time into the possible revival of the Gulf Breeze line, which served Alabama from 1989-1995.

If the state isn't on board with the New Orleans connection, the northward route is probably sidetracked, too.

Gov. Kay Ivey's administration is expected to receive updates on the situation in the coming weeks.

The restoration of the Gulf Coast line has been a years-long dream for some. The Sunset Limited - journeying between Los Angeles and Miami -- was the last Amtrak train to roll through Mobile. But it became a slowly fading memory after Hurricane Katrina blasted and wrecked the rail lines in 2005.

Much of the line, today, is owned and operated by freight hauler CSX.

Greg White, vice chairman of the Southern Rail Commission, who lives in Andalusia, said he's confident that the SRC can bring Ivey's office "up-to-speed" on the urgency of moving forward.

In Mississippi, which has four potential stops along the Gulf Coast line, and Louisiana - which covets restoring passenger rail from New Orleans north to Baton Rouge - top-level office-holders ardently back Amtrak's return, pledging to find the necessary dollars.

Ivey's office did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

Said White, "Presently, our SRC team members are working closely with state leadership in each of the three states to inform and encourage their commitments on this effort. Alabama, for instance, we've come up with a unique opportunity to reinstate service from New Orleans to Mobile."

This new service would offer four trips daily between New Orleans and Mobile. Long-term, the SRC hopes to get the Gulf Coast line connected between New Orleans and Orlando, Florida.

Extending passenger rail service through the Florida Panhandle was recently bolstered after news surfaced in January that CSX was putting a 330-mile stretch of its Florida line up for sale. The stretch extends from just outside of Jacksonville toward Pensacola, Florida.

In Alabama, the timing on whether to act on matching the federal grants could be sensitive: Ivey faces three GOP challengers during the June 5 Republican primary for governor. It's unclear whether politics would come into play, though Alabama GOP leaders have questioned whether the government ought to be shouldering any of Amtrak's expenses.

Gov. Robert Bentley's administration expressed support for more public-private partnerships associated with restarting passenger rail along the line.

"We've been in transition from one governor to the next and we are finding ourselves in the middle now of a primary campaign," said White, adding that SRC officials have since met with "two cabinet members."

"We feel that we can, over the next couple of weeks, bring her up-to-speed and measure the state of Alabama's response," he said.

For now, SRC officials are praising the allocations packaged in the omnibus bill signed by President Donald Trump last month. The final bill, according to the group, represents the largest single year increase for Amtrak's budget. And the grants at play include the following:

The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant program - CRISI, for short -- received $592.5 million for fiscal year 2018, with $35.5 million set aside to restore lost passenger rail service such as the Gulf Coast route. Officials close to the Gulf Coast rail restoration talks believe that the line from New Orleans to Mobile is the only one eligible, and could capture the full $35.5 million.

The Restoration and Enhancement Grant program - better known as REG -- consists of $20 million to support operation expenses for new passenger rail service. This amount is $15 million more than what Amtrak got in fiscal year 2017.

The deadline to apply for the REG grant is May 21, and CRISI applications must be turned in by June 22.

"This is a very positive step in the direction we feel we're continuing to go toward," Blankenship said.

Mobile impact

Meanwhile, Mobile officials are pressing forward with a new train station. The city, in 2016, received a $139,500 federal grant, through the SRC's efforts, to build a new station in downtown somewhere in the vicinity of Cooper Riverside Park, the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center and the GulfQuest maritime museum.

The city, in a legal notice in last Sunday's Press-Register, issued a request for qualifications for consultants to provide planning and architectural design work for the new train station. Applications are due by April 20.

Mobile city officials support the restored passenger rail service, but the head of the Alabama State Port Authority has doubts that it can be a boon for the city. Jimmy Lyons, CEO of the authority, said his biggest concern with Amtrak's return to Mobile is "interference in our rail operations."

"We are highly dependent on that CSX rail line that runs through the port and underneath the Convention Center," said Lyons. "We run, at a minimum, seven-eight trains a day over that line. On heavy days, when we have a lot of coal traffic, we could be up to 12-15 times."

Last year, Jacksonville-based CSX raised eyebrows after it tossed out a whopping $2.3 billion estimate on restoring the rail line for passenger cars. The Gulf Coast Working Group, which Congress created in 2015 to explore restarting coastal passenger rail service, recommended that $117.7 million was needed to restore the tracks between New Orleans and Orlando.

In a statement Tuesday by a CSX spokesman, the company said it plans to continue to "participate fully" in the Gulf Coast Working Group process, "in cooperation with all of the other stakeholders, to address our ongoing concerns as expressed previously."

Among those concerns, expressed by CSX last year, is the line's 17 drawbridges between New Orleans and the Orlando area. In CSX's view, that makes it a near impossibility to run passenger rail along the line at present and fulfill on-time expectations.

The SRC blasted CSX for making "unreasonable" demands. Lyons, though, suggested that it's unreasonable to believe that Mobile will benefit with a return of Amtrak. He said the train service, if anything, will lead to more people leaving Mobile to visit New Orleans and Mississippi's casinos, not vice versa.

Lyons said he plans to meet with SRC officials in the coming weeks, and that he plans on making his views well known.

"People aren't going to get on a train and ride to Mobile when you have the museums, zoos and aquariums in New Orleans," he said. "The residents of New Orleans, when they come to Alabama, they go to the beach. Taking the train isn't a good option of going to the beach. We would lose business here. I don't see it as a real win for Mobile."By Dr. Wayne Flynt, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Auburn University

Pastors of Christian churches look forward to Easter partly because they will preach to packed congregations full of people who may not attend any other time. But mainly they rejoice because Easter betokens immortality, life beyond the grave, a time when dreams unfulfilled in the three-score-seven years allotted to most of us still have a chance of fulfillment in the eternal world beyond space and time.

It is no surprise then that the death of famous people around Eastertime takes on symbolic meaning beyond usual mortality. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, 1865, the day after Easter that year. President Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, eleven days after Easter. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered on April 4, 1968, ten days before Easter.

All three men confronted enormous challenges: civil war; the greatest economic calamity in recent history; the deadliest war of all time; divisions of race and poverty that had divided America for three centuries. All three were despised by many of their fellow citizens. Yet the scope of their dreams, the skill with which they inspired, organized, and led great movements through stormy seas of public confusion and chaos, their capacity of articulate their dreams in the noblest rhetoric, uniquely fitted them for the challenges of their times.

Each man had an urgent dream. Not the kind of fleeting, nocturnal apparition which we have trouble remembering in the morning; but day-time, conscious dreams when our finest angels remind us what we are capable of accomplishing at our best: national reconciliation; steady resolve to achieve economic justice and world peace; to at last erase the stain of four centuries of racial injustice from our national identity.

All three poured their dreams into language that outlived them: Lincoln in the "Gettysburg Address"; Roosevelt in "Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself" and "Four Freedoms;" King in "I Have a Dream." All emphasized the same two themes: the urgency of now; the unfulfilled agenda of tomorrow. The proximity of Easter to each of their deaths was not lost on Christians: just as Jesus was misunderstood, reviled, and murdered for his goodness and his transcendent message of reconciliation, redemption, and universal brotherhood, so were they. Even as death ended their earthly lives, their vision and words were enshrined for generations yet unborn.

In some ways, King's death was the most tragic. The others had lived more than half their allotted years; King was only 39 and left behind four young children. His "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in the nation's capital on August 28, 1963, was full of symbolism: the towering sculpture of the Great Emancipator behind him; a sea of humanity poised for change before him; Biblical reminders of the Hebrew Exodus experience and the social justice prophecies of Amos and others ringing in his ears: "We have come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. . . . Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy . . . . Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment."

Yet in the same ringing Biblical cadence, there is more than a hint of immortality: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'" "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day in Alabama . . . little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. . . . I have a dream that one day every valley will be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low . . . . And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. . . . With this faith we will be able to work together, to go to jail together, to stand for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

Yet after the triumph of the Montgomery bus boycott, King had told his supporters that the end of segregation was only his proximate goal. His ultimate dream "is reconciliation, the end is redemption, the end is the creation of the beloved community." Fifty years on, that dream seems as remote as it did at Eastertime in Memphis in 1968, days before his murder. But that is dark Friday theology, not transformative Easter thinking.

L. L. Gwaltney, one of my favorite white Alabama Baptist preachers and the long-time editor of the ALABAMA BAPTIST, the largest newspaper in the state during the Great Depression and Second World War, wrote during the worst of times: "If truth does not rise from the tomb the third day, it will rise the third decade, or maybe the third century."

That is the kind of resurrection thinking that sustained Lincoln, Roosevelt, and King when the "urgency of now" could have mired them down in the darkness of good Friday. What I long for in this Easter season when justice seems remote and righteousness an illusion is what King sought in Memphis a half-century ago: freedom NOW; but if not now, divine assurance of immortality where "justice will run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream."Me at Dad's store

I remember the television set. And the silence.

The television was in my dad's store, Kyle's Sundry, a soda fountain-juke box-drug store located on Greenwood Ave. in Tulsa Oklahoma. We didn't know it at the time, of course, but it was the last days of what was known nationwide as "Black Wall Street", one of the largest aggregates of black-owned businesses in the nation outside of Harlem, N.Y.

It was 50 years ago today.

"Special Report," the television voice declared.

I wasn't really paying attention; I was 12 years old.

But I heard, and I saw people moving towards the television.

And then there was silence.

"The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King has been shot," the television voice declared

I think they already knew.

In their hearts, they knew he was dead.

True confession: I didn't know a lot about King.

Oh, I'd heard his name, of course. But little more.

I knew he was someone. Someone important enough to be on television.

Someone important enough that grownups scurried when they heard his name.

Someone whose death caused them to cry.

I came to learn much more, of course. Not so much in school, since this was long before Stevie Wonder saluted him with a song that became an anthem that inspired a national holiday.

I learned about King through documentaries and plays and books and my own nerd-like curiosity.

It took many, many years for the newsreel, black-and-white images of my youth to become full-color--for the icon, the martyr, to be seen as a man, a man with doubts, fears, nuances, and flaws.

But a man of faith, conviction, and purpose.

A man who evolved and grew and became open to new ideas, new missions, and even new callings.

All before I learned from television, on this day half a century ago, that he was gunned down on a Memphis hotel balcony.

All before he was 39 years old. Thirty-nine.

Just last week, I was in Atlanta for a conference hosted by Operation Hope, an organization, founded by my friend John Hope Bryant, whose mission is, at its simplest, to eradicate poverty.

To do so by persuading the financial community that it is in its own interest to utilize its resources to empower the poor with the tools and knowledge to lift themselves beyond their current circumstance.

To raise their credit score, for instance.

To better understand budgeting, saving and investing, for instance.

To think about creating their own enterprise, for instance.

Bryant says many of our poor neighbors languish because they "didn't get the memo" in those areas.

He calls his organization's mission the "silver rights" movement.

My dad, at his store, Kyle's Sundry

I recall my father extending a scarf or a sundae or even just an ear to our poorer neighbors when they walked into the store without a cent to their names.

He never sent anyone away hungry, threw anyone out into the cold--or made anyone feel ashamed of their circumstance.

There are myriad racial inequities and injustices today--as many, perhaps, as there were during King's short life--that must still be exposed, addressed and, hopefully, eradicated.

Yet as the 50th year since King's death approached, it became clear that the most vital way for us, all of us, the honor him--indeed, the only way to ensure his legacy positively impacts us and our children--is to pick up the mantle he lifted in his final days when King pivoted the movement's focus from racial disparities to poverty.

Being poor, then and now, has no geographic boundaries, no race or ethnicity--no political allegiance.

It resides in our state's largest cities, hardly a long stroll, in many instances, from neighborhoods where success and wealth reside. Near yet all-but-invisible to those blessed to have never been poor or blessed with the "memo" that helped them escape it.

And now, as then, we all have a stake in poverty's demise.

Diminishing poverty creates more consumers and fewer, let's be frank now, criminals.

It infuses the hopeless with hope, bathes the forgotten with the potential for a future.

It evokes pride and self-worth in places inhabited by disdain and anger.

Unfortunately, our attitude about our poor neighbors has crumbled over these last 50 years. Where there was once compassion and an easy desire to extend a helping hand, there is too often now disdain and blame.

I see it in the ugly comments from readers each time I've written about programs in Alabama designed to help our poor neighbors to better feed their families, educate their children or gain the skills need to obtain a better job.

Readers, clearly, who never acknowledge: There but for the grace of God...

I saw in it the emotional, contentious--and, yes, still smoldering--debates over Birmingham's new stadium when the discussions should have centered on ensuring that our poorest neighbors are trained in time to fill the many much, much-needed jobs the stadium will provide and how new taxes revenues promised to revive our poorest neighborhoods will be spent.

King introduced the Poor People's Campaign to his colleagues in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in November 1967. It was not universally well received, as many leaders deemed its mission too broad, too ominous--especially when there were still racial barriers to crash, racial challenges that mattered.

In January 1968, he told SCLC staffers during a meeting: ''We have an ultimate goal of freedom, independence, self-determination, whatever we want to call it, but we aren't going to get all of that now, and we aren't going to get all of that next year. Let's find something that is so possible, so achievable, so pure, so simple that even the backlash can't do much to deny it."

The SCLC ultimately embraced his mission to address economic inequities as the movement's future and planned a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C.

Then King was killed.

A little more than a month later, the campaign still marched in the nation's capital and constructed Resurrection City, 15 acres of tents and makeshift shelters constructed around the reflecting pool at the foot in the Lincoln Memorial.

People lived there for six weeks until they were evicted.

The campaign accomplished a little, but without its creator, almost nothing we feel today.

Fifty years later, economic gains made by African-Americans have severely curtailed since the turn of the century, due to many factors, including the recession of a decade ago. While it gave America a severe cough, black Americans got pneumonia.

Fifty years later, the wealth gap between blacks and whites is as wide as its been in generations. Two years ago, the last year in which figures are available, the median wealth for black and Hispanic families was $17,600 and $20,700, respectively; for white families it was $171,000, according to americanprogress.org.

So clearly, 50 years later, the blueprint and mandate for the Poor People's Campaign is as clear and necessary as the words King's used to create it are relevant.

Let's find something that is so possible, so achievable, so pure, so simple that even the backlash can't do much to deny it.Few states were more transformed by the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., than we were in Alabama. Along with homegrown leaders and foot soldiers, King broke down the codified barriers of racial segregation, stripping the state of whites-only lunch counters, water fountains and voting booths.

So many of King's most enduring moments took place here - a bus boycott in Montgomery, a letter from a Birmingham jail, and a march from Selma. A pastor by trade, King called on Alabamians to recognize their shared destiny, reminding us that "we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny."

But the example he set in Alabama did not just transform the state, it altered the course of America and inspired the world. King's lessons of nonviolent resistance led to the fall of Apartheid in South Africa, they inspired Chinese dissidents in Tiananmen Square, and they are felt even today in every march on Washington, D.C.

Though King committed his life to fighting the injustices he found here, Alabama also shaped his life in other ways.

King's wife, Coretta, grew up in Perry County and his brother served as a pastor in Birmingham for several years. And early in his career, King was pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. It was there he became involved with the Montgomery Improvement Association, sparking a bus boycott in the wake of Rosa Park's refusal to surrender her seat to a white passenger -- a movement that would propel King to the forefront of the nation's fight for justice and equality.

King found partners here in local leaders like Parks, Fred Shuttlesworth, Ralph Abernathy, and John Lewis. And though King became the face of the movement, those relationships were part of its lifeblood, as were the thousands of Alabamians who marched as its foot soldiers.

Today, we reflect on King's time on earth, be it all too brief. He was struck down 50 years ago today, at the age of 39, at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Though James Earl Ray pulled the trigger, we recognize Alabama's role in King's assassination. The bullet that killed him was purchased in Birmingham and there were other attempts on his life. And while hindsight gives us the clarity to see the wisdom of King's vision, we are sobered by the fact that so many white Alabamians fought so fiercely against his efforts while he still lived.

Fifty years after his assassination, we are humbled by King's legacy and grateful to be in a place where the echo of his words and actions remain. The state and federal governments have taken steps in recent years to commemorate the hallowed ground of the civil rights movement through memorials and parks, but we see King's visions most fully realized in Alabama's integrated workplaces, restaurants and schools.

Yet we recognize there is much work to be done. Far too many black children continue to face a life judged by the color of their skin, we seldom worship together, and many black Alabamians face an uncertain economic reality.

Despite the work that King and others did fighting for the ballot in Alabama, race remains too often a political dividing line.

Yes, while it is easy to be overwhelmed by the injustice that remains today, we must commemorate this historic occasion by celebrating how far we've come. And we honor King's memory in asking that all people who believe in justice and human compassion come together to consider how each of our lives can further the goal of inalienable rights for all people.

Each of us has a choice today to reflect on how our lives connect with the King's broader call to service - of our neighbors, our children, even our enemies.

There exists still the possibility that Alabama can be a beacon for hope and progress and freedom. None of us can make that happen alone; each of us can commit to the work today.A new partnership between Gainesville Police Department and Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, a health care provider, will change how police responds to calls involving a mental health crisis.

The program, which launched Monday, will change the way calls are handled by including a team consisting of a mental health clinician and an officer trained in crisis intervention, Lt. Whitney Stout said at a Tuesday press conference.

Makenzie Boyer and Officer Shelley Postle will ride together and answer calls that involve emotionally charged situations or mental illness and follow up with patients to ensure they receive mental health resources.

The program has been two years in the making and is intended to reduce the number of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system, Stout said. Stout said GPD often responds calls involving behavioral issues that have underlying mental health issues.

As police we really do care, Stout said. We want to help people, and we want to get them to the right services.

The project is jointly funded by the City of Gainesville and Lutheran Services Florida Health Systems, among other organizations. Both contributed $100,000 to the program, said Meridian president and CEO Maggie Labarta.

Boyer and Postle had one word to describe their first day of the program: busy.

The pair is passionate about serving the sector of the community that struggles with mental illness in a way that wasnt possible before.

Being able to meet people at their point of need and giving them the services they might not even know are available is crucial for these people, Boyer said.

Contact Jessica Giles at jgiles@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @jessica_giles_.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe NowThe Gainesville Police Department released a statement Tuesday morning saying it will work to revise its policy for dealing with non-citizens.

Chief Tony Jones requested the code relating to foreign Nationals be rewritten to avoid confusion when dealing with them, according to a GPD Facebook post. The new code will clarify that GPD officers dont report immigration status to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

GPD made the announcement two days after a Guatemalan national called 911 and said her boyfriend, Benjamin Perez-Bravo, 22, who is also a Guatemalan national, kicked her, trapped her in their bedroom and kept her from calling police.

The girlfriend told police he hit her with a gun and there was a hostage in the apartment, according to Alligator archives. After investigating, police police were not able to find a gun in the apartment, Tobias said.

In an arrest report, GPD said it would investigate the immigration status of the Guatemalan nationals involved in the Sunday arrest and forward information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The current code states that officers who encounter non-citizens will write about the contact in a narrative section of a report, while a Records Manager, or designee, is responsible for forwarding the proper information or documents to the appropriate agency, as required by federal regulations.

GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias said he was not sure what the new code will state.

We have to take looks at it from all areas of the department, Tobias said. Its not something we can sit down and write in an afternoon.

According to the statement, there is no federal regulations requiring local law enforcement to report the immigration status of non-citizens. The current language was included so GPD would remain in compliance with any future regulations were created.

At the end of the day, its not our policy to work as immigration agents or report to (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and were trying to make that as clear as possible, Tobias said.

In the past five years the policy has been in place, GPD has no record of any reports to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the statement.

Police found Perez-Bravo half a mile from the apartment, and he was arrested on felony charges of hindering communication with law enforcement and false imprisonment. He was also charged with a misdemeanor of simple domestic battery.

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Tobias said whether a foreign nationals arrest is reported to federal authorities is out of GPDs control. He said it is handled by the Alachua County Sheriffs Office at the Alachua County Jail.

About two hours before GPDs statement, Mayor Lauren Poe wrote in a Facebook post that he was under the impression that GPD did not get involved with determining the immigration status of Gainesvilles residents.

This is not who we are, Poe wrote.

Contact Robert Lewis at rlewis@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @Lewis__Robert.Student Government senators laid out their plans to expand free printing and support UFs Disability Resource Center at a Student Senate meeting Tuesday night.

Senate President Danielle Grosse (Impact, District A) and Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Murphy (Impact, District A) announced theyd be working on expanding free printing across campus, which is currently only available in the Reitz Union.

Grosse said shell be meeting with UFs administration soon.

Its important to us and to a lot of people, she said. We want this in as many locations as possible, but even one more could be a great start.

After The Alligator reported on the centers lack of funding, Senators Ben Lima (Inspire, District D) and Zachariah Chou (Inspire, Murphree) said they want to draft a resolution to increase funding.

We need a concerted effort as representatives of this Student Body to make a statement, loud and clear that this top-10 public institution must be able to serve 100 percent of their Student Body, Lima said.

During the meeting, Senate also unanimously passed two bills and approved extra funding for a student organization.

Senators approved the Live Stream for Accountability and Transparency Act, which requires SG to publicize its events. The Supervisor of Elections will live stream the SG debate and make it available to the public within 48 hours. This act also ensures that Action SG, an agency that promotes SGs activities, will live stream the State of Campus address. The Information and Communications Committee will live stream Senate meetings.

Senators also passed the Chairperson Act  a bill that changed the word Chairman to Chairperson in a code to be more inclusive. The code refers to the transfer of UF Supreme Court decisions to the Student Body president, Student Body treasurer, Senate president and now Chairperson of the Senates Judiciary Committee.

Funding for the Interfaith Ambassadors, $509, was approved. Senate also approved a line item transfer for student organization Gators for ASHA of $180.

Correction: In a previous version, the article said that Action SG would live stream the State of Campus Address and Senate meetings. This has been corrected to reflect that Action SG will only live stream the State of Campus Address and the Information and Communications Committee would be in charge of live streaming the Senate meetings. This change in the act was amended earlier in the meeting.

Contact Christina Morales at cmorales@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @Christina_M18.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe NowThe number of students seeking services from the Disability Resource Center has more than doubled since 2013, yet only one learning specialist has since been added to the centers staff, according to The Alligator.

Learning specialists serve as consultants and primary points of contact for students seeking disability-related accommodations. These specialists meet with students individually to analyze their unique situations and tailor accommodation plans specific to their needs. Further, learning specialists serve in a supportive role and are guiding hands for many students who seek services from the DRC as they navigate college.

Currently, learning specialists are responsible for around 600 students each; and, because of this, students seeking accommodations often have to wait weeks at a time before meeting with a specialist, often leaving them in limbo regarding resources and services that are imperative for their success in college. As a Top 10 Public University that champions words like diversity and inclusivity, this is inexcusable.

The number of learning specialists should correlate with the ever-increasing number of students who choose to register with the DRC. This isnt something that can be put off or pushed aside  every delay in allocating the necessary funding prevents another cohort of students from adequately accessing necessary resources for their academic success in a timely manner.

No student should have to fear being unable to arrange a meeting with a learning specialist in time to receive proper accommodations. No student should have to worry about being able to utilize the accommodations they already qualify for because of a lack of availability within the DRC due to space constraints. No student should be left without timely access to the resources they need for academic success.

To support Gators with a wide-range of disabilities and help advocate for the funding concerns within the UFs Disability Resource Center, contact Student Government Sen. Keith Saint (Graduate, Inspire) at grad08@sg.ufl.edu.

Keith Saint is a Student Government Senator. (Graduate, Inspire.)The next three days are jam-packed with unique local events. From markets to music to food and beer, Gainesville has something for everyone.

Apart from our other coverage in this issue, below are our picks for things to do in town this weekend.

Midnight Tyrannosaurus at Simon's

On Thursday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., Florida-based bass music producer Midnight Tyrannosaurus will be performing at Simons. The show will be presented by Lucid Nightlife and is open to those 18 and older. Tickets are available at eventbrite.com for $8 to $20 before fees.

Grandpa's Cough Medicine Free Show

Jacksonville bluegrass quartet Grandpas Cough Medicine will perform a free show at First Magnitude Brewing Company on Friday from 7:30 to 11 p.m. The group will bring an upbeat and self-dubbed outlaw attitude to create a dynamic night over your favorite local brew.

Visionary Arts & Vintage Market

Hosted by Visionary CrossFit and Carrie Martinez Art, Visionary Arts and Vintage Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday around Main Street and Eighth Avenue. The market will host a wide array of vendors including artists, makers, creatives and healers. Parking for the market can be found on Northwest First Street.

The Hails, Flipturn, King Complex and Yardij at High Dive

Saturday night, local bands Flipturn and The Hails join forces with St. Petes indie electronic duo King Complex and South Floridas alternative rock band Yardij for a night of top tier regional music at High Dive. Doors open at 8, and the show will begin at 8:30. Tickets are $5 in advance and $10 at the door. Find tickets at highdivegainesville.com.

10 Years of Gainesville Beers at Swamp Head Brewery

As one of the founding members of Gainesvilles breweries, Swamp Head Brewery will thank the Gainesville community for 10 years of business with a special free event on Saturday from 1 to 11 p.m. The event will feature live music, food trucks, special event merchandise, giveaways and even a dunk tank filled to the brim with beer.

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Florida-based dubstep producer Midnight Tyrannosaurus is one of various musicians bringing his talent to Gainesville this weekend.Metal Bulletin looks at seven key things that will have a major impact on the Asian and Chinese steel markets in the coming years, discussed in Xian, China, last month at the China Iron & Steel Association's 16th International Steel Market and Trade Conference.

China plans to cut another 30 million tonnes of steel capacity in 2018

China is planning to cut another 30 million tonnes of steel capacity in 2018 as part of its 13th Five-Year plan, two years ahead of the scheduled 2020 deadline. The continued capacity cuts and targeted 6.5% economic growth rate are expected to support steel prices in the meantime. China already cut 120 million tonnes of steelmaking capacity in 2016-2017  65 million tonnes in 2016 and 55 million tonnes in 2017. It has also removed 140 million tonnes of capacity for sub-standard steel at induction furnaces.



Maanshan Iron & Steel to shut two blast furnaces

Maanshan Iron & Steel plans to shut two 500-cubic-meter blast furnaces this year after shutting a total of 1.24 million tonnes of iron production capacity and 1.41 million tonnes of steel production capacity over the past two years. It has already shut down Hefei Steels 2.04-million-tonne-per-year integrated steel mill. This is part of its initiative to reduce excess production capacity and pursue environmentally friendly production methods, which includes more investments in environmentally friendly equipment.



Major Chinese mills nonchalant about US tariffs

Major Chinese mills such as Benxi Iron & Steel do not see any immediate impact from the United States' Section 232 tariffs, believing that prices will remain stable in the near term until more concrete effects of the tariffs are apparent. But there is some anxiety over whether demand from downstream rerollers in South Korea and Vietnam will fall if they cut down on China-origin substrate for use in cold-rolled coils or painted coils. Chinese market participants continue to monitor the effect of the tariffs but expect stable domestic demand to support local prices, and in turn export prices.



Shaangang Group plans 10.5-million-tonne-per-year steel capacity in Indonesia

Shaangang Group is planning a 7.5-million-tonne-per-year steel mill in Indonesia, with the aim of exploiting an estimated 30-million-tonne-per-year demand gap in the major Southeast Asia economy by 2020. The mill will be fed by iron ore from Shandong Fuhai Groups Indonesian mine. The company also plans to construct a Shaanxi Steel Industrial Park in Indonesia, which will have final steel production of 3 million tonnes per year of steel bar, wire rod, sections, strip, plates and pig iron.



China consumed 140 million tonnes of ferrous scrap in 2017

Chinas steel mills consumed 140 million tonnes of ferrous scrap in 2017. Overall consumption is estimated at 160 million tonnes after including demand from other smelters, distributors and other small downstream sectors. The steel scrap consumption rate was at 103 million tonnes in 2017 for steelmaking, up by 38.95 million tonnes from the previous year. This was due to the excess supply of ferrous scrap in China after governmental controls shut down induction furnaces in a bid to reduce pollution levels in the country.



China-origin steel made up 58% of South Koreas total steel imports in 2017

China-origin steel made up 58% of South Koreas total steel imports in 2017, according to the Korea Iron & Steel Association. About 11.54 million tonnes of China-origin steel landed in South Korea last year, 26% of which was hot-rolled coil. About 12% of the volumes were galvanized sheet while steel bars made up 9%. Wire rod made up 8% while rebar and plate made up 7% each. Cold-rolled coil made up 4%. South Koreas steel imports dropped in 2017 due to a slump in the shipbuilding industry and domestic efforts to reduce imports. Shipbuilders consumed 10.6 million tonnes of steel in 2017, down from 12.3 million tonnes in 2016 and 12.7 million tonnes in 2015.



Chinese mills step into new age of steelmaking

Chinese steel mills will continue to strive for improvements, especially in structural changes and meeting the demand of the countrys economy, according to Cisa vice chairman Chi Jingdong. Chi identified environmental protection as an area that the Chinese steel industry would focus strongly on in order to support the central governments aim of reducing industrial pollution as well as to satisfy citizens calls for a liveable and healthy environment free from industrial smog. Mills such as Maanshan Steel also expect competition among steelmakers to intensify even as the industry starts to cater to diversifying downstream demand, which is focused on creating technologically advanced housing, automobile and cities.





Posted on: April 4, 2018 2:43 PM

[ACNS, by Kenyi Dube] Archbishop Paul Yugusuk, leader of the Church of South Sudans internal Central Province, has called on the government and opposition groups to declare an end to violence before the next round of peace talks. The continuation of phase two of the talks is expected to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from the 26 to the 30 April. During the last negotiations, the parties discussed the formation of a transitional government and permanent ceasefire and security arrangements; but the delegates did not reach a consensus.

Archbishop Paul said all the parties must conclude with signing a peace deal during the upcoming round of negotiations.

Our delegation is going to IGAD and as they go there and before they go there, let the government and opposition say it is finished, he said. Let us bring everything to an end. We open a new page and let us come back home and live.

The second phase of the revitalisation forum, held in February, was riddled with disagreements over a number of issues in chapters I and II of the 2015 peace agreement. The third round was supposed take place this month in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa; but IGAD announced last week that the upcoming talks will be a continuation of the second round.

Archbishop Paul Yugusuk.

Photo: Kenyi Dube

After the second round of talks, Bishop Enoch Tombe, the retired bishop of Rajaf and leader of the religious team in the peace talks, said the parties should take a people-centred approach during the next round. If you are serious about peace, we should go with a new mindset, he said. We shouldnt just continue business as usual - this is my position and thats it.

I think we have to be ready to compromise for the sake of the people, for the sake of this country and even for ourselves.

There is continued suffering in this country as a result of the ongoing civil war. Millions of people in refugee camps with hopes of returning back should there be peace.

Archbishop Paul Pitya Benjamin Yugusuk during his inauguration in July 2017A team from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), led by Ms. Paulina Elago, its Executive Secretary, is the latest from an integration grouping to look at the operations of the Caribbean Community and its Secretariat. The delegation which includes Ms. Ndibo Oitsile Chief Legal Officer, Mr. Abed Iyambo, Senior Office Manager and Mr. Donald Ndwandwe Deputy Director Revenue Management paid a courtesy call on Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque on Thursday. The team has been meeting with Secretariat officials in a bid to glean information in a number of key areas.

Among them is tariff setting processes and applications within CARICOM. In that context, the delegation is seeking an understanding of CARICOMs approach to industrial development, the linkages between regional and national industrial policies, the trade in services regime, and competition policy. The SACU team is also interested in dispute settlement as well as the use, benefits, and challenges of an electronic documentation and records management system.

This visit follows one last September from a representative of the CARICOM who made a presentation to the SACU trade officials at a workshop in Namibia on Tariff Setting and Trade Remedies for SACU.

This familiarisation tour is the latest from organisations who view CARICOM as a model among integration groupings of developing countries. The Community has been the subject of study visits to the Secretariat by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Pacific Islands Forum and the Central American Integration System (SICA). The Secretariat has also been host to the African Union Commission and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).(ANSA) - Rome, April 4 - Afghanistan remains an important mission, Defence Chief of Staff General Claudio Graziano told an ANSA Forum Wednesday.

"It was a crisis area 30 years ago, 20 years ago.

"It was such also 100 years ago and it's likely to be an area on which the world must keep constant attention," he said.

"I don't know how long it will last but our mission is to accompany the Afghans" towards a solution to their crisis, he said. In other remarks, General Graziano the situation in Lebanon was stable but "our attention must remain high".

He also said an anti-human-trafficking mission to Niger would "develop" according to the wishes of the government there, with a ceiling of 470 men maximum.

Graziano also said there had been a "technical and military change" with Brexit.

(ANSA) - Rome, April 3 - The Italian foreign ministry has denied Italy will take in migrants under an Israel-UN agreement to relocate 16,250 migrants in the West over five years - which Tel Aviv annulled on Tuesday.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier also rowed back on the PM's earlier statements on Italy's alleged part in the deal, saying it was only "an example".

The UN refugee agency UNHCR confirmed that Italy would only have had to take in some of the migrants if it had agreed to do so.

But Israel on Tuesday scrapped the deal with the UNHCR.

Netanyahu said he had assessed the advantages and disadvantages of the deal.

The UNHCR urged Netanyahu to "reconsider" his decision to scrub the deal.

"We continue to believe in the need for an accord advantageous for all that can benefit Israel, the international community and the people who need asylum, and we hope that Israel reconsiders its decision," said a UNHCR spokesperson. The premier's move came after he visited Tel Aviv's southern districts where the migrant population is high.

He said, however, that "despite juridical limitations and growing international difficulties we will continue to act with determination to use all the means at our disposal to get the infiltrated people out of the country".

The premier last night wrote on Facebook that he was aware of criticism by residents of poor areas in Tel Aviv where most of the migrants are staying.

Today, he added, he will pay a visit. "Meanwhile I am suspending the implementation of the agreement", he said.

Press reports today said the decision was motivated by protests in low-income districts of Tel Aviv - where residents would like a massive, immediate expulsion of the migrants - as well as by criticism from members of Likud, Netanyahu's party, and nationalist party Jewish Home. Yesterday, countries indicated by Netanyahu as an example of a possible destination for migrants - including Italy and Germany - denied giving their consent to the agreement between Israel and the UN refugee agency. UNHCR has acknowledged Netanyahu's decision to suspend the deal, Carlotta Sami, the organization's spokesperson for southern Europe, said on Tuesday.

Sami told Radio Capital that the agreement did not mention the countries where the 16,000 migrants should be resettled as the deals are "made directly by us with the countries that are available".

In any case, she added, a decision will be taken "when we have all the elements" necessary "and we remain available because this is the solution that would in the end be beneficial for both sides, the State of Israel and the refugees".

ISTANBUL - The second summit gathering leaders of the Astana process on Syria, including the heads of State of Turkey, Russia and Iran, is taking place Wednesday at the presidential palace in Ankara.

The meeting between Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rohani is scheduled in the morning and will be followed by a business lunch. A press conference in which the three presidents will announce the next initiatives is scheduled in the afternoon.

On the meeting's agenda are 'de-escalation' zones agreed over the past few months and the latest developments on the ground, including Turkey's victory in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin and the loyalist offensive in eastern Ghouta. Talks will also focus on a possible political transition.

Before the summit, Erdogan and Rohani will hold bilateral talks after the ones held yesterday between Erdogan and Putin.'Pianist of Yarmouk' promotes his book in Italy Travelled from Syria to Germany, says music can change the world

(ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 4 - Aehem Ahmad, a classically trained Palestinian musician known as the "pianist of Yarmouk", is in Italy promoting the Italian translation of his autobiography.



"I would like to change the mentality that sees migrants only as hordes of terrorists; it's not so," Ahmad told ANSAmed.



"Not everyone who arrives in Europe is a bad person. By telling my story and through my music, I hope to contribute to changing this vision, even a little bit," he said.



Ahmad became well-known in 2014, after a photo of him playing his piano against the rubble and destruction of Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus, went viral and became an iconic symbol of the civil war in Syria.



Ahmad fled Syria through the Balkan route and arrived in Germany, where he lives today with his wife and two children.



In his book, he tells the story of his life in Yarmouk - where prior to 2011 about 650,000 Palestinian refugees were living - leading up to the revolt and the war, as well as his journey to flee Syria and arrive in Wiesbaden.



"My book is a way for me to wash away my guilt," he said, after leaving his family and friends behind.



Ahmad was born in Damascus in 1988 and began studying music at five years old, pushed by his father, who, despite being blind, played the violin.



He made music his life, and when the siege on Yarmouk began, he used to drag his piano out on a cart every day to play, surrounded by children who would sing alongside him.



He continued to do so until April 17, 2015, when ISIS militants burned his piano and killed one of the children next to him; that's when he decided to flee.



Today he teaches music in Wiesbaden, supports his family with his concerts, and said he is proud of what he has accomplished.



"After I left Syria, I managed to bring my wife and children here in a year; today that would be impossible. The law on refugees in Germany has changed a lot," he said.



Ahmad will be in Milan on Thursday at the Claudio Abbado Civic School of Music and in Turin on Friday at the Readers Circle.



He will continue on to France to present the French version of his book, and then to the Netherlands.(ANSAmed).



Egitto: Al Gomhuria, project for 16 desalination plants On Mediterranean and Red Sea for 1.6 mn m3/day

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, APRIL 4 - Egypt is planning to build 16 desalination plants that will ''cover the whole Republic'' and six will become effective at the end of the year, Egyptian daily Al Gomhuria reported, citing Construction Minister Mostafa Madbouly.



The plants will be built on the Mediterranean and Red Sea, added the paper, saying that the decision was taken during a meeting held by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi with Premier Sherif Ismail and several ministers including Madbouly.



When the plants will be effective they will be producing 1.6 million cubic meters of water a day, Al Gomhuria said, quoting the minister. (ANSAmed).



ISTAT revises up 2017 deficit to 2.3% Increase due to calculations regarding bank rescues

(ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 4 - Italy's deficit-to-GDP ratio for 2017 was 2.3%, ISTAT said on Wednesday after it revised up the estimate of 1.9% it gave early in March.



The national statistics agency said the new data includes the impact of public money devoted to the rescue of several crisis-hit Italian banks.



The government's DEF economic blueprint put the 2017 deficit at 2.1%.



Nevertheless, the deficit ratio is down from 2.5% in 2016.



ISTAT said that Italy's public debt for 2017 was 2.263 trillion euros, 131.8% of GDP, after revising the figure up from its March estimate of 131.5%.



The debt is down from 132% of GDP in 2016 but higher than the figure of 131.6% given in the government's DEF economic blueprint. (ANSAmed).



CAIRO - Egypt is planning to build 16 desalination plants that will ''cover the whole Republic'' and six will become effective at the end of the year, Egyptian daily Al Gomhuria reported, citing Construction Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

The plants will be built on the Mediterranean and Red Sea, added the paper, saying that the decision was taken during a meeting held by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi with Premier Sherif Ismail and several ministers including Madbouly.

When the plants will be effective they will be producing 1.6 million cubic meters of water a day, Al Gomhuria said, quoting the minister.

Gaza: zero tolerance for violence on Friday, Israel warns Egyptian intelligence chief charged with message for Hamas

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, APRIL 4- Israel has charged the head of Egypt's intelligence services, Gen. Abbas Kamel, with a message for Hamas, military radio reported on Wednesday. The broadcaster said Camel met on Tuesday with the head of Shin Bet (domestic security), Nadav Argman, in Tel Aviv.



Argman said Israel will not accept further ''provocations'' from Hamas along the border line with the Gaza Strip and that soldiers next Friday will have ''zero tolerance'' for Palestinian demonstrators who turn violent.



Previously, Gen. Kamel was received in Ramallah by PNA President Abu Mazen. According to Palestinian press reports, talks focused on the passage of power in Gaza from Hamas to the PNA as well as the Palestinian request for radical changes in an agreement with Israel on which US diplomats are allegedly working. (ANSAmed).



Mideast: Trumps speaks with Netanyahu about security

(ANSAmed) - WASHINGTON, APRIL 4 - US President Donald Trump has spoken with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu about recent tensions in the Middle East, the White House has said in a statement.



A readout of the phone call issued by the White House said that Trump stressed that Washington is invested in working for Israel's security and the two leaders ''agreed to continue their close coordination on countering Iran's malign influence and destabilizing activities'' in the region.(ANSAmed).



Russia, Turkey, Iran to speed up Syria ceasefire efforts Joint declaration after summit between Putin, Erdogan, Rouhani

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, APRIL 4 - Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed to "speed up efforts" to ensure a ceasefire in Syria and protect civilians in de-escalation zones, according to a joint statement released following a summit in Ankara between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the leaders of the Astana peace talks.



The three countries will make efforts to fight every "separatist agenda that threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and the national security of neighbouring countries".



In addition, Turkey and Russia will build a field hospital to guarantee first aid to the wounded fleeing from Eastern Ghouta, according to a proposal by Erdogan.



"Turkey's president proposed urgent humanitarian aid for Syria; I find the proposal very appropriate," Putin said.



"We are required to get results in Syria. We can't waste time, because people are dying," Erdogan said.



The meeting between the three presidents lasted about an hour and 40 minutes.



In a subsequent press conference, the leaders highlighted the importance of continuing to strengthen the ceasefire and to guarantee immediate humanitarian aid in zones of conflict.



"The talks were very productive," Putin said.(ANSAmed).



Syria: Summit Erdogan-Putin-Rohani today in Ankara 'De-escalation' zone, developments on the ground on agenda

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, APRIL 4 - The second summit gathering leaders of the Astana process on Syria, including the heads of State of Turkey, Russia and Iran, is taking place Wednesday at the presidential palace in Ankara.



The meeting between Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rohani is scheduled in the morning and will be followed by a business lunch. A press conference in which the three presidents will announce the next initiatives is scheduled in the afternoon.



On the meeting's agenda are 'de-escalation' zones agreed over the past few months and the latest developments on the ground, including Turkey's victory in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin and the loyalist offensive in eastern Ghouta. Talks will also focus on a possible political transition.



Before the summit, Erdogan and Rohani will hold bilateral talks after the ones held yesterday between Erdogan and Putin.



(ANSAmed).



Trump orders military to prepare withdrawal from Syria Date not set. Counting on Arab countries for rebuilding

(ANSAmed) - WASHINGTON, APRIL 4 - US President Donald Trump has ordered US military leaders to prepare for the withdrawal of American troops from Syria, but has not set a date for doing so, said the Washington Post on Wednesday, citing a senior administration official.



The news came following a meeting Trump had with top security officials on Tuesday.



Trump said he does not intend to extend the U.S. mission beyond the destruction of ISIS, and "he expects other countries, particularly wealthy Arab states in the region, to pick up the task of paying for reconstruction of stabilized areas, including sending their own troops, if necessary". During the meeting, Trump "stressed that U.S. troops can be involved in current training tasks for local forces to ensure security in areas liberated from the Islamic State".



Trump had said on Tuesday that he intended to withdraw troops from Syria and that a decision would be announced soon.(ANSAmed).



Belarus will receive from Russia the fifth battery of Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missiles and four Yak-130 combat-training aircraft by the end of the year, Belarussian Defense Minister Andrey Ravkov said. "We signed contracts and provided financing to procure the fifth battery of Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile complexes and four Yak-130. We made upfront payments and expect the deliveries of the arms to be completed by the end of the year," he said.



Belarus will receive from Russia the fifth battery of Tor-M2 antiaircraft missiles (Picture source: www.sb.by)

The supplies of multirole Su-30SM fighter jets are expected in 2019-2020. "There are problems on the Russian side and we have to wait," Ravkov said.

Belarus has already received four batteries of Tor-M2 antiaircraft missile complexes (in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016). It was reported that Belarus and Russia signed a contract for the delivery of 12 Su-30M worth 600 million dollars.

The Tor-M2 is an upgraded version of the Tor-M1 short-range air defense missile system. The TOR-M2/M2E is designed by the Russian Defense Company Almaz-Antey. The TOR-M2 was presented for the first time to the public during the Moscow Air Show, MAKS in 2007. The latest variant of TOR-M2 features improved fire control radar coverage, and four guidance channels, allowing up to four missiles to be guided at any one time. The Tor-M2E also offers the option of a wheeled chassis, as well as a new digital computer system and all weather optical tracking system.

The TOR-M2 / M2E is designed to attack aircraft, helicopters, aerodynamic UAVs, guided missiles and other components of high precision weapons flying at medium, low and extremely low altitudes in adverse air and jamming environment. It can be mounted on wheeled or tracked chassis. The Tor-M2 doubles the number of targets that can be engaged simultaneously by a single combat vehicle to four.While president Trump has announced he is considering pulling the US forces out of Syria, the same forces are reported to reinforce their positions and personnel in the northern Syrian city of Manbij to confront any potential Turkish military operation for which the city might be a battlefield in the war against Kurdish militias.



5th Special Forces Group (A) conducting 50. Cal Weapons training during counter ISIS operations at Al Tanf Garrison in southern Syria. (Picture source U.S. MoD)

According to local sources of the Middle East Monitor, the reinforcements include around 300 soldiers in addition to armored vehicles and heavy equipment. The US brought the reinforcements from its base in the town of Sarrin, in the northern countryside near Aleppo, they explained.

The US forces in Syria currently operate three surveillance points on the line separating the territory covered by Turkeys Operation Euphrates Shield and the PKK-controlled areas in the villages of Tokhar, Al-Haluwaniyah and Dadat. Over the past three days, US forces have started patrolling the area on the Sajur River and along the Syrian-Turkish border.

This US activity upsets Turkey whose president has called upon the US to expel the PKK from the Arab-dominated city of Manbij and hand over the area to its real owners. An issue is this: the PKK is regarded as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and has occupied the city of Manbij since August 2016, with the support of US forces, as part of the war against Daesh.

Therefore, can one expect a military clash, be it under cover, between US and Turkish forces? Last week, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert announced the failure of ongoing talks with the Turkish government over the situation in Manbij.

The fact is that the US military has been working on plans to send dozens of additional US troops to northern Syria, according to several US defense and administration officials. The plans were first discussed before Trumps announcement about pulling out of Syria soon. But the planning hasnt been scrapped yet. Will it be? At the Pentagon, many military and civilian planners are puzzled by Trumps announcement, leaving them in uncertainty about what to do.

A National Security Council meeting took place yesterday, 4 April, to further discuss the administration's plan for battling ISIS in Syria and the some 2,000 US troops deployed in the war-torn country. Reinforcement? Pulling out? What else? At least a tiny and temporary reinforcement aiming at protecting the forces currently deployed.

Interestingly, this discussion took place while US and British soldiers were killed in a IED blast in Manbij, Syria. The soldiers killed were operating in a classified mission to "kill or capture a known ISIS member", according to Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway. The US military is releasing few details about the mission that killed US Master Sgt. Jonathan J. Dunbar and British Sgt. Matt Tonroe. Five other troops were also wounded in a March 30 IED blast.

To make it short, what is to be expected in the Syrian messy theatre of operations where NATO, US, Turkish, Kurd, rebel (many different groups, ranging from non-muslim to ISIS trends), Syrian government, Russian, and Iranian interests do not precisely converge?The average outgo for voice and data services in India have shown continuous downward trend.

Average phone call tariff dropped by more than 60 per cent to 19 paise per minute.

New Delhi: Average phone call tariff dropped by more than 60 per cent to 19 paise per minute while data tariffs plunged by about 90 per cent to Rs 19 per 1 GB during June 2016 to December 2017 period, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha informed Parliament on Wednesday.

"The tariff for mobile telephony services is under forbearance except for national roaming and rural fixed line services ... The average outgo for voice and data services in India have shown continuous downward trend, particularly in the recent past," Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

According to the data shared by Sinha, average outgoing call rate in June 2016 was 49 per minute which reduced to 19 paise per minute in December 2017.

The average data rate was Rs 205 per gigabyte (GB) in June 2016 which fell to Rs 19 per GB in December 2017.

The data shared by the minister showed that number of mobile connections in the country fell to 115.2 crore in January 2018 from 117 crore in March 2017.

Sinha in a separate reply said that the government was working on various projects, including BharatNet which aims to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in a phased manner with high speed broadband network, to increase connectivity.

"In December 2017, Phase-I of Bharat Net has been completed by connecting one lakh GPs...As part of this project, the last mile connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband technology is to be provided at all the GPs in the country. The project is targeted to be completed by March 2019," Sinha said.

As on March 25, 2018, by laying 2,68,963 km Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), a total of 1,13,964 gram panchayats (GPs) have been connected, of which 1,04,889 GPs have been made service ready, he said.

Under Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for North East Region, the government has signed an agreement with BSNL to install 2,817 mobile towers for providing mobile (including data) coverage in 4,119 uncovered villages at an estimated cost of Rs 2,258 crore.

"Agreement has also been signed with Bharti Airtel Limited and Bharti Hexacom Limited to install 2,004 mobile towers for providing mobile (including data) coverage in 2,128 villages and National Highways in NER," Sinha said.

He said that a proposal for providing mobile services (including data service) at 4,072 identified locations by Home Ministry in Left-extremist affected areas in Phase-II has been recommended by the Telecom Commission with an estimated cost for Rs 7,330 crore (excluding taxes).

"The proposal is being submitted to the Cabinet," Sinha said.The director says he likes to take up challenging subjects with Rajkummar.

Filmmaker Hansal Mehtaa Omerta, based on London-born terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikhs life is set for release by April 20. Omar Saeed is a controversial figure, and Hansals film has been generating buzz for broaching the subject. But the filmmaker reveals that he isnt trying to create any communal tension with this film.

One has to see the maker and his intent. The intention is not to arouse communal tension with this film. If I made Omerta, I also made Shahid. I simply want to show the mirror to society. We cannot talk about peace and love with Pakistan while they continue to harbour people like Omar, says Hansal.

But he is quick to clarify, The film isnt discriminating to the Muslim population either. It does not say that every Muslim is a terrorist.

Omerta is shot in real locations across London and India. It is woven around some of the most bloody terror attacks, including the 9/11 attacks.

Hansal and his lead actor Rajkummar Rao go back a long way. The director says he likes to take up challenging subjects with Rajkummar.

We constantly look for new challenges when it comes to making films. It feels great to challenge him because I know that he can pull any role, he says.

According to Hansal, Rajkummar has grown as an actor after Shahid. It feels great to challenge him with different roles and you are assured he can pull of it with ease. After Shahid, I found my muse in him. This has helped us make this film together, he says.While, Saif left alone, Sonali and Tabu left around the same time taking the flight to Jodhpur on Wednesday morning.

The 1998 black buck case involving actors Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Neelam, Tabu and Sonali Bendre, will have its final hearing today in the Jodhpur court. And for that, the stars were seen leaving the city to be present at the hearing.

The case involves Salman for allegedly killing a deer during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain in the forests of Jodhpur. Actors Saif, Sonali and Tabu were said to have accompanied him for the shoot. And now the hearing is taking place after 20 years.

While, Saif left alone, Sonali and Tabu left around the same time taking the flight to Jodhpur on Wednesday morning.

All of them avoided any interaction with the media as they left town, preferring to keep mum till the verdict is announced. Attempts in the past to get a comment on the case from the actors has proved futile.

It is not fair on them to talk about the case at the moment. They cannot say to the media at this juncture whether they are tense or worried, said a source close to Tabu.

Meanwhile Salman returned to Mumbai with Jacqueline Fernandez from the shoot of Race 3 in Abu Dhabi and soon left with his sisters Alvira and Arpita for Jodhpur.

 Sanskriti MediaChandrababu Naidu is meeting opposition leaders to drum up support on pressuring Centre to give special status to Andhra.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo Chandrababu Naidu met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday at the Andhra Bhawan. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Days after severing ties with the NDA, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo Chandrababu Naidu, who is in the national capital, met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday at the Andhra Bhawan.

The meeting between the two chief ministers began around 9 am.

Chandrababu Naidu, who is on his first visit to Delhi after breaking ties with NDA, is meeting opposition leaders to drum up support on pressuring the Centre to give a special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

In his meeting with Arvind Kejriwal, Chandrababu Naidu is likely to have explained the injustice being meted out to Andhra Pradesh despite assurances of a special status in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

The TDP chief, who is on a two-day visit to Delhi, will also like to garner as much opposition support as possible for the no-confidence motion that is pending before Lok Sabha. The motion is supported by 80-odd MPs, Opposition has claimed, but has not been taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, citing repeated disruptions and sloganeering.

Chandrababu Naidus visit comes a week after his West Bengal counterpart and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee spent a day in Parliament holding parleys with Opposition parties to forge a possible federal front against the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Andhra Pradesh, however, has made it clear that his visit is focused only on securing states interests and there was nothing political about the visit.

Among those he met on Tuesday were Congresss chief whip in Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Senas Anant Geete, Trinamool leaders Derek OBrien and Sudip Bandopadhyay, Ram Gopal Yadav of SP, AIADMK leader V Maitreyan and SC Mishra of BSP. However, it was Chandrababu Naidus long chat with sidelined BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi that set tongues wagging. Both leaders had a chat for more than 15 minutes. As both remained tight-lipped about what they discussed, speculation was rife in BJP circles.

He also met some BJP MPs, including Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha and Hema Malini.

At the end of the day, Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday tweeted, Interacted with NCP President Sri Sharad Pawar @PawarSpeaks, JKNC President Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mr @derekobrienmp, Mr Sudip Bandyopadhyay from TMC & Congress Leader Sri @JM_Scindia, regarding no-confidence motion, highlighting the injustice done to AP for its Special Status.

What has further united the opposition parties is the change of reference population from the 1971 Census to the 2001 Census under the 15th Finance Commission, due to which big states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal would each loose approximately Rs 20,000 crore each year. This issue was also discussed during Chandrababu Naidus meeting with the opposition leaders.

Meanwhile, the TDP MPs continued to protest outside the Parliament building, demanding Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh.

Chandrababu Naidu had in March asked his partys MPs to continue their fight against injustice in Parliament.

In March, the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP pulled itself out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the special status issue.

They followed the exit with tabling a no-confidence motion against the Modi-government to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh and directed its MPs to attend Parliament till the end of the Budget session.The houses of a sitting and a former MLA, both Dalits, were set afire by a violent mob in Rajasthan's Karauli district.

Nearly 1,000 people were arrested under preventive sections of law in the last two days of protest and 175 cases registered against anti-social elements, officials said. (Photo: PTI)

Jaipur: Violence from Mondays Bharat Bandh called by Dalit organisations against Supreme Court's decision diluting the SC/ST act spilled over on Tuesday with Dalit houses and establishments coming under attack.

The houses of a sitting and a former MLA, both Dalits, were set afire by a violent mob on Tuesday afternoon in Rajasthan's Karauli district following which curfew was imposed in the area, a senior official said.

A hostel of Dalit students was also attacked and a commercial building was burnt.

On Tuesday morning, a large crowd had gathered at Chaupar circle to protest against Mondays violence and demand action against the culprits.

The protesters clashed with the police, which tried to disperse them. However, the mob turned violent, forcing the police to fire teargas shells and rubber bullets. Some teargas shells landed in a government school nearby. About two-dozen students reportedly had to be treated for injuries sustained from teargas shells and the resultant stampede.

People from non-reserved categories and market associations gathered in the morning defying prohibitory orders that were imposed to protest against yesterdays (Monday) rioting. They tried to form a procession, but when the police tried to disperse them, they pelted stones. The police had to use force to control the situation, said Alok Vashishtha, IG, Bharatpur range.

According to him, after incidents and arson, a mob of about 5,000 people from surrounding areas gathered and reached BJP MLA Rajkumari Jatav and former Congress minister Bharosi Lal Jatavs houses. Stones were pelted and some vehicles parked there were torched. A commercial building was also put on fire. However, there was no casualty as both the leaders and their families were not in the town.

Considering the law and order situation, curfew was clamped in the city which will remain till 1 pm on Wednesday. The internet services would remain suspended too.

Nearly 1,000 people were arrested under preventive sections of law in the last two days of protest and 175 cases registered against anti-social elements, officials said.

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said that a day after violent protests by Dalits, several members of other castes on Tuesday hit the streets over the damages caused on Monday.

In Alwar district, where one man was killed, people held a sit-in protest, refusing to cremate the body.

"The traders' association and upper castes are agitated in Hindaun city. They took out a procession today (Tuesday) and tried to enter the SC/ST dominated areas. Except in Hinduan city, situation is under control," Additional Director General (law and order) NRK Reddy said.

"Police forces lobbed tear gas shells and resorted to cane charging and firing rubber bullets to disperse the mob," Reddy said. He said 170 policemen were injured in last two days of protests and section 144 was imposed in seven-eight places.

Superintendent of Police (Karauli) Anil Kayal said after the incidents of arson and violence, nearly 40 people were detained in Hindaun city. Curfew was clamped in Gangapur City on Monday night and lifted on Tuesday morning, Swai Madhopur District Collector KC Verma said.

One person was killed, several vehicles gutted, and public property damaged during the Dalit protests on Monday. Reddy said the extent of damage caused was yet to be ascertained.

The Dalit groups had called for a 'Bharat Bandh' on Monday demanding restoration of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to its original form.

Read: Bharat Bandh: 9 die as dalit protests turn violent

The Supreme Court had, on March 20, diluted certain provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act in a bid to protect honest public servants discharging bona fide duties from being blackmailed with false cases under the Act.

Also read: Top court on SC/ST Act: Accused arrest not a must

(With inputs from agencies)The violence during candidates' filing nominations in the districts have prompted Banerjee to not leave the state now.

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has postponed her meeting for 'Third Front' with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M Karunanidhi and his son DMK working president M K Stalin in Chennai on April 10 in wake of the volatile situation across the state ahead of the crucial Panchayat Elections.

She was scheduled to fly to Chennai to meet them in her desperate attempt to build 'Third Front' to counter the BJP at the national level, according to sources adding that her visit was scheduled for two days there.

But the violence during candidates' filing nominations in the districts, since the rural polls have been announced in the state, and poll preparations have prompted Banerjee to decide to not to leave the state now and postpone the meeting with the DMK leadership, sources indicated on Wednesday adding that the development has been conveyed to DMK by the Trinamool already.

Banerjee would however meet Karunanidhi and Stalin after the Panchayat elections, sources claimed. On March 4 she had reached out to DMK working president MK Stalin for co-ordination inside and outside the Parliament.

The Trinamool supremo had called him up and they had a discussion on 'Third Front' following which the date for the meeting was fixed.

Banerjee also met DMK MP Kanimozhi in New Delhi recently during her last visit there to hold discussions with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and NCP leader Sharad Pawar for building the anti-BJP platform.Bhaskararaman was arrested from a hotel in Delhi on February 16 and was later sent to sent judicial custody.

On February 28, Karti Chidambaram was arrested at the Chennai airport on his return from the UK, in connection with a money laundering case registered. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday granted bail to former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram's chartered accountant S Bhaskararaman in connection with the INX media case.

He had approached the court seeking the bail fearing arrest by the CBI in the said case.

On March 26, the CBI filed a reply in the Special Court and opposed the anticipatory bail plea of S Bhaskararaman in connection with the case.

Bhaskararaman was arrested from a hotel in Delhi on February 16 and was later sent to sent judicial custody.

On February 28, Karti Chidambaram was arrested at the Chennai airport on his return from the UK, in connection with a money laundering case registered against him in May 2017 for his alleged role in facilitating FIPB clearance for INX Media Ltd and its directors, Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.

Karti allegedly took service charges for getting the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving funds from abroad worth Rs 305 crore in 2007 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union finance minister.For instance, when news of a cordon-and-search operation by security forces to corner a large group of militants in Dragar was spread on Sunday.

New Delhi: In a sign that the militancy movement in Kashmir has spread and developed strong tentacles all across the troubled state, a recently-released list of the top seven wanted militants reveal that all of them hail from south Kashmir, an area that was largely outside the pale of hardcore militancy during the movements violent spike in and around 2010.

The list of the seven A++ militants names Riyaz Naikoo, the Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM) chief of the Kashmir valley. He hails from Beighpora in Pulwama. Showkat Tak, the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba commander in Pulwama, hails from Pulwamas Panzgham while Ansar chief Zakir Rashid Musa hails from Noorpora in Awantipora.

The dreaded HuM commander Zeenat ul Islam hails from Shopian while Dr Saifullah, the HuM commander of the Srinagar area, also comes from Pulwamas Malangpora.

Arguably the most hunted militant now, Saddam Padder, the HuM commander, also hails from Shopians Heff Shopian while Altaf Kachroo, HuMs Kulgam commander, hails from the Redwini locality. A top security official dealing with the developments in Kashmir told this newspaper that these top militants have become larger-than-life figures and their names are often used to draw larger crowds of supporters especially to prevent counter-insurgency operations of the security forces.

For instance, when news of a cordon-and-search operation by security forces to corner a large group of militants in Dragar was spread on Sunday, the names of Padder and Zeenat ul Islam being part of the trapped group was also propagated in order to attract larger crowds.Modi was speaking at inauguration of an annexe building at Western Court that acts as a transit accommodation for newly elected lawmakers.

Modi's remarks come soon after widespread protests, some turning violent, in different parts of the country over a Supreme Court verdict putting in place safeguards to prevent misuse of a law to prevent atrocities of SCs and STs. (Photo: AP | File)

New Delhi: Seeking to reach out to the Dalit community, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said no regime had honoured BR Ambedkar like his government had.

Modi's remarks come soon after widespread protests, some turning violent, in different parts of the country over a Supreme Court verdict putting in place safeguards to prevent misuse of a law to prevent atrocities of SCs and STs.

"No government has, perhaps, given respect to Babasaheb the way our government has. Instead of dragging him into politics, we should all try to walk on the path he has shown us...," he said.

Also Read: SC declines urgent hearing on SC/ST Act review, clashes erupt across country

The Prime Minister was speaking at the inauguration of an annexe building at Western Court that acts as a transit accommodation for newly elected lawmakers.

Lamenting that everyone had dragged BR Ambedkar's name for political gains, Modi said it was his government that completed the Ambedkar international centre though the idea was conceived when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister.

The 26, Alipur Road house where the Dalit icon died would be dedicated to the nation on April 13 on the eve of his birth anniversary, Modi said.

Hitting out at the UPA, Modi said the previous government had dragged its feet on the project for years.

"But we completed projects within stipulated time period," he said, noting that his government was committed to 'sabka saath sabka vikas'.The Press Council's comments came after PM Narendra Modi ordered the I&B Ministry to cancel its fake news order.

Amending guidelines for the accreditation of journalists, the I&B Ministry had announced norms to contain fake news. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the ministry to cancel the order. (Photo: Representational/AP)

New Delhi: There is nothing wrong or obnoxious if a government intends to take remedial steps to check fake news but an independent statutory authority should decide on its veracity, the Press Council of India said on Tuesday.

The Council's comments came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to cancel its contentious guidelines on fake news that had been widely seen as a move to muzzle the media.

Read: PM Modi snubs Smriti Irani, forces U-turn on fake news move

The PCI, in a statement signed by chairman Justice (retd) CK Prasad, said no prudent person should or can justify" the dissemination of fake news.

Fake news is a global menace and if any government intends to take remedial steps to check its spread, per se, there is nothing wrong or obnoxious about it, provided that the authority to decide the truthfulness or otherwise of an allegation of fake news is entrusted to an independent statutory body like the Press Council of India, it said in the statement.

The PCI said fake news means news, story, information, data and reports which are wholly or partly false. Soon after the directive on Tuesday from the prime minister, the information and broadcasting ministry issued a statement, saying the guidelines regarding fake news had been withdrawn.

Amending guidelines for the accreditation of journalists, the ministry had on Monday announced norms to contain fake news. It said if the publication or telecast of a fake news item was confirmed, the accreditation of the journalist behind the news would be suspended for six months in the case of a first violation and for one year in the case of a second violation. If there was a third violation, his or her accreditation would be cancelled permanently, the ministry had said in a press release.

The ministry decision drew sharp criticism from opposition parties as well as from media bodies. The PCI said the complaint of fake news filed by an individual, government or any other aggrieved person is dealt with by the Council following procedures laid down in the Press Council Act and Press Council (Procedure for Inquiry) Regulations.

However, it is only in gross cases of fake news or repeated involvement in fake news dissemination that the power to suspend or cancellation of accreditation of the journalists (should) be resorted to. The allegations need to be determined by the Council before any action is called for, the PCI said.PSU banks wrote off Rs 2.41 lakh-crore loans in over 3 yrs, Government informed Parliament on Tuesday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Government on disclosure of Rs 2.41 lakh-crore loans written off by PSU banks. (Photo: PTI | File)

Mumbai: Public sector banks (PSBs) wrote off Rs 2.41 lakh crore worth of loans in over three years, between April 2014 and September 2017. The revelation was made by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla in a written reply in Parliament on Tuesday.

The disclosure came under strong criticism from Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee. "I am shocked to see that at a time, when the farmers in the country are crying and committing suicide for their loan burden and asking for waiver of farmers' loan, the Government of India have not even considered that," the Banerjee wrote on her Facebook.

In his reply to the Rajya Sabha, the Union Finance Minister of State said that writing off non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans is a regular exercise conducted by banks to clean up their balance sheet and to achieve taxation efficiency.

"As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on global operations, public sector banks have written-off (including compromise) an amount of Rs 2,41,911 crore from financial year 2014-15 till September 2017," the minister said.

Borrowers, however, continue to be liable for repayment despite the write-off, the minister added.

The Union Minister said the recovery of dues takes place on an ongoing basis under a legal mechanism so write-offs do not benefit borrowers.

Shiv Pratap Shukla also informed the Rajya Sabha that according to the RBI, borrower-wise credit information is not available for disclosure. The RBI Act provides that credit information submitted by a bank should be treated as confidential, he added.

Read: PSBs wrote off Rs 2.41 lakh crore loans in over 3 years

The non-disclosure of the borrower information was also criticised by the West Bengal Chief Minister.

"Even in Parliament reply, the Government of India says that the details of credit information by a public sector bank cannot be disclosed," Mamata Banerjee said.

The stressed-loan pile in the Indian banking system has more than doubled in the five years as a prolonged economic slowdown pressured companies' ability to service their loans, while in some cases profligate lending practices and fraudulent transactions have aggravated the problem.

A Rs 13,000-crore fraud in the country's second-biggest state-run lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) that was first disclosed in early February has stunned the financial sector of India and has triggered a crackdown by regulators to unearth more such fraudulent deals.

The latest RBI data says that 21 state-run banks which account for more than two-thirds of the countrys banking assets had stressed loans of Rs 8.26 lakh crore as of December 31. This is 15.8 per cent of their total loans.

(With inputs from agencies)The 39 Indian workers had gone missing in Mosul in 2014.

New Delhi: The Government finally announced assistance Rs 10 lakhs each from Prime Ministers Relief Fund to the bereaved families of 39 Indian nationals killed by ISIS in Iraq. The Government had earlier announced the confirmation of the deaths of 38 Indians from the 39 bodies found. But this is the first official confirmation that the 39th body is indeed that of Raju Kumar Yadav from Bihar, taking the toll to 39 Indians. Pressure had been mounting on the Government from the Opposition as well as families of the deceased to announce some financial compensation to the next of kin.

External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted, Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi has announced an assistance Rs.10 lacs each from Prime Ministers Relief Fund to the bereaved families of 39 Indian nationals killed by ISIS in Iraq. Of the 39 dead, 27 were from Punjab, four from Himachal Pradesh, six from Bihar and two from West Bengal.

Minister of State (MoS) for external affairs Gen. (retd.) V.K. Singh had returned on Monday from Iraq in a special aircraft with the mortal remains of 38 of the 39 Indians. The DNA samples of 38 bodies had fully matched with that of the blood relatives of the missing Indians. In order to conclusively verify the identity of the body suspected to be that of the 39th missing Indian in Iraq-Raju Kumar Yadav from Bihar-the Government had recently sent a second DNA sample of Yadavs brother to the Iraqi Capital Baghdad. But that confirmation is now seen to be a technicality. The 39 Indian workers had gone missing in Mosul in 2014.India to showcase its defence manufacturing prowess.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Defence Expo 2018  one of the largest events of its kind in the world in the last 10 years  in Chennai on April 12.

With the tagline India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub, this years expo to be held from April 11 to 14, will seek to brand India, for the first time, as an exporter of defence systems and components besides showcasing the countrys defence manufacturing capabilities to the world.

However, this year has seen a more than one-third cut in participation by foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and component makers as compared with last year. While 232 foreign companies took part in the Expo last year, this year only 154 such companies will participate.

As on March 30, 671 exhibitors include 517 Indian exhibitors and 154 international exhibitors have confirmed their space booking in DefExpo while nearly 15 percent of the total exhibition space has been booked by MSMEs.

A defence ministry release said: Indian participation include majors like Tata, L&T, Kalyani, Bharat Forge, Mahindra, MKU, DRDO, HAL, BEL, BDL, BEML, MDL, GRSE, GSL, HSL, MIDHANI, Ordnance Factories, and many others.

The major international companies will include Lockheed Martin, Boeing (USA), Saab (Sweden), Airbus, Rafael (France), Rosonboron Exports, United Shipbuilding (Russia), BAE Systems (UK), Sibat (Israel), Wartsila (Finland), Rhode and Schwarz (Germany) among many others.

The formal inauguration on April 12 will be followed by live demonstration of naval systems, aero systems and land systems. Live demonstration will be done for systems which are designed/built in India.

In another significant development during a briefing on the upcoming Def Expo 2018 on Wednesday, additional secretary of defence production Subhash Chandra indicated that the government was mulling to rope in defence public sector undertakings under the Strategic Partnership model. There are issues relating to our policy on defence manufacturing. We are considering how to involve the DPSUs. We are working on certain issues.Rashmi Rana, resident of Delhis Kavi Nagar, and her partner Nisha Gautama attacked Rana's mother with an iron rod.

After confessing to the crime, Rashmi Rana told the police that her mother frequently tortured her due to her relationship. (Representational Image)

Ghaziabad: After days of manhunt, Delhi police has arrested a girl and her female teacher who had brutally beaten the formers mother to death after she objected to their same-sex relationship.

The duo has been arrested from Ghaziabad Railway Station and after being interrogated the girl has confessed to the crime of killing her mother.

Rashmi Rana, resident of Delhis Kavi Nagar, and her partner Nisha Gautama attacked Rana's mother with an iron rod leading to severe head injuries.

The police also said Rashmi Rana had been living with her partner for a while.

"But she (Rashmi) did not want to leave her teacher. So in a fit of anger, she hit her due to which she (mother) died," Superintendent of Police Akash Tomar said.

The police also confirmed that Pushpa Devi's husband was not at home when the incident took place.

After confessing to the crime, Rashmi Rana told the police that her mother frequently tortured her due to her relationship.

Both Rashmi and her partner Nisha have been sent to jail.

The girl's father Satish Kumar had filed FIR (First Information Report) at Kavi Nagar police station on March 9 against his daughter and the teacher. He had accused them of battering his wife, Pushpa Devi, with an iron rod which later caused her death.

The police since then, had been on the lookout for the accused.

(With inputs from ANI)Shah also said that the script to fuel tension among the community ahead of polls has become old.

New Delhi: Amid growing perception that the Modi government has not done much to protect dalit rights, both the BJP and the NDA government on Tuesday reached out to the community, a day after the country witnessed violent protests over dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court.

With crucial elections fast approaching and high-stake Karnataka polls scheduled next month, BJP president Amit Shah not only showcased his partys work towards the betterment of dalits but also said that at every juncture his party stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the dalit community. With the BJP facing heat over the issue, Mr Shah also lashed out at the Congress for politicising the Bharat Bandh called by dalit groups on Monday and blamed the opposition party for the mistreatment of Dalits. Mr Shah also said that the script to fuel tension among the community ahead of polls has become old. With the Opposition accusing the ruling party of being anti-dalit, several BJP leaders, including many of its dalit faces, compared the Modi governments works for the development of the community with the alleged neglect of their interests by the Congress.

At every juncture and in all possible ways, BJP stands shoulder to shoulder with the dalit community. Modi Governments commitment to fulfilling Dr Babasaheb Ambedkars vision is unwavering. All the efforts of the Government are aimed at transforming the lives of dalits...The script is now oldbefore every election, the same vested interest groups start spreading panic about reservations. BJPs stand is clear, which I am once again stating  we fully believe in the Constitution given by Babasaheb and the rights it has given to SC/ST communities, tweeted Mr Shah. He blamed the microscopic minority of dejected and rejected political parties to make the people suffer and sought their apology to dalit sisters and brothers.

Blaming vested interest groups for spreading the panic on the issue of reservation for dalits, Mr Shah said it is done before every election and asserted that the government will do everything to protect their rights.The contest organised by the Muslim Students Association called for participants to create videos and posters.

Homosexuality is taboo in Malaysia and the country retains its colonial-era criminal ban on sodomy, with punishments of up to 20 years in prison, caning or a fine (Photo: AFP)

Kuala Lumpur: A contest at a leading Malaysian university seeking ideas to "convert" gay students sparked anger Wednesday, with activists warning it could drive people in the Muslim-majority country to suicide.

It was the latest example of what rights groups say is growing intolerance towards Malaysia's gay community as religious fundamentalism increases, eroding the multi-ethnic country's traditionally moderate Islam.

The contest organised by the Muslim Students Association at publicly-owned Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) called for participants to create videos and posters as part of a campaign called "Back to Nature".

Amirah Sulaiman, a 22-year-old association member, told AFP the programme was a "soft approach" to return members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to the "natural path".

"We will work hard to convert them," she said. "LGBT is like smoking -- it is bad for health."

"We want to be close to LGBT people and influence them via Islam," she added.

The winning entries of last month's contest were a video that featured drawings of a member of the LGBT community who started to change after meeting a pious friend, and a colourful poster urging gay people to "return to the path of Allah".

Homosexuality is taboo in Malaysia and the country retains its colonial-era criminal ban on sodomy, with punishments of up to 20 years in prison, caning or a fine.

Thilaga Sulathireh, founder of transgender rights group Justice for Sisters, said the university contest could cause much damage.

"It can cause harm, such as anxiety, depression and suicide attempts," she said.

"There must be more programmes with facts to educate people about (the LGBT community)."

In February a stereotype-laden checklist for spotting gay men and lesbian women published by a popular Malaysian newspaper sparked outrage.

The Malay-language tabloid Sinar Harian claimed gay men love to go to the gym -- just to check out other men -- wear tight clothes to show off their physiques and tend to sport beards, while lesbians "hate men" and enjoy hugging.

Last June Malaysian health authorities were forced to backpedal on plans for a contest to "prevent" homosexuality.NCP leader accuses party of doublespeak on alliance with BJP.

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar has slammed the Shiv Sena for its alleged doublespeak on its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). During the partys Hallabol Yatra in Kolhapur on Thursday, Mr Pawar asked the Sena to clarify its position on a range of issues.

The NCP on Monday started the fourth phase of its Hallabol Yatra in Kolhapur in its bastion of western Maharashtra. NCP leaders also slammed BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over a range of issues including recent controversy over the mention of martyr Rajguru as an RSS swayamsevak in a book written by an RSS worker. While addressing the rally in Nesari, Kolhapur on Tuesday, Mr Pawar lambasted the BJP-Shiv Sena government on a range of issues.

This government declared a loan waiver but farmers are yet to receive money. This government declared that there would be employment for the youth but in reality there are job losses. Apart from making tall claims, what else does it do, asked Mr Pawar.

Slamming the Shiv Sena, the leader said, Is it in alliance or not? Forget Shiv Sainiks, even the Sena leadership is confused about this. It wants to take all the benefits of being in power but not the responsibility of failure. Its pity that an organisation like the Sena has sunk to this level.

In his speech, Opposition leader in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde raised the Rajguru controversy. The RSS had not participated in the freedom struggle. People are raising questions over its pro-British stance at the time. But now it is trying to fudge history. And so it is appropriating martyrs such Rajguru and Bhagat Singh. But this will not be allowed. You are crossing the limits of our patience, said Mr Munde.

Refering to the fiscal deficit budget presented by the BJP-led government for 2018-19, former finance minister Jayant Patil said, This government has failed to keep its all promises. The states financial condition has worsened in the last three years. Till now, this government has created 2,000 slogans or announcements. But not a single slogan has turned true.

The Hallabol Yatra will conclude on April 12.The Union government filed the review petition in the Supreme Court on Monday following dalit pressure.

The Union government filed the review petition in the Supreme Court on Monday following dalit pressure.

Mumbai: Leaders of the Maratha community are trying to forge a united front with some other community organisations in a bid to challenge the controversial provisions of the dalit protection law before the Supreme Court, a leader has said.

We will approach to the Supreme Court because not much relief is given by the court to prevent the misuse of the law, Rajendra Kondhare, general secretary of the Maratha Mahasangh, told The Asian Age.

Vast powers will be vested in the superintendent of police, who may misuse them. We will meet chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also and demand that the state remain neutral in the Supreme Court as the state had given us an assurance, he said.

Maratha organisations discussed the issue with Brahmin and other backward castes (OBC) organisations on Tuesday and would decide on the course of action soon, he said.

Maratha organisations have been raising the issue of misuse of the laws for the past two years and their marches forced the government to consider the matter, according to Mr Kondhare. Mr Fadnavis had given them an assurance on setting up district-level committees under the collector.

The superintendents of police were to conduct the preliminary inquiry into the complaints received under atrocities prevention law, he said.

The Supreme Court has directed that the superintendents of police would conduct the preliminary inquiry within seven days into any complaint against private persons and would sanction or deny further proceedings. In case of a government employee, the departmental sanction is compulsory.

The Union government filed the review petition in the Supreme Court on Monday following dalit pressure. The Maratha and other community organisations are planning to move the Supreme Court with their demand to curtail the misuse of the law.Indranis lawyer was cross-examining first witness PSI Ganesh Dalvi in the 2012 murder case.

Mumbai: The accused-turned-approver in the 2012 Sheena Bora murder case, Shyamvar Rai, has moved a bail application from Navi Mumbais Taloja jail. In a handwritten application sent from the jail to the trial court in the case, Rai claimed that there is nobody to look after his family, the condition at his home is bad and he  the sole breadwinner  wants to take care of his family and hence he should be granted bail.

According to a CBI officer, the jail authorities have forwarded the handwritten application in Hindi by Rai to the CBI court. Special judge J.C. Jagdale has asked the CBI to file reply on Rais bail plea on Wednesday.

In the meantime, the court also allowed an application made by the CBI seeking permission to question Indrani Mukerjea in jail in connection with INX media case, involving Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union minister P. Chidambaram.

Indranis lawyer was cross-examining first witness PSI Ganesh Dalvi in the 2012 murder case. Advocate Sudeep Pasbola asked Dalvi if he has any documentary evidence to show if it was Indrani who booked a room.The PIL claimed there was no legal or statutory provision prohibiting one from carrying food or water in movie theatres.

The court said it is not acceptable that cinema halls are allowing vendors to sell food inside while banning outside food.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has given the state government six weeks time to frame a policy on allowing outside food inside multiplexes and cinema halls. The court asked the state government, If cinema halls do not allow patrons to carry food inside, then how can vendors be allowed to sell inside the cinema hall at an exorbitant price?

The court further said, We can understand if no food is allowed inside and neither are patrons allowed to bring in food or vendors allowed to sell food inside. But it is not accepted that cinema halls are allowing vendors to sell food inside while banning outside food.

A division bench comprising of Justice Shantanu Kemkar and Justice Makarand Karnik was hearing a PIL filed by city resident Jainendra Baxi through his lawyer Aditya Pratap. The plea claimed there was no legal or statutory provision prohibiting one from carrying personal food articles or water inside movie theatres. Mr Pratap also told the court that the Maharashtra Cinemas Rules prohibit hawking and selling of food inside theatres and auditoriums.

The petitioner lawyer on Wednesday informed the court that 10 weeks had passed but the state government had not filed their affidavit. The government pleader told the court that the state is considering the petitioners prayer and trying to frame a policy or guidelines and sought more time to file the affidavit.Nearly 25 AYUSH doctors have begun a hunger strike at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai since Tuesday in support of the bill.

Mumbai: Hundreds of homeopathy practitioners across the state have started an agitation in support of last years amendment to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill which makes a six-month bridge course mandatory for AYUSH (ayurvedic, homeopathic and unani) doctors, and to protest the stand of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) which is opposing the amendment.

Nearly 25 AYUSH doctors have begun a hunger strike at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai since Tuesday in support of the bill. A delegation of the Homeopathic Doctors Association on Wednesday also visited MNS chief Raj Thackerays Dadar residence to ask for his assistance.

Mr Thackeray assured them of his support, claimed Vasai-based homeopathy practitioner, Dr Swapnil Mahajan. Mr Thackeray said that he needs data of all the homeopathic and ayurvedic doctors practising in private hospitals. He said he will analyse the data and speak to the chief minister, said Mr Mahajan.

On Sunday, allopathic doctors from IMA threatened to observe an Allopathy Mukta Bharat if the bridge course clause wasnt removed from the proposed NMC Bill as such a course was inadequate for AYUSH doctors to practice allopathy and could jeopardise patients safety. Dr Mahajan warned, If our demands are not fulfilled, we will take to the streets and a jail bharo andolan will be practised.

Meanwhile, Dr Pravin Shingare, director, medical education and research (DMER), said, Mostly doctors refrain from serving in rural areas.

But AYUSH doctors provide medical services in rural areas. In order to train these doctors to prescribe modern medicines along with traditional medicines, the government had initiated the bridge course.Abhay's next 'Nanu Ki Jaanu', a horror comedy, co-starring Patralekhaa, releases on April 20.

Mumbai: Abhay Deol was determined to create his own identity when he made his debut over a decade ago but coming from a film family, the actor says he was conflicted about fame.

Abhay says people initially expected him to follow in on the footsteps of his uncle Dharmendra and cousin Sunny Deol but he chose alternative cinema over commercial projects to assert his individuality.

"I feel my advantage of coming from a film family is -- having seen fame up close, having seen the industry so close and how it works, I was not enamoured by fame.

"I wasn't looking to be a star, I just happened to love acting, I was a reluctant actor. So I was like how do I manage this without taking in the frenzy of becoming a star," Abhay told PTI in an interview.

Abhay, who made his debut with Imtiaz Ali's "Socha Na Tha", says he remained doubtful about fame even when it came knocking at his door.

The 42-year-old actor says he "ran away" when "Dev D", directed by Anurag Kashyap, became a cult hit as he felt its success would affect him "most likely in a negative way".

"Somewhere it is negative because I should have been around to promote my film and myself. I didn't do that. But do I regret it? No. Because it kept me grounded. Maybe I didn't take the advantage and become a star and get all the brands so that I could solidify my space in the world," he says.

The actor played a messed up man who gets a second chance at both love and life in the film, a modern take on "Devdas". Looking back, Abhay believes he should have approached the film's success in a more balanced way.

"The reaction to 'Dev D' success wasn't a balanced one from my end. I ran away! I should have stayed around and seen how I could balance things. But I wasn't capable of that. That's my background," he says.

Though he was able to create a space for his brand of cinema, Abhay believes the industry was unwilling to put money on him.

"For the first film, putting the name (Deol) behind me is understandable but as time progressed, people started to accept (me), in fact, they liked that I was my own individual.

"But the industry could not put money behind it (my individuality) because they can put money behind a brand, which is what my family name is, but they couldn't do with the individual that I was. It didn't make any monetary sense to them," he says.

Even though he comes from a film background, Abhay says he is "not a protege" that filmmakers would keep taking chances on him.

He went on to star in critically-acclaimed films such as "Manorama Six Feet Under", "Oye Lucky Lucky Oye" and "Shanghai".

Abhay further cemented his career by venturing out in commercial movies such as "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" and "Happy Bhaag Jayegi".

His next "Nanu Ki Jaanu", a horror comedy directed by Faraz Haider, co-starring Patralekhaa, is scheduled to release on April 20.The BJP stands to lose its electoral base among dalits in 2019 though it may regain it in a politically distant future.

It is confusion worse confounded. It is not surprising. There are questions of law and there are political compulsions. Both go together as they should in a democracy. The March 20 ruling by Supreme Court Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit that there should be no automatic arrest of those accused under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act raises legitimate questions about the assumptions behind the ruling  the judges said that there was rampant misuse of the law  as well as the validity of the ruling in strictly legal terms. Can the Supreme Court introduce new conditions into a law passed by Parliament as the two judges have done?

They said that in case of a public official accused under the law, prior information is to be obtained by a higher authority and the higher authority is to provide written reasons for the arrest to be made. And the magistrate need to apply his mind while scrutinising the reasons given for the arrest and need not necessarily accept the official reasons made for the arrest. And in the case of an accused who is not a public servant, the senior superintendent of police should provide written reasons for the arrest to be made. This is more than legal rigmarole, which could create hurdles for the affected person to obtain justice. The judges can argue in good faith that this is just to ensure that no person is wrongfully arrested.

It does not make legal sense because given the social context, the people who commit atrocities against dalits and tribals in this country do so with impunity because the two sections of society have been traditionally at the bottom of the hierarchy of power and they are mostly poor. The Supreme Courts ruling makes it difficult to nail the wrongdoers. The political outcry over the ruling from dalits and tribals, their representatives and their organisations and from other political parties is part of the democratic process. Opposition parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress want to use it to nail the ruling BJP government at the Centre and in several states.

There have been numerous instances of attacks on dalits by cow vigilantes who belong to extremist right-wing groups over the issue of beef since 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office. With a general election around the corner in 2019, these parties want to carry the battle into their opponents camp. It is interesting that the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar and even the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka have been fairly quiet over this matter. The BJP on its part is bending over backwards to prove that it is a champion of dalits and the tribes, and to prove its credentials it would point to the amendment it has made to the 1989 law in 2015, adding new provisions like verbal slurs as offences punishable under the law. And like any party in government, it was not nimble on its feet in filing for a review petition. It did so only on Monday, the day that the dalit organisations had called a Bharat Bandh, and created a political storm for a day. It can be safely concluded that the Narendra Modi government and the BJP have lost the battle of perception and image.

This would not however necessarily translate into electoral advantage for the BSP and the Congress on a broad front because the ugly political fact is that the upper and middle castes of Hindus as well as the upper crust of Muslims do not have much sympathy for the cause of dalits and tribes. While the BJP presents the views of the non-dalit castes, and has even managed to include some STs in the broad caste coalition, the party wants to be seen to be championing the cause of dalits for selfish as well as altruistic reasons. The BJP is sure to fail in this as it cannot hope to have the support of the other castes along with that of dalits. The BJPs failure would only repeat the failure of the Congress. The caste contradictions cannot be managed.

Then we have the liberal chatterati speaking up for the dalit cause. Their rant against Hindu majoritarianism and the upper castes Hindus misses the mark because the harsh reality is that the atrocities against dalits and tribals are generally committed by the dominant and militant middle castes, whether it is in Tamil Nadu or in Uttar Pradesh. Hindu communalism, while an evil, has little to do with the oppression of dalits in this day. The ritualistic tyranny of brahmins against dalits is now wielded by the middle castes in village India, combined with economic and political oppression.

The BJP stands to lose its electoral base among dalits in 2019 though it may regain it in a politically distant future. The Congress hopes to benefit from the dalit vote in the states, and there are many where Mayawatis BSP has no presence. In UP, of course, it is the BSP and its supremo Mayawati who will benefit from the dalit anger against the Supreme Court ruling as well as against the BJP for its complicity in the violence unleashed against dalits over beef and cow protection. The BJP will pay the price for its Hindutva politics.

The pugilistic position of the dalit organisations and the parties aligned with dalits may not end up empowering the poor dalits in villages and towns across India. There is a clear need for a democratic revolution for the violence against dalits and tribals to end. The upper and middle caste Hindus, upper class Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and Jains are resisting the change for now, but it cannot be averted if democracy is to really thrive in this country. However reluctantly, the majority has to learn to respect the marginalised. The struggle has lasted longer than we had expected.The I&B minister seems not to have understood her remit.

For whatever reason, what may be called the infamous Fake News Circular, issued by the information and broadcasting ministry late on Monday, and energetically propagated through Twitter past midnight that day by I&B minister Smriti Irani, who has earned the unenviable reputation of making a mess of portfolios she handles, was hastily withdrawn on Tuesday, under instructions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was given out.

This is a positive development, although speculation may persist that the PM stepped in when Ms Iranis move had drawn immediate and widespread condemnation. Arguably, at a time when the government is buffeted with scandals and leaks  look at the PNB and ICICI Bank scams and the CBSE leak  and attacks on dalits, it was time for the government to engage with the media, not to brandish a stick. The I&B minister seems not to have understood her remit. But will she quit, or be asked to go? Either seems quite unlikely.

Now journalists wont have their accreditation suspended or revoked, as threatened by Ms Irani, even if they write critical  which is a world apart from fake news  stuff or occasionally commit reporting errors, that are corrected by proper journalists, who are a world apart from social media warriors or disseminators of news without basis, namely fake news.

This government is so concentrated in a single hand that many believe  including in BJP circles  that not a bird stirs in the bush without the PMO knowing. So was Ms Irani going solo and was the PMO clueless? That would be a surprise considering that only recently Ms Irani had spelt out her intentions in a television interview to regulate  or go after  journalists and social media trolls if she thought their work unsatisfactory, and her views were criticised in the media. Its hard to squelch the thinking that what Ms Irani was made to do was float a trial balloon. As it got shot down, the higher-ups went into correction mode.

Fake news is actually no news at all. It basically refers to a recent phenomenon worldwide, specially in the United States, to concoct and disseminate stuff against political opponents, or stuff to make right-wing forces gain electoral advantage  as in Donald Trumps case  by trying to exploit the credulousness of ordinary folk. Worldwide, it is practically a right-wing monopoly.

At least 13 Union ministers recently endorsed a fake news site called The True Picture, which appears to have links with those who recently helped publish PM Narendra Modis book Exam Warriors. This can only boost the impression that Ms Irani wasnt acting entirely independently and her thoughts arose from groupthink.

The government has no business policing the media. There are defamation and libel laws against those who may be tempted to wilfully distort news.Google will release this update for iOS platform soon.

This feature is available on Google Search in mobile browsers and in the Google app for Android.

Going to the movies this weekend? Google has just made your life better. Google Search is not incorporated with a movie searching feature that will help users find the movies playing in cinema halls around his location. This feature now makes it easier for users to make plans while they are on the go.

When deciding what movie to watch, one usually considers the movie itself along with the showtimes and theatre options. For example, you would search for the name of the movie and hunt for a theatre playing that movie around you. Or searching for a nearby theatre and then check whats playing. With the latest update rolled out by Google, you can now quickly compare movies by the factors you care most aboutratings, showtimes, theater location and moreall from the same view. And just as before, you can also easily buy your tickets in advance a click on a showtime to purchase a ticket and youre done.

Additionally, if you have a favorite theater, you can check out whats playing by location, and narrow your search with filters too.

To try this out, search for showtimes, movies or movie times in your city such as Vasant Kunj showtimes. The search will result in listing all the current movies playing around Vasant Kunj in New Delhi.

This feature is available on Google Search in mobile browsers and in the Google app for Android. The update is live in the US and in India in both Hindi and English. Google will release this update for iOS platform soon.US President says, 'I want to get out. I want to bring our troops home.'

As of three months ago, the US had spent $7 trillion on the Middle East over the past 17 years (Photo: File)

Washington: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will make a decision about pulling troops out of war-battered Syria very soon, expressing remorse about the US role in violent conflicts going back to the countrys invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq nearly two decades ago.

Our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of ISIS. Weve almost completed that task and well be making a decision very quickly, in coordination with others, as to what well do, Trump said during a press conference alongside the heads of three Baltic states, using a common acronym for the extremist Islamic State group.

I want to get out. I want to bring our troops home.

The special US envoy for the global coalition against Islamic State, Brett McGurk, offered a slightly different assessment at Washington forum earlier on Tuesday, saying, We are in Syria to fight ISIS. That is our mission and our mission isnt over and we are going to complete that mission.

As of three months ago, the United States had spent $7 trillion on the Middle East over the past 17 years, Trump told the press conference.

The September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon spurred the country to try to defeat violent and threatening groups in the Middle East and Asia.

We get nothing, nothing out of it, Trump said. Think of it - $7 trillion over a 17-year period. We have nothing - nothing except death and destruction. Its a horrible thing. So its time.The European law, General Data Protection Regulation, will allow Europeans the right to know what data is stored on them and to delete it.

Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook was working on a version of the law that would work globally, bringing some European privacy guarantees worldwide. (Photo: File)

San Francisco: Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that he agreed in spirit with a strict new European Union law on data privacy but stopped short of committing to it as the standard for the social network across the world.

As Facebook reels from a scandal over the mishandling of personal information belonging to millions of users, the company is facing demands to improve privacy and learn lessons from the landmark EU law scheduled to take effect next month.

Zuckerberg said that Facebook was working on a version of the law that would work globally, bringing some European privacy guarantees worldwide, but the 33-year-old billionaire demurred when asked what parts of the law he would not extend worldwide.

Were still nailing down details on this, but it should directionally be, in spirit, the whole thing, Zuckerberg said. He did not elaborate.

The European law, called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is the biggest overhaul of online privacy since the birth of the internet, giving Europeans the right to know what data is stored on them and the right to have it deleted.

His comments signal that US Facebook users, many of them still angry over the companys admission that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica got hold of Facebook data on 50 million members, could find themselves in a worse position than Europeans.

Apple and some other tech firms have said they do plan to give people in the United States and elsewhere the same protections and rights that Europeans will gain.

Push for data privacy

Privacy advocacy groups have been urging Facebook and its Silicon Valley competitors such as Alphabet Incs Google to apply EU data laws worldwide, largely without success.

We want Facebook and Google and all the other companies to immediately adopt in the United States and worldwide any new protections that they implement in Europe, said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, in Washington.

Zuckerberg said many of the tools that are part of the law, such as the ability of users to delete all their data, are already available for people on Facebook.

We think that this is a good opportunity to take that moment across the rest of the world, he said. The vast majority of what is required here are things that weve already had for years across the world for everyone.

Google and Facebook are the global leaders in internet ad revenue. Both based in California, they possess enormous amounts of data on billions of people.

Google has declined to comment on its plans.

When GDPR takes effect on May 25, people in EU countries will gain the right to transfer their data to other social networks, for example. Facebook and its competitors will also need to be much more specific about how they plan to use peoples data, and they will need to get explicit consent.

GDPR is likely to hurt profit at Facebook because it could reduce the value of ads if the company cannot use personal information as freely and the added expense of hiring lawyers to ensure compliance with the new law.

Data is central to Facebooks advertising business, and it has not yet sketched out a satisfying plan for how it plans to comply, said Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser.

I havent heard any solutions from Facebook to get ahead of the problem yet, Wieser said.Nasim Najafi Aghdam ran a website where she posted about veganism, as well as long passages critical of YouTube.

A screenshot of a video posted on Aghdams YouTube channel shows her complaining that YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!" (Photo: Nasimesabz.com)

San Francisco: The woman identified by police as the attacker who wounded three people at YouTubes headquarters in California was a vegan blogger who accused the video-sharing service of discriminating against her, according to her online profile.

Police said 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam from San Diego was behind Tuesdays shooting at YouTubes offices in Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco, where the company owned by Alphabet Incs Google employs nearly 2,000 people. A man was in critical condition and two women were seriously wounded in the attack, which ended when Aghdam shot and killed herself.

Aghdams online profile shows she was a vegan activist who ran a website called NasimeSabz.com, meaning Green Breeze in Persian, where she posted about Persian culture and veganism, as well as long passages critical of YouTube.

A screenshot of a video posted on Aghdams YouTube channel before it was taken down on Tuesday, showed her complaining that YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!

The San Bruno Police Department is investigating a motive for this shooting. At this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted, police said in a statement.

YouTube spokeswoman Jessica Mason could not immediately be reached for comment.

There are hundreds of mass shootings every year in the United States. A national debate around tighter curbs on gun ownership has intensified since the massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school in February shocked the public.The updated list released by the UN Security Council has entries of almost 139 terrorists connected to Pakistan

The list identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with groups that used Pakistani territory. (Photo: File)

Islamabad: The latest list of terrorist and militant groups released by the UN Security Council features 139 entries from Pakistan alone. The list, headed by Osama bin Laden's heir apparent Ayman al-Zawahiri, also includes Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba and Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.

The list identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with groups that used Pakistani territory for carrying out their operations, Dawn News reported.

LeT's Hafiz Saeed is listed as a person also wanted by Interpol for his involvement in terrorist activities. The LeT is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

According to the UN Security Council, Dawood has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, the report said. The UN claims that he owns a palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Noorabad, Karachi, it added.

Dawood, wanted in India as the mastermind of the Mumbai bomb blasts in 1993 and accused of crimes such as match-fixing and extortion, accrued a vast property portfolio across the Midlands and south-east in the UK as well as India, the UAE, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Cyprus and Australia.

Also read: India hails US move to designate Hafiz Saeed's MML as terror outfit

Apart from them, Haji Mohammed Yahya Mujahid, LeT's media contact, and Hafiz Saeed's deputies, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal, are also listed. Like Hafiz Saeed, they are all wanted by the Interpol. The LeT is listed with its various aliases, such as al-Mansoorian, Paasban-i-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle Hadith, Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, the report said.

The UN data claims that first person on the list Ayman al-Zawahiri is still hiding somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, the report said. Several of his lieutenants are also on the list who, the UN believes, are hiding with him.

The second person on the list is another internationally known terrorist, Ramzi Mohammad bin al-Sheibah, who is identified as a Yemeni national, arrested in Karachi and handed over to the US authorities. More than a dozen suspected terrorists are listed in the same category, arrested in Pakistan and handed over to the US authorities. Some of them had Pakistani passport, issued by various Pakistani missions in the Middle East and renewed in Pakistan.

The report, however, did not give the total number of entries in the updated UNSC list.

The terrorist entities that were allegedly based in Pakistan, worked from there or had links to Pakistani individuals, include Jaish-e-Mohammed, Afghan Support Committee, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Al Akhtar Trust International, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaatul Ahrar and Khatiba Imam Al-Bukhari. Some of them are listed as based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, according to the report.China reacted sharply, again raising fears of a trade war between the two largest economies of the world.

The Trump administration published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports that could be targeted for tariffs (Photo: File)

Beijing: China on Wednesday said it was ready take countermeasures in retaliation against the new round of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, expressing firm opposition to the new duties targeting USD 50 billion worth of Chinese products.

"Disregarding strong representations by China, the US announced the tariff proposals that are completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes," China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said.

The Trump administration on Tuesday published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports that could be targeted for tariffs. The US plans to apply the tariffs to about USD 50 billion worth of goods to punish China for its alleged theft of trade secrets, including software, patents and other technology.

Trump is demanding that China cut down USD 375 billion trade deficit by USD 100 billion in about a month. China reacted sharply to the new tariffs, again raising fears of a trade war between the two largest economies of the world.

The MOC said the US published the list in disregard of the mutually-beneficial and win-win nature of the China-US commercial cooperation of the past 40 years, the appeal of the Chinese and American business communities and the interests of consumers, it said.

The move went against the interests of China, the US and the world economy, violating the basic principles and spirit of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), it said.

China has already slapped tariffs on 128 US products including wine and pork totalling to USD 3 billion in retaliation to Trump's move to impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium.

China plans to immediately bring relevant US practice to the dispute settlement body of the WTO, and is ready to take countermeasures on US products with equal force and scale that will be published in the coming days, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have the confidence and ability to respond to any US trade protectionist measures," the MOC said.

Another Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media that China will not shy away from a trade war and fight till the end.

"We keep reiterating that China won't initiate a trade war, and a trade war is the last thing we want. However, we will not be afraid of it. If someone is bent on waging it and even closing in on our doorstep, then we will keep them company and let's see who lasts till the end," he said.

"China has the determination and capability to take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate and lawful rights and interests. They may have their list, but we also have our own," he said.

Trump signed a memorandum on March 22 that could impose tariffs on Chinese imports and restrictions on Chinese investment in the US.Wife of a detained Chinese lawyer begins march from Beijing to Tianjin city in a bid to force authorities to explain her husband's arrest.

Lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who took on sensitive cases of complaints of police torture and defended practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, went missing in August 2015 during a sweeping crackdown on rights activists. (Photo: Facebook)

Beijing: The wife of a detained Chinese lawyer set off on Wednesday on a march of more than 100 km from Beijing to Tianjin city, where she believes her husband is being held incommunicado, in a bid to force authorities to explain his arrest.

Lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who took on sensitive cases of complaints of police torture and defended practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, went missing in August 2015 during a sweeping crackdown on rights activists.

His wife, Li Wenzu, has since heard little about her husbands fate although authorities told her lawyer he had been detained. Neither Li nor the lawyer has been allowed to see him.

We are walking to seek an answer from the Chinese legal system. Is China really a country with rule of law? Li told reporters outside a Supreme Peoples Court complaints office.

Over the last 999 days, we have tried every possible legal means to find out what has happened to him, but there has been no result, she said.

Chinas public security bureau and justice department did not reply to faxed requests for comment.

On July 9, 2015, authorities launched what rights groups say was a coordinated attempt to quash Chinas rights movement, in what is known as the 709 crackdown, after the date.

At the time, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, the Peoples Daily, described some of the prominent detainees as a major criminal gang that has seriously damaged social order.

Nearly three years on, most of those detained are in prison or under house arrest. Many of them made public confessions and were sentenced in what their families say were either secret or scripted trials.

Wangs case is unusual in that no word of his fate has been released.

Li has been an energetic activist on her husbands behalf. With support from other families affected by the crackdown, she regularly visits the courts to file missing person reports.

She said she expected it would take her 12 days to walk to Tianjin, over the 1,000-day anniversary of her husbands disappearance.

She is being accompanied by Wang Qiaoling, wife of another prominent rights lawyer, Li Heping. He was handed a three-year suspended sentence for subversion last April.

Li said the authorities kept her under surveillance and she had kept her plan for her walk secret. I didnt send anything publicly, otherwise they would have known and stopped me, Li said.

Despite restrictions, Li and the other wives have become effective advocates for both their husbands and the human rights lawyers in general, according to William Nee, a Hong Kong-based researcher at Amnesty International.

They are in a very tough situation, but the fact that the government has put so many resources into monitoring and surveilling her suggests they are very concerned about the power she represents, he said.Abbasi said that he himself has highlighted the Kashmir issue in all his meetings at the UN and the Organisation of Islamic Conference.

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday said that Pakistan will send envoys to six important capitals to highlight Indian brutalities in Kashmir.

Speaking to the representatives of Hurriyat conference in Muzaffarabad, the premier assured that the government, the people and all political parties will continue to vigorously provide moral, diplomatic and political support to Kashmir cause.

He said Pakistan has always supported the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions that call for granting right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir.

Mr Abbasi said that he himself has highlighted the Kashmir issue in all his meetings at the UN and the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

Earlier, Prime Minister Abbasi emphatically stated that Pakistan stands shoulder to shoulder with its Kashmiris in their just struggle for the right to self-determination. He was addressing the joint session of Pakistan Administrated Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and Kashmir Council in Muzaffarabad on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister alleged the Indian forces had been unleashing wave of terror on innocent Kashmir people over the last seven decades but they have miserably failed to suppress their voice. He claimed Kashmir was an internationally recognized dispute and its resolution lies in a plebiscite according to the UN Security Council resolutions.

Regretting the recent wave of terror unleashed by Indian troops in the valley, the Prime Minister said Indian authorities were resorting to such failed tactics in order to crush the voice of Kashmiri people.

Mr Abbasi said the government, the people and all political parties were united on the Kashmir issue and will continue to extend moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris. He said Pakistan has taken a strict stance on recent Indian brutalities in Kashmir, demanding of India to allow the UN human rights commission to investigate the human rights violations.

He said Pakistan has also asked the United Nations to appoint a special envoy on Kashmir to assess the situation. The Prime Minister said Pakistan will send its delegations to different countries to apprise them about the deteriorating situation. He said Pakistan will observe solidarity day with Kashmir on Friday.

Mr Abbasi said the Muslim countries had also voiced their concerns over the atrocities in Kashmir.

The Prime Minister was confident that the Kashmiri people will come out victorious in their just struggle and their sacrifices will bear fruit. He said Kashmir dispute was also a challenge to the conscience of international community.British and Russian officials faced off at a closed-door meeting for the first time since the poisoning of the Skripals on March 4.

The meeting in The Hague was held on Moscow's request to discuss the Skripal poisoning while an inquiry is still ongoing. (Photo: File/AP)

Moscow: Russia on Wednesday accused British and US secret services of being behind the poisoning of a Russian former double agent as the world's chemical weapons watchdog held a closed-door meeting on the incident at Moscow's request.

Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin in a speech in Moscow said the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent was a "grotesque provocation... that was crudely concocted by the British and American security services" with the intention of implicating Russia.

He also warned that Moscow and the West must avoid escalating their current standoff to the dangerous levels reached at the height of Cold War.

British and Russian officials meanwhile faced off at a closed-door meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the first time since the poisoning of the Skripals on March 4.

The meeting in The Hague was held on Moscow's request to discuss the Skripal poisoning while an inquiry is still ongoing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that he hoped the meeting would draw a line under the incident but Britain's foreign ministry called it a "diversionary tactic intended to undermine the work of the OPCW."

Russia's ambassador to the Netherlands and deputy minister for industry and trade Georgy Kalamanov attended, along with British chemical weapons expert and acting permanent representative to OPCW John Foggo.

A diplomatic source who asked not to be named told AFP that Russia had tabled a motion asking the OPCW to "involve Russia in some way or another in the investigation."

The OPCW's experts have taken samples from the site in Salisbury and sent them to certified laboratories for analysis but are still awaiting the results.

Under the rules of the Chemical Weapons Convention it is up to Britain to lead the inquiry, with technical assistance from the OPCW which is acting in a "totally independent manner," the source said.

New Iron Curtain

Russia accused the West of wanting to put up a new Iron Curtain and warned of a return to the mutual isolation of the Cold War. For Washington, "fighting the non-existent so-called Russian threat has become a real fixation," foreign intelligence chief Naryshkin said.

"It has reached such proportions and developed such ludicrous characteristics, that it's time to talk about the return of the grim times of the Cold War."

"Seized by fear of changes, the West is ready to put up a new Iron Curtain around itself," he claimed in punchy rhetoric. He urged the need "to stop the use of force in relations between states, not to bring matters to a new Cuban Missile Crisis".

That was a reference to the 1962 standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Britain has said it is "highly likely" that Russia was responsible for the attack on the Skripals but Moscow has angrily denied any involvement.

British authorities say the Skripals were poisoned with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok. The British defence laboratory analysing the nerve agent said Tuesday that it could not say whether it came from Russia. Moscow hailed that as a vindication of its repeated denials of involvement.

The Kremlin has demanded an apology from British Prime Minister Theresa May and her government for implicating Putin in the attack, saying this "idiocy has gone too far."Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

The OPCWs executive council which will meet on Wednesday has 41 members, including Russia and Britain. (Photo: File)

Ankara: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he hoped a planned meeting of the global chemical weapons watchdog would help to defuse a major diplomatic row triggered by the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in England.

Britain has blamed Russia for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. Moscow denies any involvement and has accused London of whipping up anti-Russian hysteria in the West.

At Moscows request, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will hold a special session on Wednesday in the Hague on the Salisbury poisoning.

We have raised 20 questions for discussion. I hope that during this discussion a final line on what has happened will be drawn, Putin told a news conference during a visit to the Turkish capital Ankara.

Moscow has said it wants to take part in the official British investigation into the poisoning.

We are interested in a full-fledged investigation. We want to be allowed into this investigation and we count on receiving relevant materials as the issue involves citizens of the Russian Federation, Putin said.

The OPCWs executive council which will meet on Wednesday has 41 members, including Russia and Britain. Any decisions must be approved by two thirds of members, which is generally difficult to achieve.

Diplomats say Russia will repeat its wish to be involved in the testing of the Salisbury samples and that it will otherwise not accept the outcome of testing done by the OPCW laboratories.

The Skripal case has plunged East-West relations into their worst crisis since the Cold War, with Britain and its allies expelling around 130 Russian diplomats and Moscow responding with its own expulsions.

Novichok nerve agent

Earlier on Tuesday, the head of Britains military research centre said it had so far been unable to tell whether the nerve agent, identified as Novichok, had been produced in Russia.

I want to add that according to international experts data there are around 20 countries capable of producing such neuro-paralytic substances, Putin said.

British counter-terrorism police say they believe Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter were poisoned with Novichok - an agent first developed by the Soviet military - that had been left on the front door of their home in Salisbury.

Putin, who won another six-year term in a presidential election last month, said he had learnt about the poisoning via the media and had been surprised by the pace of what he called an anti-Russian campaign unleashed by Britain.The neophytes include teenagers, young people and older adults. Choosing Christianity needs family support". Turning to faith is seen as an appeal for release, healing and protection from the evil spirits that exist in shamanism. A teenager converts after meeting God in his suffering.

Arvaikheer (AsiaNews)  On Easter eve "we had eight baptisms of catechumens, the highest number ever reached by our Christian community," said a joyful Fr Giorgio Marengo, Consolata missionary in Mongolia.

The clergyman has lived in the Asian country since 2003 and is parish priest in Arvaikheer, a town more than 400 km from the capital Ulaanbaatar.

He spoke to AsiaNews about the path of spiritual conversion that led eight residents  young and old  to embrace the Christian faith during the Easter vigil.

Four of them are aged 15 to 18. "They come from Catholic families or have some already baptised relatives, Fr Giorgio explained. They followed two years of preparation prescribed by the local Church and experienced their baptism as the crowning moment of that journey."

Their older age "is explained by our decision to be cautious with baptising the little ones. Instead, our aim in the past years was to create the conditions for adults to embrace the faith. This meant that their children or grandchildren had reference points in the family. Without family support, teenagers are more likely to abandon the faith."

"Despite their strong youthful enthusiasm, if nobody helps at home, young people often move away from the Church and stop practising the faith. In a non-Christian country like Mongolia, having chosen Christianity needs family support; otherwise, at crucial moments in life like marriage or when one has children, the rest of the family can ostracise people, shun them or creates problems."

The tendency of being shunned in society  if one adheres to a religion that is different from Tibetan Buddhism or Shamanism  happened to a local Catholic family. Gantulga and Uurtsaikh have two children, Otgonerdene and Sainzaya, 10 and 13 years old. Both were baptised on Easter eve.

"Recently, the family suffered a major lost. Their 17-year-old son committed suicide. This has caused a lot of pain and instability in the family and we have tried to support their path of reflection."

Popular beliefs in spirits play an important role and have added to the familys sorrow, making the situation worse. Painful or tragic events are often read in the light of a hostile spirit world, which must somehow be held in check.

"Since their son took his own life, the parents have endured a lot of suffering and fear. Now they are afraid that the spirits will come back to haunt the other family members if they do not rely on the intervention of the shamans."

For this reason, "we accepted their request to baptise their children since the baptism is considered a gift of spiritual protection and security. The children did not follow a conventional preparation, so they will catch up with catechism for the First Communion."

In this sense, "turning to faith is seen as an appeal for release, healing and protection from all this. Of course, it must be matured and based on awareness, but that is how reality is perceived. We must meet these fears and possibly alleviate them, remove them. Besides, people themselves see baptism and the Christian life as a way to come under Gods protection, an omnipotent and merciful God who does not allow people to be attacked by evil spirits."

Baterdene, 28, is one of the neophytes Fr Marengo feels closest to. "He has a very special past. He spent the past eight years in and out of hospitals under the surgeons scalpel. We have known him for years, since he was in second year agriculture studies. At the time, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and went to Korea for surgery. The operation was successful and he has recovered.

"After he came back, he started to suffer back problems, until he was diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis, a disease that causes the progressive loss of flexion in the patient's vertebral column.

"When this happening, he started attending church, coming to Mass and showing interest in the catechesis. We saw his suffering, and got some people involved until a Korean Catholic hospital agreed to operate him and bear the costs of the operation and the hospital stay."

In his journey of extreme suffering, during he was confined to a bed for most of the time, "Baterdene realised that people were taking care of him, even if he was not a Christian, but simply for his sake.

"After the operation, we became close and he expressed a desire to be baptised. A woman went to his tent every week to prepare him for the catechumenate, which was supplemented by long discussions with me about faith, the meaning of Christian life and prayer.

"He realised that praying is the means by which one can maintain the vital bond with God, which allows us to turn to him whenever we want to, and that everything we bring to the prayer is not lost but is offered in prayer. Thus, the Lord takes upon himself all our burdens."

"The young man met God in suffering, Fr Giorgio noted. And he found someone willing to alleviate it out of love. One of the reasons that prompted him to ask for the baptism is his experiencing the nearness of God, who does not abandon you when you have a problem. The suffering Christ showed that one can experience illness with faith and trust.by Viet Hung

Vietnam opposes Chinas unilateral decision to ban fishing from 1st May to 16 August 2018. Vietnamese fishermen fear for the survival of their industry. Chinas Navy has attacked Vietnamese boats and intimidated Vietnamese fishermen on several occasions in the last six months.

Hanoi (AsiaNews)  Chinas fishing ban in disputed South China Sea waters has increased diplomatic tensions with Vietnam and could bring the latters fishing industry to its knees.

Chinas Ministry of Agriculture announced the unilateral ban on is website on 8 February. The latter is set to come into force on 1st May until 16 August 2018. It covers the sea that extends north from the 12 parallel North Latitude to the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

This includes the Gulf of Tonkin; the Paracel Islands, which are claimed by Vietnam, China, and Taiwan; the Spratly Islands claimed by Vietnam, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei; and the Scarborough Shoal, claimed by the Philippines, China, and Taiwan.

Taking advantage of a certain ambiguity in international law, China claims almost 85 per cent of the South China Sea. To ensure its control of the seas main maritime routes (where a third of world trade transits), Beijing started to build artificial islands, with military installations and lighthouses for navigation.

Reacting to Chinas fishing ban, a spokeswoman for Vietnams Foreign Ministry, Le Thi Thu Hang, said that "Vietnam objects and resolutely rejects Chinas unilateral decision."

The spokeswoman stressed that Vietnam has sufficient legal grounds and historical evidence affirming its sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes, as well as its legitimate rights over its waters in line with the 1982 UNCLOS.

Le Thi Thu Hang reiterated that Chinas actions are not conductive to maintaining a peaceful environment, stability and cooperation between countries in the East Sea (the South China Sea), and the good development of relations between the two countries (Vietnam  China), as well as efforts by countries to negotiate on the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) today.

Every year China bans fishing in the East Sea, and this is completely unreasonable, said Nguyen Van Hiep, a fisherman from Phuoc Tinh, a municipality in Long ien district.

In his view, China has no right to issue a ban on the airspace and waters of Vietnam. Of course, we have to respond to the actions. These are our jobs, our living. We are going to keep fishing in our seas. We are not going to obey this irrational law.

He is echoed by Xuan Tieu, president of the Vietnam Fisheries Association (VFA) in Ba Ria, Vung Tau province. China has had the ban on fishing in East Sea and the South China Sea for 29 years, he explained.

Every year, the SAME ban comes into effect from May to August, violating Vietnamese sovereignty. For this reason, the VFA has written a protest against it, but they do not listen to.

Meanwhile, numerous Vietnamese vessels continue to be attacked and intimidated by unidentified ships, thought to be Chinese Navy vessels.

The latest incident occurred on 23 March, when some fishermen from Qu ang Tri province fishing in the waters of the Con Co district had their nets cut by Chinese ships.

A few days earlier, 25 miles from Con Co Island, three Chinese "fishing boats" attacked the boat of Nguyen Cong Thanh, a 46-year-old fisherman from Cua Viet, a town in Linh district.

According to the VFA, the countrys fishing fleet once had 130,000 boats, employing a million people, and met 94 per cent of local demand for seafood.

Since then, pollution and Chinas aggressive behaviour have reduced the fleet to 110,950, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without the means of earning a living.China hopes that Washington will avoid "destructive factors" but pursues the path of dialogue. Pyongyang criticizes Seoul's support for UN sanctions on the North for human rights violations. South Korean Foreign Minister: only the agreed topics will be discussed.

Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - China is giving its full support to the summits that in the coming weeks will see the leaders of the two Koreas and the US at the negotiating table, according to the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi. Yi was speaking after meeting with his counterpart in North Korea, Ri Yong-ho, on a visit to Beijing.

Communication between China and its ally North Korea was reinforced by Kim Jong-un's surprise visit to the Chinese capital at the end of March. Yesterday, Wang told reporters Beijing's hope is that the United States will avoid "destructive factors" by pursuing the goal of bringing Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump to dialogue. "We call on all parties to maintain their resolve, eliminate interference and proceed in the right direction of dialogue and negotiations", commented the number one Chinese diplomat.

There are many "sensitive" topics that could alter the delicate balance and dialogue created in the context of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. First of all, the state of human rights in North Korea, which yesterday was the subject of Pyongyangs harsh criticism of Seoul, following its support for the latest UN sanctions on the North, also justified by violations of rights human beings perpetrated by it.

North Koreas reaction - warning that such actions "jeopardize" the future dialogues - prompted South Korean Foreign Minister today to clarify that human rights are not part of the inter-Korean summit discussion agenda. Kang Kying-wha reiterated the "firm position" of Seoul against "the disastrous human rights situation" in the North, stating however that it will not be the subject of discussion, which will instead focus on launching dialogue between the two Koreas "on the topics agreed by both parts".

It is estimated that in North Korea there are up to 120 thousand political prisoners held in a widespread gulag system. In 2014, a UN commission published a report stating that Pyongyang is responsible for violations of human rights "unparalleled in the contemporary world".by Mathias Hariyadi

Most Churches stayed away from the religious event meant to boost support for Islamist governor among Christian voters. Critics attack the latters political use of Easter. Organisers had announced the presence of the Catholic Bishops Conference and the Protestant Christian Synod without their consent.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  The Catholic Church and several Protestant denominations refused to take part in Easter celebrations that the Bethel Church of Indonesia (GBI) organised at the Monumen Nasional (National Monument) or Monas.

Referred to affectionately by Indonesians as Lapangan Monas (Monas Field), the monumental complex, which includes a tower, is located in the middle of Medan Merdeka (Independence Square) and is the symbol of the Indonesias struggle for independence.

As it did during the Christmas holidays, the choice of site, backed by Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and his deputy Sandiaga Uno, seemed to many inopportune. The suspicions it raised about the ulterior motives of the Islamist politician led to a refusal to participate.

Moderate nationalists have accused the governor of promoting the Islamism and identity politics, which have divided the country, undermining its pluralist vocation.

Baswedans policies have proven controversial since he took office, especially in transportation and trade, drawing criticism from civil society groups.

Thus, for many, the Easter invitation by some of his supporters seemed to be a political ploy to use the religious holiday to gain support among Christian voters.

Among the latter, many are still outraged at Baswedans election campaign in April 2017, when he attacked his predecessor, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian.

At Christmas the Gerindra Party supported the governors initiative. This party backs the governor together with the more extremist Justice and Prosperous Party.

At Easter, the Bethel Church of Indonesia (GBI) organised the event. Rev Gillbert Lumoindong heads the community whose members met on Sunday at 5 am to celebrate Easter at Monas. The governor was present.

In February, the Catholic and other Protestant leaders dissociated themselves from the initiative. Fr Agus Ulahayanan, of the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the Catholic Bishops 'Conference of Indonesia issued a statement (picture 3) calling on the Bethel Church to remove the symbol of the Bishops Conference from its announcement (picture 2) since it was included without its consent.

The Catholic Bishops Conference had no prior knowledge as to the reasons and type of meeting planned, but the latters organisers had announced the presence of the Catholic Church and the Protestant Christian Synod (PGI).

Two days before Easter, Fr Suyadi, of the Commission for inter-religious dialogue of the Archdiocese of Jakarta, told AsiaNews that Catholics in the capital would not take part in the event. Instead, they would celebrate Easter "in their respective churches, as usual".

At the end of the solemn service on Easter Sunday in Jakarta cathedral, Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo (picture 1) reiterated that "Catholics would never celebrate the solemnities of Easter in the open air".

"Never! We have our tradition of observing it in church, the archbishop said. There are many liturgical symbols that must be presented and that can only be experienced in a place of worship".

The day before, the Protestant Synod also issued a statement stating that Monas, which is located in front of the State Palace, should not be used by anyone to host "religious gatherings".

"Lapangan Monas is a public space that belongs to everyone and should not be exploited to generate bad feelings among religious communities," the statement read.

Inaugurated in 1975, the monumental complex became the site of many Islamic events and celebrations over the years, until former governor Ahok decided to make it a "neutral" public space.

Anies Baswedan, who took office last October, changed regulations that banned religious and cultural ceremonies in the park.

On 29 November he allowed some Islamic organisations to hold a rally in which he and some important radical leaders participated.

The rally was held on 2 December 2017, exactly one year after violent protests in 2016 against his predecessor.by Kamran Chaudhry

Christians were gunned down as they travelled on a motor rickshaw. The driver was also killed. Intimidation against Method church hit by two bombers in December continues. For clergyman, Target killing of religious minorities has become a trend.

Lahore (AsiaNews)  Four Christians were shot dead in Pakistan in an attack claimed by the Islamic State.

The incident took place on Easter Monday, in a Christian majority neighbourhood in Quetta, capital of Balochistan.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Rev Simon Bashir, pastor at Bethel Memorial Methodist Church, which was attacked last December by two bombers who killed nine and wounded more than 40, said Christians continue to face threats.

The victims were riding a motor rickshaw. One of the dead was the driver, Perwaiz Masih. They were going to an ice cream parlour, Rev Bashir explained. Sehr, a 9-year-old girl, was wounded to the leg but survived.

The funeral of the rickshaw driver took place yesterday, while the bodies of the other three victims were taken to Lahore airport.

In recent years, Quetta has seen several attacks. In addition to the one against the Methodist church, terrorists also attacked a police school and a hospital.

The clergyman noted that threats against his church continued after it was attacked. "In January someone marked an X on the pillars of the church. We wiped them off after taking pictures and calling the police. Several families also received anonymous phone calls saying that they would not even spare the dogs of Christians."

The reverend added that "After Easter prayers, police advised me to stay out of sight.

For its part, The Government of Balochistan allocated 26.4 million rupees (almost US$ 230,000) for the victims of the attack, but our church still needs repairs, barbed wire and higher walls ".

For Fr Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, national director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace, the tragedy dampened the Easter spirit across the country.

Target killing of religious minorities has become a trend, he bemoaned. The authorities must end this and try to restore peace. Our joyous festivities are still on the radar of terrorists.The goal is to bridge the "deficit" that has arisen following Manilas blocking of consignments and "reducing costs". The death of a 29-year-old Filipina had triggered the fight between Duterte and the Kuwaiti authorities. The theme of migrant workers is often the focus of Pope Francis' interventions.

Kuwait City (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Kuwait looks to Ethiopian migrant workers, to fill the "deficit" that has arisen in the field of domestic workers. A crisis triggered by the murder of a Filipina maid in the rich Arab emirate, and which had pushed President Rodrigo Duterte to start a tug-of-war with Kuwait, resulting in the blocking of new workers and the repatriation of 10 thousand migrants.

The measure ordered by Manila follows the discovery, at the beginning of February, of the body of 29 year-old Joanna Demafelis, a Filipina maid. Her body, with evident signs of torture, was stored for over a year in a freezer to conceal her disappearance.

In a note, General Talal Al-Maarifi, head of the Kuwait Department of Housing Affairs, emphasizes that the goal is to "open the door to the recruitment of Ethiopian workers". An urgent need, to make up for the "deficit" that has been created in the sector of domestic workers and to "reduce costs".

In recent years, activists and human rights NGOs have repeatedly raised the alarm about the status of migrant workers in the Gulf and, more generally, in Arab nations, according to the so-called kafala system (sponsor). A theme dear to Pope Francis, who has intervened several times to raise the awareness of governments and authorities.

In January, the government of the Philippines had suspended the sending of workers to Kuwait, after Duterte had declared that the abuses by employers have prompted several domestic workers to commit suicide. Over 2.3 million Filipinos are registered as foreign workers. They send more than 1.6 billion euros home every month, money that feeds one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Manila now looks to China and Russia as "alternative markets" for Filipino migrant workers.

Five years ago, Ethiopia imposed a ban that was similar to the one issued by Manila, following a series of allegations of abuse and violence. Migrants often operated in total illegality and in conditions of semi-slavery. Addis Ababa removed the provision on March 29th.

Maarifi says there are over 15 thousand Ethiopian immigrants living and working in the Arab country today. In March 2017, the police arrested a woman for filming her Ethiopian employee who fell from the seventh floor of their building without intervening and saving her. The video shows the maid suspended in the void and begging for help.by Melani Manel Perera

The newly baptized are Iresha Sandamali, Theresa Rathnawathi and Joseph. The two women chose to abandon the Buddhist faith. For a long time they attend the church and attend the liturgy. The ceremony during the Easter vigil.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - The church of St. Francis Xavier of Wewala, in the diocese of Colombo, has three new Christian faithful. They are Iresha Sandamali, Theresa Rathnawathi and Joseph: three adults who have chosen to embrace Christ. For them, the baptismal rite took place during the Easter vigil on March 31st.

Speaking to AsiaNews the say: "A long-awaited dream has come true. In this new life we experience a new feeling of inner happiness and strength. We have full confidence that the love of Jesus Christ will never end. "

Besides the baptismal rite, the three Christians also celebrated that of the first communion and confirmation. The two women - Iresha and Theresa - say they were born Buddhist, but have experienced the love of Jesus for some time. They went to church, attended mass and "we prayed with the only words we knew".

Iresha, 27, is a native of a village very far from the parish. As a child she moved to Katunayake to follow her father's work. After school, she started working in the Free Trade Zone (Ftz). Two of her brothers are married to Catholic women. "I have attended the church since childhood - she reports. Every Tuesday and Friday I went to pray. Then my father got sick and we prayed a lot for his recovery ". The girl is engaged to a young Catholic, and has decided to get baptized in order to marry in the church. "The Lord created the occasion through marriage. I am happy to officially receive baptism ". She carried out a journey of reflection accompanied by Sr. Anna Rose, superior of the convent of the Good Shepherd of Wewala. During the Easter vigil she received the three sacraments; now she looks forward to the wedding with Indika Ranjan, her beloved.

Rathnawathi, 46, is the mother of three teenage children. "I have no words to express the joy that has invaded me and my family," she says. Originally from the village of Kuliyapitiya, in the province of Wayamba, she married a local Catholic. "For my baptism - she reports - I chose the name of Theresa. Sister Rose, my educator, gave me this name. I was impatient to receive the body of Christ in the Eucharist. I believe I received many blessings when I was a Buddhist; now it will be just as with the Christian faith ".A new survey of international students has revealed Canada is fast catching the U.S. and U.K. among the worlds most popular destinations for young people looking to study abroad.

The 2018 edition of the QS Applicant Survey shows Canada could be about to overtake the U.K. and become the second most popular study destination behind the U.S.

The top three fastest-growing countries of origin from 2016-2017 were: Vietnam (+89%); India (+63%) and Iran (+45%).

China remains the top sending country overall representing 28% of inbound students followed by India having almost doubled with 25% and South Korea a distant third with 5%.

The number of Filipino students jumped by 70% to reach 3,350 in 2016. This establishes the Philippines as the 16th-largest sender for Canada and reflects both the growing strength of the countrys economy as well as the very large Filipino community in Canada. Global Affairs Canada reported separately that there are roughly 800,000 Filipinos living in Canada currently.

Experts see the change as a reaction to political shifts in both countries. While the U.S. is pursuing anti-immigrant policies under Donald Trump, the U.K. has voted to leave the European Union, with a central issue being freedom of movement.

Meanwhile, Canada is focused on increasing immigration, with encouraging international graduates to stay and build their careers here a central policy of the federal Liberal government.

The QS Application Survey says that although Canada remains third overall, it beats both the U.S. and the U.K. in attracting students from specific regions.

Canada remains the third-most-popular study destination, and in many cases, outperforms the UK and the US when target destinations are broken down by country, especially in the Middle East region, the report says.

U.S. Government data shows a sharp drop of 17 percent in the number of study permits issued to students from overseas in the year to September 30, 2017.

At the same time, Canadian universities have seen nearly an 11 percent increase in their international student numbers, suggesting Canada is attracting at least some of those put off the U.S. by the Trump administration.

This number representing all levels of Canadian education clearly demonstrates the continuing attractiveness of Canada as a study destination, said Karen McBride, President, and CEO of the Canadian Bureau of International Education.

As of December 31, 2017, there were 495,525 international students in Canada.

This number from Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is an increase of 20% over 2016 and is particularly significant in that it surpasses Canadas International Education Strategy goal of 450,000 international students in Canada by 2022, five years ahead of schedule.

Our research shows that international students choose Canada because of the quality of the Canadian education system and our reputation as a safe and tolerant country, said McBride.

This reputation is especially attractive now, given a changing global climate, and 95% of international students tell us they would recommend Canada to family and friends. Moreover, the strong focus of our member institutions across the country on effectively supporting international students is a hallmark of Canadas approach, one that we continually strive to improve. 

The total number of post-secondary students in Canada is 370,975, a 20% jump over December 31, 2016 (308,745). Canada now holds the fourth highest spot as receiver of post-secondary international students after the US, UK, and China, surpassing Australia and France.

The report  QS Applicant Survey 2018: What drives an international student today?  released annually by global international education think tank Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), examines the destination preferences and study motivations of more than 16,000 prospective international students across the world.

Among prospective international students from the Asia-Pacific region, the US has a weaker hold and the UK drops from second to fourth, and now lags behind Australia (second) and Canada (third).

Among international applicants from Africa and the Middle East, the UK is replaced in the second spot by Canada.

Among Eastern European international applicants, Canada has risen from fifth to fourth, with the UK replaced in first place by the US for the first time since QS began the survey.

Among Western European respondents, Canada replaces the Netherlands as the fifth-most-preferred destination, though the proximity of France and Germany still makes these countries preferable to Canada among students in this region.

The reports author and QS Market Insights Manager, Dasha Karzunina, said: With top student destinations remaining relatively stable over the last few years, it is interesting to see student preferences change this year, particularly in the context of the recent geopolitical events in the US and the UK. 

Worldwide, Australia replaced Germany in fourth place and New Zealand jumped up two positions from 12th to 10th. This could indicate that students who previously would have chosen the US or the UK are now actively considering Australia and Canada as suitable alternatives, the report says.

The fact that the US and the UK remain the top study destinations shows that despite political uncertainties, the prestige of institutions in these countries just about outweighs concerns about visas, opportunities to stay and work, and feeling unwelcome, the report says.

The report said emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa and the Middle East are increasing the capacity of higher education systems to attract international students, encourage student exchange and boost economic growth.

Of the 16,560 people surveyed, 6,715 are applicants interested in undergraduate studies, 6,606 interested in masters courses, and 1,366 interested in obtaining a PhD.By Isabel Inclan

New Canadian Media

It is no secret Canada is aiming to increase its immigration numbers over the next three years. The Liberal government will look to hit a target annual intake of 340,000 new immigrants by 2020. A number that stretches far beyond what the country has been able to reach within the past couple of decades, but still falls short of the 450,000 figure that was recommended by the federal governments advisory council.

Immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussein, has pointed to the growing demand for skilled labour. However, with data that shows there are former engineers, doctors, and architects working as cab drivers, there are those that are seemingly already falling through the cracks in todays job market.

Eugenia Gomez, once a researcher in infectology at the National Institute of Nutrition of Mexico, she now cleans residential homes in Toronto.

My job was to work with the reagents, processed samples and special solution[s] for the scientific studies, she recalls during one of her breaks. A specialist on a stomach bacterium called Helicobacter pylori, she has had trouble finding work in her field, despite credentials from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Prior to her current position, she worked at a local Tim Hortons. A graduate of Chemical Pharmaceutical Biology, she hopes to one day return to her previous career.

After a brief pause to lace up her sneakers  ideal shoes for six hours of cleaning  she heads back to finish off her shift.

Others offer similar experiences in their job searches. Maria Alvarez, who was a regional sales director at an international cosmetology company based out of Latin America, has faced the same issue. With over 10 years of experience in business development, sales training, and leadership roles, she has been unable to find anything that matches her skill set. And not for lack of trying, since her arrival in 2014, she has held numerous positions as a housekeeper, overnight cleaning lady, night attendant, and concierge.

I have distributed my curriculum vitae (resume) with many people, but until now nobody called me. I just need one opportunity to show my skills as saleswoman, she says.

Looking for a better way to make ends meet she finally decided to give driving for Uber a try, which she still does to this day.

The income as a driver is not too bad if you are alone and work full time. In the last year and a half, I have made six thousand trips and my rating is 4.85 stars of 5, Alvarez boasts. Although it is not what she envisioned, she stands proudly behind the fact that she can provide for herself working nine-hour shifts six days out of the week.

As a small sample of the female talent that has gone unrecognized, these women provide insight into the growing issue of Canadian experience that most immigrants lack.

Paola Gomez, the founder of the Network of Latina Women in Canada, maintains that although many Latina women are grateful for the opportunity presented by living in this country, there can be a steep price. For those with extensive experience or higher educations in their home countries, it can be difficult to find work within the same stream, which usually reduces them to survival jobs.

In some instances, Canadas reputation can actually hurt those who over-estimate the reach of the developmental programs in place. Claudia*, who immigrated from Mexico, explains that she was under the impression it would be easier to find employment once she moved.

I wanted to be independent of my family. I thought it will be easier to find a job in Canada, similar to what I had in my country, but it wasn't, she says.

Previously a manager of a bank teller division, she still remembers how hard she pushed herself to climb the rungs. Now a cleaner, she spends her day's mop in hand, moving around various residential and commercial buildings. To make matters worse, her supervisors are extremely unpleasant and a portion of her pay goes to a placement agency.

I just need an opportunity in a company to show my skills. I know I can be selected in Canada as well I did in my country, Alvarez states.

Maria Alvarez was able to build a career based on her professional experience abroad without a post-secondary education. She argues that a lack of a degree should not prevent potential candidates from consideration. In her opinion, companies should keep some openings for immigrants without certification but with enough technical knowledge to compete for the positions.

While furthering ones education is always an option, working survival jobs does not always provide the best financial flexibility. Even with support programs, many immigrants can have issues with the reduced schooling rates and the fact that they may not be able to work as many hours during that time frame.

The problem is if I get the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) I would not live with the same standard I have now worked as [an] Uber driver, Maria Alvarez explains. Sitting behind the wheel of her car she adds, I would like to study Dental Hygienists or Digital Marketing.

For Eugenia Gomez family obligations as well as monetary limitations have discouraged her from adding to her Mexican credentials.

We arrive in Canada with many dreams and eager to work. In the beginning, we accept all kind of jobs because we have to pay rent, but when we want to try something else we are faced with the Canadian experience requirement that is difficult for immigrants, she explains.

The mother of two now prioritizes her sons as opposed to her own professional opportunities.

Whereas others like Claudia, are maintaining up to two jobs as they save for fees that will regularize their immigration status.

In the Latin American community as well as many other immigrant groups, there is talent, experience, and professional skills that can go unnoticed. The government has attempted to eliminate the barrier that is Canadian experience, but as cases continue to arise, it seems a more concrete solution must be found.

Paola Gomez states that although these women face several professional obstacles of their own, they are content with the sacrifices they are making for their children.

We need a more real political and societal intention, the intention of including Latina women into the workforce in ways that they can reach their full potential and Canadian society can benefit from it. Not only because of the betterment of the nation's economy but also because it gives a higher sense of belonging with the new home, she concludes.

Isabel Inclan is a journalist with three decades of experience in Mexico and in Canada. She currently works as a Foreign Correspondent for Notimex News Agency.

This piece originally appeared in New Canadian Media.

See http://mailgate.newcanadianmedia.ca/component/k2/43090-barriers-stop-women-from-reaching-fuACCC approves Saputo acquisition of Murray Goulburn





The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will not oppose Saputos acquisition of Saputo after Saputo offered to sell Murray Goulburns Koroit dairy processing plant.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had raised concern that if Canadian beverage giant Saputo was to acquire Murray Goulburn (MG) there would be less competition for raw milk in south-west Victoria and south-east South Australia.

The ACCC was concerned as Saputo already owns Warrnambool Cheese and Butter and the acquisition would have given Saputo the regions two largest dairy processing plants.

Chairman of the ACCC, Rod Sims, said the offer to sell the plant has remedied the ACCCs concerns.

The undertaking creates an opportunity for a viable competing milk processor to enter or expand in the local region, Sims said.

When approving a new owner of Koroit, we will focus on its ability to be a strong and effective competitor for raw milk in the region

Sims said that the ACCC had carefully considered responses from a broad range of market participants when examining the acquisition.

We heard from and spoke with many farmers who expressed concerns with the ACCC intervening in this transaction in the short term because they wanted certainty and stability after a bumpy ride with Murray Goulburn, Sims said.

I want to assure them that our aim is to put in place an outcome that works in their best interest by promoting competition in the medium to longer term while minimising short term uncertainty.

MG has confirmed that Saputo selling Koroit will not affect the terms of MGs sale to Saputo, including the consideration MG shareholders will receive from the sale.

The sale of MG to Saputo is subject to conditions that include approval by an ordinary resolution of MGs voting shareholders and approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Related articlesDessert inspired flavoured milks launched by Coca-Cola



The new Barista Bros Cafe Creations flavoured milk

Coca-Cola South Pacific has launched a new dessert inspired flavoured milk range under its Barista Bros brand.

The new Bros Cafe Creations is influenced by decadent flavours and desserts and includes three flavours across its range including Toffee Almond Panna Cotta, Butterscotch Brownie and Dark Chocolate Fudge.

Coca-Cola says it launched Cafe Creations to attract new male and female consumers to the flavoured milk category. The launch also comes after the successful introduction of Barista Bros Mocha chocolate flavoured coffee in 2017.

Samples to be distributed through Uber Eats and Deliveroo

The launch of Barista Bros Cafe Creations will be supported with in-store, out of home and online advertising. Free samples will also be given away with Deliveroo and Uber Eats deliveries.

Barista Bros Brand Manager, Jason Wu said Coca-Cola will be playing into the hands of dessert lovers around Australia with Cafe Creations.

With these new flavours, the deliciousness is in the detail, Wu said.

We are excited to bring them into and expand Barista Bros portfolio.

All three flavours in the Cafe Creations range are available now at grocery, retail, petrol and convenience stores across Australia.

Related articlesFIAL launches UK Grocery Accelerator Program





Food Innovation Australia Limited has launched a UK Grocery Accelerator Program to help Australian food exporters establish themselves successfully in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The 12-month pilot program is a collaboration between Food Innovational Australia Limited (FIAL) and Grocery Accelerator, a UK program that helps food and grocery companies in a similar manner to technology accelerators.

The UK Grocery Accelerator Program will be tailored to each participating company and provides end-to-end support such as documentation requirements and the identification of potential trade buyers, distributors and export partners.

The program will further provide mentoring from the Grocery Accelerators team of local industry experts, monthly webinars and access to consumer insight tools to test how a brand may perform in the UK.

FIAL General Manager Commercial, Rod Arenas said the UK Grocery Accelerator Program will provide exporters with the knowledge, capabilities and connections needed to succeed in the UK and Europe.

This pilot program aims to reduce the cost and exposure to businesses of trying to break into the UK and European markets through facilitating meetings with buyers, including the negotiation process for securing a deal to get products onto shelves, Arenas said.

The Program will be highly customised to individual company needs, taking into account their varying levels of market knowledge and experience.

Companies interested in the UK Grocery Accelerator Program can find out more information and register interest here.

Related articlesWayne Farley, fleet manager, Ranger Construction Industries

Wayne Farley was named fleet manager for Ranger Construction Industries, Inc. He assumed this position in February. Ranger Construction is a major road building, asphalt paving, and excavation contractor serving the central and southeast areas of Florida.

Prior to joining Ranger Construction, Farley was the director of fleet services for Verizon. He retired from Verizon in May of 2017. He was based in Basking Ridge, N.J. While at Verizon, Farley managed six direct reports, 750 full-time employees who operated 281 maintenance locations in 12 states. When Farley joined Verizon in Sept. 2011, the company had a fleet of 42,000 vehicles.

Earlier, Farley was the fleet administration manager for American Electric Power (AEP) in Columbus, Ohio, where he worked from 2008 to 2011. While at AEP, Farley managed a $140 million annual budget encompassing 67 garages, and seven fleet regional operations. In addition, Farley managed AEPs fleet corporate sustainability initiative and monitored mobile carbon emissions.Officials in Malaysia and Philippines are monitoring ride-hailing group Grab, after it acquired Ubers Southeast Asia business last week.

According to Arab News, Malaysias Competition Commission (MCC) is monitoring Grab for possible anti-competitive behavior. As part of the acquisition, Ubers 27.5% stake in the Singapore-based raised some red flags with countrys watchdog group.

The MCC said it will monitor Grab for any unfair practices or sudden fare increases.

Similarly, the Philippine Competition Commission is monitoring the acquisition, Vietnam Plus reports. Officials told the news group the deal allows Grab to have a virtual monopoly in the ride-sharing market, and that it plans to investigate with the transaction will significantly reduce competition.Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Clear skies. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. Low 66F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Clear skies. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.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.A Gulfport man was arrested last week in Philadelphia for allegedly kidnapping a 12-year-old girl to engage in sexual activities, authorities said.

Gulfport man charged with kidnapping of 12-year-old girl

Liam Heim traveled to Philly to engage in sexual activities with minor

Liam Heim, 21, is facing a slew of charges including kidnapping, child endangerment, and transporting a minor for sex.

Authorities said the 12-year-old girl had been reported missing by her parents on Thursday, March 29. She was last seen at Collingswood Middle School and was observed by the Collingswood Patco Speedline station traveling with Heim around 2 p.m.

Law enforcement located the missing girl and Heim in a hotel located on Bartram Avenue in Philadelphia on March 30.

Heim was arrested without incident and is being held on pending Federal Charges at the Federal Detention Center. He has a detention hearing set for Thursday.

The Philadelphia Anit-Human Trafficking Task Force is assisting in the investigation.A Miami man has been arrested in connection with the stealing of an urn containing the ashes of a retired Lakeland police officer.

Sheriff Grady Judd says alleged thief in custody

Urn was stolen from woman's home March 29

PREVIOUS: Authorities look for clues in theft of officer's ashes



The Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested Daniel Cardona, 27, in Miami for four residential burglaries he allegedly committed in the Lakeland and Bartow areas, including the one in which the urn containing the remains of retired Lakeland Police Officer Buddy Newsome was taken.

"It was like I lost him all over again. I lost him to cancer and then to an intruder," said Michele Newsome, the widow.

Sheriff Grady Judd said Cardona was in the U.S. from Honduras. He said he was renting cars in Miami and then driving throughout the state burglarizing homes in upscale neighborhoods.

"But he made a fatal mistake," Judd said. "He came to Polk County."

PCSO detectives obtained video showing the car Cardona was driving. They then tracked the car to Miami, where they found Cardona and arrested him.

Evidence from some of the Lakeland area burglaries was found inside the rental vehicle, along with the urn.

"The Sheriff says this was a miracle. It was miraculous. I agree 100 percent,"said Newsome.

Newsome said she never lost faith the urn would be found.

"I knew I would get it back," she said. "In my heart, I just knew it."

Sheriff Judd and the detectives who worked on the case presented her with the urn.

Cardona, 27, faces charges that include burglary of a dwelling, grand theft, consipiracy to commit burglary and destroying of a monument or gravestone.

Detectives are now working with law enforcement agencies in Brevard, Citrus, Hernando, Marion, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, St. John's and Volusia counties to see if Cardona was involved in burglaries there as well.The State Attorney's Office said Wednesday there will be no charged against a Hillsborough County principal after a reported altercation with a student.

No charges will be filed against principal Michael Hoskinson

13-year-old boy had accused principal of grabbing him

PREVIOUS: Principal re-assigned as police investigate child abuse allegations



Michael Hoskinson, the principal of Coleman Middle School, had been accused by a 13-year-old student of grabbing him and throwing into a bush.

The allegation surfaced March 21. Hoskinson was re-assigned during the investigation.



Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said in late March that detectives interviewed the student who made the 911 call, along with 11 other students and four adults.

"We commend TPD for conducting a thorough and efficient investigation," the State's Attorney's Office said in a news release. "After carefully reviewing every allegation, fact, and detail of that investigation, we have determined that there is no legal basis to file charges against the principal."

A child abuse charge against Hoskinson was dropped back in January in a different case. In that instance, Hoskinson and his wife were accused of bruising the ribs of a child and sending a threatening text message.

Detectives later learned those allegations were false.The nation and countries around the world will pause Wednesday to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King was killed 50 years ago Wednesday: April 4, 1968

In 1961, MLK visited Tampa to speak

LIVESTREAM: MLK50 Day of Remembrance and Commemoration Ceremony

Tampa Bay History Museum

The civil rights icon was shot and killed 50 years ago today in Memphis, Tennessee.

Seven years before his death, King visited Tampa.

In 1961, he spoke to thousands of people at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, now the Tampa Jewish Community Center.

"His speech was impressive," Doris Reddick said, who attended the event. "It was very heartwarming."

Reddick said her cousin worked hard to bring King to the Bay area. The national civil rights leader came to the armory to be the keynote speaker for the NAACP First Fall Freedom Rally. It was an event aimed to boost membership for the NAACP.

He just said it was our time, said Clarence Fort, who was then President of the Youth Council for the local chapter of the NAACP. We had to keep moving forward. We could not let up because if we let up we lose what we already gained. It was a motivational thing.

The visit came before his famous "I Have A Dream" speech but it was still a big deal at the time.

"It was really an encouraging and inspiring speech," said Rodney Kite-Powell, a historian with the Tampa Bay History Center. "I mean there had been progress but there was still quite a bit of progress to come.

While his speech was a step toward progress, it was still controversial.

"We got a lot of push back from the white community," Fort said. "They called him a rebel rouser, a trouble maker."

Around 4,000 blacks and white traveled to the Armory to hear Kind speak. However, before people sat in their seats, the place had to be evacuated because of bomb scare. Once they realized there was no bomb, the crowd returned and King was able to deliver his speech.

"I don't remember exactly the words he said, but I was so enthralled with the fact that Martin Luther King was here," Reddick said.

After his 35 minute speech, King received a standing ovation. A well deserved response for such an inspiring speech.

"I just think, I didn't really know until he spoke the rights we should have been enjoying and what we were being kept from enjoying," Fort said.

"(At the time) schools weren't fully integrated by any modern consideration of that word, stores were still being integrated. Beaches, public pools, things like that hadn't been fully integrated yet. And people could lose faith after fighting for years after not seeing the accomplishments that they want to see. But Dr. King gave them that hope and they fought through and continued that struggle for civil rights," Kite-Powell said.

No film exists of the visit and in fact, only one picture of the event remains in local archives.

Still, the visit was integral in the integration effort that was ongoing in Tampa. King's speech aimed to give hope to local African-American leaders as they continued their fight for civil rights.

A year before, in 1960, organizers had already held peaceful sit-ins at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Tampa.

Remembrances are taking place throughout the day Wednesday at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, the site of King's death. Other local, national, and international remembrances of King are taking place at 6:01 p.m. Central Time, the moment of his shooting.The Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested James Viele, Jr. Tuesday for allegedly possessing hundreds of files of child pornography and possibly accessing thousands more.

Deputies reportedly found 274 suspected child porn files on laptop

Viele admitted to downloading child porn files since he was a teen

Viele also charged with one count of transmitting child pornography

A Pasco Sheriffs arrest report states investigators found 274 suspected child porn files on Vieles laptop. They reviewed 22 of those files and found graphic videos, some involving children younger than five years old, engaged in sex acts.

An IP address linked to Vieles home also may have accessed child pornography files at least 2,529 times in October and 18,779 times in March.

According to the report, Viele admitted to downloading such files since he was 17 years old. He also reportedly told investigators he would use search terms like 1 yo (year old) 2yo 3yo.

This is not the first time Viele has been in trouble with the law for an alleged sex-related crime involving a child. Pasco County Sheriffs records show he was arrested in April 2012 and charged with lewd and lascivious battery and child abuse for allegedly impregnating a 14-year-old.

The case was dropped a month later. According to court documents, the state attorneys office investigated and found that the facts and circumstances revealed do not warrant prosecution at this time.

Its a really, really disturbing case when you have somebody who admittedly has committed some of these acts in the past and has not been in any way stopped from doing that in the future, said Pasco Kids First President and CEO Rick Hess. The non-profit organization provides services for child abuse victims.

Hess said his team conducted more than 200 forensic interviews with children last year in an effort to produce the most complete information possible. That information was then passed on to prosecutors to help them build strong cases.

We understand the challenges that our colleagues in the sheriffs office and the state attorneys office have with these cases and that type of thing, butits very, very frustrating for us, Hess said.

The arrest report states Viele denies abusing any of his three children, who are all younger than six years old. The document goes on to say, He also admitted that if he did not seek help that he could possibly sexually abuse a child in the future.

Viele is charged with 21 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of transmission of child pornography. Hes in jail on $1.1 million bond.School safety talks heat up again on Wednesday in Orlando, as U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson will meet with teachers and students as well as school administrators to address the latest efforts in Congress to curb gun violence.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, teachers will be joined by other lawmakers

Talks will focus on curbing gun violence, keeping students safe

Roundtable to held at 2 p.m. at Lynx offices

The Democratic senator will have a lot to talk about at the Lynx offices, with school safety a main topic.

Recently, Nelson pushed for a measure to address school safety and gun violence. It was a part of a spending bill President Donald Trump signed into law in the last couple of weeks.

And Nelson is not alone in his efforts to keep students safe in school and also curb gun violence. U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch is also working on universal background checks and a ban on assault rifles.

"Universal background checks is supported by almost everyone in America including the overwhelming majority of members of the National Rifle Association," the Democrat said. "There is no reason that we shouldn't pass that now. Banning weapons of war, banning high capacity magazines are steps that should be taken. Now."

Nelson also joined Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio recently to introduce a bipartisan "red-flag" bill in Congress.

It would encourage states to pass legislation that allows law enforcement to take guns from people they consider potential threats. Florida already passed a red-flag law.

Wednesday's roundtable is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.What Are These Curious Branch-Like Patterns on Oregon Coast Beaches?

Published 04/03/2018 at 7:15 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff





(Oregon Coast)  What does the Oregon coast have in common with Mars? The answer is something in plain sight, and its so connected to things on both a grander and tinier scale at the same time that its downright head-spinning. (Above: Thiel Creek near Newport).

It all started with Oregon Coast Beach Connection (OCBC) reader Brenda Vanderpool sending along a photo of some curious, intensely intricate patterns in the sand at a very hidden spot called Winema Beach (near Neskowin). It looked like a tiny set of branches in the sand, gleaming in a unique way. She asked what it could be, and when OCBC asked some experts, the first response was that it had to be frozen sand. It was not frozen, she assured us. Indeed, it turned out this was a detail from a small stream in the sand.



Above: photos courtesy Brenda Vanderpool. At left, showing the patterns closeup. At right, a wider view.

The final (and amazing) answer came from Seaside geologist Tom Horning: its a very tiny drainage system at the edges of the stream. Even more amazing, its not water draining out of a stream, but draining into it. Youd expect all those smaller branch-like ends to be where the water is coming out, but thats where the water starts.

Its called dendritic drainage, and its an astounding microcosm for all kinds of river systems  incredibly scaleable in a way that boggles the mind.

The photo shows small tributary streams getting started in wet saturated sand, Horning said. The water leaks out of the sand to flow over the surface, usually soon after a wave pulls off or near a creek where ground water is in the sand. As it flows down slope, it incises a tiny channel, into which a secondary tributary channel then grows, first at the edge of the first channel and propagating up slope. If enough time allows, even a third or fourth set of tiny tributaries form. This is called a dendritic drainage formation and frequently they look like feathers or tree branches. On land, dendritic drainages can extend for miles but essentially start this way and then grow, starting a pattern that persists as long as the mountain erodes.

Indeed, take a look at rivers as seen from satellites in space. Youll see exactly the same feathered pattern. This dynamic of drainage exists on the very tiny scale of grains of sand on the Oregon coast all the way up to massive rivers around the globe. You even see it on Mars, Horning pointed out.

Horning said Vanderpools photo must be catching the light gleaming off the water in a particular way that creates that frozen sheen look. Its more commonly seen with the look in this photo of Thiel Creek, located just south of Newport.

Theres much more going on here than just that feathery pattern of water draining away. A lot of minerals in the sand help create these patterns as well, creating the different colors.

The darkest stuff is a lot of magnetite, Horning said. Thats some of the heaviest materials on any beach. The next darkest stuff is the somewhat brownish, greenish patterns and thats the next heaviest materials, called pyroxene (its formed in lava). The lighter colored sand is quartz and feldspar, the lightest of the materials.

Each has a different density, and they can coalesce together because of wind as well, creating other patterns in other areas of any given beach.

When the sand is saturated with water it leaks out and rolls the sand grains along, and when its rolled it washes away, leaving the black stuff, Horning said. It just continues and leaves behind the greenish brown stuff, and when it cant reach any further it just stops eroding away.

There is an amazing amount of stuff going on in just the Newport photo, Horning explained. First, the rock you see has so many holes (see photo at bottom) in it because it once hosted lots of shelled sea creatures. You see many of these formations in the rocks around Yachats or Cape Kiwanda, all of which are millions and millions of years old.

Again, the rest of the action here is a tiny microcosm of river action.

Those patterns you see are very subtle indicators of current velocity in just that tiny rivulet of water leaking out of the beach there, Horning said.

The rock has a moat around it with standing water, and then theres slightly deeper water around that rock.

Thats cut a channel and thats allowed little rivulets to form and drain as little tributaries into the deeper water, Horning said.

It makes your head swim a bit to look at this and realize youre looking at a microscopic version of a river. Horning added that just like rivers, these teensy tributaries are a much smaller iteration of the little landslides that happen along riverbanks as well.

What youre looking at is a common thing worldwide, Horning said. Its the same thing you find on Mars. More of these patterns below. Oregon Coast Hotels for this - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours.











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All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permittedRiver Cleanup and Stellar Concert on Central Oregon Coast in April

Published 04/03/2018 at 4:25 PM PDT - Updated 04/03/2018 at 4:45 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff





(Lincoln City, Oregon)  The central Oregon coast provides two fun ways to engage yourself in the Lincoln City area this month, with a river clean-up to get you back to nature and a particularly fascinating music concert. (Above: Siletz River, just south of Lincoln City).

This weekend the Lincoln City Cultural Center brings some innovative sounds from South America to the Oregon coast, with the Brazilian Strings Trio showing up on April 7 at 7 p.m.

The Brazilian Strings Trio (formerly known as the Brazilian Violin Trio) joins three of the most innovative instrumentalists on the contemporary Brazilian musical scene. Ted Falcon and Andrew Finn Magill are both multi-genre American violinists who after years of living in Brazil have become ambassadors of the growing Brazilian violin movement. Rounding out the trio is Brazilian guitarist Nando Duarte, a giant of the contemporary Brazilian music scene and an award-winning composer and arranger.

Violinist and mandolinist Ted Falcon has released eight CDs, performed with many Brazilian legends including Hermeto Pascoal, Hamilton de Holanda and Dominguinhos and regularly with his various musical projects including 3 Violinos, 3 Continentes, Gypsy Jazz Club and the duo Ted and Pablo, a partnership with harmonica player Pablo Fagundes.

All-Ireland fiddle finalist Andrew Finn the Fiddler Magill has watched his career surge ever since the 2016 release of his 2-disc concept album Roots & Branches (debuting at #46 on the Folk DJ charts). Magill has carved out a name for himself in Irish, American and Brazilian music and has taught these traditions at more than a dozen fiddle camps all over the world.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, 7-string guitarist Nando Duarte, has become one of the leaders of Brazils popular music re-awakening with Dino 7 cordas as his mentor and Luiz Otavio Braga and Helio Delmiro among his professors.

Doors to the auditorium, inside the historic Delake School at 540 NE Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City, will open at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $15 in advance, and $17 at the door, $10 for youth ages 18 and under, with a $2 discount for current LCCC members. Reserve online on the centers website, lincolncityculturalcenter.org, or in person at the LCCC Information Center, open 9 am to 5 pm Thursday-Monday.

The LCCC offers soft drinks, sweet treats and snacks, along with Northwest beer and wine, before the show and during intermission. All proceeds go to the nonprofit LCCC, which exists to provide arts, culture and community programs for the people of north Lincoln County. To become a member or to learn more about supporting the LCCC, call 541-994-9994.

The big beach clean-up on the Oregon coast may have just finished up but there is more to do on the rivers of the Lincoln City area. The MidCoast and Siletz Watershed Councils are putting together a clean-up the Siletz River on Saturday April 14 from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. The meeting and ending point is Hee Hee Illahee park on Hwy 229 and Gaither St at the south entrance to Siletz (about two miles inland and ten miles south of Lincoln City on Hwy 229).

Organizers say the event is a great way to give back to the river that everyone enjoys, with people bringing their drift boats and friends to clean-up from the water side while others clean-up from the land-side. Garbage bags and work gloves are provided by SOLVE. Registration with coffee and donuts begins a bit before 9 a.m. and at 2 p.m. there is chili, hot dog, sodas and other snacks. A raffle of donated prizes for clean-up volunteers will also be an additional reward.

This year, the groups are working with SOLVE and pre-registration is available. Organizers request you pre-register if possible so they can get a decent estimate of how many volunteers to expect - click on this link. For more information: Evan Hayduk, 541-265-9195, evan@midcoastwatershedscouncil.org. - Lincoln City Hotels/Lodgings for these events - Where to eat - Map and Virtual Tour

















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All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted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, April 4, 2018 Contact: Taylor McKinnon, (801) 300-2414, tmckinnon@biologicaldiversity.org

Protest Challenges Massive Water Grab Threatening Utah's Green River, Endangered Fish SALT LAKE CITY The Center for Biological Diversity filed a protest today with Utahs state engineer challenging a water-rights application from Water Horse Resources to pump nearly 18 billion gallons of water each year from Utahs Green River over the Rocky Mountains to Colorados Front Range. The plan is the second attempt by would-be water developer Aaron Million to pump water from the Green River to the Front Range. Millions first plan was rejected twice by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2012 following challenges by conservation groups and others. This is another private water-mining boondoggle that hurts everyone but water barons, said the Centers Taylor McKinnon. Its bad for people who depend on the Green River, its bad for endangered fish, and its bad for the state of Utah. Weve given the state engineer a long list of reasons to reject this application and thats exactly what he should do. Todays protest states that the application violates state law by failing to identify beneficial uses of the water and by exacerbating water shortages. The withdrawal would overallocate water in the Green River, a tributary of the Colorado River, and add to climate-driven flow declines. The application is predicated on using Colorados apportionment under the Upper Colorado River Compact, but provides no evidence that Colorado has agreed, or will agree, to this. The water withdrawals would occur below Flaming Gorge Dam in a part of the Green River that is critical to the recovery of Colorado pikeminnow and other endangered fish. The withdrawal would reduce river flows designed to help increase the fish population at a time when failure to meet recovery flows already imperils the fish. Drought is expected to cause low river flows throughout the Upper Colorado River Basin this year. Download a copy of todays protest.For Immediate Release, April 4, 2018 Contact: Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746, nick@cascwild.org

Tierra Curry, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 522-3681, tcurry@biologicaldiversity.org Coastal Trapping Ban Sought to Protect Oregon's Vanishing Humboldt Martens New Study Finds Traps Could Wipe Out Imperiled Otter Relative PORTLAND, Ore. Five conservation groups filed a rulemaking petition today asking the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to ban trapping of Humboldt martens in Oregons coastal forests. The petition follows a new study that found that trapping could easily wipe out the species in the state. Humboldt martens are under review for federal Endangered Species Act protection, but they can still be trapped for their fur in Oregon even though fewer than 100 survive here in the Siuslaw and Siskiyou national forests. California banned the trapping of these secretive, mid-sized forest carnivores in 1946. Humboldt martens have been driven to the brink of extinction by logging and development of their old-growth forest habitat and historical over-trapping, said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. Banning trapping is a critical first step to prevent the imminent eradication of the species from the state. A newly published scientific study concluded that Humboldt martens are so rare in Oregon that trapping just two to three individuals could result in wiping out the population on the central coast. In addition to trapping, Humboldt martens are threatened by vehicle collisions on Highway 101 and ongoing logging of mature forest habitat. The state needs to follow the new science and stop the trapping of these cute and ferocious animals, said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. It would be tragic if Humboldt martens were lost for future generations of Oregonians. Relatives of minks and otters, Humboldt martens are found only in old-growth forest and dense coastal shrub in southern and central coastal Oregon and northern California. The cat-like animals were thought to be extinct until they were rediscovered on the Six Rivers National Forest in 1996. Today they survive only in three small isolated populations of fewer than 100 individuals each  one in northern California, one straddling the border and one in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.



There are two subspecies of Pacific martens in Oregon. Humboldt martens on the coast are critically imperiled, but interior martens from the Cascades and eastern mountain ranges are not imperiled. The petition seeks a ban on trapping west of Interstate 5. Todays petition was filed by Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Protection Information Center, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Oregon Wild. The department has 90 days to initiate rulemaking or deny the petition. Martens are typically 2 feet long and have large, triangular ears and a long tail. They eat small mammals, berries and birds and are eaten by larger mammals and raptors.On the last day of the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) Global Gathering 2018 in Kigali the focus shifted to "Breakthroughs from across the world," looking first at how indigenous crops on the continent could be harnessed to meet the challenge of climate change and food scarcity.

NEF closing ceremony. Image supplied.

First database of underutilised crops

The skill to master gene modification

Changing the way we learn

Manifesto for smart cities

New model for a healthy Africa

High impact innovations win big

2020 in Nairobi

Dr Sayed Azam-Ali, the chief executive and founder of Crops for the Future, explained the necessity for science and technology to be used to access and retain the knowledge of "super foods" naturally found in Africa by using climate solutions to translate that knowledge into contemporary practices.Crops for the Future has designed biotechnology applications for the genetic improvement of underutilised crops, as well as a database capturing crops and agricultural methods of remote rural farmers that often only exists orally.The company then applies this knowledge to grow the crops industrially and modify them into consumer products."When an African farmer dies it said that an entire library dies with her," Ali said as he introduced his company's research into the genetic mapping and archiving of crops such as the Bambara groundnut  a drought-resistant plant with antioxidant properties originating in West Africa, with a nutritional value higher than that of fresh cow's milk and soybeans."There are four crops that Africa needs to survive in the future and unfortunately those plants are not found on the continent. What we have done is developed the first database of underutilised crops. We can turn this pyramid around and put these indigenous crops back on top of the pyramid."In the discussion "Feeding the World" director at the World Bank for Food and Agriculture, Dr Simeon Ehui warned that "yield decline of cereal crops in Africa could reach about 27 percent to as much as 50 percent due to climate change"."We need to do much more. Climate change does not have any borders," Ehui warned. The response from NEF fellow and biotech specialist Dr Sanushka Naidoo was a call for more coordinated research into genetic modification to improve crops and yields."We can select drought-resistant varieties using genetic markers. We can look at the genome specifics. We are also looking at how to use gene editing to look at the susceptibility of certain plants," said Dr Naidoo, whose research at the University of Pretoria focuses on mechanisms to produce long-lasting resistance to pests and pathogens in certain crops."Do we have the skill to master gene modification? If we don't we are doomed," concluded Dr Ousmane Badiane, Africa director at the International Food Policy Research Institute.On diseases, the NEF audience heard of Professor Chamindie Punyadeera's use of saliva samples, rather than blood or other invasive procedures, to detect oropharyngeal cancers, the sixth most common cancer in the world."Give it another five years and you'll see doctors and dentists using these techniques. This should increase the chances of opportunistic testing," Punyadeera said, adding that detection of HPV virus, a prevalent and easily contracted sexually transmitted virus that can lead to cancer, could be decreased by using saliva detection.The cost of saliva testing kits was currently at around $40 per kit, but that was coming down as its application became widespread, Punyadeera said.The agenda of the forum then switched to the intersection of science and culture and how scientific endeavour could be enriched by paying attention to the processes and systems by which knowledge is acquired and communicated.Ghanaian health policy expert and NEF fellow Dr Aku Kwamie captured the thrust of the "Changing the way we learn" topic, arguing for a fluid approach to science curriculums that focussed on multiple interventions in the teaching sector, and included the family, government and the individual motivation of teachers and their students."We need to re-respect the teaching profession," Kwamie said."We need to develop reflexive thinking in our teachers and students. This takes a collaborative effort of government, teachers and every stakeholder in this sector. We must respect our teachers and remember they have dreams, aspirations and families."Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and president-elect of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Jose Moura said that teachers needed to instil a "fearless feeling that failing is not an issue"."We need to instil in them the audacity of failure, of trial and error," Moura said, adding that in the era of big data and the growing ability to capture large amounts of information, the focus needed to be on building structures to nurture scientists that can interpret and apply the data.Senegal's Minister of Higher Education and Research Mary Teuw Niane titillated the audience when he suggested that witchdoctors used binary mathematics to make their predictions, before turning to the serious issue of developing indigenous knowledge systems and languages to teach the science and Stem subjects at an early age."We must see cities as living systems," declared Professor Eliane Ubalijoro of McGill University at the panel discussion on how urban planning, technology and scientific research could be combined to create smart and sustainable cities.According to World Bank data no country has ever attained middle-income status without urban population growth. Africa's urban population is currently estimated at over half a billion, matching growth rates seen in Asia. Urban growth, however, is not always painless for policymakers and the general public.Jean-Philbert Nsengimana, special advisor to the executive director at Smart Africa, said the goal was to build cities where "citizens, leaders and policymakers use data to make cities safe, efficient, livable and sustainable".Professor Hamidou Tembine, a NEF fellow, is using game theory  the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers - to further the pursuit of smarter cities.The final session of the Forum, titled "The Future of Health", explored the barriers to wide deployment of personalised health in Africa, zooming in on practical and policy solutions that will deliver flexible and affordable health solutions.The Babyl Rwanda smartphone application, an artificial intelligence-enabled platform that combines mobile technology and the clinical expertise of real-life doctors to widen access to healthcare, stole the show as an example of the dial-a-doctor ethos at the core of precision medicine.The precision medicine model proposes customised healthcare, with medical decisions, treatments, practices, or products being tailored to individual patients, and has been championed by NEF as a means to tackle health deficiencies on the continent.Chief executive of Babyl Tracey McNeil described the application as "community based health workers with a doctors brain," explaining how 850,000 Rwandan were already using the app which allows them to book appointments, receive prescriptions as well have real-time access to their medical history."Having a doctor in your pocket is helping us to get to the bottom of the pyramid," McNeil said."You cannot create a proper health system without the three P's: personalised, predictive and preventative medicine," Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, vice chancellor at the University of Global Health Equity.The NEF Global Gathering 2018 closed with the final pitches for the NEF Challenge Innovation to Implementation (Ci2i) in Deeptech, climate-smart and personalised health innovations, each finalist vying for the $25,000 prize.Malawi's Rachel Sibande's "Light from Maize" won in the climate category for her idea of using maize cobs to generate electricity. Dr. Conrad Tankou won in the personalised health field for the invention of a digital microscope that connects a smartphone to scan for cervical and breast cancer remotely, uploading the data on to the cloud for doctors kilometres away for analysis. Professor Abdoulaye Banire Diallo's precision genome analysis project won in the deeptech category."We raised the bar a little bit higher with this edition. Nairobi is going to be a higher standard of excellence" said NEF founder and chairman Thierry Zomahoun while announcing plans to start a $1m fund to award scientific breakthroughs on the continent under the auspices of the Forum and its partners."This was an opportunity for our leaders to show high-level commitment to science," said Rwandan minister of education Eugene Mutimura at the closing ceremony.The 2020 Next Einstein Forum will be held in Nairobi, Kenya.Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and its partners Agence France Presse (AFP), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Global Editors Network (GEN) have just launched an innovative media self-regulatory initiative designed to combat disinformation online - called the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI).

European Broadcasting Union . (L-R) Jean-Francois Legendre, AFNOR, Olaf Steenfadt JTI Project Director, Bertrand Pecquerie CEO Global Editor Network, Christophe Deloire Sec Gen RSF, Michele Leridon AFP Global News Director, Claudio Cappon Sec Gen COPEAM, EBU DG Noel Curran.

Transparency of media ownership

Guaranteeing the broadest pluralism and independence

The battle against the proliferation of misinformation

The CEN Workshop Agreement

The Journalism Trust Initiative was unveiled at a joint press conference by RSFs secretary general Christophe Deloire, AFP global news director Michele Leridon, EBU director general Noel Curran and GEN president Peter Bale (who participated by video).JTI is designed to promote journalism by adherence to an agreed set of trust and transparency standards to be developed and implemented. This will happen by means of the so-called Workshop Agreement of the European Centre of Standardisation (CEN), which was open on 3 April 2018 for participation of interested stakeholders, for example media outlets, professional associations and unions, self-regulatory entities like press councils and regulatory bodies, as well as digital platforms, advertisers and consumer interest representatives.In the new public arena system, in which false information circulate faster than real news, the defence of journalism requires reversing this trend by giving a real advantage to all those who reliably produce news and information, whatever their status, Deloire said.The resulting standards are expected to reflect transparency of media ownership and sources of revenues, as well as journalistic methods and the compliance with ethical norms and independence. They are intended to become a voluntary, leading benchmark of media self-regulation and good practices for all those who produce journalistic content, ranging from individual bloggers to international media groups. Adopting the standards will pave the way towards a certification process.We have devised a self-regulatory mechanism based on a global analysis of the news and information domain, one that makes it possible to combine ethical with economic concerns. We are convinced that our initiative will help to foster integrity in the public debate while guaranteeing the broadest pluralism and independence, Deloire added.Benefits can be attached to the quality and independence of journalism through preferential distribution and treatment by algorithms of search engines and social media platforms, leading to better visibility, reach and advertising sales. Media outlets white-listing may also be of interest to representatives of advisers to help them decide where to channel their spending.In addition, this mechanism could also serve as a transparent instrument for the allocation of public funding for the media, as a tool for self-regulatory bodies, such as press councils, and regulatory authorities, as well as the basis of a trusted media label.For AFP, a global news agency whose mission is to provide news that is accurate, impartial and trustworthy, the battle against the proliferation of misinformation and false news goes to the very heart of our mission, says Leridon.As a leading partner in the CrossCheck project which brought together over a dozen media to fight against disinformation during the French presidential election, a key partner in a range of projects tackling the problem of so-called fake news and a member of the European Unions group of experts on the issue of disinformation, AFP is delighted to participate in the Journalism Trust Initiative in support of the combat for quality and accurate news.As the upcoming GDPR [European General Data Protection Regulation] is set to show the world how Europeans are united in dealing with privacy, this new initiative from RSF is more than welcome, expanded Bertrand Pecquerie, chief executive officer of the Global Editors Network.We definitely need more transparency about content providers, and we agree that a self-regulatory and voluntary benchmark for all sources of journalistic content is part of the solution. The Global Editors Network is ready to participate  with other press organisations  in the discussion opened by theJournalism Trust Initiative.Curran added: "The EBU believes that the online presence of public service media organisations is vital to support informed citizenship and represents an essential tool to fight the propagation of fake news. Reliable, quality journalism is the hallmark of public service media and the EBU fully supports this initiative which will aid our Members' audiences to identify reliable sources and help sustain quality journalism."The CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) will be chaired by Claudio Cappon, the former director general of the Italian public broadcaster Rai, while Olaf Steenfadt, a former journalist with German media outlets ARD and ZDF, will represent RSF. The project plan published today on the CEN website is now up for comments and approval by all groups concerned. Those in favour of the document will then collaborate over a time-span of 12 to 18 months to develop the actual indicators. Hosted by the French Standardisation Association (Afnor) and co-hosted by its German equivalent the German Institute for Standardisation (Din).The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), associated with reflections, made proposals that were taken into account. As of September 2017, RSF organised a preparatory consultation in Brussels with, beyond JTI partners, the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN), the European Federation of Journalists, (EFJ), Netherlands Public Brodcasters (NPO/KRO-NCRV), the German channel ARD, the European Magazine Media Association, RTL Group, the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACTE), the European Newspaper Publishers Association (EMMA/ENPA).News Media Europe (NME), the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the European Association of Communication Agencies, the Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) at the Central European University (CEU) of Budapest, the Observatoire de la Deontologie de l'Information (ODI), the World Economic Forum, the Office of the Representative for Freedom of Media of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In February 2017, a consultation meeting was also organised in Oxford on the initiative of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.We fully support and encourage initiatives which provide brands with safe and trustworthy online environments. We welcome initiatives like this one which strive to deliver more transparency, and we look forward to following its progress, said Stephan Loerke, the CEO of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) in a statement to RSF.One of South Africa's biggest sporting rivals, the Aussies, recently endorsed a proudly South African beer brand, Newlands Spring Brewing Co., without even realising it.

"While doing some pre-campaign research, we tried looking Newlands up in Google Maps, where more than one popped up. And when one was in Australia, we thought 'well this could be wonderfully confusing,'" says Jared Osmond, creative group head at King James Group.This presented the team at the Newlands Spring Brewing Co. with a sneaky opportunity they couldnt resist.What better way to prove just how great our beer is than to ask our nations biggest rivals to tell us? And tell us they did. Sure, we may have conveniently forgotten to mention which Newlands the beer really came from, but that didnt stop the Aussies from enjoying every last sip, says Nico Stone, brand manager at Newlands Spring Brewing Co.The response was overwhelmingly positive, but the reaction when the Aussies were told that their new favourite beer was brewed in Newlands, South Africa and not Newlands, Australia, was priceless.South Africa has a health workforce in crisis. Photo: Nic Bothma/EPA

Trust and motivation

working conditions (such as safety and security, working hours, workload),

human resources practices (such as salaries, training opportunities, mentoring and counselling), and

inclusive organisational culture and supportive interpersonal factors (such as respect, recognition, supportive management and feedback).



I must go out and look for people in their houses. The money we are getting is little while the working we are doing (so) much. You are working for a pair of shoes that you use to walk the entire location.



Restoring trust

Over time, South Africa has witnessed more and more negative media coverage depicting healthcare workers as uncaring. In some instances they have even been described as abusive . Unsurprisingly the countrys Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi issued a severe warning to health professionals because patients deserve compassionate nurses not devils.Few would argue that poor and disrespectful care challenges efforts to rebuild a health system that equitably serves the health needs of all South Africans. But is Motsoaledi failing to recognise  and possibly ignoring  the underlying issues of a health system that is failing both its patients and healthcare workers?In 1994 in South Africa, a promise was made to transform the health system into a well-resourced and functioning one. It would deliver quality, safe and effective health care and be responsive to communities and patients needs, particularly the most marginalised and vulnerable.Remarkable progress has been made since then. Pro-equity policies and laws have been passed, a district health system has been put in place and resources have been reallocated. But the countrys health system is overwhelmed by persistent under-resourcing, drug shortages, insufficient and poor distribution of healthcare workers. This is particularly true in poor provinces especially outside cities and towns.For healthcare workers, these perennial challenges combined with inadequate pay, poor working conditions and unsupportive supervision contributes to a work force that is demoralised and demotivated. The evidence shows that healthcare workers dont believe that they work in caring and supportive environments. This results in them feeling extremely vulnerable. The consequence is poor performance, delivery of poor quality care and ineffective health services. My study has built on this. And it explains why healthcare workers have lost trust that the system is acting in their best interests.Its evident that as a result of these challenges South Africa has a health workforce in crisis.Employees who are motivated perform better . They also stay. The same holds for healthcare workers. What motivates healthcare workers to perform better and ultimately provide respectful and effective patient care? Research from high-income and now increasingly from low- and middle-income countries show that trust is critical to motivate healthcare workers.In the context of healthcare workers, trust is their belief that the health system will enable them to offer their patients appropriate care. It should also provide an environment in which they can fulfil their professional responsibilities without coming to any harm  personally or professionally. Research shows that healthcare workers trust in the health system is built on expectations being met in relation to a number of factors. These include:The importance of these factors in building trust and motivation are even more critical in settings such as South Africa, where highly infectious diseases such as TB impose even greater occupational risks for healthcare workers.As part of my research , I looked at community health workers at primary care facilities providing TB services in high-disease burden communities. These workers are a microcosm of healthcare workers across South Africa.In my study several of these issues came up. For example, the community care workers raised working hours as a challenge. They complained of having to visit patients in the evenings and on weekends, often outside formal working hours.They also complained that meetings were held outside working hours, clashing with their personal and domestic responsibilities. Inadequate pay was also mentioned a great deal. One community care worker explained:This shows that healthcare workers trust in the health system is undermined by a combination of difficult working conditions. These include a government that continuously fails to meet their financial expectations and also fails to recognise opportunities for their professional growth.To restore healthcare workers trust, the National Health Department needs to implement human resources policies that demonstrate recognition and acknowledgement.In addition, government must build an enabling and caring work environment for all healthcare workers. The World Health Organisation provides guidance on how this can be done, setting out how countries can support and strengthen healthcare worker motivation, satisfaction, retention and performance.The government must also provide healthcare workers with psycho-social support. Examples include employee wellness programmes which include counselling and psychological services.It must also provide a supportive work environment in which healthcare workers feel respected, empowered and safe to share their concerns.And lastly, practises that support healthcare workers being respected by patients and the community should be pursued. This can strengthen mutual trust between communities and healthcare workers and has the potential to improve motivation and patient care.Its time that South Africa built a health system that demonstrates care and restores trust for both patients and workers. Healthcare workers are the life-blood of people-centred health systems. That means that if policies fail to deliver for them, we all lose.This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original articlePornography has always been on the bleeding edge of mass communication, always finding new ways to reach and entice new markets. Although we know that pornography is scripted, at least we know that the performers are who they say they are. Mostly. Since deepfakes work hit the virtual shelves, many fake celebrity porn videos have surfaced, making their way onto expose sites claiming them to be real footage, seriously damaging the reputations of mostly women actors, across the globe.This technology doesnt end here. Last year, researchers from the University of Washington released videos of a computer-generated Barack Obama talking to the camera that was indistinguishable from the real person. The obvious implications of this are huge  how on earth are we supposed to know what is real anymore?Havas latest Prosumer Report, iLife, which interrogates the evolving relationship between people and technology, uncovers some interesting nuggets. The report quotes that 43% South Africans use social media as their main source of news, a little less than the global measure of 53%. The result is that 47% of South Africans believe that social media is reducing our ability to think critically. In this age of fake news, alternative facts, shorter attention spans and increased headline-consumption of news, the critical ability to distinguish fake news from real news is urgent.Its not only news and media content that is tripping us up; our online personas are becoming separate entities to our real-life selves. 15% South Africans prefer the person they are or who they project to be on social media to their real selves. Many millennials and GenZers have two accounts per social platform: one for public consumption that projects the person they want to be, and another real and usually private account for their close friends and family. But for those who only have access to the public-facing account, their view of those dual account holders is distorted. 23% South Africans felt that seeing other peoples lives on social media made them unhappy about their own lives. Our growing inability to be able to distinguish reality from fiction is deeply affecting how we perceive ourselves and others.With great strides in robotics and AI, 46% agree that soon robots will be so lifelike that we won't be able to distinguish them from humans. It is clear that we are facing a future in which to distinguish between real and fake will become a crucial skill for everyday living, and trust will become exponentially more important, iLife, 2017.Without trust, brands and businesses increasingly miss opportunities to connect meaningfully with people. Globally, 46% would like their fridge to automatically order products they run out of and have them delivered to their homes without being prompted. But 81% worry that their Internet connected appliances will be hacked and 75% worry about them being used for surveillance. In South Africa, we do not have a blanket fear of digital services and products that could potentially invade our privacy. Where that technology can be used for our benefit, we will consider it. 43% said they would like their friends to be able to geo-locate them and a whopping 89% would use it to locate their children at all times.How our data gets used is the heart of the mistrust. Our smartphones track our locations, record our speech; our smart accessories track our behaviours; and our social media interactions archive our thoughts and feelings. 85% South Africans worry that they do not know what companies are doing with all that data and information. And in contrast to what is highly believed, especially about millennials, 77% millennials interviewed care what companies do with their data, even if they receive free services and products in return.So what can brands do to increase trust? Being transparent about how they are using peoples data is a step in the right direction, and already implemented by some brands and businesses. Brands and businesses have a responsibility to use the information in ways that are beneficial to the people it belongs to, and beyond that, ensuring that the use of that data has an overall positive impact on communities and the environment. 76% South Africans interviewed believe companies have a more important role than governments today in creating a better future. That is a huge responsibility, and brands have no choice but to accept it and live it. Its the only way they will thrive in a technocentric future.The first phase of Loftus Park in Pretoria - a dynamic, green mixed-use precinct being developed by Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Redefine Properties together with Abland - has been opened, introducing 34,000m A-grade office space, a premium gym, open-air piazza with restaurants and convenience retail.

Loftus Park (Image Supplied)

Now open

Loftus Park (Image Supplied)

More to come

The Park precinct will be accredited as a four-star Green Star Building. Its retail and restaurant mix is designed around healthy, balanced living that supports its office space with a curated variety of convenient supplementary and post-work essentials.Now open with the first phase of the precinct are anchor brands Checkers, Dis-Chem, and PNA, as well as a premium level Virgin Active health club.Loftus Parks restaurants Casa Bella, Turn & Tender, Salsa, Rocomamas, Vovo Telo and Seattle Coffee Co also welcomed their first guests.Services now available at Loftus Park include Postnet and Levingers, as well as bank ATMs from Nedbank, Capitec, FNB and Absa. Health and beauty brands include Sorbet, Sorbet Man, and Eyeland Optometrist.Situated next to the Loftus Versfeld Stadium, its retail and restaurants are also ideal for game days, and it offers match goers additional parking. The developers investment has also put Loftus Parks directly onto the Gautrain network. A Gautrain bus stop adjacent to the precinct now connects it seamlessly to Centurion, Sandton, Rosebank and OR Tambo International Airport via Hatfield.There is also more to come. A new 152-room Protea Hotel by Marriott will debut at the site. Phase Two, which will add another 7,600m to the Loftus Park development, will see a hospital join the precinct, as well as 13,000 m of office space in Phase Three.Pieter Strydom, commercial asset manager, Redefine Properties, says: The opening of the first phase of Loftus Park realises its vision of being an iconic mixed-use precinct that provides an integrated work and play environment and is positioned to ignite the greater node around it. The precinct continues Redefines proven track record of developing bespoke communities that are real assets for their communities and their cities.Abland, in close partnership with Redefine Properties, is pleased to bring one of the most exemplary mixed-use precincts in Gauteng to life. Loftus Park sets a new standard for quality precincts in Pretoria, and seamlessly brings together business and leisure in one vibrant destination, says Grant Silverman, marketing director, Abland.The attractive dynamics of Loftus Park, which will be elevated even further as Phase Two and Three come to market, has prompted robust interest from corporates who wish to benefit from an unequalled address with unrivalled amenities including superb transport links, says Strydom in conclusion.The Wear SA Fashion Festival seeks to promote the South African clothing and textile sector - encompassing design, manufacturing, retail and consumers - by encouraging people to become 'Local Label Lovers'.

Fashion Forward Runway

Stimulating a sustainable industry

The festival operates in conjunction with the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU). It incorporates a series of events starting with the annual Fashioning the Future Workshop, followed by the Fashion and all that Jazz gala dinner which took place on the eve of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.This year, Wear SA is adding another event to its calendar with the launch of a Peoples Runway. Organisers are asking members of the public, young designers, dressmakers, pattern cutters, seamstresses and anyone involved in the wider fashion industry to visit Canal Walk Shopping Centre on Saturday, 7 April dressed in their locally made outfits.Label detectives will be patrolling the crowds expected to attend the runway, to ensure that everyone appearing on stage for the grand finale is a legitimate local label lover. There will be prizes for the best-dressed male and female members of the public as well as opportunities for an emerging menswear and ladies-wear designer to be recognised."The idea is to send a bold message that goes beyond the local is lekker mantra, to local first is best. It is only by believing in and supporting locally made products, that we can break the cycle of reliance that a vast section of our population has on cheaper external goods. This is often a false economy when the quality of many so-called affordable products is compromised, leading to more frequent replacement," says Wear SA.Wear SA says it's a movement that seeks to include everyone in the conversation, making all South Africans aware of the importance of buying clothing and textile products made in the country.South Africa has a proud fashion history, with some of the countrys designers enjoying global acclaim. But the local manufacturers and retailers, and those who keep the lifecycle going, also need to be acknowledged.In his State of the Nation speech, President Ramaphosa alluded to the need to support and build a robust clothing and textile sector, said Wayne Van Der Rheede, spokesperson for Wear SA. We want to thank President Ramaphosa for his support and show him we mean business, too, by calling on as many South Africans to come and walk the Wear SA Fashion Forward Runway with us in April.By buying locally made items, we as South Africans are helping to stimulate a sustainable industry that supports many thousands of workers across the country. We speak about this often, but now it is time for us all to take this on board and actually do it, continued Van Der Rheede.The Wear SA Fashion Forward Peoples Runway will take place in the Centre Court at Canal Walk Shopping Centre on Saturday, 7 April at 2pm.Wear SA designers involved in the showcase include:- Blue Collar White Collar- Magents- X94- Lusee- Yaone Refentse- Elle Collection- Isabel de Villiers Clothing- DOD Democracy of DenimA group of women from Soweto, Tembisa and Mamelodi graduated from the Gauteng Township Retail Enterprise Development programme, which aims to empower female entrepreneurs involved within the township retail industry.

A ceremony held at the Protea Hotel by Marriott Johannesburg Parktonian last week saw the 61 women - made up of 18 youth and 43 adults - being presented with certificates of completion. The Gauteng Township Retail Enterprise Development Programme for Women was established in 2017 and is funded by the Gauteng Department of Social Development.The programme offered training sessions on basic business management for micro-enterprises, and one-on-one mentorship sessions to address the unique challenges faced by township retail businesses. It also provided capital support by providing business tools including tablets, airtime vending machines, South African Revenue (SARS) compliance and card swiping machines, and stock worth R10,000.Pumulani Ncube from Beehive Capital, the company that facilitated the programme, commented: Having such opportunities to impart skills in order to grow the township economy is vital. These skills will be used to grow businesses and to help identify other revenue streams that the 61 women can exploit to grow their revenue.Benefitting local communities

Unchartered territory

Renewed interest

Nkomatis anthracite is of a particular high grade due its low level of impurities and high levels of fixed carbon (up to 86% and more), and with the new investment, this mine has the potential to deliver a substantial portion of South Africas anthracite needs over time. Nkomati Anthracite currently has in excess of 8.7-million tons of proven resources, and the exploration drilling programme that was recently initiated is expected to increase the life-of-mine in excess of 15 years.The ferro metals industry requires anthracite with phosphorus and sulphur content levels below certain thresholds combined with high fixed carbon percentages. Our anthracite comfortably complies with these requirements, making Nkomati one of only a handful of South African anthracite mines that are able to meet such stringent requirements. Whats more, the South African ferro metals industry imports a fair amount of anthracite, which presents us with an opportunity to expand production even further, says Unicorn Capital CEO, Jacques Badenhorst.The redevelopment process will also benefit the local rural communities, as Nkomati shareholders granted three affected communities a 16.1% equity stake in the mine at nominal value.The agreement puts an end to ongoing tensions between the mines owners and the communities of Kwalugedlane, Matsamo and Mawewe who live on tribal trust sections of the land. In redeveloping the mine, for Unicorn Capital it was just as important to also address concerns these communities had.For mining companies in particular, its become critical to gain and maintain their social licence to operate within communities. Furthermore, the expansion and redevelopment of Nkomati Anthracite have already created in the region of 400 jobs over the past two years, says Badenhorst.In addition to the 16.1% stake owned by the communities, The Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (Mega) owns a 34% equity stake in Nkomati. Mega plays an important strategic role in the area and Unicorn Capital is proud to have MEGA as a partner in developing the mine.Under its current mining rights, Nkomati also has this huge tract of untouched land to be explored.Whilst were not basing any unreasonable hope in this unchartered underground section, an initial pre-feasibility study on the overall Nkomati site indicates that positive returns would be achieved if we boost operating levels. Time will tell with this unexplored tract though; yet for now were all excited at the prospect of what well find, says Diana van Buren, chief geologist at Unicorn.South Africas mining sector has shown little or no growth for decades, falling from representing 13% of GDP in the 80s to a current low of 7%. Some have even made the comment that the industry is past the point of no return. According to independent economic risk consultant, Rob Jeffrey, the issue is not just one of decline, but also concerns the loss of skills, intellectual capital, infrastructure and, in particular, poor organisational and planning ability at government level.One offshoot is that mining companies are turning to other countries that are more investor friendly and more open to ideas for development.This reality might however change soon. In his recent State of Nation Address, newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa said that South Africas mining industry ought to be a sunrise industry, rather than the sunset industry its become. He subsequently promised to intensify engagement in the sector and to ensure that its truly and effectively an instrument to sustainably transform the face of mining in South Africa.The first rhino calf of WWF's black rhino project's 11th population has been spotted with its mother just months after the group's relocation from KwaZulu-Natal.

WWFs Black Rhino Range Expansion Project (BRREP) had successfully moved its 11th population of this critically endangered species to a new location in the north of the country to allow them to breed and bolster their numbers. In what is a mark of the projects success over the years, some of the rhinos involved in the move were offspring from early project sites.BRREP has been working since 2003 to increase black rhino numbers by increasing the land available on which they can breed. This is done by moving founder populations of rhino to new areas. The first group of rhinos was moved in 2004.There are now about 200 black rhino on BRREP sites across South Africa. This represents roughly 10% of the countrys black rhino population.The National Strategic Framework on climate-smart agriculture, forestry and fisheries for 2018-2028 (DAFF, 2018) regards climate change as this century's greatest challenge for humankind, with South Africa not immune to its impacts.

Photo by Dikaseva on Unsplash

A new set of buzzwords

Direct and indirect effects

Proxy indicators

Global warming is the most evident form of climate change dynamics, but in southern Africa, the impacts also include increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events (e.g. droughts, floods, heat), environmental damage, increased crop infestation by pests and diseases, depletion of household assets, and increased rural-urban migration.Other challenges include increased biodiversity loss, depletion of wildlife and other natural resources, a decline in soil conditions, increased health risks and the spread of infectious diseases.Despite the potentially serious effects and challenges climate change can have, there are also positive spin-offs that are likely to occur, though the latter is not clearly recognised and capitalised on yet. In agriculture, adaptation and mitigation should be pursued  to complement each other  in production systems and communities.Agricultural research activities addressing topics concerned with vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation to climate change to ensure imminent productive farming are currently prioritised.A new set of buzzwords usually accompanies new strategic thinking and development to describe the underlying cause-effect relationship. In this instance, it is climate change lingo.According to Parry et al. (2007), climate change vulnerability involves the degree to which a system is susceptible to cope with adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity.Exposure components contributing to vulnerability include temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration and climate-water balance, including extreme events such as heavy rain and meteorological drought.Sensitivity refers to the degree to which the system is favourably or unfavourably affected by the specified climate change exposure and already includes historic and recent adaptation. A combination of exposure and sensitivity determines the prospective impact of climate change.Similarly, adaptive capacity is described as the ability of a system to adjust to climate change, including climate vulnerability and extremes, to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or cope with the consequences (Fritzsche et al., 2014).There are direct and indirect effects of climate change in agricultural production systems that could be explained with examples.In extensive beef cattle production, the direct effect of a lack of maintenance of homeothermy influences animal performance traits (Rust and Rust, 2013). Reproduction activity is one example of a process that becomes affected. For example, heat stress may reduce the duration of oestrus and lengthen post-partum intervals in cows. It is believed that oocyte growth is compromised by altering progesterone, luteinising and follicle stimulating hormones, affecting the aforementioned (Ronchi et al., 2012).Likewise, the stressor reduces the concentration and motility of sperm in the ejaculates of bulls (Meyerhoeffer et al., 1985; Hansen, 2009), which may require a period of eight weeks after an event for the semen to return to normal (Scholtz et al., 2016).In contrast, indirect effects of climate change to the plant and animal communities may affect productivity through altered nutrient supply and incidences of pests and diseases (MacNeil and Vermeire, 2012).Direct and indirect (proxy) indicators are parameters providing information regarding states or conditions that are not directly measurable (Fritzsche et al. after Meyer, 2011).In South Africa, proxy indicators for fertility traits in cows are the age at first calving and the intercalving period. These traits are dependent on sufficient nutrient supply for proper growth and development of the foetus in pregnant female cattle, the maintenance of adequate body condition to calve and lactate, and to rebreed within the next breeding season after calving (NRF, 2000).Yet there is a clear lack of evidence on the sensitivity of cow fertility traits to exposure components such as temperature and precipitation in extensive environments. These may have enhanced impact due to climate change.When these words are well understood, other words can follow: vulnerability assessments, vulnerability assessment implementation plan, impact chain, adaptive capacity indicators, and aggregating indicators of exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity and vulnerability components. Fortunately, it is probable that this lingo will only be used by academia.Climate change lingo, however, will be part of the ongoing debate regarding adaptation effectiveness and the practical implementation of climate-smart agriculture, which sustains climate-resilient sustainable development.Property and real estate icon Pam Golding has passed away at the age of 90. According to reports, she died peacefully at her home in Wittebomen in Constantia, Cape Town.

So sad to hear that #PamGolding has passed away. She was a fantastic person and had time for everyone. Remember so many things about her but a favourite was her stories with @Bruceps and their family Eastern Cape Holidays. RIP Pam!  Nils Flaatten (@NilsFlaatten) April 3, 2018

Property mogul Pam Golding passes away



The South African Estate Agency Affairs Board says the passing of South African property mogul and leading businesswoman Pam Golding has left a void in the property market. #PamGoldinghttps://t.co/CSVXjkGXGE  SABC News Online (@SABCNewsOnline) April 4, 2018

#RIP #PamGolding you redefined the property market . You stood out and focused your business on hard work ,dedication & consistency. Thats what separated Pam Golding Properties from the rest.  King David (@kennaMohwiti) April 4, 2018

I was not expecting this! Pam Golding, the name we all know, respected and aspired to associate with, with such World Class business acumen and exquisite taste and style in property. She was such an icon #PamGolding Condolences to loved ones.  Iggy (@G_VrSeven) April 3, 2018

As we mourn the death of the greatest property giants in the world, #PamGolding has been an astounding leader in the property industry. We honor her fearless entrepreneurial flair, as she developed selling luxury homes into a thriving business.

Rest In Peace #PamGolding pic.twitter.com/J8t8VUsMC3  S A Flair Travel (@SAFlairTravel) April 4, 2018

Golding entered a male-dominated property industry in the 1970s and not only became a household name but a leader in the industry and an inspiration to female entrepreneurs everywhere.She opened up an office in London in 1986 and eventually began expanding the business further abroad. The company now has over 300 offices in Africa, Germany, France and Mauritius. Times Live writes: The group has since developed into a world-class global organisation comprised of a number of operating companies which cover the full spectrum of the property market in sub-Saharan Africa and internationally, and is recognised locally and globally as Southern Africas leading independent real estate group and the countrys most awarded real estate company.The property group received recognition as the Best Real Estate Agency in South Africa and Africa at the International Property Awards in Dubai in 2017 among many other accolades. According to News 24 , it is the most awarded real estate company in South Africa and has won the award for Best Estate Agency in South Africa 10 times since 2005.Spokesperson Anel Lewis said that Golding was admired and respected by clients and dearly loved by colleagues agents and staff alike her natural warmth and sincere interest in everyone she encountered were trademark characteristics which endeared her."Condolences have been pouring in since the news broke:She leaves behind her sons Peter and Andrew daughter Jilly their spouses and 10 grandchildren.Officials in an inquiry into allegations of bribery of top transport ministry officials by an Israeli construction firm to influence award of road tenders in Kenya have widened their search.

Officials questioned

Internal investigation

This is after Israeli investigators raided the company's offices in Kenya and froze some of the firm's bank accounts.Shikun & Binui, through its foreign subsidiary Solel Boneh International Holdings, was chosen to build the World Bank-funded Mau Summit-Kericho-Kisumu Highway at a cost of Sh14 billion in 2010.The company - one of the largest construction firms in Israel - has been gunning for other projects in Kenya.On February 20, Israeli police began questioning former senior managers at Shikun & Binui, who are suspected of having bribed Transport officials in Kenya to win the tenders.On Sunday, the company said its Kenyan offices had been searched by Israeli police and said it is fully cooperating with the investigators. The move is likely to see some top Kenyan Transport ministry officials also questioned.Kenyan police are yet to make public an update on the investigation, which has put the spotlight on the procurement of mega infrastructural projects in Kenya."On and after February 20, 2018, a number of current and former employees of SBI AG, Shikun & Binui and the Shikun & Binui subsidiary that holds its shares in SBI AG - including employees who had completed their work for the company over five years ago - were held for investigation or summoned for testimony by the Israeli police," said the company in regulatory filings."Some of those investigated were incarcerated for various lengths of time and/or released to house arrest and/or released with limitations," it added while disclosing that Israeli police had also frozen some of the company's bank accounts."Israeli police seized various bank accounts of Shikun & Binui and of some of its subsidiaries - accounts in which were deposited a total of more than NIS 200 million (about Sh5.7 billion) - as well as other assets, and searched and seized documents in SGI AG's offices in Israel and Kenya," said the firm.However, the firm said it had struck a deal on February 22 to have the accounts unfrozen subject to the depositing of Sh7.2 billion with the Israeli police as a guarantee, pending the completion of the investigation.The company said its own internal investigation, as well as that by the World Bank's Integrity Office, had been halted to pave way for the completion of the Israeli police one."During January 2018, SBI AG was notified by the INT department of the World Bank, the department that investigates Integrity claims, that it intended to audit a number of SBI AG's completed projects in Kenya, some of which had been completed long ago," said the company.Tintswalo At Waterfall, a short drive from Johannesburg, has been acquired by entrepreneur and restauranteur of the Codfather name, George Sinovich, and will now be known as Riboville. Sinovich, who has always had a passion and love for the hospitality and food industry, will take over the reins at the newly branded boutique hotel, conference venue and restaurant.

Tintswalo at Waterfall (Images Supplied)

The Sinovichs incredible story began in 1974 when a bet placed on a horse called Riboville, who was 20-1 outsider to win in the Durban July, turned out to be just the right bet, when through a series of extraordinary events, the horse romped to the finish line four lengths ahead of the nearest rival, a feat which has never been matched. This extra-ordinary win turned out to be a crucial financial windfall to the Sinovich family, a family who have transformed through the generations from farmers to land developers, to restauranteurs and now hospitality provider with an instinctual eye for excellence.Their new five-star stable is not only about betting on a good business horse, it is something symbolic of the spirit of this family. A soul of success and the stamina it takes to transform intangible luck into a true fortune.It is, for this reason, the establishment at Waterfall will be known simply as Riboville.Talking at a recent business breakfast about his new acquisition, Sinovich had this to say. After building successful and reputable restaurant businesses (The Codfather) and operating in hospitality for decades, the opportunity to purchase this world class establishment and transform it into a real winner is not only about an investment, it is about true inspiration. Inspiration, at a point in history where the triangle of timing, chance and opportunity have come together again to change the future.Riboville has some exciting plans to enhance the establishment in the near future, but for now, it will continue to deliver five-star accommodation in its 16 spacious suites, diverse meeting spaces in fully serviced, well-equipped conference rooms and an exclusive boardroom, and top culinary experiences.President of the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT), Oupa Pilane has implored the Mpumalanga Provincial Government to take tourism seriously. Considered one of the most popular tourist routes in Mpumalanga, the Panorama Route needs fixing.

South African Tourism via Wikimedia Commons

Poor road conditions: Detrimental effect on province development

"The Panorama Route has the potential to create even more desperately needed jobs, especially for the youth in our province. It is a low-hanging fruit that can be maximised to create new and inclusive enterprises that will see more of our previously disadvantaged people taking an active role in the tourism industry," said Pilane.However, despite its potential to create thousands of jobs, the Panorama Route is one of the most neglected by the government when it comes to the condition of the roads. "Tourists do not want to come to the region because of these road conditions and those that are employed fear losing their jobs as the businesses they work for lose income as a result," said Pilane.The KLCBT has engaged government numerous times on this issue, especially the departments of economic development and tourism and public works, roads and transport."Our requests have fallen on deaf ears. Minor sub-standard interventions were attended to but due to the poor quality of work, the roads have become even more dangerous than they were before. We continue to receive negative feedback from visitors  both domestic and international  about the conditions of our roads," said Pilane.Many bicycle and motorsport events have been cancelled or put on hold due to the roads, which is also having a detrimental effect on job creation in the area.Our provinces reputation as the countrys inland tourism destination of choice is being jeopardised by the inability of the Mpumalanga Provincial Government to play their part. This has to be corrected, stressed Pilane.Mpumalangas tourism sector has welcomed the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa to join hands and work together to reduce the level of unemployment in the province. We cannot do this alone and therefore urgently request the Mpumalanga Provincial Government to step up and partner with us to create a shared vision that will see our province grow and flourish and not stagnate, concluded Pilane.This company article has been removed.JSE-listed, private education provider, Advtech Ltd continues its growth with the announcement of its further expansion into Kenya and Uganda. In Kenya, Advtech is acquiring, subject to the fulfilment of conditions, the prestigious Makini group of schools, founded in 1978 by the highly acclaimed Dr Mary Okelo. Makini is well-known for unparalleled academic excellence in the region, has eight schools on four campuses in Nairobi and Kisumu and caters to 3200 students from kindergarten to Grade 12.

Advtechs expansion follows the establishment by the group of a new partnership with Schole Ltd, which has managed various schools throughout Sub-Saharan Africa since 2012. The new partnership will strive to acquire schools across the continent and build a network of institutions known for their academic excellence in the mid-fee segment. Advtech holds a majority stake, with the remaining shareholding held by the original founders of Schole International and Caerus Capital, a leading international education consultancy group.In Uganda, the partners will continue to manage the Kisubi High School (a co-ed, mid-fee boarding school in Kampala), which provides a child-centred learning experience for its more than 900 students. Schole has managed the school since 2015.The acquisition adds nine schools, five campuses, boarding facilities and approximately 4100 students to its portfolio.We are very excited about the structures we have put in place to expand into the rest of Africa and the future opportunities inherent in these new relationships, says Roy Douglas, Advtech Group CEO.Schole International Founder and Chief Executive Adam Nichols says he is looking forward to great opportunities with this new chapter with Advtech and various schools in the region.Our mission of increasing access to quality education in Africa, together with our desire to work with partners who share our ethos of academic excellence and child-led learning, make these new relationships a perfect fit, Nichols says.Douglas says it was important to identify partners who know and understand the local markets, with extensive experience in operating schools throughout East Africa.We have been diligent in our investigations to ensure we find the right business partners who can help us sustainably grow our mid-fee offering, to increase access to affordable education in the rest of Africa without compromising on quality or academic excellence, he says.As a result, we are confident that we have assembled the best team possible, with an unparalleled track record in the management of schools, improvement strategies and expansions throughout Africa.Recently, and on an ongoing basis, revelations of sexual harassment in Hollywood have made the headlines, and stories of sexual harassment or inappropriate behaviour amongst celebrities and entertainers are being revealed on an almost daily basis. These instances of sexual harassment have also not been limited to inappropriate conduct against female celebrities and entertainers, or restricted to harassment along cisgender lines. The popular #MeToo campaign went viral globally and, perhaps not unexpectedly, the hashtag was adopted and retweeted and circulated by a number of South Africans on social media platforms. In the face of this seemingly rampant pattern of abuse, what, if anything, can South African employees legally do to either deal with historical or current abuse in the workplace?

physical conduct of a sexual nature includes all unwanted physical contact, ranging from touching to sexual assault and rape, and includes a strip search by or in the presence of the opposite sex;



verbal forms of sexual harassment include unwelcome innuendoes, suggestions and hints, sexual advances, comments with sexual overtones, sex-related jokes or insults or unwelcome graphic comments about a person's body made in their presence or to them, unwelcome and inappropriate enquiries about a person's sex life, and unwelcome whistling at a person or group of persons;



non-verbal forms of sexual harassment include unwelcome gestures, indecent exposure, and the unwelcome display of sexually explicit pictures and objects;



quid pro quo harassment which takes place when an owner, employer, supervisor, member of management or co-employee undertakes or attempts to influence or influences the process of employment, promotion, training, discipline, dismissal, salary increments or other benefits of an employee or job applicant in exchange for sexual favours.

A starting point for any employee facing this type of conduct in the workplace is to understand that South African labour law, which is recognised globally as providing a progressive and protected environment for employees, prohibits any form of sexual harassment in the workplace, and provides a number of protections for employees who may be the victims of such conduct. It is material to also note that these protections also apply to applicants for employment.The Employment Equity Act, 55 of 1998, is the primary piece of legislation which provides a protective mechanism for employees. The Employment Equity Act provides in section 6 that no person may unfairly discriminate against another and that "harassment of an employee is a form of unfair discrimination and is prohibited on any one, or a combination of grounds of unfair discrimination". Such grounds are listed grounds such as gender, or on any other arbitrary ground.The Employment Equity Act also sets out further practical details on the handling of sexual harassment cases, primarily through the Code of Good Practice on the Handling of Sexual Harassment, issued under the Employment Equity Act. The Code also gives guidelines as to what type of conduct will be considered to be sexual harassment. These are:The well-established forums available to employees of resolving labour disputes are also available in the case of sexual harassment, in order to provide employees with an affordable, effective and easily accessible mechanism to deal with these issues. An employee may refer a dispute to the CCMA or the Labour Courts for sexual harassment. If the CCMA provides an arbitration award, it can order compensation of up to 12 months remuneration, and damages of up to R205,433.30. The Labour Court can similarly order this level of compensation, but has the discretion to award unlimited damages.The CCMA and Labour Courts have shown themselves to be unsympathetic to employers who allow sexual harassment of their employees, and have consistently found that in cases of sexual harassment leading to resignation by the victim, an unfair dismissal (constructive dismissal) has taken place. As such, employers should be aware that they have a positive obligation to ensure that their employers are not victims of this type of conduct.Employers should adopt a sexual harassment policy which is in line with the Code of Good Practice on the Handling of Sexual Harassment, which should be effectively communicated to all employees. The policy must provide for clear procedures to deal with sexual harassment which enable the resolution of problems in an efficient, effective and sensitive way.Another critical issue for employers to consider is that instances of sexual harassment of their employees may lead to direct liability on their part. This could either be on the basis that the employer could be held vicariously liable for the conduct of its employees who committed the acts of sexual harassment against a colleague, or in light of the provisions of the Employment Equity Act which require that all employers must take steps to eliminate unfair discrimination in any employment policy or practice.Complainants should never feel that their grievances are ignored or trivialised, or fear reprisals. Furthermore, grievances must be handled confidentially to protect the identities of the parties involved.What is the significance of the judgment?

What is crimen injuria in South Africa and its basis?

How does it differ from hate speech?

an intentional communication (including speech) that advocates hatred or is threatening, abusive or insulting towards any other person or group of persons; ranging from race and gender to social origin.

What are the implications of the precedent-setting judgment?

The significance of the judgment is substantive and symbolic. Its substantive in that the crime committed by the accused is punished severely. Symbolically it sends a message that racism is not to be tolerated. In fact, one could go so far as to say that the law establishes that anyone using the k word publicly to abuse and humiliate will be severely punished.Past cases indicate that the verbal form of crimen injuria is not that serious. But the Momberg sentence is a first of its kind in South Africa. She was sentenced to three years imprisonment of which one year was suspended for a period of three years, on condition that she did not commit crimen injuria again. In effect this means that Momberg will serve two years imprisonment.According to principles of criminal law crimen injuria consists in unlawfully and intentionally impairing the dignity or privacy of another person.South Africas criminal law system is based on common law and statutory law. Common law offences include abduction, arson, bigamy, fraud, incest, housebreaking, rape, robbery, and treason. Statutory crimes include crimes such as tax fraud and prevention of organised crime.Crimen injuria (or iniuria) is a crime under the South African common law, defined as the act of unlawfully and intentionally impairing the dignity or privacy of another. Crimen injuria provides the basis of protecting the constitutional right to human dignity in criminal prosecutions. It can happen either verbally or by deed. Importantly, crimen injuria should be distinguished from criminal defamation which has to do with the good name or reputation of a person. Both the right to privacy and dignity are protected in different sections of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa To determine if a persons dignity was impaired the victim should, firstly, have been aware of what the accused was doing to them and secondly, the victim should have felt degraded or humiliated because of what the accused did to them. This is also objectively determined by the court. The court then considers whether a reasonable person in the same circumstances of the accused would also have felt humiliated or degraded by the conduct of the accused.It seems that currently, the most serious form of verbal crimen injuria is the use of the word kaffir. It is evident from case law that calling a police officer the k-word in South Africa is regarded as serious enough to warrant criminal proceedings.Crimen injuria is a criminal offence. Hate speech is a civil offence. Rather, its prohibited in the constitution as well as legislation that protects people against unfair discrimination . Hate speech also has a very specific definition, whereas (crimen inuria) is arguably more broadly defined.The Constitution promotes free speech, but that doesnt extend to hate based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion. South Africa is also a signatory to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination , which requires countries to make racial superiority or hatred punishable by law.South Africa has drafted a new bill to cover this. The hate-speech bill being considered by parliament provides for the criminal prosecution of people who commit the offences of hate crime and hate speech. It defines hate speech asAccording to the bill, a guilty first offender may receive a maximum of three years prison sentence and up to ten years for a subsequent conviction.There may be several implications. First, the judgment is a clear statement that the use of racial slurs and the impairment of human dignity will not be tolerated. One could argue that there is now an unequivocal zero tolerance for the use of the k word.Second, the implication may be that all kinds of racial slurs, that involve not just anti-black hatred, but also anti-semitic, xenophobic, anti-female and homophobic slurs, will not be tolerated.The third implication is that there is a strong sensitising and educational effect. The airwaves and social media have already been abuzz with commentary since the sentence was passed. Crimen injuria has become a household term as people argue about the laws meaning, the punishment, what constitutes (crimen inuria) and whether the judgment was fair.The court sent a message that racism is not just inappropriate, but it is criminal. The hope must be that the penny drops for South Africans that their actions carry big repercussions. The judgment and the sentence highlight the fact that South Africa needs to put hate crime legislation in place. Its already at an advanced stage but it needs to be promulgated.Disrupt Africa is a one-stop-shop for all news, information and commentary pertaining to the continents tech startup  and investment  ecosystem. With journalists roaming the continent to find, meet, and interview the most innovative and disruptive tech startups, Disrupt Africa is a true showcase of Africas most promising businesses and business ideas.Our readers can keep up-to-date with the quirky world of tech hubs and accelerator programmes; and our reporters provide live coverage of the all-important tech and entrepreneurship events across Africa.For our startup, entrepreneur, and investor friends alike, our mission is to provide practical information and advice from across Africas varied vibrant markets, and to promote engaged and thought-provoking discussion about the exciting ecosystem we belong to.Go to: http://disrupt-africa.com/This week we find out what's really going on behind the selfie with Lindy Hibbard - voice artist, MC and co-presenter of Smile Breakfast on Smile 90.4FM.

Hibbard says: Give a girl the right lipstick and she can conquer the world.

1. Where do you live, work and play?

2. Whats your claim to fame?

3. Describe your career so far.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

5. What do you love about your industry?

There is something magical about working in radio. Radio is fluid, it is intimate, and it is immediate.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

7. What are the tools of your trade?

8. Who is getting it right in your industry?

9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on.

10. What are you working on right now?

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

Approach it with love

Its cool to be kind

Whats the angle?

Keep it tight

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

13. What is your secret talent/party trick?

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

I grew up in Durbanville in the northern suburbs of Cape Town and I always dreamed of moving to the big city. Getting to present theon Smile 90.4FM meant very early wake-up calls, so it was the perfect excuse to move closer to the action!I now live in Upper Woodstock with my fiance and Im loving it. I often take a stroll down to the Old Biscuit Mill on a Saturday morning to buy fresh fruit and veggies or pop into one of the charming little coffee shops or antique stores after work. I never get tired of that fantastic view out over the harbour!There is a 17-metre billboard with my face on it on the N1 inbound and on the N2 in Cape Town. It is advertising the Smile Secret Sound competition were running on Smile Breakfast.I often get people looking at me strangely in the shop, trying to figure out how they know me. We always have a good laugh when they realise they drive past my giant head on their way to work every morning.For as long as I can remember its been my dream to be a radio presenter, so after high school, I went to UCT and did a BA majoring in journalism and radio broadcasting. I got my first taste of live radio on theon UCT Radio.After I graduated, I moved on to in-store radio, with Brights Radio and The Sound of Ackermans. I also co-presented a dance show on Mutha FM, and spent three years working in music publishing before I got my break in commercial radio, doingon Smile 90.4 FM in 2014.I have been co-presentingwith Bobby Brown since 2015 and Ive loved every minute of it!Watching the sun go down on Clifton's First Beach on a warm, summer evening; an ice-cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc after a long day; and a bright lipstick.I am fortunate enough to work with extremely passionate and talented people.It is just you and the listener, and you get to touch people and form relationships with them without even meeting them.My alarm goes off at 4:30am every morning. I have a quick shower and get to the Smile 90.4FM studio at about 5:30am. We have a quick team prep and I am on air forfrom 6am to 9am. From 9am to noon I do research and prep for the next days content with my team. From noon to 5pm varies from day to day, but I usually meet with collaborators, do a voice over or two, pop into the gym or go for a run.I like to wind down in the evening by experimenting in the kitchen.You need to be a good storyteller, you need to be confident but not cocky and you need to be able to listen. Listening, whether it is to your studio guest or to your colleagues is a skill that is quite underrated.You also need to be tenacious and have a thick skin, because it can be a tough industry to crack and survive in. Fast internet and strong coffee also helps!Bailey Schneider. She manages to balance being a wife, mom, blogger, TV presenter, voice artist, MC and co-present theon Smile 90.4 FM, and does it all looking flawless!Being a freelancer is tricky if you don't have a clear understanding of what freelancing entails. I wish there were more benefits and better guidance on how to navigate rates, tax and more.We have an awesome 2018 planned for. I cant give too much away, but we have some very exciting competitions like the Smile Secret Sound, which is going to be bigger than ever before and will offer even more ways to bring sunshine into our listeners lives.That, and planning my dream wedding!It used to be in the bath, but with the water restrictions in Cape Town, those days are over! Now I have my a-ha moments when I go for a run. Somehow, my head is clear and it is a bit of me-time where I get to be alone with my thoughts.My yoga backbend!I was a technophobe until I met my now-fiance. Hes a software engineer and loves telling me about the latest apps, gadgets and tech products on the market. Ive learned so much from him and hes definitely turned me into a technophile.Weve spent quite a few date nights watching the live broadcast of the Apple event! Haha!Photos of my cat, wedding inspiration and selfies gone wrong.Be patient while working on your skillset, dont belittle your small achievements, be your own biggest brand ambassador and remember that everything happens at the time its meant to.Simple as that. Visit the Smile 90.4FM press office and be sure to follow Hibbard on the following social media channels for more: InstagramOne of South Africa's leading digital marketing businesses - Mark1 has launched a first-of-its-kind in-house training programme that provides young creative minds with on-the-job training - a long-time industry need introduced to improve the calibre of ad graduates in the country.

Mark1 Media Academy 2018 interns

Launched in February, the Mark1 Media Academy (M1MA) is an internship programme that aims to upskill and train recent advertising graduates and equip them with an in-depth knowledge of the South African advertising landscape. In addition, it offers several candidates employment in the process. The three-month course, monitored by an intern mentor and supervisor is divided into four components: ad operations, sales, strategy and digital design. While South Africa is making great strides with regard to training and upskilling in the digital marketing space - ad operations in particular, this programme's primary focus is not something students can study for at university, instead it requires on-the-job training."On-the-job training is always highly beneficial since it gives candidates the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge. We are passionate about creating employment opportunities for young, talented South Africans and we believe that this programme will contribute largely to the talent pool this industry needs," says Mark1 managing director, Daan du Toit.He explains that while graduates who enter this industry come with a 'top-level' theoretical understanding of the digital advertising and marketing landscape, they fail to fully understand the mechanics behind the campaign conceptualisation process and how it is managed and served online. The academy aims to provide graduates with a more focussed and streamlined approach to the way they would function and operate in the media and advertising industry. Further, it will educate the "new generation of eager, young minds" with the practical experience that can also be applied in a real-work scenario.M1MA intern Tyan Odendal says: "While my marketing degree gave me a good stepping stone, Mark1 Media's internship programme gives me the real tools and practical understanding I need when it comes the digital advertising landscape. This programme has equipped me with a wealth of knowledge that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else."In the past few years, Du Toit says Mark1 has had "great success" training interns and many remain employed at the business but adds that this year was the best time to introduce a formal and structured internship programme. Six students are currently enlisted in the M1MA programme and the selection criteria is based on the skill set that the business requires. And while Mark1 always strives to provide employment once students conclude the programme, this is not always possible."We realise we won't be able to provide employment to every qualifying candidate. But on completion of this programme we are 100-percent certain that interns will be well equipped to find employment in the industry and take their careers to the next level. Mark1 also commits to using its expansive network to assist them," he says.This job expired on 31 May 2018.This job expired on 4 May 2018.Starting on 2 May 2018, Joanne Joseph will replace Stephen Grootes as the host of 702's afternoon drive show, weekdays between 3pm and 6pm.Joseph has spent 20 years in the media industry, including a number of years hosting TV news shows on eNCA and the SABC. She has also authored a best-selling book titledand teaches scriptwriting for broadcast.Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com.The UN's Guterres. World leaders want negotiations while Morocco saber rattles

After Polisario Front, the movement for the independence of Western Sahara suggested that it would relocate its ministers into liberated territory Morocco which occupies the resource-rich territory sharply escalated tensions by saying it would not rule out war.

Moroccan Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Omar Hilale, accused Polisario of violating the ceasefire agreement by allowing in its armed elements in Guerguerat buffer zone and expected transfer of Ministerial premises to liberated territories. Morocco will not stand idly by the deterioration of the situation on the ground, said Mr. Hilale.

Separately, returning from a visit to Israel after the appointment of John Bolton as national security adviser, Moroccos Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita echoed Hilale's rhetoric when called for an extraordinary meeting between the Parliamentary Committees of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministry. "Morocco will not tolerate Polisarios ongoing provocative maneuvers to alter the buffer zone agreed upon by both parties under the UN supervision, Bourita said in a statement to reporters after the meeting. The minister lashed out at Algeria, which hosts Polisario Front, as being behind the liberation movement's alleged attempts to penetrate into the buffer zone.

Polisario Front's reply came very quickly when the coordinator with MINURSO --which is the acronym of the UN monitoring team in the occupied country-- Mhamed Kadad, expressed Polisarios readiness to respond to any Moroccan threat to the liberated territories. In a press statement Khadad said Morocco was trying to abandon the peace process, adding that there is no option for Morocco but to abide by the international law.

The UN spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric dismissed Moroccan allegations of Polisarios military elements penetration into the buffer zone. Dujarric stated that MINURSO is monitoring the situation very closely. Our colleagues did not observe any military element movement in the northeast of the buffer zone," Dujarric said in a press conference at the UN headquarters.

Moroccos escalated saber-rattling could be due to recent major setbacks on the international front with Western Sahara. First, On February 27, the EUs top court ruled that fisheries agreements between Morocco and EU does not apply to Western Saharas territorial water. This ruling came just a few days after the adverse decision of a South African court over a disputed cargo of Western Sahara-mined phosphate seized by South African authorities following a lawsuit by Polisario Front. Morocco continues to export hundreds of millions of dollars worth of minerals illegally mined from the occupied country. South Africa is a major supporter of the people of Western Sahara's right to self determination.

Second, Morocco has been rattled by the strong engagement of the special envoy of the UN Secretary General, Horst Kohler - former president of Germany- who is determined to revive the process to end the stalemate in Western Sahara. He recently met many international stakeholders including the EU, AU, U.S., among others, as a push forward towards resuming talks between the parties. Morocco has been hindering the process since 2012. Kohler is expected to meet Russia and China as part of his endeavor to leverage the parties' positions. Reactivating the negotiation process does not play well with Morocco's agenda which is to offer "autonomy" instead of letting people in the occupied country choose independence.

Third, Moroccos return as a member of the African Union (AU) did not result in the expulsion of the Saharawi Republic --which is the name Polisario Front and people in the occupied country call their nation. Instead, AU reiterates its firm positions to a peacefully negotiated political solution respecting the right of Saharawi people to self-determination. Both Morocco and Polisario Front are members of the African Union on equal footing.

Finally, Morocco is unhappy with the recent report of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who expressed deep concern over: human rights violations in the occupied territories; and, denial of access to the African Union Monitoring Mission and international observers. He also called upon Morocco to allow deployment of an expert mission in the territory to closely monitor the situation in the Gurguerat region. Guterres emphasized the significance of resuming the negotiations between Polisario Front and Morroco.

Meanwhile, the Polisario Front now mourns the recent death of one of its prominent leaders, former representative before the UN, Bukari Ahmed. He was a strong advocate for the cause and died peacefully. Although his death will not affect the aspiration of the Saharawi People to self-determination and independence, his extensive experience will be missed.

Bel-la Lehbib Breica is an independent Journalist and freelance translator based in Harrisonburg, Virginia.This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others body language as well as the projection of ones own nonverbal skills in many different contexts  not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.



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BEIJING (PTI): China will launch two remote sensing satellites for Pakistan in June, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT) said Tuesday.



It will be the first international commercial launch for a Long March-2C rocket after it carried Motorola's Iridium satellites into orbit in 1999.



The rocket will also carry the China-France Oceanography Satellite into space in September this year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported quoting CALVT.



The satellite will monitor ocean wind and waves. Long March-2C rockets are mainly used to send satellites into low Earth or Sun-synchronous orbits.



China had launched Pakistan's communication Satellite PAKSAT-1R in 2011.



In 2016, Pakistan and China had signed an agreement for the launch of a special remote sensing satellite this year to monitor the development of the US$ 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.



Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with the Indian delegates meeting the Russian officials in Moscow on Tuesday. A Twitter photo

MOSCOW (PTI): Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday met her Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu and discussed defence cooperation between the two countries with a focus on military technical cooperation.



Sitharaman is on a three-day visit to Russia to attend the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security. This is her first visit to Russia in her capacity as the Defence Minister.



"In order to reinforce defence cooperation between India and Russia with a focus on military technical cooperation, Smt @nsitharaman meets H E Army General Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defence, Russia in Moscow," the official Twitter handle of the Defence Minister tweeted.



Earlier in the day, she met Russia's Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and discussed strategies to strengthen defence production cooperation between the two countries.



Their discussion focused on enhancing defence production cooperation and creating synergy between the defence industries of the two countries, it added.

Americas Next Top Model Recap: Which Contestants Make It to the Finals?

Apr 3, 2018

Buddy TV

In this episode of America's Next Top Model, titled "Beauty is Commercial," the final four design an ad campaign for Pantene, Jeana plays dirty, Khrystyana and Kyla get a big surprise and the finalists are chosen.

After a last-minute twist brought back Jeana and sent Rio packing, the "true" final four have been chosen: Shanice, Khrystyana, Jeana and Kyla. The vibe in the house is definitely three against one, with Jeana being the odd woman out. Jeana's not worried about making friends; she's all about winning. And to do that, she's ready to be "savage."

A "Hairy" Situation

We're reminded again about what a big opportunity this is for Shanice, who is convinced if she doesn't win, her only other option is to return to Tennessee and sell shoes. Also feeling the pressure is Khrystyana, who is still dealing with the aftermath of her confession about being molested as a young girl, something her own mother doesn't know. The two are very tight, and Khrystyana know she has to tell her mother because the secret is eating her up.

The winner of America's Next Top Model will receive $100,000 from Pantene. So for the next challenge, each girl gets her own Pantene product, around which she has to build a campaign. They get one hour to pick their props, determine hair, makeup, styling and to figure out their campaign. They'll also be responsible for picking their own photo.

Jeana uses a wig because as the Pantene bigwig on set points out, human hair wigs need to be treated just like human hair.

There's lots of chatter about Pantene products because this challenge is basically a great PR opportunity. Pantene plans to get the most out of that hundred grand.

Khrystyana notices that Jeana is stepping on her toes. Jeana chooses a blond wig -- going for a modern take on Marilyn Monroe -- and even replicates a mole that Khrystyana has on her face. Khrystyana also finds herself battling Jeana for props.

The girls pose, and then it's time to choose the photo they want to present. Kyla's not happy with any of her pictures and winds up bursting into tears. One person who has zero sympathy for Kyla is Jeana.

Each girl has to explain the reasoning behind her photo choice. Everyone gets a critique, and nobody particularly hits it the challenge out of the park. But one contestant does do a good job in personifying the strength and beauty the client is looking for: Khrystyana. As the winner, Khrystyana gets to pick a friend -- she chooses Kyla -- and the girls will get a special surprise from Pantene.

Shanice feels that she was at a disadvantage because of her psoriasis, and she's sick of everyone else winning. There's a lot of whining going on in the house, thanks to Kyla and Shanice.

Homesick

Kyla and Khrystyana are thrilled to learn that their special prize is a surprise visit from their mothers. Kyla's mother used to model but put her dreams aside when she got pregnant at 20. Kyla's mom is her bestie, and this is the longest Kyla's been away from home.

It's a short visit, but Khrystyana is determined to use the time to tell her mom about the molestation. The Russian beauty hopes to win so she can use her fame as a platform to talk about sexual abuse.

The Biggest Shoot of All

It's all about Pantene again for the photo shoot. The goal is to create a high-end editorial. The women represent the same products they did for the challenge. For one of them, their photo will become part of an actual campaign.

Drew tells the camera that this shoot is critical since Pantene is a major ANTM partner. They've done a lot of editorial shoots this season, but for this one, they really need to get the commercial element. This is where the final four have to shine.

Jeana goes blonde again, and she also does a great job of psyching Khrystyana out by standing by and doing her best to distract her toughest competition. Khrystyana becomes incredibly paranoid about Jeana stealing her poses. She's fed-up and doesn't trust Jeana at all.

Shanice gets the makeover she's been dying for, and Drew thinks it's the best her hair has looked during the entire competition. The new 'do isn't enough for Shanice to escape a lot of direction from Drew.

Jeana has trouble toning down the sexiness. In spite of the constant corrections, Jeana still feels she did well.

Judges' Panel

Along with the usual judges, there's a special guest: designer Philipp Plein. Philipp is there because the final three will be walking in his runway show. Philipp's on hand to evaluate which three girls he wants representing his line.

Drew thinks Shanice's photo proves that she can be commercial, even though it's not what he would choose for Pantene. Ashley sees potential in the photo, while Law finds it to be great. Overall, Tyra's not impressed with Shanice's film.

Drew and Ashley straight-up do not like Jeana's photo, finding it too posed and too sexy. That's not what the brand wanted, and that was the real challenge. Law is irritated that Jeana didn't know the brand. She should have been fun, flirty and relatable, not a "sex siren." Philipp makes it clear that he likes sex, everybody likes sex, and sex sells.

Ashley praises Kyla and comments that she looks like a "Pantene angel" in her photo. Law gives Kyla props for coming to set and getting the job done. Drew loves it, but Philipp finds Kyla a litte boring. He's the only one who isn't a Kyla fan.

Khrystyana manages to strike the perfect balance between sexy and natural. Ashley finds the picture ageless and thinks it speaks to the masses. Drew likes the shot but doesn't believe it's Khrystyana's best.

The winner of the best campaign is Kyla. Shanice and Jeana are in the bottom two. Jeana thinks she's eliminated but gets a reprieve. She's got a huge admirer in Philipp Plein, who basically saved her ass.

Next up for the girls is a fitting with Philipp, who will assess their potential. Tyra reminds the girls that anyone can be cut at any time, so they all need to bring their A-games.

Should Jeana have been eliminated? Will all four girls make it down the runway? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

The cycle 24 finale of America's Next Top Model airs Tuesday, April 10 at 8/7c on VH1.

(Image courtesy of VH1)Keyline has announced that Scott Glazier has returned to Keyline in Birtley as its new Branch Manager.

Scott initially joined Keyline in Birtley in 2008 as a Senior Sales Assistant, then Assistant Branch Manager. He moved to Jewsons in 2014 to join the Durham contracts office, then ran the civils sales office until the beginning of this year.

Following the promotion of Robin Beach from Keyline Birtleys Branch Manager to Regional Manager for the North East, Scott has returned to the company to head up the Birtley branch.

Scott is delighted to return and take up his new role. He said: I am thrilled to be returning to the fold at Keyline. I am very much looking forward to further developing the Birtley branch and building upon its existing success.Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

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Digital EditorThe government will soon increase the minimum speed requirement for internet services to be classified as broadband to 2 Mbps -- by nearly 4 times from the present 512 Kbps, sources in the department of telecommunications (DoT) said. All the paperwork had been done and the announcement was likely to be made by the end of April, they added.

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital EditorAce investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and many minority investors are said to be questioning the Fortis healthcare deal with Manipal Hospitals, as per news reports. A private equity firm has also been reported of having increased its stake in Fortis healthcare to attain extra voting rights of about 9.73 per cent and is said to be wooing some more minority investors including hedge funds to oppose the deal.

All this, however, is not surprising. The disappointment of the investors on Fortis-Manipal hospital deal was well evident from the day of announcement of the deal itself. Fortis ...The government intervention in promoting Make in India in public procurement has resulted in Indian companies garnering over Rs 50 billion in projects. The changed procurement conditions have helped companies receive business from the Railways, GAIL India, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

One of the beneficiaries is Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL). It had earlier been kept out of procurement for rails, but is likely to receive 20 per cent of the tendered volume under the new policy. The size of the tender is estimated to be around Rs 30 billion, of which JSPL may ...Tech giant Microsoft today said it will invest USD 5 billion over the next four years on Internet of Things (IoT) globally.

Microsoft, in a statement, said this increased investment will support continued research and innovation in IoT.

"This (investment) will support Microsoft's technology platform, as well as supporting programs, thereby enabling continued research and development in key areas, including securing IoT, creating development tools and intelligent services for IoT and the edge, and investments to grow our partner ecosystem," it added.

IoT refers to a network of inter-connected sensors and devices like smartphones, connected vehicles and appliances that harness relevant information from massive amounts of data collected.

Microsoft's IoT offerings currently include operating systems for devices, cloud services to control and secure them, advanced analytics to gain insights, and business applications to enable intelligent action.

While the company did not disclose country-specific details, the statement said the investment will ensure that in India, Microsoft continues to meet all its customers' and partners' needs as they develop new and increasingly sophisticated IoT solutions.

Microsoft's cloud platform, Azure is being used in IoT deployment across the country. Microsoft Azure IoT is powering India's first smart street lighting project in Jaipur, where the city's municipal corporation operates and maintains over 100,000 public street lights within the city.

Researchers at IISc Bangalore are using a network of IoT sensors coupled with Microsoft Azure analytics to find how cloud technologies can help tackle water scarcity in cities.

Last year, Tata Motors had said it will leverage Microsoft's connected vehicle technologies that bring together artificial intelligence, advanced machine learning and IoT capabilities on Microsoft's Azure cloud to create a highly personalised, smart and safer driving experience across the digital life of a vehicle owner.

According to a report by AT Kearney, IoT will lead to a USD 1.9 trillion productivity increase and USD 177 billion in reduced costs by 2020.Hotel Group today said it is planning to increase its total portfolio of hotels in India to 200 by 2022, and add 10,000 employees.

The third largest hotel chain in the country is looking at smaller cities for expansion.

"India is a key market for us and we are planning to have 200 properties here by 2022, both in operation and under development," Raj Rana, chief executive officer, South Asia, Hotel Group told reporters here.

The global hospitality major got rebranded to Hotel Group last month from what was called the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group earlier.

"The rebranding will help us grow further and will give us opportunities for new efficiencies," said Katerina Giannouka, president, Asia Pacific, Radisson Hotel Group.

The hotel chain has 140 hotels in India at present, of which 90 are operational.

It currently employs 15,000 people in the country and plans to add another 10,000 in five years in line with its expansion plans, according to Rana.

The company is targeting tier II and III cities, state capitals, pilgrimages, industrial and tourist destinations for expansion.

"With improving highways, Railway links and the government's Udan scheme, we expect to see a lot of movements in the secondary cities. Our mid-scale to upscale will be our fastest growing brands catering to our expansion," he said.

The company has seven brands present in India, out of the total eight brands in its portfolio globally.

The company's mid- and up-scale brands include Country Inn and Suites by Radisson, Park Inn by Radisson, Radisson and recently-launched Radisson Collection. Other brands operated by the group are Radisson Blu, Radisson RED and Park Plaza.

Rana claimed the group has healthy occupancy and average rates ahead of the industry performance of over 65 per cent and around Rs 5,700 per night, respectively.

The hospitality group is also looking forward to bring its economy brand 'prizeotel' to India.

"We are basically seeing how the brand pans out in Europe and see how it can fit in with the Indian profile before bringing it to the country," said Giannouka.

However, the company has not set a timeline for introducing the 'prizeotel' brand in India.Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys scheduled trip to the United Kingdom, slated for next week, has been put off as hes unwell. The FM has cancelled a number of public appearances this week and is learnt to be working from his residence.

Jaitley did not attend an event organised by International Monetary Fund in New Delhi on Wednesday. He was on Tuesday appointed as the leader of the Rajya Sabha again following his re-election to the House, but he could not be present to take oath. Jaitley was expected to meet UKs Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond in London ...In September 2012, the Supreme Court passed detailed guidelines regarding the implementation of the RTI Act. Criteria for selection to the Central Information Commission and the composition of its benches were also evolved by the Court. None of these guidelines were envisaged under the RTI Act. The Centre immediately sought review of the judgment.

It contended that these guidelines were legislative in nature. They could not have been passed by a court. Arguing the Centres review petition, the then Attorney General told the judges - The guidelines maybe desirable. But what is ...

Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal. They do not reflect the view/s of Business Standard.What is the strategy that the Congress needs to adopt in Karnataka, to retain the only government it has in an important state? The party has itself indicated the direction in which it wants to go. Caste is going to be central to its calculations.

In this context, what did it do right in 2013 that propelled it to power? It relied on the Ahinda formation, the coalition of Dalits, backward castes, and minorities (Alpa Sankhyata, Hindulida, and Dalit, hence Ahinda). Political analysts have often written about Dalit-backed or socialist political parties forming the ...iStock/Thinkstock(MENLO PARK, Calif.) -- Facebook has sharply increased the number of users whose data it says may have been improperly shared with the data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica  from as many as 50 million to now as many as 87 million people - most of them in the U.S.



The revelation Wednesday came in a Facebook release that detailed new plans to restrict data access and shortly after word that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to testify before a House panel next week  heeding calls from lawmakers to explain Facebooks role in the 2016 election and subsequent privacy crisis.



In a rare call with reporters Wednesday afternoon, Zuckerberg was contrite. "Its clear now that we didn't do enough at preventing abuse," he said, adding, "We didn't take a broad enough view of what our responsibilities were. That was a huge mistake. It was my mistake."



Zuckerberg conceded he was "too flippant" in referring to potential problems in the 2016 election year as "crazy" and when asked why Facebook wasn't doing audits all along he said, "Knowing what I know today, we should've done more and we will."



"I wish that I could snap my fingers and in three months or six months have solved these issues," he said, adding he thinks fixing privacy concerns will be "a multi-year effort."



The House Energy and Commerce Committee announced earlier Wednesday that Zuckerberg will testify in person on April 11. Late Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees announced a joint hearing with Zuckerberg next Tuesday, April 10.



Lawmakers want Zuckerberg to explain reports that Cambridge Analytica allegedly misused Facebook data from user profiles. Cambridge Analytica did work for the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election, but a spokesperson for the Trump campaign told ABC News in a statement that the campaign used the RNC for its voter data and not Cambridge Analytica.



Using the RNC data was one of the best choices the campaign made. Any claims that voter data were used from another source to support the victory in 2016 are false, the statement said.



Cambridge Analytica did not respond to ABC News attempts Wednesday to get comment on Zuckerberg agreeing to appear before the committee, but did issue a new statement responding to Facebooks user data announcement. In its statement, Cambridge Analytica pushed back on the new figure of 87 million and shifted blame to a third party research firm.



Cambridge Analytica licensed data for no more than 30 million people from GSR, as is clearly stated in our contract with the research company. We did not receive more data than this, the statement said, adding, Our contract with GSR stated that all data must be obtained legally, and this contract is now a matter of public record. We took legal action against GSR when we found out they had breached this contract.



"GSR" refers to Global Science Research, the firm founded by Aleksandr Kogan, the Cambridge University researcher who collected information on millions of Americans through Facebook for Cambridge Analytica.



We did not use any GSR data in the work we did in the 2016 US presidential election, the statement added.



In the meantime, the Federal Trade Commission announced last month that it had opened its own investigation looking into whether the tech giant violated a 2011 consent decree it signed with the FTC promising to protect users privacy.



On Tuesday, Facebook announced it had removed dozens of additional Facebook and Instagram accounts tied to a Russian organization called the Internet Research Agency, which spread disinformation online in the U.S. before the 2016 election according to the Treasury Department.



Trump administration sanctions Russians for 2016 election interference, other cyber attacks



This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online, said committee chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and ranking member Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N..J., in a joint statement announcing Zuckerbergs appearance.



We appreciate Mr. Zuckerbergs willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions on April 11th, Walden and Palone wrote.



Zuckerbergs announced testimony before House Energy and Commerce is his first confirmed appearance ever in front of a congressional committee, although a Facebook spokesperson told ABC News that conversations with other committees continue about additional appearances on Capitol Hill. The embattled billionaire businessman has received requests from the Senate Commerce Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee  which invited him to appear on April 10  and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has said it intends to extend an invitation as well.



Government panels in the UK, Australia, and beyond have also requested Zuckerberg to appear. Zuckerberg recently declined an invitation from a British Parliamentary committee investigating the rise of fake news, but offered to send two of his deputies instead.



Last month, Facebook sent a handful of senior staff to brief aides to a number of key Senate and House committees on privacy concerns.



These tech platforms who are extraordinarily powerful whove been great iconic American success stories - they need to be more forthcoming or Washington is going to start imposing rules and regulations that may not fit, warned Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee and, himself, a former tech industry entrepreneur and investor.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Judging from his tweets, President Donald Trump appears to have the knives out for Amazon.com Inc. But inside the White House, there are no active discussions about turning the power of the administration against the company, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

None of the five people was aware of any ongoing discussion about turning Trumps tweets into action against Amazon, not on the legal or regulatory fronts, or even regarding its reliance on the U. S. Postal Service, which has drawn the lions share of ...If you go by the ads for some language learning apps, you can have a conversation in a new language in three weeks.

But the experience of most Australians when trying to learn a new language is more likely to resemble that of our prime minister who, a few years ago, wrote: Learning any language at school isdifficult because there simply arent enough hours in the school calendar for most students to achieve any real facility  as many Australians have discovered when they tried out their schoolboy or schoolgirl French on their first visit to ...The Centre has directed its agencies to purchase 390,400 tonnes of mustard and 136,808 tonnes of masoor from Madhya Pradesh, days after the state government decided to remove the two commodities along with gram from the Price Deficiency Payment scheme (Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana). For chana, officials said a decision on direct purchase could be taken in the next few days.

The procurement would be done through NAFED, SFAC, and Food Corporation of India. Chana is among the biggest pulses grown in the state in the rabi season and its production this year is estimated to be around 5.4 ...providing services for commodity derivatives will have to ensure guarantee for settlement of trades including goods delivery, regulator Sebi has said.

The new regulation will come into force on October 1, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has said in a notification.

"Every recognised clearing corporation providing clearing and settlement services for commodity derivatives shall ensure guarantee for settlement of trades including goods delivery," added the notification dated April 2.

The regulator had said last month that members of in the commodity derivatives segment will need to have a minimum liquid networth of Rs 50 lakh.

Liquid networth refers to a clearing member's liquid assets after adjusting for applicable margins.

The decision was aimed at aligning rules pertaining to base minimum capital requirement and liquid networth of in commodity derivatives with equity as well as currency derivatives.Madhya Pradesh Police has arrested 226 people in connection with the Bharat Bandh violence, said a senior police official on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference here, Makrand Deuskar, IG, Law and Order, Madhya Pradesh, said that these arrests have been made from three districts of the state: Gwalior, Bhind, Morena.

"We have arrested 75 people from Gwalior, 50 from Bhind and 111 from Morena in connection with Bharat Bandh violence," Deuskar said.

He, however, admitted that police have not been able to arrest Raja Chauhan as yet.

Police on Tuesday registered an FIR against 'Raja Chouhan' - allegedly the man seen firing shots at a mob in Gwalior during Monday's bandh.

He has been booked under IPC Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide).

The death toll in Madhya Pradesh due to violent protests during the nationwide bandh called by several Dalit organisations has reached seven after one more person succumbed to injuries on Tuesday.

Police foiled an attempt to storm the residence of Madhya Pradesh Minister Lal Singh Arya in Bhind district on Tuesday.

The administration has decided to suspend arms licenses in some of the areas of Bhind district.

This latest instruction will be implemented in cities like Mehgaon, Gohad and Machhand of Bhind district.

Meanwhile, the curfew was imposed in various areas of Gwalior, Bhind and Morena districts on Wednesday.

Protests across the country turned violent on Monday after protesters resorted to stone pelting, damaging public properties and rail and various other blockades. Violent protests were reported from various states, including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat, and Punjab.

The Supreme Court had, on March 20, introduced the provision of anticipatory bail in the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act while directing that there would be no automatic arrest on any complaint filed under the law.

The Centre on Monday filed a review petition in the apex court to reconsider its order.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Tuesday rebuffed rumours that the Central Government would repeal the provision for reservation in the Constitution.

"It is pure rumour. Dalits should not pay attention to this. BJP has immense faith in the Constitution and would not allow any other parties to do the same," Shah told reporters outside the airport here.

Shah also trained guns at the Opposition, holding them accountable for the violence that marked the Monday protest against Supreme Court's ruling on the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

He added that the call for a nationwide bandh was not necessary, given the Centre had already decided to file a review petition in the apex court.

The apex court had, on March 20, introduced the provision of anticipatory bail in the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act while directing that there would be no automatic arrest on any complaint filed under the law.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK) party said that they have submitted a letter to the Police Commissioner of Chennai requesting the authorities to ban Indian Premier League (IPL) match on April 10 till Cauvery Mangement Board (CMB) is formed.

The party urged authorities not to organise the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders.

"We have submitted our request to Police Commissioner to not let IPL match take place on April 10 till Cauvery Mangement Board is formed. If at all any match happens we will protest in the stadium," TVK leader Panruti T Velmurugan told media here on Wednesday.

"However, we assure we will not use any violence," he added.

Tamil Nadu leaders from all political parties including Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam (DVK), Viduthalai Thamizh Puligal Katchi (VTPK) and Social Democratic Party of India have been protesting against the Centre over their delay in setting up the CMB.

On 16 February, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to form the CMB within six weeks to implement a formula for sharing of Cauvery water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Curfew will remain imposed in Rajasthan's Hindaun city on Wednesday in wake of the violence in the state on April 3 during Bharat Bandh against the alleged dilution of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court.

Reportedly, the situation is under control but internet services continue to remain suspended.

On April 3 (Tuesday) situation in Hindaun heated up as houses of local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Rajkumari and former Congress MLA Bharosi Lal Jatav were burnt down by protesters in favour of the Bharat Bandh.

A bus carrying women were allegedly molested by the protesters.

Local police battalions including Border Security Force, Rajasthan Armed Constabulary, and Special Task Force have been employed in the city to maintain law and order.

Even as the Centre filed a review petition in the top court, outrage over the review in the Act made by the Apex Court has engulfed numerous parts of the country, as various states, including Punjab, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, are witnessing border-line riots, with protesters taking to destruction of private and public property to send their message of disapproval to legislature and judiciary.

The apex court had, on March 20, introduced the provision of anticipatory bail in the act while directing that there would be no automatic arrest on any complaint filed under the law.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Curfew will remain imposed in various areas of Gwalior, Bhind and Morena districts on Wednesday in the wake of violence witnessed by the state on April 2 during Bharat Bandh.

The curfew, though, would be relaxed for two hours between 10 am and 12 noon, according to police.

On Tuesday, 50 people were arrested for pelting stones at a police party in Morena.

Meanwhile, the death toll in violence reached seven in the state after one more body was recovered yesterday in the morning.

Violent protests marred the nationwide shutdown that was called by several Dalit organisations to protest against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

In all, at least 11 people have died across the country in the violence that broke out in various states, including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat, and Punjab.

In the latest development, the Supreme Court has refused to put stay order on its March 20 ruling, after Centre filed a review petition against the same.

The apex court, on March 20, introduced the provision of anticipatory bail in the act while directing that there would be no automatic arrest on any complaint filed under the law. This ruling allegedly infuriated the Dalits who claimed that the act has been diluted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday granted bail to former finance minister P. Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram's chartered accountant S Bhaskararaman in connection with the INX media case.

He had approached the court seeking the bail fearing arrest by the CBI in the said case.

On March 26, the CBI filed a reply in the Special Court and opposed the anticipatory bail plea of S. Bhaskararaman in connection with the case.

Bhaskararaman was arrested from a hotel in Delhi on February 16 and was later sent to sent judicial custody.

On February 28, Karti Chidambaram was arrested at the Chennai airport on his return from the UK, in connection with a money laundering case registered against him in May 2017 for his alleged role in facilitating FIPB clearance for INX Media Ltd and its directors, Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.

Karti allegedly took service charges for getting the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving funds from abroad worth Rs 305 crore in 2007 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union finance minister.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on Wednesday when their vehicle met with an accident after being attacked in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The CRPF vehicle came under stone pelting by the locals in Hillar Arhama village of Kokernag in Anantnag district. After the attack, the driver lost control and uncontrolled truck hit the motorcycle of CRPF personnel, which was moving ahead of the truck. The deceased have been identified as Riyaz Ahmed Wani and Nissar Ahmed Wani of 164 Battalion. In the same incident, three CRPF personnel were also injured.

Kashmir Zone police tweeted, "Our heartfelt condolences for CRPF men Riyaz Ahmed Wani and Nissar Ahmed Wani whom we lost in the Kokernag incident today. Police have registered case and investigation on @JmuKmrPolice (sic)"

The injured has been shifted to the hospital for further treatment.

More details are awaited.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After the Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) paper leaks fiasco, the Centre has formed a panel to examine the conduction of examinations and suggest measures to handle the same in a foolproof manner.

This decision from the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry comes days after Class 10 Mathematics and Class 12 Economics board papers were leaked online on March 28 and 26 respectively.

The expert panel, led by V.S. Oberoi, ex-Secretary, HRD, will suggest measures to conduct exams in a secured and foolproof manner with the use of technology. The panel has been directed to submit a report to the ministry by May 31.

"Govt. constitutes a High Powered Committee, comprising experts, under chairmanship of V S Oberoi, ex-Secretary, MHRD, to examine the process of conduct of CBSE exams & suggest measures to make it secure & foolproof through the use of technology. Report to be submitted by 31st May," tweeted Anil Swarup, HRD Secretary (Education).

The CBSE had earlier announced to re-conduct the examination of Class 10 Mathematics in Delhi NCR and Haryana and Class 12 Economics paper; however the board later decided not to conduct the Maths paper.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected all the pleas filed over CBSE paper leaks.

The apex court, headed by Justice S. A. Bobde and also comprising Justice L. Nageswar Rao, dismissed five petitions after not finding any merit in their respective pleas.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hyderabad Police have banned the flying of drones and other remote-controlled flying devices in the city, from April 8 to May 7, in view of possible attacks that may be carried out through such devices by terror groups or anti-social elements.

"No flying activities of Remotely Controlled Drones or Para-Gliders or Remotely Controlled Micro-Light Aircraft be allowed in the Jurisdiction of Hyderabad City Police Commissionerate limits without prior Police permission in writing," a notification issued by IPS Anjani Kumar, Commissioner of Police and Executive Magistrate of Hyderabad City, read.

"Inputs have been received by intelligence agencies about the possibility of attacks by Terrorist/Antisocial elements by the use of para-gliders, remote controlled drones, remote controlled micro-light aircraft, etc., and there is every likelihood of breach of peace and disturbance of public tranquility and also there is grave danger to human life, health, safety and damage to public property on that account," it added.

As per the notification, government agencies and organizations will need to obtain appropriate clearance from local Police and aviation authorities before launching any Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Unmanned Aerial Survey (UAS) for any purpose.

"Any person contravening this order shall be punishable under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860," the notification further stated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria paid a courtesy call on Pakistan National Security Advisor (NSA) Lieutenant General (Retd.) Naseer Khan Janjua in Islamabad on Tuesday.

According to sources, Bisaria sensitised Janjua on issues of India's concern. Also, the two sides held constructive discussions on improving the bilateral relationship.

It is to be noted that envoys call regularly on dignitaries of the host country. This was a meeting, which was scheduled a week earlier.

For the unversed, two separate incidents of intimidation of four High Commission officials were reported by sources on March 19.

The Indian High Commission on March 22 sent a Note Verbale to the Pakistan High Commission reporting about four separate incidents of harassments with Indian Deputy High Commissioner, Naval Attache of the Mission, Deputy High Commissioner and the Second Secretary (Political) of the Mission.

Further, the website of the High Commission of India was intermittently blocked by the attackers over a period of time affecting the normal functioning of the Mission.

Taking note of the matters, New Delhi and Islamabad on Friday agreed to mutually resolve concerns over the treatment of each other's diplomats.

A Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement read, "India and Pakistan mutually agreed to resolve matters related to the treatment of diplomats and diplomatic premises, in line with the 1992 Code of Conduct for the treatment of diplomatic/consular personnel in India and Pakistan".

The already souring ties between India and Pakistan have taken a sharp plunge ever since ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces have increased along the Line of Control (LoC) and terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir have seen a rise in the last few months.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kasganj administration in Uttar Pradesh has finalised 'baraat' route of a Dalit groom.

Kasganj District Magistrate R.P. Singh told ANI that the administration has finalised a route for 'Baraat' of Dalit groom Sanjay Jatav, who would be entering bride's village on a horse.

"We have made a route from bride's house to some 500 meters where they can take the horse. Further celebrations can take place at a farm," Singh said.

A marriage between Sanjay, a Dalit from Hathras, and Sheetal is to take place in Nizampur village in Kasganj on April 20.

The groom has also approached Allahabad High Court seeking protection on his marriage day after the upper caste community allegedly opposed his decision to take out his baraat by riding on a horse.

The marriage will take place at a time when Dalits are up in arms against dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Till now, at least 11 people have been killed in the protests across the country that turned violent on Monday after protesters resorted to stone pelting, damaging public properties and rail and various other blockades. Violent protests were reported from various states, including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat, and Punjab.

The Supreme Court had, on March 20, introduced the provision of anticipatory bail in the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act while directing that there would be no automatic arrest on any complaint filed under the law.

The Centre on Monday filed a review petition in the apex court to reconsider its order.

Kasganj also grabbed headlines in earlier this year when one person, identified as Chandan Gupta, died and two others were injured in the violence that broke out on January 26.

The clash broke out after an unauthorised bike rally was taken out by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh -affiliated students' group Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in the city to commemorate the Republic Day and allegedly stones were pelted at them during the roadshow.

Prime accused in Chandan Gupta murder case Salim was arrested on January 31. Later, Rahat Qureshi, Salman, Naseem and Waseem were also arrested in the case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Lucknow resident on Tuesday alleged that he was pushed away by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, when he approached him with a complaint against an MLA at a Janta Darbar in Gorakhpur.

"Amanmani Tripathi (MLA from Nautanwa) captured my lands. I went to the Chief Minister, gave him my papers and started briefing him, but he threw the papers away and said that no action would be taken," Aayush Singhal told reporters.

However, Gorakhpur District Magistrate K Vijayendra Pandian said that the Chief Minister had asked Singhal to come after filling an application as he had come without proper papers.

"Some complainants were coming without proper papers and Chief Minister was asking them to get it filled. Aayush also came empty-handed and Chief Minister asked him to come after filling the application. His complaint was a matter of partition of a joint land," Pandian told ANI.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The plastic ban in the state of Maharashtra, instated by the Chief Ministr Devendra Fadnavis led-government on March 23, has received mix reactions from various segments of the industry.

The impact of employment on the people earning their daily wages through the plastic industry is a cause of concern to many. The daily labourers have said the ban has not only caused them and their families to sleep on an empty stomach but has also put their future in jeopardy.

Some of them have been trained and are used to working only in the plastic industry. The concern also lies with the shop owners of plastic shops who are in a dilemma over what to do with the leftover materials.

The shopkeepers are also constantly under a cloud of fear of being harassed by local civic authorities for using or selling their plastic materials to local retailers. Apart from the plastic industry, the various industries directly or indirectly dependent on these industries for the packing and packaging of their products for sale are also concerned.

The Plastic industry has garnered support from various associations but the question of the fate of the plastic industry in the near future still concerns them. Plastic retailers at Masjid Bunder in Mumbai have shut their shops indefinitely and have placed banners outside their shops protesting against the ban.

Rajesh Malde, a plastic retailer, who has also joined the cause and closed his shop, striking a notice on it in protest against the Plastic Ban.

"The Government's Resolution mentions a complete ban on plastic that too with immediate effect, although no alternative or substitute was given to us. The resolution says that we are allowed to sell our balance stock to other states within a period of one month. The Government should understand that for some goods there can't be alternative to plastic, we are in for a pollution-free Maharashtra but our side should also be heard," said Malde.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tech giant Microsoft announced that the company will invest USD 5 billion in the Internet of Things (IoT) globally over the next four years to support continued research and innovation in IoT.

With Microsoft's IoT platform spanning cloud, operating system and devices, Microsoft is simplifying the IoT journey so any customer-regardless of size, technical expertise, budget, industry or other factors-can create trusted, connected solutions that improve business and customer experiences, as well as the daily lives of people all over the world.

This will support Microsoft's technology platform, as well as supporting programs thereby enabling continued research and development in key areas, including securing IoT, creating development tools and intelligent services for IoT and the edge, and investments to grow our partner ecosystem. Customers and partners can expect new products and services, offerings, resources and programs.

For the Indian market, the investment will ensure that Microsoft continues to meet all its customers' and partners' needs, both, now and in the future as they develop new and increasingly sophisticated IoT solutions. IoT is gathering momentum in India, and impacting daily lives: saving electricity, resources, predictive healthcare, automobile safety and more.

In the recent past, IoT is being increasingly used in a number of fields. Authorities across states have turned to IoT to monitor drinking water quality for its citizens. TechSpan Engineering has implemented a monitoring system built on the Azure IoT platform, using sensors provided by the Austrian firm s::can and their India Partner Aaxis Nano. Using the power of the Microsoft cloud, IoT and data, the solution taps into the robust s::can sensors to provide measurements across 17 parameters - from Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chloride and Fluoride levels to temperature and color.

The solution is currently being used for monitoring drinking water quality online by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (125 stations) and Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB) in Hubli, Dharwad and Bijapur (3 stations). Furthermore, it is being deployed for online surface water quality monitoring by Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi (44 stations) and Central Water Commission, New Delhi (3 stations); online industrial pollution monitoring (1500 stations); online sewage treatment and flow monitoring by Delhi Jal Board (36 stations).

Furthermore, Microsoft Azure IoT is powering India's first Smart Street Lighting Project for Jaipur, underscoring Microsoft's mission of transforming public spaces digitally. The Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) operates and maintains over 100,000 public street lights within the city. However, one of three in these lamps did not work and many others functioned poorly, leading to several areas of the city being in the dark.

Microsoft's partner Samudra LED has now deployed a customised Microsoft IoT-platform-based solution created by ISV Precimetrix to monitor, control and manage smart LED public street lights. The project will benefit 1.65 million people through improved street lighting and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 36,750 metric tons/year. It will also result in USD 1 million per year in fiscal savings accrued to the government due to reduced energy consumption.

Researchers at IISc Bangalore are also using a network of IoT sensors coupled with Microsoft Azure analytics to find how cloud technologies can help tackle water scarcity in cities.

On the agriculture front, Microsoft FarmBeats, a research project for agriculture, enables seamless data collection from various sensors, cameras and drones. It comprises two broad areas, data-acquisition system consisting of drones and sensors and a data-analysis system consisting of connectivity pieces, cloud storage, and predictive analysis.

Earlier last year, Tata Motors announced that it will leverage Microsoft's connected vehicle technologies that bring together AI, advanced ML, and IoT capabilities on Microsoft's Azure cloud, to create a highly personalised, smart and safer driving experience across the digital life of a vehicle owner.

Furthermore, Tyre Express, a startup pioneering lifecycle management for fleet operators, has developed an IoT-based Tyre Performance Management Solution. Powered by the Azure IoT Hub, Tyre Express is helping build operational efficiency for commercial vehicle fleet operators by tracking tyre performance.

Talking about IoT in manufacturing, Tetra Pak is employing new, digital tools that enable its cloud-connected machines to predict exactly when equipment needs maintenance, averting many breakdowns. Sensors on more than 5,000 Tetra Pak filling machines at customers' sites globally, all connected to Microsoft Azure, feed real-time performance data to the company for monitoring and analysis - nearly 700 million data points each year.

IoT will lead to a USD 1.9 trillion productivity increase and USD 177 billion in reduced costs by 2020 (A.T. Kearney). This effect will be pervasive, from connected homes and cars to manufacturers to smart cities and utilities-and everything in between. Pre-empting this, Microsoft announced Microsoft IoT Central, the first highly scalable IoT SaaS solution, that has built-in support for IoT best practices and world class security along with the reliability, regional availability, and global scale of the Azure cloud.

Microsoft IoT Central allows companies to build production-grade IoT applications in hours and not worry about managing all the necessary backend infrastructure or hiring new skill sets to develop the solutions.

Microsoft's IoT offerings today include operating systems for devices, cloud services to control and secure them, advanced analytics to gain insights, and business applications to enable intelligent action. With each implementation, customers and partners are overcoming challenges of building an IoT solution that harnesses massive amounts of data.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)While curfew is imposed in various areas of Gwalior, Bhind, and Morena districts, the protestors in Bhind torched a shop outside a municipal office and set a tyre on fire.

In the wake of violence prevailed due to the protest over SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, arms licenses have been suspended in some of the areas of Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district.

Protests across the country turned violent on Monday after protesters resorted to stone pelting, damaging public properties and rail and various other blockades.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay its order on Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) Act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam on Wednesday arrived at the accountability court conducting corruption proceedings against them.

The father-daughter duo arrived from Lahore via a private plane, after having missed yesterday's hearing of the Avenfield properties case due to the harsh weather, reported Geo TV.

Pakistan's ex-premier and his daughter on Tuesday were granted an exemption from appearing before the court as their flight could not take off from Lahore due to harsh weather.

Nawaz's counsel Khawaja Haris intimated Judge that Nawaz's flight could not take off due to complicated weather conditions. While the judge approved the request, he directed Nawaz's son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar to remain in court, according to the reports.

The case pertains to the Sharif family's London apartments.

Sharif, his sons Hasan and Hussain, daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar are facing multiple corruption references in the accountability court.

The corruption references, filed against the Sharif family, pertain to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment, offshore companies including Flagship Investment Ltd, and Avenfield properties of London.

The Pakistan Supreme Court had, on July 28, disqualified Sharif from holding the office of the prime minister and asked the National Accountability Bureau to file references against the Sharif family in connection with corruption cases against them.

On the orders of the country's Supreme Court, a JIT was formed last year to probe the allegations on the Sharif family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan on Wednesday is observing the 39th death anniversary of former prime minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

A ceremony is slated to be held in Rawalpindi's Jinnah Park (Old Jail). A Quran Khawani would be held at 10 AM and dua will be offered at 1 PM, reported Geo TV.

Leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), a party which was founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, will gather in Garhi Khuda Bakhs village in Sindh province to address the party workers near the mausoleum of former prime minister.

The meeting will be addressed by party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, co-chairman and Pakistan's former president Asif Ali Zardari, opposition leaders in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah and Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, and the PPP's central leaders, the report said.

To mark the occasion, the Sindh Labour and Human Resources department has declared April 4 as a public holiday across Sindh.

A documentary displaying Bhutto's feat and accomplishments; and his life will be shown.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in 1979, two years after his government was toppled in a military coup by then chief of the army staff General Ziaul Haq, according to the media reports.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday called for the live broadcast of the proceedings of the corruption case against the Sharif family at the accountability court in Islamabad so that the "country could know what the truth was."

"The proceedings of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court's hearings against Nawaz Sharif and me should be broadcast live so the nation can know what the truth is," Maryam tweeted.

Responding to Maryam's tweet, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said, "We had also demanded that the proceedings of the JIT ( Joint Investigation Team) probing the Panama Papers case and the Supreme Court proceedings be broadcast live."

"The decision to broadcast proceedings rests with the court," he added.

According to Geo News, Maryam's tweet came after the father-daughter duo appeared before the accountability court in Islamabad earlier on Wednesday, after arriving from Lahore via a private plane, after having missed yesterday's hearing of the Avenfield properties case due to the harsh weather.

The court is currently hearing corruption cases against the former Pakistan Prime Minister and his family.

Sharif, his sons Hasan and Hussain, daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar are facing multiple corruption references in the accountability court.

The corruption references, filed against the Sharif family, pertain to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment, offshore companies including Flagship Investment Ltd, and Avenfield properties of London.

The Pakistan Supreme Court had, on July 28 last year, disqualified Sharif from holding the office of the prime minister and asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references against the Sharif family in connection with corruption cases against them.

On the orders of the country's apex court, a JIT was formed last year to probe the allegations on the Sharif family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj will pay an official visit to Azerbaijan from April 4-6 at the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Tuesday.

Swaraj will represent India at the mid-term ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which will be held in Baku on April 5-6.

"As a founding member of NAM, India remains committed to the purposes and principles of the movement. The EAM's participation in the NAM ministerial meeting will underline India's continued active and constructive engagement within the movement with a view to further strengthen solidarity and cooperation among its member states," the MEA said.

During the visit, Swaraj will hold bilateral consultations with Mammadyarov. Earlier, the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan had paid a bilateral visit to India in May 2013.

She is scheduled to call on the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva respectively.

"India and Azerbaijan enjoy warm and friendly relations based on historical and cultural ties. They have growing bilateral cooperation in many areas including energy, transportation, and capacity building," the MEA added.

The two sides will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest. India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)-Videsh is an investor in Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil fields and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline respectively.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered his "thoughts and prayers" after a shooting at YouTube headquarters at California.

Trump took to his Twitter account to inform that rescue teams and law enforcement officers have reached the site of the shooting.

"Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTube's HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene", Trump tweeted.

Four civilians got injured after a female gunman opened fire in an outdoor courtyard and then died after shooting herself.

Three victims, injured in the incident have been admitted to the San Francisco General Hospital and one is reportedly in a critical condition.

According to media reports, the United States law enforcement agencies are investigating the shooting incident as a 'domestic dispute'.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United States plans to deploy military forces at the US-Mexico border, said President Donald Trump while addressing the Baltic leaders at a summit earlier on Tuesday.

Trump said that the US-Mexican borders are unprotected by laws, while holding high hopes from the ruling government to act together to make powerful laws like Canada and Mexico.

He said, "We don't have laws. We have catch and release and people come after many years for court cases except that they virtually never come back".

He further claimed to prepare its military forces to guard the borders after consulting Former Major General of US Army (Ret.) General David Morris.

"The Caravan (a term used by Trump to refer to illegal immigrants) which is over 1000 people coming from Honduras walk right through the border", Trump added.

Later Trump depicted his hatred towards North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and US which he touted to be one of the reasons behind the illegal immigration.

"NAFTA is a phenomenal deal for Mexico but it is a horrible day for the United States. We are re-negotiating it now" Trump said.

While claiming that Mexico has a 100 billion US dollars trade deficit, Trump said, "We have started building the wall; we need to have stronger borders."

President Trump had earlier blamed the porous borders of US-Mexico for unrestricted movement of migrants and drug peddlers in the United States.

On April 3, he took to his Twitter account to criticise the DACA deal and NAFTA while terming it as a cash cow for Mexico and Canada and blaming them for the illegal migration to the United States through the US-Mexican border.

"The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our "Weak Laws" Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is a foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!" Trump tweeted.

Earlier, President Trump had vowed to keep pushing for the funding of an 'anti-migration' border wall along the US-Mexico border.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister Uma Bharti on Wednesday lauded the Madhya Pradesh government for granting Minister of State (MoS) status to five Hindu religious leaders.

Condemning the Congress for opposing it, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said that the Indian culture has always respected saints.

"Indian culture has always respected saints. Ministry has not been given to cons and thugs but saints. I applaud Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and condemn Congress for opposing it," Bharti told ANI.

Earlier in the day, the Madhya Pradesh Government has granted Minister of State (MoS) rank to five religious leaders, namely Baba Narmadanand, Baba Hariharanand, Computer Baba, Bhaiyyu Maharaj, and Pandit Yogendra Mahant in the state cabinet.

The Congress dubbed the decision as an attempt by the BJP to exploit the respect these religious leaders enjoy in society.

"It's a gimmick to score political points. This is also an effort by the Chief Minister [Shivraj Singh Chouhan] to wash off his sins. He ignored conservation of the Narmada," Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said.

On March, 31, these five leaders were been appointed as members in a special committee formed for raising awareness about water conservation, cleanliness and aforestation near Narmada River.

The order issued by the state secretariat shall be effective from the date of its issuance, that is April 3.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A new research has explored why whooping cough, otherwise known as pertussis, is making a comeback.

According to the study conducted by the University of Georgia, the resurgence of whooping cough in the U.S. is a predictable consequence of incomplete coverage with a highly effective vaccine.

This finding goes against pervasive theories on why we are seeing a steady increase in the disease even though the vaccine is given at an early age.

"This study is important in that it revealed that there has been no change to the epidemiology of pertussis that is causing the rise in the number of cases," said senior author Pejman Rohani. "Instead, it is a function of the way vaccines were administered over the decades. It is an effect that takes a long time to manifest."

Pertussis is a respiratory infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, which can cause serious infections in infants and young children. Routine vaccination for the disease began in the 1940s and led to a 100-fold decrease in the number of reported cases - to the point that the prospect of eliminating the disease seemed possible. But since the mid-1970s pertussis has made a comeback.

Rohani and his team examined long-term surveillance data from Massachusetts to try to understand why.

The most popular theory on the increase of pertussis cases is that the new generation of vaccines is somehow flawed, but Rohani and his colleagues saw no evidence to support that.

Instead, they found that today's pertussis vaccines, like earlier ones, are largely very effective despite not providing 100 percent lifelong protection to those individuals who get vaccinated.

What they did discover was that high rates of vaccination when the vaccine was first introduced led to an overall decrease in transmission across the population. Even those who weren't vaccinated were therefore less likely to contract the disease.

As vaccinated individuals age, however, the protection afforded by the vaccine begins to wear off in some cases. Furthermore, there are fewer and fewer people still alive who survived pertussis infections in the days before vaccination, and thus gained lifelong immunity.

This combination means that the number of people who are susceptible to contracting pertussis is slowly rising - setting the stage for an increase in the number of new cases, especially in older individuals. This is known as the "end of the honeymoon" period.

The results of this study will help to serve as a guide for future vaccination campaigns. The model identifies the core transmission group to be schoolchildren, so the researchers recommend that group should be the main focus of vaccination campaigns, rather than the current emphasis on vaccinating adults.

Going forward researchers will further analyse the results of this study to assess the number and frequency of booster vaccines.

The findings are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The woman who shot three people at YouTube headquarters in Northern California's San Bruno area before killing herself has been identified as 38-year-old Nasim Aghdam.

"We know very, very little right now, and we probably won't know more until tomorrow morning," CNN reported, citing San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini as saying.

Four civilians got injured after a female gunman opened fire in an outdoor courtyard and then died after shooting herself.

Three victims, injured in the incident have been admitted to the San Francisco General Hospital and one is reportedly in a critical condition.

According to media reports, the United States law enforcement agencies are investigating the shooting incident as a 'domestic dispute'.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered his "thoughts and prayers".

Trump took to his Twitter account to inform that rescue teams and law enforcement officers have reached the site of the shooting.

"Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTube's HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene", Trump tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Akzo Nobel India said that its board will meet on 6 April 2018, to consider a proposal to buyback equity shares. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 3 April 2018.

Jubilant FoodWorks will be watched. With reference to news item titled 'Profiteering notice to Jubilant FoodWorks on Domino's pizza pricing', Jubilant FoodWorks clarified after market hours yesterday, 3 April 2018, that it passed on the full benefit of Goods and Services Tax (GST) to customers on account of reduction in GST rate. The company initially received a notice dated 25 January 2018 from the Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) on anti-profiteering which was replied by the company on 7 February 2018 and 12 March 2018 confirming that no profiteering on account of GST has been made. DGS has further sought certain information/ documents which the company has submitted/is in the process of submission in a timely manner.

The company does not foresee any material impact of the article on the company and that as of today, there are no events, information etc. that have a bearing on operation / performance of the Company which include all price sensitive information, which are required to be disclosed to the Stock Exchanges.

Zensar Technologies announced that it has recently been awarded a four year, multi-million dollar contract from the City of San Diego for network services. The contract has the option of extension of two additional two-year terms with the total not to exceed contract value being approximately $79 million. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 3 April 2018.

AU Small Finance Bank said it entered into agreement with Future Generali India Life Insurance Company to act as corporate agent for life insurance business. This tie up shall be mutually beneficial for bank and Future Generali India Life Insurance Company in terms of business, market penetration and reach. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 3 April 2018.

Tayo Rolls announced that the committee of the board decided to allot 2 lakh, 7% Non-cumulative redeemable preference shares of Rs 100 each aggregating to Rs 2 crore to Tata Steel, the promoter on preferential basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 3 April 2018.

Infibeam Incorporation said it entered into an advertisement agreement with TV18 Broadcast for advertising the company's products, services and brands in print and non-print media. The agreement is valid for 24 months. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 3 April 2018.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Registration of more than 14000 Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have been cancelled during the last four years under The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.

The institution/state-wise details are available on the website www.fcraonline.nic.in of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The complaints received in this regard from the Non Governmental Organisation (NGOs) are examined and redressed in this Ministry as per the provisions of the FCRA, 2010 and the Rules made there under.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jet Airways (India) rose 1.21% to Rs 621.25 at 12:19 IST on BSE after the company said it entered into an agreement with The Boeing Company for purchase of 75 Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 3 April 2018.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 42.67 points, or 0.13% to 33,413.30.

On the BSE, 1.93 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 2.42 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 632.25 and a low of Rs 613.90 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 883.65 on 5 January 2018. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 436 on 31 May 2017.

Jet Airways (India)'s net profit declined 45.9% to Rs 165.25 crore on 10.4% increase in net sales to Rs 6086.20 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016.

Jet Airways is India's premier international airline which operates flights in India and overseas.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is committed to the building of airport capacity as part of its NABH (NextGen Airports for BHarat) Nirman initiative. Three key aspects of NABH Nirman are (1) fair and equitable land acquisition, (2) long-term master plan for airport and regional development and (3) balanced economics for all stakeholders. As part of NABH Nirman, MoCA called a meeting of all stakeholders to review the progress of setting up of Noida International Greenfield Airport at Jewar.

Fair and equitable land acquisition

Noida International Greenfield Airport is strategically located in respect of road distance about 72 km from IGI Airport, about 40 km from Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad, about 28 km from Greater Noida, 65 km from Gurugram and 130 km from Agra. It is well connected via Yamuna Expressway that will serve domestic and international tourists to reach Agra, Mathura and Vrindavan.

MoCA had granted site clearance on July 06, 2017. The U. P. Government appointed Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) as the implementing agency on its behalf in October 2017. YEIDA obtained a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Defence on January 11, 2018.

To expedite the implementation of Airport project, a Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee (PMIC) has been constituted on March 27, 2018.

Land measuring 5,000 hectares (ha) has been identified by YEIDA for the project, out of which 240 ha. belongs to the State Govt and rest is with private owners. The first phase of acquisition of land measuring 1,327 ha. for construction of Terminal buildings and Runways is expected to be initiated in the month of June, 2018by the YEIDA for necessary arrangements have been made.

Long-term master plan for airport and regional development

Airports are gateways of global connectivity and form the corner stone of creating strategic economic hubs. Development of an airport leads to construction of commercial and residential real estate closer to the airport and can transform the economic geography of the region. A well-designed aero-city around an airport can become an economic engine in and of itself.

It was decided that the planning for the airport will take into account holistic planning of the urban area around the airport. Intra and inter-city connectivity with various modes of transport (linkages with the existing Delhi airport, Railways, metro, buses, autos, private vehicle connectivity, etc.) were identified to bring down cost and time involved for passenger and freight movement.

Balanced economics for all stakeholders

The airport is to be developed on Public Private Partnership model (PPP). A detailed discussion was held on the financial viability of the airport and various models of awarding the PPP concession were deliberated upon. The State government and YEIDA assured that funds for land acquisition are available and the process is expected to proceed smoothly.

In the meeting, timelines have been fixed for various activities and responsibilities assigned. The UP government is planning to lay the foundation stone of Phase 1 of the project by October 2018.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Government has approved special package for employment generation in leather and footwear sector. The package involves implementation of Central Sector Scheme 'Indian Footwear, Leather & Accessories Development Programme (IFLADP)' with an approved expenditure of Rs. 2,600 crores over the three financial years from 2017-18 to 2019-20. There are seven sub-schemes under IFLADP and listed out the various details of the sub-schemes:

(i) Human Resource Development (HRD) sub-scheme provides assistance for Placement Linked Skill Development training to unemployed persons @ Rs. 15,000 per person, for skill up-gradation training to employed workers @ Rs. 5,000 per employee and for training of trainers @ Rs. 2 lakhs per person.

(ii) Integrated Development of Leather Sector (IDLS) sub-scheme incentivizes investment and manufacturing including job creation by providing backend investment grant/subsidy @ 30% of the cost of new Plant and Machinery to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and @ 20% of the cost of Plant and Machinery to other units for modernization /technology upgradation in existing units and also for setting up of new units.

(iii) Establishment of Institutional Facilities sub-scheme provides assistance to Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) for upgradation of some of the existing campuses of FDDI into "Centers of Excellence" and establishing 3 new fully equipped skill centers alongside the upcoming Mega Leather Cluster.

(iv) Mega Leather, Footwear and Accessories Cluster (MLFAC sub-scheme provides infrastructure support to the Leather, Footwear and Accessories Sector by establishment of Mega Leather, Footwear and Accessories Cluster.

Graded assistance is provided up to 50% of the eligible project cost, excluding cost of land with Government assistance being limited to Rs. 125 crores.

(v) Leather Technology, Innovation and Environmental sub-scheme, assistance is provided for upgradation/installation of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) @ 70% of the project cost. The sub-scheme also provides for support to national level sectoral industry council/ association and support for preparation of vision document for Leather Footwear and Accessories Sector.

(vi) Promotion of Indian Brands in Leather, Footwear and Accessories sub-scheme, eligible units approved for Brand Promotion are assisted. Government assistance is limited to 50% of total project cost subject to a limit of Rs.3 crores for each brand, each year for 3 years.

(vii) Additional Employment Incentive for Leather, Footwear and Accessories Sector scheme, employers' contribution of 3.67% to Employees' Provident Fund for all new employees in Leather, Footwear and Accessories sector are provided for enrolling in EPFO for first 3 years of their employment.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rome, April 4 (IANS/AKI) A group of 12 European tourists released by rebels in southwest Cameroon late on Monday, said diplomatic sources on Wednesday.

The hostages included five Italians, a diplomatic source told AKI.

The other seven hostages freed by their kidnappers in the Nguti area of Cameroon are Swiss, regional daily 'Voice of the People' cited the country's authorities as saying.

The Europeans were taken hostage for several hours on Monday, South Africa's eNCA television channel said on its website, quoting a statement from Cameroon's Communications Ministry.

The tourists were seized in the Moungo-Ndor area while they were heading for a tourist site called the Twin Lakes, according to the ministry statement.

The kidnappers reportedly belong to a movement seeking independence for English-speaking areas of Cameroon.

The country's Anglophones account for about a fifth of the predominantly French-speaking population.

--IANS/AKI

vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Twelve lakh customers throughout the country opted for portability from other networks to state-owned BSNL in the last financial year, a top company official said here on Wednesday.

"BSNL's revenue collection has been better than other network providers in the last fiscal, although a general trend of 10-20 per cent decline in revenue collection has been observed in the mobile industry," Chief General Manager of Calcutta Telephones S.P. Tripathi said at a media meet here.

The company has also fared well in fulfilling target for sale of SIM cards and promptly attending to complaints from customers.

"Across the country, 12 lakh customers have opted for portability from other networks to BSNL in the last financial year (2017-18)," Tripathi said.

He said that BSNL-Calcutta Telephones had launched a new family broadband combo plan where three pre-paid mobile connections with unlimited calls to any network in India and data facility for a monthly charge of Rs. 1,199 would be offered to family members on the recommendation of the subscriber.

The download speed will be 10 mbps till 40 GB and 2 mbps after that in this unlimited plan, which, Tripathi hoped, would be popular and give a big push to BSNL's business.

Giving details of various packages for landline connection, Tripathi mentioned that Sunday and night time free calling facility to BSNL network would be an added feature of landline connections in various plans.

He said installation fees had been waived off for new landline, broadband and FTTH connections.

The public sector undertaking plans to provide only high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connections, which is a feature of smart cities, in New Town area on the northeast fringes of the city.

--IANS

ssp/nir/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A teenaged girl from a village in Madhya Pradesh attempted to scale the walls of Galaxy Apartments in Bandra West to meet her idol Salman Khan, but was prevented by security personnel, a police officrt said here on Wednesday.

The incident happened on Tuesday when the girl landed at Bandra Terminus from an outstation train and proceeded straight to the Khans' joint family sea-front residence.

When she attempted to directly enter through the main gate, she was prevented by the security personnel, who said the actor was not at home, and she went away.

Not losing heart, she then quietly tried to scale the wall of the building to reach the first floor apartment complex of the Khans, but was espied by the security guards who informed the Bandra police station.

A team from Bandra police station rushed there and took charge of her and later questioned her at the police station.

Senior Police Inspector Pandit Thakre later said that from her Aadhaar Card, they learnt she was from Berasia, near Bhopal, and had fled her home on Sunday, hoping to meet Salma, her favourite star.

The police immediately informed her family who are reaching Mumbai to take her back home.

Till then, the girl was kept under the care of the Dongri Juvenile Home.

Mumbai police official spokesperson Deepak Deoraj said that after the incident, there has been no complaints in the matter from the Khan family, nor have police increased security around their residence.

Nearly 25 years ago, another teenaged girl had run away from her home in Jalandhar to become a heroine opposite Salman, then a rage among youth after string of hits starting with "Maine Pyar Kiya", "Baaghi" and "Saajan".

However, an alert mediaperson handed her over to the Western Railway authorities who collaborated with a women's organisation to arrange for her safe return home.

--IANS

qn/rb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actress Adah Sharma, who will be seen in "Charlie Chaplin 2", says she is happy to make her Tamil debut with choreographer-actor-filmmaker Prabhudheva.

On Prabhudheva's birthday on Tuesday, Adah tweeted: "Happy birthday Prabhudheva. So happy to be making my debut in Tamil cinema opposite you."

The Tamil film "Charlie Chaplin 2" is a sequel to Prabhudheva's "Charlie Chaplin" which released in 2002.

-*-

Yami roped in for 'Uri', wants roles representing today's girls

Actress Yami Gautam, who has been roped in for Aditya Dhar's "Uri", says she has been looking for roles which reperesent the strength and courage of girls today.

Yami will be playing an intelligence officer alongside actor Vicky Kaushal in the film.

"Aditya's passion about the film is infectious and the amount of extensive research he has done is amazing. I am really thrilled to be part of this film. This is the first time I am playing a role like this. I've been looking to do roles like this that represent the strength and courage of today's girls," Yami said in a statement.

"Uri" is about the September 2016 attack on the Indian Army's Uri brigade in Jammu and Kashmir.

Yami will also feature in Shahid Kapoor-starrer "Batti Gul Meter Chaalu", which is directed by Shree Narayan Singh.

-*-

Ajay Devgn's former co-star wants to work with Kajol

Actor Amit Bimrot, who made his Bollywood debut with Ajay Devgn-starrer "Raid", now wants to work with the actor-filmmaker's wife and actress Kajol.

"I'm a hardcore Bollywood lover. Acting in films is my passion. After working hard and struggling for the past nine years, I finally got my dream debut in Ajay Sir's movie. I'm receiving great reviews and feedback for my role," Amit said in a statement.

"I finally feel that I'm successful now. People are calling me for work now. But I want to work with Kajol who has been my favourite actress. I adore her and wish to work with her in my next project. I would also love to star with Ajay again," he added.

In "Raid", which released last month, Amit played a "newly recruited income tax inspector of the 1980s who is working with a senior officer (Ajay)".

--IANS

dc-ks-nn/rb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday accused the BJP-led NDA government of betraying the state's people on a special status to the bifurcated state and sought opposition support to get the demand met.

"Five crore people of Andhra Pradesh feel that the BJP-led government is playing with our emotions," Naidu told reporters here, days after the TDP pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance over the government's failure to give a special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

He said he waited till the last Union Budget before withdrawing from the NDA and its government and breaking ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was also part of a ruling coalition in the state.

Naidu said the government kept telling him that that it was not going to give special status because of the 14th Finance Commission.

"The Chairman and member of the Finance Commission denied it, saying their mandate was only to accord funds to the state and Centre.

"They (the government) are blaming me, saying we are prepared to give money, but you are not ready to take. They have given special status to 11 states in spite of the 14th Finance Commission. Then why not Andhra Pradesh?"

Naidu said he even told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if he could sort out the issue "we will continue in the NDA" and it was only after that they decided to snap ties.

The Chief Minister said he had entered into an alliance with the BJP because the state needed "hand-holding by the Centre".

"Had they given us special status within the first year, I would have saved Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000 crore. I want to place all this on record. I waited for four years. (But) they didn't mention any word in their Budget about Andhra Pradesh. They did not even show concern."

Naidu said he had visited Delhi 29 times in four years to meet the Prime Minister and his Ministers.

"And after 29 visits, nothing happened. They did a few minor things, but a major part of (Andhra Pradesh) bifurcation Act was not implemented."

Naidu said the BJP tried to damage his reputation through "mudslinging".

"They (BJP) want to damage my credibility. Is it right? I have built my credibility over 40 years. That is why I have come here to explain to you (media) what all is happening," Naidu said.

During the press conference, Naidu made a power-point presentation on the promises made and their status, besides clippings of Modi allegedly assuring people of Andhra Pradesh a better capital than Delhi.

Naidu said the central government had not fulfilled the revenue deficit certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General as it had released only Rs 3,979 crore as against required Rs 16,078 crore.

The Andhra Chief Minister said the central government had also not released Rs 2,568 crore of the total Rs 7,780 crore for the Polavaram dam project.

He also demanded fulfillment of promises made by Modi to fund Andhra Pradesh's new capital Amravati.

He also demanded Rs 24,350 crore be sanctioned as special development package for seven backward districts of his state.

Naidu also sought a new railway zone, with Vishakhapatnam as its headquarters.

--IANS

spk/tsb

(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.)Taiwanese smartphone company ASUS on Wednesday appointed Leon Yu as the new Regional Head for India and South Asia.

Yu replaces Peter Chang who has moved to ASUS headquarters in Taiwan to head the Market Development Center for APAC, the company said in a statement.

Leon will be responsible for building ASUS' brand and business in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

"I've already begun engaging with our team across India and am eager to continue to build the incredible reputation ASUS has earned in India across product range, starting from smartphones, laptops and the ROG (gaming) series," Yu said.

Prior to this, Yu was the Regional Director for ASUS Middle East for six years.

--IANS

na/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"Austin Powers" actor Verne Troyer, who played "Mini-me" in the film, was rushed to the hospital for a reported poisoning.

He was taken to the hospital on Monday night.

According to Los Angeles City Fire Department, they received a call from the actor's home in North Hollywood at night, reports tmz.com.

Police could not confirm Troyer's identity and the nature of the alleged poisoning due to privacy laws. However, an official revealed that one person was transported to the hospital.

A friend of the actor made the call. The friend reportedly told the police that Troyer was "extremely upset, drunk and suicidal".

It was reported that a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation was done and the 49-year-old actor was placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold.

A representative for Troyer took to Instagram to deliver the news as well as ask for prayers.

"Asking you to keep Verne in your thoughts and prayers. He's getting the best care possible and is resting comfortably. Appreciate the support from family, friends, and fans around the world. We will keep you updated here," said the representative.

This news comes after Troyer, who has been battling alcoholism, was admitted to the hospital for the issue a year ago. He also checked into a rehabilitation treatment program.

--IANS

dc/rb/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BJP on Wednesday refuted allegations of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu that it had betrayed the people of the state, saying the habit of betrayal was not in its DNA.

"In democracy, the parties are free to take their own call but the BJP is not in habbit of ditching friends. It's not in our DNA. We love people of Andhra Pradesh," Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, flanked by party MPs K. Haribabu and G.V.L Narasimha Rao, said at a press conference here.

He termed Naidu's allegations as politically motivated.

"The allegations labelled are false and we refute it. They (Naidu's Telugu Desam Party) will realise their mistake. For God's sack don't do on development. We do not do on issues of development. Our motto is 'sabka sath sabka vikas'," he said.

Addressing reporters immediately after Naidu accused the BJP-led NDA government of betraying the people on the Centre's promise of giving special status to the bifurcated state, Javadekar came with details of the projects being carried out in the state.

"Our commitment for Andhra Pradesh is firm. We will fast track these development projects," he said charting out details of various projects being carried out in the state.

He said that it pained him a lot when the Chief Minister said that the TDP suffered loss of atleast 15 seats due to its alliance with BJP.

"Those who are aware with Andhra politics, they know it better," he said adding that this was not the way to enter into political blame game.

On charges of aligning with YSR Congress, the BJP leader said that it was "ridiculous".

"You fought against Congress and now you are meeting with Congress leaders," he said and added that he was pained by the fallout.

The BJP's attack comes after Naidu met several opposition leaders on Tuesday in Delhi and accused the ruling party at the centre of playing with emotions of five crore people of Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu, days after the TDP pulled out of the NDA over the government's failure to give the special status category to Andhra Pradesh, said the government kept telling him that that they were not going to give special status to the state because of the 14th Finance Commission.

--IANS

bns/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A businessman's driver has been arrested for faking a robbery in which he claimed Rs 14 lakh was snatched from him by unidentified bikers here, police said on Wednesday.

Ramu Poddar, 29, had gone to Friends Colony in south Delhi on Sunday to collect money on behalf of his employer Satya Narayan Bhutani.

After receiving the payment from Ankit Metals, Poddar hid it in his house in Shahdara. "Thereafter, he went to an underpass in east Delhi's Kasturba Nagar and injured himself in the neck and left shoulder with a knife to concoct the robbery story," Deputy Commissioner of Police Nupur Prasad said.

Poddar told police that four bikers robbed him of the money and mobile phone at knife point. Suspecting the veracity of his story, police took him to a hospital for medical opinion. The doctor pointed to the possibility of injuries being self-inflicted.

Poddar was arrested on Tuesday after he confessed to his crime.

Originally from Bihar, Poddar made up the robbery story since he was in need of money. The money was recovered from his house, the officer added.

--IANS

sp/tsb/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the US tariff proposals and is ready to take countermeasures on US products, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Wednesday.

An MOC spokesperson made the statement after the US administration announced a proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth $50 billion with a suggested tariff rate of 25 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Disregarding strong representations by China, the US announced the tariff proposals that are completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes," according to the statement.

The US side published the list in disregard of the mutually-beneficial and win-win nature of the China-US commercial cooperation in the past 40 years, the appeal of the Chinese and American business communities and the interests of consumers, it said.

The move went against the interests of China, the US and the world economy, seriously violating the basic principles and spirit of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

China plans to immediately bring relevant US practice to the dispute settlement body of the WTO, and is ready to take countermeasures on US products with equal force and scale that will be published in the coming days.

"We have the confidence and ability to respond to any US trade protectionist measures," the spokesperson said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also made a response Wednesday, saying the US tariff proposals are "typical unilateralist and protectionist action".

China strongly condemns and firmly opposes such action, Lu said.

Despite strong warnings from business groups and trade experts, US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on March 22 that could impose tariffs on Chinese imports and restrictions on Chinese investment in the US.

The memorandum is based on a Section 301 investigation, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017, into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices.

The move came after the US administration took an increasingly hawkish turn on China, as it blamed its trade deficit with major trading partners for its domestic economic woes and job losses.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP state governments of taking "revengeful action" against the Dalits who were participating in peaceful protests on April 2 against "dilution" of the provisions of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities ACT 1989.

Nitin Raut, chairperson of Congress SC department, alleged that BJP leaders and workers were providing list of Dalit youth belonging to Congress and other parties to police.

He alleged that false cases were being slapped against them and said many youth have fled their houses to avoid "police torture."

Raut said about 10 Dalits were killed during April 2 agitation but the police was not working to find out culprits but "taking action against the innocent Dalits."

"The SC Department of Congress party strongly condemns the brutal police action against the innocent Dalit youths and demands immediate release of those arrested on false cases," Raut said.

He also demanded withdrawal of cases against innocent youth.

--IANS

ps/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress on Wednesday in many parts of Uttar Pradesh protested against the state and the Union government, alleging that the violence during the recent "Bharat Bandh" reflected their utter failure.

Party leaders also said that the Congress would not allow any amendment to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

"It is sad that the Union government did not rise to the occasion and delayed the matter until it spun out of control, resulting in violence earlier this week, leaving nine persons dead, many others injured and property worth crores of rupees damaged and gutted," a Congress leaders told IANS.

They further alleged that the amendment to the Act was brought through the apex court under a "well thought out political conspiracy" to deprive the SC and ST communities of their rights against suppression.

At many places, Congress leaders also submitted memorandums addressed to Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, demanding that there be no dilution of the Act.

Party workers during their protest marches also informed that it was under their government in 1989 that this Act was passed by Parliament, and threatened a major showdown with the government if they did not put up the matter in a better way in the Supreme Court during the next hearing.

--IANS

md/nir

(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.)DNA tests of the nomadic girl raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district in January this year have confirmed that she was held captive inside a temple before being murder, police officials said on Wednesday.

Top sources in the state police Crime branch said that the DNA of hair strands found inside the temple matched with those of 8-year old Asifa who was raped and subsequently murdered in Rasana village of Hiranagar tehsil of Kathua.

"The temple premises were searched for evidence and clues after one of the accused confirmed the the minor had been held in captivity inside the temple," a Crime Branch sourc seaid.

The postmortem report of the victim has already confirmed that she had been sedated before being raped and murdered.

Sanji Ram, a retired official of the Revenue Department is believed to have masterminded the heinous crime to create fear among the nomad 'Bakerwal' (goatherd) community in the village so that they could be pushed out.

He is the custodian of the temple where the girl was allegedly held in captivity.

Nine accused, including the alleged mastermind Sanji Ram, his son Vishal Kumar, a police head constable, two special police officers (SPOs) and a sub-inspector of police have been arrested in the case.

Members of the Hindu Ekta Morcha have been demanding that the investigation of the case be handed over to the CBI.

State government handed over the investigations to the local crime branch after the case was messed up by the officials of the Hiranagar police station.

--IANS

sq/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has hit back at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a month after the latter said that the Philippines leader needed a "psychiatric evaluation".

The Philippines presidential press office said on Wednesday that Duterte responded to Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein in a speech on Tuesday night during the inauguration of a bridge in Oriental Mindoro province.

"Look, you have a big head but it's empty. There is no gray matter between your ears. It's hollow. It cannot even sustain a nutrient for your hair to grow," Duterte said, according to the transcript provided by his office.

The hostility between the two began when the UN criticized Duterte's anti-drug campaign -- which has led to thousands of deaths since he came to power -- over alleged extra-judicial killings, Efe news reported.

In November, Duterte threatened to slap Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, for criticizing the anti-drug campaign when she was on an unofficial visit to the Philippines.

In March, Al Hussein said Duterte's remark was unacceptable and he needed a "psychiatric evaluation".

His comments triggered protests from the Philippines government, which called them "irresponsible" and "disrespectful", saying that it set a dangerous precedent at the UN by insulting the head of a member-state.

Duterte said that he had been advised not to respond to the UN high commissioner but in the end decided to take "revenge".

Since coming to power in June 2016, Duterte has led an aggressive campaign against the drugs trade, which international rights groups say have led to the deaths of over 12,000 people.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tne Election Commission on Wednesday held meetings with top state officials to review the preparations for the May 12 Karnataka Assembly elections, an election official said.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Om Prakash Rawat and Election Commissioners (ECs) Sunil Arora and Ashok Lavasa held a series of meetings with high officials, including Chief Secretary Ratna Prabha, Director General of Police Neelamani Raju and Secretaries of the departments concerned for the smooth conduct of polls in 224 Assembly segments, the official told IANS.

The CEC and two ECs arrived here on a three-day visit to review state administration's preparedness for the peaceful conduct of elections.

The EC officers will on Thursday meet Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of all 30 districts to take stock of preparations, including security measures put in place at 56,696 polling booths.

They will meet representatives of national and regional political parties on Friday regarding observance of Model Code of Conduct till the poling date, especially during campaigning.

The southern state has 4.96 crore electors, including 2.52 crore men and 2.44 crore women. As many as 4,500 transgenders have also registered to cast their votes.

A total of 15,42,000 persons in the 18-19 age group are first-time voters.

In all, 3,56,552 security personnel will be deployed for the polling. Counting of votes will be taken up on May 15.

The poll panel has released publicity material and video clips for increased voter awareness and greater participation of the electorate in the election process.

Video clips on facilities for the disabled to vote, all-women polling stations and efforts made by the EC to include primitive tribes into the electoral process have been released.

As many as 450 polling stations manned by women will be set up, including presiding and polling officers, observers and security personnel.

"The pink booths are aimed at empowering women and increasing their participation in the poll process," the EC said in a statement here.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A woman with a handgun shot three people at YouTube's headquarters in California over the video sharing platform's "discriminatory" treatment to her postings. She later killed herself.

The San Bruno Police Department said that the attacker, 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam, a Californian resident of Iranian descent, opened fire in a courtyard at YouTube's offices in San Bruno on Tuesday.

While the police did not provide a possible motive, Aghdam had alleged that YouTube was filtering her videos and reducing the money she could make, the US media reported.

On Wednesday, the police were still trying to put together Aghdam's activity in the days leading up to the shooting. Her family reported her missing on March 31 in San Diego and she was located by another police department before the shooting, about 30 miles south of YouTube's headquarters, the New York Times reported.

The violence began about 12.45 p.m. in a courtyard outside the company's headquarters. Witnesses described seeing a woman shooting a gun in the courtyard as others ran for their lives.

Several YouTube employees tweeted about the attack as it was taking place. Product manager Todd Sherman said people fled the building in panic as the shooting unfolded.

Some ran while others hid when the gunshots rang out. Senior software engineer Zach Voorhies bolted when the fire alarm blared.

"I went outside with my electric skateboard and I started skating down, because I thought it was a fire," he told CNN affiliate KPIX. "I heard some yelling and I saw somebody down on his back with a red spot on his stomach."

As they fled the building, he said, the shooter was yelling, "Come at me, or come get me!"

The female attacker took her own life after the shootings, said police.

The attacker's father Ismail Aghdam told the Bay Area News Group that she told her family in recent weeks that she "hated" YouTube because it was censoring her videos and paying her less. "She was angry," he said.

On the website and in YouTube videos, Aghdam discussed Persian culture, veganism and animal cruelty, performed music parodies and gave exercise tutorials. She had YouTube pages in Persian, Turkish and English.

Her personal website included graphic photos of slaughtered animals and pleas not to wear fur jackets or have sex outside of marriage. She also focused on what she perceived as "discrimination" by YouTube and Google.

Her brother told KGTV, a television station in San Diego, that he warned police "she might do something" after learning Agdham had travelled to the Bay Area.

By Tuesday night, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook took down her pages and videos. San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said that investigators were aware of Aghdam's criticism of YouTube and Google.

Authorities gave conflicting accounts of whether Aghdam knew any of her three victims -- one man and two women -- who were hospitalized with injuries.

Shortly after the shooting, two law enforcement officials told CNN the shooter knew at least one victim. But later, they said they had no evidence Aghdam knew any of the victims.

Google, the parent company of YouTube, said it was cooperating with law enforcement. Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a message to employees following the shooting, saying: "I know a lot of you are in shock right now... Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy."

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China's Foreign Minister met his North Korean counterpart here on Tuesday amid a continuing climate of rapprochement between the two countries following years of strained ties over the North's repeated missile tests in violation of UN sanctions.

During the meeting, Wang Yi told Ri Yong-ho that China appreciated North Korea's commitment to denuclearise the Korean peninsula and its efforts to ease tension in the region, according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Wang added that China supported North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's upcoming summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April and US President Donald Trump in May and stressed that Beijing would continue to advocate peace talks, Efe news reported.

Ri said that North Korea will maintain strategic communication with China on matters related to the peninsula, following the directions outlined in the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kim in Beijing last week.

The North Korean Foreign Minister had stopped over in Beijing on his way to Azerbaijan, where he will take part in the ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement on April 4-5 as part of a trip that includes an official visit to Russia.

Kim's China visit, his first overseas trip since coming to power in December 2011, had rejuvenated the North's ties with China's communist regime -- a major economic and ideological ally of North Korea for decades -- after years of strained ties over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programme and China's support for UN sanctions against the hermetic regime.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Germany's Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann on Wednesday said his team was ready for a very tough quarterfinals confrontation against hosts Spain.

Kohlmann has his full team assembled in Valencia following the arrival of World No. 4 Alexander Zverev, whose run in the Miami Open ended on Sunday with a loss in the final round to John Isner of the US, reports Efe.

The quarterfinals are to take place April 6-8 at the iconic Plaza de Toros de Valencia.

Germany's captain said he was pleased Zverev had reached the final in Miami, but admitted it was a challenge to have less time to adapt to the change in court surface; the Miami Open is played on hard court, while the quarterfinals are to be played on outdoor clay.

Kohlmann said he was confident Zverev, the highest-ranked German player in the world, will be ready after a few days of training.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)June 19, 2019, Wednesday

All private universities in Uttar Pradesh will now have to give an undertaking to the government, saying that their campuses will ...Actor Randeep Hooda says he is happy that children nowadays are educated when it comes to social issues ailing the country.

Randeep was here at Vibgyor High School on Wednesday in support of the save environment and keep surroundings plastic-free movement.

"As a kid, I didn't have issues with public speaking, but I got nervous after seeing these kids here. I am happy to see kids are educated about the issues in our society and have solutions. They are also very enthusiastic about solving the problems," he said.

The actor also said people need to go beyond social media activism.

"You think your job is done after sharing and liking, but who does the actual work?"

He said schools should increasingly involve children in such activities because "until and unless these kids clean with their hands and take part in such drives they won't know what they, their parents and we as humans are doing to planet Earth".

Randeep was at the event with environmentalist Afroz Shah.

Lauding his work towards a cleaner environment, he said: "He is one of the few people who actually take action which is why I like him. He contributes to the difference with his own hands. He goes to a lot of schools, talks about his movement and gets the new generation involved."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday summoned the Chief Secretary and the state roadways Managing Director over lack of wayside amenities like toilets across the state for commuters, including a large number of tourists.

Aghast over non-compliance of its earlier orders, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma observed: "HRTC (Himachal Road Transport Corp) has not complied with our earlier orders."

"Also, action taken report, pursuant to the meeting convened by the Chief Secretary, has yet not been filed."

"It appears that either our orders are not being communicated to the government or the persons dealing with the same are not apprehending the importance, urgency and the sensitivity of the matter," the judges said.

Listing the case for next hearing on April 11, the bench directed Chief Secretary Vineet Chawdhary and HRTC Managing Director Sandeep Bhatnagar to remain present in the court on the next day of hearing.

"We have been repeatedly emphasising the importance and the need for having the wayside amenities for the commuters. More so, considering the fact that Himachal Pradesh is a tourist destination," they said.

The state's Economic Survey 2017-18 says Himachal Pradesh attracted 196.02 lakh tourists last year, 2.9 times its population. It has 63 operational helipads.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actress Kangana Ranaut says she admires ace designer Neeta Lulla for effortlessly fusing contemporary ans traditional fashion.

"The one thing I truly admire about Neeta is how effortlessly she fuses contemporary and traditional, giving the wearer the best of both the worlds," Kangana said in a statement to IANS.

Lulla, best known for her bridal couture, is currently styling for Kangana-starrer "Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi". The actress will be inaugurating the designer's store here on April 9.

Kangana said: "I'm very excited that one of my favourite designers is launching her store in the capital."

With an online presence and a flagship store in Mumbai, Lulla's brand is all set to make its presence felt in New Delhi with a brand new store.

"The brick-and-mortar retail space is something that has always excited me but films have kept me busy over the years. The New Delhi store is our first venture into this growing market and we are optimistic that it will play a key role in the long-term growth of the brand.

"We are looking forward to adding more stores over the next five years in different cities," said Lulla.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A team of four Indian students has been shortlisted among the finalists for a global innovation competition by Swedish communication technology Ericsson, the company said on Wednesday.

The 'Ericsson Innovation Awards 2018' is a global competition that invites university students to collaborate with experts to envision the future of information and communication technology (ICT).

"Team TL;DR" had Prashasti Sharma and Shaurya Chaturvedi from Delhi University, and Yashish Dua and Kumar Neelabh from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. They were selected among 1,400 university teams, representing 107 countries.

Team TL;DR's platform summarises and simplifies user agreements to help consumers make informed decisions.

The other finalists include Team Alfred from the US, Open Sesame from China and OwnLabs from Senegal.

While "Alfred" is an AI-powered personal assistant that gathers information, identifies bias and sifts through the noise, "Open sesame" is a platform that reviews and verifies retail reviews and ratings to ensure a more reliable shopping experience

"OwnLabs" is building virtual science labs for communities without the funds to build their own physical labs.

All the four teams will compete in the grand final at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 17. The winning team will be felicitated with 50,000 euros and other prizes.

The "Ericsson Innovation Award 2017" was won by Indian students from IIT Roorkee. The team's project worked around providing farmers with real-time data on soil analytics enabling them to select appropriate fertilisers.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Blaming the note ban and a flawed GST for the country's economic slowdown, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said jobs were created by small and medium companies and not by the country's top industrial tycoons.

"The Congress believes that jobs are created by small and medium companies and not by top 15-20 firms run by tycoons, who have direct access to the country's Finance Minister and Prime Minister," he said at an interaction with traders and small businessmen in Karnataka's textile town here.

Gandhi is on a two-day visit to the southern state for participating in the fifth leg of the party's 'Jan Ashirvada Yatra' to seek the people's blessings for victory in the May 12 Karnataka assembly election.

Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a very simplistic vision of the world, he said the former thought small traders were bad while income tax officials good.

Accusing the BJP-led NDA government of using the Goods and Services Tax (GST) scheme as an instrument of oppression than of freedom, Gandhi said the new indirect tax regime was envisioned to have one slab, exempting goods and services used by the poor from it.

"But the GST we have is completely different from what was envisioned."

Regretting that the Modi government viewed the informal sector as an evil, he said the country should utilise its strength, as the bulk of business in India was informal.

"Digital economy can harm or help the country, depending on how policies to utilise it are framed," he told the traders at the meeting.

Noting that the people's voices were not being heard by the present-day political system, Gandhi said top companies, however, had open access to it to change or tweak the law to suit their interests.

"When the Congress returns to power after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, I assure you that the people will have access to the system again, because we believe policies should be made in consultation with the people and not with an individual," he reiterated.

Recollecting that former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan had advised Modi not to demonetise higher currency notes, Gandhi said the Finance Minister, Chief Economic Adviser and the Union Cabinet were unaware of the sudden move to ban the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) handled 57.88 million tonnes of cargo in 2017-18 (FY18), achieving a 13.61 per cent growth over 50.95 MT handled in the previous fiscal, an official said on Wednesday.

Its operating income, excluding dredging subsidy, increased to Rs 2,046.09 crore during 2017-18, up 15.06 per cent from Rs 1,778.26 crore in the previous year.

The port trust said its operating margin (excluding dredging) in the last fiscal increased to 41 per cent against 37.07 per cent in 2016-17.

"Our Haldia Dock Complex handled 40.49 MT cargo in 2017-18 compared with 34.14 MT in the previous fiscal, recording the highest growth of 18.61 per cent among major ports in India, while Kolkata Dock System handled an all-time high cargo of 17.39 MT in 2017-18 as against 16.81 MT in 2016-17, achieving about 3.45 per cent growth," KoPT Chairman Vinit Kumar told reporters here.

Overall growth in cargo handling was 13.61 per cent, much higher than the average growth rate of 4.79 per cent clocked by Indian major ports, he said.

Kumar said the company signed an MoU with Cochin Shipyard for operations and maintenance of ship repair facility at its Netaji Subhas Dock.

"This is a profit sharing arrangement with 40 per cent to KoPT and remaining share will be with Cochin Shipyard. This is expected to revamp our two dry docks" he said.

Kumar also said: "Cochin Shipyard would set up ship repairing facility at our two dry docks. There is a potentiality for such ship repairing facility in the eastern coast. It was envisaged that there should be Rs 50 crore per annum revenue scope after 3-4 years."

The facility will have a capacity of repairing 18 ships annually.

Taking a special focus for Nepal cargo, the company had set up a dedicated support desk for Nepal bound traffic, he said, adding that Nepal cargo accounts for about 20 per cent of total cargo handled by the port.

Kumar also said the contract for techno-feasibility study for the proposed Tajpur port would be awarded next week and another 3-4 months would be required for study to be completed.

"Then, detailed project report would be prepared," he said.

About the controversy with cargo handling company, Haldia Bulk Terminals, promoted by ABG group of India and LDA of France, Kumar said it is before the International Court of Arbitration and the hearing had been concluded.

"The International arbitration is about to get finalised shortly," he said.

In 2012, HBT announced its exit from Haldia port, citing unsafe work conditions while the port had objected to the termination of the 10-year contract.

Kumar said the port authority filed damages worth Rs 400 crore while HBT claimed damages worth Rs 200 crore.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Normal life was derailed in the Kashmir Valley on Wednesday as separatists announced a protest march to Shopian town in solidarity with civilians killed in fighting between militants and security forces.

As train services remained suspended for a third consecutive day, the authorities closed all educational institutions and postponed exams scheduled for Wednesday amid tensions in the Valley.

Train services have also been suspended. Traffic on the otherwise busy Srinagar-Sonamarg road remained suspended for a second day on Wednesday.

The separatist Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik have announced a march to Shopian town to express solidarity with people there.

Authorities deployed security forces in large numbers in Srinagar, the urban hub of a dragging separatist campaign, and other places in the Kashmir Valley to maintain peace, officials said.

Twenty people, including 13 militants, four civilians and three soldiers, were killed in south Kashmir in three gunfights on Sunday.

Geelani and Mirwaiz have been placed under house arrest while Malik has been lodged in the Srinagar Central Jail to prevent their participation in protests.

Shops, public transport and other businesses remained mostly shut in Srinagar and other major towns in the Kashmir Valley on Wednesday, officials said.

Private transport, however, plied in the uptown areas and on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old youth killed in clashes with the security forces in Kangan town was buried early on Wednesday.

A shutdown crippled normal life in Ganderbal district following the youth's death.

The District Magistrate of Ganderbal has ordered a magisterial probe into the youth's killing while police have ordered a departmental enquiry.

Clashes had broken out in Kangan on Tuesday immediately after the youth's body was taken there.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, top legislative functionaries and elected people's representatives witnessed a demonstration of naval exercises during a 'day at sea' organised by the Indian Navy here on Wednesday.

The unique and unprecedented event was planned in accordance with the directives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi "to maintain close interaction between the elected representatives and state government officials of all coastal states with the Indian Navy", said an official spokesperson.

This was the first time such an event was attempted. Now similar ones are being planned in the near future for leaders and elected representatives of all coastal states, he added.

Western Naval Command chief, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra hosted the top officials who embarked various frontline naval warships in the morning, including aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, INS Chennai, INS Kolkata, INS Trishul and INS Teg of the Western Fleet.

An exciting live operational demo and exercises were witnessed by the dignitaries by the participating ships and submarines including the recently-commissioned INS Kalvari, missiles demo by INS Vidyut, and search and rescue demo by helicopters, providing a deep insight into the complexities of rescue operations at sea, said an official spokesperson.

Shipborne Anti-Submarine Warfare Seaking, AEW Kamov helicopters, MiG 29K carrier borne fighter aircraft, participated in a thrilling air power demo.

Luthra and other senior naval officials also briefed the visitors on the role and scope of operations of the command on the high seas, on the aircraft carrier.

On his part, Fadnavis lauded the role of the armed forces in safeguarding territorial, maritime and economic interests of the country, acknowledged the gallant services of the naval personnel to the nation with professionalism and fortitude in the challenging environments of the high seas.

Besides Fadnavis, other notables on the trip included Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade, Legislative Council Chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, several Lok Sabha and Assembly members and senior government officials.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A fire at a shopping mall in Moscow killed one person on Wednesday before it was extinguished, the country's emergency service said.

The fire broke out at the four-storey "Perseus for Children" shopping mall, TASS news agency cited an official from the Russian Emergency Ministry as saying. Three firefighters were injured in the blaze.

The blaze scorched 80 square metres area and about 600 people were evacuated from the burning mall that was opened in 2009 near the Semyonovskaya subway station.

The incident came after 64 people, including 41 children were killed in a deadly blaze at Winter Cherry commercial complex in Russia's industrial city of Kemerovo on March 25. Russian President Vladimir Putin had blamed the fire on "criminal negligence".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Spiritual guru Uday Singh Deshmukh alias Bhaiyyu Maharaj on Wednesday said he will not accept the Minister of State status conferred on him by the Madhya Pradesh government.

"A post holds no importance for a saint. All he has ought to think of is service to the people. When a post or status does not touch your mind, intellect or conscience, why think about it," Bhaiyyu Maharaj told IANS on the phone.

He is one of the five saints who are members of a special committee to spread public awareness on conservation of Narmada river and plantation drive and who have been given the MoS status.

He said that though there was no question of disrespecting anyone, it was sure that he would neither share any stage with anyone nor participate in any event.

Bhaiyyu Maharaj said he had no fondness for a particular party or community and his only emphasis was on nationalism.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Taking another step toward building a quieter supersonic aircraft, the US space agency has awarded a $247.5 million contract to the global aerospace company Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin has been selected to build a new piloted X-plane called the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD).

The X-plane will create a "gentle thump", a sound that would be no louder than closing a car door.

"Work under the contract began April 2 and runs through December 31, 2021," NASA said in a statement on Tuesday.

Lockheed Martin will complete the design and fabrication of the 94-foot-long experimental aircraft which will cruise at 16,700 metres at a speed of about 1,500 km per hour.

It will create a sound about as loud as a car door closing -- 75 Perceived Level decibel (PLdB) -- significantly lower than the 105 PLdB of the earlier Concorde airliner.

After the first flight in late 2021, the agency will perform additional flight tests to prove the quiet supersonic technology works as designed, aircraft performance is robust, and it's safe to operate in the National Airspace System.

"Beginning in mid-2022, NASA will fly the X-plane over select US cities and collect data about community responses to the flights," the space agency said.

This data set will be provided to US and international regulators for their use in considering new sound-based rules regarding supersonic flight over land, which could enable new commercial cargo and passenger markets in faster-than-sound air travel.

The X-plane's configuration will be based on a preliminary design developed by Lockheed Martin under a contract awarded in 2016.

The proposed aircraft will be 28.65 metres long with a wingspan of nearly 9 metres, which have a fully-fuelled takeoff weight of about 14,650 kg.

The jet will be propelled by a single General Electric F414 engine, the powerplant used by F/A-18E/F fighters, according to NASA.

"This is probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. We're all pretty excited," said Jim Less, a primary NASA pilots who will fly the X-plane after Lockheed Martin's pilots have completed initial test flights.

The earlier supersonic airliner Concorde was retired in 2003 because of high maintenance costs and irritating sonic boom.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on phone on Wednesday amidst Israel's concerns over US planned withdrawal of troops from Syria.

Netanyahu and Trump discussed "regional developments and Iran", the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. The statement did not elaborate which developments were addressed.

According to the statement, cited by Xinhua news agency, Netanyahu thanked Trump for "his commitment to Israel's security" and the two leaders "agreed to continue the close coordination in order to repel Iran's aggression and its attempts to destabilise the region".

On March 29, Trump said the US would "come out of Syria like very soon". However, a US media report later said that their military was working on plans to send dozens of additional American soldiers to northern Syria.

Israel worries that the US withdrawal from Syria, its northern neighbour, would allow Iran to enhance its military foothold in Syria.

Top Israeli officials have warned that Israel will not allow a military Iranian presence in Syria.

The Netanyahu-Trump talk came as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met in Ankara.

Their summit was aimed at discussing measures to consolidate the truce regime in Syria, ensure the operation of de-escalation zones and address the humanitarian problems in the war-torn country.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Shiv Sena has not received any offer from ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the post of Rajya Sabha (RS) Deputy Chairperson, a spokesperson for party chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Wednesday.

Referring to the ongoing media speculation, the spokesperson said "there is no truth in the matter yet".

"Even if it happens, only the Sena chief will take a call on the issue," he told IANS.

There have been some reports claiming that the BJP has made such an offer to its sulking ally to ensure its support during the next Lok Sabha elections.

On this, the spokesperson pointed that the Sena had already made it clear last year that henceforth it would fight all elections independently and also spread its base to other states in the country.

There is speculation that the party's senior most Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, who is also executive editor of Saamana, would be nominated for election to the post of Deputy Chairman of the Upper House.

This post is due to fall vacant in July with the retirement of incumbent P.J. Kurien.

Besides Raut, currently in his third term in the RS, the other Sena MPs in the Upper House are businessman Venugopal Dhoot (third term) and Anil Desai (second term, just started).

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)On the day Rajya Sabha saw an unusual 11 adjournments and the government failed to get an anti-corruption bill passed, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel on Wednesday blamed the opposition for the continued logjam in Parliament and said that some parties were adamant despite government's efforts to placate them.

"It has been proved today that there are a few opposition parties who are creating ruckus and not allowing Parliament to function," he told reporters after the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day.

"It's not about this Bill only, the opposition has been stalling both Houses of Parliament for the last 19 days. Someone should tell us as to what these opposition parties want. The Bill we wanted to pass today is against the corruption. What problem did opposition have with this bill, we cannot understand," Goel said.

The government had moved the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2013 amid the din but could not get it passed as the agitating members of the Congress, TDP, AIADMK and others opposed the move and the Trinamool Congress demanded a division.

Goel said that the government has been trying to reach out to the opposition leaders.

"The government is reaching out to opposition. As we did today repeatedly during the adjournments. We are even going to the homes of opposition leaders. Today itself I went to see Mr. Thambidurai (of the AIADMK) at his place. So, when we meet the leaders outside Parliament they say they are all for running the House but inside they stall it," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)North Korea requested a one-day postponement to the working-level meeting with South Korea, initially planned to be held on Wednesday to discuss details of an inter-Korean leader summit in late April, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

The meeting has been postponed to Thursday by North Korea, which did not specify the reasons behind the delay, a spokesperson for the South Korean Unification Ministry told Efe news.

Delegations from Pyongyang and Seoul were scheduled to hold a working-level meeting on Wednesday at the militarised border to specify details on the protocol and security of the summit.

North Korea also proposed that the two Koreas hold another talk on Saturday to discuss ways to establish a direct hotline between their leaders, Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in, with the aim of facilitating preparations for the summit, according to the Ministry.

Seoul and Pyongyang have not yet publicly detailed the contents of the summit's agenda, which will be the first encounter between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea in 11 years, and also mark the first time ever that a North Korean leader sets foot on South Korean soil, as the summit is planned to be held on the southern side of the border.

South Korea will send a seven-member delegation, led by the presidential secretary on protocol, Cho Han-ki, to the upcoming working-level meeting, while the North has yet to confirm its plan to send a six-member delegation to the talks.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Rajya Sabha's proceedings were again disrupted on Wednesday amid vociferous protests by opposition parties including the Congress, TDP and AIADMK over various issues forcing Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the House till 2 p.m.

As soon as the House met for the day, the newly elected members from Rajasthan, Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh took oath of office.

Soon after, members from the TDP, AIADMK and Congress besides others trooped near the Chairman's podium shouting slogans such as 'Save Andhra Pradesh', 'Narendra Modi Dalit Virodhi' and 'We demand Cauvery board'.

The TDP and AIADMK members displayed placards in support of their demand.

Naidu urged the agitating members to raise their issues after laying down of the paper on the table of the House. But his appeal was in vein.

The Congress members were protesting against the government over a Supreme Court order diluting the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. They accused the government of being anti-dalit.

The AIADMK and DMK members sought the immediate constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board for division of the river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Members of the TDP held placards demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.

As the members continued with their noisy protests, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel hit out at the Congress for labelling the Modi government anti-Dalit.

"Let's have a discussion in the House over who is anti-Dalit. You ruled the country for so long and deprived the Dalits of their basic needs. We brought many acts in favour of Dalits. You did not even give Bharat Ratna to Bhimrao Ambedkar," Goel said.

Naidu expressed his anguish over the behavior of the protesting members and appealed them to maintain order in the House so that important bills could be passed.

"A number of bills are pending... People want development and legislation. It (protests) is not going to add anything. I am ready to allow you to discuss every issue. It is unfortunate that the chair is allowing a discussion but the members are not ready. You are testing the patience of the people. The country is watching you. You are murdering democracy," he said.

As the chaos continued, Naidu adjourned the proceedings till 2 p.m.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday asked Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain to direct local bodies to regularise the services of all contractual sanitation workers.

Later, the assembly also passed a resolution in this regard by a voice vote.

Kejriwal told the House that five sanitation workers of local bodies had been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike for the past 16 days and that he had urged them to break their fast.

"I request you to please break your fast, the whole assembly and the Chief Minister is with you," Kejriwal said.

The three municipal corporations of Delhi are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kejriwal asked BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta whether they would regularise the services of sanitation workers.

The Chief Minister said that in Gujarat and Haryana, which are BJP-ruled states, all workers were contractual.

"If we get Services (Department) today, we will show how to make workers permanent," he said.

The Delhi Services Department, which deals with appointments, is under Lt. Governor Anil Baijal.

Kejriwal also raised the issue of Delhi not featuring in central Finance Commission's list of states for receiving financial assistance from the central government, despite Delhi paying income tax of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

"Delhi government will go to the Supreme Court on this matter," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia and Turkey agreed to bring forward the delivery of the S-400 missile defence systems to Turkey

Speaking at a joint press conference on Tuesday with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, Putin said relations between the two countries are developing "step by step", Xinhua news agency reported.

Turkey struck a deal with Russia on the delivery of S-400 missile systems in September, three months before the two countries signed a loan agreement for the missiles purchase.

"Relations with Turkey are constructive," Putin said, noting that the two countries saw bigger trade volume in 2017.

For his part, Erdogan welcomed Putin for his first foreign trip to Turkey after his re-election victory in March.

"This is the best expression for the state of Turkey-Russia relations," Erdogan said.

Ankara and Moscow shared a common stance on Syrian issues and will continue fighting terrorism, he added.

"The number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey has reached 4.7 million and is expected to reach 6 million next year," Erdogan said, hoping for Russian relaxation of visa requirements for Turkish citizens.

The Turkish president also said investment in Turkey's first nuclear power plant, which is being built by Russia's Rosatom at Akkuyu in the southern province of Mersin, will exceed $20 billion.

According to Putin, Russia is constructing two undersea pipelines and will build an additional ground gas pipeline as part of the TurkStream pipeline which is a direct gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey.

Turkish and Russian delegations met on Tuesday for the Turkey-Russia High-Level Cooperation Council, which was attended by the presidents of the two countries and several ministers in order to enhance bilateral relations.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran have vowed to secure the territorial integrity of Syria during a trilateral summit in Ankara.

The trio on Wednesday also called for "a lasting ceasefire between the conflicting parties" in the talks on the Syrian crisis, according to a joint statement released following the summit, Xinhua news agency reported.

The three countries also stressed their joint determination to speed up efforts to "ensure calm on the ground and protect civilians" in Syria after talks on the future of the country.

Meanwhile, the leaders called on the international community, particularly the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies "to increase assistance to Syria by sending additional humanitarian aid, facilitating humanitarian mine action, restoring basic infrastructure assets, including social and economic facilities, and preserving historical heritage."

The summit brought together two powers which have been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most forceful supporters, Iran and Russia, and one of his strongest opponents Turkey.

Cooperation between the rival camps raised hopes of stabilising Syria after seven years of conflict, in which 500,000 people have been killed with half the population displaced.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters during the joint press conference after the summit that the Islamic State (IS) "retains its destructive potential to attack in different regions across the globe" despite its defeat in Syria.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted that Ankara-led "Operation Olive Branch" in northern Syria aims to fight the Kurdish militia as it poses a threat to Turkey.

"Turkey will not stop until all regions under the control of the People's Protection Units (YPG), including Manbij, are secured," he said.

Erdogan also expressed Ankara's readiness to take action in the northern Syrian city of Tal Rifaat along with Russia and Iran to build its peaceful environment.

For his part, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the US of trying to use the jihadists of the al-Nusra Front and the IS as tools in the region, saying the Syrian conflict has no military resolution.

Putin said the three sides have also agreed to broaden peacemaking efforts.

"It was unacceptable to politicise humanitarian aid for Syria and the final goal in Syria is to put an end to terrorism," he stressed.

The first tripartite summit was held in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on November 22, 2017 to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks and changes in de-escalation zones across Syria.

A third trilateral summit of Russian, Turkish and Iranian leaders is expected to be held in the coming months in Tehran.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor Ryan Reynolds flaunted a bright pink version of his "Deadpool" costume in a video to auction it to raise money for the fight against cancer.

"Deadpool" is partnering with online fundraising platform Omaze and F-Cancer to raise money for the organisation, reports variety.com.

"You may be wondering 'Why the pink suit,'" Deadpool asks in the video.

"Well, so the world can see I have a big old heart-on. That's heart with a T -- for my new favourite colour, pink."

He explained that he is auctioning off "the very suit off (his) back" to raise some "serious cash" for cancer, which is a cause very close to his heart.

"What you do from there is limited only by your imagination... Does it become a colourful addition to your S&M dungeon," Reynolds asked in the video.

"Deadpool 2" is slated to release on May 18.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)He has choreographed action for Christian Bale in "The Dark Night" and for Tom Hardy in "Dunkirk" among over three dozen films in a career nearing 30 years. Hollywood's famous action director Tom Struthers, who is now working on some high-octane stunts for Bollywood film "Race 3" in Abu Dhabi, finds Indian superstar Salman Khan no less a professional.

"Race 3" marks the second time that Struthers is working with Salman, with whom he last collaborated for "Tiger Zinda Hai" -- also widely shot in Abu Dhabi. He loved the experience both times.

"I think you can expect the same kind of enthusiasm and high-octane action in 'Race 3' as 'Tiger...', but there's nothing I can tell you about (the plot)," Struthers told IANS over phone from Abu Dhabi, which is fast becoming a much-loved shooting destination for filmmakers.

He considers Salman as an actor who is sought after and "well-liked".

"I am very fortunate that in my career I have worked with good, professional people. Salman is among the highest-paid actors in the world... I've worked with people like Christian Bale and Tom Hardy. I consider them to be friends and I consider them to be very, very professional.

"Never once have they been unprofessional with me. Salman is in the same category. He was kind, caring about his people, and concerned about his artistes. He cares about where he is going as an actor and about what he is doing about the character he is playing," added Struthers, whose first tryst with Bollywood was with Nikkhil Advani's 2013 film "D-Day".

For "Race 3", being directed by Remo D'Souza and starring Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem, apart from Salman, Struthers is choreographing the opening and closing sequences. He hopes these stunts, details of which he was guarded about, are something that the audience would love.

Struthers, along with Indian action director Anl Arasu, enlisted the help of the Armed Forces of the UAE, employing a Blackhawk helicopter, Oshkosh trucks, NIMR military vehicles, and Humvees for the shoot. twofour54 is providing the team production services as well as the support of its government and travel services department to ease the process.

The Australian stunts star, who has also worked on films like "Titanic", "Braveheart", "Blood Diamond", "Inception" and "Terminator Salvation", finds Bollywood becoming more professional with time.

"I think Bollywood is in a great place right now. They are experimenting with culturally different professionals in the camera, stunts, action-directing departments," he said, and reminisced how, when he came on board for "D-Day", he knew nothing about Indian films or Indian culture.

"When Nikkhil Advani called me and said he wanted to meet me, I said, 'Why not? It will be a new experience, I will learn and you grow with experiences, so yes, absolutely'. So, I met Nikkhil and he convinced me to come to India... And rest is history, as they say.

"I enjoyed every moment in India. People have been super nice to me. I have never found anyone unpleasant. And as far as I am concerned, what more can you ask for," he said.

Struthers had missed a chance to visit Jodhpur when the team of his mentor Christopher Nolan was in the Rajasthan city to shoot scenes for "The Dark Knight Rises".

As for his filmography, he says it's not purely action-heavy films that attract him.

"I love doing the action, but it's also important for me to tell a story. I often choose films not because they have big budgets, but because I like the script, the story, the actors that are to be cast... All that is a part of what I do... I feel fortunate that I am at a stage in my career when I can do that... To pick and choose the films. It's not just a financial game."

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Snacks and beverages maker Pepsico will reduce salt content in its snacks brand -- Kurkure -- in line with its global nutrition objectives, a top company official said on Wednesday.

According to PepsiCo India Vice President, Snacks, Jagrut Kotecha said the company has recently launched new multigrain variant Kurkure packs with 21.5 per cent less salt.

"In India, we have been successful in reducing 21 metric tonnes of sodium from our entire snack portfolio till last year and aim to reduce sodium in 75 per cent of our food's portfolio by 2025.

"The recently launched Multigrain variant with power grain ragi is meeting our global agenda on sodium reduction with a 21.5 per cent less sodium," he said.

Kurkure Multigrain has been formulated with reduced sodium content, in line with PepsiCo's global sustainability agenda of performance with purpose (PwP), said Kotecha.

"As per our PwP agenda, we work to improve our snack products through a step-wise reduction approach," he said.

Kotecha said in 2018, the brand Kurkure plans to expand its reach through both "push and pull strategies".

"We will further accelerate our distribution efforts in fast growing semi-urban and rural markets by leveraging our distribution strength and tapping into indirect channels," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Newly-appointed Gujarat Congress in-charge Rajeev Satav's year-old tweet supporting Narmada project detractor Medha Patkar has given the opponents a stick to beat the party with.

Although soon after his appointment, Satav deleted the old tweet from his account, this has given a chance to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hit out at the Congress.

Adding fuel to the fire by supporting his leader's stance on the Patkar-Narmada issue, Paresh Dhanani, the Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly, provided the BJP with a fresh opportunity to slam the grand old party for being "anti-Gujarat".

A Lok Sabha member from Maharashtra, Satav was appointed the Gujarat in-charge on March 30, replacing Ashok Gehlot. Satav is believed to be a close confidante of Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

On August 5, 2017, Satav had tweeted and also written a letter is support of Patkar who was on an indefinite fast against the Madhya Pradesh government, seeking proper implementation of settlement package for the displaced persons, affected by raising of the Narmada dam height.

"I am aware of the fact that Narmada dam project violates basic human rights under the garb of development. I extend my full support to your movement," Satav wrote in the letter, apart from the tweet he deleted just before coming to Gujarat as the Congress party in-charge.

Since 1980s, Patkar has consistently opposed construction of Narmada dam and launched a series of agitations against the project. She is seen by many in state as an anti-Gujarat person, and politicians in the state across all political parties have to date blamed her for the delay in Narmada project implementation.

Backing his leader's stance towards Medha, Dhanani stated that had not Medha agitated and pressurised the Madhya Pradesh government to complete resettlement of the displaced people, the project would not have been completed.

"I am thankful to Rajeev Satav for supporting Medha's agitation for resettlement of those affected by the project," he said.

This saw Chief Minister Vijay Rupani hit out at the Congress.

"Congress party has always been anti-Gujarat. Through this issue, it stands exposed on its anti-Gujarat attitude. It is sad. Now, by openly coming out in support of Medha's agitations that were anti-Gujarat, Congress is showing that it also did not want Narmada project to be implemented," he said.

BJP state president Jitu Vaghani went to the extent of starting a "People's movement" against Congress if it did not come clean on its stance.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging the CBSE's decisions regarding the leaked Economics and Maths question papers of Class 12 and 10.

A bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao it was the "discretion of the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) to conduct the re-examination and court will not interfere".

The bench asked the students who had challenged the CBSE's decision to appear in the examination if it was conducted.

On Tuesday, the CBSE said there would be no re-examination of Class 10 maths paper as "internal inquiries and analysis" revealed that the leak "may be confined to few alleged beneficiaries".

The government on March 30 had announced the re-examination would be held for Class 12 economics paper throughout the country on April 25 while a fresh test for Class 10 maths paper would be held only in Delhi, NCR and Haryana, if needed, in July.

Besides challenging the CBSE's decision, the pleas also wanted a CBI probe into the alleged question paper leak, saying several incidents were reported from various states and Delhi Police was not competent to hold the nation-wide probe.

Kerala student Rohan Mathew and two others moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the CBSE decision to re-conduct the Class 10 mathematics examination, saying it was arbitrary, illegal and violative of the Constitution's Article 14 (equality before law), Article 21 (right to life and liberty) and 21A (right to education).

Mathew, represented by his father Santhosh Mathew, a lawyer at the Kerala High Court, also sought stringent action against the erring officials of the CBSE for "jeopardising the career of nearly 16 lakh students who appeared for the exam".

Another plea was filed in the top court by Reepak Kansal challenging the decision of the CBSE to cancel and re-conduct the two papers.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed for listing in the first week of July for final hearing a public suit that sought to bar candidates from simultaneously contesting from two constituencies.

Earlier, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the court that he would like to assist it in the hearing on the plea.

He also told the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud that he needed time to file his response to the plea.

Giving him time and directing the completion of the pleadings, the court directed that the matter be listed in July when it re-opens after the summer vacations.

By its December 11, 2017, order, the court had asked petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay to serve a petition copy on the Attorney General so that the court can get his assistance.

Upadhyay is Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit spokesman.

The court on Wednesday took on record the Election Commission's affidavit filed in December 2017 that a candidate should not contest from two constituencies.

Upadhyay has challenged Section 33(7) of the Representation of the People Act that allows a person to simultaneously contest elections for Parliament and state assemblies from two constituencies.

Section 33[(7) says that "... , a person shall not be nominated as a candidate for election," (a) in the case of a general election to the House of the People ..., from more than two Parliamentary constituencies."

Many politicians contest from more than one constituency and then give up one seat if they get elected from both.

Before he became the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi too contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Vadodara in Gujarat. He won both, but eventually gave up the Vadodara seat.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a special official funeral "with the highest respect" in honour of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who died on Monday.

Madikizela-Mandela will be honoured with the Category 1 Funeral which entails elements of military ceremonial honours, Ramaphosa said on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Such a funeral is declared for persons of extraordinary credentials specifically designated by the President of South Africa, said Ramaphosa.

Madikizela-Mandela "deserves the highest respect our nation can demonstrate in honour of a patriot and citizen who served our nation and humanity at large with distinction during our liberation struggle and throughout our democratic dispensation," Ramaphosa said.

In line with this declaration, the National Flag shall, with immediate effect, fly at half-mast at all flag stations countrywide and at South African diplomatic missions abroad, the president said.

This will be observed until the evening of April 14, 2018.

The President further declared national days of mourning from April 3 until April 14.

In terms of the President's declaration, the official memorial service for Madikizela-Mandela will be held at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church, Soweto in Johannesburg on Wednesday, to be followed by the Special Official Funeral proceedings at Orlando Stadium, Soweto on Saturday.

Further details will be announced as arrangements are finalized in consultation between the government and the family of Madikizela-Mandela, Ramaphosa said.

Madikizela-Mandela, former President Nelson Mandela's wife, passed away on Monday at a private hospital in Johannesburg after a long illness.

As one of the greatest icons of the struggle against apartheid, Madikizela-Mandela fought fearlessly against the apartheid state and sacrificed her life for the freedom of the country. Her activism and resistance to apartheid landed her in jail on numerous occasions.

After the end of apartheid in 1994, Madikizela-Mandela served as the Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and as a Member of Parliament. She was also the former president of the African National Congress Women's League.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Rajya Sabha witnessed seveal adjournments on Wednesday amid ongoing protests by the Telugu Desam Party, AIADMK, Congress and other opposition parties on different issues.

Amid vociferous protests by the opposition, the upper house of Parliament was adjourned till 3.15 p.m. Earlier, adjournments were ordered till 2 p.m., and again till 2.45 p.m.

Soon after the house met after the first adjournment at 2 p.m., Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien urged members to maintain order. Seeking cooperation from the opposition, he allowed Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to raise his concerns.

Azad blamed the government for the house disruptions and said it was running awy from discussions on various issues, including the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh, Cauvery water distribution between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, CBSE paper leak and the bank fraud.

"An impression is being created outside that the opposition parties are not allowing the house to function. But it is ruling party (BJP) that is running away from discussion. The entire opposition is for the passage of pending bills. We also want these bills get passed but we are also mandated to raise the issues concerning millions of people," the senior Congress leader said.

"I am sorry to say, but it is the treasury benches that are not allowing the house to function. See who is disrupting the proceedings. Let the country see," he said amid noise created by the treasury benches.

As Azad was speaking, the TDP and AIADMK members rushed towards the Chairman's podium while shouting slogans and holding placards.

As the din continued, Kurien adjourned the House till 2.45 p.m. after allowing Minister of State Jitendra Singh to move a bill to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

When the House reassembled, Tiruchi Siva, who was presiding, immediately adjourned the House till 3.15 p.m.

Earlier, when the House met for the day, the newly elected members from Rajasthan, Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh took oath of office.

Soon after, members from the TDP, AIADMK, Congress and others trooped near the Chairman's podium while shouting slogans such as 'Save Andhra Pradesh', 'Narendra Modi Dalit Virodhi' and 'We demand Cauvery board'.

Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu urged the agitated members to raise their issues after laying the papers on the table but his appeal went in vein.

The Congress members were protesting over a Supreme Court order that diluted provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. They accused the government of being "anti-Dalit".

The AIADMK and DMK members sought the immediate constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board for division of the river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Members of the TDP held placards to demand special status for Andhra Pradesh.

As the opposition continued with noisy protests, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel hit out at the Congress for labelling the Modi government as "anti-Dalits".

"Let's have a discussion in the house as to who is anti-Dalits. You ruled the country for so long and deprived the Dalits of their basic needs. We brought many Acts in favour of the Dalits. You did not even give the Bharat Ratna to Bhimrao Ambedkar," Goel said.

Naidu expressed anguish over the behaviour of protesting members and appealed to them to maintain order so that important bills could be passed by the upper house.

"A number of bills are pending... people want development and legislation. It (protests) is not going to add anything. I am ready to allow you to discuss every issue. It is unfortunate that the Chair is allowing a discussion but the members are not ready. You are testing the people's patience. The country is watching you. You are murdering democracy," he said.

As the chaos continued, Naidu adjourned the proceedings till 2 p.m.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will meet the Chief Ministers of all northeastern states on May 4 to discuss trade, connectivity and other issues vis-a-vis neighbouring countries, an official said on Wednesday.

"Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb was told about the proposed meeting when he met her in New Delhi on Tuesday," the Tripura official said.

He said the Chief Minister sought administrative and infrastructural steps to further boost trade and connectivity with Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries.

"Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had called up Deb in the past and discussed various issues, including possibility of improving trade and connectivity between northeastern states and Bangladesh," the official added.

India's eight northeastern states are home to 45.58 million people (2011 Census) and share the country's border with China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Some of the states have trade ties with some of these countries, especially Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan.

The Tripura Chief Minister's also met Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who asked Inland Water Ways Authority of India (IWWAI) officials to revise the detailed project report to develop waterways to link with Bangladesh through Gomati and Hawrah rivers, the official said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump has showed mixed attitude toward Russia, emphasising his toughness on Moscow while expecting better bilateral relations.

"Probably nobody's been tougher to Russia than Donald Trump," said Trump on Tuesday at the White House in a working luncheon with visiting leaders from three Baltic countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Trump said "ideally, we want to be able to get along with Russia. Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing".

"I think I could have a very good relationship with Russian President (Vladimir) Putin," noted Trump later in the day at a joint press conference with the leaders from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Relationship between Washington and Moscow has plunged to a new low, as the US expelled 60 Russian diplomats and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle in a concerted action with Britain and other Western nations over an ex-spy poisoning case.

Moscow retaliated with the expulsion of an equal number of US diplomats and the closure of the US consulate in St. Petersburg.

So far, Trump has kept from launching from direct verbal attack against Moscow over the poisoning attack.

Last week, Trump made a call to Putin to congratulate him on his re-election and offered to meet at several "potential venues" including the White House in the near future, despite strong opposition from senior national security advisors.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump, further escalating his rhetoric on illegal immigration, has said that the military will be sent to guard the US-Mexico border until his long-promised border wall is built.

Speaking to reporters during a news conference with the Presidents of three Baltic nations -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- Trump on Tuesday described existing immigration laws as "lax and ineffective" and called for militarising the border with Mexico to prevent an influx of Central American migrants he said were ready to stream across it.

"We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the US," Trump said. "We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the US."

He continued: "We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way never showing up for court." Trump said he would soon meet Defence Secretary Jim Mattis to discuss having the US military deployed to the border, the US media reported.

But he offered no details about how the military would be used. Later Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that the administration's plans include mobilising the National Guard.

Trump was briefed on the possibility of sending troops to the border last week by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House aides and he loved the idea, said a senior White House official.

He added that senior policy adviser Stephen Miller was involved in the planning.

"Sending US service members to patrol the US-Mexico border is wrong," tweeted Representative Beto O'Rourke, who represents the border city of El Paso and is running for the US Senate against Republican Senator Ted Cruz. "It's dangerous to service members, to US citizens, and to the people of the border."

But officials representing Border Patrol agents applauded Trump's announcement. Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, said deploying military personnel would be a "tremendous boon", the Washington Post reported.

Members of the military cannot arrest immigrants because they are not duly sworn law enforcement personnel, Judd said, but they can aid Border Patrol agents by serving as their de facto "eyes" surveying the border.

Mexico expressed opposition to the idea, asking for a clarification on the announcement by @POTUS about the use of the Army on the border. "The Mexican government will define its reaction on the basis of that clarification and always in defence of our sovereignty and national interests," Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray tweeted.

The Obama administration sent 1,200 National Guard troops to the southern border in 2010 to assist Border Patrol and immigration officials amid rising concerns about drug trafficking.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump has said he wants to use the military to guard the country's border with Mexico until his long-promised border wall is built.

"We are going to be guarding our border with our military," Trump told reporters on Tuesday during a lunch session at the White House with leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We're going to be doing things militarily until we can have a wall and proper security," the President said. "That's a big step."

Trump also said that he's spoken with Defence Secretary Jim Mattis about the idea.

The President has been lashing out at Mexico for allowing a group of Central American demonstrators, mostly from Honduras, to march toward the US border, where many hope to seek asylum.

"The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our 'Weak Laws' Border, had better be stopped before it gets there," Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

Trump has recently reiterating his hardline stances on immigration, while repeatedly calling out Mexico over the border security and stressing the need for a border wall on the southern border.

The $1.3-trillion spending bill, signed into law by Trump last month, only grants $1.6 billion for border security measures, far short of what the administration has sought.

Trump has proposed using military funding to build the border wall but it's likely to face both political and legal challenges before the idea can be put into action.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rome, April 4 (IANS/AKI) At a time of unprecedented humanitarian crisis, a group of government partners have allocated $180 million of flexible funding to help the United Nations World Food Programme respond to severe and ongoing emergencies around the globe, WFP said on Wednesday.

"Flexible funds give us the freedom we need to respond more quickly, save on costs, plan for the longer term and prevent disruptions to our life-saving work," said WFP executive director David Beasley.

"To make the most of precious donor resources, we call on more of our government partners to provide funding that is unearmarked, predictable, and usable over multiple years," he added.

WFP recently allocated the flexible funding to around 60 country operations while providing a vital and urgent boost to lifesaving efforts in Syria, Yemen, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the agency stated.

Besides giving food aid to refugees and to displaced people, the flexible funds will also boost support to development projects, said WFP.

Thanks to donor governments and other partners, WFP said it is averting starvation in an unparalleled six large-scale emergencies, including famine in South Sudan and the influx of Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh from Myanmar - the world's fastest-growing refugee crisis.

Flexible funding enables WFP to act swiftly, effectively and efficiently, yet governments that provide this kind of funding are still a small minority as many specify how and where the money can be spent, the agency said.

Flexible contributions to WFP last year amounted to just seven percent of the total resources provided to WFP, well below the record of 20 percent of flexible funding in 2002, the agency stated.

In 2017, Sweden, Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Germany led the way in providing multilateral funding to WFP, and Italy was also among the top 10 donors, giving $12,390,445.

At the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, leading donors committed to progressively reduce earmarking of funds and to achieving a global target of 30 percent of flexible funding by 2020.

--IANS/AKI

vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US will provide about $87 million aid to Yemen to address the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country, the US State Department has said.

The aid will be used for food assistance, support for drinking water, treatment for malnourished children among others, said the US State Department in a statement on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The US government made the announcement at the Yemen High-Level Pledging Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, according to the statement.

Saudi Arabia is leading a mostly Arab military coalition to fight Iran-backed 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.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Amnesty International on Wednesday released a report revealing that at least 97 people in Vietnam were held as prisoners of conscience, many of whom are kept incommunicado in squalid conditions and routinely subjected to torture.

Among the prisoners were human rights defenders, lawyers, bloggers and environmental and social activists who received lengthy jail sentences despite only resorting to peaceful means, Amnesty was quoted as saying Efe news.

"Vietnam is one of Southeast Asia's most prolific jailers of peaceful activists," Amnesty's Director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, James Gomez, said.

"What is worse is that this number is likely an underestimation. It is impossible to know the real figure, given the shroud of secrecy the Vietnamese authorities operate under," he added.

According to Amnesty, the prisoners were targeted and arrested for organising protests against the communist government or for disseminating information alternative to that promoted by the regime.

In addition to torture, including beatings and electrocutions, these prisoners were often held in solitary confinement and denied access to lawyers and family members.

"Vietnam must immediately release everyone who has been jailed for nothing but peacefully speaking their minds, and take their obligation to respect human rights for everyone seriously," Gomez said.

--IANS

and/soni/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As China and the United States engage in their latest trade tussle, most economists take it as given that China will achieve global economic supremacy in the long run, no matter what happens now. After all, with four times as many people as the US, and a determined program to catch up after centuries of technological stagnation, isnt it inevitable that China will decisively take over the mantle of economic hegemon?

I am not so sure. Many economists, including many of the same experts who see Chinas huge labour force as a decisive advantage, also worry that robots and artificial intelligence will eventually take away most jobs, leaving most humans to while away their time engaged in leisure activities.

Which is it? Over the next 100 years, who takes over, Chinese workers or the robots? If robots and AI are the dominant drivers of production in the coming century, perhaps having too large a population to care for  especially one that needs to be controlled through limits on Internet and information access  will turn out to be more of a hindrance for China. The rapid aging of Chinas population exacerbates the challenge.





ALSO READ: Trade war: China to respond to new US duties with 'same scale, intensity'

As the rising importance of robotics and AI blunts Chinas manufacturing edge, the ability to lead in technology will become more important. Here, the current trend toward higher concentration of power and control in the central government, as opposed to the private sector, could hamstring China as the global economy reaches higher stages of development.

The possibility that China might never supplant the US as the worlds economic hegemon is the flip side of the technology and inequality problem. Everyone in the West is worrying about the future of work, but in many ways it is a bigger problem for the Chinese development model than for the American one. The US needs to struggle with the problem of how to redistribute income internally, especially given highly concentrated ownership of new ideas and technology. But for China, there is the additional problem of how to extend its franchise as export superpower into the machine age.



ALSO READ: Trade war: Trump administration wants China to cut tariffs on imported cars

True, it is highly unlikely that President Donald Trumps huffing and puffing and bluffing will bring about a large-scale return of manufacturing jobs to the US. But the US has the potential to expand the size of its manufacturing base anyway, in terms of output if not jobs. After all, todays high-tech factory floors produce far more with far fewer workers. And the robots and AI are coming not just in manufacturing and driverless cars. Robo-doctors, robo-financial advisors, and robo-lawyers are just the tip of the iceberg in machine disruption of service-sector jobs.

To be sure, Chinas rise is hardly a mirage, and its heady success is not built on population size alone. India has a similar population (both around 1.3 billion people), but for now, at least, it trails far behind. Chinese leadership must be credited with doing a miraculous job of lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and into the middle class.





ALSO READ: WH slams China for retaliatory tariffs of up to 25% on 128 US products

But Chinas rapid growth has been driven mostly by technology catch-up and investment. And while China, unlike the Soviet Union, has shown vastly more competence in homegrown innovation  Chinese companies are already leading the way in the next generation of 5G mobile networks  and its cyber-warfare capacity is fully on par with the US, keeping close to the cutting edge is not the same thing as defining it. Chinas gains still come largely from adoption of Western technology, and in some cases, appropriation of intellectual property. Mr Trump is hardly the first American president to complain on this score, and he is right to do so (though starting a trade war cannot be the solution).

In the economy of the 21st century, other factors, including rule of law, as well as access to energy, arable land, and clean water may also become increasingly important. China is following its own path and may yet prove that centralised systems can push development further and faster than anyone had imagined, far beyond simply being a growing middle-income country. But Chinas global dominance is hardly the predetermined certainty that so many experts seem to assume.





ALSO READ: The future of US-China relations

Yes, the US faces vast challenges as well. For example, it must devise a way to retain dynamic technological growth while preventing excessive concentration of wealth and power. To be a hegemon, however, does not require being the worlds largest country  otherwise, England would never have ruled much of the world as it did for more than a century. China might lead the digital future if the US drops the ball, but it wont become the dominant global power simply because it has a larger population. On the contrary, the coming machine age could be a game changer in the battle for hegemony.

The writer, a former chief economist of the IMF, is professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018Manifesto drafting committee head M Veerappa Moily said the party was preparing a manifesto each for the 30 districts of Karnataka, one each for the states four regions and a comprehensive manifesto for the entire state. Moily said the manifestos were being put together after an exhaustive exercise where the manifesto committee has consulted diverse stakeholders, and these manifestos would be released by mid-April, preferably jointly by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and ...

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Digital EditorTwo CRPF jawans were mowed down by a para-military force vehicle when its driver lost control due to stone pelting at Hiller area in Kokernag of South Kashmir, police said tonight.

The unfortunate incident took place this evening when CRPF troops were withdrawing after a day-long law and order duty in the area.

According to the police, the driver of the CRPF armoured vehicle was pelted stones in the area, 85 kms from here, during the withdrawal operation in the evening.

The driver, identified as Roop Singh, lost control of the vehicle and hit a motorcycle on which two CRPF jawans -- Riyaz Ahmed Wani and Nissar Ahmed Wani -- were riding.

They were rushed to a hospital where they were declared brought dead.

The driver of the armoured vehicle has been hit in his head and has been rushed to an Army hospital in Srinagar.

Reinforcement was rushed to the spot to maintain law and order, officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 24-year-old Maoist suspected to be involved in the killing of a home-guard and two others, besides other offences, was today arrested near here, police said.

Chintapalle DSP P Anil said Sanjeev alias Lungara was a dalam member and had joined the left wing extremist group as a village militia member in 2013.

Sanjeev, dalam member of Korukonda Area Committee, , was arrested at Chintapalle, he said.

He is suspected to be involved in over six offences including the killing of Gemmili Sanjeeva Rao, whom the Maoists branded as police informer, in 2014, a home-guard by triggering a landmine at Rallagedda area in May2017 and a trader at Korukonda the same year, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five Maoists, including two commanders carrying rewards of Rs 5 lakh each on their heads, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Latehar district today, officials said.

The over-an-hour-long encounter with the Maoists began around 7.15 am in the forest area between Bhadgaon and Kedu villages under Heranj police station during a search operation by the CRPF, Jharkhand Jaguar and the district police, according to a police press release.

Jharkhand Jaguar is an elite anti-Naxal task force of the state police.

Located around 120 km from state capital Ranchi, Latehar has been a hotbed of Naxal activities.

The two self-styled sub-zonal commanders carrying rewards of Rs 5 lakh each on their heads were identified as Shivlal Yadav and Shravan Yadav, it said.

During the search operation, the police recovered three AK 47 rifles, one INSAS rifle and one .303 rifle and bullets from the place.

The release said that Jharkhand Police and para-military forces were committed to root out Naxalites.

During the anti-Naxal campaign this year, 17 encounters have taken place in which 16 Naxalites have been killed.

Last year, 47 Naxalites surrendered under the state government's surrender policy, 12 Naxalites were killed in encounters, and 608 ultras were arrested, the release said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Adani Group today announced foray into transport infrastructure with a Rs 1,140-crore highway project won by a consortium led by its holding firm in Chhattisgarh from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The group's flagship firm Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) has been exploring opportunities in the sector.

"Adani Group is pleased to announce its foray into the public transport infrastructure space, with the award of the first Hybrid Annuity Road Project from NHAI," the company said in a statement.

The Rs 1,140 crore project won by AEL pertains to four-laning with paved shoulder of 53.3 km stretch on Bilaspur-Pathrapali section of NH-111 (New NH-130) in Chhattisgarh under Bharatmala Pariyojana on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM).

The statement said AEL is focused on incubating successful businesses to address the country's growing appetite for energy and infrastructure.

"We remain committed to maintain our leadership position in the areas of resources, energy, infrastructure, agro 8- logistics businesses. AEL has been evaluating opportunities in public transport infrastructure which holds promise of growth in next decade. As the government is contemplating doubling the length of country's highways to two lakh kilometre, Adani Group considers this as growth opportunity for the company," the statement said.

It said the company has recently participated in tender issued by NHAI under Bharatmala Pariyojana, and the company-led consortium has received a letter of award (LOA) from the NHAI for the project.

Adani Enterprise would continue to evaluate and bid for attractive opportunities in this sector which generates value for the stakeholders, the statement said.

The group would bring to use its immense expertise and experience of setting up complex and mammoth infrastructure projects in record time and to world class quality standards and also successfully operating them, it added.

The construction period for the project has been fixed as 730 days while operational period would be 15 years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The AIIMS administration has constituted a medical team comprising six doctors to decide the course of the treatment of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, who was admitted to the institute on March 29.

The committee is chaired by Head of Department of Medicine Dr Naveet Wig and comprises doctors from the departments of surgery, cardiology, nephrology, and neurology.

Prasad is admitted in the old private ward of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

"His condition is stable. His sugar levels are a little bit high and he has some infection in the kidney," an AIIMS doctor said.

Prasad, who has been serving a jail term in Ranchi in connection with the fodder scam, was admitted to the AIIMS here for specialised treatment. He was referred to AIIMS by the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) in Ranchi.

The RJD chief had been admitted to RIMS in Ranchi on March 17 over complaints of uneasiness while he was lodged at the Birsa Munda Jail. Prasad has been serving a jail term since December 23.

The former Bihar chief minister has been convicted in four fodder scam cases since 2013 -- the latest being the Dumka treasury case, in which a special CBI court sentenced him to 14 years in jail.

The Jharkhand High Court will hear on April 6 his bail plea in connection with his conviction in the third fodder scam case -- pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.62 crore from the Chaibasa Treasury.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress MLA Amit Chavda today took charge as Gujarat Congress president at a function held here.

Chavda, who is also the party chief whip in the state Legislative Assembly, replaced Bharatsinh Solanki.

The function was held here in the presence of Congress workers and leaders, including newly appointed state party in-charge Rajiv Satav.

In his address, Chavda urged the party workers to act together to defeat the ruling BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well as in the next Assembly polls in 2022.

"I want party workers to reach out to citizens and understand their problems. If we can do that the Congress will definitely win the upcoming Lok Sabha as well as Assembly polls of 2022," Chavda said while underlining the need to formulate an effective strategy to win elections.

In his address, Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Paresh Dhanani, said, "The party needs to promote lower ranking party workers. If we give importance to such workers and elevate them, the Congress can easily defeat the BJP in all the 26 Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat," said Dhanani.

Satav said Congress president Rahul Gandhi believed in removing the wall between party leaders and the common man by promoting young leaders like Dhanani and Chavda.

"The party will promote hard working lower rank workers of block and district level. Party workers need to hold protests against the government at block and district levels every month," said Satav.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group today said it has sent a Rs 10 billion defamation notice to Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam for making "false and baseless" allegations against the company.

The company will also file a contempt petition against Nirupam in the Bombay High Court, it said.

Nirupam had yesterday alleged that the "takeover" of debt-ridden Mumbai power business of Reliance Infrastructure by Adani Transmission Ltd was a deal executed at the behest of the Prime Minister's Office to "bail out"

"Nirupam has made several false, frivolous and baseless allegations and defamatory statements in relation to the proposed sale of Reliance Infrastructure's integrated Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission and linking it with the purchase of Rafale fighter aircrafts by the government from France," the company said in a statement here.

The Reliance wants Nirupam to immediately withdraw his allegations and apologise within 72 hours after the receipt of the notice, the statement said.

The company also demanded that Nirupam "desist from making any such statements concerning the Reliance Group without first ascertaining the facts."



RInfra had signed an agreement with Adani Transmission for 100 per cent sale of its Mumbai power business for a total consideration value of Rs 18,800 crore. With the execution of the deal, the company hopes to become debt-free and with up to Rs 3,000 crore cash surplus.

"We fear that the liability of both the companies will be passed on to the 30 lakh power consumers in Mumbai suburbs, 10 lakh of whom are slum dwellers," Nirupam had said yesterday while underlining the need for "transparency" in executing such mega deals.

When contacted today, Nirupam said he was yet to receive any such notice.

He, however, was unfazed, saying he would continue to raise such issues in future too to ensure that the people of the city are not subjected to hardships.

"Does demanding transparency in the deal and seeking proper investigation into it amount to defamation?.. If this is defamation, so be it," the Congress leader said today.

"Instead of threatening me with defamation, the company should address the issues raised by me and ensure 30 lakh elecricity consumers in suburban Mumbai are not put to any hardships of power tariff hike," he said.

He added that he already has a Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed against him in Bombay High Court, which is still pending.The Andhra Pradesh Assembly today passed a Bill granting statutory status to the AP Economic Development Board.

The government, however, deleted a controversial clause in the Bill that barred courts from entertaining any petition against Board officials or its consultants in relation to their functions.

However, another clause that says "no suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Board or any member, in respect of anything which is done or intended to be done in good faith" has been retained.

The Bill, moved by Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on behalf of the Chief Minister, was taken up for consideration in the Assembly today.

The government also withdrew a chapter in the bill that was intended to make the State Investment Promotion Board and the State Investment Promotion Committee statutory bodies.

A clause seeking to merge Sunrise Andhra Pradesh



the brand being promoted to attract investments into the state



with the AP EDB, has also been withdrawn.

The bill was passed in the absence of the main opposition YSR Congress which had announced boycotting assembly sessions in October last year if its 20 mlas and one MLC, who defected to the ruling Telugu Desam party, were not disqualified immediateldy.

The AP EDB, modelled on the lines of the Singapore EDB, was constituted on March 17, 2016 as a single-point of contact for investments in the state, with the Chief Minister being its chairman.

It was also intended for strategic investment planning and promotion, among others.

"EDB has been playing a significant role in attracting investments into the state," the Finance minister said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) may help us to predict the probability of life on other planets, according to a study.

Researchers at Plymouth University in the UK used artificial neural networks (ANNs) to classify planets into five types, estimating a probability of life in each case, which could be used in future interstellar exploration missions.

ANNs are systems that attempt to replicate the way the human brain learns.

They are one of the main tools used in machine learning, and are particularly good at identifying patterns that are too complex for a biological brain to process.

The team has trained the network to classify planets into five different types, based on whether they are most like the present-day Earth, the early Earth, Mars, Venus or Saturn's moon Titan.

All five of these objects are rocky bodies known to have atmospheres, and are among the most potentially habitable objects in our Solar System.

"We are currently interested in these ANNs for prioritising exploration for a hypothetical, intelligent, interstellar spacecraft scanning an exoplanet system at range," said Christopher Bishop, who presented the work at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) in the UK.

"We're also looking at the use of large area, deployable, planar Fresnel antennas to get data back to Earth from an interstellar probe at large distances. This would be needed if the technology is used in robotic spacecraft in the future," said Bishop.

Atmospheric observations - known as spectra - of the five solar system bodies are presented as inputs to the network, which is then asked to classify them in terms of the planetary type.

As life is currently known only to exist on Earth, the classification uses a 'probability of life' metric which is based on the relatively well-understood atmospheric and orbital properties of the five target types.

Bishop has trained the network with over a hundred different spectral profiles, each with several hundred parameters that contribute to habitability.

So far, the network performs well when presented with a test spectral profile that it has not seen before.

"Given the results so far, this method may prove to be extremely useful for categorising different types of exoplanets using results from ground-based and near Earth observatories," said Angelo Cangelosi, the supervisor of the project.

The technique may also be ideally suited to selecting targets for future observations, given the increase in spectral detail expected from upcoming space missions such ESA's Ariel Space Mission and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, researchers said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Assam government today said it would introduce a stringent anti-rape law in the next session of the state Assembly, and recruit women sub-inspectors through a special drive to fulfil the aim of 30 per cent women in the police force.

"Please give me all your suggestions in writing. We will discuss these with legal experts to frame a stringent law against rape. We will place the bill in the next Assembly session," Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said in the House.

Taking part in a Zero Hour discussion in the Assembly, he said rising cases of rapes were of serious concern.

"It is a big challenge and we all must work together. Swami Vivekananda had said that unless women are safe, the society cannot be safe. Such miscreants cannot be allowed to stay in the society... The people of the state want a strict law and exemplary punishment in such crimes," Sonowal said.

Talking about women in the police force, he said that at present, the number of women are less in number compared to men.

"We have decided to have 30 per cent women in the police. We will have a special drive to recruit women sub-inspectors to achieve this goal," Sonowal said.

He said the state government has arrested almost all the culprits behind recent rape cases, asked police to prepare error-free chargesheets to convict the guilty, set up fast trcak courts for day-to-day hearings, formed a women's cell at the DGP office and rolled out a toll-free helpline for women.

Earlier, in a special gesture, Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami allowed only women members to speak on the issue, and unanimously they demanded provision of death penalty in the anti-rape law that the state government proposed to bring in.

"The recent gang rape of a minor girl and her killing by burning her alive shook the entire state. Rapes are happening serially in the state and it is rising in Assam. Why is happening and why is it rising? The culprits have no age, caste, religion, language," BJP MLA Angoorlata Deka said.

Because of the loopholes in the current laws, the accused persons get free easily and commit such crimes again, she said.

Congress MLA Nandia Das cited government data to highlight that crime against women in Assam are on the rise over the last two years, while the rate of conviction is low.

"Out of the 3,009 rapes that took place in in the last two years, only 1,786 persons have been arrested. Out of which, a mere 76 were punished after filing chargesheets against 1,697 accused," Das said.

BPF Kamali Basumatary said, "We are forced to think that women are not safe in India. We have laws, but still culprits get free. So, is the public punishment solution? Handover the culprits to women...,".

Congress MLAs Ajanta Neog and Roselina Tirkey demanded death penalty for rape accused, while AGP legislator Renupoma Rajkhowa spoke about strengthening the Women's Commission in the state.

As there is no women MLA from AIUDF, MLA Aminul Islam spoke on behalf of his party and requested the chief minister to have provision of death sentence in the anti-rape law.

The entire issue was raised and discussed in the backdrop of the March 23 gang rape and killing of a minor girl at Dhaniabheti Lalung Gaon in Nagaon district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)For the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh, a bill paving the way for the appointment of a chief whip with salary on par with cabinet ministers and ministers of state was introduced in the state assembly today.

The Salaries, Allowances and Other Benefits of the Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief Whip in the State Assembly of Himachal Pradesh Bill, 2018, introduced by Chief Minister Jairam Thakur proposed that the chief whip be entitled to receive salary and allowances admissible to a cabinet minister while the deputy chief whip to salary and allowances on par with a minister of state.

Appointments to the posts of the chief whip and the deputy chief whip are likely to be made after the bill is passed.

A bill for setting up a "cluster university" in Mandi was introduced by Minister Suresh Bharadwaj.

The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Cluster University, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh (Establishment and Regulation) Bill, 2018 provides for setting up the cluster university, headquartered in Mandi, with campuses in Sundernagar, Bassa, Drang and Narla.

The bill proposes that the Vallabh Government College in Mandi be the lead college while the MLSM College, Mandi, and government colleges in Bassa, Drang and Narla be constituent colleges of the university.

The university would have a governing body, a board of management and an academic council and all colleges, currently affiliated to the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), would come under the ambit of the cluster university.

The chief minister also introduced the Himachal Pradesh Police (Amendment) Bill, 2018 providing for transfer of the Finger Print Bureau, presently under the control of CID, to the Directorate of Forensic Sciences.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Binani Cement Limited's Committee of Creditors (CoC) have decided to stick with the Rs 6,350 crore offer from Dalmia Bharat Cement for the debt-ridden firm's sale.

The decision was taken at a late night meeting of the CoC held in Kolkata.

The CoC did not approve the offer from its promoters Binani Industries Ltd. (BIL), which is pitching for Rs 7,266 crore offer from the Aditya Birla Group firm UltraTech Cement, due to legal implications, sources said.

The CoC today met in Kolkata after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) directed it to reconsider the proposal from the promoter BIL.

After the meeting, BIL, however, has not ruled out exploring the possibilities of approaching higher authorities challenging the decision of the CoC to sell the BCL to Dalmia Bharat group.

"All options for us remain open," said a BIL official, hinting that they may challenge the decision with a higher appellate authority such as the Supreme Court.

The next hearing of the matter will take place at the Kolkata bench of the NCLT on April 9.

Yesterday, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had asked the parties in the dispute to amicably settle the matter.

Dalmia Bharat group, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Rajputana Properties, had emerged as the highest bidder with an offer to pay Rs 6,350 crore for Binani Cement.

However, later, UltraTech Cement entered into an agreement with BIL to buy 98.43 per cent stake in BCL. It had also agreed to issue a comfort letter to provide Rs 7,266 crore to Binani Industries Ltd for ending insolvency proceedings against Binani Cement.

All the parties are presently entangled in litigations before the Kolkata bench of NCLT and NCLAT.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi BJP today alleged a scam in the public distribution system in the national capital, and dared the AAP government to go for an independent probe into it.

Citing the findings of a CAG report that was tabled in the Delhi Assembly yesterday, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari charged that food grains meant for the poor were being "diverted to ration mafia".

"Like 'chara ghotala' (fodder scam) in Bihar, Delhi is witnessing a ration scam as the CAG report points out. Motorcycles and scooters were used for transporting ration which was diverted to ration mafia instead of the poor people," Tiwari told a press conference.

It has been reported that the Kejriwal government is planning for a CBI probe into instances of corruption flagged by the CAG report, and the BJP too wanted that matter should be probed by an independent agency, he stated.

BJP MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Pravesh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri too attacked the AAP government, saying it was trying to save itself by attacking the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) over the proposed doorstep delivery system.

Sharing an extract from the CAG report highlighting various loopholes in the public distribution system, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted, "This is what LG trying to protect when he rejects doorstep delivery of rations. The entire ration system is in the grip of mafia protected by political masters. Doorstep delivery would have destroyed this mafia."



The BJP MPs alleged that if the doorstep delivery was implemented, it would promote more irregularities in distribution of ration.

"The government planned a new conspiracy of doorstep ration supply because in this process there will be no check on the quantity of supply and the beneficiaries," Lekhi said.

The CAG audit report for 2016-17 flagged many "lapses" by the food and supplies department of the Delhi government, highlighting that eight vehicles which ferried 1,589.92 quintals of specified food articles to fair price shops had registration number of buses, scooters, motorcycles and three-wheelers.

"This gives rise to doubt whether the reported transportation of SFAs (specified food articles) had actually taken place and possibility of pilferage could not be ruled out," the report stated.

The Delhi BJP will stage a protest demonstration at the Delhi Assembly tomorrow over the issue, Tiwari said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP president Amit Shah today said the central government would neither scrap the policy of reservation for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in education and jobs nor allow anyone to do so.

Addressing a public meeting here, he said that "no one can dare to change" the reservation policy "as set by B R Ambedkar in the Constitution".

Shah also held the Congress and other opposition parties responsible for the deaths of nearly a dozen people in violence during a nationwide strike called by various Dalit outfits against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

"Why was the bandh call given when the prime minister assured the people that the Centre would submit a review petition on the Supreme Court judgement... Ten people died during the bandh. The Congress and other opposition parties are responsible for the deaths of these 10 people," he said.

The Centre yesterday moved a plea in the Supreme Court seeking to review the March 20 verdict putting safeguards on arrest under the stringent SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The apex court, however, asserted that "no provisions of the SC/ST Act have been diluted" and refused to keep in abeyance the verdict.

Alleging that a "misinformation campaign" had been launched in the media and on social media that the BJP would withdraw reservations, Shah said, "I want to make it clear in this public meeting in the presence of so many people that the BJP will not withdraw reservations at all, nor will it allow anyone to do so."



Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP president said, "We have full faith in the Constitution of India. There will not be slightest change in the reservation policy as set by B R Ambedkar in the Constitution. No one can dare to change it. The BJP will also not allow anyone to change the reservation policy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ahead of the verdict by a Jodhpur court in the blackbuck poaching case, Bollywood actorsSonali Bendre,Saif Ali Khan and Tabu left for the Rajasthan city from here this morning.

The three actors did not speak to mediapersons waiting outside the Mumbai airport while they left from here.

SuperstarSalman Khan, meanwhile, arrived in Mumbai in the early hours today from Abu Dhabi where he has been shooting for "Race 3".

After arriving, he went to his house and is expected to leave for Jodhpur later today.

A Jodhpur court will announce tomorrow the verdict in the 1998 black buck poaching case against Salman Khan.

Salman Khan was accused of killing two black bucks on October 2, 1998 in Kankani village in Jodhpur during the shooting of "Hum Saath Saath Hain".

Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, and Tabu, who were also shooting for the film, are the co-accused in the case.

Salman Khan, 52, had earlier pleaded innocence in the case, claiming before the court that he had been "framed".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Government bonds (G-Secs) gains further following fresh demand from corporates and banks, while, the overnight call money rates turned lower due to lack of demand from borrowing banks amid comfortable liquidity in the banking sytem.

The 7.17 per cent government security maturing in 2028 rose to Rs 99.13 from Rs 98.87, while, its yield moved down to 7.29 per cent from 7.33 per cent.

The 6.68 per cent government security maturing in 2031 gained to Rs 93.21 from Rs 92.83, while, its yield edged down to 7.49 per cent from 7.54 per cent.

The 6.79 per cent government security maturing in 2027 climbed to Rs 95.70 from Rs 95.43, while, its yield eased to 7.45 per cent from 7.49 per cent.

The 7.80 per cent government security maturing in 2020, the 7.80 per cent government security maturing in 2021 and the 7.16 per cent government security maturing in 2023 were also quoted higher to Rs 101.92, Rs 102.11 and Rs 99.45 respectively.

The overnight call money rates finished lower at 5.80 per cent from Tuesday's closing level of 5.85 per cent. It opened at 6.00 per cent and moved in a range of 6.00 per cent and 5.60 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), purchased securities worth Rs 36.10 billion in 5-bids at the overnight repo opertion at a fixed rate of 6.00 per cent as on today, while its sold securities worth Rs 568.40 billion in 74-bids at the overnight reverse repo auction at a fixed rate of 5.75 per cent as on April 03.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Brazil's supreme court is to rule today on whether former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva should start a 12 year prison sentence for corruption, potentially upending this year's presidential election.

The court showdown in the capital Brasilia is a key battle for Brazil's deeply polarised electorate ahead of the October polls, in which Lula is currently the heavy favourite, despite his legal problems.

Late yesterday, up to 20,000 people demonstrated in Brazil's biggest city, Sao Paulo, to demand Lula go to prison and be barred from the election.

More protests -- for and against Lula -- were planned in Brasilia today, with demonstrators separated by a metal barrier and heavy police presence.

The head of the army, General Eduardo Villas Boas, tweeted that the military shared Brazilians' "desire for the repudiation of impunity."



The comment, likely to be seen as backing prison for Lula, was a rare foray into politics by a general in a country that was under military dictatorship for two decades until 1985.

Villas Boas also asked "who is really thinking about the good of the country and future generations and who is only worried about personal interests?"



The court was due to start deliberations at 2:00 pm (1700 GMT), but with 11 justices casting votes, the session was likely to be lengthy.

Lula, 72, was sentenced to 12 years and one month prison after being convicted last year of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe from a major construction company seeking government contracts. He appealed in a lower court but lost.

Under current law, that means he should go immediately to prison, even while conducting further appeals. However, Lula has asked the Supreme Court to grant him habeas corpus, allowing him to remain free while pursuing those appeals.

The court is believed to be evenly split on the issue, so that if only one judge changed position it would secure Lula's temporary freedom -- and boost his uphill bid for a third term in office.

If the court turns him down, he could face jail this week.

Lula left office after two terms between 2003-2010 as Brazil's most popular president on record, but he has since turned into a hugely divisive figure, inspiring adoration on the left and hatred on the right.

"We want Brazil to be freed of this shameful corruption. Imprison Lula and let Brazil turn the page," said Mara Massa, 67, at the protest in Sao Paulo, where the crowd chanted "No more Lula!"



Lula portrays himself as framed by a right-wing judiciary bent on preventing him from returning to power.

He won cheers from a large crowd in Rio de Janeiro late Monday when he portrayed his legal struggle as continuation of his long fight against dictatorship as a young union leader, then founder of the Workers' Party.

"I did not accept the military dictatorship and I will not accept this dictatorship of the prosecutors," he said, insisting on his right to run for office.

Ahead of Villas Boas' unusual comments, an army reservist general lashed out in Estadao newspaper that a Supreme Court ruling that freed Lula would "induce" violence and "fratricidal conflict."



General Luiz Gonzaga Schroeder Lessa, who has a history of making provocative remarks, even appeared to threaten a coup, saying an eventual Lula election victory would "leave no recourse but an armed reaction. The armed forces would have to restore order."



The top court is also under huge pressure from prosecutors like Deltan Dallagnol, who spearhead Brazil's mammoth "Car Wash" anti-graft probe, which has netted scores of high-ranking politicians beyond Lula over the last four years.

On Monday, more than 5,000 judges and prosecutors signed a petition against granting Lula his habeas corpus request.

And today, Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge said that allowing convicted criminals to stay free pending several appeals would "annihilate" the justice system.

However, one of the Supreme Court justices, Gilmar Mendes, tried to reassure the nation, saying the court's ruling -- whichever way it went -- would lead to "a calming down, not an increase in conflict.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Makkal Neethi Mayyam president Kamal Haasan today accused the Tamil Nadu government of being "subservient" to the Centre rather than upholding the state's rights on the Cauvery issue.

The day-long fast observed by the AIADMK yesterday urging the Centre to immediately constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) "was farcical", Haasan told reporters here.

Later, in a statement, he alleged that the state government was being "subservient" to the Centre.

While it was the Centre's responsibility to constitute the CMB, the state government "cannot hallucinate that it has fulfilled its duty towards the people who elected them by just filing a contempt petition after the deadline or by holding a farcical one-day hunger strike", he said in the statement.

"This TN government is functioning like a subservient government to the Centre rather than upholding the state's rights, which is the essence of India's federalism," he said.

Haasan told the reporters that in 2016, when the Supreme Court wanted the Centre to constitute the CMB, the government came up with "lame excuses" and technicalities "to delay it".

"The same act is being replayed," he said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his party men observed a day-long fast in Chennai yesterday, "condemning the Centre" for not setting up the CMB in compliance with the Supreme Court order.

Ministers and senior leaders led the hunger strike in various districts.

In its February 16 judgement, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

It gave six weeks to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its judgement, which modified the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award.

Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CWMB and CWRC to ensure it received its due share of water from the inter-state river.

The six-week period ended on March 29.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat, who is on a three-day visit to poll-bound Karnataka to check election-preparedness, today released a booklet as part of voters' awareness drive.

The state will go to polls on May 12 and the counting of votes is on May 15.

The CEC is accompanied by two other election commissioners, Sunil Arora and Ashok Lavasa.

After releasing the booklet, the CEC held a meeting with state chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar and other senior officials.

The CEC and the two commissioners will hold a detailed review meeting with the chief secretary, additional chief secretaries, top police officers and other senior officials.

He's likely to speak to the deputy commissioners of some of the districts.

He will also hold meetings with the representatives of political parties in the next two days.

The Janata Dal (Secular) today submitted a memorandum to the CEC, urging him to set up a single window system to dispose of applications and complaints by political parties.

The party has also questioned the three month extension of service given to chief secretary K Ratna Prabha when the model code of conduct is in force.

The extension is against the provision of law and the model code of conduct, the memorandum said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A city-based chamber of commerce today hailed the 16-per cent increase in West Bengal's tax revenue for the 2017-18 fiscal.

"Despite the twin challenges of demonetisation and implementation of GST, the West Bengal government has steered the state well in these troubled times to record a massive growth to Rs 52,971 crore for the fiscal 2017-18, a rise of 16 per cent over previous fiscal," Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) president Sitaram Sharma said in a statement.

BCC, however, expressed concern over the decline in the share of agriculture to 19 per cent of the GSDP. The services sector contributed 56 per cent to the GSDP, followed by industry at 25 per cent.

The state's per capita income at constant prices has grown from Rs 57,584 in 2015-16 to Rs 67,703 in 2017-18, he said.

The rise in the total capital expenditure of 8.5 per cent in 2017-18 is also laudable, Sharma added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The world's top two economies edged towards an all-out trade war as China today rejected the US' demand to cut down trade deficit by USD 100 billion as "unviable" and announced plans to impose retaliatory tariffs worth USD 50 billion on 106 American products, including soybeans, cars and small aircraft.

The move comes after President Donald Trump's administration yesterday published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports worth USD 50 billion that could be hit by US tariffs because of Beijing's alleged theft of intellectual property and technology.

The Chinese Customs Tariff Commission of the central cabinet, in a retaliatory measure, decided to impose additional tariff of 25 per cent on 106 products under 14 categories worth USD 50 billion, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

Affected products will include a wide variety of agricultural products such as soybeans, corn, beef, orange juice and tobacco. A range of chemicals and automobiles, as well as aircraft with unladen weight between 15 tonnes and 45 tonnes, will also be subject to the tariffs.

However, it did not announce a date for their implementation.

"The date of implementation will depend on when the US government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products," it said.

The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in a statement said that the US' move was "an evident violation" of rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The US move "severely infringed on the legitimate rights and interests that China enjoys in accordance with the WTO rules, and threatened China's economic interests and security," the MOC said.

New tariffs China decided to impose on US products were a reaction to the "emergency" caused by the US violation of international obligations, it added.

The economies of China and the US are highly complementary, and "cooperation is the only right choice for the two countries," the MOC said.

The MOC said China's decision was taken in retaliation to the US' proposed list of products subjects to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth USD 50 billion with a suggested tariff rate of 25 per cent.

The US plans to apply the tariffs to about USD 50 billion worth of goods to punish China for its alleged theft of trade secrets, including software, patents and other technology.

Trump is demanding China to cut down USD 375 billion trade deficit by USD 100 billion in about a month.

His move sparked concerns over a trade war between the two largest economies of the world.

China has already slapped tariffs on 128 US products, including wine and pork, totalling to USD 3 billion in retaliation to Trump's move to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium.

China, which enjoys USD 375 billion surplus for the first time directly rejected US President Donald Trump's demand to cut down the deficit by USD 100 billion.

"The Chinese government cannot artificially intervene in the number of deficit of surplus. That is not viable," Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen told media briefing here today when asked about Trump's demand.

"It is unacceptable to ask China alone to cut the deficit by USD 100 billion as the trade gap is determined by market forces and the overall economic policies and structure of the US."



"We cannot dictate change in trade deficit or surplus. Cutting deficit requires efforts from both the sides. China alone cannot make that happen," he said, adding that the US do not want to sell what China wants to buy.

"We hope the US can relax the restrictions of export of high-tech products to China," he said.

"The US boasts many advantageous industries but is self-restricted in terms of exports to China. Fewer exports resulted in the big trade deficit," Wang said.

"We hope the US will actively respond to China's efforts to expand imports, Wang said, inviting American businesses to attend the first China International Import Expo in November and show their products and services to Chinese consumers.

"We are glad to see that President Trump has eased restrictions on exports of energy products, crude oil and liquefied natural gas to China after taking office, which used to be banned," Wang said, pointing out that such measures will help tackle the trade imbalance.

Wang said the trade gap is not as big as the US claims.

"Taking into account transit trade and service trade, the real gap is only a third of the figure released by the US government."



According to US Census Bureau data, the trade deficit with China ran to a record USD 375 billion last year.

Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao, who also addressed the media, dismissed the idea that political motives were behind China targeting US soybean imports to hurt American farmers to ramp up pressure on Trump.

"Business is business. We should analyse the challenge we face and the way we deal with it from the perspective of the economy," he said.

"We are forced to bring forward the product list, and there are grounds for the specific items and their order on the list," Zhu said.

US soybeans sold to China account for 62 per cent of its total soybean exports, with 32.85 million tonnes of soybeans exported to China last year, or 34.4 per cent of China's total imports, Zhu said.

While US farmers can benefit from healthy Sino-US economic ties, the export amount to China was too big, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sporting a kurta imprinted with a demand for roll back of GST on the 'langar', a free communal kitchen, at the famed Golden Temple, Congress MP from Amrtisar Gurjeet Singh Aujla stood out in the Lok Sabha today.

Amid the din in the House with AIADMK members demanding immediate constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board, Aujla made many heads turn with the colourful message printed on his white Kurta.

The Golden Temple in Amritsar, which is the holiest of all Sikh shrines, runs one of the largest community kitchens in the world feeding freshly cooked food to 50,000 devotees on weekdays and over one lakh on weekends and festivals.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages all gurdwaras, has been urging the Centre to exempt the free kitchens at the Golden Temple and other Sikh shrines from the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Earlier, union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had also urged Jaitley to exempt all purchases made by the SGPC for the langar service from the GST.

After implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST), the Golden Temple reportedly shelled out over Rs two crore extra in 2017 as GST for purchasing ration for the 'langar'.

Under the new GST Act, there is a provision for exemption to institutions and businesses on the recommendation of the GST Council.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today found itself in spot after its leader Paresh Dhanani backed newly-appointed Gujarat unit in-charge Rajiv Satav for 'supporting' anti-Narmada dam activist Medha Patkar, giving a handle to the BJP which said the Congress always worked against Gujarat's interest.

The row erupted on the day Satav, who hails from Maharashtra, arrived in Ahmedabad to attend a function where Amit Chavda will take charge as new president of the Gujarat Congress.

On the eve of Satav's arrival, BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya re-tweeted Satav's tweets of 2017 in which the Congress leader had purportedly posted a letter supporting Patkar and opposing the Sardar Sarovar Dam project, which is the lifeline of Gujarat.

"I am thankful to Medha Patkar for her anti-Narmada Dam agitation of 2017. Her agitation benefited Gujarat. Satavji has done a right thing by supporting Medha Patkar," Dhanani, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, told reporters today.

Dhanani also praised Patkar for taking up the cause of the dam outstees.

Chavda, meanwhile, alleged that the BJP was raising non-issues to divert attention of people from "failures" of the Gujarat and Central governments on various fronts.

However, latching on to the comments of Dhanani, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the statements of Congress leaders have "exposed" their relationship with Patkar who had worked against the interests of Gujarat.

Rupani said Patkar always worked against the interests of Gujarat.

"The Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) project got delayed due to Patkar. The Congress today stands exposed as its leaders are supporting such anti-Gujarat Medha Patkar openly. This (statement) reveals that there is a relationship between the Congress and Patkar who had worked for so many years so that dam project remains hanging," he said.

Rupani further said the SSD project materialised only because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the final approval for completion of the project in just 17 days after assuming the charge," he said.

Pandya said the very mindset of the Congress was anti-Gujarat and "this is the reason they have appointed a person (Satav) supporting anti-Gujarat forces like Medha Patkar as its state in-charge".

He said Satav has deleted his old tweets after the row.

When reached for comments, Satav said the BJP was raking up issues like the Narmada dam to divert the attention of the people from issues like Dalit agitation.

The Sardar Sarovar dam project was inaugurated in September 2017 by the prime minister, 55 years after its foundation stone was laid by the first premier Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961.

The delay was attributed mainly to litigations and environmental agitations.

An intense water crisis looms large over parts of Gujarat this year as the water levels in the SSD have hit the dead storage below 110.64 metres.

The state government has stopped the supply of water for irrigation and industrial purposes in a bid to utilise it only for drinking purposes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)All India Congress Committee's Scheduled Caste cell chief Nitin Raut today alleged that BJP governments in various states were booking "innocent" members of the Dalit community for participating in the Bharat bandh out of "political vendetta".

He demanded that such cases be withdrawn immediately.

"The anti-Dalit face of the BJP stands exposed by the revengeful action of state governments against the Dalits who participated in the peaceful 'Bharat Bandh' agitation on April 2, against the dilution of the provisions of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities ACT 1989," Raut stated in a release today.

He alleged that BJP leaders and workers were providing names and addresses of Dalit youths to the police in the states ruled by the saffron party, as part of "political vendetta" against backward communities.

"Police are making arrests in night hours and slapping false cases against members of the Dalit community," he said.

Raut said police are also arresting women and children in night while "Dalit youths are fleeing their houses to avoid torture by the police".

The Congress leader said that instead of arresting the killers of ten Dalits who died during the protests in north India, police officers are taking action against the innocent youths of the community and beating them in custody.

"The police and the government have never taken such repressive and revengeful action against the participants of many other agitations," alleged Raut.

Demanding release of the Dalit community members from police custody, Raut said that cases registered against them be withdrawn immediately.

Dalits held massive protests in many states on April 2 against the Supreme Court decision, which is perceived as "dilution" of the stringent provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today demanded that "unconstitutional" and "undemocratic" media accreditation guidelines issued by the Goa Assembly Secretariat be withdrawn.

Addressing a press conference here, All India Congress Committee Secretary Girish Chodankar said the guidelines are "unconstitutional, undemocratic" and amount to an attack on the freedom of press.

"The guidelines discriminate against media houses on basis of circulation, which is unjust," he said, demanding that Speaker Dr Pramod Sawant should withdraw them.

As per the guidelines, a journalist who wants the accreditation for covering an Assembly session must have an experience of at least five years, and the newspaper he or she belongs to must have a circulation of more than 15,000.

Referring to the guidelines issued by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on fake news, which were immediately withdrawn following widespread criticism, Chodankar alleged that the ruling BJP in Goa is "following the mindset of party bosses in Delhi".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Senior Rajasthan cadre IPS officer Indu Kumar Bhushan, who has been at the centre of several controversies including one where he openly questioned the knowledge of a state governor, has been compulsorily retired by the government, an official said today.

A 1989-batch IPS officer, Bhushan, 52, is currently awaiting posting orders (APO). The engineer-turned police officer has been placed under the APO category five times.

Last year, Bhushan levelled corruption charges against the top brass of the state police. He also allegedly abused and thrashed his driver and gunman in 2013.

The Rajasthan government had forwarded a proposal in November last year to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs regarding compulsory retirement for the Additional Director General (ADG) rank IPS officer, which has been accepted, said Arvind Kumar Poswal, joint secretary, department of personnel of the Rajasthan government.

"The Centre has accepted the state government's proposal and issued orders of compulsory retirement to ADG Indu Kumar Bhushan on March 29 and he will be served the orders today, Poswal told PTI.

The retirement was given in public interest under the All India Services (death cum retirement benefits) rules, he said.

When contacted, Bhushan said he was "not aware of the development".

A B Tech degree holder Bhushan, who hails from Bihar, served as SP CID (CB), SP Harijan atrocities, DIG-Traffic, IG rules, IG-administration, ADG (rules) and ADG (jail). He also served on deputation to UN Mission in Sierra Leone.

In September 2016, he wassent back to Jaipur from the National Police Academy, Hyderabad for allegedly questioning the knowledge of Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan, a retired IPS officer, during a mid-career training programme.

Bhushanhad opposed the governor during a question-answer session and alleged that his ADC later misbehaved with him after the programme. He was immediately dropped from the programme and sent to the airport from the academy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Delhi court today granted anticipatory bail to Karti Chidambaram's chartered accountant S Bhaskararaman in the CBI's INX Media case, and directed him to cooperate in the investigation.

Special Judge Sunil Rana granted the relief to Bhaskararaman, noting that the main accused, Karti Chidambaram, had already been granted bail by the Delhi High Court in the case on March 23.

"Applicant (Bhaskararaman) was earlier granted bail in the case of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 13 subject to certain terms and conditions and in compliance with one of the conditions, he had already surrendered his passport with the ED.

"In these circumstances, it can be said that there is no apprehension that the applicant is at a flight risk and there is no material to suggest that applicant will tamper with the evidence, as he had already handed over the documents to the CBI which were in his possession and knowledge," the court said.

It further said that for the purpose of interrogating the applicant, it is not necessary to keep him in the custody and he can be called as and when required.

"Personal liberty is of precious value as per our Constitution and a person should be presumed to be innocent till he is proved guilty after facing trial. Object of bail is to secure attendance of accused in the trial and bail cannot be withheld as a punishment.

"It is not the case of CBI that applicant had tampered with evidence during the aforesaid period or has influenced or threatened any witness in the past. Hence, to my mind the apprehension of CBI is that accused may influence witness or tamper with evidence, appears to be ill founded," it said.

The judge further said, "Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and discussion made above I am of the view that where there are reasonable grounds that petitioner is not likely to abscond or otherwise misuse his liberty while on bail, there seems to be no justification to require him first to submit to custody, remain in prison for some days and then apply for bail."



In his application moved through advocates Giriraj Subramanium and Vikash Pathak, the accused had said he had already given the documents to the probe agency and was confronted with Karti Chidambaram, who was recently granted bail in the case registered by the CBI.

The CBI had opposed the application alleging that Bhaskararaman was non-cooperative and evasive in his replies and even gave wrong answers.

The agency had said its power to arrest the accused if and when required should not be curtailed as the investigation was at a crucial stage and he might tamper with the evidence.

Bhaskararaman, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 16 from a five-star hotel here, was on March 13 granted bail in the money laundering case by the court which said there were no specific allegation against him except that he aided former union minister P Chidambaram's son in committing the crime.

Karti Chidambaram's name had cropped up in the case relating to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board's (FIPB) approval granted in 2007 for receipt of funds by INX Media when his father was the finance minister during the erstwhile UPA regime.

The ED had earlier told the court that during the course of investigation, it was revealed that Bhaskararaman had been assisting Karti Chidambaram to manage his "ill-gotten wealth" in India and abroad.

It had alleged that INX Media had deliberately and in violation of the conditions of approval made a downstream investment of 26 per cent in the capital of INX Pvt. Ltd. without the specific approval of FIPB, which included indirect foreign investment by some foreign investors, and generated Rs 305 crore foreign direct investment in INX Media Pvt. Ltd. against the approved foreign inflow of Rs 4.62 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The CPI-ML (Liberation) has suspended his lone MLA in Jharkhand assembly Raj Kumar Yadav for casting an invalid vote in place of voting for the Congress candidate to whom the party had backed.

The CPI-ML had decided to vote for Congress nominee in the RS poll on March 23 in Jharkhand, but its lone MLA's vote was rendered invalid.

Media reports suggested MLA's design behind it.

Congress second candidate Dheeraj Kumar had lost the poll to the Rajya Sabha in Jharkhand.

BJPs Sameer Oraon and Congress Dheeraj Kumar Sahu had won the two seats from Jharkhand for the Upper House in the biennials poll in March.

Yadav represents Dhanwar assembly seat in Giridih district.

The party had taken decision to vote for Congress candidate Dheeraj Kumar in the (March 23) Rajya Sabha election. Possibly due to a technical flaw his vote was cancelled, a party release said here.

The CPI-ML (Liberation) office Secretary Sukhdev Prasad said quoting release that Yadav has been suspended following the "technical flaw" that led to the cancellation of the vote. The partys probe committee would look into it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The CBI today claimed in the Delhi High Court that the DDA and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation were not cooperating with its enquiry into how the famous 108-foot Hanuman statue and a private two-wheeler dealership encroached upon public land in the busy Karol Bagh area here.

Though the Delhi Development Authority and the corporation rejected the CBI's claim, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar directed two senior officials of both authorities to appear before the agency's Anti-Corruption Cell with all the relevant documents on April 11 and every other date as required.

Regarding the electricity being provided to the temple, the court directed the power distribution company of the area to place before it the original application that was filed by the temple staff for a power connection.

The court said it would also appoint an amicus curiae to assist it in the matter and listed it for further hearing on May 23.

During the brief hearing, the DDA told the court that its officials had no role to play in connection with the illegal construction of the statute as it had transferred the site in question to the Land And Development Office in 1972.

Earlier the North MCD had claimed that the site in question did not come under its jurisdiction and the New Delhi Municipal Council was responsible for the area.

Both the DDA and North MCD tried to distance themselves from the land in question after they were directed by the court to give a list of their officials who were posted in the area when the famous statue was being built illegally on public land, including a pavement.

The court had earlier said an illegal construction cannot be treated as an icon of Delhi after the lawyer for the temple trust head, Om Prakash Giri, had said that the statue was an iconic structure.

The court had initially ordered a police probe into the encroachment after a committee appointed by it in May last year to look into illegal constructions all over Delhi had pointed to encroachments of up to 1,170 square yards on DDA land which forms part of the Southern Ridge.

The committee had also said that apart from the Hanuman statue, there was unauthorised constructions of multiple small and big buildings of up to four floors, including a residential complex there.

The bench had then directed the authorities to take action against the unauthorised constructions on public land and ensure that all encroachments on the Southern Ridge are removed immediately and the Ridge is secured in terms of the orders of the Supreme Court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A deadly bacterial disease with no known cure that ravaged olive groves in southern Italy three years ago has been detected in the French island of Corsica, industry officials said today.

"The verdict is in," Corsica's olive growers federation SIDOC said in a statement. It said Xylella fastidiosa has been detected in the island's olive trees, adding that a lab in western France is working to identify the particular strain.

A strain known as "multiplex" -- less virulent than the one that devastated olive groves in Italy in 2015 -- has previously been detected in southern France as well as Corsica, but not on olive trees.

However, since wild olive trees cover more than 300,000 hectares (750,000 acres) of the Mediterranean island, the risk of contamination is "immeasurable", the statement said.

Xylella fastidiosa, spread by tiny sap-sucking insects known as leafhoppers, has also been found on Corsica's holm oaks, which cover more than 100,000 hectares.

"It's the first time that the olive tree and the holm oak have been affected in Corsica," SIDOC president Sandrine Marfisi told AFP.

Corsica's olive oil sector has an annual turnover of some 3.0 million euros (USD 3.7 million).

The disease was detected for the first time in Europe in southern Italy's Puglia region in 2013, and has since been found in Spain and Germany as well as France.

Known in the United States as Pierce's disease, it devastated Californian vineyards in the late 19th century.

World olive oil prices surged following a disastrous harvest in 2014-15 in Italy and Spain, the two countries that account for 70 percent of global output, according to the International Olive Council (IOC).

Spain suffered an extremely hot and dry summer in 2014, while Italy was hit with fruit fly infestations as well as Xylella fastidiosa.

Total world output in 2015 of 2.3 million tons was a one-third decrease from the previous year and the lowest level since 2000, the IOC said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today asked Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain to direct the BJP-led municipal corporations in the national capital to regularise the service of all contractual sanitation workers.

Kejriwal also took a dig at the Centre's flagship programme - Swachh Bharat Mission, claiming, "It has become an event management where four to five people pose with broom in their hands."



Participating in a discussion in the Delhi Assembly on the hardships being faced by sanitation workers due to non-regularisation of their services, he alleged, "Not a single street in the country has been cleaned under Swachh Bharat Mission. Bharat cannot be clean if sanitation workers are not given respect."



However, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta alleged that the AAP government is doing over the issue and requested the chief minister to call a meeting with the municipal corporations to find out a solution to the issue.

Later, the House passed a resolution, moved by AAP MLA Rakhi Birla, with a voice vote, directing all the three BJP-led civic bodies to regularise contractual sanitation workers.

Kejriwal said, "I direct the UD Minister to instruct the director of local bodies to ask MCDs to regularise the service of sanitation workers."



Hitting out at the BJP, the chief minister said, "The character of the BJP is anti-Dalit... the party's core value is that they don't want permanent staff. Look at BJP-ruled Gujarat and Haryana where all workers are on contractual basis."



In a reference to five sanitation workers who are currently on hunger strike demanding regularisation of their service, Kejriwal said, "I request you to break your fast. The Assembly and the chief minister is with you."



He said that if the service matter would come under ambit of the Delhi government, it would make the service of contractual sanitation workers permanent.

"If Delhi government gets services today, we will show you (BJP) how to regularise the service of workers," Kejriwal said, adding that services department, which deals with the appointment of officers, is under L-G Anil Baijal.

Reacting to this, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly said, "I request the chief minister to convene a meeting with all MLAs, the leader of opposition, officers and municipal corporations to find out a solution on how to make the service of contractual workers permanent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi Congress today staged a protest on Parliament Street here against the "failure" of the Modi government in preventing the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act through a Supreme Court order.

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken led party workers, who marched from Jai Singh Road towards Parliament building. They were stopped by the police on Parliament Street.

Addressing party workers there, Maken said the SC/ST Act was passed under the prime ministership of Rajiv Gandhi to protect the Dalit community from atrocities and presently party chief Rahul Gandhi is raising his voice on these issues.

"Dalits are facing distress and many families stand devastated because of the atrocities committed on them," he said.

All India Congress Committee general-secretary P L Punia alleged that atrocities committed on Dalits have touched an "all-time high" because of Narendra Modi government's "lackadaisical approach".

The BJP-led central government "failed" in properly putting up the case before the Supreme Court, resulting in the "dilution" of provision under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the speakers alleged.

The Centre had moved a petition in the Supreme Court yesterday, seeking a review of the court's March 20 verdict, which has put safeguards on arrest under the stringent Act.

On March 20, the court had said government servants should not be arrested without prior sanction and private citizens too should be arrested only after an inquiry under the law.

Yesterday, it said "no provisions of the SC/ST Act have been diluted" and refused to keep in abeyance the verdict.

The verdict is being criticised by Dalit groups and opposition parties, who say the "dilution" of the Act will increase discrimination and crimes against Dalits.

Delhi Congress has planned to hold 25 public meetings on the issue over the next week.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In yet another face-off between the Delhi government and Lt Governor Anil Baijal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today presented the L-G's 'report card' detailing the "hurdles and delays" in executing the city government's projects, even as Baijal termed it as "incorrect".

Speaking in the Delhi Assembly, the deputy CM alleged that the L-G was protecting "corrupt officers".

He also said that the Lt Governor was "paralysing" the government by connecting every issue of the AAP dispensation with service matter.

Taking a dig at Baijal, Sisodia said the Lt Governor had only two powers --- to either have differences of opinion on government's decision or send proposals to president.

The AAP leader said the L-G office, which is run by public money, should be asked questions as ministers were responsible towards people.

In the report, the Delhi government talked about delays as high as of 402 days in approval of the Lt Governor with regard to higher education loan guarantee scheme.

Responding to the AAP government's report, the L-G office said, "The report prima facie appears to contain incorrect information in a deliberate attempt to mislead. A detailed factual response on this report shall be given tomorrow".

The AAP government, in its report, had also mentioned around 32 proposals wherein the L-G either delayed his approval or rejected the government's proposals.

The higher education loan guarantee scheme, request for officers for the directorate of education, provision of mid day meals by Akshyaya Patra Foundation, establishing 1,000 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics, 500 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics and Rogi Kalyan Samitis are some of the proposals mentioned in the report.

"This seems to reflect that the insubstantive queries and clarifications (by Baijal) are merely a means to delay, derail or scuttle policies of elected government," the report said.

As Sisodia completed his speech, all legislators of the ruling AAP stormed into the well of the House, demanding the resignation of Baijal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Prime Minister and JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda today asked the Centre not to buckle under pressure from Tamil Nadu politicians to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), saying the Supreme Court order needed to be studied in depth.

Gowda said political parties in Tamil Nadu had resorted to "intimidation" by staging a demonstration and in the past too, such tactics were adopted by leaders in that state.

He was reacting to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his party workers observing a day-long fast in Chennai on Monday, "condemning the Centre" for not setting up the CMB in compliance with the Supreme Court order.

Ministers and senior leaders of AIADMK had led the hunger strike in various districts.

"Gadkari (Union Minister Nitin Gadkari) gave a sensible statement that the matter needs more time to be reviewed. But Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Depty Chief Minister sat on a dharna, appealing to the Centre. I am appealing to the Centre not to buckle under pressure," Gowda said.

"Karnataka will not create a problem if there is water in the dams... There are certain procedures to be adopted," Gowda, a former Chief Minister, told reporters here.

He noted that the Centre had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking more time to implement its order.

In its plea, the Centre has sought clarifications on some aspects of the apex court judgment and also a three-month extension of time to implement the verdict.

"My position is that the contentions made by the union government in the interlocutory petition is a welcome move. I feel that sufficient time should be given to file the review petition.The government of India should apply its mind to find out which state is adversely affected by the Supreme Court order," he said.

Gowda said the government should study the order in depth and then take a decision to constitute an authority or a board, which should either be headed by the Prime Minister or the water resources minister.

In its February 16 judgement, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

It gave six weeks time to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its judgement, which modified the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award.

Gowda appreciated Union Water Resource Minister Nitin Gadkari for devoting time to understand and resolve the Cauvery dispute.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stopped banks till May 8 from taking coercive actions against small and marginal farmers of Punjab for recovering loans.

A division bench of justices A K Mittal and A S Grewal issued the directions to the banks yesterday on a plea pertaining to hardships faced by farmers due to pending loans and other issues.

The bench also asked the Punjab government to provide details about the disbursement of farm debt reliefs to farmers.

"The court has asked banks not to take coercive action like arrest, sale of mortgaged land, against small and marginal farmers for recovery of loans," said the farmers' counsel R S Bains.

"It is a big relief to farmers and these directions are meant for all the banks," he added.

The court also asked the Punjab government to provide the details of disbursal of Rs 4,250 crore allocated by the state budget for waiving farm debt during the current fiscal.

The high court was told that a sum of Rs 308 crore had already been disbursed as debt relief to the peasants.

The counsel said against a total debt of Rs 90,000 crore, the state government has allocated just Rs 4,000 crore for farmers which is a meagre amount.

The court has fixed May 8 as the next date of hearing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following the request of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Gauhati High Court will set up Fast Track Courts in each district of the state for day to day trial of cases of rape and murder of children and women, a high court statement said here.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, in a letter on March 26, had urged the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court to consider setting up of fast track courts in the wake of the rape and murder of a minor girl in Nagaon district, and similar cases in the state.

An Administrative Committee comprising the chief justice and three senior-most judges today held a meeting and resolved to establish one exclusive Fast Track Court to try cases of rape and murder of women and children in each district of Assam, the statement said.

The committee asked the state government to create the required infrastructure, posts of judges and supporting staff for the courts.

As an interim measure, the committee also resolved to designate one court of additional sessions judge in each district as Fast Track Court to try these cases on day to day basis, the statement said.

In case of absence of additional sessions judge's court in a district, the court of the sessions judge will be the Fast Track Court there.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)To check the menace of child labour, Assam Labour Minister Pallab Lochan Das today suggested in the Assembly that affidavits of candidates in elections should mention whether he or she had employed any child labour.

Das also announced that his Labour and Employment Department will make it mandatory for contractors to furnish an undertaking before any work in the department that no child labour would be engaged.

"Can we give an undertaking in our poll affidavits that there is no child labour in our homes? I think we all can give that. If we make it a provision that all officials, contractors, businessmen give such undertakings, the problem of child labour can be minimised," Das said.

He said most of child labour are engaged in educated and affluent families as domestic help.

All the MLAs and the officials can declare that there is no child labour at their homes and that way the practice of child labour could be ended, the minister said.

He also appealed to various residential societies to declare that no child labour is engaged in their flats.

Raising the issue in the House, BJP MLA Gurujyoti Das claimed that 99,511 child labours were there in the state as per 2011 census.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)NuMetal and ArcelorMittal, both in the race to acquire bankrupt Essar Steel, defended their positions before the Ahmedabad bench of the NCLT today over their disqualification in the first round of bidding claiming that rules have been followed before submitting their bids.

After taking into consideration the views by both the appellants during the hearing, the tribunal, comprising adjudicating authority Manorama Kumari and Harihar Prakash Chaturvedi, posted the matter for further hearing tomorrow.

The case pertains to the lenders disqualifying ArcelorMittal's and NuMetal's -- the only two bidders for the crippled 10-million tonne Essar Steel at Hazira in Gujarat that owes more than Rs 45,000 crore to over 30 banks--citing technical issues on March 23 which primarily means their ownership structure.

These companies challenged the lenders' decision at the NCLT soon after they were disqualified. Following this, the NCLT allowed rebid till April 2, ArcelorMittal along with Nippon of Japan, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta and NuMetal along with JSW Steel have put in bids.

These two bids were from the beginning questioned by the resolution professional and others as the promoters of both these firms were defaulters in other firms -- the Ruias in Essar Steel and the Mittals in Uttam Galva.

Appearing for NuMetal, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi stressed that the rejection of ArcelorMittal from the first round of bidding was appropriate under Section 29A of the IBC which deals with the disqualification.

Rohatgi further told the bench that the whole idea behind the IBC is that to keep away willful defaulters.

"As per section 29A, a person who intends to buy (a stressed) firm should not be a defaulter in the past, unless you wash your sins first" said Rohatgi.

He said ArcelorMittal had a joint venture with Uttam Galva with 29 per cent stake and that firm went NPA in 2016 with around Rs 6,000 crore of dues, and has not yet paid neither before the first bid date of February 12 nor before the second bid date of April 2.

"The bidder was a co-promoter of Uttam Galva for 10 years. Thus, you have to pay the debt if you are a promoter of an NPA company. The law is simple. So, disqualification of ArcelorMittal must continue" he said.

Maintaining that ArcelorMittal was rightly disqualified, Rohatgi also said ArcelorMittal was in management control of another NPA firm KSS Petron. "You can't walk in like an innocent purchaser. Past will haunt you. ArcelorMittal did not pay then, nor now" he said.

He said though the BSE declassified ArcelorMittal as a promoter of Uttam Galva only in the last week of March, following which the company was allowed to bid in the second round, "law does not allow such dubious method. Only way to remove the taint is that the debt is paid."



It can be noted that ArcelorMittal had a joint venture with Uttam Galwa with 29 per cent stake, while NuMetal is 25 per cent owned by Essar Steel's original promoter Ravi Ruia's son Rewant Ruia through a Mauritius-based investment vehicle Aurora Trusts.

Defending his client, senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas appearing for NuMetal, defended Rewant Ruia, saying he is just a beneficiary of Aurora Trusts, and does not have control of the main bidder, that is NuMetal.

The other promoters of NuMetal include the PE arm of the Russian state-run VTB Bank with 40.1 per cent stake, India International, a Dubai-based metals trading company promoted by an NRI with 25 per cent stake and the Russian engineering giant TPE with 9.9 per cent stake.

He said Section 29A under which the bid was rejected in the first round, was wrongly interpreted by the RP.

"I think that the problem is in the surname (of Rewant). It was a mistake by the RP in treating Rewant Ruia, who is just a shareholder, as some who is 'acting jointly or in consort with the resolution applicant', that is NuMetal. It was a wrong interpretation of section 29A," he said.

On the other side, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for ArcelorMittal, said NuMetal was rightly disqualified as it did not clear the issues related to shareholding before the bid date of February 12.

Singhvi also said ArcelorMittal has sold its stake in Uttam Galva before the bid date, which makes them eligible for bidding in the first round. The two firms had moved NCLT soon after they were disqualified by the lenders on March 23 after a meeting in Mumbai.

Rejecting both the bids, SBI-led consortium said under the provisions of Section 29A of the IBC both the bids by the Mittal's and NuMetal were ineligible as promoters of these companies are indirectly linked to the original promoters.

But in the second round of bidding that closed April 2, a four groups led by world's biggest steelmaker ArcelorMittal-Nippon, mining mogul Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta and a consortium of Russia's VTB Capital-backed Numetal-JSW Steel have put in bids for Essar Steel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An ex-principal of a government boys' school, whose services were terminated after graft allegations against him, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail by a Delhi court for demanding illegal gratification from a travel agent to clear LTC bills of his school teachers.

Special Judge Sanjay Khanagwal handed down the jail term to 58-year-old Moman Ram Goswami, who was the principal of a Badarpur school here, for misusing his public office for clearing leave travel concession (LTC) forms of six teachers of his school in 2012.

"In pursuance of the said illegal demand (gratification) on August 29, 2012 at about 03.45 p.m. he received a sum of Rs 3000 from the complainant Gyan Singh by misusing or by abusing his public office for the purpose of clearance of LTC advance forms of the six teachers of his school," the judge said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 on the convict holding him guilty of the offences under sections 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) and 13 (1) (d) (abusing position as public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

"The prosecution has successfully able to prove the demand, acceptance and recovery of bribe money from the possession of the accused. Thus, having established the obtainment of Rs 3000, presumption under section 20 of the PC Act is drawn, that amount was received as reward or as a motive for doing the official work i.e. clearing of LTC bills," it said.

According to the prosecution, Goswami had in August 2012 demanded and accepted bribe from complainant Gyan Singh, a travel agent, for clearance of LTC advance forms of the teachers of his school.

Feeling aggrieved by the demand, Singh had filed a written complaint to Anti Corruption Branch of the Delhi Police which conducted a raid on Goswami. He was arrested by the police for the offences under PC Act.

Seeking a stringent punishment for Goswami, the public prosecutor had said he was involved in corruption activity and abused his position.

However, Goswami had sought leniency from the court, contending that he was suffering from ailments and had no source of income after his termination of his employment from the school.

The court refused to take a lenient view but granted him bail till May 1 on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 while giving him time for filing appeal against the judgement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Scarlett Johansson was the lone female superhero as compared to five alpha males in 2012's "Avengers" and six years later the actor is glad that studio bosses have brought in more inclusivity and diversity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The 33-year-old actor portrayed the superhero character of Black Widow aka Natasha Romanoff in five MCU films till now. Her character first appeared in "Iron Man 2" and will be next seen in "Avengers: Infinity War"



The film will feature a gigantic cast of superheroes battle it out against supervillain Thanos, who is on a quest to gather all the Infinity Stones.

Johansson said that she has been advocating for more female presence and diversity in the franchise, and is happy that the audiences have started embracing diverse characters.

"I've been advocating for some more female energy just in the cast and crew as a whole for a better part of a decade. So it's really great to see a more diverse group and certainly great to see that the audiences are embracing and even asking for really strong female super heroines.

"They're hungry for those stories, and they also want to see a more diverse group that better represents the population. It's wonderful to feel like you've witnessed and been a part of that growth," she said in a statement.

The "Avengers: Infinity War" will mark the culmination of MCU of the past ten years and newer faces such as Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Spiderman and others are expected to take over the mantle of Avengers which started with Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye.

Johansson said she had a "wonderful" experience of working with the new faces and she is up to the task of making them feel at home.

"It's wonderful. I love working with actors. If I can help in any possible way to make another actor feel more comfortable or maybe discover new choices or help them get acclimated to what could maybe sometimes feel like a cool kids club, it's great.

"It's nice to feel that there are people in your workplace who you trust, and it's a safe environment where you can kind of spread your wings and fly. I love to be able to shepherd other actors in that way. It's awesome," she said.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, the "Avengers: Infinity War" will hit the theatres in India on April 27.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Finnish woman who underwent hormonal therapy to become the nation's first transgender man has given birth, local media said today, triggering controversy as laws require infertility to change gender.

"The baby weighed nearly four kilogramme and was 53 centimetre in length (at birth)," the transgender man, whose name was not revealed to protect the family's privacy, told Finnish outlet Lannen Media a fortnight after the birth.

The man, who's in his 30s, legally changed his gender from a woman in 2015 after years of testosterone therapy.

But he decided to cancel sex change surgery, to complete his male physical transition, before trying to get pregnant with his husband.

Under Finnish law for hormonal therapy, a person is required to prove they are "infertile" in order to change legal gender from female to male.

In practice, Finnish medical units deem their transgender patients infertile when testosterone therapy has continued for a prolonged period.

But fertility can sometimes return if hormonal therapy is put on hold.

This case is exceptional because the couple, living in the Helsinki region, decided to suspend hormonal treatment and the man's period returned.

"Do I want the society to dictate what I can do with my body and my life? Nothing can stop me. I'm a free man," the man recalled in an earlier interview with Finland's largest daily Helsingin Sanomat while still pregnant.

Finland is the only remaining Nordic country to require infertility from its citizens who want to change their legal gender, prompting sharp criticism from human rights organisations in recent years.

The man was granted paternal leave.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Noting that the cost of food and water inside multiplexes was exorbitant, the Bombay High Court today opined that it should be sold at regular prices.

The Maharashtra government told the court that it would soon frame a policy on the issue.

A division bench of justices S M Kemkar and M S Karnik was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by city resident Jainendra Baxi, challenging the prohibition on carrying outside food inside movie theatres and multiplexes across the state.

The petitioner's lawyer, Aditya Pratap Singh, told the court there does not exist any legal or statutory provision that prohibits one from carrying personal food articles or water inside movie theatres.

The multiplexes sell food and water inside, but at an increased price, he said.

Agreeing to this, Justice Kemkar said, "The price of food and water bottles sold inside movie theatres are, indeed, exorbitant. We have ourselves experienced it. You (multiplexes) should sell it at the regular price."



The court said that if multiplexes were prohibiting people from bringing outside food, then there should be a total prohibition on eatables.

"Then you (multiplexes) cannot have your own vendors selling food and other snacks inside," Kemkar said.

Government pleader Purnima Kantharia today told the court that the state would soon frame a policy on the issue, after taking into consideration suggestions submitted by the petitioner and the Multiplex Owners' Association (MOA)



The MOA is a nationwide body of cinema theatre owners.

The policy is likely to be framed within six weeks, she told the court.

The bench then posted the petition for further hearing on June 12.

The petition had claimed that restrictions on bringing outside food to theatres, particularly affected the senior citizens, and those who could not eat, for medical reasons, "the junk food that the food stalls in theatres sell," the petition reads.

It said that the only concern for the cinema hall owners, its managing authorities, and the state must be to ensure that no safety or security rule was breached by the public visiting the theatres.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Jeanne d'Arc mission, an annual deployment undertaken by French Navy ships, has called at the Chennai port, the French embassy here said today.

The port call yesterday was aimed at enhancing interoperability between the navies of India and France.

India and France have decided to step up their maritime cooperation after French President Emmanuel Macron's first visit to India last month. They have adopted a Joint Strategic Vision of India-France Cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region.

The two countries also undertake bilateral maritime exercise Varuna, held off the coast of Goa from March 20-24.

The Jeanne d'Arc task force - led by the French Navy - comprises amphibious assault ship "Dixmude" and the stealth destroyer "Surcouf", reinforced by an army contingent.

Having sailed from French port of Toulon, France's principal naval base, the Jeanne d'Arc mission will cover half the globe before finally weighing anchor in Darwin, Australia.

"After crossing the Suez Canal on March 8, and having participated in the amphibious joint services exercise, Wakri, held between the French forces stationed at Djibouti and the Djiboutian armed forces from March 19 to 22, the naval group called at Chennai on April 3," the embassy said.

This deployment comes in addition to the permanent forces that France possesses in its overseas territories in the South Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.

These territories provide France more than 80 per cent of its exclusive economic zone - more than 9 million square kilometres - and more than 1.5 million French citizens live in these territories and nearly 1,70,000 of them reside in countries of the Indo-Pacific region, the embassy added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today sought another chance for himself to lead the social media giant despite acknowledging mistakes that his company made in sharing its users' information with a third-party.

Embroiled in a massive data breach following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook yesterday said data on about 87 million people mostly in the US may have been improperly shared with London-based political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Zuckerberg, who co-founded Facebook in 2004, once again admitted the lapses and asked for another chance to lead the company.

"Give me another chance," he told reporters during a conference call when asked if he is still the best person to lead the company.

"This a huge mistake. It's my mistake," Zuckerberg said, taking the blame for the massive data breach.

"Yes. People make mistakes and learn along the way. I'm the first to admit we didn't take a broad enough view of what our responsibilities are...What people should hold us accountable for is learning from the mistakes," he said.

He said he was unaware of the board asking him to step down against the backdrop of the data breach scandal.

"Not that I am aware of...Nobody has been fired because of this scandal," he said when asked if the board has asked him to step down in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

"I have not, due to the CA situation, yet. We're still working through this. At the end of the day, this is my responsibility. There have been a bunch of questions about that. I started this place, I run it, I'm responsible for what happens here," he told reporters.

"I'm not looking to throw anyone else under the bus for mistakes we made here," he said.

Zuckerberg said the scandal has not much dented into its business.

"I don't think there's been any meaningful impact that we've observed. But, look, it's not good ... It still speaks to people feeling like this was a massive breach of trust and that we have a lot of work to do to repair that," he said, seeking to downplay the crisis that followed the data breach.

Responding to a question, Zuckerberg said it will take years for Facebook to fix the problem.

"It will be a multi-year process to combat disinformation," he said, adding that this will be a "never-ending battle."



"I'm confident we're making progress against these adversaries but they're very sophisticated. We can't expect to fully solve a problem like this," Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg, who co-founded the company in 2014, is scheduled to testify before a Congressional committee on data breach next week.

"This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online. We appreciate Mr Zuckerberg's willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions," said committee Chairman Congressman Greg Walden, and the Ranking Member Frank Pallone.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after getting the 'Minister of State' status, two religious leaders today cancelled their proposed stir against an alleged scam in the Narmada conservation programme, while a third one said he would not avail the benefits as MoS.

Seeking to downplay the controversy over grant of MoS status to five 'saints,' Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said his government wanted to rope in people from all walks of life for welfare and development.

Elsewhere, Bhayyu Maharaj, one of the five religious leaders accorded MoS status, said he would not avail of the benefits associated with the MoS status.

Ahead of the state assembly elections due later this year, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh had yesterday accorded the MoS status to five Hindu religious leaders -- Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant.

On March 31, the five were appointed to a committee set up for the Narmada river conservation.

As members of the committee, they were being given the MoS status, an official of the General Administration Department had said yesterday.

Computer Baba had earlier announced that he would take out 'Narmada Ghotala Rath Yatra', along with Yogendra Mahant, in every district of MP from April 1 to May 15, to expose an alleged scam in planting of saplings on the banks of the Narmada and to demand action against illegal sand mining.

The publicity material of the campaign was also circulated widely on social media.

Computer Baba today said they have cancelled the campaign, because the state government has fulfilled their demand to form a committee of saints and seers for protection of the Narmada river.

"Now why would we take out the yatra?" he said.

On accepting government facilities meant for an MoS despite being a saint, he said, "If we do not get the post and other government facilities, how can we work for the protection of the Narmada?



"As a member of the committee, we have to talk to the district collectors and look after other necessary arrangements for the river's conservation. A government status is required for these works," he said.

Yogendra Mahant, who was the convener of the proposed campaign, also said that they cancelled the 'yatra' as the state government fulfilled their demand to set up a panel for the river conservation.

On March 31, these five religious leaders were appointed members of the 'Janjagrukta Abhiyan Samiti' (Public Awareness Campaign Committee) set up for the conservation of the Narmada.

The opposition Congress yesterday dubbed the decision to appoint them as MoS as the BJP's attempt to exploit the respect these religious leaders enjoy in the society.

The BJP hit back saying the opposition party disliked anything related to saints.

Asked by reporters as to why his government accorded the MoS status to religious leaders, Chief Minister Chouhan today said in Tikamgarh district, "We want to associate people from all walks of life in the work towards development and welfare of the people. So we have made efforts to bring together all sections of the society."



Bhayyu Maharaj, one of the five 'saints' appointed to the committee, told PTI that he will shun the perks associated with the MoS status.

"I will try my level best to play my role as a member of the special committee constituted for conservation of the Narmada. However, I will not take any government benefits that come with the MoS status," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today said it has signed a licensing agreement with Swiss pharma player Helsinn Group to introduce 'Akynzeo' in India and Nepal, a drug that helps prevent chemo-related nausea and vomiting.

The licensing agreement for Akynzeo represents Helsinn's first such agreement in India, the company said in a statement.

The drug was developed by Helsinn and is currently marketed in European Union, the US, and other leading markets.

Glenmark will have exclusive marketing rights for the drug in India and Nepal, it said, adding that the marketing approval has been received for Akynzeo from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).

"Akynzeo will help Indian patients undergoing chemotherapy and struggling to manage CINV (Chemotherapy Induced Nausea and Vomiting) to address this issue in a much better manner," Glenmark PresidentIndia Formulations, Middle East and Africa Sujesh Vasudevan said.

An oral fixed combination of netupitant 300mg and palonosetron 0.5mg in capsule form, Akynzeo is used for prevention of CINV.

It is the first and only combination anti-emetic prophylaxis with high complete response rates for five days in cancer chemotherapy treated patients, having demonstrated 90 per cent complete response rates through five days, the company said.

"Glenmark's renowned expertise in sales, marketing and distribution in this region will mean that Akynzeo, a key anti-emetic product, will be made available to more patients suffering from the side effects of cancer treatment in the important markets of India and Nepal," Helsinn Group Chief Commercial Officer Andrea Meoli said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Odisha Governor Satya Pal Malik today approved the premature release of 24 life convicts lodged in different jails across the state.

The governor gave his nod based on the recommendation of the State Sentence Review Board and the state government, a Raj Bhavan official said.

Malik gave this approval in exercise of the powers conferred on him under Article 161 of the Constitution of India, he added.

Malik interacted with vice-chancellors and heads of different voluntary organizations in the state. The vice-chancellors apprised him about the functioning of their respective universities, he said.

He also met state functionaries of different voluntary organizations under his control. The state branch of Indian Red Cross Society, Bharat Scouts and Guides and St John Ambulance presented brief accounts of their activities and programmes, the official added.

Malik took over as the governor of Odisha last month after S C Jamir completed his tenure.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The government has set up a National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) to address various kinds of cyber security threats, including threats arising from misuse of social media, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said there have been instances of misuse of social media for creating disturbances in the society.

"Instances of misuse of social media, including creating social disturbances, have come to the notice of the government. Police and public order being state subjects, the concerned law enforcement agencies take appropriate steps to prosecute offenders as per law," he said replying a written question.

Ahir said further action under the Information Technology Act is also taken for removal or blocking of such content which affects the interests of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence relating to above.

"The government has taken a decision to set up National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) to address various kinds of cyber security threats, including threats arising from misuse of social media," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Comedian Kathy Griffin, who landed in a major controversy for sharing a photo that showed her holding a fake decapitated head resembling Donald Trump, says she suddenly became an anathema and no one was willing to extend a lifeline to her.

The controversy in May last year led to a two-month federal investigation and cancellation of various gigs and hosting jobs for Griffin, who first said sorry but then backtracked her apology.

Addressing the lack of support for her, Griffin told Howard Stern that while people called her privately, they were not ready to do the same publicly.

"Nobody wanted to hear a word from me. I was anathema to everything and everyone," Griffin, who is making a comeback with "The President Show", said.

The comedian does the impression of counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway in the show.

"I think what has been the worst is the fact that no one, until The President Show, no one lifted a finger. People would call me and be supportive and then they'd say, 'Can you not say publicly that I called you?' Lots of people. 'I'm being really supportive, don't ever say I called you.' I reached out to a few people where the subject line was, 'Where the f have you been?' And people got defensive. I thought, okay, I'm on my own here."



"I needed someone to lift a finger. I needed a big showrunner or somebody to go, 'I'm going to give you 10 pages in a movie, I'm going to put you on SNL for one skit,' and it would have all gone away. There were so many people that could've just done one little thing that would have made this like 50 percent less, and they just wouldn't."



Griffin said she found more support from male comics than female ones and the people who reached out to her included Katt Williams, Bette Midler, Aubrey Plaza, Jamie Foxx, and Jim Carrey.

"I got a call from Jim Carrey, who I don't really know that well. He said, 'Kathy, do you know how many comedians would give their right arm for this story? You are the most famous comedian in the world today. Use it.' I was crying on the phone with Jim. Jim, it's over for me!' Jim said, 'Don't apologize lean in, use it'.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)With the terms of state's various civic bodies coming to an end on May 3, the Uttarakhand High Court today asked the government to explain why it was yet to fix a poll schedule for them despite the poll panel's advise to expedite it.

A bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia sought the government's explanation within a week on a plea by the state Election Commission seeking its intervention for holding the civic body poll at the earliest as the new municipal boards have to be constituted by May 4.

The Commission's petition also cited Article 243 Y of the Constitution of India, pertaining to the Finance Commission mandate to examine and determine the finances of civic bodies and make requisite recommendations to the governor on allocation of funds and allied matters to them in time.

The bench directed the government to file its reply to the court latest by the next date of hearing on April 11, explaining the reasons behind the delay in preparing the municipal poll schedule.

Alleging that the issue was being treated indifferently by the state government, the Commission said in its petition that it had written to the chief secretary and the urban development secretary but the state government was yet to provide the schedule for the civic body polls.

Earlier in the day, State Election Commissioner Subardhan held a press conference in Dehradun and said the delimitation of municipal wards and their reservation were yet to be done despite the time to hold civic body polls running out.

He said he had sought an appointment with the chief minister to discuss the poll bottlenecks in September 2017 itself but the commission was yet to hear from his office.

He said he had also spoken to the Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik but nothing came out of even that.

After the high court's intervention, Kaushik who is also the official spokesman of the state government, said efforts are underway to ensure that the civic body polls are held in time.

"The grievances of the residents of areas, newly included under the jurisdiction of civic bodies, are being heard after which the issue of delimitation and reservation of the wards would be taken will be taken up," he said.

"Nothing is being delayed," Kaushi said terming the hue and cry over the issue as "unnecessary".

He said the state government will file its reply to the high court by April 11 besides preparing a poll schedule for the civil body elections and submitting it to the state election commission in a day or two.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Madras High court today directed police to provide proper security for the Sterlite plant in Tuticorin, which is facing protests from various political outfits and local people.

A leading copper producer, Sterlite Copper represents the copper unit of Vedanta Limited which operates a 400,000 Tonnes Per Annum plant in Tuticorin.

Justice D Krishna Kumar gave the direction while hearing a plea filed by the General Manager of Vedanta Limited, Satyapriya.

The judge also asked the factory management to give a representation to the Tuticorin district SP.

The petitioner submitted that several NGOs were spreading canards about the sterlite unit which gave employment to more than 3,500 people directly and indirectly.

The unit has been cleared by the pollution control board also, the petitioner said.

However, some NGOs and political outfits were holding demonstrations and threatening factory employees and management, the petitioner submitted.

Each activity of the factory was obstructed by anti-social elements, the petitioner alleged.

The operation of the plant was endangered and its safety and people working in the factory was risky now, it was submitted.

They apprehended physical assault and feared that the plant's property would be damaged.

They had given a representation to police officials to provide protection for the plant to avoid untoward incidents.

The petitioner sought a direction from the court to police for providing protection to employees and properties of the plant and also for transportation of articles.

The state government submitted that sufficient security has been provided to the sterlite plant.

They were taking steps to prevent any untoward incidents, the government submitted and added that legal action was being taken against those who organised protests.

Residents of A Kumarareddiapuram village have been demanding that the plant be shut down immediately, alleging that they faced serious health issues due to pollution from the unit.

Tamil actor and Makkal Neethi Mayyam chief Kamal Haasan had visited the village on Sunday to express solidarity with the people whose protest had entered the 49th day that day.

The unit was shutdown on March 29 for 15 days for "maintenance work."



The firm has since placed advertisements in dailies, claiming that it has not violated any norms against the background of continuing protests.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court today sought the assistance of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for controlling the population of monkeys in the national capital.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar was informed that ICMR, the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, has conducted a study on the issue of controlling the birth rate of monkeys.

It also sought a report from the Centre on constitution of a high-level committee to examine the issue of safety, security and efficacy of immune-contraception vaccine to control the population of monkeys in Delhi.

It was informed by Additional Solicitor General Maninder Kaur Acharya that a proposal has been moved for forming a committee to examine the issue of the contraceptive vaccine.

The bench, which observed it was concerned for human safety, noted that in Tamil Nadu monkeys were spreading an infection in humans which was dangerous.

Advocate Meera Bhatia, who has filed the PIL in 2001 seeking directions to the authorities to take steps to deal with the menace of monkeys and dogs here, said its been 17 years she has been fighting for this cause and the government has not done anything.

Regarding the menace of dogs in south Delhi, the court was informed by the corporation that they have contracted out to NGOs for sterilisation of canines.

Observing that there has been no effective result on dog's population, the court called for videographing the sterilisation process.

It also formed a committee to check on the effectiveness of birth control measures.

The court had earlier directed the Wildlife Institute of India to expedite the conclusion of the National Institute of Immunology's (NII) project to research and develop an immune-contraception vaccine to control the population of monkeys in the national capital.

In the PIL, an application has also been moved by residents of colonies and farmhouses surrounding the Asola sanctuary seeking directions to the authorities to stop relocating monkeys to the area.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US-based realty major Hines today said it has appointed Amit Diwan as MD and country head for its India business.

Diwan was serving as chief investment officer for Hines in India.

"Amit Diwan has been appointed Managing Director and Country Head for the Hines India platform," Hines said in a statement.

In his new role, Diwan is responsible for managing the expansion of business by raising and deploying domestic and international capital into development projects and investment opportunities.

His focus will be across both residential and commercial real estate projects across major metro cities in India.

Prior to joining Hines, he worked for real estate firms, including Piramal Group, GE Real Estate and Jones Lang LaSalle, across India and Southeast Asia.

Diwan is a BA in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University and earned his Masters from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

"We are confident that Amit will build on our standards of excellence in India and continue to contribute to the strong global brand that Hines investors have come to expect," said Lee Timmins, CEO Hines Eurasia Region.

"We look forward to placing significantly more capital in this dynamic country," he added.

Since entering India, Hines has developed properties such as One Horizon Center and Skyview Corporate Park in Gurgaon. It had formed a residential platform in 2014 to support the development of upper-mid tier projects in India.

"We will continue to invest in equity and structured equity deals from our residential platform, and also undertake development of new office, residential and mixed-use projects in prime locations," said Diwan.

Hines is a privately-owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 201 cities in 24 countries. It has about USD 111 billion of assets under management. The firm has 108 developments currently underway globally.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Altogether 103 Hmar People's Convention (Democratic) militants will be brought here from the Mizoram-Manipur border town of Zilkhawchhuah by state police on Saturday next, an official said today.

State additional secretary for home Lalbiakzama told PTI that the HPC(D) cadres were scheduled to be transported from the border from today, but the state government was forced to defer the exercise due to extreme bad road condition in the border area.

He said that the HPC(D) cadres would lay down their weapons on April 12.

The state government and the HPC(D) had signed an agreement on Monday last to bring lasting peace in the north eastern part of the state adjoining Manipur and to bring amicable and lasting solution to the Hmar imbroglio.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hugh Laurie has joined George Clooney in drama miniseries "Catch 22".

The show marks the return of the 58-year-old actor to Hulu, after he starred in the two seasons of the streaming service's "Chance".

Laurie will play Major de Coverley, the squadron executive officer at the Pianosa air base to Clooney's commander Colonel Cathcart, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Ellen Kuras also has joined the miniseries and will produce and direct two episodes. The series is based on Joseph Heller's 1961 novel of the same name.

Set in Italy, the six-part series follows the story of John Yossarian (Christopher Abbott), a US Air Force bombardier who does not like the increasing number of flight missions being assigned. He is angered by a bureaucratic rule, Catch-22, which specifies that being concerned for one's safety is proof of sanity.

Clooney and Grant Heslov are executive producing.

The series marks Clooney's return to television two decades after the hit medical drama, "ER".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The University of Hyderabad has expelled a PhD scholar for one semester and fined two other students who were allegedly found to be involved in "acts of misconduct and indiscipline" following an inquiry on a complaint lodged against them by an Assistant Professor.

An inquiry was conducted by the Proctorial Board based on the complaint filed in November 2017 by the assistant professor at the Centre for Health Psychology.

"It was observed that students Linga Swamy B, Hakeem and Thahir Jamal were involved in the acts of misconduct and indiscipline," an order dated April 2, issued under the 'Rules of Discipline and Proper Conduct for students of UoH, said.

"Linga Swamy B (PhD) has been expelled for a period of six months (one semester) and the entire University of Hyderabad campus including hostels is rendered out of bounds to him. A penalty of Rs 30,000 is also imposed upon him," it said.

A penalty of Rs 10,000 each was imposed on Hakeem (MPhil) and Thahir Jamal (PhD) for "involving in the act of misconduct and indiscipline," it further said.

"The students concerned are sternly warned to be cautious and focus on their studies," the order said.

Any recurrence of such incidents would have serious repercussions on their academic career, it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian Institute of Management -Kozhikode (IIM-K) has wrapped up its final placements this year with an impressive record of Rs 17.76 lakh per annum for average salary with a highest international salary of Rs 52 lakh per annum.

As many as 367 students of the total of 382 in the graduating batch for 2018, secured offer from major recruiters like Deloitte, BCG, EY, Goldman Sachs, PWC, Arthur D Little and JP Morgan Chase, an IIM-K release said today.

However, eleven students opted to sign out of the placement process while four others remained unplaced, it said.

A total number of 178 companies participated in the placements process, a whopping 58 per cent increase from the previous year and of them, more than 75 were first-time recruiters.

The first-time recruiters included among others Arthur D Little, Avendus Capital, Axis Securities, Bharat Forge, Britannia, Casio, Crompton Greaves, GMR Group, Optum - UHG, RBL Bank and Shapoorji Pallonji Group, the release said.

Diverse roles in consulting domain were offered to 26 per centof the batch by the Boston Consulting Group, Cedar Consulting, Cognizant Business Consulting, Deloitte, EY, IMC, KPMG and PwC, the release said.

The 20th annual convocation of the institute will take place on April 7 in which Boston Consulting Group, Chairman, Asia-Pacific Region, Dr Janmejaya Sinha, will be the chief guest,the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Senior officials of India and European Union (EU) will meet in Brussels next week to deliberate upon the long stalled negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement and update each other on their positions, a government official said.

"The meeting will take place on April 12 in Brussels. Both the sides would take stock of progress on the free trade pact," said the official, who did not wish to be named.

The meeting assumes significance as Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has recently indicated that negotiations on the agreement could resume soon.

A lot of things have changed since 2013 and now the time is right to resume the talks, the official added.

The negotiations for the pact have been held up since May 2013 and both the sides are yet to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues.

Since June 2007, both the sides have completed 16 rounds of talks and five stock-taking meetings on the the proposed pact, officially dubbed as Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA).

The negotiations have witnessed many hurdles with both sides having major differences on key issues like intellectual property rights, duty cut in automobile and spirits, and liberal visa regime.

The two sides have to iron out differences related to movement of professionals.

Besides demanding significant duty cuts in automobiles, the EU wants tax reduction on wines, spirits and dairy products, and a strong intellectual property regime.

On the other hand, India is asking it be granted data secure nation status by the EU. The country is among the nations not considered as data secure by the EU.

The matter is crucial as it will have a bearing on Indian IT companies wanting market access.

Two-way trade between India and the EU dipped to US D 84.7 billion in 2016-17 from USD 88.58 billion in the previous fiscal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India is managing the complexities in its relationship with China even as it seeks to make progress within the framework of a broader developmental partnership, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.

Addressing the Seventh Moscow Conference on International Security here, Sitharaman also expressed concern over the resurgence of territorial disputes in the maritime domain in the region.

"We continue to manage the complexities in the India-China relationship even as we seek to make progress within the framework of a broader developmental partnership," she said.

India and China were engaged in a 73-day standoff last year over Beijing's attempt to build a road close to India's narrow Chicken Neck area connecting North Eastern states.

The standoff ended in August last after Chinese troops stopped the road construction at Dokalam in Sikkim Section, though Beijing never officially acknowledged it. The area of the stand-off is also claimed by Bhutan.

Sitharaman, who is in Russia on a three-day visit, also expressed concern over the resurgence of territorial disputes in the maritime domain in the region.

"Maritime territorial disputes are extremely complex. We need to ensure that such issues are managed effectively and solely through peaceful means," she said.

Noting that the past few decades of growth have transformed the Indo-Pacific region into the most dynamic engine of the global economy, she said, "We need to ensure that the prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region is not put at risk through unilateral actions that can undermine regional peace and stability".

She said the rights of freedom of navigation and over-flight as well as unimpeded commerce should be ensured.

"For India, this is vital to sustain its own economic engagement with the Indo-Pacific region for mutual benefit," she added.

China has been asserting its vast claims to the South China Sea, transforming reefs into islands capable of hosting military equipment.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have their own claims to the sea, while US warships regularly conduct freedom of navigation operations near islands controlled by Beijing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The government has been closely monitoring the evolving situation in the Maldives and keeping a constant watch on all developments having a bearing on India's security, according to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, she said the government will take all necessary measures to safeguard India's interests.

She was asked whether the government has any proposal to launch an immediate naval operation in theMaldives to counter Chinese interference in the island nation.

Ties between India and the Maldives nosedived after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen declared emergency on February 5 following an order by the country's Supreme Court to release a group of opposition leaders, who had been convicted in widely criticised trials.

The emergency was lifted 45 days later.

China has been trying to expand its influence over the Maldives and it had appeared to be supportive of President Yameen's decision to clamp emergency.

To a separate question, Sitharaman said admission of girl children has been approved in Chhingchhip Sainik school in Mizoram from academic session 2018-19 on a pilot basis.

At present, 26 Sainik schools are operating in 22 states where only boys are given admission.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India's dilemma is that it seeks to be a potential global power without being able to establish itself firmly as the predominant country in the subcontinent, former foreign secretary of India Krishnan Srinivasan said.

"The paradox is if India has to be the leading power in South Asia, the strategists feel it will have to prevent any Chinese advances into South and South-East Asia.

"There is lots of convergence of Vietnamese and Indian interests since both are concerned with checking the advances of China in a southernly direction," he said.

Srinivasan was speaking at a discussion on India's strategic relations with Vietnam organised by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce here.

He said both India and Vietnam have border issues with China and made distinctions between economic and security factors in their respective relationships.

Srinivasan said China is the biggest trade and economic partner of Vietnam and high on relations with another trade partners India.

Regional cooperation between India and China is inevitable as is the case of regional competition, he said.

"If it is peaceful and culture, economics-driven it is healthy," the former Foreign Secretary said.

He said security cooperation in ASEAN, of which Vietnam is a part, is guided by two road strategy factors - the American military superiority in the Asia-Pacific region, and the question of balancing China's growing ascendancy in the region.

"These two factors are considered to be given and sought to be accommodated in a regional strategic framework," Srinivasan said.

Observing that ASEAN countries are nearly unanimous in welcoming Indian strategic presence in the group, he said there were some countries like Malayasia and Indonesia that might still have some reservations.

"On the other hand Vietnam has been India's long standing friend in ASEAN. Vietnam supported every move by India, liked every move of India to upgrade its relationship with ASEAN," he said.

On India-Vietnam cultural ties, he referred to cultural events, people to people interactions and human capacity building.

Srinivasan also referred to the joint restoration project of the UNESCO heritage site in Vietnam aimed at underlining the ancient Hindu civilisation linkage between the two countries.

He said India had set up a cultural centre in Hanoi last year and provided training to armed forces and civilians.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India ranked third in the list of countries where the highest number of cyber threats were detected, and second in terms of targeted attacks in 2017, according to security software firm Symantec.

"India is ranked third among list of countries globally where most of the threats were detected and it is second in terms of targeted attacks," Tarun Kaura, Director, Enterprise Security Product Management, Asia Pacific and Japan, Symantec said.

The United States led the pack, followed by China at the second spot, according to the company's Internet security threat report (ISTR).

India was ranked second globally when it comes to spam and phishing (misleading emails, weblink etc). However, complex cyber attacks -- ransomware and network attacks in India increased in terms of global percentage.

"India ranks fourth globally with eight per cent of global detections of ransomware (a malicious software which locks computer and demands money to unlock it)," the report said.

Symmantec detected 133 targeted attacks in India which are the work of organised groups.

"The majority of these groups are state sponsored (although there is a small number of private operators) and they're usually driven by a small number of motivations: intelligence gathering, disruption, sabotage, or financial. Broadly speaking targeted attacks corresponds to espionage, although the lines are starting to blur," the ISTR report said.

Kaura said that India is one of victims of targeted attack because a lot of intellectual property rights are generated here and the criminals may intent to steal them.

With the rise in value of crypto-currencies, a new cyber attack from cryptominers was detected in the country where criminals stole computer processing power usage from consumers and enterprises to mine digital currencies.

The immediate impact of this attack could lead to slowing down of devices, overheating batteries and in some cases, rendering devices unusable but there are broader implications particularly for organisations.

"Detections of coinminers on endpoint computers increased by 8,500 percent in 2017. India ranks second in Asia-Pacific Japan (APJ) region, ninth globally in terms of crypto mining activities," the report said.

India was also ranked second after the US where the highest number of malwares for mobile phones were detected the by company.In the backdrop of China's rising assertiveness in the region, India, the US and Japan today held a trilateral meeting here during which they agreed to bolster cooperation to ensure a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

The three countries, in their ninth trilateral, also explored practical steps to boost cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development and to effectively deal with challenge of terrorism, the external affairs ministry said.

At the meeting, the three strategic partners also resolved to deepen maritime cooperation and work together to deal with threats of nuclear proliferation.

"All sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through partnership with countries in the region," the ministry said.

At the trilateral, the three countries, represented by senior officials, also deliberated on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

The MEA said the talks were held in accordance to the directions given by the foreign ministers of three nations who met in New York on September 18, 2017 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session.

"The officials explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security," it said.

The MEA said the officials reviewed the outcomes of the 'Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group' that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.

In November last year, India, the US, Australia and Japan had given shape to the long-pending Quadrilateral grouping to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of Chinese influence.

The US has been favouring a greater role by India in the Indo-Pacific region.

US President Donald Trump, in his first prime-time televised address to the nation as commander-in-chief last year, had laid out his South Asia policy saying a "critical part" of it was to further develop the US's strategic partnership with India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, MPs, legislators and top bureaucrats today spent a day at sea, on board the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, off Mumbai coast, witnessing a naval exercise.

"Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command, hosted Fadnavis and other visitors, which also included Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, Chairman of the Legislative Council, and Haribhau Bagade, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly," an official said.

The dignitaries were on board frontline Navy warships of the Western Fleet for the exercise, in which INS Vikramaditya along with warships INS Chennai, INS Kolkata, INS Trishul and INS Teg of the Western Fleet participated, the official said.

"Besides a detailed briefing on the role and scope of operations of the Western Naval Command, an Operational Demo was conducted for the embarked personnel. The exercises and live demonstration included a submarine demo by the recently commissioned submarine INS Kalvari and missile demo by INS Vidyut," he said.

"In addition, a Search and Rescue demo by SAR helicopters provided a clear insight into the complexities of rescue operations at sea, especially in higher sea states," the official said in a statement.

The shipborne Anti Submarine Warfare Seaking and AEW Kamov helicopters and the MiG 29K carrier borne fighter aircraft participated in an impressive air power demo.

The visitors were given a tour of the operational facilities and interacted with the ships company of INS Vikramaditya over lunch, to get a first hand exposure and sea experience on range and scope of activities undertaken by the Navy at sea, the official said.

Addressing the crew of INS Vikramaditya, Fadnavis congratulated the Navy for its gallant service to the nation and acknowledged the professionalism and fortitude of naval personnel in a challenging environment at sea, the official said.

"Fadnavis appreciated the armed forces' role in safeguarding the territorial, maritime and economic interests of the country and said that he and his colleagues were privileged to have spent a day at sea with the Western Fleet," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Indian national has died after he was run over by a speeding car, being driven by a teenager in Al Fujairah, police said today.

The incident happened last evening in which the 25-year-old Indian worker was killed as his skull was severely damaged, deputy police chief of Al Fujairah Police, Brig Mohammed Rashid bin Naee Al Tunaiji was quoted as saying by the Khaleej Times.

Al Fujairah is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, and the only one of the seven that has a coastline solely on the Gulf of Oman and none on the Persian Gulf.

"As soon as our operations room received the call about the accident, an ambulance and traffic police team were rushed to the site," said Brig Mohammed Rashid bin Naee Al Tunaiji, deputy police chief of Al Fujairah Police.

The body has been shifted to a morgue of the Debbah Al Fujairah Hospital and the Emirati teen was arrested.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Indian-origin scientist in the UK is leading a new high-speed space camera project that is expected to revolutionise our understanding of stars and black holes.

Professor Vik Dhillon and his team at University of Sheffield in the UK were joined by experts from around the world on the HiPERCAM project, which involves the creation of a new camera that can take more than 1,000 images per second.

The camera went live on the world's largest optical telescope, Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), this week.

It will take high-speed images of objects in the universe, allowing their rapid brightness variations due to phenomena such as eclipses and explosions to be studied in unprecedented detail.

"The combination of HiPERCAM and the world's largest telescope provides us with a unique, new view of the universe, which history tells us is when major new discoveries are made. Astronomers are excited to use HiPERCAM on the GTC to start exploring the Universe at high speed," said Dhillon, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sheffield and Affiliated Researcher at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC).

"Normal cameras installed on large telescopes usually capture only one picture every few minutes. HiPERCAM can take one picture every millisecond. The high speed essentially provides a slow-motion view of rapidly varying celestial objects," he added.

"The high-speed images are also captured in five different colours simultaneously, which means we can instantly tell the difference between hot stars which are burning at tens of thousands of degrees Celsius and are blue in colour - and cooler stars, which appear red and are burning at only a few thousand degrees."



The pioneering five-year project was funded by a 3.5-million-euro grant from the European Research Council (ERC) and is being conducted in partnership with the Science and Technology Facilities Council's Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC) and the IAC, along with researchers from the University of Warwick and Durham University in Britain.

The GTC is based on the island of La Palma, situated 2,500 metres above sea level, which is considered one of the best places in the world to study the night sky.

Data captured by the camera, taken in five different colours simultaneously, will let scientists study the remnants of dead stars such as white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.

These are key objects within astrophysics as their extreme gravities, densities and pressures allow researchers to test theories of fundamental physics, such as general relativity and quantum mechanics.

By observing objects in the Solar System pass in front of background stars, HiPERCAM will also teach scientists about the sizes and shapes of the minor planets beyond Pluto's orbit, and whether or not they possess atmospheres, rings and satellites.

"The vital role that STFC and UK universities played in developing HiPERCAM is a testament to the work of our world class scientists," Britain's Science and Universities Minister, Sam Gyimah, said.

This game-changing camera that will be installed on the world's largest telescope will not only deepen our understanding of white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes in our universe, but it will help maintain our reputation as being a global-leader in research and development.

"It is projects such as these, and collaboration with partners and universities from across the world, which underpins our ambitious modern Industrial Strategy to boost innovation and help create a Britain fit for the future."



"HiPERCAM was a challenging project that pushed the design team to fit a lot of scientific potential into a small space," Martin Black, an optical engineer from the Science and Technology Facilities Council's UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) and part of the HiPERCAM team, said.

"The team had to work closely together to ensure everything fit together and to correctly position the cameras to around 30 microns, about the width of a human hair.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Veteran actor Supriya Pathak, whose small screen avatar of Hansa in "Khichdi", is all set to make a comeback, believes Indian television is in dire need of quality content.

A fan of Netflix's "The Crown", Pathak feels bringing back or rebooting classic shows from the past can go a long way in improving the content-crisis on TV.

"We need change, we need to look at things differently. We need to move forward. Look at them (Hollywood) What are they doing on TV, Netflix... We are stuck in the same place, in same century," she told PTI in an interview.

"The sad part is we have all the talent with us but we are not working in the right direction, we need to change," says Pathak.

Revival of "Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai" and "Khichdi" has given her hope.

Pathak, her husband Pankaj Kapur and sister Ratna Pathak Shah were big names back in the '80s and early '90s, the golden period of television in India.

She says she would love to see Kapur return as an older Karamchand.

A new version of Kapur's show "Office Office", where he played the role of a common man struggling to get his work done in government offices, is also on her wish list, so is "Idhar Udhar".

"I would love him to come back but he might have some issues. I would want him to come back as Karamchand, I would love to see what he will do with it now. He will make a fantastic older Karamchand, you have to keep the age.

"I wouldn't mind the comeback of 'Idhar Udhar' (also). It was a nice show with Ratna and me. 'Katha Sagar' should make a comeback. Our literature is drowning, our younger generation doesn't know about the great writers we had."



"Khichdi" will go on air from April 14 on the Star Plus channel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Indian woman has died after being bitten by a poisonous ant in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, according to a media report.

Soosy Jeffy, 36, from Adoor in Kerala, died yesterday during treatment, Khaleej Times reported quoting her relatives.

She was bitten by the ant on March 19 at her residence in the Saudi Arabian capital and was undergoing treatement, it said.

There are a few species of ants that can inflict poisonous bites that can prove fatal even for a full-grown adult, according to the report.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nearly 56 staffers of IndiGo's ground handling agency this morning went on a strike over issues related to payments and salaries, causing "minor" difficulties for airport authorities here.

The airline in a statement said that they were looking into "a solution for the concerns raised by the staff of their ground handling agency".

Though there were "minor difficulties in dealing with IndiGo passengers due to the striking staff", services at the airport were not disrupted, Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi, Anil Kumar Rai said.

Fifty-six support personnel of the airline went on a strike around 6:30 am over some issue, without giving airport officials the seven days mandatory prior notice. This could prompt legal action, he said.

Rai also warned that legal action would also be taken if they do not resume work at the earliest.

He said that a clarification will be also sought from them on why they went on a strike without giving the mandatory notice.

IndiGo said, "We are actively looking into a solution for the concerns raised by the staff of our ground handling agency, GV India Services at Varanasi Airport."



"IndiGo follows a regular payment cycle for its ground handling agents and our payments have remained compliant and up to date throughout the duration of our operations at Varanasi.

"We have asked GV India Services for an explanation with respect to the concerns raised by its staff and we will assist the ground handling agency in resolving these at the earliest," the airline said.

The airport director said, "The services at the airport were not disrupted and all the operations continued here."



He said that a meeting was held between the striking staff and the airline management and hoped that they had agreed to resume services.

The airport director said that if they still do not resume the services then a strict action would be taken against them.

IndiGo said, "We assure our esteemed passengers that operations shall remain normal and our flights shall continue to operate as per schedule.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Indian Newspaper Society today welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to turn down the I and B ministry'sstringent guidelines to check fake and also expressed anguish over the Press Council of India's "biased" selection of new members.

The apex body of the print media industry said it strongly disapproved of the "strategic manipulation" of the process of nominations for the Press Council of India, which is headed by Justice (retd) C K Prasad.

It said in a statement that it was "anguished over the recent unreasonable and biased decision of the Chairman, PCI, while selecting the names of persons to be nominated as members for a fresh term".

The Press Council of India, a statutory body that acts as a watchdog to oversee conduct of the print media, was reconstituted for three years in October 2014. Though its term ended in October last year, it is learnt that the panel has been reconstituted but the official notification is yet to be issued.

The INS said the entire process to nominate new members displayed a "lack of understanding of the PCI Act and RNI Act", a reference to the Press Council of India and the Registrar of Newspapers for India.

"It is imperative that mature responsibility and neutrality is now displayed, even at this late stage, to restore the credibility, impartiality and prestige of the Press Council of India," it said in the statement.

The statement also welcomed the prime minister's intervention in forcing the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to withdraw the "stringent guidelines" on fake

"After widespread criticism by journalists and opposition (parties), who realised this was an attempt to curb and control the freedom of press, the prime minister finally withdrew these draconian guidelines on fake news," the INS said.

Soon after the directive of the prime minister yesterday, the ministry issued a statement withdrawing within 24 hours its amended guidelines to check fake

In its reaction to the ministry's guidelines on fake news, the PCI had said yesterday there was "nothing wrong or obnoxious" about the move to contain fake news provided that an independent statutory body decide the veracity of such allegations.

Amending guidelines for the accreditation of journalists, the ministry had on Monday announced norms to contain fake news. It said if the publication or telecast of a fake news item was confirmed, the accreditation of the journalist behind the news would be suspended for six months in the case of a first violation and for one year in case of a second violation.

If there was a third violation, his or her accreditation would be cancelled permanently, the ministry had said in a press release.

The ministry norms also said that any complaint of instances of fake news would be referred to the PCI, if it pertains to print media, and to the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), if it relates to the electronic media, to determine whether the news item was fake or not within 15 days.

Several eminent journalists have expressed their scepticism over whether the PCI would be able to maintain its objectivity and independence in its functioning as a media watchdog.

The Editors Guild of India also issued a statement yesterday, articulating its concerns over the manner in which the PCI was reconstituted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Israel's defence minister has said that the military will not change its tough response to Hamas-led mass protests near Gaza's border with Israel, warning that those who approach the border are putting their lives at risk.

Avigdor Lieberman spoke near Gaza, where 18 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire Friday, the first day of what Hamas says will be six weeks of intermittent border protests against a stifling blockade of the territory.

Yesterday, a 25-year-old Gaza man was killed by Israeli fire as he threw stones in the area of the border fence, Gaza's Health Ministry said.

Lieberman's comments raised the possibility of more bloodshed this Friday, when another mass protest is expected.

The Palestinians' ambassador at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, appealed to the UN Security Council for immediate international protection for Palestinian civilians, especially in Gaza. He charged in a letter to the council that Israel has adopted "a shoot-to-kill policy" during what he called peaceful protests.

Mansour strongly backed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for an independent investigation of the killings and accused Israel of "intentionally, grossly and systematically" violating its legal obligation to protect civilians.

The international group Human Rights Watch accused Lieberman and other senior Israeli officials Tuesday of unlawfully calling for the use of live fire against Palestinian protesters who posed no imminent threat to life.

Last Friday, thousands of Palestinians marched near the border fence between Israel and Gaza, many gathering around tent encampments set up several hundred meters (yards) from the frontier. Smaller groups moved closer to the fence, throwing stones, hurling firebombs or burning tires. Israeli troops were lined up on the other side of the fence, including snipers perched on high earth embankments overlooking Gaza.

Palestinian health officials have said 18 Palestinians were killed that day, including 13 involved in the mass protest, making it the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 war between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas.

More than 750 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire, according to Gaza health officials. Mansour told the Security Council the number of wounded was over 1,500, including more than 750 by live ammunition and 148 by rubber-coated steel bullets.

The Israeli military has claimed, without elaborating, that it believes the figure was overblown and that dozens, at most, were wounded by live rounds.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A criminal investigation as well as a departmental inquiry has been launched into the death of a youth in Ganderbal district earlier this week by the Jammu and Kashmir police which has also placed a constable under suspension, a senior official said.

Besides, a magisterial probe has also been ordered into the incident.

Deputy Inspector General V K Birdi has been asked to complete a departmental inquiry into the case involving the death of Kangan-resident Gowhar Ahmed Rather, the official added.

According to initial police reports, Rather had fallen in a drain when the police were chasing an irate mob in Kangan on Monday. The mob, according to the reports, was indulging in stone pelting to protest killing of 13 militants in Shopian.

As Gowhar's condition worsened, he was shifted to hospital in Srinagar where he succumbed to injuries last evening.

The doctors, who conducted the post-mortem, found a piece of metal in his head which was sent to a forensic laboratory for examination, the official said.

Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) immediately ordered a departmental inquiry besides initiating a criminal investigation to ascertain the complete facts of the case, he added.

Besides these two probes, Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal, has also ordered a magisterial probe into the incident, an official said.

"After receiving all the three reports, we will carry out further action," said a senior police official.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jared Leto has promised to shave off his beard if the new album by his band Thirty Seconds to Mars becomes a chartbuster in the US.

The 46-year-old actor and his music group are set to release their new LP, 'America', later this week.

Leto took to Instagram where he shared his old picture with a stubble and wrote, "So should I shave this beard or what? NUMBER ONE ALBUM AND I'LL CHOP!!! (sic)''



The "Suicide Squad" star previously said that the band's new record could be their ''last album'' for a while.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Top police officers of Jammu and Kashmir have been exonerated from contempt charges by the Supreme Court which accepted the probe findings of the state police that a 26-year-old youth was killed by pellet injuries in 2016 and not shot at point-blank during massive protests as alleged by his father.

The top court said that the report of autopsy conducted on the body of Shabir Ahmad Mir after exhuming it, has found that "the fired lead pellets correspond to the shot from a standard shotgun cartridge" and "the CFSL report also established recovery of pellets from the dead body, which rules out the use of pistol as alleged".

A bench of justices J Chelameswar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul quashed the contempt proceedings initiated against SSP, Srinagar and the IGP, Jammu & Kashmir and said that even the father, mother and sister of the deceased have retracted from their version in statements recorded before the magistrate.

The bench said Jammu and Kashmir Police has concluded the investigation and filed the charge sheet before the trial court against the stone-pelters, who had attacked the police officials, CRPF and SSB personnel on July 10, 2016 in Tengpora area under the Batamaloo police station of Srinagar.

"We, having taken note of the aforesaid pleas, there being no representation on behalf of the respondent (father), are constrained to conclude that nothing further is required to be done in the matter. The question raised, in the present Special Leave Petition has become infructuous, we leave the question of law open. The contempt proceedings sought to be initiated against the SSP, Srinagar and the IGP, Jammu & Kashmir are quashed," the bench said.

The top court disposed of the appeal of state government after Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and advocate Shoeb Alam said that trial in the case is in progress and all relevant materials are placed before the court including the post mortem, CFSL and ballistic reports.

Mehta said that the apex court had on August 9, 2016 stayed the contempt proceedings and on August 12, 2016 directed the state authorities to investigate the version of the father of the deceased and conduct the autopsy after exhuming the body under the supervision of the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Srinagar.

Abdul Rehman Mir, father of the deceased had alleged that his son was shot by a police official at his home from a point blank range on July 10.

Jammu and Kashmir Police had claimed that the youth had died after sustaining injuries during the protests in the Valley.

"The conclusion of the report is that the complainant himself has not corroborated the contents of the complaint despite statement being recorded under Section 164A of the CrPC. The CFSL report also established recovery of pellets from the dead body, which rules out the use of pistol as alleged," the bench said.

Mehta said that there cannot be two FIRs for the same incident which is a settled law and the allegations of father of the deceased has been found to be false after the investigation and forensic report.

The bench after taking into account the submissions of the ASG and Alam disposed of the petition of the state government by which it had challenged the order of Jammu and Kashmir High Court refusing to quash the second FIR order of trial court.

On September 26, 2016, the state government has claimed that the post mortem report belied the claim of the victim's father that he was shot by policemen from a point blank range.

The government had said that it is not treating the petition as an adversarial litigation and voiced concern over young persons getting involved in disturbances.

The apex court had earlier stayed contempt proceedings initiated against the Senior Superintendent of Police and Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) for not lodging an FIR against the policemen, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), allegedly involved in the killing of Mir.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, had on July 18, 2016 directed the SSP to lodge a FIR against DSP Yasir Qadri and others on an application of Mir's father despite their being one FIR already lodged by the police on July 10, 2016, against the stone pelters on the same incident.

Later, contempt proceedings were initiated by the CJM for non-filing of the FIR against the two top police officers in connection with the incident.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had on August 4, 2016, refused to quash the two orders of trial court by which FIR was directed to be lodged on the same incident and the contempt proceeding against the police officials.

The family of the deceased had earlier contested the state's plea, claiming the killing to be a separate incident which had nothing to do with the FIR registered by the police.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala Assembly today unanimously adopted a resolution urging the BJP-led NDA government to frame adequate legislation to overcome the 'drawbacks' of the recent Supreme Court order allegedly diluting the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Minister for Law and Welfare of SC/ST, A K Balan moved the resolution, stating that the apex court verdict had triggered serious apprehensions among Dalits in the country.

The state government had already conveyed its concern and strong reservation in this regard to union social justice minister Thaawarchand Gehlot and tribal affairs minister Jual Oram, it said.

The BJP-led governments in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra were dealing with the Dalit protests against the verdict "very cruelly", the resolution stated.

The approach of dealing the protesters with gun without finding solution for the issue cannot be justified, it said.

"Besides deploring the loss of lives during the agitations, this Assembly also appeals to the Centre to take legal steps and make necessary legislation to overcome the drawbacks of theverdict," it said.

Protests by Dalits against the softening of the provisions of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court had triggered large-scale violence in different parts of the country since last two days.

The Supreme Court had on March 20 pronounced a verdict revising certain provisions in the SC/ST Act, which included preventing arbitrary arrests under the Act.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today dismissed the Congress-led UDF Opposition's allegations of land encroachment against LDF independent MP, Joyce George, saying there were "politically motivated."



The UDF opposition was levelling "politically motivated" allegations against the Idukki MP, the Chief Minister said in the Assembly.

The MP was in the centre of a controversy last year after the Revenue officials had cancelled the original title deeds relating to about 20 acres of land in his possession and that of his family members in Idukki district as it was found to be issued on "improper grounds."



During the question hour, Vijayan said, "Joyce George had not encroached any land. This is the government stand."Earlier, Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan had also maintained that the left independent MP was not involved in any land grab and the one in his possession and his relatives' were 'hereditary.'The opposition raised the issue when the minister was detailing the steps taken by the government to evict illegal encroachments.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala took objection to the comments made by Chandrasekharan and saidthe ownership dispute of the land of Joyce George was pending before the court.

It was not proper on part of the minister to make such a statement in favour of the left MP when the case was pending, he said.

As many as 1,477 cases of encroachment had been reported across the 14 districts of the state after the LDF government came to power.

Of this, 606 encroachments had been evicted, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Emir of Kuwait has commuted the death sentence of 15 Indians to life imprisonment, the government today informed Lok Sabha.

In a written response to a question, V K Singh, a minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs, said the sentences of another 119 Indians have been reduced by an "Amiri Decree".

His statement did not give details about the time when the sentences were commuted, or about the convicts.

Of the 119, the sentences of 53 Indian convicts were reduced from life to 20 years. Twenty two were immediately released, while the sentences of 18 were reduced by three-quarter.

The sentences of 25 Indian convicts were reduced by half, while one convict's sentence was reduced by a quarter.

"The Government of India, through its missions abroad and through bilateral mechanism regularly takes up cases of Indian nationals lodged in foreign jails with the concerned authorities for taking a sympathetic view of all such cases, including in the Middle East countries," Singh said.

In response to another question on whether the government has any proposal to give subsidy to pilgrims to visit Jerusalem, M J Akbar, another minister of state in the External Affairs Ministry, replied in negative.

Jerusalem is a holy city not only for Jews, but also for Muslims and Christians.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sri Lanka's Joint Opposition today moved a no-confidence motion against embattled Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a step that could threaten the country's unity government.

The motion was handed over to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya by the Joint Opposition and was debated today in the Parliament.

The Joint Opposition has accused 68-year-old Wickremesinghe of financial mismanagement and failing to tackle anti-Muslim riots last month in the central Kandy district.

Former strongman Wickremesinghe needs 113 votes in the 225-member Parliament to defeat the motion.

Speaking at the motion against the prime minister, R Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader, stressed on the need to resolve the ethnic conflict which had plagued the island.

"I see this is the first step of a plan to bring down the government by going against the mandate received in 2015," Sampanthan told the Parliament.

Recalling that the government had proposed a constitutional process to resolve the long standing issue, Sampanthan appealed to the senior members of the Joint Opposition to come together in the task of bringing permanent peace and unity.

"We can become the economic hub in the Indian Ocean if we have lasting peace in the country," Sampanthan said.

The TNA is expected to vote in favour of Wickremesinghe, giving the premier an advantage in the vote.

Reports coming from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) faction of President Maithripala Sirisena suggested that the party was split in the vote.

The veteran minister AHM Fowzie said that party will abstain while Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene, a minister of State, said that party would vote against Wickremesinghe.

The motion said the House has lost confidence in Wickremesinghe due to the alleged scam in the issue of Central Bank of Sri Lanka Bonds in 2015 and his appointment of a non national as the governor.

Wickremesinghe's UNP claimed that the premier would survive the vote easily with backing from minority Tamil and Muslim parties.

Wickremesinghe had resisted a call from Sirisena to resign following a crushing defeat to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's new party Sri Lanka People's Front in the February 10 local election.

It is no secret that Sirisena wants Wickremesinghe's ouster so that he could replace him with his own choice.

Wickremesinghe was recently replaced as law and order minister after clashes erupted in the Kandy district.

The President also removed key institutions, including the Central Bank, from the control of Wickremesinghe.

Sirisena in 2015 quit the Rajapaksa government to join hands with Wickremesinghe, the then main opposition leader, to defeat Rajapaksa in the presidential election ending his 10-year rule.

Constitutionally, the current Parliament could not be dissolved before February 2020. It requires a motion adopted with two-third in the 225 member assembly to call for snap elections.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra government would provide a financial assistance of around Rs 88 crore to actor Aamir Khan's Paani Foundation for its water conservation work--Water Cup.

The government has issued a circular stating that the assistance would be given for fuel expenditure.

"The state will provide funds up to Rs 1.50 lakh per village to be spent on fuel. There are 5,900 villages across state that have participated in the Water Cup competition for the current fiscal," as per the GR (Government Resolution) issued yesterday.

Paani Foundation conducts a competition called the Satyamev Jayate Water Cup, in which villages compete to win prizes for the best watershed management work.

The GR stated that earth movers are being used for digging, cleaning and widening of existing streams and nullahs.

Water Cup competition also assesses the quality of the work completed under the state government's flagship water conservation scheme, Jalyukta Shivar.

The scheme aims at constructing a chain of check-dams to increase water availability in villages.

A Water Conservation Department official said no such financial aid was provided for the Foundation's work in the past.

"Earlier, the state government used to fund only the construction cost while the fuel expenses were borne by district collectors. With this new GR, each village will get Rs 1.50 lakh for fuel expenses from the state, which means more villages can compete in the Water Cup competition," said the official.

The Foundation has been holding the Water Cup competition in Maharashtra since 2016-17.

As per the Foundation website, the third Water Cup will be held between April 8 and May 22 this year and that 5,945 villages applied for training this year.

"The total budget of Jalyukta Shivar is Rs 1,400 crore of which Rs 88 crore will now be utilised for fuel expenses for the use of earth movers," said the official.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Maldives has declined an invitation by India to send a ministerial-level delegation to the Defence Expo, a biennial exhibition of weapons and military hardware, which will be held in Chennai next week, official sources said.

The decision by Maldives is seen as an apparent snub to New Delhi which was critical of the Abdulla Yameen government for imposing emergency in the island nation earlier this year.

Sources told PTI that Maldives has conveyed to New Delhi that its defence minister would be travelling abroad and it would not be possible for him to lead a delegation to attend the expo, which will be held from April 11-14 in Thiruvidandai, south Chennai.

In February, Maldives had declined India's invitation to participate in the eight-day mega naval exercise -- Milan -- from March 6-13.

Ties between India and Maldives nosedived after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen declared emergency on February 5 following an order by the country's Supreme Court to release a group of Opposition leaders, who had been convicted in widely criticised trials.

On February 21, India had reacted strongly over the extension of emergency by a month. The emergency was lifted 45 days later.

China has been trying to expand its influence over Maldives and it had appeared to be supportive of President Yameen's decision to clamp emergency.

Interestingly, Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa paid a rare visit to Maldives this week. Bajwa met Maldivian defence minister Adam Shareef Umar and called on Maldives President Yameen.

Sources said India has also invited China for the Defence Expo but there has not been any response from Beijing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is trying to cobble up an anti-BJP alliance ahead of the general elections next year, today called off her next week's visit to Tamil Nadu for meeting top leaders of the DMK in view of the panchayat elections in her state due in May.

According to a senior official at the state secretariat, the chief minister has expressed her willingness to visit Tamil Nadu after the panchayat elections in West Bengal are over.

"She has asked to call off her plans to visit Tamil Nadu scheduled next week. She may visit the state after the elections are over," the official said, adding Banerjee was very much concerned about the ongoing protests in the southern state over the Cauvery issue.

Panchayat polls in West Bengal is scheduled on May 1, 3 and 5. Results would be declared on May 8.

The Trinamool Congress chief was expected to meet DMK president M Karunanidhi and working president MK Stalin during her visit to Chennai.

Last month, Banerjee had visited New Delhi to meet senior leaders of prominent anti-BJP parties. She met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in addition to a host of other important leaders.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had met her in Kolkata recently. She has also met NCP chief Sharad Pawar, supremo Uddhav Thackeray and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal in pursuance of the political efforts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A man, who was allegedly trying to smuggle out 5 kg of marijuana neatly packed inside salted snacks, has been apprehended by the CISF at the Bengaluru airport today, a senior official said.

He said the security personnel noticed some suspicious packets in the baggage of a 31-year-old Kerala-based man, identified as H P Sabir Ahamed, after he arrived at the airport at 3 am.

He was asked to undergo detailed frisking.

"Fourteen packets of marijuana or ganja, weighing about 5 kg, was found concealed in transparent 'namkeen' (salted snacks) packets in the man's bag," Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) spokesperson Assistant Inspector General Hemendra Singh said here.

"Ahamed has been handed over to the Customs officials at the airport," he said here.

Singh said Ahamed was supposed to fly to Doha via Mumbai from Bengaluru.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BSP president Mayawati supported Monday's 'Bharat bandh' organised by Dalit outfits against what they claimed was "dilution" of the SC/ST Act by a Supreme Court order, but as Uttar Pradesh chief minister she had herself initiated steps to check the misuse of the law.

Mayawati said she supported the protests against the changes in the SC/ST law but condemned the violence that took place blaming anti-social elements for it.

Various Dalit organisations had called for a nation-wide shutdown or a 'Bharat Bandh' to protest against the apex court ruling. The court had, on March 20, introduced the provision of anticipatory bail in the act while directing there would be no automatic arrest on any complaint filed under the law.

BSP backed the bandh but in in 2007 when it was in power, as chief minister, Mayawati had issued two orders to safeguard against the misuse of the Act or false implication of innocent people.

In an order issued on October 29, 2007, by then UP chief secretary Prashant Kumar, it was stated that Superintendents of Police and SSPs must take cognisance of serious offences like murder and rape and carry out the investigations on priority and ensuring prompt justice in the cases of atrocities on members of the SC/ST while ensuring that no innocent was harassed.

"If it is found in investigations that a fake case has been made, action should be taken under section 182 of the IPC," the order had said.

The order was an amendment to an earlier May 20, 2007 missive.

The two orders issued by the then chief secretaries specified that action should not be initiated merely on the basis of a complaint but arrests should be made after the accused is found prima facie guilty in the initial probe.

In the first letter, dated May 20, 2007, and sent by the then chief secretary Shambhu Nath, point number 18 dealt at length with the issue of police complaints under the Act.

The missive was issued barely a week after Mayawati was sworn in as UP CM.

The highlight of the directive was that only serious offences like murder and rape should be registered under the Act while the less serious crimes should be dealt under the relevant sections of the IPC.

In case of a rape complaint under the SC/ST Act, action should be initiated against the accused only after sexual assault is corroborated in the medical examination of the victim and if prima facie the charges appear to be true, it said.

The note stated that police should not initiate action merely because a complaint had been lodged by a person from the SC and ST community as there were instances where people use such individuals settle scores with rivals.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Mutual funds industry has added 32 lakh new investors over the last one year mainly due to a spirited promotion campaign by the industry, a senior Amfi official said today.

Moreover, the industry aims to add 50 lakh new investors in the next one year on the back of industry focus, guided by the collective wisdom of mutual fund players, to reach out additionally to investors present in small cities and towns.

"The mutual funds sahi hain campaign which is one of the unique collaborative initiative of the industry would help to achieve getting 2 per cent of India's population to invest in MF in the next one year," Amfi Chairman A Balasubramanian said.

Currently, less than 1.5 per cent of the country's population invests in mutual funds (MF).

The industry had launched the first leg of its very ambitious investor awareness campaign, 'mutual fund sahi hai' (mutual funds are right) for investors in March 2017.

The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) now plans to soon launch the next leg of the media campaign that will communicate the benefits of being invested for longer term, especially when markets are volatile.

The first leg of the campaign got a very positive response as mutual fund companies saw an overall addition of 32 lakh new investors over the last one year, Amfi said in statement.

"Concerted efforts taken by the mutual fund industry through the 'mutual funds sahi hai' campaign, under the guidance of Sebi, supported by favourable market conditions and support from the distribution community, led to overwhelming success in the inaugural year of the mutual funds sahi hai campaign.

"Given the rising household incomes and higher appetite towards financial savings coupled with long-term India growth story, we are sure that mutual funds would become the investment option of choice of every household in the years to come," Balasubramanian said.

He further said that the industry would continue to advocate investors to have patience and stay invested, add debt and hybrid funds to their portfolio and allocate more through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs), especially in periods of market volatility and aim to benefit over a longer term.

Apart from addition in mutual funds investors, the industry witnessed growth of 25 per cent or Rs 4.25 lakh crore in its assets under management (AUM) till February this year, in comparison from March, 2017. Moreover, the asset base of retail portion alone surged by 38 per cent to Rs 3.25 lakh crore.

In addition, the total number of folios and SIP accounts saw a growth of 26 per cent or 1.05 crore and 52 per cent or 70 lakh respectively during the same period. Monthly SIP contribution for the industry touched Rs 6,425 crore from 2.05 crore.

"We have seen tremendous growth within the mutual fund industry in the recent years. Going ahead, we want to build on the base and ensure that the momentum and the faith of the investors continue for investing in mutual funds over longer term," Amfi CEO NS Venkatesh said.

Along with the media campaign, the industry body said that focus will now be on-ground outreach programs.

Amfi recently tied-up with a leading media house to launch Jan Nivesh -- an initiative that will educate, inspire and encourage Indians to change their financial habits to create wealth smartly by investing regularly in mutual funds and thus, make every citizen of India an equal participant in the country's economic growth story.

Along with millions of TV viewers, the Jan Nivesh initiative will also reach out to over 50,000 people on-ground through over 200 events in over 100 cities and towns.

"Amfi will also very soon launch the next leg of the media campaign. In the upcoming campaign, which continues under the mutual funds sahi hai banner, Amfi's objective is to communicate to the investor on the nuances of mutual fund investing, while extolling the benefits of being invested for longer term, especially when markets are volatile," the industry noted.

As part of the campaign, Amfi has a microsite, www.mutualfundssahi.com, available in English and Hindi, where investors can find detailed information about mutual funds and also locate their nearest mutual fund office and mutual fund distributors. The website will soon be made available in other regional languages.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was today detained after he tried to defy house arrest and march to Shopian, police said.

Mirwaiz, who was put under house arrest on Sunday, tried to defy the restrictions and march towards Shopian, a police official said.

He said Mirwaiz came out of his residence and addressed supporters who had gathered there. Mirwaiz then tried to march to Shopian but was detained and taken to Nigeen police station, the official said.

The police also barred hardline Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani from coming out of his Hyderpora residence, the official said. Geelani was also put under house arrest on Sunday.

Separatists Geelani, Mirwaiz and JKLF chief Yasin Malik had called for a march to Shopian to express solidarity with the families who lost loved ones in three encounters between militants and security forces on Sunday.

Malik was arrested on Sunday and is lodged in central jail here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bangladesh's police today recovered the bloodstained body of a prominent Hindu lawyer who went missing on Friday and arrested four persons, including his wife, suspecting their link to the murder.

Ratish Chandra Bhowmik, who fought the state's case in high-profile murder trials against Islamist extremists, went missing after he left his home in northwestern Rangpur district on Friday morning.

When the 58-year-old lawyer did not return home and his mobile phone was found switched off, his family reported about his disappearance to police and the Hindu community leaders.

"Their confessional statements led us to the dead body from an under construction building near Bhowmik's own house," said Benazir Ahmed, Director General of police anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion.

He added that the lawyer's wife, a school teacher, and one of her arrested colleagues were directly involved in the murder pointing figure to their extramarital relations.

Police earlier launched a massive campaign amid huge protests to trace out Bhowmik suspecting militant links to his disappearance on early Friday as he fought major murder trials against them as a key prosecution lawyer.

Police said the mobile phone records gave them the clue to the murder leading to his wife's arrest.

Bhowmik's disappearance came two weeks after seven operatives of outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were sentenced to death for murdering the caretaker of a Sufi shrine in November 2015.

Earlier, he appeared as a key prosecutor against five JMB extremists, who too were sentenced to death for the murder of Japanese farmer Hoshi Kunio in the same year.

Bhowmik was also a crucial witness to the trial of senior Jamaate-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam who was eventually sentenced to death by a special tribunal for committing crimes against humanity siding with the Pakistani troops during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War.

According to the police, Bhowmik had earlier refused the offer of an armed escort during the high-profile trials.

Bangladesh has been waging a campaign against JMB and other homegrown militant outfits after a re-grouped faction of JMB called Neo-JMB, stormed a Dhaka cafe in 2016 and massacred 23 people, mostly foreigners.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The mortal remains of a resident of Jaitpur village, who was among the 39 Indians killed in ISIS captivity in Iraq, were consigned to flames at his native place in this district today.

Gurdeep Singh along with other Indians had gone missing in Iraq in 2014. A special aircraft carrying the mortal remains of 38 out of out of 39 Indians, which included 27 from Punjab, landed at the Amritsar international airport from Baghdad on Monday.

Singh is survived by his mother Surinder Kaur, wife Anita Rani, a 5-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter.

Chabbewal MLA Raj Kumar, former minister Sohan Singh Thandal and many others paid floral tributes to departed soul.

Last month, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had told Parliament that as many as 40 Indians were abducted by terror group ISIS from Mosul in Iraq in June 2014, but one of them escaped posing as a Muslim from Bangladesh.

The remaining 39 Indians were taken to Badush and killed, she had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BJP today dismissed the charges of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu against the Union government as "frivolous" and something which no one will believe, and cited a number of central projects in the state to underline its commitment to development there.

Soon after the Telugu Desam Party chief accused the Centre of "mud-slinging" and working to damage his credibility, the BJP fielded Union minister Prakash Javadekar to counter him.

Javadekar, accompanied by state BJP chief K Hari Babu and party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member G V L Narasimha Rao, accused Naidu of "blame game".

The HRD minister cited a number of projects linked to IIT, Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy, IIIT and AIIMS, among others, besides the central work on the Polavaram project to claim that the Modi government's commitment to the state's development was firm.

He noted that party chief Amit Shah had in a letter to Naidu listed a number of projects which the Centre had granted to the state.

Asked about Naidu's charges against the Centre, he said they were frivolous. "No one will believe them."



He also termed Naidu's claim that the BJP was getting close to the YSR Congress, the TDP's main rival in the state, as "ridiculous".

On the Andhra Pradesh chief minister's comments that the TDP would have fared better in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections if it had not allied with the BJP, he made light of his claim, noting that Modi was a big factor then. "If there was no Modi or the BJP, where the TDP would be," he said.

"There should be a limit to political acrimony. He is doing over the matter of development. He should not go to the extent of saying that the BJP is attacking Andhra," Javadekar said.

The Modi government has been "magnanimous" to the state to the extent that many states have asked it why it was giving so much to one state, he said.

To a question about the BJP's prospects in the state if the TDP and the YSR Congress, the two parties which have moved separate notices of no-confidence motion against the Union government in the Lok Sabha, fought against it, Javadekar said the BJP on its own had fetched over 18 per cent votes in the 1998 Lok Sabha polls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu today accused the BJP of "mud-slinging" and said the Centre was trying to "damage his credibility" ever since his party began the fight for special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking at a press conference here, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister demanded setting up of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to look at the issue.

"After the state was bifurcated, we needed hand-holding and that is why we joined the NDA. We went for campaigns together and assured people that justice would be done and people voted for us," Naidu said.

"Everyone thought the BJP combination would bring betterment. Despite my 29 visits to Delhi during the last four years, nothing has happened, except minor things. Major things are left to be done," he said.

"People of Andhra Pradesh continue to feel betrayed. But why can't the present government have a review? Appoint JPC and tell them to have a look into the issue," he said.

The chief minister also played clips of Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising the special category status (SCS) to Andhra during public meetings in Nellore, Amaravati and Tirupati.

"During a meet in Tirupati, the PM had said that the capital city of Amravati will be better than Delhi. He even advised me to visit Kazakhstan's capital Astana to get ideas. I do not know what happened after that.

"Now when we are raising our voice, you (BJP) are harassing my government. The central government is indulging in mud-slinging and it is painful. They want to damage my credibility which was built over a period of 40 years," Naidu said.

Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had last month ended its four-year-old alliance with the BJP and walked out of the NDA, days after two of its Union ministers resigned over the Centre's refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Following the move, BJP president Amit Shah had in a letter accused the TDP of being driven by political considerations and not the concern for the state.

When asked if he had reached out to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami, the TDP chief said, "They should support our cause as both the states share an excellent relationship".

"I did not reach out to the Tamil Nadu government. But we are sharing Krishna River water with them and have an excellent relationship. So they should offer support to our cause," he said.

Commenting on his rival YSRCP's efforts for getting the SCS for the state, Naidu said, "I am fighting the attitude of the central government. I am not talking as TDP president. Some people may adopt different strategies or have a different agenda. But I want support of all parties".

Naidu also accused the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) of reversing Rs 350 crore fund as special assistance to Andhra Pradesh, without any intimation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The NDA government at the Centre and TRS government in Telangana have been pursuing 'anti-Dalit policies,' state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged today.

Reddy, who was in Warangalas part of Congress' 'Praja Chaitanya Yatra' (campaign to raise awareness of people), told reporters here that the NDA government delayed filing a review petition in Supreme Court on its judgement on the SC, ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act.

Alleging that the TRS government led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao did not do justice for SCs and STs, the PCC president claimed that the TRS secured votes on the promise of making a Dalit the first Chief Minister of Telangana.

The other promises of TRS, including 12 per cent reservation for STs, three acres of land for poor Dalits, double bedroom houses for the poor and 'one job in each household' remained unfulfilled, Reddy alleged.

The TRS government has diverted funds meant for the welfare of SCs and STs, he alleged,adding that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) itself has "pointed out the diversion of over Rs 10,000 crore of SC and ST funds by the TRS Government".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The National Green Tribunal today deferred till April 19 the hearing on a plea by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) seeking directions to the Haryana government to check the "dangerous level of ammonia" in the Yamuna and ensure availability of sufficient water in the river.

A bench headed by acting NGT chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim adjourned the matter after the tribunal was informed that the Supreme Court was also seized of a similar plea which would come for hearing on April 16.

"It is stated on behalf of the State of Haryana that the Delhi Jal Board has already approached the Supreme Court and the matter would come up for consideration on April 16. Let the outcome of the proceedings before the Supreme Court be informed to this tribunal," the bench said, listing the matter for April 19.

On April 2, the Delhi government had informed the apex court that it was negotiating with Haryana for the release of 450 cusecs of water of the Yamuna river per day for the national capital.

The tribunal had earlier slammed the DJB over its submission that Haryana was responsible for the high levels of ammonia in the Yamuna water being provided to the national capital and observed that the river has been reduced to a sewer line in the city.

Asking the DJB what it has done to clean the river water, the bench had made it clear to the body that it was only concerned with the pollution in the river and would not go into the issue of water sharing dispute between the two states.

Earlier, the tribunal had directed the Haryana government to submit an action plan to address the issue of ammonia and other pollutants in the Yamuna.

The green panel had asked it to file an affidavit stating short and long-term measures which it proposed to combat the pollution in the river.

The NGT had directed the Delhi and Haryana governments to identify and address the sources of pollution in the river.

It had also ordered the Delhi and Haryana governments to hold a meeting to resolve the issue of high ammonia content in the water being provided to the national capital.

The DJB had moved a plea in the tribunal plea alleging high ammonia in water being provided by the Haryana government to Delhi.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had submitted its analysis report of ammonia at Tajewala in Haryana, Wazirabad water treatment plant, Okhla and ITO barrage in Delhi.

Acting on concerns over the health of the people of Delhi, the tribunal had directed the CPCB to analyse the samples of the river water at the four points on the s plea alleging high ammonia content in the water being provided by Haryana to Delhi.

While the DJB had alleged that Haryana was supplying "poisoned sewage water" to the national capital which had 2.6 parts per million of ammonia, the counsel for Haryana had refuted the contention and said there was no breach of any agreement.

The DJB, which supplies water to the city, had approached the tribunal demanding that Haryana be asked to take urgent steps to check the "dangerous level of ammonia" in the Yamuna.

Claiming that the water being released by the state was so polluted that it cannot be treated for drinking, the DJB had said it may cause "a huge and irreparable loss to the citizens of Delhi and has a potential for a grave health crisis and water crisis in the National Capital Region (NCR)".

The petition also claimed that when the water enters Haryana, the ammonia level is nil and very much treatable, whereas when the water enters Delhi, the level is very high.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The National Green Tribunal today junked a plea against the construction of an international exhibition-cum-convention centre (IECC) in Dwarka here.

A bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore said the Ministry of and Forests and the Department of of the Delhi government had examined the impact of the project on and imposed necessary conditions to mitigate the adverse consequences.

The tribunal noted that compensatory plantation of 19,610 trees along the Yamuna river bank has already been ordered and the project proponent has also been asked to plant 17,098 trees at the site in Dwarka.

"We are, therefore, satisfied that all the concerns and suggestions which the applicant had raised have been examined and considered...In view of the above, the original application filed by the applicant has to be rejected," the bench said.

The tribunal also directed the project proponent, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, to comply with all the conditions put in the environment clearance certificate.

"The project proponent will ensure that the trees to be planted are at least 6 feet high and over three year old and sufficient care will be taken to protect and maintain them. In the event, directions to plant trees in Dwarka site is not complied with project proponent shall be liable to pay environmental compensation," the bench said.

The tribunal had earlier issued notices to the Ministry of the Environment and Forests, AAP government, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation and Delhi Pollution Control Committee on the plea alleging felling of trees for the Rs 26,000-crore project.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by city resident Shobhit Chauhan seeking "complete review" of the project to protect trees from being chopped.

"Issue appropriate guidelines in order to law down a procedure for compensatory plantation in urban areas, and to consider green' and environmental friendly alternatives to afforestation.

"Direct an independent team of the Environment Ministry and the Department of Environment of Delhi government to assess the number and size of tree species and other bushes/shrubs actually present on the ground on the said lands and the number of tress that can be transplanted and conduct a satellite baseline assessment," the plea had said.

With an overall built-up space of 1.02 million sq. metres, the IECC will house exhibition halls, convention centres, banquet halls, an arena, a financial centre, hotels, food and beverage outlets, commercial and retail services and common internal infrastructure facilities.

The IECC, which is coming up in Sector 25 in Dwarka, will be able to host 5,000 to 10,000 delegates. It will take an estimated around 15 minutes to reach the centre from the international airport here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Night curfew will continue in Rajasthan's Hindaun town where a mob had yesterday set ablaze the houses of a sitting legislator and a former MLA, both Dalits, officials said today.

Earlier in the day, curfew was relaxed for five hours -- from 1 pm to 6 pm -- after the Karauli district administration reviewed the law and order situation in the district.

According to the officials, however, it was decided that night curfew from 6 pm till 8 am will continue and mobile internet services will remain suspended in Hindaun town till tomorrow afternoon.

"Situation is under control and no untoward incident has been reported so far. Curfew will be effective from 6 pm to 8 am on Thursday. Further decision will be taken after reviewing the law and order situation," Karauli District Collector Abhimanyu Kumar said.

Superintendent of Police Anil Kayal said 82 people have been arrested so far and six cases were registered against anti-social elements in the last three days.

The curfew was clamped yesterday afternoon after nearly 5,000 people set ablaze houses of sitting MLA Rajkumari Jatav and former MLA Bharosilal Jatav in Hindaun.

While Rajkumari Jatav is from the ruling BJP, Bharosilal Jatav is a former Congress legislator who also served as a minister in the state.

The incident occurred a day after Rajasthan and several other states saw large-scale protests and violence during a bandh called by Dalit organisations.

The bandh was called against the Supreme Court's March 20 order banning automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Ruling that no arrest can be made under the Act without prior permission, the apex court had also held that a court can grant anticipatory bail if it, prima facie, finds the complaint is an abuse of the law, false, motivated and intended to blackmail or harass a person.

Monday's 'Bharat Bandh' was called by various Dalit groups and backed by political outfits to demand restoration of the Act to its original form.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Shiv Sena today said it has not received any offer from the ruling alliance partner BJP for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson.

"Shiv Sena has not received any such offer. Even if we receive the offer, I don't think our party president Uddhav Thackeray will accept it," a close aide of the Sena chief said.

He was responding to reports claiming that the BJP has made such an offer to its bickering ally to ensure its support during the next Lok Sabha elections.

"Uddhav Thackeray made it clear last year that our party will contest elections against the BJP," the aide told PTI.

The term of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien ends in July this year and the Congress may lose the prestigious post after 41 years.

The Sena has three Rajya Sabha members in Rajya Sabha -- Sanjay Raut, Anil Desai and Rajkumar Dhoot -- all from Maharashtra.

Asked about reports that his name was doing the rounds for the Rajya Sabha post, Raut said, "This was floated in New Delhi media circles. I have no information about it, so would not like to comment," he told PTI.

State BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari and Minister for Finance Sudhir Mungantiwar, also of the BJP, said they were unaware of any such offer to the Sena.

After the March 23 biennial Rajya Sabha elections to 58 seats, the BJP-led NDA has gained numerical majority in the House.

Post 2014 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Sena has been constantly targeting the BJP-led governments at the state and Centre over its policy decisions.

Thackeray has announced that the Sena would contest all elections on its own strength.

Mungantiwar, who was appointed as the BJP's chief negotiator to hold talks with the Sena leadership, said he has received a "favourable" response from the Sena side.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hitting out at political parties for politicising the legacy of B R Ambedkar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said no regime had honoured the Dalit icon like his government had.

The prime minister said his government had given Ambedkar his rightful place by completing projects conceived in his memory.

The 26, Alipur Road house where Ambedkar died would be dedicated to the nation on April 13 on the eve of his birth anniversary, Modi said.

He was addressing a gathering at the inauguration of the Western Court annexe meant to provide accommodation to MPs.

Lamenting that everyone had dragged Ambedkar's name for political gains, Modi said it was his government that completed the Ambedkar international centre though the idea was conceived when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister.

The previous UPA government had dragged its feet on the project for years, Modi said.

The PM's remarks come soon after widespread protests over a Supreme Curt verdict putting in place safeguards to prevent misuse of a law to prevent atrocities of SCs and STs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former American teen rapper Angie Thomas' debut novel "The Hate U Give", about a girl's struggle for justice and inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, has been named winner of this year's the 5,000-pound Waterstones Children's Book Prize.

According to James Daunt, managing director of Waterstones, "The Hate U Give" should have a readership far beyond a core audience of young adults.

"Ours is a children's prize, but there is no upper age limit to being stunned by beautiful writing of this visceral power," Daunt said.

Set in the backdrop of police violence in North America, the book revolves around Starr Carter, a teenager whose life is split between the affluent school she attends and the much poorer suburb that is her home.

Her best friend Khalil's fatal shooting by a police officer abruptly brings those two worlds together, compelling Starr to defend her friend's memory and force the media to understand the truth behind the tragedy.

In other categories, Jessica Townsend's tale "Nevermoor", of a courageous young girl who must overcome a terrible magical curse, won the prize for younger fiction, while Joe Todd-Stanton's "The Secret of Black Rock", where a strange, sea-born mystery reveals a moving message of care for the planet, was adjudged the best illustrated book.

Voted on by Waterstones booksellers, the annual prizes for children's writing and illustration are decided by readers, for readers.

Penguin Random House India said Angie's novel recently won the William C Morris YA Debut Award, was declared a Printz Honor Book (of the Michael L Printz Award, for excellence in literature written for young adults) as well as being selected as a Coretta Scott King Honor Book at the American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards in the US.

"The Hate U Give" has also been shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2018 in the UK awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book, written in English for children and young people.

"The Hate U Give" has been translated into more than 25 languages and is soon to be a motion picture, starring Amandla Stenberg.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 33-year-old youth was today electrocuted while three women were seriously injured after they came in contact with a live wire in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, officials said.

The incident occurred in Barri village, triggering protest by the locals against the Power Development Department (PDD), they said.

The officials identified the deceased as Santosh Kumar and said the injured women Sunita, Ratna and Neelani Devi were admitted to a hospital for treatment.

Blaming the PDD for the incident, locals claimed that despite repeated requests, the department had failed to revamp power lines in the village.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)September 25, 2021, Saturday

The meeting of the two leaders in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday lasted for more than 90 minutes, instead of the ...India has voiced opposition to the "weaponisation" of outer space, saying it should not become an area of conflict while calling for collective efforts to strengthen safety and security of the space-based assets.

Counsellor (Disarmament) in the Permanent Mission of India to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva Rachita Bhandari told a session of the UN Disarmament Commmission (UNDC) yesterday that deliberations will begin on the new agenda of outer space - the first in the last 18 years.

"India believes that outer space should be an ever expanding frontier of cooperative endeavour rather than an area of conflict," Bhandari said.

She said India, as a space-faring nation with wide ranging interests in outer space activities, remained opposed to the "weaponisation of outer space and support collective efforts to strengthen the safety and security of space-based assets".

The group of governmental experts on outer space, which will meet in Geneva in August later this year, has been mandated to make recommendations on the substantive elements of an international legally-binding instrument on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.

Bhandari pointed out that it was important that as the UNDC begins work on outer space, the work already being done on the issue in other fora is not duplicated.

"It is equally important to address the broad spectrum of space security in a comprehensive and coherent manner.

"While transparency and confidence- building measures are important in themselves, we believe that they cannot be a substitute for concluding substantive legal measures to ensure the prevention of an arms race in outer space, which should continue to be a priority for the international community," she said.

Bhandari said it was important that member states be given the incentive to protect their interests by investing in legally-binding multilateral instruments rather than by resorting to national measures or interim partial steps that do not fully address the concerns of all space actors.

India attaches much importance to the UNDC as the specialised deliberative leg of the disarmament machinery, she said.

"At a time of growing mistrust and rising international tensions as well as numerous challenges to both the disarmament agenda and the disarmament machinery, the role of the UNDC as a platform for dialogue and cooperation assumes even greater significance," she said.

She said the rift between those who believe that nuclear weapons can be made to vanish by fiat and those who believe that nuclear weapons must be asserted even more vigorously today has only grown wider.

"We need to bridge this divide through dialogue and a renewed commitment to multilateralism," she said.

Bhandari emphasised that India remained committed to global, non-discriminatory and verifiable nuclear disarmament and the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

India has supported the proposal put forward by NAM for the Conference on Disarmament (CD) to commence negotiations on a comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention.

"Without prejudice to the priority we attach to nuclear disarmament, India has also supported the commencement of negotiations of an FMCT (Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty) in the CD on the basis of the agreed mandate.

"We have called for a meaningful dialogue amongst all States possessing nuclear weapons to build trust and confidence and for reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in security doctrines," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)More than 1.90 lakh tourists from Pakistan and around 35.50 lakh tourists from Bangladesh visited India in 2016 and 2017, the government informed Parliament today.

Minister of State for Tourism K J Alphons told the Rajya Sabha that while foreign tourist arrivals in India during 2016 was 8.80 million, in 2017 the number stood at 10.18 million.

In 2016, the number of tourists from Bangladesh was 13,804,409 while those from Pakistan was 1,04,720. In 2017, the number of tourists from Bangladesh was 21,70,406 and those from Pakistan was 89,692, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Over 240 fishermen were still missing after cyclone Ockhi hit India's southern coast more than five months ago and the chances of their return may be very dim, according to a parliamentary panel.

The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, headed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, has expressed concern over the fate of the missing fishermen and the reports that there was a delay in the launch of 'search and rescue' operations.

The committee, in its report submitted to Parliament today, took note of of the submission of the Ministry of Home Affairs that the government, despite the unprecedented circumstances, launched search and rescue operations in a timely manner.

"While the central government has made efforts to rescue the fishermen stranded at sea, the committee observes that nearly 244 fishermen were still missing as on January 4, 2018. With the search and rescue operation being called off by the government, the committee painfully notes that the chances of return of the remaining missing fishermen may now be very dim," the panel said.

The committee said that it wants the MHA to collect the final number of missing fishermen and submit a report to it.

"The committee recommends that the government must make adequate arrangements for providing a viable means of livelihood to the families of missing fishermen and they should be provided livelihood assistance, as an interim measure, without any delay," the report said.

Cyclone Ockhi, which formed as a depression over southwest Bay of Bengal on November 29, 2017, intensified into a cyclone off the Kanyakumari coast in Tamil Nadu on November 30 and travelled up to the Gujarat coast before it dissipated on December 6 after weakening into a low pressure area.

Ockhi is the first severe cyclonic storm in almost 40 years to have travelled about 2,400 kilometres from the Bay of Bengal to as far as the Gujarat coast, a senior Met Department official had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India during July 2017 to February 2018 was 74.11 lakh compared to 65.75 lakh during the same period last year, the government informed Parliament today.

Union Minister of State for Tourism K J ALphons told the Rajya Sabha that foreign tourist arrivals have grown by 12.71 per cent from July 2016-February 2017 to July 2017-February 2018.

He also said foreign exchange earnings (FEE) in India during July 2017-February 2018 was Rs 1.28 lakh crore, compared to Rs 1.13 lakh crore during July 2016-February 2017 showing a growth of 13.32 per cent.

"As such no adverse impact of the goods and services tax (GST) is seen in tourism sector footfalls," Alphons said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's National Security Committee (NSC) today resolved to raise the issue of alleged rights violations in Kashmir at both bilateral and multilateral fora.

The NSC, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, condemned the recent violence in the valley and "incessant use" of pellet guns against protesters and funeral processions, a statement said.

The Committee reiterated Pakistan's commitment to political, diplomatic and moral support for the people of Kashmir.

The Committee decided to raise the issue at both bilateral and multilateral fora, the statement said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to dedicate the locomotive facility in Madhepura in Bihar to the nation and flag off the first high-power electric locomotive assembled there on April 10, railway ministry sources said today.

Modi, who will be in Motihari as the chief guest at a programme of the Chalo Champaran Campaign, a part of the Swachch Bharat Mission, is likely to launch the first 12,000HP (horsepower) electric locomotive, remotely from there.

"The PM is slated to be in Champaran at that time and among other things he might announce for the state, announcement of the first electric loco in Madhepura could be a part of it," senior Indian Railways officials said, adding that the final itinerary will be decided in the coming days.

This first locomotive is part of a joint venture of the railways with French giant Alstom, signed in 2015 and the first major foreign direct investment (FDI) project in the rail sector.

The project envisages a capital investment of around Rs 1,300 crore by the JV company where Ministry of Railways is required to contribute a maximum of Rs 100 crore as its equity (26 pc) participation.

The ministry would procure 800 locomotives over 11 years.

It said while five locomotives would be assembled at the factory by 2019 and the remaining 795 would be manufactured under the 'Make in India' initiative. The factory would build 100 electric engines per year from the financial year 2021-22.

A team of more than 35 engineers have been working day and night to assemble the electric engines at the factory, set up at an estimated cost of more than Rs 20,000 crore.

The Indian Railways is looking to manufacture 800 electric train engines in the next 11 years to meet the requirement of locomotives after the electrification of almost all railway routes.

The foundation stone for the factory was laid in 2007 by then railway minister Lalu Prasad.

The locomotive factory is spread over 250 acres of land in Madhepura, 284 km northeast of state capital Patna.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Robust colours, erotica and something from everyday life - Bhupen Khakhar's exhibits offer all of this and a lot more.

The collection of 149 art works, on display at the Swaraj Archives in Noida, stands testimony to the process of the famed artist's spectacular trajectory.

Former NGMA director Rajiv Lochan, who has curated the show "Liberation, Revelation/Representation: The art of Bhupen Khakhar", describes the artist's approach as "naive, supple sensuality".

Something as mundane as a dog, a donkey or a wall clock were a source of inspiration to him, as were complex physical encounters - hetero or homosexual.

Lochan said Khakhar's lack of formal art education worked in his favour, allowing him unconditional freedom of thought, content and expression.

"The unskilled part was his strength," Lochan told PTI.

The show seems not so much about individual artwork as it is about the journey of the artist who died in 2003.

The exhibits include a 1989 watercolour of Ratnagiri with hutments flanked by familiar shades of blue waters, a semi-abstract landscape of 1990 and a more defined recreation of the Milan airport a decade later.

The later works, particularly the etchings, underline his distinctive style.

The uncountable lines of black ink cut each other almost maddeningly to create bold, unapologetic images of embrace and unison.

His saturated colour palette is another aspect of his remarkable technique. His bright yellows, blues and reds, when put together against a white background, pierce the eyes, making it impossible to look away from all the drama.

So much so that in one of his works depicting a sexual encounter involving two men and a woman, one doesn't know what demands more attention -- the bold subject or the unconventional colour scheme.

The artist's choice of hues, Lochan said, took the scenes he created "beyond their mundane reality".

The show also gives an insight into the vast range of mediums he had put to use -- from watercolour, acrylic, crayon, charcoal, sketch pen on paper, to oil on canvas, acrylic on fabric and mixed media on terracotta and ceramic.

Lochan said Khakhar's works spoke an inimitable language and the artist had the ability to fuse mundane realities of everyday life and personal fantasies.

"The imagery and colours influenced from ordinary life, subconscious, experiences and desires make his personal fantasies engaging," Lochan said.

The exhibition also features a number of self portraits, as well as some depictions by artist Jyotindra Manshankar Bhatt.

The show is on till April 15.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The World Health Organisation today called on member countries in South-East Asia Region to step up efforts towards universal health coverage, stressing that healthier populations create more productive economies.

Universal health coverage (UHC) is central to improving health and well-being - a fundamental human right, Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO South-East Asia regional director, said ahead of the World Health Day on April 7.

The theme of this year's World Health Day is 'Universal Health Coverage: everyone, everywhere'.

UHC is a flagship programme of the WHO in the region since 2014. In recent years, member states have taken several initiatives to help improve access to essential health services. However, challenges remain.

Singh said universal health coverage is imperative for a country's well-being as healthier populations create more productive economies.

"Nearly half of the WHO South-East Asia Region's population still lacks full coverage of essential health services. Significant inequalities persist and poorer people, and those in rural areas, have lower access than richer people, and those living in urban areas," Singh said.

Some 65 million are pushed into extreme poverty, mainly due to paying out-of-pocket for medicines, especially for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

Health services must be planned around the needs of the people, Singh said, highlighting that by 2020 more of the region's population will be over 60 than under-five.

Hence, ageing population, reversing the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, and early detection and timely treatment of infectious diseases, should be the focus of front-line services.

Increasing access to quality and affordable essential medicines is also fundamental. Paying out-of-pocket for medicines is the leading cause of financial hardship from healthcare spending in this region, Singh said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russian President Vladimir Putin today urged "common sense" to prevail in the spy poisoning crisis as London and Moscow faced off in a tense meeting at the world's chemical weapons watchdog.

Putin's plea came as Moscow expelled a Hungarian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move, just the latest escalation of tensions between Russia and the West since the nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent a month ago.

"What we expect is that common sense will in the end prevail and there will not be this damage in international relations that we have seen recently," Putin said after summit talks in Ankara.

But at the start of a meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), London slammed as "perverse" a Russian proposal for a joint probe into the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

"We will not agree to Russia's demand to conduct a joint investigation into the attack in Salisbury because the UK -- supported by many other countries -- has assessed that it is highly likely that the Russian state is responsible for this attack, and that there is no plausible alternative explanation," British chemical arms expert John Foggo told the OPCW executive council in The Hague.

OPCW experts have already taken samples at the site of the March 4 attack in Salisbury, and they are being analysed in its labs in The Hague, as well as in four other certified laboratories.

Britain has said the Skripals and a British police officer were exposed to a Soviet-designed nerve agent called Novichok.

OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu told the meeting he expected the results by his team "by early next week."



"The OPCW team worked independently and is not involved in the national investigation by the UK authorities," he insisted.

The crisis has sent the long-difficult relations between Russia and the West plummeting to new lows. Both sides have already expelled scores of diplomats.

Britain has also suspended high-level diplomatic contact with Moscow.

Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin warned Wednesday in a speech in Moscow that both sides must avoid tensions escalating to the dangerous levels of the Cold War.

And he said that accusations of Moscow engineering the attack were a "grotesque provocation ... crudely concocted by the British and American security services".

At a closed-door OPCW meeting convened at Moscow's request, Russia insisted it was ready to cooperate.

"We hope that at the end of this meeting, we will reach a decision which will lead us out of this impasse," said Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Riabkov, speaking in Moscow.

"Otherwise we will find ourselves in a situation where we have even more reason to highlight our serious grievances with Britain and its supporters."



But the British delegation to the OPCW said in a Tweet that "Russia's proposal for a joint, UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury incident is perverse. It is a diversionary tactic."Foggo added that Russia was dodging all of London's questions, and had made a series of "shameless, preposterous" statements.

"Russia's refusal to accept the results of the OPCW's investigation unless Russian experts participate in it suggests that Russia is opposed .... nervous about what the results will show," he said.

But in a move hailed as a vindication by Moscow, the British defence laboratory at Porton Down analysing the nerve agent revealed Tuesday that it could not say whether the substance came from Russia.

A diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, told AFP that Russia had tabled a motion at the the OPCW asking to "involve Russia in some way or another in the investigation".

Under the rules of the Chemical Weapons Convention, it is up to Britain to lead the inquiry, with technical assistance from the OPCW which is acting in a "totally independent manner," the source said.

Russia has accused the West of wanting to put up a new Iron Curtain and warned of a return to the mutual isolation of the Cold War.

For Washington, "fighting the non-existent so-called Russian threat has become a real fixation," foreign intelligence chief Naryshkin said.

"It has reached such proportions and developed such ludicrous characteristics, that it's time to talk about the return of the grim times of the Cold War.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russian President Vladimir Putin today said that "common sense" must prevail in the row with the West over an ex-spy whose poisoning in Britain has been blamed on Moscow.

"What we expect is that common sense will in the end prevail and there will not be this damage in international relations that we have seen recently," Putin told reporters in Ankara after talks on Syria.

He said common sense should not just apply to the dispute over the Skripal attack "but also all other aspects of international relations".

"We need to act within the framework of healthy political processes that are based on the fundamental norms of international law," said Putin, who attended a three-way summit in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani.

"Then the situation in the world will become more predictable and stable."



Putin's comments came as Russia and Britain traded accusations at a tense meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) over the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal with a nerve agent in England.

Britain and its Western allies have blamed Moscow for the attack on Skripal, a Russian former double agent who has lived in Britain since a spy swap in 2010, but the Kremlin has vehemently denied responsibility.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today ruled out early formation of a Constitution bench to deal with various issues related to reservation, including the extension of "creamy layer" exclusion principle in grant of quota to SC/ST government employees in promotion.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had earlier said that a five-judge Constitution bench would examine as to whether its 2006 verdict in the M Nagraj case needed a re-look.

The verdict had said that the creamy layer exclusion principle, applicable in grant of quota to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), cannot be applied to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for promotions in government jobs.

"It will take some time to constitute a bench," the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, today said when lawyers Naresh Kaushik and Suyash Mohan Guru mentioned the matter and sought early setting up of the larger bench to deal with the issue.

The court had earlier tagged several petitions on the issue of grant of quota to SC/ST employees in promotions including the one filed by the Madhya Pradesh government against the High Court decision declaring the M P Public Service (MPSC) Promotion Rules, 2002 as ultra virus to the Constitution.

The MPSC Promotion Rules provided for the quota in promotion also to the SC-ST government employees.

Earlier, a two-judge bench of the apex court had referred a batch of petitions to the CJI for consideration of the issue by a larger bench.

The 2006 verdict in the M Nagaraj versus Union of India had ruled out the application of creamy layer exclusion principle for SC-ST employees.

The bench, while referring the matters to the CJI, had also referred to earlier verdicts of 1992 Indra Sawhney and others versus Union of India (popularly called Mandal Commission verdict) and 2005 E V Chinnaiah versus State of Andhra Pradesh which had dealt with creamy layer exclusion principle for OBCs.

In one of the matters, the Maharashtra government, through its resolution in 2004, had granted reservation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and De-Notified Tribes, Nomadic Tribes, Special Backward Category and Other Backward Classes in job promotions also.

The apex court had said that clarity was required on the application of creamy layer principle in a situation of competing claims within the same races, communities, groups or parts of SC/ST communities notified by the President under Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution.

The bench had sought clarification on Article 16(4), 16 (4A) and 16(4B) of the Constitution of India, which deals with the power of a state government to make provisions for reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion, was not adequately represented in the services under the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Rajya Sabha today witnessed repeated disruptions since it assembled in the morning, witnessing four adjournments, including three times in a row within minutes of being re-convened in the afternoon.

While the House was first adjourned till 2 PM within minutes after it met at 11 AM, it saw a spate of adjournments when it met again.

After Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke for some time accusing the government of not letting the legislative business be transacted, several opposition members trooped into the Well raising slogans.

This led Deputy Chairman P J Kurien to adjourn the House for 30 minutes till 2.45 PM.

Later senior DMK member Tiruchi Siva adjourned the House twice in quick succession, even ahead of any unruly scenes breaking out.

At 2 PM, Azad stressed that besides being responsible for passage of bills, MPs represent the people of India and have been mandated to raise issues of millions of people.

The Leader of Opposition said both the ruling party and the earlier government had given a commitment to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh after its reorganisation, which should be implemented now.

He said the Opposition wants a discussion on the banking scams and the CBSE paper leak.

On the SC/ST Act, he said the law has been made for their protection.

Soon after Azad spoke, members from the TDP stormed the Well of the House carrying "Save Andhra Pradesh" placards and implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act.

"Narendra Modi - Dalit Virodhi" (Narendra Modi is anti- Dalit), shouted Congress and BSP members. They also shouted "Dalit virodhi yeh sarkar, nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi" (This anti-Dalit government will not be tolerated).

Amid the uproar, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla moved a resolution seeking increase in the basic customs duty on circuit boards from nil to 10 per cent.

Kurien said he cannot accept the position that no legislative business can be transacted and then adjourned the House till 2:45 pm.

Earlier in the day, Naidu called the protests, which have not allowed any business to be transacted since the House met on March 5, as a "murder of democracy".

Naidu expressed displeasure over repeated disruptions since Parliament met early last month for the second half of the Budget session.

He requested members to return to their seats and at least pass the anti-corruption bill. He said handful of people were obstructing proceedings over their agenda.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 16-member team today entered the 'Ratna Bhandar', the treasury of the 12th-century Lord Jagannath Temple here, after 34 years and had a quick scrutiny of its physical conditions amid strong security, a temple official said.

The inspection followed the Orissa High Court's order to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to examine the structural stability and safety of the Ratna Bhandar.

"The team members undertook inspection of the walls, ceiling and floor of the Ratna Bhandar. The walls and ceiling were found damp," said Chief Administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) P K Jena who was among the 16 persons who entered the Ratna Bhandar.

Of the seven chambers of the Ratna Bhandar, the first two are outer chambers which were used from time to time, and the others are called inner chambers.

"The condition of inner chambers were seen with search lights from outside. The members did not need to enter the inner chamber as they were visible from a distance," said Jena.

Though the duration of the inspection was fixed between 2 pm and 5 pm, the team members undertook a very quick inspection and returned within minutes after entering the Ratna Bhandar.

"The ASI is preparing the preliminary report about the inspection. We will go through it and the detailed report will be submitted to the High Court on April 5," he said.

Altogether 17 persons were supposed to be in the inspection team, Puri Superintendent of Police Sarthak Sarangi could not go inside the Ratna Bhandar as he did not wear the "Gamuchha", the traditional cotton towel, mandatory for all to enter into the treasury, he said.

Jena said the door of the Ratna Bhandar was opened in presence of the representative of Puri Gajapati Maharaj's representative, Amiya Mohanty.

Besides Mohanty, there were various officials of the temple, experts of the ASI, Puri district collector, and a high court representative in the team that entered the treasury which was last inspected in 1984. At that time, only three of its seven chambers had been opened.

All the members went through frisking and body scanning before entering the Ratna Bhandar.

While the team was inspecting the condition of the Ratna Bhandar, personnel of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, police and fire brigade were deployed in the temple premises with search light and oxygen cylinders.

Snake experts had also been put on alert.

On March 22, the Orissa High Court had ordered the ASI to inspect the structures of the Ratna Bhandar on March 26 and 27. After the inspection, the ASI said its outer surface was good. The condition of inside structures would be inspected after it is opened.

The high court is monitoring the repair works undertaken by the ASI in the 12th-century shrine since 2016, while adjudicating a plea for judicial intervention for effective repair and renovation of the temple.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), also known as Vizag Steel, is expecting to be back in the black in the 2018-19 fiscal after a gap of three years, a company official said today.

In the last fiscal, RINL, the second largest steel-making company in the public sector, posted an EBITDA of Rs 200 crore.

"In March 2018, RINL had posted a net profit. We expect to be back in the black by posting a net profit in the current fiscal," CMD of RINL, P Madhusudan said.

He told reporters here that the outlook for the steel industry is positive, as all the consuming sectors were looking up.

RINL, Madhusudan said, was now reaping the benefits of expansion and modernisation, which has stabilised by now coupled with steady markets, mostly in the southern region.

The company, which was sourcing the crucial iron-ore linkage from NMDC and Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), was trying to increase the volumes from the latter as it was cheaper in terms of landing cost, he said.

It was also in the process of forging a JV agreement with AP Mineral Development Corporation for raw material linkages, he said, adding, that RINL would be given on preferential basis.

The company was exporting wire rods to the US markets and was getting a good price, Madhusudan said.

"Since the demand for wire ropes was good within India, any problem in the US market will not affect RINL," he said.

RINL exports its products to the markets of south-east Asia, he said, and earned Rs 1,700 crore from shipments last fiscal, registering a 60 per cent growth.

Madhusudan told PTI that once the rated capacity went up to 7 million ton in 2018-19 from 6.3 mt, RINL would be able to stretch it up further to 8 mt.

The company would commission its wheel plant at Rae Barelli in January 2019, he said.

Revenue from the wheel plant would be around Rs 560 crore per annum.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)RJD national general secretary Bhola Yadav today blamed "distorted" media reports on his views on party chief Lalu Prasad's latest conviction in a fodder scam case for a Ranchi court's contempt notice issued yesterday to him.

In a statement issued here, Yadav, who is an RJD MLA and Prasad's close confidant, said, "It has been the RJD's stand all through that Lalu is not getting justice because of the biased investigation by the CBI. I had made a statement to this effect while leaving for Delhi last month."



"Since I was in Delhi by the side of Prasad, who is ill and undergoing treatment at AIIMS, I could not notice how my opinion was presented in the media. The Hindi newspaper report cited by the court is a distorted one and I urge the newspaper to publish a corrigendum," Yadav said.

Special CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh has summoned Yadav on April 19, taking note of a report which had appeared on March 29 in a multi-edition Hindi daily.

While issuing the notice, the judge said that the RJD leader had "intentionally used contemptuous and scandalous words, intended to lower the authority of this court" and "thereby caused criminal contempt."



Yadav said "I maintain that had the CBI carried out its probe in an impartial manner, Prasad would have not been found guilty in any of the cases. My accusation was pointedly against the CBI and not against the honourable court".

"Of course, as aggrieved parties we have been saying that we will be appealing against the lower court order before the high court and, if needed, the Supreme Court. But that does not imply we are casting aspersions on the trial court," he added.

The RJD supremo has been in jail since December 23 when he was convicted in a case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Deoghar treasury. Since then he has been convicted in three more cases.

In a toughest ever sentence to a politician, Lalu Prasad was awarded a total of 14 years in prison on March 24 in the fourth case related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury.

The first time the former Bihar chief minister was convicted in a fodder scam case was in the year 2013, which led him to lose his Lok Sabha membership besides disqualification from contesting elections.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The J-K National Panthers Party (JKNPP) today held protest against the state government, especially the ruling coalition partner BJP, for allegedly not doing anything to deport Rohingyas and Bangladeshis from Jammu region, despite brewing public anger.

Activists led by JKNPP Chairman Harsh Dev Singh staged a protest at the Exhibition ground here.

Describing the Rohingyas as the "biggest threat" to the communal harmony and composite culture of Jammu, Singh alleged the BJP partnered dispensation of not responding to the alarming situation, which he said could vitiate peace in the city of temples.

What happened to the much trumpeted group of four Ministers (GoM) headed by Deputy CM Nirmal Singh which was constituted last year in Feb 2017 to identify the unlawful immigrants for their deportation?



"You cannot befool the public by such gimmicks said Harsh cautioning it of serious repercussions of such deceptive moves", he added.

He alleged that the number of illegal foreign immigrants posing a demographic threat to Jammu region had soared under the BJP rule as thousands of Rohingyas are now camping in Jammu and Samba districts.

"They had illegally raised fabricated slums at several congested colonies in Jammu city and managed to procure PRCs, Aadhaar cards, Ration cards, free water connections under the tutelage of the present BJP-PDP dispensation", Singh added.

The protest that saw activists raising anti-BJP slogans and burning effigy of the coalition government demanded for the immediate repatriation of illegally settled foreigners.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit out at Iran after President Hassan Rouhani accused Israel of supporting "terrorists" in Syria.

"Absurdity has no limits: Iran's terrorist regime that sends tentacles of terror across the region accuses Israel of terrorism," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter yesterday.

"If Rouhani is unaware of the terrorist and sabotage activities conducted daily by the Iranian Quds Force in Syria, Israel can provide him with an update," Netanyahu said yesterday, referring to the foreign arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Earlier in the day, during a summit in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin, Rouhani denounced "the daily support of the Zionist regime for terrorists in Syria", according to the website of the Iranian presidency.

Tehran is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, but Israel does not want its arch-rival to entrench itself militarily next door.

In February Israel carried out major air raids in Syria, including against sites it described as Iranian targets.

Iran has also long supported Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has written to Hamas chief Ismail Haniya pledging the Islamic republic's backing "in any form".

"It is a religious duty and an obligation as human beings ... and, God willing, we will act in accordance with this obligation, as in the past," he wrote.

Excerpts of the letter were published yesterday on Khamenei's website after de facto Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Israel has a "right" to a homeland, in a notable shift in the kingdom's position.

Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, but behind the scenes their ties appear to have improved in recent years against what they see as a common Iranian threat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress president Rahul Gandhi today accused the Narendra Modi government of "disrespecting" and "demolishing" various institutions by having RSS men "sitting in every ministry and giving orders."



On the fifth lap of his tour of election-bound Karnataka, Gandhi said if voted to power, the Congress would free these institutions from the RSS control.

"I don't know if you all know that in every single



minister's office, there is an RSS man sitting and giving orders.

So what can you expect.... nothing but disrespecting the institutions. The banking system of the country has been demolished by having this structure," he said.

"Who is Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksey? These are the people who arise when you don't respect the financial institutions like the Reserve Bank of India."



"We are also seeing Piyush Goyal (with scam tumbling out)," he said at an interaction with traders here.

Fugitive diamond merchant Modi and his uncle Choksey are at the centre of the Punjab National Bank fraud.

Asked how the Congress would solve the unemployment problem, Gandhi said it would do so by encouraging small and medium scale businesses in construction, agriculture and other sectors.

He also said China is successful in creating jobs because its government imparts skill training to its workforce.

"In Modiji's government, there is no talk on (imparting) skills," he said.

Gandhi said the banks should give loans also to small and medium scale entrepreneurs, but this benefit is being usurped by 15 big names in Indian business.

"Anil Ambani has Rs 45,000 crore of loan and to help him, the Rafale (fighter jet) contract was given to him," he said.

In a letter to Congress leader Randeep Surjewala, Ambani, however, had refuted the allegation,saying Dassault's decision to choose Reliance as its Joint Venture partner was an independent agreement between the two corporate private sector entities and the two governments had nothing to do with it.

Addressing a rally at Magadi, near Bengaluru, Gandhi said the coming assembly election in Karnataka was a fightbetween two ideologies.

"On one side (12th century social reformer) Basavanna's idea of taking along every one together and brotherhood... the ideology that Congress propagates."



"On the other hand, there is RSS and BJP that spreads anger, hatred and pit one person against the other," he said.

Reminding the crowd that the film "Sholay" in the 1970s was shot at nearby Ramanagara, he said GST that was brought by the Central government resembles the film's villain Gabbar Singh and termed GST as "Gabbar Singh Tax."



Hitting out at JDS of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Gandhi said the S in JDS that stood for secular, has today become 'Sangha Parivar.'



"JDS has become Janata Dal Sangha Parivar. JDS is BJP's B team.. they are helping BJP. JDS has to make it clear whether they are supporting BJP or not," he said.

Earlier, Gandhi visited the Lingayat seminary Siddhaganga Mutt at Tumakuru and sought the blessings of Sri Shivakumara Swami, the highly revered seer of the community.

Gandhi visited the Mutt and met the 111-year old seer along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and KPCC President Parameshwara.

Gandhi's visit comes against the backdrop of the Siddaramaiah government's move to recommend to the Centre grant of religious minority status to Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats, who are politically powerful.

The state government's action was seen as an attempt to divide the votes of Lingayats,who constitute about 17 per cent of the state population and form a strong vote base of BJP.

BJP is projecting Lingayat strongman, former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, as its Chief Ministerial face.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Moscow on Wednesday said it would expel a Hungarian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move after Budapest kicked out a Russian representative over the poisoning of a former double agent in the UK.

Hungary has unusually warm ties with Russia for a European Union country, but last month became one of 18 bloc members to expel Russian diplomats in solidarity with Britain.

"In response to the unfriendly and unreasonable demand from Hungary to expel a Russian diplomatic worker on the basis of Britain's unproven accusation regarding Russia in the so-called 'Skripal affair', Russia is declaring a worker in the Hungarian embassy persona non grata," the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.

Hungarian ambassador had been called into the ministry, the statement added.

The move came days ahead of an election in Hungary that will likely extend the term of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The rightwing premier was one of just a few EU leaders to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his own re-election last month.

Orban has repeatedly clashed with Brussels over the rule of law and immigration, and he and Putin visit each other regularly.

The Hungarian leader has said that rather than liberal democracy he favoured building an "illiberal state" and praised Russia as a model.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sharing a personal account on the 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King Jr's assassination, Hollywood veteran Samuel L Jackson today revealed how the murder of the civil rights champion led him to embrace political activism.

In a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, the 69-year-old actor recalled the time he was a sophomore at Morehouse College in Atlanta when he received the of King's death.

King was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee when he was planning a national occupation of Washington, DC, called the 'Poor People's Campaign', which led to riots in many cities of America.

Jackson said he was watching "John Goldfarb, Please Come Home" at campus movie night, when "The cashier said, 'Dr King got shot.' I said, 'Is he dead?' And he said, 'No, not yet'."



"That's the only reason I remember that movie. In the middle of it, this guy came in and said that Dr King was dead and we need to do something. Everybody left. I went back to my dorm and couldn't find my roommate. Came to find out he was already in the streets with a whole bunch of other people, tearing up and burning up our neighbourhood," he said.

The actor said a couple of days later the students were told that Bill Cosby and Robert Culp wanted to fly them to Memphis, where King was shot, to march with the garbage workers.

He said they were confused about the situation in Memphis and thought "it was probably going to be something physical, even though the National Guard was there".

"We weren't thinking of it in any historical context, but we were glad there was something we could do other than burn, loot and destroy our own neighbourhood. That we could do something that's going to make these people's lives better. Especially knowing that King was killed for something as simple as, in that moment, a garbagemen's strike."



Jackson said they were flown back the same night and then went to Sisters Chapel at Spelman College, where King was "lying in state".

He said as volunteers were needed to help people find their way around campus at the funeral the next day was the funeral, "I became an usher".

"I remember Mahalia Jackson singing. I'd been listening to her all my life, so it was great to hear her sing 'Precious Lord, Take My Hand' live. I remember seeing people like Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier. People that I thought I'd never see, let alone have a relationship with later on in life."



Jackson said as while growing up they did not have a lot of civil rights protests in Chattanooga, Tennessee, he did not have a political bent of mind.

He added he was "sceptical" of Morehouse College administration grooming them "in some old-school things that the majority of us students didn't believe".

He petitioned and fellow student activists staged a "lock-in" at Morehouse, for which they ultimately got expelled.

"We actually petitioned the Morehouse board in 1969 to meet with them, but the black people who were around them said, 'No way, you can't come in here. You can't talk to them. Somebody said, 'Well, let's lock the door and keep them in there,' because we had read about the lock-ins on other campuses," Jackson wrote.

"Dr King's father, who was on the board, had some chest pains. We didn't want to unlock the door, so we just put him on a ladder, put him out the window, and sent him down. The whole thing lasted a day and a half. We negotiated that they wouldn't kick us out of school. And then when everybody was gone for the year, they kicked us out of school," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The sand mafia tried to kill the officer-in-charge of Chaygaon police station for making an effort to stop their activities in South Kamrup area, Congress MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed said in the Assam Assembly today.

Yesterday night, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Chaygaon police station Bhaskar Mallah (Patowary) chased a sand truck after getting an information and after that he was followed by a vehicle, Ahmed said in Assembly during a special mention.

"Fortunately, a police team reached the spot and intercepted the vehicle," Ahmed said.

The vehicle was about to hit the Chaygaon OC with an intention to kill him, but he escaped unhurt, he said.

"Had the police team from Bijaynagor not reached on time, Bhaskar Mallah would not have been alive today," Ahmed said in the House.

"A serious nexus is going on between sand mafia and administrators. They are running a parallel administration," he added.

Reacting to the Congress MLA's statement in the Assembly, Assam Environment & Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma said that such attacks on police officials used to take place a lot earlier, but have come down, since the BJP-led government came to power in the state.

"Such things have not been taking place for one day, but happening for a longtime. Trying to kill the OC is serious matter. A joint effort is needed to eliminate such dacoits," the Assembly Speaker, Hitendra Nath Goswami, said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today granted a last opportunity to the Centre to file its response to a PIL seeking to restrict a candidate from contesting from more than one constituency in a general election.

The Election Commission of India (ECI), in its affidavit in December last year, had quoted its 2004 proposals on electoral reforms and said that the law should be amended to ensure that a person cannot contest from more than one seat.

The poll panel had also said that its proposal to bar candidates from contesting from more than one seat was rejected by a parliamentary standing committee way back in 1998, which had taken note of the view of an all-party meeting favouring to retain the provision.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud posted the matter for hearing in the second week of July.

"Let the matter be listed in the second week of July 2018 to enable Pinky Anand, Additional Solicitor General, to file a counter affidavit. The petitioner may file rejoinder affidavit, if any.

"To put it succinctly, the pleadings shall be completed by the first week of July 2018. Be it made clear, no further time shall be granted to either of the parties. Be it noted, as we had requested (K K) Venugopal, Attorney General of India, to assist the court, he is ready to assist. However, we have been compelled to adjourn the matter as time has been sought for filing the counter affidavit," the court said.

The poll panel, in its response to the PIL filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, had said there was no change in its 2004 proposal.

"As regards the proposal of the Election Commission of India that there should be an express provision in law requiring a person who contests and wins election from two seats, resulting in a bye-election from one of the two constituencies, to deposit in the government account an appropriate amount of money being the expenditure for holding bye-election, it is further stated that the amount proposed at that point of time was Rs 5 lakh for state Assembly and Rs 10 lakh for election to the House of People," the ECI had said.

The poll panel had submitted that there was no change in its stand on this proposal but the amount proposed in the year 2004 may be enhanced appropriately.

The ECI had also said that there was no proposal moved by it in the list of current pending proposals to prohibit independent candidates from contesting elections.

Upadhyay has sought directions to the authorities to take appropriate steps to discourage the independent candidates from contesting parliamentary and state Assembly elections as suggested by the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC).

He has said the question of independent candidates is often connected with the issue of fragmented voting and instability in the electoral system and referred to the Law Commission's 170th report which said the time is now ripe for debarring independent candidates from contesting Lok Sabha elections.

"Similarly, the NCRWC has recommended discouragement of independent candidates, who are often dummy candidates or defectors from their party or those denied party tickets," the petition has said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Jana Sena and Left parties today called for a peaceful padayatra by people on all national and important highways across the state on April 6 as part of their stir,seeking Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh.

Jana Sena president and film star Pawan Kalyan, CPI(M) state secretary P Madhu and CPI secretary K Ramakrishna announced the action plan after a meeting here today.

Kalyan said he would take part in the foot march on the National Highway in Vijayawada while Jana Sena and Left parties' cadres would conduct the agitation in a peaceful manner on other highways and important roads across the state.

"This is in protest against the betrayal of people of Andhra Pradesh by the Government of India," they said.

It was on the call of the Jana Sena chief that TDP and YSR Congress served notices for moving a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the Narendra Modi government on the special category status issue.

"But the BJP government failed in conducting the Lok Sabha in an orderly fashion so that the motion could be taken up for discussion," the leaders said.

"This is a conspiracy against the people (of Andhra Pradesh).It's a blow to democracy as well," the leaders noted.

Instead of upping the ante on the Centre, the TDP and the YSRC were indulging in a mutual slanging match and harming the interests of the state, they lashed out.

After the foot march on the 6th, meetings would be organised by Jana Sena and the Left in Anantapuramu, Ongole and Vizianagaram with intellectuals on the SCS issue, they said.

We will take our agitation forward in a phased manner and announce the plan in due course," they added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court today gave a tongue-lashing to the Centre, Delhi government and civic agencies for their failure to stop unauthorised constructions in the national capital, saying that "lungs" of the citizens, especially children, were "damaged" due to inaction of the authorities.

The top court was critical of the continuous inaction by the authorities and said that the people of Delhi were suffering with problems such as pollution, parking and lack of green areas due to the issues arising out of unauthorised constructions.

"People of Delhi are suffering. Children are suffering. Our lungs are already damaged. Lungs of our children will also be damaged. Why? Because the Union of India, Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), municipal corporations of Delhi (MCDs) say you can do whatever you want but we will not do anything," a bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.

The apex court told Additional Solicitor General (ASG) A N S Nadkarni, representing the Centre, that unless the authorities would realise that the people of Delhi were important, nothing would change.

"People of Delhi are not cattles ...Everybody has some respect in the society," the bench said, adding there was a "continuous default" on the part of authorities since 2006 in this matter.

Nadkarni suggested that the top court should monitor the situation and the authorities should be asked to perform their duties in a time-bound manner.

"We are not policemen. Why should we do it?," the bench asked, adding, "Does the Supreme Court has nothing more to do?".

When Nadkarni argued that the apex court has monitored several issues in the past, the bench shot back, "You are doing nothing that is why we have to monitor several things".

"When the Supreme Court says something, it is said there is judicial activism and judicial overreach. This is happening. The Government of India can shut its eyes but we cannot. We have the constitutional obligations," the bench said.

It also questioned the government about the protests and 'dharnas' by the traders against the ongoing sealing drive.

When Nadkarni again said that the apex court should monitor it, Justice Lokur said, "Then there will be dharna outside my house."



The Centre told the bench that there was no doubt that Delhi is in a "mess" but its intention was to make everything orderly and organised in the national capital.

The ASG said striking down the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent legislations, which protect unauthorised construction from being sealed, was not a solution to the problem and it was the task of the Delhi government and local bodies to ensure that regulations were adhered to.

He said the Centre would hold discussions with all the authorities concerned and come out with suggestions so that the problems could be solved.

The advocates representing the Delhi government, DDA, the court-appointed monitoring committee agreed to the ASG's suggestion and said they would deliberate upon the issue and a meeting should be held in the office of the law officer.

The bench allowed the contention and said, "We expect that senior officials, who are in a position to take decision, would participate in the meeting, including the officials from the Delhi government, DDA, MCDs and Ministry of Urban Development and Housing."



The bench, which posted the matter for hearing on April 9, also asked the Centre as to what it has done about commercial establishments in residential areas here and said there were big car showrooms, restaurants and big shops in such areas.

The Centre said any commercial establishments in residential areas which were violating law, would have to go.

When the Centre said that the Delhi government and other civic agencies have the power to regulate, the bench said, "You also have the power. You cannot say that you do not have the power and you are powerless. You cannot say so".

The bench also clarified that it was not going to touch small traders who were selling essential commodities like milk and bread in the residential areas but the restaurants, which are operating without any fire safety norms in residential areas, and showrooms such as that of cars and clothes would have to go.

It referred to the last year's fire incident in restaurants at Kamala Mills compound in Mumbai, in which several people died, and said that even in Delhi, several restaurants were operating from first floor of the buildings in residential areas that too without any fire safety clearance.

The bench referred to the chequered history of unauthorised constructions and colonies in Delhi and said, "It is a 30-year-old problem. What have you done in these 30 years. The MCD was granting licences left, right and centre without having any concern for anybody."



"There is gross misuse of commercial establishments in residential areas. You have a 30-year explanation to give to the people of Delhi," the bench said, adding, "People of Delhi are not relevant to you."



The top court is hearing arguments on the validity of the 2006 Act and subsequent legislations which protect unauthorised construction from being sealed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A sessions court here today issued a bailable warrant against Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel for not being present during the proceedings of framing of charges against him and others in a sedition case.

Judge D P Mahida issued the warrant and posted the matter for April 25 for hearing on the framing of charges.

In February this year, the court had rejected Patel's discharge application.

A case of sedition was registered against Patel by the Ahmedabad crime branch following violence during the agitation for OBC quota for the Patidar community in August 2015.

Patel and others are accused of inciting violence with the intention to dislodge the government after a rally addressed by him turned violent in August 2015. At least 13 people died in the violence.

Of the six accused in the FIR, two are yet to be arrested, while another person, Ketan Patel, has turned a prosecution witness. Hardik Patel, Dinesh Bambhaniya and Chirag Patel were arrested and got bail.

Chirag Patel was also absent during today's proceedings, while Bambhaniya remained present.

In the charge sheet, the police termed the agitation spearheaded by Patel as a "pre-planned conspiracy", meant to put pressure on the state government to accept their "unconstitutional demand of quota".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Belgrade court sentenced today seven people to up to 11-year jail terms for joining jihadist groups and recruiting fighters for the Syrian war, in the first such trial in Serbia.

The defendants were "found guilty of terrorism charges as well as financing terrorism and recruiting and training fighters" to go to Syria, the special tribunal for organised crime said in a statement.

They were accused of fundraising money in the Balkans region and western Europe to finance, recruit and train a number of Serbian citizens for the Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front groups in Syria.

Four defendants denied charges. Another three were tried and sentenced in absentia. According to local media, they are believed to have been killed in Syria.

The men received jail sentences ranging from seven to 11 years.

The defence attorneys said they would appeal the verdict.

Around 1,000 people from the western Balkans are estimated to have left to fight in Syria and Iraq since 2012.

However official figures show departures slowed dramatically in 2016 following a government crackdown on suspected jihadists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Social activist Teesta Setalvad and her associate Javed Anand today moved the Bombay High Court, seeking 'transit anticipatory bail' in a case of alleged misappropriation of Central government's funds by them.

After a brief hearing on the plea, a bench of Revati Mohite-Dere said she would pass appropriate order on the plea tomorrow.

The case was registered by Ahmedabad Crime Branch last week, on a complaint accusing Setalvad and Anand of 'fraudulently' securing grants of Rs 1.4 crore from the Union government through their NGO Sabrang Trust between 2008 and 2013.

As per the Gujarat police, the funds had been ostensibly obtained to help the victims of the 2002 post-Godhra Gujarat riots, but were misappropriated or used for other purposes.

The complaint was registered under sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) of the Indian Penal Code.

Senior counsel Mihir Desai, representing Setalvad and Anand, told the high court today that both of them were willing to appear before the investigating agency on April 6 to record their statements.

"Anand will appear before the agency as and when required. Setalvad is going out of India between April 10 and May 15. She would return and (again) appear before the agency," Desai told Justice Mohite-Dere.

The high court should give them 'transit anticipatory bail,' so that they can travel to Gujarat and seek regular pre-arrest bail from the appropriate court, he said.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the Gujarat police, sought to assure the court that Setalvad and Anand can appear before the investigating officers on April 6, and the police would not arrest them till April 9.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP president Amit Shah today hit out at the BJD government in Odisha, accusing it of having failed to ensure development in the state despite a Rs 45,000-crore additional allocation by the Centre.

He also criticised the Naveen Patnaik government for blaming the Centre for backwardness in the state and said Odisha was lagging behind despite having all resources because of "misrule and inefficiency" of the BJD dispensation.

Odisha, he said, has remained backward and poor despite being endowed with abundant resources and its people were suffering as the BJD government "failed miserably" to deliver despite being in power for the last 18 years.

"The Centre wants speedy development of Odisha and has already allocated Rs 45,000 crore extra for the state for different programmes. But the Naveen Patnaik government is unable to utilise it properly," Shah told a pubic meeting in this western Odisha town.

Moreover, the NDA government has given a proposal to the 14th Finance Commission for providing Rs 2,11,510 crore to Odisha for its progress, he said.

Virtually sounding the poll bugle for the 2019 general elections, Shah said his party is already in power in 20 states and claimed Karnataka, where Assembly polls are scheduled in May, will soon become 21st BJP-ruled state.

"As the "vikas rath' led by Narendra Modi is surging ahead in the country, Odisha should also become a part of this journey towards speedy development," he said.

Assembly polls in Odisha are due next year along with the Lok Sabha elections.

In a stinging attack on the Patnaik government, Shah said 36 per cent of the villages in the state are still deprived of electricity and 50 per cent of BPL families are yet to get their homes, safe drinking water and other facilities. Fifty lakh houses in the state are still "kutchha", he said.

The BJP chief said despite abundant water resources, only 33 per cent agricultural land in Odisha is irrigated and charged the BJD government with failure to utilise the huge funds provided by the Centre due to lack of sincerity and efficiency.

The education system in the state has collapsed and 40 per cent children are under-nourished and the education system has collapsed, he alleged, adding if the BJD is unable to perform, it should quit.

"If the BJP is voted to power, it will transform Odisha into an advanced state," the party president said.

The Modi government at the Centre is committed to providing electricity to all households under the Soubhagya Yojana by 2021, drinking water to each village and "pucca" houses to all by 2022, Shah said. In addition, 12000 villages will be linked under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana, he said.

He said that the Centre has taken steps for providing Rs 5 lakh health insurance free of cost to 10 crore poor people. It is also all set to increase the minimums support price for paddy by 1.5 times, he said.

Shah hailed the contribution of Odia youths in the development of other states and said, "We want an Odisha where these youths will be able work in their own state for their livelihood instead of going out."



Shah, who arrived here today on a two-day Odisha visit, also held discussions with party's district unit presidents and state leaders during the day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP president Amit Shah would address a rally in Mumbai on April 6 on the occasion of the party's 38th Foundation Day, which is seen as a formal launch of its campaign for the 2019 polls.

Party workers from various parts of Maharashtra are expected to attend the event to be held at the MMRDA grounds in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in suburban Bandra.

Besides Shah, Union ministers hailing from Maharashtra and other BJP leaders will address the congregation to be held at 11:30 AM, state unit president Raosaheb Danve said while addressing a press conference today.

For the saffron party, the Mumbai venue has an emotional connect, as its first convention after formation of the party was held in the Maharashtra capital in 1980.

"The BJP intends to have one crore members in the state. We have a team of 25 youths comprising women, dalits, OBCs and adivasis for manning each booth in the state. There are 315 booths in each Assembly constituency. This takes the total number of booth workers in each constituency to 7500," said Danve.

Maharashtra has 288 Assembly constituencies.

Danve said arrangements have been made to bring the party workers to Mumbai in trains, buses and jeeps.

Referring to the 1980 convention, Danve said a clarion call was then given for making Atal Bihari Vajpayee the next Prime Minister, which took some years to materialise.

"Vajpayee was elected prime minister thrice in later years. After the BJP's BKC rally in 2014 (which was addressed by the BJP's then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi) power was changed in the country, similarly this upcoming mega rally will also enthuse party cadres with new energy and the impact would be seen nationwide," he said.

To a question whether the rally can be viewed as the formal launch of the BJP's electoral campaign, Danve replied, "Yes, you can say that".

To a question on whether the BJP's ally Shiv Sena or newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP Narayan Rane is invited for the rally, Danve replied in the negative saying it is the party function.

"Rane is an NDA ally and we are supporting him," he said.

Rane, whose Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha is an ally of the NDA, was recently elected to Rajya Sabha on the BJP's support.

On the Sena's stand to not have any electoral truck with the BJP in the next Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Danve evaded a direct reply.

"The BJP is constantly working to strengthen the organisation and the efforts would yield the party good results," he said.

On the criticism by the Opposition parties that the BJP was holding a party rally at a time when farmers are in distress, the BJP leader said the state government has been tirelessly working to improve the life of farmers.

"The BJP never ignored the farmers," he said.

Speaking after Danve, Mumbai BJP unit president Ashish Shelar said Shah would land in Mumbai tomorrow evening and will be accompanied from the airport to the BKC, a distance of around 9 kms, by BJP workers on motorcycles.

"On April 5 evening, Shah will meet the core committee of the state BJP that includes Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other senior leaders," said Shelar.

He said Shah might hold a press conference on April 6 after addressing the rally and will also interact with BJP legislators and MPs from Maharashtra.

Shah is not scheduled to meet Sena president Uddhav Thackeray who resides in suburban Bandra which houses the BKC, the venue of the rally, said Shelar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif said today the country is now trapped in martial laws as he warned that his party will not accept any delay in the general election which is scheduled to be held in July.

Speaking to journalists outside the accountability court in Islamabad, which is hearing graft cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against his family, Sharif claimed that a dubious game was being played in the country to which seasoned politicians were privy, The Express Tribune reported.

Terming the recently-elected Senate Chairman from Balochistan Sadiq Sanjrani a man of dubious character, Sharif said that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should take notice of such activities.

Sharif said the country managed to attain freedom from the British but is now trapped in martial laws.

"There is no room to delay the general elections, it will not be accepted," the ruling PML-N Qaid warned.

Lashing out at former president Asif Ali Zardari, Sharif said, "I do not know the internal workings, but the antics of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairperson are shameful.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Defence Minister on Wednesday met her Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of an international security conference in Moscow.

They are understood to have exchanged views on bilateral issues, particularly on the situation along the nearly 4,000 km-border between the two countries, official sources said.

Both Sitharaman and Wei are in Moscow to attend the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security.

Sitharaman herself tweeted a picture of her meeting with Wei.

There was no official details about the meeting.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face-off ended on August 28.Yet another prosecution witness in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case turned hostile today, taking the number of such witnesses to 48.

Majid Mohammed, a hotel owner from Udaipur in Rajasthan, turned hostile during his deposition by the CBI special judge S J Sharma today.

In his statement to the CBI, Majid had said that Inspector Adbul Rehman of Udaipur police, one of the accused in the encounter case, had told him that Shaikh was involved in the murder of his (Majid's) brother.

His brother, Hamid Lala, who had several criminal cases registered against him, had been murdered by some criminals and inspector Rehman probed the murder, Majid had told the CBI.

"Through him I had come to know that they were after Sohrabuddin, who was involved in the case, and it was Sohrabuddin who had brought sharp shooter Tuilsiram from Madhya Pradesh for killing my brother.

"About two-three days prior to the encounter of Sohrabuddin, (reports of) which appeared in the newspaper, Rehman came to our hotel at around 11-11.15 AM and told me that Sohrabuddin has been nabbed by the Gujarat police from a place near Hyderabad and he along with SP sahab were going to Ahmedabad," Majid's statement to the CBI said.

However, in his deposition to the court today, Majid said he did not know Abdul Rehman, adding he didn't know either what statement the CBI had recorded as it was not read out to him.

At this, the CBI counsel was forced to declared him hostile.

Sixty six witnesses have been examined so far, of whom 48 have been declared hostile.

The Mumbai court last October framed charges against 22 persons including police officers for murder, abduction and destruction of evidence in the alleged fake encounter case of Shaikh near Gandhinagar on November 26, 2005.

Shaikh, an alleged gangster with terror links, and his wife Kausar Bi were allegedly abducted by the Gujarat police's Anti-Terrorism Squad from Hyderabad on their way to Sangli in Maharashtra in November 2005.

According to the prosecution, Shaikh was killed in a fake encounter. Kausar Bi, who disappeared, too was allegedly killed later.

Tulsi Prajapati, an aide of Shaikh who was said to be a witness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by police at Chapri village in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in December 2006.

The case was transferred to Mumbai in September 2012 on the request of the CBI to ensure a fair trial.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A soldier was killed and two terrorists were eliminated in Balochistan in an intelligence-based search operation carried out by the Frontier Corps Balochistan.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operation was carried out yesterday in Pinsin Kaur, Dasht, Turbat and Dera Bugti areas in the province.

The ISPR, which is the military's media wing, said a large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from hideouts which were raided.

The operation was carried out two days after the Islamic State claimed responsibility that its militants had attacked a rickshaw in Quetta city and killed four members of a Christian family.

Meanwhile in other media reports, six suspected terrorists and an alleged suicide bomber were arrested during a operation in Lahore by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

The arrested terrorists were identified as Islam-ul-Haq, Jahangir Shah, Imran, Waqar and Aleem, whereas Luqman was the suspected bomber.

CTD officials claimed the alleged terrorists were involved in attacks on Bedian and Ferozepur roads and were plotting attacks on the Pakistan Super League matches from a seminary they had taken refuge in.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Gurgaon Police has booked a South Korean restaurant owner at Sector-29 here for allegedly assaulting a waitress working under him.

The accused, Jin bum Kim, reportedly pushed the victim and threw cigarettes, lighter and water bottles at her in a fit of rage on Monday night, police said.

The victim, hailing from Manipur, suffered head and back injuries in the incident, they said.

Jin bum Kim had hired two waitresses, both natives of Manipur. They were to serve customers from Korea. As the waitresses were not informed about the guests in advance, there was some delay with the services," Gurgaon Police PRO Ravindra Kumar said.

"The restaurant owner lost his cool when his customers complained to him about the delay. He reportedly called the waitresses to his office and assaulted one of them," he said.

Kumar said an FIR was registered against the accused at Sector 29 police station yesterday and the investigation is underway.

We are also examining the CCTV footage, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court today that it is going to set up a special medical board for assessment of disabilities of the students who want to pursue medical courses under the quota for the disabled.

A bench of Justices Ranjit More and Sadhana Jadhav was hearing a petition filed by a city-based medical student who suffers from dyslexia (learning disability).

Dr Faisal Porkar, in his petition filed through advocate Pooja Thorat, had raised the issue of his difficulty in getting a certificate from the state-runAll India Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AIIPMR).

The AIIPMR is one of the four medical boards notified by the state government which can assess 'intellectual disability' for the purpose of admissions to postgraduate medical courses under the quota for 'Persons with Disabilities (PwD)'.

Porkar approached the AIIPMR for the assessment of his disability. But the institute said it is authorised to assess only locomotor disabilities, and it can not give him a certificate about dyslexia.

He moved the high court, demanding that he should be considered eligible for admission to a post-graduate medical course under the PwD category for 2018-19 academic year on the basis of his past medical record.

The state government today submitted a copy of a letter it has sent to the Union Directorate General of Health Services, seeking guidelines for setting up a special medical board to help PwD students in getting required certificates.

The court said the state government should inform about the progress in this regard within a week, and adjourned the hearing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ruling out the opposition parties' demand for central forces for the upcoming panchayat elections in West Bengal, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Anuj Sharma today said the state police was sufficient to ensure peaceful polls.

He admitted that there were reports of sporadic violence in some parts of the state but said the situation was not as bad as telecast by some channels.

Sharma claimed that outsiders were being hired from neighbouring states to spread violence ahead of the panchayat elections in the state.

"We do not need central forces for panchayat elections. The state police is sufficient to ensure elections are free and fair, and conducted peacefully," Sharma said at the state secretariat here.

Asked about reports of violence during filing of nominations for the panchayat polls, he said, "The situation is not so bad that people cannot file nominations. Overall, all parties were able to file nominations in the last two days."



The filing of nominations for the rural polls began on April 2 and will continue till April 9.

The ADG said 818 people were arrested from different parts of the state since Sunday and cases have been initiated against them. "The SPs have been directed to conduct raids, and some seizures were made yesterday and today."



"We have initial reports that outsiders from neighbouring states are being hired by locals to create problems. These outsiders are entering the state from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam. We have asked the SPs to take action against these people," Sharma said.

Directives have been sent to increase vigilance at the borders with these states, he added.

So far, 1,614 nominations have been filed by the ruling Trinamool Congress, while other parties have filed 1,692 nominations in all, he said.

On the recent violence in Raiganj of Uttar Dinajpur district, the ADG said officers have been asked to take requisite action. "Extra police forces have been sent to ensure a smooth polling process," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"Stranger Things" showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer have been sued for allegedly ripping off the idea of a short film to create their hit Netflix show.

Charlie Kessler claims that the show is based on his short film "Montauk" and a feature film script titled "The Montauk Project".

Both the short film and script revolve around a government facility and the paranormal happenings taking place in its surrounding areas.

Kessler said he pitched the idea for the film to Matt and Ross Duffer, also known as The Duffer Brothers, when he met them at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

He said the talks were not able to materialise, but the Duffer brothers used the idea and turned it into "Stranger Things", which debuted in 2016 on the streaming site Netflix.

Incidentally, when Netflix had given a green light to the project back in April 2015, it was called "Montauk". It was originally set in Montauk, Long Island, but the show changed its setting to Indiana.

The short film, which was available on Vimeo but has since been taken down, shares many similarities with the "Stranger Things", such as the disappearance of a young boy, a cop with a haunted past, and a mysterious conspiracy at a nearby military base.

Kessler is demanding both monetary compensation as well as a trial by jury. Neither The Duffer Brothers nor the streaming giant has responded to lawsuit as of yet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights today on its own registered a case in connection with the death of a student who had allegedly ended his life after school authorities reportedly decided not to promote him to the 10th standard.

The commission in a press release said the parents of the student had been summoned by the private school management and they were asked to shift the boy to another school.

The boy committed suicide fearing that the school would not promote him to the 10th standard next year, police said.

School authorities, however, told TV channels that no such decision had been taken.

According to reports, the school management had decided not to promote 12 students to the tenth standard to ensure 100 per cent pass percentage in the SSLC exam.

Some activists of the CPI(M) backed Students Federation of India allegedly vandalised the school at Pambady in Kottayam district following the student's suicide on Sunday last.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today arrived here on a three-day visit to Azerbaijan during which she will hold talks with top leadership of the country and attend a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement.

"Welcome with flowers! EAM @SushmaSwaraj arrives in Baku to a warm welcome on her first visit to Azerbaijan. India and Azerbaijan share warm and friendly relations based on civilisational and cultural ties," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

This is also the first-ever bilateral visit of an Indian External Affairs Minister to Azerbaijan.

During her visit, Swaraj will hold talks with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and call on President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva.

A range of issues, including ways to boost bilateral cooperation between India and Azerbaijan, are expected to be discussed during her talks with leadership of that country.

Swaraj will also represent India at the mid-term ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which will take place on April 5 and 6 in Baku.

"As a founding member of NAM, India remains committed to the purposes and principles of the Movement," Kumar said.

"The External Affairs Minister's participation in the NAM Ministerial Meeting will underline India's continued active and constructive engagement within the movement with a view to further strengthen solidarity and cooperation among its member states," the Ministry of External Affairs had earlier said.

Bilateral ties between India and Azerbaijan have grown in many areas, including energy, transportation, and capacity building.

India's ONGC-Videsh is an investor in ACG oil fields and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)-A local fast track court has sentenced a occultist to 25 years imprisonment for criminally assaulting and raping a married lady in his Vrindavan-based ashram.

The learned Additional Distt judge, fast track court one, Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi, has also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000; and on its non- payment the accused would have to undergo further imprisonment of 27 months," Additional district counsel Praveen Kumar Singh said.

The case was transferred from the District Judge's court to this court and was decided in a duration of four months, the official said.

To get rid of her persistent stomach pain, a lady from Hathras had reached the accused's ashram in Vrindavan with her husband and four-year-old daughter in July last year.

She was told by a disciple of the accused tantrik (occultist) to stay in a room on the second floor as the treatment of evil forces would start at 10 PM, Singh said narrating the victim's complaint.

At 10 PM, the woman's husband was given a kindled earthen lamp with the instruction that he would take it down stairs and return only after the lamp was extinguished.

The accused, Baba Dwarkadas, molested the victim and despite her protestations, raped her, according to the complaint. The victim was told it was part of an exercise to eliminate the impact of evil forces, Singh said.

Next morning, she was again raped in the name of 'Nibu excercise' when her husband was asleep. The accused warned her to keep quiet or else her family would be eliminated, Singh said.

The couple left for Hathras, the following day, where the victim summoned courage and disclosed her ordeal to her husband, Singh said.

The couple came to Vrindavan and lodged an FIR against Baba Dwarkadas on July 22 last year, he said.

During the trial, the victim at the final stage said the rape was committed by some other person, Singh added.

However, on the basis of of evidence produced by police, statement of doctor and her earlier statement, the Tantrik was awarded 20 year rigorous imprisonment under section 376 (pertaining to rape) of the IPC, a Rs 20,000 fine and 18 months further imprisonment on failure to pay fine.

In addition, he was also awarded four year rigorous imprisonment under section 506 (intimidation) of the IPC, Rs four thousand fine and six month further imprisonment on default of payment of fine. The occultist was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of one year under section 417 (cheating) of the IPC with Rs one thousand fine and three months further imprisonment on non-payment of fine, Singh said adding the sentences would run one after the other.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The opposition RJD in Bihar today attacked the Nitish Kumar government for failure to check communal tensions and charged the Chief Minister with having "surrendered" before his ally, the BJP.

Releasing a 72-page "charge sheet", the leader of the opposition in the state assembly Tejashwi Yadav also said that the less than a year-old NDA government was an "all round failure" and the state got no benefits which were promised while the BJP was acquiring power "through back door".

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi trashed the charge sheet as a "bundle of lies."



"The double engine (allusion to the NDA being in power both at the Centre and in Bihar) has been a complete failure. The state has not got its well-deserved special status. Nor has the 1.25 lakh crore package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a theatrical flourish made any difference", Yadav said.

"Kumar's promise of a Sangh-mukt Bharat has fallen flat on its face as he is now busy assisting the BJP in creating a vipaksh-mukt (bereft of opposition) Bharat", Yadav alleged.

Kumar had returned to power in the 2015 assembly elections as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Grand Alliance that comprised JD(U), RJD and Congress.

He, however, walked out of the alliance and formed a new government with the BJP in July last year following corruption cases against Yadav, who was then his deputy.

Yadav also questioned Kumar's inability to pre-empt the communal clashes that were witnessed in several districts of the state recently, alleging "groundwork for the sectarian strife had been done by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat while he was on a 10-day tour of Bihar in February".

"Moreover, reports of truckloads of swords being brought to Bihar, ahead of Ram Navami festivities, were enough indication of what was lying in store. But Kumar appears to have surrendered before the agenda of the BJP-RSS. His government is no longer run on the agenda of his seven resolves which speak about providing basic amenities to the poorest of the poor", Yadav said.

Meanwhile, in a series of scathing tweets, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi termed the "charge sheet" as "a bundle of lies" and lambasted the RJD for "causing wastage of public money to the tune of crores of rupees by frequently disrupting the just-concluded assembly session".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Thousands of Brazilians demonstrated in favor of prison for former president and election frontrunner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the eve of a Supreme Court ruling on whether he should start serving a 12 year sentence for corruption.

Up to 20,000 people turned out after work in the country's biggest city Sao Paulo, as well as a few thousand in Rio de Janeiro and smaller numbers in other cities.

They demanded that Lula begin his sentence and be barred from the October 7 presidential election in which the veteran leftist is leading in the polls, despite his legal problems.

"We want Brazil to be freed of this shameful corruption. Imprison Lula and let Brazil turn the page," said Mara Massa, 67, at the protest in Sao Paulo, where the crowd chanted "No more Lula!"



Smaller demonstrations in favor of the Workers' Party founder also took place around the country.

The court showdown scheduled in the capital Brasilia on Wednesday has become a focal point for Brazil's deeply divided electorate.

Lula, 72, was sentenced to 12 years and one month in prison after being convicted last year of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe from a huge construction company seeking government contracts. He appealed in a lower court but lost.

Under current law, that means he should go immediately to prison, while conducting further appeals. However, Lula has asked the Supreme Court to grant him habeas corpus recourse, allowing him to remain free while pursuing those appeals.

The court is believed to be evenly split on the issue, so that one judge changing position would enough to secure Lula's freedom -- and boost his uphill bid for a third term in office.

If the court turns him down, he could face jail this week.

Those on the left who remember Lula for lifting tens of millions of people out of poverty during his two terms in 2003-2010 consider the threat of prison an attack on democracy.

Lula told a large crowd in Rio de Janeiro late Monday that he saw his fight as continuation of the struggle against a two-decade dictatorship that ended in 1985.

"I did not accept the military dictatorship and I will not accept this dictatorship of the prosecutors," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three policemen and as many dacoits were injured in an encounter in the Rupaideeha area here, police said.

The encounter took place last night when a group of dacoits were trying to enter a village, they said.

They were challenged by a police team and during an exchange of fire, three of them were injured and arrested, Superintendent of Police, Jugal Kishore, police said.

Three policemen -- Inspector Jai Narain Shukla, constables Avnish Vikram Singh and Ravindra Yadav -- were injured in the encounter, they said.

Those arrested include Israr alias Budhau and Santosh Tiwari, who carry a reward of Rs 50,000 each, and Dileep, who carries a reward of Rs 25,000, police said.

The gang of dacoits were wanted in a number of cases.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Trinamool Congress today opposed the cabinet decision on the closure of the Burn and Standard Company in West Bengal and has decided to raise the issue in both Houses of Parliament tomorrow.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved the closure of the Burn Standard Company Ltd (BSCL) - a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Ministry of Railways.

"This decision has been taken in view of the continuous poor physical and financial performance of the company for more than 10 years despite financial assistance and other support provided by the government, and low probability of its revival in the future," the cabinet release said.

Opposing the cabinet decision, the TMC has said that they have already submitted notices in both Houses of Parliament.

"TMC strongly opposes the cabinet decision on Burn Standard. We have submitted notices in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha against the decision," the TMC statement said.

The ruling Trinamool Congress along with the opposition Left Front and the Congress had earlier passed a resolution in the West Bengal Assembly condemning the Centre's move to disinvest various PSUs, including the Burn Standard.

The BJP legislature party, however, had opposed it, saying the West Bengal state government should stop politicising every issue just to score political brownie points.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Top AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today led his party workers on a day long fast on the Cauvery issue against the Centre as he vowed to win the state its rights.

"We will fight, get justice and win," he asserted, adding that today's fast by '15 lakh' party cadres across Tamil Nadu was reflective of the aspirations of the people and farmers on the issue.

While the main opposition DMK continued its stir for the third day today, farmers held a well-attended protest in Tiruchirappallai,a Cauvery delta district,in which Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dhinakaran took part in the day.

"We will take forward our protest to the doorsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi if our demand for constitution of Cauvery Management Board is not fulfilled," chief of National South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association, P Ayyakannu told PTI.

Retailers, groceries, tiny industries and other outlets in various districts, including Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore, Virudhunagar and Karur,shut shop. However many establishments opened in the evening.

Advocates in Kumbakonam abstained from attending courts on the issue.

In Chennai, DMK held protest demonstrations in several locations with a stir at downtown T Nagar being led by sitting MLA J Anbazhagan.

At Egmore Railway Station here, a rail roko agitation was held by cadres of pro-Tamil outfits and at Villupuram, cadres of Nam Tamizhar party briefly blocked an express train.

However, no major traffic hold up was witnessed anywhere in the state during the day-long strike.

Koyambedu vegetable, fruit and flower market here, one of the biggest markets in the country, observed total shutdown.

At Thanjavur, a scuffle broke out between police and about 100 DMK, MDMK men who had gathered in front of the LIC office for picketing. They were later removed by police.

State Ministers and senior party leaders led the AIADMK's hunger strike in various districts, observing it between 8 AM and at 5 PM.

The arrival of Palaniswami and his deputy Panneerselvam to the fast venue here had an element of surprise as the party had earlier said they would not be taking part in it.

The hunger strike was to condemn the Centre for not having set up CMB, according to the party. It is also to urge setting up of CMB and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee.

The cauvery protest also saw the ruling AIADMK and main opposition DMK trading charges against each other.

The DMK demanded the resignation of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his cabinet, saying it would "do good" to the people.

Hitting out at the AIADMK for observing the fast without "taking steps" on the emotive Cauvery river water-sharing issue, DMK working president M K Stalin dismissed the hunger strike by the ruling party as a "drama".

"They should resign from their posts...that will be the only good thing they will be doing for the people", he said.

Hitting back, Palaniswami said the main opposition party was the one which enacted dramas and 'betrayed' farmers despite being part of the erstwhile UPA regime at the centre.

Addressing party workers,he said the Cauvery issue could have been resolved in 2007 itself had DMK given an ultimatum to Congress that it would quit the UPA government if the demand was not met.

Such a stand would have led to not only the publication of the final award, but also setting up of the CMB, he said.

If such bodies had been set up, farmers would have had no trouble, the Chief Minister added.

"DMK, however, betrayed Tamil Nadu and its farmers," he alleged.

He also sought to turn the tables on DMK for asking them to resign and for charging them with not having mounted pressure on the Centre, saying DMK did nothing when it was in power at the Centre as a partner of the Congress-led UPA.

The DMK-led opposition parties had on April 1 called for a statewide shutdown on April 5, seeking constitution of CMB.

The Centre and the Tamil Nadu government had moved the Supreme Court on March 31 over the issue to comply with the February 16 apex court verdict that directed them to work out a scheme.

The Centre had sought three months' time to implement the order in view of the May 12 Karnataka Assembly polls. It had also asked for clarification on various issues for the formulation of a "scheme" to implement the court's decision.

The Tamil Nadu government had sought contempt action against the Centre for "failure" to frame the scheme.

Yesterday the Supreme Court had agreed to hear Tamil Nadu's contempt plea against the Centre on April 9.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The trade deficit between India and the US dropped by almost six per cent in 2017 compared to the previous year, the US Trade Representative (USTR) has said, even as it continued to harp on issues such as market access and high tariffs on several American products being imported into India.

"The US goods trade deficit with India was $22.9 billion in 2017, a 5.9 per cent decrease ($1.4 billion) over 2016," said the Trade Estimate 2018 released by the USTR. India is one of the few countries with which US' trade deficit has decreased in the last one year.

US goods exports to India were $25.7 billion, up 18.7 per cent ($4.0 billion) from the previous year. The corresponding US imports from India were $48.6 billion, up 5.6 per cent. India was the US' 15th largest goods export market in 2017, the annual report said.

Similarly, US exports of services to India were an estimated $23.1 billion in 2017 and US imports were $28.7 billion. Sales of services in India by majority US-owned affiliates were $24.5 billion in 2015 (latest data available), while sales of services in the United States by majority India-owned firms were $14.7 billion, the voluminous report said.

US foreign direct investment (FDI) in India (stock) was $32.9 billion in 2016 (latest data available), a 10.0 per cent increase from 2015. US direct investment in India is led by prof., scientific, and tech. services, manufacturing, and wholesale trade, it said.

However, the Trump administration continued to harp India on a number of issues, including market access, high tariff and protection of intellectual property.

"In 2017, India implemented price controls on coronary stents and knee implants that do not fully differentiate for advanced technologies within a product class," it said.

US companies have applied to withdraw technologically advanced products from the market, but the requests have been rejected, forcing the US to sell certain products at a loss. India has indicated it may apply similar price controls on additional medical devices, it said.

According to Trade Estimate, India continues to maintain some of the highest average tariff rates worldwide. The large gap between India's WTO bound and applied tariff rates allows India to make frequent adjustments to the level of protection provided to domestic producers by modifying tariff rates, it said.

For example, in 2017 India increased tariffs on pulses from zero to 30 and 50 per cent. India also raised tariffs on certain high-tech information and communication technology products from zero to between 10 and 20 per cent. The US companies have raised significant concerns with these actions, it alleged.

"The United States continues to raise these concerns through bilateral engagement with the Indian government, including through the US-India Trade Policy Forum," the USTR said.

According to the report, the US has actively sought bilateral and multilateral opportunities to open India's market, and the government of India has pursued ongoing economic reform efforts. Nevertheless, US exporters continue to encounter tariff and nontariff barriers that impede imports of US products into India, it said.

Noting that India imposes onerous requirements on dairy imports, the report said India continues to require that dairy products be derived from animals which have never consumed any feeds containing internal organs, blood meal, or tissues of ruminant origin.

India has explained that its position is based on religious and cultural grounds, it said. This requirement, along with high tariff rates, continues to prevent market access for US milk and dairy product exports to India, one of the largest dairy markets in the world.

"In order to address India's religious and cultural concerns, in 2015, the US proposed a labelling solution to allow for consumer choice between dairy products derived from animals that have or have not consumed feeds with ruminant protein," the USTR said.

India has so far rejected that proposal, and the US continues to press India to provide access to the Indian dairy market, the report claimed.

The US, it said, has raised concerns about India's sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS)-related trade restrictions in bilateral and multilateral fora including the TPF, the WTO SPS Committee, and Codex.

According to the report, the US continues to work with India to open market access for US poultry products into India consistent with the WTO ruling. Until then, the US considers the dispute unresolved, it said.

Observing that India maintains zero tolerance standards for certain plant quarantine pests, such as weed seeds and ergot, that are not based on risk assessments and result in blocked imports of US wheat and barley, the report said bilateral discussions to resolve these issues, including at the senior official level, have achieved little success to date.President Donald Trump today said the US is not in a trade war with China as the war was lost many years ago by the previous "foolish and incompetent" American leadership.

Trump, however, asserted that the current trade situation with China cannot be allowed to continue.

"We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the US. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue! he tweeted



In another tweet Trump said, "When you're already $500 Billion DOWN, you can't lose!"



Trump's comment came as the world's top two economies edged towards an all-out trade war after China rejected the US' demand to cut down trade deficit by USD 100 billion and announced plans to impose retaliatory tariffs worth USD 50 billion on 106 American products, including soybeans, cars and small aircraft.

China's decision to impose new tariffs came after Trump administration yesterday published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports worth USD 50 billion that could be hit by US tariffs because of Beijing's alleged theft of intellectual property and technology.

China has already slapped tariffs on 128 US products, including wine and pork, totalling to USD 3 billion in retaliation to Trump's move to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium.

American stocks today plumbed, apprehending a trade war.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President and border-state governors are working to "immediately" deploy the National Guard to the US-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration, with some troops potentially arriving later yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said.

"The threat is real, "Nielsen said at an afternoon briefing, adding that Trump was signing a proclamation to put the deployment into effect. "It's time to act."



The announcement came hours after Trump pledged "strong action today" on immigration and a day after he said he wants to use the military to secure the southern border until his "big, beautiful wall" is erected.

In a tweet early yesterday, Trump said that "Our Border Laws are very weak" and that Democrats "stand in our way" of new laws. He added, "We will be taking strong action today."



Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he'd been discussing the idea of using the military at the border with Defence Secretary Jim Mattis.

"We're going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," Trump said, calling the move a "big step."



Federal law prohibits the use of active-duty service members for law enforcement inside the US, unless specifically authorised by Congress. But over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support. The White House counsel's office has been working on the idea for several weeks, according to a senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans.

Trump has been frustrated by slow action on building a wall along the Mexican border. He's previously suggested using the Pentagon's budget to pay for the wall, arguing it is a national security priority, despite strict rules that prohibit spending that's not authorised by Congress.

Nielsen said the administration was considering a model similar to a 2006 operation in which President George W. Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border, with a focus on assisting US Customs and Border Protection personnel.

"We are anxious to have the support," she said.

Under Operation Jump Start, 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to assist the border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained.

Over two years, about 29,000 National Guard forces participated as forces rotated in and out. The Guard members were used for surveillance, communications, administrative support, intelligence, analysis and the installation of border security infrastructure.

In addition, President Barack Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border in 2010 to beef up efforts against drug smuggling and illegal immigration.

Texas also deployed military forces to its 1,290 kilometre border with Mexico. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, now Trump's energy secretary, sent 1,000 Texas National Guardsmen to the Rio Grande Valley in 2014 in response to a sharp increase in Central American children crossing the border alone.The presidents of Iran, Turkey and Russia meet today for their second tripartite summit in under six months, aiming to speed the peace process for Syria and bolster their influence in the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host his Russian and Iranian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani in Ankara for a meeting that could have a critical bearing on developments in Syria.

The meeting will be the second such tripartite summit after the first hosted by Putin in November in the Black Sea city of Sochi and will be a new symbol of the increasingly deep cooperation.

The three powers have backed peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana which they argue are a parallel process to support UN-supported discussions in Geneva.

Experts say that Ankara, Moscow and Tehran have quite different interests but have for now decided to team up to take advantage of the waning Western influence in Syria.

Hours before the summit, US President Donald Trump said he wanted to "bring our troops back home" from Syria after indicating last week the US would withdraw from the country "very soon".

Jana Jabbour, professor of political science at Sciences Po university in Paris, said the aim of the summit was to "reorganise and renegotiate the zones of influence in Syria as well as to reflect on the future of Syria's north after US withdrawal".

Turkey drove out Kurdish militia from Afrin city on March 18, two months after it launched an offensive in northern Syria supporting Syrian rebels.

Erdogan has indicated Turkey could extend its operation to the YPG-held town of Manbij as well as Ayn al-Arab (Kobane) and Qamishli, all east of Afrin.

"Erdogan likely wants to use the summit to secure Russian and Iranian support for expanded operations in northern Syria or Iraq," said Elizabeth Teoman, Turkey analyst at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

After bilateral talks with Putin yesterday, Erdogan said Turkey and Russia would continue their cooperation "focusing on our common interests" in Syria.

Jabbour said Iran and Russia would give free rein to Turkey in the north against the YPG in exchange for bringing the groups it controls to the negotiating table.

"Turkey remains a key player in the Syrian crisis especially because of the opposition groups it controls. A solution to the crisis is unimaginable without Ankara's contribution," she added.

While Moscow and Tehran support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad politically and militarily, Turkey has repeatedly called for his removal and supported Syrian opposition fighters.

Last year, the powers agreed to set up "de-escalation areas" in western Idlib province, north of Homs province, parts of Deraa and Quneitra provinces in southern Syria and Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, which has come under heavy bombardment.

Cooperation between the three in Syria "may break down at some point", Teoman warned, while issues between Moscow and Turkey could come to the fore over Idlib.

Idlib's civilian infrastructure is largely controlled by the jihadist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate.

Turkey is keen to prevent a Russia-backed regime assault on the province home to around 2.5 million people who analysts say would have few places to flee after having already fled areas like Ghouta and Aleppo.

Turkish armed forces have now set up eight observation posts to keep the ceasefire intact but Moscow wants Ankara to also exert influence over the jihadists in control of Idlib.

Teoman said that tensions between Russia and Turkey "will flare up again when the pro-regime coalition refocuses on Idlib province."



Tensions may also be emerging behind the scene between Russia and Iran, with Moscow much more concerned to press for reform under Assad than Tehran.

More than 340,000 people have been killed since the war began following anti-government protests in 2011, while millions have been internally displaced or forced to flee.

Turkey hosts over 3.5 million Syrian refugees and Ankara is keen to avoid a further influx ahead of 2019 elections and also wants to install some refugees in safe zones inside Syria.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two persons were injured when unidentified car-borne men fired several shots at them at local Gautam Nagar, Una Road, police said today.

The incident took place last night when around four to five unidentified men fired gunshots at two persons, identified as Amritpal and his brother-in-law Harjit Singh, while they were returning from Bullanwari, SSP Hoshiarpur J Elanchezhian said.

Amritpal and Singh, both residents of Subhash Nagar here, were injured in the incident, he said.

Both were admitted to a local civil hospital from where Amritpal was referred to the DMC, Ludhiana.

According to police, about dozen rounds were fired by unidentified men.

Amritpal is a witness in a murder case registered against one Binny Gujar, who is in Ludhiana jail. Police suspected that Gujar's supporters might have assaulted Amritpal to scare him.

A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act in this connection, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two Nepalese Sherpas, a man and a woman, are aiming to set new world record for most of the summits on Mt Everest this season.

Kami Rita Sherpa, 48, would be climbing the peak from the Nepal side for record 22nd time while his compatriot, a 45-year-old woman, Lhakpa Sherpa will be ascending the summit for record 9th time from Tibet side.

A resident of Thame village of Solukhumbu district of eastern Nepal, Kami Rita, who has worked as a guide on Everest for over two decades, will embark upon his journey towards the base camp of Mt Everest early next week.

But for him climbing to 8,848 metres is just a job, not a record-shattering feat.

"It is my passion to climb mountains, my intension is not only to set a record," he said.

Kami Rita had stood atop Mt Everest 21 times, a feat that has put him in the league of Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi Sherpa, who had created the world record last year of climbing the summit 21 times..

He said, his aim is to reach a atop the Mt Everest 25 times.

He had climbed the 8,848 metre peak for the first time in 1994 at the age of 24. Till date, he has climbed most of the above 8,000 m peaks, these include Mt K2, Cho-oyu, Lhoste and Annapurna among others.

Meanwhile, Lhakpa Sherpa, a 45-year-old woman who was born in Shankuwasabha district of eastern Nepal but now lives in the US, plans to break her own record of climbing Mt Everest 8th time from Tibet side in the last spring. No other woman has climbed the summit so many times.

Lhakpa, who started climbing from Nepal side in 2008, also said she aims to break her own record and climb the mountain for the record 9th times.

Except Lhakpa, no other woman in the world has scaled the peak so many times till date.

She is going to break her own record this season, said Mingma Gelu Sherpa, Managing Director at Seven Summit Adventure.

The mother of three will be arriving Kathmandu on April 6 to begin her journey to Mt Everest being part of an expedition team led by Russian climber Alex Abramov.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)British police arrested a pensioner on suspicion of murder today after a suspected burglar at his home in southeast London was fatally stabbed to death.

Officers detained the 78-year-old homeowner after responding to his call reporting a burglary in progress in the early hours of Wednesday and finding a man, aged 38, with a stab wound nearby, police said.

"The 78-year-old resident found two males inside the address," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

One suspect, armed with a screwdriver, forced the elderly man into his kitchen when he discovered them inside his home in the Hither Green area, while the other suspect went upstairs, the force added.

A struggle ensued between the homeowner and one of the men.

"The man, aged 38, sustained a stab wound to the upper body," the statement said.

The stabbing victim was found collapsed in a nearby road by paramedics, who took him to a central London hospital where he later died, police said.

The pensioner suffered bruising to his arms, while the second suspected burglar fled the scene prior to officers arriving and remains at large, the statement added.

The dead man's next of kin have been informed, and a post-mortem examination will be carried out "in due course", according to police, who appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

Neighbours said the area had seen a recent spate of burglaries, and the homeowner had been retired for "many years".

Adam Lake, who lives near the scene, said: "When I heard it was a burglary I wasn't surprised, there's been a noticeable increase in crime in the area.

"We've even had to put up CCTV at home because we didn't feel safe."



Lake added he felt sympathy for the homeowner.

"He doesn't deserve to be punished for defending himself, and the neighbours that I've spoken to all agree that the priority needs to be to support him after everything that he's been through.

"He was just protecting himself after all.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Britain and Russia accused each other of duplicity and untrustworthiness today, with London rejecting any possibility of a joint probe involving Moscow into the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in England.

At a special meeting to discuss the case at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, the Netherlands, the British envoy said that a joint investigation, as proposed by Russia, would force "a victim to engage the likely perpetrator."



Acting UK Permanent Representative John Foggo said that "to do so would be perverse," adding that Moscow's demand showed "disdain." Britain, backed by its European and U.S. partners, blames Russia for the March 4 nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury.

Russia vehemently denies the accusation.

Today's meeting at the international chemical weapons control body was called at the request of Moscow, which has put pressure on Britain to provide evidence backing its claim that Russia was responsible.

The chief of Britain's defense research lab, the Porton Down laboratory, acknowledged Tuesday it has not been able to pinpoint the precise source of the nerve agent.

Gary Aitkenhead said scientists there identified the substance used on Sergei and Yulia Skripal as a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok. But he added "it's not our job to say where that was actually manufactured." The British government says it relied on a combination of scientific analysis and other intelligence to conclude that the nerve agent came from Russia.

Britain is standing by its assessment, but the Foreign Office on Wednesday deleted a tweet from last month saying Porton Down scientists had identified the substance as "made in Russia."



Still, Russian President Vladimir Putin had quickly seized on Aitkenhead's comments as proof that British accusations against Russia were baseless. He noted that at least 20 other nations now have the capacity to produce Novichok.

Asked today if Russia expects an apology from Britain, Putin said "we are not expecting anything like that." "We are just expecting reason to prevail so that international relations don't sustain damage like what we have seen recently," he said after a summit in Ankara, Turkey.

"This not only concerns the assassination attempt on Skripal, but also all other aspects of international relations," he said. "We need to work within the framework of sound political processes, founded on fundamental norms of international law, and this will make the world a more stable and predictable place."



The poisoning has plunged relations between the West and Russia to their lowest ebb since the Cold War, with more than two dozen Western allies expelling over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain and Russia responding in kind.

In Moscow, Russia's spymaster claimed the poisoning was staged by UK and US intelligence agencies.

Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the top KGB successor agency, said the poisoning was a "grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and U.S. intelligence agencies." Naryshkin said the poisoning was the latest example of the U.S.-led efforts to undermine Russia, adding that the Russia-West chill is comparable to the Cold War.

Meanwhile the 28-nation EU, of which Britain is still a member, lamented Moscow's refusal to give information to Britain.

"Instead, we witnessed a flood of insinuations" targeting several EU member states, envoy Krassimir Kostov of Bulgaria, which currently holds the EU presidency, told the council meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The UN Security Council's updated list of terrorists and militant groups has 139 entries from Pakistan alone, including outfits like Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafeez Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to a media report.

The list, headed by Osama bin Laden's heir apparent Ayman al-Zawahiri, identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with groups that used Pakistani territory for carrying out their operations, Dawn reported.

LeT's Hafiz Saeed is listed as a person also wanted by Interpol for his involvement in terrorist activities.

The LeT is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The list also includes Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, an Indian national who, according to the UN Security Council, has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, the report said.

The UN claims that he owns a palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Noorabad, Karachi, it added.

Kaskar, wanted in India as the mastermind of the Mumbai bomb blasts in 1993 and accused of crimes such as match-fixing and extortion, accrued a vast property portfolio across the Midlands and south-east in the UK as well as India, the UAE, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Cyprus and Australia



Haji Mohammed Yahya Mujahid, LeT's media contact, and Hafiz Saeed's deputies, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal, are also listed. Like Hafiz Saeed, they are all wanted by the Interpol.

The LeT is listed with its various aliases, such as al-Mansoorian, Paasban-i-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle Hadith, Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, the report said.

The UN data claims that first person on the list Ayman al-Zawahiri is still hiding somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, the report said.

Several of his lieutenants are also on the list who, the UN believes, are hiding with him.

The second person on the list is another internationally known terrorist, Ramzi Mohammad bin al-Sheibah, who is identified as a Yemeni national, arrested in Karachi and handed over to the US authorities.

More than a dozen suspected terrorists are listed in the same category, arrested in Pakistan and handed over to the US authorities. Some of them had Pakistani passport, issued by various Pakistani missions in the Middle East and renewed in Pakistan.

The report, however, did not give the total number of entries in the updated UNSC list.

The terrorist entities that were allegedly based in Pakistan, worked from there or had links to Pakistani individuals, include Jaish-e-Mohammed, Afghan Support Committee, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Al Akhtar Trust International, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaatul Ahrar and Khatiba Imam Al-Bukhari.

Some of them are listed as based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, according to the report.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The today witnessed an unprecedented state of affairs as it was adjourned 11 times, as the opposition and the government clashed over technicalities of the passage of an anti-graft amendment bill with the latter insisting that it should be adopted without debate.

While the House was first adjourned till 2 PM within 20 minutes after it met at 11 AM due to opposition protests, it saw ten adjournments in a row within three hours, after it re-convened in the afternoon.

When the House met at 2 PM, members of Congress, AIADMK, BSP, CPI-M, AAP, TDP and YSR were in the Well holding placards and shouting slogans -- "Narendra Modi - Dalit Virodhi" (Narendra Modi is anti-Dalit) and "Dalit virodhi yeh sarkar, nahi chalegi" (this anti-Dalit government will not be tolerated).

Amid the din, the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2013 was taken up for consideration and passage by Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, who asked Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh to move the bill for consideration, saying he would proceed with it as no member has given their name for the debate on it.

The bill aims to make giving a bribe a specific offence like taking a bribe and seeks to modify the definitions and penalties for such offences, among other things.

When the Minister said the bill should just be passed without debate, Kurien asked TMC member Sukhendu Shekhar Ray, who had moved amendments to it, whether he would seek a division to enable voting on his amendments.

As Ray insisted on a division, Kurien said the division cannot be taken up as the House is not in order.

Congress Deputy Leader Anand Sharma then raised a point of order saying the new members, who took oath over the past few days, had not been given division numbers which enables them to exercise their voting right. He said in such a situation, the bill cannot be passed.

But Kurien said "this bill is important. If it is not passed, it will have impact on all government programmes. This bill is in the interest of the country. Therefore, the bill has to be passed" and urged the protesting members to go back to their seats.

The Opposition wants discussion and the government is ready for it, he said and asked the protesting members to take the opportunity to prove their majority at the time of voting.

However, as the exchanges as well as the noisy protests from the Well continued, Kurien adjourned the House briefly.

Following this, he held a series of backroom negotiations by leaders of major parties. The House saw repeated adjournments as the discussions in the Chair's chamber continued.

When the House resumed after a couple of adjournments, Ray again insisted on a division, as other opposition members continued to raise slogans from the Well.

In the melee, Minister Jitendra Singh sought the passage of the bill without debate. "Pass it without the debate by a voice vote as per the sense of the nation," he said.

Singh also said the government has zero tolerance over corruption. "Those watching today's proceedings will know who is preventing the bill."



"The bill has gone through the standing committee and time and again it has been discussed over the last four years," he said.

Referring to Anand Sharma's point that new members had not been allotted division numbers, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said "Let us give you (new members) a slip. You can write yes or no. Already the bill has been moved for consideration. I request you to take this bill forward. We have to pass with voice vote."



Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said "if the House is put to ransom like this and no bills are allowed to be passed, how will the government function? This (bill) should be passed. They (Opposition) have not allowed the House to function, now they want discussion."As an unrelenting opposition continued their slogan shouting, the Chair agreed for division and said, "I wish to take the division and proceed. So, please go back to your seats."But as his pleas went unheeded, Kurien said he was sad that the House has not been able to transact any business.

However, Ray said he cannot press for division unless the lobbies are cleared and order is maintained in the House. "If you (chair) cannot do it, then adjourn the House," he said.

As the unruly scenes continued, the Upper House was finally adjourned for the day after witnessing 10 brief adjournments.

The unprecented number of adjournments on a single day saw some members being visibily upset.

During the spate of brief adjournments, SP member Neeraj Shekhar was heard saying "It is a mockery of democracy. What is this 10-15 minutes adjournment? Has the Chairman gone away?"



To this, BJP leader Roopa Ganguly took a swipe, saying "Is this the way to talk (about chairman)." She was supported by another BJP colleague.

Most members remained seated in the House during the adjournments, while some of them like Jaya Bachchan (BSP) and Vijila Sathyananth (AIADMK) were seen sharing chocolates with some fellow members.The United States today announced a proposed list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs of 25 per cent amounting to USD 50 billion.

The US Trade Representative (USTR) said the proposed list of products is based on extensive interagency economic analysis and would target products that benefit from China's industrial plans while minimizing the impact on the US economy.

Sectors subject to the proposed tariffs include industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics, and machinery.

The list covers approximately 1,300 separate tariff lines and will undergo further review in a public notice and comment process, including a hearing. After completion of this process, the USTR will issue a final determination on the products subject to the additional duties.

The total value of imports subject to the tariff increase is commensurate with an economic analysis of the harm caused by China's unreasonable technology transfer policies to the US economy, the USTR said.

China had said yesterday that its door for talks with the Trump administration is open but if there is a trade war it will "fight till the end". The comments came a day after Beijing imposed tariffs on 128 American products as a retaliation against US duties on steel and aluminium.

China had imposed tariffs on 128 US imports worth USD 3 billion, including meat, fruit and pork, as retaliation against taxes approved by US President Donald Trump on imported steel and aluminium.

Last month, Trump announced that the US will impose tariffs on approximately USD 50 billion worth of Chinese imports and take other actions in response to China's policies that coerce American companies into transferring their technology and intellectual property to domestic Chinese enterprises.

These policies bolster China's stated intention of seizing economic leadership in advanced technology as set forth in its industrial plans, such as "Made in China 2025".

Trump raked up the issue of trade gap with China once again, saying the US cannot afford to have a USD 500 billion a year trade deficit with Beijing.

"We have a problem with China. They've created a trade deficit, and I really blame our representatives and, frankly, our preceding presidents for this. They have a trade deficit of USD 500 billion a year. It's not something we can live with," Trump told reporters during a media interaction with visiting Baltic leaders.

The theft of intellectual property alone, he said, is probably around USD 200-300 billion a year.

"The US has to do something on trade with certain countries. And obviously, China is the leader in terms of deficits. We've never had a situation where a country -- nor has there ever been in -- in history, a situation where a country has done that to another country," he said.

However several industry groups were quick to oppose Trump's proposal to impose tariff on some 1300 selected Chinese products.

"The Trump administration is right to push back against China's abuse of economic and trade policy, but imposing tariffs on producer goods will inadvertently hurt Americans through reduced capital investment and lower productivity growth.

"The list of tariffs that the USTR has proposed today would hurt companies in the US by raising the prices and reducing consumption of the capital equipment they rely on to produce their goods and services," Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) President Robert D Atkinson said.

Attempts to roll back Chinese innovation mercantilism should be more carefully targeted than this. The focus should be on things that will create the most leverage over China without raising prices and dampening investment in the kinds of machinery, equipment, and other technology that drives innovation and productivity across the economy, he said.

Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of International Affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce said the administration is rightly focused on restoring equity and fairness in US trade relationship with China.

"However, imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way to achieve those ends. The US Chamber looks forward to working with the administration throughout the comment period to make the business community's voice heard on the US-China economic relationship," he said.

But several US lawmakers supported Trump's move.

"Publishing this preliminary list is an important step that will allow US companies to evaluate the implications and convey their views about the effect of such tariffs on our economy. I'm confident that we can protect national security and minimize unfair trading practices while protecting American consumers and jobs," House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady said.

"We must address China's theft of technology and intellectual property belonging to American companies. It is a serious problem that requires action," said Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade Chairman Dave Reichert.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Ambassador Nikki Haley warned today that the UN's failure to hold Syria accountable for its use of chemical weapons because of Russia's opposition has made the world "a far more dangerous place."



She told the Security Council that its lack of action on Syria has led others to take notice, pointing to the use of nerve agents against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother in Malaysia and the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in England.

"This reveals a dangerous trend," she said, urging a renewed commitment by the Security Council to end the use of chemical weapons in Syria and elsewhere in the world. The council met on the first anniversary of a chemical attack using sarin nerve gas on the Syrian rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed about 100 people.

In a joint statement marking Wednesday's anniversary, the U.S., Britain, France and Germany criticized Russia for vetoing the extension of the expert body from the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that blamed the Syrian government for four chemical weapons attacks including Khan Sheikhoun.

The four countries condemned the use of chemical weapons anywhere and vowed to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.

Haley brought Syrian Dr. Mamoun Morad to the council meeting, saying he was one of the only doctors on duty in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017.

She quoted his words on the attack: "It was like Judgment Day, the Apocalypse. You just can't even describe the scene, can't even begin to scratch the surface of explaining what happened. We didn't have any protective equipment for gas." Haley called the doctor, who treated victims of many other attacks in Khan Sheikhoun as well, "a hero."



She accused President Bashar Assad's regime of still using chemical weapons "practically every other week," including "credible reports of chlorine gas attacks" in the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta which the government seized recently.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia urged the council to accept Moscow's proposal for a replacement for the U.N.-OPCW expert body to assess responsibility for Syria chemical attacks.

But the US, Britain, France and others oppose it because it would require Security Council approval of the experts' determination, effectively giving Russia veto power over its decisions.

Nebenzia said Russia condemns any use of chemical weapons, "however real ones, not imagined ones." "At the same time as some are running after phantoms of chemical weapons in Damascus, in the region dangerous chemical weapons terrorism potential continues to be masked," he warned without elaborating.

Nebenzia then called for an open Security Council meeting Thursday afternoon on the poisoning of the ex-spy and his daughter in the English town of Salisbury. He said Russia was guided in seeking the meeting by the principle it shares that any chemical weapons use "is not acceptable and must be investigated and perpetrators punished, and that impunity is unacceptable."



Britain's UN Ambassador Karen Pierce had earlier told the council "there should be no more victims of chemical weapons attacks, whether they take place in the war zone of Syria or in an English country town."



She accused Russia of calling a meeting of the OPCW on the Salisbury attack in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday "to pre-empt the findings of the OPCW investigation" of the nerve agent used on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. She noted that a Foreign Ministry official in Moscow has already rejected the idea that Russia would accept the OPCW's conclusions.

Pierce also criticized Syria for failing to answer 21 serious issues about "gaps, inconsistencies, and discrepancies" in its chemical weapons declaration to the OPCW.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Vietnam today sought more investment from India, as it felt there is scope for further improvement in trade volume between the two countries.

Interacting with the members of Calcutta Chambers of Commerce here, Ambassador of Vietnam to India Ton Sinh Thanh said the trade between the two countries was not upto the expectation.

The Ambassador also participated in an interactive session with the members of Merchants' Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) here during the day.

"Even as the volume of trade between Vietnam and India was growing, it was not upto the expectation and rather little in comparison to Vietnam's total trade," Thanh said.

"We understand that Indian companies are investing abroad, but for Vietnam the figure is still very little. While we receive lots of foreign investment offers from other countries, the investment from India is just a very small part of our foreign investment (one billion US dollar)" he said.

Many Indian companies are looking for opportunities to invest in Vietnam, and the country needs more investments from India including Kolkata, Thanh said.

"Majority of trade between Vietnam and India come from other parts of country like Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, but not much from Kolkata," he said.

Welcoming Indian investors to Vietnam, Thanh said "Both Vietnam and India were developing very fast and we are the fastest growing economies in the region."



Vietnam grew at 6.8 per cent rate last year and it is the highest growth rate in 10 years, he said.

"Vietnam is growing for more than 6 per cent in past few years and the economy is expanding very fast.... As compared to 30 years ago the economy of Vietnam is much bigger and we are very much open to world," Thanh said.

The total foreign investment after 30 years has accumulated to 320 billion US dollars with more than 25,000 projects, he said.

Elaborating on opportunities in business in Vietnam in terms of trade and investment, he said, "We are now a market of nearly 100 million people with quite a big number of bigger income bracket. There are lot of opportunities, very liberal investment regulations and lot of incentives," he said.

He said the two nations have developed comprehensive strategic partnership based on strategic interest and very high level of mutual trust since the last visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On the intensive exchange of visits at high level, he said during first three months of this year "India received two highest leaders of Vietnam - both PM and President."



The two countries have a political relationship which will be a good foundation for economic cooperation, he said.

On his country's potential in tourism, Thanh said Vietnam received 13 million foreign tourists last year.

"In terms of tourism we are growing very fast. We hope more Indian tourists will visit Vietnam," he said adding that Vietnam would introduce a flight between Ho Chi Minh City and New Delhi by September this year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Trinamool Congress delegation today met Home Minister Rajnath Singh to lodge a protest against West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi, alleging that the Raj Bhavan has turned into BJP headquarters.

The TMC delegation comprising 25 members of Parliament at its meeting with the home minister alleged that the attitude of the "Governor's House is not desirable".

"The Governor's House has become the BJP's headquarters. He should remember that he is a constitutional head. The attitude of the Governor's House is not desirable. It is not good for democracy and the federal structure," TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay told reporters after the meeting.

The TMC leaders also took umbrage at Tripathi calling the West Bengal Chief Secretary and the State Election Commissioner at the Governor's House for a meeting.

"Many opposition leaders are holding press conferences at the Governor's House after meeting him. He calls the chief secretary and the state election commissioner whenever he wants. The State Election Commission is an autonomous body and is doing its job. It is not a good signal for democracy," Bandyopadhyay alleged.

The TMC delegation urged the home minister to speak to the governor in this regard.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court today asked the AAP government and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) why civic amenities could not be provided to properties of retired army personnel living in Sainik Farms whereas such facilities were being given to unauthorised colonies.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Deepa Sharma said if the authorities agree that the retired army personnel are not in illegal occupation of the area, why civic amenities cannot be extended to them.

"You (authorities) are giving civic amenities to unauthorised colonies," it said.

The court asked the retired army personnel, represented by senior advocate Kirti Uppal, to withdraw their plea for civic amenities and move a detailed representation on the issue before the SDMC.

The corporation was directed by the bench to dispose of the representation within eight weeks.

The central government's standing counsel Monika Arora, appearing for the SDMC, said that the representation would be disposed of expeditiously.

The bench said that if the statutory authorities do not perform their duties, the retired army personnel can approach the court again.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said that the Delhi government would move court for its "due share" in the central taxes revenue and then split the funds it gets with cash-strapped MCDs.

The chief minister said that Delhi residents pay Rs 1.5 lakh crore income tax which is the "highest" among other states in the country, but when it comes to fund sharing, Delhi does not get anything.

"Delhi's people pay Rs.1.5 lakh crore in income tax. But, when it comes to the Centre's new Finance Commission, Delhi's name is not in the list of states," Kejriwal said.

"Delhi is neither a Union territory nor a state when it comes to getting funds from the central government," he alleged.

Kejriwal said the Centre had constituted a finance commission for the devolution of taxes among the states.

"The list that the central government has given to the central finance commission for the distribution of taxes among the states, does not feature the name of Delhi," he said.

Participating in a discussion on "hardships" being faced by sanitation workers due to non-regularisation of their services in the Delhi Assembly, Kejriwal said that for releasing funds, Delhi was neither being treated as a state nor as a Union territory.

"If it was a UT, then the Centre should give the entire Budget (Rs 52,000 crore in 2018-2019), otherwise, Delhi should be included in the list of states," he said.

"We will go to the Supreme Court," the chief minister said.

He said that if the government receives additional funds from central taxes revenue, it would share half of the funds with the cash-strapped BJP-led municipal corporation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The police has arrested a 20-year- old woman Naxal commander, carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on her head, after an encounter with the ultras in Chhattisgarh's Kondagaon district, an official said today.

The cadre, identified as Bukal alias Bukali, was apprehended yesterday from a forest near Kotmeta Tumdiwal village when a team of local police was out on a search operation, Kondagaon's Additional Superintendent of Police Maheshwar Nag told PTI.

When the patrolling squad reached Kotmeta Tumdiwal, located around 300 km from the capital, a group of ultras started firing on them, leading to a gun-battle, he said.

However, the ultras soon fled the spot when the security personnel started zeroing-in on them.

But the police caught the woman Naxal after a brief chase, he said.

Bukali, active as the janmilitia commander, was allegedly involved in several Naxal-related incidents, including attacks on police teams, looting polling boxes in panchayat elections, and also robbing weapons, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least three people were injured when a woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters before fatally shooting herself, local police said.

The female suspect died in a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound, they said, adding that one of the victims, a 36-year-old man, is said to be in a critical condition.

The YouTube headquarters in San Bruno near Silicon Valley has a significant number of Indian-American professionals.

In a tweet, US President Donald Trump said he was briefed on the shooting.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene," he said.

It was around 12.46 pm (local time) that the San Bruno Police Department received numerous 911 calls reporting gunfire at the YouTube campus located at 901 Cherry Avenue in San Bruno. The police arrived at the scene at 12:48 pm, two minutes after the first call, and immediately began searching for a possible suspect.

Arriving officers encountered numerous employees fleeing the building. Officers discovered one victim with an apparent gunshot wound to a lower extremity at the front of the building.

At 12:53 pm, officers conducting a search located a deceased female inside with a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"We have one subject who is deceased inside the building with a self-inflicted wound at this time, (who) we believe to be the shooter," San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters at a conference outside YouTube headquarters.

Two additional victims were located after fleeing to a next-door business.

"A total of four people were transported to local hospitals, three of which had gunshot wounds. The extent of the victims' injuries is unknown at this time," the police said.

Google, which owns the world's biggest online video website, in a tweet, advised all other employees in the Bay Area, and people with meetings scheduled, to stay away from the area.

"There is no need to take any action. We have provided employees a helpline," it said.

In another tweet, it said the company was coordinating with authorities.

"Re: YouTube situation, we are coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available," Google communications tweeted.

A law-enforcement source told the Bay Area Group that the shooting appeared to have been fuelled by a domestic dispute and that the suspect was targeting her boyfriend.

Apple CEO Tim Cook sent his sympathies to the victims.

"From everyone at Apple, we send our sympathy and support to the team at YouTube and Google, especially the victims and their families," Cook tweeted.

"My stomach sinks with yet another active shooter alert. I'm praying for the safety of everyone at YouTube headquarters," tweeted Senator Dianne Feinstein.

YouTube headquarters is located some 50 kilometres from the main Google campus in Mountain View.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc may make a rival offer to buy Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, which is in tie-up talks with Walmart Inc, local media reported, as the two U.S. retail giants jostle for dominance in India's booming online industry.Amazon held early exploratory talks to buy control of Indian rival Flipkart but a deal with Walmart is more likely, daily newspaper Mint said on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.One person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the probability of a deal with Amazon was low, and that any such deal could spark monopoly concerns as ...By David LjunggrenOTTAWA (Reuters) - The United States, Canada and Mexico could soon announce a deal in principle to update NAFTA that would likely tackle the key issue of autos content while leaving other contentious chapters to be dealt with later, three sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.After more than eight months of slow-moving talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Washington is keen to settle the process quickly, citing the need to finish before Mexico's July 1 presidential election.The ministers in charge of the talks are due to meet in ...By David Ljunggren and Veronica GomezOTTAWA/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico, Canada and the United States have made good progress in their bid to modernize the NAFTA trade pact but still have work to do, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday.Freeland also said she would be flying to Washington for a meeting on Thursday with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who is pushing hard for a quick deal in principle to finish before a July 1 presidential election in Mexico.The three members of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could announce by mid-April ...By Swati Bhat and Devidutta TripathyMUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares in India's largest equity broker, ICICI Securities Ltd, fell as much as 16.3 percent on their market debut on Wednesday, reflecting weak sentiment around the firm's initial public offering (IPO) last week that raised a lower-than-target $541 million.The stock pared some losses to trade 13 percent down at 456.35 rupees by 0719 GMT, compared with its IPO issue price of 520 rupees.Indian state-run special steels and alloys maker Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd, which also began trading on Wednesday after its IPO raised the government 4.33 ...By Jennifer Ablan and Trevor HunnicuttNEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. stock market has taken a beating on the recent technology rout. But for short-sellers, it has been nothing short of a boon.Short-sellers who placed bets that the shares of four big tech leaders, known as the FANG group, as spelled out by their first initials, were due for a fall have made more than $4 billion in profits over the last two weeks and more than $1 billion during the first two trading days in April, financial analytics firm S3 Partners LLC said on Tuesday.The FANG group is comprised of four closely watched ...In an unusually-scheduled board meeting, the Logan City School Board voted to accept the proposed boundary changes affecting both Bridger Elementary and Wilson Elementary on Friday night. The meeting came with little public notice and only days after a public hearing to receive feedback from parents and community members about the proposed changes.

The district announced the decision Friday evening on its Facebook page and provided additional details on the districts website.

The goal in making this change is to provide appropriate services to all students, the districts statement reads, while promoting their safety, and doing so in a way that responsibly manages district resources.

The students affected by the boundary change live between 1400 North and 1800 North, and between Main Street and 1000 West. Students living in this designated area will be bused to Wilson Elementary, located in Logans Island neighborhood approximately three miles away.

The district says two bus routes will be assigned to transport nearly 130 students, including kindergartners, to Wilson Elementary. The student population at Bridger is now projected to drop near 560, while Wilson grows to approximately 510.

Two classifications of students will not be affected by the boundary change, however. Those participating in the Spanish Dual Language Immersion program and the Special Education Life Skills class will remain at Bridger regardless of the new boundaries. If those students have siblings also attending the school, they may continue to attend Bridger on enrollment permits.

Because the reason for this change is to create space to accommodate future enrollment growth in the area, the district further explains, students in the affected area will not be considered eligible for enrollment permits to remain at Bridger for the 2018-2019 school year.

The northwest corner of Logan has seen significant population increases with new housing developments recently completed, and several more in the works.

The Logan City School District does have plans to renovate both Hillcrest and Ellis elementary schools. When those construction projects are completed (estimated to be by the 2020-2021 school year), there will be a district-wide boundary adjustment at that time.

The district also says parents of preschool-aged children will need to register their children at their boundary school, meaning the children who live in the affected boundary change will now need to register at Wilson instead of Bridger.

After registration at each school is completed, parents may have the option to register at another school location if there is space available, the district clarifies.

The changes will go into effect for the 2018-2019 school year.| BY Ricki Green |

Ad Stars has announced its first executive judges for the 2018 Ad Stars Awards: Toby Talbot (left), chief creative officer of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand and Wooh Hoh (right), chief creative officer of Hakuhodo Asia Pacific.

Says Talbot: Im really excited to attend Ad Stars for the first time  a global festival based in a part of the world Ive never visited before. Asia has long been the centre of tech and innovation. But how its colliding with creativity in fascinating ways right now has me really intrigued. Im also keen to find out first hand why Ad Stars has become one of the fastest growing creative festivals in the world. Bring on the case studies I say. Just make them mercifully short please.

Originally from the UK, Talbot has made a phenomenal contribution to New Zealands reputation for advertising brilliance over the past 20 years working at Colenso, DDB, TBWA, Assignment and latterly Saatchi. Highlights include nearly a decade at Colenso BBDO, helping to put the agency on the map creatively in the early 2000s. Next, he transformed the fortunes of DDB New Zealand, winning Campaign Brief Agency of the Year four of his five years in charge. After returning to the UK in 2012 to briefly run Y&R, he came back down under and oversaw a complete creative renaissance at DDB Sydney, before returning to New Zealand last year. He is now back at Saatchi New Zealand on a mission to take the agency back to the very top in New Zealand. Knowing his track record, he might well succeed.

To name just a few of his many accomplishments, Talbot was named Campaign Asias Creative of the Year for Australia and New Zealand in 2011, and has won Campaign Brief Agency of the Year ten times across three agencies, more recently leading DDB Sydney to become the most awarded Australian agency at Cannes in 2016 with 12 lions.

At Ad Stars 2018, Talbot will oversee the Diverse Insights, Outdoor, Public Service Advertising, Place Brand, Radio & Audio categories.

Hoh has won countless awards for Hakuhodos Asia-Pacific team at festivals including the London International Awards, AdFest and Cannes.

Says Hoh: I think it is great to see a festival like Ad Stars that is free to enter, open to the general public, as well as being a not-for-profit. Its a unique model, and Im looking forward to experiencing Ad Stars for the first time in August.

Since graduating in 1992 from the Graphic Design School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, Hoh has emerged as one of Asias most formidable talents: under his leadership as regional executive creative director at Hakuhodo Indonesia, the agency was always among the top three agencies in the country. Now based in Bangkok, Hoh is bringing the same creative drive to Hakuhodos offices in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Hoh will oversee the Direct, Media, Promotion, PR, Data Insights, Social & Influencer categories at Ad Stars 2018.

Says Hwan Jin Choi, chair of the Ad Stars Executive Committee: It is an honour to welcome Woon Hoh and Toby Talbot as our first executive judges of 2018. They are both extremely accomplished creatives based in very different parts of the world, and together their expertise will help us set Ad Stars apart as a global festival, based in Asia, which has a unique philosophy based on a spirit of openness and sharing.| BY Ricki Green |

Applications have opened for the 2018 Copy School, sponsored by NewsMediaWorks, to be held in Melbourne with another world-class line-up of guest creative tutors.

Copy School is designed to encourage the best quality copywriting across all media channels and engages some of Australias leading advertising creative directors and copywriters, as well as news media executives, to pass on their knowledge and experience.

Copy School will be held in Melbourne from Monday 7th to Friday 11th May, and is seeking 20 young copywriters, or any aspiring copywriters, to attend the workshop series.

Richards Rose senior copywriter, Mark Sharman, will again host some of the industrys best senior creative talent and a senior newspaper publisher, who will donate their time to be guest tutors at the Melbourne Copy School including:

 Elle Bullen, Creative Director/Partner, SDWM

 John Bevins, former copywriter

 Paul Taylor, Executive Creative Director, M&C Saatchi Melbourne

 Sarah McGregor, Creative Director, Cummins & Partners

 Toni Hetherington, National Education Publisher, News Corp Australia

 Doogie Chapman, Freelance Copywriter

 Hilary Badger, Writer & Author, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne

 Chris Taylor, Creative Director, Shabbadu

 Stefanie DiGianvincenzo, Global Creative Director, Cotton On Group

 Mark Sharman, Senior Copywriter, Richards Rose and Copy School Convenor.

Copy School will provide participants with a real world brief that will be presented and critiqued on the final morning of the course.

The workshop fee is just $250 per student. Copy School will donate the fully tax deductible fee to Frontyard Youth Services, which is run by Melbourne City Mission.

Copy School Melbourne will be held at News Corps offices at HWT Tower, 40 City Rd, Southbank.

Says Peter Miller, CEO, NewsMediaWorks: The commitment and years of experience of our guest tutors has helped make Melbourne Copy School a great success since its debut in 2015. The aim of Copy School is to focus on how to create great, effective advertising for brands from some of the best in the business, and it has attracted a range of students from junior writers at agencies to marketers themselves.| BY Ricki Green |

The Clio Awards, the venerated global awards competition honoring creativity in business, has today announced it has named former Adweek creative editor Tim Nudd as editor in chief.

Nudd, a writer and editor who has covered advertising and business creativity for more than 20 years, and most recently led Adweeks creative coverage, will oversee all content creation at the awards organization.

Nicole Purcell, president of Clio Awards, said Nudds new role is essential to Clios longstanding mission to celebrate creative excellence in every form. Working with Purcell and the Clio team, Nudd will develop a robust content strategy and editorial platform that will serve to provide daily inspiration to the creative communities Clio recognizes through its yearly awards programs.

Says Purcell: We are thrilled to have Tim Nudd join the Clios in the role of editor in chief. While awards will remain the core of our business, we would like to cast a greater spotlight on the incredible work and talent in the industries we honor. Having covered advertising and creativity for more than 20 years, Tim is the perfect partner for Clio to create compelling written and video content and to also ensure Clio has a presence and a meaningful voice at key industry events.

Nudd joins the Clio organization from Adweek, where he did two separate stints as a writer and editor dating back to 1997. During a distinguished tenure that established him as a leading industry authority and critic, Nudd was the founding editor of Adweeks daily blog AdFreak and led creative coverage for the publications print and digital editions. He also helped launch the weekly podcast, Yeah, Thats Probably an Ad.

Says Nudd: Clio has an incredible history of celebrating creativity, and Nicole and her team are second to none in how they recognize and honor the creative industries. Ive been fascinated by creativity in business my whole career, and Im excited to bring my editorial lens to the Clio platformto help this world-class brand become a daily, indispensable resource for insights and inspiration around creativity in advertising, music, sports, fashion and more. Stay tuned for some really fun projects that will take a deep dive into what makes creative people, brands and artists tickall under the resources and spirit of the Clio banner.

Clio has in recent years made considerable investments in creative content. As part of its ongoing commitment to providing year-round creative inspiration, Clio acquired advertising archive Ads of the World two years ago to help the brand celebrate creativity 365 days a year. The new Clio content platform will be unveiled in the coming weeks.| BY Ricki Green |

Nicole Taylor (left) has departed her role as DDB Sydney CEO to fill the CEO role at McCann Australia, following Ben Lilleys departure. Fran Clayton (right) has also resigned from DDB to join Taylor at McCann Australia as national CSO.

Says Charles Cadell, president, McCann Worldgroup APAC: I am very pleased to welcome two of Australias most influential industry leaders to McCann Australia. Nic and Fran will be Sydney-based and lead our national operations. As a team, we are committed to continuing the upward trajectory as we enter this exciting new phase of growth under our new leadership team.

Taylor joins McCann with over 20 years of experience across a number of categories, both agency and client side including QSR, Automotive, FMCG and Telco.

Taylor has always been a great advocate for the Australian communications industry and currently holds a board position on the Australian Communications Council. Both Taylor and Clayton have been strong voices and great champions for diversity.

Clayton has worked alongside Taylor for over five years, helping to win and grow both national and global accounts for many key clients of the agency.

Says Taylor: DDB has been my much-loved home for over seven years and it has been an absolute privilege to serve the talented people and incredible clients at DDB Sydney.

We were attracted to McCann because of their fearless commitment to creativity. Stepping up to the helm of McCann Australia, we are committed to building something very special in this market and we will do everything we can to support our people to make the best work of their careers.

Says Clayton: As a global network, McCann Worldgroup has real momentum and is making some of the best work in the world. We love the single-minded commitment to the Truth Well Told.

Our industry needs a new style of leadership. Nic and I have always been passionate about building a diverse creative culture and know we have the perfect partner in the McCann network.

Adds Cadell: Nic and Frans reputation as game changers precedes them  they are modern leaders who know how to empower their teams to deliver world- class creativity that results in outstanding business performance. With a robust operation beneath them and an already enviable client roster, I look forward to them taking McCann Worldgroup Australia to new heights,.

Says Andrew Little, CEO, DDB Group Australia: DDB Australia is full of entrepreneurial people and, with the recent CEO movement across the industry, its not unexpected that our people are targeted.

While Im disappointed, both Nic and Fran are stepping up into national roles and I know that its the opportunity to turn around the agency that appeals to them. We tried very hard to keep them but at the end of the day they have the opportunity to run their own show.

Ive had the pleasure of working with and promoting both Nic and Fran over the years, they are great mates and we wish them all the best.

We are all custodians of our time at DDB, and Nic and Fran can be very proud of their legacy and contribution to the history of DDB in Australia.

Little is now in the market looking for a MD and CSO for DDB Sydney.

Says Little: We want to take our time finding the very best people for these positions. These are prominent roles across amazing clients including Westpac, McDonalds, Virgin Australia and Volkswagen Group, amongst many other clients. The caliber of our staff and the unique DDB culture are additional drawcards.| BY Ricki Green |

Judging of The One Show and ADC 97th Annual Awards is currently underway in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Each day, they are posting a brief Pick of the Day video interview with a One Show or ADC Annual Awards jury member, where they tell us about one piece of work that really impressed them.

Hamburgs Jung von Matt AG brought together something young Berliners hate  Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), the citys public transportation system  with something they love: limited edition sneakers. This led to the creation of BVG x adidas Originals EQT Berlin, a must-have pair of kicks that also serves as an annual transit pass.

Grace Dawson, a member of the ADC 97th Annual Awards Product & Packaging Design jury and director of brand for Jones, Knowles, Ritchie NY, was wowed by the concept and selected The Ticket Shoe as her Pick of the Day for cool work she saw while judging.| BY Ricki Green |

As the need for extra cash increases due to too many punts on the horses or a cheeky Bali escape, there is a fast loan debt crisis looming for many Australian men in their 20-30s. Guilty, The Creative Works, Consumer Action Law Centre and Financial Rights Legal Centre have collaborated to produce an awareness campaign using an unusual hero; a rabid squirrel, on the hunt for their nuts.

Directed by Guiltys Edwin McGill, the Watch Your Nuts viral video is bringing consciousness to the quick loans epidemic and hoping to prevent men losing their valuables. This irregular approach has already accrued upwards of 700,000 views on popular social media channels collectively.

Additionally, the campaigns website watchyournuts.com.au has had great success, a place where Consumer Action and Financial Rights suggest amusing approaches to saving a penny, along with more practical options. The website has relevant information to help those in debt or those thinking about taking it on.

Says Tom Davies, producer, Guilty: It was really great being able to work with The Creative Works, Consumer Action and Financial Rights on such an important campaign. And lets be honest- rarely do you get the chance to make an ad about a squirrel looking to feast on your privates!.

This is a socially conscious campaign on a topic seldom reported in the media, aiming to create better financial management and mindfulness for men needing to protect their family jewels and assets.

Production Company: Guilty

Director: Edwin McGill

Producer: Tom Davies

Executive Producer: Jason Byrne

DoP: Adam Howden

Art Director: Charlie OBrien

Editor: Ryan Brett

Post: Manimal Post

Agency: The Creative Works

Creative Director: Michael Davey

Creatives: Mikey Tucker & Richard Lovell

Director Strategy: Sam Osborn| BY Ricki Green |

Last Thursday, Heckler hosted the 2018 AWARD Award judges drinks, at the newly renovated Paramount House.

Some of the industrys top talent came together to celebrate completion of this years judging, with beverages provided by Hawkes Lager and service by Golden Age Cinema & Bar. A new tasting menu from esteemed neighbours Longrain was also available on the night for guests.

Says Mike Spirkovski, chairman of the Communications Council and CCO of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia: On behalf of Award Id like to thank Heckler for hosting the 2018 Award judges welcome drinks. It was a brilliant night.

Says Will Alexander, EP/founder, Heckler: It was an absolute honour help judge the 39th annual AWARD Awards, especially at a time when Australia is producing world-class work within advertising. Working alongside Mike Spirkovski as the new chairman at Communications Council was a pleasure.

The night was a fantastic opportunity for some of the industrys brightest to come together and share a drink after a period of reflection upon last years best advertising work. We are proud to be able to support AWARD Award and the Communications Council. It was lovely also to be able to showcase the rooftop of Paramount House, which I can see being a fresh new hub for creativity in Sydney.| BY Ricki Green |

Melbourne based toy design, development and distribution company, Moose Toys, has appointed Hatched to deliver full service media duties across its brands.

Says Belinda Gruebner, EVP global marketing, Moose Toys: Our appointment of Hatched solidifies our strategy to partner with companies who reflect our values and integrate seamlessly as an extension of our marketing team. The team at Hatched share our desire to create meaningful connections with kids around Australia and we are excited by their curious minds and endless out of the box ideas to test and integrate. We are very proud to be partnering with Hatched.

Founded in 1985 Moose Toys is one the largest toy manufacturers in the world with brands like Shopkins, Little Live Pets, Pikmi Pops and The Grossery Gang within its portfolio. Hatched will be responsible for media across all the Moose Toys brands effectively immediately.

Says Stephen Fisher, general manager, Hatched: We are really proud of the fact that one of Australias most innovative and entrepreneurial businesses has chosen to work with us. Its been brilliant to experience the Moose Toys culture and understand more about their business. Our team are extremely excited to be involved with such fantastic brands and were looking forward to having some fun with a client who really has an appetite to evolve their marketing.| BY Ricki Green |

Publicis in Brisbane has re-engineered the agency to increase focus on strategy by forming a team with depth of experience across brand and consumer experience, channel planning, social media and digital.

Says Simone Waugh, managing director, Publicis: Building one of the strongest integrated strategy teams in Australia has been critical to us, knowing the best of strategic thinking fuels the best of creativity. Weve brought together a team of six so far to integrate social, digital and CX strategy with brand planning.

The agency has grown in the past 12 months by over 25%, making it the fastest growing creative agency in Queensland, now with 65 staff.

Mike Redfern, Publiciss strategy director, has worked closely with Waugh and the Publicis leadership team on the rebuild of agencys strategy offering in the past 12 months, which has importantly seen the appointment of David Smerdon as strategy director of Publicis in Brisbane.

Smerdon has over 15 years industry experience in both media and creative agencies and before joining Publicis he was strategy director at Clemenger Brisbane.

Says Smerdon: After nearly eight years at Clemenger Im excited by the sheer scale of the PublicisQ team, while still being agile and legitimately client focused. Our capabilities are complemented by our partnership and direct access into the technology / development muscle of sister business Sapient. The integration of strategy and digital into creative is firing well for us.

Also joining Publicis on strategy is Helene Thorsen who joins from Viseum and Isobar in Denmark as strategist. Local talent Scott Isaac is also strategist with social specialist expertise.

Says Waugh: Were the first agency in Australia to work with Google Experimental Labs in New York to implement best-practice content creative with one of our national clients, Suncorp. Weve invested in our talent, spending time on the ground with Google and now were about to implement the model for our clients.

We have one of the best multicultural agency mixes of people which brings diversity of thinking and experiences to the table. We have people who have moved here from Sweden, South America, Scotland, London and other cities in Australia, purposely choosing Publicis for our focus on strategic creativity.| BY Ricki Green |

Essence, a global data and measurement-driven agency and part of GroupM, has appointed Russ Mitchinson who joins the agency as head of strategy, Australia and New Zealand.

Mitchinson has held various roles within media and creative agencies, most recently at OMD where he was head of strategy working across the key brands of Village Roadshow and McDonalds. Prior to his time at OMD, Mitchinson was at Leo Burnett and DDB.

Says Mitchinson: It is a truly exciting time to be joining Essence as the agency reaches an inflection point. It is in Essences DNA to deliver premium digital and performance-based media, and increasingly the business is bringing that thinking to the full gamut of channels as it expands into innovative content spaces.

Says Jovy Gill, managing director for Essence Australia and New Zealand: We are thrilled to welcome Russ to Essence. He brings vast experience in communications strategy crossing both creative and media and offers a wealth of strategic know-how. He will be invaluable as we strive for growth in the region.| BY Ricki Green |

Wine Australia, the national body supporting and promoting the Australian wine sector internationally, has appointed R/GA Sydney as agency of record.

The win will see R/GA Sydney design and deliver an integrated program driving growth in product sales and wine tourism from global markets. R/GAs appointment will be funded by the Australian Governments $50 million Export and Regional Wine Support Package: a three-year investment in growing the wine sector and showcasing Australias wine tourism experiences.

Says Andreas Clark, CEO, Wine Australia: Were thrilled to be working with R/GA Sydney as a creative partner. They have the capability to bring brand, storytelling, data and technology together to create a powerful positioning for Australian wine and wine-related tourism. It is an exciting time for Australian wine and we look forward to working together to share the passion and creativity of Australian winemaking with the rest of the world.

R/GA Sydney lead the successful pitch while working collaboratively with US and Shanghai offices, and will continue to leverage the network to deliver aspects of the program. Much of the work will revolve around a perception-shifting platform that positions our wines for the Chinese and American markets.

Says Rebecca Bezzina, VP managing director, R/GA Sydney: This is the kind of opportunity that most excites us, because it calls for a whole idea  equal parts systematic thinking and storytelling working in tandem. Wine Australia has a clear vision for lifting the perception and desirability of Australian wine and we are immensely proud to be the ones helping them get there.| BY Lynchy |

Stars has announced its first Executive Judges for the 2018 AD Ad Stars Awards: Wooh Hoh, Chief Creative Officer of Hakuhodo Asia Pacific; and Toby Talbot, Chief Creative Officer of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand.

Hoh (pictured left) has won countless awards for Hakuhodos Asia-Pacific team at festivals including the London International Awards, AdFest and Cannes. He said, I think it is great to see a festival like Ad Stars that is free to enter, open to the general public, as well as being a not-for-profit. Its a unique model, and Im looking forward to experiencing Ad Stars for the first time in August.

Since graduating in 1992 from the Graphic Design School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, Hoh has emerged as one of Asias most formidable talents: under his leadership as Regional Executive Creative Director at Hakuhodo Indonesia, the agency was always among the top three agencies in the country. Now based in Bangkok, Hoh is bringing the same creative drive to Hakuhodos offices in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Hoh will oversee the Direct, Media, Promotion, PR, Data Insights, Social & Influencer categories at Ad Stars 2018.

Talbot(pictured above right) said, Im really excited to attend Ad Stars for the first time  a global festival based in a part of the world Ive never visited before. Asia has long been the centre of tech and innovation. But how its colliding with creativity in fascinating ways right now has me really intrigued. Im also keen to find out first hand why Ad Stars has become one of the fastest growing creative festivals in the world. Bring on the case studies I say. Just make them mercifully short please!

Originally from the UK, Talbot has made a phenomenal contribution to New Zealands reputation for advertising brilliance over the past 20 years working at Colenso, DDB, TBWA, Assignment and latterly Saatchi. Highlights include nearly a decade at Colenso BBDO, helping to put the agency on the map creatively in the early 2000s. Next, he transformed the fortunes of DDB New Zealand, winning Campaign Brief Agency of the Year four of his five years in charge. After returning to the UK in 2012 to briefly run Y&R, he came back down under and oversaw a complete creative renaissance at DDB Sydney, before returning to New Zealand last year. He is now back at Saatchi New Zealand on a mission to take the agency back to the very top in New Zealand. Knowing his track record, he might well succeed!

To name just a few of his many accomplishments, Talbot was named Campaign Asias Creative of the Year for Australia and New Zealand in 2011, and has won Campaign Brief Agency of the Year ten times across three agencies, more recently leading DDB Sydney to become the most awarded Australian agency at Cannes in 2016 with 12 lions.

At Ad Stars 2018, Talbot will oversee the Diverse Insights, Outdoor, Public Service Advertising, Place Brand, Radio & Audio categories.

Hwan Jin Choi, Chair of the Ad Stars Executive Committee, said, It is an honour to welcome Woon Hoh and Toby Talbot as our first Executive Judges of 2018. They are both extremely accomplished creatives based in very different parts of the world, and together their expertise will help us set Ad Stars apart as a global festival, based in Asia, which has a unique philosophy based on a spirit of openness and sharing.| BY Lynchy |

Indonesia has the 2nd highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world, resulting in an estimated 300 deaths from TB per day. Despite this, awareness of the risks, care and treatment of TB in Indonesia is incredibly low. What is known is that if untreated, people with active TB can infect 10-15 other people over the course of a year, which has a substantial impact on the livelihoods of people as it affects people during their most productive years of life.

In order to increase awareness in Indonesia about tuberculosis, USAID Indonesia has partnered with the Forum Stop TB Partnership Indonesia (FSTPI) and BBDO Indonesia to launch the #PedulikitaPeduliTBC (#CareForUsCareForTB) campaign.

Targeting Indonesian males and females aged 15-35 years old, the campaign is driven via social channels, including influencers and KOLs.

Jonathan Ross, Director Office of Health, USAID Indonesia said, Embracing a positive angle to raising awareness about TB, the BBDO Indonesia Team developed innovative approaches to utilize multiple social media platforms, and used highly visible KOLs to get the message out. Throughout the collaborative process, the BBDO Team was flexible and open to new ideas which led to an outstanding result. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the BBDO and PHD Team.

Sumana Brahman, Chief of Party for the BANTU Project said, Though the concept of promoting awareness tuberculosis was a novel experience for them, the BBDO creative and media team quickly mobilized to provide excellent insight and technical guidance on the overall campaign objective, and quickly developed a unique and appealing digital awareness campaign  one which is rooted in the Indonesian cultural norms of caring for loved ones  and that effectively targets urban-based millennials with a positive, hopeful message and a simple call for action. The resulting public service announcement (PSA) is excellent.

Vaishali Sarkar CEO BBDO Indonesia said, It has been an honour to work on a campaign which has such a huge social impact. TB is a silent killer in Indonesia, impacting the lives of millions. BBDO Indonesia is privileged to have been selected, from a competitive 4 agency pitch, as the communication partner for USAID and Bantu. For the first time in Indonesia, a PSA was presented in an optimistic, innovative and progressive manner. It was also the first time we used a Mobile first approach. Low budget but high impact online videos were shot in a vertical format, with 4 celebrities stepping forward with a rallying cry #PedulikitaPeduliTBC (#CareForUsCareForTB). If this campaign can bring down fatalities and encourage testing in Indonesia, thats when our job will truly be done.| BY Lynchy |

In a new campaign designed by Grey Group Malaysia, Tesco Malaysia has launched The Unforgettable Bag  a revolutionary new bag design that is the centerpiece of a campaign to help reduce single-use plastic bags, by encouraging customers to bring back their bags for every time they shop

The world produces over 1 TRILLION plastic bags every year, the majority of these are single-use and dumped into landfill and oceans. The Unforgettable Bag campaign is launched ahead of World Earth Day, which is celebrated on 22 April worldwide. Through this campaign, Tesco will be introducing a new reusable bag in three unique designs illustrated with endangered sea creatures:

Each of the animal designs contain a barcode, which will provide customers a 20 cents rebate on shopping at Tesco when scanned, hence encouraging a culture of reuse. Tesco is the first hypermarket in Malaysia to provide rebates for shoppers reusing their shopping bags. The rebate is valid until 31 December 2018.

Grey Group Malaysias Executive Creative Director, Graham Drew said, Every time a bag is brought back, its one less in the ocean. With The Unforgettable Bag, we believe more people will get into the habit of reusing bags. While it seems like a small thing, but together we can all make a huge difference.

The unique designs also serve as reminders to shoppers of how a slight change in habit, by reusing bags could make a difference to ocean life. These bags are made of recyclable material and durable compared to the normal plastic bags.

Paul Ritchie, CEO, Tesco Malaysia said, We have halved the number of single-use plastic bags given out in our stores between 2011 and 2017, but the rate of reduction is not fast enough. We hope that were able to accelerate the reduction of plastic bag use in our operations. Our aim is to further halve the number of plastic bags this year through The Unforgettable Bag campaign.

Tesco is trialing the campaign in Federal Territory and Johor from 3 April 2018 until 31 May. The campaign will be extended nationwide from 1 June onwards.

Grey Malaysia

Graham Drew, Executive Creative Director

Heng Thang Wei, Creative Director

Ronojoy Ghosh, Creative Director (whiteGREY)

Jo Yau, General Manager

Austin Lee, Art Director

Ralve Khor Designer

Xin Yi, Copywriter

Shamini Kandiah, Copywriter

Kenzhen Leong, Account Director

Elaine Ng, Account Manager

Huma Qureshi, Regional Director PR & Corp Comms APAC

Cedric Wceke, Regional Corp Comms Executive APAC

Production Team

Rawr Studios

Sound DesignPenner: Cruising through the Kootenays in comfort

Somewhere just north of Edgewater, the scenic one-hour drive to Golden just underway, we rambled around a bend and broke through the thick blanket of early morning fog that smothered the valley. Wow! Look at that, son! I said, nudging my boy, Aemon, 18, as he woke from a stupor. On the port side (an RV is kinda like a ship) a pair of serrated, ice-caked peaks hovered above the misty sea and pierced the gem-blue sky. This looks promising son, I said. Im starting to like RV trips.Wednesday, April 4, 2018 at 10:52AM

The technology sector is changing dramatically before our eyes. Fresh from last week's massive Microsoft reorg which saw the Windows group subsumed into various other departments as Microsoft focuses on artifical intelligence, we now have Apple making an addition to its team.

John Giannandrea was previously Google's head of AI. He oversaw the Search team and developed applied AI at Google. He is considered a heavy hitter in Silicon Valley for his expertise, his background stems back to such noted companies as Netscape and General Magic. Giannandrea will report directly to Tim Cook, and is largely expected to revamp Apple's existing AI products like Siri.

"John shares our commitment to privacy and our thoughtful approach as we make computers even smarter and more personal," Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in an email to employees seen by the New York Times.news, latest-news

When you're trying to find who has the best wordplay in Canberra, there can only be pun. In a competition of double entendres, witticisms, and the occasional groan, dozens of contestants - or pun-dits - square off at Smith's Alternative in the ultimate challenge to see who can come up with the best in a 'pun slam'. Called Capital Punishment, the event has been running every month at the Civic venue since August last year, and has been attracting a growing crowd since. Organisers John Lombard and Georgina Johnston said the idea for the event was inspired by similar competitions overseas, and can often descend into 'pun-demonium'. "When we started, we thought it would be a bit like poetry slams, but we quickly discovered that people take puns very seriously," Mr Lombard said. "Pun slams started getting news coverage in the states, and we thought there was nothing like this in Canberra." As part of the competition, punters have to prepare two minutes of material based around a theme, with this month's being 'Just Desserts'. Mr Lombard said there were a variety of approaches. "Some try to do as many puns as they can in two minutes, while others use the time to build up to one amazing pun," he said. For the final round, the best two competitors take part in a 'pun off', going back and forth making puns about a topic until one falters. Ms Johnston said while the reaction for many people upon hearing a pun was a groan, at Capital Punishment, this was actively encouraged. "My favourite reaction to them has to be the gradient effect, where people start groaning at it, and it eventually turns into laughs," she said. "With puns, the reaction is a hybrid between pleasure and pain," Mr Lombard said. The organisers said many of the contestants who took part in the first event keep coming back, to see if they had the pun-tential for more success, many adopting pun stage names such as Sir Arthur Pun-dragon. "There's been a core group of people who have been waiting their entire lives for this to exist and for them to be able to show off their pun skills," Mr Lombard said. "We often get a lot of thanks from family and friends of competitors because now these people have an outlet to tell puns and not annoy them as much." "The more annoying you are, the more we want you on our stage," Ms Johnston said. The next event is at 9.30pm April 6 at Smith's Alternative, 76 Alinga Street, Civic.

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Ride design, maintenance, staff training, safety measures and emergency responses will all be considered in the highly anticipated inquest into the Dreamworld tragedy that claimed four lives. Canberra man Roozbeh Araghi, his partner Luke Dorsett, Mr Dorsetts sister Kate Goodchild and Sydney mother Cindy Low died when Dreamworlds Thunder River Rapids ride malfunctioned in October 2016. A pre-inquest conference held in Brisbane on Tuesday morning heard the examination proper, to be held in two parts, could start as soon as June. Representatives for four victims or their families were given leave to appear, along with Dreamworld parent company Ardent Leisure and two company employees. The four victims, along with Kate's daughter Ebony and Cindy's son Kieran, had boarded raft five of the then 30-year-old, "moderate" thrill ride about 2pm on October 25. The Coroners Court of Queensland heard the raft travelled through the ride without incident until it came to a conveyor at the end, designed to lift the boats back into position. Counsel assisting the inquest Ken Fleming QC said it appeared one of two large in the extreme pumps feeding the ride had stopped working 15 seconds before the incident, causing the water level to drop significantly. The raft in front became stranded on a steel railing and the raft carrying the families collided with it and flipped, he said. Mr Araghi, Mr Dorsett, Ms Goodchild and Ms Low suffered crush injuries and were killed almost instantly, while Ebony and Kieran managed to free themselves or were thrown free. The tragedy left their families shattered and shocked and made headlines internationally, as well as sparking widespread safety reviews into Queenslands amusement park industry. As recently as January, they were still awaiting news of when the inquest would begin. Ms Lows family members issued a statement welcoming the beginning of the process, saying they hoped it would provide answers and prevent anyone else going through the same experience. Our lives were turned upside-down that day by the loss of Cindy, we have spent each week and month comforting each other and learning how to live without her. We will not be making any further statements until the inquest is fully concluded, they said. As well as the direct causes and factors leading to the tragedy, the inquest will look into the construction and operation of similar rides internationally and the existing regulatory requirements in Australia and overseas to see whether anything needs to change. Mr Fleming said it was too early to confirm the witnesses who would appear and stressed the inquest process forbade south-east coroner James McDougall from making any findings of guilt or similar liability. Police and Workplace Health and Safety officers and experts were all expected to give evidence. That would be a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland at another time, he said. Dreamworld closed for 45 days after the deaths and visitor numbers fell an estimated 30 per cent, resulting in parent company Ardent Leisure reporting a $62.6 million loss for the financial year. It was still taking a business hit earlier this year, reporting impacts despite attendances jumping more than 40 per cent and a 70 per cent revenue increase. Lawyers for the company declined to make any submissions, saying they had been instructed to co-operate immediately with the counsel assisting. Outside court, an Ardent PR representative, Jacquelynne Wilcox, said the inquest process had to be respected. Everyone feels for the families, she said. A second pre-inquest conference will be held on May 25 in Southport. Sitting dates for the inquiry itself have been suggested in June, July, October and December.

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Jakarta: The daughter of Indonesia's former president Sukarno has apologised to all Indonesian Muslims after she was accused of reading a poem that blasphemed and insulted Islam. In the poem, read at Indonesia's Fashion Week, Sukmawati  sister of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri  is alleged to have denigrated the adzan, or call to prayer, and suggested a traditional Indonesian hair bun is prettier than the full-faced veil worn by strict Muslims. The reading of the poem titled Mother Indonesia has prompted calls for a rally on Friday from the hardline GNPF Ulama, a conservative Muslim organisation, who declared "the call of Jihad is back" and urged people to support police in the "arrest, trial and jail Sukmawati, the religious blasphemer". The outrage generated by Sukmawati's poem is another sign that conservative Muslims in Indonesia plan to flex their political muscles ahead of the 2019 elections. GNPF Ulama was one of the key religious organisations involved in the huge rallies against the Christian former governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, widely known as Ahok, who was jailed for blasphemy in May 2017. A lawyer named Denny Andrian Kusdayat and the East Java branch of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), a usually moderate Muslim organisation, both reported Sukmawati Sukarnoputri to police after she read the poem last week. According to local media, Denny believed Sukmawati insulted Islam because the word "Allah" is mentioned in the call to prayer. Sukmawati, who had already conferred with a senior official from the Ulama Council  a body of clerics who issue religious edicts  delivered her apology on Wednesday afternoon. From the bottom of my heart I extend an apology to all Muslims of Indonesia, especially those who feel offended by the poem, Sukmawati said with tears in her eyes during a press conference. However another two organisations  the Indonesian Ulema Defence Team (TPUI) and the Indonesian Islamic Student Movement (GMII)  reported Sukmawati to Indonesian Police on Wednesday, claiming to have been insulted by the poem and signalling her apology may not have been enough. University of NSW lecturer Melissa Crouch, an expert in Indonesia's blasphemy laws, said Sukmawati had had previous run-ins with conservative Muslim group the Islamic Defenders front and "this case has political undertones to it". "People have been moved by the Ahok conviction to use the blasphemy laws to target their poitical opponents," she said. The general secretary of the Association of Indonesian Sharia Lawyers, Irfan Fahmi, said in his personal opinion "we must first find out if there is intention of her to blaspheme". "In the criminal code, an action should have an intention in order to be categorised as a criminal act. Perception is not an intention," he said. "So if she thinks the sound from the call of prayer is less beautiful ... it is her perception." He predicted Sukmawati would not face court over the matter and said the fact that she was speaking at a fashion event, not a political rally, would also help her. Nevertheless, "maybe there are people who will make a new issue out of Sukmawatis case [ahead of the 2019 election]." Police in Jakarta may summon Sukmawati to question her about the matter, but it could be some weeks before she finds out if she is charged or if the matter is dropped.

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Jakarta: An Australian man facing drug charges in Bali has wept as he revealed in court his partner had died following an overdose in Kuala Lumpur last week. And Isaac Emmanuel Roberts has made an emotional plea to the Indonesian justice system after the death of his partner Loyd: "I don't want this to happen to my family. Please help me". Prosecutors in the case have already asked that Roberts, who is undergoing rehab, be charged with the illegal use of a category 1 narcotic for personal consumption, rather than a more serious charge that could have led to the death penalty if he was found guilty. Officials at Denpasar airport allegedly found 20.54 grams of the drug ice and 14 ecstasy tablets in Mr Roberts' luggage on December 4 last year. Mr Roberts sobbed in the Bali court room on Wednesday as he asked for leniency and revealed details of an addiction that led him to board a flight from Bangkok to Denpasar while carrying drugs. "The night before I was due to leave, I didn't sleep - I was high all night and last injected around 4am. I was due to leave my apartment at 6.30am, to catch a flight leaving for Denpasar at 8.50am," he told the court. While scrambling to pack, Roberts said, he had decided to pack some drugs to use in Bali as he did not have a dealer in the city. "I knew this was illegal but as an addict, my only thought was of my next hit...I admit that I brought the drugs to Bali, for which I am very sorry and apologise." He then outlined details of how his partner Loyd, who had been in Bali with him since the arrest and participated in a drug rehabilitation program with Roberts, had died. After leaving Bali on a visa run, Roberts said, Loyd met an American drug dealer named Alex in Kuala Lumpur and relapsed into drug use. "Early Wednesday morning, they injected shabu [methamphetamine] together and Loyd had a stroke. It took Alex until Friday to take Loyd to the hospital, even then, I had to beg him. It was too late. On Sunday Loyd was dead." "I don't [want] this to happen to my family. Please help me," he begged the judges. The court is due to hand down its judgement on Roberts's case next Wednesday. Assessments by Indonesian and Australian doctors have confirmed Mr Roberts was an addict and that he had been a user of multiple narcotics including ice, methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana since the year 2000. When admitted to Bhayangkara hospital, he had been diagnosed with mental health and behavioral issues due to the methamphetamines, as well as depression and anxiety disorders.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/b7f506e8-b16f-4bbd-a190-38a43452f479/r0_184_4695_2837_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgChildren from families that have faced challenges or dysfunction, those who live in foster care or who have been abused, impoverished, or neglected, are more likely to experience problems parenting they grow up.

KKids, a North Fort Myers non-profit organization, is looking to break that cycle and put children in situations where they will be loved, safe and cared for, while helping to restore families whenever possible.

KKids, an acronym for Keeping Kids in Distress Safe, was founded by Karen Scott in 2002 and incorporated into a non-profit in 2016. The goal is to set up group homes in the community, as well as have laws changed regarding the foster system.

Scott said that awareness is just that, and without action, it doesnt do much good.

The system is so antiquated and children are falling through the cracks and dying because they are in a system thats failing them, Scott said. We want people who have a heart for children and extra room in their house to take in a foster group in spring into action because there are so many ways they can help.

KKids gets its charges through the Childrens Network, Lutheran Services and, sometimes, caretakers are friends of family and the mother has been arrested and they dont want their children in the system.

Basically, caretakers open their homes to any child who needs them  and they are everywhere. Scott has even taken in children over the summer and, when one of their parents died of a drug overdose, she took over legal guardianship until their father could be found.

They turned out to be one of our success stories. We found their biological dad who lived in New York and he is an amazing man, Scott said. The drug culture is fluid and he was looking for them, but the mom hid them from him.

The goal is to undo any damage of abuse and childhood trauma for children in foster care through love and professional therapy, through Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties.

Scotts work has gotten her noticed. Last month, she was nominated for the Elmer Tabor Award which recognizes those in the Cape Coral area through their charitable works.

The big problem KKids has is with so many children on a waiting list, they have no more beds.

The group has 13 kids currently and is hoping to take in as many as 22.

We have found a property we would like to turn into our group home on Arondale Drive. We need someone to finance it for us or buy it outright and allocate it for the foundation, Scott said. It will be the model for other group homes we open in the area. We just cant take any more right now, were maxed out.

The property they seek has an in-law suite that would be perfect for those in college and ready to transition.

KKids will also take in older kids and those transitioning into adulthood and teach them life skills, such as how to handle money and find a job, that will get them ready for the adult world.

The property costs almost a half-million dollars and, while they have money coming in from benefactors, its not enough to make a lump-sum purchase.

KKids is accepting money online and through the community foundations, its website, a giving campaign, GoFundMe, social media and speaking at events, Scott said.

If it werent for Gods people and their generous hearts, we would never be able to do what we do because we get no money from the state, Scott said. Our grocery bill is $800 a week because these kids want to eat every day and we give them good food, not processed. God is covering us every day.The Sanibel Captiva Art League will meet on April 19 from 1 to 3 p.m. at The Community House, at 2173 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel.

Award-winning artist Wanda Kemper will be the guest speaker.

Wanda will critique members and visitors paintings, as she did last year.

Ive always been a cup half full person, so my natural instinct is to focus on all the wonderful and positive aspects of a work of art. I can honestly say, theres always something I can make a positive comment about, she said. After I compliment on what the artist has done well, I look for areas that if it were my art, I would make these adjustments.'

Members and visitors are invited to bring one painting each.

Kemper has over 40 years of experience as a professional artist, including as the owner and operator of an art studio, as a retouch artist for a photographic studio, as an artist and art director for a stained glass studio and as the former curator of the Blackhawk Gallery in Danville, California.

She has received multiple awards and honors.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit sancapart.com.Photo: Facebook

A suburban Victoria woman says she didn't expect to be hearing jackhammers or smelling strong fumes when she booked a spring-break family cruise through the Panama Canal.

Cecilia Jenkins says a major construction project began moments after the Norwegian Cruise Lines vessel left a dock in Miami, and the raucous lasted the entire voyage.

Jenkins is one of dozens of passengers who were aboard the Norwegian Sun and are now publicly criticizing the company for launching the work on a vessel loaded with passengers.

She says her family spent more than $10,000 for the two-week trip that was filled with dust, noise and inconvenience.

Jenkins says she's been suffering breathing problems since returning to Vancouver Island and at one point on her trip almost collapsed from inhaling fumes.

Norwegian Cruise Lines has not been immediately available for comment, but Jenkins and others say passengers were offered a 25 per cent discount on another cruise if they take it within the next year.Photo: BC Gov't David Eby

British Columbia's attorney general says a report on money laundering makes clear that proceeds of crime have been laundered through the province's casinos for many years.

David Eby says in a news release he's reviewing the report by former RCMP deputy commissioner Peter German and it will provide a strong foundation to make effective decisions aimed at ending the illegal activity.

Eby says the report makes 48 recommendations and he will provide a fuller response at a later date.

The attorney general was in Ottawa last week to discuss the issue of money laundering with members of the House of Commons finance committee.

Eby has called for more resources to help police follow up on leads identified by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, an independent agency tasked with detecting, preventing and deterring money laundering.

He also wants the purchase of luxury cars tracked in areas including the Lower Mainland, saying the practice can be used to reintroduce illegal cash into the economy.Photo: Matt Nicholas

Police are investigating after a stolen RV was set on fire and ditched east of Kelowna.

The torched RV was spotted by a driver travelling up McCulloch Road near Hydraulic Lake Road on Saturday.

I was like, 'what the hell?' said Matt Nicholas. I stopped and looked and backed up and thought, 'that is strange.'

RCMP Cpl. Jesse ODonaghey says the RV is believed to have been stolen from Rutland and set ablaze in the backcountry.

Suspicious, for sure, thought Nicholas, who added the RV wasn't there a week ago.

RCMP are asking anyone with information to contact them at 250-762-3300 and cite file number 2018-16429.Photo: Contributed File photo.

An RCMP officer has been charged with manslaughter after a man was fatally shot at a traffic stop in southern B.C. more than three years ago.

The Independent Investigations Office has said officers were responding to a driving complaint in Castlegar on Jan. 29, 2015, when an officer shot a man.

Waylon Edey, a 39-year-old Yahk resident, died in hospital.

The BC Prosecution Service says a charge of manslaughter using a firearm was approved Tuesday against Cst. Jason Tait, an officer with the RCMP's West Kootenay Traffic Unit.

He is scheduled to appear in provincial court in Castlegar on April 30.

An RCMP spokeswoman says Tait is currently on paid administrative leave.

The prosecution service says the case was investigated by the Independent Investigations Office and Crown counsel reviewed the available evidence before the charge was laid.

The Independent Investigations Office probes all cases of police-involved serious injuries or death across B.C.Photo: File photo

If you're looking for work, these businesses are looking for you.

More than 40 employers and recruiters will be at the third-annual Vernon Job Fair, Tuesday, April 10 at the Vernon Lodge from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m..

Hailed as Vernon's largest hiring event, the fair is organized by NexusBC Community Resource Centre in partnership with Community Futures and WorkBC.

With several new employers on board, this job fair will be our largest to date, said Lee Brinkman, marketing co-ordinator with NexusBC.

We made a special effort to showcase a broad list of employers from fields such as agriculture, government, health care, hospitality, retail, trades and technology.

Job fairs are a one-stop shop for employers and potential employees to meet face to face.

It isnt often that 40-plus employers get together in a purposeful effort to meet job seekers, so if youre looking for work or considering a career or job change, this is the place to be, said Brinkman.

New to this years job fair are employer presentations.

Thanks to sponsorship from BC Corrections, job seekers now have the opportunity to learn first-hand from participating employers about the type of work they do, what jobs are available, the pay and benefits, working culture and future plans, said Brinkman.

There will also be representatives from local programs that can help those looking for work.

The Career Paths for Skilled Immigrants program offers specialized training for newcomers who have a background in technology or construction and engineering.

The Skilled Trades Employment Program connects skilled workers with construction opportunities.

Brinkman said anyone looking for some help updating a resume prior to the job fair should contact WorkBC Employment Services Centres at 250-545-2215 to set up a one-on-one consultation.

WorkBC will also host a job seeker lounge on site, so if questions arise at the event, you can check with the professionals.

Jobseekers should dress appropriately, bring lots of resumes and be prepared to sign up for interviews.

Participants are encouraged to research the companies they wish to apply to and practice a 30-second sales pitch of their background.

A full list of employers and tips to get the most out of a job fair can be found online.Photo: File photo

A judge in British Columbia has rejected an appeal by a Vancouver police officer found guilty of running a red light more than four years ago.

A provincial court heard Const. Scott Plummer was on duty, driving in downtown Vancouver in February 2014, when he ran the light and hit a taxi.

He was found guilty two years later of driving without due care and attention and court records show he was fined $500 plus a $75 victim surcharge.

Plummer argued on appeal that his charter rights were violated when the Police Complaint Commissioner included his compelled statement in a report to Crown counsel.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Watchuk dismissed the appeal in a written ruling released Tuesday, saying the trial judge did not make an error and there was no abuse of process in the case.

Watchuk's decision says the Crown did not use the compelled statement and the case was proven at trial by witnesses to the collision.

Plummer had argued that the commissioner's disclosure of the statement struck at "the very heart of the principles, policies and procedures that govern civilian oversight of policing in British Columbia."

Watchuk disagreed.

"The mere possession of the compelled statement by the Crown in this particular case does not constitute conduct that is offensive to the integrity of the justice system," her decision says.Photo: Tourism Vancouver The Honda Celebration of Light will dazzle hundreds of thousands of people July 28, Aug. 1 and Aug. 4.

The night sky will be lit up over Vancouver once again this summer during the Honda Celebration of Light.

Fireworks will dazzle hundreds of thousands of people July 28, Aug. 1 and Aug. 4

The popular pyrotechnics show is in its 28th year and draws up to 1.3 million spectators annually.

Last year, Akariya Fireworks from Japan blasted at the competition and took home first place, beating out the United Kingdom and Canada.

The three countries competing in this year's festival will be announced on April 10.Alanna Kelly

UPDATE 6:25 a.m.

Kelowna Platoon Captain John Kelly, tells Castanet News that six engines, two water tenders, a rescue unit and command vehicle with 25 firefighters responded to a massive house fire in the 1600 block of Bennett Road in the McKinley Landing area at 8 p.m. Tuesday night.

Fire could be seen shooting out of the building, from the roof and at the rear of the house.

The fire spread rapidly across the entire roof and then into the structure.

In spite of their best efforts, the fire could not be stopped and the structure could not be saved.

Several grass fires were also ignited to the north in the forested area and around the property. These were started from sparks and embers that were flying approximately 150 feet into the air.

Two tenders were used to shuttle water to the scene, as the hydrant was approximately 700 metres away.

No word on what caused the blaze. The investigation is continuing.

UPDATE: 12:20 a.m.

Over 25 firefighters battled a rapidly spreading blaze that gutted a home on Bennett Road in McKinley Landing Tuesday night.

The call came in for the fire in the roof of a home at 8 p.m.

Kelowna Deputy Fire Chief, Scott Cronquist said an initial structure fire response team responded.

When the crews arrived they found rapidly spreading fire on the roof and dispatched more crews, he said.

A woman living inside the home at the time was able to escape the fire.

The home was left gutted with just a few partial walls remaining. Wind caused some of the fire to move to the north and crews worked quickly to prevent a grass fire.

There is no other homes nearby, but because of the size of the fire it was spreading to the north, the incident commander was insuring there was no fire spreading to the north and the hill side so he did have crews dispersed through the hill, said Cronquist.

Crews were having to bring water in with a truck as the house was located 700 metres down a dirt road from the main street.

Roughly 25 firefighters were on scene as of 10:30 p.m., six engines, two tenders, a rescue vehicle and the command vehicle.

- with files from Alanna Kelly

UPDATED 10:25 p.m.

Witnesses are telling Castanet the house has been completely destroyed.

Castanet reporter Alanna Kelly is at the scene and most of the large home has collapsed.

There is only a couple walls still standing. It's a large house right on the water. It's gutted completely, said Kelly.

Making the fire more challenging is, fire crews have to shuttle water some 700 metres from he nearest hydrant to the fire.

There are reports one woman was home at the time of the blaze, but she escaped unharmed.

Emergency crews are at the scene of a house fire in the 4600 block of Bennett Road in McKinley Landing.

Witnesses are telling Castanet the fire started in the chimney, but has since spread to the roof of the house.

Additional fire crews and an ambulance have been called to the scene.

Fire crews have been forced to place a water bladder near the home and relay water to the area from the closest fire hydrant.

One witness described the fire as 'massive.'

Castanet will have more information as soon as it becomes available.

Send your pictures and information to [email protected].Photo: CTV

A Victoria nurse has been barred from working in the field after admitting to sexually assaulting a 73-year-old patient.

The College of Registered Nurses of B.C. has cancelled the registration of Gary Dromarsky and banned him from reapplying until at least 2023.

Dromarsky admitted to touching the patient under her underwear and massaging her buttocks on Sept. 14, 2017.

A sibling of the woman and Dromarsky's manager complained to the college.

Victoria police won't confirm if he is being criminally investigated. He has not been charged at this point.

"In the event an arrest is made and charges sworn, or warrant issued, we would release more information about an ongoing investigation," police said in a statement.

The college also issued a public warning, saying anyone thinking of hiring Dromarsky "should exercise great caution.

 with files from CTV Vancouver IslandPhoto: CTV

A father and daughter team have become the first to co-pilot an airliner for Air Canada.

Jennie Olafson and James Sullivan made history on March 21 on a flight from Vancouver to Taipei.

"It was really neat to fly with my dad," Jennie told CTV at Vancouver International Airport.

"In the days when we had an open cockpit, I took Jennie once or twice with me to work," said her father, a 31-year Air Canada veteran.

"I got to sit in the observer seat, so I got to see everything that was going on in the flight deck ... that's when I really knew I really wanted to do it," said Jennie, who joined the airline in 2011.

Until recently, they flew different types of aircraft, but Jennie was certified on Boeing 787s this year.

"Yes, I was proud," said James. "I was happy to be there, and looking back on it, it's even more to me today."

The father-daughter duo is hoping to repeat the experience in the near future.

 with files from CTV VancouverPhoto: Darren Handschuh Fire crews mop up a grass fire off of Clerke Road Tuesday.

Kevin Legault didn't plan on being a firefighter Tuesday, but when he spotted a grass fire he didn't hesitate to jump into action.

When the construction worker spotted smoke on a hillside above Clerke Road he immediately drove to the scene and found an out-of-control grass fire.

There was one member of the military at the scene, and firefighters were on the way, but Legault didn't wait, grabbing a small shovel he began to battle the flames on his own.

Legault noticed the wind was fanning the flames toward the Allan Brooks Nature Centre which was uphill from the fire.

Legault began digging a fireguard around the flames, cutting it off at one point before moving to the next.

I was just trying to keep it controlled, said Legault. I knew they (firefighters) were on the way, but as long as I could keep snuffing it out and stopping it from moving, that was my intention. I just didn't want it to overtake by the time they got there.

After a few minutes, fire crews began arriving, but Legault kept fighting the flames until the fire department took over and doused the blaze with water.

Sometimes you have to take action. You have to stand up and not just take pictures and videos like people were doing. You have to do something. This is our country. Stand for it do what you can and make a difference. One person can change the outcome, said Legault. Thanks for the quick actions of the fire department for making sure it was controlled.Photo: Kristi McLay Traffic backed up on Park Drive near McKinney Avenue in Oliver, looking west, near where major road work is taking place.

A major road work project in Oliver is being slowed by mother nature, according to town staff.

The construction, which began on Feb. 15, "has been slower than anticipated due to the high water table," the town's public works department said in a news release.

Work to upgrade water, sewer and storm sewer lines is currently being done on Fairview Road, and eventually Station Street and Bank Avenue will receive upgrades to infrastructure.

The project, worth $1.26 million, is expected to last until June. The town said traffic disruptions and temporary road closures will persist until then.

"We ask that people be patient, be aware of traffic control, and help support the local businesses during this project," the town said.

In the block where the road work is being done, work is underway on a new full-service hotel, and a new public park is being planned adjacent to the hotel.Photo: USGS Osoyoos Lake level Wednesday 11 a.m.

Water levels in Osoyoos Lake are rising steadily as outflows out of the Penticton Dam increase in advance of the spring melt.

Osoyoos Lake levels are regulated by the Zosel Dam, managed by the Washington State Department of Ecology. South of the dam, the Okanagan River joins the Columbia River.

Once the Zosel Dam gates are wide open, as they are right now, Lake Osoyoos must seek its own level when runoff is high throughout the system, said Zosel Dam manager Al Josephy in a news release.

With greater than 100 percent of average snow levels reported in all watersheds in the region, we intend to manage to the usual summer target level at the lake of between 911.5 and 912 feet from May 1 to Sept. 15.

Lake levels have been climbing steadily all week, currently close to 910.9 feet, but will likely accelerate with the increase in outflows in Penticton Tuesday.

Hydrometric data from the Government of Canada shows Okanagan Lake outflows jumping from about 50 cubic metres a second to 59. Last year, outflows peaked at 70.

Well continue to coordinate with our Canadian partners in managing our end of the system as the spring weather progresses, Josephy said. Sometimes, this can cause inconvenience and occasional flooding to property owners along the lake and down the river itself.

The April snowpack survey  considered the most valuable in predicting flooding  is due out on the 9th. In March, the Okanagan snowpack was pegged at 141 per cent of normal.Photo: Twitter

What's expected to be the last public hearings into the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls are being held in Richmond this week.

However, commissioners and speakers used the opening of testimony to echo the formal request made to the federal government last month to give the inquiry more time to do its work.

Commissioner Michele Audette says expectations are high for the inquiry's outcome and in order to hear all the stories of victims, ask important questions, and produce a thorough report, the inquiry will need more time.

Organizers say nearly 100 people have registered to testify and as many as 300 people are expected to tell their stories by the time hearings wrap up on Sunday.

Chief Commissioner Marion Buller says the inquiry is an opportunity for Indigenous people to set the record straight about their history, and Canada has a lot to learn from them.

Carolyn Bennett, the minister of Indigenous relations and northern affairs, said last month that the government would consider the request for an extension.Photo: City of Vancouver

Plastic straws are among the items in the crosshairs as the City of Vancouver develops a strategy to cut down on plastic and Styrofoam waste by placing restrictions on single-use disposable cups, bags, takeout containers and utensils.

The city says it costs about $2.5 million per year to collect single-use items from public green spaces and waste bins, and its strategy contains proposals to reduce, reuse or recycle the offending items.

In its strategy, the city says plastic straws and stir sticks make up about three per cent of shoreline litter in Vancouver, while Canadians throw out about 57 million straws every day.

Some Vancouver businesses, including the city's aquarium, have already phased out the items, while Victoria is set to ban straws in July, following the lead of Montreal, which abolished them in January.

The Vancouver chapter of the not-for-profit Surfrider Foundation is working with local businesses to cut down on the amount of plastic garbage and has developed the Straws Suck campaign encouraging a switch to paper straws.

Vancouver's plan to cut down on plastic trash calls for an evaluation of methods to recover street cleaning costs from businesses that distribute single-use items, while the entire strategy is due to be considered by council in mid-May.Photo: The Canadian Press

Doctors billing patients for health-care services outside the public system will face sanctions in British Columbia.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says doctors and other health-care providers who break the law by billing patients against the principles of medicare will face tough consequences, including fines and refunding patients.

The fines will start at $10,000 for a first offence, $20,000 for a second infraction and the possibility of being dropped from the Medical Services Plan.

The changes will take place in October and affect 56 private surgical clinics and 17 private MRI facilities in the province.

Based on audits, Health Canada estimated that extra billing in B.C. came to $15.9 million in 2015-16 and the federal government reduced funding to the province by the same amount this year.

Dix says the government is correcting the previous government's failure to act on contraventions of provincial and federal laws governing medicare.Photo: RCMP

West Shore RCMP will unveil a special memorial to honour fallen officers on the anniversary of Constable Sarah Beckett's death tomorrow.

A special Wall of Honour will be unveiled at the West Shore RCMP Detachment in Langford, on Thursday, April 5th at 12:00 p.m. in memory of fallen West Shore RCMP officers.

The unveiling coincides with the tragic on-duty death of Constable Sarah Beckett, who was killed when her cruiser was rammed by a truck in 2016.



"We cannot thank the community enough for the outpouring of support they have given us since Sarahs death. Sarah was killed two years ago but it seems like yesterday for us. This is a chance to give her the honour she deserves" says Constable Matt Baker of the West Shore RCMP.Eurofins Scientific (EUFI.PA) announces that it has successfully closed the transaction to acquire Lab Frontier Co., Ltd., which provides a broad suite of food, environment and cosmetics testing services in South Korea. Lab Frontier, an affiliate company of Young In Group (YIG), will further develop its business as part of Eurofins network of laboratories going forward.

Lab Frontier has been certified by the Korean Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (KOLAS) and by the Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) for testing cosmetics and livestock. Lab Frontier is accredited by the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) as a certified analytical laboratory for drinking water, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and waste analysis. Lab Frontier is the market leader in dioxin testing in South Korea. The company is located in Anyang, close to Seoul. It employs 40 staff and generated revenues close to EUR 3m in 2017.

The acquisition of Lab Frontier provides Eurofins with a valuable entry into the analytical testing market in South Korea. This transaction expands the Groups growing footprint in Asia Pacific, and provides a good platform to extend our presence in this market with significant organic and inorganic growth potential in the future.

Comment from J.W. Kim, YIG CFO: "We expect Eurofins, the leader in global analytics services, to successfully enter South Korean market with the acquisition of Lab Frontier and look forward to maintaining close cooperation between Eurofins and YIG to build mutual success.

Comment from Y.S. Kang, Lab Frontier CEO: We are very excited about our future prospects as part of the Eurofins Group. Gaining access to the Groups full range of services and capabilities will allow us to improve and expand our service offering to the benefit of our clients. In return, we will contribute to Eurofins growth and help reinforce its market presence in South Korea.

Comment from Dr. Gilles Martin, Eurofins CEO: We are pleased to welcome Lab Frontier to Eurofins family of businesses. The acquisition of Lab Frontier will reinforce the Groups growing footprint in Asia Pacific, and is another sign of our strong commitment to this region. As a result of this acquisition, Lab Frontier will gain access to the full range of services and capabilities of the Eurofins network, allowing them to significantly expand their analytical services offering to the benefit of their clients in South Korea and abroad.Schools continue to grapple with driver shortage, technology issues Despite some improvements, including enhanced pay and recruitment efforts, Chesterfield County Public Schools continues to search for answers to the ongoing bus driver shortage thats frustrated parents and dogged administrators...

School system sees rise in COVID cases, quarantining students As the district nears the end of its first month of school, just over 3% of Chesterfield County Public School students are at home in quarantine. According to the school...They made it difficult for us to play out of the back, they pressured us. When we overcame them, we tried to do things too quickly. Every time they approached our goal, there was danger, said Valverde after the match."The club condemns in the strongest possible terms the scenes which preceded our Champions League quarter-final, which resulted in damage being inflicted on the Manchester City team bus during their arrival at Anfield," the statement read.But absent the full text of each document governments have submitted to Amazon, the reports authors say, residents of any location the company is considering have no way of knowing just how much this corporate courtship could cost them, including where the bidding opened or how massive the tax incentives being offered are. This gives the company complete control of the conversations in its talks with competing locations, according to the report, and prevents officials from communicating across localities to prevent overspending.WKQX will continue to be an alternative rock format, Marv Nyren, market manager for Cumulus Chicago, said Wednesday. I was very relieved when we were able to come to an agreement with Merlin and finalize that purchase. That was a big deal for us here in Chicago.The scope and detail of the departments review of the Nestle permit application represents the most extensive analysis of any water withdrawal in Michigan history, said C. Heidi Grether, director of the state DEQ, in a statement. We are hopeful that whether residents agree with the Nestle permitting decision or not, they will acknowledge and respect the work that MDEQ staff did to thoroughly and conscientiously apply the law in reviewing the permit.Unlike in the 70s, todays cars are surprisingly docile (unless you dont want them to be). A Challenger Hellcat, for example, will scare you silly if you stomp it, scorching rubber and twitching its rear, but the electronic throttle and stability control tame the car when driven sensibly. Electronic suspensions on some cars allow drivers to tune them for comfort or track, while acceleration and handling aids enable amateurs to pretend to be pros.Istvan Szentes (Peter Rudolf), the town notary and owner of a prosperous pharmacy, is introduced shaving for what he hopes will be a wonderful day. His unassuming son Arpad (Bence Tasnadi) is set to marry a local beauty, Kisrozsi (Dora Sztarenki), and if he can keep his substance-abusing wife, Anna (Ezter Nagy-Kalozy), under control, Istvan is looking forward to a respite from his troubles, which he has a lot of."But I don't think this is a title audiences immediately recognize, even though there was the movie with the same name. I've been reaching out to area high schools to invite students from their theatre departments as a chance to not only see our production, but also see our theatre department and campus experience.""We fell deeply in love so many years ago and have had a magical journey together," the pair stated. "Absolutely nothing has changed about how much we love one another, but love is a beautiful adventure that is taking us on different paths for now. There are no secrets nor salacious events at the root of our decision -- just two best-friends realizing it's time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible."More challenging yet, they are immediately readable as two stark contrasts in how men of the era dealt with their then-illegal sexuality, and they just dont grow or change enough as the relationship progresses from St. Louis to Chicago, which means that the play lacks dramatic tension. To some degree, thats the point Dawkins wants to make, and there is biographical truth therein. But that doesnt mean we dont need to see more subtlety and complexity in the performances. Even those of us afraid of ourselves sometimes let truth peek out, before we clamp it down. Even those who are comfortable in our own skin sometimes let doubt peek out, before we push it away. You just dont see enough of the moments when the characters are pushing back against the roles that life, and their own personalities, have assigned them to play.Among those breathing a sigh of relief is (unsurprisingly) Lewinsky, who's been trying to put the tabloid-headline-making chapter behind her for, oh, a few decades now. "American Crime Story" showrunner Ryan Murphy said he ran into Lewinsky at a Hollywood party and informed her of the decision, which he hinted was motivated by surprisingly high-minded principle. "I told her, 'Nobody should tell your story but you, and it's kind of gross if they do,' " Murphy told THR he said to Lewinsky. "'If you want to produce it with me, I would love that; but you should be the producer and you should make all the' " money.As the series, which has already been renewed for a second season, marches on, "ripped from the headlines" issues such as the opioid crisis, the rising cost of health care and culture clashes are all scheduled for screen time. Dealing with the same family flashpoints as most of the country makes the Conners "just like us," too, right? Yet somehow watching (or not watching) the show has become a political act in itself. Much like its IRL counterpart, "Roseanne" can't escape being branded a political show no matter how much it might try.A: We have these institutional restrictions  the electoral college is built into the system, gerrymandering is permitted by the system  and those things move us away from being a democratic system. But from the point of view of a foreign adversary, they look like vulnerabilities because they make it easier to throw the election. Its odd from any point of view, except ours, that the president can win, even though he gets 3 million fewer votes than his opponent. But from the point of someone whos trying to harm us, it makes it easier or more plausible to throw your weight. At the end (of the 2016 election, Russian agents) time this flood of fake news in places like Michigan and Wisconsin, which everyone thinks (Hillary) Clinton is going to win, and which she doesnt, but they can target that wave because its not a national election. Its an election thats going to be determined by a few states at the last moment, and once others understand our system that way, they can try to manipulate our system that way  which is what actually happened.Know thyself: Successful interfaith relationships have some shared traits, according to Samira Mehta, an assistant professor of religious studies at Albright College in Pennsylvania and the author of "Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States." Among the key traits: a willingness to really communicate what matters to you. Mehta was struck by contrasting statements Purcell made in the essay: On the one hand, she described herself as a Christian, "loosely and in the most liberal sense possible." But then Purcell went on to mention going to church, and suffering pangs of jealousy when she saw couples worshiping together. On the surface, those two statements don't seem consistent. And if you're thinking of yourself one way as religious person, but acting in another, that makes honest communication  and genuine interfaith understanding  more difficult.And as weve gone forward, added Siegel, weve sought more and more about how to engage youth and how to build those meaningful relationships because the reality is that when you are in a relationship with someone, you carry their pain and their joys forward with you. You dont simply turn the page or turn it off when its no longer in front of you. In order for us to go forward, we have to build real relationships that are going to lead us to real, sustained actions. And thats where this trip comes into play.At Rush University Medical Center, where nurses are paid for the time off they use for training, a spokesman said this week that the hospital recently hired a SANE coordinator to oversee training. The hospitals goal is to have at least one SANE-trained nurse in the emergency room at all times in the downtown hospital, as well as in Rush Oak Park Hospital and Rush Copley Medical Center, by the end of this year.Rodents fed massive amounts of acrylamide do develop cancer. This is an "acceptable and appropriate" way to determine a carcinogenic effect, said J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, the American Cancer Society's deputy chief medical officer. But anything - including water and oxygen - can be unsafe at the wrong dosage. Those lab rats and mice were dosed at rates 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than what humans consume in food, according to the American Cancer Society.On April 4, 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was struck by an assassins bullet as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., where he had traveled to lead protests on behalf of striking sanitation workers. Less than an hour after he was shot, the civil rights leader was pronounced dead at the age of 39.If this gets me through this next patch, we dont know whats around the corner in terms of research, she said. This might get me to the next thing that really solves the problem. But certainly the idea that I want to keep going is a pretty big solution to me right now.I need you to clear your social media, Judge Kristal Royce Rivers said during his sentencing, according to a higher court ruling. If you have pictures with you and gang members, if you have pictures with you throwing gang signs, pictures of you even pointing your finger at the screen and looking as if you have a gun, anything that looks like drugs. Remove all of that from your social media. Do not put that back up."On that day, the girl never went to the movies and was instead picked up by Coleman and taken to the Aura Motel in Midlothian. Prosecutors said Coleman had discussed having sex with the teen and once they arrived they had sex. Prosecutors said the two had oral and vaginal sex multiple times at the hotel that day, and he dropped the girl off a block away from her home when he was done.According to the complaint, Russell wanted help on the robbery. He told the informant and the undercover agent that his crew would be equipped with the proper tools to avoid detection, including police scanners, masks and a change of clothes. He also said their biggest worry would be if the victim had a heart attack, because if "he f-----' drops dead, we got a f-----' murder," according to the complaint.The suspect was described as black with a dark complexion and a heavy build. She is in her 30s, and was wearing a brown het, blue scarf and black coat, police said.The barricaded man was the victim of an aggravated battery earlier this year. On Jan. 31, one of his fingers was injured by a man he connected with on a social media app, leading to his running naked from the Uptown apartment where he was attacked to a nearby hospital, according to police and a witness at the time."This is a difficult incident for our community, and our concern is with all of the individuals involved and their families," Zimmer and Diermeier said in the email issued by the university. "Maintaining our community's safety, security and well-being is of paramount importance. Support services and resources for students will be provided by the college and Campus and Student Life."In November, Wilson told the Tribune that if he were going to run again, community members would need to raise as much as $2 million, saying, I spent the money the last time. On Wednesday, Wilson indicated he would still try to raise money, but that he once again would spend his own money and would stay in the race to the very end."He has advocated on behalf of gerrymandering, rigging our maps in our state, which has been found to be unconstitutional," said Dallet in a March debate with Screnock. "He has stood in front of women's ability to access their lawful rights, and he's been arrested twice for doing that."As an assistant U.S. attorney, he helped to obtain the conviction of Teamsters leader Hoffa on fraud charges in 1964. When the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, by then a senator, sent Plunkett a congratulatory note. Plunkett framed the note and hung it in his chambers.Obama took the view that the private economy needed extensive regulation to avert assorted perceived harms, which didnt make him popular among capitalists. But he didnt make a habit of bullying corporations to make particular business decisions or demonizing executives who disagreed with him. Trumps idea of a good economy is one in which every company does his bidding  because they are all afraid not to.President Donald Trump listens during a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House April 3, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)This is the wrong approach. Instead of boycotts and threats, how about celebrating the First Amendment by encouraging people to say what they think? Then viewers can decide whether to buy what a program is selling or change channels. That was what the left said to do in the 1980s when conservatives were upset by some TV programming. If you dont like it, change the channel, they said. If that was an option then, why isnt it an option now?At the same time, the Mexican economy has been improving, providing more and better jobs south of the border than was historically the case. In 2015, Pew Research found that "from 2009 to 2014, 1 million Mexicans and their families (including U.S.-born children) left the U.S. for Mexico, according to data from the 2014 Mexican National Survey of Demographic Dynamics. U.S. census data for the same period show an estimated 870,000 Mexican nationals left Mexico to come to the U.S., a smaller number than the flow of families from the U.S. to Mexico."He consulted with the ethics experts at the FBI and committed to follow their advice. We tried to go even beyond what the rules required  Andrew kept himself separate from my campaign. When the kids and I went door-knocking, he did not participate; he wouldn't even drive us. He could have attended one of my fundraisers but never did. One day he put on a campaign T-shirt so we could take a family picture and share it with my proud parents. You may have seen it  it seems to have taken on a weird life of its own  but that was it, just a family picture at a swim meet.The latest ones havent gone into effect yet, and with any luck, both sides will find a way to defuse the conflict before it really gets going. If the U.S. and China continue to escalate, American consumers, corporations and farmers all stand to lose big. Illinois  which grows more soybeans than any other state and more corn than any state but Iowa  is especially at risk. So, potentially, are other Midwestern states that specialize in exporting manufactured and agricultural goods. Thousands upon thousands of Midwest jobs rely on this regions robust export economy.We acknowledge that were dealing here with mixed signals from White House sources. The Washington Post reported that Trump has told his military leaders to ready the troop withdrawal, though he hasnt set a timetable. The New York Times, however, reported that the White House has tried to walk back the presidents words. The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. That suggested U.S. troops would remain in Syria.Lastly, state politics is a deal breaker for me. The Heard family touched on this a little too. I cannot stand to sit back and be swindled by House Speaker Michael Madigan. I do not want to spend the rest of my life where power-hungry politicians are hurting honest politicians and hardworking citizens. It is not right, and I will not fall victim to it.Relocating is simply prudent for a family that is trying to pay a mortgage and save money for college and retirement while day-to-day living expenses continue to go up faster than take-home pay. It is common sense for a retired couple who want to live out their remaining years with a modicum of financial security and dignity.The team at ChicagoCAC sees more than 2,000 cases of child abuse a year, predominantly cases of sexual abuse. The organization works closely with Chicago police, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Cook County States Attorneys Office and the Cook County Health and Hospital Systems office (all of which house units in the same building as the advocacy center) to offer investigative and support services, therapy and educational resources. When CPD or DCFS encounter an abuse case that meets the proper criteria, their units coordinate the case with CAC and trained specialists from the center take on the sensitive task of conducting a forensic interview with the victim and his or her family members. Those recorded interviews are often used as evidence if the case later goes to trial. Families also get referrals to various support services from the center, often including ongoing therapy provided on-site.That's especially true as manifested by the town's one policeman, Josh ("Chronicle's" Alex Russell), a young man who can be bought with something as simple as an apple pie, proffered by the town's mayor, a woman with the smile of a grandmother and the warmth of a snake (played by the great Jacki Weaver of "Silver Linings Playbook"). As the film opens, Josh has just detained a drunken traveler named Jay (Aaron Pedersen), who turns out to be a detective investigating the disappearance, six months ago, of a young Chinese woman fleeing from the brothel where she and others like her appear to have been brought against their will.Reported incidents of property crime decreased about 16% from 2015 to 2019, according to the FBI, with the national average now at 400 burglaries and 1,700 larceny-thefts per 100,000 people annually. The top 15 cities on this list averaged more than double the number of burglaries per 100,000 people, and the number of larcenies are 60% higher on average per 100,000 residents. Larceny, which is the theft of objects like bicycles or anything stolen without force, comprised about 75% of all property crimes in 2019, burglary, which is unlawful entry to commit a felony, accounted for 16% and motor vehicle theft for 10%.A 57-year-old wrestling coach hauled a 34-year-old Warrenville man out of a burning car Saturday on Aurora's East Side, an act police said saved the younger man's life.



"Now that I think about it, maybe it was a little crazy," said Jose E. Martinez, a lifelong Auroran. "You could see the fire."



Anselmo Baca-Vazquez was charged with drunken driving and traffic offenses after his car struck a concrete support piece and caught fire about 12:12 a.m. Saturday on the 1600 block of East New York Street in Aurora, according to police.



As the first officers drove up, their in-car camera caught Martinez pulling Baca-Vazquez out of the car while flames and smoke filled the air. Another Aurora man, 29-year-old Devin Johnson, dragged Baca-Vazquez farther away from the car as it continued to burn, the video shows. The two men didn't know each other before, Martinez said.



"I was just thinking it might explode  which it actually did," Johnson said. "Stuff flew up in the air."



The explosion was smaller than he'd expected and came a few minutes after the rescue, when everyone was a safe distance away  probably at least 30 yards, Johnson said.



"Pretty much we were all like, 'it's gonna explode,'" Johnson said.



Martinez said he and his wife had just returned home from a night out to dinner when they heard the crash, which sounded like a bang.



He opened the door, looked across the street and saw a car on fire.



Rushing over, Martinez said he met a woman who said the burning car had just rear-ended her and asked him to get the driver out.



He couldn't get the driver's door to open, but the passenger door was unlocked. Martinez saw the man slouched over, unconscious but breathing. He said he wasn't scared. He saw only one option.



"You couldn't leave him there," Martinez said.



Police and firefighters got there within minutes, and as they took over, Martinez backed off, he said.



"I realized how much teamwork means," Martinez said. "They were just incredible. Everybody knew what to do. It was like a scene in the movies."



In the video, the squad car stops and officers can be seen running toward the crash.



"He the only one in the car?" one asks. One of the men tells the officers he's the only one they knew of. Police check the car, and don't find anyone else.



"To say Jose (Martinez's) actions were heroic and brave (is) an understatement," the Aurora Police Department said in a statement on Facebook. "Had he not taken immediate action, the driver would not have lived."



Police also commended Johnson for making sure the man was a safe distance away from the burning car.



Johnson said he was driving west on New York Street with a woman he's dating when he noticed a car going the opposite direction had its lights out. As the cars approached each other, becoming parallel, the car without its lights on veered and struck the cement head-on, Johnson said. He looked in his mirrors and saw a huge puff of smoke.



"I should call 911," he recalled saying out loud. Then he called. As he started answering the dispatcher's questions, he realized he should turn around and quickly made a u-turn, he said. Less than a minute had passed by the time he got back to the other car, and already the driver's side was engulfed in flames, he said.



"It was just human nature taking over," Johnson said. "If you see someone in trouble, you go help them."



Baca-Vazquez, whose injuries included burns but were not believed to be life-threatening, was taken to a suburban Chicago hospital, police said.



Baca-Vazquez had rear-ended a car driven by a 34-year-old Plainfield woman at the intersection of New York Street and Farnsworth, left the scene, and a few minutes later, "got into the crash where his vehicle burst into flames," Aurora Police Department spokesman Dan Ferrelli said.



The man drove into a concrete support for a drainage pipe, which caused his car to catch fire, Ferrelli said.



The Plainfield woman was not injured, and followed the other car until it crashed again, Ferrelli said.



Martinez said he's glad he could help, and hopes the stranger is OK, but thinks anyone would have done the same thing. Johnson, who works at a greenhouse in Montgomery, said he was thankful both men were in the right place at the right time, but also doesn't feel like he did anything special.



For work, Martinez said he coaches wrestling  he runs a youth gym in Sheridan  and cuts down trees. Describing Saturday's events as "unreal," Martinez said he never thought he'd be in that situation, and insists he's not really in good shape anymore.



"I think that adrenaline just kicked in, to be honest," he said.



Kane County Court records show Baca-Vazquez was charged with two counts of misdemeanor drunken driving and cited for driving too fast for conditions, driving without insurance, improper lane usage and driving without lights on. Filed Tuesday, the charges indicate his blood alcohol content was .08 or more and it was his first or second offense. He's next due in court April 16.To evacuate the driver, firefighters placed four struts beneath the bus to try and stabilize it, and also placed a harness through a side window to help the driver exit out of the main door to the bus without having it tip over, McKeon said.According to the suit, Thomas was sitting down to a late lunch with her husband and chose lasagna for her meal. When the waiter brought the couple their food, Thomas "placed her left hand in her lap, picked up a fork with her right hand and touched the tower of layered pasta, meat, cheese and marinara sauce with the fork," the complaint says."One of the things I saw (while working in Chicago) that was impressive was the ability for (ShotSpotter) to distinguish between gunshots and fireworks," Fletcher said. "A lot of times we may get a call of shots fired and we arrive on the scene and it's maybe kids playing with fireworks. ShotSpotter, they can tell you almost totally definitively that that's fireworks."Detectives learned that the girl had been taken by the three earlier that afternoon while she was walking in Sauk Village and driven to the home, where the assault allegedly took place, according to the release. A spokeswoman for Sheriff Tom Dart said that it does not appear the victim knew the three, and that she did not willingly go with them to the home.The funds will go ward new vehicles for the Fire Department as well as two new Ford Interceptor SUVs for the Police Department. Money for the Fire Department was able to be shifted after funds budgeted for a new ambulance were saved after the department refurbished an older ambulance. The police vehicles are able to be funded through savings in money the city originally set aside for fuel purchases, official said."During this fascinating time when women are speaking up, coming forward and demanding equality in a different way than ever before, it seems fitting to feature Rachel Barton Pine and Maud Powell  a women who is currently dominating the classical music world and a woman who, a century and a half earlier, paved the way for someone like Rachel to do so," Sitzer said."But always, the the thing I appreciated the most, was the collegiality that so many clergy in Elgin at that time felt  not just in Christian churches but in the larger faith community. That opened up the door for me to see the prejudice  not just against African-Americans, but against Muslims and Native Americans  anyone who wasn't Protestant and white," he said.Trustee Deborah Karton said the staff report highlights that neighboring municipalities require sealant applicators to register as contractors, but that staff does not recommend for Glenview do that same. It was determined that the registration process does not help other municipalities make sure the contractors are following codes and it adds more work for staff and extra regulation, Troxell said.The statement added that witnesses told investigators the vehicle was traveling southbound on Route 45 when it left the roadway for an unknown reason, went into a ditch and then struck a gas line that was actively leaking when deputies arrived. Deputies were able to remove the driver, a 16-year-old from Antioch, and get him far away from the large, leaking gas line, according to reports."The door is open," Cunningham said. "If we take a look  from where we were to where we are at now, there has been some significant progress. I'm an example of that. I think our society as a whole looked not at the pigment of my skin but my commitment to the city; my understanding and knowledge of the issues that surround our community."About $1.8 million will still be left to be paid on the bonds as of May 1, including funds that were used to fund the installation of water and sewer infrastructure, according to the 2017-18 budget. Another $12.8 million in principal is still outstanding, also as of May 1, on the debt taken out to pay for the land acquisition plus other infrastructure improvements in the Fountain Square area following the demolition of Lakehurst.With the new O'Hare expansion plan, I think it's about time to put a fork in the third airport pipe dream pushed for south suburban Peotone. For many of us in Lake County, our third airport is General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee  which I envision will be getting even greater use from travelers north of Lake-Cook Road.In handing down his ruling at the bench trial, Cowlin also noted the mans own words to police in which he admitted to molesting the girl and said he went too far."Actors are trying to fill every moment onstage and I think it's really important for undergrads  to be able to be onstage in front of people in your own body and be okay with yourself onstage without having to say words. I think it's a really great tool. This play can be used to work with these students on just being in front of an audience and not have any words to say for a while."Garbutt said he "did not" get anything from the FBI for cooperating with them, and "it was not part of my thinking that I was trying to get out of anything." But defense attorneys argued that Garbutt had also violated laws by doing political work at the trustee's office.From when Elgin first became trustee in 2003 until the end of her third term in 2014, Garbutt said he cautioned them that they should not do their political work at the trustee's office. Garbutt said Elgin told him "it was quite OK to go ahead and do it.""One of the most exciting things for me was actually being in front of Keenen Ivory Wayans, because he's one of my heroes," Landau said of the multifaceted comedian and filmmaker known for his work on the 1990s sketch comedy show "In Living Color."He has been principal at the school since 2013 and an assistant principal since 2005. Prior to his tenure at Chesterton, Van Drie was an assistant principal at River Forest and a teacher at Wawasee High School in Syracuse, Ind.The jail has a population that is in need of services, Forgey said, and the facility needs professionals who want to work in correction. Forgey said they can show the facility to people but the program will give them a true picture of what the work requires."Stormwater is a mutual concern between the county and all of our cities and towns because flooding does not recognize municipal boundaries," said Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, who also serves on the stormwater board, in the release. "By working together with equitable resource sharing, we can tackle even more projects that will positively impact the quality of life and property values for all Porter County residents."I am the first to admit that I am not a Trump fan. But to be fair, his Cabinet picks are doing a great disservice to him and this country. Everyone of them are a huge distraction to anything that the president is trying to accomplish. Everyone of them appear to have their own agenda  just to get whatever they can for themselves.During a brief question period, Harper said he didn't know how the Trump-Russia investigation would end. He said he feared attempts to either fire Mueller or to force him to narrow his investigatory scope. He also said the investigation is focusing not on collusion  a term often used and denied by the president and his legal team and supporters that lacks a hard legal definition  but instead on conspiracies.A. I was looking around for something to do and I had always shopped here. It was a perfect fit because I love to read. I love being around books, I love talking about books and the most fun of what I do is talking to people about what they are reading and what they want to read. I make suggestions and I do reviews each month for our newsletter where I tend to do mostly nonfiction. It is about being around books and that is continually exciting for me.Pueblo Chile and Frijoles Fest brings heat

The Pueblo Chile and Frijole Festival has brought a great deal of heat and community to downtown Pueblo.China has hit the US with 25 percent tariffs on US$50 billion worth of US goods, as the two countries step closer to a full-blown trade war.

The tariffs apply to a range of US products, including automobiles, aircraft, beef, soybeans, whisky, and chemicals.

The move comes a day after the US announced tariffs on 1,333 types of Chinese products  valued at an identical US$50 billion  mostly in the industrial and high-tech sectors. Those tariffs are widely considered a response to Chinas controversial Made in China 2025 industrial policy, which has drawn the ire of the US government.

Chinas deputy finance minister, Zhu Guangyao, reiterated Chinas position that it does not want a trade war, but will retaliate proportionally to US tariffs. Earlier this week, China slapped tariffs on US$3 billion worth of US products in response to US tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.

Business Intelligence from Dezan Shira & Associates

Chinas latest tariffs will mostly damage the US automobile and agricultural sectors. However, US businesses across all sectors face uncertainty in both the immediate and the longer term, as political disputes interfere with standard operations.

On the other hand, other countries may benefit from the tariffs on US goods. Australia, Canada, and the EU, for example, may see their automobile, wine, and agricultural products become more attractive to Chinese consumers as a result of tariffs on US products.

Nevertheless, the descent into a trade war between the worlds two largest economies poses wide macro-economic risks. And while the trade dispute has primarily been centered on China and the US thus far, other countries may be pressured to get involved as relations strain.

For a complete list of Chinas latest tariffs on US goods, please click here (link in Chinese).You are here: Arts

A Sino-British music festival will be held in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, in May, authorities said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The festival will be co-hosted by the British Consulate-General in Wuhan and the local foreign affairs office from May 12 to May 18.

Activities such as classical chamber concerts, lectures and music courses organized by master musicians will be held, according to the Hubei provincial government's foreign affairs office.

The event aims to provide a platform for performances and exchanges between Chinese and British musicians, music teachers and students.

Nick Whittingham, the British Consul General in Wuhan, said that the music festival will serve as a bridge for cultural exchanges between people in Britain and Hubei Province.

The festival will be held alternately in Hubei and London as an ongoing cultural and educational cooperation program. Next year, it will be held in London.The Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday published a proposed list of Chinese goods subject to additional 25 percent tariffs amid strong opposition from China and U.S. business groups.

The proposed list covers approximately 1,300 products imported from China, including industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics, and machinery, the USTR's Office said in a statement, noting they're worth approximately 50 billion U.S. dollars of annual trade value.

China has stressed that it's ready to take any necessary measures to defend its legitimate interests, while hoping to properly handle the trade dispute with the United States through dialogue and consultation.

"We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of it. If someone insists on starting a trade war, we will fight till the end," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday.

The United States should stay rational, listen to calls from business communities and common people, discard unilateralism and trade protectionism, address the dispute through dialogue and consultation, and work with China for a healthy and steady development of bilateral trade to benefit both peoples, said the spokesman.

The proposed tariff list is based on a so-called Section 301 investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017.

Now it will undergo further review in a public notice and comment process, including a hearing, before the USTR issues a final determination on the Chinese products subject to additional tariffs, according to the USTR's Office.

Business groups from China and the United States in recent weeks have warned the Trump administration not to move forward its tariff plan on Chinese imports, as it would raise the costs for American consumers and companies as well as having a negative effect on the financial markets.

"Imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way" to address trade issues between the U.S. and China, Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday in a statement.

"The U.S. Chamber looks forward to working with the administration throughout the comment period to make the business community's voice heard on the U.S.-China economic relationship," Brilliant said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said last week that it would go through a 60-day comment period after the administration released the proposed tariff list and "there's hope" that trade talks between the United States and China could lead to a fruitful outcome.

While the United States and China have two "very different" economic systems, "it's very possible" that the U.S.-China trade relationship could end up in "a good place" after overcoming "a series of difficulties" over many years, Lighthizer said in an interview with CNBC.China's practices in curbing air pollution could be valuable for countries in Africa that are dealing with the issue, as more measures to protect the continent's environment are considered, a top UN scientist said.

The comprehensive controls that led to air pollution reductions in China have brought remarkable progress for the country, especially in Beijing, said Liu Jian, chief scientist at the United Nations Environment Programme.

Winter controls over industrial production, such as the temporary shutdowns of highly polluting factories; changes in energy consumption patterns, like shifting to clean energy for heating; and development of new energy vehicles, have all led to improved air quality, he said.

Concentrations of PM2.5the tiny particles that pose the greatest health risks plunged by 39.6 percent in 2017 from 2013 levels in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the air quality in the Pearl River Delta has met national standards three years in a row, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

It's time for more countries to pay more attention to cutting air pollution, Liu added.

The latest data from World Bank shows that PM2.5 was responsible for economic losses of $5 trillion worldwide in 2013. Moreover, 5.5 million people died of diseases related to air pollution indoors and outdoors in 2013, according to the World Health Organization.

"The most important way to reduce pollution is to reduce emissions through the help of ample funding, improved technologies and well-implemented policies, as China did, "Liu said, "Other countries facing similar issues could learn from China."

For example, the strict measures Beijing took to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions could be exported to Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, he said.

In October, Beijing adopted new standards for emissions, considered to be among the strictest in the world. In Nairobi, by contrast, the exhaust standards are missing, and vehicle emissions are a major source of air pollution, he said, adding that vehicles with excessive emissions are free to roam.

Moreover, worsening air quality has been observed in many African countries in recent years as economies have grown, he said.

For India, whose pollution problems are similar to China's, the lessons from China may also be valuable. Some cities, such as New Delhi, should take decisive action, as Beijing did in the past five years.

UNEP has participated in various projects with China to build a platform and promote exchanges between China and African countries on environmental protection not only on air pollution but also soil and water pollution, as they are certainly inter connected, Liu said.

Among the joint efforts is the newly formed China-Africa Environmental Cooperation Center, based in Nairobi, a promising antipollution project, Liu said.

The environment ministers of China and Kenya, along with the head of UNEP, signed the agreement to promote the project on Dec 5.It aims to promote environmental exchanges between the private sector and governments on environmental protection and help the Belt and Road Initiative to become "green".

In recent years, Chinese enterprises have contributed their strength toward improving the environment, including in air pollution control, UNEP's Liu said, adding that they are prepared to help push forward Africa's ambition to industrialize, while also conserving the continent's environment.

These firms could draw on their experience in curbing pollution, and then replicate their successes in Africa, he said.

With sustainable solutions from vast sectors-private, government, industry, transportation and energythere will be more blue skies, rich soil and fresh water for all, he said.Hainan province, which is the country's only provincial-level special economic zone, will accelerate the building of an open economy, advance international industrial cooperation and enhance the development of service businesses as a national pilot zone, according to local senior officials.

They said the province will engage more with economic globalization and the Belt and Road Initiative, further expand its influence in the global community and establish a "pan South China Sea tourism economy cooperation rim".

Liu Cigui, Party secretary of Hainan, said Hainan will help showcase China's efforts in building a community with a shared future for mankind and realizing the Chinese dream of national revitalization.

Hainan always has been a pioneer in reform and opening-up, with Boao serving as a bridge to the outside world. There are more than 200 important domestic and international conferences held in Boao every year.

From a less-developed island, the province has become an international tourism destination that attracted 67.45 million tourists last year, seven times its population.

"Back in 1980s at the beginning of the establishment of Hainan province, it was rare to see foreign visitors," said Huang Zejing, a photographer who has witnessed the island's development.

Hainan, which marks its 30th anniversary as a provincethe country's neweston April 13, is ready to embrace a new era for opening-up.

During the Boao Forum for Asia 2018 annual conference April 8-11, the province will hold "eight Hainan-themed events to further explore opportunities and insights for cooperation and development," Wang Sheng, director of the foreign affairs office of Hainan, said on Monday.

Shen Xiaoming, governor of Hainan, said the province will continue to take advantage of the forum, launched in 2001 and known as the Asian Davos, and other exchange platforms such as the Roundtable Meeting on China-Africa Cooperation, to seek new opportunities for development and to better serve the general diplomacy of the nation.

A provincial government report said Hainan will create greater opportunities for both Chinese and overseas firms in its pillar industries including tropical high-efficiency agriculture, tourism, the internet and marine industries, each of which is forecast to generate more than 100 billion yuan ($15.9 billion) in annual output by 2020.

"A more vibrant mechanism and more favorable business environment for international enterprises will be developed," Shen said.

Hainan has established sister relationships with 56 overseas provinces and cities worldwide, including Hawaii in the United States, South Korea's Jeju special autonomous province, Canada's Prince Edward Island, Finland's Oulu province and the state of Penang in Malaysia.

Fifty-six air routes connect Hainan with Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, and international destinations like Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Germany.

International routes are expected to increase to 100 by 2020.

Cruise routes to the province have grown to 17, covering more countries in Southeast Asia, officials said.

Tourists from 26 countries including Austria, Britain, Canada, the United States, South Korea and Russia are eligible for a visa-free stay in Hainan, which will be extended to over 50 countries in the near future, officials said.



China will incubate several international mega science and engineering projects in the future, some of which will be upgraded into China-led global projects aimed at tackling the world's most difficult scientific challenges, officials said on Tuesday.

By 2020, China plans to create three to five of these mega science projects, and then add six to 10 more by 2035.

The projects typically require huge investments, expensive equipment, complex experiments, decades of research and many interdisciplinary experts from multiple countries.

The upgraded projects will be selected from the pool based on how viable, organized and advanced the original projects are, said Ye Dongbai, director-general of the Ministry of Science and Technology's department of international cooperation.

"These types of projects are crucial for the world's innovation and progress, but are often too difficult for a single country to undertake," Ye said.

Some notable projects include the human genome, international thermonuclear experimental reactors, international ocean discovery, Earth observations and the square kilometer array.

The ability to launch and lead these kinds of projects is a key indicator of a country's scientific prowess and global influence, Ye said.

"China has been participating in some of these major projects since the 1980s," he said.

As China's science capability has improved in the last decade, it now "has the ability and duty to help solve some of the world's major scientific challenges", he said. Some of these China-led mega projects will utilize China's world-class State laboratories and scientific equipment.

"China wants to put forward an objective and collaborate with other countries to reach the goal, while providing the world with Chinese solutions and wisdom in the process," Ye said.

Luo Delong, director of the China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center, said the country has improved its nuclear fusion technology and management capabilities.

"Huge strides have been made in making nuclear fusion energy clean and safe under the program," he said. "These mega projects might not bear fruit in 20 or even 50 years, but when it does, it will fundamentally change the world."

Wang Qi'an, head of the National Remote Sensing Center of China, said China-led global mega science projects will need better management, services and coordination.

"Chinese scientists have to see further into the future and work productively toward that goal together with foreign scientists," he said.



A Chengdu taxi driver and his wife were reunited on Tuesday with their missing daughter after 24 years as millions of people across China watched the emotional scenes play out on livestreaming websites.

"It was the first time I have called them mother and father since we regained contact," Kang Ying, the daughter, told a swarm of reporters after breaking a long, tearful embrace with her biological parents, Wang Mingqing and Liu Dengying.

At least four news outlets, including China Central Television, carried livestreams online showing Kang's journey "home" from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and the parents anxiously waiting in their neighborhood.

"I've made sweet dumplings for our first meal, as it represents 'reunion'," a nervous Wang, 50, told China Daily hours earlier. "My wife has taken out the necklace her mother left her and will wear it specially for our daughter."

Later, the entire familyincluding Kang's younger brother and sister, whom she had never met, as well as her husband and two childrenwere shown crowded on a couch in her parents' home.

Hundreds of people involved in the couple's 24-year search for their daughter, including local residents, reporters, volunteers and police, turned up to mark the reunion in the Shiling suburb of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.

Kang, originally named Wang Qifeng, disappeared on Jan 8, 1994, while father Wang was away changing money and Liu was busy serving customers at their fruit stall. She was 3.

The couple said they tried every means to find their daughter. "We went to the local police station and children's welfare organizations to search," Wang said. "We posted her information in the newspaper and even on the tricycle for carrying fruit, and checked her name on a website that lists the names of missing people."

In 2015, Wang started driving for ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing and would give every passenger a card with his daughter's information and photo, urging them to share it on social media.

"In the past two years, I've been waiting for just one passengermy missing daughter. I never lost hope she would appear someday," Wang said.

Huaxi Metropolis Daily first reported his story in 2015, followed by many local and national media. One report was seen by the daughter of Lin Yuhui, an experienced sketch artist and recently retired police officer from Shandong province, who asked her father to draw an image of what the missing girl may look like as a grown woman. He agreed, and the image went onto be shared widely online.

Kang said her adoptive father died when she was 10, and after that she was raised by his relatives, who lived not far from Wang and Liu in Chengdu. She told reporters she only discovered she was adopted in early March, when she learned of Wang's story and decided to get in touch via WeChat.

"I cried when I sent the message," she said, explaining that it simply read, "Have you found your daughter?"

Wang said he asked Kang who now lives with her husband in Panshi, Jilin province-to send photos, and he discovered she looks similar to his wife. "Then, we had a video linkup, during which we talked little, we just cried. We had a strong feeling that she is the one, "he told reporters on Tuesday morning.

The family arranged a DNA comparison test, helped by Lin, and Wang said the results on April 1 showed a 99 percent match between father and daughter.

"DNA comparison is the best way to find missing family," an unnamed police officer specializing in child trafficking from Sichuan told livestreaming reporters at the Chengdu airport. "Some 622 children in Sichuan have succeeded in finding their natural family since the country launched the DNA database for missing children."



You are here: China

China's first smart hospital featuring artificial intelligence has opened in Guangzhou, reports ycwb.com.

Before patients arrive at the hospital, artificial intelligence (AI) can help patients with recommendations, make appointment and payments through the WeChat account of the Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital.

A smart diagnosis system also helps doctors prescribe medications.

In addition to paying for bills online, patients can also establish their medical profile through facial recognition on WeChat.

AI reduces the time of patient inquiries by as much as 50%, and can diagnose around 90% of illnesses that are treated at community clinics, according to the hospital's deputy chief Li Guanming.

Li says they are drafting a guideline on AI application for all major hospitals in Guangdong Province.China is developing an advanced scientific drilling ship capable of reaching about 10 kilometers below the seabed that will allow scientists to explore what truly happens in the Earth's mantle.

Professor Wu Lixin, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and head of the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, said the design for the shipnamed Dreamis expected to be finalized this year.

If all goes well, the vessel will be launched around 2021, with construction continuing for several years before it can be commissioned due to the outfitting work, he said. He said its service will allow people to fulfill the long-held dream of seeing the mantle and extensively boost the nation's research on geosciences.

Wu said that with a displacement of 35,000 metric tons, the Dream will become the world's third scientific drilling ship in active service after the JOIDES Resolution and Chikyu, both used by the International Ocean Discovery Program, a worldwide scientific endeavor.

The Chinese craft will be able to drill more than 10,000 meters into the ocean floor, and thus will be tasked with conducting seafloor drilling for geological research as well as surveying and recovering methane clathrate, also known as natural gas hydrate or fire ice, Wu said.

"We have learned a great deal about outer space but still know little about our own planet because scientists have never been able to pierce through the crust and reach the mantle layer," he said.

"If the Dream can help us do so, then we will be able to reveal the cause of earthquakes, learn more about the evolutionary history of Earth's structure and its environment, and find new sources of energy, which will consequently help forecast and prevent natural disasters and mitigate energy shortages."

Lying between the crust, Earth's outermost solid shell, and the outer core, the fluid mantle layer is composed mostly of iron and nickel and has a silicate rocky shell with an average thickness of about 2,900 km.

Methane clathrate is widely regarded as a new, promising source of natural gas. It is often trapped in icelike crystals under high pressure in the permafrost or under the seabed.

The deepest a drill has ever reached is 12,262 meters in the 1970s at the Kola Superdeep Borehole, the result of a scientific drilling project by the former Soviet Union on the Kola Peninsula.

The deepest hole drilled into the ocean floor is 2,111 meters below the seafloor off Japan's Shimokita Peninsula in the northwest Pacific Ocean, dug by the Chikyu in 2012.

Wu said that because the continental crust is about 35 km thick on average, whereas oceanic crust is 5 to 6 km thick, seafloor drilling is more likely to penetrate the crust and reach the mantle.



Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. Today, the State Council Information Office released the white paper "China's Policy and Practice in Protecting the Freedom of Religious Belief."

We are delighted to invite Mr. Chen Zongrong, former vice administrator of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, and Ms. Xiao Hong, former spokesperson of the administration, to attend this press conference. Now, I'll give a brief introduction to the white paper.

This is China's second white paper on the protection of the freedom of religious belief since 1997. It provides sufficient information and data on the efforts and progress China has made in the past four decades, especially after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The white paper contains approximately 8,000 words. The main content is divided into five parts: I. Basic Policies in Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief; II. Legal Guarantees for Freedom of Religious Belief; III. Conducting Religious Activities in an Orderly Manner; IV. The Role of Religious Groups Has Been Fully Developed; V. Active and Healthy Religious Relations

The white paper says that religion is an integral part of human civilization. It remains a common problem for all countries of the world on how to protect the freedom of religious belief, how to properly handle the relations between different religions, how to help religions cope with changing time, and how to curb religious extremism. Based on the development of religions and on the practical works related to religions, by reviewing positive and negative experiences in China and other countries, China has found a proper way to protect the freedom of religious belief, promote harmonious development of different religions, and give full play to the role of the religious circle in compliance with law. We will continue to respect and protect the freedom of religious belief of Chinese citizens, and unite religious believers and non-believers.

The white paper is available in multiple languages, including Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.

Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Chen.Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan [Photo/Xinhua]





A Pakistan-Russia Joint Working Group meeting on terrorism was held in Islamabad this month. Both countries expressed concern over the growing threat of the Islamic State group in the region, especially in Afghanistan, and showed a commitment to continued cooperation toward defeating terrorism. The working group meeting signifies an improvement in Russia-Pakistan ties. Moscow on occasion has openly supported Islamabads counterterrorism policies and realizes the sacrifices that the people of Pakistan have made in their war against terrorism.





The regrouping of IS militants is a genuine threat to the peace and security of the whole region. The immediate risk is to the neighbors of Afghanistan, and requires a comprehensive solution involving important countries of the region. However, no solution to eliminate terrorism from Afghanistan will work without support from Kabul. The countrys border areas are porous and most parts are unmanned. IS militants can sneak into neighboring nations and carry out terrorist activities. A lot of resources are required to fence or man the long and porous Pakistan-Afghan border. On several occasions terrorists have crossed the border, carried out illegal activities inside Pakistan and fled to Afghanistan. Several terrorists sought by the Pakistani government are currently hiding in Afghanistan.

The problem of terrorism is so grave that the Afghan government cannot be blamed solely for not taking steps to counter it. The ill-trained and ill-equipped Afghan National Army cannot be expected to single-handedly wipe out terrorism from the country. There have been many suggestions and policy recommendations since 2001 to solve the Afghan conundrum. Such measures have helped the country improve its security situation while aiding in the rejuvenation of its economy and the strengthening of its institutions.





Nevertheless, such reforms have been implemented only in places where the writ of the Afghan government is imposed. There is still a large territory which is under the control of the Afghan Taliban, and nothing has changed there since the beginning of Taliban rule in the country. The peace process between the government and the Taliban is slow and will take more time to bear any fruit that prolongs national stability. Meanwhile, the threat of IS is growing and wreaking havoc inside and outside the country.





The militants in Afghanistan can be divided into five broad categories. There are: one, the Afghan Taliban; two, local warlords; three, transplants from neighboring countries such as Uighurs from China, Taliban members from Pakistan, and Hezb-i-Islami members from Uzbekistan; four, miscellaneous and not-so-organized militants; and fifth, the IS group. While IS is not as organized there as it is in the Middle East, one of the underlying reasons could be that the Afghan Taliban or other already-present militant organizations there do not want IS to be a shareholder. On the other hand, there is the potential for IS to develop into a giant organization. Factions with an extremist mentality already exist in all the bordering countries, and the current militants in Afghanistan share with IS a similar radical ideology. This could lead to the fusion of the prevailing militant organization with IS.





Thus, regional countries need to foster cooperation to counter the threat. Most important is that these countries agree to actively participate in combined counterterrorism activities. Secondly, they can create a counterterrorism fund which could be used to fence the Afghan border and areas of potential threat. The fund will be used to raise resources and enhance manpower to fight terrorism. Since it is a risk to everyone, it requires participation from everyone.





Presently, every country is engaged in counterterrorism on its own, thereby exhausting their resources. Pakistan had a bitter experience fighting against terrorism alone. It drained the countrys economy and, with little financial aid from the U.S., Pakistans economic development was almost derailed. It speaks to the resilience of the people of Pakistan that, despite their suffering and sacrifices, they were determined to chase away the terrorists. The security situation has improved immensely in the country, but now the threat is reemerging in the shape of IS in neighboring Afghanistan. A combined resource pool will decrease the burden for combatting terrorism, and will also provide a platform for countries to share and learn from each others counterterrorism experiences.





China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Central Asian states and Afghanistan should work together to establish this counterterrorism fund, as these countries share the most immediate risk. All affected nations need to understand the gravity of the situation and act immediately, before the threat of IS spreads further.





Aftab Hussain is a research scholar of International Relations based in Shanghai.





Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Flash

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he wants to use the military to guard the country's border with Mexico until his long-promised border wall is built.

"We are going to be guarding our border with our military," Trump told reporters during a lunch session at the White House with leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

"We're going to be doing things militarily until we can have a wall and proper security," the president said. "That's a big step."

Trump also said that he's spoken with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis about the idea.

The president has been lashing out at Mexico for allowing a group of Central American demonstrators, mostly from Honduras, to march toward the U.S. border, where many hope to seek asylum.

"The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our 'Weak Laws' Border, had better be stopped before it gets there," Trump tweeted early Tuesday.

Trump has recently reiterating his hardline stances on immigration, while repeatedly calling out Mexico over the border security and stressing the need for a border wall on the southern border.

The US$1.3-trillion spending bill, signed into law by Trump last month, only grants US$1.6 billion for border security measures, far short of what the administration has sought.

Trump has proposed using military funding to build the border wall but it's likely to face both political and legal challenges before the idea can be put into action. Flash

France is expected to see traffic chaos in the coming months, as a nationwide rail strike started on Tuesday demanding a reconsideration of President Emmanuel Macron's reform plan on the railway sector.



According to media reports, half of the unions' staff are set to join the call to stage strike in two out of every five days over a three-month period in a protest to the government plan to revamp the state-run rail operator SNCF.

On "black Tuesday," only one in eight high-speed trains is operational and one regional train out of five is expected to run.

In Ile-de-France region, half of scheduled inter-city links would be affected by the unions' action, triggering problems for millions of train passengers .

"The participation rate in this movement is very, very important, which shows that the form of struggle corresponds to what railway workers are awaited for," Philippe Martinez, head of CGT union told France Inter radio.

"It depends on the government, we want to discuss. The rail workers do not strike for pleasure but have been forced to get there," he added.

Noting "an alarming situation" of the rail sector, the government pledged "a new strategic corporate project" to improve SNCF performance after it had been struggling under debts of 46.6 billion euros (57.37 billion U.S. dollars), mainly due to generous pension system.

It also targets to open domestic rail passenger services to create dynamism in the sector in addition to new rules of recruitment for "a more efficient and unified" rail operator.

With the aim, the government proposed to scrap the special rail worker status, that allows workers to retire on full pension at 52, a decade earlier other French employees.

Speaking to BFMTV news channel, Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne regretted unions' "blocking posture", saying "We are halfway to the consultation... I announced significant progress on (SNCF) opening to competition, the unions do not move."

With no sign of an end to the standoff, the ministery stressed "the government will hold well in listening, in consultation and dialogue."

Reform attempts on the public rail system had been failed during the previous governments.

In 1995, a right-wing government led by Alain Juppe planned to end preferential working terms of rail workers, a move that triggered three-week strike and forced Juppe to step down.

The country's largest movement since 1968 forced then president Jacques Chirac to abandon the reform and dissolve the National Assembly.

While a chaos is to occur on land traffic, a disruption is expected in the air.

Organized separately, French flag carrier Air France staged strike on Tuesday over payments. The action is expected to disrupt 30 percent of the carrier's long-haul flights out of Paris's main Charles de Gaulle airport.

About 67 percent of the carrier's medium-haul flights and 85 percent of short-haul ones will operate during the strike, according to the Air France.

An ifop survey released on Sunday showed that 53 percent of respondents considered the rail strike was unjustified.

The strike, starting officially on Monday evening, is set to be a major test of President Macron's ability to push through reforms under pressure, especially when he needs public support to reshape the eurozone's second main power. (1 euro = US$1.231) Flash

German prosecutors announced on Tuesday that they are seeking to extradite the former leader of Spain's Catalonia Carles Puigdemont, who was recently arrested in Germany.



The attorney general in Germany's northern state of Schleswig-Holstein has applied to the Higher Regional Court for an extradition order of Puigdemont, Deutsche Presse Agentur(DPA) confirmed.

Prosecutors said after close examination of the warrant for Puigdemont, issued by Spain's supreme court, they found "equivalences with the charge of rebellion in German criminal law" and therefore present the extradition request.

The chief public prosecution office of Schleswig-Holstein on Tuesday urged German judicial authorities to comply with a Spanish request for the extradition of Puigdemont.

"A valid extradition request has been presented, the implementation of a lawful extradition process is to be expected, and the arrest is justified by the risk of flight," a statement by the chief public prosecution office read.

As a consequence of Germany's federal constitution, the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig-Holstein is now tasked with deliberating over the Spanish extradition request for Puigdemont.

In a first step, the court will assess whether to accept the formal application by the state chief public prosecution office to place the suspect in extradition custody on the basis of evidence provided by Madrid.

A spokesperson for the Schleswig-Holstein state prosecution office further told press that they had received documents from Spain suggesting the illicit use of 1.6 million euros (US$1.97 million) in public funds to stage the Catalonian independence referendum.

It remains unclear at this point, whether German judicial authorities will pursue this line of legal reasoning further or focus on the charge of "rebellion". Puigdemont has already appealed charges of "rebellion" and embezzlement at the Spanish supreme court.

Puigdemont's German attorney Till Dunckel told press on Tuesday that his client would legally challenge the application for extradition custody by state prosecutors. The former Catalan leader has been held in temporary custody in the town of Neumuenster since his arrest.

Puigdemont was arrested on March 25 after entering Germany from Denmark.

He had been living in exile in Brussels after failed attempt to separate Catalonia from Spain last October.You are here: World

 Flash

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) asked on Tuesday for a one-day delay of Wednesday's working-level meeting to hammer out details of the inter-Korean summit in late April, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The meeting, which will be held on the southern side of the border village of Panmunjom, will discuss matters including protocol, security and news releases, Yonhap said, citing the Republic of Korea's (ROK) unification ministry.

The new proposed date is Thursday.

The ROK has also noted that the DPRK has offered another working-level meeting on Saturday to discuss approaches to setting up an inter-Korean hotline between ROK President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, the DPRK leader.West urged to thaw ties with African nation

China is hopeful Western countries will improve relations with Zimbabwe and work toward the country's development, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday.

Xi made the remark while meeting with visiting Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.By Wang Keju in Beijing and Mao Weihua in Urumqi | China Daily | Updated: 2018-04-04 07:26

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has mobilized an army of chickens and other birds as an effective and environmentally friendly way of combating swarms of locusts along the China-Kyrgyzstan border.

Some 2,200 chickens will be used to battle the invasive species for the first time in Wushi county, Aksu.

This year, about 3,867 hectares of grasslands in Wushi have been overrun by locusts, with the pests ravaging pastures, gorging on grassroots and forcing dozens of herding families to evacuate to more sustainable areas.Britain's report on HK shows clear bias Updated: 2018-04-04 07:34 By Chan Tak-leung(HK Edition)

Chan Tak-leung questions the motives behind the United Kingdom conducting six-monthly reports on the SAR and notes that these show Britain is in self-denial

The 42nd edition six-monthly report on Hong Kong by the British foreign secretary was presented to Parliament on March 15, covering the period from July 1 to Dec 31 2017. This is a ritual which started after Hong Kong's return to China in 1997. Britain has continued to assert that these reports demonstrate her "commitment" to "monitor" the implementation of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration in regard to Hong Kong.

I would like to make two observations. One, it is most interesting to note that nearly all previous reports for the same six-month period were published in either early or mid-February - with the exception of the 36th one which was published on March 24, 2015, nearly 10 days later than the current one. It is easy to understand the reason behind this earlier delay as it covered the period when "Occupy Central" and other illegal occupation activities were going on in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. These events certainly demanded more time to understand and decipher their ramifications for the HKSAR.

Two, why did Britain, as a sovereign state, consider it necessary to monitor how China implements the "one country, two systems" principle upon resuming sovereign rule over Hong Kong? One might suggest that this is a demonstration of how caring Britain has been to Hong Kong. However, over the years Britain has watched many other countries it was associated with being de-colonized yet none of them received the same attention from Britain (although their journeys to democracy and human rights records were hardly exemplary). Countries such as Uganda, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, Malaysia and Rwanda surely deserved Britain's commitment to monitoring their post-colonial progress, but none was offered.

Whatever motivated Britain's commitment to monitor the SAR of another sovereign state for the last 20 years is anybody's guess. I suppose it will continue for the next 30 years! Macao, another SAR, returned to China 18 years ago; its residents seem to be enjoying high life expectancies, a good education system and high GDP per capita without any monitoring by Portugal, its former colonial master.

It is clear the latest six-monthly report was written in a totally partisan way by those who collected the information in Hong Kong. These reports always show fixed and pre-determined views: Regardless of who is involved, what the events are, or the policies; there seems to be only two opposing forms of interpretation: The "right way" or the "wrong way". In these reports, the HKSAR is conveniently divided into two distinct and opposing political camps - pro-establishment, shorthand for the "wrong camp" or pro-democracy, the "right camp". Unfortunately, the executive arm of the HKSAR, the "establishment" which administers the city, is usually classified as the pro-establishment camp.

Britain, however, has continued with its wholehearted endorsement of the "one country, two systems" principle. This is because years ago this principle clearly provided important answers to the question of how Hong Kong would best be governed. However, Britain's established views of China have prevented her from examining issues in a neutral and bipartisan way. I believe Britain is still in self-denial for she firmly believes that the HKSAR can only flourish under a capitalist system run by a colonial administration. The report fully lists notable events and issues which took place in the HKSAR during a six-month period. They were not listed as failures, but as issues that the "pro-democracy" camp would like to highlight as infringements of democracy. But this is done without any reference as to how these incidents might infringe on the "one country, two systems" principle and the Basic Law.

This began with the Britain's Benedict Rogers being denied entry into Hong Kong, the co-location arrangement for the new high-speed rail link to the Chinese mainland, proposed enactments of the national anthem law and legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law, etc. These were all catalysts which reflected that China, the "one country" in the "one country, two systems" arrangement, must be kept at bay at all costs.

The only reassuring remark from the foreign secretary was when he said: "We do not see independence as a viable option, as it would be inconsistent with 'one country, two systems". I only hope "pan-democracy" supporters heed his advice by continuing to promote democracy without damaging the chance of a more harmonious future for all Hong Kong citizens.

(HK Edition 04/04/2018 page8)Zhongguancun makes move to Boston, US

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2018-04-03

The Zhongguancun Boston Innovation Center officially began operations in Boston, the United States, on March 30, marking a large step forward for Zhongguancun in its plan to construct a global innovation system.

The new center comes after Zhongguancun established other centers in Silicon Valley in the US and Germany.

Located on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, the center is in close proximity to many of the world's top research institutions and a large number of hi-tech companies and incubators. It is a five-minute walk to Harvard University and 15 minutes to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The Zhongguancun Boston Innovation Center officially began operatios in Boston, US, on March 30 local time. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The center expects to set up incubators, cross-border offices, large-scale meeting rooms and overseas R&D centers. Four secondary centers featuring bio-medicine, artificial intelligence, and financial technology will also be constructed.

Xuan Hong, general manager of Zhongguancun Development Group, said that the Boston Innovation Center will adopt the successful model of Zhongguancun's Silicon Valley center, gathering high-quality resources and promoting local innovation and entrepreneurship activities.

He added that this is also part of Zhongguancun's effort to build a key hub for their global innovation network as well as an overseas collaborative innovation system for Zhongguancun.

Nam Pham, deputy secretary of the Massachusetts state, delivers a speech to celebrate the opening of the Zhongguancun Boston Innovation Center. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhongguancun Development Group and the Zhongguancun Boston Innovation Center signed cooperation agreements with 11 units, including MIT ILP, US-China Health Summit, Harvard China Forum and MIT China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (MIT CHIEF).

Nam Pham, deputy secretary of Massachusetts, said that the center will bring needed innovation to Boston, support local employment and entrepreneurial activities, and supplement its existing innovation system.Zhongguancun, Tujia work on civil-military new energy industry

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2018-04-04

The Zhongguancun Civil-Military Integration Industrial Alliance and Shanghai Tujia Engineering Technology Co Ltd reached a strategic cooperation agreement on April 2.

The two sides will carry out in-depth exchanges and cooperation in military-civilian dual-use new energy products and services, and lay a solid foundation for the rapid, sustained, and all-round development of the new energy industry in the field of military-civilian integration.

Ji Huixian, general secretary of the Zhongguancun Civil-Military Integration Industrial Alliance, said that the two sides will join hands to research and develop new energy technologies and products for military-civilian integration.

The Zhongguancun Civil-Military Integration Industrial Alliance and Shanghai Tujia Engineering Technology Co Ltd reach a strategic cooperation agreement on April 2. [Photo by Wei Xi/chinanews.com]

Shanghai Tujia Engineering Technology, a leading domestic new energy automobile company, has R&D centers in Germany's Stuttgart, Italy's Turin, and Silicon Valley in the United States.

Wei Liaoyu, CEO of the company, said that it is preparing to lay out the entire new energy vehicle industry in five to 10 years and it has independent intellectual property rights for new energy core components.

The company is now seeking negotiations with several regions' governments to set up its vehicle factories.Updated : 2018-04-04

(Xinhua)

Soldiers escort coffins containing the remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War during a burial ceremony at the Cemetery of Revolutionary Martyrs in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning province, March 29, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

A burial ceremony for the remains of 20 Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War was held at the Cemetery of Revolutionary Martyrs in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province, on March 30.

More than 300 people including government and military officials, Korean War veterans, and members of the public, attended the ceremony.

"I'm so glad my comrades are finally home, but it is a great pity they cannot witness the prosperity of our country now," said Li Weibo, 87, a Korean War veteran.

Some 197,653 Chinese People's Volunteers soldiers are confirmed to have died during the war, most of whom were buried on the Korean Peninsula.

According to an agreement between China and the Republic of Korea (ROK), the two sides arrange an annual hand-over of remains of Chinese soldiers found in ROK, which usually occurs before the Tomb-Sweeping Day.

The remains of 569 soldiers were returned to China from ROK between 2014 and 2017.In this age of the blockbuster superhero movie, audiences have come to expect the heros origin story. Why does he wear that cape? Where did she learn to fight like that? Why do they hide behind those secret identities?

Many recent superhero movies shuffle through the origin narrative as quickly as possible. Every so often, though, films will invest the time necessary to transform their protagonists from one-dimensional archetypes into flesh-and-blood human beings.

Most biographies of Martin Luther King Jr. have focused on King the civil rights icon, spotlighting his role from the Montgomery bus boycott onward. In The Seminarian, Patrick Parr instead gives us an extended look at the formative years of the preachers postgraduate education at Crozer Theological Seminary near Chester, Pennsylvania, then a small, liberal-minded school of fewer than 100 students (less than a quarter of whom were black).

Parr is a wonderful guide through this pivotal season of Kings intellectual development, spiritual formation, and youthful angst. We feel the young seminarians anxiety as he arrives at a predominantly white school, we witness his encounters with the Norths less flamboyant but equally treacherous brand of racism, and we experience the heartbreak of his short-lived romance with a white student.

From the vantage point of a Northern city, the Atlanta-born King began to reflect on the racial injustices of the Deep South and the cleansing potential of a liberal religious activism. This was Kings first extended time in the majority-white world, and he felt obligated not to perpetuate stereotypes associated with Southern Negroes. Consequently, he worked hard to prove to his white professors and classmates ...

1

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Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.In 2020, we were the church on our heels. A global pandemic shut down much of our world. But the church has been on the move since it was birthed; it will continue to be on the move until God makes all things new.One of Martin Luther King Jr.s most enduring statements regarding the church was his observation that the most segregated hour of the week was 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Kings commentary on how the modern church had failed to racially integrate in any meaningful way may be decades old; however, those who study religiosity in the United States continue to see the difficulty in bringing together Protestant traditions that have historically split along racial lines.

Anyone who has participated in both can immediately attest to the differences between a traditional evangelical worship service, such as at a Southern Baptist church, and a service at a historically black church, such as an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregation.

But, are those distinctions mostly stylistic? Do African American Protestants adopt a different theological perspective than their white counterparts? The data points to a simple reality: These two groups that seem so disparate on the surface ...

1Twenty Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries have raised $1.5 million in scholarships to offer minority students in Memphis as part of a new initiative in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated there 50 years ago today.

Organizers for MLK50: Gospel Reflections from the Mountaintop, a joint conference by The Gospel Coalition (TGC) and the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), will announce the MLK50 Dream Forward Scholarship Initiative this morning before 3,700 attendees at the Memphis event.

The program, which offers full and partial tuition scholarships to minority students who demonstrate a heart for Christ and a potential for academic excellence, is a way to extend the local impact of the commemorative two-day conference long-term.

As we were planning and preparing for this event, we have been given wise counsel by a local advisory board consisting of pastors and ministry leaders. Early on, they asked ...

1Catholics Plan Public Protest Over Holy Cross Professor's 'Drag King' Jesus Blasphemy

Contact: Robert Ritchie, 717-309-1990



WORCESTER, Mass., April 4, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- A firestorm of outrage erupted over blasphemous claims made by Prof. Tat Siong Benny Liew, chair of New Testament Studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, that Jesus was an erotic "drag king."



Catholic laity from across Massachusetts plan to gather in front of Holy Cross on Saturday, April 7, at 11:00 AM for a Rosary of Reparation, and to deliver a faith-filled message to the Jesuit-run college: Prof Liew should disavow his attack against Christ or resign his teaching position at the Catholic college.



The Most Rev. Robert J. McManus, bishop of the Diocese of Worcester, called Liew's writings "blasphemous" and added that if he "...disavows them, then he must state so publicly, so as not to create confusion about the nature of Christ."



According to The Fenwick Review, Prof. Liew uses the Gospel of Saint John in his writings to claim that Jesus Christ was an impure "cross-dresser" who had "queer desires," and eroticizes the Passion and Crucifixion of Our Lord, and uses unrepeatable language to attack the holy purity of Jesus and His Apostles.



TFP Student Action, a network of young Catholics, gathered more than 16,045 petitions, urging Holy Cross president Fr. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J. to "correct the scandal" and "remove Prof. Tat-Siong Benny Liew, Chair of New Testament Studies, for openly attacking the Sacred Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ with unrepeatable blasphemy."



The petition can be accessed here.



The Catholic faithful and all Americans of good will are invited to join the rally of reparation.

When: Saturday, April 7, at 11:00 AM



Where: At College St. and Linden Lane, Worcester, Massachusetts.



Why: To offer reparation to Our Lord for the blasphemous claims.

Bishop McManus' full statement regarding the blasphemous writings of Prof. Liew can be found HERE.



For more information, please call Robert Ritchie at 717-309-1990.

The magic returns; the strains of our music will once more ring forth. Consortium Aurora Borealis is back in action after the silence imposed on so many arts organizations by COVID-19.AKRON, Ohio - A new initiative launching this month is expected to help Akron boost its economic vitality while laying the groundwork for similar cities across the nation.

Strong Towns, a nonprofit, is working to help smaller cities like Akron bring economic stability back through incremental investments in key neighborhoods.

The year-long project in Akron, funded in part through a $120,000 Knight Foundation grant, will be groundbreaking for Strong Towns.

While the group will continue to work with other cities, it plans to invest a majority of time and energy in partnerships with the Knight Foundation and Akron's community development groups in North Akron, Middlebury and Kenmore, said Rachel Quenau, Strong Towns Communications Director.

"We see so much possibility, if people redirected their efforts to small-scale incremental investments that focus on the city's core neighborhoods," Quenau said.

Strong Towns will conduct a tax analysis of key areas of the city to identify where Akron would gain the most through investment. It also will share examples of similar cities that had success through initiatives that could be tailored for Akron.

The outcome of the work could be a model for other similar cities.

"The timing is right. This will help us make better decisions as a city," said Knight's Akron Program Director Kyle Kutuchief. "A lot of other cities are going to be lining up behind us once this works."

A free, public kick-off event presenting Strong Towns President Charles Marohn is set for 5:45 p.m. April 17 a the Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St. downtown.

Marohn will explain why cities like Akron have declined after decades of growth. He also will present ideas that could help put the city back on stronger financial footing.

Strong Towns' theory as explained on its website is that U.S. cities' pattern of growth after WWII was shortsighted. Much of the suburbanization in the U.S. was perpetuated by cities taking advantage of attractive near-term incentives to fund growth that on the surface looked like prosperity.

Now, decades later, the cost of maintaining these public improvements, including roads and bridges and sewer systems, outweighs the initial cost savings and drags cities down.

The group's work in Akron will dovetail with ongoing initiatives. Like the Downtown Akron Vision & Redevelopment Plan completed last year, and the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition Reimagining the Civic Commons, residents will be asked to weigh in and participate in the work.

In partnership with the Knight Foundation, Strong Towns' goals are to:

Expose the Akron community to Strong Towns ideas, specifically as they apply to Akron.

Highlight examples from other similar cities in which individuals/groups made a positive impact by using Strong Towns actions, support and policies.

Connect locals to people in the broader Strong Towns community to help Akronites co-create a movement for change.

Directly support The Well CDC in Middlebury, the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance and North Akron CDC.

In addition to public events, Strong Towns will post information pertaining to the Akron work on its website, including daily written content, weekly podcasts and interactive webcasts. You can learn more at Strong Towns Akron website.

Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- City Council has voted to form an Immigration Task Force to further explore -- and possibly expand -- the role of a "Welcoming City."

That was the designation council agreed on last year, rather than the "Sanctuary City" status that has already stirred up the melting pot elsewhere -- at least with threatened cuts in federal funding from the Trump Administration.

Last October, Councilman Kahlil Seren introduced legislation that would restrict interaction of local police with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their efforts to track down undocumented aliens.

The proposed ordinance has yet to resurface since it was referred to the city Law Department, although Seren has offered substitute language to eliminate the potential for misdemeanor charges being filed against local police who assist ICE agents.

It's still a contentious debate on City Council, Mayor Carol Roe said Tuesday after getting authorization to appoint the nine-member task force. The group is expected to convene later this month, with any recommendations to be made by July 31.

"There's a conflict here," Roe said of her efforts to temper the dialogue and "hear each other. My goal would be to start with identifying the specific problem or concern and then generate some ideas about how to resolve it."

While the formation of the Immigration Task Force passed with a 6-0 vote Monday, Councilman Mike Ungar said his support was strictly to "enhance Cleveland Heights' posture as a good place for immigrants."

Ungar added that he has asked for specific examples of any immigration issues involving the local police department and has heard none.

"This task force was borne out of the notion that our police department was doing something wrong, and that is not the case," Ungar said.

Ungar thinks it's a good idea that the safety forces are a part of the Immigration Task Force, "but I don't want their inclusion to imply that we're doing something wrong."

The composition of the task force is listed in the resolution:

-- Roe as mayor, heading the group and making the appointments of citizen members

-- City Manager Tanisha Briley or her designee

-- Police Chief Annette Mecklenburg

-- a City Council member (Seren)

-- a member of the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association who is a "classified service" captain, lieutenant or sergeant with Cleveland Heights police

-- an "unclassified service" Cleveland Heights basic patrol officer

-- a resident who is a member of an immigration advocacy group, or other similar group

-- a resident "who is concerned about immigration issues"



-- a resident who is "intimately familiar with immigration or constitutional law"

Asked for any response to Ungar's contentions, Seren said Tuesday that there were never any allegations of wrongdoing on the part of local police.

"Cleveland Heights government should not be used as a tool for the xenophobia and racism exhibited in the federal government's current immigration enforcement policy and practice," Seren said of the basis for his earlier legislation.

And while he supported the "Welcoming City" resolution, Seren said throughout that he was looking for legislation with more "teeth" to it.

"I believe my proposed ordinance, which puts guardrails around involvement in civil immigration enforcement by all local public employees and public officials, reflects those values shared by the majority of Cleveland Heights," Seren said in an email.

Seren added that he felt Ungar's statement during Monday's meeting was factually incorrect about the "spirit and letter" of his earlier legislation.

"Councilman Ungar continues to attack straw men with these repeated claims that the legislation is somehow an insult to our exemplary Police Department," Seren said.

Seren added that he welcomes an honest policy debate.

"If Mr. Ungar is aware of some accusation of wrongdoing against Cleveland Heights police, he should express that explicitly instead of making vague implications about my motivations for introducing the legislation," Seren said.

Ungar responded to Seren's comments Wednesday (April 4), calling them "ridiculous, troubling and defensive," adding that the legislation was irresponsibly introduced, without conferring with fellow council members, the city administration or police.

"And that's why the legislation has gone absolutely nowhere," Ungar said.

Both Seren and Ungar accused each other of not having read the legislation.

"It criminalized safety forces' conduct and had a number of people highly concerned about that, because there wasn't even any evidence of any problem with our police department," Ungar said. "And when asked, he had none."

While he called Seren's comments "completely unwarranted and baseless," Ungar added that there is probably more common ground than currently meets the eye.

"I suspect we agree on this overall issue more than we disagree -- none of us are happy with what's going on in Washington, and that's why I do favor having a community-based task force to study the issue," Ungar said. "Because as a city, we want to welcome all immigrants."CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County's head juvenile court judge on Wednesday announced a series of reforms to transform how the county deals with children accused of crimes.

The most ambitious reform is the creation of a Community Intervention Center to match children who come in contact with the criminal justice system to critical services such as mental health evaluations, healthcare and trauma counseling. It will also seek to keep low-level offenders out of jail, Administrative Judge Kristin Sweeney announced during a news conference at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Justice Center.

The intervention center will be modeled after a similar program in Dayton and will be funded with grant money, Sweeney said.

The reforms were announced nearly three months after a Jan. 8 riot at the detention center brought a sense of urgency to behind-the-scenes discussions to reform Cuyahoga County's juvenile justice system. They seek to uphold public safety while considering issues surrounding young offenders, including easy access to firearms, underfunded mental health systems, a lack of economic and educational opportunities, absent parents and racism, Sweeney said.

"The juvenile justice system can magnify these struggles and inflict tremendous harm in its own right if we aren't careful," she said. "We can help, and we can harm."

(You can watch the full news conference below.)

Additional reforms include the hiring of more guards at the detention center and a partnership with Cuyahoga Community College to train all guards in de-escalation tactics, Sweeney said.

The court is also conducting a national search for a new detention center administrator to change the culture in the facility, she said.

The reforms announced Wednesday represent a measured approach compared to some initial calls for change in the wake of the January incident at the detention center, which Sweeney and other juvenile court officials have refused to label a "riot."

Some county officials, Councilman Mike Gallagher and Prosecutor Michael O'Malley, floated the possibility of having the county sheriff's department, which runs the downtown jail that houses adult offenders, take over operations of the juvenile detention center.

That idea was met with resistance from experts in juvenile justice circles, including the ACLU of Ohio's Mike Brickner and Erin Davies from the Columbus-based Juvenile Justice Coalition.

Brickner and Davies attended Wednesday's news conference and said they are pleased with the reforms. They are working with Sweeney to bring in Mark Soler, the executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Center for Children's Law and Policy, to evaluate the facility, after the sheriff's department conducted its own evaluation.

Brickner said he is glad the reforms announced Wednesday are more than heavy-handed measures in response to hysteria over the January unrest. The changes actually focus on some of the systemic issues that experts say drive juvenile crime, Brickner said.

Sweeney said during Wednesday's news conference that several detention center guards who were on duty during the Jan. 8 riot have been disciplined for failure to respond. The court later corrected that statement and said, while an investigation into the guards' conduct that night is underway, there has been no discipline doled out.

Six teens used tables and other broken pieces of furniture to cause more than $100,000 in damage to a housing pod during the riot, officials said. They smashed security glass, a window, cell doors, sprinklers, parts of the ceiling, showers, toilets, light fixtures, and a television, officials said.

The teens are facing criminal charges in the incident.

O'Malley said it appeared to be an organized riot that started with one inmate giving a signal to others. Three inmates smashed a window and tried to jump out on to East 93rd Street, but were unable to get out, O'Malley said.

To comment on this story, please visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND, Ohio - At the root of his success, his tours, recordings, travels and time living out East, Ben Orr was a guy who never, ever forgot where he came from: Cleveland.

He knew his roots, and they were what made him who he is, said Joe Milliken, whose biography on The Cars' late bassist is due this fall.

"Ben loved his heritage and never forgot where he came from," Milliken said from his Vermont home. "He was a very private man and it was hard to get close to him, but once you did he was a friend for life and he would do anything for you."

Milliken will be in town for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday, April 14, when The Cars will be enshrined along with Bon Jovi, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues, Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

When The Cars were playing Cleveland, Orr would "call up his buddies and get them backstage passes and limo rides. He would fly his friends to Boston (where he lived) and wouldn't let them spend a dime. He was incredibly generous to his friends."

Milliken added: "I think he would have loved the fact I talk so much about Cleveland" in the book.

Orr was born Ben Orzechowski in Lakewood and went to Valley Forge High School in Parma. Milliken interviewed Orr's school mates, everyone in The Grasshoppers and almost everyone in The Mixed Emotions, his early bands. He also talked with Don Webster, host of the WEWS "Upbeat" show in Cleveland.

The idea for the book isn't rooted in lifelong obsession. Years ago a Cars and Orr fan approached Milliken, who publishes a music and arts blog called Standing Room Only.

The fan saw Milliken's profile online and noticed parallels to the bassist. Milliken was from Boston, Orr lived there and it was where the Cars were launched. Milliken, 52, was a fan of the band, the group's debut album coming out when he was in his teens. And he lived less than an hour from Orr's home in the later years of the musician's life.

"She saw all these things and thought I would be a candidate (to write a biography). 'Hey you love The Cars, you're a writer, I'm not a writer'," she told him.

He let the idea ferment, but the more he learned about Orr, about Cleveland, and how he was a childhood star with The Grasshoppers, the more the idea took root for what would become Milliken's first book. In late March, Milliken signed the book deal with Maryland-based Rowman & Littlefield. The title has not been finalized.

"It's not a Cars book," he said. "Obviously they are prominent throughout the thing, but it's a bio of Ben Orr's life."

With Orr being gone for almost 20 years - he died at age 53 on Oct. 3, 2000, from pancreatic cancer - Milliken conducted more than 100 interviews.

"I had to rely on interviewing everyone else, people who knew him, and have them be his voice," he said.

"Everybody I talked to gave me someone else I could talk to," Milliken said. "It went on and on. I could have done interviews until I die, and I still wouldn't have talked to everyone. I could have talked to people forever."

Frontman Ric Ocasek and Orr "had a complicated relationship. But by the end of the band, it had become a dictatorship. He (Ocasek) kind of took over everything in the band. Although Ric sent out the press release announcing the breakup, Ben had had enough."

They didn't talk for 10 years, the author said, but reconciled right before Orr's death.

But it was Orr's roots to Northeast Ohio that drew in Milliken.

"I really wanted to talk a lot about his Cleveland heritage," he said. "That was what hooked me. Not just in The Cars but all this stuff he did in his early life."

After years of research, what remains with Milliken was "how big he was (locally)," he said, "and how beloved he is now."CLEVELAND, Ohio - You'll have more chances to experience the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as it offers extended hours on select days leading up to this year's inductions ceremony on Saturday, April 14.

Fans will be able to browse exhibits 10 a.m.-11 p.m., Saturday, April 7, as well as 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Thursday, April 12; 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday, April 13; and 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 14. The Rock Hall is typically open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and open until 9 p.m. on Wednesday nights.

It's an opportunity for tourists and locals to share in the excitement ahead of the big event, which marks the induction of Nina Simone, The Cars, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Moody Blues, Dire Straits and Bon Jovi. The museum attracts around 500,000 visitors annually.

Though the inductions and simulcast are sold out, the Rock Hall has a packed schedule of activities planned both at the museum and around the city throughout the week. The full run down of events is available at Rockhall.com/rockweekcle.

This Saturday, the Rock Hall hosts their Celebration Day, which features live music by RSO (Richie Sambora and Orianthi) and Wesley Bright & the Honeytones. Fireworks will blast off at 9 p.m. Museum admission is free all day. The Rock Hall will also unveil its new Hall of Fame Experience, which is spread out over the building's entire third floor.

During the extended hours on Thursday, April 12, the museum will host a special screening of "Days of Future Passed Live" and a Hall of Fame Series interview with inductees The Moody Blues.

Expect the fun to return in 2020 as the Rock Hall begins hosting the inductions in Cleveland every other year.FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio -- Water main replacement on North Park Drive is expected to begin in June, with an early fall completion.

"Last year, we were awarded Cleveland Department of Water funding for the replacement of about 1,650 feet of waterline that runs along North Park Drive from West Park Drive towards West 210th street," said Shawn Leininger, Fairview Park's director of public service and development.

"The total project is about $465,000; that includes engineering and administration," Leininger said. The Cleveland Department of Water is covering 100 percent of the cost.

Once work begins, Leininger said traffic will remain open to residents.

"Our city has 58 miles of pipe, with 58 percent installed before 1930," Mayor Eileen Ann Patton said. "Having these lines replaced under this water main renewal program benefits our residents, helps with the water main break rate and improves water quality."

North Park Drive has been on the city's radar since its 2012 waterline condition rating study, which examined the number of repairs, as well as age and condition of the line.

While the area in question hasn't suffered from leaks, Leininger said the time is right.

"Cleveland Water only has so much funding available, and it's through their entire service area, so we compete with other communities," Leininger said. "It's a matter of waiting for ours to get enough points to be awarded."

Already, Fairview Park is looking ahead to its next Cleveland Department of Water project, with plans this year to apply for funding to replace the Campus Drive waterline from West 210th Street to West 213th Street.

"We'll receive word this year for next year's construction," Leininger said. "Any time we send in an application, we feel confident about it. But again, it depends on who we're competing against in that round of funding."LAKEWOOD, Ohio - - Heidi and Erik Salo's crisp white, three-story Lakewood home accented with black shutters conveys the quiet grace and tradition of a well-maintained Century-old Colonial. But step inside and the mood lightens considerably, with an anything-goes blend bold hues, playful prints and blasts from the past.

"When I first saw this house, I just knew we were going to add a lot of color and accents that really stand out," Heidi says of the couple's rambling five bedroom, two-bath home that they acquired in 2013. "I enjoy mixing different colors and items from a variety of periods. I think that makes things more interesting."

The scheme is as far from cookie-cutter as it gets. A rattan "peacock" chair circa 1960s/'70s and Eric's grandmother's velvet love seat decorate a corner of the living room. A huge painting of a white Persian cat plays off the fireplace-facing white leather couch - "We're blessed with the cleanest toddler the world has ever known," Heidi says - and gray and white shag area rug.

"I don't even like cats, but I thought the painting was so kitschy and eclectic," Heidi says of the artwork she found at Flower Child on Clifton Boulevard.

The couple's dining room table has a raw, earthy look juxtaposed with not-so-earthy acrylic chairs around it.

The dining room is Heidi's favorite space. A blast of color comes with the expansive cobalt blue, pale blue, red and gold area rug under the table, and bright red antique buffet.

"I found the buffet at a Goodwill on the East Side," Heidi remembers. "I only paid $3 for it. When the guys delivered it, one told me, 'This is a piece of garbage.' It's solid wood, but the top was too damaged to refinish it, so I painted it."

A pair of green glass and brass "pineapple" lamps - Heidi thinks they date back to the 1940s - top the buffet.

"I saw these in the window of Lakewood Antique Mall, and I just stared at them," she says. "One day I walked by and they weren't there. The owner had put them in the back because no one wanted them. I knew I needed them when I freaked out thinking they were gone."

Faux leather pink and brass chairs in the breakfast room are arranged around a white molded plastic table. A cobalt blue Mid-Century style couch is accented with a brown and white faux animal area rug in the third-floor office space.

"I put things together that don't make sense," Heidi says. "And then they make sense."

The Salos, whose three-year-old daughter is named Frankie, fell in love with their home for several reasons. The place is filled with natural wood, from the floors to the wide ceiling and floor crown molding, to a huge built-in cabinet and beams in the dining room. And there's the pocket door that separates the living room and kitchen, crystal doorknobs and the original cast iron tub.

"It's unusual to find a home this old that has been mostly untouched," Heidi says. "All of the crystal doorknobs are still here. The woodwork hasn't been painted over. That all gives it a certain charm. And I think bold colors enhance the dark wood out even more because it's a nice contrast."

The first floor layout was a big plus.

"Sometimes people think we removed a wall because of the open floor plan, which is unusual for a home this age," says Heidi. "We got lucky."

With an open floor plan comes natural sunlight streaming through. The couple not only enjoys it, they have fun with it.

"I have these two disco balls, one of them on the fireplace mantle, and when it's sunny, the sunlight bounces off of them and shoots stars everywhere," Heidi says. "My daughter loves it."

Along with antique, second-hand and contemporary stores for her home's eclectic mix, Heidi frequents Lakewood Plant Company.

"Plants are a big element in our home," she says. "I think they are a great accessory to fill spaces that you might not necessarily want to put art or a lamp. And it's the idea of bringing the outdoors in. It just makes it feel better in here."

Heidi, 34, and Erik, 35, both Greater Cleveland natives, met at Ohio University while studying interior architecture. She is creative director and designer for an exhibit and event design company. Erik is vice president of strategic accounts at a multimedia and communications company. The couple lived in Atlanta for six years and Chicago for two years, before moving back to the Cleveland area.

"The walkability of Lakewood was our number one reason for wanting to live here, because we had become accustomed to that lifestyle," Heidi Says. "When we moved back we didn't want to be somewhere where we have to drive everywhere. This is the best spot in Lakewood. We're the exact same distance from here to Lakewood Park as we are from here to downtown Lakewood. In the summer and spring we walk everywhere, and we love to be able to walk out our door to dinner or a few of the shops."

Working with Elegant Renovations in Olmsted Falls, the Salos recently finished their basement. Uncharacteristically, it's rather quiet down there, except for the red, black and white panther print wallpaper in the bathroom.

"I found this wallpaper and I thought, 'This is really wild. I like it because it's so out there.'"

Does the couple finally have their home looking exactly the way that they want it? No.

"I'm never done decorating," Heidi says. "Everything will probably be different next year."LYNDHURST, Ohio -- Overdose, Richmond Road: At 5:05 a.m. March 30, a rescue squad was called to a residence where a man, 30, had overdosed on heroin. Police administered Narcan and revived the man.

The man was taken to Hillcrest Hospital. It was learned that he was the subject of a Geauga County Sheriff's Office warrant. Deputies picked up the man after his release from the hospital.

Psychiatric situation, Mayfield Road: At 6:25 p.m. April 1, police were called to BP of Lyndhurst where a customer, a Garfield Heights man, 38, was smashing merchandise and screaming at others in the store.

Police took the man to Hillcrest Hospital for evaluation. There were no charges filed.

OVI, Mayfield Road: At 2:45 a.m. April 1, an officer checked on the occupant of a car parked across two spaces at Vicinato Pizza, 5080 Mayfield Road. The man inside the car, 67, of Cleveland, was passed out.

Police woke the man and learned that he was drunk. The man failed field sobriety tests and was charged with OVI.

Drug abuse, East Farnhurst Road: At 1:05 a.m. April 1, police stopped a car that was being driven with an expired temporary tag. It was discovered that the driver, a Willoughby man, 51, was in possession of marijuana and the drug Xanax.

Police charged the man with drug abuse and towed his car.

Having a weapon under disability, Mayfield Road: At 1:25 a.m. March 31, police checked on the occupant of a car parked in the lot of Scalper's bar, 5718 Mayfield Road.

Inside the car was a Cleveland man, 29, who was found to be in possession of a handgun. He told officers that the car's owner, a woman, was inside the bar. Police could not locate the woman.

The man was charged with having a weapon under disability.

Assist person, Mayfield Road: At 12:30 a.m. March 30, a deliveryman who works for Jet's Pizza, 5350 Mayfield Road, called police after locking himself in the building. When police arrived, the man gave officers the security code and the door was opened.

Aggravated trespassing, Spencer Road: At 12:10 a.m. March 29, a woman notified police that her former boyfriend, a Wooster man, 37, was outside her home. The man broke a window on the woman's house and was yelling at her through the window. The woman called police from a locked second-floor bathroom.

Police spoke with the man, who agreed to leave. The woman did not want to pursue charges.

Theft, Richmond Road: At 9:50 a.m. March 28, a male suspect stole deodorant, body wash and lotion from CVS/Pharmacy, 1443 Richmond Road, and left in a car. Police were unable to apprehend the thief.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.Tamara Thomas

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland has been named as the organization's Youth of the Year for the state of Ohio.

Tamara Thomas, 17, a senior at Washington Park Environmental Studies Academy, credited her six years as a member of the Broadway Club with helping her become the young woman who was able to win the statewide competition last month.

"Growing up in Cleveland, there is a lot of stuff we lacked, a lot of stuff we didn't have," Tamara said in an interview with cleveland.com. "And the club was able to fill in where my mom and dad couldn't."

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland provides safe after-school space and programs for the city's children. The organization also has assisted cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer on A Greater Cleveland, an ongoing series chronicling the lives of families in impoverished neighborhoods.

To compete for Youth of the Year, Tamara had to impress judges with a three-minute speech, as well as essays, interviews and recommendations from the community. She beat out nine competitors.

The victory allows her to move on to the regional competition in Chicago on July 17, where she will have a chance to compete for a spot at the national level.

Shanelle Moon, assistant director of the Broadway Club, described Tamara in an article in the club's newspaper as a "rose that grew from concrete.

"Most people would never imagine the hardships she has faced growing up and the challenges she still faces on a daily basis," Moon said.

Tamara said she comes from a strong, loving family, but added that she had to overcome outside challenges, such as years of bullying at school and the loss of a grandfather.

The club provided a place to figure out who she was, she said, and staff members always lent an encouraging word when she needed it.

Tamara has an impressive resume and she hopes her success as Youth of the Year will help her to pursue her dream of earning a degree in international law at Xavier University.

She is a three-year honor student at Washington Park and member of her student advisory committee. Tamara completed a legal internship at Case Western Reserve University, where she took law classes, participated in a mock trial and shadowed judges and attorneys.

She also has worked on community service projects with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland, organized a "Stop the Hate" walk at her high school, founded a community giveaway at the Greater United Church of God and Christ and won the Cleveland Foundation's 2017 MyCom Youth Award.

As she moves through senior year and on to college, Tamara wants to continue her activism around social-justice issues. She is planning a week-long "Stop the Hate" campaign in Cleveland this summer, she said.

Tamara also will be preparing for the regional competition in Chicago, where she hopes she can secure another victory for her hometown.

"It will be another milestone, another groundbreaking thing to happen," she said. "I want to be the one to bring it home to Cleveland," she said.

A Greater Cleveland is a project of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Read more about the project here.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two police officers were taken to the hospital with minor injures after their cruiser was struck by another vehicle.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia says the driver of the other vehicle left the scene and no arrests have been made.

The crash occurred at the intersection of East 138th Street and Miles Avenue in the Corlett neighborhood.

Both officers were taken by an ambulance to University Hospitals, Ciaccia says.

The crash remains under investigation.

To comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments page.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Critics of fast-moving legislation to expand Ohio's wrongful imprisonment compensation law say taxpayers could be on the hook for millions in payments to ex-inmates who actually committed crimes.

House Bill 411 and Senate Bill 248 would allow wrongful imprisonment payouts in cases where attorneys or police withheld evidence that could have helped the defendant prove innocence in court. Supporters say the legislature already expanded the benefit to appeals won on "procedural errors," but the Ohio Supreme Court has misinterpreted the law.

County prosecutors say the proposed changes would make the wrongful conviction statute the most liberal in the country at a hefty cost to taxpayers -- upwards of $15 million by one estimate.

Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican and one of the bill's sponsors, said the government should pay up for violating a defendant's constitutional rights.

"I shake my head at the idea that, 'oh, well this is money for criminals,'" Seitz said. "They're only criminals because the government failed its constitutional duty."

The bipartisan proposal was first introduced as a state budget bill amendment last year but was pulled at the last minute at the objections of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. The bill's scope has been narrowed, but not enough to appease prosecutors and DeWine, who is now running to be the Republican nominee in November's gubernatorial election.

"I still have concerns with awarding taxpayer dollars to individuals who have not proven actual innocence. Unfortunately, that is exactly what this bill proposes to do," DeWine wrote in a letter sent last week to House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger. "If this legislation is enacted in its current form, Ohio's wrongful imprisonment statute, which already is the most liberal in the country, would become even broader and more expansive."

The House bill cleared committee in March and could receive a floor vote when legislators return to the Statehouse next week.

What would the bills do?

The legislation would make it easier for ex-inmates to receive wrongful imprisonment compensation in two ways.

It eliminates the requirement that the prosecutor agree not to re-file charges against the ex-inmate, It allows compensation claims when a court has found an individual's due process rights were violated because evidence was withheld that could have helped the person's case, also called a Brady Rule violation.

The amount of compensation would be offset by civil lawsuit or federal lawsuit awards. The bill also gives prosecutors one year to reinstitute charges against the ex-inmate, which could be shorter than the statute of limitation for the crime.

Seitz said the General Assembly intended to expand compensation claims for appeals due to procedural errors with a 2003 law he sponsored. But in 2014, the Ohio Supreme Court interpreted that law to mean the error had to happen after sentencing, which is rare, not before or during a trial.

"Put yourself in their shoes -- you would be outraged if you were wrongfully convicted and you languished away in a crappy prison cell for any appreciable period of time and once you were freed they just give you your hat and a bus ticket and send you on your merry way," Seitz said.

The bill has the support of the Ohio Public Defender and the Ohio Innocence Project, which works to exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals.

Michelle Feldman, legislative strategist for the national Innocence Project, said Ohio's wrongful imprisonment law is far from the nation's most liberal and the proposed changes tighten the "procedural error" criteria from the 2003 law.

"If anything this is a much more conservative version of the current law and protects taxpayers in the way the current law doesn't," Feldman said.

The 2014 Supreme Court case, Mansaray v. State of Ohio, would still be ineligible for compensation under the proposed changes, she said.

"People who are getting their convictions overturned on technicalities will not be eligible under this bill," Feldman said.

What do opponents say?

The prosecutors' association was neutral on the bill but reversed its position in recent weeks due to several concerns from county prosecutors about compensating people who commit crimes but are later freed on appeal.

"Prosecutors would unanimously agree that someone who is actually innocent of a crime and imprisoned is entitled to some kind of compensation," association president and Defiance County Prosecutor Morris Murray said. "Our concern is the way this has been proposed continues to leave the door open to a lot of wrongful compensation."

Brian Gutkoski, a Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor who represented Ohio in the Mansaray case, said lawmakers should take a step back and examine the entire law, which has been amended several times since enacted in 1986.

"Before we authorize a whole new class of people and avenue by which they can get compensated and make that avenue the only state in the nation that can do that, we need to make sure everyone has an understanding of the ramifications of that change," Gutkoski said.

What would it cost?

Wrongful imprisonment payouts are rare. Compensation is currently $52,625 for each year of wrongful incarceration, plus attorneys' fees, loss of wages and other expenses.

The nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission couldn't put a price tag on the bill. But Gutkoski estimated the original version of the bill that applied to all "procedural errors" would cost the state at least $15 million. He said that's likely high, given changes made to the bill, but it will certainly cost the state millions of dollars.

Seitz disputed that estimate, noting that payouts didn't skyrocket during the 11 years from when the law passed to the Supreme Court's decision. (Prosecutors say that's because the procedural error language was assumed to apply only to errors after sentencing, as the Supreme Court concluded.)

If prosecutors think there will be that many payouts, Seitz said, then perhaps they need to go back to school to better study the Constitution.

Since 2010, 20 individuals have filed claims for compensation. Individual awards have ranged between $40,000 and $3.7 million with an average award of $1.1 million per individual.

The state paid out $4.1 million last year to exonerees and nearly $8.4 million in 2016.EUCLID, Ohio - The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services determined that the Euclid daycare Aniya Day-Garrett attended did not comply with state laws that mandate the reporting of injuries and suspicions of abuse.

Aniya Day-Garrett, shown here with her father Mickhal Garrett, died Sunday after suffering a stroke caused by blunt force impacts to the head, medical examiners said. The 4-year-old girl's mother and the woman's boyfriend are charged with aggravated murder in connection with her death.

Harbor Crest Child Care failed to notify Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services of every incident where Aniya had suspicious injuries or required medical treatment, ODJFS inspectors determined after a March 23 inspection of the daycare.

In one instance, the daycare called paramedics to take Aniya to a hospital for medical treatment, an ODJFS spokesman said. Neither the spokesman nor the report provided additional details of the girl's injuries.

Aniya died March 11 after she suffered a stroke caused by blunt impacts to the head, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office said. She had scald marks on her feet and legs, a large bruise near her left eye and a cut on her face when she died, according to a police report.

Aniya's mother, Sierra R. Day, and her boyfriend, Deonte L. Lewis, are charged with aggravated murder in connection with the girl's death. They remain in custody on $1 million bond.

Harbor Crest is required to submit a written plan to correct the non-compliance by Tuesday afternoon, the ODJFS spokesman said.

Harbor Crest managements could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Inspectors also determined the daycare was not following rules governing group size. Harbor Crest will need to hire more staff or current employees must be re-scheduled, the report says. The daycare will also need to provide additional training to its employees.

Harbor Crest contacted the Euclid Police Department last year to report a series of suspicious injuries that occurred over a year-and-a-half period, according to a Euclid police report. The ODJFS determined the daycare did not report all of those injuries to Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services when they occurred.

Aniya's relatives said last month that they notified CCCFS to report bruises on the girl's body. The county agency investigated three reports about her in 2017, but officials did not find cause to remove her from her mother's home, a Cuyahoga County spokeswoman said.

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish appointed an independent panel to review the agency's handling of Aniya's case. Budish also asked the panel for recommendations to prevent similar deaths from happening in the future.

To comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- I have no idea why Charlie Rose recently tweeted the letter "H."

I hope it means we haven't heard the last from him. I hope it means the disgraced newsman is trying to muster the courage and gumption to become an active part of the #MeToo conversation.

Before his spectacular fall last November, Charlie Rose was an intrepid news interviewer as co-host of the "CBS This Morning" news show. His eponymous program on PBS and Bloomberg Television, "Charlie Rose," was a consistent model of smart and informative television.

Then, the week of Thanksgiving, Rose, 76, was exposed. He was accused of sexual misconduct, summarily convicted in the court of public opinion, and instantly vaporized into broadcast history. It turned out that Rose had a history of making unwanted sexual advances toward women who worked for him or sought to work for him. He allegedly had a habit of touching them inappropriately and saying inappropriate things.

In just a few hours, his legendary career and stellar reputation went up in flames. Like a growing parade of powerful men who used their positions to sexually exploit women, Rose became persona non grata. Rose, one of the more recognizable men in America, went completely off the grid.

However, a couple of weeks ago, his Twitter account sparked to life. The account, which had remained dormant since an apology he tweeted the day before his firing, suddenly activated. The letter H appeared in a tweet -- nothing else. Just a capital H.

It looks as if the famed journalist may have started to say something then stopped -- either that or his twitter account was hacked by a toddler. Unlike his NBC contemporary Matt Lauer, who was fired over allegations of sexual misconduct and promptly closed his Twitter account, or Garrison Keillor, who made his account private, it seems possible that Rose wanted to reengage with the public.

What stopped him?

The world has changed irrevocably since Bill Cosby's extraordinary fall from grace. The path of disgrace and social exile that Cosby once walked alone is now filling rapidly with toxic fellow travelers. The faces of accused icons such as Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and Cosby are the leading candidates for the Mount Rushmore of sexual predators. However, they are far from alone in their self-induced tsunamis. It remains to be seen whether there is any path to redemption for them or any of their shamed peers.

The New York Times published an insightful article Monday about Mario Batali, the disgraced celebrity chef who is actively searching for a way to reinvent a life of achievement after his sexual harassment downfall. The Times story wondered whether a comeback for the world-renowned chef was possible. It's a valid question with no certain answers.

It's been four months since Batali, 57, was accused of engaging in patterns of sexual abuse. Batali apologized but the damage was done. He lost his spot on ABC's talk show "The Chew," and the Food Network canceled plans for future programming. His food products were pulled off grocery store shelves. But he's not going away -- at least, not yet.

Batali appears to be trying to rehabilitate his image through public service and good will. According to the New York Times, Batali is traveling to Rwanda and Greece this month to work with refugees. He also is reportedly thinking about creating a program that will enlist chefs to join him in assisting displaced Rwandans as they return back to their war-torn country. Apparently he thinks feeding hungry and homeless Africans is a good look for a recovering scoundrel.

Batali is well aware, however, that there may be no real comeback in the America that once celebrated him. The Times reported that the famous cook might simply move to Italy's Amalfi Coast, which presumably remains an option for the rich, famous and still fairly young chef.

What about Charlie Rose? Is there any redemptive role in American public life for him? Wise and temperate voices like the one Rose once expertly commanded have rarely been more desperately needed in America. Is there a way for him to find his way back?

Bill O'Reilly, formerly the leading face of the Fox News Channel until the network could no longer cover for his alleged predatory behavior, refuses to go away quietly. Why should Rose?

In the search for redemption and forgiveness, is there any positive role for recovering scoundrels to play in America's evolving #MeToo movement?CLEVELAND, Ohio -- U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci on Wednesday offered a preview of what his campaign against Sen. Sherrod Brown might look like, if he's first able to advance through a crowded Republican primary.

In an endorsement interview with editors for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, Renacci said he plans to emphasize his life story as a self-made millionaire to contrast himself with Brown, a longtime elected official who Renacci said is one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate. That designation puts Brown out of step with a state that's politically down-the-middle or even a little Republican leaning, he argued.

Renacci also said Ohio needs someone who will support President Donald Trump's agenda, which he said Brown has opposed, save for Brown's enthusiastic support for Trump's recently proposed foreign-steel tariffs.

"That's going to be the big difference between me and Sherrod Brown... I started with a couple hundred dollars in the bank. And now I employ people... And Sherrod's been a career politician living off the taxpayer's dime," he said.

Renacci's opponents meanwhile tried to advance the argument that the Republican primary is unsettled, even though Renacci has a modest polling lead, a sizable fundraising lead and the support of Ohio Republican Party leaders, who are close to Trump's political operation.

They have a point. Although Renacci led a recent public poll with 21 percent support, nearly double Cleveland investment banker Mike Gibbons' second-place total, nearly 60 percent of likely Ohio Republican primary voters are unsure about whom they will vote for in the May Republican primary.

That same poll, conducted by the respected firm SurveyUSA, found Brown leading Renacci by 14 points, a similar margin to the other Republican challengers.

Mike Gibbons

"My problem is I am not the establishment candidate," said Gibbons, a longtime Republican donor who is running for elected office for the first time. "They have no way of controlling me. They have no way of buying me. And I don't really care if I get re-elected."

In a separate endorsement interview, Marysville resident Melissa Ackison said she's waking up before dawn to cram in several campaign events a day. She said the state party has tried to "crown" Renacci as the nominee, while her campaign hasn't gotten the respect it deserves.

She said that she although she holds hard-right political positions, she thinks her personal story as a mother of four and a business owner who was adversely affected by the Affordable Care Act will resonate with Ohioans of all political stripes.

Melissa Ackison

"At the beginning of the race, I was laughed at and I was kind of the trash candidate who no one was taking seriously," Ackison said. "But it's the people of Ohio who will have the final say in that."

Some other stray observations from Wednesday's endorsement meetings, which also included Cincinnati-area financial adviser Dan Kiley. (Retiree Don Elijah Eckhart was unable to attend):

- Broadly, Renacci, Gibbons and Ackison all held political positions that more or less aligned with Trump's political agenda. They all said the United States needs to build the wall on the U.S. southern border, expressed support for the Second Amendment, said the Affordable Care Act needs to be repealed and said the government needs to cut entitlement social programs like food stamps and Medicaid. Kiley's positions meanwhile were more unorthodox for a modern Republican primary -- for example, he said he's concerned that the United States spends 10 times at as much on the military as it does on education at the federal level.

For more on each candidate's political positions, click here.

- Renacci incorrectly chalked up Republicans' failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, to U.S. Senate rules that require a 60-vote majority to pass most legislation.

However, Republicans used a procedural rule to present the Republican repeal plan in such a way that it would only require 50 votes. It failed to clear that lower bar, by one vote, after three Republican senators voted against it.

- Renacci and Gibbons walked reporters and editors -- and anyone watching a video of the interview live online -- through the immediate aftermath of Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel's surprise decision in January to drop out of the U.S. Senate race. Mandel's announcement shocked Republicans since he'd spent months -- and arguably years, since Mandel lost to Brown in the 2012 election -- running for the seat.

Renacci, who was running for governor at the time, said he got a call 10 minutes after Mandel's announcement from Cory Gardner, a Colorado senator who runs national Senate Republicans' campaign arm, asking Renacci to run for the Senate nomination.

"I said specifically I would not get in this race unless I got a call from the president of the United States," Renacci said. "That was on a Friday. The following Tuesday, I got a call asking me to come to the White House and meet with the president."

Gibbons, meanwhile, said that Renacci was one of "about 15" Ohio politicians who got a similar call. Among the others, Gibbons said: Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor (who's running for governor), former Columbus-area U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi and Northwest Ohio State Sen. Matt Huffman. He said the only call he got was from Republican National Committee co-chair/2016 Trump Ohio campaign director Bob Paduchik, who asked him to drop out of the race.

Gibbons said he thinks Trump will find him a good partner if he makes it to the U.S. Senate.

"I gave him the largest personal donation I've ever given to a candidate, and raised just over $1 million for his campaign," Gibbons said. "He doesn't know who I am, but I think he'll be just fine with me."

- In response to a question about Trump's tariffs, Gibbons revealed a company he founded lost out in the early 2000s to Wilbur Ross, who is now Trump's commerce secretary, in an attempt to buy LTV Steel, the former Cleveland-based steelmaker. LTV's Cleveland properties now are owned by ArcelorMittal.

- Renacci and Gibbons, both multi-millionaires, both said their blue-collar upbringings will allow them to relate to everyday Ohioans, who make an average of around $50,000 per household.

"I know what it is to be as poor as can be, but I also know what it is to have the opportunity to live the American Dream," Renacci said.HENNIKER, N.H. -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Tuesday that he doesn't know if he will run for president again but that in the meantime he's "trying to be a voice that brings about stability and objectivity in our country."

Kasich spoke at New England College in New Hampshire, the state where a second-place finish in the 2016 presidential primaries gave him a boost in national popularity. The former Republican candidate said any decision on mounting another White House bid would come at least nine months from now, after he finishes his second term as Ohio governor.

However, the term-limited official said earlier Tuesday that "all my options are on the table."

When asked about gun violence and school safety, Kasich praised the push for stricter gun laws by students who survived February's mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

"Have you seen them on television the last couple of weeks? Have you ever seen more articulate young people?" Kasich said. "And shame on the adults who are attacking them. They're incredible people. And they give us hope."

Last month, Kasich introduced a six-point plan in Ohio to reduce gun violence, including tighter background checks for gun buyers.

"I can tell you in my state, I'm not going quietly on this," Kasich told the 150 people in the audience. But he added, "We don't want to denigrate people who believe so firmly in the Second Amendment."

The event at New England College, the President's Speaker Series, came at the end of a full day of media interviews and meetings with supporters and advisers from Kasich's 2016 campaign in New Hampshire.

The governor also met with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu at the beginning of the day. Two months after he ended his presidential bid, Kasich returned to New Hampshire to endorse Sununu during the state's 2016 GOP gubernatorial primary.

Kasich praised Sununu, saying "I met with him today and I have to tell you I was really impressed."

Kasich wasn't the only potential 2020 presidential contender in the Granite State on Tuesday. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley -- a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate -- spoke earlier at Politics and Eggs at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. The speakers' series is a must stop for White House hopefuls.

O'Malley urged Democrats to end their pity party over losing the presidency and face the future. He said he thinks the party has a chance to win majorities in Congress in November's midterm elections if it focuses on restoring trust in democracy and preparing children to succeed in a changing economy.COLUMBUS, Ohio - In December 2016, the Ohio General Assembly passed a bill forcing it to look at all of the state's 129 tax loopholes and to decide whether to kill, keep or modify each.

The committee charged with that duty has met just once - over six months ago. But next week, the Joint Tax Expenditure Review Committee will meet for the second time. On the April 11 meeting's agenda are five sales tax exemptions. They include exemptions for churches and nonprofits, state and local governments and tangible personal property - such as computers, machinery and equipment - used in manufacturing, according to Wednesday's Capitol Letter, cleveland.com's daily Statehouse briefing.

Supporters and opponents of each exemption will testify before the bipartisan committee, composed of six lawmakers from each chamber and Ohio Tax Commissioner Joe Testa.

Ohio's tax expenditures, deductions and credits total over $9 billion a year, said Wendy Patton, who has studied many of the tax breaks for left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio.

For perspective, the state's current two-year budget is roughly $133 billion.

It's unclear, given the pace at which the committee is meeting, whether it will get through all the tax breaks by the end of the year, when many lawmakers will leave the General Assembly for a new crop of legislators. Patton said she wishes the committee was further along in the review.

Committee chair Sen. Scott Oelslager, a North Canton Republican, has also scheduled hearings for April 25 and May 9. John Fortney, spokesman for the Republican majority in the Senate, said additional meetings can be scheduled if needed.

Patton said she wishes the committee would have ordered its nonpartisan staff to research why each tax benefit was created and whether it is achieving its original goal. That's how other states undertake such reviews, she said.

"How can lawmakers make an educated decision if they don't have a trend line analysis of this?" she said. "That's our concern."

Fortney, the GOP spokesman, said the committee will recommend legislation to address any duplicative or contradictory tax laws. And if it chooses to end a tax break, the staff will analyze a bill's fiscal impacts.

While the committee's staff isn't doing a lot of research before the hearing, it will learn about the tax benefits through testimony and information from Testa, the tax commissioner, he said.Alison Ricker is co-president of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- To say that 2018 will be a busy year for politics throughout Ohio is clearly an understatement. After Nov. 6, we will have new leaders serving as governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state treasurer, secretary of state, and auditor. There are also more than three dozen state lawmakers who are term-limited or leaving their seats to seek other offices. These changes don't even take into account the U.S. House and Senate elections this fall.

Candidates will reach out to 8 million Ohioans expected to cast ballots this fall. How they campaign will set the tone for our politics. That means that even before they take office - where they will make decisions shaping our future - these leaders will make a big impact on our families, our neighborhoods, and our communities.

That's why it's so important that the people running for office do so with civility. And at the center of this civility must be a commitment to cast aside partisan politics.

Mary Kirtz Van Nortwick is co-president of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.

In Ohio, as elsewhere, political discourse leading up to the 2016 presidential election highlighted a sense of incivility at odds with the concept of a representative democracy - which is built on our ability to find consensus. Following the election, this discourse has seemed only to worsen. Politicians at every level have demonstrated a frustrating inability to put aside individual differences, listen to people who have views that differ from their own, and work together for the shared goal of serving their constituents.

That's why the League of Women Voters of Ohio is trying something new for this election season. Every year, the League of Women Voters compiles a nonpartisan voters' guide, inviting all candidates to answer relevant questions that bypass the obvious disclosures that candidates share in their pre-prepared campaign materials.

This year, we have decided to include one additional question for candidates to explain their qualifications: "Describe what you have done to work across political differences to solve problems."

We added this question not only because civility is important to voters, but also because we want to signal to the individuals running for office that civility is integral to governing and representing their constituents.

Civility is a quality that citizens should feel empowered to require from their representatives in government, and elected officials must become more comfortable in showing their ability to be civil. Too often, there's a tendency to view compromise as a weakness, but we know that achievements in government rarely happen without people diligently working together.

Civility doesn't mean merely being polite. It means being open to other points of view and having a willingness to listen to each other.

The passage of Senate Joint Resolution 5, which put a process for fair redistricting on the May ballot, exemplifies this process. Through bipartisan collaboration, and by taking into account the petition effort driven by thousands of volunteers, Ohio lawmakers have put forward State Issue 1 on the May 8 ballot.

SJR 5 serves as one example of the progress made possible by collaboration, but it's just a start.

Earlier this year, two Ohio Congress members, a Republican and a Democrat, launched the Congressional Civility and Respect Caucus. Building on their experience of working with each other, these two Buckeyes are setting an example and encouraging their fellow Congress members to work together.

We're fortunate here in Ohio to have allies working to improve civility. Since last summer, the League of Women Voters of Ohio has been working with the National Institute for Civil Discourse to implement Revive Civility Ohio, a grass-roots campaign to revive civility by reaching out to folks nationwide. We can all do more in our daily lives to listen to one another, demonstrate respect for different viewpoints, and try to find common ground.

We deserve leaders who are committed to working together to move Ohio forward - rather than just taking sides against one another. We can't wait until November to find out if they plan to work with their colleagues across the political spectrum.

In this crowded election year, let's pay close attention to the candidates who are running for office and remind them that democracy depends on civil collaboration.

Alison Ricker and Mary Kirtz Van Nortwick are co-presidents of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, which has more than 3,000 members and provides support to 33 leagues around the state. The League of Women Voters supports the informed and active participation of citizens in government; the League never supports or opposes candidates or political parties.

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Have something to say about this topic? Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the "Follow" option at the top of the comments, and look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com.SEVEN HILLS, Ohio -- When it came to crafting the city's recently approved 2018 budget, Mayor Richard Dell'Aquila compared the process to that of solving a Rubik's Cube.

"Everything depends on everything else," Dell'Aquila said. "We took a look at every possible way we could trim those repeating expenses. We went through that budget with a fine-tooth comb and found every way we could to appropriately and effectively split those costs and divide them around to other budgets."

The approved 2018 budget calls for a $10.3 million general fund appropriation, which is up $200,000 from 2017. City Council President Anthony D. Biasiotta noted the estimated general fund revenue this year is $10.7 million.

"The budget contains assumptions on the revenue side, such as the sale of city property on Rockside Road," Biasiotta said. "During the budget process, each department was asked what they needed for 2018. Some departments asked for pay raises. Most were not included in the budget approved by council."

The mayor said the budget included $1.34 million in major one-time expenses, such as Hemlock Creek funding, new police vehicle purchases, Recreation Center repairs, land sale costs and police and fire dispatching changes.

The latter is $330,000 for the city's portion to join the new Chagrin Valley Dispatch Center's Brecksville satellite operation.

"All of those things are one-time expenses that had to be covered this year," Dell'Aquila said. "I think we were pretty successful in staying relatively flat."

Things that caused problems with the 2018 budget were infrastructure, capital improvement and rainy day reserve funds, each of which annually receives a combined $500,000 contribution. The mayor said he asked council to repeal those funds.

"This budget addresses long-term needs such as the infrastructure, safety equipment and membership in a state-of-the-art dispatch center," Biasiotta said. "In doing so this year, the city is well positioned to aggressively address a 2019 street program and other capital improvements in the near future."

Speaking of next year, Dell'Aquila said a pretty substantial collective bargaining increase is looming for the city, as well as an expected Fire Department vehicle expenditure.

"Hopefully, we're not going to be looking for much, if any, additional money, but there's going to be some additional expenses, as there always are," Dell'Aquila said. "Just the simple cost of living, the cost of everything goes up year to year."SOLON, Ohio -- With state funding possibly off the table until 2021 for the resurfacing of SOM Center Road through the center of town, city officials are taking matters into their own hands.

City Council on Monday accepted a $51,000 engineering design proposal from Burgess & Niple for repairs to SOM from the U.S. 422 eastbound off-ramp to the downtown railroad bridge.

That bridge will also be getting a facelift, thanks to a $470,000 bid awarded to Sander Contracting of Akron, this one for architectural refacing of the retaining wall and fence replacement.

City Engineer John Busch told council's Public Works Committee that the retaining wall project calls for:

-- a "new thin brick veneer facing" on the existing (concrete) walls

-- removal of the existing fencing and along the top of the walls

-- installation of a concrete cap along the top of the walls

-- new standard city railings

Meanwhile, back on Ohio 91, the city received word from the Ohio Department of Transportation that SOM Center Road will not be eligible for funding through the state's Urban Paving program until Fiscal Year 2022.

"As the committee is aware, this section of roadway has experienced significant deterioration as a result of winter weather this year and repairs will need to be done as part of the city's annual asphalt program," Busch wrote in a March 29 memo.

Busch noted that ODOT re-evaluates all state routes every spring, "so there is a chance the city could receive funding sooner."

But there is also the potential that the funding year may remain the same, Busch said.

"With the uncertainty of when the city may receive potential funding for the resurfacing of SOM Center Road," the Engineering Department recommended utilizing the services of Burgess & Niple to get its own project started.

The scope of the design services includes curb ramp replacements, both concrete and asphalt base repairs, and asphalt resurfacing.

Busch also recommended replacing the island area and curbs at the railroad bridge.

Elsewhere in town, council awarded a $2.4 million contract to Tri-Mor Corp. for the annual concrete repair program, with upcoming streets to be announced.

In other business, council enacted a new notification procedure for residents on future proposed variance requests.

Council opted to go with written notification of property owners within a 100-foot radius of a proposed variance, rather than the other option of contiguous properties.

Due to timing and cost, the Planning Commission also recommended that notices be provided by first class mail, rather than certified mail, with a minimum notification timeline of 10 days prior to a scheduled first hearing.SOLON, Ohio -- The Solon City School District gained the unanimous support of City Council Monday for its May 8 operating levy request -- the first since 2010.

"That's the longest time the district has ever gone without a new levy," Schools Superintendent Joe Regano told council April 2. "We've had some fortunate things happen along the way to help us in preserving as many dollars as we can."

And that streak may have continued, at least until the state stepped in and started rerouting Tangible Personal Property funding away from the school districts where the money is collected from local business and industry.

The TPP funds at one time added up to $11 million a year, about 17 percent of the Solon school district's operating revenue, district Treasurer Tim Pickana told council.

"That was all scheduled to be taken from us by 2017, but we fought and will continue to fight," Pickana said.

This school year, the amount of remaining TPP funding for the Solon schools is down to $4.9 million, and that amount will continue to dwindle until the local share of the funds is phased out completely in the next few years.

"We cannot replace the loss of 17 percent of our operating budget," Pickana said. "If it wasn't for the elimination of the TPP, we wouldn't need the levy."

At the same time, Regano noted that "the successes of the school district have been unheralded," with Solon currently ranked No. 1 in the state, as well as in the top two in other years.

Meanwhile, the district's line item for salary increases has registered a "negative 2.3 percent" since 2010, with negotiated agreements "locked and in place" for an additional three years, Pickana added.

In terms of the overall tax rate, Solon remains in the bottom half of Cuyahoga County, in terms of being among the least costly places to live.

"But a 17 percent operating gap is something we will just not be able to overcome," Pickana noted.

City Council's resolution of support notes that the "incremental" 8.5-mill levy will be carried out in two parts, since the district just paid off 1.6 mills worth of old bond debt and will only be seeking to recapture that amount before 2020, when the "new" 6.9 mills kick in.

The Solon council legislation also points out that Ohio only provides about 4 percent of the district's operating revenues, or $636 per student.

"Since 2010, the school district has lost 5 mills in annual reimbursement funding for once-local TPP taxes, amounting to $6 million per year, caused by an accelerated phase-out of TPP funding enacted by state lawmakers," the resolution states.

Regano thanked council for its continued support, including the ongoing battle to stave off the elimination of TPP funding to their source districts.

"This hasn't been an issue in front of everyone's eyes," Regano noted. "But we've always done the very best we could with what we had, and we appreciate everything that's been given to us."

Councilman Doug Magill noted that city officials have the opportunity to discuss the significance of the levy with constituents.

"They haven't been to us for a levy increase for a long time," Magill said. "This is something we should get behind and support enthusiastically."

Councilman Bill Russo said he wholeheartedly supports the levy, calling it "long overdue" in a school district where the administration has been "very responsible with the taxpayer dollars, making them last as long as they did."

Vice Mayor and Comet grad Nancy Meany said she and Mayor Ed Kraus have talked a lot about "Team Solon -- and such a big part of the team is the schools. I think we've always been hand-in-hand, and this is so important to the city. You guys have certainly done more than your due diligence."

Kraus said that businesses are just as impressed with the Solon schools as the residents are.

"It becomes a big economic driver as to why businesses move here and why they stay here, in proximity to the best school system in the state and possibly in the country," Kraus said.Editors note: President Trumps narrow victory in Wisconsin on Election night 2016 was one of several surprises that propelled him to an Electoral College majority and the presidency. The results this week of a contest to fill an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court suggest that 15 months into Trumps term, voters may be ready to go in a different direction. Bill Lueders, a longtime student of Wisconsin politics and managing editor of The Progressive filed this post analyzing the outcome. A longer version first appeared on Isthmus.com.

Jay Heck knew something was up Tuesday afternoon when he headed for his polling place on Madisons east side. There, the longtime executive director of Common Cause saw something quite rare for a spring election  a line. He was told he was the 1,000th person to vote there that day.

I got a chocolate chip cookie for being the 1,000th voter, Heck says.

Rebecca Dallet, the liberal-leaning Milwaukee County judge running for a 10-year term on Wisconsins Supreme Court, got something even better. She won the race, besting conservative Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock with 56 percent of the vote.

Dallets election will alter the courts ideological balance, leaving conservatives with just a 4-3 edge instead of a 5-2 domination. Also on Tuesday, voters soundly rejected a constitutional amendment favored by conservatives to eliminate the watchdog office of state treasurer.

There was just great motivation on the part of people who were not comfortable with the status quo, Heck reflects. It demonstrates a strong pull in the direction that Wisconsin could be headed in the fall election.

Dallet, who championed her determination to stand up for Wisconsin values, including those being attacked by President Donald Trump, said something similar to her supporters in Milwaukee Tuesday night: People are engaged, they are hungry for change.

About 1 million voters cast ballots, the most for a spring election since 2000, with the exception of 2011 when 1.5 million people turned out for a sharply contested Supreme Court election in the wake of Gov. Scott Walkers full-frontal attack on public employee unions. In that race, the conservative candidate narrowly prevailed.

Screnock was appointed to the Sauk County bench in 2015 by Walker, after defending the governors anti-union law against legal challenge, as well as helping defend the drawing of voter boundaries to favor Republicans. His campaign was run by GOP political operatives and fully 40 percent of the money he raised for his own campaign in the officially nonpartisan race came from the state Republican Party. He was endorsed by the National Rifle Association and backed bigly by the business lobby Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, which reportedly spent at least $1.3 million on ads painting Dallet as someone who goes the extra mile to protect child rapists.

Screnock ended up raising just over $1 million for his own campaign, including $417,846 from the Republican Party of Wisconsin. In all, he received $434,415 from political action committees; prior to a 2015 change in state law pushed through by Republicans, the maximum total a candidate for state Supreme Court could receive from PACs was $140,156.

Dallet raised more than $1.1 million; of this amount, $128,245 came from committees, including just $4,265 from the Democratic National Committee. She also received help from outside groups, including a group affiliated with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, which reportedly spent more than $500,000 on Dallets behalf.

Heck says Tuesdays result is consistent with Januarys special election victory by Democrat Peggy Schachtner in a district that had previously leaned Republican. He believes it was also foreshadowed by the decision last week by Walker and GOP legislative leaders to stop fighting to block special elections in two other legislative districts.

I think they realized that that would not go over well with the voting population, Heck says, and Walker wisely just said Ive got to bite the bullet. He thinks the special elections, now planned for June, will be highly competitive and that voters enhanced motivation will probably last into the fall, when Walker himself faces re-election.Remember those sweet, innocent days when the creepiest thing about Quentin Tarantino was his fondness for feet? Now we know better, thanks to Uma Thurman reporting some shocking revelations about QT in a New York Times article. But those revelations shouldn't have been that shocking, because Tarantino made an entire movie that revolved around them.

According to Thurman, back when they were filming Kill Bill together, Tarantino talked her into doing a stunt that she didn't feel comfortable with: Flooring it down a sketchy dirt road in an older car that she could barely control. It went as well as you'd expect.

Thurman was pretty badly hurt, ending up with a "permanently damaged neck" and "screwed-up knees." She felt like it was irresponsible of Tarantino to put her in that situation, and she wasn't alone. According to stunt coordinator Keith Adams, his entire department had been kept off set that day, which might have something to do with the fact that stopping stupidly reckless stunts is part of their job. Also, Thurman claims that she was warned beforehand that the stunt car was a "deathbox." And while she and Tarantino are (sorta) cool now, it's important to note that in the immediate aftermath of the accident, she accused him of trying to kill her.

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Tarantino, of course, denied it ... then turned around and made a movie about a cool dude with a foot fetish who kills women through stupidly reckless car stunts. We're talking about Death Proof, the Tarantino half of 2007's Grindhouse.The Swedes have long had a big impact on our ear drums. They invented the telephone handset, dynamite and ABBA.

And they also created Spotify, the digital streaming service that has not only shaken up the industry, but revolutionised the way we listen to music.

Oh, the sweet sounds coming out of the Leonard household nowadays, thanks to those sagacious Scandinavians. Where once there was room-to-room mushy pop, we now have our 17-year-old daughter exploring Puccinis arias.

And in what must count as one of the internets greatest achievements, Spotify has managed to wean our 16-year-old son off rap music and on to the far more mellifluous tones of Johnny Cash.

If our experience is anything like that of the 157 million other Spotify users, one can understand the excitement hovering over the New York Stock Exchange yesterday as the company made its stock market debut

Meanwhile, I  like countless others whose record collections are a dim, but treasured, memory  have been rediscovering lost gems every day.

If our experience is anything like that of the 157 million other Spotify users, one can understand the excitement hovering over the New York Stock Exchange yesterday as the company made its stock market debut in a highly anticipated flotation.

It ended its first day of trading valued at around 21 billion. Pretty good for an outfit that has never made a profit.

It has attracted such intense financial interest by luring 71 million customers to use its premium subscription service. The operative word here is subscription. Decades after music makers and lovers widely predicted the internet and its culture of piracy would kill off recorded music by giving it away free, the art form has in some ways never been healthier.

The world is awash with music and Spotify deserves much of the credit.

You could call it Gods Jukebox, an almost infinite lyrical line-up through which you could flip for years and not reach the end.

Subscribers can access more than 40 million songs, videos and (if youre in the mood) podcasts by artists from all over the world and all over history.

Sibelius to the Sex Pistols, the jazz greats Django Reinhardt to the not-so-great Pinky and Perky, squeaky-voiced singing puppets from the Sixties. Its all there, as Ive found, waiting to be joyfully (or not so joyfully) rediscovered or encountered for the first time.

There are essentially two ways of accessing Spotify  for free or by paying a monthly subscription. The former  used by 86 million people  is supported by advertising like commercial radio stations so your listening is interrupted by adverts.

If using Spotify on a mobile, you cant play specific songs in the order you like either and you cannot skip more than six songs an hour.

Spotify has attracted such intense financial interest by luring 71 million customers to use its premium subscription service

The premium service is ad-free but costs 9.99 a month for a single user while a family plan for up to six different people living at the same address, each with their own musical profile on the site, is 14.99 a month.

Unlike people listening to Spotify for free, premium subscribers can listen to anything they want as well as download songs so they can play them offline. Using Facebook, its possible even to see what your friends are playing and Spotify produces endless suggested playlists based on what users are choosing.

Wireless technology means you can listen to Spotify almost anywhere  connected to your car speakers, through headphones while jogging and, of course, while pretending to work on the computer.

In one of the greatest ironies thrown up by the digital revolution, Spotify has also gone from being derided as the great Satan of the music industry to being hailed as its saviour. Spotify is funnelling billions of pounds from subscribers to music companies, song writers and performers.

Although established musicians will still grumble that theyre not making as much money as in the good old days of vinyl or CDs, before Spotify came along (spawning various imitators), they once faced the bleak prospect of making no money at all.

Starting in the late Nineties, pirate websites allowed people to download music with record companies or artists getting nothing unless they took legal action. It was only in 2014, thanks to the advent of Spotify and copycat rivals, that the international music industrys annual profits started to go up again after a 15-year freefall.

Admittedly, Spotify is starting to take a bigger and bigger cut of the revenue it receives from subscribers but, for the moment, the music industry  faced with extinction not so long ago  isnt complaining too loudly.

The venture was launched in Stockholm in 2008 by two Swedish entrepreneurs, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.

They decided, as Mr Ek put it, to offer something that was better than piracy and at the same time compensates the music industry by offering an alternative either to illegal music downloading or companies such as Apple that made users pay to download songs and albums which they then owned for good.

Inevitably, the big issue was whether the industry thought it was being compensated enough. Despite Spotify insisting its longterm goal is to ensure artists are properly remunerated, some loudly counter that they are being ripped off. To stop customers listening to them for free, some of the worlds biggest pop stars  led by Adele and Taylor Swift  withheld new releases from Spotify until the company agreed to restrict access to their music to paying subscribers only.

Spotify (headquarters pictured in Stockholm) is starting to take a bigger and bigger cut of the revenue it receives from subscribers but the music industry isnt complaining too loudly

Other stars say Spotifys actually rather effective in helping them reach a huge audience. British megastar Ed Sheeran  one of Spotifys most streamed artists  has credited the website with promoting his main business, which is playing live.

And even the biggest superstars have now had to bow to the muscle of a company with so many millions of users.

Having pointedly taken down all her songs from Spotify in 2014, huffing that she was not willing to contribute my lifes work to an experiment, Taylor Swift quietly put her music back on the site last year.

The refuseniks are trying to hold back an unstoppable tide. Streaming service revenues now account for 60 per cent of recorded music sales, with Spotify as the market leader. It claims to have so far paid out more than 5.7 billion in royalties.

Music quality purists and hipsters may still opt for CDs or vinyl but more and more of us are streaming music off the internet, not just because its cheaper but also because its so convenient.

And then theres the endless choice. Whats bad for egotistical multi-millionaire pop stars is undeniably good for ordinary music lovers. After all, once youve stumped up the subscription, youd be mad not to listen to as much as you can  experiment, explore and widen ones listening boundaries, as music teachers might say.

Or just rediscover what might have been lost forever.

I parted company with my large record collection some years ago after a tragic misunderstanding with a cleaner.

Many other vinyl owners probably scratched theirs to death or binned them when CDs arrived, only to find that some of them were never produced on CD. You are unlikely not to find them on Spotify.

Once you find them, you can spread the joy. We have a family Spotify subscription. My wife and I went to some trouble to indoctrinate our children with our musical taste when they were young and malleable, only to have it cruelly rejected when they got a little older and decided they knew better.

A Spotify banner is pictured as the company lists its stock on the New York Stock Exchange

They obviously dont, and Spotify has allowed us to regain some lost ground, making a few innocent suggestions which they have been able to take on board painlessly just by typing the band and song names into a computer.

Spotify has also been a learning process for me. Thanks to Spotify, I can now say that I understand why Fleetwood Macs Rumours  which I never once listened to on the simple grounds my sister owned it  is one of the best-selling albums of all time.

As for Swindon, that much-mocked town should be revered for spawning XTC, a wonderfully eccentric and talented rock band which I, and countless other callow teenagers, ignored because they were so defiantly uncool. Spotify has all 12 of their albums and Ive listened to every one for the price of an old 12in single.

The boundaries of my old record collection seem feeble now. Spotify offers albums of lawnmower noises, animal growls, bus and Tube train sounds and relaxing music for cats and cat lovers.

It also recruited a New York gynaecologist to put together a birthing playlist featuring songs scientifically designed to alleviate the anxiety of women in labour.

It includes Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen, Dont Panic by Coldplay and  for the calm after the storm  Bachs Unaccompanied Cello Suite No 1.

From labour wards to the Leonard household, were all sitting back and letting the Spotify revolution waft through our lugholes.Women tend to organise maternity shoots that include floating dresses and a faraway smile, hoping to capture one of the most special times in their life with glamorous images.

But in a bid to make those photography sessions more personal, New Zealand friends Sophia Shortcliffe, 26, and Kate Porter, 28, have started painting mothers-to-be with their own sonograms - and then photographing them in nature.

The hobby-turned-business called Beautiful Bumps Wanaka began as a 'dream-think-tank' style chat over a glass of wine and cheese with crackers.

New Zealand friends Sophia Shortcliffe, 26, and Kate Porter, 28, have started painting mothers-to-be with their own sonograms - and then photographing them in nature

'We both want to spend our time doing good things around good people. It's a bit of a creative outlet for us both,' they told FEMAIL.

Sophia is in charge of the painting and Kate photographs, but they leave the design of the artworks up to the women themselves.

'We like to offer clients the opportunity to choose a design that fits in well with who they are, and how they're feeling about their baby. Pregnancy is such a personal and fascinating journey,' they said.

Sophia is in charge of the painting and Kate photographs, but they leave the design of the artworks up to the women themselves (mother-to-be Melina pictured)

'Melina came to us with a copy of her ultrasound and we just brought it to life. Part of the challenge and the interest is around tailoring a paint to suit each client,' they said

'Melina came to us with a copy of her ultrasound and we just brought it to life. Part of the challenge and the interest is around tailoring a paint to suit each client.'

Other mums have opted for a cartoon-style drawing on their bellies to keep things light and fun.

Describing what they do as a 'creative alternative to the traditional maternity shoot', Sophia and Kate said the chats with the mothers-to-be while they're being painted are amazing.

'It's often a chance to see the mothers relax and enjoy a bit of pampering and feeling glamourous. Very shortly, they won't have another chance to put their feet up and relax,' they continued.

Other mums have opted for a cartoon-style drawing on their bellies to keep things light and fun

'Sophia is a full-time marketing manager, part-time belly-painter. We're both full-time dreamers, entrepreneurs and adventurers. Always looking for a new challenge or opportunity,' Kate said

Packages start at $299 for a basic paint, photoshoot and five high quality digital images.

'We also supply treats to complete the 'pamper' feeling for the mumma-to-be. People can then add on some or all of our add-ons, which range from photo-props, kids paint (if the mum has a child who she wants to be in the images with a small matching paint on the cheek, tummy or hand), additional photos and printed photos,' they said.

And while the pair would love to expand the business, for right now they both still hold down full-time jobs in completely separate fields.

And while the pair would love to expand the business, for right now they both still hold down full-time jobs in completely separate fields

'Currently Beautiful Bumps is a side-business for us both, but we are constantly looking at new ways to expand, extend and grow the business,' they said

'We both work full-time in our career-focused jobs. Funnily enough, Kate is very multi-talented; a qualified hairdresser, turned full-time house-painter, and a part-time photographer - although the way it's going, she isn't far off becoming a full-time photographer,' Sophia said.

'Sophia is a full-time marketing manager, part-time belly-painter. We're both full-time dreamers, entrepreneurs and adventurers. Always looking for a new challenge or opportunity,' Kate said.

'Currently Beautiful Bumps is a side-business for us both, but we are constantly looking at new ways to expand, extend and grow the business.'

Packages start at NZ$299 for a basic paint, photoshoot and five high quality digital images

You can follow Kate and Sophia's journey over at Beautiful Bumps Wanaka on Facebook and Instagram.

Or you can follow Kate's photography business here.A 43-year-old woman has spoken of the terrifying moment her IKEA glass cabinet spontaneously exploded in her living room.

Sarah Aubrey, from Sydney, was suddenly woken in the early hours of Saturday morning after hearing a loud crash.

As she walked into the room, she found sharp shards of glass shattered all over the shelves and floor.

Sarah Aubrey, from Sydney, has spoken of the terrifying moment her IKEA glass cabinet spontaneously exploded in her living room

The 43-year-old was suddenly woken in the early hours of Saturday morning after hearing a loud crash, only to find sharp shards of glass shattered all over the shelves and floor

'I heard this almighty crash and it was so loud I thought someone had thrown a brick through our window,' Ms Aubrey told News Corp.

'I saw all this glass on the floor and this weird crackling noise... the back panel of the cabinet had exploded and a massive chunk was missing out of the middle.'

She purchased the cabinet - dubbed Detolf - years ago.

Ms Aubrey demanded a full refund after she took the remnants of the cabinet to her local IKEA store.

'After a bit of back and forth we got a full refund, but there was no apology. It scared the living hell out of us and there was no apology,' she claimed.

And Ms Aubrey isn't the first customer to report the case in Australia.

Ms Aubrey isn't the first customer to report the case in Australia. Last December, Ariel Ho, from Queensland, took to the company's page to complain her glass cabinet had 'self-exploded'

The IKEA Detolf glass-door cabinet is retailed for $99

Last December, customer Ariel Ho, from Queensland, took to the company's page to complain her glass cabinet had 'self-exploded'.

She shared a photograph of the furniture, claiming the display inside the cabinet were damaged by the shattered class.

A spokesman for IKEA told Daily Mail Australia: 'We take the safety of our customers very seriously.

'Products at IKEA are designed and made of the highest quality and are subject to comprehensive safety checks.

'It is not common that our glass products shatter, however glass is a fragile material.

'We approach all customer cases in line with ACCC guidelines and the rules outlined by Australian Consumer Law.'An ex-glamour model has revealed how she's had a 'designer vagina' treatment to improve her sex life after having children.

Yazmin James, 26, from Taunton, Somerset, said having the procedure was a 'no brainer', adding that she hopes it will make her orgasms 'more intense' and regular.

The mother-of-two, who is engaged to partner Stephen Reeks, 32, has compared having the 1,200 tightening treatment to having Botox - and even agreed to have the intimate procedure filmed.

She had an eight-minute BTL Ultra Femme 360 treatment, where a device heated to 40C was moved in and out of her vagina to tighten the tissue.

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Yazmin James, 26, from Taunton, Somerset, has revealed how she's had a 'designer vagina' treatment to improve her sex life with fiance Stephen Reeks (left)

Explaining her decision to have the treatment, Yazmin said: 'We all want our faces to look attractive, so why not our vaginas?

'I look after my face, so why wouldn't I spend the time and money on looking after other parts of my body?

'I feel like looking after your vagina is a really under-talked about topic but it's clearly something that is a massive part of being a woman.

'A lot of women are ashamed to talk about their private area, but me and my friends aren't embarrassed to and I want women to realise it's not a taboo subject - and having the cameras in during my procedure will hopefully have shown that.'

The former glamour model said having procedure to tighten her vagina was a 'no brainer'

Yazmin even agreed to have the intimate procedure filmed, explaining that she hopes it'll make it less of a taboo for others

Yazmin, who has children Hugo, two, and Hudson, four months, explained how the 'designer vagina' treatment isn't the first cosmetic procedure she has had.

During her glamour modelling days in her teens, Yazmin spent 1,200 a year on cosmetic procedures as well as 2,500 on a breast enlargement in Belgium, taking her from 34B to a 34 G.

She also had Botox injections to smooth out smile lines, collagen in her lips and a filler in the bridge of her nose to straighten it out.

Yazmin said: 'I used to get Botox before I had my children. Because of the industry I was working in, it was normal to look after your face like that.

Yazmin, who has children Hugo, two, and Hudson, four months, argues that having the treatment is just like having Botox

The former glamour model has had a series of other cosmetic procedures, including a 2,500 breast enlargement treatment to take her from a 34B to a 34G

How does the 'designer vagina' treatment work? The Ultra Femme 360 device works by inserting the disposable tip through the vaginal canal. The tip moves alongside the whole length of the vaginal canal towards the cervix and back towards the opening. The goal is to elevate temperature over 40C to help promote the growth of new collagen - which slowly decreases with age. The device also increases blood flow to the area, which is designed to improve the elasticity of the tissue. Source: BTL Aesthetics Advertisement

'You see every single flaw in yourself and want to fix it, to feel the best you can.

'But when I fell pregnant, I was told it wasn't safe to continue with the Botox because it can be harmful to your baby.'

The mother, who says she currently has no plans to return to modelling, admits having two children has taken its toll on her sex life with fiance Stephen.

'I haven't had that much of a sex life recently because I have been so busy with my newborn and, of course, giving birth changes the way your vagina is, so I wanted to get some confidence back,' she said.

After reading about 'designer vagina' procedures on Facebook, Yazmin described her decision to have the treatment as a 'no brainer.'

She said: 'Having this procedure is a no-brainer - it will hopefully make my orgasms more intense and regular as well as improving me down there.

Yazmin says she hopes the 'designer vagina treatment' will make her orgasms 'more intense'

The mother-of-two (pictured while pregnant) admits having two children has taken its toll on her sex life with fiance Stephen

'Stephen, who I've been with for seven years, was keen, too. He knows that, after having a baby, I have changed in that area.

'He says I am perfect, but says I should do what I want to make me feel good.'

Many patients also experience an improvement in stress incontinence - when urine leaks when sneezing, coughing or laughing - from the treatment.

Yazmin, who had the treatment at River Aesthetics clinic at Canford Cliffs near Poole, in Dorset, said that the procedure is very similar to other cosmetic treatments that others regularly have.

Yazmin says she believes looking after your vagina is a 'really under-talked about topic'

The former model has previously had Botox injections to smooth out smile lines, collagen in her lips and a filler in the bridge of her nose to straighten it out

'People who criticise me for getting this done are just hypocrites,' she said.

'People get their hair cut and coloured, their legs waxed and look after the rest of their bodies, so what's the difference with looking after yourself downstairs?'

'It's still part of your body, so why not?'

Yazmin hopes that having the procedure filmed will make it less of a taboo for other women.

Yazmin said the designer vagina procedure is very similar to other cosmetic treatments that others regularly have

Yazmin (pictured with Stephen) said she wanted to get some confidence back after having children

The procedure involves a device heated to 40C being moved in and out of her vagina to tighten the tissue

'As for being filmed - it didn't faze me at all as I knew it was for a greater purpose,' she said.

Dr Victoria Manning, Clinical Director of River Aesthetics, said: 'One in four women are suffering and they're not seeing their GP about it.

'Most of our patients, even after just one treatment, notice a significant improvement.

'We recommend three treatments, a week apart and they will see their maximum results at three months, and their results should last up to two years.King Felipe VI was all smiles as he visited a military base today - just hours after footage emerged showing a 'tense moment' between his wife and mother.

The Spanish monarch donned full military uniform to visit El Copero military base in Dos Hermanas, Seville on Wednesday.

It came after a video emerged appearing to show an awkward encounter between his wife Queen Letizia and his mother at the Palma Cathedral, Mallorca on Easter Sunday.

In the extraordinary footage, the queen consort is seen standing in front of Sofia and appearing to reach for the arm of her eldest daughter, who then shoves both her mother and grandmother's hands aside - forcing Felipe to step in.

What footage? The Spanish monarch donned full military uniform to visit El Copero military base in Dos Hermanas , Seville on Wednesday after the awkward family footage

Reacting to the video after it began circulating online, Marie Chantal of Greece, who is married to Crown Prince Pavlos - Felipe's cousin - weighed in on Twitter.

She wrote: 'No grandmother deserves that type of treatment! Wow shes shown her true colours.'

But on Wednesday, Felipe cast his woes aside as he visited the Regimiento de Guerra Electronica (electronic warfare) 32 for a tour of their facilities.

Upon arrival, he was greeted by the Army's Chief of Staff, General Francisco Javier Varela; the head of Information, Telecommunications and Technical Assistance Systems, division general Joaquin Salas; and the head of the El Copero base, Colonel Ignacio Ojeda.

Felipe's appearance today came after a video emerged appearing to show an awkward encounter between his wife Queen Letizia and his mother at the Palma Cathedral, Mallorca

King Felipe VI was all smiles as he visited a military base just hours after footage emerged showing a 'tense moment' between his wife and mother

Action man: Upon arrival, Felipe was greeted by the Army's Chief of Staff, General Francisco Javier Varela and the head of the El Copero base, Colonel Ignacio Ojeda

The awkward family footage was captured on Sunday at the end of Easter mass but started to make waves in Spain on Tuesday as the video emerged.

Several Spanish papers including island daily Diario de Mallorca had no hesitation in branding the incident a 'uncomfortable'.

It said: 'As is obvious from the footage, the situation was most uncomfortable for King Felipe VI, who tried to mediate as his father looked on with great surprise.'

El Pais described what happened as a 'tense scene.'

The MailOnline has contacted the Casa De Su Majestad El Rey for comment.Irish women who have travelled to the UK for terminations have shared the heartbreaking stories behind their decisions on Facebook, as they call for the country to lift its ban on abortion.

Accounts shared with the In Her Shoes - Women Of The Eighth page, alongside symbolic pictures of their footwear, include women who sought abortions after being raped.

One mother's unborn child had birth defects, and abuse victim who said she loved her potential child but couldn't bear to bring a human into the world to 'live a life that was no better than mine'.

After sharing their stories, however, some contributors have had their Facebook accounts locked in the past few days after a concerted attack by pro-lifers.

Activists flooded the page, which refers to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, with one star reviews, reported it as spam and reported supporter profiles for being fake accounts.

A spokesperson for In Her Shoes told Femail: 'We are committed to sharing women's experiences that have been sent to us. We are committed to creating a safe space that is healing for them in removing stigma, shame, and silence.

A woman who fell pregnant at 15 the first time she had sex said her country had failed her and continues to fail young women

Women have been sharing their abortion stories on the Facebook group In Her Shoes

A rape and abuse survivor who was struggling with drug and alcohol problems when she fell pregnant at 22 revealed how she couldn't bear to bring a child into the same kind of difficult life she'd had to lead

'Their personal accounts tell of the negative impacts of the 8th amendment in women and girls lives in Ireland; from the lack of autonomy in continued pregnancy and birth, to accessing illegal abortions in Ireland or traveling to the UK.

'Facebook subsequently ran an investigation on accounts to ensure that they are legitimate.

'There has been evidence of Irish pro-life/love campaigners calling on large pro-life American based Facebook groups to spam the page to take it down. These attempts have failed.

'In Her Shoes - Women of the Eighth does not endorse communicating with, or retaliating against the anti-choice groups.

What is the law on abortion in the Republic of Ireland? Abortion is illegal in Ireland even in cases of rape, incest and severe foetal abnormality. It can only be authorised by doctors in cases where the mother's life is deemed at risk either by suicide, medical emergency or physical illness - for example, if continuing a pregnancy would mean delaying treatment for cancer. However, women can't be prevented from travelling abroad to access abortion services. In the notorious 'X case' of 1992 Ireland's then attorney general banned a suicidal 14-year-old who was pregnant as a result of rape, from leaving the country for an abortion. The Supreme Court eventually overturned the decision, ruling that a woman did have the right to travel if her life was in danger. Ireland's abortion laws also came under the spotlight in 2013 when Savita Halappanavar, 31, sought an abortion as she was in severe pain and miscarrying. She was refused because the baby's heart was still beating, and died from septicaemia. Doctors feared being prosecuted for aborting a live foetus as Irish law carries a 14-year jail penalty for anyone convicted of carrying out an abortion. Since 1980, more than 170,000 women have travelled to the UK from Ireland to access abortion services. An upcoming referendum on 25 May will offer voters the first opportunity in 35 years to overhaul one of the world's strictest regimes. Advertisement

'Women's experiences are central to this conversation, and the attempts to silence them have not gone unnoticed.'

Among the stories shared on the page is one from a woman who was sexually abused as a child from the age of seven.

She was later raped after passing out at a party and went on to have a relationship with her attacker as her past experiences had taught her that 'the only way to get people to pay attention to me was through sex'

When she fell pregnant at 22, she had alcohol and drug problems and was estranged from her family.

'I should never have to explain to anyone because it was my choice and mine only,' a woman wrote. 'My health was at risk, a high risk that I did not realise until collapsing in the clinic before the termination.'

A woman revealed how she was left with few options after discovering her unborn baby had a severe heart defect

A woman revealed how she'd only come out of an abusive relationship when she unexpectedly fell pregnant

'I had an abortion because I loved the potential child, I loved the possible human being that would grow from those cells,' she explained.

'I did not want that human being to live a life that was no better than mine, and at that time in my life that's all it would have been, if not worse.

'Having an abortion was one of the least selfish things I have ever done and yet some others see it as the most selfish thing a woman can do.

'I have not regretted it for one single second and I often remember the time that would have been the time of the birth, 25 years ago now.

A woman who travelled to Manchester as teenager said that pregnancy and childbirth are 'life-changing things that we can't force women to go through'Many students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are speaking out against a new safety measure that forces them to carry clear backpacks following the mass shooting that killed 17 people, but March for Our Lives co-founder Cameron Kasky is using his new see-through book bag to help end the stigma surrounding periods.

The 17-year-old junior from Parkland, Florida, took to Twitter on Tuesday to share a photo of himself holding up a clear backpack filled with tampons, using the hashtag #MSDStrong.

In a follow-up tweet, the activist explained that he has been 'learning new things about women's health'  including the cost of tampons and menstrual pads.

Making a statement: Parkland student and March for Our Lives co-founder Cameron Kasky tweeted a photo of himself holding up a clear backpack filled with tampons on Tuesday

Expensive: In a follow-up tweet, the 17-year-old activist explained that he has been 'learning new things about women's health'  including the cost of tampons and menstrual pads

'To those with questions about my tampon backpack- I only got lights,' he tweeted. 'I didnt know. Getting supers for tomorrow.

'Sizes, pricing... Im learning new things about womens health right now,' he continued. 'This stuff is expensive. Steps must be taken to make these health products easier to access.'

Florida is among the states that have officially excluded menstrual products from its sales tax in the last year, but Kasky's post proves that there is still a long way to go when it comes to ensuring women have access to these necessary products.

Many students consider the new mandate to carry clear backpacks to be an invasion of privacy, and his tweet has struck a chord with those who feel uncomfortable having their tampons and menstrual pads visible to their peers.

Sarah Stricker, a 14-year-old freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, praised Kasky in the comments section, writing: 'Yass Cameron if only I had the confidence to do that.'

Thanks: Sarah Stricker, a 14-year-old freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, praised Kasky for the post

Support system: Kasky responded that he is there for her if she needs anything

He's a catch: Caryn Turrel pointed out that Kasky is 'already miles ahead of the curve'

'Here for you if you need anything... tampons and beyond,' he responded.

Twitter user @sprklplnti admitted that she was moved by Kasky's post because she would have been mortified if she had to carry her tampons in a clear backpack when she was a student.

'I know it's silly but this kinda made me tear up a little!' she wrote. I would have been horrified to be forced to carry my tampons in a clear bag in HS.

'This is solidarity in a sweet way. It's just a tampon. Not something to be ashamed of, like a MAGA hat or something.'

The post has received more than 61,000 'likes' and 9,000 retweets since it was posted, including retweets from fellow Parkland students Emma Gonzalez and Sarah Chadwick.

Tearing up: Twitter user @sprklplnti admitted that she was moved by Kasky's post because she would have been mortified if she had to carry her tampons in a clear backpack

Proud: A longtime teacher thanked Kasky for the post, noting that he and his peers prove that compassion still exists in this country

Violation of privacy: Parkland student Delaney Tarr is among those who are adamantly against the new safety measure, but Kasky's post has helped her see the silver lining

Only positive: Tarr said she hopes Kasky's post helps end the stigma around periods

Parkland student Delaney Tarr is among those who are adamantly against the new safety measure, but Kasky's post has helped her see the silver lining.

'The only positive about these backpacks is that maybe, hopefully, the stigma around periods will be removed. Also, that Cameron now know how expensive tampons are,' she wrote.

To show the student body's outrage over the new clear backpacks, Tarr created a Twitter poll, which asked: 'Alright, so let's clear this up. How many of you (specifically Douglas students) think that clear backpacks are a good solution?'

According to the final results, out of 199,636 votes, 89 per cent said 'no.'

Last month, Broward Schools superintendent Robert Runcie informed Parkland families that clear backpacks would be a requirement for students after spring break.

Displeasure: Tarr set up a Twitter poll that revealed 89 per cent of respondents thought the clear backpacks were not a good solution

Saftey measure: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students had to wear clear backpacks when they returned to school on Monday (pictured) after spring break

Making a statement: Many students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School took to Twitter to express their frustrations and protest what they're calling a 'band-aid' security measure

Focus on the real issue: Lauren Hogg said she appreciated the effort but also slammed the school's new rule

On Monday many students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School took to Twitter to express their frustrations and protest what they're calling a 'band-aid' security measure.

Before sharing a photo of his clear backpack filled with tampons, Kasky tweeted his displeasure regarding the mandate.

'I was going to say... Unless theyre bullet-proof, I dont feel much safer,' he wrote.

'The people with the power to make changes keep making the wrong changes,' student Emma Gonzalez added.

'When people pay money for these modifications on our school (the only school in the country that is being altered btw) that means someone is getting paid and I am sick and tired of us being treated like prize pigs.'

Jack Macleod tweeted that he believes in school safety implementations 'but the bags seem more cosmetic than actually effective'.

'I just want to feel normal again': The school is also requiring students wear ID tags while on campus

'It's about all of us': A student named Sara asked what precautions were being taken to make sure the other 37,000 high schools in the nation stay safe

Not working: Student Jack Macleod tweeted that he believes in school safety implementations 'but the bags seem more cosmetic than actually effective'

Making her point: Kyrah Simon pointed out that there is no way to monitor the contents of over 3,000 backpacks

Shame: She went on to note that the backpacks could have been donated to underprivileged children who need them

Alex Athanasious said the backpacks were 'constant reminders of what happened'

'To quote a friend of mine: I love wearing a tragedy around my neck. I just want to feel normal again,' the teen posted.

Some students attached an orange $1.05 price tag to their school-enforced bags. The tags were also seen during last months March For Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C.

Students and activists David Hogg and Lauren Hogg explained that they represented how much Republican senator Marco Rubio accepted from the NRA divided by every student in the state of Florida.

'This backpack is probably worth more than my life,' student Carmen Lo tweeted.

Lauren Hogg said she appreciates the effort but criticized the school's new rule.

'My new backpack is almost as transparent as the NRAs agenda. I feel sooo safe now. As much as I appreciate the effort we as a country need to focus on the real issue instead of turning our schools into prisons,' she said.Meghan Markle is about to join more than one select group. Through her May 19 wedding to Prince Harry, she will not only become a member of the British royal familyshe will also make history as one of just a handful of Americans to become a senior royal around the globe.

Her predecessors include Wallis Simpson, who became the Duchess of Windsor when she married the recently-abdicated King Edward VIII; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' younger sister Caroline Lee Bouvier, who tied the knot with Polish Prince Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill; and Rita Hayworth, who in 1949 married Italian-born Prince Ali Salman Aga Khan.

Markle is also walking in the footsteps of Grace Kelly who, just like the Suits star, was a screen star before she became royalty. Kelly stopped her acting career to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956, a move echoed six decades later by Meghan, who left Suits shortly after her engagement to Prince Harry was announced.

A select few: Through her May 19 wedding to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle will make history as one of just a handful of Americans to become a senior royal around the globe

This combination photo shows some of Markle's predecessors. Pictured from left to right are Wallis Simpson in 1941, Lee Radziwill in 1974, Grace Kelly in 1954 and Rita Hayworth in 1956

Wallis Simpson

Bessie Wallis Warfield Simpson met King Edward VIII when he was still Prince of Wales, through a tangled web involving one of his mistresses

Bessie Wallis Warfield Simpson was the twice-divorced socialite from Baltimore whose love affair with King Edward VIII triggered a constitutional crisis for the British monarchy in the 1930s.

They met when he was still Prince of Wales, through a tangled web involving one of his mistresses. He fell hard, becoming the first British monarch to voluntarily give up the throne, on December 10, 1936, before her second divorce was finalized and less than a year into his reign.

Her marital status and his role as head of the Church of England were insurmountable at the time.

The two became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor after they married nearly three years after they met, on June 3, 1937, settling into exile in France and elsewhere.

Abdication: On December 10, 1936, Edward VIII (pictured with his wife circa 1942) became the first British monarch to voluntarily give up the throne

Tying the knot: The two became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor after they married nearly three years after they met, on June 3, 1937, settling into exile in France and elsewhere

He did perform some official duties, for instance during World War II as governor of the Bahamas There was a visit to Germany with an Adolf Hitler photo op and outrage that they were Nazi sympathizers.

In a 1969 BBC interview, Wallis was asked: 'Do you have any regrets when you look back on your life?'

She replied: 'Oh about certain things, yes. I wish it could have been different, but I mean I'm extremely happy, and naturally we've had some hard times, but who hasn't? You just have to learn to live with that.'

Historian Andrew Morton, in his recent book, 'Wallis in Love,' serves up the duchess as abusive and indifferent to her husband by the early 1950s. She criticized the Beluga caviar he brought her in the hospital in 1951 as she recovered from a hysterectomy, declaring it too salty and shooing him away. One Windsor acquaintance called her 'rude, odious and strange.'

The two remained married until his death in 1972 at age 77. Simpson died in 1986, when she was 89.

Caroline Lee Bouvier

Couple: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' younger sister, Caroline Lee Bouvier, married Polish Prince Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill on March 19, 1959. They are pictured in 1961

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had a younger sister, born into the tony Southampton, New York, family as Caroline Lee Bouvier. She lived largely in Jackie's shadow, though some considered her the 'prettier' and more vivacious of the two.

The year before John F. Kennedy announced his run for the U.S. presidency, Lee married for the second time, to Polish Prince Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill, on March 19, 1959. It was his third marriage.

The pair had two children, both of whom were teenagers when their parents divorced in 1974 after 15 years of marriage.

It was Lee who introduced Jackie to Aristotle Onassis, in 1963. Rumors have flown over the years on how Jackie's marriage to Ari after the assassination of Kennedy infuriated Lee, who married and divorced a third time after the prince.

Lee, 85, has tried her hand at a variety of things: acting, interior design, public relations.

The socialite has enjoyed the company of celebrities, once hanging out with The Rolling Stones and Truman Capote. She divides her time between New York and Paris, having lived in London with her prince.

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is Lee's namesake.

Travels: The socialite (pictured in 2015 in New York City) now divides her time between New York and Paris, having lived in London with her prince

Princess Grace of Monaco

Hollywood star: Grace Kelly retired from acting at 26 to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956. They are pictured with their children Caroline and Albert in 1960

Grace Kelly, blonde and popular, was one of the world's biggest stars when she was plucked by Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956. She retired from acting at 26 to become a princess, decamping to the tiny, well-heeled Mediterranean principality on the Riviera.

To say the union on that April 19 whipped up attention is an understatement. It was one of those weddings of the century. Alfred Hitchcock, one of Kelly's film directors, reportedly said of the marriage he was 'very happy that Grace has found herself such a good part.'

Kelly was reportedly accompanied by relatives, bridesmaids, a poodle and more than 80 pieces of luggage when she set off for Monaco aboard the SS Constitution. Thousands bid her farewell, with thousands more greeting her on the streets of Monaco eight days later.

Hitchcock and other directors courted Kelly to act again after her marriage, but the prince reportedly objected.

On September 13, 1982, Kelly suffered a stroke and lost control of her car on a steep, winding road as she and their youngest child, Stephanie, drove back to Monaco from their country estate. They careened down a 120-foot mountainside. Stephanie was injured. Kelly died later in a hospital. She was 52.

The royal couple had two other children: the eldest, Princess Caroline, and Prince Albert.

Career: Hitchcock and other directors courted Kelly to act again after her marriage, but the prince (pictured with her in 1963 in Monaco) reportedly objected

Rita Hayworth

Change: Rita Hayworth (pictured circa 1945) was a screen queen before she left Hollywood behind to marry Italian-born Prince Ali Salman Aga Khan

Rita Hayworth was a screen queen in the 1940s and a pinup idol for the troops during World War II.

She was married twice before (including to Orson Welles) and left Hollywood behind to marry Italian-born Prince Ali Salman Aga Khan.

He was known as Aly Khan and was the son of Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III and leader of the Nizari Ismaili sect of Shia Islam.

The two wed near Cannes, France, on May 27, 1949. While she had little interest in the royal family's involvement in horse racing, she did win several races in France with a filly named Double Rose.

Newlyweds: The two tied the knot near Cannes, France, on May 27, 1949. They are pictured leaving the Vallauris Town Hall after the ceremony

Things began to unravel in 1951, or so the story goes, when Khan was seen dancing with actress Joan Fontaine at the nightclub where he and Hayworth met.

She filed for a Nevada divorce that September, citing 'extreme cruelty, entirely mental in nature', and a custody battle for their daughter, Yasmin Aga Khan, ensued

Religion was the focus: Hayworth wanted to raise the child Christian and the prince offered her $1 million if she would rear Yasmin as a Muslim and allow him extended visits in Europe.

Hayworth rejected the offer, explaining that she respected all faiths but wished for her daughter to be 'raised as a normal, healthy American girl in the Christian faith'. Hayworth was finally granted a divorce in January 1953.

She died in 1987 at 68 of complications from Alzheimer's.A woman who appears on a gripping photo taken immediately after Martin Luther King Jr was shot dead has opened for the first time about the traumatizing day, after years of refraining from discussing it because it made her too emotional.

Mary Ellen Ford was among the crowd of onlookers who gathered shortly after King's assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. She was 21 and worked as a cook and waitress at the Lorraine Motel, where the civil rights leader and minister was assassinated.

Ford can be seen in a famous photo showing shocked witnesses pointing in the direction of the gunshot while King lays at their feet. She appears, dressed in white, on the ground floor.

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Witness: Mary Ellen Ford (circled in red) appears on a gripping photo taken immediately after Martin Luther King Jr was shot dead on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee

Archive: Ford can be seen in a famous photo showing witnesses pointing in the direction of the gunshot while King lays at their feet. She appears, dressed in white, on the ground floor

Speaking out: Ford, who didn't discuss what she witnessed that day for years because she gets too emotioanal, is now in her seventies and based in Lansing, Michigan

'I never even talked about it because I do  I get so emotional,' she told Today's Craig Melvin in an interview marking the 50th anniversary of his death.

Ford, who didn't tell her own brother that she had witnessed the scene until five years ago, is now in her seventies and based in Lansing, Michigan, where she works as a bus driver.

Fifty years ago, Ford was working in the kitchen of the Lorraine Motel when she heard gunshots.

'At first I thought it was firecrackers, you know? People were shooting off firecrackers,' she told Melvin. 'Then we all ran outside to see what was going on and he was laying on the balcony.'

Memory: 'I'm standing there. I'm just dumbfounded,' she explained with tears in her voice. 'Shocked. Like, "What just happened? This don't happen here. This is not OK"'

Assassination: After the shooting, Ford didn't know King was dead, and she didn't think he was going to die of his injuries

Ford stood in shock as she realized what had occurred.

'I'm standing there. I'm just dumbfounded,' she explained with tears in her voice. 'Shocked. Like, "What just happened? This don't happen here. This is not OK."'

People, she said, were 'just yelling', with screams of 'They shot Dr King, they shot Dr King, somebody shot Dr King.'

'That's all you could hear,' she added.

After the shooting, Ford didn't know King was dead, and she didn't think he was going to die from his injuries.

When Melvin asked her 'Why not?' she replied: 'He can't.'

Ford spoke to officers and is named as witness number 43 in the police logs. Until now, she had told only a few of her family members about what she saw that day.

Account: Ford spoke to officers and is named as witness number 43 in the police logs. Until now, she had told only a few of her family members about what she saw that day

Location: The Lorraine Motel, where King was shot dead, has now been transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, where Ford's interview took place

Awaited: Nowadays, Ford prefers to remember a different memory of King's presence at the hotel: all the people who had gathered to see him ahead of his arrival. He is pictured in 1964

At the time, Ford loved working at the Lorraine Motel, which was a popular place to stay for black musicians such as Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, and her personal favorite, Isaac Hayes.

The site has now been transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, where Ford's interview took place.

Back when she worked at the hotel, she once brought a tray of hamburgers to King and other civil rights activists, who had all met up in King's room.

Nowadays, she prefers to remember a different memory of King's presence at the hotel: all the people who had gathered to see him ahead of his arrival.

'The thing that stands out to me the most is seeing all these people sitting on the brick wall waiting to get a glimpse of Dr. King,' she said, adding: 'They were there. They were coming, just to see Dr. King.'A mother claims she was served 'the world's worst salad' at a swanky Notting Hill Lebanese restaurant that was made up of unchopped veg - including a whole tomato, cucumber and spring onion.

Middle Eastern food fan Dawn Williams, from Liverpool, was left 'laughing out loud' at what she called the 'Ikea salad', which also featured half an iceberg lettuce and two ice cubes plonked on top.

The mother-of-one's hilarious image of the bizarre 'DIY food' went viral on social media site Imgur with more than 1,300 likes and shares - prompting some to brand it a 'deconstructed hipster salad'.

Dawn Williams was left baffled after receiving a plate of unchopped vegetables at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Notting Hill

However, Al Waha restaurant's general manager has since hit back, claiming that the veg was just a starter or crudites to 'get the palate going' - but acknowledged that some people 'get offended'.

He laughed that customers didn't know this about Lebanese food and said it is what 'all top restaurants do in Mayfair and Knightsbridge'.

However the 45-year-old mum-of-one remains unconvinced, pointing out that crudites are usually served chopped rather than whole and with a dip - which was nowhere to be seen.

Dawn described the food as an 'Ikea salad' and shared photos of it on Facebook where it received over 1,000 likes

However, Al Waha restaurant's general manager has since hit back, claiming that the veg was just a starter or crudites

Dawn said: 'It was the worst salad in the world, absolutely. But it gave us 10 minutes of fun as it made us laugh out loud.

'I can't believe the reaction online though. It's gone global with all the shares. Everyone just thinks it's hilarious - they can't believe a place in Notting Hill is serving that.

'We considered getting a doggy bag for the salad so that we could take it home and restock our fridge with the unchopped veg but my boyfriend refused to ask for one.

'Without a chopping board and vegetable knife, did they just expect us to eat the tomato like an apple?'

Dawn had been in Notting Hill on Friday March 23rd to meet up with her 53-year-old lawyer boyfriend Tim who works in the area.

Al Waha claim that restaurants across Mayfair and Knightsbridge serve their crudites in the same fashion

The bizarre bowl was served alongside bread and olives as part of their 'table cover' at a cost of 1.50

The couple had stumbled upon Al Waha while browsing for a Middle Eastern restaurant in the iconic area of London that is a favourite among culture vultures and foodies.

The bizarre bowl was served alongside bread and olives as part of their 'table cover' at a cost of 1.50, though the restaurant pointed out many other venues charge full price for their unchopped veg.

Dawn said: 'I couldn't believe it. Both me and my partner started to laugh loudly as soon as the waiter put it down. What were we supposed to do with this?

'We called the waiter over, but I had already taken a photo of it and shared it on Facebook by this point as I thought it was so funny.

'We explained that it was probably a funny question but would he mind taking our salad back and chopping it up for us.

'He told us they were crudites and not a salad. We said right OK, and off he walked, leaving us with this bowl of unchopped veg with ice cubes on top.

'We looked around the restaurant and everybody had a bowl of this unchopped veg but no one was touching it. It was almost like they were our flowers on the table for decoration.

'People have been saying it is a 'deconstructed' salad, or an Ikea DIY salad.

Dawn even considered taking the dish home in a doggy-bag to restock her fridge

'I could understand it if they had brought us a sharp knife and chopping board but they didn't.

'We didn't touch it apart from a couple of the carrots as they were the only thing that was cut up.

'We like this style of food and go to lots of Lebanese and Turkish restaurants. We also eat a lot of salads as we like to try to avoid carbs, but we have never seen anything like this.

'We love salads, but this was ridiculous. If it was the only Lebanese restaurant in the area I would probably go back but there are hundreds so I would look for another one next time.

'On their website they have pictures of their food and you can see these bowls of unchopped veg next to all the dishes. So they clearly think it's what you should have.

'Crudites are supposed to be slices of raw vegetables that you dip in hummus. Not whole. And there was no hummus served with them anyway.'

General manager and chef Mohammad Antabli explained that it was not a salad but a starter.

Mohammad said: 'A lot of people don't understand the way our food should be eaten. This is a crudite.

'It is a starter. We put it at the table with olives to get your palate going.

'We try this to people but people who don't understand the nature of our food always get it wrong unfortunately.

'We always put it at every table when they order, before their food arrives we put the crudite to get their palate going.

'The whole idea of the crudite is because we have a lot of different tastes and dishes so when you are eating these if you want to clean your palate [when you go] from one to another, you can eat some lettuce or a slice of tomato, to refresh your taste.

'But people don't understand the specification of this type of food at all and that's why they think it is a salad, when it is not.

'This is the way it is. We don't cut it up for them. They can eat a leaf of a lettuce, or cut the tomatoes between them, or the cucumber. You don't need to cut the spring onion, you don't cut a spring onion when you eat it at home, or a radish when you eat it at home.'

The chef explained that this is how the restaurant have been serving their vegetables for the last 40 years and that they have not changed and are not about to.

Mohammad said: 'Even back home, this is the way they do it - in Lebanon, in Syria, this is the way they present it, at the beginning of your food, especially if you order a drink, like a glass of wine, this is to get you going really.

'You eat a leaf of a lettuce, a radish or a little bit of spring onion or maybe a bite of carrot.

'We try to explain to people all the time and I don't know why they get offended.

'At many restaurants you have to order it and pay for it but here it comes with the cover charge with the bread and the olives.

'The whole tomatoes are often eaten by people who know how to eat it. When you present it, you have people who cut up the tomatoes between them, or the cucumber.

'If you go to the top Lebanese restaurants in the city, in London in Mayfair, and Knightsbridge, this is the way it's always been served. It's not any question about us. This is how the top restaurants do it.

'I'm quite amused really that people don't [understand this]. If I go to a restaurant and I don't know what to do with something I would always ask a waiter 'what am I supposed to do with this?'Asthma increases the risk of bone fractures in boys, new research suggests.

Moderate-to-severe sufferers of the condition, who experience symptoms daily, are 30 per cent more likely to break a bone than those without the inflammatory lung disease, a study found.

Lead author Dr Sharon Brennan-Olsen, from the University of Melbourne, said: Because asthma is an inflammatory disease it can lead to bone loss by interfering with the mechanisms in the bone formation and resorption.

Girls with asthma are not at a higher risk of fractures, which may be due to them taking part in less risky behaviours, according to the researchers.

The scientists recommend young, male asthma sufferers continue to be active but be aware of the risks.

Around one in 11 children in the UK have asthma.

Asthma increases the risk of bone fractures in boys, but not girls, research suggests (stock)

DOES AIR POLLUTION INCREASE CHILDREN'S RISK OF ASTHMA? Young children who grow up exposed to air pollution are more likely to develop asthma, research suggested in December 2017. A mix of dust, sand and non-exhaust tailpipe emissions, known as coarse particulate matter, increases youngsters under 11's risk of the lung condition by 1.3 per cent, a study by The Johns Hopkins University found. Air pollution also raises their risk of visiting the emergency room due to their asthma by 3.3 per cent and being hospitalised with the condition by 4.5 per cent, the research adds. Young children are thought to be more at risk due to them typically spending a lot of time outdoors and being vulnerable to air pollution due to their immature lungs, according to the researchers. Around 7.1 million children in the US have asthma, making it the most common chronic childhood illness. Approximately 1.1 million youngsters are affected in the UK. The researchers analysed the asthma diagnoses and treatment data of 7,810,025 children aged between five and 20 years old living in 34 states between 2009 and 2010. They estimated levels of coarse particulate matter in each zip code using information from the EPA's Air Quality System database from 2009 to 2010. Advertisement

Asthma patients should continue to exercise and take their medication

Results further suggest the use of inhaled corticosteroids, which are a go-to preventative treatment in asthma, do not influence sufferers fracture risk.

Dr Brennan-Olsen adds little can be done to prevent bone breaks, saying: [Boys] may be more likely to fracture but there is nothing we can do about it because of the disease process, but rest assured its not to do with the medication, so don't stop taking that medication whether it be preventers or relievers.

She adds children with asthma should continue exercising as it benefits both their lung and bone health.

How the research was carried out

The researchers analysed more than 16,000 students aged between three and 13 from 91 primary schools in the state of Victoria.

The students were linked to fracture registers.

Their asthma symptoms were determined by their parents completing a questionnaire that asked about any wheezing episodes or related doctor visits.

The findings were published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Children with chest infections are more likely to develop asthma

This comes after research released last September suggested having a chest infection as a child raises a person's risk of asthma by up to four times.

Suffering from a lower-respiratory tract infection, such as bronchitis or pneumonia, before the age of five increases an individual's likelihood of developing the lung condition by between two and four times, a study found.

An upper-respiratory tract infection, including a cold or tonsillitis, raises the risk by 1.5 times, the research adds.

Study author Dr Evelien van Meel, from the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, said: 'These findings support the hypothesis that early-life respiratory tract infections may influence the development of respiratory illnesses in the longer term.

'In particular, lower-respiratory tract infections in early life seem to have the greatest adverse effect on lung function and the risk of asthma.'Health ministers have warned residents of South Korea not to mix wasps into their soju.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety released a statement cautioning mixing the stinging insect with the Korean spirit.

Some wrongly believe wasp soju relieves high blood pressure and benefits diabetes. Others add centipedes and earthworms to the alcoholic drink to create a supposed health tonic.

Yet authorities warn the bizarre combination could cause people to suffer severe allergic reactions that may lead to life-threatening choking.

Kim Seung-hwan, a researcher at the Food and Drug Safety Ministry, said: It is no more than a rumor going around ordinary people that wasps could help restore health.

'Isnt it too obvious that wasps and centipedes arent edible?

Health ministers have warned residents of South Korea not to mix wasps into their soju (stock)

'Need to warn people before it gets out of control'

Mr Seung-hwan added combining soju with wasps is a long-held tradition that has been made worse by people sharing recipes and selling pre-mixed beverages online.

He said: Thats when we felt a need to warn people of the danger before it gets out of control.

An illegal wasp-based soju shop in Hwaseong, a city south of Seoul, was uncovered in February, according to a statement released by South Koreas special judicial police.

South Koreans often mix soju with other ingredients. For example, somac, which is a soju and beer, is a popular local cocktail.

Some believe combining wasps with soju, a Korean spirit, relieves high blood pressure (stock)

Woman dies after bee-sting acupuncture backed by Gwyneth Paltrow

This comes after a case report released last month revealed a 55-year-old woman died after undergoing a bizarre form of acupuncture that involves being stung by bees.

The unnamed patient, from Spain, attended a session of apitherapy every four weeks for more than two years without any allergic reactions.

Yet, she eventually suffered an anaphylactic shock to the venom, which led to her entering a coma and enduring multiple organ failures.

She passed away weeks later in Ramon y Cajal University Hospital in Madrid.

The unidentified clinic that offered the woman the procedure claims the therapy relieves painful muscular contractions and eases stress.

The patient's death comes after the Hollywood actor Gerard Butler admitted last October that he suffered a life-threatening reaction after being injected with the venom of 23 bees in an attempt to tackle muscular problems.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who has faced backlash for her controversial health advice on her website Goop, has also tried the ancient 'treatment'.

The Shakespeare in Love star told The New York Times in 2016 the 'painful' procedures produces 'pretty incredible' results.Hospital shops sold the equivalent of 632 million fewer calories last year because of an NHS crackdown on the 'epidemic of flab'.

WH Smith announced it sold 1.1 million less normal-sized chocolate bars since last April after it axed promotions - and removed a further 275,000 family-sized ones.

Other retailers such as Costa, Compass Group and The Royal Voluntary Service have all curbed calories across their stores on NHS premises.

And NHS England yesterday announced 175,000 more pieces of fruit had been sold in hospital stories across England.

Bosses ordered hospital shops last October to take super-size chocolate bars and 'grab bags' of sugary snacks off their shelves.

WH Smith announced it sold 1.1 million less normal-sized chocolate bars since last April - and removed a further 275,000 family-sized ones

NHS trusts were told they would lose access to extra funding if they don't remove 'super-sized' confectionary from all hospital sites.

Four fifths of confectionary sold in NHS premises must have less than 250 calories - an eighth of a woman's and a tenth of a man's recommended daily intake.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, also threatened last April to stop hospital sites selling fizzy drinks if sales weren't slashed.

But 80 of the 232 trusts across the country have failed to sign up to the voluntary scheme to reduce sales of sugar sweetened beverages.

Other pledges to tackle bulging waistlines include ensuring that the majority of pre-packed sandwiches and pies contain no more than 400 calories and less than five per cent saturated fat.

The latest figures, released yesterday, show that the radical plans have worked so far in slashing calorie intake for patients, staff and visitors.

Mr Stevens said: 'We now know obesity causes 13 different types of cancer as well as heart attacks and strokes.

THIRD OF NHS TRUSTS FAIL TO SIGN UP TO A SCHEME TO CUT SALES OF SUGARY DRINKS More than a third of NHS trusts have failed to sign up to a scheme to cut sales of sugary drinks in hospitals, new figures show. NHS England said 80 out of 232 trusts have not yet joined the voluntary programme, which aims to reduce the number of sugary soft drinks, milkshakes and hot drinks with added sugar syrups, to 10 per cent or less of all beverages sold across its sites. The body has warned of a ban on sugary drinks in hospital canteens, shops and vending machines if the target is not met. Hospitals and retailers were given until the end of March to take action to reduce sales and told a ban could come into effect on July 1 if progress has not been made. The new figures come ahead of the introduction of a tax on sugary soft drinks on Friday. National suppliers including WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Greggs have signed up to the NHS voluntary scheme to cut sales of sugary drinks, along with 152 of 232 trusts. Advertisement

'So the NHS has needed to get its own house in order on the epidemic of flab.

'Once the Easter eggs are gone, the NHS will be getting on with ensuring our hospitals and their retailers are offering healthier food and drinks for patients, relatives and staff.'

WH Smith removed advertising and promotions on NHS estates and slashed 264 million calories by selling less chocolate bars.

And its removal of the further 275,000 family-sized chocolate bars equated to 161 million fewer calories - a total of 425 million calories combined.

The Royal Voluntary Service worked with suppliers to make healthier sandwiches, that now account for more than half of the total sales.

It changed its range of sandwiches to reduce overall calorie intake by more than 75 million calories a year, the NHS declared.

Compass Group revealed a further 132 million calories have been removed from the top five sandwich products sold in hospitals.

WH Smith, RVS and M&S are running a healthy meal deal exclusively in hospitals - with no sandwiches over 400 calories and no unhealthy snacks.

Costa has removed the large size from its seasonal and more indulgent drinks in hospital stores, and a cream topping is now an optional extra rather than standard.

An additional 175,000 pieces of fruit have been sold in hospital stores across the country, the NHS revealed.

Almost 700,000 NHS employees out of 1.3 million are thought to be overweight or obese.

Mr Stevens has mounted a crusade against Britains obesity crisis since he took over at the helm of the NHS in 2014.

He has repeatedly criticised the standards of food provided in hospitals and has banned advertisements of junk food on NHS premises.

Mr Stevens has already forced through rules banning price promotions at checkouts on sugary drinks and foods high in fat, sugar or salt.Taking a five-day break from Facebook reduces people's stress levels, new research suggests.

Abstaining from the social-media site lowers the amount of the stress-hormone cortisol people produce, a study found.

Yet, the benefits may not be clear cut, with people reporting a reduced sense of wellbeing after not visiting the website for less than a week, with many being happy to check in again, the research adds.

Researchers believe quitting Facebook enables people to escape an overload of information but also cuts them off socially.

They wrote: 'Our results suggest that the typical Facebook user may occasionally find the large amount of social information available taxing and Facebook vacations could ameliorate this stress - at least in the short term.'

The social-media site was recently hit by a scandal when the communication firm Cambridge Analytica profited from a feature that allowed apps to access data from Facebook users and their online friends without their permission.

This information was used to help influence voters at the ballot box, and was said to play a role in President Donald Trump's victory and the Brexit campaign.

Taking a five-day break from Facebook reduces people's stress levels (stock)

MONEY CAN BUY HAPPINESS - BUT TOO MUCH MAKES YOU MISERABLE Making between $60,000 (45,00) and $75,000 (57,000) a year is ideal for emotional health, according to research from Purdue University. You can make up to $95,000 (72,000) before your money starts to make you miserable by feeding your materialism, they claimed. The researchers suggested that this income sweet spot is probably the middle-ground between having enough money to meet basic needs and having so much that it takes attention away from other factors that contribute to happiness, such as relationships. According to previous research, money can, on one hand, contribute to greater life satisfaction by saving time, but people may be hesitant to spend their money for fear of appearing lazy, they said. Money is only a part of what really makes us happy, and were learning more about the limits of money, lead study author Andrew Jebb said. Advertisement

Facebook breaks could stop people becoming stressed

Results further suggest that while not visiting Facebook causes people's cortisol levels to reduce, they do not report feeling any less stressed.

Study author Eric Vanman, from the University of Queensland, who frequently takes social-media breaks himself, said: 'While participants in our study showed an improvement in physiological stress by giving up Facebook, they also reported lower feelings of wellbeing.

'People said they felt more unsatisfied with their life and were looking forward to resuming their Facebook activity.

'It seems that people take a break because they're too stressed but return to Facebook whenever they feel unhappy because they have been cut off from their friends.

'It then becomes stressful again after a while, so they take another break. And so on.'

How the research was carried out

The researchers analysed 138 active Facebook users.

The study's participants were either told to give up the social-media site for five days or continue using it as normal.

They were asked how stressed they felt both before and after the study.

Saliva samples were also taken to measure their cortisol levels.

The findings were published in the Journal of Social Psychology.

WHAT IS THE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL? Communications firm Cambridge Analytica has offices in London, New York, Washington, as well as Brazil and Malaysia. The company boasts it can 'find your voters and move them to action' through data-driven campaigns and a team that includes data scientists and behavioural psychologists. 'Within the United States alone, we have played a pivotal role in winning presidential races as well as congressional and state elections,' with data on more than 230 million American voters, Cambridge Analytica claims on its website. The company profited from a feature that meant apps could ask for permission to access your own data as well as the data of all your Facebook friends. The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix (pictured), after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump This meant the company was able to mine the information of 87 million Facebook users even though just 270,000 people gave them permission to do so. This was designed to help them create software that can predict and influence voters' choices at the ballot box. The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump. This information is said to have been used to help the Brexit campaign in the UK. Advertisement

Quitting Facebook enables people to escape an overload of information (stock)

Quitting Facebook makes more than 80% of people 'happy'

This comes after research released last month suggested quitting Facebook makes people happier.

Scientists from the Happiness Research Institute in Denmark found that 88 per cent of people feel 'happy' after giving up the social-media site.

They also describe feeling more enthusiastic, less lonely, more decisive and less worried.

Study participants Sophie Anne Dornoy said: 'After a few days, I noticed my to-do list was getting done faster than normal as I spent my time more productively.

'I also felt a sort of calmness from not being confronted by Facebook all the time.'

The non-Facebook users spent more time with their families and had an easier time concentrating.

The researchers found that people who frequently use Facebook can feel anxiety related to envy towards their online friends after looking at their posts.

They wrote: 'Instead of focusing on what we actually need, we have an unfortunate tendency to focus on what other people have.'New research has revealed that 80 percent of older Americans support using medical marijuana on a doctor's recommendation.

While only six percent of people aged 50 to 80 have used medical marijuana, the National Poll on Healthy Aging has found that the majority of people in that age group are open to trying it.

The most common use of medical marijuana is treating pain conditions, which affect an estimated three-quarters of Americans over the age of 65.

Unlike the prescription pain medications typically used to treat these conditions, marijuana is not habit-forming and has virtually no risk of overdose.

Changing attitudes toward marijuana for medical use could lead to a deviation from the prescription pain medications fueling the country's opioid epidemic.

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Four in five adults support marijuana for medical use, according to a poll of more than 2,000 Americans between ages 50 and 80. An older women is pictured at a marijuana dispensary in Colorado, one of the first states to legalize medical marijuana in 2000

'With medical marijuana already legal in 29 states and the District of Columbia, and other states considering legalizing this use or all use, this is an issue of interest to patients, providers and policymakers alike,' Preeti Malani, director of the poll, said.

Medical marijuana is used for to treat of a variety of conditions including cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, migraines, arthritis and others.

The poll conducted by the University of Michigan examined attitudes toward medical marijuana among more than 2,000 adults between 50 and 80 years old.

It found that two-thirds of older adults believe marijuana provides pain relief but only 14 percent think marijuana is more effective than prescription pain medication and 38 percent think the two are equally effective.

Close to half of the people polled said they thought prescription pain medicines are more addictive than marijuana, and 57 percent said that such medicines have more side effects than marijuana.

Recent studies have shown that states with easy access to medical marijuana have significantly lower rates of opiate prescriptions such as hydrocodone and oxycondone.

The researchers were surprised to find that 70 percent of respondents said they would ask their doctor about medical marijuana if they had a serious medical condition.

Malani said the findings underscore the importance of providers being ready to answer questions about medical marijuana especially in states where it's legal.

'Although older adults may be a bit wary about marijuana, the majority support more research on it,' Alison Bryant, senior vice president of research for AARP, said.

'This openness to more research likely speaks to a desire to find safe, alternative treatments to control pain.'

Two-thirds of the respondents said they thought the government should be doing more to study the health effects of the drug.

These findings open the door for more studies involving older participants, of which there are currently very few.Doctors told a Colorado mother of twin boys to try her luck at the lottery after revealing she was pregnant with another set of rare identical twin girls against 10-million-to-one odds.

Casey Saunders, 27, thought the doctor was pulling her leg when she said the mother of twin boys was expecting yet another duo, the odds of which are one in 70,000.

On top of the already impossible-seeming odds, the babies had developed inside the same placenta, a condition that only occurs with about one per cent of twin pregnancies and can cause fatal complications in the womb.

After spending the final two months of her pregnancy in the hospital while doctors monitored the twins, Casey and her partner Eugene Goree welcomed baby girls Maya and Laia on December 1.

Four months later Casey has shared her unlikely story with Daily Mail Online.

Casey Saunders, 27, is a mother of not one but two sets of rare identical twins, the odds of which are smaller than one in 10 million. Casey, her partner Eugene, 10-year-old sons Hayden and Cameron and four-month-old daughters Maya and Laia are pictured above

Casey thought the doctor was joking when she told her that she was expecting another set of twins. She is pictured left with Eugene and the boys during her pregnancy and the girls are pictured right

Casey, an optometric technician, had her boys Hayden and Cameron when she was 17 years old, and nine years later she learned she and her partner Eugene were pregnant again.

When she went in for her first ultrasound she had the excited boys in tow.

'On the way to the ultrasound they were arguing over who was going to get to hold "the baby" first,' she said.

'I thought the sonographer was trying to tease me when she said there were two heartbeats because she knew I had my twin boys with me.'

The technician saw the monitor and told Casey: 'You should go buy a Powerball ticket when you're done here.'

She was pregnant with twins - again.

'I was shocked. I called Eugene and said: "You're not going to believe this,"' she said.

'He was surprised but really excited from the beginning.'

The ultrasound technician told Casey she should consider buying a lottery ticket when it was revealed that she was expecting a second set of twins

MoMo twins have a high risk of complications because the umbilical cords can get tangled or compressed in the womb

Casey said she's never tried to calculate the odds of a pregnancy like this one because they're too complicated - but it's clear that her girls are extraordinarily unlikely.

The odds of having identical twins are about one in 250, which is considered to be a relatively small number statistically speaking.

The likelihood of having two sets of identical twins is an infinitely smaller one in 70,000, meaning that Casey had about a .0014 percent chance of having twins again.

On top of the already miniscule odds, the twins were revealed to be monoamniotic monochorionic, which occurs in less than one percent of twin pregnancies.

Casey's chances of being pregnant with MoMo twins were less than one in 10 million.

The MoMo diagnosis cast a shadow over the twin news, however.

MoMo twins develop a shared placenta and amniotic sac, putting them at risk of the umbilical cords tangling or being compressed, which blocks the flow of nutrients to the fetus.

'We went from "Oh my God we're having twins" to "Oh my God, we're having a really high-risk pregnancy,"' Casey said.

After 24 weeks, the survival rate of MoMo twins is about 75 to 80 percent.

Casey said her boys were thrilled when their baby sisters were finally born on December 1

The babies had to be kept in the hospital for the first four weeks after they were born because they were delivered eight weeks premature

Because her pregnancy was a high risk one, Casey was hospitalized during the last two months of her pregnancy so doctors could monitor the babies for any potential complications.

'It was nerve-wracking at each ultrasound not knowing if we had lost them to cord entanglement. But each week they were still there growing,' she said.

While in the hospital she spent her time knitting and writing in a journal intended for her baby girls.

She spoke with her sons via FaceTime because they were only able to visit on the weekends.

'It's hard being in the hospital when you're completely healthy and away from your family, but what kept me going is knowing that each day, every week we're in here, we get to bring home healthy, happy baby girls and the boys can't wait for the opportunity to have sisters,' Casey said.

On December 1, 2017, the family welcomed baby girls Maya and Laia.

Because they were born eight weeks premature the babies were kept in the hospital for four weeks before they could go home, but Casey said they didn't have any complications after birth.

Today, the now-four-month-olds have settled into their home with the help of their older brothers.

'They are doing excellent. Exceeding all expectations,' Casey said. 'And the boys absolutely adore them.

'They still won't change diapers but they love to hold them and feed them. It's heartwarming to see.'

While raising two babies at once is a challenge, it's nothing new for Casey.

She said: 'You fall into a routine after a while and it comes back to you after you've done it once.'

The family of six is now settled back at home in Wellington where the boys are keen on helping with everything except diaper dutyVirgin Money has unveiled two new credit cards that allow customers to collect Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles for the first time.

The two cards, Reward and Reward Plus, offer points for every 1 spent which can then be converted into flights.

The Reward card has no annual fee and gives customers 0.75 Flying Club miles for every 1 spent. The Reward Plus version has a 160 annual fee but gives a bumper 1.5 miles for each 1 spent.

Miles: The new Virgin Money credit cards offer the chance to bag miles to put towards flights

Furthermore, the non-fee option offers 5,000 bonus miles with the first card purchase within 90 days of account opening while the Reward Plus card gives 15,000 miles.

Looking at the Virgin Atlantic website, 20,000 Flying Club miles could equate to economy return to India, UAE, Boston, New York, Washington and Caribbean in its off-peak seasons.

This does not include taxes, fees and carrier imposed surcharges which can add a couple of hundred of pounds onto the cost of long-haul.

The credit cards are facilitated by Mastercard and they also give free access to Virgin Money Lounges and other 'perks' such as discounts on a range of products like holidays, train tickets and experience days.

They also offer double miles for all direct bookings with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays.

If 20,000 is spent on the non-fee card, or 10,000 on the Reward Plus, customers can choose a reward, including an upgrade or taking a companion.

Generous: One expert says the Virgin Atlantic credit card is most generous travel loyalty card

However, as This is Money regularly points out on these types of card, you have to play by the rules or you could be stung with fees and interest.

It is imperative that you pay off the card as you go along  it is not wise to spend on it and leave debit outstanding.

For example, the representative APR on the Reward Plus card is 63.9 per cent and on the Reward card 22.9 per cent.

Furthermore, the purchase rate is 22.9 per cent and while there is a 0 per cent balance transfer offer for the first six months, it comes with a three per cent fee to do it.

These charges are high and can eat into any potential rewards  or surpass them quickly  if you do not stay on top of it.

Richard Branson: The entrepreneur set up Virgin Group in 1970

'Generous': View from the expert

Rob Burgess, editor of frequent flyer website Head for Points, said: 'The day-to-day earning rate on the new Virgin credit cards is excellent.

'I would say that it is now the most generous travel loyalty card, given that the free version gets you 0.75 miles for every 1 you spend.

'If you value the miles at 1p each then you're getting a notional rebate of 0.75 per cent on what you spend.

'The only problem with Virgin air miles is that the airline only has long haul routes, which require a lot of miles to fly them.

'If you already fly Virgin Atlantic and have a pot of their miles then you will want to get these credit cards.

'The average person on the other hand will never earn enough purely from card spend to redeem for, say, an Upper Class flat bed to New York.

'The card also favours solo travellers rather than couples.

'The upgrade voucher, which allows you to book a Premium Economy return flight for the miles of an Economy one, is worth striving for.

'Unfortunately the 2-4-1 voucher they offer for air miles tickets is restricted - only Virgin's Gold members can use it to get a 2-4-1 in Upper Class.

'Gold membership requires within a rolling 12 month period: two and a half returns in Upper Class, five Premium Economy return flights (on flexible tickets) and 10 Economy Delights return flights.'

'General members can only use the 2-4-1 voucher in Economy and that isn't great value due to the taxes and charges which are still due.

The day-to-day earning rate on the new Virgin credit cards is excellent. I would say that is now the most generous travel loyalty card.

'Overall, though, this is impressive.

'It shows that, with some innovative thinking, it is still possible to come up with a good benefits package even with the EU-imposed cuts on the charges the card companies can make to retailers.'

The agreement between Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Money and Mastercard follows Virgin Money's decision in 2017 to switch to Mastercard for its entire credit and debit card issuing.

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive at Virgin Money, said: 'We're delighted to be launching the first products from our exciting new partnership with Virgin Atlantic, in a market that's seen greatly reduced customer choice in recent years.'

Mark Barnett, divisional president for Mastercard UK, said: 'We know travel related benefits are often the most popular and in demand by cardholders it's all the more exciting that these new cards will enable users to accrue their holiday benefits whenever they spend, wherever they are in the world.'The new French owner of Vauxhall has announced it will increase production at the companys vans factory in Luton despite concerns over the impact of looming Brexit.

PSA, which owns Peugeot and Citroen and bought Vauxhall from General Motors last year, said the UK plant will increase production to 100,000 vans a year from 2019 - up from the current 59,000.

The next model of Vivaro van will still be built in Luton, and so will the new Peugeot and Citroen models. The move is expected to safeguard all of the 14,000 jobs at the UK factory, which is Britain's only remaining van factory, and to create new roles.

Announcement: PSA chairman Carlos Tavares, left, with Opel/Vauxhall chief executive Michael Lohscheller, centre, and Business Secretary Greg Clarke at the Vauxhall plant in Luton

However, the news comes as PSA announced only a couple of weeks ago that it would close down 100 Vauxhalls showrooms  nearly a third of the total 324.

The move put more than 3,800 jobs at risk.

PSA wants to cut almost 1billion of expenditure from the Opel and Vauxhall business by 2020, and 1.5billion by 2026 without having to resort to closing manufacturing plants in the country.

The French group declined to say how much it will invest in Lutons plant but described it as substantial. Taxpayers will put in 9million as part of the Governments subsidy of the automotive industry.

The Government estimates the total investment will be of more than 100million, while Union Unite said the investment was 170million, adding it would create 450 jobs.

Made in the UK: The next Vauxhall Vivaro van will still be built at the companys factory in Luton

Business Secretary Greg Clark said the decision was a vote of confidence in Vauxhall's workforce and the UK's automotive sector.

This investment in upgrading the production platform will safeguard and grow jobs, ensuring the future of the Luton plant well into the next decade and help ensure the plant is well positioned for future Vauxhall models to be made in the UK.

Carlos Tavares, chairman of PSA, said this was a major milestone for the future of the Luton plant.

Performance is the trigger for sustainability and I would like to thank all stakeholders involved and underline the open mindset of our union partners as well as that of the UK Government, he added.

Last one: Luton's Vauxhall plant is the Britain's only remaining van factory

PSA admitted that there was uncertainty over the impact of Brexit but extra capacity was needed now. It also said that Luton was the only plant with a paintshop, which was one of the reasons behind the decision.

If you wait for everyone to decide if it is the right time to invest, the only thing you are sure about is it will be too late, Tavares replied when asked about Brexit.

The UK's biggest companies, including Royal Mail and BT, buy Luton-built vans, although around 60 per cent of the plant's output is for export.

Production at the Luton van plant will increase to 100,000 a year from 2019, up from 59,000.

The announcement was made in front of hundreds of workers and local dignitaries on the floor of the Luton plant, which has been making vehicles since 1905.

Unite General secretary Len McCluskey said: It is great news that this new product should see van production at Luton for the next 10 years to come.

This is a very welcome investment in Luton by PSA, and a deserving tribute to a dedicated workforce. It will steady nerves at the plant after years of uncertainty.

It will, of course, be for the members at the plant to decide to accept the whole package of measures, including a pay deal along with the new product, and they will take that vote in the coming weeks.

McCluskey said he expected to hear of similar plans for Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port car factory, where the Astra family hatchback is currently made. Tavares said a decision on that would be made in 2020.

Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port car factory, where the Astra family hatchback is currently made

Commenting on the news, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders chief executive, Mike Hawes, said: 'This announcement is great news for the UK automotive sector and, especially, the Luton plant.

'The UK continues to be a centre of excellence for vehicle production thanks to our engineering expertise, high levels of productivity and a collaborative relationship with government which has enabled us to build a robust industrial strategy and a sector deal.

'We will continue to work with policy makers to ensure the UK remains as competitive as possible now and in the future so we can continue to build on our long heritage in vehicle manufacturing.'

Last October, PSA announced 400 job losses at Vauxhalls Ellesmere Port manufacturing facility where it currently makes the Astra family hatchback.

That was shortly followed by a call for a further 250 voluntary redundancies in January this year.

PSA completed the acquisition of Vauxhall from American firm GM in November last year in a transaction worth 1.9billion.Then Merrill Lynch chief John Thain spent 850,000 redecorating his office while the bank was losing money

Struggling Deutsche Bank is beefing up its board by recruiting former Merrill Lynch chief John Thain as a director. Cruel-mouthed Thain, 62, is a banking heavy hitter, but not without baggage.

He attracted public loathing at Merrill for spending 850,000 redecorating his office, including 60,000 on a rug, while the bank was losing money.

A meticulous fellow, he's known on Wall Street as The Root Canal, because, a former colleagues explains: 'He drills down soooo deep.'

Blackstone chairman Stephen Schwarzman, who last year paid himself 570million, has withdrawn his request that his old high school in Philadelphia change its name after handing it a 20million donation.

The hedge-fund billionaire, 71, had wanted Abington Senior High School to become Abington Schwarzman High School until 1,400 people signed a petition demanding the name remain unchanged.

Poet Alexander Pope once advised: 'Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.'

Goldman Sachs president and leader-in-waiting David Solomon convinced music streaming service Spotify to hire Goldman for yesterday's stock market flotataion by talking up his side career as a dance music DJ.

Perhaps Solomon, 55  who performs under the stage name DJ D-Sol  should release his own recordings on Spotify.

A track featuring his puckish boss Lloyd Blankfein freestyling on the microphone would get a few listens.

Once considered a titan of the City, one wonders how soigne ex-BBC chairman Baroness Fairhead, 56, finds the motivation to be Minister for International Trade.

A banal role largely confined to 'bigging up' British exports, she spent the weekend issuing anodyne quotes about British chocolatiers.

It's also an unpaid position, though did come with a nice little peerage.

Lego-haired Financial Times editor Lionel Barber's appointment as chairman of the Tate galleries remains much discussed, not least among the paper's Japanese owners.

He's lately received a summons to Tokyo to explain to the bosses how he plans to juggle two such demanding roles.To many young families, a household income of 50,000 doesn't feel like a lot.

Not after you've put food on the table, paid the mortgage, filled the car and had your account pillaged for energy and broadband bills.

Yet, as Money Mail reveals today, hard-working parents who rely on that salary from a sole breadwinner face harsh fines of up to 2,000 for incorrectly claiming child benefit.

Nobody is disputing that families should give back the money they owe.

Hard-working parents who rely on a 50,000 salary from a sole breadwinner face harsh fines of up to 2,000 for incorrectly claiming child benefit

The Government decided in 2013 that families where at least one person earns more than 50,000 should have their child benefit entitlement curtailed (oddly, it let families with two earners on 49,000  a household income of 98,000  claim the full handout).

But the way HMRC is chasing these debts is out of line on two counts.

First, the taxman hands out the full child benefit to all registered parents and asks them to return anything they're not entitled to.

That shockingly blase policy is a recipe for disaster. Parents such as 41-year-old Fraser Swainston  whose company car was deemed to take his pay above 50,000  don't know whether they're coming or going.

Is it any wonder they're failing to fill out the tax returns that HMRC relies on to flag up its own overpayments?

Yet rather than recognising its failings, the mean-spirited taxman is hitting parents with penalties for the crime of accepting money officials willingly handed out.

Secondly, HMRC staff seem to be taking years to identify those who owe cash. Then, out of the blue, the taxman is branding parents benefits cheats  and demanding they immediately repay cash they spent on their children four years ago.

What really gets my goat is that while HMRC attacks parents who can't afford expensive accountants, it's failing to collect 5.2 billion from tax dodgers and 9.7 billion from companies that spend thousands exploiting tax loopholes.

It's time HMRC went after the real villains: big business and the rich and famous who use every trick in the book to rob Britain of money for schools and hospitals.

Families who inadvertently accept too much child benefit should be asked to return the cash, penalty-free, over the same period it took HMRC to discover the debt. Fair's fair, after all.

Stealth taxes

Talking of the squeezed middle, the Chancellor needs to get a handle on income tax.

Thanks in no small part to George Osborne freezing tax bands year after year, 1.5 million workers have been dragged into the top brackets (40p or 45p in the pound) in five years.

The proportion paying tax at higher rates has doubled in two decades. At this rate, the entire country will be turned into 40p taxpayers by stealth.

If that's the Government's goal it should spell this out openly.

If not, a hefty hike to the 40p tax threshold, which rises to 46,350 on Friday, is long overdue.

Fiery feedback

The reaction to our story on the family denied an insurance payout for their fire-ravaged home speaks volumes.

Experts and readers have branded Ageas irrational and unfair for denying a payout over a dispute about the number of bedrooms in the property.

Not only did its policy cover more than the 460,000 claim, the fire had nothing to do with the disputed 'rooms' in the loft.

In the past, self-promoting Ageas boss Andy Watson has proclaimed: 'If we struggle to treat customers fairly, then we have a problem.'

Well, Mr Watson, you have one. Now do the right thing and help the Weldins rebuild their life.

Car hire swindle

In August last year Money Mail called on the Competition And Markets Authority to crack down on car hire rip-offs.

We submitted a dossier to the watchdog containing more than 300 complaints from readers who'd been swindled in Europe.

At the time, the CMA claimed all it could do was ask the Spanish regulator to investigate.

Eight months on, the CMA has finally shown its teeth. It says if it receives proof that hidden charges aren't being made clear when you book a car, it will take action. Send your evidence to carhire@daily mail.co.uk and we'll pass it on.

d.hyde@dailymail.co.ukThe murky world of funds backing booze, bombs and cigarettes repels many socially-conscious investors.

A growing number want feelgood Isas, where their money works for other people and the environment as well as them.

Investors poured 1billion into ethical investment funds last year. This is a fraction of the total, but it is still a record.

Ethical options: Many investors want feelgood Isas, where their money works for other people and the environment

Three-quarters of investors want banks and financial firms to be more transparent about where they put their savings, according to a study done for ethical provider Triodos Bank.

Ethical options are available for cash, stocks and shares and Innovative Finance Isas.

Ethical cash Isas

Feelgood cash Isa-providers include Triodos and Charity Bank.

Triodos pays 1.05 per cent for a 33-day notice account and up to 2 per cent for a Junior Isa.

Savings are only lent to organisations bringing about positive social, environmental and cultural change and you can track where your money goes.

Charity Bank pays 1.07 per cent for a 33-day notice Isa. It only lends out savings to organisations with a social mission, for example to build affordable homes, or support disadvantaged young people.

Ethical Innovative Finance Isas

Innovative Finance Isas contain peer-to-peer loans and are a way of matching up investors who want to lend with companies or individuals who need a loan.

Some of these have a sustainable or ethical label, because they only lend to projects or companies that they believe meet certain criteria.

For example Abundance Investment funds green energy projects.

Lendahand Ethex backs solar energy projects for families in sub-Saharan Africa.

As with any Innovative Finance Isas, the profits are by no means certain.

Triodos launches crowdfunding Leading sustainable bank Triodos recently became first in the UK to launch its own crowdfunding platform, writes Simon Lambert. Its platform www.triodoscrowdfunding.co.uk offers people the chance to invest via an Innovative Finance Isa into bonds issued by organisations that it says are delivering positive social and environmental impacts. Outside of an Isa there are also opportunities to invest by taking a stake in an organisation's equity Investors receive an interest rate return back on their bonds over a set period of time. It is possible to invest from 500, although Triodos says some investments will have lower minimums. The organisations will often be raising money for a specific project or endeavour and they will have been extensively screened by Triodos for social and environmental impact, the viability of their business model and the credibility of the management team. One example is Thera Trust, which provides care and housing for people with complex learning disabilities, aiming to raise 5 million to provide 14 new homes. Investors will earn 5.5 per cent interest per year over a 6-year term. As with any innovative Isa investment, the money that you invest is at risk if the organisation defaults and has no FSCS protection.

Ethical stocks and shares Isas

Several providers offer ethical stocks and shares Isas, which they ensure are only invested in companies that meet a strict criteria.

For example, Triodos has a stocks and shares Isa that invests solely in two funds; the Triodos Sustainable Equity fund and the Triodos Pioneer Sustainable Pioneer fund.

Moola also offers an ethical Isa, which excludes industries considered harmful and includes only better managed companies in terms of environmental impact, social impact and governance.

These options are essentially ready made, but savers can also pick their own ethical investments to put in a stocks and shares Isa.

Savers can open a stocks and shares Isa on an investing platform in the usual fashion, but then choose to only hold investments that meet their own ethical standards.

Kames Ethical Equity for example, which makes it on to the Wealth 150 list of top funds from asset manager Hargreaves Lansdown, has strict criteria, such as avoiding firms involved in alcohol, gambling, tobacco and animal testing.

This and alternatives  such as Legal & General Ethical and Royal London Ethical Bond  can be bought within a stocks and shares Isa.

Investments labelled as ethical will follow their own criteria, which may or may not align with an individual's own views. It's worth researching first to see exactly what they offer; some, for example, will just screen out so-called 'sin stocks' such as arms or tobacco manufacturers, while others will actively invest in companies that they believe will have a social or environmental benefit.

Some investments not labelled as ethical may also meet your own personal criteria. For example, funds that invest in small British companies could be seen as supporting the lifeblood of the British economy, but are not necessarily labelled in this way.

Damien Lardoux: Portfolio manager at EQ Investors rounds up ethical investment options for your Isa

Damien Lardoux, portfolio manager at wealth manager EQ Investors, rounds up his pick of ethical investment funds and trusts to consider for your Isa below.

Hermes Impact Opportunities Equity (Ongoing charge 0.95 per cent)

Whilst the Hermes Impact Opportunities Equity fund only launched a few months ago, we believe that it is a great investment to consider for those who want to make a positive impact.

Hermess investment process selects those companies which are clear about their intention to make a positive impact and where the core product or services materially help to contribute to one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals such as clean energy or quality education. Read more about the UN's 17 goals here.

One of Hermes's holdings, Kroton Educational, is a Brazilian company which is broadening access to higher education.

In Brazil, where 90 per cent of people have no university education primarily due to its cost, Kroton makes it available through distance learning broadening access for low income households.

What is an ongoing charge? The ongoing charge is the investing industry's standard measure of fund running costs. The bigger it is, the costlier the fund is to run. The ongoing charge figure can be found in the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) for any fund, usually at the top of page two. To track down these documents, put the fund name and 'KIID' together in an internet search engine.

Impax Environmental Markets (Ongoing charge 1.11 per cent)

The Impax Environmental Markets trust last year celebrated its 15th anniversary of combining strong financial returns through investment in fast-growing environmental companies with a high positive impact.

In its latest annual impact report, Impax demonstrated that a 1million investment in the trust produced 340 megalitres of water treated or saved, equivalent to the waste water generated by about 2,700 UK households.

It also recovered or treated 79 tonnes of materials per 1million investment, the equivalent of the total waste produced by over 80 UK households.

Baillie Gifford Positive Change (Ongoing charge 0.60 per cent)

The Baillie Gifford Positive Change fund is another recently launched impact fund. As Baillie is a well-recognised asset manager with a proven investment process and a strong long-term track record, this is an exciting development.

Its in-depth impact process leads to the selection of around 30 companies across a number of sectors and regions.

Each company's core activity is focusing on tackling the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This strategy is offered at a very attractive ongoing charge of 0.60 per cent.

One holding is Orsted, a Danish renewable energy firm which completely changed its business model from fossil-based energy to offshore wind farms, bioenergy plants and waste-to-energy solutions.

Orsted is also investing in solar energy and battery storage, taking tangible action to create a world that could run entirely on green energy.

Threadneedle UK Social Bond (Ongoing charge 0.45 per cent)

The Threadneedle UK Social Bond fund tries to achieve a positive social impact by investing in listed bonds issued by organisations that support socially beneficial activities and balanced economic development, primarily in the UK.

Key social themes include employment, education, social housing, transport and infrastructure.

In its latest annual impact report, the fund explained that it has allocated over 80 per cent of its assets into investments that that have a medium to high social impact.

Also, using a 'Jobs Assessment Methodology', 83 per cent of its assets are concentrated in growing sectors which are adding jobs, and 87 per cent of the assets are in sectors that have a relatively high employment concentration in the most deprived areas of the UK.

Allianz Green Bond (Ongoing charge 0.47 per cent)

The Allianz Green Bond fund is the first fund made available to individual UK investors to invest in green bonds.

Green bonds are fixed income instruments where the proceeds are exclusively assigned to finance projects, assets and business activities labelled as green in sectors such as energy efficiency, pollution prevention, renewable energy, clean transportation or water management.

Allianz has recently published its first impact data showing that for 1million invested, the fund has installed 0.96 megawatts of renewable energy capacity and has generated 872 megawatt hours of renewable energy on an annual basis, equivalent to the total energy use of more than 40 UK households.

Also 1,512 tonnes of CO2 emissions have been avoided, the equivalent to taking 315 cars off the road for a year.It has become a hot topic at dinner parties and barely a day passes when its not causing a stir in the House of Commons.

But could Britains housing shortage also hold the key to boosting your Isa or pension fund?

Ministers seem determined to build more homes. Chancellor Philip Hammond has committed 44billion to help deliver 300,000 homes a year over the next half a decade.

Building boom: Chancellor Philip Hammond has committed 44 billion to help deliver 300,000 homes a year over the next half a decade

On top of that, an extra 10 billion has been committed to the Help to Buy scheme, which offers interest-free Government loans to home buyers for up to 20 per cent of a propertys value.

The construction drive led more than 11,500 new homes to be registered to be built in January  a 1 per cent increase on a year ago, according to the National House Building Council.

It says builders last year submitted the highest number of plans for new homes on record.

Housebuilders are the most obvious type of company that should benefit and were among the best performing stocks in the FTSE 100 in 2017.

Since 2012, profits among Britains three biggest builders  Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon Homes  have quadrupled to 2.2 billion a year.

An estimated 40 per cent of private sales are being funded by Help to Buy deposits.

However, builders share prices dipped over the past six months, and now sit around 20 per cent lower than last summer.

The industrys profit margin is being stretched by the rising cost of materials and labour. The pressure to build faster and on less valuable sites is also taking its toll.

Last month, investors started selling shares in builders when luxury developer Berkeley said planning constraints and high costs had forced it to curtain the number of new projects it was launching.

But experts say the long-term prospects for housebuilders remain excellent.

The construction drive led more than 11,500 new homes to be registered to be built in January  a 1 per cent increase on a year ago

Daniel Pereira, research analyst at investing firm Square Mile, says: There are some great managers who believe that builders are cheaply valued and have bright prospects.

One is Neil Woodford, whose fund, Woodford Equity Income, backs Taylor Wimpey, Countryside Properties and Barratt Developments, among others.

Mr Woodford has struggled for returns lately, only turning 10,000 into 9,950 in the past three years, but Mr Pereira believes he can turn it around.

Currently, the fund puts 2.64 of every 100 into Taylor Wimpey, which sold 14,842 homes last year.

That was 4.6 per cent more than the year before and its average selling price was 264,000, up 3.5 per cent.

Profits fell by 5.8 per cent after it set aside 130 million to help customers trapped in onerous leases drawn up by the house builder.

Star fund manager Woodford backs Forterra, which manufactures bricks and blocks

Mr Woodford also backs Forterra, which manufactures bricks and blocks at factories across the country.

Forterra sells primarily to housebuilders and their merchants, contractors and specialist retailers.

Its the only maker of the original Fletton brick, a reddish-pink clay bar thats nearly 150 years old and has been used to build a quarter of Englands houses.

The fund invests around 1.20 in every 100 in Forterra.

Standard Life Investments UK Equity Unconstrained has three housebuilders in its top ten holdings. Its largest is Redrow, accounting for 4.60 of every 100.

Bellway is one of its largest holdings, attracting 4.10 of every 100, while 3.60 in every 100 goes into Crest Nicholson.

The fund has turned 10,000 into 15,550 in the past five years and is tipped by Jason Hollands at investment firm Tilney.

Building more homes will also benefit companies outside the big housebuilders. Homeware retailers such as Dunelm Group should also get a boost.

Its one of the top holdings in AXA Framlington UK Mid Cap.

Dunelm, which sells cushions, bedding and kitchen equipment, has its own manufacturing centre producing curtains, blinds and other accessories.

The AXA fund, tipped by Mr Pereira, invests 1.40 in every 100 in Dunelm and has turned 10,000 into 17,490 in the past five years.

Mr Pereira also likes Threadneedle UK Equity, which backs trade kitchen company Howden Joinery Group, investing around 1 of every 100.

Howden was once the darling of UK fund managers but its popularity waned when its share price fell 25 per cent in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. However, it has recovered, with the share price up 23 per cent since then.

Threadneedle UK Equity has turned 10,000 into 15,010 in the past five years.

Darius McDermott, of broker Chelsea Financial Services, tips Franklin UK Mid Cap.

Its top holding is Britains biggest brick manufacturer, Ibstock Brick, which accounts for 4.38 in every 100.

Over the past year the firm has invested in a new factory in Leicestershire with the ability to produce 100 million bricks a year.

Franklin UK Mid Cap has turned 10,000 into 16,980 in five years.

moneymail@dailymail.co.ukThe chief executive of The Restaurant Group has snapped up more than 114,000 of shares in the firm.

Andy McCue has bought 44,971 shares at nearly 2.54 each in the owner of Frankie & Bennys and Mexican chain Chiquito.

McCue joined as chief executive in September 2016 from bookmaker Paddy Power, where he was also chief executive.

Before joining Paddy Power, McCue, who is also a non-executive director of Hostelworld Group, worked for OC&C Consultants.Takeover approaches can be a bit like buses: sometimes three turn up at once.

In an intriguing twist, it has emerged two mystery firms are looking to gatecrash Swiss software company Temenos' 1.4billion bid for British rival Fidessa with last-minute approaches.

While the companies are yet to make formal offers, Fidessa says preliminary discussions indicate they are willing to outbid Temenos.

Temenos' bid was due to be put to shareholders on April 5 after having been agreed by the Fidessa board.

However, the meeting has been postponed while Fidessa explores the two other potential bids.

Two mystery firms are looking to gate crash Swiss software company Temenos' 1.4bn bid for British rival Fidessa with last-minute approaches

The announcement comes after activist investor Elliott in February disclosed a 5 per cent stake in Fidessa, not long after the Temenos deal was agreed.

In a statement, Fidessa said: 'Discussions with the third parties are ongoing and there can be no certainty that a formal offer from either will be forthcoming or as to the terms of any such offer.'

The prospect of a bidding war pushed Fidessa's shares up 13.8 per cent, or 505p, to 4170p, meaning it topped the FTSE 350.

The FTSE 100 finished the day down 0.37 per cent or 26.15 points at 7030.46.

Back in the FTSE 250, shares in gambling software business Playtech ticked up after analysts suggested it could be about to snap up a rival.

Stock Watch - Weatherly Weatherly International has been forced to push back its loan payments as it struggles to generate enough cash to meet its commitments. As part of the deal, the copper miner must also run any spending plans outside of its agreed budget with creditor Orion Mine Finance. Weatherly first ran into trouble in 2015 when it warned it would be unable to meet its loan payments if copper prices remained low. Shares dived 34 per cent, or 0.4p, to 0.82p yesterday.

At the end of 2017, the firm was sitting on cash reserves of more than 185million which it could soon use for acquisitions, according to Investec.

In a note to investors, the investment bank said: 'We expect first-half 2018 results will be lacklustre. However, we see an acquisition prior to interims as highly likely.'

The speculation nudged up Playtech's shares by 0.2 per cent, or 1.6p, to 734.4p, despite Investec slashing the firm's target price from 869p to 796p.

The FTSE 250's worst performer of the day was outsourcer Capita, whose shares fell 7.4 per cent, or 10.65p, to a 20-year low of 133.4p.

Capita's shares plunged last week after British Airways decided to keep two of its call centres in-house rather than hand them over to the outsourcer.

Shares in charter jet provider Air Partner crash landed following the discovery of an error in its accounts going back as far as 2011.

The firm made a mistake in the way it logged money owed by businesses, so now it will have to revise down its profits over the period by around 3.3million.

However, Air Partner said the mistake was an accounting error and so therefore it has no effect on its cash balances.

It added: 'At no point was a customer, operator or supplier impacted or disadvantaged.'

Shares nosedived 21.2 per cent, or 30.5p, to 113p. Avon Rubber, which makes gas masks and cow milking equipment, has sold its hovercraft skirt business Avon Engineered Fabrications for $9.25million (6.6million) to Performance Inflatables.

Analysts at Peel Hunt said it was a 'positive strategic move' as they reiterated Avon's 'buy' rating.

The broker added management had managed to get a good price for Avon Engineered Fabrications 'and that the proceeds can be put to better use elsewhere'.

Avon's shares hopped 2.4 per cent, or 30p, to 1300p.

Shares in Skin Bio Therapeutics, a life science company that focuses on skin health, jumped after it signed an agreement to share its technology with a 'global consumer goods company'.

Shares were up 5.9 per cent, or 0.5p, at 9p.

A subsidiary of AIM-listed construction materials specialists Breedon Group has bought Staffs Concrete, an operator in Stoke-on-Trent, for an undisclosed sum but despite this Breedon's shares fell 1 per cent, or 0.8p, to 78.7p.Euronext has bought the Irish stock exchange

BUSINESS RAID Dutch trading firm Euronext bought the Irish stock exchange to help it steal business from Britain after Brexit, bosses have said.

But the London Stock Exchange handled 106 flotations last year  far more than any European rival  and is widely expected to keep its crown for years to come.

GENDER DEADLINE More than 7,500 firms have published data on their gender pay gap ahead of a deadline tonight.

But hundreds of the estimated 9,000 companies with 250 or more staff, who were supposed to reveal the details, have failed to so far.

If they do not comply, the businesses could face fines for missing the cut-off.

FEMALE SUIT Four female former staff at Goldman Sachs have launched a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the investment bank accusing it of systematically favouring men over women.

BREXIT BOOST A third of small businesses have seen revenues rise since the Brexit vote, a survey by serviced office firm Citibas showed.

TAXI APP Russian taxi app company Wheely, rival to luxury private car app Addison Lee, has had its licence to operate in London extended to 2023.

AI LEADER Jeff Dean, one of Googles top programmers, has been put in charge of its newly-separated artificial intelligence division.

He joined the Silicon Valley giant in 1999. Dean is among the tech giants earliest employees and one of its Senior Fellows.

NEW CHIEF Kitchens group Howden Joinery has appointed Andrew Livingston, 50, as chief executive to succeed 63-year-old Matthew Ingle.

BOARD ROLE Ready meals maker Bakkavor Group has appointed Deloitte senior audit partner Jane Lodge to its board as a non-executive director and chairman of the audit and risk committee.

FASHION BOSS Luxury fashion house LVMH has appointed Kris Van Assche from Christion Dior as artistic director for its menswear brand Berluti, popular for its leather shoes and boots.

JOBS GO A further 97 staff at collapsed outsourcing firm Carillion have been made redundant, bringing the total to 1,802.A Chinese private equity firm has emerged as the front runner to snap up the embattled Bargain Booze owner Conviviality.

ZQ Capital, which has offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, is said to be one of the most likely candidates to secure the troubled drinks firm which also owns Wine Rack and Bibendum.

The private equity firm is likely to buy all of the firm, according to sources, rather than parts of the business.

ZQ Capital, which has offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, is said to be one of the most likely candidates to secure Conviviality which owns Wine Rack, Bibendum and Bargain Booze

ZQ Capital describes itself as an investment and advisory firm that invests in international companies to realise their growth potential in the Chinese market.

Conviviality was thrown into financial turmoil just weeks ago after it revealed it was unable to pay a surprise 30million tax bill.

Chief executive Diana Hunter has since left the business and trading of its shares have been suspended.

It has drafted in advisers from PwC as it prepares to file for administration should it fail to find a buyer.

Sources said that selling Conviviality to a Chinese firm would be a disaster for the company and its 2,800 employees.

PwC and Conviviality declined to comment last night.Falling star: Neil Woodford's equity income fund had dropped to 6.6billion

Beleagured stock-picker Neil Woodford has seen his fund fall below 7billion for the first time since 2015 amid concerns his crown has slipped.

Assets in the equity income fund had dropped to 6.6billion by the end of March, down from their all-time high of 10.2billion just ten months earlier.

The 58-year-old has made a series of disastrous bets on firms such as doorstep lender Provident Financial, which has slumped 78 per cent in the past year.

Large investors including John Chatfeild-Roberts of Jupiter Asset Management have pulled cash out of Woodfords funds as his star has waned, further adding to his woes.Sir Martin Sorrell lives in a 5million property in London with his wife Cristiana Falcone

The boss of the world's largest advertising agency WPP is being investigated over a personal misconduct allegation, it was claimed today.

The board of WPP said independent counsel will carry out the probe into the claim against Sir Martin Sorrell, who has been at the helm of the Mayfair-based company for more than three decades.

The matter is related to the possible misuse of company assets, unnamed sources told the Wall Street Journal.

In a statement issued by Project Associates on behalf of Sir Martin, he rejected the allegation of financial impropriety - but said he understood the company had to investigate it.

He added: 'Reports in the media have stated that WPP is investigating an allegation of financial impropriety by me, specifically as to the use of company funds.

'I reject the allegation unreservedly but recognise that the company has to investigate it. I understand that this process will be completed shortly.

'Obviously, I shall play no part in the management of the investigation under way.'

Advertising giant WPP is based in this building in London's exclusive district of Mayfair

WHO IS SIR MARTIN SORRELL AND HOW DID HE MAKE HIS MILLIONS? Sir Martin Sorrell helped form WPP in 1985 after taking control of a shell company, Wire & Plastic Products, and established it as a marketing services group in 1986. He has been chief executive of the company for more than three decades. He oversaw the huge growth of company, building WPP into a firm that dominates the advertising industry with around 134,000 staff in 3,000 offices in 112 countries. He is one of the UK's highest earners, taking home 70million in the tax year 2015-16. Last month WPP warned that 2017 was 'not a pretty year' for the firm due to flat growth, despite profits of more than 2bn. Its share price has fallen sharply over the past 12 months from 17.31 to close at 11.17 in London on Tuesday.

A company spokesman added: 'The investigation is ongoing. The allegations do not involve amounts which are material to WPP.'

One source briefed on the situation told the Financial Times that the investigation 'could mean succession', adding: 'I don't know how he survives this'.

Sir Martin, 73, previously worked at Saatchi & Saatchi, and was knighted in the Queen's New Year honours list in 2000.

The claims come amid a tough time for WPP which has seen its share price tumble 27 per cent over the last year as large advertisers cut back spending.

Shares fell a further 4.8 per cent overnight on the back of the misconduct allegations against Sir Martin as investors reacted to the news.

Ian Whittaker, analyst at Liberum, said the allegations could 'intensify' speculation about the chief executive's future at WPP.

'The accusations are bound to attract a lot of attention and, given he is the face of WPP to many, there is likely to be a negative impact on sentiment today.

'However, he has denied the claims, there has been no move to suspend him, so the way it is being handled does not suggest a major issue.

Sir Martin has been at the helm of advertising giant WPP for more than three decades

'One thing this may do is intensify talk about Sir Martin's successor at WPP, which has been an issue lurking in the background.'

Sir Martin lives in a 5million property in London with his second wife Cristiana Falcone, whom he married in 2008. She gave birth to a girl in 2016.

He was previously married to Sandra Finestone, the mother of his three sons, but they split in 2003 in what was then the UK's biggest ever divorce settlement.

The 30million split from his wife of 33 years saw her awarded 23million in cash, a Georgian townhouse and two parking spaces at Harrods.

WPP has more than 205,000 staff in more than 3,000 offices in 112 countries and is now targeting Cuba, Iran and North Africa as new areas for growth.

He formed WPP in 1985 after taking control of a shell company called Wire & Plastic Products and turned it into a marketing services group one year later.

Sir Martin is one of Britain's top-paid executives, with his pay package in 2015-16 of 70million being the biggest in UK corporate history at the time.Hidden fees: The Competition and Markets Authority is investigating car rental firms

Holidaymakers hit by stealthy car hire charges are being urged to present evidence to the competition watchdog.

In a victory for Money Mail, the Competition and Markets Authority is investigating car rental firms that reel in customers with low prices online and then hit them with hidden fees when they collect their vehicles.

The watchdog says that if a customer signs in the UK to hire a car abroad, the deal should by covered by the Consumer Protection Act, which requires firms to display their charges clearly.

It says if you can show extras were added when you arrived at the rental desk  and that these werent clear online  the regulator may be able to use the evidence to take action against firms.

The watchdog has already launched a crackdown on three unnamed overseas car hire companies.

It praised Money Mails campaign against the rip-offs and said the dossier of evidence we submitted last August has helped it to take action.

The 300 complaints we submitted showed drivers were being stung for sneaky fuel fees and huge insurance excesses that were not detailed on websites.

To submit evidence, just email carhire@dailymail.co.uk and we will ensure your complaint gets to the CMA. Alternatively, call the CMA direct on 020 3738 6000.

r.lythe@dailymail.co.ukAdvertisement

Writer Tyler Wetherall was at a party in Brooklyn a few years ago, having a casual get-to-know-you chat with a new acquaintance, when something struck her as odd about his answers. He had traveled frequently as a child, but he was vague about the specifics as their conversation progressed. Tyler had a theory about why that might be, so she posed a jarring question to her new friend.

I looked at him [and] was like  Was your father a drug smuggler? Tyler tells DailyMail.com. He said, How did you know?

I said, You tell the same lies I tell people.

She clarifies further: Its funny; you get switched onto it.

Because Tyler, 34, spent most of her childhood on the run from American authorities, her New York-born father an international pot smuggler wanted by the FBI in the era of President Ronald Reagans strict crackdown on drugs. Rather than face a significant prison sentence, Tylers father, Benjamin Glaser, took the family abroad from their home in California, resettling Tyler, her sister and brother and their mother in fugitive enclaves from Italy and France to Portugal before they returned to her model mothers native Britain.

For much of this time, Tyler had no real idea why the family often went by different names, moved so frequently and had such an unconventional lifestyle. It wasnt until her father was taken into custody  after authorities tracked her own trip to St Lucia to visit her dad for her twelfth birthday  that the extent of the truth came and out and Tyler was forced to confront the reality of her family situation.

This was followed by years of traumatic visits to her father in a California prison, all while his ex-wife and children maintained a code of silence  worried that classmates and fellow residents of their new home in Bath, England would ostracize them if it was revealed that a convicted drug kingpins family was living among them.

Tyler, left, with her father and older sister; he began selling marijuana in college and evolved into a major international drug smuggler

Tyler's British mother, a former model, poses in Maui with an infant Tyler, her sister and her brother, who is seven years older than the writer

Tyler, who now lives in Brooklyn, initially tried to ghostwrite her father's story, then worked on the project as a novel, but ultimately turned the work into a memoir titled No Way Home

Tyler and her father maintained a strong bond during his imprisonment  closer, he would argue, than many fathers and daughters who saw each other every day  but there were issues of resentment and lost time that would have to be overcome. Tyler, who now lives in Brooklyn, and her father, who works as an investment adviser in Northern California, remain incredibly close to this day and talk a few times a week, visiting each other whenever they can.

And working together on Tylers new book about their unorthodox and fugitive family life played a huge part in achieving that, she says.

It started, however, as her fathers story; he wrote a massive autobiographical tome during his five-plus years in prison (hed been sentenced to 10 years on charges related to running a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, after he and 17 others were indicted for smuggling 100 tons of marijuana worth nearly $500million from Thailand to the United States between 1976 and 1983.)

Following his release in 2001, Glaser wanted to publish that project. He and Tyler had always dreamed of turning their unusual history into a film, but now he wanted a ghostwriter for a book.

I was working as a magazine journalist in London at the time, and I felt very strongly that I didnt want anybody else to do it but me, Tyler tells DailyMail.com. So I quit my job and flew out to LA and moved in with him; I think I interviewed him every day for six weeks.

In addition to hours of those interview tapes, Tyler also had the thousands of words hed typed up behind bars.

I started trying to write his autobiography, but I couldnt do it, she says. In his version of the story, which is totally true for him, he is the grand adventurer and the hero of his story  and I felt like it was excluding our voices and what we went through, too. And it was starting to make me angry with him again, which Id resolved.

I thought, I want to tell it through my words and my eyes. So I told him I was doing that. He was quite supportive of me all the way through, and I started working on it as a novel and, I think, wrote it as a novel because I wasnt ready to tell anyone yet  because we never talked to anyone about it. Even a few years ago, I still hadnt told most of my friends  so it took me a long time to come to terms with the idea of telling people this story and telling people it was true.

I realized Id written a memoir.

She had great resources to help her; in addition to mining her mother and siblings memories of their years on the run, Tyler had also kept journals of her own from pretty much as soon as I could hold a pencil. Those youthful writings painted a picture of a slightly confused young girl, an angsty teenager, a child-of-nowhere which lends its name to her books current title: No Way Home.

Tyler and her siblings had lived in 13 houses in five countries on two continents by the time she was 10 years old. Her father had gotten involved with drug smuggling before his children were born and found himself incredibly successful at it, amassing huge wealth and vowing to give up the criminal lifestyle when he finally had a young family. He was a man of great charisma and wild stories; even now, Tyler speaks with quiet pride about how he rolled joints for the Beatles and smoked with Bob Marley in his heyday.

He couldnt resist the allure of that one more big deal, however, and a massive smuggle from Thailand would eventually prove his undoing. A cat-and-mouse game with authorities eventually led to his decision to flee prosecution, with he and his wife, Sarah, agreeing theyd rather keep the family together  hence taking their three young children on the run.

Tyler, left, and her sister still managed to visit their father after he separated from their mother and moved from country to country as he evaded authorities. Here they are in St Lucia for her 12th birthday, the fateful trip that saw him tracked down by the authorities

Tyler says she admires her father, pictured, who is originally from New York and lived a life that is the 'stuff of Hollywood movies'

Tyler says that 'if you wish for things to be different, thats wishing yourself to be a different person  and I dont wish for that. I would love for it to come with a little less heartache'. Pictured with her father on a beach in Portugal

They moved frequently and Sarah was often unhappy but, while a girlish Tyler had no way of knowing the nature of their travels, she sensed and embraced the air of adventure. She knew there was a different name on her passport (her real name, since her mother didnt want the children associated with anything illegal) than the name she used in everyday life (an alias.)

I never questioned anything, because you dont as a child, Tyler tells DailyMail.com. I had an awareness that it was strange, because when people asked me about my life, I would tell them, and they would look at me like it was strange. I quite liked that. I thought that was interesting, and I thought it made us different, and I liked that  there was never any suspicion it was criminal.

Often the family lived in enclaves with other international fugitives, such as when they lived in the South of France, with neighbors including former Haitian dictator Papa Doc Duvalier and Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. The adults in these fugitive families would trade tips on local living and how to evade capture, but many of the kids were still oblivious  though many still keep in contact after realizing their shared unusual upbringings, Tyler says.

Tyler and her siblings were instructed to never discuss family matters.

The parents knew who to talk to, but we didnt; you understand that there was a secret and a secret that was important and if you told the secret your parents might go to prison  but you didnt know exactly where the parameters of that secretly were  do you were always kind of just treading carefully, she says.

Tylers mother was miserable in France, however, and the family would eventually return to her native Britain, where Tylers parents would separate  not long before detectives turned up on their door in the rural English countryside and Tylers father would go on the run, away from his family and outside of England but maintaining as much contact as possible. He would communicate through friends or letters and phone box conversations and arrange trips for his daughters to come visit him in secret locations.

One of those trips to the Caribbean would prove fateful; authorities knew Glaser would want to see his youngest child on her birthday, and they tracked the travel plans of Tyler and her sister, who were flying using their real passports. Their father initially evaded capture and left St Lucia, but he returned to the island a few weeks later and was arrested before being turned back over to the US authorities.

Tyler and her sister, two years older, returned to school in England but kept in close contact with their father, especially visiting him during school vacations. But the family maintained its code of silence when it came to outsiders.

We were all teenagers; everyone was smoking pot, Tyler tells DailyMail.com, particularly singling out the folk hero legends of infamous Welsh smuggler Mr Nice Howard Marks.

Id be wanting to say, My dads a pot smuggler, too, and he used to roll joints for the Beatles and he used to smoke with Bob Marley  Id have to bite my tongue not to be saying this to them because I wanted the extra cool points.

When she did become more comfortable sharing her fathers criminal status, however, the rest of the family also got behind her effort to tell their story in a book.

Theyve been incredible, she tells DailyMail.com. There hasnt been a point at which they havent been behind me doing this. I always wanted to write, and we grew up with a story like this. Its almost impossible to write anything else.

In addition to her journals, her family members were also great research resources  and not just her father.

My sister has read every single version that I have written from the beginning, Tyler says of her sister, two years her senior, whereas their brother is seven years older. So me and her went through most of it side by side, and his experience was slightly different.

She helped with a lot of the memories that I didnt have; she had a huge part in the writing.

Tyler visited her father at Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex (pictured) in California, where he was serving a ten-year sentence on drug charges

Tyler, right, tells DailyMail.com she felt a great responsibility to tell her family's story 'in a way that is fair and representative and true for them, as well'

All my family, theyve all contributed their stories and their memories to it, and I couldnt have done it any other way. I said all the way along, if you dont want me to do this, I will stop  and every piece of press I do, I get their permission.

She tells DailyMail.com: 'It's a huge responsibility. I think most people who write memoirs (maybe this is a massive generalization) I think a lot of people who write memoirs often write about family members who have passed away or who are estranged or who they no longer feel responsibility towards - whereas me and my family are incredibly close. And so it does come with responsibility to speak on their behalf in a way that is fair and representative and true for them, as well.'

But she adds that, luckily, 'they're amazingly zen.'

Her mother, especially, gave her youngest child free reign when it came to writing the book; shes only in the process of reading the memoir now, Tyler admits slightly nervously.

She is independent and fearless and entirely unconventional; she makes her own mind up about the world and has led an extraordinary life, because I think most of us are scared to make unconventional decisions  and so we end up leading lives which follow a certain path  her life could be a book in itself, for sure, Tyler says of her mother, who ran away from home as a teenager to her first marriage before meeting Tylers father at a New York party (though shed marry a second husband, too, before settling with Glaser).

She didnt want to put any pressure on me to worry about what she was thinking, so she let me do the whole thing and she always said, I trust you  Shes not someone who really cares what people think about her. She worried that shed come across as a bad mother, and I feel like she was an extraordinary mother. I think anyone who reads the book would think that, too.

And, despite the heartbreak that resulted from her fathers illegal activities, Tyler reserves similar feelings for him, as well.

I admire my dad, she tells DailyMail.com. Most of us dont lead lives that are the stuff of Hollywood movies  Hes always wanted a relationship with us. It was that relationship that got him caught. He wouldve been free if hed been willing to give us up; I think coming to understand that is part of that process of forgiveness and the choices he made and what we went through because of him.

You cant wish for anything to be different, can you? Because if you wish for things to be different, thats wishing yourself to be a different person  and I dont wish for that. I would love for it to come with a little less heartache, and maybe three years rather than six if he has to go to prison, or, you know, they could have just changed their minds and dropped the charges once pot got legalized.

She adds: My parents did everything they could to protect us under the circumstances from what was happening. The storys fundamentally redemptive; we came through it.This is the moment a deaf boy broke into tears after hearing his father's voice for the first time in months, having just been fitted with a replacement hearing aid.

When nine-year-old Luiz Gustavo da Silva's surgical hearing implant stopped working in March this year, he was left facing weeks of uncertainty because his family couldn't afford the repair bill of 1,630.

The youngster was devastated by the sudden silence and cried repeatedly, sorely missing conversations, music and interacting at school.

Scroll down for video

This is the moment a deaf boy spun around on the spot and broke into tears after hearing his father's voice for the first time, having just been fitted with a hearing aid

The child's plight touched the hearts of scores of residents in his home town, Bueno Brandao in south east Brazil, which has a population of around 11,000.

Hundreds rallied to the youngster's cause when a teacher, Caleny Augusta de Rosa, suggested holding a raffle with an ox, worth around 220 donated by the family as the top prize.

Ms de Rosa said: 'Once people heard about Luiz Gustavo's difficulties, many residents who had never met him, got behind the campaign. We printed 1,000 tickets and sold each one for 2.20.

'Within 15 days we had raised more than enough to fix the device.'

Athais, 29, Luiz Gustavo's mum said: 'The response was amazing. We were shocked by how many people supported our son and gave so generously.'

To show their appreciation, the youngster's dad, Juliano, 32, recorded the moment on 19 March when he refitted the implement to his anxious son's left ear and switched it on.

At first the device didn't work.

'I adjusted it and the instant Luiz Gustavo heard my voice was priceless,' recalled Mr da Silva, an office administrator who recently released the footage.

The child's plight touched the hearts of scores of residents in his home town, Bueno Brandao in south east Brazil, which has a population of around 11,000

'It still brings tears to my eyes when I look back on how he jumped with surprised joy and gave the thumbs up. That moment reminds me just how isolated he is when he cannot hear.'

Mr da Silva explained his son was born deaf, but doctors failed for over a year and a half to correctly diagnose the problem.

At the age of three, the toddler was fitted with a life-transforming cochlear implant with a removable external processor that attaches via a magnet to an internal implant, surgically placed under the skin.

When connected, coded signals from the processor are received and then translated to the electrode simulators. A tiny electrical charge is sent to the fibres of the auditory nerve to give sound sensations which are recognised by the brain.

'For the past six years Luiz Gustavo has been living a normal life and has been working with speech therapists to improve his communication,' Mr da Silva revealed.

Hundreds rallied to the youngster's cause when a teacher, Caleny Augusta de Rosa, suggested holding a raffle with an ox, worth around 220 donated by the family as the top prize

'Then around March 4 the hearing aid suddenly stopped working. We sent it to the manufacturer's technical department, but the Unified Health System (SUS - Brazil's public health service) doesn't pay for maintenance and the warranty expired three years ago. So, we were presented with a repair bill we couldn't afford.

'Luiz Gustavo was without the equipment for over two weeks. But for him it felt like an eternity,' Mr da Silva recalled.

The distressed boy refused to go to school and spent nearly every day 'sobbing his heart out' and getting increasingly frustrated over his predicament.

'On the day we went to collect the repair, I decided to record a video to show everyone, who had bought a raffle ticket, the result of their extraordinary kindness,' said the grateful dad.

Footage shows the adorable moment Luiz Gustavo bursts into tears as his father says: 'There is no need to cry' but starts to cry himself while repeatedly affirming: 'You can hear, you can hear!'

Footage shows the adorable moment Luiz Gustavo bursts into tears as his father says: 'There is no need to cry' but starts to cry himself while repeatedly affirming: 'You can hear, you can hear!'

After hugging the family friend, who volunteered to collect the device from the manufacturers in Sao Paulo, the delighted boy waves to the camera and between sobs says: 'Thank you everyone.'

'We were stunned by the commotion the video created,' admitted Mr da Silva.

'Within a day of it being posted, we received a staggering eight million views, hundreds of thousands of shares and calls from TV and radio to tell our story.

'People were touched by Luiz Gustavo's response which was heartfelt. He couldn't stop crying with happiness and his reaction reduced me to tears. We're eternally indebted to everyone who helped make this difference to his life,' he added.

Now the family is battling to raise funds to pay for bilateral surgery to deliver hearing to the child's right ear.

'The SUS only pays for one ear to be fitted with the implant but with hearing aids on both sides of his head, his speech and personal interactions will develop enormously,' the resolute dad said.

The cost for the second device is over 15,000. The family has launched a fund-raising page and is hoping for help once again, from relatives and friends.

Donate to Luiz Gustavos hearing aid fund HEREFormer Trump aide and accused wife-beater Rob Porter may have landed himself a new gig at the Trump campaign, DailyMail.com has learned.

Within days of being let go as staff secretary to President Trump, alleged wife abuser Porter was hired by Brad Parscale, the president's 2020 campaign manager, a source tells DailyMail.com.

In addition to leading the Trump campaign, Parscale also has a political branding and strategy business and founded a non-profit group to promote Trump's policies last year called 'America First Policies.' It is believed Porter is being paid by Parscale's company with the intention of involving him in the campaign at some point in the future.

A D.C. insider told DailyMail.com that Trump was disturbed by the media's rush to condemn Porter and had concerns about his former aide's sudden loss of livelihood.

The source said Trump intervened to help get Porter a job that would eventually have him working closely with his campaign.

However after DailyMail.com broke the story, Parscale claimed on Twitter after the that he did not hire Porter and believes he has never even met him.

'No, Rob Porter has not been hired in any capacity. I have never even thought about it. So #FakeNews,' he wrote on Twitter.

He had previously declined to comment on the record when reached by DailyMail.com before the story was published.

Rob Porter, 40, resigned from his role as White House staff secretary after a series of DailyMail.com revelations about violence towards his ex-wives

Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale, 42, is said to have hired Porter just days after he stepped down as a hush-hush favor to the president

Porter had been dating former White House communications director Hope Hicks when DailyMail.com revealed that Porter had been accused of abusing his two ex-wives. Above they are seen in February

'I know everything': How Brad Parscale showed he was at the center of the Trump world with this photograph, taken on election night in the dining room of the then candidate's apartment

Parscale, who was hired in 2015 by the Trump Organization to help with the burgeoning campaign's digital operations, has long boasted deep ties in Trump's inner circle.

When he was spotted walking through Trump Tower in December 2016, the Associated Press asked Parscale what he knew about the incoming administration.

'I know everything,' he told the news outlet.

The extent of Parscale's ties to Trump's inner circle was clear when Trump's son Eric and son-in-law Jared Kushner both had words of praise for Parscale when he was hired to lead Trump's 2020 campaign.

'He has our family's complete trust and is the perfect person to be at the helm of the campaign,' said Eric Trump.

Kushner said in a statement that 'Brad was essential in bringing a disciplined technology and data-driven approach to how the 2016 campaign was run' and would help 'build a best-in-class campaign.'

Porter, a former aide to Orrin Hatch was hired as Trump's White House staff secretary in January 2017, where he worked extremely closely with the president and senior White House staff.

'Trump felt badly about Porter's ouster and the way it played out,' the insider told DailyMail.com, 'and it was Trump who asked Parscale to put him on his payroll.'

A senior Trump campaign official denied that Parscale had hired Porter and said the former White House aide is not working for the campaign.

'There has never even been discussion on the matter,' said the senior campaign official. 'Completely made up.'

But sources tell DailyMail.com this was a hush-hush favor to the president, who still feels some loyalty to Porter in spite of the allegations that he had abusive relationships with two ex-wives as well as a former girlfriend.

Porter, a Mormon who is believed to be 'making amends' in Utah, had been dating former White House communications director Hope Hicks when DailyMail.com revealed that Porter had been accused of abusing his two ex-wives.

Sources say the two are no longer together romantically but Hope has spoken to Porter a couple of times  more a wellness check than anything else.

Porter resigned from the White House in February after his two ex-wives stepped forward with allegations of abuse.

Sources said that Trump was disturbed by the media's rush to condemn Porter and had concerns about his former aide's sudden loss of livelihood

Jennifer Willoughby, who was married to Porter from 2009 to 2013, told DailyMail.com that she lived in 'terror' of Porter's explosive anger, constant insults, and physical violence against her.

She said he once dragged her naked out of the shower to shout at her shortly after their first anniversary in 2010. Willoughby also filed a restraining order against Porter after he allegedly punched in a glass door to her apartment and she feared he was trying to break in.

Porter's previous wife, Colbie Holderness, also accused Porter of punching her in the face while they were vacationing in Italy and kicking her during their honeymoon.

Photographs taken at the time show Holderness with a bruised and swollen right eye.

Porter's second wife, Jennifer Willoughby, 39, was the first to speak out publicly against her ex-husband and told DailyMail.com the former aide had been abusive throughout their marriage

Colbie Holderness, 37, Porter's first wife, said he was 'verbally, physically, and emotionally abusive' during their marriage. She claimed her ex-husband punched her in the face while they were on vacation

Porter denied that he punched Holderness. He claimed he had been trying to prevent Holderness from throwing a glass vase on the floor during an argument when she fell and got the black eye.

President Trump was reportedly unhappy with the media coverage of Porter at the time, believing it to be unfair and biased against him. But Trump also publicly condemned domestic violence, saying he was 'totally opposed' to abuse.

During the scandal it was also revealed that Porter had never been issued a permanent security clearance and may have had problems passing the required background check due to his marital history and the abuse allegations.

The news prompted the House of Representatives to investigate the White House's use of temporary security clearances for employees.A former U.S. Army sniper and two other ex-American soldiers agreed to become contract killers for an international crime boss who wanted to settle a score with a real estate agent he thought cheated him on a land deal, a prosecutor said Tuesday at the trial for the three men.

Joseph Hunter, a onetime sergeant with a Special Forces background, Adam Samia and Carl David Stillwell have denied they planned the 2012 execution-style hit - a case that's provided an inside glimpse into the secret fraternity of private mercenaries willing to kill in cold blood for cash.

Prosecutors said the 52-year-old Hunter was working as a security chief for weapons and drug trafficker Paul Le Roux when he recruited Samia and Stillwell to travel from their homes in Roxboro, North Carolina, to the Philippines for what was called 'ninja work.'

Hunter provided firearms and silencers and told them Le Roux would pay them $35,000 a piece to get the job done, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Egan said in federal court in Manhattan.

In this Sept. 26, 2013 file photo, Joseph Hunter, second from left, a former U.S. Army sniper who became a private mercenary, is in the custody of Thai police commandos after being arrested in Bangkok, Thailand

Hunter, already serving a 20 year term for plotting to kill a DEA agent, goes on trial in New York at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan Tuesday, April 3, 2018, on charges that he plotted to assassinate a real-estate agent for an international crime boss

The broker, Catherine Lee, was on a 'kill list' that self-styled assassins with military backgrounds saw as a golden opportunity, Egan said.

'If Paul Le Roux wanted somebody killed, these guys got the call,' he said. 'For these men, more murders meant more money.'

Samia, 43, and Stillwell, 50, did surveillance on Lee before contacting her pretending to be potential clients, the prosecutor said.

While returning from a trip to the countryside outside of Manila, Samia pulled out a .22-caliber gun and killed Lee by shooting her twice in the face as she sat in the back seat of a van, he said.

Lee's body was found on a pile of garbage on the side of the road, Egan said. After being paid, her killers were ordered back to the United States, where they were arrested in 2015.

Carl David Stillwell (left) and Adam Samia (right) in their mugshots, have denied they planned a 2012 execution-style hit

An investigation turned up a picture on Stillwell's phone of a bloody head wrapped in a towel that was taken around the time of Lee's death, authorities said. He also admitted being behind the wheel of the van when she was shot, they added.

Prosecutors said other evidence includes a secretly recorded video of Hunter from a sting in Thailand that resulted in a separate conviction for plotting to kill a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

They said he's overheard talking about killing people for Le Roux, including a Filipino real-estate agent.

On Tuesday, defense attorneys asked jurors to keep an open mind, saying the case lacked eyewitness, forensic and other conclusive evidence needed to convict.

They also told them not to trust shady government witnesses like Le Roux, who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating.

Hunter's attorney, Cesar De Castro, suggested the government couldn't prove its case.

Samia only agreed 'to do legitimate, legal security work,' said his lawyer, Jeremy Schneider.

Stillman's lawyer, Robert Ray, didn't deny his client's statements about being in the van but claimed he never joined a murder conspiracy. 'It just didn't happen,' Ray said.A Utah man forced a teenage girl to kneel and watch her boyfriend being beaten and stabbed before she was killed and thrown down an abandoned mine shaft, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Jerrod Baum, 41, made Brelynne 'Breezy' Otteson watch him beat and stab Riley Powell before throwing him down a mine shaft, according to charging documents filed Tuesday.

Even though Baum thought Otteson was pregnant - she was not - he proceeded to slit the 17-year-old's throat and threw her body down the same mine.

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Prosecutors Jerrod Baum, 41, made Brelynne 'Breezy' Otteson (left) watch him beat and stab Riley Powell (right) before throwing him down a mine shaft, according to charging documents filed Tuesday

Even though Baum (pictured) thought Otteson was pregnant - she was not - he proceeded to slit the 17-year-old's throat and threw her body down the same mine.

Utah County prosecutor Chad Grunander did not elaborate on why Baum believed Otteson was pregnant before he cut her throat.

Baum has been charged with eight felonies, including two counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and desecration of a human body. His attorney has not returned calls seeking comment.

Baum could face the death penalty if convicted in the deaths of Otteson and her boyfriend, 18-year-old Powell, who authorities say suffered a stab wound to his groin.

Family members of the teenage victims said they'd support a capital case against Baum. They spoke outside a court in Provo, Utah, following Baum's brief initial appearance, the Daily Herald reported.

'He doesn't deserve a life,' said Bill Powell, Riley Powell's father. 'We as the taxpayers don't need to support him and give him a life, because he took life.'

Baum (left) has been charged with eight felonies, including two counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and desecration of a human body. Morgan Reannon Henderson, 34 (right) , was booked on obstruction of justice on Saturday in Utah

But after Henderson was pulled over last weekend in an unrelated traffic stop and cops found an ax, a rifle and knives in her car, the rest of the story came out

His younger sister Nikka Powell cried as she talked about facing the reality they are dead.

'They had a whole life to live,' she said. 'Me and my brother were so close, and I was so close to Breezy. We did everything together. And it's just hard to actually realize that they're gone now.'

Police say Baum killed the couple after they visited his girlfriend despite Baum's warning against her having male visitors.

The teens were missing for nearly three months before their bodies were found last week in the abandoned mine about 75 miles south of Salt Lake City.

The break in the case came when Baum's girlfriend Morgan Henderson, 34, was arrested in a separate case and led police to the bodies.

Authorities believe Henderson witnessed the slayings. She is being held on suspicion of obstruction of justice, though Grunander did not rule out the possibility of additional charges.

On Tuesday, their bodies were found dumped down this mine, after the killer's girlfriend confessed to police that he had killed them

The girlfriend, Morgan Henderson, initially told police in January that the couple had come over to her house before they went missing to smoke weed, but after they left she hadn't heard from them. Above, the scene of the murders on Wednesday

But after Henderson was pulled over last weekend in an unrelated traffic stop and cops found an ax, a rifle and knives in her car, the rest of the story came out.

Henderson is the only other person under investigation in the deaths, he said. No attorney was available Tuesday on her behalf.

Authorities are still investigating why she didn't tell police what she knew sooner, though Grunander said she was threatened at one point.

'We obviously wish she would have come forward earlier,' he said. 'That would have saved additional grief for the family.'

If prosecutors don't pursue the death penalty, Baum could face a minimum of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.President Trump is having dinner Tuesday night with his biggest Silicon Valley backer, Peter Thiel, DailyMail.com has confirmed.

The dinner, a source close to Thiel said, will be a strategy session on how the president might be able to regulate Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google.

Trump has been fixated on Amazon as of late, blasting the online retailer again from the White House on Tuesday.

Billionaire Peter Thiel, seen speaking at the 2016 Republican National Convention, will be a dinner guest of President Donald Trump's on Tuesday night

President Trump is expected to get advice from billionaire Peter Thiel on how to regulate the top tech companies that include Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple

'Amazon's gonna have to pay much more money to the Post Office. There's no doubt about that.'

Trump charged the U.S. Post Office is 'losing billions of dollars' all because it delivers packages for Amazon at below cost 'and that's not fair.'

Behind-the-scenes, a source told Axios that Trump is 'obsessed with Amazon.'

'He's wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law,' a source told the publication.

Axios pointed out that the president 'would love to clip CEO Jeff Bezos' wings,' but he doesn't have a plan to do so. With billionaire Thiel's advice, that could change.

Bezos is also the owner of the Washington Post.

A source told DailyMail.com that at least one other guest is expected to attend the dinner.

The group will also discuss government IT security.

The meal comes less than a week after the firm Thiel co-founded, Palantir Technologies, announced it was looking into links between Cambridge Analytica and one of its employees.

Last Wednesday, Palantir Technologies acknowledged that one of its employees had contacted employees at Cambridge Analytica, the firm that had improperly accessed Facebook data from 50 million Americans in 2013 and 2014, which also did work on President Trump's campaign.

Thiel's dinner also comes on the heels of Trump publicly dressing down American reporters during a press conference with Baltic leaders, labeling them 'fake news.'

Trump had encouraged Latvia's President Raimonds Vejonis to pick a reporter to ask a question.

'A Baltic reporter, ideally,' Trump said. 'Real news, not fake news.'

The American president also cautioned Vejonis from picking the previous reporter who had asked a question because he 'was very tough.'

Thiel, himself, is not perceived as a friend to the press either, as he famously helped to finance wrestler Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against the website Gawker, eventually forcing it to shut down.

But Thiel has also tried to counter the narrative that he's against a free press.

'I refuse to believe that journalism means massive privacy violations,' Thiel told the New York Times in 2016. 'I think much more highly of journalists than that. It's precisely because I respect journalists that I do not believe they are endangered by fighting back against Gawker.'From having cement dumped in the middle of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to a wallaby hopping along causing chaos, here are some of the reasons traffic has come to a standstill on the iconic stretch.

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What a load of mess! Chaos caused by a dumping of dirt

Huge traffic delays were seen in January 2016 when a truck dumped 20 tonnes of dirt on the bridge.

A mix of rocks and soil was dumped in a busy lane, causing a huge inconvenience to traffic.

The oblivious 61-year-old driver was pulled over by police shortly after crossing the bridge, but by then the damage was done and an entire lane had been contaminated with debris.

Huge traffic delays were seen in January 2016 when a truck dumped 20 tonnes of dirt on the bridge

A mix of rocks and soil was dumped in a busy lane, causing a huge inconvenience to traffic

The oblivious 61-year-old driver was pulled over by police shortly after crossing the bridge, but by then the damage was done and an entire lane had been contaminated with debris

That's Australia for you! 5am commuters spot a wallaby hopping own the road

In one of the most Australian sites spotted on the national icon, a wallaby was spotted hopping along the bridge earlier this year.

The marsupial stunned motorists in January during their morning commute.

Motorists found it jumping across the busy lanes, causing traffic to slow down before police were able to capture the adventurous animal.

The distressed male wallaby was taken to Toronga Wildlife Hospital before it was later released into the bush.

In one of the most Australian sites spotted on the national icon, a wallaby was spotted hopping along the bridge earlier this year causing huge traffic delays (pictured)

The distressed male wallaby was taken to Toronga Wildlife Hospital before it was later released into the bush

One way to fix a tummy ache! Man climbed the bridge after getting out of taxi because he was 'unwell'

A man climbed up one of the bridge's arches after reportedly telling a taxi driver to pull over because he was feeling unwell.

The man caused huge traffic delays in June 2016 when he sat on the northern side of the bridge with sunglasses on.

A number of lanes were closed before police were able to negotiate with the man to coax him down later that morning.

A man climbed up one of the bridge's arches after reportedly telling a taxi driver to pull over because he was feeling unwell

The man caused huge traffic delays in June 2016 when he sat on the northern side of the bridge with sunglasses on

Bus bursts into flames and sends thick, black smoke into the sky

A bus caught fire during peak-hour chaos on the bridge in September 2016.

An electrical fault was the reason thousands of afternoon commuters experienced lengthy delays after the engine of the bus burst into flames.

Huge billows of thick black smoke poured over the bridge while the flames burnt the 20-year-old State Transit bus, with 22 passengers quickly evacuated.

The driver and two passengers were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation.

A bus caught fire during peak-hour chaos on the bridge in September 2016 (pictured)

An electrical fault was the reason thousands of afternoon commuters experienced lengthy delays after the engine of the bus burst into flames (pictured)

Huge billows of thick black smoke poured over the bridge (pictured) while the flames burnt the 20-year-old State Transit bus, with 22 passengers quickly evacuated

Protester abseils off the top of the bridge to send a message with a view

A adventurous man got a different look of the picturesque harbour when he abseiled off the top of the bridge.

Lengthy delays were in place on May 13, 2011, when Michael Fox climbed the bridge before releasing banners in protest of the Australia Family Court system.

The man then abseiled down the bridge during the morning commute.

The abseiler was later fined $3700.

A adventurous man got a different look of the picturesque harbour when he abseiled off the top of the bridge

Lengthy delays were in place on May 13, 2011, when Michael Fox climbed the bridge before releasing banners in protest of the Australia Family Court system

Horsing around! Cattle former takes protest across the bridge

A horse was ridden across the bridge by a beef farmer in protest about protecting the land.

Donning an Akubra hat, the farmer rode his horse across the bridge, slowing down traffic during the afternoon stunt in June 2016.

Wanting to raise awareness of land clearing legislation, Glenn Morris was met by police at the end of the ride.

A horse was ridden across the bridge by a beef farmer in protest about protecting the land

Donning an Akubra hat, the farmer rode his horse across the bridge, slowing down traffic during the afternoon stunt in June 2016 (pictured)Traffic has been backed up for 30kilometres across the Sydney Harbour Bridge after a man scaled the iconic structure.

Furious commuters were trapped at peak hour on Wednesday after the man illegally climbed the bridge, causing northbound lanes to close.

Police rescue crews are negotiating with the man, who is sitting inside a metal section of the bridge, rolling a cigarette while seemingly listening to music.

The ongoing police operation is also affecting the city's public transport, with Sydney Trains reporting delays on the T1 line at 9am.

Buses passing through Gordon, Macquarie, Pennant Hills, Thornleigh, Chatswood and the Sydney CBD are delayed by up to 40 minutes due to the heavy traffic.

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Traffic has been backed up for 23kilometres across the Sydney Harbour Bridge after a man scaled the iconic structure

The man was seen sitting inside a metal infrastructure, rolling a cigarette while seemingly listening to music

All northbound lanes are closed to traffic, with cars backed up for more than 23km after lane closures

Police rescue crews are currently trying to coax the man down after he scaled the iconic structure at around 4.30am on Wednesday

All northbound lanes were closed shortly after police arrived, with the traffic backed up for more than 5km just before 7am.

By 8am, northbound traffic was queued nearly 20km to Victoria Road in Huntley's Point, the gridlock soon stretching a further three kilometres.

Two of the four lanes have since reopened, but authorities have warned commuters the bridge could fully shut down if the situation escalates.

Footage showed police negotiators attempting to get close to the man, who quickly climbed the bridge truss and scampered away.

Police rescue officers followed him along the structure, but it is proving difficult to reach him because he keeps moving, a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

Later, the man made hand gestures at police, appearing to ask them to call his mobile phone.

Footage showed police negotiators attempting to get close to the man, who quickly climbed the bridge truss and scampered away

An unauthorised man has climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, bringing early morning traffic to a standstill

The man made hand gestures at police, appearing to ask them to call his mobile phone

The man left a bicycle in the middle of the road before making the climb, it is understood.

Traffic Management Centre's David Wright said the chaos is likely to go on for hours.

'It doesn't look like it's going to have a quick resolution, is the information that we're getting, it's basically going to throw peak into chaos for anyone coming into the Sydney CBD,' he told the ABC.

'If you are travelling into the CBD whether it's from the upper north shore, the lower north shore, the northern beaches, the inner west - you will be delayed significantly due to this major problem on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.'

It is proving difficult reach the man because he keeps moving, a NSW Police spokeswoman said

A large police presence as well as rescue squads and emergency services have gathered at the scene

A large police presence as well as rescue squads and emergency services are gathered at the scene.

The Harbour Tunnel is currently open, with motorists advised to check for updates.

Buses heading south across the bridge are delayed by up to 30 minutes, but trains are running as normal so far.

Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge is illegal unless authorised.

The view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge looking towards the city as all four northbound lanes were closedThe Greens want everyone to be paid a government wage regardless of their wealth and a People's Bank to be set up to help first-home buyers with low-interest loans.

The left-wing party's leader Richard Di Natale has called for Australia to copy Kenya, which is experimenting with a universal basic income where every citizen is given a payment with no obligation to work or be means tested.

'A modern, flexible and responsive safety net would increase their resilience and enable them to make a greater contribution to our community and economy,' Senator Di Natale will tell the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale wants Australia to copy Kenya, which is experimenting with a universal basic income where every citizen is given a payment with no obligation to work

'That's why we need a universal basic income.

'We need a UBI that ensures everyone has access to an adequate level of income, as well as access to universal social services, health, education and housing.'

The Victorian senator, whose speech notes were given to The Australian, also wants the Australian government to set up a People's Bank to help first-home buyers.

Australia hasn't had a federal government-owned home lender since the Commonwealth Bank was fully privatised in 1996.

His proposed People's Bank would enable Australians to borrow up to 60 per cent of value of a home directly from the Reserve Bank with low interest loans (file picture)

However, Senator Di Natale wants the Reserve Bank of Australia to offer online banking and teller services via Australia Post.

His proposed People's Bank would enable Australians to borrow up to 60 per cent of value of a home directly from the Reserve Bank.

It would offer low-interest loans charging three per cent interest, which is much less than existing standard variable mortgage rates of more than five per cent with the major banks.Kathy Griffin is back taking shots at the Trump Administration and this time she has her sights on White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.

The 57-year-old comedienne appeared as Conway in a preview clip for Comedy Central's 'Make America Great-A-Thon: A President's Show Special' which airs Tuesday night.

Griffin's Conway was too eager to 'happily defend' the 'worst people in history' when asked by Anthony Atamanuik's President Donald Trump.

Kathy Griffin appears as Kellyanne Conway on Comedy Central's 'Make America Great-A-Thon: A President's Show Special' alongside Anthony Atamanuik's President Donald Trump

Griffin's Conway was too eager to 'happily defend' the 'worst people in history'

'Did Bernie Madoff's investors go bankrupt? Yeah. But I find it interesting the media used the words "pyramid scheme,"' she said in regards to the disgraced Wall Street financier.

She added: 'Frankly, thats anti-Semitic when you consider the terrible suffering of the Jewish people in Egypt at the time of the pharaoh. So this so-called bankruptcy is actually a moral one on your part, Wolf.'

The brief appearance will mark Griffin's first acting gig after she was socially persecuted for posing with a prop Trump head that was bloody and decapitated.

It is Griffin's first acting gig since she posed with a photo of a prop Trump head decapitated and bloody

Though she apology, Griffin soon retracted and quickly loss numerous gigs, including her longstanding one alongside Anderson Cooper.

Griffin even had to be be interviewed by the FBI and was blasted by Trump, himself, who tweeted that she 'should be ashamed of herself.'

'The President's Show' is scheduled to air at 11pm on Comedy Central, Tuesday.An honorary research associate who recently turned 104 made just one birthday wish on his special day.

Dr David Goodall, from Perth, celebrated his big day with his family and friends at his daughter's house.

But as he blew out his birthday candles he made one startling wish.

Dr David Goodall (pictured) celebrated his 104th birthday but said that he wanted to die

He told the ABC: 'I want to die.'

Dr Goodall, who previously made headlines in 2016 after being told by Edith Cowan University that he had to work from home, told the broadcaster that: 'I would much prefer to be 20 or 30 years younger.'

Dr Goodall's health has deteriorated in recent times.

He can't do much of his university work due to being unable to read his emails thanks to poor eyesight.

He can also no longer commute to work after he had a fall a few months ago that saw him stuck on the floor of his apartment for two days before his cleaner found him.

The ordeal upset him.

He said: 'There's certainly a lack of respect, there's no respect at all.'

Dr Goodall has been a member of Exit International - a group for the legalisation of euthanasia - for 20 years.

He believes that once a person has passed middle life they 'should have full citizenship rights including the right of assisted suicide'.

Dr Goodall celebrated with his family (pictured) but spoke about the woes of getting older

As of mid-2019 those with a terminal and incurable illness that is unlikely to live more than six months will be able to legally have access to euthanasia in Victoria.

The Northern Territory had a short-lived bill that was struck down by the Federal government in 1997.

In Western Australia an inquiry heard that people over the age of 90 should have access to assisted suicide, according to Perth Now.

Kathleen Trendall told the parliamentary inquiry into assisted dying in Albany: 'It would seem to me that we should be given a choice when we feel that our life is no longer complete, we notice perhaps mental deterioration, or we know that we are going to be dependent on someone else.'A leading Roman Catholic school has been stripped of its pupil welfare responsibilities due to concerns over its handling of child sex abuse allegations.

Ampleforth College, which counts Julian Fellowes, sculptor Antony Gormley and Lawrence Dallaglio among its alumni, will have its safeguarding issues controlled by an external specialist, the Charity Commission announced yesterday.

The charities regulator launched an inquiry in November 2016 that revealed multiple allegations had been made against 40 monks and teachers who lived or worked at the 34,000-a-year Benedictine institution over the past 60 years.

And in the past two decades three monks and two lay teachers have been convicted of sex crimes against more than 30 students between the 1960s and 2010.

A leading Roman Catholic school has been stripped of its pupil welfare responsibilities due to concerns over its handling of child sex abuse allegations

The Charity Commission is yet to conclude its inquiry but its head of investigations and enforcement Harvey Grenville said: We are not satisfied that the trustees of these charities have made enough progress in improving the safeguarding environment for pupils in the schools connected to the charities.

For this reason, we have appointed an interim manager to expedite changes in the safeguarding arrangements at the schools.

Former music teacher Dara de Cogan, 58, was jailed for 28 months in March last year after admitting ten counts of sexual activity with a female pupil from 2007 to 2010

Convicted predators at the main college and its prep school include David Lowe, who was jailed for ten years in 2015 for 15 indecent assaults on boys aged under 14.

Former music teacher Dara de Cogan, 58, was jailed for 28 months in March last year after admitting ten counts of sexual activity with a female pupil from 2007 to 2010.

The schools abbot, the Right Rev Cuthbert Madden, stepped down from his role in 2016 after he was questioned by police over accusations of indecent assaults on four young boys in the 1990s.

Ampleforth Abbey runs a 200-year-old religious community on the same site its school in Yorkshire, which is run by the St Laurence Education Trust. Its prep school, St Martins Ampleforth, announced it will close at the end of the academic year.

Charity governance specialist Emma Moody, a partner at business law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, has been appointed to both schools in place of the trustees.

The school said in a statement that it welcomed the new interim manager, adding: We would like to take this opportunity to repeat our sincere and heartfelt apologies to anyone who has suffered harm whilst in Ampleforths care.Kevin Courtney, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers. He has called on teachers to relaunch their campaigning this month

Teachers will leaflet parents about Tory cuts to mobilise them in the run-up to next months local elections, union leaders have announced.

The National Union of Teachers has called on its members to hand out fliers and put up banners at school gates criticising the Government over funding of schools.

It will mean teachers around the country will be targeting families during the sensitive purdah period before the vote on May 3.

A campaign website which is run by the NUT and endorsed by head teacher unions ASCL and NAHT has numerous leaflet and poster templates for teachers to download.

One says: Our schools face a funding crisis  this is a national scandal.

'The Government know whats happening but they have failed to commit the funding that schools so urgently need.

It follows a similar campaign in the run-up to last years general election, when many Tories lost their seats and Theresa May lost her Commons majority.

Teachers then were accused of trying to sway the result by sending letters home in childrens schoolbags which criticised Tory education policies.

The campaign cost the union 300,000  more than Ukip spent on the poll.

Announcing the action at the NUTs annual conference in Brighton yesterday, general secretary Kevin Courtney called on teachers to relaunch their campaigning this month.

He said: I want to repeat my congratulations to the 3,500 members who ordered leaflets during the general election. Lets do that again and on an even bigger scale

'Lets make sure that the local elections see candidates being quizzed about their attitude to funding this generations education properly.

The union says its campaign is purely about getting election candidates to take on board school funding issues, and does not seek to influence voters on polling day.

Demonstrators march towards Parliament Square in London in support of the NUT in 2016

However, it is likely to harm local Conservative candidates fighting for the 4,000 council seats across England if parents are told Tories are starving schools of funding.

The school cuts campaign website has banners and posters available for teachers and also has template email and Facebook messages that can be sent out.

Mr Courtney said he was pleased that some people had changed their votes in last years election because of the NUTs campaigning.

He said members had distributed over a million leaflets and more than four million people watched the NUT campaign video.

Candidate after candidate told us that school funding was top of voters concerns, he said.

Official guidance states that during purdah  the period between an election being called and polling day  schools must not use public resources to give one party an advantage.

Conservative MP Henry Smith said during the last campaign that teachers were engaging in the party political fray in a way that was unacceptable.

The NUT has no official political affiliation but has allied itself with Labour on most policy issues.

A Department for Education spokesman said: Core schools and high needs funding has been protected in real terms per pupil and will rise to its highest ever level  over 43billion in 2020, 50 per cent more per pupil spending in real terms than in 2000.

The budget for pupils with special educational needs is 6billion this year. Local authorities now have more money for every pupil in every school.

Summer-born pupils 'need 11-plus help' Grammar schools should make allowances for pupils born in July or August when they sit the 11-plus, the official admissions regulator has ruled. The Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) said schools must adjust scores for summer-born pupils after research showed they tend to have lower attainment at school than those born in the autumn. Experts say the difference is down to younger children having to start school when they are less developed, and the disadvantage stays with them throughout their school career. The OSA made its ruling following an anonymous complaint by a parent against the 11-plus test run by Colchester County High School for Girls, in Essex. Results for last year showed that only 19 per cent of pupils born in July or August achieved a test pass mark for the grammar school, compared with 35 per cent of children who were born in September. The OSA ruled that the 5,000 pupils who take the test in ten Essex grammars each year must, from now on, have their scores adjusted to reflect age differences. Advertisement

Children in the UK are among the most obese in the world because of a lack of cooking and swimming classes, the NUT said.

It blamed the Governments focus on obsessive testing for squeezing out some non-core subjects from the curriculum.Thirteen men, including a primary school teacher, have been charged following raids across Victoria which allegedly uncovered child abuse material featuring victims as young as newborns.

Victoria Police and the Australia Federal Police arrested 20 men after raiding homes across 19 suburbs and one country town over several days in March during the major operation.

They discovered horrific child abuse material, child sex dolls, weapons and drugs.

Twenty men, aged from 19 to 62, have been arrested in Victoria following 20 statewide raids, resulting in charges against 13 men for possessing, accessing and sending child pornography (pictured are police during one of the raids)

The raids were conducted over several days in March by investigators from Victoria Police and the AFP

'The material that we're talking about here that's been seized relates to images of children as young as newborn children to the age of 17 years,' Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton told reporters on Wednesday.

'It involves them in sexually provocative poses, it involves them being subject to violence, it involves them being in degraded acts and it also involves torture.

'This is horrendous. To view this material, to make this material, to share this material - it's abhorrent, its offensive and it's disgusting.'

The anti-child exploitation team revealed this week more than 4million files containing images of child abuse are shared online every month within Victoria.

Police said they believe the number could be higher because a single file may contain hundreds more, according to The Age.

Thirteen men, aged 19 to 62, have been charged and another two are expected to be charged on summons.

Many are parents and work across of range of industries including administration and hospitality, Mr Patton said.

One man was a teacher working in administration at a primary school, but has since been stood down.

'Where we charge anybody in a position of trust we notify their employer, which has occurred on this occasion,' Mr Patton said.

Investigators swooped on the men in the hope they would be able to rescue children from international child pornography rings, Mr Patton said.

'We needed to target these people to gain intelligence, to gain evidence and to disrupt the criminal activities and also to see whether any children needed to be rescued throughout this.'

Three men from Heathcote, Hughesdale and Mulgrave are also expected to be charged on summons

One video seized involved victims from the Philippines, AFP Superintendent Paul Hopkins said.

Police in the Philippines disrupted that ring, involving alleged offenders from Australia, the US, Brazil and the Philippines, he said.

'Where it happens, wherever it happens, we will track them down and save the victim - that's our highest priority,' Mr Hopkins said.

The joint task force is now trying to identify the children in the thousands of videos and photos. No Australian children were in need of rescue at this stage.

Mr Patton warned people accessing 'millions' of child abuse videos and photos monthly in Australia that they were 'onto them'.

'If they're naive enough to sit at home and think they're not going to be targeted, they've got another thing coming,' he said.

The department of education did not comment on the teacher charged, given the matter was under police investigation.Chairman of the Commons Brexit select committee Hilary Benn. He said the so-called Norway option would allow continuity of access for UK services and could also be negotiated relatively quickly

Remainer MPs are insisting that Britain should stay permanently shackled to the EU even after Brexit.

They are calling for Theresa May to keep open the so-called Norway option, which would see the UK continue to accept free movement and pay into the EU in return for better market access.

But the recommendations  from the Commons Brexit select committee  were condemned as an attempt to thwart Brexit by stealth and should not even have been published after deep divisions between members emerged.

Chairman Hilary Benn last night said the option would allow continuity of access for UK services and could also be negotiated relatively quickly.

Despite the result of the referendum, the committee has a 10-6 majority in favour of Remain. With Mr Benn apparently unable to reach a consensus, this has led to a series of reports that have failed to win unanimous backing.

Committee member and prominent Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg said the decision to publish, despite a lack of consensus, was another effort by Remainers to reverse the result of the referendum.

Mr Rees-Mogg said: The high priests of Remain on the select committee voted through another report seeking to thwart Brexit by stealth.

'This serves no useful purpose as select committees reports are only influential if they are unanimous  dividing on Leave/Remain lines simply re-fights the referendum.

Another committee member, Tory Peter Bone. He described the report as pretty worthless and accused Mr Benn of making no effort to try to reach consensus

Another committee member, Tory Peter Bone, described the report as pretty worthless and accused Mr Benn of making no effort to try to reach consensus.

He said the chairman had never reflected my views in the committees reports.

This report  like some of those that have preceded it  is driven by Remainers pursuing a political agenda, he said.

They have produced another one-sided report which I and my colleagues cannot support.

'It takes into account the evidence that suits their agenda and ignores the evidence that does not. As a result it is pretty worthless.

Norway, which has never joined the EU, is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), giving it full access to the EUs internal market.

But it has been estimated that such a deal would still mean the UK paying 31.4billion a year.

Mr Bone dismissed the idea of pursuing the option, saying: It is all about trying to push the Government into staying in the EU in one form or another, despite the fact the public voted to leave.

Eurosceptic MPs have privately discussed a mass walkout from the committee, but decided against it because of the risk it would result in the committee being packed with even more Remainers.

Mr Benn, a former Labour Cabinet minister who played a leading role in the Remain campaign, declined to comment on criticism of his leadership.

Todays report calls on the Government to consider negotiating continued membership of the EEA or joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) after Brexit. Brexit Secretary David Davis has previously ruled out both options, calling them in many ways, the worst of all outcomes.

But the committee said that if the Prime Ministers negotiations on a deep and special partnership proved unsuccessful, EEA/EFTA membership should remain an alternative.

The committees Brexiteers voted against the report in its entirety, but were defeated 10-6.

In addition to the recommendation, the report also set down 15 key tests for the Governments final Brexit deal with the EU to pass, which covered everything from the Northern Ireland border to the free flow of data.

Mr Benn admitted to setting a high bar with the tests, but said they were based on the past pledges of the Prime Minister and the Brexit Secretary.A US Marine veteran who is wanted for the murder of his girlfriend could be hiding out in Central America, authorities have revealed.

Raymond McLeod, 34, has been charged with killing single mother-of-two Krystal Mitchell, 30, while they were vacationing in San Diego on June 10, 2016.

McLeod disappeared without a trace after taking Mitchell's car to the airport, where he rented a new car and drove straight to Mexico.

The Phoenix, Arizona native was a 'person of interest' in McLeod's case until Tuesday, when the San Diego County District attorney announced the murder charge.

Raymond McLeod, 34, has been charged with killing single mother-of-two Krystal Mitchell, 30, while they were vacationing in San Diego on June 10, 2016

McLeod, of Phoenix, Arizona, was a 'person of interest' in McLeod's case until Tuesday, when the San Diego County District attorney announced the murder charge

There is now a warrant out for McLeod and an $11,000 reward for information leading to his arrest, according to NBC San Diego.

Authorities said McLeod should be considered armed and dangerous.

Mitchell and McLeod instantly bonded over the fact that they were both divorced and had children around the same age

Mitchell and McLeod met in Phoenix and instantly bonded over the fact that they were both divorced and had children around the same age.

The protective mom ran what she thought were two background checks on McLeod and found a spotless record.

'She told me, "I feel like I can be myself with this guy. I feel protected"', Mitchell's best friend Diana Olivares told Crime Watch Daily.

Olivares got a 'weird vibe' from McLeod, as did Mitchell's mother Josephine Funes Wentzel.

But Wentzel was more preoccupied with the fact that her daughter was worried about an ex who 'was bothering her'.

Mitchell became so concerned that McLeod even loaned her a gun, according to Wentzel.

Amidst all the drama, McLeod surprised Mitchell with a trip to San Diego to visit some friends.

But those same friends would find Mitchell dead in a bedroom inside their home.

McLeod surprised Mitchell with a trip to San Diego to visit some friends. But those same friends would later find Mitchell dead in a bedroom inside their home

Police found 'obvious signs of struggle' in the room, and realized that McLeod had completely disappeared

Police found 'obvious signs of struggle' in the room, and realized that McLeod had completely disappeared.

San Diego Police have yet to publicly release Mitchell's official cause of death, but Wentzel said she was strangled.

After months went by without a sign of the veteran, Wentzel - a former detective - decided to take matters into her own hands.

Wentzel was shocked to discover that McLeod had far from a clean record and realized Mitchell had run credit checks on him, not background checks.

McLeod had been charged twice with domestic violence, one of which occurred just three months before Mitchell was murdered.

The Marine pleaded not guilty to assaulting his second wife in Riverside, California and was released on $50,000 bond.

When Wentzel posted a 'Wanted' poster with McLeod's picture on Facebook, she received a flood of messages from past girlfriends.

'He's a charming man from what I understand,' she said. 'I believe she was killed because she was trying to get away from him.'

McLeod had been charged twice with domestic violence, one of which occurred just three months before Mitchell was murdered

'I have gotten contacted by several women who said that he's very dangerous.'

And numerous people began contacting Wentzel with reports of seeing McLeod on the bars and beaches of Belize.

'It was just one story after another,' she said. 'I was getting contacted left and right. It just didn't stop day and night.'

Mitchell's mother, who is now taking care of her young son and daughter, said she will not rest until McLeod has been captured

McLeod's last reported location was in Guatemala March 2017, but he has also been spotted in Honduras along with Belize and Mexico.

The US Embassy in Belize issued a bulletin to police and media to look out for McLeod in 2016.

Wentzel believes McLeod is staying near the coast in Belize so he can easily take boats in and out of the country without being spotted.

The mother, who is now taking care of Mitchell's seven and eight-year-old son and daughter, said she will not rest until McLeod has been captured.

'I had to sit down and say, "Okay, I gotta tell you that a bad man killed your mom,"' she recalled.

'So I feel obligated to those little kids to bring justice, because they know there's a bad man running around out there that killed their mom.'

San Diego Police released images of McLeod on Tuesday, showing his chest, shoulder, and arm tattoos as well as what he looks like with a beard or clean shaven.

McLeod has been described as 5ft 11in and 245lb. He is also known to go by RJ, Matt, or Mateo.

Anyone with information on McLeod or his whereabouts can contact the SDPD Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or SDPD dispatch at (619) 531-2000, or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.A former drug addict who had a 'very bad day' after blowing $1,000 on the pokies, stealing a bottle of booze and stabbing a photo of his own baby in a pub has been jailed.

Queensland man Luke Christopher Goold created a wild scene at a Fraser Coast pub, approximately 200 kilometres from the Sunshine Coast, on February 27 before telling officers he wanted to be locked up.

On Tuesday at the Maryborough Court, the 25-year-old pleaded guilty to theft going armed to cause fear, Newscorp reported.

A recovering addict had a 'very bad day' at a pub on the Fraser Coast (pictured) on February 27 when he stole a bottle of alcohol before stabbing a picture of his own baby

His defence lawyer argued Goold had not actually been interested being imprisoned and had only said so out of anger during his 'very bad day'.

He made a bail application the day following his arrest which was denied.

Despite spending six months at a drug rehab prior to his outburst, Goold 'went off the rails' during his episode at the establishment.

He lost $1,000 on the pokies before making off with a 700mL bottle of alcohol and drinking from it.

Goold was sentenced to six months jail but granted immediate parole and fined at the Maryborough Court (pictured)

He then approached the bar with a knife before stabbing a photo of his own baby onto the bar.

'Call the police and tell them where I am, I'm not armed,' he said to employees at the pub.

Goold was sentenced to six months jail after spending 35 days behind bars while awaiting his verdict.

He was granted immediate parole in addition to a $500 fine for stealing alcohol and was ordered to pay $39.99 in restitution.Vadim Lavrusik, a YouTube staffer, had his Twitter account hacked and filled with hoax posts after he tweeted about the active shooting unfolding at the California headquarters on Tuesday

A YouTube staffer had his Twitter account hacked and filled with hoax posts soon after he started tweeting about the active shooting unfolding at the company's California headquarters.

Vadim Lavrusik, who is a YouTube product manager with a verified Twitter account, sent one of the first tweets out on Tuesday afternoon when a female shooter opened fire at the headquarters in San Bruno.

'Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers,' he tweeted.

His tweet was quickly retweeted more than 30,000 as people searched Twitter for news and developments on the shooting.

About an hour after his first tweet, someone hacked Lavrusik's account and put out a series of tweets.

'PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY FRIEND I LOST HIM IN THE SHOOTING,' one tweet read, which included a Flipboard link to a photo of YouTube personality Keemstar.

Keemstar is not believed to have been involved in Tuesday's shooting.

About an hour after his first tweet, someone hacked Lavrusik's verified account and put out a series of hoax posts

One tweet included a Flipboard link to a photo of YouTube personality Keemstar, saying his friend had been lost in the shooting. Keemstar is not believed to have been involved in the shooting

Moments later, another tweet on Lavrusik's account read: 'my name is so gay honestly'.

Twitter promptly disabled Lavrusik's account temporarily as they deleted the hoax tweets.

Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey personally responded to some people who were flagging the hoax, saying they were working to fix the issue.

'All of us at Twitter are horrified by the shooting today at @YouTube HQ. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with our friends and colleagues in San Bruno,' the Twitter Safety account tweeted.

'We are also aware of attempts by some people to deceive others with misinformation around this tragedy. We are tracking this and are taking action on anything that violates our rules.'

Lavrusik sent one of the first tweets out on Tuesday afternoon when a female shooter opened fire at the headquarters in San Bruno

Twitter promptly disabled Lavrusik's account temporarily as they deleted the hoax tweets. Lavrusik notified followers soon after that he had his account back

Police said four people were injured by a female shooter who then shot and killed herself after going on a gun rampage.

The shooter shot at her boyfriend before turning the gun on herself on Tuesday, witnesses told Fox News.

Officers and federal agents swarmed the company's headquarters just before 1pm after dozens of panicked employees called 911 to report gunfire.

Upon arrival, police found the woman dead inside the campus with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said four people were taken to hospitals in San Francisco, three of whom had gunshot injuries.

Authorities cover a body with a yellow tarp at YouTube's headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday after a female shooter opened fire before she shot and killed herself

Terrified employees were spotted leaving YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California in a line after a shooter opened fire on Tuesday afternoonMaxwell Holway (pictured) lost his job as a police inspector after he allegedly 'looked at pornography' while at work

A former police inspector who was sacked over allegations he was looking at pornography while working has admitted downloading thousands of child abuse images.

Maxwell Holway, 54, appeared at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent yesterday where he pleaded guilty to three offences of possessing indecent photographs of children.

Officers found a total of 21,848 stills and 30 movie clips, categorised in terms of seriousness at levels B and C, on July 25 last year.

Abigail White, prosecuting, told the plea and trial preparation hearing that some appeared to be 'professional' images originating from the Ukraine.

The court heard Holway had been a police inspector but by March last year was 'no longer employed due to issues of looking at pornography' on the Kent Police system.

According to his profile on LinkedIn, Holway was based in Tonbridge, Kent, from March 1992, and has also served in nearby Rochester. It also lists his rank as detective inspector.

The court heard the images were found after he took a laptop he had bought on eBay in for repair at a shop in Tunbridge Wells.

But Miss White said when the store tried to remove the hard drive they were met with warning alerts in relation to indecent images.

Police went to his home two days later but Holway tried to blame his lodger, saying he had access to the laptop.

He also said a USB stick had been used to transfer photographs from a party onto the device.

Miss White said the lodger was spoken to and his own laptop and memory stick were seized and analysed.

However, nothing incriminating was found and the lodger was to be a prosecution witness at trial had Holway denied the offences.

Holway appeared at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent (pictured) and admitted three offences of possessing indecent photographs of children

'The prosecution case is that they (the images) were put on by the defendant and at the time he did that he was looking at images in relation to young children,' added the prosecutor.

'On July 27 Kent Police attended his home address and a search was conducted. The defendant was working for Kent Police as a police inspector.

'In March last year he was no longer employed due to issues of looking at pornography on the Kent Police system.'

All but 24 of the still images were categorised as being level C - the lowest in terms of seriousness. The 30 movie clips were also level C.

Miss White told the court officers were however still analysing the material to determine the ages of the child victims.

'The images are of a variety of children, professional images from the Ukraine,' she said.

Sentencing was adjourned by Judge Martin Joy until April 27. Holway, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, was released on conditional bail.

His barrister, Andrew Collings, described him as being 'of previous good character'.The mystery winner of an unclaimed $55million Powerball prize has fewer than 100 days to present their ticket before the whole lot goes to the government.

The record unclaimed prize was drawn 83 days ago on January 11 and will be forfeited to the Victorian Government if the winner is not found in the next three months.

The unregistered player won the enormous jackpot with the correct numbers 32, 7, 5, 34, 38 and 11, as well as the Powerball, which was 12.

He or she was the only division one winner in Australia's biggest lottery prize in more than a year.

The mystery Melbourne winner of an unclaimed $55million Powerball prize has fewer than 100 days to present their ticket before the whole lot goes to the Victorian government

There was only one division one winner in Australia's biggest lottery prize in more than a year; the winning ticket was sold at Scole Lotto & News (pictured) in Melbourne's Brunswick

The life-changing $55m jackpot drawn on January 11 still remains unclaimed 83 days later

Fourteen other players in the same draw took home the division two prize of $86,113.10 for picking the first six numbers but not the Powerball.

The winning ticket was bought from a newsagent at Brunswick, in Melbourne's inner-city.

Powerball spokeswoman Bronnie Spencer said a customer of the Scole Lotto & News outlet in Barkly Square was unknowingly entitled to a fortune.

'Three months on from the draw and the mystery winner of the $55 million Powerball draw is yet to come forward to claim their prize,' Ms Spencer said.

'This is the first time a prize of this size has been left unclaimed for this length of time.

'We are really hoping the winner comes forward soon so we could reunite them with their prize and they can start to enjoy their life as a multi-millionaire.'

Scole Lotto & News owner Sam Misiano said punters had flooded his store with sob stories

The $55m Powerball win is by far the largest unclaimed prize in Australian lottery history

The next largest unclaimed lottery win in Australia is a $2million Wednesday Gold Lotto ticket bought in Cairns in January 2014.

In 2013 a $50million Powerball winner from Dubbo, in central western New South Wales, did not claim their prize for a week.

In the weeks after the January 11 draw the newsagent who sold the $55million ticket was inundated with customers trying to claim the prize.

Scole Lotto & News owner Sam Misiano said punters had flooded his store with sob stories.

'I've heard everything,' Mr Misiano said. 'It's out of this world. One lady believed she threw the ticket away.'

Customers have even asked to watch the CCTV footage from his store.

Winners of lotteries in Victoria have six months to claim their prize before the money goes to the State Revenue Office.

The $55million Powerball ticket holder has until July 11 - or 98 more days - before that time expires.

Sam Misiano's business Scole Lotto & News was three times busier after he put up signs encouraging the mysetery winner of a $55m Powerball jackpot to come forward

The winning $55m ticket was bought from a newsagent at Brunswick in Melbourne's inner-city

The money can be claimed back at any later date with the winning ticket. Until then, the unclaimed funds can be used for government purposes and attract interest.

Powerball's operator has rejected fake claims for the multi-million dollar jackpot; some of those who came forward were ruled out immediately.

Someone claimed a dog ate their ticket. Others said they had thrown it away.

'We are encouraging all Powerball players who purchased an entry from Scole Lotto & News in Brunswick to check their entries,' Ms Spencer said.

'If you check your ticket and believe you could have the winning entry call 131 868 to begin the process of claiming your prize.

'For anyone who believes they may have lost their ticket, there is a lost and damaged ticket process that they can follow. Details of this process can be found on our website at www.thelott.com.

'We also remind customers to ensure they register their entries to a players card which means that if you do win a major prize, we can call you directly with the life changing news.'Woolworths has brought forward a deadline to rid all its stores of single-use disposable plastic bags.

Woolies supermarkets as well as the company's BWS, Metro and petrol outlets will stop offering free disposable plastic bags to shoppers in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia from June 20, 10 days earlier than originally planned.

'Our teams have been working hard behind the scenes to accelerate the rollout of this plan so we can start making a positive impact on the environment as quickly as possible,' chief executive Brad Banducci said in a statement on Wednesday.

Woolworths has brought forward its deadline to rid all its stores of single-use bags

Supermarkets and the company's BWS, Metro and petrol outlets will urge changes which will require customers to bring their own bags or buy reusable ones in store

'We know this is a big change for our customers and store teams, and we need to do all we can to make the transition as seamless as possible for both.'

Twelve stores across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia will get a head start by phasing out single-use plastic bags from Wednesday.

The 12 Woolworths stores phasing out plastic bags from Wednesday NSW - Marayong, Greenway Village, Dural, Mullumbimby VIC - Wyndham Vale, Taylors Lakes, Toorak QLD - Mossman, Noosa Civic WA - Singleton, South Fremantle, Cottesloe Advertisement

Shoppers will instead have to bring their own bags or buy reusable bags in Woolies' stores, which provide more than 3.2 billion plastic bags a year.

Tasmania, South Australia, Canberra and the Northern Territory are already subject to state-imposed bans on single-use plastic bags.

Woolworths and rival Coles last July joined the push to rid Australia of disposable plastic bags, and set a deadline of June 30 for their stores.

Environment groups Planet Ark and the Boomerang Alliance have backed the bag bans.

'Experiences in countries like the UK and Ireland have shown the introduction of small charges on plastic bags can end up reducing plastic bag usage by up to 85 per cent as shoppers embrace reusable alternatives, and we have every confidence this can happen in Australia too,' Planet Ark chief executive Paul Klymenko said.An airline says bus passengers should be subjected to strict airport-style terror searches if people getting on small planes had to go through it too.

A Federal Government review into airport security is considering counter-terrorism screening on rural flights across Australia.

Regional Express (Rex Airlines) slammed the security crackdown as 'senseless' saying additional screening would push costs up and 'devastate regional communities'.

Rex Airlines says bus passengers should be subject to strict airport-style terror searches if people getting on its small planes have to go through security too

In a submission to the senate inquiry into the regulation of rural transport, Rex Airlines said terror-style screening was 'giving in to hysteria'.

'Giving in to hysteria is precisely the outcome that the terrorists seek and this would allow them to succeed in their objective of severely disrupting daily life without needing to carry out a single attack,' Rex said.

'Australians know better than to fall for their trap.'

Rex Airlines argued its small aircraft carried less passengers than the average bus, and if it needed to screen for terrorists, so should buses.

'It would be senseless to enforce screening on the former while leaving 'vulnerable' the tens of thousands of buses plying the streets each day,' it said.

'This example can easily be extended to trains, cinemas, shopping malls, restaurants and the list goes on.'

'Giving in to hysteria is precisely the outcome that the terrorists seek and this would allow them to succeed in their objective of severely disrupting daily life without needing to carry out a single attack,' Rex said

The submission went on to say 'normal life will be paralysed without any real security benefit'.

'Screening of all such potential targets would be so prohibitively expensive and onerous that normal life would be shut down,' it said.

Rex said the socio-economic impact of the loss of air services would be 'devastating to regional communities'.

'Those needing to travel for essential medical, education and business reasons would be forced to drive,' the submissions aid.

Rex said it operated flights to 45 regional communities where airport passenger and baggage screening was not required.

Rex said the socio-economic impact of the loss of air services would be 'devastating to regional communities' which relied on its services

The airline said additional screening would cost about $750,000 per annum at each airport location, which meant travellers would need to absorb an additional $34 million per year.

Rex made a profit of $4 million in the 2016 financial year, and said the additional costs could send it out of business and leave regional centres without an air service.

The Senate inquiry is currently considering the application, its benefits and risks to the community.

The Nick Xenophon Team Senator Rex Patrick said rural aviation was 'the lifeblood of the community'.

The Nick Xenophon (pictured) Team Senator Rex Patrick said rural aviation was 'the lifeblood of the community'

He said Rex Airlines drove tourism and rural economy.

'It's getting much much harder and there's a decline in services that has a flow-on effect to a decline in economies,' he told The Advertiser.

The District Council of Grant said Rex Airlines should not deny its responsibility for increased costs.

They said Rex had a monopoly on the industry and pushed customers out with their prices, the publication reported.

The council also pushed back against added security measures for fear they would only hurt regional Australians.Two properties owned by the Mehajer family have been put up for sale just days after $200,000 bail was posted to get its most infamous member out of jail.

Salim Mehajer is expected to finally walk out of prison on Wednesday, after last week securing freedom following a two-month stint in Sydney's notorious Silverwater jail.

With his family forced to fork-out the large surety to ensure he walked free, homes owned by his sister Zenah are now on the market in the city's inner and outer west.

Sources close to the family confirmed the properties 'had to be sold' in order to raise much needed cash to fund not only Mehajer's bail, but also his mounting debts.

Two properties owned by the family of Salim Mehajer (pictured) have been put up for sale just days after $200,000 bail was posted to get its most infamous member out of jail

This home, next door to Salim's palatial mansion on Frances Street, Lidcombe, is one of two up for sale with an asking price of $1.65 million (Pictured is an artists impression of development)

The home next door to Salim's palatial mansion on Frances Street, Lidcombe, is one of two up for sale with an asking price of $1.65 million.

Featuring four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool, an online advert for the property shows an artists impression of a potential re-development.

Having been re-zoned to allow for two units on the block, the artists sketch bares a striking similarity to Mehajer's six-bedroom and five bathroom mansion next door.

Also on the market is a three-bedroom home on Lyons Road West at Canada Bay, in Sydney's inner-west.

Featuring views over the Parramatta River, similar sized homes in the area have sold for as much as $1.9million in recent times.

Speaking about the Canada Bay property, a source told Daily Mail Australia it was up for auction on April 28 in a bid to raise much needed cash.

'It has to be sold. They need to raise money so it's going to auction and will be sold,' they said.

The disgraced businessman won his freedom in the NSW Supreme Court last week, but had his release delayed by the Easter long weekend.

This three-bedroom home on Lyons Road West at Canada Bay, in Sydney's inner-west, is set to go under the hammer on April 28. Similar homes in the area have sold for up to $1.9million

A source close to the family told Daily Mail Australia that the Canada Bay home, which features a view of Parramatt River (pictured) 'has to be sold'

The property developer and former deputy mayor of Auburn council rose to prominence back in 2015 for his lavish wedding to now ex-wife Aysha (pictured)

Initial paperwork was lodged on Tuesday, with more documents expected to be put through on Wednesday that will finally see Mehajer released.

The 31-year-old will face strict bail conditions once free, including reporting to police twice daily, staying in NSW and not going within 500 metres of Sydney airport.

Mehajer has been in prison since January after he was charged for allegedly staging a car accident on his way to court last year to face assault charges.

The property developer and former deputy mayor of defunct Auburn council rose to prominence in 2015 for his lavish wedding to now ex-wife Aysha.

With more than five per cent of Australians looking for work, you would think someone would be interested in taking up a $165-a-day job.

But Queensland couple Ian and Sharon Brown recently advertised for part-time workers on their farm, and have been shocked by the lack of response.

The employment ad was placed in print and online asking for workers to help maintain their 2,000 acre property located near Maryborough about three hours north of Brisbane.

Queensland couple Ian and Sharon Brown recently advertised for part-time workers on their farm, and have been shocked by the lack of response

Wide Bay MP Llew O'Brien said, 'I did whatever I could to earn a living from picking crops to labouring and working on the factory floor'

'We used to be known as a hard working country and now we're not because there's nothing to force these young people to get out,' Mrs Brown told the Fraser Coast Chronicle.

The national unemployment rate is 5.5 per cent according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, while Wide Bay Burnett's unemployment rate, where the Brown's farm is located, sits at 9 per cent.

National youth unemployment rate is at a huge 27.9 per cent.

Mrs Brown told Daily Mail Australia that many of the people they have employed in the past simply could not handle the hard work, with one 19-year-old lasting only an hour before he quit and her husband had to drive him back the farmhouse.

'Society is growing soft, everything is push button, our body's aren't conditioned for hard work,' she said.

Wide Bay MP Llew O'Brien said, ' did whatever I could to earn a living from picking crops to labouring and working on the factory floor.'

'I would encourage any jobseeker in Wide Bay to look at all jobs on offer, meet with prospective employers and see if they can do the job.'

After word got out about the lack of response following the job ad, Sharon said that they have received several calls enquiring about the position and hopes they will be able to find people willing to work and stick with the job.

'You would think most people would jump at the opportunity to earn $300 dollars for a couple of days work,' she said.A Sainsbury's supervisor who resuscitate a baby in the store's bagging area said it was her 'duty' to save the infant's life.

Kath Jepson, 54, leapt into action and administered CPR on the counter when the 11-month-old boy stopped breathing outside the Acklam Road store on Good Friday.

'I ran out to the mum and held the baby. He was limp,' said the supervisor, from Middlesbrough.

'She was screaming "help me, please!" So I took the baby from her and ran into the store with him. He wasn't breathing.'

Sainsbury's supervisor Kath Jepson, 54, leapt into action and administered CPR on the counter after the 11-month-old boy stopped breathing at the store in Middlesbrough

With the baby's mother and grandmother frozen in shock, the store worker quickly cleared 'Till 5'.

She placed the baby in the bagging area and began administering emergency CPR.

Ms Jepson added: 'It lasted for about... well, it seemed like forever, but it was about three minutes.

'Then he started to stare a little bit. He came round. His mum was traumatised.'

The supervisor, with 12 years service for Sainsbury's, said she felt it was her 'duty' to help.

The quick-thinking store worker, with 12 years of service at Sainsbury's, said she felt it was her 'duty' to help the boy

'The mum froze. The grandma froze. It was probably fright.

'It was down to me. I was running the store and it was my duty to save that baby.

'When a baby is limp, what do you do? You need to help.'

Kath was assisted by colleague Michael Best, who phoned 999 and shouted out commands from the call handler.

'I was just focused on the baby,' said Ms Jepson. 'All I wanted to do was get the baby breathing again. It was scary.

'I was frightened, but I concentrated on doing what I had to do. And I did it.'

The youngster, who had fallen and hit his head, was taken by ambulance to James Cook University Hospital.

A Cleveland Police spokesman said the baby was treated at hospital and later discharged.

Ms Jepson does not know who the family was but she is hoping she can one day be reunited with the baby boy.

'I would love to see how he is. I hope he's ok,' said the supervisor who suffered shock after the incident.

Ms Jepson, pictured with colleague Michael Best, does not know who the family was but she is hoping she can one day be reunited with the baby boy

'I actually threw up afterwards. I had to go out the back. I was crying. I was just so happy I could bring him back basically.'

A spokesman for North East Ambulance Service confirmed paramedics were called to the store at 18.22pm to reports of a young child who had fallen backwards and banged their head.

He said the baby was taken to James Cook University Hospital.A mother accused of raping her eight-year-old daughter along with her husband and one of their friends was released on bail in January when the trio were charged.

It has emerged today that despite police objections, a Perth magistrate granted the 39-year-old woman bail, when she appeared in court in January.

The couple's 56-year-old male friend, who appeared in court on the same day, was also granted bail but remains in custody as he has not managed to raise the surety needed, Perthnow has reported.

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The Perth mother, her husband and their friend have been accused of raping her eight year old daughter. The trio are facing 23 sexual penetration and indecent dealing charges between them

The 45-year-old stepfather did not apply for bail when he appeared in court. He is charged with three counts of sexually penetrating a child who was a relative and one count of encouraging a child who was a relative to engage in sexual behaviour.

Police have charged the woman with three counts of sexually penetrating a child who was a relative, five counts of indecent dealing of a child who was a relative and four counts of encouraging a child who was a relative to engage in sexual behaviour.

At the time police objected to bail being granted for each of the trio.

A WA Police spokesperson said it would not be appropriate to reveal the detail of the objections.

The male friend has been charged with three counts of sexually penetrating a child under 13 and four counts of indecent dealings with a child under 13.

Police are also investigating allegations that the child was shared at swingers parties and that another five children may have been abused during the organised sex activities with groups of adults.

Taskforce Mirzam was launched last month after a recording device of the three people allegedly engaging in sexual acts with a girl was found at a Perth rental home

The trio were arrested in January after police discovered a recording device at a Perth rental home that showed them allegedly engaging in sexual acts with the young girl.

Police allege that at least some of the suspected victims were given meth and cannabis prior to being abused. Supt Leonhardt said all of the children suspected of being allegedly abused had been identified, however, and were no longer in danger.A man who died in a suspected suicide at a Bandidos clubhouse has been identified as an ex-serviceman and party boy with an 'infectious smile'.

Luke Bray, 30, was found dead at the motorcycle club's north Melbourne chapter headquarters shortly after 7.20am on Easter Monday.

The Brunswick man's death sparked an outpouring of grief, with friends describing Mr Bray as a 'real character', a 'genuinely good person' who was 'always smiling'.

One tribute to Mr Bray - known affectionately to friends as 'Lukear*se' - said 'heaven has another gangsta up there partying it up for us'.

Luke Bray, 30, of Brunswick, was found dead at the Bandidos' north Melbourne clubhouse

Club colours: Bray's body was found in the Brunswick clubhouse about 7.20am on Monday

'Bikes and bevs': Mr Bray has been remembered for his 'infectious' smile and party-boy ways

Bray (far right) is an ex-serviceman who served in Afghanistan

'It sucks that this world couldn't bring you the happiness you brought everyone else,' another said.

Mr Bray served in the Army in Afghanistan and was described as a fun-loving man with a passion for 'bikes and bevs'.

A close associate told Daily Mail Australia 'you couldn't see the pain underneath his smile' and that he had been fighting 'demons' in his life.

Close mate Melanie Henderson posted to Facebook that 'words can not even describe the pain and emotion' she and Mr Bray's friends were feeling.

'I don't have many photos of Lukear*e and I, because we were always too busy having fun or getting in trouble.

'Like the days driving up and down beach road slapping bikers' asses on the way past... the parties, the dress ups, the clubs. ...

'The heart attack I almost had of you tricking me onto a ride at movie world, saying it's a kid's rides and not scary, as we take off you yell 'it's a backwards rollercoaster in the dark'".

'You couldn't see the pain underneath his smile,' a mate told Daily Mail Australia

One online tribute said 'let (Bray) shine and he will blind the world' (seen here with a friend wearing service medals)

Above is one of several photos - apparently shot inside a Bandidos facility - which was shared in an online club tribute

Australia's most notorious clubhouse: Police are seen out the front of the Bandidos base of operations in Brunswick, in Melbourne's north, following the death on Monday

Patched-up Bandidos members consoled each other outside the clubhouse on Monday morning.

Police and paramedics were called to the clubhouse after receiving reports of a gunshot about 7.20am.

Many club members shared the news of Mr Bray's death this week with the slogan 'BFFB' - Bandidos Forever, Forever Bandidos'.

Former Bandido enforcer Toby Mitchell was shot five times in the chest outside the clubhouse in 2011

The Brunswick clubhouse where he was found has a notorious past.

Former Bandido enforcer Toby Mitchell was shot five times in the chest outside the gym next door and three men were shot in the legs outside the joint last year.

A man was also bashed to death by three bikie associates inside the clubhouse in 2014.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said Mr Bray's death was not suspicious. The Defence Force declined to comment as the matter is under police investigation.

Mr Bray will be laid to rest next week.

For confidential support call Lifeline 24 hour crisis support on 13 11 14.A man has admitted to drinking a stolen beer with a friend in a caravan park more than three decades ago.

Michael Andrew Utiger, also known as Michael Brown, told a court he consumed the beverage after a friend stole it from the State Transit Authority in Shepparton in 1987.

Utiger appeared before a magistrate on Tuesday after avoiding police detection by hiding out on Kangaroo Island while wanted over a 1999 Melbourne burglary spree.

Michael Andrew Utiger, also known as Michael Brown, told a court he consumed the beverage after a friend stole it from the State Transit Authority in Shepparton in 1987 (stock image)

Magistrate Franz Holzer was astonished at the age of the offences, The Herald Sun reported.

'These matters go back some 20 years,' he said.

'In the circumstances, that makes it challenging because of the length of time that has passed.'

Magistrate Holzer sentenced Utiger to six months behind bars, suspended but for 40 days already served on remand.

The court heard Utiger committed the crimes, which included thefts of jewellery and expensive VCR and CD players, while addicted to heroin.

Utiger, whose driver's licence was suspended, was arrested after being caught by a police camera at Mildura.

The court heard he plans to return to Kangaroo Island, where he is only contactable via post office box.Jewish leaders are demanding an apology from the ABC for giving a platform to a British writer who attended a Holocaust denying conference in Iran.

Dr Stephen Sizer, a former Anglican reverend who speaks out against Israel, was treated to a 17-minute Radio National interview on Good Friday, which was also the start of the Jewish Passover.

ABC breakfast presenter David Rutledge had asked the critic of Christian Zionism if criticism levelled against him was unfair, as he embarks on a tour of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Scroll down for audio

Dr Stephen Sizer, a reverend who speaks out against Israel, was treated to a 17-minute Radio National interview on Good Friday, which was also the start of the Jewish Passover

Jewish leaders are demanding an apology from the ABC for giving a platform to a British writer who attended a Holocaust denying conference in Tehran in 2014

'I accept youre not an anti-Semite but do you accept you do sail pretty close to the wind or at least invite that accusation?,' he asked.

Rutledge had pointed out Dr Sizer's 2014 appearance at the New Horizon conference in Tehran, which featured Holocaust deniers, and his 2015 Facebook post which linked Israel with the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States during 2001.

'You seem to have stuck your neck out further than most,' the ABC presenter said.

Dr Sizer responded by saying he was an expert on evangelical Christian supporters of Israel.

'I did my Masters thesis and did my PhD looking at Christian Zionism, and thats my main contribution to the debate if you like,' he told the ABC.

ABC presenter David Rutledge had asked the critic of Christian Zionism if criticism levelled against him was unfair, as he embarks on a tour of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane

Dvir Abramovich, the chairman of the Jewish Anti-Defamation Commission, said the ABC had 'crossed the line big time' airing Dr Sizer's 'anti-Israel venom'

Dvir Abramovich, the chairman of the Jewish Anti-Defamation Commission, said the ABC had 'crossed the line big time' airing Dr Sizer's 'anti-Israel venom'.

'The ABC and the producers should hang their head in shame for providing this individual, on the eve of Passover, with a credible platform to spew his anti-Israel venom,' he said in a statement.

'Worse, during the interview, Mr Sizer seemed to endorse the racist conspiracy theories and slurs promoted in that ugly article.

'Taxpayer dollars should not have been used to allow such a figure to appear on a respectable national program, and this outrageous lapse in judgment should be seriously investigated.'

Peter Wertheim, the chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the 'soft' interview was an insult to Jewish people.

At the New Horizon Conference in Tehran in September 2014, Dr Sizer asked why Israel had been the subject of more United Nations resolutions 'than any other country in the world'.

An ABC spokeswoman said Rutledge was a 'highly experienced and knowledgeable academic and broadcaster' who had been clear with listeners that Dr Sizer was a 'controversial figure with strongly contested views'.

'Dr Sizer was closely questioned on his views throughout the interview, including in a detailed exchange about the accusations of anti-Semitism made against him (which he denies),' she told Daily Mail Australia.

The ABC received one complaint about the interviewed, which the national broadcaster's independent Audience and Consumer Affairs unit will investigate.A woman is campaigning for tourists to have 'V-plates' on their cars when driving in Australia.

Suzanne Jones, who admitted she came up with the idea after a few drinks, has even patented her red V-plate design which stands for visitor and features the words 'courtesy please'.

The Tasmanian said she was inspired after a 'traumatic experience' driving in Noosa, Queensland on holiday.

A woman is campaigning for tourists to have 'V plates' on their cars when driving in Australia

She believes the plates would benefit tourists and native drivers who may be more sympathetic if they knew another driver was a visitor.

'You often a see a person trying to get across a lane quickly, they're obviously not knowing where they are going,' Ms Jones told ABC Hobart.

'Sometimes we have courteous drivers who will pull back and let them in, other times we have people who aren't as courteous and all things can happen.'

She said the plates should be optional and would be a 'positive step to ensure the safety of both visiting drivers and locals alike.'

Suzanne Jones, who admitted she came up with the idea after a few drinks, has even patented her red V plate design. Pictured: Sydney peak-hour traffic

The idea has been floated before but has never been taken up for fear of discriminating against and putting off tourists.

In 2016 a New Zealander's petition to force foreign drivers to have T plates failed to gather support.

Ms Jones said the Royal Automobile Club Of Tasmania is supportive of her idea and that she will seek sponsorship to get it off the ground.Potential home buyers are being urged to jump into the Australian housing market before prices begin to soar once again.

The Australian market slump, which caused the average price of a Sydney home to drop from $900,000 to $880,000 in one year, is bottoming out, experts told Realestate.com.au this week.

The downturn appears to be easing, with prices falling by .3 per cent in March, compared to .9 per cent in December and January, CoreLogic's research chief Tim Lawless told the publication.

Potential home buyers in NSW are being urged to purchase as soon as possible before the housing market's slump bottoms out and prices begin to soar once again (stock image)

The downturn appears to be easing, with prices falling by .3 per cent in March, compared to .9 per cent in December and January, CoreLogic's research chief Tim Lawless said (stock)

It won't take long for prices to begin to climb, he added.

'If current trends continue we could see a return to growth in only a few months,' Mr Lawless said.

The research chief said the increase in growth could stem from banks agreeing to additional loans, but SQM Research director Louis Christopher told the website the massive influx of overseas migrants will also help.

More than 123,000 people moved to NSW in the past year, but it's believed fewer homes will be constructed to meet the growing demand.

'Sydney's housing market is prone to overheating, then it stabilises. Right now we're in that stabilising period,' Realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said.The Brooklyn driver who killed two children had a medical emergency three days before the crash. Police are looking into if she should have been driving in the first place.

First responders were called to Dorothy Bruns, 44, Staten Island apartment on March 2 for a call about a cardiac condition. She told police at the time of the crash she suffers from heart issues, seizures and multiple sclerosis.

On March 5, Bruns fatally mowed down Joshua Lew, one, and Abigail Blumenstein, four, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, when she ran a red light on Monday. Blumenstein was the daughter of Tony-winning actress Ruthie Ann Miles.

Miles and Lauren Lew, the boy's mother, were both injured in the crash.

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Dorothy Bruns, 44 (pictured), of Staten Island ran a red light in Brooklyn, New York, hitting and killing the little girl, Abigail Blumenstein, and the boy, Josh Lew

The 4-year-old daughter of Tony-winning actress Ruthie Ann Miles and a 1-year-old boy have been identified as the children hit and killed by a woman who ran a red light in Brooklyn on March 5, Ruthie Ann Miles is seen here with her daughter in New York City in 2017

The Staten Island woman ran a red light in Brooklyn, New York, hitting, dragging and killing the little girl, Abigail Blumenstein, and the boy, Josh Lew (left with mom)

At first, the driver tried to get away, but she eventually came to a stop when she crossed into oncoming traffic and parked cars

A FDNY source told the Daily News that another medical emergency call was placed to her home December 22, and yet another on November 19- both were regarding a cardiac condition.

Her health issues had become such that this past January she went on medical leave from her job at ClearCaptions.

She returned in February when she was given medical clearance, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Just this past September, Burns allegedly struck a pedestrian in Long Island City, Queens.

The woman's medical records have been subpoenaed allowing officials to review ailment history and figure out if she should have been on the road

However the NYPD highway safety cop failed to document the crash properly, which would have flagged her driving record, according to the Daily News in a report last month.

Additionally in the past two years she accrued four speed violations and four red light violations.

'We believe that she had a seizure.  It's a real tragedy, but we have to make sure that this woman should have been driving in the first place,' Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said of the woman, according to the New York Post.

'We are investigating if there are any charges to be had,' Gonzalez added.

Bruns told local authorities that she has no recollection of the incident and was unaware of what she had done until she was notified, sources told the New York Post.

Toxicology results came in during the crash. Burns came up negative for possible drug or alcohol traces.

Moments before the crash, the two kids and their mothers had just gotten off the bus and were crossing the street when Burns who was driving a white Volvo sped through the intersection at 9th Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, striking the families.

Bruns (pictured left along with a friend) shared her various ailments with police and her building super shared that she had had a seizure just two months ago and needed to be hospitalized

Dorothy Bruns, 44, had her license suspended following the crash, while police investigate if she should have been driving when she crashed in Park Slope

Ruthie Ann Miles also appeared on the last season of the FX show The Americans. Pictured on the right with co-star Keri Russell

Above, another picture of Lauren Lew with one of her sons. The photo was shared to GoFundMe

The white Volvo is seen here approaching the crosswalk without decreasing in speed, in a slowed down version of surveillance footage that captured the moments before impact

The front of the Volvo was completely destroyed after it crashed into the victims

At first, the driver tried to speed away, dragging the stroller that the boy was being pushed in behind her for half a block, until she crashed into some parked cars on the opposite side of the street and came to a stop.

'The kids were run straight over, and the driver tried to get away and hit a car,' one anonymous witness told the Post.

'I don't even want to think about this.  Just to know those kids were ran down like a dog.'

One witness described to the New York Post how Lew tried to save her son immediately after the tragedy unfolded, but it was too late.

'The mom was sitting there next to him screaming,' said Andrew Macaluso, 26, who is a fourth-year medical student.

'She was just kind of [saying], 'Oh, God, this can't be happening. Tell me this isn't happening. What's going on?'' Macaluso said.

'I said, 'Are you the mom?' and she said, 'Yeah,'' he continued.

He went on to detail their efforts over the next several minutes, as they tried to revive her little boy.

'The child had blood on his face,' Macaluso said. 'She wipes off his face and gives him air while I'm giving him chest compression.'

Then paramedics arrived and took the victims away.

'When they took her out she was just standing there, like nothing,' Muniz said. 'No emotion. Not sad. Not crying. Not asking questions: 'Is everybody alright?' Not shaking. Nothing.'

After she was set on a stretcher, the first responder checked Bruns' vision, and then gave her telephone and handbag to her.

'She was texting on her cell phone like nothing happened,' Muniz said. 'Like she had just parked the car.'

Mayor Bill de Blasio said a full investigation was underway regarding the tragedy.

'For [my wife] Chirlane and I obviously this is very personal. It occurred in our neighborhood, very, very close to our home,' de Blasio said, at City Hall.

'This loss of life is tragic and painful for all of us, particularly those of us who are parents.'

A young girl and her mother lay flowers at the memorial for the two slain children on Tuesday night

Dorothy Bruns of Staten Island, 44, hit and killed a one-year-old Josh Lew and four-year-old Abigail Blumenstein at 12:40pm, in the neighborhood of Park Slope, police say

The driver of the white Volvo told officers she has medical issues; Above, Bruns is put on a stretcher near where the car came to a stop

DeBlasio added: He added: 'It's another reminder of why we have to double our efforts on Vision Zero, to work for a day when this never happens to any family. This is an intersection that we happen to know very very well. We have crossed it many times with [our children] Dante and Chiara when they were kids, so this is personal. And we are praying for the families who have gone through this tragedy and we will do everything we can to help them.'

Vision Zero is a New York City initiative that aims to achieve zero fatalities on city streets due to traffic crashes.

A GoFundMe set up for Miles as well as one for Lauren Lew.

According to the fund for the Lews, the couple were living in Brooklyn while Charles Lew finished his residency.

The children were pronounced dead at the scene while their mothers and a fifth unidentified victim were taken to the hospital.

Witness Jennifer Muniz, 28, told the New York Daily News that the driver seemed unaffected by the deaths and injuries she had just caused, when EMTs removed her from her vehicle.JAMES COMEY

Clinton is furious that Comey, then the FBI director, publicly revealed the re-opening of the secret email server investigation just before election day - and has said so time after time after time.

THE FBI

Comey's entire organization does not escape her wrath.

'The FBI wasn't the Federal Bureau of Ifs or Innuendoes. Its job was to find out the facts,' she writes in What Happened.

VLADIMIR PUTIN

'There's no doubt in my mind that Putin wanted me to lose and wanted Trump to win,' she told USA Today in September last year while promoting What Happened.

It was hardly a new theme. As early as December the New York Times obtained audio in which she told her donors: 'Putin publicly blamed me for the outpouring of outrage by his own people, and that is the direct line between what he said back then and what he did in this election.'

THE RUSSIANS

Putin's entire apparatus gets a name-check. In May she told the Codecon convention how '1,000 Russian agents' had filled Facebook with 'fake news'.

She told NPR 'my path toward November was being disrupted with Russians'.

WIKILEAKS

The 'transparency website' is consistently ranked along with Comey by Clinton at the top of her blame list.

She told NPR : 'Unfortunately the Comey letter, aided to great measure by the Russian WikiLeaks, raised all those doubts again.'

And she writes of its founder Julian Assange in What Happened: 'In my view, Assange is a hypocrite who deserves to be held accountable for his actions.'

LOW INFORMATION VOTERS

'You put yourself in the position of a low information voter, and all of a sudden your Facebook feed, your Twitter account is saying, "Oh my gosh, Hillary Clinton is running a child trafficking operation in Washington with John Podesta.",' she told the Codecon convention in May.

'Well you don't believe it but this has been such an unbelievable election, you kind of go, 'Oh maybe I better look into that.''

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

'We have an electoral college problem. It's an anachronism,' she told Vox.

ANTI-AMERICAN FORCES

'I think it's important that we learn the real lessons from this last campaign because the forces that we are up against are not just interested in influencing our elections and our politics, they're going after our economy and they're going after our unity as a nation,' she told Codecon in May.

'What is hard for people to really accept - although now after the election there's greater understanding - is that there are forces in our country - put the Russians to one side - who have been fighting rear guard actions for as long as I've been alive because my life coincided with the Civil Rights movement, with the women's rights movement, with anti-war protesting, with the impeachment.

EVERYONE WHO ASSUMED SHE WOULD WIN

'I was the victim of a very broad assumption that I was going to win,' she told the Codecon convention.

BAD POLLING NUMBERS

Clinton says polls in key states did not serve her.

'I think polling is going to have to undergo some revisions in how they actually measure people,' she told the Codecon convention.

'How they reach people. The best assessments as of right now are that the polling was not that inaccurate, but it was predominantly national polling and I won nationally.'

BARACK OBAMA

Clinton has two beefs with Obama: one of them being that he won two terms. Clinton says that succeeding an incumbent is almost impossible for a Democrat.

'No non-incumbent Democrat had run successfully to succeed another two-termer since Vice President Martin Van Buren won in 1836,' she writes in What Happened.

But she also says his response to the Russian campaign of interference wasn't enough.

'I do wonder sometimes about what would have happened if President Obama had made a televised address to the nation in the fall of 2016 warning that our democracy was under attack,' she writes in What Happened.

WHITE WOMEN

'I believe absent Comey, I might've picked up 1 or 2 points among white women,' she told Vox in September.

'White woman... are really quite politically dependent on their view of their own security and their own position in society what works and doesn't work for them.'

'What happened in my election is I was on the way to winning white women until former director of the FBI Jim Comey dropped that very ill-advised letter on Oct. the 28th and my numbers just went down,' she said in a March 2018 speech in India.

'All of a sudden white women who were going to vote for me, and frankly standing up to the men in their lives and the men in their work places were being told, "She's going to jail, you don't want to vote for her. It's going to be terrible you can't vote for that." It stopped my momentum and it decreased my vote enough. Because I was ahead and I was winning and I thought I had fought my way back. '

THE NEW YORK TIMES

The newspaper was blamed as early as May at the Codecon conference in Rancho Palos Verde, California.

She singled out its managing editor Dean Baquet - the paper's most senior editor - and said of coverage of her email issue under his direction: 'They covered it like it was Pearl Harbor.'

JOE BIDEN

Biden could have run against her and didn't. But Clinton writes: 'Joe Biden said the Democratic Party in 2016 'did not talk about what it always stood forand that was how to maintain a burgeoning middle class.'

'I find this fairly remarkable, considering that Joe himself campaigned for me all over the Midwest and talked plenty about the middle class.'

BERNIE SANDERS

'His attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump's 'Crooked Hillary' campaign,' she writes in What Happened.

'I don't know if that bothered Bernie or not.'

BERNIE BROS

'Some of his supporters, the so-called Bernie Bros, took to harassing my supporters online. It got ugly and more than a little sexist,' she writes in What Happened.

PEOPLE WANTING CHANGE

'I thought, at end of day, people would say, look, we do want change, and we want the right kind of change, and we want change that is realistic and is going to make difference in my life and my family's life and my paycheck,' she told Vox.

'That's what I was offering. And I didn't in any way want to feed into this, not just radical political argument that was being made on other side, but very negative cultural argument about who we are as Americans.'

MISOGYNISTS

Asked by CNN's Christine Amanpour at the Women for Women International event in new York in May if misogyny was to blame she said: 'Yes, I do think it played a role.'

TELEVISION EXECUTIVES

'When you have a presidential campaign and the total number of minutes on TV news, which is still how most people get their information, covering all of our policies, climate change, anything else was 32 minutes, I don't blame voters,' she told The View.

'They don't get a broad base of information to make decision on. The more outrageous you are, the more inflammatory you are, the higher the ratings are.'

NETFLIX

Hillary does not do Netflix and chill - or if she does, she doesn't find it very relaxing.

'Eight of the top 10 political documentaries on Netflix were screeds against President Obama and me,' she claimed at the Codecon convention.

FACEBOOK

'If you look at Facebook the vast majority of the news items posted were fake. They were connected to as we now know the 1,000 Russian agents who were involved in delivering those messages,' she told Codecon.

TWITTER

Usually mentioned in the same breath as Facebook, the micro-blogging site is seen by Clinton as one of the reasons for her loss.

She told the Codecon convention in may that Trump had a method in his tweets.

'They want to influence your reality. That to me is what we're up against, and we can't let that go unanswered,' she said.

CONTENT FARMS IN MACEDONIA

'Through content farms, through an enormous investment in falsehoods, fake news, call it what you will - lies, that's a good word too - the other side was using content that was flat out false,' she told the Codecon convention in May.

'They were conveying this weaponized information and the content of it, and they were running, y'know there's all these stories, about y'know, and you know I've seen them now, and you sit there and it looks like you know sort of low level CNN operation, or a fake newspaper.'

CAMPAIGN FINANCE

'You had Citizens United come to its full fruition.' she told Codecon in May.

'So unaccountable money flowing in against me, against other Democrats, in a way that we hadn't seen and then attached to this weaponized information war.

THE MEDIA

'American journalists who eagerly and uncritically repeated whatever WikiLeaks dished out during the campaign could learn from the responsible way the French press handled the hack of Macron,' she writes in What Happened.

Now-president Macron had a massive tranche of his emails hacked and released shortly before the French voted. Many outlets did not report on their contents.

STEVE BANNON AND BREITBART

'Provided the untrue stories,' she told the Codecon convention in May.

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

'I set up my campaign and we have our own data operation. I get the nomination. So I'm now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party,' Clinton said told the Codecon convention in May.

'I mean, it was bankrupt. It was on the verge of insolvency. Its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong. I had to inject money into it.'

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

The Republicans were far better prepared for a campaign than the Democrats she claimed, when it came to money and data, telling the Codecon convention: 'So Trump becomes the nominee and he is basically handed this tried and true, effective foundation.'

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA

The data-targeting firm ultimately owned by Robert Mercer, the billionaire Breitbart backer, and his family, is said to have targeted voters to drive them away from Clinton.

'They ultimately added something and I think again we'd better understand that. The Mercers did not invest all that money for their own amusement,' she told the Codecon convention.

WOMEN PROTESTERS

The massive demonstrations in Washington and other cities in the wake of the election were organized as an immediate response to Clinton's shock defeat.

But that did not stop Clinton from writing in What Happened: 'I couldn't help but ask where those feelings of solidarity, outrage and passion had been during the election.'

MATT LAUER

The NBC Today show anchor quizzed both candidates at a 'commander-in-chief forum' on board Intrepid in New York.

But Clinton - who went first in the back-to-back interviews, complained about Lauer focusing on her secret server and whether it raised questions over her trustworthiness.

'Lauer had turned what should have been a serious discussion into a pointless ambush. What a waste of time,' she writes in What Happened. She later delighted in his firing for sexual misconduct, saying in December: 'Every day I believe more in karma.'

WHITE VOTERS

'White voters have been fleeing the Democratic party ever since Lyndon Johnson predicted they would,' she told Vox.

DEMOCRATIC DOCUMENTARY MAKERS

'We're not making the documentaries that we're going to get onto Netflix,' she told Codecon.

She was asked by the interviewer: 'This is because Hollywood isn't liberal enough?'

'No, it's because Democrats aren't putting their money there,' she replied.

BENGHAZI INVESTIGATORS

The attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi on September 11, 2012, happened when Clinton was Secretary of State. It claimed four American lives, and was the focus of intense investigation by Congress.

Clinton told the Today show: 'Take the Benghazi tragedy - you know, I have one of the top Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, admitting we're going to take that tragedy - because, you know, we've lost people, unfortunately, going back to the Reagan administration, if you talk about recent times, in diplomatic attacks.

'But boy, it was turned into a political football. And it was aimed at undermining my credibility, my record, my accomplishments.'

VOTER SUPPRESSION

Suppressing her voters was named by Clinton as one of the major factors in her defeat in her interview on the Today show when she rattled off her laundry list. 'What was at work here?' she said.

'In addition to the mistakes that I made, which I recount in the book, what about endemic sexism and misogyny, not just in politics but in our society, what about the unprecedented action of the FBI director, what about the interference of an adversary nation, what about voter suppression?'

It was a return to a theme - she suggested it was a problem in Wisconsin in an interview in May with New York magazine.

'I would have won had I not been subjected to the unprecedented attacks by Comey and the Russians, aided and abetted by the suppression of the vote, particularly in Wisconsin,' she said.

'Republicans learned that if you suppress votes you win.'

MITCH McCONNELL

The Senate majority leader is accused of stopping the Obama administration from revealing what Clinton says the Russians were up to, helping tip the balance against her because he did not want a third successive Democratic term in the White House.

'Mitch McConnell, in what I think of as a not only unpatriotic but despicable act of partisan politics, made it clear that if the Obama Administration spoke publicly about what they knew [on Russia], he would accuse them of partisan politics, of trying to tip the balance toward me,' she told the New Yorker.

THE SUPREME COURT

Clinton claims the Supreme Court watered down the Voting Rights Act at the Codecon convention.

'You had effective suppression of votes,' she said.

'I was in the senate when we voted 98-0 under a Republican president, George W Bush, to extend the Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court says 'oh we don't need it any more' , throws it out, and Republican governors and legislatures began doing everything they could to suppress the votes.'

Clinton appears to be referring to Second 4(b) of the Act being ruled unconstitutional by the court in 2013, because it relied on out of date data which meant it was not in line with the 15th Amendment.

FATHERS, HUSBANDS, BOYFRIENDS, AND MALE BOSSES

Clinton says that James Comey's actions in re-opening the FBI investigation allowed men to influence their wives or girlfriends.

'Women will have no empathy for you because they will be under tremendous pressure - and I'm talking principally about white women - they will be under tremendous pressure from fathers, and husbands, and boyfriends and male employers, not to vote for 'the girl',' she told NPR.

THE INVISIBLE STATE

Named by her confidante Lanny Davis as the reason she lost at a reading of his book while Hillary nodded along in approval.

PIZZAGATE

The claim that members of the Democratic party and particularly the Clinton campaign were running a pedophile child trafficking ring out of the basement of a Washington D.C. pizza restaurant first surfaced before the 2016 election. She told an address to a women-only club in New York in April 2018: 'It spread like wildfire. You look and that and think, that's ridiculous. But you have no idea how many people will believe things that are presented as news.'

'MANY FUNNY THINGS'

Clinton said in September 2019 that 'many funny things' including Russian interference helped Trump win.Darcy Wedd, a former high-flying executive who began his career selling fluffy toys door-to-door in Western Australia and went on to run a mobile phone business in the US, has been jailed for 10 years for a $US150 million fraud scheme.

Wedd's sentencing in a Manhattan court presented two contrasting profiles of the 40-year-old Australian.

US federal prosecutors portrayed the Dampier-born Wedd as remorseless and pivotal in the fraud scheme 'that stole money from victims, $US9.99 at a time' by auto-subscribing mobile phone users to recurring horoscope, celebrity gossip and trivia text message services.

Darcy Wedd (pictured), a 40-year-old from Western Australia, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in a Manhattan court on Monday for a $US150 million fraud scheme

Wedd and his co-conspirators netted more than $US150 million in illegal profits and used it to fund lavish lifestyles of expensive vacations, luxury cars and gambling, prosecutors said.

'As the court knows, the defendant was at the epicentre of a massive fraud that stole money from millions of Americans,' prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.

Wedd personally received more than $US1.7 million in fraud proceeds.

He was convicted by a Manhattan jury in December last year after a two-week trial and sentenced on Monday.

His mother Bea McKinley described Wedd as having a heart of gold while Wedd's partner Ashley Cole and a long list of friends from Western Australia also offered glowing tributes.

'Darcy started his working life at 15,' his mother wrote in an emotional letter to the judge.

'After school he walked door to door with a large bag selling fluffy toys.'

Wedd was the chief operating officer, and eventually the chief executive officer, of Mobile Messenger, a US aggregation company in the mobile phone industry.

The court heard Wedd moved from Western Australia to Sydney in 2003 or 2004 to work for Mobile Messenger as a salesperson.

In 2004 Mobile Messenger planned to expand to the US and Wedd volunteered to move to America to develop the business and received a five per cent equity stake in the company.

Wedd (pictured) 'stole money from victims, $US9.99 at a time' by auto-subscribing mobile phone users to recurring horoscope, celebrity gossip and trivia text message services, prosecutors said

In 2006 a hedge fund purchased a 65 per cent stake in Mobile Messenger for $US65 million, Wedd retained a 1.7 per cent equity share and in 2009 the company had just under 250 employees, the court heard.

'Customers who entrusted their cellphone numbers to Mobile Messenger found themselves victimised because Wedd directed his subordinates to sell those customers' numbers to co-conspirators, and then permitted those co-conspirators to auto-subscribe the customers,' prosecutors said.

The Australian is the 10th person caught by authorities for participating in the fraud, with eight others pleading guilty and another convicted last September.

Wedd argued at his sentencing that, as an Australian, he faces deportation from the US so could serve a portion of his sentence 'under unusually harsh conditions' at a contract Criminal Alien Requirement prison.A Florida woman was arrested after she sprayed gasoline on her ex-boyfriend and set him on fire during an Easter Sunday dinner.

According to police, Shivon Perez, 38, of Altamonte Springs, asked her ex-boyfriend, Bradley Atkins to come to her apartment to fix a leaking pipe in her bathroom.

While fixing the pipe, Atkins told police that he realized Perez was holding a container and asked her what was in it.

'It's gasoline, you son of a b***h,' she replied, according to a police report, and poured charcoal fluid on him

Perez then lit him with a torch yelling: 'You're going to pay.'

Shivon Perez, 38 (left), of Altamonte Springs, was arrested after she sprayed gasoline on her ex-boyfriend Bradley Atkins (right) and set him on fire during an Easter Sunday dinner

According to police Perez asked Atkins to come to her apartment (pictured) to fix a leaking pipe in her bathroom. While fixing the pipe, Perez poured gasoline on him and then lit him on fire

After he noticed he was on fire, Atkins tried to put his clothes out and then noticed Perez was trying to lock the front door to prevent him from leaving.

Shen then poured lighter fluid on the living room floor and set fire to it, the report said.

According to police, Perez had placed boards over all the window's in the one-bedroom apartment. She had told Atkins it was to keep the light out.

Atkins reportedly was able to push past Perez and barely escaped.

His coworkers said he has severe burns on his face, chest, neck, arm and one of his hands. He was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center.

According to a GoFundMe page set up to help pay for Atkins's medical bills, the couple had only broken up one week ago but on reportedly amicable terms . They had allegedly planned on having dinner and seeing a movie on Easter Sunday.

Atkins's coworkers said he has severe burns over his face, chest, neck, arm and one of his hands. Perez (left and right) is facing charges of attempted homicide, arson and kidnapping,

Neighbor Nicole Fader told WKMG the couple argued regularly.

'I heard the screaming and which is like a daily thing with them,' Fader said.

The Seminole County Fire Department put out the fire at the apartment building on the 300 block of Lakepointe Drive.

Police said Perez appeared fine and went back inside to get her dog before the fire department arrived.

She suffered from smoke inhalation and had to be intubated and sedated at Orlando Regional Medical Center, according to police.

Perez is a registered nurse and her license is active, according to a statement released by a Florida Department of Health spokesperson.

She is facing charges of attempted homicide, arson and kidnapping, and is currently being held at the Orange County jail without bond.A high school has apologised for asking Year 12 students to write essays and make a YouTube video about Muslim 'exclusion'.

Leumeah High School in Sydney's south-west had asked Society and Culture students to deliver a five-minute oral presentation on the 'social exclusion faced by people of Muslim faith in Australia'.

They were also required to explain 'the barriers' Muslims face in 'accessing socially-valued resources' in a YouTube video.

However following outrage from the parents and families of students, the New South Wales Department of Education has apologised on behalf of the high school near Campbelltown.

A high school has apologised for asking Year 12 students to write essays and make a YouTube video about Muslim 'exclusion'

Leumeah High School had asked Society and Culture students to deliver a five-minute oral presentation on the 'social exclusion faced by people of Muslim faith in Australia' (file image)

The assessment task has also been removed from the school's website.

A departmental spokesman said the Society and Culture syllabus, examining a contemporary issue, would be amended so students were asked about 'social inclusion and exclusion'.

'The department and the school are sorry if this question has caused any offence,' he said.

The backflip from the school came after Yuhan Houth, who was born in a Thai refugee camp after his parents escaped Pol Pot's murderous regime in Cambodia, said he regretted recommending that school for his younger brother, who turns 16 this year.

Yuhan Houth, who was born in a Thai refugee camp after his parents escaped Pol Pot's murderous regime in Cambodia, said he regretted recommending that school for his brother

A refugee family is outraged at Leumeah High School in Sydney's southwest for making Year 12 students write an essay on Muslim 'exclusion' (file picture)

The 32-year-old welder said the assessment task was based on a leading question rather than an analysis of facts.

'From what I see here, I wouldn't call it propaganda but you can't really call it anything else,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.

'I see it as indoctrinating them young.

'I would have thought examinations would be more concerned about empirical things, objective matter not subjectivity dressed up as an opinion piece.'

The 32-year-old welder said the assessment task was based on a leading question rather than an analysis of facts

Mr Houth said the assessment topic also wrongly implied that immigrants weren't welcome in Australia.

'I'm more concerned about this particular narrative that's been perpetuated,' he said.

'I don't believe what they're demanding from the students is accurate of the reality of what the situation is.'

He said students doing the assessment were effectively being forced to give a set answer, as part of a presentation which must be recorded or uploaded to YouTube for the teacher.

'They would be obliged to give only the answers that they would be satisfied with in terms of any possible biases as opposed to just giving an honest opinion,' he said.

Mr Houth said the assessment topic also wrongly implied that immigrants weren't welcome in Australia

The older brother of a Leumeah High School student said the assessment was 'indoctrinating the young'

Year 12 students are also required to explain 'the barriers' Muslims face in 'accessing socially-valued resources' in a YouTube video

Former federal Labor leader Mark Latham said the school, in his old electorate of Werriwa, had forced students to argue a left-wing narrative that 'Muslims are hard done by because Australia is a racist nation'.

'Given the contentious nature of current political debates about Islam, the students have been placed in a difficult position,' he told his Facebook followers on Tuesday.

'If their YouTube videos are too soft or too hard on Islam they might face different types of backlash. I feel sorry for the students and families facing this conundrum.'

Mark Latham's social media followers were also outraged by Leumeah High School's assessment task

One woman said it was outrageous students were taught Muslims weren't welcome in Australia

Another woman suggested students were being groomed to hate Australia.

Mark Latham's social media followers were also outraged.

'Islamic indoctrination by the left and the education system,' one man wrote.

'My god, we are seriously losing the country.'

One woman said it was outrageous students were taught Muslims weren't welcome in Australia.

'Simply outraged. Muslims have been welcomed into this country for decades,' she said.

'They have the same chances and opportunities as all others, in some cases more than people born here.'

Another woman suggested students were being groomed to hate Australia.

'These kids are being groomed and brainwashed in Islamics and sharia law,' she said.

'No, this is wrong. Politics should be kept out of schools.'Furious commuters stuck in traffic because a man with 'serious mental health issues' climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge have said he deserved to die for holding them up.

Police Rescue crews and negotiators tried to coax the man down from the southern end of the bridge, which he began scaling at around 4.30am this morning.

Just after 9.30am, he climbed toward Police Rescue officers who handcuffed him and brought him down - but not before vile commuters berated him on Twitter.

One wrote: 'Jump you f***ing moron I'm stuck in traffic'. Another said: 'Ironically the bloke the police are trying to save on the harbour bridge deserves the death penalty.'

Furious commuters stuck in traffic because a man with 'serious mental health issues' climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge have said he deserved to die for holding them up

A man who illegally climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and refused to come down for more than five hours plunged the city into peak-hour chaos

The man was seen sitting inside a metal infrastructure, rolling a cigarette while seemingly listening to music

The man, aged in his 40s, who was wearing a tracksuit, a cap and fingerless gloves, scaled the bridge about 4.30am on Wednesday.

'Traffic chaos because some fool who decides to climb Harbour bridge. Late for work again,' one angry commuter wrote on Twitter

'NOT HAPPY with the Harbour Bridge situation this morning. Unbelievable how one person's actions can ruin 100,000s of people's day,' another noted

Moments before he was brought down, the man yelled towards police below 'Get out of the f***ing car!' - The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Still wearing a pair of headphones, he was restrained as he was transported to hospital for treatment.

'We can confirm the man is in police custody and is safe,' NSW Police tweeted.

NSW Ambulance said in a statement: 'The man is in a stable condition and will be taken by road to St Vincent's Hospital for further assessment.'

Though it is not yet known why the man, aged in his 40s, climbed the bridge, there are reports he was demanding to speak with government officials.

The man was wearing a tracksuit, a cap, fingerless gloves and headphones as he scaled the bridge

The man is scene climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge during Wednesday morning's incident

Footage showed police negotiators attempting to get close to the man, who quickly climbed the bridge truss and scampered away

Earlier, Police Rescue officers followed him along the structure, but it was proving difficult to reach him because he kept moving, a police spokeswoman said.

The man was also seen making hand gestures at police, appearing to ask them to call his mobile phone.

He is believed to have left a bicycle in the middle of the road before making the climb.

Negotiations began at around 6am, as a 30km traffic jam swelled on the southbound approach to the bridge.

The man (second left) is escorted by police after being coerced off the bridge

Negotiations began at around 6am, as a 30km traffic jam swelled on the southbound approach to the bridge

Still wearing headphones, the man is seen on a stretcher after being coerced off the bridge

The man made hand gestures at police, appearing to ask them to call his mobile phone

Furious commuters took to social media to vent their frustrations at the delays, which are expected to continue for at least two hours.

'Traffic chaos because some fool who decides to climb Harbour bridge. Late for work again,' one wrote on Twitter.

'Aren't there security guards on the Harbour Bridge 24/7 these days? What was doing this morning?' another questioned.

'NOT HAPPY with the Harbour Bridge situation this morning. Unbelievable how one person's actions can ruin 100,000s of people's day,' yet another noted.

A police negotiator is seen during the dramatic police operation on the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Furious commuters took to social media to vent their frustrations at the delays

'One man on one bridge and the whole city is in chaos,' another wrote.

All four northbound lanes had been closed just before 7am, but two reopened around an hour later.

Authorities earlier warned commuters the bridge could fully shut down if the situation escalated.

All lanes across the bridge have now been reopened and traffic is returning to normal.

The man is known to police, according to Road Minister Melinda Pavey. She said it was near impossible to stop people illegally climbing the bridge.

'Unless you are prepared to wrap the whole bridge in barbed wire, then there is a chance that something like this might happen,' Ms Pavey told the ABC.

The unauthorised man who climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge brought early morning traffic to a standstill

Just after 9.30am, the man climbed toward Police Rescue officers who handcuffed him and brought him down

There were hundreds of online comments from commuters stuck in the long delays

Some questioned the how the man was not stopped from climbing the bridge on Wednesday

This social media user said they were scheduled to make a rare punctual arrival to work

Traffic Management Centre's David Wright said the chaos is likely to go on for hours.

'The information that we're getting, it's basically going to throw peak into chaos for anyone coming into the Sydney CBD,' he told the broadcaster.

'If you are travelling into the CBD whether it's from the upper north shore, the lower north shore, the northern beaches, the inner west - you will be delayed significantly due to this major problem on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.'

A large police presence as well as rescue squads and emergency services remain gathered at the scene.

Police negotiators remained on the road trying to talk down the man, who climbed the bridge just after 4.30am

By 8am, northbound traffic (pictured) was queued nearly 20km to Victoria Road in Huntley's Point

Southbound traffic (pictured just before 8am) heading towards the city was at a standstill

It was proving difficult reach the man because he keeps moving, a NSW Police spokeswoman said

A large police presence as well as rescue squads and emergency services gathered at the scene

Police rescue crews tried for hours to coax the man down after he scaled the iconic structure at around 4.30am on Wednesday

All northbound lanes were closed to traffic, with the traffic backed up for more than 5km just before 7am

The view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge looking towards the city as all four northbound lanes were closedMigrant rights groups are distancing themselves from a caravan of roughly 1,200 Central Americans claiming that its size and sheer force north could bring about a plethora of problems for future migrants.

The large-scale migration has left Mexican authorities in a state of uncertainty and captured the ire of President Donald Trump, who feels that the migrants are moving freely towards the U.S. border.

'We do not share the vision of how these kinds of actions are carried out,' the Collective of Organizations and Defenders of Migrants and Refugees said in a statement, obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Migrant support groups and shelters throughout Mexico are distancing themselves from the caravan of 1200 making its way to the US border

The controversial caravan first departed from Chiapas, southern Mexico, and has been making its way north. The group is said to be mostly comprised of Hondurans, as some analyst going as far to say that the movement is in response to the controversial reelection of Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Alberto Xicotencatl, director of migrant shelter Casa del Migrante in Saltillo, detailed that he learned of the caravan by scrolling through Twitter.

'It is counterproductive for shelters and the entire community of refugees,' he asserted.

Xicotencatl cited previous examples of how pass caravans, going through Mexico, were infiltrated by those wanting to extort and cause harm to migrants.

The controversial caravan first departed from Chiapas, southern Mexico, and has been making its way north

The caravan were also said to be responsible of depleting small communities of their own resources. The organized shelters find that they don't have enough space for the vast number of migrants and the people who reside in these areas, suffer the most.

The director added that he felt the Mexican government was hesitant to act because they too don't have enough capacity to detain all the migrants at once.

He continued that 'the people who will deal with the political repercussions are the ones who remain in Mexico,' when talking about the aftermath of the migration.

And the absence of a response from the Mexican government prompted Donald Trump to take to Twitter to voice his disdain.

President Trump took to Twitter to voice his disdain for the lack of Mexican government action

He said: 'Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!'

'It's not fair or accurate to say that Mexico isn't doing anything,' said Maureen Meyer, director for Mexico and migrant rights at the Washington Office on Latin America.

She added that 'Mexico has not let up on law enforcement, so Trump's classification of Mexico being lax is not the case,' citing how many migrants have been apprehended so far this year.

Since the launching of its Southern Border Program in 2014, in response to an increase of children migrants and pressure from President Barack Obama, Mexican authorities have deported approximately 420,000. In the last 10 years, 950,000 migrants have been deported

A federal delegate of Mexico's National Institute of Immigration has added that they plan to dismantle a bulk of the caravan by Wednesday

Since the launching of its Southern Border Program in 2014, in response to an increase of children migrants and pressure from President Barack Obama, Mexican authorities have deported approximately 420,000. In the last 10 years, 950,000 migrants have been deported.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray tweeted on Sunday that 'Every day Mexico and the US work together on migration throughout the region.' He blamed the controversy on 'inaccurate news report.'

As of Monday, the government has allowed the caravan to make its way north.

Trump falsely claimed that the migrants were trying to take advantage of DACA but in order to apply, applicants had to have lived in the United States since 2007

A federal delegate of Mexico's National Institute of Immigration has added that they plan to dismantle a bulk of the caravan by Wednesday.

To add insult to injury, Trump falsely tweeted that the migrants headed towards the border would be trying to 'take advantage of DACA.'

But one of the stipulations for even applying to DACA requires that applicants have had to reside in the United States since 2007.The Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay has been brought to a halt by a group of indigenous protesters.

The group of approximately 30 people lined up across Seaworld Drive, in Southport, leaving the relay staff and baton bearers stranded in a carpark at the end of the road.

The protesters, part of the Stolenwealth Games indigenous group, are using the Gold Coast Games to highlight their anti-colonial activity and authority views just like in the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 1982.

Protesters have formed a human chain to stop the Queen's Baton relay ahead of the Commonwealth Games

Police negotiators have been brought in to remedy the situation, according to The Gold Coast Bulletin.

They have formed what the publication described as a 'human chain'.

The protest halted the final leg of the baton relay before Wednesday's opening ceremony.

The 12.15pm Main Beach leg is yet to get underway, with 14 baton bearers - including Olympic kayak gold medallist Ken Wallace and Commonwealth Games swim champion Lisa Curry - left to wait.

'Protesters are currently holding up the Queen's Baton Relay. Police negotiators are working with the leaders for the best outcome for the baton bearers,' relay management said in a statement.

With no end in sight the baton team decided to cancel the leg surrounding the The Spit and do laps of SeaWorld Drive.

Similar protests were seen in 1982 at the Brisbane games and in 2006 at the Melbourne Games

Some were even stranded, but emergency services got them through.

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, who arrived in Brisbane on Wednesday afternoon, are expected to meet Governor-General Peter Cosgrove at a Gold Coast hotel near the protest site in the evening.

Queensland police say they acknowledge the group's right to protest and are negotiating with the group.

Queensland police say they acknowledge the group's right to protest and are negotiating with the group

'Should any activities occur during a protest which pose a risk to the safety or enjoyment of the Commonwealth Games, the QPS will respond accordingly,' police said in a statement.

The group has been set up in Carrara opposite the Commonwealth Games since 3pm April 4.

Last week Bo Spearim from Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance told 9 News that displays of flag burning wouldn't be ruled out by protesters as 'we do those things to capture the public'.It was a case that would rock Baltimore to its core. An elite police squad robbing its own citizens, stealing thousands of dollars and re-selling confiscated drugs.

There were homeless men and construction workers who were robbed, prisoners who claimed they were framed, and a shed where ecstasy and heroin were stored.

What sounds like a plot out of a Hollywood film became reality in March 2017 when seven of the eight men who made up the Gun Trace Task force were arrested.

They became one of America's most corrupt police force, and their entire world came crashing down due to one rogue GPS tracker, according to the BBC.

An extra GPS tracker was the first clue that helped bring down the Baltimore Police Gun Task Force (Pictured l-r Evodio Hendrix, Marcus Taylor, Wayne Jenkins, Jemell Rayam, Maurice Ward)

Jenkins (left) led the task force and re-sold everything from heroin to ecstasy. Det. Evodio Hendrix (right) was also convicted

The men had worked on the taskforce in 2015 and 2016, although some of the alleged crimes were said to be committed prior to their joining the team (pictured left is Maurice Ward, right is Daniel Hersl)

Wayne Earl Jenkins, Momodu Gondo, Evodio Hendrix, Maurice Ward, Jemell Rayam, Daniel Hersl, and Marcus Taylor were arrested in March 2017.

All seven cops were on the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force, a plainclothes unit focused on handgun violations and tracing illegal firearms.

Led by Jenkins, the group worked on the taskforce in 2015 and 2016.

Only one member of the entire squad, John Clewell, was not arrested. And yet it was Clewell's name who helped bring down the entire operation.

The house of cards began to tumble back in October 19, 2015, during an investigation into suspected heroin dealer Aaron Anderson.

Anderson and rival dealer Antonio Shropshire, both based in Baltimore, were supplying the bulk of heroin to rural Harford County.

Momodu Gondo (left) and Jemell Rayam (right) planted the tracker that would bring down the police force. Both were involved in robbing an drug dealer's home in 2015

Harford County Sheriff's Department Det David McDougall had been trailing Anderson for weeks, watching 'surprisingly open drug sales at a strip mall'.

McDougall had placed a GPS tracker underneath Anderson's car, and was shocked one night when the dealer went to The Red Roof motel instead of his home.

Warrants were changed and, after a few days of delay, McDougall nabbed his dealer.

When he asked Anderson why he had been staying at the motel, Anderson revealed two men had kicked down his door days earlier.

While most of the men pleaded guilty, Marcus Taylor (pictured) was found guilty by a jury

A man with a hoodie had threatened to kill Anderson's girlfriend, and nabbed jewelry, $10,000 in cash, a Rolex watch, a gun, and 800 grams of heroin.

When McDougall's team raided Anderson's apartment, they found no drugs, just digital scales and 10 mobile phones.

There was a boot print on the door and a lock had been shattered.

Anderson's descriptions of the robbery had awakened suspicions in McDougall. It sounded eerily similar to a police raid.

When McDougall looked underneath the dealer's car, he was shocked to find a GPS tracker eight inches from his own.

McDougall had already taken pains to ensure no other law enforcement agency was investigating Anderson, entering all the information in their 'deconfliction database'.

So McDougall subpoenaed the GPS manufacturer and discovered the owner's name was John Clewell, a detective with the BPD'S Gun Trace Task Force.

It was later discovered the Task Force had been tracking Anderson because Gondo's childhood friend, who worked for the rival Shropshire, said they wanted to rob and murder him.

So Gondo and Rayam borrowed a tracker from Clewell. Gondo kept watch and Rayam and the friend, Glen Kyle Wells, robbed Anderson's home.

McDougall called the FBI, and the investigation began.

The FBI investigation was so secret that even the State's Attorney's Office didn't know until the arrests were revealed

What the FBI found was far more than anyone could have imagined in 2015.

It was revealed that Jenkins would steal heroin, ecstasy, crack, and cocaine and re-sell it on the street.

He would deliver drugs almost nightly to longtime friend Donald Stepp, a bail bondsman who kept an unlocked shed in his backyard for the deliveries.

THE TASK FORCE All seven police officers convicted of the crimes worked on BPD's Gun Trace Taskforce, which focused on handgun violations and tracing illegal firearms. Sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins, 37, of Middle River. Was the leader of the taskforce. Detective Momodu Bondeva Kenton Gondo, 35, of Owings Mills. Nicknamed 'GMoney' and 'Mike'. Also charged with dealing heroin alongside five civilians in a separate case. Detective Evodio Calles Hendrix, 33, of Randallstown. Detective Daniel Thomas Hersl, 48, of Joppa. Detective Jemell Lamar Rayam, 37, of Owings Mills. Detective Marcus Roosevelt Taylor, 31, of Glen Burnie. Detective Maurice Kilpatrick Ward, 37, of Middle River. Advertisement

Then there were the robberies, including $100,000 from a safe that was then covered up with a reenactment film.

Jenkins had his crew take half of the $200,000 they discovered in Oreese Stevenson's basement, along with two kilos of cocaine.

There was $2,000 taken from a homeless man, the crew stealing his money instead of arresting him for drug sales, and another $16,000 from a man named Shawn Whiting.

And after a high-speed car chase that ended in a crash, the force found $8,000 in a glove box and only returned $2,800 as evidence.

Jenkins' crew revealed how he planted drugs on innocent people, posed as the US attorney to aid robberies, and would stop any man over the age of 18 for wearing a backpack.

He was also a fan of 'door pops', speeding towards groups of black men and chasing after anyone who ran. Many of them would also get arrested and robbed.

The crew revealed that as soon as they found a gun, they could go home - leading to hours of received overtime while they hung out at bars.

'They owned the city,' one witness told the BBC. 'It was a front for a criminal enterprise.'

Rayam, Gondo, Jenkins, Hendrix, and Ward all pleaded guilty. Hersl and Taylor were convicted after trial.

Hendrix, Ward, Allers and Rayam are facing 20 years in prison. Gondo, Hersl and Taylor could get up to 60 years.

Jenkins is expected to receive between 20 and 30 years in federal prison.A giant storm expected to make landfall by Friday in California could be the first test of the not yet completed Oroville Dam's spillway, since it partially collapsed in a storm last year.

Lake Oroville is just 36 feet below capacity, and authorities say with the impending storm water may need to be released through a restored half-mile-long concrete chute.

'Hopefully we don't need to use the spillway,' Erin Mellon a spokeswoman for the California Department of Water Resources told SF Gate. 'We've done a lot of hydraulic monitoring. We're confident in the construction.'

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Repair work on the damaged main spillway of the Oroville Dam in Oroville, California (pictured in November) after a partial collapse of the spillway in Feb. 2017

The incident forced authorities to order 188,000 people living downstream along the Feather River to flee over the Oroville Dam spillway

A view of of the heavily damaged spillway at Lake Oroville on April 11, 2017 in Oroville, California. After record rainfall and snow in the mountains

While work crews have been working on the spillway since the partial collapse in February of 2017, the $710 million, two-year fix isn't going to be completed until later this year.

As of now a temporary compacted concrete is being used for the spillway. The rougher surface of the roller-compacted concrete could cause water to make a turbulent discharge.

Inspectors are closely monitoring the situation, and have been more aggressively excessing water from the lake through a power plant that has been used throughout construction.

State officials say they don't believe the lake will fill above the brim, but if it does they are but taking precautions in case they do need to use the spillway over the coming days.

In January, a lawsuit was filed after the 2017 catastrophe forced authorities to order 188,000 people living downstream along the Feather River to flee over the Oroville Dam spillway.

According to construction workers the dam was built on eroded, crumbling rock.

Construction reports from 1966 showed an abundance of loose clay, 'shot rock' and 'very little solid rock,' Sacbee reported.

A state engineer claims the surface was crumbling away and one worker in particular refused to do any more preparation work until he got the all clear from his boss.

Water managers and Oroville city officials have been disputing this for years with the lead attorney, Joseph Cotchett saying 'This was not an act of God. This was not just a wild rainstorm. This went back 20 years of neglect.'

Apparently the contractor told the California Department of Water Resources it needed to dig deeper to find stronger rock.

However, DWR didn't do all the necessary additional excavation work, something officials speculate might be to do with money.

The main spillway fractured in two. A team of forensic investigators found that the dam had been built on a surface with 'erodible materials.'

Construction reports from 1966 showed an abundance of loose clay, 'shot rock' and 'very little solid rock,' Sacbee reported

Five days after this water poured over the emergency spillway for the first time on record, onto the 3,000-foot concrete chute that releases water from Lake Oroville, California's second-largest reservoir.

This triggered flood fears in the area, which led to an emergency evacuation of 188,000 downstream residents.

Oroville's case is seeking monetary damages to reimburse the city for the cost of the evacuation, lost revenue from sales taxes and tourism, and other general expenses.

Apparently the city's damages are worth millions of dollars.

According to forensic team leader John France reports state from well before the dam was built, both spillways rested atop a foundation of wildly varying quality, some of it very weak.

'That sort of set the physical stage for what happened 50 years later,' said in an interview.

'The decision to leave the weathered material in place underneath the chute (was) a big decision, a significant decision,' France said.

'It is certainly a big part of why we said the causes of this really go back to the original design and construction.'A South Carolina man who was beaten last month when he went out to pick up his newspaper has died from his injuries.

The Lexington County Sheriff's Department told local media that the 68-year-old man, who has not been named yet, died from his injuries on Monday.

According to Captain Adam Myrick, the man went out to his front yard in the Cobbs Hill subdivision off of Emanuel Church Road around 5:30am to pick up his newspaper.

The man's wife found him in the road, suffering from injuries to the face, head and with broken ribs.

A South Carolina man who was beaten last month when he went out to pick up his newspaper has died from his injuries. Police say he went out to his front yard in the Cobbs Hill subdivision off of Emanuel Church Road (pictured) around 5:30am to pick up his newspaper

No suspect has been identified and no arrests have been made. Officers say they were unable to interview the victim before he died.

Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher told the Cola Daily that his autopsy was to be conducted early Tuesday morning.

Fisher also said she may release the man's identity later in the week, if the autopsy finds conclude that the death was the result of unnatural circumstances.

According to his neighbor, Dennis Yongue, said he was surprised and didn't know why anyone would want to hurt the man.

The man's wife found him in the road, suffering from injuries to the face, head and with broken ribs. No suspect has been identified and no arrests have been made. Officers say they were unable to interview the victim before he died (file picture)

'I don't know man. He was just a very nice neighbor. Somebody you could talk to anytime. He was always open to other people in this neighborhood,' he told WLTX.

'This is a very nice neighborhood. Since we've been living here, we've never have had any trouble.'

Anybody with information about the incident or who witnessed the attack is urged to call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.A driver has pleaded guilty over a crash in Melbourne that killed a 14-year-old girl and her mother, with prosecutors abandoning drink driving charges.

Thomas Charles Adamson, 27, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday April 4 where he pleaded guilty over a fatal August crash on the South Gippsland Highway that killed Meili Dai, 44, and her daughter Xinyu Yuan.

Adamson, who was seriously injured in the crash and remains in a wheelchair, has pleaded guilty to two counts of culpable driving causing death and one charge of driving while disqualified.

Meili Dai, 44, and her daughter Xinyu Yuan, 14, died in a car accident on August 9, 2017

Thomas Charles Adamson, 27, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday April 4 where he pleaded guilty

Ms Dai and her daughter were leaving Xinyu's parent-teacher interviews at the time of the crash.

Mr Adamson's Holden Commodore smashed into their Toyota at about 7.20pm, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The crash happened on August 9.

Police have previously alleged that Adamson had a blood alcohol reading of between 0.12 and 0.165 at the time of the crash.

It is alleged that Adamson left a bar just before the crash, according to The Herald Sun.

The family of the slain mother and daughter were present in court as Adamson entered the plea.

Police have previously alleged that Adamson had a blood alcohol reading of between 0.12 and 0.165 at the time of the crash

He will face a pre-sentence hearing at the Victorian County Court in August.

Adamson was originally charged with seven offences in November, including two counts of dangerous driving causing death, drink driving, and driving under the influence

Prosecutors are not proceeding with those four charges.

The Devon Meadows resident will remain on bail and face court on August 31.The father of the woman who shot three people and then took her own life at YouTube's headquarters on Tuesday warned police that his daughter hated the company.

Nasim Aghdam, 39, had told her family a few weeks ago that YouTube had 'stopped everything,' and 'she was angry,' Ismail Aghdam told The Mercury News.

Ismail Aghdam said the family called police on Monday to report his daughter missing after she failed to answer her cellphone for two days.

He added that he even warned police that she might be heading to YouTube's headquarters because she 'hated' the company.

On Tuesday around 2am, Mountain View Police called the family to report that they had found Nasim sleeping in her car and that everything was 'under control'.

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The father of Nasim Aghdam, 39 (pictured), who shot three people and then took her own life at YouTube's headquarters on Tuesday warned police that his daughter hated the company

Ismail Aghdam said the family called police on Monday to report his daughter missing after she failed to answer her cellphone for two days. On Tuesday around 2am, Mountain View Police called the family to report that they had found Nasim (left in 2009 and right at one year bold) sleeping in her car and that everything was 'under control'

Mountain View police confirmed to Mercury News on Tuesday night that a woman of the same name had been found asleep in a vehicle early Tuesday morning in a parking lot.

'Our officers made contact with the woman after the license plate of her vehicle matched that of a missing person out of Southern California,' said Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson.

'The woman confirmed her identity to us and answered subsequent questions. At the conclusion of our discussion, her family was notified that she had been located.'

Ismail Aghdam described his daughter as a vegan activist and an animal lover.

According to state records, she had once established a charity called Peace Thunder Inc, to 'educate people about animal cruelty, environmental pollution' and other causes.

Ismail Aghdam described his daughter as a vegan activist and an animal lover (Nasim Aghdam had once posted this old, doctored family photo with her parents)

Nasim Aghdam had a significant online presence with multiple YouTube channels and social media pages. She posted an array of videos including workout clips, animal abuse videos and vegan cooking tutorials, reported the Mercury News.

In a video that Aghdam posted back in January 2017, she vented about her content being 'discriminated and filtered'.

She also said that her YouTube channel, which had more than 5,000 subscribers, used to get many views but claimed she started getting less when the company started 'filtering' her videos.

Aghdam's YouTube channels and social media pages were all removed in the hours after the shooting. She claimed she had at least four YouTube channels, one in English, and then others in Farsi and Turkish.

Officers and federal agents swarmed YouTube's headquarters complex just before 1pm after dozens of panicked employees called 911 to report gunfire.

Aghdam was a prolific YouTuber who had ranted online against the company's new policies and for 'censoring her videos and not paying her'

Aghdam had a significant online presence with multiple YouTube channels and social media pages. She posted an array of videos including workout clips, animal abuse videos and vegan cooking tutorials

Upon arrival, police found the woman dead inside the campus with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said three people were taken to hospitals in San Francisco with gunshot wounds.

A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition following the shooting.

Television news footage showed terrified employees leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building.

Officers patted down people to make sure none had weapons as police vehicles surrounded the area.

Authorities cover a body with a yellow tarp at YouTube's headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday

Witnesses say Aghdam was wearing glasses and a scarf when she opened fire on YouTube employees

Law enforcement officials initially said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute after early indications suggested she had shot her boyfriend.

Witnesses say Aghdam was wearing glasses and a scarf when she opened fire on YouTube employees.

Law enforcement officials initially said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute after early indications suggested she had shot her boyfriend.

Police did not release any further information on the suspect or comment on her possible motives for the shooting rampage.

The shooting had no known connection to terrorism, US government security officials said.

Her father told The Mercury News that the family did not know that Nasim owned a gun.

'Maybe she bought one' recently, he said.Single mothers have slammed the government for having 'double standards', claiming politicians are exempt from the demeaning standards applied to struggling parents.

As of this year, single parents on welfare need to verify their relationship status by asking a referee to sign a legally binding form stating they are not in a relationship.

The National Council for Single Mothers and their Children protested the changes, claiming they were old-fashioned and demeaning to women.

Single mothers have slammed the government for having 'double standards', claiming politicians like Barnaby Joyce (with Vikki Campion) are exempt from the demeaning standards applied to struggling parents

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Council chief executive Terese Edwards said the government appeared to have contradictory standards.

Referring to former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce' affair with pregnant staffer Vikki Campion, Ms Edwards said there was a clear double standard.

She said the government distrusted low-income earning women, but allowed Federal Ministers to determine their relationship status for themselves.

'The findings for members of parliament illustrates the complexity in contemporary relationships and particularly highlights the often-significant gap from the onset of dating to the decision of sharing parenting responsibilities and finances,' she told The Guardian.

Referring to former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce' affair with pregnant staffer Vikki Campion (pictured), Ms Edwards said there was a clear double standard

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Council chief executive Terese Edwards (pictured) said the government appeared to have contradictory standards

'Despite this, the rules that your government now expects low-income single mothers to abide by in respect of developing relationships, are out of step with contemporary Australia and your recent findings.'

She also said the process was intrusive, and outcast society's most vulnerable.

'We remain concerned for women who have left a violent partner and or women who require greater privacy as well as women who do not have a 'trusted third party' noting that the third party can't be a family member,' Ms Edwards said.

Chief Executive Cassandra Goldie said the new provision increased the powerlessness of single parents

The government said the new verification process for welfare recipients could save $93.7 million over five years.

The Australian Council of Social Service also slammed the changes, claiming the government considered single parents as 'untrustworthy'.

Chief Executive Cassandra Goldie said the new provision increased the powerlessness of single parents.A feud between two Instagram star cousins thrust into the centre of a vile bikie war allegedly turned physical at the weekend, it can be revealed.

Rikki-Louise and Allaina Jones made headlines in February after their partners Brett 'Kaos' Pechey and Ben 'Notorious' Geppert, became involved in a vile war of words.

The two women's relationship has deteriorated since, culminating in an incident at a unit owned by Rikki-Louise's boyfriend Pechey, a former leading Bandidos enforcer.

Neither Allaina or Rikki-Louise, who are cousins, has been charged in relation to the incident, but Daily Mail Australia understands Queensland police intervened in their dispute.

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Rikki-Louise Jones (left) was allegedly involved in a physical incident with her cousin Allaina Jones (right) on the Gold Coast last Thursday. Neither has been charged over the incident

The two Instagram star cousins (pictured) made headlines in February after being thrust into the centre of a bitter war of words involving their two bikie boyfriends

Rikki-Louise (left) is reportedly set to move to Western Australia with Pechey in an effort to escape the pair's ongoing feud with Allaina (right) and Geppert

But bitter fighting hasn't always been the norm for the Jones', with photos revealing their old lives before tattoos, plastic surgery and social media stardom.

Years earlier, the cousins - whose fathers are brothers - were almost unrecognisable, with Allaina's red hair and arm of colourful tattoos the only thing baring similarity.

A fresh faced Rikki-Louise regularly snapped the pair before nights out and side-by-side on Australia Day - but on Wednesday their relationship sunk to a new low.

Their dispute came just a day before Pechey allegedly barricaded himself inside his apartment and threatening to stab police last Friday.

It's alleged the bikie - who was once Queensland's most wanted - armed himself with a sword and told police gathered outside he would attack unless they shot him.

As part of strict bail conditions granted on Wednesday, Pechey was ordered to return to his home Western Australia to avoid any further conflict between the two parties.

The 31-year-old was also ordered to report to police in Perth three times a week and not to return to Queensland, except for court appearances.

A day earlier Pechey's lawyer Campbell McCallum said his client had returned to the Gold Coast last week to help Rikki-Louise move to WA with him.

A day after the dispute involving Rikki-Louise (left) and Allaina, the former's boyfriend Brett 'Kaos' Pechey (right) was allegedly involved in an armed siege inside his Gold Coast apartment

During their Instagram war earlier this year, Geppert (left) called Pechey a 'boneyard dog' and accused him of being a police informant

Allaina and Rikki-Louise before many tattoos, plastic surgery and their social media stardom

A fresh faced Rikki-Louise took photos of the pair standing side-by-side before nights out

Rikki-Louise (right) works as a part-time model, while her cousin Allaina (left) is a makeup artist

'There's been an ongoing feud with another couple on the Gold Coast - I reckon you know who they are,' Mr McCallum told Daily Mail Australia.

'He'd had an argument over misinformation he was provided in regards to infidelity.

'The neighbours heard some arguing and called police, because there had been a break in at the same residence the night before.

'Brett and Rikki had an argument but had cooled down and resolved their differences when 26 police arrived. That was when s*** hit the fan.'

Pechey, who entered a mental facility as a result of the siege, faced three charges in relation to the weekend's siege.

Among them were serious assault, willfully and unlawfully damaging property, and a charge of committing public nuisance.

Pechey, who entered a mental facility as a result of the siege, faced three charges in relation to the weekend's siege

Pechey (pictured) became the most wanted man in Queensland when he fled to Thailand in the wake of a wild 2013 fight that became known as the 'Broadbeach bikie brawl'

Ben Geppert (left) and Brett Pechey (right) pose happily for a photo before their Instagram war

In 2013 he became the most wanted man in Queensland when he fled to Thailand in the wake of a wild fight that became known as the 'Broadbeach bikie brawl'.

That incident saw dozens of bikies surround police officers before attacking, hitting a number with punches.

Pechey fled to Asia in the wake of the attack, but returned a year later after running out of money.Fox News' Geraldo Rivera seemingly blasted both his colleague Laura Ingraham and David Hogg over the last two days for their continued spat in the last few weeks.

He first slammed the embattled Ingragam came while speaking with The Wrap on Monday at a launch for his book 'The Geraldo Show,' at Del Frisco's in New York City.

'What she did was terrible,' he said. 'What she said was just indefensible.'

While speaking with TheWrap on Monday, Geraldo Rivera called Laura Ingraham's actions toward David Hogg 'indefensible'

Ingraham has been facing intense criticism after she mocked the Parkland shooting survivor for not getting into several of the colleges that he applied to. Hogg demanded an apology and that company severe their ties with the host.

The 74-year-old Rivera continued, sharing concerns on how 'The Ingraham Angle' would cope after 18 companies pulled ads from the show.

'I don't know' about Ingraham's fate at the channel. It's not going to be an easy road,' he added.

Ingraham has been facing intense criticism after she mocked the Parkland shooting survivor for not getting into several colleges

But Rivera soon turned his sights on Hogg and the rise of advertiser boyotts on a broader level.

He said: 'I detest secondary boycotts. I think they're anti-democratic. They are a threat to the First Amendment.

'They give the power to the ad department over the editorial department in news organizations'

'It's censorship of the worst kind. To destroy her career and destroy her show by using economic clout, the intimidation of advertisers, I think is really low blow.'

But Fox News didn't take nicely to Rivera's comment, adding that he was not privy to what was really happening.

Rivera took to his Twitter on Tuesday to voice his support for Ingraham and once again condemn political boycotts

'Geraldo is out of the loop on this issue and speaks for no one but himself,' a spokesperson added.

Fox News has been quick to rally behind Ingraham following the loss of advertisers.

'We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts,' Co-president Jack Abernathy said to the Los Angeles Times. 'We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children.'

Rivera took to his own Twitter on Tuesday to share his thoughts and to condemn political boycotts, once again.

'Media missed my point, while I disagree with Laura Ingraham @IngrahamAngle on this issue, I'm glad she apologized & I'm even happier that she will be back on Monday,' he said. 'These political boycotts need to stop. They are an attack on the 1st Amendment & an infringement of free speech.'

Most form of political boycotts actually fall under the purview of the 1st Amendment.The distraught parents to one of six victims who died from the fallen pedestrian bridge in Florida spoke about the pain they are left now that she's gone.

Gina and Orlando Duran, who lost their daughter Alexa, 18, filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday against the engineering and construction companies responsible for the faulty Florida International University bridge that collapsed on March 15.

A sobbing Gina spoke in a press conference Tuesday where she said the family's dry cleaning business is quiet inside and a constant reminder that Alexa is no longer there with them.

'I don't see her, I don't smell her. I don't have somebody to be there with. I'm always going, "Alex" - then I realize she isn't here,' she said.

The victim's mother said her daughter was loved by everyone who knew her there as a helping hand since she was a little girl.

From left to right: Attorney Alan Goldfarb and Orlando and Gina Duran speak to the media Tuesday, April 3, 2018, in Miami, about losing their 18-year-old daughter when a bridge collapsed in Miami and their legal fight against the companies in charge of the construction

Alexa's dad Orlando said that was just 'her personality', according to the Miami Herald, as he recalled sweet memories of his daughter patting his head to ask if he was OK.

'I'd nod my head  and she would say, 'don't worry, Dad, you still got it,' Orlando Duran said about his daughter in the press conference.

'I don't know if I can face not having her... beyond my daughter, my little girl, she was a friend to me,' he added.

Family members to victim Alexa Duran (pictured) have filed a wrongful death lawsuit

Alexa's best friend, Richie Humble, who was in the same SUV with her at the time but able to crawl out with only injuries, said he has flashbacks and anxiety attacks have haunted him ever since.

The pedestrian bridge near a Florida university fell on the car he was riding in, killing six people including his best friend who was driving their vehicle.

Humble said Monday that the collapse caused a fracture in his back, along with knee and neck problems. But he said his mental health has caused him to abandon all but one of his classes at Florida International University.

The 19-year-old FIU sophomore filed a negligence lawsuit last week against several companies involved in the bridge's construction, the latest of a series of suits by injured survivors or victims' families.

The pre-med student said he wouldn't want anyone to go through what he did.

'There's not a single day that I don't think about it,' Humble told reporters at a press conference on Monday.

The Florida International University student (right) was being driven back from a doctor's appointment by his best friend, Alexa (left), when the bridge fell on top of them

Richie Humble, 19, a survivor of the March 15 Florida bridge collapse, filed a lawsuit Monday against several companies involved in the bridge's construction. He's pictured above speaking at a press conference on Monday

Covered in Duran's blood, Humble says he yelled out her name but she didn't say anything back. Duran's crushed car is seen above

Video courtesy WPLG

Alexa was driving him back from a doctor's appointment that day when they came to a stop underneath the new bridge.

They were talking about their plans for the next day, possibly seeing a movie, when Humble heard a crack and saw the bridge start to fall down on top of them. A split second-later and the car was crushed underneath the 950-ton concrete mass.

Humble remembers shouting Duran's name and ducked down as fast as he could. But then the car went silent.

'She wasn't saying anything. And I had her blood on me, and I didn't really know what to do,' he said. 'I looked up at her one more time. I saw just her hair, nothing else.'

Duran was the youngest of six victims who died in the March 15 collapse. Her car is seen on the far right

Eventually, someone was able to rescue Humble by prying open his door with a wooden beam. When he got out of the car, he immediately called his mom.

'All I could hear was sirens and Richie screaming and screaming. I couldn't control him. He was frantic. All I could hear was him screaming,' Lourdes Humble said.

While Humble's physical wounds have mostly healed, there's no doubt that he willbe left scarred for life by the trauma of what happened and the loss of his dearest friend.

'She was like just the brightest light in my life. Always there for me whenever,' Humble said of Duran.

After being rescued from the crushed vehicle, Humble called his mother panicked

Humble is seen sitting on a median after the collapse. He sustained several minor injuries

The bridge was well known to FIU students like Humble and Duran. Their university had celebrated its installation five days before the collapse with officials saying they were filled with pride for seeing a 950-ton concrete bridge that was prefabricated and quickly installed over a busy six-lane highway.

Angry at engineers, school officials and the government, Humble said more should have been done to protect drivers and pedestrians near the bridge after it was swung into place.

'There were human lives at risk. It's just something you shouldn't play with at all ... people including myself; from this point on they will be changed,' he said.

The teen's mother also spoke about her son's anxiety, and said she found him crying and curled up in a fetal position days after surviving the collapse.

'He is a 19-year-old who cannot take a shower without screaming and crying. I have to go in and get him out of the shower. (It has been) very difficult for myself, my husband, my mother,' she said.

Humble's mother Lourdes (pictured left with the family's attorney) says she's found her son crying in the fetal position in the shower after what happened

Humble himself says he's has to pull over twice while driving because of anxiety attacks behind the wheel.

'I'd say every other day I have flashbacks and it's hard to handle and it's really scary because I can't even control myself,' Humble said.

Companies have not commented on the lawsuits.

Stuart Grossman, Humble's attorney, said his team is looking at the bidding process, the design and whether traffic should have been diverted the days that followed the installation.

'In a project that is bid for in this community...clearly inspections did not do their jobs, engineering didn't not do its job, construction did not do its job and people die. What's up? What's going on here?' Grossman said.

The construction of the bridge was behind schedule and over budget, partly because of a key change in the design and placement of one of its support towers north to the edge of a canal, documents have shown.

The cause of the collapse is not clear. Before the failure, crews were adjusting a tension rod on the north end of the bridge, and authorities continue to investigate whether cracking that was reported on the same side before the span fell contributed to the accident.

'The experiment failed, people are dead and Richie is not lucky. You are not lucky to have gone through something like this,' Grossman said. 'He is fortunate he survived. But this isn't winning the lottery.'A 'millionaire' fraudster who deceitfully claimed government funded housing for 18 years was forced onto Centrelink benefits after losing her job during the scandal.

Rebecca Khodragha was kicked out of her western Sydney unit by the NSW Housing and Land Corporation late last year, almost 12 months after she was convicted of fraud.

She had kept secret that she was married to a man whose lucrative electrical business collected more than $1 million since she moved into the Greenacre flat in March 1998.

Ironically, the controversy about her sponging from the public purse last year forced her onto government welfare, a tribunal decision has revealed.

Rebecca Khodragha was convicted of fraud by a New South Wales court last year after 18 years spent in public housing

Ms Khodragha was evicted from her government-funded home (above) only last October

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard that as of late last year, Khodragha was receiving 'approximately $450 per week in income support payments'.

'The tenant has had significant media attention and has lost her job and is not able to work,' the decision said.

'Her husband is not with her now and she is dependent on Centrelink payments ...

'The tenant has paid her debt to society and there should be no more punishment of the tenant.'

It is not known whether Ms Khodragha has sought employment or stayed on Centrelink since the decision.

She went to the tribunal in an attempt to delay the period in which she would be forced out of her property, citing a young child's needs.

Ms Khodragha wanted her expulsion from the home to be suspended for four to six months.

Meanwhile, the NSW Land and Housing Corporation argued for her to be granted only two weeks.

The government told the tribunal 'the tenant failed to disclose that since March 1999 her husband was also living with her at the property.

'Her husband owned two properties in Lakemba and Greenacre, there was a business run from the premises, and an older son was working and earning income from August 2014.'

The tribunal heard 'the tenant failed to disclose that since March 1999 her husband was also living with her at the property'

Channel Seven cameras caught the moment Khodragha's belongings were loaded onto a moving fan for the final time

In the end, the tribunal decided Khodragha would be formally evicted after a 30 day period.

Channel Seven cameras captured the moment moving trucks were packed with her belongings.

She was required to pay the landlord $47.86 per day of occupancy after her lease was terminated last September.

It was not the only hefty bill she faced last year.

When she was convicted of fraud, Ms Khodragha was ordered to pay back more than $80,000 in unpaid rent.A libertarian senator has described the introduction of Aboriginal hospital waiting rooms as a throwback to '1950s racism'.

New South Wales Health has introduced new guidelines mandating 'culturally appropriate space' for indigenous patients, complete with Aboriginal artworks.

Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm has described the policy as a throwback to an era before Aboriginal people in Australia could vote or were even counted as citizens.

Senator David Leyonhjelm has described Aboriginal hospital waiting rooms as a throwback to '1950s racism'

Former federal Labor president Warren Mundine, who is indigenous, said the policy risked a return to 'segregated hospitals' from the 1960s

'Where this is heading is separate development. It's reminiscent of the old 1950s racism,' the NSW senator told Sydney radio 2GB breakfast presenter Alan Jones on Wednesday.

'The idea that they can't sit around in waiting rooms like other people and wait for medical attention is offensive to them I would have thought.'

Former federal Labor president Warren Mundine, who is indigenous, said the policy risked a return to 'segregated hospitals' from the 1960s.

NSW Health argued the policy was designed to keep patients from leaving hospitals before they have been treated.

'The policy recognises that all vulnerable patient groups have specific needs and emergency departments should seek to cater for the specific needs of their local communities,' the department said in a statement.

NSW Health argued the indigenous cultural spaces policy was designed to keep patients from leaving hospitals before they have been treated

Relatives and carers may also be encouraged to stay in the new dedicated rooms or in a 'culturally appropriate space' which hospital bosses should identify.

Figures from NSW Health suggest there is a higher number of Aboriginal patients who stop waiting for treatment compared to other patients.

A trial testing the changes found the number of Aboriginal patients who left the emergency department before treatment was halved.

The state government said the use of 'local Aboriginal art could provide links to culture and community'.

Hospitals throughout New South Wales are now under a policy issued by the state's health department

It acknowledged Aboriginal patients needed more convincing to feel safe and stay for clinical treatment after triage.

'Advice should be sought on appropriate art from the local Aboriginal community,' it said in a policy paper.

'If available in the hospital, relatives may access the designated Aboriginal waiting room for families and carers.

'If no room exists, a culturally appropriate space within the local hospital should be identified.

'If we can make it feel more comfortable that's fine but then we need to work on the real issues.'

The state government says the use of 'local Aboriginal art can provide links to culture and community'

The Public Health Association of Australia's vice-president Carmen Parter said the policy tackled fears of 'institutionalised racism' in Australia's hospitals.

'People need to recognise, around the stolen generations, hospital institutions were part of that whole process of taking children from families,' she said.

'There's a deep ingrained distrust in communities around that.'

Hospitals will be required to to maintain records to 'monitor trends' of 'did not wait' DNW patients from both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal backgrounds.

The state government says it brings NSW in line with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare's published guidance titled: Improving Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.

The policy is due for a review in 2023.A mother and father in Georgia are under arrest after they left their baby in a crib sleeping on top of a plush pillow knowing it was dangerous. When they returned he was dead.

Adam Brady, 30, came home after working the night shift at Cracker Barrel and found his three-month-old son not breathing at he and his girlfriend Elizabeth Norris', 23, home in Newman.

By the time Brady had come home around 5:30am he found his son, Cassius, not breathing and tried to wake him up.

Elizabeth Norris and Adam Brady were both arrested and charged with murder after their three-month-old son suffocated in his crib

He did not call the police for another five hours, but it was already too late by the time Brady had walked through the door.

His son had been dead for about an hour at that point.

When police arrived they say they found the baby face down in a pillow, and covered in blankets.

An autopsy revealed he suffocated. Brady and Norris were arrested Monday on second-degree murder charges.

'The mother and boyfriend were aware of the dangers that having a pillow in the crib and placing the baby on his stomach could cause, prior to the death,' Newnan police Deputy Chief Mark Cooper told AJC.com.

Family of the couple said the use of the long pillow had been Brady's idea.

'He claims that the baby sleeps better that way,' Elizabeth Norris' sister Kayla Henderson said.

Brady told officers he knew his son was dead because he his military training and his referenced Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

'I heard him refer to it and that his cousin died from it years ago at least four times,' Newnan police Officer J.R. Robinson wrote in his report.

Meanwhile the family said they are not shocked by the news, and were suspicious of Norris' behavior. She also has a three-year-old daughter.

'(Elizabeth) knew exactly what she was doing,' Henderson said. 'She got what she deserved.'

'She was screaming, but it was more forced. It was more rehearsed,' her brother-in-law Darius Ervin added.Britain needs to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn, was the message from Lord Alan Sugar tonight.

His comments come after the Labour leader decided to attend a Seder by a far-left group that once called for Israel's destruction.

Speaking to ITV News about Jeremy Corbyn's attendance to the Jewdas event, Lord Sugar described the politican as 'absolutely dangerous'.

He said: 'This country needs to get rid of him. There is no question of it. I don't have the solution how to get rid of him. He is absolutely dangerous, totally totally dangerous and the [Labour] Party is powerless to try and get rid of him.'

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured on a trip to Swindon yesterday with shadow education secretary Angela Rayner) defended his controversial decision to attend a Seder hosted by a far left group which has called for the destruction of Israel

'He doesn't mean it. He's just giving lip service. Obviously his back room cronies have said 'oh look Jeremy, you'd better say something about this anti-Semitism you can't just sit there silent' so he says 'oh yeh yeh, no we're not anti-Semitic'.

Ehphraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, is considering making an intervention in the next two weeks amid the mounting concern about anti-Semitism in the Labour party, according to The Times.

Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, accused Corbyn of trying to provoke the Jewish community.

He said: 'It's fair to say he [the Chief Rabbi] has grave concerns. The Chief Rabbi is very worried, he absolutely shares our concerns.

'This [the Jewish Seder] was an event at which hostility was expressed to the mainstream Jewish community. Right now the message I'm getting is I can't take serious anything he [Corbyn] says.

Jeremy Corbyn attended an event last night hosted by a far-Left group that has called for the destruction of Israel

He added: 'If Jeremy Corbyn goes to their event, how can we take his stated commitment to be an ally against anti-Semitism seriously?'

Earlier yesterday Corbyn defended his controversial decision to attend a Seder hosted by a far left group which has called for the destruction ofIsrael.

He was accused of 'deliberately baiting' the Jewish community by attending the event by Jewdas which has dismissed Labour's anti-Semitism scandal as 'cynical manipulation'.

Confronted with the criticism on a trip to Swindon Mr Corbyn refused to apologise and said he had learnt a lot by talking to the young Jewish people at the event.

Labour MP and arch Corbyn critic John Woodcock said it was 'irresponsible and dangerous' and a snub to mainstream Jewish groups.

The Labour leader was also condemned by the Holocaust Education Trust chief executive Karen Pollock, who branded the visit 'mocking' and 'disrespectful'.

Speaking yesterday on a trip to Swindon, Mr Corbyn said: 'It was a Seder event which is a celebration of Passover I celebrated it with a lot of young Jewish people from my constituency and my own community.

'It was very interesting talking to a lot of young people about their experiences of modern Britain - and isn't that a good thing?'

The row erupted after leaked audio of the meeting revealed Mr Corbyn was present while guests allegedly booed the names of mainstream Jews.

Confronted over whether the timing was bad given the anti-Semitism row which has engulfed his party, Mr Corbyn insisted that he is committed to rooting out the abuse.

He said: 'Anti-Semitism is a vile and evil thing in our society at any level any where at any time, it has got to be eradicated wherever it arises.

'If it arises in my party then we have a process for dealing with it - we examine each case and if someone has committed an anti-Semitism act they are suspended and could be expelled.'

Who are Jewdas, the group which Jeremy Corbyn controversially met with? Jewdas is a radical left-wing group in London's Jewish community that was formed in 2006. The group is known for 'far-left anti-Zionism' and is controversial in some quarters because of its opposition to the state of Israel - branding the Jewish state a 'steaming pile of sewage'. It has criticised mainstream Jewish organisations for their protests over alleged Labour anti-Semitism. In a statement last week, the group blasted the Jewish Board of Deputies, Jewish Leadership Council and Jewish Labour Movement for 'playing a dangerous game with people's lives'. It claims allegations linking Mr Corbyn to anti-Semitism were 'the work of cynical manipulations by people whose express loyalty is to the Conservative Party and the right wing of the Labour Party'. Advertisement

He said Labour is 'very clear' anti-Semitism for any other form of racism must not be tolerated.'

While the Jewdas group posted a response to the row on its Facebook page saying hey were 'delighted' with Mr Corbyn's visit.

It states: 'While we remain opposed to the monarchy, we were delighted that the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn accepted our invitation to join the Jewdas community Seder.

'Jeremy was a 10/10 guest and provided delicious maror from his allotment.'

The largely satirical statement added: 'In 1812 the British Government designated Jewdas to be the sole representative body for British Jews.

'We fulfil our role of being the voice for Anglo-Jewry by writing funny tweets, holding great parties and passing on the memes which we receive from God, via Geoffrey Cohen.

'Sadly our God-given right to be the sole spokespeople for Anglo-Jewry is not respected by many heretical organisations which are known as 'The Jewish Establishment'.'

They added: 'We are not happy with the Jewish Establishment, but we remain deeply involved in many synagogues and communal organisations (although this is mostly for the free food).'

The latest anti-Semitism row has been played down by others who said Jewdas were a recognised part of the Jewish community.

Jon Lansman, the chief of the Corbyn-backing Momentum group, said it was not 'significant'.

And comedian David Baddiel, a Labour supporter who has harshly criticised Mr Corbyn over anti-Semitism, said the group were simply 'Jews who disagree with other Jews. Which means: Jews'.

Mr Corbyn (pictured yesterday leaving home in London) celebrated Passover with the group last night but was said to have attended in a private capacity as the constituency MP

The row came as Labour's new General Secretary Jennie Formby yesterday wrote to Labour member to say 'anti-Semitic attitudes must be completely eradicated within the Labour Party'

In other developments yesterday, the former Commons Speaker Michael Martin warned anti-Semitism could cost Labour the next election.

Mr Martin, a Labour MP before he took the Commons chair, said: 'The only way Labour can improve the quality of life for men and women, and children, is if they are elected.

'If Labour is seen as anti-Semitic, then that is going to be at risk.'

And Labour grandee Dame Margaret Beckett urged Mr Corbyn to be stronger in condemning anti-Semitism.

Momentum chief secretly recorded saying anti-Semitism row being used to attack Corbyn Momentum's chief was secretly recorded telling Corbynistas the anti-Semitism row has been used 'opportunistically' to attack Jeremy Corbyn. Jon Lansman, who is Jewish, said some right-wingers are using the row to discredit the Labour leader. He also said that all allegations must be investigated properly and that there is a wider problem with unconscious bias against jews in Labour. But his comments, recorded on March 26, strike a different tone to his tours of the TV studios over the past 48 hours when he has called for tougher action to root out anti-Semitism. He told the meeting: 'It's a difficult issue for Jeremy and the party. It is very unfair. 'Who are bringing these charges? Well, an awful lot of these cases that are brought to the attention of the Compliance Unit are from an organisation called the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, which is so right wing that it had a public spat with the Jewish Leadership Council.... 'Yes its true that there are people on the right who are opportunistically using this to get to the Labour Party. 'But I don't think that means that if there are charges that are valid that we don't have to take hem seriously - all charges must be taken seriously.' He also told how he has been the victim of anti-Semitic abuse recently. Advertisement

The Labour MP and former Foreign Secretary told The Times: 'Jeremy, who I don't doubt is not personally anti-Semitic, has never liked condemning people. That's why he has not been as robust as people might have wanted him to be.

'But I really need to think he needs to steel himself and say this is unacceptable because some people are hiding behind the claim that they haven't done or said something anti-Semitic and that they're being attacked because they're on the left.

'No, they are being attacked because they are doing and saying things that are anti-Semitic. It's not fair and it's got to stop.'

The Labour leader is already under pressure following a steady stream of revelations of an anti-Semitism issue within Labour.

Labour MPs and have campaigners expressed incredulity that he would meet with the controversial Jewdas group during the Jewish Passover festival.

Mr Woodcock said: 'This is deliberately baiting the mainstream Jewish community days after they pleaded with him to tackle antisemitism.

'And he must know that meeting them now will give his members the message that the group's extreme views are OK. Irresponsible and dangerous.'

Labour MP Wes Streeting, a vocal critic of anti-Semitism, said: 'This calls into serious question the sincerity of every public statement Jeremy Corbyn has made on anti-Semitism during the past week, just as many of us hoped we had begun to make progress.'

Ms Pollock said: 'It was clearly deliberate. No question of intent. Mocking. And disrespectful.'

Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, said: 'Given the anti-Semitism crisis engulfing the Labour Party, there is absolutely no way that Mr Corbyn can claim that this too was an oversight.

'The Party must consider the message that is sent to British Jews and other minorities by him remaining as Leader.'

Mr Lansman, founder of the Corbyn-supporting Momentum group, said the Labour leader had not told his own office he was going to the event.

John Woodcock, a serial critic of Mr Corbyn on Labour's backbenches, claimed it was an incendiary intervention and a snub to mainstream Jewish groups deeply alarmed at a series of anti-Semitic incidents linked to Labour

The Labour leader was also condemned by the Holocaust Education Trust chief executive Karen Pollock, who branded it 'mocking' and 'disrespectful'.

comedian David Baddiel, a Labour supporter who has harshly criticised Mr Corbyn over the row, said the group were simply 'Jews who disagree with other Jews. Which means: Jews'

Mr Lansman, who is Jewish, told the Today programme: 'It was his night off, he had nothing in his official diary, his office didn't know he was there.

'So I don't think this is as significant as it's being made out.'

The chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council Jonathan Goldstein said: 'Look, firstly, I think it's important to say that every community is open to all strands of opinion, we have no issue with Jewdas and Jewdas having its opinions that it does, no community should have any problem with that.

Labour's new General Secretary vows to crack down on anti-Semitism Jennie Formby (pictured with Jeremy Corbyn) has written to Labour members on her first day in the job to say the party will get on with tackling the abuse Labour's new General Secretary has vowed to 'eradicate the stain of anti-Semitism in the party. Jennie Formby has written to Labour members on her first day in the job to say the party will get on with introducing the recommendations of Shami Chakrabarti's report into anti-Semitism. Labour has faced heavy criticism for failing to act on the report. And a leaked email from the outgoing General Secretary Ian McNicol said Jeremy Corbyn's office had been to blame for the delay. In her email today, Ms Formby - a close ally of Mr Corbyn - said: 'This week I will be moving to ensure the full implementation of the Chakrabarti report and introducing new procedures to deal with complaints and disciplinary cases. 'The stain of anti-Semitic attitudes must be completely eradicated within the Labour Party - we are the party for people of all races and faiths, the party of full equality for all, or we are nothing. 'Likewise, I will tackle any manifestation of misogyny, bullying or abuse of anyone, as Jeremy Corbyn has pledged. ' Advertisement

'What is surprising is that we've had silence from Mr Corbyn since we responded to him last Wednesday and he said in his statement on Monday that he was going to be a militant opponent of anti-Semitism and to always be our ally.

'And he in his first act towards the Jewish community has gone to sit with a group who describe the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies' actions as being a cynical ploy.'

Baddiel, who has been at the forefront of the debate over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, rejected suggestions that Jewdas was 'despised' by other members of the Jewish community.

'No, it isn't,' he said. 'They are just Jews who disagree with other Jews. Which means: Jews ... To make out that it's somehow anti-Semitic for him to spend Seder with them just because they're far left is balls.'

Writer David Schneider tweeted: 'Boo! Corbyn needs to get out and meets some Jews!' (Corbyn spends Passover with some Jews at Jewdas) 'Boo! Not those Jews!'

The new rows come after Mr Corbyn deleted his Facebook account after it emerged he was a member of five groups hosting anti-Semitic material.

He was previously forced to apologise for questioning the removal of an anti-Semitic mural which showed Jewish figures playing Monopoly on the backs of the poor.

Labour's new General Secretary tried to get on the front foot by sending an email to Labour members yesterday vowing to crack down on anti-Semitism.

Jennie Formby - a close ally of Mr Corbyn - said: 'This week I will be moving to ensure the full implementation of the Chakrabarti report and introducing new procedures to deal with complaints and disciplinary cases.

'The stain of anti-Semitic attitudes must be completely eradicated within the Labour Party - we are the party for people of all races and faiths, the party of full equality for all, or we are nothing.

'Likewise, I will tackle any manifestation of misogyny, bullying or abuse of anyone, as Jeremy Corbyn has pledged. '

Labour has faced heavy criticism for failing to act on the report.

Last night, Labour sources insisted that the leader attended the event in a personal, rather than professional capacity, and was not working.

He chose to spend the evening celebrating Passover with 'friends and members of the Jewish community and people from within his constituency and nearby', they said.

The head of Momentum Jon Lansman (pictured yesterday in London) admitted the problem of anti-Semitism inside Labour was worse than both he and Jeremy Corbyn had realised

He apparently brought beetroot from his own allotment as a gift.

Asked whether Mr Corbyn was aware of what Jewdas stood for, a source said: 'I don't have that information.'

The recording, obtained by the Guido Fawkes website, revealed that guests reportedly shouted 'f*** capitalism' at the event.

Attendees were recorded booing the name of Jonathan Arkush, the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

The event was reported to have ended with the words: 'Enough is enough. F*ck you all,' in an echo of the campaign to end anti-Semitism.

But Labour sources disputed this, saying that attendees had said the words used were actually 'next year, Sheffield'.

Critics highlighted that the leader chose to spend the Passover festival with a group critical of mainstream British Jews.

He did not meet the Board of Deputies of British Jews or the Jewish Leadership Council, both of which claim to represent mainstream British Jews.

Instead, the group reportedly attacked their response to Labour's anti-Semitism as 'playing a dangerous game with people's lives'.

Jewdas describes itself as a 'radical' group that 'opposes capitalism' and wants to 'overthrow the state' and describes Jewish critics as 'non-Jews'.

It has reportedly tweeted that 'Israel is itself a steaming pile of sewage which needs to be properly disposed of'.

It is said to have dismissed the Labour anti-Semitism scandal as a 'bout of faux-outrage' and criticised mainstream Jewish leaders.

It branded the anti-Semitism scandal 'the work of cynical manipulations by people whose express loyalty is to the Conservative Party and the right wing of the Labour Party'.

Leaked audio revealed that Mr Corbyn was present at the event in his constituency hosted by a Jewish group where guests allegedly booed the names of mainstream Jews

In a blog post on its website four days ago, it reportedly labelled the editor of the Jewish Chronicle newspaper Stephen Pollard a 'non-Jew'.

Sources said other members of the Jewish community were present, including senior Rabbi Laura Janner Clausner was present.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: 'Jeremy was invited to a Passover Seder with Jewish members of his local community.

'He wrote to the Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council last week to ask for an urgent formal meeting to discuss tackling antisemitism in the Labour Party and in society.'

Yesterday, the Labour leader gave an interview to Channel 4 News in which he accepted that there was 'genuine concern'

Meanwhile, Momentum yesterday issued a statement that will add to pressure on Mr Corbyn to take further action following a series of offensive posts by Labour members.

it said the anti-Jewish smears were the work of more than just a few 'bad apples' and should not be dismissed as 'right wing smears or conspiracies'.

It acknowledged the 'anger, upset and despair within the British Jewish community at the numerous cases of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party'.

It was agreed by the movement's national coordinating group, which includes Christine Shawcroft, who resigned as chair of Labour's disputes panel after opposing the suspension of an apparent Holocaust denier. She insisted anti-Semitism was 'being stirred up to attack Jeremy'.

Yesterday, the Labour leader gave an interview to Channel 4 News in which he accepted that there was 'genuine concern' about the issue.

Anti-Semitism was 'on the rise' in Britain and in other parts of Europe, he added.

He said the first task of Jennie Formby, the new Labour General Secretary, who started work this week, would be to appoint an in-house lawyer to tighten-up party procedures.

At least 10 sitting councillors or candidates contesting seats for Labour at local elections in May have been reported to the party over anti-Semitism, according to BuzzFeed.A motorcycle stunt rider has been hospitalised after a stunt on the 'globe of death' went horribly wrong in front of a packed circus crowd.

The 18-year-old man lost control of his motorcycle during the finale of a circus performance in Ballarat and was launched 4 metres outside the globe, where he crashed.

It is believed up to 180 audience members were in attendance at the 11am show and witnessed the accident.

A motorcycle stunt rider has been hospitalised after a stunt on the 'globe of death' went horribly wrong in front of a packed circus crowd

Lennon Bros Circus Site Manager, Warren Lennon said that he was not sure of the injuries the man sustained but that the thoughts of everyone at the circus were with the young man

The second rider involved in the stunt, in which two stuntmen ride motorcycles at high speed inside a metal sphere, was uninjured.

Lennon Bros Circus Site Manager, Warren Lennon, told the Ballarat Courier that he was not sure of the injuries the man sustained but that the thoughts of everyone at the circus were with the young man who had only been with the circus for two months.

The condition of the man is unknown.

It is believed up to 180 audience members were in attendance at the 11am show and witnessed the accident



An image of charity spruikers asking a passer-by for donations just metres from a homeless man begging has appeared on social media.

Uploaded to the picture sharing website Imgur on Wednesday, a man with a sign asking for money in Melbourne caught the attention of a passerby who snapped the photo.

'Charity workers loom over a homeless man as they discuss the merits of working for a charity,' the title on Imgur read.

A man with a sign asking for money in Melbourne caught the attention of a passerby who snapped the photo that read 'Charity workers loom over a homeless man as they discuss the merits of working for a charity'

The picture was also accompanied by a caption giving more details to the circumstances surrounding the contrasting scenarios.

'A #homeless man #begging in #Melbourne as two #charity workers loom over him and provide nothing. #AmnestyInternational 'That's not my charities focus' #blind #irony,' it said.

Australia currently has 105,237 people living on the streets according to Homelessness Australia.

In Victoria there are 22,789 who are homeless with an increase of 20.7 per cent since 2006.

Amnesty International is a human rights organisation that were established in 1961.

'Amnesty doesnt accept funding from governments or political organisations for our campaigning and advocacy work. This financial independence means we are free to criticise or applaud with objectivity and impartiality, and to defend human rights worldwide,' The non-for-profit organisation released in a statement to the Daily Mail Australia.Vladimir Putin (pictured yesterday) claimed 20 countries could have poisoned Mr Skripal

Britain today claimed Russia's response to the poisoning of its ex-spy suggests it is 'nervous' about what evidence over the nerve agent attack will reveal.

It came after the head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency accused the British and US security services of a 'grotesque provocation' over the poisoning of its former spy, warning of a 'second Cuban Missile Crisis'.

Russia is taking its complaints over the Salisbury nerve agent attack to The Hague the day after the Porton Down military research facility said it could not trace the agent's precise source.

An extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been called by Russia to 'address the situation around allegations of non-compliance' with the chemical weapons convention made by the UK against Moscow.

But Britain's delegation to the OPCW has branded Russia's decision to call the executive council meeting 'perverse'. It also said Russia's response suggests it is 'nervous' about what the evidence will show.

It came as a message stating that Porton Down had established that the Novichok nerve agent came from Russia was deleted from the Foreign Office Twitter feed.

The tweet, issued on March 22, said: 'Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.'

The director of Russia's foreign intelligence service Sergei Naryshkin (pictured in Moscow today) described Britain's claims that Moscow is to blame for the poisoning as a 'provocation'

Sergei Skripal with his daughter Yulia before they were poisoned in Salisbury last month

Meanwhile the EU today insisted it retained 'full confidence' in the UK's investigation of the attack and said Russia was to blame.

But SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin said: 'Even when it comes to the grotesque provocation with the Skripals that was crudely concocted by the British and American security services, a number of European countries are in no rush to unquestioningly follow London and Washington but prefer to look into what has happened in detail.'

Speaking at a security conference in Moscow, he added: 'It's important to stop the irresponsible game of raising stakes and to stop the use of force in relations between states, not to bring matters to a second Cuban Missile Crisis.'

Mr Naryshkin was referring to the 1962 crisis between the Soviet Union and the United States that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Russia has denied responsibility and demanded access to the British investigation into the March 4 attack on former spy Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The Foreign Office accused Russia of attempting to undermine the work of the OPCW and engaging in 'another diversionary tactic'.

Mr Putin has claimed 20 countries could have poisoned the Skripals (pictured together)

It comes a day after the head of Porton Down said his scientists have not verified that the nerve agent used in Salisbury came from Russia.

The news, which handed President Vladimir Putin a propaganda coup, today saw ministers scramble to shore up Theresa May's coalition of support against Russia.

The Government insisted the scientific data had only ever been part of the intelligence picture which led Mrs May to point the finger of blame at Russia.

A Foreign Office spokesman said of the OPCW meeting: 'Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW, which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack.

'Of course, there is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator.

'This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion.'

The Porton Down military research facility said it could not trace the agent's precise source

Gary Aitkenhead, Porton Down's chief executive, dismissed Russian claims that the nerve agent used in Salisbury might have come from the defence laboratory

Today's meeting of the OPCW executive council at The Hague will be held behind closed doors. It comes after Mr Putin last night claimed 20 countries could have poisoned the Skripals.

The head of the Porton Down military research facility said it had not yet been possible to say where the Novichok used in the attack was made.

What is the Novichok nerve agent used against the Skripals? The Novichok nerve agent used against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia is among the most deadly poisons ever created. They were secretly developed by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold war in the 1970s and 1980s. Communist scientists developed the poison so it would not be able to be detected by Nato's chemical detection equipment. They come in the form of a ultra-fine powder, Novichok is up to eight times more potent than the deadly VX gas. Victims who are poisoned by the powder suffer muscle spasms, breathing problems and then cardiac arrest. There is a known antidote to the nerve agent - atropine can block the poison. But doctors find it very tricky to administer the antidote because the dose would have to be so high it could prove fatal for the person. Novichok poisons are highly dangerous to handle, requiring the expertise of skilled scientists in a sophisticated lab. Dr Vil Mirzayanov, former Chief of the Foreign Technical Counterintelligence Department at Russias premiere, was among the team of scientists who helped develop the agent. Advertisement

Gary Aitkenhead confirmed the poison had been produced by a 'state actor', saying: 'It's a military-grade nerve agent which requires extremely sophisticated methods in order to create  something that's probably only within the capabilities of a state actor.'

But he told Sky News it was not Porton Down's role to work out its origin and said the Government relied on 'a number of different input sources' in coming to its assessment that this was highly likely to be from Russia.

Mr Aitkenhead flatly denied bizarre Russian claims the substance could have come from Porton Down itself.

Downing Street last night said Mr Aitkenhead's comments made no difference to the Government's assessment that the attack emanated from Russia, which was based only partly on the evidence from Porton Down.

Sources said allies, who have expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats in response to the attack, had already been briefed on the intelligence assessments that put the blame on Moscow.

But there was irritation in Whitehall at Mr Aitkenhead's 'clumsy' intervention, as ministers privately braced for a fresh wave of Kremlin propaganda.

Last night Mr Putin seized on the admission to call for a full inquiry, saying 'the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes bewilderment'.

He claimed the nerve agent could have been made in any of 20 countries.

The Russian Embassy in London said: 'We understood from the very start that UK Government statements on the nerve agent having been produced in Russia were a bluff. Now this has been confirmed by the head of the secret lab.'

But Salisbury MP John Glen said he had 'absolutely no doubt' about Russia's involvement, adding: 'I don't mind what propaganda emerges from the Kremlin.'

Government sources stressed the chemical analysis from Porton Down was only 'one part of the intelligence picture' in the decision to point the finger at Russia.

Russia has demanded to see Yulia Skripal, the daughter of double agent Sergei Skripal

Mr Skripal and his daughter (left) stand outside the front door with another relative in the UK

A Government spokesman said: 'As the Prime Minister has set out in a number of statements ... since March 12, this includes our knowledge that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents probably for assassination and as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichok; Russia's record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views former intelligence officers as targets.

'It is our assessment that Russia was responsible for this brazen and reckless act and, as the international community agrees, there is no other plausible explanation.'

There was irritation at Mr Aitkenhead's decision to give an interview that could allow the Kremlin to sow further disinformation.

One Whitehall source said Mr Aitkenhead had 'not realised what he has said', adding: 'The scientists' job is to determine what the chemical is. Intelligence agencies and other bodies ascertain where it is from. There is no other explanation than this has come from the Russian state.'

No cordon was placed around the house when the investigation first began last month

Ms Skripal is 'improving rapidly' after being exposed to Novichok on March 4 in Salisbury

The row came ahead of a meeting in The Hague today of the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to discuss the Salisbury attack.

The meeting was called by Russia to 'address the situation around allegations of non-compliance' with the chemical weapons convention made by the UK against Moscow.

The Foreign Office dismissed it as a 'diversionary tactic'.

But German politician Armin Laschet, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said: 'If one forces nearly all Nato countries into solidarity, shouldn't one have certain evidence?

The Salisbury road where Mr Skripal lives, and where he is believed to have been poisoned

'Regardless of what one thinks about Russia, my study of international law taught me a different way to deal with other states.'

Meanwhile, retired Russian lieutenant-general Evgeny Buzhinsky warned that relations between Russia and the West could 'end up in a very, very bad outcome'.

Asked to elaborate, he told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'A real war, worse than a cold war ... it will be the last war in the history of mankind.'

Commenting on his remarks, No 10 said: 'As the Prime Minister has made clear, the UK would much rather have in Russia a constructive partner ready to play by the rules. But this attack in Salisbury was part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive Russian behaviour.'A rockmelon farm linked to the food poisoning deaths of six people will start selling fruit again this week.

Rombola Family Farms, in the New South Wales Riverina, voluntarily closed its doors in February after being linked to the listeria outbreak from contaminated rockmelon.

A total of six people have died from the outbreak since, but the farm will resume production this week after being given the all clear from the NSW Food Authority.

The farm reopened despite listeria symptoms sometimes taking up to 90 days to present in patients.

Rombola Family Farms (pictured), in the New South Wales Riverina, will start selling fruit again this week after it was linked to the food poisoning deaths of six people

The farm voluntarily closed its doors in February after being linked to the listeria outbreak from contaminated rockmelon (stock image)

The authority said on Wednesday that a combination of 'environmental conditions and weather' was responsible for contaminating the surface of the fruit.

'Low levels' of bacteria persisted after the fruit was washed at the farm.

More than 30 samples of melons through the supply chain tested positive to listeria and additional testing found the deadly bacteria in the farm's packing area, the authority said in a statement.

Rombola was approved to resume production after passing a safety clearance program.

Three Victorians and three people from NSW died as a result of the outbreak, while another 13 people were infected.

The farm on Wednesday said it had been saddened by the outbreak's impact on the community and the rockmelon industry.

The producer also claimed neither the NSW Food Authority nor an independent microbiologist had found a specific source of the bacterial infection linked to its farm or processes.

'The company will undertake regular mandatory testing of produce, in accordance with the clearance program, supplemented by further daily voluntary testing,' Rombola said in a statement.

The farm reopened despite listeria symptoms sometimes taking up to 90 days to present in patients (stock image)

The Australian Melon Association (AMA) said it is concerned the farm was given the all clear prematurely.

'The bacteria persisted in the washing process - what exactly were the problems in the washing process?' AMA industry development manager Dianne Fullelove said.

'Growers are very anxious to understand what went wrong on the farm so that they can learn from the investigation.'

The industry wants growers to identify their melons so consumers can have confidence in the origin of the fruit.

WHAT IS LISTERIA? WHAT IT IS, THE RISKS, AND HOW TO AVOID IT Listeria is everywhere in the environment

It's a type of bacterium that infects humans and other warm-blooded animals through contaminated food

It's found in dirty water, irrigation water, soil and fertiliser

Soft cheeses such as Camembert; cold chicken and deli meats; raw seafood and cold seafood such as smoked salmon; ice cream, fresh fruit and bagged vegetables can also carry Listeria

Infection can also occur through contact with animals and pests and insufficient cleaning of contaminated fruit and unclean hands WHO IS SUSCEPTIBLE ... AND THE SYMPTOMS Pregnant women, infants, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are most at risk

Listeria starts with flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, muscle aches, nausea and sometimes diarrhoea

The time from consuming the bacterium to showing the signs of illness can often be between 8 to 90 days

Some people end up in hospital with dehydration HOW TO AVOID IT Don't buy bruised or damaged fruit, wash it before eating and refrigerate within two hours of slicing

Avoid foods past their 'best before' or 'use by' date

Cook foods thoroughly

Reheat food until it is steaming hot

Refrigerate leftovers promptly and use within 24 hours, or freeze

Ready to eat food should never be stored in the fridge for too long as Listeria is one of the few pathogens that can grow in the refrigerator Source: Food Authority NSW, Food Safety Information Council Advertisement

'Growers who are currently supplying rockmelons have been very diligent in re-examining their packing processes so that they can reassure the public that rockmelons are safe to eat,' Ms Fullelove said.

All rockmelons that were available during the listeria outbreak in February were destroyed and Rombola will recommence supplying stores this week.

The melon industry has been encouraging Australians to resume buying the fruit since demand for it fell by 90 per cent after the outbreak was revealed.

Melons have begun reappearing on some major Australian supermarket shelves, with Woolworths confirming last week it had restocked local rockmelons at stores in Queensland and Western Australia.

It said shoppers in other states will have to wait a little longer.

Coles, however, said it was holding off from selling rockmelons as it continues to work with producers to meet its new increased standards.Frustrated French travellers have climbed through train windows to board the few services still running today as strike action paralyses the country's rail service.

A video shot on a Paris commuter train show a father passing his crying child through a window to another man before climbing in himself.

Another shows commuters embarking on trains the same way as packed platforms prevent them from getting to the doors of the carriage.

France has been crippled for a second day in a row, with 86 per cent of train services cancelled, following one of the worst days of industrial strife since Macron was elected president nearly a year ago.

The situation is now so bad that riot police are being used to patrol platforms and other parts of railway stations in France.

Paris police were called in to maintain public order on replacement buses, with a spokesman saying: 'They are extremely overcrowded and tensions are running high.'

As Paris commuters took to the roads instead, traffic website Sytadin reporting 350 kilometres (220 miles) of tailbacks - double the usual amount.

Commuters have been forced to set off hours early, work from home or find other solutions such as carpools due to disruption that is set to cause months of problems for French businesses.

Protest: Demonstrators attend a rally called by French trade union CGT at Saint-Charles train station in Marseille, on the second day of three months of rolling rail strikes

The roof is on fire: Protesters later moved outside the station, and burned flares as they demonstrated in Marseilles

At Lille station in northeastern France, 56-year-old Marc Cornille was worried the disruption could cost him his temporary job contract.

'I understand their demands, just not the way they're going about it,' he said of the rail workers.

WHAT ARE THEY FIGHTING FOR? THE BENEFITS OF FRANCE'S RAIL WORKERS President Macron is looking to reform the benefits awarded to rail workers, currently enjoyed by 92 per cent of the SNCF's 150,000 staff. Perks include: - Job for life. Guaranteed employment after a 2.5year trial period. - Early retirement. Drivers can retire at the age of 52, and office workers at 57. Retirement age in France is now 62. - Average salary for a rail worker is 37,080 euros (32,396), compared to 34,944 euros (30,530) for the average Frenchman. However, SNFC says that these figures also include top execs, and that 60 per cent of staff are paid under 36,000 euros per year. - Free rail travel for family members. - All rail workers are on a 35-hour working week. - 28 days paid holiday every year. Advertisement

The SNCF has warned the walkouts would continue to have knock-on effects Thursday for France's 4.5 million daily rail users as staff struggle to get regional services running again as normal.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has told travellers to brace for 'difficult days ahead', but he insisted the government will press on with reforms which it says are needed to make the SNCF cheaper to operate as EU countries prepare to open passenger rail to competition by 2020.

Workers are protesting attempts by President Macron to reform the rail workers' 'special status', which includes job-for-life guarantees, retirement at 52 and 28 days paid holiday per year.

Only about 12 percent of trains were running yesterday - the first of a series of weekly two-day strikes that labor unions have called for the next three months.

Rail service is expected to remain 'very disturbed' today, with 86 percent of trains cancelled nationwide, according to forecasts from state-owned rail network SNCF.

As well as national travel, international rail services are also affected, namely the Eurostar high-speed trains connecting France with Brussels and London.

All for one: One of the demonstrators in Marseille is seen with a Guy Fawkes mask on his head

Big walkout: SNCF said 77 per cent of train drivers were on strike yesterday

Day two: Rail workers unions will be striking two days out of every five days for the next three months to protest President Macron's reforms

Five services from London to Paris and two services from London to Brussels and Lille, have been cancelled today.

Similar cancellations from the UK to France and Brussels are to be expected on days of strike for the next three months.

How, what, when? The dates when the French rail unions are on strikes are marked in red

Trains to Disneyland Paris have also been re-routed, with holidaymakers forced to change at Paris' Gare du Nord, meaning longer journey times.

No trains will run between France, Switzerland, Italy and Spain and only one in every three trains to Germany will operate, the SNCF said.

The strikes by France's rail unions have been brought on by President Emmanuel Macron's attempt to reform the national rail monopoly and open it up to EU competition.

SNCF is currently operating at a 48billion euro (42billion) loss, with additional annual losses of 3billion euros (2.6billion), and Macron says his aim is to balance the books.

However, rail workers say it is all a ploy to move towards a privatised rail network.

The reforms include plans to eliminate a special status that rail workers, known as 'cheminots', have enjoyed since the beginning of the 20th century.

The 'cheminot' status effectively guarantees jobs for life and other benefits, in keeping with the image of France's railways as an essential pillar of the country's infrastructure and its public services.

Once a rail worker passes a two-and-a-half year trial period, they are guaranteed a job for life, and they are allowed to retire much earlier than workers in any other industry - at the age of 52 for drivers.

The government wants to maintain the status for existing workers, but abolish it for new workers.

United: Demonstrators of all ages had gathered in the Saint Charles train station in Marseille

The rolling rail strikes, set to last until June 28, are being seen as the biggest challenge yet to the President's sweeping plans to shake up France and make it more competitive

Angry: Staff at French state rail operator SNCF walked off the job from 7.00 pm on April 2, the first in a series of walkouts affecting everything from energy to garbage collection

Macron's government says the guarantee is no longer tenable in a globalized and increasingly automated economy that requires more flexible workforces.

SNCF said 77 per cent of train drivers were on strike on Tuesday.

The overall proportion of rail workers participating in the work stoppage including employees on trains and on the ground - was 33.9 per cent, the company detailed in a statement.

Macron has made reforming France's economy a central plank of his presidency.

Many of his plans, particularly in the labor market, are meeting with increasing opposition from France's unions.

In the meantime, students at universities from Paris to Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes have been shutting down or severely disrupting classes for weeks arguing the changes are an elitist attack on France's egalitarian principles.

Strike travel: Commuters arrive at Saint-Lazare train station in Paris on day two of the strikes

Trains in France and the Eurostar international services are expected to remain 'very disturbed' today, the rail union said

Cancellations: Only around 14 per cent of trains are thought to be running today

Protesters at a second Parisian faculty, the Lettres de Sorbonne-Universite, blocked the campus on Wednesday, following students at the Lumiere Lyon 2 university in eastern France who joined the fray on Tuesday evening.

'The objective is that only knowledge compatible with the dominant ideology - compatible with a market economy - will get taught,' read a statement from the Lyon students, who have occupied the main lecture hall.

French unions and left-wingers have consistently called for students and workers to come together to resist Macron in a re-run 50 years later of the famed May 1968 anti-government demonstrations which saw them join forces.

'I'm working for a May 2018,' radical leftist and former presidential candidate Olivier Besancenot told France Inter radio on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Air France staff, garbage collectors and some energy workers staged separate walkouts along with train drivers, adding to a growing atmosphere of industrial discontent.

'This is the start of a social power struggle almost unknown in France,' firebrand leftist leader Jean-Luc Melenchon told a rail workers' protest in Paris.The trauma surgeon who helped treat the victims of the YouTube shooting in San Bruno has bemoaned the regularity of mass casualty attacks in the US.

Dr Andre Campbell, speaking outside San Francisco General Hospital, said it was yet another 'terrible day' for the country, adding: 'We have to deal with this constantly'.

It came after a disgruntled woman who had repeatedly voiced complaints about the video giant opened fire with a handgun at the firm's headquarters, wounding three people before shooting herself dead.

Witnesses say Nasim Aghdam, 39, was wearing glasses and a scarf when she managed to walk onto the tech company's campus and open fire on employees.

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Dr Andre Campbell, speaking outside San Francisco General Hospital, said it was yet another 'terrible day' for the country, adding: 'We have to deal with this constantly'

Dr Campbell was concerned only with how routine it had become for his hospital to deal with the aftermath of such tragedies

The doctor said: 'This is unfortunate - and it continues. You'd think after we've seen Las Vegas, Parkland, the Pulse nightclub shooting, that we would see an end to this. But we have not'

But Dr Campbell was concerned only with how routine it had become for his hospital to deal with the aftermath of such tragedies.

He said: 'Once again, we are confronted with the specter of a mass casualty situation here in the city and county of San Francisco.

'This is unfortunate - and it continues. You'd think after we've seen Las Vegas, Parkland, the Pulse nightclub shooting, that we would see an end to this. But we have not.'

He also spoke about the routine his staff go through whenever there is a mass casualty situation.

Doctors, nurses, therapists and others rush to the emergency room and begin triage.

'We go through things from top to bottom,' he said.

Earlier Tuesday, law enforcement said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute but did not elaborate. It was not immediately clear why police later said the people shot were not specifically targeted.

One of the victims - a 36-year-old man - was in critical condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said. A 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition, the spokesman said.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the building's second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

'It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, `Shooter,' and everybody started running,' Arnspiger said.

Nasim Aghdam, 39, has been identified as the woman who shot a man and two women with a handgun when she stormed YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California on Tuesday

Vegan bodybuilder, singer, athlete, artist, and director are just some of the words that Nasim Aghdam used to describe herself. In one video (pictured), she hit out at YouTube for imposing an age restriction on her work out video

Authorities cover a body with a yellow tarp at YouTube's headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday after a female shooter opened fire before she shot and killed herself

Aghdam, who is from Southern California but is Persian, regularly complained online that YouTube were filtering and demonetizing her various video channels

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.

The world's biggest online video website is owned by Silicon Valley giant Google, but company officials said it's a tight-knit community.

The headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings.

Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.

Inside, Google several years ago famously outfitted the office with a 3-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.

'Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime,' said Chris Dale, a spokesman for YouTube.Two slave-drivers who trafficked people to work in kitchens have been jailed for a total of 13 and a half years.

Laszlo Egeresi, 37, and Gabor Olah, 25, from Hersham in Surrey constantly threatened the EU nationals with assault or being thrown out on the streets if they stepped out of line.

An organised crime unit deceived the victims in order to recruit them from Hungary and bring them to the UK.

Egeresi, left, and Olah, right, threatened the Hungarian workers with violence and being kicked out onto the street as they exploited them to work in kitchens

They were then charged excessive accommodation, transport and administration costs that trapped them in a debt build-up they had no hope of paying off.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court found both guilty of two counts of human trafficking for the purposes of exploitation in a unanimous verdict.

The pair represent the county's first conviction for modern slavery, with Egeresi also found guilty of a third count.

The EU nationals were recruited using deception in Hungary, before being trapped in a spiral of debt they could never hope to pay off

Today he was jailed for seven and a half years as Olah was sentenced to six years and a seven-year human trafficking order was imposed on both.

Officers arrested them after executing warrants at three addresses in Walton-on-Thames in June last year as they acted on information that migrants were being exploited to work illegally.

They suspected the kitchen staff were being exploited through slavery, poor living conditions or low if not non-existent wages.

National Crime Agency staff as well as Salvation Army, Red Cross and Department of Work and Pensions officers joined police investigating if the workers were being financially exploited for the benefit of others or for excessive transport accommodation and administrative costs.

Detective Constable Alex Protts - who will received a judge's commendation - said one of the migrants had to go through the ordeal of returning to the UK from their native Hungary to offer evidence.

'We are delighted with this result after months of hard work,' she said. 'This operation was not only about tackling those that exploit vulnerable people through human trafficking and modern day slavery but also to hold out a lifeline to help those that are victims of these crimes.

Police raiding three addresses found the workers living in accommodation for which they were charged in excess

'This case was particularly challenging as we had to persuade one of the victims to come back from Hungary to give evidence.

'All evidence was given in Hungarian and translated during the trial. Their evidence was extremely powerful and highlighted how the constant threats of being physically assaulted or thrown out on the streets forced them to comply.'

Detective Superintendent Karen Mizzi warned communities to be vigilant to slave-drivers operating in their area.

'I am extremely pleased with the outcome of this case after all the hard work that has been undertaken over the past couple of months.

'Modern slavery is a crime that exploits the most vulnerable people in our society, often in the form of labour exploitation.

Slavedrivers would take the cash from their workers after recruiting them to work in UK kitchens

'People think of it as something that happened years ago certainly not today and certainly not within the leafy streets of Surrey.

'However, signs of slavery are often hidden making it difficult to spot victims but it is closer than you think. Victims caught up in modern slavery are extremely vulnerable and, as we did in this case, we will do everything we can to protect them.'

Steve Wilday, head of the National Crime Agency's Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Unit, called for people to speak out if they suspect trafficking.

'Modern Slavery is a high priority for law enforcement and by working with partners like Surrey Police we are determined to pursue the criminals involved in this vile trade,' he said.

'It is a crime that affects all types of communities across every part of the UK, but we know it is difficult to spot because often vulnerable victims don't even know they are being exploited.

'There will be people living and working where victims come into contact with everyone else's so-called normal lives, and we need those people to speak to us.'

Anne Read, director of Anti Trafficking and Modern Slavery for The Salvation Army, said the charity will offer help to workers who are being exploited if they come forward.

'Following the police operation that took place in Surrey the victims were safely delivered into protective care and offered specialist support through a Government contract operated by The Salvation Army,' she said.

'This provides vital help and support to adult victims of this pitiless exploitation which gives them the very best chance to try and recover through comprehensive specialised services, which can range from intensive 24/7 support in the first stages of recovery or for people with high-level needs to counselling and help with accommodation, repatriation, finances and finding employment.

'For England and Wales please call The Salvation Armys 24-hour confidential referral helpline on 0300 303 8151 to refer someone or seek advice if you consider yourself to be a potential victim of modern slavery or suspect someone you have come into contact with may be a victim of modern slavery.'Madeleine McCann's parents have hit back at 'armchair detectives' as they defended a cash boost for police hunting their missing daughter.

They hit out at critics after a former Scotland Yard detective claimed finding Maddie was now a 'thankless task'.

Colin Sutton believes there is little chance of finding her despite the investigation into her disappearance receiving funding of up to 150,000 for another six months.

He said solving the case after nearly 11 years was 'almost impossible' and believes her body could be buried in one of 600 ancient wells in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Forensic scientist Professor David Barclay also claimed the area near Praia da Luz is 'the easiest place to hide a body' he had ever visited.

Former senior Metropolitan Police detective Colin Sutton (right) believes finding Madeleine McCann (left) is now 'almost impossible'

A friend of Kate, 50, and Gerry, 49, said the comments were 'very hurtful'.

They told The Sun Online: 'Kate and Gerry didn't ask for it but they are very thankful the search for Madeleine will continue.

'It's not helpful and is very hurtful for retired police officers and in the past so called crime experts and other families to say the investigation should be wound up and is a waste of public money.

'Kate and Gerry believe there is a chance their daughter could still be found alive, as detectives do.

'They have enough to deal with and don't need people with no idea about the case being armchair detectives and hopes the criticism stops.

'It undermines the work of one of the best police forces in the world.'

Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz, Portugal (pictured) in 2007 when she was three

Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann have never given up hope of finding their daughter, and welcomed the extra money - believed to be up to 150,000 - given to fund the police investigation for another six months

Madeleine vanished from the holiday apartment on May 3 2007 when she was three years old while her parents Kate and Gerry were out for a meal at a nearby tapas restaurant.

The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, have never given up hope she could be found alive - she'd now be aged nearly 15.

If Operation Grange, launched in May 2011, is shelved the McCanns have vowed to continue the search themselves.

So far 11million has been spent on the investigation.

Last week detectives were handed more cash after convincing the Home Office they still have a line of inquiry to pursue.

It is thought the Metropolitan Police will receive about 150,000 to continue Operation Grange.

Sources close to the operation said in October that officers were hunting a 'person of significance'.

Government funding for the search is reviewed every six months. Last October 154,000 was given to cover the operation until the end of this month.

Madeleine, (left) and before she went missing on May 3, 2007, (right) vanished from the apartment when she was just three years old

Last week the McCanns were criticised by the parents of two missing children.

Kerry Needham, the mother of Ben who disappeared during a family holiday to the Greek Island of Kos in 1991, said she had not received the same 'magnitude' of support as Maddie's parents.

Paul Whinham from Wallsend, Tyneside, whose son Michael disappeared from his home in Newcastle in November 2015 aged 31, said: 'There's people like me all over the country being told there's no more the police can do and yet this one case gets all the money and attention.'An eight-week old baby boy has been rushed to hospital after he was crushed when a roof tent collapsed on top of him.

Paramedics are fighting to save the child's life who was seriously hurt in the incident in Helensburgh, south of Sydney, on Wednesday afternoon.

A rescue helicopter landed in a nearby park to take the little boy to hospital when the tent weighing 50kg fell on the baby.

An eight-week old baby is being treated by paramedics after being crushed when a roof tent fell on top of the child

The child was rushed to hospital by helicopter and is being treated at the Sydney Children's Hospital

NSW Ambulance were on the scene within three minutes after a report at 4.30pm.

It has not been confirmed whether the baby is a boy or a girl but they are being treated for chest and head injuries. Seven News reports the child is a boy.

Four ambulance crews including a helicopter were sent to the scene and the baby has been taken to the Sydney Children's Hospital.

The child's condition is described as stable, NSW Ambulance said.

The child's condition is described as stable, NSW Ambulance said after the child was taken to hospital

A spokesman for NSW Ambulance said: 'Early reports suggest the child is suffering chest and head injuries after 50kg roof top tent fell on the child.

'Four ambulance crews are responding including a rescue helicopter tasked from Bankstown airport.

'The first crew was on scene within three minutes.

NSW Ambulance were on the scene within three minutes after a report at 4.30pm and had four paramedic crews

'A rescue helicopter has now landed and the baby will be transported by road ambulance to the rescue helicopter.'

The helicopter landed at Rex Jackson Park in Helensburgh.

More to come.Patrick Kielty says he is not ready to forgive the loyalist paramilitaries who shot dead his father inNorthern Ireland 30 years ago.

The comedian was just 16-years-old when his businessman father Jack was gunned down by loyalist shooters at his desk in 1988.

In a BBC One documentary that airs tonight, Kielty relives the horror of his death, and reveals the IRA tried to recruit him to exact revenge on his killers.

He returns to his home village of Dundrum, Co Down, for the programme looking at the Troubles and the impact of the Good Friday peace process.

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Patrick Kielty was just six days away from turning 17 when he buried his father and served as a pallbearer at the funeral

He returns to his home village of Dundrum, Co Down, for the documentary looking at the Troubles and the impact of the Good Friday Peace process.

Kielty said: 'I can't forgive them. But whether or not these people are in jail, it's not going to bring Dad back.

'I felt if this is what has to happen to stop this happening to someone else, I'll suck that up. I won't hug them and tell them it was OK - but I want to move on.'

Speaking of the time the IRA tried to recruit him, he tells the programme: 'At the time of my dad's death, there were thousands of armed paramilitaries and it would've been easy for me to pick up a gun myself.

'My dad's brother had been approached in the graveyard by the IRA to say, 'look, we could probably use a couple of good smart strong strapping lads like those Kielty lads if they're interested in revenge.'

Kielty, who is now married to TV star Cat Deeley (with Kielty, left who is now pregnant with the couple's second child), is a regular on the comedy circuit (right)

'They were told in no uncertain terms where to go.

'Everyone wants to believe their loved one died for a cause. But my dad died for nothing.'

Kielty was called into his headmaster's office at school to be told the news that his father, 45, had been killed.

He was in his building firm's office when members of the Loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters sprayed it with bullets.

Jack Kielty, who was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries the height of the troubles

It was a case of mistaken identity, with the killers believing Jack to be an officer in the IRA, a link that was immediately dismissed by the Royal Ulster Constabulary and family members.

Patrick said: 'They said to me, 'Your dad's been shot'. I remember saying almost immediately, 'Is he dead?', and they said yes.'

Kielty, who is now married to TV star Cat Deeley, was just six days away from turning 17 when he buried his father and served as a pallbearer at the funeral.

'At the time you think, "Let's just get through the next day". My younger brother Cathal was just 11 at the time and I think it was much harder for him.

William Bell, Delbert Watson and David Curlett were eventually sentenced to life for the murder but were freed in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

'For me it was absolutely part of the process,' Kielty said.

'People talk about making peace, and then they draw their line in the sand and say, 'I'll make peace here'.

Three years ago, while doing a show in Belfast, Patrick was approached by a woman who threw new light on his father's death.

In the show, (pictured) Kielty meets jailed IRA killer Billy Hutchinson who has turned his back on violence, and Richard Moore, who forgave the soldier who blinded him

Kielty is pictured alongside Labour politician and secretary for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam

Investigative journalist Roger Cook had exposed a local protection racket being run by James Craig, an Ulster Defence Association commander, in his current affairs show The Cook Report, but Craig then tried to sue the programme.

'This woman told me that her husband and my dad had been going to give evidence in the trial against James Craig,' says Kielty.

'And I didn't know that. Apparently they gave evidence behind a screen but then the trial collapsed and both men were then identifiable.'

It is now claimed that Jack Kielty was shot to send out a warning to others to keep quiet.

Craig was never brought to justice as he was himself shot dead by the UDA a few months later.

Kielty added: 'My dad was a brave man but it was my mum who wanted to protect us. She's the one who raised the family and kept us together. She was 46 when he died and she never remarried.'

In the show Patrick also meets jailed IRA killer Billy Hutchinson, who has renounced violence, and Richard Moore, who forgave the soldier who blinded him.

My Dad, the Peace Deal and Me is on tonight on BBC One at 9pm.Salim Mehajer has walked free from Sydney's Silverwater Prison where he was behind bars for allegedly staging a car crash on his way to face an assault charge.

Mehajer, 31, was seen leaving the prison - after $200,000 was posted to secure his bail - wearing a grey checkered suit and black tie at about 5.45pm Wednesday.

He left with a single cardboard box of belongings which were placed by his father Mohamed into the black Mercedes-Benz which arrived to pick him up.

The bankrupt former Auburn deputy mayor hugged his lawyer Zali Burrows, and kissed his father's hand, before putting on a pair of sunglasses and sitting in the car's rear driver's side.

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Salim Mehajer (pictured with his lawyer Zali Burrows) has walked free from Sydney's Silverwater Prison where he was behind bars for allegedly staging a car crash on the way to face an assault charge

Mehajer was seen leaving the prison wearing a grey checkered suit, black tie and sunglasses at about 5.45pm Wednesday

He left with a single cardboard box of belongings which were placed by his father Mohamed (pictured) into the black Mercedes-Benz which arrived to pick him up

The bankrupt former Auburn deputy mayor hugged his lawyer Zali Burrows (pictured) as he left prison after $200,000 was posted to secure his bail

He also kissed the hand of his father Mohamed Mehajer (pictured) before putting on a pair of sunglasses and sitting in the car's rear driver's side

Mehajer won his freedom in the New South Wales Supreme Court last Thursday.

Justice Desmond Fagan on Thursday imposed strict conditions for his release, including a $200,000 surety.

Mehajer will have to report to Bankstown police station twice daily, not leave the state of NSW and not go within 500 metres of Sydney airport.

He will also have to live at a specified Lidcombe address, in Sydney's west, which he cannot leave between 9pm and 7am.

Mehajer had been in prison since January after being charged with perverting the course of justice for allegedly staging a car accident on his way to face assault charges.

Mehajer (left) was all smiles as he left the prison on bail and climbed into a black Mercedes-Benz on Wednesday afternoon

Mehajer won his freedom in the New South Wales Supreme Court last Thursday

Mehajer will have to report to Bankstown police station twice daily, not leave the state of NSW and not go within 500 metres of Sydney airport

He will also have to live at a specified Lidcombe address, in Sydney's west, which he cannot leave between 9pm and 7am

Mehajer subsequently pleaded guilty to the assault offences and was placed on a good behaviour bond.

Justice Fagan noted it was not likely he would stand trial on criminal charges until late 2019 and was unlikely to be sentenced to more than 18 months in jail if found guilty.

The court was told last week that Mehajer had been charged with a new count of perverting the course of justice for allegedly providing fraudulent letters in a bail application at Burwood Local Court earlier in March.

Mehajer was behind bars when he was found guilty in February of assaulting Channel 7 journalist Laura Banks, by slamming a car door onto her outside a Sydney police station last year.

The conviction was recorded against Mehajer without any other penalty for the assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Mehajer had been in prison since January after being charged with perverting the course of justice for allegedly staging a car accident on his way to face assault chargesZach Waters, 13, has been missing from the Central Coast for more than two weeks

A 13-year-old boy who disappeared from the Central Coast last month is still missing more than two weeks later.

Zach Waters was last seen by his distraught mother in East Gosford on Sunday March 18.

Local police have spoken with Zach's friends and relatives following his disappearance, but have not been able to find him.

The teenager requires daily prescription medication, and both his mother and police are concerned for his welfare.

Police are now asking for community assistance in locating Zach, and are urging anyone with information on his whereabouts to get in contact.

Zach is described as a skinny boy with pale skin and blonde hair, who is about 140cm tall. Police don't have information on what he was wearing at the time of his disappearance.

He does not have access to any money or a mobile phone.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to contact police immediately.Days before she stabbed two small children in her care to death, killer nanny Yoselyn Ortega was getting her affairs in order.

She put her precious heirlooms in bags, gave her passport, health insurance and driver's license to her sister, and sent her son to stay with relatives.

Prosecutors in her murder trial argue this showed premeditation that destroys her insanity defense for the grisly murders of Lulu, six, and Leo Krim, two.

Yoselyn Ortega, 55, is on tril for murdering two small children left in her care on New York's Upper West Side

Ortega stabbed Lucia (right) and Leo Krim (left), ages six and two, to death in October 2012

The children were butchered in their luxury home on New York's Upper West Side in October 2012 before Ortega slashed her own throat but survived.

However, her psychiatrist Karen Rosenbaum, giving testimony for the defense, said the 55-year-old was prone to such actions and they didn't show early intent to kill.

'I can see how you would reach that conclusion with somebody who was intent to kill, but this defendant does things like that even when she's not psychotic,' she told the court, according to the New York Daily News.

Dr Rosenbaum was on the stand for a third day as District Attorney Stuart Silberg tried to cast doubt on her insanity diagnosis.

Karen Rosenbaum (center, leaving court on Tuesday) testified that Ortega had told her she believed she was possessed by the devil when she killed the kids in her care

Ortega worked part time for the Krim family, aiding stay-at-home mom Marina Krim (right) with the couple's then-three kids - Lucia, Leo and Nessie. After Lucia and Leo's murders, the couple went on to have two more boys

Ortega's defence argues she was too mentally ill to know what she was doing when she stabbed Lulu and Leo to death.

The psychiatrist earlier testified that Ortega told her while shackled in hospital days after the killings that Satan told her to stab them and then herself.

'She finally told me, several interviews in, that the voices told her to kill people, that they told her to kill herself, and eventually that they told her to kill the children,' the psychiatrist told the court on Tuesday, New York Daily reported.

'I felt like the devil was possessing me, wanting me to be his,' Rosenbaum testified that Ortega had told her, according to the New York Post. 'That the devil wanted me for himself.

'When the devil overtakes her, she has no choice in the matter,' the psychiatrist (pictured) noted

Ortega had also told her therapist, before the killings, that she felt the devil was 'starting to overtake her (and) it was significantly worse.'

The possession was 'getting stronger in the week prior' to the murders, the nanny had told Rosenbaum.

'When the devil overtakes her, she has no choice in the matter,' the psychiatrist had noted.

If convicted, she will face the rest of her life in jail. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, she will be sent to a psychiatric hospital.

Her psychiatrist's testimony is expected to continue on Thursday.

A neighbor of the two children also reacted furiously to claims the defendant was insane.

Shocking photos emerged showing the killer nanny Yoselyn Ortega, 55, lying in a pool of blood after she murdered two children in her care and slit her own throat

Photos shown in court reveal the bloody aftermath of the attack (pictured)

Ortega was found lying in the doorway of the bathroom, with a blood covered shirt, next to a huge kitchen knife

But the brutal reality of the crimes committed in October 2012 were eventually revealed when Marina Krim came home to find her children murdered.

Shocking photos emerged in court showing a killer nanny lying in a pool of blood after she murdered two children in her care and slit her own throat.

The Dominican nanny stabbed herself in the neck just as the children's mother was coming in the door but she survived her injuries.

Ortega was found lying in the doorway of the bathroom, with a blood covered shirt, next to a huge kitchen knife. She appeared to be unconscious and had something tied round her neck.

Ortega, who appeared to be unconscious, had something tied round her neck

The bathroom's floor and door was splattered with blood after she slit her throat

Gruesome hospital photos have emerged of the nanny accused of murder two two children in her care then slashing her own throat (pictured)

Ortega pictured in hospital immediately after stabbing the siblings to death

The bathroom's sink was stained red with blood, while splatters were seen all over the floor.

Ortega was rushed to hospital and photos from her hospital bed showed the nature of her injuries.

The worst, was a severe cut across her neck, where a chunk of skin appeared to be missing.

Other photos showed Ortega on a breathing tube, and on an IV, as she lay in her hospital bed.

The grisly photos show the serious damage she suffered when she sliced her own neck in 2012

One photo showed Ortega on a breathing tube, and on an IV, as she lay in her hospital bed

Photos of two bloodied knives were shown to jurors in court last weekThe man suing Melrose Place star Jamie Luner for $250 million after claiming she gave him crystal meth and sexually assaulted him when he was 16 is on a list of people known to file bogus lawsuits.

Court documents show Anthony Oliver, who is suing Luner for emotional distress and sexual battery after events alleged to have happened in 1998, has filed at least 22 suits in recent years.

Many of the suits were deemed baseless or frivolous, the records show, and his legal history means he must now obtain a judge's approval before courts accept suits he files.

Anthony Oliver claims that he met Luner (pictured in 1998), who was 26 at the time, during a party at her house in 1998. He is suing her for emotional distress and sexual battery

Soap stardom: Luner was already one of television's biggest stars when she nabbed the role of Lexi Sterling in the final two season of Melrose Place (clockwise from top left: Luner, Rob Estes, Heather Locklear, Jack Wagner, John Haymes Newton, Kelly Rutherford, Thomas Calabro, and Josie Bisset)

Among the parties he has sued are the County of Chatham in Georgia, the City of Oceanside in California and Men's Wearhouse, TMZ has revealed.

He sued Chatham because he claims he was beaten by a deputy, Oceanside because he claims he was unlawfully arrested and Men's Wearhouse because he said text message advertisements violated his privacy.

Oliver claims he met Luner, who was 26 at the time, during a party at her house in 1998.

Oliver's brother was a friend of Luner's makeup artist, who had developed a crush on the teen, according to TMZ.

Oliver claims Luner (pictured) called him 'adorable' and gave him a Jack and Coke

He claims Luner called him 'adorable' and gave him a Jack and Coke. He said they talked for three hours before going into her room.

That's when Luner pulled out a small bag of crystal meth and told him 'it's going to make you real horny', Oliver said.

Oliver declined and asked for two Tylenol pills instead, which he claims were laced with crystal meth. He said he then began to feel sexually aroused.

He claims Luner then performed oral sex on him before putting his penis in the mouth of the male makeup artist.

Oliver alleges he had sex with Luner multiple times, and that at one point she told him 'come bend me over the couch and ram me'.

When his brother returned to the party he recorded the pair having sex, Oliver also claims.

Oliver says the experience turned him into an alcoholic and left him 'not knowing if he is attracted to men, women, or both,' according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also claims two other men came froward to the Los Angeles Police Department to accuse Luner of drug-induced sex.

A spokesperson with the LAPD told DailyMail.com earlier this month that the Robbery Homicide Division, who handles all celebrity and high profile cases, has not opened an investigation at this time into the Melrose Place star.

Jamie Luner is being sued for $250million by the man who has accused the Melrose Place star of giving him meth and performing oral sex on him when he was just 16

Luner first rose to fame with her role on the Growing Pains spin-off Just the Ten of Us (Top row, left: Brooke Theiss, Matt Shakman, Bill Kirchenbauer, Luner, JoAnn Willette; on steps, left: Deborah Harmon holding Riquel Kyle Shane, Heidi Zeigler (holding Jason/Jeremy Korstjens (Harvey), Heather Langenkamp)

This comes after TMZ reported that the alleged victim filed a report with the LAPD, and that Luner might be facing a charge of oral copulation with a minor child.

Luner's manager told TheWrap that the allegations had 'no merit' and were a 'blatant attempt at extortion'.

Even if Luner had been found guilty, she would have likely only been charged with a misdemeanor if the sex act was consensual due to the fact that the victim was over the age of 16 at the time of the incident.

Oral copulation with a minor child can be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor under California state law, with the former largely reserved for instances in which the victim is under 16.

It can also be charged as a felony, however, if the victim is over 16 but was incapacitated or forced into the act at the time of the incident.

The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum prison sentence of one year, while the felony charge can carry up to 10 years behind bars.

There is also a chance the statute of limitations has run out on this case - with California law requiring that a report be filed within one year of the offense if the act was consensual.

In some non-consensual cases however, criminal charges can be filed within one year of a victim making a report to police.

Ex-files: She would have been dating personal trainer John Braz (couple above circa 1998) at the time of the alleged incident, who she split with in 1999 after four years together

Kids incorporated: Luner was already a household name before her Melrose days thanks to roles in such shows as Just the Ten of Us and Growing Pains (above with Pains co-star Jeremy Miller)

Enlightened: In 2015 she received a degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica (above at commencement with her parents)

Luner would have been in a relationship with John Braz at the time of the alleged offense.

She and the personal trainer began dating in 1995 but went their separate ways four years later around the time Melrose Place ended its run.

That is Luner's only known relationship, with the actress having always been incredibly private about the details of her love life.

This despite getting her start in commercials while still a child and attending the famed Beverly Hills High before landing her first big role in 1988 on the popular television series Just the Ten of Us.

She then made memorable guest appearances on Growing Pains and Married With Children before snagging her next big part in 1996 on Savannah.

It was while auditioning for Savannah that Luner first met Aaron Spelling, would would give her the role on Melrose that made her an A-list television star.

Bagging a Baldwin: Luner and Stephen Baldwin at the premiere of their film Friends & Lovers in 2000 (above)

Chameleon: Luner on All My Children in 2009 (left) and in a recent Instagram post (left)

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia: Luner with Marcia Gay Harden (above) while filming a guest spot on the series Code Black

Luner was one of television's biggest stars in the late 1990s thanks to her role as Lexi Sterling in Melrose Place, joining the cast in the sixth season and staying on until the show ended its run.

She immediately picked up an even bigger role as she took over for Ally Walker in the fourth season of Profiler, starring on 20 episodes of the NBC series before it was cancelled by the network.

Luner has made a number of guests appearances on television shows over the past 20 years and been featured in numerous Lifetime movies.

She also appeared in over 300 episodes of the popular soap opera All My Children from 2009 to 2011 in the role of Liza Colby, becoming the third actress to play the character.

Her recent work includes a ten-episode run on the TNT series Murder in the First back in 2016 and the lead role in the 2017 Lifetime film A Lover Betrayed.

She also recently wrapped work on two films slated fort release later this year, Tell Me I Love You and Deadly Runaway.

In 2015 she also received her degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.Staff members and others were seen being bussed out of the US Embassy in Moscow, as the exodus of international diplomats expelled from Russia continue.

Kremlin has ordered 60 US diplomats - 58 of them working at the Moscow embassy - out of the country in response to the US expelling the same number of diplomats.

Moscow is expelling more than 150 diplomats from 24 countries, in a like-for-like response to expulsions all over the world in response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in the UK.

Time to go: People gather near the buses on the territory of the US Embassy in Moscow, as the exodus of international diplomats from Russia continue

The poisoning of the Russian former double-agent, and Britain's response of blaming Russia has led to a a diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West, with post-Cold War tensions peaking.

On Saturday, moving trucks pulled into the front of the US consulate in St Petersburg morning as the American flag was taken down, following the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's announcement of its closure.

The consulate's employees were given until 10pm (7pmGMT) to leave, while the residence must be vacated by the end of April, according to the Interfax news agency.

It is the biggest wave of expulsions between Russia and the West in recent memory and has seen relations plunge to new post-Cold War lows.

The crisis was triggered by the March 4 poisoning of Russian former double agent Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Wiltshire, which Britain has blamed on Moscow, saying a Soviet-designed military grade nerve agent was used.

We're off: A boy looks through a window as a bus leaves the US Embassy in Moscow

Kremlin has ordered 60 US diplomats - 58 of them working at the Moscow embassy - out of the country in response to the US expelling the same number of diplomats

However, Russia has vehemently denied the allegations, and demanded further investigations into the potential source.

On Tuesday, The chief executive of Britain's Porton Down defense laboratory says that while its scientists have identified the nerve agent used they have not verified its 'precise source.'

A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry says Britain's failure to track down the source, shows that the accusations against Russia have been based merely on baseless suspicion.

In a mocking statement posted Tuesday on Facebook, Zakharova said: 'I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow (British Prime Minister) Theresa May and her bright team say that all their speeches in Parliament and efforts to build a global coalition resulted from the Russian hackers hacking into Disney cartoon studios.'



Protestors formed a human chain around a mosque as anti-racism events were held throughout the country against 'Punish A Muslim Day' on Tuesday.

Nearly 100 people held signs and hands as they lined the perimeter of Newcastle Central Mosque as a show of support for the Islamic community.

Last month, counter-terrorism police began an investigation after people across the country reported receiving a shocking letter advocating violence against Muslims on the designated date of April 3.

Elsewhere in the UK, other groups of anti-racism protestors hit back against the sick call for violence, by organising 'Love a Muslim Day' and a 'Day of Solidarity', which had 21 gatherings.

Nearly 100 people held signs and hands as they lined the perimeter of Newcastle Central Mosque as a show of support for the Islamic community against 'Punish A Muslim Day' Tuesday

Elsewhere in the UK, other groups of anti-racism protestors hit back against the sick call for violence, by organising 'Love a Muslim Day' and a 'Day of Solidarity', which had 21 gatherings. Pictured: Protestors in Leeds

Two women smile and hug another in Cambridgeshire on Tuesday

Last month, counter-terrorism police began an investigation after people across the country reported receiving a sick and shocking letter advocating violence against Muslims on the designated date of April 3. Pictured: An event in Islington, London

The chosen day for the disgusting call for violence was on April 3, and letters were sent to people in London, the West Midlands and Yorkshire.

The letter encourages people to harm and commit crimes against Muslims and publishes a sickening point-scoring system of punishments.

Counter protestors held events in Nottingham, Bradford, Wakefield, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh and Islington against the day of hate.

In Newcastle, the local branch of Citizens UK , Tyne and Wear Citizens, said they lined the mosque because they were 'spreading love not hate, building bridges not walls'.

By the end of the day on Tuesday, an Islamophobic watchdog group said it had received two reports of hate crimes, but didn't give further detail, reported the Times.

Although there was a massive outpouring of support leading up to the hateful day, women were warned to hide their hijabs and not to pick up their children from school alone.

In Newcastle, the local branch of Citizens UK, Tyne and Wear Citizens (pictured), said they lined the mosque because they were 'spreading love not hate, building bridges not walls'

Counter protestors held events in Nottingham, Bradford, Wakefield, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh and Islington against the day of hate. Pictured: Tyne and Wear Citizen activists in Newcastle lining a mosque

By the end of the day on Tuesday, an Islamophobic watchdog group said it had received two reports of hate crimes, but didn't give further detail, reported the Times

People were also warned about going outside and were encouraged to lock their doors properly.

A WhatsApp message cautioned other Muslims to be wary on Tuesday.

It reads: 'This is not a joke its sick plan they have a pointing system where they will b giving points and reporting on a site with vids etc punishments include taking off hijabs...beating up and even acid throwing.

'May Allah protect us all.'

The horrifying points system detailed in the original letter said 10 points would be awarded if you 'verbally abuse a Muslim', or 2,500 points for 'nuking Mecca'.

Other sickening acts included 50 points for throwing acid in a Muslim's face and 1,000 points for bombing or burning a mosque.

The message goes on to say that 'even tho police say they r acting on it.. leaflets have been posted thru doors in east london and kids have heard about it'.

The letter encourages people to harm and commit crimes against Muslims and publishes a sickening point-scoring system of punishments. Pictured: People gathered in the Edinburgh's Mound for a Stand Up To Racism event

The horrifying points system detailed in the original letter said 10 points would be awarded if you 'verbally abuse a Muslim', or 2,500 points for 'nuking Mecca'. Pictured: An anti-racism rally in Edinburgh city centre

Last month the Counter-Terrorism Unit said in a statement: 'Police are investigating a number of reports of potentially malicious communications sent to individuals across the UK.

'Officers are currently investigating the full circumstances.

'Counter Terrorism Policing North East are coordinating the investigation at this time and will consider any potential links to existing enquiries.

'Anyone with any concerns about a communication they may have received should contact their local police force.'A former police chief who led the UKs crackdown on modern day slavery wrote to his estranged wife threatening to harm himself days before he was found hanged.

Paul Broadbent's father-in-law discovered the 54-year-old body at home in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, after spending Christmas with his loving family.

The 'champion for the vulnerable and exploited' was declared dead at the scene, where four handwritten notes were also found.

Paul Broadbent - who led the UK's fight against modern day slavery - was found hanged at his Barnsley home just days after threatening to harm himself

He had used prescribed medication to battle sleeping problems and anxiety for 18 months before his death, which came two months after his split with wife Fiona.

She told an inquest the 'doting' father seemed 'fine' and spent a 'nice' Christmas with his family.

But she became concerned when he failed to call as arranged on December 27, leading her father to check his son-in-law's house.

Mrs Broadbent said her husband 'touched the lives of so many' with his work as head of the UKs anti-slavery agency.

His sudden death was described as 'a shattering tragedy' by a spokesman for the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).

The inquest at Sheffield Coroners Court heard how Mr Broadbent had spent Christmas with his daughter and wife.

Mrs Broadbent said she had been concerned by a letter she received from her late husband a couple of days before Christmas, which led her to believe he may have been at risk of self-harming.

But she said a family friend, who is an experienced counsellor, had spoken to him and assured her there was nothing to worry about.

Sheffield Coroner's Court (pictured) heard how Mr Broadbent had seemed 'fine' days before his death, when he spent Christmas with his daughter and estranged wife

She also said the keen runner had appeared fine and himself in the days before his death.

South Yorkshire Coroner Christopher Dorries concluded that Mr Broadbent took his own life and intended to do so.

Mr Broadbent joined South Yorkshire Police as a constable in 1985 after starting his career in Cumbria, where he was born and raised.

He left in 2010 to become an assistant chief constable at Nottinghamshire Police, before retiring from the police two years later and taking the role as chief executive of the GLAA.

Speaking after the inquest his widow Fiona Broadbent said her familys 'lives changed forever on December 27'.

'I am left with a deep sense of loss and sadness which will never, ever go away. Paul was a father, son, husband, brother, cousin, friend and colleague.

'He touched the lives of so many people who couldnt help fall for his charm, his wit, his infectious character. You couldnt help but like Paul. He was funny, kind, warm, friendly.

Paul Broadbent was found hanged at his South Yorkshire home when his father-in-law stopped by to check he was okay

'Those who knew him professionally saw all of these qualities alongside an appetite to serve the public, to right injustice.

'I will forever be proud of the contribution Paul made to keeping people safe during his 30 years as a police officer and as head of the GLAA tackling labour exploitation.

'Paul was a family man, a father who adored and doted on his daughter and was never happier than when spending time with us.

'My priority now is to give our daughter the love and support she needs to come to terms with the loss of her father. I will also help her understand just how much he meant to other people and the valuable work that he did, helping so many.

'I have found real comfort in the hundreds of messages of support from Pauls friends and colleagues, and on behalf of all family members we thank you.'

Almost 9,000 has been raised in his memory for the anti-slavery charity Unseen, which manages the national Modern Slavery Helpline and works with survivors of slavery and trafficking.

Mr Broadbent was described as 'passionate, innovative and determined to tackle labour exploitation and modern slavery' by Crime Minister Victoria Atkins in the days following his death.

After the inquest a spokesman for the GLAA said: 'The profound shock so many of us still feel for Pauls sudden and tragic loss is mirrored only by a deep sense of sadness and bewilderment at the circumstances of his death.

'To us, he will always be the charismatic leader who epitomised everything we stand for at the GLAA.

'Today, we remain as determined and focused as ever on ensuring Pauls legacy is built upon by making the GLAA a highly renowned and respected law enforcement and compliance agency, dedicated to protecting vulnerable and exploited workers.'A 78-year-old homeowner has been arrested by murder detectives after a suspected burglar he fought with in his own kitchen died of a stab wound.

The pensioner, named locally as Richard Osborn-Brooks, was upstairs asleep with his wife when he was woken by the two men breaking into his suburban home in Hither Green, south-east London last night.

He was forced into his kitchen by one of the men, who was armed with a screwdriver, before a struggle ensued.

The intruder, a 38-year-old man, was left with wounds to his chest and local residents say he collapsed in a neighbouring road and died in hospital.

The homeowner was initially detained on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm but was later arrested on suspicion of murder. The case has been compared to that of Tony Martin, who was jailed for killing an intruder at his home in 1999.

The break-in comes amid a surge in violence in the capital, with 49 people already having died in crimes in London in 2018. Last night's death brings the toll to 50.

Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, has been named locally as the homeowner who was arrested

Forensics officers outside the home of a 78-year-old man who remains in custody after he was arrested after he fought with a suspected burglar who broke into his house

Richard Osborn-Brooks, pictured here at a clay pigeon shooting range, is the owner of the house in Hither Green in London

Officers are currently scouring the man's home for evidence as they question the pensioner

Police have said the second burglary suspect fled the scene before they arrived, and they are still trying to track him down.

Neighbour Clem Williams, who has lived on the road for 20 years questioned the man's arrest, asked: 'Why were the men at his house? The man has a right to defend his home. They should let him go.'

The homeowner suffered bruising to his arms but police said his injuries are not life threatening. He remains in custody at a south London police station.

Neighbour Mr Williams, 58, a martial arts instructor, added: 'It's a very quiet road, normally we do not get police incidents down this road.

'There are a lot of older people on this road so I was quite surprised to hear about. I've been here 20 years and most people get on with others round here.'

The incident unfolded shortly before 1am this morning in South Park Crescent, just off the South Circular, where houses sell for around 400,000.

A forensics team enter the home of a 78-year-old man arrested for murder after he fought a 38-year-old who is thought to have broken into his house armed with a screwdriver

Police are investigating after a suspected burglar died from stab wounds in this street in Hither Green, south-east London

Gordon Williams, 44, saw the man on the ground with a stab wound to the chest before another man tried, unsuccessfully, to get him into a white van. The van then drove off before police and paramedics then arrived at the scene.

Mr Williams said: 'He was a white bloke about my age. I had just gone to to bed and I heard moaning and groaning.

'At first I thought he was drunk, but when I looked out of the window, I saw a white Vauxhall Astra van pulled up beside him.

'A black man was saying to the guy on the ground "come on, get in the van". He was trying to drag him but it wasn't working.

'The black guy then looked up to my window and saw me looking out, so he ran back into the van and drove off north.

'My wife then heard the clang of metal on the ground and saw him throw something out of the van's window.

'I went downstairs straight away and was the first on the scene.

'The man on the ground was white and was bleeding heavily from his chest through his shirt.'

Gordon said he then went out of the house to the injured man and added: 'I just tried to reassure him. His t-shirt was covered in blood.'

The witness said believed the man's injury was a knife wound.

'People have been talking about a screwdriver but this wasn't a screwdriver wound, this was a knife. The wound was an inch long.

'I think that it was a knife and I think from what my partner said that the black guy pulled it out and threw it away.

'The man on the ground was wearing a blue t-shirt and it was pulled up. I think he was dead already. His pupils were completely dilated.

'There was another young man on the scene quickly and he phoned the police straight away.

'They came within minutes and so did the ambulance.

'The paramedics tried to resuscitate him for 20 minutes, but he was dead I'm sure.'

Neighbours have backed the man, saying he was defending his home from intruders

A forensics tent has been put up outside the house, whose owner is said to have been retired for more than 26 years

The area, which has a number of elderly residents, has been targeted by burglars before

Neighbourhood Watch member Sylbourne Sydial, who is in his 40s, said the case reminded her of that of Tony Martin.

He said: 'A man should be able to defend his home... your home is your castle and I believe your neighbourhood is your kingdom.

'I have got a wife and child and sometimes I'm out of London - we will have to have a serious discussion with the police about if something like this happens.'

Neighbour Nick Myatt, who lives in a house within the police cordon, said of Mr Osborn-Brooks: 'I saw him a few times, he's a lovely old man and he cares for his wife who I think has dementia or is disabled.

'He's a nice man, nice to talk to.

'He's an old man - it's a shame really. I hope the law sees sense and let's him off. I don't think it's right.

'I don't know his name. I just hope he gets off.

'One of the police told me it's definitely him that's been arrested.'

Nick and a friend who was with him at the scene both confirmed a picture of Richard Osborn-Brooks was the man who lives in the address being searched by police.

Other neighbours also said they knew him from photos.

A neighbour who lives several doors away, also within the cordon, described Osborn-Brooks as a 'nice guy'.

The elderly man, who declined to give his name, said: 'He's retired, but a nice guy, keeps himself to himself.

'Goes out shopping once a week and that's about it.

'He's been retired all the time I've been here - about 20 years. Nice as pie that's all I can tell you.'

Another young man who lives in the street said Osborn-Brooks is a familiar face at summer street parties.

The man, who was in his 20s but didn't give his name, said: 'We have street parties, people bring food with them and the whole neighbourhood comes out.

'We definitely recognise him from those, he lives on the street.

'It's normally a safe area. A burglary has happened here before but it's not very often.'

There is a growing police presence at the scene as Scotland Yard's Homicide and Major Crime Command investigate

Forensics experts were scouring the scene this morning as the man remained in custody

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'At 00:45hrs on Wednesday, 4 April, police were called by a homeowner to reports of a burglary in progress at an address in South Park Crescent, Hither Green SE6, and a man injured.

'The 78-year-old resident found two males inside the address. A struggle ensued between one of the males and the homeowner. The man, aged 38, sustained a stab wound to the upper body.

'London Ambulance Service took the injured male, who was found collapsed in Further Green Road, SE8, to a central London hospital. He was pronounced dead at 03:37hrs.'

Police were unable to confirm whether the suspect had been stabbed with the screwdriver.

Parts of the street where the break-in was reported, along with neighbouring Further Park Road, have been cordoned off this morning as forensics experts scour the scene.

What is the law on confronting burglars? How homeowners can use 'reasonable force' against intruders Tony Martin (pictured) killed Fred Barras, 16, and wounded accomplice Brendon Fearon, 29, with his unlicensed shotgun British law allows homeowners to use 'reasonable force' against intruders to protect themselves or others in their home. Guidelines introduced in 2005 allow people to protect themselves 'in the heat of the moment'  including using an object as a weapon. They can also stop an intruder running off, for example by tackling them to the ground. There is no specific definition of 'reasonable force' and it is said to depend on the circumstances. Government guidance states that if a person 'only did what you honestly thought was necessary at the time, this would provide strong evidence that you acted within the law'. People do risk prosecution however if they carry on attacking the intruder when they are no longer in danger, or pre-plan a trap for someone rather than involving the police. One famous case involved Tony Martin, who killed Fred Barras, 16, and wounded accomplice Brendon Fearon, 29, with his unlicensed shotgun after he found them late at night inside his home in August 1999. He was jailed for life for murder at Norwich Crown Court in April 2000, but later had his sentence reduced to five years for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He appealed against his conviction, claiming that his account was not properly put forward at his trial. It was also revealed that he had Asperger's Syndrome. Fearon, who admitted conspiring to burgle Bleak House, accompanied by Fred Barras, was jailed for three years at Norwich Crown Court in 2000 and was released in August the following year. Mr Martin's case provoked a national debate about the measures homeowners can take to defend their property. The farmer, who is known for his eccentric behaviour, was finally released in 2003, but never returned to live in his derelict detached home on his 300-acres of land at Bleak House Farm. Advertisement

In Hither Green today one neighbour, who asked not to be named, said the homeowner had been retired for many years.

'He's been retired for 26 years. I did some building work on his house a while ago, but I haven't seen him for about three weeks.' said the neighbour.

One man, who lives on the adjoining Further Green Road, said there had been a recent spate of burglaries in the area.

'I was burgled in the last couple of months,' said the retired man, who did not want to be named.

'I was renovating the house and they broke in and took a laptop. I know this has happened to others recently.'

The lower part of a neighbouring road and much of the street where the incident took place have been cordoned off by murder detectives

Police have thrown a wide cordon around the street, South Park Crescent, and the surrounding area as they investigate

Locals say they believe the man who later died may have fled into the street after the incident

Adam Lake, who lives near the scene, also said he did not feel safe from crime.

He said: 'When I heard it was a burglary I wasn't surprised, there's been a noticeable increase in crime in the area.

'We've even had to put up CCTV at home because we didn't feel safe. Such an awful event, I feel terrible for the man that was burgled.

'He doesn't deserve to be punished for defending himself, and the neighbours that I've spoken to all agree that the priority needs to be to support him after everything that he's been through.

'He was just protecting himself after all.'

A shoe was seen laying in Further Park Road this morning, leading some residents to speculate that the injured man may have run into the neighbouring street before collapsing.

As officers examine the scene in Hither Green, the second burglary suspect is on the run

The break-in and resulting death come at a time where the Met is dealing with a large number of murder probes

Police were seen guarding the street this morning at murder detectives scoured the area

Security guard Ahmed Haili, 32, said he saw people trying to help someone in the street.

He said: 'It was about 12.45am and I saw a white man on the ground and he was being given CPR, trying to save his life.'

An elderly resident of the street told MailOnline: 'I didn't hear anything last night but there were lots of police here when I looked out this morning.'

The Met confirmed the next of kin of the man who died have been informed, though the he has not yet been formally identified. A post-mortem examination will be scheduled.

Scotland Yard confirmed the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command was investigating.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting CAD214/4Apr. To remain anonymous they can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The street, in this centre of this aerial image, is just off London's South Circular Road

A large section of the street, which is next to the railway line, has been closed off by policeJeremy Corbyn will meet with the leaders of the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council in a bid to calm the anti-Semitism storm engulfing his party.

The Labour leader has agreed with the two groups to discuss any points they wish to raise with him.

Mr Corbyn has been condemned by both groups for what has been as a sluggish and dismissive approach to anti-Semitism in Labour's ranks.

They called a huge protest on Parliament Square last week to warn Labour 'enough is enough' following a new spate of incidents.

The planned meeting has not come soon enough for Labour donor Michael Foster who has pulled his support from Mr Corbyn's party and warned it is tainted forever.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured today in Watford) will meet with the leaders of the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council in a bid to calm the anti-Semitism storm engulfing his party

Board of Deputies President Jonathan Arkush (left) and Jewish Leadership Council chairman Jonathan Goldstein (right) are set to meet with Mr Corbyn after he agreed to discuss any points they want to raise

In a letter confirming the meeting would go ahead, the two leaders told Mr Corbyn: 'For this to be effective it is crucial that you use your own personal authority as leader of the Labour Party'

Mr Corbyn was under renewed fire yesterday for celebrating Passover at a Seder organised by a fringe group of far-left Jews opposed to the state of Israel.

He will hope the meeting with the mainstream Jewish leadership, revealed by the Jewish Chronicle today, will ease tensions.

In his letter accepting the two groups terms for the meeting, Mr Corbyn said: 'I place no limitations on the points you would wish to raise and am happy for the agenda to cover the issues you've already outlined.'

He added: 'I appreciate and understand the anger you express and reiterate my determination to fight antisemitism within the Labour Party and society at large.

'I recommit to doing all I can to address the anguish and distress caused to many people in the Jewish community.'

In a letter confirming the meeting would go ahead, the two leaders told Mr Corbyn: 'For this to be effective it is crucial that you use your own personal authority as leader of the Labour Party to drive through the changes required and to ensure that there will be significant, timely and measurable progress.

Michael Foster, who gave 450,00 to Labour before Mr Corbyn became leader, warned promises to rid the party of anti-Semitism would not work.

'Ultimately, the most important thing going forward will be action not words.'

The planned meeting has not come soon enough for one Labour donor who has pulled his support from Mr Corbyn's party and warned it is tainted forever.

Michael Foster, who gave 450,00 to Labour before Mr Corbyn became leader, warned promises to rid the party of anti-Semitism would not work.

He told The Times: 'We know that ''de-anythingisation'' has never worked. Labour under Corbyn can now never not be antisemitic.

'It is part of the glue that holds these particular slightly elderly disenfranchised and naive younger leftist groups together.

'This is no longer about Corbyn and leadership. This is about the party under Corbyn becoming a repository for people who feel they have not been represented through the Thatcher and Blairite years.

'One of their uniting ideologies is the repression of the worker by capitalistic forces and their anti-capitalist stance has a resonance with the stereotype of Jews as controlling capitalists.'

Labour suspended Mr Foster's party membership in September 2016 after he compared Mr Corbyn's team to Nazi stormtroopers.

Jeremy Corbyn attended an event last night hosted by a far-Left group that has called for the destruction of Israel

Mr Corbyn yesterday defended his controversial decision to attend a Seder hosted by a far left group which has called for the destruction ofIsrael.

He was accused of 'deliberately baiting' the Jewish community by attending the event by Jewdas which has dismissed Labour's anti-Semitism scandal as 'cynical manipulation'.

Confronted with the criticism on a trip to Swindon Mr Corbyn refused to apologise and said he had learnt a lot by talking to the young Jewish people at the event.

Labour MP and arch Corbyn critic John Woodcock said it was 'irresponsible and dangerous' and a snub to mainstream Jewish groups.

The Labour leader was also condemned by the Holocaust Education Trust chief executive Karen Pollock, who branded the visit 'mocking' and 'disrespectful'.

Speaking yesterday on a trip to Swindon, Mr Corbyn said: 'It was a Seder event which is a celebration of Passover I celebrated it with a lot of young Jewish people from my constituency and my own community.

'It was very interesting talking to a lot of young people about their experiences of modern Britain - and isn't that a good thing?'

The row erupted after leaked audio of the meeting revealed Mr Corbyn was present while guests allegedly booed the names of mainstream Jews.This horrific footage shows the moment which left a motorcyclist needing to have part of his leg amputated.

The crash was caught on CCTV and shows the moment the victim is flung from his bike after a taxi swerved into his path.

The tragic incident took place on the A575 Albert Road in Farnworth, Bolton, shortly after 6pm on Friday, November 10, last year as the motorcyclist was riding near the Lidl supermarket at the time.

Footage shows Mohammad Bhatti's taxi turning right across the motorcyclist's path at a junction as it approaches ahead of the collision. The biker, who has not been named, is then swung into what appears to be a van.

Police said the 42-year-old victim's life has now 'completely changed' five months on.

The victim now has to attend rehab and physiotherapy and has to live in supported accommodation while adaptations are made to his home.

Surgeons tried to save the victim's leg 15 times, although were eventually forced to amputate.

Taxi driver Mohammad Bhatti, 58, of Gilnow Road, Bolton, Manchester, pleaded guilty at Bolton magistrates' court to a charge of driving without due care and attention and was sentenced on Tuesday.

The crash was caught on CCTV and shows the moment the victim is flung from his bike after a taxi swerved into his path

Police said he was given the maximum sentence the court could impose and also given a six-month driving ban.

PC Michael Cartwright, of GMP's Road Policing Unit, said: 'As you will see from the footage, this was an awful collision that has left the victim with life-changing injuries.

'Since this collision, he has had to live in supported accommodation while special adaptations are made to his home because of his disability. He also continues to attend physiotherapy and rehabilitation sessions.

'This has completely changed his life and he has had to pay the consequences for Bhatti's careless actions. No sentence imposed can ever undo the damage this has caused.

'He has been incredibly brave throughout the court proceedings and I hope that he can now begin to rebuild his life.'

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: 'On arrival, officers found a 42-year-old motorcyclist with serious leg injuries. He was taken to hospital where after 15 attempts to save his leg, doctors sadly had to partially amputate it.

'Bhatti, who pleaded guilty, was handed the maximum sentence a court can impose for the offence - a driving ban of six months.'A high school student has been charged with animal cruelty after cops accused him of biting off a chicken's head after breaking into a coop on campus.

David Andrew Jimenez, 17, is said to have broken into University High School in Orange City, Florida over the weekend.

He then headed for the chickens - which were in the school, alongside other live animals, for a 'Farm to Table' event being held at the weekend - and proceeded to bite one of the birds' heads off, cops said.

David Andrew Jimenez, 17, is said to have broken into University High School in Orange City, Florida over the weekend. Pictured: A stock image of a chicken

When officers were told about the beheaded fowl, they came to campus and were told that Jimenez had been bragging about the killing, ClickOrlando reports.

They say that when they approached the boy and requested to speak with him, he said he knew why - 'because of the chicken'.

Cops say he then admitted to biting off its head and, when asked why he did it, said simply: 'I have violent outbursts.'

The boy has been released to his parents and told he is due in court today.

A teacher stumbled upon the macabre scene after arriving at the school at about 5am on Monday morning.

Eggs had also been thrown inside the gym, the teacher said.

Cops said Jimenez has been charged with trespassing as well as felony animal cruelty.

In a statement, the force added: 'Additional charges are possible against any other students who were involved in the incident.'A German father accidentally left his two young daughters at a service station during a road trip to Italy  and didn't realise until he saw 48 missed calls from police when he was more than 100 miles away in Austria.

The man and his daughters  aged 10 and 14  had been driving from their home in Baunatal in western Germany to Lake Garda in Italy for an Easter trip.

The 47-year-old stopped for petrol at a filling station in Holzkirchen, south of Munich, at around 5.20am on Saturday, The Times reports.

A German father accidentally left his two young daughters at a service station (pictured, stock photo) during a road trip to Italy  and didn't realise until he was 100 miles away

He returned to his Volkswagen minibus after paying  but didn't realise his daughters had left the vehicle to go to the bathroom and drove off.

They waited half an hour for their father to return, but approached staff at the service station for help when they realised they'd been abandoned.

Police were called and they issued alerts and began looking for the father's vehicle.

They called the children's mother  who didn't join her husband and kids on the trip  and when she eventually woke up and answered, she gave them the father's number.

Officers called him 48 times, but he didn't notice the calls until 90 minutes after he left the service station  by which time, he was 105 miles away on the Brenner Pass in Austria.

The father raced back to collect his children, who were fed breakfast and given a place to stay while they waited.

They were reunited at 8.25am - just over three hours after they first stopped at the service station.

'The children were safe and sound when their father returned to collect them,' a spokesman for Tank & Rast, which manages the filling station, told the Times.

'We're unaware of the family consequences he now faces,' police told the newspaper.It's no secret that the Australian job market is a hard nut to crack.

But for young Australians living with neuro-diverse conditions such as autism, OCD and Tourette syndrome, the search for meaningful employment brings with it a whole new set of difficulties.

Employable Me, a brand new documentary series on the ABC, follows a handful of mentally disabled Australians as they negotiate the overwhelming struggles of landing a job.

New ABC series Employable Me shows the struggles faced by people with neuro-diverse conditions such as autism as they search for meaningful employment

The first episode followed Tim, a 28-year-old autistic man battling severe social anxiety disorder

The first episode of the three-part series, which is at turns sad and heartwarming, aired on Tuesday.

And one story in particular left many viewers in tears.

Tim, a 28-year-old autistic man from the Sutherland Shire, south of Sydney, suffers from a debilitating case of severe social anxiety disorder.

Despite his extensive qualifications in IT and computer software, Tim's condition and his inability to go out in public alone have prevented him from holding a job since he finished high school more than 10 years ago.

Despite his extensive qualifications in IT and computer software, Tim's condition has prevented him from holding a job since he finished high school more than 10 years ago

But an emotional moment towards the end of the episode showed Tim being offered employment with a software testing firm - a 'dream job' that he can perform from home

At one point during the episode, he is even forced to turn down an employment opportunity with a video game developer because it requires him to travel to and from the office.

But after his CV finds its way into the hands of Michael Tozer, the CEO of software testing firm Xceptional Testing, Tim is brought in for an assessment and subsequently offered a 'dream job' that he can perform from home.

Mr Tozer explains that the majority of his employees are people with autism, and that the condition makes for excellent software testers.

The moment Tim receives news of the offer is an incredibly uplifting one, and many viewers took to social media with emotional tweets and praise.

Employable Me airs next Tuesday 10 April, and 17 April, at 8.30pm on ABC.

The moment was emotionally received, with viewers taking to social media to share their praise for TimShocking footage emerged showing a Taiwanese babysitter allegedly beating a baby girl while playing on her mobile phone.

The 26-year-old babysitter, surnamed Chen, can be seen patting the eight-month-old girl's chest strongly while supposedly trying to stop her from crying.

Ms Chen's family denied and claimed the camera angle suggested a brutal mistreatment. Ms Chen could face a fine up to NTD $300,000 (7,300) if found guilty, according to Apple Daily Taiwan.

Ms Chen, 26, throws an eight-month-old baby girl on the floor while babysitting in Taiwan

Surveillance camera footage first emerged on a closed group on Facebook as the father, Li Chun, posted on April 3.

The three-minute-long clip, taken on March 26, shows Ms Chen shaking the baby girl while looking at her phone. The baby appears to be crying when Ms Chen violently wipes the baby's mouth.

The eight-month-old was hit in the chest for about nine times before being pushed to a corner in the room.

She is using her phone while impatiently pats on the baby's chest numerous times

The eight-month-old was crying loud as the babysitter lifted her up and shook violently

Ms Chen, from Changhua county in west Taiwan, is said to have been taking care at least two other children on the day and was apparently short on patience, reported Apple Daily Taiwan.

Huang Li-chuan, head of Department of Social Welfare in Changhua county, received a report from the baby's parents and launched an investigation promptly.

'Ms Chen is a licensed babysitter and is registered at a nursery centre, however the nursery centre has not acquired the licence for stay-at-home babysitting,' said Ms Huang.

A family member of Ms Chen told the reporter that the angle of camera was misleading.

Local social welfare department has opened a case to investigate the alleged mistreatment

The 26-year-old Ms Chen, pictured, could face a fine up to 7,300 if she is found guilty

'Ms Chen did not throw her onto the floor but just put her on the floor gently. You cannot said it's abuse from watching the video clip,' the family member said.

Mr Li happened to find Ms Chen as a babysitter through Facebook and he paid her NTD $19,000 (462) in the last two months.

There were no significant injuries found on the eight-month-old and she is now being looked after by her grandmother.

According to the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act in Taiwan, Ms Chen could face a fine up to NTD $300,000 (7,300) if found guilty.An airport security officer was caught on camera stealing a bundle of cash from an 89-year-old tourist.

The vulnerable holidaymaker, who was filmed walking with a bad back, is seen emptying his pockets into the red trays on rollers at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday night.

Just moments after walking through the X-Ray machine, security guard Thanat Rattana, 25, is filmed on CCTV rummaging through the American man's wallet.

Wearing white gloves, he removes the notes, them them in the tray, then while the pensioner is searched he slips 6,000 baht (137) into his pocket.

Just moments after walking through the X-Ray machine, security guard Thanat Rattana, 25, is filmed on CCTV rummaging through the American man's wallet (pictured)

The official then waits until another passengers is by his side, wrongly believing it would obscure the theft from the airport's security cameras.

Then just minutes later, the elderly tourist realised his money was missing and had been lost during the screening process.

Police then apprehended the airport employee and caught him red-handed with the notes.

Rattana, who has now been fired from his job at the airport, tried to deny his crime but eventually confessed when confronted with the video evidence.

He told authorities he needed the money to return to his home town and he had no money due to the cost of traveling to work every day. He also claimed he was disabled, which he blamed on stealing.

Thanat Rattana was apprehended by authorities and arrested for stealing the money

The money was given back to the passenger before his flight took off

Rattana was detained in custody in the airport's holding cells and the money was returned back to the passenger before he boarded a flight.

Airport boss Kittipong Kittikajorn said: 'The first thing we did was to call the management of this security company to acknowledge the incident.

'They must find more qualified employees to work. The security measures set by the airport are already international standards.

'The stolen property was quickly returned to the passenger before he boarded his plane.'

Last month, security handler Busakorn Somkwamdee, 26, was caught on CCTV stealing the equivalent of 450GBP in CASH from a passenger's handbag. She was caught red-handed and prosecuted for theft.Advertisement

A Hollywood director who discovered his ancestors lived in a stately home in Rochdale has started refurbishing the run-down estate after securing a grant of 276,000 from Historic England for critical structural repairs.

Hopwood DePree, 47, discovered he was a direct descendant of the family who built Hopwood Hall in the 14th century and remained in the property until the 1940s.

Gunpowder plot conspirator Guy Fawkes visited Edmund Hopwood - who was a noted witch hunter - before his botched bombing attempt. Poet Lord Byron also stayed at Hopwood Hall in 1811 even giving the family the gift of a fireplace which survives to this day.

Hollywood producer Hopwood DePree has been granted 276,000 in funding from Historic England to begin the project of saving his ancestral home, Hopwood Hall, pictured, which dates from the 14th century

The 47-year-old American is a direct descendant of the Hopwood family who lived in Rochdale for more than 600 years

The house passed out of the family's ownership when Colonel Edward Hopwood died in 1942 having lost both his sons during the First World War

DePree left his home in LA after discovering his ancestral link with Greater Manchester and has launched a project to refurbish the building which could cost between 6 million and 10 million. As well as the grant from Historic England, Rochdale Council have also committed funding to save the home which was once owned by his great-great-grandparents.

He will live in the Grade II* listed 60 room house while the refurbishment work is underway. The American arrived in the UK last summer on a three-year visa.

DePree's ancestors emigrated to the United States in the 1700s and it is believed George Washington gave land to John Hopwood in 1791.

However, in the late 19th Century, the last Hopwood in America Alicinda Hopwood married Newton Black. Although, male heirs - such as the current resident of the hall - were given the first name Hopwood to remember their heritage.

He told The Guardian: 'I am primarily doing this for the local community, to bring this wonderful building back to life for local people to enjoy.'

The final member of the family to live at the Hall was Colonel Edward Hopwood in 1942. His two sons were both killed during the First World War.

It was taken over by the Lancaster Cotton Corporation before the De La Salle brothers bought it in 1947 for a teacher training college.

However, it has been since left to rot and was under threat of collapse.

Hopwood DePree's branch of the family emigrated to the US in the 1700s and first born males from his side of the family have been called Hopwood to keep the family's name alive after Alicinda Hopwood married Newton Black in the early 19th century

The house was later used as a teacher training college until it fell into disrepair and was at risk of collapse

DePree has signed a legal agreement with the local council who are the current owners and Historic England to begin the work to save the Hall.

During the works, the Michigan-born director will be allowed to live in his ancestral home. One of the first rooms he visited was where his 14th great grandfather was born.

He told The Times: 'Its going to need a full restoration. Everything from the floors, walls to the roof, down to the cellar. Everything needs to be reworked and preserved.'

He said once the renovation is complete, he would like the hall to become a centre for the arts and possibly even hosting a film festival. He previously held a film festival in his home state of Michigan.

He added: 'It would be a really nice retreat for people from many international places, and I think many artists from the USA would like to stay in a place like Hopwood Hall for a week or month as a retreat and also work on projects to benefit the local community.'

According to Rochdale Online, North West Assistant Director of Historic England said: 'Hopwood Hall is one of Greater Manchesters most important surviving manor houses. From its rare 16th century timber framed hall and astonishing collection of continental carvings, through to its links with Lord Byron and more recent use as a Roman Catholic training base, the site is steeped in history.

'Historic England is delighted to be grant aiding Rochdale Council, and working closely with Hopwood DePree, to undertake critical structural repairs to the most important parts of this fascinating Grade II* listed building.'

Cllr Janet Emsley added: 'Im really pleased that our application to Historic England has been successful. This money will enable us to carry out urgent repairs on the most significant parts of this building and will help protect it against further damage.

'The council has spent almost 190,000 maintaining Hopwood Hall since 2012, but the nature of this building and its unique historical assets mean that a lot more work needs to be done. This grant money is another step forward for this important project and will give Hopwood a good headstart on his plans to redevelop his ancestral home, in partnership with the council.'

DePree, pictured, has been granted permission by Historic England to live in the house for five years while the work to save the historic property is underway

Historic England had placed the Grade II* listed property on its 'At Risk' register claiming it was in very poor condition

Emergency work is currently underway to secure the structure ahead of a major renovation project

Some parts of the historic building date from the 14th century while later generations expanded the 60-room property

Many of the original features such as these carvings from the Jacobean period on a fireplace survive to this day

Depree said he hopes to raise some of the funds to refurbish the Hall himself over the next five years

Among the many guests who stayed at Hopwood Hall are Guido Fawkes and the renowned poet Lord Byron

Unfortunately, thieves had previously targeted the building stripping lead from the roof allowing water to flood insideNew York City could be hit with a $39 billion in damage with 30 million tons of debris clogging the streets if a long-overdue earthquake hit.

The city of 8.5 million people is not thought of as a tremor hot spot, but the five boroughs are riddled with fault lines that could bring dozens of buildings down.

Because the city is so dense and littered with thousands of tall buildings, even a 5.0 magnitude earthquake nearby would cause such damage, experts fear.

New York City is not thought of as a tremor hot spot, but the five boroughs are riddled with fault lines that could bring dozens of buildings down

New York City could be hit with a $39 billion in damage with 30 million tons of debris clogging the streets if a long-overdue earthquake hit

New York statistically gets a quake like that every 100 years and the last one was in 1884 - making it well overdue for another.

The city also statistically gets a 6.0 about every 670 years, and a 7.0 about every 3,400 years, both of which would do massive damage.

If a 7.0 magnitude quake hit, more than 6,000 older unreinforced masonry buildings would almost certainly crumble in a huge disaster.

The biggest fault line runs down 125th Street all the way from New Jersey to the East River running past Central Park and into Roosevelt Island.

The Dyckman Street Fault runs from Inwood over to Morris Heights in the Bronx with the Mosholu Parkway Fault farther north.

The long East River Fault runs down the western side of Central Park before turning at 32nd Street and heading to the East River.

Nearby bigger faults in other states could also have their own earthquakes that could radiate shocks into New York through its faults

Earrthquake hot spots around the U.S. with New York rated a moderate risk

Some of these were big enough to alter the course of the Hudson River when the last Ice Age defrosted thousands of years ago.

They are complemented by dozens of others making up a 'brittle grid' under the streets of Manhattan and the other boroughs.

NYC Earthquake History New York's last earthquake was on October 27, 2001, on the 125th Street Fault, but didn't do any damage Most recent 5.0 quake was in 1884 which opened the ground in Brooklyn, brought down chimneys and cracked walls An earlier 5.2 in 1737 caused damage but the city was much less built up About 6,000 unreinforced buildings would collapse if the city was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake New York has had 200 quakes since the arrival of Western settlers Advertisement

Nearby bigger faults in other states could also have their own earthquakes that could radiate shocks into New York through its faults.

The biggest danger is the thousands of older buildings not subject to stringent anti-earthquake codes from 1995 onwards.

Even a moderate quake would shake them enough to dislodge bricks and masonry, littering the streets and preventing emergency services from bringing help.

A 5.0 or higher could see many of those buildings come down like a house of cards, destroying homes and trapping people in the rubble.

The most susceptible areas are those built on sediment as opposed to harder bedrock that insulates against the shaking, according to the New York City Area Consortium for Earthquake Loss Mitigation.

Downtown Manhattan and parts of Midtown would be hit hardest, but upper Manhattan, especially Central Park, would be less affected.

Damage from a 2011 earthquake that struck Mineral, VA, and sent shockwaves into New York

Also at risk are the massive cast iron tubes where trains frequently rush under the Hudson River to New Jersey, which could be badly damaged.

They were built well before earthquakes were considered in buildings, and no longer sit snugly against the earth around them.

A sudden tremor could cause disaster if a train was rattled around inside, or if the tunnel sprung a leak under the strain.

As New York is so big, mitigating the dangers and potential economic losses is very difficult and the full cost won't be known until an earthquake arrives.Commonwealth Bank customers have been unable to use their credit cards, pay online or access their loans for nearly 12 hours, leaving many stranded at the cash register.

Some credit card histories vanished from the bank's online systems about 8am on Wednesday.

Home loan balances, travel money card accounts and payments using BPAY also appear to have been affected for some customers in the nation-wide outage.

Commonwealth Bank customers have had their credit balances wiped in a major digital blunder that has affected thousands of Australians (stock image)

The glitch left customers stranded at registers around the country, and many took to social media to vent their frustration - sometimes on behalf of others

One woman's card was declined at McDonalds during the outage on Wednesday

Enraged customers took to Twitter to share their frustrations with the company itself, explaining the wide variety of ways they had been inconvenienced.

One man claimed his wife was stuck at a restaurant unable to pay after her cards stopped working, and that the outage meant he was unable to transfer her any funds.

Another said they were forced to take their savings account into overdraft to pay for a mechanic bill after none of their credit cards would work on Wednesday.

One person said they saw an elderly man stuck at a Coles register, unable to pay with his Commonwealth Bank card.

The outage, which affecting customers as late as 8pm, was announced to customers through Twitter and on the Commbank app.

'We're working to fix an issue affecting BPAY, Credit Cards and Loans,' a message read.

'You may not be able to make bill payments or see some of your accounts in the Commbank app, including home loan, personal loan, credit card and travel money card accounts.

One man was very succinct in sharing his problems with the bank as thousands were unable to use their credit cards, travel cards or get access to their loans

One man was furious after his wife was unable to pay for her dinner at a restaurant and he was unable to transfer her money

Customers were notified of the outage online and on the bank's phone app (pictured)

While the majority of messages sent to CommBank's Twitter account were from enraged customers, some saw a potential benefit in the situation.

Many thanked the bank for removing their loans, and hoped the glitch was permanent.

'Looks like I don't have a home loan anymore. Woot!,' one customer wrote, using the hashtag 'free'.

Another took delight in the idea their $15,000 personal loan had been wiped, while others tried to argue the issue should not be corrected.

A spokesman for the Commonwealth Bank told Daily Mail Australia the bank was working hard to solve the issue.

'We're aware some customers may be experiencing intermittent issues with NetBank, CommBank app and CommBiz,' he said.

'We know that some merchant terminals are also impacted. For our customers impacted by this issue we are sorry, please be assured we are working on this as a matter of priority.'

Some saw the bright side in the glitch, and were happy to spend a day without the burden of their bank loansAdvertisement

A surge in gangland murders have seen bloodshed on the streets of London with dozens of lives claimed already this year.

The Metropolitan Police has launched 50 murder investigations since the start of January which include five shootings and 31 stabbings.

MPs are warning innocent victims are being caught in the crossfire of warring tit-for-tat gang feuds fuelled by a drug market 'driven big time by gangsters and McMafia bosses'.

They also claim the surge in violence is down to youths using social media as a platform to 'stamp their authority' in areas around London, leading to postcode wars.

One expert has warned the gang wars in the Capital are a bigger threat to national safety than terrorism.

Here we round up a full list of the homicide investigations carried out by the Metropolitan Police this year.

The Metropolitan Police has launched 49 murder investigations since the start of January which include five shootings and 31 stabbings

JANUARY - 12 deaths, including one late on December 31

31 December, Kyall Parnell, 17: Stabbed to death in Lambeth

1 January, Steve Frank Narvaez-Arias, 20: Stabbed in the chest on New Year's Day at a flat party in a council estate off Old Street in Islington, north London. After moving to the UK from Ecuador, the 20-year-old was reading physics and aerospace at Hertfordshire University and hoped to become a pilot

3 January, Elizabeta Lacatusu, 44: Found bleeding to death on Norfolk Road, in Ilford, after she had her throat slashed. She worked at a restaurant in the east London town and was returning home when she was stabbed to death

6 January, Vijay Patel, 49: Mr Patel was beaten to death in Barnet

8 January, Daniel Frederick, 34: Daniel was killed metres from his home in Hackney after attending a hospital appointment for his pregnant partner

9 January, Dami Odeyingbo, 18: Stabbed in Bromley

11 January, Harry Uzoka, 25: Harry, who was on the books of Premier Model Management and had modelled for brands including Mercedes and Zara - was stabbed in Shepherd's Bush. Neighbours reported a shout of 'hand it over' in the melee which involved several men

24 January, Seyed Azim Khan, age unknown: Died from a head injury in Redbridge

28 January, Yaya Mbye, 26: Stabbed in Hackney

29 January, Juan Olmos Saca, 39: Died six days after being found stabbed at an address in Peckham

31 January, Lily-Mai Saint George, one: One-year-old Lily-Mai was found dead in Haringey. The Met Police say her cause of death remains unknown

31 January, Khader Saleh, 25: The 25-year-old was stabbed in the Hammersmith and Fulham area

Police launched their first murder investigation of the year after Kyall Parnell, 17, (left) was stabbed to death in Lambeth on December 31. Right, Steve Frank Narvaez-Arias, 20, was stabbed in the chest on New Year's Day at a flat party in a council estate off Old Street in Islington, north London. After moving to the UK from Ecuador, the 20-year-old was reading physics and aerospace at Hertfordshire University and hoped to become a pilot

Harry Uzoka, 25, was on the books of Premier Model Management and had modelled for brands including Mercedes and Zara. He was stabbed in Shepherd's Bush. Neighbours reported a shout of 'hand it over' in the melee which involved several men

Yaya Mbye, 26, was stabbed in Hackney on January 28 (left). Right, Daniel Frederick, 34, was killed metres from his home in Hackney after attending a hospital appointment for his pregnant partner on January 8

On the 6th of January, 49-year-old Vijay Patel was beaten to death in Barnet

Khader Saleh, 25, (left) was stabbed in the Hammersmith and Fulham area on January 31. Right, Dami Odeyingbo, 18, was stabbed in Bromley on January 9

Elizabeta Lacatusu, 44, was found bleeding to death on Norfolk Road, in Ilford, after she had her throat slashed on January 3

FEBRUARY - Fifteen deaths

3 February, Kwabena Nelson, 22: Ambushed in Tottenham in the early hours where he was fatally stabbed

3 February, Hasan Ozkan, 19: Stabbed to death in Abbey Road, Barking

5 February, Juan Olmos Saca: Died in hospital after being stabbed in Peckham

8 February, Hannah Leonard, 55: Fatally stabbed in Brays Tower, Primrose Hill

11 February, Sabri Chibani, 19: Stabbed in Streatham Common

12 February, Bulent Kabala, 41: The taxi driver was shot dead in a 'targeted hit' on a roundabout in Barnet

13 February, Saeeda Hussain, 54: Found with critical injuries at an address in Ilford and pronounced dead at the scene

14 February, Promise Nkenda, 17: Fatally stabbed in Newham, east London

15 February, Mark Smith, 48: Mr Smith was found injured in Chingford, and died shortly afterwards

17 February, Lewis Blackman, 19: Lewis, who grew up on the Peckwater estate in Kentish Town, was killed in Kensington. Witnesses told how a gang of about eight youths, some armed with sticks, shouted 'let's chase him down', before he was stabbed

17 February, Josef Boci, 30: Jozef was beaten up in the street in Greenwich and died in hospital

19 February, Rotimi Oshibanjo, 26: Rotimi was fatally stabbed inside a property in the Halliday Square housing estate

20 February, Sadiq Mohamed, 20: The aspiring accountant was found with serious stab wounds in Malden Road, in Belsize Park

20 February, Abdikarim Hassan, 17: Abdikarim died in the street after being attacked in Camden

20 February, name unknown, 24: Shot in Westminster

25 February, Michael Boyle, 44: Stabbed in Southwark. Mr Boyle, from Galashiels, Scotland died of multiple organ failure after being stabbed at a property in Southwark. He was found on February 25 but died on March 10

Seyed Khan, 49, who was found dead in London at the beginning of the month - on February 1

Youth worker Kwabena Nelson (left), 22, who was stabbed to death in Tottenham and Hasan Ozcan who was fatally knifed - both on February 3

Hannah Leonard, who was 55, was found dead on February 9 in a flat in Camden, North London

Italian teenager Sabri Chibani, 19, was stabbed to death in south London on February 11, just weeks after moving to the capital to find work

Murder victim Bulent Kabala (left) was shot dead in targeted hit in Barnet on February 12, while Lewis Blackman (right), 19, was stabbed to death after a party in Kensington, west London, on February 18

Promise Nkenda, pictured here, was stabbed to death on Valentine's Day, February 14

Rotimi Oshibanjo, 26, pictured left, was killed on February 19 after he was knifed, and Adbikarim Hassan, 17, pictured right, was stabbed to death a day later on February 20

Sadiq Mohamed, 20, pictured here, was stabbed to death on February 20 in a spate of deadly crimes in the capital

Jozef Boci, 30, was assaulted on February 23, making him the final murder victim of the month

MARCH - 19 deaths

1 March, Christopher Beaumont, 42: Stabbed in Hammersmith and Fulham

5 March, Kelva Smith, 20: Found stabbed in South Norwood, Croydon and pronounced dead at the scene

5 March, Laura Cecilia Navarrete De Figueira, 47: Police launched a murder investigation after Laura Cecilia Navarrete De Figueira was found with stab wounds at her home in Twickenham. An hour earlier the body of her husband Figueira de Faria and the bodies of Claudio, 10, and Joaquin, seven, were discovered on the beach at Birling Gap, in Eastbourne, East Sussex

8 March, Kelvin Odunuyi, 19: Shot in Haringey

12 March, Julian Joseph, 36: Murdered in Lewisham, cause of death as yet unknown

13 March, Nikolay Glushkov, 68: Russian businessman was found dead in his home in New Malden. He died from compression to the neck

14 March, Lyndon Davis, 18: The youngest to have been killed in March, was found suffering from a single stab wound in Chadwell Heath, east London

14 March, Joseph Williams-Torres, 20: Killed as he sat in a stationary car in Essex Close, Walthamstow

16 March, Naomi Hersi, 36: Stabbed in Hounslow. Hersi, who lived as a trans woman called Naomi, was pronounced dead at the scene after being found with knife injuries in Hounslow

17 March, Russell Jones, 23: Ambushed outside shops near Ponders End station, in Enfield and stabbed and shot to death

18 March, Tyrone Silcott, 42: The father-of-two died from knife wounds after a St Patrick's Day party. It is alleged the car mechanic got into a row over two girls at a party in Homerton and was attacked

19 March, Balbir Johal, 48: Died after being stabbed in Southall

19 March, Jermaine Johnson, 41: Found with stab injuries and pronounced dead at the scene in Walthamstow

20 March, Beniamin Pieknyi, 20: Believed to have jumped in to the fight in a bid to save his friend during the altercation at the Stratford Centre in east London. The 20-year-old, who only arrived in Britain two months ago from Romania, died in his best friend's arms after being chased and stabbed by a gang in the busy shopping centre

25 March, Abraham Badru, 26: Gunned down in Hackney. The university graduate, who was murdered in Dalston, east London, was awarded the National Police Bravery Award in July 2009

25 March, awaiting formal ID, 59: Person found dead in Barking & Dagenham

26 March, David Potter, 50: Found stabbed to death in a property on Tooting High Street

29 March, Reece Tshoma, 23: Reece, from Barking in east London, was stabbed in the neck in Greenwich before being rushed to hospital by his friend where he died

30 March, Leyla Mtumwa, 36: Leyla was found dead with stab wounds to the neck and chest at an address in Haringey

Reece Tshoma, 23, from Barking in east London, was stabbed in the neck in Greenwich before being rushed to hospital by his friend where he died. Right, Nikolay Glushkov, 68, was found dead in his home in New Malden. He died from compression to the neck

Balbir Johal, 48: Died after being stabbed in Southall on March 19

Left, Leyla Mtumwa, 36, was found dead with stab wounds to the neck and chest at an address in Haringey. Right, Kelva Smith, 20, stabbed in South Norwood, Croydon and pronounced dead at the scene

Julian Joseph, 36, was murdered in Lewisham on the 12th of March. His cause of death is as yet unknown. Right, Kelvin Odunuyi, 19, was shot in Haringey

Abraham Badru, 26: Gunned down in Hackney. The university graduate, who was murdered in Dalston, east London, was awarded the National Police Bravery Award in July 2009

Left, Jermaine Johnson, 41, was found with stab injuries and pronounced dead at the scene in Walthamstow. Right, Tyrone Silcott, 42, died from knife wounds after a St Patrick's Day party

Lyndon Davis (left), 18, the youngest to have been named in March, was found suffering from a single stab wound in Chadwell Heath, east London on March 14. Joseph Williams-Torres (right), 20, was killed the same evening as he sat in a stationary car in Essex Close, Walthamstow

Romanian Beniamin Pieknyi, 20, (pictured) is believed to have jumped in to the fight in a bid to save his friend during the altercation at the Stratford Centre in east London

Hersi Hersi (left), who lived as a trans woman called Naomi, was pronounced dead at the scene after being found with knife injuries at Heathrow Palace in Hounslow. Russell Jones, 23, became the eighth person in a week to be killed in London when he was ambushed outside shops near Ponders End station, Enfield

APRIL - Four deaths

1 April, Devoy Stapleton: Stabbed at as he made his way home from a night out in Wandsworth. Police found him in a pool of his own blood after being called to the middle-class suburb of Earlsfield, south west London

2 April, Tanesha Melbourne, 17: Tanesha was gunned down near her home in Tottenham, north London in front of horrified friends and family. It is thought she was caught in the crossfire of a ruthless gang war

2 April, Amaan Shakoor, 16: The teenager was shot in the face in Walthamstow, north London, and police have now confirmed he died from his injuries in hospital

4 April, unnamed victim, 38: Police called by a homeowner to reports of a burglary in progress at an address in Lewisham. The 78-year-old resident found two males inside the address. A struggle ensued between one of the males and the homeowner. The man, aged 38, sustained a stab wound to the upper body and died in hospital three hours later

Devoy Stapleton was stabbed at 1am on Sunday as he made his way home from a night out in Wandsworth, becoming London's twelfth murder victim in three weeks

Tanesha was gunned down near her home in Tottenham, north London in front of horrified friends and familyLiberal judge Rebecca Dallet's runaway victory in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race has fueled Democrat hopes that their party is ready for a winning fall in midterm elections.

And Dallet's hammering of conservative judge Michael Screnock on Tuesday prodded Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who had endorsed Screnock, to warn his fellow Republicans that more losses could be coming.

'Tonight's results show we are at risk of a #BlueWave in WI,' Walker, who is up for re-election in November, tweeted.

'Big government special interests flooded Wisconsin with distorted facts & misinformation. Next, they'll target me and work to undo our bold reforms.'

Judge Rebecca Dallet stands with her daughters Rachel, left, and Ellie, right, and husband, Brad, as they celebrate at Good City Brewing

Warning: Scott Walker, who, who is up for re-election in November, tweeted: 'Tonight's results show we are at risk of a #BlueWave in WI.'

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Rebecca Dallet, left, and Michael Michael Screnock appearing at the Milwaukee Bar Association, in Milwaukee

'Tonight's results show we are at risk of a #BlueWave in WI,' Walker, who is up for re-election in November, tweeted. Pictured: Judge Dallet with supporters after the win

Although the race was viewed by some as a bellwether, results of past Supreme Court elections have not consistently proven to be predictive of what will happen in November. President Donald Trump won the state by less than 1 percentage point in 2016, while Dallet thumped Screnock by double digits.

Dallet won by nearly 12 points with unofficial results nearly complete.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairwoman Martha Laning said the win was a warning shot to Walker, calling it a 'huge loss' for him because his 'endorsement, philosophy and politics were on the ballot.'

One of the Democratic challengers to Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, immediately tried to raise money off the Dallet win. Randy Bryce called the victory 'a rallying cry for working folks.' Walker also used the results to raise money.

Dallet's victory follows a surprising Democratic win in January in a special election for a state Senate seat held by Republicans for 17 years - an outcome that Walker said then was a 'wake-up call' for his party.

Two other special legislative elections are coming this June, giving Democrats more chances to build momentum heading into the fall.

The race for a 10-year seat was nonpartisan in name only, with millions in ad spending and public endorsements from the likes of Joe Biden, Eric Holder and the National Rifle Association.

Dallet said her victory, which Democrats quickly seized on as another sign of momentum, was a rejection of special interest influence on Wisconsin's Supreme Court.

Dallet said her victory, which Democrats quickly seized on as another sign of momentum, was a rejection of special interest influence on Wisconsin's Supreme Court

'The candidate with the most experience in our courts and standing up for the fairness of our courts won,' she said. 'I think people are tired of what's been going on in our state in terms of the money coming in to buy these elections and people spoke out tonight.'

Screnock said he was proud of his campaign, in the face of 'tremendous outside influence from liberal special interest groups that were willing to say and spend anything to elect their preferred candidate to the bench.'

Screnock, a Sauk County circuit judge, was endorsed by Walker and backed by about $400,000 from the state GOP.

Dallet's victory narrows conservative control of the court from 5-2 to 4-3. She also will become the sixth woman on the court. And it's the first time a liberal candidate has won a race for an open seat on the court since 1995. The court has been a reliable ally of Walker and Republicans who have controlled the governor's office and Legislature since 2011.

Voters who supported Dallet said they hoped her win would send a message.

'People are pretty motivated on the left, from what I can see,' said Doug Clawson, 58, a communications professional who cast his ballot at a Madison public library as cold rain fell outside.

He said a Dallet win 'would send a message that we're not kidding around here and maybe to borrow an axiom from the right: We're going to take our country back.'

Dallet, 48, has been a Milwaukee County circuit judge since 2008 and previously worked 11 years as a prosecutor. She will join the court in August.

Screnock, 48, was appointed judge by Walker in 2015. Before that he was part of a team that defended Walker's Act 10 law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers.

Both candidates argued the other couldn't be trusted to serve as an independent voice on the state's highest court because of the partisans supporting their campaigns.Gang crime poses a bigger threat to society than terrorism, an expert has claimed.

Two teenagers were killed within just minutes of another this week, both reportedly gunned down as they were caught in brutal postcode wars in London.

Dr. Mohammed Rahman, a lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham City University, told MailOnline that gang violence now poses a bigger threat to residents in the UK than terrorism.

And he said criminals are using YouTube and social media to encourage gang members to carry out killings.

So far this year, the Metropolitan Police has launched 55 murder investigations

Dr Rahman said while such crime was not a new phenomenon, gangland activities are on the rise amid an increase in social media use.

He told MailOnline: 'There is a rise in knife crime because nothing is being done about it.

'Gang crime and gangland violence should be taken seriously as terrorism by the state.

'Statistical trends over the years show more fatalities of gangland activities than terrorist activities. There is no voice of reason from state officials and an absence of debate.'

Kelvin Odunuyi, 19, was gunned down as he stood with friends at the entrance of the Vue cinema in Wood Green, on March 8

He added: 'One of the catalysts of postcode wars is social media. Youths of today are using social media to stamp their authority within a particular locale through images, texts, and visuals.

'They are essentially criminal undertakers - individuals who feel as though they're superior to others within the context of geographical areas.

'There is a surge in video platforms such as Link Up TV and YouTube which are promoting individuals recently released from prison for serious crimes.

'Within the first three or four months they're on these platforms talking about stuff they've done previously. They may have stopped reoffending in the common term but what they've done is re-channelled violent energies and made it digitalised.

'I see individuals I know that have been incarcerated for a long time then film videos talking about violence and death.'

He added: 'Gangs have access to knives relatively easy  they are sold to over 18s in most shops.

'Although we consider ourselves to have some of the tightest gun controls laws in the world, they're easy to get hold of.

'There is a push and a pull effect  as soon as you make it illegal you create a black market.

'Rogue dealers are supplying and distributing guns to gangland bosses and they are then used in hits.'

In Birmingham, gang members have started making music videos where they rap coded threats to rival gangs in the area

One particular video, uploaded to YouTube in December and called Trapline Jump, has hooded figures with face masks directing chilling messages to a gang called the Frankley Killers

Music videos, including tracks from rapper G Rilla, popularise violence with references to guns

In Birmingham, gang members have started making music videos where they rap coded threats to rival gangs in the area.

One particular video, uploaded to YouTube in December and called Trapline Jump, has hooded figures with face masks directing chilling messages to a gang called the Frankley Killers.

They boastfully rap about 44 calibre revolvers and 9mm calibre handguns in the dimly-lit clip.

Gang signs are proudly waved and displayed throughout the low-budget music video.

The men are believed to be members of the 61 gang, who are in dispute with the Frankley Killers.

The hoodlums brag about guns and darkly reference a shooting and separate stabbing that took place in the city.

The grime music video was viewed more than 50,000 times on YouTube and there are several more similar style clips on the platform from other gangs.

The Frankley Killers, the 61 and another group, called the 247365, are based around their turfs in south Birmingham and are said to be involved with Class A and Class B drug supplies.

Members of the 61 gang have chosen their name based off a nearby bus route.

The 247365 refers to members' hustle for gang activity that is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year.

All three groups have been using music and social media to assert their dominance and threaten the other gangs.

On the same night Tanesha (right) was shot, a 16-year-old, named locally as Amaan Shakoor (left), was shot in the face in Walthamstow by 'rival drug dealers'. He died later in hospital

Floral tributes have been left for Tanesha Melbourne-Blake on Chalgrove Road in Tottenham

Community leaders are also concerned that gang postcode wars have spread across the capital particularly in deprived areas.

Patrick Green, head of the Ben Kinsella Trust, said the deadly rivalries can be seen across swathes of south, east and north London including in Tottenham where 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne was killed on Monday.

Mr Green said: 'It's just endemic across most of London, particularly inner London.

'For some reason this isn't just defined to one or two little corners it just seems to have spread and the mindset has crept in across London. It's around social deprivation.

'If you were to pull out a map which showed the most deprived boroughs I would guarantee there is a postcode war there.'

He said young people get stuck in such 'a bubble' that he has met men in their mid-20s who have never left Tottenham, even to travel as far as Oxford Circus.

There are particular rivalries in Wood Green and Tottenham; Croydon and South Norwood, Newham and Stratford.

Social media has also been highlighted as fuelling a cycle of tit-for-tat violence.

Beth Murray from youth charity Catch 22 said violent videos can end up being shared with thousands of people, normalising horrific incidents like stabbings and heaping 'shame' on the victim, pressuring them to retaliate.

Tanesha's godmother cried as she lay flowers at the crime scene before calling on Theresa May to put more funds in policing and reintroduce the use of stop and search

Only a fraction of the violence the organisation deals with is gang-related, she said, with the majority being 'kids with knives getting out of control with each other'.

Police estimate that in London half of gun crime is linked to gangs and around a fifth of knife crime.

MP David Lammy has spoken out about the surge in murders across the capital

Ms Murray said: 'Most of the shootings and stabbings that we see often aren't linked to organised crime or gangs, they are kids with knives getting out of control with each other.

'What we're seeing is that somebody might get stabbed, that might get filmed, that might go on Snapchat, that might be shown to hundreds of people who might then see that as normal, they might share that, that might then go out to thousands of people.'

Ms Murray said use of social media is an 'aggravating factor' in youth violence, but that there are more fundamental problems to solve.

Meanwhile MP David Lammy has spoken out about the surge in murders across the capital, blaming the 'serious drug market' after two teenagers were shot and killed within minutes of one another.

The MP said the spike in knife and gun crime was particularly prevalent in Haringey, north London, where it is fuelled by a turf war between two rival gangs in Tottenham and Wood Green.

Mr Lammy said: 'The gang turf wars that we are seeing in communities like mine are being fuelled by vast quantities of cocaine being shipped into our country by organised crime bosses and serious gangsters. '

Police continue to investigate the scene in Tottenham, amid reports at least three shots were fired in the attack

How stop-and-search powers have changed As Home Secretary Mrs May introduced changes in 2014 which meant police are only allowed to stop people when there is 'reasonable grounds for suspicion'. And it warned that where officers misuse the powers they would face disciplinary action. She introduced the measures amid widespread anger to the power, particularly among the black and ethnic minority population, who said it was used disproportionately against them. In the years following the reforms stop and search fell to their lowest level since the power was introduced 17 years ago. But violent crime has risen - sparking calls for the power to be taken up again. Under current stop-and-search laws, police are allowed to search a suspect if the have 'reasonable grounds' that the person is carrying a weapon, drugs or stolen property. Such justification might be that they have witnessed the suspect putting the knife into a pocket. However emergency section 60 powers can be enforced in a set location, such as a town or city, which removes the 'reasonable grounds' criteria. Advertisement

He continued: 'What lies behind the gun violence and the knife crime is a serious drug market that is being run by big time gangsters and McMafia style underworld bosses.

'We are hearing very little from the Government and the police about what they are doing to take down these criminal empires.

'I raised it at Prime Minister's Questions back in January and I await a date from the Home Secretary for an urgent meeting to discuss the Government's strategy and the resources needed to tackle organised crime.'

So far this year, the Metropolitan Police has launched 55 murder investigations.

Youth worker Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was the victim of a drive-by shooting in Tottenham on Monday night, and died in her mother's arms.

Just a few miles away, a 16-year-old named locally as Amaan Shakoor, was shot in the face in Walthamstow by 'rival drug dealers', according to a friend.

He died later in hospital, making him the 49th victim of the continuing bloodshed.

Mr Lammy said Tanesha's murder was a result of knife and gun crime 'fuelled by turf wars on behalf of gangsters and kingpins to control lucrative markets.'

Mr Lammy spoke as police investigate Tanesha's killing being linked to the rivalry between gangs in Tottenham and Wood Green.

According to the Guardian, sources claim the attack could be linked to the murder of 19-year-old Kelvin Odunuyi, who was shot and killed outside the Vue cinema in Wood Green.

The teenager was not believed to be part of a gang but associated with members of groups in the war in Wood Green and Tottenham.

The MP said gangsters are trafficking 100 tonnes of cocaine and exploiting young people to fight turf wars.

And he hit out at government cuts to border forces by 25 per cent and 1billion police cuts.

The Vue cinema in Wood Green where Kelvin Odunuyi was gunned down in the escalating gang war

Friends and family arrived to pay respects at the scene of the killing, London's 48th this year

The recent spate of violence has prompted scrutiny of a sharp reduction in stop and search activity, with use of the powers at the lowest level since current data records started 17 years ago.

Stop and search has repeatedly attracted controversy, with criticism focusing mainly on the number of stops of black and minority ethnic individuals.

Reforms were introduced in 2014 by then-home secretary Theresa May to ensure the tactic was used in a more targeted way.

Tanesha's godmother Lisa Robinson, from Stratford, east London, is calling on Theresa May to put more funds in policing and reintroduce the use of stop and search.

The controversial police policy to use a high amount stop and searches to tackle gun and knife crime in the capital has been criticised for alienating black young men.

But Ms Robinson said: 'Everyone might not be keen about Stop and Search but if it's a measure that can help reduce crime or save a life then until they can put other measures in then it's what they should do.'Advertisement

A map US president John F. Kennedy pored over on the day the world almost erupted into nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis has emerged for sale 56 years later.

JFK used the map, dated October 27, 1962, to examine the locations of the nine Soviet missile sites on Cuba and decide whether or not to launch an air strike as tensions between the countries reached a climax.

The president later referred to it as the 'victory map' after he avoided all-out war and struck a deal that brought the crisis to an end the following day. It is now being sold for an estimated $21,000.

The map measures 55in by 21in and goes across two sheets with sticker symbols representing Soviet MiG fighter jets, Komar-class missile boats, IL-28 bombers, SS-4 missiles, SSM-Cruise missiles and nuclear storage sites.

It also comes with a table summarising the Soviet military position by listing sites, number of launchers and missiles and completion status.

A map US president John F. Kennedy pored over on the day the world almost erupted into nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis has emerged for sale 56 years later. It featured stickers showing the location of Soviet war planes, bombers, ships, missiles and nuclear storage sites

American U-2 spy planes gathered the intelligence on this map, which is timed and dated noon, October 27, 1962. The president later referred to the document as the 'victory map' after he avoided all-out war and struck a deal that brought the crisis to an end the following day. It is now being sold for an estimated 15,000

The map measures 55in by 21in and goes across two sheets with sticker symbols representing Soviet MiG fighter jets, Komar-class missile boats, IL-28 bombers, SS-4 missiles, SSM-Cruise missiles and nuclear storage sites

Secret negotiations between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and JFK and between his brother Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General, and Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin led to a deal that ended the crisis. JFK is pictured signing the order of naval blockade of Cuba, on October 24, 1962 at the White House, Washington DC

The Soviets agreed to withdraw their missiles in return for America pledging not to invade Cuba. The Soviet freighter Anosov (rear) is pictured being escorted by a Navy plane and the destroyer USS Barry as it leaves Cuba loaded with missiles in November 1962

The rocky relationship between Cuba and America worsened in 1961 with the CIA's failed Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow the increasingly communist government of Fidel Castro.

This failure strengthened Castro's position as leader and Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union, which agreed to respond to the invasion - and America's ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey - by placing Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future invasion.

American U-2 spy planes gathered the intelligence on this map, which is timed and dated noon, October 27, 1962.

That day a Soviet anti-air missile shot down a U-2 plane that was on a photo reconnaissance mission over Cuba and in the afternoon two US destroyers dropped depth charges on a Soviet submarine.

JFK's EXCOMM (Executive Committee of the National Security Council) met three times that day and the joint Chiefs of Staff pushed for an air strike on the targets on this map, but Kennedy decided to delay the attack and luckily the situation changed overnight.

Secret negotiations between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and JFK and between his brother Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General, and Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin led to a deal.

The Soviets agreed to withdraw their missiles in return for America pledging not to invade Cuba. The US also secretly promised to remove obsolete missiles from Turkey.

The map was given to Robert McNamara, who was Secretary of Defence at the time, by President Kennedy, but has been in the hands of private collectors for more than 20 years.

The map also comes with a table summarising the Soviet military position by listing sites, number of launchers and missiles and completion status. The map was given to Robert McNamara, who was Secretary of Defence at the time, by President Kennedy, but has been in the hands of private collectors for more than 20 years

Maps were used by JFK as he examined the case for launching aerial strikes. This surveillance picture shows Soviet missile bases on Cuba during the crisis in late 1962. It was released by US authorities as proof of the presence of Soviet weapons on the island

Soviet weapons were removed from the island after a deal was struck to end the crisis. This surveillance picture shows a former missile site in Cuba

The rocky relationship between Cuba and America worsened in 1961 with the CIA's failed Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow the increasingly communist government of Fidel Castro. This failure strengthened Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union, which agreed to respond to the invasion by placing Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future invasion. Soviet rocket launchers are pictured driving down a street in Havana

A detailed letter of provenance from the former owner, who has not been identified, says: 'This "victory map" was given to me about twenty years ago by Robert McNamara.

'During a meeting at his office, McNamara described for me the pressure President John Kennedy was under from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to order an attack on Soviet targets in Cuba.

'McNamara said the president pored over this map before deciding to delay the attack.

'The map shows the position of every Soviet missile, bomber and fighter jet and nuclear storage facility in Cuba as of noon on Saturday, October 27, 1962.

'This was the most dangerous moment of the Cuban Missile Crisis. October 27 was the day the crisis came within hours, even minutes, of triggering a war between the United States and Soviet Union.

'When Kennedy presented the map to McNamara, he called it the "victory map". During my meeting with McNamara, he said this was the only time he ever heard Kennedy say anything that sounded like gloating about how the crisis ended.'

The Soviets eventually agreed to withdraw their missiles in return for America pledging not to invade Cuba. Fidel Castro, (second left), is pictured with Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev (centre) in Moscow

JFK (centre) is pictured during a White House Cuban Missile Crisis war council meeting with his cabinet in October 1962

It is being sold by RR Auction of Boston.

Bobby Livingston, from RR Auction, said: 'No event of the Cold War is more talked about and debated than the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is considered the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war.

'This amazing map dates to a critically important day of the crisis.

'Had Kennedy given the order to attack, this map shows the nine Soviet targets that American fighters would have bombed. It's a truly remarkable, museum-quality Kennedy piece.

'I think that the map is incredibly relevant with recent developments in the world with Russia, North Korea, Iran.

'Nuclear war was narrowly averted following the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and it seems that we may be headed back towards the Cold War.'

The maps will be sold in Boston on April 11.Dr Aviva Riley (pictured) is seen arriving at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent

A female dentist has denied charges of molesting two women at her practice.

Dr Aviva Riley is alleged to have committed three sexual assaults between January and November 2016.

The 46-year-old has been a dentist for 20 years and is a partner at the Fourways Dental Practice in Borough Green, near Sevenoaks, Kent.

She appeared in the dock at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent where she pleaded not guilty to the three offences.

The dentist, wearing a black suit blazer, black top and floral skirt, looked nervous as she also spoke to confirm her name, date of birth and British nationality.

Her trial was fixed to start on January 21 next year and is expected to last four days.

Riley, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, appeared at a General Dental Council hearing in February, during which 12 interim working conditions were imposed for 18 months.

The dentist was released on bail, with a condition not to contact prosecution witnesses until her trial.Cyber crook Gabriele Pearson, 23, was jailed for 15 months. His spoils, 9.9 Bitcoin, worth 50,000, were seized by Surrey Police

A cyber crook has become one of the first in Britain to have his Bitcoin stash seized by police after he was caught in an elaborate fraud involving his work IT system.

Gabriele Pearson, 23, used his job at an IT company to steal PayPal account information and buy Bitcoin worth 50,000.

Pearson, of Slough, Berkshire, then laundered the cash through a virtual online world called Second Life, by buying in-game currency and using that to purchase cryptocurrency.

He has now been jailed for 15 months and had his spoils, roughly 9.9 Bitcoin, seized by Surrey Police.

Detective Constable Paul Constable, who led the probe, said: 'Gabriele Pearson committed his crimes by repeatedly remote logging onto a series of computers owned by his IT company and their client, forming a complex chain of logins.

'He obtained company PayPal account information and laundered the money via a virtual world called Second Life, which uses virtual currency Linden Dollars where he then converted those into Bitcoin.

'At the time of arrest, he had obtained 9.9 BTC (Bitcoin) in total.

'He primed the account to accept larger sums of cash but his offending was noticed while he was waiting for confirmation from PayPal that he could increase the transfer limit to 50,000.'

Pearson used his job at an IT company to steal PayPal account information and buy Bitcoin. He then laundered the cash through a virtual online world called Second Life, by buying in-game currency and using that to purchase Bitcoin. Pictured: A Bitcoin and Litecoin ATM

The detective continued: 'He was able to request this as he had accessed further private documents that meant he could bypass PayPal's identification requirements.'

Pearson committed the fraud in December 2014, when one Bitcoin was worth roughly 250.

But a surge in the virtual currency's value means the coins are worth about 20 times that at today's exchange rate.

He denied the crimes but a jury found him guilty of concealing criminal property, fraud by false representation and unauthorised access to computer to facilitate the commission of an offence.

The investigation revealed he searched online for advice about Bitcoin while the fraud was underway.

Detective Inspector Rob Walker, head of the Surrey and Sussex Joint Cyber Crime Unit, said: 'We are proud to be among one the first Forces in the country to take this step and reunite a victim with what is rightfully theirs.

'Hopefully this will be the first of many cases of this kind.

'Criminals are increasingly moving online and threatening both businesses and those who use the internet at home, which is why it is so important that you take what are simple steps to make sure your personal details are not compromised.

'In the same way that you wouldn't leave your front door open for a burglar you have to keep your details safe on the web too.

'You can do this by making sure you have strong passwords, don't give out too much detail about your personal life and keep your security software up to date.'A mother is being investigated by cops after apparently shooting her own five-year-old daughter as she slept.

Police in Lansing, Illinois say their initial investigation found the mother was handling a gun when it went off during a party early on Monday.

The Lansing Police Department says its criminal investigations division is investigating and declined to comment on whether the shooting was an accident.

Police in Lansing, Illinois, say their initial investigation found the mother was handling a gun when it went off during a party early on Monday. Pictured: The housing block in suburban Chicago

Authorities say firefighters and police treated the girl before she was sent to a hospital in nearby Munster, Indiana.

She was then transferred to a Chicago children's hospital.

WGN-TV reports the girl was in serious but stable condition following surgery.

Names of those involved weren't immediately released and no arrests were immediately reported.

Andrew Holmes, a community activist, told WGN-TV he went to see the child's family at hospital.

He added: 'I got two teddy bears, sat down and talked to the grandmother and offered my prayers.

'I hope that this baby can pull through. Its heartbreaking to see that this has happened to another child.'A young Trinidadian man was doused in Moet champagne before being cremated following a funeral service where he was laid in a gold casket wearing $100,000 worth of jewellery.

Sheron Sukhedo, 33, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting outside the home of his wife's parents in Trinidad and Tobago last week.

On Friday, the millionaire real estate mogul and used car dealer was laid to rest how he lived  flashing his wealth.

Sheron Sukhedo (pictured at his funeral) was laid to rest how he lived - by flashing his wealth

He was laid in a $50,000 gold casket, adorned with gold pendants and jewellery reportedly worth $100,000, as mourners paid their respects.

A pair of Timberland boots was also placed inside the casket by his relatives.

The father-of-two's body was escorted from his funeral service to the crematorium in a $150,000 Bentley.

His jewellery is believed to have been removed before he was cremated.

According to the Trindad and Tobago Guardian, police are investigating a possible family connection to Sukhedo's death.

The 33-year-old was adorned with gold pendants and jewellery reportedly worth $100,000

A pair of Timberland boots was also placed in his $50,000 gold casket by relatives

He was gunned down in a drive-by shooting outside the home of his wife's parents in Trinidad and Tobago last week. Pictured, Sukhedo and is wife

Officers also said that members of the Rasta City gang had been plotting his murder years ago  despite Sukhedo being protected by a rival gang.

He reportedly survived an attempt on his life two years ago and had a number officers on his payroll to protect him from his enemies.

Two days after Sukhedo was killed, his wife Rachel was taken to hospital needing treatment due to a medical complication, the local Guardian reports.

The couple's two children have been staying with her family as police hunt those responsible for Sukhedo's killing.Masterchef star Gregg Wallace has hit back at criticism of his decision to send home Malaysian born contestant Zaleha Nadir Olphin - which has even led to an astonishing attack by the country's Prime Minister.

Gregg stated on the show that her chicken rendang was not done properly as the meat's skin was not 'crispy'.

However, this led to an astonishing intervention by Malaysia's prime minister Mohammed Najib Tun Razak who posted a photograph of his own version of the dish asking the question 'Does anyone eat chicken rendang 'crispy'?

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Gregg Wallace, pictured, defended his decision to send home MasterChef contestant Zaleha Nadir Olphin causing a row which has involved the Malaysian prime minister

Gregg, pictured with fellow judge John Torode, right, said there were better chefs on the show

Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammed Najib Tun Razak asked on twitter 'who eats chicken rendang 'crispy' following Gregg Wallace's appearance on MasterChef

Appearing on ITV's Good Morning Britain today, presenter Ranvir Singh asked Gregg: 'Would you be popping into any Malaysian restaurants or are you not allowed any more? Whats going on?'

He said: 'Oh for crying out loud. The Malaysian prime minister has got involved as well.'

Kate Garraway then said: 'Explain what happened please.'

He replied: 'I said the skin wasnt crispy. I didnt mean it wasnt fried like fried chicken. What I meant was that it wasnt cooked. It simply wasnt cooked.'

Kate replied: 'But you said crispy.'

Gregg then said: 'She didnt go out because her skin wasnt crispy. She went out because the other cooks were better.'

Foodies in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia took to social media to vent at the critique of the Zaleha Kadir Olpin's traditional and standard method for preparing chicken rendang.

'The skin isn't crispy. It can't be eaten but all the sauce is on the skin I can't eat,' Gregg Wallace complained in an episode of the popular cooking show last week.

Judges on MasterChef sparked a backlash after they criticised a Malaysian contestant's chicken rendang for not being crispy

Foodies took to social media to vent at the critique of the Zaleha Kadir Olpin's (pictured) traditional and standard method for preparing chicken rendang

Ms Olpin, from Bristol, was eliminated from the competition but took to Instagram to vow she'd never stop cooking the traditional way.

Her offending rendang was presented as part of Malaysia's national dish, Nasi Lemak, or rice cooked in coconut milk that comes with sides such as peanuts, spicy prawns and rendang.

She told the judges that the dish was 'very special' to her and was the first thing her mother cooked for her husband when she brought him home to meet her parents.

The judges lavished praise on most of the ingredients but dismissed the non-crispy chicken rendang as a 'mistake.'

But online, Southeast Asians furiously pointed out the ignorance of the judges and said the chicken is cooked in curry sauce, not fried, and is never crispy.

One of the judges, John Torode, later stirred more controversy online by trying to fuel the ages-old war of words between Malaysians and Indonesians over which country invented rendang.

'The skin isn't crispy. It can't be eaten but all the sauce is on the skin I can't eat,' Gregg Wallace (left, with John Torode) complained in an episode of the popular cooking show last week

Online, Southeast Asians furiously pointed out the ignorance of the judges and said the chicken is cooked in curry sauce, not fried, and is never crispy

The curry, which originates from West Sumatra in Indonesia, is popular in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand.

Victoria Treadell, British High Commissioner to Malaysia, tweeted at the judges: 'Rendang is an iconic Malaysian national dish not to be confused with Indonesian options.

'It can be chicken, lamb or beef. It is never crispy & should also not be confused with the fried chicken sometimes served with Nasi Lemak.'

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak even chipped in, posting a photo of chicken rendang on Twitter and light-heartedly asking whether anyone has ever eaten a crispy chicken curry.

Some accused the judges of neo-colonial attitudes and racism.

'Colonised us for more than 100 years for spices but in the end, still having no idea how food works,' one person on Facebook.

Others branded the judges 'uncultured swine' in comments under an article on Facebook.

Victoria Treadell, British High Commissioner to Malaysia, tweeted at the MasterChef judges

Eddie Cheong wrote: 'When Malaysian food gets insulted, the entire [nation] stands up.'

Jin Wee wrote: 'As a Malaysian, if I could, I would personally go to the show and rendang their head.

'Uncultured swine, doesn't know variety of cuisine and claims to be Masterchef?'

Sujita Sorrian wrote: 'Utter ridiculousness. Crispy chicken rendang? Did the judges think that this was fish and chips?

'Calling themselves 'Chef/Celebrity Chef' when they only know about food from their own culture.

'Shame on them really. Such limited knowledge on cuisine from around the world.'

On Instagram, Ms Olpin said she was gutted to be cut from the competition but stands by her cooking method.

'Gutted to be eliminated on #masterchefuk but I stand by my traditional way of cooking Nasi Lemak . Will not change it for the world,' she wrote.

In a previous post, she said: 'So proud to have served this and will keep cooking the way my family loves them. No changing to a traditional nations favourite.'

A MasterChef spokesman told MailOnline: 'MasterChef has always celebrated international cuisine and on this occasion our judges' comments were relevant to the dish that had been cooked on the show.'

'Gregg wasn't suggesting that the dish should traditionally have crispy skin - he was saying that he couldn't experience the flavours of the dish as it was presented.'A veteran Arizona highway patrolman broke down in tears during his final radio dispatch on the day he retired after 37 years in uniform.

Mark Gilberg, a trooper with the Arizona Department of Public Safety since 1981, could not contain his emotions when he made his last call.

Trooper Gilberg began: 'Badge 2988 began his career March 11th, 1981 this will be my final 10-7.

Before finally hanging up his radio, he said: '37 years and 3 weeks later  its been a great ride, thank you very much and keep smiling'

'I just wanted to thank everybody for everything that they've ever done. It's been an honor and a privilege.

'And a great career. It's been a great adventure.'

Before finally hanging up his radio, he said: '37 years and 3 weeks later  its been a great ride, thank you very much and keep smiling.'

A woman responded as he made his tearful speech, made on March 28, saying: '10-4, and you're making me cry too. Did everyone copy that?'

He said: 'I just wanted to thank everybody for everything that they've ever done. It's been an honor and a privilege'

Bart Graves, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, said Trooper Gilberg was the longest serving officer patrolling the roads of northern Arizona.

He called Gilberg a 'work horse', adding: 'Gilberg has an incredible work ethic, working all kinds of shifts right up until the end.'

According to AZFamily, Gilberg was based out of Fredonia.A Swastika and part of a Nazi-era inscription have been removed from a church bell in Germany using an angle grinder amid a bitter row over its use.

Jann-Axel Hellwege, pastor of the Lutheran church in the town of Schweringen, in Lower Saxony, discovered last week that vandals had removed the Nazi symbol and a line of text which said: 'This cross gave success and helped to conquer discord'.

A note was left pinned to the church door the following day saying: 'We decided to do some spring cleaning.'

A Nazi-era bell discovered hanging in a church in the German town of Schweringen had a Swastika and part of an inscription removed with an angle grinder

'Schweringen has a dirty, muddy, wet, in short: an extremely ugly half year behind it and it was time for the spring cleaning,' the note, which was published by local newspaper Die Harke, says.

'We did some spring cleaning, not only cleaning the village, but also the bell - of the pigeon dung and the filth of the National Socialists, who after 80 years was still threatening to divide the village population.'

Controversy over the bell began when it was discovered hanging in the church tower last year, local media reports.

Hundreds of Nazi bells were created for churches around Germany during Hitler's time in power, and while most were removed after the Second World War ended, a few still remain.

The bell was silenced while a decision was made over its future, with the national board of the Protestant-Lutheran church deciding it should be kept and used again.

That decision upset Pastor Hellwege, the regional church, and some locals who felt ringing it would offend the character of the village.

A line of text which read 'this cross gave success and helped to conquer discord' was removed and a note left behind saying 'we decided to do some spring cleaning'

A row around the bell erupted last year after it was discovered in the belfry. Its use was suspended but reinstated in March, despite local opposition

Hellwege lodged a complaint against the ruling and was waiting for his arguments to be heard when the bell was defaced, Der Spiegel reports.

Police say there were no signs of forced entry at the church and it appears that whoever is responsible had a set of keys.

Hellwege told BR24 that there are many keys in circulation in the village, and that many volunteers have a set.

While investigations are ongoing, no charges have currently been filed. The Hanoverian state church is carrying out tests to see if the sound of the bell has been changed following the 'vandalism'.

This is not the first Nazi bell to cause controversy after being discovered in a church.

In a separate case in February, a small town in southwestern Germany decided to keep a bell dedicated to Adolf Hitler ringing as a memorial to spark dialogue about violence and injustice.A driver has narrowly cheated death as a metal roof sent flying towards his car on a highway in southern China.

Driver, surnamed Ou-Yang, steered his car to the right immediately in a bid to dodge the rectangular object flying towards him.

Mr Ou-Yang remained unharmed, however, his black car was hit by the metal and the windows were broken.

Mr Ou-Yang's dashcam shows a rectangular meta flying mid-air as he is driving in south China

A red metal cover flies across the road barrier and smashing into Mr Ou-Yang's car

According to a report by Central China Television, Mr Ou-Yang was driving on G56 Hangzhou-Ruili highway last week.

Dashcam footage shows a large piece of metal flying in mid air and landing towards Mr Ou-Yang's car when he was driving at Change of Hunan Province at 11:16am.

Mr Ou-Yang was driving at about 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph).

'There was about three seconds for me to response and my instinct told me to turn right to avoid being hit,' he told the reporter.

Mr Ou-yang's car windows, bumper and rear mirrors were broken.

Changde traffic policemen inspected surveillance camera footage and found the piece of metal came off from a red lorry.

Mr Ou-Yang steered his car to the right but the metal hit his car and smashed the windows

The front of the car was severely damaged including the bumper and the head lights

Traffic policemen found the truck roof missing on a red lorry and identified the driver after

The metal was confirmed to be a truck roof from a red lorry marked with 'JAC'. It can been seen flying across the lanes before hitting Mr Ou-Yang's car in the opposite direction.

Police officer identified lorry driver, Mr Liu, and took him to the police station for details.

Dong Mingming, an on-duty traffic policeman said: 'This is the lorry driver's full responsibility and he should bear the full compensation to Mr Ou-Yang.'

Mr Liu has violated China's traffic regulations for installing dangerous machinery, according to Officer Dong.

He was given a fine of 200 yuan (23).Salim Mehajer underwent an emergency grooming session on Wednesday night after his release from Silverwater prison on bail earlier in the evening

Salim Mehajer was released on bail on Wednesday after spending two months behind bars on charges of perverting the course of justice.

And just hours after exiting the gates of the Silverwater Correctional Complex, the recently bankrupted property developer was well on his way to regaining his immaculately groomed look.

Mehajer shared multiple videos of himself receiving a haircut to Snapchat about 8.30pm. In the first, he sung out: 'I'm back', with a grin on his face.

In the second, the former Deputy Mayor of Auburn was seen utilising a cat snapchat filter on his face and meowing as his barber brushed stray hairs from his head.

Shortly after, Mehajer shared video of himself receiving a facial, with a sped up clip showing a brush cover his face with a dark paste.

He appeared to be preparing himself for a night of prayer, as he shared a photograph of his Qur'an, captioned: 'the key to happiness'.

Heading to bed about 10.15pm, Mehajer wrote to his followers: 'When you look into my eyes now, you'll see STRUGGLE'.

The beauty routine included a haircut (left) and a facial (right), which Mehajer shared with his Snapchat followers

Salim Mehajer (pictured with his lawyer Zali Burrows) has walked free from Sydney's Silverwater Prison where he has been behind bars since January for allegedly staging a car crash on the way to face an assault charge

At the beginning of the clip, the former jailbird shared a copy of his release certificate, with his mugshot covered up.

Mehajer was collected from Silverwater about 5.45pm on Wednesday by his father Mohamed and lawyer, Zali Burrows, in a black Mercedes Benz.

The Sydney man walked free with a single cardboard box of his belongings, and wearing a grey checkered suit.

He wore a large grin on his face as he hugged Ms Burrows and kissed his father's hand.

Mehajer, was jailed in January on charges of perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to cheat and defraud in relation to an allegedly staged car crash, which occurred while he was on his way to face court for assault charges.

Mehajer shared his release certificate to social media, using a smiley face to cover his mug shot

Mehajer (pictured with his lawyer Zali Burrows) walked free with a single cardboard box of his belongings, and wearing a grey checkered suit

While behind bars, the Sydney man's prim and proper ways reportedly antagonised other inmates who drew tiaras above his cell door.

Since his incarceration, he has received a number of additional charges.

Last week, police charged Mehajer with two counts of possessing and one count of supplying a prohibited drug in relation to more than 200 pills of prescription anxiety and pain medications during a raid on his Lidcombe home in November 2017.

He was also charged with another count of perverting the course of justice in relation to a document submitted to the court during a bail application.

Mehajer's bank accounts have been frozen during his time behind bars, and late last month, he was declared bankrupt.

Mehajer was seen leaving the prison wearing a grey checkered suit, black tie, sunglasses and a very large grin about 5.45pm Wednesday

Salim Mehajer (pictured, left) was all smiled after being released from Silverwater on Wednesday

The property developer won his freedom in the New South Wales Supreme Court last Thursday, on his fourth attempt at bail.

Justice Desmond Fagan on Thursday imposed strict conditions for his release, including a $200,000 surety.

Mehajer will have to report to Bankstown police station twice daily, not leave the state of NSW and not go within 500 metres of Sydney airport.

He will also have to live at a specified Lidcombe address, in Sydney's west, which he cannot leave between 9pm and 7am.

His solicitor, Zali Burrows, told Daily Mail Australia late last month Mehajer would be fighting all the new charges, and viewed the late filing as a police tactic to stop him receiving bail.He is demanding an apology and an admission wrongdoing over the incident

Says his First Amendment rights were trampled on and is suing the Air Force

An Air Force veteran forcibly removed from a retirement ceremony has filed a lawsuit claiming he was kicked out for mentioning God.

Oscar Rodriguez tried to give an older version of the traditional flag-folding ceremony speech at Travis Air Force Base in California in April 2016.

The retired Senior Master Sergeant began to loudly recite the script even after security told him not to, and was quickly bundled out of the room.

Sergeant Rodriguez called the incident 'humiliating' and on Monday sued the Air Force demanding an apology and admission of wrongdoing

The ceremony was honoring Master Sergeant Chuck Roberson of the 749th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, who was retiring after 27 years.

Sergeant Rodriguez called the incident 'humiliating' and on Monday sued the Air Force demanding an apology and admission of wrongdoing.

'I was removed from the speech because my script mentioned God. Air Force officials did not want me to utter those words,' he told Fox News.

The 33-year veteran claimed the Air Force never directly forbade him from making the speech and his First Amendment rights were violated.

The Air Force disagreed, saying he was kicked out for attempting to participate even though the squadron commander hosting the event disapproved.

'When it became clear that Mr Rodriguez intended to act inconsistent with the commander's restrictions he was removed by several squadron NCOs,' it said.

Retired Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez was forcibly removed from a retirement ceremony in 2016 and has filed a lawsuit claiming he was kicked out for mentioning God

'The inquiry found no evidence that the NCOs were motivated to impair Mr. Rodriguez's constitutional rights of freedom of speech or religion.'

At the time it said Sergeant Rodriguez ignored 'numerous requests' to respect the ceremony as it was planned.

Footage of him being removed showed NCOs talking to him before he started the speech, appearing to be warning him not to.

The Air Force changed the wording of the traditional 'Flag Folding Ceremony Air Force Script' in 2006 to remove religious references.

Sergeant Rodriguez claimed he made the religious version of the speech at the request of Sergeant Robertson, who confirmed as such.

'I couldn't believe what happened. I still can't believe it. All I want now is for the Air Force to apologize for ruining this once in a lifetime moment but they refuse to do so,' he said.

The ceremony was held for Chuck Roberson (left), John Huffington (right) said he is a friend of the man whose retirement ceremony and that the incident was disturbing

Sergeant Robertson said he wanted his retirement ceremony to reflect the 'American values' he defended in his career - 'respect for God, family, and country,'.

Rodriguez's lawyer, Hiram Sasser from First Liberty Institute, argued the Air Force didn't want him reciting a speech that mentioned God.

'[The U.S. Air Force] did not have the authority to ban him from the base and they did not have the authority to ban him from participating in the ceremony,' he said.

First Liberty described itself as 'dedicated exclusively to protecting religious liberty for all Americans'.

The lawsuit claimed internal Air Force emails showed an unnamed officer suggested charging the NCOs who removed Sergeant Rodriguez with assault.

Old Flag Folding Ceremony Air Force Script Rodriguez Tried To Say Our flag is known as the stars and stripes. The union consists of white stars on a blue field, symbolic of a new constellation. Each star represents one individual state and together they stand united indivisible. The stripes represent the original 13 colonies that declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776. The one official, red, is symbolic for the blood of those who have given their lives to defend and protect our great nation from all of her enemies, both foreign and domestic. White represents purity, innocence, and hope. Blue is for vigilance, perseverance, and justice. But in our hearts our flag stands for many things, evident in the Declaration of Independence where all men are created equal with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; the right of the people to alter or abolish any form of government that becomes destructive. Our flag stands for the Constitution of the United States of America. Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech. It provides for security to all of her citizens, it also provides for a fair and swift trial. It abolished slavery and it gives each and every individual of age the right to participate in our voting processto have a say in his or hers future. Our flag is a beacon, recognized around the world to represent freedom during times of peace, or during times of war. This is what we live for. This is what we will fight for, and if necessary to touch the hand of God in her defense, the charge that we accept as Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines is a noble one for there is no heart stronger than that of a volunteer. Let us pray that God will reflect with admiration the willingness of one nation in her attempt to rid the world of tyranny, oppression, and misery. It is this one nation under God that we call, with honor, the United States of America. God Bless our flag. God bless our troops. God bless America. Advertisement

The event was being held at Travis Air Force Base (pictured) for Master Sergeant Chuck Roberson of the 749th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron

Stephen Sila, who identified himself as the officiating officer at the ceremony, posted a long explainer on the Facebook page of army blog John Q Public.

He claimed Rodriguez was invited to speak at the ceremony and planned to read a statement honoring the flag and that his appearance was cleared through the proper avenues.

But he said non-squadron commander had an issue with Rodriguez attending, apparently stemming from a personal issue at a previous squadron between the squadron commander and Mr Rodriguez.

'Why do you think people are leaving (the Air Force) in droves?' he wrote.

'Because the guys in the trenches are subjected to nonstop stupidity from commanders who don't deserve the rank, respect, or support of the people they're in charge of.'This is the moment an RAF drone hunted down an unmanned flying machine belonging to the Islamic State group and destroyed it with a Hellfire missile.

The terrorist drone - used to spy on local forces - had been spotted north of Abu Kamal in the Euphrates valley of Syria on Thursday 8 March.

Commanders tasked a Reaper aircraft controlled by a British pilot stationed thousands of miles away with blasting it.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed the mission today as it detailed how the RAF has continued to wipe out Islamic State fighters across the war-ravaged country.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed the mission today as it detailed how the RAF has continued to wipe out Islamic State fighters across the war-ravaged country. Pictured: The moment the missile detonated

Commanders tasked a Reaper aircraft controlled by a British pilot stationed thousand of miles away with blasting it

The terrorist drone - used to spy on local forces - had been spotted north of Abu Kamal in the Euphrates valley of Syria on Thursday 8 March

A spokesman said: The Reapers crew spotted the conventional winged drone on a flat roof where it had landed.

Having conducted a careful check for any signs of civilian life in the area, the drone was then destroyed by a direct hit from a Hellfire missile.

In another mission, a Typhoon aircraft armed with 500lb Paveway IV guided bombs blew up a team of militants flying a quadcopter drone.

They were targeted while on a building in the Euphrates valley in eastern Syria in the same month.

The barbaric group has increasingly used drones to spy on local forces.

It has also developed sophisticated armed drones carrying grenades to terrify the civilian population.

It is understood the drones wiped out by the RAF were being used for surveillance purposes.

RAF jets have also continued to target extremists waging war on the ground in Iraq.

Although they have been forced out of the main cities, the fighters have dispersed and continued the fight from other hidden locations.

Coalition surveillance spotted a small group of IS extremists in a hilly region some 25 miles south east of Qayyarah last month.

The MoD said the Iraqi security forces requested assistance in dealing with them.

Two Tornado GR4s eliminated the Daesh group with a single Paveway IV, thus preventing any effort to re-establish terrorist activities in the area, a spokesman said.

In another mission, an Reaper drone also tracked a pair of terrorists on a motorcycle south-east of As Shadadi in eastern Syria.

Commanders tasked a Reaper (shown in a stock image) aircraft controlled by a British pilot stationed thousand of miles away with blasting it

It is understood the drones wiped out by the RAF were being used for surveillance purposes. Pictured: The drone before the strike

They were operating as a mobile checkpoint in an attempt to exert control over the local area, it was said.

A spokesman said: The Reapers crew waited until the motorcycle was in open country, and despite its high speed, achieved a direct hit with a Hellfire which killed both of the Daesh extremists.

The mission was carried out on Sunday 18 March.

Days later, on Monday 26 March, a Reaper tracked a group of terrorists in a vehicle in the Syrian Euphrates valley.

They destroyed it and the fighters in it with a Hellfire missile.

Although IS is on the backfoot in the country, the RAF has continued to fly daily armed reconnaissance missions over eastern Syria.

British commanders believe the fight is far from over as the RAF continues to hunt down senior members of IS.

UK intelligence agencies believe the threat from Islamist extremism could increase over the next two years as the fighters in Iraq and Syria disperse and set up cells in neighbouring nations.Two Romanian men have been jailed for killing a goat at a petting zoo following a trial in which they testified that they had been hungry.

A Berlin district court convicted the 29-year-olds on Wednesday of theft and killing an animal without good reason, news agency dpa reported.

One of the men, who had a previous conviction for theft, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and his accomplice to nine months.

Two Romanian men have been jailed for killing a goat at a petting zoo in Berlin's Hasenheide park (pictured)

The pair broke into the petting zoo in Berlin's Hasenheide park in February and killed the Angora goat.

They were caught by police, who had been alerted by a witness.

One of the men had a knife, and officers also found a rucksack containing a goat's leg and bloody gloves.Maya Angelou has been paid tribute to in the Google Doodle for April 4, 2018 on what would have been her 90th birthday.

This day is also a poignant day for all those involved in the civil rights movement, as it is the day that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

The 'And Still I Rise' poet was an internationally-renowned author and civil rights activist, well-known for her first book 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' that tells the story of her life until the age of 17. She went on to have a successful career of more than 50 years.

After her recitation of the poem 'On the Pulse of Morning' at Bill Clintons presidential inauguration, she became the first poet to recite a poem at such an event since Robert Frost at the start of John F. Kennedys presidency. She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010, but who was Maya Angelou?

Here, Barack Obama awards Maya Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010

Who was Maya Angelou?

Born Marguerite Annie Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, she soon became known as Maya after her older brother Bailey Jr. nicknamed her. Due to the breakdown of her parents marriage, she was sent to live with her paternal grandmother with her siblings in Stamps, Arkansas.

Soon, she was returned to her mothers care where she was sexually abused and raped by her mothers boyfriend, Freeman. After telling her brother, Freeman was found guilty, was jailed for one day and was murdered after his release.

Believing that she had killed Freeman, she remained mute for five years, traumatised by the events, but during this time, Maya developed a love for books after being sent back to live with her grandmother and was inspired by the likes of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Douglas Johnson.

At the age of 14, Maya returned to live with her mother but in Oakland, California this time, attending the California Labor School. She became the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco and weeks before graduating, she gave birth to her son Clyde, who went to change his name to Guy Johnson.

Maya Angelou, pictured in 1970, has had a variety of jobs in her lifetime but is known as a writer

During the 50s, Maya Angelou married Greek electrician and aspiring musician Tosh Angelos, took modern dance classes and became friends with renowned choreographer Alvin Ailey. They called themselves Al and Rita, formed a dance team and she moved to New York to study African dance for a year.

After the end of her marriage in 1954, she started dancing professionally and changed her name to Maya Angelou after the encouragement of her managers at the San Francisco nightclub the Purple Onion. She went on to tour with the opera Porgy and Bess and made the most of the popularity of calypso by recording her first album Miss Calypso.

In 1959, she met the novelist John Oliver Killens and later moved to New York City to pursue her writing career. Maya Angelous writing career began around the same time that she met the South African freedom fighter Vusumzi Make and they moved with her son Guy to Cairo, where she worked for The Arab Observer.

After her relationship ended, Maya and Guy moved to Ghana so that he could attend college and here, she befriended Malcolm X and returned to the US with him in 1965 to build the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was assassinated shortly after and traumatised by this, she joined her brother in Hawaii for some time before moving to Los Angeles.

Maya has been known to have a variety of jobs in her lifetime including some in the sex trade, working as a prostitute and a madame for lesbians.

Maya Angelou poems and books

In 1968, Martin Luther King asked her to organised a march, but before she could, he was assassinated on her 40th birthday. Despite her depression, she went on to write a ten-part series of documentaries called Blacks, Blues, Black! for National Educational Television, what is now PBS.

She was challenged by Random House editor Robert Loomis at a dinner party in the same year to write her first autobiography, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings', which was published in 1969 and brought her international acclaim.

Maya went on to write the first screenplay written by a black woman, Georgia, Georgia, which was released in 1972. She also wrote articles, stories, scripts, documentaries, autobiographies and poetry and was named visiting professor at several colleges and universities before being nominated for a Tony Award for her role in Look Away. Maya also married Paul du Feu in 1974.

Another career highlight includes appearing in the television mini-series Roots after which she met Oprah Winfrey and the duo became good friends. In 1981, she returned to the south of the US where she accepted the lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In 1961, she became the first poet to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration since Robert Frost at John F. Kennedys, and the recording went on to win a Grammy Award. Maya directed a feature film in 1996, Down in the Delta, and collaborated with Ashford & Simpson on their album Been Found.

During the 2008 presidential primaries, she supported Hillary Clinton in order to rally support in the black community but after Barack Obama won, she lent her support there. In 2010 she received the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 2013, Maya Angelou published her seventh autobiography, 'Mom & Me & Mom'.

Maya Angelou died on May 24, 2014 after a bout of poor health that has resulted in many cancelled appearances. She was thought to be working on another autobiography that would have revealed her experiences with national and world leaders.

Also in 2015, the poet was honoured by the US Postal Service with a commemorative stamp, but the featured quote belonged to another author.

'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou

'Still I Rise', the title poem of Maya Angelous third volume of poetry was published by Random House in 1978 and is made up of 32 short poems, discussing the themes of race and gender prevalent throughout all of her works.

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, Ill rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

Cause I walk like Ive got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still Ill rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Dont you take it awful hard

Cause I laugh like Ive got gold mines

Diggin in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, Ill rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like Ive got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of historys shame

I rise

Up from a past thats rooted in pain

I rise

Im a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak thats wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Maya Angelou Google Doodle

Dr. Maya Angelou has been remembered in the Google Doodle for April 4, 2018 on what would have been her 90th birthday.

This date is especially poignant as it also marks 50 years since the civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

While Maya worked within the movement, she worked with Dr King to organise the Cabaret For Freedom concert in 1960 and raised funds for his Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The video Google Doodle is set to her poem 'Still I Rise' and includes her own voice and the other individuals that she has inspired, including Alicia Keys, America Ferrera, Martina McBride, Guy Johnson, Laverne Cox and Oprah Winfrey.Beheading in protest of mosque incited contempt against Muslims, court ruled

An anti-Islamic leader has launched an appeal in court against his conviction as the first person to be charged with 'hate speech' in Australia.

Blair Cottrell was found guilty after staging a mock beheading outside council offices in Bendigo in protest to permission being granted for a new mosque.

The carpenter from Melbourne says he is determined to carry on sharing his far-right views until 'they lock me up or kill me' as he kicked off his appeal on Wednesday.

Blair Cottrell launched an appeal in court against his conviction on Wednesday saying he would continue to share his views until 'they lock me up or kill me'

The act was vilified and put through the courts for aiming to incite contempt against Muslims

The carpenter from Melbourne says he is determined to carry on sharing his far-right views

He launched an appeal against the conviction which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and appeared at court on Wednesday.

He and two others, Neil Erikson and Christopher Shortis, carried out what Cottrell described as 'an Islamic-style beheading' of a dummy.

The act was vilified and put through the courts for aiming to incite contempt against Muslims - along with the trio facing other two charges of causing criminal damage at the Bendigo council offices in 2015.

Cottrell told Daily Mail Australia he was 'confident' he could overturn his conviction.

'We have a very fair justice system in this country, unfortunately some judges are making some bad decisions, especially in recent years,' he said.

'But the majority of judges are very fair and professional.

'Even if I'm found guilty again I'll never stop speaking, they'll have to lock me up or kill me.'

Cottrell told Daily Mail Australia he was 'confident' he could overturn his conviction in court

He launched an appeal against the conviction which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison

Cottrell reflected on the court hearing held in Melbourne on Wednesday and later said he would not be put off by being found guilty

Earlier, he posted a video appealing for donations to fund his legal challenge in which he denies being an extremist.

He said: 'I've never done anything violent yet I'm called extremist simply because I speak.

'I chose to appeal the conviction to a higher level of court and that's what I'm doing today.

Earlier, he posted a video appealing for donations to fund his legal challenge in which he denies being an extremist

'If you're a white person in a Western country and you speak your opinion, you're regarded extremist so long as your opinion isn't left wing.

'What have I done that's extremist? I've given speeches. I've never called for violence.'

The leader of the United Patriots Front and his accomplices in the stunt were the first people to be charged and convicted under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act in Victoria.

The appeal hearing was adjourned until August when the leader of the United Patriots Front is due to appear again

The video was posted on Facebook in which Cottrell appeared and thanked the Bendigo City Council for allowing to build a mosque.

He is then shown to behead a mannequin stuffed with pillows with a toy sword.

The next part shows them spread red liquid over the council's footpath and throw the 'bloodied' head at a wall while chanting 'Allahu akbar'.

The appeal hearing was adjourned until August, news.com.au reported.



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New photos have emerged of the day hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Atlanta in April 1968 to say goodbye to Martin Luther King Jr.

The photos were discovered roughly 10 years ago buried in a cardboard box in the basement of a Georgia home. They were made public for the first time in honor of the 50th anniversary of King's death.

The pictures belong to Ken Guthrie, an amateur photographer who at that time took a trip to Atlanta with friends so he could capture one of the most significant moments in US history: the funeral of MLK.

Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's death. The Baptist minister and civil rights leader was assassinated at the age of 39 on April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee

King's funeral was held a week after his death in Atlanta on April 9, 1968. Pictured above is MLK's mule-drawn casket as it makes its way down the crowded Atlanta streets

The King held two funeral services. One was a private service at Ebenezer Baptist Church (pictured above) and the second was open to the public and held at King's alma mater Morehouse College

It's believed nearly 200,000 people attended King's funeral on April 9, 1968. Pictured above is a shot of thousands of people crowding into the streets for MLK's procession and funeral

Ken Guthrie, who was a college student at the time, captured incredible images from the funeral. Pictured is a woman standing in the crowd during King's funeral procession

Mourners are pictured in the crowd of King's Atlanta funeral. Many of Guthrie's images captured the sadness and pain people felt at that time

Guthrie, who captured this image of a large crowd of people gathering for King's procession, said he drove to Atlanta for the funeral because he knew it would be a significant moment in US history

'I was intensely aware of what was going on and wanted to be a part of it,' Guthrie told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in a recent interview.

It's believed that roughly 200,000 people crowded onto downtown Atlanta streets on April 9, 1968 for King's funeral. The Baptist minister and civil rights leader was assassinated a week prior, on April 4, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Guthrie told the outlet that at that time he was a 20-year-old college student at Reinhardt College in Waleska. He had always had an interest in photography and decided to make the hour-long trip with a few friends so he could get a few shots of King's funeral.

'I knew it was gonna be significant and I wanted to take some photographs there,' Guthrie explained.

Using a newspaper description of the 4.3 mile processional route, Guthrie and his friends made their way towards Ebenezer Baptist Church, where a private funeral service was held.

The King family held a second service later that day at MLK's alma mater Morehouse College.

Another image of King's casket as it makes it way down the street. Guthrie said civil rights leaders Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young and James Orange and King's two sons, Martin III and Dexter King surrounded the casket

An emotional crowd: Guthrie was able to capture the pain many people felt on that April 1968 day as they came together to say goodbye to Martin Luther King Jr

There were so many people attending the procession that many people could not even get close enough to see the casket or church. Pictured above is one man climbing a telephone pole in an attempt to see over the massive crowd of people

Mourners are pictured in Atlanta at King's funeral

Many famous faces attended Martin Luther King's funeral including Jackie Kennedy, who is pictured arriving at Ebenezer Baptist Church

Robert F Kennedy also attended the funeral services. Kennedy is pictured above arriving to Ebenezer Baptist Church in his car

Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy is pictured above being escorted into the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on April 9, 1968

Hundreds of thousands of people were in Atlanta on April 9, 1968 for the services. It was so many people that most could not attend or even get close to the church

Police are seen in this photo trying to clear a path through the massive crowd. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr

So many people were in Atlanta that day that it was almost impossible to get near the funeral locations, but Guthrie still managed to get incredible photos.

One image captured the pain and sadness on the faces of those who had gathered outside for the funeral.

Others showed people climbing telephone poles and trees in hopes of getting a glimpse of King's mule-drawn casket.

Guthrie also managed to capture images of Jackie Kennedy, Ted Kennedy and Minnesota Democratic senator Eugene McCarthy arriving at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

The now-70-year-old instructor at Georgia State University also caught images of civil rights leaders Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young and James Orange and King's two sons, Martin III and Dexter King surrounding the casket as it made its way down the street.

'I think we need to revisit these things,' Guthrie told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

'I think we do a better job of educating our students of what it was like. They need to know the significance of what occurred when Martin Luther King died and when the service was held here in Atlanta.'

Pictured above is another image people attending the April 9, 1968 procession and funeral of Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King's funeral procession was a little over four miles long and was attended by hundreds of thousands of people

The procession route traveled through Atlanta giving everyone a chance to say goodbye to the civil rights leader and activist. Pictured above are children attending the April 1968 processionEmbattled Facebook CEO executive Mark Zuckerberg will finally testify in Congress, weeks after stunning revelations that as many as 50 million of his site's users had their data compromised.

A chorus of lawmakers demanded the 33-year-old exec come to testify to explain the data breach beginning last month, when the extent of the lapse was revealed.

The leaders of a House oversight committee say Zuckerberg will testify before the panel on April 11.

He has previously said he would do so if it was the 'right thing to do.'

In this April 18, 2017 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at his company's annual F8 developer conference in San Jose, Calif. The leaders of a key House oversight committee say Zuckerberg will testify before their panel on April 11. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, file)

In an announcement Wednesday, Reps. Greg Walden and Frank Pallone say the hearing will focus on the Facebook's 'use and protection of user data.'

That would put lawmakers of both parties into the thick of the sensitive issue of how the firm sets up controls to protect its users, while simultaneously running a lucrative and sophisticated online advertising business.

On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Commerce Committee also has called for Zuckerberg to come and explain how Facebook would 'safeguard users' data.' A letter released last week by panel chair Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Bill Nelson of Florida made the request.

'We believe Mr. Zuckerberg's testimony is necessary to gain a better understanding of how the company plans to restore lost trust, safeguard users' data, and end a troubling series of belated responses to serious problems,' the senators said.

Facebook is facing scrutiny over its data collection following allegations that the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica obtained data on tens of millions of Facebook users to try to influence elections.

Walden, R-Ore., is the House Energy and Commerce committee's chairman. Pallone of New Jersey is the panel's top Democrat. They say the hearing will be 'an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online.'

In this May 25, 2017, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the commencement address at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

LET'S TALK: Lawmakers began pressuring Zuckerberg to testify after the breach was revealed

FILE- This March 28, 2018, file photo shows the Facebook logo at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook is asking users whether they think it's 'good for the world' in a poll sent to an unspecified number of people. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

The firm pushed back against reports on the startling harvesting of personal information.

'The claim that this is a data breach is completely false,' the company said when it banned Cambridge Analytica. 'People knowingly provided their information, no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked,' it said.

Zuckerberg previously told CNN when asked if he'd be willing to testify: 'The short answer is I'm happy to if it's the right thing to do.'

The appearance by one of the world's richest and most powerful CEOs is certain to draw international coverage.

The world's largest social media network is under growing pressure from governments, investors and advertisers. This follows allegations by a whistleblower that British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed users' information to build profiles on American voters that were later used to help elect U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016.President Donald Trump will sign a proclamation today authorizing a National Guard deployment on the southern border, his Homeland Security secretary says.

The deployment is to begin 'immediately' and has no definite end.

It is also unknown how many guardsmen will be deployed, with Trump's DHS chief Kirstjen Nielsen saying this afternoon that the size and scope of the mission is still under discussion with border state governors.

'It will be strong,' she pledged at a White House news conference. 'It will be as many as needed to fill the gaps that we have today.'

Administration officials characterized the deployment that Trump foreshadowed on Tuesday as a response to the 'growing threat' of illegal immigration that recent border traffic will prove must be handled with 'urgency.'

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President Donald Trump will sign a proclamation today authorizing a National Guard deployment on the southern border

The deployment follows Trump's claim yesterday that he planned to send the military to the southern border until the wall he says must be built can be constructed.

'Until we can have a wall and proper security we're going to be guarding our border with the military,' Trump had said at a meeting with Baltic state leaders. 'That's a big step.'

Congress has been in no hurry to provide him with the funds the project would require, but senior officials said Wednesday that they expect lawmakers' calculus to change as spring shifts to summer.

That's the when highest amount of illegal immigrants enter the U.S. through Mexico.

Nielsen said that historical trend is the basis for the imminent action that's taking place while Congress is on break. In the warmer months north of the border, the number of unlawful immigrants crossing increases, she noted.

The cabinet secretary admitted that border crossings had dropped 'precipitously' since Trump took office, because of his tough immigration rhetoric.

Officials and Trump were warning this week that the threat that on the rise once again, however, because of what they described as weak immigration laws.

An official claimed Wednesday that the number of illegal crossings had been on the rise 'over the last few months and that an even larger influx is expected this summer based on the historical data.

The official said that as of yet unreleased March border crossing numbers will reflect a 'staggering increase from last year' of illegal crossing that will justify the deployment.

The White House is demanding that Congress deliver the money that Trump wants for the construction of a border wall and pass legislation giving immigration officials greater authority to deport people who enter the country unlawfully.

In the meantime, the federal government, working in conjunction with the states, plans to send guardsman to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California to assist border patrol with their responsibilities.

The deployment is to begin 'immediately' and has no definite end. It is also unknown how many guardsmen will be deployed, with Trump's DHS chief Kirstjen Nielsen saying this afternoon that the size and scope of the mission is still under discussion with border state governors

Members of the 200th Red Horse Air National Guard Civil Engineering Squadron work on building a road at the border in Nogales, Arizona in this 2008 photo. President Trump says he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his promised border wall is built

In this June 13, 2006, photo, Utah National Guard soldiers work on extending a border fence in San Luis, Arizona

Nielsen offered only a vague description on the soldiers' responsibilities, including counternarcotics operations and infrastructure development, while indicating that deployment would be similar to one authorized a little more than a decade ago by former Republican president George W. Bush.

Officials on a call after the announcement said the Department of Defense is working with the White House to identify the tasks that need to be completed and determine the necessary man power.

Trump alluded to the the announcement this morning, saying in a tweet that he'd be taking 'strong action today' after claiming on two occasions yesterday that he was sending the military in.

'Our Border Laws are very weak while those of Mexico & Canada are very strong,' the president today said. 'Congress must change these Obama era, and other, laws NOW! The Democrats stand in our way - they want people to pour into our country unchecked....CRIME!'

He added without further comment, 'We will be taking strong action today.'

Trump did not personally provide any details on the military deployment he envisions such as how many troops he anticipates and from what branch or branches, and the White House had to clarify yesterday evening he was referring to the National Guard when he talked about the troops.

The White House indicated on Tuesday evening that Trump was referring to a mobilization of the National Guard but has offered no additional details

U.S. law may have prohibited the deployment of active duty armed personnel to carry out domestic law enforcement functions, though.

The last two presidents have utilized the National Guard at the southern border, providing Trump with a legal precedent to command reserve troops into service.

Trump's sudden decision to deploy troops seems to have been incited caravan of 1,200 migrants from Honduras that were making their way through Mexico. On Tuesday Trump also threatened to cut off aid to Central America unless Mexican authorities disbanded it.

Upon hearing that the caravan was being broken up later in the day, Trump not only took credit for it, warning that it would have been an impediment to the trade negotiations that the U.S. is currently engaged in with Mexico, he brought up his plan to send in the troops.

'We are preparing for the military to secure our border,' he later affirmed. 'We have a meeting on it in a little while with General Mattis and everybody.'

On Tuesday morning, Trump said the caravan 'had better be stopped' or he'd punish Honduras and other countries that 'allow this to happen.'

'Cash cow NAFTA is in play,' he warned in a tweet. 'Congress MUST ACT NOW!'

He said later that he found the entire situation 'sad' and as he railed against America's 'very bad' border laws, which he blamed on congressional Democrats.

'We have immigration laws that are laughed at by everybody,' he harped at the meeting with Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

The caravan in question split in two on Monday evening, with a portion of the migrants taking a train to Veracruz. The bulk of the caravan was held up by Mexican authorities in Matias Romero Avendano, where travelers were registered and assessed, according to the Washington Post.

Travelers who do not fit the criteria to receive a humanitarian visa will have to leave Mexico. The country's immigration services said they would disband the rest of the caravan by today.

Trump said Tuesday that he directed Mexico to break up the caravan because their immigration laws are stronger than the United States' at present.

'They did it because, frankly, I said, You really have to do it," ' Trump asserted during his meeting with Baltic leaders on Tuesday, bringing up the North American Free Trade Agreement. 'Were going to have to include security in NAFTA.'

On Tuesday evening, as experts weighed in to say that the Posse Comitatus Act would get in the way of Trump's planned military deployment, the White House sent out a statement describing it as a National Guard mobilization.

A statement from press secretary Sarah Sanders said the president had been briefed by members of his national security team last week on the influx of drugs and illegal immigrants coming over the the United Sates' southern border.

'Today, he received a follow up briefing to discuss his administrations strategy, which includes the mobilization of the National Guard,' Sanders said. 'President Trump and senior officials present also agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organizations.'

A National Guard presence on the border is not unprecedented. Former President Barack Obama deployed 1,200 guardsmen to the same location in 2010 to disrupt the flow of illegal weapons and cash into Mexico. Bush put 6,000 troops there in 2006 to support Border Patrol as part of 'Operation Jump Start.'

Bush's troops were not on the border to act as law enforcement, however, which is what Trump suggested he'd do with his deployment. They assisted border patrol agencies with administrative tasks and gathered intelligence.

They also helped with civil engineering projects, inspiring another Trump idea, perhaps, to have the military shoulder the burden of his border wall.

The president suggested last month that the Pentagon could pay for the structure.

It's not clear how that would work, either, given that the military's funds are appropriated by Congress, and the White House has not offered additional details on how such a plan would work.

In any case, Democratic Sens. Jack Reed and Dick Durbin said Monday in a letter to Mattis that the Pentagon 'has no legal authority' to repurpose federal funds, throwing cold water on Trump's latest border wall plan.

A Central American migrant from Honduras wears his nation's flag during the annual Migrant Stations of the Cross caravan as the group makes a few-days stop in Matias Romero, Oaxaca state, Mexico on Monday

Trump's administration now says it wants to close additional 'loopholes' that allow the unaccompanied minors to stay indefinitely in the United States in a bid to cut down on the number of central American migrants flooding the southern border

Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego separately said the deployment is a 'waste' of taxpayer dollars.

'Using the National Guard to do border security is very expensive. For what it would cost the Guard to make just TWO arrests at the border, we could give a homeless veteran permanent housing for an entire year,' he tweeted.

Astrid Dominguez, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Border Rights Center, said in a statement that the deployment was 'dangerous' and run contrary to 'the fundamental norms of a civil society.'

'President Trump is trying to create a crisis where there is none,' she said. 'This is another impulsive reaction to not getting his way on his border wall, and a maneuver to distract the American public from the crisis he created when he ended DACA for 800,000 young immigrants, whose lives and futures are at risk.'

Trump's pledge to deploy troops and possibly choke off funding to countries that the U.S. assists with drug and crime prevention as a deterrent to such migration upped the ante in Trump's war on illegal immigration a week before he's set to face the presidents of Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala at a South American summit.

He was meeting at the White House with leaders from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Tuesday when he went on a tirade about the caravan and previewed the National Guard deployment.

President Trump debuted his hard-charging position on Easter Sunday in tweets renouncing his support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that gives certain illegal immigrant youth from Mexico legal status.

He continued his assault on Monday, tying the caravan making its way through Mexico to the policy and demanding action from U.S. lawmakers who have continually refused to acquiesce to his plan for better border security.

The White House argued on his behalf that the DACA protections for illegal immigrant youth who came to the United States after a certain date are a 'magnet' for unaccompanied children flooding the southern border.

Senior administration officials said that smugglers are using the program as a way to rope in new travelers. They also cautioned that children coming across the border are likely to request amnesty in a decade the same the way that DACA recipients are now, creating an endless cycle of illegal immigration.

Trump was once supportive of the DACA protections, urging Congress to codify the Barack Obama program his Department of Justice ended on constitutional grounds.

The Republican president said legislators should show 'great heart' for the young people who were brought to America from other countries.

He had almost totally changed his tune on Monday following a long weekend with his top policy adviser, Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner. By Tuesday the president was taking his demands even further and threatening to end nearly $1 billion in aid to struggling countries in Central America.

Trump said Tuesday that the caravan 'had better be stopped' or he'd punish Honduras and other countries that 'allow this to happen'

Last year, Trump ended a program put in place by his predecessor that gave Central American minors temporary legal residence in the country if they had a parent living in the U.S. legally.

Trump's administration now says it wants to close additional 'loopholes' that allow the unaccompanied minors to stay indefinitely in the United States, in addition to to a request to seal-up the border with a wall.

Officials also demanded an end to the government's 'catch-and-release' program that places illegal children from Central America into the temporary custody of relatives until their day in court arrives, which often takes years, and many do not appear.

On a call with reporters on Monday afternoon, a senior Trump official claimed a spike in the number of unaccompanied minors was the driver, although U.S. Customs and Border Protection data from the current fiscal year shows a jump in November and December followed by a decline in the cruel winter months of January and February.

A total of 136,201 individuals have been apprehended since the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year, CBP data shows, and 17,575 of them were children.

In all but one month of fiscal year 2017 the year-over-year number of total apprehensions at the southwest border were also lower than in 2016, showing a slow-down in the number of illegal immigrants trying to the enter the country since a 2013 surge prompted government action.

That was the year after Obama introduced his DACA program for Mexican children who were residing in the U.S. and had arrived before the age of 16.

The White House singled out the program on Monday as a pull factor for illegal immigrants from Central American countries like Honduras and resolved that it should be permanently discontinued.

Central American migrants gather before continuing their journey to the U.S. despite President Trump's vow to stamp out illegal immigration. The group is pictured above in Ixtepec, Oaxaca on March 30

Obama's response to the 2013 wave had been to double U.S. aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, giving the three countries $750 million to tackle the drug and crime problems that were causing the country's citizens to leave in the first place. The money also funded a campaign explaining U.S. immigration law to Central Americans.

The Trump White House said Monday that existing policy is not and has not been enough. Without a strong deterrent, it said, the children and families from Central America will keep coming to the U.S.

'We don't want to create a humanitarian crisis, and create endless waves of new illegal immigration,' one official told reporters. 'If you're gonna do it, it should be the last time you're ever gonna have to do it.'

Earlier on Monday, Trump tore into Mexico, claiming it had 'absolute power' to prevent the highly-publicized caravan of Latin American immigrants headed towards the countries' joint border from illegally cross into the United States.

'They must stop them at their Northern Border, which they can do because their border laws work, not allow them to pass through into our country, which has no effective border laws,' Trump proclaimed.

The organization behind the caravan, Pueblo Sin Fronteras, or People Without Borders, fired back that 'Trump is trying to turn Central American refugees and other immigrant communities against each other, and use them as a bargaining chip with Mexico.'

'In the face of this bullying and these threats of mass violence, we continue to stand in solidarity with displaced people of all races, ethnicities, creeds, abilities, and gender and sexual identities,' the organization said.

The group of more than 1,000 mostly Honduran refugees plans to cross into the U.S. and demand asylum. They are pictured above on March 30 in the Mexican state of Oaxaca

The group has been making the journey on foot, by bus and on trains. They plan to reach the state of Puebla by April 5, where they will take a four day break in their journey

The long march: The group mostly started from Tapachula on March 25th and his inched their way up towards Mexico City. They will spend most of this week camped at Puebla

Assaulting his opposition in the U.S. legislature, Trump also said: 'Congress must immediately pass Border Legislation, use Nuclear Option if necessary, to stop the massive inflow of Drugs and People.

'Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws dont allow them to do their job. Act now Congress, our country is being stolen!'

Trump went on to call America's border laws 'pathetic' compared to Mexico's in the Twitter rant that invoked a trade agreement between the two countries and Canada that's being renegotiated on his orders.

He argued that Mexico is 'making a fortune' on the North American Free Trade Agreement.

'With all of the money they make from the U.S., hopefully they will stop people from coming through their country and into ours, at least until Congress changes our immigration laws!' he said.

Another tweet tied the ordeal to an amnesty program in the United States for illegal immigrant children who were brought across the border from Mexico that Trump has pledged to end unless lawmakers give in to his border security demands.

'DACA is dead because the Democrats didn't care or act, and now everyone wants to get into the DACA bandwagon... No longer works,' he said. 'Must build Wall and secure out borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!'

Trump implied in the tweet that he was permanently killing off the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

DACA protections do not extend to anyone who arrives in the U.S. after 2007, and recipients must also be under the age of 31. It's currently in limbo after the president's Department of Justice deemed it unconstitutional.

Trump gave Congress six months to make the Barack Obama program law, then proceeded to turn down every immigration deal with bipartisan support that came to him.

In addition to the $25 billion he wants in funding he wants for his border wall, Trump says he won't let the illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. while they were minors to stay until Congress gives him the total overhaul of the legal immigration system he's also requested.

Legislation that meets all four pillars of immigration plan has been unable to pass in Congress, and Trump has stood his ground on DACA, blaming Democrats for the program's lapse.

A Twitter rant on the matter on Sunday had the president's critics accusing him of feigning concern for DACA youth.

Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia said that Trump had been attempting to 'gaslight the country' for months with his claims that he wants to save DACA.

California Democrat Kamala Harris likewise tweeted that Trump and his government doesn't actually want a solution to the Dreamers' plight.

'They want red meat for their base,' she said. 'They want to purge America's history as a nation of immigrants.'

On Easter morning, before he went to church with his family, President Trump lit up Twitter with a declaration that he was no longer in favor of protecting DACA youth because of 'caravans' that are headed toward the United States' southern border.

'Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. Caravans coming,' he said. 'Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!'

Trump wrote a series of tweets Monday morning about the caravan and the country's 'weak' immigration laws

Trump used the news of the caravan to sound the alarm on immigration, hoping Republicans in the Senate would finally 'go Nuclear,' which means killing off the rule that 60 votes are needed to close debate.

Currently, there are 51 Republicans in the Senate, with Vice President Mike Pence available to break a tie in the GOP's favor.

Previously, Democrats, and then Republicans, changed the rules so a simple majority closes debate on judicial nominations, cabinet appointees, and also for Supreme Court justices .But under Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, the legislative filibuster, as it's called, has stayed intact.

Even Senate Republicans such as South Carolina's Lindsey Graham and Arizona's Jeff Flake would be likely to oppose immigration reform legislation that does not include protections for illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States as children and know it as home, though, defeating the purpose of Trump's plan to ram through a border bill that fully funds his wall.

President Trump went on a similar Twitter rant on Sunday

In his Easter Sunday tweets Trump blamed Mexico for putting the U.S. in a position where it even needs to build a border barrier.

'Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws,' he said. 'They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!'

Trump said, 'These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!'

It was Attorney General Jeff Sessions who announced the termination in six months of the Obama-era program that allowed immigrants who came to the United States as children, so-called 'Dreamers' to stay in the country in September, however.

DACA has not ended only because the legality of the program is being argued in court.Six fire engines and 35 firefighters raced to the scene of a fire at a student accommodation block in St John Street, Clerkenwell, in London on Wednesday.

The blaze broke out in a basement room of the luxury accommodation site and the station was phoned just before 1pm.

About an hour after the call, firefighters were able to get the scene under control.

There has been no reports of injuries and officials are now investigating the cause.

Six fire engines and 35 firefighters raced to the scene of a fire at a student accommodation block in St John Street, Clerkenwell, in London on Wednesday

The blaze broke out in a basement room of the luxury accommodation site (pictured) and the station was phoned just before 1pm

Crews from Shoreditch, Lambeth, Islington, Soho and Whitechapel responded to the scene.

According to the London Fire Brigade, a small section of an electrical room in the basement was damaged in the fire.

The student accommodation building is owned by Liberty Living.

Studios at the luxury site range in price from 14,000 to more than 20,000 per year.Gusts of up to 80mph caused a hangar to collapse at Hobby Airport in Houston, damaging eight airplanes and causing millions of dollars worth of devastation.

The metal structure began to tear apart at just before midnight on Tuesday, sending debris flying across the runway.

Eight aircraft in total were damaged - four inside the terminal and four outside - although there were no reported injuries.

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The metal structure began to tear apart at just before midnight on Tuesday, sending debris flying across the runway. It is pictured on Wednesday morning

People walk over the collapsed airplane hangar at William P. Hobby Airport on Wednesday

Broadcast images taken on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning show debris atop at least two planes, with the nose of one aircraft pushed to the ground.

The hangar served a private terminal owned by Jet Aviation, according to Houston police Lieutenant Larry Crowson.

The company is working with airport authorities to clear debris from the main commercial runway, where flights are undisrupted.

An airport spokesman, Bill Begley, told ABC 13: 'There's only so much you can prepare for.

'We lease this area out to companies and they build the facilities so we're trying to support them and trying to recover what's happening here.

'Mother Nature can be pretty strong.'

Eight aircraft in total were damaged - four inside the terminal (pictured on Wednesday morning) and four outside - although there were no reported injuriesA popular roadside attraction dubbed the 'world's greatest mini village' is looking for a new owner.

Roadside America in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania, has been a popular stop along Interstate 78 for decades - taking tourists back in time to look at American life over the past several hundred years.

The mouse-sized town portrays life in American spanning from early pioneer days up until the mid-20th century with barber shops, gushing fountains and buzzing airplanes, Penn Live reported.

The 7,450 square foot attraction sits on a 26-acre plot of land and is for sale for $2.3million, according to Commonwealth Real Estate.

A popular roadside attraction dubbed the 'world's greatest mini village' is looking for a new owner

Roadside America in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania, has been a popular stop along Interstate 78 for decades - taking tourists back in time to look at American life over the past several hundred years

The mouse-sized town portrays life in American spanning from early pioneer days up until the mid-20th century with barber shops, gushing fountains and buzzing airplanes

Pictured is a part of the miniature village, which is housed in a warehouse on 26 acres of land off of Interstate 78

While potential buyers look at the expansive property, though, Roadside American will remain open to the public.

The village was crafted by Laurence Gieringer, who died in 1963, and has remained open to the public since 1935.

At that time the exhibit, which was much smaller and took over part of Gieringer's home, started to attract tourists - interested in the way he'd put his collection together.

When the 1940s rolled around the village had grown large enough that he decided to purchase a plot of land a build a warehouse for his collection.

The village was crafted by Laurence Gieringer, who died in 1963, and has remained open to the public since 1935

At that time the exhibit, which was much smaller and took over part of Gieringer's home, started to attract tourists - interested in the way he'd put his collection together

The tiny towns show the American lifestyle through the past several hundred years. Pictured is a miniature church scene

When the 1940s rolled around the village had grown large enough that he decided to purchase a plot of land a build a warehouse for his collection

A church is depicted in the mid 20th century section of the expansive 'mini village'

Pictured is a small miner town during one of the several generations depicted at Roadside America

The current owner, Gierginger's granddaughter Dolores Heinsohn, told Penn Live in an interview years ago that her grandfather built the miniature buildings and trees by hand throughout his lifetime

She said he built the houses, cars, people and landscape using scrap wood from fruits and vegetable crates

Miniature people walk around a mid-20th century town, equipped with detailed homes, cars and landscaping

Since then it moved around to six different locations in Shartlesville, before settling at its final resting spot along the interstate.

And up until his death, Gieringer continued to grow and improve upon the collection, which has now sat untouched for over 50 years.

The current owner, Gierginger's granddaughter Dolores Heinsohn, told Penn Live in an interview years ago that her grandfather built the miniature buildings and trees by hand throughout his lifetime.

She said he built them using scrap wood from fruits and vegetable crates.

'It's a remarkable undertaking that my grandfather did.'

As visitors are driving into the property to visit Roadside America, they are greeted by an oversized fiberglass Amish couple

Every half hour the lights go dark for a musical night scene - including the songs 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and 'God Bless America.'

One of the scenes in the mini village is of a home and church that appear to have been vandalized with toilet paper

Once inside the attraction is interactive, and visitors can push buttons that activate trains, lights and other mechanical parts

A sign hangs above the entrance of the attraction that tells visitors they are in for a real treat

'Over his sixty-year career Gieringer amassed quite a collection of tiny, detailed buildings and accessories that became one of the world's most famous and amazing miniature villages,' the Roadside America website states.

'Mr Gieringer today is one of the world's most respected builders of miniature models.'

As visitors are driving into the property to visit Roadside America, they are greeted by an oversized fiberglass Amish couple.

Once inside the attraction is interactive, and visitors can push buttons that activate trains, lights and other mechanical parts.

And every half hour the lights go dark for a musical night scene - including the songs 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and 'God Bless America.'A pod of relentless orcas have been filmed pursuing and devouring a helpless whale off the coast of Australia.

A charter boat with dozens of tourists on board watched the scene off Bremer Bay on the south coast of Western Australia on Saturday.

The pod of orcas can be seen hunting down a Cuvier's beaked whale - the first documented attack on this whale species by orcas, Yahoo7 reported.

A pod of relentless orcas have been filmed pursuing and devouring a helpless whale off the coast of Western Australia

By the end of the footage two groups of orcas have closed in on the whale before it is ripped apart.

The water around the whale turns red as the orcas feast on it.

Naturaliste Charters marine biologist Bianca Uyen said the attack was the first she had seen involving such a large number of orcas.

'This predation involved about 40 to 50 orcas, which is a lot. It's not only one of the things we rarely see, but also just the sheer amount that were involved,' she said.

The boat's skipper Jamie Huxtable told The West Australian he thought the orcas were on the hunt when he noticed their speed had increased.

By the end of the footage two groups of orcas have closed in on the whale before it is ripped apart

'They don't just work together within their pod, they communicate and work with other pods in the area,' he said.

Ms Uyen said orcas are intelligent animals, and she believed they would have been communicating about the whale.

'Orcas have strong social bonds and structures, and are continuously communicating.'

She said those on board the boat who witnessed the mauling had 'mixed feelings' about it - some appreciated the spectacle but others found the attack disturbing.Rare: Nasim Aghdam, 37, on Tuesday become only the tenth female active shooter in the US since 2000

Deceased YouTube headquarters attacker carried out Tuesday's rampage on the eve of her 38th birthday, becoming only the tenth female active shooter in the US since 2000.

'She chose the day to die the day she came,' Nasim Aghdam's brother, Shahran Aghdam, told Mercury News reporters in the hours after the shooting, in which three YouTube staffers were wounded before the attacker took her own life.

According to her family, Aghdam, a prolific vlogger who described herself as a vegan bodybuilder and an animal rights activist, 'hated' YouTube and blamed the company for 'ruining' her life by censoring her content and failing to pay her for uploading her videos onto the site.

Aghdam's eclectic content included clips about animal rights activism, exercise videos and bizarre impersonations of celebrities.

Nasims father, Ismail Aghdam, said she had told family members that YouTube had stopped paying her for videos she posted on the site.

YouTube video creators can earn money from advertisements, but for various reasons the firm sometimes 'de-monetizes' channels meaning clips don't run with adverts.

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Nasim Aghdam's brother, Shahran Aghdam (pictured) speculated that his sister specifically chose to carry out the attack on the 'hated' YouTube a day before her birthday

Vendetta: By all accounts, the vlogger had a long-standing dispute with YouTube, which she blamed for censoring her content

The Iranian-born Aghdam described herself as a vegan bodybuilder and an animal rights activist. She also uploaded bizarre workout videos and impersonations of pop stars

The home of Ismail Aghdam, father of Nasim Aghdam, pictured on Wednesday in Menifee, California

A group walks out of a YouTube office building in San Bruno on Wednesday

THE NINE: FBI'S COMPLETE LIST OF FEMALE ACTIVE SHOOTERS IN US FROM 2000-2016 Cathline Repunte, 36 April 23, 2001: Cathline Repunte, 36, armed with a handgun, began shooting in the Laidlaw Transit Services maintenance yard in San Jose, California. One person was killed; three were wounded. The shooter was restrained by a co-worker until police arrived and took her into custody. Jennifer San Marco, 44 January 30, 2006: former postal worker Jennifer San Marco, 44, armed with a handgun, began shooting at her previous place of employment, the Santa Barbara U.S. Postal Processing and Distribution Center in Goleta, California. Six people were killed; no one was wounded. The shooter committed suicide before police arrived. Latina Williams, 23 February 8, 2008: Latina Williams, 23, armed with a handgun,began shooting in a second-floor classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She fired six rounds, then reloaded and committed suicide before police arrived. Two people were killed; no one was wounded. Amy Bishop Anderson, 44 February 12, 2010: Amy Bishop Anderson, 44, armed with a handgun, began shooting during a biology department meeting in the Shelby Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama. She sat in the meeting for 30 minutes, then stood up and began firing. Three people were killed; three were wounded. The shooter surrendered to responding police. Arunya Rouch, 41 March 30, 2010: Arunya Rouch, 41, armed with a handgun, began shooting in the parking lot of a Publix Supermarket in Tarpon Springs, Florida, killing one person. She had just been fired from the store for threatening a co-worker. She continued shooting on her way into the store, passing customers on the way to her former supervisors office. Responding police officers intercepted her before she reached the office. After an exchange of gunfire, she was wounded. One person was killed; no one was wounded. Yvonne Hiller, 43 September 9, 2010: Yvonne Hiller, 43, armed with a handgun,began shooting at her co-workers in the Kraft Foods Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had just been suspended from her job and escorted from the building, but then returned. Two people were killed; one was wounded. The shooter and police exchanged gunfire, and she was apprehended a short time later. Cherie Rhoades, 44 February 20, 2014: Cherie Louise Rhoades, 44, armed with a handgun, allegedly began shooting at an eviction hearing at the Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Office in Alturas, California. Four people were killed, including 3 of the shooters relatives; two were wounded. After the shooter expended all of her ammunition, a citizen was able to restrain her until law enforcement arrived. Amanda Miller, 22 June 8, 2014: Husband and wife, Jerad Dwain Miller, 31 and Amanda Renee Miller, 22, each armed with a handgun, one with a shotgun, began shootingat Cicis Pizza in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 2 law enforcement officers who were having lunch. The shooters took the officers weapons and ammunition and fled to a nearby Walmart, where they killed an armed citizen who tried to intervene. Three people were killed; no one was wounded. The male shooter was killed in an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement; the female shooter committed suicide during an exchange of gunfire with police. Tashfeen Malik, 29 December 2, 2015: Husband and wife, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik , 29, armed with two rifles, two handguns, and an explosive device, began shooting in the parking lot of the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. They moved inside the building, shooting at coworkers of one of the shooters. Fourteen people were killed; 22 were wounded. The shooters fled the scene; they were killed a few hours later during an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement. Advertisement

Both he and his son told the Bay Area News Group that they had warned police Nasim hated YouTube and she might be headed to their headquarters in San Bruno.

The family had reported the woman missing on Monday morning after she went two days without answering her phone. Ismail said police contacted him at about 2am on Tuesday to say they had found his daughter sleeping in her car in Mountain View, roughly 470 miles from her hometown, but less than 30 miles from the YouTube offices.

Ismail said police told him that everything was 'in control' but he told them she had spoken of her hatred of YouTube in recent weeks.

She had a problem with YouTube, Nasims brother told Fox10 reporters. We called the cop and told them there's a reason she went from San Diego to that [area], so she might do something.

Shahran said the officer he spoke to reassured him police would keep an eye on his sister. Twelve hours later, she walked into YouTube HQ and opened fire, shooting two women and a man, seemingly at random.

One of the victims - a 36-year-old man - was in critical condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said. A 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition, the spokesman said.

Police say Aghdam walked into the YouTube HQ in San Bruno, California, on Tuesday and opened fire, injuring three workers

Yellow evidence markers are seen on a patio at the YouTube offices after the shooting

Aghdam shot herself to death following the rampage. Her family believe she had only recently bought the gun used in the shooting

The brother said until Tuesday afternoon, his sister had never hurt a living creature, and he was not aware she had a gun.

At a press conference on Wednesday, police revealed that Aghdam had a 9mm handgun registered to her and had gone to a gun range before heading over to the YouTube offices.

TIMELINE OF YOUTUBE SHOOTING March 31: Last time Nasim Aghdam's family in Manifee, California, hears from her April 2: Her father reports her missing to police in San Diego, tells them she is angry at YouTube and she is entered into the Missing Persons database April 3, 1.40am: Police in Mountain View, 30 miles from San Bruno, find Aghdam sleeping in her car and take her off the missing person's database April 3 morning: Aghdam visits the Jackson Arms gun range, two miles from YouTube HQ 12.46pm: Aghdam opens fire on YouTube campus in San Bruno after sneaking in through garage door 12.48pm: Police arrive at 'chaotic' YouTube HQ to find employees fleeing 12.53pm: Aghdam's body is found by picnic tables on outdoor eating area Advertisement

The Aghdam family emigrated to California from Iran in 1996. According to the brother, Nasim had been living recently with her grandmother in San Diego.

She was always complaining that YouTube ruined her life, he said.

Aghdam's online profile shows she was a vegan activist who ran a website called NasimeSabz.com, meaning 'Green Breeze' in Persian, where she posted about Persian culture and veganism, as well as long passages critical of YouTube.

'BE AWARE! Dictatorships exist in all countries. But with different tactics. They care only for short term profits,' she wrote on her site.

A screenshot of a video posted on Aghnam's YouTube channel before it was taken down on Tuesday, showed her complaining of discrimination and claiming that 'YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!'

Nasim Aghdam joins a surprisingly short list of American female shooters.

According to data from a recent FBI study, only nine - or about 4 per cent - of the 220 active shooter incidents that occurred in the US between 2000 and 2016 had female perpetrators.

In 2017, there were 28 mass shootings in the US, but none of the assailants were women, according to a report by the US Secret Service.

The deadliest incident involving a female shooter took place in 2015 in San Bernardino, California, when Tashfeen Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, opened fire at a holiday party at the mans place of work, leaving 14 dead and more than two dozen wounded.

The husband and wife, who had a young daughter, were both killed in a shootout with police. It was later determined that the pair had pledged allegiance to the extremist Islamic group ISIS.

US government security officials said the YouTube HQ shooting had no connection to terrorism.

On January 30, 2006, former postal worker Jennifer San Marco, 44, armed with a handgun, opened fire at her previous place of employment, the Santa Barbara US Postal Processing and Distribution Center in Goleta, California. Six people were killed before San Marco committed suicide.

Four years later, , Amy Bishop Anderson, 44, was at a biology department meeting in the Shelby Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama, when she stood up and opened fire, leaving three people dead and three wounded.

In February 2014, Cherie Louise Rhoades, 44, allegedly began shooting at an eviction hearing at the Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Office in Alturas, California. Four people were killed, including two of the shooters relatives.An Indian woman has revealed how she narrowly survived getting into a fight with a wild tiger by beating it with a stick.

Rupali Meshram, 23, came to the defence of her goat outside her family home in Nagpur, western Maharashtra state.

As she fought the tiger with a stick from the ground, her quick-thinking mother came to her rescue, dragging her back inside their house.

Brave: Rupali Meshram, 23, poses for a selfie with her mother after fighting a tiger with a stick outside her family home in Nagpur, western Maharashtra state,

When the ordeal was over, Ms Meshram snapped a selfie of her posing with her mother, showing her face covered in blood.

Both Ms Meshram and her mother suffered minor injuries in the scuffle with the tiger and had to be admitted to hospital, The BBC reports.

According to the BBC's website, Ms Meshram's doctor praised her 'exemplary courage', but said she was lucky that the tiger did not bite her.

Both Ms Meshram and her mother have made a full recovery, but the goat sadly did not make it.

Lucky escape: Ms Meshram's doctor praised her 'exemplary courage', but said she was lucky that the tiger did not bite her

Tigers do not generally attack humans, but some experts believe they can get a taste for human flesh if they have attacked once.

India is home to more than half of the world's tiger population with some 2,226 of the animals roaming its reserves, according to the last count in 2014.

Dozens die every year, sometimes at the hands of poachers, while reports of man-animal conflict are not uncommon.

Wildlife activists say they occur when humans encroach into tiger corridors.Advertisement

The family of YouTube shooter Nasim Aghdam says they are in shock and can't make sense of what happened - as it is revealed she went to a gun range just hours before opening fire on the tech campus with her legally held 9mm handgun.

Aghdam's relatives issued a statement on Wednesday expressing their 'utmost regret' a day after she shot three people at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California and then killed herself.

'Our family is in absolute shock and can't make sense of what has happened. Although no words can describe our deep pain for this tragedy, our family would like to express their utmost regret, sorry for what has happened to innocent victims,' the family wrote.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families. We are praying for speedy recovery of the injured and ask God to bestow patience upon all persons hurt in this horrific senseless act.'

It came as police revealed new information about the shooting rampage, saying Aghdam did not know any of the three people she wounded but was angry over a change in YouTube policies that meant she no longer earned money from her bizarre content.

They also revealed that she snuck onto YouTube's 200,000 sq ft 'campus' through a parking garage but that she parked her own vehicle behind another business nearby.

She had been reported missing by family members on April 2 and was last seen by them on March 31.

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YouTube shooter Nasim Aghdam had complained to her family that YouTube 'ruined her life' by stopping lucrative ads on her various channels over concerns about her content which included bizarre workouts she performed in tight catsuits (above). She said it was 'censorship' and that they were blocking free speech

Another image from one of Aghdam's videos shows her dressed in a ninja's outfit. On Tuesday, she wore a 'headscarf and glasses' to go on a shooting rampage at YouTube HQ in San Bruno, California, 500 miles from her home, before killing herself

In another video, she parodied Taylor Swift to sing her own version of the singer's hit Blank Space. She is pictured kissing her rabbit

Early on Tuesday, police in Mountain View, a Silicon Valley hub around 30 miles from YouTube's HQ, found her sleeping in her car. They clearly did not consider her a risk despite her father telling them she was angry at YouTube when she left her home 500 miles away days earlier.

The cops who found her in her car at 1.40am have now claimed she was calm and spoke to them for 20 minutes when they questioned her.

TIMELINE OF YOUTUBE SHOOTING March 31: Last time Nasim Aghdam's family in Manifee, California, hears from her April 2: Her father reports her missing to police in San Diego, tells them she is angry at YouTube and she is entered into the Missing Persons database April 3, 1.40am: Police in Mountain View, 30 miles from San Bruno, find Aghdam sleeping in her car and take her off the missing person's database April 3 morning: Aghdam visits the Jackson Arms gun range, two miles from YouTube HQ 12.46pm: Aghdam opens fire on YouTube campus in San Bruno after sneaking in through garage door 12.48pm: Police arrive at 'chaotic' YouTube HQ to find employees fleeing 12.53pm: Aghdam's body is found by picnic tables on outdoor eating area Advertisement

They said she told them she had left home because of family problems and that they did not know, as Aghdam's family claimed they had told authorities, that she was angry with the company.

She claimed she was in the area to stay with relatives and was looking for work.

After finding her in her car in a strip mall in Mountain View, police removed Aghdam from the missing person's database and she was free to go on to the Jackson Arms gun range, two miles from YouTube's campus.

After getting in some practice, she went to the YouTube campus and opened fire at 12.46pm, injuring three people before turning the gun on herself.

The owner was not available for comment when DailyMail.com visited early Wednesday morning. Workers at the range claimed not to have seen Aghdam when she visited the range yesterday and refused to speak further.

But Jose Villaluna, who rents warehouse space next door to the gun range, told DailyMail.com that Aghdam had been seen at Jackson Arms.

'She might have been, yes,' he said, adding that he had been told by a gun range worker. 'They say it's a possibility that she was. I guess they saw her face. That they might have seen her yesterday.

Less than 15 minutes after the store opened at 11am, an officer from San Bruno PD was seen arriving.

Aghdam was living with her grandmother in San Diego. On Wednesday, armed police searched through what is believed to be her home.

A neighbor told DailyMail.com that several officers shouted at her to 'Get inside, stay inside' as they began searching the first floor apartment. The neighbor, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: 'There were a lot of police here at 9am today. Some had handguns.

'They shouted at me to get inside and stay inside. I wanted to look at what was happening but I couldn't. I did later see them take away bags of evidence from inside. There were a lot of bags. I don't know what was in them.'

Another neighbor added: 'It was a big drama. I saw a lot of people outside the apartment and two police cars were blocking off the road.'

Aghdam moved to the US as a teenager in 1996 along with her family from Iran. She is shown as a child (left in an edited photo) with unidentified relatives. In the weeks before the shooting, she complained there was less free speech in America than in the Middle East

Law enforcement officers swoop on an apartment complex in San Diego on Wednesday where Aghdam had been living prior to the rampage

There was no sign of Aghdam's grandmother at the small home this afternoon and no officers could be seen guarding the property.

Outside, two pairs of shoes had been left by the door mat and it was possible to see a light left on inside. A teapot was still on a table on the balcony.

Aghdam is not thought to have been living at the property long, with neighbors telling DailyMail.com she was rarely seen.

The neighbor explained: 'I saw the old lady there very occasionally and we were friends. I did not know her name. She had not been there long.

'I never saw Nasim there which I think is off because I at least see the other neighbors even if I don't know their names.

'If she was living there she had not been there long.'

Two of the woman's victims were released from hospital on Wednesday but one continues to require care. None of their identities have been released.

She shot herself dead after injuring three people.

Earlier, the woman's family in Manifee, California, revealed that they came to the US from Iran in 1996 and that she believed there was less free speech in America than in the Middle East.

Until recently, Aghdam had been making a living through monetized commercials and posts on YouTube where she had gathered thousands of followers through multiple English and Farsi channels.

She had previously founded animal rights charities in California but her vlogging appeared to be the focus of her life.

Her eclectic content ranged from workout videos in tight catsuits to Taylor Swift parodies, animal slaughtering videos and what she described as educational posts about the 'dangers' of anal sex.

She became outraged, however, when the video site started 'censoring' her content and removing the lucrative ads which had kept her afloat.

'She was always complaining that YouTube ruined her life,' Shahran Aghdam told The Press Enterprise in southern California.

Before going to YouTube at lunchtime, she spent some time at Jackson Arms shooting range in San Bruno

The entrance to the gun range where the woman was spotted on Tuesday before carrying out the attack. Jose Villulana, who rents warehouse space next door to the range, said he saw Aghdam there on Tuesday morning before the attack

This is the apartment building where Aghdam was most recently believed to have lived with her grandmother. Police searched it at 9am on Wednesday

A graphic illustrates Nasim's movements on the day of the shooting from when she was found by police in the early hours until she went to the gun range and on to YouTube HQ

Despite earlier reports and public records which say Aghdam was 39, her brother said Wednesday would have been her 38th birthday.

'She chose the day to die the day she came,' he added. She left no suicide note and her family remains uncertain how she obtained the handgun used in the shooting.

According to the newspaper, Aghdam's mother could be heard weeping inside the home as her brother spoke in the foyer.

In a March Instagram post, Aghdam suggested there was not as much freedom in her adopted home as there was in Iran.

'When it comes to freedom of speech do you think Iran is better than the USA or the USA is better than Iran?' she said.

On Saturday, she left her grandmother's home, where she had recently moved into, to drive to San Bruno, 500 miles away near San Francisco.

Her worried father called police to tell them she was missing and that he feared she might be headed towards the tech company's sprawling, 200,000 sq ft 'college-like' campus.

This is the home Aghdam once lived in in Menifee, California, with her family who remain there. She recently moved to her grandmother's home in San Diego

Staffers returned to work on Wednesday and waited to be escorted into the building by police. One wore a YouTube t-shirt

Employees returned to work on Wednesday as police handed the scene back over to the tech giant. It is likely they were back to collect their things which they left in a hurry while being evacuated on Tuesday

A group of staffers are pictured leaving the building on Wednesday morning presumably after going inside to collect their discarded possessions. An umbrella stand which was kicked over in a rush by a stampede of frightened staffers remained on the ground

On Monday, she was found asleep in her car by security guards. Questions are now arising over how she was able to gain access to the campus at all.

Using a handgun, Aghdam shot three people then killed herself in the space of several minutes during lunchtime on Tuesday.

Her body was found next to lunch tables in an outdoor area of the campus where employees had been celebrating a colleague's birthday.

Law enforcement officials had initially said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute after early indications suggested she had shot her boyfriend.

Aghdam, who was a self-described animal rights activist and 'vegan bodybuilder', had a significant online presence with multiple YouTube channels and social media pages.

Authorities cover a body with a yellow tarp at YouTube's headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday after a female shooter opened fire before she shot and killed herself. Smashed glass on one of the doors is also shown

Aghdam, who is from Southern California but is Persian, regularly complained online that YouTube were filtering and demonetizing her various video channels

In a video that Aghdam posted back in January 2017, she vented about her content being censored. She also said that her YouTube channel, which had more than 5,000 subscribers, used to get many views but claimed she started getting less when the company 'filtered' her videos.

Aghdam's YouTube channels and social media pages were all removed in the hours after the shooting.

Her father Ismail Aghdam said she had told family members that YouTube had stopped paying her for content she posted on the site.

He told the Bay Area News Group that he had warned police his daughter hated YouTube and she might be headed to their headquarters.

He had reported her missing from Southern California on Monday morning after she went two days without answering her phone. Ismail said police contacted him at about 2am on Tuesday to say they had found her sleeping in her car roughly 470 miles from her hometown.

Ismail said police told him that everything was 'in control' but he told them she had spoken of her hatred of YouTube in recent weeks.

Aghdam, who was a self-confessed animal rights activist and 'vegan bodybuilder', had a significant online presence with multiple YouTube channels and social media pages

Aghdam was a prolific YouTuber who had ranted online against the company's new policies and for 'censoring her videos and not paying her'

In a video that Aghdam posted back in 2017, she vented about her content being 'discriminated and filtered'. She is a self-described Persian animal rights activist and 'vegan bodybuilder'

Aghdam is a self-described Persian animal rights activist and 'vegan bodybuilder'. She was a prolific YouTuber who had ranted online against the company's new policies

Hours later at about 1pm, officers and federal agents swarmed YouTube's headquarters after dozens of panicked employees called 911 to report gunfire.

Shooting comes after YouTube policy change The father of Nasim Aghdam says she was angry at the company because it stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform. Ismail Aghdam told the Bay Area News Group that he warned police his daughter might be going to YouTube because she 'hated' the company. Details of any payments she may have been receiving have not yet been disclosed. The shooting comes weeks after YouTube agreed to manually review all videos in its 'preferred' section so advertisers were sure they were not promoting harmful videos. As well as manual reviews, YouTube tightened its rules on who qualifies for posting money-making ads. Previously, channels with 10,000 total views qualified for the YouTube Partner Program which allows creators to collect some income from the adverts placed before their videos. But YouTube's parent company Google announced that from February 20, channels would need 1,000 subscribers and to have racked up 4,000 hours of watch time over the last 12 months regardless of total views, to qualify. This is the biggest change to advertising rules on the site since its inception - and is another attempt to prevent the platform being 'co-opted by bad actors' after persistent complaints from advertisers over the past twelve months. The changes came just weeks after YouTuber Logan Paul's video showing the body of a suicide victim reached the site's trending page before being removed. YouTube's new threshold means a creator making a weekly ten-minute video would need 1,000 subscribers and an average of 462 views per video to start receiving ad revenue. Advertisement

When they arrived, police found Aghdam dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said three people were taken to hospitals in San Francisco with gunshot wounds. Investigators do not believe Nasim Aghdam specifically targeted the three victims.

A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition following the shooting.

Television news footage showed terrified employees leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building.

Officers patted down people to make sure none had weapons as police vehicles surrounded the area.

Senior software engineer Zach Vorhies said a fire alarm had gone off in the building and workers were calmly evacuating before they realized it was an active shooting.

Vorhies said as they were leaving he saw the shooter in a courtyard yelling: 'Come at me, or come get me.'

He said he froze and then noticed a victim on his back with what looked like a gunshot wound to his stomach. Vorhies said an officer with an assault rifle then came through a security door.

Another employee, Dianna Arnspiger, said she was on the building's second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

'It was a woman and she was firing her gun. I just said, 'Shooter,' and everybody started running,' Arnspiger said. 'It was terrifying.'

The police chief said at a press conference that officers discovered one victim with a gunshot wound when they arrived and then found the shooter with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound several minutes later.

He said two additional gunshot victims were later located at an adjacent business and that a fourth injured person suffered an ankle injury.

The adjacent business was a Carl's Jr on the same plaza where two women fled after being shot.

Police did not release any further information on the suspect or comment on her possible motives for the shooting rampage.

The shooting had no known connection to terrorism, US government security officials said.

Disturbing live accounts were given by YouTube employees who took to Twitter as the shooting unfolded.

Terrified employees were spotted leaving YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California in a line after a shooter opened fire on Tuesday afternoon

A SWAT team is picturing entering YouTube HQ in San Bruno, California, on Tuesday after reports of shots being fired inside

An injured woman stands outside YouTube's headquarters, while another employee cries on the phone after escaping the shooting on Tuesday

In a flurry of tweets, project manager Todd Sherman said: 'We were sitting in a meeting and then we heard people running because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake.

'After existing (sic) the room we still didn't know what was going on but more people were running. Seemed serious and not like a drill.

'We headed towards the exit and then saw more people and someone said that there was a person with a gun. S**t.

'At that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves.

'I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked (sic) around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front.'

Employee Vadim Lavrusik was one of the first to report the shooting, tweeting at around 1pm on Tuesday: 'Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers.'

Soon after, he tweeted: 'Safe. Got evacuated it. Outside now.'

Officers and federal agents swarmed YouTube's headquarters complex just before 1pm after dozens of panicked employees called 911 to report gunfire

Heavily armed police stood guard outside the front entrance of YouTube's headquarters after the shooting broke out on Tuesday afternoon

Police search a building at YouTube's corporate headquarters as an active shooter situation was underway in San Bruno on Tuesday

YouTube employees leave the scene on Tuesday after a woman shot four people then herself

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the parent company of YouTube was doing everything it can to support the victims and their families

Google CEO Sundar Pichai called the shooting a 'horrific act of violence'.

He said the parent company of YouTube was doing everything it can to support the victims and their families.

Pichai also said the company 'will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy'.

The YouTube headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings on its 200,000 sq ft campus.

President Donald Trump offered his 'thoughts and prayers' after being briefed on the shooting.

There was an onslaught of emergency vehicles at the scene moments after the shots were fired

Officers are pictured running towards YouTube's San Bruno HQ on Tuesday amid reports of a shooter

'Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene,' he tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.

Following the shooting, California Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher speculated that the shooter could have been an illegal immigrant.

Without any facts, Rohrabacher drew links between the shooting and sanctuary cities during an interview with the Fox Business Network.

'You were going to discuss with me about sanctuary cities and the sanctuary state movement, and it fits right into what you're talking about right now,' he said.

'Would anyone be surprised? We have a state government in California that's trying to prevent our law enforcement people from working with the federal law enforcement people to get together the criminal illegal aliens, to deal with criminal illegal aliens.'As it emerges the California shooter who opened fire at the YouTube headquarters was a frustrated vlogger, we explore some of the biggest scandals that have rocked the tough world of aspiring YouTubers.

For every millionaire PewDiePie or Logan Paul, there are a thousand frustrated YouTubers desperately trying to get more views.

And sometimes that can result in aspiring vloggers pushing themselves to make increasingly outrageous, and sometimes disturbing, videos.

Some of those videos have resulted in furious backlash and even criminal charges against the posters.

California shooter Nasim Aghdam, 38, (pictured in one of her vidoes) was an established YouTuber posting militant Vegan videos, bizarre 'parody' clips, and long, angry rants about YouTube policies

Aghdam was a prolific YouTuber who had ranted online against the company's new policies and for 'censoring her videos and not paying her'

Last month, a 20-year-old mother from Minnesota was sentenced to six months in jail for fatally shooting her boyfriend during a botched YouTube stunt last year.

Monalisa Perez, who was pregnant at the time with her second child, was arrested in June 2017 after shooting her boyfriend, 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III, in the chest for a YouTube video. She had their son in September.

They had set up the stunt, so Perez fired a bullet from a .50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol into an encyclopedia Ruiz held it against his body.

But the projectile penetrated the volume and fatally wounded the young father.

'We were doing a YouTube video and it went wrong. Please hurry up,' Perez told the 911 dispatcher in June 2017 after the shooting went wrong.

Last month, a 20-year-old Monalisa Perez was jailed for shooting her boyfriend, 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III, in the chest for a YouTube video (pictured in another video)

Monalisa Perez (left), 20, of Minnesota, was given six months for fatally shooting Ruiz III (right), 22, during a botched YouTube stunt last year

Prior to the shooting, Perez had tweeted: 'Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE'

Prior to the shooting, Perez had tweeted: 'Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE'.

The couple's YouTube channel had 218 subscribers at the time and included pranks like Perez feeding Ruiz donuts covered in baby powder.

The fatal shooting was captured on two cameras that had been set up to record the stunt. Police said they do not plan to release the footage.

The court ordered that Perez cannot 'make any financial compensation' from the recording of Ruiz's death, according to the Star Tribune. She is also banned from ever possessing firearms.

Child abuse has been another issue on the site.

Mike Martin, who ran the popular YouTube channel DaddyoFive, which had 760,000 subscribers, lost custody of his children after posting multiple clips of him 'pranking' his two young kids.

The videos often showed father Martin 'pranking' his youngest child, Cody, in a series of incidents that many in the YouTube community have been calling abusive for several months.

Mike Martin, who ran the popular YouTube channel DaddyoFive lost custody of his children after posting multiple clips of him 'pranking' his two young kids (Mike and Heather Martin apologizing for the 'prank' in April)

Cody, nine (above), was the most 'pranked' member of the family, often being screamed at and swore at, and he would frequently end up in tears or throwing things

'You're writing a thousand sentences,' Mike Martin yelled in a prank video 'I'm gonna have to sell all your Pokemon stuff!'

As the backlash mounted, the family was forced to post a statement of apology on their Facebook page

Videos include Martin convincing Cody he had been adopted out to another family, pushing him and bloodying his nose (Martin claimed the blood was fake), smashing Cody's X-box with a hammer, accusing Cody of spraying his room with ink when he didn't and yelling and swearing at him.

Often Cody ended up red faced, crying, screaming, or throwing things out of frustration. In one video, Cody threatens to kill himself. 'I hate my life just kill me,' he cries after his father harangues him.

The couple made approximately $200,000 to $350,000 annually from the channel, according to New York Magazine.

The videos sparked outrage and an online petition to get CPS to investigate the family. As the backlash mounted though, the family was forced to post a statement of apology on their Facebook.

'We deeply apologize for your feelings of concern. We DO NOT condone child abuse in any way, shape or form,' the statement read. And in May last year, Rose Hall, the biological mother of Mike Martin's two youngest children, Cody, nine, and Emma, 12, was granted custody of the kids.

The 'Ted' channel also came under fire in December after it uploaded videos of his children handling a diaper covered in fake feces, being 'scared' by clowns and mock-wrestling.

Three of Ted's videos were deemed unsuitable, one was age-restricted and one was deleted. The advertising on his channel has since been removed by YouTube.

The Toy Freaks YouTube channel, founded by landscaper Greg Chism of Granite City, Illinois, which had 8.53 million subscribers showed young girls in unusual situations that often involved gross-out food play and simulated vomiting.

The channel invented the 'bad baby' genre, and some videos showed the girls pretending to urinate on each other or fishing pacifiers out of the toilet.

In 2015, Sam and Nia Rader , from Wills Point, Texas, made headlines when they were accused of faking a miscarriage

Where it all began: Sam announced to his wife Nia that she was pregnant in a video posted on their YouTube channel after testing her urine

Getting bigger: Nia has since announced she's pregnant with their third child

The channel had had its videos pulled as part of the crack-down.

In 2015, Sam and Nia Rader, from Wills Point, Texas, made headlines when they were accused of faking a miscarriage.

The couple posted a video on their family YouTube channel in which the father-of-two 'surprised' his wife, 26, with the news that she was pregnant after he used urine she'd left in the toilet to do a pregnancy test.

Shortly afterward, they tearfully announced that Nia had had a miscarriage  which Sam, an ER nurse, claimed to have been able to detect.

The couple's initial miscarriage announcement was met with words of support and empathy from subscribers  but skepticism from much of the rest of the internet.

Other people drew attention to the fact that, just hours after announcing the news of their miscarriage, the couple were busy celebrating the increased number of YouTube views and subscribers the news had generated.

The wildly popular Toy Freaks channel (pictured) featuring a single dad and his two daughters was also making up to $1.1 million (820,000) per month before it was deleted in November

Chism's channel, which features his daughters Annabelle and Victoria, appears to have been caught up in a broader purge targeting a wave of strange and inappropriate kids videos

Shortly afterward, Daily Mail Online broke the news that Sam had signed up for an account on the adultery website Ashley Madison, and he was then kicked out of the Vlogger Fair conference after getting physical with another vlogger in attendance.

After being accused of 'faking' the miscarriage for social media, the couple briefly retreated from the limelight.

California shooter Nasim Aghdam, 38, was an established YouTuber posting militant Vegan videos, bizarre 'parody' clips, and long, angry rants about YouTube policies.

Aghdam had multiple YouTube channels, which featured videos ranging from ab workouts to what she claimed was the 'first Persian TV commercial and music video regarding animal rights and veganism'.

She also had an Instagram page, which Aghdam said she preferred, that featured numerous graphic images of animals being mistreated.

Aghdam seemed fixated on the belief that her YouTube views were sinking, posting screen grabs that showed her views had dropped by more than half in nine months.

Aghdam, who identified as Persian, posted videos in both English and Farsi and claimed her latter channel was being filtered by 'close-minded YouTube employees'.

Nasim Aghdam, 39, has been identified as the woman who shot a man and two women with a handgun when she stormed YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California on Tuesday

Aghdam, who is from Southern California but is Persian, regularly complained online that YouTube were filtering and demonetizing her various video channels

Aghdam is a self-described Persian animal rights activist and 'vegan bodybuilder'. She was a prolific YouTuber who had ranted online against the company's new policies

The home of Ismail Aghdam, father of Nasim Aghdam, on Wednesday, in Menifee, California. According to reports Nasim Aghdam had recently lived in Menifee before driving to where the shooting at the YouTube headquarters took place

On Tuesday, that fury boiled over and Aghdam shot a man and two women with a handgun when she stormed YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno.

Witnesses say Aghdam was wearing glasses and a scarf when she managed to walk onto the YouTube campus and open fire on employees in what police believe is a random shooting.

Law enforcement officials had initially said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute after early indications suggested she had shot her boyfriend.

Her father Ismail Aghdam said she had told family members that YouTube had stopped paying her for content she posted on the site. YouTube video creators can earn money from advertisements, but for various reasons the firm sometimes 'de-monetizes' channels meaning clips don't run with adverts.

Authorities found the shooter's body shortly after arriving. Her body, pictured above covered by a yellow tarp, was found near the shattered door (above on right)

He told the Bay Area News Group that he had warned police his daughter hated YouTube and she might be headed to their headquarters.

He had reported her missing from Southern California on Monday morning after she went two days without answering her phone. Ismail said police contacted him at about 2am on Tuesday to say they had found her sleeping in her car roughly 470 miles from her home town.

Ismail said police told him that everything was 'in control' but he told them she had spoken of her hatred of YouTube in recent weeks.Advertisement

The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran met in Ankara for talks yesterday as they cemented their unlikely alliance over Syria in a challenge to US and western influence in the region.

President Putin, President Erdogan and President Rouhani vowed to work together to create a 'lasting ceasefire', build a hospital for wounded civilians in Eastern Ghouta and allow refugees to return home.

But the deepening ties between the trio will be a concern to the US as its ability to influence the future of the country and the region wains and President Trump openly mulls pulling troops out.

Russia backs the Syrian government in the civil war (in red) and is joined by Iran and increasingly Turkey, though Turkey also backs rebel groups in the country's north (hash-marked red area) which are pitted against Assad. Meanwhile US influence largely relies on Kurdish groups (top right), though its support has been waning amid protests from Ankara

Russia and Iran are strategic partners, with Russia providing military and financial support in return for influence over the Middle East. Turkey, meanwhile, had been courting membership of the European Union but in the past few years has drawn closer to Russia. These deepening ties are of concern to Europe because Turkey acts as an important buffer zone for migrants, filters out jihadis attempting to cross the border, and is a NATO member

Iran's President Rouhani, Turkey's President Erdogan, and Russia's President Putin shake hands as they meet in Ankara on Wednesday and pledge to create a 'lasting ceasefire' in Syria

Iran and Russia have backed the Syrian regime since the start of the civil war, while Turkey has called for Assad to go from power and still backs anti-Assad rebels. However, Erdogan has formed an unlikely partnership with Putin as he attempts to drive armed Kurdish groups from his borders

Russia, Iran and Turkey have been drawn together in their support of Syria. Putin and Rouhani provide Assad with military support and Turkey has now joined their efforts because it wants to crush US-backed Kurdish forces massing on its border.

Putin supplies both countries with sophisticated military equipment. President Erdogan recently signed a $2.5 billion arms deal with Russia for S-400 sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles, which has caused consternation among Turkey's fellow Nato members.

And Russia helps both countries on energy. It is also building Turkey a $20 billion nuclear power station, which began construction yesterday, and last year Putin signed a $30 billion energy co-operation deal with Iran.

Through these major deals Russia now finds itself in the position of having influence over Turkey as well as Iran. And these two countries in turn exert huge influence beyond their borders.

Turkey controls much of the flow of middle eastern refugees into Europe. It stemmed the influx after signing a deal with the EU in March 2016 - but if it reversed this agreement the political consequences in Europe would be enormous.

Iran has been accused of supplying arms to the Taliban by the government of Afghanistan and is fueling the conflict in Yemen.

The three leaders have common strategic interests in the Middle East despite backing rival sides in the Syrian civil war

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is an implacably opposed the Syrian regime and his administration provides significant backing for the rebels fighting it.

Trump is also a staunch ally of Israel, most notably announcing the US is to move its embassy to Jerusalem - putting it in direct opposition to Iran, which has threatened to destroy the state.

Under Trump, the US has become a close ally of Saudi Arabia, whose Crown Prince Salman said this week that he recognised Israel's 'right' to its land - becoming the first Arab leader to ever make such an acknowledgement.

He compared Iran's Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Hitler.

Iran, Russia, Turkey and Syria: The ties that bind Iran is often referred to as Syria's closest Middle Eastern ally, and ties go back to the Iran-Iraq War, when Syria backed Iran

Syria's ties with Russia date back to the Cold War when it sided with the Soviets against the West, and has since received millions in development money and played host to key military bases

Turkey has been working to topple the Assad regime, but is increasingly finding itself among Syria's allies as it attempts to drive US-backed Kurdish forces away from its borders Advertisement

At the summit on Wednesday Turkey and Russia said they would work together to build a hospital to treat civilians injured in the fighting in Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus.

The Syrian government has been carrying out an intense bombing and ground campaign against rebel-held areas in Eastern Ghouta which has left thousands of civilians dead or wounded and drawn international condemnation.

Russia and Turkey also said 160,000 refugees who had fled the conflict into Turkey had been able to return home.

The Ankara summit at Erdogan's presidential palace was the second such summit following one in November 2017 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi hosted by Putin.

'We are determined to take Syria out of this quagmire. There will be no peace in turkey until there is peace in Syria,' Erdogan said at a press conference in Ankara on Wednesday.

Turkish and Russian forces would work together to build a medical facility in Eastern Ghouta, as well as establishing 'safe regions on both the Turkish and northern Syrian sides' with facilities such as bakeries and plots of land to build homes and grow food.

'It is about constructing houses [in the safe regions] so these people no longer have to live in tents and containers,' said Erdogan.

Iran and Russia have ties that date from the Cold War while Turkey and Russia are co-operating on defence and energy projects

In a statement from the three leaders, they pledged to 'continue their active cooperation on Syria for the achievement of lasting ceasefire between the conflicting parties'.

'There is no military solution option for the crisis in Syria and we need to cooperate to put an end to the war in the country,' said President Rouhani.

'We have to follow peaceful methods, we need to help the Syrians go back to their homes as soon as possible.'

A third trilateral summit will take place in Tehran though a date has yet to be announced.

Putin's two-day visit was his first international trip since securing a fourth term as president of Russia last month. On Tuesday, he and Erdogan revealed the delivery of Russian S-400 missiles would be brought forward to July 2019.

'We have made our agreement on the S-400s. We have closed this chapter. This job is done,' a defiant Erdogan told journalists during a press conference, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Putin added: 'Our Turkish colleagues made a request in the meetings. We will accelerate the process.'

The leaders also made an appearance at the launch of Turkey's first nuclear power station via video link on the same day.

Russian company Rosatom was granted permission by Turkey's TAEK atomic energy authority on Tuesday to begin work on the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant's first unit.

The plant will have a combined capacity of 4,800 megawatts across four reactors.

The summit comes as President Donald Trump mulls pulling American troops from the region and dropping support for Kurdish groups which it backed in the fight against ISIS

Meanwhile Syrian troops under the command of Assad have recaptured much of the country from ISIS and rebel control

The latest Syrian government offensive, following the capture of Deir Ezzor, is the assault on rebels in Eastern Ghouta which is drawing to a close as the last fighters are allowed to leave the area on buses

Erdogan insisted their meetings and the Astana talks were not an 'alternative' to the UN-backed Geneva process to find peace in Syria.

But the three leaders said 'the Astana format had been the only effective international initiative that had helped reduce violence across Syria and had contributed to peace and stability in' the country.

They added that it had given 'impetus to the Geneva process in order to find a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict' in the statement.

'What is foremost for us is getting results. We must get results. We have no tolerance for delays. People are dying here,' Erdogan told reporters after the summit.

The next three way summit will take place in Tehran, Erdogan said, but he did not indicate when that would be.

Some 350,000 people have been killed since the start of the conflict following anti-government protests in March 2011. Millions more have been forced to flee their homes.

Turkey hosts over 3.5 million Syrian refugees, most of whom live in Turkish cities.Steve Harvey has come to the defense of his wife after social media users reacted angrily to her use of the word retarded.

Marjorie Harvey posted a video on Instagram showing her and her Family Feud host husband cutting fruit in the kitchen.

Im sitting here arguing with my husband, cause clearly he thinks Im retarded [and] I dont know how to cut a beet, she said in the clip.

The video, which was posted on Monday, has generated over 406,000 views on Instagram.

Steve Harvey has come to the defense of his wife after social media users reacted angrily to her use of the word retarded. Harvey and his wife, Marjorie, are seen above in their home as they recorded a clip that was posted to Instagram

What you tripping about cause my wife said the word retarded? the former Original King of Comedy wrote in defense of his wife

Marjorie Harvey, a fashion and lifestyle blogger, has 1.7 million followers on the Facebook-owned picture-sharing network.

The use of the r word did not sit well with many of those followers.

Using the R word in a negative/derogatory way is demeaning to others, regardless of whether she is using it toward herself or others, wrote one user.

Just something to simply think about when using that word as an insult  in other words, just dont.

Another Instagram user who says her daughter has Down syndrome also protested.

There are people like me, my family, my daughter who has Down syndrome, who are all hurt by the implication you made, another follower said.

By using the R word in that way, it infers that people with cognitive disabilities are less than or dumb. Please consider taking the time to either personally or publicly reconsider using a word that hurts so many. Im not saying that was your intent, but when know better, we should do better  right?

I can tell you that most people who use the word have an idea in their head when they do, another user wrote on Instagram.

Other fans sympathetic to Harvey also supported his wife. One Instagram user said the remark was no worse than what President Donald Trump has said in public statements. Steve Harvey and Marjorie Harvey are seen above in Paris in 2016

And thats a person who is dumb or slow to understand. Thats who Marjorie was comparing herself to, whether she realizes it/meant to or not.

The backlash on her Instagram feed prompted her husband to intervene.

What you tripping about cause my wife said the word retarded? the former Original King of Comedy wrote in defense of his wife.

Its a word, aint it? And she aint talking bout nobody but herself to me.  She aint saying it bout nobodys baby. I dont ever comment but damn is you just looking for something to be pissed off about cause we aint. And I wrote it retarded. NAH!!

Other fans sympathetic to Harvey also supported his wife.

One Instagram user said the remark was no worse than what President Donald Trump has said in public statements.

People ALWAYS looking for something to say and complain about. I usually dont respond to ignorance but I had to on this one, a supporter wrote.

People have a problem with certain words being used all the time, but yet the current president of the United States has said all kind of inappropriate words and statements.

Now we have to watch what we say in our own homes, wrote another pro-Harvey voice.

This lady was speaking about herself to her husband. I think people are needing something to talk about. If you didnt like what she said stop following her.

People act like they never used the word before, said another Instagram user.A model with a huge social media following has been charged in relation to an alleged drug-trafficking gang.

Mary Molloy was arrested on Tuesday night after two properties in Brisbane were raided by police.

The fitness champion - who has posted dozens of pictures of her posing in bikinis and gym tops flaunting her abs and figure - was reportedly arrested alongside her ex-boyfriend, Jason Atkins.

Fitness model Mary Molloy was arrested for her alleged involvement in a drug-trafficking gang

The fitness champion was reportedly arrested alongside her ex-boyfriend Jason Atkins, pictured together, on Tuesday night

The raids and the arrests were part of an investigation into an alleged drug ring operating around Queensland, the Courier Mail reports.

Officers raided properties in Newstead and Teneriffe in central Brisbane.

Molloy, 25, who has nearly 70,000 followers on Instagram and is a World Beauty Fitness & Fashion professional model, was charged alongside her former partner Atkins, 32.

The pair appeared in court on Wednesday and were granted bail at Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Molloy, 25, who has nearly 70,000 followers on Instagram, was granted bail at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday

The raids and the arrests that swept Molloy up were part of an investigation into an alleged ecstasy drugs ring operating around Queensland

Police allege both were involved in multiple drug-related offences which include trafficking, supply and possessing MDMA, and other offences linking them to carrying out suspected crimes.

Their arrests are believed to be linked to two other arrests made in November after drugs were allegedly seized which a group were said to be trying to move.

Detectives will claim the 24,000 MDMA pills they discovered had a street value of more than $1million.

Police allege both Molloy (pictured) and Atkins were involved in multiple drug-related offences

Two people arrested last year, Lucy Molloy and Russell Johnston, are accused of being involved in a syndicate.

Their arrests came after police allegedly discovered pills at a house in Albion.

Atkins was also granted bail provided he provides police with the PIN number for his mobile phone, according to the Courier Mail.

The court was told Molloy and Atkins split up three weeks ago but had been in a relationship until then.

They are next due to appear on April 30.

Police allege the network was working to move drugs between Sydney and Queensland with Atkins said to be linked to a property where MDMA was supposedly found.Theresa May oversaw cuts to police funding and numbers as Home Secretary which are coming back to haunt her as Prime Minister.

As Home Secretary she was tasked with wielding the axe to police budgets and also watered down stop and search powers.

But after funding fell and police powers were challenged violent crime has soared substantially.

During her first five years as Home Secretary police forces in England and Wales saw their central funding slashed by 2.2billion in real terms - the equivalent of 22 per cent - the National Audit Office found.

As funding tumbled so did police numbers with officer numbers falling from 144,235 in 2010 to 123,505 in 2017.

In the year to March 2010 - two months before the Coalition came to power and Mrs May was installed as Home Secretary - there were 699,011 incidents of violent crime, according to the Office for National Statistics.

But this number had doubled to 1.3 million in the year ending June 2017, the ONS said.

The number of violent crimes has increased in the years following heavy cuts to police budgets which

And there have been 50 alleged murders in London so far this year - making the capital's streets streets bloodier than New York's.

Critics have said the cuts which the Tories imposed during the years of austerity are now being felt on Britain's streets in the explosion of violence.

How many police officers have been lost from the streets of England and Wales? Police officer numbers have dropped since 2010. Here are the figures: 2010: 144,235 2011: 139,585 2012: 134,580 2013: 129,956 2014: 128,346 2015: 127,485 2016: 124,368 2017: 123,505 Source: House of Commons library Advertisement

And now Mrs May is in Downing Street rather than the Home Office they say she is reaping what was sewn during the Coalition years.

Shadow Police Minister Lou Haigh told Mail Online: 'The first job of any Government is to provide the resources to keep people safe.

'With their billion-pound cut to the Met Police, Theresa May and Amber Rudd have conspicuously failed to do so.

'We have seen eight years of cuts to youth services, health and education.

'It seems like the Government have forgotten about being tough on the causes of crime.'

Ken Marsh, head of the Met Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, told Mail Online: 'It is pretty straight forward - either we fund the police correctly so they can perform the role or we don't get the same policing.'

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow in north London, where a 16 year-old Amaan Shakoor was shot and killed, said she has 'begged and pleaded' with ministers to pump more money into policing.

Critics have said the cuts which Theresa May (pictured in the House of Commons late last month) imposed as Home Secretary during the years of austerity are now being felt on Britain's streets in the explosion of violence

She told the BBC: 'I've never seen resources so scarce on the ground - to be able to have the relationships with people to get that community intelligence, to support what our police are doing.

How stop-and-search powers have changed As Home Secretary Mrs May introduced changes in 2014 which meant police are only allowed to stop people when there is 'reasonable grounds for suspicion'. And it warned that where officers misuse the powers they would face disciplinary action. She introduced the measures amid widespread anger to the power, particularly among the black and ethnic minority population, who said it was used disproportionately against them. In the years following the reforms stop and search fell to their lowest level since the power was introduced 17 years ago. But violent crime has risen - sparking calls for the power to be taken up again. Under current stop-and-search laws, police are allowed to search a suspect if the have 'reasonable grounds' that the person is carrying a weapon, drugs or stolen property. Such justification might be that they have witnessed the suspect putting the knife into a pocket. However emergency section 60 powers can be enforced in a set location, such as a town or city, which removes the 'reasonable grounds' criteria. Advertisement

'We have lost 100 police around here already from the cuts coming through form government and I have stood up in Parliament and begged and pleaded with ministers to give us those people.'

Labour has said the rise in crime lies in cuts to police budgets and said they would fund another 10,000 officers if elected.

Mrs May was made Home Secretary when David Cameron was elected in 2010 and she held the post until she became leader in 2016.

But the Government took the axe to funding and services in an effort to bring down Britain's ballooning debt and deficit - which soared in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Meanwhile, the threat posed by terrorism has soared with five strikes against the UK last year alone - killing over 100 people, injuring many more and providing a significant drain on police resources.

Police chiefs and politicians have warned that over-stretched forces have had to slash the number of officers out on the streets getting the vital intelligence needed to tackle violence and gang crime.

And while Mrs May oversaw cuts to police budgets as Home Secretary, she also watered down stop and search powers which are now being blamed on the spike in crime.

She introduced changes in 2014 which meant police are only allowed to stop people when there is 'reasonable grounds for suspicion'.

And it warned that where officers misuse the powers they would face disciplinary action.

She introduced the measures amid widespread anger to the power, particularly among the black and ethnic minority population, who said it was used disproportionately against them.

In the years following the reforms stop and search fell to their lowest level since the power was introduced 17 years ago.

But violent crime has risen - sparking calls for the power to be taken up again.

The Metropolitan Police has launched 49 murder investigations since the start of January which include five shootings and 31 stabbings

A Home Office spokeswoman said: 'Police have the resources they need to carry out their vital work.

'We have provided a strong and comprehensive funding settlement that will increase funding by 460m from 2018/19, including 280m of direct funding raised through increases in Council Tax precept which police forces can spend locally.

'All forms of violent crime are totally unacceptable.

'This Government is taking action to restrict access to offensive weapons as well as working to break the deadly cycle of violence and protect our children, families and communities.

'The UK has some of the toughest gun laws in the world and we are determined to keep it that way.'A self-proclaimed 'billionaire tradie' has walked free from court - despite pleading guilty to drug possession.

Phillip Jonathan Harrison, 31, claimed to be worth $12billion and to have had almost $600million in the bank while travelling the world on lavish European holidays,

He was caught with more than 10 grams of MDMA and meth while behind the wheel of a stolen white Audi.

Phillip Jonathan Harrison, 31, claimed to be worth $12billion and to have had almost $600million in the bank while travelling the world on lavish European holidays

He was caught with more than 10 grams of MDMA and meth while behind the wheel of a stolen white Audi

Harrison told his lawyer he had $596million in his bank account while working as a carpenter

He told police the car had been given to him, and later told a reporter he owned the ASX 200, Australia's largest share market.

Harrison told his lawyer he had $596million in his bank account while working as a carpenter.

It was eventually revealed Harrison used a fake banking app to deceive his lawyer, and was actually living in a rental home on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

Harrison spent six months behind bars before he pleaded guilty to three charges of drug possession and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

During sentencing at the Queensland Supreme Court on Friday, defence lawyer John Jacob said the breakdown of Harrison's relationship with the mother of his daughter was to blame for his drug use.

Justice Susan Brown ruled the drugs weren't intended to be sold and were for personal use.

Harrison spent six months behind bars before he pleaded guilty to three charges of drug possession and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle

Harrison was sentenced to a year in jail, taking into account the six months he had already served and his guilty plea, and was released on parole

Harrison was sentenced to a year in jail, taking into account the six months he had already served and his guilty plea.

He was released on parole but not before being given a warning from Judge Brown.

'What if your daughter had been in the car at that time?' she said.

Harrison is living with his mother, and refused to comment as he left court.

In 2016, Harrison's lawyer Nick Handly told Roma Street Magistrates Court he had checked Mr Harrison's bank account and confirmed he had a $596million balance

In 2016, Harrison's lawyer Nick Handly told Roma Street Magistrates Court he had checked Mr Harrison's bank account and confirmed he had a $596million balance.

The court was also told Mr Harrison had $1.5billion in property assets.

The court heard when questioned over his wealth by Mr Handly, the accused said 'he wasn't at liberty to say' what the origins of his assets were.

Outside court Harrison said he told Mr Handly he didn't have $1.5 billion in property, rather $1.2 million, and that the rest of his wealth was made up in shares.A police force with no black officers actively blocked an Asian constable's promotion ambitions while 'incompetent white officers' prospered, an employment tribunal has heard.

Zaheer Ahmed, who spent 23 years working for North Yorkshire Police, claimed white officers were promoted to some more senior positions and the only explanation for him missing out was his race.

The tribunal at Teesside Magistrates' Court has heard that Mr Ahmed, who is of Pakistani origin, had missed out on promotions to white colleagues and obstacles had been put in the way of his career progression.

In January 2014, Mr Ahmed applied for a custody sergeant role, but was told he was not suitable as he did not have enough experience.

He then claims other 'less experienced, less qualified, white' colleagues were assisted in applying for the role.

Zaheer Ahmed claimed 'incompetent' white officers were being promoted over him at North Yorkshire Police, he told an employment tribunal at Teesside Magistrates' Court

In his witness statement, Mr Ahmed said: 'North Yorkshire Police are concerned with appearing as though they care about tackling the issue of lack of diversity, but their actions do not support this.

'As of March 31, North Yorkshire Police did not have a single black officer on its force.'

Mr Ahmed said a further application for a promotion was rejected in 2016, due to concerns with his performance, which he said was 'a shock and a blow'.

'I was getting good feedback from my superiors, was achieving competent and even exceeding expectations in some areas - I could not understand why it was only during the promotion process that I was being flagged as having development needs.

'I did not receive a full explanation for the reason I was the only officer in North Yorkshire to be blocked.'

Mr Ahmed said this was the final straw for him and he realised he could no longer work for the force.

'I was hurt by the discriminatory treatment that I had received over the years, the extra restrictions. the lack of opportunity and support - I would be obstructed from progressing any further.'

Mr Ahmed told the hearing: 'North Yorkshire Police are concerned with appearing as though they care about tackling the issue of lack of diversity, but their actions do not support this. Pictured: File photo of police in North Yorkshire

He continued: 'I served as a police officer for 23 years, I gave my life to the job and was eager to succeed in my career.

'I did a great deal of overtime, worked on my rest days and routinely requested to be kept in mind for any experience.

'My loyalty and dedication has been rewarded with resistance and humiliation.'

Mr Ahmed also claims that racist comments from prisoners were not pursued thoroughly.

'I had an immense sense of pride of being a police officer and that I was part of this organisation.

'To have experienced and witnessed the discrimination within the organisation, I can no longer be proud. I am disappointed and I am hurt.'

The tribunal also heard that an officer who had previously been sacked from the force for racially abusing a doorman was reinstated, rose to the rank of Chief Inspector and was allowed to preside over one of Mr Ahmed's promotion applications.

He was awarded the second lowest mark possible in the evaluation.

Mr Ahmed told the tribunal in Middlesbrough (pictured) that one of his most disturbing moments as an officer came at Selby Police Station in in April 2014

Mr Ahmed told the tribunal in Middlesbrough that one of his most disturbing moments as an officer came at Selby Police Station in in April 2014.

He said a prisoner was drunk and swearing before he walked to the front of the custody desk.

Mr Ahmed said: 'Whilst stood in front of me and looking at me he called me a n****r.

'An investigation was held by DS Stephen into this racial hate incident I received while at work.'

In July 2014 he was told by Roland Burnett, one of those chosen to investigate, that it was not being pursued because a white colleague, Liz Hartley, felt the prisoner was 'not being serious.'

Mr Ahmed said: 'She thought the prisoner was not being serious when he called me a n****r so it didn't go any further.

'It is distressing to me that you can be called a n****r in an aggressive and intimidating manner, humiliatingly in front of all your colleagues and then told that it wasn't being pursued.'

He later discovered the incident had been 'NFA'd' (no further action) in May 2014 but he had not been told.

Mr Ahmed spent 23 years working for North Yorkshire Police. He had applied for a custody sergeant role twice and was blocked each time

Mr Ahmed told the hearing that he was assessed for a temporary inspector post by a Chief Inspector who had previously been involved in a racially aggravated incident in York.

He said: 'My application for the temporary inspector posts in York was assessed by Chief Inspector Bloxham and Chief Inspector Wilkinson. My application was unsuccessful. I received a score of 3/14. The lowest score that could be received was a '2.'

'Chief Inspector Wilkinson was dismissed from the force due to allegedly racially abusing a doorman in York in June 1998. It was stated that he had brought discredit on the reputation of the force or of the police service.

'He appealed the finding to the Secretary of State.'

He said a document put before the tribunal states the punishment was upheld by the Secretary of State but that he was reinstated on October 3rd 2000 and went on to become a Chief Inspector.

Two white officers were given the temporary inspector roles.A Republican playing a leading role in the House probes into Russian election meddling and allegations of collusion between Donald Trump's campaign and the Kremlin is advising the president to submit to an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, a former prosecutor, said Wednesday that Trump should comply with such a request if he has 'nothing to hide' as he's said repeatedly.

'Only he knows what he knows, so I would tell you, if you did not rob the bank, there's no reason for you not to sit down and talk to the FBI about the bank robbery,' Gowdy said on CNN.

House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, a former prosecutor, said Wednesday that Trump should comply with such a request if he has 'nothing to hide' as he's said repeatedly

A Washington Post report on Wednesday evening revealed Trump to be a 'subject' but not a criminal 'target' of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

A Washington Post report on Wednesday evening revealed Trump to be a 'subject' but not a criminal 'target' of Mueller's investigation.

That takes the president out of his cross-hairs, for now, although Gowdy said on Fox & Friends that the president's lawyers shouldn't be breathing a sigh of relief yet.

As he explained on CNN, the only verbiage that matters in the end in a criminal case is 'defendant' and the special counsel investigation is not over yet.

'They're meaningless to me because one witness can take you from being a subject to a target, and unless and until you've interviewed everyone and looked at everything, no one has been implicated and no one had been exculpated,' Gowdy said.

Several people associated with the Trump campaign have already plead guilty to crimes in connection with the case, although none have been charged with or put away with collusion with the Russians to disrupt or swing the 2016 general election in the Republican presidential candidate's favor.

Gowdy explained on CNN that the only verbiage that matters in the end in a criminal case is 'defendant' and the special counsel investigation is not over yet

A Republican report that came out last month that Gowdy helped to write found no evidence of the alleged collusion, giving Trump's frequently repeated claims that there was none a boost.

Noting Trump's denials on Wednesday, Gowdy said, 'I do think he should sit down with Special Counsel Mueller. I think he's uniquely well-positioned to answer some of the questions that that not just special counsel but also the American people have.'

'He's been adamant that his campaign did not collude with anyone, including other segments of his campaign to get out the vote in certain states,' Gowdy said.

Gowdy said he knows that his advice to talk to Mueller puts him in the minority as far as legal experts go, but he sees no reason not to speak to the DOJ-appointed official if Trump's telling the truth.

'If you've done nothing wrong...if you have nothing to hide, sit down, assuming a fair prosecutor, a fair prosecutor -- and I think Mueller is -- sit down and tell him what you know,' he said.Otto Putland (pictured) is accused of raping a 19-year-old after she had sex with Ieuan Lloyd

A former Commonwealth Games swimmer is accused of raping a student after she had sex with another athlete from the British Olympic team.

Otto Putland, 24, is accused of jumping into bed with the 19-year-old after she had consensual sex with fellow swimmer Ieuan Lloyd.

The woman had gone back to Mr Lloyds home in Cardiff for sex with the two-time Olympian who swam at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Mr Lloyd and the woman had consensual sex - but he then allowed his 'very good friend' Mr Putland to enter the bedroom left him alone with her, Cardiff Crown Court heard today.

He is alleged to have started kissing her for the teenager to respond by saying: 'What are you doing? You cant just pass me around.'

The woman alleges that after having sex with Mr Lloyd (pictured) she was raped by Mr Putland

Mr Putland allegedly stripped naked, put a condom on and raped her in the house in Adamsdown.

The woman says she had already text a friend saying 'I need help please come and get me' when she saw Mr Putland taking his shoes off.

She said she covered her genitals with her hands and started crying while Putland allegedly told her: 'Its okay, we dont have to have sex, we can just kiss.'

Prosecutor Janet McDonald said the girl claimed she escaped and ran to the bathroom. The woman said she blacked out and woke up back in bed to find Putland raping her.

But Ms McDonald told the jury Putland had already been acquitted at an earlier trial of the second alleged rape. The women claims the earlier alleged attack still happened.

Ms McDonald said: 'She told Putland she did not want sex. He recognised this immediately. His case is that she consented. Thats the issue in this case.

Putland is alleged to have removed all of his clothing while the girl lay in bed crying before raping her

'He proved he had no respect for the complainant because his friend had had sex, it was okay for him to do so too. A man fuelled by drink, he took what he wanted.'

She said the woman's friend was alerted to the situation by phone and text messages.

'She became aware her friend was in trouble,' she said. 'The complainant said things like: I need help.

'In the phone call her friend heard the woman saying: Theyre coming back in."'

Otto Putland (pictured) is accused of stripping naked and putting on a condom before raping the student in Cardiff

Ms McDonald says friends of the woman then arrived at the address to find the door open, then went inside and called her name.

'Within a few seconds a naked Mr Lloyd turned up at the top of the stairs,' she said. 'They saw past Mr Lloyd and saw the woman in the room behind him. She came out passed him downstairs, she was crying.'

The court heard that the woman then reported the alleged rape to police in November 2016 and did not tell her family.

Lloyd (pictured) is said to have let his good friend and fellow swimmer in the room before leaving him with the woman

Ms McDonald said: 'Who would want their mother to know that she agreed to have sex with a casual acquaintance.

'That decision led to her rape by the defendant, when she was cast aside by Mr Lloyd only for his friend to then go on to rape her.

'At one stage during the rape Mr Lloyd walked into the room, picked something up and walked out.

The swimmer denies rape after he was acquitted of a separate attack

'She couldnt turn to him for help because he was the one who casually passed her onto his friend as if she were a chattel.'

Mr Putland - who competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow - was arrested in November 2016, 16 months after the alleged incident.

In police interview he said that he remembered the woman but had little memory of the night itself.

He told police that he saw that she was upset and would have stopped had he believed she did not want sex.

Miss McDonald said: 'He said if she had been saying anything to him to stop alarm bells would have rung.

'It was evident she did not want to have sex with him. She told him, she was crying and she tried to push him away.

'No man in that situation could have the belief that there was consent. This is a young man who publicly talks a good talk.'

Mr Putland of Dinedor, Hereford, represented Team Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where he competed in freestyle, backstroke and medley events. He denies one count of rape.

The trial at Cardiff Crown Court continues.Advertisement

Hope Hicks did not seem too impressed with her farewell party in Washington on Tuesday night, if this photo is anything to go by.

The departing White House communications director scowled into the camera amid a sea of smiling faces in the snap taken by President Trump's assistant Dan Scavino.

The commander in chief was unable to join the party, but was seen kissing Hicks, 29, on the cheek during a loving farewell outside the White House on Thursday.

The departing White House communications director (circled) scowled into the camera amid a sea of smiling faces in the snap taken by President Trump's assistant Dan Scavino at the leaving party on Tuesday. See below for a list of names

It is not clear where Tuesday night's party took place, although similar events have taken place at Trump International on Pennsylvania Avenue or in a private room at an apartment complex Hicks shares with several other White House staff.

A close-up of the photo taken on Tuesday showing Hicks with a scowl on her face

Scavino tweeted at 7.15pm local time: 'Beautiful #TeamTrump send off for #HopeHicks and #JoshRaffel this evening in Washington, DC! On behalf of everyone at the @WhiteHouse, THANK YOU! We love you!!'

Raffel, a senior communications manager who worked closely with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, was pictured on Hicks' left. To her left was Stephen Miller, senior policy adviser to the President.

Hicks resigned last month after an especially grueling day on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers grilled her on the Trump campaign's contacts with Russians for nearly 9 hours.

The position of communications director still remains vacant, prompting a fierce battle over who will replace Hicks in the role.

Press secretary Sarah Sanders, pictured at the centre of Savino's photo wearing a satin dress and a necklace, is pictured a likely candidate.

Counselor Kellyanne Conway, seen directly beneath Hicks in the image, and strategic communications director Mercedes Schalpp, are also seen as being in the running.

That Trump had not named anyone to the position at the time of Hicks' departure, which has been known now for weeks, suggests the position could remain vacant for some time.

WHO'S WHO IN THE TRUMP TEAM PHOTO TAKEN FOR HOPE HICK'S LEAVING PARTY? Front row: Ninio Fetalvo, assistant press secretary (1); Kelly Love, senior assistant press secretary (2); Cassidy Dumbdauld, events organizer (3); Giovanna Coia, press assistant (4); Sarah Sanders, press secretary (5); Katie Price, White House stylist (6); Ashley Mocarski, press assistant (7); Janet Montesi, special assistant to the press secretary (8); Sofia Boza-Holman, director of strategic media (9). Middle row: Raj Shah, principal deputy press secretary (10); Tony Sayegh, assistant secretary for public affairs for the U.S. treasury (11); Hogan Gidley, deputy press secretary (12); Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president (13); Lindsay Walters, deputy press secretary (14); Gary Cohn, former senior economics adviser (15); Michael Anton, deputy assistant to the president for strategic communications (16); Bryan Sanders, husband of Sarah Sanders (17). Back row: Josh Raffel, departing senior communications manager (18); Hope Hicks, departing communications director (19); Stephen Miller, senior policy adviser (20); Jessica Ditto, deputy director of communications (21). Advertisement

The tweet Scavino wrote next to the photo, which was tweeted in Washington at 10.15pm local time from an unknown location

Hicks was one of the President's longest-serving advisers, having been appointed to oversee press operations for his election campaign in 2015, and quickly became seen as a stabilizing influence in a White House riven by faction.

She became Trump's fourth communications director in 2017, one year after Sean Spicer, Michael Dubke and Anthony Scaramucci departed.

The former model has since struggled with the revelation that her then-boyfriend Rob Porter, the former White House staff secretary, had allegedly beat both of his ex-wives. They told their stories to DailyMail.com and the FBI.

Then there was the special counsel investigation into accusations of collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and the Kremlin to disrupt the 2016 election.

President Trump gave Hicks a kiss on the cheek as he said a loving goodbye to her on Thursday afternoon at the White House

Hicks was one of the President's longest-serving advisers, having been appointed to oversee press operations for his election campaign in 2015, and quickly became seen as a stabilizing influence in a White House riven by faction

At the White House, Hicks was among his inner circle of aides, taking on the role of communications director after his last one, Anthony Scaramucci, fizzled out 11 days after accepting the position.

White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters told reporters in an Air Force One briefing that Hicks was a 'tremendous leader' for the communications team.

'Shes someone who has been with the president since the early days. She was part of a team that was very small during the campaign,' Walters said.

'Since being in the administration she has provided countless amounts of advice and worked with all of you day in and day out.'

The former model has struggled with the revelation that previous boyfriend Rob Porter, the former White House staff secretary, had allegedly beat both of his ex-wives. They are pictured together in the midst of their relationship on February 7Stormy Daniels (pictured) told all about her alleged affair with Donald Trump

Anderson Cooper: For sitting here talking to me today you could be fined a million dollars I mean aren't you taking a big risk?

Stormy Daniels: I am.

Anderson Cooper: I guess I'm not 100% sure on why you're doing this.

Stormy Daniels: Because it was very important to me to be able to defend myself

Anderson Cooper: Is part of talking w-- wanting to set the record straight?

Stormy Daniels: 100%.

Anderson Cooper: Why does the record need to be set straight?

Stormy Daniels: Because people are just saying whatever they wanted to say about me, I was perfectly fine saying nothing at all, but I'm not okay with being made out to be a liar, or people thinking that I did this for money and people are like, "Oh, you're an opportunist. You're taking advantage of this. Yes, I'm getting more job offers now, but tell me one person who would turn down a job offer making more than they've been making, doing the same thing that they've always done?

Anderson Cooper: A lotta people are using you for a lotta different agendas.

Stormy Daniels: They're trying to. Like, oh, you know, Stormy Daniels comes out #MeToo. This is not a 'Me Too.' I was not a victim. I've never said I was a victim. I think trying to use me to-- to further someone else's agenda, does horrible damage to people who are true victims.

Stormy Daniels' real name is Stephanie Clifford. She's 39 years old, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and has been acting in, directing, and writing adult films for nearly 20 years. She was one of the most popular actresses in the adult industry when she was introduced to Mr. Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July, 2006. She says he invited her to dinner, and she met him at his hotel suite.

Anderson Cooper: How was the conversation?

Stormy Daniels: Ummm (LAUGH) it started off-- all about him just talking about himself. And he's like-- "Have you seen my new magazine?

Anderson Cooper: He was showing you his own picture on the cover of a magazine.

Stormy Daniels: Right, right. And so I was like, "Does this-- does this normally work for you?" And he looked very taken-- taken back, like, he didn't really understand what I was saying. Like, I was-- does, just, you know, talking about yourself normally work?" And I was like, "Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it." (LAUGH) And I'll never forget the look on his face. He was like--

Anderson Cooper: What-- what was his look?

Stormy Daniels: Just, I don't think anyone's ever spoken to him like that, especially, you know, a young woman who looked like me. And I said, you know, "Give me that," and I just remember him going, "You wouldn't." "Hand it over." And-- so he did, and I was like, turn around, drop 'em."

Stormy Daniels, an adult film star and director whose real name is Stephanie Clifford is interviewed by Anderson Cooper of CBS News' 60 Minutes program

Anderson Cooper: You-- you told Donald Trump to turn around and take off his pants.

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper: And did he?

Stormy Daniels: Yes. So he turned around and pulled his pants down a little -- you know had underwear on and stuff and I just gave him a couple swats.

Anderson Cooper: This was done in a joking manner.

Stormy Daniels: Yes. and-- from that moment on, he was a completely different person.

Anderson Cooper: How so?

Stormy Daniels: He quit talking about himself and he asked me things and I asked him things and it just became like more appropriate.

Anderson Cooper: It became more comfortable.

Stormy Daniels: Yeah. He was like, "Wow, you-- you are special. You remind me of my daughter." You know-- he was like, "You're smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you."

Anderson Cooper: At this point was he doing The Apprentice?

Stormy Daniels: Yes. And he goes, "Got an idea, honeybunch. Would you ever consider going on and-- and being a contestant?" And I laughed and-- and said, "NBC's never gonna let, you know, an adult film star be on." It's, you know, he goes, "No, no," he goes, "That's why I want you. You're gonna shock a lotta people, you're smart and they won't know what to expect"

Anderson Cooper: Did you think he was serious, or did you think he was kind of dangling to get you to wanna be involved him?

Stormy Daniels: Both.

Anderson Cooper: Melania Trump had recently given birth to-- to a son, just a few months before. Did that-- did he mention his wife or child at all in this?

Stormy Daniels: I asked. And he brushed it aside, said, "Oh yeah, yeah, you know, don't worry about that. We don't even we have separate rooms and stuff."

Anderson Cooper: Did you two go out for dinner that night?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: You had dinner in the room?

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper: What happened next?

Stormy Daniels: I asked him if I could use his restroom and he said, "Yes, you know, it's through those-- through the bedroom, you'll see it." So I-- I excused myself and I went to the-- the restroom. You know, I was in there for a little bit and came out and he was sitting, you know, on the edge of the bed when I walked out, perched.

Anderson Cooper: And when you saw that, what went through your mind?

Stormy Daniels: I realized exactly what I'd gotten myself into. And I was like, "Ugh, here we go." (LAUGH) And I just felt like maybe-- (LAUGH) it was sort of-- I had it coming for making a bad decision for going to someone's room alone and I just heard the voice in my head, "well, you put yourself in a bad situation and bad things happen, so you deserve this."

Anderson Cooper: And you had sex with him.

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper: You were 27, he was 60. Were you physically attracted to him?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Stormy Daniels says she had unprotected sex with Donald Trump and spanked him with a magazine that had his face on the cover, even though she wasn't physically attracted to him

Anderson Cooper: Not at all?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: Did you want to have sex with him?

Stormy Daniels: No. But I didn't-- I didn't say no. I'm not a victim, I'm not--

Anderson Cooper: It was entirely consensual.

Stormy Daniels: Oh, yes, yes.

Anderson Cooper: You work in an industry where condom use is-- is an issue. Did-- did he use a condom?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: Did you ask him to?

Stormy Daniels: No. I honestly didn't say anything.

Anderson Cooper: After you had sex, what happened?

Stormy Daniels: He said that it was great, he had-- a great evening, and it was nothing like he expected, that I really surprised him, that a lotta people must underestimate me-- that he hoped that I would be willing to see him again and that we would discuss the things we had talked about earlier in the evening.

Anderson Cooper: Being on The Apprentice.

Stormy Daniels: Right.

Daniels says she and Mr. Trump stayed in touch. She says he invited her to a Trump Vodka launch party in California, as well as to his office in Trump Tower in New York.

Anderson Cooper: So he definitely wanted to continue to see you.

Stormy Daniels: Oh, for sure. Yes.

Stormy Daniels: And this was not a secret. He never asked me not to tell anyone he called several times when I was in front of many people and I would be like, "Oh my God, he's calling." They were like, "Shut up, the Donald?" And I'd put him on speakerphone, and he wanted to know what I was up to and "When can we get together again? I just wanted to give you a quick update, we had a meeting, it went great. There's-- it's gonna be spectacular, they're totally into the idea," and I was like mhmm that part I never believed.

Anderson Cooper: Did you still get the sense that he was kind of dangling it in front of you--

Stormy Daniels: Oh, for sure, oh yeah.

Anderson Cooper: To keep you interested, to keep you coming back.

Stormy Daniels: Of course, of course. I mean, I'm not blind. But at the same time, maybe it'll work out, you know?

Anderson Cooper: Did you view it as this is a potential opportunity. "I'm gonna see where it goes?"

Stormy Daniels: I thought of it as a business deal.

In July 2007 -- a year after they met -- Daniels says Mr. Trump asked to meet with her privately at his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to discuss a development regarding her possible appearance on Celebrity Apprentice.

Stormy Daniels: I remember arriving, and he was watching Shark Week. He made me sit and watch an entire documentary about shark attacks.

Anderson Cooper: It wasn't at that point a business meeting, it was just watching Shark Week.

Stormy Daniels: Yeah.

Anderson Cooper: Did you have sex with him again?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: Did he want to?

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper: How do you know he wanted to?

Stormy Daniels: Because he came and sat next to me and, you know, touched my hair, and put his hand on my leg, and r-- referenced back to how great it was the last time.

Anderson Cooper: How did you get out of it?

Stormy Daniels: Well, I'd been there for, like, four hours. And so I then was like, "Well, before, you know, can we talk about what's the development?" And he was like, "I'm almost there. I'll have an answer for you next week." And I was like, "Okay, cool. Well-- I guess call me next week." And I just took my purse and left.

According to Daniels, Mr. Trump called her the following month to say he'd not been able to get her a spot on Celebrity Apprentice. She says they never met again and only had sex in that first meeting in 2006. In May 2011, Daniels agreed to tell her story to a sister publication of In Touch magazine for $15,000 dollars. Two former employees of the magazine told us the story never ran because after the magazine called Mr. Trump seeking comment, his attorney Michael Cohen threatened to sue. Daniels says she was never paid, and says a few weeks later, she was threatened by a man who approached her in Las Vegas.

Stormy Daniels: I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. T-- taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin' all the stuff out. And a guy walked up on me and said to me, "Leave Trump alone. Forget the story." And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, "That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom." And then he was gone.

Anderson Cooper: You took it as a direct threat?

Stormy Daniels: Absolutely.

Stormy Daniels: I was rattled. I remember going into the workout class. And my hands are shaking so much, I was afraid I was gonna-- drop her.

Anderson Cooper: Did you ever see that person again?

Stormy Daniels: No. But I-- if I did, I would know it right away.

Anderson Cooper: You'd be able to-- you'd be able to recognize that person?

Stormy Daniels: 100%. Even now, all these years later. If he walked in this door right now, I would instantly know.

Anderson Cooper: Did you go to the police?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: Why?

Stormy Daniels: Because I was scared.

When a gossip website reported a few months later that she'd had an affair with Mr. Trump, Stormy Daniels publically denied it. Five years later, Donald Trump won the Republican nomination for president.

Stormy Daniels: Suddenly people are reaching out to me again, offering me money. Large amounts of money. Was I tempted? Yes-- I struggle with it. And then I get the call. "I think I have the best deal for you."

Anderson Cooper: From your lawyer?

Stormy Daniels: Yeah.

The deal was an offer not to tell her story. It came from Mr. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen. In return for signing this non-disclosure agreement, Cohen would pay her $130,000 dollars through a Delaware-based limited liability corporation he had established in mid-October 2016 called essential consultants. Daniels says the agreement was appealing because it meant she would receive some money but also not have to worry about the effect the revelation of the affair would have on her child who was now old enough to watch the news. She signed the agreement eleven days before the election.

Anderson Cooper: Was it hush money to stay silent?

Stormy Daniels: Yes. The story was coming out again. I was concerned for my family and their safety.

Anderson Cooper: I think some people watching this are going to doubt that you entered into this negotiation-- because you feared for your safety. They're gonna think y-- that you saw an opportunity.

Stormy Daniels: I think the fact that I didn't even negotiate, I just quickly said yes to this v-- very, you know, strict contract. And what most people will agree with me extremely low number. It's all the proof I need.

Anderson Cooper: you feel like if you had wanted to go public, you could have gotten paid a lot of money to go public--

Stormy Daniels: Without a doubt. I know for a fact. I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, in my heart, and some people argue that I don't have one of those, but whatever, that I was doing the right thing. I turned down a large payday multiple times because one, I didn't wanna kiss and tell and be labeled all the things that I'm being labeled now. I didn't wanna take away from the legitimate and legal, I'd like to point out, career that I've worked very hard to establish. And most importantly, I did not want my family and my child exposed to all the things that she's being exposed to right now. because everything that I was afraid of coming out has come out anyway, and guess what? I don't have a million dollars. (LAUGH) You didn't even buy me breakfast.

Anderson Cooper asked Daniels whether she was 'taking a big risk' speaking to him

15 months after she signed the non-disclosure agreement, in January 2018, the Wall Street Journal published this story, quoting anonymous sources, saying that Mr. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen had paid her for her silence. Daniels says she was not the source of the story. But once it was published, she says she was pressured by her former attorney and former business manager to sign statements that Michael Cohen released publically, denying she'd had an affair with Mr. Trump.

Anderson Cooper: So you signed and released-- a statement that said I am not denying this affair because I was paid in hush money I'm denying it because it never happened. That's a lie?

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper: If it was untruthful, why did you sign it?

Stormy Daniels: Because they made it sound like I had no choice.

Anderson Cooper: I mean, no one was putting a gun to your head?

Stormy Daniels: Not physical violence, no.

Anderson Cooper: you thought that there would be some sort of legal repercussion if you didn't sign it?

Stormy Daniels: Correct. As a matter of fact, the exact sentence used was, "They can make your life hell in many different ways."

Anderson Cooper: They being

Stormy Daniels: I'm not exactly sure who they were. I believe it to be Michael Cohen.

President Trump's attorney Michael Cohen has denied ever threatening Stormy Daniels. The payment Cohen made to her is now the subject of complaints to the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission, alleging that it was an illegal campaign contribution.

What makes the dispute between Stormy Daniels and the president more than a high-profile tabloid scandal is that her silence was purchased eleven days before the presidential election, which may run afoul of campaign finance laws. The president's long-time lawyer Michael Cohen says he used $130,000 of his own money to pay Stormy Daniels. Cohen has said the money was not a campaign contribution. But Trevor Potter, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission appointed by President George H.W. Bush, told us he doesn't agree.

Trevor Potter: The payment of the money just creates an enormous legal mess for I think Trump, for Cohen and anyone else who was involved in this in the campaign.

Anderson Cooper: Are you saying that can be seen as a contribution to benefit a campaign?

Trevor Potter: I am. it's a $130,000 in-kind contribution by Cohen to the Trump campaign, which is about $126,500 above what he's allowed to give. And if he does this on behalf of his client, the candidate, that is a coordinated, illegal, in-kind contribution by Cohen for the purpose of influencing the election, of benefiting the candidate by keeping this secret.

The payment Stormy Daniels received is the subject of complaints by watchdog groups to the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission, which Trevor Potter used to be chairman of. He's now president of the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center, which supports the enforcement of campaign finance laws.

Anderson Cooper: If the president paid Michael Cohen back, is that an in-kind campaign contribution that the president should've then reported?

Trevor Potter: It is. If he was then reimbursed by the president, that doesn't remove the fact that the initial payment violated Cohen's contribution limits. I guess it mitigates it if he's paid back by the candidate because the candidate could have paid for it without limit.

Anderson Cooper: What if the president never reimbursed Michael Cohen?

Trevor Potter: Then he is still out on the line, having made a illegal in-kind contribution to the campaign.

Anderson Cooper: You're saying this is more serious for Michael Cohen if the president did not pay him back?

Trevor Potter: Yes. I think that's correct.

We wanted to speak with Mr. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen about this, but he did not respond to our calls and written request for comment. Cohen told The New York Times last month he used his own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels and said, "Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump Campaign reimbursed me for the payment." this past week, Cohen told Vanity Fair magazine, "What I did defensively for my personal client, and my friend, is what attorneys do for their high-profile clients. I would have done it in 2006. I would have done it in 2011. I truly care about him and the family -- more than just as an employee and an attorney."

Michael Avenatti: It's laughable. It's ludicrous. It's preposterous.

Anderson Cooper: Lawyers don't do that, you're saying. You-- you--

Michael Avenatti: Ever.

Michael Avenatti is Stormy Daniels' attorney. He's a Los Angeles trial lawyer who is suing the president in a California court, seeking to have Stormy Daniels' non-disclosure agreement -- or "NDA" -- declared invalid, in part because the president never signed it on the lines provided for his alias -- "D.D.," David Dennison.

Anderson Cooper: Michael Cohen has said, "Look, this had nothing to do with the election." He would've made this agreement months before.

Michael Avenatti: So why didn't he? It just slipped his mind? It's just a coincidence that, in the waning days of the campaign, he thought to himself, "Oh, you know, I know I've been thinkin' about this for years. Perhaps now is a good time to get that NDA executed with Stormy Daniels."

Avenatti disputes the notion that Cohen was working in a purely personal capacity when he arranged the hush money for Stormy Daniels. He's found documents that show Michael Cohen used his Trump Organization email address in setting up the payment. He also says the non-disclosure agreement Stormy Daniels signed in 2016, when she was represented by a different lawyer, was FedExed to Cohen at his Trump Organization office in Trump Tower in New York.

Michael Avenatti: That is a copy of the Federal Express confirmation

The cover letter from Daniels' previous attorney also identifies who he thought Michael Cohen was working for.

Michael Avenatti: To Mr. Cohen as executive vice president and special counsel to Donald J. Trump, the Trump Organization, again-- listing the 5th Avenue address. this idea that there's a separation now between Mr. Cohen, individually, and the Trump Organization or Mr. Cohen, individually, and Donald Trump, it-- it-- it's nonsense.

Anderson Cooper: There are people who argue that this much ado about nothing, that if this was not a story about, an adult film actress and the President of the United States, no one would pay attention.

Michael Avenatti: This is about the cover-up. This is about the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her, to threaten her, and to put her under their thumb. It is thuggish behavior from people in power. And it has no place in American democracy.

Avenatti points to this recent court filing in which the president's lawyers claim Daniels is already liable for damages "in excess of $20 million" for unspecified violations of her non-disclosure agreement. And in that article in Vanity Fair this past week, Michael Cohen said that when he wins damages from Stormy Daniels, "I might even take an extended vacation on her dime."

Anderson Cooper: You're saying they're tryin' to intimidate her.

Michael Avenatti: There's no question. You threaten someone-- with a $20 million lawsuit, it's a thuggish tactic. It's no different than what happened in the parking lot in Las Vegas.

Anderson Cooper: People make threats in lawsuits all the time. People, you know, say, "You're gonna have to pay a lot of money when you lose this-- this case."

Michael Avenatti: People don't threaten people with $20 million lawsuits, that they're gonna take their home and take an extended vacation on the money they receive. People don't conduct themselves like this. They don't. And they shouldn't.

Anderson Cooper: Stormy Daniels did sign the agreement. She got $130,000. Isn't she welching on a deal?

Michael Avenatti: No, she's not welching on a deal, 'cause there never was a deal.

Anderson Cooper: But she still took the money.

Michael Avenatti: She took the money. But the fact of the matter is Mr. Trump never signed the agreement. He was obligated to sign the agreement in order for the agreement to spring into effect.

That's not true, according to Michael Cohen, who has said only his signature was required. What was also required under the non-disclosure agreement was for Stormy Daniels to turn over all "video images, still images, email messages, and text messages," she had regarding Mr. Trump.

Anderson Cooper: Did you do that?

Stormy Daniels: I can't answer that right now.

Anderson Cooper: You don't want to say one way or the other if you have text messages or other items?

Stormy Daniels: My attorney has recommended that I don't discuss those things.

Anderson Cooper: You seem to be saying that she has some sort of text message, or video, or-- or photographs. Or you could just be bluffing.

Michael Avenatti: You should ask some of the other people in my career when they've bet on me bluffing.

Anderson Cooper: In college and law school, you did opposition research for Democratic political operative Rahm Emanuel. Some people looking at that would say you're politically motivated,

Michael Avenatti: I haven't done anything in politics in over 20 years.

Anderson Cooper: But this is not the usual case you take on. You were a former Democratic operative. And you're talking about deposing the president. That sounds political."

Michael Avenatti: No, it sounds righteous.

Anderson Cooper: How so?

Michael Avenatti: Because my client is credible. She's tellin' the truth.

Trevor Potter, the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, says the agency's investigations often take a long time and usually result only in monetary penalties. But there is another scenario that could present a problem for the president: special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In March, the Washington Post reported that the "special counsel has examined episodes involving Michael Cohen," including his efforts to launch a Trump-branded project in Moscow in the fall of 2015 when Mr. Trump was seeking the Republican nomination.

Anderson Cooper: is there any way that special counsel Robert Mueller could investigate the Stormy Daniels payment?

Trevor Potter: Yeah that's the wildcard here.

Anderson Cooper: As a prosecutor, you wanna get leverage over somebody that you could then use to get them to give you other information on which--

Trevor Potter: Correct.

Anderson Cooper: --you're really interested in?

Trevor Potter: Correct.

That's what special counsel Mueller appears to be doing with Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump's former campaign chairman, who faces multiple charges including tax and bank fraud.

Anderson Cooper: Paul Manafort has been charged with crimes that don't have anything to do with Russia in some cases.

Trevor Potter: Well, and that certainly preceded the campaign. And so-- clearly, the Justice Department, the deputy attorney general who is ultimately in charge of this, has determined that looking at what Manafort did in other contexts-- is relevant to the investigation. And I think you can say exactly the same thing about Cohen. He was-- involved-- indisputably with Trump Organization activities with Russia and negotiations with the Russians. Mr. Cohen is in the middle of a place that's of great interest to the Special Counsel.

Anderson Cooper: Is there any recent precedent for p-- prosecuting somebody for an undisclosed campaign contribution?

Trevor Potter: As it happens, there is. There's sort of a pretty spectacular one.

Former Senator John Edwards was prosecuted, but never convicted, for payments a supporter and his campaign finance chairman made a year before the 2008 election to a woman who'd had Edwards' child.

Trevor Potter: I think the Edwards case is not as strong as the facts we have so far in the Trump case.

Anderson Cooper: Why do you think the potential case against Cohen or Trump is a stronger case than the Edwards case?

Trevor Potter: The timing of it. It wasn't the year before the election. It's right in the middle of the run-up to Election Day. When-- Trump's conduct with women was a prime campaign issue. In fact, it was what everyone was focused on.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not respond to our request for comment from the president. But we did receive a letter from Mr. Trump's attorney Charles Harder, who asked that we show on camera and read on air one of the statements Stormy Daniels signed in January, denying reports she'd had an affair with Mr. Trump. It says, in part:

"My involvement with Donald Trump was limited to a few public appearances and nothing more."

Anderson Cooper: If Stormy Daniels denied the affair in 2011, which you say is a lie, denied the affair in early January 2018, denied the affair in late January of 2018, doesn't that hurt her credibility? I mean, she's lying, she's lying, she's lying.

Michael Avenatti: I think there's no question that it calls into question her credibility. I also think that there's no question that when the American people take all of the facts and evidence into consideration, that they are going to conclude that this woman is telling the truth. And Anderson, to the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have an alternative version of the facts let them come forward and state it unequivocally.

Anderson Cooper: But come on. You would not sign statements one, two, three times about something which you knew to be a lie.

Michael Avenatti: If the President of the United States' fixer made it clear to me, either directly or indirectly, that I needed to sign it, and I was in the position of Stormy Daniels, I might sign those statements

Stormy Daniels: I felt intimidated and s-- honestly bullied. And I didn't know what to do. And so I signed it. Even though I had repeatedly expressed that I wouldn't break the agreement, but I was not comfortable lying.

Anderson Cooper: How do we know you're telling the truth?

Stormy Daniels: 'Cause I have no reason to lie. I'm opening myself up for, you know, possible danger and definitely a whole lot of s***.

Anderson Cooper: But, you know, there is a potential ups-- financial upside maybe somebody will want you to write a book. Maybe, you know, you can go on a bigger tour and make more money--

Stormy Daniels: That's--

Anderson Cooper: --dancing?

Stormy Daniels: That's a lot of ifs. I could also get shunned. I mean, I could automatically be alienating half of my fanbase right at this very moment.

Anderson Cooper: Jenna Jameson-- another well-known-- adult film actress said recently about you, "The left looks at her as a whore and just uses her to try to discredit the president. The right looks at her like a treacherous rat. It's a lose-lose. Should've kept her trap shut."

Stormy Daniels: I think that she has a lotta wisdom in those words.

Anderson Cooper: The president watches 60 Minutes, if he's watching tonight, what would you say to him?

Stormy Daniels: he knows I'm telling the truth.Critics have blamed the shooting at YouTube's sprawling HQ in San Bruno, California, on lax security and the technology industry's apparent obsession with giving employees a trendy work environment and good benefits over safety.

On Tuesday, Nasim Aghdam injured three of the company's employees then killed herself with a handgun after seemingly walking onto its 200,000 sq ft campus.

Her exact movements remain unclear but she was able to gain access to an outdoor courtyard space through a parking garage.

She then opened fire in an area filled with picnic tables where the staff had gathered for a lunchtime party.

Two of her three victims fled to a Carl's Jr across the road after being shot but the third was found in the San Bruno complex and taken to hospital.

An aerial view of YouTube's San Bruno complex shows its three buildings and the outdoor eating area where the shooter was found dead. It remains unclear how she got access to the 200,000 sq ft complex or what measures were in place, if any, to stop her from simply walking onto the premises

At the offices, at least 1,100 employees enjoy amenities including a lap pool, sleep pods, numerous outdoor green spaces and a novelty slide which takes them from the second to first floor.

Google, YouTube's parent company, rented it initially but bought it for $88million in 2015.

The complex is among the trendy and gimmick-heavy work environments that Silicon Valley is known for.

But security experts have spoken out in light of Tuesday's shooting to describe the difficulties in striking a balance between the free and easy workplaces tech giants desire to build for staff and safety.

Silicon Valley insiders who are familiar with the complex have also compared it to a college campus and revealed how easy it is to get in and out.

'They feel like college campuses... it's relatively easy to get access to these buildings,' ara Swisher, co-founder of the technology news website Recode, told MSNBC on Tuesday.

A closer look at the proposal shows the area colored in red which would become the campus

There is a slide inside the campus where employees can get from one floor to another. Above, crowds gather to watch it being tested out in 2011 after it was installed

Also on site is a lap pool for staff to exercise in. It remains unclear how tight security is

She added that while YouTube has armed security guards, they may not

'This can be a challenge. People and employees want the freedom to come and go. But employers may want something completely different. Security experts have to help find a balance,' Robert Costa, president of Hayward-based South County Security Services, told The Mercury News on Tuesday.

John Spesak, chief executive officer with Security Industry Specialists in Culver City, added: 'That balance is an area that we constantly revisit.

'We have an ongoing dialogue about this balance.'

Tech bosses however say they want the emphasis to be on reducing pressure for already stressed staff.

'There are so many things in Silicon Valley that create pressure. We want to make sure we dont just put people in isolated silos.

'We need to foster and create an open community,' Gary Dillabough, a managing partner with the Navitas Group and The Westley Group venture capital firms, said.

YouTube is not alone with its playground-like office.

A view of one of the interior courtyards at YouTube's HQ in San Bruno. Google, its parent company, bought the complex for $88million in 2015

In a promotional picture, a YouTube employee is shown getting around the site on a scooter. 1,100 employees go to work at the campus

At Google, which is on the same complex, there is also a slide inside the main office to take employees from floor to floor.

Facebook has a similar campus in Menlo Park where employees get around on bicycles. There is a bike repair shop for them to drop off at if they need any work done.

They also have shuttle buses which take employees to and from San Francisco every day and there are apartments on site.

Among those crying out for tightened security at all of the sites in the wake of Tuesday's shooting was the NRA.

Its national spokeswoman Dana Loesch said it was a 'weakness' in the building's planning or security which allowed Aghdam to open fire.

'The weakness will be found. Otherwise it wouldnt have happened,' she said on the association's own TV channel.

YouTube's parent company Google, which commented after the shooting on Tuesday to say it would cooperate with authorities, did not respond to questions about its security measures on Wednesday.

Nasim Aghdam's body lies beneath a yellow tarp next to smashed glass on a door in the campus on TuesdayThe California Highway Patrol has released a photo that shows Jennifer Hart just hours before her she drove off a coastal cliff.

The bodies of Jennifer Hart and her wife Sarah, both 38, were pulled from the wrecked SUV, along with three of their six kids.

Police continue to search for the three other children, but they are presumed dead.

Investigators believe that Jennifer drove the car off the cliff intentionally.

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Surveillance footage shows Jennifer Hart (right) checking out of a grocery store in Fort Bragg, California just hours before she is believed to have driven off a cliff with her wife and their kids inside

Cops believe Hart drove off the cliff intentionally. She's pictured above with her wife Sarah and their six kids. From left to right: Hannah, Abigail, Sierra, Jeremiah, Jennifer, Devonte, Markis and Sarah Hart

Three of the children's bodies were found dead outside the car. Authorities have spent the past week trawling the ocean for the missing three children - Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15, and Sierra, 12

On Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol revealed more details about the family's movements in the days before their deaths.

The family appear to have left their home in Woodland, Washington on March 23, after a neighbor called Child Protective Services to report that the couple weren't feeding the kids.

Two days later, a family cellphone pings in Newport, Oregon, around 8:15am.

CHP believes the family then drove south on Highway 101, and then State Route 1, arriving in the Fort Bragg, California area 12 hours later.

It's believe that the family stayed the night in the area, since Jennifer was seen checking out of a Fort Bragg grocery store around 8:15am on Sunday, March 25.

Authorities say the family stayed in Fort Bragg until 9pm that evening, at which point it seems they turned around and started traveling north again on State Route 1.

It's unclear when exactly the couple drove off a cliff near Westport, California. But officials say it happened sometime between Sunday night and Monday afternoon.

Jennifer was behind the wheel at the time, with her wife in the front passenger seat. Three of their children's bodies - Abigail, Jeremiah and Markis - were found dead outside the vehicle. Their other three kids - Hannah, Sierra and Devonte - are still unaccounted for, but presumed dead.

Wednesday morning, a massive search effort of more than 70 people were scheduled to look for evidence and signs of the children's bodies at low tide.

Officials had previously said they believed all the children were in the vehicle and the other bodies may have been washed into the ocean.

Anyone with information on the Hart family is being asked to call the California Highway Patrol's Ukiah Area office at (707) 467-4000 or the Mendocino County Sheriffs Office at (707) 463-4086.

On Tuesday, further details were revealed about the family's prior child abuse cases.

Records showed that the Hart children were removed from public school in Alexandria, Minnesota the day after Sarah Hart reached a probation agreement in a child abuse case on April 14, 2011.

That came a week after Hart pleaded guilty to physically abusing one of her daughters, who was six at the time.

The kids were taken out of school and moved to Oregon, where they were privately educated from there on out, the Oregonian reported.

The family later moved to Woodland, Washington, where they were living at the time of their deaths.

Investigators are now examining 'red flags' in the Washington family's past in the hope of explaining why they drove off the cliff in an apparent suicide plunge.

Another search for the missing children was scheduled to take place Wednesday, during low tide

While investigators initially said there was no indication the crash was anything but an accident, data from the vehicle's software now suggested the incident was deliberate.

'This situation may have been an intentional act and not the result of a traffic collision,' the highway patrol said.

The SUV appears to have stopped at a dirt pull-off area about 70 feet from the cliff, according to the vehicle's on-board computer.

It then accelerated over the edge, leaving no skid marks or other indications of a collision. The SUV fell into rocks and was found partially submerged about 100 feet below the highway.

Investigators are now examining 'red flags' in the Washington family's past in the hope of explaining why they drove off the cliff in an apparent suicide plunge

These are the tracks left by the car when it went over the edge of the cliff

Police searched the family's home in Woodland, Washington, about 500 miles north of the crash site, but found no suicide note.

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services said it opened an investigation into the family for potential child neglect or abuse after a complaint on March 23.

Days before the wreck was discovered, neighbors called authorities to say one of the youngsters had been coming to their house almost daily asking for something to eat and complaining that his parents were withholding food as punishment.

Investigators last week obtained a search warrant for the family's home in Woodland and looked for itineraries, bank and phone records, credit card receipts, journals or other documents that might shed light on the case.

Long before the crash, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty in 2011 to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota over what she said was a spanking given to one of her children.

The Hart family gained attention in 2014 after one of the children, Devonte, was photographed crying in the arms of a white police officer at a protest after the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.A drunken tourist who jumped into a crocodile pool after downing drinks with his pals had an arm ripped off and his head torn from side to side in another crocodile's jaws.

Collin Miller, 21, had inexplicably decided to break into crocodile cage diving attraction at Victoria Falls along the Zimbabwe- South Africa border, whilst out drinking.

Incredibly, he escaped with his life after the three crocodiles released him to fight over his torn off arm allowing a worker and another man to drag the tourist to safety.

The Zimbabwe Chronicle reported that the drama happened when the group reached a brewery situated right next to a crocodile cage diving company for tourists.

A drunken tourist who jumped into a crocodile pool after downing drinks with his pals had an arm ripped off and his head torn from side to side in another crocodile's jaws

Eyewitnesses said Mr Miller, reputedly the worse for wear, inexplicably went into the brewery kitchen and jumped out a window and into the crocodile farm next door.

Even though in a clearly marked and restricted area, he then climbed over a fence and jumped into the pool of an attraction that allows tourists to dive with Nile crocodiles.

Three crocodiles were said to have been basking in the pool at the time when the wedding guest is said to have taken off his shirt and jumped in with the scaly beasts.

Terrified onlookers said the crocodiles went into a feeding frenzy with one reptile ripping off Collin's arm and another clamping its jaws around his head and shaking.

Fortunately for him the crocodile that had his head was said to have let go and chased after the crocodile with Collin's arm allowing two brave rescuers to grab him.

They pulled the blood soaked man from the water and over the fence to safety while the three crocodiles said to be up to three metres long fought over his missing arm.

Collin Miller, 21, had inexplicably decided to break into crocodile cage diving attraction (above) at Victoria Falls along the Zimbabwe-South Africa border, whilst out drinking

Miller, of Lusaka, Zambia, had gone to Victoria Falls a few days before a friends' wedding and had gone out drinking locally, according to local reports.

A witness said: 'Mr Miller lost his left arm and sustained fractured ribs and injuries to his head and was stabilised and immediately airlifted to South Africa'.

He said to be stable in an unnamed private health facility over the border and the wedding went ahead without him two days later as planned at Victoria Falls.

Mr Miller's bizarre decision to swim with the maneaters happened at 9pm last Thursday after his group entered the Victoria Falls River Brewing Company for a drink.

The company's director Mr Mike Danes declined to talk about the incident but referred the press to a statement which chronicled how the incident happened.

However the company stressed although Mr Miller exited their property via a kitchen window, they do not keep crocodiles, and the croc pool was next door.

It read: 'On Thursday evening a member of the public deliberately climbed over a protective fence and entered the crocodile pool which houses three crocodiles.

'He deliberately put his life in extreme danger and was rescued by incredible efforts of two very brave men including an employee of the Crocodile Cage Diving Company.

'He sustained several injuries including loss of arm.

'The River Brewing Company wishes him a very speedy recovery and we are grateful to the quick thinking and bravery of his rescuers in saving him'.

The Victoria Falls River Brewing Company manufactures many different kinds of beer and also operates a restaurant on the same premises at Busy Island

Mr Miller, of Lusaka, Zambia, had been booked in to stay a local lodge ahead of the wedding ceremony and is said to have gone on a drinking spree with friends.

He allegedly entered the restaurant kitchen without the knowledge of staff and climbed through a window and over a fence leading to the crocodile pool next door.

An eye witness said:'We were shocked when he just stormed into the kitchen despite a sign prohibiting members of the public and exited the window.

'He jumped into the pool and the crocodiles immediately pounced on him. 'He is lucky because alert guests quickly followed and rescued him but one of the crocs had already cut off his arm.

'The other crocodile nearly crushed his head but it turned away to chase after the one with the arm and that's how he was rescued'. Miller was rushed to Chinotimba Medical Centre before being airlifted to South Africa for further treatment.

Hwange District Medical Officer Dr Wisdom Kurauone confirmed the incident. Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) public relations manager described the incident as 'unfortunate'.

They said: 'We urge all foreign tourists to avoid taking unnecessary risks when dealing with animals.'This is the cute moment a six-month-old elephant was filmed laughing hysterically laughing during a game with her carer.

Laura-Jane, from Aberdeenshire, filmed the brilliant footage at the Maevang Elephant Camp, Chiang Mai,Thailand, during her two-month holiday to celebrating her graduation from university.

The baby elephant was filmed as it was entertained by one of the carers with a plastic bucket, and was seen having the time of her life with visitors looking on in amusement.

Laura-Jane, a PhD geology student, said she was moved by the elephant's innocence and playful nature during her time caring and feeding the baby animal.

She said: 'It made me feel so happy to see the elephant obviously having such a good time.

'We watched the baby being playful, relaxed and care-free all day.

Laura-Jane, from Aberdeenshire, filmed the brilliant footage at the Maevang Elephant Camp, Chiang Mai, Thailand, during her two-month holiday to celebrate her graduation from university

'She seemed to be quite a cheeky little girl, and at one point even tried to eat my top.'

The elephant's mother can be seen trying to keep a close eye on her offspring as she is also being cared for by a park keeper.

Laura-Jane said: 'In the afternoon, we got to ride the older elephants for a little way through the jungle.

'The baby came along for a stroll and to have some fun.'

After originally being posted online in 2014, Laura-Jane recently re-shared the post much to the amusement of her Facebook friends.An innocent mother-of-nine and her nephew were executed in their own home in a case of mistaken identity during 'tit-for-tat' violence in north London, a court has heard.

Annie Besala Ekofo, 53, and 21-year-old psychology student Bervil Kalikaka-Ekofo were shot at a flat in East Finchley in September 2016. Obina Ezeoke, 25, is now on trial for murder.

Jurors at the Old Bailey heard neither Bervil nor Annie were the intended targets of the night-time attack.

Murdered student Bervil Kalikaka-Ekofo with his late aunt Annie Besala Ekofo. The two were 'executed' at their family home in North London, a court heard today

Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC: '(Ezeoke) went there quite deliberately, with a gun and of course sufficient ammunition to use it, to attack and kill one of the young men of the family, probably one of the younger ones in their teens.

'That was part of what you will hear was a vendetta of violence - tit for tat violence.

'The killer's hate was such that he did not falter when confronted by a second person, he simply took her life as well.

'In fact, as you will hear and may well conclude when you have heard all of the evidence, both lives taken were wholly innocent.

'The young man killed, shot through the head, was a cousin and was in fact visiting the premises at short notice for one night only and was not one of those who could have been expected to be there on any night of the year.'

Mrs Ekofo came to the UK with her husband from the Congo in 1991. Four other people were also in the house but were unharmed in the attack at around 6.25am on 15 September 2016.

Neither Ms Ekofo nor 21-year-old Bervil were the intended victim of the attack, the jury heard

Describing killings, Mr Heywood told the court Ezeoke crept into the house through an unlocked door and found Bervil sleeping.

He said: 'The killer raised the muzzle just enough and placed it at the back of the sleeping, dreadlocked head.

'And then, with a deliberation and purpose that was as cowardly as it was murderous, he simply pulled the trigger.

'The silence of the home, the neighbourhood, was shattered and the life was immediately taken.'

At the sound of the noise, Mrs Ekofo came out from her bedroom down the hall to investigate.

Police at the scene after the two killings in East Finchley, north London in September 2016

'The killer did not hesitate,' said Mr Heywood. 'Given his purpose and because he could not afford to be seen, and so caught, it suited him to use the weapon again.

'Rather than simply raise it for example to threaten or ward off, or just simply turn and run out of the front door, he instead levelled the weapon a second time and he pulled the trigger, even as the nearly naked woman bent away from the lethal danger that must have been obvious.

'His aim was central, towards the chest and the vital organs. For the second time in one minute the killer took a life.'

Ezeoke, of no fixed address, denies two counts of murder. The trial continues.Outgoing national security advisor H.R. McMaster delivered a blunt speech warning about the Russia threat on the same day President Trump, who fired him, said it would be a 'great thing' to have better relations with Vladimir Putin.

McMaster, who did not overtly criticize Trump in his speech to the Atlantic Council, did not hold back on Russian President Vladimir Putin  nor did he shy from calling out Russian cyber meddling and other actions outside international norms.

He called out Russia's 'old and new forms of aggression' in a speech timed with the visit of three Baltic leaders, where he faulted the West for failing to forcefully respond.

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Outgoing national security advisor H.R. McMaster spoke about Russian aggression in a speech to the Atlantic Council

'For too long some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats. Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions. And we have failed to impose sufficient costs,' said McMaster, an Army general who is on his way out the door.

He identified Russia as being behind the attack on Russian spy Sergei Skripal in London  a move that brought condemnation and prompted the Trump administration to kick out 60 Russian diplomats from the U.S.

He called it an 'attempted murder,' and noted it was the first use of an offensive chemical weapon in Europe since the Second World World  as well as 'an assault on the United Kingdom's sovereignty.'

'The Kremlin's confidence is growing as its agents conduct their sustained campaigns to undermine our confidence in ourselves and in one another,' McMaster warned.

'The Kremlin's confidence is growing. Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies,' said McMaster

Trump was vague about future U.S.-Russia ties but cocksure about the economic and military squeeze his administration has applied to his Moscow counterpart Vladimir Putin

He observed: 'The Kremlin's confidence is growing. Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies.'

'Mr. Putin may believe that he is winning in this new form of warfare. He may believe his aggressive actions, can undermine our confidence, our institutions, and our values,' McMaster said. 'He is wrong. Russian aggression is strengthening our resolve and our confidence.'

His slap at Putin came as the president was far more equivocal.

Trump said Tuesday  the same day as McMaster's speech  that, 'Ideally we want to get along with Russia. Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Maybe we will, maybe we won't,' Trump said.

The president also claimed: 'Probably no one has been tougher to Russia than Donald Trump.'

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in November at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Da Nang, Vietnam

McMaster had tough words for Russia in his Atlantic Council speech

Trump also mused on the potential for having good relations with Putin  even as he said the U.S. was energy independent and strong militarily in what he described as a counter to Russia.

'I think I could have a very good relationship with President Putin. I think!' he said. 'It's possible I won't. Then you will know about it. Believe me, this room will know about it before I know about it.'

Trump also said Tuesday: 'I think I could have a very good relationship with Russia, and President Putin, and that would be a great thing.

He added: 'And there's also a good possibility that won't happen.'

McMaster noted that Russia also seeks to intimidate some of its smaller neighbors.

'Since the denial-of-service attacks on Estonia in 2007 and the invasion of Georgia in 2008, Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability,' he said.

'Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have all been targeted by Russias so-called hybrid warfare, a pernicious form of aggression that combines political, economic, informational, and cyber assaults against sovereign nations. Russia employs sophisticated strategies deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target states threshold for a military response. Tactics include infiltrating social media, spreading propaganda, weaponizing information, and using other forms of subversion and espionage.'

He also pointed to Russian 'cyber attacks'  though he didn't specifically mention its interference in the 2016 presidential election.

'Russia has also conducted numerous cyberattacks against free nations. On March 15, the Trump administration released a report condemning the Russian government for malicious cyber intrusions that targeted U.S. critical infrastructure, including our energy sector. And we also know that Russia was behind the recent NotPetya cyberattack that caused billions of dollars in damage around the world,' McMaster said.

He also called out Russian intercepts of U.S. an allied aircraft.

He also invoked World War II, where the U.S. and Russia partnered against a common threat, in a show of resolve.

'Russian aggression is strengthening our resolve and our confidence. We might all help Mr. Putin understand his grave error. We might show him the beaches of Normandy, where lingering craters and bullet holes demonstrate the Wests will to sacrifice to preserve our freedom,' McMaster said.

'We might bring him to our concert halls and theaters, where the music and art of our people reveal our freedom to create, imagine, and to dream. We might take him to our universities, where the free exchange of ideas among young men and women displays our freedom to learn, to speak, and to achieve our highest aims. We might lead him to the stately buildings here in Washington, where inscriptions carved deep into stone proclaim that we are free to worship, equal under the law, and opposed to every form of tyranny over the mind of man.'This is the shocking moment two thugs burst into a Co-op and raided the self-service tills.

Police were called to reports of a robbery in Sale, Greater Manchester on Thursday after the gang emptied cash and attacked staff members inside the store.

Footage shows the two men having gone into the shop and grabbing members of staff inside, demanding money, before forcing them into the back room.

Scroll down for video

This is the shocking moment a group of thugs burst into a Co-op and raided the self-service tills in Sale, Greater Manchester on Thursday

After taking the cash, the gang asked for access to the self-service tills, which they stole more money from.

The duo then fled from the shop in a grey Audi A3.

Detective Constable Dan Hayes of GMP's Trafford borough, said: 'The offenders were so set on taking money that they had no concern for the safety of the shop's hard-working staff.

Police were called to reports of a robbery in Sale, Greater Manchester on Thursday after the gang emptied cash and attacked staff members inside the store

Footage shows the two men having gone into the shop and grabbing members of staff inside, demanding money, before forcing them into the back room

'They were left shaken by the incident and it's fortunate that the staff were only left with minor injuries as a result.

'This happened at opening time, so I'd ask anyone who was in the area and saw the two men around the shop, or for anyone who recognises the men in the footage, to get in touch with police.'

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 0161 856 1537 or 101, quoting incident number 269 of 22/03/18. Reports can also be made anonymously through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.The discovery of part of an anti-aircraft missile on a remote Scottish beach has prompted a warning to the public.

The remains of a Rapier missile were discovered in South Uist, in the Outer Hebrides, on Monday evening.

The wreckage did not contain any part of the missile's 1.4kg explosive warhead but HM Coastguard warned the public not to approach unusual items on the beach.

Part of a Rapier anti-aircraft missile was found on a river bank on South Uist on the Outer Hebrides. The missile is believed to have been fired from a nearby missile range

It is believed the missile came from the Benbecula Radar Dome area

The remains of the missile were found beside the River Howmore

It is believed the 1,500mph missile was fired from the military testing range at nearby Benbecula.

A picture shows what appears to be a middle section of the missile with fins still attached and pipes emerging from the bottom.

The coastguard statement revealed that their Benbecula and Lochboisdale teams investigated 'following a report of ordnance by the river at Howmore, Isle of South Uist'.

They stated: 'The object was confirmed to be part of an expended Rapier missile and has now been disposed of by the relevant authority.

The Rapier missile, pictured here being live-fired at Benbecula flew some 20 miles

'If you find something unusual on the shore, please do not touch it, dial 999, and ask for a coastguard.'

Rapier is a surface-to-air missile developed for the British Army and first entered service in 1972.

Following the 1982 Falklands War, Britain originally estimated Rapier missiles had downed as many as 20 Argentine aircraft.

However, Argentina credited the missile with shooting down no more than one to three of their aircraft.

To this day, it remains one of the UK's primary air-defence weapons with its deployment expected to continue until 2020.

The remains of the missile washed up approximately 30 miles from Scotland's air defence radar station, Remote Radar Head Benbecula (RRH Benbecula).

The station is operated by the Royal Air Force and was once associated with a nearby weapons testing centre which is now known as MOD Hebrides

The MOD Hebrides Range performs complex weapons trials and in-service firings.

The Range occupies 115,000km and its nearby airfield is used for air-launched weapons operations.The parents of a special needs boy are suing Atlanta Public Schools because they claim he was raped in a school bathroom by a student who should have been suspended.

The federal suit was filed on the two-year anniversary of the alleged assault at the all-boys B.E.S.T Academy.

Despite the boy being 16 at the time of the supposed attack, they say he had the 'mental capacity of a six-to-nine-year-old'.

Atlanta Public Schools is accused of failing on multiple fronts to protect the alleged victim and the parents are seeking unspecified damages for mental, physical and emotional injuries

The suit, first reported on by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, alleges that the boy was raped by a student with a history of 'mental health, violent behavioral and emotional issues'.

On the day of the assault, the attacker is alleged to have been permitted to roam the school without supervision despite serving an in-school suspension.

He is said to have kicked down the door of a bathroom stall containing the victim, punched him in the mouth and then raped him during a six-minute-long attack.

The victim was also threatened with death, the suit alleges.

It also claims that the victim had previously been sexually harassed and bullied by other students.

The school, however, did not act on complaints about the alleged attacker, the suit alleges.

Atlanta Public Schools is accused of failing on multiple fronts to protect the alleged victim and the parents are seeking unspecified damages for mental, physical and emotional injuries.A sham wedding gang who made 500,000 marrying couples who often had to communicate using Google translate have been jailed.

The matchmakers arranged for Asian men to meet Eastern European brides who could rarely speak to each other.

During the nuptials they had to resort to using the translation app before they exchanged their vows, the Old Bailey heard.

Ayaz Khan, 32, and wife Jurgita Pavlovskyte, 25, earned more than 500,000 after setting up at least 13 fake marriages involving grooms from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh who would marry women from eastern Europe

The gang, led by Sainsburys workers Ayaz Khan, 32, and Jurgita Pavlovskyte, 25, arranged at least 13 fake weddings.

They used photographs of the happy couples together with forged job offers to convince officials to grant residency to the grooms from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

Khan, from Pakistan, ran the groom side of the business, while his Lithuanian wife Pavlovskyte was responsible for finding the brides.

The pair, together with Muhammad Saqlain, 32, and Diana Stankevic, 26, were all convicted of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration following a trial at the Old Bailey.

Imran Farooq, 35, was convicted of securing or seeking to secure the avoidance of enforcement action by acting as a fake groom.

The grooms - eleven from Pakistan, one from India and one from Bangladesh - were all desperate to stay in the UK after their student visas expired.

To get permission to live and work in the UK, non-EU nationals need to prove they are married to an EU national, that the marriage is genuine, they live together and the EU national is working and has a National Insurance number.

The grooms were often paid thousands of pounds at a time to the sham marriage gang to find European brides and sort out the paperwork.

It is claimed that the marriage of Imran Farooq and Diana Stankevic (pictured together) was one of the sham 13

Some of the money paid for flights to the UK, wedding expenses and a small payment of a few hundred pounds to the bride, but most went into the organisers pockets.

Khan frittered large sums of cash away at a casino in Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford, east London.

One groom had been repeatedly refused leave to remain in the UK after his student visa ran out, only to be granted residency after marrying a 20 year-old Lithuanian cleaner.

Muhammad Saqlain (right) was involved in a sham marriage to Tatjana Rolic (left)

Judge Rebecca Poulet, QC, told Khan and Pavloskyte today. Between 2011 and 2015 you operated a conspiracy to assist in the unlawful of immigration of non-EU nationals for a profit.

The judge said that the gang repeatedly breached the immigration laws of the United Kingdom for a number of years.

Judge Poulet said: The scheme involved male Pakistani nationals and female Lithuanian nationals for the purpose of sham marriages which can also be referred to as a marriage of convenience.

You regarded it as a business and referred to it as such.

Addressing reckless gambler Khan, she said she regarded him a central force of the conspiracy and the heart of the organisation.

Khan bowed his head as he was jailed for six years.

Pavlovskyte, 37 weeks pregnant, wept as she was jailed for five years.

Saqlain, a dad of one who acted as a go-between, was jailed for three years.

Stankevic was also jailed for three years.

Farooq was sentence to 18 months imprisonment.

Valerija Bartosevic, 25, (left) was one of the sham brides, while Sheikh Ahmad, 36, (right) was one of the fake grooms

Bartosevic wept uncontrollably throughout the hearing but walked free after receiving a 18-month sentence suspended for two years.

Rolic also walked free as she was jailed for 18 months suspended for two years.

Ahmad was jailed for 18 months.

Judge Poulet said she was satisfied that the gang made at least 500,000 but in reality it was a great deal more.

She recalled how Google translate was used by couples at the ceremony.

The judge told Stakevic: You attended the wedding of another bride, who had to communicate with her groom on Google translate.

Other texts on your phone suggest you were involved in this activity for some time although by no means as long as Khan or Pavloskyte, you were more involved than Muhammad Saqlain.

The offences were repeated, she said. It was done for commercial gain for those fleeing an oppressive regime.

Five members of the jury returned to see the weeping gang sent down after the seven-week trial.

Prosecutor Tom Forster QC had told the Old Bailey: The Home Office was fooled. This was not a genuine marriage. This was a put up job.

He said the gang deliberately breached immigration controls for profit.

Residency rights are very valuable indeed, said Mr Forster.

The system of legal controls was wholly undermined by a criminal agreement to help men make dishonest applications to live and work in the UK based on marriage to women from Lithuania.

These marriages were sham. Each was a union of pure convenience and designed to fool the immigration authorities.

Twelve of the fake brides were from Lithuania and one was from the Czech Republic.

Two of the sham marriages took place in Stoke and Gretna Green, Scotland, with the others happening in London, jurors heard.

The first bogus wedding involved a 29 year-old Pakistani groom who came to the UK in 2003 on a four-year student visa.

His application for leave to remain to continue his studies was initially refused but later granted until 2009.

Further applications for leave to remain were refused in June 2009, September 2009 and July 2010.

He then applied for a certificate of approval of marriage to a 20 year-old Lithuanian woman but this was refused in March 2011.

Their marriage went ahead anyway and photos were taken of the pair posing alongside Khan, Pavlovskyte and another couple whose own sham marriage took place later the same year using a similar bouquet of flowers.

The application for residency was then granted by the Home Office on 19 March 2012.

It was due to last five years but the groom was eventually deported in 2016.

Employment at Sainsburys was a common theme, with Khan and four other grooms having worked at the companys stores.

A forged job offer from Sainsburys to sham bride Valerija Bartosevic, 25, was later found during the investigation.

Analysis of the ringleaders bank accounts found a total of 297,000 was paid into Khans accounts in addition to his small salary from Sainsburys.

Another 238,000 of unexplained income went into Pavlovskytes bank account, the court heard.

Mr Forster said: There is an unexplained income which isnt attributed to his salary. A great deal of that is dirty money to do with this enterprise.

Many of the bank transfers from grooms were given the references wife or wedding.

The 13 sham marriages included those between Farooq and Stankevic and between Saqlain and Tatjana Rolic, 30.

Stankevic flew home to Lithuania the day after her marriage to Farooq, having already signed his application for UK residence. She returned to the UK three months after he sent it in to the Home Office.

Saqlain, who came to the UK in 2009 to study for an MBA, married Rolic on February 9, 2013 - nine days before his visa was due to expire.

His flatmate, Bangladeshi Mohammed Faisal, married Rolics sister Aliona Ovcankova. Both women had flown from Lithuania to the UK on the same day.

The gang insisted the marriages were all genuine and denied knowledge of plot to get round immigration rules.

Khan, Pavlovskyte, Stankevic and Saqlain all denied but were convicted of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Farooq was cleared of that charge.

Khan and Pavloskyte also denied but were convicted of acquiring criminal property and converting criminal property relating to payments made for the organisation of marriages of convenience.

Farooq, Saqlain and Sheikh Ahmad all denied, but were convicted of securing or seeking to secure the avoidance of enforcement action by acting as grooms in the weddings.

Fake brides Rolic and Bartosevic denied but were convicted of assisting unlawful immigration by entering into marriages of convenience.

Jurors heard that several of the fake grooms and brides mentioned in the case, including Zia Uddin, 33, Eirka Vorbjova, 27, are not before the court.

The convicted women sobbed as they were led away with their partners to the cells.Advertisement

Parts of Britain are gearing up for the warmest day of the year so far this weekend as temperatures hit 64F (18C).

Warm air coming up from southern Europe will bring mild conditions to England from Friday that will be welcomed after the prolonged winter that has brought extreme conditions to the country over the past five weeks.

Areas of northern England and Scotland are still battling up to 3in (8cm) of snow and 1.2in (30mm) of rain today, with Met Office weather warnings in place until the end of tonight, although conditions should improve tomorrow.

A snow plough clears a road through the village of Buchlyvie on the A811 road to Stirling in Scotland today

Tricky driving conditions on the A811 road this morning as parts of the central belt in Scotland are hit by yet more snow

Shoppers on Edinburgh's Princes Street brave the sleet and snow today as the weather stays cold in parts of Scotland

A bus is driven through the snow in Kirkliston near Edinburgh (left), and pedestrians walk past Edinburgh Castle (right)

Flooding in York city centre is pictured today as flood warnings were issued across the country after the wet Easter weather

Parts of York city centre are flooded today after the torrential rain over Easter caused many rivers to burst their banks

Forecasters say tomorrow promises to bring 'really good' conditions for most of Britain, apart from isolated wintry showers in Scotland, with temperatures up to 57F (14C) - close to average for the time of year.

Friday will then present a divide across the country, with rain falling in the South West but slightly milder air coming in to the South East that will finally give England some better temperatures for the time of year.

London could reach 61F (16C) on Friday, while Plymouth will be 55F (13C), Birmingham 57F (14C), Newcastle 52F (11C) and Glasgow to 50F (10C). Temperatures could then rise further to 64F (18C) in London on Saturday.

Saturday could be the hottest day of the year, beating the current 2018 UK record of 16.6C (62F) set on March 10 in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. The 2018 England high was set on March 27 at 15.9C (61F) in Kew, South West London.

This Met Office satellite image from this morning shows a swirl of low pressure centred to the South West of the UK

Met Office meteorologist Sarah Kent told MailOnline: 'On Friday we have that unsettled weather in the West. Although it's going to fragment as we move into Saturday, it does try to move across South West England and Wales and up through the North East on Saturday, so there is potential for some showers and longer spells of rain.

'In the South East, it does look as though it's going to be a largely dry scenario and with albeit hazy sunshine.

'Sunday does turn rather more unsettled. The South East looks as though it could catch some longer spells of rain, certainly through the first part of Sunday. But eventually things dry up on Sunday night.'

She said temperatures on Sunday are still going to be a little above average, with 59F (15C) possible in London, 52F (11C) in Newcastle and 50F (10C) in Glasgow.

Today, 25 flood warnings and 119 alerts are still in place across England after the torrential rain and snow that fell over Easter caused many rivers to burst their banks.

York's 16.5 tonne Foss Barrier was lowered yesterday in an attempt to combat the rising water level where the river joins the Ouse. The Environment Agency released a warning for properties along the Ouse.

Meanwhile the River Cam in Cambridge was at a higher level than usual, while in Wiltshire the River Avon was also higher than normal and blue flood barriers were put into place along the banks.The White House said Wednesday that America's military mission to crush ISIS in Syria 'is coming to a rapid end,' but it's unclear when  or if  the Trump administration will withdraw the roughly 2,000 troops stationed there.

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders issued a statement that said the Islamist terror army has been 'almost completely destroyed' but offered on final decision on a pull-out.

'The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated. We will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans,' said Sanders.

She said later during an afternoon press conference that the administration would soon focus on 'transitioning to local enforcement' in order to prevent an ISIS resurgence that could 'take away some of the progress we've made.'

President Donald Trump said Tuesday at the White House that the primary U.S. mission in Syria 'was getting rid of ISIS. We've almost completed that task. And we'll be making a decision very quickly, in coordination with others in the area, as to what we'll do.'

The White House said Wednesday that America's military mission to crush ISIS in Syria 'is coming to a rapid end' following Donald Trump's statement Tuesday (pictured) that while the U.S. has succeeded, 'sometimes it is time to come back home'

Neither the president nor his press team, however, will say when or if the roughly 2,000 troops stationed in Syria might be sent home

ISIS, a murderous jihadi group known for torture, beheadings and other grisly violence, has steadily lost territory it claims for its 'caliphate' in the year since Donald Trump took office

Four-star General Joe Votel, who leads U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday that American troops shouldn't plan on returning stateside anytime soon: 'Of course there is a military role in this  certainly in the [post-ISIS] stabilization phase'

The mission is 'very costly for our country,' he said, 'and it helps other countries a hell of a lot more than it helps us.'

But Trump stopped short of saying flat-out that he was pulling troops out of harm's way and sending them back to the United States.

Sanders said Wednesday that Americas goal in the region was 'to defeat ISIS.'

'And once we completely do that  we've made significant process  and there's no longer a need for troops to be there and we can transition to that local enforcement, that certainly would be the objective.'

She also refused to articulate an 'arbitrary timeline' for a troop withdrawal.

The president, Sanders said, 'is measuring it in actually winning the battle, not just putting some random number out there.' She added that the Defense Department, led by Secretary James Mattis, would make the final determination.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders refused on Wednesday to articulate an 'arbitrary timeline' for a troop withdrawal, saying the president had empowered the Pentagon to determine when to do what

Trump said Tuesday that he had told Saudi Arabia's king he might have to 'pay' to keep American troops around while Syria is stabilized in the wake of ISIS's defeat

During a speech last Thursday in Ohio, Trump claimed U.S. forces were 'knocking the hell out of ISIS' but would be 'coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now.'

During Tuesday's joint press conference with three Baltic leaders, he said: 'I want to get out [of Syria]. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation.'

'We were very successful against ISIS. We'll be successful against anybody militarily,' Trump added. 'But sometimes it is time to come back home.'

But while Trump was delivering that message, the top American commander in the fight against ISIS offered a different opinion a few blocks away.

Joe Votel, a four-star general who leads United States Central Command, suggested at the U.S. Institute of Peace that Americans should play a long-term role in securing regions of Syria that have been freed from ISIS occupation.

'The hard part, I think, is in front of us. And that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, addressing the long-term issues of reconstruction and other things that will have to be done,' Gen. Votel said.

'Of course there is a military role in this  certainly in the stabilization phase,' he explained.

An ISIS member waved the group's flag in its former Syrian stronghold of Raqqa in June 2014

Separate from the defeat of ISIS, much of Syria will have to be rebuilt following years of civil war, including this rebel-held area of the southern Syrian city of Daraa

Syrian regime forces patrol destruction in Eastern Ghouta, a region whose rebuilding will likely require international intervention

Trump discussed Syria in a meeting with his national security team on Tuesday, and told military leaders there to prepare for a troop pullout.

Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told reporters Wednesday at the Pentagon to expect a Syria announcement 'relatively soon,' but didn't tip the president's hand.

He described Tuesday's national security meeting as an 'all hands on deck' event.

Hours later at an East Room podium, the president said he had told Saudi Arabian King Salman that there were circumstances under which American fighting men and women might remain in Syria.

'I said, "Well, you know, you want us to stay, maybe youre going to have to pay",' Trump recalled.This is the distressing moment a seal is violently kicked and slapped by a trainer at a zoo in east China.

Onlookers who posted video online claimed the seal was punished for failing to listen to the commands.

It was not sure if any government body was informed to investigate for animal abuse.

A zookeeper is seen yelling at a seal in an enclosure at a national forest park in east China

The 10-second clip was sent by a resident living in Yixing of Jiangsu Province who visited the touristy Longbei Mountain National Forest Park recently, according to social medica user, 'Qinlin Eryue'.

The footage shows a zoo keeper trying to call a seal to him inside enclosure before kicking it in the snout.

The seal, appeared to be scared, went back into the water.

'Again!' the trainer repeated.

The man pointed fingers at the seal and yelled: 'Do you want to die?'

The social media post claimed the seal did not obey commands during a performance and was punished.

'Do it again!' The man shouted at the seal before sending kicks to its snout (left). The seal went into the water to avoid getting slapped by the trainer (right)

The clip, which has been viewed over 8,000 times, caused fury among the web users on Weibo, a Chinese social media site.

'Ban all the animal shows!' said 'houpo-hope'.

'Free the seal! Free the animals!' commented 'yuwenlong'.

Jason Baker, vice president of PETA Asia commented that sensitive and intelligent animals like seals 'often suffer abuses and are deprived of food as trainers force them to perform'.

'When you pay to watch such shows, regardless if it's China or elsewhere in the world, your money supports this abuse,' he added.A federal judge tore into all of the legal arguments that a lawyer for President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort made on Wednesday in his long-shot civil case to convince her that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has run amok and should be reined in.

'I don't really understand what is left of your case,' US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said to Kevin Downing, Manafort's attorney, after peppering him with a lengthy series of questions.

Manafort filed a civil lawsuit on January 3 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department official who appointed the special counsel, in a key legal test of how far Mueller's mandate extends.

Jackson did not say when she might rule on the civil case, which the Justice Department is seeking to dismiss.

Paul Manafort filed a civil lawsuit on January 3 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Manafort's case argues that Mueller's investigation has run amok

Mueller is investigating possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia as well as whether the president has unlawfully tried to obstruct the probe.

Mueller has charged 22 individuals and entities to date, including Manafort and his associate Rick Gates.

Manafort's civil case marks the first time a defendant has sought to challenge his authority.

Manafort, who performed lobbying work for a pro-Russian former Ukrainian president before serving as Trump's campaign chairman in 2016, is facing two indictments brought by Mueller in federal courts in Washington and Alexandria, Virginia.

The charges against him include conspiring to launder money, failing to register as a foreign agent, bank fraud and filing false tax returns.

Manafort has pleaded not guilty and none of the charges directly relate to work he performed for Trump's campaign.

Trump has denied colluding with Russia and called Mueller's probe a witch hunt.

Manafort's civil lawsuit relies on an arcane law called the Administrative Procedure Act, which spells out the process federal agencies must follow when writing regulations.

The suit alleges that Rosenstein's order laying out Mueller's investigative mandate violates Justice Department rules because it is overly broad and therefore 'arbitrary and capricious'.

Manafort's civil lawsuit claims that Rosenstein's (pictured) order laying out Mueller's investigative mandate violates Justice Department

The government blacked out the first elements of the investigation that Rosenstein green-lighted

The inquiry into possible Manafort collusion with Russia constituted just a single sentence  and are followed by redacted material

Other areas of investigation that arise are to be cleared with Rosenstein's office. Rosenstein's memo was sent last August

Rosentein sent a memo about the scope of Mueller's investigation in August, kicking off the probe that Trump has dubbed a 'witch hunt'.

Two sentences in the document relate explicitly to Manafort, but the sections above and below are blacked out text.

Prosecutors filed the memo in opposition to an effort by Manafort to have charges against him thrown out.

The memo says that Manafort committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials with respect to the Russian government's efforts to interfere with the 2016 election for President of the United States, in violation of United States law.'

Legal experts from the start have said Manafort's civil lawsuit faced an uphill battle.

The Justice Department's regulations explicitly say that private parties have no right to challenge them in court.

Judges in prior cases also have generally not permitted defendants in criminal cases like Manafort to use civil litigation to try to challenge criminal charges.

But Manafort's case appeared to be even weaker in Jackson's eyes on Wednesday after Downing told her he was scaling back the scope of the civil complaint against the Justice Department.

Manafort's lawsuit originally asked the judge to declare that Rosenstein's entire order appointing Mueller was invalid and to set aside the criminal charges against him.

Manafort's lawyer said he is only challenging a portion of Rosenstein's order, and that he is not asking the judge to toss the charges in this case, but instead seeking to protect his client from potential future charges also unrelated to Russia

On Wednesday, Downing said he is only challenging a portion of Rosenstein's order, and that he is not asking the judge to toss the charges in this case, but instead seeking to protect his client from potential future charges also unrelated to Russia.

That prompted Jackson to ask an array of questions, including how Manafort can have legal standing to challenge the order if he has not suffered any harm, how he can know for sure whether or not Mueller may bring future charges within the proper scope of Rosenstein's order, and whether there was legal precedent allowing someone to challenge a prosecution under the Administrative Procedure Act.

'It seems to me you are trying to have it both ways,' she said, adding that Downing is not trying to dismiss the indictment but still has a problem with Manafort being prosecuted.

Downing told the judge Rosenstein's order violates the rules governing special prosecutors because it lets Mueller broadly investigate 'any matters that arose or may arise directly from' the probe into Russian interference.

He stressed that Manafort never even had an office in Russia and that the criminal case against him dates back to 2014, well before the campaign.

A court filing on Monday appeared to somewhat undermine that claim by showing that Rosenstein specifically authorized Mueller in August 2017 to investigate both whether Manafort colluded with Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election and his activities prior to 2016 involving Ukraine's former pro-Russia government.

Jackson also is handling the criminal case against Manafort and is expected to hear oral arguments for that later this month, when Downing will ask her to dismiss the indictment.Anthony Borges knows he is lucky to be alive after being riddled with bullets during February's Parkland massacre, but he does not consider himself a hero.

On Monday, the 15-year-old, who has been credited with saving at least 20 people during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida, became the final survivor to be released from the hospital.

In the seven weeks since the shooting that claimed 17 lives, Borges had undergone nine surgeries.

Scroll down for video

Then and now: Anthony Borges, 15, is pictured left before the February 14 shooting. The teen is seen on the right on Wednesday following his release from the hospital

Flashback: Borges is pictured in mid-February meeting with the sheriff of Broward County

Three of the five Ar-15 bullets that stuck Borges injured his legs (pictured)

A third of his lung had to be cut off, one bullet from Nikolas Cruz's AR-15 came close to piercing his liver, and three more rounds struck him in the legs as he was protecting his classmates.

According to published reports, the teenager had barricaded a classroom door with his body while trying to lock out the gunman. As a result, Borges was shot through door five times.

Borges still has a long road ahead, but he is now recovering at home.

'I feel good,' he told Today show reporter Kerry Sanders in a halting voice. 'I [thought] I was going to die.'

Strangers from across the globe have been sending letters and cards to the Borges family, praising Anthony for his heroic act than nearly cost him his life.

Borges (left) says he though in the moment that he was going to die. The boy was wounded shielding his classmates from 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz (right)

Missives of love: The Borges family has been inundated with letters and cards from well-wishers all over the world

Special message: Actor Clark Greg (left), who plays agent Phil Colson in the Marvel superhero movies, told Borges he is a hero

Actor Clark Greg, who plays agent Phil Colson in the Marvel superhero movies, has sent Borges a video message telling him: 'youre a hero.'

Borges family attorney Alex Arreaza last month filed a notice of intent to sue Broward County, Broward County Public Schools and the Broward County Sheriff's Office, accusing them of failing to protect students from harm.

This is the poster child for everything going wrong, Arreaza said on Wednesday.

The lawsuit is likely to be the first of many filed by survivors and victims' families.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help the Borges family with Anthony's mounting medical bills. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than $800,000 in donations has been raised.Seven people have been indicted in the slaying of a New Jersey radio show host whose murder allegedly was arranged by her late husband to prevent her from exposing a drug ring he was running with an outlaw biker gang.

Atlantic County prosecutors announced the charges Wednesday, a day after a grand jury indicted the seven.

Authorities say Ferdinand Augello led the drug ring with Dr. James Kauffman, 68, husband of local radio talk show host April Kauffman.

The charges against Augello include murder and being the leader of a drug trafficking network.

Seven people have been indicted in slaying of a New Jersey radio show host, April Kauffman (right), whose murder allegedly was arranged by her late husband, Dr. James Kauffman (left), to prevent her from exposing a drug ring he was running with an outlaw biker gang

In May 2012, April Kauffman, 47, a local businesswoman who hosted weekly talk shows and advocated for military veterans, was found shot to death in her home in Linwood, New Jersey

'An Atlantic County Grand Jury took a critical step towards rendering justice to April Kauffman and her family,' Prosecutor Damon Tyner said in a statement.

'Ferdinand Augello was indicted for the murder of April Kauffman, racketeering and drug charges. This office looks forward to presenting the facts of this case to a jury for them to determine culpability for this heinous scheme.'

Augello's public defender couldn't be reached for comment.

James Kauffman had faced similar charges before he was found dead in his jail cell in an apparent suicide in January.

The remaining six defendants face racketeering, conspiracy and drug distribution charges.

Authorities say Ferdinand Augello (right) led the drug ring with James Kauffman, 68. Kauffman was found dead in his jail cell of an apparent suicide in January

They were identified as Paul Pagano, 61, of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey; Joseph Mulholland, 51, of Villas, New Jersey; Beverly Augello, 47, of Summerland, Florida; Glenn Seeler, 37, of Sanford, North Carolina; Tabitha Chapman, 35, of Absecon, New Jersey; and Cheryl Pizza, 36, of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.

In May 2012, April Kauffman, 47, a local businesswoman who hosted weekly talk shows and advocated for military veterans, was found shot to death in her home in Linwood, New Jersey.

She had received a governor's award for outstanding community service a few days before her death.

Prosecutors said James Kauffman gave free prescriptions to people sent by Augello and Augello would receive $1,000 per script or a number of pills after the script was filled.

The remaining six defendants face racketeering, conspiracy and drug distribution charges. Two of them - Paul Pagano (left) and Beverly Augello (right) - are seen above

Two more suspected members of the drug ring who were indicted are Tabitha Chapman (left) and Joseph Mulholland (right)

Glen Seeler (left) and Cheryl Pizza (right) were also named in the indictment

Those who received them either used the drugs or sold them, authorities said.

In the summer of 2011, April Kauffman wanted a divorce and after James Kauffman objected she threatened to expose the drug ring, Tyner said.

Tyner said that Kauffman told Augello about his wife's threats and solicited him to have her killed.

After about a year, a man who agreed to do it, Francis Mullholland, was driven to the home, where the doors were left open, and was given a gun, authorities said. April Kauffman, 47, was shot twice, and her body was found by a handyman.

Tyner said Mullholland, who said he got about $20,000 in cash, was later found dead of a drug overdose.

Mullholland originally was identified as a cousin of a member of the motorcycle gang, but a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office later said that was incorrect. She declined to release more details about him.

Prosecutors said the drug empire lasted until June, when Kauffman was arrested on weapons charges at his Egg Harbor Township office.

Authorities said he brandished a handgun as agents executed a search warrant and said, 'I'm not going to jail for this!' A hostage negotiator persuaded him to surrender.

Another six people connected to the gang were charged with racketeering in the drug ring, which prosecutors said continued until last summer, when Kauffman was arrested at his office while brandishing a gun.

Kauffman 'was intent to have her killed, as opposed to losing his financial empire,' Tyner said.

Augello, 61, the Pagan charged with finding someone to kill April Kauffman, also was charged with trying to have James Kauffman killed, authorities said.The YouTube shooter's brother is blaming the police for failing to stop sister after he reported he warned them she was planning to attack the video site's headquarters.

Nasim Aghdam, 38, had told her family a few weeks ago that YouTube had 'stopped everything,' and 'she was angry,' her father Ismail Aghdam told The Mercury News.

Her family alerted the police after Aghdam disappeared on Monday, warning them she could be heading for YouTube.

'She had a problem with YouTube,' her brother, who would not be named told Fox 11.

Nasim Aghda's (left and right) family alerted the police after Aghdam disappeared on Monday, warning them she could be heading for YouTube

'We called the cop and told them there's a reason she went from San Diego to that, so she might do something. I didn't know she had a gun. I didn't know she'd start a fight.

TIMELINE OF YOUTUBE SHOOTING March 31: Last time Nasim Aghdam's family in Manifee, California, hears from her April 2: Her father reports her missing to police in San Diego, tells them she is angry at YouTube and she is entered into the Missing Persons database April 3, 1.40am: Police in Mountain View, 30 miles from San Bruno, find Aghdam sleeping in her car and take her off the missing person's database April 3 morning: Aghdam visits the Jackson Arms gun range, two miles from YouTube HQ 12.46pm: Aghdam opens fire on YouTube campus in San Bruno after sneaking in through garage door 12.48pm: Police arrive at 'chaotic' YouTube HQ to find employees fleeing 12.53pm: Aghdam's body is found by picnic tables on outdoor eating area Advertisement

'The cop told us they'd keep an eye on her,' he added.

Police did find her early Tuesday sleeping in her car in Mountain View, a Silicon Valley hub around 30 miles from YouTube's headquarters.

Despite her family's warning, they did not consider her a risk and removed Aghdam from the missing person's database.

Police called the family to report that everything was 'under control'.

They say Aghdam calmly told police that she was having family problems and had left her home.

During the 20-minute interview with officers early Tuesday, she did not mention being angry with YouTube or having accused the company of suppressing her video posts. She gave no indication she was a threat to herself or others.

She was free to go on to the gun range and then to the YouTube campus where she opened fire at 12.46pm that same day.

Her family got the phone call telling them the tragic news that Aghdam had injured three others, before turning the gun on herself.

'After 12 hours the shooting happened,' her brother said. 'She got killed, the other 3 people got hurt. I did my best to avoid it but looks like cop didn't do their job,' he said.



Her brother says that the family are still reeling from the news that his sister was capable of such an attack.

He added that until now, she'd never hurt another living animal.

The brother told ABC 7 his sister was a 'nice' and 'innocent' person, 'not today, but she never hurt any creature,' he said.

A group is escorted into a YouTube office building in San Bruno, California on Wednesday

A team are seen leaving the YouTube office building the day after the shooting

Neighbor John Rundell said he spoke to Ismail Aghdam who was 'heartbroken' after the shooting.

'He tried to tell me his side of the story. It's the same thing. He's heartbroken, he's a dad, he's a great guy. I think he was a good father, and it just happens when you have kids sometimes,' Rundell said.

The family also deny any knowledge she owned a weapon.

Their father Ismail Aghdam had also become concerned about her increasing obsession with YouTube, but described his daughter as a vegan activist and an animal lover.

Federal agents were spotted at Ismail's Menifee home, with law enforcement spotted coming and going from the home from at least 8am on Wednesday.

They are currently interviewing Aghdams family members about the events that led up to Tuesday afternoons shooting.

The home of Ismail Aghdam, father of Nasim Aghdam, on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 in Menifee, California

Ismail Aghdam said the family called police on Monday to report his daughter missing after she failed to answer her cellphone for two days. On Tuesday around 2am, Mountain View Police called the family to report that they had found Nasim (left in 2009 and right at one year bold) sleeping in her car and that everything was 'under control'

Mountain View police confirmed to Mercury News on Tuesday night that a woman of the same name had been found asleep in a vehicle early Tuesday morning in a parking lot.

'Our officers made contact with the woman after the license plate of her vehicle matched that of a missing person out of Southern California,' said Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson.

'The woman confirmed her identity to us and answered subsequent questions. At the conclusion of our discussion, her family was notified that she had been located.'.

According to state records, she had once established a charity called Peace Thunder Inc, to 'educate people about animal cruelty, environmental pollution' and other causes.

Ismail Aghdam described his daughter as a vegan activist and an animal lover (Nasim Aghdam had once posted this old, doctored family photo with her parents)

Nasim Aghdam had a significant online presence with multiple YouTube channels and social media pages. She posted an array of videos including workout clips, animal abuse videos and vegan cooking tutorials, reported the Mercury News.

In a video that Aghdam posted back in January 2017, she vented about her content being 'discriminated and filtered'.

She also said that her YouTube channel, which had more than 5,000 subscribers, used to get many views but claimed she started getting less when the company started 'filtering' her videos.

Aghdam's YouTube channels and social media pages were all removed in the hours after the shooting. She claimed she had at least four YouTube channels, one in English, and then others in Farsi and Turkish.

Officers and federal agents swarmed YouTube's headquarters complex just before 1pm after dozens of panicked employees called 911 to report gunfire.

Aghdam was a prolific YouTuber who had ranted online against the company's new policies and for 'censoring her videos and not paying her'

Aghdam had a significant online presence with multiple YouTube channels and social media pages. She posted an array of videos including workout clips, animal abuse videos and vegan cooking tutorials

Upon arrival, police found the woman dead inside the campus with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said three people were taken to hospitals in San Francisco with gunshot wounds.

A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition following the shooting.

Television news footage showed terrified employees leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building.

Officers patted down people to make sure none had weapons as police vehicles surrounded the area.

Authorities cover a body with a yellow tarp at YouTube's headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday

Witnesses say Aghdam was wearing glasses and a scarf when she opened fire on YouTube employees

Law enforcement officials initially said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute after early indications suggested she had shot her boyfriend.

The father of Nasim Aghdam, 39 (pictured), who shot three people and then took her own life at YouTube's headquarters on Tuesday warned police that his daughter hated the company

Witnesses say Aghdam was wearing glasses and a scarf when she opened fire on YouTube employees.

Law enforcement officials initially said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute after early indications suggested she had shot her boyfriend.

Police did not release any further information on the suspect or comment on her possible motives for the shooting rampage.

The shooting had no known connection to terrorism, US government security officials said.

Her father told The Mercury News that the family did not know that Nasim owned a gun.

'Maybe she bought one' recently, he said.A New Jersey police chief has been accused of making unwanted sexual advances on his subordinates, according to a new lawsuit filed in Camden County Superior Court.

Haddon Township Police Chief Mark Cavallo is accused in the lawsuit of sexually harassing his employees with lewd comments and touching them inappropriately.

The lawsuit was filed on March 27 by four senior officers in his department, who claim to be the victims of the flirtation - Captain Scott Bishop, 48; Lt. Sean Gooley; Sgt. Thomas Whalen; and Detective Sgt. Joseph D Johnson, all 46.

Four male cops with the Haddon Township Police Department filed a lawsuit against their chief, Mark Cavallo (pictured), last week for making unwanted sexual advances

They say Cavallo has touched them on the inner thighs, sent pictures to them from the shower and made overtly sexual comments to them like 'talk dirty to me baby'.

Among the other comments that Cavallo allegedly made were 'Turn around and let me see what you got, 'I could just eat you up' and 'I would like to get you down on my work bench.'

They say he also blew kisses at them, flicked his tongue at them in a sexual manner, and pulled down his pants to expose his underwear.

The men say that they first complained about Cavallo's behavior in February 2016, when they reported him to the former township commissioner, John Foley, who resigned the following year. They also say they filed a complaint with the Camden County Prosecutor's Office in October 2016.

The lawsuit accuses Chief Mark Cavallo of inappropriate touching and making sexual comments to his subordinates. Above are two of the cops behind the lawsuit, Captain Scott Bishop (left) and Lt. Sean Gooley (right)

The four cops who filed the suit say they have been harassed by township officials since first complaining about Cavallo's behavior three years ago. Above are two of the other cops in the lawsuit, Sgt Thomas Whalen (left) and Det. Sgt. Joseph D. Johnston (right)

After complaining, the officers say they were harassed by township officials, and even had their 'fitness of duty' questioned.

In October, Haddon Township Mayor Randall Teague downplayed the accusations in an interview with NJ Advance Media, saying that they surfaced during talks of promotions in the department and that he thinks the dispute is realted.

In the lawsuit, the four men condemned Teague's comments, saying he 'continually discounted the complaints' an 'inexplicable implied that he allegations were being made due to promotions.'

A fifth patrolman made similar complaints against Cavallo and settled with the township for $175,000.

James DeMent claimed Cavallo sexually harassed him, then fired him in part because he turned down his advances.

He originally claimed that he received inappropriate messages from Cavallo, but took that back after the settlement. The department claims DeMent was fired for health reasons.

The latest lawsuit names Cavallo, the township, the township's mayor and the township's personnel director.

Cavallo has been the police chief for 2009, and a member of the townhip's police force for 34 years. He is also a member of the township school board.Harry Goodwin-Sims is said to have pushed over Ourania Lambrou in Camden Road, Kentish Town, on March 31

An actor was yesterday accused of killing an 80-year-old great-grandmother in a drunken rage.

Harry Goodwin-Sims pushed Ourania Lambrou, causing her to fall forward and hit her head on a metal bollard, a court was told.

The pensioner, who is of Greek Cypriot origin, was taken to hospital and allowed to go home after several hours.

But two days later she was readmitted and doctors discovered a bleed on her brain.

She passed away the next day.

Yesterday, her daughter said: She dedicated her life to her children and grandchildren.

'She always put everybody else first.

Goodwin-Sims, 29, was alleged to have been in a drunken rampage on a busy street in Camden, North London, last Saturday.

The actor, who has appeared in a number of independent British films and BBC programmes, had attracted police attention by the time Mrs Lambrou was passing, the court was told.

Her daughter Carol Panagi, 52, said: She was coming back from visiting my sister Rita. They had been preparing for Greek Easter. She got off the bus and was about to cross the road to cut down through to home.

Ourania Lambrou, 80, was an 'independent and strong willed' woman, her family said as they paid tribute

She looked down the road, saw there was a commotion going on.

'The police were already there. This guy was jumping in front of cars. He was banging on police cars and everything.

The police got out of the car, trying to contain him. She happened to be there  wrong place at the wrong time.

Yesterday her distraught family paid tribute to the beloved great-grandmother, who had six children, 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Goodwin-Sims appeared in the dock wearing a grey t-shirt and blue jeans and was remanded into custody

Goodwin-Sims' filmography states that he has worked alongside Pirates of the Caribbean actor Norberto Moran. He is pictured outside court for an earlier hearing

Mrs Panagi, an art restorer who lives in New York, said her mother was an independent and strong willed Cypriot immigrant who came to Britain with a young family aged 17 to work as a seamstress making bridal gowns.

She had six children - three sons and three daughters - and 16 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren

Mrs Panagi added that her mother was an avid gardener, a devout Greek Orthodox Christian and a great cook who was known by locals as Yiayia, Greek for grandmother.

She has a huge garden. She would grow everything  figs, grapes, olives, apples, pears, she said.

She grew all her own salad. She was a big cook, she cooked everything... Her house was the hub. It was like Grand Central.

Westminster Magistrates Court heard yesterday that Goodwin-Sims, of Finsbury Park in North London, appeared intoxicated and fell into the road moments before the alleged attack.

The actor has starred in British films including The Overground, alongside Pirates of the Caribbean actor Norberto Moran, and recently announced he had landed the lead in a feature film.

He was arrested at the scene after allegedly pushing Mrs Lambrou.

He was initially held on suspicion of actual bodily harm, before being charged with manslaughter and assault by beating.

He was remanded in custody ahead of a plea hearing at Southwark Crown Court in May.Former President Obama marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. by releasing a video in which he sits down with Rep. John Lewis, the Georgia Democrat who was also engaged in the civil rights fight.

Obama brought Lewis before a group of young men of color, as part of his My Brother's Keeper initiative, which he started while in office.

Meanwhile, President Trump marked the day with a tweet and a proclamation, while keeping his schedule clear of events until just after 7 p.m., when he was to leave the White House for a private dinner hosted by a top lobbyist.

President Obama (left) marked the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death by sharing a video in which he interviews Rep. John Lewis (right), another civil rights leader

President Trump tweeted abut the assassination, though didn't attend any MLK-related events, keeping his schedule clear for most of the day

From the tweet, he linked to a short video address he delivered about the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

'Fifty years ago Dr. King was cruelly taken from this world by an assassin's bullet, but the promise he fought for could never be taken away, his words, his deeds, they live on forever,' Trump said in a short video. 'And the cause for which he gave his life only gained strength and force and power by the passage of time.'

In his proclamation, Trump spoke of denouncing racism and embracing the 'sanctity of life,' a phrase often used in connection with the abortion debate.

'It is not government that will achieve Dr. Kings ideals, but rather the people of this great country who will see to it that our Nation represents all that is good and true, and embodies unity, peace, and justice,' Trump also said.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also read a statement about King from the podium Wednesday.

President Obama's video tribute opens with him asking Lewis where he was when he heard the news that King had died.

'I was in Indianapolis, Indiana campaigning for Robert Kennedy ... and it was Robert Kennedy who announced to the group that Dr. King had been assassinated,' Lewis said.

Bobby Kennedy was assassinated two months and two days after King, as he left a speaking engagement at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

The park where RFK spoke on the day of King's death, on April 4, 1968, now contains the Kennedy King Memorial.

In the Obama video, former President Obama (left) asks Rep. John Lewis (right) where he was when he found out that Martin Luther King Jr. had ided

John Lewis (left) told a group of young boys of color that he had been campaigning for Robert F. Kennedy, who would be killed two months and two days later, also by an assassin's bullet

Lewis told Obama he hasn't been back to that Indianapolis park in 50 years, but plans to go in the next few days.

The civil rights leader, who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986, said the aftermath of MLK's death was a 'very sad and dark time for me.'

'When he was assassinated I said to myself, I said, "Listen, self, you cannot get down, you have to pick 'em up and keep going," and that's what I've been trying to do,' Lewis told the room of young people Obama had assembled.

'The thing that I regret more than anything else, I probably didn't spend enough time with him,' Lewis noted. 'I thought he would be around for a long time. But i was this sense of urgency that we had.'

Lewis is the last living speaker from the March on Washington, and he recalled people thinking that his views expressed there were 'too extreme.'

'Part of what you always want to communicate to young people is that being on the right side of history isn't always popular, and it isn't always easy,' Obama chimed in. 'And you don't know when things are going to break your way, you don't know whether your labors will deliver.'

Despite that, Lewis encouraged the young people to speak out, and follow in the footsteps of King.

'When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something, say something,' the Georgia Democrat said.Israel Ogunsola was found fatally wounded by officers in Hackney at 8pm yesterday

An 18-year-old student who became the 55th victim of London's 2018 murder spree was stabbed five times on New Year's Eve in a previous attack, friends say.

Israel Ogunsola was found fatally wounded by officers in Hackney at 8pm yesterday, and died at the scene half an hour later despite receiving first aid.

Two boys both aged 17 were arrested on suspicion of murdering the computer programming student, who was helped by an off-duty paramedic until the London Ambulance Service arrived.

One of his friends tweeted: 'Another black brother gone because of this road life. When will people realise that the road and gang life only leads to either death or prison? RIP Israel.'

It later emerged a Facebook profile under Israel's name showed he was friends with Tanesha Melbourne, 17, who was shot dead on Monday evening in Tottenham, North London.

Mr Ogunsola is also believed to have been friends with Coventry City FC goalkeeper Corey Addai, who tweeted: 'RIP Israel. Fully feeling this one.'

It emerged today that Mr Ogunsola was one of a group of teens who were attacked by rival gang members at a New Year's Eve party. Steve Frank Navarez-Jara was the first person to be killed in 2018.

The 20-year-old was stabbed on New Year's Day in Old Street, North London, alongside Mr Ogunsola - who was knifed as a 'warning', a family friend claimed.

The family friend, who refused to be named, said: 'Israel was lovely, I couldn't believe it when I heard he had been killed. He was stabbed five times at St Bart's Court over New Year as well. I would not have let him out the house if it were my son.

Two boys both aged 17 were arrested on suspicion of murdering student Mr Ogunsola (above)

A man (left), who said he was the victim's brother, sits with a friend as they view floral tributes left near the murder scene today in Hackney, East London

A Facebook profile under Israel's name showed he was friends with Tanesha Melbourne (above), 17, who was shot dead on Monday evening in Tottenham, North London

'I cannot believe that this has happened to him, that stabbing was a warning and now he is dead. He nearly died. They had to save his life.'

The victim's father today demanded that the 'bloodshed must stop', saying that his son was just cycling to meet friends when he was stabbed.

Dele Ogunsola, 55, told the Evening Standard: 'My son was a well brought up boy who respected everyone and was liked by all and sundry. The bloodshed must stop.

'London's streets are so dangerous. Young people are being slaughtered every day. If it means bringing back more stop and search, then so be it.'

He added: 'We are struggling to come to terms with what has happened. He has an older brother and sister, he was the baby of the house. We are all heartbroken.'

He said the family are from Nigeria and came to London in 1985, adding that his son was an Arsenal fan who once trialled for the club.

Flowers at the scene in Hackney following the stabbing of the teenager who later died

A man believed to be the brother of the victim laid a bunch of roses at the scene of his death. A note on the flowers said: 'To little Shegz from big Shegz. Love you bro. See you soon'

A police officer stands outside a tent as investigations continue into the Hackney killing today

One friend, who went to Hackney's City Academy with Israel, said: 'I used to sit on the lunch table with him, he was greedy.He was very intelligent and humble.

'He was very good at PE and English. All of his friends had gone to uni, they went to Leicester, Birmingham, to get out the ends, to get out the hood.

'This is like the purge, it's like a postcode war. There are so many gangs; Balance, Homerton, The 9, Fields, ZT, Kingsmead, Jack Dunning. He was popular.'

Pastor Tayo Ogunmefun baptised Mr Ogunsola when he was born and expressed devastation at the murder. He said: 'He regularly attended church, every Sunday.

'Israel wanted to be a computer programmer, he was a bright young boy with his whole life ahead of him. I was devastated when I heard about his death.

'It is so very sad. His family, because they are Christian they try and cope using their faith. I had heard he was involved the Bartholomew Court stabbings, but I was out of the country and do not know the details.'

Investigators look at a bicycle on the pavement following the murder in Hackney this morning

Investigators carry bags of evidence away from the scene this morning in East London

A bicycle lies on the road and pavement in Hackney last night following the stabbing

Police continue to look into how the man aged 18 was murdered in Hackney last night

Referring to knife crime and the surge in youth murders he added: 'It is very bad and very, very sad, I have been in this community for 25 years and in recent times it has become so bad.'

Just four hours before Israel was found by police, a man aged 53 died outside a Betfred bookmakers in nearby Clapton following a suspected fight at about 4.30pm.





It could be time to bring back stop and search, says victim's father The father of murder victim Israel Ogunsola today called for the return of stop and search powers after his son was killed. Dele Ogunsola, 55, a customer services administrator, said: 'The bloodshed must stop. London's streets are so dangerous. Young people are being slaughtered every day. 'If it means bringing back more stop and search, then so be it. We have to tackle this problem and the Government needs to do more. Theresa May oversaw cuts to police funding and numbers as Home Secretary which are coming back to haunt her as Prime Minister. Advertisement

It brings the total number of suspected murders in London so far this year past 50, with fatal stabbings in England and Wales at the highest level since 2010/11.

The escalating violence across the UK has been especially acute in London, with 13 people killed within two weeks last month - and six already in April.

A terrified mother-of-three today claimed 'nowhere in London is safe' after telling how she came across two murders in East London in the space of three hours.

Regina Thomas, 31, said up to 40 people gathered around the unconscious victim, aged 53, outside the betting shop after emergency services rushed to the scene.

The dental nurse at Upper Clapton Dental Surgery in Hackney saw him lying on the pavement as she was leaving work around 5pm yesterday.

Miss Thomas, who has children aged five, six, and seven, was shocked when she came across another murder scene walking near her home just three hours later.

She said: 'Nowhere in London is safe for my children except my home. I left work, I got in, got changed and went to dinner - and every step of the way someone's killed.'

There have been six murders in London in April, taking the total in the capital in 2018 to 52

An investigator shines a torch on an item on the road as they investigate the Hackney killing

A white police tent covers the body of yet another victim of knife crime in London, in Hackney

An investigator can be seen through a white police tent in Hackney early this morning

She was working when she heard a commotion outside an hour earlier, adding: 'It's very shocking, quite frightening and awful to think I was just across the road.

Diane Abbott urges knife crime crackdown after latest stabbing Diane Abbot, Labour MP, visits the scene in Hackney today Labour's Diane Abbott has called for an anti-knife crime strategy in London similar to that of Glasgow. Speaking at the scene of the latest murder in Hackney this morning, local MP and shadow home secretary Ms Abbott said: 'It's really tragic, it's really horrible and mothers all over the capital must be thinking 'I can say goodbye to my son this morning but will he come back tonight?' 'Whether their son will turn out to be a victim or a perpetrator, it's traumatising for families.' She blamed the wave of bloodshed on London's streets on cuts to policing and youth and social services. 'Here in Hackney we've lost one in ten of our police officers since 2010, but there also needs to be more work done in youth work, in schools, even in mental health,' she said. She cited the example of Glasgow, which has dramatically cut its murder rate by taking a coordinated public health approach to knife crime through education, youth work and social services. 'They have brought the number of deaths from knife crime down to zero last year,' she said. She said the Borough of Hackney was down to one police station as a result of cuts. 'It makes it harder for people to report crime but it gives a sense in the community that we are not guarded.' She added that London Mayor Sadiq Khan had no choice but to close police stations because of Government cuts to policing. When asked about Met Commissioner Cressida Dick's recent comments about social media fuelling knife crime as young people use it to goad their rivals, she replied: 'I think social media is a symptom not a cause.' Advertisement

'He could have come to this shop and attacked me. Earlier I heard a noise and the commotion but it happens a lot in Hackney so I try not to be a bystander.

'It was shouting, 'oi oi', someone was trying to stop someone else, I don't know if it was stopping from fleeing or stopping the argument but there was at least 15 people out there.

'I left work and this was the first thing I saw - someone's been murdered. After 5pm when I left there was between 30 and 40 people there so someone must have seen where the attacker went.

'I knew someone was hurt because I saw him on the floor - I saw just legs. Paramedics brought him inside the betting shop and tended to him in there.'

She found out the man had died and the second police scene she came across was a murder later that evening.

She said: 'I went with my parent to have dinner, turned off to Morning Lane five minutes away from where I live and it was another something has happened.

'Now I know it's another murder and it's frightening, I have children and I'm worried. It seems like the murderers are getting younger and younger so I cannot be sure that my children are safe.

'Their neighbour's child could be 11-years-old but that 11-year-old could be a potential threat to my children. I'm very angry because it's not fair, why does a mother have to hear that her son is killed?'

On the surge in violence in London, she said: 'It's disgusting, the world we live in - I wish people had more value for life and didn't take it so flippantly.

'I've probably come across at least ten blue and white tapes in my life and I wish I wasn't so desensitised to it - that's the most worrying thing.

'I'm not shocked, I'm not up in arms about it, for me it's just another day in Hackney. It's not good enough - something needs to be done - we need to bring back stop and search.

'Some people say it's good, some say it's not, but at the end of the day the numbers of violent crimes have risen very quickly so it might have been something bad something bad in the past but it may have saved lives.'

Yesterday's homicides come after a 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy were killed following a postcode war which has gripped London.

Tanesha was outside the home of her boyfriend's mother when she was shot on Monday evening in Tottenham, North London.

Police were driving in Hackney last night when they saw a man aged 18 had been stabbed

Police found the young man had been stabbed on the street in East London yesterday

A police road block close to the scene in Hackney after the man aged 18 was fatally stabbed

The teenager was one of dozens of people to be murdered in London this year, after getting caught up in a terrifying postcode war ravaging the streets of the capital.

How stop-and-search powers have changed As Home Secretary Mrs May introduced changes in 2014 which meant police are only allowed to stop people when there is 'reasonable grounds for suspicion'. And it warned that where officers misuse the powers they would face disciplinary action. She introduced the measures amid widespread anger to the power, particularly among the black and ethnic minority population, who said it was used disproportionately against them. In the years following the reforms stop and search fell to their lowest level since the power was introduced 17 years ago. But violent crime has risen - sparking calls for the power to be taken up again. Under current stop-and-search laws, police are allowed to search a suspect if the have 'reasonable grounds' that the person is carrying a weapon, drugs or stolen property. Such justification might be that they have witnessed the suspect putting the knife into a pocket. However emergency section 60 powers can be enforced in a set location, such as a town or city, which removes the 'reasonable grounds' criteria. Advertisement

Also on Monday night, 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor, became the 49th victim of the continuing bloodshed after he was shot in the face in Walthamstow.

By this morning, the Metropolitan Police had launched 55 murder investigations in 2018 - 11 in January, 16 in February, 22 in March and six in April.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has blamed social media for the rise in killings, particularly among children.

She has said trivial disputes could escalate into violence 'within minutes' when rivals set out to goad each other on the internet.

Philip Glanville, the Mayor of Hackney, tweeted last night: 'Two awful incidents in Hackney tonight, two lives cut short by violence.

'Thoughts with family and friends. Witnessed response of dedicated emergency services to fatal stabbing in Morning Lane.'

Mr Glanville said social media appeared to be playing a part in intensifying the problem.

He said the street violence problem was 'complex' and required a 'multilayered response', but added: 'Can't ignore impact of reduced police resources & role of social media.'

Video producer Jonathan Fisher said he saw a group of girls crying by the police cordon last night.

'I cycled down Morning Lane three hours ago to get to the pub. Can't go back the same way because a lad got stabbed to death in the time since. Group of lasses beside themselves in tears at the police tape.'

Other residents spoke about hearing the helicopter land at the scene as paramedics fought to save the young man.

A woman named Danielle tweeted: 'Listening to the sirens and helicopter. So sad for the life lost!'

Another added on social media: 'I've been listening to the police and chopper thinking not another one.'

Police were driving in Hackney last night when they saw a young man had been stabbed

Andrew Sissons tweeted: 'A really sinister atmosphere and wretched feeling in the air I am stood in my garden watching the helicopter less than 100 meters from Morning Lane, Hackney - senseless and tragic.'

Speaking about the Hackney death, a police spokesman said: 'Shortly before 8pm on Wednesday, officers on patrol on Link Street in Hackney were approached by a man suffering from stab injuries.

'Officers immediately provided the man with first aid. The London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance attended.

'The man, who is believed to be aged in his early 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene at 8.24pm.'

Police were called to the Betfred store in Clapton after receiving reports of a male unconscious

A man was involved in an 'altercation' with another who left the scene in Clapton yesterday

And a London Ambulance Service spokesman said: 'We were called today at 7:57pm to reports of an incident on Morning Lane.

'We sent two ambulance crews and an incident response officer to the scene. Despite extensive efforts by the medics, the patient died at the scene'

Speaking about the Clapton death, a police spokesman said: 'Police were called at 4.27pm to a bookmakers after reports of a male unconscious.

'Officers attended with LAS and London's Air Ambulance. Despite the efforts of medical staff the male, believed to be aged in his 50s, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Amaan Shakoor (left), 16, is one of the dozens of murder victims, in Walthamstow. Tanesha Melbourne (right) was shot in Tottenham, North London, and died on Monday night

Floral tributes were left in Tottenham, North London, on Tuesday after Tanesha was killed

'Officers are working to inform next of kin. The victim is believed to have been involved in an altercation with another male who has since left the scene.

'A crime scene is in place. There have been no arrests. The Homicide and Major Crime Command have been informed. Enquiries continue.'

And an ambulance spokesman added of the Clapton incident: 'We were called at 4.23pm today to Upper Clapton Road, E5, to reports of an assault.

'We sent two ambulance crews, an incident response officer and dispatched London's Air Ambulance to the scene.

'Sadly, despite extensive efforts to resuscitate the patient, he died at the scene.'

Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick announces new 120-strong task force that will use 'Al Capone' tactics to go after gangs behind London's murder surge

BY ROD ARDEHALI FOR MAILONLINE

The head of Scotland Yard Cressida Dickhas pledged to use 'Al Capone' tactics to curb the rise in knife and gun related murders

The head of Scotland Yard has pledged to use 'Al Capone' tactics to tackle the rise in knife and gun related murders.

Cressida Dick today said a new task force of 120 officers would target the most violent gang member to remove them from London streets 'for any crime'.

The police chief made reference to the notorious 1920's Chicago-gangster - who was finally foiled on tax evasion, after evading numerous murder charges - as an example of how potential violent criminals would be brought down.

The Met Commissioner spoke out after two more murders in London, bringing the total in the capital this year to 55.

It came after an 18-year-old man was killed in Hackney, after stumbling towards police officers with knife wounds. While in neighboring Clapton, a man in his 50s died after being punched in a row at a betting shop.

Ms Dick said the Violent Crime Task Force would target the most violent individuals in crime 'hotspots'.

Explaining the strategy for reducing the current crime wave sweeping London that has seen dozens of teenager stabbed to death in the capital, Ms Dick said there would be a visible increase in officers on the street 'being even more pro-active', as well as police flooding hotspots to disrupt potential gang violence before it begins.

Tactics: Tackling London's gun and knife crime epidemic Visible increase in officers on the streets

Police flooding hotspots to disrupt gang violence before it can begin

Intelligence-led stop-and-searches

The use of specialist covert tactics

Targeting known violent criminals and feeding intelligence to local officers to deal with in a 'fast-time way' Advertisement

Plus, officers would use intelligence-led stop-and-search and the use of specialist covert tactics.

Finally they would be targeting known violent criminals and feeding intelligence to local officers which they can use in a 'fast-time way'.

Speaking to the Evening Standard , she said: 'We will put even more effort into bearing down on violent crime.

'You will see us being even more pro-active out on the streets. We will have a greater presence in the hotspots of violence and a focused effort, including intelligence-led stop-and-search and the use of specialists in covert tactics.

'We will be looking to target the people we know are the most dangerous and get the intelligence to our local officers which they can use in a fast-time way.'

Ms Dick's words came after an 18-year-old man identified as Israel Ogunsola was found fatally wounded by officers in Hackney at about 8pm Tuesday, and died at the scene half an hour later despite receiving first aid.

Two boys both aged 17 were arrested on suspicion of murdering the computer programming student, who was helped by an off-duty paramedic until the London Ambulance Service arrived.You're going to find a lot more than some antique furniture at a California porn studio's four-day sale.

Kink.com, a porn company located in San Francisco's Mission District, is holding a sale to bid farewell to its wacky collection of vintage props and artwork after the Armory building its housed in was sold to developers.

The sale, which kicks off April 6, will allow interested buyers to purchase a number of odd props that were used in Kink's films.

Kink.com, a porn studio located in San Francisco, is selling its vintage-style props including this torture rack

A human hamster wheel, which stands at six-feet tall, is also up for grabs at the sale, which kicks off on April 6

Several sofas will be sold by Kink.com including this torn pink antique couch

In need of a surgical table? Head over to Kink.com's sale. These two old-school exam tables are available for purchase at the sale

A red leather chair, complete with straps, is another item on Kink.com's list of items to sell

Among the items up for grabs are a torture rack, a six-foot-tall human hamster wheel, leather straitjackets, vintage gynecological chairs, surgical exams, a wheelchair that's a decade old, a vintage dental chair and a torn bright pink sofa.

Others items, which are all listed on the Your Estate Sale website, includes various sex toys, a harness and restraint and exercise equipment.

'Anyone who came here on a tour or for a party or a business meeting will remember the high Victorian decor, the vintage furniture, the walls of art, and the tremendous history,' Kink spokesman Mike Stabile told the San Francisco Gate.

He did, however, issue a warning for those who want to check out the sale.

'Of course, we are Kink.com, so it's not your grandmother's estate sale. Those with more discerning tastes will definitely find a little leather mixed in with the lace,' he said.

Peter Acworth, the founder of Kink.com, purchased the building in 2006. He sold it to a club and resort developer for $65million, four times what he purchased the building for.

The California company is also getting several space heaters, fans, lamps and other odds-and-ends

Kink.com, which makes vintage-style porn, is also selling this old-fashioned wheelchair

Another strange item up for grabs is this bank vault, but don't be fooled there's nothing behind the door because it's fake

Kink.com is also selling this doctor's chair. It's not clear how this was used in one of their films

Artwork will also be up for grabs at the sale, which will run from April 6 to April 10

Kink.com is holding the sale after selling its building to a club and resort developer for $65million

The porn studio will relocate to another building but it's not immediately clear where.

According to the San Francisco Gate, Acworth used the building as a porn studio and to host parties and events. The location recently underwent a renovation to include 19 gender-neutral bathrooms and sound-proofing so neighbors don't complain.

The sale takes place at the Armory's Drill Court on April 6-10, from 10 am to 4 pm every day.The heartbroken mother of the young wife killed in a horror smash in Florida has talked of the anguish of losing her 'best friend'.

Nanette Drake lost her beloved daughter Maryanne, 29, along with her husband Adam, 30, and his parents Sherry, 56, and Bryan, 59.

The family were on holiday in Florida to celebrate Bryans birthday when their hire car was obliterated by a Ford pick-up as Adam attempted a U-turn at a busy intersection when the vehicle's satnav ordered him to turn around.

The Stephenson family, who had just been to see Elon Musks SpaceX rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Centre, all died at the scene.

Adam Stephenson and his wife Maryanne, pictured here by Click Orlando, were killed in the crash

Mr Stephenson's wife Maryanne, 29, and his parents Brian Stephenson, 66, and Sheralyn T Stephenson, 56, also died after they were hit by this black Ford F-250 pickup truck. The impact was so ferocious that both vehicles left the road

Adams brother Sean survived the horror smash after he chose not to join the group at Kennedy Space Centre and remained at the familys rented holiday home nearby.

Maryannes mother Nanette, 47, said: 'She wasnt only my daughter. She was my best friend.'

Speaking from her home in Bristol, where she was being comforted by Maryannes brothers, she said: 'They were due to fly out tomorrow evening and be back on Thursday morning.

'They were there for Adams dad Bryans birthday. They went to the Kennedy Centre to watch the shuttle launch.

'She messaged me as the launch took place.

Adam Stephenson was driving his wife and his parents Sherry and Brian, identified in this picture by Click Orlando

'She messaged me every day when she was over there. She wasnt only my daughter she was my best friend.

'They were trying for a family. Theyve got two cats which Im now feeding.

'She was wonderful, lovely, the best daughter a mum could wish for, she was my best friend.

'Both of them were wonderful people and loved life. They were planning on going to Australia next year.'

Maryanne, who worked in HR at a nursery, and Adam had been together for six years and had been married for three.

Nanette added: 'They had just bought their third house. They were doing really well for themselves.

'Life was just beginning for them really. Maryanne only had a few close friends but she had a lot of friends.

'Ive rang them and they are all devastated as are Adams friends and family.

'Our loss is bad enough, and Adam was like a son to me, but Adams brother has lost his brother and his mum and his dad all in one go.

'Its still not real, I cant believe Im speaking about them in the third person. Maryanne was wonderful with everyone she met.

'She was just a lovely person. She was in child care for a lot of years, all her colleagues loved her, she was so easy to talk to.

'Adam slotted into our family, he was brilliant.'

Friends have paid touching tributes to the family on social media.

Chantelle Jenkins wrote: 'RIP Maryanne, she was a lovely girl in school. So tragic, thoughts go out to her family at this sad time.'

Michelle Milton-Morris commented: 'RIP Maryanne Stephenson. Had the pleasure of working with you a few years ago. So sad. My heart goes out to your family.'

Daniel Fry wrote: 'So sad, Maryanne was known to me not from going to school together but as a neighbour but good friend too whilst growing up.

'Thoughts are with all of her family right now, very sad RIP Maryanne always remember the small memories we shared and even better memories seeing you and Adam on your wedding day when I supplied you lovely back drop and Disco. RIP.'

Julia Baldwin added: 'Heart-breaking news to hear of, god bless everyone in this tragedy.'

Claire Hopes said: 'This is so unbelievably gutting... know the family.'

The rented Mitsubishi saloon, which was being driven by Adam Stephenshon from Bristol, is seen mangled after the crash

Adam Stephenson, 30, was instructed by the device to turn around in a rented Mitsubishi saloon car as the family left the Kennedy Space Center because there had been a crash up ahead.

Mr Stephenson, his wife Maryanne, 29, and his parents Brian Stephenson, 66, and Sheralyn T Stephenson, 56, died after they were hit by a Ford F-250 pickup truck.

The driver of the truck told police there was 'nothing he could do' after smashing into the passenger side of the white saloon.

The white Mistubishi with Orange County plates was hit on the passenger side by the black pickup

It has been described as a 'violent collision' by Titusville Police Department which says the crash is still under investigation

The family, from Bristol, were pronounced dead at the scene in Sisson Road on the SR-405 intersection in Titusville, Florida.

It has been described as a 'violent collision' by Titusville Police Department which says the crash is still under investigation.

The sat nav in the vehicle was instructing Mr Stephenson to do a U-turn at the intersection due to a blockage on SR 407 - the original route from the Space Center back to Davenport where the family were staying.

This crash remains under investigation by the Titusville Police Department.

The rented white Mitsubishi saloon car can be seen mangled after the crash in Florida

The Titusville Fire Department at the scene of the crash which killed four British people all from the same family

Deputy Chief Todd Hutchinson said the truck driver, who escaped with minor injuries, told officers there was 'nothing he could do' to avoid the crash.

He added that Adam Stephenson's 'unfamiliarity' with the area could have contributed to the smash.

Police said his brother - who has not yet been named - was also on the family holiday.

But he did not visit the Kennedy Space Center and was at their rental home in Davenport, Florida, at the time of the horror smash, officers said.

GPS in the vehicle was instructing a 'U-turn' at the intersection likely due to a road blockage on SR 407 - the original route from the Space Center back to Davenport where the family were staying

This crash remains under investigation by the Titusville Police Department

Speaking today, Deputy Chief Hutchinson, of Titusville Police, Florida, said: 'At the point of the crash the GPS indicated that the GPS had rerouted them.

'It had instructed them to do a U-turn at that location, which was an intersection.

'It told them to go the other way because there was a crash up ahead of them.

'They were in the process of making that U-turn at the time of the collision.

'We think that one of the contributing factors was the unfamiliarity of the driver with the area.

'The vehicle they collided with was a heavy duty Ford pick up truck driven by a local man who said that the vehicle pulled right in front of him and there was nothing he could do.

'He was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

'All four of the people in the car died at the scene. Providing rescue personnel were not able to help them in any way. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do.'

The family, from Bristol, England, were on holiday in Florida at the time of the crash and had watched a rocket launch around an hour earlier, police said.

The Deputy Chief added: 'The driver of the car was a male, the passenger was the wife of the driver and the driver's parents were in the back seat.

'We only know of one family member that stayed behind. He didn't take the trip to Kennedy Space Center. He stayed behind.

'When he noticed they didn't return he called local law enforcement but they were already on their way to notify him.

'He lost his brother, sister in law, his mum and his dad.'A California civil jury ruled that a man is legally responsible for the death of his brother's girlfriend, who was found hanging naked at a San Diego-area mansion in 2011.

Jurors in the wrongful-death trial determined on Wednesday that Adam Shacknai must pay Rebecca Zahau's family more than $5million for the loss of her love and companionship, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Jurors haven't yet determined whether to order punitive damages.

Scroll down for video

Adam Shacknai (left), pictured in court on Wednesday, was found legally responsible for the death of his brother's girlfriend, Rebecca Zahau (right), in 2011

Adam Shacknai, 54, hung his head as the verdicts were read in civil court Wednesday

Thumbs up: Zahau family attorney Keith Greer turned around to face Rebecca's family in the room and gave a thumbs up sign

Zahau was found dead at her boyfriend's mansion in Coronado, California, on July 13, 2011, two days after his young son suffered a fatal fall at the house

Shacknai hung his head as the verdicts were read. The 54-year-old is the brother of billionaire pharmaceutical mogul Jonah Shacknai, whom Zahau was dating when she died.

A coroner said the death was a suicide, but Zahau's family suspected foul play and in 2013 filed a wrongful death suit in civil court to challenge that decision.

Adam, a tugboat captain from Tennessee, was never criminally charged in Zahaus death.

It took the civil jury less than a day of deliberations to return the verdicts.

The jurors were tasked with answering two questions: Did Adam Shacknai touch Rebecca Zahau before her death with the intent to harm her? Did that touching cause the death of Rebecca Zahau?

Plaintiffs' attorney Keith Greer (center) said at a press conference he hopes the sheriff's department would reopen the criminal case and re-investigate Rebecca's death

They voted 'yes' in both instances, reported NBC4.

Sitting at the defense table with his head bowed, Shacknai showed no visible reaction to the verdicts.

At the plaintiff's table across the aisle, Rebecca's older sister, Mary Zahau-Loehner, wiped away tears with tissues as her lawyer, Keith Greer, turned around to face other members of the family and flashed a thumbs-up sign.

During a press conference held after the hearing, Greer told reporters the case was 'not about money,' but rather it had been brought against Shacknai to pressure the sheriff's department to reopen the criminal case.

'I hope that the sheriff's department is paying some attention,' Greer said. 'We've allowed the public to see that evidence and say, "Wow how did the sheriff's department and medical examiner's office come up with the conclusions they did."'

Zahau, 32, was the only adult known to have been present two days earlier, on July 11, 2011, in her boyfriend's historic mansion in the beach resort city of Coronado when Shacknais six-year-old son, Max, suffered brain injuries in a fall from a staircase.

Zahau (pictured left with Jonah Shacknai) was the only adult present when six-year-old Max Shacknai (right) suffered brain injuries

The boy plunged to his death off of this staircase and was found on the first floor, next to a shattered chandelier (pictured)

Authorities said Zahau died shortly after receiving a voice mail that said the boys condition had worsened and he wasnt likely to survive.

Max died several days later. His death was ruled accidental.

Zahau was found naked and had rope around her wrists and ankles but San Diego County authorities concluded that she killed herself.

Jonah Shacknai told ABC News in March he agrees with the official version of what happened to his girlfriend

Investigators believe Zahau loosely bound her wrists, took one arm out and put both arms behind her back before tightening the noose. Investigators said footprints on the dusty balcony and DNA on a knife, rope and bedposts helped them reach the conclusion.

Officers who responded to the scene found a pair of knives, black paint, brushes, and a cryptic message painted on the door that read: 'She saved him can you save her.'

Shacknais brother had come to California after his nephew was injured and was staying in the mansions guest house.

He called 911 after finding Zahau and cutting her down.

However, the lawsuit alleged that Adam sexually assaulted Zahau, killed her and staged the hanging, possibly in revenge for Max's death.

Zahau was found hanging naked and bound from this second-floor balcony (left)

The rope that Zahau allegedly used to hang herself is seen hanging over the balcony railing

A knife is seen in the second-floor bedroom after Zahau's suspected suicide

In closing arguments, the defense said there was no physical evidence linking Shacknai to the crime scene and none of the 29 witnesses who testified in the case said he was in the house the night Zahau was believed to have died.

In early March, Jonah Shacknai said in an interview he agrees with the official version of what happened to his girlfriend of three years after his son's fall.

All I can think is that Rebecca saw what had happened, felt responsible in some way, not that she did anything, but that she was entrusted with Max, and that it was too much to bear, he told ABC News.A pregnant mother of two collapsed and died two hours after learning her brother had been found dead in Bangladesh.

Tragic Sultana Akhter, from Gloucester, was inconsolable when she was told her brother had died from natural causes overseas.

At an inquest into her death, a coroner heard how the expectant mother fell ill after suffering a suspected heart attack.

Medics battled to save her but she died within 12 hours of hearing the devastating news.

Sultana Akhter, of Gloucester, could not stop crying after hearing about the death of her brother from natural causes in Bangladesh (above, stock image of Gloucestershire Royal Hospital)

She was expecting to have a baby girl who failed to survive after being delivered by an emergency Caesarean section in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

Now her husband Firuj Alli and their two sons Nabil, 10, and Nahid, 14, are trying to come to terms with the tragedy.

A coroner's investigation is under way into the events leading up to the death of the 39-year-old.

Relatives say Sultana was a caring woman and desperately looking forward to the birth of her daughter after six years of trying for another baby.

'I love babies and when I used to ask my mother for a baby sister she'd say 'you have to pray',' said Nabil, 10, who attends Tredworth Junior School.

'I prayed every day for a sister and until this happened we thought our prayers had been answered.'

Loved ones say Sultana was over the moon to be having a girl and the family had already chosen the name of Tayyibah Akhter and bought a red velvet dress.

But at around 7.40am on the morning of Monday March 19 Sultana received a phone call to say her 34-year-old brother had died in Bangladesh. Sultana, one of seven children, was devastated.

Relatives say Sultana was a caring woman and desperately looking forward to the birth of her daughter after six years of trying for another baby (stock image)

Family, friends and neighbours tried to comfort her and relatives say a midwife called to see Sultana who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.

But friends say she could not stop crying and as the day went on her condition continued to get worse. They called the local surgery and, later on that afternoon, an ambulance.

By the time two ambulances and a paramedic arrived at her home in Barton, Gloucester, around 40 minutes after the 999 call it was too late to save Sultana. The family claim her GP did not ring back until she was on her way to hospital, hours after the call.

'I was at home praying for my mum when it was all happening,' said her eldest son Nahid who attends Gloucester Academy school.

'She had been crying for hours and was very ill but if they had come quicker, they might have been able to save the baby.'

Sultana's husband was on holiday in Bangladesh at the time of his wife's death so his brother went to the hospital where medics broke the news that they had been unable to save mum or baby.

'The staff at the hospital were very good,' he said. 'They had kept the baby warm and let me hold her for about 45 minutes. She was very beautiful.'

Under the circumstances loved ones decided not to tell Mr Ali the shocking news straight away.

They booked an airline ticket and told the dad he needed to come home early as his wife had been taken ill and told him the truth in stages over the next 36 hours.

The family's heartbreak was compounded by the fact that they could not hold a funeral shortly after their deaths, in line with Muslim tradition.

'I told them that we wanted a funeral as soon as possible because her soul was waiting,' said Sultana's brother-in-law. 'In our religion what's happened has happened. It's written. It's Allah's will.

'But after two days they said a special post mortem was needed and the only person in the country who could do it was a doctor in Leicester and he was very busy.

'I understand it is the law but why is there only one man in the whole country who can do the specialist ones? They should have more people.'

He has yet to break the news to his brother, who does not speak English very well, that the authorities have also kept tissue and bones from the baby as part of a thorough investigation.

According to paperwork leg bones, a left femur, three thoracic vertebrae and three left ribs have been retained until after the inquest is concluded or 12 months, whichever is the shortest.

'This from a baby that only weighed around 1lb,' said Sultana's brother-in-law, who did not want to be named.

'I cannot bear to think of them doing that to my niece and cannot understand why. She was so very, very tiny. That would be a lot from an adult, but a baby who weighs around 1lb? I can't tell my brother just yet.'

Their deaths have left Gloucester's Muslim community in shock and last week around 500 heartbroken mourners turned out to say farewell at a joint funeral in Coney Hill cemetery.

The Gloucestershire Muslim Burial Association supported the family through the difficult time leading up to the funeral, acting as bridge between the authorities and loved ones who have links to Cinderford and Gloucester.

Through his brother, a clearly shocked Mr Ali paid tribute to his wife, who he married in 2001.

'My wife was the most caring person,' he said. 'She was a good woman and a good mother.

'Whenever she went to the shops she would touch the girls clothes and ask Allah to give her a daughter.

'She had waited about six years to have her baby and having a daughter was a dream come true for her. In the end it wasn't to be.'

At the opening of an inquest the Gloucester coroner heard that Baby Akhter was just 20 minutes old when she died at 8.05pm on Monday March 19 as a direct result of maternal death.

An inquest will open into the death of Mrs Akhter when further medical investigations have been completed. So far the cause of death is classed as unascertained.

Officials have told relatives did all they could to speed up the process so the funeral could go ahead and a full inquest into both deaths will be held in August to give experts time to complete specialist medical reports.

Leaders says Gloucester's Muslim community was on edge waiting nine days for the funeral to take place.

'What happened was absolutely heartbreaking and the long delay before the burial was a very upsetting development,' said Gloucester City Councillor Said Hansdot, former sheriff of the city and Labour member for Barton and Tredworth.

'It has been horrendous for her family and a very anxious time for the whole community, but everybody came together to try and support the family.

'Now they have had the funeral, the family have many questions about what happened that day.'

NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which oversees GPs, said: 'We are extremely sorry to hear about this sad loss, and send our best wishes to the family.

'We are looking into this, as we would with all such cases. Until the facts are established we are unable to comment.'

A spokesman for South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said they could not comment until after the inquest has been heard.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Coroner's Service said: 'We are doing everything we can to support the family at this difficult time, including working with the Muslim Burial Association. We cannot discuss any further details at this time.'Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his third wife are divorcing after 15 years.

Judith, 63, who married Giuliani, 73, in 2003, filed a contested divorce proceeding in Manhattan Supreme Court this week, indicating she is planning to fight over their assets.

Giuliani confirmed to Page Six today: 'It is with great sadness I can confirm that Judith and I are divorcing. We hope to do this as amicably as possible, and hope that people will respect the privacy of our children at this time.'

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his third wife Judith are divorcing after 15 years

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and wife Judith Nathan pictured on their wedding day at Gracie Mansion May 24 , 2003 in New York City

He did not give a specific reason behind the divorce, apart from to say that both sides take blame.

'In these divorce situations, you cannot place blame, it is 50/50, there are problems on both sides,' he said, adding they are planning to split their properties in New York and Palm Beach.

This was the third marriage for both Rudy and Judith, a registered nurse, who each have adult children from former marriages.

Giuliani with his second wife Donna and his son Andrew, pictured together in 1993. They divorced in 2001

Rudy was previously married to Regina Peruggi, from 19681982 (pictured in an undated photo)

Rudy has Andrew and Caroline with his second wife, Donna Hanover, Judith has daughter, Whitney, from her marriage to Bruce Nathan.

Rudy was previously married to Donna Hanover, from 19842002, and Regina Peruggi, 19681982. His first marriage was annulled when they discovered they were actually second cousins.

Giuliani biographer Wayne Barrett has claimed that Peruggi's brother believes Giuliani knew at the time of their marriage that they were related.

He met Hanover while he was still married to Peruggi in 1982 and they married in 1984. He then met Nathan in 1999 while still married to Hanover. When news of the affair broke, Giuliani moved out of Gracie Mansion and into a couple's apartment.

In 2001, Giuliani's attorney revealed he was impotent due to prostate cancer.

Giuliani, a big Trump supporter, had previously suggested that 'everybody' is unfaithful, but says he confesses his own to a priest.

He was discussing Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency in 2016, when he said she was 'too stupid to be president' for not knowing about Monica Lewinsky.

Giuliani, a big Trump supporter, had previously suggested that 'everybody' is unfaithful, but says he confesses his own to a priest

'Meet the Press' host Chuck Todd pointed out that it was a bit of a pot-meet-kettle situation as 'you have your own infidelity charge,' Todd said of the thrice-married Giuliani, who had a very public divorce from his second wife while still mayor, in the year 2000.

'Well, everybody does,' Giuliani replied. 'And I'm a Roman Catholic, and I confess those things to my priest.'

Last summer, Trump reportedly floated the idea of nominating the former New York City mayor to replace former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions who drew Trump's ire when he recused himself from all Russia-related investigations.

But Giuliani, known as 'America's mayor' following the 9/11 terror attacks nearly 16 years ago, would have brought his own set of potential conflicts of interest to the job, including some that would appear even more problematic than Sessions'.

The former mayor originally had his heart set on becoming secretary of state, but was left without a chair when first round of presidential-appointment music stopped.

He is currently an informal adviser on cybersecurity to the White House.EPA administrator Scott Pruitt categorically denied a report that he went around the White House to engineer raises for two friends and aides who joined the agency from his home state of Oklahoma.

His halting performance on the president's favorite network Wednesday came as White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the White House is 'currently reviewing' the allegations against him.

Asked if Trump had confidence in Pruitt, Sanders responded: 'The president thinks that he's done a good job, particularly on the deregulation front. But again we take this seriously and we're looking into it.'

Pruitt stated emphatically that he didn't know about the pay raises in an interview with Ed Henry of Fox News in a contentious grilling.

'I did not know that they got pay raises until yesterday,' Pruitt said.

Embattled EPA chief Scott Pruitt faced questions about his lease and two big raises that went through for EPA staff members close to him

'I did not know that they got pay raises until yesterday,'said EP administrator Scott Pruitt, about big raises for two staffers who are close to him

His comment follows a report in the Atlantic that he 'ordered' the two staff aides get raises.

The report said after the White House rejected an effort to get raises for the two political appointees  a sign-off was required  Pruitt's team found a way to push through the raises anyway using an obscure provision of the Clean Water Act.

'Pruitt ordered it done,' the Atlantic reported.

The two aides got raises of $57,000 and $28,000, under a provision from 1996 amendments to the law usually used to bring on specialists.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator got a call from President Trump indicating he still had the president's support, but scandals continue to swirl around the official

Asked if Trump had confidence in Pruitt, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders responded: 'The president thinks that he's done a good job, particularly on the deregulation front.

The aides, Sarah Greenwalt and Millan Hupp, followed Pruitt to Washington to serve as his senior counsel and scheduler.

Pruitt got pressed on the big raises during the interview.

'So, hang on. Both of these staffers who got these large pay raises are friends of yours. I believe from Oklahoma right?' Henry asked him.

'They are staffers here in the agency,' was all Pruitt would allow.

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Pruitt's lease on the Capitol Hill unit required him to only pay for the nights he occupied the apartment

An ethics official for the Environmental Protection Agency wrote a memo that said EPA chief Scott Pruitt's $50-a-night Capitol Hill condo rental was fair

'They are friends of yours,' Henry noted.

'Well, they serve a very important person,' Pruitt responded, before getting cut off again.

Pruitt also was asked about his D.C. residence for six months  a Capitol Hill townhouse where he paid just $50 a night to stay at the home of the wife of a lobbyist who does energy work.

Watch the latest video at <a href="http://www.foxnews.com">foxnews.com</a>

Pruitt only paid for nights he was stayed over.

'This was like an Airbnb situation,' he said. 'When I was not there, the landlord, they had access to the entirety of the facility. When I was there, I only had access to a room.'

When asked if Trump was okay with what has been reported about Pruitt's lease, Sanders said: 'The president's not. We're reviewing the situation. When we have had the chance to have a deeper dive on it, we'll let you know.'

After the low-rent housing situation for Pruitt ended, he had no fixed address in the city where he ran a federal agency for about a month, the Washington Post reported.

He ended the $50-per-night situation August 4th. He then traveled, recuperated from knee surgery, attended staff meetings via conference call, and moved into an apartment in a trendy D.C. neighborhood a month later, according to the report.

But he had to cancel a planned 10-day trip to Australia after Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast.

President Trump called Pruitt on Monday night and indicated he still supported him.

'Keep you head up. Keep fighting. We got your back,' Pruitt was told by the president, an administration official told CNN.

A hasty review by an agency ethics official said Pruitt's lease for a Capitol Hill home a block from the Capitol that is tied to a prominent fossil-fuels lobbyist, didn't violated federal ethics rules.

A memo signed by Kevin Minoli contends that Pruitt's $50-a-night rental payments constitute a fair market rate, as the administrator would pay about $1,500 a month.

But Pruitt actually paid a total of $6,100 over the six month period he leased the property, an average of about $1,000 a month.

The room was presumably kept open for his potential use when he didn't use it.

Pruitt's college-aged daughter stayed in the second bedroom while interning at the White House last summer.

Two two-bedroom apartments similar to the one Pruitt rented were listed for $3,750 a month and $4,740 a month.

Minoli's memo was dated March 30, the day after ABC News first reported Pruitt lived last year in condo co-owned by the wife of Steven Hart, a registered lobbyist whose firm pushed EPA to relax pollution regulations.



Spanish police have arrested a whistleblower who leaked thousands of documents exposing an alleged tax evading scheme at HSBC.

Officials detained Herve Falciani, a former computer analyst at the Swiss branch, in Madrid tonight while he was on his way to a conference, a police source said.

'He was arrested in Madrid, in the street,' a top official told AFP, adding the arrest was made at the request of Switzerland, which is seeking his extradition.

A Swiss court in 2015 convicted Falciani, a French-Italian national, of aggravated industrial espionage and handed him a five-year prison sentence.

Officials detained Herve Falciani (pictured above at a protest against tax evasion in Madrid in 2016), a former computer analyst at the Swiss branch, tonight while he was on his way to a conference

Falciani was due to take part in a debate at the Comillas Pontifical University titled: 'When telling the truth is heroic: flushing out tax dens.' with journalists from Spain and France.

Police sources said the international arrest warrant issued by Switzerland reached them on March 19.

Falciani, credited with the biggest leak in banking history, was arrested in Barcelona in July 2012.

A Spanish court refused to extradite him in May 2013, saying he had revealed information about potential crimes.

The names on the so-called Falciani list helped Spanish tax chiefs unearth the names of 659 Spanish tax fraudsters.

Internet freedom platform Xnet, co-founded by Barcelona-based theatre director and activist Simona Levi, hinted today's/yesterday's (WED) arrest was an attempt at a trade for Marta Rovira and Anna Gabriel, the pro-independence Catalan politicians now in Switzerland who are being prosecuted by a Spanish judge.

It tweeted: 'Arrest of Herve Falciani. Corruption whistleblowers being used for a bargaining tool. What sort of justice is that?'

The Swiss government has already said it doesn't extradite for 'political crimes.'

He did not attend his trial and has avoided Switzerland ever since.

Falciani leaked a cache of documents allegedly indicating that HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped more than 120,000 clients to hide 180.6 billion ($222 billion) from tax authorities, sparking the so-called 'Swissleaks' scandal.

Falciani leaked a cache of documents allegedly indicating that HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped more than 120,000 clients to hide 180.6 billion ($222 billion) from tax authorities, sparking the so-called 'Swissleaks' scandal

The so-called 'Snowden of tax evasion' and 'the man who terrifies the rich' then obtained access to a massive database of encrypted customer information.

He took the client list in 2007 and went to Lebanon with his mistress the next year planning to sell the data. Swiss authorities described it as 'cashing in'.

Yet suspicious bankers in Lebanon were not interested in buying the dubiously sourced client list and at least one tipped off their Swiss counterparts to Falciani's activities.

Falciani then got in contact with European fiscal authorities and began passing them the pilfered information, which prompted numerous tax evasion audits.

Falciani rejects that he was only seeking financial gain, insisting he had wanted to expose how banks support tax evasion and money laundering.

He travelled to Spain by boat in July 2012 and was arrested in Barcelona on an international warrant seeking his extradition to Switzerland.

Falciani then spent a couple of months in a Spanish prison.

In 2013, Spain's High Court ruled against extraditing Falciani on the grounds that the charges he faced in Switzerland are not considered crimes under Spanish law.Two people have died when a small plane flown by a college student crashed near Daytona Beach, Florida on Wednesday.

The crash took place at around 10:00am on Wednesday near the Daytona Flea & Farmers Market.

The pilot, a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a pilot examiner with the Federal Aviation Administration, were killed.

Two people have died when a small plane flown by a college student crashed near Daytona Beach, Florida on Wednesday

The crash took place at around 10:00am on Wednesday near the Daytona Flear & Farmers Market (file picture of a Piper PA-28)

The identities of the victims have yet to be released.

News of the crash was reported by the Orlando Sentinel.

The student was flying a Piper PA-28 Cherokee aircraft, according to News 6 TV.

Our prayers and deepest sympathies go out to all those affected by this devastating loss, university President P. Barry Butler said in a statement.

The Volusia County Sheriffs Office said it had notified federal agencies of the crash, prompting an investigation.

Embry-Riddle is cooperating fully with all appropriate law enforcement and regulatory authorities, Butler said.An emotional video showing a South Carolina mother singing for her terminally ill son inside a hospital ward has touched the hearts of thousands of people after being uploaded online.

Abby Tanner sat down to play the piano for one-year-old Lincoln while he was waiting for a neurology appointment at the Duke Cancer Institute.

Lincoln, who has a rare and terminal form of epilepsy, lay in his cot while she performed a heartfelt rendition of Never Enough from the Greatest Showman.

Abby Tanner sat down to play the piano for one-year-old Lincoln while he was waiting for a neurology appointment at the Duke Cancer Institute

Nearly three minutes into the performance, Tanner looked up to see a crowd of nurses and other staff clapping after they heard her from their rooms.

Doctors at the center posted footage of the performance on Facebook, where it has been viewed more than 215,000 times.

Tanner, a mother-of-three, told WCVB5: 'You know, it was just a moment between he and I, and it wasn't until we looked up and we saw a bunch of people clapping afterwards - really enjoying it - that we knew anybody else was even there.'

Lincolns's epilepsy means he has at least 20 seizures a day, although that is down from 200 previously.

Tanner said she played music to allow her and Lincoln to relax during his treatment.

'Music just communicates things that words can't,' she said. 'It heals my heart to be able to play and sing.'

Nearly three minutes into the performance, Tanner looked up to see a crowd of nurses and other staff clapping after they heard her from their rooms

Tanner performed a heartfelt rendition of Never Enough from the Greatest Showman, a song performed by Rebecca Ferguson's (pictured) character in the film

Thousands of people wrote admiring comments under the video after it appeared on Facebook

Carolyn Strength wrote: 'Abigail, you have such a beautiful voice and play so beautifully. Thank you for sharing both with us while in your time of need.'

Heather Kendrick said: 'Oh, this just touched my heart. Our 22 year old son passed away from (SUDEP) Epilepsy Jan 2017 - It truly is never enough...We miss him so much!'

And Tracie Renfrow commented: 'Abigail - you have an amazing talent and an even more amazing love and devotion to your family!'

Tanner is documenting his story on a Facebook group called Lincoln's Road.

The Greatest Showman, which starred Hugh Jackman (pictured), became a surprise hit over the 2017 holiday period after grossing $414million worldwideJimmy was murdered a day after his 16th birthday by a thug trying to goad the gentle giant into a fight

The parents of murdered schoolboy Jimmy Mizen fear 'no one is safe' as London is rocked by a surge of violence and warn: 'It's an epidemic. It will go through the roof - we need to put a brake on that.'

Barry and Margaret Mizen have worked tirelessly to help make their community safer since altar boy Jimmy was killed in a bakery near their home the day after his 16th birthday.

They spoke out after another death early today pushed the toll of victims killed in attacks in the capital this year to 50 and ahead of the milestone 10th anniversary of their son's death

Margaret said: 'It's becoming increasingly frightening and we need to stand together and do something. It's unspeakable. We don't know what we're going to wake up to next. No one is safe.'

Husband Barry said 'What's happening is appalling' but he urged: 'Let the police do their job, be supportive. The cop on the street is worried about stopping and searching . There are too many constraints on them because of political concerns.'

The couple live in Lee Green, South East London, a quarter of a mile from where an armed burglar broke into a pensioner's home and died in a struggle in the kitchen.

As the 78-year-old home owner was arrested earlier on suspicion of murder, Barry remarked: 'The audacity of people breaking into homes in the middle of the night - it's as if they feel immune to being caught and punished and think 'We can do what we like'.'

Next month the Mizens will mark the 10th anniversary of their son's brutal death with a wider-ranging campaign to beat knife crime.

Barry and Margaret Mizen enjoying their last ever holiday with son Jimmy in Brittany, France, in August 2007, nine months before his murder. Their youngest son George, now 18, accompanied them

The couple, speaking exclusively to MailOnline and sharing some new previously unpublished photos of Jimmy, believe that communities working together can help beat crime.

They think the toxic rise in knife and gang land crime is sparked by 'a reflection of society today with anger and violence seen on TV.'

They are also urging actress Elizabeth Hurley to use her 'celebrity status' to help fight the plague of violence after her 21-year-old model nephew was recently stabbed in a London street.

As the star 'thanked God' that her nephew didn't die, Margaret tweeted: 'Please use your celebrity status to highlight what is happening on our streets.'

As Miles Hurley, 21, recovers from his attack, Barry said: 'Elizabeth Hurley liked the tweet. Maybe she could do a Joanna Lumley, be a crusader and help us fight this alarming increase in crime.'

Teenager Amaan Shakoor, 16 - the same age as Jimmy - was blasted in the face by two hooded gunmen in a turf war in Walthamstow, East London, at the weekend. He died later in hospital.

This one picture shows Jimmy aged 14 with 'his beautiful smile' during his confirmation at the family's church Our Lady of Lourdes, where he had been also been baptised and where his funeral was held

Youth worker Tanesha Melbourne, 17, became the 48th victim to be murdered in London this year, after getting caught up in a terrifying gangland postcode war ravaging the streets of the capital.

She was shot dead in a botched revenge hit on Monday, dying in her mother's arms, in Tottenham.

Barry, 66, and Margaret, 65, say the shocking rise in blade and gun crime makes them 'more determined than ever to carry on ' to help fight it.

Margaret said: 'My thoughts go out to the families and friends of these latest young victims and the communities. It is heartbreaking and very frightening for everyone. Nobody is safe.'

She urged: 'Let the police do their work but we, the public, have to do something too.'

Jimmy was slashed across the neck with a broken glass dish in the Three Cooks bakery near his home a day after celebrating his 16th birthday by buying his first lottery ticket.

Local thug Jake Fahri, 19, hurled the dish at him in temper after trying to goad 6ft 4in 'gentle giant' Jimmy and elder brother Harry into a fight. A shard of glass severed his neck and he bled to death in his brother Tommy's arms.

Jimmy soaking up the sun on his final family holiday to Brittany

Jimmy's parents have pledged to help make Britain a safer and more peaceful place for young people.

They have spent the past decade since their son's murder working to ensure South East London and other key places are safer, and they are now rolling out their ambitious campaign across the country with their charity For Jimmy.

Margaret said: 'We are determined that something of value will come of our son's loss. It already has but more will come.

'Jimmy would be extremely proud of everything that has been achieved and will be achieved over the next ten years. We are hoping for a better tomorrow.

'I miss him, I can still see that cheeky smile. But now I cry a little bit less and laugh a little bit more.'

The brave couple, who face the 10th anniversary of his death in five weeks on May 10 told how they had made a promise to their son that 'we would dedicate our life to working for peace.'

His proud dad said: 'We are previleged to be able to do something in his memory.'

Their Safe Haven project has already helped cut crime by up to 30 per cent. With schools and police, they introduce kids to local businesses, who agree to be a safe haven for youngsters in trouble.

Shopkeepers identified by a sticker on their window agree to pull down the shutters and keep youngsters safe while they call the police and parents in their time of need.

Barry said: 'We live in divided communities, in a society where we think someone else is going to do it all for us.

Jimmy Mizen with his parents and younger brother George holidaying in Brittany

'It's an ongoing relationship where shopkeepers now look at a kid running and think, "Can I help that person?" rather than, "What have they done?"'

London mayor Sadiq Khan backs the scheme, the couple said.

It comes as UK knife crime rose 21 per cent last year to its highest level since 2011, with London's murder rate overtaking New York's for the first time in modern history.

Fahri was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum 14-year term. He is locked up at maximum security Whitemoor Prison near March, Cambridgeshire, where he is still known to approach others from the same area as his victim, asking: 'Do you know the Mizens?'

Devout Catholics Margaret and Barry have forgiven their son's killer but have been stunned and hurt by claims they have recently heard that he has been boasting about his appalling crime behind bars whilst showing no remorse.

Barry said: 'He's still acting as the big macho man in prison. He's in the same mind set he was at the time he killed the boy. He's no model prisoner.'

Eight months after being sentenced Jimmy's killer was stabbed with sharpened tweezers by Rhys Jones' murderer Sean Mercer in a twisted bid to become youth prison 'top dog.'

Jimmy Mizen aged 13 in the garden at his South East London home with younger brother George

Margaret recalled: 'When I heard he'd been attacked I didn't feel 'Good, he deserves that.' I thought he is still someone's son. I have faith and it helps. But I cannot understand why young people want to take a life. '

She told how dope-smoking school drop our Fahri - whose family still in a neighbouring street but 'thankfully' they never see - was known as a troublemaker.

'In 2001 he mugged one of my sons and in 2003 beat him up and in 2008 killed another on my sons,' she said.

One day Margaret would like to confront Fahri in jail to ask him: 'What made you so angry?' She said: 'He's left our family with a lot of sadness and pain. But we have faith and it helps.'

Fahri faces five more years behind bars up until 2023 but could be eligible to apply for parole this year.

Jimmy's parents also work with other bereaved parents to offer comfort and guidance.

They visit schools and prisons across the country to tell Jimmy's story and encourage people to work together to create safer streets and have set up 'Good Hope' cafes.

Margaret said: 'We want to create a living legacy of forgiveness, peace and hope.We want to be change makers and peacemakers.'

They are helped by their close-knit family - six sons and two daughters aged 46-18.

Barry, who used to run a shoe repair business where Jimmy would help on Saturdays, said: 'Following his death the family came together rather than divide. There was a determination in us all that we were not going to be beaten.

Barry and Margaret Mizen visiting last month the Good Hope cafe set up in Jimmy's memory in Lewisham, South London

'We're trying to give a positive message, driving a change of thinking in society because punishment doesn't work as a deterrent. It's about people's personal responsibility to the society they live in.

'These recent violent murders in London show it is an epidemic and we need to stop it, put a brake on that together.'

Margaret revealed for the first time to MailOnline that she has been bravely battling cancer. Speaking about her ordeal, she said: 'It's been absolutely horrendous but a journey that a lot of people are on.'

She was diagnosed with bowel cancer in August 2016 but has now beaten it after gruelling chemotherapy treatment. Two months ago was found to have skin cancer and underwent a biopsy.

She said: 'For the time being I'm OK but I'm keeping a close watch on my health.'

To remember their son 10 years on a special 'Jimmy's Day' will be held at Millwall FC on April 20. It will be followed three weeks later by a memorial service at St George's Cathedral, in Southwark, South London, on May 05.

Margaret said: 'It will be full of laughter to remember Jimmy. He was really uncomplicated, always laughing, he had left school and had got an apprenticeship with a property services company. We were proud of him.'

Barry, a former governor at his son's school added: 'We all looked up to him because he was so tall! He had a great sense of humour, was very loyal and knew right from wrong.

'You learn to walk a new path and you proudly promote your cause.'The mother of an Arizona woman who was strangled to death while on vacation in San Diego two years ago is appealing to the public for help in finding the victims fugitive boyfriend, who is now believed to be hiding out in Central America.

Raymond McLeod, a 34-year US Marine veteran, has been charged with killing single mother-of-two Krystal Mitchell, 30, while they were staying in San Diego on June 10, 2016.

McLeod disappeared without a trace after taking Mitchell's car to the airport, where he rented a new car and drove straight to Mexico.

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Raymond McLeod, 34, has been charged with killing single mother-of-two Krystal Mitchell, 30, while they were vacationing in San Diego on June 10, 2016

Mitchell's mother, Josephine Wentzel (center), spoke at a press conference on Tuesday, appealing to the public for help in locating her daughter's suspected killer

The Phoenix, Arizona native was a 'person of interest' in McLeod's case until Tuesday, when the San Diego County District Attorney announced the murder charge.

According to the US Marshals Service's fugitive task force in San Diego, McLeod was at one point spotted in Belize. His last sighting was in March 2017 in Guatemala.

Speaking at a candlelight vigil in honor of her daughter in San Diego on Tuesday, Josephine Wentzel, a former police detective from Washington state, said of McLeod: He is charming, he is deceiving, he is a liar, and he is a viper.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said at a press conference on Tuesday that at the time of Mitchell's killing, McLeod had a pending criminal case from April 2016 in Riverside County, California, in which he was accused of strangling his wife, who survived.

He has also been convicted in Phoenix of domestic violence against another wife, according to CBS News.

Catching McLeod will not bring my daughter back, but would prevent this monster from killing someone elses mother, daughter or sister, Wentzel said at the press conference. It would also mean that Krystals children can sleep at night, knowing hes been stopped.

She added: He is a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment and I hope the public will take action and help us bring him to justice.

McLeod, of Phoenix, Arizona, was a 'person of interest' in McLeod's case until Tuesday, when the San Diego County District attorney announced the murder charge

There is now a warrant out for McLeod and an $11,000 reward for information leading to his arrest, according to NBC San Diego.

Authorities said McLeod should be considered armed and dangerous.

Mitchell and McLeod instantly bonded over the fact that they were both divorced and had children around the same age

Mitchell and McLeod met in Phoenix and instantly bonded over the fact that they were both divorced and had children around the same age.

The protective mom ran what she thought were two background checks on McLeod and found a spotless record.

'She told me, "I feel like I can be myself with this guy. I feel protected"', Mitchell's best friend Diana Olivares told Crime Watch Daily.

Olivares got a 'weird vibe' from McLeod, as did Mitchell's mother.

But Josephine Wentzel was more preoccupied with the fact that her daughter was worried about an ex who 'was bothering her'.

Mitchell became so concerned that McLeod even loaned her a gun, according to Wentzel.

Amidst all the drama, McLeod surprised Mitchell with a trip to San Diego to visit some friends.

But those same friends would find Mitchell dead in a bedroom inside their home.

McLeod surprised Mitchell with a trip to San Diego to visit some friends. But those same friends would later find Mitchell dead in a bedroom inside their home

Police found 'obvious signs of struggle' in the room, and realized that McLeod had completely disappeared

Police found 'obvious signs of struggle' in the room, and realized that McLeod had completely disappeared.

San Diego Police have yet to publicly release Mitchell's official cause of death, but Wentzel said she was strangled.

After months went by without a sign of the veteran, Wentzel - a former detective - decided to take matters into her own hands.

Wentzel was shocked to discover that McLeod had far from a clean record and realized Mitchell had run credit checks on him, not background checks.

McLeod had been charged twice with domestic violence, one of which occurred just three months before Mitchell was murdered.

The Marine pleaded not guilty to assaulting his second wife in Riverside, California and was released on $50,000 bond.

When Wentzel posted a 'Wanted' poster with McLeod's picture on Facebook, she received a flood of messages from past girlfriends.

'He's a charming man from what I understand,' she said. 'I believe she was killed because she was trying to get away from him.'

McLeod had been charged twice with domestic violence, one of which occurred just three months before Mitchell was murdered

'I have gotten contacted by several women who said that he's very dangerous.'

And numerous people began contacting Wentzel with reports of seeing McLeod on the bars and beaches of Belize.

'It was just one story after another,' she said. 'I was getting contacted left and right. It just didn't stop day and night.'

McLeod's last reported location was in Guatemala March 2017, but he has also been spotted in Honduras along with Belize and Mexico.

The US Embassy in Belize issued a bulletin to police and media to look out for McLeod in 2016.

Wentzel believes McLeod is staying near the coast in Belize so he can easily take boats in and out of the country without being spotted.

The mother, who is now taking care of Mitchell's seven and eight-year-old son and daughter, said she will not rest until McLeod has been captured.

'I had to sit down and say, "Okay, I gotta tell you that a bad man killed your mom,"' she recalled.

'So I feel obligated to those little kids to bring justice, because they know there's a bad man running around out there that killed their mom.'

San Diego Police released images of McLeod on Tuesday, showing his chest, shoulder, and arm tattoos as well as what he looks like with a beard or clean shaven.

McLeod has been described as 5ft 11in and 245lb. He is also known to go by RJ, Matt, or Mateo.

Anyone with information on McLeod or his whereabouts can contact the SDPD Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or SDPD dispatch at (619) 531-2000, or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.Once upon a time, proclamations from the Royal Household would be displayed with due solemnity on an easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace.

These days, senior courtiers share their thoughts on the heir to the thrones lavatorial habits via social media.

Yesterday, Prince Charless director of communications, Julian Payne, posted an extraordinary comment on Twitter from Australia, where he is on tour with Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

The comment referred to a claim by the author Tom Bower in his new biography of Charles, Rebel Prince, that the future king once took a lavatory seat with him when visiting a friend in the North-East.

Prince Charles is greeted by public during a visit to Brisbane yesterday. His director of communications, Julian Payne, posted an extraordinary comment on Twitter from Australia, where he is on tour with Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall

Next to a photograph of Charles and Camilla being greeted by well-wishers in Brisbane, Payne wrote: The Prince and The Duchesss tour of Australia and Vanuatu begins: 30 engagements, 7 days, 1 Commonwealth Games, 0 personal loo seats.

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall receive a Ceremonial Welcome by the State of Queensland where they were greeted by The Governor-General and Lady Cosgrove, The Queensland Governor, The Premier of Queensland

Payne, who was appointed as Charles and Camillas most senior spokesman in 2016, is the first serving official to share such intimate details of the royals luggage.

The former fashion industry PR executive does not disclose further specifics, such as whether this is the first tour on which the Prince has declined to take a loo seat with him.

Bower tells me: I am delighted to hear that Prince Charles has nothing to fear from Australian lavatory seats.

In his book, which was serialised in the Mail, Bower reported that Charles took his own mattress, lavatory seat, Kleenex Velvet loo roll and two landscapes of the Scottish Highlands when visiting a friend.

It was just one of numerous examples given of Charless ostentatious and demanding behaviour.

In another, the Prince was said to have once shrieked and trembled at the sight of an unknown plastic substance covering his dinner, only for Camilla to tell him: Its cling film, darling.

Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith says she hasnt been a victim of sexual harassment by men, but does admit to having occasionally experienced the unsolicited wandering hand.

And she deals with it by taking robust action.

There has been the odd ghastly fellow who puts his hand on your knee and gets a clock, she says. The 78-year-old celebrity chef once had a 13-year relationship with Rayne Kruger, husband of her mothers best friend Nan, and later married him.

Watching the waves eases Anoushka's pain after split

Anoushka Shanka pictured with Joe Wright in 2012 as they arrive for the premiere of Anna Karenina in London

Anoushka Shankar has broken her silence on the painful heartbreak she suffered when her husband of seven years, Darkest Hour director Joe Wright, ditched her for 30-year-old actress Haley Bennett earlier this year.

I dont know whats in my future, but I do know that my heart has infinite capacity to love, says Anoushka.

The 36-year-old sitar player, who has two young sons with Joe, adds: Its against my faith in life itself to let pain close me up, and just for today, as I learn to be single and to be a single parent, I will manifest this feeling of being in love when I kiss my children, when I watch the waves roll in, when I play my sitar, when I sit in moonlight and when I pray.

It's Oscar the spiderman!

Art dealer Oscar, 36, who wed 33-year-old Sophie Oakley last month, is on honeymoon this week in Mauritius, where he reveals some extravagant body ink worthy of David Beckham

His flamboyant alter-ego Dame Edna Everage never shies away from outlandish adornments, but is Barry Humphries facing competition from his son?

Art dealer Oscar, 36, who wed 33-year-old Sophie Oakley last month, is on honeymoon this week in Mauritius, where he reveals some extravagant body ink worthy of David Beckham.

Sporting a red bikini, Sophie, who is due to give birth to their daughter in September, shares this snap online in which Oscar bares a large spider web tattoo over his chest and a bird tattoo on his left shoulder.

Dame Edna, meanwhile, remains ink-free at 84.

Jemima's U-turn on those bikina snaps

The 44-year-old daughter of late tycoon Sir James Goldsmith is in Mexico this week  her first holiday in more than two years  with financier brother Ben, 37, and TV presenter Richard Bacon

Heiress Jemima Goldsmith is eating her words  just months after railing against smug holidaymakers who post bikini shots on social media.

The 44-year-old daughter of late tycoon Sir James Goldsmith is in Mexico this week  her first holiday in more than two years  with financier brother Ben, 37, and TV presenter Richard Bacon.

Posting a snap of herself in a stylish brown bikini, mini sarong and oversize sun hat and shades, Jemima muses online: Like the tree that falls in the forest with no one around to hear it, did a holiday happen if it wasnt posted and liked on Instagram? This is me entering a bat cave.

Her other activities have included watching baby turtles on the beach with Bacon, who last week revealed hes been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at the age of 42.

Will Laurie write sequel to Le Carre's Night Manager?

If John le Carre wont write a sequel to The Night Manager, then Hugh Laurie will.

The star, who played villainous Richard Roper in the hit BBC drama opposite Tom Hiddleston, has dreamt up cunning scenarios to reunite the team for a second run.

Hugh and I have had various conversations, Alistair Petrie, who played Ropers right-hand-man Sandy, tells me. Our characters were carted off in chains believing they were going to spend a long time in prison in the last episode, but then they got taken to a holding cell. Weve talked about how they get out of that situation.

Petrie adds: My solution involves lots of bribes, but Hughs theory was far more erudite and interesting.

Theres an ambition to do another series, but theres no source material yet. Le Carre is god, so he has to sign off on any ideas. But wed all love to do it.A drunk driver who crashed in a Chicago suburb had his life saved by a bystander who happened to see the accident from his home last month.

Jose Martinez, 58, was seen assisting a 34-year-old man who was stuck inside a burning vehicle in Aurora, Illinois on March 31.

Dash-cam footage that was released on Wednesday shows him pulling the unidentified man. Martinez darted from his house across the street around midnight when the accident took place.

Jose Martinez, 58, (circled) was seen assisting a 34-year-old man who was stuck inside a burning vehicle in Aurora, Illinois on March 31

Devin Johnson, 29, happened to also be in the area and quickly came to lug the man out of harm's way while authorities searched for more victims.

Joel Olvera, a 25-year-old from Aurora, also helped out at the scene.

'To say Jose's actions were heroic and brave are an understatement,' the department said in the Facebook video posting on Wednesday.

Devin Johnson, 29, (circled) happened to also be in the area and quickly came to lug the man out of harm's way while authorities searched for more victims

'Had he not taken immediate action, the driver would not have lived. Devin should also be commended for assuring the man was out of harms way. Outstanding job, gentlemen.'

The 34-year-old driver was charged with a DUI and a number of other traffic offenses, according to police.

They shared that he suffered burns and other minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.Yulia Skripal (pictured) who was poisoned in Salisbury

Russia has explored carrying out assassinations by placing nerve agent Novichok on door handles, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Police have already disclosed they believe Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in Salisbury after the poison was smeared on the double agents front door.

Now British intelligence agencies have evidence that Russia had been testing the deadly agent specifically on door handles in the run-up to the attack on March 3.

Agents also have highly sensitive information showing Moscow tested the poison on other everyday objects, it emerged last night.

A security source said: We have intelligence that goes beyond Russia made Novichok and stockpiled it.

'We have evidence that they also explored using it as an assassination weapon including on areas such as door handles and everyday objects.

The detail was one of several crucial pieces of evidence that led the UK government to determine that it was highly likely that Vladimir Putins regime was behind the attack.

Sources also revealed last night that foreign intelligence agencies have been passing top-secret information to the UK that pointed the finger at the Kremlin.

While it is not known what intelligence has been given to British agencies, or which countries supplied it, the information was said to have added further weight to the UKs dossier on the attack.

Sources said all the evidence amassed by intelligence agencies, the military, and the Government laid the blame firmly at Russias door.

They would not say when the evidence of Russia testing Novichok on door handles had come to light for security reasons  confirming only that the details had been unearthed in recent times.

A source said this key evidence had been handed over to Britains allies in a move described as unprecedented intelligence sharing.

Russia has explored carrying out assassinations by placing nerve agent Novichok on door handles, the Daily Mail can reveal

Police have already disclosed they believe Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia (pictured together) were poisoned in Salisbury after the poison was smeared on the double agents front door

The UKs allies gave their full backing to Britain over the poisoning after they were given top-secret briefings.

Last month police disclosed that they believed a Russian hit squad had poisoned Mr Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia by smearing a nerve agent on their front door.

Counter-terror officers said they thought the Skripals first came into contact with Novichok at their home.

Scotland Yard said that the highest concentration of the nerve agent had been discovered on the front door of the house, which is in a cul-de-sac.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin pictured today

In an interview last month, Boris Johnson said the UK had evidence that Russia had been exploring nerve agent-based assassinations.

The Foreign Secretary also said Moscow had been stockpiling deadly chemical weapons in the past decade and Britain had reason to believe Russia had collected the military grade Novichok used in Salisbury.

Yesterday the Mail revealed how intelligence agents were investigating a Russian who had been on the same flight into the UK as Miss Skripal  before returning to Moscow a few hours later.

Spy agencies red-flagged an individual who arrived at Heathrow on the Russian state-owned Aeroflot flight AFL2570 from Moscow that landed at 2.32pm on Saturday, March 3. The Skripals were hospitalised on March 4.

A senior Whitehall source said the individual had been identified as a person of interest by intelligence agencies, and pointed to more than one person being investigated.

It is not clear whether the person is suspected of delivering the agent, administering the Novichok, or of being linked to the attack in some other way.

Security sources also said that the search of an Aeroflot plane at Heathrow on Friday had been based on intelligence.The families of two murdered Utah teens have come face-to-face with the man accused of killing them for the first time.

Jerrod Baum, 41, is accused of forcing Brelynne 'Breezy' Otteson, 17, to kneel and watch him beat and stab her boyfriend, Riley Powell, 18, before tossing their bodies down a mine shaft, charging documents alleged.

Distraught family members of the young victims, who said they'd support a capital case against Baum, spoke outside a court in Provo following Baum's brief initial appearance Tuesday.

Riley's father, Bill Powell, described his thoughts about Baum after coming face to face with him for the first time.

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Relatives Nikka Powell, 17, right, and Kylysta Otteson, 19, left, hug after alleged killer Jerrod William Baum's first court appearance at the Fourth District Court on Tuesday, April 3, 2018, in Provo, Utah

Riley's younger sister Nikka tears up as family members talk to reporters after Jerrod William Baum's first court appearance

Brelynne's aunt, Amanda Hunt, (right) listens as Bill Powell speaks to reporters after Jerrod William Baum's first court appearance

Riley's dad, Bill Powell, (seen above) exits the courtroom after Jerrod William Baum's first court appearance at the Fourth District Court on Tuesday, April 3, 2018, in Provo, Utah

'He didn't look like a killer, but he didn't look like a good person,' Powell said outside the court house. 'It's hard to say what a killer looks like,' he added, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Riley's younger sister, Nikka Powell, cried as she talked about facing the reality that the two are dead.

'They had a whole life to live... me and my brother were so close, and I was so close to Breezy. We did everything together. And it's just hard to actually realize that they're gone now,' the sister said.

Brelynne's aunt, Amanda Hunt, further said: 'We want justice for these kids, and if the death penalty is what it is, then were going to stand for it. These kids didnt deserve that.'

Even though Baum thought Otteson was pregnant - she was not - he proceeded to slit the 17-year-old's throat and threw her body down the same mine.

Prosecutors said Baum made Brelynne 'Breezy' Otteson (left) watch him beat and stab Riley Powell (right) before throwing him down a mine shaft, according to charging documents

Even though Baum (pictured) thought Otteson was pregnant - she was not - he proceeded to slit the 17-year-old's throat and threw her body down the same mine

The teens were missing for nearly three months before their bodies were found last week in the abandoned mine about 75 miles south of Salt Lake City

Utah County prosecutor Chad Grunander did not elaborate on why Baum believed Otteson was pregnant before he cut her throat.

Baum has been charged with eight felonies, including two counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and desecration of a human body. His attorney has not returned calls seeking comment.

Baum could face the death penalty if convicted in the deaths of Otteson and her boyfriend, 18-year-old Powell, who authorities say suffered a stab wound to his groin.

'He doesn't deserve a life,' said Bill Powell. 'We as the taxpayers don't need to support him and give him a life, because he took life.'

Baum (left) has been charged with eight felonies, including two counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and desecration of a human body. Morgan Reannon Henderson, 34 (right) , was booked on obstruction of justice on Saturday in Utah

But after Henderson was pulled over last weekend in an unrelated traffic stop and cops found an ax, a rifle and knives in her car, the rest of the story came out

Police say Baum killed the couple after they visited his girlfriend, Morgan Henderson, 34, despite Baum's warning against her having male visitors.

The break in the case came when Henderson was arrested in a separate case and led police to the bodies.

The teens were missing for nearly three months before their bodies were found last week in the abandoned mine about 75 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Authorities believe Henderson witnessed the slayings. She is being held on suspicion of obstruction of justice, though Grunander did not rule out the possibility of additional charges.

On Tuesday, their bodies were found dumped down this mine, after the killer's girlfriend confessed to police that he had killed them

The girlfriend, Morgan Henderson, initially told police in January that the couple had come over to her house before they went missing to smoke weed, but after they left she hadn't heard from them. Above, the scene of the murders on Wednesday

But after Henderson was pulled over last weekend in an unrelated traffic stop and cops found an ax, a rifle and knives in her car, the rest of the story came out.

Henderson is the only other person under investigation in the deaths, he said. No attorney was available Tuesday on her behalf.

Authorities are still investigating why she didn't tell police what she knew sooner, though Grunander said she was threatened at one point.

'We obviously wish she would have come forward earlier,' he said. 'That would have saved additional grief for the family.'

If prosecutors don't pursue the death penalty, Baum could face a minimum of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.Melbourne has developed a plan to adopt large car-free 'superblocks' to reduce congestion and the risk of terror attacks.

Cars would be banned inside the proposed superblocks, with the exception of emergency, delivery and residents' vehicles.

Speed limits of 10km/h would see the streets within the blocks dominated by pedestrians and cyclists, with cars and public transport flowing along the edges.

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Melbourne has developed a plan to adopt large car-free 'superblocks' to reduce congestion and the risk of terror attacks (pictured is a proposed superblock)

Cars would be banned inside the proposed superblocks, with the exception of emergency, delivery and residents' vehicles (pictured is the Melbourne CBD)

The Melbourne City Council plan aims to deal with a skyrocketing commuter population expected to hit 1.4million per day by 2036, The Herald Sun reported.

Reducing vehicular access to pedestrian thoroughfares would also reduce the risk of terror attacks and incidents like the Bourke Street rampage.

The proposal could see a superblock created in the Melbourne CBD bounded by Bourke Street, Elizabeth Street, Flinders Street and William Street.

Other suggestions would see speed limits in the Hoddle Grid and Docklands reduced to 30km/h.

WHAT IS A SUPERBLOCK? - Several city blocks are combined into one large 'superblock' - Public transport and car traffic is restricted to the streets bordering the block - Only emergency, delivery and residents' vehicles are permitted inside - Speed limits for the vehicles allowed on the inside streets are set at 10km/h - Pedestrians and cyclists have priority and can use the streets in safety - In Barcelona streets inside the superblocks are redesigned with pedestrian amenities, landscaping, bollards and barriers - Superblock advocates say they reduce injuries and deaths from traffic incidents, improve public transport flow and make cities more liveable - Critics say they are frustrating for local residents with cars who end up with longer more complex commutes, Barcelona has seen protests over the blocks Advertisement

Speed limits of 10km/h would see the streets within the blocks dominated by pedestrians and cyclists, with cars and public transport flowing along the edges (picturd is Hosier Lane in Melbourne)

The new plan is believed to be inspired by Barcelona, which has a similar road grid to Melbourne.

Poll Do you think superblocks would work in Melbourne? Yes No I don't know Do you think superblocks would work in Melbourne? Yes 62 votes

No 84 votes

I don't know 9 votes Now share your opinion





Barcelona has created nine superblocks, with more planned, but some local residents have protested, saying their commutes have become overly complex.

Melbourne's Transport portfolio chair Nicolas Frances Gilley said pedestrian safety was at risk from footpath overcrowding.

'Allocating the majority of space to cars when most people walk or take public transport is not sustainable,' he said.

'Every hour during the morning peak, 15,000 pedestrians cross the Spencer and Collins street intersection ... five times the number of people in cars, yet cars are given twice the amount of time as pedestrians to pass through.'

With the population of the central business district forecast to increase by 50 per cent over the next 20 years, the council believes a new transport strategy is needed.

The Melbourne City Council plan aims to deal with a skyrocketing commuter population expected to hit 1.4million per day by 2036 (pictured in Union Lane in Melbourne)

Reducing vehicular access to pedestrian thoroughfares would also reduce the risk of terror attacks and incidents like the Bourke Street rampage (pictured is a superblocks in Barcelona)

Dave Jones, mobility advocacy manager with the RACV, said the plan could make congestion worse and prove frustrating for both drivers and cyclists.

'A permeable grid in the city centre is much more friendly for all road users, assisting direction finding, reducing the time spent circulating in traffic and the distance to be driven,' he said.

The council is also considering the removal of traffic lanes, widened footpaths and car-free pedestrian zones in areas with cars speeds limited to 30km/h.

Mr Jones suggested clearing footpath clutter and making changes to traffic signals, but said kerbside parking should only be removed if other plans failed.

A draft strategy will be released by the City of Melbourne for consultation in 2018, after receiving public thoughts on the discussion paper.A 36-year-old woman is suing a retired Idaho fertility doctor after discovering via an Ancestry.com DNA test that he allegedly used his own sperm to impregnate her mother.

Kelli Rowlette, of Washington state, sent off her genetic sample to the popular genealogy website last year but assumed there had been a mistake when the DNA did not match that of her own father.

Instead, Ancestry.com had predicted a parent-child relationship between Rowlette and a reproductive specialist 500 miles away named Dr. Gerald E. Mortimer.

Kelli Rowlette, 36, is suing retired Idaho fertility doctor Dr. Gerald E. Mortimer (left and right) after discovering via an Ancestry.com DNA test that he allegedly used his own sperm to impregnate her mother

Rowlette later discovered that Dr Mortimer, who has since retired, apparently used his own semen to impregnate her mother and she has now filed a lawsuit accusing him of medical negligence, battery and fraud.

According to the lawsuit, Rowlette was not aware at the time that her now-divorced parents, Howard Fowler and Sally Ashby, had gone to Dr Mortimer when they were living in Idaho in the 1980s because they were having trouble conceiving.

The doctor had recommended mixing the husband's sperm with other matching donors to increase the chances of fertility. The couple agreed and specifically asked for donors that were college students and more than 6 feet tall.

Dr Mortimer performed the procedure but allegedly never revealed to their parents that he was using his own sperm.

He eventually delivered Rowlette in May 1981 but still never mentioned the secret, according to the complaint. Dr Mortimer continued to treat Rowlette's mother until the family moved away to Washington.

Rowlette later discovered that Dr Mortimer, who has since retired, apparently used his own semen to impregnate her mother and she has now filed a lawsuit accusing him of medical negligence, battery and fraud

'Dr Mortimer knew Kelli Rowlette was his biological daughter but did not disclose this to Ms Ashby or Mr Fowler,' the lawsuit says.

'Dr Mortimer fraudulently and knowingly concealed his use of his own genetic material in the procedure.'

It wasn't until Rowlette sent off her DNA sample that the secret unraveled.

The lawsuit states that she received a notification from Ancestry.com last July informing her she had a DNA match.

She initially believed the results were flawed and was 'disappointed' with them, according to the complaint.

Rowlette's parents recognized the doctor's name when their daughter relayed the results and were devastated by the news.

The lawsuit states they 'painfully labored' over whether to tell Rowlette.

Rowlette later discovered the truth when she found her birth certificate in October and noticed the signature of the doctor who delivered her.

She is suing Dr Mortimer and Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates of Idaho Falls, accusing them of medical negligence, fraud, negligent infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract.

It is not clear if Dr Mortimer has an attorney.Dylan Voller is one of three people who was arrested for 'public nuisance' outside the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Two women, Ruby Wharton and Meg Rodaughan, were also identified as those arrested, according to SBS.

Mr Voller made headlines when he exposed abuse in juvenile detention that led to a royal commission.

Queensland police will allege that multiple people were restrained after attempting to storm the gates to the Carrara Stadium at about 7:30pm.

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Dylan Voller (pictured) was one of three people arrested on the charge of 'public nuisance'

He was arrested alongside Ruby Wharton and Meg Rodaughan, according to the SBS

Mr Voller made headlines when he exposed abuse inside juvenile detention centres

The half a dozen protesters waited for thirty minutes, demanding tickets they claimed were purchased for them by the Land Council, before authorities started pushing them back, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.

Tensions escalated as the Aboriginal dissidents started chanting 'No justice, no games'.

A handful were apprehended after lashing out at police, with some heard pleading 'don't shoot, don't shoot' as they were forcefully subdued.

Three people - one man and two women - were arrested.

The chant picked up again shortly afterwards, gaining volume as more and more members of the group took up the cry.

The three arrested allegedly believed they had tickets waiting for them at the Games

Three people - two women and one man - were arrested, after a number of protesters allegedly attempted to gain unauthorised access to Carrara Stadium

'We are here to show the world that Aboriginal Australia has come to reclaim what is rightfully ours,' Albert Hartnett shouted through a megaphone.

'Our law is our law, our law is the first law and that can never be broken.'

Protesters asserted that they would chant 'we say murder. They say justice' until 10pm.

Some protesters were reportedly heard to be pleading 'Don't shoot, don't shoot' as they were apprehended by police

Protesters chanted 'No justice, no games', while dissidents shouted into megaphones

Earlier in the day, the Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay was brought to a halt by another party of indigenous protesters.

The group of approximately 30 people lined up across Seaworld Drive, in Southport, cutting off the Queen's Baton Relay and leaving the relay staff and baton bearers stranded in a carpark at the end of the road.

The protesters, part of the Stolenwealth Games indigenous group, are using the Gold Coast Games to highlight their anti-colonial activity and authority views just like in the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 1982.

Protesters have formed a human chain to stop the Queen's Baton relay ahead of the Commonwealth Games

Police negotiators have been brought in to remedy the situation, according to The Gold Coast Bulletin.

They have formed what the publication described as a 'human chain'.

The protest halted the final leg of the baton relay before Wednesday's opening ceremony.

The 12.15pm Main Beach leg is yet to get underway, with 14 baton bearers - including Olympic kayak gold medallist Ken Wallace and Commonwealth Games swim champion Lisa Curry - left to wait.

'Protesters are currently holding up the Queen's Baton Relay. Police negotiators are working with the leaders for the best outcome for the baton bearers,' relay management said in a statement.

With no end in sight the baton team decided to cancel the leg surrounding the The Spit and do laps of SeaWorld Drive.

Similar protests were seen in 1982 at the Brisbane games and in 2006 at the Melbourne Games

Some were even stranded, but emergency services got them through.

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, who arrived in Brisbane on Wednesday afternoon, are expected to meet Governor-General Peter Cosgrove at a Gold Coast hotel near the protest site in the evening.

Queensland police say they acknowledge the group's right to protest and are negotiating with the group.

Queensland police say they acknowledge the group's right to protest and are negotiating with the group

'Should any activities occur during a protest which pose a risk to the safety or enjoyment of the Commonwealth Games, the QPS will respond accordingly,' police said in a statement.

The group has been set up in Carrara opposite the Commonwealth Games since 3pm April 4.

Last week Bo Spearim from Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance told 9 News that displays of flag burning wouldn't be ruled out by protesters as 'we do those things to capture the public'.Thanh Ta was convicted of several charges including invasion of privacy for sexual gratification

A former employee with the Colorado Department of Education has been convicted of multiple sex crimes after taking 'upskirt' photos of hundreds of women, including colleagues.

Thanh Ta, 43, was found guilty Monday of 17 counts, including sexual assault, stalking and invasion of privacy for sexual gratification, according to the Denver Post.

He took thousands of photos of his victims.

The education department first discovered Ta's secret files after he had downloaded them from his external hard drive onto the education department's computer system.

On September 21, while the department's technology employees examined a virus in the system they discovered the trove of graphic photos taken by the budget analyst.

'That's when we found the photos. That's when we called police. That's when we escorted him out of the building,' according to education department spokesman Jeremy Meyer said. 'He was banned from the building.'

Ta took photos and even videos of females colleagues and women he did not know from 2011 until 2017

Ta was charged in October, and was convicted after a six day trial.

The lurid photos of his unsuspecting victims were taken between 2011 and 2017.

For the women he knew and worked with, he labeled the photos with their names. All the images were saved in a file called 'upskirt.'

Ta also took photos of his victims in public places such as in downtown Denver along the 16th Street Mall.

Police originally allowed Ta to go home to retrieve his hard drive and bring it to them.

It took him hours to return, as he had attempted to delete a majority of the files, but Denver police forensics were able to retrieve them.

In total police found around 250,000 files on his hard drive that contained mostly pornographic material, in addition to the thousands of files of his unsuspecting victims.

He also took several videos of a colleague working at her desk that revealed intimate parts of her body.

Ta's wife, Tracy Ta, filed for divorce after her husband's dirty hobby was discovered

Besides taking photos of his own female colleagues at his work, he also took upskirt photos of women at the 16 St Mall in downtown Denver

When police spoke to the woman, she said she and Ta were friends, and she never gave permission for the photos to be taken.

In the arrest warrant affidavit Ta's colleague was 'very upset during the interview and stated that she felt very violated.'

His wife, Tracey Ta, filed for divorce on October 4 after his perverted hobby became known.

Ta is expected to be sentenced in June.When the body of 46-year-old Dr Matthew Puncher was found at his Oxfordshire home two years ago, the brilliant scientist had suffered multiple wounds to his neck, arm and stomach

When the body of 46-year-old Dr Matthew Puncher was found at his Oxfordshire home two years ago, the brilliant scientist had suffered multiple wounds to his neck, arm and stomach.

There was blood everywhere  pooling under his body and covering the kitchen floor.

A kitchen knife was in his hand. A smaller knife, also blood-stained, was in the sink several yards away.

Indeed, so horrific were his wounds that police initially believed he had been murdered, with one investigating officer stating that she didnt know how he could have inflicted them on himself without falling unconscious.

As a result, police at the scene searched for evidence of a break-in or a struggle with a knife-wielding assailant, possibly during an attempted robbery.

But they found no evidence of any third-party involvement, and an inquest later concluded Dr Punchers death had been suicide.

And that would have been that except the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent in Salisbury has reminded the world that, before he died, Dr Puncher found himself caught up in one of the most dangerous and troubling murder investigations Britain has seen.

As an expert in a small, highly specialised field, he had been called in by police in 2006 after a Russian defector was struck down by a strange illness in which his hair fell out and his organs failed.

Initially, British spies thought the victim  former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko  had poisoned himself.

His British handlers wondered whether he had deliberately made himself ill to make him seem more important than he was.

But when his condition deteriorated, experts were brought in to identify what mysterious substance could be to blame.

One of these experts was Dr Puncher, a specialist in radiation protection dosimetry: in laymans terms, measuring the doses of harmful radiation in humans.

Married with two children, Puncher lived in a red brick home in a quiet cul-de-sac in the village of Drayton, near Abingdon, in Oxfordshire.

He worked nearby, at the UKs Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, while nights were spent helping his sons with their homework.

He loved it, his wife Kathryn later told an inquest.

But when he was brought in to examine Litvinenko, who was slipping towards death at a London hospital, Puncher was thrust into the world of murder and international espionage.

The dying Russian showed no sign of radiation when tested for gamma rays, leaving his doctors baffled.

Initially, British spies thought the victim  former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko (pictured)  had poisoned himself

After he died in agony three weeks after falling ill, tests Dr Puncher carried out on the body revealed the other experts had been looking for the wrong substance.

Unusually, the victim had been exposed to high levels of alpha radiation, a rare type no one else had thought to look for.

Dr Puncher soon identified the substance to blame, setting off a chain of events that continue to reverberate to this day.

He and a colleague calculated the amount of polonium-210 found inside Alexander Litvinenkos body  thought to be more than ten times the lethal dose of the poison.

This discovery pointed in one direction: Moscow.

As a result of his breakthrough, police were able to trace a trail of polonium from Londons Millennium Hotel, where the defector was poisoned with a cup of tea, to an aircraft the two hitmen who killed him used to flee back to Russia, where they were given a heroes welcome.

This triggered a diplomatic row between Russia and Britain, with a 2016 official inquiry  using evidence gathered by Puncher and his team of experts  eventually finding that the orders for the hit probably came directly from President Vladimir Putin.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin

So could Dr Punchers breakthrough in exposing how Russia murdered Litvinenko have cost him his life?

The shocking circumstances of his death  this affable, kindly scientist who supposedly stabbed himself to death, using two separate knives  are now being probed by British security services investigating a series of murky incidents.

As the diplomatic crisis between Britain and Russia worsened after the attack in Salisbury, Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced the deaths of Dr Puncher and 13 others with links to the Russians are to be reviewed.

Those deaths featured in an investigation by the news website BuzzFeed, which reported that U.S. intelligence officers believed several of them could be blamed on Russia.

No wonder some of the late Dr Punchers friends and eminent colleagues told me they had concerns about the manner of his death.

Professor Phil Blower, an expert in nuclear medicine at Kings College London, oversaw Punchers PhD some 24 years ago and the pair became friends.

It just seems so strange that his death hasnt been investigated further, he told me. Im glad that people are now starting to pay attention. It all seems very odd.

In its investigation, BuzzFeed News  in an article headlined The Man Who Knew Too Much  revealed that the scientists strange, brutal suicide was believed by U.S. intelligence to have been a professional assassination.

What is particularly troubling, I have learned, is that just months before he apparently took his own life, in May 2016, the scientist had returned from a working trip to Russia a changed man.

In 2014, he had been placed in charge of a contract with the U.S. government to measure levels of radiation at a secret Russian nuclear base in the Ural Mountains.

The Mayak nuclear facility he travelled to is a place so secretive that until recently it was not even on the map.

Buried deep in the forests of the Urals, and surrounded by a 150-mile exclusion zone, it is home to the countrys most closely guarded nuclear secrets.

This was the birthplace of the Soviet atomic bomb project, and the site of a series of devastating nuclear disasters that were covered up for decades until the collapse of the USSR.

It is one of the most contaminated places on the planet, known by some as the graveyard of the Earth.

When Dr Puncher travelled to Russia in the final weeks of the Litvinenko inquiry, he was placed in charge of a sensitive assignment  codenamed Project 2.4  to measure the effects on workers of radiation produced at the Mayak facility.

Nuclear spills had caused widespread sickness, mutations, cancer and radiation poisoning among nearby residents, and the facility had accepted Americas help in improving safety at the site.

Punchers assignment was part of a U.S. federal contract given to Public Health England, the government agency charged with guarding British public from health hazards including chemical and nuclear exposure.

Under the U.S. research contract, Puncher and his team were tasked with working on software programs designed to measure the risks of radiation exposure at Mayak.

Yet while they were there, they were followed and bugged by Russian spies, according to Dr Alan Birchall, a colleague who accompanied Puncher on these trips. It proved to be an unhappy project to work on.

After coming home from one of these assignments, Puncher told colleagues he believed his brain was not working properly.

He also confided he feared he was suffering from some sort of nervous breakdown, and had been having suicidal thoughts.

Kathryn, his wife of 16 years, said at her husbands inquest that his mood completely changed after a visit to Russia just before Christmas in 2015. He was always an upbeat, sensitive man. He was brilliant with the children because he was so intelligent and enjoyed helping them with their homework.

But over Christmas, her husbands mood worsened. He just lost interest and his wife had to prompt him to do things like get dressed, cook and wash up, things he had previously done without thinking. He seemed to stop caring about anything, she added.

The scientist had, apparently, become obsessed that he may have made an error in his work in Russia, which, although he corrected it in an addendum to a paper he had written, he feared would ruin his reputation.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee at the House of Commons, London on the role of the Home Secretary

A former senior Scotland Yard counter-terror officer who spoke to BuzzFeed News said Punchers sudden change of mood should not necessarily have convinced police he had killed himself.

The [Russian] state can mess up minds; it can do all sorts of things. It has research laboratories, it has science facilities, he said. There are all sorts of drugs that can be given to people to create depression.

He said the proximity of Punchers changes of mood to his trips to Russia was potentially very serious and should be investigated fully.

And he said the local Thames Valley Police were in no way equipped to carry out the task.

It should, he said, have been taken over by Scotland Yards counter-terror team  who have the security clearance needed to communicate with Britains spy agencies in case they have any intelligence that might be relevant to solving a case.

At Dr Punchers inquest, in November 2016, Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Graham was told he had been subjected to a heavy workload as a result of redundancies and restructuring at Public Health England, and was also concerned about the error in his report.

His colleague George Etherington described as irrational concerns Dr Puncher had voiced that his miscalculation of the effects of the radiation on workers would land him prison.

Etherington said in a statement: In February 2016, he attended a meeting in Russia and when he returned he appeared to be quiet and more confined, and people told me mistakes made in mathematical analysis came to light during this meeting.

On April 27, I could see Matt was stressed and he said he had made a mistake and he thought he could be prosecuted for not meeting the contractual commitment.

He said it was having an effect on his marriage, but said his wife was very supportive, but he had been having thoughts of suicide. I told him his fears were groundless and he would look back and wonder why he worried so much.

The coroner ultimately recorded a verdict of suicide.

On top of the concerns over the way Dr Puncher died, there is a bizarre twist to this story: the Home Office pathologist who carried out Dr Punchers post-mortem  and declared the knife wounds were a result of suicide  was none other than Dr Nicholas Hunt.

He, as keen followers of these matters will recall, is the same Home Office pathologist who ruled that Dr David Kelly, the government chemical warfare expert and former UN nuclear weapons inspector, had committed suicide in May 2003.

It emerged that Dr Kelly had been the source for a report by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan that claimed the Blair government knew a claim Saddam Hussein could ready missiles within 45 minutes was false. Dr Kellys body was found in a tree circle atop Harrowdown Hill in July 2003, only ten miles from where Dr Punchers blood-soaked body was found.

He had taken painkillers and tried to sever his left wrist using a pruning knife. Yet he left no suicide note and had arranged to see his daughter later that day. The case files have been locked away for 70 years. Dr Kelly was buried at a local churchyard, but his body was exhumed in 2017 and then cremated, leading to claims by campaigners that his remains were burned to prevent further tests.

Just as in the case of Matthew Puncher, colleagues of David Kelly doubt he committed suicide. They launched a legal action calling for a full judicial review into his death, saying he could not possibly have killed himself using such a small knife, which caused minimal damage to his arteries.

For now, all eyes are on the battle for survival of the Russian father and daughter poisoned in Salisbury  last week, it was reported that Yulia Skripal was conscious and talking, but her father remains in a stable, critical condition.

Perhaps the case of Dr Puncher  and the others who died in strange circumstances on British soil  will yield more clues about Russian espionage here.

But as one intelligence expert remarked to me sardonically, even if it is ever proved that Russia somehow had a hand in Matthew Punchers death: It would make no difference. What are we going to do  start World War III?

Additional reporting by Will Stewart in Moscow and Simon Trump.An incredible 3D map has revealed the early history of the universe, bringing to light a multitude of galaxies that formed in the infancy of our cosmos.

Experts used telescopes here on Earth to peer back in time to 16 different epochs in the far reaches of space, between 11 and 13 billion years ago.

By doing so they discovered almost 4,000 early galaxies, many of which will have since evolved into galaxies like our own Milky Way.

The findings may provide scientists with crucial new information about the early phases of galaxy formation.

An incredible 3D map (pictured) has revealed the early history of the universe, bringing to light a multitude of galaxies that formed in the infancy of our cosmos. Experts used telescopes to peer back in time to 16 different epochs, between 11 and 13 billion years ago

Researchers from Lancaster University made the chart using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii and the Isaac Newton telescope in the Canary Islands.

Dr David Sobral, who led the study, said: 'These early galaxies seem to have gone through many more "bursts" when they formed stars, instead of forming them at a relatively steady rate like our own galaxy.

'Additionally, they seem to have a population of young stars that is hotter, bluer and more metal-poor than those we see today.'

Light from the most distant galaxies takes billions of years to reach us.

This means that telescopes act as time machines, allowing astronomers to see galaxies in the distant past.

The light from these galaxies is also stretched by the expansion of the universe, increasing its wavelength to make it more red.

This so-called redshift is related to the distance of the galaxy.

By measuring the redshift of a galaxy, astronomers can thus deduce its distance, how long its light has taken to reach us and, therefore, how far back in time we are seeing it.

Experts used filters to sample particular wavelengths of light, which let them differentiate between specific epochs in the history of the universe.

This method led to the discovery of galaxies that existed when the universe was only seven to 20 per cent of its current age.

The team searched for distant galaxies emitting Lyman-alpha radiation, using 16 different narrow and medium band filters over the Cosmos field (pictured). This is one of the most widely studied regions of our sky, located in the direction of the constellation of Sextans

The team also found that these early galaxies are incredibly compact, with the bulk of the distant galaxies only around three thousand light years across in size, while our Milky Way is roughly 30 times larger.

Their compactness likely explains may help to explain many of the physical properties that were common in the early universe.

The team searched for distant galaxies emitting Lyman-alpha radiation, using 16 different narrow and medium band filters over the Cosmos field.

This is one of the most widely studied regions of sky outside our Milky Way, located in the direction of the constellation of Sextans.

The full findings of the studies were published in two papers in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.Technology used by Nasa for studying faint stars and galaxies could be used to trap poachers in a rare collaboration between astronomers and ecologists.

The system combines flying drones, infra-red thermal imaging, and artificial intelligence to monitor animals at night when most poaching occurs.

In an early field trial in South Africa, it was used to detect elusive riverine rabbits, one of the most endangered mammals in the world.

Researchers hope in future the heat-sensitive drones will make it easier to track animals such as rhinos and spot poachers hunting them under cover of darkness.

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Technology for studying faint stars and galaxies could be used to trap poachers in a rare collaboration between astronomers and ecologists. The system combines flying drones, infra-red thermal imaging (pictured), and artificial intelligence to monitor animals at night

The technology works using AI software designed to pick out distant stars and galaxies in images of space that are invisible to the naked eye.

Nasa has used similar technology loaded onto its space probes to spot celestial objects that would otherwise be missed by its scientists.

Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University worked alongside experts at Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park to re-programme the software using thousands of images of animals.

Project scientist Dr Claire Burke, from Liverpool John Moores University, said: 'With thermal infrared cameras, we can easily see animals as a result of their body heat, day or night, and even when they are camouflaged in their natural environment.

'Since animals and humans in thermal footage "glow" in the same way as stars and galaxies in space, we have been able to combine the technical expertise of astronomers with the conservation knowledge of ecologists to develop a system to find the animals or poachers automatically.'

The researchers 'trained' the AI software to recognise different types of animals in a range of landscapes and vegetation.

The team has also developed software that models the effects of vegetation blocking body heat, enabling the detection of animals hidden by trees or leaves.

Further upgrades will compensate for atmospheric effects, weather and other environmental factors.

Most poaching happens at night in the dark, when it is difficult for gamekeepers to spot hunters and the animals.

The new drone technology can scan large areas of terrain and monitor regions that are hard to reach without disturbing the animals.

Researchers hope in future the heat-sensitive drones will make it easier to track animals such as rhinos and spot poachers hunting them under cover of darkness. This image shows a thermal image of rhinos taken from a drone

HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCES LEARN USING NEURAL NETWORKS AI systems rely on artificial neural networks (ANNs), which try to simulate the way the brain works in order to learn. ANNs can be trained to recognise patterns in information - including speech, text data, or visual images - and are the basis for a large number of the developments in AI over recent years. Conventional AI uses input to 'teach' an algorithm about a particular subject by feeding it massive amounts of information. AI systems rely on artificial neural networks (ANNs), which try to simulate the way the brain works in order to learn. ANNs can be trained to recognise patterns in information - including speech, text data, or visual images Practical applications include Google's language translation services, Facebook's facial recognition software and Snapchat's image altering live filters. The process of inputting this data can be extremely time consuming, and is limited to one type of knowledge. A new breed of ANNs called Adversarial Neural Networks pits the wits of two AI bots against each other, which allows them to learn from each other. This approach is designed to speed up the process of learning, as well as refining the output created by AI systems. Advertisement

In a trial in South Africa last September, the scientists used the system to track riverine rabbits - a notoriously elusive species.

Describing the trial, Dr Burke said: 'The rabbits are very small, so we flew the drone quite low to the ground at a height of 20 metres [65 feet]. Although this limited the area we could cover with the drone, we managed five sightings.

'Given that there have only been about 1,000 sightings of riverine rabbits by anyone in total, it was a real success.'

The researchers 'trained' the AI software to recognise different types of animals in a range of landscapes and vegetation. Pictured are South African rhinos in visible light

In May the astro-ecologists will carry out more field trials looking for orangutans in Malaysia and spider monkeys in Mexico.

Then in June they will carry out a search for Brazilian river dolphins.

'Our aim is to make a system that is easy for conservationists and game wardens to use anywhere in the world, which will allow endangered animals to be tracked, found and monitored easily and poaching to be stopped before it happens,' said Dr Burke.It seems men really are more arrogant when it comes to judging their intelligence.

A new study has revealed men think they are smarter than their peers, even when compared to women whose grades prove they are just as smart.

The study goes some way to explain why men may push for higher salaries when compared to women.

It also explains why women are often put off of subjects such as maths and engineering at school.

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Men perceive themselves as smarter than their peers, even when compared to women whose grades prove they are just as smart. A new study shows that gender has a big impact on how students' perceive their own intelligence, particularly when comparing themselves to others

Researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) made the discovery after asking college students enrolled in a 250 strong biology course about their intelligence.

Specifically, students were asked to estimate their own intelligence compared to everyone in the class as well as the student they worked most closely with.

Experts were surprised to find that women were far more likely to underestimate their own intelligence than men.

When comparing a female and a male student, both with a grade point average of 3.3, the male student is likely to say he is smarter than 66 percent of the class.

A female student is likely to say she is smarter than only 54 percent of the class.

In addition, when asked whether they are smarter than the person they worked most with in class, the pattern continued.

Male students are 3.2 times more likely than females to say they are smarter than the person they are working with, regardless of whether their class partners are men or women.

Katelyn Cooper, a doctoral student at ASU's school of life sciences, decided to investigate the phenomena after observing it in conversations with hundreds students in her role as an academic adviser.

She said: 'I would ask students about how their classes were going and I noticed a trend.

False perceptions of self-intelligence could be a negative factor in the retention of women in science, researchers believe. In a world where perceptions are important, female students may choose not to continue in science because they may not believe they are smart enough

'Over and over again, women would tell me that they were afraid that other students thought that they were "stupid".

'I never heard this from the men in those same biology classes, so I wanted to study it.

'This is not an easy problem to fix. It's a mindset that has likely been ingrained in female students since they began their academic journeys.

'However, we can start by structuring group work in a way that ensures everyone's voices are heard.'

A previous ASU study has shown that male students in undergraduate biology classes perceive men to be smarter than women about course material.

However, this is the first study to examine undergraduate student perceptions about their own intelligence compared to other people in the class.

DO WE HAVE 'INTELLIGENCE GENES'? Scientists know about 52 genes linked to the intelligence trait, 40 of which are relatively new discoveries. An international research team led by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam last year studied genetic data from over 78,000 individuals. The data included information on DNA genotypes and intelligence scores, which led the team to discover new genes and biological routes for intelligence. Scientists found that many people with these genes are more likely to have other traits, including being tall, thin and unlikely to smoke. People who expressed the genes were less likely to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, depressive symptoms, schizophrenia and obesity. In a more recent study, researchers have found genes we are born with account for more than half the differences in intelligence between people. Advertisement

University courses are increasingly framed around active learning classes, where students interact more closely with each other.

Experts say that the effect of how this new finding might influence how students feel about themselves and their academic abilities needs to be considered.

The finding may also have a disproportional impact when it comes to science, technology, engineering and maths jobs.

Studies have shown that from a very young age, we send males and females different messages with regard to their role in science; science activities are for men.

For example, male scientists appear 1.6 times as frequently in television programs popularly watched by middle school aged students

Previous research has also shown that employers and faculty are more likely to hire males than females for science and math positions, even when their abilities are equivalent.

The subtle messages that have been ingrained in students since they were young combined with the unconscious bias against women in science may contribute to the study's findings.

Sara Brownell, senior author of the study and assistant professor in the school, added: 'When students are working together, they are going to be comparing themselves more to each other.

'This study shows that women are disproportionately thinking that they are not as good as other students, so this a worrisome result of increased interactions among students.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Advances in Physiology Education.Google users are sharing their shock at discovering Chrome's built-in anti-virus tool is scanning private files on their computers.

Chrome Cleanup Tool, a browser component added in 2014 to scan and remove malicious or resource heavy software, is behind the outcry.

It was originally an optional add on for Chrome, letting users get rid of malware and bloatware they may have unintentionally installed.

In October 2017, the Mountain View firm re-branded it and made it a compulsory part of the Chrome installation - without users' knowledge.

Privacy concerns are currently at the forefront of users minds, thanks to the Cambridge Analytica scandal which saw a Trump-affiliated firm obtaining data on 50 million unsuspecting Facebook users.

This information was used to target voters in the US, based on psychological profiling, with political adverts spreading disinformation.

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Google users are sharing their shock at discovering Chrome's built-in anti-virus Chrome Cleanup Tool is scanning private files on their computers. The browser component, added in 2014 to scan and remove malicious or system resource heavy software, is behind the outcry

The discovery was made by Kelly Shortridge, a cybersecurity expert at New York based startup SecurityScorecard.

Ms Shortridge noticed that the tool was scanning files in a documents folder on her Windows PC and was concerned that it may be collecting data.

She shared her findings on Twitter, where she said: 'I was wondering why my Canarytoken (a file folder) was triggering and discovered the culprit was Chrome.

'Turns out Google Chrome quietly began performing AV scans on Windows devices last fall.'

The discovery was made by Kelly Shortridge, a cybersecurity expert at New York based startup SecurityScorecard. Ms Shortridge noticed that the tool was scanning files in a documents folder on her Windows PC and was concerned that it may be collecting data (stock image)

Chromes head of security Justin Schuh responded to her directly on social media, writing on Twitter: 'The Chrome Cleanup Tool (CCT) is not a general purpose anti-virus.

'CCT's sole purpose is to detect and remove unwanted software manipulating Chrome.

'Potential data collection and associated consents are described in the Chrome Privacy Whitepaper, and every cleanup action requires an explicit user approval.

'The team is investigating more opt-outs, but that balances against the potential for abuse.'

Google's Software Removal Tool, as it was initially known, was created to tackle unwanted software that could affect the browser's performance.

Google's Software Removal Tool, as it was initially known, was an optional add on for Chrome created to tackle unwanted software that could affect the browser's performance. In October 2017, the firm made it a compulsory part of the Chrome installation - without users' knowledge

WHAT DOES YOUR DATA FILE HOLD? GOOGLE VS FACEBOOK Google Every search made - even if it's been cleared from your browser or device history Every event in your Google calendar - including whether you attended Every location you have visited - including how long it took you to get there, how long you stayed and when you left Every image and file you have downloaded Every file you've ever uploaded to Google Drive - even if they've been deleted Every Google Fit workout you've done Every photo you have taken - including metadata on where and when it was shot Every ad youve ever viewed or clicked on Every marketing topic that might interest you - based on factors like your age, gender, location and web activity Every app youve ever searched for, installed or launched Every YouTube video you've ever searched for or watched Every email you ever sent or received - including deleted messages and spam Facebook Every Messenger message you have sent or received Every Facebook friend you have connected with Every Facebook voice call you have made Every smartphone contact Every text message sent or recievd Every phone call made or received Every file you have sent or receieved Every time you signed into Facebook, and from where Every stickers emoji you have ever sent Advertisement

'Sometimes when you download software or other content, it might bundle unwanted software as part of the installation process without you knowing,' Google said at the time.

'That's why on Chrome for Windows, the Chrome Cleanup feature alerts people when it detects unwanted software and offers a quick way to remove the software and return Chrome to its default settings.'

Both Facebook and Google have hit the headlines in recent weeks over their handling of your private data.

The shocking extent of information held by the firms in each individual's personal data file has also been revealed.

Facebook hit the headlines in recent weeks over its handling of user's private data, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg (right) in the firing line. The shocking extent of information held by Google, headed by Sundar Pichai (left), has also been revealed

In a series of tweets, one IT expert has laid out exactly what the search giant and social network knows about him.

The Google file, dating back to 2008 and which he describes as 'preposterous', ranged from every place he visited in the past year to every website he clicked on, and even contained files deleted from his Google Drive cloud storage account.

Web developer Dylan Curran, based in Waterford, Ireland, decided to download both his Facebook and Google archives on March 24.

The data held by the world's most popular social media site was fairly large, at around 600mb, equivalent to roughly 400,000 Word documents.

But this paled in comparison to Google's data file, which was 5.5gb, almost ten times larger. This is around the same size as three million Word documents.Ancient Peru was dominated by fearsome female monarchs who wielded as much power as their male counterparts for thousands of years.

Research suggests women in pre-Columbian Peru played a vital role in tribal politics and were not 'left out' of governing decisions as some historians believe.

Previous studies have suggested high-ranking women in ancient Peru were mere 'priestesses' who, while skilled and highly valued, held little political influence.

But in a new book 'Woman, power and food in ancient Peru', historian Maritza Villavicencio suggests that sexist attitudes within the research community mean female monarchs don't get due credit for the power they once wielded.

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Ancient Peru was dominated by fearsome female monarchs who wielded as much power as their male counterparts as early as 10,000 years ago. The Lady of Cao is a female Moche mummy found in El Brujo, Peru, in 2005. Pictured is a reconstruction of the skeleton's face

Ms Villavicencio looked at female and male remains buried in pre-Hispanic Peru - a vast time period that stretches from 9,500 BC to around 1,500 AD when the country was invaded by the Spanish.

In her book, she argues that women exercised political power in their communities in many different areas of pre-Hispanic Peru, including among the Moche people.

The Moche Civilisation lived on the Northern coast of what is now Peru between 50 AD and 700 AD.

'Women were categorised as priestesses to lower their status - not as a person who had power to participate in their people's political, economic and social activities, able to decide and make alliances with Moche rulers,' she told AFP.

'There is a discriminatory interpretation by researchers regarding women in ancient Peru which obscures the power of these women.

'Women were invisible in history, and what my book does is propose restoring the memory of the real life of these women. That's why this is more than just a claim.'

The book, published by San Martin de Porres University in Lima, is the result of 10 years of research into the clothing, body art and burial rituals of ancient Peruvians.

The Lady of Cao (pictured) who governed a part of northern Peru in the 4th century during the Moche culture, was originally labelled a priestess despite being buried with a sceptre similar to that found at the tomb of Peru's best known male leader the Lord of Sipan

Traditional books of Peruvian history have said that women were absent when governing decisions were made, but her research shows the opposite, she said.

Ms Villavicencio said lineage was a principal criterion for assuming power.

There were also four areas in which power was attributed to individuals: Miracle-working, reproduction, textile-making, and supplying food.

WHAT WAS THE MOCHE CIVILISATION? The Moche Civilisation lived on the Northern coast of what is now Peru between 50 AD and 700 AD. The name comes from a site in a valley of the same name which was the central city for the Moche people. The Moche are known for their elaborate pottery and jewellery as well as for pioneering early metal working skills. Until the discovery of the Lord of Sipan's tomb in 1979, the best known remains of the Moche civilisation were two large structures - the Temple of the Sun (pictured) and the Temple of the Moon - near Trujillo What's more, they built numerous large pyramids, some of which still dominate Peru's landscape. Evidence suggests that the Moche people engaged in a form of ritual combat, followed by human sacrifice. Until the discovery of the Lord of Sipan's tomb in 1979, the best known remains of the civilisation were two large structures - the Temple of the Sun (Huaca del Sol) and the Temple of the Moon (Huaca de la Luna) - near Trujillo. The reasons for the collapse of the Moche culture are unknown, but experts have suggested prolonged drought, earthquakes, or extreme flooding from the El Nino phenomenon may have been to blame. Some experts suggest a civil war may have been the cause of their downfall. Advertisement

Women's 'power to heal, to summon the weather through knowledge, to show the path of life and death made them leaders,' she said.

An important symbol was the tattoo.

'For example, the Lady of Cao had serpents tattooed on her arm, which signified she able to summon water from the rivers and possibly predict the weather,' she said.

The village of San Jose de Moro, where the female remains pictured were found, is a cemetery of the Mochica elite, with the most impressive tombs belonging to women. Historian Maritza Villavicencio suggests sexist attitudes mean female rulers don't get the credit they deserve

There are also sanctuaries in which the remains of elite women have been discovered, such as at a site in the Lima neighborhood of Miraflores called Pucllana, or a nearby site in San Isidro.

The San Isidro site, Huallamarca, in 1958 yielded funeral remains of around 100 people, 73 of whom were elite-level women, among the Lady of the Long Hair - or la Dama de los Cabellos Largos.

The buried remains of men were also found, but they were of lower rank.

Archaeologists have also dug up much evidence of textile making. Ms Villavicencio said that cloth mantles were believed to confer power to women in ancient Peru.

In 1987, archaeologists discovered what came to be known as the Lord of Sipan (pictured), near the modern day city of Trujillo. The man was buried with golden eye and teeth coverings

Peru's powerful female monarchs have largely been written off by historians as minor players within their tribal hierarchy despite evidence to the contrary, she said.

The first Peruvian mummy of a high-status woman was discovered in 1992 at an archaeological site in San Jose del Moro, home to the people of the Late Sican period who lived there between the 12th and 14th centuries.

The figure had long been considered a high priestess, though she was buried wearing the clothes of a ruler.

From 2013, experts began to call the woman - who was buried alongside eight other elite noblewomen - the 'Senora (Lady) of Chornancap', Ms Villavicencio said.

According to Ms Villavicencio, nobody called the Lord of Sipan (reconstruction pictured) a 'priest' when he was discovered. She said: 'Everybody called him a great lord, the Moche monarch, and a museum was built for him'

In 1987, archaeologists discovered what came to be known as the Lord of Sipan, near the modern day city of Trujillo.

'Nobody called him a "priest." Everybody called him a great lord, the Moche monarch, and a museum was built for him,' Ms Villavicencio said.

A separate Peruvian find, a woman known as the Lady of Cao who governed in the 4th century during the Moche culture, was also originally labelled a priestess despite being buried with a sceptre similar to that found at the Lord of Sipan's tomb.

After further study, the Lady of Cao was considered a ruler, and today she has a museum in her honour.

'There is a biased view when it comes to women, a male-centric vision that puts men at the center of everything in Peru's history,' Ms Villavicencio said.Google's former head of artificial intelligence John Giannandrea is joining Apple in an effort to improve the firm's voice assistant.

Mr Giannandrea, a machine learning expert who joined Google in 2010, will report directly to CEO Tim Cook, it has emerged.

The Scottish born specialist announced that he would be stepping down from his role at the search engine earlier this week.

It is hoped his expertise can be used to make Siri smarter, as the pioneering software continues to lag behind newcomers from rivals Google and Amazon.

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Google's former head of artificial intelligence John Giannandrea (pictured) is joining Apple in an effort to improve the firm's voice assistant. Mr Giannandrea, a machine learning expert who joined Google in 2010, will report directly to CEO Tim Cook, it has emerged

The news, first reported in the New York Times, is seen as a coup for the Cupertino tech firm, which has struggled in the field of AI.

His new official role will be as leader of 'machine learning and AI strategy', it claimed.

'Our technology must be infused with the values we all hold dear,' Cook said in an email to staff members obtained by the news website.

'John shares our commitment to privacy and our thoughtful approach as we make computers even smarter and more personal.'

While Siri may have led the pack when it comes to voice activated smart assistants, its supremacy in an increasingly crowded market has been steadily eroded.

Part of the reason for this is the lack of a large data pool to draw on to improve its self-learning algorithims.

This a benefit particularly enjoyed by Google, the world's largest search engine, which can use what it learns from online activity to refine it's Home assistant.

Industry sources believe that Apples ethical approach to data collection, which focuses on protecting user privacy, may be part of the problem.

Recruiting Mr Giannandrea may be a step in the right direction for improving the firm's algorithms while remaining true to this ethos.

WHO IS AI EXPERT JOHN GIANNANDREA? John Giannandrea was born in Scotland and educated at the University of Strathclyde. During the 1990s he worked at General Magic, one of the pioneering companies of handheld devices. Mr Giannandrea even worked on an early personal assistant similar to today's Siri. The 53-year-old then joined Netscape and later co-founded voice-recognition firm TellMe. In 2005, he created Metaweb, software that catalogued links between words and objects which Google bought in 2010. While at Google, Mr Giannandrea has helped introduce and develop image recognition for Google Photos and smart reply for Google Inbox. He was also a leading figure in Alphabet's self-driving cars scheme using machine learning to navigate streets and obstacles. He served as senior vice president for search, machine intelligence and the web at Google until March 2018. It was announced in early April that he would join Apple to help them improve Siri. Advertisement

Google veteran Jeff Dean who co-founded Google Brain research unit, will now spearhead the Mountain View firm's AI efforts.

Google's former AI chief previously hit headlines speaking out about what he feels are misconceptions and overstated dangers surrounding intelligent machines.

Speaking in September 2017, Mr Giannandrea took particular aim at 'unreasonable concerns' over the arrival of general artificial intelligence, or robots that can think like humans.

Although he failed to name tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has been particular vocal over his fears about the technology, many have inferred this connection.

The Scottish born specialist announced that he would be stepping down from his role at Google earlier this week. It is hoped his expertise can be used to make Apple's Siri smarter, as the pioneering software continues to lag behind newcomers from rivals Google and Amazon

Mr Giannandrea made the comments during an in-depth talk at Tech Crunch's Disrupt SF conference, held in San Francisco.

He told moderator Frederic Lardinois: 'I think there's a huge amount of hype around AI right now.

'There's a lot of people that are unreasonably concerned around the rise of general AI.

'Machine learning and artificial intelligence are extremely important and will revolutionise our industry.

Elon Musk (pictured right) has previously posted ominous messages about the dangers of AI (left). Speaking in September 2017, Mr Giannandrea took particular aim at such 'unreasonable concerns'

'What we're doing is building tools like the Google search engine and making you more productive.

'I'm definitely not worried about the AI apocalypse.

'I just object to the hype and soundbites that some people are making.'

Mr Giannandrea has previously compared AI's development to the level of a four-year-old child.

During the Disrupt SF event, he stated that it has not yet even reached that level.

Despite his apparent lack of concern, and using only the euphemistic 'some people', Mr Giannandrea's comments are likely to go down badly with Musk.

WHY ARE PEOPLE SO WORRIED ABOUT AI? It is an issue troubling some of the greatest minds in the world at the moment, from Bill Gates to Elon Musk. SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk described AI as our 'biggest existential threat' and likened its development as 'summoning the demon'. He believes super intelligent machines could use humans as pets. Professor Stephen Hawking said it is a 'near certainty' that a major technological disaster will threaten humanity in the next 1,000 to 10,000 years. They could steal jobs More than 60 percent of people fear that robots will lead to there being fewer jobs in the next ten years, according to a 2016 YouGov survey. And 27 percent predict that it will decrease the number of jobs 'a lot' with previous research suggesting admin and service sector workers will be the hardest hit. As well as posing a threat to our jobs, other experts believe AI could 'go rogue' and become too complex for scientists to understand. A quarter of the respondents predicted robots will become part of everyday life in just 11 to 20 years, with 18 percent predicting this will happen within the next decade. They could 'go rogue' Computer scientist Professor Michael Wooldridge said AI machines could become so intricate that engineers don't fully understand how they work. If experts don't understand how AI algorithms function, they won't be able to predict when they fail. This means driverless cars or intelligent robots could make unpredictable 'out of character' decisions during critical moments, which could put people in danger. For instance, the AI behind a driverless car could choose to swerve into pedestrians or crash into barriers instead of deciding to drive sensibly. They could wipe out humanity Some people believe AI will wipe out humans completely. 'Eventually, I think human extinction will probably occur, and technology will likely play a part in this,' DeepMind's Shane Legg said in a recent interview. He singled out artificial intelligence, or AI, as the 'number one risk for this century'. Musk warned that AI poses more of a threat to humanity than North Korea. 'If you're not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea,' the 46-year-old wrote on Twitter. 'Nobody likes being regulated, but everything (cars, planes, food, drugs, etc) that's a danger to the public is regulated. AI should be too.' Musk has consistently advocated for governments and private institutions to apply regulations on AI technology. He has argued that controls are necessary in order protect machines from advancing out of human control Advertisement

In response to Vladimir Putin's claims that whoever cracks AI will 'rule the world', the Tesla founder has said that he thinks the technology will be the most likely cause of World War 3.

Musk took to Twitter on September 4, 2017, to make the chilling warning, claiming that 'competition for AI superiority at national level' could spark a war.

The Tesla and SpaceX founder suggests that a war is likely to be started by one of the AIs itself, rather than a country leader.

Putin, speaking on September 1, 2017, told a meeting of students that the development of AI raises 'colossal opportunities and threats that are difficult to predict now.'

Musk tweeted a link to The Verge's story about Putin's claims, along with the caption: 'It begins...'

He then followed this up with a tweet saying: 'China, Russia, soon all countries with strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 in my opinion.'

There may be tens of thousands of black holes may lurking in the heart of our galaxy.

The idea that a plethora of smaller black holes may surround the 'supermassive' hole known as Sagittarius A* in the centre of the Milky Way dates back decades.

But it remained unproven because the holes formed from the corpses of massive stars are so difficult to detect.

Now scientists have now developed a technique to reveal the smoking gun at the galaxy's centre.

Binary black stars that are in the process of swallowing stars were found to send out gravitational waves that can be seen as ripples on Earth.

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A new study points to evidence of thousands of holes surrounding the 'supermassive' hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) at the heart of the Milky Way. It remained unproven, but scientists have now developed a technique (pictured) to reveal the smoking gun at the galaxy's centre

This artist's impression shows Sgr A* surrounded by a cloud of dust and gas within which are 12 small black holes. They are actually black hole binaries, with the gas of the star being transferred into the disk around the black hole as it moves toward the centre

A team of experts, led by Columbia University in New York City made the find by searching for X-rays emitted by this subgroup of low-mass black holes.

Each has captured a passing star in their gravitational grip and the hunt came up with evidence of 300 to 500 of the binaries.

From this data it was possible to infer how many 'isolated' black holes there must be at the galactic core.

The answer was about 10,000.

A team of experts, led by Columbia University in New York City made the find by searching for X-rays emitted by a subgroup of low-mass black holes around Sgr A* (pictured). Each has captured a passing star in their gravitational grip, creating a 'black hole binary'

Experts scoured through archived data from the Chandra X-ray space telescope to identify the X-ray signatures of black hole binaries (pictured)

Astrophysicist Dr Chuck Hailey, from Columbia University, said: 'This finding confirms a major theory and the implications are many.

'It is going to significantly advance gravitational wave research because knowing the number of black holes in the centre of a typical galaxy can help in better predicting how many gravitational wave events may be associated with them.

'All the information astrophysicists need is at the centre of the galaxy.'

Sgr A* contains about four million times the mass of the sun and is 26,000 light years from Earth.

The halo of gas and dust around Sgr A* is thought to provide the perfect breeding ground for massive stars that collapse into black holes when they die.

The hunt came up with evidence of 300 to 500 of the binaries, from which it was possible to infer how many 'isolated' black holes there must be at the galactic core. The answer was about 10,000. The search turned up 12 of the objects within three light years of Sgr A*

Further analysis of their properties indicated that there must be up to 500 black hole binaries in total.

BLACK HOLES HAVE A GRAVITATIONAL PULL SO STRONG NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN ESCAPE Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them - not even light. They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around. How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole. Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy. Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun's mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses. When these giant stars die, they also go 'supernova', a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space. Advertisement

These black holes, and others from outside the halo, are pulled towards Sgr A* and held captive around it, scientists believe.

However, detecting them is a major a challenge.

'Isolated, unmated black holes are just black - they don't do anything,' said Dr Hailey. 'So looking for isolated black holes is not a smart way to find them.'

Instead, his team scoured through archived data from the Chandra X-ray space telescope to identify the X-ray signatures of black hole binaries.

Worse still, the processes behind this dramatic finale to all life as we know it may have already started, kick started by interaction with a black hole. Experts say the curvature of space-time surrounding a microscopic black hole could begin the collapse of the Higgs boson

The search turned up 12 of the objects within three light years of Sgr A*.

Further analysis of their properties indicated that there must be up to 500 black hole binaries in total.

The findings are reported in the latest issue of Nature journal.Facebook scans the contents of messages that people send each other on its Messenger app, blocking any content that contravenes its rules, it has emerged.

The scandal-hit firm, still reeling from the Cambridge Analytica debacle, checks images and links for illegal or extreme content using automated systems.

What you write in your messages may also be read manually if it's flagged to moderators for breaching Facebook's community guidelines.

While the intentions behind the practice may be well-meaning, the news is likely to add to users' concerns over what the social network knows about them.

It follows revelations that the Trump-affiliated consulting firm obtained data on at least 50 million unsuspecting Facebook users.

This information was used to target voters in the US, based on psychological profiling, with political adverts spreading disinformation.

Facebook is also facing criticism for collecting years of data on call and text histories from Android users.

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Mark Zuckerberg, pictured here in July 2017, has admitted Facebook scans the contents of messages that people send each other on its Messenger app blocking any that contravene its guidelines

CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the policy during a podcast interview with Vox's editor at large, Ezra Klein.

Zuckerberg told his host a story about receiving a phone call from staff at his Mountain View firm.

He was informed that their systems had blocked attempts to send inflammatory Messenger instant messages about ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.

About the experience, the 33-year-old billionaire said: 'In that case, our systems detect whats going on.

'We stop those messages from going through.'

The news has been met with mixed reactions on social media, with a number of users expressing concern.

Messenger says that it doesnt use data from messages it has scanned for the purposes of advertising, according to reports in Bloomberg.

The company told the website that it uses the same tools to prevent abuse in messages that are in place across Facebook as a whole.

Messenger says that it doesnt use data from messages it has scanned for the purposes of advertising, but that is likely to be of little comfort in the current climate, with privacy at the forefront of many Facebook user's minds (stock image)

Users are also able to flag posts or messages that they feel are in violation of the site's house rules.

This will either cause one of the social network's community operations team to manually review the content, or automated systems can also make decisions.

'Keeping your messages private is the priority for us,' a Facebook Messenger spokesman said in a statement to MailOnline.

'We protect the community with automated systems that detect things like known images of child exploitation and malware. This is not done by humans.

'We do not listen to your voice and video calls.'

But that is likely to be of little comfort in the current climate, with privacy at the forefront of many Facebook user's minds.

One Twitter user, Kevin Chastain, claims to have experienced Messenger texts being used to target advertising, tweeting: 'So I was messaging my wife about dinner tonight mentioned a particular place on Facebook messenger and then opened up Facebook about to see an ad for that restaurant.

'Tell me they arent in on every convo I have. Scary!'

WHAT HAS FACEBOOK DONE TO ADDRESS PRIVACY CONCERNS? Facebook is giving its privacy tools a makeover as it reels from criticisms over its data practices and faces tighter European regulations in the coming months. The changes won't affect Facebook's privacy policies or the types of data it gathers about its users. But the company hopes its 2.2 billion users will have an easier time navigating its complex and often confusing privacy and security settings. Facebook is giving its privacy tools a makeover as it reels from criticisms over its data practices and faces tighter European regulations in the coming months. This image shows how the settings will appear before (left) and after (right) the redesign Facebook says it's trying to make the controls easier to find and to give users a simpler way to access and download the data it collects on them. The announcement follows revelations that Trump-affiliated consulting firm got data on millions of unsuspecting Facebook users. Facebook is also facing criticism for collecting years of data on call and text histories from Android users. In a written statement, Erin Egan, vice president and chief privacy officer, policy, and Ashlie Beringer, vice president and deputy general counsel, said: 'Last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies and help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data. This image shows a redesign of Facebook's privacy tools. The changes won't affect Facebook's privacy policies or the types of data it gathers on users, but the company hopes users will have an easier time navigating its complex settings menus Among the changes, Facebook is making data settings and tools easier to find, is introducing a new privacy shortcuts menu, and is adding tools to find, download and delete your Facebook data 'Weve heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find and that we must do more to keep people informed. 'Were taking additional steps in the coming weeks to put people more in control of their privacy. 'Most of these updates have been in the works for some time, but the events of the past several days underscore their importance.' Among the changes, Facebook is making data settings and tools easier to find, is introducing a new privacy shortcuts menu, and is adding tools to find, download and delete your Facebook data. Advertisement

Zuckerberg took out full-page adverts in nine major US and British newspapers in late March to apologise for the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

In the ads, the Facebook founder vowed to clamp down on allowing third parties access to data which can be sold on.

The ads, done in simple black text against a plain white background, were headlined: 'We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can't, we don't deserve it.'

'You may have heard about a quiz app built by a university researcher that leaked Facebook data of millions of people in 2014,' the apology begins.

'This was a breach of trust, and I'm sorry we didn't do more at the time. We're now taking steps to make sure this doesn't happen again.'

'We've already stopped apps like this from getting so much information. Now we're limiting the data apps get when you sign in using Facebook.'

'We're also investigating every single app that had access to large amounts of data before we fixed this. We expect there are others. And when we find them, we will ban them and tell everyone affected.'

Facebook says that it uses the same tools to prevent abuse in Messenger app (pictured) messages that are in place across the social network as a whole

'Finally, we'll remind you which apps you've given access to your information - so you can shut off the ones you don't want anymore.'

'Thank you for believing in this community. I promise to do better for you.'

The apology was formally signed off by the Facebook chief.

The Facebook data scandal deepened after users found the social network had harvested information including call logs and text messages.

Some users discovered the firm had been storing complete logs of incoming and outgoing calls and text messages.

Others reported that data such as contacts in their address books, social events in their calendars and even friends' birthdays had been stored.

One user, Dylan McKay, reported that from October 2016 to July 2017 his logs contained 'the data of every [mobile] call I've made, including time and duration' and 'data about every text message I've received or sent'.

Rather than delete an account entirely, the social media site encourages people to 'deactivate' their profile as this leaves all personal data on its servers.

However, when users request to permanently delete their accounts, the site suggests: 'You may want to download a copy of your info from Facebook.'

Emma Kennedy tweeted that she had found that Facebook had recorded 'every single phone number in my contacts.

Facebook is also facing criticism for collecting years of data on call and text histories from Android users. Facebook user Dylan McKay revealed Facebook logged every mobile call he'd ever made

'They had every single social event I went to, a list of all my friends and their birthdays, and a list of every text I've sent'

'They have plundered my phone. They have phone numbers of people who arent on Facebook. They have phone numbers of household names who, Im sure, would be furious to know their phone numbers are accessible. Im appalled.'

A Facebook spokesman said: 'The first time you sign in on your phone to a messaging or social app, it's a widely used practice to begin by uploading your phone contacts.

'Contact uploading is optional. People are expressly asked if they want to give permission to upload their contacts from their phone  it's explained right there in the apps when you get started.

'People can delete previously uploaded information at any time and can find all the information available to them in their account and activity log from our Download Your Information tool.'

The company says an opt-out for uploading contacts is available and users can delete all uploaded contacts by turning off the continuous uploading setting in Facebook's Messenger app.

All previously uploaded contacts are deleted when a user permanently removes their profile. Contacts will also no longer continue to be uploaded.Scientists have identified the oldest known wooden tools used by Neanderthals on the Iberian Peninsula.

Archaeological excavators in Northern Spain discovered the preserved wooden remains - which date back 90,000 years - in 2015.

Among the tools discovered at the Aranbaltza site in Basque Country were two 'very well preserved' instruments, a PLOS One report on the finds said.

Researchers discovered these wooden tools at an archaeological site in Northern Spain in 2015. They were used by Neanderthals and deposited 90,000 years ago

The research team behind the discovery used luminescence dating to determine that the tools were deposited around 90,000 years ago and, therefore, created by Neanderthals.

One of the tools came from the trunk of a yew tree that the Neanderthals halved.

The researchers believe that one of the halves was whittled with a stone then treated with fire in order to harden the piece.

'Use-wear analysis revealed that it was used for digging in search of food, flint or simply to make holes in the ground,' the new report said.

The researchers, led by archaeologist Joseba Rios-Garaizar, stressed the rarity of the find by explaining the rate at which wood usually degrades.

Discoveries such as this are only possible within specific environments that preserve equipment used by Neanderthals.

For example, waterlogged sediment - such as that located at the Aranbaltza site - makes possible the preservation of wooden technologies, but these conditions are few and far between.

The recent finds were discovered at Aranbaltza archaeological site on the Iberian Peninsula. Wooden tools believed to be used by Neanderthals have been found at just four other sites across Europe

Indirect evidence had previously established the relevance of these tools within Neanderthal communities.

Aside from finds on the Iberian Peninsula, wooden tools found in Europe and linked to Neanderthals or pre-Neanderthals have only been discovered in four places: England, Italy and at two sites in Germany.

A close relative of modern humans, Neanderthals went extinct 40,000 years ago The Neanderthals were a close human ancestor that mysteriously died out around 40,000 years ago. The species lived in Africa with early humans for millennia before moving across to Europe around 300,000 years ago. They were later joined by humans, who entered Eurasia around 48,000 years ago. The Neanderthals were a cousin species of humans but not a direct ancestor - the two species split from a common ancestor - that perished around 50,000 years ago. Pictured is a Neanderthal museum exhibit These were the original 'cavemen', historically thought to be dim-witted and brutish compared to modern humans. In recent years though, and especially over the last decade, it has become increasingly apparent we've been selling Neanderthals short. A growing body of evidence points to a more sophisticated and multi-talented kind of 'caveman' than anyone thought possible. It now seems likely that Neanderthals had told, buried their dead, painted and even interbred with humans. They used body art such as pigments and beads, and they were the very first artists, with Neanderthal cave art (and symbolism) in Spain apparently predating the earliest modern human art by some 20,000 years. They are thought to have hunted on land and done some fishing. However, they went extinct around 40,000 years ago following the success of Homo sapiens in Europe. Advertisement

Therefore, the new discovery provides scientists with a great deal more information about Neanderthals' technological abilities.

Archaeologists began excavations at Aranbaltza in 2013 to try to gather more clues about the last known Neanderthals in Western Europe, who grew the Chatelperronian culture.

The site has given rise to discoveries of Neanderthal settlements that lasted from 100 to 44,000 years making it 'an exceptional site to investigate Neanderthal evolution and behavioral variability', the analysis said.A holidaymaker has been allowed to return to a luxury hotel he was banned from 17 years ago after a case full of sausages he left in his room attracted a flock of feisty seagulls.

Nick Burchill, who lives in Nova Scotia, had checked into the four-star Fairmont Empress in Victoria, British Columbia, with a suitcase stuffed with pepperoni which he'd picked up for his friends.

In a bid to keep the meat produce cool, he left it next to an open window but when he returned from a walk he found seagull 'c**p' and 'drool' all over his room with around 40 birds running wild.

Nick Burchill has been allowed to return to the four-star Fairmont Empress in Victoria, British Columbia, after being banned 17 years ago for a bizarre event involving seagulls and sausage. Above, he leaves two members of staff in stitches as he recalls the feathered fiasco

He revealed on Facebook that the gulls left the place trashed with curtains hanging off the rail, lamps fallen over, and furnishings soiled.

After checking out of the Fairmont Empress, Mr Burchill received a letter notifying him that he was banned from the premises for life.

However, almost two decades on, Mr Burchill wrote to the hotel requesting for the ban to be lifted and shared his note to Facebook.

Shortly after launching his appeal, Mr Burchill received a response from the Fairmont Empress' manager notifying him that he will once again be welcome as a guest.

Mr Burchill jokingly added: 'I bet it was the pound of pepperoni that I gave them as a peace offering that did the trick.'

The Canadian shared a photo to Facebook, showing him explaining to Fairmont Empress front desk staff members why he had been banned from the hotel, with them both shedding tears of laughter.

The Fairmont Empress confirmed that Burchill's unusual tale was true and had gone down in history among staff

Burchill wrote to the hotel requesting for the ban to be lifted and shared his note to Facebook

Burchill said of the incident almost two decades: 'Pepperoni does nasty things to a seagulls digestive system... They immediately started flying around and crashing into things as they desperately tried to leave the room through the small opening by which they had entered.

'I can still remember the look on the ladys face when she opened the door. I had absolutely no Idea what to tell her, so I just said "I'm sorry" and I went to dinner.

'When I came back, my things had been moved to a much smaller room. I thought that was the end of it all until I was told that my company had received a letter banning me from the Empress. A ban that I have respected for almost 18 years.'

To date, Burchill's story has been shared more than 4,000 times on Facebook, with many readers giving the comical chain of events a thumbs up.

'I was shaking with laughter, trying to read this,' Steve Bober said, while Julie A. Whitlock added: 'Best laugh I've had this week.'

The hotel confirmed to the Times Colonist newspaper that Burchill's unusual tale was true and had gone down in history.

'It's one of those things where you can't make this stuff up,' the Empress's director of public relations said.Comedian Dave Hughes has responded to a Gogglebox star who described him as 'one of the ugliest guys I've ever seen'.

Speaking on Tuesday's episode of Hughesy, We Have A Problem, the 47-year-old comedian took aim at armchair critics Angie and Yvie.

'How mean and judgmental can you be, you skanky moll?' David asked the studio audience.

'How mean and judgmental can you be?' Dave Hughes SLAMMED a Gogglebox star after she called him 'one of the ugliest guys I've ever seen'. Pictured: Angie and Yvie

'When I got told the Goggleboxers were going to critique my show I was pretty excited,' Dave explained.

'At one point I'm on TV, and two women in their lounge room eating nachos, one of them goes, "Dave Hughes, he's one of the ugliest guys I've ever seen". She's EVER seen!' he said in disbelief.

'I just thought, "How mean and judgmental can you be, you skanky moll?"'

'You skanky moll!' Speaking on Tuesday's episode of Hughesy, We Have A Problem , the 47-year-old comedian took aim at armchair critics Angie and Yvie

Angie and Yvie soon apologised for the comment, taking to Twitter to say they were annoyed that it was even broadcast.

'I feel terrible about calling Dave Hughes one of the ugliest people I've ever seen, he's funny as feck,' the tweet read.

'Of course out of all the footage they pick the most awful thing I've said! Soz I eat my words! It's never OK to call someone ugly. I'm cross about that.'

Thanks, darl! Last month, Dave revealed his own wife Holly (right) thinks he looks like a 'meth addict' because of his distinctive gap-toothed smile

Last month, Dave revealed his own wife Holly thinks he looks like a 'meth addict' because of his distinctive gap-toothed smile.

He previously explained his rural upbringing and 'drinking too much orange juice' had caused his teeth to fall out.

Hughesy We Have A Problem airs Tuesday nights at 8.30pm on TenShe's never been shy of flaunting her figure in an array of steamy ensembles.

But Kayleigh Morris, 29, flashed more than she probably meant to on Tuesday when her crop top rode up high enough for her white lace bra to be visible underneath.

The former Ex On The Beach star couldn't be missed in bright yellow trousers as she stepped out for dinner at The Phene pub in Chelsea.

Fashion faux pas: Kayleigh Morris accidentally flashed her bra as she stepped out for dinner in a crop top and bright yellow trousers on Tuesday

Kayleigh was sure to turn heads as she strutted down the streets of London in her microscopic khaki top, which showed off her taut abs.

The reality star's choice of trousers hugged her hourglass curves and while her trousers fit loosely on her slender pins they did highlight her statuesque figure as she made her way to the trendy hotspot.

She completed her outfit with green open-toe heels, which matched her designer handbag perfectly.

The Big Brother alum worked her glossy tresses into voluminous curl which cascaded down her shoulder and offset her dramatic eye make-up.

Standing tall: The reality star's choice of garment hugged her hourglass curves and while her trousers fit loosely on her slender pins they did highlight her statuesque figure

Kayleigh appeared to be enjoying her night out, after jetting off on a winter getaway in Tenerife with pal Holly Rickwood.

The duo first met when they made their TV debuts on the third season of Ex On The Beach in 2015.

However, the pair embarked on a string of fierce rows, and did not become friends again until the fifth season last year.

Meanwhile Kayleigh also recently underwent plastic surgery, after famously clashing with Jemma Lucy during series five of EOTB, when the tattooed model 'made a dig' about the beauty's 'wonky' nose.

The pair were at loggerheads during the entire series, with Kayleigh's ex Ashley Cain at the root of the tensions.

Stylish: The Big Brother alum worked her glossy tresses into voluminous curl which cascaded down her shoulder and offset her dramatic eye make-up

Their vicious cat fights escalated to Jemma reportedly grabbing Kayleigh's throat - leading to her being axed from the programme.

Only adding to her drama-filled summer, Kayleigh was then kicked out of the Big Brother house herself, after getting into furious rows with Chanelle McCleary and Ellie Young.

Big Brother bosses cited her 'threats of actual violence' and 'unacceptable behaviour' as reason for her removal.

Since her exit, Kayleigh has defended her actions and insisted that she had been edited unfairly during her time on the show.

She claimed: 'Too many people are quick to judge an outspoken individual.

'It's also really frustrating as I had so many happy times in the house, but only the bad parts were aired.'Bachelor In Paradise's Jake Ellis was busted lying about kissing Megan Marx after he was confronted by Florence Alexandra in a dramatic showdown on Tuesday night.

But Jake insists he is not the heartless ladies' man that he's been portrayed as on TV.

Speaking to Now To Love, the 31-year-old agreed he felt 'slut shamed' after fellow co-star Tara Pavlovic had warned Florence that 'everyone has a Jake Ellis story!'

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'It's something I'm not used to': Bachelor In Paradise's Jake Ellis admitted on Tuesday he felt 'slut shamed' after Tara Pavlovic joked that 'everyone has a story about him'

The conversation between the women was clearly intended as cautionary tale for Florence, suggesting that Jake had a 'reputation' on the Gold Coast.

Discussing what he believed was an unfair assessment of his character, Jake said on Tuesday: 'It's something I'm not used to.

'I understand everyone is entitled to their opinion and interpretation of things but nobody's perfect and I just hope that before people judge me, they know I'm there for a reason  and that's to find the right person for me! Not the right person that everyone thinks I should be with.'

Defending himself: 'I understand everyone is entitled to their opinion and interpretation of things but nobody's perfect,' Jake told Now To Love

During an episode of Bachelor In Paradise, Florence asked Jake about his reputation as a ladies' man - but he refused to comment and instead wanted to know who was gossiping about him.

Despite finding out Tara was the one who said, 'Everyone has a Jake Ellis story', he admitted the pair are on good terms and there were no hard feelings between them.

As for his relationship with Florence - who threw champagne on him after his betrayal was exposed, he claimed they are also friends again.

Burying the hatchet? Despite finding out Tara was the one who said, 'Everyone has a Jake Ellis story', he admitted the pair are on good terms and there were no hard feelings between them

Jake said he never intended to hurt Florence, but admitted he didn't handle the situation the best way he could have.

On Tuesday's episode, Florence was left empty handed after Jake handed newcomer Megan Marx a rose during the Rose Ceremony.

Bachelor In Paradise continues Sunday at 7:30pm on Network TenShe left Bachelor In Paradise without a rose this week.

And on Tuesday's Hughesy, We Have A Problem, Florence Alexandra appeared rather offended when Chrissie Swan suggested a reason why she is still single.

During a light-hearted segment about Florence's Tinder profile, guest panellist Chrissie suggested she didn't have a boyfriend because she is 'too fussy'.

'I think you are a little bit too fussy, and I think Australian men are lazy,' said Chrissie.

Florence did not look impressed by Chrissie's observation and responded: 'It's not like I have super high standards and (men) need to treat me like a queen'.

'No, you do. You do,' replied the Nova 100 presenter.

'A little bit too fussy': On Tuesday's Hughesy, We Have A Problem , Florence Alexandra (left) appeared rather offended when Chrissie Swan (right) suggested a reason why she is still single

While Chrissie admitted that being picky wasn't necessarily a bad thing, she hinted that Florence may be repeating the same dating mistakes.

She suggested instead that the Dutch model should to learn to 'zig when you've been zagging'.

It comes after Florence was eliminated from Bachelor In Paradise on Tuesday night after failing to receive a rose from Jake Ellis.

Betrayal: Florence left Bachelor In Paradise without a rose this week after Jake Ellis struck up a romance with intruder Megan Marx (pictured)

After Jake had returned from his date with Megan Marx, he told Florence it was just a friendly dinner - when, it fact, they had been passionately making out.

She was furious about the betrayal and, after discovering he had been lying, said: 'To be, like, emotionally abused like that... to use me like that, is not OK.'

Jake eventually gave a rose to Megan, leaving Florence empty handed.She just announced she will be expecting a baby boy and girl.

And Kym Johnsoncouldn't stop smiling as she showed off her growing baby bump while leaving a dance studio in Santa Monica on Tuesday.

The 41-year-old ballroom dancer, who is expecting twins, kept warm in a loose-fitting baby blue coat as she strolled through the parking lot.

Happy days: Kym Johnson was all smiles as she showed off her growing baby bump after leaving a dance studio in Santa Monica on Tuesday

The soon-to-be first time mother of two wore a pair of form-fitting black jeans with a black shirt that showed off her pregnant belly.

A large smile was painted on Kym's face as she has been over the moon since her and husband Robert Herjavec, 55, divulged they would be having twins.

At the end of March, the couple announced they were expecting a boy and a girl at a lavish baby shower in the Hollywood Hills.

The 41-year-old ballroom dancer kept warm in a loose-fitting baby blue coat as she strolled through the parking lot

'I've always wanted to be a mom and I wasn't sure it was going to happen,' the retired professional ballroom dancer told People. 'It really is a miracle.'

'I'm doing the nesting thing,' she added. 'We did a class about the psychology of raising twins. It was fascinating. They talk about making sure they have their own identity and you don't dress them the same all the time.'

'In the nursery, I've got a Halo Bassinest where they can sleep in it together! It's been interesting figuring out what I need two of, what I need one of. It's a lot!'

'We are truly so excited and can't believe that we will get to meet our two little bundles of joy in a few months,' said Kym.

One of each: At the end of March, the couple announced they were expecting a boy and a girl at a lavish baby shower in the Hollywood Hills

New family: A large smile was painted on Kym's face as she has been over the moon since her and husband Robert Herjavec, 55, divulged they would be having twins

The Bod by Kym Herjavec founder announced her pregnancy in December, and, in January, also shared the news on her company's blog: 'By now, I'm sure you've all heard the good news  Robert and I are pregnant!'

Kym and Robert met when they were partners on ABC's hit reality competition series, Dancing With The Stars in 2015.

There was an immediate spark between the 41-year-old Australian and The Shark Tank's leading investor, as the duo powered to a fifth place finish.

The couple got engaged in February 2016 and then married just a few months later.She's the name behind one of the most in-demand designer brands.

And Stella McCartney proved her own sartorial credentials as she touched down in LAX airport, Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The 46-year-old fashion designer nailed her off-duty style in an ultra chic gunmetal grey jacket draped effortlessly over her shoulders.

Sophisticated style: Stella McCartney nailed off-duty chic as she wraps up in a grey jacket and blue roll neck while touching down at LAX on Tuesday

Stella wrapped up in a casual blue roll neck jumper, which perfectly complemented her midnight blue cropped cigarette pants.

Keeping it comfortable for her day of flying, the fashionista rocked a pair of chic tangerine Velcro sneakers as she made her way through the terminal.

Stella attempted to keep a low profile in a pair of on-trend retro aviators, while showing off her signature style with her tasseled tan leather handbag.

Stepping out: Stella wrapped up in a casual blue roll neck jumper, which perfectly complemented her midnight blue cropped cigarette pants

Off duty beauty: Keeping it comfortable for her day of flying, the fashionista rocked a pair of chic tangerine Velcro sneakers as she made her way through the terminal

Opting for a dewy fresh-faced make-up look, the British fashion expert tidied back her signature auburn tresses into a low ponytail with an on-trend middle parting.

The illustrious British fashion heavyweight has had a storied career since kicking off her own named brand back in 2001.

Stella's eponymous fashion company was part owned by French fashion conglomerate Kering, but on Wednesday, she announced she would be buying out the company to make it 100% her brand for the first time in 17 years.

Chic style: Stella attempted to keep a low profile in a pair of on-trend retro aviators, while showing off her signature style with her tasseled tan leather handbag

Sartorial elegance: Opting for a dewy fresh-faced make-up look, the British fashion expert tidied back her signature auburn tresses into a low pony tail with a on-trend middle parting

In a statement to WWD about her exciting decision, the daughter of Beatle Sir Paul McCartney wrote: 'It is the right moment to acquire the full control of the company bearing my name.

'I look forward to the next chapter of my life and what this brand and our team can achieve in the future.'

When she's not dominating the fashion world, Stella is also mum to four children - sons Miller, 14, Beckett, 10 and daughters Bailey, 12 and Reiley eight.

The London-born beauty has been married to her businessman beau Alasdahair Willis for 14 years - as the couple first met when Stella left as the Creative Director of Chloe.Today show presenters Richard Wilkins, Karl Stefanovic and Georgie Gardner proved they were consummate professionals on Wednesday.

They were all smiles despite being lashed by high winds while broadcasting the show live from Queensland's Gold Coast.

But while their delivery was impressive given the circumstances, the extreme weather resulted in some rather embarrassing hair moments.

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'What happened to Richard Wilkins' hair?' The Today show presenters looked VERY windswept as they were lashed by Cyclone Iris while broadcasting live from the Gold Coast on Wednesday

Richard's hair appeared to grow much more abundant as a result of the gusty air and his usually slicked back style was pushed forward.

Sporting a messy accidental fringe, the 63-year-old's look was reminiscent of Louis Tomlinson's in the early days of One Direction.

One viewer even took to Twitter to comment on Richard's bizarre new 'do.

'What happened to @RichardWilkins hair? Looks like he's been running away from a black panther!' they wrote.

Whoops! While Karl, Georgie and Richard delivered impressive performances given the circumstances, the extreme weather resulted in some rather embarrassing hair moments

But it wasn't just Richard who was affected by the weather.

Karl Stefanovic and Georgie Gardner also braved the storm, and even had to cover their heads during an interview with Love Island host Sophie Monk.

As rain lashed at them sideways, Karl covered his head with a clipboard while Georgie and Sophie took cover under towels.

Consummate professionals: Karl Stefanovic and Georgie Gardner also braved the storm, maintaining calm exteriors despite the heavy rain and wind

Karl, who shivered in the inclement weather, also had his hair ruffled by the wind but smiled throughout the ordeal.

Meanwhile, Georgie's hair - which was swept back into a half-up, half-down style - remained almost perfect despite the wind.

The high winds are likely a result of Cyclone Iris moving away from the northern Queensland coast.Reality worlds collided on Tuesday when the cast of the US smash show Jersey Shore spent the day with the UK's own Geordie Shore.

And it seemed to be a match made in reality star heaven when Sophie Kasaei left the star-studded cast dinner holding hands with Jersey Shore's Pauly D on Tuesday.

The Geordie Shore star, 28, put on a cosy display with Aubrey O'Day's ex, 37, on the way home from the glitzy venue.

Reality worlds collide: Geordie Shore's Sophie Kasaei showed off curves in striped jumpsuit as she left holding hands with Jersey Shore's Pauly D after cast dinner in London on Tuesday

Paul draped his arm affectionately over Sophie's shoulder which showed the pair had already struck up a close connection.

They left in high spirits as they enjoyed some alone time away from their glamorous co-stars following their night out.

Making a quick wardrobe change for their evening on the tiles, Sophie poured her svelte physique into a racy striped jumpsuit, while the New Jersey natives kept it simple with their sophisticated black ensembles.

Wardrobe change: Geordie Shore's Sophie slipped into a curve hugging striped jumpsuit for dinner with the Jersey Shore cast

Cute: The two reality stars appeared to strike up a bond as they walked with their arms wrapped around each other

With her curvaceous figure and ample cleavage on full display, Sophie added height to her frame in a pair of studded black stilettos.

Letting her eye-catching ensemble and glowing tan speak for itself, the reality beauty left her glittering accessories at home, opting instead for a delicate necklace and a selection of dainty rings.

Putting her best angles to work in front of the cameras, Sophie played with her chestnut tresses that were tied up into a high flowing ponytail.

New friendship: The Geordie Shore star walked hand-in-hand with Pauly D after the fun-filled day together in London

Matching: The New Jersey natives Snooki (left) and JWoww (right) kept it simple with their sophisticated black ensembles

Curvaceous: Letting her eye-catching ensemble and glowing tan speak for itself, the reality beauty left her glittering accessories at home

Stylish: With her curvaceous figure and ample cleavage on full display, Sophie added height to her frame in a pair of studded black stilettos

Stunning: Sophie polished off her daring look with dramatic eyelashes and nude make-up as she walked through the streets to meet her American counterparts

Sophie polished off her daring look with dramatic eyelashes and nude make-up as she walked through the streets to meet her American counterparts.

Turning their looks down a notch from their previous signature style, Snooki and JWoww opted for a more tame looks, both rocking black for their evening out.

Snooki, 30, kept it casual with a classic black plaid shirt over an simple black vest with an adorable illustration of a puppy.

Fierce style: Putting her best angles to work in front of the cameras, the reality star played with her chestnut tresses that were tied up into a high flowing ponytail

Show it off: Sophie didn't mind posing for the cameras, with her peachy behind also getting some attention as she walked by

Screen Queen: Sophie happily welcomed Snooki and JWoww out for a night in her territory

Flirty: Putting her best moves to work in front of the cameras, Sophie played with her chestnut tresses that were tied up into a high flowing ponytail

Strike a pose: Sophie worked her best angles as she posed for photographers in the fitted green striped jumpsuit and black heels

Injecting a pop of colour to her look with a shimmering gold cross-body bag, the screen queen elongated her famously petite frame in a pair of knee-length leather wedge boots, while black leggings hugged her slender pins.

Snooki's glossy raven locks fell past her shoulders in a glamorous wave, while a deep berry lip and lashings of mascara accentuated her facial features.

The mum-of-two stayed close to gal pal JWoww, 32, as she held onto her arm while meandering through the streets.

Having fun: Turning their looks down a notch from their previous signature style, Snooki and JWoww opted for a much tamer look, both rocking black for their evening out

A bit too much? Snooki, 30, looked slightly worse for wear as she kept it casual with a classic black plaid shirt over an simple black vest with an adorable illustration of a puppy

Sultry style: Injecting a pop of colour to her look with a shimmering gold cross-body bag, the screen queen elongated her famously petite frame in a pair of knee-length leather boots

Sophisticated: Long gone are the days of gym-tan-laundry for JWoww, who looked noticeably paler than the rest of her chums as she paired down her evening look with a black trench coat

Long gone are the days of gym-tan-laundry for JWoww, who looked noticeably more natural than the rest of her chums as she pared down her evening look with an oversized black trench coat.

Opting away from the skin-tight ensembles, the New York beauty donned a pair of chic form fitting velvet trousers, and pounded the pavement in leather open-toed block heels.

JWoww did call back to her previous raunchy styling with a leopard print clutch bag.

Beaming: "Pauly D" Paul DelVecchio rocked his signature slicked up hair style as he joined the gang for the night out

All that glitters: Pauly D flashed some serious gold around his chest with the glittering chain, while wrapping up in a comfortable black sweatshirt

Back together: Part of the Jersey Shore crew reunited ahead of their Family Reunion series

Going for the fresh-faced look, the MTV star swept back her long coal tresses into a high ponytail, while brown spectacles framed her face.

Earlier that day, the stars of both Jersey and Geordie Shore united on This Morning for a hilarious interview before taking to the skies for a booze-filled turn on the London Eye, while all clad in their typically garish uniforms.

Snooki, JWoww and Pauly D were flying the flag for the States while Chloe Ferry, sam Gowland, Sophie and Nathan Henry were representing for the UK.

Accessories: Sophie switched up her look later on in the evening by adding a black leather Gucci side bag to her stunning look

Sticking together: The Jersey Shore stars all walked together with Pauly D (left), JWoww (centre) and Snooki (far back) making their way across the London cobbles

Bosses at MTV thought up the wildly-popular Jersey Shore concept nine years ago, making stars of the cast members who were encouraged to slip into the ethos of bedding, boozing and brawling for a whopping six seasons over a three year span.

In 2011, Geordie Shore hit screen and saw a group of young Newcastle-native storm screens and throughout its ongoing seven-year run a host of cast members have come and gone in a number of different scandals.

Jersey Shore is set to return to screens for the Family Reunion series, with Deena Cortese, Vinny Guadagnino, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino and Ronnie Orti-Magro joining in proceedings, and the stars appeared on GMB to discuss the show.

Mothers Snooki and JWoww, who both met their husbands on the programme, Jionni LaVelle and Roger Mathews, respectively, discussed why they made the comeback even though they had kids at home.

Cheers to that! Reality worlds collided on Tuesday morning, when stars of both shows united on This Morning for a hilarious interview before taking to the skies for a booze-filled turn on the London Eye, while all clad in their typically garish uniforms

The whole gang! Snooki, JWoww and Pauly D were flying the flag for the States while Chloe Ferry, Sam Gowland, Sophie and Nathan Henry were representing for the UK

Way back when: In 2009, the landscape of reality TV changed forever when the stars of Jersey Shore burst on to screens (left-right, Vinny Guadagnino, Angelina Pivarnick, Paul "Pauly D" DelVecchio, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino, and Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola)

Later on: The UK delivered Geordie Shore two years after Jersey Shore hit screens (left-right James Tindale, Gaz Beadle, Holly Hagan, Sophie Kasaei, Charlotte Leticia Crosby, Vicky Pattison, Greg Lake and Jay Gardner)

JWoww said: 'I think it was the perfect time. The kids are old enough they can be left with our significant other and we didn't want too much time to pass.'

Snooki added: 'We're partying. We're not, like, killing anybody and I want my kids to party and not be judgey when they're older.'

The trio are in the UK to meet their British counterparts, who have seen a huge change in line-up over the years, with Sophie being the only original left. On meeting the UK cast, Pauly said: 'They're big time out here, so I'm excited to meet them.'

In 2011, things kicked off in a smaller house, with Gary Beadle, Jay Gardner, Charlotte Crosby, Vicky Pattison, Greg Lake, James Tindale and Holly Hagan being the pioneering stars who have all since forged varying careers.

Dear mums: Mothers Snooki and JWoww Farley, who both met their husbands on the programme, Jionni LaVelle and Roger Mathews, respectively, discussed why they made the comeback even though they had kids at home

UK hun? Snooki was posing up a storm as she blew kisses at the camera during their ride on the London Eye to

Then and now: Snooki's style has evolved over the years, as she was seen appearing fresh-faced when Jersey Shore kicked off (left, 2009) compared to her style now (right, Tuesday)

He hasn't changed! Pauly's style was more similar to his previous looks as his alarmingly high hair was in firm place while he still sported his style of funky bomber jacket and sunglasses

Same look! Paul has maintained his funky hairstyle over the years (left, 2010)

Proving they have honed their styles over the years, Snooki and JWoww were clad in coordinating monochrome ensembles with the former in a flirty mini and shirt and the latter in a slick black coat and sharp white shirt with glasses.

Pauly's style was more similar to his previous looks as his alarmingly high hair was in firm place while he still sported his style of funky bomber jacket and sunglasses.

Chloe meanwhile was keen to show off her figure as she sported a tight black bodysuit paired with a khaki coat while her hair was in a bright blonde style.

Living it up: The group were posing up a storm as they played around in the streets

Who's that girl: JWoww soared to fame with her gym-honed figure in bikinis (left, in 2009) yet now favours a more conservative look

Chatting away: The trio spoke to Charlotte Hawkins and Kate Garraway

Up close: She was getting cosy with her boyfriend Sam outside the studios, as he seemed to borrow style tips from Pauly in a similarly garish bomber jacket

Out and a pout: Chloe was enjoying the views of the capital during her meeting with the US stars

Who's that girl: Chloe (pictured left, 2015) has undergone a host of cosmetic procedures during her time in the spotlight and is practically unrecognisable

Larking around: The boys were playing around outside the studios as they continued the promo

Way back when: Sam shot to fame on Love Island last summer (left) but has since moved on to Geordie Shore

The Geordies take London: Chloe and Sam could not get enough of one another as they cosied up while hiding under a Union Jack umbrella

She was getting cosy with her boyfriend Sam outside the studios, as he seemed to borrow style tips from Pauly in a similarly garish bomber jacket.

Sophie meanwhile went for a monochrome jumper with small sunglasses and a baker boy cap which gave the look a bang on-trend touch.

Nathan seemed to be bringing a taste of summer to the meet-up as he rocked a bold short-sleeved shirt layered beneath a black crew-neck T-shirt.

Low-key: Sophie meanwhile went for a monochrome jumper with small sunglasses and a baker boy cap which gave the look a bang on-trend touch

Slimmed down: Sophie has famously slimmed down of late and is looking sensational (pictured left, 2013)

Summer style: Nathan seemed to be bringing a taste of summer to the meet-up as he rocked a bold short-sleeved shirt layered beneath a black crew-neck T-shirt

Here he is! Nathan is also a fan favourite on the show (pictured left in 2015)

Larking around: The group were feeling playful as they hid beneath the umbrellas while Snooki continued with her favoured blowing kiss poseRoseanne returned with a new episode to ABC Tuesday after it's massive debut last week, with more than 25 million people watching.

The episode revolved around Roseanne fighting with Darlene (Sara Gilbert) over how she was a pushover for her entitled daughter Harris Conner-Healy, 15, (Emma Kenney), who had annoyed Roseanne with a series of inconsiderate slights.

'I don't want to the the disciplinarian, I want to be the fun grandma,' Roseanne groused after returning from an Uber shift feeling sore, only to find out Harris had used her ice-pack.

Tension: Roseanne clashed with her granddaughter daughter Harris, 15, (Emma Kenney) on Tuesday's highly-anticipated episode

Despite her pain, Roseanne refused to use the Easy Climb 5000, a transportation tram on the stairs that Dan (John Goodman) had recovered amid the wreckage of a late neighbor's torn-down home.

She said, 'No, I'm not using it - those are for old people!'

Later, Roseanne confronted Darlene about Harris's entitled behavior, telling Darlene that Harris 'needs to respect her elders or I'll make sure she'll never become one!'

Dan asked Darlene, whose tendencies were too permissive for their liking, 'When did you turn into such a pushover?'

Culture clash: Darlene and Roseanne were at loggerheads over parenting issues on Tuesday's show

Face-off: Dan and Roseanne eventually persuaded Darlene to put her foot down with her daughter

Winds of change: Harris had pushed Darlene to the limit with her behavior on Tuesday's show

While Darlene wanted to cut her slack, Roseanne shot back, 'Kids don't need slack, they need boundaries: the happiest kids are raised in cages and it keeps the meat tender!'

Later, Roseanne and Dan second-guessed as Darlene let Harris go to the mall with friends she doesn't know.

In a culture clash over parenting values, Darlene pointed out that old techniques were illegal, while Roseanne shot back, 'It's against the law because your generation made everything so PC!'

The tension erupted after Harris - in another show of disrespect and inconsideration - left Roseanne's clean clothes on her washing machine, causing Roseanne to erupt in anger.

'You're acting like you own the place and we don't even own the place!' she told her granddaughter. 'You're smart for a kid but dumb for a person ... you better start showing some gratitude instead of acting like an entitled little b***h!'

Passing the torch: Roseanne and Dan counseled Darlene on how to raise her daughter

Heart-to-heart: Harris and Darlene eventually faced off, with Darlene grounding her daughter

Aging: Roseanne initally refused to use the Easy Climb 5000, a transportation tram on the stairs, but later relented

Showdown: Roseanne and her granddaughter eventually blew up at one another, with Roseanne calling Harris 'an entitled little b***h!'

Culture clash: The episode did a good job of illustrating the generational gap and conflicts that arise thereof

After Harris called Roseanne a 'stupid hillbilly' in response, Roseanne held her head in the sink and squirted water on her, with Darlene commanding her to apologize to her grandmother over the snub.

Things worsened as it was revealed that Harris returned home with stolen clothes, as they still had security tags on them. Darlene chimed in, 'They dont put security tags on clothes that cost less than security tags!'

Harris eventually revealed that she had a plan to sell the stolen goods on Etsy to save up to return to Chicago, to which Darlene grounded her and forced her to give up all of her online passwords.

Roseanne and Dan supported Darlene after she took a stand to Harris, and then rummaged through her social media accounts with the newly-obtained passwords.

The episode ended with Harris refusing to get out of the shower, with Roseanne eventually jumping in there with her, shower cap and all.

Roseanne returns to the air Tuesday at 8/7c on ABC.She's the age-defying model who isn't shy when it comes to flaunting her figure.

And Annalise Braakensiek, proved this yet again when she uploaded a topless snap on the beach, before the image was reported and subsequently deleted.

Taking to Instagram, the 45-year-old posted a picture while covering her boobs with her hands, and looking joyful as she pranced along Sydney's hidden gem beach spot Camp Cove.

'How is this offensive?' Annalise Braakensiek is furious as her 'first happy moment in weeks' gets reported and deleted from Instagram, as she shares a joyful moment while prancing down the beach topless

Wearing nothing but a pair of barely-there bikini bottoms, the animal rights activist took to Instagram to express her fury over the joyful moment being deleted.

Captioning the post, Annalise wrote: 'So this picture, from the first happy moment I've had in weeks, swimming with my darling friend under the moonlight with no nudity, no nipples and just showing a great smile and a beauty moment captured got reported and hence removed from my Instagram?'

Adding: 'Can you tell me why?'

In a rage! 'So this picture, from the first happy moment I've had in weeks, swimming with my darling friend under the moonlight with no nudity, no nipples and just showing a great smile and a beauty moment captured got reported and hence removed from my Instagram?'

'How is this divine spiritual happy moment offensive?'

Finishing the post, the famed face wrote: 'Love to hear your thoughts.'

Following the post on Tuesday night, the jewellery designer also took to Instagram stories to document a less raunchy version of the moment.

'How is this divine spiritual happy moment offensive?' Annalise took to Instagram to inquire about the showy picture that was deleted by Instagram

With her back to the camera, the trifecta talent snapped a picture while baring all sans a pair of skimpy bikini bottoms.

With her hands thrown in the air and looking joyful as she frolicked along the beach, the actress captioned the picture: 'Sunset swims to sooth the soul with Gata.'

Tagging her friend and adding a drawn-on heart, Annalise tagged the Camp Cove Beach location.Footy WAG Zoe Marshall made headlines on Tuesday after sharing a recipe of her post-pregnancy placenta smoothie to her legion of followers.

But now the first-time mum, who gave birth to her son Benjamin Fox in February, has been criticised by a Sydney doctor for promoting the practice.

Dr Nick Fuller, an obesity expert at The University of Sydney, believes ingesting the drink can cause 'potential harm' to mothers.

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'It's not safe! We need to stop listening to influencers for health advice': WAG Zoe Marshall is criticised by Sydney doctor for drinking placenta smoothie after birth of son Benjamin Fox

Dr Fuller told The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday that the wife of NRL star Benji Marshall should not be flaunting what he believes is an 'unsafe' drink on social media.

'Its not safe! The placenta safeguards the baby from harmful substances such as heavy metals and bacteria which can accumulate,' he told the publication.

He went on to say there is 'no evidence' to back claims that the drink is a 'rich source of nutrition, can aid in boosting milk supply and returning the uterus to pre-pregnancy size', noting there was more proof of the practice being unsafe for mothers.

'There is some evidence that it can cause potential harm': Dr Fuller told The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday that the wife of NRL star Benji Marshall should not be flaunting what he believes is an 'unsafe' drink on social media

'We need to stop listening to influencers for health advice  just because Kim Kardashian does something doesnt mean we should! Zoe Marshall is the latest to post and write about her experience at birth. But should we really be consuming our placenta after giving birth? Quite simply, no!,' he said.

The backlash came after the Sydney radio personality Zoe revealed she blended her placenta with fruits before drinking it in February.

'This is me with my placenta in a shake,' she wrote on Instagram, along with a picture of herself cradling baby Benjamin Fox on one arm while holding her smoothie.

'A small piece of fresh placenta blended with banana and berries and yes I drank it. Gotta have that fresh placenta,' she continued.

Zoe praised Sydney placenta specialist Georgie Jhet, who guided her through placentophagia - a consumption of the placenta consuming process.

Daily Mail Australia have reached out to Zoe Marshall and Georgie Jhet for comment.

First time mum: Zoe gave birth to her son on February 26

Appearing on KIIS FM's Kyle And Jackie 'O' show on Wednesday, Zoe appeared unfazed by the backlash and confessed she still consumes the leftover placenta in pill form.

She said she also shared them with her friends, and joked she could send some to co-hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson if they wanted to try them.

Zoe gave birth to her son weighing 3.83kg on the night of February 26 after getting an epidural following 10 hours of excruciating contractions.

Zoe and Benji Marshall tied the knot in 2013.She is getting ready to host the first season of Love Island Australia.

And Sophie Monk couldn't resist making a joke about the show's handsome cast on Wednesday, admitting she is tempted to jump into bed with them.

During an interview on Channel Nine's Today show, the 38-year-old was asked a cheeky question about her love life by Karl Stefanovic.

'What about Love Island, was there any one over there?' Karl asked.

Sophie took the question in good humour, replying: 'I was thinking about that.'

However, she quickly added: 'But it would be a bit weird if I ended up in one of their beds, top and tailing!'

'It would be a bit weird if I ended up in one of their beds!' Sophie Monk joked about hooking up with Love Island contestants during a windy appearance on the Today show on Wednesday

'That's a perfect development,' Karl responded jovially.

Sophie then joked she was more likely to hook up with Love Island's 'Spanish pool cleaner' than any of the contestants.

During the interview, Sophie revealed the 'addictive' new dating show would premiere in the middle of May.

'What about Love Island, was there any one over there?' During her interview, the 38-year-old former Bachelorette was asked a cheeky question by Karl Stefanovic about her love life

Speaking of the contestants, Sophie added: 'I feel bad eating a hamburger while watching it, they're all so hot!'

Love Island Australia, which is filmed in Majorca, is based on a popular UK format.

The program will air on 9Go and 9Now.

Splitsville! Sophie's own dating show experience, The Bachelorette, ended in heartbreak after she split with millionaire public Stu LaundyHe is selling off his most valuable possessions in a 'divorce auction' later this month to commemorate the official end of his marriage to Danielle Spencer.

And Russell Crowe has revealed that many expensive items of jewellery he gifted his now ex-wife during their relationship will be included in the sale.

The Oscar-winning actor, 53, told KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Wednesday that Danielle is a 'very humble person' who hardly ever wore the jewellery because it put her in 'an uncomfortable position' around her friends.

'Danielle felt that she was putting her friends in an uncomfortable position': Russell Crowe admits his 'humble' ex-wife didn't like wearing the expensive jewellery he bought her in public

Among the jewellery up for sale in Russell's extravagant 'The Art Of Divorce' auction is an 18-carat white gold diamond ring.

That particular item cost the Gladiator star '$160k or something at the time,' he said.

Russell explained: 'She's worn it a couple of times and that's the thing with Dani, she's a very humble person.

'I'd given her diamond rings, and necklaces and bracelets... she felt that she was putting her friends in an uncomfortable position.

'So she put stuff away - she put the comfort of her friendships and stuff before her own enjoyment.'

'The Art Of Divorce': Russell, 53, is selling off his most valuable possessions in a 'divorce auction' later this month to commemorate the official end of his marriage to Danielle Spencer

Russell and Danielle began an on-again, off-again relationship in 1989, when they co-starred in the Australian movie The Crossing.

They married on 7 April 2003 at Russell's cattle ranch in Nana Glen, New South Wales and have two sons: Charles, 14, and Tennyson, 11.

In October 2012, Russell and Danielle announced their separation.

Russell told Kyle and Jackie O that when he first told Danielle about his idea of selling off his items in a 'divorce auction', she thought he was joking.

That's one way to end a marriage! The New Zealand-born actor is selling 224 items from his personal collection on 7 April in a $3.6million auction hosted by Sotheby's Australia

'I told her what I was doing and she thought it was really funny but I think for a period of time she thought it was a concept I'd come up with purely for amusement,' he said.

Russell then revealed that once Danielle realised he was serious about the project, she agreed to donate some of her own unwanted possessions.

The New Zealand-born star is selling 224 items from his personal collection on 7 April in a $3.6million auction hosted by Sotheby's Australia.Giana De Laurentiis was out to redeem herself on The Ellen Show Monday after a disastrous cooking demo with Nicole Kidman back in May.

While the 47-year-old cook may be considered one of the best chefs in America, she had a hard time impressing Kidman who blatantly threw shade at her cooking.

De Laurentiis is currently doing press to promote her new cookbook Giada's Italy and the opening of her Baltimore restaurant GDL Italian.

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Second chances: Giana De Laurentiis was out to redeem herself on The Ellen Show Monday after a disastrous cooking demo with Nicole Kidman back in May

Burn! While the 47-year-old cook may be considered one of the best chefs in America, she had a hard time impressing Kidman who blatantly threw shade at her cooking

Back in May, both Ellen DeGeneres and Kidman were given a cooking tutorial by the American-Italian chef.

But things went awry from the very beginning as both women were hysterically laughing and talking over Giada as she tried to give them instructions.

The Australian actress was left seriously underwhelmed after tasting De Laurentiis' focaccia.

Slammed: Kidman was left seriously underwhelmed after tasting De Laurentiis' focaccia during the cooking segment back in May. 'It's a little tough,' the Lion star told her, after taking a bite of the homemade flatbread

Defensive: 'Nicole, it has been sitting there for, like, five hours!' the petite chef hit back

'It's a little tough,' the Lion star told her, after taking a bite of the homemade flatbread.

'Nicole, it has been sitting there for, like, five hours!' the petite chef hit back.

'I hate doing these things for that reason!' Giada added, speaking about the cooking segment.

But Nicole wasn't having any of it.

'I know you're not meant to criticize, but it's a little tough,' she reiterated, before spitting it out into her hand.

Sips tea: Giada was clearly relieved on Monday that Nicole was not in attendance. 'She's not here, right?' De Laurentiis asked. 'I know you surprise people coming out of things'

Giada was clearly relieved on Monday that Nicole was not in attendance.

'She's not here, right?' De Laurentiis asked. 'I know you surprise people coming out of things.'

Ellen sarcastically responded: 'No, we won't have her back again!'

Boss babe: De Laurentiis is currently doing press to promote her new cookbook Giada's Italy and the opening of her Baltimore restaurant GDL Italian

Fun and games: The segment's cooking lesson included an alcoholic beverage, avocado dip, and pizza...once again. 'I figured if we got you drunk enough, you wouldn't know the difference,' Giada said in reference to a possible poor outcome

The segment's cooking lesson included an alcoholic beverage, avocado dip, and pizza...once again.

'I figured if we got you drunk enough, you wouldn't know the difference,' Giada said in reference to a possible poor outcome.

And sure enough, the silliness ensued when De Laurentis dumped too much salt into the bean dip.

The duo eventually ended the show with a pizza dough fight.

Nonchalant cooking: And sure enough, the silliness ensued when De Laurentis dumped too much salt into the bean dipShe was forced to leave Bachelor In Paradise on Tuesday's episode after Jake Ellis failed to give her a rose, despite previously picking him to stay in Fiji over former flame Davey Lloyd.

And Dutch model Florence Alexandra still appeared to harbor resentment for Jake during her post-elimination interview with host Osher Gunsberg on After Paradise on Tuesday.

While the 28-year-old claimed he was a 'narcissistic prick' who 'broke her heart' on the show, she had a humorous response to what she would tell Jake now.

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'I'd ask him for Davey Lloyd's number!' Bachelor in Paradise star Florence Alexandra's hilarious comeback to 'narcissistic prick' Jake Ellis after he booted her from reality show

Osher asked the former Bachelor star: 'If Jake was here what would you say to him?'

To which she responded: 'Well he probably has Davey's number, so I would ask him for that', sending Osher and the audience into fits of laughter.

She cheekily smiled and looked around the room, as Osher continued with the interview.

Cheeky! Florence had Osher and the audience in fits of laughter over her response

However, it appears Florence may already have Davey's number, as hours after her shock departure she confirmed that she and Davey had rekindled their relationship.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, she said she now believes everything that Davey said to her while they were on the show together.

'We will see what happens' However, it appears Florence may already have Davey's number, as hours after her shock departure she confirmed that she and Davey had rekindled their relationship

'He was smitten with me and if I would have kept him on the show we could have been something special,' Florence told Confidential.

She added: 'I wouldn't say we're in a relationship but we've been catching up and speaking to one another.

It comes after Florence and Davey flirted up a storm on social media following her early departure from Bachelor in Paradise.

Back on? In an interview with The Daily Telegraph , she said she now believes everything that Davey said to her while they were on the show together

Davey dedicated a sweet Instagram post to her, which included a picture that showed him presenting her with two tropical flowers.

Davey captioned the romantic shot: 'Hey can't say it was all that bad, You still did get some flowers after all'.

Florence seemed impressed by the gesture and responded with: 'Hahahaha. Is it too early to say I love you? Because I f**king do. You legend you'.

'Is it too early to say I love you?' Florence and Davey flirted up a storm on social media following her early departure from Bachelor in Paradise

Last week, Florence shared the same image of herself and Davey and expressed regret over her decision to send him home.

The blonde beauty had left Davey without a rose because she wanted to see if her romance with Jake could develop further.

But in her lengthy Instagram post, the 28-year-old hinted it was the wrong move to pick Jake over Davey.

'Making decisions is SO HARD in an environment like that, especially pressure and I can only hope that I was doing the right thing,' she explained in the caption.

Bad boy: Florence was dumped by Jake Ellis (pictured) on the Channel Ten program

'Nevertheless I broke my own heart a little when I sent this absolutely amazing guy home and I'd like to say a big thank you to @davey_lloyd for the time we spent together and the memories that were made.'

She added: 'You make my heart smile. You're the best and you have a heart of gold'.

Florence also told Confidential she had spoken to Jake once since filming ended to offer condolences when his mother died.

'That was really sad and of course I wanted to put our differences and arguments aside for that. But let's just say we're not going to catch up for coffee,' she said.Indigenous model Samantha Harris started her successful career when she won Girlfriend magazine's model search, at the tender age of 13.

And on Wednesday, the brunette beauty reflected on her time in the industry, saying she's thrilled to be able to do the job that was her 'childhood dream.'

The 27-year-old spoke to Daily Mail Australia at Witchery's White Shirt Campaign ten-year anniversary lunch in Sydney, and praised the diversity she now sees on the catwalk.

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'I'm just happy to be doing a job that's been a childhood dream': Indigenous model Samantha Harris reflects on her modelling career and praises diversity on the runway

'I'm just happy to be doing a job that I love and that has been a childhood dream,' Samantha said.

'When I think to when I was 13 and when I first started, I didn't see much diversity on the runway.'

'But now many years later, there is a big mix of models on the runway, which I'm very happy and very proud to see.'

Strutting her stuff: Samantha is seen on the runway at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week last May

A good cause: Speaking about the White Shirt Campaign, Samantha said that she was 'proud to be apart of it'

Speaking about the White Shirt Campaign, Samantha said that she was 'proud to be apart of it.'

'If I can help raise awareness, I'm more than happy to be apart of it,' she said.

During her career, Samantha has posed for the likes of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

Success: During her career, Samantha has posed for the likes of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar

Last year, the brunette beauty hit back at trolls and slammed the 'hurtful' and 'racist' comments she receives online.

In a lengthy social media post, Samantha said she is proud of who she is.

'I'm not everyone's cup of tea and I'm totally fine with that. I love my job. I love the fact I can inspire so many women but these keyboard warriors don't even understand how hurtful their words can be,' she wrote.Advertisement

In 2016, she was the esteemed model selected to wear the Victoria's Secret Fantasy Bra at the Parisian lingerie show - with the diamond bra worth an eye-watering Fantasy Bra $3million (2.1million).

And Jasmine Tookes proved just why she was the chosen one as she hit the beach sporting a sizzling leopard print bikini with gold adornments while ringing in the Easter weekend with her eight-year-old sister Chloe Danielle.

Lapping up the Hawaiian sunshine on Tuesday, the 27-year-old was a vision in her swimwear as she lapped up the sunshine in the two-piece, which made the most of her stunning supermodel physique.

When you got it! Jasmine Tookes hit the beach sporting a sizzling leopard print Sommer Swimwear bikini with gold adornments while ringing in the Easter weekend with her eight-year-old sister Chloe Danielle

Jasmine was out to show off all her best assets for the beach trip as she sported the bikini complete with a cleavage boosting top and high-rise bottoms to lengthen her legs and display her peachy posterior.

Her taut abs stole the show on the shores, as she ensured she was beach babe ready, while displaying the fruits of her gym-honed labour while larking around on the beach.

The top of the Sommer Swimwear bikini boasted a front fastening detail with a gold buckle, which helped draw the eye to her cleavage, while she complemented the look with a cluster of gold chains and some eye-catching earrings.

Jasmine slicked her hair back and tied it into a ponytail, before later letting it fall loose, protecting her eyes from the sun with a pair of thick-rimmed cat-eye shades from Sunday Somewhere - which only added to her stunning beach babe look.

Wild thing! Lapping up the Hawaiian sunshine on Tuesday, the 27-year-old was a vision in her sizzling swimwear as she lapped up the sunshine in the two-piece, which made the most of her stunning supermodel physique

Family time: Jasmine was spotted with her sister Chloe Danielle, on Monday as the pair enjoyed a day at the beach

Glitz: Though she was splashing out into the sea, Jasmine was not averse to a bit of jewellery, fastening on two glistening necklaces and pair of earrings

Glam: The top boasted a front fastening detail with a gold buckle, which helped draw the eye to her cleavage, while she complemented the look with a cluster of gold chains and some eye-catching earrings

Strutting her stuff: In 2016, she was the esteemed model selected to wear the Victoria's Secret Fantasy Bra at the Parisian lingerie show - with the diamond bra worth an eye-watering Fantasy Bra $3million (2.1million)

Ever the responsible big sister, Jasmine was at one point seen holding Chloe's hand as the two of them waded around the shallows.

Jasmine has been keeping her nearly 3million Instagram followers updated about her jolly holiday as well, posting up a storm from Maui.

One snapshot she uploaded Tuesday was a close-up of her face as she lay back, wearing that same leopard print bikini she was spotted in on the beach.

Sensible: Ever the responsible big sister, Jasmine was at one point seen holding Chloe's hand as the two of them waded around the shallows

Feeling free: Jasmine beamed radiantly as she swept her Sunday Somewhere sunglasses off her face, having let her hair loose from its ponytail

Superstar: Jasmine, who was born in Huntington Beach, is a runway-walking sensation who became a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2015

Career highlight: When the lingerie brand held its annual fashion show in Paris in 2016, it was Jasmine who wore their signature Fantasy Bra

'Never wanna leave!' she wrote in the caption.

Earlier that day, Jasmine posted an Instagram photo of herself in a different bikini, sitting on a deck chair and sipping a drink from a hollowed-out pineapple.

'Mai Taip of day,' punned the internationally famous model.

She knows her sister: Little Chloe has also become a child model, a career move Jasmine foreshadowed in a 2014 interview she gave to Into The Gloss

Splish splash: Jasmine had said back then that 'my younger sister wants to model'

Mini-me: Jasmine said of Chloe in 2014 that 'Shell dress up like me during the shows and walk around the house'

Looking after her: Jasmine kept close to her little sister during their beach day

Party of three: Chloe and Jasmine's mother Cary Robinson (not pictured), a stylist, has accompanied her daughters on their Hawaiian holiday - as seen on Cary's Instagram page

Chloe and Jasmine's mother Cary Robinson, a stylist, has accompanied her daughters on their Hawaiian holiday - as seen on Cary's Instagram page.

Jasmine, who was born in Huntington Beach, is a runway-walking sensation who became a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2015.

When the lingerie brand held its annual fashion show in Paris in 2016, it was Jasmine who wore their signature Fantasy Bra.

History: Jasmine's father is musician Sean Tookes, who split up from Carey years ago

Adult supervision: Jasmine took Chloe far enough into the water that Jasmine was at waist level - but she stayed where she could see her younger sister

Protective: Jasmine stood in the way of a breaking wave, preventing it from hitting Chloe

Having a ball: Jasmine could be seen with a radiant smile on her face

Last year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was held in Asia for the first time - Shanghai, specifically - and Jasmine walked there as well this past November.

Little Chloe has also become a child model, a career move Jasmine foreshadowed in a 2014 interview she gave to Into The Gloss.

Jasmine had said back then that 'my younger sister wants to model. Shell dress up like me during the shows and walk around the house. Shes already a full-blown diva.'

'Never wanna leave!': Jasmine has been keeping her nearly 3 million Instagram followers updated about her jolly holiday as well, posting up a storm from MauiShe just gave birth two months ago to her first child, a girl named Stormi Webster.

But Kylie Jenner has already snapped back to her pre-baby shape as evidenced by her most recent postings on Instagram on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old beauty wore a crop top in the series of photos, showcasing her remarkably tiny waist.

Just two months after giving birth! Kylie Jenner has already snapped back to her pre-baby shape as evidenced by her most recent postings on Instagram on Tuesday

The reality star and makeup mogul wore the Cotton Citizen sweatshirt and trackpants for the impromptu photoshoot.

The day before Kylie was almost unrecognizable in a top ponytail, heavily filled-in eyebrows and deep ruby red lipstick.

The mother to baby Stormi wrote in her caption, 'Excited because @kyliecosmetics is dropping new colors next week  wearing new lip kit BOSS today.'

The 20-year-old beauty wore a cropped Cotton Citizen sweatshirt in the series of photos, showcasing her remarkably tiny waist

Is that you KJ? Kylie posted a new photo to Instagram on Monday evening

Different: The 20-year-old beauty was almost unrecognizable in a top ponytail, heavily lined in eyebrows and deep ruby red lipstick

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star appears to be in a photo studio space.

The daughter of Kris Jenner is wearing a black hoodie with red writing about an album on the front.

She also posted a photo of her makeup line with the caption, 'NEW Lip Kits are coming!! Get ready to welcome these new shades to the family! Right to left: SAY NO MORE Velvet, IRONIC Matte, BOSS Matte and BARE Velvet! (You guys were all asking to bring Bare velvet back!) April 10.'

More: She also posted a photo of her makeup line with the caption, 'NEW Lip Kits are coming!! Get ready to welcome these new shades to the family!'

BOSS: The star later shared images with the names of the new lip paints

Tribute: Kylie showed off one tone that was named after her grandmother Mary Jo

It looks like Kylie is fully back to work after a fun Easter celebration.

The makeup mogul and her two-month-old babe were joined by baby-daddy Travis Scott for food, fun, and family time.

The bash was held at one of the grand Kardashian/Jenner estates in Hidden Hills, California.

Family time! Stormi Webster, above, enjoyed her first family holiday with the whole Kardashian-Jenner family on Easter Sunday

Kylie was thrilled to have her little lady  who was born February 1  along for the holiday.

Stormi was dressed in her Sunday best, swaddled in pale pink linen with ruffled sleeves and a bow on the chest.

Dad Travis held his daughter in his arms lovingly, while his social-media happy girlfriend recorded, then leaning in to give his little girl a kiss on the head.

Jenner also snapped a photo of her beau posing with a huge floral sculpture in the shape of a pink bunny.

Model mom! Kylie was thrilled to have her little lady  who was born February 1  along for the holiday

Bows and arrows! Stormi was dressed in her Sunday best, swaddled in pale pink linen with ruffled sleeves and a bow on the chest

Hoppy days! Jenner also snapped a photo of her beau posing with a huge floral sculpture in the shape of a pink bunny

Jenner wore a red and white collared shirt for the day, which she paired with a peachy-pink pout and smooth raven locks.

She had fun with a holiday-themed Snapchat filter which gave her a pair of fun bunny ears and rainbow-tinted aviator sunglasses.

The star teamed up with BFF Jordyn Woods, mom Kris, and some other party guests for some selfies.

Since it was her very first Easter, Kylie made sure to shower her daughter in gifts.

Holiday in the sun! Kylie had fun with a holiday-themed Snapchat filter which gave her a pair of fun bunny ears and rainbow-tinted aviator sunglasses

Star in stripes! Jenner wore a red and white collared shirt paired with a peachy-pink pout and smooth raven locks

Generous giver! Since it was her very first Easter, Kylie made sure to shower her daughter in gifts, posting a pic of all the kids' opulent baskets

Family first! Stormi was joined by her cousin North West, above, who is Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's first born

The star showed off the over-the-top baskets on social, revealing so many toys, treats and plush dolls the baskets couldn't contain all the goodies.

Of course Stormi wasn't the only kid there.

She was joined by cousins North and Saint West, the offspring of famous sister Kim Kardashian and hubby Kanye, as well as Mason, Penelope and Reign Disick, who are half-sister Kourtney's kids with ex Scott Disick.



The family's Easter celebration even came complete with a petting zoo for the kids.They are two of the most stylish stars out there.

And on Tuesday night, Diana Kruger and Lupita Nyong'o showed off their individual sartorial taste as they attended a Schutz-sponsored book launch in New York City.

The actresses turned out to support a dinner for fashion stylist Micaela Erlanger and her new book How to Accessorize.

Stylish stars: On Tuesday night, Diana Kruger and Lupita Nyong'o showed off their individual sartorial taste as they attended a Schutz-sponsored event in NYC for fashion stylist Micaela Erlanger and her new book How to Accessorize

German-born Kruger, 41, paired a tiered black tunic top with ankle-length slightly flared black trousers.

She added black heels with white criss-cross laces across the top.

A cream shearling coat was draped across her shoulders and she carried a clutch purse.

The Inglourious Basterds beauty wore her blonde bobbed hair tucked back behind her ears and was made up with black mascara and kohl around her eyes, rosy blush and red lip color.

Always in fashion: Kruger, 41, paired a tiered black tunic top with ankle-length slightly flared black trousers. She added black heels with white criss-cross laces across the top

Elegant: A cream shearling coat was draped across her shoulders and she carried a clutch purse

Striking: The Inglourious Basterds beauty wore her blonde bobbed hair tucked back behind her ears and was made up with black mascara and kohl, rosy blush and red lip color

Oscar-winner Nyong'o, who was born in Mexico, opted for a striking strapless yellow, black and white patterned dress.

She kept out the Big Apple evening chill with a black coat and a black scarf wrapped around her neck.

The Black Panther star, 35, stepped out in silver sandal heels and sported black nail polish on her fingers and toes.

Her eyes were shaded with charcoal gray shadow and she rocked bright red color on her lips.

Lovely: Nyong'o opted for a striking yellow, black and white patterned dress. She kept out the Big Apple evening chill with a black coat and a black scarf wrapped around her neck

Coordinated look: The Black Panther star, 35, stepped out in silver Schutz heels, carried a silver sparkly round purse and sported black nail polish on her fingers and toes

Natural beauty: The actress looked gorgeous in the strapless number

Off the back of the success of her Marvel movie, Nyong'o will next be seen on the big screen in the Australian zombie comedy Little Monsters opposite Josh G

She's also expected to reprise her Star Wars: The Last Jedi role of Maz Kanata in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX.

Kruger also has several projects in the pipeline.

She's reported to be preparing to star opposite Julianne Moore in a movie to be directed by Moore's husband Bart Freundlich and will next be seen in the Robert Zemeckis-directed biographical drama The Women Of Marwen with Leslie Mann, Eiza Gonzalez and Steve Carell.She plays a mother trying to intervene in her daughter's first sexual experience in her latest film Blockers.

But Leslie Mann appears to have her own house in order in real life as she brought her entire family to the Los Angeles premiere of her new comedy film Blockers, unveiled at Westwood's Regency Village Theatre on Tuesday night.

The 46-year-old comedienne, who graced the carpet in a strapless red gown with floral details from Zac Posen, was joined at the event by her lookalike daughters Iris and Maude, 20, and Iris, 15 - as well as her husband Judd Apatow, 50.

Ladies' night! Leslie Mann was accompanied by her daughters (L-R) Iris and Maude Apatow at the premiere of her new movie Blockers on Tuesday night in Los Angeles

Leslie  who has been married to producer, writer, director Judd for over 20 years  radiated confidence in the crimson number, which featured gold and burgundy beading across the bust and skirt.

The Knocked Up talent paired her dress with a scarlet heels designed in rich velvet, while keeping her accessories minimal with matching drop earrings and a slim bangle.

Her glamorous daughters are both up-and-coming actresses after being featured in their father's films from an early age.

Laugh out loud!Making it a full family affair, she was joined by her comedy juggernaut husband Judd Apatow at the glitzy event, held at Westwood's Regency Village Theatre

On fire! Leslie really turned heads as the veteran comedienne graced the carpet in a strapless red gown with floral details from Zac Posen

Red hot! Mann radiated confidence in the crimson number, which featured gold and burgundy beading across the bust and skirt

Plush pumps! The Knocked Up talent paired her dress with a scarlet heels designed in rich velvet

Judd was handsome in a dark blue suit with his standard salt-and-pepper beard on face.

Iris, who have a recurring role on her dad's Netflix show Love, looked lovely in a yellow, floral minidress.

Besides her sister Maude, who has been praised as a break-out star in her upcoming feature Assassination Nation, went for classically sexy in a menswear-inspired dress with double-breasted buttons and a flirty lilac camisole beneath.

On the dotted line! Leslie actress made time to sign a few autographs before disappearing inside the screening with her family

In bloom! Iris Apatow, who have a recurring role on her dad's Netflix show Love, looked lovely in a yellow, floral minidress while at the premiere with her family

Well suited! Judd was handsome in a dark blue suit with his standard salt-and-pepper beard on face

Leslie actress made time to sign a few autographs before disappearing inside the screening with her family.

Since Mann's hubby Judd is a comedy legend, he had plenty of friends to catch up with on the red carpet.

The Freaks And Geeks creator and his long-time collaborator Seth Rogen were almost dressed to match.

Family business! Apatow and Mann have been married for over two-decades and have a pair of daughters, who also have their eyes set on showbusiness

They go way back! Freaks And Geeks creator Apatow and his long-time collaborator Seth Rogan were almost dressed to match

The Pineapple Express star, who also produced Blockers, paired his dark blu esuit with a subtle blue button-up, just like his mentor.

Meanwhile, Maude, 20, is said to be considering dropping out of Northwestern University to pursue acting full time.

Her mother Leslie said on Live! With Kelly And Ryan she could 'teach her everything she needs to know.'

Blocked! The whole cast gathered with director Kay Cannon (far left) at the premiere. Above stars Leslie Mann, Gideon Adlon, Ike Barinholtz, Geraldine Viswanathan, and John Cena pose from left to right besides the auteur

Made for each other! John Cena and fiance Nikki Bella looked like a prime example of a power couple during the premiere of his brand new film Blockers in LA's Westwood neighborhood Tuesday

Maude is currently in her second year at the private research university in Chicago.

Leslie said: 'Shes talking about it. I dont know if shes going to do it.'

The This Is 40 actress was pressed by 43-year-old host Ryan on her reaction to the major life decision.

Leslie said: 'Great. Like, I love her. Shes my favorite person in the world and Im hers. I think.

'And why not be with the people you love the most and you like the most? Like we really like each other.'She has one of the most beautiful bodies in the business.

And Simone Holtznagel flaunted her stunning figure as she attended Witchery's 10 year anniversary White Shirt Campaign luncheon on Wednesday.

Gracing the media wall at the annual fundraiser in honour of ovarian cancer research, the 24-year-old blonde beauty paired her own white shirt with a short leather mini skirt.

Biker chic! Simone Holtznagel flaunts her trim pins in a short leather skirt at Witchery's 10 year anniversary White Shirt Campaign luncheon

Simone's biker-inspired leather skirt featured a diagonal silver zip down the fabric's middle, along with a faux pocket, silver side zip and buckle belt.

Keeping in line with her monochromatic theme, she opted to pair the look with black ankle-high, strappy heels.

To accessorise, the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star carried a black leather side bag featuring a gold chain, and slipped on bold gold rings to match.

Ready and racy! Gracing the media wall at the annual fundraiser in honour of ovarian cancer research, the 24-year-old blonde beauty paired her own white shirt with a short leather mini skirt

Adding a few effortless waves to her look, the star left her locks out to roam free by way of a middle part.

As for her beauty look, Simone wasn't shy in maintaining her edgy luncheon look, keeping the focus on her eye and brow area.

Accessories, accessories! To accessorise, the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star carried a black leather side bag featuring a gold chain, and slipped on bold gold rings to match

Brow pow! In the way of her beauty look, Simone wasn't shy in maintaining her edgy luncheon look, keeping the focus on her eye and brow area

The reality personality kept her brows equally as strong and statement making.

Adding a sweet pop of rose-hued tint to her fair complexion, she added touches of light pinks to the apple of her cheeks and lips.

Simone wasn't the only star to grace the event in a leather skirt, with Lisa Clark showing face in an It-girl unstructured mini skirt too.

Similar style: Simone wasn't the only star to grace the event in a leather skirt, with Lisa Clark showing face in an It-girl unstructured mini skirt too

The blogger opted to wear her own racy skirt with a pair of tan open-toed heels.

To complete the look, she opted for a boho-inspired bag and pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses tucked into her loosely un-buttoned White Shirt Campaign top.Her elder sister may be international superstar Lorde, 21, but Indy is making her own passage into the spotlight.

At the age of 19, the youngest Yelich sister has already appeared in the New York Post for the successful release of her first poetry book Sticky Notes.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, brunette beauty Indy revealed that she had just completed a reading at New York's Bowery Poetry Club.

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Talent runs in the family! Ella Yelich-O'Connor AKA Lorde's younger sister Indy, 19, (L) releases her first poetry book Sticky Notes and stuns during her debut reading in New York City

'Sporadically I read a poem from my book at @bowerypoetry tonight [sic],' she captioned the candid shot.

'Squeaky lil human getting out of her rut [sic].'

The photo saw Indy don an orange and black sweater as she recited words from her debut book.

Published author: Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, brunette beauty Indy revealed that she had just completed a reading at New York's Bowery Poetry Club

Posting a photo of one of the poems A Bridge Into The City last month, Indy spoke candidly about suffering from being her true self in the poem.

'I remember writing this poem, after really struggling to be true to my writing. I was worrying about my work being relatable & I was so nervous about if people would understand the specifics of my life,' she penned.

Continuing on, the star said that she was now at peace if even one person understood her thoughts.

Taking centre stage: Indy shared this candid snap on her Instagram page to announce the release of her book

And between Lorde's incredible song-writing skills and Indy's natural gift for poetry, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

The sisters' mother Sonja is also a published poet, even winning multiple awards for her writing in their hometown of Auckland, New Zealand.

Lorde and Indy also have an older sister Jerry, 24, and a brother Angelo, 16.She has been enjoying a luxurious trip to Europe during a break away from the camera.

And now Kendall Jenner, 22, continued her adventure around France's Chateau de Chambord as she sipped on the palace's white wine during her stay on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old supermodel looked utterly delighted to be off-the-clock while she posed infront of the Renaissance palace clad in her padded green jacket in a candid series of Insta Stories.

Cheers: Kendall Jenner, 22, continued her adventure around France's Chateau de Chambord as she sipped on the palace's white wine during her stay on Tuesday

The brunette runway star, who was joined by pal and hairstylist Jen Atkin during her incredible day trip, beamed while she enjoyed a spot of lunch looking onto the idyllic castle.

Showcasing her off-duty style, Kendall, who stayed at the newly-opened Relais de Chambord, worked her dark tresses into a sleek bun while she sported minimal make-up to accentuate her flawless skin.

In the short clip, family friend Jen playfully told the beauty: 'Could you move your head? You're blocking the castle' as Kendall beamed towards the camera.

In another video, the KUWTK star hilariously jumped infront of her friend's camera while outside the castle as Be Our Guest from Disney's Beauty And The Beast hilariously played.

Picture perfect: The 22-year-old supermodel looked utterly delighted to be off-the-clock while she posed infront of the Renaissance palace clad in her padded green jacket in a candid series of Insta Stories

Horsing around: She sported a horse-printed tee in the car on the way to the palace

Showcasing her model credentials, she leaped infront of the lens while clad in her form-fitting grey jeans to the lyrics: 'As the dining room proudly presents your dinner'.

While Kendall smoldered down the camera, her pal playfully captioned the video: 'Not a snack but a whole meal @kendalljenner'.

Earlier in the day, Kendall indulged in one of her favorite pastimes while visiting France this week as she shared an Instagram video of her riding a horse.

The model beauty is seen sat on a stunning black steed as she explores the beautiful grounds of Renaissance palace.

Picturesque: The Chateau de Chambord is one of the most recognisable chateaux in the world which was constructed by King Francis I of France

'Dreaming': Kendall, who stayed at the newly-opened Relais de Chambord, beamed a big smile on Tuesday as she went horse riding outside the castle

She captioned the clip 'Dreaming' and is seen trotting along the water's edge with the magnificent building behind her.

In a feature for the April issue of Vogue Kendall opened up about suffering from crippling anxiety and how returning to horse riding helped her overcome it.

'I made it a point at the beginning of 2017 to consciously slow down, take more time for myself, be more selective and not just do whatever my agents tell me to do,' she confessed.

Her happy place: The model looked at ease on the back of a beautiful black horse as she galloped past the Renaissance palace

Calming effect: The star recently opened up to Vogue about how horses have helped her with her anxiety

Kendall hadn't had a real break in three years and was suffering from debilitating anxiety and mysterious, intense neck pain. She began to dread getting on planes.

That extra time allowed her to ride horses again, something she began doing as a child. She now has two horses, Belle and Dylan, who she keeps at a stables in Bell Canyon, about five miles from where she grew up in Calabasas, California.

'I did this my whole lifeit was my life. I didnt care for anything else, I didnt care about boys. This is what makes me really happy,' said the knockout.

Galloping off: The KUWTK star happily rode off across a field in a short Instagram clip she postedLast week, she made headlines after opening up about her sexual fluidity, revealing how she fell in love with a woman, in a powerful personal essay.

And actress Alyson Stoner made quite the visual impact when she attended the Los Angeles premiere of the new movie Blockers, held at Westwood's Regency Village Theatre on Tuesday evening.

The 24-year-old Suite Life Of Zack & Cody star caught the eye in a deeply plunging black sheer sleeveless gown, which she featured a daringly high asymmetrical slit finishing well above her thigh.

Catching the eye: Alyson Stoner made an eye-catching arrival at the Los Angeles premiere of the new movie Blockers, held at Westwood's Regency Village Theatre on Tuesday evening

Her barely-there frock of choice was given an added stylish flair with a ruffled waterfall hemline and was teamed with a pair of vertiginous black strappy heels by Tony Bianco.

With her raven tresses swept back in a high ponytail, the screen star highlighted her natural beauty with a flattering palette of makeup that included a plum lipstick.

The former Disney star and backup dancer's outing came after she spoke candidly about the first time she realised she loved a woman in a Teen Vogue personal essay published on Friday.

Daring: The 24-year-old actress turned heads in a deeply plunging black sheer sleeveless gown, which she featured a daringly high asymmetrical slit finishing well above her thigh

Standing tall: Her barely-there frock of choice was given an added stylish flair with a ruffled waterfall hemline and was teamed with a pair of vertiginous black strappy heels

Actress Alyson recalled the moment she felt her heart race over the sight of an instructor while in attendance to a dance workshop.

She felt 'mesmerised and intimidated' by the woman - who was seemingly her polar opposite - adventurous and free-spirited - in contrast to her 'type A personality'.

She said: 'After I dizzied myself from doing knee spins, she walked toward me to correct my form. My heart raced wildly and my body grew hot.

'Was I nervous to fail in front of an expert? Was I breathing heavily from being out of shape? Her smile was the most electrifying thing Id ever seen.'

Natural beauty: With her raven tresses swept back in a high ponytail, the screen star highlighted her natural beauty with a flattering palette of makeup that included a plum lipstick

Upbeat: The screen star appeared to be in a decidedly upbeat mood as she attended the event

Immediately after leaving the workshop, she phoned her mother and best friend to inform them about the woman she had just met and admired.

'Im not sure who she is or what Im feeling, but I think shes going to be in my life for a very long time,' she told them.

Cheaper By The Dozen star Alyson began regularly communicating with and hanging out with the instructor before the pair's friendship turned into a serious relationship.

The Ohio-born actress revealed she had never felt the same type of emotions from a man before.

Essay: Her outing came days after she came out as sexual fluid in a powerful personal essay

Love: Alyson, pictured on the red carpet in 2003 for the world premiere of Cheaper by the Dozen, opened up about her love for women in the essay for Teen Vogue

'I realised I had never fantasied about a guy this way, nor really ever felt comfortable dating guys,' Stoner said, while adding that she is both attracted to women and men.

'She and I continued to hang out and began sending good morning texts. Then we made dinner and watched.

'Then we vented and supported each other. Then cuddled. Then kissed and kissed some more... OK, we were in a relationship. I fell in love with a woman.'

The brunette beauty said sharing her story hasn't been all that easy - as many others who have been in her shoes know.

Former child star: The Suite Life of Zack & Cody child star is seen on the episode Kisses and Basketball

Comedy capers: She played the role of 11-year-old Sarah Baker in the 2003 American family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen

The young star was warned by her colleagues that coming out could damage her career and possibility of landing jobs. She still chose to follow her truth.

'My dream and all Id worked tirelessly for since the age of 6 was suddenly at risk by my being... true to myself. Imagine receiving death threats (as I have); would you choose to live a lie in order to protect your loved ones?

'What if your partner felt like you were hiding them and it created stress and tension because you couldnt be open outside of your home? I feel so much sorrow for the hurt I caused her and others during this scary and confusing season.'

A smiling Alyson shared videos of herself speaking about the personal essay to her Instagram story on Friday.

Glamorous: (L-R) Niki DeMartino, Stoner and Gabi DeMartino at the 2017 Streamy Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaThe rumour mill is in overdrive about the state of this year's X Factor judging line-up.

And the latest development sees thought-to-be-axed judge Sharon Osbourne allegedly demanding her full fee from ITV, even if she won't appear on the 2018 season of the singing show.

Reported to be on a 2m contract with the series, Sharon 'will get the money owed to her if she does go' according to a source, speaking to The Sun.

Exit strategy: Sharon Osbourne is allegedly demanding her full fee from ITV, even if she won't appear on the 2018 season of The X Factor

And alongside Sharon comes veteran judge Louis Walsh, both of whom are 65, who is also on the chopping block, according to reports.

'It would cost 3.5m to pay them both off  its money ITV dont have,' the source added.

Yet the long-time judges are said to believe they are 'unsackable' for one more series, thanks to 'watertight' three-year contracts.

Irish music manager Louis told The Sun that he had called Simon Cowell, 58, during his holiday in Mexico - and even instructed lawyers - to maintain his spot on the judging panel this year.

Dispensable? Alongside Sharon comes veteran judge Louis Walsh, both of whom are 65, who is also on the chopping block, according to reports

'Producers have lost faith': Bosses are reportedly trying to bring in fresh blood to the show to encourage a younger audience

Louis told the publication: 'My contract is watertight. I've checked it out with someone and have told Simon that.

'I have spoken to Sharon. She's said they can only sack us if they pay us.'

The boy band manager admitted that Sharon was surprised she hadn't received any filming dates yet, but believed that show bosses hadn't finalised what they wanted to do with the panel.

Louis and Sharon appeared on The X Factor when it began in 2004 with Sharon leaving in 2008 and being replaced by Cheryl.

On the way out: Louis had hit back at Simon Cowell amid claims he's 'facing the axe from the latest series'

Undecided: Louis admitted that even Sharon was surprised she hadn't received any filming dates, but believed that show bosses hadn't finalised what they wanted to do with the panel

A few years later, she returned, to replace Tulisa in 2013 and then came back again when she signed a three-year deal in 2016.

Meanwhile Louis has remained throughout, except for the 2015 season when he was swapped for DJ Nick Grimshaw, only to return again the following year alongside Sharon and on/off judge Nicole Scherzinger.

It's said that she too is out of the picture for this year, with hopes that Cheryl will return to the fold after she left to have a baby two years ago.

Fighting back: The publication also reported that Sharon and Louis were rumoured to be paid 1.7m a series and have consulted their lawyers on the issue

Booted? Nicole Scherzinger 'axed from from the latest series as show bosses try to revamp the show' according to The Sun

With the reports suggesting that show creators wanted to attract a younger audience to the flagship ITV competition, Louis also hit back at claims he was being axed because of a hearing aid promotional role for Specsavers.

Louis denied being a part of an ad campaign for hearing aids, and added: 'I had to do a test and they said my hearing was perfect - 100 per cent perfect - so I couldn't do it.'

Pop hunk Craig David and One Direction's Louis Tomlinson are both reportedly being considered for the show.

An X Factor spokesperson told the MailOnline: 'There is always speculation regarding the judging panel. It's too early to confirm the judges for the next series.'

'We'll see what happens': Nicole revealed Simon doesn't let the judging panel in on their fate until the same month the show returns

Set to leave? Judges Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh are also set for the chopping block, with their contracts on the line as show bosses try to rearrange the show

Comeback? Nicole's spot on the show has already been in question, as it's been rumoured that Cheryl (pictured 2017), is in talks to return

Despite being shrouded in mystery, Poison hitmaker Nicole has previously voiced her frustration about Simon's last minute panel decisions.

Chatting to The Sunday Mirror, Nicole explained that the judges don't find out their fate until the same month the show returns.

She told the publication: 'Simon is so f****** last minute we know in the same month that he announces it. We'll see what happens.'He's the Kiwi-born who officially finalised his divorce to ex-wife Danielle Spencer last year after five years of separation.

Following their high-profile split, Russell Crowe is preparing to offload many of his physical memories of their marriage in a $3.6million 'divorce auction'

And as he prepared to wave goodbye to goods from his married life as well as souvenirs from his movies and other collectables, the 53-year-old took Nine News' Peter Stefanovic on a trip down memory lane on Wednesday.

'Walking through this sort of collection is time travel':During a Nine News segment on Wednesday, Russell Crowe (right) reminisced with Peter Stefanovic (left) about the items the actor's preparing to offload in his $3.6million 'divorce auction'

In a Nine News segment, Russell gave Peter a tour of the items soon to be on sale, with the actor telling the journalist they hold a lot of memories for him

'All of these things connect to certain times in my life,' Russell explained.

'Walking through this sort of collection is time travel because I remember where I was when I bought particular painting or whatever.

' I remember where I was when I bought particular painting or whatever' Russell admitted certain items have strong nostalgic value for him

'That picture there of you, you're bit younger!' Pointing to a movie poster featuring Russell in the iconic 2000 film Gladiator, Peter joked about the ageing star

Russell also conceded there was no longer any point holding on to the objects just for nostalgic value.

'As you get older, you do start to think I don't need physical touchstones, I just need a bit of clear space,' he said.

During the interview, Peter flexed his funny bone, pointing to a movie poster featuring Russell in the iconic 2000 film Gladiator.

' I mean that picture there of you, you're bit younger!' Peter joked.

Laughing, Russell responded: 'Well, that was 1084 AD'

Everything must go! Russell's 'The Art Of Divorce' auction, hosted by Sotheby's Australia, will feature 223 items valued at over $3.6 million and is scheduled to take place on 7 April

Russell's 'The Art Of Divorce' auction, hosted by Sotheby's Australia, will feature 223 items valued at over $3.6 million and is scheduled to take place on 7 April.

The date of the auction coincides with the Gladiator star's 54th birthday and what would have been his wedding anniversary.

Russell and Danielle married in 2003 and announced their separation in late 2012. The former couple share two children: Charles, 14, and Tennyson, 11.She has enjoyed a stellar Hollywood career since breaking onto the scene in 2001's Mulholland Drive.

And Naomi Watts continued to enjoy her well-deserved break from infront of the camera as she luxuriated by an idyllic beach during her envy-inducing breakaway to Mexico on Sunday.

The youthful 49-year-old actress highlighted her slender pins as she donned a pair of grey skimpy shorts while she strolled along the white sand.

Seas the day: Naomi Watts continued to enjoy her well-deserved break from infront of the camera as she luxuriated by an idyllic beach during her envy-inducing breakaway to Mexico on Sunday

The Australian beauty teamed her pin-flashing ensemble with a loose-fitting white T-shirt with an eye-catching print across the front, over her red swimsuit.

She attempted to remain incognito for the beach appearance as she covered her blonde locks under her khaki-peaked cap and donned a pair of oversized shades.

Later in the evening, the screen star showcased her signature style in a white shirt dress which nipped in at the waist with the help of a matching thin fabric belt and highlighted her svelte figure.

White hot: Later in the evening, the screen star showcased her signature style in a white shirt dress which nipped in at the waist with the help of a matching thin fabric belt and highlighted her svelte figure

The age-defying star flashed a glimpse of thigh in the look which boasted a thigh-high slit and a frill-detailed neckline.

She continued to cover her blonde bob with a cream straw fedora and large black sunnies while she draped a colourful tote bag over her shoulder.

Naomi and former partner Liev Schreiber announced their split in September 2016 after 11 years together. They have sons Sasha, 10, and nine-year-old Kai together.

Liev, 50, has since been linked to blonde 24-year-old ex-beauty queen Taylor Neisen, with Taylor seen joining the star and his children on a holiday in Costa Rica in February.

In the past: Naomi and former partner Liev Schreiber announced their split in September 2016 after 11 years together (Pictured in 2016)

And Naomi is rumoured to be dating actor Billy Crudup, 49, with the pair last spotted together in February as they left a Vogue party hand-in-hand.

The two reportedly became close while filming the Netflix series Gypsy, which centers on a married psychologist (Watts) who becomes obsessed with one of her client's ex-girlfriends.

A source confirmed to PEOPLE back in July that the pair were 'dating' in real life.Blac Chyna has reportedly been axed as brand ambassador for baby stroller brand, Momiie.

TMZ revealed the 29-year-old reality star has lost her deal with the company - which is set to launch in the US this month - following her brawl at Six Flags amusement park on Easter Sunday.

Shock footage of the fight saw the mother-of-two attempt to hurl a child's buggy at a fellow parkgoer - prompting Momiie to drop their offer.

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Axed: Blac Chyna has been axed as brand ambassador for baby stroller brand, Momiie. The reality star, 29, has lost her deal with the new company following her brawl at Six Flags park

A spokesperson for Momiie told TMZ: '[We] cannot excuse that sort of reaction and behavior particularly in a family resort around children.'

TMZ adds that brand bosses had been uneasy about working with Chyna for a while due to her 'behavioral issues and leaked sex tape'.

Chyna has been the subject of scrutiny after she was caught on camera arguing with another park-goer, taking off her jacket and violently swinging around a stroller. She was held back by her boyfriend, YBN Almighty Jay, 18, amid the melee.

MailOnline has contacted Blac Chyna's representatives for comment.

Horrifying footage: Shock footage of the fight saw the mother-of-two attempt to hurl a child's buggy at a fellow parkgoer - prompting Momiie to drop their offer

Chyna had been out with her teenage beau and her 16-month old daughter with ex Rob Kardashian at the time of the incident.

TMZ claim Rob, 31, has since expressed his dismay after viewing footage of the incident, which he reportedly sees as the latest in a string of concerns relating to the welfare of his daughter.

People magazine previously claimed the extended Kardashian family are worried about Dream after watching footage of Chyna's public spat.

The reality TV clan's 'biggest concern is that Dream is safe,' sources told the magazine, noting that Chyna 'is just drama all the time.'

Earlier in the day: Chyna had been out with her teenage beau and her 16-month old daughter with ex Rob Kardashian at the time of the incident

Chyna posted an Instagram message Sunday in which she explained her side of the story, claiming that another park-goer tried to physically touch her kid, leading to the protective outburst.

She wrote, 'Being famous is hard enough dealing with scrutiny but when someone feels comfortable to come and touch your child it's a whole other story.

'I do not condone violence nor am I a violent person but shout out to all of the amazing mothers out there that will protect their children at all cost. Love, King and Dreams Mommy.'

Oops: Brand bosses are said to have already been uneasy about working with Chyna for a while due to her 'behavioral issues and leaked sex tape'

Officials with Magic Mountain confirmed to People that those involved in the dust-up were tossed from the amusement park.

'Last evening, a verbal and physical altercation broke out among two visiting groups,' a park official told the publication. 'Our security department responded immediately and both groups were escorted out of the park.

The safety and security of our guests and employees is our top priority and we have zero tolerance for this type of behavior.'Viewers could be forgiven for thinking Pat Phelans reign of terror was over after the serial murderer plummeted from a cliff during Good Fridays episode of Coronation Street.

But the divisive character, played with relish by Connor McIntyre, miraculously survived the fall and future scenes will see him back on notably firmer ground and modelling a brand new look as he attempts to evade capture.

Preparing to shoot scenes on location in Lancashire, McIntyre, 57, looked radically different behind a trimmed white beard and bookish spectacles  part of Phelans Machiavellian ploy to stay one step ahead of the police.

Who's that? Preparing to shoot Coronation Street scenes on location in Lancashire on Wednesday, Connor McIntyre looked radically different behind a trimmed white beard and bookish spectacles  part of Pat Phelans ploy to stay one step ahead of the police

Phelan will also adopt an assumed name and take up residence in a caravan, around which much of the filming took place on Wednesday morning.

McIntyre was seen chatting earnestly with members of the production team while waiting for cameras to roll, and his conservative demeanour was not lost on those more used to Phelans characteristically violent nature.

On a chilly day, the actor stayed warm in a blue quilted jacket as the crew prepared to shoot his latest scenes as the erstwhile Coronation Street business-owner.

Quite a difference: Phelan's conservative appearance will not be lost on those more used to Phelans characteristically violent nature

On the run: Phelan will also adopt an assumed name and take up residence in a caravan, around which much of the filming took place on Wednesday morning

Reaction was decidedly mixed after viewers discovered the ageing Phelan had survived a seemingly fatal fall and was holed up at a local bed and breakfast while he nursed some surprisingly minor injuries.

His sinister, convoluted plot had gone on for months, resulting in numerous brutal scenes and hundreds of dismayed viewers lodging complaints with regulatory broadcasting authority Ofcom.

Consequently, some fans were understandably relieved to see the back of Phelan, while others were delighted that Weatherfield's nemesis was back to create more mayhem.

Let's go: McIntyre poked his head through the shabby caravan's open door as he prepared to shoot his latest scenes as Phelan

Blending in: Phelan's modest new home will no doubt be temporary as he plans to wreak more havoc on the residents of Weatherfield

Catch me if you can: The divisive character is attempting to evade capture following a series of brutal murders on Coronation Street

Patience is a virtue: McIntyre idled on set while waiting to film another scene on Wednesday

'Absolutely fuming about phelan,' said one disgruntled viewer, while another asked: 'Dear God, when will this end?!'

'Ah seriously, Pat Phelan is alive. #Corrie youre having a laugh at this stage,' moaned another.

Conversely, one excited viewer wrote: 'Yassssssss I Just Screamed the house down.. Hes alive yasss !!!!'

While another crowed: 'Well #Corrie you pulled it out of the bag tonight!! I was uber disappointed with fri nites double bill but man alive that was a twist and a half!'

Coronation Street continues on Wednesday, April 4th at 7:30pm on ITV1.

Plenty to talk about: The actor was seen chatting earnestly with members of the production team

Watery end: Reaction was decidedly mixed after viewers discovered the ageing Phelan had survived a seemingly fatal fall during Good Friday's episode of Coronation StreetAccording to Billboard, Camila's latest single "Never Be the Same" is currently #10 on the publication's Radio Songs chart, which is based on airplay. Her previous hit, "Havana," is #9 on the same chart.

That makes Camila the first female solo artist to have to top-10s on the chart at the same time since 2016, when Adele did it with "Hello" and "When We Were Young."

Over on the Billboard Hot 100, "Never Be the Same" has reached the top 15.

Camila will kick off her Never Be the Same tour Monday night in Vancouver, BC.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Love is in the air for The Veronicas songstress Lisa Origliasso who celebrated her engagement to actor Logan Huffman over the weekend.

In a hipster-style vegan engagement party the smitten couple were surrounded by friends and family as they celebrated their plans to tie the knot.

And while the 33-year-old looked sensational on her special day, she let slip on Instagram on Wednesday that she left one important detail to the last minute.

Leaving it to the last minute! The Veronicas' Lisa Origliasso reveals she bought her dress the DAY BEFORE her vegan hipster engagement party with fiance Logan Huffman

Taking to her Instagram Story, Lisa revealed that she only bought her engagement dress the day before the event.

The Untouched hitmaker shared footage of herself donning a gorgeous off-white frock at the party, with a host of loved ones around her.

'For those asking, my dress was a 1940s vintage slip I found the day before at @playclothesvintage' she captioned the video.

'For those asking, my dress was a 1940s vintage slip I found the day before' Lisa spilled the details of the gorgeous frock in the caption

Smitten! Lisa will tie the knot with actor beau Logan Huffman (left)

Lisa's hipster side was on full display during the festivities as she celebrated the day alongside actor beau Logan.

The ceremony was catered by Lisa's twin sister Jessica, who put together a delicious 'hand-picked vegan grazing table' for guests to enjoy.

After the guests dined on the organic food, they then took part in a unique spiritual ritual that shared many similarities with Reiki, a form of alternative medicine from Japan.

Meat is murder! The ceremony was catered by Lisa's twin sister Jessica, who put together a delicious 'hand-picked vegan grazing table' for guests to enjoy

Simply stunning: Lisa shared some photos of herself from the ceremony to social media

'It's all energy, all good,' Logan explained to the guests as he prepared to start the special ritual.

Despite Reiki originating in Japan, the couple had decorated their yard with what appeared to be Chinese lanterns.

'This is something of the earth, that's meant for communication and talking,' Logan continued as he placed tobacco into a piece of paper and scrunched it up.

The party-goers then wrapped the paper in red fabric, held it up to the sky and started chanting in unison.

With their free hands, they clutched their mobile phones so they could film the divine moment for their social media pages.He's come a long way since The Office, playing gritty and often terrifying roles in the likes of Sherlock, Black Panther and in the forthcoming supernatural chiller Ghost Stories.

And Martin Freeman has taken on another frightening role in Netflix's forthcoming film Cargo.

In it, the 46-year-old plays dad-of-one Andy Rose, who ends up in a fight to save his daughter's life after he realises he has 48 hours before he turns into a flesh-eating zombie.

Chilling: Martin Freeman fights against a zombie virus to save his baby daughter in chilling trailer for Netflix horror Cargo

The trailer proves heartbreaking as Andy's wife Kay [Susie Porter] falls victim to a vicious pandemic that the pair are trying to escape from with baby Rosie.

Set in the outback of Australia, they take to a houseboat to attempt to outrun the unexplained disease.

But in a scene in which she is left alone, Kay gets pulled into a room by something and infected, left with 48 hours before she turns.

In a bid to save their child, Andy is seen abandoning his wife with Rosie - but not before he is, himself, infected.

Safety? Set in the outback of Australia, they take to a houseboat to attempt to outrun the unexplained disease

A new hope? They run into an abandoned girl, whose father appears to have succumbed to the same disease, leaving Andy to save her too

Threat: They stumble across a family who have not been infected; yet in other scenes are seen being attacked by a group of Indigenous Australians

Andy then has to get Rosie to safety before he turns too, in two days time.

'This country is changing. Sick. We all get sick. You get sick too,' a voice-over states as Andy is seen heading across country with Rosie on his back.

They run into an abandoned girl, whose father appears to have succumbed to the same disease, leaving Andy to save her too.

With two children to save now, he hears of a 'clever man' who has an antidote to the disease.

They stumble across a family who have not been infected; yet in other scenes are seen being attacked by a group of Indigenous Australians.

Fight to survive: The trailer proves heartbreaking as Andy's wife Kay [Susie Porter] falls victim to a vicious pandemic that the pair are trying to escape from with baby Rosie

Frightening: As the tension mounts at the end of the trailer, it's unsure whether Andy can get Rosie to safety and whether he can save himself from the virus infecting him, as the clock ticks

As the tension mounts at the end of the trailer, it's unsure whether Andy can get Rosie to safety and whether he can save himself from the virus infecting him, as the clock ticks.

Cargo has been adapted from Yolanda Ramke and Ben Hayes short film of the same name from 2013 and comes from the producers of Australian horror flick The Babadook.

It had its festival premiere last year and received favourable reviews from critics, with the Guardian stating that it made 'the living dead frightening again'.

It added: 'They remind us of truly terrifying things: losing ourselves, and our loved ones.'

Cargo becomes available to stream on Netflix on May 18.He is rarely seen without from his French bulldog Dali and poodle-terrier hybrid Allegra.

So it's no wonder Hugh Jackman, 49, was happy to have his beloved pooches back in his arms after he returned home from his paradise getaway with his family on Wednesday.

Taking to Instagram to mark the adorable reunion, The Greatest Showman actor uploaded a snap of himself with his cute dogs in both arms.

Hugh could ask for a better welcome home? Jackman kissed his French bulldog Dali and poodle-terrier hybrid Allegra as he returned home from paradise getaway with his family

Hugh fixed his adoring gaze on Dali as he posed for the fun snap, which he captioned: 'Welcome home committee!'

French bulldog Dali has been in the family since 2010 while the poodle-terrier hybrid Allegra has been adopted since 2015.

On Tuesday, Hugh was sad to say goodbye to his lavish tropical getaway as his holiday came to a close.

'Back to reality': The actor, 49, lamented his last night in paradise as he watched the sunset with his wife Deborra-lee and two children on Instagram on Tuesday

Taking to Instagram, the actor shared a photo of himself watching the sunset while kicking his feet back with Deborra-lee as well as Ava, aged nine, and Oscar, 14.

The X-Men: Apocalypse hunk and his family watched the sunset at the lavish resort as they relished in each other's charming company for the last night of their break.

Hollywood heartthrob Hugh kept the location of his family's sun-drenched holiday tightly under wraps, however.

Spring break! Hollywood heartthrob Hugh kept the location of his family's sun-drenched holiday tightly under wraps

The family holidayed over the Easter break but it was all over too quickly as Hugh revealed they was their 'last night' in paradise. He wrote on Instagram: 'Last night in paradise #backtoreality.'

'Happy Easter. Happy Passover. To you and yours.' Hugh penned on Instagram over the Easter weekend.

Hugh candidly confessed he Skypes his pooches when he is away with work because he misses them terribly.

Top company: The Greatest Showman actor enjoyed a plush break in paradise with his wife and their two adopted children

'I do Skype my dogs. I love that too, the whole Skype, Facetime thing. Technology is great,' he said in an interview with Magic Radio in 2015.

He is often seen walking his dogs and he treats his 17,000,000 Instagram followers to a slew of cosy snaps with his pooches.

The actor lives happily with his wife Deborra-lee Furness and their two children Ava and Oscar.

Hugh and Deborra-lee have gone from strength to strength ever since they tied the knot all the way back in 1996.

The famous Australian couple met on the set of ABC drama Correlli in 1995 when Hugh was fresh out of acting school.

As the couple celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary, the Australian actor revealed the secret behind his unbreakable union with his wife.

'You've got to find the right person,' Hugh told Closer magazine in recent weeks. 'It's powerful, but simple.'

'When you're dating, you put on the best version of yourself. On the dance floor, you're like, I'm pulling out my best moves, I've got my best clothes on.'Her boyfriend Chris Martin was spotted spending time with his ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow and their two children in Paris over the recent Easter holidays.

And Dakota Johnson was seen in sunnier climes on Tuesday, when she touched down solo at Los Angeles International Airport.

The Fifty Shades Freed beauty, 28, looked comfortably stylish for her journey, stepping out in a grey sweater with cropped jeans, which she teamed with a pair of black peep-toe mules.

Just touched down in Tinseltown: Dakota Johnson was spotted touching down at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday

Hiding her eyes behind a pair of oversized Oliver Peoples Byredo sunglasses, the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson wore her long chestnut brown tresses in glossy waves.

With a brown suede bag resting on her shoulder and her iPhone firmly in the grip of her palm, the actress wore a sombre expression as she made her way through the bustling terminal before jumping into a waiting vehicle.

Meanwhile, her Coldplay frontman beau Chris, 41, was spotted enjoying a low-key stroll through the streets of Paris with his ex-wife Gwyneth on Easter Sunday.

Stylish: The Fifty Shades Freed star looked comfortably stylish for her journey, stepping out in a grey sweater with cropped jeans, which she teamed with a pair of black peep-toe mules

Sombre: With her iPhone firmly in the grip of her palm, the actress wore a sombre expression as she made her way through the bustling terminal before jumping into a waiting vehicle

Making waves: Hiding her eyes behind a pair of oversized sunglasses, the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson wore her long chestnut brown tresses in glossy waves

The exes - who share children Apple, 13, and Moses, 11 - looked stylish for the outing as they indulged in conversation. Chris looked thrilled during the casual excursion.

He kept it cool in a black coat, matching jeans, forest green scarf and baker boy cap.

Last week, the former lovebirds reunited with their two children as they posed in front of a London property.

The foursome looked every inch the happy family, with many people wondering in the comments section if they were paying a nostalgic trip to their former home.

Stepping out: Dakota flashed a hint of skin as she went shopping in Los Angeles on Wednesday in jeans and a blue jacket

Former lovebirds: Meanwhile, her beau Chris Martin and his ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow continued to prove they're friendly exes as they enjoyed a low-key stroll in Paris on Sunday

Relaxed: The actress and Coldplay star - who share children Apple, 13, and Moses, 11 - looked stylish for the outing as they indulged in conversation

Chic: Gwyneth looked sensational as she dressed her slender frame in a pretty ankle-grazing floral dress which she teamed with a camel-coloured coat

Gwyneth, who is engaged to Brad Falchuck, captioned the photo cryptically with '#42', with the same number on the front door of the house.

The former married couple sat either side of their beloved children, wearing big smiles on their faces.

Low-key Gwyneth, who recently announced her engagement to director Brad Falchuk wore an all-black ensemble, with a pair of white high-top trainers.

Earlier this year, Gwyneth said that Chris has become 'like a brother', adding that their cordial divorce was to ensure their children Moses and Apple remained as 'unscathed as possible'.

Wrapping up: The beauty added a bulky grey scarf to combat the chill and kept it super comfortable with a pair of black Balenciaga sneakers

Pretty: The Shakespeare in Love star opted for a simple slick of make-up to enhance her pretty features and loosely tamed her blonde locks in place with her scarf

Happy: Rocker Chris and Oscar winner Gwyneth looked comfortable in each other's company

During her appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the titular host noted that she remained close with her ex-husband.

The Oscar-winning actress enthusiastically responded: 'Very much so. He's like my brother. Very familial. It's nice. Great.'

Stephen Colbert quipped that it was kind of weird saying someone you had children with is like a brother.

'Which would explain the divorce,' Gwyneth said, before adding: 'Just kidding.'

Friendly exes: It's been four years since the stars famously 'consciously uncoupled'

Trendy: Chris kept it cool in a black coat, matching jeans, forest green scarf and baker boy cap

Brother: Earlier this year Gwyneth (pictured with bodyguard) said that Chris has 'like a brother' and their cordial divorce was to ensure their children remained as 'unscathed as possible'They are the unlikely duo whose friendship led to a music partnership that has found a niche audience.

And musician Ben Lee and actor Josh Radnor will tour Australia for the first time as their band Radnor and Lee.

The Catch My Disease hit-maker and How I Met Your Mother star, who have been long time friends, will play shows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in May.

On the road! Musician Ben Lee and actor Josh Radnor will tour Australia for the first time as their band Radnor and Lee, playing shows in will play shows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in May

The announcement, posted on Frontier Touring's official Twitter, features the two thrilled to reveal their upcoming performances at their east coast concerts.

Fans excited about the acoustic folk duo's shows shared their joy in the comments, including one who wrote: 'I'm so happy for you guys and the Australian public!! So nice!!'

Speaking to Today Extra on Wednesday, Josh revealed that he and Ben struck a friendship thirteen years ago when the guitarist visited the set of How I Met Your Mother.

Thrilled: Fans excited about the duo's shows shared their joy in the comments, including one who wrote: 'I'm so happy for you guys and the Australian public!! So nice!!'

They eventually started writing music together which led them to recording and doing small shows around Los Angeles.

Radnor And Lee released their debut album last November and recently performed sold out shows in Brazil.

Their Australian tour announcement comes after the musician and actor left a Brisbane man starstruck sharing well wishes to him before his life-saving open heart surgery, earlier this year.

Tour: Radnor And Lee released their debut album last November and recently performed sold out shows in Brazil

Callum Grady, 24, reached out to Josh Radnor, hoping the actor could put a smile on his older brother Dylan's face ahead of his aortic dissection operation.

The duo shared a heartfelt video wishing Callum's brother Dylan a speedy recovery ahead of his surgery and even dedicated their songwriting session to him.

Tickets go on sale on April 11.The first two episodes of TOWIE's 22nd series have been beyond explosive.

And while the drama has been in relationships and ruckuses thus far, Chloe Sims opted to bring the drama through her ensemble on Wednesday as she went braless beneath a skin-tight vest paired with high-waisted camo trousers.

The 33-year-old reality veteran left nothing to the imagination in her sizzling ensemble which just about contained her assets as she strutted her stuff.

Ahem: Chloe Sims opted to bring the drama through her ensemble on Wednesday as she went braless beneath a skin-tight vest paired with high-waisted camo trousers

Famed for her eye-popping assets, Chloe was keen to leave nothing to the imagination in the tight green vest top which boasted a scoop neck and an unforgiving material which left her entire chest on show.

Keen to also display her svelte frame, she tucked the top into a pair of camouflage trousers while layering over a long rain coat and pairing the look with a pair of scuba-style Mochino ankle boots to add a designer edge.

Not content with her bold outfit choice, the stunner scraped her hair into a high bun while shielding her heavily made-up face with cat-eye sunglasses.

Proving the key was in the accessories, she sported chunky gold hoop earrings with the look while also adding a complementary delicate gold chain.

Cheeky! The 33-year-old reality veteran left nothing to the imagination in her sizzling ensemble which just about contained her assets as she strutted her stuff

Wow! Famed for her eye-popping assets, Chloe was keen to leave nothing to the imagination in the tight green vest top which boasted a scoop neck and an unforgiving material which left her entire chest on show

Later on, she was seen with Gemma who was giving her a run for her money in the busty stakes as she sported a deeply plunging floral maxi dress.

Her bouncy blonde locks fell over her shoulders in loose waves while she pulled on a pair of typically garish sunglasses and rocked a dainty gold necklace.

Chloe was hitting headlines earlier in the day when she weighed in on her co-star James Lock's treatment of women following an explosive episode in which her was seen to scream at his girlfriend Yazmin Oukhellou and her pals.

Cheeky! Later on, she was seen with Gemma who was giving her a run for her money in the busty stakes as she sported a deeply plunging floral maxi dress

Weighing in: Chloe was hitting headlines earlier in the day when she weighed in on her co-star James Lock's (pictured) treatment of women following an explosive episode in which her was seen to scream at his girlfriend Yazmin Oukhellou and her pals

Furious: After the scenes aired, fans called for the hunk to be fired from the show alongside Myles Barnett (pictured), who branded his girlfriend a 'f**king s**g' after he discovered she had been speaking to new boy Jordan Wright

After the scenes aired, fans called for the hunk to be fired from the show alongside Myles Barnett, who branded his girlfriend a 'f**king s**g' after he discovered she had been speaking to new boy Jordan Wright.

Weighing in on James' row, she said: 'Lockie's argument with the girls on the show caused a stir. I was close to him when he was with Danielle Armstrong and I was with Elliot Wright, so I know what he's like.

'He has a way with words and, if you don't know him, you'll get offended. He's been a much better boyfriend to Yaz than he was to Danielle.'Amy Schumer gave fans a good look at her diamond ring and wedding band from husband Chris Fischer when she stopped by a talk show in Miami on Wednesday.

The blonde beauty nicely displayed the one carat rock as she wore a lovely pink suit.

The looker, 36, has been promoting her new comedy I Feel Pretty where she plays an average woman who believes she has transformed into a knockout after falling off her bicycle in a spin class.

There it is: Amy Schumer gave fans a good look at her diamond ring from husband Chris Fischer when she stopped by a talk show in Miami on Wednesday

The blonde beauty nicely displayed the one carat rock

The beauty looked absolutely radiant as she wore a pink tank top and skirt with a smart blazer.

The cover girl had her blonde locks swept up in a ponytail and wore flattering pink makeup with long black lashes.

The engagement ring - which had a one carat center stone and smaller diamonds on the band - shone nicely on her left had and she seemed very proud to be wearing it now that she is Mrs Fischer.

And the red carpet darling also appeared to have a thin wedding band next to it.

Sitting pretty: The beauty looked absolutely radiant as she wore a pink tank top and skirt with a smart blazer

Amy was very generous with her wedding photos after she said 'I do' in Malibu in mid February.

The A-list star shared to Instagram several lovely portraits with her chef husband as they posed outdoors by the Pacific Ocean.

Also at the wedding were Jennifer Lawrence and Chelsea Handler.

Class act: The cover girl had her blonde locks swept up in a ponytail and wore flattering pink colored makeup with long black lashes; she also held into yellow roses

On Sunday Amy told Stellar Magazine the couple knew 'really quickly' they were right for each other, hitting back at critics of their whirlwind six-month courtship.

'I was never really interested in getting married,' the Trainwreck actress spilled.

'But then we met [in May] and I wanted to be partnered with this guy.'

It's been previously reported the couple started dating in January and were married in February, however, Amy has said they actually started dating in September.

Cute heels: Schumer had on Perspex heels like the kind Kim Kardashian wears

'I know it's not that much longer but it's not just two months.'

The pair tied the knot in Malibu, California last month in an intimate ceremony attended by family and friends.

The Snatched actress wore a pretty white dress and he had on a dark suit.

He is it! Schumer has revealed the moment she knew her new husband was the oneHe found fame after his mugshot went viral.

And former convict Jeremy Meeks recreated the iconic shot in a Caroline Lemke eyewear campaign with Bar Refaeli.

The 34-year-old model, widely known as the Hot Felon paid homage to his past life as he starred in the Most Wanted campaign.

Controversial campaign: Former convict Jeremy Meeks plays a fugitive in a Caroline Lemke eyewear campaign with Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli

Jeremy was no doubt aware of the irony of the mocked up poster with Bar, in which they were described as 'armed and dangerous', as he was previously charged with five felony weapons charges and described as 'one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area'.

In more stills from the campaign, Jeremy showed off his gym-honed physique by going shirtless for raunchy shots with Bar.

Meanwhile, Israeli model Bar also sizzled in the campaign, stripping down to just a small T-shirt and briefs.

Look familiar? He found fame after his mugshot went viral. And former convict Jeremy recreated the iconic shot for the eyewear campaign

Most Wanted: Jeremy was no doubt aware of the irony of the mocked up poster with Bar, in which they were described as 'armed and dangerous'

Father-of-one Jeremy was arrested on June 18, 2014, according to ABC News. Police allegedly busted him with a gun, ammunition and marijuana inside his vehicle.

Jeremy was charged with five felony weapons charges and one gang charge.

A judge sentenced Jeremy, who was called 'one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area', to 27-months in prison.

Stripping off: In more stills from the campaign, Jeremy showed off his gym-honed physique by going shirtless for raunchy shots with Bar

Flashing the flesh:Meanwhile, Israeli model Bar also sizzled in the campaign, stripping down to just a small T-shirt and briefs

Raunchy: In the stills the half naked couple were seen writhing around picking sunglasses

Looking good: Jeremy showed off his handsome good looks as he starred in the clip

That wasn't his first stint behind bars, however. KTXL-TV reported that the hot felon was convicted of forgery in 2007 and theft two years before that. In total, he served less than 75 days for both crimes.

The Smoking Gun reported that Jeremy was arrested for identity theft in 2005 as well.

The website also noted that between 2005 and 2007, Jeremy was listed as a defendant in Spokane, Washington, courts on five separate occasions.

In 2002 he's said to have served two years in prison for grand theft of a person.

Topping up his tan: Jeremy was seen showing off his gym-honed physique whilst sunbathing in pair of small black swimming trunks

Water wonderful sight! Bar donned a skimpy one shouldered swimsuit as she jumped out of the pool

Most Wanted: The tagline no doubt raised some eyebrows among fans of the brand

Sultry: The duo made for a very handsome couple as they posed together in a swimming pool

Glamorous: The shots certainly would draw the eye of a passer-by

However, the star has since turned his life around, signing a modelling contract whilst still behind bars after his mugshot went viral.

He is now said to be expecting a child with girlfriend Chloe Green, the daughter of Topshop heiress, Phillip.

While the couple have stayed silent on the baby news, multiple sources have confirmed the controversial pair's happy news to US Weekly.

Billionaire Chloe, 27, and Jeremy's romance first emerged last summer when pictures emerged of them locking lips on a yacht in Bodrum, Turkey - despite Meeks still being legally married to his now estranged wife, Melissa Meeks.Offspring left fans hanging with the open ending on the drama-filled life of Nina Proudman, last year.

And Asher Keddie has revealed the Network Ten series may not be returning to screens for an eighth season.

'The truth is I haven't had a single conversation about it (continuing Offspring) since we finished shooting back in May/June last year,' the 43-year-old actress told the Herald Sun.

Is this the end of Nina Proudman? Asher Keddie says Network Ten drama Offspring may not return for an eighth season amid rumours the drama has been axed

The show centered on the life of 30-something-year-old obstetrician Nina Proudman and her dysfunctional family.

Meanwhile, rumours have been swirling that the show has been axed altogether since Channel Ten confirmed that the network is undecided on whether the show will be renewed for an eighth season.

Since filming for Offspring has wrapped, Asher has been working on BBC-ABC co-production called The Cry, a drama-thriller set in Australia and the UK.

Is it done? The show centered on the life of 30-something-year-old obstetrician Nina Proudman and her dysfunctional family (pictured with co-stars Kat Stewart, left, and Isabella Monaghan, bottom)

New roles: Since filming wrapped, Asher has been working on BBC-ABC co-production called The Cry, a drama-thriller set in Australia and the UK (pictured with Offspring co-star Alexander England, left)

She is set to fly out to the UK to complete filming her scenes for the series.

'For me, I'm probably living in the moment and grasping the opportunities and opening doors more than I ever have,' she said about her latest role.

Aside from her major international project Asher, who is married to artist Vincent Fantauzzo, has also starred in 2017 Australian made film Swinging Safari, alongside Jeremy Sims, Guy Pearce and Kylie Minogue.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Network Ten for comment.

More projects: Aside from her major international project Asher has also starred in 2017 Australian made film Swinging Safari, alongside Jeremy Sims (right), Guy Pearce and Kylie Minogue

In the past, the Offspring star said that she was happy for the drama to come to a natural end after seven successful seasons.

'There are different possibilities if we were to go again but I also feel like all the siblings in particular have gotten to quite a solid place in their emotional lives,' she told The Sunday Telegraph.

'It is quite satisfying at the end. There is a lovely note of ambiguity,' she added.He is one of Hollywood's most fashionable men.

And on April 10, John Hamm will grace the cover of Esquire's bi-annual style manual, The Big Black Book.

In the issue, the 47-year-old actor discussed reinventing himself and the points along the way that changed his character, including the infamous 1991 hazing incident that continues to follow him.

Talking his past: Jon Hamm, 47, of Mad Men touches on being charged with assault after hazing incident at Texas college as he was interviewed by Esquire

On the cover: The actor took the cover of f Esquire 's bi-annual style manual, The Big Black Book

As a sophomore at University of Texas at Austin, Hamm and other fraternity members were charged with assault, stemming from a hazing incident.

Star reported back in 2015 that The Made Men star allegedly 'hit a pledge with a wooden paddle more than 30 times' and 'hooked the claw of a hammer underneath his [the pledge's] genitals and led him by the hammer around the room.'

The actor discussed the event in an interview with Maximillian Potter, printed in the forthcoming Esquire issue: 'I wouldn't say it's accurate. Everything about that is sensationalized,' he explained.

Opening up: The issue also sheds light on a bit of Hamm's tragic early life, including the loss of his mother to cancer at the age of 10

Seen at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in March

'I was accused of these things I don't... It's so hard to get into it. I don't want to give it any more breath.

'It was a bummer of a thing that happened. I was essentially acquitted. I wasn't convicted of anything.

'I was caught up in a big situation, a stupid kid in a stupid situation, and it's a f**king bummer. I moved on from it.'

Later that year, Hamm's father passed away from complications associated with diabetes.

'My dad was sick. He ended up dying in the middle of all of this and I had to rally my own mental health and become a better person because of it,' he told the magazine.

'I'm happy that I became a better person. Everyone goes through a weirdness as a young person, especially in college, when you're trying to figure things out.'

His big show: Hamm as Don Draper, Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris, Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell, Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson and John Slattery as Roger Sterling

The actor never returned to the university.

The issue also sheds light on a bit of Hamm's tragic early life. He lost his mother to cancer at the age of 10.

'She died so fast,' he explained in the interview.

'Colon cancer that spread to her liver, stomach; it was unchecked, and it was invasive, and it was aggressive, and it was fatal.'He's the comedian known for his role on the iconic improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is it Anyway?

And soon, Wayne Brady will be bringing his trademark brand of top-notch humour Down Under for his Brady AF! comedy tour.

According to the Herald-Sun, the 45-year-old will hit Australian shores in June.

Bringing the laughs! American comedian Wayne Brady headed to Australia in June for Brady AF! tour

The comedian will perform nine shows in total, visiting New South Wales cities such as Wollongong and Sydney as well as Canberra, ACT.

Other states won't miss out, with the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth all on the agenda.

Wayne is well known in the comedy scene and counts the likes of heavyweights Drew Carey and Dave Chappelle in his friendship circle.

Multi-talented: As well as his comedy career, Wayne also acts and performs in theatre productions

He has also doesn't just perform stand-up and improvisation, with star acting on-screen and as well trying his hand at theatre.

Last month, Wayne temporarily reprised his role as drag queen Lola in famous Broadway musical Kinky Boots.

His gig kicked off on March 5, with his final performance in the limited run scheduled for April 26.

Down Under trip: The comedian will perform nine shows in total, including in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria

'To say that Im thrilled to step back into Lolas fabulous shoes would be the understatement of the century!' Wayne previously told Deadline.

'Lola is a role of a lifetime for an actor, a true tour de force. In this current political and social climate, we need more people to see characters like Lola unafraid to speak her mind and unabashedly true to herself,' he said.

'I cant wait to join Jake Shears and Kirstin Maldonado onstage with the rest of the Kinky Boots family.'You certainly haven't seen the last of Great British Bake Off Season seven winner Candice Brown.

While Channel 4 hasn't confirmed that the show will be getting an all-star spin-off, bringing back previous winners and fan favorites to compete again, Candice has confirmed that she wouldn't pass on the opportunity.

Speaking with Express.co.uk, she said: 'I loved being in the tent. I loved Bake Off so much so the opportunity to go back would probably be too good to turn down.

Candice Brown has confirmed that she wouldn't pass up Great British Bake Off All-Stars edition

'Oh gosh, I would panic even before I went in the tent.'

Candice continued: 'It would certainly be entertaining, that's for sure. I'm not sure my nerves could handle it though.'

Despite her success, Candice - formerly a physical education teacher in Bedfordshire, England - told Express she's not the best baker to make it through the tent.

'The self-doubt would creep in because I still compare myself,' she said.

'I'm still like, "Oh God, I could never do something like that", or, "I'm nowhere near as good as so and so".'

Great British Bake Off fans have been calling for a Great British Bake Off All-Star show since the announcement that Sophie Faldo won season eight. After getting over the shock of Prue Leith's accidental early reveal, many viewers expressed disappointment over the judges' decision.

Liam Charles, who had been eliminated by the final, was the favorite among fans to win the Great British Bake Off cake stand.

Whether the show happens or doesn't, you're sure to see a lot more of Candice following her Great British Bake Off win. Find out what she's been up to.

Candice Brown Fiance

Candice Brown is currently engaged to longtime boyfriend Liam Macaulay. She's been living with the 31-year-old in Bedfordshire.

He popped the question in October 2017. Candice told Hello Magazine her beau got down on one knee in a parking lot.

Before Liam and Candice got together he served more than one year behind bars for selling marijuana. The Sun reported that he and another person were arrested with $9,853 (7,000) worth of drugs on them while driving from Edinburgh to Inverness in 2009.

Candice Brown net worth

It's unclear exactly what Candice Brown's net worth is following her Great British Bake Off win and the success that's followed. We do know, however, that she's no longer teaching PE to secondary school students and that it was once projected that she could make up to $1.4 million (1 million) in her first year after winning the show.

Candice Brown book

Candice Brown appeared on Loose Women to discuss her first cook book titled, 'Comfort: Delicious Bakes and Family Treats'. It's unclear how many copies the book sold, but it's received high marks on Amazon U.K.

Happy Burns night Scottish ones!!!! For my Scottish love I made these- 'tottie' scones- misheard him for years  Taken from my book Comfort- enjoy  #burnsnight #comfort #mishearingscottish pic.twitter.com/oftTe0keIH  Candice Brown (@CandiceBrown) January 25, 2018

How old is Candice Brown?

Candice Brown is currently 33 years old. She was born on December 21, 1984.

My fave series of Bake Off is on Netflix, dream bank hol  (also really appreciating @CandiceBrowns iconic facial expressions here ) pic.twitter.com/jtb7Ozsmxz  katie (@Kaaaaatie_x) April 2, 2018

Candice Brown and Paul Hollywood

Rumors began swirling about the nature of Candice Brown and Paul Hollywood's relationship after the pair were seen sharing a kiss during the Pride of Britain Awards.

The Great British Bake Off winner and co-host sipped on champagne and spent the entire event close to one another. They insisted afterward that nothing was going on, laughing off the entire situation.

Candice reacted on Twitter, writing: 'No kisses or hugs hello or goodbye from now on  handshakes or waves only!'

'Incredible...!' Paul replied, adding a laughing emoji.

Paul and his wife, Alexandra Hollywood, later announced their decision to separate. Paul has had a history of infidelity, though it's unclear whether that was a contributing factor.

Great British Bake Off winners

Great British Bake Off has been on for eight seasons, beginning in 2010. For the first four, the show aired on BBC Two, the next three seasons it aired on BBC One and then, most recently, it moved to Channel 4.

The first ever winner was Edd Kimber. The runners up that season were Miranda Gore Browne and Ruth Clemens.

Joanne Wheatley won Great British Bake Off Season two with Holly Bell and Mary-Ann Boermans not far behind.

Season three of the baking competition series was won by John Whaite, with Brendan Lynch and James Morton coming in as runners-up.

Frances Quinn won Great British Bake Off Season four. Kimberly Wilson and Ruby Tandoh were dubbed that season's runners-up.

Nancy Birtwhistle was crowned star baker in the Great British Bake Off Season five finale. Luis Troyano and Richard Burr came in second and third places.

Nadiya Hussain, who's gone on to host the Great Family Cooking Show and release a cook book of her own, won Great British Bake Off in season six. Ian Cumming and Tamal Ray were the runners-up.

Candice Brown won Great British Bake Off with Andrew Smyth and Jane Beedle being named runners-up in Season seven.

Sophie Faldo was crowned star baker in season eight of Great British Bake Off. The announcement was accidentally made hours before the show aired by co-host Prue Leith.

Kate Lyon and Steven Carter-Bailey were the runners-up of that season.

Celebrity Great British Bake Off

The Great Celebrity Bake Off is a spin-off of the Great British Bake Off in which four different celebrities compete in each episode. This season, the celebrities competed for Stand Up To Cancer, an organization that raises money for cancer research and clinical trials.

Teri Hatcher was the winner of episode five. The actress is the first American to compete on the show, let alone win it.She was mistaken for 'Lenora' by Blake Colman during the rose ceremony on Bachelor In Paradise.

But looks as though Laurina Fleure has recovered well from the humiliation, having posed up a storm for a sultry Instagram snap on Wednesday.

Taking to her popular page, the 34-year-old former model shared a picture of her self showing off her smooth visage and plump, pink pout.

Turning up the glam! Laurina Fleure is recovering well from the humiliation by posting a glammed up snap on Instagram, on Wednesday

She proudly modelled a white tank top that featured a sweetheart neckline, while accessorising her look with a black-and-white star printed scarf.

For makeup, she opted for strong brows, lashings of mascara, dramatic kohl-rimmed eyes and lightly flushed cheeks.

Her hair was styled in luscious loose waves that cascaded down her shoulders.

Whoops: Laurina was mistaken for 'Lenora' by Blake Colman during the rose ceremony on Bachelor In Paradise

Fans loved her display included one clearly mesmerized by her look, who wrote: 'The most beautiful eyes.'

While another joked: 'Looking good Lenora!!!'

It comes after Bachelor In Paradise co-star Jake Ellis recentlyNews.com.au that Blake was with a flu that going around on set.

'To back Blake up, he was very crook at that rose ceremony,' Jake told the publication.

'He was very sick at the time and wasn't feeling the best': Jake Ellis told Now To Love that Blake was feeling 'sick' during filming - but the whole cast found the incident funny

'He literally just got out of bed to walk in and give that rose. We all had a bit of a flu going around, and he was a bit delirious.'

During the Rose Ceremony, Blake turned to ask Laurina if she would accept his rose, but mistakenly called her 'Lenora'.

'I appreciate that he got my name wrong because it made it a lot easier to decide that... we're done!' Laurina said.

Bachelor In Paradise continues Sunday at 7:30pm on Network TenShe is back to the sunshine after her brief break away in the UK.

And Natalie Roser looked sizzling hot as she showcased her model-honed figure in a luminous bikini on the golden sands of Bondi Beach, Sydney.

The blonde bombshell, 27, displayed her washboard abs in the high-cut neon bikini, which really caught the eye with its bright colour.

Natalie Roser flaunts her washboard abs in tiny neon green two-piece as she prepares to ride the waves on surfboard

Putting her sun-kissed skin on display, the model also showcased her ample cleavage and leggy frame in the tiny two-piece.

The Miss Universe Australia finalist wore her golden tresses in beachy waves which perfectly framed her face, which she enhanced with natural make-up.

Natalie penned in the post, 'Struggling with the decision between enjoying the ocean or keeping my hair clean.'

She's back: The model returned to Australia in time for Easter after her getaway to escape to cooler climes in the UK with her boyfriend Harley Breen

Natalie returned to Australia in time for Easter after her getaway to escape to cooler climes in the UK with her boyfriend Harley Breen.

She also recently enjoyed a sun-drenched holiday to Fiji where she worked on several bikini modelling shoots.

However, Natalie took to social media to warn her fans about getting sunburnt when she posed up a storm in Fiji.

Quite the jetsetter! The Miss Universe Australia finalist also recently enjoyed a sun-drenched holiday to Fiji where she worked on several bikini modelling shoots

She wrote: 'All tanned and bronzed in Fiji and now Im peeling like a reptile... dont forget your sunscreen kids.'

The blonde bombshell currently lives in Melbourne with her Neighbours actor beau and the couple have been going strong since they started dating in early 2017.

She previously lived in Sydney when she was engaged to personal trainer Dan Adair until late 2016.She has been public enemy number one since revealing that her 'death' was a farce.

And now EastEnders fans are fearing that Kat Slater could be killed off just weeks after returning to the soap, as she is bombarded by mysterious phone calls.

The BBC favourite - played by Jessie Wallace - was left shaken on Tuesday night after she received several anonymous calls, with some fans wondering whether she could be targeted by her killer son Dermot Dolan.

In danger: EastEnders fans have been fearing that Kat Slater could be killed off in the coming weeks, as she was bombarded by mysterious phone calls

Kat's fortunes have been going from bad to worse since she arrived back in Walford, as she became the most hated woman on the Square after Mo Harris (Laila Morse) attempted to fake her death.

As the Slaters hit dire financial straits, Kat decided to set up a cleaning business, handing out flyers and offering her services to people all over the Square.

Unfortunately it seems the residents were not willing to forgive and forget so easily, throwing Kat's flyers back in her face and rejecting her business offers.

Later in the show, fans saw the typically tough Slater receive several mystery phone calls, with static noise preventing her from identifying the voice at the other end of the line.

No chance: Despite best efforts, Kat did little to build bridges with Albert Square residents after last month's death hoax, with her cleaning business offers rejected

At odds: Since returning to the Square, Kat has struggled to build bridges with the Albert Square residents, getting into another fight with Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley) on Tuesday

To add even more to her woes, Kat then received an envelope full of her torn up flyers, indicating that Albert Square residents were far from forgiveness.

Following her sinister calls fans began to worry that Kat could be danger, with several assuming that son Dermott had returned to exact his revenge on her.

One tweeted: 'When's Dermott headed to the Square to continue his rampage?' while another added: 'Would it be great if they brought a few of them into EastEnders from Redwater?'

Worried: Several EastEnders fans feared Kat could be in danger, after she was bombarded by the anonymous calls

Back for more? Several worried that it could be the return of Kat's killer son Dermott Dolan (Oisin Stack) who last appeared in the spin-off Kat and Alfie: Redwater

Fans last saw Irish vicar Dermot (played by Oisin Stack) in the spin-off miniseries Kat And Alfie: Redwater which ended on a nail-biting cliffhanger.

As Alfie flat-lined during his brain tumour operation, Kat was hurled into the sea after Dermott crashed their boat, leaving an ambiguity over whether he was responsible for the murder of Lance Byrne (Ian McElhinney).

Yet despite their theories, other fans guessed that the caller could be Kat's husband Alfie Moon, who disappeared in between Redwater and Kat's return to EastEnders.

While Mo previously said that Alfie (Shane Richie) fled Ireland with their children, but whether this is true remains to be seen.

Rumours have circulated that Alfie could make an unexpected return to the Square very soon, but it appears fans will have to wait and see.

EastEnders continues on Thursday 5th April at 7:30pm on BBC One.She's not young Sally Draper anymore.

On Wednesday, Mad Men vet Kiernan Shipka stepped out on a Vancouver set in what is the first look of the main character in Netflix's Sabrina The Teenage Witch reboot.

The 18-year-old actress, who plays half-witch half-mortal Sabrina Spellman, looked magical in a red pea coat and shoulder bag.

Sneak peek: Kiernan Shipka was spotted in the first look of the actress playing the half-mortal half-witch, Sabrina Spelling, in Netflix's Sabrina The Teenage Witch reboot on Wednesday

Hand in hand with her character's love interest, Harvey Kinkle, the blonde rocked black leggings and a turtleneck under her bright ensemble.

The Mad Men star also donned a burgundy skirt and slip-on loafers, while channeling her inner Sabrina with a black headband in her hair.

The cameras were rolling as the 'dreamer' son of a coalminer, played by Ross Lynch, strolled alongside his on-screen love.

Fan favorites: Kiernan was joined by her character's love interest Harvey Kinkle, who is played by Ross Lynch, on the Vancouver set

The actor was dressed warmly in a jean button-up jacket with fur lining and grey jeans.

With the two characters still in high school, Ross sported a tan backpack and topped his look off with lace-up boots.

The new show based off the popular Nickelodeon series will be called Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina.

A new twist: Unlike its' predecessor, the Sabrina reboot will take on a darker coming-of-age story that features horror, the supernatural, and of course, witchcraft

The story of the magical heroine stems from Archie Comics, just like its' sister show Riverdale, which airs on the CW.

But unlike its' predecessor, the Sabrina reboot will take on a darker coming-of-age story that features horror, the supernatural, and of course, witchcraft.

Described by Netflix, Sabrina is an, 'empowered young woman, half-human, half-witch. Sabrina is just beginning her dark education as a sorceress, even as she tries to maintain a normal life as a sophomore at Baxter High.'

From the source: The story of the magical heroine stems from Archie Comics, just like its' sister show Riverdale, which airs on the CW

The streaming service has ordered 20 episodes, which is two seasons of the one-hour drama from Riverdale creator and Archie Comics CCO Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

But Archie's fan should't expect a crossover anytime soon.

Riverdale executive producer Jon Goldwater told TVLine, 'Right now, we're not thinking about that.'

In the works: Fans shouldn't expect a Sabrina and Riverdale crossover soon, but executive producers haven't ruled it out completely; Riverdale's Charles Melton (L, Reggie) and Casey Cott and Sabrina's Adeline Rudolph (2-L, Agatha) and Tati Gabrielle (R, Prudence)

He explained that he 'would love it if they could figure out a way to cross over,' but with Riverdale airing on the CW and Sabrina on Netflix, the task would get tricky.

But he's not ruling it out completely. Sabrina and Riverdale's main character Archie have met in the comics, and with the CW show's creator writing the Netflix series, anything is possible.

'Roberto is brilliant at figuring out when to put in what characters, so he has the whole library to choose from. So whatever he feels is the right time and the right moment, Im totally good with it,' said Goldwater.

Co-starring... Miranda Otto will portray Sabrina's stern 500-year-old Aunt Zelda in the two seasons of the Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina

Room with a view: Sabrina's sweeter, potion-brewing Aunt Hilda is played by Lucy Davis, who posted a view from her trailer last month

As for the Chilling Adventures' cast, Miranda Otto will portray Sabrina's stern 500-year-old Aunt Zelda and Bronson Pinchot as Baxter High principal George Hawthorne.

As for Sabrina's sweeter, potion-brewing Aunt Hilda, Lucy Davis shared a snap from the comfort of her trailer last month as well as her Cocker Spaniel Gracie.

But according to The Hollywood Reporter, fans of the original T.GI.F series shouldn't expect to see a cameo from Melissa Joan Hart, who's reportedly in 'early discussions' to reprise her role in Nickelodeon's reboot of Clarissa Explains It All.Cannes Film Festival has announced that they will be banning selfies from the red carpet in 2018 and those that go against this rule will not be let in.

The French film festival that welcomes a multitude of stars and visitors from around the world has taken this decision because the General Delegate Thierry Fremaux has deemed selfies grotesque.

Festival-goers have been known to take selfies while climbing the esteemed stairs to the French Riviera venue, which Fremaux said results in everything becoming disorganised.

On the red carpet, the trivial aspect and the slowing down provoked by the disorder which these selfies create tarnishes the quality of [the red carpet experience] and of the festival as a whole, Thierry Fremaux said.

Nicolas Winding Refn and actress Elle Fanning pose for a selfie at the 69th Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival 2018 dates

In 2018, Cannes Film Festival will be held from Tuesday, May 8 to Saturday, May 19 2018.

What is Cannes Film Festival?

Cannes Film Festival, or Festival de Cannes, is an annual event held in the French Riviera that provides previews of new films from around the world and is usually held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres.

In 2017, the festival celebrated its 70th anniversary and The Square, directed by Ruben Ostlund, won the top prize, the Palme dOr.

Strange arbitrary rules are not a new thing for the festival as a group of women were reportedly turned away from a premiere of Carol in 2015 for not wearing high heels.

Cannes Film Festival's Netflix ban

As well as banning selfies on the red carpet, festival head Thierry Fremaux has responded to the worldwide backlash that erupted after Bong Joon-hos Okja and Noah Baumbachs The Meyerowitz Stories were both allowed in the competition.

While filmmakers and unions condemned the move, the festival changed the rules for 2018 but they didnt apply in time for screenings of the two films in May 2017. Neither film received awards.

Last year, when we selected these two films, I thought I could convince Netflix to release them in cinemas. I was presumptuous, they refused, Thierry said.

The new rules state that for Netflix releases to be included, they must also be released in theatres in France. The Netflix people loved the red carpet and would like to be present with other films. But they understand that the intransigence of their own model is now the opposite of ours.

We have to take into account the existence of these powerful new players: Amazon, Netflix and maybe soon Apple. Well defend the image of a risk-prone festival, questioning the cinema, and we must be at the table every year.

Thierry Fremaux went on to say that while technology companies are enabling directors to make big budget films, cinema is still cinema. Cinema [still] triumphs everywhere even in this golden age of series. The history of cinema and the history of the internet are two different things.American Crime Story will not feature the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky sex scandal.

Ryan Murphy has confirmed he has halted plans to center his anthology series around the former president's affair with his intern.

The producer told The Hollywood Reporter he'd had second thoughts after realizing it would be 'gross' if he did it without her involvement.

Axed: American Crime Story will NOT feature the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky sex scandal

However he reveled to the magazine  and to Lewinsky herself  that he would shoot the story if she came on board as a producer.

'I told her, "Nobody should tell your story but you, and it's kind of gross if they do,"' he said, after running into the now-44-year-old at a party in Hollywood.

However he also told her: 'If you want to produce it with me, I would love that; but you should be the producer and you should make all the goddamn money.'

It was revealed last year that Murphy had optioned Jeffrey Toobin's bestselling book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President.

Second thoughts: Ryan Murphy has confirmed he has halted plans to center his anthology series around the former president's affair with his intern, admitting it would be 'gross' if he did it without her

Deal? However he told her at a Hollywood party: 'If you want to produce it with me, I would love that; but you should be the producer and you should make all the goddamn money.' (Pictured March 4)

The book tells that tale of Clinton's mid-90s affair with his young intern; and Linda Tripp, the woman who revealed the details of the pair's intimate indiscretions to the world.

The scandal grew so big at the time that it almost led to Clinton being impeached from office.

Season one of the acclaimed ACS dealt with The People Vs OJ Simpson.

The second season, The Assassination Of Gianni Versace, detailed the murder spree of serial killer Andrew Cunanan.

Hit: Season one of the acclaimed ACS dealt with The People Vs OJ Simpson (Sterling K. Brown as Christopher Darden and Cuba Gooding Jr as O. J. Simpson pictured)

Follow up: The second season, The Assassination Of Gianni Versace, detailed the murder spree of serial killer Andrew Cunanan (Edgar Ramirez and Gianni and Penelope Cruz as his sister Donatella, pictured)

Originally the second season was meant to center on 2005's Hurricane Katrina, but was postponed.

Murphy also revealed to THR he is casting Joan Collins in the next season of American Horror Story, and is interested in casting Anjelica Huston as well.

The team are currently working on ideas for future American Crime Story subjects, as well as for Feud, besides the Bette Davis and Joan Crawford inagural season that ran last year, and the Charles and Diana follow-up already announced.

'I'm still working on it,' he said. 'And I don't want to do anything unless I'm 100 per cent sure.'

Legends: Murphy also revealed to THR he is casting Joan Collins in the next season of American Horror Story, and is interested in casting Anjelica Huston as wellThe years-long war between Minnie Driver and her neighbor, regarding their shared property border, has finally come to an end.

The actress and her neighbor Daniel Perelmutter have agreed on a settlement in the dispute, according to legal documents seen by TMZ.

Details of the settlement have not been revealed in the papers but sources connected to both parties told the website that 'money did change hands'.

Long time coming: Minnie Driver has reached a settlement with her neighbor in their years-long and very ugly driveway dispute

The case was due to go to a three-week trial this month and the duo had been criticized for letting it escalate so far.

A Los Angeles judge took a swipe at the duo just weeks ago for allowing their petty dispute go to a jury trial.

The trial was going to last several weeks, involve at least eight witnesses and a half dozen high-priced lawyers.

LA Superior Court Judge Rita Miller expressed her 'disappointment' in court Thursday that Driver, 48, and her 76 year-old Hollywood Hills neighbor couldn't settle their differences out of court.

She said: 'These neighbor disputes are so unpleasant because people get so personally involved.'

Peering over her glasses at the six attorneys who showed up for a pre-trial hearing, she added: 'The jury is going to say, "All these lawyers - they're making a Federal case out of this."

Face-off: Daniel Perelmutter and Minnie Driver share a driveway between their Hollywood Hills, California, properties but are have long been at odds

In contention: The driveway which the case revolved around is between their two homes and also shared with two other neighbors who are also suing Perelmutter

And with a chuckle, the judge joked, 'The heart of this case is who's richer than who, I guess.'

But Judge Miller urged all the lawyers in court to 'stick to facts and not legal terms' to make it simple for the jury at trial, which was scheduled for April 9.

The vicious feud between the British actress and Perelmutter had been raging for more than three years.

Last year Driver won a major court victory when he was found guilty of contempt for narrowing the driveway to build a wall.

But when he lost that case, grandfather-of-seven Perelmutter brought a fresh suit against Driver.

Disputed: Perelmutter was found guilty of contempt in November 2016 for reducing the width of the driveway from 20 to 14 feet in order to make room to build a wall around his new house

He accused the 'Speechless' actress of 'outrageous and malicious' behavior, screaming insults and obscenities at him, driving at him in her car, causing $20,000 worth of damage to his property and threatening to have his construction workers 'deported.'

And the army veteran and heart transplant survivor claimed that after winning her lawsuit against him last year, he videotaped Driver 'gloating. telling him that she was so glad he got 'f***ed', and wishing that he lose everything as a result.'

When Driver first bought her three-bedroom home on Woodrow Wilson Drive - for just under $2.5 million - in September 2014, relations between her and next door neighbor Perelmutter were 'cordial,' he says in court documents.

He even said yes when she asked if she could install a gate across their shared driveway 'to keep out the paparazzi.'

But 'trouble began almost immediately' in December 2014 when he started building an ultra-modern home on his property bordering that shared driveway.

Things went down hill from there.

Who's going to pay for the wall? Perelmutter's decision to build underlies the three-week long jury trial which has now been averted

Perelmutter claimed that Driver trespassed on and damaged his property, engaged in a 'campaign of harassment' against him in protest against a house he was building next door, and 'intentionally inflicted emotional distress' on him

At one point during the years-long feud, Perelmutter accused Driver of vandalizing the wall by throwing baby food jars filled with black paint at it

The long running court battle began when Driver - accusing Perelmutter of, among many other things, frightening her and her son, Henry, now nine - took out a restraining order against him in 2015.

When that failed to end the feud, Driver went to Los Angeles Superior Court again in November 2016.

And this time she won. Perelmutter was found guilty of contempt for reducing the width of the driveway from 20 to 14 feet in order to make room to build a wall around his new house.

At a sentencing hearing two months later, LA Superior Court Judge Mark Borenstein ordered Perelmutter to move the offending wall - or go to jail. And he was also fined $1,000, ordered to do 10 hours of community service and pay Driver's $200,000-plus attorney fees.

To avoid ending up behind bars, Perelmutter reluctantly knocked down the wall and rebuilt it six feet closer to his house, widening the driveway he shares with Driver back to it's original 20 feet.

But even at his January 2017 sentencing hearing - Perelmutter, who walks around with a crooked driftwood cane, continued to lash out at Driver, saying that she 'perjured herself in every way with her testimony of complete lies,' putting on a 'performance worthy of an Oscar winner.'She is set to tie the knot with fiance Alex Bowen later this year.

And Olivia Buckland looked right at home in all-white on Wednesday night, as she joined fellow Love Island beauty Georgia Harrison at James Ingham's Jog-On to Cancer event at London's Cafe De Paris.

The 24-year-old showed off her ample cleavage in a plunging thigh-split dress, while Georgia, 23, highlighted her slim physique in a black floral-printed jumpsuit.

Gorgeous: Olivia Buckland, 24, and Georgia Harrison, 23, put on a glamorous display on Wednesday as they led the arrivals for James Ingham's Jog-On To Cancer charity event

Olivia looked as glamorous as ever upon her arrival on the arm of fiance Alex, showing off her curves in the white wrap dress with matching strapped heels.

The blonde beauty kept her tresses styled into a lightly waved bob with a statement lip as she arrived for the star-studded bash.

Finishing her look with a nude quilted clutch, Olivia kept her sparkling engagement ring on full display as she entered the fundraising event.

Beaming: Olivia looked happier than ever as she joined fiance Alex Bowen for the charity event, showing off her amply cleavage in a plunging white dress

Jaw-dropping: The Love Island beauty flaunted her curves in the white wrap dress with strapped nude heels and a matching quilted clutch

Loved-up: Joining her at the event was fiance Alex Bowen, and the couple were the picture of engagement bliss ahead of their lavish wedding later this year

Cute twosome: Inside the venue, the duo were pictured getting cosy

Cosy: Alex and Olivia met on ITV2's Love Island in 2016, and have been engaged for a little over a year

United: The happy pair made their arrival for the star-studded charity event, with Alex going for a simple all-black look

Cute: The couple could barely keep their hands off each other as they headed into the event

Hollywood chic: Olivia's white frock seemed to mimic that worn by the iconic 1950s actress Marilyn Monroe in the film The Seven Year Itch

Olivia's stunning appearance comes after she hit back at cruel trolls who labelled her bikini-body 'fat' after pictures emerged of her flaunting her stunning size eight figure in an array of colourful bikinis during her idyllic break in Barbados last week.

'I don't mind paps taking pictures of me when I'm on holiday, but I do mind some of the vile comments people make under them when they're posted online,' she wrote in her New Magazine column.

'Around 95 per cent of trolls said I was fat and had cellulite, which worries me because comments like that might affect other girls who could think, "I have cellulite too, that must mean I'm disgusting as well".

'Websites often describe me as a curvy girl as if it's a bad thing, I like being curvy because it means that I'm happy.'

Slim: Essex-born beauty Georgia showed off her trim physique in a black floral jumpsuit as she joined the arrivals for the charity event

Slim: The Love Island 2017 star teamed her classic look with simple nude heels and a metal keyhole clutch bag

Meanwhile Love Island beauty Georgia has just returned from a sun-soaked trip to Cape Verde.

The beauty had her tanned complexion on full display as she sported a strapped black floral jumpsuit with her blonde hair in a half-up half-down style.

The Essex-born star sported a simple bronze smoky eye and glossy nude lip as she made her way into the fundraising event.

Beautiful: Georgia kept her blonde tresses in a lightly waved half-up half-down do, accentuating her tanned complexion with a simple bronzed smoky eye

Mind the traffic! Georgia posed up a storm as she highlighted her amazing figure in the revealing jumpsuit

Georgia is no stranger to showing off her figure in stylish ensembles, having risen to prominence on Love Island in June.

Georgia caused chaos when she entered the villa by choosing to couple up with Kem Cetinay - who had just asked Amber Davies to be his girlfriend.

Yet she soon became a favourite on the show after the drama died down thanks to her cheeky fling with Sam Gowland, who she split from in August.

Doing well: Georgia won an army of fans during her appearance on Love Island last summer, striking up a short-lived romance with Sam Gowland - from who she split in August

Summer-ready: The gorgeous star looked ready to jump head-first into the warmer climates in her revealing looks

Lizzie Cundy put on a daring display as she arrived for the charity event, sporting a revealing black lace crop top with laced-up leather leggings.

The radio DJ had her dark tresses styled into simple waves as she posed outside, showing off her washboard abs in the top which left little to the imagination.

Getting up close and personal with some of the events guests, Lizzie got a cheeky lift into the event by some hunky male shirtless guests who were keen to show off their amazing muscles.

Sexy: Lizzie Cundy put on a bold display as she rocked a revealing black lace crop top and tight lace-up leather trousers

Daring: The radio DJ flashed her washboard abs in the see-through lace top, styling her dark tresses into simple waves

Peachy: Lizzie was also keen to show off her perky derriere as she made her way into the star-studded event

Man of the moment: Posing with event organiser James Ingham, Lizzie made sure to show off every inch of her revealing look

Girls night out: Lizzie also got cosy with Larissa Eddie in a thigh-high split blue gown as they made their way into the Cafe De Paris

Hunky: Getting up close and personal with some shirtless male guests, Lizzie was in her element as she headed into the cancer charity event

Up we go: Showcasing their strength, the two hunks gave Lizzie a little lift into the fundraiser

Dating expert Lady Nadia Essex also joined the slew of stars making their arrival for the annual fundraiser event, flaunting her curves in a pink and red silk shirt with a fitted black pencil skirt.

The Celebs Go Dating star highlighted her tanned complexion with simple lined eyes, styling into classic curls, while adding another pop of colour with red tasselled earrings.

Going for a more casual look was Big Brother legend Nikki Graham, who wore a simple pink waterfall jacket and jeans, keeping her brown tresses styled into a poker-straight look.

Sharp: Dating expert Lady Nadia Essex showed off her curves in a pink and orange silk shirt teamed with a fitted pencil skirt

Busty: Model Victoria Clay left very little to the imagination in a plunging black jumpsuit and cape as she arrived for the event

Perky: The Britain's Next Top Model star let her coppery red tresses take centre stage in the statement look

Suave: Ben Haenow (left) and Matt Johnson (right) chose more casual outfits for the annual charity event

Heartthrob: Peter Andre went for a classic leather jacket upon his arrival at the Cafe De Paris

Casual: The TV presenter went solo for the outing, leaving wife Emily MacDonagh at home

Looking good: Big Brother legend Nikki Graham wore a nude waterfall jacket and skinny jeans for her entrance into the event

Beauty queen: I'm A Celebrity star Amy Willerton kept her brown hair in a side-swept look as she wore a simple black minidress

Jungle girl: The Bristol-born beauty made a simple but stylish entrance for the event

Doing it for themselves: Amy was joined at the event by her sister Erin, who chose a revealing blue bustier over lace-up jeans

Going for a more eclectic look was X Factor runner-up Saara Aaalto, who lived up to her quirky nature by sporting an enormous red hairpiece with her tight silk navy frock.

The Finland-born songstress - set to represent her country in the Eurovision Song Contest later this year - teamed her low-cut frock with head-piece matching suede sock boots.

Ex-Gogglebox star Sandi Bogle made a dramatic entrance arriving for the fundraising event, sporting a semi-sheer slogan maxi skirt with a grey furry jacket.

Quirky: X Factor runner-up Saara Aalto showed off her ever-eclectic style sense, teaming an enormous red hairpiece with her tight navy frock

London girl: Gogglebox star Sandi Bogle went for an ever-dramatic look as she wore a maxi skirt sporting a mixture of prints and slogans

Girls about town: Beauty guru Hayley Sparkes (left) and TOWIE star Fran Parman (right) both put on leggy displays as they arrived at the event

Songman: X Factor winner and stage star Joe McElderry went for a classic green blazer and trousers combo

Love Island champion Cara De La Hoyde showed off a dramatic new hairdo as she made her way into the charity bash, showing off her incredible post-baby body in a tight white midi dress.

The beauty joined beau Nathan Massey on the blue carpet for a low-key night out, three months after welcoming their first child together.

Cara looked amazing in her sexy look, teaming her fitted dress with a simple denim jacket and barely-there nude heels.

Work it! Cara de la Hoyde rocked a new braided do as she stepped out for the event

Mane attraction: Cara's main focal point was her sexy hair and make-up look, which saw her sport heavy smokey eyes with intense blue and black eyeshadow

Smitten: The Love Island winner looked super stylish with her tresses which boasted streaks of blue as she packed on the PDA with her beau Nathan Massey

Parents: The pair welcomed their first child, a son named Freddie George in December

Hugging up: Olivia's fiancee Alex was cosying up to the duo during their sweet reunion

Best pals: Cara and Olivia were cosying up outside the bash - ahead of the blonde beauty's wedding, where Cara will act as bridesmaid

Joining the reality TV star set were the Goodman sisters Chloe and Lauryn who arrived for the charity bash together.

Chloe sparkled in a matching sparkling black top and trousers, while Lauryn rocked a matching blue and gold cropped bardot top and skirt.

Geordie Shore star Sophie Kasaei struggled to contain her ample cleavage in a cut-out black jumpsuit as she made her way out of the event with a group of pals, just a day after she was seen leaving the star-studded Jersey Shore cast dinner hand-in-hand with flagship star Pauly D.

Sexy: Chloe Goodman was joined by her sister Lauryn as they arrived in style for the event rocking typically glamorous looks

Stunning: Chloe, who served as a body double for Cameron Diaz in 2013, looked fantastic in the sparkling number which she teamed with a pair of matching embellished trousers

Saucy: The former Celebrity Big Brother star, 24, flaunted her ample assets in a plunging sequinned top, while the blonde beauty sizzled in a blue and gold two-piece

Sister, sister: Lauryn also rivalled her sister on the sexy front as she showcased her figure in a cropped bardot top and matching skirt

Revealing: Geordie Shore star Sophie Kasaei struggled to contain her ample cleavage in a black cutout jumpsuit as she left the charity even with pals

Squad goals: The South Shields-born beauty made the low-key exit just a day after she was seen leaving a Jersey Shore cast dinner hand-in-hand with star Pauly D

Paid the meter? Danielle made a bold statement in a nude crop top and white trousers as she and Chyna exited their taxi

Twins: Blonde beauties Chyna Ellis (left) and Danielle Sellers made their way into the charity bash

Besties: Chyna had little to hide in the see-through black bardot top, which the star teamed with matching trousers and heels

Ab-tastic: Danielle flaunted her washboard stomach in her pink crop to[ and trousers combo, with her blonde hair in loose waves

Hunky: Jamie O' Hara and Gleb Savchenko wore very different looks as they arrived at the fundraising event, taking place ahead of organiser James' London Marathon run

Doing well: Jamie was in good spirits as he flashed a thumbs up, rocking a floral black matching blazer and waistcoat upon arrival for the charity bash

Leggy: Larissa Eddie made a bold entrance in a classic blue thigh-split gown with silver strapped heels

Showstopper: Strictly Come Dancing star Alexandra Burke sparkled in a shimmering fringed mini-dress and thigh-high peep-toe heels

Cheshire: Real Housewives star Ampika Pickston made a bold statement in a silver and taupe metallic-style dress

Long time no see: Amy Willerton made a rare appearance at the party on Wednesday

Lookalikes: Amy was pictured with her sister Erin Willerton (left)

Curves ahead: Lauryn Goodman showcased her extreme curves in front of the cameras

On the red carpet: Alexandra was glittering just like her Strictly days

Spotted: Former X Factor winner Joe McElderry was pictured with a female companion

Speaking out: Peter Andre took the stage on Wednesday at the glittering eventShe dated him from 2002 to 2004. And on Wednesday, Naomi Watts remembered Heath Ledger on what would have been his 39th birthday.

The actress paid tribute to the late actor on Instagram by posting a photo of the smiling pair on the Screen Actors Guild Awards red carpet in February 2004.

'Happy birthday to this darling heart. We will never forget you... #heathledger #rip,' wrote the star.

'We will never forget you': Naomi Watts, who dated Heath Ledger from 2002 to 2004, remembered the late actor on what would have been his 39th birthday

She also shared another picture of them on her Instagram story writing: 'Beautiful Heath.'

Heath died in January 2008 at his SOHO apartment from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January 2008.

The Dark Knight Rises star was just 28-years-old.

On the 10th anniversary of his death, Naomi also posted a tribute to the actor on her Instagram.

'Beautiful Heath': The actress shared another picture of the pair on her Instagram story on Wednesday

Taken too soon: Heath died in January 2008 at the age of 28 from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs

Posting a black-and-white photo of the late actor, she wrote: 'Thinking about this beautiful soul today. 10 years ago he left this world.'

The actress continued: 'He was a true original. Heart always on his sleeve, with the most powerful charisma, strength, humor and talent. I will never forget his gentle spirit. #heathledger.'

Naomi and Heath split in 2004 after two years together.

'He was really a very special soul': On the 10th anniversary of his death, the actress also shared a photo of the Dark Knight Rises star on her Instagram

In 2011, which was one year after Heath's death, she told More Magazine: 'We had a beautiful relationship, only a couple of years, but he was a man who was completely full of joy, and there was a lot of laughing and affection.

'He was really a very special soul and made a great impact on my life.

After the couple's split, the British actress went on to date and have two children with actor Liev Schreiber.

'#wemissyou': Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger share daughter Matilda, who is now 12, together

Heath began a romance with his Brokeback Mountain co-star, Michelle Williams, and the two welcomed a daughter named Matilda, who is now 12, before splitting in 2007.

Michelle also took to social media to remember the late actor and father of her child.

The actress posted a photo of the pair holding hands on her Instagram and wrote: 'Today Heath would be 39 #HappyBirthday #wemissyou.'

His daughter's godparents, Busy Philipps and Jake Gyllenhaal, also remembered Heath on the 10th anniversary of his death in January.Lindsay Lohan knows a thing or two with brushes with the law.

And now she is offering up her legal expertise to US President Donald Trump.

As the 71-year-old mogul-turned-reality star-turned-politician has been in constant controversy, the 31-year-old actress took to Twitter to give him legal advice.

Lohan was recently named as the face of Lawyer.com she made sure to plug her partnership in the process.

Words of wisdom: Lindsay Lohan (left) offered up some legal advice to US President Donald Trump (right) on Wednesday

Making moves: The 31-year-old actress was recently named as the face of Lawyer.com she made sure to plug her partnership in the process

She wrote: 'Hey, @realDonaldTrump heard you need a lawyer... at Lawyer.com we are always here for everyone ;).'

Kathy Griffin - who embroiled herself in a controversy with a photoshoot where she posed with a bloody dismembered Trump head - even chimed in by replying to the post: 'Make that money girl...'

This comes just a week after Lindsay was named as the face of the company.

The Mean Girls star pokes fun at herself in an advert promoting the free legal resource, in which she directs her fans to seek advice from the site.

Support system: Kathy Griffin - who embroiled herself in a controversy with a photoshoot where she posed with a bloody dismembered Trump head - even chimed in by replying to the post: 'Make that money girl...'

'DUIs... let's not pretend I didn't get one!' Lindsay Lohan pokes fun at her past bad behavior as she's unveiled as the face of Lawyer.com

New role: The 31-year-old has been signed up for 12 months by the company

Spokesperson: She will front the website's adverts and promotional material

Talking to camera, the poised and professional redhead tells viewers: 'When Lawyer.com first reached out to me I was confused and a little worried as I thought I was in trouble.'

But Freaky Friday star Lindsay soon came to see the value of the site, which matches those in need with a local lawyer.

She tells her fans: 'I realized Lawyer.com is just about helping people, from getting a DUI... let's not pretend like I didn't get one... or two or three, or some others.'

Starring role: The Mean Girls star pokes fun at herself in an advert promoting the free legal resource, in which she directs her fans to seek advice from the site

Like many a former child star, Lindsay struggled to adjust to her fame as a young adult. She was in and out of court after a series of arrests for driving under the influence, among other offences, even serving a few hours in jail.

A few years on and Lindsay has turned her life around - this year she will return to acting with a recurring role on the British TV series Sick Note - and is obviously keen to turn her prior legal troubles into a positive.

The 31-year-old has been signed up for 12 months by the company, and will front its adverts, website and promotional material. She is also an investor in the website.

Having fun: Lohan lives in Dubai, where the ad was filmed, and was also pictured bonding with the Lawyer.com crew in a behind the scenes video

Back behind the wheel: Lohan joked about her DUI arrests in the new advert

She told DailyMailTV exclusively: 'Its a website to connect people to lawyers in whatever specialized field they are searching for. We shot a bunch of funny adverts for it. We actually filmed all of them in Dubai.'

Laywer.com's CEO Gerald Gorman: 'With Lindsay's help many more consumers can delight in the ease and speed of our services.

'Our team is already benefiting from Lindsay's world class experience and we have many exciting plans for the 12 month engagement.'

And it certainly seems as if Lindsay is enjoying her new job.

In behind the scenes video footage released by Lawyer.com she was seen wearing a turban as she bombed around the sand dunes in Dubai, bonding with her new colleagues.

To see this story on DailyMailTV - check your local listings for today's show at www.dailymailtv.com.

Wheely good fun: In behind the scenes video footage released by Lawyer.com she was seen wearing a turban as she bombed around the sand dunes in Dubai, bonding with her new colleaguesShe's been travelling around Australia since starring in Married At First Sight.

And Davina Rankin took a moment on Wednesday to show her social media fans how messy her bedroom is as she returned home to Queensland.

The 27-year-old uploaded a series of videos to her Instagram Live Stories, where she compared her room to a 'brothel' and enlisted her housemates to help clean it.

Scroll down for video

Unkempt: MAFS star Davina Rankin took a moment on Wednesday to show her social media fans how messy her bedroom is as she returned home to Queensland

The popular reality star appeared tired as she sat inside her room late at night and played with screen filters while she waited on friends to aid her in unpacking.

'Waiting for my housemate to come home so she can talk to me while I clean my brothel of a room,' she captioned one upload.

The striking brunette then complained 'I Don't Wanna' as she shared a snap featuring a massive pile of crumpled laundry on her bed.

'Waiting for my housemate to come home so she can talk to me while I clean my brothel of a room,' she captioned one upload

Messy: The striking brunette then complained 'I Don't Wanna' as she shared a snap featuring a massive pile of crumpled laundry on her bed

Davina explained to her almost 350,000 followers how she had been on the move since appearing on Married At First Sight and hadn't had a chance to get settled.

'I've been traveling so much lately and I've just kept unpacking and re-packing and haven't put anything away,' she described.

'Now I'm stuck with all my s*** on the floor, pretty much since I was in Melbourne with Nadia,' she continued, referring to fellow MAFS star Nadia Stamp.

'I've been traveling so much lately and I've just kept unpacking and re-packing and haven't put anything away,' she described

'Now I'm stuck with all my s*** on the floor, pretty much since I was in Melbourne with Nadia,' she continued, referring to fellow MAFS star Nadia Stamp

'I'm one of those people who gets so distracted, so I make my housemates sit on the floor and talk to me while I clean,' she revealed.

She then took a shot of her housemate sitting on her bed with a glass of red wine, gazing into her phone as Davina continued to clean.

'Progress' she wrote in the next snap's caption, as the attractive duo toasted to their cleaning success.

'I'm one of those people who gets so distracted, so I make my housemates sit on the floor and talk to me while I clean,' she revealedA Melbourne woman is on the run after mowing down another woman with her car before trying to run over the man that was with her.

The Doncaster woman, 40, rammed into the couple's car at Clarinda about 8.20pm on Tuesday and when the 34-year-old female passenger got out, she drove onto the footpath and crashed into her, causing serious leg injuries, police say.

The woman then tried to run over the 54-year-old driver, but was unsuccessful.

The 34-year-old woman was taken to hospital in a stable condition.

Police say the parties are known to each other and they are searching for the attacker.A former economics professor is accused of paying overseas workers just $10 an hour to work in his Melbourne grocery shop.

Jordan Shan and company Jenni International Pty Ltd, which previously operated the Dae Bark Mart grocery store in Flinders Street, will face Federal Circuit Court for allegedly underpaying two workers a total of $14,015 over a period of less than four months in 2016.

The workers, on holiday working visas from South Korea, were allegedly paid flat rates ranging from $10 to $12.50 an hour, despite being entitled to minimum hourly rates of $19.44, and more for penalty rates and overtime.New premier Steven Marshall will meet with resources company BHP Billiton to outline government plans to lower the cost of doing business in South Australia.

Mr Marshall will meet with BHP chief executive officer Andrew Mackenzie on Wednesday to discuss further expansion of its Olympic Dam mine and lowering the cost of power in SA.

"The damage inflicted on the South Australian economy by the statewide blackout was compounded by rapidly escalating power costs for households and business during the past two years," Mr Marshall said.NBN boss Bill Morrow will step down by the end of the year.

The CEO made the announcement on Wednesday, saying his departure will come after leading the organisation for more than four years.

"I believe that as the company prepares to confront the new challenges ahead, this is the right time to hand over the reins for the next phase of this incredible project and for me to plan for the next step in my career," he said in a statement.A 13-year-old boy from the NSW Central Coast has been missing for more than two weeks, and police are appealing for help to find him.

Zach Waters was last seen by his mother in East Gosford on Sunday, March 18, police said on Wednesday.

The teen, who is described as having a slim build, blond air and 140cm tall, has no access to money or a mobile phone, and also requires daily prescription medication.

Police from Brisbane Water Police District have been conducting inquiries into Zach's disappearance and have spoken to numerous friends and relatives without success.

Anyone with information about Zach's whereabouts has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.Two Victorians are expected to face charges after being caught drink driving behind the wheel of the same car within 90 minutes of each other.

Police stopped a green wagon with four occupants in South Melbourne about 3.30am on Wednesday, with a 34-year-old Ararat man blowing 0.077.

The vehicle was spotted driving along the same street just after 5am with one of the previous passengers behind the wheel, an unlicensed 28-year-old Mount Pleasant man, who recorded a reading of 0.098, police said.A TIMELINE OF PRINCE CHARLES' VISITS TO AUSTRALIA

--

* 1966

Visited Australia for the first time as a schoolboy, spending two terms at Timbertop, the rural campus of Victoria's Geelong Grammar School.

* 1967

The young prince returned to Australia to represent his mother at the funeral of Prime Minister Harold Holt, who disappeared while swimming.

* 1970

Prince Charles accompanied his mother the Queen, his father Prince Philip and his sister Princess Anne on the Royal Tour of Australasia. The family visited the Royal Easter Show while in Sydney.

* 1974

The Prince went for a dip at the famous Bondi Beach while in the country to open the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Springs with then prime minister Gough Whitlam.

* 1977

Visited Australia as Patron of the Queen's Silver Jubilee Appeal for Young Australians.

* 1978

The Prince, representing his mother, attended the funeral of Sir Robert Menzies in Melbourne.

* 1979

In one of his more memorable visits as a young bachelor, Prince Charles was ambushed in the surf at Cottesloe Beach by Perth model Jane Priest who stole a quick kiss.

* 1981

The Prince visited shortly after the announcement of his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer to open the 50th Anniversary Convention of Apex Clubs of Australia.

* 1983

He returned in 1983 with his new bride Princess Diana and their son Prince William, the trio flying into Alice Springs.

* 1985

The Prince and Princess of Wales returned to Australia for a visit to Victoria to celebrate the state's 150th anniversary. The pair attended the Melbourne Cup.

* 1988

Prince Charles and Princess Diana returned for the last time as a couple as part of Australia's bicentenary celebrations.

* 1994

A 23-year-old man was arrested after firing a starter pistol at the Prince as he prepared to hand out Australia Day awards in Sydney.

* 2005

The Prince visited Australia shortly ahead of his wedding to long-time love Camilla Parker-Bowles, travelling to Perth, Alice Springs, Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra.

* 2012

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Duchess of Cornwall visited for six days to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The pair spent time in Tasmania, Victoria, NSW and the ACT - the trip costing Australian taxpayers $437,057.

* 2015

In what was the Prince's 15th visit to Australia, he and the Duchess of Cornwall took in Adelaide, Tanunda, Canberra, Sydney, Albany and Perth where they celebrated his 67th birthday.Greens leader Richard Di Natale's former chief of staff has been given the legal go-ahead to nominate for preselection in the NSW parliament.

Cate Faehrmann on Wednesday won a legal battle against the NSW Greens over its decision to list her as a "provisional" member after she transferred her membership from Victoria.

That status rendered her ineligible to contest preselection.

But the NSW Supreme Court has now ruled the party record her as a financial member.

Justice Julie Ward found Ms Faehrmann's membership was not subject to any probationary period under the party's rules.

"There appears no basis for any nomination for preselection by Ms Faehrmann to be treated as invalid," she said in her judgement.

Ms Faehrmann wants to take the place of Mehreen Faruqi in the NSW upper house after Ms Faruqi was preselected to take the top spot on the next federal Senate ticket.

Ms Faehrmann was a member of the NSW Legislative Council from 2010 to 2013 when she resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the federal Senate.

Ms Faehrmann labelled Wednesday's court decision a win for grassroots democracy, claiming it meant all financial members from other states wouldn't lose their rights if they moved to NSW.

"This is an important principle of equity and fairness that was built into the Australian Greens constitution decades ago," she said in a statement.

She insisted she was left with no option but to take legal action against the party's office bearers who rejected an offer to solve the dispute before going to court.

"I'm looking forward to now getting on with my campaign to represent you once more as a Greens NSW MP," Ms Faehrmann said.A new policy encouraging NSW hospitals to provide "culturally appropriate spaces" for Aboriginal patients and families has the support of the state's peak medical body.

The Australian Medical Association NSW says the spaces can help break down barriers to Indigenous patients seeking treatment - as they continue to experience poorer health outcomes than other Australians.

The state government policy does not mandate separate waiting rooms for Aboriginal patients but calls for a "culturally appropriate space" within each hospital to be identified.

Hospitals may also display Aboriginal artwork as another way of being more inclusive and welcoming.

AMA NSW President Prof Brad Frankum says he is disappointed by some of the criticism of the updated NSW Health statewide policy.

"It is disappointing to see those who clearly do not have the same personal experiences of navigating our healthcare system making inappropriate comments about such an important health policy," he said in the statement on Wednesday.

As a doctor working at an Aboriginal Medical Service in south-west Sydney, he knows what a difference such initiatives can make, he said.

NSW Health says the policy is flexible, allowing local health districts to carry out initiatives in consultation with the local Aboriginal community to make their hospital setting more culturally inclusive, in ways that best suit them.

For example, the department has noted that in the state's west, the Wiradjuri language and imagery has been incorporated into the Forbes and Parkes hospitals.

Opposition health spokesman Walt Secord said on Tuesday he disagrees with the policy, given the state's 80 emergency departments are already under enormous pressure.

But Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the updated policy would bring NSW into line with national standards.

A trial on the mid north coast showed a 50 per cent reduction in the number of Aboriginal patients leaving early from emergency departments after cultural awareness training for staff was introduced.A driver has pleaded guilty over a crash in Melbourne that killed a 14-year-old girl and her mother, with prosecutors abandoning drink driving charges.

Thomas Charles Adamson, 27, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty over a fatal August crash on the South Gippsland Highway that killed Meili Dai and her daughter Xinyu Yuan.

Adamson, who was seriously injured in the crash and remains in a wheelchair, has pleaded guilty to two counts of culpable driving causing death and one charge of driving while disqualified.

The family of the slain mother and daughter were present in court as Adamson entered the plea.

He will face a pre-sentence hearing at the Victorian County Court in August.

Adamson was originally charged with seven offences in November, including two counts of dangerous driving causing death, drink driving, and driving under the influence

Prosecutors are not proceeding with those four charges.

The Devon Meadows resident will remain on bail and face court on August 31.A man in his 80s has died after being hit by a car being driven by a woman in the same age group, as he walked into a medical centre on the NSW south coast.

The elderly man died at the scene after being struck as the car crashed into the Ulladulla centre at 9.20am on Wednesday, police said.

The female driver, aged in her 80s, has been taken to Milton Hospital in a stable condition and will undergo mandatory testing.

Meanwhile, NSW police have appealed to the public for information over another fatal pedestrian crash in Sydney's southwest last month involving a nine-year-old boy.

A 19-year-old man hit the boy while driving in Campsie on March 8, after the child ran onto the road at 4.30pm.

The boy was taken to Sydney Children's Hospital and died 12 days later.

The driver was not injured and returned a negative result to mandatory testing.

Anyone with dash-cam vision or information about the crash should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.More child protection and family support workers will be sent to the Northern Territory town of Tennant Creek, following the abuse of a young girl.

Five new permanent positions will be created in the local Territory Families office to foster collaboration between government agencies and the non-government sector, and boost case management capacities.

The appointments follow an internal review triggered by the rape of a two-year-old girl by a 24-year-old man, and subsequent community pleas for action on drugs, alcohol and violence in the town.

Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield said the incident was a turning point for the government.

"After the incident we immediately put in place an action plan to support the community and our frontline staff," she said.

"We are now acting on recommendations from the internal review and putting in place longer-term measures."

A new director position has been created, as well as two child protection practitioner positions, one youth outreach re-engagement team leader and one administrative support officer.

The recruitment process is already underway, with positions advertised locally and nationally.

Ms Wakefield said more resources had been directed to Tennant Creek to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

"It is heartbreaking for any child anywhere to be harmed," she said.

"We are increasing local capacity in Tennant Creek to make the best possible decisions here on the ground."Prince Charles and his wife Camilla have been formally welcomed to the Gold Coast by Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lady Cosgrove ahead of a night of Commonwealth Games fanfare.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall travelled south from Brisbane on Wednesday night for the friendly reception of dignitaries at the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the King of Tonga, before departing for the opening ceremony at Carrara Stadium.

"For all the stories of individual achievement that are about to unfold at these Games, I have no doubt that once all the medals have been awarded and the results tallied, the overall winner will be the Commonwealth itself and the values for which it stands," Prince Charles said in his address.Midnight Oil will be recognised for their outstanding services to Australian music at next week's APRA Awards.

The iconic Aussie band will receive the Ted Albert Award, which has previously been given to artists including Archie Roach, Paul Kelly, The Seekers and Cold Chisel.

The band said they were proud to receive the award, named after the founder of the Australian record label Albert Productions who helped shape the careers of bands such as The Easybeats and AC/DC. And they noted it was at Alberts where they recorded their first album.

"Ted's great skill was his knack for picking talent, his genuine love for original Australian music, and the creation of his legendary production house - which has become a by-word for excellence and success," the band wrote in a statement.

"Midnight Oil's connection to Alberts began in 1978, when the band - in between playing sweaty pub gigs in and around Sydney - recorded our first album at the Boomerang House studio in King St ('Whoah! A band that eats!' said Harry Vanda, when he caught us scoffing burgers)."

Harry Vanda was the lead guitarist with The Easybeats and one half of songwriting/production duo, Vanda and Young.

"Nine years later we were back at Alberts, this time at Neutral Bay, to record Diesel and Dust - an album inspired by the Australian desert and Top End communities, but which opened doors for us right around the world," the band continued.

Midnight Oil re-formed just last year for a world tour, selling out gigs in Australia and overseas, including massive concerts in Sydney's Domain and Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl, and a special benefit gig in Cairns in aid of the great Barrier Reef. A new documentary charting the band's early rise to fame, Midnight Oil 1984, is set for release next month.

They will receive the award at the APRAs in Sydney next Tuesday, which will feature performances from Tim Minchin, All Our Exes Live in Texas, Suze DeMarchi and Baby Animals, Adalita and Isabella Manfredi.

Nominees for the APRA Awards, which recognise Australian songwriting, include Amy Shark, Paul Kelly and Gang Of Youths.

The winner of the International Work of the Year has also been announced as Ed Sheeran for his song Shape of You

*The APRA Music Awards will take place at the ICC in Sydney on April 10 and will be hosted by Julia Zemiro.A South Korean university's move to create "killer robots" for the arms industry has sparked alarm among artificial intelligence and robotics researchers across the world.

More than 50 researchers from 30 countries will boycott all contact with Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology when it opens its artificial intelligence weapons lab with major arms company Hanwha Systems.

The centre's aim is reportedly to "develop artificial intelligence technologies to be applied to military weapons, joining the global competition to develop autonomous arms".

The boycott will be announced on Thursday ahead of a 123-member United Nations meeting in Geneva on Monday to discuss the robot arms race.

Twenty-two of the nations want an outright and pre-emptive ban on the "killer robots".

"We will boycott all collaborations with any part of KAIST until such time as the president of KAIST provides assurances, which we have sought but not received, that the centre will not develop autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control," the letter states.

"If developed, autonomous weapons will be the third revolution in warfare. They will permit war to be fought faster and at a scale greater than ever before.

"They have the potential to be weapons of terror."

One of Australia's leading AI experts, Professor Toby Walsh at the University of NSW, organised the boycott and published open letters in 2015 and 2017 to warn of the dangers of these robots.

"That arms race has begun. We can see prototypes of autonomous weapons under development today by many nations including the US, China, Russia and the UK," he said.

"We are locked into an arms race that no one wants to happen. KAIST's actions will only accelerate this arms race. We cannot tolerate this."Nominations open on Thursday for Melbourne's top job at Town Hall and candidates are already lining up to replace Robert Doyle as the next Lord Mayor.

Pollster Gary Morgan is among those to have already confirmed his intention to contest the highly coveted role.

He plans to "clean out the town hall swamp" by cutting out corruption and changing the culture at council.

"First thing I am going to do is tackle homelessness," the independent candidate told AAP.

"They are good people the other candidates, they will all make a good lord mayor ... but will they make changes? I think probably not."

Former City of Melbourne councillor Ken Ong will also run for the $193,000 job alongside Property Council of Victoria boss Sally Capp and businesswoman Jennifer Yang.

Incumbent City of Melbourne councillor Rohan Leppert wants to be lord mayor, telling AAP "culture comes from the top which needs to be clear and transparent if council is going to be well governed".

The postal by-election has been called after Mr Doyle resigned from the post following a sexual harassment scandal.

Wyndham City councillor Intaj Khan has reportedly considered running despite facing charges over failing to declare commercial interests.

Moreland City councillor Oscar Yildiz told AAP he is not a resident and does not own a business in the City of Melbourne but had not ruled out running.

A spokesman for the Victorian Electoral Commission said for Cr Khan and Cr Yildiz to contest the by-election they would need to resign their current local government positions.

Candidates have until midday on Tuesday to lodge their nominations.

Ballot papers will be sent to eligible voters from April 23 with the compulsory poll closing on May 11.The fines for trespassing on the Sydney Harbour Bridge could be tripled after a mentally ill man brought traffic to a standstill by climbing onto the iconic structure before peak hour.

The 43-year-old man sparked a major police operation lasting five hours, with NSW Police later saying he climbed up the bridge due to a "family issue" and he suffered "significant mental health issues".

The man scaled the bridge about 4.30am on Wednesday and surrendered to authorities just after 9.30am. He was handcuffed by police rescue officers and brought down to the ground.

NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey labelled the bridge climb a "premeditated event" and is considering tripling the current $3000 penalty for trespassing on the structure.

The minister suggested the $10,000 fine for illegally climbing San Francisco's famous Golden Gate bridge was a "good starting point".

Superintendent Michael Fitzgerald says the man - who rode a bike to the bridge - was known to police and would face "significant charges" after being treated in hospital.

Traffic was backed up 20 kilometres from the bridge during peak hour with authorities closing several northbound lanes as negotiators talked with the man.

Supt Fitzgerald said authorities would work with the Roads and Maritime Service to make the bridge more secure.

Climbing the Harbour Bridge is illegal unless authorised, for example as part of an official Bridge Climb Sydney tour.

MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78.Lottoland Australia is offering a profit-sharing deal to 4000 newsagents across the nation in return for in-store promotion of the online betting giant.

It's touting commissions of 20 per cent of the profits generated from bets by punters who nominate their local newsagent when they register with Lottoland.

"Lottoland does not offer bets on Australian lotteries but only on overseas lotteries, which means we do not compete directly with newsagents," CEO Luke Brill said on Thursday.

The offer, which is being made on an opt-in basis, comes after talks last year with the newsagency industry.

It's being touted as an improvement on the initial idea to share Lottoland revenue from secondary lottery betting.

In return, newsagents will be asked to advertise Lottoland in-store with promotional materials, such as posters and flags, for betting on international lotteries.

"We are proposing a model that puts cash back into small businesses," Mr Brill said in an open letter to newsagency operators released on Thursday.

The federal government in March introduced legislation to ban so-called synthetic lotteries, in an effort to protect newsagents and state and territory revenues generated by the traditional form.

South Australia has already banned synthetic lotteries and the Northern Territory has banned betting on Australian lotteries, while Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and WA are considering introducing legislation.

Although nothing has eventuated, the NSW government is concerned punters believe they are taking part in a lottery when they were actually betting on the outcome of a draw.

Lottoland Australia is the local arm of the Gibraltar-based global group and has more than 650,000 registered customers in Australia.A van has exploded in flames at a petrol station in Sydney's south, with the driver managing to get out of the vehicle just in time.

The white van caught alight about 6am Thursday on King Georges Road, Hurstville before staff and firefighters cut off fuel at the bowsers to stop the gas station going up in flames.

"We knocked the (van) fire down with foam that covered the fuel to stop it reigniting," NSW Fire & Rescue spokesman Norman Buckley told AAP on Thursday.

While the van was completely destroyed in the blaze, no buildings were damaged, Mr Buckley said.

NSW Ambulance said the driver was able to quickly escape unharmed.

Traffic is heavy and motorists are being urged to avoid the area, Live Traffic Sydney said.Central American migrants taking part in the Migrant Via Crucis caravan toward the United States queue for food at a sports field in Matias Romero, Mexico, on April 3, 2018

Honduras said Tuesday it was "unpleasantly surprised" by a tweeted threat US President Donald Trump made about suspending aid to the poor country over a "caravan" of Central American migrants headed to the US border.

"We are unpleasantly surprised by this allusion to our country. We reject it utterly because it is not certain that there is a caravan of Hondurans," the minister in charge of cabinet executive affairs, Ebal Diaz, said in a statement sent to AFP.

Trump on Monday tweeted that "Honduras, Mexico and many other countries that the U.S. is very generous to, sends many of their people to our country through our WEAK IMMIGRATION POLICIES. Caravans are heading here. Must pass tough laws and build the WALL."

He followed up on Tuesday with another tweet reading: "The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our 'Weak Laws' Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!"

An estimated 1,500 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are walking north towards the US border in an annual event that was both a protest over conditions faced by migrants and as a way for migrants to safely reach the border.

Trump has accused Mexico of abetting and profiting from illegal immigration, and is threatening to use negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement as a bargaining chip on the issue.

Diaz accused Trump of using Honduras "to pressure the (US) Congress to approve reforms on migration law."

"Honduras is the country that has done the most to create suitable conditions so that our compatriots do not leave the country," Diaz added.

He said Honduras has also made progress on fighting crime and the conditions that spur emigration.

"Unfortunately, as long as the United States does not stop and does not really do things to stop drug consumption, violence will keep affecting those countries" on drug trafficking routes to America, Diaz said.

According to the Honduran government, violence linked to cocaine trafficking from South America to the US market is one of the biggest causes of people wanting to leave the country.US President Donald Trump has raged at Mexico for allowing around 1,500 migrants from Central America to walk toward the US border

President Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to deploy the military to secure America's southern border, as a caravan of Central American migrants headed north through Mexico toward the United States.

The US leader has spent three days attacking the Mexican government for failing to block the estimated 1,500 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras from walking north toward the border.

"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," Trump told journalists.

In an evening statement, the White House clarified that Trump's plan involved mobilizing the National Guard -- not active duty military troops, which would be barred by US law.

Senior officials including Defense Secretary James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford and Chief of Staff John Kelly briefed Trump last week and follow-up discussions Tuesday, it added.

"President Trump and senior officials present also agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organizations," the statement added.

Trump accused Mexico of abetting and profiting from illegal immigration, which he pledged in his 2016 election campaign to halt.

- Laws are 'weak' and 'pathetic' -

"The caravan makes me very sad that this could happen to the United States, where you have thousands of people that just decide to walk into our country and we don't have any laws that could protect it," he said.

"If it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and so pathetic... it's like we have no border," added the president -- who lashed out at his predecessor Barack Obama for allegedly weakening border security, without elaborating on his claims.

Central American migrants taking part in a caravan headed towards the United States queue for food at a sports field in Matias Romero, Oaxaca State, Mexico, on April 3, 2018

He also railed against the US Congress for not tightening laws on immigrants, and against Democrats for stalling the border wall he promised to build during his campaign.

Trump had previously suggested the military could help fund and build the wall, but it was the first time he proposed US troops to patrol the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) frontier.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment on Trump's remarks. In the past 12 years, National Guard troops have been deployed twice to bolster border security, but none have been there since 2010.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said he was seeking further information about the announcement.

"Mexico has asked the United States, via official channels, to clarify the announcement by @POTUS on the use of the military on the border," Videgaray said on Twitter.

"The Mexican government will decide its response based on said clarification, and always in defense of our sovereignty and national interest."

- 'People flowing in' -

A Central American woman taking part in a migrant caravan headed for the United States rests at a sports field in Matias Romero, Oaxaca State, Mexico, on April 3, 2018

The Trump administration has sharply bolstered spending on patrolling the border, and intensified crackdowns on undocumented immigrants inside the country.

But the president remains frustrated that other initiatives by his administration to slow both legal and illegal immigration have been stalled or blocked.

After a year's delay, Congress budgeted $1.6 billion last month to begin construction of the wall, a small portion of the $25 billion Trump asked.

The initial funding might only pay for 100 miles of wall, and Trump last week proposed that the Pentagon's budget be tapped to build the rest.

"We need to have a wall that's about 700-800 miles," he said Tuesday.

The US president's rekindled anger over immigration was apparently sparked over the weekend by media reports on the migrants heading across Mexico.

Like each of the last five years, the so-called caravan set off recently from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, partly in protest at conditions faced by migrants, and partly to help migrants safely reach the US border.

Trump says the phenomenon is proof of the need for a wall.

"The caravan which is over 1,000 people coming in from Honduras thought they were just going to walk through Mexico and right through the border," Trump said.

"We cannot have people flowing in our country illegally, disappearing and, by the way, never showing up to court."New Zealand has cleared the way to quash historic convictions for consensual homosexual sex

New Zealand's parliament has passed legislation to erase historic convictions for engaging in gay sex, saying the bill would help right past injustices.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in New Zealand in 1986, but men who were convicted before then still had the offence listed on their official records.

Lawmakers unanimously passed a bill late Tuesday allowing those convicted of consensual homosexual sex to have their records expunged.

"I would like to apologise again to all the men and members of the rainbow community who have been affected by the prejudice, stigma and other negative effects caused by convictions for historical homosexual offences," Justice Minister Andrew Little said.

"This bill sends a clear signal that discrimination against gay people is no longer acceptable, and that we are committed to putting right wrongs from the past."

The justice department said the convictions related to three offences that were dropped in 1986 -- sodomy, indecency between males and keeping a place of resort for homosexual acts.

It estimates about 1,000 people will be eligible to apply to have their records cleared when the scheme takes effect next year.

To qualify, the sex that led to the conviction must have been consensual and taken place between those aged 16 years or older.

The repealed laws were first introduced in 1908. Under the new scheme family members can also apply to have the records of a deceased relative cleared.

The scheme refers to men because the old laws specifically banned sex between males. Lesbianism was not illegal, although gay women also suffered social discrimination.

New Zealand passed laws banning discrimination against gays in 1993, and in 2013 became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalise same-sex marriage.

Britain last year enacted "Turing's Law", giving a blanket posthumous pardon to almost 50,000 men convicted under old laws in England and Wales.

Named after the World War II code-breaker and mathematician Alan Turing, it also allows living people to have their convictions erased, although they must apply individually.

Turing received a posthumous pardon from Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 over a conviction in 1952 for gross indecency with a 19-year-old man, triggering calls for a blanket pardon for other men.

Turing did not go to prison but was chemically castrated, and died of cyanide poisoning in an apparent suicide two years later.

A number of Australian states, including New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, have also quashed historical convictions for homosexuality.

Germany went a step further last year when it not only erased the convictions of 50,000 gay men sentenced under a Nazi-era law, but also offered compensation to some survivors.The US says it could impose tariffs on a range of Chinese imports, including electronics

China Wednesday unveiled plans to hit major US exports such as soybeans, cars and small aircraft with retaliatory tariffs worth $50 billion in an escalating trade duel between the world's two top economies.

The move came hours after President Donald Trump's administration published its own $50 billion list of Chinese products facing US tariffs because of Beijing's alleged theft of intellectual property and technology.

The two powers have engaged in heated rhetoric and tit-for-tat actions that have raised the prospect of a trade war and rattled global markets.

Markets in Japan and Australia clung on to marginal gains wednesday but China, Hong Kong and South Korea dipped into the red ahead of Beijing's announcement.

Trump took to Twitter following Beijing's action, blaming previous US administrations for the US trade deficit and intellectual property "theft" by China.

"We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the US," Trump tweeted. "We cannot let this continue!"

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China remains open to talks, "but the opportunity for consultation and negotiation has been missed by the US side time and again".

"The US side should not try to threaten China in a condescending way. We should have give and take, instead of threatening the others senselessly," Geng told reporters before Beijing announced the tariff plan.

"Any attempt to bring China to its knees through threats and intimidation will never succeed. It will not succeed this time either."

The Chinese commerce ministry unveiled a list of 106 products, including chemical goods, frozen beef and whiskey, that will be hit by duties of 25 percent, though it did not announce a date for their implementation.

A third of all US soybean exports go to China in sales worth $14 billion last year, and the crop is grown in rural states that voted for Trump in the 2016 election.

The tariffs also target planes that weigh no more than 45,000 kg -- smaller than the major commercial jets made by Boeing.

The targeted planes would include private jets like the Gulfstream V and others that have been snapped up by China's elite.

China this week hit back at earlier tariffs, imposing its own levies on US wine, nuts and fruit

Taken together the $100 billion worth of targeted goods represents a good portion of the $580 billion in two-way trade recorded last year.

When asked about Trump's demand for China to lower its trade surplus with the US by $100 billion, vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen told reporters China "can't accept this, foremost because it's impossible to do".

Beijing also launched a dispute settlement procedure at the World Trade Organization on Wednesday, the commerce ministry said in a separate statement, adding that Washington had committed a "flagrant violation of WTO rules".

China's newly unveiled tariffs come after Beijing imposed duties on about $3 billion on US exports such as pork, wine and fruit on Monday in response to earlier US tariffs on steel and aluminium.

The US followed on Tuesday with its $50 billion list, which includes imports like electronics, aircraft parts, satellites, medicine, machinery and other goods.

The proposed list targets "products that benefit from China's industrial plans while minimising the impact on the US economy", the office of US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement.

It identifies roughly 1,300 goods that could face duties of 25 percent but remains subject to a review process that will last until at least May before it can take effect.

- Mixed feelings -

Over the last month, Trump has shaken markets and disregarded warnings from industry groups and members of his own Republican party in announcing punishing new tariffs on exports from major trading partners.

The move toward trade sanctions on China, however, had received a mixed response, with some support among lawmakers and industry bodies.

The US-China Business Council said it agreed that US companies suffer forced technology transfer in China -- but warned against tariffs.

"The American business community wants to see solutions to these problems, not just sanctions," John Frisbie, the council's president, said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against Chinese imports, insisting the US gets a bad deal from its trade relationship with the world's number two economy

"China needs to substantially improve market access and competitive conditions for American companies selling to and investing in China in certain sectors, but unilateral tariffs may do more harm than good."

General trade tensions had calmed in recent days, with investors taking some solace from news that Washington had begun talks to resolve differences with the European Union and China.

But in a series of irate tweets this week, Trump renewed threats to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement -- another trade bugbear which he has denounced as a killer of US jobs.The monkeys are trained to clamber up palm trees and pick coconuts

A pig-tailed macaque yanked at a coconut on a piece of string until it fell to the floor, a small victory for the simian student at a Malaysian school that trains monkeys to harvest fruit for farmers.

Thousands of monkeys have been taught the trade over the past four decades by a man known as Grandfather Wan in a small village in the north of the country.

For a small fee people across the country send their macaques to the famed school, where they are put on thin chains like leashes, and trained to clamber up palm trees and pick coconuts.

Teaching monkeys to pick fruit has in the past sparked protests from animal rights groups who have denounced it as cruel, but Grandfather Wan -- real name Wan Ibrahim Wan Mat -- insists he only ever treats his charges kindly.

Wan has taught the trade to thousands of monkeys over the past four decades

"They are like our children," said the 63-year-old, as macaques swung about and screeched in a training area consisting of a cluster of palm trees and some dilapidated wooden platforms for the macaques to climb on.

"When they drop the fruits, we show them love. We stroke them."

He trains southern pig-tailed macaques, a medium-sized monkey found across much of Malaysia, as well as parts of Indonesia and southern Thailand.

They are mostly found in the region's rainforests but as their natural habitat has been destroyed by logging and human encroachment, the monkeys have increasingly strayed into villages and cities.

- Top-notch coconut pickers -

Wan Ibrahim first became interested in macaque training in his early 20s when he spotted the creatures climb up coconut palms to pick the fruit.

It was just a hobby to begin with but as he improved, word of his skills spread and people from far and wide started sending their macaques to him in the small village of Padang Halban in northern Kelantan state.

Coconuts are big business in tropical Malaysia which produces some 700 million every year and the country is home to countless smallholders some of whom use monkeys to carry out the labour-intensive work of harvesting.

Turning a monkey into a top-notch coconut picker can take anything from a few days to a month, Wan says

Getting a monkey up to speed as a top-notch coconut picker can take anything from a few days to a month, depending on the animal, Wan Ibrahim said.

But once fully trained they can pick up to 800 coconuts a day, which he said makes his fee of 150 ringgit ($38) for a full course well worth it.

The course has several stages. The first is training a monkey to yank a coconut free that is attached by a piece of string to a wooden fence -- aping the action of pulling one of the fruits from a coconut tree.

The creatures are then trained to pull coconuts from a plank of wood raised a few feet above the ground, and the final stage sees them clambering up palm trees to collect the fruit.

Mat Ali Zakaria, a coconut picker and customer from the town of Padang Rengas, more than 300 kilometres (180 miles) away from Padang Halban, praised Wan Ibrahim for his gentle training methods.

Although animal rights groups have protested against training monkeys, Wan insists he treats his charges kindly

"I've seen other people training macaques -- sometimes if they don't want to take coconuts, the monkeys are dunked into a river," he said.

Wan Ibrahim's business won't be around forever -- he has slowed down since a stroke two years ago and now gets around with a walking stick.

None of his five children are interested in taking over the training centre but he said there are other monkey trainers in Malaysia who will continue the work once he retires.

Malaysian Animal Welfare Society president Shenaaz Khan said she was not against training macaques as long as it was not cruel, but raised concerns there was insufficient monitoring of the monkeys once they were returned to their owners.

"When you use them as a labour force, they don't have protection. Who's going to look out for them?" she said.The expected loss of Eastern Ghouta will deal the rebels the biggest blow yet in their uprising

The expected loss of Eastern Ghouta will deal Syria's fragmented rebels their biggest blow yet, leaving them unable to threaten President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and increasingly subservient to competing global interests.

Just weeks after their ill-fated uprising turned seven years old, Syrian opposition fighters have found themselves bussed out of their one-time bastion on the capital's outskirts.

They had overrun the suburb in 2012, setting up independent power structures that served around 400,000 residents and granted them a thriving popular base.

The three main factions -- Jaish al-Islam, Faylaq al-Rahman, and Ahrar al-Sham -- continually pledged to march on Damascus and rained rockets down on its residential neighbourhoods.

Weakened by a slow and painful half-decade siege, rebels could hardly hold out under weeks of bombing that culminated in negotiated withdrawals, a strategy polished by Syria's regime elsewhere.

"What happened is an absolutely huge loss strategically, militarily, and politically for the rebels. However you look at it, it's a total loss," says Nawar Oliver, an analyst at the Omran Institute.

"Just having a presence at the gates of the capital, near foreign embassies, was enough for rebels to impose themselves as essential players."

Even during Ghouta's dying days, its rebels maintained their deadly ability to lob mortar bombs and rockets on the capital, killing dozens.

It had granted them leverage for years, Oliver said.

"The regime had to talk to them, had to release prisoners, because they held the gates of the capital," he said.

"Now, they're nothing."

- 'Nowhere' is safe -

After the crumbling last year of the Islamist State (IS) jihadist group's "caliphate" in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, Assad's troops have shifted their focus elsewhere.

Helped by air strikes from steadfast ally Russia, Syrian troops are now in control of 55 percent of the war-ravaged country.

Just weeks after their ill-fated uprising turned seven years old, opposition fighters have found themselves bussed out of their one-time bastion

Swathes of the north and northeast are held by Kurdish militia and IS still holds small pockets in the country's centre and east.

The conventional armed opposition still holds most of the southern province of Daraa, a few towns in central Syria, and part of Aleppo province in the north.

They are also present in northwest Idlib, but their influence has been shrinking as Islamist and jihadist groups tighten their grip on the province.

Just like Ghouta, those areas have been designated as "de-escalation zones" meant to pave the way for a nationwide ceasefire.

But after Ghouta, nowhere is safe, Nawar told AFP.

"This is the essential thing the opposition knows now: nowhere is an exception," he said.

The evacuation deals that appear to have sealed Ghouta's fate were preceded by years of similar withdrawals, most infamously in December 2016 from second city Aleppo.

After a bombing blitz, tens of thousands of rebels and civilians were bussed out of their stronghold in the city's east in what was, at the time, their most devastating defeat.

"The fall of Aleppo was the beginning of the end, but Ghouta is more symbolic," said Thomas Pierret, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh.

At the time, mainstream rebels held more territory in Idlib, Homs, and around Damascus -- and they still had Ghouta.

"At a rather symbolic level, there was this idea that we still have something. (Ghouta) was a meaningful challenge to the regime," said Pierret.

- 'Biggest loss' -

Now, rebels across the country face three options, Pierret told AFP.

They could reconcile with the regime and join loyalist forces, or could throw their lot in with the opposition's main remaining backer -- Turkey.

"The only alternative is the jihadi option. The jihadists would be the only group left fighting the regime and not directly under the control of another state," said Pierret.

Russia has played a crucial role in helping President Bashar al-Assad gain the upper hand

Syria's conflict has drawn in a host of international players -- including rebel backer Turkey, regime allies Russia and Iran, and the US-led coalition fighting IS.

The "Syrian National Army" -- the Turkey-backed force tied to the political opposition -- said Ghouta's rebels were welcome to join its ranks.

"Developments in Ghouta and elsewhere make us more insistent on maintaining and organising the SNA," said its spokesman Mohammad Abadeen.

Most of the fighters evacuated from Ghouta belonged to Faylaq al-Rahman, who would likely join ranks with Ankara-backed forces in Idlib and Aleppo.

Ahmad Abazeid, an independent Syrian analyst, said rebels in Ghouta's armed insurgency had been a rare case of more independent decision-making.

"Ghouta's loss shrinks the opposition's manoeuvering space with these other powers, because they now need a foreign ally and civilians need an international umbrella to protect them from a similar campaign," he said.

"Aleppo is Syria's second city, but Damascus is the capital -- and losing Ghouta represents the biggest loss in the history of the Syrian revolution," said Abazeid.Cuban master Asbel Morales tastes rum at the Havana Club's distillery in San Jose de las Lajas, Mayabeque province, Cuba

Cuba's signature rum, Havana Club, competes with the best known brands in the world even though it cannot be sold in the largest rum-consuming market.

In Cuba, there are barrels that have been used to age rum for more than six decades -- as long as the US embargo on the island has been in place -- and that give the liquor distilled from sugar cane its unique flavor.

Hundreds of casks rest in the Havana Club warehouses in San Jose, 30 kilometers from Havana, bathed in a sweet woody aroma redolent of vanilla, while bottle after bottle moves down the production line waiting to be filled.

It was in Cuba 150 years ago that light Spanish-style rum was first created, which through natural aging in white oak casks, blending and skill, has evolved into the softer, darker, more subtle version consumed today.

"We are not afraid to say that for us Cuban rum is the best in the world," says rum master Asbel Morales, 49, who has been making rum for three decades.

Cuban rum

Despite the US embargo, global sales of Havana Club, which is available in 120 countries, grew six percent in 2017, led by Germany and France. And China, a big market for Cuban cigars, has huge potential.

"The US represents 39 percent of the global market for premium rum. For political reasons, Havana Club is excluded from that market and yet despite that we are among the three leading rums in the world," marketing director Sergio Valdes told AFP.

According to the latest ranking by Drinks International magazine, Havana Club is among the top three in sales globally along with Plantation and Bacardi.

- Cuban from Cuba-

Since 1993, the brand has been co-owned by the Cuban government's Cuba Ron SA, and French company Pernod Ricard, the number two spirits company in the world.

But the family that owned Havana Club from 1934 until Fidel Castro's revolution expelled them from the country, kept the original recipe, and in 1994 the Arechabalas sold the recipe to Bacardi, another Cuban exile company.

Some Cuban rums are aged for 60 years in casks of white oak, as long as the US embargo that has kept them out of the world's biggest market

A year later Bacardi began selling its own version of Havana Club, produced in Puerto Rico and sold in the US market, with the slogan: "Forced from home. Aged in Exile. Forever Cuban."

Pernod Ricard dismisses the Puerto Rican version as an upstart misleading consumers, and sued Bacardi for using the trademarked brand name -- litigation that continues.

"You can't talk about Cuban rum if you don't have the soil, the temperature, the humidity that exists in Cuba," Morales said. The aging process "is not comparable to anywhere else in the world. It's done naturally with no additives."

And Cuba "has very little pollution," he said. "This makes sugar cane grow more quickly, with a high sugar content and low amount of substances that degrade the molasses," the raw material for rum.

Rum bottles move along a conveyor built at a Havana Club distillery

Under former US President Barack Obama relations with Washington thawed, which led Cuba Ron to register the "Havanista" trademark in the United States in preparation to sell a seven-year-old version in the US market if the embargo were lifted.

But that seems unlikely under President Donald Trump, so the rum will just keep aging while it waits.

London-based rum expert Ian Burrell told AFP the three-year-old versions of the two Havana Clubs are very different, and he can pick out the Cuban style -- aged in Scotch and Irish whisky barrels -- in a blind taste test with its light woodiness and citrus notes.

The Bacardi version -- aged in barrels used for American bourbon -- "is lighter compared to the modern-day Cuban rums. So there is a really big difference between the two products," he told AFP.

A bartender serves Havana Club Ritual rum at the Rum Museum in Havana

"To me as a bartender, both rums can be used in different ways as a base for cocktails that showcase their qualities. I find the Cuban version a little sweeter on the palate with the Puerto Rican version drier."

German tourist Curosch Zandi, 41, is a fan.

"Cuban rum? I don't know, there is something special about the taste. Maybe it's about the country," he said after buying a bottle at the Rum Museum in Havana.

- Rum master -

The human touch is key to a rum's flavor.

Cuban rum master Asbel Morales tasting Havana Club rum, one of the world's top three best-selling brands despite being shut out of the US market and in competition with another Havana Club made by Bacardi

"The role the rum master plays, what he has in his mind, nose, throat, identify the profile of product he wants to obtain," Morales said.

"Without the master who controls the process from the raw material to the finished product, it is impossible to make Cuban rum."

Burrell says a rum master is "like an artist using a palette," blending rums from different distilling columns to create a final product that matches the desired flavor profile.

In Cuba, there are eight rum masters -- including one woman -- who benefit from a tradition passed from generation to generation.

And those old white oak barrels are critical. They have been used to age whisky, and are essential to the rich color and natural flavors of the rum.

The master selects the specific barrel for each batch and decides how long to age it there. For example, vanilla notes become apparent after 10 years.

The highest quality rums are aged in 60-year-old barrels, in which only oxygen, time and the wood contribute to the smooth liquor's flavor.Detained Myanmar journalists Kyaw Soe Oo (C) and Wa Lone (R) talk to the media after an earlier court appearance

A Myanmar judge said Wednesday he would decide next week on whether to throw out a case against two Reuters journalists who were arrested while reporting on military abuses against Rohingya Muslims.

Myanmar nationals Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, could face up to 14 years in prison on charges of possessing classified documents under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

Their plight has triggered global alarm over worsening media freedoms in Myanmar and government efforts to restrict reporting on northern Rakhine state, where troops are accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya minority.

Last week the journalists' lawyers asked the court to drop the case, which is still in a pre-trial hearing phase, saying there was not enough evidence to charge the pair.

On Wednesday defence and prosecution teams presented arguments on the motion to a courtroom packed with relatives, media and diplomats.

"I'm going to give a decision on Wednesday, April 11th," said Judge Ye Lwin.

At the time of their arrest four months ago the reporters were investigating the killing by security forces and ethnic Rakhine locals of 10 unarmed Rohingya Muslim men.

The army later acknowledged that security officers took part in the extrajudicial killings of the men, who were in custody at the time, in Inn Din village and vowed take action against those responsible.

But it has denied any other abuses against the Rohingya, rejecting allegations from the UN that troops are guilty of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide in a campaign that has expelled 700,000 Rohingya from the country since August.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of the crackdown alone.

The journalists, who have been detained since their arrest on December 12, have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

Their families say they were set up by two policemen who invited them for dinner and gave them the documents in question before their arrest.

"I haven't done anything wrong. That's why I believe I will be free soon," Kyaw Soe Oo told reporters after the hearing.

Sean Bain, who was observing the trial for the International Commission of Jurists, called on the government to order prosecutors to "immediately drop these spurious charges".

"Each adjournment wrongfully extends their detention," he told AFP, adding that "three months of hearings have produced no credible evidence" against the journalists.

Calls for the pair's release have poured in from around the globe, including from former US president Bill Clinton and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

The case received another publicity boost last week after British-Lebanese human rights lawyer Amal Clooney announced she would represent the pair.

She was not in court on Wednesday.A replica of the bedroom depicted at the end of "2001: a Space Odyssey" is on display at a museum in Washington

Film buffs can now visit a replica of the bedroom depicted in the penultimate scene of "2001: A Space Odyssey" on the 50th anniversary of its release.

It has been set up in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

In the neo-classical bedroom, the spaceman Dr. David Bowman sees and then becomes older versions of himself, ending up as an old man in bed and then, as he reaches for a black monolith, a fetus.

The exhibit will be open to the public April 8-May 28 and serve as the centerpiece of the museums celebration of the films 50th anniversary. The installation is called "The Barmecide Feast."

One thing that stands out is the bright lighting, just like in the film.

That way viewers can "appreciate the physical environment around the artifacts" in the exhibit such as the bed, chairs, paintings and sculptures, said Martin Collins, a curator at the museum.

"For Kubrick it was important not to have extra set lighting but to have lighting built into the scene itself," said Collins.

It is the work of British artist Simon Birch and is the museum's way of honoring a film considered one of the best in the history of cinema.

Long before movies like "Star Wars" or "Blade Runner", Kubrick revolutionized science fiction with this film co-written with Arthur C. Clarke.

A year before humans set foot on the moon, Collins said, "you also had a deep preoccupation about the future. It was a moment of time in the 60s, both in the United States and the Soviet Union, where the advances in science and technology were very dramatic."

But this progress came with a lot of questions, mainly about the future of humanity, he said, and in some way "2001" addressed them.

One of the features of this film honored by a top US museum is its respect for scientific rigor.

Unlike in "Star Wars", for instance, the reality of silence in space is respected.

For minutes at a time, viewers are treated to scenes with no sound or dialogue, giving the film a slow, gripping feel.

"The space scenes are grounded into the scientific knowledge of the early 60s," said Collins.

"There was a high degree of interest on Kubricks part, and Clarke's, to be accurate in that sense", Collins said.

He added: "For the future of humanity, it gets more speculative."Win Myat Aye: to visit Rohingya refugee camps

A Myanmar minister will tour camps for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, an official said Wednesday, the first such visit since Myanmar's army drove nearly 700,000 members of the Muslim minority over the border.

Bangladesh's foreign ministry confirmed that Myanmar's social welfare, relief and resettlement minister Win Myat Aye would visit the congested camps, which are home to nearly one million Rohingya refugees in total.

"His programme has not been fixed yet," Tareque Muhammad, a director-general at the foreign ministry, told AFP. The visit is slated for April 11 or 12.

US and UN officials say the military crackdown which began last August in the mainly Buddhist nation, purportedly to flush out guerrillas, amounted to ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

Another Bangladeshi official told AFP it would be the first visit by a Myanmar minister to the camps, which have sheltered Rohingya refugees since the early 1990s, for more than a decade.

Win Myat Aye is the deputy head of a task force led by Aung San Suu Kyi on the crisis in Rakhine state, and a top official overseeing a stalled agreement with Bangladesh to repatriate some 750,000 refugees.

Myanmar has approved several hundred Rohingya from a list of thousands to return to their homeland but not a single one has yet crossed back.

Meanwhile Myanmar authorities are accused of bulldozing Rohingya villages in Rakhine and seeking to erase evidence at sites where their troops are accused of atrocities.

Myanmar has denied the charge but blocked investigators from visiting an area where thousands of Rohingya, long persecuted in the country, are believed to have been killed.

Even before the latest influx began last August, the camps in southeast Bangladesh were home to roughly 300,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled previous waves of violence.

Rohingya community leaders in the camps said they would welcome the opportunity to raise their concerns about returning to Rakhine with the visiting Myanmar official.

"We would like to meet face-to face with the minister," Mohibullah told AFP.

Many of the displaced Muslims have rejected the prospect of returning, fearing a repeat of the persecution that has forced them off their lands for generations.

Refugees demand recognition as a minority, access to health and education and an assurance they can return to their ancestral villages rather than being shunted into resettlement camps in Rakhine.Islamist militants destroyed ancient shrines in Timbuktu in 2012

A Malian jihadist was to appear for the first time Wednesday before international war crimes judges, accused of demolishing Timbuktu's fabled shrines, as well as rape, torture and sex slavery.

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud will be asked to confirm his identity and be told of the charges against him when he appears at the International Criminal Court.

The hearing at 1300 GMT in The Hague comes after Hassan was captured over the weekend by Malian authorities and swiftly transferred to the Netherlands late Saturday.

Prosecutors allege the 40-year-old "committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Timbuktu, Mali, between April 2012 and January 2013."

A member of the Ansar Dine jihadist group, Hassan was the "de facto chief of the Islamic police" in Timbuktu, the ICC said.

The armed groups which swept across the remote northern Mali region in 2012 seizing control of the UNESCO-protected site "imposed their vision of religion, through terror, on a local population who didn't adhere to it," says Hassan's arrest warrant, unveiled at the weekend by the court.

Hassan had about 40 Islamic police under his control and "played a leading role in committing crimes, as well as religious and sexist persecution".

"All infractions" of the strict Islamic laws were "punished by whippings, torture during detention and the destruction of sites devoted to religious practises," the warrant says, adding that Hassan himself took part in the lashings.

He also allegedly "participated in the policy of forced marriages which victimised the female inhabitants of Timbuktu and led to repeated rapes and the sexual enslavement of women and girls," the court added.

Dubbed "The City of 333 saints", Timbuktu's holy shrines were built in the 15th and 16th centuries when it was revered as a centre of Islamic learning and a spiritual hub.

Extremists, however, see its moderate form of Islam as idolatrous. The jihadists were angered by the long-held practice of worshipping at the shrines and mausoleums of Muslim saints.

- God's work' -

Hassan is the second Islamic extremist to face trial at the ICC for the destruction of Timbuktu, following a 2016 landmark ruling at the world's only permanent war crimes court.

In the court's first case to focus on cultural destruction, the ICC judges found Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi guilty of directing attacks on the UNESCO world heritage site in 2012. He was sentenced to nine years in jail.

Hassan's arrest has been welcomed in Timbuktu. "It's a very important step in the fight against impunity," said Moctar Mariko, head of the Malian Human Rights Association (AMDH).

"Justice must be done, and the other criminals hunted down, arrested and tried," he told AFP, adding that there was overwhelming witness evidence against Hassan.

A former Timbuktu MP said: "This is God's work. He is not sleeping, but keeping an eye on Timbuktu."

"The jihadists committed profanity against the tombs. They raped women. Now it is their turn to be judged," he added, asking not to be named.

The unrest in the former French colony stems from a 2012 Tuareg separatist uprising against the state, which was exploited by jihadists in order to take over key cities in the north.

Although French forces removed the Al-Qaeda-linked groups in 2012 from places such as Timbuktu, the groups have morphed into more nimble formations operating in rural areas, sometimes winning over local populations by providing basic services and protection from bandits.

That insurgency has since spread to the country's centre, where local grievances are exploited by the Islamists in a region awash with guns.Benicio Del Toro won an Oscar for "Traffic" in 2001

Hollywood star Benicio Del Toro is to preside over the Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival, the organisers said Wednesday.

The Puerto Rican-Spanish actor won best actor at Cannes in 2008 for playing Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's two "Che" films.

The Certain Regard section is a parallel section of the festival in which 20 "original and different" films compete for the Camera d'Or, or Golden Camera award.

Del Toro, 51, who won an Oscar for "Traffic" in 2001, sat on the jury for the main competition of the festival in 2010. Australian actress Cate Blanchett will preside over the main jury this year.

Meanwhile, French producers have lent their support to Cannes director Thierry Fremaux over his controversial shake-up of the world's top film festival.

He had incurred the wrath of hundreds of French and international critics for changing the timings of press screenings which they said would play havoc with the festival.

They argued that critics would now have to wait until the day after gala red carpet premieres to see many of the films in the competition.

But the French producers union said it backed Fremaux's changes which did away with the tradition of having press previews before the gala premieres.

It said they supported the idea of showing "their films in real world premieres before the public and film professionals at the same time".Saudi Arabia has been bombing neighbouring Yemen since 2015

Ten international rights groups called on French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over his country's bombing campaign in Yemen.

Macron is expected to host Prince Mohammed for a three-day trip to France starting Sunday, the latest stop in an international tour by the 32-year-old son of King Salman who is considered the de facto Saudi leader.

A civil war in Yemen, which Saudi Arabia has been bombing since 2015, is considered the world's worse humanitarian crisis by the United Nations with 22.5 million people in need of aid.

"Emmanuel Macron should put Yemen at the centre of his discussions with Mohammed bin Salman as he hosts him in France," said a statement from the rights groups including Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia

They called for "the end of bombing targeting civilians and respect for international humanitarian law" as well as the "unconditional and permanent lifting on restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid and commercial goods to Yemen".

In November, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies including the United Arab Emirates tightened a pre-existing blockade on Yemeni ports and airports, severely restricting deliveries of food aid and other humanitarian supplies.

The Saudi-led coalition says it has since lifted the restrictions, but a recent visitor to the main port of Hodeida, humanitarian worker Suze van Meegen, described it as a "wasteland" in an interview with AFP in late March.

The UN Security Council warned last month that conditions in Yemen were deteriorating and having a "devastating" impact on civilians.

Jonathan Cunliffe, from the Action Against Hunger rights group, said Wednesday that after a devastating outbreak of cholera last year that saw a million people affected, the country faced new risks from disease.

"This week we're already seeing another disease that has disappeared from most of the world: diphtheria is emerging in the country as well," he told a joint press conference on Wednesday.

The Saudi-led military intervention began in March 2015 with the goal of rolling back Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels and restoring Yemen's internationally-recognised government to power.

"France, the US, Britain are all implicated in this conflict due to their technical, military, financial support to the coalition," Jean-Francois Corty from the Medecins du Monde group told a joint press conference on Wednesday.

- Macron, rights defender? -

France is a major arms vendor to Saudi Arabia and separate rights groups have accused the country of doing too little to ensure that its weapons are not used in the Saudi military campaign.

Amnesty International says it has documented dozens of Saudi-led coalition military operations that could amount to war crimes due to the deaths of more than 500 civilians.

"Seeing this wave of crimes, it's amazing to see there hasn't been an immediate suspension of all weapon and missile sales to the Arab coalition," Antoine Madelin from the International Federation for Human rights (FIDH) told the press conference.

Three out of four French people believe it is "unacceptable" to sell military weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to a poll by the YouGov group published at the end of March.

Macron has made clear he is unwilling to lecture countries about their human rights records, however, declining to raise the topic publicly with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi or Chinese leader Xi Jinping during meetings.

Prince Mohammed defended his country's actions in Yemen at the UN in New York last week.

"We try as much as we can to solve the problems of the Middle East politically and if things get out of control, we try as hard as we can to avoid all the other impacts," he told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"We will continue to comply, as we always have, with international law," he added after presenting him with a cheque for $930 million (757 million euros) for humanitarian aid in Yemen.Newly recruited Huthi rebel fighters chant slogans in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on July 16, 2017

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday shrugged off a Yemeni rebel missile attack on one of its oil tankers in the Red Sea saying it had zero impact on the kingdom's crude exports.

The attack Tuesday was "nothing but a failed attempt to affect international maritime safety, an attempt which did not impact the economy or disrupt oil supplies", Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Falih tweeted.

Saudi Arabia leads a regional military coalition allied with Yemen's embattled government in a war against the Iran-backed Huthis, who have ramped up their attacks on the Gulf kingdom.

The latest attack caused "minor damage" to the tanker off the Yemeni port of Hodeida, according to the coalition. No casualties were reported.

Hodeida, Yemen's main port, is controlled by the rebels and under blockade by the Saudi-led coalition.

Tuesday's attack came a day after 16 Yemenis were killed in an air strike on Hodeida province. The Saudi-led coalition has said it was "investigating the report".

Several children were among those killed, the United Nations said, calling it "one of the deadliest attacks" in years on minors in Yemen.

Nearly 10,000 people been killed since 2015, when the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen war. The country now stands on the brink of famine.Bahrain's capital Manama, where the country has announced a major discovery of shale oil

Bahrain on Wednesday announced its newly discovered shale oil reserve was estimated to contain more than 80 billion barrels, making the once-marginal oil producer potentially a major player in the market.

The amount of recoverable oil -- or oil that can be extracted -- is still under study, Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa told a press conference in Manama.

The field covers 2,000 square kilometres (772 square miles) in shallow waters off the kingdom's west coast, which faces oil giant Saudi Arabia.

The new field would in theory dwarf the Bahrain Field, the country's only other oil field, which contains several hundred million barrels.

The actual impact of the discovery is contingent on how much of it is actually extractable.

Yahya al-Ansari, exploration manager at Bahrain's national oil company Bapco, said that the pumping of oil from the field is not expected for at least five years.

Speaking to reporters after Wednesday's press conference, Ansari said Bahraini authorities, in cooperation with international oil companies, were trying to establish how much oil can be extracted.

"What we have announced is oil in place ... So far, we don't know how much of it can be extracted and the cost of its production," two important elements that could determine whether the major announcement is viable.

"The US shale oil industry normally extracts 5-10 percent of the known shale oil reserves and raising this percentage depends on the advancement of technology," Ansari said.

The Bahraini minister and Ansari refused to be drawn into providing details about how much production Bahrain is likely to have in five years.

Shale oil production is a costly business and is far more expensive than conventional oil. In some cases, high cost makes production commercially not possible.

International consultants DeGolyer and MacNaughton, Halliburton, and Schlumberger are heading the project with Bahrain's National Oil and Gas Authority.

Analyst Stephen Brennock of broker PVM Oil said the find has "the potential to be a game changer" for the tiny Gulf kingdom.

"However, it is still early days and the reserves of the field have yet to be finalised. Moreover, it will be several years before these newly found supplies are brought online," Brennock told AFP.

JBC Energy, an independent research centre, was equally cautious.

"It remains completely unclear yet how much of the 80 billion barrels can be seen as recoverable reserves. Furthermore, apparently it is a shale oil reservoir, which would inflate production costs.

"Nonetheless it is a significant discovery and even if only a small fraction of it can be produced it would change Bahrain's position in the region substantially," a JBC analyst said.

Bahrain, which sits between regional arch-rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, was the first of the Gulf states to discover crude but is today the smallest of the Gulf producers.

The tiny Sunni-ruled kingdom currently produces some 50,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the Bahrain Field, discovered in 1932.

Manama also gets another 150,000 barrels daily from the Abu Saafa offshore field, which it splits equally with Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom has also discovered natural gas estimated at between 10 trillion cubic feet and 20 trillion cubic feet, Sheikh Mohammed said.

Bahrain, which is not a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is nonetheless part of an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC members to cut oil production in the wake of the 2014 market crash.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, together pump around 17 million barrels of oil per day, equivalent to some 18 percent of global production or 55 percent of OPEC's output.

To help cope with the drop in oil revenues following the collapse in crude prices, slashed by half since mid-2014, the GCC states decided to impose a value-added tax of five percent from 2018.Taiwan is a self-ruled democracy but China views it as part of its territory, to be brought back under its control using force if necessary

The Man Booker International Prize has reversed a move to change a Taiwanese author's nationality to "Taiwan, China", after the literary award was criticised for bowing to pressure from Beijing.

Wu Ming-yi -- whose novel "The Stolen Bicycle" was among the 13 books longlisted for the prestigious prize -- had protested after his nationality on the Man Booker website was revised from "Taiwan" to "Taiwan, China".

The change was prompted by a complaint from the Chinese embassy in Britain, according to the London-based award organiser Booker Prize Foundation.

Taiwan is a self-ruled democracy but China views it as part of its territory, to be brought back under its control using force if necessary.

Beijing rejects any recognition of Taiwan's sovereignty and has recently rebuked foreign firms -- including Zara, Marriott, and Delta -- for listing Taiwan as a separate country on their websites.

But the organisers said on Wednesday it has decided to change Wu's nationality back to "Taiwan" after consulting interested parties and British government advice.

"The country/territory of longlisted authors and translators will appear, and Wu Ming-yi will be listed as 'Taiwan,'" the Booker Prize Foundation said in a statement.

In what may be a compromise, "territory" was a new addition to the Man Booker International Prize nominee list appearing on its website Wednesday.

"The prize is not about defining nationality; all global citizens are eligible, provided they are published in translation in the UK," it added.

The foundation has notified the Chinese embassy but did not consult with them.

Taiwan's foreign ministry thanked Man Booker on Wednesday for the reversal and criticised Beijing.

"China is putting pressure on Taiwan's international space on all fronts and at all times, both in official and civil situations," the ministry said.

Wu's novel, written in Chinese and translated into English, is about a novelist searching for his missing father's bicycle.

The shortlist for the prize will be announced on April 12 and winner on May 22.In this prize-winning photo taken on December 9, 2017, women react as an Israeli mounted policeman disperses Palestinian protesters in east Jerusalem

AFP photographer Ahmad Gharabli on Wednesday took home first prize at the Arab Journalism Awards in Dubai for his work documenting protests in Jerusalem.

Gharabli, who has been with AFP since 2006, won first place in the photojournalism category at the Arab Media Forum for a series of images documenting Palestinian demonstrations in east Jerusalem.

Among his work is a photo of four women huddled in fear against a shuttered storefront as an Israeli policeman on horseback dispersed a December 9, 2017 protest.

Gharabli, 37, is himself a Palestinian from annexed east Jerusalem, which was seized by Israel in 1967 in a move never recognised by the international community.

The annual Arab Media Forum, held Tuesday and Wednesday in Dubai, was dominated this year by the global fight against "fake news".

The forum also featured a talk by AFP global editor-in-chief Phil Chetwynd, who addressed the growing impact of visuals on the news in the digital era.Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO and founder, is battling a storm of negative publicity over the hijacking of private data of 50 million users of the social network

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will testify in Congress next week over the hijacking of users' personal data by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, a House committee announced Wednesday.

The hearing, set for 10 am April 11 before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, aims to "shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online," committee chairman Greg Walden and ranking Democrat Frank Pallone said in a statement.

"We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg's willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions."

Zuckerberg will likely face multiple congressional hearings as his social media giant battles a firestorm set off by the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The British consulting firm, which was hired by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, acquired data of 50 million Facebook users to create psychological profiles that could be used to influence US voters.

Zuckerberg also has been invited to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 10, alongside Google chief Sundar Pichai and Twitter head Jack Dorsey.

His participation is yet unconfirmed but Senator Dianne Feinstein told the San Francisco Chronicle Zuckerberg had agreed to attend that hearing.The Islamic State group was flushed out of the Syria's Raqa in October, but much of the city was left in tatters

The United Nations said Wednesday that it has conducted its first humanitarian mission to Raqa since the Syrian city was liberated from the Islamic State group, warning that returning civilians face enormous risks.

The city, which IS proclaimed part of its "caliphate" in 2014, is littered with unexploded devices, the head of the UN's Syria humanitarian taskforce, Jan Egeland, told reporters in Geneva.

"Homes are still full of bombs (and) grenades. Children are still being maimed and killed," Egeland said, after receiving a report on the visit, which was carried out in recent days.

Roughly 100,000 people have returned to Raqa since IS was flushed out in October by fighters backed by a US-led international coalition.

Egeland said another 100,000 displaced people are waiting near the city and want to go back.

Compounding the risks of returning is the near complete absence of basic services including water, electricity and healthcare.

"It is incredible to have a city with nearly 100,000 people and no public services," the UN official said. "There is no real police (or) law and order."

The battle against IS in Raqa included a heavy bombardment by coalition jets and left much of the city in tatters.

Egeland said the extent of the devastation observed by the UN team again raised the question of whether it was "necessary to totally destroy (Raqa) to liberate it."

Relief work in Raqa had been carried out by local civil society groups, but Egeland said the UN expects to start its own humanitarian operations in the city soon.A Syrian man prays on July 12, 2017 at a cemetary in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, 100 days following a suspected toxic gas attack that was reported to have killed 88 people, including 31 children

A year after the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun was attacked with sarin, the United States and its European allies vowed that Bashar al-Assad will be held to account.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and the United States also sternly criticized Russia for failing to strip its ally of his deadly chemical arsenal.

"Today marks one year since the heinous attack... where Assad's forces unleashed sarin nerve gas with tragic consequences for hundreds of men, women and children," they said.

"We condemn the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere," said foreign ministers Boris Johnson, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Heiko Maas and US Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan.

"We are committed to ensuring that all those responsible are held to account. We will not rest in our efforts to seek justice for the victims of these abhorrent attacks in Syria."

At around 7:00am on April 4, 2017, an air strike hit Khan Sheikun, a small town in northwestern Syria held by rebel fighters opposed to Assad's Russian-backed regime.

A Syrian child receives treatment at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following a suspected nerve agent attack on April 4, 2017

According to a UN-commissioned report, many residents of the town suffered the symptoms of an attack from an illegal nerve agent and more than 80 or them died, convulsed in agony.

US President Donald Trump responded to the attack three days later, when US vessels in the Mediterranean fired 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase.

But Assad has denied ordering the attack and Russia has continued to give him diplomatic cover at the United Nations, despite having agreed to help remove his banned weapons.

"In 2013, Russia promised to ensure Syria would abandon all of its chemical weapons," the ministers said.

"Since then, international investigators mandated by the UN Security Council have found the Assad regime responsible for using poison gas in four separate attacks.

"Instead of fulfilling its promise, Russia reacted by using its Security Council veto to shut down the investigation.

"Each time a chemical weapon is used, it undermines the global consensus against their employment," they warned.

"Any such use is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and gravely undermines the rules-based international order."Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh since August alone, fleeing army violence in Rakhine state that US and UN officials say amounted to ethnic cleansing

Bangladesh will begin relocating around 100,000 Rohingya refugees to a desolate island off its southern coast in June, a senior official said Wednesday, despite warnings the site is prone to violent weather.

Authorities say shelters for around 50,000 refugees have been constructed at Bhashan Char, a silty strip of land that only emerged from the Bay of Bengal in 2006.

The remaining shelters will be completed within two months, Bangladesh's disaster management secretary Shah Kamal told UN agencies during a briefing about the controversial plan in Dhaka.

"It will begin in the first week of June," Kamal said of the relocation project that has attracted fierce criticism since being first proposed in 2015.

"We're building accommodation for 100,000 people," he told AFP, adding the navy would construct more than 1,440 large shelters to house the refugees by May 31.

The navy is also filling in low-lying areas and building embankments around the entire perimeter to ensure the island can resist tidal flooding and monsoon storms.

Bangladesh, a low-lying riverine country at risk from rising sea levels, is prone to tropical cyclones and 120 evacuation shelters are also being constructed on the island, Kamal said.

Bangladesh allocated $280 million last November to make the island suitable for habitation as hundreds of thousands of refugees from Myanmar crammed into squalid camps near the border.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh since August alone, fleeing army violence in Rakhine state that US and UN officials say amounted to ethnic cleansing.

Kamal said refugees most vulnerable to the approaching monsoon would be offered the chance to relocate to the small island, which lies west of the port city of Chittagong.

The process would be voluntary, he added.

The UN says 150,000 Rohingya in the camps were at risk of landslides, heavy rains and diseases when the monsoon season hits in June.

UN resident coordinator Mia Seppo said Bangladesh wanted to start the process in June but said more discussion was needed.

"That is the timeline they are looking at," Mia Seppo told AFP, adding any relocation must be "voluntary" and conducted safely and with dignity.

The refugees "need to have a say, need to be consulted and need to understand the conditions to which they would be moving", she added.

The island is one hour's boat journey from the nearest inhabited land.

Critics warned the whole island could be inundated by floods or wiped out by cyclones, which have killed hundreds of thousands along Bangladesh's turbulent coast in the last half century.

The plan was shelved but revived in August as unprecedented waves of refugees poured into Bangladesh's southeast, placing enormous strain on the limited resources in the region.

Many Rohingya remain opposed to the relocation plan, but officials are confident tens of thousands will be persuaded to leave dire conditions in existing camps.

Meanwhile proposals for Rohingya to return to Myanmar have stalled. An agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar to repatriate Rohingya has not seen a single refugee return.Central American migrants taking part in the "Migrant Via Crucis" caravan towards the United States chooses clothes from a donated pile as they camp at a sport complex in Matias Romero, Oaxaca

A caravan of Central American migrants whose trek across Mexico infuriated President Donald Trump has decided not to travel to the US border, leaders said Tuesday.

"We will wrap up our work in Mexico City," said Irineo Mujica, the head of the migrant advocacy group People Without Borders (Pueblo sin Fronteras).

"We have support teams at the border if there are people who need assistance there, but they would have to travel on their own," he told AFP in the town of Matias Romero, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

The just over 1,000 migrants who currently make up the caravan -- many traveling in families of up to 20 people -- have been camped in the southern town since the weekend, deciding their next move in the face of daily attacks from Trump.

The Republican president vowed to send the US military to secure the border and threatened to axe the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if Mexico did not stop the caravan.

The caravan is in fact a yearly event whose goal is more to raise awareness about the plight of migrants than to reach the United States -- though some participants have traveled to the border in the past.

Mujica said this year's caravan was so large it would have been dangerous to travel to the border by train-hopping.

"There are too many children -- 450 in all. There are lots of babies. Hopping the train, as we did in the past, would have been crazy," he said.

The caravan now plans to travel to the central city of Puebla for a conference, then on to Mexico City for a series of demonstrations -- and end its journey there.

The group, mainly Hondurans, also includes Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Nicaraguans, mostly fleeing the brutal gang violence that has made Central America home to some of the highest murder rates in the world.

Organizers say Mexican immigration authorities are working with the migrants to get them papers to stay in Mexico.

Mujica praised the Mexican government for its response.

"Donald Trump wanted the world to crush us, to erase our existence. But Mexico responded admirably and we thank the government for the way it handled this caravan," he said.A woman holds an image of Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination April 4, 2018 in Memphis, Tennessee

Bells rang out Wednesday to mark the moment Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated 50 years ago, as Americans paid tribute to the civil rights leader and reflected on how to carry forward his legacy.

In a country still torn by racial and class divisions, thousands of demonstrators rallied in Memphis, Tennessee where the pastor and Nobel Peace Prize winner was slain aged 39 on a motel balcony by a white supremacist sniper on April 4, 1968.

Bells tolled 39 times at 6:01 pm (2301 GMT), the moment King was shot, in Memphis and around the nation to honor the icon whose moral courage helped bring lasting changes to American life.

Prominent civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson, a member of King's entourage, spoke from the Lorraine Motel balcony where King was gunned down and said "the sore is still raw" from the fatal shooting.

Addressing thousands of dignitaries and everyday Americans who gathered for an anniversary ceremony at the motel, which has been transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum, Jackson recalled the "pow!" of the gunshot that slew his movement's leader.

But he insisted that civil rights freedom fighters "never stopped fighting, we never gave up" on bending American society closer to justice.

"From this balcony," the 76-year-old Jackson told the crowd, "we decided we would not let one bullet kill a movement."

Lionized today for his heroic campaigns against racism and segregation, King was a controversial, radical activist who, with a mantra of non-violence, ardently campaigned against poverty and economic injustice, including what he called the continued "exploitation of the poor," and US wars abroad.

His birthday is a national holiday, and a 30-foot (nine-meter) statue in his likeness towers in Washington as a tribute to his life and work.

But despite the reverence for the iconic King, there was broad acknowledgement that his dream has been only partially realized.

"When we look at the state of race relations, we've made dramatic progress in 50 years -- but we're nowhere near where we need to be," King's activist son, Martin Luther King III, told ABC from Memphis, where he took part in a symbolic march.

"He would know that we as a nation can, must and will do better."

- 'Economic injustice' -

People wait to march to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr in Memphis, Tennessee, with signs referencing the 1968 sanitation workers strike that brought him to the city

King catapulted into the national spotlight by taking the lead on a year-long 1950s boycott against racial segregation on local buses.

He is perhaps best known for the "I Have a Dream" speech he delivered to some 250,000 demonstrators on August 28, 1963 as part of the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."

One year later he became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner at 35 for his non-violent resistance.

Prior to King's assassination, which triggered an outpouring of grief and riots in more than 100 cities, he had traveled to Memphis to support sanitation workers striking for better conditions and higher pay.

Elmore Nickleberry, now 86, is today one of the last participants in that strike still on the job.

"The mood was mighty bad when he got killed. People started hollering, started crying," Nickleberry told AFP.

He recalled that poignant moment of tension and pain, but Nickleberry said it is King's call for non-violent action that lives on.

"That's what I remember today."

King's focus on economic injustice was a rallying point Wednesday, as union workers marched for fair wages and activists lamented the concentration of poverty within black communities.

King fought not just against the "Jim Crow laws" that discriminated against blacks, said Nancy Taylor, a lawyer attending the march.

"He also fought against economic injustice, and that was the message that's really been lost in his legacy," she said.

- 'Promised land' -

US President Donald Trump paid homage to the rights leader by proclaiming April 4, 2018 a day to honor King.

"It is not government that will achieve Dr King's ideals, but rather the people of this great country who will see to it that our nation represents all that is good and true, and embodies unity, peace, and justice," Trump said in a statement.

Jesse Jackson speaks from the balcony of the Lorraine Motel at the National Civil Rights Museum on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. April 4, 2018 in Memphis, Tennessee

Trump has been sharply criticized for divisive comments targeting Latino and Muslim immigrants, and for refusing to condemn outright a violent white supremacist rally last year that ended in bloodshed.

Several US lawmakers traveled to Memphis for the day-long tribute, including Senator Bernie Sanders, who said "the legacy for us is to follow in (King's) footsteps and to transform this country."

A large crowd gathered at the motel to hear preachers' calls for civil and political activism, and were treated to music from legendary soul crooner Al Green.

Thousands marched near a union headquarters where King had joined the sanitation workers on the eve of his assassination.

"I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you," King prophetically said that evening. "But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the promised land!"

Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, paid tribute in a video message, stressing that because of King's vision, "we found the courage to come as far as we have."Teachers besiege the state capitol in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma April 4, 2018 to demand more funding for education

Students joined teachers in Oklahoma City Wednesday for a third day of protests demanding that state lawmakers increase funding for public schools after years of budget cuts.

"We the students of Oklahoma are with you for as long as this strike takes," student Cameron Olbert told a rally outside the state capitol, epicenter of a protest that has attracted tens of thousands of people.

Protesters on Tuesday overwhelmed offices of their state representatives and jeered when Republican-controlled legislature refused to consider additional school funding.

The protests are part of a mid-term election year wave that is sweeping Republican-dominated states where teachers have had to cope with years of low pay and cuts to public schools.

Oklahoma is among a handful of states that cut its education budget deeply as public coffers were drained by tax cuts and the 2008 economic downturn.

Even though the economy has improved, the education cuts have not been restored, prompting struggling teachers to fight back.

Their protest has brought to light stories of teachers taking multiple jobs to make ends meet and classrooms in disrepair.

The teachers' union said many of its members were prepared to protest through the week, if not beyond.

On Wednesday, they got a boost from the students, who organized their own rally.

"We're not just here for teacher pay raises," Oldbert said.

"We are here for support staff. We are here for arts and music programs that have been decimated for the last decade. We are here for chairs that don't break when we sit on them."

Protesting teachrs say years of low pay has forced many of them to take second and third jobs to pay the bills

Students, some of whom are near voting age, threatened to punish unresponsive politicians in the November mid-terms, raising the stakes for Republicans in what would normally be one of their strongholds.

Oklahoma lawmakers recently agreed to a rare tax increase to bump teachers' pay by an average of $6,100 a year.

But that was not enough to placate educators, who insist cuts in recent years have been far deeper than what lawmakers have given back, and that school funding in general, and not just salaries, must be increased.

The states of Kentucky, Arizona and West Virgina have been hit by similar protests.

West Virginia led the way with a nine-day strike last month won teachers their first pay raise in four years.Critics accuse Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza of seeking to stay in power for life

The UN Security Council on Wednesday urged the government of Burundi to engage in meaningful talks with the opposition ahead of the 2020 elections, saying it was "deeply concerned" about the situation in the African nation.

The statement also offered support to the African Union's efforts to help resolve the Burundi conflict, but called on regional states to "refrain from any interference."

The Council is "deeply concerned over the political situation in Burundi, the slow progress of the inter Burundian dialogue led by the East African Community (EAC), and the lack of engagement" by the Burundi government read the statement adopted by the 15-member Council.

The international body expects elections scheduled for 2020 in Burundi to be "free, fair, transparent, peaceful, fully inclusive, with the participation of all political parties," and to "ensure the full and equal participation of women throughout the process," the statement said.

The Council however underscored its "deep concern regarding the continued worsening of the humanitarian situation, marked by nearly 180,000 internally displaced persons, 3.6 million people in need and more than 429,000 Burundians seeking refuge in neighboring countries."

The government of Burundi has "the primary responsibility ... for ensuring security in its territory and protecting its population, with respect for the rule of law, human rights and international humanitarian law, as applicable."

The statement also urged Burundi to resume its cooperation with international groups, especially the United Nations.

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza, first elected to office in 2005, ran for a third five-year term and was re-elected in 2015 despite a two-term limit under the constitution.

That grip on power triggered violence that left at least 1,200 people dead and sent more than 400,000 Burundians fleeing abroad.

Nkurunziza has set May 17 as the date for a referendum on a constitutional reform that would enable him to serve two seven-year mandates from 2020.

The constitutional changes, however, have been intensely criticized by the opposition and the international community, particularly the African Union.President Donald Trump shocked allies by declaring that the 2,000 US troops in Syria would come home soon, but US officials moved to scotch talk of a precipitous pull-out

President Donald Trump's White House vowed Wednesday that the US mission in Syria would come to a "rapid end" but failed to put a timetable on an eventual withdrawal.

Just days after Trump shocked aides and allies by declaring that the 2,000 troops would come home soon, US officials moved to scotch talk of a precipitous pullout.

The decision will reassure those in Washington pushing for a longer commitment to countering Russian and Iranian influence in a Syria still wracked by civil war.

But the hawks' relief may not last; the White House statement made it clear that the mission will continue only as long as it takes to defeat the beleaguered Islamic State group.

And, with only a few thousand IS fighters thought to remain, the rationale for keeping US troops alongside Kurdish and Arab militia allies in the east of Syria may soon expire.

"The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed," the White House said.

"The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated," it added.

Trump also spoke by telephone to President Emmanuel Macron of France. After the call, Macron's office said both "remain determined" to pursue the battle against the IS group.

This determination appeared lacking last week, when Trump triggered speculation about a withdrawal by lamenting that America had wasted $7 trillion fighting in the Middle East.

"We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now," he vowed, in a speech.

US officials confirmed that spending on the mission is under review, and White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: "We want to focus on transitioning to local enforcement."

Trump's outbursts have called into a question a policy outlined in January that troops would stabilize areas recaptured from the IS jihadists and boost US influence over Syria's future.

Then secretary of state Rex Tillerson argued US forces must remain to prevent IS and Al-Qaeda from returning and to deny Iran a chance "to further strengthen its position in Syria."

And he warned that "a total withdrawal of American personnel at this time would restore" Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad to "continue his brutal treatment against his own people."

Trump has since sacked Tillerson, but US military commanders and diplomats have continued to work to implement the policy, including efforts to stabilize eastern Syria.

- Lasting defeat -

As recently as Tuesday, the commander of US troops in the Middle East, General Joe Votel, said: "Of course there is a military role in this, certainly in the stabilization phase."

And US diplomat Brett McGurk, the president's special envoy for the war against the Islamic State, said much work remains to be done to ensure the group's lasting defeat.

But questions remain over a $200 million US pledge to pay for this endeavor, and Trump has publicly suggested that Gulf allies like Saudi Arabia should step up to pay.

The White House's decision appears to grant the mission a reprieve, but if Trump does not want to stay the course, he may leave room for Russia and Iran to step in.

As Trump was meeting his commanders in Washington, the presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran were issuing a joint statement calling for a "lasting ceasefire" in Syria.

The three have been working to find a political solution in Syria under the Astana process, which began last year in competition with the US and UN-backed Geneva initiative.

Both Tehran and Moscow have deployed military forces to Syria to secure their own interests and to back up Assad in his now seven-year-old war against anti-government rebels.

Washington is a bitter foe of Iran's and has criticized Russia's support for a regime accused of slaughtering and starving civilians -- and of using banned chemical weapons.

But US allies and Trump's more hawkish advisers fear a rapid American departure from eastern Syria would oblige America's Kurdish allies there to seek a compromise with Damascus.

And Iran would be free to extend its role to the Iraqi border, creating a continuous zone of influence between Tehran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, which has also deployed to Syria.

America's European allies also want the troops to stay on. A British SAS soldier was killed alongside a US comrade in Syria last week and France is reportedly sending reinforcements.

On Wednesday, the United States, Britain, France and Germany marked the first anniversary of an alleged Syrian sarin attack that killed 80 people by vowing to hold Assad to account.Violence in DR Congo has left millions of people in need of food aid, says the UN

The UN's high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Wednesday launched a key visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ahead of efforts to drum up nearly $1.7 billion (1.38 billion euros) in aid for the troubled country.

Grandi will meet with senior officials, aid workers and refugees before heading to several locations in the east of the country to assess the situation first-hand, his office said.

The visit comes against a backdrop of tension between the DRC authorities and agencies over the scale of humanitarian problems in the sprawling, violence-torn country.

In January, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the crisis had reached a "breaking point" and identified needs of $1.68 billion.

Donor countries will meet in Geneva on April 13 with the goal of raising the sum.

But the Kinshasa government has refused to take part, saying the crisis is being exaggerated.

On March 23, Prime Minister Jose Makila said aid bodies and NGOs were propagating a "bad image of the Democratic Republic of Congo throughout the world".

At least 13.1 million Congolese are in need of humanitarian aid, including 7.7 million who are severely food insecure, the UN Security Council said in March.

Among these, 4.5 million are people who have had to flee their homes because of conflict, according to UN estimates as of December 31 last year.

In contrast, the DRC's minister of humanitarian affairs, Bernard Biango, has put the number of internally-displaced people at 231,241.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Leonard She Okitundu said the country, "despite our budgetary difficulties," would spend $100 million "to ease humanitarian distress."

It would earmark $10 million to help Congolese refugees, or those who have been internally displaced, to return home, he said.

"We do not have a closed mind with regard to all the contributions that may come from our partners in the framework of international solidarity," he added.

A child is measured at a health centre for starving children in the city of Kananga. The central region of Kasai exploded into violence in 2016 -- a humanitarian crisis there is now escalating fast, say aid specialists

The humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC has deep roots, dating from years of violence between rival ethnic groups and militias.

But it has also escalated in the diamond-rich central region of Kasai, which exploded into violence in 2016 after soldiers killed a local traditional leader known as the Kamwina Nsapu.

Fighting between security forces and Kamwina Nsapu loyalists has since killed more than 3,000 people and displaced 1.4 million, according to the Roman Catholic church. Successive harvests have been destroyed.

In 2017, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) requested $812.5 million for humanitarian aid in the DRC, but received only $427.8 million -- a shortfall of 47 percent.An undated photo shows Nasim Najafi Aghdam, the animal rights activist who shot and wounded three people at YouTube's headquarters before killing herself

Police said Wednesday they had been alerted that the Iran-born animal rights activist who shot three people before killing herself at YouTube's California headquarters, was believed to have a vendetta against the online giant.

The father of Nasim Najafi Aghdam informed police in the Silicon Valley hub of Mountain View that she had gone missing from her San Diego home, and may have travelled to the area because she was furious at YouTube's alleged censorship of her video channels.

But officers in Mountain View -- who found her sleeping in her car early Tuesday -- said they saw no reason to detain her.

Hours later Aghdam, 39, burst into the courtyard of the YouTube headquarters in nearby San Bruno during lunchtime, opening fire with a 9 mm handgun.

She wounded two women and one man before turning the gun on herself as police surrounded the campus of the world's leading video-sharing platform.

Aghdam, who also went by the name Nasime Sabz, was an activist who posted videos on her YouTube channels supporting animal rights and vegan causes, in English, Turkish and Farsi -- as well as bizarre dance and workout clips performed in outlandish costumes.

San Bruno police said her motive appeared to be anger over YouTube's policies.

"At this point in the investigation, it is believed that the suspect was upset with policies and practices of YouTube. This appears to be the motive for this incident," police chief Ed Barberini said Wednesday.

Barberini said they had recovered a handgun registered to Aghdam, and that she had gone to a local gun range on Tuesday before entering YouTube offices via the parking garage.

Of the three wounded, the man remains in serious condition at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, a spokesman said. The two women wounded were released Wednesday.

- Animal rights militant -

No caption

Aghdam was one of a number of people in the animal rights community who complained that Google-owned YouTube had placed restrictions on their postings, ostensibly because their videos were viewed as too gory for the general public.

She and others also complained about YouTube's small revenue-sharing payments for advertising that runs on their channels.

"Growing on YouTube is not in your hands," Aghdam complained in one video. "It all depends on who is controlling your channel."

In addition to restricting her postings on animal mistreatment, she said, YouTube had blocked others.

"They age-restricted my ab workout video, a video that has nothing bad in it, nothing sensual," she complained.

- Not seen as a threat -

There were no immediate reports of her having been a known threat or having a police record.

Police in Mountain View, where YouTube parent Google is located, confirmed that they found her sleeping in her car just after midnight Tuesday morning.

But they said she showed no sign of being a threat or in trouble, and they had no cause to detain her.

"At no point during our roughly 20 minute interaction with her did she mention anything about YouTube, if she was upset with them, or that she had planned to harm herself or others," police said in a statement.

They said they had reported finding her to her family, and that her father later called back to tell them she was upset with YouTube over its handling of her videos.

"Aghdam's father stated that she may have been in the area because of this," police said, adding that "He did not seemed concerned."

"At no point did her father or brother mention anything about potential acts of violence or a possibility of Aghdam lashing out as a result of her issues with her videos."

- Workout and dance videos -

YouTube blocked all of Aghdam's video channels Wednesday, including one apparently on "hand art," citing "severe violations" of its standards.

Some videos remained available on Facebook and on her personal website, however, where she complained that even her Farsi-language videos had been age-restricted by YouTube, accusing the company of trying to reduce her number of viewers.

"There is no free speech in real world & you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system," she wrote.

Alongside gruesome videos of mistreatment of animals, she also posted exercise and weight-lifting clips, and video and photographs of herself dancing, rapping and posing in evening dress, a skin-tight leather outfit, and full-body camouflage leotards.

One picture carried in the California press showed her at a protest against the US military's use of animals in training, dressed in black, blood painted on her face, and wielding a plastic sword.Workers load imported soybeans onto trucks at a port in Nantong in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 4, 2018

The escalating confrontation between Washington and Beijing inched closer to all-out trade war on Wednesday after China threatened retaliation against key US exports.

Beijing unveiled plans for painful import duties targeting politically-sensitive US exports, including soybeans, aircraft and autos, to retaliate against looming US tariffs on more than 1,000 Chinese goods.

Wall Street opened sharply lower but investors apparently later decided their fears might be overblown and stocks closed higher.

President Donald Trump's newly-installed economic advisor Larry Kudlow said the stock market anxiety was understandable but "at the end of the rainbow, there's a pot of gold."

Kudlow is well known to financial markets after many years as an analyst on CNBC.

Trump, meanwhile, unleashed a tweet storm, declaring the United States is "not in a trade war with China" and implying he was simply fixing the mistakes of previous administrations.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross dismissed fears the trade confrontation could endanger the world's largest economies.

Ross, in an interview with CNBC, downplayed Beijing's retaliation, saying the $50 billion in US exports targeted for sanctions only amounted to about 0.3 percent of US GDP.

"So it's hardly a life-threatening activity," he said.

China's ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, was at the State Department for talks with acting secretary of state John Sullivan.

As he left, he expressed the hope full-blown trade war could yet be avoided.

"Of course, negotiation would still be our preference, but it takes two to tango. We will see what they will do," Tiankai told reporters.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: "The acting secretary reiterated the need to restore fairness and balance to our economic ties."

US President Donald Trump signs trade sanctions against China prompting an escalation in tensions that many fear could spillover into an all out trade war

But some US markets already have responded to the trade spat with higher prices and tighter supplies even though the largest of the retaliatory duties have yet to take effect.

Steel and aluminum suppliers began raising prices within 24 hours of Trump's announcement last month of his intention to impose import tariffs, according to the Institute for Supply Management.

Industry groups renewed calls for the White House to change tack.

The powerful US Chamber of Commerce, a stalwart supporter of Republican lawmakers, said tariffs were "not the way" to achieve fairer trade with China.

And aviation giant Boeing, which could see some of its smaller planes hit by China's tariffs as well as higher metals costs, said the spat could "do harm to the global aerospace industry."

The company said it "will continue to engage both governments" as the sides note that "productive talks are ongoing."

- Will Trump blink first? -

China is the largest market for US soy and the threat of tariffs on exports of the commodity has the potential to whip up trade anxieties in stalwart Republican areas.

The American Soybean Association called on the Trump administration "to reconsider the tariffs that led to this retaliation."

Scott Miller, a trade policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told AFP the tariffs proposed so far were unlikely to dent overall economic growth.

China is the largest market for US soy, and soy-farming states are key sources of Republican support, adding a political dimension to the trade dispute

But that "does not mean there isn't going to be a political backlash," he said.

"I think China is perfectly happy to play a game of chicken with the United States on this because they believe the US will blink first."

But a US trade official told reporters the China's retaliation is "simply an effort to intimidate us or to get us to back down so that they can continue doing all the bad things" including taking intellectual property from American companies.

Other than steel and aluminum, the tariffs are only threat at this point: the US will have a 30-day comment period before determining the final list of Chinese goods on the hit list, and China also is holding off pending talks.

Should the tariffs go into effect, however, they would make for one of the largest trade wars ever involving the United States, said Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

The amount $50 billion "in each direction is far larger than previous trade spats that we've had," he told AFP.

But Hufbauer said as November's mid-term elections approach, the political ramifications of the current trade policy could be greater than the economic ones for Trump.

"He's hurting his base, he's really annoyed a lot of Republicans in the senate and the house," said Hufbauer.

"The way he's going now, he's got to compromise out to have a chance of keeping the Congress Republican in November."Ahmed Boukhari - seen here in October 2017 - was a negotiator and representative at the United Nations for the Polisario Front, a group seeking independence for Western Sahara

Ahmed Boukhari, the Polisario Front's representative to the United Nations, has died following a battle with cancer, diplomats told AFP on Wednesday.

Boukhari, whose represented the group seeking independence for Western Sahara, died on Tuesday, one diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The day before his death, he had written to the UN Security Council rebutting Moroccan charges that Polisario fighters launched incursions in a buffer zone of Western Sahara where a UN mission is monitoring a ceasefire.

Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario fought for control of Western Sahara from 1975 to 1991.

On Sunday, Morocco told the Security Council that Polisario Front fighters had entered the northeastern town of Mahbes in violation of the buffer zone -- and threatened a firm response.

The United Nations said its MINURSO mission had not observed any such movement of fighters.

The Moroccan threats came as the Security Council is discussing a new mandate for MINURSO, which has been monitoring the truce since 1991.

The UN is also seeking to relaunch negotiations on a settlement that have been stalled since 2012.

Morocco maintains that settlement negotiations should focus on its proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara, and rejects the Polisario's insistence on an independence referendum.Soldiers from the Florida National Guard patrol for suspected looters after last year's Hurricane Irma

Pentagon planners scrambled Wednesday to find ways to support President Donald Trump's surprise edict that he would send "the military" to guard America's southern border.

The commander-in-chief's seemingly off-the-cuff directive blindsided officials Tuesday, when Trump said the military would guard the frontier until "we can have a wall and proper security."

It took hours for the White House to clarify that Trump's plan involved mobilizing the National Guard, and not active-duty troops, but Defense Department officials kept looking for other ways to bolster border security.

"There are a number of ways the Department of Defense is already supporting the (Department of Homeland Security) border security mission," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said late Tuesday.

"We are still in consultation with the White House about ways we can expand that support."

Legally, the Pentagon is limited in how it can help with regular troops on the border, as an 1878 act restricts how the federal government can deploy forces domestically.

The National Guard is different: each state has its own militia that can be called into action by the governor.

Federal authorities can, however, activate guardsmen to go overseas, such as during the Iraq War.

Since 2006, National Guard troops have been deployed three times along the border, most recently in 2014, when Texas's then governor Rick Perry sent his state's militia to boost security amid an influx of young immigrants from Central America.

The National Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment on future deployments to the border.

The National Guard has recently been called to action in the wake of multiple natural disasters, and the militias are well known internationally for their involvement during civil rights protests in the 1950s and '60s, and their deployment to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

- Boots on the ground -

Syracuse University professor William Banks, who has written a book about the domestic role of the American military, said the Pentagon might find it simplest to offer support other than regular troops, such as logistical or intelligence support to the civilian agencies on the border.

"It would be extraordinary to have so-called boots on the ground involved in enforcing (immigration) laws," Banks told AFP.

"The president would need a legal authorization to carry out that mission. I doubt that he could get it."

The anti-immigration president has previously suggested the military could help fund and build a wall along the Mexican border, but Tuesday's remarks were the first time he proposed US troops to patrol the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) frontier.

Throughout his campaign and the first year of his presidency Trump insisted the wall project would somehow be paid for by Mexico -- an idea firmly rejected by the government there.

But Trump has had no success in trying to get $25 billion in funding for the wall from Congress, so he has turned to the Pentagon in the hope of poaching funds from its mammoth defense budget.

"Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich," he recently tweeted.

As has repeatedly been the case since Trump's inauguration, Defense Department bureaucrats were caught flat-footed by the remarks.

Since coming into office, Trump has unexpectedly called for the banning of transgender troops, demanded a military parade and vowed to pull US forces out of Syria "soon," all with little or no apparent coordination with the Pentagon, where bureaucrats have struggled to bend policy to confirm with the president's wishes.

A US official told AFP the Pentagon had "no idea" what the ultimate border mission might look like.African migrants protest in Jerusalem on April 4, 2018 against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cancellation of an agreement with the UN aimed at avoiding forced deportations

Hundreds of people protested on Wednesday in Jerusalem against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cancellation of an agreement with the United Nations aimed at avoiding forced deportations of thousands of African migrants.

Carrying banners reading "Stop the expulsion", demonstrators including migrants denounced Netanyahu's surprise decision to scrap the deal on Tuesday just hours after he announced it.

The turnaround came as the premier faced mounting pressure from his right-wing base over the agreement with the UN refugee agency, which would have allowed thousands of migrants to remain in Israel at least temporarily.

The deal was designed to end the possibility of forced deportations of thousands of migrants to Rwanda, under a controversial plan put forward by Netanyahu in January.

The presence of the primarily Sudanese and Eritrean migrants in Israel has become a key political issue.

Under the agreement with the UN, a minimum of 16,250 migrants would have instead been resettled in Western nations.

In return, Israel would grant temporary residency to one migrant for each one resettled elsewhere.

According to the interior ministry, there are around 42,000 African migrants in Israel, half of them children, women or men with families who are not facing immediate deportation.Soybean futures slumped around five percent soon after China announced the move and finished down 2.2 percent in Chicago on Wednesday

American soybean producers could be big losers if Beijing follows through on plans to impose tariffs on the commodity in retaliation for President Donald Trump's trade crackdown.

China is the biggest buyer of US soybeans, ordering about $12 billion worth of the crop in 2017, or about 30 percent of US production.

Beijing announced early Wednesday that it plans to impose levies on $50 billion worth of US exports. The list included soybeans, which are grown in the US Midwest in rural areas that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in November 2016.

Industry officials were disappointed by the turn events, even if they were not especially surprised.

"We have been warning the administration and members of Congress that this would happen since the prospect for tariffs was raised," said John Heisdorffer, an Iowa farmer and president of the American Soybean Association.

"A 25 percent tariff on US soybeans into China will have a devastating effect on every soybean farmer in America."

Soybean futures slumped around five percent soon after China announced the move and finished down 2.2 percent in Chicago on Wednesday.

"There is still time to reverse this damage, and the administration can still deliver for farmers by withdrawing the tariffs that caused this retaliation," Heisdorffer said.

"We call on President Trump to engage the Chinese in a constructive manner -- not a punitive one -- and achieve a positive result for soybean farmers."

- Can China find other suppliers? -

The US industry is also searching for new markets "to build a portfolio of global demand for US soy products," said Lewis Bainbridge, a South Dakota farmer who is president of the United Soybean board, which promotes American growers.

US farmers had been planning lower output of soybean compared with last year's level, according to a report published last week.

"Farmers were already saying they were going to cut back," said Chad Hart, an economist at Iowa State University.

"This type of news could get them adjusting even more as we enter the planting season."

The burgeoning conflict also raises questions for Beijing.

"It would disrupt trade patterns," said Bill Nelson, senior economist at Doane Advisory Services, an agricultural research and consulting company.

"Unless China is willing to significantly cut back on meat production, the animals have to be fed, and there are not so many sources of alternative food for chickens and hogs."

Nelson noted that China could tap into its strategic reserves of soybeans or grow more soybean domestically, but that such moves "could only make a small difference."

China could turn to farmers in Brazil and Argentina, which are also big soybean producers. But some are skeptical that other suppliers can make up all of the difference.

"There is not another large producer big enough" to replace the US, said Hart, who thinks Chinese importers will pass on the cost.

"Soybeans will just be more expensive, which will lead to higher prices for their consumers."A bartender prepares a drink with Havana Club rum produced by Bacardi in Puerto Rico, which is made with the original recipe from the Arechebala family, but Pernod Ricard says its version is authentic since it is produced in Cuba

It's a fight over ownership, heritage, revolution and rum.

It's a dispute that has lasted for decades over who is a "real" Cuban, and pits US rum powerhouse Bacardi against French spirits giant Pernod Ricard and its association with the Castro regime to produce Havana Club, the best known Cuban brand.

It involves court battles over trademarks, legislation in the US Congress, and deep feelings of nostalgia and loss.

Bacardi has launched an all-out marketing offensive to stake its claim to the US market for its version of Havana Club, made with the original recipe purchased in 1994 from the brand's founders, the Arechabala family.

But Pernod Ricard insists its Havana Club is the authentic version since it is distilled in Cuba with 100 percent Cuban ingredients.

"Pernod Ricard joined forces with the government in order to get profits from that stolen property," Bacardi brand executive Roberto Ramirez told AFP.

Bacardi began selling its Havana Club in 1995, produced in Puerto Rico and sold in the US market with the slogan: "Forced from home. Aged in Exile. Forever Cuban."

The Arechabala and Bacardi families were forced from home in the aftermath of Castro's revolution and had all their assets seized, including their rum-making factories.

While Bacardi had already established distilleries offshore, including in Puerto Rico, the Arechabalas, who had been making Havana Club since 1934, and distilling rum for decades before that, did not have the resources to start over, so their US trademark lapsed in 1974.

The Castro government's Cuba Ron SA swooped in and registered the name with US authorities, but because of the US trade embargo against the island nation could not sell Havana Club to the key American market.

Since 1993, the Cuban company has been co-owned with Pernod Ricard, the world's number two spirits maker, which sued Bacardi for using the trademark.

The firm dismisses the Puerto Rican version as an upstart and says Bacardi is misleading consumers with "false claims" they are the original Havana Club.

- Don't tell us we're not Cuban -

A bottle of pre-Castro Havana Club rum (R) alongside a bottle Bacardi's contemporary version (L), made from the original recipe

Bacardi has hit back hard, defending its Cuban roots and its authentic recipe. It also has the support of legislators from Florida who proposed a new law to ban the US from recognizing trademarks stolen by the Castro government.

In January, the rum maker released a campaign featuring a Cuban-American walking through Miami's little Havana -- or real Havana? -- reciting a poem about home.

"Forced to leave home, but home never leaves us. Wherever exile takes us... We walk carrying the musica of our island and the amber rum born from it," the poem says.

"Don't tell us we're not Cuban."

And Bacardi has launched an interactive theatrical experience and tasting called "Amparo" to tell the story of the Arechabalas and the "legacy that the government tried to erase."

It was shown in New York on Tuesday, and the goal is "to tell the real story of how the real Havana Club was founded, and how that property was stolen," Ramirez said.

Amparo Arechabala, who lived the events that were the inspiration for the show, said it was emotional but a proud moment.

"My husband Ramon insisted and insisted for so many years that he wanted to give it to the world, the real Havana Club," she said.

- Marketing tool -

But which is the real Cuban rum: the one made in Cuba or the one made with the original family recipe?

Ramirez said the recipe "is part of the magic."

London-based rum expert Ian Burrell agrees the recipe certainly matters since the rum masters -- the maestro roneros -- mix different batches and even different yeasts to create their own "unique style of flavor."

"So there is a really big difference between the two products," he told AFP.

A worker holds a bottle of the Havana Club produced in Cuba in association with French spirits giant Pernod Ricard, which it insists is the only authentic version

"To me as a bartender, both rums can be used in different ways as a base for cocktails that showcase their qualities."

But neither version is like their pre-Castro ancestors -- which he has tasted and compared -- so the fight also is about using the Cuba designation which is "quite an important part of marketing," he said.

"For me, looking from the outside, it's an important marketing tool in the fight against their rivals Havana Club."

The Bacardi family "want to retain their Cuban heritage" and "still see themselves as Cuban," Burrell said. But Pernod Ricard is "rightly aggrieved" it cannot use its trademarked product in the US market.

Bacardi late last year sued the US government over the retroactive renewal of Cuba's export trademark registration, which "violated well-settled United States law," Bacardi's lawyers at Kelley Drye & Warren said in the complaint.

The company also argues that a trademark must be used to be enforced -- something the Cuban version has not been able to do for 60 years.

Ramirez said the company has asked the courts to clarify and "we're confident" in the outcome.

Meanwhile, Pernod Ricard also has trademarked the name "Havanista" to sell its rebranded Havana Club rum in the US -- should the embargo be lifted.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a joint press conference with the leaders of Turkey and Russia in Ankara on April 4, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit out at Iran on Wednesday after President Hassan Rouhani accused Israel of supporting "terrorists" in Syria.

"Absurdity has no limits: Iran's terrorist regime that sends tentacles of terror across the region accuses Israel of terrorism," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

"If Rouhani is unaware of the terrorist and sabotage activities conducted daily by the Iranian Quds Force in Syria, Israel can provide him with an update," Netanyahu said, referring to the foreign arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Earlier Wednesday, during a summit in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin, Rouhani denounced "the daily support of the Zionist regime for terrorists in Syria", according to the website of the Iranian presidency.

Tehran is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, but Israel does not want its arch-rival to entrench itself militarily next door.

In February Israel carried out major air raids in Syria, including against sites it described as Iranian targets.

Iran has also long supported Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has written to Hamas chief Ismail Haniya pledging the Islamic republic's backing "in any form".

"It is a religious duty and an obligation as human beings ... and, God willing, we will act in accordance with this obligation, as in the past," he wrote.

Excerpts of the letter were published Wednesday on Khamenei's website after de facto Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Israel has a "right" to a homeland, in a notable shift in the kingdom's position.

Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, but behind the scenes their ties appear to have improved in recent years against what they see as a common Iranian threat.Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that President Donald Trump has ordered National Guard personnel to the Mexican border

President Donald Trump has ordered National Guard personnel to the southern US border, his administration said Wednesday, in a bid to clamp down on illegal immigration from Mexico.

"We continue to see unacceptable levels of illegal drugs, dangerous gang activity, transnational criminal organizations and illegal immigration flow across our southern border," secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen told reporters at the White House.

"This threatens not only the safety of our communities and children but also our rule of law. It's time to act."

"The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security have been directed to work together with our governors to deploy the National Guard to our southwest border, to assist the border patrol," she said.

"We do hope that the deployment begins immediately," she added. "Today is the day we want to start this process. The threat is real."

The US National Guard has previously been deployed to help patrol the southern border, in 2010 under former president Barack Obama, and from 2006-2008 under George W. Bush.

Trump has ratcheted up the pressure on both Congress and America's southern neighbor Mexico in recent days to take action to stem illegal immigration.

The president has been infuriated by reports of a caravan of Central American migrants trekking towards the US border, threatening to axe the North American Free Trade Agreement if Mexico did not stop them.

"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," Trump told journalists on Tuesday.

The caravan's leaders on Wednesday said they were scrapping their plans to cross into the United States.Unrest in Cameroon's anglophone regions surged last October after separatists declared an independent state and the government responded with a crackdown

Twelve European tourists are safe and sound after being briefly held in western Cameroon, where anglophone militants are campaigning for an independent state, their Italian travel agency said Wednesday.

The tour group, made up of Swiss and Italian nationals, was seized on Monday by armed men "who carried out checks on documents and their vehicle," the African Adventure agency said in a statement.

"Through negotiations with the group they allowed us to leave," later in the day, the travel agency added.

However just as they were about to depart, "Cameroon special forces arrived" and a "brief engagement" ensued, the statement added, without giving details.

"No one was subjected to violence and all the participants in the group are well," the African Adventures agency said in a statement.

Earlier Cameroon's communications ministry said the group of seven Swiss and five Italians "were taken hostage by a band of armed terrorists" in the Southwest Region before being rescued by troops on Monday in a "special operation".

The released tourists were taken back to the capital Yaounde where they were met by Cameroonian officials as well as Swiss and Italian diplomats.

- 'Tens of assailants neutralised' -

Separately, six municipal councillors in the neighbouring Northwest Region -- another seat of anglophone unrest -- were also released in operations that saw "tens of assailants neutralised, huge stocks of weapons and ammunitions as well as large quantities of drug(s) seized," it said.

Cameroon's government is fighting insurgents demanding a separate state for the two regions.

They are home to most of the country's anglophones, who account for about a fifth of the predominantly French-speaking population.

The 12 tourists were seized in the area of Moungo-Ndor while they were heading for a tourist site called the Twin Lakes, the ministry said.

The lakes, lying in volcanic craters, have special significance in the local traditional religion and are deemed to represent the male and female genders.

One of the main armed separatist groups, the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), played no part in the tourists' abduction, its leader Cho Ayaba told AFP.

Two other foreigners, a pair of Tunisian engineers, were abducted in the troubled region on March 15.

One of them died during an army rescue operation on March 20 -- "killed by his abductors", according to the military's account, which said "four terrorists died in the operation".

- Legacy of colonial era -

Tens of thousands of Cameroonians have fled the fighting to neighbouring Nigeria

The anglophone question in Cameroon dates back to the colonial period in Africa.

France and Britain divided up the former German colony under League of Nations mandates after World War I.

A year after the French-ruled territory became independent in 1961, the southern part of British Cameroon was integrated into a federal system, scrapped 11 years later for a "united republic".

In recent years, agitation has risen among anglophones, chafing under the perception that they suffer prejudice at the hands of the francophone majority, especially in the judicial system and education.

But demands for a return to the federal structure were rejected by the government.

In a spiral of radicalisation, the breakaway movement issued a symbolic declaration of independence for "Ambazonia", their name for the putative state, on October 1.

President Paul Biya met the revolt with a crackdown, including curfews, raids and restrictions on travel.

Unrest has increased in recent weeks, with attacks on security forces and civilians as well as a spate of kidnappings of officials, and new groups are spawning within the separatist movement.

The clashes have prompted around 33,000 people to flee to neighbouring Nigeria.

The latest violence comes on the heels of visits to the Northwest and Southwest regions last month by Cameroon's newly-appointed interior minister, Paul Atanga Nji, himself an anglophone.

He said he brought "a message of dialogue, a responsible dialogue, a dialogue with those who know that Cameroon is one and indivisible".A woman casts her vote in a ballot box at the polling station in Freetown on March 31, 2018 during the second round of Sierra Leone's presidential election

Hundreds of pro-government demonstrators gathered Wednesday in Sierra Leone's capital to protest what they said was a "stolen" presidential vote, hours before official results are expected.

The outcome of the March 31 ballot -- pitting opposition challenger Julius Maada Bio against the ruling All Peoples' Congress (APC) candidate Samura Kamara -- was due to be announced at the start of the week.

But the country's electoral commission had to interrupt the ballot count after a dispute over the method of tallying results left votes from 11,000 polling stations across the poor West African nation uncounted.

Kamara supporters marched in Freetown Wednesday evening, tearing down Bio posters and alleging "foreign meddling" in the vote, an AFP reporter said.

Security forces erected a cordon around Bio's SLPP party headquarters, where hundreds of supporters had already begun celebrating victory ahead of the expected official result announcement at around 2100 GMT.

Bio narrowly won the first round of voting ahead of Kamara, a close ally of outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma.

A total of 3.1 million people were registered to vote in the first presidential poll since a 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak which killed 4,000 people.

One of the world's poorest nations despite huge mineral and diamond deposits, Sierra Leone is recovering only gradually from war and disease. Its economy remains in a fragile state with corruption widespread in the former British colony.Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland -- here in March in Mexico City -- said that negotiators "are making some good progress" in overhauling the 24 year-old NAFTA trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will be in Washington on Thursday and Friday to join in talks on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to her office.

The announcement came as Freeland on Wednesday said that negotiators "are making some good progress" in overhauling the 24 year-old trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Freeland said that in March she had "a good meeting" with US President Donald Trump's chief trade negotiator, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

At that time "we made some progress on the rules of origin for autos, which in my view is ... the most fiendishly complex" aspect of the deal as well, as "the heart" of the trade agreement.

Under the current agreement, 62.5 percent of the content of a vehicle must be produced within the NAFTA countries to move duty-free across borders.

Washington wants to bump this requirement up to 85 percent, with 50 percent of US origin -- a proposal that Ottawa and Mexico City have rejected.

US officials have not confirmed a Canadian media report that US negotiators have dropped this demand.

Trump has blamed NAFTA for a loss of jobs in the United States, especially of auto assembly jobs that moved to lower-wage Mexico.

In Washington, Freeland will meet with Lighthizer, who on Wednesday met Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo.

Several stumbling blocks remain to be resolved in talks that began nearly eight months ago between the trade partners.

The Trump administration is increasing pressure to quickly reach a new trade deal at time when uncertainties about cross-border commerce are weighing on Wall Street.

The political calendars in Mexico and the United States however do not favor reaching a quick resolution.

July's presidential elections in Mexico and November's mid-term US congressional elections mean that negotiators may have even less room to maneuver.

In Washington, the White House must also contend with market jitters, as Trump's new import tariffs on metals and Chinese-made goods have sent stocks tumbling in recent weeks.Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has said his country could act on its own if the UN and Algeria failed to stop Polisario Front fighters it accuses of carrying out incursions into a buffer zone

Morocco on Wednesday hinted it could act unilaterally if the United Nations and Algeria fail to stop Polisario Front fighters it accuses of carrying out incursions into a buffer zone.

"If the security council does not assume its responsibilities, Morocco will assume its own," Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said after a meeting with UN chief Antonio Guterres.

He said that Morocco's King Mohammed IV spoke with Guterres directly, expressing "Morocco's clear firm and determined rejection of these provocations, these incursions, by Polisario" into a Western Sahara buffer zone where the UN is responsible for supervising a ceasefire.

Morocco wrote to the Security Council on Sunday to report that fighters of the Polisario Front had entered the northeastern Western Sahara town of Mahbes in recent days in violation of a military agreement setting up the buffer zone.

The fighters turned up in "military vehicles, and have set up tents, dug a ditch and built constructions using sandbags," Morocco's UN Ambassador Omar Hilale said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

Asked about the Moroccan claims, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the MINURSO mission had "not observed any movement of military elements in the northeast territory."

Polisario has also denied the Moroccan accusations.

"These actions constitute a threat to the cease-fire" and "seriously compromise the peace process," Bourita told a news conference.

He said that Algeria "has a blatant responsibility" in the multi-decade conflict, and that Morocco demands Algiers "take an important part in the political process, assume its responsibilities in the search for a solution and play a role equal to its responsibility in the genesis of this regional dispute."

The minister brandished documents and aerial photographs he said proved Polisario's creation of "many" military installations between August 2017 and March 2018.

Rabat considers Western Sahara an integral part of Morocco and proposes autonomy for the resource-rich territory, but the Polisario Front insists on a UN referendum on independence.

Morocco and the Polisario fought for control of Western Sahara from 1975 to 1991.BEIJING (AP) - Restricting the Vatican's control over the appointment of bishops in China does not infringe on religious freedom, a Chinese official said Tuesday, amid historic negotiations between Beijing and the Holy See aimed at healing divisions.

Chen Zongrong, an official overseeing religious affairs, said Beijing would not allow "foreign forces" to govern the country's faith groups.

"The Chinese constitution clearly states that China's religious groups and religious affairs cannot be controlled by foreign forces, and (the foreign forces) should not interfere in Chinese religious affairs in any way,"

FILE - In this Saturday, March 31, 2018, file photo, Chinese acolytes pray during a Holy Saturday Mass on the evening before Easter at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Beijing. China says restricting the Vatican's control over the appointment of bishops does not infringe upon Chinese believers' religious freedom. The remark during a State Council briefing comes as Beijing and the Holy See are negotiating an historic agreement over the method of selecting bishops in China. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

"I disagree with the view that preventing Rome from having full control over the selection of bishops hinders religious freedom," Chen said.

Speaking at a State Council briefing, the former vice administrator for the recently dissolved State Administration for Religious Affairs emphasized a need for faiths in China to "adapt to socialist society" and "develop religions in the Chinese context."

"Actively guiding religions in adapting to the socialist society means guiding religious believers to ... be subordinate to and serve the overall interests of the nation and the Chinese people," said a white paper released Tuesday.

"It also means guiding religious groups to support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system," the document said.

The statements are in line with a push in recent years for major religions to "Sinicize" - code for accepting the ruling Communist Party's leadership over foreign influence.

During last month's annual meeting of China's rubber-stamp legislature, the State Administration for Religious Affairs was folded into the United Front Work Department, which manages the party's relations with non-party entities, both domestically and abroad.

"I believe there is no religion in human society that transcends nations," Chen said.

For years, China's Catholics have been split between those who follow state-authorized churches outside the Vatican's authority and those who attend underground churches that swear fealty to the pope.

An expected deal between Beijing and the Holy See has spurred accusations that the Vatican is giving too much away after asserting the need for the Catholic Church in China to remain independent of government control over the nearly seven decades since relations were severed.

Under the agreement being discussed, the Vatican is expected to recognize seven Beijing-appointed bishops not chosen by the pope, while two "underground" bishops would step aside. The Holy See is believed in the past to have objected to some of those unapproved bishops because of their personal conduct or other moral issues.

Guo Xijin, one of the Vatican-ordained bishops who may cede his post, was temporarily removed from his southern Chinese parish last week but returned in time for Easter Sunday services.

Chen denied that Guo was deprived of freedom when government agents put him on a train to Xiamen, a city more than 255 kilometers (160 miles) from his Fujian province church, saying he'd been invited there by a local bishop.

Priests and nuns in Guo's parish told The Associated Press last week that it was customary for authorities to require the bishop to take a forced "vacation" during sensitive periods.

They said he had likely been taken this time to prevent him from speaking to the media about the ongoing talks with the Vatican, which have sparked a sharp backlash by some Catholic clergy and supporters of the underground church.

FILE - In this Saturday, March 31, 2018, file photo, Chinese Bishop Joseph Li Shan, center, walks down the aisle during a Holy Saturday Mass on the evening before Easter at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Beijing. China says restricting the Vatican's control over the appointment of bishops does not infringe upon Chinese believers' religious freedom. The remark during a State Council briefing comes as Beijing and the Holy See are negotiating an historic agreement over the method of selecting bishops in China. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysian authorities on Tuesday intercepted a boat carrying 56 people believed to be Muslim Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar, and brought the vessel and its passengers to shore.

The navy chief, Adm. Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin, said the boat was intercepted after it entered Malaysian waters and was moored off the northern resort island of Langkawi.

The boat had stopped temporarily Sunday in southern Thailand, where it underwent repairs and was resupplied with fuel and food before being sent on its way to Malaysia, as its passengers reportedly desired.

In this photo released by the Royal Malaysian Navy shows Malaysian navy officers detaining a boat carrying Rohingya migrants off of Langkawi, Malaysia, Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Malaysian authorities said Monday that they have stepped up patrols to intercept a boat thought to be carrying dozens of people from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya Muslim minority seeking refuge in the country. (Royal Malaysian Navy via AP)

About 700,000 Rohingya have fled western Myanmar's Rakhine state to neighboring Bangladesh in the past seven months to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by Myanmar's army. Rohingya, treated as undesirables in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, used to flee by sea by the thousands each year until security in Myanmar was tightened after an upsurge of refugees in 2015 caused regional concern.

The navy chief said that all of the boat's passengers were safe but tired and hungry, and were given food and water. The boat and its passengers will be handed over to immigration authorities, he said.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency chief Zulkifili Abu Bakar said the refugees comprised 19 women, 17 men, 12 boys and eight girls. They appeared weak and their boat was in bad condition, he said.

Zulkifili said the refugees would be handed over to immigration authorities for humanitarian reasons, an indirect indication that they will be allowed to stay rather than sent back to sea. The issue of whether to allow them to stay is a sensitive one, because of fears it might encourage a new wave of boat people.

However, an expert on the plight of the Rohingya said the appearance this week of the boat - the first known case this year - does not portend a new exodus by sea.

Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, an independent research and advocacy group, said that the safe time for such journeys is about to pass, as the annual monsoon season normally starts in April. Tight security by Myanmar officials also makes departures difficult, though it would not be surprising if a handful of more boats were seen in the near future, she said.

Thailand has an official policy of pushing back boat people from its shores, so most Rohingya prefer to head to Malaysia, whose dominant Malay Muslim population makes it a more sympathetic destination. There have also been many cases of Rohingya landing in Thailand being taken by human traffickers and forced into near-slavery, held for ransom or otherwise abused.

Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman, the vice president of the Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organization, said the group received a call Tuesday from the coast guard to provide assistance to the refugees.

He said his organization was asked to help due to its record of providing medical treatment and basic necessities such as food and clothing to previous Rohingya refugees.

In this photo released by the Royal Malaysian Navy shows Malaysian navy officers detaining a boat carrying Rohingya migrants in Langkawi, Malaysia, Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Malaysian authorities said Monday that they have stepped up patrols to intercept a boat thought to be carrying dozens of people from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya Muslim minority seeking refuge in the country. (Royal Malaysian Navy via AP)

In this photo released by the Royal Malaysian Navy shows Malaysian navy officers detaining a boat carrying Rohingya migrants off Langkawi, Malaysia, Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Malaysian authorities said Monday that they have stepped up patrols to intercept a boat thought to be carrying dozens of people from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya Muslim minority seeking refuge in the country. (Royal Malaysian Navy via AP)LA LINEA DE LA CONCEPCION, Spain (AP) - Faces hidden by masks and hoods, a group of 40 men emerge from the darkness of beach-front houses and step into the sand as a state-of-the-art speedboat approaches the shore. They frantically unload dozens of plastic-wrapped burlap bundles, each containing 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of Moroccan hashish.

In little over two minutes, most of the cargo has filled two full-size SUVs. All seats but the drivers' have been removed. The lights are off and the windows have been darkened with black spray.

Then, somebody yells: "Cut it! Cut it!"

In this in Monday, March 5, 2018 photo, a speedboat with boxes of alleged drug cargo onboard sails along the coast of La Linea de la Conception, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

As fast as they came, the SUVs speed away and the smugglers find shelter in the narrow streets of the La Atunara fishing neighborhood. The boat vanishes into the night, still holding half of its cargo. When a patrol car arrives seconds later, all that remains is the sound of the waves.

Another night, another chapter in the battle between Spanish authorities and the crime gangs who have turned this neglected town in the shadow of the Rock of Gibraltar into a key European entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin.

"Right now, we are losing this battle," said Francisco Mena, leader of Nexos, a federation of local community action groups that offer rehab for drug addicts. "Trafficking can't be stopped with the human resources and material means that we have in place at the moment."

He insisted the war could still be won. But such optimism flies in the face of the brazen drug operations witnessed by Associated Press journalists, and of the very words of drug chieftains who agreed to rare interviews.

One of the area's most notorious "narcos" insisted that the illicit trade is here to stay.

"Trafficking has always existed, and it always will. If not here, it will move elsewhere along the coast," said the gang leader, who like others spoke on condition that they not be named because they feared prosecution. "If drug trafficking didn't end in Colombia with death penalties and extraditions to the United States, nobody will end it here."

Half a dozen trafficking ring members and their leaders pointed to the 30 percent provincial jobless rate in the Cadiz province, the highest in the country, as a fuel for their criminal activity. They claimed that shipping drugs is a way of life in this forgotten corner, justifying it as a "necessary bad" that feeds hundreds of families directly, and thousands more indirectly.

"Many of us are fathers. We need to take food home," said another gangster who asked to be identified as Pepe. "If we couldn't provide for our children this way, another kind of violence would come."

Three dozen clans are believed to be working in Campo de Gibraltar, a county of 268,000 that cradles the Bay of Algeciras. On a clear day, the contours of the coast of Morocco, the world's top producer of hashish, are visible across a busy shipping waterway at the mouth of the Mediterranean, just 30 kilometers (less than 19 miles) away.

A new generation of bolder gangsters is challenging underfunded law enforcement agencies, as local families watch their teenagers lured into a life of easy money.

"The national government needs to do more, and not only when the media's attention is here," said Mena. "When the state disappears, what appears is impunity."

___

Criminals that in the past dropped their few hundred kilograms of cargo in the sea as soon as they came across a customs surveillance boat are now ready to defend their bigger, bulkier shipments.

The RIBs, or rigid-hulled inflatable boats known as "rubbers," are partially to blame. With three, four and even five 350-horsepower engines, they can ship an average cargo of 1 to 3 tons of hashish in over one hour from northern Moroccan shores. A trafficker told the AP he held the local record: 178 stashes, or 5.3 tons, in a single shipment.

Car chases at high-speeds and personal threats to judges, prosecutors and underpaid, short-handed officers have now become common.

On land and at sea, traffickers use shuttle vehicles - SUVs or rubbers without cargo whose function is to mislead authorities and, increasingly, ram patrol cars and boats.

So far, casualties have been higher on the traffickers' side. Two years ago, four traffickers died when a patrol vessel sailed over their rubber, prompting angry protests against the authorities.

According to police investigators and drug traffickers themselves, the uptick in violence is also related to inter-gang burglaries of drug cargo from beaches or from hundreds of "kindergartens" - storage spaces, often in local homes. These "vuelcos" are often the work of outsiders, the sources said, frequently gangs from Eastern Europe.

"The earlier generation had a respect for police uniform but there is now a new generation that has an absolute contempt for authority," says Juan Franco, the mayor of La Linea, "My worry is that these guys are armed and so far, they are not using them against civil guard or police agents, but that's the next step."

Fears that civilians could also be caught in the crossfire reached a height last month when a group of drug traffickers stormed the emergency ward in La Linea's public hospital. The assailants freed Samuel Crespo, a top aide and nephew to Los Castanitas, two brothers who run the town's most influential drug clans.

Police say there were at least 20 attackers, armed with sticks and knives. Witnesses have disputed the official account, saying a handful of unarmed youngsters took Crespo away with little resistance from their two custodians. The attacked policemen said using their guns inside the busy emergency ward would have escalated things.

The events hit a nerve in La Linea, a town of 63,000. "How can a handful of young criminals be so bold to act with such impunity in broad daylight?" asks Mena, the activist. "Why were there only two policemen guarding a prominent gangster? And why didn't they have any other means to stop the attackers?"

Outrage increased when news emerged that the fugitive was taken in a jet ski across the Strait of Gibraltar for treatment in a private clinic in northern Morocco. A police investigation led to the arrests of two of those involved in the attack, in addition to one person that was detained on the spot at the hospital.

Crespo himself is now back in Spain according to his aides' account. He remains at large.

A week after the attack, the country's Interior Minister descended on the town with an entourage of bodyguards and special police forces. Juan Ignacio Zoido's visit was timed to announce a police operation that led to the arrest of 16 people, members of a sophisticated gang that had installed radar to monitor patrol boats. Police found it under rooftop solar panels in a waterfront house. They also snatched 4 tons of hashish, 17 vehicles and four firearms.

Zoido promised crime squads and additional security measures for the county over coming months.

That same morning, a 90-minute drive away, men in hoods entered a guarded compound and stole a speedboat that had been confiscated and held in evidence, along with a truck to pull it.

___

The Cadiz province, which at its southernmost tip only 14 kilometers (8.6 miles) away from North Africa, already amounts for 40 percent of the drugs entering Spain, according to Interior Ministry figures.

Hashish is arriving on these beaches at the pace of seven to 20 loaded rubbers per day, according to calculations by police and traffickers. A Civil Guard operation last year dismantled a network that used dangerous night helicopter journeys to fly drugs into hideouts further inland.

The county is also a main entry point for cocaine, Europe's second most popular drug according to the region's Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addictions. It makes its way concealed in containers and merchant ships docking in Algeciras, across the bay from La Linea.

Some of the smuggled drugs are consumed south of the Pyrenees, but most of it -up to 90 percent, by some police accounts- travels on land to France, Italy and the Netherlands, which plays a central role as a regional distribution hub, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

As in any other business, shipping a stash of hashish involves plenty of stakeholders. The clans operating in and beyond the Campo de Gibraltar are usually family-run and territorial, but only a handful of them are in control of all the phases of the trade.

Sooner or later, the job will be outsourced to gangs offering pilots, rubbers, stolen Land Cruisers -the most common SUV in their operations- or the army of people watching every corner for police presence. Known as "puntos," spotters, they are placed in strategic locations, often with a non-smartphone to alert others. These low-ranking gangsters can make from 600 to 1,000 euros ($700 to 1,200) in just one day, according to traffickers.

The "bushmen," as those unloading speedboats and loading Land Cruisers are called, can earn up to 2,000 to 3,000 euros a day. But the best paid in the chain are SUV drivers (10,000-15,000 euros for one job) and rubber pilots, starting from 30,000 euros and rising with the number of hashish bundles they deliver. The owner of a "kindergarten," which can be a family with a basement rented to the traffickers, can make up to 15,000 euros for each day hiding the stash.

The smugglers take umbrage at their reputation as a violent, fractured community.

"Police are looking for a war by pitting us against each other," said a prominent drug lord speaking in a modest safe house where the leaders of half a dozen local gangs, some of them on the run from the law, convened to discuss business. "But this is not Medellin or Sinaloa, and there is no such thing as a Pablo Escobar among us," he said. "There are no assassins here. There are only groups who are good at what they do and others who make mistakes, the same way as police make them."

"We, the veterans, are here to stop this from escalating to any kind of violence," he added, eliciting nods from others in the room.

A gang member with a walkie-talkie enters announcing that a rubber has arrived. The group moves quickly to the beach, only a few meters away; in an impressive feat of choreography, more than 100 bushmen and spotters unload the craft as reporters and passers-by look on. Only word that a police patrol car is streets way, driving toward the beach, brings an abrupt end to the operation.

"You see, this is like a game of cat and mouse, but you won't see the guns, at least not on our side," said a top associate of Los Castanitas. "I have never stolen or gotten myself involved in anything else that is not the smuggling. Yes, this is illegal, I'll give you that. But we are not hurting anyone."

___

Despite its struggles with trafficking, Spain is the European Union member seizing the largest volumes of both cocaine and cannabis. In 2015, cannabis seizures accounted for more than 70 percent the drug apprehended in the block, according to Eurostat figures. Of the 373 tons of drugs seized in Spain last year, according to the Interior Ministry, 145 tons were cannabis resin confiscated in the Campo de Gibraltar region, a 45 percent increase from the previous year.

Still, much more slips through the cracks. Investigators said seizures amount to only 4 to 5 percent of the hashish that could be entering the country.

More resources to investigate money laundering would target gang leaders, says Mena.

Police unions say that a regional court specialized in drug trafficking would speed up some of the cases, because drug-trafficking probes require large amounts of judicial red tape for wiretapping and other investigating methods.

Other proposed remedies range from harsher sentences -Spain punishes hashish-trafficking with up to six years if no other crimes involved, whereas sentences can double that in France and the United Kingdom- to regulating consumption and sales of cannabis.

Mena welcomes recent steps taken by the Spanish government on a bill to restrict the use of large speedboats. He says the European Union should aid Spain, and pressure Morocco for stronger action on its end.

But the biggest challenge is local collusion with the drug networks. Revenues feed the local economy, often laundered through beauty parlors, gyms, clothing stores or other small businesses, creating a "narco-economy" that Franco, the mayor of La Linea, describes as "bread for today and hunger for tomorrow."

Unemployment in La Linea, at 35 percent in 2016, reaches 80 percent among the youth in its poorest neighborhoods, the mayor's office said.

In late March, dozens of people in one of the La Linea's impoverished neighborhoods protected a trafficker who was being chased by a national police patrol. Police said agents had to fire gunshots into the air to dispel the crowd, but by then their quarry had vanished, leaving behind a car with half a ton of hashish.

Still, there are signs that some residents know that drugs are a dead end for their town. On Feb. 27, two weeks after the hospital incident, more than 2,000 people gathered to protest.

"No more drugs, we want jobs," they shouted.

But Franco does not believe that his city has truly turned a corner.

"Once in a while there is a specific event that creates a catharsis of some kind," he said, "but months on we go back to the same point."

___

AP photographer Emilio Morenatti contributed to this story.

In this Saturday, March 3, 2018 photo, a Spainish Customs Surveillance Service agents look for speedboats carrying alleged cannabis resin cargo as they sail near the port of Algeciras, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this in Saturday, March 3, 2018 photo, Spain's Customs Surveillance Service agents speak with members of Civil Guard patrol as they look for speedboats carrying alleged cannabis resin cargo near the port of Algeciras, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018 photo, Spain's Customs Surveillance Service officer sails near the port of Algeciras, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this Saturday, March 3, 2018 photo, a speedboat with boxes of alleged drug cargo onboard sails along the coast of La Linea de la Conception, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018 photo, people walk past stall streets along a street with Gibraltar's Rock in the background in La Linea de la Conception, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this Saturday, March 3, 2018 photo, a support boat carrying gasoline flasks sail toward a speedboat with alleged drug trafficking, as they operate within meters of the beach in La Linea de la Conception, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this in Saturday, March 3, 2018 photo, a man stands near the shore next to La Linea de la Conception, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this in Tuesday, Feb 27, 2018 photo, residents gather during a protest demanding more means to fight drug trafficking and social and economic measures to fight unemployment in La Linea de la Conception, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this in Sunday, March 4, 2018 photo, a man rides a horse backdropped by the Gibraltar's Rock and the town of La Linea de la Concepcion, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this in Wednesday, Feb 28, 2018 photo, confiscated rigid-hulled inflatable speedboats (RIBs) are seen at the port of Algeciras, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this in Sunday, March 3, 2018 photo, view of the Gibraltar's Rock from the town of Algeciras, in Cadiz province, south of Spain. Spain's neglected southern corner is reeling under an escalating war between authorities and crime gangs who have turned it into a key entry point for Moroccan cannabis resin into Europe. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)GENEVA (AP) - Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates drew praise Tuesday at a U.N. conference for offering $1 billion in aid for Yemen, where their air campaign against Houthi rebels has killed thousands of civilians and their crippling blockade has hindered aid delivery.

The one-day conference co-hosted by Sweden, Switzerland and the United Nations collected pledges totaling $2.01 billion from 40 countries and organizations.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres acknowledged that some donors were also "parties of the conflict."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, right, stand up next to Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and the climate and Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Loevin, left, as he speaks to the media during a press stakeout after the High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, April 3, 2018. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

"We all know who ... the parties to the war (are)," he told reporters. "But the two things need to be seen separately, independently of the fact that there is a war. There are humanitarian obligations that are assumed by countries."

With the situation worsening - Guterres called it "catastrophic" - the conference easily surpassed the funding pledges of $1.1 billion at a similar event last year. Overall, the U.N. has appealed for $2.96 billion to provide assistance and protection to people in Yemen in 2018.

"Several countries have already announced that there will be more donations from now until the end of the year," the U.N. chief said. "So we are quite optimistic."

Guterres added that "as important as the financial contributions to this conference is the commitment of the parties to the conflict to come together to put an end to the war."

He said information gleaned by his new special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, during a trip to the region led him to believe there were "positive perspectives" that could possibly lead to an "effective intra-Yemeni dialogue" at some point. Guterres cited an "opportunity to be seized."

A Saudi-led, Western-backed coalition has been at war with Iran-allied Shiite rebels known as Houthis for three years in a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people and left 22.2 million people needing humanitarian aid. The conflict has fanned the world's worst recent cholera outbreak and put many on the brink of starvation. Some 8.4 million people do not know how they will get their next meal, according to U.N. estimates.

Health and sanitation systems are teetering in Yemen. Guterres noted that a child under 5 dies every 10 minutes from preventable causes.

In his prepared remarks, Guterres noted how Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - who have given military backing to Yemen's government, notably with air power and a sea blockade of rebel areas - had "generously provided" $930 million toward the humanitarian response plan even before the conference began.

The final list of pledges showed that each country had offered $500 million.

The United States announced nearly $87 million in additional humanitarian aid, while the European Union pledged EUR107.5 million in new funding this year.

Thomas Staal, counselor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, said the United States extended its "gratitude" to Saudi Arabia and UAE "for their significant contributions to the United Nations' coordinated response."

Amnesty International said it continues to turn up "grave" violations of international humanitarian law on all sides of the conflict.

"All warring parties must be held accountable," it said in an email. "All countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, must also halt the flow of all arms to the conflict."

Ken Roth, director of Human Rights Watch, said any humanitarian contribution was welcome amid such severe suffering.

"But that shouldn't absolve or change the subject from the Saudi-led coalition's primary responsibility for Yemen's humanitarian crisis due to its blockade and repeated bombing of Yemeni civilians and critical Yemeni infrastructure," Roth wrote in an email.

"Sending remedial aid doesn't exculpate Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their war-crime strategy of blockading and bombing Yemeni civilians," he added.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, April 3, 2018. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses his statement during the High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, April 3, 2018. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)DALLAS (AP) - If Warren Buffett is interested in buying Southwest Airlines, he's not telling the airline's CEO directly.

Southwest Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said Tuesday that he hasn't talked to Buffett since the Berkshire Hathaway CEO sparked speculation with a comment that he wouldn't rule out owning an entire airline.

Berkshire Hathaway already owns 8.1 percent of Southwest, making it the Dallas airline's second-biggest shareholder behind Primecap Management Co. Berkshire Hathaway also holds major stakes in American, Delta and United airlines.

Some analysts and columnists argue that Southwest could be the financier's most logical target because of its low-cost business model, investment-grade credit rating, and potential for growth. It wouldn't be cheap, however - Southwest's market value is around $33 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which is based in Omaha, Nebraska, didn't immediately comment.

Buffett's company is sitting on about $116 billion in cash, and he has said the company could make one or two "huge" acquisitions.

Kelly said Southwest talks regularly to all its shareholders including Berkshire Hathaway, "but obviously I can't speak for them or what their interest might be."

Kelly made the comments to reporters after a ceremony marking the opening of a $250 million building to house 2,000 employees and Southwest's pilot-training center.

Southwest hopes to get federal certification that it needs to fly to Hawaii in time to start flights by year end, although they could be pushed back into 2019. Kelly said Southwest is "strongly considering" augmenting flights from California with service between the Hawaiian islands - a bold challenge to Hawaiian Airlines, which dominates intra-island service.

Kelly also said he is not opposed to bullet trains running between Dallas and Houston - a cornerstone route for Southwest - unless the trains receive taxpayer subsidies, which he said would be unfair competition.

___

David Koenig can be reached at http://twitter.com/airlinewriterDENVER (AP) - A Colorado man has been charged with first-degree murder in his neighbor's slaying. A witness says the two had been arguing over how the victim disciplined his dog.

The Denver Post reports that 32-year-old Michael Kourosh Sadeghi was charged Tuesday morning in the March 27 killing of 42-year-old Dustin Schmidt.

Vicki Branaghan, who lives with Schmidt, says her German shepherd Bruno had jumped the fence between their yard and Sadeghi's yard. Schmidt pulled the dog back over to his yard.

She said an argument erupted after Schmidt swatted their dog. She said Sadeghi pulled a gun out and "shot Dustin in the back of the head five times," then "walked back to his house as though nothing happened."

Sadeghi is being held without bond. Booking documents do not indicate if he has hired an attorney.

___

Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.comBISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Fifty-six delegates to North Dakota's Republican state convention have reimbursed the party for registration fees paid on their behalf by U.S. House candidates, with state Sen. Tom Campbell accounting for almost all those, the party said Tuesday.

The payments are legal by party rules, but Campbell's payments prompted criticism last month that he was trying to buy favor in an endorsement battle for the House seat with state Sen. Kelly Armstrong.

Exactly how many delegates Campbell paid for wasn't made public at the time, making Tuesday's rundown the first accounting. Fifty-two of the delegates who repaid fees had those fees originally paid by Campbell, according to Dawson Schefter, the state party's regional field director.

Ten more delegates who got money from Campbell's campaign did not reimburse the party.

Armstrong, who had joined in the criticism of Campbell, paid for four delegates who have now paid their own fees - his parents and his brother and sister-in-law, Schefter said.

The repayments came after GOP Chairman Rick Berg notified delegates in a letter last week that their names would not be made public if they reimbursed the party by 5 p.m. Tuesday. The AP obtained a copy of the letter.

Campbell, a wealthy potato farmer, said in an interview Tuesday that he "honestly" didn't know how many delegate fees that he or his campaign funded. He called the issue "overplayed" by the media.

North Dakota's lone House seat is open this election as GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer runs for U.S. Senate against Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. Campbell was the GOP's only Senate candidate for months before Cramer's entry pushed him into the House race.

Registration fees for the convention are $90 per person, or $45 for those under 30 years old. The three-day convention that begins Friday in Grand Forks is expected to draw more than 1,500 delegates.

Schefter said the repayments would be returned to the campaign from where they came.WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is dramatically scaling back U.S. goals in Syria as he pushes for a quick military withdrawal, Trump administration officials said Wednesday, abandoning plans to stay long-term to stabilize the country and prevent the Islamic State group from re-emerging.

Trump has given no formal order to pull out the 2,000 U.S. troops currently in Syria, nor offered a public timetable, other than to say the United States will pull out just as soon as the last remaining IS fighters can be vanquished. But Trump has signaled to his advisers that ideally, he wants all troops out within six months, according to three U.S. officials - a finale that would come shortly before the U.S. midterm elections.

In his haste to withdraw from Syria, Trump stands alone. The Pentagon, the State Department and CIA are all deeply concerned about the potential ramifications if the U.S. leaves behind a power vacuum in Syria, as are Israel, Arab leaders and other nations in the U.S.-led coalition that has fought IS in Iraq and Syria since 2014.

A U.S. soldier sits on an armored vehicle on a newly installed position, near the tense front line between the U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council and the Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. A week ago, there was just a single house where U.S. soldiers had hoisted a U.S. flag on a hill a little ways back from a tense front line in Syria. Now on Wednesday stood a growing outpost with a perimeter of large sand barriers and barbed wire, a new watch tower and half a dozen armored vehicles, The Associated Press found. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The president made clear his patience was running out as he met top national security aides on Tuesday. Yet the meeting concluded with no hard-and-fast deadline handed down, leaving Trump's team struggling to deduce how fast is fast enough for Trump, according to officials briefed on the meeting who weren't authorized to discuss it and requested anonymity.

The tense disagreement between Trump and his team has played out in chaotic and increasingly public fashion. On Tuesday, before the Syria meeting, Trump was telling television cameras he wanted to "get out," just as the U.S. special envoy for fighting IS insisted "our mission isn't over." And on Wednesday, the White House issued a statement that declared the IS mission is "coming to a rapid end" but avoided specifics altogether.

"We will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans," said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Urging him to slow down, Trump's aides have been emphasizing that IS fighters remain active in Syria, evidence that Trump's own, publicly stated objective - the total defeat of IS - has yet to be met. Officials said the U.S. is tracking two pockets where IS remains viable - one in the Middle Euphrates River Valley region, another along the Iraq-Syria border. And despite the White House's insistence that the group is "almost completely defeated," a string of renewed IS attacks in recent weeks has raised fears about a resurgence.

Regardless of exactly when the troops leave, the decision to remove them as soon as possible has forced an immediate realignment of long-term U.S. objectives in the country, officials said.

With no military presence to ensure security for American personnel, the U.S. will have to call off other planned operations to clear land mines, restore basic services like water and electricity, and create political conditions needed to resolve Syria's civil war. Already, Trump has put an indefinite hold on $200 million he pledged previously for those operations.

Those efforts by U.S. diplomats and aid workers have been seen as critical to ensuring that Syria's territory isn't exploited in the future by IS remnants, other extremists or Iran. They formed a key component of Trumps new Syria strategy, laid out by then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a speech in January declaring it "vital for the United States to remain engaged in Syria." But the speech, while formally approved by the White House, angered Trump, officials said, and the president fired Tillerson last month.

Instead, Trump will leave stabilizing Syria to other nations, in line with his long-stated view that the United States shoulders too much of global costs and should put "America first."

"I want to get out," Trump said. "I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation."

Trump has asked Saudi Arabia, which is keenly interested in keeping Iran out of Syria, to contribute $4 billion toward reconstruction and stabilization efforts that the U.S. no longer plans to undertake. He came away from a phone call Monday with King Salman confident that the king will agree to give the money, two U.S. officials briefed on the conversation said. The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

Securing foreign dollars while pulling out troops could allow Trump to argue before the November midterms that he's shifted the burden of resolving far-flung crises away from America. But ceding influence over Syrian territory could hand more control to countries whose interests in the Middle East are sharply at odds with the United States.

As the White House was talking up a U.S. withdrawal on Wednesday, the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran were meeting in Ankara to hash out their own plans for Syria's future, including a continued Turkish operation to oust U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters from northern Syria. The three nations have been pushing their own diplomatic track for resolving Syria's civil war, even as the U.S. tries to rejuvenate United Nations-led talks.

"We have agreed to expand the entire range of our trilateral cooperation in Syria," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in the Turkish capital, claiming credit on the trio's behalf for the Islamic State group's near-defeat.

Russia has been propping up Syrian President Bashar Assad for years, with increasing help from Iranian-backed Shiite militias such as Hezbollah - to the dismay of U.S. allies such as Israel. A phone call Wednesday between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grew tense because of the Israeli leader's concerns that the U.S. will withdraw and allow Israel's enemies to gain a further foothold in a neighboring country, two U.S. officials said.

Nor is it clear that the U.S. has capable local partners lined up to handle basic security and prevent a total collapse following a precipitous U.S. pullout - a prospect that offers unsettling echoes of the 2011 U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. As a candidate, Trump derided President Barack Obama for that decision and argued that the resulting power vacuum enabled the formation of the Islamic State.

The Syrian Kurds, the most effective fighting force in Syria aligned with Washington, recently shifted to fighting Turkish forces in the area of Afrin. That forced a pause in operations against the main IS holdout in Syria. The Pentagon has warned that the distraction could give IS the reprieve it needs to regroup after four years of being pummeled.

___

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Matthew Lee, Robert Burns, Catherine Lucey and Darlene Superville in Washington and Philip Issa in Beirut contributed to this report.

A U.S. soldier sits in an armored vehicle on a road leading to the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. President Donald Trump expects to decide "very quickly" whether to remove U.S. troops from war-torn Syria, saying their primary mission was to defeat the Islamic State group and "we've almost completed that task." (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A U.S. soldier sits on an armored vehicle behind a sand barrier at a newly installed position near the tense front line between the U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council and the Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. A week ago, there was just a single house where U.S. soldiers had hoisted a U.S. flag on a hill a little ways back from a tense front line in Syria. Now on Wednesday stood a growing outpost with a perimeter of large sand barriers and barbed wire, a new watch tower and half a dozen armored vehicles, The Associated Press found. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A U.S. soldier sits on his armored vehicle on a road leading to the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. A week ago, there was just a single house where U.S. soldiers had hoisted a U.S. flag on a hill a little ways back from a tense front line in Syria. Now on Wednesday stood a growing outpost with a perimeter of large sand barriers and barbed wire, a new watch tower and half a dozen armored vehicles, The Associated Press found. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A U.S. soldier takes pictures from an armored vehicle on a road leading to the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. President Donald Trump expects to decide "very quickly" whether to remove U.S. troops from war-torn Syria, saying their primary mission was to defeat the Islamic State group and "we've almost completed that task." (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

FILE - In this Thursday, March 29, 2018 file photo, U.S. soldiers, left, sit in a house turned into an outpost on a road leading to the tense front line between U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council fighters and Turkish-backed fighters, at Halawanji village, north of Manbij town, Syria. President Donald Trump expects to decide "very quickly" whether to remove U.S. troops from war-torn Syria, saying their primary mission was to defeat the Islamic State group and "we've almost completed that task." (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

FILE -- In this Saturday, March 31, 2018 file photo, Syrian boys, right, sit on a pickup truck as they travel next to a U.S. vehicle, on a road leading to the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria. President Donald Trump expects to decide "very quickly" whether to remove U.S. troops from war-torn Syria, saying their primary mission was to defeat the Islamic State group and "we've almost completed that task." (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

FILE -- In Thursday, March 29, 201 file photo, a fighter, second from right, of U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council is parked next to a U.S. humvee at an outpost on a road leading to the tense front line between Syrian Manbij Military Council fighters and Turkish-backed fighters, at Halawanji village, north of Manbij town, Syria. President Donald Trump expects to decide "very quickly" whether to remove U.S. troops from war-torn Syria, saying their primary mission was to defeat the Islamic State group and "we've almost completed that task." (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)MOSCOW (AP) - The international chemical weapons watchdog on Wednesday rejected Russia's call for a joint investigation with Britain of the nerve-agent poisonings of an ex-spy and his daughter in England.

But Russia said the number of countries that abstained from the vote suggested many have doubts about Britain's allegations that Moscow was behind the attack and now plans to take its denials of involvement to the U.N. Security Council.

Britain said Russia's proposal for a joint investigation received only six votes at a special session of the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The council has representatives from 41 countries.

Russia's defense ministry expert Igor Rybalchenko watches as media interview the Russian ambassador after a press conference at the Russian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, following a special executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which discussed the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter last month. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Russia requested the session in The Hague, Netherlands, to push its repeated rejection of Britain's claim that Moscow orchestrated the poisonings of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. The British government has invited experts from OPCW to help identify the substance that sickened the Skripals on March 4.

"The purpose of Russia's ludicrous proposal at The Hague was clear - to undermine the independent, impartial work of the international chemical weapons watchdog," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement.

Russia's OPCW envoy Alexander Shulgin said the 17 abstentions from Wednesday's vote meant "more than half of the members of the executive council refused to support the U.S. and U.K. position."

The United States and more than two dozen British allies have expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity over the attack. Moscow has responded in kind.

Russia's U.N. ambassador called for an open meeting Thursday of the U.N. Security Council about the case. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia made the request at the end of his speech Wednesday to a council meeting on chemical weapons in Syria.

Russia requested the Security Council meeting because it shares the principle that the use of chemical weapons "is not acceptable and must be investigated and perpetrators punished," Nebenzia said.

Kuwait's U.N. ambassador, Mansour Al-Otaibi, told reporters the meeting is scheduled at 3 p.m. EDT Thursday.

At the special meeting in The Hague, Russia and Britain traded accusations of duplicity and untrustworthiness.

The British envoy said that a joint investigation, as proposed by Russia, would force "a victim to engage the likely perpetrator."

"To do so would be perverse," acting U.K. Permanent Representative John Foggo said, adding that Moscow's demand showed "disdain."

But Russia complained that Britain's work with the agency has lacked transparency.

"Russia, as well as other states that are members of the executive committee, have been pushed aside from this investigation," Shulgin told reporters.

"They tell us that they can inform us of the results of this investigation ... only with the good will of Great Britain," Shulgin said. "But, knowing how our so-called partners have conducted themselves, we are not going to count on their good will."

The United States and many of Britain's European allies have supported the U.K. in assigning blame for the poisonings to Russia. Moscow has worked strenuously to undermine the allegation and pressured Britain to provide evidence backing its claim that Russia was responsible.

A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Britain needed to provide information about the pets that lived in Sergei Skripal's house in Salisbury, England.

Wednesday that Russia has reliable information that there were pets in the Salisbury residence of Sergei Skripal.

"Where are the pets? What is their condition?" ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. "This is about living creatures, and if a toxic chemical agent was indeed used in their house, these living creatures should have been hurt."

The chief of Britain's defense research lab, the Porton Down laboratory, acknowledged Tuesday it has not been able to pinpoint the precise source of the nerve agent.

Gary Aitkenhead said scientists there identified the substance used on Sergei and Yulia Skripal as a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok. But he added "it's not our job to say where that was actually manufactured."

The British government says it relied on a combination of scientific analysis and other intelligence to conclude that the nerve agent came from Russia.

Britain is standing by its assessment, but the Foreign Office on Wednesday deleted a tweet from last month saying Porton Down scientists had identified the substance as "made in Russia."

Still, Russian President Vladimir Putin had quickly seized on Aitkenhead's comments as proof that British accusations against Russia were baseless. He noted that at least 20 other nations now have the capacity to produce Novichok.

Asked Wednesday if Russia expects an apology from Britain, Putin said "we are not expecting anything like that."

"We are just expecting reason to prevail so that international relations don't sustain damage like what we have seen recently," he said after a summit in Ankara, Turkey.

"This not only concerns the assassination attempt on Skripal, but also all other aspects of international relations," he said. "We need to work within the framework of sound political processes, founded on fundamental norms of international law, and this will make the world a more stable and predictable place."

Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, was convicted of in Russia of spying for Britain. He was released from a Russian prison as part of a spy swap with the West.

His poisoning has plunged relations between the West and Russia to their lowest ebb since the Cold War.

In Moscow, Russia's spymaster claimed U.K. and U.S. intelligence agencies "staged" the attack.

Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, said the poisoning was a "grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and U.S. intelligence agencies."

Meanwhile the 28-nation European Union, of which Britain is still a member, lamented Moscow's refusal to give information to Britain that would shed light on who wanted to kill Skripal.

"Instead, we witnessed a flood of insinuations" targeting several EU member states, envoy Krassimir Kostov of Bulgaria said at the meeting in The Hague. Bulgaria currently holds the EU's rotating presidency,

___

Raf Casert in Brussels, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, and Jill Lawless and Danica Kirka in London contributed.

Russia's ambassador Alexander Shulgin, center left, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Georgy Kalamanov, center right, and defense ministry experts Igor Rybalchenko, right, and Viktor Kholstov, left, address the media during a press conference at the Russian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, following a special executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which discussed the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter last month. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Russia's ambassador Alexander Shulgin, center left, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Georgy Kalamanov, center right, and defense ministry experts Igor Rybalchenko, right, and Viktor Kholstov, left, addresses the media during a press conference at the Russian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, following a special executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which discussed the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter last month. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

In this Wednesday, March 21, 2018, image the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are seen in The Hague, Netherlands. The OPCW is holding a special executive council meeting Wednesday April 4, 2018, which will likely discuss the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter last month. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Russia's defense ministry expert Viktor Kholstov, rear, watches as deputy minister of Industry and Trade Georgy Kalamanov, right, listens to the Russian ambassador after a press conference at the Russian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, following a special executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which discussed the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter last month. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Russia's ambassador Alexander Shulgin, left, and deputy minister of Industry and Trade Georgy Kalamanov, right, are interviewed after a press conference at the Russian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, following a special executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which discussed the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter last month. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Russia's ambassador Alexander Shulgin addresses the media during a press conference at the Russian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, following a special executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which discussed the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter last month. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Viktor Kholstov, a Russian defense ministry expert, left, and Russia's ambassador Alexander Shulgin, right, address the media during a press conference at the Russian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, following a special executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which discussed the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter last month. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian authorities have arrested the editor of an independent news website for operating without a license, the latest episode in a widening crackdown on independent media, officials said Wednesday.

They said Adel Sabri was arrested late Tuesday and taken to a Cairo police station, while the offices of the Masr al-Arabia website were shuttered. Prosecutors were questioning Sabri on Wednesday, they said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The arrest came a day after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi won a second, four-year term in office, with 97 percent of the vote in last week's election. He faced no serious competition, after a string of potentially strong candidates were arrested or withdrew under pressure, leaving a single opponent who made no effort to challenge him.

The officials said the Masr al-Arabia site was fined 50,000 pounds (nearly $3,000) by the media regulatory body earlier this week for publishing an Arabic translation of a New York Times report, which said that voters were offered cash, food and promises of better services in exchange for their participation.

The Egyptian newspaper El-Masri El-Youm was fined 150,000 pounds ($8,500) over its own, similar report. The newspaper published an apology on Tuesday.

Authorities went to great lengths to boost turnout, hoping to lend the election legitimacy. Official turnout ended up being around 40 percent.

El-Sissi, who overthrew Egypt's first freely elected president in 2013 amid mass protests against his rule, has since waged the heaviest crackdown on dissent in Egypt's modern history. Authorities have outlawed unauthorized protests, jailed thousands of Islamists as well as several prominent secular activists, and blocked hundreds of independent websites.

In February, authorities expelled a British journalist for The Times of London, saying she did not have valid accreditation and was filming without a permit. Last month, a pro-government talk show host was briefly detained for a segment of his show that the Interior Ministry saw as insulting to the police.

Last month, Egypt's chief prosecutor said segments of the media have been trying to "undermine the security and safety of the nation," and later published a list of telephone numbers for citizens to alert authorities to reports they view as undermining security or spreading false news.BERLIN (AP) - German police say a woman and her adult son have apparently been killed by their dog at an apartment in the city of Hannover.

Police said a relative alerted authorities on Tuesday night after seeing a body through a window of the apartment. They said firefighters had to catch the Staffordshire terrier before finding the bodies of the 52-year-old woman and her 27-year-old son.

In a statement Wednesday, police said a forensic expert determined that the two were "apparently killed by the dog."

Authorities in Germany tightened rules on attack dogs following a spate of dog attacks on people, including children, in 2000.Trump signs order sending National Guard to US-Mexico border

WASHINGTON (AP) - Asserting the situation had reached "a point of crisis," President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation ordering the deployment of the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration.

"The lawlessness that continues at our southern border is fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security, and sovereignty of the American people," Trump wrote in a memo authorizing the move, adding that his administration had "no choice but to act."

The announcement came hours after Trump pledged "strong action today" on immigration and a day after he said he announced he wanted to use the military to secure the southern border until his long-promised, stalled border wall is erected.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said she had been in discussions with the governors of the southwest border states and has been working with them to develop agreements that will oversee where and how many Guardsmen will be deployed

She suggested some troops could begin arriving as soon as Wednesday night, though other administration officials cautioned that details on troop levels, locations and timing were still being worked out.

___

Congress' challenge: How to tame industry giant Facebook

WASHINGTON (AP) - Facebook isn't just a company. It's a behemoth, with 2.1 billion monthly users, $40 billion in revenue and more than 25,000 employees worldwide.

And that leaves Washington with a daunting task: How do you tame a corporate giant? Or do you even try?

"It's tricky and it's going to be hard, but there are ways it can be dealt with," says Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a former tech executive who has led investigations into Russian interference on social media over the last year as the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. "The idea that we're going to keep the wild, wild West - I don't think it's sustainable."

The picture will begin to come into focus next week. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify April 10 and 11 before Senate and House committees as his company grapples with the privacy scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm linked to President Donald Trump.

Facebook's reckoning in Washington comes on multiple fronts. Russia's use of the platform to meddle in U.S. elections, a regulatory investigation that could result in fines of hundreds of millions of dollars against the company for privacy violations, and the Cambridge Analytica episode are all topmost concerns.

___

Trump scales back US goals in Syria, leaves future to others

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is dramatically scaling back U.S. goals in Syria as he pushes for a quick military withdrawal, Trump administration officials said Wednesday, abandoning plans to stay long-term to stabilize the country and prevent the Islamic State group from re-emerging.

Trump has given no formal order to pull out the 2,000 U.S. troops currently in Syria, nor offered a public timetable, other than to say the United States will pull out just as soon as the last remaining IS fighters can be vanquished. But Trump has signaled to his advisers that ideally, he wants all troops out within six months, according to three U.S. officials - a finale that would come shortly before the U.S. midterm elections.

In his haste to withdraw from Syria, Trump stands alone. The Pentagon, the State Department and CIA are all deeply concerned about the potential ramifications if the U.S. leaves behind a power vacuum in Syria, as are Israel, Arab leaders and other nations in the U.S.-led coalition that has fought IS in Iraq and Syria since 2014.

The president made clear his patience was running out as he met top national security aides on Tuesday. Yet the meeting concluded with no hard-and-fast deadline handed down, leaving Trump's team struggling to deduce how fast is fast enough for Trump, according to officials briefed on the meeting who weren't authorized to discuss it and requested anonymity.

The tense disagreement between Trump and his team has played out in chaotic and increasingly public fashion. On Tuesday, before the Syria meeting, Trump was telling television cameras he wanted to "get out," just as the U.S. special envoy for fighting IS insisted "our mission isn't over." And on Wednesday, the White House issued a statement that declared the IS mission is "coming to a rapid end" but avoided specifics altogether.

___

10 Things to Know for Thursday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:

1. WHO'S GETTING THEIR MARCHING ORDERS

Trump and border-state governors work to "immediately" deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration.

2. 'THE TASK IS UNFINISHED'

With thoughts on the past and eyes to the future, thousands march and sing civil rights songs to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

___

Facebook scandal affected more users than thought: up to 87M

NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook revealed Wednesday that tens of millions more people might have been exposed in the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal than previously thought and said it will restrict the user data that outsiders can access.

Those developments came as congressional officials said CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify next week, while Facebook unveiled a new privacy policy that aims to explain the data it gathers on users more clearly - but doesn't actually change what it collects and shares.

In a call with reporters Wednesday, Zuckerberg acknowledged he made a "huge mistake" in failing to take a broad enough view of what Facebook's responsibility is in the world. He said it isn't enough for Facebook to believe app developers when they say they follow the rules. He says Facebook has to ensure they do.

Facebook is facing its worst privacy scandal in years following allegations that Cambridge Analytica, a Trump-affiliated data mining firm, used ill-gotten data from millions of users through an app to try to influence elections.

Facebook said Wednesday that as many as 87 million people might have had their data accessed - an increase from the 50 million disclosed in published reports. Facebook is basing the estimate in part on the number of friends each user might have had. Cambridge Analytica said in a statement that it had data for only 30 million people.

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Dems, GOP using immigration in House races, but differently

WASHINGTON (AP) - Both Democrats and Republicans think the stalemate between President Donald Trump and Congress over immigration can help them in November's congressional elections. Each could be right.

In House races across the country, both parties are using the fight over immigration - fanned by tweets from President Donald Trump about a crisis on the Mexican border that others say doesn't exist - to fire up base voters in midterm elections. Democrats think it can help them reach minorities, young people and suburban moderates repelled by Trump's strident anti-immigrant stances, while Republicans have noted his success in using promises to crack down on immigration to energize disaffected conservatives.

As a result, Democrats are using the issue to emphasize inclusivity and are targeting border regions, suburbs and areas with immigrant populations. Republicans, whose districts tend to be less diverse, plan to make immigration a law-and-order issue that appeals to conservatives all around the U.S.

The debate is likely to roil races in California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, perhaps New Mexico and Virginia's Washington, D.C., suburbs. One diverse Southern California House district centered on the sprawl of Orange County has already become a testing ground for each party's immigration strategy.

The retirement of 13-term Republican Rep. Ed Royce makes the seat a prime target for Democrats trying to pick up 23 seats in November's elections, enough to grab House control. Seventeen GOP, Democratic and independent candidates are vying in a multiparty June 5 primary, a group that includes a Republican who has worked to scuttle pro-immigrant sanctuary city laws and a Democrat who fled Vietnam as a child.

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Police: YouTube shooter was calm in interview before attack

MENIFEE, Calif. (AP) - Just hours before she shot and wounded three people at YouTube headquarters, Nasim Aghdam calmly told police who found her sleeping in her car that she was having family problems and had left her home.

During the 20-minute interview with officers early Tuesday, she did not mention being angry with YouTube or having accused the company of suppressing her video posts. She gave no indication she was a threat to herself or others.

"It was a very normal conversation. There was nothing in her behavior that suggested anything unusual," said Mountain View Police Chief Max Bosel.

Later that day, she went to a gun range before walking through a parking garage into a courtyard at YouTube's campus south of San Francisco, where she opened fire with a handgun and wounded three people. She then killed herself.

The sequence of Aghdam's activities emerged Wednesday as police continued gathering information about the attacker and her motives.

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MLK honored as thousands march to 'keep the dream going'

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - With thoughts on the past and eyes to the future, thousands marched and sang civil rights songs Wednesday to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the "apostle of nonviolence" silenced by an assassin 50 years ago.

At events ranging from a jubilant concert to a solemn wreath-laying, admirers across the country took time to both reflect on King's legacy and discuss how his example can apply to racial and economic divides still plaguing society.

Among the largest gatherings was a march through the Mississippi River city where the civil rights leader was shot dead on a motel balcony in 1968. Memphis police estimated a crowd of about 10,000.

The Rev. James Lawson, who invited King to Memphis 50 years ago to assist with a strike by underpaid sanitation workers, helped lead the march and said more progress is needed toward King's goal of equality for all.

"I'm still anxious and frustrated," said Lawson, his black hair turned gray. "The task is unfinished."

___

On the brink: US and China threaten tariffs as fears rise

WASHINGTON (AP) - The world's two biggest economies stand at the edge of the most perilous trade conflict since World War II. Yet there's still time to pull back from the brink.

Financial markets bounced up and down Wednesday over the brewing U.S.-China trade war after Beijing and Washington proposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of each other's products in a battle over the aggressive tactics China employs to develop its high-tech industries.

"The risks of escalation are clear," Adam Slater, global economist at Oxford Economics, wrote in a research note. "Threats to the U.S.-China relationship are the most dangerous for global growth."

There's time for the two countries to resolve the dispute through negotiations in the coming weeks. The United States will not tax 1,300 Chinese imports - from hearing aids to flamethrowers - until it has spent weeks collecting public comments. It's likely to get an earful from American farmers and businesses that want to avoid a trade war at all costs.

Also, China did not say when it would impose tariffs on 106 U.S. products, including soybeans and small aircraft, and it announced it is challenging America's import duties at the World Trade Organization.

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Stocks surge as market escapes early plunge on trade fears

NEW YORK (AP) - After an early jolt, stocks rallied and finished higher Wednesday as investors bet that back-and-forth tariff threats between the U.S. and China won't blossom into a bigger dispute that damages global commerce.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 501 points after the opening bell but made it all back, and more. Household goods makers, retailers and homebuilders led the way while technology companies reversed some early losses. But two major targets of China's possible tariffs, aerospace company Boeing and farm equipment maker Deere, finished lower.

The early declines followed an announcement by the Chinese government that it plans to impose tariffs of 25 percent on a list of U.S. goods worth $50 billion, including soybeans and aircraft. The U.S. plans to place tariffs on a similar amount of Chinese goods, including industrial robots and telecom gear, subject to potential tariffs to protest Beijing's alleged theft of U.S. technology.

But investors relaxed as both sides emphasized a willingness to talk. President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, suggested the U.S. tariffs won't be implemented if China lowers barriers to trade. Others noted the two countries have too much to lose from a trade war.

"The most likely outcome is smoke, but no fire," said Bill Adams, senior international economist at PNC Financial. "The amount that both countries have invested in bilateral trade cooperation and economic cooperation is so significant that the costs of going back would be very painful, and more than either country would want to bear."PARIS (AP) - Want to take a selfie on the red carpet during the Cannes Film Festival? Well, you can't.

That's the message from top festival official Thierry Fremaux, who says red carpet-selfies will be banned at this year's star-studded event.

Violators, he said on Europe-1 radio Wednesday, won't be let in to see films.

FILE - In this May 21, 2015 file photo, singer Pixie Lott takes a selfie as she arrives for the screening of the film Nie Yinniang (The Assassin) at the 68th international film festival, Cannes, southern France. Film Festival organizers are banning red carpet selfies this year, calling them grotesque and ridiculous. (Benoit Tessier/Pool via AP)

When festival-goers take selfies as they climb the carpeted stairs to the French Riviera venue, he said everything becomes "disorganized" and the program "runs late."

But as guardian of one of the world's most glamorous cultural events, Fremaux also has aesthetic concerns: "It's not beautiful. It's grotesque. It's ridiculous .... We want to restore a bit of decency."

Fremaux also said recently that Netflix movies will be banned from competition at this year's festival, which runs May 8-19.BANGKOK (AP) - The Thai political group that has won every national election since 2001, only to be forced out of power repeatedly by non-electoral means, has taken an initial step on a comeback trail, registering its members in order to contest polls promised for early next year.

The Pheu Thai Party last held power in 2014, when an army coup ousted it and installed a military government that until last month banned almost all organized political party activity.

The ruling junta, having promised an election for next February, is now allowing new and old parties to register their members, with a minimum of 500 needed to sign up in 30 days to qualify.

Thailand's former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, front center, and former lawmakers show receipt after registering their memberships to Pheu Thai Party in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Pheu Thai members, representing the legacy of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the party's guiding light, signed up Wednesday at its headquarters. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Pheu Thai members, representing the legacy of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the party's guiding light, signed up this week at its headquarters. Former lawmakers and senior figures, as well as ordinary supporters, came to help get the party back on its feet.

It has been overthrown twice under different names by the military, and twice was dissolved by the courts. But judging by the enthusiastic reception for former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat as he entered the headquarters, Pheu Thai members are eager to rejoin the fray.

But some things have changed significantly since a military edict banning political activities forced it and all other parties into dormancy following the 2014 coup.

Ahead of the general election promised for 2019, the junta has imposed new and complex electoral rules. Their architects say they make politics more open and inclusive, but critics say they are specifically designed to stop Pheu Thai from repeating the crushing victories that gave it solid parliamentary majorities.

"Some forces dislike us, disagree with us, and try to sort us out, but it's what happens, and we and the people have to find our way out of it," said the party's general secretary, Phumtham Wechayachai.

Those forces have proved persistent. Thaksin, head of what was then called the Thai Rak Thai party, fell to a coup in 2006. Court decisions removed two prime ministers from its successor People's Power Party in 2008, leading to its coalition government being forced to yield power. Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, came to power in a 2011 election, only to be forced out of office by another controversial court decision shortly before the army seized power again.

But throughout it all, the appeal of the family behind the party - the Shinawatras - has endured. Their carefully targeted populist policies won a large and devoted following. How much Thaksin and his sister Yingluck, both in exile to avoid jail terms, can still sway voters today may be key to Pheu Thai's future fortunes. Open involvement in the political fray could jeopardize the party's legal standing.

One analyst believes it will do well at the polls because Thailand is still deeply polarized and Pheu Thai is a rallying point against the junta and the elite - often known as the "yellow shirts" - who loathed Thaksin.

"Everyone who does not like the coup, regime, doesn't like the yellow shirts, doesn't like the conservative politics. What they can do? They have only one choice. They have the Thaksin party to vote for," said Prajak Kongkirati, a professor at Bangkok's Thammasat University.

Some senior figures on Wednesday voiced concern over the effect of the junta's long political ban on the party's ability to organize effectively before the promised election.

"The result of the political ban is that the party cannot communicate with the people, is not allowed to exchange ideas with the people about policies," said Chaturon Chaisang, a former education minister. "It is a limitation to the political parties. Because of that, we shouldn't take it for granted that our party will be strong without working real hard."

For one woman signing up as an ordinary member, Pheu Thai's importance was clear.

"They help poor people and poor people need them. We are suffering right now," said Supa Nuchapong, a 50-year-old fruit seller from the outskirts of Bangkok.

Thailand's former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat shows receipt after registering his membership to Pheu Thai Party in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Pheu Thai members, representing the legacy of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the party's guiding light, signed up Wednesday at its headquarters. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

People wait for registration in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Pheu Thai members, representing the legacy of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the party's guiding light, signed up Wednesday at its headquarters. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)LOS ANGELES (AP) - Actor Robert Downey Jr. is joining the directors of "Avengers: Infinity War" in calling for fans to maintain secrecy.

The star tweeted "no spoilers please." He signed it with the (hashtag) ThanosDemandsYour Silence. Thanos is the fictional Marvel Comics villain who will be portrayed by Josh Brolin in the movie. Downey plays Iron Man.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo went on Twitter to tell fans they would be screening a limited amount of footage prior to the film's release on April 27. They say "only a handful of people know the film's true plot."

FILE - In this June 28, 2017 file photo, Robert Downey Jr. arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Spider-Man: Homecoming." Downey Jr. is joining the directors of "Avengers: Infinity War" in calling for fans to maintain secrecy. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo went on Twitter to tell fans they would be screening a limited amount of footage prior to the film's release on April 27. They asked fans to maintain the same level of secrecy so that they don't spoil it for others. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

They asked fans to maintain the same level of secrecy so that they don't spoil it for others.YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) - Police are investigating reports of "zombie-like" raccoons in northeast Ohio.

WKBN-TV reports Youngstown police have received more than a dozen calls in the past three weeks about raccoons acting strangely in the daytime.

Photographer Robert Coggeshall says he was playing with his dogs outside his home last week when one such raccoon approached them. Coggeshall says the animal would stand on its hind legs, show its teeth and fall over backward.

The raccoon Coggeshall saw and 14 others police responded to were euthanized.

The state Department of Natural Resources says the animals were likely suffering from distemper, not rabies. The viral disease causes coughing, tremors and seizures and leads raccoons to lose their fear of humans.

Authorities are asking residents to report raccoons behaving unusually to their local police station.NEW YORK (AP) - Muslim groups that accused the New York Police Department of illegally spying on them in New Jersey after the Sept. 11 attacks appear on the verge of settling a civil rights lawsuit against the city.

In an order filed last month in federal court in Newark, U.S. District Judge William Martini said the parties had notified him they had reached an agreement. He gave them 60 days to finalize the deal, the details of which were not disclosed.

Islamic community leaders, the lead plaintiff and the plaintiff's lawyers were scheduled to make an announcement about the case Thursday. Neither side commented Wednesday.

The suit was filed in 2012 following reports by The Associated Press that revealed how the NYPD infiltrated Muslim student groups and put informants in mosques as part of a broad effort to prevent terrorist attacks. The effort crossed state lines into New Jersey, where the department collected intelligence on ordinary people at mosques, restaurants and schools starting in 2002, the AP reported.

In 2014, Martini ruled the surveillance program was a legal way to fight terrorism, rejecting the claim it was unconstitutional because it focused on religion, national origin and race. An appeals court revived the suit in 2015 by reversing the decision. Settlement talks began in 2016.

Federal judges have approved settlements in two other suits making similar allegations by Muslim groups in New York City that the NYPD's tactic violated their civil rights.

___

This story has been corrected to show the announcement in the case is scheduled for Thursday, not Wednesday.NEW YORK (AP) - New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal has reopened entrances that were affected by a police investigation of an unidentified white powder that was deemed harmless.

Spokesman Joe Pentangelo (pen-TAN'-jeh-loh) says bus service was not affected Wednesday morning.

The police investigation occurred at the close of rush hour, when the area around the terminal is still usually packed with morning commuters.

Police outside of New York's Port Authority bus terminal prevent people from entering after a report that an unidentified white powder was found there, Wednesday morning April 4, 2018. Entrances that were affected by the police investigation were reopened soon afterward, when the powder was deemed harmless and a spokesman said bus service was not affected. (AP Photo/Randy Herschaft)

The terminal is a main entryway into the city. It is across the street from the New York Times headquarters.PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Kosovo has formally complained to Albania over tariffs at a main road linking the two countries.

Last weekend protesters in Albania burned down toll boxes and scuffled with police to protest against high tariffs at the country's first toll road.

Infrastructure Minister Pal Lekaj on Wednesday complained to Albania's Ambassador to Pristina Qemal Minxhozi over the issue.

The 110-kilometer (70-mile) Milot-Morine highway is used by many Kosovar tourists who travel to Albania to enjoy the seaside they lack at home.

The tolls range from 2.5 to 22.5 euros ($3.08-27.79).

An international consortium is expected to maintain the road and collect tolls over a 30-year concession.UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned Wednesday that the U.N.'s failure to hold Syria accountable for its use of chemical weapons because of Russia's opposition has made the world "a far more dangerous place."

She told the Security Council that its lack of action on Syria has led others to take notice, pointing to the use of nerve agents against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother in Malaysia and the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in England.

"This reveals a dangerous trend," she said, urging a renewed commitment by the Security Council to end the use of chemical weapons in Syria and elsewhere in the world.

The council met on the first anniversary of a chemical attack using sarin nerve gas on the Syrian rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed about 100 people.

In a joint statement marking Wednesday's anniversary, the U.S., Britain, France and Germany criticized Russia for vetoing the extension of the expert body from the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that blamed the Syrian government for four chemical weapons attacks including Khan Sheikhoun.

The four countries condemned the use of chemical weapons anywhere and vowed to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.

Haley brought Syrian Dr. Mamoun Morad to the council meeting, saying he was one of the only doctors on duty in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017.

She quoted his words on the attack: "It was like Judgment Day, the Apocalypse. You just can't even describe the scene, can't even begin to scratch the surface of explaining what happened. We didn't have any protective equipment for gas."

Haley called the doctor, who treated victims of many other attacks in Khan Sheikhoun as well, "a hero."

She accused President Bashar Assad's regime of still using chemical weapons "practically every other week," including "credible reports of chlorine gas attacks" in the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta which the government seized recently.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia urged the council to accept Moscow's proposal for a replacement for the U.N.-OPCW expert body to assess responsibility for Syria chemical attacks. But the U.S., Britain, France and others oppose it because it would require Security Council approval of the experts' determination, effectively giving Russia veto power over its decisions.

Nebenzia said Russia condemns any use of chemical weapons, "however real ones, not imagined ones."

"At the same time as some are running after phantoms of chemical weapons in Damascus, in the region dangerous chemical weapons terrorism potential continues to be masked," he warned without elaborating.

Nebenzia then called for an open Security Council meeting Thursday afternoon on the poisoning of the ex-spy and his daughter in the English town of Salisbury. He said Russia was guided in seeking the meeting by the principle it shares that any chemical weapons use "is not acceptable and must be investigated and perpetrators punished, and that impunity is unacceptable."

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce had earlier told the council "there should be no more victims of chemical weapons attacks, whether they take place in the war zone of Syria or in an English country town."

She accused Russia of calling a meeting of the OPCW on the Salisbury attack in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday "to pre-empt the findings of the OPCW investigation" of the nerve agent used on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. She noted that a Foreign Ministry official in Moscow has already rejected the idea that Russia would accept the OPCW's conclusions.

Pierce also criticized Syria for failing to answer 21 serious issues about "gaps, inconsistencies, and discrepancies" in its chemical weapons declaration to the OPCW.

Thomas Markham, the U.N.'s deputy disarmament chief, told the council that discussions between the OPCW and the Syrian government haven't resolved any of these issues.

"Resolving these outstanding issues will permit shared confidence in Syria's declaration, within the international community," he said.SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on a shooting at YouTube headquarters (all times local):

8:35 a.m.

A San Bruno police chief says investigators have finished forensic work in the YouTube building where a shooter wounded at least three before killing herself.

A YouTube sign is shown across the street from the company's offices in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding several people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told KGO-7 News that authorities have not completed a search of the suspect's vehicle.

He said they have not found a letter or manifesto to explain Tuesday's lunchtime shooting.

Authorities say Nasim Aghdam believed she was being suppressed by YouTube and told her family members that she "hated" the company before opening fire at the company's headquarters south of San Francisco.

Barberini also said there is no reason to believe the shooter illegally obtained the semi-automatic pistol used in the shooting.

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12:05 a.m.

A woman who believed she was being suppressed by YouTube and "hated" the company opened fire at their headquarters, wounding three people before taking her own life.

Investigators said they don't believe Nasim Aghdam specifically targeted the three victims Tuesday. But a law enforcement official said Aghdam had a longstanding dispute with the company.

The official said investigators believe Aghdam used the name Nasime Sabz online. A website in that name decried YouTube's policies and said that YouTube was trying to "suppress" content creators.

The official spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Aghdam's father said his daughter was angry YouTube stopped paying for videos she posted on the platform and warned police she might go to the company's headquarters.

This undated photo provided by the San Bruno Police Department shows Nasim Aghdam. Law enforcement officials have identified Aghdam as the person who opened fire with a handgun, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., wounding several people before fatally shooting herself in what is being investigated as a domestic dispute, according to authorities. (Courtesy of San Bruno Police Department via AP)

A sign for YouTube is displayed from windows at a Walmart corporate office in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. A woman opened fire Tuesday at YouTube headquarters, wounding some people before fatally shooting herself as terrified employees huddled inside, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

A law enforcement officer stands at an entrance to a YouTube office in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, April 3, 2018. A woman opened fire Tuesday at YouTube headquarters, wounding some people before fatally shooting herself as terrified employees huddled inside, police and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)WASHINGTON (AP) - The center of our galaxy is teeming with black holes, sort of like a Times Square for strange super gravity objects, astronomers discovered.

For decades, scientists theorized that circling in the center of galaxies, including ours, were lots of stellar black holes , collapsed giant stars where the gravity is so strong even light doesn't get out. But they hadn't seen evidence of them in the Milky Way core until now.

Astronomers poring over old x-ray observations have found signs of a dozen black holes in the inner circle of the Milky Way. And since most black holes can't even be spotted that way, they calculate that there are likely thousands of them there. They estimate it could be about 10,000, maybe more, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Nature .

This illustration provided by Columbia University shows the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A, located at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, surrounded by a cloud of dust and gas within which are 12 smaller black holes, and a closeup of one of the systems. The enlarged section illustrates how the 12 black holes are each accompanied by a star in a binary orbit. Gasses from the partner star are pulled into a disk around the black hole. (Columbia University via AP)

"There's lots of action going on there," said study lead author Chuck Hailey, a Columbia University astrophysicist. "The galactic center is a strange place. That's why people like to study it."

The stellar black holes are in addition to - and essentially circling - the already known supermassive black hole, called Sagittarius A , that's parked at the center of the Milky Way.

In the rest of the massive Milky Way, scientists have only spotted about five dozen black holes so far, Hailey said.

The newly discovered black holes are within about 19.2 trillion miles (30.9 trillion kilometers) of the supermassive black hole at the center. So there's still a lot of empty space and gas amid all those black holes. But if you took the equivalent space around Earth there would be zero black holes, not thousands, Hailey said.

Earth is in spiral arm around 3,000 light years away from the center of the galaxy. (A light year is 5.9 trillion miles, or 9.5 trillion kilometers.)

Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who wasn't part of the study, praised the finding as exciting but confirming what scientists had long expected.

The newly confirmed black holes are about 10 times the mass of our sun, as opposed to the central supermassive black hole, which has the mass of 4 million suns. Also the ones spotted are only the type that are binary , where a black hole has partnered with another star and together they emit large amount of x-rays as the star's outer layer is sucked into the black hole. Those x-rays are what astronomers observe.

When astronomers look at closer binary black hole systems they could then see the ratio between what's visible and what's too faint to be observed from far away. Using that ratio, Hailey figures that even though they only spotted a dozen there must be 300 to 500 binary black hole systems.

But binary black hole systems are likely only 5 percent of all black holes, so that means there are really thousands of them, Hailey said.

There are good reasons the Milky Way's black holes tend to be in the center of the galaxy, Hailey said.

First, their mass tends to pull them to the center. But mostly the center of the galaxy is the perfect "hot house" for black hole formation, with lots of dust and gas.

Hailey said it is "sort of like a little farm where you have all the right conditions to produce and hold on to a large number of black holes."

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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears . His work can be found here .

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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency is reporting that a supporter of a Sufi Islam leader who rammed a bus into a group of policemen, killing three and injuring 30 before being arrested, has been sentenced to death.

The incident in Tehran took place during February clashes between the Sufi leader's followers and police.

Mohammad Salas testified during hearings in March that he had no intention of killing the policemen but was trying to flee the clashes.

Sufi leader Nourali Tabandeh's supporters had rallied near his residence fearing he would be arrested, despite police assurances he would not.

Iran's clerically overseen government frowns on Sufism, the mystical strain of Islam. Many conservatives view it as a deviation from the faith.MOUNT VERNON, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri ranch for troubled boys isn't liable in the 2013 murders of a Michigan couple by two teenagers who had run away from the facility, a jury decided in a lawsuit filed by the couple's children.

The family of Paul and Margaret Brooks, of Baldwin, Michigan, sued Lives Under Construction, a Christian juvenile rehabilitation center near Lampe, after Anthony Zarro and Christopher Allen broke into their winter home in Stone County, Missouri, and stabbed the couple to death.

The family contended that the ranch didn't adequately supervise the juveniles in its care, didn't alert the authorities or nearby residents that the teens had escaped two days before the attack, and improperly took Zarro and Allen off of needed psychiatric medication without consulting a doctor.

A Lawrence County jury found for the ranch Monday after a two-week trial that revealed that Sue Brooks apparently was forced to watch her husband's death before she was repeatedly stabbed, The Springfield News-Leader reported .

Zarro and Allen were 16 and 15, respectively, at the time of the attack. They both pleaded guilty to murder and are serving life sentences.

John Schultz, a lawyer for Lives Under Construction, said in his closing arguments that the ranch was not directly responsible for the actions of two boys, who were high and drunk at the time of the murders. He said the ranch had helped hundreds of boys with a program that takes them off of psychiatric medicine and emphasizes hard work and Christian faith.

The lawyer for the Brooks family, Randy Cowherd, argued that the ranch was not equipped to handle Allen and Zarro, who he said had severe mental health issues and should not have been taken off their medication. He said the ranch was repeatedly told by the state not to take boys at the ranch off their medications without a trained psychologist or psychiatrist monitoring them. Using an exemption for religious facilities, Liver Under Construction voluntarily surrendered its state license a few years ago.

The Brooks family was seeking between $7.6 million and $21 million. Seven board members for the ranch previously settled with the Brooks family for a combined total of $2.85 million.

Lives Under Construction faces three more lawsuits that claim that boys sexually abused each other for years and the ranch covered it up. The ranch denies those allegations.

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.comLIVERPOOL, England (AP) - Liverpool criticized the "completely unacceptable" behavior of some of its fans after Manchester City's team bus was struck with objects on its way to Anfield for a Champions League quarterfinal match on Wednesday.

Cans and at least one bottle were thrown at the bus as it drove along Anfield Road, the street running alongside Liverpool's stadium. City was forced to use another bus for the return journey as windows have been shattered.

In a statement issued before kickoff on Wednesday, Liverpool said it "condemns in the strongest possible terms the scenes" and that "we apologize unreservedly to Pep Guardiola, his players, staff and officials caught up in the incident."

A flare burns as football fans try to see the Manchester City team bus as it arrives ahead of the Champions League quarter final first leg soccer match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Liverpool said it will "cooperate fully with the authorities to identify those responsible."

City lost the match 3-0 and manager Pep Guardiola denied that the attack on the team bus affected his players. He did, however, say he did not expect this from "a club this prestigious" as Liverpool.

"Yesterday you explain it is going to happen, and it happens," Guardiola said. "I didn't expect that. We come here to play football and I don't understand this kind of situations."

Flares burn as fans try to see the Manchester City team bus as it arrives ahead of the Champions League quarter final first leg soccer match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Evidence is being sought in the unsolved case of a killing that took place 20 years ago.

Police in Maine's largest city say 18-year-old Robert Joyal was stabbed to death April 4, 1998, during an altercation in the parking lot of a Denny's restaurant in Portland. He was a student at Gorham High School at the time.

Police say they interviewed dozens of witnesses and one man, Seiha Srey, was indicted on a murder charge. Charges against Srey were later dismissed, and no trial was held. He died in a 2007 shooting.

Police say they're looking for witnesses to the crime, or anyone who might have information but was reluctant to talk to police at the time of the stabbing.WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump persists in using a phony number to justify his market-shaking trade actions against China.

TRUMP tweets Wednesday:

- "We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!"

A man walks past an electronic board showing Hong Kong share index outside a local bank in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Asian stock markets were mixed in early trading Wednesday as investors digested the latest volley of tariff measures and threats between the U.S. and China. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

- "When you're already $500 Billion DOWN, you can't lose!"

THE FACTS: He overstates the trade deficit by $163 billion.

He does this by counting Americans' purchases of goods from China as a loss for the U.S., while ignoring what China buys from the U.S. He also ignores another big part of the equation - trade in services.

Last year, Americans bought about $505.6 billion in goods from China while China bought about $130.4 billion in goods from the U.S. So the actual trade deficit in goods was just over $375 billion.

Factor in trade in services and the actual U.S trade deficit with China was $337 billion.

As for intellectual property theft, it's not clear where Trump gets his figure of $300 billion, though it may be a plausible estimate.

Illicit activities such as counterfeit goods, pirated software, theft of trade secrets and copyright and trademark infringement cannot be precisely measured. An independent bipartisan U.S. commission estimated that U.S. interests lost $300 billion from global intellectual property theft in 2013, with China the main culprit. The commission, in a 2017 update, gave a wide-ranging estimate, $225 billion to $600 billion, with thefts led by "thousands of Chinese actors."

The Trump administration this week announced planned tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports; Beijing responded with plans to penalize imports from the U.S. by the same amount. This followed an opening salvo of U.S. penalties on steel and aluminum imports from overseas, including China, and Beijing's retaliatory taxes on $3 billion of U.S. products.

The escalating dispute between the world's two largest economies has roiled global markets. The S&P 500 has fallen more than 4 percent since March 1.

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2017 U.S. trade statistics: https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/exh20.pdf

Intellectual property theft report: http://www.ipcommission.org/report/IP_Commission_Report_Update_2017.pdf

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Associated Press writers Christopher Rugaber and Josh Boak contributed to this report.

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White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow blows a kiss after speaking with reporters outside the White House, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

A worker sits near a shelve displaying bottles of American whiskey for sale at a supermarket in Beijing, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. President Donald Trump says the U.S. lost a trade war with China "years ago." In a tweet Wednesday after China announced a list of U.S. products that might be subject to a 25 percent tariff, Trump said: "We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S." China announced tariffs worth $50 billion on a series of U.S. products including soybeans, whiskey and cars. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)SEATTLE (AP) - Seattle is looking at road tolls for downtown streets as part of a broader initiative to reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced Wednesday.

Durkan provided few specifics on the tolling proposal at a news conference, but she said the city's transportation department is currently studying possible congestion pricing strategies to ease traffic through the downtown core.

"We know it's a heavy lift that we'll have to engage people deeply before doing that," Durkan said. "And we have to make sure that it is paired with meaningful transit because we can't ask people to get out of their single-occupancy vehicles unless there are meaningful options they have, whether that is buses, walking, bikes, or other public transit."

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan speaks at a news conference talking about efforts to reduce greenhouse gases in the city as she stands at a viewpoint looking toward downtown Wednesday, April 4, 2018, in Seattle. Durkan wants to toll some downtown roads to try to ease the city's traffic gridlock. Such "congestion pricing" is used in some European cities but so far no U.S. cit has established such a system. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Once the tolling study is done, the city would "develop a strategy over the next few years to address congestion and transportation emissions through pricing," her office said in a new release.

A proposal would likely have to go to the city council and to voters as an initiative.

Similar toll systems are in place in big cities such as London, Stockholm and Singapore, where it can cost more than $15 to drive into the city center during peak periods.

New York has explored the idea for years, but prospects have dimmed in recent weeks for the latest proposal. A state panel earlier this year had recommended tolls of up to $11 or more on motorists entering the busiest parts of Manhattan as a way to reduce gridlock while raising money for transit upgrades.

Durkan said Seattle needs to get more cars off city streets, make public transit and other alternatives more accessible and reduce the reliance on fossil fuels.

"It's yet another effort by the city of Seattle to penalize working families who depend on vehicles for mobility," said Mariya Frost with the conservative Washington Policy Center.

"I think this will have negative regional impacts, particularly on those folks who can't afford to live near Seattle but do work there," she added.

Road transportation accounts for about two-thirds of Seattle's greenhouse gas emissions. Durkan announced a number of steps that aim to reduce carbon pollution from the transportation and building sectors.

She said Seattle would look at expanding the city's fleet of electric vehicles, as well as requiring that new or renovated parking structures include electric vehicle charging stations. Another plan would provide incentives for buildings that cut energy and water use below certain levels.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, right, laughs with city council member Mike O'Brien before they begin a news conference talking about efforts to reduce greenhouse gases in the city Wednesday, April 4, 2018, in Seattle. Durkan wants to toll some downtown roads to try to ease the city's traffic gridlock. Such "congestion pricing" is used in some European cities but so far no U.S. cit has established such a system. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, center, speaks at a news conference talking about efforts to reduce greenhouse gases in the city as she stands at a viewpoint looking toward downtown Wednesday, April 4, 2018, in Seattle. Durkan wants to toll some downtown roads to try to ease the city's traffic gridlock. Such "congestion pricing" is used in some European cities but so far no U.S. cit has established such a system. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)SEATTLE (AP) - Eight unknown Democrats are fighting for a spot to challenge a high-profile Republican in Washington state's reliably red 8th District.

It's a familiar battle in the 8th, where voters have chosen the Republican for almost four decades since the U.S. House district's creation in 1980. But with the national GOP bracing for big midterm losses, the Democrats hope to finally prevail.

The retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, even said in an interview last year with The Seattle Times that he expects the seat will be "hard" to keep in Republican hands. The non-partisan Cook Political Report lists the contest as a toss-up. In a telling sign, a GOP House leadership-backed super PAC has opened an office in the area to help the Republican candidate.

In this March 30, 2018 photo, Dr. Kim Schrier, a candidate in Washington state's 8th District race, poses for a photo in Issaquah, Wash. Schrier, a pediatrician who's leading the Democratic field in fundraising, is among eight unknown Democrats fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Dino Rossi. The race is for the seat to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, and represents a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

The district includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountains. It is among about two dozen across the country that are held by Republicans but whose voters chose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, making it a critical potential pickup for the Democrats trying to gain control of the House for the first time since 2010.

But to do that, they'll have to defeat Dino Rossi, a former state senator who ran two close but unsuccessful efforts for governor and another for U.S. Senate. In each of those contests, he had a double-digit advantage in the 8th District.

"We're not giving much thought to the opinions of political horse race handicappers," said Andrew Bell, Rossi's campaign manager. "There's not much change from previous strategies. Dino has always been a fiscal conservative with a social conscience."

By the end of 2017, Rossi had raised about as much money as his top five Democratic opponents combined, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Still, Democrats have other factors playing in their favor, including Trump's low approval ratings and momentum from Conor Lamb's victory in the March special election for a Pennsylvania district that was held by Republicans for 15 years. Voters there had favored Trump by almost 20 percentage points in 2016. In Washington's 8th District, Trump lost by 3 percentage points.

"This is, without a doubt, the best chance Democrats have had to win this district, but they can't just rely on their voters, even if they are angry and motivated. They have to draw Republicans and independents," said Todd Schaefer, a political science professor at Central Washington University.

Rossi's name recognition and centrist appeal put him in a much better position than Republicans running in other competitive districts, Schaefer said.

District 8 includes Seattle's eastern suburbs of Sammamish and Issaquah, which have seen their populations grow on the back of Microsoft, Google and other expanding technology companies. The district runs south to parts of Pierce County and east to include Chelan and Kittitas counties across the Cascades, rural economies that are heavily dependent on agricultural exports. The district stands to be among the most impacted in the Northwest if resident workers that benefit from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals were removed, according to a 2017 study conducted by the University of Southern California and the Center for American Progress. The research shows economic output for the district would slump by more than $120 million annually.

Trump ordered a repeal of DACA in September, putting at least 800,000 beneficiaries at risk of deportation.

Rossi has stated his opposition to the Trump administration's imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. On DACA, he told The Seattle Times in March that it wouldn't be "logical" to deport beneficiaries.

Kim Schrier, a pediatrician who's leading the Democratic field in fundraising, supports the 2017 Dream Act, a measure introduced in Congress to protect minors who entered the U.S. with their parents from deportation and provide a path to citizenship. The legislation shouldn't be tied to partisan issues, she said.

Washington State Democratic Chairman Tina Podlodowski said Lamb's surprise win puts her party in a position to flip the 8th District "and a lot of other districts around the country."

It's a sign of growing public discontent, not only with President Trump, but also Republican policies such as tax reforms and attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, she said. Democrats are mounting serious challenges in two other Republican-held districts in the state, including that of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the only woman in House GOP leadership. McMorris Rodgers has enjoyed easy victories in her eastern Washington district since 2004.

Washington is a so-called top-two primary state, meaning the top two vote getters in its August primaries will compete against each other in November - regardless of political affiliation. In fundraising terms, the Democratic field is led by Schrier, Jason Rittereiser, a labor-rights lawyer, and Shannon Hader, a doctor and former Centers for Disease Control official. Podlodowski said she expects the fundraising advantage to remain with Rossi.

Democrats need to pick up 23 districts to reach the 218-seat threshold required to control the House.

"We're dealing with a majority that's vulnerable," David Wasserman, a House analyst at Cook, said of Republicans. "Democrats have had a tough time breaking strongholds like Washington's 8th, but this is shaping up to be a really good year for them nationally."

In this March 26, 2018 photo, Dino Rossi, a former state senator now running for Washington state's 8th District, poses for a portrait in Issaquah, Wash. Eight unknown Democrats are fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Rossi in the race to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, to represent a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this March 30, 2018 photo, Dr. Shannon Hader, a candidate in Washington state's 8th District race, poses for a photo in Renton, Wash. Hader, a former official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is among eight unknown Democrats fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Dino Rossi. The race is for the seat to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, and represents a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this photo taken March 30, 2018, Dr. Kim Schrier, a candidate in Washington state's 8th District race, poses for a photo in Issaquah, Wash. Schrier, a pediatrician who's leading the Democratic field in fundraising, is among eight unknown Democrats fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Dino Rossi. The race is for the seat to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, and represents a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this March 26, 2018 photo, Dino Rossi, a former state senator now running for Washington state's 8th District, poses for a portrait in Issaquah, Wash. Eight unknown Democrats are fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Rossi in the race to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, to represent a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this March 26, 2018 photo, Dino Rossi, a former state senator now running for Washington state's 8th District, poses for a portrait in Issaquah, Wash. Eight unknown Democrats are fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Rossi in the race to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, to represent a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this March 30, 2018 photo, Dr. Kim Schrier, a candidate in Washington state's 8th District race, poses for a photo in Issaquah, Wash. Schrier, a pediatrician who's leading the Democratic field in fundraising, is among eight unknown Democrats fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Dino Rossi. The race is for the seat to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, and represents a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this March 30, 2018 photo, Dr. Shannon Hader, a candidate in Washington state's 8th District race, poses for a photo in Renton, Wash. Hader, a former official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is among eight unknown Democrats fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Dino Rossi. The race is for the seat to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, and represents a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this March 30, 2018 photo, Dr. Kim Schrier, a candidate in Washington state's 8th District race, poses for a photo in Issaquah, Wash. Schrier, a pediatrician who's leading the Democratic field in fundraising, is among eight unknown Democrats fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Dino Rossi. The race is for the seat to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, and represents a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this March 30, 2018 photo, Jason Rittereiser, a candidate in Washington state's 8th District race, poses for a photo in Issaquah, Wash. Rittereiser is among eight unknown Democrats fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Dino Rossi. The race is for the seat to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, and represents a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this March 30, 2018 photo, Jason Rittereiser, a candidate in Washington state's 8th District race, poses for a photo in Issaquah, Wash. Rittereiser is among eight unknown Democrats fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Dino Rossi. The race is for the seat to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, and represents a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this March 30, 2018 photo, Jason Rittereiser, a candidate in Washington state's 8th District race, poses for a photo in Issaquah, Wash. Rittereiser is among eight unknown Democrats fighting for a spot to challenge the high-profile Republican Dino Rossi. The race is for the seat to succeed retiring incumbent, Rep. Dave Reichert, and represents a district that includes the eastern suburbs of Seattle and stretches into the rural Cascade Mountain region. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)WASHINGTON (AP) - Special counsel Robert Mueller's team of prosecutors has informed President Donald Trump's attorneys that the president is not currently considered a criminal target in the Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the president is considered a subject of Mueller's probe - not a target. A subject is typically someone whose conduct is of interest to investigators but prosecutors are not certain they've gathered enough evidence to bring charges.

The designation could change at any time, though. The development was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post.

President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference with leaders of Baltic states in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Trump is pointing to a 50 percent job approval rating that may not fully comport with reality. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Trump's designation as a subject came up as prosecutors and the president's legal team negotiate the terms of an interview with him. The president has said he wants to speak with Mueller's team, but his lawyers have not publicly committed to allowing him to be questioned.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to say whether the president remains willing to be questioned. In response to a question about the president being a subject, not a target, of the investigation, Sanders reiterated the president's claim that his campaign didn't collude with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.

"We know what we did and what we didn't do, so none of this comes as much of a surprise," Sanders said. She referred further questions to Trump's attorneys.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow declined to confirm or discuss the conversations with Mueller, saying: "We do not discuss real or alleged conversations between our legal team and the Office of Special Counsel." White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment.

The Justice Department typically treats people involved in investigations as witnesses, subjects or targets. Mueller's determination that Trump is a subject suggests he's more pivotal to the investigation than a mere witness, a designation for someone who has observed events of interest to agents and prosecutors.

"The government will say you're a subject trending to witness or you're a subject trending toward target," said Sharon McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan.

Although targets tend to be people the government is gathering evidence against with the goal of prosecuting, subjects have a much looser, broader definition.

"A subject means we're still looking at you," McCarthy said. "You're a person of interest in this investigation."

Still, the import of the designation wasn't immediately clear. It is not known, for instance, if Mueller's office has concluded that, at the moment, there is insufficient evidence to consider Trump a target. It is also possible that prosecutors agree they are bound by a Justice Department legal opinion that contends that a sitting president cannot be indicted.

A grand jury is the way indictments are issued. Yet the White House witnesses with the most direct information about Trump's actions in the White House have spoken privately with Mueller's team instead of being summoned before the grand jury, a possible indication that their statements are being used for the purposes of assembling a report rather than pursuing criminal charges.

Mueller's team has signaled that they're interested in discussing several key episodes in the early parts of the Trump administration as they probe possible obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors have told the legal team they want to question Trump about the firings of former FBI Director James Comey and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Investigators want to discuss conversations Trump had with Comey in which the former FBI director has said the president encouraged him to end an active investigation into Flynn. They're also interested in the events leading up to Flynn's February 2017 firing.

Investigators have said they want to hear from the president to understand his intent and thinking during those events.

___

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

___

Follow Chad Day on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChadSDayUNITED NATIONS (AP) - Morocco's foreign minister is warning that all options are on the table including military action if the United Nations doesn't act against Polisario Front construction and plans for military posts in U.N.-monitored buffer zones in Western Sahara.

Nasser Bourita said at a news conference Wednesday that the 1991 cease-fire is threatened by the recent actions by the Polisario Front, which seeks independence for mineral-rich Western Sahara.

Bourita says: "Morocco is saying very clearly that all the options are under consideration. Morocco will not allow a change on the ground. If the U.N., the international community, don't take their responsibilities, Morocco will take its own responsibility."

The Polisario Front has rejected Morocco's claims as "unfounded and false." It says the U.N. force in Western Sahara has not reported any cease-fire violations.CHICAGO (AP) - Officials say a University of Chicago police officer responding to a call about a burglary shot and seriously wounded a student who was wielding a metal pipe.

The Chicago Tribune reports that university officials said in an email that three university officers responded just before 10:15 p.m. Tuesday in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood.

The officers encountered a male student breaking car and apartment windows with a long metal pipe. The email says the student charged at police when they ordered him to drop the pipe.

One of the officers fired, hitting the student in the shoulder. The student was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

Chicago police and the university's Department of Safety and Security are investigating. The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

___

Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.comThree men have denied manslaughter charges after five people were killed in a shop explosion.

Arkan Ali, 37, Hawkar Hassan, 32, and Aram Kurd, 33, were arrested after the blast destroyed a Polish supermarket and two-storey flat on February 25.

Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her sons Shane, 18, and Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shanes girlfriend, and Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, were all killed in the incident on Hinckley Road, Leicester.

Emergency services at the scene of the explosion on Hinckley Road, Leicester (Aaron Chown/PA)

The trio also pleaded not guilty to separate counts of arson being reckless as to endanger life and fraud by false representation.

During a 50-minute hearing, Kurd, wearing a grey jumper, and Hassan and Ali, wearing blue jumpers, only spoke to confirm their names and to deny all seven alleged offences.

Appearing at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday via video-link from HMP Woodhill, the three men were told their trial is likely to be heard under a High Court Judge.

Jose Ragoobeer, paying tribute to his wife and two sons after the incident, said: Our lives will never be the same. What happened that day has affected so many peoples lives. Every day they will all be missed.

Ms Reeks family said: Our whole familys heart is breaking because we have lost our beautiful, bubbly baby girl.

There is a part of us gone forever. We will always miss her cheeky smile and will miss her every day for the rest of our lives.

Ms Ljevlevas mother said: There are very few children like my beautiful Viktorija. Friends were always jealous that I never had any problems with my little one.

We shared a mutual understanding with one another. We miss her terribly.

Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, Hassan, of no fixed abode and Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, were remanded into custody by Judge Philip Head until a further hearing on August 31 at the same court.Russia will take its complaints over the Salisbury nerve agent attack to The Hague the day after the Porton Down military research facility said it could not trace the agents precise source.

An extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been called by Russia to address the situation around allegations of non-compliance with the chemical weapons convention made by the UK against Moscow.

Russia has denied responsibility and demanded access to the British investigation into the March 4 attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The head of Porton Down said his scientists were unable to verify if the nerve agent used in Salisbury had come from Russia (Andrew Matthews/PA)

The Foreign Office accused Russia of attempting to undermine the work of the OPCW and engaging in another diversionary tactic.

It comes a day after the head of Porton Down said his scientists have not verified that the nerve agent used in Salisbury came from Russia.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW, which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack.

.@Amb_Yakovenko held a briefing for the diplomatic corps on the Skripals case https://t.co/LhCoujODQb pic.twitter.com/TYTMW7tuQv  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 3, 2018

Of course, there is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator.

This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion.

Wednesdays meeting of the OPCW executive council at The Hague will be held behind closed doors.

Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the Governments Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), said the poison used in Salisbury had been identified as a military-grade Novichok nerve agent which could probably be deployed only by a nation-state.

But he told Sky News it was not Porton Downs role to work out where the agent came from and suggested the Governments conclusion that it was highly likely to have come from Russia was based on a number of other sources.

President Vladimir Putin, citing Mr Aitkenhead, called for a thorough investigation into the poisoning during a visit to Turkey, where he said the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes bewilderment.

Our experts have precisely identified the nerve agent as a Novichok. It is not, and has never been, our responsibility to confirm the source of the agent @skynews @UKmoments  Dstl (@dstlmod) April 3, 2018

Porton Downs identification of the substance used in the attack on the Skripals as Novichok was a key plank in the evidence presented by the UK in Theresa Mays successful bid to recruit international support in the dispute with Moscow, resulting in the expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats from over 20 countries.

German politician Armin Laschet, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said: If one forces nearly all Nato countries into solidarity, shouldnt one have certain evidence?

Regardless of what one thinks about Russia, my study of international law taught me a different way to deal with other states.

Mr Aitkenhead also rejected Russian claims the substance could have come from Porton Down.

A Downing Street spokesman said: As the Prime Minister has made clear, the UK would much rather have in Russia a constructive partner ready to play by the rules.

But this attack in Salisbury was part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive Russian behaviour, as well as a new and dangerous phase in Russian activity within the continent and beyond.The Trump administration has escalated its aggressive actions on trade by proposing 25% tariffs on 50 billion dollars-worth (27 billion) of Chinese imports to protest Beijings policies that require foreign companies to hand over their technology.

China immediately said it would retaliate against the new tariffs, which target high-tech industries that Beijing has been nurturing, from advanced manufacturing and aerospace to information technology and robotics.

The Office of the US Trade Representative issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment. The suggested tariffs would not take effect right way: A public comment period will last until May 11, and a hearing on the tariffs is set for May 15.

Companies and consumers will have the opportunity to lobby to have some products taken off the list or have others added.

The latest US move risks heightening trade tensions with China, which on Monday had slapped taxes on three billion dollars-worth of US products in response to earlier US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

Chinas going to be compelled to lash back, warned Philip Levy, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and an economic adviser to President George W Bush.

NEWS: In response to Chinas unfair trade practices, USTR releases the proposed list of Chinese products that could be subject to tariffs. More here: https://t.co/WU4mqDYJIv  USTR (@USTradeRep45) April 3, 2018

Early on Wednesday in Beijing, Chinas Commerce Ministry said it strongly condemns and firmly opposes the proposed US tariffs and warned of retaliatory action.

We will prepare equal measures for US products with the same scale according to regulations in Chinese trade law, a ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

The US sanctions are intended to punish China for using strong-arm tactics in its drive to become a global technology power. These include pressuring American companies to share technology to gain access to the Chinese market, forcing US firms to license their technology in China on unfavourable terms and even hacking into US companies computers to steal trade secrets.

The administration sought to draw up the list of targeted Chinese goods in a way that might limit the impact of the tariffs  a tax on imports  on American consumers while hitting Chinese imports that benefit from Beijings sharp-elbowed tech policies. But some critics that American will end up being hurt.

Chinas Commerce Ministry called on Washington to discard the planned tariffs (AP)

If youre hitting 50 billion dollars in trade, youre inevitably going to hurt somebody, and somebody is going to complain, said Rod Hunter, a former economic official at the National Security Council and now a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP.

Even representatives of American business, which have complained for years that China has pilfered US technology and discriminated against US companies, were critical of the administrations latest action.

Unilateral tariffs may do more harm than good and do little to address the problems in Chinas (intellectual property) and tech transfer policies, said John Frisbie, president of the US-China Business Council.

Even some technology groups contending directly with Chinese competition expressed misgivings.

The Trump administration is right to push back against Chinas abuse of economic and trade policy, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank. But imposing tariffs on producer goods will inadvertently hurt Americans through reduced capital investment and lower productivity growth.Treasures including a solid gold crown and chalice looted during the British invasion of Ethiopia could be returned to the African nation.

Ethiopians have campaigned for the return of the plunder since it was seized during the British expedition to the country  then Abyssinia  in 1868.

An exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum marking the 150th anniversary of the siege and battle at Magdala will feature a number of the objects.

The Victoria & Albert Museum (John Walton/PA)

Speaking ahead of the shows opening on Thursday, the museums director, Tristram Hunt, told the Art Newspaper he would stand ready to assist should Ethiopia wish to consider a long-term loan of the items.

The speediest way, if Ethiopia wanted to have these items on display, is a long-term loan  that would be the easiest way to manage it, Mr Hunt told the Guardian.

Other Magdala items are found in the British Museum, British Library and Windsor Castle, according to Afromet, the Association for the Return of the Magdala Ethiopian Treasures.Russell Brakefield

All art was audible

by Keith Taylor

From the April, 2018 issue

We remember and honor Alan Lomax for the work he did traveling around the country collecting recordings of blues and folk music, long before anyone else ever thought it was important. That work is preserved in the Library of Congress and is available to anyone online. But not many people know that Lomax also collected songs in Michigan-songs most of us have never heard. Early in 1938 he traveled from Detroit to the Keweenaw, collecting blues in Detroit, Michigan versions of French Canadian songs at the Soo, and half-remembered Finnish folk tunes in Calumet. I didn't know this until I read Russell Brakefield's first collection of poems, Field Recordings.



Brakefield is from western Michigan, and there are lots of state references all the way through this book. From Kalamazoo to Kalkaska, the poems bear the mark of the state. They feel utterly authentic, whether they are exploring Mackinac Island or northern Michigan bars.



But the big heart of this book, the long title poem, is spoken in Lomax's voice, or partly so, as he explores the different parts of the state and finds the songs that move the people who live there:





Today, a shepherd's song runs me through

in double barrel



and after, the vertigo

of wedding rites.



Hamtramck hums like a hive, a highball

of history and radio.

...continued below...

Stories balloon inside this resonant cavity

chords cut like flesh off the world's



workers, skinned off their backs and struck

from the sneaky palm of history.

The ethnomusicologist's car gets robbed, but he stays focused on the work-"We hunt for echoes, our ancestors / hunt wolves." He knows that he is taking something important, but he knows it would disappear if he didn't. "I'm taking shades of men's souls. Their stories / and my story, cut by the shadow song of theft."Brakefield is a musician who has played widely around the state, so it is no wonder that music plays all the way through his book. Early on, he borrows a page of Lomax's writing to create something entirely new, yet something that retains the ghost of the original. Toward the end of the book, in a crownof sonnets where each poem describes an instrument in a folk band, Brakefield gets to the magic of the guitar:I think Woody Guthrie would approve of that.Right at the end of the collection, Brakefield makes his aesthetics explicit. "In the beginning all art was audible," he writes, even claiming that "cave paintings hang / in concentrated stains / at the points of best acoustic resonance." I don't know if that is true or not, but it is fascinating to see a young poet staking his claim forcefully and beautifully in his first book.Russell Brakefield reads fromat Literati Bookstore on April 6. [Originally published in April, 2018.]France has flagged more than 78,000 people as security threats in a database intended to let European police share information on the continent's most dangerous residents.

The total is more than all other European countries put together, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.

The data has led to questions about whether the system is being misused, with different countries applying different criteria.

France has flagged more than 78,000 people as security threats in a database

A German parliamentarian, Andrej Hunko, raised the alarm about the European database in a question to his country's interior ministry.

In 2017, more than 134,000 people were flagged for the secret international checks on people considered security threats.

To put the French number in perspective, the country's intelligence chief said late last year that 4,000 suspected extremists were being monitored as highly dangerous.

'The increase in alerts cannot be explained by the threat of Islamist terrorism alone,' Mr Hunko said in a statement late last month when he released the interior ministry response to his query.

'Europol reports a four-digit number of confirmed foreign fighters, yet the increase of SIS alerts in 2017 is several times that.'

That response included a spreadsheet detailing for the first time how many discreet checks each European country had flagged up last year  more than 134,000 in all.

'This could mean that families and contacts of these individuals are also being secretly monitored. It is also possible that the measure is being used on a large scale for combating other criminal activity,' Mr Hunko said.

The number of French police entries 'indicates a misuse' of the system intended to monitor dangerous criminals, he added.

The Schengen database  which is separate to the Europol database and far more widely used  forms the backbone of European security, allowing police, judicial authorities and other law enforcement to immediately check whether a person is wanted or missing, or a car is stolen, or a firearm is legal, for example.

The database was checked five billion times in 2017 alone, according to the director of the EU-LISA agency, Krum Garkov.Labour has accused the Government of rushing to blame Vladimir Putin for the Salisbury nerve agent attack, after scientists at Porton Down said they had not verified that the substance came from Russia.

The development ratcheted up tensions between Moscow and London on the day of an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, called by Russia to discuss the case.

Mr Putin seized on the comments from the chief executive of the Governments Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Gary Aitkenhead, as he accused the UK of launching an anti-Russian campaign.

Mr Aitkenhead said on Tuesday that the lab had identified the substance used to attack former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia as a military-grade Novichok nerve agent which could probably be deployed only by a nation-state.

But he told Sky News it was not Porton Downs role to work out where the agent came from and said the Governments conclusion that it was highly likely to be Russian was based on a number of other sources.

Our experts have precisely identified the nerve agent as a Novichok. It is not, and has never been, our responsibility to confirm the source of the agent @skynews @UKmoments  Dstl (@dstlmod) April 3, 2018

His comments appeared to contradict the answer given by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson when he was asked recently on German TV why the UK believed the source of the nerve agent was Russia.

The people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical, Mr Johnson said. I asked them that myself. I said: Are you sure? He said: Theres no doubt.

And on March 22, the Foreign Office issued a tweet saying: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said the development raised questions about the Governments approach, and said Jeremy Corbyn should now be given credit for demanding more evidence before allocating blame.

It doesnt surprise me Porton Down is saying this because the security services were always very cautious in what they said, Ms Abbott told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

Diane Abbott said that the Government rushed to blame Vladimir Putin for the Salisbury attack (Yui Mok/PA)

What surprised me was that so many were willing to rush into the media and say it was unequivocally Putin. Thats not necessarily what we were told.

Ms Abbott acknowledged that Prime Minister Theresa May had been quite careful in her language, but added: Boris Johnson apparently going on international media and saying he was 101% certain it was Putin  I dont understand where he got that information from.

Mr Putin called for a thorough investigation into the poisoning during a visit to Turkey, saying that the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes bewilderment.

Following Mr Aitkenheads comments, a Government spokesman said ministers had always been clear that the identification of the substance as Novichok by the Porton Down experts was only one part of the intelligence picture leading to the assessment that Russian state involvement was the only plausible explanation for the attack.

But Russias EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov insisted that the nerve agent could have been manufactured anywhere.

Russian news agency Tass quoted Mr Chizhov as saying he was not surprised by Mr Aitkenheads comments, as Novichok is widely known  its formula is even available on the internet.

It means that it could have been manufactured anywhere, provided its manufacturers had a fairly equipped laboratory and the skills of chemistry students, said Mr Chizhov. So it is only natural that its origin cannot be identified.

Russia is expected to restate its denial of responsibility at Wednesdays meeting of the OPCWs executive council behind closed doors in The Hague.

The Foreign Office dismissed the meeting as a diversionary tactic by Moscow.

Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack.

.@Amb_Yakovenko held a briefing for the diplomatic corps on the Skripals case https://t.co/LhCoujODQb pic.twitter.com/TYTMW7tuQv  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 3, 2018

Of course, there is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator.

This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion.Martin Luther King was assassinated 50 years ago while on the balcony of a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.

He was the figurehead for the civil rights movement that fought against racial segregation in the US and inspired non-violent civil disobedience to effect change.

His powerful oratory, including his memorable I Have A Dream speech, put the issue of racial discrimination at the centre of debate.

The political landscape has changed in the US to the extent that Barack Obama was elected the first African-American president in 2008.

Demonstrators, including Dr Martin Luther King Jr, stream over an Alabama River bridge at the city limits of Selma (AP)

Dr Martin Luther King Jr acknowledges the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his I Have a Dream speech (AP)

Martin Luther King Jr receiving an honorary degree from Newcastle University (Derek Hawes/Newcastle University/PA)

A balcony at The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated (Mark Humphrey/AP)

Martin Luther King Jr preaching to a capacity crowd from the pulpit at the National Cathedral in Washington in his last Sunday sermon before he was killed (John Rous/AP)

Dr Martin Luther King Jr and his aides walk at the Lorraine Motel where he would be assassinated on April 4 1968 (Barney Sellers/AP)

National Guardsmen in a jeep in Washington during unrest in June 1968 following Dr Kings assassination (Charles Harrity/AP)

Dr Martin Luther King, under an umbrella at the left, addresses civil rights marchers on Boston Common in 1965 (AP)

Martin Luther King in 1965 addressed a joint session of the Massachusetts Legislature in Boston (AP)

A portrait of Dr Martin Luther King Jr inside the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta (David Goldman/AP)

Birds sit atop the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial in Washington (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Martin Luther King, sculpted by Tim Crawley, at Westminster Abbey (John Stillwell/PA)

Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Martin Luther King during a visit to London (PA)

Dr Martin Luther King in the pulpit of St Pauls Cathedral, after stopping in London en route to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (PA)

Martin Luther King walking in Embankment Gardens in London with the Rev Ralph Abernathy (PA)Jacob Rees-Mogg has got himself into bother with the Beano after being accused of copying Dennis the Menaces arch-enemy Walter the Softy.

Beano Studios has written to the Conservative MP, warning that his distinctive style is a rip-off of Walter and calling on him to cease and desist.

The Beanos Mike Stirling listed alleged infringements of the comics copyright including Walters hair parting, round glasses, spotty ties and vintage apparel, and enjoyment of classical music.

Walter the Softy and Jacob Rees-Mogg (DC Thomson)

And he said the North East Somerset MP had copied Walters snootiness and his efforts to stop others having fun.

Its come to our readers attention that @Jacob_Rees_Mogg has been masquerading as Beano character Walter Brown. A clear breach of our copyright. pic.twitter.com/voWQZ5VkPS  Beano (@BeanoOfficial) April 4, 2018

Accusing the prominent Eurosceptic backbencher of masquerading as Walter Brown, Mr Stirling wrote: It is evident that there are numerous instances whereby you have adopted trademarked imagery and brand essences of the character to the benefit of enhancing your career and popularity.

We firmly request that you cease and desist in your ongoing impersonation of the character, which remains the exclusive property of Beano Studios.

A swift response on this matter would be greatly appreciated to avoid getting Teacher involved.

Mr Stirling, who is head of Beano Studios Scotland, said that the similarities between Walter and Mr Rees-Mogg had been spotted by young readers of the comic and its beano.com website.

He said it was clear that Walter had devised his trademark style first, as he first appeared in the Beano in 1953, 16 years before Mr Rees-Moggs birth in 1969.

We were flattered when we discovered that Jacob Rees-Mogg has dedicated his life to impersonating one of my favourite Beano characters, young Walter, said Mr Stirling.

Nonetheless, as a hard-working British media company, we would prefer the public gets its Walter fix in the pages of our comics and on Beano.com , rather than played out on the political stage. In other words, bog off Rees-Mogg!Senior Russian security officials have launched diatribes at the West, accusing it of fomenting a new Cold War in a bid to retain waning influence in global affairs.

Moscow used an annual security conference attended by top officials from Asia, Africa and Latin America to criticise the US and its allies, accusing them of putting global stability at risk.

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu accused the US and Nato allies of using the non-existent Russian threat to methodically boost their military potential and beef up their forces near Russias borders.

He emphasised that the US-led missile defence programme has become a major destabilising factor inciting an arms race.

Sergei Shoigu addresses the Conference on International Security in Moscow (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

He pointed at a growing number of Nato intelligence flights near Russias borders and an increasing pace of military drills, noting that they have a clear anti-Russian character.

The danger of provocations and military incidents has significantly increased, Mr Shoigu said.

Russia-West relations have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War following Moscows 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, differences over the war in Syria and the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

Mr Shoigu said Nato has stonewalled Moscows attempts to engage in a dialogue, adding: We arent going to knock on the closed door, but will not leave attempts to apply pressure on us unattended.

He warned that Moscow will respond to Natos moves by strengthening its defence capabilities to ensure military security of Russia and its allies.

Tensions further escalated this month after the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain, leading to mass expulsions of diplomats by the West and Russia. Britain has blamed Moscow for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, accusations Russia has denied.

Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russias Foreign Intelligence Service, told the conference the attack on Mr Skripal was a grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and US intelligence agencies.

British and US officials have previously rejected similar Russian allegations.

Washington has become fixated on fighting the non-existent Russian threat, and that fight has reached such a scale and acquired such absurd traits that we can talk about the return of the gloomy times of the Cold War, said Mr Naryshkin.

He said the US and its allies have been unable to adapt to global changes, including a growing role of China, Russia and other countries.

The US and part of Europe have failed to prepare for such changes, they cant accept inevitable weakening of their once overwhelming clout, he said.

Engulfed by fear of change, the West is ready to surround itself with a new Iron Curtain.MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace has defended himself in a row over a Malaysian chicken dish criticised for its lack of crispy skin and said: It wasnt cooked enough.

Wallace was condemned for his critique of Malaysian-born contestant Zaleha Kadir Olpins rendang, with people from Southeast Asia saying the dish should not include crispy chicken skin at all.

Even the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, waded into the row, tweeting: Does anyone eat chicken rendang crispy?

Gregg Wallace (PA)

Mana ada orang makan rendang ayam 'crispy'? #MalaysianFood pic.twitter.com/nWBbaVN8HY  Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) April 3, 2018

Wallace told ITVs Good Morning Britain: What happened was, part of her dish was a rendang. And I said the skin was not crispy. I didnt mean it should be fried, like fried chicken. What I meant was it was not cooked and it simply wasnt cooked. It was white and flabby.

If you look at it, the skin wasnt cooked. Crispy was the wrong word. The skin wasnt cooked.

His fellow judge on the cookery show, John Torode, later agreed, saying: It wasnt cooked enough.

Wallace continued: Rest assured the best cooks will always go through. She did not go out because her skin wasnt crispy, she went out because the other cooks were better.

Olpin produced a popular Malay rice dish nasi lemak and a chicken rendang curry  a Malaysian-Indonesian stew of meat, spices and coconut milk  as part of a task to create food that was special to her.

Despite being kicked off the show, she later stood by her dish, posting a message on Instagram.

She said: Gutted to be eliminated on #masterchefuk but I stand by my traditional way of cooking Nasi Lemak. Will not change it for the world. The memories of my amazing time at Masterchef kitchen will forever stays with me.

Thank you so much for all your support and good wishes. As my friend said, what doesnt kill me makes me stronger! Thank you again xxx.A murder case at the Old Bailey has become the first to be affected by the barristers strike over cuts to the criminal justice system.

Tanzanian Kema Salum, 38, appeared for his first Crown Court hearing over the death of his wife Leyla Mtumwa, 36.

The mother-of-one had been repeatedly stabbed in the neck and chest at the home they shared in Kirkstall Avenue, Haringey, last Friday.

Leyla Mtumwas husband appeared for his first Crown Court hearing at the Old Bailey in London (Family handout/PA)

But no defence barrister was present to represent him in court where Judge Anuja Dhir QC set a timetable for his case and considered bail.

His solicitor, Seona White, of BSB Solicitors, said she had contacted more than 20 Chambers to find a barrister, but none were prepared to take on the case.

She added: I do not know how long the situation will last with counsel not taking on legal aided work. I hope it would be resolved quickly.

Judge Dhir set a plea hearing for June 20 and a provisional trial for September 24 and remanded the defendant in custody.

She told him that despite not having a barrister to speak for him in court, his solicitor had invited her to make sure that you are not disadvantaged by that because it is not your fault and its not hers either.

However, until a barrister is found to take on his case, legal advice and preparation of his case could be affected.

The Tanzanian national was helped in court by a Swahili-speaking interpreter.

Court proceedings across the country are expected to face more disruption as some lawyers refuse to take on new cases and stage walkouts.

Leading legal chambers Doughty Street and 25 Bedford Row are among those set to take part in the industrial action.

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has warned that prisons, courts, the police and probation services are underfunded and in chaos.

It advised its 4,000 members to take action after 90% voted in favour, with a turnout of around 55%.

The strike action is a reaction to the Advocates Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS), which came into force on April 1.

A statement from the Ministry of Justice said: Any action to disrupt the courts is unacceptable and we are taking all necessary steps to ensure legal representation is available for defendants in criminal cases.

We greatly value the work of criminal advocates and will continue to engage with the bar over their concerns regarding the AGFS scheme.

Our reforms replace an archaic scheme under which barristers billed by pages of evidence. Under the new scheme, a murder case would result in a 16% uplift in fees for advocates.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused Boris Johnson of exaggeration over the evidence that Russia was to blame for the Salisbury poisoning.

Mr Johnson has come under fire after an announcement on Tuesday that Porton Down scientists had not verified the source of the Novichok nerve agent believed to have been used in the March 4 attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The statement appeared to contradict claims made by the Foreign Secretary in an interview on German TV on March 20.

Asked why the UK believed that Russia was the source of the nerve agent, Mr Johnson said: The people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical. I asked them that myself. I said Are you sure?. He said Theres no doubt.

Speaking during a local election campaign visit to Watford, Mr Corbyn said: He claimed categorically  and I think he used the words 101%  that it had come from Russia. Porton Down have not said that, they said that theyve identified it as Novichok, they cannot identify the source of it.

Either the Foreign Secretary has information that hes not sharing with Porton Down or it was a bit of exaggeration. I dont know which it is, but I think we need a responsible, cool approach to this.

We need to get to the source of this to prevent it ever happening again.

Jeremy Corbyn suggested that Boris Johnson exaggerated the evidence about Russian involvement in the Salisbury attack (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Commenting on Mr Johnsons interview, a Government spokesman said: The Foreign Secretary was making clear that Porton Down were sure it was a Novichok  a point they have reinforced.

He goes on in the same interview to make clear why based on that information, additional intelligence and the lack of alternative explanation from the Russians, we have reached the conclusion we have.

What the Foreign Secretary said then, and what Porton Down have said recently, is fully consistent with what we have said throughout. It is Russia that is putting forward multiple versions of events and obfuscating the truth.

Meanwhile, a message stating that Porton Down had established that the Novichok nerve agent came from Russia was deleted from the Foreign Office Twitter feed.

22 March: Porton Down lab @dstlmod clearly established that the source of Salisbury toxic agent was Russia

3 April:  @dstlmod never had the task to establish the source of the toxic agent pic.twitter.com/rVyJsbNJiG  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 4, 2018

The tweet, issued on March 22, said: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott challenged the Foreign Secretary to explain his earlier comments.

It seems Boris Johnson misled the public when he claimed that Porton Down officials confirmed to him that Russia was the source of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack, said Ms Abbott.

Those officials have made it clear they cannot identify its source, and are not able to definitively say it came from Russia or elsewhere.

Boris Johnson is supposed to represent Britain on the world stage, but time and again he has shown he is unable to do so responsibly.

Explaining the deletion of the tweet, a Foreign Office spokesman said it had been an inaccurate summary of comments made by the UKs ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, at a briefing in Moscow.

Referring to Dr Bristow as HMA  Her Majestys Ambassador  the spokesman said: A full transcript and video of the briefing have been available on GOV.UK since 22 March.

An HMA Moscow briefing on 22 March was tweeted in real time by @UKinRussia and amplified by @foreignoffice, to explain what happened in Salisbury to as wide an audience as possible. One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our ambassadors words. We have removed this tweet.A DUP MLA has apologised for retweeting a post which described London Mayor Sadiq Khan as the enemy within.

East Londonderry representative Maurice Bradley said in a statement: I removed earlier RT and apologise for it.

I disagree with Sadiq Khans approach to Hezbollah  brutal terrorist apologists. The Mayor has a democratic mandate and his religion is irrelevant.

DUP MLA Maurice Bradley (Niall Carson/PA)

It is understood Mr Bradley has also deleted his Twitter account and has given up using the social media platform.

The controversial tweet read: The enemy within: Muslim Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, refuses to support ban of Hezbollah terror group, says he must consider if it is the right thing to do.

In a statement the DUP said the post did not represent the partys views.

A spokesman said: Maurice has rightly removed the retweet. It did not represent the DUPs views.

This matter will be considered by the Party Officers.

The row comes just days after DUP MP Ian Paisley said sorry for retweeting a a remark on Ramadan by right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins.

On Monday, Mr Paisley apologised for retweeting her message, which read: March 2018. London has a higher murder rate than New York And Ramadans not yet begun.

The DUP representative subsequently apologised to his Twitter followers.

He said: Mea culpa earlier today I glanced at a tweet & rt about # of murders in London. Didnt take cognisance of Ramadan ref. Once brought to my attention immediately deleted. Apologise profusely for offence caused.

His apology was welcomed by Islamic leaders in Belfast but they said the timing of Mr Paisleys retweet was unfortunate, given anxiety within the community over an unrelated race hate campaign in England urging people to target Muslims.Britain has rejected a Russian call for it to be involved in the investigation into the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

Addressing an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, UK ambassador John Foggo said that the demand was a sign that Moscow was nervous of what the probe will find.

Mr Foggo accused Russia of showing disdain for the independence of the international body, which is conducting tests on samples of the nerve agent used in the March 4 attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Moscow called the meeting of the OPCWs executive council to insist that its experts must be involved in the testing programme and to demand a joint UK/Russian investigation into what happened at Salisbury.

But Mr Foggo dismissed the move as cynical, telling the meeting: The work of the Technical Secretariat must remain impartial.

Russias proposal for a joint, UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury incident is perverse. It is a diversionary tactic, and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer.  UK Delegation OPCW (@UK_OPCW) April 4, 2018

Russias refusal to accept the results of the OPCWs investigation unless Russian experts participate in it suggests that Russia is opposed to the independence and impartiality of the Technical Secretariat and is nervous about what the results will show.

Mr Foggo said that Russias statements displayed a wilful ignorance of the Chemical Weapons Convention and disdain for the independence and competence of the OPCWs Technical Secretariat.

We will not agree to Russias demand to conduct a joint investigation into the attack in Salisbury because the UK  supported by many other countries  has assessed that it is highly likely that the Russian State is responsible for this attack, and that there is no plausible alternative explanation, he said.

There is no requirement in the Chemical Weapons Convention for a victim to engage the likely perpetrator in a joint investigation. To do so would be perverse.

The UK was backed by the European Union, which reaffirmed its support for Britains demand for answers from Russia on how the Novichok agent which it developed came to be used in Salisbury.

Speaking on behalf of the EU, Bulgarian ambassador Krassimir Kostov said: We have full confidence in the UK investigation and laud UKs collaboration with the OPCW Technical Secretariat, in full compliance with the convention.

But the Russian Embassy in the Netherlands said that Moscows position had won the support of 14 state parties in the OPCW meeting.

14 state-parties supported the Joint statement to the @OPCW with connection with the incident in Salisbury: we consider its necessary to ensure that this problem is solved within the int legal framework using the full potential of the #CWC pic.twitter.com/dPXhzGlkJK  Russian Embassy in NL (@rusembassynl) April 4, 2018

We consider its necessary to ensure that this problem is solved within the international legal framework using the full potential of the Chemical Weapons Convention, said the embassy.

Tension between Moscow and London has risen a notch after the head of the Porton Down military research facility said scientists had not verified Russia as the source of the substance used in the attack on the Skripals.

Vladimir Putin seized on the comments from the chief executive of the Governments Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Gary Aitkenhead, as he accused the UK of launching an anti-Russian campaign.

Scientists at Porton Down identified the substance used in Salisbury as a military-grade Novichok nerve agent (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Russia has flatly denied UK claims that it was to blame for the March 4 attack, with foreign intelligence service director Sergei Naryshkin even claiming it was staged by the UK and US as a provocation.

Mr Naryshkin told a global security conference in Moscow: Even as far as the Skripal case goes  which is a grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and US intelligence agencies  some European countries are in no hurry to follow London and Washington, preferring to sort the situation out.

Mr Foggo said that, rather than providing a substantive response to the UKs questions, Moscow had indulged in a series of at least 24 shameless and preposterous counter-narratives, many of which contradict one another.

He said Russia had shown contempt for the victims of the Khan Sheikhoun chemical weapon attack in Syria by calling the OPCW meeting on the first anniversary of the atrocity.

Moscow continues to demand that Britain hand over samples of the substance found in Salisbury so it can carry out its own checks.

But a Foreign Office spokesman said there was no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator.

The spokesman described Wednesdays meeting in The Hague as yet another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion.

He said: Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack.Russell Brakefield

continued

never heard. Early in 1938 he traveled from Detroit to the Keweenaw, collecting blues in Detroit, Michigan versions of French Canadian songs at the Soo, and half-remembered Finnish folk tunes in Calumet. I didn't know this until I read Russell Brakefield's first collection of poems, Field Recordings.



Brakefield is from western Michigan, and there are lots of state references all the way through this book. From Kalamazoo to Kalkaska, the poems bear the mark of the state. They feel utterly authentic, whether they are exploring Mackinac Island or northern Michigan bars.



But the big heart of this book, the long title poem, is spoken in Lomax's voice, or partly so, as he explores the different parts of the state and finds the songs that move the people who live there:





Today, a shepherd's song runs me through

in double barrel



and after, the vertigo

of wedding rites.Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he is flattered to be compared to Beano character Walter the Softy, after the comic called on him to stop imitating the arch-enemy of Dennis the Menace.

Beano Studios has written to the Conservative MP, warning that his distinctive style is a rip-off of Walter and calling on him to cease and desist.

The Beanos Mike Stirling listed alleged infringements of the comics copyright including Walters hair parting, round glasses, spotty ties and vintage apparel, and enjoyment of classical music.

Walter the Softy and Jacob Rees-Mogg (DC Thomson/PA)

And he said the North East Somerset MP had copied Walters snootiness and his efforts to stop others having fun.

Its come to our readers attention that @Jacob_Rees_Mogg has been masquerading as Beano character Walter Brown. A clear breach of our copyright. pic.twitter.com/voWQZ5VkPS  Beano (@BeanoOfficial) April 4, 2018

Accusing the prominent Eurosceptic backbencher of masquerading as Walter Brown, Mr Stirling wrote: It is evident that there are numerous instances whereby you have adopted trademarked imagery and brand essences of the character to the benefit of enhancing your career and popularity.

We firmly request that you cease and desist in your ongoing impersonation of the character, which remains the exclusive property of Beano Studios.

A swift response on this matter would be greatly appreciated to avoid getting Teacher involved.

Mr Rees-Mogg responded on Twitter: I am flattered to be accused by the Beanos legal eagles of imitating Walter the Softy whose powerful physical prowess is so much greater than my own.

Mr Stirling, who is head of Beano Studios Scotland, said the similarities between Walter and Mr Rees-Mogg had been spotted by young readers of the comic and its beano.com website.

He said it was clear that Walter had devised his trademark style first, as he first appeared in the Beano in 1953, 16 years before Mr Rees-Moggs birth in 1969.

We were flattered when we discovered that Jacob Rees-Mogg has dedicated his life to impersonating one of my favourite Beano characters, young Walter, Mr Stirling said.

Nonetheless, as a hard-working British media company, we would prefer the public gets its Walter fix in the pages of our comics and on beano.com, rather than played out on the political stage. In other words, bog off Rees-Mogg!The arrival of a towering cruise liner in Belfast ahead of a major refit project has been hailed as a new chapter for the citys shipping industry.

The Azamara Pursuit docked at Harland and Wolff shipyards on Wednesday, where it will be berthed for the next four months while undergoing a complete internal renovation.

The entire project is being managed by Co Down-based marine fitout specialist MJM Group.

The Azamara Pursuit docking at Harland and Wolff shipyards (David Young/PA)

While the crew who accompanied the vessel on its two-week voyage from the Bahamas got a warm welcome from flag-waving Azamara colleagues on the dockside, the weather was not quite so hospitable  with biting cold rain and wind lashing the decks as they arrived at their temporary new home.

The luxury liner is managed by Azamara Club Cruises, a global brand of Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd.

The towering Azamara Pursuit cruise liner docks at Harland and Wolff shipyards ahead of major refit project by Co Down company @LtdMJM . Crew has sailed from Bahamas. No doubt overjoyed to disembark in Baltic Belfast. pic.twitter.com/BUdod9ezq1  David Young (@DavidYoungPA) April 4, 2018

Brian McConville, founder and chairman of Newry company MJM, said he hoped the Azamara Pursuit was the first of many liners to undergo a refit in Belfast.

I am already working on potentially trying to secure the next couple of ships to come to Belfast, he said.

This is a very historical day for Northern Ireland, the fact we have taken this ship back  this will hopefully rekindle the start of many, many great ships and shipping lines to come in here and get such contracts done in the future.

Jonathan Guest, a director at Harland and Wolff, welcomed the arrival of the ship.

What a day. @AzamaraPursuit has arrived in Belfast @Harland_Wolff1 and the press were out in force. pic.twitter.com/uFGXESwRiT  MJM Marine (@LtdMJM) April 4, 2018

I think its a great boon for the economy, he said.

Its the first time a large-scale refit has been carried out in Northern Ireland and I think thats hugely significant.

He added: Harland and Wolff has a great history of cruise ships and cruise ship building, but not so much in the refit side.

So we hope this is a new chapter in the development of Harland and Wolff along with MJM in bringing cruise ship refits to Belfast and seeing where that can take us.

MJM will direct a team of around 800 workers during the most intense phases of the refit.

At the same time, the 600-plus crew that will staff the liner once the project is complete will be assembled and trained in Belfast prior to its end of July departure date.

Richard Twynam from Azamara Club Cruises said it was unprecedented in the cruise industry to hand an entire refit project to just one company.

Its never been done before, he said.

We are effectively making MJM from Newry an extension of our new build team for Royal Caribbean, so its really exciting.Detectives hunting the killer of a community hero are scouring his personal life for any clue as to why he was murdered.

Abraham Badru, 26, was gunned down in Hackney, east London, on March 25 after opening the boot of his AMG Mercedes to look for a drink.

He was on the phone to a friend when he was shot in the chest by a killer who it is believed may have been lying in wait.

Abraham Badru was awarded a National Police Bravery Award in 2009 (Metropolitan Police/PA)

One line of inquiry is whether his murder was linked to an act of bravery in 2009 when he saved a teenage girl from being raped, and gave evidence against her attacker in court.

Police are also looking at his love life and his business interests.

Reward offered in Abraham Badru murder investigation https://t.co/Gt723NgcNh pic.twitter.com/WbdtAwGmDx  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 4, 2018

Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh said: He doesnt have anything in his lifestyle that we are aware of that would suggest that he is mixing or engaged in the kind of criminality that would cause this kind of action to be taken.

Witnesses who saw a black man wearing a black puffa jacket loitering around Ferncliff Road between 10.45pm and 11.15pm on March 25 are being asked to come forward. After the shooting it is believed he went off towards Downs Park Road, turning right into an alley to Langford Close.

On the night he died, Abraham had changed his plans and it is not clear how the killer knew where he would be.

Police believe he may have been watching the house in the days or weeks before the shooting.

Mr McHugh said: What seems out of the ordinary is that Abraham was with family earlier in the evening and he hadnt planned to come home. It was a change of plans. How did the killer know that he was going to be there?

A 20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the murderer.

Relatives of Mr Badru, whose father is a Nigerian MP, said the pain of losing him is unbearable.

They added: Abraham has been snatched from us; he didnt die of an illness, a freak accident, or of natural causes, no death is ever easy but he died because he was shot.

He was shot by person/persons terrorising the peace of the community, terrorising innocent people, threatening our freedom on our streets and threatening our progression.

We plead with any parent, siblings, extended family, friends, associates, in desperation that if you have any information to please come forward.

The masters graduate is one of nearly 50 people who have been murdered in London this year so far.

Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh added: The answer to Abrahams death lies in the community. I know that people are talking about what happened.

It is something truly out of the ordinary, a community hero being murdered.

His family and friends cannot comprehend what has happened, and there are no words that can adequately describe the pain Abrahams family are going through.

Abraham was a striking young man and a real contributor to society. He was awarded a National Police Bravery Award in 2009 after intervening in a rape and then giving evidence in court.

Such courage and an overwhelming sense of what was right and wrong clearly demonstrated his strength of character.Boris Johnson has attacked Jeremy Corbyn for playing Russias game after the Labour leader accused him of exaggeration over evidence that Moscow was to blame for the Salisbury poisoning.

The Foreign Secretary has come under fire after an announcement on Tuesday that Porton Down scientists had not verified the source of the Novichok nerve agent believed to have been used in the March 4 attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Mr Corbyn said the Tory either had information that he had not shared with the laboratory or it was a bit of exaggeration and called for a responsible approach to the situation.

It is lamentable that Jeremy Corbyn is now playing Russias game and trying to discredit the UK over Salisbury attack.

Lets remember the key facts:  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 4, 2018

During a local election campaign visit to Watford, Mr Corbyn said: He claimed categorically  and I think he used the words 101%  that it had come from Russia. Porton Down have not said that, they said that theyve identified it as Novichok, they cannot identify the source of it.

Either the Foreign Secretary has information that hes not sharing with Porton Down or it was a bit of exaggeration. I dont know which it is, but I think we need a responsible, cool approach to this.

1) Porton Down identified nerve agent as military grade Novichok; 2) Russia has investigated delivering nerve agents,likely for assassination,& as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks; 3) Russia has motive for targeting Sergei Skripal.  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 4, 2018

In an interview on German TV on March 20 when he was asked why the UK believed that Russia was the source of the nerve agent, Mr Johnson said: The people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical. I asked them that myself. I said Are you sure?. He said Theres no doubt.

The Foreign Secretary hit back at Mr Corbyn over the row and accused him of playing Russias game.

In a series of tweets, Mr Johnson said: It is lamentable that Jeremy Corbyn is now playing Russias game and trying to discredit the UK over Salisbury attack. Lets remember the key facts:

1) Porton Down identified nerve agent as military grade Novichok; 2) Russia has investigated delivering nerve agents, likely for assassination, & as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks; 3) Russia has motive for targeting Sergei Skripal.

28 other countries have been so convinced by UK case they have expelled Russians. In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn chooses to side with the Russian spin machine.

Jeremy Corbyn suggested that Boris Johnson exaggerated the evidence about Russian involvement in the Salisbury attack (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said Mr Johnson seems to have misled the public and claimed he has shown repeatedly that he is unable to represent the country responsibly.

Meanwhile, a message stating that Porton Down had established that the Novichok nerve agent came from Russia was deleted from the Foreign Office Twitter feed.

22 March: Porton Down lab @dstlmod clearly established that the source of Salisbury toxic agent was Russia

3 April:  @dstlmod never had the task to establish the source of the toxic agent pic.twitter.com/rVyJsbNJiG  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 4, 2018

The tweet, issued on March 22, said: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

Explaining the deletion of the tweet, a Foreign Office spokesman said it had been an inaccurate summary of comments made by the UKs ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, at a briefing in Moscow.

Referring to Dr Bristow as HMA  Her Majestys Ambassador  the spokesman said: A full transcript and video of the briefing have been available on GOV.UK since 22 March.

An HMA Moscow briefing on 22 March was tweeted in real time by @UKinRussia and amplified by @foreignoffice, to explain what happened in Salisbury to as wide an audience as possible. One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our ambassadors words. We have removed this tweet.A furniture shop owner has appeared in court charged with causing an explosion which injured more than 30 people.

Pascal Blasio, 56, of Gillingham in Kent, appeared at Wirral Magistrates Court in Birkenhead on Wednesday charged with causing an explosion likely to endanger life or injure property after the blast in New Ferry on March 25 last year.

Blasio, director of the Homes in Style shop on Bebington Road, New Ferry, was given unconditional bail and ordered to appear at Liverpool Crown Court on May 2.

He wore a brown leather jacket with a sheepskin collar and a striped scarf and spoke to confirm his name and address.

Pascal Blasio covers his face with his hat as he leaves Wirral Magistrates Court where he was charged with causing an explosion which injured more than 30 people in New Ferry last year pic.twitter.com/9JbvhoBeqH  Eleanor Barlow (@EleanorBarlow) April 4, 2018

About 20 members of the public were also in court for the short hearing, including Lewis Jones, 21, who was seriously injured in the explosion.

Representatives for company Contract Natural Gas, based in Harrogate, Yorkshire, also appeared in court charged with failing to discharge general health and safety duty to a person other than an employee.

The company is accused of failing to ensure the redundant live gas service to the furniture store was disconnected after a meter was removed.

District Judge John McGarva also sent the case to Liverpool Crown Court on May 2.

No pleas were entered to the charges.

Thirty-three people were injured, two seriously, and several buildings collapsed in the explosion.

The blast, which happened at 9.15pm on a Saturday, destroyed a dance studio where children had been just an hour before and blew in the front of a Chinese restaurant.

Lewis Jones, pictured with his mother Maureen, was seriously injured in the explosion (Merseyside Police/PA)

Wirral South MP Alison McGovern has called for urgent regeneration of the area since the explosion more than a year ago.

In a statement released on the anniversary of the blast, she said: New Ferry is in urgent need of regeneration and there are still a lot of empty buildings blighting the town.

However, I do believe that with the determination that has been shown by everybody in New Ferry that we will get there and it will come back from this stronger if we continue to pull together.

Regeneration plans for the area were submitted to the Government by Wirral Council in December in the hope of securing financial support for the scheme and the authority has since been asked to provide more information on the level of resources needed.

A council spokesman said: We have received no guarantees from the Government that they are able to provide any financial assistance, but council officers, the council leader, the local MP and the Metro Mayor are all committed to maintaining dialogue with ministers on this crucial issue and the councils own commitment to helping to build a better New Ferry in the short and long term is unwavering.

He said the council had spent 350,000 so far on the recovery effort following the explosion.Naomi Watts has paid tribute to late actor Heath Ledger on what would have been his 39th birthday.

The actress, who once dated the Australian actor, posted a photograph of the pair on Instagram to mark Ledgers birthday on April 4.

Happy birthday to this darling heart, she wrote.

Heath Ledger (PA)

We will never forget you #heathledger #rip.

Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January 2008. He was 28.

Watts also posted a message on Instagram in January to mark the 10th anniversary of his death.

He was a true original, she said at the time.

Heart always on his sleeve, with the most powerful charisma, strength, humor and talent. I will never forget his gentle spirit.Robert Downey Jr received birthday wishes from some of his Marvel friends as he turned 53.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Holland and Chris Evans were among those to send the actor messages on April 4.

Paltrow, who stars with Downey Jr in the Iron Man films, posted a selfie on Instagram of the pair with Spider-Man actor Holland.

Robert Downey Jr (PA)

She said: I love April 4th because it was the day god gave us @robertdowneyjrHAPPY BIRTHDAY, dear heart.

Love me and that other guy in the photo.

Captain America star Evans said on Twitter: Happy birthday to the one and only, @RobertDowneyJr!! (Am I the only one who thinks hes aging in reverse?) I miss you, buddy!!

Happy birthday to the one and only, @RobertDowneyJr!! (Am I the only one who thinks hes aging in reverse?) I miss you, buddy!!  Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) April 4, 2018

The actor himself posted a message on Twitter saying he had three wishes on his big day.

Todays birthday treat is a triple threat. My wishes are as follows: 1st to support @ROHHAD_GLOBAL (go to https://t.co/ywpvrsvUm3 to donate). 2ndly watch me eat my car cake and 3rdly lay your eyes on the new #InfinityWar character posters! pic.twitter.com/01pSxX09LT  Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) April 4, 2018

Todays birthday treat is a triple threat, he said.

My wishes are as follows: 1st to support @ROHHAD_GLOBAL (go to http://crowdrise.com/rdj to donate). 2ndly watch me eat my car cake and 3rdly lay your eyes on the new #InfinityWar character posters!Pope Francis has waded into the life-support treatment battle surrounding a seriously ill British toddler.

The head of the Catholic Church tweeted about his sincere hope that everything necessary may be done to help the case of Alfie Evans  whose parents lost a Supreme Court battle to keep him alive.

It is my sincere hope that everything necessary may be done in order to continue compassionately accompanying little Alfie Evans, and that the deep suffering of his parents may be heard. I am praying for Alfie, for his family and for all who are involved.  Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 4, 2018

The 22-month-old is in a semi-vegetative state and has a rare degenerative neurological condition that has not been definitively diagnosed by doctors.

He is being kept alive on a ventilator at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool. Turning it off would swiftly end his life.

Pope Francis tweeted: It is my sincere hope that everything necessary may be done in order to continue compassionately accompanying little Alfie Evans, and that the deep suffering of his parents may be heard.

Alfie Evans has an undiagnosed neurological condition (Alfies Army Official/PA)

His parents Tom Evans and Kate James, from Liverpool, have been at the centre of a high-profile life support battle, losing a European court fight last Wednesday.

Mr Evans said in a Facebook post to the Alfies Army Official page that doctors want to switch Alfies ventilator off as early as Friday.

The couple, in their 20s, have said they want to explore further treatment at a hospital in Rome, hoping that specialists at the Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital will be able to pinpoint what is wrong with their son.

The pair, who have run out of legal options in the UK, wanted judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg to examine issues surrounding the case, but ECHR judges rejected their bid.

A spokesman for the ECHR said judges had declared the application inadmissible and found no appearance of any human rights violation.

A High Court judge has ruled that doctors can stop treating Alfie against the wishes of his parents.

That decision has been upheld by Court of Appeal judges and Supreme Court justices.Viewers have said Patrick Kielty did his late father proud, following a BBC programme about his death at the hands of paramilitary gunmen.

The comedian, 47, was born in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and was only 16 when his dad Jack Kielty was shot dead by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).

Three men were convicted in connection with the murder, but they were freed under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Patrick Kielty (PA)

On the 20th anniversary of the agreement, Kielty returned to his hometown of Dundrum and travelled around to see if the historic peace deal has delivered on its pledge to create a new Northern Ireland.

The star was inundated with messages from viewers who said they were lost for words over the thought-provoking My Dad, The Peace Deal And Me.

One person wrote on Twitter: Brilliant Doc Paddy. Best bit of telly Ive seen in ages. Sincere, intelligent, honest and optimistic.

What a phenomenal programme you made, said another. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Incredibly powerful & really balanced.

Many people said his father would have been proud.

One person tweeted: Well done @PatricKielty your dad will be looking down on you tonight a very proud man.

Well done @PatricKielty your dad will be looking down on you tonight a very proud man.  Terry Hallahan (@TerryHallahan) April 4, 2018

Another said: Fantastic show Paddy! Your hopes for the province speak for a lot of people here!

Your da would be proud of you!

Fantastic show Paddy! Your hopes for the province speak for a lot of people here! Your da would be proud of you!  Maurice Quinn (@QuinnMauri) April 4, 2018

Prior to the programme airing, Kielty tweeted that it was a film about home. And hope.

As it concluded, he posted a picture of his father on Instagram, writing: Our Dad x Heres to the future Russia has called for the United Nations Security Council to meet on Thursday to discuss the Salisbury attack after it lost a bid to stage a joint investigation with the UK into the poisoning.

Boris Johnson has attacked Moscow for trying to obscure the truth and confuse the public about the nerve-agent assault on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Russia called a meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague on Wednesday to insist its experts must be involved in the testing programme and probe.

But it lost the vote after Britain told the extraordinary meeting the demand was a sign the federation was nervous of what the inquiries will find.

"The international community has again stood up and said no to Russian attempts to confuse and frustrate this process."



@nickheathfco following vote today at the #OPCW Executive Council pic.twitter.com/jvd7V5M9Th  Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) April 4, 2018

Moscow has asked for an open session of the UN Security Council to be held on Thursday at 8pm UK time.

UK security services have high degree of confidence that they have pinpointed the location of the Russian laboratory that manufactured the nerve agent used in the attack, according to The Times.

A Whitehall source told the newspaper: We knew pretty much by the time of the first Cobra (the emergency co-ordination briefing that took place the same week) that it was overwhelmingly likely to come from Russia.

The Foreign Secretary, who has faced claims he exaggerated the evidence against Moscow, said countries around the world continue to share our assessment about the nerve-agent attack.

He said: Russia has had one goal in mind since the attempted murders on UK soil through the use of a military-grade chemical weapon  to obscure the truth and confuse the public.

The international community has yet again seen through these tactics and robustly defeated Russias attempts today to derail the proper international process.

In a vote at OPCW, six of the 41 members backed Russia while 15 voted against, 17 abstained, two were absent, and one was not entitled to vote.

Nick Heath, deputy British ambassador to The Hague, said Russia had failed again in its attempts to frustrate the process of justice.

Russias proposal for a joint, UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury incident is perverse. It is a diversionary tactic, and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer.  UK Delegation OPCW (@UK_OPCW) April 4, 2018

Russian officials speaking after the meeting concluded said they had presented a common sense case and pointed to the lies by Tony Blair over Iraq as they criticised the intelligence about the attack.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agency Tass said there is no trust in Great Britain, it is impossible to trust London after its continuous misconduct and the unacceptable rhetoric against Russia.

Scientists at Porton Down identified the substance used in Salisbury as a military-grade Novichok nerve agent (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Tension between Moscow and London has risen a notch after the head of the Porton Down military research facility said scientists had not verified Russia as the source of the substance used in the attack on the Skripals.

Vladimir Putin seized on the comments from the chief executive of the Governments Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Gary Aitkenhead, as he accused the UK of launching an anti-Russian campaign.

Mr Johnson attacked Jeremy Corbyn for playing Russias game after the Labour leader accused him of exaggeration over the evidence.

Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said he did not think any harm has been done by Mr Johnsons comments.

He told BBC Twos Newsnight: We are all familiar that Boris has a looser use of language. This is not the first time thats happened.A default pathway should be offered to people receiving their pension to protect those who are not engaged with their retirement savings, according to a committee of MPs.

The Work and Pensions Committee said that while automatic enrolment has been a tremendous success by defaulting people into pension saving, in the decumulation phase  when people receive their pension  people must actively choose what to do with their savings.

The committee said pensions can seem distant and daunting. Faced with bewildering complexity, many people simply switch off.

Too many people are not shopping around and do not understand their options for investing their savings, it said.

Its pension freedoms report said: We recommend every pension provider offering drawdown is required, by April 2019, to offer a default decumulation pathway suitable for their core customer group.

The same charge cap that applies to automatic enrolment schemes, 0.75%, should apply to default drawdown products, the report said.

It continued: People would still be free to choose to invest and spend their own money as they wished. But if they did not make an active choice, they would move into a suitable and regulated default product.

The report said Government-backed pension scheme Nest, which was set up to support auto-enrolment, should be allowed to provide decumulation products from April 2019, including a new default drawdown pathway.

The report said evidence from automatic enrolment suggests Nest may drive better retirement outcomes by forcing other providers to offer greater value or risk savers switching over to Nest to get a better retirement deal.

The committee also said there should be a single pensions dashboard, where people can see all their pension pots in one place, in place by April 2019.

It said the multiple pensions dashboards being planned, hosted by self-interested providers, would only add complexity to a problem crying out for simplicity.

The report said: Rather than regulating the dashboards into consistency, it is far simpler just to have one.

It said: The case for a publicly hosted pensions dashboard is clear-cut. Consumers want simple, impartial, and trustworthy information.

The report also recommended the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) publish a review comparing customer outcomes for face-to-face advice with automated advice.

It said: There is a clear role for automated services in providing cheaper advice.

Public scepticism as to whether it is reliable and trustworthy must first, however, be addressed.

Frank Field, chairman of the committee, said: Automatic enrolment has been a runaway success, bringing millions of people on board in saving for their retirement.

We want to expand that success story so that everyone, no matter how they are saving, has a simple, suitable, default pension option, with a low, capped fee.

From that solid base, those who want to choose other options would retain complete freedom to do so. They would be armed with a new range of clear, transparent information in making their choices.

Frank Field (Anthony Devlin/PA)

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: Pension freedoms give people choice over how they use their hard-earned savings, but it is important that they are aware of the risks of fraud and seek proper guidance before accessing their money.

Alongside the guidance provided by Pension Wise our proposed new measures to ban pensions cold-calling will ensure that savers are protected from the threat of pension scammers and we look forward to working with the committee on this inquiry.

A Her Majestys Treasury spokesperson said: We have tabled an amendment to the Financial Guidance and Claims bill which will require pension providers to signpost savers to advice or guidance and ask them if they wish to take advice or guidance, or if they explicitly wish to proceed without this.

Pension Freedoms give hardworking people greater power over how they access their pensions.

To help people make confident and informed decisions on how to use their pension savings, we have introduced a free and independent Pension Wise service.

Commenting on the report, Nathan Long, a senior pension analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that while taking advice and guidance at the point of finishing work can be hugely beneficial, it does not include a time machine voyage to pay more into your pension earlier on.

He said: The answer remains to encourage personal ownership of retirement planning at much younger ages.

Mr Long continued: The word default should be banished from the decisions made at retirement, as hugely personal choices dont lend themselves to a one-size-fits all approach.

Baroness Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister, said: Given the lack of competition, providers have not felt pressure to innovate at the withdrawal phase of pension saving.

The committee is right to recommend providers should design good value standardised options for those who cannot or do not wish to choose for themselves. Of course, in an ideal world, one would want everyone to make their own choices, but investments and pensions are complicated concepts and having a recommended pathway can help people manage their money more effectively through their later years.

But another former pensions minister, Sir Steve Webb, who is now director of policy at Royal London, said: These recommendations would destroy the spirit of pension freedoms.

The whole reason for giving people freedom and choice at retirement is that everyone has different circumstances, needs and objectives.

The idea of a standard default makes sense when people are building up pension saving, but not in the diverse circumstances of later life.

Yvonne Braun, director of policy, long-term savings and protection at the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said: It is only thanks to the efforts and investment of the pensions industry that we have a prototype and are now able to talk about the practicalities of delivering a pensions dashboard for everyone to use.

She continued: It may be that an initial publicly hosted service is a pragmatic place to start given the stated aim to deliver a dashboard in 2019. But it would be a huge missed opportunity if we adopt a single dashboard as the final destination. We know that people expect to be able to use sophisticated dashboards in the future, integrated with other services, that only the private sector will be able to provide.

Gavin Perera-Betts, Nests chief customer officer, said: Well continue working with government and industry to ensure our members have fair access to the sustainable retirement income options they need.BERLIN REUTERS April 3-German prosecutors filed a request to a regional court on Tuesday for the extradition of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to Spain, where he faces charges of rebellion over the regions campaign for independence.



Puigdemont has been held in a detention centre in the northern German town of Neumuenster for just over a week after he was arrested in Germany on March 25.



Prosecutors in the state of Schleswig-Holstein said Spains extradition request was admissible because accusations of rebellion included carrying out an anti-constitutional referendum even though violent clashes could be expected.



This has a comparable equivalent in German law, said the prosecutors in a statement.



Prosecutors also asked the Higher Regional Court in Schleswig-Holstein, which will decide on the extradition, to keep Puigdemont in prison during the proceedings because there was a danger he would try to escape.



Puigdemont fled Spain five months ago for Belgium after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed his regional administration.Taranjit Singh Sandhu

Pic by Waruna Wanniarachchi

By Chandeepa Wettasinghe

India is always available to collaborate with Sri Lanka, according to the pace Sri Lanka is comfortable with, said Indias top diplomat in Sri Lanka this week, in a diplomatic speech which nevertheless alluded to regional geopolitics.



We want to work with you at a pace you are comfortable with. India will be there whenever you need us, Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu said at the Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration, which was organised by the University of Colombo Alumni Association, this week.



Although the local Indian diplomats and visiting Indian dignitaries have continuously insisted that India is not competing with China for influence in Sri Lanka, the ambassadors words, which did not once mention China, appeared to act as a contrast to Chinas policies.



Sandhu said that India has committed US $ 2.9 billion in concessional funding to Sri Lanka, of which US $ 545 million was in grant assistance.



I want to emphasise one aspect. Our aid is not to raid or invade. Our assistance is based on Sri Lankas own requirements, he said.



In comparison, many analysts worldwide have hammered home the point that Chinas financing is intended to trap developing countries situated along the One Belt One Road initiative in debt, before converting the debt into political influence or asset ownership, by citing the examples of Sri Lanka leasing the Hambantota port for 99 years and Djibouti allowing the construction of a Chinese military base and considering the sale of a port.



Most of Chinas financing in Sri Lanka has been focused on large-scale hard infrastructure projects and China has emerged as Sri Lankas top development partner in recent years, accounting for over one-third of funds disbursed in 2016 and 2017 for such projects.



Sandhu meanwhile said that we do not pervert your markets, your assets or your land.

He said that India has attempted to develop soft infrastructure in Sri Lanka and the region with the launch of the South Asia Satellite in 2017, the providing of hundreds of scholarships annually to Sri Lankans and the launch of the Lankan Education and Research Network in Sri Lankan universities, which is connected to Indias own National Knowledge Network.



We firmly believe that our assistance should result in true capacity building, so that changes are sustainable, he said.



He also said that Sri Lanka can more easily gain access to the worlds fastest growing economy, following the Indian tax reforms.

Sandhu however stayed clear of the controversial Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) currently under negotiations between the two countries.



He also chose not to talk on Indias recent unilateral action on pepper imports, which Sri Lanka spice exporters have said threatens the sincerity of the existing free trade agreement (FTA). This follows past unilateral action India has taken to undermine the FTA, according to local academics.



Sandhus speech encompassed three main points: broad friendship between the two countries, Indias helping hand blending with Sri Lankas requirements and the connections through Buddhism.



We have never believed in setting conditions for friendship. Our heart is broad and big. We dont view friendship through a transaction lens. There is no quid pro quo, Sandhu went on to say. He said that India has over time become more action oriented in its assistance to Sri Lanka compared to the past and has proven this in recent times with flood and drought relief.



We have tried to overcome the hesitations of history, if I can use the term in some cases, he said.

Last years Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration was delivered by the then Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang, at the height of Sri Lankas negotiations with China to lease the Hambantota port.



Xianliang delivered a politically-charged oration on the One Belt One Road initiative, following which he gave controversial comments to the media.Way back in the 16th century, there lived a man in Cambridge, England by the name of Thomas Hobson. He rented and sold horses and was the proud owner of a stable that had 40 stallions of all breeds. Anyone who wanted to rent a horse from him to ride the paddock or journey into the far horizon, paid money but was not allowed to select the horse.

People were forced back to the Homben Yana syndrome

IN-power is innocent as lily-white, OUT-power is darker than the devil himself!

electing a President to rule us for another six years would be a most daunting task for the voters

SL struggled to find answers to the ever-multiplying woes its leadership brought upon its suffering masses

The wanna be rider had only one choice. He had to take the horse that was in the stall nearest to the door. It was a simple matter of either take it or leave it. When the word spread about this, it became known among possible horse renters that what they got was Hobsons Choice.

Yet, they had one guarantee. The Hobson customer always got a horse to ride.

Now let me take you to the Homben Yana choice segment of my story. Of course, we dont have a Thomas Hobson and 40 horses locked up in a fancy stable. What we, the sons and daughters of Sri Lanka have for choices, is the one and only Diyawanna Oya! Instead of 40 steeds, we have at least 40 thieves, like in the Ali Baba fable. Oh no! we are certainly not going to get stallions to ride into the glorious sunset simply because we voted sensibly! What we are assured of is yet another term of languishing in the Homben Yana status of our current existence. Whatever political choices we make, we end up with our chin shoved to the ground, that is what I mean when I said Homben Yana.

Presidential Elections came in 2015 and Diyawanna Oya changed colours. The winners had a Clarion Call that reverberated corruption in flashing neon

Sri Lankans stood up proudly and faced the new world with hopes running high when we received our independence from the Colonial Masters in 1948. Yes, we were a united people of an independent paradise isle. But, from then on, it has been a slow slide, as the average Sri Lankan struggled to find answers to the ever-multiplying woes the countrys leadership brought upon its eternally suffering citizens.

Lets look at the recent past, the 21st century, the ethnic war was in full swing when the new millennium dawned in the year 2000. We all breathed a sigh of relief when the 30-year old carnage ended in 2009 in Nandhikkadal. That entire story is best left in the past; too many people from all races and all religions suffered when unmarked graves or mounds of earth carried the victims of the miserable war. Then came the hope of peace, along with the blessed promise of prosperity. Things did change, less for some, more for others, but things did change for the better. But, unfortunately this euphoria didnt last long. People were forced back to the Homben Yana syndrome. Undoubtedly, the minorities got most of the flak.

Presidential Elections came in 2015 and Diyawanna Oya changed colours. The winners had a Clarion Call that reverberated corruption, corruption, corruption in flashing neon. Nepotism and power-abuse were also added to the sin-list along with other misdeeds with which the winners branded the defeated. New hopes began to sprout out and the Homben Giya proletariat slowly rose to their feet pleading that the new brooms sweep Lanka clean.

A bright and beautiful life filled with marsh-mallow dreams was offered to the masses by the new coalition regime occupying Diyawanna Oya. We, the Homben Yana population of Lanka came out of the blocks like Olympic sprinters, full of vim and vigour. New appointments were made to bring justice to the fore. This committee and that commission went into action to crucify the culprits who supposedly stole from our national wealth. Yes, they erected the cross and brought in the nails and the hammer, but alas! There was no one to crucify. A lot of noise was made, but the brooms didnt sweep at all. I only read in the papers the likes of a school principal who was sentenced to 5 years of rigorous imprisonment for taking a bribe of Rs.150,000 to admit a child to her school!

We can leave all that for now and take a time out to give a rousing cheer to 007 who came from Singapore. Of course, he had friends and that too in the right places. So, he did what he wanted to do and high-tailed it to Singapore, and perhaps, as I write, is sipping a chilled Margarita sitting on a wicker chair in the prestigious Raffles Hotel. And we who have lost Rs.11 billion (could be much more - I dont know) are back in the Homben Yana status while helplessly despising Diyawanna Oya for its unbelievable tomfoolery! There goes a pompous fairy-tale, if ever there was one.

The countrys future does look fractured and bleak. The front pages of the newspapers filled with political Tug-o-wars where there are serious doubts on whos pulling for whom

In the current state of the country, the future does look fractured and bleak. The front pages of the daily newspapers are always filled with political Tug-o-wars where there are serious doubts on whos pulling for whom. The fact remains that its impossible to figure out whos on whose side and how sincere their allegiances are. Of course, there could be a thief or more who is pulling nothing while pretending a full dum action on the rope. This sure is a shambolic sambol we face as spectators or should I say Homben Yana people [?] of the current political drama, wondering from which way the wind is blowing and in whose favour? Yet in some perverted way it is rather interesting too, watching the trapeze artistes of the Diayawanna Circus doing their dare-devil performances. They swing from side to side and find safe footholds to shine prominently again under different Godfathers promising different dreams. With three elections on the cards theres sure to be some excitement for the Homben Yana masses, yes, you and I are the ones who are still waiting for manna to fall from heaven.

For a start, we need newly-elected Provincial and Parliamentary Ministers. We saw the recent local elections. It was peaceful and for that we must be thankful. But the aftermath was the grand show; a free-for-all on the evening TV screens, where the vulgarity of language and the uncouth and rowdy behaviour of some local leaders were regularly showcased. Whos innocent and whos guilty - I do not know. But it sure fills me with shame to see the future leaders of my country behaving so disgustingly.

The final mega-election will be the Presidential. Whether it would come before parliamentary election or after is anybodys guess. But selecting a President to rule us for another six years would be a most daunting task for the people of Sri Lanka. Yes, we shall go to the polls again possibly in 2020 and cast our vote for our favourite candidate and wait for the final ballot count. I wonder whether it would matter much who wins or loses? Whichever way the cookie crumbles, the winners will walk tall with boastful promises blowing out of their double-dealing mouths. Of course, all the blame of the countrys misfortunes would be packed and loaded on the backs of the powers that lost. Nothing but the usual story that we are so used to hearing. IN-power is innocent as lily-white, OUT-power is darker than the devil himself! As for us, the inheritors of this God-given paradise, it probably will be just another pipe dream with a lifespan of six years on a Homben Yana gait, till the next Presidential election takes place again. Hope would spring again, and like fools we would cheer the ones who have been newly elected to gift us a land filled to the brim with milk and honey.

So much for the choices we make, will we ever learn that we are choice-less?Japan was virtually razed to the ground when an American B-29 bomber dropped the atomic bomb over its city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. In the attack, 80,000 people perished, and in addition, a large number of people killed subsequently due to radiation. Horror, inflicted by this attack is still engraved in the minds of the Japanese. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another similar bomb on Nagasaki, killing at least 40,000 people.

N. koreas no dong ballistic missiles capable of attacking japan in ten minutes

japan strengthens security treaties with its allies, mainly the US

Recent threats forced Japan to enhance its security ties with US, South Korea

Japan is still restrained by its constitution to wage the offensive first

These bombardments happened a long time ago. But, the fear psychosis of yet another similar bombardment has begun to grip Japan once again due to the nuclear strike capability acquired by North Korea which is constantly threatening Japan.

Cruelty and gruesomeness of nuclear warfare are all too well-known to the Japanese citizens because of their first-hand experience in them during the World War II. In fact certain instances, there are textbook lessons which are based on the Japanese experience and taught to schoolchildren in some countries to portray the danger of nuclear weapons to world peace.

What is more alarming for Japan is the fact that North Korea is in possession of more than No Dong medium-range ballistic missiles having a 1300 km range

As such, it is important to note the looming nuclear crisis in the Korean peninsula in the present climate where there is a new world order and emerging cooperation.

In fact, Japan started lobbying the support of the countries to implement the UN resolution implementing sanctions to discourage North Korea from its nuclear pursuits for military purposes. When Japanese Prime Minister Taro Kono visited Sri Lanka from January 4 to 6, 2018, he even engaged the Sri Lankan leaders to help implement the resolution as a UN member state along with others. So to speak, it shows how alarmed Japan is in the context of a nuclear threat emanating from North Korea. So, it makes every possible diplomatic effort to isolate North Korea.

In its efforts to drive home its point of view in this regard, Japan engaged a team of journalists from different countries in February.

North Korea, as transpired during engagements with the international press by some key Japanese officials, continues nuclear tests and ballistic missiles launches to acquire nuclear deterrence against the United States.

Against the backdrop, Japan, in alliance with the United States and South Korea, continues to beef up pressure on North Korea to have a departure from its current policy.

N. Korea can attack Tokyo in ten minutes

According to Prof. Narushige Michishita of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, North Korea possessed by the end of 2016 fissile materials enough for 13 to 30 nuclear weapons. The country had conducted six nuclear tests up to last year from 2006.

What is more alarming for Japan is the fact that North Korea is in possession of more than No Dong medium-range ballistic missiles having a 1300 km range. According to Prof. Michishita, these missiles can reach Tokyo within ten minutes.

North Korea has also launched Scud ER missiles.As part of precautionary measures, he said Japan had exercised several defence measures.

The recent threats have compelled Japan to enhance and modify its security ties with its allies such as the United States and South Korea more and more. In the aftermath of the cold war, Japans Self Defence Force was meant to serve in defensive operations. The current law, however, provides for Japan to deploy its self-defence force to shoot down missiles. It can participate in the war and provides military assistance to the US in case of an emergency to save Japan.

In fact, Japan is still restrained by its constitution to wage the offensive first. Yet, in the event of a war breaking out, it can intervene for its defence.

Unlike their World War II experience, Japan has some reasons for relief despite nuclear threats prevailing in the region. The troika, involving Japan, the United States and South Korea, has good strike capability today in case a nuclear war flares up with North Korea.

In contrast, the general public in Japan, as obvious to those engaging them, is averse to any warfare with any country in the world, due to their bitter experience in the past. They do not prefer Japan involving in any war on behalf of South Korea or Japan with another country. Let alone, Japan, as a country, has to ward off any threat from North Korea. For that matter, it is bound by its security treaties with its allies, mainly the United States.

Good news for Japan as South Korea, US have good strike capability

According to the Japanese academics, both the United States and South Korea have a good strike capability against a nuclear missile attack. But, Prof. Michishita said Japan had to develop independent strike capability in case these countries become busy in defending themselves in the event of a war situation.

What is worrisome for Japan is that North Korea itself is developing their nuclear prowess making it even more challenging for other countries to blunt it.

Another reason that has compelled Japan to develop its strike capability is the United States trying to adopt the policies of isolation in the international affairs under the Trump administration. The United States is becoming isolated under the new rule.

In a war situation, South Korea has a better advantage over Japan in detecting any missile launch from North Korea because of its geographical proximity to the offender. As such, it is vital for Japan to cooperate with South Korea in this exercise to counter threats through clear detection.

Again, there is strain on such relations between Japan and South Korea, triggered by the dispute of Takeshima islands.

It is clear that Japan, an affluent nation and the third largest economy in the world, is gripped by fear over nuclear missile tests by North Korea. The Japanese government has been compelled to take political decisions to enhance the capacity of its Self Defence Force against current odds.

Unlike the World War II period, the United States will rush into military action if North Korea lays its violent hand on Japan in conformity with the US- Japan defence guidelines and cooperation.

In pursuing its security interests, Japan faces yet another challenge from people in its Okinawa islands where the US military base is located.

The people in the island complained to the foreign journalists that the thundering roar of US military aircraft had caused health hazards for them. In fact, some of them complained that they were even unable to watch TV during the landing and taking off of such fighter aircraft.

Japanese government officials face the biggest challenge of reconciling such public sentiments with its national security interests.Leo Burnett Group Sri Lanka, part of the global Publicis Groupe network, recently conducted its annual review for the 12th consecutive year to celebrate the agencys achievements in 2017 and to articulate its plans for 2018. The event took place at the Hilton Residences and was attended by the entire Leo Burnett team, who came together in a spirit of camaraderie to celebrate yet another year of success and creative excellence.

Arosha Perera  CEO, Leo Burnett Group Sri Lanka acknowledged the agencys achievements and milestones in 2017, and then proceeded to outline the strategy the company will pursue to fulfil its ambitions in the year ahead. Aroshas address was followed by 2018 business outlook presentations by Leo Burnett, Publicis, MSL, ARC and Starcom.

Over the years, the Leo Burnett Group has built many powerful brands and meaningful partnerships with its clients, whilst delivering gratifying results and gaining peer recognition in the industry. This year the group celebrates its 19th anniversary in Sri Lanka whilst the Leo Burnett global network commemorated its 83rd 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.More No-Confidence Motions should be brought in as such motions would expose those who robbed public funds in millions, State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake told Parliament today.

The No-Confidence Motion on Prime Minister will and should not be the last, but more should come in as they will expose all robbers, he said. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwadana)Vocational Training Minister Chandima Weerakkody said yesterday President Maithripala Sirisena requested all the MPs of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) serving in the government to take a common stand regarding the no confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The President had a late night meeting with the SLFP Ministers and discussed the matters. Mr. Weerakkody told Daily Mirror the SLFP position would be announced this morning after another meeting at the residence of Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.

The President asked the members to take a decision as a party rather than going by individual positions, he said. (Kelum Bandara)We are the first parliament in the world to have provided leadership with regards to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) said Speaker of the Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya at #SDGDataLK. This national symposium, the first of its kind, was held recently at Waters Edge. The goal of this gathering was to provide a platform to enhance the use of data towards a Sustainable Sri Lanka.

This would be done under the theme Data for Effective Policy Making and Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

With more than 300 participants, this two-day symposium was jointly organised by the Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations and brought together multiple stakeholders from the Government, UN Agencies, Private Sector, Civil Society Organizations, Academia, and Data and Research organizations, to discuss the importance of using data towards evidence-based policy and decision-making.

Excerpts from the opening day follow:

The UN extends its support to Sri Lanka in mapping local data to the SDGs

According to UN Resident Coordinator a.i. Ms. Simrin Singh, the Sustainable Development Goals are not necessarily UN SDGs, but in fact owned by all of us. Sri Lanka alongside 192 countries committed to this ambitious agenda by agreeing to achieve 17 global goals by 2030. These goals will define Sri Lanka in 2030 and ensure a better tomorrow for all of us, said Singh.

She explained how data tied into the idea of achieving these goals as being the starting point in knowing several factors such as the level of poverty, life expectancy and levels of education. Knowing this crucial information helps to drive decisions to understand where we are now, where we need to get to and to guide us in getting there. This symposium is relevant in our journey in achieving these goals,she added.

Baseline data mapped against these indicators will tell us where Sri Lanka stands at present in relation to SDGs and this is the starting point. The UN extends its support to Sri Lanka in mapping local data to the SDGs and will ensure that no one is left behind,said Singh.

We cant wait till 2030. We have to decide on the frequency through which we will monitor the progress in achieving these goals

The 2030 vision is institution oriented 

Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, Chairman of the Presidential Expert Committee on Sustainable Sri Lanka 2030 Vision, summarised that the idea of the symposium is to show how important data is and how it fits in the overall development. Our Sustainable Development Goals process has data indicators and targets and hopefully the priorities we have identified will help to inform that process. The 2030 vision is not a political manifesto but we hope it is practical as it is institution oriented and the ultimate goal is to build a national consensus on sustainable development, said Munasinghe.

The Professor highlighted that the key vision that the President enunciated at the UN General Assembly is that Sri Lanka wants to become a sustainable upper middle income Indian Ocean hub with an economy which is prosperous competitive and advanced, environment that is green and flourishing and a society that is inclusive harmonious peaceful and just which will follow the middle path on balanced green growth. The report hopefully guides us towards this balanced path and takes us from 2018 to this sustainable vision of 2030 and in the process we need to transform our values and institutions,he said.

According to Munasinghe the Committee has identified several sectors as well as cross-cutting themes like gender and reconciliation. The integration has been done by first making an effort to integrate between the environment, economy and society which has not been done in this country before.

Then we link up the sector and the cross cutting themes it is a holistic process. What this nexus means for development globally is that there is this concept called ecological footprint of humanity which says that by 2030 we would need the equivalent of two planet earths to sustain life as it is on this planet. If we look at who is doing all this consumption it is the rich who consumes 85% of the planets resources, so there is huge inequality in the consumption. You see that if the rich are consuming more than one planet worth where are the resources for the poor? Thats why we have so many unkept promises and now we are down to the last leg, the SDGs, and thats why we have to make it work, he added.

The Professor said that the 17 SDGs should be adapted to fit our needs where the country fixes the priorities and the SDGs provides a framework.. The Committee has a special focus on social issues since the President is keen on that. Munasinghe highlighted that Sri Lanka has to find this inclusive green growth path to development.

As a policy making body we need data for policy decisions.

According to R.H.W.A. Kumarasiri, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, the Government is responsible for streamlining the development agenda for 2030, for all departments and ministries, and is responsible for collecting and analysing data. The Department of Census and Statistics is only responsible for 75 indicators while other Government agencies are responsible for 131 indicators which is more than 50% of the total, Kumarasiri said.

Kumarasiri explained that there is a lot of data at the grassroots level, and as Government agencies they are tasked with collecting that data, summarising it, analysing it and providing it in line with the SDG 2030. As a policy making body we need data for policy decisions,added Kumarasiri.

Everyone needs to be part of the equation.

Karin Fernando, Senior Research Professional from CEPA, highlighted that the big point of the SDGs is to leave no one behind. Everyone needs to be part of the equation. This is a challenge. The challenge is also more complex when the goal is not to leave anyone behind. The goal also talks about not letting people fall behind as well. We also need to think about these people as much as capturing those that are not. Therefore it is necessary to collect more nuanced data,explained Fernando.

There might be discrepancies and we should recognise them.

Dr. Mark Landry, Regional Advisor of WHO South East Asia, detailed how in July 2016 the Ministry of Health organised a workshop on the health related SDGs which illustrated several issues. There is still a lack of clarity as to the definition of metadata. We also need to acknowledge new indicators, said Landry. He emphasised how there is a global health estimate for a number of these indicators. The question is whether that estimate is valid and if not how we dispute that with our national primary data. There might be discrepancies and we should recognise that, he stressed.

Its high time to start our work in a systematic manner.

Director General of the Department of Census and Statistics, Dr. A.j. Satharasinghe, gave a detailed description of the activities of the DCS in its work with the SDGs. Already 3 years have passed and it is high time to start our work in a systematic manner. The Government of Sri Lanka is expecting to achieve these goals by 2030. There are now 12 years to achieve this, said Satharasinghe.

According to him all 244 indicators are not relevant to Sri Lanka. We have to localise this. For this we need to estimate baseline data for the indicators relevant to the country. Then we have to decide where we are going and what values we would like to see for the identified indicators in 2030. We cant wait till 2030. We have to decide on the frequency through which we will monitor the progress in achieving these goals,said Satharasinghe.

He detailed that the DCS had done a study about a year back to identify the indicator framework giving all the corresponding information. We tried to prepare the indicator framework in respect of the indicators prepared by the DCS. First I formed a high level committee which looked at the indicators published by the UN Statistics Division which provides the metadata of the indicators. They studied the metadata file on each indicator. This gives enough information and definitions about the indicators and we should all look at it. Just looking at the indicator would make it very complicated.

After that the DCS came out with a classification system in respect for the indicators compiled by the DCS. The UNSD has come out with a clear classification system, but I thought it wasnt enough for Sri Lanka to start with, so we came up with another system. With regard to some indicators we have baseline data, and for some indicators the definitions are exact UN definitions and for some there are no exact UN definitions but proxy indicators which is encouraged by the UN as well. Some indicators are not compiled by the DCS because our mandate is to compile demographic and socio-economic data, said Satharasinghe.

The 2030 vision is not a political manifesto but we hope it is practical as it is institution oriented and the ultimate goal is to build a national consensus on sustainable development

Its unique that Sri Lanka has a focus area on data

Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Framework Driver 1, Ritsu Naken stated that the UN has been honoured to support the SL process and the UNSD framework is a 5-year business plan. It is truly unique that Sri Lanka has a focus area on data which many other countries do not have, said Naken.

The Sri Lankan health sector has been achieving a great deal and Sri Lanka is a model country in this regard. The survey reveals that 90% of women give birth with a professional health sector worker. It sounds good, but to achieve the SDGs we have to look at the remaining 10% and how we can achieve the remaining percentage. For this we need multidisciplinary data and analysis of that data to understand why this 10% is left behind, he added.

As a committee we are pushing this agenda.

Chairman of SDG Parliamentary Select Committee Thilanga Sumathipala explained how the Government has found that it is important that the drive for SDGs is the responsibility of Parliament.

After a conference 2 years ago I put forward a paper to Parliament that it is good to have a select committee on SDGs. This is the highest committee this country can have. What happens is that institutes like the DCS can present its case and Parliament and initiate a steering role to drive the process. We cant do this without the help of UN agencies, said Sumathipala.

According to Sumathipala, a gap in data collection and usage has been identified. Innovative ideas such as the usage of a dashboard and uniformity in the IT platform that is being used are being considered, so that from the GM division to the higher levels there will be a synchronization of data.

We also have more than 60,000 graduates, so in each GM division we can have an SDG officer to work on the collection of data.

The Government can prioritize what SDGs it wants to work on. For any policy to be ready for the country and the availability of data are matters that have to be spearheaded by the bureaucrats, so we are trying to bridge that gap as well. As a committee we are pushing this agenda,he added.

Pix BY Nisal BadugeThe United National Front (UNF) Parliamentary Group leaders passed a resolution stating that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should not resign from his post, Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said yesterday.

The resolution was passed in the wake of Sri Lanka Freedom Party(SLFP) requesting him to step down ahead of the no-confidence motion.

This resolution was passed at a meeting which Prime Minister had with the UNF leaders last morning.

On behalf of the SLFP, Transport Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva informed the Prime Minister of his party 's position. (Yohan Perera)Our struggle is to bring social, political, and economic justice to our nation. This is an effort of the Chicano/Mexican American Digital History Project. https://sites.google.com/site/chicanodigital/The Education Ministry announced today that all the Government and Government-assisted private schools would end their first term for 2018 on Friday (6).

They said these schools would be re-opened for the second term on April 23.

For Muslims schools, the vacation of the first term would commence from April 11 and would be re-open on April 18. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)In an interview with the Daily Mirror Ambika Satkunanathan, one of the Commissioners at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka said that social media is only a tool that is used to incite hatred or violence and that it isnt the cause of hatred or violence. She said that when impunity isnt addressed perpetrators are emboldened as a result of which they continue to commit such offences. Therefore, she stressed that in order to prevent the recurrence of such acts perpetrators should be held accountable.

Excerpts:

Not only those who participate in such violence, but also those who instigate violence and provide organizational strength have to be made accountable

Violence appears to have been instigated by external elements in an organized manner causing communal division, death and destruction of property

Its possible without impinging on anyones right to privacy to map and even predict violence that is about to happen

Reason for the rise or prevalence of religious or communal violence is the failure and inability to address existing intolerance and the lack of respect for diversity and pluralism within society

Take a multipronged approach to deal with issues of communal, ethnic or religious intolerance or violence

So the purpose particularly in post-war countries is to assist people who have been affected by the war to rebuild their lives

Q We speak of reconciliation in the post-war context, but now there has been a rise in communal violence. What is the reason behind this?

I think the reason for the rise or prevalence of religious or communal violence is the failure and inability to address existing intolerance and the lack of respect for diversity and pluralism within society, i.e. the intolerance of difference. In the post-war context it is also important to address the root causes of the conflict. So issues of inequality, discrimination and marginalization have to be dealt with. During the month of May in 2017 the HRCSL wrote to his Excellency the President and we pointed to the rise in religious intolerance and attacks on certain religious groups and called for action. In particular, we called for the perpetrators to be arrested and brought to justice. When you dont address issues of impunity those who perpetrate such acts of violence will be emboldened and think that they can continue to commit such offences and get away with it.The failure to address impunity erodes respect for the rule of law. The failure to address impunity in cases of religious or communal violence also creates the belief that intolerance is acceptable and that inciting religious or communal violence is acceptable which leads to the erosion of the social fabric. Religious or communal hatred and violence should not become normalized; we should be angered and outraged by them. But outrage alone is not enough. We need action. Therefore, you have to take a multipronged approach to deal with issues of communal, ethnic or religious intolerance or violence.

Q After the letter to the President in May last year was action taken against the perpetrators?

We have found that adequate action has not been taken to address these issues.

Q What are the findings of HRCs investigations when it comes to the recent incidents of communal violence?

The investigations are still continuing and our Kandy office is inquiring into the matter and gathering information. Hence, it isnt possible to state the outcome at the moment, but as we said in our letters to the President and the Prime Minister, according to preliminary investigations carried out by the Commission, the violence appears to have been instigated by external elements in an organized manner causing communal division, death and destruction of property. The Commission takes this issue very seriously.

Q Do you think the Government is taking adequate action to identify who is responsible for the recent incidents of communal violence and make them accountable?

We have noted that many arrests have been made following these incidents, but we have to wait and see what action would be taken following that. We stated in our letters that not only those who participate in such violence, but also those who instigate violence and provide organizational strength have to be made accountable. Hence, we have to wait and see if that would be the case and whether there are prosecutions.

Q Many have pointed fingers at law enforcement authorities for being inefficient. Has the HRC addressed this issue?

These are all issues that well be looking into during our investigation into the violence. We hope to have it completed soon because its an issue of national importance.

Q In the aftermath of the violence we saw efforts of solidarity being made by the Sinhalese and the Muslim communities. What should be done to prevent a recurrence of such violence?

Many things can be done. We need to acknowledge that intolerance and prejudice exist within our societies and they need to be addressed. Where we find communal harmony and good inter-ethnic relations we need to foster them. At the local level or the community level where there was positive action or where the communities banded together you found that the links between the different communities was quite strong, which led them to come together during a crisis. That definitely needs to be fostered and supported. And most importantly in order to prevent a recurrence we need to have accountability. It means you need to stem impunity and ensure there is respect for the rule of law. That is a key part of preventing recurrence.

Q Spreading hatred and racism on social media is a longstanding issue. What existing laws can be used to bring those who spread racism and hatred on social media before justice?

Right now we have the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, which applies to incitement of religious and racial violence. But where social media is concerned, I think it is also something that we need to understand better. We need research and dialogue on the issue and we need to consult experts. I think there is also a fear about social media, which sometimes happens with new technology, and it is thought that by clamping down on the medium you can stop certain acts. But social media is only a tool that is used to incite hatred or violence, it is not the cause of hatred or violence. While we think of how to manage the tool we must also address the root causes. Our policy and decision making must be evidenced based and data driven. We must make informed decisions based on evidence. As the HRC said in its letter to the Chairman of the TRC it is also important to ensure that a balance is struck and it does not impinge upon freedom of expression and the right to information and that it adheres to the Constitution and to our international human rights obligations.

Q What kind of a social media policy can Sri Lanka adopt?

At present, a particular policy or framework cannot be recommended because any recommendation made has to be informed and supported by data or evidence. Currently, there is inadequate awareness of the manner in which social media platforms function and ways in which they can be accessed- for instance, as we know, even if you ban certain apps or social media platforms, you could use VPN- proxy servers- to access these apps or sites. Hence, it is important to obtain the advice of experts. This is an area we really need to consider, learn and research more about and ensure that any policy is evidenced based and data driven. Ive talked to a few experts and what I have learned is that I need to learn more. For example, I have learned that it is possible without impinging on anyones right to privacy to map and to even predict violence that is about to unfold, based on the data available in the public domain. You can track who is saying what, how consistently theyre saying it etc. Hence, it is possible to have some sort of an early warning system. We must however always ensure that we take considered and well-informed decisions. Most importantly, as I said social media is just a tool. We must not get lost in talking about the tool and forget about the core issues and problems, and the root causes of this violence.

Q In terms of transitional justice, the Government has been lagging behind the full implementation of the UN resolution. What are the implications of this delay?

Where transitional justice mechanisms are concerned the Commission has expressed its disappointment about the delays in establishing them. We are however pleased that the Office of Missing Persons has been established. In any context, the failure to address the grievances, loss and pain of and violations suffered by persons, would have an adverse impact on not only those affected, but on the society as a whole and on inter-community relations in particular when it concerns different ethnic/religious groups.

Q The Government has decided to establish a reparation office. What is the purpose of a reparation office?

I cant say anything specific about the Governments proposed plans because the Commission is not aware of them. In Sri Lanka, we often equate compensation with reparation, whereas compensation is a part of reparation. Reparation has many elements, namely, restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. So its not only about providing redress for a harm suffered, i.e. compensation for a destroyed house, but also recognizing the right to reparation and recognizing victims as equal citizens. Reparation programmes can include material, symbolic, individual and collective measures etc. So the purpose particularly in post-war countries is to assist people who have been affected by the war to rebuild their lives and return to a position in which they were before they experienced the violence, violations etc. In establishing a reparations programme its important to do so in a consultative manner with the participation of civil society and of affected persons.

Q Is a new legislation required for the Office on Missing Persons (OMP)?

We currently have an institution called the Rehabilitation of Persons, Properties and Industries Authority (REPPIA) that has been providing compensation to people; including those affected by the armed conflict. But its remit is rather narrow and it doesnt adopt a holistic view of reparation. Hence, in order to formulate a holistic reparations programme that adopts a broad definition of reparation in line with international standards you would need to have a new legislation.

Q The OMP is operationalized now with the appointment of its members. How would the HRC assist the OMP?

Over the years the HRC has received a large number of complaints from families of the disappeared. We will liaise with the OMP to share information that we have with it and also provide any sort of assistance that it requires.

Q A team of legal experts from Sri Lanka is to challenge the procedure adopted by the UNHRC to pass the resolution on Sri Lanka. What are the views of the HRC in relation to this?

This doesnt particularly fall within our mandate. Our mandate applies only within the borders of Sri Lanka; we are also mandated to ensure that Sri Lanka adheres to its international legal obligations.

Q Isnt this UN resolution an international legal obligation as well?

Yes it is. But Sri Lankan citizens also have the right to engage in UN procedures and its mechanisms. As far as we are concerned we look into allegations of violations against the State within the borders of Sri Lanka and we are also mandated to ensure that Sri Lanka adheres to its international legal obligations. Any resolution that is accepted or conventions that are ratified by Sri Lanka are within our mandate. But the intervention you mentioned is about citizens who are engaging directly with the UN system and they have every right to do so.

Q Activists have urged for the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and in fact there were reports on a proposed counter terrorism Act. With regard to the repeal of the PTA what is the current situation?

As you know the Commission has repeatedly called for the repeal of the PTA as it allows for prolonged detention without judicial review and the admissibility of confessions made to a police officer of a certain rank etc. We have reiterated numerous times that any new legislation should be in line with international human rights standards and Sri Lankas international obligations. The Commission isnt aware of the current status of the process to draft new law.

Q It was reported that the HRC hasnt received a reply to an RTI request made requesting a copy of the report on the Welikada prison riots within the time stipulated in the law. What do you think of the efficiency in which public authorities respond to RTI requests?

The RTI legislation is a very positive thing and it seems it has caught the publics imagination because people are using the law to obtain information and also to bring about greater transparency. What we find is that the State structures are still unprepared to implement it effectively. This is due to many reasons. I think there is a lack of awareness of the law and the obligations it places on public officials and the lack of human resources in particular to implement it efficiently and effectively within the legally stipulated timeline. In Sri Lanka we arent particularly partial to proactive disclosure and I think there is still a reluctance to share information freely. We still see that reluctance even though we have the RTI Law, which points to the fact that legislation alone is inadequate to bring about social change. A change of work culture and mindset is also required. Proactive disclosure means to disclose everything possible unless you cannot for very serious reasons. If you look at the HRC, we have listed information we can share and that which we cant disclose. However, even with regard to information we cant disclose, we have stated that if we believe it is in the public interest then we will disclose such information. We are still unprepared and ill equipped to implement the law, which is a very positive law. It can be a tool, a weapon to bring about greater transparency, greater accountability and combat corruption.

Q In your view is the HRC truly independent?

Absolutely. We have not had any political interference from anyone telling us what to do or what not to do, or try to influence our decisions in certain cases etc. Therefore, we can say we believe that we are truly independent.

Q Do you think that the HRC should be vested with more power so that its decisions are binding?

Thats a question that is asked from us very regularly. Weve discussed this within the Commission and we dont believe that to be the case for many reasons. Firstly, if we are to issue enforceable orders we would become a quasi-judicial body. The whole point of establishing the HRC was to establish an alternative mechanism for people to seek redress because court procedures are expensive, time consuming etc. If we judicialize the HRC processes as well, then we make it more difficult for the complainants. Secondly, in Sri Lanka there have been instances when judicial orders, which are binding, are sometimes not adhered to. Giving an order does not guarantee that it will be implemented. It all comes back to respecting the rule of law, and how the citizens and public servants feel about the HRC and its role in the society.

Globally, in most countries human rights commissions dont have the power to issue enforceable orders. They issue recommendations. In many countries these recommendations are taken very seriously and implemented. Therefore, the question we need to ask ourselves is why is it not happening in our country? So the problem lies with us. Would the HRC issuing an order be taken as a solution? We dont think so because as I stated above, regrettably, there have been instances when even court orders arent adhered to. So how do we solve this problem? Its about lack of respect for the rule of law and lack of respect for the mandate and the role of the HRC. We believe that currently we do have quite adequate powers because we can summon people and documents and we can visit places of detention unannounced. At the end of the day its not about the Commission per se, its about how the community and State structures react and engage in our work. Does a penalty have to always exist in order for people to respect a finding or a recommendation of the Commission? If so what does it say about our society?

Pix by WarunaWanniarachchiThe efforts to increase domestic and foreign investment in Sri Lankas pharmaceuticals industry is set to boost output and broaden the sectors product range, bringing the country closer to the governments goal of self-sufficiency in medical production.In early January, State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC) announced it was joining forces with Malaysian investment firm Pharma Zone to develop a dedicated industrial centre for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals products. Pharma Zone, a partnership of the Sultan of Johor and Malaysian property development company Equine Capital, will provide US $ 10 million for the construction of infrastructure necessary for pharmaceuticals production. To attract investment to the 50-hectares site, to be located in the Kalutara District, south of the commercial capital, Colombo, the state has offered a 15-year buyback guarantee to purchase pharmaceuticals from the manufacturers operating within the zone at 20 percent above unit cost.National Chamber of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Sri Lanka (NCPM) President Lohitha Samarawickrema told the local media in January that at least 17 local producers had signed memoranda of understanding with the SPMC to establish manufacturing facilities within the zone, with each committing a minimum of US $ 4 million to secure blocks of two to four hectares for development.



Manufacturing zones key to self-sufficiency strategy



The initial facilities in the zone are scheduled to come into operation in the first half of 2019 and by 2020 total output is expected to meet around 60 percent of domestic requirements, according to the NCPM. At present, the locally manufactured pharmaceuticals account for just 12 percent of the market. The increase in local production is expected to significantly reduce the sectors annual import bill, which currently stands at US $ 400 million to US $ 500 million.The strategy is also being supported by other investments in the sector. In early February, the government signed an agreement to construct a new Rs.1.4 billion (US $ 9 million) facility for the production of cancer-treating drugs using nanotechnology.The plant, to be located in Payagalas Malegoda District, is a joint venture between the SPMC and two Indian pharma companies and aims to bring down the cost of cancer drugs, most of which are currently imported at prices of around Rs.150,000 (US $ 960) per item.While the goal of producing 100 percent of pharmaceuticals locally is a long-term one, with industry officials estimating that it will be achieved by the end of the next decade, Navesta Pharmaceuticals Chairman Sanjaya Jayaratne said the recent developments showed the sector is moving in the right direction.Sri Lanka is on the right track to achieving self-sufficiency in pharmaceuticals products, Jayaratne told OBG.Major companies in the sector have already set the pace by expanding production capacity to contribute to the countrys medium-term goal.



Technological improvement needed to meet expansion targets



Although making progress, Sri Lanka still faces a series of challenges if it is to meet its goals for the pharmaceuticals sector.One such challenge relates to sourcing raw packing materials such as sterile and industry-compliant packaging, which are not available locally and must be imported. Another relates to the provision of equipment and technology for medical production. At present, the necessary technological capacity for large-scale pharmaceuticals expansion is lacking and although the local industry will benefit from development in this area, it will initially rely on imports.



Human resources key to longevity



With plans to significantly expand local pharmaceuticals production in the coming years, more investment will be needed in training and personnel development, according to local pharmaceuticals firm Morisons Managing Director Murtaza Esufally.As the industry keeps developing, human resources need to grow with it, he told OBG.The country desperately needs more pharmaceuticals schools to ensure we have a skilled workforce.At present, some local firms either send staff abroad for training or bring in experienced industry personnel from overseas to assist with training. Given that the industry is set to expand in the next few years, developing infrastructure to support skills development will become an increasingly important necessity. Steps have been made to improve human resources on a domestic level, however, with the universities of Colombo, Sri Jayewardenepura, Peradeniya and Ruhuna all initiating bachelors of pharmacy degrees in recent years, which it is hoped will sustain the sector growth.



(This Sri Lanka economic update was produced by Oxford Business Group)Thailand has made one of its largest crystal methamphetamine busts, seizing drugs worth $22.42 million, police said on Tuesday, as the United Nations warned that Southeast Asia is being flooded with illegal drugs from the Golden Triangle region.



Police said 700 kilograms of the drug, known as ice, was seized on March 28 in southern Chumpon Province. The consignment was destined for Malaysia.



The drugs were produced in the Golden Triangle region, where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. Two Thais and two Malaysians were arrested in connection with the bust.



The methamphetamine market has expanded at an alarming rate in East and Southeast Asia. In 2015, experts in several countries in the sub-region reported an increase in the use of both crystalline methamphetamine and methamphetamine tablets. Among amphetamines, methamphetamine represents the greatest global health threat, a 2017 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug report said.



These big seizures are indications that there is a relentless supply pumping out of the Golden Triangle and North Shan in Myanmar to flood Southeast Asian markets and also transit Southeast Asia to high-value markets such as Australia, New Zealand and potentially further, Jeremy Douglas, the UNODCs chief in Southeast Asia, told Reuters.



Police displayed the haul on Tuesday at a government compound north of Bangkok. Other drugs on display included illicit drugs worth $28.51 million, including cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy, seized in various busts between March 25 and April 1.



Bangkok, (Hindustan Times/Reuters, Apr 03, 2018The backbiting and enduring state of chaos over the past three months within our corridors of power points to what should be a watershed year for Sri Lankan voters and even business. Our countrys multifaceted leadership has been entirely immersed in ensuring their political permanence that the country and its economy have come to a protracted standstill.



The actions of our leaders and the state of anarchy that followed in the immediate aftermath of the local government polls brought shame to our country and just when we thought it was over the crisis evolved into a different form.



As our nations Executive President, head of state, leader of the government and Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Maithripala Sirisena could and should have done much more to control the situation but his decisions are clouded by all that corrupts.

Sri Lankans have long grown indifferent to our customary brand of politics and are accustomed to disenchantment



Sri Lankans have long grown indifferent to our customary brand of politics and are accustomed to disenchantment. But that degree of disenchantment may have reached a tipping point given the level of apathy displayed by this parliament to nearly every aspect of governance.



Burden on people



The government has done little or nothing to alleviate the troubles of its people and have instead heaped further burden onto their shoulders. The overall leadership seems disconnected from reality.



Last month, the president declared a nationwide state of emergency to control unrest in Kandy. The diplomatic and economic fallout of that action is best detailed by our tourism industry, which lost thousands of room nights due to hurried cancellations by concerned visitors as many countries responded with travel advisories.

This not only impacts large hotel chains and resorts but even the micro businesses that support and survive within the industry. This was alongside the protracted clampdown on social media, which for good measure could have been handled differently if the authorities  as they say  were aware beforehand of some of the perpetrators.



As espoused already by many, what is required it to enact the existing laws  across all counts  and that will help control flagging disciplines rather than waste time and money on further commissions and draft policies.



Two years ago, we faced the Volkswagen debacle of Kuliyapitiya followed by the controversy surrounding the tyre factory in Horana  two projects that were billed to be shining lights for our economy and employment that then disintegrated.



Our national carrier has been besieged with issues for close to two decades and this week yet another management committee takes seat to try fix it as flight delays, technical issues and strikes at the airport make further mockery of Sri Lanka as a destination.



Amidst the unfolding chaos of the no-confidence motion, a government minster announced last week that it would ban the sale of loose cigarette sticks in the country. Over 90 percent of cigarette sales and the poor mans puff, beedi, constitute of stick sales and such a ban will add further burden to an already exhausted public and traders.



Furthermore, this would impact the Rs.110 billion the government earns from tobacco annually, the cost of which would then again have to be borne by the entire public through added tax  for smokers and non-smokers alike.



Besides GSP Plus and somewhat enhanced international opinion  which is once again in doubt  this government has done little for Sri Lanka and its economic prospects.



It has become expensive to be Sri Lankan, with hardly any return. Citizens are forced to fund and pay for the corruption of politicians on both sides of the divide who have no respect or regard for the public they promised to serve.

Regardless of the outcome of the no-confidence motion against the prime minister, this country needs change, be it with this government or any other. Business must wait and see, the public must wait and see for development and change that will be coming for an eternity.



Wait and see mode



Regardless of the outcome of the no-confidence motion against the prime minister, this country needs change, be it with this government or any other. Business must wait and see, the public must wait and see for development and change that will be coming for an eternity.



This current band and brand of Sri Lankan politicians need to be wiped out for the sake of our future and the only foreseeable way out is for the emergence of an entirely new political order and personalities  statesmen. But besides the systematic political challenges such a front would face, the mass Sri Lankan voter base too could prove a problem as  in all honesty  it lacks the political maturity to discern whats good and not.



Our Southeast Asian counterparts had it easier as they are blessed with people and cultures that follow the rule of law and unite as a people to do what is best for them. Some say Sri Lanka needs a benevolent dictator to steer the ship, as was witnessed with the tiger economies  but as we have seen with Yahapalanya, in Sri Lanka even benevolence can become corrupt.



Whatever be the outcome of today, if the current government continues to hold power for the next two years, we hope that it will do everything within its power to bring Sri Lanka back on track. Many of us believed and still believe that a national government is the best way out for this country.



Do it for the country and cement your legacy for generations to come. If its time to make way for a new government, we can only that voters will be wise and that we will close some doors and open door for others who will serve Sri Lanka over themselves. The post-independence dream that was Sri Lanka has not and will not come true during my generation, I only hope it will at least ring true for the next.



(Ajith Perera is a retired administration, shipping and maritime security consultant in Sri Lanka and the Middle East)The UNP will never be able to form its own government at any point, SLFP Minister Susil Premajayantha told Parliament today.

Mr. Premajayantha said this in response to UNP MPs who shouted saying they will form a UNP government shortly.

Lets see how you are going to form your own government. What you are trying to do is destroying the national government, he said. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)On April 3, administration officials, military leaders, senior Iraqi representatives and regional experts discussed views on Iraq at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Military efforts to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are about six to eight months ahead of where officials thought they would be at this point, Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, said. The success throughout the campaign has been quite extraordinary, he added.



Two Iraqi soldiers fire a mortar during a live fire exercise near Camp Al Asad, Iraq, Dec. 27, 2017. This training is part of the overall Combined Joint Task Force -- Operation Inherent Resolve building partner capacity mission which focuses on training and improving the capability of partnered forces fighting ISIS. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Spc. Travis Jones)

With major urban battles complete, the follow-up, especially in Iraq, has been rapid and has moved much faster than anticipated, Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel said, and now the effort is focused on cleaning up remaining ISIS forces and stabilizing the region.

"As we got ready to go into Mosul eighteen months ago, we tried to make sure that our military planning was very closely aligned to our development of stabilization planning and the humanitarian aspects that have gone along with that, as well as with the political planning that had to take place," the general said.

With the assistance of the coalition and with a lot of hard work by the Iraqis, Votel said, an Iraqi army that in 2014 was running away from ISIS is now one that by last fall was conducting major large unit operations of division and corps level.

The Iraqi security forces very quickly consolidated their success with a variety of other operations, the CENTCOM commander said, some with coalition support and many of them without coalition support to complete the liberation from ISIS that Iraq's prime minister announced in December.

Since then, he said, the Iraqis have continued to conduct a variety of additional operations -- some with coalition support and some without -- to consolidate their gains and go after ISIS' remaining presence.

"I think it's important to recognize in both of these areas that while in Iraq where we've liberated the terrain, [ISIS is] no longer governing, no longer exerting taxes, no longer performing governmental functions like they have in the past," Votel said. "But there still is a presence, and so the Iraqi security forces are very much focused on that."

The Iraqis also have begun to transition from major combat operations to what to what they need to do now, Votel said, which is more wide-area security operations. This will require them to develop a variety of military skills that will allow them to address the insurgent or guerrilla-type tactics that they would expect to see from ISIS at this stage, he added.

The general said the United States and the coalition are working closely with the Iraqi forces to help them recover and get back to normal.

"I do expect we will continue to see our alliance on the [Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service] as one of their principal fighting elements," Votel said. "They've been very strong since the beginning, and we'll continue to see that as the Iraqi security forces step up to the plate and begin to take on more of those tasks in the future."

Development of Iraqi border forces will be a heavy focus, the general noted, because ISIS operates without regard to borders, boundaries or any recognized norm.

"Along the way, we'll see the coalition forces with the United States continue to provide the support that the government of Iraq asks of them," Votel said. "This has been something we've been talking about with them for some time here, so that we do remain in a position where we can continue to help them professionalize, continue to help them develop into the security forces that the Iraqi people need and want to protect them in the future."

The military aspect was the easy part, the general said. The aftermath and the stabilization are much more challenging in the long run, he added.

Though ISIS still has a presence, Votel said, Iraq is in a pretty good place now in terms of security.April 3, a delegation headed by the President of the Republic of Artsakh National Assembly Ashot Ghoulyan, started the working visit to France from in Drome. The delegation consists of Arthur Tovmasyan, Head of the "Motherland" parliamentary faction, Mayor of Martuni , Mher Khachatryan and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Artsakh to France Hovhannes Gevorgyan.

April 3, 2018, 18:35 Working Visit of Artsakh National Assembly President Launched in France

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 3, ARTSAKHPRESS:As the Artsakh Parliament Media and Public Relations Department informed Artsakhpress,the mayor of the city of Bourg-les-Valence, Marlene Mourier, received the delegation of Artsakh in the mayors office. Expressing gratitude for the reception, Ashot Ghoulyan noted that continuous cooperation between the cities of Artsakh and France is developing and Bourg- les -Valence is one of the examples of successful cooperation in the humanitarian sphere. Marlene Mourier, in her turn, noted the importance of direct contacts, stressing that since last year they have been trying to strengthen cooperation with specific programs, in particular, to organize a fair of goods produced in Artsakh and, in particular, in Shushi.

Then the members of the delegation met with the mayor of the city of Valence, Nicolas Darragon. Mayor of Valence welcomed the Head of the Artsakh parliament and expressed readiness to develop cooperation between twin cities taking into account the priorities of interaction in education and culture.

Ashot Ghoulyan thanked for the reception and emphasized that friendly relations with French cities are highly appreciated in Artsakh and they do not see the necessity of artificially politicizing those relations. In his words Artsakh public and local authorities need to improve the organization of their work and in this context they are looking for opportunities to share experiences with developed democratic countries and cities.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Consul of the Republic of Armenia in Lyon Gayaneh Manukyan, Head of "France-Artsakh" friendship circle Francois Rochebloine, and representatives of the Armenian community.

In the afternoon, a ceremony of signing a new agreement on cooperation between the cities of Bourg-de-Peage and Martuni is foreseen.

Note that the friendly relations between Artsakh and France within the framework of decentralized cooperation have been established between Stepanakert and Valence (17 May 2015) Bourg les Valence and Shushi (2014, October 5).Armen Sarkissian, who was elected President of Armenia by the Parliament on March 2, met with more than two dozen representatives of the Kazakh-Armenian community in Astana on April 3, his Office informed.

April 4, 2018, 12:12 President-elect Armen Sarkissian meets Kazakh-Armenian community representatives in Astana

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 4, ARTSAKHPRESS:Addressing the community representatives during the reception organized in the Armenian Embassy, the President-elect introduced Armenias foreign and domestic challenges, the steps of the countrys leadership aimed at socio-economic development, deepening the Fatherland-Diaspora ties, as well as attached importance to the preservation of cultural, linguistic and national identity of Armenians living in Kazakhstan.

During the meeting Armen Sarkissian got acquainted with the main activity directions and programs of Armenian businessmen, cultural figures, urged them to make efforts aimed at uniting the community, assist the youth in receiving contemporary education, further intensify the ties with the Fatherland.Armenia has launched production of thematic souvenirs by the support of Business Armenia. Souvenirs depicting Armenian kings, queens and other historical themes will be released in mid April. The idea was suggested by Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan, who also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Business Armenia.

April 4, 2018, 16:52 Souvenirs depicting Armenian kings and queens to hit market mid April: Prime Minister himself behind the idea

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 4, ARTSAKHPRESS:15 names of souvenirs were produced with the pictures of Tigran the Great, Queen Parandzem, Hayk Nahapet, Paruyr Skayordi, and Goddess Anahit: tea assortment, cups, plates, badges, magnets, tassels, postcards, notebooks, chocolate, shirts, baby clothes, silver bracelets, wooden picture frames, and mosaics, Business Armenia said.

Designer Gayane Danielyan designed a Tag brand, which is a subject of copyright protection, exclusively for this project and provided for a free of charge use. A special track has been written by Serj Simonyan (DJ Serjo) for Tag promotional materials. The public sector-private sector cooperation project is implemented by 47 Design, which designed the sketches of souvenirs and has already started the production.

Business Armenia in the cooperation with Ministry of Culture of RA, Armenian Apostolic Church and other organizations has provided 50 souvenir shops in tourist destinations, near the historical and cultural monuments. The souvenirs will be exported to US, Canada, Russia, Ukraine and France.

This is a project that will lay the foundation for craftsmanship, making small souvenir production another branch of industry, among our traditional ones noted Businessmen Support Team Leader of Business Armenia Mr. Hayk Mirzoyan.

For implementing souvenir production we have studied manufacturing capabilities and chosen 3 workshops; in which weve created in total of 22 new workplaces. As a result, we have obtained cognitive, samples of educational significance, which I assure you many people would like to have- noted CEO of 47 design company Mr. Arsen Meliksetyan.

Each souvenir is accompanied by trilingual information. Those souvenirs in particular will talk with tourist in one common voice about Armenias rich historical and cultural heritage, will raise an efficiency of souvenir industry and level- noted CEO of Business Armenia Mr. Armen Avak Avakian.

47 design company has started the implementation of souvenirs promotion of different styles since 2015. If needed, historians, psychologists, designers, painters, 3D designers working on the created samples.

For the first time the project has been discussed with the PM at a meeting in the DFA office:Warning: May contain traces of soy, wheat, lecithin and tree nuts. That you are here

strongly suggests that you are either omnivorous, or a glutton.

And that you might like cheese-doodles.

Please form a caseophilic line to the right. Thank you.A national progressive movement that opposes President Donald Trump's agenda backed designated Democratic candidate Dana Balter in the 24th Congressional District race.

The Indivisible Project endorsed Balter, D-Syracuse, to challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko, a Republican who is seeking a third term in Congress. It was one of several endorsements the group announced Tuesday.

Maria Urbina, national political director of the Indivisible Project, lauded Balter's health care advocacy and her work as an activist with the Central New York Solidarity Coalition.

"Dana Balter understands the real needs of her community and will be a champion for working families," Urbina said in a statement. "She will be well-positioned to fight for the needs of central New York."

Balter received the Indivisible Project's endorsement after completing a three-stage process. She won the support of central New York Indivisible groups, including Indivisible Cayuga.

The Indivisible Project also requires candidates to establish a "strong platform" and have "the enthusiastic support of informed, energized voters across their district."

"Indivisible believes Dana Balter has all those things, and more," the group said.Chris Martin, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, responded to reports of the DCCC's involvement in the 24th district.

"The clock's ticking," Martin said. "How long does Dana Balter have until the DCCC drops another opposition research book on one of their own candidates?"

The DCCC's activities upset central New York activists, many of whom have been involved in rallies and other actions to oppose the Trump agenda.

Jonah Minkoff-Zern, a member of the Central New York Solidarity Coalition, lauded Balter and Perez Williams. He supported Perez Williams for Syracuse mayor in 2017 and is backing Balter in the congressional race.

Balter held a campaign fundraiser last week. Perez Williams was in attendance, Minkoff-Zern said.

Minkoff-Zern believes Balter is the best candidate to challenge Katko, R-Camillus, in the 24th district race.While Klein and the IDC have been targeted by progressive groups and other Democrats, Cuomo has been criticized for his unwillingness in the past to reunify the Senate Democrats. He previously dismissed this criticism by saying it wasn't his place to intervene.

But Cuomo's position has changed. It's an election year. He's facing a serious primary challenge from Nixon, a longtime activist and actress. And the state Democratic Party, which he leads, is finally acknowledging that several items on its policy agenda  bail reform, tougher gun laws, campaign finance reform and more  can't advance with Republicans in control of the state Senate.

Geoff Berman, executive director of the state Democratic Committee, released a statement Tuesday calling for unification.

"Governor Cuomo has been clear: Once we have 32 Democratic Senate members, any Democratic senator who does not forge unity of fosters division is disloyal to the party and we shall and will unite to defeat them," Berman said. "We cannot and we will not tolerate any continued division or individual power struggles within the Senate Democratic Conference  that will only serve to divert attention away from winning Republican held seats and truly turning the state Senate blue.Few Dalit protests in the country in the past have been as sweeping in scale and as violent as the Bharat Bandh on Monday, which resulted in the death of seven persons, injuries to many more and large-scale destruction of property. The protests spanned across the country but turned violent mostly in the BJP-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The bandh was against a Supreme Court ruling last month which prescribed some guidelines for registration of cases under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act which would effectively dilute the Act. But the protest was, in effect, directed against the Narendra Modi government and the BJP, which do not enjoy a friendly image among Dalits and are even considered hostile by many. Despite its efforts to reach out to Dalits through alliances with Dalit parties and leaders and the attempts to co-opt Babasaheb Ambedkar's name, the BJP is still considered a high-caste party.



The bandh therefore went beyond a normal protest over an issue and assumed emotional dimensions. Many Dalits have refused to see incidents like Rohith Vemula's suicide at the University of Hyderabad, the Gujarat Una floggings and many other atrocities as isolated happenings. The accumulated discontent and anger may have found vent on Monday, with the court ruling being an immediate trigger and the bandh a vehicle for it. It is possible that outsiders and anti-social elements took advantage of the situation, but it is surprising that governments failed to detect the undercurrents. The NDA government on Monday filed a petition in the court for a review of its ruling, as demanded by Dalit bodies, but the fortnight-long delay in doing so is inexplicable. That created doubts about the government's view on the matter and its commitment.

The safeguards sought to be introduced by the Supreme Court in the implementation of the Act can make it ineffective. The court felt that the law had become an instrument of blackmail against innocent citizens in many cases and so ruled that a preliminary inquiry should be held before the registration of a case and disallowed immediate arrest of the accused. The law was framed in the background of the oppression of Dalits for centuries and the need to protect them against the continuance of such oppression. It is wrong to lose sight of this. The low conviction rate in cases of atrocities is not always because they are false, though they sometimes are, but often because the cases are not investigated and prosecuted well. The Supreme Court has refused to stay the order for now but when it hears the case again in 10 days, the Modi government must convince the court of the greater danger that lies in the misuse of the safeguards it has propounded than in the law as such.Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was governing the country based on the principles of hatred, anger and vengeance.

Addressing the party's Janaashirvad Yatra here on Tuesday, Rahul said the country would not progress if it was governed based on these principles. "A careful study of the Indian history shows that people have defeated those who have governed the country on these lines. I have seen prime ministers Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, A B Vajpayee, P V Narasimha Rao, who governed the country based on the principles of love and faith and not on hatred or vengeance."

"US President Donald Trump said only India and China could take on the US in the world. But, Modi does not believe in integration, but in hatred, revenge and anger," he said.

Rahul termed the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act an attempt to weaken the laws that protected the oppressed classes while criticising Modi's silence on the issue. "The prime minister has not commented on the scam involving Nirav Modi because Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's daughter works for the former's company. Modi also does not speak on how Jay Amit Shah (BJP chief Amit Shah's son)'s company grew rapidly after he became the prime minister."

Rahul said: "When Modi was sitting in a swing chair with the President of China, they (Chinese) were constructing roads and airport in Doklam."

Rahul said Shah, for the first time, had spoken the truth when he called the Yeddyurappa government the most corrupt, in a slip of the tongue. The CBSE question paper leak also found a reference by Rahul, when he said the Modi government failed to prevent the leak.

"Instead, Modi asks students to study well for exams. On one hand, question papers are leaked and on the other, election dates get leaked. This is an example of Modi's governance."

Earlier in the day, Rahul participated in a road show. Since the poll conduct was in force, no banners or hoardings were put up to welcome the Congress president.Central Karnataka, which consists of seven districts, is all set to witness an interesting fight between major political parties, with the BJP and the JD(S) making all efforts to end the ruling Congress' dominance over the region.

The Congress had an upper hand over the 44 Assembly constituencies, spread across Davangere, Chitradurga, Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Ramanagaram and Bengaluru Rural districts. But, the ruling party is now grappling with an anti-incumbency factor and infighting in many of these districts.

The Congress, however, is leaving no stone unturned to retain its hold over the region. The party plans to overcome the anti-incumbency feeling by introducing fresh faces where its sitting MLAs have a poor image.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress is worried that its controversial move to accord a minority religion status to the Veerashaiva-Lingayat (Basava tatva) faith may backfire on it in the region for Veerashaivas, who are opposing the move, are said to be more in number. So much so that Congress veteran Shamanur Shivashankarappa and his son, Horticulture Minister S S Mallikarjuna, are miffed with the decision. Siddaramaiah, however, managed to appease and retain them in the party fold.

The party hopes that the 'Bhagya' schemes, mainly meant for the backward classes, SCs and STs, who are said to be in sizeable number in the region, will work in its favour in the polls. The Opposition parties, especially the BJP, is working overtime to cash in on the Congress' weakness. But, the BJP's presence is, by and large, confined to Davangere, Chitradugra, Tumakuru and some pockets of the other four districts. The party has not been able to win a single seat in Chikkaballapur ever since its formation there in 2007.

One of the main reasons for the BJP's poor performance in 2013 was that the KJP led by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa managed to eat into the saffron party's support base. Both the Congress and the JD(S) reaped the benefit of it. Now, with Yeddyurappa back in the BJP, the party hopes to regain its strength in the region.

The BJP is running a sustained campaign in Davangere, Chitradurga and Tumakuru with its star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and party president Amit Shah addressing rallies in these regions. It is said that the party is planning to field its ST leader B Sriramulu from Molakalmuru Constituency in Chitradurga in order to consolidate the ST votes.

Though the BJP does not have a strong base in Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagaram and Bengaluru Rural districts, the party is hoping that some of its senior leaders from these districts B N Bache Gowda (Hoskote), S N Krishnaiah Setty (Malur), and C P Yogeeshwara (Channapatna) would help win a couple of seats for the party.

The JD(S), which had put up an impressive performance in 2013 in Tumakuru winning as many as six of 11 seats, including Koratagere, where KPCC president G Parameshwara was defeated, appears to be giving a tough fight to the two national parties. The party has already announced candidates for most of the seats in these districts.

Drinking water scarcity is a major issue in the region. With the ruling party failing to keep its promise on the Yettinahole project, which is meant to supply drinking water to Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Ramanagaram and Bengaluru Rural districts, and coconut, acrecanut and sericulture farmers seeing red at the government for not coming to their aid, the BJP and the JD(S), have been raking up these issues for electoral gains.The US will deploy the military to secure its international border with Mexico, President Donald Trump has said, asserting that America's existing laws were "horrible" and enabled caravans of illegal immigrants' entry into the country.



Trump has been a great proponent of building a wall along the US-Mexico border. He is seeking billions of dollars from the Congress for this initiative but has been unable to get the funding so far.

Trump believes that the wall along the Mexico border is a permanent solution to stop the large influx of illegal immigrants smuggling of drugs into the US.

"We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the United States," Trump told reporters at a joint White House news conference with Baltic leaders.

Soon thereafter, he held a meeting with his top officials including Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

During the meeting, they discussed the administration's strategy, "which includes the mobilisation of the National Guard," the White House said.

Trump and senior officials also agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organisation, it said.

A week earlier, Trump received a briefing from senior administration officials on the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America.

At that time, he had "directed a vigorous administrative strategy to confront this threat and protect America's national security," the White House said.

Earlier, Trump told reporters that the Mexican border was very unprotected by the US laws.

"We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States, and we're going to be able to do something about that hopefully soon. Hopefully, Congress will get their act together and get in and create some very powerful laws, like Mexico has, and like Canada has, and like almost all countries have," he said.

"We don't have laws. We have catch and release. You catch and then you immediately release, and people come back years later for a court case, except they virtually never come back," he said, justifying his move to use the military to protect the international border.

"It's something we have to do. Now, the caravan, which is over a thousand people coming in from Honduras, thought they were just going to walk right through Mexico and right through the border," he said.

Trump said that he had told the Mexicans that their caravan of illegal immigrants crossing into the US needed to stop.

"If you look at the caravan of thousands of people coming across, I told Mexico, look, you have a cash cow in NAFTA. NAFTA's been great for Mexico. Has not been good for the United States," he said.Hitting out at political parties for politicising the legacy of B R Ambedkar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said no regime had honoured the Dalit icon like his government had.



The prime minister said his government had given Ambedkar his rightful place by completing projects conceived in his memory.

The 26, Alipur Road house where Ambedkar died would be dedicated to the nation on April 13 on the eve of his birth anniversary, Modi said.

He was addressing a gathering at the inauguration of the Western Court annexe meant to provide accommodation to MPs.

Lamenting that everyone had dragged Ambedkar's name for political gains, Modi said it was his government that completed the Ambedkar international centre though the idea was conceived when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister.

The previous UPA government had dragged its feet on the project for years, Modi said.

The PM's remarks come soon after widespread protests over a Supreme Court verdict putting in place safeguards to prevent misuse of a law to prevent atrocities of SCs and STs.Mannion and his wife, Jennifer, have three children.

The 50th Senate District race is expected to be an open contest this year. DeFrancisco, R-DeWitt, is running for governor and has said it's unlikely he will seek re-election even if he's unsuccessful in securing the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

DeFrancisco has served in the state Senate since 1993. He hasn't faced major party opposition since 2010.

With DeFrancisco's likely retirement from the Senate, there is a crowded field of candidates from both major parties looking to succeed him. Other Democrats have expressed interest in the race, but only Mannion and Rigney have publicly declared their candidacies.

Several Republicans have been mentioned as possible candidates, including Onondaga County GOP Chairman Tom Dadey.

The 50th Senate District, which is predominantly in Onondaga County, will be a key battleground for both parties if DeFrancisco doesn't seek re-election. Republicans hold a slim enrollment advantage in the district. There are 62,316 active GOP voters and 61,498 Democrats, according to the latest data available on the state Board of Elections website.

Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0The first roar of a tiger was heard at the Rajasthan's Mukundara Hills National Park (MHNP) near Kota after the big cat was relocated from Ranthambore on Tuesday. With this, Rajasthan now has tigers in all three of its tiger reserves.



Chief Wildlife Warden, in his order dated March 30 laid down strict guideline and protocols for the translocation exercise. The three-and-half-year-old male tiger, RT-91, was released in a 26-hectare enclosure in Darrah range of MHNP by the state wildlife and forest department.

The tiger, popularly known as Mirza, was honey trapped and tranquillised in Ramgargh Vishdhari sanctuary in Bundi and then released in a 26-hectare enclosure of Darrah.

Ghanshyam Sharma, Kota chief conservator of forest, wildlife said, "RT-91 was fitted with a radio collar and transported to MHNP. We kept it in a cage and transported through road in a canter to Darrah. The distance was over 100 km. The tiger remained inside the cage for 20 minutes before jumping into the enclosure."

As per the officials, Mirza will be kept for a fortnight to acclimatise it with MHNP before releasing it in around 80-square km forest area. In the enclosure where Mirza was released, two buffaloes and chitals have been kept as its prey. Also, a team of 12 personnel of Special Protection Task Force of RTR have been deployed for the security of the tiger.

Calling it as a historic moment in the history of Wildlife Conservation, Additional Chief Secretary, Forest & Environment told DH, "With the arrival of the Tiger at Mukundra, the new and 3rd Tiger Sanctuary in Rajasthan, a new destination for tiger conservation and tourism has opened, with immense potential. "

As per the forest officials, this is the third time in the country when relocation of a tiger has taken place in a tiger reserve. The previous two relocations were done in Sariska (2004 - Rajasthan) and Panna (2010- Madhya Pradesh).

On the successful translocation of Tiger RT-91 Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje took to Twitter to congratulate the people of the Hadoti region, teams from Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, Mukundara Hills National Park and the Village Wildlife Watchers from Ranthambhore.Makkal Neethi Mayyam president Kamal Haasan today accused the Tamil Nadu government of being "subservient" to the Centre rather than upholding the state's rights on the Cauvery issue.



The day-long fast observed by the AIADMK yesterday urging the Centre to immediately constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) "was farcical", Haasan told reporters here.

Later, in a statement, he alleged that the state government was being "subservient" to the Centre.

While it was the Centre's responsibility to constitute the CMB, the state government "cannot hallucinate that it has fulfilled its duty towards the people who elected them by just filing a contempt petition after the deadline or by holding a farcical one-day hunger strike", he said in the statement.

"This TN government is functioning like a subservient government to the Centre rather than upholding the state's rights, which is the essence of India's federalism," he said.

Haasan told the reporters that in 2016 when the Supreme Court wanted the Centre to constitute the CMB, the government came up with "lame excuses" and technicalities "to delay it".

"The same act is being replayed," he said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his party men observed a day-long fast in Chennai yesterday, "condemning the Centre" for not setting up the CMB in compliance with the Supreme Court order.

Ministers and senior leaders led the hunger strike in various districts.

In its February 16 judgement, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

It gave six weeks to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its judgement, which modified the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award.

Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CWMB and CWRC to ensure it received its due share of water from the inter-state river.

The six-week period ended on March 29.AICC Secretary and Belagavi Division in-charge Manickam Tagore said that the vote share of BJP has been dipping across the country with the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi lowering due to the disastrous performance of the Union government.

The vote share of the Congress has witnessed growth across the country, and based on it, the party is poised for a historic win in the state in the Assembly elections, he opined.

Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Tagore said, the visits of AICC President Rahul Gandhi to the state and his Janashirvada Yatra has enthused new spirit among party cadre.

"In elections held across the country, BJP's vote share has been witnessing a drop as people are supporting Congress," Tagore claimed.

The agenda of the BJP to divide people on communal lines has failed. People want peace and development in the state and will stand by the Congress. BJP is expected to lose 5% to 7% votes in the state and Congress will witness a gain; thanks to the performance of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led government.

The proposal of the state government to accord Lingayat-Veershaiva (Basava tatva followers) separate religion status, has been approved by the state cabinet and sent to the centre for approval.

"It is not a move by the government to divide people, but to fulfill a 100-year-old demand. Party veteran Shamnur Shivashankarappa's opposition to it, has been made on different forums, and not on a party forum. The proposal is not seen by the Congress as election gimmick," Tagore clarified.Pakistan has violated ceasefire along the LoC and the International Border (IB) 633 times in just two months of this year, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.



Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said Pakistan has violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir 432 times and along the IB 201 times in January and February 2018.

In 2017, the ceasefire was violated by Pakistan along the LoC 860 times and 111 times along the IB.

The highest number of such violations took place in 2002, when 8,376 incidents were reported, while 2,045 incidents of ceasefire violations were reported in 2003.

The ceasefire between India and Pakistan along the LoC and the IB in Jammu and Kashmir came into force in November 2003."You are testing the patience of the people of the country... This is not good. This is not democracy, ", Chairman of Rajya Sabha Venkaiah Naidu said in Upper House on Wednesday while criticising its members for frequent disruptions.



Upset with some members rushing into the Well and disrupting the House proceedings, Naidu, who is also Vice President said, "This is stifling of democracy. Please understand that the entire country is agitated, concerned and depressed as to what is happening in the House."

When members did not listen and continued their protest, he requested them to co-operate and promise to allow the discussions of all the subjects they wanted to raise.

The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) members were protesting against the Central Government's alleged involvement in dilution of Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. TDP members gathered in the Well demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh, both DMK and AIADMK have been urging the Centre for the immediate constitution of Cauvery Water Management Board.

"At least have some discussion and allow the Bills to be passed. Only two days left.We have not transacted any business, including important Bills. A number of Bills are pending before the House. The country wants development. The country wants legislation," he said while adjourning the house till 2 pm.A class 12th student was allegedly gang-raped by four unidentified people in a moving car in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district on Wednesday.



The perpetrators dumped the victim on the side of the road in Fatehganj area of the district, the police said.

The victim was admitted to the hospital, where her condition was stated to be critical, the police added.

According to the sources, the victim, a student at a local intermediate college was abducted on the Budayun highway near the town on Wednesday morning while she was on her way to college.

According to the eyewitnesses four people, who were in a car, bundled the girl in the vehicle and sped away from the spot.

The victim was found lying on the side of the road in Fatehganj West area, a few kilometres away from the Bareilly town, a few hours later.

Police said that a case has been registered and efforts were on to trace the perpetrators. ''We are trying to identify the culprits....we have some leads,'' said a police official in Bareilly.

Sources said that some youths had tried to molest the victim on the same spot while she was on way to her college a few days back.

Successive incidents of rape in the state in past few days has caused widespread concern despite the ongoing crackdown by the government on the criminals. The opposition parties have attacked the BJP government for its alleged failure to ensure the safety of women.External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj reached Baku on Wednesday to attend the ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement being held in the capital of Azerbaijan.



"As a founding member of the NAM, India remains committed to the purposes and principles of the movement," Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said.

He said that Swaraj's participation in the NAM ministerial meeting in Baku would underline India's "continued active and constructive engagement within the movement with a view to further strengthen solidarity and cooperation among its member states".

Apart from her meeting with her counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, Swaraj is scheduled to call on Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and first Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva during her stay in Baku.

India and Azerbaijan have growing bilateral cooperation in many areas including energy, transportation, and capacity building. India's ONGC-Videsh is an investor in ACG oil fields and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The two sides will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest during External Affairs Minister's visit to Baku, said the MEA spokesperson.The day-long bandh announced by principal Opposition DMK and its allies is likely to affect normal life in Tamil Nadu on Thursday with the largest traders' body and majority of the transport unions participating in the shutdown.



Shops and restaurants will be shut and government buses operated by drivers' affiliated to trade unions other than that of the ruling AIADMK will stay off the roads from 6 am to 6 pm across the state.

The DMK and its allies gave the call for protest against the Union Government's delay in constituting Cauvery Management Board despite a "clear direction" from the Supreme Court to formulate within six weeks of its judgement on February 16. PMK, which has considerable clout in northern Tamil Nadu, and several farmers' associations are also supporting the bandh.

To make the shutdown "success", the Tamil Nadu Traders' Association, which had earlier decided to shut shops on April 11, abandoned its plans and put its weight behind the DMK.

Chennai's Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) is expected to run skeletal services since drivers affiliated to the trade union of the ruling AIADMK are likely to report to work. Inter-state bus services are also likely to be affected due to the bandh with Karnataka already suspending services to Tamil Nadu on Thursday.

However, government offices, including those belonging to the Central Government, would continue to work on Thursday. DMK workers are likely to gherao railway stations and squat on the railway tracks on Thursday morning, but Southern Railway has beefed up security across its network to ensure that no untoward incident takes place.

While the bandh is on Thursday, the DMK will once again hold discussions with its alliance partner for the second time in four days on the next course of action. After the meeting, the party is likely to announce "Cauvery Rights Retrieval Walk" from Tiruchirapalli to Chennai to be undertaken by its working president M K Stalin and other top leaders.Though there will be no re-test for the mathematics paper of Class X board examination, the central board of secondary education's (CBSE) probe is on to identify the students who could have benefited by the paper leak.



Students who are found to have been benefited by the leaked economics paper will not be spared.

"Police investigations are on. Action will be taken against the beneficiaries of the paper leaks as per examination bye-laws," a CBSE official told DH.

While Delhi police recently arrested two school teachers and a tutor on charges of leaking class XII economics paper, it has quizzed as many as 17 persons including several students in connection with the crime.

Jharkhand police, which arrested a total of 12 persons including nine Class X students in connection with the mathematics paper leak, detained two more class X students from the Supaul district of Bihar On Monday in connection with the case.

As per the CBSE examination bye-laws, students who are beneficiaries of paper leaks will be treated as those having indulged in unfair means to pass the board examination for which they can be penalised, an official said.

"A candidate found guilty of having used the leaked paper to pass the examination may be disqualified by the board from the examination in that year or may further be debarred from appearing at any examination of the Board for a period which may extend up to five years," the official said.

In serious cases, the rules also empowers CBSE to permanently debar such students from taking any examination of the Board in future.

"All cases of unfair means will be considered after the declaration of the results. All cases of unfair means will be reported to the results committee as per procedure. The board will take action against the students who were found to have been beneficiaries of the paper leaks on the recommendation of the results committee," the official added.

The CBSE rules stipulate for sharing the list of the students, who are "punished" for resorting to any unfair means in the board examinations, to all of its schools, State governments, all secondary school examination boards, universities and various public service commissions which holds recruitment tests for various positions in the governments.Early in her career, Perez Williams served in the U.S. Navy's Judge Advocate General's Corps. After completing her military service, she took a job with Syracuse University. She served as associate dean of students and was an adjunct professor at the university until her appointment as an assistant New York state attorney general in 2008.

Two years later, in 2010, she was appointed corporation counsel for the city of Syracuse. After leaving city government, she was regional director for the state Department of Labor under Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She left that position to run for mayor last year.

When Perez Williams previously said she wasn't going to run for Congress, it followed a report that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was recruiting a "top tier" candidate to challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko in the 24th district. That candidate was Perez Williams.

The DCCC, the House Democrats' campaign arm, declined comment for this story.

Nick Paprocki, Balter's finance director, didn't directly address Perez Williams' entry into the race. But he highlighted Balter's success in securing support from Democratic committees and her focus on unseating Katko, R-Camillus, in November.

"We are standing up for the people of the 24th district, fighting for central New York values, and beating back the harmful agenda of Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, and their GOP enablers, including John Katko," Paprocki said. "Central New Yorkers deserve better; they deserve a representative who will show up, listen and put the people of the 24th district first. Dana Balter is that representative."

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1Former Prime Minister and JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda today asked the Centre not to buckle under pressure from Tamil Nadu politicians to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), saying the Supreme Court order needed to be studied in depth.



Gowda said political parties in Tamil Nadu had resorted to "intimidation" by staging a demonstration and in the past too, such tactics were adopted by leaders in that state. He was reacting to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his party workers observing a day-long fast in Chennai on Monday, "condemning the Centre" for not setting up the CMB in compliance with the Supreme Court order.



Ministers and senior leaders of AIADMK had led the hunger strike in various districts. "Gadkari (Union Minister Nitin Gadkari) gave a sensible statement that the matter needs more time to be reviewed. But Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Depty Chief Minister sat on a dharna, appealing to the Centre.



I am appealing to the Centre not to buckle under pressure," Gowda said. "Karnataka will not create a problem if there is water in the dams... There are certain procedures to be adopted," Gowda, a former Chief Minister, told reporters here. He noted that the Centre had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking more time to implement its order.



In its plea, the Centre has sought clarifications on some aspects of the apex court judgment and also a three-month extension of time to implement the verdict. "My position is that the contentions made by the union government in the interlocutory petition is a welcome move.



I feel that sufficient time should be given to file the review petition.The government of India should apply its mind to find out which state is adversely affected by the Supreme Court order," he said. Gowda said the government should study the order in depth and then take a decision to constitute an authority or a board, which should either be headed by the Prime Minister or the water resources minister.



In its February 16 judgement, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water. It gave six weeks time to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its judgement, which modified the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award. Gowda appreciated Union Water Resource Minister Nitin Gadkari for devoting time to understand and resolve the Cauvery dispute.THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DHNS: Police on Tuesday detained the key suspect in a case registered in Vadakara, in Kozhikode district, in connection with pornographic content made from morphed images of women, reports said on Wednesday.



Bibeesh, video editor at a studio in Vadakara, was taken into custody from Idukki, late on Tuesday.

The suspect had reportedly morphed images of women in wedding videos and used them in pornographic clips shared on social media. On Monday, a police Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested two persons- Dinesan and Satheesan- who own the studio.

Satheesan is also a photographer. Protests by women in and around Vadakara continued claiming police inaction in tracing the key suspect.

A senior police official in Vadakara, without divulging details, told DH that the suspect was still being shifted to Vadakara and his arrest was not recorded.

Thousands of images were learnt to have been stored in a hard disk seized from the studio. Police registered a case in March after a woman filed a petition regarding morphed images of hers being shared on social media.

About 10 petitions have been filed in connection with the case. The Kerala State Women's Commission had also initiated action after several women complained about the misuse of their photographs.

Role of studio owners:

Some of the petitioners have claimed that the studio owners who were aware of Bibeesh's activities did not report misuse of the images.

Women's Cell Inspector Bhanumathi who heads the investigating team told DH that the studio owners' role in the case was still being probed.

Local action groups have maintained that since the suspect was employed in a studio assigned to cover many weddings in the region, he could have morphed thousands of images over the years.

Protests by women in Vadakara and neighbouring areas have also found support from citizen groups.Chandigarh, DHNS: Amid fresh arrival of large stocks of wheat grain, Punjab stares at a crisis of storage of food grains with existing storage space in warehouses far less to accommodate what is expected to be a bumper crop this season.



Nearly 70% of the warehouse space in the state is currently occupied with food grains procured last year.

This stock which needed to be moved has not happened so far, which leaves little space to keep the humongous wheat stock that will pile up in grain markets in the next few weeks with the onset of the procurement season.

Punjab and Haryana are considered food bowl states of the country and contribute nearly half the total produce of traditional crops in India.

Punjab has a total storage space of nearly 153 lakh metric tone. Out of this capacity, only about 35 lakh tone of space is available to keep fresh stock of wheat.

The rest of the space is occupied by last year's stock that is yet to be moved out. Procurement this season is expected to be around 130 lakh metric tone.

While in storage areas, damage and subsequent loss of food grain are not uncommon.

Information from RTI procured by a Karnal resident, Shivam Sharma, has revealed that over 70,000 metric tone of food grain across the country worth several crores of rupees was wasted between 2010 and February this year.

Punjab has asked the Centre to expedite the process to move out the existing food grains.

Sources said, the quantum of purchase and subsequent relocation of food grains from warehouses every month is tardy compared to previous years.

The storage crisis may also escalate in wake of the logjam between truckers and the government over the ceiling imposed on transportation rates.

Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) on truckers is likely to be put in place so that the wheat stock is transported seamlessly. The government has also invited quotations to have additional plinth and covered space for wheat storage.The budget session of Parliament remained paralysed for the 20th consecutive day as both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned without transacting any substantive business as Opposition members pressed for setting up of a Cauvery Management Board and granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh.



AIADMK members trooped into the Well of the Lok Sabha soon after it convened for the day on Wednesday and raised slogans prompting Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to call off the Question Hour.

In the Rajya Sabha, a united Opposition thwarted the government's attempts to pass the amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act amid the din.

At noon, when the Lok Sabha reconvened, AIADMK members were back in the Well raising slogans for setting up the Cauvery Management Board.

TDP and YSRCP members stood in their allotted seats and demanded special status for Andhra Pradesh.

Congress members too stood in their seats and raised slogans.

The Speaker urged AIADMK members to return to their seats, saying she will not be able to take up notices on the no-confidence motion unless the House was in order.

"I am duty-bound to place the no-confidence motion. Please go to your seats. I have to do a head count. I have not been able to take up notices on the no-confidence motion," she said, reading out the names of 11 members who had submitted separate notices for a no-confidence motion against the Modi government.

As the unrelenting AIADMK members continued their sloganeering, the Speaker said that she was not in a position to take up notices for no-confidence motion and announced adjournment of the House for the day.

Citing Assembly polls in Karnataka, the Centre had last week sought more time from the Supreme Court to set up the Cauvery water management board to implement water sharing formula among Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.







Bollywood actor Salman Khan reached Jodhpur day ahead of the verdict of the over-19-years-old blackbuck poaching case. The judgement is slated for April 5.





Salman reached Jodhpur at around 5:15 pm on a charter flight, along with his sisters Alvira Khan and Arpita Khan and bodyguard Shera.

Earlier in the day, actors Saif Ali Khan, Neelam, Tabu and Sonali Bendre reached Jodhpur in a direct flight from Mumbai.

Salman went straight to the Taj Hari Mahal palace situated a few kilometres from Jodhpur city.





Last week, the chief judicial magistrate rural court in Jodhpur had completed the final hearings and reserved its judgment in the case, which has been on trial for 19 and a half years.

The case dates back to October 1998 when Salman, Saif, Neelam, Tabu and Sonali allegedly went on a hunting expedition in Kankani and killed two blackbucks around the intervening midnight of October 1 and 2.

The actors were in Rajasthan for the shoot of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Blackbucks are an endangered species and hunting them is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act.

The Bishnoi community, known for their love for the environment, had filed a complaint against the actors and a local involved in the shooting.

Salman was also charged for keeping a gun with an expired license and was charged under the Arms Act, a case in which he was acquitted by a trial court in January 2017.

There were two more cases against Salman on the charges of killing two chinkaras (Indian Gazelle) but here as well the actor was acquitted by Rajasthan High Court in July 2016 for the poaching the chinkara.

However, prosecutors have challenged his acquittal; the case is currently pending in the Supreme Court.Ahead of the verdict, Jodhpur jail authorities have readied a barrack in case Salman Khan and the other film stars are found guilty.



However, jail authorities have clarified that no special arrangements will be made for the actor in case he is found guilty.

Speaking to DH, Jodhpur Central Jail Superintendent Vikram Singh said, "We have cleaned a barrack inside the central jail, in case the court declares them guilty on Thursday. There are good toilet facilities. However, inside the barrack, there is no cooler or AC - only a fan".

When asked about the threat given to the actor by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, Singh said, "We will provide him extra security inside the jail, in case it is needed".



At present, the Jodhpur Central Jail houses self-styled Godman Asaram Bapu and former MLA Mahipal Maderna.

The jail was in the news recently, after Shambulal Regar - infamous for the murder he had video-recorded - posted videos from the jail premises online, which raised eyebrows on its security.

Cops on alert

Salman's arrival has put Jodhpur police on toes after Lawrence Bishnoi, a gangster, had told the media a few weeks ago that his followers will kill Salman on his verdict day.

Amandeep Singh, DCP east, who was taking stock of the CJM rural court situated in the high court premises told DH, "Around 200 police personnel will be deployed outside the court and premises to protect Salman".



Police will be seizing two gates out of the four gates of the court.

Barricades have also been put up to control the fans who will try to get inside.

Salman and the other stars will be presented in the courtroom, which measures 8 feet X 12 feet.

Situated inside the CJM rural court, a non-descript double storey building in the Rajasthan High Court premises, the room can accommodate a maximum of 8-10 people. Moreover, there will be just a fan to comfort the star cast in the 40 degree Celsius temperature of the city.

The police have also given strict instructions to the media to restrict themselves in a separate enclosure outside the court. "No journalist will be allowed to enter the courtroom," DCP Amandeep said.The Election Commission has supported before the Supreme Court a plea for restraining candidates from contesting Parliament or state Assembly poll from more than one constituency.



"There have been several cases where a person contests election from two constituencies and wins from both, in such a situation he vacates the seat in one of the two constituencies. The consequence is that a by-election would be required involving avoidable labour and expenditure," it said.

"The commission is of the view that the law should be amended to provide that a person cannot contest from more than one constituency at a time," the poll panel said.

In an affidavit to the apex court on a PIL filed by Delhi BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the EC submitted that it has given this proposal way back in 2004.

It said the amount of Rs 5 lakh for state Assembly and Rs 10 lakh for a Lok Sabha seat which was then suggested for a candidate to deposit for contesting on two seats as expenditure for holding byelection in case he wins from the two seats and subsequently vacates one, should be enhanced "appropriately and proportionately".

The EC also cited the Law Commission's 255 th report recommending an amendment to Section 33 (7) of the Representation of People Act, which permitted a candidate to contest from two seats, in view of expenditure of time and effort, election fatigue and the harassment caused to the voters.

The apex court, which took up Upadhyay's PIL for consideration, granted time to the central government to file its response.

The court posted the matter for consideration in the first week of July.Ending 160 days of stay away from her family, three-year-old Tanvitha, victim of a custody battle between two mothers, was restored to her foster mother on Wednesday on the orders of the Khammam Fifth Metropolitan Court.



The Court, in its interim order, directed the officials to handover the little girl to her foster family. The case highlights the menace of illegal sale and adoption of girl children in tribal hamlets of Telangana state.

Tanvitha, who never considered her biological mother Malothu Uma as her true mother, was seen crying for her foster mother Vemula Swaroopa at the Bala Sadan, after the court's direction. When the moment of reunion came, both mother and child hugged each other so hard that the staff who had to complete the formalities could not separate them. When reporters from TV channels asked her in whose hands she was, the little Tanvitha was heard saying "Ma Amma" (My Mom)

It all started on October 24, 2017, when Malothu Uma, a resident of Manikyavaram in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, filed a complaint at the Yellandu police station that her daughter was under the custody of another woman and wanted the police to restore her child to her. In her complaint she alleged that her daughter was sold by the hospital staff where she delivered her, without her knowledge. She said her husband had told her that the infant was stillborn.

Hospital sells newborn

When Yellandu police summoned foster mother Swaroopa, her husband Rajendra insisted that the girl belonged to them, by adopted. The Vemula couple had adopted the girl child in 2015, days after she was born. The couple allegedly paid Rs 1 lakh to the hospital through a broker. Uma, on interrogation, revealed that her husband Malothu Bao Singh sold the child after sedating her. The local medical practitioner confirmed that Uma knew about the illegal adoption and said that she even signed the adoption documents.

Swaroopa's argument was that Uma wanted the infant only to sell her to another couple in Mumbai. Swaroopa told the Court that she had taken good care of the fragile baby and nurtured her. The Court ordered the reunion with the foster mother despite strong DNA evidence linking Tanvitha with her biological mother Uma.Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam on Wednesday met Governor Banwarilal Purohit and briefed him about protests on the Cauvery issue that have rocked the state in the past few days.



"The governor asked us about the situation prevailing in the state and the discussions with the governor also covered protests on Cauvery. We have briefed him about the protests and steps taken. Governor was satisfied with our answers," Palaniswami told reporters outside the Raj Bhawan here.

"The governor wanted some clarifications and we have given satisfying answers to him. Even on Cauvery issue, we have briefed him enough," he added.

Asked whether he was mulling on expanding or carrying out a reshuffle of his Cabinet and whether the issue figured in the talks with the governor, the chief minister replied in the negative.

The meeting assumes significance since it comes a day after Purohit returned from New Delhi, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Balter is the designated Democratic candidate in the 24th Congressional District race. She won the party's support to challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko in November.

But a Democratic primary is likely. Perez Williams is circulating petitions to appear on the June 26 primary ballot. Bass has been in the race since January and said he would force a primary after not winning the party's designation.

Perez Williams ran for Syracuse mayor in 2017, but lost to independent candidate Ben Walsh. She was mentioned as a congressional candidate earlier this year, but initially decided not to run.

Her reversal comes with less than three months to go until the primary and seven months before the general election.

Balter remains the favorite to win the Democratic nomination. She not only has the campaign infrastructure in place, but she has the support of several grassroots groups in the district.

The 24th Congressional District includes all of Cayuga, Onondaga and Wayne counties, plus the western part of Oswego County.

Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Two CRPF jawans were mowed down by a para-military force vehicle when its driver lost control due to stone pelting at Hiller area in Kokernag of South Kashmir, police said tonight.



The unfortunate incident took place this evening when CRPF troops were withdrawing after a day-long law and order duty in the area.

According to the police, the driver of the CRPF armoured vehicle was pelted stones in the area, 85 km from here, during the withdrawal operation in the evening.

The driver, identified as Roop Singh, lost control of the vehicle and hit a motorcycle on which two CRPF jawans -- Riyaz Ahmed Wani and Nissar Ahmed Wani -- were riding.

They were rushed to a hospital where they were declared brought dead.

The driver of the armoured vehicle has been hit in his head and has been rushed to an Army hospital in Srinagar.

Reinforcement was rushed to the spot to maintain law and order, officials said.Microsoft on Wednesday announced that the company will invest $5 billion in the Internet of Things (IoT) globally over the next 4 years.



This increased investment will support continued research and innovation in IoT and what is ultimately evolving to be the new intelligent edge.

With Microsoft's IoT platform spanning cloud, operating system and devices, the company is simplifying the IoT journey so any customer-regardless of size, technical expertise, budget, industry or other factors.

It will create trusted, connected solutions that improve business and customer experiences, as well as the daily lives of people all over the world. This will support Microsoft's technology platform, as well as supporting programs thereby enabling continued research and development in key areas, including securing IoT, creating development tools and intelligent services for IoT and the edge, and investments to grow our partner ecosystem.

Microsoft in India is committed to helping everyone bring their digital transformation vision to life across every industry.

The investment will ensure that the company continues to meet all its customers' and partners' needs, both, now and in the future as they develop new and increasingly sophisticated IoT solutions.

IoT is gathering momentum in India, and impacting daily lives like saving electricity, resources, predictive healthcare, automobile safety and more. Microsoft Azure is the preferred platform powering a variety of IoT devices.

IoT Monitoring of water quality via online is being used by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (125 stations) and Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB) in Hubli, Dharwad and Bijapur (3 stations).

Microsoft Azure IoT is powering India's first Smart Street Lighting Project for the pink city of Jaipur, underscoring Microsoft's mission of transforming public spaces digitally.

Microsoft's partner Samudra LED has now deployed a customized Microsoft IoT-platform-based solution created by ISV Precimetrix to monitor, control and manage smart LED public street lights. The project will benefit 1.65 million people through improved street lighting and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 36,750 metric tons/year. It will also result in $1 million per year in fiscal savings accrued to the government due to reduced energy consumption.

Researchers at IISc Bangalore are also using a network of IoT sensors coupled with Microsoft Azure analytics to find how cloud technologies can help tackle water scarcity in cities.

Microsoft FarmBeats is a research project for agriculture that enables seamless data collection from various sensors, cameras and drones. It comprises two broad areas viz., a, data-acquisition system consisting of drones and sensors and a data-analysis system consisting of connectivity pieces, cloud storage, and predictive analysis.

Earlier last year, Tata Motors announced it will leverage Microsoft's connected vehicle technologies that bring together AI, advanced ML, and IoT capabilities on Microsoft's Azure cloud, to create a highly personalized, smart and safer driving experience across the digital life of a vehicle owner.

Tyre Express, a startup pioneering lifecycle management for fleet operators, has developed an IoT based Tyre Performance Management Solution. Powered by the Azure IoT Hub, Tyre Express is helping build operational efficiency for commercial vehicle fleet operators by tracking tyre performance. IoT technology is also availed in manufacturing for predictive maintenance.

As per A T Kearney study, IoT will lead to a $1.9 trillion productivity increase and $177 billion in reduced costs by 2020. This effect will be pervasive, from connected homes and cars to manufacturers to smart cities and utilities-and everything in between.

Pre-empting this, Microsoft announced Microsoft IoT Central, the first highly scalable IoT SaaS solution, that has built-in support for IoT best practices and world class security along with the reliability, regional availability, and global scale of the Azure cloud.

Microsoft IoT Central allows companies to build production-grade IoT applications in hours and not worry about managing all the necessary backend infrastructure or hiring new skill sets to develop the solutions.

Microsoft's IoT offerings today include operating systems for devices, cloud services to control and secure them, advanced analytics to gain insights, and business applications to enable intelligent action.

With each implementation, customers and partners are overcoming challenges of building an IoT solution that harnesses massive amounts of data. Whether they're building products that transform the home, office or factory floor, one thing remains clear: IoT is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort that spans cloud development, machine learning, artificial intelligence, security and privacy.The Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval for trimming the strength of the country's competition watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) from the present six members to three, DHNS reports from New Delhi.

"The proposal is expected to result in a reduction of three posts of members of the commission in pursuance of the governments objective of minimum government maximum governance," an official statement said after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It said the move will also lead to faster hearings and speedier approvals, thereby stimulating the business processes of corporates and resulting in greater employment opportunities in the country.

"The Union Cabinet has given its approval for rightsizing the CCI from one chairperson and 6 members to one chairperson and three members by not filling the existing vacancies of two members and one more additional vacancy, which is expected in September 2018 when one of the incumbents will complete his term," it said.

The CCI has been functioning as a collegium right from its inception. In several major jurisdictions such as in Japan, USA and UK competition authorities are of a similar size.Curfew continued in Rajasthan's Hindaun town on Wednesday in the wake of Tuesday's retaliatory violence by non-Dalit protesters, who set ablaze houses of a couple of BJP and Congress leaders.



The situation has returned to normal in most affected areas of Hindaun. However, Internet services remain suspended as a precautionary measure.India has joined hands with Japan and United States to build infrastructure for promoting connectivity in Indo-Pacific region, ostensibly to counter the Belt and Road initiative of China.



Senior diplomats of India, US and Japan had a trilateral meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. They discussed the outcomes of a recent meeting of the Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group a significant, but hitherto little-known initiative by the three nations, which is apparently aimed at providing an alternative to the BRI of China in Indo-Pacific region.

A joint press release issued after the meeting in New Delhi stated that the officials of the three nations had reviewed the outcomes of the Working Group, which had met in Washington in February. It also stated that the officials agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.

The new initiative is being seen as a move by New Delhi, Washington and Tokyo to counter Beijing's bid to expand its geopolitical influence in Indo-Pacific, particularly through its ambitious cross-continental connectivity initiative. The senior diplomats discussed "regional and global issues of mutual interest".

All for free region

"All sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support of a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through partnership with countries in the region," the release stated.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had on September 18 last met Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and the then US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

In accordance with the directions received from them, the officials on Wednesday explored "practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security, maritime domain awareness and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

India, US and Japan had also roped in Australia to launch a quad in November 2017 in yet another move against the hegemonic aspirations of China.Targeting the BJP-led NDA government for "disappointing" Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said the "political game" being played over the special category issue is "damaging" his credibility, which was built over the past 40 years.



Addressing a press conference as he concluded his meetings with political leaders in Delhi, Naidu accused the Centre of indulging in "mud-slinging" over the issue.



"It is very painful for us. We kept silent as ours was a new state. It was like a newborn baby. I followed it up 29 times with the Centre. The people of Andhra Pradesh feel betrayed by the treatment meted out by the Centre to the state,"



Naidu said as he played out three clips of Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising special category status to Andhra.



"Centre's treatment to Andhra Pradesh is damaging the credibility that I have built over last 40 years. Andhra Pradesh is fighting with the Centre and I am Centre's attitude," he said, adding that the bifurcation of the state has brought down Andhra's per capita income to 10.96 %, the lowest compared to other southern states.



The BJP countered Naidu's comments with HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar saying, "We believe in Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas (development for all). Even though the TDP has gone away from us, our commitment to the people of Andhra Pradesh is firm".



Earlier in the day, Naidu met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal as part of efforts to mobilise support for the no-confidence motion moved by the TDP against the Centre. They also discussed the issue of special category status.



"The Delhi chief minister said he would offer support to the TDP through members from his party in both houses of Parliament," TDP Rajya Sabha MP C M Ramesh said.



Met other leaders



On Tuesday, Naidu met a host of leaders in the Parliament's Central Hall from Congress' M Veerappa Moily and Jyotiraditya Scindia to NCP's Sharad Pawar, as well as some leaders from the NDA allies, such as Harsimrat Kaur and Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel.



During his meetings, Naidu, who was one of the prominent leaders during the coalition governments in the 1990s under the United Front and the A B Vajpayee-led NDA government, sought to portray his anti-BJP stance loud and clear as he did not meet any prominent BJP leader.Jacey found bacteria in the glaze lines during her first week in the lab, she said. She had hypothesized that she would discover the bacteria, but she wasn't completely thrilled about it.

"As a scientist that was what I was hoping to see, but as an artist it was a little upsetting," she said.

For the first hour of the fair, Jacey and her project were wedged in rows with others. She avoided looking at them at first, she said, as she didn't want to risk feeling bad about her own work.

A giggle crept into Jacey's voice when she recounted her victorious showing. She said she was shocked at first, and is still in slight disbelief over the experience.

"I was walking up to the stage and I got up (and was) kind of trying not to scream in excitement, honestly," Jacey said.

Jacey said she hadn't previously applied to Syracuse University, but she will be looking into applying now that she has the scholarship. Wherever she lands, she plans to major in biochemistry.

Her mother, Julie Phillips, said she is extremely proud of her daughter's work. Julie said Jacey doesn't speak much and is normally serious. That said, Julie's spirit soared when she saw "a grin a mile long" plastered on her daughter's face.

"To see her so excited just did wonders to my heart," Julie said.

Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.Chief Secretary K Ratna Prabha has set an April 16 deadline for government departments to show compliance with a Supreme Court directive to revise seniority of employees after a law that gave SC/STs reservation in promotion was struck down by the top court.



In a circular she issued on Wednesday, Ratna Prabha directed departments to take "consequential action" on the Supreme Court directive and revise the seniority list of employees and prepare a list of employees who will face demotions. In February 2017, the apex court had ordered that all consequential promotions given to the employees belonging to SC/STs under the Karnataka Determination of Seniority of the Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (To the Posts in the Civil Services of the State) Act, 2002, will be null and void.

This is set to affect nearly 20,000 employees across 63 departments and 132 boards/corporations. An equal number will be promoted.The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Karnataka government to verify the medical condition of a convict as he has been in jail for about 18 years after having been convicted and awarded life imprisonment for carrying out a series of blasts at various churches in the state in 2000.



Hearing the bail plea of Syed Mohammed Ibrahim, a bench of Justices R K Agrawal

and Abhay Manohar Sapre asked Additional Advocate General Devadatta Kamat to ascertain his condition as his counsel Kamini Jaiswal contended that the 70-year-old petitioner lodged in central prison, Belagavi, suffered from several ailments and was seriously ill.

The counsel contended that some of the accused had died during the pendency of appeal in the top court. She submitted that the petitioner could be granted bail after imposing any condition.

"Whether continued incarceration of the petitioners was justified just because they belonged to a particular community? They are in custody for over 18 years, while during the pendency of appeal, one more accused had died," she contended.

The counsel also submitted that the petitioners were said to be belonging to Deendar-Anjuman organisation, which was proscribed only in 2005. She said the petitioners, who faced similar charges in Andhra Pradesh, were imposed a jail term of a mere six months, while in a case in Goa, they were acquitted.

The court, however, directed the state government's law officer to verify the medical condition of the petitioner and posted the matter for consideration on April 12.

The convicts were alleged to have conspired and carried out the blasts at different churches in Bengaluru, Hubballi and Kalaburagi among others. They challenged the December 14, 2014 order of the Karnataka High Court that upheld their conviction in the case. The HC had commuted the death penalty awarded to them by the trial court to life term.

On June 8, 2000, two consecutive blasts took place at St Ann's Catholic Church, Wadi, Chittapur taluk, Kalaburagi district in three hours. The second blast took place on July 8, 2000 at St Lutheran Church in Hubballi between 3.30 am and 4.30 am.

The third blast was carried out on July 9, 2000 at 10.15 pm at St Peter and Paul church on JJ Nagar Main Road, Bengaluru.Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) O P Rawat along with his team is on a three-day visit to Bengaluru to review preparedness for the May 12 Assembly polls.

On Wednesday, Rawat along with Election Commissioners Sunil Arora and Ashok Lavasa released publicity materials of voters' awareness and later held meeting with state chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar.

During his visit, Rawat along with his team of officials will meet representatives of all political parties, senior officials from Excise, Commercial Taxes, Transport and Police departments.

The CEC will also hold review meetings with chief secretary, additional chief secretaries of various departments and also with district election officers.

Meanwhile, the JD(S) submitted a memorandum to the CEC, requesting for setting up of a single window system to dispose of applications and complaints filed by political parties. Sanjiv Kumar had appointed 10 state nodal officers for speedy disposal of applications filed by the political parties.

In the memorandum, the JD(S) has questioned the extension of services of chief secretary K Ratna Prabha. The party said the services of Rathna Prabha ended on March 31. However, despite model code of conduct in force, the state government extended her services for three months. "The extension of the service of the chief secretary is against the provision of law and also against the model code of conduct,'' the memorandum said.Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Narendra Modi government of "disrespecting" and "demolishing" various institutions by having Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) men "sitting in every ministry and giving orders."

During his 55-minute interaction with the city's business community here on second day his Janasahirvada Yatra in Central Karnataka, Rahul said that if voted to power, the Congress would free all these institutions from the RSS control.

"I don't know if you all know that in every single minister's office, there is an RSS man sitting and giving orders. So what can you expect... nothing but disrespecting the institutions. The banking system of the country has been demolished by having this structure," the Congress chief said.

"Who is Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksey? These are the people who arise when you don't respect the financial institutions like the Reserve Bank of India."

"We are also seeing Piyush Goyal (with scam tumbling out)," he said.

Fugitive diamond merchant Modi and his uncle Choksey are at the centre of the Punjab National Bank fraud. On Tuesday, Rahul had attacked Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for his alleged links to the promoter of a company in default of Rs 650 crore.

He said former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had advised against demonetisation.

Rahul claimed that the chief economic advisor, the Union finance minister and the entire Cabinet were unaware of the demonetisation plans of the prime minister. "The entire Cabinet was locked up prior to the demonetisation. They (Cabinet ministers) were not let out of the room," he alleged.

Asked how the Congress would solve the unemployment problem, he said it would do so by encouraging small and medium scale businesses in construction, agriculture and other sectors.

Rahul said China is successfully creating jobs because its government imparts skill training to its workforce. "In Modiji's government, there is no talk on (imparting) skills," he said.

Banks should give loans also to small and medium scale entrepreneurs, but this benefit is being usurped by 15 big names in Indian business. "Anil Ambani has Rs 45,000 crore of loan and to help him, the Rafale (fighter jet) contract was given to him," Rahul said.

The Congress president said incidents of communal violence and attacks on Dalits, minorities and tribals have increased in the country after the Modi government came to power.Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seems to have turned jittery in the past one week. For, his decision to contest the May 12 Assembly elections from Chamundeshwari constituency has landed him in a predicament.

After planning to vacate his Varuna seat for his son Dr Yathindra, Siddaramaiah decided to contest the polls from Chamundeshwari from where he had won five times since 1983. He had hoped that this would be a safe seat for him.

However, after touring the constituency over the past one week and holding closed-door meetings with his trusted people, it has apparently become evident for the chief minister that Chamundeshwari has witnessed a sea change since he shifted to the Varuna constituency in 2008.

There has been widespread urbanisation as the villages in the constituency are not far from Mysuru city. Due to the growth of residential areas in these villages, the economic condition of the villages has improved and locals have seen big money. Many people from the city have bought plots and built houses in these villages and this has changed the poltical landscape too. Besides, the natives feel that Siddaramaiah did not do much for the development of the constituency, even though he represented it for five terms.

After delimitation in 2008, the caste and political equations in the Chamundeshwari segment have also changed drastically. Several areas where Siddaramaiah had good support are now part of the Varuna constituency that was created in 2008.

Also, Siddaramaiah's emergence as one of the top leaders in the Congress since he joined the party 12 years ago has earned him lot of political foes.

"Besides his adversaries in the Opposition parties, he is worried about the conspiracies by his own partymen. He has already sought re-election as chief minister. Even the Congress high command has almost endorsed it. Backtracking now (from facing polls in Chamundeshwari) would be risky," sources in the Congress said.

A KPCC office-bearer said Siddaramaiah's stature now is that of a 'local high command.' "But his command over the party itself is proving to be problematic for him. His neglect of the seniors in the party and treading his own path made him stronger. However, the resignation of V Srinivas Prasad from the party shook him. But, he consolidated his position with the party's win in the Nanjangud and Gundlupet bypolls. In the process, the number of his adversaries increased. Former minister A H Vishwanath was hurt and he joined the JD(S)."

As the plan to induct Chamundeshwari MLA G T Devegowda of JD(S) into the Congress, once a close confidant of Siddaramaiah, backfired, the Opposition became stronger in Mysuru district.

Within the Congress, he tried to patch up with seniors such as G Parameshwara, Mallikarjun Kharge and D K Shivakumar. However, these leaders, who think that their opportunity to become chief minister has been snatched by Siddaramaiah, are waiting for a chance.

"Now, the Congress leaders are confident of winning a majority. If the Congress forms the government, no one can stop Siddaramaiah from becoming chief minister again. So, the chief ministerial spirants in the party are a worried lot. Siddaramaiah camp fears that there might be a repeat of Koratagere in Chamundeshwari this time," said a source.

Parameshwara, a chief ministerial aspirant, lost the 2013 polls from Koratagere in Tumakuru district and it was said that conspiracy by some Congress leaders led to his shocking defeat.With summer rain round the corner and monsoon in a couple of months, residents of the areas prone to flooding are not spared of worry over waterlogging this time either.

Although the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has speeded up desilting and remodelling of stormwater drains (SWDs), it has been able to complete the construction work of the SWDs for a stretch of only 117.9 km out of 842 km. However, it has missed the February deadline to complete 334 km of work.

But the pace of the work has improved compared to what it was in 2017. Important works such as constructing retaining wall, linking shoulder drain to the SWDs or even widening the drains have accelerated this year. Out of 408 such works, only 20 of them were complete until May 2017.

In a span of one year, by April 2018, 102 such works have been completed. Most of these were pending for many years. While areas surrounding Vrishabhavathi valley and Yeshwantpur have seen certain progress in the work, areas adjoining Koramangala and Challagatta valley and also Hebbal have seen the least number of completed works.

This has left the residents living near the areas to ponder whether the work would be completed within the stipulated time or not.

"In Koramangala, the BBMP along with citizen groups has planned both temporary and permanent solutions to solve the issue. The temporary solution involves the construction of a retaining wall of 40 m near Maharaja signal bridge and also the construction of RCC box drain. This is expected to be completed by June, but we do not know how it will pan out," said Raghu Rajagopal, a resident of Koramangala 4th block who is closely involved with the work.

The work on a permanent solution is yet to start," said Rajagopal added.

Koramangala, being one of the most affected areas during flash floods of 2017, is being worked on with the help of STUP consultants - a private agency which provides expert solutions to these issues.

Meanwhile, in Laggere, where five people had lost their lives due to an overflow of water, only desilting work is completed and the work of increasing the height of retention wall is still going on.

Area corporator, Manjula Narayanswamy has filed a complaint with the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) stating that BBMP engineers were looting money and have allotted Rs 30 lakh for some SWD work without specifying it. "Officers play politics here and the people are bound to face the same problem during this rainy season also," she said.

The SWD work near Shantinagar, where many houses and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) office were flooded, is also moving at a snail pace.

Bettegowda, chief engineer, SWD, BBMP hopes to complete the work in June or July.

"We have covered most of the vulnerable areas and the works are in final stages. We have given a deadline of another one and a half months," he said.An independent candidate has managed to raise Rs 66,275 from the public on the first day of a drive, 'one vote, one note'.

Activist Ravikrishna Reddy, who is contesting from Jayanagar as an Independent candidate, started the drive to reach out to the voters seeking money for his election expenses.

The campaign was launched from Jayanagar, Third Block on Wednesday. The National president of Swaraj India, Yogendra Yadav and social activist S R Hiremath launched the campaign.

Starting the campaign in the morning, they collected Rs 52,731 by afternoon. An additional amount of Rs 13,544 was then collected till evening.

Reddy said that apart from the street collection, he would also seek money from people through an online campaign and also through phone calls.

"I will use this money for poll expenses like logistics, pamphlets and provide food to my supporters. We want to continue this street collection for about 15 days. However, online and asking for donation over the phone will go on until the election day. I am requesting for the monetary contribution from people by explaining to them the contrast it has with the political parties who spend money to induce voters. Here, power rests with the people. If they sponsor the candidate's expenses they have the right to question him for not working towards the welfare of the society and people," he said.

It is not for the first time that Reddy is crowdfunding for an election. During the 2008 assembly elections, Reddy had unsuccessfully contested from Jayanagar. He had then raised Rs 4.22 lakh.Rather than being helpless bystanders, Bellandur Lake wardens are given the power to take action against those polluting it further.

A meeting of residents around the lake with Bangalore Development Authority Commissioner Rakesh Singh decided to empower the lake wardens to penalise those stealthily dumping garbage into the lakebed in the night and the encroachment, which the wardens have been powerless to control so far.

Wardens can hitherto watch and report such violations to the government. Now, they will have challan slips to issue spot fines, said a member of Citizen Watch Group, Sonali Singh, who was at the meeting.

At the meeting - the third with the commissioner on rejuvenation, apart from the NGT or expert committee meetings - over 30 citizens varyingly expressed appreciation, concern and anguish on improving the lake.

Bellandur Lake, sprawling over 951 acres, has 12 lake wardens.

"They are being given power to help serving marshals on duty. There will be no contradiction or change in the work of the marshals," said Singh, head of the Bellandur Rejuvenation Committee and a member of the citizens committee for Bellandur Lake.

"Lake wardens will only help the marshals and will also penalise offenders," he added.

The BDA will issue printed slips to the wardens in a few days, while the Palike would give them authorisation letters to act against the violators.

At the meeting, citizens also complained that the minor irrigation department is sending treated water to Kolar through pipes, which should not be done.

Instead, they should send water to Bellandur and Varthur Lakes and water downstream should be treated and sent to Kolar.

The BDA commissioner has called a meeting of all stakeholders in two days to assess the situation.

It also discussed continuing the weeding out process in the lake, stopping spreading of hyacinth by putting up false barricades and clearing them with JCBs.

It also decided to create wetlands around the lake to purify water, expediting installation of sewage treatment plants, besides controlling the stench emanating from the lake, especially between 2 am and 4 am.

The meeting discussed the powers and authority of the marshals and ways to complete putting up the sluice gates before the onset of monsoon. Erecting sludge traps in rajakaluves to filter out waste, clearing hyacinth from the lakebed and fencing the waterbody at the earliest were also discussed.PES University felicitated international rower, Keerthana T K during its Founder's Day celebration on Wednesday.



"It has been possible for me to grow at an international level only because of the support extended by PES University. Other institutions do not provide such encouragement to sports," said Keerthana.

Keerthana, a second year engineering student from PES University became the first woman from the state to win at an international level. The Karnataka government honoured her with the 'Ekalavya' award recently.

At the event, about 1,500 students also received scholarships. Rahul Kashyap, first rank holder in the GATE exam, and Manoj Dixit, the second rank holder was felicitated with the CNR Road and MR Doreswamy scholarship.

"We have passed the GATE exam with great effort and the scholarship will help us for our further education," said Manoj.

Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Dharmastala, who presided over the programme released a book-'MR Doreswamy-teacher, thinker and achiever'- on M R Doreswamy, founder and vice-chancellor of PES University, at the event.A famous alumni of the East graduating class was Thommie Walsh, who went on to become an award-winning dancer, choreographer and director on Broadway. Walsh died in 2007. In the middle of town, at Central, was the class president, who later became mayor of Auburn and is currently serving on the Cayuga County Legislature: Tim Lattimore. And there are certainly many more class members whose achievements I could list, but I have to include my own brother, Tony, who went to East, especially since this is also the 20th anniversary of his death. He served in the Navy for four years and became a pastor for the American Baptist Association.

While I was looking through some of the documents at the local history room at Cayuga Community College, I found a yearbook from Auburn Academic High School, later known as East High, East Middle and now Auburn Junior High School, from 1918. The motto of that class was Non sibi sed patriae"  "not for self but country." World War I was still being fought in June 1918, so the motto had a very significant meaning to the students.

There was another motto, of sorts, at the time, which we all knew, and which had obviously been written by someone at West: West is for the best, East is for the least, and Central is for the mental. Not politically correct, maybe, but we all laughed when we recited it, even those of us who didnt go to West.

And there is a big reunion for all four schools planned for 5 p.m. Saturday, July 21, at Tinkers on Franklin Street. Tickets are $24. For more information, contact Ginger Tedesco Sheffey at (315) 252-5662, or visit facebook.com/auburnclassof68.

Joe Sarnicola is retired from the Auburn Enlarged City School District. He can be reached at joesarnicola@yahoo.com.

Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0The high court on Wednesday directed badminton legend Prakash Padukone, his wife Ujjala and younger daughter Anisha to keep a security deposit of Rs 20 lakh in the lower court to continue transactions in their IDBI Bank account.



Justice Raghvendra S Chauhan passed the order on a petition filed by the Padukones questioning the letter written by the Banashankari police to the IDBI Bank's Malleshwaram branch to freeze their joint account in connection with the investigation into a ponzi scam against Bengaluru-based wealth management firm Vikram Investments. The Padukones said the account was frozen illegally without a notice being issued to them.

The Padukones had invested in Vikram Investments and received a profit of Rs 20 lakh from the firm. They have Rs 87 lakh in their account. But after the account was frozen, they are finding it difficult to carry out transactions, their counsel told the court and urged it to order the defreezing of the account.

In his submission, Additional Advocate General A S Ponnanna said at least 2,400 people had invested in Vikram Investments which cheated its investors of crores of rupees. Over 250 police complaints have been filed over the scam. The accounts of all investors were frozen to facilitate the investigation. The lower court is hearing the matter, he added.Rheinmetall, KMW Comment UK Selection of Boxer AFV



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Service between Syracuse and Raleigh-Durham will be available every Monday and Friday beginning July 2. Flights from Syracuse will depart at 12:38 p.m. and arrive at 2:23 p.m. The return flights will depart at 3:13 p.m. from Raleigh-Durham airport and arrive in Syracuse at 4:45 p.m.

The Chicago flights will operate every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday beginning Aug. 15. The flights will depart Syracuse at 9 p.m. and arrive at O'Hare at 10:10 p.m. The return flights will depart O'Hare at 5:20 p.m. and arrive at 8:10 p.m. in Syracuse.

Beginning Aug. 12, Syracuse-to-Orlando service will operate every Wednesday and Saturday. Flights will depart Syracuse at 2:42 p.m. and arrive at 5:23 p.m. in Orlando. Return flights from Orlando will be scheduled at 11 a.m. with arrival in Syracuse at 1:42 p.m.

Frontier will offer an introductory sale with rates as low as $29 for a one-way ticket.

The new service at Syracuse airport will not only help with the region's tourism industry. It will help economic development.

CenterState CEO President Rob Simpson said the addition of competitive fares and nonstop flights available at the airport are top priorities.

"These new flights open access for visitors to Syracuse, new choices for our community and will have a real impact on our economy," Simpson said.

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

Love 5 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 1Despite issuing its highest number of building permits in any year this decade, Solana Beach remains on pace to fall far short of its new-housing targets for the planning cycle that runs through 2020  a shortfall that becomes even more glaring when parsed out for lower-income housing.

Every city and county in California is required to update its progress toward state housing mandates by April 1 of each year. The annual rite came and went in Solana Beach last week, with the city council on March 28 rubber-stamping the report for delivery to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, where Solana Beach was lumped in with the nearly 98 percent of jurisdictions that are failing to meet their housing targets.

Solana Beach issued building permits for 17 housing units between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of last year, nearly tripling the previous high of six doled out in 2011 and 2016. But mirroring previous years, sparingly few permits went toward housing that qualifies for affordable programs, with all but five of the units being beyond the reach of someone who makes less than $95,000 a year.

Affordability thresholds are based on the Area Median Income (AMI), which in San Diego County was just under $80,000 last year.

Very low income is between 30 and 50 percent of AMI, or between $19,000 and $32,000 per year. Low income is defined as 50 to 80 percent of the AMI, or between roughly $32,000 and $51,000 per year. Moderate income is between 80 and 120 percent of AMI  $63,000 to $95,000  while above moderate income is anything beyond 120 percent of the AMI.

As of Jan. 31, 12 cities and counties in California have met their targets for low and very low income housing. Lemon Grove is the only one of those 12 located in San Diego County.

Solana Beachs report lays out numbers on par with other coastal cities:

Two permits were issued last year for low income units and none for very low income. Since the housing cycles onset in 2010, Solana Beach has not issued a permit for any of the 85 very low income units allocated by state officials. Last years two permits for low income units bring the citys total to five since 2010  60 short of its target.

Overall since the cycles onset in 2010, Solana Beach has issued permits for 44 units of its 340-unit target, despite having rolled out 19 separate programs meant to encourage housing construction and the preservation of existing housing at all income levels.

The most success has come for above moderate housing, with 36 units permitted so far in the cycle12 of them coming last year. The three moderate income units awarded permits last year were the first this cycle. With three years to go, Solana Beach is 95 units short on above moderate housing and 56 units short on moderate housing.

There are as yet no penalties for failing to meet the housing targets. However, legislation is pending that would make it harder for cities to prevent housing construction.

The Solana Beach City Council has in the past two years approved seven housing projects that would increase housing stock by 20 units, but none of the projects have reached permitting stages.

All we can do is make the space available and potentially provide incentives where appropriate to get it done, Zito said. We did that, we didnt get the units, so what can we do to get better results in the upcoming cycle?

The Regional Housing Needs Assessmentalso known as Cycle 6, the sequel to the current Cycle 5is expected to emphasize vacant land rather than redevelopment projects, a particular challenge for Solana Beach, which has only a handful of small, empty lots.

Some progress in the year ahead is expected.

First up will be The Pearl, a fiercely-fought project on South Sierra Avenue, a short walk from the citys iconic bluffs. In 2014, the city council approved the mixed-use project that included 10 very low income units. A legal challenge brought by dozens of neighbors dragged out until January 2017, after which the project bogged down for lack of financing. Earlier this month, the city council approved a measure to allow The Pearls developerHitzke Development Co.to use tax-exempt bonds to finance its construction. Assuming that clears state approval, groundbreaking is expected within months, said Deputy Mayor Dave Zito.

The citys long-term vision hinges on redevelopment of the train station, redevelopment of the Solana Highlands apartment complex and three city-owned parking lotsincluding the lot at city hall. The council last week requested proposals for redeveloping the 1.5-acre parcel, which could potentially hold two dozen or more housing units.

By far the biggest housing infusion would come at Solana Highlands. Three years ago, a plan emerged to demolish its 194 apartments and three single-family units, and build 260 units in their place. At least 32 of those units would qualify as affordable, with the potential to nearly double due to a state density bonus.

However, the citys View Assessment Commission recommended denial in 2015, which sent the project back to the drawing board. Redesigns are ongoing, Zito said, and the hope is that the Solana Highlands project will be resubmitted within the next year. Because the housing cycle counts permits and not actual construction, that net gain of 60 units could beat the December 2020 deadline.Subscriber content preview

The designer and owner were charged with felonies after a boy was killed on what was said to be the worlds tallest water slide.



By DAVID WARREN

Associated Press

DALLAS  One of the designers of a massive Kansas water park slide that decapitated a 10-year-old boy has been arrested in Texas, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Trent Touchstone, chief deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Dallas, said 72-year-old John Timothy Schooley was met by agents at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he arrived Monday on a flight from China.





. . .Subscriber content preview

SEATTLE (AP)  A federal judge in Seattle has dismissed a pre-emptive lawsuit filed against Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson by the company that owns Value Village, Savers and other thrift stores.

TVI Inc., of Bellevue, sued the attorney general's office in December in an effort to head off an expected legal action by Ferguson. The lawsuit said the attorney general had demanded $3.2 million to settle a three-year investigation, but that the demand violated its free speech rights.





. . .A new financial reporting requirement for New York school districts is a dubious effort to help solve inequality in education spending that will surely delay any meaningful reform in that arena for several years.

Auburn and Union Springs will have to report building-by-building spending to the state next year. Other districts across the state will follow suit in the years to come. But there is already plenty of data the state could be using  and should be using  to reconfigure its woefully outdated funding formula.

One flaw in the plan was made clear right off the bat when Union Springs was lumped in with the first school districts because it currently utilizes four buildings. But it will be using just three next year as renovations are completed on one elementary school in anticipation of the closure of another. How that scenario fits into building-by-building expenditures is anyone's guess.

And this new mandate will be phased in over three years, meaning that the first year of reporting for some districts won't arrive until the 2020-21 school year, so any possible analysis by the state of what it all means won't be taking place for more than three years.Subscriber content preview

SEATTLE  Two properties at 9200 Roosevelt Way N.E have sold for almost $2.1 million, according to King County records.

The sellers were two LLCs related to the Thomas family, which had owned the property for decades. Dr. Brent Thomas has his dental practice there in a small medical office building.





. . .Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Li Shufu, Chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely), may not attend the annual shareholders' meeting of Daimler AG that will kick off on April 5, insiders revealed to media. Meanwhile, Daimler also refused to expose the names who will attend this meeting for the sake of privacy.

Geely confirmed on February 23 this year that the company had acquired a 9.69% stake in Daimler for about $9 billion through complex overseas transactions and became Daimler's largest shareholder.

Although the Chinese billionaire will not show up at the shareholders meeting, industry conjectures that the Li's intention in the stake acquisition in the German automaker will be discussed as a crucial issue.

Li Shufu has been stressing the so-called Tesla threat theory and wishes traditional automakers could join up with each other rather than making development alone. Some media guess that Li, who regards Tesla as a big rival in the future, hopes to build an industrial alliance through acquisition and merger.

Besides, Li stated in an interview that acquiring stakes in Daimler is just an ordinary investment out of commercial analysis.

After the Hangzhou-based company disclosed the stake purchase, Li has flied to Germany in person to elucidate his intention in acquiring stakes in Daimler with the German company's senior executives and German government's senior economic officials, etc.

Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel said that at a first look, there were no obvious violations linked to Geely's acquisition of a $9 billion stake in Daimler. In addition, she emphasized that Germany need maintain its competitiveness in auto industry, while should be open-minded on external trading partnerships.

According to relevant media, Bodo Uebber, CFO of Daimler AG worried that once Li got a full-fledged seat on Daimler's supervisory board, he may leak the company's core secrets to Daimler's competitor Volvo because Li is also chairman of Volvo Cars.Shanghai (Gasgoo)- GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda posted a total delivery of 97,587 vehicles in March, dropping 13% year on year, according to the March sales report released by Honda China on April 3rd. To be specific, GAC Honda reached a delivery volume of 58,950 units last month, edging up 1.9% from a year earlier, while Dongfeng Honda suffered a year-on-year delivery decrease of 28.9% to 38,637 units, mainly affected by the declining sales of CR-V and CIVIC that involved engine quality issue.

In the first quarter of this year, delivery volume of GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda reached 300,826 units in total, ticking down 2.3% over the previous year. Among that, GAC Honda boasted a year-on-year sales growth of 3.3% to 172,045 units, while Dongfeng Honda delivered 128,781 units during the first three months, falling 8.9% year on year.

According to the data released, GAC Hondas Honda brand achieved year-on-year increases in both March sales and cumulative sales of 2.2% and 3.7% respectively. As to models, Accord ranked first by March sales among Honda-branded models, with 19,506 units delivered last month, surging 50.0% year on year. Meanwhile, the cumulative deliveries of Accord also jumped 22.9% over the previous year to 49,676 units. Meanwhile, the deliveries of City, Fit and VEZEL faced year-on-year sales decreases in March of 33.1%, 18.3% and 24.2% to 3,727 units, 9,191 units and 8,918 units respectively. With regard to the high-end brand Acura, it only delivered 902 units in China last month, slipping back 13.7% from a year earlier.

As to Dongfeng Hondas performance, haunted by the engine oil issue, only 916 units of CR-V were handed over in March, nosediving 93.6% year on year. The March deliveries of CIVIC, another model suffering the engine quality problem, dropped 16.5% from a year earlier to 13,586 units. Moreover, 4 models of Dongfeng Honda, SPIRIOR, ELYSION, JADE and UR-V, boasted year-on-year sales growth in March to different degrees. Especially, 3,390 units of UR-V were delivered last month, skyrocketing 200.8% year on year. Besides, Q1 deliveries of UR-V reached 11,875 units, splendidly rising 953.7% from the previous year.

By CNBC , April 02, 2018





China's ambassador to the United States explained why his country was striking back against U.S. trade measures, as Beijing slapped a new tariff hike on $50 billion worth of American goods.





"We certainly don't want to have any trade war with anybody, but people have to understand who started all this," said ambassador Cui Tiankai.

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By CNB , April 03, 2018





WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump lashed out in fury Monday over immigration, an outburst triggered by images of a "caravan" of hundreds of Central American migrants headed toward the US bordaer.





For the second straight day, Trump took to Twitter to attack Mexico for allowing the 1,500-strong group to march unimpeded toward the United States, their daily progress mapped out by US media.

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Dear @IlhanMN,



I hear you plan to go on a fact-finding tour of Israel. In fact, Israel is doing pretty well. Its, Somalia, your native country, that could truly use your formidable skills. Maybe you could use your frequent flyer miles and swing by.Search All categories Advertising General Aerospace General Agriculture General Airlines General America - Post 9/11 General Apparel General Apple Products General Architectural General Architecture Architecture Art & Entertainments Books Celebrities Country Music Dance Magazines Movies Museums Music Music Downloads News & Talk Shows Performing Arts Photography Television Web Sites Arts/Culture General Auction General Automotive Aftermarket Classic Autos Consumer Publications General Motorcycle & Bike Racing Recreational Vehicle Repair & Service Trade Publications Blogging & Social Media Blogging & Social Media Business Advertising / Marketing Books Consumer Research Direct Marketing e-Commerce Entrepreneurs Finance Franchise Human Resources Insurance Investment Management Markets Network Marketing Online Marketing / SEO Payday Loans Public Relations Publications Real Estate Retail Stocks Supermarkets Women in Business Careers/HR General Chemical General Coaching / Mentoring Coaching / Mentoring Computers Apple Products Databases Games & Entertainment General Hosting Instruction Linux / GNU "Open Source" Macintosh Microsoft Windows PC Operating Systems Programming Security Software Tablet PCs Utilities Construction General Consumer Gifts and Collectibles Hobbies Web sites / Internet Design Graphic Design Industrial Web E-Cigarette General eCommerce General Economy General Education College / University General Home Schooling K-12 Post Graduate Technical Electronics General Email Marketing General EmailWire Press Releases Press Release Tips Employment/Careers General Engineering General Entertainment General Environment General Events / Trade Shows General Finance General Food General Franchise General Fraud / Identity Theft General Gaming General Government General Judicial Law Enforcement Legislative Local National Public Services Security State Transportation Healthcare General Home and Family Banking / Personal Finance Bereavement / Loss Home Furnishings / Interiors Landscaping & Gardening Marriage / Relationships Money Parenting Payday Loans Pets Taxes Wedding / Bridal Home Schooling General Hotels/Resorts General Household General Industry Aerospace / Defense Agriculture Apparel / Textiles Broadcast Construction / Building Electrical Food Funeral Healthcare Leisure / Hospitality Logistics / Shipping Manufacturing / Production Mining / Metals Oil / Energy Paper / Forest Products Plumbing, Heating & AC Print Media Printing Publishing Radio Restaurants Tobacco Toy Insurance General Internet/Online General Legal General Leisure General Lifestyle Beauty Dating / Singles Diet / Weight Loss Fashion Food / Beverage Health & Fitness Hotel / Resorts Pastimes Restaurants Retirement Travel & Tourism Machinery General Maritime General Medical Addiction Allergies Alternative Medicine Asthma Cancer Cardiology Chiropractic Dental Dermatology Diabetes Emergency Family Medicine General General Geriatrics Hospitals Infectious Diseases Internal Medicine Managed Care / HMO Medical Products Mental Health Neurology Nursing Nutrition OB / GYN Pediatrics Pharmaceuticals Physical Therapy Plastic Surgery Psychology Radiology / Imaging Research Sports Medicine Surgery Vision Military General Mining/Metals General Miscellaneous General Nanotechnology Nanotechnology Non-profit General Occupational Safety Occupational Safety Oil/Energy General Opinion / Editorial Opinion / Editorial Paper Products General Paper/Forest General Pharmaceuticals General Podcasting Announce Tools and Services Politics Politics Print Media General Public Utilities Public Utilities Publishing General Radio General Real Estate General Religion Christian General Islam Jewish Other Restaurants General Retail General RSS & Content Syndication RSS & Content Syndication Science and Research Science and Research Self-Help / Personal Growth Self-Help / Personal Growth Shipbuilding General Society African American Interests Asian Interests Childrens Issues Disabled Issues / Disabilities Gay / Lesbian Hispanic Mens Interests Native American Senior Citizens Social Services Teen Issues/Interests Womens Interest Software General Sports Baseball Basketball Bicycling Boating / Maritime Bowling Boxing Fishing Football Golf Hockey Hunting Martial Arts Outdoors Rugby Soccer Tennis Water Winter/Snow Sports/Fitness General Stocks General Supermarkets General Technology Biotechnology Computer Electronics Enterprise Software Games Graphics/Printing/CAD Hardware / Peripherals Industrial Information Internet Multimedia Networking Public Sector/Government Robotics Semiconductor Software Telecommunications Webmasters Telecom General Wireless Television General Tobacco General Trade General Transportation General Travel General Utilities General Volunteer Volunteer Weather WeatherBirthday wishes

Call 281-422-8302 or email david.bloom@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun.

Happy Birthday Wishes14 July 2019

14 July 2019  When Elizabeth Hoff was appointed as WHO Representative in Syria in 2012, she didnt expect that she would spend the next several years leading the emergency health response in what has been described as the worlds largest and most complex humanitarian emergency. After seven years of working in the war-ravaged country, the next chapter of her career will take her to Libya, where she has been nominated WHO Representative. I leave Syria with a heavy heart, she says. This has been the richest and most rewarding position...Stranger Things is well on its way to the third season, however, things aren't sailing smoothly, as the Duffer brothers are accused of plagiarizing Montauk.

After the huge success of the hit Netflix sci-fi thriller series, which had also earned nods from award-giving bodies, Charlie Kessler has surfaced, claiming the creators got his concept from his 2012 short film titled Montauk and turned it into a series, Stranger Things. The accuser explained that he pitched the storyline to Matt and Ross Duffer, collectively known as the Duffer brothers, during a 2014 Tribeca Film Festival party.

Obviously, the idea didn't go far at the time. Kessler's pitched concept was a sci-fi story, which takes place at an abandoned military base wherein kids gets experimented on and revolves around a missing boy. It also has a monster, pretty much how Stranger Things goes. However, it should be noted that the Netflix series and Montauk both came after a 1992 book titled The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time.

His attorney argued that the Stranger Things creators didn't ask for permission to use his story, he wasn't credited, nor was he compensated, despite the popularity the show had been getting. Coincidentally, before selling it to giant streamer Netflix, the Duffer brothers' script was initially called Montauk, before it was changed and before it's setting was moved to Indiana.

Kessler is now asking the Duffer brothers to pay him for damages. As of writing, the respondents, as well as the company, has yet to release a statement.

Cast Pay Raise

This news came just as the cast of Stranger Things have been said to get bigger pay checks for the third season of the show. The child stars will reportedly get 12 times what they earned per episode in the past two runs of the series, and for the adult, they are looking at $350,000 per episode.

The actors' salary can be detailed as such, as per sources: "A tier" actors, Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers) and David Harbour (Jim Hopper), are earning as much as $350,000 per episode; Noah Schnapp (Will), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), and Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) belong to the "B tier," who get $250,000 per episode; lastly, the "C tier," consisting of Charlie Heaton (Jonathan), Joe Keery (Steve), and Natalia Dyer (Nancy), receives $150,000 per episode.

Notably missing is Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown, who is one of the show's lead. It remains a mystery if she is getting higher pays than other kids in the show, or the adult celebrities for that matter, or if she receives the same amount as the adult actors.Verne Troyer was rushed to the hospital on Monday night after cops received a call about a reported poisoning. A friend called the police and said the actor was suicidal.

Drunk And Suicidal

Cops were called to Troyer's home at around 7:30 p.m. after a friend reported the actor was being extremely upset, drunk, and suicidal. It did not take long for the paramedics and the cops to arrive at Troyer's residence.

Troyer was transported to the hospital for possible alcohol poisoning and placed under 72 hours evaluation. The 49-year-old comedian was placed under an involuntary psychiatric hold.

The Los Angeles City Fire Department, who also responded to the call, revealed that they rushed to the actor's North Hollywood home at around 8:34 p.m. Troyer's identity was kept a secret due to privacy laws. Authorities also did not reveal the nature of the actor's alleged poisoning.

Thankfully, the Austin Powers actor is okay. He is currently recuperating, according to Troyer's team, who sent an update on the actor's health on his Instagram. The team also asked that fans keep Troyer in their thoughts and prayers.

"He's getting the best care possible and is resting comfortably. Appreciate the support from family, friends, and fans around the world. We will keep you updated here," reads the message.

Reactions

Messages of well wishes poured out following news about Troyer's hospitalization on Monday. Fans responded to his Instagram post and wished for him to get better soon.

"Hang in there Verne," one fan wrote and another said, "Sending love and well wishes."

"You are fabulous, handsome, and deeply admired. Happy thoughts, good vibes, prayers, etc to you. I wish you success in your battle against demons. Please know, you (all of us) are stronger than you know. The fact that you reached out for help shows only your strength!!!" another fan commented.

The Love Guru actor has been battling alcoholism for the past year. This is not the first time that he was hospitalized for it. Last year in April, he was also admitted to the hospital for alcohol addiction, which eventually prompted him to enter rehab for treatment. He admitted that he has been battling the addiction in a statement sent to People.

"As you know, I've battled alcohol addiction in the past and while it's not always been an easy fight, I'm willing to continue my fight day by day," he said, revealing at the time that he has been receiving treatment and voluntarily checking into a treatment center.

Troyer also had a scary seizure in March 2015 during a fan meet and greet in Texas. He was hospitalized to undergo some tests, but thankfully, the results came back normal.Christian Englander, the man who threw a banana peel at Dave Chappelle back in 2015, contends that the comedian's bodyguards assaulted him during the commotion.

A Slippery Slope

The incident happened at a Santa Fe, New Mexico stand-up comedy show three years ago. Englander faced charges for disturbing the peace and battery after he acknowledged chucking the peel at Chappelle.

Although the black comedian argued it was a racist act, because Englander is a white man, he refused to describe it as such. He infamously told Chappelle, who asked him whether he knew bananas were racist, that he didn't agree with the description.

Authorities eventually dropped the charges after Chappelle refused to participate in the prosecution.

No Laughing Matter

Now it seems Englander is trying to get back at the comedian. His lawsuit argues that he was struck by Chappelle's bodyguard twice as he was being restrained, after throwing the peel at him.

Englander is suing both Chappelle and a man presumed to be his bodyguard. He filed the charges on Friday.

Englander maintains he threw the peel at Chappelle only because he was angry about something the comedian said during the show.

Allegedly, something offensive was said about Englander's friend, although that still doesn't explain why he brought a banana peel into a comedy show in the first place.

The initial report did not mention Englander's assault claim. His lawyer said it would have been raised if Englander ended up going on trial back in 2015.

Chappelle recalled the incident during his 2017 stand-up special Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chapelle Live at Austin City Limits. The comedian described the incident as "Bananagate," and it became the basis of his opening joke.

He argued that the attack was premeditated because of how brown the peel in question was.

Courting Controversy Elsewhere

Chappelle is no stranger to controversy. The comedian came under fire for his ill-advised jokes about transgender people and sexual misconduct in his most recent Netflix specials.

A fan wrote an open letter to Chappelle in relation to the trans jokes and the comedian mocked the said plea.

After Chappelle made a reference to a fan writing him a letter in one of his shows, that same fan came forward to again express his disappointment with the comedian's stance on these important issues.

Chappelle also made light of the #MeToo movement, much to the disgust of many prominent commentators.The royal wedding is almost here, and all eyes are on bride-to-be Meghan Markle. Hairdressers are particularly curious about her wedding day look.

Endless Options

Prince Harry is due to wed Markle in seven weeks, so the heat is on. Although Markle's dress is sure to be stunning, how she wears her hair on the big day will also be the subject of many discussions.

It will, most likely, influence bridal hairstyles for years to come, in much the same way that Kate Middleton's dress and loose half updo inspired scores of bridal looks in the wake of her 2011 wedding to Prince William.

Top hairdressers have offered their best guesses for how the princess-to-be might style her hair for the big day.

Nicky Clarke, who styled the late Princess Diana's hair, said it all depends on the dress.

"I'm not sure if we are going to get the sophisticated Meghan or the slightly edgier Meghan and that will probably dictate what she does with her hair," he advised.

There's also the question of whether Markle will wear a tiara. If she does, it'll certainly mean an updo, if U.K. celeb hairdresser Daniel Galvin Junior is to be believed.

Galvin Junior, whose clients include Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, reckons the only certainty is that Markle won't be wearing her hair loose on the happiest day of her life.

"She could go for a very contemporary, modern look with her hair completely up, but I certainly don't think she will wear a messy bun down the aisle," he said.

A Modern Bride

Markle is already making a name for herself as a more modern royal, much different from what the public is used to. During her first public appearance with then-boyfriend Harry, she wore ripped jeans. Hugging a charity worker and appearing with mismatched earrings for one royal engagement is something Markle would do.

Clarke believes Markle may turn to Middleton for wedding day inspiration, opting for a half-up, half-down style on the day. The Duchess's wedding day look was dubbed the "demi-chignon".

Markle has been to Clarke's Mayfair-based salon, so he would most likely know more about the bride-to-be's hairstyle of choice for the big day.

Although her go-to look is loose, wavy hair, Clarke reckons it might not be appropriate for the royal wedding.

Galvin Junior thinks Markle will look stunning no matter what she chooses to do, but if it was his choice, he knows what he'd go for.

"I would either go for half-up, half-down, which will work for the whole day. It's not too regal, it's modern and it's versatile, so it will work right through to the evening," he explained.

A Package Fit For A Queen

With the big event set to take place on May 19, wedding fever is in full swing.

In fact, the Fairmont Hotel in Washington is offering a VIP package that will allow guests to pretend they're among those gathered at St. George's Chapel for the nuptials.

The package costs $75,000, so it's not for total commoners. It includes a British butler serving high tea and champagne, royal-approved Barbour jackets, and a $10,000 Burberry certificate, among other treats.

Markle and Prince Harry have promised to include the public in their big day, so regular people may get to take part in the couple's wedding.Lifelong gun enthusiast and rockstar Ted Nugent has some choice words for the Parkland shooting survivors. He reckons they're all brainwashed.

Won't Somebody Think Of The Children

Nugent took particular aim at David Hogg, the outspoken young student and gun control activist who's come to the fore alongside his peers, including Emma Gonzalez.

Nugent reckons the Parkland advocates are brainwashed and that Hogg, in particular, probably can't be fixed.

The rocker and NRA board member also thinks the students don't know anything about guns in the first place because they're not very educated.

"[They] wouldn't know an AR-15 from a pterodactyl," he reasoned.

Nugent made these comments on Monday's episode of the "Curtis and Cosby" show on New York's WABC Radio. The NRA member shows no signs of stopping his tirade against the Parkland survivors.

Just a few days ago on the conservative and nationally syndicated Joe Pags Show, he claimed that the Parkland kids have mushy brains and no souls.

The students argued that the NRA activist hasn't seen the tears they've shed, and demanded an apology from Nugent.

Laura Is Great, She's Terrific

The rocker also defended Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who came under fire for mocking Hogg online. As a result, she lost a host of advertisers and even if she apologized, the damage was already done.

Ingraham is great, Nugent claims. Hogg, for his part, preached acceptance and love on social media, instead of wasting time slinging mud at kids.

He and his peers have yet to respond on Twitter to Nugent's latest comments.

Standing Up And Being Counted

Hogg is a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, where his 19-year-old classmate gunned down 17 people with an AR-15 back in February.

Since the tragedy, he and fellow survivors have loudly protested for gun control, especially during the March For Our Lives rally.

During the said event, Gonzalez stood on stage for six minutes and 20 seconds, the exact amount of time it took for 17 pupils to be killed.

Hogg has been a huge target of Ingraham, Nugent, and their fellow conservative, right-wing, pro-gun affiliates. Ingraham even mocked him for some unsuccessful college applications.

Likewise, talk show host and former teacher Dom Giordano went on Lou Dobb's Fox News show in March to tear down the Parkland survivors.

"I have to say too, Lou, as an educator, there's a couple of these kids that are just rude in the way that they proceed here, as if they are bulletproof, so to speak," he said.

Picking On Kids

These seemingly coordinated attacks don't stop with right-wing pundits either. Earlier this week, controversial comedian Owen Benjamin tweeted several times about Hogg and how young he is.

Meanwhile, Republican Maine House candidate described Gonzalez as a skinhead lesbian.

Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, criticized those who are attacking kids online to push their agenda.

"Pundits who support the NRA's deadly agenda are so desperate to protect the status quo of gun violence in this country that no ad hominem attack is too low," she said.The fairytale romance between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will more than likely live on after the two exchange their wedding vows, yet people can't help but continue to talk about the perfect couple.

The British royal and the former actress are set to tie the knot on May 19, 2018, and as the world waits to see the design of Markle's wedding gown and the guest that will be attending the wedding of the year, sources close to the pair are revealing how Markle made the "rebelling" Prince change his ways.

Meghan and Harry's Romance

The Prince has been known for his wild escapades and random romances throughout the years but since meeting Markle, those that are closest to him state that he has become a changed man.

"His antics over the years mean that everyone can identify with him. He is a reluctant royal because he is a prince of the people. The public feel a connection with Harry for all those reasons that they probably don't feel for any other member of the royal family," a source state.

The youngest son of the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles has apparently met his match in Markle as the former Suits star has been a positive influence on his life and made him take his duties as a Prince more seriously.

"Meghan is going to be a force. She will help him really define his role and relate to the public in a way that he wouldn't have been able to do before. It was worth the wait," the source continued.

The betrothed couple have dealt with some controversy regarding their romance. Markle was publicly scrutinized due to her ethnic background. The princess to be is of African-American and Caucasian descent. Also, Markle's paternal half-siblings claimed that Markle was never in contact with them since she became a celebrity and were planning to write a tell-all book about her past life, including her divorce from her first husband.

The Wedding Of The Year

The actress and Prince Harry became engaged on Nov. 29, 2017. The couple had been dating for about a year prior to their engagement. The two will be married at St. Geroge's Chapel, Windsor Castle and will live at Nottingham Cottage in London, on the grounds of Kensington Palace. Sources close to the couple have stated that the Prince knew Markle was "the one" when he met her and fell "head over heels" in love with her.

Markle officially retired from acting once the engagement was announced. Her character, Rachel Zane, from the show Suits will not return for the show's eighth season.The EU has finally started thinking about its international partnerships. As for the EUs relations with Asia, its primary partner has been for the longest time none other than China. At the center of the European agenda was the desire to reap economic benefits off of the Asian powerhouse. But Brussels and Beijing havent always seen each other eye to eye on every topic, mainly due to the controversial issues of human rights, which sparked many debates.

It became clear that China doesnt fully embody the principles of the Western world. It still remains the EUs main partner in this region, but Brussels is now broadening its horizons and wants to strengthen its relationships with other like-minded countries. Moreover, the Brexit vote and the steps of Donald Trumps administration were also the catalysts for this change of thought. Because the US and the UK can no longer be relied on at all times, the EU needs to find new partnerships with countries with whom its shares the same principles.

A prime example is the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and Japan, signed in June 2017 partially as a response to Trumps economic nationalism and Chinas geo-economic activism in Asia. As for the EUs relationship with India, the wide representation of European officials at Indias Raisina Dialogue in January 2018 showed that the ties between these two countries are getting stronger.

This also shows that the US is losing its authority, as its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) only led to the remaining eleven counties forming the TPP 2.0, which is known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Even though the US was the largest partner, the other members pulled through and now other countries are showing interest in joining the deal. In an interesting twist of events, even the US itself is now considering rejoining the TPP.

As for the EU and its new partners, when asked about India, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the partnership was natural and made sense, since the EU and India are the worlds largest economies. Even if the EU, India and Japan dont share the same opinions on some sensitive issues, such as death penalty or personal data protection, they still provide a valuable alternative to the Chinese market, which is losing its appeal somewhat. On the other hand, Japan and India are both concerned about Chinas growing economic dominance in the region, which is why strengthening the bonds between these Asian economies and the EU makes sense for them.

But the success of deepening the relations with India and Japans rests solely on the EUs ability to make compromises. This might mean an adjustment to their political priorities or some policy issues if they dont want to upset China. The one thing that Beijing might not be so keen on are the talks about the Indo-Pacific, which might prove to be a step too bold to be taken so soon. The other question is how will the EU and its partners tackle issues such as terrorism and North Korea? These topics have already been discussed, but what will the real action be? Since North Korea doesnt pose an immediate threat to Europe, it is way lower on its priority list. The European approach to this issue is also quite different from, for example, the Indian one.

In conclusion, it is important to commend the EU for its efforts to deepen its relationships with the other like-minded countries. A proper bond between these players might benefit all of them not only from the economic standpoint but it might also prove helpful in the realms of security, politics and geo-economy. Yet, for this to succeed, the EU must move out of its comfort zone and be willing to make political trade-offs, which are the necessary steps that the EU has so far been unwilling to take.

Reimagining Europes Partnerships with India and Japan: A New Trilateral?  Policy Brief by Maaike Okano-Heijmans  Clingendael / The Netherlands Institute of International Relations.

(The Policy Brief can be downloaded here)Poloss lmao I actually thought I had scabies once (on my feet, only my feet). This is when I was in Paris in 2015, about a month after I came back from volunteering in China. It was like every night my feet would itch SO bad....so much that I couldn't even sleep. I started Googling things, and came across scabies and saw how they can be "incubating" in your skin for a month (the eggs) and that they're active at night, etc...I went back a month in my head, and there was a kid in China (with the volunteer thing) that kept scratching his wrists, and one time used my hand/fingernail to scratch it (don't ask). So I was like OMG I caught something from himmmmmmm and started freaking out and trying to "kill" the scabies my self, my feet were getting red and inflamed. I think I just...I don't know what it was, honestly. I went to a dermatologist in a hospital and was like "omg I think I have scabies" and she was like whaatt and ushered me into this secret room and made me take off my boots. Then she was like "oh...okay. no." lol. When the doctor saw me, she did think something was wrong with my feet, but definitely not scabies. I kept bringing it up and mentioning my volunteering thing and she was like "seriously, stop, get this out of your head" lol. (And it wasn't bed bugs either. Though last year I'm pretty sure I got bitten by some in a hotel, but thankfully didn't bring them with me anywhere...)



Anyway. So I had scabie paranoia but not the real thing. It must really suck :/



And did you really have leprosy? Do you still have a nose? (that was probably not a good joke)Bellac is a lovely little town! It has everything you are likely to need on a daily basis, and is surrounded by lovely countryside, mountains, forests, lakes etc. However, any small town in rural France will be quiet in Winter. On the plus side, property is good value for money. We have lived in France, about half an hour from Bellac, since 2003. It amuses me sometimes when expats comment on the lack of 'life' in Winter - just what they expect from a small rural town escapes me. There are a lot of expats in and around Bellac, and to be honest all around the Limousin, and they are still coming, despite Brexit. We are actually considering selling up our house and gite business and moving into a house we have been renting out in Bellac which has just become available! Our place is becoming a bit hard for us to upkeep. Bellac also has a station, with trains to Limoges, by the way. It is not far from Limoges airport, which is a very important consideration. It has a theatre, library, all sorts of things you can do in Winter. I personally love the differences in seasons here.Mr bhamham



Consider Alpe du Huez.



We have a place there (in the family) and we go every year.



L'alpe ticks all your boxes.



Indoor pool/ very nice outdoor pool.



Plenty of mountain Walks.



Plenty of things to do.



Plenty of food shops.



You don't need a car....although it can be useful.



Plenty of cycling / Plenty of Cyclists !!!



And !!!...of course the Tour de France arrives on the 19/07 which is worth experiencing.



I am sure someone who owns a flat would bite your hand of for 2000 euros for the month.



Try le bon coin, booking sites and the Alpe du Huez website when in changes from winter (skiing) to summer in a few months time for accomodation.



If that tickles your fancy, ask any questions as I have going for over 20 years. It is my second home.



There are plenty of places to rent. I would sure you would find somewhere.Ottawa, Ontario  Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Canada's hardworking farmers are the backbone of Canada's economy, particularly in rural communities, and ensure families across Canada, and around the world, have safe, high-quality food on their tables. The Canadian turkey industry is a vital part of the Canadian poultry sector, producing turkey products worth $412 million a year and a pillar for growth, job creation and innovation across the country.

Member of Parliament for London North Centre, Peter Fragiskatos, on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lawrence MacAulay, announced today at the National Poultry Show in London an investment of almost $240,000 to the Turkey Farmers of Canada (TFC) to assist producers in meeting the highest animal welfare, biosecurity and food safety standards.

TFC received $98,235 to conduct the final government recognition stages of its On-Farm Food Safety Program that will help enhance the credibility of production practices with buyers, stakeholders and consumers.

An additional $141,200 was provided to amend TFC's current Flock Care Program which enables the turkey industry to demonstrate adherence to national standards for animal welfare, and provides buyers and consumers with the assurance that all animal welfare standards are met and up to date.

Photo:

Brian Ricker, Executive Member, Turkey Farmers of Canada and Chair of Turkey Farmers of Ontario

MP Peter Fragiskatos, London North Centre

Ryan Brown, General Manager, Turkey Farmers of Ontario

Source : Government of CanadaFormer One Nation turn independent WA Senator Rod Culleton.

FORMER rogue WA One Nation Senator and anti-banking farmer Rod Culleton has had his $700,000 Commonwealth government debt waived, along with other politicians ruled ineligible by the High Court recently.

But a judgment handed down in a recent effort by Mr Culleton to try to overturn his bankruptcy in the Federal Court says the Trustee has also identified creditors of the bankrupt estate with claims totalling more than $3.2 million.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann issued a statement late last week saying a process was undertaken to consider the debts owed by various disqualified politicians like Mr Culleton, and others caught up in the dual citizenship saga, including former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and the partys deputy-leader and senior cabinet minister Fiona Nash.

Mr Culleton had initially refused to make a formal request to the government to have his $700,000 debt waived, after being disqualified from parliament early last year due to bankruptcy and another breach of Section 44 of the constitution relating to a larceny conviction at the time of his nomination for election in 2016.

A statement from Senator Cormann said part of the governments consideration process, involving the Department of Finance, the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority and the Department of the House of Representatives and the Department of the Senate, included the creation of a departmental advisory committee of senior public officials to provide advice on the associated debts.

The departmental advisory committee determined that all parliamentarians performed their duties in good faith for a proper purpose and that it was difficult for individuals at the time of nomination to know that they were ineligible for nomination, he said.

As such, the departmental advisory committee recommended waiving debts consistent with the principles and intent of the Requests for discretionary financial assistance under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2014.

Based on the recommendation of the committee, I have agreed to waive the debts of the following individuals: Rodney Culleton, Barnaby Joyce, Scott Ludlam, Fiona Nash, Malcolm Roberts and Larissa Waters.

These debts include salaries, superannuation and electorate allowances, as well as non-salary expenses, such as, staff expenses, office expenses and travel expenses.

The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters is currently reviewing matters relating to Section 44 of the Constitution - the Government will consider the recommendations of the Committee when they are finalised.

Senator Cormanns office was asked to clarify reports the total waived debt for all of the politicians was $16 million - but the government doesnt discuss the details of individual debt waiver matters, no matter who the individuals are, due to privacy matters.

In May last year, a letter to Mr Culleton on the matter of his debt said the Commonwealth non-salary payments made to him, or on his behalf, included; $16,150.08 in superannuation; $188,601.96 in benefits; and $375,243.22 in staff salary and other payments.

Mr Culleton told Fairfax Media that - including his six-month salary payments of about $100,000 - his total debt amount to the Commonwealth was close to $700,000.

But he said he wouldnt be asking the government to waive the debts because it would be an admission.

Im not going to admit to something that is wrong and hasnt been tested at law, he said at the time.

Mr Culleton said he couldnt be subject to sentencing  for the alleged theft of a $7.50 tow truck key  as he was originally convicted in absentia in a NSW court over the larceny charge that was later annulled, after his election.

Meanwhile, Mr Culleton also recently lost another attempt in a Federal Court case decision handed down in mid-March, to try to have his bankruptcy overturned.

None of the claims or arguments of the applicant have any prospects of success and the pursuit of many of the claims is quite clearly an abuse of process, the judgement said in the unsuccessful claim pursued by Mr Culleton against his former farming neighbour Dick Lester who won a long-running bankruptcy claim over a soured farm property transaction and contract to sell oats.

The judgement ordered that Mr Lesters costs to defend the claim be paid from Mr Culletons bankrupt estate.

The applicant did not put anything that suggested that these conclusions should be revisited under the power to annul the sequestration order, the judgment said.

The applicants claims have no prospect of success and, in any event, the pursuit of them constitutes an abuse of process.

Throughout the material in this proceeding there are complaints by the applicant about various aspects of the way in which the primary judge dealt with the issues in the Single Judge Bankruptcy Proceeding, such as his Honours refusal to grant an adjournment and his conclusion about the applicants ability to pay his debts.

Those matters have been the subject of prior decision, or have no substance, or both.

Finally, there is no substance in the allegation that Balwyn (Mr Lester) engaged in criminal conduct in presenting the creditors petition.

The judgement said a Trustee for the applicants (Mr Culleton) bankrupt estate was appointed in place of the Official Trustee on June 8, 2017.

It said that as at November 21, 2017, the applicant had failed to submit a Statement of Affairs as required by s 54 of the Bankruptcy Act and, as a result, an offence referral was made by the Official Trustee and accepted by the Australian Financial Security Authority Enforcement Department.

The Trustee has said hes investigating potential voidable transactions involving the applicant transferring shares in a company called Australian Keg Company Pty Ltd, the judgment said.

As at November 17, 2017, Mr Vince (Trustee) had identified creditors of the bankrupt estate whose claims total $3,218,466.46, the judgment said.

In addition, the Official Trustee is owed $9,299.41 in remuneration and expenses for work performed in relation to the applicants estate, including legal fees.

Mr Vince calculates his remuneration for work performed by him and his staff in relation to the applicants estate as at November 17, 2017 to be $20,062 plus GST, and disbursements of $1,545.08 plus GST.

The applicant (Mr Culleton) did not present any evidence or plausible evidence of his financial circumstances.

A creditors petition submitted during the bankruptcy proceedings identified about $4m in alleged debts, including to farmers and agribusinesses, which Mr Culleton described as nonsense.CSIRO researchers Nikki Van de Weyer and Steve Henry record mouse population data during a recent monitoring exercise through south eastern Australia.

AUSTRALIAs biggest investment into mice-related research in the grains industry was announced last week by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

The GRDC is injecting more than $4.1 million into mouse control research, development and extension (RD&E) initiatives in response to the increasing prevalence of mice in many key grain-growing regions of Australia.

GRDC managing director Dr Steve Jefferies said the GRDC recognised the enormity of the mouse problem and the severe impact it had on farms, regional communities and the broader industry.

The issue with mice has escalated in recent years and we need to improve our understanding as to why that has happened so we can provide growers with innovative and more effective mouse control options and tactics, Mr Jefferies said.

The program includes three key investments that will be led by the CSIRO.

The first investment of more than $3.2m focuses on understanding mouse ecology, biology and management, the second on increasing surveillance, and the third on mouse feeding preferences.

The first investment will provide growers and industry with a greater understanding of the behaviour of mice under no-till and stubble retention systems, and it will quantify the impact of various management tactics (such as strategic tillage, seeding systems, food and habitat reduction) on mouse numbers.

Until now, management strategies to control mice have been based on research conducted under conventional cropping systems which often incorporated tillage, burning and removal of stubbles, as well as more livestock than is typical of todays farming systems.

Our farming systems have changed markedly since then, Dr Jefferies said.

No-till, stubble retention and in many cases little or no livestock are now the norm in many areas, so we need to know whether these contemporary, conservation farming practices are now favouring the persistence of mouse populations from one season to the next due to maintenance of year-round habitat, lack of soil disturbance, or whether there are other factors at play.

We are no longer seeing a plague situation one year, followed by a sudden crash in the population and the absence of mice for extended periods of time thereafter.

These days, mice seem to be a constant and our high-yielding crops and heavy stubbles appear to be providing them with an abundance of food and protection.

Technologies such as in-burrow cameras and radio-tracking devices are expected to be used during the studies to better understand mouse behaviour.

The second key investment of more than $630,000 will expand and extend GRDCs involvement in national mouse monitoring and surveillance.

The aim is to develop a more precise real-time national early warning system for potential plagues and equip growers with the ability to proactively manage increases in the outbreak of mice to minimise crop losses and reduce economic impacts.

The third key investment commits up to $275,000 to investigate mouse feeding preferences and bait efficacy.

Broad scale application of zinc phosphide wheat bait (at the prescribed rate of one kilogram per hectare) is currently the only method available for growers to control mice in their paddocks, but efficacy of this bait has become an issue.

An investment in this area will explore conditions which lead to the apparent reduction in attractiveness of zinc phosphide baits and subsequent lower efficacy.

The two key questions relate to the role of background food availability on baiting efficacy, and whether there are more suitable bait substrates.

It appears mice have an aversion to the wheat-based bait in some situations, Dr Jefferies said.

This could be due to the availability of more appealing alternative food sources, such as barley and pulses, so the GRDC and its research partners will be endeavouring to determine if this is in fact the case.

Researchers will also be investigating whether mice stockpile non-baited grain and other food sources in order to survive, and if so the research will aim to determine the optimum time to bait to overcome this mouse survival technique.

GRDC manager of pests Leigh Nelson said the GRDC was committed to exploring all options in an effort to provide growers with better mouse control solutions.

In addition to the new investments Dr Nelson said the GRDC continued to support a wide range of other ongoing mouse-related RD&E.POPULAR WA author Fleur McDonald has released her latest novel Fools Good, which goes in a different direction to her previous offerings.

Fools Good was developed after the Esperance scribe completed extensive interviews with detectives involved in stock crime.

It is based around the character of detective Dave Burrows who was posted to the remote goldfields town of Barrabine.

Dave was featured in Fleurs previous books and after talking with publishers Allen and Unwin, it was decided that Dave should have a series of his own.

Its a bit heavier on the crime side of things, Fleur said.

Fools Gold dates back to 1997 when Dave was a newly-badged detective who was keen to join the elite stock stock.

Fleur said he was forced to investigate reports of a mysterious late night trespassing, a missing person, guns being drawn on strangers, and a local prospector who phones in with horrific news that could hold the key to everything.

When doing her research on the latest novel, Fleur spent time with people involved in stock crime investigations and singled out two of them.

The first was detective Dave Byrne who is based in Perth.

He helped me out with the character of Dave Burrows and also introduced me to detective inspector Mick Dowie from Toowoomba.

After spending time with him in Queensland the pair struck up an alliance and Fleur now takes the message of farm and cyber safety to everyone she speaks to at various events.

She said the information gathered from the two detectives was incredible and helped make the story more authentic when writing about the crimes in the book.

Fleur said when framing certain parts of the book she was able to send the story to Mick to ensure it sounded legitimate.

She said the character of Dave was an approachable one.

When writing the book she had to remember it was set in 1997  back in an era where there were limited mobile phones and phone coverage  and she had to picture the characters using fax machines with rolls of shiny paper.

As part of the research Fleur also spent time in WAs Goldfields, talking to people around Kalgoorlie and Ora Banda.

I got some really good back stories as well, she said.

She said it was a lot easier to imagine life in a remote area when living out there for a while.

Sometimes when I was out there camping by myself I was aware that I was a woman on her own.

It was not hard to imagine how vulnerable people out there on their own could be.

The launch of Fools Gold coincides with the launch of her not-for-profit website Breaking the Silence that has been designed to help rural women get the support they need when facing domestic violence in under-resourced areas.

The site focuses on Esperance, where Fleur lives, but there are plans to expand it to Albany in coming weeks.

Hopefully by the end of the year we will have all of WA covered, Fleur said.

And hopefully next year we can start to build on that nationally.

Living in a rural area and realising country women dont have a lot of resources at their fingertips when looking for help in domestic violence situations, Fleur decided to fund the project herself.

If you have been in a domestic violence situation and you need to find help it is really difficult to find the information you need in country areas.

My research took me to 10 different websites to get practical help.

More information: go to breakingthesilence.com.auSIRE evaluation trials continue to gather interest if the crowd that turned out to the Merino Lifetime Productivity (MLP) Field Day at West Pingelly last week is anything to go by.

It was the second annual field day held at University of Western Australias (UWA) Ridgefield property and gave attendees the opportunity to view the ewe progeny groups and their results to date and speak with the sites committee members, sire breeders and industry connections.

The Pingelly site is in its second year of joinings and currently runs 30 sire groups of 2016-drop Merino ewes and 30 sire groups of 2017-drop (nine-month-old) unjoined Merino ewes.

The 2016-drop ewes were naturally mated to Ridgefield maternal efficiency rams and commercial flock rams and are due to lamb in June.

The ewes are by AI sires from WA and Eastern States studs with some link sires used in all the sire evaluation sites and out of medium wool type ewes from four age groups at Ridgefield.

The latest selection of Ridgefield ewes were AI mated to trial sires over two days in late January.

Sires were selected as trait leaders for specific traits, industry impact sires, major show winners and representatives of all wool and skin types.

Raw and adjusted data was available for each sire group at the field day.

This included post weaning raw data for counts, rear type, weights, wool, visual score and professional classer grade for all ewes.

The 2016-drop ewes also displayed pre-joining adult raw data for these traits in addition to weights and weight gain and condition score from yearling, hogget and adult recordings and pregnancy scanning results.

These figures were given greater accuracy using adjusted sire means and flock breeding values (within site/drop).

Lambing and shearing in the coming weeks will deliver more results to be collaborated.

The Merino Lifetime Productivity Project (MLP) is a 13 million dollar funded project over ten years.

It is one of the biggest and longest Merino genetics projects ever undertaken with 166 sires used in five Merino sire evaluation sites across Australia set to produce more than 25,000 F1 ewe progeny over the lifetime of the project.

The F1 ewe will be assessed through its life while F2 progeny will be assessed up until weaning.

MLP Pingelly site chairman Brett Jones, Ejanding stud, Dowerin, said given the tough season, the presentation of the ewes were a credit to everyone involved and he was happy to see a good crowd in attendance.

He acknowledged the work of the site committee and UWA and Murdoch University students and staff for their efforts in presenting and penning the ewes, and thanked all sponsors for their support of the project.

Its early days for the trial and there are more questions than answers at the moment but we are breaking new ground, Mr Jones said.

Its an exciting project and new technologies have made a project like this possible and we are going to learn bucket loads but it takes time.

The combination of traits between wool, fertility, numbers of lambs weaned, is only going to get more accurate as more data is collected.

AWI and MLP program manager genetics and animal welfare advocacy Geoff Lindon presented an overview of AWIs on-farm research investment and the MLP project.

He said AWI spends 13 per cent or $2.2 million of its annual on-farm budget of $16 million on genetic research and is comparable to other R&D organisations.

MLP accounts for 60pc of these funds and Mr Lindon said considerable industry change over five decades led to the significant investment in MLP.

There is less reliance of visual classing and greater push to class younger with the advance of genomics, he said.

Higher percentage of breeding ewes in the flock, body weight assuming greater importance, greater focus on wool and lambs, measuring productivity from per head to hectare and importance of welfare and resilience traits.

This project is testing a lot of these changes and offers an assessment and ideas for the future.

Mr Lindon said DNA testing and widespread automatic data collection has assisted with project costs.

We need the 25,000 lamb records to tease apart some of the complicated interactions between lowly heritable and difficult to measure traits, he said.

A whole range of traits are being measured such as fleece value, carcase, reproduction, welfare and resilience and these are getting multiply measured through the lifetime of the ewe giving millions of data being collected.

Are the current indexes well correlated with lifetime productivity?

There is a reasonable amount of science behind this but we suspect there could be some fine tuning.

Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association (AMSEA) executive officer Ben Swain, Gunnedah, New South Wales, kicked off proceedings by describing the sires of each pen of ewes and how the ewe progeny measured against other sire progeny groups in the sire evaluation.

Later in the day Mr Swain also detailed some results at the Balmoral site in Victoria, focusing on some preliminary findings in regards to scanned fat score and its effect on production such as conception, lambing and weaning rates.

He said given its a new site at Pingelly, the good crowd in attendance was a show of optimism in the sheep businesses.

Mr Swain said its important to understand the results were reflective of the sire, not necessarily the stud, and the sires were selected for the project for a variety of reasons.

Unlike a standard sire evaluation where entrants pick their best ram, in a lifetime productivity trial we went out to the whole industry and looked for rams that were as diverse from each other as possible, he said.

MLP Pingelly site manager Bronwyn Clarke outlined operations at the site in regards to joining, weaning, shearing, classing, mid-side sampling, muscle and fat scanning, and weighing and collating all the data.

Ms Clarke also described how they improved the accuracy of the raw data by using adjusted sire means and flock breeding values (within site/drop).2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning --

4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS.

We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover.

We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come.Suffering is a collection of experiences that you feel has negatively impacted you. Any experience you consider negative or positive is an experience that you continue to be attached to. Attachment to anything means you have identified with it. As long as you identify with something it is stuck with you. Anything stuck causes suffering.

Ashta-deb

Acceptance is to embrace all experiences as one. Neither is good nor bad. Acceptance cultivates forgiveness for self and others. It brings physical, mental and spiritual balance and clarity. It is essential to good health. Acceptance cultivates compassion and joy.

All emotion is energy in motion. Energy is meant to be in continuous flow through you, around you and within you. When suffering occurs, it is when the flow of energy has become obstructed. Obstruction occurs when we label energy which is meant to be in motion.

Energy remains formless until labeled. A Label gives form to the formless. The label or name table is a table. The label chair is a chair. The form is held by the label it is assigned. Solid matter is not meant to be in motion.

Emotions however are met to be in motion. A label on an emotion of anxious becomes known as anxiety, sadness becomes known as sad, happiness becomes known as happy, etc. Observe the form is not the label but the label is the form. This is important to note as you want the chair to hold its form, but you dont want anxiety to hold its form. You want it to flow.

A need to label is mankinds way of understanding his world. External labeling works for solid matter. However, internal labeling obstructs the flow of energy, causing suffering. Internal energy should remain nameless. Consider  if you did not know the name helpless, how would you know when helplessness descends upon you. You would not. Factually the energy would flow in and out unnoticed with little or no discomfort. Understand how you labeled your emotions so that you can un-label them.

Channelling Your Suffering

There are many causes of suffering. Finding the root is important. When experiencing suffering self-question; What do I need now? Why do I need this? Between ages 0 and 12 when was the first time I felt this energy?

A Label attaches you to a belief that no longer exists. Investigate your beliefs. What were you told as a child? What do you say as an adult? And what would you change now?

Belief means you are either for or against something. Embrace duality by finding that which is similar between the two sides.

Observe your self-talk. What do you say about yourself? E.g. I am clumsy, I am a screw-up, I am ugly. Whatever you label yourself that is what you will be and feel. Release all labels. Even a label - I am beautiful becomes toxic as suffering will come when beauty fades.

When the energy of suffering arises, move into it, dont run or try to suppress it. Cry if you need to. Scream into a pillow. Or punch a pillow. This helps to release the energy.

Suffering is an experience. We must embrace all experiences. Self-question; What is the understanding of this suffering?

Release the need to label your emotions. Understand it is energy. Observe the only time you feel suffering is when you are aware of the label you have given to the energy.

When suffering arises in memory this is an indication of unresolved childhood experiences. Explore your past like an adventurer and not like a victim.

Meditation, Yoga and Pranayama are spiritual practices that balance the flow of energy.

A healthy lifestyle of proper nutrition, physical exercise and spiritual reflection balances the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of our Being.

Emotional healing requires patience and self-honesty. Suffering is also a sign that there is resistance to accepting ones unsupportive habits and traits. Whatever your childhood programming is, it is all harboured in your subconscious mind. Observe  often what we say consciously does not match our actions. This is because our actions come from our subconscious mind. We must strive to connect our conscious and subconscious to sustain a natural flow of energy the way nature intended.

Suffering contracts your energy while Acceptance expands your energy. Expansion of energy promotes soul awareness.

About the Author:

Ashta-deb is a registered hypnotherapist and a member of the National Guild of Hypnotists, Inc. She integrates Yoga Nidra (Eastern Wisdom) with Hypnosis (Western knowledge) to maximize supportive results.

She offers several online self-awareness and self-development guidance sessions via Skype. Her unique ability to apply the centuries old teachings of Vedanta to modern day life is truly amazing. Her psychic abilities allow her to see deeply into anothers soul which at times can prove unsettling. Ashta-deb engages daily in meditation and pranayama, reading books on Vedanta and experimenting with ancient yoga techniques as described in the scriptures. She enjoys her family time with her husband, Sam and four children in Ontario, Canada.

Connect with Ashta-deb on Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about Life Happens to Us at www.ashtaashram.com.Director Malcolm D. Lee (Girls Trip) returns to filmmaking duties for upcoming comedy flick Night School, starring Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish in the leading roles, and with producer Will Packer working behind-the-scenes. Following a group of misfits forced to attend adult classes so that they can give the GED exam the best shot possible, the movie holds close Hart and Packers signature style of funny. This week, the first trailer for the flick has been released, which you can now check out below:

Also starring Rob Riggle, Taran Killam, and Romany Malco, Night School looks set to bring true comedy back to the big screen.

Hart stars as one of the students in the film, whilst Haddish will play his teacher. Though shes in a position of authority, shes clearly a woman with her own issues, which may tend to take priority over bringing her students to success.

Filming for the movie started in Atlanta, Georgia in September 2017, from a story written by Hart, Harry Ratchford, Joey Wells, Matt Kellard, and Nicholas Stoller. We cant wait to see what the team has come up with!

Night Screen comes to cinemas across the UK on September 28, 2018.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

find me on and follow me onDespite his face being obscured in several of his biggest roles, its getting harder and harder to miss Toby Kebbell. The British actor has been lauded as one of the hottest rising stars of his generation, but hes actually been appearing on our screens for almost 15 years, during which time he has impressed audiences and critics alike with his diverse range and all-round charm.

With his latest movie Hurricane Heist in UK cinemas on April 6, we thought it was time to get better acquainted with the home-grown star; hes got quite the CV, were sure youll agree

Dead Mans Shoes

Although he had already appeared in TV Drama, it was Shane Meadows gritty psychological thriller that propelled Kebbell into the spotlight. His sensitive portrayal of a young man with learning difficulties earned him a British Independent Film Award nomination for Most Promising Newcomer, and a legion of fans.

Control

To really put yourself on the map as an actor you need a proper scene-stealing role, and thats exactly what Anton Corbijns Joy Division biopic provided. Kebbell even beat Colin Firth to a British Independent Film Award thanks to his intense yet comic portrayal of band manager Rob Gretton.

RocknRolla

You know youre up there with the heavyweights when Guy Ritchie personally casts you in one of his projects. Starring alongside Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Gerard Butler, and Thandie Newton, Kebbell played Johnny Quid, the titular rocker of the film; a complex addict whose many personas kept the audience on their toes.

Black Mirror

One of the most highly-rated episodes of Charlie Brookers anthology series, The Entire History of You is set in the near future, when everyone has access to a memory implant that records everything they do, see, and hear. As Kebbells anguished lead demonstrates, thats not always a good thing.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

After a string of edgy British projects, Kebbell branched out with a role in the $235 million budget to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, playing the scheming human-hating ape Koba. On method acting, Kebbell said, I go home and pretend to be an ape. Thats dedication.

Fantastic Four

Playing another bad guy in another big budget sci-fi, Kebbell held his own amongst the Marvel reboots talented young cast, which included Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, Kate Mara, and Michael B. Jordan. Whats more, his face is only covered for part of the movie, earning him even more Hollywood power.

Warcraft

Another motion-capture adventure beckoned with director Duncan Jones fantasy. But far from playing another baddie, this film sees Kebbell taking on the role of Durotan; a peace-keeping orc with a high sense of morality.

Kong: Skull Island

After Kebbells strong performance in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, its not surprising that there were rumours hed taken on the titular character in Kong: Skull Island. They turned out to be only partly true The actors main part was a human Air Force major, but he did provide a few facial references that were used for Kong.

The Hurricane Heist (Releases April 6)

In the latest high-octane action from the director of The Fast and the Furious, Toby Kebbell plays Will Rutledge, a storm-loathing meteorologist who finds himself working alongside a Treasury agent (Maggie Grace) to save both $600 million and his estranged brother (Ryan Kwanten), whos been kidnapped by the thieves. The gale-force drama will leave you clinging to your seat.

The Hurricane Heist blows into cinemas across the UK on April 6, 2018.Turkeys largest avian sanctuary, the Kzlrmak Delta Wetland and Bird Sanctuary in northern Samsun province, has sprung to life, welcoming waterfowl and wild horses to its water holes and green grasses.

A site on UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, the highly diverse, 56-hectare wetland that runs into the Black Sea includes freshwater and saltwater marshes, wet meadows, forests and sand dunes.

The delta is home to 352 bird species, three-quarters of all the birds in Turkey.

It is considered a bird sanctuary for its protection of 27 rare or endangered bird species.

It is also considered one of the most important breeding areas for herons and storks in the southern Black Sea region.

Millions of migratory birds stopover in the Kzlrmak Delta twice a year and hundreds of aquatic birds spend the winter season there.

The basin also hosts 561 plant species, covering half of families and one-sixth of all species in Turkey.

It is a rich location for agriculture, supporting crops from rice to melons.

The Kzlrmak is Turkeys longest river that originates and also flows into its territories. It is also the second largest drainage basin in Turkey.

The Kzlrmak runs through middle and northern Anatolia, passing through Sivas, Kayseri, Nevsehir, Krsehir, Krkkale, Cankr, Corum and Samsun provinces on its way to the Black Sea.

Source: aNewsCategory Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-CategoryNEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Pfizer Inc. (PFE) is in talks with Procter & Gamble (PG) on a sale of its consumer business, CNBC reported. The business includes Chapstick lip balm, Advil pain reliever and Centrum vitamins and has been for sale for months. Drug giants GlaxoSmithKline and Reckitt Benckiser Group as well as Johnson & Johnson have already looked at the business. P&G remains the one potential bidder, though the two sides are far apart on price, with P&G looking to pay $15 billion, while Pfizer was seeking $20 billion or more, the report said. The report noted that Pfizer is considering other options, including a joint venture with other drug makers. The pharmaceutical giant hopes to reach a decision by the end of the month. 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.Thomas Schmidheiny and Bertrand Collomb not to stand for re-election at upcoming Annual General Meeting

Regulatory News:

Thomas Schmidheiny has taken the decision not to stand for re-election at LafargeHolcim's upcoming Annual General Meeting on May 8, 2018. He has been with the Group for almost 50 years in different management functions and later on the Board of Holcim. Following the merger, Thomas Schmidheiny has been a Board member of LafargeHolcim since 2015. He will remain one of the Group's main shareholders.

In recognition of his many years of service to LafargeHolcim, the Board of Directors has decided to name Thomas Schmidheiny Honorary Chairman of the Group.

Thomas Schmidheiny began his career at Holcim in 1970. He became a member of the Executive Committee six years later and served as CEO between 1978 and 2001. After joining the Board of Directors in 1978 he was Chairman of the Board of Directors from 1984 until 2003. Thomas Schmidheiny was instrumental in the merger of Holcim and Lafarge to form LafargeHolcim, the world's largest cement manufacturer.

Bertrand Collomb joined Lafarge in 1975. After serving in different management positions, including Head of North American operations, he served as Chairman and CEO of Lafarge from 1989 to 2003, as Chairman until 2007 and then subsequently Director until 2012. He was named Honorary Chairman of Lafarge in 2007 and joined LafargeHolcim's Board in 2015. Bertrand Collomb has also decided not to stand for re-election at the upcoming Annual General Meeting, in order to follow a customary age limit of 75 years.

Beat Hess, Chairman of the Board of LafargeHolcim: "For almost 50 years Thomas Schmidheiny has made a significant contribution to the success of Holcim and later LafargeHolcim. He was instrumental in successfully expanding into promising growth markets and has made Holcim one of the leading companies in its industry. On behalf of the Board and all employees I would like to thank Thomas Schmidheiny for his exceptional contribution to our company.

"Bertrand Collomb has contributed significantly to the success of Lafarge and later LafargeHolcim in various roles. Under his leadership Lafarge has become an industry leader in the building materials sector. On behalf of the Board of Directors and all employees I would also like to thank him."

All other current members of the Board of Directors will be proposed for re-election at the Annual General Meeting:

Beat Hess, Chairman

Oscar Fanjul

Paul Desmarais, Jr.

Patrick Kron

Gerard Lamarche

Adrian Loader

Jurg Oleas

Nassef Sawiris

Hanne Birgitte Breinbjerg Srensen

Dieter Spalti

With the election of the nominees, the Board of Directors would consist of 10 members as compared to 12 today. Further details such as the agenda and the motions can be found in the invitation to the Annual General Meeting which will be available as of April 13, 2018 on www.lafargeholcim.com/agm.

About LafargeHolcim

LafargeHolcim is the leading global building materials and solutions company serving masons, builders, architects and engineers all over the world. Group operations produce cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete which are used in building projects ranging from affordable housing and small, local projects to the biggest, most technically and architecturally challenging infrastructure projects. As urbanisation increasingly impacts people and the planet, the Group provides innovative products and building solutions with a clear commitment to social and environmental sustainability. With leading positions in all regions, LafargeHolcim employs around 80,000 employees in more than 80 countries and has a portfolio that is equally balanced between developing and mature markets.

More information is available on www.lafargeholcim.com

Follow us on Twitter @LafargeHolcim

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Contacts:

LafargeHolcim

Media Relations:

Zurich: +41 (0) 58 858 87 10

Paris: +33 (0) 1 44 34 11 70

media@lafargeholcim.com

or

Investor Relations:

Zurich: +41 (0) 58 858 87 87

investor.relations@lafargeholcim.com

DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC), the world's leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, today announced a pair of acquisitions that will significantly advance its position as one of Microsoft's leading global independent Systems Integrator (SI) partners for Microsoft Dynamics 365.

In separate agreements, DXC Technology has acquired Sable37, a leading Microsoft Dynamics 365 Value Added Reseller (VAR) and global independent software vendor of cloud-based industry solutions for Dynamics 365 and eBECS, an award-winning Microsoft Gold Partner delivering total Microsoft business solutions and managed services that help customers digitally transform their business.

Beginning this month, Sable37 and eBECS will be combined with DXC's Eclipse practice to enhance DXC's industry leadership and adding scale to its digital transformation strategy. The combination of DXC Eclipse with Sable37 and eBECS will enable DXC to significantly expand its Dynamics 365 cloud capabilities across the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and Canada.

"The acquisitions of eBECS and Sable37 will enhance our ability to address client needs and add significant value to DXC's Eclipse global business. It allows DXC to expand and enhance its cloud-first business with software, services, systems integration and cloud offerings particularly in financial services, retail, manufacturing and public sector verticals," said Troy Richardson, senior vice president and general manager, Enterprise and Cloud Applications, DXC Technology.

The additions of Sable37 and eBECS represent a key part of DXC Eclipse's strategy to lead the Microsoft partner marketplace, accelerate the digital transformation journey for DXC's Microsoft clients, and extend the organization's cloud-based industry offerings globally.

Hayden Stafford, vice president, Worldwide Business Applications, Microsoft Corp. said, "Microsoft customers are looking for a trusted partner to help accelerate their digital transformation journeys and empower them to seize the opportunities ahead. The expansion of DXC's Microsoft practice is another great step forward in our global collaboration and consolidates DXC's position as a leading Microsoft Dynamics 365 Gold partner."

"Microsoft's global collaboration with DXC is going from strength to strength. DXC's ongoing commitment to helping our customers accelerate their digital transformation journeys consolidates DXC's leading position as a Microsoft Dynamics Gold Partner in the region," said Michel van der Bel, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Europe, Middle-East, Africa.

By combining two complementary businesses we are uniquely positioned to offer unparalleled service, innovation and opportunity for customers, partners and employees. As we transform, I look forward to building upon our joint legacy of performance; bringing together the best of both companies under DXC Eclipse," said Martin Wildsmith, managing director, Sable37.

"This is a truly exciting time for our customers, our team of professionals, and the Microsoft community in our regions," stated Kevin Hall, chief executive officer, eBECS. "DXC's maturity as a global systems integrator and respected Microsoft partner is an ideal fit for eBECS. Being part of DXC means having the strength and certainty of a long-term business partner with the global infrastructure, high-caliber resources and experience to allow us to truly lead our customers on their digital transformation journeys."

DXC Eclipse is one of the largest, independent Microsoft Dynamics systems integrators in the world delivering Microsoft Dynamics 365, ERP, CRM, business process, analytics, and collaboration solutions on premises and in the cloud. DXC Eclipse has helped over 4,000 active customers achieve successful digital transformation projects using the full suite of Microsoft technologies and applications. DXC Eclipse successfully operates across a large geographic span in the in North America (U.S. and Canada), Pacific (Australia, New Zealand and Fiji) and the UK, Ireland, Israel, Middle East Africa. It is a leading Microsoft partner in these regions with over 2,450 Microsoft Dynamics resources worldwide.

Quotes for ANZ Region

Seelan Nayagam, managing director, DXC Technology in Australia New Zealand

"The acquisition of Sable37 consolidates DXC's position as a leading Microsoft Dynamics 365 independent software integrator in the Australia and New Zealand region. Sable37 will grow DXC Eclipse's global business and allow DXC to expand its cloud-first business with software, services and cloud offerings, particularly in the home builder, retail, manufacturing and distribution industry verticals."

Steven Worrall, managing director, Microsoft Australia

"Microsoft customers are looking for a trusted partner to help accelerate their digital transformation journeys and empower them to seize the opportunities ahead. The expansion of DXC's Microsoft practice is another great step forward in our global partnership and consolidates DXC's position as a leading Microsoft Dynamics Gold partner."

Quotes UKIIMEA Region

Maruf Majed, managing director, DXC Technology's UK, Ireland, Israel, Middle East and Africa

"This acquisition supports DXC's global Microsoft practice strategy to strengthen capabilities across key geographies, enable global deals and the sharing of IP, solutions, and resources to drive efficiencies and business synergies."

Joe Macri, vice president, One Commercial Partner, Microsoft UK

"Our customers are looking for a trusted partner to help drive and deliver their digital transformation. This acquisition by DXC strengthens further the skills and capabilities of their Microsoft Dynamics practice and places them as a leading Microsoft Dynamics Gold partner globally."

About DXC Technology

DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) is the world's leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, serving nearly 6,000 private and public-sector clients from a diverse array of industries across 70 countries. The company's technology independence, global talent and extensive partner network deliver transformative digital offerings and solutions that help clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. DXC Technology is recognized among the best corporate citizens globally. For more information, visit dxc.technology.

About Sable37

Headquartered inMelbourne, Australia; Sable37 was founded in 2004 and has grown rapidly through their reputation for working with customers as a true partner; delivering business-improving software and services and specialises in cloud-based Industry Solutions, powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365. The company also sells proprietary software built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform in key strategic vertical markets including homebuilding, land development, retail, distribution and manufacturing with 15 partners around the world that sell Sable37 IP to customers implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365. Sable37 has 225 employees and successfully operates across Australia, New Zealand, the United States, India and Middle East.

About eBECS

eBECS is an award-winning Microsoft Gold Partner delivering Total Microsoft Business Solutions and Managed Services that help customers digitally transform their businesses, cut complexity and cost, improve customer service and drive growth. eBECS delivers tailored, industry-focused Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions for Finance and Operations (AX and NAV ERP), Sales, Marketing, Customer Service (CRM), Field Service, Project Service Automation, Talent, Analytics, BI and IoT - on-premises or in the Microsoft Azure intelligent cloud. With headquarters in England, eBECS has operations across the United Kingdom & Ireland, Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and North America (US and Canada).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403006713/en/

Contacts:

DXC Technology

Michael Ellis, UKIIMEA Marketing Communications

+44 7825 118 167

michael.ellis2@dxc.com

or

Sheila Dhillon, ANZ Corporate Communications

+ 61 423 884 848

sdhillon@dxc.com

or

Richard Adamonis, Corporate Media Relations

+1-862-228-3481

radamonis@dxc.com

or

Jonathan Ford, Investor Relations

+1-703-245-9700

jonathan.ford@dxc.comOXFORD, England, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The Lithium Sulfur Future Automotive Battery (LiSFAB) project, valued at 7m, led by OXIS Energy and funded by Innovate UK will help to transform electric vehicle technology for commercial use. It will develop a next generation cell and module that is suitable for large electric vehicles such as trucks and buses and will deliver a 400 Wh/kg Li-S cell that will have the significantly improvedpower and cycle life required by large automotive applications.Thiscell will allow buses and trucks tocarry considerably more payload and will cost less because of the abundant cell construction materials. State of Charge andState ofHealth (SoCand SoH) willbeimproved, alongwiththe manufacturing aspect. The project willlook into four areas with OXIS playing a key part in all of them.

On 'Cell Performance' OXIS will work with University College London and William Blythe to utilise newmaterialstoimproveperformanceandcharacteriseelectrodesandcellsusingX-ray tomography and other techniques to accelerate development. This aspect of the work will build on past projects that increased cell specific energy (Wh/kg), with further improvements being made to cycle life, power and cell design to meet the performanceand safety needs ofEVs.

In 'Cell Characterisation', cells will be tested extensively to inform development. Rigorous safety tests, rapid test protocols/formation studies, degradation/abuse analysis will be carried out.

OXIS will also play a key role in 'Cell Manufacturability'. Working with Ceetak, it will develop crucial pouch cell sealing technology required to make a robust automotive cell whilst BPE willlead the design of a pilot facility for the cells that are developed on this project. OXIS will againteam up with University College London to develop a novel, non-invasive X-Ray quality control process for cells.

Collaborating with Cranfield University, the 'Module Development' activity, OXIS will build on the control algorithms developed on the Revolutionary Electric Vehicle Battery project in order to better estimate SoC and SoH and create intelligent charging algorithms to improve lifetime. OXIS along with Williams Advanced Engineering will also investigatemodule construction techniques and cell matching in order to establish a final module.

Chris Flowers, LiSFAB project manager at OXIS says, "This project is of major importance to theUK'sdevelopmentofnextgenerationcellsandmodulesforlargeelectricvehicles.The Li-Stechnology that we are developing in this projectwillalsobeapplicableto OXIS'otherkeymarketssuch as aerospace (including space) and energy storage. The OXIS team has a unique skill setcovering allof ourkeydevelopmentareas.This combined with ourmotivation will help drive us forward and reach our destination of improved cycle life for large electric vehicles."

According to Huw Hampson-Jones, CEO, OXIS Energy, "The LiSFAB project is a significant step forward for OXIS Lithium Sulfur chemistry and technology. Achieving the programme's set goals signifies that we can replace the use of fossilised fuel with rechargeable batteries that are benign to the environment. When Europe is spending 1billion a day on oil, OXIS Li-S batteries make a big impact towards reducing pollution."

Editor's Notes:

OXIS Energy Ltd is involved in the design, development and now the move towards commercial production of Lithium Sulfur cells for battery systems. With 36 patent families, OXIS has been granted 111 patents with 108 pending. OXIS has demonstrable empirical data justifying its claim on the inherent safety of its battery technology.

http://www.oxisenergy.com(Article L.233-8 II of the French Commercial Code and Article 223-16 of the Reglement general of the Autorite des Marches Financiers

Regulatory News:

Teleperformance (Paris:RCF):

Stock Market: Euronext Paris compartment A

ISIN Code: FR0000051807

As of March 31, 2018

- Total number of shares composing the share capital of the company: 57,780,000

- Total number of gross voting rights: 58,859,544

Presence in the bylaws of a provision requiring the disclosure of a crossing of threshold in addition to those for which disclosure is mandatory: NO

ABOUT TELEPERFORMANCE

Teleperformance (RCF ISIN: FR0000051807 Reuters: ROCH.PA Bloomberg: RCF FP), the worldwide leader in outsourced omnichannel customer experience management, serves companies and administrations around the world, with customer care, technical support, customer acquisition (Core Services), as well as with online interpreting solutions, visa application management services, data analysis and debt collection programs (Specialized Services). In 2017, Teleperformance reported consolidated revenue of 4,180 million (US$4,720 million, based on 1 $1.13).

The Group operates 171,000 computerized workstations, with 223,000 employees across 350 contact centers in 76 countries and serving 160 markets. It manages programs in 265 languages and dialects on behalf of major international companies operating in a wide variety of industries.

Teleperformance shares are traded on the Euronext Paris market, Compartment A, and are eligible for the deferred settlement service. They are included in the following indices: CAC Large 60, CAC Next 20, CAC Support Services, STOXX 600, SBF 120, S&P Europe 350 and MSCI Global Standard. They also have been included in the Euronext Vigeo Eurozone 120 index since December 2015, with regard to the Group's performance in corporate responsibility.

For more information: www.teleperformance.com

Follow us on Twitter: @teleperformance

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Contacts:

TeleperformanceMAIDENHEAD, England, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

More than 700 assets adapted and translated into nine languages in three weeks

Original poetry commissioned by Under Armour (NYSE: UA, UAA) to honor trailblazing female athletes, was adapted into nine languages for use across more than 20 countries in just three weeks by content adaptation specialists SDL Marketing Solutions, a division of SDL (LSE: SDL), leaders in global content creation, management, translation and digital experience. The latest instalment of the global Under Armour campaign 'Unlike Any' coincided with the 2018 Winter Olympics from 9-25 February.

Under Armour's 'Unlike Any' campaign, created by Droga5 New York, celebrates female athletes whose achievements are often minimized through gender comparisons. Leading spoken word artists were paired with six Under Armour athletes, including World Alpine Champion Ski Racer, Lindsey Vonn, who competed at the Winter Olympics in North Korea, and commissioned to write and perform poetry crafted for and inspired by each.The films, directed by Georgia Hudson through Agile films, combine the words and fluid movements of each athlete - captured in 360-degree rotations.

The poetry that resulted spanned a range of stylistic techniques and forms, including open prose, classic poetic rhyming couplets, alliterative formats and stream of consciousness associations.In order to deconstruct the poetry, SDL's Language Creative Director Silvia Sanchez worked closely with Under Armour's creative leadership; and throughout the project with Droga5. Each poem was then assigned to an in-market native copywriter handpicked from the SDL roster against their ability to craft poetic content.

To be truly authentic in appeal and reach, SDL Marketing Solutions was briefed not just to translate but adapt each piece of content - a process SDL calls 'transcreation' - for nine different languages. Edits were then produced by SDL Marketing Solutions in over 70 different formats to run across every customer touchpoint including cinema, social media, e-commerce and retail environment.

"This was a beautiful, creative and very personal vision of amazing journeys by these athletes, which we brought to life for Under Armour's global community," said Simon Moore, Global VP, SDL Marketing Solutions. "We go to painstaking lengths to ensure the copywriter fits the specific brief, to ensure we deliver the most sensitively nuanced content. This is one of the most challenging creative projects I have ever been involved in, and one of the most satisfying to see come to fruition."

Over three weeks a total of 700 different assets were 'transcreated' into Dutch, French, Canadian French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Chinese PRC and Russian. The campaign end line: Unlike Any had to be retained in English solely throughout - and only three languages needed an additional 'transcreation' of the end line: Korean, Chinese PRC and Russian.

SDL's copywriting team adapted the poetry for the six female athletes - carefully catering for the individual cultural nuances and highly subjective perceptions of sport, race, gender, class and the poetic art form specific to each. The most challenging of the six to 'transcreate' was Saul Williams' poem 'For Misty' Copeland, due to the poet's distinctive and high personal rap style.

The campaign, 'Unlike Any', was SDL's first 'transcreation' project for Under Armour, and has since worked on the 'transcreation' and adaptation of a number of other high profile campaigns including the global brand messaging and recent launch of the new footwear cushioning technology HOVR and its latest running styles: HOVR Sonic and HOVR Phantom.

The proliferation of media channels and the cost effective delivery of locally relevant - but globally consistent - content across all customer touchpoints is one of the biggest challenges facing brands today. SDL Marketing Solutions is the specialist transcreation and marketing content production division of SDL, helping global businesses overcome the content fragmentation challenge. With more than 1,200 in-country translators and over 600 copywriters, SDL Marketing Solutions can deliver culturally relevant communication faster, perfecting on-brand awareness across every media type and digital touchpoint.

Links

"Unlike Any" campaign page: https://www.underarmour.co.uk/en-gb/unlike-hub.html

About SDL

SDL (LSE:SDL) is the global innovator in language translation technology, services and content management. For over 25 years we've helped companies deliver transformative business results by enabling powerful, nuanced digital experiences with customers around the world. Are you in the know? Find out why 79 out of the top 100 global brands work with us at SDL.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.Duco, the data engineering technology company, today announced that Mireille Dyrberg has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer, assuming responsibility for customer success, all administrative functions, finance and legal. Mireille joins from NEX Group's TriOptima, where she was Chief Operating Officer and previously CEO of EMEA. The appointment follows a recent $28m funding round for Duco.

Christian Nentwich, Duco CEO, said, "Mireille brings deep industry knowledge and a reputation for execution to Duco at a time when the company is scaling rapidly and globally. She adds significant capital markets technology and strategy experience to the management team, strengthening our approach to building a global presence in financial services."

Peter Sobiloff, Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners and Duco board member, added, "Mireille joins Duco at an integral point in the company's evolution. Her leadership and expertise will be a key asset in driving continued growth and creating more opportunity to accelerate the delivery of new solutions and capabilities."

About Mireille Dyrberg

Mireille Dyrberg is Duco's Chief Operating Officer. She was previously Chief Operating Officer of TriOptima, a post-trade services firm providing trade reconciliation, portfolio compression and margin services. Earlier in her career, Mireille was the Global Business Manager for Rates at Dresdner Kleinwort, before which she held a series of Operations leadership roles both in London and Frankfurt. Mireille is consistently ranked among the most influential women in finance in the UK.

About Duco

Duco provides self-service data engineering in the cloud. We empower users to normalize, validate and reconcile any type of data on demand. New clients are live in 24 hours, with results in 7 days and tangible business value in 30 days. Our customers include international banks, brokers, exchanges, asset managers, hedge funds, administrators, service providers and corporates. Headquartered in London, with offices in New York and Luxembourg, Duco serves clients throughout Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. For more information go to http://du.co

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005078/en/

Contacts:

Duco

Chris Peacock

press@du.co

+44 20 3111 9294HANGZHOU, China, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 27th,a media conference entitled"Butterfly - 2018" was held on the bank of West Lake in Hangzhou.

The participants of the conference included the officials from the Propaganda Department and the Department of Culture of Zhejiang Province,XU Jiang, a famous painter,andZHANG Kangkang, a famous writer. This was an important matter for the cultural industry in Zhejiang -- it was also a great event for the art and literary societies.

The main subject of the conferencewas the newly established Baiyue Culture Creative, whose chairman is a famous Yue Opera performing artist, Mao Weitao, whopreformedEurope in 2016 in bothCoriolanus and Du Li Niang.

One of Baiyue's primary management projectsinvolve the China Yue Theatre complex with itsinspiration drawn from a butterfly. Baiyue has been founded to help Yue Opera (the second most popular traditional opera after Peking Opera) and the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe to explore a new development model. Jack Ma, the president of Alibaba and SONG Weiping, the Chairman of Greentown Group, are both from Shengzhou (the birth place of Yue Opera). Due to their love for the culture and music in their hometown, they invested in this company. Under their leadership, many more Zhejiang entrepreneurs will join this fusion between business and culture and contribute their own wisdom and effort.

The company also produces its own plays and develops the theatre landscape through international collaboration. Big Fish the musical debut in London at the end of 2017 was one of Baiyue's co-producing adventures with the Ambassador Theatre Group.Baiyue is collaborating with National Theatre of Great Britain on a new project.

For more information contact:

Cici

+86-186-8889-3602

39676372@qq.comWPP said it had commissioned an independent investigation into an allegation of personal misconduct against chief executive Martin Sorrell. The company said: "The board of WPP has appointed independent counsel to conduct an investigation in response to an allegation of personal misconduct against Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive officer of WPP. The investigation is ongoing. The allegations do not involve amounts which are material to WPP." WPP's brief statement follows a Wall Street Journal ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The globalIPTV marketsize is expected to reach USD 117.07 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., progressing at a CAGR of 13.7% during the forecast period. Increasing demand for application-based services based on the internet would be the key factor driving the industry growth.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661327/Grand_View_Research_Logo.jpg )



Improving internet infrastructure is transforming telecom operators into complement digital service providers (CDSP). At the same time, they are also transitioning towards broadband internet protocol, which leads end-users to access television as an IPTV service. Additionally, favorable government initiatives in India, such as digitization of cable TV and Direct-to-Home (DTH) services, are anticipated to open new avenues over the next few years.

Changing preferences of end-users are giving rise to intense competition between cable TV and IPTV providers. Growing demand for over-the-top (OTT) services is estimated to influence the IPTV market positively. The digital broadcasting ecosystem is widening at a fast pace leading to growth in consumer demands, thereby unfolding immense growth opportunities for service providers. This is also prompting key players to diversify their revenue streams by providing IPTV services along with OTT and pay-tv services.

Furthermore, growing investments in network infrastructure owing to increasing number of IPTV subscribers are likely to work in favor of the market. Rapid advancements in compression, transmission, and watermarking technologies are encouraging telecom providers to add internet protocol television to their service offerings. Services offered in internet-based TV include HD video calls/conferencing, smart home, and video games, tend to consume heavy data traffic and higher bandwidth. This is encouraging customers to upgrade to broadband products that support higher data speed.

Moreover, favorable government regulations governing the industry are making it easier for new entrants to foray into the market. Similarly, improvements in the internet infrastructure and widespread internet connectivity in households are supplementing the revenue growth. In addition, the market is undergoing vertical integration, wherein telecom operators are collaborating with TV manufacturers to develop TV units with built-in set-top-boxes. Such collaborations are being complemented with joint marketing agreements between TV manufacturers and telecom operators to promote IPTV services.

Browse full research report with TOC on "Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Subscription Type (Subscription-Based, Subscription-Free), By Region, Competitive Landscape, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/internet-protocol-television-iptv-market

Further Key Findings From the Report Suggest:

The subscription-based segment is expected to witness the highest CAGR of 11.1% over the forecast period. The growth can be attributed to increasing demand for Video on Demand (VoD) services

Asia Pacific is poised to dominate the overall IPTV market in terms of number of subscribers. The region is projected to witness a CAGR of over 8.0% from 2017 to 2025. Growing internet penetration and increasing awareness about internet-based TV services are contributing to the growth of the region

is poised to dominate the overall IPTV market in terms of number of subscribers. The region is projected to witness a CAGR of over 8.0% from 2017 to 2025. Growing internet penetration and increasing awareness about internet-based TV services are contributing to the growth of the region Latin America is expected to be the most promising region during the forecast period. The region is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of just over 21.0% during the same period, owing to increasing shift from digital terrestrial broadcasting to IPTV and cable networks

is expected to be the most promising region during the forecast period. The region is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of just over 21.0% during the same period, owing to increasing shift from digital terrestrial broadcasting to IPTV and cable networks The key players in the industry are Verizon Communications, Inc.; AT&T, Inc.; ARRIS International Plc; and Huawei Technologies Co.; Ltd.

Browse related reports by Grand View Research:

Data Analytics Outsourcing Market - The global market for data analytics outsourcing is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 25% from 2015 to 2022.

POS Terminals Market- The global retail point-of-sale terminals market size was valued at USD 13.31 billion in 2015.

Mobile VoIP Market - The global mobile VoIP market size was valued at USD 27.5 billion in 2015.

Digital Asset Management Market - The global digital asset management market size was valued at USD 1.45 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow significantly owing to the expanding densities and volumes of digital assets.

Grand View Research has segmented the global IPTV market on the basis of subscription type and region.

IPTV Subscription Type Outlook (Number of Subscribers, Million, 2014 - 2025) Subscription-based IPTV Subscription free IPTV

IPTV Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; Number of Subscribers, Million, 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. Asia Pacific China India Japan Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East and Africa (MEA)



Read Our Blog By Grand View Research: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/blogs/technology

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. Thecompany provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc

Phone: +1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com



Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.comBRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. shares extended losses from the previous session on Wednesday amid persisting worries about global trade war. China issued a list of 106 U.S. products that will be subject to additional tariffs after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled plans to slap tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods. The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 29 points or 0.42 percent at 7,000 in late opening deals after closing 0.4 percent lower on Tuesday. WPP shares fell 1.3 percent. The advertising group said it is investigating allegations of personal misconduct against its chief executive, Martin Sorrell. Smith & Nephew dropped half a percent after announcing the appointment of Namal Nawana as Chief Executive Officer, effective May 7. In economic releases, U.K. construction activity contracted unexpectedly in March following five months of marginal growth, survey data from IHS Markit showed. The IHS Markit/Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply construction Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 47.0 from 51.4 in February. 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.WASHINGTON, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The Society of Interventional Oncology (SIO), an international organisation working to nurture and support interventional oncology worldwide, and BTG plc (LSE: BTG), a global healthcare company focused on Interventional Medicine, announce their 2018 Interventional Oncology/Immuno-Oncology research grant recipients.

The investigators and project proposals that have been awarded grants are:

Rony Avritscher

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Strategies to Modulate Liver Tumor Immune Microenvironment after Catheter-based Drug Delivery

Terence Gade, University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

Characterization of the Immunobiologic Response Following Transarterial Chemoembolization of HCC

Samdeep Mouli

Northwestern University

Y90 Radioembolization Combined with Immune Checkpoint Blockade in an Animal Model of Hepatocellular

Isabel Newton

University of California, San Diego

Effects of Cryoablation on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cancer Stem Cells and the Immune Response

Paul Thevenot

Ochsner Health System

Tumor-Induced Tolerance in Driving Embolization Resistance and Waitlist/Transplant Outcomes

"We are very pleased that with the continued generosity of BTG, SIO has been able to fund a second round of highly meritorious, cutting-edge research that combines the strengths of interventional oncology and immuno-oncology-two disciplines that hold great promise for improving cancer therapy," stated S. Nahum Goldberg, MD, SIO Interventional/Immuno-oncology Working Group Chair, and Vice-Chair for Research and Head of the Interventional Oncology Unit, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. He continued, "Once again, the large number of high-quality submissions to this grant call attests to the sustained intense interest of interventional oncologists worldwide to continue to advance our field through robust scientific inquiry and clinical study. We're proud that to date, SIO has been able to fund nine projects representing a diverse set of outstanding investigators and projects."

"As a leader in Interventional Oncology therapies, BTG is proud to support this independent research fund in partnership with the SIO," said Karen Skinner, BTG's Vice President of Immuno-Oncology R&D. "We're thrilled by the quality of these proposals and to see Interventional Radiologists working alongside their colleagues in the Oncology community to unlock the potential of combining these therapies. We believe this collaborative approach is the best way to accelerate our understanding of this field, and help expand the number of cancer patients who might benefit from the immuno-oncology revolution."

The Interventional Oncology/Immuno-Oncology research grant program was established in 2017 to fund initiatives that evaluate how interventional oncology therapies stimulate the immune system; combine loco-regional and immunotherapy approaches to improve clinical outcome; and improve the understanding of the underlying mechanisms that cause different therapies to influence adaptive and innate immunity, as well as underlying inflammation and tumorigenesis.

Grant recipients were chosen by the SIO Interventional Oncology/Immuno-Oncology Working Group, which includes both interventional radiologists and immuno-oncologists.

About Society of Interventional Oncology (SIO)

SIO serves as the only membership-based organization dedicated wholly to the emerging field of Interventional Oncology (IO), working to establish, nurture, and support IO as the fourth pillar of cancer therapy alongside medical, surgical, and radiation oncology worldwide. IO therapies, such as embolization and tumor ablation, combine the expertise of oncology and radiology and use imaging technology to diagnose and treat localized cancers in ways that are precisely targeted and minimally or non-invasive. The society hosts the annual World Conference on Interventional Oncology (WCIO). For more information, please visit: www.sio-central.org

About BTG

BTG is a global healthcare company focused on Interventional Medicine. Our innovative medical technology helps physicians treat their patients through minimally invasive procedures. We have a growing portfolio of products that advance the treatment of cancer, vascular conditions and severe emphysema. To learn more about BTG Interventional Medicine, please visit: btg-im.com.

For further information contact:

SIO

Amanda Winger O'Kane, Marketing & Communications

+1-202-367-1164; aokane@sio-central.org

BTG plc

Chris Sampson, Corporate Communications Director

+44-20-7575-1595; Mobile: +44-7773-251-178The Austrian solar sector has welcomed the new draft plan for an integrated climate and energy strategy and, in particular, the planned "100,000 roofs program". Greenpeace, however, believes a reorientation of climate policy is urgently needed and that the presented measures are inadequate to reach the Paris climate targets.Austrian Environment Minister, Elisabeth Kostinger and Transport Minister, Norbert Hofer have presented a new draft plan for the integrated climate and energy strategy (IKES) "mission2030" to the government on Tuesday. The plan aims to switch power supply to 100% renewable ...

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.The Good Report 2017 logo

Fearless Girl



Isabel Kurata Co-Founder Act Responsible & The Good Report +41 27 480 3045 / +33 6 0708 1207 isa@act-responsible.org Amanda Benfell Director of Communications +44 20 7467 8125 amanda@gunnreport.com

LONDON, Apr 4, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - The Good Report is a unique ranking of the world's best use of creative communications to promote sustainability and social responsibility to raise awareness of major social and environmental issues. It is created in collaboration between ACT Responsible, the international non-profit association and largest global source of the world's best ads on social and environmental issues, and Gunn Report, the global index of creative excellence in advertising.Now in its fifth year, a total of 1045 campaigns produced by 680 agencies for 850 advertisers from 80 countries were evaluated for this latest Good Report. The ranking is created by combining the industry's recognition with the performance measured by the Gunn Report, as well as the promotional effort behind the campaigns and the general public's recognition from public votes organized by ACT Responsible. There is no complicated criteria or categories, just great work for Good.The Good Report 2017 is made-up of 40 campaigns, of which 31 are for NGO's, institutions and foundations and 9 are for commercial brands. The top 25 agencies are made up of three independents and 22 networked agencies. In the top 20 Networks list there are three independent networks and 17 networks owned by holding companies; and the top 10 Advertisers include six NGO's/Institutions and four for-profit companies.Taking the top places are:Most successful Campaigns promoting good causes 2017#1 Fearless Girl, McCann New York - State Street Corporation#2 Switch it off, Ogilvy Germany, Berlin - Amnesty International#3 Meet Graham, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne - Transport Accident Commission#4 Evan, BBDO New York - Sandy Hook Promise#5 The First Braille Smartwatch, Serviceplan Germany - Dot IncorporationMost successful Agencies promoting good causes 2017#1 - BBDO New York - USA#2 - McCann New York - USA#3 - Ogilvy Berlin - Germany#4 - Clemenger BBDO Melbourne - Australia#5 - Serviceplan Munchen - GermanyMost successful Networks promoting good causes 2017#1 - BBDO Worldwide#2 - FCB Worldwide#3 - McCann Worldgroup#4 - Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide#5 - Young & Rubicam GroupMost successful brands promoting good causes 2017#1 - Amnesty International#2 - WWF#3 - UNICEF#4 - Red Cross#5 - GreenpeaceAct Responsible considers that advertising recognition is too often confined to its commercial side; and that the other part of its role, such as informing, raising awareness and educating, is often forgotten.For 17 years now, Act Responsible has collected the best ads promoting sustainability & social responsibility in order to highlight the use of creativity to raise awareness of the world's major issues. Still, hardly any specific recognition is offered to agencies that give time and talent to support the communication of public interest causes. Nonetheless, the commitment of communication professionals to these causes is fundamental; good causes need campaigns to create awareness of their existence.Act Responsible has created 'The Good Report' in collaboration with Gunn Report, to celebrate the wonderful work and dedication that thousands of agencies are making to support these major causes, in order to further motivate and inspire creativity as well as the continued production of new campaigns."With The Good Report, ACT Responsible continues its mission of promoting, inspiring and federating the communications industry for the greater Good. We truly believe advertising has a major role in educating and promoting good to help make the world a better place and we are proud the celebrate this work every year. Producing The Good Report with the collaboration of the Gunn Report Team is a great privilege" says Herve de Clerck, ACT Responsible Dream Leader."Act Responsible honours the hugely valuable job our industry does, throughout the year in countries all round the world, in multiplying the impact and effectiveness of communications for Good Causes. The Good Report adds a commendable extra dimension to their mission and we are proud to be a part of it," says Emma Wilkie, managing director of Gunn Report.View The Good Report 2017 list at act-responsible.org/the-good-report/The campaigns featured in The Good Report will be exhibited at the annual Act Responsible Expo held at the Cannes Lions 65th international festival of creativity in June.About Act ResponsibleACT Responsible is a Swiss-based non-profit organization created in 2001. ACT stands for Advertising Community Together. The association mission is to federate the Advertising Communications industry around Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development and share good practices. Today, ACT Responsible has created, hand in hand withAdForum.com, a large and unique database of campaigns gathered worldwide, highlighting outstanding work and showing how the advertising industry is playing its role raising awareness on crucial issues. ACT Responsible has built a network of committed agencies, media, production companies, advertisers, institutions, NGOs and corporations all over the world, who believe responsible advertising is an essential focus of modern communications. The association is part of the United Nations Global Compact.About Gunn Report- The global index of creative, effective and media excellence in advertisingGunn Report celebrates award-winning qualities in advertising. It ranks the world's best creative, effective and media ideas as well as companies and countries based on their performance in the most important international, regional and national creative, media, effective and strategy awards contests to produce Gunn 100, WARC 100 and Gunn Media 100.The campaigns it showcases have the power to produce an immediate impact on sales and a longer-term impact on brand building. The Gunn Report's research articles further demonstrate the commercial power of creativity.As well as the various rankings, Gunn Report offers a library of more than 3,500 award-winning creative campaigns and a series of research studies. The Gunn Report was founded by Donald Gunn in 1999 and was acquired by WARC in 2016. Gunn Report is available online by subscription.Source: Gunn ReportContact:Copyright 2018 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.Success of Groupe PSA's light commercial vehicle strategy requires additional manufacturing capacity

Performance plan set to produce commercial vehicles in profitable conditions at the Luton plant (UK)

Convergence of Opel/Vauxhall LCV models on Groupe PSA platforms to increase efficiency

Regulatory News:

As the European LCV market leader, Groupe PSA (Paris:UG) intends to strengthen its market share in this segment in Europe and accelerate its development in the other regions. The increase in manufacturing capacity in the compact vans segment will supply our customers from the Luton plant by 2019 in addition to the existing Hordain facility in France.

In 2017, Groupe PSA reported record LCV unit sales of 476,500, an increase of 15% on 2016. Adding in passenger car derivatives (Peugeot Traveller and Citroen SpaceTourer, for example), the Group sold 658,000 units in 2017.

The investment in Luton is driven through a performance plan negotiated between the Unite Trade Union and the Luton plant (UK), combined with its recognised know-how in the manufacture of light commercial vehicles (LCV) and the flexibility of its existing paint shop. With this initiative, the EMP2 platform for LCV will be localised by mid-2019, as part of the convergence on Groupe PSA technology.

The performance plan has been facilitated by both the responsible social dialogue with the Unite union guaranteeing production flexibility and the support of the United Kingdom Government and Luton Borough Council, despite Brexit uncertainties.

The investment in the plant will serve to optimise its manufacturing processes to ensure that work is performed to the highest standards to meet the expectations of our discerning customers. In 2017, the plant produced 60,000 Opel/Vauxhall Vivaros. The investment aims at increasing the plant's production capacity to 100,000 vehicles per year based on Groupe PSA's EMP2 platform.

"Performance is the trigger for sustainability and I would like to thank all stakeholders involved and underline the open mindset of our union partners, as well as that of the UK Government. This is a major milestone for the future of the Luton plant and a key enabler to serve our ambitions in the commercial vehicle market, guaranteeing customers the best offering in this segment" said Carlos Tavares, Chairman of the managing Board Groupe PSA

"This excellent news for Luton is also a clear demonstration that our PACE! Plan is being executed across all European countries. It is also a clear recognition of the skilled people who have customer satisfaction at the core of their priorities. As we have often stated, we have our future in our own hands and we need to unleash the full potential of the employees" said Michael Lohscheller, CEO of Opel/Vauxhall.

About Groupe PSA

Groupe PSA designs unique automotive experiences and delivers mobility solutions to meet all client expectations. The Group has five car brands, PeugeotCitroenDSOpel and Vauxhall, as well as a wide array of mobility and smart services under its Free2Move brand, aiming to become a great car maker and the preferred mobility provider. It is an early innovator in the field of autonomous and connected cars. It is also involved in financing activities through Banque PSA Finance and in automotive equipment via Faurecia. Find out more at groupe-psa.com/en.

Media library: medialibrary.groupe-psa.com / @GroupePSA

Communications Department www.groupe-psa.com/en - +33 6 61 93 29 36 @GroupePSA

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005617/en/

Contacts:

Groupe PSA

Media :

Denis Chick +44 (0)7850 830125

denis.chick@vauxhall.co.uk

or

Michael Gontgens, +49 160 48 28 317

michael.goentgens@opel.com

or

Nico Schmidt, +49 151 21 54 53 87

nico.schmidt@opel.com

or

Clarisse Grignard +33 (0)6 65 39 28 49

clarisse.grignard@mpsa.comNEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Pfizer Inc. (PFE) announced the U.S. FDA accepted the company's New Drug Application and granted priority review for dacomitinib, a pan-human epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR-activating mutations. The PDUFA goal date for a decision by the FDA is in September 2018. The company noted that Dacomitinib is the second investigational Pfizer lung cancer medicine to receive regulatory acceptance within two months. The European Medicines Agency has also accepted the Marketing Authorization Application for dacomitinib for the same indication. 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.STOCKHOLM, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Patient enrolment is expected to be high for the Phase IIB clinical trial of Sepranolone, driven by strong medical need for a therapy that specifically targets PMDD, the severest form of PMS, in a market with few alternatives. Patients will be recruited in UK, Poland, Germany and Sweden.

Worldwide, 4-5% of all women of a fertile age currently suffer from PMDD. Symptoms can be devastating and disabling, disrupting relationships, family and working life. Yet no therapy specifically targeting the disease is available today, and the most commonly used treatment, SSRI anti-depressants, produce unwanted side effects. Asarina is committed to bringing Sepranolone to the market to address the high unmet medical need for these patients.

Asarina Pharma CEO Peter Nordkild: "Sepranolone is a natural, endogenous, first in class compound with a mode of action distinct from current therapies such as hormones and anti-depressants. Results generated so far are very promising and we're excited to start our Phase IIB trial, to further develop this much-needed candidate drug into a powerful, effective new treatment."

The phase IIB study is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical study enrolling 225-250 patients in Sweden, UK, Germany and Poland.

Peter Nordkild: "PMDD is still commonly un-diagnosed, so the early promising results of Sepranolone are encouraging as they clearly indicate that PMDD is a condition that can be treated. We understand why an increasing number of advocates and lobbying groups are turning round now and saying "let's get real about PMDD" This is the beginning of the 21st century, so surely a safe, targeted, effective treatment can be developed to help the millions of women who suffer from this dreadful condition. Asarina is showing that such a treatment can and is being developed. We're proud to keep moving this essential treatment forward, and to help more women remain in control of their life."

In the US, PMDD has been a well-described diagnosis for 20 years. In Europe however, an EMA Guideline on PMDD exists, but the condition is still less recognized, with women sometimes misdiagnosed as having bipolar disorder or depression.

CONTACT:

Peter Nordkild,

CEO,

Asarina Pharma AB

Phone: +45-25-47-16-46,

e-mail: peter.nordkild@asarinapharma.com

Karin Ekberg,

COO, Asarina Pharma AB

Phone: +46-70-45-800-45,

e-mail: karin.ekberg@asarinapharma.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/asarina-pharma/r/asarina-pharma-recruits-patients-for-phase-iib-trial-of-sepranolone--world-s-first-treatment-targeti,c2487106

The following files are available for download:AVX Corporation (NYSE: AVX) today announced that its subsidiary, AVX Interconnect Europe GmbH ("AVX Interconnect"),a limited liability company under German law, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire KUMATEC Sondermaschinenbau Kunststoffverarbeitung GmbH ("KUMATEC"), a limited liability company under German law. KUMATEC develops, constructs and manufactures automation equipment and processes plastic components.

Included in the purchase is KUMATEC's 50% interest in KUMATEC Hydrogen GmbH Co. KG ("KUMATEC Hydrogen"), a limited liability partnership under German law, which was recently spun out of KUMATEC. The purpose of the partnership is the development, marketing and supply of hydrogen fuel generation and delivery solutions and other related services. After closing, the partnership will be renamed AVX/KUMATEC Hydrogen GmbH Co. KG.

John Sarvis, President and Chief Executive Officer of AVX Corporation, stated, "The acquisition of KUMATEC and our joint venture in the hydrogen business is an exciting opportunity for AVX which will provide us additional manufacturing capabilities and new business opportunities."

In accordance with the share purchase and transfer agreement, AVX will acquire all of KUMATEC shares for a consideration of EUR 12.5 million. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions that are customary for transactions of this type, and is expected to close at the end of April, 2018.

AVX Corporation is a leading worldwide manufacturer and supplier of a broad line of electronic components and interconnect, sensing and control products. AVX's components and products can be found in products manufactured in a broad range of industries worldwide. AVX is headquartered in Fountain Inn, SC, and can be found on the Internet at http://www.avx.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements of other than historical fact that are contained in this document and in other written materials, press releases and oral statements issued by or on behalf of AVX Interconnect or KUMATEC may be considered to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of and subject to the protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, nor should they be relied upon as representing management's views as of any subsequent date. These statements may include words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "anticipate," "appear," "believe," "could," "should," "may," "likely," "intend," "probability," "risk," "target," "objective," "plans," "potential," and similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain such language. Forward-looking statements are statements with respect to AVX's or KUMATEC's beliefs, plans, expectations, objectives, goals, anticipations, assumptions, estimates, intentions and future performance and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. For example, statements about the proposed acquisition involving AVX and KUMATEC, including future financial and operating results, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions, the expected timing of completion of the acquisition and other statements are not historical facts. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are the following: (i) the risk that a regulatory approval that may be required for the proposed acquisition is not obtained or is obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated; (ii) the risk that a condition to the completion of the acquisition may not be satisfied; (iii) the timing to consummate the proposed acquisition; (iv) the risk that the businesses will not be integrated successfully; (v) the risk that the cost savings and any other synergies from the transaction may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; (vi) disruption from the transaction making it more difficult to maintain relationships with customers, employees or vendors; and (vii) the diversion of management time on acquisition-related issues.

Additional information concerning AVX Corporation and its business, including additional factors that could materially affect its financial results, is included in AVX Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2017, under "Business" and Item 1A. "Risk Factors," and in its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, each of AVX and KUMATEC disclaims any obligation to update any factors or to announce publicly the result of revisions to any of the forward-looking statements included herein to reflect future events or developments.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005237/en/

Contacts:

AVX Corporation

Kurt Cummings, 864-967-9303

investor.relations@avx.comPALM BEACH, Florida, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

MarketNewsUpdates.com News Commentary

The market for minerals for the manufacturing of batteries is emerging, and there is a major drive for electric vehicles. The main factor that will sustain electric vehicles is the battery and the battery that has been discovered to be the most effective is made of cobalt, not just lithium as some have believed. Lithium that is not the only metal benefitting from a growing demand evidenced by the rising popularity of a wide range of other metals required in the manufacture of components for electric vehicles including cobalt, graphite, copper, manganese, PGMs and nickel. Since the start of 2017 cobalt prices had risen almost 140%, with spot prices last trading around 79,500 per tonne on the London Metals Exchange.Mining professionals believe global cobalt production is set to spike in the coming months as rising prices and increasing demand from the electric vehicles sector encourage project development. Encouraged by the boost in demand for rechargeable batteries that has helped push metal prices higher, some juniors shifted their exploration focus in 2017 by dramatically increasing their spending on the search for cobalt opportunities. Today's active miners with current developments in the market include: Bankers Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V: BANC), eCobalt Solutions Inc. (OTC: ECSIF) (TSX: ECS.TO), Sherritt International Corporation (OTC: SHERF) (TSX:S.TO), Vale SA (NYSE: VALE), Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO).

Bankers Cobalt Corp. (TSXV: BANC.V) BREAKING NEWS: Bankers Cobalt is pleased to announce further high-grade copper results from the ongoing drill program at the Kabolela North concession in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kabolela North, Hole KADD013 has returned 3.69% Copper over 6m from 72m - 78m depth extending the zone originally discovered in Hole KADD011(3.17% copper over 4m from 28m) and Hole KADD012 (2.01% copper over 6m from 34m; including 1m @ 0.3% cobalt from 39m).

1,537 meters have been drilled to date on the first ever drilling campaign conducted at Kabolela Thirteen holes have been released to date with additional holes pending from the Kabolela discovery zone.

Stephen Barley, President and CEO states, "We are excited by our initial drilling at Kabolela North. To place our results in perspective, public records for the operating Boss Mine located 3 kilometers west of Kabolela, show an estimated mineral resource of 75.1Mt averaging 2.2% copper and 0.2% cobalt Copper is an important aspect of our business plan as cobalt invariably comes as a credit to copper in the DRC and regional geology indicates the frequent occurrence of high grade copper with pods of higher grade cobalt similar to our recent results."

Note: Mineralization at Kabolela North may not be necessarily indicative of mineralization at the Boss Mine which will be determined with additional work at Kabolela North.

Adam Anderson, DRC Exploration Manager states, "The drill target at Kabolela North is a shallow, fault hosted, sub vertical high-grade supergene copper zone of dominantly chalcocite mineralization with more abundant malachite at surface and with zones of cobalt. Drilling to date has now demonstrated continuity between three sections and a possible south plunge to the fault hosted mineralization which appears open to the south west. Further drilling is required to confirm the concept at this early stage of exploration." (Click here for maps of the Kabolela property )

All drill core has been submitted to SGS Lubumbashi for copper and cobalt determination by AAS. The initial drilling program is intended to provide information on the orientation, width, and strike length of the mineralization discovered to date. Mineralization is contained in two sub-parallel fault hosted zones and is open along strike at this early stage of exploration. Drill hole KADD013 intersected a 6-meter-wide (downhole width) zone of carbonate altered breccia with disseminated and blebby chalcocite mineralization.

Drilling is continuing to follow up these results and provide additional structural information on the mineralization. Drill sections are being developed to further display the deposit parameters and this will require additional drill holes. Read this release in its entirety along with other Bankers Cobalt news and developments at: http://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/banc.html

In other mining industry news and developments:

eCobalt Solutions Inc. (OTCQX: ECSIF) (TSX: ECS.TO) has appointed Darby Stacey to the role of mill and processing manager. Mr. Stacey will be responsible for leading all mineral processing and metallurgical activities for the company's Idaho cobalt project, located in the historic Idaho cobalt belt near the town of Salmon, Idaho.Mr. Stacey brings to the company over 13 years of base metals extraction and water treatment experience in technical, operational and leadership roles. Most recently, Mr. Stacey was mill site manager of Lundin Mining Corp.'s copper, nickel and cobalt Eagle mine where he led the successful design, construction, commissioning and operation of the mine and mill complex. Prior to working at the Eagle mine, Mr. Stacey gained experience with Rio Tinto at Greens Creek mine and Resolution Copper. Mr. Stacey is a registered professional engineer in the state of Arizona, and holds an MS in metallurgical engineering as well as a BS in the same field, both from Montana Tech.

Sherritt International Corporation (OTC:SHERF) (TSX:S.TO), a world leader in the mining and refining of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores, last monthpublished the Applicable Reference Cobalt Price and Applicable Common Shares per Warrant Ratio for the three-month period ended February 28, 2018. Reference Date - February 28, 2018: Applicable Reference Cobalt Price - US$36.61: Applicable Common Shares per Warrant Ratio - 1.05 --- Sherritt is a world leader in the mining and refining of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores with projects and operations in Canada, Cuba and Madagascar. The Corporation is the largest independent energy producer in Cuba, with extensive oil and power operations across the island. Sherritt licenses its proprietary technologies and provides metallurgical services to mining and refining operations worldwide.

In an article published on Bloomberg.com, Vale SA (NYSE: VALE) is seeking bids on a cobalt stream at its Voisey's Bay complex in Canada, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Gold producer Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. is in the process of dusting off its idled cobalt land holdings in Canada after receiving multiple inquiries, CEO Sean Boyd said in a Feb. 26 interview. Vale's Base Metals segment produces and extracts non-ferrous minerals, including nickel and its by-products, such as ferro-nickel, cobalt, gold, silver, copper, precious metals, and others.

According to an article published by Reuters.com, Swiss prosecutors on Thursday confirmed they were checking whether "questionable payments" to an ex-Mongolian finance minister were linked to Rio Tinto's (NYSE: RIO) Oyu Tolgoi mining project, adding the Anglo-Australian mining company was "not an accused". Reuters reported last week that the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) was examining whether Rio made illicit payments potentially linked to the copper and gold mine, part of the OAG's investigation into a seized Swiss bank account used in 2008 to transfer $10 million to Mongolia's former finance minister, Bayartsogt Sangajav.

DISCLAIMER:MarketNewsUpdates.com (MNU) is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. MNU is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. MNU and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. MNU's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities.The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. MNU is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed MNU has been compensated forty-nine hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press release issued by Bankers Cobalt Corp. by a non affiliated third party. MNU HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and MNU undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

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+1(561)325-8757ALBANY, New York, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The global automotive lubricants market is choc-o-bloc with numerous companies of varying sizes featuring a highly fragmented and competitive vendor landscape, states Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a new report. Top shots namely Royal Dutch Shell plc, BP plc., and ExxonMobil Corp. held only 31.6% share in the overall market in 2015. While leading players operate globally, small players largely serve regional and local markets. Large product offerings to serve a varied customer base gives an edge to big players over their sNaller counterparts.

With the increasing entry of regional players to serve local markets, the competition in the automotive lubricants market is likely to escalate in the forthcoming years, says the analyst of the study.

As per estimates of the TMR report, the global automotive lubricants market is likely to be worth US$78.92 bn by the end of 2024 expanding at a CAGR of 4.1% between 2017 and 2024. The demand in the market translated into a revenue of US$59.40 bn in 2017. Vis-A -vis volume, engine oil is estimated to be attractive segment through the forecast period. In terms of base oil, mineral oil segment is anticipated to display spiked market share because of its affordable price range. Mineral oil is also used for the manufacture of semi-synthetic blends further contributing to the lead of this segment. On the basis of distribution channel, aftermarket distribution channel contributes more than 50% sales of automotive lubricants.

Request A Sample Of Automotive Lubricants Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=9052

Exponential Growth of Automotive Sector in Asia Pacific a Boon for Market

Majorly fuelling the automotive lubricants market is exponential growth in the number of vehicles worldwide. Automotive lubricants improve efficiency of vehicles and increase operational life of engines by reducing friction. This is because traffic congestions leading to frequent stop-and-go, idling, and frequent short trips reduce vehicle efficiency that needs to be restored using automotive lubricants. While new vehicles require relatively low maintenance, frequent oil change and garage trips increase to keep vehicles going.

The growth of the automotive sector in Asia Pacific coupled with rising vehicle ownership has fueled the automotive lubricants market in the region. Vehicles require oil change and other maintenance as long as they are in use. In the last decade, BRIC countries have emerged as key regional automotive markets. These nations have emerged as large centers for automotive manufacturing for both export as well as domestic use. This offers immense growth opportunities to the automotive lubricants market in these countries.

Get PDF Brochure for more Professional & Technical industry insights: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=9052

Preference for Low-cost Affordable Lubricants in Developing Economies Hampers Growth

Despite lucrative growth prospects, the worldwide automotive lubricants market faces growth challenges. Firstly, high price of fully-synthetic or semi-synthetic lubricants is limiting their sales. For instance, high demand for synthetic lubricants in North America and Europe environmental regulations and customer preference for quality automotive lubricants account for their high prices. On the contrary, in developing regions, customer preference for affordable automotive lubricants over quality account for low sales of synthetic and semi-synthetic lubricants.

In addition, increasing trend of using biofuels for vehicles is also likely to limit the demand for automotive lubricants in the coming years. For example, in the U.K., newly introduced bus fueled by human waste is expected to be sustainable for the environment by curbing emissions in polluted towns and cities. However, the larger the bio-components in a fuel higher is the oil filling that combustion engine suffers.

Ask for Discount on Premium Research Report (US$ 5795) With Complete TOC: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=9052

The information presented here is based on the findings of a TMR report, titled "Automotive Lubricants Market (Product - Engine Oil, Gear Oil, and Transmission Fluid; Base Oil - Mineral Oil, Synthetic Oil, and Bio-based Fluid; Vehicle - Passenger Car (PC), Light-weight Commercial Vehicle (LCV), and Heavy-weight Commercial Vehicle (HCV); Distribution Channel - Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Aftermarket) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2024."

Key Takeaways;

Demand in the global automotive lubricants market to expand at a CAGR of 4.1% between 2017 and 2024

Rising vehicle ownership in Asia Pacific a boon for market

The global automotive lubricants market is segmented as follows;

By Product

Engine oil

Gear oil

Transmission fluid

By Base Oil

Mineral oil

Synthetic oil

Bio-based fluid

By Vehicle Type

Passenger car (PC)

Light-weight Commercial Vehicle (LCV)

Heavy-weight Commercial Vehicle (HCV)

By Distribution Channel

Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)

Aftermarket

Popular Research Reports of TMR:

Automotive Lubricants Aftermarket Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/automotive-lubricants-aftermarket-market.html

2,5-Furandicarboxylic Acid (FDCA) Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/furandicarboxylic-acid-market.html

About Us

Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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ResearchBlog: https://cmfenews.com/DETROIT, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report onNorth American Floor Adhesives Market by Material Type (Epoxy Adhesives, Polyurethane Adhesives, Acrylic Adhesives, Vinyl Adhesives, and Other Adhesives), by Application Type (Tile & Stone, Carpet, Wood, Laminates, Vinyl Flooring, and Others), by Technology Type (Water-based Adhesives, Solvent-based Adhesives, and Other Adhesives), by End-User Type (Residential, Commercial, and Industrial), and by Region (the USA, Canada, and Mexico), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660595/Stratview_Research_Logo.jpg )



This 150-page market report, from Stratview Research, studies the North American floor adhesives market over the trend period of 2012 to 2017 and forecast period of 2018 to 2023. The report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.

North American Floor Adhesives Market: Highlights

As per Stratview Research, the North American floor adhesives market is likely to reach an estimated value of US$ 1,097.9 million in 2023,which offers an opportunity to the industry players to align themselves with the market growth. The upward trajectory of the floor adhesives market in the region is likely to continue with attractive growth opportunities in the entire ecosystem of the market in the coming years. Growing North American construction industry, an increasing consumption of adhesives in North America, increasing usage of water-based adhesives to reduce the VOC emissions, replacement of mechanical fastening systems with adhesives, and ability of adhesives to bond dissimilar materials are the driving factors that are burgeoning the growth of floor adhesives in the North American market.

Based on the material type, polyurethane adhesives currently dominate the market, driven by its higher usage in wood flooring applications. Acrylic adhesives are likely to witness the highest growth during the forecast period, owing to their increased usage in LVT flooring and carpet applications.

Research findings suggest that there is an increasing usage of adhesives instead of mechanical fastening systems in the wood flooring application. Wood flooring requires more adhesive content per square feet, which further elevates the demand for adhesives in the segment. Vinyl flooring application is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period, driven by an increasing demand for luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) in North America.

In terms of technology type, water-based technology currently dominates the North American floor adhesives market. The technology type is also likely to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period, driven by stringent regulations regarding reducing VOC emissions to create safer environment.

Register Here for a Free Sample of the 150-Page Report

The USA is likely to maintain its leading position in the region during the forecast period, whereas Mexico is expected to witness the highest growth in the foreseeable future. Some of the major floor adhesive suppliers in North America include Arkema Inc. (including Bostik), Ardex GmbH, Bona AB, H.B. Fuller Company, Mapei Corporation, Roberts Consolidated, and W.F. Taylor Co., Inc., and Sika AG.

Report Features

This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report:

Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis.

Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis.

Market trend and forecast analysis.

Market segment trend and forecast.

Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.

Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities.

Emerging trends.

Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players.

Key success factors.

This report studies the North American floor adhesives market and has segmented the market in five ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. The following are the five ways in which the market is segmented:

North American Floor Adhesives Marketby Material Type:

Epoxy Adhesives

Acrylic Adhesives

Polyurethane Adhesives

Vinyl Adhesives

Others

North American Floor Adhesives Marketby Application Type:

Tile & Stone

Carpet

Wood

Laminate

Vinyl Flooring

Others

North American Floor Adhesives Market by Technology Type:

Water-based Adhesives

Solvent-based Adhesives

Other Adhesives

North American Floor Adhesives Market by End-User Type:

Residential Construction

Commercial Construction

Industrial Applications

North American Floor Adhesives Marketby Country:

USA

Canada

Mexico

Stratview Research has several high value market reports in the chemicals and materials industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports:

Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Chemicals & Materials Industry

Related premium market reports in the advanced materials industry are:

Global Below-Grade Waterproofing Market by Material Type, by Membrane Type, by Position Type, by Application Type by End-User Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2017-2022

Global High-Performance Adhesives Market by Product Type, by End-Use Industry Type, by Technology Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2017-2022

About Stratview Research

Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas.

We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies.

Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making.

For enquiries,

Contact:

RiteshGandecha

Stratview Research

E-mail:sales@stratviewresearch.com

Direct: +1-313-307-4176ATHENS, Greece, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Planetek Hellas has successfully delivered to the European Space Agency (ESA) the Planck Legacy Archive Added-Value Interface (PLAAVI). The PLAAVI consists of a set of added-value web tools that permit scientists to perform remote processing on the Planck products, which reside physically in the online ESA archive hosted at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), in Madrid.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/662567/PLAAVI.jpg )

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(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/662568/ESA_Logo.jpg )



The scientific community around the world can now perform additional remote processing on products in the Planck archive, something that is expected to increase significantly the uptake of the data and the impact of the mission.

Jan Tauber, ESA's Planck Project Scientist said: "The functionality provided by PLAAVI will help scientists who are not very familiar with details of the Planck data to use it in their astrophysical analysis. I am very happy to be able to offer this facility, and I expect an enhanced utilization of our Archive will result from it."

For this successful delivery, Planetek Hellas collaborated with Planck scientists from the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics of the University of Oslo, Norway, who participated in the team through Expert Analytics (XAL), a spinoff company of the SIMULA Research Center.

Stelios Bollanos, Director and Co-founder of Planetek Hellas said: "This delivery is an excellent example of our ability to understand well the needs of the space scientific community and provide robust industrial software engineering services in support of ESA's activities for Mandatory Programs."

The PLAAVI web tools permit to perform processes on the Planck products such as: component subtraction, unit conversion, colour correction, bandpass transformation, masking of map-cutouts or full-sky maps, component separation, map-making using two different types of time-ordered data, effective beam averaging and noise map cutout.

The PLAAVI functionality can be accessed via the main Planck Legacy Archive (PLA) website.

For more technical information please consult the dedicated documentation.

About the Planck Mission

The Planck satellite, during its operational period from 2009 to 2013, orbited the Earth near the Lagrange 2 point, 1.5 Million km from Earth. Its main objective was to measure the fluctuations of the Cosmic Microwave Background - the most ancient light in the history of the Universe - with an accuracy set by fundamental astrophysical limits, charting the most accurate maps to date. The Planck maps are used today by scientists and will be used in the future by the generations of scientists to come, in order to analyze and compare theories of the birth of the universe and bring us closer to answering the fundamental question "How did everything start?". More info at https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Planck

About European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe's gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA is an international organization with 22 Member States. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can undertake programs and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. More info at https://www.esa.int/

About Planetek Hellas

Planetek Hellas is a Greek company, member of the Planetek Group, based in Athens, Greece and active in the field of Earth Observation and Geo-Analytics, as well as Design and Development for the On-Board and Ground Segment Space Software. Clients of the company are today some of the most important actors at European level, such as the European Space Agency, the European Union Satellite Centre and others. The company is a founding member of the si-cluster in Athens and a full member of the Hellenic Association of Space Technology and Applications Industry. More info at www.planetek.grThunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 4, 2018) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) ("Benton" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has received the 2017 Bernie Schnieders Discovery of the Year Award, for the Bedivere Gold Project. Benton received the honour last night, awarded by the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association ("NWOPA") Awards Committee. The Benton team accepted the award along with four prospectors from Traxxin Resources who made the original high grade gold discovery. Benton would like to thank the NWOPA committee for their acknowledgment of Benton's hard work advancing the prospect and are very appreciative to have received such a prestigious award. Benton would also like to acknowledge the support of Lac des Mille Lac First Nation, whose traditional territory surrounds the Bedivere Project.

The Bedivere Project is an early stage gold discovery that the Company has spent in excess of $1 million in acquisition and exploration since acquiring it 18 months ago. These expenditures include the completion of 21 diamond drill holes on the Traxxin zone and a further 6 holes testing other targets on the project. All results and project details can be viewed on the Company's website.

About Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX)

Benton Resources Inc is a well-funded Canadian-based junior project generator with a diversified property portfolio in Gold-Silver, Nickel, Copper, and Platinum group elements.

Clinton Barr (P.Geo.), V.P. Exploration for Benton Resources Inc., is the qualified person responsible for this release has prepared, supervised the preparation or approved the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc.,

"Stephen Stares"

Stephen Stares, President

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements."

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

For further information contact Stephen Stares @:684 Squier Street,Thunder Bay, ON P7B 4A8Phone (807)475-7474Fax (807)475-7200www.bentonresources.caVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 4, 2018) - Altamira Gold Corp. (TSXV: ALTA) (FSE: T6UP) (OTC Pink: EQTRF), ("Altamira" or the "Company") is pleased to report that the Company has claimed significant additional ground within the Juruena belt in Mato Grosso, Brazil. These new claims total 52,378 hectares and have increased the Company's strategic land positioning to over 200,000 hectares in the Juruena Belt.

During September 2017, two major mining companies, Anglo American & Nexa Resources acquired over 3M hectares of claims, largely surrounding Altamira's twelve projects (see press release dated 21st February 2018). The catalyst for this staking rush is a rumored porphyry copper discovery in the eastern part of the Juruena Belt.





Figure 1: Altamira Increases Land Positioning at Fazenda Mogno and Santa Helena in Mato Grosso, Brazil

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4500/33841_a1522814640993_27.jpg

The new claims are in areas where the Company already has small existing land positions, namely Fazenda Mogno and Santa Helena (see map). The largest of the two new areas was at Fazenda Mogno where the land position has increased to a total of 41,945 hectares. The Santa Helena project has also been expanded and now comprises a total of 21,039 Ha and is the Company's closest project to the newly discovered copper porphyry at the Jaca Target.

Altamira is also pleased to announce the commencement of a copper exploration program at the Santa Helena Project located in eastern part of the Juruena belt in central Brazil. The project is characterized by gold mineralization on surface which Altamira believes may be related to a concealed porphyry copper system.

Michael Bennett, President and CEO of Altamira stated "The discovery of the first ever copper porphyry in the Juruena belt is significant because porphyry copper deposits generally occur in clusters or belts. Where there is one, there are usually others. Gold deposits are frequently found peripheral to major porphyry copper systems and it may be that most of the gold occurrences in the belt are peripheral to yet unrecognized porphyry copper systems. We are excited to be the only junior with claims strategically situated in the heart of the belt and look forward to the results of our ongoing exploration program. We will continue to expand our gold project at Cajueiro whilst pursuing an aggressive exploration program aimed at identifying concealed copper porphyry mineralization."

About Altamira Gold Corp.

The Company is focused on the exploration and development of gold deposits within western central Brazil. The Company holds 12 projects comprising approximately 200,000 hectares, within the prolific Juruena gold belt which historically produced an estimated 7 to 10Moz of placer gold. The Company's advanced Cajueiro project has an NI 43-101 resources of 8.64Mt @ 0.78 g/t Au (for 214,000oz) in the Indicated Resource category and 9.53Mt @ 0.66 g/t Au (for 204,000oz) in the Inferred Resource category and an additional 1.37Mt @ 1.61 g/t Au in oxides (for 79,000oz in saprolite) in the Inferred Resource category (Gustavson Associates, 2016).

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

ALTAMIRA GOLD CORP.

"Michael Bennett"

Michael Bennett

President & CEO

Tel: 604.676.5660

info@altamiragold.com

Guillermo Hughes, P. Geo., a consultant to the Company as well as a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor it Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. It is important to note that actual outcomes and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we do not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.Beamr Transcoder VOD Kickstarts HEVC Streaming to Apple and All HLS Compatible Devices

TEL AVIV, Israel, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --Building on nearly ten years of product development, Beamr Imaging Ltd. is pleased to announce Beamr Transcoder VOD, a product designed to activate and accelerate video distributors looking for reliable HEVC and H.264 streaming to HLS compatible devices. With more than five years of commercial development, and 1.5 billion devices supporting hardware-accelerated HEVC decoding, video engineers will cheer the inclusion of Unified Streaming's Unified Packager to enable fMP4 and HLS as a delivery format for HEVC, while DRM systems that include the Apple-supported third edition of the Common Encryption scheme 'cbcs' are fully supported.

Beamr Transcoder VOD addresses the video distributor's quest to reduce network traffic using HEVC by offering easy workflow integration and unrivaled encoding speed and density. Built for the future, Beamr Transcoder VOD offers the lowest total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) in the market when operated on IntelXeonScalable processors. Answering the industry's call to move off monolithic black boxes, the heart of this highly efficient transcoder was developed in native C++ to run on Linux while being fully scalable across private, hybrid, and public clouds such as AWS using Docker containers. Beamr Transcoder VOD automatically allocates the optimum number of threads to the video encoding function while reserving the minimum required for decoding, pipeline management, and network control.

"Delivering high video quality and superior user experience is an important business and technical objective for all video services. Consumers are aware of the quality of the display they carry in their pockets and no longer are willing to compromise," commented Beamr President Eli Lubitch. "Our codec SDK customers serve more than 100 million subscribers around the world using Beamr's world-class encoding solutions, and we built the Beamr Transcoder VOD as a way to enable everyone, regardless of engineering capacity, to benefit from adopting Beamr's superior encoding technology."

Cisco's Visual Networking Index reveals by 2021 that 82 percent of all traffic on the Internet will be video. As a result, video distributors must implement methods to reduce the bitrate of the video they deliver without compromising quality. Beamr's pioneering perceptually-driven optimization process addresses the need for smaller file and stream sizes while offering guaranteed quality and unmatched speed. Commercialized in the Beamr 5x HEVC codec SDK that is included with Beamr Transcoder VOD, the combined bitrate savings of HEVC, and the Beamr 5x content-adaptive rate-control (CABR), yields bitrate savings as high as 65% or more when compared to H.264, and 30% savings when compared to the HEVC VBR rate-control.

"It is a core company philosophy to provide the highest quality solutions at the best value. When we surveyed the market, it was clear that the old model of requiring customers to jump through hoops for an evaluation, does not work today," stated Sharon Carmel, Beamr founder and CEO. "I am very proud of the technical achievement our team delivered with Beamr Transcoder VOD, and I want everyone to experience it. But I am equally proud of the business model we developed that will enable anyone who wants to use this amazing product, to click, download, encode, and put the file into production. We call if free to start."

Beamr Transcoder VOD is available in a FREE and PAID version, and both include the Beamr 4, Beamr 5, and Beamr 5x codec SDKs for H.264 and HEVC transcoding. The FREE version ships in May 2018 and will include a monthly credit for free HEVC and H.264 transcoding. For users requiring more transcoding time, ProRes file support, advanced Dolby audio codecs, or dynamic ad insertion features, a PAID version will be available shortly following the FREE version. In addition, Beamr Transcoder comes with a committed product roadmap that includes a live version scheduled for Q4 2018.

Video executives and engineers are encouraged to see Beamr Transcoder VOD in action and meet with the design and engineering team in Las Vegas April 9th to April 12th at the NAB show in Beamr's booth SU9813.

For information visit beamr.com/transcoder-vod/

About Beamr

Beamr is the leading designer and developer of content-adaptive encoding and optimization solutions that enable high quality, performance, and new levels of bitrate efficiency for MSOs, OTT content distributors, broadcasters and video streaming platforms. The company has 36 patents granted and more than 20 pending. By expanding into full solutions Beamr Transcoder enables Beamr HEVC and H.264 codec SDKs to become complete encoding solutions. Founded in 2009, Beamr investors include Verizon Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, and Disruptive. Beamr operates offices in London, Tel Aviv, St. Petersburg Russia, and Palo Alto.Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 4, 2018) - Cornerstone Metals Inc.(TSXV: CCC) (OTCQB: CCCCF) (FSE: 1PY) ("Cornerstone" or the "Company") announces the results of 5 holes, DDC18-09 to DDC18-13, of the 20 hole confirmation diamond drilling program on its Carlin Vanadium Project, Nevada. The Carlin Vanadium Project is one of the largest, richest primary vanadium deposits in North America (USGS Professional Paper 1802 Critical Mineral Resources of the United States-Economic and Environmental Geology and Prospects for Future Supply dated December 18, 2017).

Four of the newly reported holes were infill diamond drill holes. In addition, Cornerstone's diamond drill hole DDC18-09 specifically twinned a Union Carbide rotary hole R111A from 1967 to confirm and compare rotary results (depth, thickness and grade of the high grade vanadium unit) to diamond drill core results, besides comparing historic to modern analytical techniques. DDC18-09 compared very well with R111A in the depth and thickness of the high-grade vanadium unit. Surprisingly though, the grade encountered in DDC18-09 was 65% higher than in the historic rotary hole R-111A as tabled below:

Twin Hole Comparison

Company Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) V2O5 % Zn (%) Ag (g/t) Union Carbide R-111A 7.62 56.39 48.77 0.89 0.22 N/A Cornerstone Metals DDC18-09 10.00 56.50 46.50 1.47 0.33 7.5

"Many of our verification holes within the confines of the historic resource area have returned higher grades than their neighbouring historic holes. Now, with this first twinned hole, there is growing evidence to suggest that historic grades may be understated", said Cornerstone President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Cowley.

The Carlin Vanadium deposit has a historic Inferred mineral resource estimate of 28 million tons at 0.515% vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), having a total metal content of 289 million pounds V2O5, defined by Dr. Bart Stryhas of SRK in 2010. The estimate was based on a 0.3% V2O5 cut-off grade with the reasonable potential for economic extraction under a conceptual open pit mining and milling scenario and defined by 127 rotary holes completed by Union Carbide in the late 1960s. V2O5 grades were estimated using an Inverse Weighting to the second power. The results of the 2010 resource estimation provided a CIM classified Inferred Mineral Resource. The quality of the historical data was good and the Mineral Resource was classified as inferred mainly due to the fact that the rotary drilling had not been verified by a modern program. The historical estimate does not include any recent data available to the Company. The Company is not treating this historical estimate as current mineral resources and as such, should not be relied upon. The work needed to upgrade the historical estimate as current mineral resources is to use current costs and metal prices and include the results from the verification diamond drilling program.

Results in Detail

The Carlin Vanadium deposit, as it is known to date, covers an area 2km long by up to 700m wide and can be subdivided into 4 sectors; the Southern, Central, Northern and Western sectors. The five newly reported holes are all within an area 275m by 60m in the Central sector. An updated map has been placed on the Company's website (http://cornerstonemetals.ca/images/PDF/Resource_verification_drilling_A-D.pdf) to graphically demonstrate the Cornerstone and older drill hole collars, outer limits of the historic resource and the sectors. The section lines A through C and the first eight confirmation holes were described in the February 28, 2018 news release.

The five newly reported holes align on Section line D of the map. As a way to compare the newly reported DDC18-09 to DDC18-13 results to neighbouring older holes, a 500m long north-south section line D has been drawn though these holes and other historic holes, with their intercepts listed in the following table.

All drilling on the property to date has been vertical and the high grade zone is interpreted to be horizontal, therefore all drill intercepts are considered to be true thickness.

Drill Intercepts Along Section D

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) V2O5 % Zn (%) Ag (g/t) DDC18-09 10.00 56.50 46.50 1.47 0.33 7.5 R-77 6.10 32.00 25.90 0.54 0.20 N/A DDC18-08 21.00 60.00 45.00 0.84 0.38 6.5 R-76 0.00 10.67 10.67 0.69 0.27 N/A DDC18-12 0.25 15.00 14.75 0.68 0.16 5.8 and 27.00 33.00 5.00 0.36 0.22 1.8 DDC18-11 9.00 58.50 49.50 0.45 0.23 2.8 R-75 4.57 48.77 44.20 1.40 0.41 N/A DDC18-10 21.00 61.50 40.50 0.55 0.20 2.6 R-18 3.05 44.20 41.15 0.69 N/A N/A DDC18-13 3.00 40.00 37.00 1.02 0.38 5.0 R-40 12.19 47.24 35.05 0.70 0.37 N/A R-70 12.19 24.38 12.19 0.80 0.34 N/A DDC18-06 15.60 34.50 18.90 1.07 0.47 7.1

R holes are historic drill holes, DDC18-06 and -08 were previously reported, N/A = not analyzed

The table above demonstrates that the Cornerstone drilling favourably supports the neighbouring historic holes with zone continuity in similar width and grade where the zone was expected. This demonstrates a widespread near surface horizontal high grade mineralized zone. Holes DDC17-09 and DDC18-13 yielded higher grades than the average intercept in the section line table.

The drilling program was supervised by Mr. Cowley, P.Geo., President and CEO of the Company and Qualified Person for the program. Drill core recoveries averaged 85%. Industry standard quality control and quality assurance protocols have been followed in handling, sampling and shipping the core. The core has been photographed, geotechnically logged and geologically logged. Extensive specific gravity measurements have been taken on the core to aid in a future mineral resource estimation. The core has been cut in half, with one half sent for analysis and the other half stored as witness core in a secure dry facility in Elko, Nevada. Samples have been sent for analyses to MS Analytical, an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory.

Vanadium's Growing Importance

Vanadium is growing in importance for key industrial manufacturing sectors most notably steel and renewable energy. Today, more than 85 percent of the world's vanadium is used in steel manufacturing applications. Its importance to the energy sector is also growing rapidly with more than 10 percent of vanadium production used in energy storage where its substantial cost and performance benefits make it an alternative choice to lithium ion in several areas. Vanadium pentoxide flake prices has risen over the last 2.5 years from under US$3/lb to US$15.40/lb today.

About Cornerstone Metals Inc.

Cornerstone's objective is to advance exploration/development stage copper, precious and strategic minerals properties to production in the Americas. The Company's management and board core competence is in exploration, permitting, development, construction, and operating high value mining projects.

Cornerstone Metals has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Carlin Vanadium Project, located in Elko County 22km by road (14 miles) from the town of Carlin, Nevada. The project is comprised of 72 contiguous unpatented mineral claims totaling 461 hectares (1,140 acres). The Carlin Vanadium Project hosts the Carlin Vanadium Deposit which is locally exposed on surface, where it cuts topography, but is mostly found at shallow depths, commonly between 0-60m (0-200 ft) below surface.

Cornerstone Metals also owns 100% (subject to 1.5% NSR) of the West Jerome property, near Jerome, Arizona, on the west side of Freeport McMoRan patented lands. The property, in a Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide camp, is a high-grade, massive sulfide target located 2.4 km south of the past-producing United Verde (32 million tons grading 4.4% copper, 1.5 oz/t silver and 0.04 oz/t gold). The West Jerome property has attractive untested drill targets.

ON BEHALF OF CORNERSTONE METALS INC.

per: "Paul Cowley"

CEO & President

(604) 340-7711

pcowley@cornerstonemetals.ca

Technical disclosure in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul Cowley, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and President and CEO of the Company.

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 information

Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking" statements. These statements relate to future events or the Company's future performance and include the Company's ability to meet the conditions required to exercise in full its option to acquire the Carlin Vanadium project and with respect to current and planned drill programs, the results of exploration programs, and changes in mineral resources. All such statements involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to vary from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, they should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and they will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions on the date of this news release, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and 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, except as required under applicable securities regulations.SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) said that it plans to open in North Las Vegas its fourth Nevada facility supporting customer fulfillment, creating more than 1,000 full-time jobs with benefits starting on day one. The company currently employs more than 3,000 full-time associates at its three existing Nevada facilities in North Las Vegas and Reno. Amazon has invested millions of dollars into its local fulfillment center infrastructure and through compensation to thousands of employees in the state. Amazon's investments in Nevada contributed an additional $50 million into Nevada's economy from 2011 through 2016, and using methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 1,300 indirect jobs on top of the company's direct hires. Amazon employees at the more than 800,000-square-foot fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship small items to customers such as books, household items and toys. Full-time employees at Amazon receive competitive hourly wages and a comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, disability insurance, 401(k) and company stock awards starting on day one. The company also offers up to 20 weeks of maternal and parental paid leave and innovative benefits such as Leave Share and Ramp Back, which give new parents flexibility with their growing families. Amazon also offers full-time employees innovative programs like Career Choice, where the company will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program's launch, over 12,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few. 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.ALBANY, New York, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Transparency Market Research has released a new market report titled "Automotive Lane Keep Assist System - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017-2025." According to the report, the global automotive lane keep assist market is expected to expand at a CAGR of more than 15 % during the forecast period.

Rise in awareness about safety among vehicle owners is projected to boost the growth lane keep assist system market for automotive during the forecast period. Accidents triggered especially due to driver negligence or distraction causes damage to both the occupants of the vehicle and the vehicle. Lane keep assist is an active system, which aims to reduce the number of accidents by mitigating the effects of driver fatigue, inattention, or laxity. Rise in demand for passenger safety, increasing focus of governments of several nations to reduce road accidents, and increasing consumer preference for vehicles equipped with advanced safety systems such as lane keep assist system are expected to boost the demand for lane keep assist system during the forecast period.

Request a Sample PDF for Research Insights athttps://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=41732

Personal safety and security is a key factor that is expected to drive the global lane keep assist system market during the forecast period. Stringent regulations have been laid down by the European Union, mentioning certain mandatory requirements to be followed regarding lane keep assist system (LKAS). As per these requirements, the lane keep assist system needs to be operational for vehicle speeds ranging between 72 km/hr. and 108 km/hr. The minimum radius of the road for the operation of the LKAS on a curved road is 250m and that for a straight road is 1000m. Increasing concerns about safety by government bodies are providing assistance to lane keep assist system.

Based on components, the electronic control unit (ECU) segment dominated the lane keep assist system market, by accounting for a prominent share, in terms of revenue. ECU is a major component of the lane keep assist system, which actuates the electric power assisted steering to steer the vehicle back within the lane, if the vehicle departs outside the lane. The ECU is responsible for the actions performed by the lane keep assist system. Government emphasis on active safety systems for automobiles is boosting the lane keep assist system market with eminent components.

Brochure Download at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=41732

In terms of sales channel, the aftermarket segment holds a major market share as compared to other segments. This is due to the increased awareness about safety systems and frequent replacement of electronic components owing to their shorter lifespan and malfunction. The aftermarket segment is anticipated to expand at a significant growth rate during the forecast period.

Based on vehicle type, the passenger vehicle segment accounted for a prominent share of the market owing to the increasing demand for passenger vehicles globally, primarily for local and intercity transport. In 2016, in terms of revenue, the passenger vehicle segment dominated the lane keep assist system market. Demand for lane keep assist system is expected to remain high owing to the higher number of accidents caused in this segment of vehicle. Decline in vehicle loan rate and awareness about advance safety features are providing lucrative opportunities to vehicle consumers to opt for vehicles with active safety systems.

Request for Discount on this Report athttps://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=41732

Europe dominated the global lane keep assist system market for automotive in 2016. Europe and Asia Pacific are anticipated to dominate the market during the forecast period owing to the high rate of adoption of the technology and rising awareness about safety systems in these regions. This, in turn, clarifies the penetration level in these regions at initial stages, being quite on a higher side than other mass manufacturing regions. The market in Europe is also expected to expand at a significant growth rate owing to safety norms and improved road infrastructure that assists the function of lane keep assist system. Safety regulations imposed by the European Union regarding the testing and implementation of lane keep assist system in the region in order to ensure safety are boosting the auto manufacture's economy. Europe being the home to some of the major auto manufacturers are upgrading the product in order to provide superior performance.

Get complete Report TOC athttps://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/41732

Prominent players operating in the global lane keep assist system market include Robert Bosch GmbH, Denso Corporation, Delphi Automotive PLC., Continental AG, Valeo, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. Increasing competition among manufacturers to provide a better product is anticipated to boost the lane keep assist system market during the forecast period. Robert Bosch GmbH is a major supplier of lane keep assist systems. Benefit from the formation of strategic alliances with regional players and continuous upgradation of the technology allows Robert Bosch GmbH to lead the lane keep assist system market for automotive. Expansion and presence of major auto manufacturer countries increases the sales of Robert Bosch GmbH. In September 2017, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Valeo launched its new invention LiDAR sensor, which ensures optimal and continuous operation in all weather and road conditions by cleaning away rain, mud, snow, dust, and obstructions. Improvement in components such as sensors is expected to enhance the performance of the lane keep assist system.

Global Lane keep assist system market for automotive are segmented as follows:

Lane keep assist system Market: By Component Vision sensor/camera EPAS Actuator Electronic Control Unit Others



Lane keep assist system Market: By Sales Channel Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) Aftermarket



Lane keep assist system Market: By Vehicle Type Passenger Vehicles Commercial Vehicles



Lane keep assist system Market: By Region/ By Countries/ By Sub-regions North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. France Italy Spain Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China India Japan ASEAN Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa (MEA) GCC South Africa Rest of MEA



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Research Blog: http://www.techyounme.com/Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 4, 2018) - Alliance Growers Corp. (CSE: ACG) (FSE: 1LA) (WKN: A2DFYX) ("Alliance Growers" or the "Company") is pleased to report on the Company's sustainable and high margin revenue streams that are advancing over the next 12 months.

BiocannaTech Inc., Quebec

Alliance Growers has successfully completed all the due diligence set out in the binding agreement to acquire BiocannaTech Inc., Quebec and is currently in final stages of executing the closing Definitive Agreement documents, expected imminently.

BiocannaTech is a late stage applicant to become a licensed producer under Health Canada's access to cannabis for medical purposes regulations ("ACMPR") in Quebec. Alliance Growers is purchasing all the issued and outstanding shares of BiocannaTech and will supply financing and resources to build out the medical marijuana facility in its leased premises in the Town of Mount Royal, Quebec in preparation for the inspection required to obtain a growing license. Once Health Canada is satisfied with a successful crop, Alliance Growers will be granted its distribution license.

Cannabis Botany Centre

Further to the update provided on March 19, 2018, Engineers were recently added to the team to move the project forward. Design upgrades of the facility have been completed to include the increased handling of 10 Million plantlets per year from previous annual capacity of 3 Million.

Alliance Growers and Pharmagreen are jointly working to develop and operate a 40,000-square foot facility to be the first of its kind in Western Canada to house a DNA Botany lab, extraction facility and Tissue Culture Plantlet Production facility to service the Cannabis market and agriculture market in general. The proposed Cannabis Botany Centre will grow Cannabis plantlets using proprietary tissue culture propagation, specifically the "Chibafreen Invitro Plant Production System", which assures consistent composition and purity of each plantlet for the growers.

Canwe Growers Inc.

Further to a news release dated February 22, 2018 announcing the closing of the final tranche of its subscription for 375,000 common shares (5% of the current capital of the company) of New Maple Holdings Ltd., Alliance Growers is very pleased with the growth of this investment and is currently considering additional investment. From the time Alliance Growers completed its first tranche of investment, there has been strategic work by the engineers to adjust the build-out plans to obtain the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (the "ACMPR") license expeditiously.

New Maple Holdings Ltd. is the parent company and sole shareholder of New Maple Consulting Inc. and Canwe Growers Inc. ("Canwe"), which is a licensed producer applicant in the enhanced review stage under the ACMPR. Canwe submitted its application to produce and sell cannabis under the ACMPR in July 2017. In January 2018, Canwe received confirmation from Health Canada that it has completed the security clearance stage and that it has entered the final Review stage of the application process. In December 2017, Canwe obtained the necessary permits to begin ground works on its 22-acre site in south-western Ontario, and it expects to receive full site plan approval imminently from the local township. Canwe has retained an experienced project management firm to oversee the design and build of its planned state-of-the-art production facility and is projected to be licensed and operational by early 2019.

Jamaican Cannabis Company Investment

Further to a news release dated February 27th, 2018 whereby Alliance announced discussions with a private licensed Jamaican cannabis company for a significant strategic investment. Alliance Growers has commenced due diligence for the investment of this company which is planning for an IPO later this year.

The private Jamaican company has established operations with production facilities with a Tier 1 Cultivator's license (cultivate land with ganja for medical, scientific and therapeutic purposes) and a Tier 3 Processing license (process ganja for medical, scientific and medical purposes, including the manufacturing of ganja-based products). The company's mission is to produce quality medicinal products in Jamaica that have the unique qualities of Jamaica's holistic healing culture. The Jamaican company will be exporting cannabinoids and terpenoids through joint ventures with selective Canadian and European Licensed Distributers, and develop and brand world class cannabis flower, extracts, infused products for the growing international cannabis industry.

Commenting on the Company's progress, Alliance Growers President and CEO, Dennis Petke stated, "Alliance Growers continues to execute on its strategic plan to build a global cannabis company focused on where the cannabis industry is going, not where it is today. We are grateful for the diligent and mindful work of our team and the steadfast support of our many industry partners and shareholders. Alliance Growers is very excited for the future of our Company and the cannabis industry".

About Alliance Growers

Alliance Growers is a diversified cannabis company driven by the Company's 'Four Pillars' Organization Plan - Cannabis Botany Centre, Strategic ACMPR Investments, CBD Oil Supply and Distribution, and Research and Development.

Alliance Growers has finalized its a new business partnership with WFS Pharmagreen Inc., to jointly develop and operate a 40,000-square foot facility to be the first of its kind in Western Canada to house a DNA Botany lab, extraction facility and Tissue Culture Plantlet Production facility to service the Cannabis market and agriculture market in general. The proposed Cannabis Botany Centre will grow Cannabis plantlets using proprietary tissue culture propagation, specifically the "Chibafreen Invitro Plant Production System", which assures consistent composition and purity of each plantlet for the growers.

Alliance Growers has entered into an exclusive agreement to acquire a late stage licensed producer applicant, Biocannatech, to become a licensed producer under Health Canada's access to cannabis for medical purposes regulations ("ACMPR") in Quebec. Alliance Growers will supply financing and resources to build out the medical marijuana facility in preparation for the inspection required to obtain a growing license. Once Health Canada is satisfied with a successful crop, Alliance Growers will be granted its distribution license. This acquisition allows the Company an opportunity to become a licensed producer in the Province of Quebec and gain an in-road to provide tissue culture plantlets to all licensed producers in Quebec.

Further, Alliance Growers has been negotiating to obtain other exclusive Canadian distribution agreements for certain proprietary products for support of the Cannabis growing industry in addition to possible partnerships with Licensed Producer Applicants at various stages in the Health Canada License process.

For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.alliancegrowers.com or the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

If you would like to be added to Alliance Growers' news distribution list, please send your email address to newsletter@alliancegrowers.com

On behalf of the board of directors of

ALLIANCE GROWERS CORP.

"Dennis Petke"

Dennis Petke

President and CEO

For more information contact:

Dennis Petke

Tel: 778-331-4266

DennisPetke@alliancegrowers.com

Rob Grace

Communications Consultant

Tel: 778-998-5431

RobDGrace@gmail.com

THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE.

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. More particularly and without limitation, the news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating to Company's corporate strategy. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by management of the Company, including, without limitation, the Company's ability to carry out its business plan. Although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information since no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to identify and complete additional suitable acquisitions to further the Company's growth as well as risks associated with the medical marijuana industry in general, such as operational risks in development and production delays or changes in plans with respect to development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of the capital markets; the uncertainty of receiving the required licenses, production, costs and expenses; health, safety and environmental risks; marketing and transportation; loss of markets; environmental risks; competition; incorrect assessment of the value of the potential market; ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; failure to obtain required regulatory and other approvals and changes in legislation, including but not limited to tax laws and regulated regulations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive.

The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws or the Canadian Securities Exchange. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.Responds to 'Call to Action' by HRHPrince Harry of Wales to Eradicate All Mines by 2025

SAN RAFAEL, California, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- UN LANDMINE AWARENESS DAY-- Roots of Peace, a California based humanitarian non-profit, led an international campaign to eradicate all landmines in The Holy Land.A mother of four children, Kuhn shuttled between Israel and Palestine over a dozen times to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah to bring forth the first-ever humanitarian demining in the region in May 2014.

The Muslim village of Husan is located in The Fields of Bethlehem, only four miles from where Jesus Christ was born.Eight children had died due to landmines planted by the Jordanians in 1948.

In 2010, Kuhn was called to the region by Daniel Yuval, age 10, after his tragic accident in the Golan where he lost his right leg to a landmine during a rare snowfall.As a young survivor, Daniel called upon this American mother to help bring forth unanimous legislation at The Knesset in March 2012.

California vintners, Shirley and Paul Dean, Owners, Spiriterra Vineyards in Napa Valley heard her plea to turn MINES TO VINES--replacing minefields with vineyards and orchards worldwide. Inspired by the story of young Daniel, they donated funds for both Israelis and Palestinian deminers to work together on this historic project.

The Vatican was inspired by Kuhn's work, and sent His Eminence Cardinal Peter Turkson to walk the minefields of The Holy Land.Together, they traveled to Qasr al-Yahud, the Baptismal Site of Jesus, to raise both awareness and funds to remove landmines. This Easter Week, the historic landmine removal began at Qasr al-Yahud. "Tragically, it took the footsteps of a young Israeli boy to raise global awareness to remove landmines at the sacred site along the Jordan River where three monolithic faiths converge," stated Heidi Kuhn, CEO, Founder."I salute the brave efforts of The HALO Trust deminers who are removing the landmines at the Baptismal site of Jesus."

"The senseless horror of landmines deaths reminds us that war continues to kill long after peace treaties have been signed," said Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. "As a Californian, a Member of Congress and an American, it is my honor to support Roots of Peace in their vital mission to protect the world's children from these deadly remnants of war."

Heidi Kuhn, CEO, Roots of Peace, was invited toKensington Palace tohearthe 'call to action' by Prince Harry to eradicate alllandmines by 2025 in tribute to his mother, the late Princess Diana of Wales. "My mother was shocked and appalled by theimpact that landmines were having on vulnerable people--and on children in particular.She didn't understand why more people were not willing to address the cause of so much suffering."

Roots of Peace will travel to Hanoi,Vietnam on Earth Day 2018 to plant a symbolic tree of life.

Projects for Good will feature a LIVE Facebook on United Nations International Landmine Awareness Day. Donations will be designatedtowards turning MINES TO VINES in Quang Tri, Vietnam.

DONATE: https://projectsforgood.com/projects/478/story

Forfurtherinformation, please visit www.rootsofpeace.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Denice Zeck: 202-355-8875

Raymond Chavez:

raymond@projectsforgood.com

Mobile: +1 571 919 - 9664

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/662481/Roots_of_Peace_Heidi_Kuhn_CEO_Cardinal_Peter_Turkson.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/662482/Roots_of_Peace_Logo.jpg

MOUNTAIN VIEW (dpa-AFX) - The woman who allegedly shot at least three people before fatally shooting herself at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California on Tuesday afternoon held an apparent grudge against the video-sharing site.



The 39-year-old woman, identified as Nasim Aghdam, died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound, according to police. Aghdam, a San Diego resident, carried out the attack using a handgun.



According to Aghdam's family and her own social media posts, she was angered by YouTube's handling of her online videos. Aghdam's father, Ismail Aghdam, said his daughter was 'angry' with YouTube as she strongly felt it was censoring her videos and had also stopped paying her for the content.



Aghdam, an animal lover and vegan activist, posted videos in English and Farsi, the official language of Iran. She was very prolific on You Tube.



In a video posted on YouTube in late January, Aghdam alleged that the video-sharing site 'discriminated and filtered' her content.



In an Instagram post later in March, Aghdam alleged that all her videos hardly got views as they were filtered by YouTube.



'This is the peaceful tactic used on the internet to censor and suppress people who speak the truth and are not good for the financial, political . gains of the system and big businesses,' Aghdam said.



Aghdam's father told the Bay Area News Group, publisher of the Mercury News, that his family emigrated from Iran in 1996 and his daughter had shown no previous signs of being inclined to violence.



While living in San Diego, Aghdam established an animal-rights charity called Peace Thunder and also spent time training to be a pilot, according to public records.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de

BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - While the U.S. and China have recently engaged in tit-for-tat tariff announcements, President Donald Trump has dismissed the idea that he is instigating a trade war.



Trump argued in a post on Twitter on Wednesday that the trade war with China was already lost because of the policies of previous administrations.



'We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S.,' Trump tweeted,



'Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion,' he added. 'We cannot let this continue!'



The tweet from Trump came after China issued a list of 106 U.S. products that will be subject to additional tariffs.



The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of U.S. exports, including aircraft, cars, and soybeans.



The announcement by China came shortly after the U.S. Trade Representative published a proposed list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs.



The publication of the list came after Trump announced last month that he planned to impose about $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods over intellectual-property violations.



The USTR said the sectors subject to the proposed tariffs include industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics, and machinery.



Earlier in the week, China announced it was imposing tariffs on 128 products imported from the U.S. in response to Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.



Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. has a $500 billion trade deficit with China, although his assertion is not backed up by official data.



Data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis showed the U.S. trade deficit with China was approximately $336.7 billion in 2017, including good and services.



Excluding the U.S. surplus in services trade, the trade deficit in goods was $375.2 billion in 2017, still far narrower than the number cited by Trump.



Nonetheless, the president repeated the unsubstantiated figure in a subsequent tweet, saying, 'When you're already $500 Billion DOWN, you can't lose!'



(Photo: Gage Skidmore)



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.deEASTON, PA / ACCESSWIRE / April 4, 2018 / SI Systems, a global provider of the fastest and most proven picking robots for order fulfillment and kitting is pleased to announce its partnership with Tompkins Robotics, a division of Tompkins International. The partnership was formed to create faster, space optimized 'no pick labor required' solutions designed to outperform Amazon in the emerging uni-channel fulfillment ecosystem.

The Robotic A-Frame picks up to 2000 orders/ up to 36,000 items per hour

SI Systems is combining the broadest portfolio of Robotic A-Frame dispensing technologies with Tompkins Robotics cutting edge t-Sort robots and adding to it over 50 years of optimized order flow experience. These solutions can be up and running in weeks and reconfigured throughout a shift. This short implementation cycle time is a credit to the engineered in flexibility of the Robotic A-Frame and t-Sort. The systems are shipped ready to pick 36,000 units/hour with the ability to efficiently sort to 100's of destinations. This partnership promises clients a fast return on investment (ROI) and is a cost-effective means to reduce labor, improve accuracy and extended order cut-off times. Retailers and brands will also appreciate the solutions' compact footprint. These units can even be utilized in back store areas and easily moved into position for short fulfillment runs.

'We are very excited to partner with Tompkins on this exciting endeavor,' said Sham Gad, President and CEO of SI Systems. 'The combination of SI's robotic dispensing technology along with the technology of Tompkins Robotics t-Sort system will undoubtedly provide a flexible and affordable robotic fulfillment solutions in support of operations large and small. The automated supply chain is no longer an option, but a necessity to support today's same day and next day customer service level demands. The SI Systems and Tompkins solution creates a compelling, cost-cutting, Amazon beating solution.'

'Tompkins Robotics is pleased to be a part of this unique and truly innovative integration of cutting-edge robotics solutions,' said Mike Futch, President of Tompkins Robotics. 'This is an exciting time as robotic solutions become a reality in order fulfillment facilities.'

'Combining t-Sort with SI robotic dispensing technology provides significant reductions in investment and operating costs for both brands and retailers either in their own facility via Tompkins Robotics or in a MonarchFx facility. A demo system is currently installed in the Tompkins International Emerging Technology Center in Orlando, Florida for interested parties to visit,' stated Jim Tompkins, CEO of Tompkins International.

For additional information, word document or high-resolution images, please contact Diana Maglio (610) 559-4001 or magilo@sihs.com.

About SI Systems:

SI Systems has been providing world class automated robotic A-frames and material handling systems to order fulfillment, distribution center, warehouse, manufacturing and assembly operations for over 50 years. Our products and services include Systems Robotic dispensing, A-Frames, towlines, software and a full suite of engineering and integration services. SI Systems has developed and optimized the automation needs of clients all over the world. For more information, please visit www.sihs.com or contact us at ROI@sihs.com

About Tompkins International:

A supply chain consulting and implementation firm that maximizes supply chain performance and value creation. We enable clients to be more profitable and valuable, while also becoming more agile, flexible, and adaptive to the marketplace. Tompkins collaborates with client teams to develop improved operations strategies, supply chain planning, and execution across all the Mega Processes of supply chains (PLAN-BUY-MAKE-MOVE-DISTRIBUTE-SELL). Tompkins is headquartered in Raleigh, NC and has offices throughout North America and in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit: www.tompkinsinc.com.

CONTACT:

Diana Maglio

Director of Marketing

Phone: (610) 559-4001

Fax: (610) 250-9677

Email: maglio@sihs.com

101 Larry Holmes Dr., Suite 500

Easton, PA 18042-7727

www.sihs.com

SOURCE: SI SystemsRegulatory News:

Eurofins Scientific (EUFI.PA) (Paris:ERF), a global leader in bio-analytical testing, announces that it has successfully closed the transaction to acquire Eichrom Laboratoires ("Eichrom"), a key player in radioactivity and asbestos testing.

Eichrom is a sister Company of the well-known Eichrom Technologies, the first company to develop and commercialise extraction chromatographic resins, an essential reagent for identifying and quantifying radioactive elements precisely and quickly. Eichrom Technologies resins are used worldwide by all radioactivity testing laboratories.

Eichrom has long-standing relationships with all nuclear industry stakeholders and major players in France. Its comprehensive portfolio of analytical testing services enables the monitoring of drinking water and food, of the environmental surroundings of nuclear power plants and the decommissioning of nuclear sites. Eichrom performs radioactivity, chemical and asbestos analyses on radioactive or potentially-radioactive samples, providing a "one-stop testing shop" to players in the nuclear industry. The company is located near Rennes in the west of France. Eichrom is ISO 17025 accredited by the Comite francais d'accreditation (COFRAC), a member of the globally-recognized International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). It employs 57 staff and generated revenues close to EUR 4m in 2017.

The acquisition of Eichrom expands Eurofins' portfolio of analytical testing services, which will now offer a comprehensive suite of state-of-the-art testing services to a broad range of customers involved in the nuclear industry.

Comment from Dr. Gilles Martin, Eurofins CEO: "We are pleased to welcome Eichrom, an entrepreneurial company, to Eurofins' family of businesses. With this acquisition, in addition to its activities in this field in Japan, the USA and the Nordic countries, Eurofins becomes a key player in radioactivity testing and offers its clients a broad and comprehensive testing portfolio. We look forward to strengthening Eichrom portfolio and operating footprint by providing them access to the full range of services and capabilities of the Eurofins Group as well as access to the Group's clients."

For more information, please visit www.eurofins.com

Notes for the editor:

Eurofins a global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins Scientific through its subsidiaries (hereinafter sometimes "Eurofins" or "the Group") believes it is the world leader in food, environment and pharmaceutical products testing and in agroscience CRO services. It is also one of the global independent market leaders in certain testing and laboratory services for genomics, discovery pharmacology, forensics, CDMO, advanced material sciences and for supporting clinical studies. In addition, Eurofins is one of the key emerging players in specialty clinical diagnostic testing in Europe and the USA. With over 35,000 staff in more than 400 laboratories across 44 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 150,000 analytical methods for evaluating the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin and purity of biological substances and products, as well as for innovative clinical diagnostic. The Group objective is to provide its customers with high-quality services, accurate results on time and expert advice by its highly qualified staff.

Eurofins is committed to pursuing its dynamic growth strategy by expanding both its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions and the most comprehensive range of testing methods.

As one of the most innovative and quality oriented international players in its industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients' increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the expanding demands of regulatory authorities around the world.

The shares of Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0000038259, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).

Important disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements and estimates contained herein represent the judgment of Eurofins Scientific's management as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this release may not occur. Eurofins Scientific disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements and estimates. All statements and estimates are made based on the information available to the Company's management as of the date of publication, but no guarantee can be made as to their validity.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005071/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Eurofins Scientific

Phone: +32 2 766 1620

E-mail: ir@eurofins.comDigital operatorTurkcell (NYSE:TKC) (BIST:TCELL), DQ Institute and Turkish Ministry of Education announced that they are joining forces to improve children's digital literacy in Turkey. As a first step of the collaboration, DQ World content will be made available in Turkish language to Turkish children as of September 2018, at the beginning of the new academic year.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005935/en/

Turkcell, DQ Institute and Turkish Ministry of Education announced that they are joining forces to improve children's digital literacy in Turkey. (Photo: Business Wire)

DQ World project entails digital awareness training of children aged 8-12. Through self-directed e-learning, children are taught to make the best use of their digital experience while protecting themselves from exposure to harmful content and other vulnerabilities. The programme teaches the 8 core digital citizenship skills: Digital Citizen Identity, Screen Time Management, Cyberbullying Management, Cyber Security Management, Privacy Management, Critical Thinking, Digital Footprints, Digital Empathy.

Announcing the partnership at Turkcell's Technology Summit held in Istanbul, Turkcell CEO Kaan Terzioglu, underlined the operator's commitment to using technology for humanitarian purposes:

"At Turkcell, we are well aware of the fact that digital is everywhere we are thrilled about the opportunities that this presents but we are also aware of the fear that this transformation induces on the society. We are committed to putting the human element at the center of our technology, and improving the digital literacy of our children is a crucial dimension of this. We need to make sure that they build a healthy foundation for their digital experience. Our partnership with the DQ Institute will help us make research-based, internationally-endorsed premium content available to our children and their families, helping us build those healthy foundations."

Dr. Yuhyun Park, the Founder and the CEO of the DQ Institute noted:

"Beyond IQ and EQ, we believe DQ (digital intelligence) represents the core digital skills that all children must have to thrive in the digital economy. The digital citizenship is the fundamental skills of DQ for our children to mitigate cyber-risks and maximize the opportunity of technology. DQEveryChild is a strategic global movement to empower 8-12 year olds with comprehensive digital citizenship skills from the start of their digital lives for instance, before they start actively engaging in social media or owing their mobile phone. We are privileged to work with Turkcell and Turkish Ministry of Education to empower Turkish children to truly become successful, responsible and ethical digital citizens of tomorrow."

Dr. Mustafa Hilmi Colakoglu, the Deputy Undersecretary for Information Technologies and Strategy at the Turkish Ministry of Education said:

"As educators, we are bringing up the generation who will lead the world in 2050. I believe its a milestone for the World so we should do our best for the children. In last 50 years, we have solved the former problems of the world together. We have to do it for the future as well. Because future does not consist of only opportunities. New threats have appeared for our kids, like climate change, obesity, new kind of diseases, child labour, drugs, cyber-bullying and etc. We have to prepare a safe world for them hand in hand, patiently and in harmony. The responsibilities towards our children can not be postponed or neglected. Therefore we are doing a distinguished work with Turkcell and DQ Institute today."

Only 9% of 8-17 year olds use internet to "reach information that is useful for the society"

Global research on children's use of the internet does not present a positive picture. According to UNICEF's "Children in the Digital World" reports (2016 2017), among the 8-17 year olds that use the internet, only 9% access it to find information on issues that would be of value to the society that they live in. 90% of the same age group identify cyberbullying as the biggest problem that they come across on the internet. 64% of their parents think that they internet is not a safe place for their children.

According to the DQ Institute's own research (DQ Impact Report 2018), carried out in 29 countries and covering 38 thousand children, 56% of 8-12 year-olds are exposed to at least one cyber risk. Over 725 million children aged from 8 to 12 will be online by 2020, and 390 million 8-12 year olds will be exposed to cyber-risks.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005935/en/

Contacts:

Turkcell Corporate Communications

Burak Mergen, +90-532-210 60 20

Burak.mergen@turkcell.com.trPUNE, India, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "Solar Backsheet Market by Type (Fluoropolymer and Non-Fluoropolymer), Application (Utility, Industrial, Commercial, Residential, and Military), Installation (Roof-Mounted, Ground-Mounted, and Floating Power Plant), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets', the market is expected to grow from an estimated USD 1.71 Billion in 2018 to USD 2.40 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 7.02%, from 2018 to 2023. This market growth is driven by increasing global solar PV installations as well as policy support from governments to enable the adoption of renewable technologies. Another factor driving the demand for solar backsheet is the need to reduce carbon emissions.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg )



Browse 69 market data Tables and 31 Figures spread through 123 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Solar Backsheet Market"

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/solar-backsheet-market-214002611.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report

The utility application segment is expected to hold the largest share of the Solar Backsheet Market, by application, during the forecast period.

The utility segment is expected to have the largest Solar Backsheet Market share, by application, from 2018 to 2023. This segment is driven mainly by the global increase in installations of solar power plants, both for utility and distributed power generation applications, to meet the global power demand.

Ask for PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=214002611

Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing Solar Backsheet Market.

In this report, the Solar Backsheet Market has been analyzed with respect to 4 regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the rest of the world. Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest and the fastest-growing market, by region, during the forecast period. This is due to the significant increase in solar PV installation in China and India. China is the largest market in Asia Pacific and is heavily investing in solar PV to reduce carbon emissions and fulfill its power needs. The other key markets in Asia Pacific are India, South Korea, and Australia. Asia Pacific accounted for more than 50% of the Solar Backsheet Market in 2017. North America is expected to be the second fastest-growing market for solar backsheets.

To enable an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes the profiles of some of the top players in the Solar Backsheet Market including Cybrid (China), Jolywood (China), Coveme (Italy), Krempel (Germany), and Hangzhou First (China).

Know more about the Solar Backsheet Market:

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/solar-backsheet-market-214002611.html

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:

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MarketsandMarkets' INC.

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USA: +1-888-600-6441

Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com



Visit Our Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/energy-and-power

Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarketsLOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 4, 2018 / The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Celadon Group, Inc. ("the Company") (NYSE: CGI) for violations of 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investors who purchased the Company's shares are encouraged to contact the firm.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall, or Sherin Mahdavian, of the Schall Law Firm, 1880 Century Park East, Suite 404, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 424-303-1964, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at brian@schallfirm.com.

The class in this case has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member.

The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors. On April 2, 2018, Celadon announced that it has identified errors requiring adjustments to its previously issued 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 financial statements, and to statements potentially even older than that. Celadon further announced that certain financial results would be restated, and that it expects the New York Stock Exchange to halt trading of its common stock and commence the delisting process promptly. When the truth was revealed to the investing public, shares of Celadon fell sharply during after-hours trading, causing shareholders harm.

The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world, and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.

CONTACT:

The Schall Law Firm

Brian Schall, Esq.,

Sherin Mahdavian, Esq.,

Schallfirm.com

SOURCE: The Schall Law FirmShareholders elected Michel Lies as a new member and Chairman of the Board of Directors for a term of office of one year. His appointment follows the previously announced retirement of Tom de Swaan who served for five years as Chairman and for 12 years on the Board. All members of the Board of Directors standing for re-election were re-elected for another one-year term of office.

Shareholders also approved an increased dividend of CHF 18 per share up from CHF 17 per share, Zurich's Management Report, the Annual Financial Statements and all other agenda items.

In 2017, Zurich made considerable progress in refocusing its core business, diversifying its portfolio and exiting underperforming lines of business while acquiring new capabilities and growing its distribution footprint. Zurich improved underwriting, reduced costs and expanded its service offerings, while growing premiums and improving its customer retention levels.

In remarks to shareholders at the Annual General Meeting, Chairman of the Board of Directors Tom de Swaan said, "Zurich's ability to embrace this changing environment is not by chance. It is through the vigilant oversight of a management team that understands the realities of these markets today, has a vision for where these markets are going in the future, and has a proven capability to drive necessary change. This is why I and my fellow Board members feel such confidence in the future earnings potential of the Zurich Group. And it is why we stand before you today proposing to increase the dividend to CHF 18 per share."

Michel Lies, the newly-elected Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: "I am proud to join Zurich's Board, and I want to congratulate Tom de Swaan for assembling a Board with such a wide range of experience, skills and knowledge. I look forward to working with my new colleagues."

Group Chief Executive Officer Mario Greco said, "In society, in our industry and at Zurich, you're witnessing fundamental change. But we are not mourning the end of an era, we are welcoming a new one. We are not being disrupted and reacting to technology, we are anticipating what customers expect of us and leading the change. We are systematically adding service capabilities and distribution platforms that build on our core strengths. And we are future proofing this organization with a renewed culture and revamped leadership team."

Shareholders approved the dividend of CHF 18 per share for the 2017 financial year, which will be paid partially out of the available earnings for 2017 and partially out of the capital contribution reserve. The portion paid from the capital contribution reserve will be exempt from Swiss withholding tax. The dividend will be paid starting April 10, 2018.

In an advisory vote, 88.8% of shareholders represented approved the remuneration report 2017. They also approved a maximum total remuneration for the entire Board of Directors in the amount of CHF 4.65 million for the period until the next Annual General Meeting with 97.2% voting in favor. They also voted in favor of a maximum total remuneration of the Executive Committee of CHF 72.20 million for the financial year 2019 with 91.2% in favor. The remuneration reports will continue to be presented to shareholders in an advisory vote in the years to come.

PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Zurich, was re-elected as auditor for the 2018 financial year.

There were 1,650 shareholders (incl. proxies), representing 73,935,846 registered shares or 68.7% of the shares entitled to vote, at the meeting in Zurich.

Detailed results of all votes will be published on (www.zurich.com: http://www.zurich.com/en) on April 5, 2018.

In its constituent meeting held after the Annual General Meeting, the Board of Directors elected Christoph Franz as its Vice-Chairman.

Tom de Swaan

Chairman of the Board of Directors

Mario Greco

Group CEO

Michel Lies

newly elected Chairman of the Board

: http://www.zurich.com/_/media/dbe/corporate/images/people/tom-de-swaan-agm-2018.jpg?la=en&hash=085CA79F10C02AEF8217D726C24B1703EE941FCA): http://www.zurich.com/_/media/dbe/corporate/images/people/mario-greco-agm-2018.jpg?la=en&hash=0275F3052196813BAE028FC1F9FE6BF262074612): http://www.zurich.com/_/media/dbe/corporate/images/people/michel-lies-agm-2018.jpg?la=en&hash=18A3F76911F65EE8F6CF35E9C6C8BCBA0EF1634F)

The Board of Directors (all CV to be found (here: http://www.zurich.com/en/about-us/corporate-governance/board-of-directors)) and its committees now consist of the following members:

Michel Lies, Chairman

Christoph Franz, Vice-Chairman

Joan Amble

Catherine Bessant

Dame Alison Carnwath

Jeffrey Hayman

Monica Machler

Kishore Mahbubani

David Nish

Remuneration Committee

Chairman: Christoph Franz

Catherine Bessant

Michel Lies

Kishore Mahbubani

Audit Committee

Chairman: Dame Alison Carnwath

Catherine Bessant

Monica Machler

David Nish

Risk and Investment Committee

Chairman: Jeffrey Hayman

Joan Amble

Dame Alison Carnwath

Kishore Mahbubani

David Nish

Governance, Nominations and Corporate Responsibility Committee

Chairman: Michel Lies

Dame Alison Carnwath

Christoph Franz

Jeffrey Hayman

Monica Machler



Further information

More information about Zurich's Corporate Governance structure can be found (here: http://www.zurich.com/en/about-us/corporate-governance).NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 4, 2018 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against BRF S.A. ("BRF" or the "Company") (NYSE: BRFS) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 18-cv-02213, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired BRF American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") between April 4, 2013 and March 2, 2018, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

If you are a shareholder who purchased BRF ADRs between April 4, 2013 and March 2, 2018, both dates inclusive, you have until May 11, 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 the number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

BRF S.A. is a food processor and the world's largest poultry exporter. Its portfolio includes established brands in Brazil and abroad, such as Sadia, Perdigao, Qualy, Chester, Perdix and Paty. The Company provides meat (poultry and pork), foods processed from meats, pizzas, pastas and frozen vegetables.

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) BRF employees paid bribes to regulators and politicians to subvert inspections in order to conceal unsanitary practices at the Company's meatpacking plants; (ii) the foregoing conduct, when it came to light, would foreseeably subject the Company and its officers to heightened regulatory enforcement and/or prosecution; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, BRF's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On March 17, 2017, news outlets reported that Brazilian federal police had raided the offices of BRF and dozens of other meatpackers following a two-year investigation into alleged bribery of regulators to subvert inspections of their plants. The probe, known as "Operation Weak Flesh", had uncovered some 40 cases of meatpackers who had bribed inspectors and politicians to overlook unsanitary practices, such as processing rotten meat and running plants with traces of salmonella. According to media reports, police found evidence that the companies were tampering with packages to sell products that had already expired and that higher-than permitted levels of parts such as "pig heads" were mixed with sausages and cold cuts. Police arrested three BRF employees, as well as 20 public officials.

On this news, BRF's ADR price fell $0.99, or 7.73%, to close at $11.81 on March 17, 2017.

On February 23, 2018, the Company held an earnings conference call with investors and analysts to discuss the Q4 2017 earnings results. In the call, Chairman of the Board Abilio Diniz and CFO Lorival Luz discussed the impact of "Operation Weak Flesh."

On this news, BRF's ADR price fell $0.76, or 8.00%, to close at $8.73 on February 23, 2018.

On March 5, 2018, Reuters reported that Brazilian federal police arrested BRF's former Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") Pedro de Andrade Faria ("Faria") on charges that he and other executives, including the Company's Vice President of Global Operations Helio dos Santos Junior, were aware that BRF committed fraud by trying to avoid food safety checks. According to the report, the "police cited evidence that five laboratories accredited by the Agriculture Ministry colluded with the analysis department of BRF to "falsify" test results related to the safety of its industrial process." In a court ruling authorizing the arrests, Brazilian federal judge Andre Duszczak said, "Faria and other BRF officers sought to cover up claims of possible food contamination, as shown in certain laboratory tests, made by a former employee in a labor lawsuit."

On this news, BRF's ADR price fell $1.83 or 19.42% to close at $7.59 on March 5, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, 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New Company Using Blockchain Technology Launches in Asia

LOHAS Pro, a technology innovation company opening offices in Japan, announced today its plan to launch a new community implementing blockchain technologies that revolutionizes the consumer purchasing model with online and brick-and-mortar retail stores while providing a direct financial incentive benefiting both consumers and retailers. This exciting new consumer purchasing monetization business model will be available soon at major retailers throughout Asia. The initial roll-out launch is underway in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Under the slogan 'Spending is Mining,' LOHAS Pro turns consumption into direct financial rewards for consumers and their purchases. LOHAS Pro is implementing a revolutionary paradigm whereby consumption is used for cryptographic mining. The LOHAS Pro specialized consumer financial rewards program provides a direct financial incentive for day-to-day expenditures benefiting both consumers and retailers. The company has an existing network of retailers, merchants, and shops that are being integrated into the LOHAS Pro community. LOHAS Pro has an aggressive marketing and rollout schedule to increase the number of retailers and consumer participants amongst their membership ecosystem. Interested parties seeking additional information can register on the website at www.LOHASPro.com.

Marketing Director of LOHAS Pro, Jeff Hsu stated, "We are excited to announce LOHAS Pro as people are more accepting of digital currency technologies to reach personal financial freedom. Our team is dedicated to the blockchain revolution with our membership network of retailers, consumers, and stakeholders validating transactions throughout the ecosystem."

LOHAS Pro is developing a custom blockchain technology to issue LOHAS Pro tokens (LHS), enabling consumer to track their spending and generate rewards for their day-to-day shopping, dining, and consumer goods purchases. This model is a paradigm shift resulting in additional purchasing power and a token monetization bank to increase consumer wealth through a specialized cryptocurrency solution. The company has focused resources to recruit regional and local community-based master miners integrating direct marketing and grass roots organic growth. This expands the monetization of members' token benefits for their referral networks, friends, and participants.

About LOHAS Pro

LOHAS Pro is developing a customized blockchain technology in support of its community members to address transaction speed, security, and reliability. LOHAS Pro helps consumers track their habits, incentivizes all participants within the network for their spending actions, and rewards each member within the specific-built ecosystem.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404006093/en/

Contacts:

LOHAS Pro

Amy Ng, PR@lohaspro.com

Communication Director

www.lohaspro.comVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 4, 2018) - Pan Andean Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: PAD) ("Pan Andean" or the "Company") wishes to welcome Dr. Dongmok Whang to its 'Advisory Board'. Dr. Dongmok Whang is a Professor at the School of Advanced Materials Science & Engineering and Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Korea. His research interest is in controlled fabrication of low-dimensional nanomaterials, such as graphene, semiconductor nanowires, porous nanostructures, and hybrid nanostructures for various electronic and energy applications including rechargeable batteries, fuel cells, and flexible optoelectronic devices (OLED), among others.

Dr. Whang is a co-leader of a joint research team of Samsung Electronics (Samsung) and SKKU that last year has developed an original technology to create a new material by synthesizing amorphous graphene for the first time in the world. This new material has low conductivity, which expands the use of graphene from the electronics industry to others, including desalination. Dr. Whang and Hwang Sung-woo, managing director of Nanoelectronics Lab Team at Samsung, jointly developed the technology to synthesize the large-area monatomic amorphous graphene called "dream material".

Dr. Whang owns more than 50 patents, one third of which is co-owned with Samsung Electronics. He is the leader of Functional Nanomaterial Lab at SKKU and supervises two post-doctoral fellows, as well as 17 students, with 15 students on doctoral level. The Lab is financed by grants from both, the Korean government and Samsung.

Samsung has been teamed up with Functional Nanomaterial Lab led by Dr. Whang for many years to develop, among others, a synthesis technology for a single-crystal graphene, capturing attention from industry and academia. The joint research team of Samsung and Functional Nanomaterial Lab attracted interest, both from the academic and industrial sectors, for developing the original technology for a large-scale synthesis of single-crystalline graphene (up to 5cm in size) on semiconductor wafers.

"We are very excited to have Dr. Dongmok Whang join our Advisory Board" says Spencer Sung Bum Huh, President of Pan Andean Minerals, "Dr. Whang brings a wealth of direct development expertise in the nanomaterials, OLED and graphene market that will be invaluable to us as we are looking to identify alternative opportunities and grow the Company."

Dr. Whang received a PhD degree in Chemistry from the Pohang University of Science and Technology in Korea (POSTECH) in 1997. Prior to joining SKKU, he was a Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University (2001-2004) and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at (POSTECH) (1997-2001). As Associate Professor at Harvard, Dr. Whang was a member of the Lieber Research Group focused broadly on science and technology at the nanoscale, harnessing the unique physical properties of novel nanomaterials. He has also co-authored over 120 peer-reviewed publications, such as Science Magazine, with about 10,000 citations.

About Pan Andean Minerals Ltd.

Pan Andean is a Vancouver-based junior resource company that has been listed on the TSX Venture Exchange for 10 years and has at present a portfolio of properties in Peru and Yukon with the focus being Peru. The Company is currently pursuing alternative business opportunities.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Spencer Sung Bum Huh

President, Director

604-355-6463

sbhuh1450@gmail.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.WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM) has agreed to buy Ainsworth Pet Nutrition LLC in a transaction valued at about $1.7 billion, after an estimated tax benefit of $200 million. 'Ainsworth Pet Nutrition is an excellent strategic fit for our Company, as the Rachael RayTM Nutrish brand adds another high-growth, on-trend brand to our pet food portfolio,' said Mark Smucker, Chief Executive Officer. 'Their team has done a tremendous job growing this business, building Nutrish into one of the most recognizable premium pet food brands in the United States.' Ainsworth is a privately-held company headquartered in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In addition to its headquarters, the transaction includes two manufacturing facilities owned by Ainsworth and a leased distribution facility. Ainsworth's 700 employees are expected to join Smucker. Smucker expects Ainsworth's business to contribute sales of about $800 million in the first full year after closing the transaction. The business expected to contribute about $0.25 per share of accretion to the company's adjusted earnings. Smucker plans to fund the all-cash transaction with debt. The transaction is expected to close early in the company's fiscal year beginning May 1, 2018. Smucker also said it is reviewing strategic options, including a potential divestiture, for its U.S. baking business that includes products sold in U.S. retail channels under the Pillsbury, Martha White, Hungry Jack, White Lily, and Jim Dandy brands. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter. 'We regularly review our portfolio to ensure it aligns with our strategic priorities,' said Mark Smucker. 'However, our current strategic priorities include an increased emphasis and allocation of resources toward growing our coffee, pet, and snacking food businesses.' SJM closed Wednesday's trading at $123.70, up $1.98 or 1.63%, on the NYSE. 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.CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Australia will on Thursday release February trade balance figures, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The trade balance is expected to show a surplus of A$725 million, down from A$1.055 billion in January. Australia also will see March results for the Performance of Service Index from AiG; in February, the index score was 54.0. New Zealand will provide March numbers for ANZ readings on job ads and commodity prices. In February, job ads sank 1.2 percent on month and commodity prices climbed 2.8 percent. Malaysia will release February figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In January, imports were worth 73.2 billion ringgit and exports were at 82.9 billion ringgit for a trade surplus of 9.7 billion ringgit. The Philippines will provide March data for consumer and producer prices. In February, consumer prices were up 0.8 percent on month and 3.9 percent on year, while producer prices added 0.6 percent on month but fell 1.1 percent on year. Finally, the markets in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong are closed on Thursday for Tomb-Sweeping Day. 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.Qmerit, an Irvine, CA-based provider of cloud-based MRO supply chain solutions, raised $11.75m in its first venture capital financing.

The round was led by Strandview Capital alongside strategic investors Schneider Electrics fund, an investment vehicle of Schneider Electric, and innogy Ventures, the investment arm of Germany-based energy group innogy SE. In conjunction with the funding, Kevin Covert from Strandview and Heriberto Diarte from Schneider Electric will join Qmerits Board of Directors.

The company intends to use the funds to expand its sales efforts as well as increase and accelerate product development.

Led by Qmerit Chairman, Founder and CEO, Tracy K. Price, Qmerit provides a cloud based workforce management platform that reduces labor and material costs and improve service quality for building owners, property managers, OEMs and contractors. The platform enables companies to vet, onboard, manage and objectively measure their contractors through a proprietary Qmerit Contribution Index (QCI). Similar to a FICO score, a QCI score is continuously calculated for each contractor based on their quality, responsiveness, compliance, customer ratings and more.

FinSMEs

04/04/2018Vehera LTD, a London, UK-based company trading as Storage Made Easy (SME), closed a 3m growth funding.

The round was led by an affiliate of a large global financial asset management company.

The new funding will primarily be spent on sales related resources.

Led by CEO and co-founder Jim Liddle, Storage Made Easy provide a File Fabric product solution that provides data security and policy based compliance features for enterprise class companies.

The Storage Made Easy File Fabric works with a companys existing file stores to provide not only policy based security but also, for example, insight into which files contain personal data, and also a view into corporate data stores, unifying on-site and on-cloud file assets.

The product is also used with Object Storage products.

The companys customer portfolio includes one of the largest global social media companies, a global North American communications and technology leader, a large North American network broadcaster. The product is also used in UK government, via the G-Cloud initiative, as well as by other international government bodies. Storage Made Easy recently announced a growth reseller partnership with Cloudian and partners with other major vendors in the Object Storage space including RedHat, and Canonical.

FinSMEs

04/04/2018PLEASE REMEMBER TO ORDER FROM AMAZON THOUGH FMF.CLICK ON ANY BOOK WE LIST TO GET TO AMAZON, AND THEN ORDER WHATEVER. thanxxx

&amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;gt;

FINISHING THE 2ND EDITION!!! REVISED AND UPDATED 2ND EDITION NEAR COMPLETION. LOOK FOR IT IN SEPTEMBER.

THANK YOU AND LEGAL NOTICE As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. THANK YOU TO ALL THE READERS WHO REMEMBER TO GO TO AMAZON VIA FIRST MOTHER FORUM. IT MATTERS NOT WHAT YOU PURCHASE.

From the New York Times



"Lorraine Dusky, a writer who relinquished a daughter as a young single mother in New York State in 1966, supports opening the records. She reported in her 2015 memoir that in the handful of states that offered women the opportunity to remove their names from original birth certificates, only a small fraction of women  fewer than 1 percent  chose to do so." -- Dont Keep Adopted People in the Dark by Gabrielle Glaser, June 19, 2018

From the New York Times "On FirstMotherForum.com, a blog that discusses issues among women who had given children up for adoption, Lorraine Dusky, one of the sites authors, praised the series (ABC's 10-episode Find My Family): 'Maybe this will be heard by people who think it is unloyal somehow for a person to search out his or her roots, parents, family, when it is a most natural desire of consciousness.' --Two Reality Shows Stir Publicity and Anger"--Dec. 6, 2009.

This blog takes cookies.

"It shouldn't take a miracle to find people you are related to by blood."--Jenn Gentlesk

EMAIL US AT forumfirstmother@gmail.com

Oregon court records available Instructions and forms for accessing adoption records are on the Oregon Judicial Department's website.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE Material from First Mother Forum may be quoted as long as FMF is credited and with a link to original source here. Over 350 words, contact for permission: forumfirstmother@gmail.com.ICICI Bank on its part denied any conflict, saying it had not hired Avista Advisory Group run by Rajiv Kochhar, brother of Chanda Kochhar's husband Deepak, and did not pay any fee.

New Delhi: ICICI Bank borrowers, including Jaiprakash Associates and Jaiprakash Power, had hired services of a firm run by the banks CEO Chanda Kochhar's brother-in-law, company officials today said amid concerns over propriety and conflict of interest with regard to Videocon loan matter.

ICICI Bank on its part denied any conflict, saying it had not hired Avista Advisory Group run by Rajiv Kochhar, brother of Chanda Kochhar's husband Deepak, and did not pay any fee.

Among the companies that are said to have hired services of Avista include Videocon, GTL Infrastructure and Suzlon for restructuring of debt. ICICI Bank was a lender to all these entities.

Jaypee Group spokesperson confirmed hiring Avista for debt restructuring and said that a fee in line with market practice was paid.

"We wish to state that Avista Advisory was only involved in restructuring of FCCBs of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd and Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd but it was never involved in any loan syndication for any Jaypee Group company. Avista has been paid a fee of 0.75 percent to 1 percent of the restructured FCCBs, which is as per market standards. Thus the reports linking Jaypee Groups dealing with ICICI Bank via Avista are completely baseless," the spokesperson said.

Jaiprakash Associates, the flagship firm of the Jaypee Group, has restructured foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) worth about USD 110 million while Jaiprakash Power venture got its debt recast of about $225 million.

The CBI has launched a preliminary investigation into Rs 3,250 crore loan ICICI Bank had extended to Videocon in 2012 and the role of Kochhar's husband.

Reports have alleged that Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot invested Rs 64 crore in NuPower Renewables, a firm owned by Deepak Kochhar after Videocon secured a loan from a consortium of lenders, including ICICI Bank.

When reached for comments, ICICI Bank spokesperson said, "We would like to categorically state that ICICI Bank has never engaged Avista Advisory Group for any services at all. Since we have never hired their services, there is no question of ICICI Bank paying any fee to them. Hence, the allegation of conflict of interest is totally baseless and mala fide in intent."

Reply from other companies were still awaiting at the time of filing the story.

Whistle-blower Arvind Gupta has demanded that NuPower Renewables -- the company founded by ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar's husband Deepak Kochhar -- must disclose the real identity of its majority shareholder DH Renewables Holding Ltd of Mauritius.

Gupta, who identifies himself as an informed and vigilant investor owning shares both in ICICI Bank and Videocon Industries, alleged that NuPower Renewables was a 50:50 joint venture of Deepak Virendra Kochhar and Dhoots when founded in 2008.

Meanwhile, the ICICI Bank in a regulatory filing reiterated internal review of loans granted by it to Videocon did not find any lapse. The bank was responding to queries raised by stock exchanges.

The board of the bank at its meeting held on 28 March, 2018 had considered "all the facts" including the internal review undertaken in 2016 when rumours of quid pro quo regarding the loan provided to Videocon group first originated, the lender said in a filing when exchanges sought comments from the lender.

"This review confirmed that there was no material finding indicating any lapse," the bank said.

The bank further said the board has come to the conclusion that there is no question of any "quid pro quo/nepotism/conflict of interest" as is being alleged in carious rumours.

"The board has full confidence and reposes full faith in the banks MD and CEO...," the filing said..      COVID-19       .        .      :  :  8.00 .  12.00 .     -         . . :  . "" ...Working from home? Switch to the DIGITAL edition of CLICK HERE to signup now!Few weeks back Google began blocking Google Play apps and services on uncertified devices which created a lot of confusion among users and what it means. While Google mentioned that it would let custom ROM users be whitelisted, but the page was accepting IMEI values or Play Service Framework Device ID, but the pressing issue here is that it only accepted 100 IDs to be whitelisted. Today, a Google representative has confirmed to XDA that the company is removing this limit.

This means that the Android registration page now accepts GSF IDs in their original hexadecimal format. The Google Play Service Framework Device ID (GSF ID) is a unique device identifier that is generated by Google Play Services. Wiping and flashing a fresh ROM means that you will end up wasting a token that is used to whitelist your device.

With the Whitelist page not having to remove active device registrations, it is an issue for developers especially to save their GSF IDs every time so that they dont fill up the 100 tokens limit. Now that Google has officially removed 100 device registration limit, you can register and re-register as many times as you wish. This is a really good move from Google as it addresses the major concern of Android community.

However, Google is still sticking to its original purpose of preventing device makers from bypassing Googles CTS and pre-installing Google apps and services when they arent supposed to.

SourceAccording to a latest report, Amazon is planning to submit a rival offer to buy Indias largest e-commerce firm Flipkart who are in advance talks with Walmart Inc. for selling a majority stake. The company is said to be in early exploratory talks to buy Flipkart even as Flipkart closes in on sale to Walmart.

It is already well-known that Walmart is in talks to buy 55% of Flipkart through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases that values Flipkart at $21 billion. It is also reported that Flipkart investors Tiger Global Management, Accel Partners, Naspers, IDG Ventures and others are also expected to sell most or all of their shares in the Flipkart-Walmart deal.

The secondary share purchases will happen at a lower valuation. It is widely believed that a deal with Walmart is more likely to go through. Back in August 2017, Flipkart received $1.4 billion in fresh capital from Japans SoftBank Group, valuing the retailer at about $14 billion. For Flipkart, valuation of more than $20 billion will be an interesting turn around with its competition against Amazon in India.

It is also rumored that Google also wanted to invest in the e-commerce firm valuing it at $15-16 billion, according to reports from February. On the other hand, Since its entry in India back in 2013, Amazon has invested more than $2 billion in India and has said it will invest $3 billion more. Despite the investments, Amazon is still lagging behind in the top.

SourceTaste is the single most important consideration for consumers of salty snacks, according to a new report from Innova Market Insights. The pleasure of the eating... Read MoreIts down to five people to decide the fate of the TPI-FMB project.

TPI Hospitality will go before the Fort Myers Beach Town Council Monday, April 9  the town has also cleared April 10s schedule in case the meeting is continued.

It will be a moment of reckoning for the Fort Myers Beach resident and developer, Tom Torgerson, to see if his projects deviations from the land development code balance with the public benefits he believes it proffers.

TPI-FMB is a rezoning request for a commercial planned development spread across three main parcels of land totaling about 5 acres. The bulk of the project is a resort hotel on whats now the dilapidated Helmrich Plaza, where Torgerson wants to place 260 hotel rooms in an A-shaped building at four stories and 40 feet over flood elevation. Pedestrian bridges connect the resort to two other parcels: one over Fifth Street to the now-parking lot next to The Lighthouse Resort that would become a small business center for resort guests and another over Estero Boulevard that would connect the resort to a restaurant and bar with an additional 30 rooms on top, also a 40-foot over flood height.

Next to the restaurant open to the public is the beach club concept, which is aimed for use by adults with a lazy river and swim-up bar. It will be an amenity to the resort guests but will be open to a limited number of paying public; the venue can hold about 950 people, but TPI has said it will limit public tickets to 225 so as to provide plenty of space for its hotel guests  a number that town staff has said it has no way of monitoring, but that TPI staff has said is the optimal number for keeping the priority of access to resort guests.

The town-owned Canal Street separates, at an angle, the beach club area; TPI has proposed that if the town will vacate that right of way, it will build a new parking lot area for the town at its southernmost boundary with 26 spots and donate the land back to the town, which can then generate money from the meters.

Clearing the code

TPI is asking for deviations from the Land Development Code.

Its allow to ask.

The Town Council is allowed to say yes. Or no. Or somewhere in between.

It all comes down to interpretation.

In the LDC, the council is tasked with weighing public benefit against the deviations  as in, will the public benefit balance the increased height or density.

TPI-FMB has requested the following deviations from the LDC with its request:

1. To allow 290 rooms by calculating an equivalency factor of 12 instead of the maximum three as defined in the LDC. The town has a calculation to covert the number of allowed single-family homes on a property to the number of hotel or condo units which would be allowed. The highest multiplier now is three.

2. To allow the main resort and beachside building to be four stories and 40 feet tall over flood regulations. The LDC allows a three story, 40 foot building on the Gulfside of Estero, however the bayside is capped at three stories and 30 feet.

3. To allow a floor area ratio (FAR) of 1.6 for the entire property. Now part of the FAR for the property is 1.4 and the other part is 1.1. FAR determines how large a building can be based on its parcel size.

4. To allow a different buffer and sidewalk plan than the Type D stipulated in the LDC.

What public benefits are TPI proffering?

Perhaps the most benefit its offering is one very specifically outlined in the comprehensive plan: a Gulf view corridor in perpetuity.

On the Gulfside, TPI has plans for a public restaurant and bar with 30 hotel rooms for its resort on top. Its keeping the historical Cigar Hut building, but everything else will be razed for the beach club and development rights will be waived in perpetuity. That means, if someday that property is sold again, another developer should not be able to build anything on that Gulfside property.

This is a benefit specifically outlined in the Comprehensive Plan as a fair trade for additional building height. According to Policy 4-C-4, Particular attention would be paid to any permanent view corridors to the Gulf or bay waters that could be provided in exchange for allowing a building to be taller than two stories.

TPI also wants to build aesthetically pleasing pedestrian bridges that both connect its properties. The walkways are ADA compliant and open to the public. Its up for debate whether these will encourage people to walk up and over rather than cross the street at will, however in an entirely separate project, the Florida Department of Transportation is considering installing guard rails from Fifth to Crescent Street, which might funnel pedestrians toward either a crosswalk or the bridge.

Tom Torgerson, the chairman of the TPI board, estimated the entire project  resort, beach club, and restaurant  will create 200 jobs and, based on a consultants review, generate $2.3 million in impact fees, $1.25 million in bed taxes, and $1.2 million in property taxes, and the town will get $125,000 annually from the proposed 26-space parking lot that TPI will donate to the town.

Those numbers are based on about a three-year operating outlook, he said. It takes a few years to become stabilized, or reach an average occupancy, and property taxes are assessed for the previous years value.

I really feel is this doesnt get approved, who knows who else will take a shot at it, but I dont think theyll ever see this level of community involvement or a better proposal, he said.

It would be a deal-breaker to try to cut the number of rooms down, too.

People think 290 is arbitrary, said John Gucciardo, TPIs consultant and former deputy town manager. Two hundred ninety isnt arbitrary. Its a product of intense evaluation.

Torgerson said he wouldnt accept changes to the project that would reduce its financial feasibility. The project has to get a return on TPI Hospitalitys more than $30 million land buy.

There are those who want to approve the project as is, accepting the projects impacts in exchange for a refreshed look to Fort Myers Beachs front door and new opportunities, and those who believe it is too intense for the area, adding too much traffic with questions still on the table on sufficient parking.

TPI-FMB is requesting 290 rooms, which it often compares to the pre-Hurricane Charley numbers. Before Charley decimated several of the businesses and hotels in the area in 2004, there were about 240 hotel rooms  but thats counting the area thats now Crescent Beach Park, which is not a part of TPI-FMBs project jurisdiction. Its also counting 60 rooms which were approved, but had not yet been built.

The Voice of Fort Myers Beach, a group opposed to TPIs project, has objected to what it considers a project too dense and intense. Those who have spoke on behalf of the group are other Fort Myers Beach hotel owners, including Paul Malbon of Best Western, Doug Speirn-Smith of Matanzas Inn; and Robert Boykin of Pink Shell. Speirn-Smith is also a beach resident.

Boykin argues that the pre-Charley numbers are invalidated now.

Hurricane Charley wiped out lodging, but AirBnB has replaced that inventory, he said.

The Voice has stated on its Facebook page and through its marketing tactics, performed by CONRIC PR, that it opposes overdevelopment, not development. Boykin said his two personal issues with the project were parking and traffic.

He doesnt believe Town Consultant Bill Spikowskis number, 371, really encompasses the 290-room resort and employees plus parking for the public to use the water venue. The Pink Shell has been around for decades; Boykin said he doesnt think promoting off-island parking at the Park and Ride for employees will be successful. He also doesnt think the parking allocated for public aquatic venue use in Spikowskis report  up to 225 public users a day  will work.

Traffic is also a concern. The traffic analysis provided didnt show any gross impacts, but Boykin believes that to be untrue.

One thing hasnt changed, theres one road on and one road off, he said. Traffic continues to get more intense.

Tetra Techs latest analysis of traffic impacts, released March 16, concurs. Tetra Tech doesnt want TPI to use calculations that involve bike and pedestrian trips or take comments from surrounding business owners about how their customers arrive.

The project also removes whats now a paid beach parking lot, and Tetra Tech recommends the applicant should have to provide overflow parking until the operation of the development shows that the provided parking is adequate.

Tetra Tech also expresses concern that a queueing study should be done to see how the valet-only garage might cause a stacking issue as guests arrive at the hotel.

Boykin claims the issue could lie with a lack of resort management experience from TPI, a lack of institutional knowledge on staff, and a willingness of Spikowski to thread the needle for TPI is whats driving some of the project.

Spikowski did not recommend approval or denial of the project; his report outlined several paths the town council could take to either deny or approve, or approve with modifications, and also a list of suggested conditions to go with approval.

TPI Hospitality group specializes in building and managing hotels, restaurants and convention centers. Its hotel in Naples holds 122 rooms and employs 30 people.

Torgerson estimates his project will have about 50 employees on site at a time. According to Spikowskis parking calculations, employee parking is included in his total number of 371. That number also uses the discount applied to developments in the downtown area that contribute to a park once idea.

We feel its reasonable. Its logical, the main public benefit is keeping the Gulfside open in perpetuity, said Gucciardo. Those units would have value, and were giving that up.

Alternative facts and other conflicts

Within the last few months, the conversation circulating around the TPI-FMB project has been riddled with conflicting information, at-odds reports and a lack of procedural knowledge from the town.

The only official documents reviewing the TPI project are the two supplemental staff reports by Jason Green and LDC author Bill Spikowskis detailed analysis. Spikowski was slated to write one comprehensive report with input from multiple members of staff and input from town consultant Tetra Tech, as revealed through a public records request by the Observer for emails concerning the TPI project.

The first time Green mentioned generating his own report was in an email on Jan. 29, just two weeks before the LPA meeting.

Both of Greens reports have conflicting information to Spikowskis report, and bring up differing opinions that TPIs staff claim had never been brought up before, a point which was a cause of concern to the LPA.

Spikowski was hired in August 2017 to help the town review the project. The LPA discarded Greens report and recommended approval of the TPI proposal by following Spikowskis review and suggested conditions. Greens second report was issued after the LPA and includes a recommendation to deny the project.

Besides the three reports, the town did not have clear direction on what governmental process it was supposed to use to discuss the TPI project. For the past 20 years, the town has been using a resolution to approve (or deny) a rezoning request. A resolution requires only one public hearing and generally is used for matters of policy.

But at the March 19 meeting, Town Attorney John Turner told the council the town should be using an ordinance for a rezoning application, a two-hearing process established in state statute for applications that change the zoning map in a municipality. Council debated which method they should use  and which could open them up to legal challenges. In the end, they decided to get a second legal opinion. On March 27, the town updated TPI with a memo on the process it would use: a first hearing on April 9 (with the potential to bleed into April 10) with applicant presentation, town staff comments, public comment, and council dialogue with staff and the applicant. The council could vote at this meeting to send the rezoning ordinance to a second hearing, approximately a month later, to officially approve or deny the project.

In addition to the conflicting actual staff reports, more than one document claiming to have all the facts straight has been circulated through the coconut telegraph of Fort Myers Beach, especially on social media.

Both TPI-FMB and The Voice of Fort Myers Beach have gathered a following on their respective Facebook pages. Both are continuously posting information they believe backs their case.

TPI-FMB has posted numerous graphics comparing its density ask with that of other Fort Myers Beach hotels. However, most hotels were approved before the town incorporated. It also compared TPI to Harbour House and Edison Beach House, two hotels built after the town incorporated. However, both had some extenuating circumstances: Edison Beach House was a build-back property, formerly known as the Pink Porpoise Inn, and so its density was grandfathered in. Harbour House narrowly made it, because at the same time as its application the town was working on a Downtown Overlay District for Old San Carlos which allowed a higher density.

The Voice of Fort Myers Beach circulated a document that used the Towns official water stamp with selective excerpts from the comprehensive plan. Citizens for Responsible Growth Coalition also circulated what they called their own staff report on the TPI project. They sent this report to the town council for consideration.

Another group, 5 Decide, started as a grass-roots effort to support TPI with facts-based information. It too has created a Facebook group, but it is not directly connected to the TPI-FMB page. It was started by two Palermo Circle residents who wanted to fight misinformation.

A difference of opinion

The Beach Area Civic Association held a forum Monday night, inviting the community to ask questions of both TPI-FMB and of the Voice group.

The forum, moderated by president Charlie Whitehead, created a dialogue between the public and the two groups.

Leah Gregg, one of the founding members of 5 Decide, asked The Voice to identify themselves  and then asked if they could change their name.

You are misrepresenting us, she said, adding that while they may call themselves the voice of the community, they did not express her voice.

Boykin said the group started as a collection of hoteliers when Torgerson unveiled his first idea, Grand Resorts. Boykin denied that the groups opposition to the current proposal, TPI-FMB, had to do with competition  but rather, controlling new development from taking over the island.

People are discovering Fort Myers Beach. Tom Torgerson is just the tip of the spear, he said. Fort Myers Beach says hey, redevelop me!'

Boykin said his, and the groups, major concern was that if TPI got it wrong, itd be wrong forever. His personal concerns were with traffic and parking. He suggested TPIs parking plan wasnt fully vetted  with Spikowskis number, and Greens number, the parking was probably somewhere in the middle. He was also concerned with event parking at the resort, such as a wedding.

Whitehead had obtained a list of 17 people who had contributed to The Voice and helped hired CONRIC PR to spread their message; he said he knew three out of the 17 who werent in the beachs hospitality business.

Gucciardo said that the discussion on parking, launched in the LPA by the conflicting numbers in the reports, was influencing some change on TPIs plan. Theyre currently working on conditional language that could be added to address the cap on public entry into beach club, so that it would be written into the CPD.

The debate on whether employee parking is or isnt included is up for debate, Gucciardo said. Spikowski says its included in the LDC requirements for parking calculations; Green doesnt think so.

We have as much interest as everyone else to have parking, Gucciardo said. Or else, well have some angry hotel guests.

Tammy Stockton pointed out that while TPI is offering public benefits, Doug Speirn-Smiths project did not.

You brought us nothing but a vape shop, she said.

Harbour Houses density was allowed under the Downtown Overlay District, but it did ask for additional deviations: removing its setback requirements on First and Second Street, allowing 100 percent lot coverage, and increasing the floor plan size of its efficiency units.

Still, Speirn-Smith called TPIs proposal totally inconsistent and at unimaginable scale with its surrounding.

Bill Spikowski isnt a lawyer, hes a planner. Its not a good deal, he said. We can do better.

While TPI-FMB would be taller than the surrounding businesses and homes, Torgerson has gotten all of the surrounding properties to voice their support for his project. Andrea Carriere of the Silver Sands spoke during public comment at the LPA in favor; Rays Pizza emailed the town supporting the project; The Lighthouse Inns Thomas Kolar submitted a letter Feb. 3 asking the town to approve the project. The projects architecture mimics many of the Key-West style structures on the island and will even match its next-door neighbor  John Richard is giving the building at 1165 Estero Blvd. a facelift, also with Key-West style design.

Joe Stockton also spoke up about public benefits in trade for LDC deviations. He said the council and other residents should be concentrating on the benefits trade off for the increased intensity, not comparing TPI-FMB to what other hotels have asked for, as each one is different.

We allow for waiving (density). If TPI is asking for a waiver, theyre saying we may be overshooting but one shoe doesnt fit all people, Stockton said. There are rules and methods to define if a waiver can be issued based on the value to the community. Were talking about, will this be added benefit to the town, or else well be going around and around.

After the forum, The Voice posted to its Facebook page to thank BACA for the forum and provide a comment: Sometimes its okay to agree to disagree.When news broke of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Heather Lodovicos first thought wasnt how could this happen.

It was how could this happen again, she said.

Lodovico is now the PE and music teacher at Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, and a native of Connecticut. The New Town shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, somewhere 30 minutes away from her hometown.

It shook me that someone could murder babies, she said.

The Connecticut shooting forever altered her opinion about guns  and the Stoneman Douglas shooting spurred her into action.

Seeing the children rise up, and people listen, as a teacher I said, I need to step up. I can support this, she said. I know our beach is safe, but so was New Town.

Lodovico joined the thousands across the nation in March for Our Lives on March 24. She joined the march in Nashville, where she was also attending a conference.

Her colleague, Holly Nichols, also marched in Naples. Nichols is the art teacher at the beach school.

Nichols said shed never been involved in something like it before, but she was moved to use her Constitutional right by the young people who organized the effort. The Naples sister march was organized by a high school sophomore.

Im inspired by the young people taking part and coming together to change what needs to be changed, she said.

Nichols is a teacher and also a mother, which has heightened her awareness of the issues surrounding gun violence. A week after the Parkland shooting, there was a scare at her sons school. She said the recent shooting caused her, and other parents, to panic with worry. Many of them picked their kids up early, she said.

I dont want my kids to be afraid to go to school, she said. I want to do what I can to support, as a voter and an adult, and make changes.

Bringing Parkland even more close to home, Nichols family knew some of the families whose children attended Stoneman Douglas High, making the shooting feel as it happened right next door, she said.

Both teachers agreed its a multifaceted issue with no easy fix, and that in addition to gun legislation theyd like to see increased services for mental health.

Gun violence happens every day, Lodovico said. Were now listening from the mouths of babes. Its woken everybody up.

Lodovico hopes the magnitude of the march will make an impact, and she said shes planning to support candidates for office who arent on the NRAs A list. Shell be donating to candidates and causes that will prod change to gun legislation.

Can we make it harder? Its too easy to buy one, she said. Mental health needs to be funded too. Its sad people are still saying no.

Both said they wouldnt feel comfortable carrying a gun at school, should the state mandate it or set up an armed teacher program as has been suggested in national conversation about how to deal with gun violence and how to prevent future school shootings. As a PE teacher, Lodovico said she didnt know where shed keep it, and shed worry about it getting into the wrong hands.

But luckily for them, the Lee County School District and the Lee County Sheriffs Office seem to be taking another approach: more school security in the form of more officers at school.

Adding security in school

Last week, there were two men in green at the Fort Myers Beach Elementary School instead of one.

The Lee County Sheriffs Office has provided 40 deputies to the Lee County School District following legislation to enhance safety and security measures at the schools.

The decision was announced March 26.

Lee School Superintendent Dr. Greg Adkins said due to Senate Bill 7026, they had to deploy School Resource Officers across the district.

I want to first of all express our appreciation to the Sheriffs Office. They have done a magnificent job stepping up to the plate that we have coverage to ensure our students are safe, he said.

Adkins said there are more than a thousand pages in the bill and they do not have the technical assistance that is rendered from the state.

We are taking the steps necessary now. We look forward to working with you and also with other municipalities to make sure that we can keep our students safe as we open a new school, he said.

School Development Executive Director Jerry Demming said the School Resource Officer component of the Safe School Allocation has been in existence since the 1980s.

The SRO is a certified law enforcement officer, a deputy permanently designed to provide coverage to a school, or set of schools, specifically trained to perform many duties, he said.

The duties of a SRO are to perform law enforcement functions within the school setting; identify and prevent through counseling and referral, delinquent behavior, including substance abuse; foster a better understanding of the law enforcement function; provide information about crime prevention; provide assistance and support for victims identified within the school setting; promote positive relations between students and law enforcement officers; work with school administration on lock down drills; walk perimeter of campus during the day and assist in Baker Act procedures and counseling of students when needed.

We have had a long standing relationship with the Lee County Sheriffs Office. They have worked really hard with us for the last few weeks, and many years. They are the people we want to use to keep our schools safe, Demming said.

Adkins said after the piece of legislation passed the school district and Sheriffs Office quickly responded with the first decision of how to move forward.

We have to keep the kids safe and we feel that we can depend on the Sheriffs Office, he said.

Two weeks ago, he said the sheriffs team got together and put together this plan.

This was very fast in terms of response from our Sheriffs Office. That gets us covered for the remainder of the year, Adkins said.

With that said, he said putting 40 deputies in the schools is costing the office resources from other parts of their department.

School Board Member Steve Teuber said he appreciates the sheriffs response to cover what the state legislature forced down to the schools with the $400 million one-time allocation for this entire security bill, which equates to about $12,000 for each school.

I will not support any funding increase for added personnel, Teuber said.

Although there has been no funding, he said there is a requirement of an SRO in each school.

Data has not been presented that it is going to make a difference, or make our kids any safer, he said. We are just going to the SROs because that is what the state told us to do. To double our SROs based on this one incident is over reaction.

Board Member Jane Kuckel agreed that there has not been any documentation produced that states SROs make a bigger impact in the schools than something else.

Board Member Mary Fischer said this is a community and society problem.

When you are taking 40 deputy sheriffs out of their typical assignments and putting them into our elementary schools, I dont think they have had the time to do the training, she said. I worry about what is not being covered elsewhere. I think that it was a response to the voices of the community that they want kids safe and something done now. We need to include other considerations as we move forward as a team to plan.

Lee County Sheriffs Captain Mike Miller said the 40 personnel added are trained deputies and not trained SROs.

But they are more than capable of safeguarding the campuses, he said. The deputies are highly trained deputy sheriffs. We are visiting the schools and answering questions. We are leaning on principals and schools to help.

The 40 deputies added to the schools Adkins said was a response to the law, a piece of legislation that they were required to adhere to as of March 9.

We understand safety, but you cant squeeze a balloon without it popping out somewhere else, Teuber said. You are forcing us to do it without any money. How do you make that happen? Something is going to suffer. We have Sanibel, Fort Myers, Estero, Bonita, Cape Coral  we send them a bill. Just because our Sheriffs Department is funded by County Commissioners, we cannot put the whole burden on them to fund this.

Former State House Representative, now consultant Carole Green, who provided a legislative update during the Tuesday Lee County School Board briefing meeting this week, said the legislative session began in January and everything was starting to move along  until Feb. 14 when the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting shook the state.

We became somewhat dysfunctional as a state family due to what happened to the children at the school, she said.

Green said more than 1,000 students came forward, and she spent time amongst them in the state capital while they were there. She said many were laying down pretending to be dead while others wore makeup that looked like they were bleeding. The students involvement impacted Green and others, resulting in both houses crafting a bill.

It was crafted so quickly that we do know that there will probably be more things to look at as we move forward, she said. The fact that we extended to March 9 and today is the 27th, everything is just starting to settle a little.

Adkins sent out a letter March 26 indicating the changes that took place at the schools in terms of safety measures. Some of the safety and security measures include active shooter training, threat assessments at the schools, a single point of entry at all schools and advanced security technology measures.

Fischer said all schools will have active shooter training by the end of March, with the last one taking place on Thursday. Eighty-five percent of the schools had the training completed before the Parkland shooting.

The active shooter and hostage drills will be held once a month.

School safety personnel, law enforcement and maintenance will visit each school to conduct threat assessments.

As far as technology upgrades at the schools, Fischer said theyre currently in the process of assessing them and instituting a surveillance refresh program.

We are planning to implement adaptive technology, such as artificial intelligence, which will allow our cameras to think like humans and help the personnel onsite to make decisions of whether theres a threat or not, prior to it occurring, she said.As another glorious seasons peaks in Southwest Florida, the Friends Of Lovers Key State Park (FOLKS) volunteers have saved the best for last  a Luau on the Beach at Lovers Key.

After this seasons successful sting of events  Songwriters, Beach Party Night, The Vow Renewal Ceremony and Santa on the Sand  get ready for one last fling before the summer on the legendary beach and the Park Pavilion.

Its our first luau party and we are just hoping it turns out to be a signature event that we can do every year like our very popular Valentines Renewal Vows,said Judy Greenwood, co-chairperson. We hope it grows every year, we already have 100 people coming and are excited about the positive response.

Dont miss the fun Wednesday, April 11, from 5:30 p.m.  8:30 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person and include park entrance fee plus two fruity drink coupons. If you are a FOLKs member, tickets are $45 each.

Greenwood, co-chairperson Flo Alexander, and FOLKS volunteers have planned a special Island evening on the beach at Lovers Key State Park at 8700 Estero Blvd.

I was a wedding planner and I brought down all my decorations from my weddings. I had done so many with an island theme, so I suggested that we try a luau for a fund raiser and we already had all the decorations for free, Greenwood said. We are going to have so much fun getting our gazebo ready with leis, and hula girls and palm trees and flowers, it going to be fantastic.

Of course there will be Best Hawaiian shirt, Limbo and Hula Hoop contests with first, second, and third prizes. Dont worry, be happy while you explore your closet for any clothing with flowers, birds (flamingo and parrots rule), or palm trees. Dust off your straw hats, beads, leis, sarongs, and coconuts. You know half the fun will be checking out everyone elses interpretation of Hawaiian attire. You can dance the night away in your favorite pair of flip flops to the live Hawaiian tunes by Steely Pan.

We are so excited that Truly Scrumptious will have our luau dinner prepared for us  chicken & mango, pulled pork, fish, all kinds of sides plus Hawaiian inspired appetizers and desserts, Greenwood said. Its for a great cause; all proceeds go to help fund our much-needed Welcome Discovery Center.

Lovers Key is the No. 2 most visited park in the state of Florida. A dozen years ago, the State Department made a master plan that recommended Lovers Key have an education center because of its high volume and popularity. The Friends of Lovers Key Events Committee has long supported the state park by funding special needs and programs for the park. Now their task is slightly different. The State Legislature has provided $4 million in funds for a new Welcome and Discovery Center Building. Ground breaking is scheduled for this fall, but a task still remains. The building will need exhibits, furniture, class room equipment etc. So FOLKS has a new calling  to fund these needs. Proceeds from the luau will go towards that effort to make a long-time dream become reality.

Everyone is welcome, we have lots of people who are really excited about coming, Greenwood said. It will be a memorable evening, ablaze with our Lovers Key sunset, and accompanied with a distant ukulele strumming. Come, Enjoy, Dance, ALOHA

To RSVP events@friendsofloverskey.org or call Judy 708-359-0466.Verne Troyer, the diminutive actor known for playing Mini Me in the Austin Powers comedy films, has been hospitalized, according to reports and a post on the actor's Instagram account.

Los Angeles firefighters responded to the 49-year-old actors home around 8:30 p.m. Monday night, and he was rushed to a hospital for a reported poisoning, People magazine reported.

Troyer was later placed in an involuntary psychiatric hold, according to the Blast. Such restraints are used when a patient is deemed to be a danger to themselves or others, the report said.

Emergency personnel told TMZ that a friend of Troyers had alerted them, referring to the actor as being extremely upset, drunk and suicidal.

TMZ noted that the actor had been hospitalized for alcohol abuse about a year ago, and spent some time in rehab afterward.

A statement later appeared on Troyers Instagram site. It read, in part: Asking you to keep Verne in your thoughts and prayers. Hes getting the best care possible and is resting comfortably.

The "Austin Powers" movies starred former Saturday Night Live cast member Mike Myers as both the title character  a kind of comedic spy -- as well as Dr. Evil, Powers arch nemesis. Troyer, in his role as Mini Me, plays a clone of Dr. Evil.

The first Austin Powers film, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, appeared in 1997. It was followed in 1999 by Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and in 2002 by Austin Powers in Goldmember.Colin Farrell is trying to be cautious.

The Irish actor has reportedly checked himself into rehab as a "preventative measure," according to People Magazine.

He isnt drinking again, a source told People. He worked back-to-back projects and just needed a break. Hes been sober 12 years and wanted to do this to make sure he stays that way. Hes taking some me-time and doing a tune-up and a reset. This was all his idea.

The Daily Mail, which first reported Farrell's rehab check-in, said that the actor decided to check into the 36,000-a-month Meadows rehab facility after becoming "overwhelmed" by urges following a crazy year of filming back to back films.

In 2005, Farrell entered a treatment facility after battling an addiction to prescription drugs. His publicist told People at the time that the drug abuse stemmed from medications the star used for a back injury.

But the actor's battle with drugs and alcohol began long before his 2005 injury. Farrell opened up about his addicition and struggle to stay sober in a 2008 interview.

During the conversation, the star admitted that he had been drunk and high since the age of 14.

I was very drunk or high for about 16 years, it was a tough life change," the star admitted. "But I was dying, and Im one of the lucky ones."

Farrell continued on about being able to start fresh after rehab and said, Im glad Im out of that cycle of my life. Im very lucky.Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles have landed in Australia for a trip Camilla reportedly joined Charles on in the hopes of helping further his chances at landing a royal title.



They arrived in Brisbane city under a gray sky that threatened rain on the heir to the British throne's 16th visit to Australia.

The visit starting Wednesday equals his mother Queens Elizabeth II's tally of 16 royal tours of the former British colony and comes as the monarch winds back her international travel commitments.

Charles will represent his mother at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in neighboring Gold Coast city Wednesday.

Camilla Parker Bowles reportedly agreed to go on the trip in the hopes it would help Prince Charles' case for becoming the next Commonwealth Head, a title separate from the crown that he is not guaranteed to inherit.

According to the London Express UK, Bowles made the decision to accompany her husband on the trip despite her fear of flying because she felt it was necessary to help Charles earn the Commonwealth Head title.

It was her decision. Its not as if shes being frogmarched there. She just felt it is a really important gig," a source told the Express. Its one hell of a journey for a very short space of time but the Duchess loves Australia and the people so she is really looking forward to it, even though she doesnt relish the flying."

Charles arrived in Australia while the country's relationships with Britain and its monarchy are under renewed scrutiny.

For the first time in Australian history, both the prime minister and the opposition leader agree that the British monarch should be replaced by an Australian citizen as the Australian head of state.

Fox News' Morgan M. Evans and The Associated Press contributed to this report.ABCs Roseanne reboot is still going strong in its second week, reeling in more than 15 million viewers for Tuesdays episode, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The premiere of the highly-anticipated return of the Conner family drew just over 18 million viewers last week, and the network is likely pleased with the strong showing in week two.

According to The Hollywood Reporter the show averaged a 3.9 rating among adults in the key demo of 18 to 49 year olds with about 15.2 million total viewers on Tuesday.

The typically liberal ABC brought back Roseanne after a 20-year hiatus last week, and the results proved the TV world was still interested in watching Roseanne Barr, 65, and her TV family. Barr has been open about her pro-Trump views in real life and on the show.

In Tuesdays episode, Roseanne Gets the Chair, Roseanne tried to whip Darlenes teenage daughter into shape. The episode focused on Roseannes parenting tactics and how the family related to each other.

The shows premiere, meanwhile, focused on politics. A theme of the premiere was that Roseanne and Aunt Jackie hadnt spoken since the 2016 election. Although President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton are never mentioned by name, it came out that Jackie supported the latter while Roseanne wanted to see what the former had to offer. Darlene hoped to mend their relationship by inviting Jackie over, but it proved tougher than she realized when Jackie shows up ready to debate.

And since the shows big return, Barr has reappeared on social media.

Over the weekend, Barr made headlines for getting into a heated debate with writer Jared Yates Sexton over an article he wrote about the shows pro-Trump plots.

She also turned heads for a tweet claiming Trump has freed so many children held in bondage to pimps all over this world She has since deleted the controversial post.

By Sunday, it seemed Barr wanted to get back to her original plan of using her platform to promote her show.

She wrote, Let's stop fighting and start solving problems together.

Barr live-tweeted Tuesday's episode.

Fox News' Brian Flood and Tyler McCarthy contributed to this report.The creators of Netflixs smash-hit Stranger Things have responded to a lawsuit alleging that they stole the idea for the show from a producers short-film.

Ross and Matt Duffer are completely denying the allegations against them, which state that producer Charlie Kessler pitched his film The Montauk Project to them in 2014 after it brought home an award at the Hamptons International Film Festival two years prior. The lawsuit claims they rejected his offer, but that they went on to rip off the script in Stranger Things.

"Mr. Kesslers claim is completely meritless. He had no connection to the creation or development of Stranger Things. The Duffer Brothers have neither seen Mr. Kesslers short film nor discussed any project with him, the brothers attorney, Alex Kohner, said in a statement to Fox News. This is just an attempt to profit from other peoples creativity and hard work.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Kesslers short film focuses on a boy who is inexplicably drawn to a military base in New York. Due to some unknown government experimentation, the child frequently disrupts radio signals and vanishes without a trace. He claims that plotline is similar to that of Stranger Things and even claims that the show was originally pitched to Netflix with the same title, The Montauk Project.

Kessler is reportedly asking for an injunction ordering the Duffer brothers to stop using materials related to his concepts and is seeking restitution in the amount of benefits to the creators, lost profits and punitive damages.Two twins who were the subject of a segment on the TV series The Doctors for their crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) were found dead in Colorado in what police believe to be a suicide pact, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Amanda and Sara Eldritch, 33, were discovered Friday having suffered fatal gunshot wounds in a vehicle parked on the side of a road at a rest stop near Canon City, Col. The tourist attraction is located about three hours away from the home that they shared together.

We believe it to be either a suicide pact or a homicide/suicide, the Fremont County Sheriffs Office told multipe media outlets in a statement. It will take ballistic testing to determine.

The sisters appeared on the CBS series in 2017 after they became the first in the state to undergo a procedure called deep brain stimulation to help alleviate their debilitating OCD symptoms in 2015. The twins were obsessed with the cleanliness of their own bodies. According to 9News, they admitted to going through multiple bars of soap and bottles of rubbing alcohol per day. According to a report from the Denver Post, the girls tried to take their own lives in their adolescence but were unsuccessful. They told the outlet that theyd thought about suicide in the past, but felt encouraged by the success of their surgery.

According to an article published by the Denver DBS Center, the procedure involves electrode wires that are placed in the brain of each patient to stimulate their muscles to correct the symptoms plaguing them.

In a segment for the TV series, they detailed the anxiety they felt from being apart from one another for just one night in an effort to cure their codependency.

I feel very lonely without her. Im anxious that Ill sleep in tomorrow and miss my chance to meet back up with her, a visibly shaken Sara says in the video below, just hours after separating with Amanda.A posh hotel in British Columbia, Canada, has lifted a 17-year ban against a customer who inadvertently caused extensive damage to the room he was staying in by leaving a suitcase full of pepperoni next to an open window.

In 2001, Nick Burchill was staying at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, B.C., on business. With him, Burchill brought a suitcase full of Brothers TNT Pepperoni  a specialty item from his hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia, he wrote in a Facebook post addressed to the hotel.

I told my Navy buddies that I was coming out West and I was asked to bring Brothers Pepperoni from Halifax. It is a local delicacy. Because this was the Navy we were talking about, I brought enough for a ship. In a hurry, I had completely filled a suitcase with pepperoni for my friends, he wrote in the post.

'WRECK ROOMS' LET PEOPLE LOSE CONTROL  AND SMASH EVERYTHING UP

When Burchill checked in to the hotel room, he realized it did not have a refrigerator. Burchill was concerned about the meat staying out, so he placed it next to an open window for the chilly air to keep the pepperoni cold.

Burchill then decided to leave his room and take a 4 or 5 hour walk  and when he came back, he discovered a room full of seagulls.

I didnt have time to count, but there must have been 40 [seagulls] and they had been in my room, eating pepperoni for a long time, he wrote.

Burchill told CBC the seagulls were flying around, the curtains are falling down, the lamps are falling down. Not to mention the seagull droppings, which Burchill said the room was covered in, as well as seagull drool, which the man claims happens when seagulls eat pepperoni.

"One was just bouncing around on the windowsill and I was kind of losing my temper at this point, so I took off one of my shoes and I threw it in the direction of the seagull, and both the seagull and the shoe went out the window."  Nick Burchill

Burchill managed to get most of the birds out of the room, but had to take more extreme measures for the last two.

"One was just bouncing around on the windowsill and I was kind of losing my temper at this point, so I took off one of my shoes and I threw it in the direction of the seagull, and both the seagull and the shoe went out the window," he said.

For the last stubborn bird, Burchill said he had to wrap it in a hotel towel and throw it out the window. Burchill told CBC the bird was fine.

To make matters worse, when Burchill retrieved his shoe, he saw it had landed in mud. Since he had to meet a client that evening, he returned to his room to use the hairdryer to clean his shoe and shorted the power.

At that point, Burchill called down to the front desk to ask for some assistance.

"They sent this poor lady up and I still remember the look on her face when she opened the door, he told CBC.

She had her cleaning kit with her and it was quite clear that the kit that she had with her was not going to cover the damage and the mess that was in that room, he added.

In the Facebook post Burchill said he apologized to the woman and then went to meet his client. When he came back the hotel had moved him to a smaller room.

I thought that was the end of it all until I was told that my company had received a letter banning me from the Empress. A ban that I have respected for almost 18 years, he writes.

However, 17 years later, Burchill wanted to reach out and apologize to the hotel over the damage he caused and ask the swanky hotel to reconsider his lifetime ban.

I hope that you will see fit to either grant me a pardon, or consider my 18 year away from the empress as time served, he wrote on Facebook.

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Lucky for Burchill, who stopped by the hotel to deliver an apology and a pound of Brothers TNT Pepperoni as a peace offering, the hotel agreed to lift his ban.

Ive made friends with one of the managers there and hes made it quite clear that Im encouraged to stay with them, Burchill explained to CBC. Theyll be disappointed if I dont.Mario Batali has remained largely absent from the public eye since December, after stating that he would be stepping away from the day-to-day operations of his restaurant group amid accusations of sexual misconduct.

As early as February, however, the celebrity chef is said to have been actively exploring ideas to resurrect his image and career, according to a recent report in The New York Times.

Batali, who was accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by several former employees and colleagues within the restaurant industry, has reportedly been seeking counsel on a possible comeback, reaching out to friends for advice in a series of meetings.

MARY BERRY ACCUSED OF FAT-SHAMING HER FRIEND DURING BBC SHOW

His options, according to the Times, are not necessarily confined to becoming a foodie personality once again, or continuing on as a restaurateur. In fact, hes currently in the process of divesting from his former restaurant group, the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, in a complex, albeit amicable, buyout.

The process of his divestiture is going really well considering how complex it is, Joe Bastianich, Batalis former business partner, told the Times. The real point of beginning will be when he departs from the company. Thats ground zero.

Batali, 57, declined to discuss his next move with the Times, but the report suggests that he may seek to start an entirely new female-led company with Federica Marchionni, the former president of Dolce & Gabbana. On the other hand, he might instead focus his efforts on starting a program to help displaced Rwandans re-acclimate to their home country, the report says.

WALMART, TARGET DROP BATALI'S PRODUCTS FROM STORES

Friends and advisors of Batalis, including former Bon Appetit and Times editor Christine Muhlke and former NYC mayoral candidate Christine C. Quinn, have reportedly urged him to hand over control of his next venture to up-and-comers who will lead the business away from scandal.

Muhlke even told the Times that chefs in Batalis position should leave the field entirely and let consultants do the work needed to build something better.

My advice to these chefs and restaurateurs is that this is not a scandal, this is a paradigm shift, she said. The old wait it out and return appearing humbled prescription no longer applies.

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Batali himself announced he would be stepping away from the day-to-day operations of his entire restaurant group in early December, following a report in Eater detailing multiple allegations of sexual harassment. Additional accusations of inappropriate behavior surfaced in the following weeks, including accounts from a former Del Posto hostess who said Batali touched her breasts, and that of a former manager at celebrity hot-spot The Spotted Pig who claimed to have seen Batali grope and kiss a woman who appeared unconscious.

Amid the accusations, ABC relieved Batali of his co-hosting duties on ABCs The Chew, and a revival of his Molto Mario series on the Food Network was canceled.An Oregon woman sued a food company this week, claiming it swept aside her complaints of allegedly finding what appeared to be mouse remains in a carton of soup.

Maesel Dorn, 72, claims in the $400,000 lawsuit filed against Pacific Foods that she fell violently ill after eating the companys organic roasted red pepper tomato soup, which she purchased in January.

Dorn told the Oregonian she became so sick after eating the soup that she hallucinated. She claimed to have never been that sick before in her life.

She says she regained her appetite a couple of days later and tried the soup again, the court documents said. She claims she then poured herself a cup, and what appeared to be rodent intestines and other rodent parts fell out of the carton.

I was just shocked more than anything, Dorn told the paper. I kept looking at it, and I couldnt believe it. ... And then, it was just so sickening. I havent been able to eat any soup since then.

The suit claims Dorn made several calls to Pacific Foods, and an employee told her to bring the carton and mouse parts to the store where she purchased it and someone would pick it up for testing.

Dorn, a retired registered nurse, said she repeatedly called the company to check on the results, but was told they werent in yet.

"(I)t was just so sickening. I havent been able to eat any soup since then.  Maesel Dorn, plaintiff in lawsuit against Pacific Foods

According to the suit, Pacific Foods told Dorn on March 29  more than two months after the discovery  that it had never received the soup container. Dorn told the Oregonian that an employee with the company claimed the carton was never brought to the store, so we didnt have anything to test. Sorry, case closed.

Dorn then sued the company, accusing it of negligence and of attempting to cover up what she found.

A Pacific Foods spokesman told Fox12 Oregon that it doesnt comment on pending litigation, but takes all customer complaints seriously.

We can say that our utmost priority is ensuring the safety and integrity of our products," he said.More than 220 cases of a breed of nightmare bacteria with new or rare antibiotic-resistant genes, have been found in 27 states, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released Tuesday.

The CDC has warned of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria for years, but these nightmare bacteria are virtually untreatable and capable of spreading genes that make them impervious to most antibiotics, Scientific American reported.

The nightmare bacteria are particularly deadly in the elderly and people with chronic illnesses, as up to 50 percent of the resulting infections are fatal, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDCs principal deputy director, told the magazine.

Schuchat said at a news conference that the CDC was working to get in front of them before they do become common, Live Science reported.

We have data showing an aggressive approach works to halt the spread of these new threats, she said.

About 2 million Americans get sick from antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year and 23,000 die, the CDC reported.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the John Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told Scientific American that the unusual genes discussed in the CDC report were truly the worst of the worst.

There are certain bacterial genes that are more worrisome than others, that are much harder to treat, Adalja said. These genes are lurking in American patients and they are spreading in hospitals and health care facilities.

"There are certain bacterial genes that are more worrisome than others, that are much harder to treat. These genes are lurking in American patients and they are spreading in hospitals and health care facilities."  Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar, John Hopkins University Center for Health Security

Doctors liken the spread of nightmare bacteria and other antibiotic-resistant germs to a wildfire  difficult to contain once it spreads widely, Live Science reported. Therefore, doctors want to extinguish the spark before any new or unusual types of these bacteria or germs have a chance to spread.

"We need to do more, and we need to do it faster and earlier with each new antibiotic-resistance threat," Schuchat said.Britt Harris was six weeks pregnant in August 2017 when she learned that her husband, U.S. Army Spc. Chris Harris, was killed in a suicide bombing attack from a vehicle-borne explosive device on his first deployment to Afghanistan.

Heartbroken, Britt found strength in preparing to welcome their little miracle on her own and involved his regiment in the babys gender reveal that soon went viral. (WARNING: Footage contains excited soldiers briefly using strong language.)

"I want her to know that she's her dad's legacy. He never hesitated when it came to helping and would do anything to help others, Britt told WFMY News 2 ahead of her daughters birth.

WALMART EMPLOYEE WOWS SHOPPERS WITH NATIONAL ANTHEM PERFORMANCE DAYS AFTER SON LEFT FOR BASIC TRAINING

On March 17, St. Patricks Day, Chris and Britt's daughter, Christian Michelle Harris, was born. And in celebrating her arrival, the new mom had a touching vision in mind for an all-American photo shoot.

"I wanted to capture as much of Chris' spirit as I could. He was extremely devoted to the Army and his country, the 26-year-old told Today on April 2. I thought nothing could be more fitting for her photos and [it would be] something she can look back on with pride."

In the images, Christian sleeps peacefully next to her late fathers photo, military uniform, boots, and American flag at their home in Fayetteville, N.C. As time passes and Christian grows up, Britt says that the pictures will always honor the father and daughters powerful bond.

"As soon as I saw the very first preview of the photos, I cried, she said. The picture of Christian wrapped with Chris uniform is my favorite. It makes me feel like hes holding her."

MARINE CORPS ADOPTS NEW PUPPY MASCOT: 'HE'S A GREAT PUPPY AND NEW RECRUIT'

Britt also recalled that her husband, while still overseas, was overjoyed with the good news that he was going to be a father.

When I told him, it was the happiest Id ever seen him. He was so excited, Britt told WFMY.

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Now, Britt will keep Chris memory alive as she raises their infant daughter.

She will grow up knowing everything about him. I will tell her every story and show her every picture I have, the new mom told WCNC. She will grow up with the utmost amount of pride in who her father was.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation (CESE) Global Summit, which is being held in Washington from Wednesday through Saturday, will bring together people who have been victimized by sexual exploitation, pornography, sex trafficking, prostitution and child sexual abuse. These survivors have come away from their terrible experiences with a desire to ensure no one else suffers from such horrors.

How would we react upon discovering the actual number of women and girls who are used for sex and discarded like trash through prostitution, pornography and sex trafficking? What if we could quantify the pain that sexual abuse inflicts on the women, men and children who suffer it? What if we could calculate the collective damage sexual exploitation does to those around us? The weight of it would be crushing.

Across the country, Americans, from Hollywood to Capitol Hill, are engaged in a national dialogue about sexual harassment and assault following the descent of the legendary Hollywood filmmaker Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein  despite having deep political connections, power and prestige  saw his career collapse when he was accused by multiple women of sexual assault and harassment.

After Weinsteins accusers spoke out against him, we witnessed the downfall of more men in Hollywood, the media and the tech sector. The #MeToo movement was born, and women across the country spoke out about the sexual misconduct directed against them, often at the hands of men in positions of power over them.

It's time to ask questions and get answers. For now, the issue has attracted media attention. However, we cannot squander this opportunity. As the #MeToo cultural awakening continues, we must follow the web of sexual abuse and exploitation to its furthest corners and shine a light on its darkest recesses. And we need to also understand the common characteristics among different forms of sexual abuse and exploitation.

All forms of sexual abuse and exploitation stem from the same lack of respect for human dignity and a lack of compassion for our fellow human beings. This fundamental flaw drives the selfishness of sexual objectification and the culture of sexual harassment and assault.

At our global summit this week, more than 60 conference speakers, subject matter experts and academics will come together to develop the best practices and solutions. Attendees will become inspired and network with other like-minded individuals. Though the experiences and skills are wide-ranging and the politics are diverse, conference attendees are united by the commitment to build a world free from sexual exploitation.

These experiences and perspectives inform the national discussion about the human rights abuses of sexual abuse and exploitation plaguing almost every facet of our culture.

As we continue down this path of social awakening, it matters that we get this conversation right. Philosopher Roger Scruton said of pornography that it threatens the loss of love in a world where only love brings happiness.

Scrutons words aptly apply to all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation. If the #MeToo movement reveals anything, its that were treating human sexuality wrong  as something to be commodified rather than respected.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Aiming to ramp up protection for Americas southern border, President Trump consulted Defense Secretary James Mattis and then announced a bold and needed policy change on Tuesday: We're going to do some things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military.

Many are in shock, apparently offended, some overtly indignant. They should not be. This is old hat, a measured, modest move to address a massive mission. The president is right to say he has a duty to defend our nations borders.

And the move may be part of a strategy by President Trump to win approval in Congress to build a permanent physical and virtual wall along our border with Mexico, fund it properly, craft workable immigration policy, and put young people protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on track to permanent legal status or even citizenship.

Acknowledging a big step, President Trump correctly argued that turning to the military to protect our border is preferable to chasing illegal entrants around the country. "We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way never showing up for court," the president said.

Hard to argue his point. One credible 2017 analysis, conducted by nonpartisan immigration experts and looking back 20 years, found nearly 40 percent of the illegal immigrants released with a court date never showed up in court.

The ball is now in the court of Congress. If lawmakers object to using troops on our southern border there is only one alternative. Fund a border wall and virtual barriers between the U.S. and Mexico.

Of 2.5 million illegal immigrants let go on their promise of return, almost 919,000 disappeared into thin air. Whether suspected of no crime at all besides illegal entry into the U.S.  or of trafficking drugs, arms and people  they vanished.

Likely some migrated to sanctuary cities, others into criminal gangs, others blended into Americas Heartland and ubiquitous shadows, aware they had violated the law, resolved not to be caught.

Tuesday, perhaps triggered by reports of a large Honduran refugee caravan transiting through Mexico and headed for the U.S. border, President Trump set a deterrent.

Boosting our military presence on the southwest border is sound policy, entirely legal, and viscerally satisfying, but it is a short-term, feel-good, muscular stopgap.

For the moment, ramping up National Guard on the border  as Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Clinton and Obama did  says to illegal immigrants dont try it. The action tells Mexico we are watching. And President Trumps message to Congress is get back to work on the wall, fixing immigration, addressing DACA.

Moving the military to the border is not a solution to the problem of illegal immigration. Eventually, a border wall must be built  methodically reinforced by ground, sea, air and space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance  or we have no real border. This is a matter of protecting our national security.

Is the Trump approach legal? Of course. If the president of the United States cant defend our country, who else is supposed to do the job?

In 2006 under Operation Jump Start, more than 6,000 National Guardsmen were sent by President George W. Bush to the southwest border to enhance security, surveillance, communications, intelligence and deterrence. Their numbers were halved the next year, but they supported missions in the air and on ground.

Likewise, President Obama sent 1,200 National Guard troops to the Mexican border to blunt spikes in illegal drug trafficking and immigration during 2010, although the stay was short.

During the Clinton years, Operation Gatekeeper was undertaken in 1994. Still ongoing in 1995, those involved recall follow-on border actions that included use of military assets and personnel by state-level authorities, drawing on components of the National Guard and Joint Task Force Six.

Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush utilized the National Guard to support counter-narcotics and illegal immigration on the border, although focused on immigration reform.

Ronald Reagan, when governor of California, famously deployed the military  2,200 National Guardsmen  to end riots on the University of California at Berkeleys campus, which proved effective and stabilizing.

None of these ramp-ups proved a lasting solution to illegal border crossings, to stopping drugs, human trafficking or illegal immigration, as President Trump no doubt knows.

They did open a window for each president, causing each administration and Congress to rethink immigration, strengthen federal law enforcement, and focus attention on the border.

The same opening will occur here. A temporary fix is wise and advisable, especially with caravans of illegal immigrants testing Americas will.

And one thing more. If President Trump shifts money from the Defense Department he could fund the border wall he campaigned on. It is, after all, part of the defense of our country.

Believe it or not, in the 1990s and 2000s, Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush utilized National Guard personnel deployed to border duty for more than just deterrence, support of law enforcement, and blunting the flow of drugs and illegal aliens.

Both presidents used the military to perform another task. Using buy-in by governors, those military personnel worked to install border security infrastructure  that is, to build parts of a wall.

In fact, the military under President George W. Bush constructed more than 100 miles of border barriers  small walls and fencing and mobile vehicle blockers. In the 1990s, when President Clinton held office, California used the military to create a wall just south of San Diego, coordinating with the National Guard for proper authorization.

The ball is now in the court of Congress. If lawmakers object to using troops on our southern border there is only one alternative. Fund a border wall and virtual barriers between the U.S. and Mexico. Just as we dont leave the doors to our homes wide open to anyone who wants to enter, we have to protect our borders from an unending flow of illegal immigrants and drugs.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Chinas announcement Wednesday threatening to place tariffs on $50 billion worth of American agricultural and manufactured products  in retaliation for a U.S. announcement Tuesday placing tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese products  is yet another sign that China and America are destined to wage a broad battle for global power and influence for years to come.

The Trump administration clearly accepts as fact something that many of us in the national security community have been arguing for a long-time: China is no friend of the United States. It is a tough geopolitical, economic and diplomatic competitor and our competition is intensifying.

But despite the magnitude of the challenge, President Trump was right to take China on  no matter what action the Chinese take to push back.

Washington and Beijing were always set to clash, but such a struggle has been deferred time and time again. We need to accept now that there is no more common ground to preserve, no more common enemy to rally against, and that trade is not the elixir it once was  but rather part of a larger struggle likely to last for many decades.

To understand this challenge, a little history lesson is in order. In the 1950s and much of the 1960s, American commentators referred to Beijing as Red China or Communist China. The nation was an ally of the old Soviet Union and no friend of Washington. We feared China would spread Communism throughout Asia, and countries would fall into the Chinese orbit like dominoes.

U.S. fear of spreading Communism  the Red Menace some called it  was a big factor in our involvement in the long and costly Korean War and the War in Vietnam, fighting forces backed by the Chinese.

It was not until President Nixon visited China in 1972 to try and change the balances of forces against the Soviet Union that U.S.-China ties warmed. However, the two nations did not establish full diplomatic relations until 1979.

But there was always a catch to U.S.-China ties. Ask any national security strategist at the time and they would tell you that such ties were predicated on trying to contain the Soviet menace and would likely return to a much more competitive phase if Moscow was defeated.

In fact, archival research I have done shows that Chinese defense experts in the mid-1980s were already thinking of ways to modernize and shift their military planning to counter a growing challenge from the United States in Asia, as they saw the Soviet Union starting to weaken.

And history proved correct. Just a few years after the Soviet Union collapsed, China and America were battling over the fate of Taiwan during a protracted spike in tensions between1995 and 1996.

Taiwan was determined to become a democracy  something China saw as an existential threat.

China began large-scale military exercises to intimidate the island nation, with Washington responding by sending aircraft carrier battle groups to the region to ensure Taiwans safety and prove to Beijing that Washington would protect its ally.

While China backed off, Chinese officials were outraged, for they knew, at least at the time, that they had no way of countering Americas military or economic power in a protracted struggle. In fact, Chinas military was so weak that it could not even find where Americas carriers were operating in the open seas, not far from the Chinese coast.

But, as happens in history, current events conspired to delay a great power rivalries. First came the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This pushed the George W. Bush administration to move from what at the time was a reconsideration of the U.S.-China relationship to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In addition, Washington gambled that bringing in Beijing to the World Trade Organization in 2001 would moderate Chinas geopolitical, economic, diplomatic and maybe even military goals. The thinking at the time was clear: by showing China the benefits of becoming a responsible stakeholder, Beijing would play nice in the international system and grow rich and prosperous  and not try to upend the system.

Unfortunately, that thinking was wrong and we have been paying the price ever since.

Millions of American jobs have been shipped to China since 2000. Beijing used this time  what the Chinese refer to as their own peaceful rise or period of strategic opportunity  to build up their military and economic capabilities, while Washington was busy waging a global war on terrorism.

Clearly, we should not be shocked by the events that are taking place between America and China today. In fact, things will get much more dangerous in the months and years to come.

Considering both nations are on the opposite ends of a regional struggle over issues such as who will dominate the South and East China Seas, Taiwan, the fate of North Koreas nuclear program and now hundreds of billions of dollars of trade and millions of jobs, we should get ready for the geopolitical and economic reality that is before us.

The facts are obvious: America and China are now enemies. And there is no turning back.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Congress is on the clock. Time is ticking. Here are ten actions Congress should take now to truly do the work of the American people, but they wont.

1. DOJ Conflicts of Interest : Chairman Grassley, Chairman Goodlatte, Chairman Gowdy, and Chairman Johnson, who preside over House and Senate Judiciary and Oversight matters, should convene a joint hearing to facilitate public testimony from Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. They should be asked to explain and clarify the numerous visible and apparent conflicts of interest on Muellers team, including their own.

2. Second Special Counsel : Upon the release of the upcoming DOJ Inspector General Report, the House Judiciary Committee should move to formally demand the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to join the IG in further investigating warranted matters with power to prosecute those who have violated the law.

3. Answers from the FISA Court : The House and Senate Judiciary Committees should call the FISA Court judges before Congress to offer public testimony about the process and the specific case of Trump campaign surveillance.

4. Subpoena Compliance : House and Senate Judiciary should call Attorney General Sessions to testify about all outstanding Congressional subpoenas and why the DOJ has not yet complied.

5. Border Security : The Homeland Security Committee, Judiciary Committee and Oversight Committee should continue to hold numerous hearings on securing our borders and fortifying them with a wall. Pass legislation allowing the president to reallocate funds from Department of Defense.

6. Testimony from Mayor Libby Schaaf : Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf should be called to testify before Congress to defend her decision to protect criminals and endanger federal law enforcement. She should have to raise her right hand and testify under oath before the American people.

7. Facebook/Twitter hearings : Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg and Twitters Jack Dorsey should be called to testify in person before Congress about their speech suppression practices. Having made the American people their product rather than their customer, they should be required to answer for the commercial and political use of personally identifiable information.

8. Reform the Broken Budget Process . Congress should kick off a serious effort to reform the broken budget process with a joint hearing. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer should be made to testify before a joint budget committee chaired by the House and Senate. Those four people should be asked to publicly testify and explain what went wrong with the budget process and how theyre going to fix it. They should publicly debate the solutions and defend their positions. House Budget Chairman Steve Womack, R-Arkansas, and and Senate Budget Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, should preside over the hearings.

9. Balanced Budget Amendment . Give the states the opportunity to vote on whether Congress should be subject to balancing the federal budget. We will never reign in spending until the American people have to pay for what were actually spending. There are several drafted amendments to choose from. If two-thirds of the states want Congress to balance the budget, then theyll have a mandate to do it.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  who was tragically assassinated 50 years ago on April 4, 1968  set the gold standard for true leadership and advocacy of historic social change through nonviolence. Our world would be a better place if he had lived longer and if we had more great leaders like him today.

We think often of the inspiring figure of Dr. King and his heroism and dedication to peaceful protest in the face of hundreds of years of immoral and vile discrimination against African-Americans. He could have easily responded to the injustice of slavery and second-class citizenship that followed with hatred and violence, but instead opened his arms to white Americans and preached love, brotherhood, equality, peace and justice.

And King succeeded  miraculously, some would say  in changing the arc of American history for the better, without ever firing a gun, setting off an explosive, or even throwing a rock.

Contrast the nonviolent demonstrations King led to the misnamed peaceful protests now going on in the Gaza Strip, supported by the terrorist Hamas thugs who rule nearly 2 million Palestinians there with an iron fist and spew hatred against America, Israel and Jews the world over.

A video (with English subtitles) shows a leader of the Gaza protests screaming: The Palestinian people shall liberate its land with blood, with martyrs, with women and with children. This siege must be shattered with all our might  with our bodies, our lives, our hands and our bare chests.

The goal of Palestinians and their supporters in the first of a series of Marches of Return is nothing less than the elimination of Israel as the only Jewish state in the world. They want to incite untold millions of Palestinians  most who have never set foot Israel  to breach the Jewish states borders and turn it into one of many nations with an Arab majority.

Under the so-called right of return demanded by the Palestinians, anyone claiming to have a Palestinian ancestor living in Israel 70 years ago would be allowed into the country, and could demand return of land supposedly owned by ancestors.

Hamas and its enablers who talk peace and nonviolence while inciting violent breaches of Israels borders make a mockery of Dr. Kings principles of nonviolence.

One stunning example is this is that Israel has identified at least 11 of 17 Palestinians killed in the Gaza protests as terrorists. Even Hamas itself, with a long record of lying about its violent actions, admitted that five of the Palestinians killed were members of its armed wing.

In sharp contrast, King saw faith as a force for healing. The Baptist minister embraced the words of the Hebrew prophets, including the prophet Amos, who declared: justice shall roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.

And King built not only bridges between religions and races, but ladders to a transcendent unity based on principles of peace and morality. Nonviolence was his modus operandi. He put himself on the line as he walked the tightrope of history without a safety net and, tragically for all of us, paid with his life.

King also succeeded in Americanizing Indias freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhis philosophical principle of satyagraha or passive nonviolent protest. In our time, King and Gandhi  but not their vision or true beliefs  are glibly invoked by all sorts of agents of change.

King became not only an American icon, but for many of us a Jewish folk hero. He spoke out on behalf of oppressed Soviet Jews  even before many establishment Jewish leaders did.

And just 10 days before his assassination, King declared in a speech to the annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly: I see Israel, and never mind saying it, as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land almost can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.

On August 28, 1963, a century after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Martin Luther King delivered his powerful and historic I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

Lincolns Dream  and Kings  are still not fully realized. For all time, we and future generations should remember King like the Israelites remembered Moses: as a prophet who died without ever entering the Promised Land.

Moses agenda was unfinished. So, too, Dr. Kings. In pursuit of their visions, we must teach our children to follow leaders who not only talk the talk but who walk the walk on the path of true nonviolence and justice and who embrace love rather than hate.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

In a breathless passage  or as People Magazine prefers to call it, riveting  from Cecile Richards new book about her life as Planned Parenthoods president for the past 12 years, she describes meeting with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump in January 2017 to discuss taxpayer funding of her organization, the nations largest abortion provider. It is so hyped up and drawn out that I have to wonder about it.

I met with Ivanka Trump last year as well. She was gracious and kind and listened to what I had to say about the issues about which my organization, Concerned Women for America, cares deeply  one of which is shifting funding from Planned Parenthood to community health centers and other organizations that truly provide health care for poor women and children  the opposite of Planned Parenthoods mission, which is clearly abortion.

Jared and Ivanka were kind enough to reach out to Cecile Richards, who sensed that her days of feasting at the public trough were quickly coming to a close. Ms. Richards was lucky to score the meeting. This was reported a year ago. She should have been grateful.

Its kind of sad to watch her try to gin up drama surrounding that meeting to sell books. She writes that she took the meeting for her millions of patients and for the chance to change the Trump administrations mind about her organization. Many of the patients (the unborn ones) who enter the doors of Planned Parenthood never come back out. Since she took the helm of Planned Parenthood in 2006, the number of patients the organization has seen has declined by 23 percent, but the number of abortions has increased.

Its interesting to read that the nations top feminist begged her husband to go with her to the meeting. Funny, Im not a feminist, but I dont need to ask my husband to hold my hand to do my job. In fact, I did not feel the need to bring my husband when I met with Ivanka. Why Ms. Richards begged her husband to go with her is a mystery.

Despite Planned Parenthoods attempt to shroud their abortion mission in language like womens health care and hyperbolic suggestions that without them women will die, the truth is they dont really care about providing birth control or anything else other than abortion.

The most revealing part about this piece of the book, though, is that Ms. Richards said Jared and Ivanka bribed her with more money if Planned Parenthood would stop doing abortions. Despite Planned Parenthoods attempt to shroud their abortion mission in language like womens health care and hyperbolic suggestions that without them women will die, the truth is they dont really care about providing birth control or anything else other than abortion. Thats why when Ivanka Trump offered Cecile an increase in tax funding to provide real care for women, she turned them down flat. In truth, that wasnt a bribe  that was an attempt to help a dying organization.

Jared and Ivanka were speaking for the American people. In January 2017, the same month they met with Ms. Richards, a Marist poll found that 61 percent of Americans opposed tax dollars funding abortion.

The bottom line is that women dont need Planned Parenthood. The non-profits actual health care services are miniscule compared to their overall business model and continues to drop every year. At the same time, federally funded community health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood 20:1. They provide all the same services  plus some, and minus abortion  that Planned Parenthood does, and to thousands more women and their families.

The private sector has stepped up to help low-income women as well. The LifeSaver Foundation, an organization in Dallas, cares for poor women and their children through mobile doctors offices. Theyve not only provided medical care but have donated over $750,000 worth of goods to needy single parents and served over 26,000 meals. Planned Parenthood in Texas, meanwhile, was fined $4.3 million in 2013 for billing Medicaid for unnecessary medical care and another $1.4 million the same year for the same offense.

When I met with Ivanka, there were no bribes or deals to be made. There was no drama  perceived or real. It was a conversation about things that matter. I was happy to meet with her, and I hope we get the chance to meet again.

Its odd that a self-proclaimed feminist such as Cecile Richards is such an expert at tearing other women down and silencing their voices. Just look at her book, which encourages women to find their voice, be activists, and make trouble  but not pro-life women; no, they need to sit down and shut up. And not Ivanka Trump. Not any woman who disagrees with the pro-abortion agenda.

Women are smarter than this, and I hope they see through the facade of Ms. Richards faux-feminism and drama-queen persona.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Exactly half a century ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who gave voice to the importance of embracing love and equality, was tragically murdered in Memphis, Tennessee.

Despite the shocking end to his life on April 4, 1968, Dr. King left behind a powerful legacy that impacted not only America, but the world.

Kings leadership of the civil rights movement was supported by many in the faith community who joined him in pointing out the American hypocrisy that our laws did not reflect the truth in the Declaration of Independence that that "all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."

Americans and people around the world remember Kings legacy for his call to freedom and racial unity through love and engagement; a message he still shares with the world a half-century later. The supremacy of any race over another is not only immoral, its contradictory to the fundamental idea of America and our Declaration of Independence.

Love is the consistent theme throughout many of Kings writings and remarks: Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend, he said. He also said: I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. And this: Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Fifty years later, America still needs Kings message of love and unity.

On social media and cable TV news, discourse often looks like hate trying to drive out hate, rather than light and love driving out hate. Angry and bitter dialogue harms our ability to be the United States of America. Our divisive rhetoric loses sight of the message of Dr. King  from the scriptures  that all people are made in the image of God and have inherent worth and dignity.

We can disagree without being disagreeable. We can challenge each other's view and perspectives without tearing down the person who holds them.

To address the racial tensions in America, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and I started an initiative two years ago called Solution Sunday.

After police shootings in 2016 in Texas, Minnesota and Louisiana, we challenged our constituents and people all across America to address racial tensions by engaging people of another race over a meal in their homes. We encouraged people to take time to stop, to listen to one another and build trust by spending time over a meal at our family tables.

The real national conversation on race will not occur at a rally, a big event, or in the media, since in a crowd or on TV we can talk about each other, but not really to each other. I believe that national conversations are really millions of individual conversations with family and friends, best shared over a meal, in our homes.

If it seems too simple and obvious, let me ask you this question: Has your family ever shared a meal at your home with a family of another race? If not, why not? To say it simply, we will never get all our issues on the table until we get our feet under the same table. Demonstrating to our kids and grandkids genuine friendships across racial lines is much more powerful than words.

After two centuries, we are making progress on race, but we seem to be rapidly losing our melting pot of ideas, respect and acceptance. A trend has emerged that encourages people to listen only to people who share their values, philosophy and ideas  and then dismiss or belittle anyone who is different or disagrees, even if only on a few issues.

A good burn, rather than a good word, is the new goal. We still need the reminder that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

Let this anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.s death be an opportunity to honor his memory and legacy by engaging neighbors who are different  racially, ideologically, religiously, and socioeconomically. If the national pendulum is ever going to swing, it will require role models in every community who dont just call out others for respectful engagement, but who live it.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The announcement by the White House on Wednesday that the military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end is the right approach to take. President Trump understands that the last thing we need is to get sucked into another Middle East war that could go on for decades.

The White House announcement came shortly after the Washington Post reported: President Trump has instructed military leaders to prepare to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria but has not set a date for them to do so, according to a senior administration official.

But exactly when U.S. troops will withdraw completely from Syria remains unclear, with some comments from the White House contradicting others.

For example, the New York Times reported: The White House said on Wednesday that the United States is committed to continuing to fight the Islamic State in Syria, signaling a retreat by President Trump from his insistence that the 2,000 American forces there quickly return home from the conflict.

It seems clear that theres division in the Trump administration  leave Syria soon, or leave later. But leave we must, and it would be a mistake for the president to yield to those favoring a prolonged exit.

President Trump  at least if you read over his statements and policy goals during the presidential election campaign and as commander in chief  has always made it clear he did not want to follow our long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with involvement in yet another long war in the region.

There are many reasons why the president is right to favor an exit from Syria.

First, America has fulfilled its primary mission of defeating and destroying the Islamic State. With ISIS now occupying little to no physical space in Syria or Iraq, we must now focus on other ways this terrorist organization could strike America and its allies.

For example, ISIS has become a powerful force online, trying to win followers and inspire terrorist attacks and fear around the world. Washingtons strategy must change, going from military strikes where ISIS operated to waging a war in cyberspace.

Second  and this a key point  President Trump is in many respects a foreign policy realist. And that realism demands a prudent and tough assessment of Americas foreign policy moves and expenditure of resources.

Washington is engaged on a global chessboard that include staring down Russia in Europe, battling China across multiple domains in Asia, trying to confront a growing North Korean nuclear threat and many other challenges around the world.

While other nations in the Middle East have the resources and wealth to settle into a long-term nation-building and peacekeeping mission in Syria  something that is in their very clear national interest  Washington has global challenges that sadly take precedent.

And then there are Americas challenges in Asia, which are intense and will likely occupy the bulk of the Trump presidencys foreign policy capital for almost all of his hopefully eight-year term.

Over the long term, Washington faces a rising China that seems determined to dominate the Asia-Pacific and bigger Indo-Pacific region. This challenge  which must be addressed with the majority of Americas economic, military and diplomatic might for perhaps decades  must come first.

North Korea, for the short- to medium-term, will also need to be addressed. It was just last year that Washington was staring down a very real challenge when Pyongyang tested over 20 advanced missile platforms and a hydrogen bomb, and the prospect of military conflict was high.

And while North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is offering to meet with President Trump, this newfound sense of detente is most likely a play for more time, to make sure North Korea truly has a nuclear weapon that can strike the U.S. homeland in the months to come.

There is, however, a bigger point in President Trumps eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria, as clearly illustrated above. While the United States is a global superpower with a military that is likely the most powerful in all of history, America is not able to do everything, all the time, for everyone. In fact, such a message resonated with the American people, and is one the reasons I and millions of other Americans support the president.

Our nation has been at war, in one form or another, since the Twin Towers fell in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Our armed forces, and the people deployed overseas and around the world, have borne an incredible burden.

But after all these years, America has given far too many of its brave men and women to wars in the greater Middle East that have gone on for too long, while nations around the region are happy to stay on the sidelines.

What must happen now is for Team Trump to organize a grand coalition of partners to ensure that ISIS never returns and that the Syrian civil war comes to an end quickly.

This means working with nations around the region that are friends, but also rivals  like Russia and Iran  that also have a stake in this critical geographic region. The goal should be to make sure stability returns, that the people of this war-torn nation can return to their homes, and that they truly have something to come back to. Otherwise, chaos will fill the void  no matter how many troops are on the ground, from any nation.

But above all else, America must resist the siren song of doing everything for everyone in all places around the world  and we must focus on our core national interests. For if we dont, Washington will never achieve any of its goals, and will become fated to bankruptcy along with a populace that is warn out by war. It is a fate that we must avoid at all costs.Special counsel Robert Mueller told President Trump's attorneys last month that he does not consider Trump to be a criminal target in his investigation of Russian actions during the 2016 campaign, The Washington Post reported Tuesday night.

The paper, citing "three people familiar with the discussions," reported that Mueller made the comments while negotiating with Trump's attorneys about a potential interview with the president. The Post also reported -- citing "two people with knowledge of the conversations" -- that Mueller reiterated his need to interview Trump to determine whether the president intended to halt the Russia investigation while in office.

According to the Post, Trump has "privately expressed relief" at Mueller's description of his legal status, but some advisers have warned that the special counsel may be baiting the president into letting his guard down for any interview.

Mueller also has said he needs to interview Trump in order to complete a report he will present to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the investigation and who could decide to make Mueller's report public.

The report added that John Dowd resigned from Trump's legal team last month after the president ignored Dowd's advice to decline Mueller's request for an interview.

According to the Post, Trump's other attorneys -- Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow -- have told the president that refusing to sit down with Mueller would create an awkward situation since the president has repeatedly described the Russian investigation as a "witch hunt."

Click for more from the Washington Post.President Trump said Tuesday that he wants to get out of Syria and bring our troops back home, saying that the administration is very seriously considering doing just that.

During a joint press conference Tuesday with presidents of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, the president addressed his administrations military policy in Syria.

Well be making a decision as to what we do, Trump said, noting that he was inclined to pull troops out. I want to get out and bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation.

Trump said the U.S. has spent $7 trillion in the Middle East over the last 17 years.

We get nothing out of it. Nothing. Nothing, Trump said. Seven trillion. We have nothing except death and destructionits a horrible thing. We were very successful against ISIS, well be successful against anyone militarily, but sometimes its time to come home and well be thinking about that very seriously.

While the president wants to bring troops home to the U.S., his special envoy to the ISIS fight said the U.S. mission has not ended, and vowed to complete that mission.

We are in Syria to fight ISIS, that is our mission and our mission isnt over and we are going to complete that mission, Special Envoy Brett McGurk said down the street from the White House at the U.S. Institute of Peace, at the same time as Trump took part in the press conference. We will not rest until ISIS is gone.

Critics have suggested that a withdrawal of American forces from Syria would give Russia and Iran access to vast oil fields in eastern Syria, and would betray Kurdish and Arab forces who have partnered with the U.S. military against ISIS.

But Trump said ISIS got the oil, and suggested that funded their campaigns.

The president also doubled down on how tough his administration has been on the Kremlin.

Nobody has been tougher on Russia. Getting along with Russia would be a good thing, not a bad thing, Trump said earlier in the day at the White House Tuesday. And almost everybody agrees with that, except for very stupid people.

The president added: Weve been very tough on thatvery tough on Russia, frankly. If we got along with Russia, its possible we wont, if we can all get along, that would be great.

At the joint press conference, he reiterated his comments.

Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have, Trump said again, alongside the Baltic leaders. We are very strong on energy, essentially now energy independent. Thats not a positive for Russia, but certainly positive for the U.S.

He went on to outline the $700 billion budget for the U.S. Military, calling it the largest ever passed, adding that the military is now stronger than weve ever had before, by farthats not exactly a great thing for Russia.

I think I could have a very good relationship with President PutinI thinkmaybe I wont. Its a real possibility that I could have a very good relationship, Trump said. Getting along with Russia is a good thing.

He added: If I did [have a good relationship with Putin], that would be a very great thing. But theres also a great possibility that wont happen, okay? Who knows.

On Monday, a Russian official told Kremlin media that Trump invited Putin to the White House for a meeting, which had yet to be scheduled.

The White House confirmed that Trump had discussed a possible meeting with Putin, and suggested the White House as a venue for the summit.

As the President himself confirmed March 20, hours after his last call with President Putin, the two had discussed a bilateral meeting in the not-too-distant future at a number of potential venues, including the White House, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday. We have nothing further to add at this time.

If a Trump-Putin meeting does take place at the White House, it will mark the first time the Russian president visited 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue since the George W. Bush administration. Putin visited the White House in both November 2001 and September 2005.

The president has been criticized for not being tough enough on Russia, but last week, the Trump administration joined Britain and more than two dozen allies in sanctioning the Kremlin over the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in England.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.If the "big, beautiful wall" along the U.S.-Mexico border doesn't get built -- and soon -- troops will come, President Trump vowed Tuesday while he tries to make his campaign promise a reality.

Trump said he discussed bringing in reinforcements with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as he awaits the completion of the structure, which is estimated to cost around $25 billion.

"We're going to be doing things militarily," Trump said at a lunch with Baltic leaders. "Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military."

Trump called the decision to get the National Guard involved in helping monitor the border a "big step." However, the move wouldn't be completely unprecedented -- the U.S. National Guard has deployed troops to the border in the past at the command of the president.

Both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have previously called on the National Guard to assist with border patrol.

Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in 2010 to beef up efforts to battle drug smuggling and illegal immigration. An administration official described Obama's plan to Fox News in May 2010 as "part of his comprehensive plan to secure the southwest border."

The administration official said Obama also requested $500 million for "enhanced border protection and law enforcement," responding to border state lawmakers calls for stronger security.

Four years prior, Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border, despite promising in a speech earlier that year that the U.S. would not "militarize the southern border," calling Mexico "our neighbor, and our friend."

Under what later became a two-year operation known as "Jump Start," 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to assist the border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained. Over those years, about 29,000 National Guard forces participated, as forces rotated in and out.

Texas has also deployed military forces to its 800-mile border with Mexico in recent years. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, now serving as Trump's energy secretary, sent 1,000 Texas National Guardsmen to the Rio Grande Valley in 2014 in response to a sharp increase in Central American children crossing the border alone.

"Support from the National Guard - but yet a clear division: them not arresting, not engaging in enforcement activities directly attributed to any illegal crossings of either aliens, narcotics or things of that nature ... has worked out very well."  Army Maj. Gen. Peter Aylward

"I will not stand idly by while our citizens are under assault and little children from Central America are detained in squalor," Perry said at the time.

The deployment of troops cost Texas roughly $12 million per month, KXAS reported at the time.

The U.S. Army has also documented several cases of lending support to the southwest border. National Guard soldiers "act as the eyes and ears for the Border Patrol, but by law, do not participate in an enforcement role," the U.S. Army explains on its website. Instead, they're used for surveillance, communications, administrative support, intelligence, analysis and the installation of border security infrastructure.

"The National Guard has been providing Southwest border support for a number of years through our Counterdrug ... program," said Army Maj. Gen. Peter Aylward in a 2010 Army blog post. "Support from the National Guard - but yet a clear division: them not arresting, not engaging in enforcement activities directly attributed to any illegal crossings of either aliens, narcotics or things of that nature ... has worked out very well."

The Defense Department is currently offering some support to the border, including U.S. Navy ships patrolling waters to seize drugs as well as missions involving over 100 personnel from the U.S. militarys northern command -- including eight planes and a drone -- to help border patrol.

Trump did not offer specifics for his plan Tuesday, but the move appears to be at least partly motivated by a caravan of more than 1,000 Central American migrants heading toward the U.S. border.

"I said [to Mexican officials], 'I hope you're going to tell that caravan not to get up to the border.' And I think they're doing that because, as of 12 minutes ago, it was all being broken up," Trump said, appearing to take credit Tuesday for halting a caravan of about 1,100 migrants.

Fox News' Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.The $1.3 trillion spending bill signed by President Trump in March does not include a penny for the new border wall the president had promised during his presidential campaign.

And while legislators may have figured that would be the end of it, Trump surprised many people Tuesday by announcing he might deal with the issue in a different way. As he put it, I spoke with [Defense Secretary James] Mattis. Were going to do some things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military.

Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday directing the National Guard to be deployed.

The president, in particular, seemed concerned about a caravan of migrants from Central America currently marching through Mexico toward the U.S. If it reaches our border, said Trump, our laws are so weak and pathetic...its like we have no border.

His statements have created a controversy regarding how much power he has in such a situation.

Legally, the debate centers on two federal laws: the Insurrection Act and the Posse Comitatus Act.

The Insurrection Act goes back to 1807, and allows a president to deploy troops anywhere in the U.S. to execute federal law -- generally, to put down lawlessness and insurrection. This power is limited, though it was used as justification for the Civil War.

The Posse Comitatus Act, originally passed in 1878, limits the federal governments use of the military in domestic issues. It came about in response to the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, when federal troops had been policing the former states of the Confederacy.

While the president is limited in how he may use federal troops, they have been called out in modern times on domestic issues. Some examples:

-- in 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to support desegregation of schools.

-- in 2005, President George W. Bush sent the National Guard into the Gulf Coast to help with relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

Two recent interventions dealt with border issues:

-- from 2006 to 2008, President George W. Bush deployed the National Guard to aid Customs and Border Protection, though troops did not have authority as law enforcement officials and couldnt detain suspects.

-- in 2010, President Barack Obama sent the National Guard to the border, though with limited powers, mostly to fix infrastructure and work on surveillance.

The kind of military action President Trump is hinting at is considerably bolder, and many legal experts question how much power he has to commit the troops to such activity.

Fox News legal expert Judge Andrew Napolitano, while he personally believes it would be a horrendous thing for [Trump] to do politically, believes the president, as commander in chief, would have an argument for deploying troops. As Napolitano puts it: President Trump could argue this is a matter of national security and Congress wont act... so he will act.

While Napolitano doesnt believe this is the sort of action contemplated by the Insurrection Act, he notes presidents can often get away with activities that are questionable, especially in dealing with a crisis or emergency. In Katrina, the troops were used for domestic law enforcement and Bush just didnt care about the Posse Comitatus Act -- though in that case, with human lives at stake, people seemed willing to look the other way.

There are only limited ways to stop a troop deployment to the border, adds Napolitano.

'I think he can get away with it.'  Judge Andrew Napolitano

Generals can refuse what they believe is an illegal order, but thats rare. Its possible the courts could get involved  as they did last year with Trumps order limiting certain immigration  but Napolitano believes the possibility is slim. First, it could be hard to find a plaintiff with proper standing to try to prevent presidential action, and second, the courts would likely find, in the end, that this is a political question to be determined by Congress and the president.

Then theres Congress, which could refuse to fund the presidents actions, though they would need a two-thirds vote to override any veto from Trump.

So, all added up, Napolitano says I think he can get away with it.

Nevertheless, if the president took strong action with federal troops at the border, there could be tremendous political fallout. So the question is: How far will he go?

Perhaps the presidents talk of sending troops is just Trump being Trump. As Judge Napolitano puts it, It may well be another example of Donald Trump going to extremes so that a resolution of the issue can be done in a more rational way.A candidate for lieutenant governor in Idaho backtracked Tuesday on his statement that women who get an abortion should face the death penalty if the procedure is ever criminalized in the state.

Bob Nonini, a three-term state senator from Coeur d'Alene, first came under fire during a Monday candidate forum in Moscow, Idaho, hosted by the conservative Christian podcast CrossPolitic.

There should be no abortion and anyone who has an abortion should pay, Nonini said and reportedly nodded in support of the death penalty as a means of punishing women.

But just hours later, the Republican said the punishment should be focused on the person performing the abortion rather than the woman.

Let me be clear  I have always been a pro-life supporter. That means classifying abortion as murder. Since abortion is murder, I believe we should consider penalties for individuals involved in these procedures, Nonini said in a statement.

However, it is my understanding that in the history of the United States, long before [Roe v. Wade] was foisted upon this country; no woman has ever been prosecuted for undergoing abortion. That is for practical reasons, as well as for reasons of compassion, he continued.

Prosecutions have always been focused on the abortionist. There is no way a woman would go to jail let alone face the death penalty. The statute alone, the threat of prosecution, would dramatically reduce abortion. That is my goal.

Prosecutions have always been focused on the abortionist. There is no way a woman would go to jail let alone face the death penalty."  Bob Nonini

This is not the first time the candidate has to apologize and clarify what he meant. In January, Nonini apologized to seven fellow legislators for making an inappropriate comment during an anti-sexual harassment training.

I made a comment that might have offended some people and so I apologized to those sitting around me, he said in a statement. The exact comment was not revealed.

The other Republican candidates for lieutenant governor  Idaho Falls businesswoman Janice McGeachin and former Idaho Republican Party Chairman Steve Yates  did not go as far as Nonini on abortion during the Mondays forum.

No, I cannot support a woman facing the death penalty for having an abortion, said McGeachin. What we should do is prevent that.

Yates, meanwhile, said that criminalizing abortion would not necessarily result in fewer women getting the procedure.

In terms of criminalizing things, I have no problem with that except that doesnt always solve the problem, Yates said.

Abortion in deep-red Idaho is a contentious issue, with many Republican lawmakers and advocates trying to restrict the access to the procedure.

Last year, Abolish Abortion Idaho started a ballot initiative seeking to charge abortion providers and women with first-degree murder, though it remains unclear if the initiative will have enough signatures to appear on the ballot in November.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.As more than 1,000 migrants travel through Mexico, President Trump continued to warn that the caravan of people should be stopped before entering the U.S.

The caravan, an annual event, is made up mostly of migrants from Honduras and Central America. Some hoped to seek asylum in Mexico; others might be bound for the U.S., according to organizers.

Heres what you need to know about the migrants and what they seek.

What are these caravans?

A group of about 1,200 people  most of them Hondurans  are walking through Mexico, seeking asylum or refugee status.

For many migrants, Mexico is the last stop. Later this week, buses will take people to a migrant rights symposium in central Puebla  southeast of Mexico City. After the symposium, some migrants could continue onto Mexicos capital to make an asylum claim, Irineo Mujica, director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the activist group behind the event, says.

The symposium is the last scheduled stop, according to organizers.

Contrary to some reports, organizers told The New York Times that a majority of the migrants do not intend to travel to the U.S. Alex Mensing, a project coordinator with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, told the newspaper that only about 10 or 15 percent might try to seek refuge in the U.S.

What has Mexico said about the migrants?

Mexicos Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry said about 400 migrants have been deported, but the government views the caravan as a public demonstration that seeks to call attention to migration and the importance of respecting the rights of Central American migrants who in many cases are forced to leave their countries in search of better opportunities or with the intention of getting international refugee status and protection.

Mexico has handed out humanitarian or travel visas to many of the travelers. About 465 migrants had asked for transit visas and 230 have gotten them, and another 168 were likely to get some sort of visa to stay in Mexico, according to the country's government.

The government also noted that -- per its migration laws -- those in the caravan must leave Mexico only at designated international transit points and should adhere to the rules of country they are entering.

CARAVAN PARTICIPANTS GET HELP FROM WITHIN MEXICO

The law also specifies that it is not the responsibility of the Mexican government to make immigration decisions for the United States or any other nation; the appropriate U.S. authorities will decide, if necessary, whether or not to authorize entrance into their territory at the authorized ports of entry and exit for any members of the caravan that request it, the government said.

Are these caravans new?

No. According to the Mexican government, the caravan of migrants have journeyed around this time every year since 2010.

They began as short processions of migrants, some dressed in biblical garb and carrying crosses, as an Easter-season protest against the kidnappings, extortion, beatings and killings suffered by many Central American migrants as they cross Mexico.

TRUMP SLAMS MEXICO, DEMOCRATS AS CARAVAN CONTINUES TO MARCH

However, this particular caravan is one of the largest ever, according to The New York Times.

Those making the trek see safety in numbers and believe that traveling as a group would deter would-be robbers or kidnappers.

In 2016, Mexico granted more than 3,200 asylum requests. An additional 9,626 requests filed last year have either been accepted or are still under review.

What has the Trump said about them?

Trump has drawn attention to the caravans with multiple tweets.

On Easter Sunday, the president warned that the caravans are coming and slammed the so-called catch and release laws. He also warned that Mexico should stop people from flowing into its country and the U.S. or he would stop their cash flow.

The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our Weak Laws Border, had better be stopped before it gets there, Trump said, adding that foreign aid to Honduras and other nations is at stake.

Can the migrants actually receive DACA status?

In a tweet, Trump said, These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!

But even should migrants be able to enter the U.S., they would not be eligible for the protection granted under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In order to receive DACA status, individuals have to be brought to the U.S. illegally as children and have continuously lived in the country since 2007, among other requirements.

As the Trump administration has moved to phase out the program  and called for a legislative fix  no new applicants are being accepted for DACA.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The Obama administration sent U.S. taxpayer funds to a group backed by billionaire George Soros to fund left-wing activities in Albania, a conservative watchdog group says.

The group, Judicial Watch, obtained 32 pages of records from the Justice Department this week through a May 2017 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID.)

The new documents show USAID funds were sent through the agencys Civil Society Project to back Soros left-wing "East West Management Institute" through USAID's "Justice for All" campaign. USAID provided $8.8 million in 2016 to that campaign.

The Justice for All Project was designed to strengthen the effectiveness and transparency of the courts in Albania. The project aimed to increase citizens trust in the judiciary and a more efficient judicial system, according to USAID.

Judicial Watch said ,though, that money was used specifically to give the Albanian socialist government greater control of the judiciary system.

The Obama administration quietly spent at least $9 million in U.S. taxpayers dollars in direct collusion with left-wing billionaire George Soros backing of a socialist government in Albania, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement Wednesday. It is particularly outrageous that the State Department allowed the Soros operation to help direct taxpayer funds to other groups.

A USAID official told Fox News on Wednesday that the agency did not, however, provide grants to Soros' Open Society Foundation in Albania.

But Judicial Watch said the records revealed that the State Department gave Soros Open Society Foundation direct input for its own program funding reviews in Albania.

One report, from Feb. 10, 2017 on Engagement with the Open Society Foundation for Albania stated that as one of the major assistance providers in Albania, representatives for the Open Society Foundation are frequently asked to participate in technical reviews of applications that we receive for funding.

That report noted that the Embassys public affairs section has not received any funds from the Open Society Foundation to support any projects or activities, and that the public affairs section has not provided any funds to the Open Society Foundation to support their projects or activities.

For decades, there has been broad bipartisan agreement in Washington, DC on the need to promote democracy and human rights abroad. Of late there has been an unfortunate and misguided effort to politicize this process, a spokesperson for the Open Society Foundation said in a statement to Fox News. The Open Society Foundations and the U.S. Government shared an interest in helping Albania and other similarly situated countries transition from communism and democracy, and in promoting an independent judiciary.

The spokesperson added: As the State Department stated in the documents Judicial Watch cited, the US embassy in Tirana has not received any funds from the Open Society Foundation to support any projects or activities, nor has it provided any funds to the Open Society Foundation to support their projects or activities.

But another memo obtained by Judicial Watch from April 2016 shows that the U.S. Embassy in Tirana sponsored a survey along with Soross Open Society Foundation to measure Albanian citizens' knowledge, support, and expectations on justice reform. The poll, according to Judicial Watch, did not specify the type of reform the Soros group was seeking, but the survey reported that 91 percent of respondents either fully support or somewhat support the need for judicial reform in Albania.

Records dated February 2017 show that the State Department used taxpayer funds to co-sponsor a second poll with the Open Society Foundation.

The Public Affairs Section and the Open Society Foundation Survey each provided funding to a local organization to conduct a public opinion poll on attitudes toward the Judicial Reform effort, the February report, reviewed by Fox News, read.

"George Soros is a billionaire and he shouldn't be receiving taxpayer support to advance his radical left agenda to undermine freedom here at home and abroad," Fitton said.

Last year, in March 2017, a group of six U.S. Senators led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, sent a letter to former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asking that he investigate charges that the U.S. government was using taxpayer funds to assists Soros in Albania.

Sen. Lee was not satisfied with the State Departments response to his letter about USAID funding for international progressive institutions that spread leftist ideas at tax payer expense, a spokesperson for Lee told Fox News in an email Wednesday. He hopes the next Secretary of State will put an end to these payments."

Judicial Watch is also seeking information regarding Soros activities in Macedonia, Romania and Colombia.Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin has been fined by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for failing to report in a timely and accurate fashion $116,898 in independent expenditures spent in support of Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Russ Feingold during the 2016 elections, according to a settlement released by the commission.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin's failures to disclose its expenditures were discovered after discrepancies were found in the group's October 2016 quarterly report. The group had marked $133,305.04 worth of independent expenditures on that report, which covered its finances from July 1 to September 30, 2016. However, $116,898.08 of the $133,305.04 worth of expenditures the group showed in the filing was never submitted in any previous 48-hour reports, a requirement for money put towards independent expenditures.

The independent expenditures consisted of $58,449.04 Planned Parenthood Wisconsin in support of Hillary Clinton and an additional $58,449.04 disbursed on the same day in support of former Sen. Feingold (D.), who failed to recapture the Senate seat from Sen. Ron Johnson (R.).

Planned Parenthood made the expenditure on Aug. 31, 2016, but did not publicly disclose the funds in support of the candidates until it had submitted its October quarterly report to the FEC on Oct. 11almost two months after they were required to do so.

The commission later sent the group a Request for Additional Information (RFAI), in which Planned Parenthood claimed ignorance to the requirements in its response to the commission.

Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.Voter registration policies in Texas violate federal law, a U.S. District Court judge ruled in an order unveiled Tuesday, marking another voting-rights legal setback for the state's government.

Under the so-called "Motor Voter" provisions of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, voters who apply for or renew their driver's license must be provided an opportunity to register to vote as well.

But Texans who went online to update their driver's license information ran into roadblocks that in-person applicants did not, according to the Texas Civil Rights Project, which brought the suit against Texas in 2016.

For example, the plaintiffs alleged, users who clicked I want to register to vote" while updating their driver's license information were directed to a form that they had to print and mail. They also received a notification stating that clicking "yes" did not complete the voter registration process.

WATCH: TUCKER DISCUSSES REPORTED WIDESPREAD VOTER FRAUD IN TEXAS

That allegedly confounded some plaintiffs and led to "widespread confusion," according to the lawsuit. The online process amounted to an illegal stumbling block, given that the in-person process was smoother, the plaintiffs charged.

The plaintiffs specifically alleged that the unequal treatment of in-person voters, as compared to online ones, violated both the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and federal law.

"For too long, the state of Texas has ignored federal voting rights laws."  Texas Civil Rights Project director Beth Stevens

Everybody  all of our plaintiffs and many other people we have spoken to  once they get their drivers license, they assume that their voter registration information has been updated, too, Texas Civil Rights Project President Mimi Marziani told NPR. And then they show up at the polls thinking they are going to be able to cast a ballot and they are not able to."

TEXAS VOTER ID LAW RULED LEGAL -- FOR NOW

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia said a written opinion explaining the reasoning behind his ruling will be released within 14 days.

Texas does not currently permit online voter registration, according to the Texas Tribune, and may be forced to as a result of the ruling.

For too long, the state of Texas has ignored federal voting rights laws intended to ensure that all eligible voters have an opportunity to register to vote, Beth Stevens, voting rights director at the Texas Civil Rights Project, told the Texas Tribune. We look forward to seeing deep changes in [the Texas Department of Public Safetys] voter registration practices in the coming months, affecting well over a million Texans every year.

The ruling is the latest in a string of voting-rights cases involving Texas. The state has spent years fighting to preserve both its voter ID law -- which was among the strictest in the U.S. -- and voting maps that were both passed by GOP-controlled Legislature in 2011.A top House Republican is open to allowing President Trump to trim some of the deficit-busting, $1.3 trillion budget he recently signed amid backlash from the partys conservative base.

The talks between Trump and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly started several days ago.

"There are conversations right now," said Matt Sparks, a spokesman for McCarthy, R-Calif. "The administration and Congress and McCarthy are talking about it."

Trump has been furious about the deficit-expanding bill since signing it just 10 days ago, complaining that compromises with congressional Democrats to get much-needed defense spending resulted in waste and giveaway, while shortchanging funding for his U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Got $1.6 Billion to start Wall on Southern Border, rest will be forthcoming. Most importantly, got $700 Billion to rebuild our Military, $716 Billion next year...most ever. Had to waste money on Dem giveaways in order to take care of military pay increase and new equipment, tweeted Trump, who in his fury had threatened to veto the spending bill and never sign another bill like this again.

The potential House rescission efforts appear to be Trumps latest effort to cut the budget, after calling for an overhaul of Senate rules to allow for simple-majority votes on all bills and appealing to Congress for line-item veto power to kill specific spending items he dislikes.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that a congressionally passed line-item veto was unconstitutional.

The rescission proposal being discussed by McCarthy and Trump is perhaps as close as the president can get to the line-item veto. The idea centers on a rarely used provision of the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impound Control Act. It allows the White House to propose rescinding funds and sets a 45-day clock for the House and Senate to vote.

The rumblings among conservatives started within minutes of the spending bills March 23 passage.

American taxpayers get a trillion dollar deficit and no money for the wall, Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News.

The heat continued when House and Senate members returned to their home districts for a two-week recess that ends Sunday.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nevada, said he encountered a finger-wagging voter back home almost as soon as he stepped off the airplane.

Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, told Fox News on Wednesday that she was heartened to learn that McCarthy and Trump were considering changes to address the concerns of conservative about the omnibus budget bill having spent too much money.

My primary concern  is Republicans, especially House Republicans, breaking promises they made in 2010, said Martin, who in the 2009-2010 election cycle was at the front of the so-called Tea Party wave that helped fiscal conservatives win House seats and Republicans take control of the lower chamber.

We expected better. When you do the right thing like cut taxes, well stand by you. And when you dont do what we expect, well hold you accountable.

All 435 House seats are up for reelection in November, with energized Democrats needing to win about 26 GOP-held ones to control the chamber.

However, whether House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., supports the idea is unclear. And proposed changes would likely spark backlash from Democrats and some congressional Republicans.

Ryan and Trump have not yet talked this week, an aide to the speaker said, but likely will by week's end.

The president would likely seek to focus his cuts on domestic spending, including those Democrats praised, like rural broadband, student loans and child care.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis office did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Getting the votes for the rescission cuts in either chamber could be difficult, even for fiscally conservative Republicans, since Trump's targets may be popular projects or programs back home, said Gordon Gray, the director of Fiscal Policy at the center-right American Action Forum, who notes the rescission tool is not as popular as it was when introduced in the Nixon era more than 40 years ago.

Passage would be especially uncertain in the Senate, considering Republicans hold just a 51-49 majority.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.President Trump on Wednesday said that a trade war with China was lost many years ago by foolish, or incompetent U.S. officials, and that the current trade situation with China cannot be allowed to continue.

Trumps remarks came shortly after the Communist country announced $50 billion in tariffs on imports of U.S. products, including soybeans, whiskey and cars.

Those, in turn, were in response to proposals by the Trump administration to slap 25-percent tariffs on approximately 1,300 products from China in response to Beijing's alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property. The tariffs would include industrial chemicals, motorcycles and medical devices.



But Trump tweeted that there was no trade war, which he said had already been lost many years ago.



We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S., he tweeted. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!

He later tweeted: "When youre already $500 Billion DOWN, you cant lose!"

The Tuesday proposals come after the U.S. placed tariffs on Chinese aluminum and steel last month. That move triggered a response from China, who placed tariffs on American pork, fruit, aluminum and other goods.

Trump has repeatedly slammed what he has branded as unfair trade practices from Beijing. Tuesdays proposed sanctions were to target alleged Chinese practices such as pressuring American companies to share technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market and even hacking into U.S. companies' computers to steal trade secrets.

On Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that China's door to dialogue with Washington remains open "but the U.S. has missed the opportunity time and time again."



Still, the U.S. policy was welcome by some Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who said: Nothing will ever change when it comes to Chinas business practices until somebody starts pushing back.



"It is not too much to ask for China to stop stealing intellectual property and open up their markets that are closed due to heavy-handed Chinese government barriers to foreign business enterprises," Graham said.

Fox News Samuel Chamberlain and The Associated Press contributed to this report.President Trump said Wednesday that his administration will be taking strong action today on the Mexico border, a day after he said that he wants to send the military to secure it until a wall is built.

In a tweet, Trump said that the U.S. border laws are very weak compared to Mexico and Canada, and accused Democrats of wanting immigrants to pour into our country unchecked.



We will be taking strong action today, he added.



His tweet came a day after he told reporters that he wants to guard the border with the military until a wall on the southern border was buit.



Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military, he said. That's a big step, we really havent done that before, or certainly not very much before.

A White House official revealed later Tuesday to Fox News that the plan considered by Trump would be a substantial mobilization of the National Guard.

Trump appears to have been partly motivated by a caravan of more than 1,000 Central American migrants heading toward the U.S. border. Trump had threatened to end the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and to cut foreign aid to countries such as Honduras, from where many of the migrants originate, if the caravan is not stopped.

TRUMP SAYS THE MILITARY WILL SECURE THE SOUTHERN BORDER UNTIL WALL CAN BE BUILT



Trump said Tuesday that he believes the caravan is being broken up after he had a converation with Mexican officials.



Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that she had been advised by Mexican officials that the caravan is dissipating and that several hundred migrants had been repatriated.



Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush had deployed the National Guard to the border in response to security issues. The Associated Press reported that the White House appeared to be considering a model similar to a Bush-era operation, where in 2006 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to assist the border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained.



The Guard members were used for surveillance, communications, administrative support, intelligence, analysis and the installation of border security infrastructure.



Trump has intensified his focus on border security as he has struggled to secure funding for the wall, estimated to need approximately $25 billion. In the omnibus bill signed by Trump last month, $1.6 billion was included for technology and some replacement of existing border fencing -- although it excluded the prototypes Trump recently viewed in California.



Trump briefly considered vetoing the legislation both over its lack of funding for the wall and also the failure to include a fix for the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that granted protection for illegal immigrants brought to the country as children. He has also floated the idea of getting the Pentagon to fund the wall.



Fox News John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.President Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday night to send the National Guard to the southern border immediately, a senior White House official told Fox News, in response to what the administration described as an "unacceptable" flow of drugs, criminal activity and illegal immigrants.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said at the White House press briefing that the signing would be done in conjunction with governors and that the administration hoped the deployment would begin "immediately."

"Despite a number of steps this administration has taken...we continue to see unacceptable levels of illegal drugs, dangerous gang activity transnational criminal organizations and illegal immigration flow across our border," she said.

"The president has directed that the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security work together with our governors to deploy our National Guard to our southwest border to assist the border patrol," she said. "The president will be signing a proclamation to that effect today."

Details about what the National Guard would do and how many would be deployed and for how long were not immediately disclosed.

Under the George W. Bush administration, deploying the National Guard to the border cost $415 million dollars.

Nielsen pointed to what she described as increasing fraud and exploited loopholes among arrivals on the southern border, saying traffickers have been advertising that if migrants have children with them, then they are more likely to be released into the U.S. She also said that almost 50 percent of arriving aliens are from Central America.

"Traffickers and smugglers know that these individuals cannot under U.S. law be easily removed in an expeditious way back to their country of origin and so they exploit the loophole," she said, adding that the ability to game the system acts as a magnet for more migrants.

She said that the administration has drafted legislation and will ask Congress to provide legal authority and resources to address the problem.

"We will not allow illegal immigration levels to become the norm," she said. "More than 1,000 people a day, 300,000 a year violating our sovereignty as a nation will never be acceptable to this president."

Trump had tweeted earlier Wednesday that he would be taking strong action today on the Mexico border, a day after he said that he wants to send the military to secure it until a wall is built.

Arguing that the U.S. border laws are very weak compared to Mexico and Canada, he accused Democrats of wanting immigrants to pour into our country unchecked.

Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush had deployed the National Guard to the border in response to security issues.

The Associated Press reported that the White House was considering a model similar to a Bush-era operation, where in 2006 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to assist the border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained.

Trump's recent focus on illegal immigration appeared to have been partly motivated by a caravan of more than 1,000 Central American migrants heading toward the U.S. border.

Trump had threatened to end the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and to cut foreign aid to countries such as Honduras, from where many of the migrants originate, if the caravan was not stopped.

Trump said Tuesday that he believes the caravan is being broken up after he had a conversation with Mexican officials.

Nielsen said on Tuesday that she had been advised by Mexican officials that the caravan is dissipating and that several hundred migrants had been repatriated.

We will not accept the lawlessness of these types of efforts and those who choose to violate our laws, and those who conspire to assist others to violate our laws, will face criminal prosecution, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. The Department of Justice fully supports the efforts of the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security announced today to secure our border. I will soon be announcing additional Department of Justice initiatives to restore legality to the southern border.

Fox News' Brooke Singman, Serafin Gomez, Jennifer Griffin, Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.The president is once again on a tear against the press.

He's been whacking CNN and the Washington Post, and so-called fake news in general, and getting plenty of pushback in return.

While Donald Trump's disdain for the media is nothing new, I'm sensing a definite escalation in his tactics, and a growing willingness by some news organizations to accuse him of false statements.

The president has used the press as a foil from the day he got into the race. As I detail in my new book "Media Madness," sometimes he does this as a political strategy; sometimes he's just venting, and at other times he's punching back at what he sees as unfair coverage. And there's no question the coverage has been overwhelmingly negative.

But Trump also leaves his detractors an opening when he stretches the facts.

The president's attacks on the "Amazon Washington Post" are a classic example. And I don't have to rely on unnamed sources to say that he has a bit of a fixation on Amazon and Jeff Bezos. He's brought it up with me a number of times, including in a 2015 interview on my show. (I posted the video in this "After the Buzz" segment.)

Amazon stock has lost $60 billion since Trump began pounding the online giant on Twitter. He's made the argument that Amazon doesn't pay enough in taxes (the company paid nearly $1 billion in sales taxes last year) and is costing the Postal Service money (even if true, doesn't that mean the service isn't charging enough for all package deliveries?)

Trump repeated the criticism in response to a reporter's question at a photo op yesterday.

I'm troubled by the president singling out one company, and having a financial impact, because he doesn't like its CEO.

His real beef is the Post, as he's told me and others. Trump tweeted about "the Fake Washington Post, which is used as a 'lobbyist' and should so REGISTER."

Marty Baron, the Post's executive editor, said no one at the paper is paid by Amazon and that Bezos has told him to cover the company like any other business.

"I can't say more emphatically he's never suggested a story to anybody here, he's never critiqued a story, he's never suppressed a story," Baron told the New York Times.

As for CNN, it's personal between the president and network chief Jeff Zucker, who ran NBC when Trump hosted "The Apprentice."

Trump tweeted yesterday: "Check out the fact that you cant get a job at ratings challenged @CNN unless you state that you are totally anti-Trump? Little Jeff Zuker, whose job is in jeopardy, is not having much fun lately. They should clean up and strengthen CNN and get back to honest reporting!"

CNN called the charge "false" on Twitter, saying: "The personal political beliefs of CNN's employees are of no interest to us. Their pursuit of the truth is our only concern. Also, Jeff's last name is spelled Z-U-C-K-E-R. Those are the facts."

The Trump tweet didn't come out of the blue. It materialized after CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta shouted two questions about DACA at the Easter egg roll, while the president sat with his son and other children.

I have no problem with shouted questionsand Trump did answer the first one, before Acosta accused him of killing the programbut I think Acosta crossed a line by asking it in that setting. It's also no accident that the subject was DACA, an issue on which he often sounds more like an advocate than a journalist.

Still, I thought Brad Pascale, Trump's 2020 campaign manager, went too far in tweeting: "Maybe it is time for Jim Acosta to get a suspension for breaking protocol." Such credentials are handled by the White House Correspondents Association, not the White House.

Trump's attacks on the press invariably please his base, which doesnt trust the news business either. But hed have a better shot at expanding that base if he lowered the temperature a bit.The Trump administration plans to sanction a number of Russian oligarchs under a new law targeting Moscow in retaliation for alleged election meddling, Fox News has learned.

A senior administration official told Fox News the sanctions would be announced by the end of this week. It was not immediately clear how many Russian business leaders would be targeted by the measures, but The Washington Post reported that at least six people would be affected.

The Post also reported that the sanctions are expected to be levied against individuals on a list of Russian political and business leaders released by the Treasury Department in January.

Reuters, which first reported on the coming sanctions, said the affected oligarchs have ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as the Kremlin.

Last month, the White House sanctioned 19 individuals and five entities, including Russian intelligence services, in response to Moscow's activities during the 2016 election campaign as well as numerous cyber attacks.

In February, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies in what Mueller's office described as a plot to wage "information warfare" against the U.S.

Russia-West relations have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War following Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and differences over the war in Syria as well as the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Tensions further escalated this month after the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain, leading to mass diplomats' expulsions by the West and Russia. Britain has blamed Russia for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, accusations which Russia has ferociously denied.

Fox News' Serafin Gomez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.The White House said on Wednesday that the United States' mission in Syria to eradicate the Islamic State "is coming to a rapid end."

"The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed," the White House statement said. "The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated."

The announcement came shortly after the Washington Post reported that President Trump instructed military leaders during a meeting Tuesday to begin planning the withdrawal of troops from the war-torn, Middle Eastern nation.

According to a Washington Post report, Trump said that while U.S. troops can still be involved in training local forces to ensure security in liberated areas, he expects other nations  particularly the oil-rich Arab states  to help pay for the reconstruction of Syria and send in their own troops.

"As far as Syria is concerned, our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of ISIS," Trump said on Tuesday during a news conference with leaders from the Baltic nations. "We've completed that task and we'll be making a decision very quickly, in coordination with others in the area, as to what we will do."

The mission is "very costly for our country and it helps other countries a helluva lot more than it helps us," Trump said.

As far as Syria is concerned, our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of ISIS.  President Trump

There are currently around 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, mainly working as advisers to local proxy forces and ordering U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State.

Trump in recent weeks has asked Saudi Arabia to contribute $4 billion for reconstruction in Syria, according to a U.S. official, as part of the president's effort to get other countries to pay for stabilizing the country so the U.S. isn't on the hook.

Trumps call for a troop withdrawal bucks the advice of his top national security team.

Many have warned that a premature U.S. withdrawal from Syria would cede the country to Iran and Russia, which have supported Syrian President Bashar Assad. Iran's continued presence in Syria is especially troubling to neighboring Israel, a U.S. ally that regards Iran as an existential threat.

According to officials familiar with the preparations for the meeting, that team, including CIA chief Mike Pompeo, who has been nominated to be secretary of state, strongly advised against a hasty withdrawal from Syria. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal talks.

Gen. Joseph Votel told a conference at the United States Institute of Peace that the United States would have to continue its work against remnants of ISIS in eastern Syria.

Votel is commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations across the Middle East, including Syria. Votel said the military campaign has been largely successful but is not over.

"The hard part, I think, is in front of us, and that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, addressing the long-term issues" such as reconstruction. "There is a military role in this, certainly in the stabilization phase."

The main Islamic State holdout in Syria is in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where momentum by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces has stalled in recent weeks as many Kurdish members of the group have shifted west to the Afrin area to fight Turkish forces. Pentagon officials have publicly raised the prospect of this giving the ISIS group the breathing room it needs to regroup.

It is unclear what will become of the some $200 million in U.S. stabilization assistance for Syria that the White House put on hold after Trump said last week that he wanted to leave Syria "very soon." The State Department was to have spent the money on building up the country's infrastructure, including power, water and roads.

John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.The woman suspected of shooting three people at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif. before killing herself was furious with the company because it had stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform, her father said late Tuesday.

The police identified the shooter as Nasim Aghdam, 39, of Southern California -- and said they had a run-in with her earlier in the day.

Ismail Aghdam said he reported his daughter missing on Monday after she did not answer her phone for two days. He said the family received a call from Mountain View police around 2 a.m. Tuesday saying they found Nasim sleeping in a car.

He said he warned them she might be headed to YouTube because she "hated" the company.

Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson confirmed officers located a woman by the same name asleep in a vehicle asleep in a Mountain View parking lot Tuesday morning.

Nelson said the woman declined to answer further questions but the police spokeswoman did not respond to a question about whether police were warned Aghdam might go to YouTube.

Aghdam reportedly maintained a personal website alleging that YouTube compensated her unfairly and censored her views.

Authorities said they are still probing Aghdam's motive, and that there are no indications she knew the victims.

In online postings last month, Aghdam alleged that YouTube tries to "censor and suppress people who speak the truth."

"[YouTube] stopped everything and now she has no income."  Ismail Aghdam, father of shooting suspect Nasim Aghdam

"BE AWARE!" warns a website that reportedly belonged to Aghdam. "Dictatorship exists in all countries but with different tactics! They only care for personal short term profits & do anything to reach their goals."

The website contains several screenshots purportedly showing Aghdam's YouTube user account page. The screenshots suggest that at least one of Aghdam's YouTube accounts had been "de-monetized," meaning that she was not earning significant revenue from her uploads to the site.

The company "de-monetizes" some channels for reasons including inappropriate material or having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

Text superimposed on one of the screenshots reads: "My Revenue for 300,000 Views Is $0.10?????"

The website also espouses veganism, and includes videos apparently showing animals being skinned and cooked alive.

Aghdam's YouTube videos had been removed from the site by Tuesday evening for violating the company's terms of service. Her personal website remained online.

Ismail Aghdam, Nasim's father, told NBC that YouTube "stopped everything and now she has no income."

The shooting spree left terrified YouTube employees huddled inside, calling 911, as officers and federal agents swarmed the company's suburban campus sandwiched between two interstates just south of San Francisco.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the building's second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a "big huge pistol."

"It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, 'Shooter!,' and everybody started running," Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.

"It was terrifying," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A trove of bronze coins, the last remnants of an ancient Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire, have been discovered near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The coins were discovered by Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar during excavations below the Temple Mounts southern Wall. The coins were left behind by people hiding in a large cave between 66 A.D. and 70 A.D. The tumultuous four-year period spanned the Roman siege of Jerusalem to the destruction of the Second Temple and the city.

While several of the coins date to the early years of the revolt, the great majority are from its final year, otherwise known as, Year Four (69-70 CE), explained Hebrew University, in a statement. Significantly, during the final year, the Hebrew inscription on the coins was changed from For the Freedom of Zion to For the Redemption of Zion, a shift which reflects the changing mood of the rebels during this period of horror and famine.

MAJOR BIBLICAL DISCOVERY: ARCHAEOLOGISTS MAY HAVE FOUND THE PROPHET ISAIAH'S 'SIGNATURE'

The find was made shortly before the Jewish observance of Passover, which began on March 30. A discovery like this  ancient coins bearing the words Freedom and Redemption  found right before the Jewish Festival of FreedomPassover  begins is incredibly moving, said Dr. Mazar.

The well-preserved coins are also decorated with Jewish symbols such as the four biblical plant species  palm, myrtle, citron and willow  as well as a picture of a goblet used in Temple services. Mazar believes that the coins are in such good condition because they were only in use for a short period of time.

Other discoveries at the site include broken pottery vessels, including jars and cooking pots, offering a fascinating glimpse into Jerusalems turbulent ancient history.

DRONE FINDS MYSTERIOUS ANCIENT STRUCTURE AT ISRAELI MILITARY TRAINING GROUND

The coins are the latest fascinating find in Israel. In February, for example, archaeologists announced the discovery of a clay seal mark that may bear the signature of the Biblical Prophet Isaiah.

Also in February, experts revealed that they had uncovered a rare multicolored Roman mosaic featuring three toga-wearing figures during excavations in the ancient city of Caesarea.

In January, archaeologists announced the discovery of a large 1,500-year-old pool and elaborate fountain at the site of an ancient church near Jerusalem.

ANCIENT INSCRIPTION UNEARTHED IN JERUSALEM, THRILLING ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Last November, new evidence dated Christs tomb in Jerusalems Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Roman era, matching historical records.

Archaeologists also uncovered a stunning 1,500-year-old Christian mosaic in the ancient Mediterranean coastal city of Ashdod-Yam, now part of the modern city of Ashdod.

Other finds include the skeleton of a pregnant woman, dating back 3,200 years, in Israels Timna Valley, at a place once called King Solomons Mines.

LOST ROMAN CITY THAT WAS HOME TO JESUS' APOSTLES FOUND, SAY ARCHAEOLOGISTS

In October 2017, archaeologists in Jerusalem announced that they have uncovered a new section of the Western Wall that has been hidden for 1,700 years.

Also in 2017, an ancient Greek inscription was found on a 1,500-year-old mosaic floor near the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Some experts also believe they have found the lost Roman city of Julias, formerly the village of Bethsaida, which was the home of Jesus' apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogersThe Army and Navy are operating together in the Pacific to fire Army artillery from Navy ships, send targeting data to land weapons from Navy sensors and use coastal land rockets to destroy enemy ships at sea, service leaders said.

The Army is looking at shooting artillery off of Navy ships. Innovation is taking existing things and modifying them to do something new, Maj. Gen. John Ferrari, Director, Program Analysis and Evaluation, G-8, told Warrior Maven in an interview.

Ongoing explorations of the now heavily emphasized Pentagon cross-domain fires strategy are currently taking on new applications through combined combat experiments in the Pacific theater. Ferrari explained that these experimental teams are combining air defense units, ground combat units, cyber units and artillery units and putting them together in operations.

Part of what we do is integrate with the Navy. The Naval threat for the Pacific is one of the major threats, so the Army is doing multi-domain battle. The Pacific is inherently Joint. There is very little that we do that is not done with other services, Ferrari said.

Click on Warrior Maven for more.Facebook has removed more than 200 accounts and pages linked to Russias Internet Research Agency, a firm that activated bots to spread misinformation during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as the social network continues to fight the spread of fake news.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm, which recently confirmed that CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Energy & Commerce Committee on April 11, said in a Tuesday blog post that it had removed 70 Facebook accounts, 65 Instagram accounts and 138 Facebook Pages linked to the IRA, which has been described by the U.S. intelligence community as a troll farm financed by a Putin ally that engages in online influence operations.

The IRA-connected accounts and pages, which were mostly in Russian, targeted people living in Russia or Russian speakers living in nearby countries like Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Ukraineand took months of work to discover, Facebook said.

The social network, still reeling from the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, is under fire for its slow response to accusations that its platform was a crucial part of Russias meddling in the 2016 American presidential election.

INSTAGRAM CLAMPS DOWN ON APPS AMID FACEBOOK DATA SCANDAL

After downplaying Facebooks role in Russias disinformation campaign shortly after the election, Zuckerberg has walked back those comments back and his company has taken a series of steps to beef up security around elections and battle fake news.

The IRA has repeatedly used complex networks of inauthentic accounts to deceive and manipulate people who use Facebook, including before, during and after the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Its why we dont want them on Facebook, said Alex Stamos, Facebooks chief security officer, in the blog post. We removed this latest set of Pages and accounts solely because they were controlled by the IRA  not based on the content.

Well keep fighting and were investing heavily in more people and better technology to constantly improve safety on Facebook.  Alex Stamos, Facebook's chief security officer

Facebook went so far as to publish screen shots of some of the content being posted by the banned accounts and pages.

The social giant also announced it will be sharing more information about efforts to eradicate the IRA and updating its Help Center tool to allow users to easily check if theyve liked or followed one of the IRAs pages.

The IRA has consistently used inauthentic accounts to deceive and manipulate people. Its why we remove every account we find that is linked to the organizationwhether linked to activity in the U.S, Russia or elsewhere, Stamos said in the post.

MARK ZUCKERBERG HITS BACK AT APPLE CEO'S CRITICISM OF FACEBOOK

A federal grand jury in February indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities, including the Internet Research Agency, for interfering in American elections.

The IRA has also been cited for its involvement in Russias conflict in the Ukraine and in efforts to sow discord in the run-up to the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom last year.

In the blog post, Facebook acknowledges that as it improves its security, the IRA and other organizations looking to use the platform with ill intent will try to find ways around the rules.

Well keep fighting and were investing heavily in more people and better technology to constantly improve safety on Facebook.

Russia has consistently denied meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.Gay dating app Grindr is coming under fire for sharing users HIV statuses with two app optimization companies.

In a statement released Monday, Grindr said that Localytics and Apptimize were paid to test and monitor how the app is used. As an industry standard practice, Grindr does work with highly-regarded vendors to test and optimize how we roll out our platform, it said.

The company added that the firms are under "strict contractual terms that provide for the highest level of confidentiality, data security and user privacy." Grindr says data that may include location or information from HIV status fields are "always transmitted securely with encryption."

LEAKED FACEBOOK 'UGLY TRUTH' MEMO ABOUT THE SOCIAL NETWORKS GROWTH SPARKS CONTROVERSY

In its statement, Grinder said its important to remember it is a public forum and users have the option to post information about their HIV status and date when last tested. It says its users should carefully consider what information they list in their profiles.

Late Monday Axios reported that Grindr will stop sharing users HIV statuses with third-party companies.

"We welcome the questions about our policies and always look for opportunities to improve," said Grindr, in a statement to Fox News. "As always, the trust of our users is the foundation of the Grindr network, and we are committed to maintaining that trust that we have established since Grindr started in 2009."

The data sharing was first identified by Norwegian nonprofit SINTEF, according to media reports. Privacy advocates slammed the dating app, with the Norwegian Consumer Council claiming that Grindr breached data protection law.

MARK ZUCKERBERG SLAMS APPLE CEO'S 'EXTREMELY GLIB' CRITIQUE

Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation also weighed in on the row, saying that Grindrs initial response was disappointing.

The U.K. Information Commissioners Office is looking into the situation. Were aware of reports of a data breach involving the Grindr app and we are working to establish the scale of any impact on U.K. users, explained an ICO spokesman, in a statement emailed to Fox News.

Grindr, which describes itself as the worlds largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people, has 3.6 million global users, according to Marketwatch.

Data privacy is in the spotlight at the moment as result of Facebooks data sharing scandal. Reports emerged last month that data mining firm Cambridge Analytica improperly used information from more than 50 million Facebook accounts, prompting the social network to suspend the U.K.-based company. Cambridge Analytica, which has ties to Donald Trumps 2016 presidential election campaign, denies any wrongdoing.

The scandal has already prompted a redesign of Facebooks privacy settings. Cambridge Analytica has also agreed to a forensic audit by a firm hired by Facebook.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogersThis is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 2, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS HOST: Thank you, Tucker.

Welcome to the special edition of 'Hannity: America's Illegal Immigration Crisis.' I'm Katie Pavlich in Sean.

Tonight, for the hour, we'll focus on this growing problem that our country's leaders have failed to address for decades. President Trump is trying to fix these repeated failures by pushing forward border walls and stricter immigration laws while liberals are openly defying his administration on and the federal government. California, of course, is leading the way by fully embracing its sanctuary state status, but cracks are starting to show with some California counties and municipalities pushing back against the state's lawlessness.

We're going to cover all of that later tonight. But first, we start with President Trump slamming Mexico for not doing enough to prevent caravans of asylum-seeking migrants from heading towards American southern border.

Ed Henry has the latest from the White House -- Ed.

ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Katie, good to see you.

The big picture here is that President Trump is trying to fire up his political vase, which propelled him to victory in 2016 in large part because of the fact that he focused so hard on illegal immigration. It's another issue that could come up obviously in the midterms and fire up conservative voters at a time when Republicans have an uphill battle.

And so, Democrats tonight are scuffing about all the president tweets about this caravan. But, in fact, that caravan is giving the president a lot of grief. It's about 1,100 people fleeing Central America. They were organized by the pro-migrant rights group People Without Borders. The name alone shows this nonprofit and their agenda is dramatically opposed to this administration.

It started out in Honduras then left the southern tip of Mexico on about March 25th, traveling over 1,000 miles by foot, boss, cargo, train, whatever they could get. They first want asylum in Mexico but at least some of them want to come to the United States. That drew the president's ire on Easter Sunday, as he walked into church with the first lady, amid a report in BuzzFeed that Mexican immigration officers are simply monitoring this caravan from afar because of its large size, rather than figuring out who has a valid passport and who doesn't.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mexico has got to help us at the border. If they're not going to help us at the border, it's a very sad thing between two countries. Mexico has got to help us at the border. And a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA. And we're going to have to really see.

We have a great chance, the Democrats blew it. They had a great, great chance but we'll have to take a look.

But Mexico has got to help us at the border. They flow right through Mexico. They step into the United States. It can't happen that way anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, PolitiFact noted that its misleading to conflate the caravan with DACA, because only people who have lived in the U.S. since June of 2007 were illegal for DACA, though we have seen illegal immigrants find ways to get all kinds of other benefits in California and other states, which is what the president sent this series of tweets, including a demand that Senate Republicans kill the 60-vote filibuster barrier on legislations so he can get the wall and other key priorities with just 51 votes, a simple majority.

Then tonight, the president sent these tweets, one saying: As ridiculous as it sounds, the laws of our country do not easily allow us to send those crossing our southern border back where they came from. A whole big wasted procedure must take place. Mexico and Canada have tough immigration laws, where is ours are an Obama joke, he tweeted. Act, Congress.

He then added: Honduras, Mexico, other countries, the U.S. is very generous to, sends many of their people to our country through our weak immigration policies. Caravans are heading here, he said. Must pass tough laws and build a wall. Democrats allow open borders.

Now, Democrat Dianne Feinstein did not take kindly to a lot of this today, saying that it's not fair for the president to be blaming Democrats for no DACA deal. In fact, the president saying today that DACA is dead.

Feinstein insists she can support funding for the wall but the president walked away saying, quote: President Trump is absolutely wrong on DACA. He unilaterally rescinded DACA for no reason and has rejected every other single bipartisan proposal that will protect Dreamers from deportation. It's simply false to say the Democrats walked away from the table.

Now, we should not the president also threatened again in the last 24 hours to kill NAFTA, that controversial trade deal, unless Mexico gets serious about the border -- Katie.

PAVLICH: Thank you, Ed. Lots to unpack there.

Joining us with more reaction from the Center for Immigration Studies, Mark Krikorian, and Fox News national security strategist, Sebastian Gorka.

Mark, I want to start with you first. What is this caravan and who are these people coming to our country?

MARK KRIKORIAN, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: They are a group of a thousand or so illegal immigrants mostly from Honduras who have been organized by a U.S.-based group, San Diego-based organization, that basically is an anti-borders group. So, what we are seeing here is a kind of test or challenge of the administration's willingness to enforce the law.

And there are two things that I think need to happen. The administration needs to make clear these people will not get past the border or if they get in, they're not going to get into the interior of the country. If that requires a tent city to be set up on the border, whatever it is, they have to be kept where they are to send the message that this is not going to work.

The other thing -- and this is something Congress has to do -- as it is now, if you are an illegal immigrant and walk up to our immigration inspector at a border, and say, hi, I want to claim political asylum, we have to take that seriously and let you in while we do that case.

PAVLICH: Right.

KRIKORIAN: Instead, we need the law to change so that anyone who passes through a country that has its own asylum system, like Mexico, doesn't even get to apply. They just say, sorry, try Mexico. That's where you should have sought refuge, you are supposed to look forward in the first country you are not being persecuted in.

PAVLICH: So, Dr. Gorka, this has been framed as asylum seekers coming to America because they feel like they are being persecuted. The group that organized this is called People Without Borders, obviously, a leftist progressive group trying to make some kind of political statement.

But can you give us perspective on how this isn't just an immigration or illegal immigration issue, this is a broader, more comprehensive issue for the sovereignty of the country?

SEBASTIAN GORKA, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST: Absolutely, Katie. Absolutely.

So, you know, whether it's crushing ISIS, whether it's tariffs on aluminum or steel, or whether it's the wall, the Trump doctrine, the 'Make America Great Again' doctrine, is built on the platform of national sovereignty. And this is the most obvious one.

I know this will make liberal minds explode, but guess what? No foreign national has a right to come to America. No one does. If we don't have borders, the word 'America' ceases to have meaning.

We now know, thanks to the leaked speech that Hillary gave during the campaign, that her wish was to have a borderless hemisphere, meaning no borders from Canada all the way down to Central and South America. In that case, America ceases to exist, but these people -- Hillary may have lost but the ideologues, the ideological activists, haven't given up.

And this is a direct threat to national security because you can't have a porous border and keep Americans safe. It doesn't matter whether these people want asylum. That border is there to protect us from drugs, from coyotes, from illegal weapons and guess what, from terrorists as well.

PAVLICH: Mark, I want to go back to the point that you brought about how the law in America is actually working against us here. If an illegal alien is from Mexico or Canada, we can send them back. But if they are from Honduras, El Salvador, a number of other countries, we have to then put them into our court system, give them a court date, which the majority of them do not show up to.

So, how can Congress act, as the White House has called them on to do today, to change this so we have more control of who comes in and out of the country?

KRIKORIAN: Well, I mean, the difficulty in sending illegal immigrants back who aren't from Mexico or Canada, obviously mostly from Mexico, it's not that many Canadians sneaking across the border, is that with a Mexican, we just take them to the border, the Mexican authorities work with us. They do actually cooperate with us pretty well and we just send them right back.

If it's going to be anyone beyond that, Central America, or Africa, Asia, anything, those people need travel documents, passports, they got to be flown there, al of that stuff. And a lot of countries basically drag their feet or simply refused to take people back.

PAVLICH: But, Mark, what about this fact that coyotes, or drug cartels, or even maybe corrupt members of government that these migrants are passing through on their way to the U.S., are being trained to say that they are seeking asylum because they feel like their lives are endangered. What about changes to the law like the Trafficking Victims Protection Act? Obviously, that law had good intentions as it was implemented in 2008, but now we are seeing it being abused over and over again. For example, it was abused in 2014 during the child immigration crisis then.

How can Congress work today to actually make sure that people can just say they are seeking asylum when there is no background check for that to prove that they're actually here for that reason?

KRIKORIAN: And, unfortunately, there's no way to prove that really because it's not as though somebody persecuting you is going to send you an affidavit saying, yes, I persecuted you. But that law you referred to, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, is for people who are minors, and who are trafficked.

Now, it's a jargon term but if you're smuggled, that means you are doing it voluntarily. You paid, maybe your parents paid you to be smuggled.

Trafficked is some kind of coercion or trickery. You are being used for sex slavery or something like that. The Obama administration used the law, that as you suggested, is a well-intentioned law, but misused it and said, well, these people are all being traffic so we will let them all in.

That points to a problem that Congress can't see and fix every eventuality. It does sort of matter who implements the law. If you have an administration like the Obama administration, they're going to take whatever law, however it's written, and distorted and interpreted anyway they want.

PAVLICH: Yes.

Dr. Gorka, Congress doesn't want to seem to move on anything when it comes to illegal immigration, criminal aliens. What can the president to in terms of his leverage here with Mexico? He threw out the idea of NAFTA being a negotiating peace, to encourage Mexico to help us stop illegal immigration into the United States from the southern border. What do you think that he's going to do moving forward to make sure that people are remind this is a hot issue during the 2016 presidential campaign, and it's a big reason why he won?

GORKA: Yes. So, it's not that Congress isn't doing anything. Half of them are actually making it easier to undermine on national sovereignty.

Let's just look at the recent hubbub on the census. The Democrats were screaming blue murder because we want to know if you're here as a citizen or not, and then they shouted, but that's going to lead to voter suppression. What does that mean, Katie? Whose votes are we going to suppress if we ask if you're a citizen or not? Only one group of people, illegal aliens.

So, you know, half of Congress wants to see these waves. The Democrats are losing the white vote in America, the middle class, the working class vote. They think the Hispanic vote is the future. So they are actively undermining the president and our national sovereignty.

The president could do a lot of things with his executive orders. We've got to stop the catch and release. We've already seen more than a 70 percent decrease in illegal migration across the southern borders.

So, you know, allowing our Customs and Border Patrol to do their job helps a lot. But it's not enough.

PAVLICH: Mark, isn't this a test for the Trump administration in terms of how they react here? Because they know this group of 1,000-plus people is coming. I think the way that they react is probably going to be watched by a number of other people who are may be planning on pulling one of these political stunts, as well.

KRIKORIAN: Absolutely. This is probably the most important aspect of what we are seeing with this caravan, is that it is test and an opportunity for the administration. Are they going to react the way, say, Angela Merkel did? Or the way Jimmy Carter did years ago, when Cubans started to being let out by Castro, and essentially result in a -- bring about a kind of avalanche of illegal immigrants?

Or will the administration draw the line and send that message, this is not going to be tolerated, you are not going to get into the United States if you pull this kind of stunt? So, it's going to be -- I hope they pass, obviously. I think they probably will pass the test.

But it's an important opportunity for them to send the message that it's not just bluster, there's actually something behind the bluster that we really are going to enforce our borders.

PAVLICH: Right. Well, Dr. Gorka, last word to you. But it's very clear that the bottom line is we have no idea who these people are, where they are coming from, what their history is. There are big questions about the protections of Americans here at home on thousands of people are just walking over the border.

GORKA: Yes, Katie, look, very simple. The United States is a house. It has a front door. You lock your door when you go to sleep at night.

We have a right to control who comes into our house. That's what the president is doing. I have a word for all these nations that are complicit in undermining our national sovereignty -- Donald J. Trump is not a president do you want to test.

PAVLICH: All right. Well, Dr. Gorka, Mark Krikorian, thank you so much.

KRIKORIAN: Thank you.

GORKA: Thanks, Katie.

PAVLICH: Coming up, if you thought California's dangerous actions on illegal immigration couldn't get worse, think again. We'll tell you what Governor Jerry Brown just did that has President Trump fired up, as this special edition of 'Hannity' continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAVLICH: Welcome back to the special edition of 'Hannity.'

America's illegal immigration crisis. On Friday, California Governor Jerry Brown granted a series of pardons and commutations, including pardons for five ex-convicts facing possible deportation.

In reaction, President Trump tweeted over the weekend, quote: Governor Jerry 'Moonbeam' Brown pardoned five criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include, one, kidnapping and robbery, two, badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize, three, dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want?

Joining us now live from Los Angeles with more, Trace Gallagher -- Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Katie, the president's tweet is clearly taking aim on how California has downplayed Governor Brown's pardoned of criminal illegal immigrants.

For example, the governor's office says the majority of those pardoned were convicted of drug related offenses and nonviolent crimes. Badly beating your spouse isn't exactly nonviolent, neither is kidnapping, robbery, or use of a firearm. Stealing a car may be nonviolent but it's not jaywalking. And law enforcement officers will tell you that saying eight convicted drug dealer has a drug-related offense is a bit of sugar coating.

The governor's office also says these illegal immigrants have changed their ways, which very well might be true but it's also true that they fall under homeland security's definition of criminal aliens.

And the list of counties and cities that may opt out of California's sanctuary loss is about to get longer. On Wednesday, the city of Escondido, northeast of San Diego, which is 50 percent Latino, will consider whether to join the Trump administration lawsuit against California. And on April 17th, San Diego County will discuss this a matter in a closed-door session.

Last month, the southern California of Los Alamitos voted to join the Department of Justice lawsuit and so did Orange County, and now Orange County Commissioner Sean Nelson explains part of the reasoning. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN NELSON, R, ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: What California's laws are requiring is our sheriffs not even cooperating, which is resulting in people who have committed crimes ending up on the streets of every county, but certainly Orange County. We got involved because we don't think that's right. We are tired of this state trying to use these arguments to prevent us from keeping the citizens safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: And even though Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area hasn't opted out of this state to sanctuary law yet, the sheriff is cooperating with immigration agents by posting the release dates of jail inmates, including those inmates in the country illegally -- Katie.

PAVLICH: Trace, thank you very much.

Joining us now with the reaction is that man challenging Governor Brown, California GOP gubernatorial candidate John Cox.

Mr. Cox, thanks so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it.

JOHN COX (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Katie. Great to be with you.

PAVLICH: How do you explain the anarchy in California? It seems like things are falling apart at the seams. The government in Sacramento is being pushed back on come, rightfully, by these local communities. How are you going to change this if you win the governorship?

COX: I applaud Orange County, I applaud my home county of San Diego for standing up to this. I mean, this is typical of the politicians who are running the state into the ground, Katie. Their first job ought to be to keep the residents of this state safe.

I'm getting involved, I'm leading the charge, to talk to other counties as well around the state about standing up for this, because the voters elect their county and state officials to protect them. That's the first job of government is to do that.

And the idea that Jerry Brown picks Easter weekend to pardon people that have committed crimes or let out of jail very recently, Katie, this isn't like these are people that served their time 30 years ago and have been upstanding members of the community. Quite the contrary. These -- a lot of these crimes were committed in 2003, 2004, 2005 --

PAVLICH: Yes.

COX: -- and they have recently gotten out of jail. I mean, they're a threat to the community and they're illegal aliens. And the government in this state ought to act to protect the people of the stage.

I'm a businessman, just like President Trump. I solve problems.

PAVLICH: OK. So, what --

COX: I think the president is trying to solve problems and keep people safe.

PAVLICH: your idea of solving the problem? You talk about speaking to these voters in California, but clearly, they are electing people who believe in these sanctuary city policies. So, when you're traveling around to certain parts of California, what are you hearing directly from people on the ground there? What are they saying to you about these sanctuary laws?

And polling shows that Californians don't want to be a sanctuary state. However, these politicians keep getting reelected in these blue counties to pass laws that make it easy for criminals and violent people to get away from law enforcement.

COX: Well, the people are rising up. I applaud the mayor of Escondido, Sam Abed, he's a friend of mine. The people are making their voices known to this, Katie. They are concerned. I mean, look at what Kate Steinle's parents went through.

There is a young woman in Sonoma county who is dead because the sheriff their incident inform ICE when they released a dangerous person out into the population. I mean, this can't happen.

The people of this state have been beaten down by the majority party in the state. We have the highest poverty rate. We have more people on welfare than any other state in the country. Our business climate is horrendous.

Our quality of life is suffering, Katie. We are 50th out of 50, for crying out loud.

PAVLICH: Right.

COX: I think that people are going to rise up and continue this backlash all the way through November. They want better management. They are going to get it. I'm going to change the state. We're going to turn around and we're going to make it livable.

PAVLICH: If you win, if you win, which would be nice for Republican to win in that stage, just given a track record of Democrats for the last couple of decades, what exactly are you planning to do to work with the federal government to reverse this trend of criminal aliens operating in California? Cartel members operating in cities across that state? How are you going to actually approach that? Not from a talking points perspective, but from an actual managerial perspective of changing that perspective?

COX: I'm going to be meeting with every law enforcement agency in the state about working together.

PAVLICH: And with the feds.

COX: That's what people do when they vote. Absolutely. They want our public officials to work together, federal and state, hand in glove, I'm going to do that as a governor of the stage.

I think that is with the people want to. They don't want this anger and resentment stirred up. They want the law enforced. It's the rule of all that makes this state and this country different, Katie. You know that.

PAVLICH: Absolutely. Well, John Cox, thank you very much.

Joining me now but with more reaction, Foxa News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, and senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, Monica Crowley.

Monica, I'm going to go to you first. California has been destroyed and ruined by leftist policies. This is just another example.

MONICA CROWLEY, SENIOR FELLOW, LONDON CENTER FOR POLICY RESEARCH: Yes. California, once a beautiful state, still a beautiful state, has been ruined over many decades by the left. And now, you have something of a civil war brewing because you have these counties like Orange County that are not going down the same path as Sacramento and Governor Brown saying we're going to enforce these sanctuary laws that make this state into a sanctuary state.

I think enforcement is critical, not just of our immigration laws, but also when you have folks like the Oakland mayor and others in states like California, who refused to enforce the law, and not just that, but put out calls to illegals to duck the law, putting federal agents at risk, putting the communities at risk, putting American citizens at risk.

Those folks should be held to account and laws should be applied to them so that they are held accountable and put up as an example.

PAVLICH: Gregg, the federal government, Justice Department, has filed two lawsuits against California now. One over federal landfill, the other over sanctuary cities. You think that it's time to start actually prosecuting people who are harboring illegal aliens in the state of California?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely. There is a federal statute passed by Congress which has plenary power over all immigration matters and it says, if you harbor, shield, or conceal somebody here illegally, it's a crime upon conviction, punishable by five years behind bars and if somebody dies as a consequence of your shielding someone, it's life behind bars.

It's about time the Department of Justice started prosecuting sheriffs, mayors, like the Oakland mayor, for violating that law, and in the Oakland mayor's case, for aiding and abetting people during an ICE raid and obstructing justice.

PAVLICH: Monica, the biggest problem with illegal immigration in this country is that there's been no accountability to the law. That is the reason we are in the situation in the first place, because the law has not been enforced for 30 years.

CROWLEY: That's right, by both sides.

PAVLICH: Right.

CROWLEY: Both parties should be held accountable for the situation we're in right now. The Republicans wanted cheap labor, right, and the Democrats wanted to flood the zone -- the zone bring the country, but particular states like California, flood the zone for electoral purposes so that they could ultimately create a permanent Democrat voting majority.

So, you have both sides basically colluding with each other for different reasons to get us in this predicament. If I had to isolate the single reason why Donald Trump was elected, he was elected for many reasons, improve the economy and so on. But if I had to isolate one reason, I would say build a wall, OK?

PAVLICH: Yes.

CROWLEY: His mantra of building a wall and enforcing America's immigration laws, deporting those who are here illegally, protecting the American taxpayer, protecting the American worker, I would say that is the thing that carried him across the finish line, not just with Republicans and the conservative base, but with the disaffected Democrats as well who have seen their ways is depressed --

PAVLICH: Right.

CROWLEY: -- who have seen this whole underground economy go to illegal immigration. They want to the borders enforced. They know this country is a country based on the rule of law or should be.

PAVLICH: Well, Gregg, what about the argument, to play devil's advocate, just a little bit, of people saying, well, California is just exercising their federalism and they are allowed to decide what they want to enforce and where they don't want to enforce?

JARRETT: They're not allowed.

PAVLICH: Right. Explain how they are breaking federal law.

JARRETT: Well, they passed laws, sanctuary city laws, and county and state laws, that are in clear violation of the Constitution. Under the Supremacy Clause, you can't pass a law that conflicts with federal law. They have done precisely that.

Look, I grew up in California, spent 30 years there. My family is still there. They are heartbroken over what's happened to the state. And they feel like the state and local officials that have passed these sanctuary laws are not -- they are breaching their duty by failing to protect them.

PAVLICH: Right.

JARRETT: And that's the number one duty of government as public safety, to protect the citizenry. So, when Brown pardons all these people who had committed crimes, and the recidivism rate is extremely high, he is jeopardizing lives and livelihoods.

PAVLICH: Yes.

Monica, getting back to that issue of the criminal aspect of this. When the Oakland mayor gives heads up to those in her community about how ICE is coming -- they're targeting people with domestic violence, rape convictions, vehicle theft, carrying out violent crimes with a firearm, and yet, still, here we are. And I think people who do live in California, who want a solution to this problem, are starting to feel pretty helpless about the fact that Democrats in California keep getting reelected by people who don't really think that they care about the government actually protecting them from criminal aliens.

MONICA CROWLEY, SENIOR FELLOW, LONDON CENTER FOR POLICY RESEARCH: That's right. This is one of the difficulties with the situation, particularly in deep blue states like California, where you have a nearly monolithic political situation.

So while the people are saying, look, we look to our government basically for one major thing, which is to preserve our safety and security, and our state government, our local governments are not doing that.

So, yes, this is an incredibly serious issue and we -- you know, the illegal immigrants that you described, Katie, those who have been convicted of kidnapping, robbery, homicide, domestic violence, and they are the ones getting pardons by the governor?

PAVLICH: Right.

CROWLEY: These should be the no-brainer cases, right? It's not like we're talking about the DACA children or something where there is a gray area.

PAVLICH: Right. Yes.

CROWLEY: This is pretty cut and dry. And California still can't handle them properly.

PAVLICH: So Gregg, moving forward as we continue to see these local jurisdictions like Orange County and other cities--

GREGG JARRETT, LEGAL ANALYST, FOX NEWS: Right.

PAVLICH: -- pushing back on Sacramento and saying, no, you have the attorney general of California, Javier Becerra, threatening to arrest the sheriff in Orange County for enforcing and complying with federal law. How do you see this playing out as more and more people go to the community leaders and say, enough is enough? We don't want to be harboring criminal illegal aliens in our communities?

JARRETT: There are two avenues. Civil law and criminal law. You've mentioned the criminal law, let's start prosecuting people. The feds need to prosecute people who are violating the law, officials, sheriff's, police department chiefs.

But civil law, as well. That means withholding federal funds in the federal government has the power to do that and litigating the illegality of these sanctuary laws in federal court. You know, you may lose the first couple of rounds among some liberal district court judges.

But they make mistakes all the time, which is why we have a U.S. Supreme Court. If they were perfect all the time, we would need a Supreme Court. In the end, these sanctuary laws will be struck down.

PAVLICH: All right. Well, thank you both for joining me tonight. I really appreciate it. More to come on that for sure.

But coming up here, the illegal immigration situation on our southern border, the clear and present danger to our country which is law enforcement have the resources to combat it. That and more as the special edition of Hannity continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mexico has got to help us at the border. If they are not going to help us at the border, it's a very sad thing between two countries. Mexico has got to help us at the border.

A lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of the DACA. But Mexico has got to help us at the border. They blow right through Mexico, they send them through the United States. It can't happen that way anymore. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Welcome back to the special edition of Hannity.

America's illegal immigration crisis. President Trump is publicly calling up Mexico and pushing his government to do its part and help secure the border between our two countries. This comes as migrants from Central America are flowing through Mexico into the United States.

Just how bad the situation on our southern border? Joining us now is the president of the National Border Patrol Council and 20-year border patrol veteran Brandon Judd, and former sheriff from Pinal County, Arizona - Arizona is my home state - Paul Babeu. Thank you, gentlemen so much for being here tonight.

PAUL BABEU, FORMER PINAL COUNTY BORDER SHERIFF: Thank you.

PAVLICH: Brandon, I'll start with you. Your reaction on the president calling on Mexico to do more.

BRANDON JUDD, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL: He did the absolute right thing. When you look at it, Mexico is actually facilitating -- the government of Mexico is actually facilitating these individuals to come up to our borders and break U.S. law or the sovereignty of the United States.

He should absolutely call on the leaders of the Mexican government to put an end to this. They have very strict immigration laws, yet they are throwing their laws over their shoulder to allow these people to come up and break our laws. That cannot happen.

PAVLICH: Sheriff Babeu, I want to talk to you about the local law enforcement perspective of this. You were in charge of a county, Pinal County which is not a border county--

BABEU: Yes.

PAVLICH: -- but it's in a border state, has border county problems. So, talk about how when Mexico allows thousands of people to come through into the United States without stopping them or vetting them, how that affects deputies on the ground.

BABEU: Well, crime. One, you are adding criminal illegals besides it's not just the millions and millions of illegals who are here, many of them are, as President Trump has pointed out, have criminal records in their home countries. Never mind here. And it's figures as high as 30 percent of these millions and millions.

So there is a cost of that, not just in terms of incarceration and law enforcement but also with education, and medical care, it's estimated just for the state of Arizona, your home state, which we are very proud of you, is close to $2 billion every year.

So this is an extreme cost, not just in terms of the social and the law enforcement aspect but in terms of actual dollars and cents. So what's different here is that these aren't just illegals being escorted by coyotes or guides, this is an actual, almost as Brandon pointed out, sanctioned by the government of Mexico, 1,200 potentially marching towards the border.

And even though that may sound like a small number, how we deal with this sent a message to Mexico, to Central America.

PAVLICH: Right.

BABEU: Because if we accept them as refugees or asylum-seekers, we are going to see tens and tens of thousands replicating this.

PAVLICH: Right. President Trump took a little bit of heat today, Brandon, for saying and arguing that these illegal aliens are coming to the United States to take advantage of DACA. What he should have said as they are coming to take advantage of any kind of amnesty that gets put on the table for people who get their feet on the ground here.

We saw this in 2014 with the child immigration, unaccompanied minor crisis, when people just send their kids up and knew that if they could go there and stay there, they would get sent to a family member in the United States and would never be sent back.

So talk about the fact that when anyone in Washington starts talking about some kind of amnesty, whether it's DACA or the DREAMer program, anything, citizenship, we see an increase of unaccompanied minors, illegal aliens coming across the border, and specifically in the last couple of months, family units making it across hoping to get to stay.

JUDD: All you have to do is go down and speak with the individuals that are impacted. The ranchers. I was out on a tour of the border with Senator Cornyn, Senator Heller, and a couple of other senators a couple of months ago. And we were at a ranch estate.

The owners of the estate specifically said every single time we start talking about immigration reform or an amnesty, we see hundreds of people come across our ranch. They find dead bodies on the ranch all the time.

And the increase is always when we start talking about an amnesty program. We cannot talk about any sort of amnesty, whether that's DACA or comprehensive immigration reform, unless we secure the border first. Once we secure the border, then we can start talking about things so that we don't put ourselves in this same situation 5, 10 years from now. IRCA of 1986 was supposed to fix that problem.

PAVLICH: Right.

JUDD: And it didn't because they put the cart before the horse. They legalized everybody but they didn't put the border security measures in place. We have to put the border security measures in place first.

PAVLICH: All right. The White House has made it very clear that they want to solve this problem once and for all. They don't want to be dealing with it later on.

But sheriff, I want to talk to you about the human aspect of this.

BABEU: Yes.

PAVLICH: Because people who stand up for border security are accused of being inhumane, they're accused of being racist, they are accused of not being empathetic to those who are fleeing violent situations.

But what about the journey here? I've always said that open borders are inhumane borders. I'm sure that you've seen some terrible things as a result of people being told by these coyotes, we'll take care of you, we'll take you through the desert, we'll make sure it happens just fine, and it actually turns out to be a horrific experience for these people.

BABEU: It is. They are victimized. Not only it's brutal because of the barren deserts and they walking days upon days, many of them die, hundreds each year, it's estimated, and they are victimized as well. Not only they are spending their life savings, giving it to these escorts, these coyotes, they are robbing them. They are raping them.

We've had countless cases in my eight years of sheriff's where they have been raped multiple times, these are juveniles. And so, to your point, us and what some liberal say we're not compassionate or we're not being true to our proud of history as a land of immigrants, completely false.

We are the most compassionate, most generous nation still to this day, nearly one million illegal immigrants each and every year that we allow in far an excess of any other nation. So we are proud of that. But we can't just have open borders and whoever wants to get to the border, you're home free. Those where the Obama days and we're done with those.

PAVLICH: Yes. Brandon, sheriff, we are out of time unfortunately. But thank you so much for bringing you on the ground perspective to the show. We really appreciate it.

Well, coming up, President Trump saying that a deal on DACA deal is dead and Democrats are to blame. We'll debate that next on this special edition of Hannity.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Democrats have really let them down. They've really let them down. They had this great opportunity. The Democrats have really let them down. It's a shame. And now people are taking advantage of DACA. That's a shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLICH: Welcome back to the special edition of 'Hannity.'

That was President Trump earlier today slamming Democrats for their failure to secure a deal on DACa. The president also taking to Twitter this morning, writing, quote, 'DACA is dead because the Democrats didn't care or act, and now everyone wants to get on to the DACA band wagon. No longer works. Must build walls and secure our border with proper border legislation. Democrats want no, hence drug and crime.'

Joining us now, two of my favorites for analysis, CPAC chairman, Matt Schlapp, and from Turning Point USA, the founder, Charlie Kirk. Hello, guys. Thanks for coming on tonight.

CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: Great to be here.

PAVLICH: So I'm going to start with you, Matt. To me it looks like the president are shifting away from any kind of talk on amnesty, comprehensive illegal immigration reform, DACA, and completely focusing on border security.

MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, CPAC: Yes, I think there's some truth to that, Katie. I think he is also telling the Democrats that he's not just going to dance forever. Eventually, the music ends. And if they decide -- if they decide they want to just play politics over immigration, not get things done, he's got to focus on what he needs to do.

Now look, if his budget strategy gets him about 1.4 billion per year for the wall, it's going to take a long time, decades longer than his presidency, to ever build this wall. So he's also realizing he has to come up with new strategies, vis-a-vis funding the wall and dealing with Mexico as we continue to have the DACA two, and DACA three, DACA four as more and more people come to the border.

PAVLICH: Charlie, wasn't it obvious that Democrats were never going to give a Republican president a win on DACA because that would take away a political tool for them going into the midterm election on immigration?

KIRK: Precisely. The Democrats never wanted a deal on DACA. In fact, they want to perpetual immigration so they can use these people as political tools, both now and in the future. And look, we are going to have presidents in the future that are going to advocate for tax cuts and get conservative judges.

But President Trump is a once in a generation leader that actually wants to secure the border. From Reagan to Bush, we had Republican presidents in the past that have just said, you know what, we'll have open borders.

And you've seen the incalculable toll that that has done on this country, whether it be $115 billion a year, which is the cost of illegal immigration to the taxpayers. Or 98 percent of all heroin and fentanyl comes across the southern border.

And you're exactly right. The Democrats they don't want to solve this issue. They don't want border security. They want an unlimited illegal immigration. And finally, I always joke around that if illegal immigrants tended to vote more Republicans than Democrats, the Democrats would be saying build a wall and they would have massive deportations all the time.

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: Yes, absolutely.

KIRK: They're not being honest in this discussion.

PAVLICH: I'm sure that is true. Absolutely. Matt, going into the midterms, the president has made it a little bit obvious that there is a little concern from Republicans about enthusiasm to get to the polls.

Immigration is a huge reason why he won in 2016, it's a lot of the reason why people switched from the left to the rights because they are fed up with this issue.

SCHLAPP: True.

PAVLICH: How do Republicans use this now going into the midterms to get people to the polls to say if you want your promises from the president, you are going to have to make sure that the House and the Senate to remain in Republican hands?

SCHLAPP: Yes. Katie, I think that's true. I think basically with the Trump agenda, you ought to keep being aggressive with the agenda. If the policy is right, the politics will take care of themselves. When it comes to this question of immigration, one of the things that nontraditional Republican voters love about the president, is he is willing to speak the truth. He's willing to say it very clearly.

I think at this time in our politics that works very well. It works great for the president. If the Republicans in Congress follow along, I actually think the midterms could be a pretty good night. We're going to do great in the Senate and in these House races, you know, I think at the end of the day, if we get the policy right, the politics will work out.

PAVLICH: Yes. I mean, Republicans have been gaining on the generic ballot as a result of tax reform.

SCHLAPP: That's right.

PAVLICH: And I think that seeing this caravan of 1,000 plus people coming up through Mexico and into the United States because they're not helping us will certainly push that message.

But Charlie, when it comes to the president moving forward, he said today that the Democrats have let DACA recipients down. Politically, is he going to be able to score any points with that crowd of people? Because they are not happy with Democrats either. They stormed to Nancy Pelosi's town hall and surrounded her with chance because she is refused to do anything about this.

KIRK: Yes, he's going to. And look, the president was very generous. In fact, I think he was too generous in offering citizenship on the table for DACA recipients, something that even Obama was wrestling with back, you know, five or six years ago.

But look, here's the thing. When you incentivize bad behavior, you are going to get more of that behavior.

PAVLICH: Right.

KIRK: And that's why you are seeing these caravans. And look, the window for DACA has passed. If you have a two-year discussion on DACA, you're going to have another three million illegal immigrants come across the southern borders. So you know what? The president's instincts are correct. No more. Build the wall, militarize our southern border, and then we can have a discussion on this.

The Democrats had their chance. But right now the southern border is a national security issue, it's a financial issue, and it's a cultural issue. And I don't think -- I don't think really the media or the Democratic Party is recognizing how significant the toll of illegal immigration is on southern states and also their whole country, whether it be the financial condition--

PAVLICH: Right.

KIRK: -- or also the crime that has come into our cities. We have to build the wall; we have to secure the border.

PAVLICH: Nut Matt, looking at the calendar, the agenda, you are a political guy. As we saw, DACA couldn't get done even with President Trump's very generous offer on the table.

If the president ended DACA because it was unconstitutional, to do it through the executive branch, how much will actually we be able to get done on the issue of not just illegal immigration and reform, but border security?

SCHLAPP: Yes, I think, Katie, the real question is what will President Trump do with his executive power? The Senate has by and large punted its ability to pass any major legislation because they are not going to do a budget reconciliation.

So really it comes down to the president. From what I can see watching this president, he wants to get stuff done. So my guess is he's going to push the limits of executive power, not to help illegals, but to make sure that we, just as Charlie said, can secure our border.

And I would look in on every issue of the Trump agenda. Be it our relationship with China, be it trade, be in immigration, be it regulations, he is going to put the pedal put to the metal to get this economy going and secure our national security.

PAVLICH: Yes. Well, Charlie, Matt mentioned that he said this is the president likes to get things done. Just last week on Friday, the border patrol gave an update on the wall. They're replacing parts of the wall, building it, they're chosen prototypes that they are putting in.

The president has been frustrated with the fact that Congress only gave him $1.6 billion now and he said he's going to revisit it in September. How do you see this moving forward with the congressional agenda?

KIRK: Look, I mean, to get Congress to do this is nearly impossible. And you know what, they need to be called out. I have to question if the Republican Party, some leaders in the Republican Party actually want this wall to be built.

And look, there is no good argument to not want to secure our border. I'm actually going down to the southern border later this week to go see it myself because I think this is going to be the defining issue--

PAVLICH: Right.

KIRK: -- of this presidency. I mean, he ran on it, he won on it, and we have to go with that--

(CROSSTALK)

PAVLICH: We are running out of time. As we say, we ran on that. So thank you, Matt.

SCHLAPP: Thank you.

PAVLICH: Charlie, thank you very much.

Coming up, more of the special edition of Hannity right after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAVLICH: Welcome back to the special edition of Hannity. I loved being able to talk to our border patrol Brandon Judd and Sheriff Paul Babeu on the ground perspective. It's super important. You can find me at townhall.com and on Twitter.

Unfortunately, that's all the time we have this evening. Thank you for joining us. Make sure you DVR so you never miss an opportunity to see Sean Hannity. He's back tomorrow. Have a great night. Jason Chaffetz is up next, he's filling in for Laura Ingraham tonight.

Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 ASC Services II Media, LLC. 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 ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," April 4, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: All right.

Well, the teachers are saying they're doing it for the kids, striking a third straight day. They want better conditions right now, more funding for education, that sort of thing.

Oklahoma Republican Governor Mary Fallin wonders if there's something else going on here.

Governor, always good to have you. Thanks for taking the time.

GOV. MARY FALLIN, R-OKLAHOMA: Thank you, Neil. Good to be with you, too.

CAVUTO: It looks like this thing gets bigger and bigger every day.

FALLIN: It has been getting bigger and bigger every day.

We have had a debate for the last many years about how can we give our teachers a pay raise in the state of Oklahoma? We had a regular session last year, two special sessions this past year. And now we're in another regular session.

And finally, last week, I signed a bill to give the teachers a 15 to 18 percent pay raise based upon their length of service and to boost education funding by 19 percent in our state.

Yet the teachers went on strike Monday. And so there's been some questions about, why are they at the capitol? They got their pay raise. And I appreciate democracy in action, which is the teachers being able to come up and talk to their legislators, their elected officials, about education.

But I think education is a priority in the state of Oklahoma. The legislature has proved that by passing the largest pay increase ever in the history of Oklahoma for teachers. And we appreciate them coming up and talking to us. We welcome them, but we also think that it's important to get back in the classroom and to teach our children.

CAVUTO: What is happening to those kids in the interim?

FALLIN: They're just out of school.

And it's not every single school district that is at the capitol protesting. But there's about a third of them in the state of Oklahoma. And so a lot of the children are out of school. Some of the parents have brought their children to the capitol. Some of the teachers have brought their own children to the capitol.

Now, it's actually a great learning experience on political movements, or social sciences, to -- history -- to be able to come up and see the action that is being taken. But it's been a busy week, an active week and we have had a lot of people at the capitol.

CAVUTO: All right, Governor, thank you very much.

I know a very busy news day just keeping track of that. It just -- those crowds get bigger and bigger and bigger.

Governor, thank you very, very much.

FALLIN: You're welcome.

END

Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 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.Furious flight attendants have staged an airport protest after being subjected to what they claim was a series of invasive searches.

Footage of the protest by SpiceJet crew at Chennai Airport in India has gone viral. The group claims they were strip searched after leaving the plane on suspicion they had been swindling cash collected from items sold on-board such as food and drink.

They allege they were even told to remove their sanitary pads and were touched inappropriately during the searches. Furious, they refused to continue work at the airport, calling the searches unacceptable, NDTV reports.

They made me feel very uncomfortable ... I was naked, one can be heard saying in the footage.

In a written complaint submitted over the incident, one crew member claims that she and her colleague were forced to strip in a closed room in front of female airport staff.

They cited the need to check our bags. After the bag check was over, the staff forced us to take off our (clothes) and we were frisked in an inappropriate manner. All this happened in front of those female staff, her complaint says.

The airline confirmed that their security teams undertook random pat down searches of the crew but denies the claims of the search being inappropriate, stating that it was standard procedure.

As per security and safety standard operating procedure (SOP), random pat down search is conducted on various employees, including cabin crew, from time to time  a global industry practice, the airline spokesman told the Times of India.

One of the objectives of this search is to ensure that there is no pilferage of company money/goods, smuggling or any illegal activity that an employee may be lured into. SpiceJet has a well laid down SOP for such activity, which has been stringently followed. The SOP does not entail asking anyone to take off their clothes. Allegations regarding deviation from these SOPs are being investigated and strict action will be taken if anybody is found guilty," the statement concluded.

This article originally appeared on news.com.au.Data presented to the Baltimore City Council Tuesday revealed that over a period of five years police seized more than $10 million from drug and gambling investigations but only returned $643,000, The Baltimore Sun reported.

The data was revealed after a Baltimore councilman called for a full accounting of all seized guns, drugs, dirt bikes, and cash over the last five years.

Maryland law permits police to seize money that is found during investigations. But the procedure for clearing ones name of any wrong doing is reportedly a tedious process.

Residents can fill out a form seeking to get money back, but must do so in person. A police department lawyer reviews the form three months later and then forwards it to the citys finance department for a refund if the lawyer believes the money should be returned.

The lawyer bases the decision on whether authorities in the investigation had probable cause to believe the money was associated with a drug or gambling incident rather than the court standard of beyond a reasonable doubt, the Sun reported. If a resident disagrees, they can contest the decision in court.

An assistant public defender told the paper that the process is so burdensome that most people give up trying to retrieve their property.

It seems to be intentionally difficult. The ripple effects are substantial for people living in poverty, she said.

According to the Sun, money not returned goes into Baltimores general fund. Councilman Robert Stokes Sr. has called for the seized money to be accounted for in the citys budget in future years.A Colorado man was arrested Tuesday after police said he tried to enter a U.S. Air Force base in a minivan loaded with propane tanks, and then drove to a nearby school when he could not make entry.

Jacqueline Kirby, spokeswoman for the El Paso County Sheriffs Office, said the unidentified man was arrested around 3 p.m., less than a mile from the northern gate of Peterson Air Force base.

She said that the man appeared to be having a mental-health crisis, and that after being turned away from the base, he drove to a nearby school.

Amos Velasquez, assistant principal and commandant at the Colorado Military Academy, said that a school counselor saw the van carrying propane tanks strapped to the roof and contacted him immediately.

Velasquez approached the driver, who he said was pretty erratic; he noticed propane tanks on top and electrical equipment and wiring inside the worn-down white minivan.

Velasquez said the man told him that he was trying to reach someone at NORAD, and held up a phone with wires hanging down.

The headquarters of NORAD is just inside the air base near the north gate.

NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) is a joint U.S.-Canadian command that defends the skies over both countries. Northern Command is responsible for the defense of the U.S. mainland.

Velasquez told the man he had to leave the parking lot or hed call police, which prompted him to reverse quickly and speed away.

Velasquez then called the sheriffs office to report the incident.

Kirby said that no explosives were found when he was arrested, and the man will not be charged.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., on Tuesday, in a shooting that left four people injured before she turned the gun on herself, police said. Authorities are investigating the incident as a domestic dispute, two law enforcement sources told the Associated Press.



The victims included a 36-year-old man in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition at San Francisco General Hospital, officials said. Police said three of the four "victims" -- not including the shooter -- were shot, and a fourth person suffered an ankle injury.

Witnesses told KTVU-TV that the suspect shot her boyfriend before killing herself, but police would not confirm identities or a possible motive. Investigators said the incident did not appear to be terrorism, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In response to the shooting, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki tweeted, "There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today."

"Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response," she continued. "Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family."

The gunfire lasted approximately 30 seconds, witnesses told the San Francisco Chronicle. The suspect's face was reportedly covered, leading some witnesses to think she was male.

Zach Vorhies, a senior software engineer at the company, told the Associated Press that the fire alarm went off but employees didn't realize it was an active shooting situation. As they calmly exited the building, he said he saw a shooter in the courtyard shouting, "Come at me, or come get me." Vorhies said he froze and saw a victim on his back with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his stomach. An officer armed with an assault rifle then entered through a security door, he said.

San Bruno police confirmed on Twitter that they were responding to an active shooter. They previously tweeted there was police activity at 901 Cherry Ave., where the company's campus is located. They advised the public to "stay out of the area."

President Donald Trump tweeted that he was briefed on the matter and added "our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved." He also thanked law enforcement and responders who are on the scene. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders previously told Fox News that the president was briefed and they were monitoring the situation.

San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson told KTVU the situation was "relatively secure" about an hour after the gunshots were first reported.

Users on social media indicated that ambulances were arriving and nearby offices were on lockdown. Many claimed there was an "active shooter."

The San Bruno Police Department told Fox News that it received at least 50 calls reporting gunshots.

Aerial images from KTVU showed officers on the scene, with some patting down a line of people outside.

Todd Sherman, who identified himself as a product manager at YouTube, claimed on Twitter that he was in a meeting at the building when they heard people running. He said he and others made their way to the exit and at one point when he "looked down" he "saw blood drips on the floor and stairs." He said he saw authorities on the scene before departing the scene.

The California Highway Patrol told Fox News that San Bruno police requested their assistance with the perimeter regarding reports of an active shooter.

Regarding the situation, Google Communications tweeted that the company was "coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available."

The FBI San Francisco office tweeted that agents were at the scene "in support of our local law enforcement partners." The San Bruno police were the lead agency, they added. The bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tweeted that its San Francisco field office was also responding to the scene.

Fox News' Shira Bush, Jake Gibson and Serafin Gomez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.A Utah man killed a teenage couple whose bodies were found last week after they visited his girlfriend despite his warnings against it, prosecutors argued on Tuesday.

Jerrod Baum, 41, allegedly forced Brelynne Breezy Otteson, 17, to kneel and watch as he beat and stabbed her boyfriend, 18-year-old Riley Powell, to death, before cutting her throat, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said that moments before their death, Baum congratulated the couple because he believed they were having a baby. However, Otteson was not pregnant at the time of her death.

Otteson and Powell were reported missing on Jan. 2 from Eureka, and their bodies were recovered from an abandoned mine shaft  roughly 75 miles south of Salt Lake City  on March 28, a press release from the Utah County Sheriffs Office stated.

Police say Baum killed the couple after they visited his girlfriend, Morgan Henderson, 34, despite his warning against her having male visitors.

JURY 'CONVINCED' NOOR SALMAN KNEW OF PULSE NIGHTCLUB ATTACK, BUT HAD 'NO OPTION' BUT TO ACQUIT, FOREMAN SAYS

The break in the case came when Henderson was arrested in a separate case and ultimately led police to the bodies in the mine shaft.

Authorities believe Henderson witnessed the slayings. She is being held on suspicion of obstruction of justice, though Utah County prosecutor Chad Grunander did not rule out the possibility of additional charges.

"We obviously wish she would have come forward earlier," Grunander said, adding that Henderson was allegedly threatened at one point. "That would have saved additional grief for the family."

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN CALIFORNIA CONFIRMED AS MISSING HOLLYWOOD MODEL-ACTRESS

Baum has been charged with eight felonies, including two counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and desecration of a human body. The county prosecutor said the victims families havent decided if they want prosecutors to pursue capital punishment.

If prosecutors don't pursue the death penalty, Baum could face a minimum of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Calls for training by officials in North Carolina after police released video of an officer punching and choking a black pedestrian have angered the countys sheriff, who says doing so drives anti-law enforcement agenda.

Three Democratic Buncombe commissioners issued a statement on Tuesday asking to fund training for all law enforcement within the county, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.

This comes just one day after officials released a video from 2017 showing Officer Christopher Hickman subduing and punching Johnnie Jermaine Rush, 33, for allegedly jaywalking.

Rush can also be seen screaming in pain after being shocked with a stun gun.

Hickman is facing a felony assault charge.

SHERIFFS VEHICLE STRIKES WOMAN DURING STEPHON CLARK PROTEST, DASHCAM VIDEO SHOWS

Commissioners Al Whitesides, Ellen Frost and Jasmine Beach-Ferrara called it a crisis in our community, saying it is on par with the opioid epidemic.

But Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan slammed the proposal as driving a very anti-law enforcement agenda and a slap in the face.

I read this statement this morning and was completely disheartened, he said in statement shared on Facebook. Three of my Buncombe County Commissioners  basically told their Sheriff and their Sheriffs Office that the hard work we have done over the past twelve years has counted for nothing.

Duncan said officials are taking advantage of this situation that he says will impact your public safety.

Instead of addressing the very serious issue and making sure justice is served, they are applying what they see as the solution to agencies and officers who had absolutely nothing to do with the Johnny Rush incident.

MICHIGAN SHERIFF WHO LEFT GUN IN MIDDLE SCHOOL BATHROOM AVOIDS CHARGES

The commissioners also are calling for a human rights commission and an independent team to review body camera footage as a part of their proposal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.On the cusp of the condom snorting challenge and "Tide pod challenge" comes another viral trend thats taking over the Internet  albeit, not as disgusting or dangerous, but just as perplexing.

Teens and young adults are attempting to hide out in chain stores and restaurants, in what is being called the 24-hour overnight challenge  with everything from Chuck E. Cheeses to McDonalds to Ikea being fair game, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The goal of the new fad, which apparently started with two Belgian teens in 2016, is to sneak inside a store or restaurant just before closing time, and remain there undetected until the next day, the newspaper reported.

A quick YouTube search returned more than 1.6 million results, as people document their adventures from inside a Toys R Us, Best Buy and even a trampoline park.

Retailers and police are trying to crack down on the sleepovers, citing safety concerns and the worry it causes to parents.

"As well as the safety risk, children often do this without the knowledge of their parents, which could lead to large-scale searches or even cause them to be reported as missing, Detective Inspector Anna Sedgwick of Britain's South Yorkshire police told the Sun.

"(C)hildren often do this without the knowledge of their parents, which could lead to large-scale searches or even cause them to be reported as missing."  Detective Inspector Anna Sedgwick, South Yorkshire police

In February, an 11-year-old boy from Britain caused a massive police hunt after he disappeared while attempting to sleep overnight at an Ikea store, according to the paper.

A Walmart spokesman told the Journal it has been dealing with the issue of unwanted overnight guests for more than a year, with the toilet paper aisle being the main hideout of choice.

Were familiar with the incidents and obviously dont condone the behavior, the spokesman said.

An Ikea spokeswoman told the paper, We appreciate that people are interested in Ikea and want to create fun experiences with us. We cannot guarantee safety in our stores after closing hours and thats why we do not allow this kind of activity.A U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crashed Tuesday -- killing its four crew members -- during exercises along the U.S.-Mexico border near Plaster City, California, military officials said.

"We are currently still responding to what we have confirmed as a single helicopter incident," said a Facebook post from the nearby Naval Air Facility El Centro.

The naval facility sent fire and security units as well as other helicopters to the scene of the crash, KYMA-TV reported.

The Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter reportedly belonged to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in San Diego.

The Marine Corps is withholding the identities of those killed for 24 hours until next of kin notifications are completed.

The head of Marine Corps aviation told Congress in November his CH-53 fleet was "inadequate," noting he only had 143 out of 200 required helicopters on the flight line and of those only 37 percent could fly.

The cause of the crash is under investigation. The crash would be the deadliest for the Marines since a July crash in the Mississippi Delta, which killed all 16 aboard.

Earlier Tuesday, a Marine Corps Harrier jet crashed in the East African nation of Djibouti. According to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command based in Bahrain, the pilot ejected shortly after takeoff and was in stable condition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.An Arizona man accused of kidnapping a teenager from her Utah home and keeping her as his pet was charged Monday with human trafficking.

Raymond Burk, 38, was charged by the Utah Attorney Generals Office with human trafficking of a child and aggravated kidnapping, FOX 13 Now reported. He already faced charges in Arizona.

Burk met the 17-year-old girl online in June 2016 after she posted messages to an internet application stating she was depressed and wanted someone to pick her up, the station reported, citing a probable cause statement.

GIRL FORCED TO WATCH BOYFRIENDS BRUTAL KILLING BEFORE SHE WAS MURDERED, TOSSED DOWN MINE SHAFT, PROSECUTORS SAY

The man [Burk] told the child victim that he would take away her depression and she would be happy with him, statement said. The man said he would take child victim to his house in Leeds, Utah, and have her home in two days.

The teen told Burk she was only 17 years old, but he said thats even better. The suspect drove the girls home in St. George on June 2, 2016 and picked her up.

The girl became nervous after she realized they were driving farther than Leeds.

After about 45 minutes traveling with Burk, (the girl) became concerned. Leeds, Utah, is only about 30 minutes from St. George, the statement read. Burk replied I lied. I live in Phoenix.'

Burk told the victim he was going to keep her as his pet indefinitely. The suspect kept the teen at his home for more than a week, where he hit her after she told him she wanted to go home and sexually abused her. He is also accused of tying her to the bed when he would leave his home.

REPUBLICANS POUR MONEY INTO ARIZONA CONGRESSIONAL RACE TO PREVENT ANOTHER UPSET

Burk told [the girl] she was not free to leave and should just lie there until he got home from work, the charges stated.

Burk is also accused of forcing the victim to have sex with a drug dealer in order to score marijuana.

Child victim reported that Burk beat her and sexually assaulted her several more times before she was eventually able to escape. On one occasion, Burk transported child victim to his drug suppliers house and told her to have sex with the drug supplier so that they could get marijuana, the documents stated.

However, the girl was able to escape after she received access to Burks phone and contacted friends on social media.

Burk was arrested in Arizona for investigation of five counts of sexual conduct with a minor, one count of aggravated assault and one count of kidnapping, FOX 8 reported.

The Utah Attorney Generals Office is currently coordinating this prosecution with authorities in Arizona, FOX 8 reported, citing court documents.

Prosecutors in Utah wrote the charges are also appropriate in Utah.Authorities investigating the California cliff plunge that is believed to have killed two adults and their six adoptive children have left open the possibility that three of the children may not have been in the vehicle.

Lt. Shannon Barney, of the Mendocino County Sheriffs Office, told the New York Daily News on Tuesday that first responders located the bodies of Jennifer and Sarah Hart near the crash site, along with the bodies of Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, and Abigail, also 14.

But authorities have been reportedly unable to locate Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15 and Sierra, 12.

Right now, we have to leave open the possibility they could be in Washington or Oregon or elsewhere in California, Barney told the paper. There is always that possibility and we have to leave it open.

The Daily News report said authorities were working to enhance surveillance video from near the crash site, which could shed new light on the investigation.

Barney told the paper that a massive search was planned for Wednesday that will take place during low tide.

Information pulled from the vehicle's software shows it was stopped at a flat, dirt pull-off area before it sped off the steep rocky face and plunged 100 feet, said Capt. Greg Baarts with the California Highway Patrol Northern Division.

Baarts said Monday that the electronic information, combined with the lack of skid marks or signs the driver braked, led authorities to believe the crash was purposeful.

Known as the Hart Tribe, the multiracial family of two married women  Sarah and Jennifer Hart  and six adopted children often took spontaneous road trips to camp and hike and traveled to festivals and other events, offering hugs and promoting unity.

Authorities don't know exactly when the wreck took place. A passing motorist discovered the vehicle March 26, three days after social service authorities in Washington state opened an investigation apparently prompted by a neighbor's complaint that the children were being deprived of food. Authorities believe at least one felony was committed but Van Patten declined to specify.

"To the best of my knowledge, there was not a suicide note found at the residence," said Baarts, who added that authorities have been interviewing friends and family members of the Harts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The Colorado man who prosecutors said purposely left his toddler unrestrained in the backseat of his car prior to intentionally crashing the vehicle pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree attempted murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison, The Denver Post reported.

Nathan Weitzel, 31, of Centennial, Colo., deliberately tried to kill his infant son in August 2016 when he drove his Acura sedan at 75 mph into several park cars.

Weitzels son suffered a broken leg, a concussion and a cut to his forehead that required 20 stitches, FOX 31 reported.

Weitzel reportedly told authorities the reason he wanted to kill [his son] was because being a father was a big responsibility and he did not think he was man enough to raise a child. He also allegedly admitted to using cocaine.

KUSA previously reported, citing court documents, that Weitzel thought of killing his son while watching him play at a park.

Weitzel was charged with attempted first-degree murder, child abuse, assault and other charges.

Weitzel pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and had all but the attempted first-degree murder charge dropped. He pleaded guilty to the one charge in February.

This was a very serious crime in which an innocent child was hurt and very easily ... could have been dead.  Arapahoe District Judge Jeffrey Holmes

This was a very serious crime in which an innocent child was hurt and very easily  could have been dead, Arapahoe District Judge Jeffrey Holmes said during Weitzels sentencing.

After Weitzels prison term, he is sentenced to five years of parole, the Post reported.Pennsylvania police are on the hunt Wednesday for the boyfriend of a woman who allegedly told police that she ran a brothel out of her home  where three young children were living  to fund her heroin addiction.

Brittany Patrick, 26, of Ingram, was busted Friday in an undercover operation after an officer responded to an ad she allegedly posted online seeking older, generous gentlemen... no game players, I don't play games, according to WPXI.

A criminal complaint said the officer arrived at Patricks home and her boyfriend, Lukas Roger Trout, 27, told him Oh dude, you can go up there.

Once inside the home, the officer said Patrick told him to place $120 on a TV and started removing her clothes while promising him 30 minutes of full service, Trib Live reported.

Patrick was then taken into custody. Trout has not yet been tracked down and police issued a warrant for his arrest.

The couple both face child endangerment charges. Patrick also has been charged with prostitution and Trout is facing a conspiracy charge.

When Trout allegedly directed the undercover officer upstairs, he was holding his and Patricks 18-month-old son, police told KDKA. Two other children, ages 8 and 10, were also allegedly inside the apartment during the arrest Friday, but belonged to Patricks roommate.

Patrick allegedly told police she had been having sex for cash to pay for heroin for the past three or four months while the children were present or around the apartment, the station added.

Police were tipped off to the alleged scheme after receiving complaints from Patricks neighbors in January about suspicious men entering and leaving the apartment at all hours of the day, Trib Live reported, citing court records.

Patrick was sent to Alleghany County Jail and later released on a nonmonetary bond. She will appear in court on April 12.

The escort website that police found Patricks alleged ad on was at the center of similar case in a nearby town last May.

Alleghany County Police detectives also went undercover to make arrests in Shaler Township after responding to an ad promising a fine female with curves that dont quit looking to help you relieve your stress.

A detective went to the home and Brittany Vareha, 27, let him inside and directed him to where Malinda Chalmers, 41, was waiting, KDKA reported. Chalmers allegedly told the detective to hand over $60 and to get comfortable before she and Vareha were arrested.

Police in that case said they found pills, a bag of heroin, crack pipes, syringes and drug paraphernalia inside the home  which was strewn with bags of garbage  and three other people there: a 39-year-old man, Chalmers 15-year-old son and Varehas 4-year-old boy.A New York City ex-con was charged with murder for allegedly beating a 3-year-old girl to death inside her mothers apartment in what officials are calling a terribly disturbing case.

Mark Jenkins, 32, was arrested Tuesday, following questioning, after police found the girl unconscious in the Queens apartment a day earlier.

"This is a terribly disturbing case," the boroughs district attorney, Richard Brown, said in a statement. "The victim here is an innocent little girl, whose body revealed traumatic abuse injuries."

Jenkins  who has been charged with second-degree depraved murder and first-degree depraved assault  had called 911 on Monday night to report the girl was unconscious.

Medical responders rushed the girl to a local hospital, but she died of her injuries. It was not clear what sparked the alleged assault.

Brown said preliminary autopsy results show that the girl, identified as Bella Edwards, had suffered bruising from blunt-force trauma to the abdomen and that Jenkins, the live-in boyfriend of Bellas mom, Shamika Gonzalez, was the only person in her apartment for about eight hours on Monday, Fox 5 NY reported.

Jenkins previously served prison time for shooting a man in the Bronx in 2004 and for an assault in 2002, Pix 11 reported. He is set to appear in court Wednesday and, if he is convicted, faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

Police previously had visited the apartment following domestic violence calls but didnt get involved until after the child died, Fox 5 NY reported, citing sources close to the investigation.

The Administration for Childrens Services took a 3-month-old child, who Jenkins reportedly is the father of, from the property on Monday night.

Eric Ferrero, the Deputy Commissioner for External Affairs for the NYC Administration for Children's Services, told Fox News on Tuesday that the top priority for the organization "is protecting the safety and wellbeing of all children in New York City."

"As soon as this family came to our attention last night, we immediately launched an investigation with the NYPD and we secured the safety of the other child in this home," Ferrero said.

Gonzalez told the New York Daily News that Bella was friendly, beautiful, affectionate, smart and loveable and the best daughter anyone can ask for.

She loved and was a very affectionate sister to her baby brother, Logan, she added. She was loved by many who came to know her.

This feels like a bad dream I cant wake up from," Fox 5 NY also quoted her as saying in a Facebook post.

Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.A U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot died Wednesday when his F-16 jet crashed at Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas, defense officials told Fox News.

It was the third crash in the past two years involving a member of the famed Air Force flight demonstration team.

The Air Force said Thursday pilot Maj. Stephen Del Bagno was killed when his F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed over the Nevada Test and Training Range at approximately 10:30 a.m. during a routine aerial demonstration training flight.

"We are mourning the loss of Major Del Bagno," 57th Wing Commande Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt said in a statement. "He was an integral part of our team and our hearts are heavy with his loss. We ask everyone to provide his family and friends the space to heal during this difficult time."

The Air Force added that an investigation was underway and team's participation at the March Air Reserve Base "The March Field Air & Space Expo" has been cancelled. It is unknown how this accident will impact the remainder of the 2018 Thunderbirds Season.

The crash also was the third of a U.S. military aircraft since Tuesday. A Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed during exercises along the U.S.-Mexico border in California that day, killing four crew members.

Also Tuesday, a Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier jet crashed in the East African nation of Djibouti during a training exercise. The pilot ejected and was said to be in "stable condition."

The number of American service members killed in non-combat aviation crashes has risen sharply in recent years, as there were 37 deaths in 2017, compared to 19 in 2016, a 95 percent increase, Fox News has discovered.

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview Wednesday that he doesn't want to see the Trump administration rob the Pentagon of critical readiness dollars needed to fix military aircraft in order fund additional border security.

I fully support doing more at the border, but we dont need to rob the military, Thornberry said.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah and Lucia I. Suarez Sang contributed to this report.Today marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Here are five facts you should know about the killing of the civil rights leader in Memphis, Tennessee.

1. The killing of King in 1968 was the second attempt on his life. A decade before he was assassinated, King was nearly stabbed to death in Harlem when a mentally ill African-American woman who believed he was conspiring against her with communists, stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener. He underwent emergency surgery, and remained hospitalized for several weeks but made a full recovery. The doctor who performed the operation said, Had Dr. King sneezed or coughed the weapon would have penetrated the aorta. . . . He was just a sneeze away from death

2. On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated by the #277 man on the FBIs Most Wanted Fugitives list. In 1967, James Earl Ray escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary by hiding in a truck transporting bread from the prison bakery. On the day of the assassination Ray took a room in boarding house that had a view to the motel. King and his entourage frequently stayed at the Lorraine Motel while staying in Memphis.

3. King was on the balcony of the motel when he was shot. He was hit by a .30-06 caliber rifle bullet that entered his right jaw, traveled through his neck, severing his spinal cord, and stopped in his shoulder blade. Civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy cradled Kings head while Marrell McCollough, an undercover Memphis police officer, used a towel to stop the flow of blood. King was taken to St. Josephs where doctors attempted emergency surgery before pronouncing him dead at 7:05 p.m. He was 39 years old.

4. News of Kings assassination prompted major outbreaks of looting, arson, and violence, resulting in death and major property damage in more than 100 American cities. Altogether, 43 men and women were killed, approximately 3,500 were injured, and 27,000 were arrested. Not until over 58,000 National Guardsmen and army troops joined local state and police forces did the uprisings cease. As historian Peter B. Levy says, during Holy Week 1968, the United States experienced its greatest wave of social unrest since the Civil War.

5. After a two-month long, international manhunt, Ray was captured on June 8, 1968 at Londons Heathrow Airport. On March 10, 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to Kings murder and was sentenced to 99 years in Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. No testimony was heard in his trial. Ray later recanted his confession and claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy. Members of Kings family, including his son Dexter, publicly met with Ray in 1977 and began arguing for a reopening of his case. (The government investigations concluded Ray was the lone assassin). Later that same year Ray became the #351 on the FBIs Most Wanted Fugitives list after he and six other convicts escaped from the prison. He was recaptured three days later and given another year in prison, bringing his sentence to 100 years.Facebook apologized after it rejected an ad by a Catholic university in Ohio on Good Friday that showed Jesus hanging on the cross.

The social media giant labeled the religious image shocking and excessively violent, according to a university spokesman.

Franciscan University of Steubenville published 10 Facebook advertisements for its masters degree program in theology, catechetics, and evangelization. Tom Crowe, Steubenvilles web communications director, told Fox News he doesnt know why only the one clearly depicting the San Damiano Cross was rejected.

It may have been the algorithm or a low level staffer who has something against Christianity, Crowe said. For whatever reason, Facebook rejected the cross.

Facebook apologized Wednesday for the mistake.

"Our team processes millions of ads each week, and sometimes we make mistakes, a Facebook spokesperson told Fox News. This image does not violate our ad policies. We apologize for the error and have already let the advertiser know we approved their ad."

Facebook said the ad was officially approved on Monday.

"Facebook approved other ads with the exact same image, which again leads me to believe it wasnt an algorithm, but was a low-level staffer who skims many, many ads and just had something personal against this one," Crowe said. "Ill reiterate that Im not claiming systemic religious bigotry at Facebook, but in this case it seems something like that happened in a one-off situation."

Crowe called the rejection a teachable moment and a reminder for all. He wrote in a piece published on the universitys website titled He was rejected, that this is how humanity reacts to the idea of God humbling himself to death on a cross.

This is sensational, this is shocking, he wrote. This is only possible because of the excessive violence that he endured for us.

Although now approved, Crowe said he hopes people do take something away from it.

GOOGLE SNUBBED EASTER WITH NO DOODLE FOR 18THYEAR IN A ROW, CHRISTIANS SAY

I hope people take another look at the cross and see what God did for us, he said. Whether its a return to faith or an investigation of this weird thing called Christianity.

Crowe told Fox News the San Damiano cross is very significant to the Franciscan order, as it is believed God spoke to St. Francis through this cross, which is prominently displayed all over the Steubenville campus.

He said the cross is iconographic, meaning its supposed to tell a story.

Unlike other depictions of the cross, the San Damiano cross doesnt show Christ in agony, because they believe Christ crucified is the sign of his glory and reign. While Jesus most likely wouldve been naked, its believed the garment hes wearing is what most Jewish priests would wear when they offered sacrifices in the Temple, symbolizing Christ as the high priest, the sacrifice of the Father, and the fulfilment of the old covenant.

CHRISTIANS AND WHITE PEOPLE GET UNMERITED PERKS, LIVE EASIER LIVES, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SEMINAR SAYS

It wasnt the nails that kept Jesus on the cross, Crowe said, but rather his love for mankind.

He could have descended from the cross at any moment, he wrote. No, it was love that kept him there. Love for you and for me, that we might not be eternally condemned for our sins but might have life eternal with him and his Father in heaven.Female shooters  especially those who commit mass shootings  are rare, data shows.

Police said Nasim Aghdam, 39, shot and injured three people at the YouTube San Bruno headquarters on Tuesday before killing herself. Her father said he had warned police that Aghdam hated the company.

According to an FBI database of active shooter incidents in the U.S. from 2000 to 2013, only six out of 160 were committed by women. The database defined an active shooter situation as one in which an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.

Dr. Adam Lankford, a professor at the University of Alabama who has done extensive research on mass shootings, attributed the rarity of female mass shooters to a variety of issues, including gun ownership.

If you have a firearm, youre more likely to use it, just like any tool or weapon, Lankford told Fox News, adding that some men, culturally, purchase firearms because theyre cool. He said the gap between men and women who commit homicide through poison or arson is smaller than that of those who use firearms.

Theyre attracted to guns in the way that some men are attracted to cars. Fewer women who purchase guns do so simply because theyre cool, he said.

Lankford also said men generally are more prone to violence or aggression in pursuit of status than women, citing bar fights and organized crime.

Men can say were willing to kill you and risk death ourselves in order to protect our status or gain status, he said.

Heres a look at notable shootings perpetrated by women.

San Bernardino, 2015

Tashfeen Malik, 29, and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, attacked Farooks coworkers in San Bernardino, killing 14 people and injuring nearly two dozen others in December 2015.

Malik and Farook were later killed by police after engaging in a shootout with officers.

Malik was born in Pakistan but moved to Saudi Arabia as a child, according to the Los Angeles Times. She also attended college in Pakistan.

Las Vegas, 2014

Along with her husband, Jerad Miller, Amanda Miller embarked on a shooting rampage in Las Vegas, killing two police officers and one other person who tried to intervene, according to the FBI.

The couple began shooting in a CiCis Pizza restaurant before bunkering down in a nearby Wal-Mart. Police said at the time that the pair was ready to kill as many cops as they could.

After being cornered by police and exchanging gunfire with them, officials said Amanda Miller, then 22, killed her husband before committing suicide, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Alturas tribal meeting, 2014

Members of the Cedarville Rancheria Tribe council in California were meeting to decide whether Cherie Louise Rhoades should be evicted from tribal housing when she attacked them, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Armed with a semi-automatic handgun and a butcher knife, Rhoades, 44, killed four people, including three relatives, in February 2014, according to the Sacramento Bee. She was sentenced to death in 2017.

Kraft Foods facility, 2010

Yvonne Hiller killed two of her coworkers and injured another at a Kraft-Nabisco cookie plant in Philadelphia in September 2010, WPVI-TV reported at the time.

Hiller, who was 43 then, had been suspended from her job and escorted off the premises, Kraft Foods said in a statement. She eventually surrendered to police, according to WPVI. She was later sentenced to two life terms in prison without parole.

Publix, 2010

After Arunya Rouch was let go from a Publix in Tarpon Springs, Fla. in 2010 for threatening to kill a coworker, she came back to the grocery store to do just that, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Rouch, then 41, killed a former coworker in the parking lot. She later engaged in a shootout with police where she was injured but survived.

Her husband later testified that Rouch had been bullied by her colleagues at Publix. She was sentenced to life in prison.

University of Alabama, 2010

Dr. Amy Bishop, a 44-year-old biology professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, brought a 9mm pistol to a faculty meeting and fatally shot three of her colleagues, police said. Three others were injured.

Bishop, who was sentenced to life in prison, had found out she was passed over for tenure prior to the killings.

Louisiana Technical College, 2008

Latina Williams was 23 years old when police said she opened fire in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.

Williams killed two people before committing suicide.

Goleta postal facility, 2006

Jennifer San Marco began her killing spree by fatally shooting her neighbor in January 2006, according to the Santa Barbara Independent.

San Marco, 44, then went to her former place of employment, a mail processing plant in Goleta, Calif., and fatally shot six people before committing suicide. She reportedly had been put on medical leave for psychological problems prior to the deadly rampage.

Laidlaw Transit Services maintenance yard, 2001

In April 2001, Cathline Repunte, a bus driver in San Jose, Calif., opened fire on her colleagues with a handgun, according to the FBI. She injured three people and killed one, a man who had trained her, the San Francisco Chronicle reported at the time.

Repunte was 36 at the time of the shooting and was restrained by a coworker until police took her into custody. She was sentenced in 2002 to 35 years to life in prison.A Florida college student who praised mass shooters online will be allowed to buy guns should he choose to, a judge ruled Monday.

Christian Nicholas Velasquez, 21, was temporarily banned from owning any weapons or ammunition under the states new gun law passed after the Parkland shooting, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Circuit Judge Bob LeBlanc declined Orlando polices attempt to extend the ban to a full year.

I dont disagree with the issuing of the initial temporary injunction. I think thats exactly what the statute provides for, LeBlanc ruled.

Velasquez, a University of Central Florida student, was investigated by campus police after authorities received a tip from the community about a Reddit user, TheRealUCFChris, calling the alleged Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz and the Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock heroes, the newspaper reported.

UCF Officer Jeffrey Panter asked Velasquez hypothetical questions, including whether the school would be his target, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Velazquez reportedly told Panter that he would more likely target a middle school or high school where he had been bullied, but it would take a tragic event to provoke him.

Velasquez was taken to a mental health facility, but a doctor who evaluated him deemed him to be not a threat, the newspaper reported. An Orlando detective, an FBI agent and Panter received a revolver from Velasquezs father and were allowed to search his room.

Kendra Parris, Velasquezs lawyer, argued that an extension of his ban would have prevented him from attaining future employment and that he was being punished for free speech. She said that Velasquez hadnt indicated he was going to commit an atrocity, citing his lack of criminality and lack of a weapon.

Parris also said Velasquez told police he could never imagine committing a mass shooting, adding that he wanted to look like a bada** on Reddit.

Alexander Karden, the citys lawyer, said mental health evaluations of Velasquez had revealed that Velasquez showed three of the five steps of progression toward committing some kind of violence, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

Hes following the trajectory, he said. This statute is not designed for someone whos already gone over the top. Its designed to stop them before they get there.

Parris told the Orlando Sentinel the family will pursue civil action against Orlando police.Welcome to Fox News First. Not signed up yet? Click here.

Developing now, Wednesday, April 4, 2018

President Trump is considering mobilizing the National Guard to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until a wall can be built, Fox News has learned

Trump is not a criminal target of Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation, according to one report

YouTube was a source of frustration for an armed woman who shot three people before killing herself at the companys headquarters, her father says

Extra tariffs on Chinese products entering the U.S. are the Trump administrations answer for alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property

Three Hart Tribe children still missing after last weeks SUV plunge off a California cliff might not have been in the vehicle, authorities say

Wednesday marks 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination

THE LEAD STORY - GUARDING THE BORDER: President Trump said the National Guard may secure the U.S.-Mexico border until a wall can be built. The president is considering a plan involving substantial mobilization of the Guard, a White House official told Fox News ... Trump made his remarks Tuesday during a meeting with Baltic leaders, where he said he had discussed the matter with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military, he said. That's a big step, we really havent done that before, or certainly not very much before. Trump's move appears to be at least partly motivated by a caravan of over 1,000 Central American migrants heading toward the U.S. border. BuzzFeed, which first reported on the caravan, said Mexican officials had not yet attempted to stop the flow.

TRUMP NOT A TARGET: Special Counsel Robert Mueller told President Trump's attorneys last month that he does not consider Trump to be a criminal target in his investigation of Russian actions during the 2016 campaign, the Washington Post reported Tuesday night ... The paper, citing "three people familiar with the discussions," reported that Mueller made the comments while negotiating with Trump's attorneys about a potential interview with the president. Citing "two people with knowledge of the conversations," the Post also reported that Mueller reiterated his need to interview Trump to determine whether the president intended to halt the Russia investigation while in office. According to the Post, Trump has "privately expressed relief" at Mueller's description of his legal status. However, some advisers have warned that the special counsel may be baiting the president into letting his guard down for any interview.

SHOOTERS FEUD WITH YOUTUBE: The woman suspected of shooting three people at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., before killing herself was furious with the company because it had stopped paying her for videos she posted, her father said late Tuesday ... The police identified the shooter as Nasim Aghdam, 39, of Southern California -- and said they had a run-in with her earlier in the day. Ismail Aghdam said he reported his daughter missing Monday after she did not answer her phone for two days. He said the family received a call from Mountain View police around 2 a.m. Tuesday saying they found Nasim sleeping in a car. He said he warned them she might be headed to YouTube because she "hated" the company. Authorities said they are still probing Nasim Aghdam's motive, and that there are no indications she knew the victims.

Aghdam reportedly maintained a personal website alleging that YouTube compensated her unfairly and censored her views. In online postings last month, she alleged that YouTube tries to "censor and suppress people who speak the truth."

Silicon Valley CEOs extend condolences

TARIFF TIT FOR TAT: The Trump administration said Tuesday that it plans to slap 25-percent tariffs on approximately 1,300 products from China in response to Beijing's alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property ... According to the U.S. Trade Representative's office, the mainly non-consumer products account for approximately $50 billion in annual imports. The items include industrial chemicals, motorcycles and medical devices. However, the proposed tariffs would not take effect before a public comment period ends May 11. The announcement comes 11 days after Trump levied "protective" tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum in response to what the administration has described as unfair trade practices. In response, China raised import duties on American pork, fruit, aluminum and other products. China's government said earlier its imports of those goods last year totaled $3 billion.

HART TRIBE MYSTERY DEEPENS: Authorities investigating the California cliff plunge that is believed to have killed two adults and their six adoptive children have left open the possibility that three of the children may not have been in the vehicle ... Lt. Shannon Barney, of the Mendocino County Sheriffs Office, told the New York Daily News that first responders located the bodies of Jennifer and Sarah Hart near the crash site, along with the bodies of Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, and Abigail, also 14. However, authorities have been reportedly unable to locate Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15 and Sierra, 12. Right now, we have to leave open the possibility they could be in Washington or Oregon or elsewhere in California, Barney told the paper. There is always that possibility and we have to leave it open.

MLK'S WORDS, WISDOM AND COMPASSION NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER - A REFLECTION: As we pause to reflect on the life and assassination of one of the greatest and most courageous leaders in history  50 years ago on April 4, 1968  I recall how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became a hero to me, when I was a poor and often homeless white boy all those years ago ... Black history began for me when I was an 8-year-old boy living in abject poverty. Thats when I first became aware of a young black man attempting to change the nation and the world for the better. As I stood in our tiny public housing apartment kitchen, my mother was fixated by the scene playing out on the screen of our 13-inch black and white television resting on a counter that served as a regular highway for the cockroaches that infested our home.

AS SEEN ON FOX NEWS

'INVENTING A CRIME': "There's no such crime as 'collusion' in the federal statute." Alan Dershowitz, on "Hannity," saying collusion may be a "political sin" but Congress would first have to pass a resolution declaring it a federal crime. WATCH

A MORE 'CHRISTIAN' ATTITUDE TOWARD MEXICO: "Mexico is not the problem, Mexico is not the enemy."  Juan Hernandez, a member of ex-Mexico President Vicente Fox's Cabinet, on "The Story with Martha MacCallum, arguing that President Trump should adopt a "more humanitarian Christian attitude" toward Mexico. WATCH

THE SWAMP

Death penalty for women having abortions? No, candidate clarifies.

John Kasich, in New Hampshire, hints at Trump 2020 challenge.

Three Republicans in West Virginia battle to oust vulnerable Democratic senator.

Trump, GOP go on offensive in Calif., where Democrats lay stakes for big midterm wins.

ACROSS THE NATION

Four Marines feared dead in helicopter crash near U.S.-Mexico border.

'Nightmare bacteria' cases seen in 27 states, CDC reports.

Girl forced to watch boyfriends brutal killing before she was murdered, tossed down mine shaft, prosecutors say.

Robbed of memories and money, a 96-year-old veteran gets his Mustang back in full glory.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS

Ari Fleischer: Trump's going after Amazon because of the Washington Post.

Spotify IPO pops over 25 percent on trading debut

U.S. ObamaCare 2018 exchange enrollment drops 3 percent: CMS

FOX NEWS OPINION

Jason Chaffetz: 10 things Congress should do, but won't.

John Stossel: Hold onto your sodas! When politicians are looking for money, nothing is safe.

Jimmy Kimmels attack on Melania Trump is despicable and wouldnt be tolerated for any other immigrant.

HOLLYWOOD SQUARED

'Roseanne' not as pro-Trump as reported, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says.

Jimmy Kimmel mocks Melania Trump's accent, trolls White House Easter Egg Roll.

'Austin Powers' actor Verne 'Mini Me' Troyer reportedly hospitalized

Kathy Griffin unloads on Billy Bush and Anderson Cooper in new interview.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?

Beachgoer captures drone footage of Civil War-era shipwreck.

Boys dig up prehistoric mastodon fossil in Mississippi.

Labrador retrievers ranked most popular dog in America for 27 years running.

STAY TUNED

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Judge Andrew Napolitano on the latest developments in Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and Trump not being viewed as a criminal target; the latest in the shooting at YouTube headquarters.

Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8 p.m. ET: Part 2 of Tucker's week-long series on "Tech Tyranny" looks at how Google apparently plans to help China on a potential military tool.

On Fox Business:

Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Guests include: Amb. John Negroponte; Rep Chuck Fleischmann; Donna Brazile, former DNC chair.

Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Rep. Trey Gowdy and Sen. Tim Scott, co-authors of "Unified"; Brandon Judd, Border Patrol Union president; Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary.

Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Noon ET: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton; Josh Hawley, Missouri attorney general and Senate candidate.

Countdown to the Closing Bell, 3 p.m. ET: Rich Gelfond, IMAX CEO; NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Making Money with Charles Payne, 6 p.m. ET: Rep. Marsha Blackburn

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: Its been 50 years since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Fox News' Tonya J. Powers are in Memphis to discuss the legacy of the civil rights icon. A group of more than 1,000 people are traveling from Central America through Mexico toward the U.S. border, seeking asylum. President Trump issued a warning on Twitter, saying the migrant caravan had better stop before it gets here. Two top immigration experts discuss how our neighbors to the south are reacting. Plus, commentary by Britt McHenry, host of Like It or Not on WTTG-TV Fox 5 in Washington, D.C.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: Amb. Zalmay Khalilzad on the latest from Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iran; Rep. Trey Gowdy and Sen. Tim Scott give the inside story on their new book.

The Tom Shillue Show, 3 p.m. ET: Wednesday marks 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr's assassination. "The Five's" Juan Williams joins Tom Shillue to reflect on Dr. King's legacy.

#OnThisDay

1968: Martin Luther King Jr. is shot and killed while standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.; his slaying sparks a wave of riots nationwide. Suspected gunman James Earl Ray would later plead guilty to assassinating King, but then spends the rest of his life claiming he'd been the victim of a setup.

1975: Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

2008: Beyonce and Jay-Z are married during a private ceremony in New York.

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Enjoy your day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Thursday morning.An embattled New York judge, who is on probation for a drunk driving conviction, will receive an $11,700 pay raise this week despite working only one out of the last 214 days.

Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacios salary will be bumped from $175,500 to $187,200 due to a raise all city judges across New York are set to receive, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported. Astacios term will end in 2024.

The Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation Board agreed on the increase that went into effect April 1, 13 WHAM reported.

NEW YORK LEADS MULTISTATE LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUMP ADMINISTRATIONS 2020 CENSUS CITIZENSHIP QUESTION

Astacio has not been to work since Aug. 31, 2017, even though she was ordered by State Supreme Court Justice Craig Doran to return in February. She said a physician found her administrative work to be too stressful and received a note from the doctor that she couldnt work.

Astacio did show up for work at the end of February of this year, Doran said.

The judge is on probation following a drunken driving conviction. She was arrested in February 2016 after a state trooper said he found her car with damage to the front of the vehicle and two flat tires. Astacio was found guilty of driving while intoxicated after a bench trial in August 2016.

She was sentenced to three years of probation in July 2017 after officials discovered she violated the conditions of her original conviction. Astacio blamed the media for her probation sentence and claimed they were trying to destroy her reputation.

NEW YORK CITY TODDLER, 3, FOUND DEAD AFTER POSSIBLE ABUSE, POLICE SAY

"If you Google my name you'll find these stories," she said. "The media is trying to break me."

The Commission on Judicial Conduct has scrutinized Astacios conviction and other actions. The only way the judge could be removed from office, which she was elected to, is if the commission recommended it and the Court of Appeals approved it.

Following the news of the raise, Democrat & Chronicle reported Astacio attempted to buy a shotgun at Dicks Sporting Goods but was refused.

The judge said in a Facebook video Monday, "I am so tired of being the focal point of the Rochester media like there's nothing else for them to talk about. That's insane."A Southern California civil jury awarded $5 million in damages Wednesday to the family of a woman who was found hanged at a mansion outside San Diego in 2011, determining that the brother of the womans boyfriend was liable for her death.

Rebecca Zahau, 32, was found dead on July 13, 2011 at the house in Coronado, Calif. Authorities ruled her death a suicide, but Zahaus mother and older sister disagreed, claiming that Adam Shacknai  who called police to report that he had found Zahaus body  struck her on the head, sexually assaulted and strangled her, and then staged the hanging.

"Why did Adam Shacknai brutally murder Rebecca Zahau?" C. Keith Greer, representing the family, asked rhetorically in court Monday. "It's one of the oldest reasons in the world  sex."

In addition to the $5 million in damages, Shacknai also was ordered to pay an additional $167,000 for the loss of financial support she would have provided her mother and siblings.

Jurors haven't yet determined whether to order punitive damages.

"For years we had to fight to just prove that she didnt commit suicide even though we knew she didnt do it," Mary Zahau-Loehners, Rebeccas sister, said outside the courthouse Wednesday. "She doesn't deserve to be treated the way the [San Diego County] sheriffs department treated her."

Adam Shacknai, now 54, is the brother of pharmaceutical executive Jonah Shacknai, whom Zahau was dating when she died.

Jonah Shacknai testified during the month-long civil trial that it was "inconceivable" that his brother had any involvement in Zahaus death.

Shacknais attorney argued that there was no evidence tying him to Zahaus death.

"Plaintiffs argue that hes in the vicinity, therefore he must be guilty," Daniel Webb told the jurors, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. "That's not evidence."

Greer argued that Shacknai wiped away fingerprint and DNA evidence before calling the police.

Late Wednesday, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said in a statement that it stood by the findings of its investigators and medical examiners that Zahau's death was suicide. But the department added that it was willing to meet with the Zahau family to look at any new evidence that came out of the civil trial.

Zahau was the only adult known to have been present two days before her death when Jonah Shacknais 6-year-old son, Max, suffered brain injuries in a fall from a staircase. Max died several days later. His death was ruled accidental.

Adam Shacknai had come to California from Memphis, Tenn. after his nephew was injured, and was staying in the mansions guest house.

Click for more from Fox5SanDiego.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A Missouri ranch for troubled boys isn't liable in the 2013 murders of a Michigan couple by two teenagers who had run away from the facility, a jury decided in a lawsuit filed by the couple's children.

The family of Paul and Margaret Brooks, of Baldwin, Michigan, sued Lives Under Construction, a Christian juvenile rehabilitation center near Lampe, after Anthony Zarro and Christopher Allen broke into their winter home in Stone County, Missouri, and stabbed the couple to death.

The family contended that the ranch didn't adequately supervise the juveniles in its care, didn't alert the authorities or nearby residents that the teens had escaped two days before the attack, and improperly took Zarro and Allen off of needed psychiatric medication without consulting a doctor.

A Lawrence County jury found for the ranch Monday after a two-week trial that revealed that Sue Brooks apparently was forced to watch her husband's death before she was repeatedly stabbed, The Springfield News-Leader reported .

Zarro and Allen were 16 and 15, respectively, at the time of the attack. They both pleaded guilty to murder and are serving life sentences.

John Schultz, a lawyer for Lives Under Construction, said in his closing arguments that the ranch was not directly responsible for the actions of two boys, who were high and drunk at the time of the murders. He said the ranch had helped hundreds of boys with a program that takes them off of psychiatric medicine and emphasizes hard work and Christian faith.

The lawyer for the Brooks family, Randy Cowherd, argued that the ranch was not equipped to handle Allen and Zarro, who he said had severe mental health issues and should not have been taken off their medication. He said the ranch was repeatedly told by the state not to take boys at the ranch off their medications without a trained psychologist or psychiatrist monitoring them. Using an exemption for religious facilities, Liver Under Construction voluntarily surrendered its state license a few years ago.

The Brooks family was seeking between $7.6 million and $21 million. Seven board members for the ranch previously settled with the Brooks family for a combined total of $2.85 million.

Lives Under Construction faces three more lawsuits that claim that boys sexually abused each other for years and the ranch covered it up. The ranch denies those allegations.

___

Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.comThousands gathered Wednesday at the site where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated 50 years ago, for an emotional ceremony honoring the civil rights icon.

Former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young was with King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, the evening an assassins bullet killed King, 39, as he stood outside room 306.

What I thought was a firecracker went off, until I looked up and I didnt see him, Young told Fox News. I saw his shoes stuck in the grate. And I ran up the steps and realized that hed been shot. And hed been shot directly into his spinal cord. And he probably did not hear the shot, nor did he feel any pain. And he was laying there in a puddle of blood. And even though his pulse was still beating, it was obvious that he was gone.

King and his entourage  which included Young, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Hosea Williams, and Ralph Abernathy  had come to Memphis the previous day to support striking sanitation workers.

King rallied the workers with his Ive Been to the Mountaintop speech.

Although it was Kings iconic speeches and rallies that are preserved in history, Young also remembers the civil rights leader for his sense of humor.

Just moments before his assassination, King launched into some good-natured teasing of Young, who just had returned to the motel after a long day of testifying in court on behalf of the sanitation worker protesters.

Whereve you been? Ive been looking for you all day long! You disappeared. Youre running out on me, Young remembers King telling him. And I said, No! I was in court.

Why didnt you call? replied King, according to Young.

Young recalled saying something smart to King in response.

He picked up a pillow and threw it at me, and I threw it back, Young said. Then everybody picked up pillows and started beating me up. And it was like this was the happiest moment I had seen him in the whole time Id known him. I mean, he had a very good sense of humor. He liked to joke and clown. But this was childishly free.

The Lorraine Motel now is preserved as part of the National Civil Rights Museum.

Today, the museum opened a new exhibit to the public entitled: MLK50: A Legacy Remembered.

In so many respects, I wish he were here, Kings youngest daughter Bernice told reporters during a private preview of the exhibit Monday. He was able to capture the human predicament in a way that very few are able to capture, holistically. And so, we need that kind of moral voice in todays world.

Dr. Bernice King led a multiracial group of 100 pastors from Atlanta to the museum and site of her fathers death. As with many visitors, they came not just to remember what happened half a century ago, but to celebrate the enduring impact King continues to have on American society.

He left us with a blueprint for moving forward, the civil rights leaders daughter said.

Nathan Knight, who is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of DeKalb County, Georgia, traveled to Memphis with several other members of his chapter.

Back in his youth he immediately was impressed when he heard King speak.

He said: When I was 16 years of age, a man touched my life and redirected my path. And today Im looking at the exhilarated voices of young people around the United States of America who are again feeling the same thing that I felt when I was that age.

The National Civil Rights Museum has marked previous anniversaries by calling for a moment of silence at 6:01 p.m. Central Time  the moment King was shot.

But this evening, they rang a bell.

Two minutes later, bells began to toll at churches and other institutions throughout Memphis, according to museum staff, followed by bells across the nation and the world, including bells at Washington National Cathedral.

Fox News producer David Lewkowict contributed to this report.A Navy chaplain was removed from his post at a Marine Corps command last month after he was videotaped having sex with a woman at a New Orleans bar, USA Today reported Wednesday.

The Marine Corps Times first reported about the removal of Navy Capt. Loften Thornton for loss of trust and confidence last week, but did not disclose details of the case.

USA Today, citing two defense officials, reported that authorities were examining video that showed Thornton having sex with the woman at the Crown & Anchor English Pub in the Algiers Point neighborhood of New Orleans. The bar is located across the Mississippi River from the citys French Quarter, and near the Marine Forces Reserve in Algiers, where Thornton was stationed.

The owner of the bar told USA Today that he was cooperating with authorities, but would not comment further.

The paper reported that Thornton had been a Navy chaplain since 1992.

Marine Forces Reserve takes all allegations against any of our Marines or Sailors seriously, Maj. Andrew Aranda, a Marine Forces Reserve spokesman, told the Marine Corps Times about Thorntons dismissal.Police have rescued a woman in North Carolina who they said was being held captive, raped and tortured by a man who she had briefly been dating.

The victim, whose name has not been released, was first reported missing by family members on March 26, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Lt. Susan Manassah told reporters Wednesday.

Officers were able to track down the victim's car, which was parked outside the suspect's apartment in Charlotte, a day later, CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano told Fox News.

Police knocked on the apartment door, and Jamuel Alston answered. Officers were able to engage the man in a conversation while entering the home. Once inside, they began to call out the victims name, Manassah said. Officers then heard the victim moaning from a back room.

By the time police found the woman, she was clinging to life, police said.

The condition of her is something, Manassah said. I looked at the photos. I can deal with dead people all day long. You show me a live person suffering and that rips right through my soul because that shouldnt happen to any human being.

After being rescued, the victim mouthed thank you to officers, Manassah said.

She knows the fact that these guys saved her life, she added.

Police declined to release details on how the victim was restrained or held captive inside the house. She is still in the hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries, CMPD said. However, she is expected to make a full recovery.

Alston is believed to have been dating the victim for a few weeks, Manassah said. When the victims family notified law enforcement officials that she was missing, they could only identify the suspect as Jay.

Alston, 35, was arrested and charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, rape, kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a felon, CMPD said. CMPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what -- if any --prior convictions Alston has on his record.

The case is still considered active and ongoing by CMPD.

Manassah offered a piece of advice to those in new relationships: inform family members of a partners full name or phone number so police are better able to assist in case anything happens.Oklahoma's teachers are asking for more education spending than the state can afford, Gov. Mary Fallin insisted Tuesday.

"Teachers want more," Fallin told CBS News in an interview. "But it's kind of like a teenager wanting a better car."

Fallin, a Republican, signed a measure last week raising teachers salaries by about $6,100 per year, while increasing school funds by $50 million  roughly 20 percent of what educators were seeking.

On Tuesday, Fallin followed up by signing a measure to raise the wages of school support staff, such as janitors and teaching aides, by $1,250.

Im pleased to sign this bill that provides a significant increase in spending for our public school system, Fallin said, according to Fox 25 in Oklahoma City. Im hoping this additional funding will result in improved K-12 public school results. Our job as a state is to empower our students, parents and teachers to succeed by setting the bar high and challenging each other to succeed."

"Our job as a state is to empower our students, parents and teachers to succeed by setting the bar high and challenging each other to succeed."  Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin

Strikes began Monday, as hundreds of Oklahoma schools closed, with many public schools expecting to remain shut for the rest of the week, the Oklahoman reported.

In Kentucky, thousands of educators marched to the state Capitol of Frankfort on Monday to rally for additional funding. Last week, hundreds of Kentucky educators called out sick to protest the states last-minute changes to their pension system, which passed the Republican-controlled Kentucky Legislature and would change the pension plan for new teachers, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

The average starting teacher salaries in Oklahoma and Kentucky are below the national average, at $31,919 and $36,494 respectively. For the 2016-17 school year, the national average was $38,617, according to the National Education Association.

Last week at the Arizona state Capitol in Phoenix, teachers demanded a 20 percent increase in wages, the Arizona Republic reported.

West Virginia teachers earned a 5 percent increase in pay last month after a nine-day walkout.Two people were killed Wednesday after an airplane crashed near Floridas Daytona Beach International Airport.

The aircraft crashed near the Daytona Flea & Farmers Market on Wednesday morning, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office confirmed. Witnesses told police they saw the Piper PA-28s wing fall off before it crashed. Police did not immediately identify victims pending notification of next of kin.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported the aircraft belonged to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and had just lifted for takeoff from Daytona Beach International Airport during a training flight when it crashed.

The school released a statement regarding the crash.

We are aware of the airplane accident that occurred today. We are cooperating fully with the investigation of this tragic accident, Anne Botteri, vice president of marketing and communications at the university told the media outlet. We will be releasing further information as soon as its available.

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said they did not receive a distress call before the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the crash.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported 17 people have died in "crashes involving Embry-Riddle planes and other aircraft since 1990."The Sacramento Police Department says that Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man who was fatally shot on March 18 by two police officers  one identified as black  ignored their orders to stop and advanced toward them, prompting them to shoot in self defense.

A private medical examiner hired by Clarks family to conduct an autopsy said his findings  that the 22-year-old was shot in the back -- cast doubt that he was a threat to police that night.

Here are the details provided by the Sacramento Police Department about the sequence of events that ended in Clarks death, and the findings of Dr. Bennet Omalu.

Authorities also released videos of the incident recorded on cameras worn by the two officers, as well as a camera on a police helicopter. Police authorities are withholding the identities of the officers, ciiting threats.

-- On Sunday, March 18, shortly after 9:00 p.m., the Sacramento Police Department received a call about someone breaking into cars. The caller told police that a black male, who was about 6-feet,1-inch tall, slender and wearing a black hoodie and dark pants, had broken several car windows and was hiding in a yard.

-- Police were dispatched to the scene at 9:13 p.m, arriving five minutes later.

-- A police helicopter also set out to the location. Officers in the helicopter told those on the ground that they spotted a person matching the description of the suspect in a backyard. The helicopter officers said they saw the suspect pick up an object, break a window in the back of a home, then run around to the front and look into a car.

-- Officers on the ground headed toward the front yard, saw Clark in the side yard, and ordered him to stop. A video released by authorities shows the police yelling: Hey, show me your hands. Stop! Stop! But Clark fled from them and jumped a fence, running into his grandmothers backyard.

--The police gave chase, going to the backyard, where they encountered Clark. They again yelled: Show me your hands! Clark moved toward them while holding an object he held out in front of him. The officers thought the object was a gun, and said Gun, gun, gun, and began firing at Clark for about five minutes as back-up police arrived. They fired 20 shots.

--When other officers got to the scene, the two officers who had engaged Clark muted the audio on their body cameras for reasons that are unclear and have been denounced by Clark supporters.

--The police then moved toward Clark, who had fallen to the ground and tried crawling as gunshots continued. They put handcuffs on him and administered life-saving measures, but he was declared dead by fire officials who arrived at the scene.

--Police realized that the object believed to be a gun was a cellphone, which was near Clarks body. A search of the scene turned up no firearm.

--After searching the scene, police found three damaged cars and a shattered glass door belonging to a private residence. The police say Clark caused the damage.

--The two police officers involved in the shooting have, respectively, two and four years with the department. They had worked in law enforcement with other agencies before joining the Sacramento force. They have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Clark had a troubled past, according to KCRA, the local NBC affiliate. He had run-ins with police going back to at least 2014. He pleaded no contest to a robbery charge and violated a five-year probation status. Shortly after he was arrested for procuring someone for the purpose of prostitution, and pleaded no contest to a lesser charge. In 2016, he was arrested on domestic battery charges and pleaded no contest. He completed a battery treatment program.

Dr. Omalus autopsy showed that Clark was hit eight times, with most of the bullets striking him in the back. He was shot three times in his lower back, twice near his right shoulder, once under his armpit, once in his neck and once in the leg.

He said Clark suffered a shattered vertebrae, a collapsed lung and his arm was shattered into tiny bits. Omalu believes that, based on the location of the gunshot wounds, Clark at one point turned away from the police as they were firing, raising the question about the continuation of the shooting.

He bled massively, Omalu said, according to published reports. The doctor said Clark did not immediately die, remaining alive for as many as 10 minutes after the shots stopped. He noted that Clark got medical attention six minutes after the shooting, which may not have made a difference. Omalu said: Every minute you wait decreases probability of survival.

The familys lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said that the autopsy debunks the police contention that Clark was threatening to them.

This independent autopsy affirms that Stephon was not a threat to police, Crump was quoted as saying to reporters, and was slain in another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances.

Some experts say its not so easy to draw conclusions in this case.

Hes facing slightly in their direction. And it is possible they felt he was still reaching for what they thought was a gun, policing instructor Justin Nix was quoted as saying in The New York Times.

Another expert, David Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Law School who specializes in police accountability, said to the newspaper that if Clark was moving toward the officers and they believed the object in his hand was a firearm, It is not clear they could have done anything differently.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is conducting an independent investigation into the shooting. His office also is reviewing police procedures.

Asked for an explanation about why the audio was turned off the body cameras when the officers began to discuss what had happened, the police department pess office told Fox News in a statement: "As we conduct our investigation, we will analyze why the body cameras were muted and if it was appropriate."

The Sacramento Police Department said on its website: The [department] recognizes the significance of this incident and the impact it has on our community. We are committed to providing timely information and communicating openly with our community.

The shooting has sparked protests in California and other states. Protesters are demanding that the two officers be fired.A 17-year-old high school student in Florida is facing animal cruelty charges after he bit off the head of chicken on Saturday in what one official described as a "pretty sadistic" act.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post that David Andrew Jimenez, 17, went to University High School in Orange City and entered a chicken coop at the school for a "Farm to Table" event held earlier in the day.

A teacher on Monday discovered the headless body of a chicken in the parking lot, and its head was later found inside the chicken coop, according to police. School officials also found that the chicken's eggs had been thrown in the gym and against the gym doors.

They went into an agricultural program, the farm to table and for basically no other reason, bit the chickens head off and kept the head in the mouth, and then wanted to see how the chicken died, I mean its pretty sadistic if you think of it, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told FOX35 Orlando.

After killing the bird, police said Jimenez bragged about "biting the head off the chicken," which prompted students to report the incident.

LOUISIANA POLICE INVESTIGATING VIRAL ANIMAL CRUELTY VIDEO

He went and bragged about what he had done and then several students went and informed the school, Chitwood said.

Jimenez has been charged with animal cruelty and trespassing, and is due in court on Wednesday. Additional charges are possible against any other students who were involved in the incident, police said.

The woman who donated the group of chickens for culinary students at the school to raise told FOX35 the incident was "very disturbing."

To kill an animal, a live animal and its sad that the kids worked very hard, Beth Bechir said.A Tennessee couple forced a young child to sleep in a bathtub, made her drink toilet water and didnt feed her well enough, police say.

Jesse Piatt, 37, and Trish Piatt, 30, of Millington, were charged with aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect or endangerment after police discovered they were allegedly torturing their 9-year-old girl, LocalMemphis.com reported Friday.

Police launched an investigation into the couple in January after the girl was caught stealing food from a teacher, WREG-TV reported. School officials learned at the time that she was allegedly forced to sleep in a bathtub and that she wasnt being fed properly, according to the station.

Upon meeting the girl, authorities learned that the girl was frail and had a shaved patch on the top of her head, according to FOX13 Memphis. Police said the girl told officers that she had only one onesies to wear to bed and was being forced to drink toilet water, the station reported. The child also claimed she was being beaten with a belt by her parents, WREG-TV reported, citing police documents.

Child services was called and while the agency reportedly wanted to send the girl back home, investigators refused because of the severity of the accusations, according to Local Memphis.

Jesse Piatt, the girls father, told police that his daughter had an undiagnosed medical condition and that he was trying to get her committed to a mental hospital, but was afraid she would kill him in his sleep, WREG-TV reported. He reportedly admitted to police that the girl slept in the bathtub, but that was because she refused to sleep in bed.

He also told police his daughter was "an embarrassment to the other children, according to WREG-TV.

A doctor had told police in January that they were worried the girl was being tortured, FOX13 Memphis reported. The doctor said the girls behavior was being caused by neglect and psychological abuse.

The child's behaviors and disclosures were all indicative of nutritional neglect, medical neglect, and psychological abuse as well as physical abuse, a police report stated, according to WREG-TV. "Descriptions of [the] treatment are consistent with torture and [the doctor] believes [the child] is at high risk for serious psychological problems as a result of [the] abuse, as well as death.

The doctor also told authorities that she had bruising consistent with the allegations that Trish Piatt, the girls stepmother, pushed her down and kicked her, the station reported.

The child had since been placed in foster care. The couple were being held in Shelby County Jail.Pro-life students at University of Texas at San Antonio noticed their banner promoting an upcoming speaker had been stolen Friday  for the fifth time in the last year.

The UTSA Student For the Right to Life invited former Planned Parenthood worker, Abby Johnson, to speak on campus Monday night and had been promoting the event with the poster for one week.

Abby Johnson: Selling Planned Parenthood Lies the banner read in part.

The pro-life group reported the incident to campus police, and condemned the theft of the university-approved sign in the McKinney Humanities Building on campus.

Johnson spoke Monday night as planned, which the group live-streamed on Facebook.

UTSA Students For the Right to Life President Sean Gillen said he hoped whoever took the sign would have attended Johnsons talk and listened to her.

The fact that are signs are being taken means people are reading them! Gillen said in a statement. Everyone is welcome at our events no matter what you think of the pro-life position. Instead of taking our signs down, come talk to us!

The group reported that five signs have been taken down from the group over the last year.

Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, is calling on the school to fully investigate the situation.

The theft showcases that the pro-abortion groups have no real case to make, Hawkins said. They have to resort to crimes to prevent others from making their points. But the pro-life generation will not be silenced. We are so glad to see our students fighting back against the anti-free speech actions at their school.

As a registered student organization, this group is permitted to display banners promoting its campus events. Their unauthorized removal runs counter to UTSAs culture of inclusiveness, respect and civil discourse in which differing opinions are valued for how they teach tolerance and prepare students to be global citizens, the university's spokesman Joe Izbrand told Fox News.The White House said Wednesday that the U.S. military mission in Syria was coming to "a rapid end" but offered no firm timeline for a withdrawal, even as President Donald Trump has insisted it's time for American troops to return home.

With allies anxious about a hasty U.S. withdrawal, the Trump administration said it would stay in war-torn Syria to finish off the job of defeating the Islamic State group and was committed to eliminating the militants' "small" presence that "our forces have not already eradicated."

But White House press secretary Sarah Sanders suggested that would not be a long-term endeavor, and she described the extremist group that once controlled vast swaths of Syria and Iraq as "almost completely destroyed."

There were clear signs the United States was narrowing its mission in Syria, still in the throes of a long-running civil war, and would focus only on defeating IS and not on the broader task of stabilizing the country and ensuring that the extremists cannot re-emerge.

"We will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans," Sanders said in a brief written statement. "We expect countries in the region and beyond, plus the United Nations, to work toward peace and ensure" that IS never comes back.

Trump and his national security team are having a contentious debate about the future U.S. role in Syria, where an American-led coalition has been fighting IS since 2014. Roughly 2,000 U.S. troops are currently in Syria.

The president met with top aides Tuesday before telling reporters that he wanted to "get out" and "bring our troops back home." CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who has been nominated to be secretary of state, and other advisers strongly advised Trump against too quick a withdrawal, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal talks.

U.S. officials and foreign governments have been concerned that without a continued American military presence, IS could re-constitute itself or others could fill the void. There are fears, too, that Iran could gain further ground in the country.

Before that meeting, Trump said he expected to decide "very quickly" whether to remove U.S. forces and that their primary mission was to defeat IS. "We've almost completed that task," he said.

At a news conference with the leaders of the Baltic nations, Trump was asked whether he still favored pulling U.S. troops out of Syria.

"As far as Syria is concerned, our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of ISIS," Trump said, using an acronym for the extremist group. "We've completed that task and we'll be making a decision very quickly, in coordination with others in the area, as to what we will do."

The mission is "very costly for our country and it helps other countries a helluva lot more than it helps us," Trump said.

"I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation," he said.

Yet some of his military advisers spoke at a separate event in Washington about the need to stay in Iraq and Syria to finish off IS, especially remnants of IS in eastern Syria.

"The hard part, I think, is in front of us, and that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, addressing the long-term issues" such as reconstruction. "There is a military role in this, certainly in the stabilization phase," said Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations across the Middle East, including Syria.

Another lingering question is the fate of some $200 million in U.S. stabilization assistance for Syria that the White House put on hold after Trump said last week that he wanted to leave Syria "very soon." The State Department was to have spent the money on building up the country's infrastructure, including power, water and roads.

Trump in recent weeks has asked Saudi Arabia to contribute $4 billion for reconstruction in Syria, according to a U.S. official, as part of the president's effort to get other countries to pay for stabilizing the country so the U.S. isn't on the hook. The United States is awaiting a response from the Saudis, said the official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the conversations publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A senior Syrian Kurdish official said Trump's comments on wanting to withdraw from Syria came at an "inappropriate time" as IS re-emerges in eastern Syria and amid threats from Turkey.

The main IS holdout in Syria is in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where momentum by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces has stalled in recent weeks as many Kurdish members of the group have shifted west to the Afrin area to fight Turkish forces. Pentagon officials have publicly raised the prospect of this giving the IS group the breathing room it needs to regroup.

Many have warned that a premature U.S. withdrawal from Syria would cede the country to Iran and Russia, which have supported Syrian President Bashar Assad. Iran's continued presence in Syria is especially troubling to neighboring Israel, a U.S. ally that regards Iran as an existential threat.A former Colorado Department of Education worker was found guilty Tuesday of sexual assault and taking photos up the skirts of hundreds of unsuspecting women, including female co-workers.

Thanh Ta, 43, was found guilty on 17 of 19 counts, including sexual assault, stalking, and invasion of privacy for sexual gratification, according to the Denver District Attorneys Office. The trial lasted six days.

Ta, a former budget analyst at the Education Department, was arrested in October after state personnel alerted Denver police to a trove of apparently pornographic files found on Tas external hard drive, the Denver Post reported. Ta had been linked to the files after connecting the hard drive to a Department of Education computer.

Most of the hard drives 250,000 photos and videos were taken between 2011 and 2017, the paper reported.

Ta reportedly catalogued the files with the names of 26 current and former female colleagues. They contained videos and photos he had covertly taken up the victims skirts. Ta had also taken photos of hundreds of other women in public places at downtown Denvers 16th Street Mall, the Post reported.

Ta was convicted for offenses against only 12 of at least 135 victims because the statute of limitations had expired in the remaining cases, KCNC-TV reported. Many of the women Ta had victimized appeared in court.

Watching these women individually stand up to Thanh Ta was one thing, Assistant District Attorney Ryan Brackley told the station. But, seeing them sitting in court supporting each other was inspiring.

Ta was scheduled to be sentenced in June.Federal authorities on Wednesday began legal proceedings to strip U.S. citizenship from two Bosnians, including one living in Oregon, for war crimes including executing civilians during that country's civil war in the 1990s.

The move by the U.S. Justice Department comes years after Rasema Handanovic and Edin Dzeko were extradited and later convicted by courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2011. After serving her sentence, Handanovic returned to Beaverton, Oregon, according to a statement from the Justice department, while Dzeko has not yet been released by Bosnian authorities.

The department filed denaturalization lawsuits against the pair in federal courts in Oregon and the District of Columbia Wednesday. It wasn't immediately clear if Handanovic has an attorney in Oregon, and information about an attorney for Dzeko was not immediately available.

Members of the same military unit during the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990's, the pair were convicted of executing civilians and unarmed soldiers during a massacre in the tiny mountain village of Trusina.

The larger conflict between Bosnia's three main groups  Muslims, Serbs and Croats  lasted from 1992 until 1995, killed 260,000 people and displaced forced 1.8 million more to flee. Muslims and Croats were allied against the Serbs at the start of the war, but they became enemies when Croat forces sought to capture territory held by the Bosnian army.

The military unit to which the pair belonged, part of the Bosnian army, attacked Croats in Trusina on April 16, 1993.

During the attack, the pair was part of a firing squad that executed six people, including civilians, and Handanovic made sure all six were dead by shooting them again, Bosnian courts later found. Dzeko was also convicted of killing an elderly man and his wife, according to the Justice Department.

After the massacre, the pair hid their military service and applied for refugee status in the U.S., claiming to have been victims of persecution, the Justice Department said.

After receiving the status, both moved to the Pacific Northwest, with Dzeko settling in Everett, Wash., and Handanovic in Beaverton. Federal authorities only learned about their participation in the massacre later, when Bosnia and Herzegovina requested in 2011 that the pair be extradited.

Both were convicted in Bosnia the following year. Handanovic cooperated with Bosnian courts and received a reduced sentence for providing information about other members of the unit, including Dzeko.The YouTube shooter visited a local gun range Tuesday morning before heading to the video-sharing companys headquarters in California to carry out the rampage that wounded three people, police said Wednesday.

Nasim Aghdam, 39, of San Diego, was believed to be upset with YouTubes policy and practices before opening fire in the companys headquarters in San Bruno, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said. Police are still determining the exact motive, but said her hatred toward the company appears to be the prime reason.

That is the direction that were being pointed to based on the information that we have now," Barberini had told Fox News earlier in the day.

Aghdam, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, did not have a specific target and did not know any of the victims.

"[We] have no indication that she was selecting individuals to fire at," Barberini said.

The self-described vegan bodybuilder got into the building through a parking garage. Investigators are in the process of executing search warrants at two properties.

Of the three people wounded, a 36-year-old man was still in the hospital Wednesday in serious condition, hospital officials said. Two other people, a 32-year-old woman and a 27-year-old woman, were released.

A timeline of Aghdams movements leading up to the shooting was released by police. She was reported missing on Monday by her father, Ismail, who told police his daughter might be heading to YouTube because she hated the company, Mercury News reported.

She was always complaining that YouTube ruined her life, Aghdam's brother, Shahran, also told reporters, according to Mercury News.

'SHE WAS SHOT TEN TIMES': WITNESS CLAIMS SEEING TWO WOMEN SHOT AT YOUTUBE HQ

Police found her sleeping in a vehicle parked in a lot in the Silicon Valley hub of Mountain View around 2 a.m. Tuesday, about 30 miles from where she would later carry out her rampage. She had driven more than 500 miles from San Diego to San Bruno. Officers called her family, who Mountain View police said gave no indication Aghdam might commit violence.

During that call, we spoke with both the womans father and her brother. The father confirmed to us that the family had been having issues at home, but did not act in any way concerned about why his daughter had left, police said in a news release Wednesday. At no point during that conversation did either Aghdams father or brother make any statements regarding the womans potential threat to, or a possible attack on, the YouTube campus.

Also, there was no indication from either Aghdam or her family that she may have been in possession of any weapons, the statement added.

Police said Aghdams father called back about an hour later to inform officers that his daughter was upset with YouTube after an incident involving her vegan videos.

Once again, at no point did her father or brother mention anything about potential acts of violence or a possibility of Aghdam lashing out as a result of her issues with her videos. They remained calm throughout this second phone call, the statement continued.

But before the rampage and her concerned fathers warning, Aghdam had voiced her hatred for YouTube on her social media pages and website. Using the name Nasime Sabz, the 39-year-old ran a Facebook page, two Instagram pages and multiple YouTube channels that garnered thousands of subscribers.

Aghdam described herself as an "animal rights activist" promoting a healthy and humane lifestyle. Her pages were littered with strange workout videos, vegan cooking tutorials mixed with graphic animal abuse videos.

One clip showed animals being skinned alive while another video, which has been removed from YouTube, allegedly showed a stolen pet dog cooked alive. She was also pictured at an animal rights protest in 2009 wearing a wig and jeans with large blood drops painted on them.

For me, animal rights equal human rights, Aghdam told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2009.

Another social media account said she was a model, artist and comedian. Her website featured bold fonts and rants about YouTubes policies that she claimed were barring her from getting video views.

"Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!" one of the messages on the site read. "There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!"

YOUTUBE SHOOTER IDD AS WOMAN WITH APPARENT VENDETTA AGAINST COMPANY

She posted a screenshot complaining about the lack of money she earned in one of her videos after YouTube placed an age restriction on it. She said the company had de-monetized her channels and filtered them. In a video shared on Twitter, Aghdam said YouTube employees wanted users to be their slaves.

This video got age restricted after new close-minded youtube employees, got control of my farsi youtube channel last year 2016 & began filtering my videos to reduce views & suppress & discaurage me from making videos! she wrote on her website.

Ismail told Mercury News Tuesday night his daughter informed the family a couple weeks ago that YouTube was censoring her content. She also claimed she stopped receiving money for her content.

She was angry, the father said.

YouTube users can receive money from advertisements, but the company can de-monetize a channel for several reasons. Its unclear what occurred in regards to Aghdams content.

YOUTUBE EMPLOYEE DESCRIBES SEEING 'BLOOD DRIPS ON THE FLOOR' AMID ACTIVE SHOOTER REPORTS

Her father said he didn't know when his daughter obtained the gun. Its also unclear if the family knew about Aghdams shooting intentions.

Barberini had told Fox News earlier Wednesday he's not jumping to conclusions on whether the police department should have warned YouTube about Aghdam after her father revealed the 39-year-old was upset with the company Tuesday morning.



"Theres a lot of factors and variables that go into it," he said. "It depends on how the information was received and how it was relayed and who it was relayed to. So there could be a process there that wed wanna take a look at rather than jump to any types of conclusions.

Fox News' Dan Gallo and Jonathan Hunt and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Joanna Demafelis loved life. She took hundreds of selfies and posted them all over social media. So it was unusual when she stopped.

Her family grew worried about the maid from the Philippines who had moved to Kuwait to support them. Their fears turned out to be justified.

In February this year, a full 12 months after she went missing, Demafelis body was discovered inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment where shed worked for a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife.

The sixth of nine children had moved overseas in 2014 like many young Filipino women do to help their families survive. They were struggling to repair the battered family home after Typhoon Haiyan tore through.

She would call family routinely and never complained. But when the calls stopped, her family went to authorities.

The Lebanese-Syrian couple was arrested in February in the Syrian capital Damascus following an Interpol manhunt.

Syrian authorities handed the husband, Nader Essam Assaf, over to Lebanese authorities, while his Syrian wife remained in custody in Damascus.

On Sunday, the pair was sentenced in absentia to hang for their crimes, but the fallout has impacted an entire country.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte responded to Demafelis death by banning the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait, though that wont affect the more than 250,000 Filipinos still working in the oil-rich nation.

Click for more from news.com.auA bus originating from Texas crashed in Mexico, leaving one person dead and 15 others injured, authorities said Tuesday.

The vehicle, operated by the Pegasso bus line, departed from Houston and crashed along a highway, according to federal police in the northern Mexico border state of Nuevo Leon.

TWO DEAD AFTER HOME-BUILT PLANE CRASHES IN CALIFORNIA

About 40 people were on the bus when the incident occurred, Fox 26 reported, citing authorities. The vehicle reportedly departed Houston on Monday evening and was going to the city of Monterrey.

A photo shared by federal police on Twitter showed the bus resting on its side in a ditch, laying partly off the road.

The identity of the deceased person or the condition of those who were injured has not yet been released. It wasnt immediately clear what led to the crash.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey are meeting in the Turkish capital for talks on Syria's future.

The leaders are expected to reaffirm their commitment to Syria's territorial integrity and the continuation of local cease-fires when they meet Wednesday.

The three countries have been working to try and resolve the conflict, which is now in its seventh year. Russia and Iran have provided crucial support to President Bashar Assad's forces, while Turkey has backed the rebels seeking to overthrow him.

They have sponsored a series talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana, and have set up "de-escalation zones" aimed at reducing the fighting.The caravan of roughly 1,000 Central Americans moving toward the United States appeared to be splintering into smaller groups and "disperse" as of Wednesday, after drawing the ire of President Trump and capturing the attention of the nation.

The large group has been camped out in the town of Matias Romero in the southern part of Mexico since the weekend, after starting a trek from the Guatemala-Mexico border on March 25. It reached a peak of about 1,500 but a spokesperson for the advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras  which organized the caravan and sought to draw attention to the rights of migrants  told Reuters that many people had broken off and were continuing the route on their own.

Now theyre separating these groups, Ellis Garcia told Reuters. I dont know whats the deal, we have no answers.

As the caravan began to attract growing attention in the U.S., Mexico began cracking down on the group. The Mexican government said in a statement late Tuesday that its immigration policy "is not subject to pressure," but noted the caravan "began to disperse by decision of the participants." It said 465 people had asked for transit visas and 230 had gotten them, and another 168 were likely to get some sort of visa to stay in Mexico.

Officials previously said 400 people in the caravan to be sent back to their home countries. That prompted the caravan to break apart, organizers said.

An estimated 300 people split from the larger caravan on Monday, while advocacy groups told the news agency dozens of other people split off to the eastern state of Veracuz only to be met by Mexican immigration officials and police.

Some people were given documents that gives them 20 days to transit the country on their way to the U.S. border with the stated goal of applying for asylum, according to The Associated Press. Others received papers in a first step toward a humanitarian Mexican residency visa, especially for the more vulnerable, or for asylum in Mexico.

TRUMP SAYS THE MILITARY WILL SECURE THE SOUTHERN BORDER UNTIL WALL CAN BE BUILT

"What was agreed with the Mexican state, what is being agreed with the Mexican state, is to legalize those people who are vulnerable, which is the majority of migrants," Irineo Mujica, a coordinator of the caravan, told Reuters. "And we are looking out for their interests, with exit routes, some people are more vulnerable, humanitarian visas or any other type of document so they can cross through the country in the best way possible."

Mayra Zepeda, 38, of Honduras, told the AP that once she gets documents to cross Mexico, she and her husband will continue their journey toward the border city of Tijuana. She said they hope to find better paying jobs there and aren't planning to try to cross into the U.S.

She and her family stopped in the Mexican town of Tapachula at the Guatemala border for three months and she worked in a restaurant. When the caravan came together there, they saw it as a good opportunity to make a move with safety in numbers.

"Honestly, I want to be Mexican," Zepeda said. "We're not going to cross. We're just going to stay here."

But while some plan to stay in Mexico, others plan to continue on their journey to reach the U.S.

"Our destination is to reach the United States, to support those who remain (in Honduras)," Mirna Hernandez told Reuters. "Not long ago my brother was killed, he was killed cruelly. Doing this for him and his family, that is why we are fighting to go there."

CARAVAN PARTICIPANTS GET HELP FROM WITHIN MEXICO, AMID EFFORTS TO DISBAND GROUP AND PRESSURE FROM TRUMP

The caravan is an annual, symbolic event held around Easter each year to raise awareness about the plight of migrants and has never left southern Mexico, though some participants then continue north on their own. Mujica told the AP the group "will try to find a better way of doing our caravans" in coming years.

"We didn't anticipate, or want, a caravan of this size," he said.

While illegal border crossings slowed after Trump's election, border agents told Fox News that there is a daily informal caravan that has kept border apprehensions increasing in the months since, as word spread that nothing has changed along the border.

On Tuesday, Trump announced he would deploy the National Guard to protect the border until a wall can be built. Over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support.

Fox News' William Lajeunesse and The Associated Press contributed to this report.On April 19, for the first time in almost 60 years, Cuba likely will have a leader whose last name is not Castro.

Raul Castro, who took over as leader in 2008 after his brother Fidel became too ill to continue as president, is stepping down at the age of 86 and Cubas sitting vice president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, is expected to succeed him.

The end of the era of Castro regimes comes after a dramatic turn in U.S.-Cuba relations under the Obama administration, which restored diplomatic relations, followed by renewed tensions after Donald Trump took office and said that he would not continue the march toward friendship with a nation that had made no real democratic reforms.

Once viewed as more open to democracy than the Castro brothers, Diaz-Canel, 57, is likely to continue hard-line policies and a governing style that bows to the Communist revolution, which took place before he was born.

Last year, a leaked video of a private meeting of the Cuban Communist Party showed Diaz-Canel denouncing dissidents, the United States and independent journalists -- while sharing conspiracy theories about how opponents of the Communist revolution were trying to infiltrate elections and run for office.

Echoing the rhetoric that Fidel and Raul Castro favored for building resentment on the island toward the United States, Diaz-Canel said the U.S. government was determined to conquer Cuba economically and politically, and said he found the Trump administration offensive.

Diaz-Canel said the burden was on the United States to rectify a history of hostilities toward Cuba.

The U.S. government... invaded Cuba, put the blockade [embargo] in place, imposed restrictive measures, he told the party leaders. Cuba did not do any of that, so in return for nothing they have to solve those asymmetries if they want relations and if they want normalization of the relations. We do not have to give anything in return.

Diaz-Canel, who has an engineering background, characterized President Barack Obamas efforts to normalize relations with Cuba as an underhanded way of upending the Castro government and mounting the destruction of the revolution.

He said he had been directly involved in government efforts to stifle dissidents, and accused some of Cubas most well-known anti-government activists, such as blogger Yoani Sanchez and the Ladies in White, of being subsidized puppets of the United States.

I always tell the comrades... with whom I work together in this whole confrontation with the counterrevolution: the day we cut the money, the counterrevolution ends, said Diaz-Canel, a tall, white-haired man with a baritone voice who favors buttoned-down shirts and suits to the military fatigues that the Castro brothers usually wore.

U.S. State Department officials told Fox News the agency expects no change in Cubas oppressive government after Castro steps down.

We would prefer not to speculate ahead of the selection of the next president, a State Department official told Fox News. However, on March 11, Cubas Communist Party presented voters with a pre-determined slate of 605 candidates for the 605 National Assembly seats.

The exercise was essentially a rubber stamp of Communist Party-determined appointments to the body that will select Cubas next president, the official said. The Cuban government blocked independent candidates from getting their names on the ballot. Cuban citizens had no real or meaningful choice during this tightly-controlled electoral process, which does not meet the most basic definition of democracy or freedom.

Many Cuba watchers say that Raul Castro will continue to wield enormous influence given that despite stepping down from the presidency, he will remain as General Secretary of the Community Party. If Diaz-Canel succeeds him, it will be because Castro chose him, experts say.

Diaz-Canel is the designated civilian face of the military dictatorship, said Otto Reich, former assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs under President George W. Bush. We must remember the real power in Cuba will continue to be the Castro family dynasty. Even after resigning, Raul will remain Secretary General of the Communist Party, the most important position in the governmentRauls son, Colonel Alejandro Castro Espin, will remain in charge of counterintelligence (the political police) and therefore the chief enforcer of order, ideology, and loyalty to the dynasty.

Other Castro family members will continue in key positions of government and the military, which owns nearly three-quarters of the productive sector of the economy, including all tourist infrastructure, Reich told Fox News. Nothing will change in Cuba until the West stops playing the regimes game."

Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, agrees.



We must be clear-eyed as we examine the future of Cuba," Menendez said to Fox News. "Raul Castros hand-picked successor has no plans to release political prisoners, stop harboring fugitives and foreign terrorists, respect free speech or to finally grant basic liberties to Cubans."

"Unless the regime commits to governing Cuba rather than exploiting its people, this transition wont be any different for Cubans."

Cubas next president would grapple with an economy in crisis, notably because it can no longer depend on Venezuela, which is experiencing its own economic as well as political turmoil.

Theres also technological advances that the Cuban government has seen as an evil necessity, trying to adapt to them while also fighting to control the new avenues they have given dissidents wanting to tell the world  in real time  about regime crackdowns on protesters.

Diaz-Canel has told party leaders that government agencies need to use technology to disseminate information  and tenets of the Communist revolution -- to a younger generation on the island that increasingly turns to social media. He also said that Cubans should be able to use the Internet and social media to interact with the government, even to criticize. Most Cubans, however, lack easy access to computers and the Internet. They must visit Internet cafes to get access.

Unclear, of course, is what changes will occur, under Diaz-Canel or someone else, once Raul Castro no longer has the same influence on the government.

Raul Castro presided over some key reforms that included allowing Cubans to run their own businesses, entering the agreement with Obama to restore diplomatic relations, and allowing some of Cuba's most prominent dissidents to travel abroad -- where they often denounced him and human rights violations on the island -- and return home.

While Raul Castro did these things, which Fidel was loathe to do, he often pulled back, maintaining an iron first on dissidents -- who routinely were arrested and detained -- and he criticized Obama shortly after hosting the U.S. president during the historic 2016 visit to Havana.

John Gronbeck-Tedesco, a professor at Ramapo College in New Jersey and author of books about Cuba, said the impact that a Diaz-Canel government could have cannot be predicted at this point.

What Diaz-Canel does or doesn't do will depend on how Cubans respond to the first non-Castro leader in three generations, Gronbeck-Tedesco told Fox News. The key unknown, it seems to me, is how young people will respond to the change in leadership.

Undoubtedly, Diaz-Canel will have to address them as a key constituency, which the Castros were able to overlook due to the history of the revolution, he said, but now young Cubans have expectations after having had their voices silenced or ignored for many years. Diaz-Canel may have to confront this oversight early in his leadership.next Image 1 of 2

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Top Russian defense and security officials are accusing the West of fomenting a new Cold War in a bid to retain waning influence in global affairs.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says NATO is using "the non-existent Russian threat to methodically boost its military potential" and beef up its forces near Russia's borders.

Speaking at a security conference Wednesday, Shoigu said Moscow will respond to NATO's moves by strengthening its defense capabilities to "ensure military security of Russia and its allies."

Russia-West relations have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War following Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Tensions further escalated this month after the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain, leading to mass diplomats' expulsions by the West and Russia.The head of Russias foreign intelligence agency lashed out at the U.S. and NATO allies on Wednesday, accusing the West of provoking a new Cold War amid escalating tensions over the poisoning of an ex-spy and his daughter in England.

Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, told a security conference in Moscow attended by defense officials from Asia, Africa, and Latin America that the attack on the former spy, Sergei Skripal, was a "grotesque provocation rudely staged by British and U.S. intelligence agencies."

British and U.S. officials have previously rejected similar allegations, instead pointing the finger at Russia, which has a long history of ordering hits on spies and dissidents.

Tensions between Russia and other Western nations have greatly escalated since March 4, when Skripal was poisoned by a nerve agent. The United States last week ordered 60 Russian diplomats to leave, part of a widespread expulsion of diplomats by Britain and some of its allies. Moscow ordered tit-for-tat expulsions of Western diplomats as a response.

Naryshkin said actions such as the expulsions, differences over the war in Syria and the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election mean its possible to start speaking of a return to the Cold War era, according to Reuters.

"Washington has become fixated with the fight against a non-existent, so-called Russian threat. This has reached such proportions and acquired such absurd characteristics that its possible to speak of a return to the dark times of the Cold War," he said.

HERES WHY RUSSIA WOULD LOSE A SECOND COLD WAR -- AND WOULD BE UNWISE TO START ONE

He added that that the U.S. and its allies have been unable to adapt to global changes, including a growing role of China, Russia and other countries.

Another top official, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, accused the U.S. and its NATO allies of using "the non-existent Russian threat to methodically boost their military potential" and beef up their forces near Russia's borders.

Shoigu emphasized that the U.S.-led missile defense program has become a "major destabilizing factor inciting an arms race."

He pointed at a growing number of NATO intelligence flights near Russia's borders and an increasing pace of NATO's military drills, noting that they have "a clear anti-Russian character."

"The danger of provocations and military incidents has significantly increased," Shoigu said.

Shoigu said that NATO has stonewalled Moscow's attempts to engage in a dialogue, adding that "we aren't going to knock on the closed door, but will not leave attempts to apply pressure on us unattended."

He warned that Moscow will respond to NATO's moves by strengthening its defense capabilities to "ensure military security of Russia and its allies."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.next Image 1 of 2

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Rwanda's government has closed thousands of churches and dozens of mosques as it seeks to assert more control over a vibrant religious community whose sometimes makeshift operations, authorities say, have threatened the lives of followers.

President Paul Kagame has said he was shocked by the high number of churches in this small East African country. "700 churches in Kigali?" he said of houses of worship in the nation's capital in March. "Are these boreholes (deep wells) that give people water? I don't think we have as many boreholes. Do we even have as many factories? This has been a mess!"

Kagame said Rwanda doesn't need so many houses of worship, claiming that such a high number is only fit for bigger, more developed economies that have the means to sustain them.

The closings are bringing mixed reactions in Rwanda, where human rights groups have long accused Kagame's government of clamping down on freedom of expression, which the president has denied. Six Pentecostal pastors who protested the church closures were arrested and accused of "illegal meetings with bad intentions," and since then other critics have refused to discuss the issue with The Associated Press.

While Rwanda's government describes the closures as tackling churches that have failed to comply with building safety standards, it is taking other steps to oversee the religious community in the largely Christian nation of 12 million people.

Proposed legislation aims to regulate faith-based organizations separately from civil society organizations, said Alexis Nkurunziza, president of the private Rwanda Religious Leaders Forum. Suggestions from religious leaders soon will be forwarded to the Rwanda Law Reform Commission for scrutiny and later to parliament, he said. The legislation is expected to be passed as the ruling party holds a majority of parliamentary seats.

The new legislation would require pastors to have a theology degree before they start their own churches so that they teach correct doctrine, said those familiar with the discussions. The aim is to regulate the Pentecostal churches that often spring up under leaders who claim to have received a call to preach. Not everyone, however, has the money for such a degree, some observers have said.

The majority of churches that have been closed are said to be small Pentecostal prayer houses, with some preachers suspected of growing rich off often impoverished followers. Some churches meet in tents or houses that cannot accommodate crowds and noise pollution from nighttime gatherings is a concern, authorities said.

"The prayer houses were found in such poor physical conditions, and we are not targeting any religion," Anastase Shyaka, the head of the Rwanda Governance Board that regulates faith-based organizations, told the AP. "We are closing prayer houses of all different denominations and asking them to meet existing health and safety standards for their followers."

Local media in the capital have reported that over 6,000 churches have been closed so far across the country, but Shaka said the actual number was still being compiled.

Rwanda's government respects freedom of worship but protecting lives of people comes first, he said, adding that churches which meet the required safety standards will be reopened.

One new requirement for churches is the installation of a lightning rod, after a lightning strike in March killed 16 worshippers and injured 140 at a Seventh-Day Adventist church in the country's south.

Mosques across Rwanda also have been affected. About 100 have been closed, the leader of the country's Muslim community, Mufti Sheikh Salim Hitimana, told AP.

"We are now trying to fix what the government told us to do," he said.

Some evangelical leaders said they support Rwanda's crackdown, saying that protecting the lives of churchgoers is important and having qualified, trained leaders is necessary.

"Government efforts to have churches build better structures are welcome to all of us," said Esron Maniragaba, president of the Evangelical Free Church of Rwanda and a leader with the Evangelical Alliance of Rwanda.

Some Rwandans said the government should supervise churches and take action against exploitative pastors.

"Some pastors are motivated by greed and start churches to defraud their followers," said Charles Murinzi, who attends an Anglican church in the capital.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_AfricaAn attempt by a police department in England to find the suspect involved in a burglary on Monday as instead has turned into an ongoing joke online.

The Warwickshire Police Department released a computer-generated sketch to try to catch a man involved in the February burglary, after a woman in her 40's said she was distracted by the suspect while another man broke into her home and stole money.

Almost immediately after posting the photo, people on Twitter began replying if there had been a mistake and started comparing it to a SnapChat filter or other cartoon characters.

The police department later responded, saying "We can confirm that this is real and that we anticipated the attention! But jokes aside, it was created from a description provided and it's serious as a woman was victim of a horrible crime. Hopefully the attention will mean we identify the offender/bring him to justice quicker."

Users on Twitter are asking police to release the man's mugshot once he's been arrested so they'll be able to compare the two images.MOSS POINT, Miss. -- In a 5-2 vote, the Moss Point Board of Aldermen voted to remove the interim tag from Brandon Ashley, making him the newest police chief for the City of Moss Point.

The two 'nay' votes came from Ward 2 alderman Sherwood Bradford and Ward 4 alderman Ennit Morris.

Morris said he voted 'nay' because there were nine other candidates the board had yet to interview.

Bradford agreed with Morris and felt that since the civil service protection clause needed to be amended, Tuesday's aldermen meeting was not the time to appoint a police chief.

Mayor Mario King and Bradford had a pretentious back and forth with Bradford making comments in response to King's Facebook Live post from last week where he discussed racism and the different forms in which it could be conveyed.

Bradford doubled down on his comments regarding not providing civil service protection to the chief positions.

When the Mississippi Press spoke to Bradford last week, he said his fear was if a situation arose between the chief and an officer, who would the board protect.

The board once again voted 5-2 to provide civil service protection to both police and fire chief positions.

"Civil service protection when it comes down to it protects our employees and the board from making hasty decision we might think are right, but do not have the proper tools to investigate and civil service does that and does it well," King said.

"I think we had a spirited debate on the issue of civil service and I was glad that the majority agreed that this is a good move for the city, Ward 6 aldermen Wayne Lennep said. "To me, it is one more step toward improving public safety in Moss Point."

Lennep said he thought Ashley has been more than loyal to Moss Point and that he deserved the opportunity.

"I think Chief Ashley has demonstrated his loyalty to Moss Point and has earned the respect of his fellow officers and citizens," Lennep said. "He has faithfully served his city for 18 years and deserves this opportunity."

Ashley is Moss Point's fourth police chief since 2011 and ninth since 2000.

Below is a list of former chiefs since 1998:

Interim Butch Gager 1998-2000

Butch Gager 2000-2002

Michael Ricks 2002-2005

Interim Demetrius Drakeford October 2005

Demetrius Drakeford 2005-2007

Fred Gaston December 2007 - June 2008

Sheila Smallman 2008-2011

Interim Bobby Johnson March 2011

Keith Davis 2011-2014

Interim Art McClung June 2014 - December 2014

Art McClung December 2014 - September 2016

Interim Chief Brandon Ashley September 2016 - May 2017

Calvin Hutchins May 2017 - February 2018

Brandon Ashley appointed as Chief of Police April 3, 2018

The Mississippi Press attempted to reach Bradford -- our call has not been returned.OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- They arrived at Ocean Springs City Hall Monday afternoon -- eight packages shipped via Amazon, with one addressed to Mayor Shea Dobson and one each for the seven members of the board of aldermen.

Inside each package was a set of white bed sheets -- and a note:

"Hi Mayor/Alderman, I wasn't quite sure of your size, so just consider this a do-it-yourself kit. Your other option, of course, being to grow a spine, publicly denounce the Klan and take down the flag. From Sarah Halstead."

The packages appear to have been sent by Sarah Halstead -- a former Ocean Springs resident now residing in Roanoke, Va., according to her Facebook page.

The packages were an obvious response to the decision of the Ocean Springs board to fly the state flag at city hall. Dobson, in his first day in office, made the decision to fly the Mississippi flag at city hall, but later reversed course and removed the flag.

In late November, however, aldermen voted 6-1 in favor of a resolution requiring the flag be flown at city hall and all other municipal buildings.

Unsurprisingly, the "gifts" were not well-received.

"It's sad that people will try to paint you as something you are not," said alderman Rob Blackman. "But this is the world we live in now. What I am suggesting we do with these 'gifts' is to donate them to a shelter or some other organization which can put them to good use, which would at least turn what is clearly intended as a negative into a positive."

"I just think it's unfortunate and troubling that just because someone may disagree with a policy, they want to call people racists and white supremacists and all of that," Dobson said. "It's just disappointing to see politics degrade to that level. I'm just shocked people have this level of hatred. It's sad."

Alderman Bobby Cox agreed.

"We opened them and were mighty disappointed to get something like that," he said. "They're trying to put us in a group that we're obviously not a part of. I don't think it's right. I don't appreciate all of what's going on with all of it."

Since the vote to require the state flag be flown, the Mississippi Rising Coalition has held press conferences and a march through downtown Ocean Springs to show their opposition to the move and in support of removing the state flag.

Board meetings over the past several months have often been dominated by audience comments over the flag issue -- frequently overshadowing other city business.

Ironically, the packages were received less than a week after Dobson issued a statement publicly denouncing the KKK in the wake of a group called "United White Dixie Knights of the KKK" published a YouTube video directed to the Mississippi Rising Coalition.

"The KKK is a bunch of racist, coward terrorists," Dobson said in his statement. "Their actions should be rebuked by everyone, regardless of party affiliation or political beliefs. This Gulf Coast community is made up of the most compassionate and loving people there is, regardless what others may say."

Dobson and the three aldermen who were aware of the packages as of Tuesday morning all noted the city adopted a resolution asking the state legislature to set a new statewide referendum on the flag issue and said actions such as the packages serve no useful purpose in that effort.

"Everyone of us has said we want to have a vote on the flag," Cox said. "I guess they just don't care if it's the state flag. They don't like it, but they don't care if it's the state flag. Just take it down. But if you don't like it that much, then let's work to solve the problem and spend more time talking to the folks in Jackson and see what we can do there."

Interestingly, aldermen Rickey Authement also received one of the packages -- despite being the only member of the board to have voted against the resolution mandating the flag be flown.

"Whoever it was sent that to us is obviously not even following the flag issue closely," he said, "because she accused me of being spineless in the little note she had in there. I voted not to fly the flag at city hall, so I don't know how much more spine I needed."

A message left for Halstead through her Facebook page had not been returned as of mid-afternoon Tuesday. Nothing on her public Facebook profile indicates she is affiliated with the Mississippi Rising Coalition, although she is Facebook friends with MRC president Lea Campbell, an Ocean Springs resident, and has posted links to stories related to the flag issue.

Authement also said actions such as the sending the packages are only hurting the effort in support for a new state flag.

"I think they're hurting themselves," he said. "Each one of these groups is blaming the City for getting them where they are and it's not the City that's riling them up. They City voted on it. It is what it is and it's flying at city hall.

"The people who are causing the problems -- the KKK, Mississippi Rising -- are basically causing problems with each other and then blaming the City. The City certainly isn't egging them on. We'd like to move on to other things."

Dobson said the lack of civility in the ongoing debate over the flag is troubling.

"We can disagree on policy without calling each other names," he said. "I'd like to see those who want to change the flag, but don't support these kind of activities, begin to speak out and say 'Look, we can disagree on policy, but we don't have to stoop to attacking each other's character.'"YOUWEI has a tail: always has a playful tail.

(March 30, 2018) "I'm not a designer, I'm a buyer, I know what they need. I like to use the anti-push method, I know who you are, so I know what to give you. This is the answer from the interview on the first show of Shanghai fashion week by MOMO.Z.

On Wednesday afternoon, when the lights with the music over the runway lights up, like a movie plot by advance, China high on women's clothing brand "YOUWEI have tail" in 2018 Shanghai fashion week debut pulled open the prelude to the "dreaming". YOUWEI will use a "dream" to show how we should reach our former dreams.

A 20-minute dream through time and space.

Unlike most brands, the two years of "YOUWEI have a tail" show a 20-minute drama, with different colors or collections.

This time, YOUWEI has launched a new generation of supermodel xue dongqi, he ruoyang, and in this fashion week dance stage, a total of 40 sets of distinctive clothing. "We call this season theme 'much', after because women stepped into the mature stage, will change in my mind, I want to make the women in real life still have a chance to touch the dream, feel the dreams of the beautiful again. The dream is to wake up a woman, but you want to change it very simply, and the dress itself may not be the only thing that will enlighten you in the present moment. MOMO.Z is sharing this season's design inspiration.

Read more at:plus size bridesmaid dresses | green bridesmaid dresses ukRemember when we said President Donald Trump wasnt totally thrilled about signing a spending bill that included a $2.6 billion increase for education ? Apparently, its bugging him so much that hes still trying to find a way to make cuts.

Trump has reportedly discussed with House Republican leaders the idea of effectively cutting some spending out of the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill he signed late last month , according to recent reports in both Roll Call and the Washington Post .

The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Ac t of 1974 allows presidents to withhold or defer money from specific programs, as long as they get Congress approval. Heres a relevant summary from that law:

Pursuant to the Act, the President must notify Congress whenever he proposes a rescission or deferral of funds. If Congress does not pass a rescission bill within 45 days of continuous session, the President must release all funds proposed for rescission. The President may defer funding within a particular fiscal year, subject to the enactment of a measure disapproving the deferral.

If Trump makes such a request, it would have to specify the programs he wants to withhold or defer money from for fiscal 2018. Because there would be a deadline on a vote on any such proposal, the Senate could approve it with only 51 votes, instead of the 60 votes typically required to overcome a filibuster.

Congress could also choose to approve just a part of the request. Read more about the process here from the Office of Management and Budget .

The Trump budget request for fiscal 2018 sought major cuts to several K-12 programs, including the elimination of $2.1 billion in Title II spending for educator professional development, $1.1 billion in funding for after-school programs, and $400 million in Title IV funding, a block-grant program for districts to use in a variety of areas. In their final fiscal 2018 budget, Congress flat-funded Title II, increased after-school aid by $20 million, and dramatically boosted Title IV to $1.1 billion.

So how worried are education funding advocates? Conceding to any such demand from Trump would mean lawmakers would have to go back on the brand-new spending bill they just approved. It would also mean reversing a prior congressional agreement to raise spending caps on defense and non-defense discretionary spending for fiscal years 2018 and 2019, said Sarah Abernathy, the deputy executive director at the Committee for Education Funding, an umbrella group that represents many groups seeking more federal K-12 aid. Those two factors could make any move by Trump to withhold omnibus funding very unlikely to succeed.

We take any threat to education funding seriously, especially since Congress did fund some programs well above what the administration wanted, Abernathy said. But she added, GOP leaders supported the budget that allowed this overall level of funding for non-defense programs.

Measured by discretionary federal funding, the U.S. Department of Education is the fifth-largest department in Washington, after the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. So it wouldnt have the biggest target on its back as measured by overall dollars. But Trump hasnt made it clear which portions of the spending bill hed want to withhold. He could be more interested in making cuts at HHS and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., the top House lawmaker for Education Department funding, recently chastised Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for requesting some of the same cuts for fiscal 2019 that Congress ultimately rejected for fiscal 2018. Thats probably not a great sign for any rescission proposal, even though there is a notable contingent of House lawmakersspecifically the House Freedom Caucuswho in general would like to see spending cut on discretionary domestic programs, a category that includes the Education Department.

Abernathy noted that the fiscal 2018 spending bill amounts to a repudiation of Trumps two budget request for both fiscal 2018 and 2019.

Want more info about how much money education programs are getting in fiscal 2018? Check out the chart below:

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .Puerto Ricos teachers union has filed a lawsuit in a bid to halt charter schools and vouchers on the island before they even begin.

The Asociacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico, which represents nearly 30,000 teachers working in the U.S. territory, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in response to a new education law signed by Gov. Ricardo Rossello late last month , the Associated Press reported. This law would allow charter schools and vouchers on the island, although both would be subject to capscharters (or alianza) schools can constitute no more than 10 percent of schools in Puerto Rico, while the number of students receiving vouchers under the Free School Selection program would be capped at 3 percent of public school students in the first year, and 5 percent in the second.

Rossello and Puerto Rico Secretary of Education Julia Keleher have both said the law, which also overhauls the islands school finance system and breaks up its previously unified school district into seven localized offices, will provide more educational opportunities for the islands students in the wake of Hurricane Maria last September . Separate proposals from the islands government would close roughly 300 of the islands 1,100 public schools while also giving teachers raises. However, the union has argued that taken together, the new law and separate fiscal reforms will cost teachers jobs, hurt students, and dismember the islands public education system, which currently serves about 320,000 students.

To say charters are public schools when they are going to be administered, directed and controlled by private hands is clearly an illegal and unconstitutional contradiction, union President Aida Diaz told the AP.

In tweets discussing their suit, the union referred to charters as vultures and said that the law would privatize public education on the island.



A spokeswoman for the education department did not respond to a request for comment; the AP reported that the department had no immediate comment on the suit.

Puerto Ricos public schools were already hampered by significant financial challenges before Maria hit. Last summer, the island closed 179 schools .

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .An open letter from a faith-based education advocacy group challenges U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, a devout Christian, to rethink her response to a question about race and school discipline.

The letter, written by Nicole Baker Fulgham, the founder and president of the Expectations Project, comes as DeVos considers rescinding Obama-era civil rights guidance meant to address disproportionately high rates of discipline for students of color. DeVos will meet Wednesday with supporters and critics of that guidance as she considers her next steps.

Our scripture says were all created in the image of God and are, therefore, of equal and immeasurable worth in the eyes of our Creator, says the letter. So when African-American kids in our schools are treated differently than white kids we should all be able to agree this is wrong.

The Expectations Project a DC-based Christian organization that advocates for issues like educational equity, improving neighborhood schools, and school choicehas invited supporters to sign the open letter, which it says it will hand deliver to the Education Department. The organization said the letter had more than 14,000 signatures Tuesday. Fulgham posted the letter March 13, two days after DeVos was asked about higher discipline rates for black students in a 60 Minutes interview .

Arguably, all of these issues or all of this issue comes down to individual kids, DeVos said in that interview when asked if those higher discipline rates amounted to institutional racism.

The letter does not explicitly ask DeVos to keep the current discipline guidance . Instead, it challenges her response that question:

Research from your own Department of Education shows African-American students are three times more likely than their white peers to be expelled or suspended, and that these disparities are not explained by more frequent or serious misbehavior by students of color. When given the opportunity to endorse the idea that these disparities represent 'institutional racism' you declined, saying rather that 'all of this comes down to individual kids.' Respectfully, punishing African-American and white students differently for the same behavior, in a way that is measurable across our entire system, is the very definition of institutional racism. If we don't agree with this as a first-premise, or that we have a responsibility as people of faith to address it, finding the right solution will prove difficult."

What the discipline guidance says

Its true that the Education Departments office for civil rights has found schools where black students were punished much more harshly than their white peers for the same infractions. Researchers have also found that vaguely written rules against behavior like defiance are sometimes subjectively applied by teachers who may more quickly label a black students behavior as problematic, even if they dont recognize their own implicit bias.

But critics of the discipline guidance say those differing state and national discipline rates cant all be explained by differential treatment of students within the same school.

The guidance, issued in 2014 by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, puts schools on notice that they may be found in violation of federal civil rights laws if a policy leads them to discipline students from one racial group at higher rates than their peers , even if that policy was written without discriminatory intent. Its a concept called disparate impact .

If a school finds black students in violation of a rule at higher rates than their peers, that rule must be necessary to meet an important educational goal, the guidance says. And before settling on a punishment, the school must consider appropriate alternatives that have less of an impact on the disproportionately affected racial group. The guidances test for disparate impact of a disciplinary policy mirrors the past interpretation of courts in civil rights cases centered on school discipline.

The guidance includes a flowchart to help schools determine if policies that result in disparate impact are discriminatory.

Critics say the document has had a chilling effect on local decision-making in school discipline. Schools that are afraid of sparking federal investigations have limited teachers ability to discipline students without providing useful alternatives, those critics have said.

Supporters of the guidance, including many civil rights groups, say it has led schools to make meaningful changes, to rework discipline policies, to train teachers how to recognize their implicit biases, and to reduce suspensions for non-violent behaviors like defiance and dress code violations.

DeVos, who has been criticized for her position on civil rights enforcement , has said the Education Department is reviewing the guidance. She is also the chair of a federal school safety task force, convened by President Donald Trump after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., to consider a range of issues, including whether the guidance should be rescinded. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and several other cabinet members are also on that task force.

Photo: U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies before a Senate committee in June. --Susan Walsh/AP

Further reading on school discipline and civil rights:

Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.Westpoint Farm vet Matt Gue visited America last summer as part of a short study tour funded by the Farm Link Travel Bursary.

During his stay, he spent time in California and Idaho working alongside dairy veterinarians.

Below he discusses what he learnt about cow reproductive management and how many of US principles can be applied to UK dairy systems to help improve fertility.

There were many common factors to the UK dairy industry and most challenges faced by farmers in Idaho and California will be the same as those faced here.

See also: Fertility Focus: Lessons from a large-scale Jordan dairy

Not all of what I learned is applicable to British dairying, but the foundations of efficient and profitable production remain the same: good cow welfare, health, nutrition and fertility.

All dairies I saw, large and small, calved year-round and had three common themes:

Herd fertility was viewed as the most important factor on the farm. The metric for measuring fertility success was the same across all dairies: pregnancy rate. Cows were treated as a herd. Therefore, the fertility protocols were the same for every cow. For example, I didnt see one farmer that extended an individual cows voluntary wait period (VWP) because shes giving too much milk.

The importance of pregnancy rate on your dairy unit

Pregnancy rate has the ability to determine reproductive performance quickly. It enables us to see if, and when, changes to herd management have affected reproductive efficiency.

Metrics such as average days in milk or calving interval are too historic to have much value when assessing whether farmers and vets should make changes to fertility protocols.

A word of caution: be careful when comparing pregnancy rates between software systems as they all interpret the data slightly differently, so will give different results. If benchmarking yourself against other farms, ensure that all data is run through the same software.

Furthermore, analysing the data is only valuable if the data input is thorough and reliable. Poor data input will lead to misinterpretation of data, which can lead to inappropriate and costly decision making.

Why cows should be treated as a whole herd

Treating animals as a herd is vital for good fertility. If some animals are being treated with prostaglandin, some with Ov-Synch 56 and some on a different protocol because theyre cystic, it is very hard to ensure compliance.

If protocols are not followed, the probability of those treatments resulting in a pregnant cow falls dramatically.

What pregnancy targets should you strive to achieve, and how do you hit them?

With advancements in fertility management, cattle breeding and cow comfort, a pregnancy rate of >20% is achievable for all herds.

You should look at your pregnancy rate with your vet. If it sits below 20% I recommend reviewing your fertility management, including a review of other areas that influence reproductive performance. The transition period is a great place to start.

When deciding on fertility protocols with your vet, ensure the protocols are evidenced-based, cost-effective and you will achieve 100% compliance.

Finally, the best dairy farms I visit in the UK and the farms I visited in America had two other common themes which stand out above all else:That the four main farming unions in the UK work closely together is as obvious as it is sensible.

Indeed, less than a fortnight ago, the NFU, NFU Cymru, NFU Scotland and the Ulster Farmers Union issued a joint statement, setting out their priorities for a post-Brexit farm policy.

See also: Direct payments a crucial part of future farm support, says NFU

Given their co-ordinated approach, it is not surprising to see a number of similarities between NFU Scotlands latest Steps to change document and the Framework for success document issued by the NFU last October.

Like this earlier report, the new Scottish paper singles out three, interlocking components of future farm support  financial stability, productivity measures and environmental measures.

And like the NFUs previous document, NFU Scotland makes clear that the allocation of government funds between the three should be dependent on the type of trade deal the UK gets post-Brexit, and the prevailing economic situation, including the balance of power within the food supply chain.

The objective is certainly to see a shift in funds away from financial stability measures  direct payments in plain English  towards new productivity and environmental measures.

But this should only happen over a lengthy transition period (seven years is suggested), and may have to be paused altogether if market returns to farmers are not good enough, or if market volatility prevails.

Financial stability will remain a vital component, particularly in the short to medium term, says the paper, now being consulted on north of the border. But rather than incentivising inertia, a new approach to financial stability would be built on agricultural activity, rather than simple occupation of land.

Three-pronged approach

So what is NFU Scotland actually proposing?

According to the paper, it is seeking a bold Scottish agricultural policy, which will make Scottish agriculture productive, innovative and, above all, profitable, whilst delivering a wide range of public benefits that are increasingly expected as the co-products of active farming and crofting.

This is to be delivered using a three-pronged approach.

Financial stability

Perhaps more than any other farming union, NFU Scotland is seeking to retain a central role for direct payments in the post-Brexit era.

It describes them as a vital safety net, which provide farmers and crofters with a stable source of income that is independent of market fluctuations.

An element of financial stability will remain vital  at least through a lengthy transition phase beyond the current operation of the CAP, it says, adding that such payments must be properly targeted at active farmers and crofters.

The paper does suggest some changes in the way direct support is delivered, though somewhat confusingly it recommends moving away from existing area-based payments to a new system based on eligible payment hectares. Eligibility would be defined by levels of agricultural activity.

Direct payments should continue to be subject to pragmatic cross-compliance requirements, it says.

It also suggests the continuation of coupled supports for vulnerable sectors, with payments based on levels of production, and it wants top-up payments in more disadvantaged areas.

Productivity measures

If Scottish agriculture is to become less reliant on direct support, then increased productivity is a priority, says the NFU Scotland report.

Better productivity should also give higher incomes, more clout in the food chain and more investment in the sector, it argues.

This might be achieved through better use of innovation and new technology, increased knowledge exchange and improved managerial skills.

Delivering all this will require more supportive regulation, financial incentives and improvements to the planning system, as well as investment in R&D and better training. It says: Advisory services that provide in-depth and tailored advice when and where required is essential.

Specifically, the paper sets out a menu of options covering the livestock sector, the cropping sector and people issues.

Data management, livestock housing, disease eradication, slurry storage, precision farming, soil management, min-till equipment, renewable energy, succession planning, business skills training and apprenticeship schemes are among the many things flagged up to help boost productivity.

Environmental measures

Recognising the need to provide more public goods if farming is to secure future taxpayer support, the paper also focuses on the environmental measures farmers should deliver post-Brexit.

New environmental measures should seek to deliver primarily for climate change, water quality and biodiversity, but also embrace habitats, air quality and landscape character in the process, as well as natural flood management, cultural heritage, public access and education, it says.

However, it insists that any new agri-environment policies are voluntary and accessible to all, and they must be adequately funded.

Current agri-environment payments are based on income forgone (under WTO rules) and do not always provide sufficient incentive compared to the risk of participation, it says. Interpretation and implementation of income forgone must be addressed for future environmental measures.

It also demands straightforward guidance notes and proportionate compliance checks, as well as a recognition that some environmental objectives take many years to achieve.

As with productivity, the paper then lists a number of possible environmental options for farmers to choose from, including annual measures, such as fallow land management and pollinator-friendly cropping, and multi-annual measures, including farm woodland schemes and bracken control.8th ANNIVERSARY Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Jr. and Shakeia Davidson of Gaffney is celebrating 8 wonderful and blessed years of marriage. They were married at the Gaffney Senior Citizens Center on September...

WHATS UP Craft Fair Benefit for Crystal Davis is Saturday, Oct. 16 at Senior Centers of Cherokee County on 499 West Rutledge Avenue. Vendors needed. Tables are $15 each. Early set up...

School district offers free COVID-19 testing The Cherokee County School District will offer free COVID-19 testing to all students and district employees starting Sept. 23. Results back within 24-48 hours. PCR COVID tests are available every...Reporter

Before coming to work for The Daily News as a staff reporter, Connor worked for us as a freelance correspondent throughout 2017. He has written for other publications such as the Washington Post.The 951-foot Grand Princess will department from the Port of Los Angeles World Cruise Center Berth 93 about a month after the 1,060-foot Carnival Panorama marked the return of cruises out of the Port of Long Beach. The return of...A Spanish man who claims to have lived with wolves for 12 years says he's disappointed with life in the human world.

Aren't we all...

Marcos Rodriguez Pantoja was born in Spain's Cordoba province in 1946. His mother died when he was three, and he suffered abuse at the hands of his father and stepmother.

He was sold to a goat herder who lived alone in the mountains of the Sierra Morena, but the man died or disappeared when Mr Pantoja was just seven years old.

He says he was then 'adopted' by a pack of wolves who accepted the child as one of their own. He played with cubs and was looked after by a female wolf who acted as his second mother.

Mr Pantoja slept in a cave and lived off berries and mushrooms. He says he remembers his time with the wolves as the happiest and most free of his life.

"I only wrapped my feet up when they hurt because of the snow," he told Spanish newspaper El Pais.

"I had such big calluses on my feet that kicking a rock was like kicking a ball."

When he was 19, he was discovered by Spain's Civil Guard. He communicated with them in grunts, having long since stopped needing to use words.

He was captured and forced to return to civilisation against his will.

Mr Pantoja's life has been the subject of anthropological studies, books and even a film - 2010's Entrelobos (Among Wolves).

Now 72, he finds coping with human society far more difficult than living with wolves.

He told El Pais he felt he has never fully reintegrated back into everyday life. He has worked in hospitality and construction, but has felt cheated and exploited by his employers.

Things are looking up for Mr Pantoja, with an environmental group fundraising to buy him insulation and appliances for his humble village house. He also gives talks at schools about his love for animals and how to care for the environment.

He says he feels more comfortable with children than with adult humans.

Mr Pantoja has tried to return to the mountains he once called home, but says it's "not what it used to be" because the wolves no longer recognise him as a brother.

"There are wolves and if I call out to them they are going to respond, but they are not going to approach me."

Newshub.felicilin at 4-04-2018 04:25 PM (3 years ago) (f)

The land is replete with Nigerians who have also ventured into the business of producing automobiles  or, as in some cases, contraptions that resemble vehicles.

The products of these Nigerian automakers might not exactly have the finesse or the aesthetic attraction of an Innoson brand of vehicle  neither do they have the elaborate factory setup like Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company. However, their drive to fabricate something out of something should count for something.

The land is replete with Nigerians who have also ventured into the business of producing automobiles  or, as in some cases, contraptions that resemble vehicles.The products of these Nigerianmight not exactly have the finesse or the aesthetic attraction of an Innoson brand of vehicle  neither do they have the elaborate factory setup like Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company. However, their drive to fabricate something out of something should count for something. Anyway, Autojosh presents some vehicles produced by some determined and some rather ambitious Nigerians.

Meanwhile, Nigerians have been making jokes out of the pictures of the locally-made vehicles on this post.

























[img]https://www.tori.ng/userfiles/image/2018/apr/04/aaan13.JPG[img] Anyway, Autojosh presents someproduced by some determined and some rather ambitious Nigerians.Meanwhile, Nigerians have been making jokes out of the pictures of the locally-made vehicles on this post.[img]https://www.tori.ng/userfiles/image/2018/apr/04/aaan13.JPG[img]

Post Reply Posted: at 4-04-2018 04:25 PM (3 years ago) | Herofelicilin at 4-04-2018 04:45 PM (3 years ago) (f)

Single mum of two and Actress Iyabo Ojo narrowly escaped death after recently embarking on a buttocks enlargement surgery.

Single mum of two and Actress Iyabo Ojo narrowly escaped death after recently embarking on a buttocks enlargement surgery. She reportedly fell into a five day coma after having the buttocks enlargement surgery in Turkey.

Kemi Ashefon reports it thus:

She reportedly fell into a five day coma after having the buttocks enlargement surgery in Turkey.Kemi Ashefon reports it thus: Quote Of a petite frame, she almost lost her life in faraway Turkey, where she quickly went for the birthday party of one of her colleagues but later must have decided to have a bum bum surgery.

What we knew was that she and her colleague, who is also a very good friend of hers, had gone to Istanbul Turkey for a party organized by one of their male fans for them. That was in February 2018 and they had a nice time. She flooded her social media handles with photos of the Turkey shindig, a source revealed.

Just before she returned to Nigeria , she must have decided to have a cosmetic surgery in Istanbul. For a body enhancement surgery, you would assume it was harmless and less complicated. But after the surgery, this actress was said to have fallen into coma for five days!

It was gathered that her friend who escorted her to the country was hysteric. The popular actress, who has featured in many Yoruba films and now appears in some English movies was almost presumed death until she came to and recuperated.

Though back now to Nigeria, she has soft-pedalled on activities.

Who is she?

Well, maybe we start with her name. A Yoruba, her name is synonymous with reincarnation especially that of her mum. A mother of two teenagers (a boy and a girl) she is one of those who joined the bandwagon of Amala merchants in Lagos in 2017 and she is also into skin beauty and spa.

In 2017, our pretty actress was called out by a social critic, who is a daughter of a former governor in the south west, to have dated a pastor but the social critic ended up in prison. Lately, she has been called out by another English speaking actress who is bent on exposing her diabolical lifestyle.

This petite actress, who goes about town declaring she rose from grass to grace enjoys largesse from wealthy men and one of her sugar daddies was a former minister, who helped serviced her kids school fees abroad.

Well, this actress hasnt started flaunting her bum bum but we are waiting to see how huge her bum bum would look like now.





Well, maybe we start with her name. A Yoruba, her name is synonymous with reincarnation especially that of her mum. A mother of two teenagers (a boy and a girl) she is one of those who joined the bandwagon of Amala merchants in Lagos in 2017 and she is also into skin beauty and spa.In 2017, our pretty actress was called out by a social critic, who is a daughter of a former governor in the south west, to have dated a pastor but the social critic ended up in prison. Lately, she has been called out by another English speaking actress who is bent on exposing her diabolical lifestyle.This petite actress, who goes about town declaring she rose from grass to grace enjoys largesse from wealthy men and one of her sugar daddies was a former minister, who helped serviced her kids school fees abroad.Well, this actress hasnt started flaunting her bum bum but we are waiting to see how huge her bum bum would look like now.

Post Reply Posted: at 4-04-2018 04:45 PM (3 years ago) | HeroAfter reviewing 2016 FBI crime report statistics and population data, SafeWise, a safety and security system reviewer company, recently identified Glasgow as the fourth safest city in Montana.

In the report, Glasgow, with a population of 3,442 at the time of the study, experienced 1.74 violent crimes while 6.68 property crimes occurred per 1,000 people. When reviewing the total number of crimes, 26.09 percent were violent crimes while 73.91 percent were property crimes.

Mayor Becky Erickson tells The Courier, I believe the reason Glasgow is rated the fourth safest community in Montana is due to the fact we are different  when something serious happens, our community comes together as a whole. The Glasgow Police Department has acquired many resources through grants; training, equipment and man-power that add to their resourcefulness. We are unique in the fact that we always try to partner with agencies in addressing specific crimes.

In determining the safest cities in Montana, the evaluation was based on the number of reported violent crimes, such as aggravated assault, murder, rape and robbery, in each city. If there was a tie, they also factored in the number of property crimes, such as burglary, arson, larceny and motor vehicle theft. The report authors calculated the rate of crimes per 1,000 people in each city in order to make it easier to compare the likelihood of occurrence for these crimes in cities with vastly different populations.Cities that fell below identified population thresholds or that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI was excluded from the ranking system.

The safest city according to the report was Dillon, followed by Columbia Falls and Laurel. Glendive, Whitefish, Miles City, Livingston, Great Falls and Belgrade also made the list.Jeremy Bartel, son of Larry and Linda Bartel of Glasgow, was recently promoted to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army on March 2 in Stuttgart, Germany.

Bartel graduated from Glasgow High School in 1993 and has had an extensive military background. He enlisted in the Montana Army National Guard in 1992 and earned his commission as a U.S. Army 2nd Lieutenant from Kemper Military College in Bonneville, Mo., in 1995. As an engineer officer, he was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division in Germany before passing Special Forces Assessment and Selection, earning his Green Beret as an Army Special Forces Officer.

From there, he served in the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Okinawa and attended the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, Calif. He then returned to the 1st Special Forces Group in Fort Lewis, Wash., before coming to Germany to serve in the U.S. Special Operations Command Europe for the first time. He later served in Korea with 2nd Infantry Division, and was selected for a U.S. Army War College Fellowship where he spent a year in Israel.

He returned to U.S. Special Operations Command Europe, where he has now been selected to serve as the next garrison commander of U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

During his career, Col. Bartel has been deployed multiple times to Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines and Afghanistan as well as Iraq and Kosovo.

Bartel is very humbled by this promotion stating, "I'm honored to be selected to continue to serve this great nation. It would not have been possible without the support of so many great soldiers and my family."

In order to receive this promotion, Bartel was screened by the department of the Army and selected based on his demonstrated performance and expected potential. Officers selected to this rank have at least three years of service at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The selection is a highly competitive process, as typically 50 percent or less of those screened for promotion are actually selected.I could not do what our educators do. They deserve to be paid well. Very well.

In recent news, educators in Oklahoma, West Virginia and Kentucky organized and implemented walk-outs in their states in an effort to secure more funding for education.

In addition to near-poverty level wages, some teachers nationwide have also gone decades without wage increases, and are facing billions in budget cuts.

In Montana, the beginning teacher salary is $31,456 and the average teacher salary is $52,776 (Montana Education Association  Montana Federation of Teachers.) Thats not enough.

Teachers wear many hats and are major influences in our childrens lives, often fulfilling roles that are not always pleasant.

In addition to being tasked with teaching the three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic), our educators are expected to be disciplinarians, counselors, mentors, role models and more. They teach our kids to tie their shoes and sometimes how to practice good hygiene. They learn to recognize potential learning disorders or physical deficits that could affect learning. They are tasked with monitoring for, and reporting, potential abusive situations. They are expected to recognize signs of drug/alcohol use in their students. They often have to mediate situations between students and sometimes adults.

Our teachers are playground monitors, crossing guards and lunch ladies. Sometimes they are the only people in the crowd supporting the forgotten athletes, musicians and actors. They typically spend more time with our children on a day-to-day basis than we do.

Some would say that teachers choose their profession so they dont have to work during the summer months. I would point out that almost every teacher I know supplements their income with other employment during that time.

All that being said, why on earth do our educators have to stage rallies and walk-outs to draw attention to their poor wages and lack of funding? Shouldnt we make our children and some of the people that guide them through life a priority?

Teachers deserve to be recognized for what they do and they shouldnt have to do it on a limited budget  or dig into their own pockets to buy supplies for their classroom.

Lets pay our teachers what they deserve and thank them for doing what I couldnt do.English Lithuanian

Lietuvos Energijos Gamyba, AB, identification code 302648707, registered office placed at Elektrines g. 21, Elektrenai, Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter  the Company).

As the Company had previously informed, on 26 March 2018 at the annual General Meeting of Shareholders the shareholders of the Company passed a decision to elect new members of the Supervisory Board of the Company. On 3 April 2018, at the first meeting of the newly composed Supervisory Board, Mr. Dominykas Tuckus was elected as a Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Company.

This is also to notify that, considering that the General Meeting of Shareholders passed a decision to approve the new version of the Articles of Association of the Company that, inter alia, provide that the Board of the Company shall be composed of 3 (three) members, the Supervisory Board on 3 April 2018 passed a decision to recall the Companys Board of 4 (four) members in corpore, and to elect for a term of office of 4 (four) years 3 (three) members  the current members of the Board: Ms. Egle Ciuzaite (the area under supervision  strategy and management), Mr. Darius Kucinas (production and system service management), and Mr. Mindaugas Kveksas (finance and administration).

The newly elected Board of the Company shall commence its operations as of the end of the meeting of the Companys Supervisory Board.

The changes in the Articles of Association of the Company, given that the Companys Board shall be composed of 3 (three) members, were initiated due to the changing needs of corporate management. The business development area, that has been until now supervised by a member of the Board Mr. Nerijus Rasburskis, now is assigned to Ms. Egle Ciuzaite, a Board member and the CEO of the Company.





Valentas Neviera, Lietuvos Energijos Gamyba, AB, Head of the Communication Division, tel. 8 670 25997, email: valentas.neviera@le.ltHighlights



MHA Petroleum Consultants have calculated a Prospective Resources of 3.3 TCF (Trillion Cubic Feet) net to Strata-X. (1)

Represents a 240%, 1.9 TCF, increase in Prospective Resource over the Serowe CSG Project. (1)

Serowe CSG Project is a 100% owned 680,000 acre coal seam gas Project in Botswana.

The environmental approvals for the proposed appraisal program are progressing.

ASX disclosure note - 5.28.2 - The estimated quantities of petroleum that may potentially be recovered by the application of a future development project(s) relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration appraisal and evaluation is required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons.

DENVER and BRISBANE, Australia and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The directors and management of Strata-X Energy Ltd. (Strata-X or the Company) (TSX-V:SXE) (ASX:SXA) are pleased to announce that the Company has increased the Prospective Gas Resources in the Serowe CSG Project, located within the Botswana CSG fairway, to 3.3 TCF. The increase reflects the additional permits the Company acquired earlier this year and after acquiring a 100% working interest in the original permits. The Serowe CSG Project now spans 680,000 acres and is 100% owned and operated by Strata-X.

The new acreage lies adjacent to a bitumen highway between Serowe, the regional capital, and Orapa, the site of the worlds largest diamond mine and a duel fuel (gas/diesel) electricity generation facility currently using 100% diesel which can be substituted with the Companys gas reserves when established.



ADVISERS AND CERTIFIERS

MHA Petroleum Consultants, Denver, Colorado, recognized experts and CSG certifiers, have certified a mean recoverable Prospective Resource of 3,343 BCF (3.34TCF) net to Strata-X for the Serowe CSG Project. (1) The Resource certified is as follows:

Classification Independent Qualified Reserves Auditor Effective Date of Estimate Location of Resources Estimated Prospective Resource Gas Volumes Net to Strata-X Interest (Bcf) Low Best High Prospective Resources MHA 26 Mar 2018 Botswana 1,672 3,343 5,016

GAS MARKETS

The Botswana economy is heavily dependent on its large mining industry that consumes approximately 34% of the power produced in the country. Importantly, with no current domestic gas production and insufficient local electricity generation, the country relies heavily on expensive imported diesel and electricity. Further, there are expanding domestic electricity, manufacturing, and raw materials industries that offer immediate and long-term gas markets for Strata-X, once sufficient gas reserves are established.

ENVIRONMENTAL APPROVALS PROGRESSING

The Company has selected EcoSurv, a Botswana environmental firm, to seek the necessary environmental approvals required for the proposed appraisal program. Work is ongoing including meeting with localstake holders in the permit area and is on track for approvals to be received in the third quarter of 2018.

APPRAISAL PROGRAM

The appraisal program is designed to prove commercial completion methods and convert resources to reserves. To achieve this, the Company plans to apply the latest completion and production methods designed to yield commercial gas flow rates. With 100% ownership in the project, the Company now has the option to consider seeking alternative funding.

Ron Prefontaine, Chairman of the Board, stated that, With Strata-X having 100% equity in its expanded Botswana CSG portfolio, we now control over 3.3TCF of prospective resources surrounded by a large potential growth gas markets. This fulfils our strategy to put the Company in a strong position to seek alternative sources of funding to appraise and develop these resources. This will be carried out in conjunction with the environmental approvals process over the coming months.

About Strata-X

Strata-X is a Denver, Colorado (USA) based company and is engaged in the business of oil and gas exploration and development with a variety of exploration opportunities in the States of California and Illinois in the United States of America and the Republic of Botswana. Strata-X has 89,825,208 common shares outstanding and trades under the symbol "SXE" on the TSX-V and "SXA" on the ASX.

For further information please contact:

Tim Hoops (USA)

President

+1 855-463-2400

1. Prospective Resources figures are from an audit report prepared by MHA Petroleum Consultant, a qualified reserves auditor, dated and effective 26 March 2018 following their audit in accordance with the COGE Handbook of the available technical data including the geological interpretation, information from relevant nearby wells, analogous reservoirs and the proposed program for the Project, prepared and presented to MHA by Strata-X. Prospective Resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development project. Prospective Resources have both an associated chance of discovery and a chance of development. A high level of uncertainty exists with the Prospective resources given the lack of historical drilling, available data and other productivity factors that limit the economic viability of coal seam gas deposits. The Report reviewed only Prospective Resources as the project is not sufficiently developed to assign Contingent Resources or additional Petroleum Reserves to it. Stated Prospective Resource figures are Best Estimate  undiscovered natural gas quantities and net of a royalty and are shown at a 100% working interest in the Project. The total costs associated with establishing the commerciality of this project are unknown at this time given the early stage of the Projects development. There is no certainty that any portion of the resources will be discovered, if discovered, there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of the resources.

This announcement was made in Canada for the TSX.V and in Australia for the ASX.



Public documents for Strata-X Energy Ltd. can be found at SEDAR (Canada) (www.sedar.com) and ASX.com.au (Australia).



FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance, including but not limited to, the completion and size of the Placement, receipt of regulatory approvals and timing thereof, the Corporations business strategies and plans for the use of such Placement proceeds, capital expenditure programs and estimates relating to timing and costs, and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions, including, but not limited to the timing and receipt of necessary regulatory approvals and third party approvals and completion of the Placement and stability of general economic and financial market conditions. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", 'may", "will", "project", "should", 'believe", and similar expressions is intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties , including imprecision in estimate capital expenditures and operating expenses, stock market volatility, general economic and business conditions in North America and globally, risks associated with liquidity and capital resource requirements, that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected and the forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. See also "Risks Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Those factors are not, and should not be construed as being exhaustive. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities and the Company is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.



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.English French

Regulated information

Transparency notification received from S.R.I.W. SA and Sofipole SA

Article 14, first paragraph, of the Law of 2 May 2007 on disclosure of major holdings

Gosselies, Belgium, 4 April 2018, 6 pm CEST - BONE THERAPEUTICS (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BOTHE), the bone cell therapy company addressing high unmet medical needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases, today announces that it has received a transparency notification dated 29 March 2018 indicating that the shareholdings held by S.R.I.W. SA (Societe Regional d'Investissement de Wallonie) and its subsidiary Sofipole SA (Societe Wallonne pour le Financement des Infrastructures des Poles de Competitivite) have passively crossed the threshold of 10%.

The notification dated 29 March 2018 contains the following information:

Reason for the notification: Passive crossing of a threshold

Notification by: A parent undertaking or a controlling person

Persons subject to the notification requirement: S.R.I.W. SA & Sofipole SA

Transaction date: 7 March 2018

Threshold that is crossed: 10%

Denominator: 7,415,427

Notified details:

Voting rights Previous notification After the transaction Holders of voting rights # of voting rights # of voting rights % of voting rights S.R.I.W. SA 344,530 344,530 4.65% Sofipole SA 340,406 474,093 6.39% Total voting rights held by S.R.I.W and Sofipole 684,936 818,623 11.04%

Full chain of controlled undertakings through which the holding is effectively held: The Walloon Region holds 98.78% of S.R.I.W. SA which controls 60% of the shares of Sofipole SA.

The notification can be consulted on the website of Bone Therapeutics, under the heading Regulated information.

About Bone Therapeutics

Bone Therapeutics is a leading cell therapy company addressing high unmet needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases. Based in Gosselies, Belgium, the Company has a broad, diversified portfolio of bone cell therapy products in clinical development across a number of disease areas targeting markets with large unmet medical needs and limited innovation.

Bone Therapeutics' technology is based on a unique, proprietary approach to bone regeneration, which turns undifferentiated stem cells into "osteoblastic", or bone-forming cells. These cells can be administered via a minimally invasive procedure, avoiding the need for invasive surgery.

The Company's primary clinical focus is ALLOB, an allogeneic "off-the-shelf" cell therapy product derived from stem cells of healthy donors, which is in Phase II studies for the treatment of delayed-union fractures and spinal fusion. The Company also has an autologous bone cell therapy product, PREOB, obtained from patient's own bone marrow and currently in Phase III development for osteonecrosis of the hip.

Bone Therapeutics' cell therapy products are manufactured to the highest GMP standards and are protected by a rich IP estate covering nine patent families. Further information is available at: www.bonetherapeutics.com.

Contacts

Bone Therapeutics SA

Thomas Lienard, Chief Executive Officer

Jean-Luc Vandebroek, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +32 (0)2 529 59 90

investorrelations@bonetherapeutics.com

For Belgium and International Media Enquiries:

Consilium Strategic Communications

Amber Fennell, Jessica Hodgson, Hendrik Thys and Lindsey Neville

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5701

bonetherapeutics@consilium-comms.com

For French Media and Investor Enquiries:

NewCap Investor Relations & Financial Communications

Pierre Laurent, Louis-Victor Delouvrier and Nicolas Merigeau

Tel: + 33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

bone@newcap.eu

For US Media and Investor Enquiries

Westwicke Partners

John Woolford

Tel: + 1 443 213 0506

john.woolford@westwicke.com

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors` current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such person`s officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.Posted 4/4/18

Dallas County Health Department has been awarded a grant from the Dallas County Senior Tax Board for the new shingles vaccine Shingrix. To receive this new vaccine through the grant you must provide Idaho State Senator Wants Death Penalty For Abortion: Link Roundup

Scary White Man In Power Wants Death Penalty For Abortions

Idaho Statesman reports that Bob Nonini (R), an Idaho senator and governor candidate, said on Monday that he believes people who have abortions should face the death penalty, stating that the threat of prosecution... would dramatically reduce abortion" and nodding when asked if that included the death penalty. He later scaled down his comments...slightly. Readers in Idaho: please vote.

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Mississippi Teenagers Walked 50 Miles To Remember MLK

A group of Mississippi teenagers just walked 50 miles to Memphis, TN to honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Today marks 50 years since his assassination in Memphis. The teenagers walked 15 miles per day and arrived in Memphis on Tuesday. Read more on WREG Memphis.

Happy Birthday, Maya Angelou!

The late poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou is being celebrated in todays Google Doodle. Today would have been her 90th birthday. At BUST, were commemorating Maya Angelous life with 30 of her most fiercely feminist photos and quotes.

GabiFresh Launches Summer 2018 Swimsuit Collection

Body positive activist and blogger GabiFresh just dropped her Summer 2018 swimwear collection, and its cuter than ever! Plus, all of the nine models are fans that she hand-picked herself. See the whole collection on Popsugar.

Our Bodies Ourselves Will Scale Down Production This Fall

Our Bodies Ourselves, the iconic nonprofit organization that develops and provides information on girls and womens reproductive health, has just announced they will be scaling back many of their programs due to financial restrictions. The Boston-based organization will transition to a fully volunteer-led nonprofit and will stop publishing new editions of their landmark book, Our Bodies, Ourselves. Read more on Our Bodies Ourselves.

Female Chef Shares Strategy For Deleting Sexual Harassment From The Workplace

Chef Erin Wade, author of The Mac + Cheese Cookbook, recently published an article in The Washington Post about how she developed a successful strategy for dealing with sexual harassment from customers in her restaurant, Homeroom. People who work in the industry, take note: Wades brilliant strategy has resulted in the near-decimation of sexual harassment at Homeroom.

top photo: YouTube

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Elizabeth F. Olson is an editorial intern at BUST. She mostly writes about her experience with mental illness through a feminist lens, and sometimes she writes fiction. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.The need for affordable housing in the U.S. is as great as its been in several decades. There are 8 million people in housing that is defined as worst needs, says William M. Rohe, director of urban and regional studies at the University of North Carolina. That means they are paying more than 50 percent of their income in rent or living in overcrowded units or ones that are not up to code.For the most part, its an urban problem. Incomes arent keeping up with the cost of living in big cities, and more specifically with climbing rents. To counter this decades-old problem, many cities and states have developed affordable housing programs and are using incentives for developers to increase the number of affordable units. Some localities may require developers to build a portion -- say 10 or 20 percent of units in new developments -- exclusively at the affordable level. Or they may simply provide subsidies to developers to build housing stock that qualifies as affordable.Although many of these programs have been godsends to the low- to moderate-income people who live in them, there are also a good number of programs that are riddled with management flaws that undermine the housing effort. Ineligible people are able to wrangle their way into this housing, leaving eligible men and women searching for an affordable place to live. Official funds are used inappropriately. Sometimes the housing stock is almost worthy of being condemned.One recent audit in Austin put the matter forthrightly: Program funds were used for questionable transactions and potentially ineligible participants.Most of the management problems have their roots in false or missing data of one kind or another. For example, in Washington, D.C., applicants for inclusion in city-sponsored affordable housing may be required to use a pay stub in order to demonstrate that their income qualifies them for affordable housing. But if the person has two jobs, they can simply submit just one of the two pay stubs, thus making it appear that the income is half of what it really is. What gets the attention is the ribbon cutting, says Kathy Patterson, the citys auditor. We open the units up and people move in. Beyond that, theres very little effort made to see if the units comply with the rules for affordable housing.Similarly, New York does a minimalistic job of checking compliance on a number of fronts. For many federal programs, theres a requirement to verify occupants income every year. But in city programs here, you dont have to do that, says New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. The Department of Housing, Preservation and Development should be doing these independent checks.But it isnt. On the question of housing quality, New York issues violations when it uncovers substandard housing units, including those that are overrun with vermin. But issuing a violation without follow-up is like driving a car without gas. The city has a very poor system of tracking whether the violations have ever been fixed. As a result, according to the comptrollers office, theres a dependence on socially minded developers, to check on their own progress in alleviating the violations that have been identified; otherwise the mice hiding in the closets can settle in and create cozy nests that remain indefinitely.In many cities, part of the management problem is gross understaffing of program administration. Chicagos Community Land Trust, for example, is charged with preserving the long-term affordability of homes created through city programs. It has a board of 18 members and the use of two full-time staff who are employees of the citys Department of Planning and Development -- but no staff of its own. In Washington, D.C., the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which began life in 2001, still doesnt have a single person doing full-time oversight. This is a $100 million a year program.Ensuring that affordable housing dollars are appropriately used has been an issue in many cities. In Chicago, for example, fees that developers pay to the city in lieu of building on-site affordable units is supposed to be used for affordable housing. A report by the citys Inspector Generals Office found that of $89.9 million in funds collected from developers from 2003 to 2015, $4 million was dropped into the general fund to be used for other needs. To mitigate this problem, Chicago began segregating affordable housing monies in a separate fund in 2016. Without some mechanism that ensures that this money is used for the program, it gets spent for other programs in the city, says Inspector General Joe Ferguson. It gets lost.Such losses of information are problems, of course. But theyre not the type that are of exclusive concern to public administration gurus. In this case, the cost of flaws exhibits itself in fewer housing units for low- and moderate-income residents -- units that could be there if the programs were better managed.Governments around the nation are working to design the best vaccine policies that keep both their employees and their residents safe. Although the latest data shows a variety of polarizing perspectives, there are clear emerging best practices that leading governments are following to put trust first: creating policies that are flexible and provide a range of options, and being in tune with the needs and sentiments of their employees so that they are able to be dynamic and accommodate the rapidly changing situation.Oakland, Calif.,

New York joined a growing number of governments this week when it placed a fee on ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft. The state-imposed surcharge, which is part of New York's 2019 budget, is intended to raise money for mass transit.The move comes on the heels of a similar one in Chicago , where late last year the city council slapped a 15-cent increase to its existing 52-cent fee for every ride-sharing trip. Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushed for the fee amid a growing body of evidence that the popular ride-sharing industry is worsening congestion in cities and taking potential customers away from public transit.Last year, transportation researchers from the University of California, Davis, published a working paper that found that ride-sharing services in seven major urban areas were adding car trips to city and suburban streets, often at the expense of public transportation.And a study released this year by Boston's Metropolitan Area Planning Council found that most ride-sharing passengers used the service in place of public transit, biking or walking.In addition to New York and Chicago, cities in Massachusetts have also implemented or raised existing fees and taxes on ride-sharing services for transit funding. Washington, D.C., andare considering doing the same; while an effort in Georgia to enact a statewide fee has recently been revived.Unsurprisingly, the new taxes aren't popular with the ride-sharing industry. These services argue they're being unfairly targeted and that such charges would not only hurt consumers but also slow services. What's more, ride-sharing companies say they're developing new products that are specifically aimed at reducing congestion. In 2014, Uber launched a carpooling feature as part of CEO Travis Kalanick's goal to eventually make every ride shared. Now available in 32 cities, uberPOOL accounts for about 20 percent of Uber trips in those jurisdictions.But from a tax policy point of view, these types of taxes and fees aren't new and shouldn't come as a surprise. The Urban Institute's Richard Auxier says that if a city has a track record of expanding its sales tax to services, ride-sharing is a natural target. "This is just taxing something that should have been previously taxed," he says.For instance, the nation's capital already imposes sales taxes on services such as landscaping and gym memberships. A proposal in next year's budget would simply increase the tax rate paid by ride-hailing services from 1 percent to 4.75 percent. The proposal also calls for a sales tax hike from 5.75 to 6 percent. The $18 million in new revenue that ride-sharing would contribute is part of a larger effort to step up funding for the region's aging rail system.Conversely, New York's new fee charges $2.75 per ride-sharing trip and an extra $2.50 on taxi rides in the same zone. "That would be an example of a punitive tax on a disfavored entity," says Joseph Henchman, executive vice president of the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation. He questions how much the state has done previously to discourage driving and encourage mass transit, adding that "if they're not serious about tackling some of those things, it seems like a way to grab revenue."Still, despite Uber and Lyft's popularity, taxing the services won't result in a very large revenue boost for mass transit. Put in perspective, the $18 million D.C. hopes to raise from its tax hike would represent just 10 percent of the city's annual payment into the region's metro rail and bus system. That's pocket change compared to the $500 million the system hopes to receive annually from the District and surrounding states. Metro's annual budget for operating costs and capital improvements is about $3 billion."Will it help fund Metro and does the state want that money? Absolutely," says Auxier. "But this is not going to solve any budget problems."Attorney General Janet Mills said Tuesday she has found a funding source for expanding Medicaid in Maine, which could snuff some arguments against expansion but is sure to cause ongoing controversy about her authority to spend the money.Mills, a Democrat who is running for governor, said during a Tuesday news conference at the State House that as the result of recent negotiations with tobacco companies, Maine will receive an additional $35 million over what was previously expected, during the next year. Mills suggested using the funds to expand Medicaid eligibility and said the money would cover the expansion costs through the end of the current two-year budget cycle in June 2019."These funds are available to pay for Medicaid expansion as enacted by the people in November, in the current biennium," Mills said.Republican Gov. Paul LePage called Mills' plan a "one-time budget gimmick to fund Medicaid expansion.""This political stunt would be nothing more than a down payment on giving free health care to 80,000 people, which will require ongoing and sustainable funding," LePage said in a written statement.Maine already receives annual payments of approximately $46 million from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between major tobacco companies and numerous states. The $35 million referenced by Mills is one-time money, which means the next governor and Legislature would have to grapple with ongoing costs after this year's election. That would conflict with one of the key stipulations set forth by LePage.Maine law says the tobacco settlement money, which flows into the Fund for a Healthy Maine, should pay for "health care for children and adults, maximizing to the extent possible federal matching funds." Current estimates are that the federal match for state spending on Medicaid expansion would be more than $500 million.Mills' announcement came on a deadline day as laid out in the 2017 citizen-initiated referendum. According to the law, which was passed by 59 percent of voters last November, Tuesday is the deadline for the Department of Health and Human Services to submit a state plan amendment to the federal government regarding how Maine will move forward with Medicaid expansion under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act.There's no indication that has happened or is in motion. LePage has said for months that his administration won't do anything to accommodate expansion unless the Legislature finds a way to pay for it in the long term without tax increases or tapping state's rainy day fund. LePage also demands that waitlists of elderly and disabled people awaiting social services be eliminated before expansion.Democrats have countered that they don't need to find a funding source this year because Maine has enough to cover start-up costs in the state's existing Medicaid coffers.The Republican governor has criticized Mills in the past for her ideas about how to spend settlement money. In 2017, LePage ordered the state controller to transfer nearly $11 million that was under the sole discretion of Mills to another account controlled by the Legislature. Mills said Tuesday that the tobacco settlement money can't be swept like the other money was.The Legislature's fiscal office has said covering newly eligible Medicaid recipients will eventually cost about $55 million a year after accounting for $28 million in savings because of people moving to Medicaid from other public social service programs. The LePage administration has said the state's annual cost will likely be at least double that and ruinous to the state's budget.Mills' announcement came on the heels of another news conference where Medicaid expansion supporters called on the executive branch to abide by the law. One was Donna Wall of Lewiston, whose full-time job is caring for her three adult children, all of whom have been diagnosed with autism. She said she would qualify for Medicaid under expansion, though it isn't in time to avoid medical debt she accrued last year when she broke her ankle delivering newspapers."I went to the hospital," she said. "I knew I couldn't afford to pay, but what else could I do? Today, I have over $62,000 in medical bills."Rebecca Dallet trounced Michael Screnock on Tuesday for a seat on the state Supreme Court, shrinking the court's conservative majority and giving Democrats a jolt of energy heading into the fall election.It marked the first time in 23 years that a liberal candidate who wasn't an incumbent won a seat on the high court.I attribute it to Wisconsin voters standing up to special interests," said Dallet, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge. "I think they're ready to have fair and independent courts."Im the candidate with the most experience, really standing up for the rights of Wisconsinites every day and I think people saw that and spoke out today and Im quite excited by it, by the results.Dallet's sizable margin alarmed Republican Gov. Scott Walker enough that he posted a series of messages on Twitter warning he could be the victim of a "blue wave" this fall.Federal prosecutors on Monday arrested and charged State Rep. Jack Williams and former Alabama Republican Party Chairman Martin Connors in a public corruption investigation stemming from a 2016 insurance coverage scheme.Williams, R-Vestavia Hills, and Connors, now a lobbyist, were arrested at their respective homes and appeared in federal court in Montgomery. In handcuffs shackled to their waists, Williams and Connors both told the judge they understood the charges against them.Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan S. Ross said both men would be released Monday, with unsecured bails set at $25,000. An arraignment hearing has been set for April 18.Williams and Connors are charged alongside G. Ford Gilbert, the CEO of California-based healthcare company Trina Health. All three face charges of conspiracy to commit bribery related to federal programs, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and honest services wire fraud.Gilbert, who was arrested in California Monday, is also charged with health care fraud and interstate travel in aid of racketeering.The charges stem from a 2016 scheme to force Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the state's largest insurer, to cover treatments provided by Trina's three diabetes clinics in Alabama.Trina's clinics used an "artificial pancreas treatment" which provided intravenous insulin injection therapy for treating diabetes. The treatment was not FDA-approved, and in 2009 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it would not cover the costs of similar therapies.Many private health care plans followed suit, according to Monday's indictment, including BC/BS.The federal indictment alleges Gilbert made multiple payments to former Alabama House Majority Leader Micky Hammon in an effort to push a bill through the Legislature's 2016 session.Gilbert also offered to pay Hammon's $240,000 debt with Regions Financial Corporation, according to court documents.Hammon pleaded guilty last year to felony charges of misusing campaign funds and is currently serving three months in federal prison. Though his is frequently cited in Monday's indictment, prosecutors said he isn't charged due to his previous conviction in federal court.In 2014, Hammon was gifted an ownership in a Trina Health subsidiary in exchange for finding investments and a clinic space for a Birmingham-area clinic. Two Baldwin County clinics were already open and profitable, the indictment states, because Trina Health used billing codes to skirt BC/BS rules regarding artificial pancreas treatments.BC/BS discovered the scheme and in August 2015, Gilbert told Birmingham clinic investors that the insurer would be unlikely to reimburse for the treatment in the future."Gilbert assured the investors that he was capable of causing BCBS-AL to reconsider its position," the indictment reads.Hammons received nearly $30,000 in wire transfers from Gilbert during this time period.Gilbert hired Connors to lobby a bill in the Legislature, the indictment alleges, when Connors knew of the payments to Hammon.The House legislation would have forced insurance companies to cover intravenous insulin infusions at medical clinics and offices, not just hospitals.Williams, who chaired the House's Commerce and Small Business Committee, was recruited to hold a public hearing on the bill. Williams met with Gilbert and was aware of Hammon's financial issues, prosecutors say."Williams also knew of the payments to Hammon and acted in part to help Hammon, who, as everyone in the scheme knew, was experiencing grave financial problems," a Department of Justice release states.BCBS fought the bill at the time, and it died in committee.Gilbert tried to introduce similar legislation in the 2017 Legislature, but Hammon refused to support another bill. All three Trina Health clinics closed in 2017.Williams was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2004. He said last year he wouldn't seek reelection to his seat and later announced his candidacy for the Jefferson County Commission.Connors served as the Alabama Republican Party chairman from 2000 to 2005.Monday's arrests are the latest in a string of elected officials' misdeeds in Alabama.Former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, was convicted in June 2016 of ethics violations and forced out of office. Former Gov. Robert Bentley, caught up in a scandal involving his relationship with a former aide, pleaded guilty to two campaign finance violations in April 2017 and resigned.Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore -- a candidate for Alabama's U.S. Senate seat -- lost his job in September 2016 after ordering probate judges to not issue same-sex marriage licenses. Former Rep. Oliver Robinson, D-Birmingham, has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to fight an attempt to list a polluted area in his district on an EPA priority list.A federal judge has sided with a civil rights group that accused Texas officials of violating U.S. law by failing to automatically register voters who go online to obtain or renew a driver's license.The one-page order by U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia of San Antonio -- who said a full opinion explaining his reasoning will be released within two weeks -- means Texas will be forced to change its online registration to comply with the "motor-voter" provisions of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, said Beth Stevens with the Texas Civil Rights Project."For too long, the state of Texas has ignored federal voting rights laws intended to ensure that all eligible voters have an opportunity to register to vote. Even worse, because of these failures, countless Texans have been prevented from casting a ballot that counts, thereby unlawfully shutting people out of our democratic process," Stevens said.The ruling could affect almost 1.5 million Texans who renew their driver's licenses online annually, court records show.The Texas Civil Rights Project filed suit in 2016 on behalf of four Texans who said they were denied the opportunity to cast a ballot because their voter registration had not been updated.The lawsuit argued that every time a Texan renews, updates or obtains a driver's license, the motor-voter law requires the Department of Public Safety to offer to register that person to vote or -- for voters already registered -- to update registration records to reflect a change of address.Drivers who conduct business at a DPS office are offered full voter registration services.Visitors to the DPS website, however, are directed to a separate web page to download a voter registration form, print it out and mail it to their county registrar, whose address is not listed, according to the lawsuit.The state policy means online visitors are treated differently in violation of the U.S. Constitution's equal protection guarantee and the federal motor-voter law, which was intended to increase voter participation by streamlining the registration process, the lawsuit argued.In his ruling, Garcia granted a motion for summary judgment filed by the civil rights group, which said DPS sought to justify the extra steps by arguing that online customers cannot sign a driver's license form, which the state agency said was necessary to "later check against the poll book." Texas, however, does not use handwritten signatures for voter registration or voter verification, the motion argued.As he seeks the Democratic nomination for Ohio governor, Richard Cordray can tout a record of achievement stretching back to the early 1990s.Hes been a state lawmaker, state treasurer and Ohio attorney general. And his most recent job, director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, allows him to boast that he returned $12 billion to 30 million consumers who were done wrong by financial institutions.But through the course of such a long career, Cordray also has done things that raised objections from his critics and hes taken positions that his opponents say are out of step with the 2018 Democratic electorate.For example, when he was treasurer in 2008, Cordray hired Amer Ahmad, who later turned out to be a crook. Ahmad is in a low-security federal prison in California after he pleaded guilty in 2013 to fraud and other financial crimes while working as deputy treasurer to Kevin Boyce, Cordrays successor. Ahmad fled to Pakistan, but was extradited back to the United States.Cordray offered no apologizes for hiring Ahmad, a native of Canton.We vetted him highly and there were no problems while I was treasurer, Cordray said in an interview last week. Later it turned out that he went down the wrong path and became a criminal. He was prosecuted and hes in prison where he deserves to be and thats the end of that story, I think.Cordray added that he has subsequently hired hundreds  if not thousands  of employees.You hope that everybody turns out as you expect them to be, he said. Not everybody does. If somebody does something wrong, they deserve to be prosecuted and they deserve to be in prison if it turns out that they did do something wrong."Perhaps Cordrays biggest vulnerability has to do with guns.Opposition Within

A Missed Opportunity

From the moment they are arrested, people with an addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers and those who are taking medications to beat their addictions face the prospect of painful opioid withdrawal.At least a quarter of the people in U.S. prisons and jails are addicted to opioids. Those who are released rejoin their communities with dangerously reduced tolerance and nothing to blunt their drug cravings, making them highly susceptible to a deadly overdose.But new scientific evidence and a recently announced federal investigation may soften prison officials long-held opposition to medication-assisted treatment.Rhode Island is the only state that provides all three FDA-approved addiction medications, methadone, buprenorphine and a long-acting, injectable form of naltrexone known as Vivitrol, to all inmates. A recent study in the medical journal JAMA Psychiatry found that opioid overdose deaths dropped by nearly two-thirds among recently incarcerated people in the first year of a new program that screens and provides addiction medicines to all state inmates.According to the study by Brown University researchers, the program not only reduces overdose deaths after the inmates are released, but also increases the likelihood they will stay in treatment and avoid getting arrested again.Meanwhile in Massachusetts, which doesnt provide methadone or buprenorphine to inmates, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether corrections officials are violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by forcing inmates who were taking those addiction medicines when they entered prison to stop taking them while incarcerated.Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a corrections bill that would require the states prisons and jails to offer all three FDA-approved medications.A similar proposal is advancing in Connecticut, which has provided methadone to some inmates in some jails for six years. The bill there would expand the program to all medications for all inmates.And at the federal level, President Donald Trump promised last month to screen every federal inmate  roughly 180,000 people  for opioid addiction and provide Vivitrol in residential treatment centers prior to release. Trump also called for more federal support for state, local and tribal drug courts to help provide evidence-based treatment as an alternative to or in conjunction with incarceration, or as a condition of supervised release.Fewer than 1 percent of the more than 5,000 U.S. prisons and jails, housing more than 2 million inmates, allow access to the FDA-approved medication, even though medical societies, addiction experts and correctional health organizations support their use.Finding the money to fund correctional drug treatment programs is a challenge in many states. But research shows that the cost of providing addiction medications in correctional facilities is outweighed over time by savings in both future health care and incarceration costs.In fact, not treating inmates with the community standard of care for addiction should be considered a violation of the U.S. Constitutions Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, said Josiah Rich, a Brown University professor of medicine and epidemiology who coauthored the recent study of Rhode Islands treatment program.Standing in the way are sheriffs and other prison officials, who argue that allowing treatment inside prisons with methadone or buprenorphine  both narcotics that can be abused  will lead to the drugs being diverted within the prison and possibly to illicit street markets.In Barnstable County, Massachusetts, for example, Sheriff James Cummings said he would not allow buprenorphine to be dispensed in his jail because it is considered contraband.We ruled out buprenorphine because it doesnt work for the people we deal with, Cummings said. Inmates try to smuggle it into the facility every day. Its a narcotic. They use it until they can get their next heroin fix so they dont get sick and they sell it to get money to buy more heroin. Its not a good fit.Instead, Barnstable in 2012 added Vivitrol to its re-entry program for opioid-addicted inmates who are scheduled to leave within the next two weeks. Cummings said the program has reduced overdose deaths and repeat offenses.In general, Vivitrol is an easier sell in most prisons and jails, said Andrew Klein, who runs a Justice Department program aimed at getting more drug treatment into correctional facilities. But its not the best medication for everyone, he said.In fact, nearly all corrections officials reject the use of either methadone or buprenorphine behind prison walls. Thats despite a history of research showing both medicines are highly effective at eliminating cravings, preventing overdoses and keeping people in recovery from opioid addiction.Methadone has been used for addiction treatment almost exclusively in highly regulated clinics since its introduction in 1964. Buprenorphine has been available by prescription since 2002.At least 1 in 5 incarcerated people are imprisoned because of drug charges, but in many states, even more inmates are addicted to heroin and other opioids.In Connecticut, for example, at least 30 percent of the states 14,000 inmates are addicted to opioids, according to Kathleen Maurer, the medical director for he states corrections department.Nationwide, a quarter of heroin addicts pass through the corrections system each year, according to a study in the Journal for Opioid Management.This presents a huge opportunity to quell the opioid epidemic and prevent thousands of overdose deaths. Cut off from their drug supply, inmates are more likely to opt for addiction medications than people who havent been incarcerated, particularly when the medications can help them avoid painful withdrawal symptoms, according to Rich.In addition, providing the medications and ensuring compliance should be much easier in the controlled environment of prisons and jails, said Dr. Kevin Fiscella, an addiction specialist who advises the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, which accredits prison health programs. There is no better place to intervene in an individuals addiction than in corrections.Yet very few correctional facilities offer it.Methadone, the oldest and most researched addiction medication, is available in only 22 of the nations 3,300 local jails and even fewer of its prisons, according to Klein.Five states  Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Washington  offer both methadone and buprenorphine to some inmates at one or more prisons or jails. Only Rhode Island offers all three medications to all inmates in all of its prisons and jails.And in about 200 jails in about 40 states, naltrexone is offered to inmates who are close to being released, under programs primarily sponsored by its manufacturer, according to Klein.The online news site Vox recently published original research showing that a smaller number of states offer naltrexone in their prisons.Under an executive order issued by Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo in 2016, the state not only continues medications for those who enter incarceration on an addiction drug, but also offers medication to prisoners who, after a substance abuse screening at intake, are deemed to need it. Rhode Island is spending $2 million annually on the program.According to Traci Green, the lead author of the Rhode Island study and an adjunct professor of epidemiology at Brown University, The great hope is that we can take what weve learned in prisons and jails and transplant it to other places in the community such as hospital emergency departments, where were also touching the lives of people who use drugs.The good news for other states, she said, is that what weve done here is entirely replicable.This blog is in violation of Blogger's Terms of Service and is open to authors only

If you are an author of this blog, tell us who you are! Sign in using your Account.The city plans to file a lawsuit against California challenging the legality of the state's so-called sanctuary law.In a late-night vote Monday, April 2, the City Council decided 6-1 to sue over the law, which went into effect Jan. 1 and limits cooperation between local agencies and federal immigration authorities.While Los Alamitos voted in March to exempt itself from the law, Huntington Beach could become the first city in California to go to court over the issue, Mayor Mike Posey said.The United States Department of Justice is suing California, as well. On March 27, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to join the Trump administration lawsuit. Mission Viejo and Yorba Linda have also chosen to support the federal government in its lawsuit and other cities' leaders have said they are looking at such moves.The Fountain Valley and Fullerton city councils are slated to discuss weighing in on the controversial sanctuary law during meetings tonight, April 2.However, Santa Ana officials are set to consider tonight backing the state by filing a "friend of the court" brief.Posey and Councilman Erik Peterson put the item on Huntington Beach's agenda, calling the California law "constitutional overreach."Council members also directed City Attorney Michael Gates "to work with the county or other municipalities that wish to join our efforts." Posey said the city does not plan to hire outside attorneys to pursue the lawsuit.Prior to the vote, more than 100 people spoke passionately about undocumented immigrants and sanctuary cities.Many of those in support of the lawsuit had traveled to Huntington Beach City Hall from other cities and even states -- a detail often noted by the opponents."There are a lot of voices here that are not Huntington Beach taxpayers," resident Wendy Rincon said."I am heartbroken, but not surprised, by the hateful rhetoric you brought forth with this resolution," another Huntington Beach resident, Cynthia Valencia, said.But resident Bill Martin quipped that he is "part of the hate circus" -- as one speaker described the out-of-towners. "Open borders take away the identity of a country and of a city," he said.Peterson said the lawsuit is not about immigration, but improper interference by state legislators. "We fight the state whenever we can when they overreach," he said.Jill Hardy, the lone council member who opposed suing, said that "out of 112 speakers, only four referenced the local control issue.""I am very concerned about the message this sends, even if it is not the message we intend," Hardy said.Councilwoman Barbara Delgleize choked up as she described her reaction to some of the derogatory comments about immigrants heard during the meeting. "I'm heartbroken," she said.Still, Delgleize supported the lawsuit, saying the city's police chief had expressed support for it."There's rhetoric on both sides," Councilman Patrick Brenden said. "If that's ugly and uncomfortable, so be it."Peterson summed up the council's majority opinion: "We're tired of Sacramento telling us what to do."The Governors Official Program is comprised of a wide range of constitutional and legal duties and ceremonial and community engagements. Each year, the Governor hosts thousands of visitors to Government House to take part in investiture and award ceremonies, Open Days, receptions and meetings, and travels widely throughout Queensland to support the activities of Patron groups. View a chronological record of the Governors daily program below.

On Tuesday, in the afternoon, at Commonwealth House, Broadbeach, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey attended the Trade 2018 Business Leaders Welcome Reception and Official Opening of Commonwealth House, hosted by the Premier of Queensland and the Mayor of the City of the Gold Coast.

Following, at the Sofitel Hotel, Broadbeach, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey attended the Trade Officials Welcome Dinner.Description

GIS  04 April, 2018: Government is giving particular attention to the health sector in Mauritius so as to enhance the quality of life of all citizens, said the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, today at Saint Pierre Farmers Centre.

The Prime Minister made this statement following the launching, at the Centre, of an anti-influenza vaccination exercise for the 2018 winter season. The campaign aims at providing vaccines to the elderly population in order to protect them from influenza .

Prime Minister Jugnauth, indicated that the vaccination campaign is a precautionary exercise conducted every year to protect the elderly population from complications due to influenza. Health, he emphasised, should remain a priority for each and every one. On this score, the Prime Minister appealed to the elderly population to protect their health and get themselves vaccinated by taking full advantage of the current exercise which will also cover different regions of Mauritius.

Present at the launching, the Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity, and Environment and Sustainable Development, Mr Etienne Sinatambou, pointed out that the vaccination campaign is in line with the World Health Organizations Immunisation Week which will be celebrated by the end of April 2018. The Week will highlight the collective action needed to ensure that every person is protected from vaccine-preventable diseases, he said.

Furthermore, the Minister highlighted the various measures that Government is providing to cater for the needs of senior citizens. These comprise: increase in old aged pension; setting up of a fourth Recreational Centre at Riambel; and, construction of two modern Homes.

For his part, the Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr Yogida Sawmynaden encouraged the elderly to adopt a healthy lifestyle so as to lead a harmonious life. Moreover, he underscored that the elderly, as vital guides, should continue to instill values in the younger generation, and, should be given due respect for their contribution in the society.

Anti-influenza vaccination 2018

The vaccination exercise, being carried out from 4 April 2018 to 10 May 2018, will cover persons aged 60 and above, children with disabilities attending specialised schools, and persons of charitable institutions.

In parallel with the launching at Saint Pierre Farmers Centre, the campaign is being carried out simultaneously at the Highlands Community Centre and Riviere du Rempart Youth Centre.(TNS)  A steady line of residents filed into city hall to pay the second of two bills to the water department in a confusing changeover resulting in the installation of new software.It was the perfect storm of several incidents that had a few residents steamed, not understanding what was going on, but the result says City Manager Theo Melancon will be a more consistent billing cycle.In January of 2017, before Melancon arrived in June, the council approved the purchase of a new software system. The previous one was outdated and provided a risk opportunity for fraud."The planned conversion was to occur during last November and would continue through April," Melancon said.The city began with the financial suite of Incode. Without it, the rest of the software wouldn't function properly."Unfortunately, it allowed users too much control over the data. There was opportunity to change numbers that shouldn't be changed," he said.The finance department felt like there was not enough internal controls. The new software produces an audit trail that documents any changes made to the accounts."There's accountability with the software," he said.Melancon, nor any of the finance department, was accusing anyone of fraud, but they wanted to limit the ability for anyone to do so.The program was outdated and needed updating.Unfortunately, the city was using a legacy type software and they had skipped several generations of the updated software resulting in a much larger task to convert years of records."There was a lot of manual inputting for utility billing to purchasing to HR to payroll that had to be entered into the new software," Melancon said.There were many late nights of work."In the case of the utility billing, it became painfully apparent that we had created some business practices around the old software," the city manager explained. "The old software had some hard coding, when you can bill, how to bill it, but it caused us some grief."Melancon described it in a scenario such as using the water in December of 2017. It would be read sometime during the middle of January. Then the billing might not get out for a due date until March."We didn't think that was a good practice of allowing bills to go for two to three months," he said.One of the things residents complained about, was a bill due for March 1 and March 22."Those were two months of usage," he said. "We were trying to bring January and February up to date."The new bill is due on April 17 is the new cycle and should be that way from this point on, he said.The city had to catch up on the two previous months at least one month of billing.With the previous policy, when water was cutoff, they were not just losing one month of billing, but sometimes as much as two."It could be as much as two-and-a-half months of water before we might have to cut them off," he said. The city couldn't afford to keep losing that amount of money.Microsoft Teams quickly became the business application of choice as state and local governments raced to equip remote teams and maintain business continuity during the COVID-19 lockdown. But in the rush to deploy Teams, many organizations overlook, ignore or fail to anticipate some of the administrative hurdles to successful adoption. As more organizations have matured their use of Teams, a set of lessons learned has emerged to help agencies ensure a successful Teams rollout  or correct course on existing implementations.(TNS)  Hundreds of faculty, staff and students at Northeastern State University must coexist in ways that help them avoid acts of violence or threats to campus life. But just in case, the institution has infrastructure in place to deal with most any emergency that arises.The NSU Campus Police, Department of Public Safety and the Division of Student Affairs hosted Campus Safety Day to display the services available to them, as well as advice on how to react during dangerous situations."I kept getting all of these emails from people that didn't realize we had an emergency manager, or they didn't realize we had a BIT [Behavioral Intervention Team]," said Patti Buhl, director of public safety. "It just sort of culminated and I figured we could just do a general safety day and talk about all of our services, what we do and how we collaborate together."During the safety day, guests listened to speakers talk about active shooter scenarios, NSU building coordinators, NSU's emergency alert system, and behavior protocols. Buhl said the various departments on campus have tight-knit relationships with one another, working in conjunction to make NSU as safe as possible.The Department of Public Safety practices community policing, which Buhl defined as working with the community to be proactive in preventing crime."Our focus here is on crime prevention and education," she said. "In other words, we try to be proactive in what we do. We try to train so that people recognize things and maybe prevent something, instead of being reactive. We also like to educate our communities in any way we know how."The NSU Police, which monitors the campus, is staffed with Oklahoma certified police officers. Officers are always on duty, and they can be reached through the 24-hour dispatch. Officers are constantly patrolling the campus, by foot, bike or vehicle.One class the campus police offers is RAD, Rape Aggression Defense, to provide realistic, self-defense options to women, regardless of their level of physical conditioning. Students can also receive one hour in PE credit if they take a RAD class.Another training program NSU Police has held for its instructors is ALICE: alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate. NSU Police Capt. James Bell gave participants a rundown of ALICE training during his safety day presentation, and he said the first thing people should do is be alert, or mentally prepared for anything.In an active shooter situation, people often dismiss loud banging noises as firework displays  a connection Bell said people should stop making."Has anyone heard fireworks on campus lately?" asked Bell. "No, we don't do that. So if you don't have it in your mind that something bad can happen here, your mind won't even let you consider it."Bell said the best place to be in the event of an active shooter is downtown, or anywhere far away from campus. However, if an individual can't escape, the next move is lockdown. There are several ways to lock down a room, which include using a belt or a purse strap to hold down a door handle.The next step in an active shooter incident is to inform others of what's going on. Ongoing, real-time information can help save lives, and law enforcement should be contacted with any information as to where the shooter might be in a particular building. Those who are escaping should also inform fellow employees, students or anyone else who might be seeking safety."Countering" the shooter can also make time for people to escape and lead to fewer deaths. To counter a shooter does not mean to fight him, but to create noise, movement, distance and distraction. Bell said those who are caught face-to-face with the shooter should not be compliant, because creating a hectic environment can slow down the shooter."Could you make this person any more angry?" asked Bell. "They're there to kill everybody. You're not going to make them any more angry, so do whatever you can do."Evacuation is always the best option. Bell said that even during a lockdown, if there's a clear way to escape, everyone should take it. He also said once potential victims are clear of immediate danger, it's best if they didn't drive away, as law enforcement agencies are likely hurrying to the scene, and the less traffic, the better.Sheila Self, assistance vice president of student affairs, spoke about behavioral concern protocols, teaching people what to look for and how to report behaviors they're worried about. Examples of behaviors to report include disruptive classroom or workplace behavior, threats of harm to self or others, potentially threatening posts on Facebook, possession or suspected possession of weapons, and homelessness or lack of necessities.People can reports concerns to Student Affairs or university police, and the Behavioral Intervention Team can either provide support or an intervention to individuals. Student Affairs also offers Student Counseling Services, which is free and confidential."The one referral we get more than anything else is in regard to depression," said Self. "We get a lot of that  isolation, depression, hopelessness, suicidal statements or suicidal ideation  and we will reach out to those people. We're going to make sure that person is taken care of and academically they have plans to move forward. Oftentimes, we don't know until you tell us."2018 the Tahlequah Daily Press (Tahlequah, Okla.)Visit the Tahlequah Daily Press (Tahlequah, Okla.) at www.tahlequahdailypress.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.(TNS) - A number of cities big and small in Southern California are taking steps to identify seismically vulnerable buildings for the first time in a generation, acting in part on the devastating images of earthquake damage in Mexico and elsewhere around the world.What happened last year in Mexico City, we dont want to experience in California, David Khorram, Long Beachs superintendent of building and safety, said of the quake that left more than 360 people dead. We want to be progressive.In hopes of mitigating the loss of life from a major quake that experts say is inevitable, Long Beach is discussing spending up to $1 million to identify as many as 5,000 potentially vulnerable buildings.Moorpark already has agreed to spend as much as $10,000 for its own survey of at-risk buildings.Malibu is taking stock of its structures, including those with flimsy first stories  such as apartments with skinny columns holding up carport parking on the ground floor, known as soft-story buildings. Officials in Ventura and Hermosa Beach are doing the same.As more cities consider seismic retrofit laws  to protect both lives and the regions limited housing supply  many owner and tenant groups in the Los Angeles area generally agree that earthquake strengthening should be done. But there is some concern about the cost of the upgrades and who will pay for them.Beverly Kenworthy, vice president of the California Apartment Associations Los Angeles division, said tenant safety is a no-brainer. Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, said vulnerable buildings need to be retrofitted, but added, Theres gotta be a way to help the property owners do that.Most retrofits for soft-story wood-frame apartment buildings cost $40,000 to $160,000. Upgrades to larger concrete-and-steel buildings can vary from $50 to $100 a square foot. Amid a strong real estate market, rising property values are giving owners more incentive to protect their investments.Owner and tenant groups have been calling for more government grants or low-interest loans to help fund retrofits. On March 28, the Los Angeles City Council voted to study a new seismic retrofit loan program using money from sources such as a city affordable-housing trust fund.Not all building owners can afford to go into the market and get a building loan, said Martha Cox-Nitikman, vice president for public policy for the Building Owners and Managers Associations Greater Los Angeles chapter.Some, however, say that apartments are a lucrative business and that paying for a seismic retrofit makes sense for long-term owners.If you look at the cost of the retrofit versus the value of the building, the mathematics are really easy. We have significant investments in these properties, and we intend to protect them, said Michael Cusumano, managing director of Burbank-based Cusumano Real Estate Group, who backs mandatory retrofit laws.Some worry renters could end up footing the bills.At a minimum, there has to be some shared costs, said Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, a tenant advocacy group. In cities without rent control, Gross said, increases to cover the cost of retrofitting could be beyond some renters means.Dan Faller, president of the Apartment Owners Assn. of California, is among those who oppose mandatory retrofits as unnecessary government intrusion. Still, he said, the possibility of legal action if someone is injured in an earthquake means it would behoove most apartment owners to get the job done as soon as possible.Part of the reason for the change in discourse around city halls was Los Angeles landmark 2015 law enacting the nations most sweeping seismic regulations  covering an estimated 15,000 apartment and concrete buildings. Santa Monica and West Hollywood followed suit last year and added steel-frame buildings to their retrofit lists.Another factor has been the entry of the Southern California Assn. of Governments in boosting talk of earthquake safety. The group hired seismologist Lucy Jones, instrumental in crafting L.A.s law, as a consultant, dispatching her to offer presentations to a number of cities interested in doing more on earthquake safety.Moorpark Assistant City Manager Deborah Traffenstedt said Jones Center for Science and Society helped link her city with others in the area. Officials now share information during monthly conference calls.Among the most vulnerable structures in a quake  and those that can be the cheapest to retrofit  are the states stock of historic brick buildings.Ventura, for instance, is one of those few historic downtowns on the coast, and we want to preserve that. Thats part of what makes Ventura special, said Jeffrey Lambert, the citys community development director, adding that months of paralysis after an earthquake would bring a pretty devastating impact to us.An existing city law mandates only that brick buildings be retrofitted above the roof line, a minimal requirement that puts the rest of the structure at risk of collapse. Lambert said Venturas next step will be to establish a more comprehensive inventory of seismically vulnerable buildings and consider options that could require retrofit of brick and other buildings at risk of collapse.In San Jose, a mandatory law on brick buildings led to more than 120 being retrofitted and more than a dozen demolished. Five old brick buildings remain, and all of those have been ordered vacated.Martinez, a city in Contra Costa County, had long had only a voluntary law on brick buildings, but as of a decade ago there were still about 40 that hadnt been retrofitted.City leaders decided to pass a mandatory law, and by 2017 all had been retrofitted  without the city needing to pursue legal action.Its an accomplishment, said Dave Scola, Martinezs public works director. The council said they didnt want to keep putting it off until people here were injured.In Gilroy, officials moved to compel seismic retrofits by filing criminal complaints against the owners of two brick buildings who had not made progress on them. One was later sold at a county auction for failure to pay property taxes, and the city bought the other property, said Kristi Abrams, Gilroys community development director. Both criminal cases were dismissed. Eight other buildings are in various stages in the retrofit process.Napa years ago passed a mandatory retrofit law for brick buildings. Some business owners initially were frustrated by the requirement, including Lewis Chilton, co-owner of Velo Pizzeria, which opened in a brick building in 2014.But when a magnitude 6 earthquake rocked Napa just two weeks after the business opened, Chilton changed his view. The retrofit saved our entire investment, he said. Yes, we had to put in extra money. Had that not been done in this particular situation, we would have lost everything.A neighboring building of the pizzeria was, according to the city, a non-retrofitted brick building. The owner, Brian Silver, has long opposed the retrofit law, writing to the city in 2013, I am confident that there is no realistic danger.But when the earthquake struck, bricks from that building tumbled down, smashing through a parked car. According to the city, the building temporarily threatened neighboring ones, including the one Chilton leased.Neighbors built emergency protective barriers to shield themselves if the damaged building came apart further in an aftershock.Silver said he is still opposed to the mandatory retrofit law. No engineer would ever tell him that retrofitting is a guarantee against future damage, he said.Retrofitting is overrated, Silver said. A retrofit doesnt accomplish very much.Silvers building was stabilized after the quake, but it has remained vacant and needs further work before it can be reoccupied.2018 Los Angeles TimesVisit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Smart rental cars can get even more intelligent in smart cities.The Avis Budget Group , which operates rental brands like Avis, Budget and Zipcar, will partner with Kansas City, Mo., to allow the city to feed some of its many data streams into its cars. The result means renters, who are often visitors to the city, will have easy access to parking and traffic information via mobile devices using the Avis app.From a user experience, we hope this will guide renters to their destinations more efficiently and provide them with local knowledge of things like construction, congestion and other impediments to getting around, said Bob Bennett, chief innovation officer of Kansas City. Similarly, by adding parking context  dont park on the east side of Main Street on the first Wednesday; its street cleaning day  and guiding customers to sites that meet their needs, they will have more time to meet or shop in our community with less frustration.Kansas City has become a leader in the smart cities arena, deploying an army of sensors, harvesting data and using it to predict everyday problems like what intersections are most vulnerable to potholes . Bennett calls downtown Kansas City the 54 smartest blocks in the United States.According to Avis Budget Group Chief Innovation Officer Arthur Orduna, the company has about 5,000 rental cars in the Kansas City region, a good size for testing. Connected vehicles are those that share real-time vehicle information  location, fuel reading, mileage and other operational data  wirelessly with Avis officials and drivers. For example, a smart and connected car lets users know where to find the next gas station or offers remote access to certain vehicle functions. Plus, with real-time location tracking, the cars no longer even need to be kept in a dedicated car-rental lot.By the end of the year, about 100,000 of the company's cars will be connected, say company officials, with the plan to install the technology on all 600,000 Avis brand rental cars in the United States.Connected really means data-driven, said Orduna, in an interview within Kansas City last month during the Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo.A connected fleet, said Orduna, will transform car rental business operations.Its a completely different business, he said, calling to mind efficiencies and easily tracking needed maintenance as mundane as knowing when a tire gets low on air.A natural next step is to partner with cities that have already made headway in becoming smart and connected as a way to get information from cities to visitors via the rental car companies through apps and other digital methods.It could be like, While youre here, do you want to learn about some local events? Orduna said.Or, we could link you to the [Convention and Visitors Bureau], he added. And suddenly, we sort of start this magic journey.The pilot has launched with data paths established and network architecture tested, said Bennett."But it is not a customer-facing entity yet," he clarified.The partnership could also offer up practical information. For example, a citys digital parking network could alert drivers to available meters or nearby garages with open spots.The data partnership  because at its core, thats what this agreement is  runs both ways. Not only will drivers and Avis get a free flow of information, Kansas City will get a window into how well traffic is flowing.What we hope to get to is to have the rental vehicles serve as sensors by letting us know how traffic is flowing every 15 minutes or so, said Bennett.However, in any agreement between public entities and private companies, privacy concerns must be fleshed out. For now, Avis only has access to publicly available data streams.That data is anonymous, said Bennett.And aggregated at the block level, so the privacy concerns on our end our minimal. We will not get the Avis customer-specific data.Avis is a great partner with us in this endeavor, said Bennett. We will implement a data-sharing partnership with them once we get to the point where their data provides feedback and refinement to our existing traffic models. Weve begun those discussions but have not completed the agreement yet.(TNS)  The Dallas pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners notified oil and gas shippers on Monday that the data system for its extensive pipeline network was hacked by still unknown cybercriminals.The attack Energy Transfer described in a shipping notice on Monday didn't affect its pipeline systems, the company told Bloomberg. The attack was limited to the electronic data interchange system that facilitates transactions over oil and gas moving through its pipelines and was directed at the contractor that manages the system, Latitude Technology, according to the company.Neither Energy Transfer nor Latitude responded to requests for comment.Over the past two years, the U.S. energy industry and other companies that operate so-called critical infrastructure such as chemical and manufaturing plants have seen a significant increase in cyberattacks targeting individuals with access to control systems that operate facilities, federal agencies and cybersecurity experts say.The attack reported by Energy Transfer doesn't bear the mark of a foreign nation-state trying to hack into the critical operating systems of U.S. pipelines, said Patrick McBride, chief marketing officer of cybersecurity firm Claroty in Virginia. Instead, it appears aimed at gaining data  such as who is buying what from whom at which price  that can be used to make trades in financial markets or sold directly, McBride said."This is likely a financially motivated attack, rather than a nation-state attack," McBride said. "It's not clear if they were trying to siphon off or redirect finances. More likely they're trying to get information they can use, to monetize competitive information."It's extremely rare for an American energy company  or any company, for that matter  to publicly disclose a cyberattack against its operational systems or corporate networks. By law, U.S. companies are required to report attacks that compromise personal identifying information such as credit card numbers or medical records. But in the industrial sectors, there is no such requirement to report attacks on control and information technology systems.U.S. energy companies reported more than 350 cybersecurity incidents between 2011 and 2015 to the Department of Homeland Security. But the federal agency has not identified any of the victims of the online attacks.U.S. federal agencies last month said hackers backed by the Russian government have targeted the U.S. energy industry and other sectors critical to running the economy in a wave of attacks that began iin March 2016, if not earlier.The alert, put out by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security on March 15, marked the first time the U.S. government had specifically blamed the Kremlin for online attacks against the nation's so-called critical infrastructure, which includes energy, nuclear, water, aviation and manufacturing facilities.Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District. ILLINOIS MUNICIPAL LEAGUE RISK MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION, PlaintiffAppellee, v. CITY OF COLLINSVILLE, Illinois, an Illinois Municipal Corporation, and Mark Schmidt, Defendants (City of Collinsville, Illinois, DefendantAppellant). NO. 4170015 Decided: March 30, 2018

OPINION

 1 Defendant, the City of Collinsville, Illinois, an Illinois municipal corporation (City), appeals from the trial court's order granting summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, the Illinois Municipal League Risk Management Association (Association). On appeal, the City argues the trial court erred in finding the Association had no obligation to defend or indemnify it against claims asserted in Madison County case No. 11L1306. We disagree and affirm.

 2 I. BACKGROUND

 3 A. Complaint for Declaratory Judgment

 4 In March 2012, the Association filed a complaint for declaratory judgment under section 2701 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2701 West 2010) ), which it later amended. The amended complaint was filed against the City and Mark Schmidt. Schmidt is not a party to this appeal. In its amended complaint, the Association sought a declaration providing it had no obligation to defend or indemnify the City against claims asserted in Madison County case No. 11L1306.

 5 1. Madison County Case No. 11L1306

 6 The pertinent facts of Madison County case No. 11L1306 are not in dispute. Schmidt, on both behalf of himself and a putative class (the plaintiffs), filed a complaint against the City relating to the enforcement of a local ordinance. The ordinance required an individual whose vehicle has been towed and impounded in connection with certain criminal offenses to pay a $500 administrative fee to the City prior to obtaining the release of his or her impounded vehicle. The plaintiffs argued the ordinance violated their due process rights because the administrative fee was not related to the costs of services provided and served no rational purpose. They requested the trial court to award the return of all monies received by [the City] to date and to the time of trial in this cause via assessment of the [a]dministrative [f]ee, award costs of suit[,] and for all other relief to which [the plaintiffs] may be entitled. See generally Carter v. City of Alton, 2015 IL App (5th) 130544, 392 Ill.Dec. 553, 32 N.E.3d 1129 (reversing the trial court's dismissal of plaintiffs' complaint and remanding for further proceedings).

 7 As part of their request for class certification, the plaintiffs asserted certain common questions of law and fact existed, including whether (1) the administrative fee violated their due process or other constitutional rights, (2) injunctive or declaratory relief was proper, and (3) the City willfully and wantonly instituted the administrative fee. The plaintiffs also asserted class certification was proper, as each individual claim * * * [was] relatively small, so that individual litigation [was] not economically feasible[,] [and the City] derive[d] enormous aggregate profits from depriving [them] of the amount of [$500] each.

 8 2. Coverage Grants

 9 The Association had issued to the City certain coverage grants, which undisputedly were effective during the period the plaintiffs' alleged injuries occurred. The coverage grants provided the City with different types of liability coverage. The coverage grants are separated into parts. The following parts, and their contents, are relevant to this appeal.

 10 Part RMA 1 provides general liability coverage. It provides: The Association will pay on behalf of the Members [ (City) ] all sums which the Members [ (City) ] shall become legally obligated to pay as damages, defined as ultimate net loss', because of bodily injury or property damage to which this form applies; caused by an occurrence within the coverage territory. Part RMA 1 sets forth specific exclusions to coverage. The exclusions primarily exclude coverage where the bodily injury or property damage arises from a particular situation, such as the use of an automobile owned by the City.

 11 Several endorsements to part RMA 1 are contained in part RMA 2. These endorsements extend coverage, subject to certain exclusions. Section VIII of part RMA 2 extends coverage to certain violations of an individual's civil or constitutional rights. It provides in part: The Association will pay on behalf of the Members [ (City) ] all sums which the Members [ (City) ] shall become legally obligated to pay, defined as ultimate net loss', because of: (1) bodily injury, property damage, personal injury[,] or advertising injury arising out of a violation of civil or constitutional rights * * * but only if such damages are sought in a civil suit brought under one or more of the following civil rights statutes: United States Code Title 42  1981, 1982, 1983, 1985[,] or 1986[.]

 12 Additional endorsements to parts RMA 1 and RMA 2 are contained in part RMA 3. These endorsements set forth further exclusions to coverage provided by parts RMA 1 and RMA 2. Similar to the exclusions set forth in part RMA 1, the exclusions in part RMA 3 exclude coverage primarily where the bodily injury or property damage arises from a particular situation, such as the use of a gas plant.

 13 Parts RMA 1, RMA 2, and RMA 3 are subject to the definitions provided in part RMA L. Part RMA L defines an occurrence as an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which results in bodily injury, property damage[,] or other covered damages neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the Members [ (City) ] involved[.] Part RMA L defines property damage as (1) physical injury to or destruction of tangible property which occurs during the coverage period, including the loss of use thereof at any time resulting therefrom; or (2) loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed, provided such loss of use is caused by an occurrence during the coverage period[.]

 14 Part RMA 4 provides coverage for liability relating to certain acts committed by public officials and employees. It provides in part: The Association will pay on behalf of the Member [ (City) ] all loss' which the Members [ (City) ] shall be legally obligated to pay because of a wrongful act occurring during the coverage period. Part RMA 4 provides definitions in addition to those in part RMA L. It defines loss as any amount which the Member [ (City) ] is legally obligated to pay or which the Member [ (City) ] shall be required by law to pay as indemnity to the Members [ (City) ], for any claim or claims made against them for wrongful acts' and shall include but not be limited to: damages, judgments, settlements and costs[;] cost of investigation and defense of legal actions (excluding from such cost the salaries of officials or employees of the Member [ (City) ] or any other governmental body); claims of proceedings and appeals therefrom; cost of attachment or similar bonds; provided always, however, such subject of loss' shall not include: fines or penalties imposed by law; exemplary or punitive damages; that portion of a judgment whereby compensatory damages have been multiplied; or matters which may be deemed uninsurable under the law pursuant to which this form shall be construed. It defines wrongful act as any actual or alleged error or misstatement or misleading statement or act or omission or neglect or breach of duty by any Members [ (City) ][.] Part RMA 4 sets forth specific exclusions to coverage. One of those exclusions provide: The Association shall not be liable to make payments for loss' in connection with any claim made against the Members [ (City) ] based upon or arising out of or in any way related to * * * any violation of civil or constitutional rights.

 15 B. Association's Amended Motion for Summary Judgment

 16 In July 2016, the Association filed a motion for summary judgment, which it later amended. In its amended motion, the Association argued the City was not entitled to coverage as the claims made in Madison County case No. 11L1306 did not fit within the issued coverage grants. Specifically, as to the applicability of part RMA 1, the Association argued, in part, the City was not entitled to coverage, as the plaintiffs did not assert (1) they suffered any physical injury to or destruction of any tangible property * * * or * * * loss of use of such property, or (2) an accident [occurred] resulting in damages neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the City. As to the applicability of section VIII of part RMA 2, the Association argued, in part, the City was not entitled to coverage, as the plaintiffs did not (1) assert they suffered property damage, or (2) seek relief for an alleged violation of their constitutional rights under any of the covered civil rights statutes. Finally, as to the applicability of part RMA 4, the Association argued, in part, the City was not entitled to coverage as any alleged wrongful acts causing a violation of the plaintiffs' constitutional rights were explicitly excluded from coverage.

 17 C. City's Response to the Association's Amended Motion for Summary Judgment

 18 In October 2016, the City filed a response to the Association's amended motion for summary judgment. The City requested the trial court deny the Association's amended motion and order the Association to provide a defense and indemnification because it was entitled to coverage under part RMA 1 of the coverage grants. In asserting coverage existed under part RMA 1, the City specifically presented argument under the loss of use prong of the property damage provisionproviding coverage where it is alleged the City caused a loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed. As to whether a loss of use of tangible property was alleged, the City simply asserted [t]here can be little argument that the return of the money the plaintiffs seek in the underlying case is a form of tangible property that can be touched, seen, smelled, tasted, weighed, and even written upon. As to whether an occurrence caused the loss of use of tangible property, the City argued an accident, which was an undefined term that should be construed strictly against the Association, occurred, as the alleged injuries to the plaintiffs was neither expected nor intended. In making its occurrence argument, the City acknowledged it intended for the plaintiffs to pay the administrative fee in exchange for the release of their impounded vehicles but asserted it was not aware it may not have been legally authorized to charge such a fee and the underlying complaint contained no allegations suggesting the City intended to cause the alleged property damage.

 19 D. The Association's Reply to the City's Response to Its Amended Motion for Summary Judgment

 20 In November 2016, the Association filed a reply to the City's response to its amended motion for summary judgment. In its reply, the Association maintained the City was not entitled to coverage under part RMA 1 of the coverage grants because there was no property damage or occurrence.

 21 The Association argued there was no property damage as defined by the loss of use prong of the property damage provision because the plaintiffs did not allege (1) a loss of use (2) of tangible property. The Association asserted the claim against the City was for intangible, economic losses, as the plaintiffs were not seeking the return of the actual $500 in currency with which they paid the administrative fee but rather the exchange value of the $500 paid. The Association further asserted, even if the $500 paid for the administrative fee was tangible property, the plaintiffs did not claim a loss of use of such property. Rather, relying primarily on Collin v. American Empire Insurance Co., 21 Cal.App.4th 787, 26 Cal.Rptr.2d 391 (1994), and Advanced Network, Inc. v. Peerless Insurance Co., 190 Cal.App.4th 1054, 119 Cal.Rptr.3d 17 (2010), the Association argued the plaintiffs were seeking to recover only the monies of which they were permanently deprived by paying the nonrefundable administrative fee.

 22 The Association argued there was no occurrence because the plaintiffs did not allege their injuries were caused by the City's accidental conduct. The Association asserted, in part, the natural and ordinary consequence of the passing of the ordinance was individuals paying the administrative fee to recover their automobiles. The Association further asserted whether the City knew or should have known the ordinance might be unconstitutional is irrelevant, as ignorance of the law was no excuse.

 23 E. Hearing on the Association's Amended Motion for Summary Judgment

 24 In December 2016, the trial court held a hearing on the Association's amended motion for summary judgment. The parties largely followed their written arguments. In part, the Association argued the plaintiffs were not seeking recovery for loss of use of the monies paid to satisfy the administrative fee but rather only the return of the value they actually paid. Conversely, the City suggested:

[The] plaintiff[s'] concern is that they're saying they have lost their property, their $500; that they have been deprived of that money. They have been deprived of that money in their pocket. They have been deprived of the use of that money. They have been deprived of it, for lack of a better term, the interest.

 25 After considering the arguments presented, the trial court granted the Association's amended motion for summary judgment, finding the Association had no obligation to defend or indemnify the City against the claims asserted in Madison County case No. 11L1306 under the coverage grants. By way of docket entry, the court indicated it found [t]he damages sought in [Madison County case No. 11L1306] [were] not the loss of property damages as defined by the contract between [the Association] and the City.

 26 This appeal followed.

 27 II. ANALYSIS

 28 On appeal, the City argues the trial court erred by awarding summary judgment in favor of the Association. Specifically, the City asserts the court erred by finding the Association had no obligation to defend or indemnify it against the claims asserted in Madison County case No. 11L1306 under part RMA 1 of the coverage grants.

 29 Disposition by summary judgment is proper only where the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. 735 ILCS 5/21005(c) (West 2016). While the City did not file a cross-motion for summary judgment, it agreed the case presented only questions of law and invited the trial court to decide these legal questions on the record presented. On appeal, the City does not assert summary judgment was improperly granted due to the existence of a disputed issue of material fact. Instead, the City contests the trial court's legal findingsits interpretation of the coverage grantson which its decision to award summary judgment was based. We review the court's legal findings on which it based its decision to award summary judgment de novo and may affirm the court's judgment on any basis supported by the record, regardless of the court's reasoning. See Village of Bartonville v. Lopez, 2017 IL 120643,  34, 413 Ill.Dec. 34, 77 N.E.3d 639; Covinsky v. Hannah Marine Corp., 388 Ill. App. 3d 478, 483, 328 Ill.Dec. 35, 903 N.E.2d 422, 42627 (2009).

 30 The City argues it is entitled to coverage under the loss of use prong of the property damage provision as applied to part RMA 1 of the coverage grants because the plaintiffs have alleged the loss of use of their tangible property caused by an occurrence. The Association disagrees, contending (1) the money the plaintiffs paid for the administrative fee is not tangible property, (2) the plaintiffs have not alleged the loss of use of their money, and (3) any injury was not caused by accident. To determine whether the City is entitled to coverage, we review both the language of the coverage grants as well as the allegations of the underlying complaint. Westfield Insurance Co. v. West Van Buren, LLC, 2016 IL App (1st) 140862,  13, 406 Ill.Dec. 99, 59 N.E.3d 877.

 31 We turn first to the language of the coverage grants. Our primary objective in analyzing the coverage grants is to ascertain and give effect to the parties' intentions as expressed by the policy language, which we construe in its plain and ordinary meaning. Valley Forge Insurance Co. v. Swiderski Electronics, Inc., 223 Ill. 2d 352, 36263, 307 Ill.Dec. 653, 860 N.E.2d 307, 314 (2006). Like any contract, we construe the coverage grants as a whole, giving effect to every provision, if possible, as it is assumed every provision was intended to serve a purpose. Id. at 362, 307 Ill.Dec. 653, 860 N.E.2d 307.

 32 Part RMA 1 provides: The Association will pay on behalf of the Members [ (City) ] all sums which the Members [ (City) ] shall become legally obligated to pay as damages, defined as ultimate net loss', because of bodily injury or property damage to which this form applies; caused by an occurrence within the coverage territory. Part RMA L defines an occurrence as an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, which results in bodily injury, property damage[,] or other covered damages neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the Members [ (City) ] involved[.] The loss of use prong of the property damage provision defines property damage as the loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed, provided such loss of use is caused by an occurrence during the coverage period[.] The coverage grants do not define accident or loss of use. While the coverage grants do not define loss of use, part RMA 4 uses and defines the term loss.

 33 In its initial brief, the City does not address the argument the Association asserted in the trial court suggesting the terms loss and loss of use were not interchangeable. Instead, the City focuses its argument on whether the loss of use requires property to be injured or destroyed. As the Association points out, the City's argument misses the mark. The loss of use prong of the property damage provision specifically defines property damage as the loss of use of tangible property which has not been physically injured or destroyed. (Emphasis added.)

 34 The Association maintains, relying primarily on Collin, 26 Cal.Rptr.2d at 408, and Advanced Network, Inc., 119 Cal.Rptr.3d at 2024, the terms loss and loss of use are not interchangeable. The Association asserts, where an owner of property alleges only a permanent deprivation of that property, the owner has not suffered a loss of use. In its reply brief, the City does not disagree with the holdings of Collin and Advanced Network, Inc. but rather only contends they are inapplicable to the present case because the plaintiffs have suffered only a temporary loss of their property.

 35 In Collin, 26 Cal.Rptr.2d at 40809, the Second District of the California Court of Appeal was tasked with interpreting a loss of use provision of an insurance policy. The court held  [l]oss of use of property is different from loss' of property. Id. at 408. As an example, the court addressed the theft of an automobile: The value of the loss of use of the car is the rental value of a substitute vehicle; the value of the loss' of the car is its replacement cost. Id. at 409. Giving effect to the limiting words of the contract, the court found no coverage existed under the loss of use provision of the insurance policy because the damages sought related only to the value of the property lost. Id.

 36 In Advanced Network, Inc., 119 Cal.Rptr.3d at 2326, the Fourth District of the California Court of Appeal interpreted a loss of use provision of an insurance policy. The court, following Collin and related cases adopting the holding of Collin, concluded the terms loss of use and loss were not interchangeable. Id. at 2324. It found coverage for loss of use did not apply to an action in which the claimant sought only the replacement value of the property he or she lost. The court further found, while the loss of use provision of the insurance policy was not modified by the term  temporary,  the impermanent nature of loss of use damages [was] implicit. Id. at 25.

 37 We find the holdings of Collin and Advanced Network, Inc., persuasive. At the core of these holdings, the courts merely follow those principles of contractual interpretation we previously addressed. That is, in construing a contract, we must give effect to the parties' intentions as expressed by the policy language as well as give effect to every contractual provision where possible. See Valley Forge Insurance Co., 223 Ill. 2d at 362, 307 Ill.Dec. 653, 860 N.E.2d 307. The loss of use prong of the property damage provision defines property damage as the loss of use of tangible property. (Emphasis added.) We must presume the use of the additional limiting language was intended to serve a purpose. Id. Reading the coverage grants as a whole, support for this presumption can be gleaned from the intentional use of the term loss rather than loss of use in part RMA 4. Under the plain and ordinary meaning of the language used in the coverage grants as well as the persuasive authority provided, we hold coverage is provided under the loss of use prong of the property damage provision as applied to part RMA 1 only where the damages sought relate to the impermanent nature of the injury sustained. To hold otherwise would be to decline to give effect to the words of use in the term loss of use.

 38 We turn next to the allegations of the underlying complaint to determine whether the plaintiffs have alleged a loss of use of their property. The City contends the plaintiffs asserted they suffered a loss of use of their money on a temporary basis, not as a permanent loss of use.  At the hearing on the Association's amended motion for summary judgment, the City further suggested the plaintiffs asserted they lost the interest on their money. The Association disagrees, maintaining the plaintiffs asserted they were permanently deprived of their money by paying a nonrefundable administration fee and sought only the return of the value of those payments in damages.

 39 We must construe the underlying complaint liberally, resolving all doubts in favor of coverage for the City. See Westfield Insurance Co., 2016 IL App (1st) 140862,  12, 406 Ill.Dec. 99, 59 N.E.3d 877. The plaintiffs alleged the City's ordinance unlawfully required them to pay a $500 administrative fee to obtain their impounded vehicles. It is undisputed the $500 administrative fee was nonrefundable. By paying the nonrefundable administrative fee, each plaintiff was permanently deprived of his or her $500. The plaintiffs sought the return of all monies received by [the City] to date and to the time of trial in this cause via assessment of the [a]dministrative [f]ee. In their request for class certification, the plaintiffs specifically asserted their claims for the amount of $500 per person made individual litigation economically infeasible. We conclude the City is not entitled to coverage, as the plaintiffs have not alleged a loss of use as defined by the loss of use prong of the property damage provision. See Advanced Network, Inc., 190 Cal. App. 4th at 1064, 119 Cal.Rptr.3d 17 (finding the insured was not entitled to coverage under the loss of use provision because the stolen money was irretrievable and the underlying action sought only the replacement value of the money). Because the City has failed to show the plaintiffs have alleged a claim for loss of use under the loss of use prong of the property damage provision, we need not address the related issue of whether the plaintiffs have alleged a loss of use of tangible property or whether an occurrence occurred. Summary judgment was properly granted in favor of the Association.

 40 As a final matter, we note the Association argued the City forfeited multiple contentions of error by failing to provide the trial court with supporting authority. In support of its forfeiture arguments, the Association cited an order filed under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23 (eff. July 1, 2011). Such an order is not precedential and may not be cited by any party except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). Accordingly, as it related to whether the plaintiffs alleged a claim for loss of use under the loss of use prong of the property damage provision, we declined to consider the Association's forfeiture argument.

 41 III. CONCLUSION

 42 We affirm the trial court's judgment.

 43 Affirmed.

JUSTICE KNECHT delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

Justices Holder White and DeArmond concurred in the judgment and opinion.Robert Kubica insists he does not see himself as a "teacher" at Williams.

The British team has come under fire for its heavily sponsored and notably young and inexperienced lineup of Lance Stroll alongside Sergey Sirotkin.

But Kubica, the experienced former BMW and Renault driver, is the official reserve.

"I would not say that I'm a teacher and they're my students," he told TVP Sport.

"But they do have little experience -- like anybody when they start. F1 is a complicated sport," Kubica added.

"Lance and Sergey come to me with questions, more so Stroll than Sirotkin. It's nothing personal with Sergey -- perhaps Lance just has some experience already and so he knows what to ask."

Russian Sirotkin told the Russian media ahead of this weekend's Bahrain grand prix that his and Williams' performance in Australia was disappointing.

"We expected more when we went to Melbourne," he admitted.

"In particular, I expected more from myself. But it's not as terrible as it looked in qualifying, so we have high hopes that we can progress in the near future.

"Our goal is to gain a foothold in the middle group, which means getting into the second segment of qualifying, fighting to get into the final one, and fighting for points," said Sirotkin.

"Yes, we were pretty far from that in Australia, but I really hope that it was just one of those failures that is always lying in wait for you during a season."

(GMM)Dr Helmut Marko says he wants Daniel Ricciardo to stay at Red Bull.

Actually, Australian Ricciardo has gone onto the driver market for 2019, and is already linked with a move to Mercedes.

"I have a good relationship with Daniel," Marko told France's Auto Hebdo when asked about speculation regarding Ricciardo's expiring contract.

"We really like him and want him to stay, but not under any conditions. The contract should be beneficial to us both," the Red Bull official added.

If Ricciardo does go, it appears most likely that Red Bull would pull Carlos Sainz back after the Spaniard was 'loaned' to Renault this year.

That is because the junior team Toro Rosso's new driver lineup may not be ready for the leap to Red Bull Racing.

Indeed, when a vacancy emerged at Toro Rosso last year, Red Bull re-called its former junior Brendon Hartley to fill the gap.

"At the time, we did not have any young drivers ready to go to formula one," Marko admits.

"But I always understood that Brendon had speed and we had always continued to support him."

As for Pierre Gasly, Marko added: "In 2016 he won GP2 but he made mistakes, so we decided he was not ready for F1. We sent him to Super Formula but the first race was horrible.

"Then he learned to focus on himself, not blame others, and basically he grew up and started to cope. Now Pierre has become a much more mature person," he added.

(GMM)NASA has awarded a contract for the design, building and testing of a supersonic aircraft that reduces a sonic boom to a gentle thump. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company was selected for the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration contract, a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract valued at $247.5 million. Work under the contract began 2 April and runs through 31 December 2021.

Under this contract, Lockheed Martin will Skunk Works will build a full-scale experimental aircraft, known as an X-plane, of its preliminary design developed under NASAs Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) effort. The X-plane will cruise at 55,000 feet at a speed of about 940 mph (1,513 km/h) and create a sound about as loud as a car door closing75 Perceived Level decibel (PLdB)instead of a sonic boom.

The answer to how the X-planes design makes a quiet sonic boom is in the way its uniquely-shaped hull generates supersonic shockwaves. Shockwaves from a conventional aircraft design coalesce as they expand away from the airplanes nose and tail, resulting in two distinct and thunderous sonic booms.

The new designs shape sends those shockwaves away from the aircraft in a way that prevents them from coming together in two loud booms. Instead, the much weaker shockwaves reach the ground still separated, which will be heard as a quick series of soft thumps.

Its an idea first theorized during the 1960s and tested by NASA and others during the years since, including flying from 2003-2004 an F-5E Tiger fighter jet modified with a uniquely-shaped nose, which proved the boom-reducing theory was sound.

Once NASA accepts the aircraft from the contractor in late 2021, the agency will perform additional flight tests to prove the quiet supersonic technology works as designed, aircraft performance is robust, and its safe to operate in the National Airspace System.

Beginning in mid-2022, NASA will fly the X-plane over select US cities and collect data about community responses to the flights. This data set will be provided to US and international regulators for their use in considering new sound-based rules regarding supersonic flight over land, which could enable new commercial cargo and passenger markets in faster-than-sound air travel.Groupe PSA, alongside Amazon, Criteo, Facebook, Faurecia, Google, Microsoft, Naver Labs, Nokia Bell Labs, Suez and Valeo, has joined forces with CNRS, Inria and PSL University as a founding member of the PRAIRIE Institutethe first carmaker in the organization.

The Group is convinced that artificial intelligence (AI) is at the center of a deep transformation taking place in the automotive industry and shaping the future of mobility.

The PRAIRIE Institute aims to bring together prominent scientific and corporate AI industry players to emerge as a global leader in the field. Groupe PSA will thus be benefiting from an ecosystem combining top-level expertise to develop its future mobility solutions.The city of Gdynia in Poland has signed a contract with Solaris for the delivery of 30 trolleybuses worth more than 95 million PLN (US$28 million) in total. The order includes 16 articulated Trollino 18s, and 14 Trollino 12s, which are already well-established in Gdynia.

Apart from featuring traditional trolleybus drivelinesi.e., an electric drive powered by overhead wiresthe Solaris vehicles commissioned by Gdynia will be fitted with additional batteries which enable driving off the traction line.





In the case of the 14 Solaris Trollino 12 trolleybuses, the batteries will have a capacity of 58 kWh; the 16 articulated vehicles will be equipped with 87 kWh batteries.

Both types will be able to cover a distance of dozens of kilometers in zero-emission mode without the use of a pantograph. Thanks to this solution the trolleybuses for Gdynia will be able to run in areas of the city where there is no trolleybus traction line.

In addition to trolleybuses, under the contract, the company will also provide batteries that will allow the modernization of 21 other vehicles, by replacing nickel-cadmium batteries with lithium-ion ones, together with appropriate power electronics. This will support a zero-emission ride of around 15-20 kilometers without connection to traction.

Modernization of trolleybuses begins this spring, while the supply of the trolleybuses to Gdynia will begin in September this year and shall be completed by spring 2019.

Trolleybuses in Gdynia have become a recognizable quality brand for green transport. Once this order is carried out, we will be able to replace buses on some lines with trolleybuses. Thanks to the batteries, these will manage to ride also on routes lacking traction lines. The new trolleybuses will feature air conditioning, will be accessible for persons with physical disabilities, whereas the large and easily legible screens and internal CCTV cameras will improve the safety of passengers. Moreover, the new articulated vehicles, which are only now debuting on Gdynias street, will carry nearly twice as many people as standard vehicles at a comparable cost of operation. Thanks to the new electric vehicles, over one-third of the passengers using public transport in Gdynia will travel by trolleybuses. Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychaa, deputy Mayor of Gdynia

Gdynia was the buyer of the first trolleybus produced by Solaris in 2000. The city also claimed the trolleybus number 1,001 manufactured in Bolechowo near Poznan.

Today Gdynia is, next to Lublin and Tychy, one of the three cities in Poland to have kept their trolleybus infrastructure and are developing it. For its achievements in this matter Gdynia has won numerous awards both in Poland and abroad. Among others, in 2014 the Przedsiebiorstwo Komunikacji Trolejbusowej operator was declared the winner of the prestigious Regiostars prize which is awarded by the European Commission for investments in sustainable urban public transport.The Brainerd Farmers Market 2018 Spring season opening will be Saturday, April 21, from 10 a.m.- 12 p.m.

The farmers market features fresh local produce, meats, eggs, breads, jams & jellies, live plants, food artisans, crafts and more.

The market will be on the corner of Brainerd Road and Belvoir Avenue at Grace Episcopal Church, at 20 Belvoir Ave., Chattanooga.

More information can be found at www.facebook.com/brainerdfarme rsmarket .

The Brainerd Farmer's Market is held from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. on Saturdays from April 21, through Dec. 8.

The Brainerd Farmers Market accepts EBT/ SNAP Card purchases. The market offers Fresh Savings Double Snap Dollars to all EBT customers through its partnership with AARP & Wholesome Wave.Nonprofit regional blood center Blood Assurance is calling on community members to make a blood donation at a local donor center or bloodmobile. The supply of O negative blood is at a critical level, and officials are asking the community to donate to help guarantee blood is readily available for hospital patients.

We are at a critical level right now, said Dr. Elizabeth Culler, medical director at Blood Assurance. To most effectively serve local hospitals, we need to have a four to five-day supply of this blood type. The need for a steady blood supply is vital. Blood Assurance is asking donors, specifically those with O negative blood type, to give today.



Each donation of blood contains plasma, red blood cells and platelets that can be used to save up to three lives. Patients undergoing surgery, receiving cancer treatment or organ transplants rely on donated blood, in addition to the unexpected traumas seen at hospitals on a daily basis.



O negative is the universal blood type and is always needed, said Jay Baumgardner, executive director of marketing and community relations for Blood Assurance. We need healthy donors to come replenish the supply. If you are able to donate, we ask that you take 30 minutes out of your day to save lives in our community.

To be eligible to donate blood, you must be at least 18 years old (16 and 17 years old with parental consent), weigh 110 pounds or more and be in good health. Donors are asked to drink plenty of fluids  avoiding caffeine  and eat a meal that is rich in iron prior to donating. To schedule an appointment at a donor center or blood drive near you, visit www.bloodassurance.org, call 800-962-0628 or text BAGIVE  to 444999.Scenic Land Development has announced a public meeting to give an update on the Hillocks Farm development at Hixson.

The meeting will be Wednesday, April 18, at 5:30 p.m. at the Hixson Community Center, 5401 School Dr.

The meeting will be convened by City Councilman Chip Henderson



Developer Duane Horton said, Since the communitys introduction to area neighbors, weve worked hard to incorporate their thoughts into our plans. We have some exciting updates to share and look forward to meeting with our neighbors.

Councilman Henderson said, Scenic Land Company has worked with the community every step of the way to share information along each step of the development. I know the community will be eager to learn about the latest news from Hillocks Farm and I look forward to seeing so many folks join us.

The current development plan provides for a 280-unit multi-family development, 500,000

square feet of retail space, 250,000 square feet of office space and 60 acres of green space and

open areas.

The developer is set to go before the Planning Commission on Monday at 1 p.m. on a request Request to rezone C-2 Convenience Commercial Zone to R-4 Special Zone as part of a change

to the overall Hillocks Farm Master Development Plan previously approved by City Council.

Updates will be posted on Facebook, @HillocksFarm.In-Town Gallery announces member and photographer, Ron Lowery.

This feature artist for April will display aerial photographs, as well as his two coffee table photo books,Chasing Lewis & Clark Across America: A 21st Century Aviation Adventure and Tennessee River: Sparkling Gem of the South.

Mr. Lowery and his son built an open cockpit plane from which he explores the geography with his camera. See his recent photographs and meet the artist at the First Friday reception from 5-8 p.m. this Friday at 26A Frazier Ave.



"Lowery works from his art studio in the sky. Nothing excites him more than discovering and photographing unusual scenes and textures from above, and he has flown over 34 states to satisfy his passion for exploration and art. In 2003, tackling the greatest challenge of his life, he retraced the famous route of Lewis and Clark from the air. Flying 14,000 miles in his open-cockpit plane, he provided a new artistic perspective on the entire rugged route that the brave explorers followed," officials said.



Born in Washington, DC and growing up in northern Virginia, Mr. Lowery became interested in photography at age 16. What started off as a hobby rapidly turned into a passion and then a profession. In 1978 he opened his commercial studio in Chattanooga to serve clients needs in advertising and photo editing, with subject matter such as architecture, aerial, underwater, fashion, food and other products.



During the 1990s he expanded his career to become one of the first artist/illustrators to combine his photography with 3D printing of objects he built in the computer. His illustrative conceptual images were used for editorial and advertising around the world and sold to companies such as Kodak, Smith Kline Beecham, Honeywell, IBM and Telecom Italia.



Mr. Lowery and his unusual flying lifestyle have been profiled on PBS and many national and international publications. He continues to do talks and shows across the county, as well as flying and having adventures.



The gallery will feature an array of fine arts and crafts, including sculptures, wood pieces, shawls, silk wearables, stained glass, paintings and laser sculpted metal. The artists like to attend the First Friday receptions, meet visitors and discuss their processes with interested guests.

In-Town Gallery is located among the restaurants and shops on the North Shore and is open every day year round, except for major holidays. Hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday - Saturday, 1 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday and until 8 p.m. on First Fridays. Call 423-267-9214 for more information.La Morada in the Bronx does mole  poblano and otherwise  like no other. Photo: Melissa Hom

In Mexico, mole refers to a whole category of sauces, made from a wide range of ingredients  the through line being that said ingredients are usually roasted or even charred, ground into a powder or paste, and simmered, ideally resulting in incredibly complex flavor. But when you see mole on a New York menu, it usually means mole poblano  a deep, dark, rich sauce that some allege has ancient origins and is also often attributed to the Mexican state of Puebla; its traditionally made with chilies, chocolate, tomato, onion, and tortillas, among many other things, and served over chicken or enchiladas. Weve rounded up the very best iterations of mole poblano in the city  and since Mexican food in New York is perhaps more expansive than its ever been, weve highlighted some other varieties, too.

The Absolute Best 1. La Morada

308 Willis Ave., nr. 140th St., Mott Haven; 718-292-0235 For pure breadth of mole, this delightful and cozy Oaxacan spot in the Bronx cannot be beat: It offers no fewer than six varieties, from verde (with jalapenos and herbs) to negro (named for the dark-skinned, narrow chile known as pasilla). And its mole poblano was the best we tried  thick and smooth with just a bit of texture; unctuous but not oily, with a lovely balance of subtle spice, sweetness, and smoke and a hint of crunch from a sprinkle of sesame seeds. The choice of protein its served with is yours, but the kitchen recommends the bone-in dark-meat chicken, which is perfectly cooked. The spicy, sour, and toe-tinglingly salty mole oaxaqueno, made with seven different chilies, is wonderful, too, over pork. And for something totally different, try the chile relleno (cheese-stuffed pepper) blanketed in the rich, creamy, sweet mole blanco, which gives pesto a run for its money as the best thing you can do with pine nuts.

2. Casa Enrique

5-48 49th Ave., nr. Vernon Blvd., Long Island City; 347-448-6040

At Casa Enrique, the mole is not just poblano but further specified as piaxtla, the name of a town in Puebla. Made with a mix of dried chilies, almonds, raisins, Mexican chocolate, and plantains, and sprinkled with sesame seeds, its smooth, round, and high-gloss, creamily emulsified, acidic but complex, with a deep, fruity sweetness and spice that sneaks up on you, blooming in your mouth. Its available atop chicken-breast enchiladas or a spectacularly silky chicken leg, with a side of pea-flecked yellow rice, and garnished with coins of crunchy radish, black beans, and warm corn tortillas.

3. Fonda

Multiple locations

Though the mole at Fonda  which has outposts in Chelsea, the East Village, and Park Slope  is on the menu as Negro Oaxaqueno, its pretty much indistinguishable from a mole poblano, broadly speaking, and made with corn tortillas, chocolate, onion, garlic, almonds, bananas, and three types of chilies. Either way, its absolutely delicious, super smooth, and symphonically flavored: resoundingly tart, sweet, and smoky, with a subtle drum kick of spice. Its served over excellent enchiladas, packed with salty, juicy shredded chicken, and comes with a side of rice and black beans.

4. Tacos Matamoros

4508 Fifth Ave., at 45th St., Sunset Park; 718-871-7627

Photo: Melissa Hom

You might not expect to find great mole at a place with tacos in its name, and indeed, the mole here is a bit hard to find, tucked in the back of a many-paged menu. You might not even bother looking for it, given how good the tacos are. But consider this: Its not unreasonable to have tacos and mole in one meal, so you should. Made with chocolate, chilies, plantains, tomatoes, raisins, and cinnamon, the mole poblano here seems extra concentrated, sweet but not too sweet and quite spicy, and is shaded a rich brown with appealingly oily orange edges. It comes blanketing a chicken leg (with rice, tortillas, and lardy black beans), over enchiladas, or in a tamale.

5. Tacos El Bronco

4324 Fourth Ave., at 44th St., Sunset Park; 718-788-2229

Photo: Melissa Hom

Another Sunset Park taco shop, another exceptional mole, distinguished especially by being the least sweet that we tried. It starts off quite bitter but also fruity, nutty, herbal, and smoky, then builds slowly to a pleasingly spicy burn that sort of steams in your mouth, like a lingering vapor. Get it over enchiladas or a succulent chicken leg, with a side of piping-hot tortillas to sop it up.

Honorable Mentions (in Alphabetical Order)

Barrio Chino

253 Broome St., nr. Orchard St.; 212-228-6710

The mole poblano here, served over chicken enchiladas, starts off quite sweet and builds to be quite spicy, then bitter, with notes of coffee and chocolate and tiny pools of orange oil on its surface.

Claro

284 Third Ave., nr. Carroll St., Gowanus; 347-721-3126

Photo: Melissa Hom

The menu at this upscale Oaxacan spot is subject to change, but moles are a particular strength, and youre apt to find a couple to choose between: At one meal, the super-dark, super-bitter negro  made with almonds and peanuts, among other things  played nicely off of the sweet, tangy, luscious beef short ribs it was served over, and the slightly fruitier, smokier rojo was made with guajillo and ancho chilies and served over pork cheeks and slices of raw apple.

Cosme

35 E. 21st St., nr. Broadway; 212-913-9659

At Pujol, Enrique Olveras restaurant in Mexico City, the mole is the thing, aged for more than a thousand days and served alone on a plate as its own tasting-menu course. Theres an excellent, if not quite as marquee-worthy, version often on his menu at Cosme, too, sometimes served over chicken or lobster, or as part of a dish of duck enmoladas (enchiladas blanketed in mole), or even alone, accompanied by wild greens, nut butter, and fresh tortillas. Dark and thick and creamy, it toys with the limits of bitterness, balanced by just a hint of sweetness, a good dose of smoke, and a subtle spice that fans slowly across the palate.

Downtown Bakery

69 First Ave., nr. 4th St.; 212-254-1757

The poblano here, on the thin side, is the smokiest we found, with just a hint of sweetness, a nice hit of spice, and the intense bitterness youd expect from a bar of very dark chocolate. You can get it lots of ways: in a tamale, with carnitas; over enchiladas (filled with chicken, beef, pernil, veggies, or cheese); in a chicken taco or burrito; as a plato, over chicken, with yellow rice, refried black beans, and corn tortillas; or even just as a side of straight sauce.

El Atoradero

708 Washington Ave., nr. Prospect Pl., Prospect Heights; 718-399-8226

Atoraderos version is impressively complex in fruity, smoky, nutty flavor, if on the mild side  it could stand to be spicier. That said, it goes down easily enough and is thin enough that you almost want to just eat it with a spoon like soup, especially given that the chicken it blankets is nothing to write home about. (Its available over enchiladas as well.)



Haiti - FLASH : Haitian military would have used firearms !





Herve Denis, the Minister of Defense, learned with amazement that on the evening of Saturday, March 31st, 3 soldiers-technicians of the Corps of Military Engineering : Rodini Pierre-Louis, Dave Basquin and Livens Dorvil, went without a mission order or regular permission to Anse-Rouge, commune of the Arrondissement of Arrondissement



During these festivities a fight with exchanges of shooting and launching objects of all kinds would have burst between the fans of two rival DJs who animated the evening. In response, the soldiers-technicians reportedly used firearms.



In parallel with the launching of public action by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of First Instance of Gonaives, an administrative investigation was carried out by the Ministry in order to shed light on this incident, particularly on the origin of the weapons used.



Moreover, Minister Denis deplores and strongly condemns all acts of indiscipline and unbecoming behavior that do not fit with the new philosophy of the Military Institution and assures everyone that the competent authorities have been instructed to adopt in the better delay the necessary remedial measures.



HL/ HaitiLibre





















Haiti - News : Zapping...





FLASH : 2 arrests in the case Legagneur

2 individuals were arrested in connection with the investigation into the disappearance of journalist Vladjimir Legagneur who has been missing since 14 March. The journalist's mobile phone was found in their possession.



In addition, the human bones found on March 28 on a vacant lot locality in Sillon in the town of Palema (Grand-Ravine) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23952-haiti-case-legagneur-bones-of-a-body-without-head-found-in-grand-ravine.html will soon be transferred abroad for in-depth DNA analysis to verify whether or not they correspond to the journalist's DNA, said Commissioner Frantz Lerebours, spokesperson for the National Police of Haiti (PNH).



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23991-haiti-flash-the-hat-found-is-that-of-the-journalist-vladjimir-legagneur.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23952-haiti-case-legagneur-bones-of-a-body-without-head-found-in-grand-ravine.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23931-haiti-security-the-mystery-remains-around-the-disappearance-of-journalist-legagneur.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23928-haiti-news-zapping.html



Rara clash, 7 victims

Saturday, March 30, during the parades of Rara in the 10th communal section of Petit-Goave, a clash between two rival gangs resulted to 7 wounded with stabbings, confirmed the Commissioner Fouji Pierre.



Towards a cabinet reshuffle ?

Consultations are underway between the majority group in the Chamber of Deputies and President Jovenel Moise about a possible reshuffling of the cabinet. The deputy of Thomassique, Francisque Delacruz reports several meetings with the Head of State on the issue.



Deficit of 14 billion Gourdes

"The Government is working to correct the budget deficit of 14 billion gourdes, recorded during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2017-2018" assured the Secretary of State for Finance Ronald December arguing that "the limited expenditure of the State will favor the increase of the tax base "[?].



Moise J-C predicts the failure of the Sectoral General States

The Haitian minority opposition, Moses Jean Charles "Pitit Dessalin" in the lead, predicts the failure of the Sectoral General States and expresses doubts about the credibility of several members of the Steering Committee of these Sectoral General States https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23948-haiti-flash-sectoral-general-states-of-the-nation-installation-of-the-members-of-the-steering-committee.html



UN : The situation in Haiti in the Security Council

Tuesday morning at the UN, the situation in Haiti was on the menu of the Security Council Tuesday morning. The 15 member countries heard Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, who visited Haiti in mid-March https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23833-haiti-politic-moise-received-the-un-under-secretary-general.html , which estimated that the United Nations Mission for the Support of Justice in Haiti (Minujusth) was fully operational "Haiti has traveled a long way to achieve the relative political and security stability it currently enjoys, but persistent economic uncertainties, which can lead to social exclusion, particularly among young people and the most vulnerable, can undermine this progress," said Lacroix.



HL/ HaitiLibre

















Bradley County Sheriff Eric Watson has received an endorsement from Tennessees Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally.

As a state representative, Eric stood against the criminal element in our society, he assembled a Record on Public Safety and Crime that is second to none, said Lt. Governor McNally. Eric took a lead role in the fight against meth in our state and also sponsored legislation in our schools to make sure our children are safe. I look forward to his continued good work as sheriff for the people of Bradley County.

Randy McNally is the 50th and current Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee who was elected to his position in January of 2017 by members of the Tennessee State Senate. Additionally, McNally is the Speaker of the State Senate who also represents the 5th Senate District, which includes Anderson County, Loudon County, Monroe County and part of Knox County.

Sheriff Watson expressed his appreciation regarding the endorsement stating, I am humbly honored to receive this important endorsement. I have known Lt. Governor McNally for many years and admire what he has been able to get done for the people across the state of Tennessee.Californian wine producers urge Trump to stand down on China

By Rob Brown

Californian wine producers are braced for a slide in sales to China as trade relations between the country and the US continue to deteriorate.

The Chinese authorities have announced plans to increase the total tariff and tax paid on a bottle of wine imported from the US from 48.2% to 67.7%. Other US imports face duty hikes of between 15% and 25%. The move is seen as a retaliation to President Trumps decision to raise duties on Chinese steel and aluminium imports and limit Chinas investments in the US.

The US is the sixth biggest wine importer to China, having shipped 9.6 million litres with a value of $75.6m to the country in 2017 [Chinese General Administration of Customs]. China is expected to overtake the UK to become the worlds second biggest wine market after the US by 2021, with sales projected to rise by 40% to around 23bn [IWSR].

The US stands to miss out on this opportunity, said John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, in a statement. President Trumps decision to address US trade issues by use of threats and increased tariffs risks undoing decades of work and investment to grow California wine exports, he said.

I urge President Trump to return our nation to a strategy of opening markets and resolving trade concerns through multilateral negotiations, like the Trans Pacific Partnership. The current path of tariffs and trade wars is sure to result in tremendous harm to California agriculture and future wine exports.

Some say a trade war between the two countries will benefit other wine producing regions. In 2019, Australia will begin importing wines to China tariff free. Australia was the second largest supplier of wine to China in 2017 after France, having shipped 105.7 million litres at a value of $682.4m.

Chile and New Zealand, the third and seventh biggest importers to China, are not subject to tariffs and only pay a 30% combined tax rate, according to the Wine Institute. President and CEO of the organisation Robert Koch told Reuters: US producers were already at a disadvantage to many foreign competitors. This will only exacerbate that problem.









The Hamilton County Sheriffs Office graduated its first Explorer Academy n Tuesday night this week. Prior to this inaugural academy, Explorers were eligible to attend meetings and trainings after certain prerequisites were met and as long as certain academic requirements were maintained.The HCSO Explorer Program was established over thirty years ago and is affiliated with the National Boy Scouts of Americas Explorer Program. "The Hamilton County Sheriffs Office Explorer Post 2070 is a youth oriented community policing program which is dedicated to providing our communitys youth with an opportunity to explore future career opportunities in the Law Enforcement profession," officials said. "Participants generally range between 14 and 20 years of age."This new six week Explorer Academy was designed to offer new cadets a standardized training regime and restructure the already successful existing program, in order to provide the best training opportunities possible for new recruits.Cadets trained several nights a week and numerous weekends in order to complete the comprehensive training regime."The HCSO Explorer Post provides youth with an opportunity to experience what it is like to be a Sheriffs Deputy by providing training on Law Enforcement related topics, providing education in leadership and team-building skills, conducting marksmanship training and giving youth the opportunity to ride along with patrol deputies during an actual patrol shift. Explorers also have the opportunity to participate in high adventure activities, such as camping, rappelling, marksmanship programs and hiking. Explorers also assist the Sheriffs Office at community service events, such as Riverbend, the Airshow and the County Fair."Once a cadet has successfully completed the academy, they will be eligible to participate in numerous activities that are designed to be exciting, challenging, educational and fun. Being a member of the Explorer Post gives a young person a unique opportunity to become familiar with local law enforcement officers and officials, thus providing an advantage to the young person if they consider a career in law enforcement."Many former members of our post have gone on to have successful careers in the sheriffs office, as well as in other local police agencies, such as Chattanooga, East Ridge and Red Bank Police Departments."This years academy graduates:Cadet Dylan D. DialClass PresidentCadet Jacob R. WolffClass Vice PresidentCadet Erin HarrisClass SecretaryCadet Zachary ChambersCadet Caleb CozzartCadet Caleb S. DavidsonCadet Michela EstradaCadet Joseph FowlerCadet Tanner R. JacksonCadet Hunter KingCadet Lexi KingCadet Korey D. PellCadet Marissa C. Rankhorn"Special thanks to HCSO Explorer Advisor Sergeant Chris Harvey, for his efforts to create this unique training opportunity and for his dedication to ensuring future opportunities for our communitys youth to serve in local law enforcement," officials said.The following HCSO personnel are also recognized for their support and contributions to this 1st Explorer Academy:Sheriff Jim HammondChief Deputy Allen BranumDeputy Chief Charles Lowery, Jr.Uniformed Services Captain Mark KingLieutenant Spencer DanielsCorrections Sergeant Robert HarveyDeputy Sheriff Jason MitchellInformation Services Technician Caitlin MaddoxMany other HCSO Personnel assisted with various instruction throughout the 2018 Explorer Academy.Whitfield County Sheriffs Office firearms instructor Brian Pack and Dalton Police Department firearms instructor Osvaldo Sicairos watch as retired Georgia State Patrol Trooper Carlton Stallings and others attempt to qualify with their revolvers. - photo by Mitch Talley

Whitfield County Sheriffs Office firearms instructor Lt. Juan Martinez watches as retiree Mike Ellis and others attempt to qualify with their semi-auto pistols. - photo by Mitch Talley

Retirees gather for a group photo with Old Timers Shoot officials before heading to the firing range to try and earn their concealed carry permit. - photo by Mitch Talley

Lt. Juan Martinez of the Whitfield County Sheriffs Office talks to the retirees during a class on use of force and de-escalation required for renewing their concealed carry permits. - photo by Mitch Talley

Nearly 40 retired law enforcement officers turned out March 21 for the annual Old Timers Shoot hosted by the Whitfield County Sheriffs Office at its Training Center and Firing Range on Old Praters Mill Road.



Among those taking part for the first time was recent retiree Rick Swiney, to whom the training center was dedicated last summer. Back for a second time as a retiree was Phillip Herren, who had overseen the Old Timers Shoot as training coordinator for several years.



They were joined by 36 more fellow officers from a wide range of agencies, including Whitfield County Sheriffs Office, Dalton Police Department, Motor Carrier Compliance Division, Georgia State Patrol, Cohutta Police Department, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Immigrations Customs Enforcement, Department of Corrections, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, Roswell Police Department, East Ellijay Police Department, Atlanta Police Department and U.S. Customs.



We ended up having over 1,000 years of service with us, said Lt. Juan Martinez, who took over in 2017 as training coordinator after Mr. Herrens retirement.



Inside the year-old training center, the retirees listened to a block of instruction from Lt. Martinez on use of force and de-escalation before heading out to the firing range, where they were scored after using either semi-automatic pistols or revolvers to fire several rounds at targets from four distances, including 25, 15, 7 and 3 yards.



Those are the requirements, per state regulations, for these retired officers to renew their annual concealed carry permits, Lt. Martinez said..



Of course, just getting to be with other law enforcement officers, active and retired, is a lot of fun for the participants, he said.



Its always fun for them to be able to get together and tell old war stories and hang out and reminisce and talk to people that they served with when they were actively involved in law enforcement, Lt. Martinez said. Plus, a lot of us younger guys are learning a lot of neat stuff and how things have changed since back in the day.



The day ended with participants enjoying the annual grilled hamburger and hot dog lunch, where even more memories were stoked.



Lt. Martinez pointed out that beginning May 1, with the help of drug seizure funds and the Whitfield County Public Works department, the pistol range will be updated with concrete lanes at the various yard markers.

The Lee University School of Music will host a recital for the studio of Charlotte Kies, clarinetist, on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall. This recital is one of four student, studio recitals to take place this semester.

The remaining three recitals to take place are for students from Ron Brendel Vocal Studio and Cheryl Brendel Vocal Studio on Tuesday, April 17, at 6 p.m.; Cahill Smith Piano Studio on Wednesday, April 18, at 6 p.m.; and Kristen Holritz Flute Studio on Wednesday, April 18, at 8 p.m. All performances will take place in Squires Recital Hall.

Ms. Kies is a clarinetist based in Chattanooga. She joined the Lee University School of Music faculty in 2017 and is a member of the Ohio Light Opera Orchestra. She was named the 2017 Second Prize Winner in the International Clarinet Association's Orchestral Audition Competition.

Cheryl Brendel, a coloratura soprano, has performed opera, recital, and oratorio in the United States, as well as in Germany and Italy. She has performed in several operas including The Magic Flute, Cendrellon, and The Mikado. She has been an adjunct professor in music at Lee since 2005.

Dr. Ron Brendel, professor of voice, has been on Lee Universitys faculty since 2005. He has presented papers and lecture-recitals at the College Music Society and Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, among others. Apart from academia, Dr. Brendel has performed extensively with multiple operas and societies, including the Peach State Opera, South Florida Opera, Vero Beach Choral Society, and the Pensacola Choral Society.

Dr. Smith, associate professor of piano, joined Lees faculty in 2014. He began playing at age 10, and by 16, had made his orchestral debut with a local orchestra. In the United States and abroad, Dr. Smith has performed recitals in major venues including three programs at Carnegie Halls Weill Recital Hall, the PolyTheater in Chongqing, China, and Kilbourn Hall.

Ms. Holritz, adjunct professor of flute at Lee, made her solo debut with the United States Air Force Band in 2005. In addition to teaching at Lee, she teaches at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. Ms. Holritz is also Principal Flute with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera.

Studio recitals are held at the end of each academic year to showcase the students study and accomplishments from private instruction.

The recitals are free, non-ticketed, and open to the public. Squires Recital Hall is in Lees Humanities Center.

For more information, contact Lees School of Music at 614-8240.Lawsuit: Hawaii Taser Ban is Unconstitutional

by Andrew Walden

A lawsuit, Roberts v Ballard, filed April 2, 2018 in Hawaiis Federal District Court challenges the state ban on civilian ownership of stun guns.

According to the lawsuit text, H.R.S.  134-16 provides that it shall be unlawful for any person, including a licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or licensed dealer, to possess, offer for sale, hold for sale, sell, give, lend, or deliver any electric gun.

Hawaii is one of only four states to ban Tasers.

Pointing out that many other jurisdictions have already found complete bans on the ownership of electric arms unconstitutional, the lawsuit seeks an order enjoining Defendants from enforcing HI Rev Stat  134-16 (and) declaring (it) unconstitutional.

Second Amendment attorneys Alan Alexander Beck and Stephen D. Stamboulieh are representing plaintiff Namiki Roberts, a local photographer. Beck won a 2014 decision by Hawaii Federal Court Judge Michael Seabright upholding the Second Amendment rights of US Green Card immigrants in Hawaii.

---30---

PDF: Complaint -- Case 1:18-cv-00125

2aHawaii: Hawaii Taser Case Filed

Guns.com: Federal lawsuit filed over Hawaii stun gun, taser ban

2017: Hawaii One of Only Four States to Ban TasersThis website uses cookies primarily for visitor analytics. Certain pages will ask you to fill in contact details to receive additional information. On these pages you have the option of having the site log your details for future visits. Indicating you want the site to remember your details will place a cookie on your device. To view our full cookie policy, please click here. You can also view it at any time by going to our Contact Us page.Colombian Government to assess criminal responsibility for Ecopetrol oil spill

On April 2, Colombias attorney generals office launched an investigation to determine whether officials from state-run oil company Ecopetrol could be held criminally responsible for an oil spill of 550 barrels in Santander province. The Lisama 158 well leaked crude into a ravine over a three-week period, contaminating the water and affecting animal and plant life.

Stock image

The investigation will seek to establish if individual officials from Ecopetrol were responsible and could be penalised, an official from the attorney generals office told Reuters.



The countrys procurator general - which has the power to remove officials from their jobs - and the environmental licensing agency are also conducting investigations into the leak.



Ecopetrol Chief Executive Officer Felipe Bayon Pardo said the company would cooperate fully with all three investigations, and remediate the affected area.



According to Colombia Reports, the leak killed more than 2,500 animals and has polluted more than 20 miles of river. Locals have warned that the crude oil could still reach the Magdalena, Colombias largest river.



The Colombian environment authorities said Ecopetrol did not activate the contingency plan, nor did it execute and control the emergency according to the real magnitude of the event that occurred on March 2. They also said the company obstructed recovery procedures.



Television network Caracol claimed the company knew about serious mechanical failures at Lisama 158 since 2016, but failed to execute the necessary repairs to equipment.



According to a 2016 audit by the Comptroller General, it was one of 31 abandoned wells that posed an environmental risk due to overdue maintenance.



Ecopetrols CEO has denied negligence and withholding information.

Local members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints attended the 188th semi-annual general conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah to formally sustain President Russell M. Nelson as prophet, seer, revelator and as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dallin H. Oaks was sustained as first counselor and Henry B. Eyring was sustained as second counselor in the First Presidency, or highest governing body of the Church. Russell M. Nelson has visited Chattanooga on two occasions.

Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares were named as the newest members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They will serve as special witnesses of Jesus Christ, and fill vacancies left by the passing of President Thomas S. Monson and Elder Robert D. Hales.

At the time of his call, Elder Gong served in the Presidency of the Seventy. Before being called to serve as a General Authority in 2010, he served as a Vice-President of Brigham Young University, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC and as a special assistant to the Undersecretary of State at the U.S. State Department. He also served as special assistant to the U.S. Ambassador in Beijing, China in 1987. Elder Gong holds a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. From 2011 to 2015, Elder Gong served as the Area President for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Asia.

Elder Ulisses Soares has been a General Authority of the Church since 2005. He also served in the Presidency of the Seventy, as a counselor in the Africa Southeast Area, President of the Brazil Area and as a counselor in the Brazil South Area. He holds a Master of Business Administration and was an accountant and auditor for multinational corporations in Brazil.

For those in the greater Chattanooga area who were unable to travel to Salt Lake City, they were able to view and participate in the worldwide solemn assembly in chapels across the area, and also in their homes via cable, internet, and satellite transmission. As local Chattanoogan Ryan Ward, graduate of McCallie and now attending Brigham Young University, explained, A solemn assembly is a sacred gathering that is held for the purpose of sustaining a new prophet. We do not vote for a prophet. God chooses His prophets. And, I was especially thankful to be present for this sacred and historic occasion to show my full support for Gods will  for President Nelson, for his counselors, for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and other leaders as designated.

Whether in Tennessee, Utah or elsewhere, Latter-day Saints, informally known as Mormons, are grateful to join with like-minded Christians across the globe in proclaiming the doctrine of Christ. Jesus Christ is the living Son of the living God. He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind. In great clouds of glory, He will come again and He shall wipe away all tears from [our] eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there by any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Revelation 21:4).The Stopped  Ethnic Profiling in Finland, a survey conducted by the Swedish School of Social Science (SSKH) and funded by the Kone Foundation, found that ethnic profiling is common particularly in public spaces such as metro and railway stations, restaurants and shopping centres, and airports and harbours.

Such experiences were typically related to identity checks and other control measures by public and private security personnel.

The survey indicated that acts of control by various security authorities might be selective and partly based on ethnicity. The control acts of security guards in particular seem to include explicit ethnic profiling, the SSKH writes in its research report.

A total of 145 people from racial and ethnic minorities were asked to tell about their experiences of ethnic profiling in Turku and Greater Helsinki in 20152017. An additional 26 police officers and 14 other experts, such as security guards, social workers and retail employees, were interviewed for the three-year research project.

Respondents of Somali backgrounds, for example, reported that they have been targeted by security guards almost ten times and respondents of Middle Eastern backgrounds almost six times as often as their native-born peers.

Ive been stopped many times, said one respondent, a roughly 30-year-old man of African origin. Suddenly these guys in plain clothes just came by and showed us some badge [] and started to inspect everyone right away, which I thought was really humiliating. We were waiting for the train, talking to each other, and there was no problem.

The SSKH points out in its report that such experiences are likely to make public spaces such as parks, beaches, landmarks and market squares feel unwelcoming for racial and ethnic minorities.

We were in front of Kamppi, and there were maybe five or six of us close to each other. The guard came and said [] youre not allowed to gather here, told a woman in her 40s from South-East Europe. So I said that why not, certainly I can talk to my friends here. What is the problem here? [The guard] was really like no, you have to leave now.

Respondents also reported being stopped outside public spaces and transport. The SSKH reveals that several respondents said they have also been stopped for no apparent reason while driving.

I was right in the Helsinki city centre, driving around, recalls a young man of an Iraqi background. Then a cop stopped me, and I was like oh really, why are you stopping me. Well, Im asking for your drivers licence, because you people usually dont have it and youre still driving around.

Such experiences were reported especially by the Finnish Roma.

Ive been in these kinds of situations many times when driving, said a Roma woman in her late 20s. Suddenly, Ive been stopped without any reason. Then if Ive had passengers in the car, theyve all been asked for their papers. If weve wondered why weve been stopped, theyve never really given us a clear answer.

The SSKH points out the failure of authorities to provide justification for the control measures can especially gnaw away at individuals trust in the society and their willingness to contribute to it.

Not a problem in Helsinki

Neither the National Police Board nor Helsinki Police Department had yet to examine the results of the survey on Tuesday, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

Jarkko Lehtinen, a superintendent at the Helsinki Police Department, assured to the newspaper that the police department has devoted resources to preventing discrimination already for a few years. The entire staff, he added, has been instructed how to perform control measures and how to prevent discrimination in all circumstances.

We naturally take it seriously if its claimed that police are using illegal ethnic profiling. But I dont recognise it as a problem in Helsinki, he stated.

Lehtinen also called attention to the importance of being able to justify the use of control measures to the individuals targeted by them without delay.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa  LehtikuvaThe removals have been called off on grounds of the applicant renewing their application, for example, he added.

Police have recently suspended nearly a half of the planned removals of unsuccessful asylum applicants, Seppo Kolehmainen, the National Police Commissioner of Finland, revealed in a press release on Tuesday.

The Police of Finland organised a press conference yesterday to shed light on its role and responsibilities in the removals of unsuccessful asylum seekers, assuring that its intention is to carry out the removals as effectively as possible while proactively taking into consideration the various possible obstacles to returning an unsuccessful applicant to their home country.

The police does not criticise the decision making or question the prevalent legislation but performs the removal responsibilities assigned to it resolutely, the press release reads.

The removals of unsuccessful asylum seekers are expected to increase in the near future as roughly 10,000 unsuccessful applicants continue to wait in reception centres for either their removal or a decision on their appeal against the initial asylum decision. Illegal residence, similarly, is projected to increase due to a share of the unsuccessful applicants refusing to leave Finland.

Unsuccessful asylum seekers, however, accounted for less than a fifth of the 2,600 removals performed by police officers in 2017, the press release indicates.

Kolehmainen underlined that it is crucial for internal security to, first, expedite the processing of asylum applications and, second, ensure that the applicant either begins their integration process or is removed from the country without any undue delay.

This is important also for the people themselves. Foreigners residing in the country illegally or waiting for their removal from the country are in a vulnerable position, he explained.

The removals of unsuccessful asylum seekers have recently stirred up considerable public debate in Finland. Deputy National Police Commissioner Sanna Heikinheimo reminded that the police has only limited opportunities to participate in the debate as it is unable to comment on individual cases.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Markku Ulander  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi SuomiThe Community Foundation and the Hamilton County Department of Education announced every local Donors Choose request has been fulfilled, thanks to a gift from a San Francisco-based donor.

Last week, cryptocurrency company Ripple gifted $29 million to Donors Choose, an online giving platform that allows public school teachers to post individual projects and seek donations for their classrooms. The gift met every teacher campaign across the country, including all open requests in Hamilton County.

The Community Foundation, in partnership with Hamilton County Schools, piloted a Donors Choose grant-making program for the Opportunity Zone schools earlier this year. When a campaign reached 50 percent completion, donations were matched through a $10,000 grant from the foundation. The foundations goal is to help ensure that students have access to the materials and learning experiences they need to be successful.

"What excites us about Donors Choose is that it allows us to engage generous donors on both a local and national scale, in order to meet needs in our community, said Maeghan Jones, the president of the foundation. This is just another example of the way philanthropy is evolving.

Donors Choose has received considerable investment from national funders, but the most recent contribution, which covered all 35,000 requests in the United States, is unparalleled  and has a profound impact on Hamilton County schools: the value of projects that have now been completed amounts to more than $22,000 in Opportunity Zone schools alone, said officials.

Many projects requested funding for modular furniture to create inviting, collaborative spaces for interactive learning in the classroom, while others involved additional technology to fuel lessons in math and sciences. Almost all requests included additional books and resources for classrooms and libraries to enhance reading skills and develop capable, confident learners.

Following last weeks gift, local teachers expressed gratitude in their comments on the Donors Choose platform.

The generosity shown in supporting this project will reach so many kids that truly need it, wrote Ms. Chen, a teacher at Hardy Elementary School. When reading becomes a positive activity, we can ensure that learning will continue throughout our students' entire lifetimes. I am filled with gratitude for this community support, a genuinely wonderful investment in the future of our society.

HCDE hopes to keep the momentum moving forward.

While the incredible generosity of Ripple took us by surprise, the Opportunity Zone was positioned to leverage this gift due to the work of the Community Foundation in establishing a match and recruiting teacher projects, said John Cunningham, coordinator of Community Schools for HCDE. This also means that funds are still available for further spring matches.

Anyone who would like to donate to new teacher requests may visit www.donorschoose.com/hcdeopportunity.

Noontunes is moving, both in location and time of year, for the upcoming 2018 season. Noontunes, sponsored by Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, is a weekly, mid-day music series coming back for the third season and seeking local artists to fill these unique performance time slots. This 10 week, local musician showcase series will now be from September to November in the new Miller Park.

Shifting from inside the Waterhouse Pavilion in Miller Plaza to the brand new stage and lawn of Miller Park for 2018, artist applications to perform at Noontunes are available online now through Friday, June 1.

With a $10 million renovation effort to be completed for Miller Park in July of this year, the new space will accommodate food trucks, larger crowds and high visibility for performances on the new stage of the EPB Pavilion.

Not only is this new park space specifically designed for events like Noontunes but also a major addition to the heart of the Innovation District, said Meagan Shinn, program director at River City Company. Hosting Noontunes in Miller Park will capitalize on a new, high-tech space in the core of our city, boost the visibility of Noontunes from both vehicular and pedestrian traffic and benefit from the wave of momentum from the unveiling of the space just two months before.

For the 2017 season, Noontunes featured artists like Lew Card, Swayyvo, Megan Saunders, Gino Fanelli, Husky Burnette, Magic Birds and D.L. Yancey among others. Also for the 2017 Noontunes season, over 30 musicians performed for audiences that averaged 178 people per show with a total attendance of 2,317 and clocking 97,986 live stream views.

Each performance will be open to the general public free of charge, live streamed and recorded and aired later on WUTC 88.1. Each live performance has a host who discusses the artists background and song selection providing insight and knowledge not normally gathered from a standard show.

This River City Company program, sponsored by Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, is made possible through partners SoundCorps, Chattanooga Convention & Visitors Bureau, Jazzanooga, WUTC and River City Sessions.

The first performance is set for Wednesday, Sept. 5, from noon-1 p.m. at Miller Park. For more information about Noontunes or to apply to perform in 2018, visit www.NoontunesCHA.com.The site has been prepared using the Forestry Reclamation Approach method. Students will also be transplanting potted blight-resistant American chestnut hybrids and a variety of hardwood bare-root seedlings at the event.

The site has been prepared using the Forestry Reclamation Approach method. Students will also be transplanting potted blight-resistant American chestnut hybrids and a variety of hardwood bare-root seedlings at the event.

Students and teachers at Whitwell Middle School will be participants in the annual TMA/OSM Arbor Day tree planting event this year. Theses students' Holocaust education project has "inspired students and educators from around the globe."

In 1998, they began a simple Holocaust education class that would be the basis for teaching tolerance and diversity in a voluntary after-school program. When the students, mostly white and Christian, struggled to grasp the concept and enormity of the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust, they decided to collect six million paper clips  one for each soul who perished. http://www.oneclipatatime.org/paper-clips-project/

Why paper clips? The students research found that Norwegians wore paper clips as a silent protest and symbol of resistance against Nazi occupation during World War II. It was this simple idea that eventually, and quite unintentionally, turned into a worldwide phenomenon, drawing international media attention and letters of support from literally every continent.

Chico Higgins of Lexington Coal/TCC met with assistant principal Joshua Holtcamp and eight-grade teacher Brady Rorex to plan for the planting event. Coal Creek Watershed Foundation provided pure American chestnut seeds and seedlings, so students can grow them in their classrooms for transplanting at the Arbor Day planting site of Lexington Coal/TCC. Students will also be transplanting potted blight-resistant American chestnut hybrids and a variety of hardwood bare-root seedlings at the event, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

The school has a Holocaust Museum, which is housed in a railroad car that had been used to transport Jews to concentration camps. To date, students have collected 30 million paper clips, with 11 million on display in the museum. Coal Creek Watershed Foundation officials visited the museum and the planting site that has been reclaimed by the Forestry Reclamation Approach.Voice of the People I can drive on the left lane of Ind. 49 and not have to deal with the truck traffic any more. I dont think I know you Jim Ton but apparently youre the one that made this happen. My life is a little better now....

Guest Commentary Fair maps for our children, for our Hispanic communities, for our futures My son will vote for the first time next year. And for his first time, the state of Indiana will have brand new legislative and congressional districts. It should feel like a clean...

Voice of the People During the 13 years I have called Chesterton my home, there are few small-town activities I have come to enjoy quite like the high schools homecoming parade. It is always a beautiful moment of celebrating our students, gathering for an afternoon of fun and seeing...

Voice of the People I find it hard to believe that the majority of Town employees will put their self-interest over the GREATER GOOD which is, the viability of the Town of Chesterton by not getting vaccinated. Our town tried to save money by self-insuring itself. We could be...A Chinese envoy said Tuesday that China was keen to see the international community continue to help improve the situation in Haiti through the provision of humanitarian and development assistance.

Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) [File photo: fmprc.gov.cn]

"China commended MINUJUSTH (the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti) for its efforts for the smooth deployment and functioning of the mission," Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), said at a debate of the Security Council on MINUJUSTH.

Much had been achieved with regard to the UN efforts to combat cholera, he said, calling on the international community to positively respond to the organization's newest initiative for cholera response, with a view towards wiping out the epidemic once and for all.

Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) [File photo: fmprc.gov.cn]

With MINUJUSTH fully operational, preparations have already begun for the follow-up peacekeeping operation to make way for a new UN presence by the end of 2019 that would focus on the Caribbean nation's long-term sustainable development.

The UN is preparing for a transition of its mission in Haiti to a non-peacekeeping presence given the return of stability in the Caribbean country, said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, on Tuesday.

Lacroix said the UN stood ready to support the Haitian government in devising a clear road map for reforms, taking into account the UN mission's capacities on the ground.

The Security Council is due to renew the mandate of Minujusth, which expires on April 15, 2018.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

*Cindy* 1) $10 Amazon Gift Card: Deb Gramie Burgess 2) The Cowboys: Dawn LeGros 3) Rescuing Her Heart: Cindy Klemm *Denise* Audio Codes for The Witness Tree: Marilyn Ridgway and Licha Hanley *Mary* 1) Audio code for The Damsel's Intent: Danielle Grandinetti Owen 2) Reader's Choice: Brenda Walters *Linda* 1) Gold Rush Bride Hannah: Lisa Turley and Jennifer Devon Hibdon 2) $5.00 Gift card to retailer of their choice (Kobo, B&N, AppleBooks, Amazon): Tami le Roux *Grand Prize*: Bonnie Yepsen Weinman *Blog Winners*: 1) Spies & Sweethearts: Sheila64 2) Bent Tree Bride: Roxanne Cruz 3) Rescuing Her Heart: Natalya Lakhno 4) The Debutante's Secret: Connie Porter Saunders

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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.Western warfare that united Greece and enabled his son Alexander to conquer the world.

The full moon cast long shadows across the 3,000 dead and wounded sprawled in grotesque piles throughout the meadow. Moans disturbed the nights stillness as the dying lingered for moments before falling into deaths painless darkness. Through the moonlight came a solitary figure, a lame, drunken old soldier stumbling over the corpses, come to inspect his work. He stopped where the center of the battle line had been and drank deeply from a wine jug. A smile crossed his lips. Then Philip II of Macedon, Greeces greatest general, began to dance upon the bodies littering the battlefield at Chaeronea.

Philip II was many thingsfather of Alexander the Great; unifier of Greece; founder of the first territorial state in Europe with a centralized administration; author of that nations first federal constitution; the Wests first national king; creator of the first Western national army; the first great general of the Greek imperial age; strategic and tactical genius; military reformer; and dreamer of bold dreams. Philips military and political brilliance shaped both his own age and the future of Western military history. Had there been no Philip to assemble the resources and create the strategic vision to bring into being the first modern, tactically sophisticated army in Western military history, Alexanders achievements would not have been possible.

Born in 382 BC, Philip was the youngest of three sons of Macedonian king Amyntas II. At 15 he was sent as a hostage to Thebes to help ameliorate the dynastic crisis then engulfing the Macedonian royal house. While in Thebes, Philip lived with Pammenes, a skilled general and friend of the great Epaminondas, the best military tactician in all Greece. Philip was an eager student of war and was particularly impressed with Pelopidas, the great Theban general and commander of the Sacred Band, an elite force of some 300 handpicked hoplites. It was while watching the Theban army train that Philip learned the importance of infantry maneuver and using cavalry in concert with infantry. When Philips brother, Perdiccas III, regained the Macedonian throne and recalled Philip from Thebes, Philip was made a provincial governor and given a free hand to raise and train troops. For the next five years he experimented with new infantry formations and tactical doctrines.

In 359 BC Perdiccas marched against the Illyrians in another of the interminable border wars that plagued Macedonian kings for centuries. He left Philip behind to govern as regent. Perdiccas was killed in a defeat that also cost the lives of 4,000 Macedonian soldiers. So, at the age of 23, Philip became king of Macedonia and immediately moved against the five wouldbe usurpers who challenged him for the throne. Within a year three of them were dead, the others driven into exile later to be captured and killed. Macedonian politics was not for the weak or squeamish.

Philip quickly had to deal with powerful enemies. The Illyrians and Paeonians were preparing to reinvade Macedonia. The young king gathered up every available man, first attacking and defeating the Paeonians. Then, with 10,000 infantry and 600 cavalry, he turned on the Illyrians, crushing them in a pitched battle near Monastir and killing 7,000 of the enemy during a ruthless cavalry pursuit. Within a year, Philip had neutralized the enemies on Macedonias northern and western frontiers. He then turned to the task of rebuilding the army into an instrument with which to forge an empire.

Over the course of his campaigns, Philip designed and tested a new army radically different in structure, tactics and operational capabilities from those elsewhere in Greece. And behind the redesign of the new army lay a clear strategic vision: Philip intended to conquer all of Greece and unite it under Macedonian suzerainty. With that accomplished, he intended to use the manpower and resources of a united Greece to attack Persia. To manage this, he needed a military machine that could succeed against both Greek and Persian methods of war. To defeat the Greeks, Philip had to find a way to deal with the heavy hoplite infantry phalanx. Defeating the Persians, however, was a more complex problem and required the development of several military capabilities, all of which were new to the Macedonian army.

First, if his army was to deploy over great distances for long periods, Philip needed an effective logistics system. Second, an army operating far from its home base required more rapid means of reducing cities than the usual Greek method of blockade and starvation. Third, because Persian cavalry was so strong, Philips heavy infantry had to be able to blunt the cavalrys shock power. Fourth, mobility on the battlefield needed improvement, and his cavalry had to develop tactics to counter the excellent Persian light infantry. And fifth, new tactical doctrines were required if these combat arms were to be utilized in concert. Philip found solutions to all these problems.

His first move was to require one in every 10 able-bodied men to serve in the army under a system of regular pay and training, which transformed the Macedonian military from a hodgepodge militia into a standing regular army. He reconstituted the Macedonian infantry into a stronger phalanx of 4,096 men, comprising four regiments of 1,024 men each. Each regiment had four 256- man battalions. Unlike earlier Greek infantry formations, the new Macedonian phalanx was a self-contained fighting unit augmented by its own light infantry and cavalry units. Once deployed, these units were completely self-sustaining and could maneuver independently, permitting much greater flexibility than had previously been possible. By the time of Philips death, the Macedonian field army comprised 24,000 infantry and 3,400 cavalry.

In addition to restructuring his army, Philip invented a completely new tactical infantry formation. The original Macedonian phalanx deployed in 10 files, each 10 men deep, a simple square that made it possible to train troops quickly in simple tactical formations and maneuvers. As the infantry gained experience, the phalanx deployed 16 men deeptwice the depth of the Greek hoplite phalanxand was capable of a number of sophisticated battle drills and tactical formations, including the hollow wedge to drive through Greek hoplite infantry lines. The Macedonian infantryman carried a new weapon, the sarissa, a 13- to 21-foot-long pike made of cornel wood with a blade at one end and a butt plate on the other to lend it balance. The sarissa weighed about 12 pounds and provided much greater reach than the traditional doru, a 7-foot hoplite infantry spear, permitting the phalanx to hold hoplite formations at bay and affording Macedonian infantry the advantage of always landing the first blow. The sarissa could be disassembled and carried with a strap across the soldiers back.

Macedonian infantrymen wore the standard Greek hoplite helmet and leg greaves, but no body armor. Each carried an aspis, a 3-foot diameter, round, bronze-covered wood shield, secured to the body by a shoulder strap. This freed both hands to wield the sarissa, thus enabling Macedonian infantrymen to easily pierce the armor and shields of Greek hoplites. Philip called his infantry the pezhetairoi (foot companions), endowing it with prestige traditionally reserved for the Companions, cavalry warriors of the Macedonian king.

Philips new infantry formations were based on radically new concepts of tactical employment. Unlike in traditional Greek armies, the Macedonian infantry was not intended to be the primary killing arm. Its purpose was to anchor the line and act as a platform for the maneuver and striking power of the heavy cavalry. By holding the hoplite phalanx at bay with its mass and longer spears, the Macedonian phalanx immobilized the hoplite formation until cavalry could strike it in the flank or rear. But the new phalanx could also be used offensively. When formed as either a solid or hollow wedge, the weight and force of the phalanx could easily drive through a hoplite infantry line, opening a gap through which the cavalry could strike the enemy rear.

The Macedonian phalanx did not usually deploy at the leading edge of the line, but was held back obliquely. The cavalry deployed in strength on the flank, connected to the infantry center by a hinge of heavy elite infantry called hypaspists, armed either in traditional hoplite fashion or with the sarissa, depending upon circumstances. The new concept was to engage the enemy not at the front, but from the flank or at an oblique angle, forcing him to turn toward the attack. As the cavalry pressed the flank, the slower infantry, held back obliquely, advanced toward the enemy center in hedgehog fashionsharp spears bristling outward. If the enemy flank broke, the cavalry could either envelop or press the attack as the infantry closed, using the phalanx as an anvil against which to hammer the hoplites. If the enemy flank held, it still had to deal with the impact of the massive phalanx falling upon its front. Philips innovative new formations, and their new methods of tactical employment, produced the most powerful and tactically sophisticated infantry force ever known to Greece.

The cavalry was the Macedonian armys decisive arm. Philips cavalrymen were each equipped with a sword and a 9-foot javelin, the xyston, used to spike opponents through the face in close combat. Macedonian cavalry were also adept at employing the sarissa. Organized into squadrons of 120, 200 or 300 horse depending upon the mission, Macedonian cavalry attacked with xyston or sarissa held overhand and resting on the shoulder to execute a downward thrust. Once the victim was impaled, a horseman would abandon his spear and fight on with sword. Philips cavalry typically attacked in wedge formation, the narrow end forward, a tactic he copied from the Thracians and Scythians. The ratio of cavalry to infantry in Philips new army was one to six, twice that of the Persians and the largest cavalry-to-infantry force ratio of any army in antiquity. Philips cavalry was particularly deadly in the pursuit, where the sarissas long reach gave the Macedonians a significant advantage in riding down and skewering fleeing enemy cavalry and infantry.

Macedonia boasted a long tradition of cavalry warfare, and Philips cavalry was the best. Macedonian horses were larger and stronger, descended from Persian and Scythian stock bred on the plains of Media and the Danube. If we are to believe Arrian, the Roman cavalry officer and sole contemporary source with military experience, it seems likely that when attacking in wedge formation and employing the longer reach of the sarissa against infantry, Macedonian cavalry could do what no other cavalry of the day couldbreak through an infantry line. Diodorus says that is exactly what Alexanders cavalry did at the Battle of Chaeronea.

Within four years of taking the throne, Philip had forged an army superior to any in Greece. As remarkable as this was, however, the new army was insufficient for creating the empire Philip had in mind. His army still lacked the logistical capability to sustain itself in the field over long distances and initially had no siege ability with which to force a strategic decision by rapidly subduing cities. Philips solutions to these problems set the example for all future Western armies. He prohibited the traditional Greek practice of allowing each soldier to bring an attendant on military campaigns, allowing just one attendant for every 10 infantrymen and one for every four cavalrymen. This transformed the attendants into a logistics corps that served the whole army. He also forbade soldiers from bringing wives and other women, reducing the size of the noncombatant contingent. Philip outlawed the use of drawn carts except for those few designated as ambulances and transport for siege machinery. Horses and mules replaced oxen as pack animals. The effect on speed and mobility was remarkable, increasing the armys rate of movement to 13 miles a day, with cavalry units covering 40 miles from sunrise to sunset. Absent carts, the Macedonian soldier became a beast of burden, carrying 10 days rations, 30 pounds of grain and another 40 pounds of equipment and weapons. This enabled Philip to reduce the number of pack animals in his army by 6,000, creating the fastest, lightest, most mobile army the West had ever seen. Taken together, these logistical reforms made it possible for the first time in Greek history for an army to achieve strategic surprise, allowing Philip to choose the battlefields on which he fought.

But even a mobile army risked ruin in enemy territory if it could not quickly subdue walled garrisons and cities. Philip was the first Greek general to create a department of military engineering in his army and make siege operations an integral part of his tactical repertoire. It was likely Macedonian engineers who developed the prototype of the torsion catapult. Philip could now control the tempo and direction of warfare on a strategic and tactical level. These innovations spelled the end of the city-state as the dominant actor on the Greek military stage. The future belonged to the national territorial state Philip had created in Macedonia.

By 356 BC Philip was in a position to begin his wars of conquest against the Greek city-states. For the next 20 years he engaged in war, diplomacy, intrigue, treachery, bribery and assassination. He conducted 29 military operations and 11 sieges and captured 44 cities during this career, in the process losing an eye and sustaining injuries that left him lame. By 339 BC it was clear that despite his infirmities, Philip intended to master all of Greece. In September of that year he occupied Elateia, a key junction on the main road running through Thebes to Athens. Thebes, though a traditional enemy of Athens and technically Philips ally, recognized that the only way to avoid incorporation into his Macedonian empire was to form a military alliance with Athens. The Athenian army marched into Boeotia, linked up with the Theban army and took up positions in the northwest passes. Their disposition effectively blocked both of Philips routes of advancethe first along the road from Elateia to Athens, the second across the Corinthian Gulf at Naupactus, its narrowest point. For almost nine months Philips route south was blocked. Then then came the decisive Battle of Chaeronea.

Following his victory over the Greeks, in October 338 BC Philip summoned the Greek city-states to a peace conference at Corinth, presiding over what arguably would be his greatest achievementlegalizing Macedonias hegemony over Greece. He proposed the League of Corinth, a defensive alliance in perpetuity among the Greek city-states and Macedonia. Philip was to be appointed hegemon of the leagues joint military forces, whose mission was to ensure the security of Greece. Philip was also to be the strategos autokrator, or supreme commander in chief, of all Macedonian and league forces in the field. One by one the citystates ratified the agreement. Thus Philip united Greece in a single federation for the first time in its history.

In the summer of 337 BC, Philip placed before the leagues council his plan for war on Persia. The proposal was carried, and in the spring of 336 BC Philip sent 10,000 men across the Hellespont to establish a beachhead in Ionia and provoke secession of the Asiatic Greek states from Persian control. Philip was to follow with the main body in the fall, but before he could embark, he was assassinated by Pausanias, one of his own bodyguards.

Philip was the strongest of the few strong men who had appeared on the stage of Greek history since the end of the Peloponnesian War, and his death marked the passing of the classical age of Greek history and warfare and the beginning of the imperial age. Although the latter is marked by the victories of Alexander and rule of the three empires that followed his early death, the debt owed Philip is very great indeed. It was Philip, after all, who dared to dream of a united Greece despite four centuries of failed efforts by Athens, Thebes and Sparta. To Philip belongs the title of first great general in the new age of Western warfare, an age he fathered by introducing a new instrument of war and the tactical doctrines to make it succeed. As a statesman, he had no equal in his timeeven Alexanders achievements did not outlive his death. Philips accomplishments survived long enough to provide Alexander the strategic foundation and means for his war of Persian conquest. As a practitioner of the political art, Philip had no equaleven Nicollo Machiavelli might have smiled at Philips ability to gain his ends by diplomacy as well as by force. There were few minds more facile than Philips in the art of realpolitik. In all these things, he was greater than Alexander. The son became a romantic hero, but the father was the great national king.

For further reading, Richard A. Gabriel recommends: Philip of Macedon, by N.G.L. Hammond, and the authors own Greater Than Alexander: Philip of Macedon, Greeces Greatest General.

Originally published in the March 2009 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here.The first battle of D-Day started 16 minutes after midnight on June 6, 1944. The glider-borne assault on two bridgesover the Caen Canal and adjacent Orne Riverwas among the most spectacular of the special operations carried out during the Allied invasion of Normandy. The capture of what later became known as the Pegasus and Horsa bridges, respectively, was the British equivalent of the U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalions assault on Pointe du Hoc, some 25 miles down the coast. Commanded by Major John Howard, the force of 181 men from two companies of the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry landed in six gliders, three on each bridge.

The purpose of the operation was to secure the drop and landing zones of the British 6th Airborne Division on the east side of the canal and river, which ran roughly parallel, only a couple hundred yards apart, from the city of Caen north to the coast. The British had to control both bridges to prevent tanks of the German 21st Panzer Division from moving against the lightly armed British airborne troops. The bridges would also be key links on the main supply route between the British drop zones and landing zones at Sword Beach, which lay immediately west of the Orne River estuary.

The glider landings presented among the most amazing examples of precision flying of World War II. All three of the huge Horsa gliders carrying the Caen Canal (Pegasus Bridge) element landed within 40 yards of their pinpoint targets on the east bank of the canal. The lead glider, however, made a rough landing that propelled the two pilots and some passengers, including Howard, through the windshield. Knocked senseless but otherwise not seriously hurt, they quickly regained consciousness, formed up and stormed out onto the bridge to confront the German strongpoint opposite. Other elements of the force attacked and neutralized a German pillbox and antitank gun on the near side. Their months of rehearsal were paying off.

As Howards coup de main force fought its way across the bridge, Lieutenant Herbert Denham Den Brotheridge, the leader of 1st Platoon, was shot in the neck. Private Leslie Chamberlain, the platoons backup medic, dragged Brotheridge to a makeshift aid station in a lowlying ditch on the west side of the canal. Captain John Vaughan, the company doctor, worked to keep the platoon leader alive, but to no avail. Brotheridge was the first Allied soldier killed by enemy fire on D-Day.

Georges and Therese Gondree owned and lived on the top floor of a cafe that sat across the road from the German strongpoint. The Gondrees were active members of the French Resistance and had provided much of the key intelligence reporting on the bridge and its defenses. As the battle raged for control of the bridge and the strongpoints, they huddled in the basement with their three young daughters.

A couple hundred yards to the east, only two of the three gliders of the Orne River (Horsa Bridge) element landed on target. The third was mistakenly released over the Dives River, some seven miles away. Fortunately, Horsa Bridge was less heavily defended than Pegasus, and the British commandos secured it with little difficulty.

Forty minutes after Howards force landed, the 6th Airborne Division started coming in. The 2nd Ox & Bucks held the bridges another two hours against sporadic German counterattacks until reinforced by light infantry paratroopers from the 7th Battalion. Among the first paratroop officers to reach Howard was Lieutenant Richard Todd, who had been an actor before joining the army. Todd returned to acting after the war and actually played Howard in The Longest Day, the classic 1962 film about the Normandy landings.

After the war, the bridges were officially named Pegasus and HorsaPegasus for the shoulder patch of British airborne forces, and Horsa after the standard British glider. Engineers replaced Pegasus Bridge with an identical span in 1994, the 50th anniversary of D-Day. The original bridge was moved to a nearby field, where it sat for several years. It now serves as the centerpiece of the Memorial Pegasus [www .normandy1944.com], established in June 2000 by the Gondrees youngest daughter, Francoise. Her sister Arlette continues to run the Pegasus Bridge Cafe Gondree. Brotheridge is buried in the churchyard at Ranville, close to Horsa Bridge. Both the cafe and Brotheridges grave are homage sites for British veterans every June 6.

John Howard earned the British Distinguished Service Order and the French Croix de guerre. He was invalided out of the British army in 1946 due to disabling injuries he received in a car accident following D-Day. He died in May 1999 at age 86. A bronze bust of Howard marks the exact spot where the nose of his lead glider stopped, about 30 feet short of the road and even closer to the east bank of the canal.

Originally published in the July 2009 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here.Are the Israel Defense Forces really the worlds best armyor have they fought nothing but bush-league opponents?

Commenting on the 19th century Confederation Helvetica, Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich reportedly observed that Switzerland does not have an armyit is an army.

There is no better way to describe the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the military establishment of the state of Israel. In the 60 years since its 1948 formation, the IDF has become one of the most respected and most reviled of the worlds armies. It has served Israel through seven major wars, countless actions in the occupied Palestinian territories, and several spectacular special operations against enemies in such countries as Iraq and Uganda.

Along the way, the IDF has acquired an aura of invincibility, although strategic and operational missteps in recent years have tarnished that reputation. Yet, the basic assumption behind everything the IDF does is that Israel cannot afford to lose a war, because decisive military defeat would mean the destruction of Israel. As young recruits swear when they take the IDF oath of enlistment, Masada shall not fall again! a reference to the Jewish rebel stronghold destroyed by the Roman Legion X Fretensis in AD 73.

Two overriding factors drive Israels national security strategy and the IDFs military doctrine. The first is geography: Surrounded by hostile neighbors on three sides and the sea on the fourth, Israel lacks territorial depth. At its narrowest point the country is only nine miles wide, from its eastern border with the West Bank to the Mediterranean. It has no room to maneuver. Despite the claim it has no territorial ambitions, the need to create buffer zones has prompted Israel at times to occupy the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, all of Egypts Sinai Peninsula, and Syrias Golan Heights.

The second factor is demographics. With just under 7.4 million people, Israel is vastly outnumbered by its neighbors. The Arab populations of the countries that share a common border with Israel outnumber the Jews 18-to-1. When the populations of the Arabic and Islamic countries in the outer tier are added, the ratio reaches 50-to-1. In many of the Arab-Israeli wars, countries in the outer ring, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, have sent forces against the Jewish state. Israel simply lacks the numbers to survive a war of attrition. With Israel facing a strategic position similar to that of Prussia and later Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries, many of the key tenets of the IDFs military doctrine are, ironically, similar to those of the old German army, including:

 Determine the outcome of any conflict quickly and decisively.

 Take the fight to enemy territory rapidly.

 Sustain very low casualties.

 Maintain a large standing reserve supported by efficient mobilization and transportation systems.

As with the Germans, these imperatives drive the IDFs predisposition for decisive offensive maneuver and rapid shock action. And like the Germans, the Israelis also claim the advantage of being able to operate on interior lines. The success of their tacticsfollowing the German modeldepends heavily on highly trained, aggressive and dynamic leaders and soldiers who can adapt to rapidly changing situations and exercise initiative instinctively. This close mirroring of the German army has led the IDF to commit some of the same warfighting mistakes, particularly stubborn overreliance on the air powertank combination at the expense of a more balanced combined-arms approach.

The IDF consists of a well-equipped regular air force, a regular coastal navy and a small standing land force augmented by a well-trained reserve that incorporates a large percentage of the population. Perhaps more than any other country in the world, Israel is very much an entire nation in arms.

The IDF did not simply spring into existence when Israel declared independence in 1948. It is the direct successor of often-clandestine Jewish self-defense organizations in Palestine that date back to the start of the 20th century. Among the earliest were BarGiora and Hashomer (The Watchman), formed in 1907 and 1909, respectively, to protect Jewish settlements and kibbutzim in what was then a backwater of the crumbling Ottoman Empire.

When the empire dissolved in the wake of World War I, Palestine became a British mandate under the League of Nations. As Arab-Jewish tensions rose with the increasing influx of Jewish immigrants, Haganah (The Defense) was formed as a local paramilitary force. The British viewed the Haganah with ambivalence, first outlawing the group, but then, during the Great Arab Revolt of 19361939, cooperating with it closely but unofficially. British Colonel (and future World War II general) Orde C. Wingate formed, trained and personally led the Haganahs Special Night Squads, Israels first special operations force. Many of the IDFs early senior leaders, including future chiefs of staff Yigael Yadin and Moshe Dayan, were Wingate proteges.

Meanwhile, more radical elements of the Jewish community in Palestine were agitating for more aggressive action against both the British and the Arabs. As early as 1931 one group broke away from the Haganah to form the Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization), or Etzel. The same year the Haganah formed its elite strike force, the Palmach, an even more radical group broke away from the Irgun to establish the Stern Ganglater called Lohamei Herut Israel (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), or Lehi.

During World War II most Jews in Palestine formed a common cause with the British to defeat the Germans. More than 30,000 Palestinian Jews served in the British Army, many in the Jewish Brigade, which fought with distinction against the Germans in northern Italy. Of course, their military training and experience proved invaluable in postwar Palestine.

As soon as the war ended, the Haganah started defying the British by smuggling Holocaust survivors and other Jewish refugees from Europe into Palestine, where they were put through clandestine military training programs. Meanwhile, Irgun and Lehi, which even many Jews considered little more than terrorist organizations, launched an armed rebellion against the British. Led by future Prime Minister Menachem Begin, the Irgun on July 22, 1946, planted a bomb in the basement of Jerusalems King David Hotel, which housed British military headquarters. Ninety-one people died in the ensuing blast.

Following the UN General Assembly vote in late 1947 to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, the British announced they would withdraw their forces. As flare-ups between Arabs and Jews broke out into open fighting, Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948. Two weeks later Defense Army of Israel Ordinance No. 4 established the IDF and ordered the consolidation of all Jewish fighting organizations under a single command. Almost immediately, the acting head of the new government, David Ben-Gurion, appointed U.S. Army Reserve colonel and World War II veteran David Mickey Marcus as Israels first general officer since Judah Maccabaeus more than 2,100 years earlier. The IDFs first chief of staff was Yaakov Dori, a former Haganah chief of staff.

Despite the fact that the IDF absorbed the general staff, the combat units and all the senior commanders of the Haganah, integration of the other fighting organizations was difficult. Some Irgun battalions joined the IDF, while others continued fighting the Arabs independently. Lehi flat out refused to consolidate, disbanding itself instead, after which many of its fighters joined the IDF individually. This shaky integration process reached a boiling point in June 1948, when the Irgun tried to land the illegal arms ship Altalena in Tel Aviva blatant challenge to the authority of the fledgling IDF. After Begin refused demands to surrender the weapons to the IDF, BenGurionacting as both prime minister and defense minister ordered IDF shore batteries to sink Altalena. It was a crisis that brought the new state to the brink of civil war, but ultimately it cemented the IDFs legitimacy as the countrys sole military force.

The IDF was vastly outnumbered in its 1948 War for Independence, its weapons and equipment a hodgepodge of obsolete items Israeli agents had scrounged from the junk heaps and surplus yards of Europe after World War II. Yet despite simultaneous attacks by Egypt from the south, Syria and Lebanon from the north, and Jordan and Saudi Arabia from the east, the IDF held on all fronts and eventually pushed back. By the time of the final UN-brokered ceasefire on July 20, 1949, the new Jewish state had managed to secure almost all of its original territorial objectives.

Following the War of Independence, other Arab countries immediately occupied the Palestinian sectors of the former British mandate. Jordan took the West Bank and Egypt took Gaza, and throughout the early 1950s Israel was the target of perpetual terrorist raids launched from Arab-held territories. In response, the IDF formed a special counterterrorist force designated Unit 101. Commanded by Major Ariel Sharon, the unit carried out retaliatory raids into Jordanian territory. Unit 101 was disbanded in late 1955 in the face of criticism over the violence and ruthlessness of its operations.

Almost all Israeli citizens are required to serve in the military for some period of time, and that makes the IDF experience a kind of common denominator of Israeli society. It reinforces the idea that every war must be won and that victory is the responsibility of every citizen. For most Israelis, induction into the IDF at age 18 is a major rite of passage. Men serve for three years, unmarried women for two. Most then have lengthy reserve obligations, with men required to remain in the reserves until age 51 (45 for direct combat veterans), and single women until age 24. The standard reserve obligation has been 39 days per year, though the reserve system is being revamped. Contrary to widespread belief, IDF women have not served extensively in combat roles until recently. Israeli women are eligible to serve in more than 80 percent of all military specialties, but assignment to combat duty remains voluntary.

Although Israeli law requires all citizens to serve, the minister of defense has broad discretionary powers to grant exemptions. Members of the Haredi, the ultraorthodox Jewish community, are widely exempted on the grounds of pursuing religious studiesan exemption that gives rise to a great deal of tension in the country. Longstanding policy also exempts some non-Jewish minority groups, significantly most of Israels 1.4 million Arab citizens. Although Arab Israelis theoretically can volunteer for the IDF, they are actively discouraged from doing so. Members of certain Bedouin tribes from the Negev are actively recruited and highly respected for their desert operational and tracking skills. The Druze are another minority group not exempted, and in recent years members have risen to the general officer ranks.

Israel has no military academy like West Point and no reserve officer training program in its universities. Everyone first enters the IDF as a conscript. Those who successfully complete initial training can apply for the extremely competitive and rigorous selection process to become officers or noncommissioned officers in either the reserves or, for the very best, the IDFs small regular force. Two overriding principles of military leadership are inculcated in potential IDF officers and NCOs from their first day in uniform: The leader at any level, from squad to division, is simply the best and most proficient soldier in that unit; and combat is the ultimate test of leadership, and the only way to lead is by personal example.

IDF officer training is especially rigorous, and the attrition rate can run as high as 50 percent. It takes almost 24 months to qualify as a second lieutenant. Once an officer completes all commissioning requirements, the IDF offers opportunities to pursue advanced civilian education at government expense, and many senior officers have received advanced degrees in the United States or Europe. IDF officers who retire or leave active duty for other reasons retain reserve commissions and are subject to recall during national emergencies.

Although the IDF is a single cohesive force, it is organized administratively into the traditional branches of service: The army, navy and air force all have distinctive uniforms and separate career tracks. The army is organized into the standard arms and corpsinfantry, armor, artillery, signals, medical, etc. The standing ground force consists of three infantry brigades, an elite paratrooper brigade, three armor brigades, three artillery brigades and various support units. The elite Sayeret Matkal, or General Staff Reconnaissance Unit 269, is one of the worlds most respected and feared special operations forces. One of Sayerets former commanders, Ehud Barak, later served as the IDFs chief of staff and was Israels prime minister from 1999 to 2001.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is the strongest in the Middle East, and its pilots are justifiably considered the best trained and most aggressive in the world. Since first flying in combat in 1948, IAF pilots have shot down 687 enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat, while only losing 23. This 30- to-1 victory ratio is rivaled only by that of the Finnish Air Force during World War II. Thirty-nine Israeli pilots have shot down five or more enemy aircraft to achieve ace status.

Although the IDF is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, Israel has never formally admitted it. Israels supporters cite the Jewish experience of the Holocaust as the moral justification for the Jewish state to use any measure necessary to ensure its survival, including nuclear weapons. Unsurprisingly, Israels critics and its adversaries in the region take a different view. The IDF probably fielded its first nuclear weapons by the late 1960s, and most intelligence estimates today place Israels nuclear arsenal at between 100 and 200 warheads.

Since the 1948 War of Independence, the IDF has demonstrated its effectiveness in six other major wars. The 1956 Sinai Campaign started after Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and blocked it to Israeli shipping. Under the command of Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan, the IDF sent armored columns slicing into the Sinai, quickly reaching the banks of the canal. As a colonel in command of the 890 Paratroop Brigade, Ariel Sharon jumped into the Sinai with one of his battalions ahead of the armored columns to seize and hold the critical Mitla Pass.

Dayan, meanwhile, spent most of the campaign either on the ground with lead elements or above the battlefield in a Douglas C-47 airborne command post. Dayan was with the 27th Armored Brigade when it entered the Sinai town of El Arish, just west of the Gaza strip. As Dayan was looking out the window of a building used as an observation post, an Egyptian machine gunner opened fire on him, killing his radio operator. In a little more than 100 hours the IDF captured the entire Sinai as well as Gaza, but withdrew quickly under international pressure.

In 1967 Egypt directly threatened Israeli by massing 1,000 tanks and 100,000 troops in the Sinai. With Dayan retired from the military but still very much in charge as minister of defense, the IAF launched a massive preemptive strike on the morning of June 5 and virtually destroyed the Egyptian Air Force on the ground. By noon, just eight hours later, the Israelis had also eliminated the Syrian and Jordanian air forces. Once again, IDF armored columns thrust into the Sinai and to the banks of the Suez. Egypt lost some 15,000 soldiers killed, while the IDF lost 338.

The Six-Day War cemented the IDFs growing reputation for invincibility, but almost immediately the Egyptian and Israeli forces facing each other across the Suez Canal became bogged down in a protracted series of raids, counterraids, and air and artillery strikes. The ironically named War of Attrition played directly against Israels population weakness, but the IDF nonetheless scored a number of impressive tactical successes before the conflict ended in 1970. During Operation Rooster 53 on Dec. 26, 1969, Israeli commandos raided the Egyptian radar station at Ras-Arab on the Gulf of Suez, capturing a newly installed, state-of-the-art Soviet P-12 radar system. Swooping in on three French-built Aerospatiale Super Frelon helicopters, the IDF strike force quickly overpowered the Egyptian garrison. The P-12 equipment was housed in two trailers partially dug into the ground, but the Israelis dug them out and sling-loaded them beneath two U.S.-built CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters for return to Israeli-held territory.

Following its stunning victory in the Six-Day War, the IDF succumbed to a classic case of victors disease and drew faulty conclusions that would later haunt Israel. Replicating one of the German armys biggest World War II mistakes, the IDF came to rely too heavily on tanks and fighter-bombers, de-emphasizing the value of artillery and conventional infantry. The IDF also grew so overconfident that it believed another Arab attack to be almost unthinkable. The Arabs, however, had also learned some hard lessons from 1967.

Egypt and Syria launched their next attack on Oct. 6, 1973, on Yom Kippur, the most solemn Jewish religious holiday of the year. This time the IDF was caught almost totally by surprise. Fully resupplied by the Soviets, Syria launched mass tank formations across the Golan Heights, while Egypt staged a bite-and-hold crossing of the Suez Canal and then threw up an impenetrable umbrella of surface-to-air missiles. Stripped of air cover, and without traditional infantry support, the IDFs tanks fell prey to Egyptian infantry armed with new Soviet antitank guided missiles.

In the end the IDF rallied, especially after a massive American airlift started bringing in weapons and supplies on October 14. IDF tanks eventually annihilated the Syrian forces on the Golan Heights (see Military History, May/June 2008). In the Sinai, Sharons armored division forced a crossing of the Suez, quickly followed by another armored division under Maj. Gen. Avraham Bren Adan. Together the two tank divisions cut off and trapped the Egyptian Third Army on the other side and got to within 60 miles of Cairo before a UN-brokered ceasefire went into effect.

Israels fifth major war had been a close-run affair. Although the combined Arab forces lost more than 2,500 main battle tanks (MBTs) and 850 other armored vehicles, the IDF lost almost 800 MBTs and 400 other armored vehicles. The Egyptians, at least, had proved to the rest of the Arab world that the IDF could be fought to a standstill under the right conditions. Dayan was forced to resign as defense minister, his reputation as one of historys great captains in tatters. In the aftermath, however, the IDF significantly realigned its force structure to put greater emphasis on a combined-arms approach.

Israels sixth major war, initially called Operation Peace for Galilee, started in June 1982 when the IDF invaded southern Lebanon in retaliation for increasing Palestinian terrorist and rocket attacks being launched from Lebanese territory. As IDF ground units approached Beirut on June 10, the IAF launched a series of punishing air strikes against Syrian SAM sites in the strategic Bekaa Valley. When the Syrian Air Force tried to intervene, IAF pilots shot down 22 Syrian MiGs. The Lebanon War officially ended in May 1983, and in the process Israel did manage to eject Yasir Arafat and his Palestine Liberation Organization from Lebanon, but then the IDF became mired in a long and grinding occupation of southern Lebanon that lasted until 2000.

Many observers considered the Lebanon War to be Israels Vietnam. The IDFs reputation suffered severely when Lebanese militia groups allied with Israel massacred between 800 and 2,000 Palestinian civilians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps on Sept. 15 and 16, 1982. Sharon, then Israels defense minister, was branded internationally as a war criminal, and the incident led directly to the formation of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The IDF was drawn into the West Bank and Gaza to perform security and stability operations during the First Palestinian Intifada (shaking off), which lasted from 1987 to 1992. The Second Intifada started in late September 2000 when Sharon, leader of the Israeli opposition and always a lightning-rod figure, visited Jerusalems disputed Temple Mount, Judaisms holiest and Islams third holiest site. The ensuing al-Aqsa Intifada, as it was known, was far more violent and bloody than the first, and the security demands placed on the IDF and especially its reservists exacted a high price. The Second Intifada finally sputtered out by 2005, after Israel withdrew from Gaza, though to this day the IDF remains heavily committed in the West Bank.

The Second Lebanon War started on July 12, 2006, when Hezbollah forces crossed the border from Lebanon into northern Israel and killed three IDF soldiers. Wary of getting bogged down in another long occupation, the IDF made the even greater mistake of trying to win the war entirely from the airignoring the lessons of the last 90 years of military history. Israel launched massive air attacks against Hezbollah positions and Lebanese infrastructure nodes in Beirut and elsewhere. Israels apparent strategy was to drive a wedge between Hezbollah and the rest of the Lebanese population. It backfired, and by the time the IDFs leaders concluded that ground forces were needed, the necessary units were not in position and the IDF ran up against a determined and well-prepared resistance. By the time another UN-brokered ceasefire went into effect on August 14, the IDF had lost 119 soldiers killed in action, with less to show for the loss than in any other war in its history.

The Second Lebanon War differed from Israels previous wars in other ways: For the first time Israel suffered large numbers of civilian casualties, as Hezbollah rockets slammed into northern Israeli cities. For the first time, too, Israel had inflicted more civilian than military deaths on its enemy; and for the first time the IDF failed to crush its military opponent. By simply surviving an IDF onslaught, Hezbollah could claim victory.

Although many pundits have proclaimed that the IDFs armor of invincibility has been pierced once and for all, such claims have been made before, especially after the Yom Kippur War. The IDF did not win decisively in 2006, but Israels existence was never threatened. Like all armies that lose a war, the IDF has undertaken a thorough self-examination and undoubtedly will transform itself accordingly, much like the German army after World War I and the American military after Vietnam.

In the final analysis, Israel is a modern Western state with Western military institutions, including its own modern arms industry. Israels Arab opponents, meanwhile, have been struggling to modernize traditional cultures rooted in the Middle Ages. As long as the IDFs raison detre is to prevent Masada from falling again, the IDF will remain a formidable force.

For further reading, David T. Zabecki recommends: The Sword and the Olive: A Critical History of the Israeli Defense Force, by Martin Van Creveld, and The Israeli Defense Forces: A Peoples Army, by Louis D. Williams.

Originally published in the March 2009 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here.In 353 BC Philip of Macedon marched into Thessaly at the request of the Thessalian League to attack the city of Pherae, which had allied itself with Phocis against Thebes in the Third Sacred War. Upon learning of Philips intervention, Lycophron, the ruler of Pherae, asked Phocis for military help. Onomarchus, commander of the Phocian army, was besieging Chaeronea when the request reached him. He immediately dispatched his brother with 7,000 troops. But Philip intercepted the Phocian relief force and destroyed it, opening the road south to Phocis. Getting word of Philips victory, Onomarchus broke off his siege and marched north to head off the Macedonians.

The Phocian phalanx was a traditional Greek infantry composed of citizen hoplites and mercenaries equipped with swords, short spears, body armor and large-diameter (38-inch) shields. Philips Macedonian phalanx comprised trained professionals armed with the 15-foot pike (sarissa), which required two hands to wield. His phalangites wore helmets and leg greaves but no body armor, and their small-diameter (24-inch) shields hung from a shoulder strap. In tight phalanx formation, they were virtually impregnable. But in close combat, the unwieldy pike, small shield and lack of armor put the Macedonian infantryman at great disadvantage against the Phocian hoplite.

Diodorus, in The Reign of Philip II, wrote that the two armies initially skirmished, with the Macedonians getting the worst of it. Philip continued his advance, however, so Onomarchus switched to the defensive and set a trap. In deploying against the Macedonians with a crescent-shaped mountain at his back, Polyaenus wrote in Stratagems of War, Onomarchus concealed on the summits on each side infantry and stone-throwing artillery and advanced his force into the plain lying beneath. As Philip deployed his troops for battle, he discovered that his infantry spanned the plain between the summits, leaving no room to deploy flanking cavalry. Onomarchus tactical deployment had taken it out of the fight, forcing Philip into a pure infantry battle.

Philip sent his pike phalanx to the attack. The Phocians pretended to flee into the central area of the mountains, Polyaenus wrote. The Macedonians closed to pin their fleeing enemy against the hills, and the Phocians drew them deep into a cul-de-sac. Then Onomarchus stone-throwing catapults opened fire on Philips packed phalanx.

The Macedonians dropped their pikes and raised their small shields for protection. At that very moment, Polyaenus wrote, Onomarchus signaled for the Phocians to turn and engage the enemy, while some [catapults] were shooting from behind, others from the front.The Macedonians, being crushed by stones, retreated.

Philip of Macedon had suffered his first defeat, at the hands of an unknown Phocian general. But Philip was not a man to easily forgive slights, and a year later he returned to Thessaly and defeated Onomarchus at the Battle of Crocus Field. Philip went on to conquer Greeceand never lost another battle.



Lessons:

 Use the terrain. By narrowing Philips tactical box, Onomarchus took his cavalry out of the fight, depriving the Macedonian army of half its combat power.

 Belie your strength and disposition. Onomarchus concealed his catapults and reserves in the hills and revealed only part of his force on the open plain.

 Be vigilant. Philip failed to detect the ambush that almost destroyed his army. As Herodotus once wrote, The assassins hide even in the clouds.

 Improvise. Onomarchus use of siege catapults against Philips phalanxes was a stroke of genius. In so doing, he invented field artillery as a combat branch.

 Change the tactical dynamics. The Macedonian pike phalanx was impregnable as long as it remained intact. By shattering it with artillery, Onomarchus pressed his advantage in close combat.

 Follow through. Onomarchus failed to send his cavalry in pursuit, allowing Philip to withdraw and rebuild. A year later he faced Philip againand lost.

 Think long-range. Onomarchus didnt realize Philips incursion was part of broader invasion plans. Philip didnt consider the impact defeat at Thessaly would have on his alliances, which unraveled.

 Check your ego. In six years of campaigning, Philip had won every battle he fought. Thus, he failed to respect Onomarchus ability even though Phocian forces had won a prior skirmish.

Originally published in the July 2009 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here.The Avro Lancaster rained terror on Germany but never attained the B-17s fame, even though it could carry twice the bombload over an equal distance.

The brilliant comedic artist Bruce McCall illustrated a 1971 article in playboy magazine titled Major Howdy Bixbys Album of Forgotten Warbirds.

It was a catalogue of aircraft encapsulating several nations worst aeronautical excesses, in a manner that today might be considered politically incorrect. The Italian fighter was double-ended so it could switch sides instantly. The Japanese Kakaka Shirley was an amphibious pedal-bomber, and the American candidate was a primary trainer with all 19 student pilots under one 50-yard-long greenhouse, for the sake of economy.

The British representative was the Humbley-Pudge Gallipoli Heavyish Bomber. Four Varley Panjandrum engines screwed her up to a cruising altitude several feet over the legal minimum of the day, read the accompanying text. The last survivor serves today as a chicken housealbeit an impressive onefor the Maharani of Gunjipor. It crash-landed on her lawn in 1944, but the RAF, despite numerous reminders, simply keeps forgetting to come round and pick it up.

Ouch. But not far from the truth. Handley Page Heyfords and Hampdens, Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys, Fairey Hendons, Vickers Wellingtons, Short Stirlingsa long string of mulish two- and four-engine bombers with all the grace of railroad boxcars and not much better performance had been the Royal Air Forces stock in trade for far too long.

Yet sired by this force of low-and-slow bomb trucks came the single most useful heavy bomber of World War II over Europe: the Avro Lancaster. Not as stylish or high-performance as the Boeing B-17, the lumbering Lanc forewent coolness points in favor of typically carrying two or three times a Flying Fortress bombload to Germany.

The Lancasters bomb bay was so huge that it was the only WWII airplane that could heft the RAFs 22,000-pound Grand Slam bomb and take it up to 18,000 feet, an altitude that allowed it to attain a near-supersonic, concrete-penetrating terminal velocity. Grand Slams were so expensiveonly 41 were ever dropped on German targetsthat Lanc crews were forbidden to jettison them. The special Lancasters that carried them not only had bellied-out bomb-bay doors but special landing gear for overweight landings.

Hard to imagine, but the Lancaster was directly descended from the twin-engine Avro Manchester, the least successful of the RAFs covey of heavyish bombers. The Manchester project involved that bane of aircraft builders, a new airframe plus an unproven engine, the Rolls-Royce Vulture. The Vulture was an X-24: four banks of six cylinders each, arranged in a star pattern around a common crankcase and crankshaft. The cylinder banks were from Rolls Peregrine V-12, a small, 880-hp predecessor of the Merlin.

Rolls hoped the Vulture would generate 1,760 hp, with further upgrades inevitable. But it turned out that localizing all 24 connecting rods around a single central crank created cooling and oil-feed problems, and the Vulture probably never ran semi-reliably at more than 1,450 to 1,550 hp and too often spun its bearings. So Avro was left with an excellent but underpowered twin-engine airframe. The Manchesters designer, the legendary Roy Chadwick, saw this coming and had already made plans for a four-Merlin-engine Manchester.

The Air Ministry, however, wouldnt hear of it. Avro asked for the necessary engines and scarce aluminum alloy to create a prototype, and was told by one particular Colonel Blimp to go pound sand. Actually, he told Avro to go dig for it. As far as the RAF was concerned, it already had the four-engine Handley Page Halifax and didnt need to complicate the picture.



The Lancaster was developed from the twin-engine Manchester. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images). The Lancaster was developed from the twin-engine Manchester. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

As it turned out, Avro had some very good friends at Rolls-Royce and found itself in possession of four Merlins. The engineers scrounged up the necessary metal for a prototype, and the resultant Manchester III was quickly renamed Lancaster, in order to cast off any suggestion of its unfortunate parentage.

Unlike almost every other WWII airplane, the Lanc was good to go when it first went into production. The first Lancaster I to fly an operational mission, in March 1942, was virtually identical to the last one over Germany, in late April 1945. And there were only three Lancaster versions to ever be produced in quantity: the Mark I, with British-built Merlin engines; 300-odd Mark IIs, with Bristol Hercules sleeve-valve radials; and the Mark III, with American Packard-built Merlins. Not that Lancs were perfect; the Air Ministry decided that unless a modification produced major benefits, it was better to continue producing basic Lancasters without interruption. Ultimately, 7,377 were built, 430 of them in Canada.

Manchester parentage wasnt all bad. When the Air Ministry had first proposed that twin-engine bomber, they wanted all manner of irrelevant capabilities. The new bomber was to be catapult-launchable, so it could use existing RAF grass fields. It was to be quickly convertible into a troop carrier, and it needed to carry two big torpedoes for anti-shipping use.

The silly requirements fell by the wayside, but the Manchester ended up with a 33-foot-long bomb bay for torpedoes that it never carried. No spar boxes crossed it, no fuselage framing obstructed it. That feature became part of the Lancaster, enabling it to carry the bombload of two B-17s over the same distance, and requiring only seven crewmen to do it rather than 10.

The bomb bay also created the Lancs distinctive multipaned cockpit, which had to be set high in order to clear room beneath it for the forward part of the bay. A B-17s bomb bay was aft of the flight deck.



Illustration John Batchelor, All Rights Reserved

Lancasters rarely operated in daytime. Bomber Commands nighttime tactics were entirely unlike the U.S. Army Air Forces formation-driven daylight raids. Lancasters and whatever other bombers were involved flew independently, in 200-mile-long streams driving through the night, each navigator on his own. The idea was to overwhelm the German radar, flak, searchlights and night fighters guarding a single gateway into the target rather than attacking on a broad front.

Defensive armament was the Lancasters Achilles heel. It had only three turretstail, top and nosethough they were hydraulically driven, a development the British had pioneered. The Air Ministry dithered about providing the Lanc with a belly turret, and ultimately came up with a twin-.303 mount operated via a periscope by a gunner lying prone on the bombers belly. The position was fittingly known as the dustbin, and when it was lowered into place, it slowed the Lancaster by 15 knots.

In any case, only a few Lancs were fitted with dustbins, so the Luftwaffe quickly developed Schrage Musik, the fixed, upward-angled, dual 20mm cannons carried behind the cockpit on various night fighters. If the night was dark enough for British gunners to not spot them, the Germans would sneak under the bombers from aft or abeam and fire without even aiming once they were under a Lancs fat belly. It took a long time for the RAF to become aware of Schrage Musik, since virtually none of its victims survived.

Even though the tail turret mounted four rapid-fire guns (1,200 rounds a minute each), they were .303-inch Brownings. The RAF knew it needed at least .50-caliber guns to pierce most aircraft armor, but in 1929 the British Army had decreed that Browning .303s would be the militarys gun of choice, since they assumedwrongly, it turned outthat there were vast stocks of .303 ammunition left over from World War I.

Other than the pilot, the tail gunner could be considered the most important member of the crew. He was more lookout than marksman, and it was up to him to instantly command the Lancasters standard corkscrew evasion maneuver if he so much as imagined spotting a Luftwaffe night fighters shadowy shape. The corkscrew consisted of a combination of near-aerobatic full-deflection banks in both directions, wingovers and max-performance climbs and descents. One Luftwaffe pilot even reported watching a Lanc evade him by doing a loop.

Some tail gunners went through an entire tour (typically 30 missions, though the number varied) without ever seeing a Messerschmitt or Junkers. Others occasionally saw them but held their fire, preferring to not give away their presence. And then there were Lancaster pilots who commanded their gunners to fire at anything they saw, though it sometimes turned out to be another Lanc.

Some Lancasters had armor covering the tail gunners torso, but soon most of it was removed to provide better visibility. Gunners then began removing the entire Perspex panel directly in front of them, for the clearest possible visibility. One thing a tail gunner didnt lack was ammunition: 2,500 rounds per gun, stored in two big boxes just aft of the wing, for weight-and-balance reasons, and fed to the guns by long chutes. A tail turret typically fired only about 1,000 rounds during a night fighter engagement, often only a few hundred.

The tail turret was a cramped workspace, and some gunners cut off the double entrance doors accessing the interior, particularly for better bailout capability. A tail gunners (and top-turret gunners) bailout door was the crew entrance door, near the aft end of the fuselage and just ahead of the horizontal stabilizer on the right side. Everybody else in the crew was expected to exit through a narrow hatch on the flight deck. It comes as no surprise that the Lancaster crew survival rate after being hit was low.

A Lancaster cockpit held four menpilot, flight engineer, navigator and radio operatorwith a bombardier/gunner in the nose, several steps below and ahead of the flight deck. Two gunners afttop turret and tailgunfilled out the crew. Unlike the B-17, which had armor throughout, Lancs went to war with just a small sheet of armor behind the pilots head and a pair of armored doors amidships with no obvious purpose.



Lancasters lacked a copilot, so the flight engineer was often trained as a pilot assistant. (Getty Images) Lancasters lacked a copilot, so the flight engineer was often trained as a pilot assistant. (Getty Images)

Though it was initially assumed that Lancasters would be flown by two pilots, the British quickly ran into a pilot shortage and could only spare one per aircraft. Britain had nothing like Americas Civilian Pilot Training Program, converting tens of thousands of farmboys into aviators before the U.S. even got into the war. University flying clubs were the best the Brits could do, for in the 1930s it was assumed that only English gentlemen could become pilots.

Soon the RAF was forced to teach what might be considered commoners how to fly, and a new generation of flight-sergeant pilots went into combat. Whether they were the sons of Welsh coal miners or London cabbies, the flight sergeants were in absolute command of their Lancasters, regardless of the officer-and-gentleman rank of other crew members.

While it might seem an insignificant system, the Lancasters heating ducts, fed by hot air from the engine nacelles, were among the aircrafts worst mechanisms. The radio operator and pilot were nicely accommodated, the bombardier was sauteed, and the navigator and gunners froze. There were times when tail gunners with open turrets were too frostbitten to operate their triggers. A kerosene-fueled stand-alone heating system was cobbled together at one point, but it never worked well enough to become operational.

Flying a Lancaster took substantial upper-body strength, since the controls were unboosted and heavy, though the Lanc reacted strongly and smoothly to yoke inputs. It was said that control forces were like pulling on a pair of oars in a boat race. Lancasters were surprisingly nimble and could be barrel-rolled and looped. Some had simple autopilots, but they were only used over friendly turf, since disconnecting them consumed several seconds. This meant that Lanc pilots soloed and hand-flew their airplanes for many hours, and sometimes had to do it while wounded. And these were pilots who typically had only about 300 hours before commanding their first Lancaster.

The RAF soon realized it had better train another crewmantypically the flight engineerto be a pilot assistant able to at least cruise the big bomber back to Britain and set it up for a crew bailout over home ground. In fact there was probably ample second-pilot talent in every Lancaster cockpit, since navigators and bombardiers were often flight school washouts. One story has it that a washout crewman took over from a dead pilot and not only flew his Lanc back to England but landed it, at night. He was ordered to reapply to flight school.

Actually, taxiing a Lancaster was more demanding than flying it, and the old saw that If you can make it to the runway, you can fly it anywhere is probably true. The Lanc had classically British air brakes on each main wheel, the air pressure activated by a bicycle-brake handgrip on the yoke and apportioned to each wheel by rudder pressure. With air pressure supplied by an engine-driven compressor and that engine at low power while taxiing, it took awhile to replenish the air tank pressure after using the brakes, and it required appreciable time for the air to get from tank to brakes. John D. Williams, a British writer and 12,000-hour pilot, flew the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museums Lancaster and later wrote: Tank pressure is probably good enough to allow braking most of the time. Probably! Most of the time! Those are words I am not used to hearing.

Lancasters inevitably flew into icing conditions, yet they had no wing or tail deicing bootsonly propeller deicers. The awkward solution was a thick paste called Kilfrost, which ground crews smeared onto leading edges before a mission. Lancs were generally thought to handle ice well, and they had the power to climb out of icing layers.

Though the Lancaster is usually thought of as a brute-force carpet bomber, it in fact helped to develop the delicate art of electronic warfare.

When Lancs first went into operation, navigating from England to a target in the Ruhr Valley was a matter of dead reckoning by navigators who were not ancient mariners but boys who had taken a three-month course in chart-reading and calculating a heading. There were no radio navaids, and scant methods to accurately figure winds aloft or drift at night. Many Lancs ended up 50 miles from their targets.

The first electronic aid was called Geea Loran-like system that received signals from ground stations that produced a cross-grid on a cathode ray tube and defined the airplanes position. The Germans quickly learned to jam Gee, but it remained an aid to help bombers find their way home.

Next came Oboe, so named for the sound it produced. Oboe was akin to radio-range instrument approaches, though of far greater range, extending 300 miles from Britain well into Germany. The most accurate radio-navigation system used during WWII, Oboe produced a steady on-course tone with off-course left and right signals.

There was also a device code-named G-H, a kind of reverse Oboe. Aircraft that carried it could transmit a signal that ground stations used to provide a position fix.

Most sophisticated of all was H2Sground-mapping radar, thanks to the British invention of the cavity magnetron that made compact, high-power airborne radar possible. Lancaster navigators used it to very accurately find and identify targets, particularly if they were anywhere near a body of water, and then intercommed H2S data to the bombardier to be fed into his bombsight. Unfortunately for the British, German night fighters and their ground controllers learned to home in on H2S signals. This capability also complicated use of a Lancaster system called Monicaa radar unit in the tail turret that could zero in on pursuing night fighters. The night fighters learned that Monicas beam could also help them zero in on the tail turret.



Ground crewmen prepare to load ordnance into a Lancaster prior to a mission. (Getty Images) Ground crewmen prepare to load ordnance into a Lancaster prior to a mission. (Getty Images)

At one point late in the war, a Lancaster was liable to be carrying 16 different radar-jamming black boxes plus three radar-warning devices as well as two navigation/homing systems. Had it not been for all the Lancs radio countermeasures, they would have simply lost any head-on attempt to bull their way through German defenses. The Lancaster started WWII as what aviation writer Bill Sweetman called a brazen raider. By 1945, it had become, again in Sweetmans words, a stealthy intruderconcealing itself behind subtle electronic smokescreens and finding its way along webs of electromagnetic waves.[The Lancaster] embraced some of the most advanced thinking in the world on the best way to penetrate an enemys airspace.Never again did a new British bomber carry a single defensive gun. Stealth and electronic countermeasures were to assure the bombers capability to penetrate defenses.

Lancaster and B-17 proponents will argue forever over the merits of the two outstanding bombers, but no consensus is possible, nor will statistics help, since the airplanes flew such different missions. B-17s in the European and Mediterranean theaters bombed nearly every country in Europe plus several in the Middle East and North Africa. The Lancaster almost exclusively bombed Germany, with occasional sorties against targets in France and Kreigsmarine capital ships. So it should come as no surprise that the Boeing dropped more bomb tonnage than the Avro. Fighting against unseen Luftwaffe night fighters was an entirely different affair than the pitched daytime battles B-17s and their escorts fought, so loss rates arent comparable.

The Manchester/Lancaster was designed after the Fortress was already flying and was a second-generation WWII heavy bomber. It could be argued that it had more in common with the B-29 than with the B-17its emphasis on extreme range and maximum bombload, for example, and its pioneering use of a constant-cross-section fuselage. One unbuilt Lancaster variant, the Avro Model 684 Stratosphere Bomber, would have been a Brit Superfort. It was intended to carry a fifth Merlin engine, mounted inside the fuselage, the only purpose of which was to drive a huge supercharger ducted to all four wing engines. The cabin would also have been pressurized, assumedly by the same blower, and the bomber was intended to have an absolute ceiling of 50,000-plus feet.

So let us simply offer praise and gratitude for the Avro Lancaster, which carried more bombs over Europe farther, per airplane, than did any other World War II bomber.

Contributing editor Stephan Wilkinson recommends for further reading: Bomber, by Len Deighton; Avro Lancaster, by Bill Sweetman and Rikyu Watanabe; Avro Lancaster, by Richard Marks; Combat Legend: Avro Lancaster, by Harry Holmes; and Avro Lancaster, by Ken Delve.

Night Raider originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of Aviation History. Subscribe today!Sea Dog Francis Drake battled, looted and bought his way from scourge of Spain to Queen Elizabeths favorite commander.

That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet, wrote William Shakespeare in the 1590s. Perhaps a well-known contemporary of the great playwright heard those words shortly before embarking on a last voyage in 1595 to scourge the Spanish seas and soil of the New World. If that bold fellow (perhaps in company with his queen, Elizabeth of the Tudors) indeed found the time to hear Master Robert Goffe of the Lord Chamberlains Men utter the fair Juliets lines, it is doubtful he engaged in literary analysis or deep philosophical musings. Sir Francis Drake had much time for plunder but little time for tropes, thus he would have missed a fascinating corollary to Juliets utterance: Does he, whom others name a pirate / By any other name smell still as foul?

Piracy is a nasty word that reeks of death and misery. Seaborne theft has plagued humankind as long as written records have existedand probably long before. It is not difficult to envision a swarming horde boarding a log raft on a nameless river, stone weapons rising and falling, bodies tumbling over the side, and goods and captives bundled ashore by new owners to be traded, used or ransomed. The pattern is firmly established in written records, from the depredations of the Sea Peoples of the Mediterranean some four millennia ago to those of modern-day Somali pirates. Wherever and whenever a power void appears, banditrypiracy on the worlds waterways follows. From urban streets to the Central Pacific, predators multiply in times of local, national and international stress as central authorities find themselves distracted and unable to provide security for their citizens. Too frequently this stress spawns a moral laxity that foments even more such brigandage, as desperate people abandon established scruples in the name of survival (hunger and fear create markets and havens, as well as pirates). And such laxity can become common practiceeven for entire governments.

Sometime around 1540, Francis Drake, the man who would become the worlds greatest pirate, squalled his way into an England torn by the religious upheaval gripping Christian Europe. After centuries of war with Muslims, the Church of Rome had fractured. Protestants (those who protested a church grown plump and lax as an institution) flourished on the continent, honing both words and swords after Martin Luther focused existing discontent with his Ninety-five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences in 1517. In 1534 Henry VIII broke with papal authority and made himself head of the Church of England, though his decision likely had more to do with considerations of dynasty (and perhaps a few lascivious thoughts) than spiritual musings. Granting himself an annulment the Pope had refused to give, Henry set aside Catherine of Aragon (and their daughter, Mary) for the nuptial delights of Anne Boleyn and the hopes of a son to continue the Tudor dynasty. Alas, Anne, too, bore only a daughter, Elizabeth, for the king. A frustrated Henry sent Anne to the block on trumped-up charges in 1536, marrying Jane Seymour almost before the headsman could clean his sword. Henry finally had his son, Edward, in 1537, but lost Jane to complications from childbirth. Unfortunately for the Tudor dynasty, Edward outlived his father by little more than five years, dying childless at the age of 15. Unfortunately for Protestants, and for a young Francis Drake, Mary Tudor ascended the throne of England vowing to restore Catholicism to the land, thus fanning the embers of religious discontent.

In 1549 the Protestant family of a young Drake fled their Devon farm as Roman Catholics rebelled against King Edwards theological reforms. The family lodged in an old naval hulk, forging the future pirates relationship with the sea. His early years are hazy, as the common-born are not marked for glory, much less for the annals of history. Either Francis found himself apprenticed to the captain of a local coaster, which his master eventually bequeathed to him (Drake reportedly sold it to purchase a place in an expedition to plunder the New World), or his father fostered Francis to the home of William Hawkins of Plymouth, where Francis learned the art of plunder from experts.

The Hawkins family owned a small trading fleet that followed the winds and markets throughout the eastern Atlantic. When trade dwindled, as it often did in those troubled times, the clan turned to small-scale piracy. By 1558 Drake was sailing with the fleet under the command of Williams son, John Hawkins. In his years with the Hawkins family, Drake learned the key elements of a new trade: weaponry, ship-handling, logistics, navigation and leadership. He also learned that few Englishmen questioned the provenance of plunder, especially after Bloody Marys death and the assumption of the throne by a thoroughly Protestant Elizabeth in 1558.

Much has been made of Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen of England, and she merits every accolade. During her reign, she battled dissent within her kingdom, a daunting enemy in Philip II of Spain, papal minions, countless suitors seeking to replace her on the throne and the obvious fact she was only a woman. Survival of self and kingdom forced Elizabeth to use every tool at her disposal, including piracy. Pressed by a treasury filled with more cobwebs than coppers, Elizabeth gave her Sea Dogspirates such as the Hawkins clan and their fosterling, Francis Drakea wink and a nod as they set their caps at Catholic towns, ships and even mules in the New World. Rather than the (debatable) moniker Virgin Queen, perhaps the title best suited to the great Elizabeth is the Pirate Queen.

Though the Hawkins family practiced petty piracy during the reign of Mary, they did so circumspectly. Preying upon the Catholic mariners of Europe while living under a Catholic Queen of England threatened to leave ones life in suspensionby the neck, until dead. Then, in 1562, Elizabeth unofficially sanctioned an expedition, under John Hawkins, to the shores of Africa and the New World, aimed at challenging the Spanish monopoly on the slave trade between the regions.

With three or four vessels, Hawkins raided or traded for slaves along the Guinea Coast while helping himself to any removable loot. When the slaves crowded his holds, he pressed a Portuguese merchantman into service to carry extra bodies. Placing nonliving plunder in his smallest vessel, Hawkins dispatched it to England; Drake, apparently a much-trusted seaman, was aboard. Hawkins then sailed with the remainder of the fleet for the West Indies. There, he traded his slaves for local riches. Wherever Spanish officials refused to trade with the English (as ordered by Philip II), Hawkins seized hostages or the town itself, leaving only when the Spaniards paid a ransom (often equivalent to the number of slaves Hawkins would conveniently abandon near the settlementan obvious ploy by all parties to circumvent Spanish law). In September 1563, Hawkins returned to England, holds empty of slaves but full of wealth from the West Indies.

The immense profits enjoyed by investors in the 1562 1563 voyage particularly impressed the queen. So, despite increasing protests from Portuguese and Spanish ambassadors at her court, Elizabeth invested in Hawkins next voyage. Her stake, the 700-ton ship Jesus of Lubeck, served as Hawkins flagship when he sailed for Africa and the West Indies in October 1564. Drake again sailed with him, eager to learn and eager to profit. This extremely successful voyage taught the young seaman the fine art of piratical diplomacy (talk, ransom, shoot only if necessary), as well as the location of vulnerable Spanish towns and such Protestant havens as the Huguenot settlement at Fort Caroline on the Rio de Mayo. He may also have met another group of potential allies, the negros cimarrones, escaped slaves living harsh but free lives in the jungles of Central America.

Upon his return from this successful voyage, Hawkins began to plan another. Elizabeth, well pleased with the return on her investment but pressured by Catholic diplomats upset with the increasing Protestant piracy in the Caribbean, could not invest in the new voyage. Instead, she levied a very public 500 bond on Hawkins expedition, forfeitable should any of his ships enter the waters of the West Indies. This assured the Crown a cut of the profits and presaged a favored concept of modern-day politiciansplausible deniability. Unfortunately for Hawkins and his investors, the 15661567 expedition, commanded by a family relation, turned so little profit that forfeiture of the bond erased most of it. Drake, serving as an officer on the flagship, saw firsthand that profit margins on the sale of slaves were decreasing as Spanish resistance to English encroachment increased.

Hawkins, appalled at the small return and as distraught as his queen at Spanish attempts to close the West Indies to English trade, immediately organized a new expedition. Elizabeth contributed two ships to the fleet: Jesus of Lubeck and the similarly sized Minion. Four smaller vessels completed the force, with Drake set to enjoy his first command, the 50-ton Judith. Unfortunately, there was little to enjoy. Plagued by fever and near mutiny (Hawkins even engaged in a knife fight with one of his sailors), the expedition found slave markets closed to them along the African coast. They had to raid inland to capture their own slaves, and even then Hawkins found few willing buyers in the New World. King Philip II had put backbone into his West Indies dominions, one built of new forts, guns, garrisons and warships. After fighting bloody actions at Rio de la Hacha and Cartagena, Hawkins decided to return to England in October 1568, despite the dozens of slaves and scant plunder in his holds. But he had waited too late, and a hurricane smashed into the fleet, blowing it into the Gulf of Mexico. With no available haven, Hawkins seized and fortified the Spanish town of San Juan de Ulua (near modern Vera Cruz, Mexico) while his ships were repaired. There, a Spanish fleet found them. An attack by fireships escalated into a major battle, and only Drakes Judith and Minion, with Hawkins aboard, managed to escape. Separated by a storm, each ship wended its way to England, arriving with little in the way of plunder and less then a quarter of the more than 400 Englishmen who proudly left Plymouth the prior year.

Drake had learned the bitter taste of failure. He may also have languished in Elizabeths cells for a short time, accused of stealing the share of the expeditions plunder transported in Judith (Drake swore he had shared the loot among his crew when he thought them the sole survivors). Worse, Hawkins hinted that Drake had deliberately abandoned Miniona taint of cowardice that infuriated Drake. It marked the last time he would sail as a pirate under another mans flag.

This station in English society, Drake set about organizing his o clear his name, and to improve own expedition.

With two small ships, he ventured to Africa and the Caribbean in 1569. It is uncertain exactly who invested in this trip, though William Hawkins (patriarch of the pirate clan) may have contributed. Or perhaps Drake had indeed stolen the plunder of Judith. Drake termed the voyage a reconnaissance; certainly, he did not engage in piracy and avoided any trouble with a steadily increasing Spanish military presence in the region. Rather, he looked for weaknesses and allies. Apparently, the voyage proved profitable, as he purchased the 25-ton pinnace Swan after returning to Plymouth in 1570. That winter Drake returned to the Spanish Main as part of a three-ship fleet, and he returned as a pirate, intent on using the knowledge gained in his reconnaissance.

Drake anchored his largest ship near Cape Cativa on the Isthmus of Panama. From this relatively secure base, his pinnaces and barges ranged nearby waters. Allying with French corsairs operating in the region, he led a bold raid up the Chagres River to capture Spanish merchant shipping. When Spanish warships came to the rescue, Drakes men, forced to abandon several prizes, took their small vessels into the shallow waters of secluded coves and creeks where the larger warships could not follow. Once the naval forces sailed for other problem areas, Drake and his men emerged to attack warehouses, towns and shipping. Finally, his ships packed to bursting, Drake cached supplies and extra valuables at his main base, which he named Port Pheasant, and sailed for home.

Despite the voyages undeniable success, Drake did not enter Plymouth Harbor until first confirming the queen did not consider him and his men pirates. Fortunately, the more than 100,000 in plunder managed to bring a blush to even a Virgin Queens cheeks especially when Drake sent the pick of the jewelry her way. This raid made Drake famous, wealthy and a favorite of the queen, not to mention one of historys most successful pirates.

Drake could have retired at this point (he did invest a share of his loot in land and shipping), but he had gleaned an idea from his attacks along the narrow Isthmus of Panama. Spain mined most of its silver and gold along the west coast of South America. Shipped to the isthmus, the treasure was transported by mule train east to the insignificant and poorly garrisoned port of Nombre de Dios, where it awaited the annual return of the great Spanish galleons. In May 1572, Drake loaded two vessels with 73 men, supplies and the small craft needed to operate along the coast. Over the following year, he hatched his plan to exploit the vulnerable mule trains.

Anchoring again at Port Pheasant, Drake readied his boats and men for a night assault on Nombre de Dios. The assault succeeded, though Drake collapsed from blood loss after taking a wound to the leg. Unfortunately, the Spanish fleet had just sailed with the treasure. A lesser pirate would have departed for England at this point, but Drake persevered. Through his pain, through Spanish pressure that forced him to abandon Port Pheasant for a new base, through a yellow-fever epidemic, even through the death of a brother later in the expedition, Drake remained committed to his goal. Finally, in April 1573, with help from cimarrones and a fellow pirate band, his surviving men attacked a Spanish mule trainthough in a fighting retreat, the men abandoned much of the gold and their wounded. In August 1573, Drakes force returned to Plymouth with its plunder and several prizes. He had lost more than half of those who had sailed with him, but the survivors were rich beyond their wildest dreams. As for Drake, he now topped Spains list of wanted Protestant piratesa dead man if ever captured.

By then Francis Drakes wealth exceeded that of many English nobles. His investments as a merchant always seemed to return dividends. People sought his council, even at court itself, where he appeared in company with the queen. In 1575 he served Elizabeth as an admiral in another of the seemingly unending expeditions against Irish rebels (as an indicator of his wealth, he personally provided three warships for the expedition). Yet Drake remained dissatisfied. As he was still a commoner, the nobility had no time for him, and many resented his wealthafter all, even a richly successful pirate still smells much like a common thief. Anyway, while looting ore-rich Catholics on the Isthmus of Panama, Drake had glimpsed something even more alluringthe Pacific, a sea that also carried Spanish treasure, and a sea where, at least in the Americas, Spain felt it had no enemies. In December1577, Drake managed to convince his Pirate Queen that the Spanish should be taught the error in their thinking.

Four ships and as many as 170 men accompanied Drake on his new quest for Spanish plunder. By the time the expedition had pillaged its way through the Cape Verde Islands, executed one of its own captains on the South American coast (eliminated as a threat to Drakes authority), forced a passage of the Straits of Magellan and endured a violent Pacific storm shortly after exiting the straits, only one ship, Drakes Pelican (which he had renamed Golden Hind) and 80 men remained. Suffering from scurvy, the English landed on the South American coast to gather fruits and vegetables. Hostile natives attacked the men, killing and wounding several, including Drake, who suffered arrow wounds to his face. His men muttered at the hardship and lack of tangible rewards.

Finally, in December 1578, Drake struck his Catholic targets, plundering the unprepared port of Valparaiso (in modern-day Chile) and capturing La Capitano, a fully laden merchantman anchored in its harbor. The wealth taken in this strike alone paid for the entire voyage, inspiring captain and suddenly loyal crew to further exploits in the face of a now alert Spanish military. From January to mid-April 1579, Drake terrorized King Philips South American possessions. Absent previous threats, these reaches had not been militarized to the level of the West Indies. They paid a heavy price in dead priests, burned churches and lost treasure. Here, Drake earned his sobriquet, El Draquethe dragon, come with flame and sword to slay Catholics and plunder settlements.

On March 1, Drake encountered the galleon Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion, a target near and dear to his piratical heart. Known to her crew by the far more colorful name Cacafuego, the vessel was loaded to its gunwales with silver, gold and jewels. Disguised as a Spanish merchantman, Golden Hind crept closer, at last unleashing a crippling blast from its cannon. As yards and masts collapsed, Drake led his boarders into action, quickly quelling Spanish resistance. The next day, Drake split a portion of the silver and gold among his men, buying their everlasting loyalty. He could afford to, as Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion was the richest single ship captured by an Englishman to that date.

In April, Drake abandoned the Spanish coast and sailed north to a quiet baymost probably in modern-day Californiato repair his worn Golden Hind. Then, rather than face gathering Spanish forces along the American coast, he sailed west. On Sept. 26, 1580, Drake and his 57 surviving crewmen arrived off Plymouth, erasing the boast that only a Spaniard had circumnavigated the world. Later that day, Golden Hind and an estimated 25 million rode peacefully at anchor in the harbor. Some weeks later, on the deck Drake had strode dailyand so successfullyfor so many years, the Pirate Queen dubbed her most successful corsair Sir Francis.

Thus ends the story of Francis Drake the pirate and begins the story of Sir Francis Drake the English admiral. When Drake next led an expedition, it was as a military officer serving Queen Elizabeth (though plundering, treasure ships and the like still figured prominently here and there). Across five such expeditions, ranging from one of historys greatest raids at Cadiz in 1587 to an absolute debacle at Lisbon in 1589, Drake met mixed results as a military commanderoften because his piratical tendencies betrayed him.

Living in a time that justified piracy through religious hatred and in a state that depended on piracy to outlast a stronger enemy, Francis Drake prospered as a corsair. Moreover, the wealth he poured into Elizabeths treasury enabled her resistance against Spain (and drained even more wealth from the coffers of Philip II as he sought to guard against Drake and his ilk). Although the upper crust of English society never accepted Drake as an equal, the commoners loved him and turned him into a mythic hero, ever willing to rally his countrymen against the perfidious Spaniard. What other pirate in history can make that claim?

For further reading, Wade G. Dudley recommends his own Drake: For God, Queen and Plunder, and The Wind Commands Me: A Life of Sir Francis Drake, by Ernle Bradford.

Originally published in the July 2009 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here.John Churchill rose from modest means to become first Duke of Marlborough and the greatest general of his time.

On the morning of August 13, 1704, an English general stood on a low hill overlooking a nondescript Bavarian village on the north bank of the Danube River. Surrounded by staff officers, the senior commander watched impassively as his army some 56,000 men arrayed in nine columnsdeployed under the cover of an artillery barrage. Moving steadily forward, the soldiers advanced on the waiting enemy, whose infantry and cavalry gleamed in seemingly invincible array. Just after noon, the two great armies met, surging together in a battle that would save an empire, destroy a kings imperial ambitions and secure the English generals place as one of historys greatest field commanders. The battle was Blenheim, and the Englishman was John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough.

Though destined to become arguably the greatest soldier of his time, John Churchill was born in 1650 under modest circumstances. His father, Winston, had supported the Royalist cause of Charles I and, with that monarchs fall before the forces of parliament, had lost most of his land and income. Even the monarchys restoration in 1660 under Charles II, king of England, Scotland and Ireland, only marginally improved the familys lot. What did jump-start the younger Churchills career was his elder sister Arabellas influence as maid of honor to the Duchess of York and mistress to James, Duke of Yorkbrother of, and next in line to, the king. Arabella was to bear James several children, including the future Duke of Berwick, later a marshal of France and an opponent of the Duke of Marlborough, his uncle.

With his sisters help, Churchill became a page in the Duke of Yorks court. He was exceptionally handsome, charming and able, qualities of enormous use in a courtier, and his rise was rapid. He served his military apprenticeship fighting the Moors in North Africa and was aboard the Duke of Yorks flagship in 1672 at the naval Battle of Solebay against the Dutch. While serving alongside the French in 1674, he had occasion to observe the great marshal Henri de la Tour dAuvergne, Vicomte de Turenne. In all of these early military experiences, Churchill impressed superiors with his courage and competence. Like many other notable warriors, he watched, listened and learned.

Churchill loyally served the Duke of York, even after James controversial 1669 conversion to Catholicism. Following Charles IIs death in 1685, the duke rose to the throne as James II. The latter bore all the worst traits of the Stuarts: He was pigheaded, unwilling to take advice from anyone, and a terrible politician. Within three years of his coronation, following a sustained campaign to overthrow the established Anglican Church and place Catholics in key positions in government and throughout the army, James II had squandered the goodwill that had greeted him as legitimate successor.

In late 1688, Dutch Stadtholder William III of Orange arrived in England with his wife MaryJames eldest daughterto launch a rebellion against the king. Churchills defection from James side, quite literally at the last moment, provided crucial impetus to what the English soon termed the Glorious Revolution, as it tallied so few casualties. Dual monarchs William and Mary represented the triumph of constitutional monarchy over the divine right of kings, which the Stuarts had championed to their great cost.

Despite his crucial role in bringing the new monarchs to power, Churchill was to have a rocky relationship with William and Mary. Nevertheless, the future dukewho was made earl of Marlborough in 1689was to be an important figure in their reign. But while he was close to the centers of power, Marlborough was never given great responsibility. There were three major reasons for this. First, William appears never to have completely trusted Marlborough, given the latters prior close relationship to James. Second, Marlboroughs wife, Sarah, to whom he would have a deep and passionate attachment throughout his life, possessed a mercurial temperament and made an enemy of Queen Mary. Third, Sarah was also a close friend and household appointee of Anne, Marys sister and next in line for the throne. The result of these tangled relations was that William and Mary declined to use Marlborough to his full abilities.

In 1694 Mary died from smallpox. Soon thereafter, the health of her king, now styled William III, began to deteriorateeven as an increasingly complex international situation called for the diplomatic skills at which Marlborough excelled. Charles II, king of Spain, was in bad health and had no heir, so the European powers began vigorously negotiating an acceptable division of the Spanish Empire among French, Austrian Hapsburg, British and Dutch interests. Charles was determined to keep his dominion united and chose as his successor Philip, duc dAnjou, grandson of French King Louis XIV, with the proviso that the crowns of France and Spain should never be united. Charles death in 1700 then brought Europe to the brink of a great conflict, to be called the War of Spanish Successionin effect, the first world war.

Louis XIV accepted Charles will almost immediately, thus breaking agreements the European powers, including France, had made in anticipation of the Spanish kings death. Desperate negotiations took place as the ailing William III and Marlborough cobbled together accords to unite Britain and the continental powers against France. The British king and his chief aide found it difficult to persuade the Tories in parliament to accept the anti-French alliance, but Louis XIV helped them with his September 1701 recognition of the late James IIs son, James Edward, as the rightful king of England, Scotland and Ireland.

William III died in March 1702 and was immediately succeeded by Anne, his late queens sister. So it seemed that Marlboroughwith wife Sarah now positioned at the queens right hand had arrived. Anne put him in charge of Britains policy, although the fractious members of the Tory-dominated parliament remained an obstacle. The care and feeding of the British parliament and the warring Tories and Whigs would consume much of his time and political efforts over the coming decade.

Marlborough held a general command over British and Dutch forces in the Low Countries, though the alliances convoluted internal politics kept him from overall command of all allied armies that had taken the field against France. At 52, Marlborough was already old by 18th century standards, but he displayed the vigor and energy of a far younger man. He assumed the title of captain-general of coalition forces in the Low Countries, but as the Dutch generals held veto power over whether their troops would fight a major battle, Marlborough could engage the enemy only with their permission.

Through skillful maneuvering in southern Holland, in early August 1702 Marlborough forced the army of French Marshal Louis Francois, duc de Boufflers, to march directly across the front of deployed allied forces. Despite the immediate prospect of a great victory, Dutch deputies refused to authorize a battle. Marlborough, realizing the continued functioning of the alliance was more important than a single battlefield victory, refrained from pushing the issue. The result was, in the words of James, Duke of Berwick, a leading French general, very fortunate for us, for we were posted in such a manner that we should have been beaten without being able to stir.

A similar opportunity to engage the French arose the next day, but again the Dutch vetoed battle. Two weeks later, for the third time in a month, Marlborough caught the French forces in a weak position. Once more the deputies demurred. Marlboroughs skillful maneuvering did bring the allies positional gains with the siege and capture of Liege, capping a successful effort to control the Meuse River. But while the captured cities and fortresses represented a major success, the repeated failure to engage the French can only be regarded as a serious tactical blunder.

By the end of the 1702 campaign season, Marlborough was engaged in complex diplomatic negotiations to maintain the alliance. On his return to Britain, Queen Anne made him Duke of Marlborough, a title that gave him a better bargaining position. The allied campaign of 1703 followed much the same pattern of the previous year. Again Marlborough proved himself a master at waging an 18th century campaign of maneuver and siegeparticularly with his May capture of Bonn but twice more the Dutch, reluctant to move the bulk of their troops outside Holland, vetoed requests to pursue and destroy the French. For the good of the alliance, Marlborough again checked his anger over the lost opportunities.

After years of frustration, 1704 witnessed what many historians consider Marlboroughs most brilliant campaign. While the allies had held their own in the Low Countries, the French had made major gains along the upper Rhine. In league with Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, they were threatening to open up a strategic corridor to Bavaria, from which French-Bavarian forces could march on Vienna and knock the Austrians out of the war. Undoubtedly realizing the Dutch would never allow him to fight a major battle and alarmed by the Austrians peril, Marlborough determined to move his Redcoats up the Rhine, cross southern Germany and link up with Austrias great general Prince Eugene of Savoy. Marlborough aimed to relieve pressure on Austria, a vital objective if that nation was to remain an effective member of the anti-French alliance. Yet it required all the Englishmans skill at dissimulation and diplomacy to persuade the Dutch not only to allow him to withdraw his Redcoats for a campaign somewhere to the southMarlborough never clarified his intention to throw in with the Austriansand to take a number of key regiments with him.

Under a veil of secrecy and with exquisite logistical planningincluding reliance on previously established supply caches along the routeMarlborough marched his army with astonishing speed up the Rhine to meet with Eugene. The swiftness of his move immobilized the French on the north bank of the Danube in Bavaria, unsure whether the Englishman would move up the Moselle or veer west toward Strasbourg. Once united, Marlborough and Eugene, who had never before met, formed an effective partnership. Skillful maneuvering eventually brought the 56,000-man allied force face to face with the 60,000-strong Franco-Bavarian army outside the village of Blenheim.

Marlboroughs success at Blenheim made him the leading soldier of his day and brought additional accoladesand rewardsfrom the queen and parliament. But his 1705 campaign was to prove far less successful. Marlborough returned to the Low Countries in early spring, determined to crack the Lines of Brabant, a 70-mile French defensive system that curved from Namur to Antwerp. Breaking this perimeter would allow the allies to strike at the heart of Flanders and perhaps spark another great battlewhich Marlborough was sure he would win.

He achieved the first goal, but failed in the second. Deceiving French commanders as to where he would attack, Marlborough broke through a lightly defended sector north of Elixham. Though he caught the vanguard of the French army in a vulnerable position, he failed to order his Redcoats to attack, an action that would have brought on a general engagement. Within weeks the allies again caught the French at a disadvantage, but this time the Dutch again refused to engage.

On August 18 Marlborough once more caught the French in a weak position; this time a Dutch general named Schlangenberg, jealous of the Englishmans successes, stopped the British artillery from moving up and then persuaded his fellow Dutch generals to halt the operation. French Marshal Francois de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, not only escaped but also had the cheek to suggest he had won a significant victory. Louis XIV, all too often the optimist, believed his marshal and drew the mistaken conclusions that Marlborough had lost his nerve and Blenheim had been a fluke. For his part, Marlborough was disappointed at having squandered three more opportunities to break a French army in the field.

If 1705 was a disappointment, 1706 was one of two years in the 18th century the British dubbed annus mirabilis, or year of miracles (the other referencing William Pitts victories in 1759). Marlborough took the field in a state of depression, but was astonished to discover the French army under Villeroi evidently had instructions from Versailles to seek battle and avenge Blenheim. The result was Ramillies, perhaps the most decisive battle in the 18th century.

The two armies collided on May 23, and Marlborough, in an almost exact repeat of Blenheim, began by attacking the French flanks. His Redcoats on the right feigned an attack that reached French lines on their left and was then recalled. The allied troops and cavalry, taking advantage of a low-lying depression that concealed them from French eyes, then reinforced the center. Since Louis XIV had insisted his commanders pay special attention to the British, their focus remained on the left.

Marlborough, however, redirected the allied attack on the center and the French right. A series of fierce skirmishes and a cavalry charge broke the French right and then smashed their center around Ramillies. Villeroi desperately tried to rebuild his collapsing line from the 50-odd cavalry squadrons still deployed on the left. But it was too late. The French suffered 13,000 casualties, the allies 3,500. Many of Villerois men deserted and fled the field.

Ramillies was a disastrous defeat for the French, and the campaign season had barely begun. Marlborough spent the rest of the spring and all summer exploiting his victory, ultimately taking Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges and Ostende. The allies recovered Brabant and Flanders, and by the years end virtually all of the Netherlands was free from Spanish rule.

Despite Marlboroughs year of great triumph, 1707 brought only disappointment. The Dutch and Austrians bickered over control of the Spanish Netherlands, now liberated from French control.

Of equal concern to Marlborough, the political situation in Britain was deteriorating rapidly. His wife was losing influence with the queen, and his close friend Lord High Treasurer Sidney Godolphin, a key player in keeping British politics on track, was losing the support of the Tories. The Whigs, anathema to the queen, were therefore gaining the upper hand in Westminster. The increasingly acrimonious domestic political gamesmanship hindered Marlboroughs ability to wage war.

Nor did 1707 bring great successes on the battlefield. Marlborough remained in the Low Countries, while Eugene, with logistical support from the Royal Navy, moved from Italy against the French port of Toulon. But Eugene evidently distrusted the Royal Navys ability to support his effort and hesitated. The French were thus able to strongly reinforce Toulon, and Eugene lost 10,000 men in his unsuccessful attempt to seize the port.

The following year brought Marlborough another battlefield triumph. Eugene arrived in Flanders with substantial reinforcements from Austria, and on July 11, 1708, their combined army of some 80,000 troops conducted one of the most difficult operations in war: Using pontoon bridges, their troops crossed Scheldt River at dawn almost directly in front of the divided and lackadaisical French command, and then fought and won the Battle of Oudenaarde. Marlborough and Eugene pinioned the 95,000-man French force to the north and northeast of Oudenaarde and then launched a devastating attack on the enemys right flank. Allied casualties were approximately 3,000, while the French lost an equal number on the battlefield, with a further 7,000 taken prisoner. Again, large numbers of French soldiers took defeat as a cue to desert.

This victory was important: Marlborough and Eugene had established standing superiority over the French, and with much of the summer before them, they sought to press their advantage. Marlboroughs plan displayed imagination and a grasp of military strategy far beyond the conventional military thinking of his age: He suggested moving the entire allied army straight through French defenses while switching the armys lines of supply and communication to the English Channel and the waiting Royal and Dutch navies. This strategy would draw the French from their fortress cities into an open fight, to prevent the allies from ravaging northern France and perhaps even moving on the French capital. The Dutch were, as usual, extremely hesitant to expose Holland (although the French could hardly take advantage of the situation), but Eugene had the final say, and the Austrian princea continental soldier to his corehad no intention of placing his army in a position of reliance on sea power.

Thwarted yet again in the field, Marlborough had little choice but to return to the rigors of siege warfare. The conservative generals around him pushed the duke to take the great French fortress city of Lille. As with all sieges the duke pursued, Lille fell, but only after an extended effort that frittered away the summer campaign season. The victory was cold comfort to a general who understood how sea power was changing warfare.

The winter of 1708 brought more political troubles in England. The dominant Whigs in parliament were more interested in riding roughshod over the Tories than supporting the alliance. The Tories, in hopes of regaining power, were becoming vociferous antiwar critics. Closer to home, the Duchess of Marlboroughs position with the queen had hit rock bottom.

Marlborough thus entered the campaign season of 1709 confronting serious domestic and continental issues. Yet the allies retained considerable advantages, while the terrible winter of 170809, among the worst in European history, had brought France to the brink of starvation. Like two punchdrunk fighters, the opponents faced off on Sept. 11, 1709, in a murderous battle at Malplaquet. The allies drove the French from the battlefield but lost 25,000 killed and wounded. Europe was shocked, and Malplaquet gave the antiwar faction in England a propaganda windfall, their campaign led by the acid pen of author and Tory pamphleteer Jonathan Swift.

Malplaquet was Marlboroughs last set-piece battle, though in 1710 and 1711 he waged magnificent campaigns of movement and sieges so beloved by practitioners of conventional 18th century warfare. In 1710 Godolphins ministry fell, and the Tories came to power. In 1711 Marlborough was reduced to mere British commander in the Low Countries, losing his influence over a government eager to shed the burdens of war. His mastery at maneuvering the French out of their ultimate defensive line counted for nothing with the Tories in London. By years end Marlborough was dropped from command and later hounded out of the United Kingdomto return only after Queen Annes death in 1714 led to reestablishment of the Hanoverian line.

The Duke of Marlborough must be counted among historys ablest commanders, and he confronted great challenges beyond military campaigns and the winning of battles. He struggled to maintain political stability in an emerging representative government; to forge and preserve an alliance of irascible powers with differing interests; and to lead fractious, multinational armies into desperate battles against the mighty armies of Louis XIV, which had dominated the battlefields of Europe over the previous century.

Sir Winston Churchill, whose biography of Marlborough stands as one of the great monuments in the English language, wrote of his ancestor:

There is a picture in existence which reminds us of the length of Marlboroughs journey. The young officer, there shown bearing the lilies of France in the service of Louis XIV, had done his work. He marched by unexpected paths. He had consolidated all that England had gained by the revolution of 1688 and the achievements of William III. By his invincible genius in war and his scarcely less admirable qualities of wisdom and management he had completed the glorious process that carried England from her dependency upon France under Charles II to ten years leadership of Europe. Although this proud task was for a space cast aside by faction, the union and greatness of Britain and her claims to empire were established upon foundations that have lasted to this day.

For further reading, Williamson Murray recommends: Marlborough: His Life and Times, by Winston Churchill, and Marlborough as Military Commander, by David Chandler.

Originally published in the May 2009 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here.An existing law surrounding sexual offence trials should be amended to allow rape complainants access to their own legal representation

This call comes from Fianna Fail Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Children and Youth Affairs, Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee.

In light of the degree of public concern raised following the recent high profile rape case in Northern Ireland, Fianna Fail will be progressing with legislation to amend the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017, when the Dail returns on Tuesday, 17 April.

Senator Clifford-Lee said, Some legitimate concerns have been raised over the past number of days regarding how trials of this nature are conducted and whether there is enough support in place for complainant(s) during a trial for a sexual offence.

As it stands in Ireland a complainant in a rape trial has a limited right to representation in court.

She believes that Ireland should now be looking to move towards adopting the process as is already in place in France or Belgium where a complainant is legally represented for the duration of the case; cross-examination could prove less hostile towards a complainant and encourage more victims to report a sexual offence.

Our legislation to amend the Criminal Justice Act will allow a complainant to apply for their own State funded legal representation during a trial involving a sexual offence if their interests are not being adequately being protected by the Director of Public Prosecutions," says Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee

"That said, while it is hugely crucial that we address the need to strengthen the level of available support for complainants during trial, at no time can we undermine the right of the accused to provide a strong defence.

The Ministers commitment to review the trial process falls short of adequately supporting those facing into a trial as a complainant in the near or foreseeable future. It ultimately puts the prospect of extending the provision of legal representation in these cases."

She concluded, These changes must be swiftly introduced and I am working closely with my colleague and front bench Justice Spokesperson, Jim O'Callaghan TD to bring forward this legislation following the Oireachtas recess.A 39-year-old Iranian woman, who is being described as an animal rights protester, shot three employees in cold blood at YouTube's Californian offices last night.

It's being claimed that disturbed woman went on the killing rampage as a vendetta because YouTube were "censoring her videos and not paying her", according to a report in this morning's Daily Mail newspaper.

Nasim Aghdam walked onto the YouTube campus and started firing indiscriminately at 1pm local time yesterday, before turning the gun on herself.

"It was a woman and she was firing her gun. I just said, 'Shooter,' and everybody started running. It was terrifying," recounted one eye witness.

Im several tweets, another YouTube staff member Todd Sherman said: "We were sitting in a meeting and then we heard people running because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake.

"After existing (sic) the room we still didn't know what was going on but more people were running. Seemed serious and not like a drill.

'We headed towards the exit and then saw more people and someone said that there was a person with a gun. Shit.

"At that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves.

"I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked (sic) around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front."

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the shooting spree was an "horrific act of violence".

'Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene,' he wrote on Twitter.

US President Donald Trump also took to Twitter last night and wrote: "Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene."

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018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.

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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.Maybe that's what Francis had in mind, though Scalfari's account suggests something significantly less traditional: Christian mortalism, the belief that souls bereft of salvation are either extinguished at death, or do not participate in the general Resurrection at the end of time.

During an interview, the Pope was asked about recent comments he made about "good souls" receiving repentance from God as well as what happens to "bad souls". Later on, the Vatican released a statement cautioning that the La Repubblica's interview was a "reconstruction" and not a transcript of what the Pope said.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that hell exists, according to The Vatican's Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI said hell "really exists and it eternal, even if nobody talks about it much any more".

Pilgrims from around the world gathered in St. Peter's Square to hear him speak from the balcony of the basilica for his "Urbi et Orbi", which in English is "to the city and the world".

The journalist, a self-acclaimed atheist who has had previous meetings with the pope, has been accused of making up claims about the pope's views in the past. The details are not important: "You don't need to believe in fiery demons inserting hot pitchforks into unrepentant posteriors".

Pope Francis prompted hell controversy after newspaper interview, and the Vatican issued statement denying the quotes.

Pope Francis, in his Easter address, has called for peace in the Holy Land two days after 15 Palestinians were killed on the Israeli-Gaza border, saying the conflict there "does not spare the defenceless".

In the article titled "It is an honor to be called a revolutionary", the pope is quoted as saying: "They are not punished, those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God and enter the rank of souls who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and can not therefore be forgiven disappear". It states that "souls of sinners descend into hell where they suffer eternal fire", according to the BBC. This was apparently Scalfari's fifth meeting with the pope, per the Catholic News Agency, and the journalist writes recollections of "unrecorded and unnoted meetings", the National Catholic Reporter reported. "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:13-14). Hell is a real and unavoidable fact we must all face. "To celebrate Easter is to allow Jesus to triumph over the craven fear that so often assails us and tries to bury every kind of hope".The Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee is open to discussing sharing an administrator even as it continues its own search.

Updated: Adams-Cheshire Plans Talks with North Adams on Sharing Superintendent

Editor's note: Complete write-thru at 3:42, on April 3, 2018. Several pages were missing from the report given to iBerkshires on Monday and corrections have been made in the article to reflect new information. The full report can be found at the bottom of the article.

CHESHIRE, Mass.  Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee members were "underwhelmed" by a seven-page report that outlined some benefits and concerns over sharing a superintendent with North Adams, but it was enough for them to desire talks with their city counterpart.

After quickly reviewing the District Management Group Shared Superintendent Feasibility Study on Monday, the committee asked to hash out the prospect of a shared administrator further with North Adams.

"No one has really talked, and we haven't had the opportunity to sit down and chat and have an open discussion," Superintendent Robert Putnam said. "I think we can improve everybody's understanding."

Putnam last year announced his retirement at the end of this school year, prompting a search committee to be formed.

The committee agreed to also look at the option of sharing a superintendent with another school district and the North Adams School Committee voted in February to fast-track part of a two-year feasibility study to look specifically at how a shared superintendent, presumably North Adams' Barbara Malkas, might work.

Adams-Cheshire is continuing its superintendent search process alongside this study.

The report outlined some benefits that include strengthening leadership and administrator teams, increasing grant opportunities and reallocating funds toward other priorities, aligning curriculums and sharing specialized services and administrators.

It also mentioned some hurdles and possible mitigations, noting that many stakeholders felt the transition would be irreversible and suggesting that a trial period could be implemented to quell this concern.

Also, the report stated that some stakeholders felt that this direction has not been clearly communicated to them and recommended that all stakeholders clearly informed. The report went on to say that a clear vision for the future of the district needs to be created and shared with the communities, families and students.

It also touched on the significant differences in governance between regional school committee representing two towns and a city school committee whose chairman is the mayor.

"While these differences in governance structures cause additional complexity and a challenge to address, shared superintendents have been in place for decades often including three or more different school committees and governing structures in New England," the report states, using the North Berkshire School Union as an example.

In the school union, Superintendent Jonathan Lev reports to four elementary school committees and a supervisory union committee. However, the makeup of those schools and committee are very similar and very small. Williamstown-Lanesborough schools, on the other hand, ran into difficulties when the regional high school and its two sending schools began sharing administrative staff. They are currently transitioning to a K-12 regional district in part to smooth out those governance problems.

Stakeholders did raise a "pervasive" concern that a shared superintendent would not be able to give both districts the required attention, and that Adams-Cheshire would be most likely to be short-changed. Building trust and setting clear expectations would help to mitigate those concerns, the report states.

"Significant benefits have been identified and thoughtful concerns have been raised," the report's summary reads. "It appears that all of the concerns, however, can be mitigated by thoughtful planning and setting of clear expectations."

Chairman Paul Butler said that he wished the report had more information and did not feel comfortable immediately making a decision.

"I guess I was a little underwhelmed with the contents of the report to be coy," he said. "I think the amount of time we had to look at this has been substantially limited."

A representative from the teachers' association said the union does not have a formal statement on the issue at this time but that teachers have felt out of the loop and that things were moving too quickly.

School Committee member Stephen Vigna agreed and suggested the committee solicit input from teachers, administrators, and community members.

"I think we are limiting this to the School Committee and I think it would be beneficial to get some quick input from the stakeholders," he said. "We want to make sure their concerns are heard."

Butler asked the association president to provide some input before the meeting with North Adams.

Vigna said he thought the School Committee should take the time to look at other options and possibly consider sharing a superintendent with the Berkshire Arts & Technology Public Charter School in Adams. (Vigna says he misspoke and meant North Adams Public Schools.)

The superintendent search committee has already conducted five interviews. Vigna said the plan is to bring final applicants for the School Committee to interview. He said he feared if they move too quickly into an agreement with North Adams, they could miss some good candidates.

School Committee member Darlene Rodowicz agreed but suggested they make a decision before conducting these final interviews.

Butler said a conversation with North Adams officials may reveal some of their concerns and allow an opportunity to look at other ways the two could possibly collaborate.

"At the very least, I think we owe it to ourselves and the city of North Adams to sit down with them in public session and see if, in fact, this will work and that both parties are comfortable," he said.

He added that if the two school districts decide to not share the superintendent this year, it does not mean they have abandoned the idea.

DMGroup Shared Superintendent Feasibility Study by iBerkshires.com on ScribdEdward Carmel is heading an effort to revitalize the Committee on Homelessness.

Pittsfield Councilors Look to Aid Homeless

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  After a while of living on the street, homeless people get comfortable.

They're not going to walk into a local service agency and ask for help. They're going to struggle with health problems. And they're going to continue living wherever they can find a place to sleep.

Edward Carmel knows this because he's been there. He's been homeless and he says once you are homeless, you will always have that mentality.

"When you've been homeless for so long do you know what's in your mind? You don't want a home. You're comfortable where you are. It is like an addict, you are comfortable where you are. We need to change the perception of homeless people justing wanting to be homeless in Pittsfield," Carmel said.

Carmel has found his way off the streets and now he wants to help those who haven't. He is petitioning the city to let him restart a homeless commission with the goal of checking in on people living on the streets every single day.

"There are homeless people on the street right now, as we speak, and they are finding a place to sleep like a cardboard box like you see on TV. They're here in Pittsfield," Carmel said. "I wanted to open this committee and find members that will be diligent to check on these people daily. Because what is going to happen is you are going to find dead people."

The city is now entertaining the concept. But other regional groups focused on homelessness are warning of too much bureaucracy. Brad Gordon, executive director of the Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority, wrote a letter to the City Council saying there are already too many committees meeting and that yet another one would only make it more difficult to actually provide services.

"The homeless commission served a very important role at one time, especially when there were no other coordinated initiatives to address homelessness. However, frankly, it is already extremely difficult to meet the demands of these meetings, some of which are mandated by funders and regulation, and have enough time to implement high-quality programming for the people in our community," Gordon wrote.

"Adding another committee to the already comprehensive array of existing committees seems counterproductive to me."

Gordon said he served on the city's homeless commission in the past and that has since morphed into a Berkshire County Continuum of Care Committee to address the matter in a regional manner. It has teamed up with other Western Massachusetts groups and now has access to federal and state resources that weren't otherwise available.

He said there are many groups and agencies that meet regularly, and through that coordinated effort there are a number of subcommittees that residents can join to help the effort.

But Carmel says he wants something specifically for Pittsfield and he doesn't believe those other agencies go deep enough when working with the homeless.

"A homeless person goes into these committees or one of these facilities like Berkshire Housing or ServiceNet. They are just mainly given a bed a meal. They're not asked how they feel, do they have problems physically like diabetes."

He said he encountered somebody on Friday who had trouble with their hands and face. He wants somebody to check on those chronically homeless, get them free health checkups, and truly have one-on-one conversations with them to find out exactly what they need.

"I don't see anyone from any of these services checking on them daily. They could be checked on daily. It doesn't take long," Carmel said. "I was homeless. I know how they treat you in Pittsfield."

He said many agencies step up when the winter comes, but during the summer the homeless are getting bitten by bugs and dealing with ticks and other hazards of living outdoors.

"I want them to be people in the community. I wanted them to be respected people of the community. And they can work that with the right people that they talk to. I'm asking you to please consider this strongly," Carmel said.

Ward 1 Councilor Helen Moon lives near the Boulders and says she sees tents set up often. She has seen homeless living in Springside Park. She saw them on North Street when she worked downtown. The other agencies are often "underfunded, underpaid, and understaffed" and she sees a local committee as a good way to have that extra helping hand out.

"I want to have Pittsfield to look at it as our own city and how we can be leaders in the conversation for our residents here," Moon said.

She and Councilor at Large Melissa Mazzeo sponsored Carmel's petition and despite the conversation with Gordon are sticking by their conviction that the committee is the right thing to do for Pittsfield.

Councilor at Large Peter White, on the other hand, is a little more reserved. He too fears there could be redundancies in the work they do and would like to move forward if there was a clear understanding of what this committee would do differently. He said many committees tend to be advisory in nature and not doing the hands-on work like Carmel is suggesting.

"I do have concerns when somebody who is deeply involved with this, and has been involved in this, is cautioning us against it," White said.

Ward 5 Councilor Donna Todd Rivers said she sees a role for such a committee because it provides that local, one-on-one touch. She said elected officials too often craft programs and policies from one perspective and lack another -- a point Carmel made when he said that he'd be asking the homeless what they need.

"We're trying to personalize those efforts and make them more one on one. There are people in our community who want to do this, who want to reach out to our homeless," Rivers said. "If we can save one life, if we can save one person, then I think we did a great thing for our community. I know that one-on-one, personal touch is going to help people."

Meanwhile, Ward 6 Councilor John Krol said bringing in a new voice is never a bad thing. He said a new set of eyes to the issue will be valuable.

"When you are involved with something for a very long time, your in a nonprofit, been doing this work for decades and decades, you tend to get in a groove. And you tend to get in a frame of thinking. That's no disrespect to anybody, that is any of us," Krol said.

The councilors agreed to move the petition along and craft a plan for the revitalization of the Committee on Homelessness.New Business Manager Carrie Burnett, standing, is introduced to the School Committee on Tuesday.

North Adams School Committee Sets Date With Adams-Cheshire

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The School Committee has set a tentative meeting for Monday, April 9, with the members of the Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee to enter into discussions about the possibility of sharing a superintendent.

The talks are coming on the heels of the looming retirement of Adams-Cheshire's superintendent and a push toward collaborations between districts encouraged by the research of the Berkshire County Education Task Force.

The report, however, offered little detail in how such a superintendency union might operate. Superintendent Barbara Malkas, who would presumably become the superintendent for both districts, said setting specific times to be in each district wouldn't work.

"I would not think about a shared superintendent in terms of quantifying it with time," she said. "It would be one superintendency with seven schools as opposed to four schools. I think that's the only way to wrap your head around the workload and meeting the needs of both districts."

The concerns about permanence could be addressed in the contract, Malkas said, and as for the loss of autonomy, she felt strongly that "schools are cultural artifacts of the community."

But where Malkas thought the report did a good job in identifying the challenges and benefits, longtime School Committee member and Vice Chairwoman Heather Boulger was disappointed it did not contain more data and research.

"I was hoping for a little bit more substantive data, more evidence-based reasoning why we should pursue this possible opportunity," she said. "I don't think that enough stakeholders were included. I'm not sure who was interviewed at this table, but I wasn't and being the longest attending School Committee member, that would have been important to be included. The community leaders and the parents should have been engaged in this process as well."

Boulger said she wanted to see both the assets and challenges that both districts will bring with them. Malkas' introduction of the report included more data than the report did, she said.

She was also concerned that North Adams has particular challenges right now, including being a Level 3 turnaround district. The administrative team is still fairly new, the district's just completed a reconfiguration of grades and its entered into two new shared services this year alone  the new collaborative North Berkshire Academy for special education and a new business manager shared with North Berkshire School Union.

"There are a lot of new initiatives under way and I want to make sure we have all of our ducks in a row before we started to explore other possibilities," she said. "I am 100 percent in support of collaboration and cooperation when it makes sense for our district and our students and our administration."

Boulger said she could not support sharing a superintendent at this time but was open to exploring the possibility with Adams-Cheshire with more concrete and evidence-based data on hand. She also noted that the North Berkshire School Union will be searching for a superintendent, which might be another possible collaboration.

All the School Committee has approved so far is to consider exploring the possibility of shared services, Malkas noted. "Any agreement that happens would have to meet the approval of the School Committee before it moves forward as well as the School Committee of Adams-Cheshire Regional."

Mayor Thomas Bernard, chairman of the School Committee, asked Malkas how the agenda for the joint meeting would look and where would it be held. Malkas said it would most likely be at Hoosac Valley High School and that she planned to invite William Cameron, chairman of the Education Task Force 2.0, to do an introduction on work that was done by the task force and about other districts that have shared superintendents. The superintendent said she would present her vision on what had to happen for it to be successful and then open it up to discussion.

Both Boulger and School Committee member Tara Jacobs said it was important to get community feedback in some form should the school committees decide to move forward on exploring the opportunity.

In other business, the committee also approved researching the use of so-called "blizzard bags" to reduce the number of snow days. The new policy subcommittee appointed by Bernard on Tuesday  Chairman Ian Bergeron, Karen Bond and Nicholas Fahey  will develop the blizzard bag policy with input from stakeholders.

 It also approved a Drury band trip to New York City with 16 students. Students have been fundraising over two years and band parents have provided scholarships.

 New Business Manger Carrie Burnett was introduced to the School Committee.Residents pack the meeting room at Town Hall for Tuesday's Planning Board meeting.

Williamstown Planners Consider Changing Zoning Proposals



Planning Board members, from left, Chris Winters, Susan Puddester and Chris Kapiloff. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  Several dozen residents turned out Tuesday for a standing-room-only meeting of the Planning Board, which indicated its willingness to revise its ambitious proposal to alter residential zoning in the center of town.

Planning Board Chairman Chris Kapiloff opened the session by thanking the attendees for cramming into the Town Hall's largest meeting room and saying he was encouraged by the energy in the room. By the end of the three-hour meeting, one member of the board was asking residents to tell the panel the "smallest thing" the town would support.

Like the proposed bylaw changes themselves, the discussion was complex and wide-ranging. Not all of the comments were negative, and with a couple of exceptions, people on both sides of the table kept their emotions in check.

But as was the case last week when Kapiloff presented the bylaw amendment to the Select Board, the most consistent message was that the proposed zoning changes go too far, too fast.

Kapiloff and Planner Amy Jeschawitz reminded the crowd that the ideas do not come out of left field.

The current Planning Board has been focused on opening up housing options in the center of town for two years. It was the focus of a community conversation funded by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership and has been talked about repeatedly in the board's meetings, even though the proposed bylaw was not formally presented until this winter.

The proposal's roots go back even farther. It seeks to address concerns discussed in the town's 2002 Master Plan, the 2013 Housing Needs Assessment commissioned by the town's Affordable Housing Committee and the 2015 report of the town's ad hoc Economic Development Committee.

"I don't think you're being criticized for the lack of a public process in 2016 and 2017," Andrew Hogeland told the Planning Board. "The bus lost its wheels in February and March [2018], when you got down to a proposal and no one knew about it.

"The community generally agrees on the basic goals of what you want to do."

Hogeland served on 2015's Economic Development Committee and currently is on the Select Board. Four members of the five-person Select Board attended Tuesday's meeting and addressed the planners; the Select Board did not schedule a joint meeting and did not call itself into session.

The Select Board has no formal role in drafting or modifying proposed zoning bylaws; it will likely make an advisory vote to town meeting, where changes to the bylaw need a two-thirds "supermajority" for passage.

Although the Planning Board has not met since the bylaw changes elicited fierce objections in late March, its individual members have made moves to address some of the concerns raised at the March 26 Select Board meeting.

Based on a discussion between Town Planner Andrew Groff and individual members of the Planning Board, the board currently has at least three iterations of key sections on the table: the March 12 version , and "Options A and B" within the section on multifamily development.

Both the alternative options would lower the number of allowable dwelling units on a parcel and address some of the equity issues that have been a major sticking point with opponents of the bylaw change.

"Any of these new construction projects would be by [special permit] only  nothing by right," Planning Board member Ann McCallum said in describing the option she helped create, labeled Option B on the latest draft. "This would give neighbors a chance to opine on the idea. You can't spring something overnight and surprise your neighbors. We reduced the number of units both in new construction and existing buildings from six to eight down to four at most [with special permit].

"The last change  the way Andrew and I wrote it two weeks ago  all the districts would be treated the same."

The March 12 draft, which was presented to the Select Board last week, was roundly criticized for a multi-tier approach in which greater density would be allowed in some neighborhoods "by right" and in others by special permit.

Robin Lenz of Linden Street told the Planning Board she did not see how the high number of renters in the most densely populated part of town could benefit from increased diversity in what the proposed bylaw creates as a new Mill Village District.

"Most of the people living here are not going to have the benefit of selling and building a six-unit building," Lenz said. "The single mothers are going to have to move out.

"I think what I'm trying to say is my belief is  Why is this good idea of in-fill housing being put into our neighborhood, which is already the densest neighborhood in town? Why not Haley Village or the Knolls? Why aren't you considering Moorland Street for this 'gift'? Why just Mill Street and Linden Street?"

Lenz's comments, which came early in the discussion, were one of a few that generated applause from the crowd, which spilled out into the hallway and saw residents seated on the floor at either end of the meeting table.

"I hope the fire chief isn't watching on WilliNet," Kapiloff quipped during his opening remarks.

Kapiloff also told the crowd that his first thought on entering Town Hall on Tuesday evening was that he needed to contact officials at Williamstown Elementary School to see if the auditorium or cafeteria are available for the Planning Board's scheduled April 10 meeting.

Repeatedly, planners and members of the Select Board mentioned that they were encouraged by the level of public engagement on the proposed zoning changes and hoped that the conversation would continue. In addition to the extensive comments on March 26 and Tuesday night, the board has received, at last count, 19 letters expressing concern about the proposed change  not to mention countless personal interactions between planners and residents and social media posts.

One of the letters on file on the town's website is from Carin DeMayo-Wall, a Williamstown native and daughter of two of its best known citizens, Carol DeMayo, who volunteers as coordinator of the town's food pantry among other civic engagements, and the late Richard DeMayo, a longtime member of various boards who served as a trustee on the town's Affordable Housing Trust up until his death in 2015.

DeMayo-Wall told the Planning Board in her letter that its bylaw as drafted had no chance of passing town meeting but that its motives in trying to increase housing options were laudable.

"I would propose we change our Zoning By-Laws to allow duplexes by right for current or new

construction throughout the entire town, and three and four unit dwellings by special permit only," she wrote. "To start with duplexes by right, we are allowing seniors to remain in their homes, families to have in-law apartments to care for young or aging, and some additional apartments or condominiums available to those that work in our community.

"A duplex in this case is 'found housing' that may be underutilized space by a shrinking family or by a family that needs additional income to remain in town. It is an environmentally friendly way to deal with larger homes that may now be harder to sell due to size. It does not change the aesthetics of our community and should not have a negative impact on parking."

Planning Board member Chris Winters picked up on the suggestion, at one point proposing that the board bring that simple proposal  applied throughout the General Residence District  to town meeting.

Of course, the proposed bylaw developed by the Planning Board would do more than allow increased housing density.

Other aspects of the draft bylaw also drew criticism on Tuesday evening.

Several residents of the town's Rural Residential 2 District questioned the board's plan to allow for greater density in that district by reducing the number of acres per building lot from 2.5 to 1.5.

"If you have 4.5 acres now, you can have one house," Sherwood Guernsey told the planners. "If this passes, you can put three houses on that lot.

"From the standpoint of the RR2 District, the proposal is more likely to have a sprawl effect."

Guernsey also noted that the change likely would produce a tax hike for residents in the rural district, where properties would be appraised higher whether or not the owner chose to build the additional homes the proposed bylaw would allow.

Even before the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting, Kapiloff said he had reconsidered his position on RR2 because he only recently realized the potential unintended consequence of impacting residents' taxes.

The centerpiece of the proposed bylaw, which would enable most of the other changes in the current draft, is the definition of four new zoning districts within General Residence: Mill Village, Village Residence 1, Village Residence 2 and Village Residence 3 as currently labeled.

The planners contend that the new districts would recognize the historical character of the specific neighborhoods within the current GR and, more importantly, bring the majority of the properties in the district into compliance with the zoning bylaw.

When the town enacted zoning in 1955, the majority of the residences in what is the areas affected by the proposed bylaw were "grandfathered" in as "pre-existing nonconforming" properties.

That means the residences can continue to exist as if the zoning bylaw never was adopted  unless and until the owner attempts to make a minor alteration. That creates cumbersome and sometimes insurmountable obstacles for homeowners.

Attorney Stanley Parese, addressing the meeting from the floor in defense of this part of the proposed new zones, described a scenario in which someone purchases a home with the mistaken belief he or she can "bump out" the kitchen by a few feet because the neighboring property has the exact same modification. Only after the new homeowner applies to the town for a building permit does he or she realize the neighboring house was one of the "pre-existing nonconformities" and the modification they seek violates the setback rules in GR.

The Planning Board spent months looking at the "conditions on the ground" in an effort to draft a bylaw that brings the majority of the residences in the four new districts into compliance with new setback, frontage and lot coverage requirements specific to each of the new zones.

Kapiloff said there is a special permit request currently on its way to the Zoning Board of Appeals to request a variance that would not be needed under the proposed bylaw.

"There is someone going to the ZBA pretty soon who is doing a renovation in their house," Kapiloff said. "One thing they need is a fire escape, and they can't do it because the fire escape will be too close to the property line. If this [application] gets rejected, they can't remodel their house and make it better. This just encourages landlords to never renovate their properties.

"If you're a homeowner, and you own a home for a long time, eventually, you will need to do something in your house."

Even in the latter stages of the meeting, however, residents still were questioning the need for new zoning districts with new rules on setbacks and frontage for each. A Maple Street resident asked if instead of creating different zones, the town's bylaw could define different lot sizes that had different dimensional requirements within the same district.

Winters called the idea interesting  one of many indications from the Planning Board throughout the meeting that it continues to be open to more input and ideas from the rest of the town.

It remains to be seen how many changes the Planning Board will be able to formally incorporate into the three articles it has drafted for May's Annual Town Meeting and whether any, like Article C (reducing the lot requirements in RR2) may fall by the wayside altogether.

Several residents, including Parese, encouraged the Planning Board to maintain some of the momentum from the winter and spring and put some version of its plan before the voters at town meeting.

Winters agreed and, at the meeting's end, attempted to bring the focus back to the intent of the draft bylaw, as regards the concept of increasing housing diversity.

"Who we're not hearing from tonight are the people who are not in the room because they're not yet residents of the town," he said. "And that's the underlying intent. We're trying to see in our mind the people who don't live in our community and want to: the high school and grade school teachers, the policemen, the public works workers, the people who provide our services. Let's keep those people in mind.

"Some progress is better than no progress even if it's slow progress. What I'd like to see is: What is the smallest thing we can propose that the town will support. Is there a small enough unit of progress? If the answer is no, then that's a problem. If there is no increment of progress small enough that we're willing to support it, that's a different conversation."



iciHaiti - Scam : False account of the Ambassador of Canada





The Canadian Embassy in Haiti has been informed of the existence of a fraudulent social media account posing as the Canadian Ambassador to Haiti has recently circulated messages soliciting submissions of visa documents for processing. These fraudulent messages and their account are in no way sponsored by the Embassy or its Ambassador to Haiti.



We encourage you to remain vigilant towards suspicious or false messages claiming to be sent on behalf of the Embassy or its personnel.



For more information on how to protect yourself from fraud, visit : www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/protect-fraud/internet-email-telephone.html



See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23680-icihaiti-alert-canada-immigration-fraud.html



IH/ iciHaiti





















iciHaiti - Politic : Tabling of a bill for the protection of Haitian women





Tuesday, as part of the 22nd National Day of the Movement of Haitian Women, Senator Dieudonne Luma Etienne, Chair of the Commission "Equity of Gender", tabled in the Senate https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24001-haiti-politic-two-important-bills-passed-in-the-senate.html a law proposal on the prevention, protection, punishment and elimination of violence against Haitian women.



According to the internal regulations of the Senate, this bill was put to the vote and voted by 17 Senators for and 1 abstention.



According to the Senator, the provisions of this document call for and complement the obligations of the Haitian State to harmonize national legislation with international instruments. As a result, this law aiming to combat violence against women is proving to be more than worthwhile, taking into account the international obligations of the Haitian State.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24001-haiti-politic-two-important-bills-passed-in-the-senate.html



IH/ iciHaiti

















A UN peacekeeper was killed and 11 others were wounded in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) when the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission there was attacked by rebel fighters.

On the morning of 3 April, at 5 a.m., the MINUSCA temporary base in Tagbara village, located 60 km northeast of Bambari, in Ouaka prefecture, came under attack from anti-Balaka elements.

The UN said ensuing gunfight lasted hours, and 22 anti-balaka were also killed.

Dujarric said the United Nations peacekeeping mission sent reinforcements to the base, and he strongly condemned the attack.

Apart from this incident, MINUSCA discovered the bodies of 21 civilians (4 children, 4 women and 13 men) near a church in Tagbara later that morning.

MINUSCA strongly condemns these violent events and the loss of lives of civilians and peacekeepers. The U.N. Security Council approved an extra 900 peacekeepers in November to help to protect civilians.

"The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the family of the fallen peacekeeper and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured", Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at the daily news briefing.

"The secretary-general calls on the Central African Republic authorities to investigate these attacks and quickly bring those responsible to justice", he said. He said they were released peacefully to United Nations peacekeepers and spent the night at the temporary base to ensure their safety.

"Nothing can justify such acts that can be considered war crimes", the statement said.

Clashes between the mainly Muslim Slka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian, plunged the country of 4.5 million people into civil conflict in 2013.To access our in-house intelligence please request a trial here.

Read this article  and more  for a 30 day period.

Are you already an IFLR subscriber? Login hereImperial Valley News Center

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Announces Results of J-Codes First Law Enforcement Operation Targeting Opioid Trafficking on the Darknet

Washington, DC - Today, the Department of Justice, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) announced the results of a four-day long, nationwide law enforcement operation, called Operation Disarray, which targeted vendors and buyers of opioids and cocaine on the Darknet. This operation was the first coordinated action by the new Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) Team.

These results were announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell.

Synthetic opioids are responsible for nearly one-third of the unacceptable 64,000 drug overdoses in America in 2016, said Attorney General Sessions. Some of the deadliest drugs can be purchased with a few clicks of a button and ordered online. Thats why I ordered the creation of J-CODEthe Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement teamback in January. J-CODE coordinates our efforts to stop online opioid sales, and it is already getting results. Today, we announce the first nationwide J-CODE operation, one that led to the arrest of alleged traffickers across America. I want to thank all of our law enforcement partners at the FBI, DEA, ATF, our Postal Inspectors, IRS-CI, NCIS, FinCEN and ICE-HSI who helped make this possible, and I want to thank President Trump for his strong support of our efforts. J-CODE is helping us keep deadly drugs out of this great country.

Our work to combat drug trafficking has taken us from coast to coast and to the darkest corners of the web. The opioid epidemic is a public health crisis, and those of us in law enforcement must be relentless in our efforts to disrupt this illicit activity, said FBI Director Christopher Wray. We thank our partners in this operation; through J-CODE, we will continue to work together to target the sale of opioids on the Darknet.

The Postal Inspection Service is dedicated to protecting the American public, said Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell. One of the ways we fulfill this mission is by working tirelessly with other law enforcement agencies in operations just like this one to keep dangerous drugs out of the communities we serve.

During the March 27 to 30 operation, FBI, USPIS, and local law enforcement made eight arrests related to Operation Disarray. Agents conducted more than 160 interviews nationwide of people who have bought or sold opioids and other drugs online. Leads from the investigation identified 19 overdose deaths of persons of interest. FBI, USPIS and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) also executed numerous search warrants, which resulted in the seizure of weapons, drugs, counterfeit currency, and computer equipment. During the operation, law enforcement agents distributed literature regarding the dangers of opioid abuse, as well as, offered support for those affected by the opioid epidemic. The investigation is ongoing.

The J-CODE Team is a new FBI initiative announced by Attorney General Sessions in January 2018, and is aimed at targeting drug trafficking, especially fentanyl and other opioids, on the Darknet. With this team, the FBI is bringing together agents, analysts, and professional staff with expertise in drugs, gangs, health care fraud, and more, and our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners from across the U.S. Government, to focus on disrupting the sale of drugs via the Darknet and dismantling criminal enterprises that facilitate this trafficking. Operation Disarray is the J-CODEs first joint, nationwide coordinated operation.

Attorney General Sessions thanked our law enforcement partners on the J-CODE team, to include the FBI, USPIS, Department of Justice Criminal Divisions Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and the Organized Crime and Gang Section; Drug Enforcement Agency; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Department of Defense; IRS-CI; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for bringing expertise, professionalism and a shared desire to combat this epidemic. Through continued collaboration and determination the successes J-CODE will continue to forge a positive difference and outcome.Grant Spanier A "Beautiful Soul" is back in the spotlight. After a four-year hiatus, Jesse McCartney's returned with a new single, "Better With You" -- and he says he's been surprised by the "outrageously positive" response.

"I took quite a bit of time off, just for my own personal health and well-being," Jesse tells ABC Radio. "About a year ago, I decided Id try to do some music again and...the response has been outrageously positive. All of my fans have clearly just been waiting for some new tunes."

After spending the last four years traveling, acting, reading and becoming a foodie, Jesse says the catalyst for his return was attending a Nashville "songwriting camp," where he attempted to write a song a day.

"It was a real fun challenge," he tells ABC Radio. "And when I got back to L.A....that was when I decided, 'O.K., my tools have been sharpened, lets go back in and write some pop music."

The result is "Better With You," a song that's giving some fans "Beautiful Soul" vibes. Jesse says he wasn't trying to evoke his signature tune, but it just sort of happened.

"I think naturally, as this record was taking shape, it just sort of took on this slightly more pop sound that I think is reminiscent of the 'Beautiful Soul' days," he explains. "And I think maybe thats why people are also gravitating towards it so much. I think it kind of tickles that nostalgic bone or something."

Speaking of nostalgia, Jesse, now 30, admits that at his recent concerts, the girls are still screaming for him.

"Not a lot has changed in that regard," he laughs. "Its still pretty amazing when you go to play 'Beautiful Soul' or 'Leavin,' how...that sort of teenage, pre-pubescent energy just comes rattling out of them!"

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Imperial Valley News Center

Justice Department Seeks to Denaturalize Two Foreign-Convicted War Criminals Who Fraudulently Obtained Refugee Status and Naturalized into U.S. Citizenship

Portland, Oregon - The Justice Department today filed denaturalization lawsuits against two convicted war criminals and natives of the former Yugoslavia, who according to the Departments complaints, murdered civilians and prisoners of war because of their religion and ethnicity, then fraudulently obtained refugee status and later naturalized into U.S. citizenship by concealing their crimes. The civil complaints were filed in federal court in the District of Oregon and the District of Columbia.

War criminals will find no safe haven or shelter within the United States, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. We will be steadfast as we investigate and prosecute human rights violators, torturers, and war criminals. This is especially true for those who fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship. For too long, we have tolerated egregious fraud in our refugee program, our immigration system, and the naturalization process. This Administration will hold alleged fraudsters accountable.

We at DHS are committed to working with our partners across the federal government to target those who seek to break our immigration laws to obtain U.S. citizenship. There will be consequences, said Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen from the Department of Homeland Security. National security is homeland security and fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship will not be tolerated. Those who abuse our generous immigration system take opportunities away from those who follow our laws and who undoubtedly deserve U.S. citizenship.

Todays lawsuits allege that Edin Dzeko, 46, and Sammy Rasema Yetisen, aka Rasema Handanovic, aka Zolja, 45, were part of an elite unit of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina that attacked the village of Trusina on April 16, 1993, in what is known as the Trusina massacre. The unit targeted Bosnian Croats who resided in the village because of their Christian religion and Croat ethnicity, killing 22 unarmed individuals including women and the elderly. A Bosnian court previously found that Dzeko and Yetisen played key roles in the massacre: both were part of a firing squad that executed six unarmed prisoners of war and civilians, and Yetisen proceeded to make sure all six were dead by shooting them again. In addition to his participation in the firing squad, Dzeko also killed a crippled elderly man, and then shot the mans wife in the back, killing her because she would not stop crying.

According to the complaints, Dzekos and Yetisens actions came to light in 2011 when the United States granted their extradition to Bosnia and Herzegovina at that countrys treaty-based request. In April 2012, Yetisen was convicted in a Bosnia court pursuant to a guilty plea of war crimes against prisoners of war and war crimes against civilians based on the firing squad execution-style killings. In exchange for her plea and cooperation, Yetisen was sentenced to five years and six months in prison. In June 2014, Dzeko was convicted in Bosnia court of war crimes against prisoners of war and war crimes against civilians, and held responsible for the eight killings described above, in part based on Yetisens testimony against him. Yetisen has been released from prison and resides in Oregon. Dzeko is still serving his sentence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Before their war crimes had come to light, Dzeko and Yetisen each requested and received refugee status from the United States, claiming themselves to be victims of persecution. The complaints allege that Dzeko and Yetisen concealed and affirmatively misrepresented their criminal history, military service, and persecutory acts throughout their immigration proceedings. Such benefits would have been denied had immigration authorities known about the defendants roles in the Trusina massacre.

The United States has been a safe haven and symbol of hope for people fleeing from persecution, not for war criminals, said U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District of Columbia. The actions taken in the District of Columbia and in Oregon today demonstrate that we will use every tool to ensure the integrity of our refugee programs.

The United States is a refuge for those fleeing violence and the atrocities of war, not those responsible for these unthinkable acts, said U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams of the District of Oregon. I applaud the hard work and coordination of law enforcement across the country that culminated in these lawsuits.

Todays civil denaturalization cases follow on the recent criminal conviction of a Bosnia Serb residing in North Carolina for making materially false claims and statements on his initial application for refugee status, which involved similar concealment of service in a military unit involved in the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre that resulted in the deaths of between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men.

The cases were investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations Human Rights Violator and War Crimes Unit and the Civil Divisions Office of Immigration Litigation, District Court Section (OIL-DCS) National Security and Affirmative Litigation Unit (NS/A Unit), with consultation and support from ICEs Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) Human Rights Law Section and Seattle Office of the Chief Counsel, and the Criminal Divisions Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section.

The cases are being jointly prosecuted by Deputy Chief Timothy Belsan and Senior Counsel for National Security Aram Gavoor of OIL-DCSs NS/A Unit and Trial Attorney Steven Platt of OIL-DCS, Assistant U.S. Attorney Wynne Kelly of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Cox of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Oregon.

The claims made in these complaints are allegations only, and there have been no determinations of liability.

Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals or naturalized U.S. citizens suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are encouraged to call the ICE tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or to complete its online tip form; or the Justice Departments Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section at 1-202-616-2492. Callers may remain anonymous.Justice Department Files Lawsuit to Invalidate New California Law Restricting Federal Land Sales

Sacramento, California - The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California against the State of California, Governor of California Edmund G. Jerry Brown Jr., and the California State Lands Commission, seeking a declaration that California Senate Bill 50 (SB 50), enacted in October 2017, is unconstitutional and seeking an injunction against implementation of this state law. This California law purports to give a state agency the power to block the sale, donation or exchange of federal lands by the federal government to any other person or entity. SB 50 also seeks to penalize (up to $5,000) any person who knowingly files real estate records pertaining to a federal land transfer unless the California government certifies that the transfer complies with state law.

The Constitution empowers the federal governmentnot state legislaturesto decide when and how federal lands are sold, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. California was admitted to the Union upon the express condition that it would never interfere with the disposal of federal land. And yet, once again, the California legislature has enacted an extreme state law attempting to frustrate federal policy. The Justice Department shouldn't have to spend valuable time and resources to file this suit today, but we have a duty to defend the rightful prerogatives of the U.S. military, the Interior Department, and other federal agencies to buy, sell, exchange or donate federal properties in a lawful manner in the national interest. We are confident that we will prevail in this casebecause the facts are on our side.

Since the founding of the Republic, it has been fundamental to our constitutional system that a state may not discriminate against the United States or those with whom it deals, said U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott for the Eastern District of California. We will vigorously defend this principle.

Under a range of federal laws, Congress has empowered federal agencies with the responsibility to determine when, to whom, for what purpose, and under what conditions federal interests in property will be conveyed. Federal conveyances serve a broad range of purposes such as supporting national defense, promoting local economic development, furthering land conservation, or otherwise providing important public benefits.



SB 50 interferes with federal land conveyances in the State of California. For example, SB 50 establishes a state policy to discourage transfers of federal lands in California out of federal ownership. It purports to render void federal land conveyances unless the California State Lands Commission is provided with a right of first refusal to the conveyance or the right to arrange for transfer to another entity. In addition, it purports to prohibit recordation of any deed or other conveyance document relating to a federal conveyance, unless the county recorder is presented with a certificate of compliance from the California State Lands Commission.



The United States complaint contends that SB 50 violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and is therefore invalid. In the first claim for relief, the complaint alleges that SB 50 violates intergovernmental immunity because it discriminates against the United States and its transaction partners and, in the alternative, because it purports to regulate the United States. In the second claim for relief, the complaint alleges that a range of federal laws preempt SB 50, including because SB 50 stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.

The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution provides: This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof . . . , shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby; any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2.

The Property Clause of the Constitution provides that Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States. U.S. Const. art. IV,  3, cl. 2.

On Sept. 9, 1850, Congress enacted An Act for the Admission of the State of California into the Union, ch. 50, 9 Stat. 452. Section 3 of the Act provides in relevant part that the said State of California is admitted into the Union upon the express condition that the people of said State, through their legislature or otherwise, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands within its limits, and shall pass no law and do no act whereby the title of the United States to, and right to dispose of, the same shall be impaired or questioned. 9 Stat. at 452.



The complaint lists examples of conveyances of federal real property purportedly subject to SB 50, including the following:

The Department of the Armys planned conveyances to a developer in connection with a multi-phase transaction involving exchanges of about 78 acres of real property owned by the United States in the City of Dublin, Alameda County, for construction of facilities at Camp Parks, an Army military installation.

The Department of the Navys closing on a contract with a developer for the purchase of the Admirals Cove property in Alameda, California. The General Services Administration serves as the Navys agent in connection with this transaction, providing services under an interagency agreement. This property was formerly used as housing for a military installation at the Naval Air Station Alameda. The Navy and a local redevelopment agency expended substantial resources over a period of many years, including in conducting environmental reviews, before the Navy decided to convey the property.

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to revitalize its 388-acre West Los Angeles Campus by leasing real property to other entities for the purpose of providing permanent supportive housing and related services for local veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs also contemplates issuing an easement to the City of Los Angeles in support of the planned Purple Line Metro Project. These actions would help restore the campus to a safe and welcoming community for veterans and help to reduce veteran homelessness in Los Angeles.

The United States is represented in this action by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Justice Departments Environment and Natural Resources Division, with lead counsel Deputy Assistant Attorney General Eric Grant, Justin Heminger, Stacy Stoller and Peter McVeigh, and Civil Chief David Shelledy of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of California.How to write a Privacy Notice Best Practices

Washington, DC - Your privacy page and privacy notices are statements or legal documents that describe how you gather, use, disclose and manage your customers data. These encompass the notification portion of your privacy policy. And with the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect on May 25, your privacy policy is about to become more important than ever.

If anyone is under the impression that the GDPR only affects European businesses, thats incorrect.

The GDPR does not only apply to businesses located in the EU, says Dana Bucy Miller, an attorney at DM Law, LLC. It applies to any business that collects or processes the personal data of EU citizens. This means that a US company, even a small business, that processes personal data on EU citizens must comply with the GDPR.

A major component of the GDPR relates to being transparent and providing accessible information to individuals about the collection and use of their personal data.

The good news is that if your company or organization is already compliant with 1998s Data Protection Act, you have a head start. But you will need to make a few updates to make sure any new security policies or further disclosures need to be made known.

Before we go any further, youll need to figure out a couple of things:

What is your role  are you a controller or a processor?

What is your lawful basis for collecting and storing personal data?

These two questions will help you find out what information you specifically need to include in your websites privacy page and your privacy notices.

Controller or Processor?

Straight from article 4 of the GDPR, the two roles are:

Controller  means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data

Processor  means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller

A more straightforward way to look at this is: does your organization store the data itself, or does it just handle the data as an intermediary? Remember, Controllers may be processing data themselves, too. It doesnt work the other way around though.

Lawful Basis

Under the GDPR, all companies and organizations must have a lawful basis for all processing and storage of personal data. Some companies or organizations might qualify for an exemption or derogation (another fancy way to say exemption). Without one, or a lawful basis, processing or storing personal data is considered prima facie unlawful.

Here are the lawful bases that are justified under the GDPR:

Consent  You can collect personal data if someone consents to it.

Contractual Necessity  You can collect personal data if its necessary for you to fulfill a contract

Compliance with Legal Obligations  You can collect personal data if you have a legal obligation to do so

Vital Interests  You can collect personal data if its necessary to protect someones vital interests (think life-or-death situations) of a data subject

Public Interest  You can collect personal data if you are a public authority or a private company or organization acting in the public interest

Legitimate Interests  You can collect personal data if your company or organization has a legitimate interest that doesnt override the rights or freedoms of the data subject

Data relating to criminal offences and civil law enforcement  This one is pretty self-explanatory

Processing not requiring identification  You can collect personal data if you have an obligation in order to comply with applicable law.

What constitutes Personal Data?

According to Article 4 of the GDPR, Personal Data is defined as:

Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (data subject); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;

Additionally, there is a distinction between personal data, and sensitive personal data, which the EU calls special categories.

Special categories of personal data pertains to: political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union activity, racial or ethnic makeup, physical or mental health, sexual orientation, gender identity or criminal history. To process special categories of personal data, you must provide justification under one of the following legal bases:

Explicit consent

Employment law

Vital Interests

Charity or NPOs

Data made public by the data subject

Legal claims

Reasons of substantial public interest

Medical diagnosis and treatment

Public health

Historical purposes

Statistical purposes

Scientific purposes

Exemptions under national laws

One Privacy Policy Page or Many Documents?

Now that you know what your role and legal basis are under the GDPR framework, as well as what constitutes personal data, you can figure out exactly what information needs to be on your privacy policy page and in your privacy notices.

Your privacy policy page should ideally be a document that outlines EVERYTHING. Where you collect the data, how much you collect, what you do with it, how you process it, who else you tell about it, where you store it, how long you store it, what your legal basis for collecting it is and what controls someone can take over it. Everything. After you issue the initial privacy notice, you should point people to your privacy page anytime they need more information about your operation.

But in some cases, depending on the scope and breadth of the information you need to disclose to be compliant, it may be a more prudent move to divide your efforts across multiple pages rather than just a single privacy page.

One major tenet of the regulation is that you should be transparent about your data collection and processing, and make that information accessible. Articles 12, 13 & 14 of the GDPR deal with how you should handle your privacy notices, your privacy policy page included.

The GDPR says that the information you provide to people about how you process their personal data must be:

concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible;

written in clear and plain language, particularly if addressed to a child; and

free of charge.

Although youre probably not going to get fined if you opt to just go with a single pageburying information in a mile-long legal document is typically not what the average person would consider accessible. Make your privacy notices straightforward and easy to understand, and then link to your privacy page(s) in case the customer decides they want to know more.

What information do you need to provide in your privacy notices?

You now know whether youre a controller or a processor, you also know the legal basis you need to provide justification for in your privacy policy or policies. Theres two final categories to help you determine what else you need to provide, they pertain to how you collect the information: directly or indirectly.

Data collected directly Data collected indirectly Identity and Contact Details of your Data Protection Officer Yes Yes Purpose of processing including legal basis Yes Yes Legitimate interests of your company or organization Yes Yes Categories of personal data collected No Yes Recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data Yes Yes Info on transfers to third-parties along with safeguards taken Yes Yes How long you will keep the data; how this was decided Yes Yes The existence of each data subjects data privacy rights Yes Yes The right to withdraw consent (where relevant) Yes Yes The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority Yes Yes Data source; did it came from publicly accessible sources? No Yes Statutory and contractual obligations; consequences Yes No

If you need a more explicit explanation of the categories in the table above, Article 13 Paragraphs one and two elaborate on what must be disclosed to a data subject at the point of collection:

(a) the identity and the contact details of the controller and, where applicable, of the controllers representative; (b) the contact details of the data protection officer, where applicable; (c) the purposes of the processing for which the personal data are intended as well as the legal basis for the processing; (d) where the processing is based on point (f) of Article 6(1), the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party; (e) the recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data, if any; (f) where applicable, the fact that the controller intends to transfer personal data to a third country or international organisation and the existence or absence of an adequacy decision by the Commission, or in the case of transfers referred to in Article 46 or 47, or the second subparagraph of Article 49(1), reference to the appropriate or suitable safeguards and the means by which to obtain a copy of them or where they have been made available.

Depending on the circumstances, Article 13 Paragraph 2 (a-f) states that controllers will also need to provide some of the following;

(a) the period for which the personal data will be stored, or if that is not possible, the criteria used to determine that period; (b) the existence of the right to request from the controller access to and rectification or erasure of personal data or restriction of processing concerning the data subject or to object to processing as well as the right to data portability; (c) where the processing is based on point (a) of Article 6(1) or point (a) of Article 9(2), the existence of the right to withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal; (d) the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority; (e) whether the provision of personal data is a statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract, as well as whether the data subject is obliged to provide the personal data and of the possible consequences of failure to provide such data; (f) the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, referred to in Article 22(1) and (4) and, at least in those cases, meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and the envisaged consequences of such processing for the data subject.

When does your privacy notice need to be given?

Before we go further, theres one more thing we should review. When does a privacy notice need to be given? It depends upon which of the two aforementioned categories you fall into.

According to Article 14, if you obtain data directly from the data subject, then you need to notify them at the time that its obtained. Obviously, youll still need to put it on your privacy policy page too, but youll also have to take more direct action to be GDPR compliant.

Heres an example from the UKs Information Commissioners Office:

This is GDPR compliant, but only because the ICO has a legal basis for placing a cookie beyond someones consent. Most businesses will have to disable the use of cookie until they receive explicit consent from the data subject.

This is still teachable though, because it does a lot of things right. It notifies you immediately that the website will be using cookies to collect various data about its users. It has an opt-in button, because consent is one of the better legal bases for collecting information. It also provides links where the user can learn more about the specifics of the ICOs data collection, as well as a way to adjust the settings (which is also important because the GDPR gives data subjects certain rights to help maintain control over their own information).

This also shows that a privacy notification doesnt need to be obtrusive or interrupt the user experience completely. This window slides into the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and fades away after a few seconds or when you click on the screen.

Just remember, anytime you collect data for the first time in a new way, you must notify the data subject immediately. And, once again, if your legal basis is going to be consent, make sure to disable cookie use until you receive that consent.

On the other hand, if you collect data from third party sources and not directly from the data subject, you must notify:

Within one month, with the following two caveats: If youre using the data to contact the data subject, you need to notify at first contact If youre disclosing the data to a third party, you need to notify the data subject before the disclosure



Lets talk about Consent and the GDPR

In the past, companies and organizations have been allowed to play fast and loose with user consent. Thats over in the GDPR.

The GDPR requires obtaining explicit consent for each specific instance when data is gathered and processed. The individual must be aware of why they are providing the data and how it will be used. Having a pre-checked box will no longer be sufficient, said Bucy Miller. Disclaimers must identify what information is being collected, why the information is being collected, and then require an affirmative consent on the part of the individual user.

That means that if your company is using soft opt-ins or allowing a non-action to count as consent it will have to revisit its privacy practices.

Failure to give consent under GDPR must be viewed as an opt out, said Greg Sparrow, Senior Vice President & General Manager, CompliancePoint. If consent is not expressly given the organization must look to other lawful basis for processing.

How to Write a Privacy Notice

Ok, so now you have all the specific information that you legally must include to be GDPR compliant. But you need to remember that a person is going to (ideally) be reading these security notices. Some (many) wont, but others will. And you dont want to scare the bejesus of them.

So now that you know what you must include, here are some things that you SHOULD include. Remember, youd ideally like these people to consent to data collection  especially if you dont have any other lawful basis for collecting it  so being user-friendly and frankly just friendly in general, is important.

Now, for the sake of this section its worth noting that different kinds of data collection generally merit different kinds of notices. Hopefully your organization has already done an audit to identify points where the data is collected and the way it flows through your organization, where its stored, etc. So, you should have a pretty good idea where youll need to make your notifications. You also know your audience, in some scenarios a simple interstitial message or a small window in the corner of the screen is sufficient.

In other instances, like if you collect data from third parties, you may have to contact someone out of the blue. When thats the case you should start out with a few things:

Start with who the data controller is. Ideally this is where you can introduce yourself, and in the case youre not the controller, who you are working on behalf of.

Get to what the purpose(s) behind the data processing is quickly, this really isnt the time for a core value statement or something else about your business, tell people what youre doing with their data first.

Next, make sure you include enough information to establish that the processing is fair.

Fairness is extremely important in the GDPR, it may seem like an odd choice of phrasing, but its serious. There are three major components of fairness.

Using the data obtained in a way that people reasonably expect Thinking about the impact and ramifications of the processing Being transparent and ensuring people know how their data is used

Establishing fairness goes a long way towards establishing trust. And trust leads to consenta dangerous sentence if taken out of context. But still true.

And when it comes to privacy notices, its easier to establish trust by being straightforward about what data you have, why you will be using it and how you will be keeping it safe. Its also important to add how long youll keep it for. If you want to go over your bona fides, do it later in the document. But also keep in mind that, unless you obtained the information indirectly, most of the people youre notifying came to your site or filled out your form in the first place, so they are likely already aware of who you are.

What questions do my privacy notices need to answer?

As we discussed, keep in mind that youre putting this in front of a data subject that you are trying to build trust with. You would like for them to consent to your notice. So, youll need to think of how your privacy notices will be perceived. You need to anticipate what questions your customers will want answered. For instance:

What data is being collected?

Who is collecting it?

How are you collecting it?

Why are you collecting it?

How are you using it?

Do you plan to share it?

How long will you store it?

What control do I have over it?

Is this likely to affect me negatively?

Will this cause objections or complaints?

If your data is collected indirectly you also need to make sure to do a good job letting the data subject know whether you observed it, derived it or inferred it.

I realize thats a lot of ground to cover, but remember, you dont have to provide it all in the initial notice. In fact, dont try to do that. Start by giving the data subject just what they need to know (what youre collecting and what for), then provide a link or a pop-out that furnishes the rest of the information.

Tips for writing your privacy notices

Now thats weve covered what you should include and generally how you should structure your privacy notice, lets talk about the actual writing. Here are some technical tips to help you better connect with an audience whose eyes glaze over when they start reading legalese.

For starters, you need to adopt a simple style that your audience will find easy to understand. Be clear and conciseget straight to the point. Also, dont assume your reader has the same level of understanding as you do. Try to stay away from industry jargon and where its necessary to use it, explain what it means. Confusing terminology is a great way to turn a reader off.

Also make sure to do some research. Chances are, since you arrived on this page, youre already doing some. But if not, takes some time to look at what other companies are doing with their privacy pages and privacy notices.

If you collected the data indirectly, this is where you may also want to include a value statement to help build trust, but make sure youve already explained what youre doing before you start talking about yourself.

Finally, its a good idea to make your privacy notices consistent across all your platforms so you can simplify changes to them.

Examples of good Privacy Notices

The UKs Information Commissioners Office suggests two different styles for delivering privacy notices: Layered and Just-in-Time notices. Lets start by looking at the ICOs example of a layered privacy notice.

Heres the first thing data subjects will notice. Its small and unobtrusive, and it can be expanded to provide more information. When clicked, it does this:

Notice that when this privacy notice is expanded it gives users the answer in a short, concise way thats easy for a layman to understand. It also lets data subjects know that they may opt out of further product offers and the information being shared with third-parties. Finally, it provides a link to a dedicated page with more information.

This page is dedicated to explaining the ICOs data collection practices. Notice the language is still simple and easy to understand. However, the ICO could have gone a little further and established how data subjects may opt out. There may be another page dedicated to consent/withdrawing consent, but ideally it should be linked to from the dedicated page.

Just-in-Time Notices

Now lets look at the other method the ICO suggests, Just-in-Time notifications. These notifications pop up when a data subject clicks or hovers over a text field that is harvesting information.

Often, and particularly when on an organisations [sic] website, people will provide personal data at different points of a purchase or interaction. When filling out a form people may not think about the impact that providing the information will have at a later date.

Lets look at an example:

Notice how the text box opens when the user hovers over it? This is quick, to the point and invites the data subject to click through to get more information.

Modal Wrap Privacy Notifications

Of course, there are more methods than just what the ICO suggests.

One [method], which is rapidly gaining popularity under the GDPR, is through clickwrap modals, said KJ Dearie, a product specialist with Termly. These windows pop up when a user enters a website and require that an affirmative action be taken, such as checking a box, that denotes a positive opt-in to data collection and an acknowledgment of that sites privacy notice.

Heres an example:

This notice is extremely to the point. It tells you that by creating the account you are consenting to the New York Times data practice. It links to its terms of service and privacy policy. It also features an additional opt-in to the papers email subscriber list. This goes back to the fact that you need to obtain consent for each purpose youre going to use an individuals data for.

One way the Times is not compliant is that the box for subscribing to the newsletter is checked by default. It shouldnt be. The user need to take that action.

Privacy Notices on Mobile Devices

Dont forget about your mobile site when planning and disseminating your privacy notices. A lot of web users are on mobile devices, which means your notifications need to accommodate a mobile users needs. Heres an example of a mobile privacy notice from ICO:

This is an extremely well-designed notice that looks clean and provides all the information required. Theyve also approached this from the data subjects perspective, using an FAQ format to provide users with the answers to the questions theyre asking.

If you would like to see some additional examples of good and bad privacy notifications, the ICO has produced an excellent PDF that can be found here.

Privacy Notices and Children

The web is used by everyone, including children. And sometimes those children will end up disclosing personal information without understanding the ramifications. The GDPR is very explicit about the protections that must be afforded to children. Children are considered vulnerable individuals, and you must make sure to treat them fairly. Theres that word again, fairly.

Fairly means drafting privacy notices that are geared towards the age group and level of understanding your intended audience may possess. This may also mean adding additional safeguards.

Above all else, you should never try to take advantage of someones lack of understanding, this goes for adult data subjects too, but given childrens status as vulnerable individuals the punishments will be even harsher.

Article 8 covers the requirements for child consent related to GDPR, said Sparrow. In general, children under the age of 16 must have express consent given by the parent or guardian of that child. And Data controls must make reasonable efforts to verify that this consent if given by the parent or guardian.

Tread carefully here.

Privacy Notices for Different Groups

Oftentimes businesses and organizations interact with a wide range of people. So, youll need to think about what types of relationship you have with various groups and whether or not some of the notifications you provide may just confuse them, or at the very least be irrelevant. A good example would be a DMV, it may process information for various groups, so a one-size-fits-all approach to privacy notices would likely cause problems.

As Bucy Miller said, a blanket statement is not enough.

If this applies to you, its a good idea to segment your customers and provide a tailored privacy notice for each category. This will help your customers better understand how your data privacy practices and procedures relate to them.

Privacy Notices for people who speak a foreign language

Business has gone global, so an American company operating in Europe or Asia is going to be collecting data from a group of people that dont all speak English. You may be required by local laws to provide privacy notices in another language, but the GDPR doesnt explicitly require it.

Still, it may be beneficial to, at the very least, get your privacy policy page translated. As weve discussed throughout this article, and throughout our coverage of GDPR compliance, its always better to err on the side of caution. After all, the penalties for non-compliance are steep.

What are the penalties for not complying with the GDPR?

Glad you asked, the fines are steeppotentially fata for SMBs.

The GDPR states that non-compliant companies posing a risk to EU citizens and their privacy can be fined up to 20 million or 4% of their global turnover for the previous fiscal year, whichever is greatest, said Sparrow.

For companies like Amazon, with a net revenue around $178 billion in 2017, they could potentially face a fine of $7.1 billion. It is important to note that this fine would be per violation. It can certainly be assumed that larger repercussions would be imposed in this hypothetical case, since case law suggests similar types of violations do not stand alone, and typically occur with others.

Heres the difference, Amazon can survive that hit. For a small business, a fine 10-20 million Euros is an existential threat.

The best practices when it comes to GDPR-era privacy measures will always err on the side of transparency and user control, said Dearie.

Thats good advice.Remember the days when wed do our weekly food shop and use new plastic bags? Every. Single. Time. What were we thinking?

For many of us, these bags were then put into a cupboard each week to be "reused" as bin bags, or for something else and thrown away. Across the world wed use up to 5 trillion of them  per year. There was little thought about the life (or afterlife) of these plastic bags. Used on average for around 12 minutes, they then take more than 500 years to decompose, according to the Centre for Biological Diversity.

However, they never fully disappear  this type of plastic actually turns into microplastics, which are even worse as theyre able to infiltrate everything from the depths of the ocean to the flesh of fish.

Terrifying as it is, we are making small steps. Back in 2015, the UK government brought in the 5p charge for plastic bags in supermarkets and high street shops. The idea was that people wouldnt want to add an extra few pennies to their weekly shops. It did, in fact, deter shoppers and encouraged them to bring their own reusable bags.

Since the scheme started, its estimated 15 billion plastic bags have been removed from circulation. Since the 5p charge was brought in, the major supermarkets saw an 86 per cent decrease in plastic bag use. Now the charge is due to be doubled to 10p.

Read more:

Still, theres little more annoying than forgetting your favourite reusable shopper while on your way to the supermarket, whether thats for food or anything else.

So weve rounded up a variety of reusables, from hessian bags to those made from recycled plastic bottles, to ensure you never forget one again. In our testing, we were looking for durability, size, how easy they were to use and pack away, and  where applicable  design and further eco credentials.

Kind London papaya reusable shopping bag Size: W 38cm x H 40cm Folds down to: 14cm x 15cm x 1cm Made from six plastic bottles that would have otherwise ended up in the ocean, Kind also donates 10 per cent of the profits towards the Just One Ocean charity which raises awareness of plastic pollution, overfishing and habitat destruction. The brands mission is to replace some of the 1 trillion (yes, you read that correctly) single use plastic bags. Our favourite thing about this bag is not only its great design, but its size. Its huge and can hold two or three times your usual plastic shopping bag and around 20kg. The arms are much longer so it can easily be slung over your shoulders too. It folds down into a little pouch, is waterproof, weighs just 50g and is also 100 per cent recyclable. An absolute game changer for everything from your weekly shop to carting books and lunch around. We never leave home without it now. Buy now  10 , Amazon.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Herd medium tote bag Size: H 40cm x W 60cm Instantly recognisable for its Rio-inspired designs, thanks to where the brands designer is based, these bags are bright, bold, fun and most importantly  so useful. We love the idea behind the brand name, for those who herd, ie parents packing everything for everyone else  and likely being lumbered with carrying it too. Theyre also wipe clean, which is a dream for anyone with kids where spills are often likely. Made from 100 per cent recycled materials, its durable and spacious too . The medium size can fit a lot of food in it, or plenty of things like rugs, jumpers, picnic, beach kit etc. But dont be worried youll lose your keys or phone in this Poppins-style holdall  theres a decent sized zipper inner pocket for all your valuables. To carry, theres two cotton wide strap handles, one to hold in your hand and a longer set to throw over your shoulder too. Super simple and well thought out and were obsessed with the cool print. With each purchase of an Eye print bag, the brand funds 1kg of ocean clean up, so when you buy youll receive a link to track the progress of it too. Buy now  14 , Herdbags.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Baggu standard reusable shopper Size: H 65cm x W 40cm x D 15cm Folds down to: 13cm x 13cm One of the big names in packaway reusable bags is the aptly named Baggu. The American brand, which came to life in 2007 to fill the space of stylish reusable shoppers. This is the standard size, its best seller, and the brand also includes other sizes such as big or baby, and even a wine shaped bag which makes us love Baggu even more. The standard is based on a traditional plastic shopping bag in design, but is made from ripstop nylon, 40 per cent of which is made from recycled materials. Its lightweight and durable and folds away into its own little cute pouch making it slim and easy to slip into small handbags or trouser/ coat pockets, meaning theres never an excuse not to have one! Theres loads of colourways, but who can resist this one? The only issue we have with it, is sometimes we misplace the pouch as its not attached. Buy now  15 , Libertylondon.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Ace & Price mini tote Size: W 40cm x H 25cm Love a laundry bag? But want to make it fashun? This is the brand for you. Making cool shopping totes is Ace & Prince, headed up by former model, Heidi Murray, and stylist Chloe Forde. Think clashing bright stripes made from woven fabric and natural dye. We love the mini, with its long straps and long zip across the top. It's great for slinging over your shoulder if you're nipping to the shops for a few things, or out shopping for the day. There's also string bags available too, as well as wallets, joggers, scrunchies and cushion covers. Buy now  34 , Aceandprince.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Rex London world map jumbo storage bag Size: L 55cm x H 48cm x W 28cm Whether youre moving, storing your winter knitwear or cushions for your garden furniture, or hiding presents from the kids, these bags are incredibly useful. They fold up into a square about the size of your hand and take up barely any room when not in use. Even when you are using them, theyre fairly easy to store underneath beds thanks to its flexible material. The short handles make them easy to carry, just dont overfill them with heavy things if youre moving house. We also like the cute print which makes them great for kids bedrooms and not worrying about having to hide them. Its made from recycled plastic bottles and has a long zip across the top too. Buy now  4.95 , Rexlondon.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Harrods foodhall shopper, pack of 2 Size: H 40cm x W 40cm x D 15cm This was given to us as a gift, and it's one of the best sized reusable sturdy shoppers we've used. We mostly use it for packing up things in the car when going on long journeys, or trips away as it just fits so much in it, from food to bottles, or presents. It's nice and tall, with suede short handles so it's easy to carry if you are walking out and about with it. You can fit a surprising amount in it, and we're sure it will last years. This comes as a pack of two, and we're sure you'll find a use for both, or give the other as a gift. It will certainly be used a lot. Buy now  27 , Harrods.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Accessorize packable shopper bag Size: L 43cm x W 45cm Folds down to: 22cm x 16cm Another foldaway shopper, this one is a little chunkier and bigger than the Kind (10, Amazon.co.uk) or Baggu (15, Libertylondon.co.uk) versions, and when using it its more like a nylon version of a larger book bag. It has a large front pocket, a main compartment with a zip top and a smaller internal pocket inside with a popper over the top to keep smaller bits like phones and wallets in one place. It has wide, durable handles to put over your shoulders. Its nice and easy to use, but a little harder to get back into the pouch as its not attached and requires being neatly folded up. Buy now  5.10 , Accessorize.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Wallace Cotton reusable string bag Size: H 30cm x W 34cm Folds down to: 18cm x 18cm String bags were the unlikely fashion resurgence of a few years ago. From the Australian interiors and bedroom brand, this little bag is made from unbleached, recyclable and reusable natural cotton and when not in use, it can be stuffed into its little carry bag that's attached. It's not huge, so you won't fit bottles or large items in, but it's great if you're nipping to the shop for a few little bits. The string weave is also not huge, so it means things won't slip through the wave holes too. There's also a little pocket inside for keys and your phone too. Buy now  6.40 , Trouva.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}}

IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing.Varun Dhawan (right) and Ranveer Singh (left) are among the new generation Bollywood actors whose track-record has slalomed them to the forefront of GenY heroes. (IANS photo)Bryant University business school dean Madan Annavarjula has received the 2018 International Trade Educator of the Year award from the North American Small Business International Trade Educators. The Indian American educator established the Bachelor of Science in International Business Program, which is ranked among the tops in the country by USA Today/College Factual. (screen grab of YouTube/Bryant University)Hundreds attended the 16th annual Solanki Lecture conducted by American University Prof. Amitav Acharya at California State University-Long Beach's Yadunandan Center for India Studies. The Indian American professor is seen here (center) with the Solankis, sponsors of the center. (photo provided)Indian American DACA recipient Ruchir Parikh, who has lived in the U.S. since the age of six, has endured a 21-year bureaucratic struggle to gain permanent residency in the U.S. Trump talks about DACA from his ivory tower. I see it from the perspective of working people living paycheck to paycheck, Parikh told India-West. (photo courtesy of Ruchir Parikh)We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to formBeginning this month, visitors will not be able to spend more than three hours at the Taj Mahal. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)By RT April 04, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The UK Foreign Office denies claiming the nerve agent used in the Salisbury poisoning of the Skripals came directly from Russia. Despite admitting it sent a tweet saying exactly that, and Boris Johnson making the same claim. The UK Foreign Office has admitted it deleted the tweet which directly stated that the nerve agent, identified by the UK as A-234  also known as Novichok- used in the Salisbury poisoning of the Skripals, came direct from Russia. This week British government scientists admitted they couldnt tell where the poison came from, undermining a number of claims to come out of the Foreign Office. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter UK Foreign Office Denies Claiming Nerve Agent From Russia

London has directly accused the Kremlin on at least three occasions of being behind the chemical attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

This is a direct quote from the British ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow. The tweet has since been deleted by @foreignoffice. This does not look good for the UK government. pic.twitter.com/Bvp7Ir2uXA  Liam O'Hare (@Liam_O_Hare) April 4, 2018

Bizarrely, the Foreign Office denies Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson claimed the novichock categorically came from Russia, despite a recorded interview clearly showing he did.

WATCH: Boris Johnson blatantly lies to Deutsche Welle and says Porton Down lab were absolutely categorical that Russia was behind the Salisbury nerve agent attack



On 03/04/18, Porton Down lab said they are unable to confirm the origin of the nerve agentpic.twitter.com/Uhxes9ptVn  Socialist Voice  (@SocialistVoice) April 3, 2018

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) itself stated: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

However, the tweet was deleted and an FCO statement said: An HMA Moscow briefing on 22 March was tweeted in real time ... One of the tweets was truncated & did not accurately report our Ambassadors words. We have removed this tweet.

The Foreign Office has not yet deleted a tweet in which the UK's ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, reiterates the accusation of Moscow being behind the poisoning.

However, the UK government openly denied wrongdoing or confusion. A Foreign Office spokesman told Huffington Post there is no discrepancy between the Porton Down statements and their own.

He said: The Foreign Secretary was making clear that Porton Down were sure it was a Novichok  a point they have reinforced.

What the Foreign Secretary said then, and what Porton Down have said recently, is fully consistent with what we have said throughout. It is Russia that is putting forward multiple versions of events and obfuscating the truth.

British Ambassador to Russia Dr Laurie Bristow has briefed the international diplomatic community in Moscow on the UK Government response to the Salisbury attack https://t.co/TOknU0j8gb pic.twitter.com/jrB2r9MuEg  Foreign Office  (@foreignoffice) March 22, 2018

Jeremy Corbyn has said Johnson had egg on his face because his claims were not backed up by evidence.

He told Sky News: "Boris Johnson has serious questions to answer. He claimed on German television that this was a Russian-produced nerve agent and Porton Down then examined it and said all they could identify it was as novichok. They couldnt say where it came from, and the chemical weapons organisation is meeting to continue that discussion about where it goes from here. The Foreign Office then issued a tweet in support of what the foreign secretary said, and then removed that yesterday after Porton Down had said they couldnt identify the source of it.

The UK Government has repeatedly blamed Russia and said the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will back them. However, Moscow denies all culpability. Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Britain would have to apologize to Russia for its mad accusations.

Britain has also convinced 28 other states to expel Russian diplomats with its claims. Johnson could also be in hot water after he denied making claims Russia was behind the attack.

The row between Russia and Britain is reaching boiling point as officials from the OPCW meet Russian representatives on Wednesday.Thanks for the good work here Editor, now straight to the point.

When we moved recently to our place, this woman(our neighbour) should be in her late 40s and unmarried and she is our only neighbour. She was so good to me. I would even leave my kids with her whenever I need to rush off to the market or somewhere. I lost my job around May last year and my husband has promised to give me money to set up a business but for now, Im mostly home. This neighbour has a shop not too far from our house, I would sometimes go there when Im bored and the kids have gone to school. I thought she was a good person and didnt know she has been sleeping with my husband and now shes pregnant.

I got to know when I travelled to my parents at Ibadan for the Easter celebration. We were suppose to come back on Tuesday but my sister also came for the holiday and she came with a car, so we decided to travel a day before so we could join her back to Lagos. I didnt tell my husband we were coming back because I wanted to surprise him. We got to Lagos and my Sister dropped us at our gate and left. I called my hubby from the gate and he said he was home trying to sleep. He didnt know we were at the gate.

I got in opened the door with my keys and we looked for him everywhere all to no avail. So, I started unpacking and told my kids to wait for me because I wanted to check if our neighbour was home and give her what I got for her. I was about to talk when I heard her talking to someone. I was excited because it was a mans voice because I always teased her about already giving up on love. I listened again and behold it was my husbands voice. I didnt really feel strange because we are all close to her but something told me to turn the door-knob without knocking and luckily it opened.

Aunty was just sitting on my husband with only her bra on, no panties nothing. I launched at both of them, but my husband escaped and I beat day light out her and she was begging me to stop that she is pregnant. I ignored and continued beating her until my husband came back and rescued her.

They both confirmed that shes pregnant. She says its the only thing she wants and not love, that I should please forgive her and let her have a child because she might never have the opportunity.

Please, what do I do???Former House of Representatives member, Honourable Independence Ogunewe from Imo state is reportedly dead.

He reportedly died a few hours ago in his home in Abuja.

Ogunewe who was a member of the PDP, represented Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency, Imo State.

Honourable Ogunewe was a 2-time member of the 6th Assembly on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, representing Ahiazu Ezinhitte Federal constituency, Imo state.

His corpse has already been deposited at the National Hospital, Abuja as the cause of death is yet to be ascertained.

See the graphic photos below:

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commentsActress and single mum of two Iyabo Ojo narrowly escaped death after recently embarking on a buttocks enlargement surgery.



According to report, she fell into a five day coma after having the buttocks enlargement surgery in Turkey.

Kemi Ashefon reports it thus:

Of a petite frame, she almost lost her life in faraway Turkey, where she quickly went for the birthday party of one of her colleagues but later must have decided to have a bum bum surgery.

What we knew was that she and her colleague, who is also a very good friend of hers, had gone to Istanbul Turkey for a party organized by one of their male fans for them. That was in February 2018 and they had a nice time. She flooded her social media handles with photos of the Turkey shindig, a source revealed.

Just before she returned to Nigeria , she must have decided to have a cosmetic surgery in Istanbul. For a body enhancement surgery, you would assume it was harmless and less complicated. But after the surgery, this actress was said to have fallen into coma for five days!

It was gathered that her friend who escorted her to the country was hysteric. The popular actress, who has featured in many Yoruba films and now appears in some English movies was almost presumed death until she came to and recuperated.

Though back now to Nigeria, she has soft-pedalled on activities.

Source  AKpraiseGhanaian teacher, Owura Akoto Kwadwo became an internet sensation some weeks back after a photo of him teaching his students about Microsoft word by drawing the software on the board due to lack of funds, emerged online.

The teacher caught the attention of tech giant, Microsoft who promised to equip him with resources  Kwadwo shared photos of himself on his Facebook page weeks ago teaching students how to identify basic elements on a computer monitor without actual resources and his action has received the attention of tech giant, Microsoft.

Microsoft has now donated 27 laptops, 130 mathematical sets, one projector, 130 school uniforms and one printer to the Ghanaian school where the ICT teacher is.

More photos below:

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commentsPunch

The police have arrested six persons for allegedly aiding the escape of six suspects from police custody in Division A Lokoja, Kogi State, on Wednesday, last week.

Vanguard

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has hailed the recent judgment of the National Industrial Court, NIC, of Nigeria, reinstating 90 sacked Kogi forest guards by the state government.

The Sun

An All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Committee (NEC) member, Nasiru Danu, has said former president Olusegun Obasanjo as being unfair in his assessment of President Muhammadu Buhari. Thisday

In reaction to the latest no-confidence vote passed by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidency has said Obasanjos failure tag on the current administration was not new. Daily Times Abia commissioner confirms Lassa fever outbreak in Umuahia The Commissioner for Information in Abia, Mr. John Okiyi, has confirmed the outbreak of Lassa fever at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia. Okiyi, who made the disclosure in a statement in Umuahia on Monday, said that the government and the hospital management had swung into action to check the spread of the disease. Guardian

Daily Trust

Buhari plans private visit to London President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to depart for London, the United Kingdom, on Monday. Tribune Fayose: Obasanjos verdict on Buhari has vindicated me; says President lacks capacity to rule Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has described call by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that President Muhammadu Buhari should stop giving Nigerians excuse as vindication of his position that the President had nothing to offer the country.

The Authority

PDP to APC: Youve failed to use looters list to divert attention Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday lambasted All Progressives Congress (APC), over what it described as failed plot by the ruling party to use looters lists to divert public discourse from the raging questions on their numerous scandals, manifest sleazes and overall failures in governance.

The NationThe Pastor-in-charge of Holy Gathering Evangelical Church of God, Elijah Oluwatobiloba, has been arrested for allegedly killing his lover and burying her body inside his church in Ogun State.

The suspect, upon interrogation, claimed that he carried out the heinous act for reasons known to him and God. The Commissioner of Police , Ahmed Iliyasu , said the command had received a report of a missing person.

He said that the case was reported by one Adebola Saheed , who stated that his younger sister, Raliat Sanni (35) had left home since March 21 and had yet to return.



He said the pastor, after discreet analysis of facts, was the last person who was seen with the missing person.

In the course of interrogation, he confessed to killing the victim and burying her inside his church after removing her head and two hands.

The police commissioner said the suspect named another accomplice, Daniel Sopeju.

Fielding questions from newsmen, Elijah denied killing his lover, claiming the killing was done by Sopeju.

He further said that Sopeju led seven members of an occultic group to his house with the aim of luring him to become a member.

Elijah who claimed to be a teacher at Methodist High School (Private), Arigbajo, in Ifo, said the group ordered him to submit names of his church members and eventually picked the deceased name.

He said:



It was not true that I killed a woman, it was one Sopeju and a woman wanted to make me join their occultic group and they said that they are going to collect a ransom. So they collected the names of my members and picked the name of Raliat. Having mentioned her name, they asked me where she was living and I told them she is living at Wasimi. They later got her and brought her to my church. Sopeju brought out a knife and beheaded the woman and after beheading her, he collected her blood and put it in seven calabashes.

When asked to react to the allegations, Sopeju denied all said by his friend but admitted they all belonged to white garment churches in the area.British-Nigerian actor John Boyega, has finally reacted to claims by media personality Toke Makinwa that his bodyguard assaulted her during his last visit to Nigeria.

Recall, Toke had taken to her IG page to recount how Boyegas guard humiliated her at a bar, some weeks back, stating he even tried getting her to leave the bar, well according to Boyega none of the happened.

Watch his interview with Cool FM below;

Meanwhile, he revealed while on a show on CNBC Africa that he plans to shoot a low budget Nigerian movie with about $20-$25million (N9billion).

Boyega spoke to Power Lunch West Africa host, Onyi Sunday during the promotion of his new movie Pacific Rim.

Were developing a few Nigerian stories and choosing one which makes sense budget-wise. Were probably looking at an indie budget of $20-$25 million dollars.

With the highest Nigerian movie having a budget less than $500,000, the Star Wars actor might be starting a revolution that will create a marriage between the Nigerian movie industry and the American movie industry.

From the pictures he painted, John Boyega might have given the hint of working with one of Nollywoods finest actresses, Genevieve Nnaji.

Im very interested in original Nigerian stories. I grew up on Nollywood. The first Nollywood film I ever watched was Blood Sisters with Genevieve Nnaji, the 26-year-old actor told Power Lunch West Africa host, Onyi Sunday during his interview at CNBC Africa.British-Nigerian Hollywood Actor, John Boyega has finally reacted to claims by media personality, Toke Makinwa.

Toke Makinwa had claimed his bodyguard assaulted her during his last visit to Nigeria.

Some weeks back, Toke Makinwa had taken to her IG page to recount how Boyegas guard humiliated her at a bar.

She stated he even tried getting her to leave the bar.

However, according to Boyega, none of this happened.

Watch his interview with Cool FM below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJFRJZVeUy8]

Meanwhile, he revealed while on a show on CNBC Africa that he plans to shoot a low budget Nigerian movie with about $20-$25million (N9billion).

Boyega spoke to Power Lunch West Africa host, Onyi Sunday during the promotion of his new movie Pacific Rim.

Were developing a few Nigerian stories and choosing one which makes sense budget-wise. Were probably looking at an indie budget of $20-$25 million dollars.

With the highest Nigerian movie having a budget less than $500,000, the Star Wars actor might be starting a revolution that will create a marriage between the Nigerian movie industry and the American movie industry.

From the pictures he painted, John Boyega might have given the hint of working with one of Nollywoods finest actresses, Genevieve Nnaji.

Im very interested in original Nigerian stories. I grew up on Nollywood.

The first Nollywood film I ever watched was Blood Sisters with Genevieve Nnaji, the 26-year-old actor told Power Lunch West Africa host, Onyi Sunday during his interview at CNBC Africa.

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commentsTHOROLD, ON (April 2, 2018)- As Merrittville Speedway is preparing for the 67th season of action at the famed d-shaped oval, the racing community is mourning the loss of former track owner Bryant Irvine. Irvine passed away Sunday April 1st after a short illness at the age of 81.

Bryants presence at Merrittville Speedway goes back to the 1955-56 season when he and his friend Dave Boese decided to try the relatively new sport of stock car racing.

Bryants first car was the former Murray Stricker 1933 Ford Coupe powered by a flathead Ford V8. Bryant re-lettered the car #99 with help and sponsorship from his father-in-law C. H. Shorty York at York Electro Plating.

Bryant was always looking for ways to improve his race car and he did so with his first time build, a 1934 Chevrolet Coupe. This car was the first stock car to have center steering. While it did make for a safer car, it also gave the car more center weight.

Irvine became known as Bee 99, winning races against the likes of Jerry Winger, Jeno Begolo and Murray Stricker. Irvine had noticed that he and his Canadian competitors lacked a source for speed equipment, so he set out to secure engine parts, as well as machining and boring from his Ormond Street shop in Thorold. He further expanded his resources by opening his Ontario Speed Shop to offer availability of parts and services from California to the local racers.

During the 1960s, Bryant and his wife Marilyn continued to stay interested in racing, but now were responsible for operating York Electro Plating in Thorold. Irvine remained involved in the sport more and more as a spectator. In the 1960s and 70s, he attended races at Watkins Glen, Mosport Speedway and Indianapolis, as he had a passion for road course racing.

During the late 70s and early 1980s, Irvines interest in local dirt track racing remained strong, and he became involved on the sponsor side, putting York Electro Plating on the side of Brian Stevens, Davey Moore, and Dennis Veilettes cars, among others. The shiny chrome bumpers on Ivan littles car were also done locally for many years at York Electro Plating.

During the 1987 season, the opportunity would arise for the Irvine Family to purchase Merrittville Speedway. Bryant left the office duties to his wife Marilyn, and his two children Jim and Kathy, while he spent his time working on Merrittvilles clay surface. Working the track was one thing Irvine loved to do. He grew up on a farm and the serenity of prepping the track brought back the days of plowing fields.

In 2003, Bryant and Marilyn decided that it was time to sell Merrittville Speedway and focus on the business at York Electroplating. Although Bryant and Marilyn passed over the keys to Pete and Nancy Bicknell and Randy and Tracey Williamson that season, Jim stayed on as Assistant General Manager while Marilyn worked the front ticket gate and Bryant continued to groom and prepare the kart and stock car tracks weekly.

In 2017, Merrittville Speedway saw a change of hands. Don and Lorraine Spiece took over and once again, the Irvine Family continued with their hands in Merrittville history as they had in the past.

The Irvine Family has played a huge part in the success of Merrittville Speedway. The many additions and renovations including a new VIP tower, the installation of the scoring loop, new concessions, washrooms, building the go kart track as well as Bryants never ending desire to provide a smooth, dust free surface for the competitors are something all of us will remember for a very long time.

As we enter the 2018 Race Season, there will undoubtedly be a large void left at Merrittville. Bryants steadfast demeanor and love of racing was something that was rare and true. His passion for the sport ran deep, and it showed in all aspects throughout his life. Although Bryant will be watching the races from above with all of his racing friends, his spirit will live on at Merrittville for generations to come.

Family and friends will be received at Pleasantview Funeral Home, 2000 Merrittville Highway on Thursday, April 5, 2018 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. and Friday, April 6, 2018 from 1-2 p.m. A Funeral Service to celebrate Bryants life will be held in the funeral home chapel on Friday at 2 p.m. Memorial condolences to a charity of your choice would be appreciated by the family. Please share your condolences, memories and photos at www.pleasantviewcemetery.ca.This content is from: Portfolio

China is pushing investors out of real estate and software companies and into sectors it believes are more valuable in the countrys rivalry with the U.S., according to Clocktower Group.This collection features the arguments in favor of and against the renaming of Catt Hall on Iowa State's campus, which was named in Apple today officially launched Apple Pay in Brazil thanks to its exclusive partnership with Itau Unibanco, a Brazillian bank. While Apple Pay is only supported by one bank in Brazil, it is accepted by plenty of retailers in the country like Starbucks, Taco Bell, Track&Field, and more.

This number is bound to increase over time as Apple is known to work behind the scenes in getting more banks and retailers onboard.

Apple Pay is supported by iPhone 6 and higher. Apple Pay on the web is supported on all recent iPads featuring Touch ID including the recently unveiled 6th gen iPad and the iPad mini 3/4. If you own a compatible iPhone or iPad, you should be able to set up Apple Pay on your device from the Wallet app.

Read: How to set up and start using Apple Pay

Apple has been rapidly expanding Apple Pay to countries outside of the United States for over a year now. Back in October, the mobile payment service expanded to Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates. Other regions which already support Apple Pay include China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Russia, New Zealand, Taiwan, France, Spain, and more. You can find a list of countries where Apple Pay is supported over here.Apples A.I. efforts have received a huge boost as it has hired Googles chief of search and artificial intelligence, John Giannandrea. Over at Apple, Giannandrea will be leading Apples machine learning and A.I. strategy and will be reporting directly to Tim Cook.

Giannandrea played a major role in pushing AI in Google products like Assistant, search, and Gmail. He has worked for Google for 10 years prior to which he was the CTO of Metaweb.

It is widely considered that Apple lags behind Google in the AI department which powers Siri and its other services. By hiring Googles AI intelligence head, Apple should be able to give its AI efforts a much-needed boost.

Our technology must be infused with the values we all hold dear, Mr. Cook said Tuesday morning in an email to staff members obtained by The New York Times. John shares our commitment to privacy and our thoughtful approach as we make computers even smarter and more personal.

The news of Giannandrea stepping down from his position at Google broke on Monday and took many by surprise. However, the swift announcement from Apple on hiring Giannandrea makes the reasoning behind his sudden departure from Google very clear.

Our Take

Apple has been widely criticised for Siris poor AI performance. When compared to Google Assistant, Siri feels like a product that is still in early stages of development while in fact, it was Apple which had first launched Siri back with the iPhone 5s. The Cupertino company realizes this and has hired some key executives from various companies over the last few months to help bolster its efforts of improving its AI and Siri.

[Via NY TimesPakistan Army 333 Birgade Jlalpur Jatan Cant Jobs

Latest Pakistan Army Posts Gujrat 2021 Mess Waiters are required in Pakistan Army Officer Commanding OC 333 Birgade Jlalpur Jatan Cant in Gujrat. Test and Interview will be held on 10 April 2018 at 08:30.

How to Apply on Pakistan Army Job Advertisement

Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.



Official Website: www.ispr.gov.pk/ads

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted.Exiled Venezuelan supreme court justices [Twitter page, in Spanish] met in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday to conduct a preliminary hearing on corruption allegations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro brought by the countrys former top prosecutor, Attorney General Luisa Ortega.

The self-proclaimed judicial body met in the main chambers of the Colombian Congress.

Like the judges of the court, Ortega is a former Venezuelan public official who fled the country due to political opposition by Maduros administration.

The allegations brought by Ortega claim Maduro accepted bribes from foreign construction companies. The construction companies allegedly reaped billions of dollars in profits, and officials like Maduro made millions while construction projects were never completed. Ortega alleged that Maduro, who was foreign minister at the time, accepted campaign contributions by constructions companies like Odebrecht while in office. Maduro requested and received campaign contributions on behalf of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Ortega also claimed Maduro solicited campaign money from Odebrecht after Chavez death. This happened despite a national economic crisis and food shortage.

To support her charges, Ortega presented bank documents, immigration records and audio recordings. The evidence remains sealed at this time. Ortega called for the Venezuelas military to arrest Maduro. During the hearing, Ortega announced intention to seek an arrest warrant for Maduro by INTERPOL.

Since Maduro was not present during the hearing, public defense counsel was appointed for the defendant.

The Venezuelan government considers the exiled supreme court a criminal organization and has issued arrest warrants against its members. The Supreme Court of Justice was formed on October 13, 2017. Its stated purpose was to maintain political opposition against Maduro administration and attempt to restore democracy in Venezuela.The Missouri House of Representatives [official website] approved a bill [bill text] on Tuesday that would ban abortions occurring 20 weeks after fertilization.

House Bill 1266, known as the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, was sponsored by Republican House Member Donna Lichtenegger [official profile]. The legislation includes language defining the pain capable gestational age as 22 weeks following a womans last menstrual period, which the bill equates to 20 weeks following fertilization.

The act also includes a provision requiring physicians to report all abortions to the department of health and senior services. The information to be reported includes information such the gestational age, process of determining gestational age, medical emergency if gestational age was not determined and the method of abortion. If a physician performs an abortion in violation of the act, they will be subject to discipline by the licensing board. Patients receiving abortions will not be penalized for abortions or attempted abortions in violation of the act.

The bill moves to the Senate where it will likely go to committee and be heard on the floor.At the conclusion of a 10-day visit to Thailand, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights [official website] issued a statement [official website] Wednesday saluting progress by the Thai government but urging improvements in some areas.

The groups goal is to help implement the UNs Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights [text]. During the visit in five Thai cities, the group met with government officials, business sector representatives, civil society groups, activists and workers.

Following widespread condemnation of abuses [JURIST report] in the countrys fishing industry, the experts said the Thai government has endeavored to correct abusive practices in the agriculture, energy, manufacturing and construction sectors as well. The Working Groups report points to progress in those efforts but maintains that much work remains to be done. The situation for migrant workers, ethnic minorities and sex workers remains particularly precarious.

These efforts come as Thailands military government, in power since 2014, prepares for elections next year and begins a transition back to civilian government. The Working Group sees this as an opportunity for Thailand to become a leader in southeast Asia for human rights and business. The Groups full report is due to be released in June 2019.



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.UPDATE: NewsWatch 12 has learned that authorities now believe the Hart family traveled down Highway 101 from Newport, Oregon to Fort Bragg, California, according to California Highway Patrol (CHP).

The Hart family was likely in the Newport area around 8:15 on the morning of Saturday, March 24. Then, MCSO believes that they traveled down 101 until reaching State Route 1 in Legget, California.

Contact: California Highway Patrol (Ukiah Office) - (707) 467-4420

Mendocino County Sheriff's Office - (707) 463-4411

From there, the Hart family traveled State Route 1 until reaching Fort Bragg in Mendocino County around 8:00 p.m. Saturday evening. They are believed to have remained in this area until just after 9:00 p.m. on Sunday night, March 25.

Jennifer Hart was seen on security footage at 8:05 a.m. at Safeway in Fort Bragg [pictured above].

The family was driving in a 2003 GMC Yukon LX with black rims [a similar vehicle is pictured below].

CHP is partnering with Sheriff Thomas Allman, Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, and allied agencies throughout Washington and Oregon to search for the children that remain missingHannah, Devonte, and Sierra Hart.

Authorities are still looking for more information on the family, and their contact numbers can be found below.

(Updated as of 6:05 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3)

MENDOCINO, Calif. (AP)  Authorities are investigating whether a surveillance video from Fort Bragg, California, shows a woman the day before her family's sport utility vehicle was found at the bottom of a cliff at a scenic viewpoint along the Pacific Coast.

Mendocino County Sheriff Lt. Shannon Barney told The Oregonian/OregonLive Tuesday the woman in the video looks like Jennifer Hart but that the footage is "very grainy."

Sarah and Jennifer Hart, of Woodland, Washington, were found dead at the crash scene March 26 along with three of their children. That was just days after authorities in Washington began investigating whether their six adoptive children were being neglected.

Three other children remain missing.

On Sunday, authorities announced that data from the vehicle's software suggested the crash was deliberate. The SUV had stopped at a pull-off area then sped straight off the cliff.

One of the missing children is 15-year-old Devonte Hart, a black youngster who drew national attention after he was photographed in tears while hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest.

Police have said that social service authorities in Oregon contacted the West Linn Police Department about the family in 2013 while they were living in the area. The questions were referred to the Oregon Department of Human Services, which cited privacy laws in refusing to say whether the agency was involved.

Sarah Hart pleaded guilty in 2011 to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota over what she said was a spanking given to one of her children. Last month, concerned neighbors in Woodland, Washington, contacted child welfare authorities, saying the children may have been going hungry.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that following the resolution of the charge in Minnesota the Harts took their children out of public school. They were then home schooled in Minnesota, Oregon and Washington.



Anyone with any information regarding the Hart family or there whereabouts leading up to the crash are encouraged to contact the following agencies, who are leading the investigation:

California Highway Patrol (Ukiah Office) - (707) 467-4420

Mendocino County Sheriff's Office - (707) 463-4411KLAMATH FALLS, ORE.  Today Oregons Senator Jeff Merkley joined Oregon Institute of Technology President Nagi Naganathan and Klamath Community College President Roberto Gutierrez in pushing for the Debt-Free College Act, legislation that will reverse the growing student debt crisis in Oregon and across the United States. The bill creates a path for students to be able to attend public colleges without taking on debt.

I was the first in my family to go to college, so I know firsthand how important the opportunity to pursue higher education is to the American Dream. But right now, crushing debt is putting that dream in jeopardy for far too many American students, Senator Merkley said. In the wealthiest nation on earth, our students shouldnt have to mortgage their future just to get a college degree. Its time to put the public back in public education and ensure that every student who wants to can pursue higher education debt-free.

The growing student loan debt issue is one that we do need to tackle in Oregon and nationally, said Oregon Tech president Nagi Naganathan.

KCC president Dr. Roberto Gutierrez says, Twenty percent of Klamath County residents live at or below poverty level, and taking on debt to attend college is not a viable option for them. Financial barriers to education must be removed if we want to support all factions of our communities. Too much is at stake to not support this bill.

If signed into law, the Debt-Free College Act would establish a state-federal partnership that provides a dollar-for-dollar federal match to state higher education appropriations in exchange for a commitment to help students pay for the full cost of attendance without having to take on debt.

Beyond tuition and fees, the total cost of attendanceroom and board, books and supplies, and other expenseshas forced 44 million Americans to take on debt to cover their financial need. More than half of Oregon residents who attend Oregon Tech and Klamath Community College rely on borrowing. College debt has increased 170 percent since 2006 and now exceeds $1.4 trillion dollars, which is second only to mortgage debt and surpasses even credit card debt.

In Oregon, 63 percent of students in the class of 2015 graduated with debt, averaging $27,697 per borrower. A 2014 analysis by The Oregonian found that over a ten-year period, Oregon students and their families borrowed more than $12 billionmore than double the amount from a decade earlier.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student loan debt is responsible for 35 percent of the decline in homeownership since 2007. The percentage of younger people who reported owning a business was cut in half between 2010 and 2013. Pew Research Center found that about 50 percent of student borrowers say their loans increase their risk of defaulting on other bills.

The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and by U.S. Representatives Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-District of Columbia), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), Rick Nolan (D-Minn.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

The bill is also endorsed by the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Demos, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Young Invincibles, Credo Action, Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), UnidosUS, and California State Treasurer John Chiang.TALENT, Ore.  The Talent Police Department (TPD) is looking for a new police chief, TPD has now confirmed to NewsWatch 12. Current Chief of Police Curtis Whipple plans to retire.

The opening has been on the City of Talent and Oregon government websites. Based on those postings, Talent will cease taking new applications on Friday, April 6 at 4 p.m.

TPD said that Chief Whipple was not available for comment today, and they do not know if he will be planning a formal announcement.

Chief Whipple joined the City of Talent as police chief on April 18, 2016.This Aug. 12, 2009, photo shows Nasim Aghdam, right, as she joins members of People for the Ethical for Animals, PETA, protesting at the main gate of Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif., against the Marine's killings of pigs in a military exercise. Law enforcement officials have identified Nasim Aghdam as the person who opened fire with a handgun Tuesday, April 3, 2018, at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., wounding several people before fatally shooting herself. (Charlie Neuman/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)The corporate logo for Eldorado Gold Corp. is shown. Eldorado Gold Corp. says an arbitration panel has ruled in its favour in its dispute with the Greek government regarding the company's Madem Lakkos metallurgical plant. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HOFormer Venezuelan Chief Porsecutor Luisa Ortega arrives at Colombia's congress to show graft claims against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, April, 3, 2018. A group of exiled jurists known as the "Supreme Court in Exile," met in Colombia's capital to hear corruption allegations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, launching a largely symbolic process that could tarnish the embattled leader's reputation. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)In this March 22, 2018, photo, workers load imported soybeans at a port in Nantong in east China's Jiangsu province. China on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 vowed to take measures of the "same strength" in response to a proposed U.S. tariff hike on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in a spiraling dispute over technology policy that has fueled fears it might set back a global economic recovery. The Commerce Ministry said it would immediately challenge the U.S. move in the World Trade Organization. (Chinatopix via AP)Oklahoma state Rep. Donald Condit, right, D-McAlester, talks with teachers and supporters in the House gallery during a House session in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April 4, 2018, as supporters of increased school fundraising have packed the state Capitol for a third day. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D- San Diego discusses a proposed to significantly restrict when police officers can fire their weapons, during a news conference Tuesday, April 3, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. In the wake of the recent shooting of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man by two Sacramento police officers, Weber and Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, second from right, have authored legislation that would change the current "reasonable force" rule to necessary force." At right is state Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)Berikut beberapa tips bermain togel singapore.. Jika Anda adalah pemain lotre pertama yang menemukan trik untuk melakukan lotre di Singapura, berikut adalah beberapa trik paling populer. Karena ada bandar taruhan online, bermain game lotere jauh lebih berpengalaman. Taruhan taruhan online adalah layanan perjudian virtual.

Bermain permainan togel melalui layanan taruhan online memiliki banyak fitur. Ini dimulai dengan mudah, nyaman, mudah, nyaman, dan nyaman. Jadi, pemain Indonesia sekarang bermain lotere secara online.

Anda dapat mendengar suara bermain lotere dengan kontrak online. Yang harus Anda lakukan adalah mendaftar dan setoran Anda akan dimulai. Tentu saja, dalam proses yang sederhana dan mengganggu, Anda dapat langsung menggandakan dana Anda dalam taruhan lotere dengan taruhan online.

Dengan sistem taruhan online. Kenyamanan berarti dalam hal ini, tetapi tidak ada hubungannya dengan kenyamanan. Meskipun demikian, gamer dapat melakukan hal-hal lain seperti lelucon untuk ditangani.

Trik bertaruh Togel Singapura menggunakan teknik diversifikasi taruhan

Tentunya, inilah impian setiap pemain lotere di dunia. Untuk menggunakan permainan lotere online ini, Anda harus mahir dalam lotere. Salah satu teknik yang dapat digunakan adalah penggunaan teknik diversifikasi taruhan.

Diversifikasi taruhan berarti Anda telah terdaftar untuk berbagai jenis taruhan. Alasan menelepon adalah karena jenis perjudian ini memengaruhi peluang Anda untuk menang. Apakah ada peluang kehilangan semua modal Anda saat bermain lotere dengan bandar taruhan online?

Trik lotere Singapura untuk menunda diversifikasi taruhan juga sangat sederhana. Misalnya, Anda sudah menjadi anggota taruhan online dan Anda memiliki saldo 100.000 di akun perjudian online Anda. Dengan modal yang Anda pegang, Anda bisa membaginya menjadi beberapa jenis taruhan.

Pada musim gugur, dia bermain di pasar lotere Singapura. Musim gugur ini, permainan lotere online menawarkan satu atau dua suguhan steak besar. Misalnya, saya pernah mendengar taruhan dalam kategori umum, yang menempati urutan kedua di pasar lotere Singapura.

Saya tidak mengelola semua ibu kota dalam 2d musim gugur ini. Karena ini adalah taruhan utama, Anda bisa kehilangan setengah dari jumlah taruhan Anda di Jenis Taruhan 2d Lotere Singapura. Bandar judi lotere online memungkinkan Anda untuk memasang taruhan yang sama pada jenis taruhan yang berbeda.

Maksimalkan keuntungan Anda dengan memilih taruhan yang tepat

Anda dapat mendengar tentang taruhan tertentu melalui Trik Lotere Singapura di atas. Bahkan jika Anda tidak beruntung, kemungkinan kehilangan semua modal Anda dijual. Jadi teknik ini bekerja dengan sangat baik saat bermain game online.

Teknik ini juga harus digunakan oleh bandar taruhan online yang baik. Bahkan jika Anda bermain lotere online di Singapura, pastikan Anda mendapatkan layanan taruhan terbaik. Jangan tertipu oleh bandar judi lotere online atau bandar judi lotere online yang tidak memenuhi syarat.

Ini termasuk dealer lotere online yang menawarkan hubungan dan kesepakatan terbaik. Tentunya hal tersebut menjamin kenyamanan dalam hal pelayanan yang terbaik. Anda pasti bisa melihat lebih banyak dan bermain dengan lebih tenang. Bagaimana Anda bisa lebih tertarik dengan pengangguran?

Penawaran langsung dalam bentuk bonus atau diskon dari partisipasi dealer lotere online. Ketika datang ke taruhan online, berbagai hak alami telah muncul. Karena bonus adalah salah satu pengaturan publik saat bermain.

Sebagian, topik diskon kurang menguntungkan. Semakin banyak diskon yang Anda perhatikan, semakin banyak prinsip yang ada daripada Anda. Anda dapat melakukan trik, bermain, bermain, dan berdagang lotere di Singapura.GARNER, Iowa  A Britt man is pleading not guilty to child pornography charges.

Seth Edward Buck, 37, was arrested on March 27 on three felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and four aggravated misdemeanor counts of possessing an image of a minor in a sex act. His arrest comes after an investigation where the Wright County Sheriffs Office says Bucks computer was seized during a search on June 15, 2106, and was found to contain multiple images of underage females in sexual situations.

Buck is accused of acquiring those images between February 4 and June 15 in 2016.

Though court documents say the investigation happened in the middle of 2016, criminal charges were not filed against Buck until March 26. He entered a not guilty plea on Monday.AUSTIN, Minn.  The Center for Digital Education has named Austin one of its Digital School District Survey Awards winners.

For 14 years, the Survey Awards have recognized commendable use of technology by school boards and districts. This is the third straight year Austin Public Schools has been honored in the Mid-sized Student Population category.

This survey data has proven to be beneficial in districts throughout the country said Dr. Kecia Ray, executive director for the Center for Digital Education. We look forward to sharing our results in the Digital School Districts report and having this survey become the benchmark for which districts measure their digital transformation.

All U.S. public school districts are eligible for these awards but only 45 received awards this time. Austin Public Schools is the only district in either Iowa or Minnesota to be recognized.

School boards are embracing technology initiatives that help them govern more effectively and empower their districts to operate more efficiently, said Thomas J. Gentzel, executive director and chief executive officer for the National School Boards Association. The variety of districts recognized by this survey in both size and urbanicity serve as examples for others who want to introduce innovative approaches within their communities.MASON CITY, Iowa  A Greene County man is pleading guilty to drug and weapons charges in Cerro Gordo County.

Jason Scott Clark, 37 of Churdan, was pulled over in Clear Lake on December 13, 2017. Authorities say he had a baggie of methamphetamine and a stolen handgun. Clarks has entered a guilty plea to possession of meth  third offense and carrying weapons.

Court documents say Clark has previous convictions for meth and marijuana possession in Webster and Hardin counties.

His sentencing is scheduled for May 14.DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  A Des Moines man has been charged with training roosters to cockfight more than a month after police and animal rescue workers seized scores of chickens from his property.

Officials say 50-year-old Jose Barrios was booked Monday evening in the Polk County Jail. Hes charged with being a trainer for an animal contest, a felony.

More than 100 roosters and hens were taken from Barrios home on March 8.

Officials say Barrios told officers he was training the roosters to prepare them for a derby in Mexico.

If convicted, Barrios faces up to five years in prison.

No attorney was listed Tuesday for Barrios in online court recordsWORTH COUNTY, Iowa  A man wanted on felony first-degree burglary out of Cerro Gordo County has been arrested in Worth County on a handful of charges.

Phillip Melby, 32, was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Bridget Fleming that was stopped early Tuesday morning in the 4100 block of Wheelerwood Ave.

He allegedly told authorities his name was Jaime Lee Paulsen but was later identified as Melby.

He was charged with possession of a controlled substance, third or subsequent offense, possession of drug paraphernalia, providing false information and open container.

The burglary charge stems from a March 13 incident at a Mason City residence in the 600 block of S. Washington Ave. where Melby entered and assaulted a known subject, police said.

Melby is being held on $27,000 bond in the Worth County Jail.MASON CITY, Iowa  Both school funding measures on the ballot were approved by Mason City voters Tuesday.

Those with the Cerro Gordo County Auditor's Office say despite being a special election and the snowy weather, 1,387 voters hit the polls and those who voted said there is a reason they ventured out in to the snow-filled streets.

"I think we should give our children every advantage that we can," said James Marinos, of Mason City. "Obviously, expenses go up every year and I would hate for things to fall in to disrepair because we couldn't even keep up with where we were."

The Instructional Support Levy (ISL) and the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) received over 75 percent support. Both levies will now be in place for the next 10 years.

Mason City Community Schools says ISL raising money for district wide educational programming while PPEL funds go toward purchasing and repairing equipment and buildings.ROCHESTER, Minn.- Snow is moving its way through the midwest. While it may be pretty to look at, its terrible to drive in. The snow started out this morning as a light dusting is now heavy wet snow, making for poor travel conditions.

KIMT News 3s Jeremiah Wilcox spoke to people about the sudden snowfall.

Shawn Taylor said she doesn't like to drive in the snow because of a fatal accident years ago.

 The car flipped over killing my best friend.

On Tuesday, Minnesota State Patrol has responded to 421 crashes, 32 with injury. They also responded to 402 vehicle spin offs and 15 jackknifed semis.

We also spoke to state troopers who said majority of these accidents can be avoided if drivers would slow down. They tell us that if you see someone driving unsafely they urge you to call 911. They also said that you can fill out a unsafe driving form.

For Minnesota State Patrol unsafe driving form, click here.WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump and border-state governors are working to immediately deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration, with some troops potentially arriving later Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said.

The threat is real, Nielsen said at an afternoon briefing, adding that Trump was signing a proclamation to put the deployment into effect. Its time to act.

The announcement came hours after Trump pledged strong action today on immigration and a day after he said he wants to use the military to secure the southern border until his big, beautiful wall is erected.

In a tweet early Wednesday, Trump said that Our Border Laws are very weak and that Democrats stand in our way of new laws. He added, We will be taking strong action today.

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst issued the following statement in response to the Presidents decision:

As a former National Guardsman and Chairman of the Emerging Threats Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee with jurisdiction over our nations homeland defense efforts, I support the Presidents decision to send National Guard troops to the United States southern border, just as former presidents have done. The National Guard represents some of the best men and women we have, equipped and trained to tackle these challenges and assist the U.S. Border Patrol.

The reality is, the border remains unsecured  meaning that drugs and crime continue to flow into the United States while illegal immigration and human trafficking flourish. We must act."

Earlier this year, I co-sponsored the Secure and Succeed Act to implement the Presidents framework for immigration and border securityand most importantly put into place the necessary resources and policies to secure our border to keep Americans safe. This legislation also provided a path forward for our DACA recipients which I have said time and again is greatly needed. Unfortunately, the Senate hasnt gotten enough votes to move forward, and has left a gaping hole in the security of our border.

The security of our borders is fundamental to our nations security. Given the lack of action, the Presidents decision represents an immediate, commonsense step towards protecting Americans. President Trump understands how these additional assets can be helpful until Washington can move forward with a border security solution that will protect our families and communities.

Federal law prohibits the use of active-duty service members for law enforcement inside the U.S., unless specifically authorized by Congress. But over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support. The White House counsels office has been working on the idea for several weeks, according to a senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans.

Trump has been frustrated by slow action on building a wall along the Mexican border. Hes previously suggested using the Pentagons budget to pay for the wall, arguing it is a national security priority, despite strict rules that prohibit spending thats not authorized by Congress.

Nielsen said the administration was considering a model similar to a 2006 operation in which President George W. Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border, with a focus on assisting U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel.

We are anxious to have the support, she said.

Under Operation Jump Start, 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to assist the border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained. Over two years, about 29,000 National Guard forces participated as forces rotated in and out. The Guard members were used for surveillance, communications, administrative support, intelligence, analysis and the installation of border security infrastructure.

In addition, President Barack Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in 2010 to beef up efforts against drug smuggling and illegal immigration.

Texas also deployed military forces to its 800-mile (1,290-kilometer) border with Mexico. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, now Trumps energy secretary, sent 1,000 Texas National Guardsmen to the Rio Grande Valley in 2014 in response to a sharp increase in Central American children crossing the border alone.

Trump met Tuesday with top administration officials, including Mattis, Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to discuss the administrations strategy to address what White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders described as the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America.

In addition to mobilizing the National Guard, Trump and senior officials agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organizations, Sanders said.

Trump has been fixated on the issue since he grudgingly signed a spending bill last month that includes far less money for the wall than hed hoped for.

The $1.3 trillion package included $1.6 billion for border wall spending  a fraction of the $25 billion Trump made a last-minute push to secure. And much of that money can be used only to repair existing segments, not to build new sections.

Trump spent the first months of his presidency bragging about a dramatic drop in illegal border crossings. Indeed, the 2017 fiscal year marked a 45-year low for Border Patrol arrests. But the numbers have been slowly ticking up since last April and are now on par with many months of the Obama administration. Statistics show 36,695 arrests of people trying to cross the southwest border in February 2018, up from 23,555 in the same month of the previous year.

At last weeks meeting, Trump directed a vigorous administrative strategy to confront this threat and protect Americas national security, Sanders said. Tuesdays briefing was a follow-up to discuss the plans.MASON CITY, Iowa  A trial has been scheduled in a sex abuse case in Cerro Gordo County.

Marlin Nagel, 59, is pleading not guilty to assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and possession of marijuana-3rd or subsequent offense. He was arrested on March 4 and accused of grabbing a woman by the arm at his Mason City home and pushing her down on the couch. Authorities say Nagel pulled his genitals out of his boxer shorts and told the victim you want some.

Police say the woman had visible bruising on her arm and leg.

Nagels trial is scheduled to begin on May 22.MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  A spring snowstorm was making travel difficult in winter-weary Minnesota, where school districts to the south called off classes Tuesday.

Unrelenting snow was expected to fall all day, making the commute home challenging in the Twin Cities and southern locations. Six to 8 inches of snow was expected to accumulate in the metro area, with 10 to 11 inches possible to the south in Red Wing and St. James.

Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said travel will be difficult.

The good news is that the temperatures will allow the salt to work. We are all ready for winter to be over, but it is not over yet. Drivers will have to slow down, Gutknecht told the Star Tribune .

Hastings, Mankato and Winona are among the districts canceling classes Tuesday.

The National Weather Service posted a winter storm warning for areas south of a line from Canby to Hutchinson to the Twin Cities.

It feels like January, said NWS meteorologist Bill Borghoff said. April can see decent winter snowstorms.

Tuesday nights temperatures was expected to drop to the single digits in the Twin Cities and maybe even below zero north of St. Cloud, forecasters said.(Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP nominated directors this week to challenge the board of directors of U.S. shopping mall owner Macerich Co (MAC.N), people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Starboard may replace the majority of Macerichs board, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Macerich and Starboard declined to comment. Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis, Liana B. Baker and Carl O'Donnell in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler

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.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trumps top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, predicted on Wednesday that there will be some positive news on efforts to renegotiate the NAFTA treaty relatively soon. Dont hold me to the timing here, but I think youre going to see some positive news on NAFTA and maintaining NAFTA and reforming NAFTA and I think the stock market is going to love that, he told reporters. Reporting By Steve Holland; 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.For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browserDespite a series of government measures, youth unemployment remains exceptionally high in South Korea. A growing number of young Koreans feel more and more hopeless as they struggle to find jobs. / Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jin



Economic growth fails to deliver true happiness for Koreans





James Rooney

Despite the remarkable economic achievements over the past decades, Koreans are becoming more dissatisfied with their lives. The youth are more desperate. A growing number of young people are expressing their hope to leave the country after failing to get jobs. Some of them even dub the country as "Hell Joseon," a term used to describe the country as a hell-like place.

The Korea Times interviewed five global economists to figure out why they feel miserable and come up with ideas on how to improve the degree of their happiness. They are Andy Xie, an independent economist based in Shanghai; James Rooney, a professor of international finance at Sogang University; Katrina Ell, an economist at Moody's Analytics based in Sydney; Antonio Fatas, a professor of economics at INSEAD's Singapore Campus; and Alicia Garcia-Herrero, AP chief economist at Natixis based in Hong Kong. The following discussion has been reconstituted based on separate interviews conducted through emails and phone calls from March 26 to 30  ED.



By Kim Jae-kyoung





Andy Xie

Q: South Korea is the world's 11th-largest economy and it is the most-wired society in the world. Most importantly, people in South Korea have enjoyed a rapid rise in living standards over the last 20 years. So why do you think South Koreans are becoming unhappier and dissatisfied with their lives?



James Rooney: I think it is fair to say that happiness has a lot to do with expectations. For most of the last sixty years or so Koreans have gotten accustomed to high growth rates, a rapidly improving standard of living, and an education system that seemed to promise them intellectual and social advancement into the first ranks of global society and access to a strong employment market. But for the last decade or more those expectations have not been getting met to anything like the same degree as in the past. So the expectations that grew naturally out of past experience are no longer being met and satisfied, and that detracts from the happiness that Korean people should be entitled to feel after all these years of hard work.





Katrina Ell

Andy Xie: Happiness has two components _ 1) how affordable are essentials like housing, education, and food, and 2) how one compares to his or her peers. In the East Asian Model, housing is expensive. And it is a major status symbol for comparing one's self to one's peers. Culturally, people should view their houses as places to live, not as status symbols. Unfortunately, East Asian culture will be difficult to change. East Asian parents view happiness in their children's success. They spend money and time to force their children into cram schools, making them unhappy. Eventually, only a few can succeed. That's math. So most parents become unhappy.





Antonio Fatas

Katrina Ell: Happiness is a qualitative measure that is difficult to measure and often has little correlation with economic variables like income, education attainment and GDP growth. South Koreans have a global reputation for being hard workers and highly valuing education. Perhaps the tide is shifting away from seeking happiness from those areas and towards other endeavors. Youth unemployment remains uncomfortably high in South Korea, despite hope it will be reduced with various government incentives. It's difficult to feel happy without income and using your skill set.





Alicia Garcia-Herrero

Antonio Fatas: While GDP per capita in South Korea is as high as that of France, GDP per hour is significantly lower _ about 40-50 percent lower. This means South Koreans achieve the same income by working many more hours. When you think about happiness you have to take this into account as we all derive some of our happiness from our leisure time.



Alicia Garcia-Herrero: Korean's unhappy reality seems to be related to the massive effort behind their economic success. Many European countries, such as Finland and Norway, have been rich for a very long so they have not had to make the sacrifices that Koreans have made during the past few decades. At the very same time, Korea has not built a huge welfare state as a way to protect its citizens in bad times _ either when unable to work due to sickness, being unemployed or simply being ill.



Rooney: Korea's education system has not kept up with its economic progress and the needs of the labor force of today. It is still far too much perspiration and rote learning instead of inspiration and imaginative thinking. This is truly Korea's most serious problem and its greatest opportunity if it were to address it properly. Also, Korea's labor supply and employment market are no longer matched and balanced in the way that they were historically, where each cohort of high school and university graduates were quickly absorbed into the workforce by industries that were hungry to employ them gainfully.





By Yoon Ja-young



With the government continuing talks with the United States over measures to enhance the transparency of its foreign exchange operations, Korea should stick to its principles against U.S. pressure, which experts say seems to have gone too far.



"Basically, the United States is taking all measures for its national interest. The government should stress its sovereignty in foreign exchange policy as well as the fact that Korea has not manipulated exchange rates. Korea has grown into the world's 11th-largest economy, and I don't understand why the government is taking such a submissive attitude," said Sookmyung Women's University professor Shin Se-don.



The Korean won closed at 1,059.8 won per dollar Wednesday, rising 5.6 won from the previous day, which was the lowest level in more than three years.



The finance ministry said it was "considering measures to enhance transparency of foreign exchange smoothing operations, taking into account recommendations by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United States' report on foreign exchange policies of trading partners."



"We will make a final decision after comprehensively taking into account the maturity of our foreign exchange market, economic structure and cases of other countries," it said.



On top of the revisions to the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which aimed at slashing the U.S. trade deficit, the United States has been demanding Korea improve transparency in its foreign exchange policy. Korea is expected to disclose its "smoothing operations," or minor interventions in the foreign exchange market in which it buys or sells U.S. dollars to halt major fluctuations.



While the IMF also recommends disclosing such interventions, experts say Korea should determine how and when to disclose on its own, following a domestic consensus, not by succumbing to pressure by the United States.



"Foreign exchange is within the scope of sovereignty. We should go with the policies with principles that we set, just like any other country," he said, pointing to China as well as Japan which devalued the Japanese yen following Abenomics.



The United States publishes a semiannual report in which it designates currency manipulators. It put Korea on the monitoring list last year, citing the huge current account and trade surpluses with Washington. Shin said the U.S. uses the report as leverage for its own interests, on top of ignoring the global trade order.



He also said the country's finance ministry has been too passive in foreign exchange policy.



"For the past two years, the finance ministry has almost neglected the foreign exchange rates. It has no reason to be daunted by U.S. pressure."



If the government determines to disclose its interventions, there remains the question of how often it should do so. The United States, for instance, discloses its own interventions every quarter. Many other developed economies such as Japan reveal their interventions the following month. However, experts point out they are big economies with key currencies. Countries including Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, meanwhile, chose semiannual disclosure, while Switzerland does it once a year. Korea, which has suffered foreign exchange crises, has the trauma of falling prey to speculators. Revealing interventions too quickly and frequently increases such risks, as speculators will study the government's strategy and leaving it with few options.



Hong Sung-il, head of the economic policy team at the Korea Economic Research Institute, said the overvalued Korean won especially hurts exporters.



"While the Trump administration is using foreign exchange as a means of pressure in trade, all countries carry out smoothing operations. The government should intervene when there is a fluctuation, but it has been too cautious."



He especially showed concern over the rapid pace of the strengthening won.



"Businesses set up plans based on an appropriate foreign exchange rate. If the won strengthens too steeply, Korean companies will sustain losses even if they reach their sales targets. The government was the only barrier in the market, but it seems to be reluctant to play its role."By Kim Yoo-chul



Chief executives at Korea's top three banking groups are continuing to purchase shares of their own banks, believing them to be undervalued.



Data provided by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Korea's top financial regulator, showed the CEOs of KB Financial, Woori Bank and Shinhan Financial Group purchased shares of their own companies over four trading sessions from March 27 to 30.



In detail, Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seung bought 5,000 company shares on March 27. A day after the share buyback event, Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byung bought 2,171 company shares, followed by KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyu purchasing 1,000 of his bank's shares on March 30.



Typically, companies or high-paid executives choose to repurchase shares and then resell them in the open market once the price increases to accurately reflect the value of the firm. When earnings per share (EPS) increases, the market would perceive this positively and share prices would go up after buybacks are announced.



But the recent repurchase campaigns by the executives came at a time when the stock prices of each bank remained weak, which in part stemmed from toughening regulations in borrowing and the financial regulators' deepening investigation of them over hiring irregularities.



Buybacks, therefore, could be a signal of the market topping out, as the CEOs intend to artificially boost share prices by repurchasing stocks. Theoretically, if earnings can't be increased, buybacks can boost them superficially.



Shinhan Financial Group, one of the country's leading lenders, saw its share price drop by more than 14 percent during the January-March period, the FSS data showed. Foreign investors massively unloaded their Shinhan holdings.



"The recent share repurchase by Chairman Cho leaves him with 12,000 common shares of the company. This is the first time Cho has purchased company shares, sending a message the financial soundness of the banking group will remain stable," a Shinhan official said.



The share price of Woori Bank was also cut by more than 14 percent last month after its previous chief Lee Kwang-koo had been forced to step down due to his involvement in hiring irregularities. Foreign investors cut their collectively owned portion of Woori to 26.91 percent from 28 percent in March.



"Out of the top three banking groups, Woori Bank would see the largest profit increases given approval by Kumho Tire union to sell the tiremaker to China's Doublestar," said a Woori official. Woori Bank owned 22.5 million shares of Kumho Tire.



The decision by KB Chairman Yoon to repurchase company shares is, however, understood to be "political" as he was alleged to have been involved in hiring irregularities.



"Yoon has been leading the banking group since 2014. Every time he faces big issues, he purchases company shares. When he was nominated as chairman of the group in 2014, he bought 5,300 company shares. He bought 4,000 shares last August and September when a chairman search committee was held," a KB official said.

Many young Koreans see their country's low birthrate as the government's problem, not their own. Some scholars agree. / AFP



Low birthrate may be bad for Korea  but it may be good for you and the planet



By Jung Min-ho





Professor Ronald Demos LeeBy Kim Hyun-bin



The South Korean government has banned after school English classes for first and second grade starting this year. Parents have been worried about their children falling behind and an increasing number of students have enrolled in English private education.



To take the financial burden off parents, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) unveiled a plan dubbed, 'Vitalize Seoul English Public Education Plan' aiming to reduce the English education gap between rich and poor districts and to provide an environment where students can naturally learn English.



The SMOE is planning to dispatch 561 native speakers of English as teaching assistants in all public elementary schools around the capital, starting next year.



Currently, there are 337 native teachers at 351 public elementary schools in Seoul. The native teaching assistants cover English classes during the day and afterschool as well as conducting English camps during school breaks. The SMOE plans to dispatch 100 additional native assistant teachers by 2019, who will be assigned to teach in 210 elementary schools.



"The parents have been fond of the program as their children have more access to foreign teachers," said Jeong Jin-kewon, a junior supervisor at the Seoul education office. "The classrooms in Seoul average 20 to 25 students per class. The students will have the opportunity to talk one on one with a native English speaking teacher during the day and in afterschool English courses."



The Seoul education office also plans to establish an "open English learning platform" that allows students to take advantage of diverse means to learn English free of charge, which will include games, videos, and storytelling.



The city has been cooperating with popular private enterprises so that all students can have access to the English study content, paid for by the Seoul education office. The move aims to help scores of parents and students who are not able to afford English content such as EBS Reading Club and Smart Wise Camp.



There are also changes in the English teaching method starting from third grade. Each public elementary school in the capital will receive one million won ($946) to change the third grade English curriculum to a more experience-based learning program. Fourth to sixth grade students will be allowed to visit Gapyeong English Education Center and English villages once a year, to help become more familiar with the language.



"After the government issued an afterschool English ban for first and second grade, many parents expressed concerns," said Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of Seoul education office. "English classes are first taught in third grade now. So we want to set up an environment where we can help students learn English in a more natural way."

Ahn Cheol-soo, a former opposition leader and presidential candidate, declares his bid for Seoul mayor in the June 13 elections at the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Ahn Cheol-soo, a former opposition leader and presidential candidate, officially declared his bid to run in June's Seoul mayoral election on Wednesday, setting the stage for a likely showdown with heavyweight rivals from two major parties.



Ahn, currently the candidate recruitment chief of the minor Bareunmirae Party, joined the high-profile race, as the nascent party struggles to cement its political foothold amid low support ratings and difficulties in finding promising candidates for the local elections.



Much is at stake for Ahn, given that an electoral defeat could dent his presidential ambitions and stymie his efforts to position his party as a centrist alternative to the ruling Democratic Party and main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), observers said.





Ahn Cheol-soo, a former opposition leader and presidential candidate, declares his bid for Seoul mayor in the June 13 elections at the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



In 2011, Ahn considered running in a by-election for the Seoul mayoralty with his then support ratings exceeding 50 percent. But he quit the race, lending his support to then-candidate Park Won-soon who won the election and is now seeking a third term.



Rival parties have been striving to clinch a win in the race for the Seoul mayoralty  a coveted post seen as a springboard to the presidency  or at least an opportunity to garner significant political recognition.



Running the country's largest metropolis, with a population of nearly 10 million, and an annual budget of some 30 trillion won ($28.4 billion), has often been compared to leading a state government.



In the ruling party, a three-way competition is shaping up to get a ticket for the Seoul mayoral election. Current Mayor Park aside, Reps. Park Young-sun and Woo Sang-ho have declared their bids for the election.



The LKP plans to confirm former Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim Moon-soo, an ultra-rightist, as its candidate for the Seoul mayor election during its Supreme Council meeting on Friday.



Talk of Ahn's party and the LKP unifying candidacy for the election has emerged. But Ahn has ruled out the possibility, saying the LKP is a "subject to defeat." (Yonhap)





Ahn Cheol-soo (left), a former opposition leader and presidential candidate, declares his bid for Seoul mayor in the June 13 elections at the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Kim Rahn



Cheong Wa Dae urged the National Assembly, Wednesday, to quickly revise a law on referenda, saying lawmakers were doing nothing to fix the problem even though it was ruled unconstitutional four years ago.



The presidential office said if the Assembly fails to revise the law, it will be impossible to hold a referendum on a constitutional revision in tandem with the June 13 local elections as planned.



President Moon Jae-in may send a letter to the Assembly this week asking for the law revision, according to presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok.



"Regardless of whether the ruling and opposition blocs agree on each detailed item of changes to the Constitution, if they are really committed to constitutional amendment, they should revise the Referendum Law first," Im said.



"I urge the Assembly to revise the law during its extraordinary session in April to restore the people's rights and show its determination for constitutional changes."



In July 2014, the Constitutional Court ruled the law was unconstitutional because it banned overseas Koreans from participating in referenda if they did not have an address in Korea.



The court ordered the Assembly revise the relevant clause by the end of 2015 but the Assembly failed to do so. In January, the National Election Commission concluded any referendum, whether it is for a constitutional amendment or for other issues, would be impossible without a revision to the law because it could not draw up a list of eligible voters.



The commission earlier requested the Assembly to revise the law by April 23, according to the timeline for the referendum on constitutional revision to be held alongside the local elections.



"Leaving the Referendum Law intact is depriving the people of their right to vote," Im said, adding the state cannot ask the public for their opinion about not only the revision but also any important policy.



"It infringes on the direct democracy guaranteed by the Constitution," he said. "Without correcting it, the Assembly cannot avoid criticism for dereliction of duty."



Im said several lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties have submitted bills to revise the law but discussions on the issue have not made any progress.



"The ruling and opposition blocs do not hold clearly different views from each other, so they can revise the law right away if they decide to. It is antithetical for the Assembly to promise to amend the Constitution on the one hand and be reluctant to revise the Referendum Law on the other," he said.



Holding the referendum on the constitutional revision and local elections together was a campaign pledge of President Moon. As the Assembly was not making progress over the issue, the President submitted his own constitutional revision bill at the end of March.



"If we miss the chance to hold the referendum and the local elections together, the initiative to change the Constitution will lose its driving force," a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said.



The ruling Democratic Party of Korea echoed Im's view, calling on the opposition bloc to cooperate in the process to revise the Referendum Law in April.



The main opposition Liberty Korea Party, however, said Im's announcement was a show to push ahead with jointly holding the referendum and local elections.





Ahn Cheol-soo from the Bareun Mirae Party holds an event to declare his bid to run for Seoul mayor at the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Wednesday. The sign below reads "Let's Change, Seoul." / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Kim Bo-eun



Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Wendesday South Korea will continue to seek to improve the human rights situation in the North, but stated they will not be addressed in inter-Korean talks at the moment.



"The government's stance is that it will seek to improve North Korea's poor human rights situation, in cooperation with the international community," Kang said in a press briefing.



"However, in all forms of dialogue there exists a counterpart, and in order to promote dialogue each party should seek to discuss issues that they have agreed upon," she said.



The minister was referring to the agenda for the upcoming summit between South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, April 27. The agenda for the meeting has yet been to be fixed, but Pyongyang's denuclearization is expected to be the main issue.



"I believe more preparations need to be taken on the part of the government to include the human rights issue in inter-Korean talks," Kang said.



It appears the government is taking a cautious approach to the issue amid the rapprochement between the two Koreas ahead of the summit, as it is a sensitive subject for Pyongyang.



Last month, the UN adopted a resolution condemning North Korea's human rights situation urging the regime to admit to rights violations and punish those responsible. The South Korean government issued a statement welcoming the move.



The North criticized South Korea's support of the resolution in the regime's Rodong Sinmun, Wednesday.



"South Korean authorities welcoming the human rights resolution is a political provocation against us and an unacceptable reckless act that goes against the mood of dialogue," the article said.



"We cannot but ask who (South Korea) is seeking to have dialogue with and improve relations with, while denying its counterpart's dignity and regime," it said.



Meanwhile, Kang stated Pyongyang's denuclearization was the common goal of the international community.



"Pyongyang's complete denuclearization, dismantlement of its nuclear program is not only the aim of South Korea and the U.S. _ it is the common goal of the international community," she said.



However, she declined to specify the government's means to achieve this.



"Regarding the timetable (toward denuclearization), South Korea and the U.S. are closely cooperating and negotiating the matter, reviewing and sharing lessons learnt from former negotiations with North Korea."



The minister stated that South Korea, Japan and China will hold a three-nation summit in May, seeking to extend the current momentum of peace.



Kang also said the ministries of South Korea and Japan are arranging the visit of Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono to Seoul. It will be the first visit by a Japanese foreign minister since Kono's predecessor came to Seoul in December 2015 to discuss a sex slave deal.



"South Korea will seek a two-track approach in addressing historical issues and other various affairs that require cooperation between the two states," she said.

The wreckage of the Cheonan frigate displayed at the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province / Yonhap



Seoul remains silent amid inter-Korean peace mood



By Lee Min-hyung



North Korea has again denied its involvement in a torpedo attack of the South's Cheonan frigate in 2010, expressing discomfort over Seoul repeatedly laying responsibility on Pyongyang.



The regime has for years claimed no responsibility for the tragic incident that left 46 South Korean sailors dead. But the latest in a series of verbal conflicts came on Monday when Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the regime's ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, sarcastically vented his anger about the incident.



In a recent meeting with South Korean journalists, Kim introduced himself as "the man who the South claims masterminded the attack."



A group of South Korean musicians visited the North for three days beginning Sunday in a move to enhance a festive and reconciliatory inter-Korean mood ahead of the planned summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this month.



The remark came about a month after the ranking North Korean official visited Seoul on the sidelines of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. At that time, South Korean activists and opposition parties denounced President Moon for allowing the alleged "Cheonan culprit" to visit the South.



The Rodong Sinmun, the regime's newspaper, also claimed innocence over the incident, criticizing Seoul for what the regime says is "continuously manipulating the incident."



"The move (to lay responsibility on Pyongyang) is putting a damper on reconciliatory inter-Korean relations," the state-run newspaper said. "This is also an unforgivable act of confrontation that is against the ongoing peace momentum on the Korean Peninsula."



The North also threatened to suspend its plan to develop inter-Korean peace if the South pushes ahead with such an "ambivalent attitude."



The South Korean government, however, kept a low profile over the criticism apparently amid concerns that any provocative remarks could break the rare peace move from Pyongyang.



The Ministry of National Defense declined to specify Kim's involvement in the incident.



Its spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said in a media briefing Tuesday that the ministry already reached the conclusion that the warship sank due to the attack by the North's torpedo, but no more details have yet been found.



"It is not proper for the defense ministry to specify who and what organizations masterminded the attack," she said. "We need to continue investigating the details."



Following the North's criticism, the United States stepped up its criticism, saying that Seoul and Washington have already reached conclusions that a North Korean submarine fired the torpedo.



"Our position has not changed, the U.S. fully supports South Korea with regard to the Cheonan incident and the objective investigation that followed," Voice of America quoted Kanita Adams, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, as saying.



"The report, issued May 19, 2010, by the team of international investigators reflects an objective and scientific evaluation of the evidence, which points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine."



Violinist Chung Kyung-wha smiles with a cake to celebrate her 70th birthday during a press conference March 27 to promote her album "Beau Soir" at the Munho Art Hall in central Seoul. / Yonhap



By Do Je-hae



Last month, the violin virtuoso Chung Kyung-wha released her 33rd recording titled "Beau Soir" (beautiful night), inspired by a song by the French composer Debussy. It is certainly a fitting title for an artist who seems to be having the time of her life in the twilight of her career.



Chung has taken on a flurry of new projects as a performing and recording artist, teacher and artistic director since her 2012 comeback to the stage after a career-threatening finger injury. Many fans who were heartbroken when her illustrious career was halted in 2005 could not have foreseen her phenomenal resurgence today.



These days, it is easy to find young Korean women violinists sweeping international competitions. But that was not the case when Chung won the Leventritt Award, the top U.S. violin prize, in 1967 at only 19 years of age, paving the way for her international stardom. In the 1960s and 70s, there were few women star instrumentalists, not to mention Asian ones.



The pioneering musician was also one of the first female violinists to become a recording sensation. Chung has recorded by top classical labels such as Decca, EMI and Deutsche Grammophon, but many who remember her heyday associate her primarily with Decca.



The British label was hugely excited about signing her, according to Ray Minshull, director of artists and repertoire for the Decca Classics from 1967 to 1994. "I had no doubt whatsoever that at last we had found the person who would fill to perfection one of the most glaring vacancies in our artists' list _ that of an outstanding solo violinist," Minshull wrote in a tribute essay for the re-issue of her 1972 Bruch recording in 1998. "She is able to draw from the lower three strings of the instrument a range of emotions which I have heard from no other."



As an exclusive Decca artist, she recorded some of her most acclaimed recordings, including the Tchaikovsky/Mendelssohn concerti with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal under Charles Dutoit and the Tchaikovsky/Sibelius concerti with Andre Previn's London Symphony.



Chung remained highly actively on the recording scene until the late 1990s but her albums became more sporadic in the early 2000s. When she stopped giving concerts to nurse a finger injury she suffered in 2005, many fans had given up hope to ever hear a new recording by Chung again.



Since her comeback, though, she has focused on doing things that she did not do so much in her younger years, like playing more Mozart and Bach and performing more chamber music. Her latest album, a collection of sonatas and encore pieces by French composers, is a rare addition to her lengthy discography, which has been filled mostly with violin concertos.



In her Decca years, her discography was missing a crucial repertoire for violinists, particularly Bach's works for solo violin. She had recorded a few for Decca, but never the entire set of partitas and sonatas, which she has called the "unending quest of my musical journey." She finally recorded them for Warner Classics in 2016. That she was able to fulfill the hugely ambitious project to record all of Bach's solo works for violin after a break of more than a decade in the studio shows Chung is still in top form musically and technically.



During a recent press conference to promote the "Beau Soir" album, Chung shunned terms such as "living legend" often used to describe her career. At 70, she said that she still found every recording to be a taxing experience even after so many recordings. She underlined her love for the audience, saying she wanted to "give them everything she had" while on stage and heal them through music. Chung is showing that true passion is timeless.

By John J. Metzler





UNITED NATIONS  The political choreography was classic. The staging was epic. But the outcome remains unpredictable. North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-un and his entourage secretly rolled into Beijing on a special armored train later to be greeted and then feted by the supreme leader of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping.



Kim called the visit a "solemn duty" and added, "There is no question that my first foreign visit is to the Chinese capital."



China then reciprocated with the splendor and pomp befitting a state visit for Pyongyang's prodigal son who on many occasions had not shown the proper political deference to Beijing.



In a scene reminiscent of "The Godfather," the iconic 1970s movie about powerful Mafia dons, North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-un was summoned to meet his ultimate political boss in Beijing. For all the anxious twaddle about China and Pyongyang's rocky political relations, at the end of the day, the road for the North Korean ruler ends in Beijing's Forbidden City.



The Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the North's ruling Workers Party, editorially heralded, "A historic visit that unfolded a new era of North Korea-China friendship," adding that a "blood alliance" unites the two "communist" countries. That clearly evokes the old-time friendship when Chairman Mao Zedong said China and North Korea were "as close as lips and teeth."



Yet in contemporary times, Kim's regime has confronted East Asia with a dangerous nuclear showdown, which has without question been moderated to certain degree by Beijing's hand. A regional conflict between nuclear North Korea and the U.S. would spill over into mainland China too.



That's bad for business in Beijing. It could be disastrous for South Korea and Japan.



That's why when Comrade Kim told his Chinese hosts "he was committed to denuclearization," there was an audible sigh of relief in Asian capitals, and a raising of eyebrows in Washington.



Yet at the same time China, the eternal Middle Kingdom, has resoundingly reasserted its historic Big Brother relationship with Korea now, as it has for millennia. China's patronage politically, diplomatically and through sanctions skirting back door trade, is what keeps North Korea afloat.



Will China squeeze Kim to make a face-saving deal?



In the afterglow of South Korea's successful PyeongChang Winter Olympics, there's clearly a diplomatic thaw among the regional players which have been locked in a Cold War political permafrost.



But once the North Koreans sent Kim's sister to Seoul and PyeongChang on a charm offensive during the Olympiad, the pieces began to shift. South Korean President Moon Jae-in wisely took advantage of the flexibility and scheduled a summit with his North Korean rival.



Then quite unexpectedly U.S. President Donald Trump broke the logjam and accepted a meeting with Kim Jong-un. Donald Trump's politically audacious move not only caught the North Koreans off guard, but stunned China. In effect the Donald's chessboard move threatened to marginalize China's historic influence on the Korean Peninsula, and by extension, rebalance Japan's security interests in the region.



Tough United Nations sanctions are squeezing Kim's options. China has significantly reduced its petroleum exports as well as coal and other key materials to North Korea. And the U.N. Security Council has yet again ramped up tougher economic measures on North Korea's maritime smuggling and clandestine trade.



U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley stated, "The approval of this historic sanctions package is a clear sign that the international community is united in our efforts to keep up maximum pressure on the North Korean regime."



North Korea needs political and diplomatic leverage in the upcoming talks both with South Korea as well as with the U.S. Kim knows his nuclear weapons give Pyongyang a valuable bargaining chip, but at the same time paint a target on the quaintly titled Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Realistically only China can rebalance the equation, but is not going to let Pyongyang continue to play its reckless nuclear and missile testing, which precipitated the crisis in the first place. The U.N. Security Council is not ready to blink for Kim.



Though Western diplomats and the Japanese will demand denuclearization of the recalcitrant North, it's clearly democratic and prosperous South Korea that stands the most to gain or lose in any deal; after all they share the divided peninsula. South Korea may ultimately inherit the North's moribund Marxist state.



The upcoming meeting between South and North Korea will set the stage; the May summit between the U.S. and North Korea will pave the path for peace, continued instability, or much worse.





John J. Metzler (jjmcolumn@earthlink.net) is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamism: The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China."

College entrance formula should not be changed abruptly



It is quite evident that Education Minister Kim Sang-kon does not know why he concurrently holds the post of deputy premier for social affairs. His ministry has invited criticism for abruptly trying to change the college admissions formula without listening to public opinion at all.



Students and their parents are venting their grievances over the attempted change. They even ask the question: What does the ministry exist for?



The problem arose when the ministry recently demanded major Seoul-based universities to increase the quota of freshmen to be recruited through regular admission procedures based on the scores of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). This has thrown high school students and teachers into confusion. Each school will have to make hasty preparations if such a change becomes a reality starting from the 2020 academic year.



Vice Education Minister Park Chun-ran made the demand via telephone calls to some universities in Seoul. It is hard to understand how the ministry informs schools of such an important policy change by phone.



Voices are getting stronger for the government to simplify the complicated entrance exam formula. These calls, in fact, are flooding the presidential office.



Basically, how to recruit students is the right of schools. However, the government is holding fast to intervening in the procedure and setting out incoherent education policies.



There have been growing concerns about various ill effects from universities recruiting freshmen based on school records rather than the scores of the state-administered CSAT. However, the ministry has been ignoring such concerns, adhering to the system for 10 years. It has even provided diverse benefits for colleges and universities which admit more students in accordance with school records, not with CSAT scores.



Now, the ministry should overhaul the current college entrance exam system and simplify it so that high school students can have a better opportunity for a college education.



What the ministry must do is supervise whether school authorities recruit their freshmen in a fair and objective manner. The ministry should not further confuse students, parents and teachers. Minister Kim should keep predictability and coherence in working out policies, particularly on college entrance.



Villagers dance across a new concrete bridge in Mwika near Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. / Courtesy of Young Hoy Kim Kimaro



By Young Hoy Kim Kimaro



/ Yonhap



By Park Si-soo, Jung Min-ho



Dozens of firefighters are battling a fire at a construction site at LG Display's plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

The fire started at the site of a new wastewater treatment plant at 2:52 p.m., firefighters said. About 10 workers took refuge on the building's roof.

Firefighters said they were all rescued. Four people have been hospitalized after inhaling smoke.





/ Yonhap





/ Yonhap



The inside of a Korea Forest Service building in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Korea Forest Service



Seoul to host 2018 World Conference on Timber Engineering in August



By Nam Hyun-woo



By Kang Seung-woo



Another tariff risk is haunting the Korean steel industry as the European Union (EU) has begun a safeguard probe into imports of steel products.



Given that the EU is a major export market for Korean steelmakers -- as big as the United States -- a possible import restriction could spell trouble for local steelmakers who currently face a quota on its steel exports to the U.S.



Last week, the EU announced it opened a safeguard investigation into 26 steel products imported into the EU that range from stainless hot-rolled and cold-rolled sheets to rebars and railway material.



"The information currently available to the European Commission (EC) has revealed that imports of certain steel products have recently increased sharply, showing that there is sufficient evidence that these trends in imports appear to call for safeguard measures," the European Commission said in a statement.



The probe may lead the EU to come up with options such as specific tariffs or quotas on certain countries. The EC will have up to nine months to reach a decision.



According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), Wednesday, Korea was the fourth-largest exporter of the 26 products of concern to the EU among countries outside the trading bloc, with a share of 11.3 percent worth 2.39 billion euros (3.1 trillion won).



India was the EU's largest steel supplier of the 26 products at 13.5 percent, followed by China's 13.1 percent and Turkey's 12.4 percent.



Korea's top steel export to the EU is a steel sheet. In 2017, local steelmakers shipped 2.9 million tons of steel sheets to the EU of their total steel export of 3.3 million tons.



In that respect, if a safeguard measure goes into effect, it would be another brutal blow to the local steel industry that needs to discover another export destination following the U.S. import quota.



Although Korea evaded a 25 percent tariff on its steel exports to the U.S. last month, it had to accept quotas on steel exports equal to 70 percent of its average annual shipments to the U.S. between 2015 and 2017.



The local steel industry keeps close tabs on the EU investigation.



"While Korea's steel exports to the U.S. will diminish due to the import quota, the EU's safeguard probe is another challenge ahead. The industry is required to aggressively respond to the situation," said a steel industry official.



Remaining cautious about the investigation, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to explain its position by attending hearings and submitting questionnaires to the EC.





By Nam Hyun-woo



Many former POSCO CEOs and senior executives who held key posts during the 2003-2008 Roh Moo-hyun administration have returned to once again take a driver's seat at Korea's largest steelmaker.



Pundits see the return of those old boys as a hint that POSCO, which was privatized 18 years ago, is still under pressure of the incumbent administration. The Moon Jae-in administration is said to be on the same page as the Roh administration was because Moon was one of Roh's key aides and a longtime political partner.



In February, POSCO Energy appointed former POSCO President Park Ki-hong as its CEO. Park was a member of the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning during the Roh administration.



Park left the group in 2014, after former POSCO Chairman Chung Joon-yang stepped down in 2013. Along with current POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-joon, he was expected to be one of the candidates to succeed Chung, but exited the group and embarked on teaching at a university.



His return to the group was widely interpreted as the group's bid to be more active in "communicating" with the government because the energy industry is widely swayed by the government's policies.



Similar is Ha Dae-ryong, who was appointed as president of POSCO C&C along with Park. Ha worked at the POSCO chairman's secretary office in 2003 and has expertise in marketing and sales.



Last month, former Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kim Sung-jin was also appointed as a POSCO outside director. Kim headed the ministry from 2006 to 2007 and served President Roh as industry and policy aide.



Not only have the presidents of the POSCO unit not been free from political influences, but the group's heads, including the current chief, Kwon, have been free of them either, even after the company's privatization in 2000.



Former Chairman Yoo Sang-boo who led the steel giant from 1998 to 2003 stepped down after being embroiled in the 2003 corruption scandal involving the family of the late President Kim Dae-jung.



His successor Lee Ku-taek also left the post in the wake of the Lee Myung-bak administration. The previous POSCO Chairman Chung also quit the group in the Park Geun-hye administration amid corruption allegations.



Kwon, who started his second term last year, was also pressured to resign from the post amid rumors that he might have been involved in former President Park's corruption scandal. Kwon said last year that those rumors were "100 percent false" and he believes the prosecution also found all allegations were untrue.



Observers say it will be important for Kwon to finish his second term smoothly in a bid to show that POSCO is free from political influence. Under his leadership, POSCO logged 4.62 trillion won in operating profit last year, which is the highest since 2011.



By Kang Seung-woo



The labor union of the nation's largest shipbuilder staged strong protests against the company's plan to reduce its headcount, Wednesday.



Hyundai Heavy Industries announced, Tuesday, it will carry out a voluntary retirement program later this month, saying those who have worked at the company for more than 10 years are eligible for retirement. The voluntary program will last for two weeks from April 16 to 29.



"When the labor union and management signed a wage deal covering the fiscal years of 2016 and 2017 in February, we also agreed to a rotational leave system, considering decreasing ship orders and employment stability. However, the company went back on its word," said a union member.



"For this reason, we are now stepping up for an all-out fight to stop the company from carrying out restructuring and destroying the union, while urging management to fulfill the agreement."



The shipbuilder also carried out a voluntary retirement program in 2015 and 2016 due to declining orders, and some 3,500 employees left the company.



The Ulsan unit of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions also issued a statement to protest the retirement plan. The port city of Ulsan, North Gyeongsang Province, is home to Hyundai Heavy Industries.



"Hyundai Heavy Industries must scrap the restructuring plan that will only help the conglomerate survive, while killing its workers and the regional economy," it said.



However, Hyundai said it made a desperate choice for the company amid deteriorating business conditions.



"We are now placed in a do-or-die situation, calling for a cool-headed decision," Hyundai said in a statement.



"The company has taken all possible measures to normalize the business such as shedding assets and dividing businesses, without any progress being made. The union needs to reflect on what path to take for employees, families, the local community and the national economy."



The latest job cut comes three months after Hyundai Heavy Industries CEO Kang Hwan-goo warned that it could face difficulties, such as order backlogs declining and work for offshore plants will completely run out in a few months.



Since November 2014, Hyundai Heavy has not won any offshore plant orders.



In addition, it won 24 ship orders in 2016, followed by 48 last year. In the first quarter of the year, it received seven orders.



Hyundai Heavy said it aims to achieve 7.98 trillion won ($7.5 billion) in sales this year, a 60 percent decline from a decade ago.



Korean shipbuilders have struggled with an oversupply of vessels and declining orders since the 2008 financial crisis.



Starbucks is concerned about the spreading impact of the decision. / Reuters



Starbucks Korea 'concerned' about the possibility



By Jung Min-ho



Starbucks and other coffee sellers in California must warn customers of a potentially cancer-causing chemical in coffee, following a ruling from a Los Angeles judge last week.



Now the global coffee chain is concerned that the impact of the decision may go beyond the U.S. state.



"The ruling aroused concern among company employees," a senior Starbucks Coffee Korea official told The Korea Times Wednesday. "But we have not taken any specific measures in regard to the issue, given that the ruling is not final. This matter is affecting the whole coffee industry, not just Starbucks."



The comment came several days after Starbucks' China unit said it would ensure it provided quality and safe products to consumers in a response to the ruling.



A nonprofit organization, the Council for Education and Research on Toxics, sued 91 coffee companies, including Starbucks, for failing to warn consumers of a chemical that could cause cancer.



The chemical is acrylamide, which also can be found in some foods and cigarette smoke. It is a byproduct of roasting coffee beans that is present in high levels in brewed coffee.



Korean customers are exposed to the same health risk as Californians, given that the way coffee is produced is practically the same. However, a Starbucks Korea PR official said Korea does not have the same regulations that would enforce such a requirement  yet.



Lee Hyun-ki, head of a civic group for food safety, reportedly said he thinks Starbucks Korea needs to review the necessity for such a requirement here. "If any of the U.S. states make efforts for food safety, Starbucks needs to consider doing the same for Korean consumers  They have the right to know about acrylamide," he said.



L.A. Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said in a decision that Starbucks and other coffee firms had failed to show that the level of acrylamide produced in the coffee roasting process does not pose a significant cancer risk.



Starbucks and other defendants have until April 10 to file objections to the decision.



The ruling could result in signs being placed in more U.S. states and other countries to warn customers before they purchase. This would be bad news for Starbucks in terms of sales and business prospects.



Starbucks, which opened its first Korean branch in Seoul in 1999, now has more than 1,100 stores across the country.

Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High near 75F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 59F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.China to invest in construction of new State House and Ministry of FinanceRome, April 4 - Italy's deficit-to-GDP ratio for 2017 was 2.3%, ISTAT said on Wednesday after it revised up the estimate of 1.9% it gave early in March. The national statistics agency said the new data includes the impact of public money devoted to the rescue of several crisis-hit Italian banks. Nevertheless, the deficit ratio is down from 2.5% in 2016.Brescia, April 4 - Carabinieri police have launched a massive manhunt for Cosimo Balsamo, a Brescia man with a criminal record who is suspected of murdering two entrepreneurs in the northern province on Wednesday. Balsamo is thought to have gunned down 78-year-old businessman Elio Pellizzari at Flero and injuring the owner of an industrial facility there before fleeing the scene in the latter's car. The assailant is said to have shouted "you ruined me" before shooting. The second victim was killed at Carpeneda di Vobarno, sources said. Balsamo scaled the roof of Brescia's courthouse in January to protest against the confiscation of his home following a probe into the illegal trafficking of heavy vehicles.Rome, April 4 - Afghanistan remains an important mission, Defence Chief of Staff General Claudio Graziano told an ANSA Forum Wednesday. "It was a crisis area 30 years ago, 20 years ago. "It was such also 100 years ago and it's likely to be an area on which the world must keep constant attention," he said. "I don't know how long it will last but our mission is to accompany the Afghans" towards a solution to their crisis, he said. In other remarks, General Graziano the situation in Lebanon was stable but "our attention must remain high". He also said an anti-human-trafficking mission to Niger would "develop" according to the wishes of the government there, with a ceiling of 470 men maximum. Graziano also said there had been a "technical and military change" with Brexit.Rome, April 4 - President Sergio Mattarella started a round of formal political consultations on Wednesday after this month's inconclusive general election. The talks will help the Head of State make a decision on to whom to give a mandate to try to form a new government. The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) says it should lead the next government as it is the biggest single group in the new parliament after winning around 32% of the vote. But the anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League says it should be top dog as the lead party of the centre right, the biggest coalition with around 37% of the vote. M5S leader Luigi Di Maio on Tuesday opened up either to the rightwing populist League or the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which is reeling after its poor showing in the election, for a possible government, but shut the door on any alliance with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI). The M5S reportedly argues Berlusconi would block all attempts to reform the system and is against him because of a tax-dodge conviction for which he was ejected from office in 2013 and charges of witness tampering over alleged orgies at his home. Di Maio explained the position on Italian TV Tuesday evening, telling the Di Martedi show that he wanted to launch a "government contract" either with the League or the PD. The PD, which got a drubbing in the general election, has ruled out any alliance, saying it will stay in opposition. The League has said Di Maio must give up his premiership ambitions for any deal to be made. League leader Matteo Salvini says FI and Berlusconi must come along with him as part of any package. The presidential consultations kicked off with new Senate Speaker Elisabetta Casellati, followed Lower House Speaker Roberto Fico and Mattarella's predecessor as president, Giorgio Napolitano. Then there were talks with political representatives of autonomous regions, the 'mixed group' that features members of the leftwing Free and Equal (LeU) group, and with the rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party. The consultations will continue on Thursday with talks with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), Forza Italia, the League and the M5S. Di Maio said Wednesday he hoped to meet soon with the League and the PD to discuss a possible government alliance with one or the other. "Let's hope we can meet as soon as possible the two parties to understand what their proposals are, and to understand with whom we can start to write this (government) contract," he said in a Facebook post. "Then we must put it into practice. We want to get to work immediately to get the Third Republic started which must and will be the Republic of citizens". Apparently paradoxically, however, Di Maio said he no longer wanted to forge government alliances in any "shady deal" but instead wanted other parties to support an M5S "contract" on the issues. "The solution is not to form alliances, shady deals, accords among political forces. We've seen so many of them in these decades and we know where they have brought us: you get together only to stay alive and divvy up seats, not caring about the citizens." Di Maio said "we want to completely change method, proposing a different, concrete approach. We want to focus on the issues, that is the solutions to solve the country's problems". The M5S leader reiterated his proposal for a "government contract". For the PD, former House whip Ettore Rosato replied by saying Di Maio was addressing the PD "in order to increase his bargaining power with the League," and Rosato ruled out government-formation talks between the PD and the M5S. "Let him emerge from election-campaign mode and enter into a phase of responsibility for the country, let him say what he wants," said Rosato. "We will meet everyone but it seems to me that he doesn't want to lay the premises for a meeting, if he thinks he can choose who to meet in the PD he's completely wrong. "The web they've been weaving for months is an accord between the League and the M5S, and in the end they'll take on board Forza Italia too". Rosato, now one of the four deputy Speakers in the Lower House, said "let the theatrics end". Berlusconi, meanwhile, said he rejected the idea of talking to the M5S, because it has set a veto on the former premier being part of a possible government alliance between the M5S and the centre right. A statement issued after an FI summit said "ex-premier Berlusconi and Forza Italia after the victory of the centre-right coalition in the general election reaffirm strongly the unity of the coalition and the unwillingness to engage in any kind of dialogue or government hypothesis with those who set vetoes that are unacceptable in a democracy". Free and Equal (LeU) party leader Pietro Grasso said after the consultations with Mattarella that the small leftwing group was prepared to back the M5S "if it tackles our issues". "On behalf of all the LeU MPs and Senators I expressed our willingness, with a sense of responsibility, to open a dialogue with forces that have in their programmes issues that are essential for us, such as a national investment plan, workers' rights, strengthening welfare and the national health system, the right to study and the environment," Grasso said. Grasso ruled out any dialogue with the centre right and stressed that he might talk to the M5S about the issues closest to its heart. Finally, far-right nationalist Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni said she told Mattarella that it is up to the centre right to form a government. The FdI asked Mattarella to hand a government-formation mandate to League leader Salvini, Meloni said. Experts say the first round of talks will be inconclusive and a second round will start next week.Videos

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.Yes. I will do my part to conserve household energy usage, even if I'm uncomfortable in my home.

No. It is too hot to conserve household energy usage.

I already conserve, even before ERCOT requested it.

Maybe, depending on the reason ERCOT provides and whether or not I am home during that time.

Vote

View ResultsGarrison Keillor, the author and A Prairie Home Companion host who was fired by Minnesota Public Radio in November following accusations of sexual misconduct, wants to bring his program The Writers Almanac back.

MPR News reports that Keillor posted his intentions on his Facebook page Monday, writing, Im ready to start up The Writers [sic] Almanac again. I get the idea that public radio stations will never carry it again and so well need to find a way to do it through social media. There are smart people who can manage this and make it easy.

That post appears to have been removed, or is unavailable to the public, but on Monday, a Facebook account curated by Garrison Keillor and his staff posted, When you fire a retired person, youre apt to irritate him ... With that, he announced his intention to bring back The Writers Almanac via social media channels along with his hope to tour A Prairie Home Companion!

Garrison Keillor prepares to record installments of The Writers Almanac in St. Paul, Minn., in 2014. (Ann Heisenfelt / Associated Press )

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The Writers Almanac, produced by American Public Media, was a mainstay of public radio for more than 20 years. The five-minute-long daily program, which prominently featured poetry and literary trivia, first aired in 1993 and ceased broadcasting last November after MPR cut ties with Keillor.

Keillors attorney, Eric Nilsson, confirmed to MPR that the radio personality is interested in bringing The Writers Almanac back.

Garrison would like very much to bring back what his audience would love to have  daily doses of poetry and almanac narrative, Nilsson said. As to A Prairie Home Companion, the stage beckons back. With regard to rights to The Writers Almanac and A Prairie Home Companion, no one disputes that theyre all very much his.

Keillor has stated that he was fired from MPR for touching the bare back of a woman co-worker, although the network said that wasnt the case. In January, MPR released the results of an investigation that determined that Keillor was responsible for a years-long pattern of behavior that left several women who worked for Keillor feeling mistreated, sexualized or belittled.

In addition to his radio work, Keillor is a prolific author who has published more than 20 books, including the Lake Wobegon novel series, the recent anthology The Keillor Reader and a poetry collection titled O, What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound.Media mogul Shari Redstone has been the catalyst behind the effort to recombine CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc., and she has grown frustrated by CBS seemingly strident approach to merger talks, according to three people familiar with the situation but not authorized to publicly discuss it.

CBS recent lowball offer for Viacom, and its desire to dictate who would run the combined company, have caused considerable friction, the people said.

All this matters because Redstone and her family control nearly 80% of the voting stock of both companies through their investment vehicle, National Amusements Inc. Redstone believes Viacom and CBS would be stronger together as they and other traditional media companies face huge challenges adapting their businesses to compete against titans of technology  Alphabet Inc., Facebook Inc., Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

Viacom on Wednesday rejected CBS offer of 0.55 of one of its shares per class B share of Viacom stock, the sources said. Viacoms special committee overseeing the merger talks was planning to make a counteroffer to CBS late Wednesday or Thursday.

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We are not surprised that the offer may have been swiftly rejected by an independent board of Viacom, which is now expected to propose a counteroffer that will likely entail some premium, CFRA media analyst Tuna N. Amobi said in a note to investors.

Beyond price, the sticking point is which executives would be on the senior management team of the combined entity. CBS has stipulated that its chairman and chief executive, Leslie Moonves, would run a merged CBS-Viacom for at least two years and that Moonves second-in-command, Joseph Ianniello, CBS chief operating officer, would continue in that role.

Redstone, however, wants Viacom CEO Bob Bakish to have a prominent role in the mix and had hoped the two teams would form a collaborative relationship, according to a person familiar with her thinking.

Viacom and CBS were one until 2006. Thats when billionaire patriarch Sumner Redstone  now 94, ailing and largely unable to speak intelligibly  decided he could create more wealth by dividing his empire into two companies.

Shari Redstone tried to recombine the two companies a decade later, but that effort collapsed in late 2016 due to CBS reluctance to swallow the more challenged Viacom. She then installed Bakish, who previously ran Viacoms international operations, in Viacoms top role.

Viacom owns such brands as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, BET and the anemic Paramount Pictures movie studio in Los Angeles. CBS owns the storied CBS television network, a television production studio, TV stations, the Showtime premium channel and CBS- and Showtime-branded streaming services.

CBS does not view its bid for Viacom as unfairly low.

CBS believes (and we agree) that they are in a position of strength in the evolving television landscape (at least relatively speaking) due to their lack of basic cable networks giving some freedom to operate outside of the basic bundle and their ownership of high-quality content, Cowen & Co. media analyst Doug Creutz said in a report Wednesday. Viacom, on the other hand, is operating from a relative position of weakness.

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Viacoms networks have struggled in the ratings, its movie studio loses money and its stock fell to about $25 a share as recently as last fall before regaining some ground.

CBS, meanwhile, was trading at more than $60 a share last summer. But the stock tumbled in recent months amid investor unease over television companies that are reliant on advertising. The proposed merger with Viacom also has provided an overhang on CBS stock. Shares have fallen more than 10% since news leaked that Redstone was gearing up her campaign to recombine the company.

On Wednesday, Viacom shares climbed 3.9% to $30.57. CBS rose 1.8% to $53.79.

Analysts have noted that the talks so far have been unusual.

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Absent a major sweetener by CBS, we think the novelty of such a [lower than market value] bid creates a potential sticking point for Viacoms shareholders, raising the specter of protracted negotiations and/or potential derailment, Amobi said.

CBS special committee of independent shareholders must weigh Viacoms counteroffer and decide whether to continue the back-and-forth. And if CBS committee rejects Viacoms offer  which is expected to include keeping Bakish in a senior role  then Redstone must decide how she plans to proceed.

Some analysts have noted that Redstone could install several new board members at CBS who share her views. Redstone serves as vice chairwoman of both companies, but she has not been involved in the special committees overseeing the process.

We still anticipate some intricate challenges in formulating a governance structure for the combined entity that includes either Viacoms CEO Robert Bakish or CBS COO Joseph Ianniello as a potential second-in-command to CBS Les Moonves, who will likely take the helm, Amobi said.

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Stay tuned.

meg.james@latimes.com

@MegJamesLATChina on Wednesday issued a $50-billion list of U.S. goods including soybeans and small aircraft for possible tariff hikes in an escalating technology dispute with Washington that companies worry could set back the global economic recovery.

The countrys tax agency gave no date for the 25% increase to take effect and said that will depend on what President Trump does about U.S. plans to raise duties on a similar amount of Chinese goods.

Beijings list of 106 products included the biggest U.S. exports to China, reflecting its intense sensitivity to the dispute over American complaints that it pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.

The clash reflects the tension between Trumps promises to narrow a U.S. trade deficit with China that stood at $375.2 billion last year and the ruling Communist Partys development ambitions. Regulators use access to Chinas vast market as leverage to press foreign automakers and other companies to help create or improve industries and technology.

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A list the U.S. issued Tuesday of products subject to tariff hikes included aerospace, telecoms and machinery, striking at high-tech industries seen by Chinas leaders as the key to its economic future.

China said it would immediately challenge the U.S. move in the World Trade Organization.

It must be said, we have been forced into taking this action, a deputy commerce minister, Wang Shouwen, said at a news conference. Our action is restrained.

A deputy finance minister, Zhu Guangyao, appealed to Washington to work in a constructive manner and avoid hurting both countries.

Zhu warned against expecting Beijing to back down.

Pressure from the outside will only urge and encourage the Chinese people to work even harder, said Zhu at the news conference.

Companies and economists have expressed concern that improved global economic activity might sputter if other governments are prompted to raise their own import barriers.

The dispute may compel countries to pick sides, said Weiliang Chang of Mizuho Bank in a report.

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U.S. companies at this point would like to see robust communication between the U.S. government and the Chinese government and serious negotiation on both sides, hopefully to avoid a trade war, said the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, William Zarit.

I can only hope that we solve our differences as soon as possible to avoid damage to the U.S. economy, Chinese economy and to U.S. companies.

American companies have long chafed under Chinese regulations that require them to operate through local partners and share technology with potential competitors in exchange for market access. Business groups say companies feel increasingly unwelcome in Chinas state-dominated economy and are being squeezed out of promising industries.

UPDATES:

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4:30 a.m.: This article was updated with China listing $50 billion in goods for possible tariff hikes.

This article was originally published at 3:50 a.m.Chinas newly proposed tariffs on certain small airplanes, in addition to a wide variety of other American goods, suggest China could later slam tariffs on a scarier target: the jetliners it has increasingly imported from the United States, analysts said.

China announced Wednesday that it plans to levy a 25% tariff on more than 100 U.S. products  including airplanes that weigh between about 33,000 and 99,000 pounds. That wouldnt touch the biggest jetliners, but the idea sent a shudder through the industry.

Boeing Co. said Wednesday afternoon that it would continue its own efforts to proactively engage both governments and that it was confident dialogue between the U.S. and China would continue.

While both governments have outlined positions that could do harm to the global aerospace industry, neither has yet imposed these drastic measures, the company said in a statement.

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Chinas retaliatory move came the day after the Trump administration proposed 25% tariffs on more than 1,300 Chinese goods, including aircraft, propellers, turbojet engines and other aerospace parts. That U.S. tariff proposal could increase planes prices: U.S. aircraft builders have increasingly routed supply chains globally, including through China.

But China has been importing more aerospace and defense goods from the U.S. than the U.S. has been importing from China.

China imported $16.4 billion worth of American aerospace and defense goods last year, according to the Aerospace Industries Assn. trade group. The group said that China was the U.S. aerospace industrys largest export destination and that aerospace and defense represented 12.6% of total U.S. exports to China.

By contrast, U.S. aerospace and defense imports from China totaled $1.2 billion last year and largely consisted of aircraft and engine parts, according to the trade group. Goods from China represented about 2.1% of total U.S. aerospace and defense imports.

Analysts noted that China might be reminding the U.S. that it hasnt decided  yet  to put a tariff on all aircraft. The tariff it proposed Wednesday wouldnt cover the largest jetliners produced by Boeing, for example, but its move can be seen as a shot across the bow, said Todd Harrison, director of the aerospace security project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

If China widens its tariffs on aircraft, Boeing could be one of the hardest hit, analysts said. The companys largest commercial market is China, and about 1 in 4 Boeing planes is delivered to Chinese customers, according to a company video released in November.

Large builders of aircraft have increasingly developed global supply chains to manufacture parts in other countries, including China. Ray Jaworowski, senior aerospace analyst at Forecast International, said thats because of lower costs abroad or because the builders want to take advantage of work-share agreements  under which a U.S. company provides jobs in a country in hopes that the country will buy its aircraft.

U.S. tariffs on parts made in China could increase the costs of planes made with those parts, Harrison said.

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Trumps proposed tariff is going to make U.S. airplanes less competitive in the global market, he said. It does have the potential to adversely affect our own industry.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga

UPDATES:

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2 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from Boeing.

This article was originally published at 12:50 p.m.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before a House oversight panel on April 11 amid a privacy scandal that has roiled the social media giant, the panel announced Wednesday.

Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing will focus on the Facebooks use and protection of user data. Announcement of the hearing date comes as Facebook faces scrutiny over its data collection following allegations that the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica obtained data on tens of millions of Facebook users to try to influence elections. Walden is the committees Republican chairman, and Pallone is the panels top Democrat.

This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online, Walden and Pallone said.

Their committee is the first of three congressional panels that requested Zuckerbergs testimony to announce a hearing date. The Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees also have called for Zuckerberg to appear before them.

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Walden and Pallone said last month that they wanted to hear directly from Zuckerberg after senior Facebook executives failed to answers questions during a closed-door briefing with congressional staff about how Facebook and third-party developers use and protect consumer data.

Zuckerberg said during a March 21 interview on CNN that he would be happy to testify before Congress, but only if he was the right person to do that. He said there might be other Facebook officials better positioned to appear, depending on what Congress wanted to know. Walden and Pallone said a day later that as Facebooks top executive, Zuckerberg is indeed the right witness to provide answers to the American people.

Their call represented the first official request from a congressional oversight committee for Zuckerbergs appearance as lawmakers demanded that Facebook explain reports that Cambridge Analytica harvested the data of more than 50 million Facebook users.

The company, funded in part by billionaire financier Robert Mercer, a supporter of President Trump, paired its vault of consumer data with voter information. The Trump campaign paid the firm nearly $6 million during the 2016 election, although it has since distanced itself. Other Republican clients of Cambridge Analytica included Sen. Ted Cruzs failed presidential campaign and Ben Carson, the famed neurosurgeon who also ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016.

The data was gathered through a personality test app called This Is Your Digital Life that was downloaded by fewer than 200,000 people. But participants unknowingly gave researchers access to the profiles of their Facebook friends, allowing them to collect data from millions more users.

Its far from certain what action, if any, the GOP-led Congress and the Trump administration might take against Facebook, but the company will almost certainly oppose any efforts to more broadlyregulate it or the technology business sector.

As do most large corporations, Facebook has assembled a potent lobbying operation to advance its interests in Washington. The company spent just over $13 million on lobbying in 2017, with the bulk of the money spent on an in-house lobbying team thats stocked with former Republican and Democratic political aides, according to disclosure records filed with the House and Senate. The company sought to influence an array of matters including corporate tax issues and potential changes to government surveillance programs.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is requesting that the Federal Reserve Board of Governors hold a formal vote on whether to accept a plan from Wells Fargo & Co. to address consumer abuses.

In a letter to Fed Chairman Jerome H. Powell released Wednesday, Warren said it was important for Senate-confirmed central bank governors to vote on enforcement decisions so Congress and the public can hold them accountable.

For the record: An earlier version of this article reported that Warrens letter was sent Monday and released Tuesday and that a Fed spokesman acknowledged its receipt Tuesday. The letter was sent Tuesday and released Wednesday. The Fed spokesmans comments were made Wednesday.

In February, the Fed board voted unanimously to order Wells Fargo to cap its growth and improve its corporate governance in response to the banks unauthorized accounts scandal and other problems.

Given the breadth of the wrongdoing at Wells Fargo and the enormous number of consumers affected, the Feds governors  not its staff  should be responsible for determining whether Wells Fargo is complying with the consent order, Warren wrote in the letter she sent Powell on Tuesday.

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The Feds consent order sent a powerful message to Wells Fargo and other big banks that there could be real consequences  if they break the law, Warren wrote. The public deserves to see that the [Fed] board is strictly enforcing its order.

The Feb. 2 consent order requires Wells Fargos board of directors to submit a written plan within 60 days to improve its oversight and risk management. Because that plan is due this month, Warren asked Powell to respond to her request by April 19.

Warren, a leading critic of Wells Fargo, had questioned Powell about the Feds sanctions on the San Francisco-based bank during a March 1 Senate Banking Committee hearing. At the hearing, Warren objected when Powell said approval of Wells Fargos plan would be delegated to the staff in serious consultation with Fed board members.

Powell agreed to Warrens request to consider requiring a board vote on the plan. In the letter, Warren asked Powell to formally commit to such a vote.

Powell has received the letter and will respond to it, Fed spokesman David Skidmore said Wednesday.

The consent order prohibits Wells Fargo from increasing its total assets beyond $1.95 trillion, where they stood at the end of last year, until the Fed determines the bank sufficiently improves its governance and controls.

The move was the most serious regulatory action against Wells Fargo since it agreed in 2016 to pay $185 million to settle investigations by other regulators into the banks creation of millions of accounts for customers without their authorization.

The practice was first reported by the Los Angeles Times in 2013.

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Since then, Wells Fargo has admitted engaging in other questionable practices, including charging auto-loan customers for insurance they did not need and charging improper fees to mortgage borrowers.

Warren also asked in the letter for Powell to publicly release a third-party review that will be undertaken to determine if Wells Fargo is implementing its remediation plan. Powell said at the hearing he would see if that was possible.

Under questioning from Warren, Powell said that the growth cap would not be easily lifted, but that the bank would not have to fully implement its remediation plan before it was removed.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

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Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera

UPDATES:

11:05 a.m.: This article was updated with comment from a Fed spokesman.

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This article originally was published at 9:10 a.m.Matt Jarbo was playing video games Tuesday afternoon when he got a Twitter notification.

Someone had spotted tweets circulating with pictures of Jarbo falsely accusing him of being the active shooter inside YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif.

As the host of a news commentary channel on YouTube with more than 160,000 subscribers, Jarbo is no stranger to internet trolls. But making light of a tragedy inside a company that helped him build his career made him angry.

A woman is dead and people are injured, said Jarbo, whos based in Washington state. I get theres gallows humor on the internet, but I take what happened very personally.

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In whats become a troubling tradition after a mass shooting, conspiracy theories and hoaxes bounced across social media soon after gun violence erupted inside YouTubes sprawling campus.

The behavior follows a pattern, most recently displayed after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., last month. Innocent people were accused on Twitter of being the gunman. Students were accused of being crisis actors. And conspiracy theorists deemed the incident itself a hoax, or false flag, something thats further marred the aftermath of every major shooting, including at Sandy Hook Elementary.

On Tuesday, Twitter was flush with false accusations, much like those directed at Jarbo. Pictures of the purported shooter included women wearing head scarves, one of the earliest details spreading about what the assailant looked like.

Brittany Venti, a YouTube video creator, reposted several tweets that accused her of being the shooter.

LOL, she wrote in response to one tweet that appeared to show a picture of her.

Other tweets blamed the attack on people who have been repeatedly subjected to false accusations after a mass shooting, such as comedian Sam Hyde.

A YouTube employee whose tweets about the attack had attracted a wide audience was also the victim of the misinformation campaign. Vadim Lavrusik, a manager with over 40,000 Twitter followers, tweeted about being on lockdown with his co-workers and later that he had safely evacuated the campus shortly after 1 p.m.

Then his account was hacked. The hacker wrote, among other things, PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY FRIEND I LOST HIM IN THE SHOOTING, according to the Verge. The tweet reportedly linked to a photo of another popular YouTube video creator.

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Twitters chief executive, Jack Dorsey, tweeted that he would look into the hack.

In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Twitter said it was attempting to stop the spread of misinformation. The company said it would delete any tweets that placed people in imminent danger.

We are also aware of attempts by some people to deceive others with misinformation around this tragedy. We are tracking this and are taking action on anything that violates our rules, the company said.

david.pierson@latimes.com

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Follow me @dhpierson on TwitterI love the cheaper argument. I really do. That and "they will do the work Americans will not do". I just really do love that argument. It is so reminiscent of the good ole days. Those darkies have the temperament of the cotton fields. I dont have to insure them. I dont have to pay payroll tax for them. They can get a fake SS number and pay taxes, since the IRS is the biggest threat to actually do something. Never mind that would be called identity theft in any other situation. I could just really make a page out of how wrong your argument is. But, you are right. They do pay sales tax when they buy something and they often use a fake ss number to pay taxes.Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers have denied accusations that they stole the idea for their hit Netflix series from a short film by director Charlie Kessler, who has filed suit against them.

In a statement from their attorney Alex Kohner, Matt and Ross Duffer called Kesslers lawsuit completely meritless.

[Kessler] had no connection to the creation or development of Stranger Things,  said the statement. The Duffer Brothers have neither seen Mr. Kesslers short film nor discussed any project with him. This is just an attempt to profit from other peoples creativity and hard work.

Much of the first season of Stranger Things involved the strange events at a government laboratory and the disappearance of a young boy.

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Kessler alleges Stranger Things is based on his short film Montauk, which premiered at a film festival in 2012 and was meant as a teaser for a feature-length film, The Montauk Project. He said he shared the idea of the two films with the Duffer brothers during a Tribeca Film Festival party in 2014.

His film, set in New York, is about an abandoned military base called Camp Hero and a young boy, Michael, who is drawn to the military base by an unknown force.

An exhibit attached to the lawsuit describes the film: Michael walks to Camp Hero and stops at lifeless radar tower on the base... The radar tower suddenly lights up, the sky swirls with clouds, blue lights flash, and the boy disappears into thin air.

Kessler claims in the lawsuit that Stranger Things was originally sold to Netflix as The Montauk Project.

He argues that there was in implied-in-fact contract when he spoke to the Duffer brothers about his film at the 2014 party, and that they used the idea without permission or compensation.

After the massive success of Stranger Things ... Defendants have made huge sums of money by producing the series based on Plaintiffs Concepts, the lawsuit states.

Kessler is asking for an injunction ordering the Duffer brothers to stop using and destroy all materials related to his concepts. He also seeks restitution in the amount of benefits to the creators, lost profits and punitive damages.

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

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Twitter: @r_valejandraWith so many tasting rooms and breweries to visit in the Southland, its easy to get overwhelmed and just stick to your favorites. But you may be missing out on some of the areas hidden gems and up-and-coming destinations. Los Angeles County is on pace to pass 100 breweries in 2018, and the tide shows no sign of receding.

Here are two breweries on the east end of the county worth a visit:

Arrow Lodge Brewing

Arrow Lodge Brewing in Covina (John Verive )

Just around the corner from veteran operation Alosta Brewing, Arrow Lodge Brewing bucks the trend of austere brewery tasting rooms in drab industrial parks. An offshoot of the Bread and Barley restaurant group, the brewery may sit in a drab industrial park off Arrow Highway in Covina, but the tasting room is warm, welcoming and well appointed.

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The decor is frontier-chic with rough-hewn woods, an eye-catching chandelier made from antlers and even a trophy buck mounted above the pinball machines (more local breweries need these!). There are also a few televisions (showing Dodgers games) and a library of board games. Theres a narrow patio out front, but the beer is the best reason to visit.

Head brewer Amy Heller made wine in Napa before returning to her native Southern California, where she began brewing at the Congregation Ale House brewpub in Azusa. She helped design and build the brewery at Arrow Lodge, and now shes making a varied slate of brews, including trendy IPAs, a coffee-infused kolsch and a bold stout flavored with cacao nibs. A small-batch brewing setup (viewable from the tasting room) facilitates experimentation and recipe development, and Arrow Lodge has begun canning some brews made on the production system.

Recently the Clayton Kerhop IPA  made to mark the beginning of the Dodgers season  is a standout take on the modern IPA that blends the fruit aromas and drinkability of those ultra-trendy hazy IPAs with the classic bitterness of a West Coast-style IPA. Heller also has a way with fruit  her guava Berliner weisse from earlier this year showcased tropical funk in a bright and refreshing package, and the recent addition to the series of fruited sour wheat beers, the berry-fueled All Blue Chucks, layers pie-filling flavors over a tart base.

If Covina sounds like its too far to travel for just a brewery tasting room, why not pair a trip to Arrow Lodge with a stop at the Donut Man just three miles away. The iconic strawberry donuts are now in season and a great excuse to order a flight of beers and experiment with your doughnut-and-beer pairings. 720 E. Arrow Hwy, Unit C, Covina, (626) 498-0557, www.arrowlodgebrew.com.

Homage Brewing

Matthew Garcia uses a traditional Belgian lambic-basket to serve an oak-aged saison in the Homage Brewery Tasting room. (John Verive )

In downtown Pomona, about 10 miles southeast of Arrow Lodge, 2-year-old Homage Brewing is punching above its class with hype-worth hoppy beers alongside complex wood-aged fixed fermentation ales that often feature fruit additions. Co-founder and brewer Matthew Garcia got his beer industry start at the Yard House before moving over to manage the Congregation Ale House in Pasadena, and his brewery is a family affair. His wife, Lauren, handles the marketing and the tasting room.

Maybe the most Instagram-friendly tasting room in L.A., the space is bright and open and feels more like a third-wave coffeehouse than an upstart craft brewery (white walls, potted plants, minimalist design touches). Theres a small brewhouse and some stainless steel fermenters in the back of the room, but the real magic happens at the off-site barrel room where Garcia coaxes flavors from wood, microbes and fruit. The results are rustic and complex, and bottles sell quickly. Be sure to check the fridge opposite the bar for bottles that are available to go or for drinking on site.

Alongside the American styles (hoppy brews and IPA variations) are Belgian-influenced brews that pull from Trappist-inspired (a malty dubbel, a dry and spicy golden ale) to the more rustic (saisons and wild ales). The on-trend hazy IPAs have the juicy qualities  a soft mouthfeel and intense aromatics with less bitterness than traditional IPAs  that are the styles hallmarks, and fans line up when Homage releases cans of the hoppy beers. There is also homemade cold brew coffee available, making the tasting room the perfect spot to fuel up before a show at downtown Pomonas Fox Theater or the Glasshouse.

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Homage is quickly outgrowing its small downtown storefront. Garcia is working on an expansion location and hopes to open a production brewery and tasting room in Chinatown in 2019. 281 S. Thomas St. #101, Pomona, (909) 461-6962, www.homagebrewing.com.

food@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimesfoodOrganizers expect hundreds of thousands of people to attend events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. At 6:01 p.m.  the exact moment when King was shot  a bronze church bell perched on a scaffold above the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., where King was killed, will toll 39 times  once for each year of Kings life.

People carrying signs with the I Am A Man slogan from the 1968 sanitation workers strike gather for a rally on Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn., part of the observance of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Rick Musacchio / EPA / Shutterstock

People get ready to march in Memphis, Tenn., in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images

Marchers gather at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., to walk to a prayer service on the National Mall to mark the 50th anniversary of Kings assassination. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Milton A. Williams, left, pastor of Pennsylvania Avenue AME Zion Church in Baltimore, and Ruth LaToison Ifill join others at the A.C.T. to End Racism rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press

On Tuesday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson pauses on the balcony outside room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. It was the spot where he was standing when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 50 years ago. Joe Raedle / Getty Images

A member of the Atlanta Braves staff wears a patch marking the 50th anniversary of the death of civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. before a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Atlanta. John Bazemore / Associated PressZuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital has received 3 patients from YouTube shooting, spokesman says

Brent Andrew, a spokesman for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, told reporters Tuesday afternoon that the hospital had received three patients following a shooting at the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif.

The patients included: a 32-year-old woman in serious condition, a 27-year-old woman in fair condition and a 36-year-old man in critical condition.

We do not expect additional patients from this incident, Andrew said.

Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, said the patients were awake and aware of what happened.

This is a terrible day in the United States, when once again we have a multiple-casualty situation that has confronted us, Campbell said.

He did not provide details about the victims injuries, but said they had not undergone surgery as of Tuesday afternoon.

The San Bruno Police Department said in a statement Tuesday that four people were taken to local hospitals, three of whom had gunshot wounds.

Police received numerous 911 calls at 12:46 p.m. reporting gunfire at the YouTube campus at 901 Cherry Ave. and arrived on scene two minutes later.

Officers encountered one victim with an apparent gunshot wound to a lower extremity at the front of the building. At 12:53 p.m., officers searching the building found a deceased woman with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Police Department.

Two additional victims were located at a next-door business, police said.So will California soon see troops patrolling the border with Mexico?

Maybe.

President Trump on Tuesday said he hopes to send members of the military to guard the southwest border  an escalation in his push to reduce the number of immigrants coming to the U.S.

But without signoff from Congress or Gov. Jerry Brown, federal law will likely block the presidents plans, at least in California.

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The plan

Trump said he planned to meet with Gen. James N. Mattis, the Defense secretary, on Tuesday to discuss options for installing troops at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Mexican border is very unprotected by our laws, Trump said during a news conference with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We have horrible, horrible, and very unsafe laws in the United States.

The White House confirmed that Trumps strategy involves mobilizing the National Guard.

Trump said the military would remain at the border until his promised wall is completed. Though Congress has granted $1.6 billion in funding for new and replacement fencing along the border, Trump has not been able to get funding to build a wall fashioned after his prototypes in Otay Mesa.

Trump promises strong action to stiffen border laws 

Experts see obstacles

Everard Meade, director of the Trans Border Institute at University of San Diego, said the president will also have a difficult time installing troops at the border.

Theyve been using military metaphors and talking about invasions  in that sense, its not a surprise, but when you move from political rhetoric to actual policy, I dont see a legal way to actually do it, Meade said. The U.S. Armed Forces are far too professional and risk-averse and rule-bound to accept some vague cowboy mission down there. Thats just not what they do.

The Posse Comitatus Act, which passed after the Civil War to keep federal troops from policing the South, limits federal troops deployment on U.S. soil and forbids using them to enforce domestic laws.

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The president can deploy troops if theres an insurrection or invasion on U.S. soil. Congress later gave the military the ability to provide equipment and personnel for certain drug enforcement operations. The Coast Guard is exempt from the acts restrictions.

The estimated 1,200 migrants in the caravan would not count as an invasion, Meade said. Border Patrol has also apprehended significantly fewer unauthorized crossers since arrests peaked in 2000, according to data from the agency, which Meade said would also argue against sending military.

Can the National Guard move in?

Governors can deploy the National Guard in their states to respond to emergencies. Previous presidents have, with governor signoff, used the National Guard to supplement Border Patrol agents during hiring pushes.

Yet as California has taken a firm stance as a force of opposition to the Trump administrations immigration policies, Meade speculated that Californias governor would be unlikely to give Trump access to the California National Guard. The governors office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

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During George W. Bushs administration, in 2006, under Operation Jump Start, about 6,000 members of the National Guard from across the border region were sent to help Border Patrol agents. Because they werent allowed to work as law enforcement, they couldnt arrest anyone.

Instead, they worked in support roles like monitoring cameras and building and repairing roads and fencing. The operations goal was to allow more Border Patrol agents to work in enforcement roles at the border and give the agency time to hire and train 6,000 new recruits by 2008, according to Customs and Border Protection.

Between fiscal 2006 and 2008, Border Patrol staffing grew from 12,349 to 17,499, an increase of 5,150, according to data from CBP.

A growing border force

During the Obama administration, in 2010, under Operation Phalanx, about 1,200 members of the National Guard again mobilized to support agents while Border Patrol recruited more staff.

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From fiscal 2010 to 2011, the agency grew from 20,558 to 21,444, an increase of 886. The agencys staffing levels have decreased every year since then through fiscal 2017.

National Guard Bureau spokesman Master Sgt. W. Michael Houk said that his command doesnt have anything more to offer on this than what the White House is saying.

Both the Bush and Obama administrations communicated extensively with Mexico before deploying troops along the border. Mexico hasnt received information from the Trump administration yet.

We have formally requested a clarification on the presidents comments from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, Mexico Ambassador Geronimo Gutierrez said. We share the idea of having a secure border, but we do not always agree on how to achieve that goal. Mexico, naturally, will always act in accordance with our own interests.

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Terence Shigg, president of the local chapter of the Border Patrol union, said that past deployments of the National Guard to augment agents resources along the border with Mexico was helpful. Border Patrol is still having issues finding new recruits, he said.

He worried that if many from the migrant caravan arrive at San Diego ports of entry around the same time, that will flood an already clogged system that is running out of detention bed space. Because of increased arrests inside the U.S. and policies that require more immigrants to stay in detention for longer, some asylum seekers have waited for weeks in Mexico for the U.S. to have room to process them.

Other asylum seekers didnt want to wait and climbed the fence to turn themselves in to Border Patrol, he said. Then agents have to find room for them in detention or release them into the community.

We dont want that overflow to impact our operations, Shigg said. That puts a burden on our workforce, our resources, to do those things, when that is something that should be done at the port.

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Militarization of the border

Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committees U.S./Mexico Border Program, has criticized what he calls militarization of the border by Border Patrol agents. Adding actual military would make the situation that much worse, he said.

Already when people are driving through checkpoints that are operated by the Border Patrol, theres a sense that sometimes the 4th Amendment rights are not as strong or not as respected as they should be, Rios said. With the presence of any military personnel, I think it would make people feel less protected.

He worried that increased military presence could lead to unnecessary deaths. He cited the story of Esequiel Hernandez Jr., an 18-year-old who was tending his familys goats in May 1997 when a Marine sent from Camp Pendleton on a drug-surveillance mission at the border in west Texas fatally shot him.

Vicki Gaubeca, interim director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, said she found the presidents proposal extraordinarily alarming.

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We are not at war with Mexico, and our country is not facing a threat that warrants a military response at the border, Gaubeca said. The caravan of migrants traveling to the United States is made up of men, women and children seeking humanitarian and asylum assistance. Instead of talking about troops and walls, we should be focused on working with Mexico and other countries in the hemisphere to find a humanitarian response.

Jeff Schwilk, founder of San Diegans for Secure Borders, announced before the presidents proposal that he is organizing a civilian response to keep migrants from the caravan out of the U.S.

The illegal aliens and their open border supporters and handlers have overplayed their hands again with this stunt to test Americas border defenses and catch and release asylum policies, Schwilk said. If our federal government wont or cant stop this border anarchy, the American people will.

Schwilk was part of a group that, in 2014, blocked buses carrying Central American migrants to Murrieta.

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We (the people) stopped the buses in Murrieta, Calif., in 2014, and we will stop the caravan in 2018, Schwilk said.

Schwilk did not respond to questions about how his group planned to prevent migrants from requesting asylum  a process codified in U.S. and international law.

Morrissey writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.The Fountain Valley City Council on Tuesday overcame a reluctance to spend public funds on joining the growing Orange County movement against Californias so-called sanctuary immigration laws, voting to file a court brief supporting a federal lawsuit after Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) offered to foot the bill.

During a Tuesday night meeting, Councilwoman Cheryl Brothers said any action to fight the state laws would be purely symbolic.

Brothers said it cost the city $3,000 in legal time just to get the item on the agenda and that a brief would cost about $5,000 to $6,000 more. She said such an expenditure would be unwise, given Fountain Valleys recent tight budgets.

Mayor Pro Tem Steve Nagel said he opposes the sanctuary laws, but added, I also have made a pledge to the residents of Fountain Valley to only spend our money wisely. Im not sure if this is a wise move to get into lawsuits.

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Rohrabacher, however, appeared at the speakers microphone to try to persuade the council to do just that. If money is an issue, he said, he would help raise it or would donate some of his own funds.

Criminals that come here illegally do not deserve the type of protection that this law says, said Rohrabacher. On top of it, the Constitution of the United States has been established to protect ordinary Americans.

The sanctuary laws, which expand protections for people in the country illegally, include a mandate that in many cases prohibits state and local police agencies from notifying federal officials when immigrants in their custody who may be subject to deportation are about to be released.

The vocal crowd at the Fountain Valley meeting spent much of Tuesday night volleying one-liners, shushing one another and urging speakers to sit down after their allotted time was up.

With the offer to cover the citys lawyers fees, Jessica Runfola said, there was no longer an issue.

This is all about morals now and whats right, she said. Rule of law of our Constitution? Thats whats right. Thats what you guys need to be supporting.

But some sanctuary supporters referred to the anti-illegal immigration sentiment expressed at the meeting as racism.

After about three hours of discussion, Brothers moved to take no action. We cant resolve any of this issue here locally, she said.

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Mayor Michael Vo supported her, but council members Nagel, Larry Crandall and John Collins did not.

Crandall said he wanted the city to accept the offer of outside funding so Fountain Valley can go on record as supporting federal law.

The federal law trumps  supersedes  state law, and we dont have any other choice but to do that, Crandall said.

The council voted 3-2 to move forward.

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The city has until Friday to file.After years of uncertainty, the iconic Gladstones seafood restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu could be replaced with a new beachfront dining complex designed by Frank Gehry and operated by Wolfgang Puck.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors cleared the way Tuesday for the Department of Beaches and Harbors to begin negotiations with Puck and his team over development of two new restaurants at the site.

Puck, the celebrity chef who operates Spago in Beverly Hills and other restaurants, said he wants to transform the property into a destination for travelers as well as a neighborhood restaurant by combining casual dining with fine dining.

At the meeting, he showed drawings of the proposed complex.

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There will be two restaurants, one more casual for people who want to get food or ice cream and eat at the beach and one more upscale restaurant, Puck said in an interview after the vote. The location is so iconic that really for me its the last iconic place I will do.

In addition to Puck and Gehry, the renowned Los Angeles architect who designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall, three other groups submitted proposals in September to the Department of Beaches and Harbors to redevelop the 2.8-acre site.

Nicholas Buford and Gregory Plummer, partners of Crews  a food and beverage business  and whose proposal for the site came in second, criticized the selection process and accused the department of favoritism.

Buford and Plummer asked the supervisors to postpone the vote in order to look into their complaint. They also called on the Department of Beaches and Harbors to release the names of people on the independent reviewing committee.

The process was flawed and there must be transparency and consistency, Buford said. Its easy to be enamored by celebrities and lose fact of details. Releasing the names will allow us to sleep better at night to know there was no conflict of interest.

Tuesdays agreement is the first in a series of bureaucratic steps needed to complete the new development, which county officials estimate could take several years.

Once negotiations have been finalized and Puck has obtained a permit, Gladstones will be demolished and construction of the new building will start.

In the meantime, Gladstones, which has operated for 46 years and is owned by former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, will remain open for at least two more years.

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The Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 1 to authorize negotiations. Supervisor Kathryn Barger cast the lone dissenting vote, expressing concern about how the Department of Beaches and Harbors made its selection.

This is not a reflection on the recommended winner, but about the process, she said during the meeting.

Puck said he was surprised by the pushback.

I know we did our best job, he said. We have been operating restaurants for many years.

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The county holds a 50-year lease on the state-owned land where Gladstones has been in business since 1972.

Gladstones lease was up in 2016, and the county opted to find a new long-term operator after declining revenue and deteriorating facilities.

melissa.etehad@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @melissaetehadJennifer Jean Hart was driving the car that contained her wife Sarah Margaret Hart, and their six adopted children. The couple and at least three of their kids were killed after Jennifer drove off a cliff in Mendocino County, according to deputies. Their other three children were believed to be in the car, but they havent been located yet. California Highway Patrol investigators found no acceleration marks, tire friction marks or braking furrow marks at the scene, court documents stated. Investigators also said there was no evidence that the car collided with the embankment as it traversed towards the tidal zone below. Due to the California Highway Patrols investigation, it is their belief a felony has been committed, according to court documents.



Neighbors of the family told Fox12 earlier in the week that they had contacted Child Protective Services when one of the children, 15-year-old Devonte Hart, went to their house to beg for food for himself and his siblings. The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services released a statement on March 28 that confirmed a case on the family was opened on March 23 as the now-deceased children were identified as potential victims of alleged abuse or neglect.



A search warrant has been served at the deceased couples home on March 29 in connection with the investigation for items including travel itinerary, bank records, cell phone records, credit card billing statements, bank receipts, notes, journals, and possible suicide notes. No details have been released about the results of searching the familys home.A woman believed to be homeless died outside Los Angeles police headquarters Wednesday morning, authorities said.

The discovery created a small spectacle for onlookers as an officer attempted to revive the woman with CPR while paramedics headed to the scene about 9 a.m. People on social media commented on the incident as a symptom of the citys growing homeless crisis.

An officer at the scene told a Los Angeles Times reporter he believed the woman to be homeless and that she had gone into cardiac arrest.

The womans identity and an official cause of death have yet to be determined.

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The body was on the sidewalk between 2nd Street and a dog park next to police headquarters.

Los Angeles Fire spokesman Bryan Humphrey said paramedics were called to the scene after an officer spotted a person down at the small grassy area where many locals let their dogs play.

Witnesses said a police officer gave the woman CPR until paramedics arrived.

About an hour after the initial call, the womans body remained at the scene, covered in a white sheet and shielded by a white tent police had erected.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.Two people were killed and a third was wounded when gunfire broke out in North Long Beach early Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Long Beach police responding to a report of gunshots in the 5300 block of Orange Avenue around midnight Tuesday found three men who had been shot in the torso, according to Arantxa Chavarria, a public information officer for the Long Beach Police Department.

One man was pronounced dead at the scene and another died at a local hospital, Chavarria said. The third mans wounds were not considered life-threatening. None were identified.

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It was not immediately clear what led to the shooting, according to Chavarria, who could not immediately offer details on a motive or suspect.

james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.The 39-year-old woman who authorities say opened fire at YouTubes San Bruno, Calif., headquarters, wounding three people before killing herself, had recently been reported missing by her family in Southern California.

Mountain View police said they spotted the woman, who goes by Nasim Aghdam, asleep in a car in a city parking lot early Tuesday morning, hours before the shooting, and notified her family.

Our officers made contact with the woman after the license plate of her vehicle matched that of a missing person out of Southern California, Katie Nelson, a spokeswoman for the department, said via email. The woman confirmed her identity to us and answered subsequent questions.

Nelson said the woman did not indicate that she was a threat to herself or to others during her contact with police.

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Investigators initially believed the shooting was a domestic incident, with the shooter targeting someone who worked on the YouTube campus. But San Bruno police released a statement late Tuesday saying theres no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted.

The suspected shooter in todays YouTube incident has been identified. Please see press release for details - https://t.co/Xvr2l9bB9s pic.twitter.com/NEBoX3WWK5  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 4, 2018

One law enforcement source said the investigation is now looking into a website in which someone with a name similar to Aghdams complains about YouTube stifling traffic and suppressing videos.

About two weeks ago, Aghdam vented to her family that YouTube stopped compensating her for her videos, her father told the Bay Area News Group. He said the family had called police to report her missing Monday because she hadnt answered her phone for two days.

He said he had told police she might be going to YouTube because she hated the company.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek

UPDATES:

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12:45 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information from Mountain View police.

10:45 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from San Bruno police.

This article was originally published at 10:35 p.m.Actor Verne Troyer was hospitalized Monday night after concerned friends called police about his behavior.

A message posted to Troyers Instagram account Tuesday said Asking you to keep Verne in your thoughts and prayers. Hes getting the best care possible and resting comfortably. Appreciate the support from family, friends, and fans around the world. We will keep you updated here.

Property records indicate Troyer lives in the 8000 block of Teesdale Avenue in North Hollywood.

About 7:30 p.m. on Monday, a friend called police and said that the person who lived at that address was depressed and wanted the police to come check it out, said LAPD Sgt. Matthew Barrick.

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Officers arrived and about an hour later, they requested Los Angeles Fire paramedics for unspecified medical aid, an LAFD spokesman said.

About 15 minutes later one person was taken to the hospital, officials said. Questions on the persons condition were directed to the mental evaluation unit at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.The political crisis over homelessness in Orange County approached a crucial moment Tuesday as a federal judge raised the prospect of barring local governments from enforcing anti-camping ordinances if officials cannot create temporary shelters for hundreds being swept out of tent cities.

The county for weeks has been struggling to find locations to place the homeless after removing them from an encampment along the Santa Ana River. A plan to place temporary shelters in Irvine, Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach died amid loud protests from residents last week, and the problem is expected to get worse as officials move to clear out another tent city at the Santa Ana Civic Center.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter expressed frustration at the political stalemate during a hearing Tuesday. He said he could not decide where the shelters should go, but said he could prohibit cities from enforcing laws that ban people from camping in public spaces such as parks and river ways. Carter said that without those laws, Orange County communities could become magnets for homeless people.

In essence, the judge said Orange County cant have it both ways.

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We cant criminalize homeless by citing them in one location, and citing them in another location simply for being homeless, Carter said.

Carter is overseeing a case brought by homeless advocates trying to stop the removal of the homeless encampments. He stressed that the shelters dont have to be fancy, only that they be able to serve those who have nowhere else to live.

This doesnt have to be a nice thing, Carter said. It just has to be humane and dignified. That will probably get us through this crisis.

The countys two armories, which provide temporary shelter for up to 400 homeless individuals during the winter, are scheduled to close this month  adding a new layer of urgency as space is limited in other shelters throughout the county. Fullerton officials requested to keep the armory in their city open, but its not clear if that will happen.

Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Andrew Do said he is pessimistic about the county and city officials finding a solution unless Carter steps in.

At this point, I see us  the county  and the cities being at a standstill, Do said. With each passing day we betray our responsibility to care for all of our residents as required by law.

Residents in Irvine and other cities have said they dont want homeless shelters in their communities, which is the same argument made by neighborhoods along the Santa Ana River that prompted officials to clear out the camps in the first place.

But Carter said the situation has forced certain cities to take on a disproportionate burden. He singled out Santa Ana, home to the countys only major emergency shelter

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Santa Ana is being forced to absorb all of the homeless because theyre brought to this area for assessments and services, Carter said. Its disproportionate.

Data presented by Santa Ana during the hearing back up that claim.

Santa Anas homeless population has more than doubled in the last year  from 466 unsheltered in 2017 to 1,030 people, according to the results of a Saturday point-in-time count.

The data show that 52% of the population came to Santa Ana from other cities, according to city staff.

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The next hurdle facing leaders in Santa Ana is finding a place to house the more than 200 people camping in the Civic Centers Plaza of the Flags near the county superior courthouse. County officials have been working to connect people with services in the area.

Although law enforcement began clearing the encampment Monday, theres no set deadline for everyone to be gone.

Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez said its time for every city to do its fair share to get individuals off the street.

The nation is watching, she said. We need fairness for all.

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Carter proposed that leaders take a regional approach in which the county is broken up into three zones  north, central and south  each with an equal distribution of shelters and homeless services.

The idea is that each zone would be able to care for its own homeless population, lessening the burden on other regions. He pressed officials from cities in the south and west parts of the county to work with neighboring cities to come up with suitable locations for temporary shelters in their zones.

Do said the county would pledge $90 million for permanent supportive housing.

The Board of Supervisors last week moved away from its plan to have county staff study moving hundreds of homeless people to the temporary shelters in Huntington Beach, Laguna Niguel and Irvine after receiving significant pushback and threats of lawsuits from those communities.

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Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Shawn Nelson has suggested that the 114-acre, state-owned Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa be used as an emergency homeless shelter.

However, the Costa Mesa City Council last week voiced unanimous disapproval of the idea, supporting residents who said they were concerned that developing a shelter there would jeopardize public safety, reduce property values and unduly burden the city.

Mayors from south Orange County cities, including Irvine and Laguna Niguel, said they plan to discuss possible sites for a temporary shelter at a meeting on April 19. Some, including Irvine Mayor Donald Wagner, said they already have locations in mind, though they didnt provide specifics.

We have stepped up and we remain committed to stepping up, Wagner said.

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hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN

Fry writes for Times Community News.One of San Diegos most compelling and controversial death investigations took another turn Wednesday when a Superior Court jury determined that Rebecca Zahau didnt commit suicide at a Coronado mansion in 2011, and that her boyfriends brother is legally responsible for her death

The jury in the civil case found that Adam Shacknai must pay Zahaus family $5 million for the loss of her love and companionship, plus $167,000 for the loss of financial support she would have provided her mother and siblings.

The verdict rebukes the finding by the San Diego County Sheriffs Department that Zahau committed suicide, and supported her familys long contention that the 32-year-old surgical technician  imbued with a strong Christian faith  would never have taken her own life.

Immediately afterward, both the family lawyer, C. Keith Greer, and Zahaus sister, Mary Zahau-Loehners, called on Sheriff Bill Gore to reopen the case and investigate further.

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This has always been about getting the sheriff to reopen this, Greer said outside the courtroom minutes after the verdict. Adam Shacknai doesnt have money. This isnt about money. Its about getting the Sheriffs Department to open this up, do their job. This clearly isnt a suicide.

After the verdict, the jury was dismissed until Thursday, when there may be another hearing regarding punitive damages.

On a 9-3 vote, the jury found that Shacknai, 54, had battered Zahau before her death with the intent to harm her, and also found him liable for her wrongful death. In civil lawsuits, nine votes are sufficient to prevail; decisions in criminal cases must be unanimous.

Shacknai hung his head as the verdicts were being read.

An emotional Zahau-Loehners said outside court she was in shock and grateful for the jury. She also forcefully urged Gore to take a second look at her sisters death.

Hopefully people will know she didnt commit suicide and she was murdered, she said. And she doesnt deserve to be treated the way the Sheriffs Department treated her.

The department did not immediately respond to questions about whether Gore planned to heed the familys plea or comment on the verdict.

Zahaus mother and sister have long disputed the countys finding in 2011 that Zahaus death was a suicide. They also pointed to the unusual circumstances of her death. Zahaus nude body was found hanging from a balcony attached to a second-floor guest bedroom, her hands and feet were bound, and a cryptic message was scrawled on the bedroom door.

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The message read: She saved him can you save her.

County authorities said there was no evidence  no fingerprints or DNA belonging to anyone other than Zahau  indicating she was killed.

Greer argued that Shacknai battered his brothers girlfriend, hit her on the head, sexually assaulted and manually strangled her, then staged the hanging to look like she took her own life.

Why did Adam Shacknai brutally murder Rebecca Zahau? Greer asked Monday. Its one of the oldest reasons in the world  sex.

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He said Shacknai used the handle of a steak knife to sexually assault Zahau. Traces of her blood were on the handle. Greer called it a confrontation that went awry.

The attorney said Shacknai used black paint to scrawl the message on the bedroom door, a reference to an incident involving his brother Jonah Shacknais 6-year-old son, Max, who suffered a deadly fall at the mansion two days before Zahaus body was found.

Zahau was the only adult at the home when Max tumbled from a second-floor staircase landing. She tried CPR on the boy, while her younger sister called 911.

Jonah Shacknai, a multimillionaire pharmaceuticals tycoon, was at his sons bedside when he got a call informing him that his girlfriend Zahau was dead.

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The call came from his younger brother, who was staying in a guest house at the mansion.

Adam Shacknai has disputed having anything to do with her death, aside from finding Zahau hanging from the balcony on July 13, 2011, using a kitchen knife to cut the body down and then calling 911.

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com

Moran writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune

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UPDATES:

3:15 p.m.: This article has been updated with details throughout.

This article originally published at 12:10 p.m.President Trump has ordered the Pentagon to plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, but held off setting a date after his foreign policy advisors warned that a premature pullout from the multi-sided maelstrom could repeat U.S. mistakes in Iraq and give Russia and Iran even greater sway in the region.

The decision, reached at a White House meeting Tuesday, marked a compromise between Trump, who has publicly called for a rapid withdrawal of the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops now deployed in Syria, and senior Pentagon officials, who believe that Islamic State and its allies could regenerate and pose a new terrorist threat if U.S. forces leave too quickly.

The White House reignited the debate Wednesday, however, saying that the U.S. military mission in Syria is coming to a rapid end but that the administration remains committed to eliminating remaining Islamic State forces. The militants have been driven from most of the territory they once controlled in Iraq and Syria.

Pressed to explain, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump wants to focus on transitioning to local enforcement, but he is not going to [declare] an arbitrary timeline on when U.S. troops will be withdrawn. The Pentagon will determine when conditions have improved enough to permit a drawdown, she said.

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The policy tumult emerged as Turkey, a nominal U.S. ally and member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, hosted a summit in Ankara with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss the conflict in Syria. All three countries have troops fighting there.

In a joint statement after the meeting, the three countries lined up behind Syrian President Bashar Assads government in Damascus, which the U.S. opposes, saying they supported the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of the neighboring countries.

And in an apparent allusion to the eastern Syrian enclave controlled by the U.S. military and predominately Kurdish allies, the three leaders rejected efforts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism.

In a sign of the wars complex alliances, Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently threatened to attack U.S. forces who are supporting Syrian Kurdish guerrillas fighting Islamic State. Turkey considers the guerrillas to be allies of a Turkish terrorist group.

Trump, who has frequently insisted that he would not telegraph his military plans in advance, may find it difficult to convince Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and top military commanders to set a deadline for pulling out U.S. troops.

In 2008, President George W. Bush signed a status of forces agreement that called for all U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011. President Obama met that deadline  despite warnings from the Pentagon and critics that Iraq was still unstable  only to send them back in 2014 after Islamic State fighters swept into the country from Syria and appeared on the verge of capturing Baghdad.

With Iraq largely back in government hands by the end of 2016, Trump sent additional U.S. troops into Syria after he took office. But in recent briefings, he has repeatedly complained about not having a clear path to pull out of Syria once Islamic State  now mostly confined to several small pockets  is brought to heel.

That frustration came to a head this week after Trump received briefings about Islamic State losing nearly all of its Syrian territory and learned that Erdogan was hosting Russian and Iranian leaders to coordinate their actions in Syria, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

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Trumps public statements Tuesday about pulling out of Syria took his top military advisors by surprise  a pattern for Trump, who often floats decisions in public or on Twitter to goad officials into action.

I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation. We will have, as of three months ago, $7 trillion in the Middle East over the last 17 years. We get nothing  nothing out of it, nothing, he said during a news conference with three visiting Baltic state leaders. So its time. Its time.

A Brown University study estimates the actual costs of U.S. wars since 2001 is about $3.6 trillion, or about half what Trump says.

An April 3 photo shows U.S.-backed coalition forces driving in the northern Syrian town of Manbij. On the outskirts of Syrias Manbij, Kurdish-led fighters have dug trenches and U.S.-led coalition soldiers patrol from land and sky after Turkey threatened to overrun the city. (Delil Souleiman / AFP/Getty Images )

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In a White House meeting later Tuesday with Mattis, outgoing national security advisor H.R. McMaster and other top aides, Trump ordered his national security team to craft plans to pull out of Syria and to push Gulf Arab allies  including Saudi Arabia  to take over responsibility for rebuilding and providing security in the countrys east, perhaps by sending their own troops.

Senior national security officials have repeatedly warned that a precipitous U.S. withdrawal would open the door for Iran and Russia to expand influence in the region and leave longtime Kurdish allies more vulnerable to a brutal Turkish crackdown. It also would raise security concerns for Israel, which has called for stronger action to counter Irans presence and influence in Syria.

Some Trump advisors insisted he is attuned to those concerns.

Hes not going to pull out until he has a solution that wont cede the field to Russia and Iran, said Jim Hanson, the president of the Security Studies Group, a conservative think tank with close ties to the White House. It is drafting a plan for regional allies to assume peacekeeping and rebuilding duties in Syria.

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The White House is searching for a solution that will enable the U.S. to get out well, Hanson said.

One idea being floated is to convince the Gulf Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, a regional intergovernmental group, to send peacekeeping troops to Syria and pay the U.S. at least some of the costs of providing air cover and other logistical support. Saudi Arabia, the largest of the group, already is bogged down fighting Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen.

Trump spoke by phone Monday night with Saudi Arabias King Salman, and last month hosted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House. Its unclear if he convinced them to take a significantly larger role in Syria.

But Trump long has railed against U.S. nation-building efforts. Last week, the State Department froze a $200-million fund created to help stabilize Syria, reportedly after Trump learned about the fund in news accounts. The decision to freeze the money could be reversed, officials said.

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The gulf between Trump and some of his advisors was clear Tuesday when Gen. Joseph Votel, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, said in Washington that U.S. troops are required to defeat the last Islamic State strongholds in Syria and to help stabilize liberated areas.

The hard part I think is in front of us, Votel said at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a government-funded think tank. And that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, addressing the long-term issues of reconstruction and other things that will have to be done. And of course, there is a military role in this.

Moments later, Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy for the coalition to counter Islamic State, told the same group that U.S. military and diplomatic assets had successfully prevented clashes between Turkey and Syrian Kurdish forces, which would have expanded the war.

Its incredibly complex, McGurk said, but we have to work through this diplomatically with our NATO allies and reassure our partners on the ground.

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McGurk also insisted that the U.S. will remain in Syria to fight Islamic State. That is our mission, and the mission isnt over, and were going to complete that mission, he said.

The Syrian civil war erupted in 2011 and has left an estimated 400,000 people dead, according to United Nations estimates. In recent years, it has become a free-for-all of outside states trying to divide the spoils and expand influence in the Middle East.

A U.S. withdrawal would leave the U.S. with even less leverage  another argument some of Trumps advisors make for staying.

The small U.S. military contingent in northeastern Syria, mostly special operations troops and contractors, have been training local forces, removing hidden bombs, and trying to restore basic services in areas recaptured from the militants.

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The danger was driven home last week when a U.S. special operations soldier and a British commando were killed during a mission to kill or capture an Islamic State leader. Their vehicle was destroyed by a bomb.

White House officials said Trump will not be driven by arbitrary timelines to remove U.S. troops from Syria, arguing that doing so would only encourage Islamic State to resist.

But the decision to announce an expected pullout may produce the same result, making a withdrawal that much harder and persuading allies to contribute troops and funds even more difficult, experts said.

Special correspondent Umar Farooq contributed from Istanbul, Turkey.

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david.cloud@latimes.com

Twitter: @davidcloudLAT

brian.bennett@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByBrianBennett

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tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on TwitterThe hypnotist called himself the Rev. Xavier von Koss, and advertised courses in MASTER HYPNOTISM. He would probably be forgotten now, but his name appears briefly in investigators files on the death of Martin Luther King Jr., an accidental witness to history.

On Jan. 4, 1968, at his South Bay office, Von Koss met a man named Eric S. Galt.



For the record: An earlier version of this story said Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated four months to the day after James Earl Ray met with the Rev. Xavier von Koss. The Jan. 4, 1968, meeting occurred exactly three months before the assassination

Von Koss was one of the many gurus offering enlightenment to Southern Californians as the Southland was being torn apart and reknitted by the racial, political and spiritual upheaval of the 1960s.

Galt appeared to be one of Southern Californias many drifters, in search of personal reinvention. Von Koss $20 courses, as advertised in The Times, promised the Innermost Hidden Secrets of HYPNOTIC MIND-POWER.

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A hypnotist calling himself the Rev. Xavier von Koss took out this classified advertisement in the Dec. 10, 1968, issue of the Los Angeles Times. In January of that year, a man later revealed to be Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin, James Earl Ray, visited Von Koss office. (Los Angeles Times )

He told me he was considering taking a course in bartending. But when I emphasized that he must complete his course in bartending, that he must work hard, that he must go to night school, that he must construct a settled-down life, I could feel a wall rising between us, Von Koss recalled later to a journalist. I lost him. His mind moved far away from what I was saying to him.

The drifter left after a 45-minute session and never came back.

Three months later to the day, the man in Von Koss office  whose actual name was James Earl Ray  fatally shot King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. In time the world would know Ray as a small-time crook and racist and mistakenly associated him with the South, where he picked up a fake identity. He was from the Midwest.

But he also spent time in Southern California, a region that wasnt just a home to liberal attitudes and protests. Back then, far-right activism was on the rise too. Ray fit right in. Looking back on Rays time in Los Angeles shows a region where, 50 years ago, he could blend in  politically, demographically, culturally.

And if his time here did not reveal overt signs of his plot to kill King, his actions suggested a man who was preparing to be on the run and in the shadows. In Los Angeles, he found a place of reinvention that could help him shape a new identity.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sits with California Gov. Pat Brown at the L.A. Sports Arena on June 18, 1961. Gov. Brown introduced King for the crowd of 25,000. (Los Angeles Times )

RELATED: How MLKs death affected a nation, as told by those who remember it 

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Ray had arrived in Los Angeles on Nov. 19, 1967, by way of a circuitous and highly criminal route. The Illinois-born Ray was on the run from a state penitentiary in Missouri, where he had escaped serving a 20-year sentence for robbing a grocery store.

Ray first went to Illinois and to Canada, then to Birmingham, Ala., then to Mexico, and finally to Los Angeles, having picked up the alias Eric Galt along the way.

It was a return for Ray, of sorts. Los Angeles was the site of Rays first arrest, for burglary, in 1949, and he ended up serving 90 days in jail.

This time, Ray rented an apartment for $100 a month at 1535 N. Serrano Ave., a complex that still stands today, south of Hollywood Boulevard.

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The boulevard was less than reputable, filled with cheap shops, bars and some small movie houses playing what were then called girlie movies.

Ray was less than reputable himself. He entertained notions of going into the porn business; he had previously ordered sex books from Futura Books Inc. in Inglewood.

Now that he was an Angeleno, Ray, like many other Southern Californians, proceeded to embrace a program of self-reinvention. He first saw Mark O. Freeman, a clinical psychologist who specialized in hypnosis, hoping to overcome his shyness and to remember things better, though Freeman had another suspicion.

He had the old power idea of hypnotism, Freeman told investigators, according to Killing the Dream, an account of Kings assassination by Gerald Posner. That is, that you can go around looking people in the eye and can hypnotize them and make them do what you want them to do.

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Ray embarked on a dizzying array of self-improvement projects, signing up for dance lessons at the National Dance Studio in Long Beach and classes at the International School of Bartending at 2125 Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park.

While he was trying to get a job, and to learn to dance, and to tend bar, he consulted no fewer than eight different psychiatrists, hypnotists and Scientologists, trying to find relief from his depressions and feelings of inadequacy, the journalist William Bradford Huie wrote in his book on Ray, He Slew the Dreamer.

Huies assertion that Ray consulted with Scientologists during his time in Los Angeles  possibly drawn from Huies own correspondence with Ray, whom Huie paid for his account of Kings assassination  has received little attention by historians and investigators.

The Church of Scientology today denies any such encounter with Ray, and it contends that Huies checkbook methods tainted his journalism.

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We have no record of any previous contacts with this individual at any time and have seen no evidence supporting it in the past 50 years, the church said in a statement to The Times. One thing agreed upon by all of the biographers who have attempted to get into the mind of this person is that he has not told the truth about a great many things.

Ray also visited Dr. Russell Hadley to get plastic surgery for his nose, probably to avoid recognition by authorities. But, according to Huies account, Ray said that he told the doctor I was going to get a job [doing] T.V. commercials was why I wanted plastic surgery.

James Earl Ray in St. Louis, Mo., in 1959. (Associated Press )

On Jan. 21, 1968, Ray moved to Room 403 of St. Francis Hotel at 5533 Hollywood Blvd. One FBI special agent later called the area a racially integrated den of iniquity, alive with prostitution and drug trafficking, but noted that most of St. Francis residents were white.

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The bars in the area were racially integrated, and Ray got in a fight outside the Rabbits Foot Club at 5623 Hollywood Blvd. after having an argument in support of George Wallace, the Alabama governor and fervent segregationist.

Ray heatedly told one woman at the bar, Ill drop you off in Watts and well see if you like it there.

Rays arguments may have been out of place at the Rabbits Foot, but such sentiments had gained traction across the state, where far-right forces had grown energized.

The John Birch Society was one pillar of the right-wing insurgency. Ray had contacted the archconservative group when he was seeking information about immigrating to Rhodesia, an African nation ruled by whites in present-day Zimbabwe. He also contacted a chapter of the Friends of Rhodesia in Orange County, a hotbed of right-wing activism.

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Wallace was another pillar of Californias far-right insurgency, campaigning up and down the coast as part of his rogue 1968 presidential campaign. Wallace went on to win 7% of Californias votes.

Ray was a supporter. At one point, when his drinking friends wanted him to take them on a road trip to New Orleans, Ray required them to join Wallaces party first.

The implications of the right-wing insurgency  the signs of a white backlash  were not lost among civil rights activists. In a sermon at the Second Baptist Church in South Los Angeles on March 16, King said he saw the same hatred on the faces of Southern sheriffs as on those of John Birch Society members in California.

The next day, March 17, Ray left Los Angeles. Less than three weeks later, he killed King. Experts and journalists plumbed his psyche to see whether there was some motive more sophisticated than racism.

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Perhaps what was even more disturbing were the letters that poured in from Californians as Ray sat in jail, awaiting trial.

King stirred up violence and caused many to lose their lives, a supporter from Loma Linda wrote to Ray, according to letters Huie excerpted in an appendix to his book. The FBI classified him as a trouble-maker. If you killed King, you did a good job, for he had it coming to him.

RELATED: 1968: How a year of tumultuous events continues to shape our world 

Many people out here are in your corner rooting for you, a supporter from Goleta told Ray. We will send you money for cigarettes, candy and magazines. Were sure you will be acquitted.

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Ray had been arrested in London, which he was able to reach with a fake passport. From there he had hoped to go on to Rhodesia. He pleaded guilty to Kings murder and quickly recanted, but remained in prison the rest of his life.

His time in Southern California had one odd postscript. He graduated from the bartender school in March, and a photograph at his graduation shows him posing with the owner. He closed his eyes, as if to avoid being recognized by anyone who saw his picture.

matt.pearce@latimes.com

Matt Pearce is a national reporter for The Times. Follow him on Twitter at @mattdpearce.

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More national headlinesFor Cleophus Smith, who has labored as a sanitation worker in Memphis for half a century, it was important to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s death by marching a mile and a half in his honor.

Dressed nattily in a tweed jacket, blue tie and polished brown leather shoes, the 75-year-old Smith scoffed at those who urged him to ride in a golf cart.

I am thinking of the legacy Dr. King left for us to carry on, Smith said as he joined the crowd that filled downtown Memphis. Were determined to carry it forward.

That theme  of carrying on Kings work  was sounded at events across the country Wednesday, as thousands assembled to recall his death, celebrate his life and rekindle his struggle for economic and social justice.

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In an echo of Kings visit to Memphis in 1968, scores of men on Wednesday carried black-and-white signs identical to ones carried that year by striking sanitation workers: I AM A MAN.

Many who rallied outside the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local Union 1733 headquarters on Beale Street early Wednesday were sanitation workers whose strike for better working conditions inspired King to come to Memphis.

King was fatally wounded on April 4, 1968, as he stood on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel, which is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum. Jesse Jackson, the 76-year-old civil rights activist who is one of the last living witnesses of Kings assassination, stood on the balcony Wednesday.

The balcony does not have the last word, he said. We would not let one bullet kill a movement.

At the King Center in Atlanta, Bernice King, the slain civil rights leaders youngest daughter, said, Now more than ever before, we need his teachings, his principles, his steps of nonviolence.

The King Center presented its highest award, the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Prize, to social activist and lawyer Bryan Stevenson and Benjamin Ferencz, a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazis after World War II.

PHOTOS: A nation remembers Martin Luther King Jr. 

Among those who remembered King on Wednesday was Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who spoke in Indianapolis, where Sen. Robert F. Kennedy announced news of Kings death during a presidential campaign rally. I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight, Kennedy told the crowd that evening.

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A visitor pauses Wednesday at the Landmark for Peace Memorial, which commemorates the site where Sen. Robert F. Kennedy announced news of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in Indianapolis in 1968. (Michael Conroy / Associated Press )

I cried, Lewis said. I lost a friend. I lost a great brother. I lost my leader.

Lewis, addressing a crowd at the Landmark for Peace Memorial in Martin Luther King Jr. Park, added: If it hadnt been for Martin Luther King Jr., I dont know what would have happened to our nation.

RELATED: How MLKs death affected a nation, as told by those who remember it 

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President Trump, in a video posted on Twitter, celebrated Kings legacy. We rededicate ourselves to a glorious future where every American, from every walk of life, can live free from fear, liberated from hatred, and uplifted by boundless love for their fellow citizens, Trump said.

And while some celebrated the advances in civil rights over the last half-century, many said Kings work remained unfinished. At a silent march in Washington, participants wore green Act to End Racism shirts.

In Memphis, some who gathered Wednesday outside the Lorraine Motel clutched brown cardboard signs that said #ThingsAreNotOkay.

He died fighting, but everything is still the same, said Edith Ornelas, 32, an arts advocacy educator who moved to Memphis from Chicago a year and a half ago. So many people celebrate his legacy but ignore whats happening around them. We have poverty and homelessness, and immigration is the new slavery.

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The leaders of a parade of civil rights groups, such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Poor Peoples Campaign, were cheered as they spoke of the challenges that continue to afflict poor and black Americans: low wages, rising rents, healthcare costs and the suppression of voting rights.

The words of some elected officials, including Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, were drowned out by boos and chants.

50 years! a small huddle of young protesters chanted. No change!

For the sanitation workers, the rally and march in Memphis were a way to repay their debt to King.

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If it werent for King, wed still be on strike, said Elmore Nickleberry, who at age 86 is the citys longest-serving employee. After hauling garbage downtown for more than 60 years, he still drives a truck for the sanitation department.

RELATED: 1968: A timeline of anger, grief and change 

More than 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers went on strike in February 1968 after two garbage collectors, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death by a trucks malfunctioning compactor. Frustrated by years of shoddy treatment, black workers demanded better pay and benefits and safer working conditions.

King, who had just launched the Poor Peoples Campaign, tried to lead a peaceful march in Memphis on March 28, but it turned violent as a small group of protesters broke windows. In response, police wielded mace and tear gas.

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People gather at the Lorraine Motel, which is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum, on Wednesday in Memphis, Tenn. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images )

King returned to Memphis for another march in support of the sanitation workers. The bullet that killed him, fired by segregationist James Earl Ray, hit him in his lower right jaw, entered his neck and fractured his spine. Less than an hour later, he was pronounced dead.

RELATED: When James Earl Ray came to L.A., months before he killed Martin Luther King, he found a place where he fit in 

After the Memphis rally, a crowd of thousands of union workers, pastors, civil rights activists and students marched to the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ, where King delivered his final speech  Ive Been to the Mountaintop  the night before he was assassinated.

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A convoy of golf carts ferried elderly sanitation workers. The crowd chanted, We are the 99%, and sang the old civil rights anthem, Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round:

Im gonna keep on walkin

Keep on talkin

Marchin into freedom land.

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Many in the crowd recalled the shock of Kings assassination, even though they were too young to understand it back then.

I remember my father coming home and telling mom, They killed King, said Curtis McClendon, a 57-year-old street maintenance worker. I thought they were talking about a real king.

Marveling at the crowd around him, McClendon added, I dont know if Ill ever attend an event as significant as this in my lifetime.

Johnnie Mosley, 53, a librarian, said he marched for his father, John C. White, who worked for the citys sanitation department for more than 50 years and died in 2005. For him, I AM A MAN was more than a slogan.

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One of the things my dad taught me was to be happy to be the son of a garbage man, he said. It wasnt popular. People would make jokes about it. But my dad taught me every man had a dignity about himself, whatever his job.

RELATED: Maya Angelou would have turned 90 today. But for years, she didnt celebrate her birthday because of Martin Luther Kings death 

Many of the sanitation workers who attended the commemorations credited King with the significant improvements in their working conditions.

Fifty years ago, sanitation trucks were not equipped to lift trash bins and residents did not leave garbage at the curb. Sanitation workers had to haul 50-gallon drums through residents yards. Trash juice and maggots would fall down their backs. When they finished their shifts, they did not have access to shower facilities.

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It was hard, Nickleberry said. We couldnt ride the bus, we smelled so bad. But I had two kids and a wife, so I had to do it.

Less than two weeks after Kings death, the Memphis City Council voted to recognize the union and pay higher wages, and the strike was over. Workers, he said, were eventually equipped with better trucks, uniforms, shoes and raincoats.

That man came to our town and tried to fight for us and help us, Nickleberry said. I feel real bad he had to die.

The march and rally  organized by I AM 2018, a new movement by AFSCME and the Church of God in Christ to mobilize activists to fight for racial and economic justice  is part of a week of activities commemorating King across Memphis. On Tuesday evening, thousands packed the pews of Mason Temple, 50 years after King delivered his last speech from the pulpit.

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Like anybody, I would like to live a long life  longevity has its place, King said that night. But Im not concerned about that now. Ive seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.

Andrew Young, the civil rights leader and former Atlanta mayor who was on the balcony with King when the shot rang out, spoke of Kings enduring legacy.

Africans say, You aint dead until the people stop calling your name, he said. That bullet only released his spirit, and it released his spirit all over the world.

On Wednesday evening, a large crowd gathered at the National Civil Rights Museum and looked up at a bronze church bell on a scaffold. At 6:01 p.m., the moment King was shot, it began tolling 39 times  one for each year of Kings life.

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Then, much as news of his death spread around the world, bells rang out in downtown Memphis, in Washington, in Los Angeles. Even in Vatican City.

As the bell tolled, the museum crowd was quiet. A red and white wreath was fastened to the balcony and Jackson bowed his head, both hands clutching the railing.

Al Green launched into Take My Hand, Precious Lord, the song King had requested minutes before he was shot. All of a sudden, thousands moved. Friends held hands. Women raised their arms in the air. Almost everyone, it seemed, began to smile and draw together with loved ones.

Jarvie is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Michael Livingston in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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UPDATES:

4:45 p.m.: The article was updated to report the tolling of bells in Kings memory.

3:40 p.m.: The article was updated with comments from Jesse Jackson and Bernice King.

1:15 p.m.: The article was updated with additional details on the commemorative events in Memphis, Tenn.

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10:45 a.m.: The article was updated with a march in Washington, D.C., and comments from Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and President Trump.

The article was originally published at 6:55 a.m.A U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot was killed Wednesday while doing routine training maneuvers at Nellis Air Force Base, officials said.

The pilots identity was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Air Force officials said the pilots F-16 fighter plane went down about 10:30 a.m. on the Nevada Test and Training Range. The cause of the crash was not immediately known and the Accident Investigation Board of the Air Force was investigating.

In response to the crash, the Thunderbirds canceled their participation at this weekends Air & Space Expo at March Air Force Base in Riverside County. Officials at Nellis Air Force Base said it was unclear how the mishap would affect the Thunderbirds schedule for the remainder of the year. The team performs a heavy schedule, with 33 shows already set for 2018.

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According to the Thunderbirds website, eight of the 12 officers assigned to the team are experienced fighter pilots and six fly in air show demonstrations. Officers of the elite team serve two-year tour stints and, according to the website, three of the six demonstration pilots change each year to maintain smooth transitions within the team.

The Thunderbirds have been performing since 1953.

Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick, whose district includes Nellis, released a statement Wednesday night offering condolences to the family of the deceased pilot.

This is a tragic day for the Las Vegas community and the nation, she said. I urge the community to keep the Nellis family in your thoughts during this difficult time and to let service men and women know, now more than ever, that we appreciate their service.

Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-Nev.), whose district includes the base, said in a tweet that it was heartbreaking news.

This is heartbreaking. My thoughts and prayers are with the pilots loved ones and the entire @NellisAFB & @AFThunderbirds family. https://t.co/rm3KA8ASsG  Rep. Ruben J. Kihuen (@RepKihuen) April 5, 2018

Wednesdays crash marked the second military aircraft crash in recent days on American soil. On Tuesday, a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crashed during exercises along the U.S.-Mexico border in California. Four members of that flight crew were killed.

david.montero@latimes.com

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Twitter: @davemontero

UPDATES:

10:20 p.m.: This article has been updated with information about the pilot and the Thunderbirds.

This article was originally published at 2 p.m.Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Wednesday, April 4, and heres whats happening across California:

TOP STORIES

A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., shooting three people with a handgun before taking her own life and causing widespread panic in the technology hub south of San Francisco. Investigators initially believed the shooting was a domestic incident, but a law enforcement source said the investigation is now looking into a website in which someone with a similar name complains about YouTube stifling traffic and suppressing videos. Los Angeles Times

Before the shooting: The 39-year-old woman who authorities say opened fire had recently been reported missing by her family in Southern California. Mountain View police said they spotted the woman, who goes by Nasim Aghdam, asleep in a car in a city parking lot early Tuesday morning, hours before the shooting, and notified her family. Los Angeles Times

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And: The womans father says he told police she might be going to YouTube because she hated the company. Mercury News

Plus: In whats become a troubling tradition after a mass shooting, conspiracy theories and hoaxes bounced across social media soon after gun violence erupted on YouTubes campus. Los Angeles Times

Orange Countys homelessness crisis

The political crisis over homelessness in Orange County approached a critical moment Tuesday as a federal judge raised the prospect of barring local governments from enforcing anti-camping ordinances if officials cannot create temporary shelters for hundreds being swept out of tent cities. Los Angeles Times

Trump and the wall

President Trump called on Tuesday for using the military to guard the border with Mexico until his promised wall is built, highlighting his growing frustration as nationalist allies criticize him for failing to get Congress to fully fund construction. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we are going to be guarding our border with our military. Thats a big step, Trump said during a lunchtime meeting with leaders of three Baltic nations. Los Angeles Times

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L.A. STORIES

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History lesson: Fifty years ago today, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. A look at how his death affected a nation, as told by those who remember it. Los Angeles Times

Plus: Months earlier, his killer, James Earl Ray, had come to L.A. and found a place where he fit in. Los Angeles Times

Denied: A judge has overturned Los Angeles approval of a 27-story apartment tower in Koreatown, handing the city yet another defeat over its handling of real estate projects. Los Angeles Times

Its spreading: Defend Boyle Heights Nancy Meza has brought her anti-gentrification workshops to Chicago and New York. Residents from South Los Angeles to Orange County have asked for similar training. Capital & Main

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Woo! Good news for travelers who rely on the Metro Green Line to get to Los Angeles International Airport. Five stations that had been closed since late January resumed service Sunday, six days ahead of schedule. Los Angeles Times

IMMIGRATION AND THE BORDER

About that caravan: President Trumps threat to Honduras on Tuesday over migrants he claims are headed to the United States marks an about-face after his administration has sought close ties with the Central American nation, and illustrates how his impulsive tweets can send confusing signals to allies. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

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Big moves: The Federal Reserves top official on the West Coast has been chosen to head its powerful New York regional bank, a controversial choice because he helped regulate Wells Fargo & Co. during its fake-accounts scandal and is another white male at an institution critics complain sorely lacks diversity. Los Angeles Times

New committee: Matt Dababneh, the former Democratic assemblyman who resigned last year amid allegations of sexual misconduct, has opened a new fundraising committee that would enable him to tap into previously raised campaign cash. Los Angeles Times

RIP: Bonnie Reiss, who played a key role in crafting education and environmental policy for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, died Monday at her home in Malibu. Los Angeles Times

Big race: At a moment of extraordinary tension between California and President Trump, this state is moving to elect a governor in a changing of the guard that will test its outsize power as a national leader for Democrats in its fight against the White House. New York Times

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CRIME AND COURTS

Change might be coming: Flanked by civil rights advocates, California lawmakers announced new legislation designed to make it easier to prosecute police officers who kill civilians. Los Angeles Times

In court: A former legislative aide sued the California Senate and recently resigned Sen. Tony Mendoza on Tuesday, alleging she was wrongfully terminated in retaliation for complaining about Mendozas alleged sexual harassment of a young female staff member. Los Angeles Times

THE ENVIRONMENT

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Protect the whales! For decades, environmental rules that protect whales and other marine life from the noise of seismic survey blasts in the search for offshore oil have limited the location and frequency of these blasts  preventing oil companies from exploring, and therefore operating, off much of the nations coast. Now these safeguards are quietly being dismantled. Los Angeles Times

Ruh-roh: PG&E Corp. has been losing customers in Marin County north of San Francisco since 2010 to a new kind of rival, and says their growing popularity is costing the utilitys remaining customers, to the tune of $180 million last year. That could balloon to $500 million in the early 2020s, according to a statement Tuesday. Bloomberg

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Exciting! After their Academy Award-winning collaboration on The Shape of Water, Fox Searchlight Pictures and director Guillermo del Toro have signed a development deal that will include a new genre label to serve as a home for horror, sci-fi and fantasy projects. Los Angeles Times

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Feels like home: Shohei Ohtani, who singled in his first major league at-bat and won his first major league start as a pitcher, homered in his first-ever plate appearance at Angel Stadium. Los Angeles Times

Self-driving car deaths raise the question: Is society ready for us to take our hands off the wheel? Los Angeles Times

Yum: L.A.s wildest restaurant has Lebanese-Mexican roots and is big on Instagram. Eater LA

For sale: Ronald Reagan launched his political career at this Anaheim house, which is on the market for the first time in 60 years. Orange County Register

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CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles area: partly cloudy, 70, Wednesday and Thursday. San Diego: partly cloudy, 66, Wednesday and Thursday. San Francisco area: cloudy, 60, Wednesday and Thursday. Sacramento: partly cloudy, 73, Wednesday; partly cloudy, 70, Thursday. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

Todays California memory comes from Erwin Beach:

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Our family moved to Escondido from Mason, Mich., while I was in my sophomore year of high school. It was a major change, but one that I will cherish forever. While we only lived in California a little over a year, I remember my father working on Victor Matures house, as he was a builder. Another young boy and I worked planting iceplant in granite with the colors of red, white and blue at a local dentists home. Because I liked to walk, I ventured after school heading home. I did not know that the orange groves had deep canals for irrigation and got quite soaked and muddy by the time I crossed a large grove. I learned a good lesson at that time.

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Maryland law requiring police to collect DNA samples from people who had been arrested and charged with serious crimes  samples that could then be stored in a database and used to solve unrelated crimes. In a dissenting opinion, the late Justice Antonin Scalia accused the courts majority of undermining the 4th Amendments ban on searching a person for evidence of a crime when there is no basis for believing the person is guilty of the crime.

Critics of a similar California law hoped that the California Supreme Court, applying the state Constitutions separate ban on unreasonable seizures and searches, would show more respect for privacy and the presumption of innocence. On Monday, the court failed to do so  leaving in place a system in which an arrestees DNA can end up in a database in perpetuity even if he or she is ultimately not charged or acquitted.

This law allows police to conduct genetic fishing expeditions. The court should have struck it down.

By a 4-3 vote, the California court turned aside a challenge to Proposition 69, a measure enacted by the voters in 2004 that requires police to obtain a DNA sample from everyone arrested on suspicion of a felony  not just those who are ultimately found guilty. The court rejected the appeal of Mark Buza, who refused to submit to a DNA swab after he was arrested in San Francisco in 2009 on suspicion of arson. Buza was convicted of arson-related felonies, but also of the misdemeanor of refusing to supply his DNA.

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Writing for the majority, Justice Leondra R. Kruger said that the DNA law may raise additional constitutional questions that will require resolution in other cases. Still, this decision is a huge disappointment. It means that police will continue to be able to store and search the DNA profiles of tens of thousands of Californians who were arrested but never charged or convicted.

Some might ask: What is wrong with that? If the result is that an arrestees profile matches DNA found at the scene of an unsolved crime, why would that be a bad thing? Closing such cold cases, after all, is the real reason for laws such as this.

But does that justify lumping the innocent in with the guilty? Some cold cases would also be resolved if the police were able to compel every citizen  not just people who were arrested  to have the inside of their mouths swabbed for DNA. For instance, submitting to a cheek swab might be required of everyone applying for a drivers license or voting in an election.

Most Californians, we suspect, would protest against this idea even if it did lead to the identification and conviction of some criminals. They would argue, plausibly, that innocent people shouldnt be subjected to such an invasion of privacy.

But people who are arrested but not charged or convicted are also presumed innocent in the eyes of the law. Its one thing to subject people who have been found guilty of a crime to the violation of privacy that DNA collection entails, in the hope that their genetic profile will help solve some other crime. After all, people convicted of crimes forfeit much of the privacy (and liberty) that other citizens enjoy. But people who have been merely arrested shouldnt have to bear that burden.

Californias law recognizes this reality by providing a mechanism for people who have been arrested but not charged or convicted to petition for the removal of their DNA profile from the database. But, unlike the Maryland law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, Californias law doesnt provide for automatic destruction of the DNA sample if the arrestee is cleared of felony charges. In most cases, an exonerated person must file a written request for expungement. Thats outrageous.

Krugers opinion didnt resolve objections to the expungement process. A different plaintiff presumably could still challenge that process.

Even with its qualifications, Mondays decision leaves in place a system that Justice Goodwin Liu in his dissenting opinion called a biological dragnet that violates the California Constitution.

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The decision also could offer encouragement to those who want to make the dragnet even wider. For example, Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) has proposed that police collect the DNA of people convicted of (although not merely arrested on suspicion of) simple drug possession and other misdemeanors that could have been charged as felonies before voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014.Thats a bad idea.

DNA evidence has obviously been a boon for the investigation of crime. In some circumstances, police clearly should be able to obtain such evidence. For example, even in the absence of Proposition 69, a suspect accused of a rape could be served with a warrant based on probable cause requiring him to submit to a DNA test that might link him to that crime. But this law allows police to conduct genetic fishing expeditions. The court should have struck it down.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook.Like many pedestrians, Ive learned to treat Los Angeles streets as an obstacle course of distracted drivers. Rule No. 1: Make sure a vehicle is stopped or braking before stepping off the curb. But even that didnt save me at a corner near my West Hollywood home.

The approaching car was on my right, slowing for the stop sign ahead. I started across but midway I realized the drivers attention had drifted and her car was regaining speed, veering my way. It was too late to dodge it, so I threw myself onto the hood.

Startled, the young woman looked up from her smartphone. Texting. Of course. She braked and I rolled gingerly off her hood before she sped away. I was furious. Had I been older and less mobile, pushing a baby stroller, or preoccupied with a cellphone myself (another growing problem), her negligence might have been fatal.

Texting  the most common cause of distracted driving accidents  is fast becoming the new drunk driving. In 2015, the most recent year for which there are U.S. Department of Transportation statistics, distracted driving crashes caused 3,500 fatalities and close to 400,000 injuries. Teens are particularly at risk; they are four times more likely than older drivers to get into these accidents. One reason, according to safe driving experts: Young people, whove watched their parents and other adults routinely fiddle with various devices as they drive, downplay the risk.

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Teens are particularly at risk; they are four times more likely than older drivers to get into these accidents.

Our legal deterrents arent helping. California law bans all talking, texting, or any other use of handheld mobile phones while driving. (Making emergency calls is one of the few exceptions.) With assessments and fees, convicted drivers face a first-time ticket costing at least $159, with a second offense climbing to $279. Hardly pocket change, but far below the penalties for first-time adult DUI offenders, which include fines up to $1,000, plus a minimum four-month license suspension and up to six months in jail. (Those under 21 face similar fines, possible criminal charges, and a mandatory one-year license suspension.) A conviction for driving while using a cellphone doesnt even warrant a bump in insurance rates. That could change under Senate Bill 1030, introduced in February by state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Orange County), which would make it a one-point DMV violation that could cost drivers dearly when they renew their coverage.

Even so, enforcement of distracted driving laws seems spotty. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one-third of drivers between the ages of 18 and 64 read or send text or email messages while in traffic. From 2011 to 2015, the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration reported an increase of cellphone-related crashes from 50,000 to about 70,000. Yet here in California, according to the CHP, the number of citations issued declined slightly in recent years from a peak of 460,000 in 2011. Experts spread the blame: budget and staffing issues at policing agencies; increased use of car speakerphones (which free the hands but still cause distraction); and officers who are reluctant to ticket a violation thats difficult to prove in court  or for an activity many officers privately indulge in themselves.

After years of tough drunk-driving penalties and numerous public awareness campaigns, DUI-related deaths in the U.S. have declined by about a third, yet still number about 10,000 a year. Now consider the results of driving experiments conducted by Car and Driver magazine: Sober drivers who were texting or reading email took significantly longer to react to an alert than drivers with a blood alcohol content of .08, a common legal standard for intoxication. So in some situations, device-distracted driving is more dangerous than DUI. Yet in California, a driver who kills another person because of texting or talking on a handheld phone faces no more than a vehicular manslaughter charge  up to a year in jail, and possibly no jail time at all.

With the rate of smartphone ownership in the U.S. doubling from 2011 to 2018, one wonders how great the carnage will become. Will an organization as influential as Mothers Against Drunk Driving emerge to confront and stigmatize driving while intexticated? If not, what can bring about a meaningful cultural shift when millions of drivers are so addicted to their cellphones theyve become oblivious to their own safety, let alone the safety of others?

Sometimes, that irresponsible driver is someone youd least expect. Recently, I was stopped at a red light near the Santa Monica Pier. In the vehicle next to mine, the driver was riveted to his smartphone, grinning and chuckling at whatever was on his little screen. I dont know his name, but I do know where he works  the Santa Monica Police Department. He was in uniform, at the wheel of his patrol car, using a moment stopped in traffic to get his cellphone fix.

John Morgan Wilson is a veteran journalist and award-winning fiction writer.

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Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand FacebookPresident Trump, according to reporting in the Washington Post, is pleased to learn from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III that he is a subject, not a target of the Department of Justices investigations. Should the White House be celebrating?

First we need to get the terminology straight, and in this case, straight from the United States Attorneys Manual, which is getting more readership from the general public these days than it normally gets from federal prosecutors.

The labels refer to three categories for those who are asked, or summoned, to testify before a federal grand jury. A witness is someone who has useful information but no apparent involvement in a crime. A subject is a person whose conduct is within the scope of the grand jurys investigation  he is not uninvolved, but he is also not for certain involved in a crime. And a target is someone against whom there is substantial evidence, a person who in the judgment of the prosecutor, is a putative defendant. In other words, a target is likely to be charged.

Back to the president and the Mueller investigation.

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For most observers, there is plenty of evidence that could make Trump not just the subject but a target of an obstruction of justice investigation. It includes the contemporaneous notes of former FBI Director James B. Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe about Oval Office pressure to ease up on Russia-related investigations; Trumps apparent understanding that former national security advisor Michael Flynn had improper contacts with Russia; his shifting accounts of the reasons for his actions until he told NBCs Lester Holt it was about this Russia thing; his fury at Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions recusal from the matter; his many tweets raging at the probe.

The special counsel is maintaining an open mind with respect to Trumps guilt.

And that is just the publicly available evidence. Mueller may have much more from the testimony of Flynn and others, particularly from former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon.

But the Washington Post report suggests that Mueller isnt persuaded: He apparently told the president he wasnt a criminal target. How can that be? Has the special counsel gathered exculpatory evidence that we dont know about? Is there some flaw in the above catalog?

One hypothesis making the rounds focuses on the unusual nature of the probe itself. Justice Department policy precludes the indictment of a sitting president. Instead, Mueller will probably eventually issue a report to the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who will decide whether to make it public. That report could very well be the basis of an impeachment referral, but it wouldnt be an indictment per se. So Trump isnt a target because Mueller cant and wont charge him in criminal court.

This hypothesis, however, fails to take into account Muellers deserved reputation for integrity. Telling the president he isnt a target, but meaning it only in the most technical of ways, is squirrelly, and its inconsistent with Muellers straight-shooting character.

For anyone who knows Mueller, a better explanation is this: The special counsel is maintaining an open mind with respect to Trumps guilt, though to many on the outside of the investigation, the case against him is already overwhelming..

To prove obstruction of justice, you have to know the mental state of the defendant. Its a charge based particularly on intent, not just actions. This distinction would apply with special force in the case of a sitting president, who has broad constitutional authority to shut down a criminal investigation such as the Russia probe for any number of legitimate purposes.

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Mueller has yet to interview the president, he has yet to hear in detail what he and his lawyers have to say about the matter. If Trump or his lawyers can persuade Mueller (or, more precisely, create a reasonable doubt in his mind) that the president acted for any noncorrupt purpose  even a mistaken or puerile one  Mueller would have to stay his hand.

The news that Mueller does not consider Trump a criminal target probably best translates as follows: I have built a very strong case against you, including strong evidence that you acted corruptly, to safeguard your personal interests. But its conceivable that something else was in play, and you should be given a full opportunity to spell this out for me. Until you do, or until you turn down that opportunity, I am keeping an open mind and you are not a target, merely a subject of the investigation.

Trump is quite likely just a hairs breadth from target status. Moreover, its hard to imagine given the available evidence what cogent exculpatory account of his intent the president could actually provide. Muellers guidance that Trump is not a criminal target adds up to a glimmer of hope, but little cause for crowing in the Trump camp.

Harry Litman teaches constitutional law at UC San Diego. He is a former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general.

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Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand FacebookIts official: Donald Trump is presiding over the most chaotic White House in modern history  and the disorder is not only upending his presidency, its hurting Republican chances in Novembers congressional elections.

Last month, the Brookings Institution released statistics tracking the turmoil in Trumps Cabinet and staff. Since his inauguration, the study found, almost half of all top White House positions have changed hands, some more than once.

Trumps first-year turnover was about twice as great as what Ronald Reagan saw in 1981, three times as great as Barack Obamas in 2009. The president is already on his second chief of staff, his third national security advisor and, soon, his fifth communications director.

And theres more to come. Chief of Staff John F. Kelly is said to be on the way out, and Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt could be the fifth Cabinet officer to be fired. Trump has mused about having no chief of staff, or maybe four of them  innovations that seem unlikely to improve matters. His nominee as secretary of Veterans Affairs, the White House physician, has drawn criticism for lack of management experience.

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Meanwhile, dozens of top jobs still havent been filled  some because of Democratic resistance in Congress, but many because the administration hasnt nominated anybody.

Trumps inability to build more support is striking at a time when the economy has been growing and employment rising.

The chaos goes well beyond hiring and firing. Trump is governing impulsively, by tweet. Cabinet members, aides and lobbyists jockey to get on Fox News, knowing thats the best way to reach the presidents ear. Congressional leaders in both parties complain that they cant make a deal with the White House and know it will stick.

Ive never seen a White House as mismanaged as this one, a top advisor to an earlier Republican president told me last week. He didnt want to be named because he didnt want to provoke the ire of the president.

Its worse than Carter, worse than Clinton, said another former GOP White House aide, referring to the famously chaotic first years of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

The tumult makes great fodder for cable newscasts, of course. But it also has real consequences for federal policy, and for election-year politics, too.

The biggest impact is on what isnt getting done, the former White House aide said. Trump isnt getting his wall built. He isnt getting an infrastructure plan. He isnt getting people confirmed.

Republicans in Congress appear to be increasingly willing to cut their own deals on legislation, without looking for direction from the White House. The bipartisan spending bill Congress passed at the 11th hour last month increased military funding but didnt have much to do with the presidents agenda beyond that. He called the measure ridiculous and threatened to veto it but signed it anyway.

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Much of what Trump claims he has accomplished is getting lost in chaos, too. Hes announced a lot of deregulation, but that doesnt mean its actually getting done, noted Elaine Kamarck, a Brookings scholar. It takes a long time to get a new regulation done. If you dont have an assistant secretary [in the relevant agency] moving the process forward, its not going to happen.

The wheel-spinning has political consequences. Trump has held onto his base of support among conservative Republicans, but he hasnt grown it. His approval rating in public opinion polls has been stuck within a few points of 40% for more than a year. (The president crowed this week about hitting 50% in one conservative-leaning survey, but that was an outlier.)

Trumps inability to build more support is striking at a time when the economy has been growing and employment rising. Most presidents see their public standing climb when the economy does well. Trumps flat poll numbers amid a healthy economy are a remarkable negative achievement.

One reason for the presidents shortfall: Voters have noticed the chaos and dont like it. A CNN Poll last month found that only 40% gave Trump credit for managing the government effectively. (Still, thats better than the 36% who called him honest and trustworthy.)

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The presidents flagging poll numbers mean hes likely to be a serious drag on Republicans running in swing districts this fall, increasing the Democrats chances of taking control of the House of Representatives, and if the GOP loses in November, some Republicans will blame Trumps mismanagement.

That will be the most terrible consequence of the chaos, if it happens, the former White House aide said.

If Democrats win the House, that will make the presidents troubles far worse. Hell face a mountain of resistance to his remaining legislative agenda, more investigations of his administration and a move by some Democrats to launch impeachment hearings.

Within his own party, pressure will increase for candidates to challenge him in the presidential primaries. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake are already circling.

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When he ran for president, Trump promised that as a businessman, he would be a better manager than any conventional politician. I alone can fix it, he said.

But when it comes to the chaos in his own White House, the president hasnt done much fixing. He doesnt seem to know he has a problem, the former advisor said.

Managing the government well was one of Trumps core campaign promises, along with draining the swamp. Hes failed spectacularly at both  and, unfortunately for the GOP, most voters have noticed.

Doyle McManus is a contributing writer to Opinion. mcmanus.columns@gmail.com Twitter: @DoyleMcManus

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Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand FacebookTo the editor: Gina Haspels nomination to run the Central Intelligence Agency was on life support within hours of being announced when her home state senator, Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, announced his opposition. (After a CIA career in the shadows, Gina Haspel to face the spotlight of controversy, March 29)

He is opposing her because we already know more than enough about her record to disqualify her. Her supporters do not dispute that she ran a CIA site where detainees were tortured, nor do they dispute that she played a key role in destroying evidence CIA lawyers had ordered preserved.

Haspel has been amply rewarded for her service by becoming the deputy director. But, as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has said, being director is different. True, we dont know if Haspel opposed torture but just went along, or if she was a cheerleader for torture. But, really, which is worse?

Either disqualifies her to run the CIA for a president who vowed to bring back waterboarding and a helluva lot worse.

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Stephen Rickard, Washington

The writer is executive director of the Open Society Policy Center.

..

To the editor: In Haspels words, shes all about the mission. Were also told that she staunchly advocated destroying tapes portraying torture to prevent inflaming tensions in the Middle East or exposing officers if they were leaked.

I infer that Haspel considers policy decisions like this part of the CIAs mission. Are they? Take it from here, Senate confirmation hearings.

Brian Masson, Harbor City

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookTo the editor: Who will work the fields in California when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has rounded up all the immigrant laborers? (ICE arrests farmworkers, sparking fears in the Central Valley over immigrants and the economy, March 31)

Why, all those American citizens the Mexicans were taking jobs away from, of course! Scads of them!

But, wait, there arent scads of American citizens lining up to take these newly available jobs in the fields? I thought that was the whole argument behind deporting immigrant laborers.

It seems we cant get along without Mexican labor after all. Produce will rot in the fields, but at least Republicans are happy. Whats wrong with this picture?

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Barbara Carlton, El Cajon

..

To the editor: Our immigration system does not promote the greater good or even try to fix itself. Rather, it is focused on in terrorem front-page activities like ripping families apart and letting California crops rot as an object lesson to the state that President Trump hates.

Real immigration reform would allow for lawful hires where they are needed. ICE could pick up Central Valley workers, process noncriminals without papers, work with the growers to determine their exit and reentry dates and let them go back to work until their time is up. All work would be in accordance with wage and hour laws.

No matter how many people you deport or how many taxpayer-financed benefits the government tries to take away, gang bangers and purported welfare cheats from Los Angeles are not going to move to the Central Valley to do these jobs.

Sheridan West, Sherman Oaks

..

To the editor: What irony that the president bites the very hand of the voters who supported him in the Central Valley.

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Californias top three producing agricultural counties are Kern, Fresno and Tulare. Trump won the 2016 vote in Kern and Tulare, and it was very close in Fresno. Im pretty certain that it wasnt the undocumented immigrants who voted for Trump, so it must have been the good citizens who benefit from all of that production that supported the anti-immigrant candidate in his bid for the White House.

Do you suppose that all of those voters assumed that Trump meant he would get rid of undocumented immigrants, just not the ones they need to harvest all of their crops? What short-sighted stupidity.

Robert Zwissler, Manhattan Beach

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookTo the editor: Fifty-one years ago, I sat in Riverside Church in New York City and listened to Martin Luther King Jr. deliver one of the greatest and most important speeches in American history. (Martin Luther Kings death tore America apart. We still cant reckon with African American demands for justice, Opinion, April 1)

Despite opposition from all sectors of society, including some of his allies, King made an urgent plea to end the war in Vietnam.

The apostle of nonviolence realized that there was an intimate connection between the violence in Southeast Asia and violence against people of color. King paid an enormous price for his moral courage, and given the continuing racism and the American militarys involvement in conflicts throughout the world, his desire for justice remains unfulfilled.

Wayne Johnson, Santa Monica

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..

To the editor: I was a 14-year-old white teenager on April 4, 1968, when King was assassinated. There were folks in my family as well as acquaintances who appeared indifferent to the tragedy in Memphis, Tenn. There were others that were certainly not going to lose any sleep over Kings death.

Many white people thought of King as a rabble-rouser or, worse, a political radical. To question the white power structure was considered fundamentally un-American.

Sadly, 50 years later, not much has changed. The empirical data can be studied from the 2016 presidential election. According to CNN, 57% of white voters cast their ballots for the bigoted Donald Trump, who spent the Obama presidency promoting the birther lie. All other racial groups voted for Hilary Clinton by wide margins.

We have a long, long way to go on racial justice.

Bob Teigan, Santa Susana

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookAllies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook

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Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings  one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook

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Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook

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U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook

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Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook

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He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect  despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook

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Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram  which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal  claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook

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It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook

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New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook

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Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause.  #Georgia  Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook

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Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook

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Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook

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Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook

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Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution  something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm  U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush.



The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T  Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY  LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook

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Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook

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Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook

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Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook

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Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook

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James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump  as recently as Tuesday  continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along  that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right  to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook

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Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook

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Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook

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Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops  You really are our heroes, he said  as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water  we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook

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Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook

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Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see.  James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook

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Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes  he last won reelection by a 14-point margin  suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook

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Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook

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Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January  eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook

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Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook

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Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook

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Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook

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Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election  again, in blowout fashion  but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook

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Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook

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Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes  which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook

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Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook

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Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook

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GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10.  Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook

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Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook

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Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook

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Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook

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Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook

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CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook

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Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks  Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank  when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while  including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook

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Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook

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ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook

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Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters...  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook

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Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press  President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook

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Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there  the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day  and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event  a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook

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Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children  the older ones are 5 and 2  about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals  her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican  she the race felt mAmid ongoing warnings about underfunded public employee pension funds, more than a dozen California state lawmakers are augmenting their $107,242 salaries by collecting retirement payments from previous government jobs, a practice that taxpayer activists condemn as double dipping.

A string of reports in recent weeks have predicted greater financial challenges for state and local governments in meeting the financial obligations of public pension systems. At the same time, taxpayer advocates are critical of policies that allow public officials to receive a government pension check while taking a salary from a different agency.

The public never envisioned that kind of thing can be done, where you pile one check on top of another, said Jack Dean, vice president of the group California Pension Reform.

Most lawmakers receive an annual salary of $107,242 in addition to tax-free per diem payments that averaged about $39,000 last year. But they dont earn a pension for legislative service  voters approved a ballot measure in 1990 that stripped that benefit while also imposing legislative term limits.

Still, some lawmakers have retired from positions with cities, counties or the U.S. military that pay them a pension.

Assemblyman Tom Daly, (D-Anaheim). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Assemblyman Tom Daly (D-Anaheim)

Annual public pension for previous job: $85,000

Prior government service: After his election to the Assembly, Daly retired at 58 as county clerk-recorder for Orange County.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $192,200

Defenders of the payments include Assemblyman Tom Daly (D-Anaheim), who receives his legislative salary in addition to an annual pension of $85,000 for 20 years in local government, including as the county clerk-recorder of Orange County.

Daly, who also served as mayor of Anaheim, retired from his county clerk job in December 2012 at the age of 58, just weeks after he was elected to the Assembly.

After working two decades for the county, I earned a pension, said Daly, one of 14 lawmakers now collecting a pension in addition to their state paycheck.

A person receiving an earned pension should not have to surrender that benefit simply because the taxpayers in their community elect them to state legislative office, Daly added.

State Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Sen. John Moorlach:

(R-Costa Mesa)

Annual public pension from previous job: $83,827

Prior government service: Former Orange County treasurer and member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors with a total of about 19 years of county service.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $191,000

Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) supplements his legislative pay with $83,827 in yearly retirement payments from his time as Orange County treasurer and member of the county Board of Supervisors. He began drawing retirement at 59.

Moorlach said he took pay cuts when he left a private sector accounting job to be county treasurer, and again when he was elected to the Legislature in 2015. He could have made much more going back into the private sector but decided to serve the state as a lawmaker, he said.

I dont think I would have come up here [to Sacramento] if I didnt have the benefit of the retirement check, he said.

Most private sector employees dont get to retire early, and even then must make do with Social Security benefits or assets in a 401(k) investment plan. But some public sector workers, boosted by the clout of influential unions, have won more generous packages at the bargaining table with state and local governments. In some cases, union contracts allow firefighters and law enforcement officers to retire as early as age 50.

A study released last month by the League of California Cities warned that the pension costs of municipalities are increasing significantly and becoming unsustainable.

CalPERS most recent estimate is that it has unfunded liabilities of $140 billion, although others say that figure is much higher. Former Assemblyman Joe Nations California Pension Tracker estimates the uncovered debt at $247 billion.

The whole point of retirement pay is to pay former workers who are retired, said Nation, a professor at the Stanford Public Policy Program and director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

Nation said double dipping is wrong, but weve created a retirement system that permits and perhaps promotes it, so we should not be surprised that people take advantage of it.

Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove)

Annual public pension from previous job: $173,820

Prior government service: Cooper retired at 50 as a captain with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $281,000

Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) retired four years ago at 50 as a captain with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department after serving 30 years in law enforcement. Cooper, who collects an annual pension of $173,820 on top of his legislative pay, acknowledged that the pension systems face multiple challenges, including pressures from legislators to divest from the gun and oil industries.

I do not believe that early retirement is the leading cause of the unsustainability of our state pension system, he said. Individuals that work 25 to 30 years in any profession regardless of their age deserve the dignity to retire, and public safety personnel are no different.

Law enforcement unions have argued for earlier retirement ages than those for other government workers because of the physical and mental stresses of the job.

Public safety careers are inherently higher intensity and risk than other professions, and employees often start their careers earlier than others, subsequently earning retirement earlier, Cooper said.

Some taxpayer activists have proposed that Californias public pension funds adopt restrictions like those by the Social Security system, which reduces retirement pay if the person goes back to work and earns more than a small salary.

There should be some change made that says as long as you are employed, you have a job, maybe its as a state legislator, you dont collect your pension, you wait until you are at retirement age like the rest of us when we get Social Security, Dean said. There is just not enough money in the system to do it.

Nation said there are other factors, including contribution amounts by stakeholders, that play a much larger role in the financial strength of a pension fund than double dipping, which he estimated is taking place with only a small fraction of public pension recipients.

Those benefiting from the current system will make changing the pension laws very difficult, he said, but changes are absolutely essential if we want the systems to survive.

Other California legislators who double dip

State Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego)

Annual public pension for previous job: $30,000

Prior government service: Atkins served on the San Diego City Council before she was elected to the Legislature.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $153,700 (Atkins legislative salary as Senate leader is $123,326.)

State Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Sen. James Beall (D-San Jose)

Annual public pension from previous job: $41,844

Prior government service: Beall is a former member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and former urban planner for the cities of Santa Cruz and Los Gatos.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $149,000

Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica). Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica)

Annual public pension from previous job: $5,239

Prior government service: Bloom retired at 59 after serving on the Santa Monica City Council.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $112,400

Assemblyman Kansen Chu, (D-San Francisco). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Assemblyman Kansen Chu (D-San Jose)

Annual public pension from previous job: $18,276

Prior government service: Chu retired at 63 after serving on the San Jose City Council.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $125,500

State Sen. Bill Dodd, right, (D-Napa). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa)

Annual public pension for previous job: $27,700

Prior government service: Dodd retired at 58 from the Napa County Board of Supervisors.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $134,900

State Sen. Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield). Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times

Sen. Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield)

Annual public pension from previous job: $112,980

Prior government service: Fuller spent 30 years in public education and was superintendent of the Keppel Union School District.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $220,200

Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer, (D-Los Angeles). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles)

Annual public pension from previous job: $83,544

Prior government service: Jones-Sawyer worked for the city of Los Angeles in roles including director of asset management and assistant deputy mayor.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $190,700

Assemblyman Tom Lackey, (R-Palmdale). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Assemblyman Tom W. Lackey (R-Palmdale)

Annual public pension from previous job: $111,792

Prior government service: Lackey retired at 54 as a sergeant with the California Highway Patrol.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $219,000

Assemblyman Jose Medina, (D-Riverside). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Assemblyman Jose Medina (D-Riverside)

Annual public pension from previous job: $63,420

Prior government service: Medina retired at 59 after many years as a teacher with the Riverside Unified School District.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $170,600

State Sen. Richard Roth, (D-Riverside). Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside)

Annual public pension from previous job: $45,566

Prior government service: Roth is a former major general in the U.S. Air Force.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $152,800

Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego). Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego)

Annual public pension from previous job: $103,000

Prior government service: Weber taught at Cal State L.A. and Los Angeles City College. She was also a professor at San Diego State.

Total annual compensation (minus per diem): $210,200

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

Twitter: @mcgreevy99

UPDATES:

2:35 p.m. April 6: This article was updated with information on Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins pension.

This article was originally published at 12:05 a.m. April 4.President Trump and his administration have routinely dominated the news since taking office a little more than 14 months ago.

But the past 24-hours saw a gusher of Trump news, perhaps none as notable as his pledge to send troops to the U.S. border with Mexico.

MISSION: BORDER DUTY

Until we can have a wall and proper security, we are going to be guarding our border with our military. Thats a big step, Trump said during a lunchtime meeting on Tuesday with leaders of three Baltic nations.

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The announcement, which came without many details, was seen as a sign of his growing frustration as allies criticize him for failing to fully fund construction of a new border wall. And it comes on the heels of his Twitter critique of a caravan of Central American migrants.

Trumps threat to Honduras on Tuesday over the issue marked an about-face after his administration has sought close ties with the Central American nation, and illustrates how his tweets can send confusing signals to allies.

And that wasnt all on the topic of illegal immigration, as the Trump administration announced it will pressure U.S. immigration judges to process cases faster by establishing a quota system tied to their annual performance reviews.

TRADE WAR LOOMS

Meanwhile, the presidents administration on Tuesday escalated the brewing trade war with China by releasing a long list of imports that could soon be slapped with 25% tariffs. The move is likely to be met with retaliatory action from China and could further rattle stock markets and raise fears of higher consumer prices in China and the U.S.

While the stock market recovered by its close on Tuesday, one analyst said things will continue to bounce around as investors worry about changes in trade that could slow down the global economy.

TRUMP VS. CALIFORNIA, NO. 842

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If last weekends sparring wasnt enough, there were Mondays decisions by the Trump administration to hit California where it hurts on two fronts.

First, officials said they may revoke the states ability under the Clean Air Act to impose stricter standards than the federal government sets for vehicle emissions. The announcement came as the administration confirmed it is tearing up landmark fuel economy rules that formed a key part of the effort by the Obama administration and California officials to combat global warming.

Then, it was the Justice Departments turn, with a new lawsuit to block a state law that limits the federal governments ability to sell any of the 46 million acres it controls in California.

Both actions were panned by state leaders, with Gov. Jerry Brown calling the fuel efficiency decision a cynical and meretricious abuse of power.

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RUSSIA INVESTIGATION SENTENCING

A federal judge sentenced attorney Alex van der Zwaan to 30 days in prison and a $20,000 fine on Tuesday for lying to federal investigators in the Russia probe, making him the first defendant in the special counsel case to face sentencing.

Van der Zwaan pleaded guilty in February to lying about his conversations with Rick Gates, who was Trumps deputy campaign chairman in 2016, and an unnamed person who prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence.

By days end, a news report said that special counsel Robert Mueller III does not consider Trump a criminal target at this point.

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As always, well have the latest on our Essential Washington news feed.

NATIONAL POLITICS LIGHTNING ROUND

-- Trump asked a federal judge on Monday to order private arbitration in a case brought by adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with him.

-- Young people are one of the biggest untapped forces in U.S. politics. By next year, millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, are projected to outnumber baby boomers. But they go to the polls in staggeringly small numbers.

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-- The Supreme Court has shielded a police officer from being sued for shooting an Arizona woman in her front yard, again making it harder to bring legal action against officers who use excessive force  even against an innocent person.

-- The Federal Reserves top official on the West Coast has been chosen to head its powerful New York regional bank but is a controversial pick because he helped regulate Wells Fargo & Co. during its fake-accounts scandal.

-- The Kremlin said on Monday that Trump invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the White House when the two men spoke by phone last month.

-- The James Comey book tour tickets are hot  and expensive.

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MLK: 50 YEARS AGO TODAY

Around the nation and across the world, there are a number of events today honoring the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

The day is especially poignant in Memphis, Tenn., the city where King had come to support sanitation workers on strike in the spring of 1968. Memphis is a majority-black city and the most impoverished metropolitan area in the nation. Blacks in the city suffer disproportionately, with a median household income of about $31,000  barely more than half that of whites.

A MAJOR NEW CALIFORNIA BILL ON POLICE SHOOTINGS

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In the state Senate, tempers flared Monday as the chamber adjourned in memory of Stephon Clark, the black man shot to death by Sacramento police officers two weeks ago.

On Tuesday, state lawmakers announced a new bill that would make it easier to criminally charge police officers who have used deadly force against civilians.

The legislation from Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) would allow prosecutors to consider an officers actions before the use of force and whether they attempted to de-escalate a situation when deciding to file charges. Weber and other lawmakers said the bill would be the first of its kind in the country.

Police groups are lining up strongly against the measure. The head of the union representing Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies said that the bill provides an unworkable standard whose goal is to criminalize use of force by law enforcement.

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TODAYS ESSENTIALS

-- Los Angeles community college trustee Sydney Kamlager won a special election Tuesday for a West L.A. seat in the state Assembly.

-- Huntington Beach city leaders signed on to a lawsuit challenging Californias new sanctuary state law.

-- The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has dropped plans to push ahead with a two-tunnel proposal to revamp the states water delivery system, opting to pursue a scaled-back version instead.

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-- Former Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, who resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment last year, has opened a campaign account that could allow him to use previously raised funds if he chooses to run for office in the future.

-- A former aide to ex-state Sen. Tony Mendoza sued him and the California Senate alleging retaliation for whistleblowing.

-- State officials on Monday proposed expanding a task force that has gone after tax scofflaws operating in the underground economy in Los Angeles and Sacramento, saying California continues to lose billions of dollars in revenue from the illicit activity.

-- A federal judge said Tuesday that he could prohibit cities in Orange County from enforcing laws that ban people from camping in public spaces if they cant find a solution to shelter the homeless.

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-- Sen. Dianne Feinstein was among the California elected officials who took to social media to react to reports on Tuesday of a shooting at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno. Gun violence has defined the veteran lawmakers career.

-- Republican candidate for governor John Cox has a new radio ad criticizing Democratic rival Antonio Villaraigosa, an indication of where Cox believes his path lies in securing the second spot in the June 5 primary.

-- One of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggers most devoted and important advisers, Bonnie Reiss, died on Monday night. Reiss, a key voice on environmental and education issues, was 62.

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Essential Politics is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox.Flanked by civil rights advocates, California lawmakers announced new legislation Tuesday designed to make it easier to prosecute police officers who kill civilians.

We have been deeply saddened and frustrated by the killing of black and brown men by law enforcement, said Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), the bills author. It seems that the worst possible outcome is increasingly the only outcome that we experience.

The bill follows the Sacramento shooting of Stephon Clark, an unarmed, 22-year-old black man who was killed in his grandmothers backyard last month by police looking for a vandal in the neighborhood. Lawmakers described Clarks killing, and other instances in which officers shot black and Latino residents, as the impetus behind the legislation.

The Sacramento incident has sparked protests in the capital city, and Raj Manni, grandfather of Clarks children, attended Tuesday mornings news conference at the Capitol.

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Weber and other legislators supporting the bill described the measure as the most far-reaching in the country to allow for the prosecution of officers who kill civilians. Under current law, police use of deadly force must be objectively reasonable.

Webers bill would make two key changes. It says officers could use deadly force only if its necessary to prevent imminent and serious bodily injury or death, encouraging prosecutors to consider whether officers could have deescalated the situation with verbal warnings or used nonlethal force beforehand. It also would allow prosecutors to take into account an officers actions prior to a killing that could have negligently placed the officer in harms way.

Advocates pointed to the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland in 2014 as an example in which it might have been easier to charge officers under the proposed standard. In that case, Cleveland police responded to a 911 call mentioning someone who was pointing a gun outside a recreation center, and killed Rice, who was holding a pellet gun. Officers pulled up within feet of Rice and shot him less than two seconds after arriving. A grand jury declined to indict the officers, saying they reasonably feared for their safety.

Activist groups cheered the announcement of Webers bill Tuesday . Samuel Sinyangwe, co-founder of Campaign Zero, the policy arm of the Black Lives Matter movement, said no state currently takes into account officers actions leading up to killings when determining whether to prosecute. Just four states  Delaware, Iowa, Rhode Island and Tennessee  require officers to exhaust all other reasonable means before using deadly force, Sinyangwe said. Police killings in those states are 17% lower than the rest of the country, according to data compiled by Sinyangwes organization.

Its a huge deal, Sinyangwe said of the bill. Its probably the biggest thing that can be done to address police shootings is to address deadly force standards.

California Department of Justice will oversee investigation of Stephon Clark killing by Sacramento police 

Robert Weisberg, a Stanford law professor and co-director of the schools Criminal Justice Center, said it would be hard to tell how much the law might change prosecutors ability to charge officers or gain convictions. No officer, he said, is going to say that it wasnt necessary for them to use deadly force. And its unclear, he said, how much time prior to specific incidents that officer behavior could be scrutinized as part of a criminal case.

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Still, Weisberg said the bill would add pressure to prosecute police.

It is clearly a kind of admonition to the courts and to police officers that the ante is being upped, he said.

State senators condemn fatal police shooting of Stephon Clark 

Law enforcement organizations are expected to strongly oppose the legislation. Officer groups have long noted that police have to make split-second decisions to protect bystanders and their own safety, something courts must take into consideration when weighing the use of excessive force.

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Craig Lally, the president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing rank-and-file Los Angeles police officers, said in a statement that the bill ignores the dangers involved in policing and that LAPD training ensures that officers use deadly force only when its absolutely necessary.

If the bill becomes law, Lally said, it will either get cops killed or allow criminals to terrorize our streets unchecked.

Its one thing to criticize from your keyboard or from behind a microphone at a press conference; its another to actually work in the very real and dangerous world of policing, he said.

Ron Hernandez, the president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, had similarly strong words. He said in a statement that the measure would replace longstanding Supreme Court precedent with an unworkable standard whose goal is to criminalize use of force by law enforcement.

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When are police justified in using deadly force? 

Those at Tuesdays news conference, however, said that current policies must change. Activists called out the names of those they said were unnecessarily killed by police officers in recent years. Lawmakers also cited disparities in how police have used deadly force against black residents who turned out to be unarmed compared to other situations, including a 2015 incident in which police took into custody a white man who had killed nine attendees of a historically black church in South Carolina.

African Americans in this country and in the great state of California feel a target is on their back by police and the justice system, said Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), who is the chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus.

We should no longer be the target practice or victims of a shoot first, ask questions later police force, he added.

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Webers legislation, which has yet to be formally introduced, will be Assembly Bill 931.

Sacramento District Atty. Anne Marie Schubert has pledged a full investigation of the Clark killing before deciding whether to prosecute the officers involved. State Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra is assisting in that investigation, and also reviewing the Sacramento Police Departments internal use-of-force policies. Becerras office did not respond to a request for comment on the bill.

liam.dillon@latimes.com

@dillonliamActress Marion Ross has always had an interest to learn about the beginnings of her fellow actors and actresses in the movie and television industry.

Fans of her TV character, Mrs. Cunningham, can now read about Ross life on and off the camera in her new memoir, My Days: Happy and Otherwise, which was published by Kensington Publishing Corp. and went on sale last week.

Ross is currently promoting her book and will be visiting the Downtown Central Library in Glendale on Tuesday and the Barnes and Noble in Burbank on May 5.

When she was approached to write a memoir about herself, from her humble beginnings in Watertown, Minn. to her 11 seasons on the hit sitcom Happy Days, Ross initial answer was no.

Her ties to Burbank extend through the late Garry Marshall, who created and executive produced Happy Days. He was the founder of the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, and the facility was renamed after him last year.

Ross said her son, actor and comedian Jim Meskimen, brought over Burbank Leader columnist David Laurell to her house one day and told her that she was going to be writing a book.

I didnt want to write it at all, Ross said with a laugh. My son tells me, Youre going to write a book, mother, and I said, I dont think so.

Though she was hesitant at first, she came around to the idea, saying that she agreed to write the memoir because she liked the idea of being able to share her story about where she came from.

Being the middle child, Ross said she sought attention and wanted to perform in Broadway plays in New York. However, those plans did not come to fruition because she and her family moved from Minnesota to San Diego after World War II.

The Southern California city wasnt as bad as she thought it would be.

What they had in San Diego was the [Old] Globe theater, so I still had a theater, she said.

From there, Ross went on to appear in numerous films, such as Teachers Pet, Forever Female and The Glenn Miller Story.

She would later transition into television and landed the role of Marion Cunningham on Happy Days, in which she admitted that she and actor Tom Bosley, who played her husband, did not get along for the first four years of the show.

He didnt think I was good enough for him, I guess, Ross said. That was a tough period for me and a big learning curve, but I finally won him over and we became very close friends.

Ross said she started to get into the writing process for her book as she sifted through old photographs of herself when she was a movie actress in the 1950s to behind-the-scenes photos of her and the Happy Days cast.

She added that her memoir is not geared toward being a tell-all or inspirational book. If there was one message she wanted her readers to take away from her book, Ross said it would be that any dream is possible if you try.

I was raised to believe that you can be anything that you dream, she said. I didnt expect the brownies and the fairies to discover me.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpioLifelong Burbank resident Sandra Sandy Dennis made it her goal to make sure those in Burbank were well taken care of, and those around her believe she did just that.

Dennis, one of the co-founders of the second iteration of Burbank on Parade, passed away on March 16 at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center from complications due to hip surgery. She was 75 years old.



For the record: Sandy Hoopers last name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.

Her funeral service is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills. Her family asks that donations to the Providence St. Joseph Foundation and the Disney Cancer Center be made instead of flowers.

The Burbank Junior Chamber of Commerce put on the first Burbank on Parade in 1945.

The festivity was an annual event that was enjoyed by many residents each year, but it lasted only 12 years. However, Dennis decided to revive the event in 1981 to give the city a renewed sense of pride.

Sally Hooper, a close friend of Dennis and a co-founder of the parades reboot, said Dennis and her husband, Don, came over one night and told her that they were going to bring back the event and wanted to see if she and her husband wanted to be in on it.

It was her bright idea, and we said yes, Hooper said.

Bumps are to be expected when organizing an event that had not been held for decades, a sentiment which rang true for Dennis and Hooper during their first parade together in 1981.

Circus Vargas had been invited to participate in the parade and have its performers, and some of its animals, walk down the route.

Everything was going smoothly until the Circus Vargas performers decided to go down the parade route starting from the end of it, which did not bode well for the elephants at the beginning of the route.

When they got to our end, they were told to go back right away because the elephants were going to stampede, Hooper said.

They learned from their mistake, finished the parade and proceeded to organize many more parades over the years.

Burbank on Parade, for Sandy, meant hometown pride, said Hooper, who now lives in Indio.

We made a decision very early on to make it a hometown parade, where tiny tots can be in it. We didnt want it to become the Hollywood [Christmas] Parade or any of those. We wanted to keep it for Burbank, and that was very important to her, she added.

In addition to helping organize Burbank on Parade every year, Dennis spent more than 40 years working in real estate for Century 21 with another close friend, Renee Hoenig.

Hoenig, who now lives in Surprise, Ariz., said that Dennis was the person that everyone knew and loved, and she knew almost everyone in Burbank.

She was the epitome of Burbank, Hoenig said. She just represented everything that was good about Burbank. She loved the city and the people, and she put countless hours into the parade. She was the heart and soul of Burbank.

After nearly four decades, organizers announced in December an end to Burbank on Parade, citing rising costs associated with public safety.

Dennis is survived by her son, Michael, daughter-in-law, Marie, and her brothers Bill, Dave and Mike Hormuth.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpioAbout 400 eighth-grade students at John Muir Middle School compete in an annual speech competition each year.

Though there are only four winners  one from each of the eighth-grade English classes taught by four teachers  the creator of the event sees it as 400 students being better trained for their lives as adults.

Rod Rothacher, an eighth-grade English teacher at John Muir, started the competition in 2006 as a way to help his students improve their public speaking, which he believes is an important skill teens should have.

Hopefully, the kids use some of the skills that they picked up during the project, and they keep writing and speaking, he said. We have some fantastic speakers that I hope will continue speaking and using their voice.

The contest started with just classes taught by Rothacher, but it quickly blossomed into other classes. In addition to Rothachers classes, the competition involves the classes of eighth-grade English teachers Steven Moos, Mark Norberg and Justin Riner.

Now, its a full group effort, Rothacher said, adding that Noon Kiwanis Club of Burbank became involved about four years ago to help sponsor the event and hand out awards to winners.

I never intended it to get this big in the first place, Rothacher said. It just grew like a vine.

The winner from Riners classes was Lilyan Hawrylo, whose speech was about her being biracial and about identity itself.

Lilyan, who is African American and of Polish descent, said she wanted to convey in her speech that race does not matter and that people should put aside their racial differences, much like her parents did.

I think that, in the future, theres going to be more biracial people, so I hope that my speech helped others understand my perspective, she said.

Michelangelo Salazar, who was the winner in Norbergs classes, decided to base his speech on a less serious topic, which was trying to convince people that water is not wet.

He said he saw a video online about the topic and tried to see whether he could prove, or at least develop a compelling speech, to show the audience that he was right and that everything they have been taught was wrong.

Its really difficult to find reputable sources online about why water isnt wet, Michelangelo said. You have to think outside the box.

Trying to convince people that water isnt wet proved to be a difficult task, but Michelangelo said his teacher helped him put all his points together and gave him advice on how he should deliver the speech.

Though he is only in the eighth grade, Michelangelo said he understands the importance of learning how to speak in public and is thankful that John Muir has each eighth-grade class go through the speech project.

Everyone has to do public speaking at least once in their life, he said. Doing this in the eighth grade really helps for when we move on to high school, college and our jobs.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpioA majority of the Fountain Valley City Council overcame a reluctance to spend public funds on joining the growing Orange County movement against Californias so-called sanctuary immigration laws after U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher offered Tuesday to foot the bill for the city to file a court brief supporting a federal lawsuit targeting the laws.

Councilwoman Cheryl Brothers dissented in the 3-1 vote, saying any action would be purely symbolic. Mayor Michael Vo abstained after earlier supporting Brothers motion not to act.

Brothers said it cost the city $3,000 in legal time just to get the item on the agenda and that a brief would cost about $5,000 to $6,000 more. She said such an expenditure would be unwise given Fountain Valleys recent tight budgets.

Mayor Pro Tem Steve Nagel said hes against the sanctuary laws but initially supported a wait-and-see approach as the federal lawsuit proceeds. The case is pending.

Doing nothing conflicts with my beliefs, but I also have made a pledge to the residents of Fountain Valley to only spend our money wisely, Nagel said. Im not sure if this is a wise move to get into lawsuits.

Rohrabacher, however, appeared at the speakers podium to persuade the council to do just that. If money is an issue, he said, he would help raise it or would use some of his funds.

Criminals that come here illegally do not deserve the type of protection that this law says, said Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa). On top of it, the Constitution of the United States has been established to protect ordinary Americans.

Many in the standing-room-only crowd whooped and cheered, saying Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Dana.

The sanctuary laws, which expand protections for undocumented immigrants, include a mandate that in many cases prohibits state and local police agencies from notifying federal officials when immigrants in their custody who may be subject to deportation are about to be released.

The Los Alamitos City Council started an Orange County resistance in March when it passed an ordinance opting out of the laws. The county Board of Supervisors voted last week to join a Trump administration lawsuit that contends the laws obstruct federal immigration law. And on Monday, the Huntington Beach City Council voted to file its own lawsuit challenging the laws.

Supporters of Californias sanctuary immigration laws demonstrate at Tuesdays Fountain Valley City Council meeting. (Photo by Hillary Davis )

The vocal crowd at the Fountain Valley meeting spent much of the night volleying one-liners, shushing one another and urging speakers to sit down after their allotted time was up. About 50 people spoke and were split on whether the council should take legal action.

Dont be afraid, dont sit on the sidelines. Its your guys responsibility, Arely Posey said.

With the offer to cover the lawyers fees, there is no longer a money issue, Jessica Runfola said.

This is all about morals now and whats right, she said. Rule of law of our Constitution? Thats whats right. Thats what you guys need to be supporting.

Matt Taylor said he doesnt believe undocumented immigrants are harmful to society and said Fountain Valley shouldnt be enforcing federal immigration law or weighing in on a federal lawsuit.

I dont know why we are wasting this time and dividing our community over this when we dont really have any impact in the final legal decision that will be made, he said.

Some sanctuary supporters referred to anti-illegal immigrant sentiment expressed at the meeting as racism.

But Pamela Pauline of Santa Ana said, Im a little tired of being called a racist because I believe in the law.

After about three hours of discussion, Brothers moved to take no action. We cant resolve any of this issue here locally, she said.

Vo supported her, but council members Nagel, Larry Crandall and John Collins did not.

Crandall, who asked for the item to be placed on the agenda, said he wanted the city to accept the offer of outside funding so the city could go on record as supporting federal law.

The federal law trumps  supersedes  state law, and we dont have any other choice but to do that, Crandall said. We hear all the other noise in the background about people calling people racist  how disgusting that is.

Nagel and Collins supported Crandalls motion to file the brief, with Brothers opposed and Vo abstaining.

The city has until Friday to file.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHDLaguna Beach makes art look easy, but city officials learned over the last year that one form of art is actually quite difficult: poetry.

The official poet laureate program is wrapping up its inaugural year of activities with a literary festival on April 14, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Laguna Beach Library, led by the citys poet laureate Kate Buckley.

Known for her literary credentials and organizational skills, Buckley was a logical choice for the program  if not the only choice.

In addition to the festival, Buckley has had to organize workshops, readings and various community activities, plus do promotional efforts and, by the way, write a commemorative poem about Laguna Beach.

Buckley happily did all of that and more, but it was not easy. Public attendance was sometimes a challenge, despite having marquee names on the poetry roster.

Buckley, who probably is the most optimistic poet on the planet, admitted that Lagunans did not always show up.

I was saddened at how few residents took advantage of the program, she said. I was hoping to see more.

However, the last couple readings were standing room only at the LCAD gallery on Ocean Avenue. And Buckley believes the upcoming program will benefit from her foundational work.

In a telling change to this years search for a new poet laureate, the city widened the scope by calling it a literary laureate program, instead of just poetry.

The change is not completely surprising. Having a poet laureate is a bit like having an astronaut laureate. How many legitimate poets live in a small town of less than 25,000 people?

In Buckleys case, she was able to attract renowned veterans to participate.

People were beyond amazing, super generous, not only of their own time but their connections, she said. I was very vulnerable with them. I said, Heres our program, heres my vision. I dont have a budget. Can you just fly here to be a nice person, help out and Ill buy you a drink? Other than that, its really your generosity of spirit. And they did it. It was so cool.

For the literary festival, she tapped her prior contacts and asked them if they would come back for the finale. Most said yes. For a detailed agenda and bios visit lagunabeachlitfest.com.

Weve got people coming from all over California, Buckley said. I feel very confident in saying we are bringing the top poets and writers in the state of California to Laguna Beach.

Unlike painting, where Laguna has a long reputation for its plein air art, there is no real equivalent with poetry, which goes with the territory. Buckley blanched at the notion of having a poetry brand for Laguna.

There isnt one and I think it would be horrifying if there were, she said. Laguna is still, thankfully, a community of eclectic people with eclectic interests. From artist entrepreneurs to old-guard denizens to developers, we still have very different voices here, and I think ideally the poetry of Laguna would reflect different voices and different experiences.

This diversity and curiosity is part of the reason why Buckleys efforts over the last year focused largely on education, especially with groups that may not be exposed to poetry: children at the Boys & Girls Club, those with special needs at the Glennwood House, and others.

Buckley recalled one of her favorite moments when she was at the Boys & Girls Club. There was a young boy who was shy in class, but Buckley could tell he was really into it. English was not his first language.

I had a feeling this young man had something important to say. So I went over to him and asked him if he would be so kind to share his poem. I could tell he wanted to, but he didnt want to read it.

She offered to read it for him and he obliged.

So I read his poem. I almost couldnt get through it because I was so thrilled with this raw, untapped talent, and moved, so moved. It was absolutely brilliant.

Buckley followed up with the staff and put together a tailored reading list for the boy to help encourage him.

Seeing their eyes light up and have that aha moment with poetry is an amazing gift to me, she said. I enjoyed it immensely.

For the next round of poetry and literature in Laguna, the challenge will be to reach beyond the city and find a way to impact more Southern California residents.

While Buckleys poet laureate position will end, in many ways she feels the job is just beginning.

Poetry has so much to teach us, she said. It teaches us metaphor, it teaches us subtlety, it teaches us complexity and creativity, and it teaches us compassion because were viewing the world, just for a moment, through someone elses lens. I think thats something we could all use more of in these times.

Information about Lagunas literary festival

Laguna Beach is holding its first literary festival on Saturday, April 14 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Laguna Beach Public Library, 363 Glenneyre St., Laguna Beach.

Lagunas poet laureate Kate Buckley is organizing the free event, which will include readings, book signings, panels, craft talks and workshops. Several California poets and writers will be on hand including Francesca Bell, Noah Blaustein, Kate Buckley, Elena Karina Byrne, Grant Hier, Eric Morago, Victoria Patterson, Mary Jane White and Tom Zoellner, as well as Laguna Poets and Third Street Writers. For other details visit lagunabeachlitfest.com.

The Poet Laureate program is funded by the lodging establishments and City of Laguna Beach. The festival agenda includes:

11 to 11:30 a.m.: Childrens Poetry Circle (ages: 5 to 11) - Facilitator: Kate Buckley (Childrens Library Section).

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Craft talks, panels, readings and workshops.

11:30 to 11:55 a.m.: Eric Morago Reading/Q&A & Signing (Main Room).

12 to 12:25 p.m.: Victoria Patterson and Francesca Bell Author Panel (Main Room): Your Name in Lights: A Novelist and a Poet on How to Get Published  Tips, Tricks and Pitfalls to Avoid.

11:30 to 11:55 a.m.: Mary Jane White Workshop (Workshop Room): Translation  How To Begin: Collaboration. (A hands-on workshop on translating poetry for novices.)

12 to 12:25 p.m.: Elena Karina Byrne Craft Talk (Workshop Room): The Gorgeous Gamble: Using Risk and Surprise to Make Your Poetry Pay Off in a Big Way.

12:30 to 1:25 p.m.: Break for lunch. Laguna Beach has a bevy of restaurants suitable for different palates and price points walkable from the Laguna Beach Library.

1:30 to 2:55 p.m.: Craft talks, panels, readings and workshops.

1:30 to 2:25 p.m.: Tom Zoellner Workshop (Workshop Room): Writing the Landscape: Orange County as a Character in the Genres of Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction.

1:30 to 1:55 p.m.: Noah Blaustein Reading/Q&A & Signing (Main Room).

2 to 2:25 p.m.: Grant Hier Reading/Q&A & Signing (Main Room).

2:30 to 2:55 p.m.: She Says: A Reading/Q&A & Signing with Elena Karina Byrne, Kate Buckley and Francesca Bell (Main Room).

2:30 to 2:55 p.m.: Noah Blaustein and Grant Hier Craft Talk (Workshop Room): The Hard Work: Facing the Page, Overcoming Doubt and Making it New.

3 to 4 p.m.: Local Voices (Fiction and Poetry): Third Street Writers (3 to 3:30 p.m.: Coordinator, Rina Palumbo). Laguna Poets (3:30 to 4 p.m.: Coordinator, Mike Sprake).

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at hansen.dave@gmail.com.Good morning. Its Wednesday, April 4. Heres whats been happening around O.C.

Top story

CHOC now has O.C.s only mental health inpatient center for kids under 12

Childrens Hospital of Orange County recently celebrated completion of an 18-bed mental health facility, the only center in the county to offer inpatient services to kids younger than 12. The 12,000-square-foot center is being touted as a vital answer to the deficit of mental health care for children in the county. The center will begin admitting patients on April 17. TimesOC

Around the county

Audit finds accounting problems in wastewater authority

A state audit of the South Orange County Wastewater Authority, whose member agencies serve Laguna Beach, concluded that the authority has had inadequate accounting practices and continues to have unclear guidelines for pension obligations. Daily Pilot

OC Animal Cares new $35-million facility celebrates its opening

If OC Animal Cares old facility was like a roadside motel, its new $35-million campus in Tustin is a five-star resort. TimesOC

Politics

Huntington Beach prepares to sue the state over sanctuary laws

Huntington Beach plans to sue California and the state attorney general to challenge the legality of state mandates that expand protections for undocumented immigrants. Daily Pilot

Business & real estate

Owner denies Don the Beachcomber is about to close

A music promoter at Don the Beachcomber in Sunset Beach has taken his acts to other venues in the belief that the iconic tiki bar and concert venue is about to close. The restaurants owner, however, has denied that the Pacific Coast Highway institution is closing for good. Daily Pilot

Food

The Cauldron opens as a spooky-themed restaurant-bar

The themed artwork section at the Cauldron Spirits and Brews restaurant in Buena Park features striking representations of female protagonists, ranging from Hester Prynne of the The Scarlet Letter to the biblical Eve, holding a red apple. TimesOC

Life & arts

Jazz musician Branford Marsalis heads to Irvine Barclay Theatre

The Branford Marsalis Quartet will perform at 8 p.m. April 14 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre and Cheng Hall. Marsalis is one of the most prominent saxophonists in the country, claiming three Grammy Awards and working with the likes of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Herbie Hancock. TimesOC

South Coast Repertory unveils its 2018-19 season

Romance. Revenge. Mystery. Comedy. Theyre all theatrical elements in South Coast Repertorys 2018-19 season. TimesOC

Karen Pence and daughter Charlotte promote their childrens book

Second lady Karen Pence and daughter Charlotte Pence signed copies of their childrens book, Marlon Bundos A Day in the Life of the Vice President at the Richard M. Nixon Library and Presidential Museum. TimesOC

Opinion

Immigration detention in the U.S. denies basic human freedoms

Orange County is home to not one, but two, of these immigrant jails, where asylum seekers, legal permanent residents, victims of human trafficking and others are locked up, at times indefinitely, attorney Christina Fialho writes in an op-ed commentary. Daily Pilot

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.The western district of the Armenian General Benevolent Union  a nonprofit that promotes Armenian heritage through various programs  has for 20 years provided the mentorship program called GenNext, which serves at-risk Armenian youth in the Glendale area. However, since 2012, the organization was left without a physical space to call home.

That changed last week when, with the help of YWCA Glendale, GenNext opened its new Glendale site at 735 E. Lexington Drive, a 1,500-square-foot office space that will offer training workshops, after-school and college readiness programs as well as a place where mentors can meet with young people.

GenNext will also transition from a solely culturally based Armenian mentoring program to serve all youth from 11 to 19 years old.

Saro Ayvazians, the groups program director, began working at GenNext as a case manager in 2008. A few years later, he was promoted to his current role, and it was around that time the full-time staff dwindled from five to one.

Ayvazians kept GenNext afloat as case manager, program developer and coordinator as well as managing youth and mentor relationships  all at makeshift locations across the Glendale Unified School District when GenNext was without a lease.

It was really challenging to meet with mentors and our youth. There were so many programs we wanted to do, and were really grateful to the YWCA for giving us this space, something weve been trying to get for two years, Ayvazians said.

Tara Peterson, executive director of the Glendale YWCA, had initially offered a more completed and furnished space in the YWCA building, but Ayvazian opted for a much larger area in the basement, which required some major work.

Ayvazians said he had to remove trash, replace the carpet, remove huge air-conditioning vents that were not in use and sand down uneven concrete. It took him months working on his own before he let a professional handle the rest.

The location will continue to offer its main program of training volunteer mentors to connect with youth who may be experiencing difficulties at home or at work for monthly group activities and echo sessions, where young people are encouraged to talk openly about their lives.

Our goal is to increase their confidence and help them stay in touch with their respective culture and focus on their future career, Ayvazians said.

Mentors must be at least 19 years old and go to school or work full time. Theyre put through interviews, a background check and five to six hours of training.

Youth are generally referred by Glendale school officials and counselors with a goal of serving 60 young people annually. GenNext is also securing partnerships with various programs in Glendale such as Ark Family Center and the Glendale Youth Alliance.

I think its the natural evolution for a nonprofit, Ayvazians said about the expansion. For years, its been about protecting a community that was almost wiped out, but we cant build community with only a part. You need the support of all of those in the community.

jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLandaChef and restaurateur Costas Spiliadis of Estiatorio Milos in Las Vegas will offer traditional Greek fare for those celebrating Orthodox Easter on Sunday.

The holiday for members of the Greek Orthodox church comes later than the day observed by Western Christianity.

Estiatorio Milos at the Cosmopolitan will offer a four-course fixed-price meal in what he and his fellow Greeks call Pascha. It costs $75 and is served for lunch (11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and dinner (5 to 11 p.m.)

The meal begins with a variety of Greek spreads  htipiti (roasted red pepper and feta cheese), hummus and taramasalata (made with fish roe) included  served with toasted pita bread and raw vegetables.

The second course features magiritsa, a Greek soup traditionally served on Holy Saturday, and made from lamb offal and romaine lettuce.

Located at the Cosmopolitan, Estiatorio Milos is the Las Vegas outpost of chef Milos Spiliadis. Estiatorio Milos

The main course is slow-roasted lamb accompanied by lemon potatoes, served family-style.

Dessert will include tsoureki, a sweet bread prepared especially for Easter in Greece; holiday cookies known as koulourakia; and fresh fruit.

Reservations at Estiatorio Milos can be made online or by calling (702) 698-7930.

According to the Greek Reporter, Orthodox Easter falls on a different date from other Christian faiths because the Greek Orthodox Church uses a different calendar, the Julian calendar, and follows an early tenet of Christianity that requires Easter to take place after Passover.As big cities go, London is safe.

In a population of 8.8 million people, it had 130 homicides last year, far fewer than the 292 in New York, a slightly smaller metropolis that is among the safest big U.S. cities.

But a recent surge in London killings  many of them by stabbing  has sparked growing fears of violence there.

British media widely reported this week that things had gotten so bad that London  for the first time ever  was deadlier than New York. It had 15 homicides to New Yorks 11 in February, and 22 to its 21 in March.

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That was a little misleading. Through March this year, New York still had more homicides: 50 to 45.

And the narrowing gap between the two cities has as much to do with a decline in New York as it does with an increase in London.

In the early 1990s, New York had a reputation for being a lawless city where whole neighborhoods were branded no-go zones.

At its peak, there were more than 2,000 homicides in a single year. But that number has fallen steadily for a variety of reasons. The number of homicides per 100,000 people last year was 3.4.

By comparison, that number was 24 in Chicago, which has repeatedly been in the news for gun violence, and 67 in St. Louis, the deadliest major U.S. city.

It was 8.4 in Los Angeles and 111 in Los Cabos, Mexico, one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

In London, it was 1.5. If the killings continue at the current pace, that would rise to 2 for 2018  the highest its been in a decade.

That has sparked calls for urgent measures to address gangs, guns and knife crime.

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Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said swift action was needed to tackle the problem, including greater use of stop and search powers that had been curtailed amid concern that they disproportionately targeted minorities.

She is expected to travel across Britain and to New York to hear how other places have dealt with violent crime.

Rapper Jermaine Lawlor, a former London gang member, said he was not surprised by the rising homicide rate.

This is something that has been slowly, progressively increasingly, said Lawlor, 26, who has established a project called Voice4YouthAgainstViolence to offer mentoring and other training to disadvantaged young Londoners.

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He blamed the rise on cuts to education, youth activities and law enforcement.

People are feeling more desperate, people are not buying societys dream of having a pension to rely on when youre older, he said. Look at your average 9-to-5 worker. A drug dealer is making more than that in two or three hours, and its not going to change by anything other than education.

The recent spate of killings has occurred across a wide swath of neighborhoods. Most involve gangs and were done with knives, according to police.

Still, it was a gun killing that shook the city hardest this week: the drive-by shooting of 17-year-old girl whose name has still not been released by police. Londons Metropolitan Police said she was walking with a group of friends in the north London neighborhood of Tottenham.

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In a separate incident about the same time, in east London, a 16-year-old boy was shot. The boy has since died, according to the BBC.

Richard Wood, detective chief superintendent of the homicide and major crime command, said his officers were working hard to take more weapons off the street.

And London Mayor Sadiq Khan posted a video on Twitter directed at young Londoners, using the hashtag: #LondonNeedsYouAlive.

Dont risk your future by carrying a knife, he said.

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UPDATES:

2:52 p.m.: This article was updated to include the homicide rate in Los Angeles.

This article was originally published at 2:15 p.m.In a vote that lasted almost 11 hours and stretched from Wednesday afternoon into the early hours of Thursday morning, Brazils top court denied a request by former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that would have kept him out of prison while he continues to appeal a corruption conviction.

The last judge to vote was Supreme Court president Carmen Lucia, who broke the tie among the other 10 judges for a final count of 6-5.

Lulas possible imprisonment caused street protests and heightened tensions Wednesday as the countrys top court weighed his fate. The former president wants to occupy the office once more, and leads presidential preference polls.

The Supreme Court turned down Lulas petition that he be allowed to stay out of prison while he continues to appeal a conviction for corruption. The decision could reshape the presidential election and potentially throw Brazil into greater turmoil.

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Once wildly popular after his two terms as president from 2003 to 2011, Lula has become a more polarizing figure amid a massive corruption scandal that has left Brazilians frustrated with the political class.

Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a rally Monday in Rio de Janeiro. (Mauro Pimentel / AFP/Getty Images )

Earlier this month during a political tour of the country, Lulas caravan was the target of protests, and there were reports that one of the buses in the caravan was hit by gunfire. Yet he remains popular, and polls have shown he could win the presidency again.

Lula was convicted last July of accepting $1.2 million in bribes from contractor OAS, which prosecutors said was used to buy and renovate a luxury penthouse apartment in the seaside town of Guaruja. Prosecutors claimed that in return, Lula helped the construction firm win contracts with Petrobras, the state-run oil giant.

The former president was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a term that was increased to 12 years and 1 month when his conviction was upheld in January.

A banner in support of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the Esplanade of the Ministries in Brasilia, Brazil. (Eraldo Peres / Associated Press )

Lula has always maintained his innocence and contends that the case, as well as other corruption charges he faces, are politically motivated. While he continues to lead opinion polls in Octobers presidential election, with 37% in one recent survey, his conviction could disqualify him.

Brazils Clean Slate Law prohibits anyone who has had his mandate revoked from seeking elected office for eight years. That applies, for example, to those convicted by a panel of judges or someone who resigned office to avoid being impeached. Lula, whose conviction was unanimously upheld by a three-judge panel, would not be able to run for office again until hes 80.

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But that didnt stop his Workers Party from announcing in January that it would register Lula as its presidential candidate in August. He has since been on a pre-candidacy caravan campaign across the country.

Once Lula is a registered candidate, the electoral court will decide whether he is eligible to run. The deadline for the courts final decision on candidate eligibility is Sept. 17.

Langlois is a special correspondent

UPDATES:

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7:25 a.m., April 5: This article was updated with the Supreme Courts decision against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva early Thursday morning after several hours of debate.

This article was originally published on April 4, 1:20 p.m.Wilson Borough police on Wednesday morning released surveillance photos of a man they say shot another man during a dispute early Saturday morning at a gas station.

A 30-year-old man from the 1300 block of Ferry Street was wounded near the gas pumps, police said. He was released from an area hospital after being treated for an abdominal wound, police said.

Wilson Borough police say this man shot another man early in the morning of March 31, 2018, at the SquareOne Exxon at 15th and Northampton streets. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Abdus Muhammad, 33, of Easton, faces charges from an altercation in the minimarket about the same time at that address, but was not the shooter, police said.

At least one shot was fired about 3:25 a.m. during a dispute between two groups at the SquareOne Exxon at 15th and Northampton streets, police said.

Two people fled west on Northampton Street in what appeared to be a silver or tan, older Mercury with tinted windows, police said. Surveillance photos of the car were released on Tuesday.

Investigators asked anyone with information on the incident or if you recognize the man or the car to call police at 610-258-8542 or email Detective Jason Hillis at jhillis@wilsonborough.org.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.Shyheem Smith (Courtesy photo for lehighvalleylive.com)

An Easton man who was critically wounded by gunfire Monday night in Williams Township died late Tuesday morning while hospitalized, authorities said.

Shyheem Smith, 42, of Easton, was pronounced dead at 11:54 a.m. at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township, the Lehigh County Coroner's Office announced in a news release issued about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The coroner has not ruled on a cause and manner of death. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday. "In addition to our office, the death is being investigated by Pennsylvania State Police -- Belfast barracks," the news release says.

State police earlier Tuesday said Smith was a passenger in a car with two women in the 1100 block of Centre Street. A masked man in black clothes reportedly walked up to the car and opened fire.

Smith was driven to Easton Hospital, but was transferred to LVH. Easton Hospital alerted police of the shooting after he arrived there at 9:34 p.m. Monday.

State police initially labeled the shooting an attempted homicide.

State police were seeking a Range Rover in connection with the crime, and a dark Range Rover was located in the 1100 block of Northampton Street in Easton with a ski mask next to it.

Police had yet to publicly identify a suspect as of Tuesday night.

Smith had a criminal record and previously served time for drug dealing.

Anyone with information should call state police at the Belfast barracks at 610-759-6106.Officials have unveiled a plan to spend more than $534 million over the next four years on major transportation projects around the Lehigh Valley.

The draft Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP, for 2019 through 2022 was revealed Wednesday morning at the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study meeting.

The new plan earmarks $244 million for highway projects, $146 million for transit and $144 million for bridges. All told it is $76 million more than the last TIP, which ran 2017-2020.

That marks $110 million more for highway projects over the past TIP, and includes:

$65 million to reconstruct the Route 309 and Tilghman Street interchange in South Whitehall Township

$26 million for the continuing project to widen Route 22, completing the Lehigh River bridge by 2020 and working on the next phase to 15th Street

$18 million for reconstructing a portion of Route 100 in Upper Macungie Township.

The new TIP also offers $25 million more for bridges than the 2017-2020 TIP, and includes 50 specific bridge projects and four line items for various bridge repairs including:

$17 million to replace the Cementon Bridge over the Lehigh River in Whitehall Township and Northampton Borough

$12 million to finish the Coplay-Northampton bridge in 2020 in Coplay and Northampton Borough

$12 million to replace the Route 33 bridge over Bushkill Creek in Stockertown

$11 million fore preliminary work to replace the Hill to Hill Bridge in Bethlehem.

Inclusion on the list does not guarantee federal funding for the projects.

Read the entire 2019-2022 TIP here.

The plan will go through a 30-day public commenting period beginning April 23, before going to the transportation study for final approval in June.

The first public meeting is planned for noon May 2 in the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission conference room at 961 Marcon Blvd. in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

The second meeting is slated for 6:30 p.m. May 8 at the Bethlehem Area Public Library, 11 W. Church St. in the city.

The report is available for public review during a period that began May 29 and ends June 27. More information can be found on the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission website, which also includes a draft of the TIP itself.Until a wall is built, President Donald Trump said he intends to send troops to help patrol and protect the border with Mexico, to stem the flow of those crossing illegally.

Trump -- who made the border wall a campaign hallmark and promised Mexico would pay for it -- has been pressing Congress for the money to extend barriers on the southern border. Lawmakers mostly denied that request in a $1.3 trillion spending bill passed last month.

"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military. That's a big step," the president said Tuesday.

Troops have been assigned to border duties before. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama sent National Guard members to the Mexican border temporarily to assist border control agents and help build or repair barriers. Texas Gov. Rick Perry called out the National Guard 2014 to counter a surge of people moving north from Central America.

Federal law greatly limits the use of the military for domestic purposes. States may call out the National Guard -- and they pay for it. Within the U.S., troops at the direction of the president or Congress are restricted to playing backup roles to law enforcement or other personnel in emergencies.

What do you think? Have a say in our informal poll, and feel free to elaborate in the comments section.A fourth-grade project piqued Emily Gallant's interest in sea creatures. A senior class trip got her face-to-face with them.

The 17-year-old from Phillipsburg and a senior at an all-girls prep school in Somerset County spent nearly a week aiding ocean research in Belize last month, part of a class trip with 15 students and their adult chaperones.

"Not a lot of people get to see sea turtles or manatees in real life" outside an aquarium, Gallant said. "We got to see them in their natural habitat."

Belize Projx from Emily Gallant on Vimeo.

At the Purnell School in Pottersville, Gallant and the others chose the trip to Central America among other options, such as theater production or marketing class, offered in the school's "educational immersion program" during spring break. The chance to explore another country was one reason Gallant said she picked the trip.

The other was her affinity for sea turtles and manatees, which she credited to a class project in the Phillipsburg school system. Her fourth-grade class raised money for a program in which they "sponsored" a real sea turtle, naming it and getting to track it through a marine organization.

In Belize, she got to record sea turtle and manatee sightings while snorkeling, among other data-collection projects. With the EcoMar research station, the group measured and documented conch shells in protected areas, and examined the lionfish population, according to Gallant and a news release from her school.

The research will help shape local government policy and conservation efforts, the school said. The rest of the trip included lectures and experiences with local culture, including exploring Mayan ruins.

Gallant, who the school said will graduate this year with a diploma in specialized art, used an underwater camera to capture footage of the marine life and compiled clips into a video of the trip (which you can watch above).

"I never traveled outside the country before," she said. "I thought this was a great opportunity."

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.It took about 45 minutes and two tanks of helium to get the big red balloon air-worthy and aloft Saturday.

The idea was to show the height and location of New Jersey American Water's proposed 110-foot-high, 400,000-gallon water tower in Washington Township, Warren County.

"Up, up and away, can you see it?" neighboring landowner Randy Harrison said into his cellphone, talking to the owners of nearby Phantom Brook Farm.

The aesthetics of the tower are just one concern of neighbors of the site along Birchwood Avenue, east of Route 31 and south of Washington Borough. The site is on the edge of an old landfill, and residents fear what construction and the weight of the tower may stir up into the environment.

"When we first bought the property in 1964, my parents, there was constant discharge of colored water coming down at the bottom of that dump ... down in the valley," said Marilyn Heath, owner of Phantom Brook Farm on Washburn Avenue with her husband, Joe. "One day it was blue, one day it was green. It was yellow, red."

Phantom Brook Farm draws its name from an underground stream that runs through the valley just south of the site, and feeds into a tributary to the Musconetcong River. The Heaths rehabilitate horses and raise grass-fed beef cattle on their 10 acres. Harrison, the Heaths' friend, grows hay and raises livestock on 43 acres in the valley.

"My concern is, since this was at one time an industrial dump, what are they stirring up that's going to flow into my well and my livestock's well?" Harrison told lehighvalleylive.com at Saturday's balloon launch.

Township officials have been reviewing the tower proposal since November, and the land use board is scheduled to take it back up April 11. New Jersey American Water needs a use variance for the public utility project, permission to exceed the property's 35-foot height restriction by 75 feet, a variance to build closer to the road than the township allows and overall site approval.

Simliar to a tank off Brass Castle Road on Montana Mountain, it would be part of New Jersey American Water's system serving Washington Borough and Oxford, Washington, Franklin and Mansfield townships, said Bryan Slota, senior project engineer for the company.

The tank would be used for storage of groundwater for the company's service area, but the water would not be drawn from the tower site.

A massive fire in August 2006 at the Washington Antiques Center on East Washington Avenue in Washington stressed the system, as did fires in 2007 and two years later, water company officials told the land use board in November.

"The volume is there for everyday use but also is there for fire suppression," Slota said Saturday.

Washington Antiques Center on East Washington Avenue in Washington burns in August 2006. The fire stressed the area's water system, according to New Jersey American Water, which has been working to build a second water tower to serve the area. (Lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

The company began looking for a location for this second tank in 2006 and considered 33 sites before finding Birchwood Avenue "had better hydraulics," Slota told the board, according to meeting minutes.

"After exploring several locations for an elevated storage tank, we selected the proposed location as the most conducive to the fire storage capacity needs of the community," New Jersey American Water spokeswoman Denise Venuti Free said Tuesday. "We are committed to working with community members to create a safe, efficient construction process that is respectful of the neighborhood and achieves the goal of the project, which is to provide the community with increased fire protection for their safety, as well as improved water pressure for residents and businesses."

New Jersey American Water hopes to get project approval in May or June, she said. Construction would begin shortly thereafter, around January 2019. It would take about 10 months to put up the tower, and the company also proposes widening Birchwood Avenue to 16 feet, meeting minutes show. Footers for the tank would rest on bedrock, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has been involved in reviewing the proposal.

According to the meeting minutes from Feb. 14, "no landfill materials were found in the area of the proposed tank which included NJDEP onsite inspection." Water company geologist Matthew Lev continued: to say "the site was granted DEP approval for construction upon this area where no municipal waste found."

No soil testing was done in the "staging area" where the trucks gathered to dump into the landfill, "or any areas" south of the tower site where neighbors say dumping occurred.

"Mr. Lev stated that if any municipal waste was found during construction under the major disruption permit the material would be capped under 2 feet of clean soil or removed off site," the February meeting minutes show.

"New Jersey American Water is working with the NJ DEP on proper permits as well as proper handling protocols for landfill material that is found on the site within the limits of the construction area," Venuti Free, the spokeswoman, said Tuesday. "The landfill material itself is not deemed hazardous but still requires appropriate handling if disturbed. To this effect, we are working with an environmental consultant to establish these protocols and put monitoring in place during construction to mitigate any potential environmental concerns."

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency map of the Pohatcong Valley Groundwater Contamination Superfund Site. (Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com)

The site lies just east of the sprawling Pohatcong Valley Ground Water Contamination Superfund Site, itself a testament to lax manufacturing and waste-handling standards.

"When it became illegal to dump, they stopped dumping," said Marilyn Heath, from Phantom Brook Farm. "And gradually the colored water, whatever it was, ceased. Whatever was walled off there -- nature does a wonderful job of walling off to a certain extent what isn't supposed to be there -- now you're going to be putting up 3 million pounds of water up there."

"I'm not so concerned about the tower itself, the appearance," she added later. "It's what it might do to the farmland surrounding it."

From their home on the farm, the Heaths couldn't see the red balloon launched Saturday. Linda Magyar, on Birchwood Avenue, is a lot closer and said the effect on her view was what first alarmed her about the proposal.

"But then as I started to look at more and more of the area and what they are going to be putting into a legacy landfill," she said. "They have tested the area and there is verified contamination here."

Sara Armbrecht also fears what construction might unleash.

"My husband's lived here for 75 years," the Park Hill Road resident said. "They may say that there's nothing toxic dumped here, but from anybody that's lived here forever -- he's not the only one -- factories dumped here, car dealerships, body shops all dumped fuel and whatever here. Lots of chemicals.

"So my concern is more them disrupting the ground and what they're actually doing to the water and to the air."

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.Industries SCHWING Technologies is attending Indointertex 2018 with thermal cleaning systems

SCHWING expert Sunil Chalishajar. Photo: SCHWING Technologies

04.04.2018 17:51:40 - Indointertex, the international trade fair in Jakarta that takes place between April 4-7, 2018, will be all about the clothing and textile industry along with its machines and accessories. The cleaning expert SCHWING Technologies recommends its VACUCLEAN thermal vacuum pyrolysis system to remove adhering plastic waste with virtually no residue.



(live-PR.com) - Neukirchen-Vluyn, April 4, 2018. Indointertex, the international trade fair in Jakarta that takes place between April 4-7, 2018, will be all about the clothing and textile industry along with its machines and accessories.



The cleaning expert SCHWING Technologies recommends its VACUCLEAN thermal vacuum pyrolysis system to remove adhering plastic waste with virtually no residue.



At the PT. Jabar Mulia Engineering - Neukirchen-Vluyn, April 4, 2018. Indointertex, the international trade fair in Jakarta that takes place between April 4-7, 2018, will be all about the clothing and textile industry along with its machines and accessories.The cleaning expert SCHWING Technologies recommends its VACUCLEAN thermal vacuum pyrolysis system to remove adhering plastic waste with virtually no residue.At the PT. Jabar Mulia Engineering booth 105, SCHWING expert Sunil Chalishajar will inform visitors about fully automized solutions by the German technology leader that are energy-efficient and eco-friendly.



The systems are easy to install and remove waste plastic residues from tools and parts  reliably and gently. This includes spin packs or spinnerets as well as melt-blown dies up to six meters long. The benefits for the manufacturing clothing and textile industry include shorter machine downtimes and higher service lives of cleaned tools and machine parts.



Further Information:



VACUCLEAN thermal vacuum pyrolysis system

Depending on the system size, product to be cleaned and polymer VACUCLEAN removes organic adhesions within 8 to 30 hours without impacting the tools mechanically or thermally. The fully automatic cleaning process of VACUCLEAN takes place in an electrically heated vacuum cleaning chamber. The temperature is measured directly on the product to be cleaned, which is initially heated slowly and especially easy on the material; a large part of the adherent polymers already melts now and drains off. The disintegration of the remaining polymer takes place at approximately 450 C; the remaining carbon is finally removed by adding air (oxidation). A sophisticated sensor system controls the cleaning process preventing the development of excess temperatures at all times. Inorganic residues can be easily removed through after-treatment, e.g. with compressed air.



Through catalytic waste air cleaning VACUCLEAN produces clean air and clean waste water complying with official regulations. VACUCLEAN systems of model series 154f. may be set up and operated in Germany without an approval application because of their compact design and size. The especially precise and gentle cleaning quality of VACUCLEAN increases the life of tools and components and reduces interruptions in production.



SCHWING Technologies

SCHWING Technologies has been operating since 1969 and is the worldwide technological leader for high-temperature systems for thermal cleaning, thermo-chemical finishing and heat treatment of metal parts and tools. The owner-managed company constructs, manufactures and operates its systems at its headquarters in Neukirchen-Vluyn in Germany's Lower Rhine region. Built upon the achievements of German engineering, the medium-sized business is globally the best-known specialist in the removal of plastics. Among its around 2,500 international clients are companies from the plastics and fiber industries, as well as from the chemicals and automobile sectors. With its 80-strong personnel, the company is equipped with the tools and systems for any cleaning need and delivers the best economy, ecology and quality. SCHWING is also a reliable service partner for contract cleaning by cleaning more than 250,000 tools and parts each year to the highest environmental and qualitative standards. In the words of Ewald and Thomas Schwing, the two managing directors at SCHWING Technologies GmbH, So far, there has not been a single component that we have not been able to free from polymers and inorganic contaminants.

booth 105, SCHWING expert Sunil Chalishajar will inform visitors about fully automized solutions by the German technology leader that are energy-efficient and eco-friendly.The systems are easy to install and remove waste plastic residues from tools and parts  reliably and gently. This includes spin packs or spinnerets as well as melt-blown dies up to six meters long. The benefits for the manufacturing clothing and textile industry include shorter machine downtimes and higher service lives of cleaned tools and machine parts.Further Information: www.thermische-reinigung.de/en/schwing-thermal-cleaning-systems-accessories/vacuum-pyrolysis-systems.html VACUCLEAN thermal vacuum pyrolysis systemDepending on the system size, product to be cleaned and polymer VACUCLEAN removes organic adhesions within 8 to 30 hours without impacting the tools mechanically or thermally. The fully automatic cleaning process of VACUCLEAN takes place in an electrically heated vacuum cleaning chamber. The temperature is measured directly on the product to be cleaned, which is initially heated slowly and especially easy on the material; a large part of the adherent polymers already melts now and drains off. The disintegration of the remaining polymer takes place at approximately 450 C; the remaining carbon is finally removed by adding air (oxidation). A sophisticated sensor system controls the cleaning process preventing the development of excess temperatures at all times. Inorganic residues can be easily removed through after-treatment, e.g. with compressed air.Through catalytic waste air cleaning VACUCLEAN produces clean air and clean waste water complying with official regulations. VACUCLEAN systems of model series 154f. may be set up and operated in Germany without an approval application because of their compact design and size. The especially precise and gentle cleaning quality of VACUCLEAN increases the life of tools and components and reduces interruptions in production.SCHWING TechnologiesSCHWING Technologies has been operating since 1969 and is the worldwide technological leader for high-temperature systems for thermal cleaning, thermo-chemical finishing and heat treatment of metal parts and tools. The owner-managed company constructs, manufactures and operates its systems at its headquarters in Neukirchen-Vluyn in Germany's Lower Rhine region. Built upon the achievements of German engineering, the medium-sized business is globally the best-known specialist in the removal of plastics. Among its around 2,500 international clients are companies from the plastics and fiber industries, as well as from the chemicals and automobile sectors. With its 80-strong personnel, the company is equipped with the tools and systems for any cleaning need and delivers the best economy, ecology and quality. SCHWING is also a reliable service partner for contract cleaning by cleaning more than 250,000 tools and parts each year to the highest environmental and qualitative standards. In the words of Ewald and Thomas Schwing, the two managing directors at SCHWING Technologies GmbH, So far, there has not been a single component that we have not been able to free from polymers and inorganic contaminants. Press Information:

SCHWING Technologies







Contact Person:

Nicola Leffelsend

PR Department

Phone: +49 2845 930 146

eMail: eMail



Web: http://www.schwing-technologies.com





04.04.2018 17:51:40 -

Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party.Stock Market News

Wednesday broker round-up 04-04-2018 13:10



Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.ukStock Market News

Wednesday newspaper round-up: Tariffs, Brexit, pay, Facebook 04-04-2018 08:14



Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.ukThe beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks!

Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics.

The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc.

The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics.

The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates.

Access to college recruiters and advisors  its harder to line up higher education.

Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family.

Vote

View ResultsMarshall had a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter, but East Carolina scored 21 straight points in the final 7:31 to earn a 42-38 win over the Thundering Herd on Saturday night at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.How to Use this SiteThere has been a four-week long strike by teaching assistants and sessional lecturers at York University. This strike by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 3903, which is made up primarily of graduate students as well as sessional lecturers, had the effect of inspiring a movement among undergraduate students. The strike is going through a challenging period, and now a witch-hunt by secrtarian elements, aimed against our comrades at York, threatens the entire movement.

The strike is at a crucial juncture, as university administration have kept classes going from the beginning, and are now pursuing a state-administered ratification vote to end the strike. There has been a series of mobilizations, picket line visits, information pickets and rallies organized by undergraduates, and Fightback has been at the forefront of this movement. Fightback is the left-wing organization with the largest membership and support among the undergraduate students, which reflects the growing interest in revolutionary Marxist ideas. We have been seen as inseparable from solidarity activities related to the strike.

This undergraduate student movement was starting to gain momentum, with efforts to establish an undergraduate coalition, pushing the undergraduate student union to enter the struggle, and finally initiating a sit-in occupation of the Senate chambers. The Senate occupation had particular significance since elected faculty and student representatives had voted to shut-down the entire university. This vote was undemocratically blocked and deemed as consultative by the top administration.

A university shut-down would have significantly increased the leverage of the striking workers. The teaching assistant and sessional lecturer strike was facing difficulties and elements of demoralization, especially as the administration was able to keep the university and a significant percentage of classes running.

An opportunity opened up when the strike movement of teaching assistants and sessional lecturers began to coalesce with the developing undergraduate movement. A strong momentum developed around the sit-in occupation. This was a golden opportunity and a potential turning point for the movement, which could have had a big step towards winning the strike and spreading support to the broader student population.

This fantastic opportunity to strengthen the movement was undermined and cut across by a vicious censorship campaign directed against Fightback. A Stalinist witch-hunt has been launched against Fightback, which must be called out for what it is: an anti-democratic political attack. It originated from a tiny Stalinist-anarchist clique of undergraduate activists, but has since been spread into the leadership and a thin layer of activists in CUPE 3903.

This censorship campaign has only served to weaken, divide and redirect the energies of the undergraduate movement and academic workers strike in a damaging manner when all forces should be directed against the university administration and provincial government. This tragic situation needs to be properly examined, the lessons drawn and the harmful effect of these methods and ideas exposed.

Undergraduate coalition sabotaged by sectarians

With a looming strike developing, there were attempts to form an undergraduate student coalition in support of CUPE 3903. Fightback enthusiastically engaged with this effort, while launching efforts to bring students to the picket lines starting on the first day of the strike on 5 March. In the past, Fightback has initiated or participated in setting-up strike support coalitions.

The Students for CUPE 3903 coalition was set up in a suspicious manner from the beginning. The Socialist Fightback Club at York University was not notified or reached out to in the setting up of the coalition. We only found out about it through public posters and social media posts. As Socialist Fightback is the largest, most organized activist base of undergraduates on campus, this seemed like a significant oversight for a coalition meant to unite students supporting CUPE 3903. We assumed that this was simply incompetence, and immediately communicated with those involved that we would be participating.

We quickly found out that the main organizations behind the coalition were the Revolutionary Student Movement (RSM), which is a tiny Maoist/Stalinist sect at the university, and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), which is a social justice hub funded by student dues and which has been dominated by activists influenced by anarchism and identity politics. Fightback and the Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) joined up with this coalition, along with a small handful of non-affiliated students.

From the first weeks of the strike, we found that the RSM-OPIRG clique of Stalinists and anarchists were trying to use bureaucratic, exclusionary measures against Fightback. It was clear that a successful coalition should operate with full democratic rights. All pro-CUPE 3903 students should have the right to democratic participation, voting and to express their opinions, vocally or through written material.

Disgracefully, the tiny Maoist-Identity Politics clique wanted to have complete control of the coalition and was prepared to repress democracy to that end. Seeing that Fightback had a large base of supporters, and moreover, that our ideas and proposals were extremely popular, they decided to use the tactic of bureaucratic exclusion. Fightback represented half the people at the coalition meeting, and this was only a partial mobilization of our membership and base of supporters. It should be stated that a clear majority of active pro-strike undergraduates were organized with Fightback.

This sectarian RSM-OPIRG clique proposed a basis of unity [a condition for participation in the coalition] that would ban leaflets, newspapers, posters, banners, placards and recruiting by different political organizations. They specifically attacked Fightback for our organizing methods, particularly promoting Marxist ideas. Their restriction on recruitment was particularly disgusting and insulting, as it treats workers and students as children who are easily manipulated. It is obvious that in the student, labour and social movements, politics are going to be discussed. A child of six can understand that. Naturally, if a student or worker agrees with particular political ideas and strategies for struggle, they will be attracted to those organizations that stand for them. It is a positive thing that students and workers can be politicised through a strike or social movement and inspired to get active as a result.

The purpose of adopting such undemocratic and silencing measures was clearly to prevent Fightback from organizing. Those that put the undemocratic measures forward constantly attacked Fightback in the course of such discussions for producing posters, having banners, selling newspapers or for people being attracted to our organization. This clique demanded that Fightback completely dissolve ourselves in the movement and cease to function as a revolutionary organization and cease promoting our ideas and program. This sectarian, undergraduate clique had even tried to actively police students and workers on the picket lines from selling, buying and reading newspapers. Notably, they could not convince a majority of the coalition.

We can expect the police, the state, the university authorities and even perhaps the trade union bureaucrats to adopt methods against the distribution of socialist newspapers and the promotion of revolutionary ideas. We are quite prepared to fight this repression. That such methods are used by organisations that claim to be revolutionary and to fight against oppression is simply scandalous.

Failing to win a majority with such anti-democratic and exclusionary measures, what did the RSM-OPIRG clique do? They held a secret and anti-democratic meeting excluding Fightback where they tried to pass these measures. This first secret meeting was held at the OPIRG office at York University on 14 March, which we found out about after the fact entirely accidentally. Unfortunately for this sectarian clique, even at that secret meeting they could not win a majority.

They then held a second, even more secret meeting, later that same day. This second meeting excluded even more people, including activists from Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA). It was only at this secret-secret meeting where they could gain a majority. What they decided at that meeting was the total expulsion of Fightback from the coalition, which was the largest, most active and most organized force mobilizing students to the picket lines. We then received an email on 16 March, from an unnamed and unelected group of individuals calling themselves the organisers of Students for CUPE 3903 stating that while the Points of Unity have not yet been ratified, they were excluding us from the coalition.

This was a clear Stalinist censorship campaign against the Marxists in order for this self-appointed clique to have total control of the undergraduate coalition. This decision clearly lacked even an inkling of legitimacy. Furthermore, this unelected and bureaucratic clique kept the decision secret and did not post it publicly anywhere.

The result of this was to totally undermine the coalition, turning it into a complete farce with extremely low participation. There were far more undergraduates involved with Fightback than in this undergraduate coalition as a whole!

The anarchists and Stalinists were sabotaging the undergraduate movement, and therefore also the strike movement, for entirely sectarian reasons. Their purpose was to ban the Marxists from promoting our ideas, program and strategy, so that they could control the movement themselves. And to do this they were prepared to employ every manoeuvre possible, regardless of whether it harmed the movement.

The aforementioned letter from this clique ended with an accusation that sexual misconduct was occurring in Fightback, along with a list of criticisms, including that we are, racist, sexist, homophobic. There were no details in these allegations, leaving us completely unable to react to or rectify this alleged misconduct.

For more details, see appendices here.

Rumours of sexual misconduct

We had previously heard rumours being spread during the strike that sexual misconduct had been engaged in by Fightback activists. When we heard such rumours, our immediate reaction was to ask for information, details, names and evidence so that we could get to the bottom of it. Fightback takes the issues of harassment, abuse and sexual assault very seriously. Abusive behaviour in our organization is not tolerated. Moreover, it is vital to organize efforts against such behaviour in the labour and student movements, and in society as a whole.

Whenever we asked for such details, we received no information. It is obviously impossible for us to deal with second-hand and vague accounts. It is impossible to investigate a rumour with no information regarding who could be involved, what occurred, when it occurred, etc., and it is impossible to hold anyone accountable for misconduct if we dont even know who is accused.

Fightback has a robust democratic process for dealing with abusive behaviour that is well-respected in the organization, and that has been strengthened and sharpened over the years. While we have not had any major issues in our organization, we have always investigated and addressed all complaints and instances of inappropriate behaviour in a timely and accountable fashion. We have a tradition of discussing these things politically and organizationally on a regular basis, in order to educate our membership on these important issues and so that our policies are known by all members

While our conditions of membership clearly state all activists organized with us are expected to treat each other with mutual respect and abide by our zero-tolerance policy for harassment and discrimination, we are not always privy to new members histories  whether it be in their previous involvement with other left-wing organizations, unions, or interaction with the court system. We therefore always keep an eye out for any possible abusive behaviour, so that we can deal with it appropriately and build a healthy and strong organization that can wage the needed revolutionary struggle against exploitation and oppression.

While hearing these vague, unsubstantiated rumours, we continued to carry out our solidarity activity, maintaining our readiness to respond to any concrete complaints we might receive. Given we had only received rumours, we consistently requested details, names, dates, etc., so that we could properly address any incidents of misconduct. Given that no concrete allegations were forthcoming, we understood that this was simply an attempt to smear, harm and stain the name of our organization. This view was compounded by the negative experience that we had had with the organizers of the undergraduate coalition, who were trying to bureaucratically suppress us.

It was precisely during the Stalinist-anarchist campaign to ban Fightback from the undergraduate coalition for promoting newspapers, banners, placards and recruitment, that vague accusations were raised of there being problems of transphobia, racism, sexism, ableism and even sexual violence in Fightback. We consistently explained that we have always been committed to fighting against all forms of oppression and discrimination. Regarding sexual or other types of violence, we always asked that concrete allegations be made so that it could be properly addressed. This was never done, and still has not been done.

Senate occupation: a perfect opportunity to turn the tide

On Thursday 22 March, there was a meeting of the York University Senate. At this meeting, the majority of the faculty voted to shut down classes, which is a major demand of undergraduate students and is raised by the striking academic workers. That vote was deemed consultative in a clearly undemocratic manoeuvre, denying the Senates right to make that decision, which had been made in the past. Fightback had mobilized for a rally of about 100 students and workers outside the Senate chambers.

This undergraduate solidarity movement initiated a sit-in occupation at the chambers of the Senate at York University beginning on the night of 22 March. Fightback participated from the first night of the sit-in and helped to develop the momentum around the strike. Our ideas and demands were quickly adopted during the sit-in, and feature prominently in the first statements, appeals and the general approach of the sit-in.

We raised the demand for undergraduates to join the fight for good jobs and free education, we insisted on the need for democratic control of the university by workers/faculty/students, and also insisted that the undergraduate student union must mobilize its full resources to the sit-in and in support of the strike. We connected the fight for free education to the fight against capitalism, and the need to expropriate the capitalist class to finance education. We pushed for democratic rights for both undergraduates and any other participants in the sit-in. All these demands passed at the meetings of the sit-in.

An equity committee was also set-up to ensure that appropriate conduct occurred during the sit-in, and that any complaints could be properly dealt with. Once again, the clique of Maoists and anarchists began to manoeuvre to completely dominate the sit-in and exclude any political views disagreeing with their own. Fightback activists participated in the sit-in through the night. A secret meeting was held by this clique at some point early in the morning, which decided to roll back all the decisions taken by the sit-in assembly, including restricting voting rights. Voting would now be restricted to those who had occupied the senate chambers from the very beginning, which would have meant approximately 10 people. This would clearly discourage participation. Dozens and dozens of students and workers joined the occupation within the first 24 hours.

It was around this time that we again heard vague accusations of sexual misconduct in Fightback, yet none of us were approached with concrete allegations. The equity committee that had been set-up during the first night, which included elected representatives from CUPE locals 3903 and 3902, was not approached to investigate any issues. These vague accusations were clearly being spread by the RSM-OPIRG clique. All of this was done behind the scenes, without any chance for us to respond or resolve these issues transparently. It is clear to us that the aim of such rumours was not to actually respond to concrete instances of misconduct, nor to protect the participants in the sit-in, but rather to use them as a convenient stick with which to hit political opponents.

Soon after this secret meeting, two of our young women activists were bullied while giving a television interview for CP24. During the live interview, one of the individuals associated with the Stalinist-anarchist clique interrupted the interview saying that Fightback wasnt welcome at the sit-in and that Fightback was, co-opting the movement. It should be noted that on the first day of the occupation up to 5-6 interviews were given by representatives of the RSM-OPIRG clique. Given Fightbacks numerical weight at the sit-in, and that we only gave a single interview, our engagement with the media was far lower than would have been proportional.

It was at this point  given the secret meetings, the attempts to ban us, bully us, spread slanders about Fightback as a whole (without proffering any concrete allegations and avoiding the equity committee established to deal with complaints), the intimidation and demands that we cease to promote our ideas and materials  that we decided to raise these issues at a general assembly on 23 March in an open manner. We support hashing out differences openly and democratically. We called again for an end to intimidation, repression and bullying of different political trends, and insisted that all participants and groups should have full democratic rights at the sit-in. This, our activists explained, was necessary to advance the goals of the student occupation and the strike movement.

These motions passed at the assembly by a clear majority. It was at this stage that Fightback was directly and openly attacked with a whole slew of vague allegations by an ex-member who is now associated with the Stalinist-anarchist clique. These included accusations of racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, sexual harassment, sexual assault, paedophilia; and of being a cult and a drug-den. It was claimed that these accusations apply to all Fightback members, or at least that all of our members are apologists for these attitudes and behaviours.

Fightback was attacked with a slew of vague allegations by the Stalinist-anarchist clique / Image: Fightback

Fightback activists were taken completely aback by these extreme accusations but explained that we have always had procedures in place for addressing misconduct in the organization. We also raised our involvement in the various struggles against oppression, which is clearly reflected in the composition of our activists, who are a diverse group of people from a range of marginalized backgrounds.

We again asked for concrete allegations so that they could be dealt with. We openly advocated for a proper democratic and accountable procedure to be put into place to examine the allegations and hold appropriate parties to account. Fightback is confident in dealing with problems internal to the organization, but given the nature of the movement, we believed such a process, with representatives from the trade unions, would have greater authority. However, by spreading rumours throughout the first night and then attacking us with amorphous and unsubstantiated allegations at the assembly, while not having made use of the previously established equity committee to address any grievances, it was clear that this clique was only interested in a show trial and not an accountable process.

Unfortunately, this slew of unsubstantiated attacks created enormous tension and division at the sit-in. Many students and members of CUPE 3903 left the occupation. Our activists felt intimidated. Whenever they responded, they were bullied with booing, shaming and yelling by those from the Stalinist-anarchist clique, as well as a handful of sectarians in CUPE 3903. Our young female comrades stressed the need for a proper procedure for investigating allegations, that the equity committee established for that purpose should be used to resolve the issues and that concrete allegations would need to be given. These comrades were accused of victim blaming and were shouted down.

It was clear that the movement was being undermined by bureaucratic manoeuvres, repression and vague accusations, and no procedure was forthcoming. We clearly expressed our commitment to participating in a procedure, and temporarily our comrades decided to withdraw from what was clearly a hostile environment.

Within a couple days, we were notified that we had been expelled from the sit-in. Once again, no concrete allegations were provided. There was no process for holding individuals accountable. Fightback was simply undemocratically banned from the sit-in by this sectarian clique, without the right of defence.

Stalinist censorship campaign

It is worth noting that the student occupation is now completely dominated by sectarians linked to the Revolutionary Student Movement (RSM). This is an openly Stalinist organization, that puts forward and defends the ideas and methods of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. The handful of others involved in the occupation are linked to the York chapter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), who stand for a mix of ideas of anarchism, identity politics and intersectionality. These people are decidedly against the ideas of Marxism and revolutionary Marxist organizations.

This, in itself, would not be a problem. Activists with different political points of view can certainly unite in a common endeavour to support a particular action or strike. The problem is when these groups use undemocratic methods to silence those they disagree with or to expel them when they cannot be silenced.

The attacks on Fightback are nothing new. The RSM called for banning Fightback newspapers, placards and banners during the 2015 strike at York University, but at an open-assembly meeting, the undergraduate students overwhelmingly voted against this Stalinist measure. OPIRG York, which claims to be a social justice hub, has repeatedly also refused to allow Fightback the status of a working group. The student funds that automatically go into OPIRG are kept in the hands of this tiny unaccountable clique, who use bureaucratic methods to maintain control of their significant funds and large office on campus. It should be noted that the openly Stalinist RSM, which is a miniscule organization at the campus, was immediately granted working group status and access to these funds.

Despite banning other political groups' materials, RSM banners are prominently displayed at the Senate occupation / Image: fair use

The goal of all of this is clear. They purged us from the movement so that they could rule the roost. This could not be any clearer now than by taking a look at what has become a sham of an occupation, which has been reduced to just 8-10 people according to their own figures. While criticizing Fightback for having our own banners and materials at the strike, the entire occupation is now covered in RSM banners, most notably a big RSM HQ on the outside of the senate chambers. The RSM also distributes its own Partisan newspaper and literature openly at the sit-in, after having pushed its Stalinist campaign against the Marxists. This small clique of people has effectively destroyed an entire occupation so that they could claim it for their own.

The sectarians of the Maoist RSM have a lot to answer for when it comes to their own history. Maoism is a form of Stalinism. The Maoists claim Stalin as their own and criticise anything in the Soviet Union that came after Stalin as revisionist. It is worth remembering just a few not unimportant points about Stalinism and oppression.

When Lenin and Trotsky were leading the Bolshevik party, in 1922 the criminalisation of homosexuality was abolished in the Soviet Union. Abortion was free on demand. Women were granted full equality and divorce was easily available. In 1934 Stalin re-criminalized homosexuality and thousands of gay men were sent to the labour camps in the following decades. Abortion was banned and divorce was made less accessible.

As a result of these developments in the Soviet Union, homophobia was spread throughout the Communist International. When Mao came to power in China, the same homophobic policies were applied. Homosexuality was only finally decriminalised in China in 1997. Therefore, throughout the Maoist period, homosexuals in China risked arrest and imprisonment.

This is the real record of the Stalinists and Maoists! And yet, today, they strut around pontificating about LGBT rights. They have nothing to be proud of, while the Marxists stand confidently on the traditions of the early years of the Russian Revolution.

At the same time, all dissent was clamped down upon. This repression culminated in Stalins purge trials of 1936-1938. Anyone defending the genuine traditions of the 1917 October Revolution was hounded out of the party, slandered with false accusations, sent to the labour camps and then shot. Hundreds-of-thousands of revolutionaries met their ends in this fashion. The bureaucracy stood as judge, jury and prosecutor in these trials. In the Stalinist show trials, the accused were denied their rights to know the accusations, to respond to the accusations, or to defend themselves. Anything and everything that was said in response to the vague allegations would only be used as further evidence of guilt.

The RSM openly defends Stalin and stands on the traditions of the Stalinist show trials. We have seen here that instead of politically debating in the movement, they resort to repression and political bans, and produce vague allegations over which they alone preside.

The sectarian witch-hunt spreads to CUPE 3903

The sit-in occupation was a source of significant enthusiasm among striking teaching assistants and sessional lecturers. Dozens of picketers attended the occupation, and at its high-point, during the second day of the sit-in, attendance approached 100 people. The union was even planning on holding its meetings in the occupation. Momentum was spreading.

It was just at this moment that this clique went on a public tirade against us at the sit-in, presenting a long list of extreme and unsubstantiated accusations against Fightback. Needless to say, this poisoned the mood at the occupation and many workers left in disgust. Some were confused, but many had accepted what had been presented as an established fact  that Fightback has a problem with sexual violence, paedophilia, rampant drug usage, racism, homophobia, etc. These are extremely serious accusations which would require legal action, that is if any of this were true. The fact that our accusers have systematically refused to provide names or evidence speaks volumes about the true nature of such accusations.

Despite all this, our activists maintained communication with leading members of CUPE 3903, including representatives of the campus trade unions who were supposed to oversee a process in the sit-in regarding these allegations. When we had a meeting on the Monday, 26 March with a representative from CUPE 3903, CUPE 3902 and from the RSM-OPIRG clique at the sit-in, we were told that we had simply been expelled from the sit-in.

We explained clearly that we had not yet received any concrete allegations against us. We explained that we have a robust democratic procedure for dealing with any complaints internally. We repeatedly put forward that we wanted a union-run procedure with which we would fully cooperate to investigate any complaints. We clearly stated that we would take interim measures against any named individuals to protect people from potential abusers.

Our proposal would have allowed for a strong strike and solidarity movement, while holding any potential abusers accountable and ensuring safety in the movement. We presented our proposal to the strike committee meeting of CUPE 3903 that same evening, which was as follows:

Be it resolved that CUPE 3903 oversee the setting up of a remediation process to examine the issues and hold the necessary parties accountable,

Be it further resolved that CUPE 3903 institute any interim measures it sees fit to address concerns of safety,

Be it further resolved that CUPE 3903, not approve a condemnation or ban on any organization or undergraduate student club, without having access to details, allegations or opportunity to investigate, especially given that in this case:

- Fightback is prepared to fully cooperate with a union-overseen procedure,

- Fightback has not yet been presented with any concrete allegations, including regarding which individuals may be concerned, and even if they are members of Fightback,

- Fightback is prepared to accept interim measures, under the direction of the CUPE 3903 (such as non-participation in the senate occupation, or exclusion of particular concerned person(s) from solidarity activity), while the procedure is underway.

Unfortunately, a witch-hunt was being pushed by a layer of activists in the union, especially the leadership, who are associated with the ideas of identity politics, intersectionality, academic Marxism, anarchism and Stalinism, who allied themselves with the tiny undergraduate clique.

Representatives from Fightback and our undergraduate movement were not allowed to speak to the accusations. The RSM-OPIRG clique was allowed to lead the discussion. Our resolution was ruled out of order. The chairperson of CUPE 3903, Devin Lefebvre, refused to even read our proposed resolution for a union-run procedure, to which we had committed our full cooperation.

At the Special General Membership Meeting that was held on 28 March, we were not notified that this important matter would be discussed and therefore were not at the meeting to speak to this. Our resolution was completely ignored and omitted from the discussion. Vague allegations were presented as fact. An entire political organization was banned from the picket lines and 3903 spaces. Fightback was denied our basic democratic right to speak on these accusations, and any due process was disallowed. Up until this point we still have not heard a single concrete allegation or name of an abuser from the undergraduate clique or from the CUPE 3903 leadership!

It must be noted that only about 80-100 people out of a membership of nearly 3,700 people were present at this Special General Members meeting, which occurs weekly during the strike. The entire membership of CUPE 3903 was not made aware in advance that this was to be discussed, it was instead kept a secret until the meeting.

This is a complete sham. It flies against the traditions of trade union democracy. It is even more baffling that the ban on Fightback does not include individuals. Individuals from Fightback are still welcome to participate in the picket lines and CUPE 3903 spaces. What that means is that the ban is specifically a political ban against Fightback leaflets, newspapers, placards, banners, and the right to identify as, speak on behalf of, or organize for Fightback.

The ban does absolutely nothing to protect members of the union or undergraduates organizing solidarity from the alleged abusers. Those individuals would still be able to participate and would not be held accountable. Their fellow workers, classmates and comrades would be left completely ignorant and open to victimization. This is irresponsible in the extreme and is a complete affront to the labour movement.

The entire result of the ban passed by CUPE 3903 (through a scandalous, undemocratic process) is a political ban and attack on the Marxist movement at York University. The same is true of the previous bureaucratic manoeuvres and expulsion organized by the tiny Stalinist-anarchist clique in the undergraduate solidarity movement. We are baffled that people who claim to be fighting oppression would treat serious matters like sexual assault and misconduct in such an utterly irresponsible and off-hand manner.

The result of this political attack against the Marxists is nothing but reactionary and damaging to the movement at York University. The undergraduate solidarity movement is now in shambles, with around 8-10 people at the sit-in, openly dominated by the proudly Stalinist RSM group. At a decisive time when CUPE 3903 is facing vicious attacks, the classes are kept open, scabbing is being encouraged, picket lines becoming demoralized, and a state-administered ratification vote is being pushed, the leadership of CUPE 3903 directs its energies towards a political witch-hunt against the Marxists!

The sit-in occupation could have been a turning point in the struggle, bringing striking workers, faculty and undergraduates together in the struggle for good jobs, access to education and against the undemocratic university administration. Instead, the sectarians among the undergraduates and in the CUPE 3903 leadership have turned to harming the movement through a political censorship campaign against the largest left-wing undergraduate organization - Fightback - which has been the most consistent defenders of CUPE 3903 and other campus unions.

Full details of this decision, including our response are here.

Hypocrisy of identity politics

We see here in practice how the ideas of postmodernism, identity politics and intersectionality play out in the movement. Far from playing a progressive role, these ideas are used to divide and weaken the movement. A core outcome of this individualistic and subjective lens for understanding and fighting oppression is a fatally misguided belief that different layers of the working class and oppressed have mutually antagonistic interests, and therefore that some have an interest in maintaining oppression over others.

This detracts from the real economic and social roots of oppression and encourages endless infighting and division instead of the unity and solidarity required to fight capitalism and all the oppression it entails. It also equips a layer of sectarians and bureaucrats with an arsenal of weapons for bureaucratic and Stalinist manoeuvring in the name of fighting oppression and discrimination.

This is not at all to suggest that individuals in the organizations and movements of the working class and oppressed cannot wield harmful discriminatory attitudes and abusive behaviours and that this should not be combatted tooth and nail. Revolutionaries fight all instances of oppression and discrimination because it divides and weakens the movement. We support democratic and accountable methods of doing so. However, this is not what we are seeing with the hypocritical actions of the RSM-OPIRG clique at York. The ideas of identity politics and safe spaces have been used to organize a political ban against revolutionary working-class politics. This has been nothing short of a Stalinist witch-hunt and censorship campaign.

Fightback's diverse membership and leadership were scandalously attacked through the langauge of identity politics, revealing the hypocrisy of these ideas / Image: fair use

While asserting they are acting in the interest of the movement by taking a stand against sexual violence and adopting what they claim is a survivor-centric approach, their actions have the opposite effect. If there were really instances of abuse or discrimination by members of Fightback, concrete allegations and details need to be provided to hold the offenders accountable and protect fellow activists, students, and workers in the movement. They have claimed that we have failed to take accountability and have a history of ignoring sexual violence, yet they refuse to engage with our attempts to be accountable, transparent and to take appropriate action against alleged abusers. This shows clearly that their actions are not motivated by a desire to hold abusers accountable, but rather to politically attack Fightback.

While claiming that Fightback has a history of racism, sexism, transphobia and other forms of discrimination and oppression, and asserting that we are dominated by white men and have patriarchal structures, this identity politics clique has completely overlooked the participation and role played by many of our members who come from some of the most oppressed and marginalized layers of the working class. The activists of Fightback at York University are overwhelmingly working class. The vast majority are also from racial minorities, are women or are LGBTQ.

The leadership of our group is also overwhelmingly composed of women and members of racial minorities. A number of our activists have experienced and lived with the impacts of violence and trauma as well. The matter of abusive and predatory behaviour is not taken lightly in our ranks. Actually, our serious approach to these matters and the ideas and methods we espouse to address and challenge them, continue to attract wider layers of activists from marginalized backgrounds.

For all their talk about representing and supporting oppressed identities, it is clear that the sectarians in the CUPE 3903 leadership and the RSM-OPIRG clique are prepared to weaponize accusations of sexual violence and discriminatory behaviours for their own political and personal leverage, organizing a complete Stalinist witch-hunt against those with different political ideas and methods in the movement, which they view as threatening their own position and rank therein. This has created an environment of intimidation, abuse, censorship, bullying and insults against the diverse activists of Fightback  all in the name of fighting oppression! This is the pinnacle of hypocrisy and makes their true intentions clear as day.

It is evident that these accusations are being used for the sole purpose of smearing Fightback. Their methods, which are a logical outcome of identity politics, are both harmful to the fight against oppression, and to the strike currently underway. With these methods, they divide the movement and weaken solidarity. We will never win the fight against capitalism and all the oppression that it breeds with such methods.

How to move forward

It is tragic that the strike movement and undergraduate solidarity campaign have been undermined by these cliques of sectarians through their anti-democratic witch-hunt. Fightback has done its duty to support this struggle. We continue to support this struggle, but have been pushed back at the moment due to this political ban.

We can see the pernicious role played by the methods of Stalinism and identity politics in the movement. What could have been a turning point for the struggle with the enormous momentum and enthusiasm that was being generated through the sit-in, among students, faculty and the striking workers (and beyond), has now become a complete mess. The movement has become divided, and the most consistent supporters of the trade union movement among the undergraduates are being censored, bullied, intimidated and victimized. This is entirely the fault of the sectarians.

We must expose these methods far and wide, and combat those who would sacrifice the movement for their own petty interests and positions. Fightback has shown its willingness at each stage to investigate any complaints. We have made it abundantly clear that we would fully cooperate with a democratic union-run procedure. We have nothing to hide and wish to hold any abusers accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, this is not true of the sectarian clique among the undergraduates and in the CUPE 3903 leadership whose actions are directly opposed to holding people accountable. To be perfectly clear, their actions enable predatory and abusive elements in the movement. The student and trade unions on campus must establish democratic and accountable processes for addressing grievances and allegations of harassment in the movement. The Stalinist witch-hunt must be defeated and all political bans lifted.

Fightback continues to unequivocally support the striking workers in CUPE 3903. The strike is facing a serious challenge with a forced ratification vote administered by the state. Our comrades who are members of CUPE 3903 will be voting against the forced ratification, and we call on all members of the union to do likewise. We encourage everyone to keep up the solidarity around the core demands put forward by CUPE 3903. A victory for this union is also a victory for the wider labour movement.

Fightback wishes to continue to play its role at the forefront of organizing solidarity efforts by students and non-3903 workers. We wish to continue to strengthen and bolster the picket lines and reach out to greater layers of undergraduate students. Unfortunately, this undemocratic and Stalinist witch-hunt has had the effect of paralyzing the activities of a large layer of undergraduate students, campus workers and non-campus workers affiliated with Fightback.

We are appealing to the broader labour and student movement to work towards rectifying the current situation and ending the political ban on Fightback. This would allow for the strengthening of the movement against the university bosses and the provincial Liberal government.

End the Stalinist political censorship campaign!

No witch-hunting of trade union and student union activists!

For democratic processes and accountability to address allegations of abuse!

For full democratic rights for different political trends in the labour movement!

Unity is strength! Strike to win! Victory to CUPE 3903!Details Lal Salaam 08 May 2020

Click below to read the latest paper of Lal Salaam, Pakistan Section of IMT, in the Urdu language. The latest issue has articles about the plight of workers in lockdown and tasks ahead after this May Day. It also has articles...A recovery timetable was set at four weeks for Bruins rookie Charlie McAvoy.

At least, that was going to be the time granted until the defenseman underwent a re-evaluation for a MCL sprain he suffered on March 3 against Montreal.

The rehab was tedious at times, but the 20-year-old blueliner remained focused on getting back into the lineup prior to the start of the postseason -- especially with a potential deep Stanley Cup run on the horizon for the Bruins.

Sure enough, rather than put himself in a position for a re-evaluation, McAvoy cleared all the necessary hurdles and found himself back in the Bruins lineup exactly a month after his injury -- with the rookie expected to play in Tuesday's road matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"As soon as I got hurt, my goal was to get some games back before the playoffs so that I can sharpen up," McAvoy said. "So I'm going to take these games and this opportunity to do so. I'm excited to start tonight and get out there."

 Charlie McAvoy addresses his return to the lineup for tonight's game with the Tampa Bay Lightning. pic.twitter.com/LCjMAhiAP5  Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 3, 2018

After working off the ice in the weeks following his injury, McAvoy ramped up his rehabilitation over the past 10 days -- returning to skating back on March 25 before rejoining the team for practice over the past week.

While there was a possibility for McAvoy to return this past weekend, he noted that taking the extra time was a matter of being completely up to speed -- rather than taking some added rest ahead of the postseason.

"The precaution we took wasn't based on rest," McAvoy said. "It was based on (being) 100 percent and being able to play. Which is what we did. We got to a point where it felt really good and passed all of the tests. So here we are today. Getting back in and I can't wait."

Along with shaking off the rust, McAvoy's return Tuesday will give the Bruins a major boost on the blue line in a tilt with major postseason implications. Boston currently holds a two-point lead over the Lightning for first place in the East with a game in hand.

"All of these games still matter a lot," McAvoy said. "So I'm going to get out there and just try to do everything I can to get back and kind of pick up where I left off and give the team the best chance to win."NORTHAMPTON -- As part of the Goya Gives "Can Do" campaign, the company donated 40,000 pounds of food to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts Wednesday.

The donation was made in the name of Big Y World Class Markets, which is a supporter of the "Can Do" campaign.

The food will be distributed to families in need throughout Western Massachusetts, including families who evacuated Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Goya Foods, America's largest Hispanic-owned food company, launched the "Can Do" campaign on June 1, 2017, and will end it on May 31.

"We have always believed in the importance of helping families in need," said Bob Unanue, president of Goya Foods, in a statement. "Since my grandfather started Goya in 1936, we have worked hard to demonstrate the values we hold true to the foundation of Goya Foods, and what better way to give back to our country than with the nourishment of a healthy meal."

The donation is part of the first installment of the 1.5 million pounds of food (1.25 million meals) raised over the course of six months to be distributed to families and individuals throughout the United States through Feeding America and local food banks.Say "Paddington" and many world travelers might think of West London's busy train station. Say the same word to children and those who love the books they read and a vision of a bear in red hat and blue coat engaged in British life is likely to form.

This literary Paddington, as well as his creator Michael Bond and various illustrators who drew him in his world, are the focus of an exhibit, "Paddington Comes to America," that opens April 14 at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

"We are incredibly proud to welcome Paddington to America for his first-ever exhibition on this side of the Atlantic," said Ellen Keiter, the museum's chief curator, of the show that celebrates the publication of the first Paddington book 60 years ago.

"It is unusual to have several different artists interpret a single literary character."

Keiter said the Carle organized the exhibit in partnership with the licensing agency for Paddington copyrights, and is its first venue.

Paddington has been featured not only in books that have sold 35 million copies worldwide and other exhibits shown in Europe, but also in TV series, comic strips and two movies with a computer animated Paddington and stars like Hugh Bonneville in live action roles.

Karen Jankel, the daughter of Bond who died last year at his home in London at the age of 91, is expected to attend a member's event April 21 and a public gallery tour planned April 22.

Jankel collaborated with her dad on the picture book, "Paddington Goes to Hospital," in which the feat of trying to rescue a tree-embedded kite with a boomerang sends the young bear to hospital for the first time.

"Everyone at the Carle is excited to meet her and learn what it was like to grow up with Paddington," Keiter said.

Paddington Bear is named after the West London train station where he was found and taken in by the Brown family in the stories of Bond who wrote them initially as individual chapters within novels.

The first, "A Bear Named Paddington," was published in 1958.

Back in the 1950s Bond was a BBC TV cameraman and, en route home one Christmas Eve, he stopped in Selfridges department store after missing his bus and bought what he was to describe as a "forlorn" bear glove puppet on a shelf as a stocking stuffer for his first wife.

A few months later, Bond wrote his first full-length chapter book.

Marketed toward middle school readers, it told stories about a brown bear who emigrates from Peru, after his guardian aunt enters a home for retired bears, and ends up in the Paddington train station wearing a bush hat and with a suitcase and tag that says, "Please look after this bear. Thank you."

Bond later told interviewers his Paddington Bear stories were partly inspired by his memories of young refugee children evacuated to London during World War II. They were to prove popular, particularly after the BBC created a TV series in the 1970s, featuring the anthropomorphic bear, and a toy version of him was produced.

He has also told interviewers that the Browns were partly based on his parents, and other characters, like Paddington's friend Mr. Gruber, on people he knew.

Paddington's charm is in his unflappable willingness to help others - including his ornery neighbor Mr. Curry - despite a misadventure or two in the process. Bond's stories took Paddington out and about London, and into current life.

His 12th chapter book, "Paddington Here and Now," published almost 50 years after his first one, has Paddinton, whose Peruvian name is "Pastuso," taken into police custody over immigration issues.

The late British illustrator Peggy Fortnum's pen and ink drawings in black and white were the first to give visual life to the open-hearted, marmalade-loving immigrant adapting to life in England in hat and duffle coat given by the Browns and becoming very British in the process.

Fortnum illustrated Bond's more than a dozen Paddington novels, with some of her original work being colored by other artists, including her niece Caroline Nuttal-Smith. Other illustrators took their turns drawing him in Bond's picture books for a younger audience.

According to the exhibit's release, "Paddington Comes to America" includes copies of notes from one of Bond's notebooks, his typewriter, first edition books, memorabilia, and 70 original illustrations by six artists, including a black-and-white line drawing by Fortnum.

Other artists, including Fred Banbery who illustrated six Paddington picture books, were hired in the 1970s and 1980s as Bond began to write books for younger readers. The exhibit includes Banbery's watercolors for "Paddington at the Seaside."

Six of Ivor Wood's illustrations are in the exhibit.

In 1975, according to the release, the illustrator and animator designed the puppet for the original Paddington television series. He also developed a drawn cartoon strip of Paddington that the London Evening News published in the late 1970s. His drawings appeared on a number of products that were licensed around the same time, including a stationery line.

Seven paintings David McKee did for "Paddington at the Zoo" are showcased in the exhibition. McKee was hired in 1984 to illustrate for Paddington stories published in a smaller picture book format.

Barry Macey, who was an in-house artist with Paddington & Co., Ltd., created the artwork for some of the Paddington prints and a collection of stories Bond wrote for a British television series for which he once worked as a cameraman.

Macey's illustrations from "Paddington in the Hot Seat," "Paddington Passes Through," and "Paddington Takes a Cut" are in the show.

"Paddington Comes to America" also features the work of Rhode Island artist Robert W. Alley, professionally known as "R.W. Alley."

Alley has been illustrator for the Paddington picture books since 1997. He has re-illustrated some of these books in recent years, and has also illustrated three of the novels. He will do a gallery talk with Keiter, the museum's chief curator, and a story presentation April 22 at the museum.

Alley's art from more than 20 Paddington picture books is in the exhibit, along with some of his preliminary sketches and dummy books.

The exhibit has a display of limited-edition plush bears including one from the company owned by former "Top Gear" co-host Jeremy Clarkson's mother that was granted the first license to manufacture a Paddington Bear soft toy in 1972.

Visitors will be able to "hop on and off" a recreated double-decker bus to view British landmarks featured in the gallery.

The exhibition is on view through Oct. 7.

The museum organized the show in partnership with Copyrights Group in the U.K., the licensing agency for Paddington, which the museum said assisted with loans of original artwork, first-edition books, and access to historic and contemporary imagery.

Support for the exhibit, particularly in helping to finance the Carle transport work from the United Kingdom, came from HarperCollins Children's Books, publisher of the Paddington books, and Yottoy Productions, licensed to create specialty toys like Paddington Bear, Madeline and Barbar.



Programming during the weekend of April 21 is as follows:

The museum is open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. It is open Mondays in July and August and during school vacation weeks in Massachusetts.

Admission is $9 for adults; $6 for children under 18, and $22.50 for a family of four.

For further information and directions, call (413) 559-6300 or visit the the museum's website.An officer in the Middleborough Police Department was seriously injured Wednesday morning after a flare projectile launcher exploded in his hands during a SWAT training exercise in Bridgewater.

According to a joint statement by police in Bridgewater, Middleborough and the Southeastern Massachusetts SWAT unit, the explosion occurred shortly after 11 a.m. during a training exercise Wednesday morning. The injured police officer, who authorities have not identified, was holding a loaded, 37-millimeter projectile launcher when it exploded and left his hand with serious wounds.

Officials said a preliminary investigation by Bridgewater Police showed the explosion was likely the result of a device malfunction. They also said that such launchers are not used in normal policing duties, but are used by SWAT operations to create smoke screens, visibility flares and for other purposes.

The officer was transported to Mass. General Hospital in Boston with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.

"The officer was conducting high-level training as a member of our region's vital SWAT unit when what appears to be a terrible accident occurred that left him with serious injuries," Middleborough Police Chief Joseph Perkins said in a statement.This story elaborates on an article published at 7:36 p.m. Monday, April 3, 2018: 'My office was compromised,' says Holyoke city treasurer to council about $9,997 scam

HOLYOKE -- Standing at a microphone, taking questions from members of the City Council who had criticized her, City Treasurer Sandra A. Smith said Tuesday a scam in which she wired $9,997 to an impostor will never happen again.

"You seem very aggravated," Councilor at Large James M. Leahy said.

"You know, I've been under the gun since Jan. 1. with all kinds of issues and I'm trying to do the best job that I can do," Smith said. "I'm an elected official and I take my job seriously, and I've been chastised by the City Council about not being informed and it's just, it can be irritating, yes. I ask you to walk in my shoes a little bit, please."

Leahy said that Smith's point was well taken, But he said she also should consider that the City Council has a fiduciary responsibility as the branch of government authorized to approve spending and must respond to Holyoke residents who deserve answers about the case, he said.

It was Smith's first extensive public comments about the theft that occurred in June and her first comments about the incident to the City Council.

The incident involved someone impersonating an official at the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department (HGE) in June who asked Smith to make a wire-transfer of money, which she did from a city account at PeoplesBank, officials said.

"I did follow what I thought was proper procedure," Smith said. "I notified IT (information technology staff) that I'd been compromised. I notified my bank that I'd been compromised. I notified the mayor and I told the auditor."

Smith answered questions from members of the City Council in a special meeting that originally was supposed to be held in a closed-door setting but which councilors decided to do in open session.

The meeting included:

Holyoke Police Chief James M. Neiswanger saying that a New York state man has been arrested in the case;

Smith saying, in response to questions from Councilor at Large Rebecca Lisi, that she is bonded and will try to get her insurance company to make restitution to the city if the arrested man fails to forward the stolen money. A bond is a legal filing that protects a third party -- in this case, the city -- in the case of unethical or illegal behavior or business practices;

and councilors urging that City Hall department heads and staff get regular training to be aware of such computer scams.

Smith said new procedures to tighten spending-controls are in place since the incident.

Leahy asked if those procedures include informing the City Council.

"No, but it will be now," said Smith.

"I am the only one in my office authorized to do a (wire) transfer, so this will never happen again," she said.

The city treasurer is an elected position. Smith was unopposed in the Nov. 7 election and was re-elected to another four-year term.

The treasurer's duties include handling tax title records for properties whose owners are in arrears with the city, holding and investing city funds and managing employee payrolls in the city budget, which began the fiscal year July 1 at nearly $127 million.

The city treasurer's yearly salary is $70,016.

Neiswanger told the Council Smith notified a Holyoke police detective about the scam June 13.

Smith said she had received an email from someone she recognized as being an HGE official "requesting an urgent payment to an account," he said.

After phoning the HGE official, she learned the official's email account had been "spoofed," he said.

Spoofing is when an email appears to originate from someone you're familiar with but isn't, he said.

"They contacted the bank to try to stop payment, but at that point, it was too late," Neiswanger said.

In August, police received information from Long Island, New York police about a suspect in the case in relation to the cashing of money out of an account, he said.

"We made it known to them we wanted restitution," Neiswanger said.

Marshall Godfrey of Brentwood, New York was arrested in connection with the Holyoke case in Long Island Dec. 9 for violating the New York state statute for grand larceny, third degree. He pleaded guilty March 6, Neiswanger said.

"Right now his sentence is pending. That's the quick overview," the chief said.

Lisi asked Neiswanger the likelihood of the city getting the money back.

The chances of getting the money back from whoever stole it were slim, Neiswanger said.

"Unfortunately, I'm a little bit of a pessimist. It could happen, but I'm not going to bet the farm on it," he said.

Ward 5 Councilor Linda L. Vacon requested the meeting so councilors could get updated about a theft that has left councilors trying to address questions from residents.

One question from Vacon was when Mayor Alex B. Morse was notified about the theft of money from the treasurer's office.

Smith said that Morse and former city auditor Joshua Pueschel were among those she notified in June.

Vacon asked Neiswanger, "When was the mayor made aware of this?"

"I don't know...," Neiswanger said. "I talk to the mayor about a 1,000 things...We probably did discuss this but I can't give you a date or time."

Morse said later in a texted statement that his recollection differs from Smith's and that he learned about the scam more recently.

"I don't have any recollection of that. However, I did learn recently that Sandy did disclose the incident at a weekly finance meeting we have at City Hall yet it wasn't relayed to my office and I wasn't personally made aware," Morse said in a text message, when reached later.

"There may have been a misunderstanding as my office normally attends these meetings, but was unable to that week. With that said, I don't believe Sandy would ever intentionally keep information like that from my office. Sandy works hard for our city and was the victim of a crime that could have happened to anyone. We are working together to put the proper protections in place to prevent any future incidents, as well as exploring professional development for city staff on this topic," Morse said.

Vacon began the questioning of Smith by asking her to describe the procedures she uses to do provide money in the form of wire transfers.

Smith said she was contacted by someone she thought was an HGE official.

"So who were you talking to?" Vacon said.

Smith said the HGE's comptroller.

"Which is not unusual for me to have conversations by email with this department," Smith said.

"How often do you wire money to HGE?" Vacon said.

"Every other week," Smith said.

"Are you getting it signed off by the auditor and the mayor before you're wiring money?" Vacon said.

Smith said no. The HGE is a "separate entity," run by Manager James M. Lavelle.

"So what account was the money coming form?" Vacon said.

Smith said it was an HGE account and the procedure has been to establish authorization for such wire transfers "after the fact."

"It's always been that rule, Ms. Vacon. It's always been that rule with the Gas and Electric," said Smith, repeating that "This was an isolated incident."

HGE is the only city department for which she does wire transfers of money, she said.

"Just HGE and I've been doing it for six years," Smith said.

The issue of Smith failing to inform the City Council resurfaced during the discussion. Councilors said it eases the sting of the scam a bit knowing that Smith's being bonded could result in an insurance company reimbursing the stolen money.

"This is the first time that I think we or the public have heard that you are bonded, you are insured against that type of problem," Lisi said. "Thank you."

Indeed, said Ward 4 Councilor Jossie M. Valentin, knowing about the possible restitution of the money via Smith's bond "could have eliminated the aggravation that everyone involved has had to experience."

"Well, just for FYI, the treasurer cannot be the treasurer unless she is bonded. That's one of the key things. The day I'm sworn in, I have to have a bond," Smith said.

Council President Todd A. McGee said it is understood that people make mistakes. What councilors were after was assurance that procedures and training will reduce the chances of such a scam happening again, he said.

"But the problem is, we shouldn't have to ask on this again," McGee said "The mistake is made. We'd like to see department heads come together on their own. They don't need an order from us....That's what really should be done, it should be a pro-active move. This was in June."

"Correct," Smith said.

"What's today's date?" McGee said.

"April 3," said Smith, who said she would be glad to provide updates on her office's procedures periodically.

"That's all we're asking," McGee said.

Councilor at Large Peter R. Tallman said he knows the past several months have been stressful for Smith. But councilors need to have information to respond when residents ask about an issue like the money theft, he said.

"No problem," Smith said.SPRINGFIELD -- A female motorist was taken to the hospital Tuesday night after her car crashed into a chain link fence in the Pine Point neighborhood and burst into flames.

The crash was reported shortly before 9 p.m. in the area of 42 Berkshire Ave., Dennis Leger, aide to Commissioner Bernard J. Calvi, said.

The car, a Volvo S-60, became entangled in the fence. It burst into flames after the engine throttle became stuck at high speed.

Leger said the woman may have suffered a medical issue that was not directly related to the crash. Information on her condition was not available.

The siding at 42 Berkshire Ave. sustained approximately $5,000 in damage.CHICOPEE - Police responding to a complaint about people possibly using drugs in a parked car, arrested a Connecticut woman on a warrant and drug charges.

Officers Angela Santiago and Christina Obert responded to the complaint of a man and woman possibly using narcotics at about 11:15 p.m., Tuesday, in a red vehicle parked on Coolidge Road, said Michael Wilk, police public information officer.

When they arrived they learned there was an active arrest warrant from Dudley District Court for the woman. When she was searched after being arrested, a crack pipe with residue was allegedly found in her possession. Later during booking a brown paper towel fell from her pants leg containing what was believed to be crack cocaine, he said.

Jennifer Poulin, 30, of Plainville, Connecticut, was charged with possession of a Class B drug and on the warrant. She was released on $50 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Chicopee District Court Wednesday, Wilk said.A Concord resident and Medal of Honor hero will be interred Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery.

Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Thomas J. Hudner Jr. was the first to be awarded the nation's highest military honor during the Korean War. He died Nov. 13 at home at the age of 93.

Hudner will be laid to rest with full military honors as aircraft from the squadron he flew with, Strike Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) stationed at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Virginia, performs a "missing man" flyover.

Flags across Massachusetts will fly at half-staff Wednesday in his honor.

His name will continue with the Navy as DDG-116, a guided missile destroyer to be named the USS Thomas Hudner. The destroyer, built in Bath, Maine, will be commissioned later this year.

Hudner was an active veteran in Massachusetts, and served as commissioner of the Department of Veterans' Services from 1991 to 1999.

"He was someone who was extremely caring and passionate, not only about veterans, but specifically about their social needs," Francisco A. Urena, secretary of the state Department of Veterans' Services, said. "He was someone who made us all proud to be civil servants."

According to Medal of Honor Sound Off, Hudner was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.

Thousands of surrounded Marines fought Chinese military units as they made their way hundreds of miles to the safety of the coast of Korea.

Hudner was a Corsair F4U pilot with VF-32 aboard the U.S. Leyte, an aircraft carrier off the coast of what would later become North Korea during December 1950.

On Dec. 4, Hudner was flying wing for Jesse Brown, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the Navy's first black fighter pilot. The two were part of a six-plane reconnaissance flight.

As he was strafing enemy positions, Brown's plane took antiaircraft fire and was badly damaged. Too low for him to bail out and rapidly losing altitude, Brown prepared to crash land the plane. Hudner flew alongside reading off checklists to make sure Brown was prepared, according to the account on Medal of Honor Sound Off.

The plane hit hard, buckling the fuselage and pinning Brown into the wreckage. Hudner watched as his flight partner slid the canopy back and waved, but obviously could not get himself out of the plane.

Hudner quickly made a decision and without requesting permission dumped his ordinance and made a "wheels up" landing not far from Brown's position.

Hudner worked for hours to try to get his partner out of the crashed plane, both alone and then with a rescue helicopter pilot who later flew in, but to no avail. Brown died from his injuries in the seat of his plane.

Hudner and the pilot flew from the crash site near nightfall.

The next day, the commander of the Leyte ordered a flight of Corsairs to napalm the wreckage of Brown's plane with his body still inside, so that Brown could have a "warrior's funeral," the Medal of Honor Sound Off account says.

Hudner received the Medal of Honor for his actions in attempting to save Brown's life. President Harry S. Truman presented the award April 13, 1951.HARTFORD --Two out of three energy developers vying for offshore wind contracts in Massachusetts have now submitted bids to help power Connecticut utilities.

A pair of 200-megawatt bids were submitted to Connecticut energy regulators on Monday, following a January request for proposals for offshore wind projects.

Orsted, a Danish company, partnered with Eversource Energy to propose "Constitution Wind." The turbines would be in federal waters 65 miles off the coast of New London.

Deepwater Wind, a Providence-based company, proposes sending power to Connecticut from the "Revolution Wind" farm it plans in federal waters off the south coast of Massachusetts.

Deepwater Wind built the up-and-running, 30-megawatt Block Island Wind off Rhode Island, the first offshore wind farm in the nation. The company also plans South Fork Wind to serve Long Island. The firm has partnered with National Grid Ventures for a transmission backbone plan.

Orsted is the leading builder and operator of offshore wind capacity in northern Europe, and hopes to break into the U.S. market. Orsted and Eversource previously launched Bay State Wind to propose an 800-megawatt farm off the Massachusetts shore.

Each of the companies plans a storage component to ensure that its power is "dispatchable," or available for deployment around the clock.

Bay State Wind and Deepwater Wind are competing with Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts for long-term utility contracts. The procurements are designed to reduce the state's carbon footprint. The winners in Massachusetts are scheduled to be announced April 23. The Connecticut contracts will be awarded in June.

The state-sponsored clean energy contracts are seen as essential to project finance.

The developers joined labor and environmental groups in touting the potential for regional "green job" creation.

"With aggressive commitments from Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey, the emerging offshore wind industry will bring thousands of highly paid, skilled jobs to the Northeast in the coming years," said John Humphries of the Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs.

The city of New London is poised to provide a staging port in Connecticut, joining New Bedford in Massachusetts. Up and down the East Coast, around two-dozen offshore wind projects are in the planning stages, with a capacity of around 24 gigawatts.HOLYOKE -- City Treasurer Sandra A. Smith in her first public comments to the City Council on the issue said Tuesday at City Hall a scam that stole $9,997 from her office in June was an "isolated incident."

"My office was compromised," Smith told councilors.

Someone impersonating an official from the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department (HGE) requested that she wire the money, which is a normal procedure between the city treasurer and HGE, she said.

When she phoned the HGE official the next day, she learned the money had been sent in a scam, she said.

Also, Police Chief James M. Neiswanger told the Council that Long Island, New York police have arrested Marshal Godfrey of Brentwood, New York as a suspect in the incident. Neiswanger said his understanding was that the suspect had yet to be sentenced.

The city can pursue restitution -- try to get the money back as a part of the court process of whomever is charged with the crime -- but the likelihood is slim, he said.

Once the legal procedures to try to get the money back have been exhausted, Smith said she will contact the insurance company with which she is bonded as treasurer to seek reimbursement of the $9,997.

Neiswanger confirmed to The Republican in February that police are investigating and that authorities in Long Island, New York had identified a suspect in the scam.

Councilors asked that department heads and city staff get training to avoid such cyber scams.

The City Council meeting was a special session originally intended to be in executive session, or, with the public and media excluded. But Ward 5 Councilor Linda L. Vacon, who sought the meeting, said details had emerged that made a closed-door session on the matter unnecessary and the meeting could be held in public session.

Check back with The Republican and MassLive.com for more on this meeting about the scam in the city treasurer's office, including video.SPRINGFIELD - Law enforcement officials, following a lengthy investigation, arrested two men early Tuesday and seized a kilogram of cocaine worth approximately $80,000 on the street.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said the arrests, made by members of the Hampden County Narcotics Task Force, took a "significant" amount of drugs off the street.

"This skillful investigation carried out by my office's task force has taken a significant amount of drugs from our streets, which continues our efforts to chip away at the various drug distribution networks that breed violence and addiction in our communities," Gulluni said in a news release.

Arrested were: Anibal Collazo, 24, of Springfield, and Berney Bermudez, 39, of Chicopee. They were charged with trafficking cocaine over 200 grams and conspiracy to violate drug laws.

During the course of the investigation, members of the Hampden County Narcotics Task Force learned Collazo maybe in possession of several kilos of cocaine that he was preparing to distribute, according to Gulluni's office.

Task force members, early on Tuesday, found both suspects at Collazo's restaurant, Los Bravos. Armed with arrest warrants, law enforcement arrested both without incident.

The two suspects are slated to be arraigned in District Court Wednesday.

The Hampden County Narcotics Task Force is made up of the state police detective unit assigned to district attorney's office, Homeland Security Investigations of Springfield, the Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke police departments, and the Hampden County Sheriff's Department.Authorities are asking for help finding a 52-year-old Rockport woman who went missing last month.

Theresa "Tracy" Coen was last heard from on March 17, the Rockport Police Department and Massachusetts State Police said in a missing persons flyer.

"Coen was last seen in Somerville, but is believed to have left her rental house in Rockport on foot with just a cell phone," police stated. "Coen's cell phone is believed to be turned off at this time."

Coen is 5'9" and weighs 140 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes, police said.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about her whereabouts to call Rockport Police Officer Daniel Mahoney at (978) 546-1212 or State Trooper Zachary Bolcome of the Essex County State Police Detectives Unit at (978) 745-8908.HOLYOKE -- City Treasurer Sandra A. Smith said Tuesday at City Hall Mayor Alex B. Morse was among officials she informed in June after she realized a scam wire-transfer of funds from her office had occurred.

Smith's remarks came during questioning at a City Council meeting about an incident in which she said she wired $9,997 to someone impersonating an official from the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department (HGE).

Morse said that his recollection differs from Smith's and that he learned about the scam more recently.

"I don't have any recollection of that. However, I did learn recently that Sandy did disclose the incident at a weekly finance meeting we have at City Hall yet it wasn't relayed to my office and I wasn't personally made aware," Morse said in a text message, when reached later.

"There may have been a misunderstanding as my office normally attends these meetings, but was unable to that week. With that said, I don't believe Sandy would ever intentionally keep information like that from my office. Sandy works hard for our city and was the victim of a crime that could have happened to anyone. We are working together to put the proper protections in place to prevent any future incidents, as well as exploring professional development for city staff on this topic," Morse said.

Smith said she told the mayor about the incident in the process of also informing the Police Department. She responded to a direct question about whether she had informed Morse from Ward 5 Councilor Linda L. Vacon in a special meeting that originally was going to be in closed session but Councilors decided to meet on the matter in open session.

Police Chief James M. Neiswanger also addressed the scam and told the Council that Long Island, New York police have arrested Marshal Godfrey of Brentwood, New York as a suspect in the case. Neiswanger said his understanding was that the suspect had yet to be sentenced.EASTHAMPTON -- "I'm not going to give up on this," said City Councilor Salem Derby. "People are risking their lives every day driving through that intersection."

The council's Public Safety Subcommittee on Tuesday discussed the notorious South and Main street intersection -- a X-shaped juncture with a history of crashes that nevertheless does not meet state criteria for a traffic light, in part because the actual volume of traffic isn't high enough.

A 2017 report by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission concluded that the crossroad had a "significantly higher than average crash rate" when compared to other unsignalized intersections in the region.

"If it's a significantly higher crash rate, it requires significantly higher attention," said Derby. He said he would contact the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Thirty-four crashes have been reported at the intersection between 2010 and 2016.

The committee was armed not only with the 2017 report, but with a recent memo from City Engineer Daniel J. Murphy. Both papers analyzed problems at the intersection and outlined a range of possible actions, ranging from painting new lines to installing an overhead "flashing beacon."

Both reports said the situation for pedestrians must also be improved.

Public Works director Joseph Pipcznski noted that Main Street (Rt. 10) to the south of the intersection is controlled by the state. Main Street on the north side is owned by the city.

"You're not going to be able to do much at that intersection without involving MassDOT," he said.

Pipczynski expressed skepticism that merely "adding paint to the road" would have much effect, and said that any good solution would require curbing. He said engineering and design work, paid for by the city, has to be in place before receiving any sort of state grant.

"It would be good to have a design in our back pocket," he said, estimating the engineering work at $12,000 to $15,000.

Conversation focused on College Highway Variety, a store at the southwest quadrant of the intersection that has no curbs to define its parking lot.

Pipcznski, Police Chief Robert Alberti, and committee members agreed that a chaotic parking situation at the store is part of the problem. People use the lot in a random fashion, often blocking the line of sight for turning motorists.

"People park at the store with their rear wheels in the street," said Derby. "You can't see around them when you're trying to turn left from South Street."

The planning commission documented a cluster of accidents from 2014 to 2016 that it attributed to possible blocked sight lines from the store. An additional four crashes were caused by people running stop signs.

Derby said he had learned from a report that College Variety, probably decades ago, paved over the sidewalk, and now uses that square-footage for its parking. Aberti said reclaiming the sidewalk might be a good first step.

About a half-dozen local residents showed up to listen and share their observations. When motorists slow to turn left from Main to South, other cars whiz by on the right, they said. One man said the state highway is actually marked as a passing zone at the approach to the intersection.

City plans to build a new consolidated school on Park Street for 1,000 students have to be considered, the neighbors said. A traffic study conducted for the school project suggested an increase in South Street traffic.

"We have kids walking in that area. And teenagers driving cars. I'm not going to let this drop," said Derby.

Naresh Patel, owner of College Variety, stopped in about halfway through the meeting, and sat quietly. He told the committee that he would not immediately comment, but had come to listen.

Patel said he wished he had been informed of the meeting. Derby said he had dropped off two letters at the store and received no response.

The Public Safety Subcommittee meets next on May 1. The committee members are councilors Derby, Homar Gomez, and Daniel Carey.Some of the proposed reforms of the Massachusetts State Police make take some time to implement, Gov. Charlie Baker acknowledges.

Baker and the head of the State Police, Kerry Gilpin, announced a slate of proposals earlier this week as a response to a spate of scandals that have hit the statewide law enforcement agency.

The reforms included the dissolution of Troop E, which patrols the Mass. Turnpike, the department-wide implementation of body cameras and the activation of tracking technology in laptops inside cruisers.

But the troopers who worked in Troop E, the focus of an investigation into overtime shift abuse, are staying in barracks on the Turnpike, while getting absorbed into other Troops B, C and H.

And while the hardware behind the tracking technology is available, the software is not, and the agency is in the process of acquiring it.

But that and the implementation of a body camera program, which Baker wants completed by the end of the year, could run into headwinds with union members.

"Boston did everybody a favor by doing a pilot because people learned a lot from that," Baker told reporters on Wednesday. "And it makes it possible for other people to pursue the learnings that came about as a result of that and incorporate it into their own strategies. But our goal is to get that program in place by the end of the year."

Asked if there could be additional reforms of the State Police, Baker said, "Look, I'm always interested in good ideas on how to make government more transparent, accountable and effective. And if the Legislature has thoughts on those, obviously we'd be happy to take them up on 'em and hear what they have to say."

The Boston Globe reported that state lawmakers could add more reforms to the State Police through the state budget process.

"But we're certainly going to pursue our list of reforms, and I fully expect that some of them may take longer than others," Baker said. "But that was anticipated when we put them out there in the first place."SPRINGFIELD -- Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said the city has received a search warrant from Western District Housing Court that will allow the city to inspect a sanctuary at South Congregational Church for any code violations.

The inspection is planned Thursday morning, according to court papers.

A Peruvian woman facing deportation has been staying in the church sanctuary since March 26 with her two children, leading to Sarno's order for a city inspection. A spokeswoman for the sanctuary said Tuesday that city inspectors would not be allowed in without a warrant.

Sarno said he was informed by City Solicitor Ed Pikula that the Housing Court issued the warrant "to carry out the proper public health and safety inspections."

Housing Court Clerk-Magistrate Peter Q. Montori issued a "Search Warrant for a Private Dwelling," as requested by the city Law Department.

The church and the Springfield Interfaith Sanctuary Coalition are providing housing and basic needs to Gisella Collazo and her two American-born children, ages 10 and 4. She has been in the United States for 17 years, living in Springfield, but has not been able to secure legal status in the country.

She entered the sanctuary a day ahead of her required flight back to Peru, and had been outfitted with a GPS ankle bracelet monitored by federal immigration enforcement officials.

The warrant states that an affidavit was provided to a Housing Court judge by City Code Enforcement Commissioner Steven Desilets "that there is probable cause for believing that an area inspection" should take place to enforce minimum physical standards for private property under the state sanitary code.

The inspection is permitted for the church at 45 Maple St., "occupied by Jane Doe and two minor children solely for the purpose of enforcing said laws," the order states. A brief tour of the sanctuary by The Republican found apartment-like provisions including beds and furnishings.

The court order states that Desilets provided proof by affidavit that he and the department believe it is necessary to have an inspection "in order to protect the interests of the public health or safety." The city affidavit also states that attorney Christine Tetreault, as lawyer for the church, had refused entry by city inspectors prior to the warrant.

Tetreault, reached Tuesday by The Republican, said the entry would not be permitted without a court order.

Six city councilors were proposing a vote at the council's next meeting on Monday night to consider ordering city employees not to "interfere' with the sanctuary in any way.

The council had planned a special meeting this week to consider the order, but it was postponed to Monday.

Sarno has also asked city departments to review if the church should continue to be exempt from local property taxes.

Regarding the crackdown, Sarno said: "I am not a cold-hearted person and do have compassion for the family in question, but there must be a clear path to American citizenship, whether it's this case in Springfield or other parts of the country."

Rev. Tom Gerstenlauer, senior pastor of the church, defended the church's right to provide sanctuary, and said he was "afraid" for the soul of Sarno.

He and the coalition said the family was welcomed to stay in the church as long as necessary and until she obtains legal status.SPRINGFIELD -- The Planning Board has a hearing scheduled Wednesday night to consider approving plans by a housing agency to demolish the Peter Pan bus terminal and construct an office building in its place.

Way Finders, a nonprofit housing services agency that was formerly HAPHousing, is proposing the new, 23,338-square-foot building at the former bus terminal at 1776-1780 Main St.

The station site will serve as Way Finders' new headquarters and housing center.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m., at City Hall, in Room 220.

Way Finders announced the $13 million project in December that includes a $2.75 million purchase price for the property.

Way Finders president and CEO Peter Gagliardi called the project the "housing center of the future."

The Planning Department staff is recommending approval of the site plans, saying in its analysis that it is "very pleased with the proposed design of the new building" along with landscaping features. The building will be close to Main Street with access from Liberty Street.

The plans include a new parking lot behind the building, accessed from Liberty Street, new shade trees and shrubs and an outdoor courtyard, the planning analysis said.

The bus station site is within the expanded area of the Court Square Urban Renewal District and thus will also need approval from the Springfield Redevelopment Authority, but not the City Council, officials said.

Peter Pan moved its bus terminal operations to the newly remodeled Union Station across the street from the old bus terminal. Peter Pan hopes to move its office personnel to Union Station in May to third floor space under renovation.

In other business, the Planning Board will consider approving the site plans for a major expansion of the Big Y distribution center on Roosevelt Avenue.

Big Y Foods Inc., announced the plans in February.

Big Y said it will construct 234,000 square feet of additional space for the distribution center, bringing the entire complex to nearly 425,000 square feet.SPRINGFIELD - Fifty years to the day of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis, community, religious and city leaders gathered in City Hall for a ceremony to honor his legacy and to vow to continue his life's work.

More than 50 people gathered in the meeting room in City Hall for the commemoration that featured remarks by several religious leaders, by Mayor Domenic Sarno, and by King himself, as several people quoted him in their remarks.

Among the speakers were Bishop Talbert W. Swan II, president of the Greater Springfield NAACP, Archbishop Timothy Paul, president of the Council of Churches of Western Massachusetts, Samantha Hamilton of Martinl Luther King Jr. Family Services, and Minister Johnnie Muhammad of Muhammad's Mosque No.13.

"Fifty years to the day of his disgraceful murder, we pause to commemorate the dream that he not only lived for, but gave his life for," said Rev. J. P. Morgan, Sr., president of the Pastors Council of Greater Springfield and the senior pastor at Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ, said

Of all the horrific events of 1968, Morgan said, the assassination of King was "the most earth shattering."

King was a leader willing to take the moral high ground through a campaign of non-violence in the face of the brutal oppression, he said. King challenged "the status quo through the strategy of non-violence."

Sarno, noting the number of schools, streets, statues and scholarships named after King, said it is important for people to remember who he was and what he did.

"His ideas not only made a better America, but a better world," Sarno said.

"He was all about empowerment. Economic empowerment, educational empowerment, (and) social empowerment," he said. "He believed it you were able to climb up that ladder and take some one with you, that was the way it had to be done."

Nasiya Yates, a student at the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence, brought the crowd to its feet by reading a large portion of King's final speech, known as "I have been to the Mountain Top, which was delivered in Memphis on April 3, 1968, one day before he was shot to death.

City resident Vanessa Ford also stirred the crowd by a rendition of Mahalia Jackson's "If I Can Help Somebody," which includes the refrain of "then my living shall not be in vain." She introduced it as King's favorite song.

While the ceremony was intended to commemorate King's work with the Civil Rights Movement, several speakers noted that that work is far from over.

Speakers noted that in many ways America remains segregated, socially and economically, along a color line.

Morgan said the anniversary of King's murder is forcing a comparison of the America of today vs. that of 1968.

"As we sit on the precipice of an even greater abyss of unresolved racial, political and economic ruin, has Dr. King's dream become a nightmare?" Morgan asked.

"And if so what will it take to awaken America from this new horror?"

He closed with the words of King by saying "the time is still right to do right."

Rev. Jason Seymour of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Greater Springfield spoke of how he was encouraged to become a minister based on the life and example of King.

In the brief time that he had, Seymour read a passage King's 1965 eulogy to Rev. James Reeb, a Unitarian minister who was killed in Selma, Alabama in 1965 outside a whites-only restaurant.

As with the passage, Seymour said when young black men are killed in America or even in Springfield today, it is not enough to ask who is doing the killing, but what.

He said that while Springfield is "a great and diverse city," it is not without its problems. Chief among them, he said, are racism and "de facto segregation" is a big part of what troubles the city today.

Mark Dov Shapiro, rabbi emeritus of Sinai Temple, said being invited to the event made him feel sad.

"I am saddened and disappointed because 50 years on, racism and poverty continue to affect our country and infect us as well," he said.

King, he said, "lived with such courage, conviction, inspiration and wisdom."

He closed by quoting several lines from King's writings and speeches, calling them the new scripture.

The final quote was "We might experience finite disappointment but we must never lose our infinite hope."A Springfield woman faces heroin charges after she was found in a car in Vermont with two other women and more than 1,600 bags of heroin.

Angelis Sanchez, 29, was a passenger in a car stopped by Vermont State Police in the northbound lane of I-91 in Barnet, Vermont. Police subsequently determined the driver, Veronica Chicoine, 27, of Lyndonville, Vermont, was operating the car under the influence of drugs.

A second passenger, 36-year-old Michelle Vance of Danville, Vermont was also taken into custody after police conducted a consent search of the car and found 1,670 bags of heroin.

Chicoine was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 cash bail

while bail for Vance was set at $20,000. Sanchez was held pending issuance of an arrest warrant.BELCHERTOWN -- Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Leo Roy's ideas to further restrict public access at Quabbin Reservoir are on hold.

Roy, who was expected to discuss the additional restrictions for hunting, fishing and recreation opportunities at a meeting Monday night, instead said there would be no changes to a draft plan on public access that was approved last year by an advisory committee. He also said there would be further review and more public meetings on the matter.

The commissioner acknowledged his change of course during the Quabbin Watershed Advisory Committee (QWAC) meeting at the DCR Quabbin Visitor Center.

The room was full. Attendees included state representatives Todd Smola, R-Warren, Donald Berthiaume, R-Spencer, Susannah Whipps, I-Athol, and Sen. Anne Gobi, D-Spencer.

In an interview following Monday's meeting, Gobi said: "It was ill-advised for the commissioner to blindside the [advisory] board, and sportsmen and sportswomen to restrict access to hunting and fishing and recreation at the Quabbin."

The state periodically reviews public access.

"Quabbin's first public access plan was published in 1988; the first update occurred in 1998, the second update in 2006, the third update is currently ongoing," minutes from the QWAC's October meeting say.

"A working group of internal Division of Water Supply Protection staff was formed in 2015 to draft the current update," the minutes say. That draft was completed and presented to the QWAC, which supported it.

At the time of the Oct. 16 meeting, the QWAC said public comment on the proposal would end later that month.

At Monday's meeting, Roy said the comment period would be reopened.The University of Massachusetts is looking to acquire Mount Ida College in Newton, Mass., a source familiar with the proposal has told MassLive.

Details of the proposal were not immediately available and officials with UMass and Mount Ida did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mount Ida, a small private college, recently discussed merging with Lasell College, which is also a small private college in Newton, but those talks fell through.

Mount Ida, which has 1,555 undergraduate and graduate students, was founded in 1899 as a liberal arts college. Most of its students live on the 72-acre campus.

The college is led by Barry Brown, the former acting president and provost of Suffolk University in Boston. The college's website describes the institution as "[n]estled in the picturesque and safe suburb of Newton."

The UMass system has 74,500 students on five campuses across the state: Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell and the medical school in Worcester.

The impact of the proposal on the Boston campus, located in the city's Dorchester neighborhood, remains unclear.

The UMass Boston campus is searching for a new chancellor. Barry Mills, the former president of Bowdoin College, was brought in by top UMass officials on an interim basis to dive into reported budget issues at the campus.WEST SPRINGFIELD -- The School Committee on Tuesday approved a $43.1 million budget for fiscal year 2019 that represents an almost 4 percent increase over the current budget, more state aid, and negotiated raises for school district employees.

Before the committee voted on the budget, Superintendent Michael J. Richard offered highlights of the spending plan and discussed the various issues challenging the growing school district, which has absorbed hundreds of new students over the past decade.

"We are not the community that we were 20 years ago," Richard told the School Committee, which is chaired by Mayor William C. Reichelt.

"We continue to evolve, to change, to embrace diversity all across the board, from English language learners to students with disabilities to those who are economically disadvantaged," he said. "We are educating all and doing it well."

Positive developments in the district include an all-time high graduation rate of 89.6 percent and an all-time low dropout rate of 1.2 percent. Ten years ago, these figures were 67.4 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

West Springfield continues to be a melting pot with a growing immigrant population. English is not the first language for more than 29 percent of the 4,332 students in the nine-school district, which is 70 percent white, 16.5 percent Hispanic, 7.2 percent Asian and 3.6 percent black.

Over 19 percent of West Side students have disabilities, 55.7 percent have "high needs," and almost 44 percent come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

"Over the last seven years, we are the only school in the lower Pioneer Valley that has demonstrated consistent growth on an annual basis in terms of our enrollment," Richard said. "We have increased by hundreds in that time."

More students in city classrooms means "additional dollars coming to us from the state in the form of Chapter 70 funds," he said, including $1.5 million for fiscal 2019.

The budget includes negotiated raises for employees totaling around $1.2 million and an increase in the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative tuition to around $91,000. The tuition increase reflects a three-year rolling average, Richard said, noting that around 100 West Side students attend LPVEC for career-tech services.

The budget's "unpredictable and unanticipated expenses" include accommodating Puerto Rico hurricane evacuees, he said, a number that's held steady at 81 students.

"We know that there are costs that we have borne because of this, including faculty, staff, special education, homeless transportation and translations," he said.

The good news, however, is that "funding is coming our way from the state," Richard said. Gov. Charlie Baker allocated around $15 million to help evacuees in fiscal 2018, but it remains unclear how long the funding will last and how much West Side will receive for fiscal 2019, which begins July 1.

"There is still some uncertainty as to whether there will be any definitive end date for the funding," said Richard, adding that the date has been pushed back multiple times already. In the meantime, West Side educators continue work closely with the students from Puerto Rico.

"It should be noted, though, that we continue to see a high degree of trauma from those students, resulting in some challenges in terms of getting them focused on the work at hand and acquiring English," Richard said.

"However, credit to those students for everything they've been through and the efforts they are making, as well as to the staff and administration who are there with them every day," he said.

After the superintendent's presentation, the School Committee unanimously approved the budget.

Committee member Pat Garbacik emphasized that there's no fat in the spending plan. "It's not a budget that's just assembled because these are all the things we want," she said. "This is what we absolutely need."

Reichelt seconded that sentiment, saying the plan was carefully devised and does not include unnecessary expenses.

"We did spend a lot of time over the past three, four months to create the $43 million budget we have in front of us," the mayor said.A construction employee working on the $2.4 billion Wynn Harbor casino in Everett has died.

The construction worker "lost his life after sustaining injuries on our site" on Tuesday, a Wynn Boston Harbor spokesman said in an email.

"The name of the worker and details of the incident are being withheld at this time out of respect for his family," the spokesman, Greg John, said. "We are launching a full investigation into the incident.

He added: "This is a very sad day for everyone at Wynn Boston Harbor. Our deepest condolences and heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to his family and coworkers."

The largest private single-phase development in state history, the casino is set to open June 2019.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is looking into sexual misconduct allegations against casino mogul Steve Wynn, who stepped away from the company after an extensive Wall Street Journal report.

As the commission aims for the investigation to wrap up by summer 2018, a top executive at Wynn Boston Harbor has acknowledged the company is considering a "rebranding" of the gambling facility.

Gaming Commission spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said the agency is "deeply saddened" to learn about the accident.

"We extend our most heartfelt sympathy to the worker's loved ones," she said in an email. "The Commission anticipates that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as the appropriate local authorities, will conduct a comprehensive review of the circumstances surrounding this incident."

This post was updated with a statement from the Gaming Commission.SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) -- A woman opened fire Tuesday at YouTube headquarters, wounding several people before fatally shooting herself as terrified employees huddled inside, police and witnesses said.

After receiving multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire, officers and federal agents swarmed the company's suburban campus sandwiched between two interstates in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the second floor when she heard gun shots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a "big huge pistol."

"It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, 'Shooter,' and everybody started running," Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while a male employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.

"It was terrifying," she said.

Television news footage showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air. Officers patted them down to make sure none had weapons.

Officers discovered one victim with a gunshot wound when they arrived and then found the shooter with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound several minutes later, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said. He said two additional victims were later located at an adjacent business.

The headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.

Inside, Google several years ago famously outfitted the office with a 3-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at Youtube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings on the campus when the fire alarm went off.

He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, "'Come at me, or come get me.'"

There was somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound.

He said he realized it was an active shooter incident when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door. He jumped on his skateboard and ran away.

San Francisco General Hospital received three patients: a 36-year-old man in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition, a spokesman said.

The hospital said later that it did not expect to receive more patients.

Google, which owns the world's biggest online video website, posted on Twitter that the company was coordinating with authorities. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it also responded.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on a shooting and that officials were monitoring developments.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

By Ryan Nakashima and Sudhin Thanawala, Associated PressAs Charlie Baker begins the cleanup of the scandalized Massachusetts State Police, the governor deserves credit for taking steps that should eventually restore the department to its place as a source of pride, not one of embarrassment.

Reaching that goal will take time, but Baker and State Police Colonel Kerry Gilpin are at least on the right track. They understand this reform program is not a quick, gloss-and-shine operation but an effort that cuts to the roots of a deeply corrupted department and attacks the problem on several fronts.

Foremost among them is the elimination of Troop E, which was assigned to cover the Massachusetts Turnpike but fell victim to abuse by many members. Troopers covering the Pike will be absorbed into existing regional barracks - a necessary adjustment.

The reform program also calls for quarterly audits of top earners, with public disclosure, and more comprehensive questionnaires and reviews of new recruits. An independent auditing firm will review overtime policies, protocols and records.

Body cameras will go a long way toward guaranteeing accountability. Vehicle movement will be better tracked. Staff inspections and internal affairs will see staff increases and frequent audits will be designed to catch any questionable activity from going unchecked.

It can be argued that at least some of these procedures should have been in force before the overtime scandal. An equally strong case can be made that they shouldn't be necessary at all, but must now be implemented because of rampant abuse within a department whose job it is to enforce the law, not ignore it.

Baker's involvement in the process has been prompt, thorough and sincere. Gilpin deserves public support in her difficult task of cleaning up the department.

There is only so much even a governor can do. The law limits his authority in some cases, notably pensions, but his actions indicate an aggressive willingness to attack what areas of potential abuse he can.

This is no time for politics. The governor is not playing them. Justifiably angry as the public has become over the police scandal, this is also no time for cynicism to overwhelm the effort to restore the Massachusetts State Police as an agency doing its job properly, efficiently and honestly.

There's an old saying about darkness before the dawn. Recent revelations about the state police represent a dark period in this state's law enforcement history, no doubt about it.

Governor Baker's efforts and those of Colonel Gilpin signify a change in overall attitude and procedure that was long overdue. That should mean better days are ahead. The temptation to dwell on the miserable recent past must take a back seat to guaranteeing a better operation in the future.

These multiple actions signal an honest effort to do that. It doesn't whitewash what has happened within the force, but it does give reason for hope state police and government officials have learned from these episodes and serious about making sure the ethics of the force are not allowed to unravel again.When the history of the special counsel's probe of Russian interference in our 2016 presidential election comes to be written, April 3 may well be seen as a watershed day.

It was then, on Tuesday, that special counsel Robert Mueller's work resulted in a prison sentence, the first to come from his probe, for a lawyer who'd been caught lying to the FBI. It was then that news broke of an eight-month-old Justice Department memo giving Mueller the authority to investigate broadly the doings of Paul Manafort, who'd been Donald Trump's campaign chairman for a brief period in 2017. And it was then it was learned that Mueller's office had recently told the president's lawyers that Trump remains under investigation, but is not a criminal target, at least for now.

It's the last of those that may well have the most immediate impact, as it could prompt the frequently talkative Trump to feel he's got nothing to fear by sitting down for an interview with Mueller. If he believes a nice little chat might clear his, um, good name, he could well be in for a most-unpleasant surprise, as not being a target now in no way guarantees that he won't become one down the line.

Loose lips might sink a presidency.

Tuesday's news came out in pieces, with one thing here, another there. One new element that stood out: Mueller has been considering writing his report in stages. As such, he may report sooner rather than later on his findings regarding Trump's possible efforts to obstruct justice by endeavoring to quash parts of the investigation.

This story is heating up. And it would appear to be far, far from over.

Trump, who has long called the probe a "hoax" and a "witch hunt," couldn't have been pleased by what was in the Justice Department memo that was written last August, but made public only now. Authored by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who assumed his oversight role after Attorney General Jefferson Sessions was forced to recuse himself because of undisclosed contacts he'd had with Russian agents, the memorandum gave Mueller broad range to pursue charges against Manafort, seeking to determine whether he "committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials."

Rosenstein, a Republican, gave Mueller, a Republican, the green light to look into a wide range of Manafort's doings. Can't really term that a politically motivated witch hunt, can we?

The lawyer who is headed off to prison for 30 days is Alex van der Zwaan, who'd done work for Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates. Though this, in itself, isn't a major deal (except for van der Zwaan and his family), it does send a very clear signal to those who'd consider being less than fully truthful when answering questions from the special counsel's office.

Tuesday saw several pieces of the Russia puzzle revealed. With so much still missing, though, it's not yet possible to get a handle on the whole, to understand where Mueller's investigation may ultimately lead.

Here's one pretty sure bet, though: The months ahead aren't likely to be dull.While President Trump has yet to make a final decision, he has repeatedly talked about pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, most recently stating: "I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home." Many believe Trump's comments are directly in line with his "America First" approach to foreign policy. But others argue pulling out of Syria prematurely would threaten to undermine all the progress we've made against ISIS. What do you think?

PERSPECTIVES

President Trump is still deciding whether or not he wants to pull U.S. soldiers out of Syria, but his latest comments have led many to believe he's favoring the argument for bringing our troops home.

Watch below:

Asked about his comments last week on U.S. troops leaving Syria soon, Pres. Trump says "we'll be making a decision very quickly, in coordination with others, as to what we'll do."



"Sometimes it's time to come back home." https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/45BoNgT24A  ABC News (@ABC) April 3, 2018

While the White House hasn't made an official decision regarding U.S. forces in Syria, many believe Trump's comments are in line with his "America First" approach to foreign policy.

Trump makes clear he hasn't yet made an official decision on future of US troops in Syria, but says; "I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home."  Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) April 3, 2018

But CNN reports the U.S. military is discussing sending more troops into Syria, directly contradicting Trump's statements.

CNN has learned that the US military is discussing sending more troops to Syria; US President Trump remarked last Thursday that the US would be coming out of Syria like very soon https://t.co/WFy30Wp2tb pic.twitter.com/WeM4oKr6Db  CNN International (@cnni) April 3, 2018

And Max Boot of the Washington Post argues pulling troops out of Syria would be catastrophic, essentially reversing all of the progress made against ISIS over the past several years.

If the United States leaves both Syria and Iraq, it will be an incalculable windfall for Iran, a rogue state that Trump claims to hate  but not as much as he seems to hate long-term commitments. My @PostOpinions column: https://t.co/UXNQSgSqPZ  Max Boot (@MaxBoot) April 2, 2018

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.Three U.S. senators have launched a probe into why a 40-year-old cancer drug's price has increased 1400 percent. Introduced in 1976 to treat brain tumors and Hodgkin's lymphoma, one capsule of Lomustinecost $50 in 2013 and now the same dose costs $768. Critics say we can't allow unscrupulous profiteers to purchase drug patents and jack their prices out of reach of sick people who need them. But others say we must let the free market decide. Should the government cap drug prices?

PERSPECTIVES

Senators Claire McCaskill, Susan Collins and Cortez Masto are asking Tri-Source Pharma CEO Robert DiCrisci to explain the price increase and how much of a profit his company makes from the drug.

Whats behind a 1,400% price hike in cancer drug lomustine? Three senators want answers from the Florida company that raised the cost of the 40-year-old drug https://t.co/QlJzmBe0uI via @loftus  Stefanie Ilgenfritz (@stefaniei) April 3, 2018

Did we learn nothing from Pharma Bro? Unless the government steps in, unfettered capitalism means that anyone who can buy the rights to life-saving medicines can ask whatever price they want for it.

Oh, I know why this happened: greed by selfish pigs. https://t.co/C8pJSBbZOr  Sox Fan (@soxfansince1963) April 3, 2018

But others argue pharmaceutical companies are justified in increasing these costs because of how pricey it is to bring drugs to market. FDA approval is wildly expensive and requires numerous clinical trials. This is the price of innovation.

Free-market loyalists like former Sen. Tom Coburn argue that government interference will only exacerbate the problem.

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.As reports of election hacking continue to break, many are calling on a return to paper ballots. The shift to paperless voting started after the "hanging chad" debacle during the 2000 presidential election, in which paper ballots were deemed less reliable than electronic voting machines. But paper is hack-proof, and as the Russians step up their efforts to influence our elections, some think it's better to be safe than sorry. What do you think?

PERSPECTIVES

Russian election meddling has led many to believe it is time we return to paper ballots. The Senate Intelligence Committee recommended states take steps to secure their elections by including the use of paper ballots in their voting systems.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds of USA Today argues efforts to strengthen cybersecurity aren't enough--paper offers a completely hack-proof means of ensuring everyone's vote is counted.

Mandating paper ballots would be a quick and relatively simple solution to threats of Russian hacking on our future elections. Paper ballots aren't perfect, but it is virtually impossible to "hack" physical copies of votes.

But paper ballots aren't without their problems. Lest we forget the 2000 presidential election that came down to a few "hanging chads" in Florida? Paper ballots are prone to human error, and there's no way to audit a vote without physically recounting every individual ballot. HBO literally made a movie about the problems with paper ballots.

Sarah Diamond of eBallot also points out that paper ballots can be easily destroyed or tampered with. "Misplacing" one box of ballots could be enough to flip an election. Electronic voting means faster results, better ways to audit, historical data and increased security.

Traditional voting requires ballots to be printed and mailed

Waiting for mail-in paper ballots can be time-consuming and inefficient

There's no way to audit this system unless you manually re-count the votes

Proxy voting may lead to vote tampering

Paper ballots are susceptible to damage and can be stored for a definite amount of time

Tallying paper votes requires a secure system, one that's usually left to the discretion of the administrator

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.Following reports that Grindr may be sharing users' personal information without their informed consent, Senators from Massachusetts and Connecticut called on the company this week to detail how the popular LGBTQ dating app is using such data.

U.S. Sens. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, penned a letter to Grindr Interim CEO Zhou Yahui Tuesday asking the company to explain whether it seeks users' consent to share or sell information, including their geolocation, sexuality and HIV status.

The Democrats, who both sit on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, further sought information on the requirements Grindr imposes on third parties it shares data with, the data-security practices the company adheres to and whether users who do not want to share their information can opt-out, among other things.

They asked the company to respond to more than a dozen questions regarding the app's privacy policy and data-sharing practices by April 17.

Markey and Blumenthal's letter came just one day after Buzzfeed News reported that Grindr has been sharing its 3.6 million daily active users' data with two other companies that help optimize apps, Apptimize and Localytics.

The senators argued that while the report suggested that Grindr shares the information to help improve the app and send targeted advertisements, it could be misused without proper protections in place.

"According to the report, this sensitive information could link specific individuals to their HIV status and sexual orientation. In the wrong hands, this information could lead to unlawful discrimination or worse," they wrote. "Further, according to the report, some of the data in question has been shared with third party advertising campaigns over unencrypted connections, which could leave this sensitive information vulnerable to cyberattack."

Markey and Blumenthal argued that "simply using an app should not give companies a license to carelessly handle, use or share this type of sensitive information."

They added that Grindr and the companies it shares information with have an obligation to protect such data and ensure users "have meaningful control over it."

Grindr, in response to the Buzzfeed report, said it "has never, nor will we ever sell personally identifiable user information -- especially information regarding HIV status or last test date -- to third parties or advertisers."

The company further noted that while it works with well-regarded vendors to test and optimize its platform, they are under strict contractual terms to provide confidentiality, data security and user privacy. It added that data "is always transmitted securely with encryption."

"The inclusion of HIV status information within our platform is always regarded carefully with our users' privacy in mind, but like any other mobile app company, we too must operate with industry standard practices to help make sure Grindr continues to improve for our community," CTO Scott Chen said in a statement. "We assure everyone that we are always examining our processes around privacy, security and data sharing with third parties, and always looking for additional measures that go above and beyond industry best practices to help maintain our users' right to privacy."

Grindr Chief Security Officer Bryce Case, meanwhile, reportedly told Buzzfeed that the company has decided to stop sharing information about its users' HIV status with third-party analytics companies.ech companies in the U.S. heartland are stepping up their efforts to convince tech talent to leave the Bay Area  and parroting some Silicon Valley lingo to do so.

On Monday, a group of 10 Colorado tech companies announced the formation of the Colorado Technology Recruiting Coalition, with the goal of supercharging efforts to recruit tech workers to Colorado. First, the group has launched a new website called Pivot to Colorado, in order to showcase Colorado tech companies. The coalition will also be launching social media and marketing campaigns to reach tech workers from other parts of the country  starting with Silicon Valley  in order to tout the benefits of living and working in Colorado.

Anna [email protected]Mahen Seeruttun a pris la parole lors de partie allouee au Statement by Ministers lors de la seance parlementaire du 29 juin 2021 sur les dernieres nouvelles concernant les services financier avec larrivee dune equipe de la GAFI.

Mr Speaker, Sir,

With your permission, I wish to make a statement on the latest developments with regard to the inclusion of Mauritius under the Financial Action Task Force list of Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring.

Mr Speaker, Sir,

For recall, in my statement to the House on 24 February 2020, I informed this Assembly about the substantial progress made in relation to the technical compliance with respect to the FATF Recommendations since the Mutual Evaluation Report in 2018 where Mauritius was rated largely compliant or compliant with 35 out of the 40 FATF Recommendations.

I also informed the House that the FATF had identified five strategic deficiencies which Mauritius must implement to improve the level of effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime.

At its Plenary meeting in February 2020, the FATF placed Mauritius on its list of Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring and provided Mauritius with an Action Plan to be implemented within a timeframe of around two years.

At this Plenary meeting, Mauritius made a high-level political commitment to implement the Action Plan within the agreed timelines.

Mr Speaker, Sir,

Since the placing of Mauritius on the FATF list, Government has been proactive in tackling these strategic deficiencies, inter alia, through the setting up of an inter-Ministerial Committee, chaired by the Honourable Prime Minister, to monitor closely the progress made in the implementation of the Action Plan.

The Honourable Prime Minister has extended his unflinching support to my Ministry and all relevant institutions in this national effort to strengthen the countrys AML/CFT framework, both in terms of technical compliance and effectiveness.

In this context, Government has invested massively in all supervisory bodies and law enforcement agencies to provide them with all necessary resources.

Mr Speaker, Sir,

The Core Group of the National Committee on Anti-Money Laundering and combatting the Financing of Terrorism, chaired by the Financial Secretary, has been overseeing the work being undertaken by all the implementing agencies and provided strategic guidance as appropriate.

In December 2020, a sub-Committee of the Core Group was mandated to ensure close monitoring of the remaining action plan items.

The sub-committee met the relevant implementing agencies, almost on a daily basis, to ensure that any challenges are dealt promptly and the agencies focused their activities in demonstrating progress made in addressing the FATF Action Plan.

Mr Speaker, Sir,

A first Progress Report was submitted in March 2020 but could not be considered by the FATF in view of the prevailing COVID 19 situation.

Subsequently, on 31 July 2020, Mauritius submitted a revised First Progress Report to the FATF Africa/Middle East Joint Group.

A Second Progress Report was submitted to the Joint Group on 27 November 2020, to demonstrate further progress made in addressing the 5 strategic deficiencies identified by FATF since July 2020.

Mauritius submitted a Third Progress Report to the Joint Group on 02 April 2021 which was considered at the recent June 2021 FATF Plenary.

It is to be noted during all virtual face to face meetings held with the Joint Group and the FATF Plenaries held since September 2020, Mauritius has been commended for its strong political commitment and the sustained progress made in the implementation of the FATF Action Plan.

Mr Speaker, Sir,

At its Plenary meeting held from 23 to 25 June 2021, the FATF has made the initial determination that Mauritius has substantially completed its Action Plan and warrants an on-site assessment to verify that the implementation of Mauritiuss AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained, and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation in the future.

The FATF has highlighted that Mauritius has made the following key reforms, including by:

(1) conducting outreach to promote understanding of ML and TF risks and obligations;

(2) developing risk-based supervision plans effectively for the Financial Services Commission;

(3) ensuring access to accurate basic and beneficial ownership information by competent authorities in a timely manner; and

(4) providing training for law enforcement authorities to ensure that they have the capability to conduct money laundering investigations.

The FATF will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and conduct an on-site visit at the earliest possible date.

Mr Speaker, Sir,

It is worth noting that during the ICRG process, Mauritius has worked in close collaboration with the ESAAMLG Secretariat which provided technical support and valuable guidance to the Mauritian Authorities.

Mauritius has also benefited from Technical assistance from the European Union, Germany, UK, France, IMF and UNODC to support the implementation of the Action Plan.

For the period July 2020 to date around 1000 participants from different implementing and supervisory bodies have received training in numerous fields including inter alia Suspicious Transactions Reporting, Risk Based Supervision, Beneficial Ownership, Parallel Financial Investigations, Targeted Financial Sections, Risk Assessment of Non-Profit Organisations and Terrorism Financing.

As far as possible, trainings were conducted online and all physical trainings were conducted in accordance with strict sanitary protocols.

Mr Speaker, Sir,

The positive outcome from the FATF is the result of work undertaken by all the supervisors, law enforcement agencies and different committees who have worked diligently and tirelessly.

This is also the result of the public-private partnership in this national effort.

It is worth noting, that since the placing of Mauritius on the FATF list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, the different institutions and the private sector have displayed an unprecedented spirit of team work and very strong collaboration, with a common objective to exit the FATF list at the earliest.

This also demonstrates that we are a Government of Action.

In fact, over the past few years, this Government has intensified its efforts and deployed a series of remarkable measures to bring our jurisdiction in conformity with international norms.

Mauritius made further progress in respect of Technical Compliance and is now rated compliant or largely compliant with 36 out of 40 FATF Recommendations.

This demonstrates our unflinching commitment to continue strengthening our AML/CFT system, well before and beyond the FATF list, thereby ensuring effective adherence to all international standards on AML/CFT.

Mr Speaker, Sir,

To conclude, I would like to mention that my Ministry together with the Core Group on AML/CFT and concerned institutions have already developed an extensive work plan in preparation for the submission of the next progress report to the Africa Middle East Joint Group and the forthcoming onsite visit of the FATF delegation.

Let me reassure the House that the Government will continue along this path and will remain committed to leave no stone unturned to complete the delisting process in the FATF list of Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring.

This will enable Mauritius to eventually exit the EU and UK lists of High Risk Third Countries.

Thank you Mr.Speaker, SirLegion awards presented at annual banquet Audio Article Sorry! An active online subscription is required to access this content. Please login below or Subscribe today! Username or E-mail Password Remember Me Forgot Password Login

HINDSIGHT 2021 Audio Article 10 Years Ago (2011)  Barb and Charles Kangas observed their 50th Anniversary with a small family dinner party. The couple was married on September 30, 1961, at the First Baptist Church of Zanesville by Russell Purdy, D.D. She is the daughter of the late Ula and Carl Lynch of...

Man disrupts school board meeting; masks mandates and critical race theory lead parental concerns Audio Article The regular monthly meeting of the Morgan Local School Board was held on Monday, Sept. 13, as the board covered issues relating to the recent mask mandate and different courses that are being offered to students this year. Each member of the board was present except for Carl Raines. After...

IT report to Commissioners August 2021 Audio Article This is the August 2021 report from Jeff Babcock, IT Director On July 28, 2021, the IT Director virtually attended the Zanesville-Muskingum Safety Council meeting. The topic of discussion was drug screenings and company policy around the drug testing of employees. AEP notified the county that they will be replacing...

Morgan County Sheriffs Office Daily Call Reports Audio Article Editors Note: The following are initial incident reports from callers to a Morgan County Sheriffs Office Dispatcher. Any details, charges or situations may have been distorted by the caller, or perhaps may have been found to be different after the officer further investigated the incident. Friday, June 25, 2021 ...

HINDSIGHT 2021 Audio Article 10 Years Ago (2011)  Three members of Waterfords FFA joined students from across the nation in Washington D.C. for the 2011 Washington Leadership Conference. Allison Adams, Katrina Ford and James Whalin spent a week in the nations capital developing leadership skills through workshops, seminars and other hands-on activities. The...Vagharshak Harutyunyan: Azerbaijan aimed at achieving local victory to change the line of contact (video)

The four-day war broke out for Turkey to establish relations with Russia, former Defense Minister, Lieutenant General Vagharshak Harutyunyan said this at a press conference today. Touching upon the situation at that time, he stressed that the negotiation process on the Madrid Principle was going on; the approach according to which, the Armenian side was to return some regions and the state of Karabakh was determined by a referendum that had legal force, was being discussed. "This was the main reason why Azerbaijan took such steps. At that time Turkey struck a Russian plane and Russia imposed sanctions. Turkey has provoked a war to establish relations with Russia." According to Vagharshak Harutyunyan, Azerbaijan did not have a problem of returning Karabakh. It aimed at achieving local victory to change the line of contact. "A good program was developed. The successes that Azerbaijan has had on its first day. Later, when the Armenian side had to start counterattack, Azerbaijan asked for a ceasefire. In achieving military success, Azerbaijan was planning to present a new version of the negotiation process and avoid Madrid Principles. " Vagharshak Harutyunyan noted that Azerbaijan's goal was to create an atmosphere of fear in order us to think that we should solve the Karabakh conflict as soon as possible without having any vctims.PATH is an international organization that drives transformative innovation to save lives and improve health, especially among women and children. We accelerate innovation across five platforms vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, and system and service innovations that harness our entrepreneurial insight, scientific and public health expertise, and passion for health equity. By mobilizing partners around the world, we take innovation to scale, working alongside countries primarily in Africa and Asia to tackle their greatest health needs. Together, we deliver measurable results that disrupt the cycle of poor health.

Position: Procurement Officer

Location: Lubumbashi

PATH is seeking to recruit a procurement officer for the Integrated HIV/AIDS Project in Haut Katanga and Lualaba (IHAP-HK/L), based in Lubumbashi, and reporting to the IHAP-HK/L Deputy Chief of Party  Finance and Administration. Responsibilities and specific job duties include:

Supporting the procurement of a wide-range of goods, commodities, and services through subcontracts and purchase orders.

Overseeing project procurement, under the oversight of the Deputy Chief of Party  Finance and Administration and project programmatic teams, and ensure compliance with PATH policies, contractual award terms, U.S. Agency for International Development rules and regulations, and other applicable rules and regulations.

Undertaking, in collaboration with PATHs Procurement Office in Seattle (as needed), procurement functions, such as preparing requests for quotations and other solicitation documents; managing bid evaluations; coordinating the vendor selection process; developing procurement justification documentation (e.g., bid analyses; selection and negotiation memos etc.); and executing purchase orders and/or subcontracts with selected vendors.

Managing vendor relationships, contacts, and pre-qualifications lists.

Monitoring all purchase orders and following up with vendors to obtain invoices.

Coordinating with the Accounting team to ensure that invoices have been paid.

Working with Customs and other government agencies, USAID Mission, and transportation companies to arrange reception and delivery of supplies and commodities procured from outside the Democratic Republic of Congo, including working with project Administration to obtain any required clearances.

Providing updates on status of project procurement to Deputy Chief of Party  Finance and Administration and other members of the project management team, as requested.

Maintaining up-to-date procurement files (paper and electronic backup), in accordance with project and PATH policies and procedures.

Updating Procurement standard operating procedures (SOPs), orienting/training staff on updated SOPs, and ensuring compliance with established procedures.

Managing any other procurement-related tasks related to his/her functions.

Required skills

Ability to compose memos and other documents in an organized, logical, and concise manner.

Proven ability to multitask and successfully manage competing priorities.

Proficiency using Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Word and Excel.

Proven attention to detail and ability to deliver products with minimal errors in a timely manner.

Strong interpersonal and communication skills and proven ability to work effectively in multicultural environment and build/maintain relationships with vendors.

Excellent written and spoken French; proficiency in written and spoken English is preferred.

Required experience:

University degree in business administration, financial management, or another related discipline.

At least seven years of experience in competitive procurement of goods and services required, with at least five years of experience in procurement or financial management on USAID-funded projects strongly preferred.

In-depth knowledge of U.S. Government procurement regulations, including the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), USAID Acquisition Regulation (AIDAR), and Federal Travel regulations.

This position does not attract international terms and conditions. The post holder will be considered as a local staff and will not have international terms and conditions of employment.

Applicants considered for this position are to be DRC nationals. This position is based in Lubumbashi.

Candidates outside of Lubumbashi will be responsible for their relocation expenses to Lubumbashi.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.

Please submit a cover letter with your curriculum vitae/resume describing your interest in this position, how you meet the requirements, and previous experience with the above-listed job duties to the link hereafter https://bit.ly/2Gzj56aNew materials prepared against Zhirayr Sefilyan (video)

Yesterday on investigator of the Investigative Committee working on important cases informed Zhirayr Sefilyan's advocate that materials were being prepared for Zhirayr Sefilyan's recent speech, advocate Tigran Hayrapetyan told reporters today. "In his last speech, Zhirayr Sefilyan only predicted that soon the Armenian people would be reunited, there was nothing that could lead to criminal prosecution or preparation of materials." Tigran Hayrapetyan presented the journalist Zhirayr Sefilyan's reaction related to this information. "They want to silence us, it is impossible to silence us, and the current regime does not have the resources to turn Armenia into North Korea, so, it will pass away soon. It's clear that these are actions of agony." "During ten months Zhirayr Sefilyan had no opportunity to speak up, he was not even allowed to say his last speech, he read it during the defender, and it turns out that materials are being prepared and the person may be subjected to criminal liability for reading the text." The advocate also noted that according to the legislation, the decision was to be sent in five days, three weeks had passed but there was still no decision sent. "During ten months, Zhirayr Sefilyan did not have the opportunity to express himself, even though the latter did not allow him to speak, the last word was read by the lawyer, and it turned out that the materials were prepared for reading the text and the person could be subject to criminal liability." Touching upon Karo Yeghnukyan, Tigran Harapetyan said that the court had appointed an expertise to find out whether Yeghnukyan could participate in the court sessions or not. "In his case courts, the prosecution, the expert authorities maintain a criminal silence; there has been no response to many motions." Tigran Hayrapetyan forsaw that it might be found out according to the conclusion that Karo Yeghnukyan had no health problems. "It will mean that he has been pretending during these 5-6 months. If there is such a conlcusion it will mean that courts and the prosecution aim at killing Karo Yeghnukyan by imposing psychological pressure on him."Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount

Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York

Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency

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UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers

Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland

Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden.

"The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer

Generation A 13  your chance to be the change

President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev

"uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days only

For more than 3 hours, 50 or more Azerbaijani servicemen have blocked the interstate road

Call on the international community for an adequate response against azerbaijani aggresssion

Transformation and trust are important for success in modern banking. Artak Hanesyan

UCOMS LEVEL UP 1700 REGIONAL TARIFF PLAN USERS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN THOSE IN YEREVAN

Joint statement

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Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

Covid-19: 163 new cases in Armenia

Armenia: Remarks by Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi at the press point with Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan

The United States Welcomes Azerbaijans Release of Armenian Detainees and Armenias Actions to Facilitate Demining

The Coronavirus-Related Situation in Armenia

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With UCOMs level up tariff plans subscribers have unlimited access to Netflix, Duolingo and Zoom

Armenia: Statement by the Spokesperson on the early parliamentary elections

Armenias Parliamentary Elections PRESS STATEMENT

COVID19:77 new cases

Armenias early parliamentary elections were competitive and well run, but polarized and marred by aggressive rhetoric, international observers say

International election observers to Armenias early parliamentary elections held press conference

Drop Charges Against Rights Defender Sashik Sultanyan"Hospital for Convicts" penitentiary files suit against Hovhannes Harutyunyan (video)

"Hospital for Convicts" penitentiary against Hovhannes Harutyunyan, member of Sasna Tsrer Group, filed a civil suit. "It refers to the destruction of property that took place between 13 and 15 December, 2016," his advocate Hayarpi Sargsyan told "A1 +". According to the claim, Hovhannes Harutyunyan damaged the window glass of the N4 ward room, broke the stand of the chair, the door of the closet, hit the window with the door and damaged the glass of the window. According to the expert, the size of the damage amounted to AMD 54,975. The penitentiary has also demanded AMD 1500 as a fee paid for filing the suit. "The memorandum states that during this period Hovhannes Harutyunyan showed inadequate behavior. At the same time, a person cannot behave inadequately and act purposefully. In such a case, demanding compensation for property destroyed is nothing but foolishness," said Hayarpi Sargsyan. The advocate filed a motion to conduct a forensic examination and find out why Hovhannes Harutyunyan's behavior changed drastically. "But it was rejected, which meant something was wrong. His behavior changed because of them. I think it was only the effect of psychotropic drugs, because his behavior was mainly showed that." A member of the "Sasna Tsrer" group refuses to compensate that amount, as it was not done intentionally. "He was aggressive against his will. The European doctor forbade the use of drugs provided. He noted that those drugs made people aggressive. Those drugs were equal to psychotropic ones. He does not even remember what happened on those days," said the advocate and added that instead of curing the wounded leg of Hovhanness Harutyunyan, they provided psychotropic drugs. "As a number of questions were also asked by a European doctor, on why Hovhanness Harutyunyan's leg was not operated on. It was already revealed that Hovhannes Harutyunyan was required to be cured, but he was not. They tried to kill Hovhannes Harutyunyan due to psychotropic drugs. In such a situation, a person could be self-destructive. They tried to move him to the psychiatric hospital and close the topic on curing his leg," the advocate added. It should be reminded that two years ago, on July 26, Hovhannes Harutyunyan was wounded when being in the territory of the State Traffic Police Service. He has not been operated on yet. The trial of Hovhannes Harutyunyan and 10 members of the "Sasna Tsrer" has not taken place since March 23. Judge Arthur Ohanyan's powers have been terminated. The case was transferred to Judge Arshak Vardanyan, but the date of the session has not been appointed yet.Vladimir Menshov: Do not be afraid to say what you feel (video)

Meetings with students, film screenings, master classes, student performances at Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinema. The All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography of Moscow after Gerasimov has sent a delegation to Yerevan on its 100th anniversary. "Such meetings were often organized in the USSR, then everything collapsed and we are trying to restore it now," said Elena Magak, Dean of the Acting Faculty of the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography. "They are wonderful young people. Your nation has natural plasticity and sensitivity." Within the framework of master classes, Vladimir Menshov, the Oscar winner for the film "Moscow Does not Believe in Tears" met with the students. "I did not imagine my life without cinematography and I applied for VGIK for four consecutive years until I was not accepted. I've been Michael Rommy's student. I think this says a lot. My spiritual teachers were Rommy, Gerasimov, and Eisenstein. The latter can be compared to Mount Ararat, next to small hills. " Menshev does not admit the master-class concept. As an example he brought Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi. "He gives master classes all over the world. Meanwhile, he does not shoot a good movie. I would advise something I always advise my students. Do not be afraid to say what you feel. Do your utmost to conceal it." For him, in his words, the real value are Federico Fellini, Andrzej Wajda, Peter Brook and Franco Dzer Pirelli."Breath of Syrian-Armenian culture in Yerevan" exhibition-fair

On April 4, with the support of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, the "Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians' Issues" and the "Armenian Caritas" charitable NGO, with the financial support of the European Union, with the support of "Caritas Austria" and the Yerevan City Hall, "Syrian-Armenian the breath of culture in Yerevan", which has become a traditional charity exhibition-fair will take place, near the Swan Lake. It will run on April 4 and 5, at 10:00-19:00. RA Deputy Minister of Diaspora Serzh Srapionyan, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Christophe Biervirt, responsible for Programs Division Nver Sargsyan, representatives of "Syrian-Armenian Issues Coordination Center" and "Armenian Caritas" Benevolent NGOs attended the opening of the exhibition. Emphasizing the importance of organizing charitable exhibitions, deputy Minister of Diaspora Serzh Srapionyan mentioned that the number of participants increases every year, the range is enriched, and "The breath of Syrian-Armenian culture in Yerevan" exhibition has become a symbol of our compatriots' integration.Hayk Babukhanyan proposes to increase administrative burden (video)

Hayk Babukhanyan, MP of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), was deeply troubled by a dance of a group of young men at Baghramyan Avenue at night, under high music heard from a car. This was a reason for the MP to submit a draft law "On Amending the Law on Administrative Offenses" to set a fine of tenfold the minimum wage. The government is against his this and other proposals. "I'll bring some statistical data, there were 149 cases in 2016, and 92 cases in 2017 of the same incidents. That is to say, in dynamics we do not have a danger and it is not an urgent issue," said Vardan Yeghiazaryan, Deputy Chief of the NA Standing Committee on Defense and Security. The Government was also against the MP's suggestion on drivers to be fined twenty-fold of the minimum wage for driving a single registration number in case of a double number. "And if the motorcycle loses its only license plate, shall we consider it as one or two numbers? Such casuses can happen," said Vardan Yeghiazaryan. Hayk Babukhanyan at the same time offers ten times more than tenfold to make 10,000 drams the amount of fine for throwing things and objects out of cars, especially emphasizing the circumstance of throwing cigarettes. "Both the current Code and the new Code on Administrative Offenses impose administrative liability not only for drivers but also for the passengers who throw objects or items out of means of transportation. In this sense, the definition of a penalty is not substantiated against drivers, " assured Vardan Yeghiazaryan. "You drive by car, and see how others throw things out of cars. Our city and country are pity to be pullued," said Republican MP Hayk Babukhanyan. "A man goes in a taxi and throws something out of the window, what's the driver's fault?" said Republican Party MP Felix Tsolakyan. Vardan Yeghiazaryan stated that the Executive Body was against any legislative amendment as it would bring them to the administrative burden. The MPs voted against the proposal. The vote of Hayk Babukhanyan's draft was postponed for two months to be improved.Follow us on Facebook & Twitter

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WHO ARE THE MIDNIGHT FREEMASONS?



RWB Robert H. Johnson RWB Johnson is a Co-Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the 2nd N.E. District of Illinois. He currently serves as the Secretary of Spes Novum Lodge No. 1183. He is a Past Master of Waukegan Lodge 78 and a Past District Deputy Grand Master for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. He is the current V:. Sovereign Grand Inspector for AMD in IL. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) Whence Came You? & Masonic Radio Theatre which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. He is also a co-host of The Masonic Roundtable, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of four, works full time in the executive medical industry. He is the co-author of "It's Business Time - Adapting a Corporate Path for Freemasonry", The Masters Word: A Short Treatise on the Word, the Light, and the Self  Annotated Edition and author of "How to Charter a Lodge: A No-Nonsense, Unsanctioned Guide. More books are on the way.

WB Darin A. Lahners WB Darin A. Lahners is our Co-Managing Editor. He is a host and producer of the "Meet, Act and Part" podcast. He is currently serving the Grand Lodge of Illinois Ancient Free and Accepted Masons as the Area Education Officer for the Eastern Masonic Area. He is a Past Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph. He is also a plural member of Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL), where he is also a Past Master. Hes a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282 and is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign  Urbana (IL). You can reach him by email at darin.lahners@gmail.com.

Todd E. Creason, 33 Todd E. Creason, 33 is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog, and an award-winning author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series. Todd started the Midnight Freemason blog in 2006, and in 2012 he opened it up as a contributor blog The Midnight Freemasons (plural). Todd has written more than 1,000 pieces for the blog since it began. He is a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL) where he currently serves as Secretary. He is a Past Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research (FMLR). He is a charter member of Admiration Chapter No. 282 and is a Past EHP. He currently serves the Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F. & A.M. as Chairman of the Masonic Education Committee and State Education Officer. You can contact him at webmaster@toddcreason.org

Gregory J. Knott, 33 WB Gregory J. Knott is a founding member and Senior Contributor of the Midnight Freemasons. He is a Past Master of St. Joseph Lodge No. 970 in St. Joseph (IL) and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL) and Naval Lodge No. 4 in Washington, DC. Hes a member of the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star and is the Charter Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign-Urbana. He is also a member of ANSAR Shrine (IL) and the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. Greg serves on the Board of Directors of The Masonic Society and is a member of the Scottish Rite Research Society and The Philathes Society. Greg is very involved in Boy Scoutsan Eagle Scout himself, he is a member of the National Association of Masonic Scouters. You can contact him at gknott63@gmail.com

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33 Bro. Steve Harrison, 33, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships is the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35-year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons  Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.

WB Bill Hosler WB Bill Hosler was made a Master Mason in 2002 in Three Rivers Lodge #733 in Indiana. He served as Worshipful Master in 2007 and became a member of the internet committee for Indiana's Grand Lodge. Bill is currently a member of Roff Lodge No. 169 in Roff Oklahoma and Lebanon Lodge No. 837 in Frisco, Texas. Bill is also a member of the Valley of Fort Wayne Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in Indiana. A typical active Freemason, Bill also served as the High Priest of Fort Wayne's Chapter of the York Rite No. 19 and was commander of the Fort Wayne Commandery No. 4 of the Knight Templar. During all this, he also served as the webmaster and magazine editor for the Mizpah Shrine in Fort Wayne Indiana.

WB Chris Hathaway WB Christopher J. Hathaway was raised in Catlin Masonic Lodge #285 and is a plural member of Normal Masonic Lodge #673 as well as Bloomington Lodge #43, where he is a Past Master. He belongs to the Valley of Danville, AASR where he is the Most Wise Master of the George E. Burow Chapter of Rose Croix and Membership Chairman. He is the Oriental Guide in the Divan for the Mohammed Shiners, and the 1st Vice President of the Bloomington Shrine Club. Other appendant bodies include the Gao Grotto and the Illinois Lodge of Research. Outside of the lodge, he enjoys spending time with his wife Taylor and cheering on the Fighting Illini and Chicago Cubs.

Bro. Randy Sanders Randy and his wife Elyana live near St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Randy earned a Bachelors's Degree in Chemistry with an emphasis in Biochemistry, and he works in Telecom IT management. He volunteers as a professional and personal mentor, NRA certified Chief Range Safety Officer, and enjoys competitive tactical pistol, rifle, and shotgun. He has 30 plus years teaching Wing Chun Kung Fu, Chi Kung, and healing arts. Randy served as a Logistics Section Chief on two different United States federal Disaster Medical Assistance Teams over a 12-year span. Randy's Masonic bio includes past Lodge Education Officer for two Symbolic Lodges, Founder of the Wentzville Lodge Book Club, member of the Grand Lodge of Missouri Education Committee, Sovereign Master of the E. F. Coonrod AMD Council No. 493, Co-Librarian of the Scottish Rite Valley of St. Louis, Clerk for the Academy of Reflection through the Valley of Guthrie, and a Facilitator for the Masonic Legacy Society. Randy is a founding administrator for Refracted Light, a full contributor to Midnight Freemasons, and an international presenter on esoteric topics. Randy hosts an ongoing weekly Masonic virtual Happy Hour on Friday evenings. Randy is an accomplished home chef, a certified barbecue judge, raises Great Pyrenees dogs, and enjoys travel and philosophy.

Ken JP Stuczynski Bro. Ken JP Stuczynski is a member of West Seneca Lodge No.1111 and recently served as Master of Ken-Ton Lodge No.1186. As webmaster for NYMasons.Org he is on the Communications and Technology Committees for the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. He is also a Royal Arch Mason and 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, serving his second term as Sovereign Prince of Palmoni Council in the Valley of Buffalo, NMJ. He also coordinates a Downtown Square Club monthly lunch in Buffalo, NY. He and his wife served as Patron and Matron of Pond Chapter No.853 Order of the Eastern Star and considered himself a Masonic Feminist.

Blog ArchiveDETROIT - Cybersecurity tech unicorn Duo Security is moving a portion of its workforce to downtown Detroit as part of a move to grow operations across southeast Michigan.

The Ann Arbor-based company announced the move in a statement April 4, saying 30 employees will immediately move into shared work space at Bamboo Detroit, located in the historic Julian C. Madison Building at 1420 Washington Blvd.

Duo Security would then look to expand into a 9,000-square-foot suite on the building's sixth floor by the end of 2018, as the cybersecurity firm continues to grow its customer base with more than 10,000 companies like Facebook, Etsy and Yelp.

Employees moving to Detroit include those working in Duo's engineering, information services and product teams, the statement said.

The move comes less than six months after the cybersecurity firm reached "unicorn" status, meaning the startup is now valued at more than $1 billion.

Duo, a software-as-a-service (Saas) company, has also exceeded 10,000 customers worldwide through products like its flagship project of two-factor authentication, available in an application, which secures more than 300 million logins a month.

The additional work has meant growth in Duo employees, who can be spotted wearing the bright-green track jackets bestowed upon each worker during their first day at work.

Duo has added a new employee every other day since early 2016, said CEO and cofounder Dug Song, with more than 500 employees now filling the company's offices in Ann Arbor; San Mateo, California; Austin, Texas; and London.

At least 350 employees work at Michigan locations, including two in Ann Arbor, where the company was founded in 2010.

Despite moving into another 25,000 square footage of office space in Ann Arbor's historic Allmendinger building, the company said in the statement it is looking to "further team member location downtown" in Detroit.

According to Song, the Detroit office is an opportunity to build on the city's history of innovation and to bridge the regional tech community.

"Detroit has always moved the world, both in body and soul, through its industry and art," Song said in the statement. "We are proud to help invest in the historic resurgence of Detroit, excited to learn and grow together, and committed to a success much greater than ourselves."

Duo currently sponsors events like Detroit Startup Week and Techweek Detroit and plans to continue its tech advocacy with new programs like Tech Talks featuring local and global experts.

It won't have to look far: The shared workspace known as Bamboo Detroit includes more than 200 businesses that have worked out of offices and conference rooms at the space since 2013.

Amanda Lewan, Bamboo co-founder and CEO, said in a statement that the shared workspace company is excited to welcome Duo employees.

"Dug and his team have invaluable experience into what it takes to successfully scale and disrupt, and we look forward to connecting them with local startups for their collaboration and advice on growing their businesses," Lewan said.YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, MI - When General Motors announced in 2009 it was shuttering its Willow Run manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti Township, it signaled a changing automobile industry and devastated the local community.

Fast forward almost a decade later, and the site's new use as The American Center for Mobility connected and autonomous vehicle testing track is a symbol of opportunity.

The future was a recurring theme for remarks made by officials who gathered Wednesday, April 4, at the 500-acre test site near Willow Run Airport, between Ann Arbor and Detroit, to celebrate the grand opening of The American Center for Mobility (ACM) and its impact on Michigan's mobility industry.

The facility technically opened in December with one of its sponsors, Visteon Corp., taking to the track for testing in snowy conditions, weather that was replicated Wednesday as snow flurries and high winds whistled outside of the large white tent where the grand opening ceremony took place.

John Maddox, president and CEO of ACM, commented on the changing appearance of the site as phase two construction begins, which will include a headquarters building and additional garages and test track features.

"What has not changed is our mission to be recognized globally as the premier connected and automated mobility center, and that's what we're building here at ACM," Maddox said.

Maddox announced a new partnership with Microsoft, which will serve as the facility's exclusive data and cloud provider as companies take to the track to test new research and development capabilities and look to share that information with employees in other locations.

ACM is a joint initiative with the State of Michigan founded in partnership with the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., University of Michigan, Business Leaders for Michigan and Ann Arbor SPARK.

It was a project first announced by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2009, who said Wednesday it was an exciting moment to stand on Planet M Boulevard before presenting Maddox with a proclamation declaring it Mobility Week in Michigan.

"We should be proud of Michigan. We are the place that put the world on wheels and we've had that leadership for over a century now," Snyder said. "But it's not something you can take for granted."

The mobility industry offers safety, opportunities for those unable to transport themselves and efficient use of infrastructure, Snyder said, that will be important for not only Michigan residents.

"This is a place to be on the forefront of improving our lives, of creating opportunities for the residents of this state but also the entire world," Snyder said. "As we look toward the future, we have an exciting future when you look at this facility. It's not the facility that makes the biggest difference, it's the people working here."

Those statements were echoed by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, who said the mobility industry will impact not only daily commuters but senior citizens and those who have been unable to drive for years because of disabilities and lack of access.

"It's the solution to so many challenges," Calley said.

While the safety and legitimacy of autonomous vehicles are making national headlines after a fatal crash in Arizona involving a self-driving Uber car, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell said the recently passed Self-Drive Act stands as commitment by legislators to make sure autonomous vehicles pass strict standards before hitting public roads.

ACM serves as a solution to those concerns with a focus on the organization's three pillars of testing, standards and education.

"I've seen Willow Run at the height of its day," Dingell said. "Then we saw some hard times and what it stood for was what was happening to Michigan, to this state. And now it's the future."

Taking a ride in an autonomous vehicle at The American Center for Mobility Posted by The Ann Arbor News on Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo said she remembered the day more than 1,300 GM workers found out the Willow Run plant was closing.

"It was the beginning of the economic tsunami that hit our community, our county and our state and we were devastated," Stumbo said. "There was so much emotion, grown men and women were crying because we were losing this historic Willow Run site."

Home to Rosie the Riveter, Willow Run later switched hands when Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response (RACER) Trust sold the property in 2016 to Willow Run Arsenal of Democracy Landholdings Limited Partnership, which leases the property to the American Center for Mobility.

"Out of challenges come new ideas, solutions and new partners and that's exactly what happened," Stumbo said. "Some people thought it was crazy, to be honest, but we didn't. We said, 'Let's take a chance.'"

It was that fighting attitude on behalf of township officials and legislators that made a difference for Willow Run and the community of Ypsilanti Township.

"As we continue to grow as a community and as a county, none of it would have happened if all of us hadn't come together to make it a reality," Stumbo said. "All of us worked together to make this. Don't forget Willow Run, and don't forget our people."GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Reaction was mixed Wednesday among Michigan's soybean growers and processors after the Chinese government added their product to a list of U.S. exports that will get a 25 percent tariff.

Michigan farmers raise nearly 2 million acres of soybeans a year, making it the nation's 12th largest producing state. More than half of all U.S. soybeans are exported and 60 percent of those exports are shipped to China.

American soybean farmers lost more than $1.7 billion in value to their crop during morning trading in U.S. commodities markets after the tariffs were announced, according to Ernie Birchmeier, manager of the Center for Commodity Farm and Industry Relations and the Livestock and Dairy Specialist for Michigan Farm Bureau.

China is the second largest export market for American farmers, importing $13.9 billion of U.S. soybeans in 017, said Birchmeier, adding the tariff news could not come at a worse time for the struggling farm economy.

Meanwhile, the state's leading soybean processor was more sanguine.

Cliff Meeuwsen, president of Zeeland Farm Services, said he doesn't have any immediate concerns because the Chinese government has not set a date for the tariffs to begin.

"In my opinion, it is a negotiation tactic to bring people to the bargaining table," said Meeuwsen.

"U.S. soybean farmers have seen prices decline by almost 40 percent over the past five or six years and any news that could potentially drive prices down even further is unsettling. But, as I understand it, there is no effective date set for the tariffs yet, so I don't have any immediate concerns," said Meeuwsen in a statement on Wednesday, April 4.

"The market is going to react, and it did. It's like anything else, the markets all react to the first news. They usually overreact and then come back to reality when it comes down to the discussion phase."

Meeuwsen, whose company operates processing plants in Zeeland, Ithaca, Pennsylvania and Iowa, said Zeeland Farm Services exports processed soybean proteins to markets throughout Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea.

As someone who voted for President Donald Trump, Meeuwsen said he's sympathetic to the president's efforts to restore America's industrial base by imposing tariffs on Chinese steel.

"I can't believe how over the years we've signed agreements that basically gave a lot of our heavier industries away to competing countries," Meeuwsen said.

The Michigan Soybean Association urged leaders from both countries to return to the negotiating table and resolve their differences without escalating the current trade dispute.

"We are already in a deeply uncertain time in the agricultural economy, and soybean farmers are extremely concerned that the escalating conflict between the U.S. and China will cause further damage," said Dave Williams, president of the Michigan Soybean Association.

"The tariffs announced by China will lead to real money lost for farmers that they won't be able to reinvest in their farms or spend at local equipment dealers, restaurants or movie theaters in rural communities throughout the nation. This situation is entirely preventable and must be resolved," Williams said.

The Michigan Farm Bureau's Birchmeier said other parts of the state's agricultural industry also could suffer if the Trump Administration continues to target China with additional tariffs and trade restrictions.

"Overreaction is the worst possible reaction at this time," Birchmeier said. "Certainly, the ag industry is very concerned about the potential impact of these trade disputes."

"We need to continue to communicate our message to our elected officials, the administration and especially the United States Trade Representatives," he said.

"We expect all countries to trade fairly, and we support enforcement of all trade rules. But we also hope trade disputes can be resolved without harming an industry that is a bright spot on trade and is so important to rural America."WYOMING - With more than 300 programs and just 11 full-time staff members, few would argue with Rebecca Rynbrandt when she described the city's Parks and Recreation services department as "a lean, mean fighting machine" during her 2017 annual report to the City Council.

Rynbrandt, Wyoming's director of community services, presented facts and figures from the previous year to council members during their Monday, April 2, meeting, touching on the wide swath of programming the department offered to residents in 2017 while stressing that city staff does not get the job done alone.

In addition to the 30 or so seasonal staff members the department hires over the summer, Rynbrandt said Parks and Recreation relies heavily on volunteers.

"We can't do it by ourselves," Rynbrandt said. "We have a tremendous number of volunteers that participate, whether it's through our Adopt-a-Park program, our senior center, general programming (or) T.E.A.M. 21.

"It really fosters that community connection when we can engage our residents and people, frankly, from outside of the community that want to come and support active lifestyles and parks and recreation services."

Rynbrandt said these days, when people are generally more "backyard BBQ, six-foot fence" than "front porch society," Wyoming's parks and facilities are that much more important as a way to foster a sense of community among residents.

"We used to sit on the front porches and people would walk by and we'd wave and say hi and socialize - we'd connect together," she said. "But now ... we want to have our privacy.

"So how do we work with our families? How do kids become socialized when their family units are scattered all across the country? Parks and Recreation provides that coming together."

The department provided more than 200 programs to Wyoming residents in 2017 thanks to the parks and recreation millage, which accounted for about 61 percent, or nearly $3 million, of Parks and Recreation's operating budget last year, according to the annual report.

Another 100 programs or so sponsored by the Wyoming Senior Center -- which, as with Parks and Recreation, falls under the umbrella of the Community Services Department -- were supported, in part, by the Wyoming Senior Fellowship Club. The club invested a total of $98,329 in the senior center's programming, scholarships and supplies for 2017.

"(Our senior center is) one of the largest, most active centers in West Michigan," Rynbrandt said. "We are averaging attendance of just approaching 54,000 per year, so that's really robust.

"We are 95 percent recreation and leisure (focused) and about 5 percent of (our makeup is) what we would call social service programs to help support the individual, like AARP tax assistance or hearing screening or legal assistance," she said, mentioning that most other senior centers in the region are structured just the opposite.

Just over $349,000 was dedicated to the senior center's programming in 2017, according to the report, while maintenance of park facilities represented Parks and Recreation's largest expense in 2017, coming with a price tag of about $1.9 million.

Funds devoted to T.E.A.M. 21 were a close second at nearly $1.5 million, the report shows.

"T.E.A.M. 21 ... is our award-winning after-school program," Rynbrandt said, highlighting the program that serves kindergarten through ninth grade kids attending 15 area schools. "Since the inception of the program (in 2004) we've had over 8,500 children participate.

"Those that started out in elementary school are now graduating and it's really exciting to know ... how we've impacted a lot of children to succeed academically, to go onto university," she said.

Among the other items Rynbrandt highlighted during her presentation Monday were Parks and Recreation's partnership with the Wyoming Community Enrichment Commission, which hosts the summer concert series; and the Adopt-a-Park program, which has seen steady volunteer growth over the last three years.

With Parks and Recreation's expenses outweighing its revenue streams in 2017 by about $7,900, Rynbrandt said the department had a lot of conversations with the community about its needs and the possibility of flexing the library maintenance millage over the past year.

Grant funding, which accounts for 30 percent of the department's income, will also be important going forward, she said.Michigan-based indie music trio The Accidentals has been hustling hard and steadily climbing to new heights of recognition since the group first formed in Traverse City more than five years ago. Last year saw the band signing a record deal with Sony Music Masterworks, being named among Yahoo Music's "Top 10 Bands to Watch," and releasing a new album, "Odyssey," that garnered nods from Billboard, Huffington Post, and NPR Music, among others.

The latest mile marker on The Accidentals' rapid ride to success? A collaboration with Turner Classic Movies.

The band's song "Chekhov's Gun," off the new album, is now featured in a video called "This Month on TCM" -- a promo for the classic movie channel's April line-up.

The song provides the audio backdrop for a montage of film clips that feature this month's programming highlights, including the channel's "star of the month," actor William Holden.

"[We] can honestly say we can't imagine a more beautiful audiovisual collaboration," the band wrote in a post on its Facebook page.

The Accidentals are comprised of Savannah Buist and Katie Larson, who founded the band when they were in high school, and Michael Dause, who was later added to the line-up as the band's drummer.

The group gained a surge of popularity in 2016 upon the release of its song "Michigan and Again," a love letter to the band's homestate.

The trio just wrapped up a month-long tour that included sets at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas, and filming a commercial with Ram Trucks (alluded to in another recent Facebook post).

To see what else The Accidentals have been up to, fans and followers can check out the band's "Tour Stories" on YouTube.When buying a vehicle, longevity, duration and "how long is this thing actually going to last me?" are some of the key thoughts that pop into one's head.

Luckily, the folks over at iSeeCars conducted a study to rank the top 10 vehicles most likely to make it to the 200,000-mile mark. Seven of the 10 vehicles turned out to be SUVs while Toyota made up most of the list.

Read the full report here.

Tanya Moutzalias

The report looked at the more than 13.5 million used cars sold last year on model years between 1981 through 2017. Those that were not manufactured in 2017 or those with less than 10,000 sold were not included in the rankings.

Read the full report here.

"While today's vehicles have the potential to reach 200,000 miles with proper maintenance and care, certain models are far more likely to achieve that milestone," iSeeCars.com CEO Phong Ly said in the study.

"Five of the seven SUVs on the list are made by domestic automakers, which demonstrates the durability of American SUVs."

We'll start the list with the No. 10 most likely vehicle sold at some point during 2017 to make it to 200,000 miles:

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10. Honda Odyssey

The Honda Odyssey minivan came in at the No. 10 spot with 2.4 percent of them at or above the 200,000-mile mark. This is the only minivan to make the list.

In recent Odyssey news, Honda introduced its 2018 one at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit back in early 2017.

In November 2017, Honda recalled 806,936 2011 through 2017 Odyssey minivans due to an issue concerning the second-row of seats not being properly latched.

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9. Toyota Avalon

It looks like Toyota's Avalon sedan tied the Odyssey with 2.4 percent of vehicles being reported at or more than the 200,000-mile mark.

The Japanese automaker unveiled the 2019 Toyota Avalon at this year's auto show in Detroit.

The Avalon is the only passenger car to make the list.

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8. Toyota Tacoma

The first pickup truck on the list comes in at the No. 8 spot with 2.6 percent of Tacomas hitting the 200,000-mile mark.

Back in June 2017, the automaker announced it was recalling more than 30,000 of its newer Tacomas due to a risk the truck could stall out while in drive.

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7. GMC Yukon

No. 7 is where the SUVs really start dominating the list as 2.8 percent of GMC's Yukons have reportedly at least hit the 200,000-mile mark. Those Yukons seem to be pretty durable, as this won't be the last time you read that model name on this list.

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6. Chevrolet Tahoe

We jump a full percentage point with the No. 6 spot going to Chevy's Tahoe SUV and its 3.8 percent rate of surviving to at least the 200,000-mile mark.

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5. GMC Yukon XL

The second GMC Yukon sighting of this short list comes in at the No. 5 spot with the XL edition scoring a rate of 3.9 percent hitting 200,000 miles on the road.

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4. Toyota 4Runner

The aptly named Toyota 4Runner comes in at the No. 4 spot with 4.2 percent of the off-road capable SUVs making it to the impressive 200,000-mile mark.

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3. Chevrolet Suburban

We jump another full percentage point to Chevy's Suburban, which is holding down the No. 3 spot with a 5.2 percent rate of making it to that elusive 200,000-mile mark.

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2. Ford Expedition

Ford's Expedition is the only representative for the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker on the top 10 with its 5.4 percent rate at making it to 200,000-mile mark.

Ford offers first look at leaner, stronger 2018 Expedition

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1. Toyota Sequoia

The Toyota Sequoia SUV takes the top spot on this list in dominating fashion with a 1.2 percent higher rate of making it to 200,000 miles than the next closest vehicle.

"These large SUVs feature body-on-frame construction, which means they are built like trucks and thus have truck-like durability," Ly added in the release. "These vehicles can also be easier to repair than smaller SUVs, which can contribute to their longevity."

For those wondering what vehicles made the list for the extremely elusive 300,000-mile mark club, iSee Cars reports only five vehicles registered a score.

The 4Runner led the way with 0.3 percent, and was followed by a four-way tie of 0.2 percent from the Chevy Suburban, Sequoia, Expedition and Tacoma.Neil Blake | MLive.com

Schools of Choice for Kent ISD

In Michigan, students can attend a school district outside of their home district to pursue other opportunities through Schools of Choice.

The vast majority of Kent County students attend their neighborhood schools. During the 2017-18 school year, 2,278 kids crossed district lines for various reasons, including to attend theme schools.

Applications can be submitted to the Kent ISD for school of choice from April 9 through May 11 at 4 p.m. All 20 school districts are participating.

In 2016-17, about 69 percent Michigan students were enrolled in their home district and 12 percent crossed district lines to enroll in another district through Schools of Choice or another program.

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Limitations to Kent choice plan

There are space limitations to Schools of Choice. Each of the 20 Kent ISD districts have opened up slots for choice students, ranging from 10 to 500. However, those can be limited to specific grades at the primary and secondary level.

Students' suspension or expulsion records can also be limiting factors.

Districts can choose not to participate, if they think choice students will threaten the quality of programming such as impacting class size. No Kent schools have opted out in recent years.

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Eligibility for choice

All student families are eligible for Schools of Choice, regardless of student ability, grade level or ethnic background, according to Kent ISD.

Again, openings are limited by the space available in districts.

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How to apply for Schools of Choice

Families wishing to participate should request an application form from their resident district, or their district of choice, and submit it during the window of opportunity.

One application should be submitted per student.

Parents should indicate an alternate school choice on their application form, as a random-draw lottery will be held if the district of choice has more applications than openings.

The applications not selected in the lottery will automatically be forwarded to the alternate choices.

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MLive file photo

Notification of parents

Parents will receive a notification of acceptance no later than May 21.

The confirmation deadline to confirm your desire to enroll your child in the choice district is May 30.

If a district has unused openings, those seats will remain open through the first day of the 2018-19 school year.

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Waiting lists

The 20 schools that comprise the Kent ISD have opened up a total of 3,454 seats for the 2018-19 school year.

There will be waiting lists for the choice districts. Parents will be notified if spaces become available.

Parents with students on a waiting list will be notified if there are openings and will need to confirm decisions to enroll before June 30.

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Karen Waite | MLive.com file

Siblings of choice students

Once one of a family's children is enrolled as a Schools of Choice student, his or her siblings may be accepted by the parents' district of choice.

A child can remain in the district of choice for the remainder of his or her school year.

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Goals of Schools of Choice

The Kent ISD choice plan is designed to achieve four goals:

Provide opportunities for families to seek the best options available for their children.

Meet the needs of parents, students, schools and communities within the Kent ISD.

Better utilize and share resources among schools.

Strengthen the collaboration and cooperation within and among the schools.

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Things that can impact decision

The Kent ISD wants families to be aware of a few things when considering School of Choice.

Transportation is not provided for choice students. Parents must provide transportation to and from school for their children.

Sports restrictions. The Michigan High School Athletic Association imposes a one-semester prohibition on athletic participation for choice students in grades 10 through 12.

Movement between ISDs. Most of the districts in the Kent ISD also participate in a state-regulated program that allows students to cross into different Intermediate School Districts. Parents should contact their specific district for more information because it is separate from the Kent County plan.

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Things to consider when choosing a school

Officials with the Kent ISD want a parent to consider a number of things when selecting a school of choice including:

What is the student-teacher ratio?

What is the school doing to meet demands for improved student achievement?

What special services does the school offer? For example, programming for special needs or gifted and talented kids.

How does the school integrate technology into the classroom?

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50 school districts with the biggest net gains from Schools of Choice

Don't EditANN ARBOR, MI - 2017 was one of the deadliest years for homicides in Washtenaw County in two decades, but officials say there's no one reason to explain the higher number of deaths.

In total, 12 lives were reported taken at the hands of another in Washtenaw County in 2017.

Should all 12 be ruled murder or non-negligent manslaughter, it will have been the worst year for such deaths since 2001, when the county recorded 15, according to Michigan State Police crime statistics.

But the county recently saw one of its least deadly years for homicides - three recorded by MSP in 2016. Therein lies the proof, police say, of safety in the community and the difficulty in analyzing homicide statistics and trends.

"We always feel fortunate when no homicides occur, because so much the better, but it's really hard to establish why people do what they do when you're not in their shoes or their lives every day," Ypsilanti police Lt. Deric Gress said.

It's hard to prevent some crimes and deaths, police say, but that won't stop them from trying. Officials continue to work on outreach, and hope for fewer homicides in 2018.

By the numbers

Washtenaw's 12 deaths in 2017 are low when compared, based on population, to Michigan's rate of six murders or non-negligent manslaughters per 100,000 people seen in both 2016 and 2015.

U.S. Census data shows Washtenaw County had a population of 344,791 in 2010, and, based on an estimated population of 364,709 in 2016, the county had a rate of roughly 3.29 homicides per 100,000 people in 2017.

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting estimates a national rate of 5.3 or 5.4 murders or non-negligent manslaughters per 100,00 people. However, the rates may not be exactly comparable.

Michigan State Police public affairs representative Lori Dougovito confirmed in an email that FBI recognizes 598 such deaths in 2016 while MSP reports 586.

"It appears there were duplicate homicides in the FBI's report that didn't get deleted prior to publication," she said of the inconsistency, noting 586 is accurate.

The number of homicides in Washtenaw County fluctuates, with MSP reporting between five to 11 most years since 1997.

Michigan State Police follow the FBI's definition for murder and non-negligent as the willful killing of one human by another, Dougovito said.

Factors such as acts of self-defense - as one death was ruled in the county in 2016 - are not included in MSP's statistics. Therefore, a completion of homicide investigations in 2017 and a release of MSP statistics - expected around mid-summer - may be needed for exact comparison.

For now, comparisons can only be drawn from the information released by police.

Ypsilanti had no homicides in 2016, but three in 2017. The same was true for Pittsfield Township. In addition, one homicide was reported in Superior Township and five were reported in Ypsilanti Township in 2017.

One person died by strangulation, three people died by stabbing and eight people died by shooting in 2017.

Officials reported arrests or the identification of suspects in all 12 deaths, though not all arrested face charges for causing the death. As of April 4, in five cases, police reported continued investigation and indicated potential for additional charges.

Comparatively, of the three deaths ruled murders in 2016, one took place in Ann Arbor, one took place in Augusta Township, and one occurred in Ypsilanti Township. All three victims died from gunshot wounds. Arrests were made in two out of three deaths.

Motive to kill

Officials say there isn't any one reason for the higher numbers in 2017.

Gress noted the range of motives in homicides in recent years - some domestic, some gang-related and some narcotics-related.

"There's no true pattern or serial killer," Gress said. "It comes back to people's emotions getting the best of them - they're not thinking of the ramifications ... the violence gets more extreme to where there's catastrophic effects."

Though many of the homicides in 2017 remain under investigation, at least three deaths were believed to have possible connections to drug sales and at least three deaths occurred within relationships.

Domestic violence is particularly difficult to prevent from a law enforcement standpoint, Pittsfield Township Director of Public Safety Matt Harshberger said, confirming two of the three homicides reported in his jurisdiction in 2017 were related to domestic violence situations.

"They often involve highly emotional and very complex relationship situations that sometimes, sadly, degenerate into violence that is often unseen by anyone until it is too late, such as in the two homicides that we recently responded to," he said, adding that mental illness, physical illness, substance use and other factors may act as additional stressors.

Harshberger cited continued community awareness regarding domestic violence as one preventative measure, along with police collaboration with partners, including the SafeHouse Center for domestic violence in Pittsfield Township, to respond to incidents of domestic violence.

Washtenaw County Sheriff's Sgt. H. Eugene Rush described the efforts to prevent violence and crime as "a daily battle."

However, he said the county jail offers various initiatives to address inmates serving time and the sheriff's office community engagement team hosts outreach programs for members of the community.

The jail offers, and courts sometimes require, the cognitive restructuring Thinking Matters program aimed at helping offenders examine the root causes of their behavior and change them.

Outside the jail, the sheriff's office hosts regular educational sessions for the community, youth activities, and helps, along with other police agencies, with the volunteer-based, door-to-door Interrupters educational program aimed at "interrupting" violence in area neighborhoods.

Derrick Jackson, director of community engagement for the sheriff's office, also noted the about decade-old Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office Street Outreach Team, which attempts to build bridges within the community through neighborhood events and programs.

He also pointed to the department's Peer 2 Peer mentorship program for Michigan Department of Corrections probationers, the Sisters United Resilient and Empowered, or SURE, support group for mothers of children in the criminal justice system, and the volunteer-based Victim Services Unit, developed in 2016 to respond to tragic incidents to aid families and stem further violence.

"We're not trying to paint this magical picture that we have a silver bullet, but to do nothing, I think, would just be inappropriate for us," he said. "So, we're trying to do things to connect with the community, to understand these problems - what are the root causes, prevention, getting upstream, adding non-traditional things to the great traditional law enforcement that's being done."

Harshberger also said that, though fairly uncommon in his jurisdiction, homicides are draining on department resources.

"We certainly hope this was aberration not something that we'll continue to see," he said of the 2017 deaths.ANN ARBOR, MI - A proposal for a 267-unit apartment building is headed to the Ann Arbor City Council for approval.

The city's Planning Commission voted 7-1 Tuesday night, April 3, to recommend council approval of the $44 million development proposed on the city's west side at at 2050 Commerce Blvd., between Maple Road and Stadium Boulevard.

A Chicago-based developer operating under the name 2050 Commerce LLC is proposing a 327,399-square-foot building containing 267 market-rate apartments.

Pending city approval, construction is expected to start later this year and take 18 months.

Commissioner Zachary Ackerman said he thinks this is necessary rental housing in a location that needs it.

"This is immediately next a transit stop along an even bigger transit corridor, West Stadium," he said, arguing it provides a nice mix of units from small studios to larger apartments.

The plans include 29 studios, 170 one-bedroom apartments and 68 two-bedroom apartments, for a total of 335 bedrooms.

Documents submitted to the city last year indicated the apartments would range in size from just under 400 square feet to nearly 1,400 square feet, with monthly rents ranging from $800 to $1,800.

It's described as a four-story apartment building with a private interior courtyard and a maximum building height of 55 feet.

Due to ground elevation changes, there actually are six different partial levels plus basement-level parking shown in the drawings.

"We've designed the building so that it steps up the hill, so the building is tiered," project architect Brad Moore previously explained.

Moore said there would be a rooftop terrace offering tenants and guests amazing views of the Ann Arbor skyline. Some of the other building amenities tentatively include a health club, social lounges and business center. It's also expected to be pet-friendly.

Moore previously said the development is geared toward working professionals, not University of Michigan students.

Commissioner Scott Trudeau said he's glad the development goes above and beyond in terms of energy efficiency.

According to a report submitted to the city by the development team, the project is being designed in a way that meets LEED standards but the developers do not intend to pursue actual certification.

The 3.8-acre site is the former location of the corporate office for Select Ride. A 12,000-square-foot office building on the site is vacant and is proposed to be demolished.

The new apartment building would be surrounded by new parking areas and driveways, new site lighting, new underground utilities and underground stormwater detention, new landscaping and new solid waste management facilities.

There would be a total of 365 automobile parking spaces below and above ground, 31 of which are proposed to be deferred.

A total of 267 parking spaces are required by the city, or one per apartment.

There would be 298 interior parking spaces, 67 exterior spaces (31 of those deferred to be added later if needed), and a drop-off area on Commerce Boulevard.

There also would be 171 bicycle parking spaces, including 151 interior Class-A spaces in a four-level parking garage included in the building plan, with a mix of bicycle rack types.

New internal sidewalk connections leading from the drive entrances to the building entrances and 20 bicycle hoop parking spaces are proposed near the main building entrance and the secondary entrance off Commerce Drive, according to a city staff report.

There would be 14 motorcycle/scooter spaces in the parking garage. There also would be six electric-vehicle charging stations.

The development company, 2050 Commerce LLC, is affiliated with and shares an address with Chicago-based JDI Realty LLC, which describes itself as a well-capitalized, opportunistic, private-equity real estate firm with more than $2 billion invested since 1988.

Midwestern Consulting is the civil engineer for the project. The architects are Moore of J Bradley Moore and Associates in Ann Arbor and Bob Lamkin of HLR Architects in Dallas.

Voting for the project were Zachary Ackerman, Sarah Mills, Wendy Woods, Scott Trudeau, Shannan Gibb-Randall, Julie Weatherbee and Ken Clein. Alex Milshteyn voted against it.

Erica Briggs was absent.ANN ARBOR, MI - A Washtenaw County jury has found a man guilty of threatening his wife in an effort to influence court testimony.

Kevin Beverly, 44, was convicted Tuesday, April 3 in Washtenaw County Trial Court of one felony count of extortion and one felony count of witness intimidation, according to Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette's office.

Beverly was accused of threatening his former wife Nicole Beverly in 2012 and instructing her on what to say at a child support proceeding.

Prosecutors said Beverly also threatened his ex-wife after she made a victim impact statement on April 16, 2013 during his sentencing hearing in an aggravated stalking case.

The jury unanimously found him guilty on both counts, according to Schuette's office. The trial began Monday and concluded Tuesday afternoon.

"No woman should be treated the way that Kevin Beverly treated his ex-wife, it is wrong to intimidate or threaten anyone," Schuette said in the release. "I took on this case because neither Nicole Beverly, nor any survivor of domestic violence, should ever be silenced, and I am glad that the members of the jury showed the world that this behavior is unacceptable."

Beverly will be sentenced on May 15 by Judge Carol Kuhnke, according to court records.

Extortion is punishable by up to 20 years in prison while witness intimidation is punishable by up to 15 years.ANN ARBOR, MI - A medical marijuana dispensary in the Burns Park neighborhood is a no go.

The Ann Arbor Planning Commission voted 8-0 Tuesday night, April 3, to deny a proposal for a dispensary in a house at 1202 Packard St. between the Argus Farm Stop and the Zen Buddhist Temple.

The house is about a third of a mile from Burns Park Elementary School and even closer to the Eberbach Cultural Arts Center, which is used by Ann Arbor Public Schools for programs attended by children.

Those were cited as concerns by neighbors who spoke out against the Michigan Natural Remedies dispensary Tuesday night.

Some also expressed concerns that the site, with a relatively narrow one-way drive between the house and the adjacent Farm Stop building, wasn't suitable for a high-traffic retail operation. A neighboring property owner said he wouldn't allow dispensary traffic to cut through his property as contemplated in the plans.

Neighbors convinced commissioners to exercise discretion and reject the dispensary, even though the city's staff had reviewed the plans for zoning compliance and recommended approval.

Commissioner Zachary Ackerman, who represents the Burns Park area on the City Council, said the commission has discretion since dispensaries are allowed only by special exception under the city's zoning. In this case, the commission decided not to make a special exception for this particular dispensary given the concerns.

The commission approved two other dispensaries Tuesday night, both of which already have been in existence for several years and are now seeking to come into compliance with the city's new regulations.

That includes the Arborside dispensary at 1818 Packard and a new location for the Om of Medicine dispensary at 111 S. Main St.

The commission postponed consideration of the Huron View dispensary at 3152 Packard due to a pending court case.

Ackerman said the Burns Park area dispensary would have been just outside the required buffer from a school, with Burns Park Elementary School just over 1,000 feet away, but he argued the nearby Eberbach Cultural Arts Center is functionally a school.

Other commissioners raised concerns about parking and site access, agreeing having marijuana dispensary customers coming and going from the narrow driveway off Packard at an intersection wasn't safe or feasible. They decide it's not a good location for a retail operation.

Commissioner Shannan Gibb-Randall said it didn't pass the "sniff test," as it's close to Burns Park Elementary and a lot of students cross at the intersection of Packard and Wells in front of the site.

"A lot of school kids go by this spot," she said.

Commission Chairman Ken Clein interjected to say he didn't want to give the community the impression that if children pass someplace on the street then that means a dispensary can't go there. He cited concerns about safety with the narrow driveway configuration before joining other commissioners in voting against the dispensary.

Burns Park area resident Jan Fisher argued a dispensary there would have a detrimental impact on her neighborhood. She raised specific concerns that it would adversely affect traffic.

"There's a crossing guard there for Burns Park School, which is very close by, and there's many students that walk through there every day," she said. "And this additional traffic will have an impact."

Kathy Sample, Argus Farm Stop co-owner, argued the dispensary would significantly impair her business operations and present serious safety issues for customers and other pedestrians and cyclists.

"The site plan proposes that dispensary customers -- up to 50 per hour, according to the petitioner -- would exit by cutting directly through our loading zone behind our building," she said, arguing that would create a chaotic situation.

"Keep in mind that we are a farmers market and we have farmers' deliveries on a constant basis back there," she said. "It's a very tight space. Our producers deliver multiple times per week. We require full and continuous use of our loading zone. We're not a store that gets a single Sysco delivery, but we rather receive hundreds of deliveries each week from small farms and producers throughout the day."

Ann Arbor developer Alex de Parry voiced similar concerns, noting his involvement last year in purchasing the old bicycle shop that is now home to the Argus Farm Stop's location on Packard.

"I think you've all seen the transformation that has occurred there," he said. "We've put a lot of energy and obviously money into it. We also own the Toarmina's Pizza property."

He and another representative of the LLC that owns the Farm Stop and Toarmina's properties said there is an existing access easement but it was a deal reached in the 1980s that didn't anticipate high-volume retail traffic and they're not going to allow that.

No one spoke in support of the proposed dispensary at Tuesday night's meeting.

Abraham Kadushin of Kadushin Holdings LLC, who is listed as the property owner and petitioner's agent, couldn't be reached.

Haju Sunim, a priest at the Zen Buddhist Temple immediately south of the proposed dispensary site, also spoke out against the dispensary proposal, raising various concerns about it.

"We've been part of the Ann Arbor religious community for almost 38 years now and on that same block for 38 years," she said. "We're interested in really developing the neighborhood and its beauty, its diversity, as a special part of Ann Arbor."

She said a lot of children come to the temple, which has a strong family program, and it also has a substance abuse recovery group known as Refuge Recovery, which is the Buddhist version of AA.

"We have people who are addicted in the community coming regularly to the temple for meetings," she said. "And so I'm not sure how much of a trigger a (marijuana dispensary) would be for those folks."

Sunim said she knows Burns Park Elementary School is just over 1,000 feet away, which meets the school buffer requirement, but she noted the Eberbach Cultural Arts Center is just up the street and it brings children to the area all year long for special programs.

"So there are more children in the community around then you may have thought before," she said.

Monty Brower, another Burns Park area resident who lives about two blocks from the proposed dispensary site, said he and his wife just moved to Ann Arbor in September after 23 years of living in the northeast and they've fallen in love with the community.

"And we especially appreciate our Burns Park community, the neighbors, the many families with young children, the characteristics and quality of the neighborhood that are created by that family atmosphere, by the presence of the school, by the presence of the ...community center where I've actually become involved in teaching yoga," he said. "We've also been thrilled to have a business like Argus Farm Stop right at the end of our street."

Brower said the Farm Stop has become a magnet for the community and a place where families with children visit frequently.

"Students gather in great numbers on the weekend with their laptops," he said. "And not only is it a focus for our community, but I think it contributes greatly to the wider community because of the work that Argus Farm Stop does on behalf of local farmers."

Brower said he's a psychiatrist and medical doctor who has worked in mental health and the criminal justice system.

"So I'm intimately familiar with some of the unintended consequences of medical marijuana," he said. "One of the reasons that my wife and I love this community is because of its progressive and liberal values, and in my view Ann Arbor has clearly, widely and in many areas fully embraced the existing need for medical marijuana, but I think that we can also bring the same consideration for values and character and the nature of our community to this particular part of our town."

Even if a medical marijuana dispensary could be allowed at 1202 Packard, he said, that doesn't mean it should be.

A review of city records shows at least 25 dispensaries have sought approval to operate in Ann Arbor this year. Six of those have gone through zoning approval and others are waiting for approval.ANN ARBOR, MI - Four broad areas in Ann Arbor are slated for comprehensive sidewalk repairs this year.

They include the far northeast part of Ann Arbor north of Plymouth Road, areas around the University of Michigan medical center, the Old Fourth Ward historic neighborhood, Kerrytown, neighborhood areas west of downtown, and parts of the city's south side.

The City Council voted this week to approve a $1.06 million contract with Doan Construction Co. for the city's 2018 sidewalk repair program, which includes fixing or replacing faulty or broken sidewalk slabs, as well as crosswalk ramps to meet accessibility requirements.

Each year, the city undertakes sidewalk improvements in about 20 percent of the city, with the goal of reaching all areas of the city in five-year cycles. Doan has completed the sidewalk and ramp repair work in the city for the past five years and was the low bidder for 2018.

In addition to the base contract amount, the council approved a contingency amount of $100,000 for possible change orders.

The council separately voted to approve a $66,500 contract with CLI Concrete Leveling Inc. for leveling some sidewalk slabs in the same areas where Doan will be replacing slabs. The council also approved an extra $6,700 contingency for that contract.

The council also approved plans for filling sidewalk gaps along the east side of Green Road in northeast Ann Arbor and along the north side of Federal and Commerce boulevards west of West Stadium Boulevard, leading to the site of a proposed apartment development.

Total costs for the sidewalk gap work are estimated at $577,000, which is expected to be covered by $200,000 in federal funds, $327,000 from the city's street and sidewalk tax, and $50,000 from special assessments paid by benefiting property owners.

"The city's ability to use federal funds for this project has created the opportunity for the adjacent property owners to receive the sidewalk at a lower cost and to reduce the city-share, non-recoverable funding amount," City Engineer Nick Hutchinson wrote in a memo, noting some condo owners off Green Road indicated they were open to the project, but some were upset they were being assessed.

"Many individual condo owners included in the assessment do not front on Green Road, and voiced concern that they are not getting a benefit from the sidewalk," he wrote in the memo.

The property owners along Federal and Commerce boulevards are in favor of the work there, Hutchinson said.ANN ARBOR, MI - The University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance is honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in observance of the 50th anniversary of his April 4, 1968, assassination with a series of concerts and music events.

The first event takes place at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, when Burton Memorial Tower will join the National Civil Rights Museum of Memphis and bell towers across the country and world to honor King. The Burton Tower will toll 39 times with its 12-ton bourdon bell.

The tolling is followed by Rev. Dorsey's "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," Dr. King's favorite gospel hymn, performed on the Burton Tower bells by university carillonist Tiffany Ng.

The University Symphony Band, led by Michael Haithcock, will perform a concert at 8 p.m. Friday, April 6, at U-M's Hill Auditorium. A pre-concert conversation at 7:15 p.m. takes place in the lower lobby.

The program includes Oskar Morawetz's "Memorial to Martin Luther King," which features professor Anthony Elliott on cello. The work uses King's favorite spiritual (according to the composer), and in five sections traverses his life's journey.

The University Symphony Orchestra, led by Kenneth Kiesler, director of university orchestras, will also honor the legacy and memory of King in its final concert of the 2017-18 season at 8 p.m. Friday, April 13, at Hill Auditorium. There also will be a pre-concert lecture at 7:15 p.m. in the lower lobby.

The concert opens with "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman," composed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Joan Tower.

All performances are free and open to the public.ANN ARBOR, MI - An "amazing dad," a brother with the "heart of a lion" and retiree known as "a good guy all around" are some of the people stolen from their friends and family in 2017.

The 12 homicide victims of 2017 in Washtenaw County also include a wife suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease and suspected drug dealers. It's the highest number of such deaths seen in 16 years.

Authorities have issued charges against a a number of people in connection with those deaths. The suspects include a former Ann Arbor police officer, several teenagers, and men previously convicted of shooting or killing someone.

At the close of 2017, the 12 homicide investigations remained ongoing, at various stages of completion with some already in court, or still open without any arrests.

Homicide rate is low

Should all 12 deaths be ruled murders or nonnegligent manslaughters by Michigan State Police reporting standards, 2017 will have been the worst year for such deaths since 2001, when the county recorded 15.

However, that number is still low when compared, based on population, to the state's 2016 rate of murder - six per 100,000 people. Washtenaw has about 350,000 residents.

The 2017 homicides took place on the east side of the county - one homicide occurred in Superior Township, three occurred in Pittsfield Township, three occurred in Ypsilanti and five took place in Ypsilanti Township.

One person was strangled, three people were stabbed and eight people were shot, police said.

At least three deaths are believed to have possible connections to drug sales and at least three deaths occurred within relationships, but motives in a number of homicides remain unconfirmed or under investigation.

As of April 4, in total, officials reported five deaths as under continued investigation with potential for additional charges. They have reported either arrests or identification of some or all suspects in all 12 deaths.

The victims

The first homicide of 2017 was reported shortly after 4 p.m. March 4.

Nina Battle, 32, was found fatally shot in her apartment at the Fairway Trails apartment complex, 214 S. Hewitt Road in Ypsilanti Township, after a neighbor reported hearing a gunshot and finding a bullet hole in her own apartment.

Police arrested Darrick Duffin, 48, of Ypsilanti Township later that month. He's accused of fatally shooting Battle, then gambling with her money at a Detroit casino. Duffin is scheduled for an April 6 preliminary examination in district court.

Brandon Cross, 19, of Ann Arbor - a father engaged to be married - was the second homicide victim of 2017.

He was found fatally shot about 7:30 p.m. April 2 in a running vehicle in the 2400 block of Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield Township, though police believe the shooting occurred across the street at the Glencoe Hills Apartments, 2260 Glencoe Hills Drive.

Calvin Vanderhoff, 17, of Canton Township, Jeffrey Thurman, 19, of Van Buren Township, and Xavier Payne, 17 of Ann Arbor are accused of killing Cross during a drug sale, according to court transcripts obtained by The Ann Arbor News.

The three men are charged with open murder and scheduled for an April 30 final pretrial and a May 14 trial at the Washtenaw County Trial Court.

Police say the third homicide victim of the year - Marcus Coney, 40 - was fatally stabbed by his brother-in-law after an argument over a vehicle escalated about 7:05 p.m. April 29 in the basement of Coney's home at 1412 Jeff Ave. in Ypsilanti Township.

The suspect, Gerald Kariem, 40, of Saginaw - who was previously convicted of manslaughter in 2002 - was arrested several days later in Oak Park, Illinois.

Kariem is scheduled for a jury trial on April 16.

The death of Dominique Lee, 28, of Ypsilanti Township - the fourth homicide victim of 2017 - is believed to be narcotics-related, Ypsilanti police Lt. Deric Gress said.

Lee was found shot in a vehicle that struck a porch about 2:45 a.m. June 8 at the Sauk Trail Pointe housing complex in the 900 block of West Michigan Avenue in Ypsilanti. He was also robbed.

Marcus Walker, 29 - who previously served time in prison for shooting a 15-year-old in the neck in 2012 - was arrested in Lee's death. Gress said police also are investigating a second suspect.

Walker is scheduled for a final pretrial on April 26 and a jury trial on May 14.

The body of the fifth homicide victim of 2017 in Washtenaw County was found in Detroit.

Latisha Bargaineer, 29, was found dead about 11 p.m. June 18, in a vehicle owned by Demetrius Montgomery, 38. Montgomery has been reported by other media as Bargaineer's boyfriend.

Police believe she was stabbed and beaten to death at the couple's Ypsilanti apartment, in the 300 block of West Cross Street, and Montgomery was suspected of fleeing in a cousin's vehicle.

After being arrested in Alabama on June 25, 2017, he was returned in February 2018 to Michigan as a fugitive and arraigned March 6 in Wayne County in a now-dismissed felony case and several misdemeanor cases, records show.

On April 5, Montgomery was charged with open murder in Bargaineer's death.

He is being held without bond and is scheduled for an April 12 probable cause conference and an April 19 preliminary examination.

Washtenaw County's sixth homicide victim of the year - Deshawn Jones, 30, of the Ypsilanti-area - was killed in a shootout, according to a witness.

Maurice Jones, 25, pulled up in vehicle, said he and Deshawn Jones "used to smoke together" and "I just want to talk," before the shooting started about 9:30 p.m. July 25 in the 1800 block of George Avenue in Ypsilanti Township, a witness testified at a September preliminary examination.

Maurice Jones is scheduled for a May 22 final pretrial and a June 11 jury trial.

Another man - Javonte Poplar, 27 - is accused of supplying Maurice Jones with the gun that fired the fatal shots and patching him up after the shooting. He is scheduled for an April 9 pretrial in circuit court.

The seventh homicide victim of the year, Allen Shevrovich, 25, was fatally shot during a marijuana sale in a vehicle about 8:15 p.m. Aug. 24 in the 800 block of Madison Street in Ypsilanti.

Shevrovich threatened his would-be client, David Skinner, 22, with a pocketknife after Skinner put marijuana in his pocket without paying, witnesses at an October preliminary examination said. Shevrovich turned away when Skinner's unidentified companion pulled out a gun, but was shot, witnesses said.

Gress said police hope forensic laboratory results will help identify Skinner's companion - Shevrovich's accused killer. In the meantime, Skinner faces an April 9 final pretrial hearing and an April 16 trial in circuit court on counts of felony murder and armed robbery.

The eighth homicide victim of the year, Deandr'e Willingham, 20, is said to have been walking away from a fight when he was fatally shot about 3:30 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Sycamore Meadow Apartments complex on MacArthur Boulevard in Superior Township.

Camae Abrahams, 21, of Ypsilanti is accused of smacking Willingham in the face moments before James Freeman, 19, of Ann Arbor, is accused of shooting him three times.

The motive in the death is unclear, but Freeman faces one count of open murder and two gun charges in the death. Abrahams is charged with accessory after the fact to a felony. Both are scheduled for April 26 final pretrials and May 21 jury trials in circuit court.

The suspect in the ninth homicide of the year reported the death shortly before 11:50 p.m. Nov. 11 in a parking lot in the 3800 block of Sparrow Wood Drive, in the Sparrow Wood Apartments complex where the victim lived in Pittsfield Township.

Police say Ashley Somerville, 27, fatally shot her girlfriend Shantel Johnson-Jackson, 27, following an altercation.

Somerville is scheduled for an April 23 pretrial in circuit court.

The tenth homicide victim of the year was the wife of a former Ann Arbor police officer. The suspect is her husband.

Police say Kent Neigebauer, 66, called Pittsfield Township police about 10:50 a.m. Nov. 19 to report strangling his wife, 63-year-old Marcia Neigebauer, with a breathing tube in their home in the 5800 block of Plum Hollow Drive in the Arbor Knoll apartment complex.

Marcia Neigebauer suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and her husband told detectives that he went "crazy," according to court documents obtained by MLive.

Kent Neigebauer was ordered to undergo a competency examination at a March 15 court appearance and is expected to return to court on May 17.

Police have released few details regarding the last two homicide victims of the year.

General Motors retiree David Sloss, 66, was found fatally stabbed about noon Nov. 30 at his home in the 1700 block of Parkwood Avenue in Ypsilanti Township.

A person of interest in the case is in custody in an unrelated matter, investigators confirmed Monday, March 19.

The final reported homicide of 2017 also remains under investigation.

Kevin Hughbanks, 50, of Ypsilanti Township was fatally shot about noon New Year's Eve in a carport at the Cliffs Communities housing complex on Cliffs Drive, off Grove Road in Ypsilanti Township.

Police say Gregory James, 26, of Ypsilanti Township, left a trail of blood in the complex and was later found at the hospital with stab wounds after an altercation with Hughbanks.

Prosecutors continue to consider a homicide charge in the death. James currently faces three weapons charges and one count of lying to a peace officer in connection to the death. He is scheduled for an April 18 pretrial in circuit court.

Police initially said the Hughbanks' death was possibly drug-related, though family has disputed that claim.

Those with information on any of these deaths are asked to contact their local police department.FLINT, MI - When Daniel Conner first heard the sirens, he followed the sound of fire trucks toward Whaley Historic House Museum.

When he arrived, Conner saw the billowing smoke and the fire raging near the chimney as a piece of Flint's history was facing the threat of being destroyed for future generations.

The fire occurred on Nov. 30, 2015, ravaging through a portion of the roof during an accident while welding copper gutters. A third-floor storage space, two bedrooms on the second floor, the music room and main stairwell on the first floor sustained damage, from fire, smoke and water.

But, for more than two years, work has been underway to restore the historic house.

"It was a very tragic day," said Conner, who became the executive director of the facility more than a year after the fire. "We did lose a couple of items, and every item is a tragic loss when you lose it. However, we were lucky enough that the true meaningful items that we had in the house, we were able to save and preserve most of them."

The exterior of the house was fully restored and painted by October 2017. Renovations are still in progress, but the facility has plans to reopen in June.

Walking through the top two floors of the museum, it's not apparent a fire has ever occurred. The floors have been refurbished and new shutters installed throughout the house.

Conner said a number of period furnishings were lost in the fire, as well as a number of Christmas items. Some of the mantle pieces needed to be replaced.

"Everything that was able to be preserved, they didn't come out nice and shiny," Conner said. "They came out damaged and needed to be repaired."

The fire actually allowed Conner and his team to restore the house with more time-appropriate decor to the 19th century, which allows people the opportunity to see "what life was like in Flint for a lower-upper class family."

One highlight that stands out is the wallpaper in every bedroom on the second floor. Each room now features unique, hand-painted designs on a heavier, thick stock wallpaper from California-based company Bradbury and Bradbury. Each room took three days just for the wallpaper, Conner said.

The house also has Lincrusta wallcovering in portions of the house, which is a heavy wallpaper that was invented in the latter half of the 19th century. It was used in anything from railway passenger carriages to Victorian residences. What makes it unique is, outside of it being embossed, is the linseed oil in which it is coated in gets harder through the years, meaning the covering gets stronger through the years and is why many samples date to 100 years old or more.

Also, on the third floor, a piece of original Flint lumber is visible, encased as a window to the city's past. The lumber was milled in 1884 when Flint still had huge lumber mills along the Flint River.

"You can't quite make wood like this anymore," Conner said. "Because the wood that we have isn't this old. You can see an original nail driven into this beam. It's a piece of timeless Flint history."

The Whaley House Historic Museum was the home of Robert Whaley, then president of Citizens Bank, wife Mary McFarlan Whaley and the couple's children from 1885 until the 1920s.

During the late 1800s, East Kearsley Street was one of Flint's premier residential neighborhoods. The Whaleys and many of their neighbors played important roles in transitioning Genesee County from lumbering and agriculture to transportation manufacturing, including Arthur Giles Bishop and James H. Whiting.

After McFarlan Whaley's death in 1925, the house was turned into a home for elderly women, until they were moved into a larger structure next door.

Seven community organizations then joined together to preserve the house in the mid-1970s and turn it into a museum, going through renovations to return it to its original form of quintessential Victorian Flint.

The Whaley family's legacy continues in Flint through the Whaley Children's Center for kids who have been traumatized and McFarlan Residential's senior living properties.FLINT, MI -- A burst of rain Tuesday afternoon in downtown Flint was accompanied by chunks of hail.

Thunderstorms rolling through the Flint and Genesee County area left behind drenched roadways and some pea-sized hail pinging off vehicles and coating the ground.

A hazardous weather outlook from the National Weather Service for southeast Michigan called for hail and heavy downpours, but no large thunderstorms like southern Lower Michigan is forecast to experience Tuesday night.

Rainfall is expected to be replaced by snowflakes heading into Wednesday, with as much eight to 10 inches of snow possible in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Michigan and two to three inches in Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City.

High temperatures are expected to continue hovering in the mid-to-upper 30s to around 40 degrees for the remainder of the week with another chance of a rain/snow mix Thursday night into Friday morning.FLINT, MI -- The state has issued new warnings about eating fish from the Flint River and most of the guidelines are due to elevated levels of PFOS discovered in 2015 and 2016 testing.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued updated fish consumption guidelines related to the river and to Lake St. Clair on Tuesday, April 3 -- part of the state's effort to address the perfluoralkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

PFAS are described as the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality as "a suite of chemicals historically used in thousands of applications throughout the industrial, food, and textile industries."

Last month, the state also issued new fish consumption advisories for lakes and rivers in three counties after tests confirmed the presence of toxic chemicals

Ingestion of PFAS, in general, has been linked in human studies to some cancers, thyroid disorders, elevated cholesterol and other diseases.

In its updated consumption guidelines, DHHS advised against eating carp from the Flint River, downstream of Mott Dam in Genesee County, more than once or twice a year, at most, due to higher levels of PCBs found in fish from that area of the river.

PCBs and mercury have been parts of state guidelines for fish from the river since 1993, but more than half of the new guidelines issued Tuesday for the Flint River were for PFOS.

In the river, downstream of Mott Dam, elevated levels of PFOS resulted in advisories for largemouth bass (six servings per year), rock bass (one serving per month), and smallmouth bass (six servings per year).

A serving for a child is considered 2-4 ounces of fish, according to DHHS, while a serving for adults is considered 6 to 8 ounces of fish.

Upstream of the Mott Dam, including the Mott and Holloway reservoirs in Genesee County on the Flint River, the state is advising no more than four servings per month of black crappie, white crappie or catfish due to mercury levels.

In the same section of the river, the guidelines are no more than two servings per month of carp; six per year of largemouth bass or smallmouth bass; one per month of rock bass and walleye -- all because of elevated levels of PFOS.

In the Flint River in Lapeer County -- upstream of Mott Dam, including Mott and Holloway reservoirs and north and south branches of the river, guidelines are no more than four servings per month of black crappie, white crappie or catfish -- all due to mercury levels.

In the same section of river, advisories due to elevated PFOS have been listed for carp (two servings per month), largemouth and smallmouth bass (six per year), and rock bass and walleye (once per month).

In the portion of the Flint River in Saginaw County, the state advises only eating carp once or twice a year at most; rock bass once per month, and largemouth and smallmouth bass no more than six times per year.

In Lake St. Clair, advisories have been issued for 16 varieties of fish due to PCBs, mercury and PFOS. A full listing of the new guidelines are published each spring.

For more information about the guidelines, visit Michigan.gov/eatsafefish.GRAND RAPIDS, MI - State Representative David LaGrand, D-Grand Rapids, is hosting a Criminal Justice Reform town hall Monday, April 9, at the Grand Rapids Public Schools Administration Building.

"You are invited to join the discussion about criminal justice reforms, including my proposed cash bail reform plan,'' wrote LaGrand, in his newsletter.

According to LaGrand, a panel of special guests, including Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, will discuss current issues in justice reform, including bail reform, successful reintegration for people who leave prison and restorative justice in schools.

"This is an important conversation for our community, and I invite you to come listen to our panel of experts, but also to bring your own story and your questions,'' according to LaGrand's Facebook post about the free event.

Joe Jones, Grand Rapids 2nd Ward City Commissioner, will moderate the Monday discussion that's scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the GRPS administration building, located at 1331 Franklin St. SE.

Besides Becker and LaGrand, the other panelists include:

Derrick Franke, a professor in Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice, who will discuss pathways for the successful reintegration of prisoners back into society.

Natasha Neal, GRPS Director of Community & Student Affairs, who will discuss restorative justice in schools.

Grand Rapids and Forest Hills school districts, which have over 26,000 students combined, are among districts in the Kent ISD seeing success from using restorative justice practices.

Schools are taking a restorative and accountable approach to discipline to curb suspensions and expulsions to better support students. When students engage in behaviors that violate school policy, the idea is to address the matter in a healing, rather than punitive way.

For example, talking circles, are a core component of the restorative approach. A student that was disruptive might sit in a circle, own his or her behavior, and work together with the teacher and class to repair the harm.

In his newsletter, LaGrand, who is also an attorney, says he will be introducing legislation to reform Michigan's cash bail system.

"Unfortunately, too many people can't meet bail,'' said LaGrand, in his newsletter, about those individuals a judge doesn't release on their own recognizance.

"They remain in jail for weeks or months until trial. Meanwhile they may lose their jobs and their homes - even if they are eventually found innocent.''

Last year, LaGrand said it cost Michigan taxpayers about $150 million to house people in county jails while awaiting trial. He said the legislation he's proposing would make releasing an individual on his or her own recognizance the standard.

He outlines for his constituents a plan that would require judges who set bail to provide their reasoning on how bail was determined. Upon arrest, inmates would be given a questionnaire to determine their financial situations, and a judge would take their finances into consideration when setting bail.

"Not only would this be more just for the accused, it would also provide savings to taxpayers,'' according to LaGrand.CALEDONIA, MI -- Consumers Energy workers responded to several complaints Tuesday about a natural gas smell in Caledonia area homes, an issue caused by an excessive amount of odor agent in gas lines.

Consumers Energy spokesman Terry DeDoes said the problem was traced to a mistake in the amount of odor-causing agent -- a safety measure to make gas detectable -- added to gas distribution point.

The natural gas smell was inside some homes even though there were no leaks.

DeDoes said the problem was expected to begin dissipating by 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 3.

He said calls from property owners about potential natural gas leaks began coming into Consumers Energy early Tuesday.

DeDoes advised residents to still call their gas company if they smell natural gas in their home, to be on the safe side.

He said Consumers officials continue to investigate "how and why" the odor agent was added to excess.WYOMING, MI -- For years, Chuck Morgan has made occasional visits to Resurrection Cemetery in Wyoming to run a few miles or visit his parents' graves.

Now 81, the Grandville resident's runs have evolved into walks. His visits have expanded to include the burial site of his brother, who died two years ago.

However, his visit to the cemetery on Friday, March 30, provided him with a traumatic experience he hopes to never experience again.

Morgan spent about 45 minutes attempting to talk Joel Peloquin, 52, of Wayland, out of ending his own life. The encounter got out of control quickly after Wyoming police arrived on scene. Before Morgan could regain control, Peloquin stepped away, put a handgun to his own head and pulled the trigger, Morgan said.

"Poor guy, he had a lot of life ahead of him," Morgan said.

Morgan was visiting his brother's grave site with his brother's granddaughter when he said they encountered Peloquin. The man was kind, though he seemed distressed and possibly inebriated, Morgan recalled.

Peloquin handed the woman some money, and asked that she donate it to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for him.

"We asked him why he didn't want to give them the money himself, and he said he was going to shoot himself before the sun goes down," Morgan said. "We tried to talk him out of it. We asked him to come get a cup of coffee with us, and a million other suggestions.

"But he was adamant."

Morgan said the man planned to shoot himself where his grandparents were buried.

The 81-year-old said, based on the conversation, the man appeared to be a nice guy who seemed to love his family.

While Morgan and Peloquin were talking, Morgan's brother's granddaughter texted her mother to call the police and explain the situation. When he saw the officers arrive, Morgan said he hoped they would sneak up and tackle the man.

But when Peloquin saw the officers, he slipped away from Morgan, pulled a handgun from his jacket, put it to his head, and shot himself, Morgan said.

He said the man never aimed the gun at police nor did he say anything to the officers. He wasn't sure why police fired at Peloquin, though he believed they fired their guns after the man shot himself.

Morgan said he heard six shots fired, followed by officers instructing him to get away from Peloquin.

Police, who wouldn't discuss details of the open investigation, confirmed that they interviewed Morgan.

Peloquin's death was deemed a suicide by Kent County's medical examiner, and the cause of death a gunshot to the head. Police said he was shot three times by two officers, but they determined that the fatal shot was self-inflicted.

"It really was a dilemma," Morgan said. "I didn't know what the hell to do. We weren't making much progress but I knew if cops came it was lights out. He told us he'd shoot himself if we called the cops.

"I never want to experience that again."

The incident is being investigated by the Kent County Sheriff's Office as an officer-involved shooting, per Wyoming Department of Public Safety policy.ST. IGNACE, MI -- Cleanup efforts in the Straits of Mackinac are ongoing as multiple county, state and federal agencies assist a Wisconsin-based utility company in its response to a mineral oil spill.

Initial reports from Wisconsin-based American Transmission Company (ATC), which operates six electric transmission lines spanning the straits, indicate about 600 gallons of dielectric fluid was released from two of those lines, according to a press release from the U.S. Coast Guard.

Cleanup work began Wednesday, April 4, as contractors used vacuum pumps to remove the remaining fluid from the leaking lines.

"They're doing that right now," U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Pamela Manns said late Wednesday morning.

The leaking lines were de-energized in response to the spill as the company activated its spill response plan. There is also currently no pressure on the system and oil is no longer "known to be leaking," according to the press release.

In a statement, the company blamed "an extraordinary set of circumstances," including bad weather for the problem, which they reported to the Coast Guard's National Response Center Monday, April 2.

The company reports the transmission lines first tripped off on Sunday, April 1, but the leak was not confirmed until the next day. The U.S. Coast Guard was notified at 5 p.m. Monday.

American Transmission Company provides electric transmission service in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the eastern half of Wisconsin and in portions of Illinois. Its underwater transmission lines across the Straits of Mackinac connect electric grids in Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas.

They cross the straits west of the Mackinac Bridge, between Point La Barbe west of St. Ignace and McGulpin Riser Station west of Mackinaw City. The dielectric fluid, a coolant and insulator usually contained inside the high-voltage transmission line's casing, leaked into Lake Michigan somewhere near the midpoint of the lines.

Though current estimates indicate about 600 gallons of the fluid leaked into the water, the system contains more than 4,000 gallons -- which a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson categorized as a "worst case scenario" for the spill. Samples of the product have been sent out for laboratory analysis as part of the coordinated response.

American Transmission Company spokesperson Jackie Olson confirmed the fluid used in the underwater electric lines was a product called Dielectric Fluid 45.

According to the federally mandated data sheet for the product, it is composed primarily of alkyl derivatives of benzene, a hydrocarbon.

The product is categorized as potentially fatal for humans if swallowed or if it enters airways, and "very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects." Among the precautionary statements, users are urged to "avoid release to the environment."

But the Coast Guard has assessed the spill as a low risk to fish and other animals, and reports it has not received any notification of an impact to local wildlife.

"Given the dilution of the product and the mobility of fish right now, it's considered a low risk to fisheries and wildlife," Manns said.

The greatest threat the leaked fluid poses would be to waterfowl or shore birds that may come in contact with product floating on the water's surface, according to the U.S. Coast Guard press release.

"Due to the inaccessibility of the shorelines from ice, there is a low-risk threat to the public since they are unable to come in contact with the oil," the release states. "The dilution of the oil and distance from the bridge provide additional protection from the product."

Two local drinking water intakes are also located nearby. But the Coast Guard advises dilution of the oil in the water of Lakes Michigan and Huron and the distance of those intakes from the spill site result in "no significant threat to drinking water at this time."

Though crews prepared boats and other equipment for a potential on-water response, Manns said, all cleanup activity has been restricted to points on shore where the underwater transmission lines emerge. Flights over the Straits of Mackinac to survey the site are also planned by the Coast Guard and American Transmission Company alike, she said.

The Coast Guard is leading a "unified command" group responding to the spill, which also includes the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, county emergency managers, local Native American tribes, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Environmental Protection Agency and American Transmission Company.

That group is tasked with overseeing the pollution response and mitigating any risks to the environment, the press release states.

The process for clearing the remaining oil from the line, according to a press release from the Department of Environmental Quality, involves pumping air into it from the Mackinaw City side at a low pressure (about 10 pounds-per-square-inch) and simultaneously pumping fluid out at the same pressure on the St. Ignace end using a vacuum truck. All that done through one-inch valves, DEQ officials state it's a slow process.

"The plan is to pump for 12 hours and then assess recovery," the release states.

In its release, the DEQ reiterated residents should not expect any adverse effects from the spill and that there "is no immediate public health threat."

American Transmission Company, which provides much of the electric transmission grid in the Upper Peninsula, said Tuesday that no power outages had occurred as a result of the incident.

Olson explained that the company's system in the Straits of Mackinac consists of two circuits, each consisting of three conductors. When the dielectic oil valves were turned off to the two conductors involved in the leak, she said, it rendered them permanenlty disabled.

The company's engineers are currently looking at ways to reconfigure the remaining conductors to restore a single circuit and maintain the electric connection between Michigan's peninsulas, Olson said.

Olson said in an email the company is also coordinating with both Midcontinent Independent System Operator and Midwest Reliability Organization to determine short long-term solutions.

One of the two circuits was installed in 1975, Olson said, and the other in 1990. They were operated by Edison Sault Electric until American Transmission Company acquired them in 2001.

The company completed a $130 million project near St. Ignace in 2014, installing a high-voltage direct-current flow-control device aimed at better managing power flows into and out of the Upper Peninsula.

Commercial vessel traffic in the Straits of Mackinac and Great Lakes has not been impacted by the spill.

"Our top priorities are to protect public health, the safety of both responders and communities in this region, and limit the environmental impacts as we contain and clean-up the spill as quickly and efficiently as possible," Capt. Marko Broz, the federal on-scene coordinator, said in a statement. "We are responding in cooperation with our federal, state, local and industry partners and have experience from actual spills on/in ice to draw from, as well as lessons from other areas around the country and around the world."

The controversial Enbridge Line 5 oil and gas pipelines, which also cross the straits west of the Mackinac Bridge, were not impacted by the incident this week.

In addition to the twin Line 5 oil pipelines, the Straits of Mackinac is also the crossing site for two TransCanada natural gas transmission pipelines and other electric and phone cables.KALKASKA COUNTY, MI -- A woman was killed, and two others were seriously injured, when the driver of a tree care service truck lost control and caused a collision in Kalkaska County.

The crash occurred shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, on M-72 near Hill Road in Clearwater Township.

Police said a 30-year-old Hamilton, Ohio man was westbound driving a Toyota Tacoma truck, which belonged to Davey Tree Expert Co., when he lost control and crossed the center line of M-72 into the path of an eastbound Chevy Equinox.

The crash caused injuries to all four people involved, and resulted in the death of Betty Lou-Korson Send, 51, of Williamsburg. She was a backseat passenger in the Equinox, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Equinox, Deborah Shelagowski, 48, was seriously injured, as was her front-seat passenger, Dorothy Korson, 80. Both were transported to Munson Medical Center and remain in serious condition.

Police said the driver of the Tacoma suffered non-life-threatening injuries. He was transported to Munson Medical Center for treatment.

Weather, road conditions and speed are believed to be factors in the crash, according to police. The incident remains under investigation by the Kalkaska Sheriff's Office.

Additional responding agencies included the Kalkaska Township fire Department, Clearwater Township Fire Department, Kalkaska EMS, and Grand Traverse County MMR.LANSING, MI - Two Democratic candidates for Attorney General are sparring after one accused the other of failing to follow the state's campaign finance laws.

Candidate Patrick Miles in a complaint lodged with the Secretary of State on Tuesday alleged candidate Dana Nessel had violated parts of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act by failing to report fundraising events, accepting campaign contributions from corporations, paying herself without substantiating the payment and running a statewide bus program.

"These violations are negligent at best. It should alarm all of us that someone who wants to be Michigan's top law enforcement officer either doesn't take the law seriously, or doesn't believe our laws should apply to her," Miles said in a press release announcing the complaint.

Miles, Nessel and Bill Noakes are vying to be the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, a position chosen by state party members at a convention. While the official nominating convention is still months away, the Michigan Democratic Party has chosen to hold an endorsement convention meant to throw the party's weight behind one candidate earlier, on April 15.

On April 3, Miles provided the Bureau of Elections with evidence that Nessel had hosted nine fundraising events but failed to report them as required under law. She did not report things like expenditures or in-kind contributions associated with those events either, he alleged.

Nessel did report two fundraisers and all money raised but inadvertently left fundraisers off of some a list, according to her campaign spokeswoman Angela Wittrock. The campaign will be amending the report to correct that.

In general, Wittrock was critical of the filing.

"The fact that this comes directly from Pat Miles himself, and not an unbiased third party, proves just how craven this stunt is, and that he doesn't have any supporters to advocate for him -- just himself and his paid staff," Wittrock said.

"Not only are these attacks pathetic and ridiculous, they are fundamentally undemocratic. What kind of Democrat files a complaint against a fellow Democrat for working to make certain that every person who wants to participate in the endorsement convention has the opportunity to cast a vote?"

Nessel has been running a ground game to get her supporters registered and get them to the endorsement convention, including through providing transportation on busses.

Miles in his complaint took issue with the bus program, saying the campaign failed to include a required identifier on promotional materials related to the busses and hasn't made sure checks for a seat on the bus are made out to the Nessel campaign.

"We deserve an Attorney General who operates with integrity and doesn't play fast and loose with the law. That's the kind of U.S. Attorney I was, and it's the kind of Attorney General I will be," Miles said in his press release.

Wittrock, meanwhile, said Miles was resorting to "disgraceful tactics" because he could not hope to beat Nessel on policy or experience.

Secretary of State spokesperson Fred Woodhams said the Bureau of Elections has received the complaint.

"Bureau of Elections staff will review the complaint and decide within five business days whether to dismiss it or ask the campaign to respond to the allegations," Woodhams said.Who's left out of the polarized us-vs.-them debate about guns in America?

Ambar Ramos thinks she is.

As a 28-year-old Latina from Boston, she wants the world to know not all NRA supporters are white, middle-aged men.

"I was raised by my grandmother ... I grew up hearing all these awful, awful stories that she would tell us where she was always the victim. I was like, "OK, that is never going to be me. All these laws, all these gun controls, also apply to people like me. I am that law-abiding citizen. I am just that girl living by herself in the middle of in a big city. My safety concerns also matter."

Also left out, says Daniel Boykin, are the stories of black Americans who grew up with legal firearms and with the desire to protect their families. The Denver millennial runs the Ogun Gun Club, part of the National African American Gun Association. Born and raised in Alabama and Mississippi, Boykin's organization works for the rights of black Americans through armed protection and community building, especially welcoming African American members of law enforcement and the military.

Boykin said the needs of black Americans to better protect themselves has been too often ignored, especially in rural communities. "We believe especially in self defense against white supremacists," Boykin said.

Ramos and Boykin were two of the 21 people who came together for two days of dialogue about guns and gun violence as a part of the new national journalism project, "Guns, An American Conversation," and are featured in a new video from Time, a partner in the project.

The Guns project was originated by the 10 news organizations that make up Advance Local, and is happening in partnership with Spaceship Media, the Newseum, Essential Partners and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, as well as Time.

Gathered in the Newseum, just steps above the March for our Lives on March 24, Ramos and Boykin, traded stories with people like Melanie Jeffcoat, a mother from Homewood, Ala., who survived a school shooting more than 30 years ago, and now is the Birmingham Lead with Moms Demand Action.

The conversation was facilitated by Essential Partners, an organization with a mission to foster constructive dialogue.

To Ricardo "Cobe" Williams, former prisoner and the son of a gang member, now the deputy director of Cure Violence in Chicago, the chance to explore across political and cultural divides is a precursor to finding solutions.

"You see a lot of gun violence all over the world right now. It's affecting everybody. It's making the country sick. So it's important to keep talking about this and think about some solutions and thinking about how we can come to some common ground."

This week, the 21 project fellows will join 130 other Americans in a moderated online discussion based on the "dialogue journalism" model pioneered by Spaceship Media in 2016 with its Talking Politics project bringing together Donald Trump voters from Alabama with Hillary Clinton voters in California.

As the project moves to its online phase this week, the 21 "project fellows" who came to D.C. reflect below on their concerns, their experience so far, and their hopes for the future.

Ade'Kamil Kelly of East Orange, New Jersey

"Just connecting with people changes this entire conversation. Now we're talking. Now we're moving to the next level of conversation." " That is all everyone wants, to be heard and understood. That is the way to solve this issue and so many other issues in this country."

Adrian Moy of Oregon City, Oregon

"We came as a group of strangers from all corners of the country, heard each other's stories, and got connected as Americans, who are all in this together. We returned to our homes with the hope that real people can make a real difference in this debate."

Alexis Intili, Staten Island, New York

"Our kids are being slaughtered daily. What am I missing? Is this really happening?"

Andrew DiNapoli, Belchertown, Massachusetts

"I would have to say that the communication techniques are what I got most out of the weekend. Realizing that speaking with someone who has differing opinions can be a difficult and frustrating process. Breaking the group down into smaller groups and focusing on how to have a meaningful conversation helped with that frustration. I will be able to carry these techniques with me when speaking with people in the performance of my job (as a police officer)."

Daniel Zelenka II of Covington, Louisiana

"(This) was actually a discussion where everyone listened. It provided an opportunity to meet people with both like and opposing views and get to know them before delving into discussions surrounding the difficult political issue of gun rights."

Ambar Ramos of Boston, Massachusetts

"This is what needs to be happening: a conversation. We need to start listening to each other. That's where problems start getting solved."

Deza'Rae Collins of Salem, Oregon

"Even though we came here with different viewpoints and different parts of the country, we all want to see some sort of change or resolution happen to what keeps happening in the country around guns and violence."

David Preston of Mobile, Alabama

"Something needs to be done. The system we have now isn't working. Now is that answer banning all guns and banning all assault rifles? In my opinion, no. There's a wide gulf between with what we've got now and the extremes of what the NRA or the ban-all-guns movement wants to do. I want to bring some of those solutions to the table so that we can have a serious, honest, open discussion."

Jennifer Brush of Solon, Ohio

"It's a long-held belief that we have to have a more sensible approach to the Second Amendment. We have a huge amount of work ahead of us. I hope that with groups like this we can find a difficult but sustainable way forward to make this country a safer place."

Jon Godfrey of Parish, New York

"The weekend opened my eyes to how we as Americans can have a difficult, and productive conversation. It also showed me that as a society, we have digressed entirely too far from civility when having conversations like these. Most of the time now, as I read, I see people talking at each other instead of talking to each other. There is very little listening going on."

Jennifer Partica of Moon Township, Pennsylvania

"We are tired of the same talking points we keep hearing on TV about this issue. We want to figure out how to have an honest conversation with each other.

Mathilde Wimberly of Metairie, Louisiana

"Too many people are dying."

John Noel Bartlett of Oil City, Pennsylvania

"I would like to find out if it is possible to reach a middle ground, or if we are so separated by political belief and branding that we are incapable of what a democratic republic requires."

Malak Wazne of Dearborn, Michigan

"My big takeaway ... is that discussing issues with people who have different perspectives than you allows for growth and gives us the opportunity to tear down the barriers we build in silence."

La'Daniel Boykin of Denver, Colorado

"People genuinely want to have an open dialogue about gun control. They genuinely don't want to argue over it. I think they want to understand other people's views in the issues."

Nicholas O'Connor of Cleveland, Ohio

"I want to know people's ideas as far as common sense legislation. I came to learn what other people have to say."

Nash Salami of Canton, Michigan

"I hope to get a different perspective on different people's points of view with different experiences with guns."

Melanie Jeffcoat of Homewood, Alabama

"There hasn't been a dialogue, there's only been an argument. If I can learn from this how to be a better listener to people who disagree with me so that we can actually have empathy ... maybe it's a start. Right now, people just put their sticks in the sand and then yell, online and in person, and then we go nowhere."

Ricardo "Cobe" Williams of Chicago, Illinois

"You see a lot of gun violence all over the world right now. It's affecting everybody. It's making the country sick. So it's important to keep talking about this and think about some solutions and thinking about how we can come to some common ground."

Peter Lotto of Fayetteville, New York

"My goal is to understand. There are things about gun rights people I don't get. I don't get Second Amendment absolutism. I don't get the urge to carry a weapon everywhere. I don't get that whole culture. I'm trying to get an understanding. I think people like me need to understand that. We can't fix it if we don't understand it. We may disagree how we're going to get there, but we all agree on getting to the same place."

Robert Stone of Ann Arbor, Michigan

"Did we jump right into talking about guns? Emphatically not. For over 10 hours ... a capable team of moderators taught us good communication skills and led us through exercises that made use of them. As the hours went by we worked in pairs, trios, with half the group and as a committee of the whole. Whenever the conversation threatened to get heated the moderators steered us away from confrontations. The deeply personal nature of stories people shared was illustrative of the trust that soon developed among us."

Photos by Seth Siditsky for Advance Local.Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a moderated conversation with WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil at the annual Mary and Louis Fusco Distinguished Lecture Series at Southern Connecticut State University, Friday, March 23, 2018, in New Haven, Conn. (Catherine Avalone/New Haven Register via AP)

Former Vice President Joe Biden has weighed in on Michigan's Eighth Congressional District race, endorsing Democratic candidate Elissa Slotkin as his preferred choice to take on sitting Republican Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.

In an announcement released Wednesday afternoon, Biden called Slotkin a "true public servant" who would use her expertise to put working Michigan residents first.

"I first met Elissa when she was helping the Obama team transition into the White House," Biden said in the statement. "Over the years, she advised my team as a Pentagon official on some of the most difficult national security matters. Throughout, I saw first hand her dedication, integrity, and commitment to service."

Slotkin served three tours in Iraq with the CIA before holding several positions with the U.S. State Department and the Department of Defense, and most recently served as a top adviser to two Secretaries of Defense on the Middle East, Europe and NATO, Russia, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere.

She recently moved back to her family's farm in Holly after 15 years holding several intelligence and national defense posts during the administrations of former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Slotkin is facing off against MSU professor Chris Smith in the Democratic primary, and the winner will go on to face Bishop, a former attorney and state lawmakers who was first elected to represent the district in 2014.

Biden said in his endorsement that Michigan's 8th District "needs a leader who understands that the strength of our country abroad is only as strong as our economy at home."

"I am proud to support her," Biden continued. "She is part of a new generation of service-centered leaders that this country needs now more than ever."

Responding to the endorsement, Slotkin said she appreciated Biden's support and said the former vice president "represents public service at its finest."

"Throughout his career, Vice President Biden has embodied principled leadership - and has never forgotten that people should be at the center of government's work," Slotkin said.

Bishop campaign spokesperson Stu Sandler said they're not worried about Biden's endorsement and was critical of the foreign policy initiatives Slotkin worked on during her time in the Obama administration.

The endorsement itself is "not surprising - they worked closely together," Sandler said.

Since launching her campaign in July 2017, Slotkin, a Holly native, has earned national attention for her high fundraising numbers in a traditionally Republican-leaning district, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has said it considers the 8th District a target in 2018.

The Eighth Congressional District covers Ingham and Livingston counties as well as a portion of Oakland County.LANSING, MI - The organizers of an effort to make Michigan's legislature part-time are ceasing efforts to get it on the 2018 ballot, Clean MI Committee organizer Norm Kammeraad said Wednesday.

"What's happening here is we lost, basically, opportunity from the weather," Kammeraad said, citing the harsh winter as having hampered signature collection.

To get on the ballot, a petition to change Michigan's constitution needs 315,654 valid signatures, according to the Department of State.

The petition was originally launched in May by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, now a Republican candidate for governor who has since distanced himself from Clean Michigan.

But after a hiccup at the Board of State Canvassers level, the group started circulating a new version, meaning the signatures on the previous version wouldn't count toward the overall goal. The initiative got 325,000 signatures total, Kammeraad said, but 40,000 of those were on the outdated petition.

Signatures for statewide ballot initiatives have to be collected within a 180-day period, and this one has been circulating in one of its two forms since May of last year. Because of that, as signatures were being collected, they were falling off the back end, Kammeraad said.

But he said the number of signatures obtained do prove Michigan residents want the change.

"There is no question they want it. That question's been answered. We definitely have got a lot of people that want this," Kammeraad said.

The group is giving up its 2018 efforts and instead aiming for the 2019 ballot, he said. They will be logging all the signatures from this year into a database so they can re-contact all of their supporters and get those signatures again next year.

Although Calley has distanced himself from the effort, a PAC supporting one of his Republican gubernatorial primary opponents, Bill Schuette, tied the failure to Calley's candidacy on Wednesday.

"Brian Calley fatally botched this petition drive. The Calley clown car fatally crashed its Clean MI initiative as a direct result of Brian Calley's incompetence. Brian Calley demonstrated he cannot run a petition effort, so it's clear he could not run state government as Governor," said Stu Sandler, executive director of the pro-Schuette PAC Better Jobs Stronger Families.

Michael Schrimpf, a spokesperson for the Calley campaign, said Calley still supports a part-time legislature.

"The Lt. Governor defers to the decisions of the volunteer conservative leaders who are running the effort. He continues to support Michigan switching to a part time legislature and is hopeful that it will pass in thefuture to give taxpayers a better legislature at a lower cost," Schrimpf said.

Note: This story has been updated with comment from Calley's campaign.A retired priest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula currently on administrative leave has denied allegations he committed sexual misconduct involving a minor back in the 1970s.

The Mining Journal reports Rev. Frank M. Lenz said that he is innocent "without reservation" and that he looks forward to the investigation clearing his name. Lenz was accused on Friday, March 30 by a woman who said he sexually abused her at least a dozen times while she was underage.

He retired more than a decade ago in 2007, but has maintained senior priest status. With the current investigation and him being placed on administrative leave, Lenz is not allowed to present himself as a priest or perform public ministry.

In a statement, the diocese said that placing Lenz on administrative leave is "not a final determination of guilt," and that the retired priest denies the "credible" allegation.

The newspaper reports Lenz was allowed to read the report, and that he expressed sympathy for the woman while saying it was "Just sad and ugly and painful." Charges have not been filed as of Wednesday.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette reports in a Monday news release that they reported the allegations to the Marquette County Prosecutor as part of its policy. The diocese adds that it has offered pastoral care to the woman who made the allegations.

"On behalf of the Catholic Church, I offer a sincere apology to all victims of clergy abuse," Bishop John Doerfler said in the release.

"There is no excuse for what happened to you. You are in my thoughts and prayers, and I am willing to journey with you to find Christ's peace and healing."

The diocese adds that if anyone wants to bring a complaint of sexual misconduct concerning minors to call one of the assistance coordinators at either 844-495-4330 or 844-694-4362.JACKSON, MI - In a January meeting, a Jackson County Sheriff's lieutenant "offered to forebear" releasing damaging audio tapes of command staff meetings "in exchange for an enhanced pension benefit," a lawyer for the county contends.

"(Lt. Tommy Schuette) has unclean hands, based on both his participation in the allegedly improper and inappropriate conversations he secretly recorded, as well as his attempted extortion of (Jackson County)," Andrew Brege, a lawyer for Sheriff Steven Rand, states.

The separate documents from Rand and Jackson County, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Detroit, are answers to Schuette's lawsuit. They ask a federal judge to dismiss Schuette's Feb. 12 complaint.

The lieutenant alleges the sheriff created a hostile work environment by harassing him for his hearing disability, a contention Rand denies as untrue. He also alleges the county retaliated against him for opposing and reporting Rand's conduct, an allegation also denied.

In the meeting, the county alleges, Schuette did not express his concerns or explain his experiences and struggles on account of Rand's behavior, contrary to the account in Schuette's lawsuit. Instead, he demanded the county pay three years of salary as if he were in a retirement program, fund three additional years of service for his pension and terminate Rand, an elected official, the county contends.

"(Schuette) made clear that (Jackson County's) failure to meet his demands would result in (Schuette's) release of the recordings to the public," according to the document filed on behalf of the county.

Schuette's lawyer, Jim Fett, called any allegation of extortion "ludicrous."

"This is why people do not become whistleblowers. Because the employers victimize the person who reports the wrongdoing. That is exactly what is going on here," he said. "This is an extreme measure by them which I think shows their desperation."

Fett in February released recordings of the sheriff making derogatory and offensive comments, mostly about women, while Schuette remained on leave. He has not retired or collected any retirement benefits.

"We had to take care of to make sure people understood, not just for the sake of his claim, but for the sake of that department, that this guy is exposed," Fett said of the recordings, which gave credence to Schuette's contentions.

Schuette said he detailed his and the struggles of others affected by Rand's behavior in the Jan. 17 meeting with county Administrator Michael Overton and Human Resources Director Richard Martonchik.

"Martonchik and Overton were only minimally interested and after only a few recordings, Martonchik stated, 'Oh, we're disgusted and have heard enough,'" states Schuette's lawsuit.

County officials deny this. It is true Martonchik asked Schuette to stop playing the recordings, they said, adding that Martonchik asked: "What are you going to do with this?" Schuette then leaned back in his chair, crossed his hands behind his head and clearly recited his three demands, states the county's answer.

County officials and their lawyer, Bonnie Toskey, concede Schuette did express fear of retaliation from Rand for revealing the recordings, made without Rand's consent or knowledge, according to the answer.

Schuette has called Rand a vindictive supervisor who loves to capitalize on others' misfortune and contends in the lawsuit the sheriff is a "multifaceted bigot" who has made numerous slurs in the presence of many individuals targeting blacks, gays, woman, Hispanics, and overweight and disabled people.

"(Rand) is without sufficient information upon with to form a belief and neither admits nor denies, but leaves (Schuette) to his proofs," reads the answer filed by a different law firm on behalf of Rand, who has been asked by the county commission to resign. When he did not, the county board chairman sent a letter to the governor, initiating proceedings to possibly remove Rand from office.

The sheriff denies mocking Schuette and calling out his name in a voice imitating a deaf or mentally disabled person, as Schuette's lawsuit claims. He also disputes allegations he threatened to demote Schuette if he made an issue of his hearing loss.

Rand further denies Schuette's contention that Rand called him a "pussy" when he reported he could not continue as commander of the Jackson County Special Response Team, an elite tactical unit made up of sheriff's deputies and Jackson police officers.

The sheriff allowed Schuette to step down and retain his rank, and reduced his work responsibilities without loss of wages or benefit, the answer states. "(Rand) provided reasonable accommodations to (Schuette)," it says.

Though Schuette has linked his hearing issues to his work, especially the use of explosive stun grenades or "flash bangs" and a specialist determined the loss was likely connected to occupational noise exposure, Rand contends Schuette suffered the hearing loss before he began working for the sheriff's office in 1998.

"Some or all of (Schuette's) injuries were caused by his own actions, including his own participation in activities outside of his employment... that may have cause(d) or contributed to his claimed hearing loss," the answer states.

The county disagrees Schuette has a "disability" or is a "person with a disability," meaning his condition is related to his ability to perform his duties.

His damages were caused, the county contends, in whole or in part, by complications of treatment for bacterial meningitis as a child; allegedly shooting a handgun between two silos, causing his eardrums to rupture when he was 16; a second job at a Jonesville plastics machining shop; and touring with rocker Ted Nugent. Schuette's employment application, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, says he worked in general labor at Nugent's home and business in the summer of 1995.

Even if he did have a preexisting injury, he had to meet the hearing qualification to become part of the police force, meaning his hearing was fine when he became a sheriff's deputy, Fett said and noted the medical document that ties the loss to Schuette's employment. "They have no evidence contrary to that."

In addition to the hearing loss, Schuette was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and qualifies for protection under state and federal disability statutes, the lieutenant's lawsuit states. Schuette has said he has ringing in his ears that does not stop, and the sheriff's bullying, constant cruel jokes, triggered the post-traumatic stress disorder after years of fatal vehicle accidents and gruesome homicides.

As to the most damning allegations - that Rand called Jackson County Circuit Judge Susan Jordan a "scatter-brained c---," called a former black deputy a "dumb n-----," and discussed the creation of a murderous pornographic film with a female court employee - Rand neither admits nor denies them. He is again "without sufficient information upon which to form a belief."

Some of the contentions were recorded and released in February by Schuette's lawyer. Rand has confirmed his voice is on the tapes and apologized for his statements. He is not recorded, however, making all of the remarks listed in the lawsuit. There is no audio, for example, of the sheriff using the racial epithet.

He also is not recorded saying: "We should step on their necks like we used to" during a meeting about a black deputy, then under internal investigation, another allegation he neither admits or denies, a phrase repeated 43 times in the answer.

The answer filed by for the county provides more details.

Schuette argues the county's workers' compensation insurer denied him benefits in November. The county says a "notice of dispute was filed" pending further investigation, and Schuette was approved for short-term disability benefits in December.

The county denies as untrue that it is working to saddle the long-term disability carrier for Schuette's workers' compensation injuries, which costs the county, and refusing to address Rand's conduct to avoid accommodating Schuette, returning him to work and "doing the right thing with respect to Rand."

Rand cannot be terminated; only a successful recall election or an order from the governor can remove him from office if he does not resign.

In November 2016, the county's lawyer say authorities worked to accommodate Schuette when he reported his hearing difficulties by transferring him to an administrative role, where he worked from Feb. 24, 2017 to Oct. 19. Schuette and his lawyer have said the county stripped Schuette of his uniform, a move they consider punitive.

The county disagrees its actions constituted "actual or constructive termination."

It was Schuette who emailed Rand on Oct. 20 stating that his doctor recommended a leave while he sought treatment. Schuette contends the "relentless harassment" and "ergregious conduct" had taken its toll.

"I apologize for the inconvenience this might cause," he wrote, according to the county, and continued: "I have never utilized short-term disability, so I'm trying to figure out the new online procedure and notifying you is obviously one of those steps. This is a very personal matter for me. I will keep you posted."

He had "walked off the job" without notice on Oct. 19, the county's answer contends, and was granted both short- and long-term disability benefits.

He applied for and received time away from work through the Family Medical Leave Act.

Schuette has said, after his January complaint, he was told to surrender his identification and no longer had access to his email.

The county denies that officials failed then to contact him - Martonchik reportedly communicated by phone and mail while Overton vacationed - and contends it is untrue they did not take prompt and appropriate remedial action to end the harassment. They knew nothing of it until the January meeting, the answer says. It does not specify what, if any, action was taken. Schuette contended he should have been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.

"Would we take that seriously and investigate? Yes," Overton earlier told a reporter. When asked if the county did do so, he said: "I can't say anymore," because of a Michigan State Police investigation.

He declined to comment Tuesday because of the pending litigation and "active intestigation."

Though the county has different representation than Rand, it is responsible for covering the cost of his lawyer. Liability insurance, through the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, pays the cost beyond the first $100,000. It is the insurer who assigns lawyers, Overton said.JACKSON, MI - An inquiry into alleged misappropriation of funds at the Jackson County Sheriff's Office led Michigan State Police to open an extortion investigation, Detective 1st Lt. Tom DeClercq confirmed on Tuesday.

DeClercq, of the First District Special Investigation Section, declined to give further information or to identify the subject of the investigation, under review by the Attorney General's Office. A spokesperson on Tuesday did not return a message about the status of the case.

In answers to a lawsuit filed in February by Jackson County Sheriff's Lt Tommy Schuette, the county and Sheriff Steven Rand accuse Schuette of attempted extortion, defined by Michigan law as a malicious threat to injure or to accuse another of any crime or offense to obtain money or monetary advantage.

"(Schuette) has unclean hands, based on both his participation in the allegedly improper and inappropriate conversations he secretly recorded, as well as his attempted extortion of (Jackson County) at the meeting in January 2018," states the answer filed by Lansing-based attorney Andrew Brege on behalf of Rand.

The county's answer, signed by lawyer Bonnie Toskey, also in Lansing, alleges Schuette offered to forebear public release of audio tapes of Rand at command staff meetings in exchange for an enhanced pension benefit.

County officials contend Schuette, in a January meeting with Human Resources Director Richard Martonchik and county Administrator Michael Overton, leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands behind his head. He then clearly recited three demands when asked what he intended to do with recordings of the sheriff making offensive comments, the answer states.

He wanted three years of salary as though he were in a deferred retirement option plan program, the county to fund three years of additional service for his pension and the county to terminate Rand, an elected official, the county alleges.

Schuette's lawyer, Jim Fett, called extortion a wild claim. "It doesn't have any legs. It is not going anywhere."

He said, if the extortion is in respect to Schuette, there would be no basis for criminal charges. "I've seen this many times over, where, instead of taking responsibility for their actions, the person, the aggrieved person is all of a sudden bad guy. It is just a way of shifting responsibility for what went on."

Fett said Schuette would have to be the "dumbest extorter of all time" because he did not use the tapes to get what he wanted. "Rather he released them so people would believe him, and people could verify the horrendous things that that sheriff said," Fett said.

In February, Fett gave to the Citizen Patriot/MLive.com hours of recordings collected at the sheriff's office. This was done shortly after news surfaced of the lawsuit, which alleges Rand created a hostile work environment, harassing Schuette for his hearing disability, and the county retaliated against him for reporting and opposing Rand's conduct.

Rand is heard calling Chief Circuit Judge Susan Jordan a "scatter-brained c---" and talking about the creation of a pornographic murder involving a court employee. The sheriff has confirmed his voice on the tapes and repeatedly apologized.

At the time of the release, Schuette was and remains on leave. He has not retired or collected retirement benefits. The county hired Schuette in September 1998 and he is eligible to retire after 25 years. He purchased three years of credited service in 2013, according to his personnel file, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

It is not surprising the sheriff made such a claim, Fett said. "Anything the sheriff does is not going to be surprising. But when you have the county, whose got someone who did the right thing, who continued to follow up... when he did everything right, we are going to accuse him of extortion. So, go figure."

Jackson County Administrator Michael Overton on Tuesday declined to comment because of the pending litigation and active investigation. He would not discuss whether the county brought any extortion allegations to the state police.

The state police previously have only said they were investigating an allegation of financial improprieties within the sheriff's office, an inquiry that from the beginning was said to be "not the same as the noncriminal allegations made in the federal lawsuit."

The attorney general's office also is considering the investigation into the sheriff, DeClercq said. He took the information to the office last month.

In its answer, the county "denies that (Schuette) made a complaint against Rand as stated."

It disputes that Schuette came to Martonchik and Overton and detailed his experience and struggles and the struggles of others affected by Rand's behavior, as Schuette's lawsuit states. Rather, Schuette gave them ultimatums, the county contends.BROOKLYN, MI - The August NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway will no longer be named after the state's tourism campaign.

Pure Michigan, a Travel Michigan campaign and arm of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, has paid to sponsor the MIS race since 2011. It cost $725,000 to sponsor the August 2017 Pure Michigan 400, MEDC Director of Public Relations Michelle Grinnell said.

Launched in 2006, Pure Michigan was still gaining brand recognition when the partnership with MIS began, said Dave Lorenz, vice president of Travel Michigan.

"We launched our sponsorship of the August race at a time when we were still primarily focused on growing awareness of the Pure Michigan brand," Lorenz said in an email. "Particularly among a demographic that was different from our broadcast advertising campaign audience of women age 25 to 54."

Seven years later, changes in the industry and a maturation of the brand require a new approach, Lorenz said.

"Today, opportunities to take a more targeted approach to marketing mean we can deliver interest-specific information to audiences that overlap with those attending the race at MIS through our digital campaign efforts," Lorenz said.

While it's no longer a race title sponsor, Lorenz said Pure Michigan will still promote events at the track - including racing and the Faster Horses Festival.

"Our relationship with this tremendous track has always been greater than that of a race sponsor," Lorenz said. "And there is no question we will continue to stay engaged with MIS moving forward."

MIS has not announced a replacement for the title sponsor of the Aug. 12 Cup Series race. FireKeepers Casino signed a multi-year deal in January to sponsor the June Cup Series race. LTi Printing and Corrigan Oil have signed on to sponsor the Xfinity and Truck Series races at MIS in 2018.

Track officials declined to speak on the status of finding a title sponsor to replace Pure Michigan.

MIS doesn't disclose sponsorship costs publicly, but the MEDC is subject to Freedom of Information Act requests since it's a public body. Here are the costs spent sponsoring the race since 2011.

2017: $725,000

2016: $700,000

2015: $675,000

2014: $675,000

2013: $625,000

2012: $575,000

2011: $335,000

Pure Michigan also paid for broadcast naming rights in 2011 and 2012, Grinnell said, which cost an additional $637,500 for the 2011 race.FRANKENMUTH TWP, MI -- Three people are in the hospital suffering from serious injuries and a road is shut down after a head-on crash in Frankenmuth Township.

Frankenmuth police and firefighters were dispatched about 5:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3 to Junction Road near Weiss Road where they encountered the three injured subjects, according to the Frankenmuth Police Department.

First aid was administered to the crash victims who all had serious injuries, according to police.

A 2013 GMC SUV driven by a 47-year-old Frankenmuth Township man was eastbound on Junction with his 10-year-old daughter in the vehicle when a 2002 Chevy Tahoe driven by a 40-year-old Saginaw man crossed the center line and stuck the GMC head-on, according to police.

The driver of the GMC was extracted from the vehicle.

All occupants were wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision.

The crash remains under investigation.SAGINAW, MI -- The Saginaw branch of the NAACP is demanding answers from the local school board as to why they fired the district's superintendent last month.

During a press conference on Wednesday, April 4, Terry Pruitt, of the NAACP, read a statement to the media and members of the public asking the Saginaw school board to "provide precise clarity as to the reasons for not renewing the contract of (Superintendent Nathaniel) McClain."

Pruitt also asked for the board to put forth a plan to the community as to how they plan to hire an effective, experienced and qualified leader for the district by the end of this school year.

Pruitt said he wants those answers within 30 days. Saginaw School Board President Rudy Patterson was unable to be reached for comment.

Nathaniel McClain will not return to the district next school year after the school board voted 4-2 on March 21 to rescind a previous extension that would have kept him at work through June 2019.

He became the superintendent in August 2015 with an initial contract through 2018.

McClain was granted a one-year extension in 2016 that pushed his employment contract through June of 2019.

Board members then voted 4-2 to not offer McClain an extension and give him written notice that they were ending his contract on June 30.

Both actions came after weeks of public outcry to keep McClain in the district.

Board President Patterson, Vice President Jason Thompson, Treasurer Mattie Thompson and Secretary Kim "Tody" Hamilton voted to rescind and end McClain's contract.

Hamilton and Mattie Thompson were the only two in opposition of McClain to respond to MLive requests for statements on his firing.

While Mattie Thompson cited several concerns she had with McClain, which included long-term substitute teachers and crowded classrooms, Hamilton only said he will issue an official statement when the process is over.

Patterson and Jason Thompson have not responded.

Trustees Ruth Ann Knapp and Tamara McRae attended the NAACP press conference. Both, along with Trustee Joyce Seals, supports McClain.

The Rev. Arthur Williams of Greater Williams Temple Church, 608 E. Remington, said he believes the NAACP has legitimate concerns.

"I thought that the questions being asked were relevant," Aikin said.

Carl Williams, of the NAACP, said the community has the right to know.

"We just want answers," Williams said.

Members of the NAACP will hand-deliver the letter to the school board at their action meeting taking place at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18, at the Administration Building, 550 Millard.WASHINGTON -- Alex van der Zwaan will serve 30 days in prison and pay a fine of $20,000 as part of his sentence after he admitted to lying to federal agents who are investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Van der Zwaan is the first person to receive punishment in relation to the probe into alleged dealings between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

However, van der Zwaan's sentence is not connected to the Russian interference, it's only related to him lying about a relationship with Manafort It is not believed that van der Zwaan had any connection to Russia.

According to the Associated Press, van der Zwaan's attorneys sought for him to pay a fine and leave the country as a sentence. However, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson believed incarceration was necessary in order to deter others from possibly lying to investigators in the future.

Van der Zwaan is hoping to return to London as soon as possible following his incarceration according to his lawyers as van der Zwaan's wife is pregnant with their first child.NASA has awarded Lockheed Martin a $247.5 million contract to build its Supersonic X-Plane with the goal to enable supersonic passenger travel over land.

The U.S. space agency has said that if it can reduce sonic booms from supersonic flights, that passenger jets could fly from New York to Los Angeles in two hours. NASA expects Lockheed Martin to deliver the X-plane to its Armstrong Flight Research Center by the end of 2021.

NASA says the main factor in making supersonic passenger flight a reality is reducing sonic booms to a level that people on the ground "will hardly notice them, if they hear them at all."

"It is super exciting to be back designing and flying X-planes at this scale," Jaiwon Shin, NASA's associate administrator for aeronautics, said in a news release. "Our long tradition of solving the technical barriers of supersonic flight to benefit everyone continues."

The mission has been dubbed as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator and aims to gather data on how effective its supersonic technology is in terms of public acceptance. As it stands, current regulations based on aircraft speeds ban supersonic flights over land.

NASA touts it has been working on this mission, in a way, since it broke the sound barrier with the X-1 back in 1947 when it was known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works' X-plane design will cruise at 55,000 feet, Mach 1.4, and will generate a gentle, supersonic heartbeat instead of a sonic boom. (PRNewsfoto/Lockheed Martin Aeronautics...)

"The answer to how the X-plane's design makes a quiet sonic boom is in the way its uniquely-shaped hull generates supersonic shockwaves," NASA reports in the release. "Shockwaves from a conventional aircraft design coalesce as they expand away from the airplane's nose and tail, resulting in two distinct and thunderous sonic booms.

"But the design's shape sends those shockwaves away from the aircraft in a way that prevents them from coming together in two loud booms."

The U.S. space agency reports that the weaker shockwaves will hit the ground while still separated, which it says will be heard as some repetitive soft thumps " -- again, if anyone standing outside notices them at all."

In this schlieren image, shockwaves are seen starting to form around this T-38. They propagate away from the aircraft and are heard on the ground as a sonic boom. NASA uses this imagery to study shockwaves and learn how to make sonic booms quieter.

--

NASA says the X-plane's design is based on a Lockheed Martin preliminary design, which will make an aircraft 94 feet long with a wingspan of 29.5 feet and weigh in at 32,300 pounds with a full tank of fuel. Once complete and ready for flight in 2021, the space agency says the plane will cruise at an altitude of 55,000 feet at 940 mph, and that its top speed will be a projected 990 mph with one pilot in the cockpit.

On the inside, the X-plane will have a single General Electric F414 engine, which is "the powerplant used by F/A-18E/F fighter jets.

NASA has broken the mission down into multiple phases with a design review of the low-boom X-plane set for 2019 before final construction, construction to be completed in 2021 and NASA to test the X-plane in 2022. From 2022 to 2025, NASA says it hopes to launch the first community response test flights to see how the public responds.

"We're honored to continue our partnership with NASA to enable a new generation of supersonic travel," Peter Iosifidis, Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator program manager at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, said in the release.

"We look forward to applying the extensive work completed under QueSST to the design, build and flight test of the X-plane, providing NASA with a demonstrator to make supersonic commercial travel possible for passengers around the globe."In the past three weeks, police in Youngstown, Ohio have received more than a dozen reports of raccoons acting out of sorts in the daytime which has been described as "zombie-like."

The Associated Press reports, via WKBN-TV in northeast Ohio, that photographer Robert Coggeshall was playing with his dogs outside when a raccoon approached them, stood on its hind legs, show its teeth and then fell over backward.

A.P. reports the raccoon witness by Coggeshall and 14 others were euthanized. Police are asking anyone that witnesses a raccoon acting strange to contact the local authorities.

As was the case in Michigan last year, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reports the raccoons were likely suffering from distemper and not rabies. Distemper causes coughing, tremors, seizures and for raccoons to lose their usual fear of humans.

"I looked over there and got distracted because I saw a raccoon coming our way," Coggeshall told WKBN-TV.

"He would stand up on his hind legs, which I've never seen a raccoon do before, and he would show his teeth and then he would fall over backward and go into almost a comatose condition."

The TV station reports the Youngstown Police Department has received calls to 14 raccoon related incidents in the last three weeks. According to the reports, loud noises, motions and humans did not scare the raccoons away.

The virus affects an animal's respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems, and can be spread through the air or through shared food and water bowls, the American Veterinary Medical Association reports.SAN BRUNO, CA -- Police have identified the shooter who stormed the headquarters of YouTube Tuesday as 39-yer-old Nasim Aghdam of San Diego. Aghdam injured three people in the shooting, two women who were listed in fair condition and a man who was in critical condition as of Wednesday morning.

The victims do not appear to have been targeted specifically by Aghdam, but the attack appears to be planned as Aghdam apparently told family members that she hated the company. She was also public about her dislike of the company and felt the social media platform held her back from getting more views on her page.

"Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!" one of the messages on the her website said, according to the Associated Press. "There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!"

The shooter attacked the victims in a public courtyard on the campus which did not require any sort of key to access it. Witnesses on scene said they saw Aghdam standing in the courtyard and yelling "come get me."

Her father, Ismail Aghdam, says he called police on Monday to report that his daughter was missing and warned that she might go to YouTube. However, police have not confirmed that they were warned about a potential attack.

Police in Mountain View, California found Aghdam sleeping in her car at 2 a.m. Tuesday, but let her go after she refused to answer any questions. A spokesperson for that department said Aghdam did not appear to be a threat to herself or others when officers spoke to her at that time.[April 04, 2018] Virgin Mobile Canada launches 'Pitch to Rich' contest, inspiring entrepreneurship and innovation in mobility Got a great mobile-related business idea? You could win a chance to sit down with Richard Branson to share it TORONTO, April 4, 2018 /CNW/ - Ever dreamed of bringing your brilliant business idea to a world-renowned entrepreneur? Virgin Mobile Canada today announced it's giving Canadians that chance with the first-ever Canadian edition of the global 'Pitch to Rich' contest, giving aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to win a meeting with Richard Branson and $10,000 toward their business idea. Starting today, Canadians can submit a short elevator pitch for their mobile-related business idea by visiting virginmobile.ca/pitch2rich. Finalists will be asked to submit a video via a private link about why they should win and why they would like to meet one of the world's most famous business magnates. Richard Branson will be part of the team who will review the submissions and hand-pick the grand prize winner. "Mobile technology is changing the way we look at the world and disrupting industries fast through innovation," said Virgin Group Founder, Richard Branso. "Some of the modern world's greatest ideas came from young entrepreneurs because they look at the world with fresh eyes and a lively determination. I'm excited to hear some brilliant ideas, and look forward to discussing one over a cup of tea." Richard Branson is no stranger to inspiring entrepreneurship and innovation in the mobile industry. 'Pitch to Rich' style events have previously taken place in the U.K., U.S. and most recently in Mexico, which focused on encouraging development of business ideas using mobile. "The 'Pitch to Rich' contest is our way of encouraging Canadian youth to dream big and share their ideas about all-new possibilities for mobile communications," said Jennifer Posnikoff, Virgin Mobile Canada's Director of Brand and Communications. "Consumers and businesses alike demand mobile innovation, and we can't wait to hear what Canada's next generation of entrepreneurs has in store for us." When evaluating submissions, Virgin Mobile Canada and Richard Branson will be asking: Is it an original mobile-related business idea that's easy to understand?

Is there a consumer need for the idea?

Is it a viable idea that can easily be brought to market?

Does it make people's lives better? The 'Pitch to Rich' contest closes on April 24 with the grand prize victor to be chosen on May 1. Complete contest rules are available at virginmobile.ca/pitch2rich. About Virgin Mobile Canada At Virgin Mobile, you're not a customer, you're a Member and eligible "Members Get" exclusive deals from awesome brands, a shot at VIP access and one-of-a-kind experiences. That's on top of super-hot smartphones on a super-fast network with plans that have loads of extras built right in! And now eligible Members in Ontario and Quebec can say Hi to Home Internet with ultra-affordable pricing. Virgin Mobile Members and Canadians can do some good in their local communities by helping at-risk and homeless youth in Canada gain skills to get jobs through Virgin Mobile RE*Generation. Wanna hook up? There are loads of ways: head online or call 1-888-999-2321 to get in the know. Get personal with Virgin Mobile Canada on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. SOURCE Virgin Mobile Canada

[ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ]April 04, 2018

"It's The Cover-Up" - UK Foreign Office Deletes Tweet, Posts False Transcript, Issues New Lies

It's Not The Crime, It's The Cover-Up:

When a scandal breaks, the discovery of an attempt to cover up is often regarded as even more reprehensible than the original deeds.

The British government is trying to cover-up the lies it made with its false allegations against Russia. The cover-up necessitates new lies some of which we expose below.

Yesterday the head of the British chemical weapon laboratory in Porton Down stated that the laboratory can not establish that the poison used in the alleged 'Novichok' attack in Salisbury was produced by Russia. This was a severe blow to the British government allegations of Russian involvement in the poisoning of Sergej and Yulia Skripal.

Now the British government tries to hide that it said that the poison used in the Salisbury was 'produced in Russia' and that Porton down had proved that to be the case. The government aligned media are helping to stuff the government lies down the memory hole.

We all need to make sure that the new lies get exposed and that the attempts to change the record fail.

Yesterday the British Foreign Office deleted this from its Twitter account:

The March 22 tweet was part of a now interrupted thread which summarized a briefing on the UK government's response to the Salisbury incident given by the British Ambassador to Russia, Dr Laurie Bristow, to the international diplomatic community in Moscow.

After the silent scrubbing of the record was publicly questioned the Foreign Office admitted that it deleted the tweet:

After it emerged on Wednesday that the tweet had been deleted, the Foreign Office said the post was removed because it "did not accurately report" the words of Laurie Bristow, the UK's ambassador to Russia, which the tweet was supposed to be quoting.

Hmm - fool me once ...

All the tweets in the thread used quotation marks, but none was a literal reproduction of the ambassador's briefing. Only one of the tweets was deleted. A look at the transcript and video of the briefing shows that all the tweets, including the deleted one, "accurately reported" the speech. The cover-up of the false statement the ambassador made thus includes at least one new lie.

The original tweet said "Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia. .."

The transcript of the briefing in Moscow - "exactly as it was delivered" - is (still) available at the Foreign Office website.

The ambassador, reading from a prepared script, recapitulates the event and, according to the posted transcript, then says:

Four days later the analysts at Porton Down, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in the UK, established and made clear that this was a military-grade chemical weapon. One of the Novichok series; a nerve agent as I said produced in Russia . Porton Down is an Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons accredited and designated laboratory.

..

First, there is no doubt that the weapon used in the attack was the military-grade nerve agent from the Novichok series. This has been confirmed by specialists, our specialists. An Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mission is in the UK now to independently confirm this analysis. There is also no doubt that Novichok was produced in Russia by the Russian state.

The last line in the -"exactly as it was delivered" - transcript is false. Here is my transcription from a short Foreign Office video of the briefing (saved copy) which includes the uncut passage of the last two paragraphs quoted above:

... there is no doubt that the weapon used in the attack was the military-grade nerve agent from the Novichok series. This has been confirmed by specialists, our specialists. On Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mission is in the UK now to independently confirm this analysis. There is also no doubt that the Novichok was produced in Russia by the Russian state.

The written "exactly as it was delivered" transcript of the briefing says "... that Novichok was produced ...". At 0:20 in the video I clearly hear the ambassador saying "... that the Novichok was produced ...". A tiny but very important difference.

The person who put the official captions on the official Foreign Office video agrees with what I hear and transcribed.

The ambassador referred to "the Novichok", the Novichok he specifically mentioned earlier in the speech. The Novichok that he said had been detected by Porton Down. The transcript on the Foreign Office website leaves out the definite article "the". It makes it look as if the ambassador referred to some unspecified batch of the substance.

The deleted tweet was a faithful rendition of what the ambassador said, it "accurately reported" it. The transcript the Foreign office posted on its website is false. The ambassador clearly accused Russia of having produced the very batch that Porton Down analyzed.

Three days earlier Bristow's boss, Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, made the same false claim (vid at 5:32) in an interview with DW.

Porton Down has now said that it made no such claim. The ambassador's claim was false. The Foreign Office attempt to cover this up by deleting its tweet and by posting a not-so-exact transcript only amplifies the falsehood of the original claims.

The briefing continued to emphasize the "produced in Russia" meme. The phrase occurs four times.

...

Russias claims that Novichok could have been produced elsewhere have no credibility. We have no information to indicate that this agent could have been produced anywhere else except in Russia. So we have no doubt that the nerve agent was produced in Russia .

...

So the fact that the Novichok was produced in Russia , the fact that Russia has a history of state-sponsored assassinations, and the fact that Russia has responded with the usual playbook of disinformation and denial left us with no choice but to conclude that this amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom.

The Foreign Office may want to claim that all the above uses of "produced in Russia" were only references to decades old research and development in the Soviet Union, not to the "Skripal" case. The highlighted details shows that this is not the case. Any listener to the briefing surely got the impression that the UK ambassador was talking about the specific batch analysed by Porton Down.

It highlighted paragraph of Ambassador Bristow's briefing includes several other lies. 'Novichok' agents can and have been produced in other countries than Russia.

In 2016 five nerve agents of the 'Novichok' series were synthesized by Iranian scientists in cooperation with the OPCW. Details of their production process were published. In 1998 the US Armys Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center produced and catalogued 'Novichok' agents. It added the data for the substances to the National Institute of Standards and Technology Mass Spectral Library. The data was later removed and U.S. diplomats were ordered to suppress all international discussion about 'Novichok' agents.

The U.S. military chemical weapon laboratories work in close cooperation with Porton Down. Porton Down continues to receive tens of millions of U.S. military research money for its chemical weapon experiments including tests on animals. The UK government surely knew that 'Novichok' agents can and have been produced by other actors than Russia.

British and U.S. media aligned with the ongoing anti-Russia campaign now downplay the earlier claims of the British government.

BBC Radio 4 news at 6:31am today made this comical effort:

"... Russia requested the meeting to address the UK government's suggestion that it was behind the poisoning ..."

The British government did not make a mere "suggestion". Its ambassador and other officials stated outright that Russia was the culprit:

"... the fact that the Novichok was produced in Russia .. left us with no choice but to conclude... "

The New York Times today also uses the "suggestion" wording (one wonders who 'suggested' that):

The British authorities have blamed Russia for the March 4 poisoning, with Foreign Minister Boris Johnson suggesting it was overwhelmingly likely that President Vladimir V. Putin had ordered the attack.

On March 16, when the NYT first wrote about Johnson's claims against Russia, it surely did not convey that they were only 'suggestive':

Mr. Johnsons remarks were a significant escalation in the dispute between London and Moscow, directly linking the Russian leader to the poisoning of Sergei V. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in the English city of Salisbury.

The British Prime Minster herself went way further than just 'suggesting' that Russia was guilty:

[T]he Government have concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Based on that 'conclusion' the British government threw out 23 Russian diplomats from their embassy in London. There was nothing 'suggestive' with that.

Off-Guardian points out that another tactic to divert from the earlier false claims is to now declare Russia guilty of not cooperating with the investigation:

The UKs flagrant hysteria of the last weeks, the war cries and spittle-flecked abuse is all being airbrushed away and being replaced with the idea the UK simply requested Russian co-operation and Russia refused  preferring to make nasty insinuations instead.

To claim that Russia did not cooperate is another lie told to cover up for the now debunked ones. The Chemical Weapons Convention, which Britain and Russia have signed, dictates the procedures that must be taken when chemical weapon allegations are made. They foresee the involvement of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

It was the British government that rejected the involvement of the OPCW in the investigation. It only agreed to do so after Russia insisted on it:

[Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov] added that a case of alleged use of chemical weapons should be handled through the proper channel, being the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)  of which both Russia and Britain are members. As soon as the rumors came up that the poisoning of Skripal involved a Russia-produced agent, which almost the entire English leadership has been fanning up, we sent an official request for access to this compound so that our experts could test it in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention [CWC], Lavrov said. So far the request has been ignored by the British side, he added.

The request from the British government to the OPCW was sent on March 14, ten days after the incident happened, two days after the Prime Minister made her "highly likely" claims against Russia and one day after Lavrov publicly insisted on OPCW involvement.

It is obviously the British government which at first rejected OPCW involvement and not the Kremlin.

The OPCW is by statute a technical agency, not a court. It will release a technical assessment of the involved agent and not a judgment on responsibility or guilt.

The attempted cover-up by the Foreign Office of the lies the British government spread about the case has already failed. To play down the original strong claims against Russia as mere 'suggestions' is comical. Allegations that Russia was or is holding up a serious international investigation are also false. It was Britain which at first rejected the CWC and OPCW involvement.

The fact that the British government even makes these attempts must be seen as acknowledgement that it has no case and lied in it its official statements to the global public. It now covers its trail with more lies.

What else is the British government lying about?

---

Previous Moon of Alabama reports on the Skripal case:

Posted by b on April 4, 2018 at 20:18 UTC | Permalink

Comments

next page Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk!

You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details.It has been a rough year for David Hogg and his classmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Potential Aggies

TMZ has reported that New Mexico State University offered Hogg and several of his classmates who survived the tragic Feb. 14 massacre a new start. Dr. Miriam S. Chaiken, the dean of the William Conroy Honors College at New Mexico State University, has reached out to Hogg and invited him to the campus. Dr. Chaiken also extended the invitation to several of the school's influential leaders, including the outspoken Emma Gonzalez.

The media outlet stated that the kids' activism inspired Dr. Chaiken so much that she wanted them on campus. She also said that if they chose to go to the university, she would do everything in her power to help them attain scholarships.

Hogg vs. Ingraham

Dr. Chaiken's admission letter comes days after Hogg received multiple rejections from several top universities in California. While he shared his lament on social media, FOX News personality and host of The Ingraham Angle, Laura Ingraham, used her Twitter to torment the guns rights activist.

The Washington Post reported that Hogg used Twitter and reached out to his massive group of followers along with 12 phone numbers to The Ingraham Angle's biggest advertisers. Thanks to his followers' efforts, several of The Ingraham Angle's significant advertisers, including Johnson & Johnson, Hulu, and Ruby Tuesday cut ties with the cable news program. Despite Ingraham's apology, Hogg refused to accept it.

Polarizing Views On Parkland

Ingraham was not the only outspoken critic regarding the Parkland, Florida, shooting survivors. On March 30, controversial rocker and National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent stated that the students were "ignorant" and "soul-less." He also believed that the students were dangerously stupid and even took a jab at their teachers for imparting lies to them. Meanwhile, Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes issued an apology to the Parkland, Florida, survivors after he called them "vile" and said that they insulted the memory of those who were killed in that tragedy by protesting. He deleted the post after he faced a backlash.

Remembering The March

Hogg played an instrumental part in coordinating the March For Our Lives that took place in Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles, and other cities across the country. Former Disney Channel alums Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus not only reunited at the Washington DC march, but they also performed at the nation's capital. Another significant performer at the rally was Ariana Grande, who sang her song "Be Alright." Taylor Swift has also lent her support by donating money to the initiative and encouraged her fans to support the March for Our Lives campaign.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.In Focus with Allison Walker is a 30-minute public affairs program, featuring a roundtable of newsmakers representing a range of perspectives, including local officials and expert analysts as they tackle topical issues of importance to Floridians.

In Focus airs Sundays at 11:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., right after Political Connections.Disney recently filed permits for work near Disneys Hollywood Studios.

Disney files permits for work near Disney's Hollywood Studios

Project H may be for its new Star Wars hotel

The resort will connect to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

The permits, labeled Project H, show plans for a nearly 10-acre plot near the site of Star Wars: Galaxys Edge.

One of the Project H permits calls for wetland borings while the other is for work described as clearing and temporary fill stockpiling.

No details were provided as to what Disney plans to build at the site. However, given the proximity of the area to the upcoming Star War-themed land, its a potential location for the new Star Wars hotel.



The luxury resort was announced at the D23 Expo last summer. And in February, Disney revealed that the hotel will seamlessly connect to Star Wars: Galaxys Edge, creating a fully immersive experience.

Heres what we know about the luxury resort:

Upon arrival, guests will board a starship with characters and stories. Once at the resort, guests will become active citizens of the galaxy and dress in themed attire.

Every window at the resort will have a view into space.

Star Wars: Galaxys Edge is slated to open in 2019 at Disneys Hollywood Studios.

An opening date for the new resort has not been announced.WALLINGFORD  The police department may expand its force for the first time in over a decade after Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. approved money for two new positions in his 2018-19 budget proposal, released earlier this week.

Dickinson approved Police Chief William Wrights request to add two patrol officers, which would have combined salaries of $125,508 plus benefits.

Generally, these positions will be used to bolster our most important function, which is patrol, Wright said Tuesday. I need to add staffing to the everyday tasks that were depended on to perform, and this will obviously help me with getting that started.

Dickinson said the positions will help address town-wide public safety needs in a letter overviewing his budget proposal.

The number of funded positions in the department has remained flat at 71 sworn officers, including administrative positions, for over a decade, Wright said.

If the Town Council ultimately approves funding the two positions, the department would have 73 officers, which still falls below the state average for officers per capita based on the town's population of about 45,000.

If money werent an issue, Wright told the Town Council last year that he would like to have around 80 officers, but added that the department is OK with its current staffing of 71 officers.

We could use more, but we're OK, Wright said in an interview last year.

The department received funding for 75 officers from the mid-90s until 2007, when the town cut funding for four positions that were vacant due to start of the economic recession, according to Wright. From 2008 to 2017, the number of physical arrests made by police rose about 20 percent, from 1,684 arrests in 2008 to 2,010 in 2017, according to information included in a town financial audit.

Town officials have debated whether to add police staffing over the years, including during last years budget process, when the Town Council discussed and ultimately rejected a motion to add money for two officers.

Wright did not formally request any new positions in his budget request to the mayor last year, however, Republican Town Councilors Chris Shortell and Tom Laffin made a motion to raise the mill rate by .05 in order to fund the two positions. The average homeowner would have paid an additional $8 as a result of the increase.

Wright told the council last year that he originally planned to request two new positions in his budget request to the mayor, but was dissuaded after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released his biennial budget proposal in February 2017, which included a significant proposed cut to Wallingfords state aid.

Laffin and Shortell said they didnt want the states financial condition to influence the towns deicisions.

"We can't allow the fiscal failures and irresponsibilities of Hartford to dictate something as quintessential as safety for our town," Laffin said about adding two officers last year.

Shortell and Laffins motion was ultimately rejected 6-3, with some councilors stating they would have supported the motion had Wright formally requested the money.

On Tuesday, Shortell said hes glad to see the two positions added in the mayors budget.

I think weve been understaffed, and this begins to correct that, Shortell said.

Chief Wright has been doing amazing work, and he had indicated (last year) that hed like more officers, so Im glad they revisited that, Laffin said Tuesday.

When asked if anything has changed between last year, when Wright did not request new officers, and this year, Wright said, I dont know if there has been any change, but at the same time, were asking for the help that we need to deliver the services that, 1. We want to; 2. That the community demands from us.

While the department has funding for 71 positions, Wright noted the department is rarely fully staffed. Wright said he currently has five vacancies, including one officer who is deployed overseas, two officers who are on long-term injury leave and two other openings the department has been working to fill.

mzabierek@record-journal.com

203-317-2279

Twitter: @MatthewZabierekJeremy Wade searches for answers in the most remarkable rivers, lakes and seas on the planet to reveal the secrets of these extraordinary places.

Tuesdays from 9pm AEST.Conrad Black: Another Liberal win a depressing election result

This was the most depressingly predictable and redundant federal election within the memory of any living (or dead) Canadian. It was supposed to capitalize upon the governments professedly brilliant COVID record and enable it to restore its parliamentary majority and then take the country on a further lurch to the left. All indications were that this would consist of further collective self abasement and auto-condemnation over Canadas history on native issues, of more exaggerated posturing about climate change and self-important fictions over how much Canada, with its minuscule carbon footprint and generally high ecological standards, can affect the worlds climate. To this end the Trudeau government has unmercifully persecuted Canadas greatest industry (oil and gas) and has made outright separation attractive to a great many Western Canadians. The Trudeau government has been a faddish and superficial regime, unleavened by the slightest spark of vision of what Canada could be or of originality in any public policy field.Sumi Sukanya dutta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Six days after declaring a retest for Class X Mathematics along with Class XII Economics paper, the government on Tuesday took a complete U-turn while announcing that no retest will be conducted for Class X anywhere the country.

The CBSE on Tuesday said the internal inquiries and analysis based on available material and inputs from the ongoing police investigations are indicating that the alleged leak may be confined to a few alleged beneficiaries.

Similarly, the trend of random evaluation done so far for Class X Mathematics paper is not indicating sudden spikes or unusual patterns, giving any impression of passing on widespread benefits of alleged leaks to students, it also said.

Meanwhile, board is constantly receiving representation from stakeholders indicating anxiety amongst of Class X due to the uncertainty surrounding the Maths examination, a statement read. Also, it has received over 1,000 calls on our Counselling Helpline Desk enquiring about whether the re-examination will be held, requesting for announcing the dates for the reconduct of Maths Class X examination.

WATCH VIDEO:

Keeping in mind the paramount interest of students, the Board has taken the decision to not hold the re-examination of Class X Maths paper even in Delhi NCR and Haryana, the board clarified.

And wherever it is conclusively established, after due enquiry in specific cases, that undue advantage of the alleged leakage has been taken by beneficiaries, action shall be taken as per the provisions of CBSE Examination bye-laws, it said.

The government has also constituted a committee, comprising experts, under the chairmanship of V S Oberoi, an ex-HRD secretary to examine the process of conduct of CBSE exams and suggest measures to make it secure and foolproof through the use of technology. It has been asked to submit its report by May 31.

On March 28, without explicitly admitting that there had been paper leaks, the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) under the Union Human Resources Development Ministry had said that examinations for these two papers will be re-conducted. In a press conference last Friday, HRD Ministry secretary Anup Swarup had announced that while class XII Economics paper will be reconducted for all students given the impact it has on future admissions and careers, Class X paper will be reconducted only in Delhi and Haryana, if required.

Centres flip-flop

March 28: Examination for Class X maths paper, along with Class XII economics paper will be re-conducted

March 30: Examination for Class X maths paper to be held only in Delhi, Haryana

April 3: No re-examination of Class X maths paper anywhere in the countryPrime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Photo: VNA)



The event, themed Joint Efforts and Partnership towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong, will create an opportunity for countries to review the operation of the MRC over the past four years and work to realise sustainable development goals.

The 4,800 km-long Mekong River flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Its basin spreads over 795,000 square kilometres in the four countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

In 1956, the Mekong Committee was established under the auspices of the United Nations to coordinate aid and manage resources in the river basin. In 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam signed an Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River and set up the MRC, replacing the Mekong Committee.

The MRC holds its summit every four years, starting from 2010. The first MRC summit was held in Hua Hin, Thailand in 2010 and the second one took place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2014./.By Associated Press

SAN BRUNO, CALIFORNIA: A woman opened fire with a handgun Tuesday in a courtyard at YouTube headquarters, wounding three people before fatally shooting herself in what is being investigated as a domestic dispute, authorities said.

Two law enforcement officials identified the suspect later Tuesday as Nasim Aghdam of Southern California and said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

VIEW GALLERY: YouTube HQ shooting: Female shooter wounds three at California headquarters then kills herself

According to the latest update, Nasim's father Ismail told the Bay Area News Group that he had warned police his daughter, Nasim Aghdam, might be going to YouTube because she "hated" the company.

Terrified employees huddled inside, calling 911, as officers and federal agents swarmed the company's suburban campus sandwiched between two interstate freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.

READ | "Unimaginable tragedy", writes Google CEO Sundar Pichai in letter to employees

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the building's second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a "big huge pistol."

"It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, 'Shooter,' and everybody started running," Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.

"It was terrifying," she said.

Police gave little information about the victims.

GALLERY | YouTube HQ shooting: Female shooter wounds three

at California headquarters then kills herself

A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said.

Witnesses described terror before officers arrived and discovered a victim near a front door and then found the shooter several minutes later with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said.

He said two additional gunshot victims were found at an adjacent business minutes later. Barberini initially said there were four people who had been shot but later clarified that a fourth person had suffered an ankle injury.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings when the fire alarm went off. He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, "'Come at me, or come get me.'"

He saw somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound. Vorhies said he realized there was an active shooter when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door.

He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw the shooter during work hours.

Michael Finney, a 21-year-old supervisor at Carl's Jr. across from the campus, said he came out of the bathroom to see a woman in a booth bleeding from the calf. Two friends were trying to stop the bleeding, using the victim's sweatshirt as a tourniquet, but it wasn't helping, he told the San Jose Mercury News.

"Everyone was figuring out what to do," Finney said. "I was trying to stay calm and see what I could do. Everybody is shocked."

Google, which owns the world's biggest online video website, said the company's security team worked with authorities to evacuate buildings and was doing whatever it could support the victims and their families.

YouTube's headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.

Inside, Google famously outfitted the office several years ago with a three-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.

"Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime," said Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman. "Our hearts go out to all those who suffered."

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and that officials were monitoring developments.

Timeline:

10:20 p.m: The father of a woman suspected of shooting three people at YouTube's headquarters says she was angry at the company because it stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform.

Ismail Aghdam told the Bay Area News Group that he warned police his daughter, Nasim Aghdam, might be going to YouTube because she "hated" the company.

Ismail Aghdam said he reported his daughter missing on Monday after she did not answer her phone for two days.

He said the family received a call from Mountain View police around 2 a.m. Tuesday telling they found Nasim sleeping in a car and he warned them she might go to YouTube.

Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson confirmed officers located a woman by the same name asleep in a vehicle asleep in a Mountain View parking lot Tuesday morning.

She says the woman declined to answer further questions. Nelson did not respond to a question about whether police were warned Aghdam might go to YouTube.

04:08pm: Law enforcement official identifies suspect in shooting at YouTube headquarters as Nasim Aghdam of Southern California. (AP)

3:30 pm: Amid conflicting reports on casualties, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said the injured "have been transported and are being treated for injuries that are treatable."

He said police had sealed off the building as they pursued the investigation and searched for any additional possible victims.



3:15 pm: Google communications tweeted: "Re: YouTube situation, we are coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available."

Re: YouTube situation, we are coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available.  Google Communications (@Google_Comms) April 3, 2018

3:15 pm: "We were sitting in a meeting and then we heard people running because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake," employee Todd Sherman tweeted.

I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

3:15 pm: Police believe YouTube shooter died of self-inflicted gunshot. Female suspect dead after YouTube shooting: US media

2:25 pm: The White House says President Donald Trump has been briefed on a shooting at YouTube headquarters in Northern California and that officials are monitoring it.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

2:25 pm: Coroner's spokesman Thomas McGovern says investigators were called to the scene Tuesday afternoon. He wouldn't say if anyone was dead.

2:20 pm: One hospital in Northern California says it has received four to five patients from the shooting. Police in the city of San Bruno have confirmed an active shooter.

This image taken from video from KGO-TV shows a person is searched as police respond to reports of a shooting at YouTube headquarters in California's San Bruno (AP)

2:10 pm: Northern California's Stanford Hospital says it has received four to five patients from a shooting at YouTube headquarters. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Kim did not have information on their conditions or their wounds.

1:50 pm: On Tuesday afternoon (local time in California), San Bruno area Police confirmed on Twitter: "We are responding to an active shooter. Please stay away from Cherry Ave & Bay Hill Drive." Online images showed armed officers descending on the campus near San Francisco.

Police activity at 901 Cherry Ave, please stay out of the area. pic.twitter.com/H6iAj0g7ra  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 3, 2018

1: 45 pm: A YouTube employee, Vadim Lavrusik, tweeted: "Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers." Later, Lavrusik said he had escaped to safety.

Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers.  Vadim Lavrusik (@Lavrusik) April 3, 2018

YouTube headquarters is located some 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the main Google campus in Mountain View.

The shooting, which follows a series of deadly gun incidents at schools and elsewhere, comes amid heated debate on gun control measures in the United States.

An estimated 1.5 million people participated in demonstrations March 24 calling for stricter firearms measures following a deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Organizers of the March for Our Lives sent a message of solidarity to the employees hit by Tuesday's shooting, tweeting "Our hearts are with you, @YouTube."



(With inputs from agencies)By Associated Press

SAN BRUNO: A woman who believed she was being suppressed by YouTube and told her family members she "hated" the company opened fire at YouTube's headquarters in California, wounding three people before taking her own life, police said.

Investigators do not believe Nasim Aghdam specifically targeted the three victims when she pulled out a handgun and fired off several rounds in a courtyard at the company's headquarters south of San Francisco on Tuesday, police said.

VIEW GALLERY: YouTube HQ shooting: Female shooter wounds three at California headquarters then kills herself

But a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that Aghdam had a longstanding dispute with the company. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, said Aghdam used the name "Nasime Sabz" online.

A website in that name decried YouTube's policies and said the company was trying to "suppress" content creators.

"Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!" one of the messages on the site said. "There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!"

Aghdam "hated" YouTube and was angry that the company stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform, her father, Ismail Aghdam, told the Bay Area News Group.

On Monday, he called police to report his daughter missing after she didn't answer the phone for two days and warned officers that she might go to YouTube, he said.

Officers in Mountain View  about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from YouTube's headquarters  found her sleeping in her car in a parking lot around 2 a.m. Tuesday but let her go after she refused to answer their questions. Aghdam didn't appear to be a threat to herself or others, police spokeswoman Katie Nelson said.

Nelson would not say whether officers had been warned that Aghdam might have been headed to YouTube headquarters.

Earlier Tuesday, law enforcement said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute but did not elaborate. It was not immediately clear why police later said the people shot were not specifically targeted.

One of the victims  a 36-year-old man  was in critical condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said. A 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition, the spokesman said.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the building's second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

"It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, 'Shooter,' and everybody started running," Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.

The world's biggest online video website is owned by Silicon Valley giant Google, but company officials said it's a tight-knit community. The headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.

Inside, Google several years ago famously outfitted the office with a 3-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.

"Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime," said Chris Dale, a spokesman for YouTube.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said in a tweet the company would "come together to heal as a family."

Officers and federal agents responding to multiple 911 calls swarmed the company's campus sandwiched between two interstates in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings on the campus when the fire alarm went off.

He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, "Come get me." He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw the shooter without any security check during working hours.

There was somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound.

He said he realized it was an active shooter incident when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door. He jumped on his skateboard and took off.

Officers discovered one victim with a gunshot wound when they arrived and then found the shooter with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound several minutes later, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said. He said two additional gunshot victims were later located at an adjacent business.For Subscribers Six takeaways from Newport County football teams in Week 3

Here are the takeaways after the local teams went 1-3 on Friday night.Running from 2018 to 2020 with a total finance of GBP500,000, it is delivered through the British Councils Culture and Development initiative.

The project will engage with the music and film heritage of Vietnam, with particular focus on aspects that are under threat, disappearing, or under-represented.

Photo: British Council Vietnam

A more dynamic understanding and enjoyment, as well as use of, heritage assets in everyday life in the communities and in artistic, curatorial, and educational practices will be promoted.

Besides, the project will engage with a wide range of partners, including cultural heritage agencies, institutions of the central and local government, arts and cultural organizations, and the private sector, focusing on research, documentation, conservation, training and capacity building (including oral teaching techniques), experimentation and innovation, advocacy and education (including policy and community dialogues), and the re-imagination and revitalization of cultural heritage assets in contemporary practices.

The launching event featuring two performances that capture a remarkable essence of the music heritage of Vietnam took place on April 1st at Hanoi Opera House, No. 1 Trang Tien street, while the same section is scheduled to happen at Soul Academy, No.214 Pasteur, district 3, Ho Chi Minh city at 18h30 - 21h00 on April 6th./.Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Reporter

Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey).Columnist

Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was welcomed at Siem Reap International Airport. (Source: VNA)



The PM was welcomed at the airport by Cambodian Ambassador to Vietnam Prak Nguon Hong, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh, Vietnamese Consul General in Battambang Nguyen Xuan Thuy and officials of the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia and the Vietnamese Consulate General in Battambang, among others.

He is scheduled to meet with Lao Prime Minister Thonglun Sisoulith and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen the same day.

The leader will attend the opening session of the summit and meet with overseas Vietnamese people in Cambodia to extend his greetings on the occasion of the traditional New Year of the Khmer people on April 5th.

The MRC Summit, themed Joint Efforts and Partnership towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong, will create an opportunity for countries to review the operation of the MRC over the past four years and work to realise sustainable development goals.

The 4,800 km-long Mekong River flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Its basin spreads over 795,000 square kilometres in the four countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

In 1956, the Mekong Committee was established under the auspices of the United Nations to coordinate aid and manage resources in the river basin. In 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam signed an Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River and set up the MRC, replacing the Mekong Committee.

The MRC holds its summit every four years, starting from 2010. The first MRC summit was held in Hua Hin, Thailand in 2010 and the second one took place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2014./.One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021A herd of milu deer wait to be set free in the wetland around Poyang Lake in east China's Jiangxi Province, April 3, 2018. China Tuesday released 47 rare milu deer into the wild in the wetland around Poyang Lake to improve biodiversity and protect the ecosystem of the country's largest freshwater lake. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)

NANCHANG, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China Tuesday released 47 rare milu deer into the wild in the wetland around Poyang Lake to improve biodiversity and protect the ecosystem of the country's largest freshwater lake.

This was the first release of milu deer into the wild in region in east China's Jiangxi Province where the species disappeared around 1,000 years ago.

Milu deer are a flagship species of the wetland ecosystem and releasing them into the wild will help improve biodiversity and protect wetland environment, said Zhang Xiwu, deputy head of China Wildlife Conservation Association.

The released deer weigh up to 200 kg and range from newborns to 10-year-olds.

Each has ID microchips implanted and some have GPS collars to allow researchers to trace their migratory routes and habits.

"We can offer timely help in case they have difficulty adapting to the environment," said Bai Jiade, director of Beijing Milu Ecological Research Center.

The center placed 10 milu deer in the Poyang Lake National Wetland Park in 2013 to conduct a five-year adaptability test to see if the deer could live and reproduce there.

"Their numbers increased to 21 and this showed that the wetland was a suitable environment for the survival and reproduction of the species and has met the conditions for the release into the wild," said Bai.

More milu deer will be released into the wild in the region each year for the next five to 10 years to help establish a wild self-sustaining population, said Yang Qibo, head of the Poyang County Wildlife Protection Station.

Milu, also known as Pere David's deer, is a species endemic to China, but overhunting and habitat loss led to its near extinction in the early 20th century.

The species, still under A-level state protection in China, was named after Armand David, a French missionary and naturalist who first recorded the existence of the deer in China in 1865.

In 1986, the British government gifted 39 milu deer to Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve in east China's Jiangsu Province, starting the revival of the population in its homeland.

Milu was first mentioned in Chinese books more than 2,000 years ago. The wetland deer species bears the odd nickname of "sibuxiang," or "like none of the four" for its unique features -- a horse's face, a donkey's tail, cow-like hooves and a stag's antlers.

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Swiss Federal Councillor and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis hold the first round of foreign ministerial strategic talks between the two countries in Beijing, capital of China, April 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China and Switzerland vowed on Tuesday to further their innovative strategic partnership.

The pledge was made between Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Swiss Federal Councillor and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis when they held the two countries' first round of foreign ministerial strategic talks.

In 2016, China and Switzerland established an innovative strategic partnership, the first of its kind between China and a foreign country.

China is willing to boost its innovation cooperation with Switzerland in the new era to fulfill the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, Wang said.

Earlier in the day, Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, also met with Cassis, calling for more progress in the two countries' innovative strategic partnership.

Cassis said his country will push forward bilateral cooperation in various fields.

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]KATHMANDU, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Xia Boyu, a double amputee climber from China, has arrived in Nepal to make another attempt to climb Mt. Qomolangma this spring.

Along with the 69-year-old Xia, other six Chinese climbers will also climb the world's tallest mountain, according to Imagine Trek and Expedition Private Limited, a Nepali company which is organizing expedition of the Chinese team.

This is the fifth attempt from Xia to climb the Mt. Qomolangma after losing two legs due to severe frostbite during his first attempt in 1975. He was the member of the Chinese national mountaineering team that tried to scale the mountain that year but had to return empty handed due to bad weather after reaching close to summit.

He has already made other three attempts to climb the mountain since 2014. His last attempt had resulted in failure in 2016 due to bad weather after reaching about 100 meters below the summit.

Online version of local Himalayan Times daily reported quoting Xia that he was determined to conquer the Mt. Qomolangma this time to end the over 40-year long battle with the world's tallest mountain.

Xia could get another opportunity to realize his dream of conquering the mountain after Nepal's Supreme Court on March 7 stayed the Nepali government's decision to prohibit double amputees, persons without arms and legs and blind persons from attempting to climbing mountains in Nepal.

Dinesh Bhattarai, director general of Nepal's Department of Tourism told Xinhua on Tuesday that they permitted Xia to climb the Mt Qomolangma last week in line with the Supreme Court decision.

After getting permit from the department on March 29, a seven-member team of Chinese climbers arrived Nepal on April 2, according to Imagine Trek and Expedition.

"They will start expedition from April 5," Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, managing director of the company told Xinhua.

Sherpa who is himself one of the team members in this expedition said that seven Chinese, one Belgian, one Canadian and 14 Nepali Nepali climbers will be attempting to summit the Mt. Qomolangma.

"We hope to reach the summit by the second week of May provided weather condition remains favourable," said Sherpa.

[ Editor: Xueying ]A POLICE officer accused of conniving with accomplices to rob the late founder of His Presence Ministries International Apostle Charles Chiriseris corpse of $200 following an accident that claimed his life, has approached the High Court challenging his bosses decision to conduct an internal disciplinary hearing.



Tawanda Mawere (32) and his accomplices searched and stole $200 which was in the pocket of the Apostle Chiriseri.



Apostle Chiriseri died at the 388KM peg along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway September in 2016 when his vehicle hit a donkey.





Mawere yesterday filed an urgent chamber application at the Bulawayo High Court citing Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and one Superintendent Ngirazi in his capacity as the trial officer, as respondents.





He wants to block his bosses from conducting a disciplinary hearing pending the determination of a court application for review under HCR397/17 in which he is seeking an order directing Comm-Gen Matanga to permanently stay the unlawful disciplinary hearing.





Mawere wants an order interdicting his bosses from going ahead with the hearing after he was charged under Police Act for misconduct (discrediting the police service).





Mawere, it had been alleged, connived with another cop Mkhokheli Mpofu (30) who has since died

and Mthandazo Rick Dube (34) from the Bulawayo Fire Brigade to steal the late Apostle Chiriseris money.





Mawere and Dube were, however, found not guilty of theft and acquitted by Bulawayo magistrate Ms Sithembiso Ncube last year in September.

In papers before the court, Mawere argued that there was no basis upon which he should be brought before a disciplinary hearing after having been cleared by the court.





I was acquitted and therefore expected that this clears me of all allegations of theft in line with provisions of the law. However, the first respondent (Comm-Gen Matanga) erroneously pushed that I be charged again on the same allegations in terms of the Police Act, he said.





Mawere argued that the disciplinary court could not make a criminal finding since the criminal court had already acquitted him.





The respondents are clearly attempting to try me for theft unlawfully under the cover of the Police Act. I have a right not to be tried two times on the same facts, especially after having been acquitted, he said.





Mawere said his bosses decision to try him was a violation of his constitutional right.

He also wants an order interdicting the respondents from conducting the hearing in Harare.

I have a clear right and am entitled to administrative action that is procedurally and substantively fair and just. More so a right to a fair hearing as encapsulated in section 69 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, said Mawere.





The late Apostle Chiriseri was travelling to Bulawayo with his wife Pastor Pertunia Chiriseri who suffered serious injuries and was admitted in hospital for about a month. Mthandazo was said to have retrieved the deceaseds body from the wreckage and searched it.





He then allegedly took $505,95 from the wallet and recorded it in the Famona Fire Brigade log book and Mawere and Mpofu appended their signatures in the presence of Mount Olives International church Pastor Gordon Dube who was one of the first people to arrive at the scene. When Pastor Dube left the accident scene, the trio allegedly connived to steal $200 from the money they had recovered.





The theft was discovered when a relative to the late apostle, Bishop Colin Nyathi of Harvest House International Ministries, communicated with Pastor Dube who revealed to him the amount of money that was found in Apostle Chiriseris pocket.





When Pastor Dube inquired from Pastor Nyathi whether he had collected Apostle Chiriseris property, he told him that he was only handed $305,95 as the recovered property.

Pastor Dube then confronted Mawere and Mpofu about the missing $200 and they both denied having misappropriated the funds.





The money and the fire fighters log book were not recovered. Investigations led to the accused persons arrest.





Mpofu died in March last year after he was hit by a motorist who failed to stop at a roadblock near the Apostle Chiriseris accident scene.Opinion was starkly divided yesterday over President Emmerson Mnangagwas jet-setting, which has made him a visitor in his own country.



Mnangagwa has been aggressive in his external engagements, both regional and internationally.



While his publicists argue that the visits were meant to re-open doors for the country, shut during former president Robert Mugabes autocratic rule, his foreign trips have infuriated some who believe they are a waste of taxpayers money.



Piers Pigou, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, said Mnangagwa must balance domestic and intentional priorities.



He said while he needs to ensure he keeps key foreign relations in hand, he must avoid emulating Mugabes incessant travel.





Pigou said concerns centred on the associated costs of these trips, where a surplus of bureaucrats and hangers-on was in evidence.



Whilst building legitimacy and support is a necessary focus, this will only be underwritten by domestic legitimacy and tangible actions or improvements in lives of ordinary Zimbabweans. The voters will determine whether he had delivered and in so doing struck the right balance, Pigou told the Daily News.



Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, said it was a fact of life that a president must travel.



In the case of Mnangagwa, he has to address the concerns of the Sadc presidents that the elections will be clean, because that is the one huge test before the international community will confer legitimacy upon him, he said.



As for China, he said, Mnangagwa needs to persuade Beijing to kick-start what he knows are existing standby funds that will help Zimbabwe.



They want more action still on corruption. They are asking why they should throw good money after bad.



And they feel they were treated very unkindly over mining rights, he said, referring to Chinese-run Anjin Investments, which was ordered to halt work and leave the Marange diamond fields after investing millions.



Who bites the hand of the one feeding you? In traditional Chinese manners, that was churlish behaviour. President Xi is a very hard man.



So Mnangagwa has got to assure many countries he is more than just brave words. They have been wonderful words but, really, so far they have been mostly words and not enough deep action.

Chan said if Mnangagwa was travelling with a huge entourage, this will send the wrong signal.



He wants to travel lightly with a few core expert advisers. He does not want to turn up and have people think, what a bloated entourage!



That impresses nobody these days. You are important if you and your people know what you are talking about in detail, in projections, and in terms of optional outcomes. Otherwise he will be sent away with the wrong sort of smiles, Chan said.



Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition southern Africa coordinator Joey Mabenge said the challenge Zimbabwe was already facing with Mnangagwa was that he is falling in exactly the same trap Mugabe was in, wasting national resources on globe-trotting and bringing very little if anything, back home.



 . . . ED needs to spend more time home in Zimbabwe dealing decisively with governance issues; electoral reforms, political reforms and economic reforms.



There is overemphasis by ED on international re-engagement and ED is over-talking to the outside world and not to Zimbabweans who need him most, unfortunately.



International re-engagement should be balanced with dealing with more pressing national questions whose solutions are resting with a genuine national dialogue and open national democratic processes, he said.



Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said the trips were not justified especially when the country is so broke and he wrested power on a promise of change from Mugabes wasteful ways.



There is no political and economic sense in him travelling to countries where we have ambassadors. He should take cue from Magufuli, he said referring to Tanzanian President John Magufuli, nicknamed the Bulldozer, who has introduced anti-corruption measures and tough economic reforms, including cuts to wasteful government spending, since taking office in November 2015.



Academic and fierce pro-Mnangagwa loyalist and newspaper columnist Reason Wafawarova said:



The frequency of travel is concerning. The purpose is in two parts: Regional engagement and investment. Given the way he came to power, regional engagement is important. Investment is the only answer he can give for all questions on the economy.



United Kingdom-based academic George Shire said Mnangagwas strategy is paying off in that for the first time in 18 years, Zimbabwe is talked about positively on the international scene and that in itself is providing positive investor confidence in our country.

Perception matters a great deal in politics, he said. Daily NewsDespite feigning bravado in public, companies fingered in the externalisation of foreign currency and other assets are making a beeline for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to negotiate relaxed deadlines within which they can rectify their positions.



The Daily News can reveal that nearly two-thirds of the companies on the list have approached the central bank nicodemously in order to have their cases resolved amicably.

Of the Chinese companies cited on the list released by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on March 19, 90 percent of them have come forward and are at various stages of bringing back the money with the help of their banks and the RBZ.



Insiders at the central bank told the Daily News that the Chinese were particularly fearful of being sanctioned by their government in Beijing, which is known for coming hard on its nationals who damage its reputation abroad.



For instance, China jailed Sam Pa, the controversial Hong Kong businessman who clandestinely sponsored Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabes discredited regime by funnelling money from illegal diamond sales to the secret service.



The reclusive Pa, credited with spearheading Chinas spectacular drive into Africa over the last two decades, was jailed in connection with a major corruption scandal involving Chinas State-owned oil company Sinopec.





The Chinese embassy in Harare, according to sources, came forward to engage government on the externalisers list and to regularise their status.

China has been extending its footprint aggressively across the globe, emerging as one of the fastest growing economies.



In Zimbabwe, it is considered an all-weather friend of the ruling Zanu PF government after it fell out with its traditional partners in Europe and in the West over human rights violations.

China is, however, often accused of dumping inferior products, with some of its nationals gaining notoriety for using short-cuts to make a quick buck.



On March 19, Mnangagwa named and shamed over 1 800 companies and individuals accused of funnelling scarce foreign currency resources outside Zimbabwe.

Split into three categories, the list was dominated by Chinese companies and players in the mining industry.



Mnangagwa had to take the extraordinary step of embarrassing the 1 800-plus companies and individuals after they ignored a three-month-long moratorium he had extended to all those who violated exchange control rules last December to correct their positions on a without-prejudice basis.

The compliance deadline was extended by two weeks after very few culprits took advantage of the moratorium, but still not many individuals and firms came forward.



In public, those named and shamed are pleading innocence, saying the list was a rushed job, fraught with inaccuracies.



Business lobby groups also continue to deny their members illegally stashed hundreds of millions of dollars overseas, saying they just did not acquit their foreign payments on time.

They now risk being subpoenaed for falsely vouching for errant businesses, unless they provide evidence to back their claims.



Some of the companies cited had even threatened to sue government for damages, amid concerns that the president violated bank-client confidentiality  a cardinal rule in the banking sector.

Presidential spokesperson George Charamba told the Daily News on Monday that the RBZ did nothing wrong.



The central bank has an obligation to make sure the economy is not robbed so you cant keep a lesser right against a major one, I mean thats ridiculous. So you cant even prosecute errant clients on grounds of rights? Is that possible? Does the Constitution allow that? It doesnt allow that. So, really they should go to court if they are aggrieved.



While business lobby groups claimed that companies alleged to have externalised funds and assets were now being snubbed by potential suitors and trading partners, Charamba said the list actually bolsters investor confidence in that government was committed to good corporate governance.

More importantly, which is the bit you guys are missing, its less the offenders in themselves and more the signal that this is a new era. We cannot proceed on the basis of the unlawfulness which was rampant during the past era, you see, thats the first thing.



The second thing, if you measure the attractiveness of a destination for investment, its not just in terms of what you offer in terms of concessions, its also the strength of the State in enforcing rules and obligations; do you understand? Because when you are coming as an investor, you are not just worried about bringing your money and getting it out, you are also worried that the jurisdiction you have entered in the event of dispute, does it have capacity to enforce rights and enforce obligations of contracting parties  do you understand?



Now, if you make the State so soft, you are endangering not just the citizens of that country but also foreign investors who come because then they are coming into an environment which is unstructured from the point of view of enforcement. So what you perceive as a problem to investors is in fact an effort to improve our attractiveness, to show investors that they are coming in a jurisdiction where the law exists and is robustly enforced, Charamba told the Daily News.

Mnangagwas spokesperson said there was need to draw a line on the sand.



We all agree and we all know that from about 2000, very bad things happened, very bad habits were created, not necessarily because people were immoral but because of the sheer social conditions, economic conditions that were obtaining in the country. But there has to come a time to say we cant go on like this, we have to draw a line and go back to lawful conduct, he told the Daily News.



The Chinese embassy in Harare has come out guns blazing, with deputy ambassador Zhao Boagang telling a news conference on Friday that the list is not credible; there are many loopholes.

He also suggested that Zimbabwe was looking a gift horse in the mouth.



He said the Chinese have invested that is why you find them on the list adding, you find that there are few or no Americans on the list because they have not invested in this country.

Boagang said Zimbabwe must have a clear sight of who is their friend.



But Charamba told the Daily News that the embassy here had actually come forward to engage government amicably on the looters list and to regularise their status.

Isnt it for exactly the same laws that we are invoking here, Charamba asked the Daily News rhetorically.



In China you are actually put before a firing squad for corruption, he said.

Of course, in terms of consular duties, the embassy must be seen to be defending its own people, isnt that so? Its not an issue at all, except in the newspapers. But more interestingly, they have come forward, of their own volition.



It was revealed by RBZ sources that whereas Zimbabweans were expecting to see the whos who in Zanu PF featuring prominently on the list, it had been lost to many people that the ruling elite were under travel and financial restrictions, hence it would have been folly for them to externalise money under their names.



It is therefore suspected that the elite in the ruling party might have externalised using fronts appearing on the list, making it difficult to pierce the corporate veil to the point of unmasking them.

Because of the sanctions, it would be folly for the bigwigs in Zanu PF to externalise money in their names or through companies directly linked to them. We suspect that some of the heavyweights could be behind those companies cited on the list but they are not directly linked to them, said a source.



What we know is that those people the media and others expect to see are among the heavy borrowers and some of them have been accommodated under Zamco, added the source. Zamco, an acronym for Zimbabwe Asset Management Company, is a special purpose vehicle created by the RBZ in 2014 to absorb non-performing loans and avert a catastrophic banking crisis amid a floundering economic environment.



It was also revealed that some of the heavyweights used the three-month deadline to explain themselves and agree on a way forward with the RBZ.



Among them was former first lady Grace Mugabe who is said to have disclosed owning two properties in Hong Kong and South Africa worth about $11 million in total.



Curiously, Mugabe in 2004 caused the arrest of then Finance minister Chris Kuruneri on charges of corruption and externalisation of foreign currency to build a six-bedroomed, eight-bathroomed oceanfront house in Cape Town, estimated at more than $2 million.



Kuruneri was said to own two other properties in Llandudno (Wales) and another house near Vancouver in Canada and was alleged to have transferred $500 000, 37 000, 30 000 euros and 1,2 million South African rands to buy and renovate the mansion in Cape Town.



Kuruneri defended the properties as family investments and said he would make no apologies, adding that as a lawyer, he knew all his financial dealings were above board.

He spent more than a year in remand prison and Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku released him on bail after 10 appeals.



Kuruneri was finally acquitted by the High Court in 2007 but his health had markedly deteriorated over his legal woes.



The Mount Darwin East MP then suffered a debilitating stroke, and remains paralysed to this day, attending Parliament regularly in a wheelchair and in the company of an aide.

Musician Elias Musakwa, said to have externalised $9 million, has also engaged the RBZ through his lawyers and discussions to bring back the loot are underway.



Indications are that his case arose during his time at the RBZ when he was responsible for the procurement of farming equipment under the farm mechanisation programme. Daily NewsLottie Gertrude Trudy Stevenson is a remarkable political survivor, appointed as Zimbabwean Ambassador to Senegal in 2009 during the GNU as a deployee of the smaller MDC led by Welshman Ncube.



A former national secretary for Policy and Research in the then Morgan Tsvangirai-led, Trudy continued to serve as ambassador to Senegal and the Gambia after the fall of the inclusive government. After the fall of Robert Mugabe, she has continued to serve there as President Emmerson Mnangagwas envoy. Daily news editor Gift Phiri chats to Trudy in this wide-ranging interview.

Q: You attended the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan last week attended by President Mnangagwa. Do you get a sense that Zimbabwe benefitted from that summit?

A: At the Africa CEO Forum, there was excitement and a very positive vibe about Zimbabwe coming back into the fray. Investors were very keen to meet with both HE (His Excellency) and our private sector and ministers. Some were anxious about the safety of their investments, but as a couple of bankers noted, money is a coward. It goes where it feels safe, and always need to see an exit window before entering. As HE and others pointed out, the early bird catches the worm  and I think that message was well accepted. There were serious commitments to invest, come back and rebuild  e.g. Afreximbank formalised their $1,5 billion loan which is partly for investment guarantee. Their (Afreximbank) president (Benedict) Oramah made the point at two events that they have invested $2 billion in the last 20 years in Zimbabwe, and never lost one cent! We are very fortunate that the Jeune Afrique Group took an interest in our new dispensation, and invited HE as their special guest this year, as well as Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo and of course host president Alassane Ouattara. As the premier French-language magazine in Africa and about Africa, that says a lot! HE made the point several times that this was his first visit to West Africa since he visited Nigeria in 1977, when Obasanjo was President! He was carrying Mao Tse Tungs Little Red Book, at the time, and Obasanjo advised him to put it away in his pocket  he was not interested in ideologies, only human dignity! Nigeria gave huge support to Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle, in terms of funds, arms and safe passage.

Q: How are Zimbabwe-Senegal relations?

A: Zimbabwe-Senegal relations are very good. Senegal also supported Zimbabwes independence struggle, and many senior government officials are well acquainted with Zimbabwe and have a soft spot for us.



Q: There is a sense that President Macky Sall is stifling his political opposition ahead of elections expected next year. A court in Senegal has just sentenced opposition leader Khalifa Sall on Friday to five years in prison for embezzlement and falsifying documents. What is the situation there?

A: Indeed there is concern about the sentence of Khalifa Sall, but I was away in Abidjan when it was handed down so have not had chances to study it yet. I will study the judgment as soon as possible. That said, there is also concern that Karim Wade, son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, who was or is also considered a possible challenger to Macky Sall next year, remains in exile in Qatar under conditions that are unclear, that is whether he was released from prison provided he never returns to Senegal, or what?

Q: Have you briefed Harare about the developments in Dakar and what are we doing to diffuse the tension there?

A: I just returned from Abidjan on Thursday evening, before Good Friday/Easter weekend, and have not had a chance to brief Harare about anything, as yet. However, we do not intervene in another countrys internal affairs.

Q: Is there risk of unrest over the arrest of the opposition leader?

A: There could be unrest over Khalifa Salls sentence  but there could equally be unrest over any number of other issues, just like Zimbabwe with the doctors strike.

Q: How big is the Zimbabwe Diaspora there?

A: There are not many Zimbabweans in Senegal, mostly because of the language issue. Senegal is French-speaking, which is a challenge to most Zimbabweans. There are quite a number of Zimbabweans working in the different mines, however  but we generally dont see them, they slip in and out on their 6-week-on-2-week-off contracts or whatever.

Q: What is our embassy doing there to improve ties?

A: To improve ties, our embassy holds regular meetings with the host government both at ministries and elsewhere, and is currently following up on requests to assist Senegal in reviving its national parks, especially Niokolo-Koba, in terms of both training of trainers for its game rangers and re-stocking and managing its wildlife. This is a very promising win-win field of cooperation, and both sides are very enthusiastic.

Q: In 2009 at the advent of the GNU, you were appointed as Zimbabwean ambassador there. You continued to serve as ambassador to Senegal and the Gambia after the end of the inclusive government, under Robert Mugabes government. Why?

A: Yes, I was appointed ambassador under the inclusive government, by former president Mugabe. When one becomes a diplomat, one becomes apolitical  or should do so. So you promote your country, and the interests of all its citizens, not only those of one particular party. When the inclusive government ended, Mugabe felt that I was doing a good job as ambassador, so he kept me on  and now the new President Mnangagwa, apparently also thinks I am serving Zimbabwe well as our ambassador in Senegal, The Gambia and generally in French-speaking West Africa. Most Zimbabweans are not aware that I speak French fluently  so this is a big advantage to us, in a French-speaking region. Its a good idea to use peoples skills where they are most useful  human resource management, indeed.

Q: Before your deployment, you served as MDCs national secretary for Policy and Research for both the original MDC and in a smaller faction of the MDC. Are you still a member of the MDC or you have defected to the ruling Zanu PF?

A: I am no longer a member of any political party. I am a diplomat.

Q: What do you make of the fall of Mugabe in a military coup?

A: That military intervention to force Mugabe to step down was supported by the vast majority of the people of Zimbabwe. I watched it all on TV, and was overwhelmed with emotion, seeing everyone together again, after all these years. This was what we needed.

Q: You continue to serve under the Mnangagwa regime. Why?

A: I continue to serve under Mnangagwa because he is the president of my country, and I am his representative in Senegal and The Gambia. The Presidency is an institution, not a person. While some countries recall all their ambassadors on change of president, this is not the case for Zimbabwe. Nor, interestingly, was it the case for Donald Trump, even though there was a big brouhaha at the time!

Q: What do you think of Mnangagwas ascendancy to the presidency and his rule?

A: President Mnangagwa has given a new breath of life to Zimbabwe  we needed that. He is a very astute person, with huge experience both in international finance  he was Zanu PF treasurer for a long time, I believe, both before and after independence  and in government.

Q: The new president has ruled out the Diaspora vote. What are Zimbabweans there saying about this decision?

A: The Diaspora vote is a big challenge. I would have liked to see all Zimbabweans able to vote in this election, and certainly we would have organised that at our embassy in Dakar, had we been instructed to do so. However, I also understand the logistical challenges, especially in terms of funding. Perhaps if the UN had offered to fund our Diaspora vote, we could have organised this.

Q: Are you coming home to vote, are you registered to vote in the forthcoming harmonised elections?

A: I registered to vote when I was home in February for the Ambassadors reorientation workshop  indeed, I was the one who asked Zec to send a team to our workshop to register us! I understand we still have the right to a postal vote, so assume I will be able to vote by post, as before. Sadly, my officers and their families will not be able to vote, because they have not been able to register with the new BVR system  so I feel guilty about that, and have protested officially, but it seems there is nothing more I can do.

Q: Government owes foreign embassy staff millions in salary arrears, arrears for operational expenses, and school fees refunds for children of staff at the 46 diplomatic missions and consulates. What is the situation at the embassy there?

A: Like all our missions, we are in arrears, in terms of salaries, rentals, school fees, medicals and other allowances. I was evicted from my Residence at Christmas 2017, because of 9 months arrears  so I spent the Christmas/New Year holiday packing and moving to another house, for which I had to pay the security deposit and 3 months rental myself, to avoid being on the street! Things have improved a bit, here  and we did manage to pay off those Residence arrears, to my relief  especially because the landlady is a big someone at the AU in Addis Ababa  and you know how this kind of news spreads! We have just received funds to pay some rental and utility arrears, so we are treading water, as I write! I must add that HE is very aware of our situation  he mentioned it to me in Abidjan this week and apologised for this. I find his hands-on approach refreshing. Thats what we need, just the acknowledgement that we have these challenges and that they are doing their best to address them is comforting.

Q: Your last word?







A: My last word: I have to say that I am incredibly proud to be one of Zimbabwes ambassadors. We have one of the most professional, dedicated and really decent ministries of Foreign Affairs in the entire world. Our ambassadors fly our flag with all their might and all their heart  and I think our citizens need to know this. When I joined the ministry, there was an assumption that the ministry and our embassies are full of CIO and Zanu PF stalwarts, and that no reasonable person would go anywhere near one of our embassies. I can assure you that this is not the case at all. We are often offended when Zimbabweans avoid our embassy  we are there to help you! This is your home from home.GOVERNMENT is working on modalities to repatriate nearly 700 Zimbabweans, mainly victims of political violence, who escaped to Botswana 10 years ago after assuring them that their safety is guaranteed under the new dispensation.



Following President Emmerson Mnangagwas State visit to Botswana in February, authorities discovered that nearly 700 Zimbabweans sought refuge in the neighbouring country during the 2008 general elections.



The President then assigned the Minister of Home Affairs and Culture, Dr Obert Mpofu, to look into the matter and find ways of bringing them back home. In an interview, Dr Mpofu said he recently visited Botswana and met the affected people.





He said he discovered that most of them were victims of political violence. There are about 686 Zimbabweans who sought refuge in Botswana. I saw most of them and they mainly hail from Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North and Bulawayo and just a few from other provinces such as Midlands. Most of them left the country in 2008, said Dr Mpofu.





They said they left the country escaping political violence during the election re-run period. These people say they want to return home but feared for their safety. They want some assurances. 

The Minister assured them that they will not be harmed once they are back home.

He said Government was working with Botswana and its partners on modalities to repatriate the refugees.





Some of them said their homes have been destroyed and are seeking assistance to rebuild them. Im constantly in touch with some of them. Some of them are already coming. But we want this thing to be organised. We are working in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Botswana government, Dr Mpofu said.





He said the coming in of a new leader in Botswana, President Mokgweetsi Masisi, will not affect bilateral relations between the two countries as he was already in the system as the neighbours forged new relations.





President Masisi, who deputised ex-President Ian Khama who retired on March 31 as the countrys leader, started work on April 1. Dr Mpofu said he is satisfied with the change of heart among Batswana nationals in their treatment of Zimbabweans.





He said during his visit, he raised the issue of harassment of Zimbabwean illegal immigrants by their employers with relevant authorities and they promised to address the matter. Dr Mpofu said he also appealed to Botswana officials not to shoot Zimbabwean cattle that stray into the neighbouring country.





We also spoke about the issue of cattle straying into Botswana. We suggested that instead of them shooting down the animals they should quarantine them. Quarantining could be helpful because some of the animals would have been stolen in Zimbabwe and we would be intending to use them as exhibits after they have been recovered. But when they are shot dead we wont have any exhibits, he said. ChronicleDo You Know Who This Man Is?

SLC Reporter Didn't (Hilariously)BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A media training program was launched in Beijing on Tuesday to draw countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCI) closer, Wednesday's China Daily reported.

Hosted by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs and Beijing Foreign Studies University, it was the first media exchange program of the SCI branch of the China Center for International News Exchange.

Twelve reporters from SCI member countries will travel around China and take courses covering the country in the three-month training program, according to the newspaper.

China will host the SCI summit this year in Qingdao, Shandong province.

"It is necessary that journalists from our neighboring countries meet and support each other and then play a fundamental role as cultural messengers in exchanges between SCI countries," Li Jinggang, deputy director of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' information department, was quoted as saying.

[ Editor: Xueying ](Newser)  She had a doctor's note, but Disney didn't budge. CBS News and the Miami Herald report 22-year-old Emily Jackson of St. Louis and her family of 10 showed up last week in Miami to board the Disney Magic cruise ship, but there was a problem: Jackson is 25 weeks pregnant, and Disney's policy bars women 24 weeks or more from sailing. Even though Jackson's group got onto the ship and on line to check in, her gestational status raised eyebrows with crew members as she filled out paperworkand she was told she couldn't go on the cruise, a Disney rep says, per KMOV. Jackson says her doctor cleared her to sail, but Disney cites "health and safety reasons" for not allowing women over the 24-week limit and notes on its site that "neither a doctor's medical statement nor a waiver of liability will be accepted." It adds that other cruise lines have similar mandates in place.

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Jackson says she's not mad about the policy, but about how she and her family were treated afterward, per the New York Post. She says a security guard with an AR-15 intimidated her family, and that they had to wait outdoors in the sweltering Miami heat while their luggage was retrieved. "They Used GUNS to escort my children and I off," she tweeted Friday, along with a video showing snippets of her family in the aftermath. A Disney rep explains port guards are Miami-Dade cops whose gear happens to include semi-automatic rifles. Jackson said Disney is giving refunds for the cruise, but not for the plane tickets she and her family bought to get thereleading to a "terrible Disney experience," per CBS. She's also experiencing a bit of guilt. "I felt so bad because I felt like it was my fault that everybody couldn't go," she tells KMOV. (A "bloodbath" on a Carnival ship led to ejections.)(Newser)  A low-cost, high-volume livestock-rearing method pioneered in North Carolina came under fire Tuesday as jurors began hearing a lawsuit from neighbors who say the world's largest pork corporation is endangering their health and making their lives miserable. The legal action is the first in a string of federal lawsuits against the hog-production division of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, reports the AP. In dozens of lawsuits, more than 500 neighbors say that for decades they have suffered headaches, sinus problems and intense, putrid smells that can't be removed from clothing or household fabrics. "Smithfield has never done anything to change," lawyer Michael Kaeske told jurors. "They're not going to do anything to change unless you make them." The suit heard Tuesday pits Smithfield against 10 neighbors of a farm raising 15,000 hogs under contract with the pork giant.

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Kinlaw Farm and its owners are not defendants. Instead, the suit targets Smithfield, which determines the farm's operating standards. "Smithfield controls what the growers do and they don't have the money to do anything different," Kaeske said. Since pork producers began dramatically consolidating in the 1980s, sprawling operations holding thousands of hogs generating a small city's worth of urine and feces each day have become standard in North Carolina. The excrement is flushed into pits where it is broken down and then sprayed through a type of agricultural water cannon as fertilizer onto nearby fields. DNA tests found a bacteria originating in swine digestive systems coating the homes of all 10 plaintiffs, Kaeske told jurors. Though less-malodorous technologies have been developed and applied at Smithfield operations elsewhere, North Carolina operations haven't changed, Kaeske said. "They continue to spray feces and urine near their neighbors."

(Read more Smithfield Foods stories.)(Newser)  The Trump administration is recommending 25% tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports to protest Beijing's alleged theft of American technology. The Office of the US Trade Representative has issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment. But the proposed tariffs wouldn't take effect before a public comment period ends May 11, the AP reports. The move is the latest in a series of aggressive actions the administration has taken to combat what it calls unfair trade practices by China and other countries. American businesses worry that the administration's moves will draw painful retaliatory sanctions.

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The Chinese embassy in Washington says it "strongly condemns" the Trump administration's planned tariffs. In a statement, the embassy says the proposal "serves neither China's interest, not the US interest, even less the interest of the global economy." And it hinted that Beijing would retaliate with trade sanctions of its own: "As the Chinese saying goes, it is only polite to reciprocate." The embassy said China would seek relief from the World Trade Organization and "take corresponding measures of equal scale and strength against US products in accordance with Chinese law." (Read more tariffs stories.)(Newser)  The woman who opened fire at YouTube's Silicon Valley headquarters Tuesday was a vegan activist angry about how her videos were being treated, according to law enforcement sources. The sources have identified the shooterwho injured at least three people before apparently killing herselfto the San Francisco Chronicle as Nasim Aghdam, a 39-year-old San Diego resident. Aghdam was active in animal rights causes and posted YouTube videos on a range of topics, including workouts and vegan cooking. YouTube took her videos down Tuesday night but her website, where she complained about YouTube filtering her traffic to reduce views, remained active. Family members say Aghdam was furious that YouTube had "demonetized" her channels, meaning she was no longer being paid.

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"There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!," wrote Aghdam, who complained in an Instagram post last month that YouTube is censoring "people who speak the truth and are not good for the financial, political gains of the system and big businesses." San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini says the shooter opened fire with a handgun in a courtyard, the AP reports. She wounded three people before shooting herself. A fourth person injured an ankle while trying to escape, police say. The most seriously injured victim is a man who was hospitalized in critical condition. Police, who initially said the shooting was a possible domestic incident, now say there's no evidence the shooter knew any of the victims. (Read more YouTube stories.)(Newser)  Robert Mueller has told President Trump's lawyers that he is only a "subject" of his investigation, not a criminal "target," insiders say. Sources tell the Washington Post that the special counsel told the attorneys that he still wants to interview Trump and he is preparing a report about the president's conduct in office and whether Trump sought to obstruct his investigation of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Mueller's team has "said they want to write a report on this to answer the publics questionsand they need the presidents interview as the last step," one of the Post's sources says. The insiders say Trump has expressed relief at not being a "target," though legal experts warn that the president shouldn't start thinking he is in the clear and can put the investigation behind him.

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"If I were the president, I would be very reluctant to think Im off the hook," says Princeton University impeachment expert Keith Whittington, noting that what Trump says in a deposition "could wind up changing how the special counsel is thinking about him." Politico notes that Mueller may have concluded that Trump is not a criminal target of the investigation because of legal opinions in 1973 and 2000 that stated sitting presidents can't be indicted. "All today's news tells us is that Mueller hasn't decided to indict Trump at this time," tweeted former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. "If Trump's lawyers know what they're doing, they'll tell him he's still under great risk." (The Mueller investigation has sent a Dutch attorney to jail.)The Nova Poshta company, the leader in express delivery in Ukraine, will receive a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for construction of a parcel sorting terminal in Khmelnytsky.

According to a press release spread among journalists at a press conference devoted to the signing of the loan agreement in Kyiv on Wednesday, the decision to provide the financing was made by the EBRD board on January 9, 2018.

The new, automated parcel sorting terminal will have modern equipment. Its average capacity would exceed the usual capacity three times, to 8,500 parcels per hour. The total parcel sorting capacity will be 18,000 parcels per hour.

It is planned to build the terminal during one year.

Nova Poshta CFO Petro Fokov said that the company decided to use the borrowed funds to increase efficiency of transactions, in particular, thanks to automation and introduction of modern technologies requiring the creation of modern infrastructure. The loan is a seven year multicurrency loan.

According to the press release, the implementation of the terminal construction project in Khmelnytsky would the improvement of fleet utilisation by 25% on inter-city routes by the end of 2020; and the reduction of annual CO2 emissions by 1,570 tonnes by the end of 2020.

In the future energy efficiency is planned, for example, the installation of solar panels, LED lighting and other solutions.

"Our strategy for the next five years is to fundamentally update the company's infrastructure in quality and speed. We plan to build modern automated parcel sorting terminals in seven key cities of Ukraine. We chose Khmelnytsky first, since it is a national transport hub, a transit point between the western region and the rest of the country," the co-owner of Nova Poshta Viacheslav Klimov said.

He said that the customers will feel the effect from construction of the terminal in 2019.(Newser)  The families of American hostages murdered by ISIS in Syria may finally be able to lay their loved ones to rest. Officials and relatives tells ABC News that human remains in areas of Syria liberated from the group are being tested by the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Va., though it may be months before the remains can be identified. Officials say the remains were located with information from the interrogation of El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey, believed to be two of the four brutal captors nicknamed "The Beatles" because of their British accents. FBI agents with cadaver dogs, assisted by American troops, began excavating possible grave sites in Syria earlier this year after Kotey and Elsheikh were captured by Kurdish forces.

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While the FBI and American military officials have been given access to the two captives, they remain in Kurdish custody, and it isn't clear where they'll end up. In a New York Times op-ed earlier this year, the families of four murdered American hostagesJames Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig, and Kayla Muellercalled for them to be given a "fair and public trial" either in the Hague or a US civilian court, not Guantanamo Bay. In an interview with the AP last week, Elsheikh and Kotey, who've reportedly been stripped of their British citizenship, refused to confirm whether they were part of the notorious cell that tortured and beheaded hostages. They described the US and Britain as "hypocrites" who wouldn't give them a fair trial, but they called the execution of the ISIS hostages "regrettable." (Read more ISIS stories.)(Newser)  Michigan has given the OK to Nestle's controversial request to increase the amount of water it pumps from the statedespite the fact that a record number of public comments were made on the matter, and 80,945 of those comments were against the plan. Just 75 were in favor. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality found that the plan, which will see Nestle pumping up to 400 gallons of water per minute from the White Pine Springs well in the Great Lakes basin instead of the 250 gallons per minute it currently extracts, complied with legal standards, NPR reports. Most of the public comments opposing the plan "related to issues of public policy which are not, and should not be, part of an administrative permit decision," the director of the agency said when approving Nestle's permit.

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Water is a particularly tender subject in Michigan, where Detroit once shut off water to thousands of customers who were behind on paying their water billsand where the water in Flint, four years later, still isn't safe to drink. Nestle extracts the water to bottle it for sale under its Ice Mountain label, and all it costs the company is a $200-per-year permit from the DEQan amount that won't change under the new permit, the Detroit Free Press reports. Per a Michigan Radio journalist, the top three themes of public comments opposing Nestle's plan were "corporate greed versus people and the environment," "water is not for profit," and "worries about privatizing water." The policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council says that while the new permit includes additional monitoring and oversight requirements, it does not include any "improvement projects brought to the table by Nestle." (Read more Nestle stories.)(Newser)  Emergency personnel have raced to fix a procedural issue that may have tipped off Austin bomber Mark Conditt, who blew himself up as police closed in. Officers staked out Conditt's Pflugerville home while he was out on March 20, with plans to arrest him when he returned, and notified Austin-Travis County EMS officials that their services might be needed, reports the Austin American-Statesman. EMS officials were to wait nearby. But a routing of the request by a computer system meant two medics from the Pflugerville Fire Department didn't receive proper instructions. In a move police fear tipped off Conditt to the surveillance, the medics knocked on Conditt's door, thinking someone needed help, and one of Conditt's roommates answered. Conditt was killed a day later when he detonated a bomb in his vehicle, stopped by police near a hotel.

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"It wasn't a mistake by the Pflugerville Fire Department," EMS Chief of Staff Jasper Brown says of the mix-up, per the American-Statesman. He explains a specialized EMS crew normally responds to such calls and communicates with police via telephone. But "we have never done that for surveillance only," Brown says, noting a supervisor's request for the crew was denied. A call was then logged in a computer system, which routed it to the Pflugerville department. By the time police instructions were relayed, the medics had already visited Conditt's home. In the future, Brown says a plan will be formed with police before similar requests are entered in the system, which now has a feature preventing automatic call routing. Other areas might be improved, too. "We have to look at a way to make ourselves more resilient and stronger coming out of this," Interim Austin Police Chief Brian Manley tells KTBC. (Read more Austin stories.)(Newser)  Want to take a selfie on the red carpet during the Cannes Film Festival? Well, you can't. That's the message from top festival official Thierry Fremaux, who says red-carpet selfies will be banned at this year's star-studded event, the AP reports. Violators, he said on Europe 1 radio Wednesday, won't be let in to see films. When festivalgoers take selfies as they climb the carpeted stairs to the French Riviera venue, he said everything becomes "disorganized" and the program "runs late."

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But as guardian of one of the world's most glamorous cultural events, Fremaux also has aesthetic concerns: "It's not beautiful. It's grotesque. It's ridiculous. ... We want to restore a bit of decency." Fremaux also said recently that Netflix movies will be banned from competition at this year's festival, which runs May 8-19.

(Read more Cannes Film Festival stories.)(Newser)  Upon leaving the US Army, some seek a quiet life. That wasn't the case for Joseph Hunter, or two veterans he recruited for "ninja work," including hit jobs earning them $35,000 each, Assistant US Attorney Patrick Egan said Tuesday in opening statements at the men's trial in New York. Prosecutors say 52-year-old Hunter, a former sergeant with Special Forces training, was head of security for South African crime boss Paul Le Roux before recruiting Adam Samia, 43, and Carl David Stillwell, 50, per the AP. Samia, a former sniper, and Stillwell, an ex-weapons trainer, then traveled to the Philippines, where they allegedly set their sights on a real estate agent on Le Roux's "kill list." Pretending to be potential clients, the men drove Catherine Lee to the countryside outside Manila in 2012 before Samia shot her twice in the face, Egan says.

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The murder is just one element of a bizarre case covering drug trafficking, the sinking of a smuggling ship, and other events in the Philippines, Africa, Mexico, and the Seychelles, the New York Times reports. Le Roux, arrested by DEA agents in Liberia in 2012, is expected to testify against the alleged henchmen, all three of whom deny the murder charges. Le Roux previously helped the government set up a sting operation that saw Hunter admit to planning to kill a DEA agent and an informant on Le Roux's orders. Hunter was sentenced to 20 years in prison but will see his sentence grow if convicted of the latest charges. Defense attorneys say Le Roux isn't to be believed, per the AP. The trial, held in federal court in Manhattan as the investigation stemmed from alleged drug trafficking in New York, is expected to last a few weeks. (Read more veterans stories.)(Newser)  A timeline of the final days of the Washington family killed in an apparently intentional car crash in California is coming together. Jennifer Hart, 38, was caught on surveillance footage at a Safeway store in Fort Bragg, Calif., around 8am on March 25, the day before the family's SUV plunged off a cliff about 15 miles north of the area, Fox News reports. The bodies of Jennifer Hart (who was driving the SUV) as well as her wife, Sarah, and three of their six adopted children have since been found; authorities are still searching for the couple's three other children. Jennifer Hart was purchasing bananas and other groceries during the Safeway trip; it's not clear where the rest of the family was, NBC News reports. The children ranged in age from 12 to 19; their parents were under investigation for alleged abuse or neglect at the time of the crash.

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Investigators have also been interviewing neighbors, searching the family's Washington home, and looking into cellphone pings. So far, they know the family was south of Portland by 8:15am March 24, and then drove south along the coast until, by 8pm, they were in the Fort Bragg area. They were there a little more than 24 hours, then headed north up the coast. Their GMC Yukon went off the cliff, falling 70 feet to an embankment below, on March 26; a passerby reported it to police around 3:30pm. Authorities say it appeared to have accelerated over the edge and that no skid marks were found near where it went over. "As of this date it is still unclear if the missing children were inside the vehicle during the incident," the CHP said in a news release, but the missing children are tentatively presumed dead. The local sheriff tells KOIN there is "every indication" they were in the car when it crashed. (A former friend of the couple has come forward to speak out about the alleged abuse.)(Newser)  President Donald Trump and border-state governors are working to "immediately" deploy the National Guard to the US-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration, with some troops potentially arriving later Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said. "The threat is real," Nielsen said at an afternoon briefing, adding that Trump was signing a proclamation to put the deployment into effect. "It's time to act." The announcement came hours after Trump pledged "strong action today" on immigration and a day after he said he wants to use the military to secure the southern border until his "big, beautiful wall" is erected, the AP reports. In a tweet early Wednesday, Trump said that "Our Border Laws are very weak" and that Democrats "stand in our way" of new laws. He added, "We will be taking strong action today."

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Federal law prohibits the use of active-duty service members for law enforcement inside the US, unless specifically authorized by Congress. But over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support. The White House counsel's office has been working on the idea for several weeks, according to a senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans. Nielsen said the administration was considering a model similar to a 2006 operation in which President George W. Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border, with a focus on assisting US Customs and Border Protection personnel. "We are anxious to have the support," she said. (Read more border wall stories.)Sorry!

This content is not available in your regionUkraine is ready to hand over 23 Russian citizens who are serving their terms in Ukrainian prisons in exchange for Ukrainian hostages, Deputy Parliament Speaker and head of Ukraine's humanitarian TCG group Iryna Gerashchenko has said.

"Those Russians who were detained for involvement in war under the guise of the so-called militants are now serving their terms in Ukrainian prisons for serious crimes committed against Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. It is evident that they are puppeteers rather than militants [puppets]. The Ukrainian side is ready to hand those convicts over, but we also want the release of Ukrainian citizens," Gerashchenko told 112.Ukraine TV channel.

According to Gerashchenko, currently 23 Ukrainian citizens are serving their sentences in Ukrainian prisons. "And now 23 Russians are in Ukrainian prisons. We are ready to swap them for Ukrainian hostages to be freed," Gerashchenko added.

As earlier reported, the release of Ukrainian hostages is on the agenda of a new round of the Minsk talks on April 4.Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 22F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 22F. Winds light and variable.The Fairbanks Four, from left, George Frese, Marvin Roberts, Eugene Vent and Kevin Pease, are introduced by Shirley Lee at the 2016 AFN Welcome Potlatch. Matthew Putman/News-Miner internThe Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574.

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Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer.

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Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer.On Tuesday, April 3, 2018, as per a memorandum of mutual assistance between Ukraine's Ministry of Defence and Denmark's Defence Ministry, the joint military transportation exercise Northern Falcon-2018 has begun. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said the exercise involves transporting of fuel to Greenland.

A Ukrainian Il-76 airlifter, including 23 pilots and ground personnel, as well as coordinators from the Ukraine's Air Force led by Colonel Serhiy Artemenko departed from Boryspil military airfield for Aalbolg Air Base of the Danish Air Force.

Ukrainian pilots will airlift more than 500,000 litres of fuel, other items and equipment making about 25 flights (120 hours). The operation will last until May 5. Mission personnel will face inclement weather conditions in Greenland.

The operation has been organized for the tenth year in row as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ukrainian and Danish defence ministries.Beijing:

The world's top two economies edged towards an all-out trade war as China on Wednesday, rejected the US' demand to cut down trade deficit by $100 billion as "unviable" and announced plans to impose retaliatory tariffs worth $50 billion on 106 American products, including soybeans, cars and small aircraft.

The move comes after President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday, published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports worth $50 billion that could be hit by US tariffs because of Beijing's alleged theft of intellectual property and technology.

The Chinese Customs Tariff Commission of the central cabinet, in a retaliatory measure, decided to impose additional tariff of 25 per cent on 106 products under 14 categories worth $50 billion, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

Affected products will include a wide variety of agricultural products such as soybeans, corn, beef, orange juice and tobacco. A range of chemicals and automobiles, as well as aircraft with unladen weight between 15 tonnes and 45 tonnes, will also be subject to the tariffs.

However, it did not announce a date for their implementation.

"The date of implementation will depend on when the US government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products," it said.

ALSO READ: First Transgender man gives birth in Finland

The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in a statement said that the US' move was "an evident violation" of rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The US move "severely infringed on the legitimate rights and interests that China enjoys in accordance with the WTO rules, and threatened China's economic interests and security," the MOC said.

New tariffs China decided to impose on US products were a reaction to the "emergency" caused by the US violation of international obligations, it added. The economies of China and the US are highly complementary, and "cooperation is the only right choice for the two countries," the MOC said.

The MOC said China's decision was taken in retaliation to the US' proposed list of products subjects to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth USD 50 billion with a suggested tariff rate of 25 per cent.

ALSO READ: Commonwealth Games 2018: Sharath Kamal spearheads Indian paddlers' challenge at Gold Coast

The US plans to apply the tariffs to about $50 billion worth of goods to punish China for its alleged theft of trade secrets, including software, patents and other technology.A

Trump is demanding China to cut down $375 billion trade deficit by $100 billion in about a month. His move sparked concerns over a trade war between the two largest economies of the world.

China has already slapped tariffs on 128 US products, including wine and pork, totalling to $3 billion in retaliation to Trump's move to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium.

China, which enjoys $375 billion surplus for the first time directly rejected US President Donald Trump's demand to cut down the deficit by USD 100 billion.

"The Chinese government cannot artificially intervene in the number of deficit of surplus. That is not viable," Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen told media briefing here today when asked about Trump's demand.

"It is unacceptable to ask China alone to cut the deficit by $100 billion as the trade gap is determined by market forces and the overall economic policies and structure of the US."

"We cannot dictate change in trade deficit or surplus. Cutting deficit requires efforts from both the sides. China alone cannot make that happen," he said, adding that the US do not want to sell what China wants to buy.

ALSO READ: IPL 2018: Desi Tadka of Mumbai Indians

"We hope the US can relax the restrictions of export of high-tech products to China," he said. "The US boasts many advantageous industries but is self-restricted in terms of exports to China. Fewer exports resulted in the big trade deficit," Wang said.

"We hope the US will actively respond to China's efforts to expand imports, Wang said, inviting American businesses to attend the first China International Import Expo in November and show their products and services to Chinese consumers.

"We are glad to see that President Trump has eased restrictions on exports of energy products, crude oil and liquefied natural gas to China after taking office, which used to be banned," Wang said, pointing out that such measures will help tackle the trade imbalance. Wang said the trade gap is not as big as the US claims. "Taking into account transit trade and service trade, the real gap is only a third of the figure released by the US government."

According to US Census Bureau data, the trade deficit with China ran to a record $375 billion in 2017. Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao, who also addressed the media, dismissed the idea that political motives were behind China targeting US soybean imports to hurt American farmers to ramp up pressure on Trump.

"Business is business. We should analyse the challenge we face and the way we deal with it from the perspective of the economy," he said. "We are forced to bring forward the product list, and there are grounds for the specific items and their order on the list," Zhu said.

US soybeans sold to China account for 62 per cent of its total soybean exports, with 32.85 million tonnes of soybeans exported to China last year, or 34.4 per cent of China's total imports, Zhu said.

While US farmers can benefit from healthy Sino-US economic ties, the export amount to China was too big, he said.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The Public Sector Banks (PSBs) wrote off Rs 2.41 lakh crore worth of loans between April 2014 and September 2017, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla disclosed on Monday.

In his reply to a Parliament question asked by West Bengal MP Ritabrata Banerjee, Shukla told Rajya Sabha that writing off non-performing assets (NPAs) was a regular exercise conducted by banks to clean up their balance sheet.

Reacting to the disclosure, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee slammed the Centre for not considering farm loan waiver but writing off Non-Performing Assets of the Public Sector Banks.

I am shocked to see that at a time when the farmers in the country are crying and committing suicide for their loan burden and asking for waiver of farmers loan, the Government of India have not even considered that, Banerjee said in a Facebook post.

The minister, however, refused to disclose the details of borrower-wise credit information citing Reserve Bank of Indias confidentially rules.

Read More | Government rules out excise duty cut to cushion petrol prices

RBI has apprised that borrower wise credit information is not available for disclosure under section 45E of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the minister said.

The Bengal Chief Minister questioned governments intention behind not disclosing the names of defaulters and alleged a big scam.

Why is this confidentiality? Whom is the Government trying to protect? We demand immediate disclosure of the complete list of defaulters of public sector banks, whose loans have been written off. Is it not a big, big, big scam? she said.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Washington:

Microsoft collaborated with Indian officials during elections and monitored activities at polling booths, an official of the global tech giant has said, asserting that the company is transparent about the collection of data run on its platforms.

The official said the company's privacy policies helped customers keep their data private and in their control.

"Election officials in India have used our productivity and Cloud platforms for collaboration and running the election process, including monitoring of activities at polling booths. Our customers - the respective government departments - own all data relating to the processes they run on our platforms," a Microsoft spokesperson told PTI.

The spokesperson did not specify in which election Microsoft collaborated with the Indian officials.

Microsoft was responding to a question on its policy regarding third-party use of data, privacy and data protection in the wake of controversy involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.

The spokesperson said Microsoft was transparent about data collection and empowers users to make informed decisions.

"We make our policies and practices clear and accessible to everyone," the official said.

The research lab of the Washington-based company headed by Indian-American Satya Nadella also put out a statement saying the policies include "how we secure data; where we store and manage it; how we delete data; who can access customer data and on what terms; how we respond to government requests on data and how we help customers meet compliance requirements".

The spokesperson said the company's privacy policies and processes helped customers keep their data private and in their control.

"We do not use users' email, chat, files or other personal content to target marketing activities to them," the spokesperson said.

In a blog post, Microsoft said Cloud computing had changed the privacy equation between citizens and the state.

No longer would an individual or company necessarily know when the government was searching its information. And without that knowledge, individuals and companies lacked the ability to protect their rights, it said.

The company has filed four lawsuit against the US Government on the latter's alleged interference in privacy matters and data protection, in particular search warrants.

"Law enforcement needs to be effective and privacy rights need to be protected. This journey is not yet complete, and we look forward to continuing to work with so many others to see it to a successful conclusion," it said.

The US Department of Justice and Microsoft approached the US Supreme Court on Tuesday to dismiss a case in which both were pitted against each other.

This comes after the Congress passed the CLOUD Act. Now signed into law by President Donald Trump. The act clarifies the federal government's authority when requesting user information held by US tech companies overseas.

"Microsoft has argued from the beginning of this case that Congress is the proper branch to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986," Microsoft said.

"Congress alone, we insisted, has the tools to address the question whether, and when, law enforcement may demand access to private electronic communications stored in other countries," it said.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Books are the best friends of man. Isnt the mere idea of a floating bookstore exciting?

MV logos Hope which is regarded as the worlds largest floating bookstore has arrived in Mexicos Veracruz to provide knowledge, help and hope.

The ship will visit four different Mexican ports over the next four months, according to a report in Efe news. Pavel Martinez, the ship's media relations officer told Efe news that it would head to Tampico, Coatzacoalcos and Puerto Progreso.

The ship would also travel to Central America, post its journey in Mexico. The floating bookstore which is owned by GBA Ships has state-of-the-art infrastructure, its own concert hall, theatre and a conference room.

Read- Pretty April books for kids: Help your child learn the easy way

The crew of the ship donates books to different schools, jails and orphanages so as to impart knowledge. As a matter of fact, four hundred volunteers from 65 countries offered over 5,000 books for donation.

Interestingly, many visitors consider this their only opportunity to buy high-quality literary books at lower prices.

For all the Latest Education News, Books News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed five petitions challenging the CBSEas decision to reconduct Class-XII economics examination after an alleged leak, saying it is the discretion of the Central Board of Secondary Education.

The CBSE decision to conduct the re-examination canat be challenged in the court, the SC said, urging the students who had challenged the CBSEas decision to appear in the examination if conducted. Several students had filed petitions before the apex court.

The apex court bench comprises Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao.

The petitioners also wanted a CBI probe into the alleged paper leak, saying several incidents were reported from various states and Delhi Police was not competent to hold the nationwide probe. One of the petitioners, 15-year-old Rohan Mathew, also sought a direction to the CBSE to declare the results on the basis of the examinations conducted.

The CBSE on March 30 announced re-examination of economics paper for Class-XII throughout the country on April 25 after reports of the Class-X maths and Class-XII economics paper being leaked. The CBSE said on Tuesday that it found no impact of alleged paper leak of Class-X maths paper and no re-examination would be held.

Also Read | NIRF India Rankings: IISc Bangalore ranked India's best university

Mathew and two others moved the top court, seeking quashing of the CBSEas decision to re-conduct the Class 10 mathematics examination on several grounds, including violation of their fundamental rights.

Earlier, another plea was filed in the apex court by Reepak Kansal, a resident of Shakarpur here, challenging the decision of the CBSE to cancel and re-conduct the two papers.

aIt is to be noted that this year, 16,38,428 students are appearing for the Class 10 and 11,86,306 students for Class 12 in the CBSE examinations.

aAnd therefore, to penalise the student community for an incident which is under investigation and without completion of that investigation/enquiry and issuing a notice on March 28, 2018 (for re-exams), affects the fundamental rights of students which is arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional,a the plea stated.

(With inputs from agencies)New Delhi:

Prabhas' much talked about next project Saaho is all set to begin with its next schedule. The movie, which also stars Shraddha Kapoor in the lead, will now be shot in the stunning locales of UAE.

Reportedly, the team will begin shooting for the next schedule from April 10 and will feature some high octane action sequences.

According to movie trade analyst Ramesh Bala, the action scenes will be shot in Burj Khalifa and Ras-Al-Khaimah, World Trade Center and Etihad Tower in Abu Dhabi.A

Notably, these scenes will be supervised by Hollywood action director Kenny Bates.

#Prabhas - @ShraddhaKapoor 's #Saaho next schedule will kickstart on 10 April in #UAE



Hollywood action dir Kenny Bates will oversee the action part.



The action chase sequences will be shot in Burj Khalifa and Ras-Al-Khaimah, World Trade Center and Etihad Tower in Abu Dhabi a Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) April 4, 2018

aSaaho will be an action spectacle. The film will take the use of action in Telugu cinema to a new level. The 20-minute action sequence in Burj Khalifa will be one of the biggest highlights of the film and it is being shot under the supervision of international stunt choreographer Kenny Bates. Action will leave audiences in awe,a a source reportedly told Firstpost.A

Interestingly, Saaho happens to be Prabhas' first project after SS Rajamouli's Baahubali series.

Helmed by Sujeeth, the movie also features Neil Nitin Mukesh as the lead antagonist, who is quite excited to be a part of Saaho.

aSaaho is a larger-than-life film and post Baahubali, the entire nation is rooting for Prabhas. And where there is a mega hero, there will always be a mega villain too. My character has many shades like every other character in the film. Itas quite an exciting project, Sujeeth has a great vision. Saaho will be the biggest action film of 2018,a Neil was quoted as saying.New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that Article 370 of the Constitution which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir is not a temporary provision.

The top court said that in its earlier verdict of 2017 in the SARFESI case, it has been already held that Article 370 was "not a temporary provision".

"The issue concerned is covered by the judgement of this court in the 2017 SARFAESI matter, where we have held that despite the headnote of Article 370, it is not a temporary provision," a bench of justices AK Goel and RF Nariman said.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre, said that the matter be heard after some time as similar matters are pending before the court and are to be listed shortly.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan and advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for the Jammu and Kashmir government, clarified that other matters which are pending before the top court relates to Article 35 A of the Constitution and not Article 370 as submitted by the ASG.

Mr Dhavan said that those matters cannot be heard along with the present case, which only deals with Article 370.

The bench then adjourned the matter for hearing by three weeks on the insistence of the ASG.

The top court was hearing an appeal filed by petitioner Kumari Vijayalakshmi Jha, against the Delhi High Court's April 11, 2017 order dismissing the plea seeking a declaration that Article 370 is temporary in nature.

The petitioner had claimed before the high court that Article 370 was a temporary provision that had lapsed with the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in 1957.

The petition had said that the continuance of the temporary provision of Article 370 even after dissolution of Constituent Assembly of J&K, and that of J&K Constitution which has never got the assent of the President of India or Parliament or the government of India, "amounts to fraud on the basic structure of our Constitution".

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday launched a scathing attack against the Opposition for creating unrest and ruckus in the country during Mondays Bharat Bandh called to protest alleged dilution of SC-ST Act by Supreme Court.

Shah held the Opposition solely responsible for the death of 10 people across the country.

We had announced that we will file a review petition, then why did the Congress and other opposition parties call for Bharat Bandh, Shah said during a rally in Odishas Bhanipatna.

The Congress and Opposition are solely responsible for the death of 10 people and the injureds, Shah added.

During the rally, Shah asserted that he wanted to smash the rumours that Prime Minister Narendra Modi government removing the reservation policy.

Government will neither remove reservation or will allow anyone to end it. The party will firmly stick to the principles of the Constitution framed by BR Ambedkar, Shah added.

Shah also quoting Modi said, We have full faith in the Indian Constitution. There will be no change in the reservation policy. The BJP will also not allow anyone to change the policy.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Ghaziabad:

As many as 5,000 people have been booked for creating a ruckus and damaging public and government properties here during protests against 'dilution' of the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the SSP said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said police have lodged reports against 5,000 unidentified and 285 named miscreants under various sections the IPC.

Till now 32 agitators have been arrested and raids are being conducted to arrest others.

Furthermore, police have identified 43 places in urban and 17 places in rural areas of the district as highly sensitive where agitators may disturb peace again. Heavy police forces have been deployed on these points, the SSP said.

Nine policemen who were injured during the agitations on Monday are still undergoing treatment, Krishna said.

The Supreme Court had on March 20 banned automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Ruling that no arrest can be made under the Act without prior permission, the apex court had also held that a court can grant anticipatory bail if it, prima facie, finds the complaint is an abuse of the law, false, motivated and intended to blackmail or harass a person.

Monday's 'Bharat Bandh' was called by various Dalit groups and backed by political outfits to demand a restoration of the Act to its original form.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Danny ClinchIt ain't the Hotel California, but it's not bad.

Variety reports that The Eagles' Don Henley has shelled out more than $2.2 million for a bungalow in West Hollywood. The publication intimates that the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer got into a bidding war for the property, because he paid over $360,000 more than the $1.85 million asking price.

The 1,800-square-foot property, built in the 1920s, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a fireplace, but it lacks such usual Hollywood amenities as a swimming pool, a multi-car garage, a screening room and acres of property. No word if there are mirrors on the ceiling.

Henley, a Texan by birth, lives mostly in a 16,000-square-foot mansion in Dallas, but he also owns a 40-acre hilltop property in Malibu, California. He's currently on tour with the Eagles on a trek that will run through October.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasyl Hrytsak has said that law enforcers have detained a suspect in a terrorist attack committed in Kyiv in October 2017, in which two people were killed and three more, including Ukrainian MP Ihor Mosiychuk, were injured.

"Just a few days ago, we detained one of those who took part in organizing and committing this terrorist attack... I can say that we have solved this terrorist attack in cooperation with the prosecutor's office," Hrytsak said in Odesa on Tuesday, April 3.

He specified that one person had been detained and that two more were "in another territory, we understand where they are."

According to Hrytsak, during the searches law enforcers had seized several kilograms of TNT, an RPG-26 grenade launcher, grenades, other items and documents that could point to the person's involvement in committing this crime.

"I do not want to disclose the details," he said, adding that a briefing on this crime will be held in the near future.

As reported, two people were killed and three more, including Radical Party MP Ihor Mosiychuk and political analyst Bala, were injured in an explosion outside the building of the Espresso TV channel late on October 25, 2017. Both of them were hospitalized and underwent surgery. Those who were killed are two police officers - Mosiychuk's security guard, Ruslan Kushnir, who died on his way to hospital, and 36-year-old local resident Mykhailo Mormil.

The explosion was qualified as a terrorist attack. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is overseeing the investigation.

Mosiychuk said late in February 2018 that several terror suspects were in Chechnya and that the perpetrators of the crime had been identified.New Delhi:

Amid the ongoing Dalit anger and protests over the alleged dilution of SC/ST Atrocities Act, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that his government is walking on the path shown by Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar.

We are walking on the path shown by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. At the core of Dr. Ambedkar's ideals is harmony and togetherness. Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission, Modi said during the inauguration ceremony of the new building of Western Court Annexe.

In a veiled reference to Rahul Gandhis anti-Dalit BJP-RSS remark, the prime minister said, No other government has done as much as we have in honouring Ambedkar.

On Monday, Rahul Gandhi had slammed the BJP-led central government for the plight of Dalits in the country and said, Keeping Dalits at the lowest rung of Indian society is in the DNA of the RSS/BJP.

The Congress president also extended his support to the nation-wide bandh called by the Dalit organisations against a Supreme Court ruling on SC/ST Atrocities Act.

Also Read | SC/ST Act: Oppressing Dalits in DNA of BJP-RSS, says Rahul Gandhi

Thousands of my Dalit brothers and sisters have come out on the streets to demand protection of their rights from the (Narendra) Modi government. We (Congress and I) salute them, Rahul added.

Modi attacked the Congress for ignoring Ambedkar International centre project and said that his government is honouring the father of Indias Constitution by completing projects conceived in his memory.

At the core of Dr. Ambedkar's ideals is peace and togetherness. Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission," the PM added.

Modis remark on the Dalit icon is seen as highly significant amid growing Dalit anger following the incidents of vandalism of Ambedkar statue across the BJP ruled states.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The Election Commission of India on Wednesday supported a petition filed at the Supreme Court seeking ban on candidates contesting an election from more than one constituency.

A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay wanting Section 33 (7) of the Representation of Peoples Act that allows a candidate to contest Lok Sabha or Assembly elections from two constituencies simultaneously to be scrapped.

According to the plea filed by Upadhyay, candidates contesting from more than one constituency often leads to a by-poll after a candidate wins from both the seats.

The poll panel in an affidavit said that the commission is of the view that the law should be amended to prevent a person from contesting in more than one seat.

If the legislature is in favour of the provision then an amendment should be made in the law, the affidavit said.

The poll conducting body also cited that viewing the expenditure, time election fatigue and harassment caused to the voters, Section 33(7) of the Representation of Peoples Act should be changed so that one candidate can contest from one constituency.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested from Vadodara and Varanasi constituency. He later resigned from Vadodara seat.



For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans on Wednesday were run over by a para-military force vehicle after being attacked by stone-pelters in South Kashmirs Kokernag.

The CRPF troops were going back to their camp after a day-long law and order duty in Kokernags Hiller area, when the attack took place in Anantnag, around 85 kilometres away from Srinagar.

The hilly terrain was an advantage for the stone-pelters.

ALSO READ: Barcelona, Juventus to clash in Navi Mumbai on April 27

Roop Singh, the driver of the vehicle lost his sight after a stone hit him in the head, followed by the truck running over the motorcycle in front in which the two CRPF jawans lost their lives. They were identified as Riyaz Ahmed Wani and Nissar Ahmed Wani.

Both the jawans were hurried to a hospital where they were declared brought dead. The truck turned turtle after the accident, causing minor injuries to the passengers.

Reinforcements were rushed to maintain law and order, an official said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

In a statement that could have a large bearing on the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday said the ruling party will not allow division of Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities.

"We will not allow the division of the Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities, Shah said while meeting Veerashaiva seers in Bagalkote.

After four-and-a-half years, Siddaramaiah has made this move. This is nothing but a conspiracy to mislead people before the elections and stopping BS Yeddyurappa from becoming chief minister. BJP and people understand this conspiracy and will not let this happen," the BJP president said.

Earlier on March 19, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka agreed to the recommendation of the Nagamohan Das Committee to grant a religious minority status to the Lingayat community.

Also Read | Karnataka government agrees to grant Lingayats religious minority status

The Siddaramaiah government then sent a proposal to the Union government to grant a religious minority status to the Lingayat and Veerashaiva Lingayat.

However, after Shahs statement in front of Veerashaiva seers, the chances of the proposal being approved by the Centre are very dim.

Lingayats are the followers of 12th-century saint Basavanna. There are two major factions of the community, the Veerashaivas and those who want to be recognised only as Lingayats.

The Lingayat and Veerashaiva Lingayat community comprises 17 per cent of Karnatakas total population. BJPs chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa is also a Lingayat.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Bareilly:

A teenager was gang-raped for hours in a moving SUV by miscreants in Uttar Pradeshs Bareilly district, said police on Wednesday.

A class 12 student was kidnapped in a SUV and was raped by unknown men on Tuesday for hours, injury marks were also found on her head and body, a police officer posted in Bareilly said.

According to police, the girl was abducted from Buduan while she was returning home from college.

The police officer further added that it is yet not known for how many hours the victim faced her perpetrators. She was found in unconscious state at a roadside under Fatehgunj police station limits, the officer added.

The victim was rushed to a local hospital for immediate medical attention. Till the time report was filed the girl was yet to recover her consciousness.

A special team has been formed by the Uttar Pradesh Police to nab the miscreants behind the act.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday said that the violence during the Bharat Bandh protests called by Dalit organisations over the alleged dilution of SC/ST Act was an indication of a weak and selfish leadership.

Incidents of violence happen when the leadership is weak and selfish, the Shiv Sena said in an editorial in partys mouthpiece Saamana.

In the hard-hitting editorial, the Sena accused the BJP-led NDA government of breaking the country in the name of caste.

The country had once been divided in the name of religion. If it is once again being broken apart in the name of caste, where is Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what is he doing? the Sena asked.

The Sena said that coming out on the streets against a Supreme Court order was against the ideology of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar - father of the Indian Constitution.

Also Read | SC/ST Act: Supreme Court refuses to stay dilution order, next hearing after 10 days

On Monday, at least 11 people died and scores others were injured in the violence that broke out during the Bharat Bandh protests called by Dalit organisations against the alleged dilution of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The disgruntled BJP ally also raked up Punjab National Bank scam and said that while diamond jeweller Nirav Modi looted the nation, the ruling government was breaking the country.

Creating a social divide and fanning riots for the sake of votes is political corruption. Nirav Modi looted the nation, however, the present dispensation is breaking the nation, the Sena lashed out.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

In a major embarrassment for Pakistan, the United Nations Security Councils consolidated list of terrorists and terror-supporting entities has 139 entries from the Islamic nation.

Updated on Tuesday, the UNSC list included 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed and Indias most wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

According to the United Nations, Dawood holds several Pakistani passports and owns a palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Noorabad, Karachi.

Hafiz Saeed is listed as a person wanted by Interpol for involvement in terrorist activities. Apart from Hafiz, the name of his two deputies Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal are also included in the updated list, the Dawn news reported.

Also Read | Woman opens fire at YouTube HQ, injures 3 before killing self

The 2008 Mumbai attack masterminds terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba and its aliases such as Jamaatud Dawa, al-Mansoorian, Paasban-i-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle Hadith, and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation also featured in the list.

Osama bin Ladens heir apparent and Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri is the first person on the list that identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan and have been associated with groups operating from Pakistani territory.

The terrorist entities that were allegedly based in Pakistan, worked from there or had links to Pakistani individuals, include Jaish-e-Mohammed, Afghan Support Committee, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Al Akhtar Trust International, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaatul Ahrar and Khatiba Imam Al-Bukhari.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Washington:

US President Donald Trump has said 'nobody has been tougher' on Russia than him even as he expressed hope that having a good relationship with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would be a 'great thing'.

Trump's comments came on Tuesday during a meeting with leaders of the Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- a day after the White House confirmed the president invited Putin to the Oval Office for a potential meeting.

"I think we'll be able to have great dialogue, I hope. And, if we can't, you'll be the first to know about it. Nobody's been tougher on Russia than I have," he said.

Trump was asked if he considered Putin a friend or a foe.

"It's a real possibility that I could have a good relationship. And remember this: Getting along with Russia is a good thing. Getting along with China is a good thing. Getting along with other countries, including your three countries is a good thing, not a bad thing," Trump told reporters at a White House joint news conference with Baltic leaders.

"So I think I could have a very good relationship with Russia and with President Putin. And if I did, that would be a great thing. And there's also a possibility that won't happen. Who knows?" he said.

Trump noted that the US is "very strong" on energy, which he said, is not good for Russia.

"We're essentially now energy-independent. We're an exporter of energy. That is not a positive for Russia. But it's certainly a positive for the United States," he said.

His administration, Trump said, has just passed a USD 700 billion military budget.

"Next year, USD 716 billion, the largest ever passed. We are going to have a military stronger than we've ever had before, by far. Now, that's not exactly a great thing for Russia. But that's the way it is. We're going to have the strongest military that we ever had," he said.

The US President reiterated the non-payment of bills by some NATO member countries.

"NATO was delinquent. They were not paying their bills. They were not paying, a lot of states, as we discussed. They were not -- they were not paying what they should be paying," he said.

Trump said since he came in, many billions of dollars additional have been paid by countries that weren't paying, and now they're paying.

"And they will have to pay more, frankly. They're going to have to pay more," Trump said.

"So there are many things that I've done, and not only the 60 diplomats. Germany did four, France did four, we did 60. There's nobody been tougher on Russia," he said on the US' expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats in response to a chemical attack on a former Russian spy in the UK.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Director of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk denies the existence of a conflict between his structure and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).

"If someone wants to say that there is a conflict, I responsibly report to you: there is no conflict between the Anti-corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office," Sytnyk said from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada after the speech of the SAPO head Nazar Kholodnytsky on Wednesday.

"There are certain criminal proceedings, certain materials that have been handed over to the competent authorities today. If it concerns the Criminal Code, it was transferred to the General Prosecutor's Office, if it concerns disciplinary proceedings - to the Commission of the Prosecutor's Office for discipline violations," NABU head said.

At the same time he urged not to speculate on this issue.

According to Sytnyk, at present the detectives of NABU and specialized anti-corruption prosecutors are working in the regular mode.Portugal supports the proposal of official Kyiv to introduce a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas, Ukraine's Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said.

"We've discussed the security situation in Ukraine and the world, as well as the issue of the introduction of a peacekeeping mission in Donbas. And we have received full support for the idea of introducing a mission on the basis of standards existing in the UN," Poltorak said at a joint with Portugal's Minister of National Defense Jose Alberto de Azeredo Lopes press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to the minister, during the meeting, the need to accelerate the signing of an agreement on cooperation, the issue of joint military exercises of the two countries, the exchange of experience in the protection of the sea coast were also discussed. "We have something to learn from Portuguese colleagues. We will cooperate in the search and rescue operations. Cooperation in the issue of cyber security is also important for us," Poltorak added.

The head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry also thanked his colleague for help in the treatment of Ukrainian soldiers who were injured in the course of performing tasks in the ATO zone.

In turn, the Minister of Defense of Portugal assured in full support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

"We cooperate with Ukraine as an equal partner ... We are interested in ensuring that our joint projects are useful not only in the military sphere of Ukraine, but also for the civilian population. In the future we will cooperate on specific projects on logistics, cyber security, issues of marine sphere," he said.

Lopes also expressed readiness to share experience in those defense issues in which Portugal achieved success.A radar station in Russia's Rostov region was unable to track the launch of the Russian Buk missile that shot down a Boeing passenger airline MH17 in July 2014 because it was calibrated only to track airplanes, not missiles.

A statement posted to the website of the Netherlands Prosecutor's Office says the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has come to this conclusion.

"A BUK-missile launched from the launching location established by the JIT need not be visible on the radar images of the radar station Ust-Donetsk at all. An important explanation of the absence of the BUK-missile on the radar images lies in the flight properties of a BUK-missile," the statement says.

As earlier reported, JIT investigators have concluded that a Russian Buk missile downed the Maylasian Airlines flight MH17 flying over occupied Donbas in July 2014, killing all 298 passengers on board. Russian officials have denied repeatedly any involvement.Oita Prefectural Police have cited a driver of a vehicle for the Google Street View service for traveling in a restricted area of Oita City, reports the Mainichi Shimbun

At around 1:30 p.m. on Friday, the driver drove a special vehicle, which shoots footage of streets from multiple angles, down the Galleria Takemachi pedestrian shopping street in the Chuomachi area.

Police ticketed the male driver for violating the Road Traffic Act by entering a restricted area.

Galleria Takemachi includes shops and restaurants. Google made an email inquiry with the management of Galleria Takemachi about filming on the street. However, a response was not received.

Google issued an apology for any trouble the incident maybe have, according to TBS News (Apr. 3).China Supports Denuclearization Moves By North Korea

In an interesting turn of events, China has supported North Korea's diplomatic moves towards denuclearization. Wang Yi, senior Chinese diplomat spoke the foreign minister of North Korea Ri Yong Ho, supporting the planned summits that are to take place between the United States and North Korea. He also expressed appreciation towards the efforts undertaken by N. Korea towards easing the tensions brewing in the Korean Peninsula.

According to Wang Yi, when there has been an easing in the situation on the peninsula and a ray of hope is found for establishing peace through mutual dialogue, there have often been obstacles and disturbances to destabilize the situation. "We call on all parties to maintain their determination, eliminate interference, and go along in the right direction of dialogue and negotiation," he said to the reporters.

What did Yong Ho have to Say?

In response to these appreciations, Yong Ho expressed that his country will continue to maintain close ties as well as strategic communications with China. The same was outlined in the surprise meeting that was planned between Kim Jong Un and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Kim's visit to Beijing has made it clear that China will have a major role to play in controlling or reining the nuclear program developed by his country. It is notable to mention here that China is the only major ally of North Korea and is also its chief provider for trade and energy requirements, thus helping to keep its broken economy afloat.

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A Positive Development

China has always been kind of secretive about being the closest ally of North Korea. The ties have also been through testing times when Kim Jong Un's fanatic pursuit for nuclear weapons was not supported by the Chinese government and Beijing also backed the tough United Nations sanctions against these weapons, as reported by Reuters.

However, positive developments stemmed in March this year when Beijing upheld its friendship with its neighbor and won a pledge by Kim in response to denuclearize the peninsula. The meeting between Wang, the state councilor and Yong Ho, the foreign minister of North Korea took place only on an hours' notice!

With major forces joining hands, things are really looking up for the Korean peninsula.

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 2021 Korea Portal, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Ozlu made the suggestion during a recent meeting with Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Van Trung and deputy head of the National Assembly's Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung, who were on a working visit to Turkey to learn about building free economic zones and concentrated industrial parks (IPs).

The Turkish official spent time introducing his Vietnamese guests to Turkeys mechanisms for managing more than 300 concentrated IPs, coordination among the state, localities and enterprises in the work, and preferential policies for domestic and foreign firms to invest in IPs.

He said he joined Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yilidirims official visit to Vietnam in 2017 and met with Turkish investors operating in the country. He hopes that Turkish firms will soon open IPs in Vietnam in the future.

In his meeting with the Vietnamese delegation, Turkish Deputy Minister of Economy Fatih Metin said his country welcomes Vietnamese firms to invest in 18 free economic zones in Turkey.

He also called on the Vietnamese Government to continue supporting Turkish investors in Vietnam.

For their part, the Vietnamese officials affirmed the experience shared by the hosts would help Vietnam to finalise the draft Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units.

The Vietnamese delegation also had a meeting with representatives from the Vietnamese Embassy in Turkey, during which they were briefed on the development of bilateral relations and the embassys efforts to promote trade ties with Turkey.

Ambassador Pham Anh Tuan said the agency is doing its utmost to foster ties between the two countries enterprises, hoping that it will receive support from ministries and sectors in the homeland in the process.Official data showed that Vietnams agricultural exports for the January-March period hit US$8.7 billion, up 9.6% from the same quarter of 2017.

MARD Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that the agricultural picture in the first three months of the year was very positive, laying the foundation for continued growth in the coming quarters.

The ministry aims to reach a full-year growth rate of at least 3% for the sector, with export revenues targeted at US$40-40.5 billion.

According to the MARD, Vietnam produced an estimated 11.18 million tonnes of rice in the first quarter of 2018, up 5.4% from the same period of 2017.

At the same time, Vietnams rice export prices increased as a result of their improving quality and it is projected that the country could ship 6.5 million tonnes of the grain this year, the MARD said, noting that 81% of Vietnams rice exports were high quality grains.

Vietnam also aims to export US$10 billion worth of seafood this year.

Currently the MARD is working closely with local authorities to instruct fishermen in strictly complying with fishing rules and regulations so as to remove the yellow card issued by the EU last year as a warning over illegal fishing.Syracuse, N.Y. -- Scattered power outages and flooding along lakes Erie and Ontario are possible today as winds up to 65 mph roar through Upstate New York.

Winds are expected to pick up this morning and peak in the late afternoon. They will be strongest along the lakes and in the hills, and in east-west valleys such as the Mohawk Valley.

Waves on Lake Ontario could exceed 20 feet, and the winds could push water onto the shore and cause flooding. Buffalo's harbor could also be damaged by ice pushed in from Lake Erie.

High wind warnings have been expanded to include nearly all of Upstate New York except the lower Hudson Valley.

"Strong to damaging winds are expected and will likely bring down some trees and power lines, resulting in scattered power outages," the National Weather Service said. "Travel will also become hazardous for high-profile vehicles."

Wind gusts could exceed 60 mph in parts of Upstate New York this afternoon.

The winds could be strong enough to knock down limbs and trees. Soil saturated by recent rain and melting snow makes it more likely that trees will be uprooted.

A rare storm warning has also been issued for Lake Ontario waters from Rochester to Watertown, where waves could reach 18 to 23 feet.

The weather service advises recreation boaters to stay off the lake and says commercial vessels "should prepare for very strong winds and dangerous sea conditions."

Lakeshore flood warnings are in effect today for the eastern ends of lakes Erie and Ontario. In Lake Erie, the weather service said, minor flooding is expected along the shore, including the Buffalo Harbor and waterfront.

In addition, ice from the lake could get pushed onto shore "and possibly over the ice boom into the Upper Niagara River, resulting in damage along the Upper Niagara River shoreline."

At the eastern end of Lake Ontario, the weather service said, "significant wave action will result in lakeshore flooding and shoreline erosion." The areas likely to be hit today are those where the shoreline remains chewed up from last year's flooding.

Contact Glenn Coin: Email | Twitter | Google + | (315) 470-3251Toto Wolff

We suspected that the new season would be close fought and the first race confirmed those suspicions. We made mistakes and did not perform to our maximum  and it reminded us that this is the toughest racing series in the world, where every error is punished. It hurt to leave all those points on the table, especially because we know we had the pace to win in Australia.

Back at base, we did what we always do after a tough weekend. We made sure that we understand what went wrong and put a process in place to make sure that we dont see a similar issue in the future. These painful moments are the real learning experiences. Mistakes become training.

We expect Bahrain to be another challenging weekend, although the challenges will be of a completely different nature. The race in the desert is tricky because the conditions change drastically between sessions. FP1 and FP3 take place in the heat of the day whereas Qualifying and the race itself take place after sunset so its much cooler. That makes it extremely difficult to find the right set-up with the car.

Bahrain is also a power-sensitive race with the long straights. We saw in Melbourne that the Ferraris in particular were very quick, so I expect it to be a close battle. Weve seen some great racing in Bahrain in recent years, particularly between our drivers back in 2014, so I think we can look forward to an exciting and competitive weekend.Robert Kubica insists he does not see himself as a "teacher" at Williams.

The British team has come under fire for its heavily sponsored and notably young and inexperienced lineup of Lance Stroll alongside Sergey Sirotkin.

But Kubica, the experienced former BMW and Renault driver, is the official reserve.

"I would not say that Im a teacher and theyre my students," he told TVP Sport.

"But they do have little experience  like anybody when they start. F1 is a complicated sport," Kubica added.

"Lance and Sergey come to me with questions, more so Stroll than Sirotkin. Its nothing personal with Sergey  perhaps Lance just has some experience already and so he knows what to ask."

Russian Sirotkin told the Russian media ahead of this weekends Bahrain grand prix that his and Williams performance in Australia was disappointing.

"We expected more when we went to Melbourne," he admitted.

"In particular, I expected more from myself. But its not as terrible as it looked in qualifying, so we have high hopes that we can progress in the near future.

"Our goal is to gain a foothold in the middle group, which means getting into the second segment of qualifying, fighting to get into the final one, and fighting for points," said Sirotkin.

"Yes, we were pretty far from that in Australia, but I really hope that it was just one of those failures that is always lying in wait for you during a season."According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Germany, the US, Indonesia, Italy and Japan were among the countrys key export markets. Germany accounted for more than 14% of exports though its purchases fell by 18% year-on-year.

Do Ha Nam, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, described the situation as good.

The sectors export target for the 2017-18 crop is 1.5 million tonnes. In the last quarter of 2017, 400,000 tonnes of coffee had been exported, meaning only another 600,000 tonnes have to be exported to meet the target.

The association said Vietnams coffee output is expected to increase by 15% this year, but would not create pressure because the increase would be much lower than in most years.

Vietnam exported 1.4 million tonnes last year for US$3.2 billion. The countrys exports were down sharply last year due to a fall in output because of the impact of climate change, but thanks to high prices, the export value was down by only 2.7% over 2016, the association said.

Vietnam is the second largest exporter behind Brazil. The countrys coffee industry has carried out a restructuring programme to improve its competitiveness by improving productivity, quality and value.

Under the programme, the country plans to keep the coffee growing area at 600,000ha and focus on planting new trees with higher productivity and quality, it said.A pro-democracy group, the Northern Alternative Forum, NAF, has endorsed the second term bid of President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of 2019 general polls, saying Buhari remains the credible presidential candidate from the region for now.In order to achieve its dream, the group announced it is forming an alliance with other 15 groups with a view to engaging the services of two ICT professionals from Germany and Switzerland to execute the 2019 campaign for the Buhari/Osinbajo re-election bid.Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the National Chairman of NAF, Mallam Gidado Ibrahim, said no amount of campaign of calumny against the President that would deter him from seeking for re-election to continue his quest to return the country to path of glory.Mallam Ibrahim, who said there is no better candidate than President Muhammadu Buhari for now, however, advised some Northern elements searching for a replacement for Buhari from the region ahead of the 2019 general polls, to dump the ideas.He said recent moves by the elders and stakeholders in the North to get a consensus credible presidential candidate from the zone other than Buhari, would amount to wild a goose chase.Recall some elders converged in Abuja penultimate Saturday where they had said President Buhari and late President Umaru YarAdua, both from the North, were not chosen by Northerners but were rather foisted on the North and the country in general by some political forces.Ibrahim said the search for a credible candidate other than President Buhari may turnout to be a wild goose chase, as no politician from the region has shown strong political will to change the economic and social fortunes of the country.According to him, After reviewing the outcome of the meeting held recently by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and other interest groups in the North, we in the Northern Alternative Forum have come to the conclusion that shopping for a credible presidential candidate other than President Muhammad Buhari will only come to a dead end.Apart from acceptability and credibility, neither the ruling APC nor the opposition PDP can boast of a political figure with the will-power to govern Nigeria with its current complexities. The search in PDP is quite herculean for them and in the APC the case is not different. We urge our very respected elders to thread with caution so as not to return the country to wrongs hands like what we saw in the 16 years of PDP misrule.Ibrahim also urged Nigerians to be wary of political propagandists in the opposition camp who are bent on wielding the country back to the era of massive looting by attempting to destroy the goodwill President Buhari enjoys among the Nigerian populace in order to install another corrupt regime.He further noted that the era of siphoning funds meant for arms purchase was over, even as he noted that the oil sector under the current administration has been purged of corrupt elements who squandered the countrys fortunes on frivolities.Those who think they can sabotage the Buhari administration through malicious allegations shall soon take their own tea with salt. It is very disappointing and disturbing to see people with bad records in leadership taking Nigerians for a ride. Sadly for them, their campaign of calumny against the President has failed woefully because Nigerians can read between the lines.The All Progressives Congress APC has mourned the death of its Senator representing Katsina North in the Senate, Mustapha Bukar.In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, APC said; Although, a first-time federal lawmaker, the late Senator Bukar made his mark in the Senate through his progressive and pro-people legislative interventions, particularly through his Chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Capital Market.At Party level, we have indeed lost a dependable and loyal Party man who contributed immensely to the growth and strength of our great Party.We extend deep condolences to his family, constituents, National Assembly, particularly the Senate, President Muhammadu Buhari and the government and people of Katsina State over the sad and painful loss. It is our prayer that the Almighty Allah grants the late Senator Aljannah Firdaus, the party added.The Senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, Dino Melaye, has said the International Police Organisation, INTERPOLs refus...

The Senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, Dino Melaye, has said the International Police Organisation, INTERPOLs refusal to place him on its watch list has vindicated him of the allegations of illegal possession of firearms and arming political thugs.





A statement issued in Abuja by Gideon Ayodele, his Special Adviser on Media, reads in full: INTERPOL has explained why it has refused to do the bidding of the Nigeria Police by placing Senator Dino Melaye on its Watch List, about a week after the Kogi State Command of the local police declared him wanted over pre-meditated and spurious allegations of illeagal possession of firearms and arming political thugs.





There is no doubt that the position of the INTERPOL validates his assertions and belief that the latest allegations against him were politically motivated by the Kogi State government and its agents, hence he has been vindicated from outside Nigeria since INTERPOL does not engage in politically-motivated operations.





We have earlier expressed our worry regarding the institution of the Nigeria Police becoming entangled in the Kogi political crisis and its partial involvement rather than a mediator or law enforcement agency. Perhaps the message to the local police will be more lounder now that INTERPOL has refused to be dragged into local and partisan politics in Kogi State.



Alhaji Mustapha Jokolo, ex-Aide de Camp (ADC) to President Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State, has disclosed that former National Security ...

Alhaji Mustapha Jokolo, ex-Aide de Camp (ADC) to President Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State, has disclosed that former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki facilitated the 1983 coup that brought Buhari to power.

The deposed Emir of Gwandu made this declaration in an interview with the Sun.





He was reacting to a new book authored by General Muhammadu Ilyasu Bashar (retd.) who replaced him as the current Emir of Gwandu.





Jokolo took exception to some of the details contained in General Bashars book and gave his account of the funding of the coup that made Buhari Head of State.





Honestly speaking, my heart bleeds because of what is happening to Sambo Dasuki now, I worry a lot, he said.





It is an irony. If I had not brought him (Dasuki) in this thing (1983 coup plot), it could not have happened with Buhari being Head of State. It was Sambo Dasuki who facilitated it not me. I only suggested it.





He was the one who convinced these people. I swear to God Almighty. He was the one. He did a lot, honestly speaking.





So I connected them with Sambo Dasuki and wallahi Sambo. Even when we were planning the coup that saw Buhari as Head of State, Sambo Dasuki was the one who was getting money for us from Aliyu Gusau and Chief of Army Staff votes to help the coup plot because not a single Kobo did we get from Buhari.



A former Governor of Plateau State now Senator representing Plateau North in the National Assembly, Jonah Jang has described the recent looters list released by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed which alleged that Jang embezzlement N12.5billion as laughable on preliminary evaluation, and pathetic when considered on the scales of truth and reality.Jang in a statement issued Wednesday said, The so called list of looters is a testament to the desperation which holds the All Progressives Congress in its firm grip after what is now certainly an infamous cameo in power considered by many to be tragic and regrettable.He wondered how possible it was for him to get such amount stating, For all those who were on the list, sources of the funds allegedly looted were stated, but in my case, there was none. How possible is it for me to have gotten N12.5billion just like that from nobody and nowhere?Unlike Lai Mohammed and the Federal Government, I know without any shadow of doubt, that to be a looter, one must have stolen or taken something by force. If their allegation is anything to go by, it falls short of the lowest standards of believability; otherwise they would have noticed that the allegation of getting N12.5billion from an unknown source isnt the same as looting the said amount.The Senator further noted that before going to the Senate, he did his best for his people but the APC government having found no opportunity to tarnish his image, is seeking every avenue to rubbish him and his achievements.His words, I was Governor of Plateau State from 2007-2015. For 8years, I did my best for my people. The landmark achievements recorded within that period remain unmatched till date. They are a legacy of diligence, service, and accountability in governance. A computation of the value of the projects we executed throughout the 17 Local Government Areas of the State reveals a massive gulf of inequality between the insufficient resources we got as subvention and internally generated revenue.When the APC government in Plateau State took me to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), they could not get a single case of financial impropriety to be filed against me in the courts. The EFCC has thoroughly investigated me and they know I dont have an offshore bank account. They have all my account numbers and know the balances in each. Did they find the N12.5billion in any of them?Apparently unhappy with the findings of the EFCC they quickly ran to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission ICPC, seeking to have me investigated again. From the look of things that too would be another wild-goose chase which would ultimately culminate in another anticlimax.Today, majority of Nigerians know that the present Federal Government only pays lip service to the fight against corruption. Where they appear to be serious, it is in media trials and persecution of the opposition and perceived opponents. Why are we not talking of the campaign funds of the APC? Where did they get their funding from? Did they pluck the billions they spent from trees? Until and unless they tell Nigerians how they funded their campaigns in 2015, Nigerians would continue to see them as they are, and would not hesitate to vote them out in 2019.He however asked the Minister to make amends by recanting the phantom allegations he made against my good person within a very reasonable timeframe or face the consequence of his indiscretion in the foreseeable future.A former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, on Tuesday hit back at the critics of President Muhammadu Buharis administration, saying that he deserves a second term.He said this during a courtesy visit to the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, in Abeokuta.His comments came on the heels of former President Olusegun Obasanjos Mondays comments that the Buhari-led administration had been ineffective and incompetent and did not deserve re-election in 2019.Kalu, who is the coordinator of National Movement for Re-election of Muhammadu Buhari, however, argued during his visit to the Alake that President Buhari has performed well and deserved another term in office.While he noted that Nigeria had continued to contend with the challenge of leaders who never obeyed the law, he, however, added that Buhari should not be bothered about criticisms and scathing letters.He said, In any democracy, there must be people for and against. We are for Buhari, some people are against and we wish them well. And we want to thank you for the key role of peace that you and other traditional rulers have been playing. Nigeria unity is non-negotiable.We are for the oneness of this country, we are for leaders who are sincere to lead us well, we are for leaders who are equally committed to the rules and tenets of democracy.The greatest challenge of our country is leaders not obeying the law. When they are leaders, they dont want to obey the law; when they go out of leadership, they criticise everybody who wants to obey the law. This is the problem of the country.We have had leaders who disobeyed every law of the land. We have also had leaders who were reckless when they were in power and when they go out, they call people all kinds of name. We have also seen leaders that have never seen anything good in other peoples leadership, they only know about themselves.So, we want to thank you for the supportI know you are a close friend of President Muhammadu Buhari and I want you to maintain that friendship; dont allow anybody to distract you whether people from here or from my area, stay in course.President Buhari has not finished the job he came to do. If God gives him good health and long life, he has not finished. He has to go for another four years to be able to finish.Oba Gbadebo commended the former Abia State governor for his message of love and strong belief in Buharis capacity to deliver good governance to the country.He described Kalu as a detribalised Nigerian, whose tenure as governor was marked with the monumental development of the state.Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State fell off while alighting from his official car on Friday, March 30, and injured his left foot, a sta...

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State fell off while alighting from his official car on Friday, March 30, and injured his left foot, a statement from the Kogi Government House, Lokoja, said on Tuesday.The statement signed by the Director General, Media and Publicity to the Governor, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo, said the incident happened at the Old Market area in Lokoja, when the governor was waiting to receive the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.The Speaker had visited Lokoja for the burial of Mr. Umar Buba Jibril, a member of the House of Representatives, who died in Abuja on Friday.The injury prevented the governor from attending the burial of Jibril. He was represented by his deputy, Mr. Simon Achuba, the statement said.It dismissed claims that Bello was hospitalised and incapacitated, stating that the governor was promptly treated by his doctors, who bandaged the leg and discharged him.The government thanked the governors supporters for their concern over his health, saying that Bello was doing well and would resume work after the Easter holidays.The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the clarification was necessitated by reports that the governor was critically injured in the accident.However, a source who witnessed the accident told one of our correspondents that the governor, who was trying to alight from his car, a BMW which is smaller than his official Prado Jeep, tripped and sprained his left ankle and his two arms.The eyewitness disclosed further that the car dragged the governor for some metres before he was rescued by some people and his security details.He added that the governor was rushed to one of the private hospitals in Abuja for further treatment.But Fanwo, in a statement on Tuesday, said Bello only injured his left foot while alighting from the vehicle.Due to the accident, Bello on Tuesday attended a meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on crutches.The meeting was between President Muhammadu Buhari and all the governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress.Bello attractted the attention of his colleagues and others when he arrived the Council Chambers venue of the meeting on crutches.Under the theme Vietnam Expo - Enhancing Regional and Global Economic Links, the event will be held at the Hanoi International Exhibition Centre (ICE), No. 91 Tran Hung Dao.

Up to now, the event has attracted the participation of more than 500 booths of 450 enterprises from 23 countries and territories around the world including Egypt, Cambodia, Cuba, Taiwan (China), the Republic of Korea (RoK), Hong Kong (China), Laos, Russia, Mongolia, Nepal, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and China.

Russia will take part in this years event as a guest of honour, which is expected to bring greater opportunities for effective trade promotion between the two countries.

In addition, this years event will mark the 20 year anniversary of RoK's participation in the foreign countries booth, featuring the participation of about 132 RoKs enterprises with 150 booths.

The fair will showcase various products of different commodities, including machinery and equipment, construction and building materials, electricity, electronics, information and technology, materials, food and beverages, agricultural products, appliances, and health care products and services.Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, says former President Olusegun Obasanjo has no moral right to accuse anyone of being corrupt.

Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, says former President Olusegun Obasanjo has no moral right to accuse anyone of being corrupt.Describing Obasanjo as a whited sepulchre, Adebanjo said the former President had not disputed that he had only N20,000 in his bank account as of when he returned from the prison in 1999 and that a former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, and a businessman, Oyewole Fasawe, saved him from bankruptcy.Adebanjo said if Nigeria were a decent society, people like Obasanjo would never feature in public life again, saying it continued to amaze him how people continued to give the former President undue prominence in spite of his known character.He said he was sure that when a real government of the people comes into power, they would take Obasanjos Presidential Library Complex in Abeokuta from the former President.Adebanjo, who will turn 90 years on April 10, said these in his autobiography, Telling it as it is, which was publicly presented in Lagos on Tuesday.He attacked the former President, particularly in chapter 13 of the 233-page book, which he titled, Awolowo, Obasanjo and the Yoruba Nation.At the event, chaired by a former military Vice-President, Cmdr. Ebitu Ukiwe (retd.), were the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, and former governors of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel.Also present was a former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, a former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, a former Minister of Industry, Mrs. Nike Akande, the founder of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, and Chief Albert Horsfall.Also present were the Chairman of First Bank Nigeria, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, industrialist, Chief Rasaq Okoya, Prof. Pat Utomi and Tony Elumelu.In his book, Adebanjo described Obasanjos eight years in government between 1999 and 2007 as a civilian President as a tragedy and calamity, declaring that his scorecard was nothing to write home about.He wrote, The man who carried on as if he was all-in-all failed woefully on all counts as President. His eight-year tenure (1999-2007) was a tragedy. His scorecard was nothing to write home about. What did he do in eight years? Before he came, we were buying fuel for N20 per litre, and crude oil was $23 per barrel. In 2007, under his regime, we were buying fuel at N75 per litre, and crude oil was between $65 and $75 per barrel. In the worst days of Abacha, one dollar was over N120.Adebanjo, a disciple of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, said Obasanjo humiliated Awolowo, when the latter visited him to discuss the interest of the Yoruba after Obasanjo became the military head of state following the assassination of Maj. Gen. Murtala Mohammed on February 13, 1976.He said, There are many incidents to show that Obasanjo is anti-Yoruba. He has no interest in, or sympathy for the Yoruba cause, he only has his own interest for everything he does. That is my conclusion, and I have copious evidence to prove it.Adebanjo also blamed Obasanjo for the collapse of the Alliance for Democracy by picking the late Bola Ige, a member of the AD, as a minister in 1999 against the wish of the party.He said, As far as I am concerned, the moment Bola Ige joined Obasanjos government, following his (Bola Ige) loss of ADs presidential primaries where he polled six votes against Chief Olu Falaes 17, marked the beginning of the end of the party. In my opinion, these are the scenarios which led to the collapse of the AD.In his remarks at the event, Anyaoku described Adebanjo as one of those who have been responsible in creating the history of our country.Anyaoku said like Adebanjo, he witnessed the time when Nigeria operated regional governments and did very well.He said, I lived in those years and there has never been any doubt in my mind that our country, Nigeria, was doing extremely well when it had a true federation of four regions, with each region developing at its own pace, with its citizens feeling proud to belong to the bigger Nigerian country.We have since, of course, lost that basic structure of governance and when we think about the progress we were making in those days, we think, first and foremost of the Western Region under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo Those were days when there was healthy competition in the Eastern Region of Nigeria, Chief Awolowos counterpart, Dr. Michael Okpara, was also focusing on the development of his region; the agricultural development in eastern Nigeria was very significant; and in the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello was also learning from the experience of his colleagues in the Western Region, the Eastern Region and the Mid-West Region.Those were days when you could talk about the famous groundnut pyramids in northern Nigeria or talk about the vast plantations of cotton that Nigeria was producing and indeed, you could talk about the very high quality hides and skin, which were being marketed abroad as Moroccan leather because of their superior quality. And the country as a whole was doing reasonably well.Anyaoku blamed the military intervention for the woes of the country, arguing that the military should not have altered the constitution.He said, I believe that if the military had not intervened in our governance in January 1966 and remained in power for so many years and if they had not disfigured our constitution, I used the word disfigured advisedly, because I do not believe that there is any country in the world that has the diversity that Nigeria has, diversity of peoples who have lived for several centuries in their geographical areas, who have their distinct cultural traditions.I dont believe there is anywhere in the world where such a country with such diversity can live under a unitary government. So, we do need in Nigeria, a true federal structure and this was one of the abiding thoughts that Chief Obafemi Awolowo advocated throughout his life and the legacy that he left.Also speaking, Tinubu described Adebanjo as a principled and upright man, saying he owed his election as governor of Lagos State in 1999 to Adebanjos insistence on fair play.Tinubu said he aligned with Adebanjo on the call for restructuring and true federalism.He said, I respect him for his principled stand on issues of the country. If you dont understand him, you might say he is divisive but what is the meaning of restructuring, if not true federalism? If not about freedom and opportunity for each federating units to come up with their blueprints, govern and promote the unity of the country. What is the meaning of restructuring, if it is not about resource management and opportunity for true federalism in any democratic setting? I agree with that and I am with him on that.Elder statesman, Tanko Yakasai, and a popular Lagos-based lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa have reacted to former president Olusegun Obasanjos lat...

Elder statesman, Tanko Yakasai, and a popular Lagos-based lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa have reacted to former president Olusegun Obasanjos latest criticism of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Yakasai on his part accused Obasanjo of shedding crocodile tears, because, according to him, he knew Buharis capacity but chose to support him nonetheless.





He told Sun Obasanjo is shedding crocodile tears.





The former president knew Buharis antecedents and capacity having worked together in the military, but chose to support him nonetheless.





Similarly, Adegboruwa said Obasanjo lacked the moral authority to reverse himself and tell the country who to vote for.





He introduced us to the late president Musa YarAdua, but that was aborted because of YarAduas demise. He then introduced us to Goodluck Jonathan, but that didnt work; he is also now saying that Buhari is a failure.





It means that out of the three projects that he introduced to us, it didnt work because none has taken us to our Eldorado.



The Peoples Democratic Party and the Coalition for Nigeria Movement have supported former President Olusegun Obasanjos assertion that President Muhammadu Buhari administration is a failure.The PDP and the CNM, which stated this in separate interviews with our correspondents on Tuesday, advised Buhari to accept criticisms.The opposition party said that the former President spoke the minds of Nigerians on Buharis performance.The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said that the PDP was not surprised at the summation of the Presidents scorecard as a failure by the former President.He said, President Obasanjo spoke the minds of Nigerians on the performance of President Buhari. We all know that the President has not done well. It is clear that the ruling party and the Presidency are asleep and do not know what to do with power.The President has no economic blueprint, nothing on security and nothing on infrastructural development. His main agenda is to come and fight perceived enemies and also bring his relations to government. That is why he is surrounded by his relations only.He, however, disagreed with Obasanjo on the apology the PDP offered to Nigerians and members of the party.On its part, the CNM asked Buhari to accept the criticisms and stop being recalcitrant. The spokesman for the CNM, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, said this during an interview with one of our correspondents on Tuesday.He said Buhari had done nothing but had been giving excuses in the last three years, adding that his penchant for blaming his predecessor was no longer amusing to Nigerians.Osuntokun said, When Obasanjo became President in 1999, there were many challenges he inherited from the past military governments but he was working. Buhari has been in power for nearly three years and he continues to blame the past government.Government is a continuum. Was he not expecting to meet any challenges? Which government doesnt inherit challenges? Let him tell the world what he has accomplished in the face of challenges.He claims to be fighting corruption but the Transparency International has rated Nigeria worse than it did during Jonathans government. Under Buhari, Nigeria has become more divided than ever. We stand with Obasanjo.But a senior lawyer, Festus Keyamo, on his twitter handle, berated Obasanjo.He stated, For the records, the 2007 elections over which he (Obasanjo) presided was adjudged one of the worst the world has ever seen, prompting President YarAdua to apologise to Nigerians.Since 1960, a few people have always determined who would govern all of us. They are the ones now writing letters and inciting the people. 2019 would be a defining moment as the people of this country will truly determine their own fate and put these self-conceited leaders to ultimate shame.However, a member of the National Executive Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Nasiru Danu, asked Nigerians to continue to support Buhari.He said that the statements credited to Obasanjo on the re-election bid of the President were his personal opinion, adding that the ex-President could not speak for Nigerians.Speaking during an interactive session with journalists at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja on Tuesday, Danu said though Obasanjo remained an elder statesman, his assertions on the performance of President Buhari were political.President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday commiserated with the government and people of Katsina State and the National Assembly on the death of Senator Mustapha Bukar, who represented Katsina North constituency.In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President described Bukars death as a great loss to Nigerias democracy and the engineering profession.Buhari also sent condolences to the family members, friends and professional colleagues of the deceased, who he noted distinguished himself as an engineer before vying for political office to serve his people.The President recalled that as a young engineer, the deceased used his ingenuity to proffer a lasting solution to the perennial water crisis in Katsina, working at different times as a General Manager of the Water Board, Director of National Water Rehabilitation Project and Director, Water Supply at the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.Senator Bukar was so dedicated to his responsibilities and hardworking that he got an appointment with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, where he also demonstrated the same dedication and passion for service.aI am always touched by the death of dedicated and creative public servants like Senator Bukar. We should emulate such rare and hardworking Nigerians for the progress of our country, the President added.Buhari prayed that Allah will bless and forgive the soul of the deceased.Deputy Senate President Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has expressed deep sadness over the sudden death of their colleague, Senator Mustapha Bukar.Bukar, 64, a native of Daura, until his death, Wednesday, was the Senator representing the Senatorial district of President Muhammadu Buhari, Katsina North on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.Late Senator Bukar who died after a brief illness, was until his death, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market Development, the position he took over from the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke of Osun West who died in the same month of April last year.Kanta Bukar, the younger brother of the deceased, who confirmed the death, said that the Senator died in the early hours of yesterday at the Nizamiyya hospital, Abuja and was survived by two wives and 12 children, including Dr Ibrahim Bukar of the Nigeria Communication Commission.Bukars death brings to four, the number of Senators that have died since the coming on board of the current 8th Senate.It will be recalled that prior to the Inauguration of the 8th Senate, June 9, 2015, the then Senator  elect, Senator Ahmed Zanna, APC, Borno Central died at the age of 59 in his Abuja residence, 16th May, 2015; just as after then, former governor of Osun state, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, APC, Osun West died at the age of 62 at Bikets Hospital, Osogbo and last month, March 17, Senator Ali Wakili, APC, Bauchi South died at his Gwarimpa residence, Abuja.Ekweremadu, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media, Uche Anichukwu, expressed rude shock and sadness over the death of Bukar, described the incident as a heavy blow to the Senate and the entire nation.Ekweremadu said: Distinguished Senator Mustaphas exit is a grave loss and big blow not only to the Senate and the National Assembly, but to the entire nation.He was a fine gentleman, quite humane, diligent, perceptive, and humble. He was a pan-Nigerian and a pro-masses lawmaker, who showed great interest in finding lasting solution to the nations perennial energy problem. He will be sorely missed.I send heartfelt condolences to his immediate family, the Government of Katsina State, and his constituents, particularly President Muhammadu Buhari.Ekweremadu prayed God to grant eternal rest to the soul of the departed and support the late Senators family, the good people of Katsina State, and the nation with the fortitude to bear the irreversible loss.Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and presidential candidate for the 2019 election, says even while sleeping, he can do better...

Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and presidential candidate for the 2019 election, says even while sleeping, he can do better than President Muhammadu Buhari.





On Tuesday, hundreds of his supporters and members of the #TakeBackNigeria Movement welcomed Sowore at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.





While addressing the crowd, Sowore who will be undertaking series of rallies and town hall meetings, said he is in Nigeria to lead a movement to change power in 2019.





It is over for the old people, it is over for the cabal, it is over for the mafias that have been running Nigeria down, he said.





I can run Nigeria better than President Buhari, even in my sleep. There is no need to become a local government councillor or a senator when I can run a better country as the president of the federal republic of Nigeria. I am the most transparent candidate.





Sowore had said in an interview that he has a shadow cabinet currently understudying each sector ahead of the 2019 election.





Unlike President Buhari who did not elect a cabinet until after six months of taking office, I have begun to bring together a shadow cabinet of experts that are understudying what is going on right now in each sector of the Nigerian nation so that when we are voted in by the Nigerian people, we can truly hit the ground running from day one he had said.



Hours after their meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC currently in a closed-door meeting with the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun led National Working Committee NWC of the party.The governors had earlier in the day met with the president and resolved to jettison the decision of the 4th National Executive Committee NEC meeting of the party in February which asked the NWC to continue to work in acting capacity for the next one year.We consulted and all the 24 governors of the APC are on the same page with Mr. President that we are going to respect our party constitution, we are going to respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.So, therefore, we collectively agreed that we will have congresses at all levels  local, state and national, Zamfara state Governor, Abdulaziz Yari had told State House Correspondents.Vanguard recalls that on a day the NWC inaugurated a 10-member technical committee to advise it on the contentious issue of tenure elongation for party officials, the governors had met with the president to evolve solutions to the challenges thrown up by the issue. That Tuesday meeting was reportedly deadlocked, with the governors reconvening later in the evening to adopt a common position before meeting with the president Wednesday morning.Among governors at the closed door meeting with the NWC is Kogi state Governor, Yahaya Bello, Oyo state Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, Gov. Yari and a host of others.The two New Jersey State Police Troopers seen in a video recently posted online searching a driver's waistband and genital area for marijuana remain on active duty as an internal investigation is ongoing, a State Police spokesman said Tuesday.

Video footage of the March 8, 2017, traffic stop in Southampton Township in Burlington County came to light after John Paff, an open public records watchdog, obtained the body-worn camera footage from a records request and posted it on his blog Monday.

Paff was alerted to it after the driver's attorney, Arthur Lang, filed a late notice of claim on Jan. 22 under the Tort Claims Act.

The motion was filed past the 90-day statute of limitations in state court to give a government body notice of a possible lawsuit. Superior Court Judge Aimee Belgard in Burlington Couty denied the motion on March 16.

The driver can still file a civil rights lawsuit in federal court, which does not have the notice of claim requirement.

Lang, the attorney, said Tuesday that his client "is not comfortable" with the publicity and declined to discuss the case.

"We're just going to go ahead with the case and do what we have to do in the courts," he said.

The driver, who NJ Advance Media is not identifying, was stopped by State Police for allegedly trailing the vehicle in front of him too closely.

Trooper Joseph Drew claimed he smelled marijuana, according to the court documents. He then took the driver and a passenger out of the vehicle, handcuffed them, and placed them both in the back of a police cruiser, according to court documents.

Drew searched the driver's genital area for marijuana, according to the court documents and video footage. After finding nothing, the documents state, he took the handcuffs off the driver and the passenger and let them return to the vehicle.

The driver was giving a citation for tailgating, which was dismissed in municipal court.

Based on the facts presented in the video, experts said it's hard to determine if the court will see the need for a search warrant in this case.

Robert Bianchi, the former prosecutor in Morris County who is now a private attorney, said there is a higher level of scrutiny when a police officer invades the privacy of a person opposed to a motor vehicle.

"I support the police; they have a difficult job to do," Bianchi said. "I don't know all the facts (in this case), but whenever you're going to be searching a person, I would love the file to come across my desk with a warrant in it, as opposed to not having a warrant, because it gives life to the defendant."

Bianchi, who has handled numerous civil rights cases in state and federal court, said it's also important whether the officers claimed they smelled raw marijuana or burnt marijuana.

"(If) they said they smelled raw marijuana, that's going to be an important fact," he said. "It would be a different scenario. If it's not in the car and I'm smelling it, it must be on him.

"Given we don't know these essential facts, it's impossible to determine whether or not the court would say they should have gotten a warrant or they were OK not getting a warrant," he continued.

State Police spokesman Sgt. Jeff Flynn said he could not talk about the incident because of the internal investigation.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsA small borough in Camden County paid $125,000 to a former employee to settle his sexual harassment lawsuit against the former borough clerk.

The suit, filed by former public works employee Andrew Marano, alleged that former Clerk John Keenan, who oversaw public works, made physical advances and several suggestive comments including "hubba, hubba, hubba," toward Marano.

Keenan "would make comments to Marano about how good Marano looked and how tan he was," the suit said. Other times, he would rub Marano's shoulders or grab his rear end.

Keenan also allegedly made comments to Marano about wearing a thong, and texted him on vacation to ask if he was "at the nude beach."

Keenan is the son of Stratford's mayor, Josh Keenan. Stratford's council meeting minutes show that the younger Keenan received a proclamation congratulating him for 20 years of service with the borough in May 2017. He was last listed on the minutes as clerk in April 2017.

Marano claimed in the suit that the harassment led to him taking a leave of absence that cost him his job.

The settlement agreement came on December 8, 2017. Rutherford attorney Ian Doris, the outside counsel who represented the borough in the case, did not return a request for comment Wednesday.

John Paff, an open government advocate, was the first to report about the suit. He posted the documents from the settlement on his blog this week.

Leo Dubler III, the Mount Laurel attorney who represented Marano in the case, said he could not comment on the settlement.

"But I will say I've represented many victims of sexual harassment, both male and female, and it's the same pattern over and over again... people in power blatantly abusing their position," he wrote in an emailed statement. "Hopefully, the lawsuit will lead to some drastically needed changes in Stratford but we'll have to wait to see if that happens."

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsIt's not The Bamboozle. It's not Skate and Surf. But Asbury Park will again host a huge, multi-day music festival this year, as the new, surf-leaning Sea.Hear.Now. festival will hit the Jersey Shore city Sept. 29 and 30.

The lineup for the festival is decidedly rock-heavy with alt-rockers Incubus and folksy surfer dude Jack Johnson headlining the two days, which will feature three stages -- two on the beach just north of Convention Hall and one in nearby Bradley Park -- and more than two-dozen of bands.

Big draws include Brandi Carlile, Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals, The Menzingers, Frank Turner and more.

New Jersey will be well represented with The Front Bottoms, Blondie, Nicole Atkins, Deal Casino, The Battery Electric and The Parlor Mob all performing. See the full lineup below.

Tickets are $99 plus fees for two-day access, and go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m.

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.The two ministers agreed that Vietnam and Laos must improve legal and institutional frameworks to further promote and strengthen partnership between the two ministries and governments.

Vietnam will need to import electricity, Minister Anh said, suggesting in a long run, Vietnam and Laos should take into account connecting their national power grids. Plus, electricity interconnection should be set up across ASEAN nations in the future, he added.

The two sides also agreed in principle the main contents of the amended agreement on energy and mining between the two countries which will replace that signed in 2006. It is expected to pave the way for a long-term partnership between the two nations in the fields.

The agreement includes a list of Lao power projects to supply electricity for Vietnam and a plan to transmit electricity from Laos to Vietnam as well as a mechanism for the two sides to negotiate electricity prices.

Besides, the two ministers consented to provide support to soon begin the construction of the My Ly  Nam Mo I hydropower project.

Laos holds enormous potential in the energy industry and expects to make it a spearhead sector to boost the local economy. The country targets an ambition of becoming the Battery of Asia.

To this end, Laos aims to produce 10,000 MW of electricity per year in various forms of hydro, wind, coal and solar power by 2020; 75% of which will be exported to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has turned itself from an energy exporter to an importer of energy. Energy imports are forecast to fulfil about 37.5% of the countrys demand by 2025 and 58.5% by 2035.

During the 40th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee in Vientiane last February, six out of 12 agreements signed between the two countries were in the field of energy., one of the stars of

now has a little meatball of his own, People reports.

Ortiz-Magro, 32, a Bronx native who lives in Las Vegas, welcomed a baby girl on Tuesday with girlfriend Jen Harley.

The couple announced they were expecting in December and had a baby shower on March 3.

Ortiz-Magro's impending fatherhood -- and whether or not he will stay faithful to Harley while shooting the show in Miami -- is a subject in the MTV series revival "Jersey Shore Family Vacation," which premieres (8 p.m.) on Thursday.

"I am a soon-to-be dad, it seems," he says in the show, ending the statement with an expletive. He also alters the show's signature GTL (gym, tan, laundry) mantra to become GTB -- gym, tan, baby.

Ortiz-Magro is known for his stormy on-again, off-again relationship with Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola during the original run of "Jersey Shore." Giancola, who met Ortiz-Magro on the show despite his rule that one should "never fall in love at the Jersey Shore," is the only cast member who is not a part of the show's revival.

"I am currently extremely happy in every aspect of my life and want to avoid potentially toxic situations," said Giancola, 31, in an Instagram post.

Ortiz-Magro joins three other cast members -- Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Jenni "JWoww" Farley" and Paul "Pauly D" DelVecchio -- who already have children.

In an interview with People at the show's premiere, Ortiz-Magro said he was initially a bit dismayed that he was having a girl.

"I feel like I've done too many seasons of 'Jersey Shore' that I know what girls can be like, and it has not given me a great perspective," Ortiz-Magro said.

"But no, I'm actually really excited," he said. "I have a lot of younger sisters, and I feel like this girl is going to make me softer."

Harley also has a son, Mason, 11.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.Newark will be the fourth city in the world -- and the first in New Jersey -- to provide high-speed wifi "Link" kiosks that will allow pedestrians to charge their phones, make a call or download music and movies, free of charge.

The multi-million dollar investment in the city by Intersection, a New York-based technology company, comes at an exciting time for Newark, which was recently named a finalist for Amazon's second headquarters.

"Newark is here, we are on the map," Aisha Glover, president of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation (NCEDC) said during a Wednesday press conference at NJIT. "We are claiming our space. We certainly feel like this is our moment."

The city will also host this year's VOICE Technology Summit, the largest voice technology conference that gathers 1,500 developers and designers. The summit is sponsored by Amazon Alexa.

"The idea that this city is on its way to be a tech hub is outstanding," NJIT President Joel Bloom said. The college will host the three-day conference July 24-26.

Dan Doctoroff, chairman of Intersection, echoed those sentiments and said the company was betting on Newark. Intersection will install 45 LinkNWK sidewalk kiosks by the end of the year -- at no cost to the city.

Many of the kiosks will be installed in the downtown corridor (along Broad and Market streets and Irvine Turner and Martin Luther King Blvds) with at least two kiosks in the each ward, including in major commercial corridors like Ferry Street, Clinton Avenue and Bloomfield Avenue.

Doctoroff declined to detail the company's investment except to say it was "several million dollars." Intersection makes its money through ads on the digital screens and some of that revenue will also be shared with NCEDC and the city.

A minority investor in Intersection is Sidewalk Labs, which was created by Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

LinkNWK will let passersby make calls anywhere in the U.S., charge their devices and provide free high-speed wifi connected to Newark Fiber -- the city's public-private gigabit data network. The 55-inch digital screens on each side will also improve city communications and help inform residents of garbage pick-up days, parking rules and relate other important messages.

LinkNYC kiosk.

Intersection already operates 1,600 Link kiosks in New York City, London and Philadelphia. And it's not without its kinks. When the program first rolled out in New York in 2016, there were reports that people were using the devices to watch pornography.

Doctoroff said Intersection learned from operating two years in New York City and would apply those lesson in Newark, including turning off the internet browser and having a robust privacy policy.

The bigger goal, he said, was to help cities grow by improving connectivity and communication. And Newark, he said, was finally growing as a tech hub.

"We are looking for places where we can grow and utilize assets that are in the ground," said Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor in New York City who noted that he was born in Newark. "This is Newark's time."

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.A conservative watchdog, seeking to end Jersey City school district's policy of allowing two teachers to work full time as union officials, is appealing a judge's ruling from October that dismissed its lawsuit against the district.

The Goldwater Institute, which filed the initial complaint on behalf of New Jersey residents Moshe Rozenblit and Qwon Kyu Rim, says in its April 2 appellate brief that a lower-court judge erred when he ruled the matter did not warrant a trial.

That judge, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Barry P. Sarkisian, said in his Oct. 31 ruling that the Goldwater Institute would not have been able to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The group's appeal says that high standard is not the one it needs to meet.

"Applying such a burden of proof violates the fundamental fairness required by due process of law and drastically curtails the ability of taxpayers to vindicate their rights," the appeal brief says.

A request for comment from district spokeswoman Maryann Dickar was not returned. Ron Greco, president of local teachers union the Jersey City Education Association, declined to comment.

The lawsuit targets "release time," a provision in the district's contract with the JCEA that allows two teachers to work full-time for the union while they are paid by the district. The Goldwater Institute says the provision violates the New Jersey Constitution's ban on local governments giving money to private groups or individuals.

"This case has broad implications for release time in New Jersey," Goldwater Institute spokeswoman Jennifer Tiedemann said in a statement. "It also can set statewide precedent to prevent special government handouts to private organizations and special interests."

In his ruling, Sarkisian said release time serves "valid public purposes," including by giving the two union officials the time to facilitate effective disciplinary hearing processes for district workers.

Greco and the JCEA's second vice president, Tina Thorp, are the two teachers out on release time. They each make about $100,000.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.BAYONNE -- The city will pay the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey more than $200,000 annually to lease land on the former Military Ocean Terminal to operate a ferry terminal, according to city Law Director John "Jay" Coffey II.

The 10-year lease, which is still contingent on the city securing a company to operate the terminal through a bidding process, will begin in June, Coffey said.

The city will lease about 1.5 acres on the terminal, as well as just over an acre of berth -- a designated location in a port or harbor used for mooring vessels -- from the Port Authority.

The property is located roughly a mile east of Route 440 on the southern shoreline of the former MOT -- a man-made peninsula jutting into the New York Harbor.

Bayonne will pay an annual fee of $114,235 for land and $98,235 for the berth.

The city will also generate revenue from a parking facility at the ferry terminal, but will send 15 percent of the proceeds to the bi-state agency each year, starting the third year of the lease.

The agreement is "politically a done deal," Coffey said, but is contingent on securing an agreement with a terminal operator.

The City Council is expected to vote on April 18 to allow the city to start the bidding process for a ferry terminal operator. Currently, New York Waterway runs numerous commuter ferries between Hudson County locations and Manhattan.

The city began serious discussions with the Port Authority in February 2017, and in May began conducting an impact study to determine whether there was significant demand for the ferry in the Peninsula City.

After a meeting with the Port Authority last week, the city agreed to the terms of the lease. Those terms were given to The Jersey Journal, but the city declined to give a copy of the term sheet to the publication. However, the full lease will be made public prior to the council's vote.

Is there a demand?

DMR Architects, an engineering firm under contract with the city, conducted a demand study that determined "the addition of another transportation option will help alleviate the existing (transportation) options that are experiencing overcrowding."

In June 2017, the firm conducted a study, interviewing nine different groups of commuters -- a total of 155 -- during peak morning hours at all of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stops in the city. Of those interviewed, 110 said they would use the ferry, according to the study.

"One of the biggest complaints among Bayonne commuters is the overcrowding on the light rail during peak commuting hours," the study reads.

Bayonne will need a ferry operator, like New York Waterway, to operate its ferry terminal on the former Military Ocean Terminal. (Journal file photo)

The firm analyzed a number of factors, including the number of residents commuting the New York City on a daily basis, while factoring in existing transit options.

Per statistics from the Census Transportation Planning Products, the study found there are 1,161 people daily coming from Bayonne to Manhattan. The study also estimated that a ferry service would take roughly 20 minutes and would cost approximately $13 for a one-way fair.

After comparing the cost and length of time the Light Rail and NJ Transit bus lines take to get into Manhattan, the study found that an estimated 490 Bayonne-to-Manhattan commuters (42 percent) were expected to pick the ferry over other options "due primarily to shorter travel time."

The study predicts an increasing population -- coupled with thousands of new residential units under construction, particularly on the MOT -- will only bolster this ridership.

Meanwhile, the study said "there is a potential for an additional ridership from adjacent municipalities" -- particularly Staten Island and Elizabeth -- "and commuters traveling along the NJ Turnpike to access and use the proposed Bayonne ferry."

Mayor Jimmy Davis has previously said he hopes residents will be able to take a ferry to Manhattan by September, but more realistically expects it to be completed by the end of the year.

The mayor, seeking re-election in May, also said he has inquired with neighboring cities about establishing a ferry route to the southern portion of the city, near Dennis Collins Park.

Corey W. McDonald may be reached at cmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @coreymacc. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.An 18-year-old was taken to a local hospital Monday night after being shot three times in front of a Monticello Avenue grocery store, authorities said.

Police responded to a call of shots fired at Monticello Avenue and Brinkerhoff Street just before 8 p.m. and found the man suffering from three gunshot wounds, Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said.

The teen, who was shot in the stomach, arm, and leg, was taken to Jersey City Medical Center for treatment.

He is in stable condition, Wallace-Scalcione added.

In a separate investigation, police recovered a handgun reported stolen out of Charlotte, North Carolina, early yesterday morning in the area of Randolph Avenue.

The black firearm is the 84th gun recovered by Jersey City police this year, Wallace-Scalcione said.New Jersey residents are divided over legalizing marijuana, one of Gov. Phil Murphy's major campaign promises and priorities for the coming year.

A Stockton University poll released Wednesday found 49 percent of New Jerseyans said they were on board with expanding marijuana sales to adults 21 and older, while 44 percent opposed it and 5 percent said they were undecided.

"These poll results suggest there is not a consensus in New Jersey on whether marijuana should be made legal," said Michael W. Klein, interim executive director of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton.

Nearly one in four pro-pot people said they were persuaded by the potential tax revenue it would generate, while 22 percent said marijuana is safer than alcohol, and 11 percent said it was safer than tobacco and other cigarettes. Another 11 percent say they favored legalization because it would reduce law enforcement or prison costs, according to the poll.

One in four people said they would try pot for the first time or continue using it if it was legalized.

More than half of the opponents said they feared legalizing pot would cause health problems and create more addicts. Nearly one-quarter said they worried it would provide a gateway to harder drugs, the poll said.

Murphy's hope to sign a law legalizing weed has hit a snag, as some state senators -- including some fellow Democrats -- have informally said they will vote no. Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, has not yet scheduled any hearings on his bill to change the law.

On another big priority for Murphy, nearly two-thirds, or 64 percent, support his hike taxes on New Jersey's millionaires, according to the poll. A total of 29 percent are against it and 3 percent are unsure.

The move would give the state about $765 million in new revenue.

But leaders of the Democrat-controlled state Legislature -- who would need to approve the hike -- have not embraced the proposal. State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, has called is "absolutely last resort."

If they don't approve it, that would blow a hole in the budget, and lawmakers would have to find new ways to come up with revenue or cut government spending.

Murphy's budget for the year that begins July 1 also anticipates legalized marijuana generating $60 million in sales tax revenues and fees.

As for Murphy himself? Many still don't know what to think of the new governor, the poll said.

The survey found 40 percent of adults view Murphy favorably three months into his tenure, while 27 percent have unfavorable impressions.

But about 1 in 3 adults are uncertain about Murphy. Ten percent say they aren't familiar with the Democrat and 23 percent say they are unsure what to think.

Of those who said they were familiar with the governor, 39 percent rated his job performance as good or excellent, while 45 percent said it was fair or poor and 19 percent said they were unsure.

But New Jerseyans overall expressed misgivings about where the state is headed, with 45 percent saying New Jersey is on the wrong track, 36 percent saying it's on the right track and 19 percent are unsure.

The poll of 728 New Jersey adults was conducted via phone by the Stockton Polling Institute of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy. The margin of error was plus-or-minus 3.65 percentage points.

Are you interested in the N.J. cannabis industry? Subscribe here for exclusive insider information from NJ Cannabis Insider.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.For some reason, feral cats are attracted to Mercer County Community College's West Windsor campus.

They're everywhere, the college says.

They roam on the edges of the campus and wander into neighboring Mercer County Park.

Years ago, the college tried to address the problem, but it didn't work. The cats multiplied and grew into several colonies. Basically, wild animals did what wild animals do.

Recently, though, two women took on the college's cat problem: Jacqueline Spadaccini and a woman who goes by Michele The Cat Trapper.

Spadaccini, a local resident and cat lover who encountered the cats on walks through the park, started a fundraising effort and teamed up with the student body.

The money was for Michele's group, Forgotten Cats, of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, to trap, neuter and care for the cats a bit.

On Tuesday afternoon, the women, and a group of Mercer students who helped on the project, set dozens of the cats free, back into the wild.

Some bolted from their cages and scampered away.

Others were reluctant to leave the comfort of captivity.

Maybe, they liked the pampered life they led the past two weeks?

Feral cats release back to college campus after treatment 10 Gallery: Feral cats release back to college campus after treatment

The aim, Michele says, is to control the cat growth in the most positive way.

Forgotten Cats provides the cats and kittens with the care they do not get in the wild: in addition to being neutered, they're vaccinated for illnesses, dewormed and given flea treatments, if necessary. If they have long, matted coats, they are shaved for comfort.

"We also look for wounds, ticks, and lice, and treat as necessary," Michele said in a statement.

And to mark them as treated, a standard practice nationally, Michele said, a veterinarian clips each cat's ear.

The college said the traps went out for the first time on March 22, baited with food, water and covered in blankets to keep them warm. They nabbed six the first night.

Within a week, they had 59 cats in custody.

Spadaccini said she was thrilled to be a part of the project, in which she and the students raised $1,600 in a short time this spring.

She hit up local businesses and residents for donations, including the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, and started a GoFundMe page before getting the students involved, and hanging fliers.

"I am grateful that everyone got together to find a happy solution," Spadaccini said.

The effort is ongoing - you can donate here - and Mercer's student government president, Jennifer Eng, says students are talking about starting an Animal Lovers Club.

"The typical lifespan for outdoor cats is around 12 years," Michele said. "Mercer students will have a big part to play. Their work starts when my work is done."

Staff Photographer Michael Mancuso contributed to this story.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.A person was struck and killed by an Amtrak train near the New Brunswick station Wednesday morning, causing NJ Transit delays on the Northeast Corridor line.

The person, who was not identified, was hit by the train at 10:15 a.m. The Amtrak train was traveling from Newark to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. No injuries were reported on the train.

Northeast Corridor line service has resumed in both directions between Metro Park and Trenton and is subject up to 45 minute delays due to an Amtrak trespasser fatality at New Brunswick station.  NJ TRANSIT (@NJTRANSIT) April 4, 2018

The Northeast Corridor rail service was suspended between Metro Park and Trenton for about 30 minutes while police investigated.

Service resumed before 11 a.m. with 45 minute delays, though westbound trains will bypass Edison and New Brunswick, NJ Transit said on Twitter.

Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz. Find NJ.com on Facebook.A Virginia man serving time in federal prison for child pornography crimes is facing an additional 10 years after the FBI found him and several other inmates at the South Jersey prison possessing and distributing child porn on contraband cell phones.

Anthony Jeffries, 32, is the latest inmate to plead guilty to charges of possession of child pornography in a bust involving smuggled cell phones and an SD card that was hidden in a carved-out bible at the Federal Correctional Institution-Fort Dix, in Burlington County.

Seven other men, all serving sentences for child porn crimes, were involved in the prison possession and distribution ring, the U.S. Attorney's Office of New Jersey said Wednesday.

Jefferies pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. He admitted to possessing a micro SD card containing 40 videos of children being sexually abused, including videos of sadistic and masochistic sexual conduct involving infants and toddlers.

He also admitted he was an organizer of criminal activity in the case, distributing child porn to another inmate that he obtained from the internet. Jeffries had obtained cloud accounts that were repositories for obtaining child pornography, the Attorney General's office said.

Six other inmates face pending charges related to the bust while another has already admitted guilt and will be sentenced next month.

At his sentencing in July, Jeffries will face a minimum of another 10 years in prison, and a lifetime of supervised release.

Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Safaree Samuels, the rapper, VH1 reality star and an ex-boyfriend of Nicki Minaj, was robbed at gunpoint in Fort Lee Monday by thieves who took $183,000 cash and jewelry, according to police and the rapper.

Three suspects were chased by police into New York City, where two were arrested. One remains at large.

"I just got robbed at gunpoint. A couple hours ago," the rapper, 36, revealed to Power 101.5 radio host Angie Martinez in an interview posted to Instagram. "Two dudes with guns just ran up on me. Had me face down to the floor with a gun to my head. They just took everything."

"This morning was probably one of the worst, scariest nights of my life," Samuels tweeted several hours after the robbery.

Fort Lee police were called about 2 a.m. Monday by Samuels and Corey Bryant, who said they were ordered to the ground at gunpoint.

"Samuels and Bryant stated the (robbers) stole in excess of $183,000 in jewelry and cash before fleeing the area on foot," police Capt. Matthew Hintze said in a statement.

Officers Patrick Cillo and Natalie Mateus saw a black Cadillac Escalade traveling without license plates a few blocks from the scene. The SUV made a U-turn and headed onto the upper level of the George Washington Bridge, Hintze said.

The officers attempted to stop the SUV, but the driver fled, Hintze said.

"The driver refused to stop and entered the upper level of the George Washington Bridge, eluding the pursuing officers," Hintze said.

As the SUV exited the bridge on the Henry Hudson Parkway ramp, the driver lost control and crashed into a concrete divider near West 158th Street, Hintze said.

Three people jumped out of the disabled SUV and crossed several lanes of traffic into a wooded area, Hintze said.

Suspect descriptions were given to police in New York and two were later arrested. They continue to look for a thief, Hintze said.

This morning was probably 1 of the worst scariest nights of my life.  @IAMSAFAREE (@IAMSAFAREE) April 2, 2018

Shawn Harewood and Jonathan Ricketts are charged with first-degree robbery and are in a New York City jail awaiting extradition to New Jersey. More charges are pending, Hintze said.

Police did not release the ages or addresses of the suspects.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to contact police Detective Richard at 201-592-3510 or 201-592-3700.

Samuels, who grew up in Brooklyn, was a member of the group Hoodstars, but left to pursue a solo career. He dated Nicki Minaj before the couple broke up in 2014. Samuels has been a cast member on VH1's reality show "Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood."

Thank you to everyone who has sent me well wishes... as funny as this may seem to some ppl this is a very serious and... Posted by Safaree on Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.The PM made the statement while meeting the visiting Director of Switzerlands Federation Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication Doris Leuthard in Hanoi on April 3.

He welcomed the two countries signing of agreements to support each other at multilateral forums.

Leuthard expressed her hope that negotiations for a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) will be finalised this year, opening up new cooperation prospects in tourism, trade and investment.

She said that many Swiss firms are accompanying her in this visit to seek investment and business opportunities, especially in pharmaceuticals, a strength of Switzerland.

She also had working sessions with the Vietnamese side on environment, climate change, and biodiversity to explore cooperation potential.

Sharing the Swiss officials hope to speed up the conclusion of negotiations for the Vietnam-EFTA free trade agreement, PM Phuc said that relevant parties should soon sign the deal.

Along with a direct air route between Vietnam and Switzerland this year, the deal will bring about big opportunities to promote investment, trade and tourism partnership between the two sides, he stressed.

He also underscored that Vietnam welcomes Swiss firms to expand cooperation in Vietnam, pledging that the Vietnamese Government will continue improving the investment environment and creating optimal conditions for foreign firms.

The Government leader proposed that Switzerland should share experience with Vietnam and support the country in building a high-quality education system and combining science-technology research-training.

He also suggested that Switzerland increase scholarships for Vietnamese students, especially in justice, banking, high technology, and tourism, while strengthening the exchange of students and lecturers as well as cooperation in scientific research.Is it time to re-read our Declaration of Independence?

The American patriots who signed the document would be astounded how our nation has morphed to the ways of the tyrannical British king against whom they rebelled.

We have become a nation of non-elected bureaucrats and cabinet appointees who are leading by fiat against the declaration's intent of a free nation under God.

Our laws are being administered by these people, whose interpretations have taken us toward the loss of liberty. Circumvention of established laws provides virtually unchecked immigration. Judges now act like the authors of law, rather than its interpreters.

Taxation has become punishment of legitimate enterprise. Man-made climate warming is attacked with no proven scientific plan for accomplishing its reversal. Liberals removed personal expression of belief in God from our public-sector assemblies, which infringes on our freedom of our speech.

Congress, judges and bureaucrats are like King George III, whom the Founding Fathers rejected with these words: "He has refused his Aassent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good."

All of this is happening while Congress, as ballyhooed by the news media, provides its members with an easy road to riches, benefits and vacations; they have become unauthorized royalty.

Save our Declaration of Independence, and beware of a rewrite of our Constitution.

Gerald Keer, Turnersville

Vital to give PSEG its nuke subsidy

If PSEG chooses to close its Salem County nuclear generating plants (which the utility claims will soon be unprofitable), that would put thousands of people out of work.

According to PSEG, there are 1,500 people permanently employed by the plants, with up to 4,500 more as seasonal or indirect workers. As state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) has pointed out, these are mainly highly skilled jobs that we would not get back if the plants close.

On top of the lost jobs, electricity prices could eventually rise due to the loss of generating capacity. Local property tax bills in the region would also increase because taxes now paid by PSEG would be lost. We cannot let this happen.

Sweeney is pushing hard for a safety net (an electricity bill surcharge that consumers would pay to PSEG as a subsidy) to keep these plants on line. This is necessary, and Sweeney is committed to this issue. This region cannot afford to lose these plants.

Harry W. Elton Jr., Woodbury Heights

Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.In his final public address, hours before he was murdered by a white supremacist 50 years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. talked about economics.

The "Mountaintop" speech in Memphis was remembered largely for King divining his own mortality. But even as he took his place alongside Lincoln in our national iconography -- as a martyr who best expressed our original vision of justice and democracy in America -- that speech, timeless yet timely, serves as a reminder of the difficult path we still walk to realize his dream.

So 50 years after his passing, we still use King as our lodestar for economic justice. It's not only because we elected a president who most Americans believe is racist, according to a CNN poll.

His dream was largely economic, as are many of the injustices we still face - including the economic inequality he described as a civil rights issue, a disparity that remains particularly prominent between blacks and whites.

In his final years, it consumed him. King had come to Memphis to stand beside 1,300 striking sanitation workers who sought fair pay and union recognition. The multiracial Poor People's Campaign had been launched months earlier, targeting what he called the "giant triplets of racism, economic exploitation and militarism." Years earlier, the March on Washington made 10 demands, including a "massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers on dignified jobs" and "a national minimum wage that will give all Americans a decent standard of living."

But while King himself is canonized, his values do not inspire universal reverence. And the inclusion he preached is still met by the prejudice of entrenched interests.

Put it this way: When King arrived in Memphis, the federal minimum wage was $1.60 an hour, which translates to $10.86 today.

The actual federal base wage in 2018, however, is only $7.25 an hour. So today's low-wage workers are $3 behind where they were when King died.

The Economic Policy Institute provides this prism: Over the three decades following King's death (1968 to 1996), all income growth went to the richest 10 percent. Income for the bottom 90 percent declined.

Racial economic inequality is worse, the EPI points out. The median black worker earns only 75 percent of the median white worker's wage. The net worth for the median black family ($17,600) is 10 percent of the median white family's worth ($171,000).

And so it goes.

King once said he integrated lunch counters, but conceded that he had not paid enough attention to the people's ability to pay for the food they served there.

And our failure is we ignored his repeated warnings, resulting in rising poverty and record income inequality.

So the battle for economic justice still rages. It burns hotter when a U.S. president celebrates greed, judges character by the content of one's bank account, and disdains the poor as burdens on society.

Little is done to ameliorate the crisis: The middle class is shrinking, wages remain stagnant, housing and health care are increasingly unaffordable, schools are shooting galleries, the infrastructure is crumbling, mental health care is an afterthought, and our militarized police forces and courts define and target criminal activity largely by class and racial inequality, as Michelle Alexander noted in "The New Jim Crow."

It's natural to wonder what Dr. King would think of us today.

But it is more constructive to ponder what we think of ourselves.

He went to Memphis knowing he may not reach promised land, the final stop in the national struggle for human dignity. And a half-century later, it's getting harder for many of us to reach it.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.It was announced this week that the owner of 15 Houlihan's restaurants in New Jersey has agreed to pay $5 million in back wages and damages to more than 1,000 workers after allegedly denying overtime pay and skimming of tips.

A labor department investigation found that the restaurants denied overtime pay to those who worked more than 40 hours a week at multiple restaurants, and included employees not reliant on tips in a mandatory tip pool, cutting back the earnings of employees making less than minimum wage.

Many chain restaurants require the waitstaff to pool their tips, so if a waiter or waitress has a really good tip, that gets distributed evenly across all waitstaff. Many times, money goes to others who are not considered waitstaff, such as busboys and supervisors.

New Jersey labor law allows tipped employees to be paid a lower cash wage than the standard state minimum wage by their employers, as up to $6.47 in tips earned per hour can be deducted from their wage as a "Tip Credit". This means that, with the maximum tip credit taken, tipped employees must be paid a cash wage of at least $2.13 per hour, for a total minimum compensation of $8.60 per hour (including tips).

Many believe the custom of tipping encourages better treatment of customers by waitstaff. However, if waitstaff was not tipped by customers, the employer would have to foot the bill, instead.

In some countries, it is either not expected or even considered rude to tip waitstaff and hospitality workers. Some of those countries generously compensate workers who would normally be tipped.

Do you think waitstaff should receive a regular salary instead of tips?

Vote in our informal and unscientific poll and let us know why in the comments section.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.An argument between a husband and wife outside a Paterson bar in 2014 became so heated that Antoine Garris felt compelled to intervene.

Andrae Green

For his trouble, he was shot to death in a hail of gunfire after the angry husband retrieved a gun. Five of the seven bullets fired hit Garris, 27, of Paterson, outside Moya Bar.

A jury on Tuesday convicted Andrae Green, 30, of murder in the shooting. He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on June 1, according to Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes.

Prosecutors said Green was arguing with his wife on Sept. 15, 2014 outside the bar at the corner of 10th Avenue and 27th Street in Paterson when Garris confronted him.

Green and Garris argued for several minutes before Green left the area.

Green "returned 10 minutes later, armed with a handgun," Valdes said.

"He fired seven shots, five of which struck Mr. Garris, causing his death," the prosecutor said.

Green fled New Jersey after the killing. Officers with the United States Marshal Service arrested him in Rochester, New York on Oct. 8, 2014.

Antoine Garris

In addition to murder, the jury found Green guilty of second-degree possession of a weapon. He faces a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison, Valdes said.

A trial in October 2017 resulted in a hung jury.

Garris was a lifelong Paterson resident who graduated from Eastside High School and attended Mercer County Community College, according to his obituary.

"Antoine was known for his charm, hilarious jokes and warm smile," the obituary said. "He was incredibly good looking and standing at 6-feet, 4-inches, he was a force to be reckoned with."

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.WASHINGTON -- The students who organized last month's marches for gun legislation want members of Congress to hold town hall meetings on Saturday.

You won't find any featuring lawmakers in New Jersey, but activists have set up their own meetings in three congressional districts in the state.

The "Town Hall for Our Lives" is a follow-up to the March 24 gun safety marches in Washington and elsewhere, including several locations in New Jersey. The student-led protests followed the February killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida.

Except for 5th District Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer's previously scheduled "Cup of Joe with Josh," no one in the New Jersey congressional delegation plans a public forum this weekend.

Gun safety could be a topic of discussion when Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist., meets with students who entered the annual Congressional Art Contest.

Activists have events Saturday in the districts of Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-10th Dist., and retiring Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., and Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist., according to the group's website The lawmakers were invited to attend, though none are scheduled to do so.

Payne is holding his own town hall Thursday for teenagers and young adults on at the Gilligan Student Union at New Jersey City University in Jersey City.

Payne will first talk with Gekson Orlando Casillas, Jr., a senior at McNair Academic High School, before opening the floor to questions.

"Gun violence is all too common for young people in the United States," Payne said. "For years, America's youth have demanded safety in their schools and communities, but many lawmakers tuned them out. If someone is old enough to be killed by guns, they are old enough to have ideas about solving gun violence."

Also on Thursday, the new Lesniak Institute for American Leadership has scheduled a forum for students on gun safety at Kean University. The institute is chaired by former state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union.

Besides students from area colleges and high schools, those participating include Lamont Repollet, acting state commissioner of education; Jeremy Feigenbaum, counsel to Attorney General Gubrir Grewal; and Maria Carvalho, chairwoman of the Elizabeth Board of Education.

Lance is looking at scheduling safety meetings at schools in his congressional district, and Rep. Donald Norcross, D-1st Dist., has said he will hold a meeting on gun safety with school district representatives. Norcross held a roundtable discussion with students and law enforcement officials in February.

"We can only prevent future tragedies by working together to solve our nation's gun violence epidemic," Norcross said. "Our children's lives depend on it."

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., held a town hall meeting March 28, and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-12th Dist., met with students to discuss gun safety. She is planning a similar event later this month.

I held a town hall for students where I listened to their personal stories, fears, and hopes to be the generation to #EndGunViolence. I found it incredibly powerful to hear these young, articulate, and educated students leading the #NeverAgain movement. pic.twitter.com/P9Tu8lZWD6  Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@RepBonnie) March 14, 2018

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.Kata Mejia says chaos, order and ritual are common elements in her work. If you can't fathom how chaos and order can live comfortably together, visit the current exhibit at Artworks and you will be surprised. Perhaps it's the third element Mejia mentions, "ritual," that is the peacemaker. Go to the exhibit and see what you think.

According to Addison Vincent, Exhibitions Coordinator at Artworks, the gallery was filled to capacity for the opening reception of this show where Mejia performed "Mourning Chant," a performance installation that spoke against gun violence and the need to ban assault rifles in this country.

Although the performance happened only at the opening reception, the space, with its three flower mandalas on the floor and the twelve clock handles in the shape of rifles remains as a mute reminder of Mejia's pleading performance. Photographs of her previous performances are also on display there.

The paintings on exhibit, created in the past ten years, are a response to the death of her youngest brother who was kidnapped and murdered by Colombia's Farc terrorist guerillas in 2006. And, as she adds in her Art Statement, they are "born from a need for improvisation and surprise" when, during the process of painting, her "unconscious thought and feelings are revealed." They reflect places she has visited "physically or mentally in dreams."

That dreamlike quality is evident in her acrylic painting, "Lost City II." She invites you in with light earth-tone curves superimposed over and under one another and leading your eye to a blue zig-zag taking you deeper and deeper into a black world peopled by blue and sometimes green and tan daubs and dots.

"Red River" is a tall vertical where dozens of upright strokes seem to be marching into the distance, each under its own small grey cloud. Interspersed are some red an some yellow stick-like shapes. They march forward crowded together where they then disintegrate into a miasma of red and then rise in black shapes. These are just strokes and poufs and do not resemble people at all. And yet they do. They bring to mind exhibition materials describing Mejia's works, "...paint strokes are layered to create abstract images suggesting physical transition and spiritual transcendence. Similar to the way places and images blend in dreams, for Mejia painting is meditative."

"Solebury Cemetery" is a meditative painting. Spending time with it, you might at first see, as did I, a snow scene with black squares and raw sienna stick shapes. Cold and somewhat ominous. But as you spend time with it, soft greens, lavender and blue buried under the white begin to emerge offering a feeling of peace and calm.

That happens in all Mejia's works. Her layering is subtle where one color may rise to the surface only to be submerged for awhile and then emerge again. They are subtle, but they are also complex. Spend time with "Wonders," for example. At first you see blue shapes floating like asteroids in darkness. Then as your eyes scan the surface of the canvas you become more and more aware of burnt sienna shapes under the veil of black and a fine sprinkled fog of blue and grey.

When you visit this exhibition, be open to the symbolism you will find in all Mejia's works. Watch for the transition in her works. Notice how they so often change slowly from one mood to another, from a composition suggesting fear to one of acceptance, from a militant mood to one of tranquility.

These are works that can be enjoyed and appreciated for Mejia's expertise in abstraction. She has a firm handle on the genre. She has been honored with a James Nelson Raymond Fellowship, a Trustee Scholarship from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, a Colombian Government Scholarship for graduate Studies abroad, and a Graduate Studies Scholarship for Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She received a 2009 Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and has shown her work in Colombia, the United States, Chile and Japan.

Also on display is the 5th Annual Juried Print Exhibition in Artworks' Community Gallery showcasing the many mediums of hand pulled printing. Of the approximately two dozen prints on display, the First Prize went to Onnie Strother for his photo etching and Toroe Printing "Lift up holy hands" portraying several images in one print of people, hands raised, praying and singing. "Subway Performer - The Duet" earned Second Prize for Chee Bravo. Using silkscreen, she continues her Subway Performer series offering a moment in time where a drummer accompanies a pair of guitarists in the underground hub. Also working in silkscreen, Jean Burdick printed "Marsh" on vellum and was awarded a Third Prize distinction.

Frenchtown printmaker, Mike Quinn served as juror. His Juror's Statement aptly sends the message about what you will find in this collection of prints. He says he "learned two things early: all life is art, but if you want to make authentic art you gotta share your heart."

That one sentence sums up what you will find in both collections on display now at Artworks, Trenton. Keep in mind that both shows will end April 14.

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: Transcendence by Kata Mejia

WHERE: Artworks, 19 Everett Alley, Trenton

WHEN: Through April 14. Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday;

11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday

CONTACT: (609) 394-9436. info@artworkstrenton.,org

Follow NJ.com on Twitter@njdot.com. Find NJ.com on FacebookTwo men were killed and two others wounded in a June 2017 quadruple shooting New Orleans police say was motivated by an "ongoing dispute" between two different Central City gangs, a New Orleans Police Department arrest warrants states.

The four people struck by gunfire while riding in the same car were members of The "Byrd Gang/Piff Gang/M3," originating from the formerly named Magnolia projects, according to NOPD investigators, and the arrested man and others he was with who fired guns at the victims' car were members of the "Ghost Gang," from the nearby formerly named Calliope projects.

Details about the shooting, including that the fourth shooting victim was discovered much later because that person never sought medical attention, were revealed in a murder warrant for 24-year-old Dwight Washington. Washington, who was arrested earlier in March in California, faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder in the deadly shooting. Washington, whose address was listed in booking records as in San Bernardino, Calif., signed extradition papers March 19 in Riverside, Calif., just outside of Los Angeles, to be taken to New Orleans to face the charges. He was booked in New Orleans 10 days later, March 29.

Darrell Pollard, 28, and Terran Young, 19, were killed in the shooting, which police first responded to about 11:30 p.m. June 15 near Carrollton Avenue and Earhart Boulevard. They found the first victim there, the NOPD said then, and found another a short time later at a different location -- at North Johnson and Bienville streets. Both those victims died, and another was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said at the time of the shootings that they were connected. "Investigators later discovered that a fourth victim, who did not seek medical treatment, was also shot," Washington's warrant states.

Police claim Washington and other Ghost Gang members opened fire at the victims' car as they left an Uptown venue. One of the victims had been scheduled to perform "at a rap concert" at the venue - a performance the warrant states was "promoted by members of their gang, the Byrd Gang/Piff Gang/M3."

The vehicle police say Washington and his fellow gang members rode in could be seen on surveillance video following the victims' car before the double homicide, the warrant states. Video also shows, "that perpetrators fired gunshots from the interior and the exterior of their vehicles," before the suspects' vehicle could be seen fleeing.

Video from the Marrero Commons Housing Development, located at the site of the former Calliope projects, shows the perpetrators' vehicle arriving there shortly after the homicide and then leaving a short time later. The venue where the rap concert took place is a "short distance" from the former Calliope projects site. Cellphone evidence show Washington's cellphone was located near the Uptown venue where one of the victims was supposed to perform, "prior to the homicide," the warrant states.

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"This was within the exact time frame that the perpetrator vehicle was observed on video surveillance near that same Uptown New Orleans Venue, watching victim#2 (deceased), walk to the vehicle occupied by the other three victims," states the warrant, sworn by Leonard Bendy, on March 1.

The Orleans Public Defender's Office, which generally does not comment on open cases, represented Washington in court on March 30, records show. Orleans Magistrate Commissioner Albert Thibodeaux set his bond at $1.5 million. Court records indicate Washington had not previously been arrested in Orleans Parish on criminal charges, and there was no criminal history presented in court.

Additional video taken a "minutes after" the homicide from the Marrero Commons shows a man with a "stocky build, short hair style," wearing a white sleeveless undershirt, dark pants, dark boots, "matching the physical description of Dwight Washington," exit the perpetrator vehicle "with an assault rifle consistent with the type capable of firing .223-caliber ammunition," the warrant states.

A post-mortem examination of the victim "revealed that at least one victim was struck by high velocity rounds," consistent with that of an assault rifle," the warrant states. Washington's cellphone records from shortly after the homicides also placed him in the area where the perpetrator vehicle was "later found abandoned and containing .223-caliber spent shell casings," Bendry wrote.

Unspecified further evidence, the warrant states, showed "the assault and eventual homicide" of the rival gang members was "preplanned" to occur the night of the concert. "The motive for the assault and homicide was also directly related to the ongoing dispute between the two gangs, and particularly one of the four victims," the detective wrote.

Washington's next court date is scheduled for April 24 in magistrate court.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated stated the Ghost Gang was associated with the Magnolia projects and the Byrd Gang/Piff Gang/M3 was associated with the Calliope projects. Police allege the Ghost Gang is associated wth the Calliope projects and Byrd Gang/Piff Gang/M3 with the Magnolia projects.A Gentilly man who withdrew his guilty plea on a gun charge, eradicating an agreement that included a five-year sentence, is now expected to face at least 20 years in prison following his conviction by a jury late Monday (April 2), according to the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office.

Reginald Jones, 52, was found guilty as charged of aggravated assault with a firearm, illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and obstruction of justice. The third count was added after Jones withdrew his guilty plea.

Monday's verdict was reached around 10 p.m., after a one-day trial, the DA's office said.

Jurors found Jones guilty of threatening his 63-year-old neighbor with a gun during a Sept. 12, 2016 argument outside of their houses in the 2500 block of Elder Street. According to a police report, Jones then threw the weapon into a nearby canal.

The victim told police that Jones had followed him into his yard, pointed a gun at him and shouted "(Expletive) I'm gonna get you," according to the report.

The argument was caught on the victim's security cameras, including the part where Jones raises his right arm and points "what the officer recognized as a pistol" at the victim, the report shows.

When officers spoke with Jones, he said the weapon used was a water gun and that he had broken the toy into pieces and thrown it into the Peoples Avenue Canal. According to DA's office spokesman Ken Daley, the actual handgun used in the threat was not recovered by police.

In November 2017, Jones pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a firearm as part of an agreement that included a five-year prison sentence. The agreement, which charged Jones as a multiple bill offender, would have dismissed the felony gun possession charge and did not include the obstruction of justice charge.

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However, Jones then appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court, asking to reverse his decision and filed a motion in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court to withdraw his plea due to "abandonment of counsel" and "ineffectiveness of legal representation" by Orleans Parish public defenders.

Jones, through new attorney Alex Kriksciun, indicated that he preferred to stand trial rather than plead guilty, the DA's office said.

During a March 15 hearing in Orleans Parish Criminal Court, Jones said he had been pressured by his previous attorneys into accepting the plea agreement. State prosecutors joined in his motion to withdraw his guilty plea, and the court ordered the plea be withdrawn.

"We joined in the motion allowing this defendant to withdraw his guilty plea because it benefits no one to have defendants pleading guilty to end a case when they actually believe in their innocence and wish to contest criminal charges in court," Orleans Parish DA Leon Cannizzaro said in a news release. "Every defendant has the right to make the state prove its case at trial and let the community decide, and that is what happened here."

Jones was freshly arraigned March 15, pleading not guilty to the two original charges, along with a newly added count of obstruction of justice.

The Orleans Public Defender's Office was not immediately available for comment Tuesday night. Reached via email late Tuesday, Kriksciun said he had no comment.

Jones is scheduled for sentencing May 2 before Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Paul Bonin.A Navy chaplain was fired in March after he was caught on video having sex with a woman outside a New Orleans bar, USA Today reports, citing two anonymous Department of Defense officials.

The chaplain, Navy Capt. Loften Thornton, was stationed with the Marine Forces Reserve based in Algiers, and authorities reportedly confirmed Thornton was seen in a video having sex with a woman at the Crown and Anchor, a bar in Algiers Point.

The bar's owner, Neil Timms, who USA Today said is complying with authorities, said in an email to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune that "the incident happened outside the bar."

Marine Reserve spokesman Lt. Col. Ted Wong told USA Today that Thornton, who has been a Navy chaplain since 1992, was fired March 20 for "loss of trust and confidence."

The case is still under investigation, according to USA Today, and Thornton did not respond to the news organization's request for comment.

The news comes, USA Today notes, after a particularly difficult year for the Marines as the military branch has faced various allegations of mishandling sexual misconduct.

Note: This story has been updated to reflect a correction from Crown and Anchor owner Neil Timms about where the incident involving Thornton occurred. The story originally noted it took place inside the bar, but Timms said it took place outside the establishment.He hosted Doris Leuthard, a member of Switzerlands Federal Council and head of the Federation Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication in Hanoi on April 3.

Minister Anh said that a free trade agreement between Vietnam and four members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) - Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein  will be signed soon.

He said that he believes that the pact will create favourable conditions and open up new opportunities for cooperation between Vietnam and Switzerland.

For her part, Leuthard said that Swiss firms are interested in doing business in Vietnam and seeking investment opportunities in energy development.

She affirmed that Switzerland highly values ties with Vietnam in all fields, highlighting cooperation potential between the two countries in the future, especially when progress has been seen in negotiations for the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EFTA.

She agreed with Minister Anh that once the deal becomes effective, the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Switzerland will continue thriving.New Orleans police are searching for two subjects wanted in connection with an armed robbery in New Orleans East on Easter Sunday (April 1).

Around 2 p.m., the wanted subjects forcefully robbed a 22-year-old woman of her purse as she was exiting a Family Dollar store in the 9700 block of Chef Menteur Highway. After stealing the woman's purse, the subjects fled in an older model, gray Nissan Altima, according to police.

Anyone with information on this incident or the identity and whereabouts of the wanted subjects is asked to contact 7th District detectives at 504-658-6070.A massive crack in the Earth's crust opened west of Nairobi, Kenya late last month. The crack is 50 feet deep and more than 65 feet wide, according to the Daily Nation, a newspaper based in Nairobi, Kenya.

It's not the first time a fissure has occurred in the Horn of Africa. In 2005, a 35-mile-long rift opened in the desert of Ethiopia. These tears in the Earth's surface are likely the result of two tectonic plates deep underground moving away from one another.

The shifting of these two plates could result in a new continent, as the Horn of Africa is pulled apart from the rest of the African continent, geologists say. But that's not expected to happen for millions of years, according to the Daily Nation story.

The newspaper did not report any injuries as the result of the recent fissure. But one family's house was ripped apart. A busy road was also damaged by the massive crack, according to the paper.Back in 2016, Seth Rogen made a good point about animated films, arguing that they shouldn't be considered a genre unto themselves. Rather, Rogen said, animation is a medium -- one that can be used to tell stories of any genre, not just kid's stuff.

Granted, he was making his argument in support of his R-rated comedy "Sausage Party," which memorably featured anthropomorphized grocery store products engaging in very adult (and very naked) behavior. So, you can be excused if you missed his message amid the ensuing guffaws -- or harrumphs, depending on who was sitting next to you when you saw that particular film.

This week, Wes Anderson's stop-motion animated film "Isle of Dogs" arrives in theaters, and it serves as a far better, and far cuddlier, carrier of Rogen's message.

Because while Anderson's film is animated, it -- like "Sausage Party" -- transcends what many people think an animated film can be. That is to say, it's not a film that is necessarily for kids. (Clarification: It's not well-suited for small children. Older kids, maybe 11 or 12, who are looking to move beyond Disneyfied stuff will likely appreciate its flashes of edge.)

But excluding the preschool "Peppa Pig" set, Anderson's film is an all-ages delight, an artful and entertaining gem that is at turns whimsical and thoughtful, humorous and heartfelt, silly and sweet. Beyond that, it is an artistic masterpiece, featuring enchanting stop-motion visuals that have an entrancing way of drawing viewers into the story -- and, better yet, keeping the outside world from crashing through the theater doors.

"Isle of Dogs" is, in other words, another feather in the cap of Wes Anderson, whose career is stocked with visual treasures that benefit enormously from his singular brand of world-weaving storytelling. As I told someone after a recent press screening of "Isle of Dogs," I'm sure there will come a day when I see a Wes Anderson film I don't love. It's not today, though.

But while fans of Anderson's work will find in it his familiar and quirky sense of style, "Isle of Dogs" doesn't quite feel like anything most people will likely have seen before. (And that includes 2009's Oscar-nominated "Fantastic Mr. Fox," Anderson's previous, though lesser, foray into stop-motion animation.)

"Isle of Dogs" is brought to life by the voices of a number of Anderson's regular repertory players, such as Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton and Bob Balaban. It also adds to those of a number of accomplished actors who are new to the Anderson oeuvre, such as Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Greta Gerwig and, in a brief role as a scientist character named Yoko Ono, Yoko Ono.

First and foremost, though, is young Koyu Rankin, who provides the voice of the film's scrappy main character. His name is Atari Kobayashi and he lives in a near future in which -- following an outbreak of a sickness known as "snout fever" -- Japan's dog-despising leadership decrees that all pooches be exiled to an island previously used solely for trash disposal. That leaves the canine cast-offs to form flea-bitten packs -- which function as their own little dystopian societies -- as they fight over maggoty morsels to fill their bellies.

Then, one day, a small aircraft crash-lands on Trash Island. Aboard it is young Atari, who is determined to find and rescue Spots, his exiled family pet. He'd better act quickly, though. Hot on Atari's tail are security forces bent on "rescuing" him.

Meanwhile, back on the Japanese mainland, the dogged student journalists at a local school have uncovered information that could change everything -- for them, for Atari and for the dogs of Trash Island. If, that is, they can get anyone to listen to them.

What follows is a twisting and sharply written ticking-clock adventure -- based on a screenplay by Anderson from a story he developed with Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Kunichi Nomura -- that benefits enormously from a sometimes-dark sense of humor and often-staggering artistry. (An example of the former: a fight in which a dog's ear is torn off and is then carried off by a rat. An example of the latter: brief sumo-wrestling sequences, which are exquisitely rendered.)

While "Isle of Dogs" can be enjoyed simply for its surface pleasures -- its unique story, its singular voice and its gorgeous animation -- there are elements there that will appeal to those who want to dig deeper. That includes an argument in favor of an aggressive and adversarial press, as well as a fairly glaring distrust of government.

If that sounds a whole more cynical than the messages in most other animated films, it's because it is. But it's a thoughtful cynicism, which is just another way of describing critical thinking -- something the real world could probably use a lot more of nowadays.

Granted, the two-way title (go ahead, say it fast) is probably too cute by a few degrees. Personally, I might have gone with "Lord of the Fleas," given the story's dystopian underpinnings -- and to warn off the parents of small children who will inevitably take their kids to the film without knowing this isn't typical animated fare. (For the record, it is rated PG-13 by the MPAA, for "thematic elements and some violent images.")

But when that's a film's biggest problem, you know it's doing something very, very right.

_________

ISLE OF DOGS

5 stars, out of 5

Snapshot: Wes Anderson directs a stop-motion animated tale about a boy who sets out to rescue his family pet after the Japanese government exiles all dogs to a place known as Trash Island.

What works: It boasts a unique story, a singular voice and exquisite animation, all of which combines for one of Anderson's best films to date.

What doesn't: Yes, it's about doggies, but parents of small and sensitive children should take its PG-13 rating seriously; this one really isn't for the kiddies.

Cast

: Kory Rankin, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Akira Takayama, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, Bob Balaban, Tilda Swinton, Liev Schreiber. Director: Anderson. MPAA rating: PG-13, for thematic elements and some violent images. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. When and where: Opens Friday (April 6) at the Prytania, Broad Theater, Elmwood Palace.Detained immigrants at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, La. and at two immigration facilities in Georgia did not have adequate access to attorneys, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday (April 3) by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

The lawsuit accuses the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of violating the Constitution by denying detainees their due process rights and the organization's first amendment rights to properly represent their clients.

According to the lawsuit, the three facilities lacked a sufficient number of attorney visitation rooms. LaSalle only has one of these rooms for up to 1,200 detainees. SPLC attorneys and volunteers are sometimes required to wait up to three hours to see a single client or else are blocked altogether, according to the complaint.

Additionally, the visitation rooms do not have telephones, and attorneys are not allowed to bring their own phones, so they are unable to communicate with interpreters. All three detention centers are located at least 140 miles from major cities. LaSalle is located about 230 miles from New Orleans, making it more difficult to access legal help, according to the lawsuit.

"DHS intentionally selects private companies who operate immigration prisons as cash cows in remote, rural areas of the Southeast that are beyond the reach of most lawyers," said Lisa Graybill, the deputy legal director for the SPLC in a statement. "Their profit model is to simply warehouse as many people as they can for as long as they can, and they resist having to accommodate legal visits while remaining immune from any scrutiny or oversight."

Tamara Spicer, a spokesperson for ICE said that as a matter of policy the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

"However, lack of further comment should not be construed as agreement or stipulation with any of the allegations," she said. "ICE respects the rights of all aliens in removal proceedings to hire and consult with a lawyer of their choice and has policies in place to ensure that aliens may do so to the extent required by federal law."

According to an SPLC report called Shadow Prisons: Immigration Detention in the South, LaSalle Detention Facility, Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, and Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, have among the lowest attorney representation rates in the U.S.

To improve legal access in the region the SPLC launched the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative last year to train volunteer lawyers to provide legal representation to detained immigrants at immigration detention centers in the southeast region including at LaSalle.

Maria Clark writes about immigraiton and healthcare in Louisiana for NOLA.com | The Times Picayune and NOLA Mundo. Reach her at mclark@nola.com or 504.258.5306. Or follow her on Twitter at @MariaPClark1 .A Mandeville area man was arrested recently on 500 counts of child pornography after an investigation by the Louisiana Attorney General's Office, a spokeswoman for the agency said Wednesday (April 4).

Jason Quinn Lee, 30, of Nancy Street, was arrested March 22 on 500 counts of possession of sexual abuse images/videos of children under age 13, the AG's Office said. Lee was still being held in the parish jail in Covington on Wednesday.

The office began an investigation after receiving a tip that Lee had been uploading images of children, the spokeswoman said.

Lee also was booked on several drug charges by the Sheriff's Office, she said.

The spokeswoman said she could not provide more details about the case because it may be an ongoing investigation.

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office, Mandeville Police Department and Louisiana State Police assisted in the investigation.Citizens opposed to an apartment complex proposed along Strain Road north of Mandeville packed a meeting of the St. Tammany Parish Zoning Commission on Tuesday night (April 3), but they left unhappy after the panel postponed action again on a proposed rezoning for the property.

Dozens of homeowners attended the meeting, citing concerns about density and traffic and asking the commission to decide on the rezoning sought by the developer. The commission postponed the matter for a month, however, after attorney Jeff Schoen, who represents the developer, said Parish Councilman Rykert Toledano wanted a month delay to obtain traffic data and other information.

As the crowd filed out of the Parish Council chamber, one man approached the podium and asked to speak for "10 seconds" after the vote was taken for postponement. Commission Chairman Dave Mannella told him no.

"Is anybody in here in favor of this?" the exasperated man asked, his arms outstretched. No one answered.

Black Oak Holdings LLC, whose principal is Matthew Bowers of Covington, is asking the commission to rezone a 14-acre tract from I-2 (Industrial District) to A-7 (Multiple Family Residential District). The firm also wants to rezone an abutting three-acre tract from A-2 (Suburban District) to A-7.

The tracts are on the north side of Strain Road, just east of Louisiana 59. The developer has the properties under contract to purchase, pending the rezoning, Schoen said.

Black Oak also has under contract an adjacent five-acre parcel zoned HC-2 (Highway Commercial District) that fronts Louisiana 59, Schoen said. That parcel is not part of the rezoning request for the apartment complex, he said.

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Schoen said Wednesday the developer wants to build a "high-quality, multi-family community" with amenities that include a recreation facility. "We are still working on some of the concepts," he said.

While some of the opponents said a 250-unit complex was being planned, Schoen said the developer does not yet have a number of units. "I think the plan should speak for itself, and we're still working on the plan," he said.

Schoen told the commission that he recognized an apartment complex would be a "significant development" in terms of impacts on those living in the Strain Road area, and also those traveling through the area on Louisiana 59. "We understand their concerns and questions. Our job is to get those good answers for them," he said.

At the meeting, about a half-dozen citizens spoke in opposition to postponing a vote on the rezoning.

Amanda Couvillon, who lives in the area, said an apartment complex would adversely affect traffic, sewerage and drainage. A quick search on one Internet site showed there were 90 apartments available in Mandeville and 405 in Covington, she said. "I don't think there's a demand for the housing," she added.

Kathleen Ceips, who lives in nearby Crown Country Estates, said more data wouldn't change her opinion that the proposed development would decrease property values in the area and worsen traffic, which she said is already a "nightmare."

The commission's next meeting is May 1 at 6 p.m. in the Parish Council chamber at the parish government complex at 21490 Koop Drive.If America were tempted to trumpet its progress at the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, then a police shooting in Sacramento and announcement that no Baton Rouge police officer will be prosecuted for killing Alton Sterling ought to significantly mute the celebration. "There are those who ask the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?'" King said in his most iconic speech. "We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality."

If we can't be satisfied as long as the police are brutalizing black people, then we can't be satisfied in 2018. Whatever progress America has made since King's assassination -- and we have made some -- we haven't made enough progress on the problem King listed first on civil rights activists' list of grievances.

When state Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Thursday that he won't charge either of two Baton Rouge police officers involved in Sterling's July 2016 death, police apologists began crowing. What were they supposed to have done? They asked.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul answered that question Friday when he announced that he'd fired officer Blane Salamoni from the force and suspended his partner, Howie Lake II, for three days. Murphy said Salamoni violated use of force and command of temper standards. Experts in police tactics say Sterling's death wasn't inevitable and that officers could have tried to de-escalate the situation.

Charles Key Sr., an expert the Department of Justice asked to look at the video, told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, "Tactically, the officers didn't handle it very well. Their tactics put them at risk."

He also said that the language the officers used may have "exacerbated the situation" and that Salamoni tackling Sterling to the ground was "the dumbest thing" he did during the encounter.

Body cam footage from July 5, 2016, shows Sterling's confusion when Lake and then Salamoni suddenly appear. "What I did, sir?" he asks. Salamoni says, "Don't f---ing move or I'll f---ing shoot your ass, b----. Put your f---ing hands on the car."

In an interview Salamoni gave Sept. 29, 2016, he defended his language, suggesting that he usually doesn't curse, "but at the same time, any time when I have a combative suspect in a high risk high crime area possibly arm (sic), we do use profanity to gain their attention and compliance." Then he added, "Obviously, a lot of thugs and people on drugs curse and I have heard it several times from them."

With 86 days to think about it, Salamoni decided to defend his language by referring to what thugs and people on drugs do. He decided that it would be a good idea to say that he throws professionalism out the window when he's in certain parts of Baton Rouge.

Was Salamoni unaware that he was giving voice to the problem that's been expressed by black people of Baton Rouge and, indeed, by black people all over the country? That police have an attitude that certain people have to be treated more harshly, more roughly, than others and that the police make that determination by neighborhood?

Police officers suspected of wrongly shooting suspects have learned that the magic words are "I was scared." Thus, those are the words that Salamoni uses. The investigating officer asks if, at any time, he was in fear of "great bodily harm or loss of life," and Salamoni says, "Yes, sir, pretty much the entire incident, while I was making contact with Alton Sterling. From the minute I walked up I was in fear of my life, because I knew there was a high probability that he was armed with a firearm and he was trying to get it."

From the minute he walked up?

"Fear cannot be a driver for an officer's response to every incident," Chief Paul said at the news conference where he announced Salamoni's firing. "Unreasonable fear within an officer is dangerous. Our officers should be guardians for the community."

The week King was assassinated, the NAACP in New Orleans was debating its response to the report of a white New Orleans police officer shooting dead a 14-year-old black boy in an alleyway next to his home in the 3300 block of Washington Avenue. According to The Louisiana Weekly, the officer said the boy, a suspected prowler, ran, picked up a shovel and "turned as if to strike him."

Fifty years later, in Sacramento police shot Stephon Clark to death in the back yard of his grandmother's home. Police say Clark was burglarizing cars. When they shot him, he only had a cell phone in his hand.

A week after Clark was killed, a white car burglar in Metairie fired at a homeowner who confronted him and pointed his gun at Jefferson Parish deputies. On March 27, a white trespassing suspect stabbed Turkey Creek Police Chief Robert Glen Leggett in the face and neck and, like the Metairie car burglar, was brought in alive.

What could police have done when confronted with Alton Sterling? Time and time again with white suspects, they show us the answer.

Jarvis DeBerry is deputy opinions editor for NOLA.COM | The Times-Picayune. He can be reached at jdeberry@nola.com or at twitter.com/jarvisdeberry.In the context Vietnams chairing of the MRC Council in 2018, the visit made by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the high-ranking delegation aims to affirm the interest and commitment of Vietnam for cooperation within the framework of the MRC, contributing to enhancing the MRC's role and the solidarity and cooperation among member countries for common interests.

The MRC Summit has been held every four years since 2010. This years conference is hosted by Cambodia. Themed Joint Efforts and Partnership towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong, the conference will create the opportunity for countries to review the operation of the MRC over the past four years and work to realise sustainable development goals.

The MRC is an inter-governmental organisation established on the basis of the 1995 Mekong Agreement, consisting of the four member countries of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The objective of the MRC is to promote cooperation among member countries in the use, sustainable development and protection of water and related resources in the Mekong River. After more than 20 years, the MRC has achieved many positive results which contribute to regional cooperation, such as the development of water use regulations, environmental management, fisheries, navigation links, and expanding cooperation with partners in and outside the region.

MRC is currently implementing its Strategic Plan and the 5-year planning cycle (2016-2020) with seven major objectives and more than 190 activities with a total estimated cost of US$60 million. The purpose of this plan is to implement the strategic priorities of the Mekong River basin development strategy based on integrated water resources management and continue the transfer of key river basin management functions to the countries and activities of the MRC Secretariat. Since the second MRC Summit in Ho Chi Minh City in April, 2014, the MRC has continued to play a unique role in building the legal framework and specific technical regulations and binding obligations of member countries in the exploitation, protection, and sustainable management of water resources in the Mekong River.

Vietnam has actively participated in the MRC since its establishment and has significantly contributed to developing its contents and cooperation fields. Within the framework of the MRC, Vietnam coordinated with other member countries to issue the first ever MRC Joint Committee's Official Prior Consultation for the Pak Beng Hydropower Project. In 2014, Vietnam hosted the second MRC Summit with the theme of Water, Energy and Food Security in the context of climate change for the Mekong River Basin. In addition to the MRC, Vietnam is also actively promoting the sustainable development of the Mekong River through participation in water resources cooperation at regional and international organisations such as the World Water Forum (WWF), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and ASEAN, among others.

In 2015, Vietnam held a discussion on water security in the framework of the 132nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU  132) and the sixth ASEM Seminar on Water Resources Management and Sustainable Development, themed Integrated water resources management for sustainable development. In addition, the country is also actively participating in and promoting the protection and sustainable use of water resources in such mechanisms as the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), and the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC).

The attendance at the third MRC Summit of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the high-ranking delegation of Vietnam affirms the interests and commitments of Vietnam to its cooperation within the framework of the MRC, which helps to enhance the MRC's role, and the solidarity and cooperation among member countries, while affirming Vietnam's efforts and contributions to the effective use of and sustainable management and development of the Mekong River for the common interest of people living in the Mekong River in general and in the Mekong Delta in particular.Two years ago, the Legislature voted to move 17-year-olds into the juvenile justice system. That is where they belong -- not in adult jails.

Lawmakers gave the state two years to transfer nonviolent offenders who are 17 into the juvenile system. That is supposed to happen July 1.

Now, Sen. Ronnie Johns wants to allow the state two more years to do that, extending the deadline to July 1, 2020. Even then, his Senate Bill 248 would give the Office of Juvenile Justice an out.

The move will only happen if "the office of juvenile justice certifies on or before January 1, 2020, that there is adequate funding and resources available to accommodate the projected increase in caseload," SB 248 says.

The way the state budget is going, juvenile justice officials may never think they have enough resources.

Sen. Johns' bill was expected to come up for a committee vote Tuesday (April 3), but he postponed it because of concerns expressed by Gov. John Bel Edwards' office and advocates for juveniles.

The Louisiana Center for Children's Rights argues that the Office of Juvenile Justice has room now to accommodate 17-year-olds with its current budget. The juvenile system has reduced the number of young people being held in detention, and reforms being implemented should lower the number even more.

Ninety percent of 17-year-olds are arrested for non-violent offenses, so few of them need to be detained or incarcerated, the center said in a news release.

There is no reason to wait. In fact, there are compelling arguments for getting 17-year-olds out of the adult system immediately.

Youngsters prosecuted as adults are at high risk of being physically abused and sexually assaulted in adult jails. They also will have a criminal record that follows them and can make it difficult to get an education, go into the military or find a good job -- all things that could keep them from becoming repeat offenders.

Some lawmakers were worried in 2016 about state costs increasing when 17-year-olds are shifted to juvenile facilities, where it costs more per inmate, per day. But the Legislature shouldn't keep sending children to adult jails because it is less expensive on the front end.

Over time, Louisiana should save money by raising the age. Juveniles typically are released sooner than adult offenders are, and they are less likely to commit additional crimes.

Other states experienced savings after "raising the age" for adult charges. Connecticut has saved $2 million per year since moving 17-year-olds to juvenile facilities, according to a study cited during the debate here in 2016.

The juvenile system is where most of these young offenders should be.

Seventeen-year-olds are immature and make bad decisions that get them into trouble, according to a study done for lawmakers by LSU's Institute for Public Health and Justice in New Orleans. They tend to grow out of that type of behavior over time and are good candidates for rehabilitation, researchers said.

That is not true of every 17-year-old, of course. Some of them commit violent crimes, and prosecutors still can transfer offenders as young as 15 to adult court for first- and second-degree murder, aggravated or first-degree rape or aggravated kidnapping.

But those are not the kind of crimes being committed by the vast majority of 17-year-old offenders in Louisiana.

At a rally in 2016, Gov. Edwards argued that it is better for public safety to raise the age. "This means in the future, we will have fewer crime victims and less money spent on incarceration," he said.

Lawmakers agreed -- and set a reasonable deadline for the change. They need to stick to it.The state will soon be pushing the locally elected officials of Powhatan out of the way to administer the finances of the northwest Louisiana village that in mid-July had only $105 in its general fund and is hiring a cop to drum up some money fromThe meeting aims to prepare for the 18th NAM Ministerial Meeting on April 5-6.

Addressing the event, a representative from Venezuela, the current NAM President, called for stronger solidarity among member countries to promote the role of the movement in building a world with equality and democracy, with the interest of developing countries ensured.

The officials discussed contents of a draft document to submit to the NAM Ministerial Meeting, focusing on the implementation of major agendas of the UN, security issues, disarmament, international law, peaceful settlement of disputes, peacekeeping and UN reform.

Established in 1961, NAM now has 120 members from the Asia, Latin America and Caribbean regions, accounting for 60% of the UN members.One of the things the Lee County school system is having a hard time of is finding is teachers because there are just not enough of them.

The Foundation for Lee County Public Schools is trying to change that, and on Monday, the foundation surprised two Lee County students with a Golden Futures four-year scholarship to an area school in exchange for returning upon graduation to teach in the school system.

North Fort Myers High School student Macey Earhart was surprised in her classroom last Monday as foundation members, family and administration came to give her the news that she would be a recipient of this scholarship.

I was shocked. I was waiting to hear back and I even called to ask if they had heard anything. They said it was another two weeks out, Earhart said. Seeing all the people is shocking and exciting.

Earhart said she has been inspired by many teachers over the years and wanted to share that inspiration with her students.

There are teachers who have made a big impact on my life and I would like to do that for other kids and help them live better lives in the community around them, Earhart said, who hopes to start in elementary school before moving to middle and high school to teach history.

I want to teach here. I love all the teachers, the atmosphere and the administration. It would be great to come back here. North has a lot of students who come back here as teacher and its easy to tell why, Earhart said.

Debbie Earhart, Maceys mom, said she is grateful for the opportunity to do this and more amazed she was able to keep it a secret for two weeks.

It was the first time I had heard from a principal from any school. I thought she was in trouble but when she told me, the tears started flowing, mom said. I hope she can become a great part of the community because of it.

Debbie Diggs, North principal, said there could not have been a better pick than Earhart.

Were so honored that she will be the first-ever recipient of the Golden Futures Scholarship. She is a great investment and were expecting amazing things from her, Diggs said. I love that shell be coming back to teach here when she finishes her degree.

Florida Southwestern State College is partnering with the foundation and sponsors to help bring more home-grown teachers into the school system.

It is the fourth year the foundation has done this, but its the first time two scholarships have been given out, said Marshall T. Bower, executive director of the foundation, who added the Golden Futures program originated by a group of Golden Apple recipients who won the award in 2013.

It is a group of Golden Apple teachers who wanted to give back, so were doing a grow-your-own project to produce our own teachers and finding them within the district, Bower said. This scholarship will keep on giving to this community. Its difficult to recruit and retain teachers.

Alana Newell of Cape Coral High School was the other recipient.The PM was welcomed at the airport by Cambodian Ambassador to Vietnam Prak Nguon Hong, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh, Vietnamese Consul General in Battambang Nguyen Xuan Thuy and officials of the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia and the Vietnamese Consulate General in Battambang, among others.

He is scheduled to meet with Lao Prime Minister Thonglun Sisoulith and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen the same day.

The leader will attend the opening session of the summit and meet with overseas Vietnamese people in Cambodia to extend his greetings on the occasion of the traditional New Year of the Khmer people on April 5.

The MRC Summit, themed Joint Efforts and Partnership towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong, will create an opportunity for countries to review the operation of the MRC over the past four years and work to realise sustainable development goals.

The 4,800 km-long Mekong River flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Its basin spreads over 795,000 square kilometres in the four countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

In 1956, the Mekong Committee was established under the auspices of the United Nations to coordinate aid and manage resources in the river basin. In 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam signed an Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River and set up the MRC, replacing the Mekong Committee.

The MRC holds its summit every four years, starting from 2010. The first MRC summit was held in Hua Hin, Thailand in 2010 and the second one took place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2014.This is my second column for the North Fort Myers Civic Association. I welcome input as the format develops. You can expect to see the column twice a month. Mid-month Ill talk about what happened at our last monthly meeting, held the second Tuesday of each month. In the beginning of the month, the column will give you a heads up of what the agenda looks like at the upcoming meeting. Thats the purpose of todays article. So, if you read on, hopefully youll want to join us April 10, offer suggestions, and maybe get involved. After all, this is your civic association.

First, some nuts and bolts.

Like any association we have to purchase insurance. Why? Well, the Association handles money, may enter into a contract, or even sponsor events. Something unexpected happens, well, lawsuits are more common than they should be. So we buy whats called Directors and Officers coverage. The Association is having the policy reviewed by an insurance specialist to make sure the policy, with all its riders, endorsements, and exclusions is sufficient. Boring stuff, but necessary. We welcome contributions to pay for it and other activities.

What else? Weve been updating the by-laws. Nothing monumental, just want to make sure the multipage document is consistent throughout. Therell be a little discussion on the changes.

And dont forget the slogan campaign. I mentioned that in my last column. And no, were not proposing any name change!

Absolutely not!

We want the name, North Fort Myers, to attract people to the area. So we welcome suggestions. Next, keeping with the theme I mentioned, working together, your Association will report on the community presidents meeting (Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, and Civic Association).

You have questions? Suggestions? We have a new phone Number: 239-233-7925. And a Facebook Page. Please go to it and post a like. The good news about the page is that there is no fake news, no Russian trolls, nothing divisive. The bad news is it needs updating with events posted, community information, pictures, and your comments. Discussion is good, so long as it remains civil! If you want to get involved, like our Facebook. And you can do more. The Association welcomes help with our Facebook page. Well also discuss the progress on our Webpage. It is being revamped. Again, if any IT folks want to pitch in, we may need some help. And finally, we need fundraising suggestions. Not millions, but something. Whether its scholarships, promoting local businesses, North Fort Myers events, or? We need a bank account that says more than zero. And yes, all the Directors are volunteers. We dont even get mileage reimbursements!

This is election year! Well, thats not entirely fair to say. Last year were municipal elections. So, it too was an election year. But this year we will be electing statewide offices as well as a County Commissioner, School Board members, State Senators and State Representatives.Of course Congressmen and Congresswomen on the Federal level as well as a U.S. Senator. Time to discuss Town Hall Candidate Meetings that your Association will sponsor. Maybe we can get some gubernatorial candidates to speak. All of this is bi-partisan, meaning regardless of party (or no party affiliation), we welcome candidates.

Heads up! The North Fort Myers Community Planning Panel has an anticipated vacancy. Ill bet most of you are asking, what the heck is that? Well talk about that April 10. But you can Google it if youre curious. The name tells you a lot.

And Ill end this with a brief discussion of code enforcement. There are a myriad of property defects that the County will take steps to have corrected if alerted. These defects can include unsightly appearance of property. Overgrown grass and lot mow violations are an example. Not only is their appearance unsightly, but they may well pose a fire hazard. And there are environmental issues the County addresses. These include landscaping non-compliance, tree protection regulation violations, and even enforcement of sea turtle protection regulations.

Code violations? Our concern?

Well, we discussed this at the last meeting. A monument sign towering over Cleveland at the junction with Hancock, almost at the entrance to North Fort Myers coming over the bridge, was discussed. Between general disrepair and effects of Hurricane Irma, it is a major eyesore. The County is looking into it as a code violation and the status of that concern, and code violation administrative processes in general, will be discussed April 10.

So, I hope to see you there. Especially with a slogan to make our community, North Fort Myers, the place to be. April 10, 7 p.m., 2000 N. Recreation Way (Community Recreation Center), North Fort Myers.The Vietnamese Government leader lauded the Lao officials visit, which is taking place right after the 40th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee to realise the outcomes of the meeting in the area of energy.

He extended his greetings to the Lao delegation on the occasion of the Bunpimay, the traditional New Year of Laos.

The PM thanked the Lao Government for supporting Vietnamese investors in implementing hydropower and mining projects in Laos.

For his part, Khammany Inthirath briefed the host on the results of his working session with the Electricity of Vietnam and the National Oil and Gas Group on measures to carry out agreements between the two governments on developing hydropower projects in Laos as well as power transmission lines and power purchasing deals between the two countries.

He said that the two sides have reached agreements on methods of transmitting and selling electricity from Laos to Vietnam. He also said he will work with representatives of Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade on the details of each projects and power prices on April 4 afternoon.

In the field of mining and minerals, the Lao side will coordinate with a number of Vietnamese investors to implement some projects in Laos, said the minister, affirming that Laos is ready to create optimal conditions for the work.

PM Phuc underscored that cooperation between the Vietnamese and Lao economies is essential to promote strengths of both sides.

He proposed that the Lao side give more favourable conditions for Vietnamese investors to implement their projects with high efficiency and environmental protection ensured.PM Phuc thanked PM Thongloun Sisoulith and Lao delegation for contributing to the success of the sixth Greater Mekong Sub-region Summit (GMS 6) and the tenth Cambodia  Laos  Vietnam Development Triangle Summit (CLV 10) held in Hanoi last week.

He suggested that in accordance with the high-level agreement between the two Politburos, the two countries will work closely together at all levels, at bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to promote the effective and sustainable use and management of Mekong River water resources, harmoniously ensuring interests of nations along the river for the sustainable development of the two countries and the region.

Phuc asked the Lao PM to facilitate Vietnamese investment in Laos, direct the implementation of the bilateral labour cooperation agreement, speed up the simplification of administrative procedures, reduce fees of labour permits, visas and residence cards for Vietnamese workers in the country.

He wished that the Lao government would offer optimal support to Vietnamese to acquire Lao citizenship and establish the Association of Overseas Vietnamese in several Lao provinces.

Both sides agreed to actively realise agreements reached during leaders visits and the outcomes of the 40th meeting of the Vietnam  Laos Inter-Governmental Committee, improve the efficiency of bilateral cooperation in 2018 and accelerate the implementation of the Vietnam  Laos cooperation agreement for 2016-2020.

They vowed to uphold the success of the Vietnam  Laos Year of Friendship and Solidarity 2017, and actively educate the two countries young generations about Vietnam  Laos special solidarity.

On the occasion of the upcoming Lao traditional New Year festival Bun Pi May, the Vietnamese PM conveyed New Year wishes to Lao leaders and wished that Lao would keep thriving.George F. Will writes a twice-weekly column on politics and domestic and foreign affairs. He began his column with The Post in 1974, and he received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1977.Welcoming PM Phuc and his entourage to Cambodia for the third MRC Summit, Cambodia PM Hun Sen said he believes the participation of the Vietnamese delegation will contribute to the events success.

The PM Phuc, for his part, expressed his delight to visit Cambodia when Chol Chnam Thmay, the New Year festival of Cambodia, is approaching. He said Cambodias hosting of the MRC Summit and the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Leaders Meeting in January has contributed to raise the countrys role and position in the region.

He reiterated Vietnams consistent policy in relations with Cambodia, saying Vietnam wants to continue stepping up friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Cambodia.

The two leaders said they are pleased with the strong development of the two countries relations in recent years and showed their determination to deepen bilateral ties and bring their partnership to a new height.

They highly appreciated the two countries signing a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement and the minutes of the meeting of the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Committee on Land Border Demarcation and Marker Planting on the sidelines of the sixth Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS-6) and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Summit (CLV-10) which took place in Hanoi last week.

They agreed to maintain the exchange of high-level visits and coordinate in organising the 16th meeting of the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Committee on Economic, Cultural and Scientific-Technological Cooperation in Hanoi on May 16-18.

The two PMs exchanged views on issues of mutual concern, including border issues and Vietnamese people in Cambodia.

They consented to work together to settle issues related to the legal status of Vietnamese people in Cambodia on the basis of Cambodian law.

PM Phuc is in Cambodia for the third MRC Summit. He is scheduled to attend the opening session of the summit and meet with overseas Vietnamese people in Cambodia to extend his Chol Chnam Thmay greetings on April 5.

This years MRC Summit, themed Joint Efforts and Partnership towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong, will create an opportunity for countries to review the operation of the MRC over the past four years and work to realise sustainable development goals.

The first event of its kind opened in Hua Hin, Thailand in 2010 and the second one took place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2014.The President congratulated the Thai diplomat on his successful tenure in Vietnam, during which the bilateral strategic partnership was continuously consolidated.

He expressed his delights over the fruitful traditional friendship between the two nations over the past year, while speaking highly of Thailands contributions to in the success of the sixth Greater Mekong Subregion Summit (GMS-6) recently held in Hanoi.

He said the mutual trust and understanding have been enhanced through many important cooperative mechanisms like Vietnam-Thailand joint cabinet meeting, Joint Committee on Bilateral Cooperation, and Political Consultation.

Both sides need to make meticulous preparation for the organisation of cooperative mechanisms in 2018, particularly the 4th joint cabinet meetings in Vietnam, he said.

The leader highlighted the two countries flourishing economic-trade and investment collaboration, noting that Thailand is currently the largest trade partner of Vietnam in the ASEAN bloc with two-way trade reaching over US$15 billion in 2017.

He took the occasion to thank the Thai King, Royal Family and Government for creating conditions for Vietnamese people in the host country and developing cultural and historic relic sites which have close connections with Vietnam.

He believed that with the support from Thai authorities, the Vietnamese community will well perform their task of promoting the friendship between the two countries people.

The Thai diplomat, for his part, expressed his gratitude towards the Vietnamese State, Government and relevant agencies for helping him fulfill his assigned task.

He had the confidence that the strategic partnership action plan will boost the bilateral cooperation in a more effective and practical manner. He thanked the Vietnamese Government for creating favourable conditions for Thai businesses to land investment in Vietnam.

Also, he appraised the role and position of the Vietnamese-Thai nationals in the national development of Thailand as well as the growth of bilateral ties. He pledged that in any capacity, he will do his utmost to foster the Vietnam-Thailand strategic partnership.Participating representatives of the US and ASEAN celebrated the growth of political, security, economic and cultural ties between the sides, reflected through implementation outcomes of their action plan for 2016  2020. The plan saw 83 out of its 95 activities and projects carried out.

A number of fruitful US-supported programmes in ASEAN included the Trade & Investment Framework Agreements, Expanded Economic Engagement (E3) Initiative, US-ASEAN Connectivity through Trade and Investment project, Young Southeast Asian Leaders initiative, and Lower Mekong Initiative.

The ASEAN member countries praised the Trump administration for maintaining its commitment to the bloc and stated their willingness to work with the nation to increase ASEAN self-reliance and realise the ASEAN Community Vision 2025.

ASEAN and the US agreed to effectively implement their action plan for 2016  2020, particularly in such realms as free trade  investment, digital economics, connectivity, marine cooperation, education, people-to-people exchange, and response to non-traditional security threats.

Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton highlighted the importance of ASEAN in the US policy on Asia  Pacific.

Voicing her support toward the blocs solidarity, unity, and centrality in the regional architecture, the official said the US will continue helping ASEAN tackle non-traditional security challenges like marine security, cybercrime, and terrorism.

Thornton introduced the USs idea of a free and open Indo-Asia-Pacific strategy, noting that through it, the US wants to work with ASEAN and other partners in the region to build a rules-based order of equality, free trade and investment.

The US welcomes the negotiation between the bloc and China on the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea in line with international law, including the UNCLOS, she added.

She affirmed that the US supports peaceful settlement of disputes in the East Sea based on international law, stressing the importance of free navigation and overflight on the waters, respect to territorial sovereignty, and non-militarization.

Addressing the event, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung said Vietnam attached importance to the ASEAN  US strategic partnership.

The Vietnamese diplomat lauded the sides implementation of their action plan for 2016  2020 and the USs practical moves to keep commitments to and foster cooperation with ASEAN.

On behalf of the bloc member states, Dung affirmed ASEANs stance and principles on the East Sea issue.

He listed opportunities and challenges that ASEAN, the US, and other dialogue partners of the bloc need to work together to address, including piracy, human and drug trafficking, illegal fishing, marine environmental protection, and peaceful settlement of disputes.

He added the collaboration can be achieved through regional frameworks and mechanism like the ASEAN Regional Forum, East Asia Summit, and Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum, based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to maintain a peaceful and stable environment in the region.Its season two in the sub-plot that is the fight over Umeme Limiteds concession. Two scanned pages of a letter purportedly written by President Yoweri Museveni, which have been widely circulated on social media, talk of how the power utility firms concession, signed in 2004, was messed up.

The letter goes further into the grey technical area of power losses, and questions why these losses have not been eliminated entirely. The purpose of this letter comes towards the end, where Museveni appears to block the renewal of Umemes contract, writes JEFF MBANGA.

A worker from Umeme on duty

So, how can we make sense of whats going on? It is important to step back for a bit and take everything into perspective. For starters, the leaking of these letters onto social media is deliberate. Creating a firestorm on social media by stirring up emotions places the subject at the centre of public debate. Here, the tone of the debate then gradually shifts to the kind where it is the people versus greedy capitalists (read Umeme).

However, before offering your two cents on the topic at hand, it is better to understand the contents of the leaked letter. In this era of fake news and the unethical companies in the likes of Cambridge Analytica, there is need for caution on what kind of information we consume.

After all that, then comes the grand questions: why now; what is the purpose; and what next?

The Umeme concession is a million dollar financial package. Over the next nine years, Umeme says it has planned to invest more than a billion dollars in the infrastructure starting next week.

The company, where the National Social Security Fund is the biggest single shareholder, enjoys a cool 20 per cent return on investment over and above its recovered capital investments.

The company has the advantage of recovering its investment through a tariff it applies for to the Electricity Regulatory Authority. And because of the critical space it occupies, it has managed to gain the confidence of global financial institutions such as the World Banks International Finance Corporation, from where it has borrowed cheaply. Who wouldnt want to grab this kind of concession?

And yet, this is not the first time we are seeing this sub-plot. In 2011, a major onslaught on Umemes concession was set in motion. Some short background. Signed in 2005, Umemes 20-year concession is to be reviewed three times  2012, 2019 and 2025.

In 2011, a group of shrewd Ugandan businessmen embarked on a do-or-die mission to kick Umeme out. They used a common strategy of getting things done: they splashed money. Floods of dirty cash spread to the media and members of parliament in order to swing opinion. The plan failed.

Seven years later, we seem to be back at it. At the moment, Umemes concession is being reviewed, and a plan to stop the renewal appears to be on. Paying attention to this debate is important in understanding why we pay the amount of money that we do to light up our houses and offices.

First, lets look at Umeme. The power utility firm has thrown around that narrative where it says it found us, Ugandans, in an appalling situation with our run-down electricity assets, and redeemed us from a future of darkness.

Umeme argues that if it werent for its investments, Uganda would have struggled to get a foreign company to make the kind of investments it has made. This is an old tired account that needs to be binned. Umeme knows that it did not do us any favours to invest in Uganda. The commercial terms were sweet enough for it to commit money to this market.

And for the first seven years of its license, Umeme was accused of making some good money by overestimating its costs, which it usually reflected in the power tariff it applied for with the regulator.

Also, Umemes former key shareholder, Actis, made even more money through its creative schemes such as hiring management service from related companies located in low-tax jurisdictions, and lending money to the company at a higher rate.

The company denies all of these accusations. Whether Umeme deserves its concession to be renewed for the last six years is a matter for the technocrats. What I am more interested in is the option in case Umeme left and how the company ought to be treated.

I have no doubt that some Ugandans have built the capacity and expertise to do what Umeme does. Fighting crimes like theft and vandalism, which contribute significantly to the power losses, and therefore a higher tariff, is something a Ugandan company can do.

These Ugandans need to be listened to, and where possible given a chance to manage some of the countrys power infrastructure. However, Ugandas electricity industry needs to ensure every process is carried out legally. The sector cannot afford to be hijacked by well-connected brokers pushing ulterior interests as that could scare other foreign investors.

If we are to get rid of Umeme, it is best we do it in a legal and orderly manner. All the parties concerned need to be furnished with the right information so that those who have the responsibility of either cutting Umeme loose or keep it around can make an informed decision.

If we think Umeme are wolves devouring poor Ugandans, then letting rent seekers with selfish interests, who like to work in the shadows, get their way would be falling in the snare of hyenas.

jeff@observer.ug

Twitter: @jeff_mbangaThe DPRK foreign minister landed in the Chinese capital earlier in the day before flying to Baku, Azerbaijan, where he plans to attend a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement slated for April 5-6.

The meeting came as the DPRK tries to restore its fractured relationship with China ahead of leader Kim Jong-un's historic summits with the Republic of Korea (RoK) and United States leaders in April and May.

Kim made a surprise visit to China last week and held his first ever summit meeting in Beijing with President Xi Jinping to discuss their strategic interests ahead of the planned summits.

Ri and Wang are widely expected to have held a follow-up discussion on their leaders' talks last week.

"Foreign Minister Ri may have discussed details of the issues concerning the Korean Peninsula with its ally, China, ahead of the two Koreas and US-DPRK summits," a diplomatic source said.

Following his trip to Baku, Ri is expected to travel to Russia to discuss the issues with Moscow, the source also said, citing earlier reports that the DPRK diplomat may visit Russia in mid-April.

Ri is reportedly staying in the DPRK Embassy in Beijing and plans to board the flight to Baku early April 5 morning.President Yoweri Musevenis proposed taxation of use of social is purposely to curtail consumption of foreign content and use of foreign mobile applications according to minister of Information Communication and National Guidance, Frank Tumwebaze.

In a March 12 letter to the minister of Finance Matia Kasaija, Museveni suggested that users of social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatApp, Twitter, Skype, Viber among others should be taxed a small fee of Shs 100 per day.

Minister Frank Tumwebaze

According to Museveni, taxing use of social media would not only generate about Shs 400 billion annually for the government, but it also help stop social media users from spending most of their time rumourmongering and become more productive.

Musevenis proposal has been criticised widely by human rights activists and social media users, who viewed it as an infringement to the citizens right to freedom of expression in an era where Ugandans are critical of the government online.

Besides, they argued that further taxation on social media usage would tantamount to double taxations since the users have already paid taxes while purchasing airtime and data credit. But Museveni equated this to taxation of a shirt that pays excise duty at factory level and value added tax (VAT) at retail level whether the shirt is bought or not.

Other critics argued that Uganda should also follow other countries that are instead cutting taxes on internet and technology so as to enable the poor to have connectivity and access the business opportunities it brings.

Tumwebaze said that the presidents proposal has not been taken in good faith yet its entirely for the development of local content. Giving an example of China that blocked messaging application, WhatsApp in favour of their local Wechat, Tumwebaze said that government has resolved to raise funds out of social media instead of completely blocking it.

The president was simply challenging us to come up with our own content and take it online. The tax is on consumption of the content produced by foreign developers. Since Facebook or WhatsApp (companies) are not here for us to tax, let us tax you who are using their service, Tumwebaze said.

He said that is so doing, government wants to see development of local mobile applications that shall be embraced by Ugandans tax-free and that if we tax such a (local) app, you people can then say that this government is bad.

Tumwebaze was speaking at the sidelines of the 19th ordinary session of the Africa telecommunications Union council of administration that he opened today at Hotel Africana in Kampala.

New broadband policy

The minister also noted that within the next three months, government will introduce a new broadband policy which will require telecommunication companies to share internet infrastructure amongst themselves.

If Airtel has an optic fibre in Karamoja, another company should not invest in optic fibre there but should simply share the existing one. Competition shouldnt be in putting up infrastructure but delivering services, he said.

Currently, telecommunication companies offering internet services are using different infrastructure which they put up themselves and this, according to Tumwebaze, is why the internet service in Uganda is expensive since the said companies push down the investment cost to the consumer.

We now want broadband infrastructure to be a public good with new and cheaper additions like the optic fibre and satellites especially in rural areas, he said.

The minister also said that in the new policy, which has just gone through the first consultation stage, all telecoms will be required to operate nationally and not in a smaller geographical area to enable effective competition.

If we give you a national licence and you are only operating within Kampala, it gives the other party a monopoly within the area you are not in, Tumwebaze said.

Experts view

Internet expert, James Lunghabo, told The Observer that the proposal for infrastructural sharing is a good idea since it brings down the cost of investments by the telecoms hence reducing the burden on the end consumer.

It also reduces the inconveniences we are always faced with when multiple companies dig across road pavements at different times thereby spoiling them. Shared infrastructure will reduce this damage, Lunghabo said.

The cost by the companies of maintaining the infrastructure is also reduced since all of them can have a single maintenance team. The challenge however, Lunghabo said, is how the companies bill each other.

They can have a reciprocal arrangement where say Airtel ferries traffic on behalf of MTN where it has infrastructure and MTN reciprocates where Airtel doesnt have infrastructure, he said.

The other option according Lunghabo is to get an independent company to manage the infrastructure then get paid by the telecoms.

kamogajonathan50@gmail.comIn autocratic leadership, leaders make decisions based on their ideas and judgment, allowing little or no input from the subordinates.

As a country, we are very unfortunate that President Museveni is autocratic; he accepts no advice from his advisors. In fact, I am told by those that have attempted to advise him that he is all-knowing.

If he valued advice, I would guide the president against making utterances in line with turning crime preventers into a reserve force of the UPDF. The authority to recruit for UPDF is only reserved for the Defence Forces Council as per Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Act of 2005.

Any recruitment carried out outside the designated authority is unlawful; even if it is done by the fountain of honor. Therefore, such acts must be treated with utmost contempt. Actually, the president should find another way of disbanding this paramilitary group of his own creation rather than swelling them with hot air.

It is human for Mr Museveni to appreciate the idea of establishing crime preventers because it worked for him during campaigns. Promising them Shs 1.3 billion in appreciation for the commendable job that turned the 2016 rigged elections in his favor is also worth it, but making it a reserve force of the UPDF is the biggest joke that can be made by a head of state.

In my view, the president appreciates the political work executed by crime preventers before, during and after the previous general elections but does not appreciate their value as of now.

That is why he is psychologically sedating this uppity group. We should recollect that the formation of crime preventers was entirely Gen Kale Kayihuras child, birthed to fight the opposition and mobilize for NRM, while using government resources allocated to the police.

What the group would become after elections, perhaps only the patron had the answer. After Kayihuras tenure as IGP, I want to believe his successor Okoth Ochola does not acknowledge the worth of having this group under his administration; thus, leaving it to dangle.

Precisely, since there were no longer activities for this group, it had become a security threat to government and, therefore, had to be ridded. In his speech, out of excitement and attempt to propitiate the president, the national coordinator of the crime preventers forum, Blaise Kamugisha, said they could kill for the president.

I think this was a genuine statement that clearly explains why the group has been assaulting members of the opposition with impunity in broad daylight. In real sense, these crime preventers are criminals and must be held culpable for terrorizing Ugandans.

They must face the law. In a constitutional government, you cant mention killing for the president and walk. Killing for the president simply means you are assassins. I think this statement was superfluous.

However, there is something peculiar about these words than what we heard. To make sense out of them, one must contemplate. After completing A-level from Mbarara High School, Kamugisha joined the Law School of Makerere University where he barely spent two years.

What I am not sure of, however, is whether creating a job for Kamugisha was one of the reasons NCPF was formed. Devoid of any training, Kamugisha was given instructions to do anything to prove his loyalty to the president, as the guiding principle for his survival.

He was perhaps told that other lives do not matter as long as Mr Museveni acknowledges your fidelity. That is all. How inscrutable!

Being a youth of my generation, I would wish to advise my friend Kamugisha to tread softly; otherwise, he may end up residing amongst the expendables of this land at that early age.

Dear Kamugisha, your new master is much qualified in the art of acquire, use and dump. You should be very thankful to God that Mr Museveni technically disbanded the group, so you will not have to appear before the public and make precarious statements again.

People are angry with you. Kindly abase yourself and apologize to the public for uttering bunkum.

The author is Member of Parliament for Mityana municipality.A Chinese art student sparked a heated debate online after using the wings of over 500 butterflies to create a series of artworks symbolizing rebirth. While some consider her sick for using butterfly wings as an art medium, others think her creations qualify as original art.

Li Zheng, a fourth-year art student at Quanzhou Normal University in Fujian province, China, created a series of artworks consisting of meticulously arranged butterfly wings as part of her graduation piece. She and her colleagues were instructed by their lecturer to recreate famous artworks using different materials. Li decided she wanted to recreate some of the masterpieces of Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh, but at first, she had no idea what materials she was going to use.

Photo: video screengrab

While doing some research, Li Zheng discovered an artist who used butterfly wings in their art, and she realized that, in most cultures, the tiny insects symbolized renewal and rebirth, which made them a very intriguing art medium. So she somehow got her hands on around 500 butterflies and used their colorful wings to recreate some of Van Goghs paintings, including his famous self-portrait.

Photo: video screengrab

Theres no question that Zhengs butterfly artworks actually look really impressive, but what a lot of people seem to have a problem with is that some of the butterflies she used during the creative process were actually alive. The artist herself admits that, but claims she is not at all ashamed of her actions, because they actually fit into the whole rebirth symbolism. The insects may have died at her hands, but they were (technically) reborn as a piece of art.

Photo: video screengrab

I am not ashamed of my artworks, Li said. While working on these pieces, I actually thought long and hard whether to continue using butterflies as the primary medium. In the end, I decided to keep using them, as I felt that they play a vital role in expressing rebirth, despite the accusations of animal cruelty.

Li Zhengs butterfly wing paintings seem to have split Chinese social media in two. One side is accusing her of killing the insects for a petty purpose and claiming that she has mental problems, while the other believes that her pieces qualify as original art, and accuses her critics of applying a double standard. They say the use of butterflies wouldnt have been an issue had it been done by a foreign artist.

via World of BuzzA 9-year-old boy from Kerala, in India, has become a social media sensation after videos of him lighting rechargeable LED light bulbs just by touching their electrical contacts with any part of his body went viral online.

Abu Thahir, who hails from Muhamma near Alappuzha, Kerala, discovered his unusual power only recently, while returning home with his father after buying a rechargeable LED light bulb. His father, Nizar, who happens to be an electrician, told reporters that when he passed the light-bulb to his son, it just lit up in his hand. At first, he thought it was some sort of prank, but then he noticed that the bulb lit up whenever the electrical contacts on its bottom touched any part of his sons body.

Photo: Manorama Online

Thahirs aunt was so impressed by his trick that she filmed him lighting up the light bulb with her smartphone and shared it on social media. It quickly went viral and the family started receiving calls from reporters wanting to interview and film the boy. However, he apparently doesnt care much for fame, and is reportedly a bit embarrassed about his celebrity status on Indian social media, which explains why there is currently no high-quality footage of him lighting up light bulbs.

Some sources speculate that another reason for the scarcity of video proof of Abu Thahirs power is that it may be fake. None of the photos and videos Ive seen show the boys entire body, so it is technically possible that low electrical current is made to enter his body and he only acts as a conductor. Other people are saying that the light-bulb itself could have been tampered with, that his electrician father may have installed a small battery inside it.

However, expert Joshy K Kuriakose told Manorama Online that the unusual phenomenon could also be caused by the high salt content in his body.

People who sweat more usually have a high salt content in their body. If the level is unusually high, Kuriakose said. The salt content increases the skins conductivity. This could explain why an LED bulbs lights up when pressed against Thahirs body.

If you connect the two leads of the rechargeable bulb with a wire, it will light up. Thahirs body it will light up. Thahirs body is conducting electricity like a wire, the expert added.

Interestingly, 9-year-old Abu Thahir cannot light up any light bulb, only rechargeable LED bulbs. If he presses the two contacts on the bottom long enough, his whole body will allegedly begin to heat up.



Nazir is really proud of his sons power, calling it a gift from God. As for Thahir, he doesnt mind being able to power up light bulbs, but he doesnt like the fame that comes with his unusual ability. He is currently lying low, preparing for the two school exams he has two take before the summer vacation.

Clay Helm

StubHub has named Clay Helm director of public relations. Helm comes to StubHub from Autodesk, where she was most recently public relations director and chief of staff, brand & communications. Before that, she was senior public relations manager. At StubHub, she is responsible for driving public relations strategies and activities that advance the companys business and reputation, overseeing day-to-day external communications strategy and execution. Helm also leads North America consumer communications, crisis communications, public affairs and corporate social responsibility.



Sheila Green

Tunheim has added Sheila Green to its staff as a senior consultant in its corporate communications practice. Green joins Tunheim from The Castle Group, where she was a vice president. She has also served as director of public relations for both Boston-based event planning firm Conventures and Solomon McCown & Co., in addition to founding her own firm, SGG Associates. Greens expertise encompasses media relations and public affairs as well as internal and external communications for clients.



Lauren Barr Katarski

Bravo Group has brought on Lauren Barr Katarski as energy and regulatory practice lead. Katarski comes to Bravo Group from Duquesne Light Co., where she was manager of government affairs, leading legislative advocacy efforts and overseeing interactions with elected officials. Previously, she was executive policy manager for former Commissioner Pamela Witner at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. At Bravo Group, Katarski will head advocacy efforts on public policy issues affecting the energy industry. Having spent her career in both the corporate and public sectors, she brings a unique perspective with her to the firm, said Bravo Group president and CEO Chris Bravacos.Gustavo Martinez

WPP has settled a lawsuit lodged by the former chief communications officer of its J. Walter Thompson unit that alleged sexual misconduct by the former agency head, Gustavo Martinez.

Erin Johnson, who received an undisclosed amount in the settlement, hopes that her experience will encourage others to speak out.

In a statement, she expressed gratitude for the love and encouragement from family, friends and those of you in the industry who spoke up and offered support.

Filed in US federal court, the 2016 suit named Martinez, JWT and WPP as defendants. It charged Martinez with an unending stream of racist and sexist comments as well as unwanted touching and other unlawful conduct.

The Wall Street Journal credited Johnsons suit with helping to reignite debate over workplace behavior in the industry.

Gustavo, who left his JWT post following the filing of the suit, works on assignments for WPP in Spain.US President Donald Trump and heads of state from across the Western Hemisphere plan to travel to Peru for the Summit of the Americas, which will celebrate the theme "democratic governance fighting corruption" from April 13-14.

In his first speech as Peru's foreign minister, Nestor Popolizio said Peru's decision not to invite Maduro to the event reflects the view of a dozen countries that have been pressuring Venezuela to hold free and fair elections.

Maduro has vowed to attend the Summit of the Americas despite Peru's ban, which the center-right government of former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski announced in February.

Kuczynski resigned after a scandal last month and was replaced by his vice president, Martin Vizcarra. Vizcarra declined to weigh in on Maduro and the summit last week, saying he would leave it up to the foreign ministry.The two-day event aims to prepare for the NAMs 18th Mid-year Ministerial Meeting, scheduled to be held from April 5-6.

Addressing the inaugural meeting, a representative from Venezuela, the State member taking NAMs presidency, called for greater solidarity and unity, and highlighted the active role of the movement in building a more just and democratic world, while ensuring the interests of developing countries.

Senior officials discussed the contents of the final draft to be submitted to the ministerial meeting for consideration and approval, deliberating on a number of important issues, including the implementation of major UN agendas related to security, disarmament, international law, peaceful dispute settlement, peacekeeping, and UN reform.Workers are busy assembling electric fans at production lines of Airmates factory in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. Airmate focuses on small home appliances that will be exported to Europe and the United States. [Photo: IC]

BEIJING - China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the US tariff proposals and is ready to take counter measures on US products, the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday.

A MOC spokesperson made the statement after the US government announced the proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth $50 billion with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

"Disregarding strong representations by China, the United States announced the tariff proposals that are completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes," according to the statement.

The US side published the list in disregard of the mutually-beneficial and win-win nature of the China-US trade and economic cooperation in the past 40 years, the appeal of the Chinese and American business communities and the interests of consumers, it said.

The move went against the interests of China, the United States and the world at large, seriously violating the basic principles and spirit of the World Trade Organization, according to the spokesperson.

China plans to immediately bring relevant US practice to the dispute settlement body of the WTO, and is ready to take counter measures on US products with equal force and scale that will be published in the coming days.

"We have the confidence and ability to respond to any US trade protectionist measures," the spokesperson said.

Statement of the Chinese Embassy in the United States on the Announcement of the Proposed Tariff List on Chinese Products Under Section 301 Action

The Chinese side strongly condemns and firmly opposes the unfounded Section 301 investigation and the proposed list of products and tariff increases based on the investigation.

Such unilateralistic and protectionist action has gravely violated fundamental principles and values of the WTO. It serves neither Chinas interest, nor US interest, even less the interest of the global economy.

As the Chinese saying goes, it is only polite to reciprocate. The Chinese side will resort to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and take corresponding measures of equal scale and strength against US products in accordance with Chinese law.

We hope that the US side, with sense and long-term picture in mind, refrain from going further down the wrong path.(Xinhua/chinadaily.com.cn)

>>Related: US proposes tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese importsThe Trump administration is recommending 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports amid strong opposition from Chinese and U.S. business groups.

Workers are busy assembling electric fans at production lines of Airmates factory in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. Airmate focuses on small home appliances that will be exported to Europe and the United States. [Photo: IC]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment. But the proposed tariffs wouldn't take effect before a public comment period ends May 11.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced in March that he would impose tariffs on about $50 billion in Chinese imports on grounds that Chinese policies force U.S. companies to transfer technology and intellectual property to Chinese companies, a USTR statement said.

The move is the latest in a series of aggressive actions the administration has taken to combat what it calls unfair trade practices by China and other countries. American businesses worry that the administration's moves will draw painful retaliatory sanctions.

With contributions from AP, CGTN, XinhuaChinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcome ceremony for his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa before their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday agreed to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation between their countries.

The two heads of state reached the agreement during their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Xi said the Zimbabwean people have started a new journey in building their country since Mnangagwa took office last November.

"As a good friend, partner and brother of Zimbabwe, we are glad to see that," Xi told Mnangagwa.

Hailing the long-term close relationship between the two countries, Xi said the development of China-Zimbabwe ties is facing new opportunities.

China stands ready to work with Zimbabwe to jointly lay out the new blueprint of bilateral cooperation to continue the relationship and better benefit the two peoples, Xi said.

Calling Mnangagwa "an old friend of the Chinese people who has been long committed to the cause of China-Zimbabwe friendship," Xi said that the visit by Mnangagwa, who chose China as the first non-African country to visit, demonstrates the high importance he attaches to bilateral ties.

China and Zimbabwe are "all-weather friends," said Xi, stressing that the two countries have always weathered hard times together, no matter how the international landscape changes. He added that the bilateral friendship will emerge even fresher and stronger.

He called on both sides to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges and exchanges at all levels, carry out top-level planning in various areas of cooperation and continue to understand and support each other on issues regarding core interests and major concerns.

Xi also encouraged both sides to dovetail development strategies, enhance cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative and within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and continue to promote cooperation in infrastructure construction, agriculture, investment and financing.

China supports Zimbabwe in exploring a development path in line with its own national conditions, he said.

The two countries should also enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges so as to consolidate the public opinion foundation of both sides, Xi said.

China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation in regional and international affairs, said Xi, calling on Western countries and organizations to improve relations with Zimbabwe at an early date.

Mnangagwa, who is on a state visit to China from April 2 to 6 at the invitation of Xi, congratulated Xi once again on his election as Chinese president.

Speaking highly of Xi's vision and foresight on state governance, Mnangagwa said Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era greatly inspired Zimbabwe to take a development path with its own characteristics.

He said he remembered clearly his study in China in the 1960s, expressing admiration for the achievements the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the country have scored in past decades.

Noting that Zimbabwe-China friendship has endured the tests of time and change, Mnangagwa said his country and people will never forget China's long-term assistance and support for improving people's livelihood.

Zimbabwe will adhere to the one-China policy and promote the comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation with China, enhance exchanges of views on state governance and expand cooperation in areas including trade, investment, technology, telecommunication, infrastructure and people-to-people exchanges, said Mnangagwa.

Zimbabwe stands committed to deepening Africa-China friendship, supports China's Belt and Road Initiative and cooperation under the FOCAC framework and encourages Africa to take an active part in Belt and Road construction, he said.

Calling China-Africa friendship the "precious wealth of both sides," Xi said that as stated at the 19th CPC National Congress, China will work with all countries to build a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for humanity, and it will enhance unity and cooperation with developing countries, including African countries.

"No matter how the international situation changes and to what stage China develops, China will, as always, stand with all developing countries, including African countries, and be a sincere friend and a reliable partner of Africa," Xi said.

After the talks, the two presidents witnessed the signing of bilateral documents on economic and technology cooperation, agriculture, science and technology and human resources.



MOVES/HIRES:



After 35 years serving Providence in a variety of roles, Providence Oregon chief executive Dave Underriner is taking a new position in Hawaii. He served in a range of leadership roles in clinical services, hospitals and service area operations before becoming chief executive for Providence in 2013. Underriner's new position with be regional president for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals of Hawaii.



Identity Clark County announced the appointment of Tyson Fuehrer to its board of directors. Fuehrer is vice president of Biggs Insurance Services, of southwest Washington, and leads the Life & Health Department. He previously was CEO of the benefits service administrator Polestar Benefits, Inc.



Mark Dunn, regional director of hospitality at Providence St. Joseph Health, has been elected nominating committee member for the Association for Healthcare Foodservice. Dunn has spent more than 30 years in healthcare food service. His team was the recipient of the 2017 AHF Spotlight Award for their system's SharePoint work.



AWARDS:



Hillsboro Hops CFO Laura McMurray has been selected as an honoree for the 2018 CFO of the Year in the Small Company Category by the Portland Business Journal. The publication's annual CFO of the Year Awards program honors financial professionals in Oregon and Southwest Washington for outstanding performance in their roles as corporate financial stewards. As an honoree, McMurray will be profiled in the Portland Business Journal's upcoming special publication.



Chad Naugle, the Oregon Department of Corrections sustainability manger, was presented with the 2018 Sustainability Award at the Mid-Valley Green Awards presented by The Straub Environmental Center in March. Naugle was praised for his efforts and comprehensive understanding of sustainability practices.



Jane Corry, a recently retired Multnomah librarian and active member of the Oregon Library Association, was given the 2018 Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award for her significant contribution to Oregon in the fields of children's library services.



Priscilla Glidewell, a member of the Stayton City Council and owner of Budget Blinds serving the mid-Willamette Valley, received a Home Franchise Concepts "Heart and Home Award" for extraordinary charitable and community service in the Stayton and Salem areas.









Have a new hire, promotion or business award to share? Email us at business@oregonian.com, and put Attention: Business Movers in the subject line.Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley stood by Douglas E. Greenberg, a star of its local Portland office, through years of accusations that he stalked and abused women.

That support ended Tuesday when it fired the Lake Oswego resident.

Douglas E. Greenberg

Four women from Lake Oswego sought protective orders against Greenberg over a 15-year span, allegations first reported by The New York Times."Following our review, former Financial Advisor Douglas Greenberg's employment with Morgan Stanley has been terminated," the company said in a statement released Tuesday. "We believe that our employees should behave in a manner consistent with the trust our clients place in us and our firm's values, which include treating women, and indeed everyone, with dignity and respect. We have undertaken steps in recent years to ensure that issues such as this are properly escalated. However, in light of current events we must and will do better."

Last week, The Times published a front-page report about Greenberg, his treatment of former wives and significant others and Morgan Stanley's response to the allegations. The Times report said Morgan Stanley knew about Greenberg's history and did little beyond send an investigator to Portland to check out the claims.

One woman said Greenberg threatened to burn down her home, according to a restraining order application reviewed by The Times. Another woman wrote that he choked her so hard "it left a mark on my throat."

Greenberg was arrested in 2014 for violating the terms of a restraining order obtained by a former girlfriend. The arrest was noticed by Morgan Stanley management, which sent a manager to Portland to meet with Greenberg, the Times reported.

Greenberg kept his job. He was was one of the leaders of Morgan Stanley's Portland office, the largest stock brokerage in the city. He managed about half-a-billion dollars for his wealthy clients, sources said. He was placed on administrative leave, pending a review, after The Times report.

Neither Greenberg nor his attorney could be reached for comment.,

Several of Greenberg's exes have hired lawyers. "While we appreciate Morgan Stanley severing ties with a serial domestic violence abuser, we are concerned that it took this long," said Sean Riddell, the Portland lawyer representing Traci Williams, who filed for divorce from Greenberg in 2013. "We are still exploring the legal options available to hold both Mr. Greenberg and Morgan Stanley accountable."

-- Jeff ManningCollage by Grant Butler, The Oregonian/OregonLive

By Grant Butler, The Oregonian/OregonLive

When Portland was founded in the 19th century, it had plenty of old-time saloons catering to tradesmen and early settlers. In the post-Prohibition era, neighborhood bars sprouted up throughout the city. And when the Cocktail Nation trend hit in the 1990s, swanky bars opened in the downtown core, offering posh sips in sleek surroundings.

But times change  and so does the city. While Portland has many venerable watering holes that still have cold beer on tap and cocktail shakers ready to rumble, many taverns and lounges have had their last call. Some were done in by redevelopment. Others faded as their neighborhoods changed. But they linger on in memories and in photos that captured their essence.

So raise a glass to these dearly departed bars. And if were missing one of your favorites from days gone by, tell us what made it special in the comments.

Postscript: After sharing this initial list of long-gone bars, we heard from readers about their favorite places. That led to this list of 12 more favorite watering holes people wish were still around.

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Blow Fly Inn

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Michael Husdale, The Oregonian

This North Portland tavern, which was a workingmans oasis for more than 50 years, sat on North Columbia Boulevard in the heart of Junk Yard Row, just east of the St. Johns landfill. In this 1989 photo, Steve Brausen and Smitty enjoy a couple of cold ones. The Oregonian described the bar at the time: The small tavern has a jukebox, pool tables and no-nonsense types of signs on a wall that say things such as this: Notice -- This dept. requires no physical fitness program: Everyone gets enough exercise jumping to conclusions, flying off the handle, running down the boss, knifing friends in the back, dodging responsibility and pushing their luck. '' The Blow Fly would continue to operate into the 1990s.

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Brazen Bean

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Carole Archer, Special to The Oregonian

Portland's cocktail culture exploded in the 1990s, and there was no place better to see how creative mixed drinks could be than this Northwest Portland martini lounge, where the air was always thick with cigar smoke (this was before Oregon's Indoor Clean Air Act took effect). Owners Huston Davis and Jeff Jenness created special house drinks, like the Pomegranate Red Martini and Pear-Sage Margaritas, many of them crafted with homemade fruit infusions ladled out of super-sized apothecary jars. The small but focused food menu featured upscale bar fare, but that was hardly the point. This was a place to go when you were dressed up and ready to be seen. It closed in 2008, later becoming the Pope House Bourbon Lounge.

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The Broadway Inn

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Allan J. de Lay, The Oregonian

The downtown restaurant space that has been home to Higgins Restaurant for decades was called The Broadway Inn in the 1950s and 60s, and featured murals by acclaimed Oregon painter Louis Bunce. Co-owners Sam Usher, seen here in 1959, and Jack Urman remodeled and expanded the restaurant, which featured two bars and a dance floor. In the 1960s, The Broadway Inn added topless dancers to the mix to compete with Marys Club on the other end of Broadway.

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Cafe Vivo

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Randy L. Rasmussen, The Oregonian/OregonLive

In the late 1980s and early 90s, this sleek restaurant was located on the ground floor of downtowns US Bancorp tower. But it wasnt known for its food  The Oregonian described the Italian menu as having an identity crisis in a scathing 1986 review. People came here for the bar, which was a popular after-work drinking spot, that became on of the citys best places to hear live jazz and blues later in the evening. Curtis Salgado and Tom Grant played here regularly, and national acts were known to drop by when they were in town. Crowds for live music dwindled, and Cafe Vivo closed in 1993. The space was later converted to a health club, and is currently vacant.

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Dahl & Penne

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Carl Vermilya, The Oregonian

This workingmans bar located downtown at Southwest Second Avenue and Alder Street opened in the 1890s and continued until the 1980s. It featured a newsstand and a licensed card room  one of the few places where gambling was allowed. In the 1960s, the bar became a part of the citys underground gay night scene, and in the late 70s and early 80s, it was recognized as the bar/business of the year several times by the Imperial Rose Court for its showroom where drag shows were staged.

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Demetri's Ouzoria

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Joel Davis, The Oregonian/OreegonLive

In the 1980s, buoyed by the success of Alexis Greek Restaurant, West Burnside became home to a number of Greek restaurants, including Demetris Mediterranean Restaurant, which opened in 1984 and served authentic Greek dishes and baklava made by a real Greek mom. By the mid- 90s, owner Demetri Touhouliotis opened the adjacent Demetris Ouzoria, a Greek-style tavern where bartender Kateri Brown laughed with customers between shots of ouzo. It closed in 2008, and now is home to the Commodore Lounge.

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Digger O'Dell's

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Bruce McCurtain, The Oregonian

Heres a long-running watering hole with an unlikely origin story. Brothers Rob and Bruce Burns ran a company that was known for truck-stop restaurants, and in 1978 opened a fancy New Orleans spot in the historic Barber Block building on Southeast Grand Avenue. Digger ODells (named after the undertaker on the 1940s radio show The Life of Riley, of all things) served Cajun fare liked blackened catfish before it became an obsession of the 1980s, along with lots of southern drinks, like Hurricanes a Mint Juleps. It closed in 1996, and became the now-closed Rose & Raindrop pub.

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Dunkin's Retreat

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Allan J. de Lay, The Oregonian

This downtown cafe and cardroom opened on Southwest Sixth Avenue in the 1950s, and continued to operate until it was displaced by the development of the downtown transit mall in the 1970s. In this 1956 photo, EHM Roston and John Winters are waited on by Betty Miller, and the atmosphere seems convivial. But something was simmering beneath the Retreats posh veneer. The owner in the 1960s was rumored to have connections to the Las Vegas mob, and the card room became the focus of vice squad investigations into illegal gambling (and an internal police investigation into whether vice officers looked the other way at some of Dunkins Retreats shadier practices).

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Galaxy Restaurant and Lounge

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Randy L. Rasmussen, The Oregonian/OregonLive

In the 1990s and 2000s, one of Portlands most-popular karaoke venues was the Galaxy Restaurant, a one-time Dennys restaurant that opened in 1963, which architecture fans lauded for its mid-century design. Because it was located across East Burnside from Doug Fir Lounge, it became a popular spot with musicians, who came here after gigs to unwind over strong drinks and inexpensive bites. The building was torn down in 2011 as Lower Burnside became more gentrified, and was replaced by the larger Trio Club, where karaoke continues, but without the cool, gritty vibe.

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Gold Camp Room

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Earl R. Drorbaugh, The Oregonian

In 1953, the Gold Camp Room opened in downtown, and was designed to look like an old-time saloon. In this photo, bartender bartender Leo LeBoeuf, wearing a black string tie and checkered vest, works a 1920s cash register. The owner of the bar, John Johnny Boston Runstein, was celebrated for raising money for charity. But in the 1960s, became known for connections to Portlands gambling underworld.

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The Harbor Club

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Allan J. de Lay, The Oregonian

The Harbor Club, which was located at the corner of Southwest First Avenue and Yamhill Street from 1948 to 1964, was one of the more-colorful drinking establishments when the waterfront area was still a place where U.S. Navy ships regularly docked. In the 1950s, the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board placed the bar off limits to servicemen for matters of hygiene. It was military code for businesses that catered to a gay clientele. In the distance of this 1959 photo is the old Oregon Journal building, which was later torn down. Tom McCall Waterfront Park is located there. But the building that housed the Harbor Club is still around, and is home to Paddys, Portlands oldest Irish bar, and is one of the most-popular drinking spots for sailors from the U.S. and Canadian navies when the Rose Festival Fleet docks here every spring.

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Hilaire's Encore

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Carl Vermilya, The Oregonian/OregonLive

This Southwest Broadway restaurant and bar was the sister establishment to Hilaires, which was just around the corner. The Encore, which opened in 1950 and is seen here in 1953, was remarkably beautiful, with a large chandelier and elaborately framed mirrors. The bar was a popular spot with patrons of the many movie houses that were located nearby. Upon closing in 1984, owner Larry Hilaire recalled notable events that had happened here, including how a woman had given birth under a stairway. The building was demolished in the late 90s to make way for the downtown Marriott hotel.

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Hung Far Low

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Oregonian file photo

For decades, this Chinatown restaurant on the corner of Northwest Couch Street and Third Avenue was known for strong drinks and traditional Chinese fare. First opened in 1928, it served chop suey, chow mein and lo mein when they were considered exotic. In 2005, the restaurant moved out to Southeast 82nd Avenue, where it ran for a decade before closing in 2015. But the iconic sign -- tourists stop to giggle and take pictures of it  still hangs over the original building.

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The Jasmine Tree

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David Falconer, The Oregonian

Long before tiki bars became retro-cool, this downtown restaurant was mixing stiff Polynesian drinks and serving puu puu platters to students from nearby Portland State University. The Chinese fare in the dining room was notoriously greasy and bland, but the real scene was in the lounge, where you might hear live local music, karaoke or stand-up comedy, depending on the night. The restaurant was demolished after the city purchased the block to make room for the streetcar line connecting downtown to the South Waterfront District.

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The Jockey Club Tavern

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Randy Wood, The Oregonian

This North Killingsworth Bar was known for an ever-changing sign that would say things like Caution  drunks crossing and Our juke box can kick your juke boxs ass and dirt-cheap prices on beer. Ruby Bryan, who owned the tavern in 1982, led a campaign to get drivers to slow down on Killingsworth after several patrons had near-misses with cars. That campaign led to an investigation of the bar by the OLCC, which was concerned that visibly intoxicated people were still being served alcohol.

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Joe's Place

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Steven Nehl, The Oregonian

In this 2005 photo, Joes Place owner Joe Benjamin looks out over rapidly changing Northeast Alberta Street. The bar, which was located at 18th and Alberta, was the last of the African American clubs and taverns along the street. A bar had been operating in the location since the 1950s, and Benjamin bought and rechristened it in 1972. In the decades that followed, he saw the neighborhood change, including times of rising crime and gentrification. On New Years Eve 2005, the bar closed when Benjamin retired.

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Marko's Moonlight Inn

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Photo courtesy of Marko A. Susnjara

This 1940 photo shows the interior of Marko's Moonlight Inn, a tavern and card room on West Burnside Street and Northwest Fifth Avenue. Included in photo: John Brkich (third from left), Oscar Olson (sixth from left), Marko Susnjara (far right).

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Mayfair House

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Dick Farris, The Oregonian

In 1958, the luxurious lounge opened at the Mayfair House restaurant, which was located at Southeast 80th Avenue and Division Street. Construction of the lounge cost a then-staggering $20,000, and was done with a mix of Colonial and mid-century modern styles. The wood carvings gracing the bar were made by Portland's Ed Quigley. The large Mayfair operation included the Mayfair Lanes bowling alley. The buildings later became the popular Legin Chinese restaurant, which was sold and torn down in 2012 to make way for the expansion of PCC's eastside campus.

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The Mural Room/Jazz Quarry

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Oregonian/OregonLive file photos

First opened as The Mural Room in 1947, the club became the Jazz Quarry in the late 1970s, and featured regular performances by many local musicians, including local singer Lloyd Fletcher, seen here in 1984 in front of a mural of jazz legend Charlie Parker. Jazz Quarry closed in 1987, and the building was demolished a few years ago to make room for a high-rise apartment building.

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Pago Pago

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Oregonian file photo

During World War II, Americans became obsessed with Polynesian culture. In 1942, one of the places to get a taste of it was Pago Pago at Southwest Sixth and Stark Street, which showcased a tropical theme from its bar to its live band. According to The Oregonian, materials from seven different countries were used to decorate the club, which cost $25,000 to build. On the menu were tropical cocktails, which weren't common at the time. In the 1950s, Pago Pago and its adjoining Turf Club came under the scrutiny of police during a crackdown of secret gambling dens. It closed in 1952 after lease difficulties and battles with City Hall over its liquor license.

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Pal's Shanty Tavern

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Robyn Larsen, The Oregonian/OregonLive

For almost five decades, this Hollywood District dive bar was the place to go for steamer clams, Parmesan garlic bread and cold beer. The bar, housed in a one-time silent movie theater, had a small-town vibe, with wood-paneled walls, neon beer signs and a cast of friendly regulars. Brothers Michael and Richard Sullivan are seen enjoying crab cocktails in this 2001 photo. In 1993, a second location opened in Southwest Portland, and the chef was Ross Pullen, formerly of Belinda's. An arson fire closed the original restaurant in 2013, and it never reopened. A Hot Lips Pizza opened there the next year.

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Portland Motor Hotel

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Michael Lloyd, The Oregonian

Before it was the swanky Hotel Modera, the downtown motor lodge at Southwest Fifth Avenue and Clay Street was home to the Portland Motor Hotel, where in 1979, cocktail waitress Gail Tucker served customers in its smoky lounge. In a profile in The Oregonian, Tucker said that serving drinks was a pleasant way to make a living, though the skimpy outfit sometimes drew unwanted roving hands.

A lot of people think were easy marks, Tucker said. Because we serve liquor in a relaxed atmosphere and wear abbreviated costumes, they sometimes assume were pushovers, an easy mark for the man out on the town. It isnt so.

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Remo's

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Tom Treick, The Oregonian

This Italian restaurant opened in 1983 in an old firehouse on Northwest Glisan Street. The upstairs dining room featured pasta dishes and fancy desserts. But the real action was in the downstairs lounge, which featured live jazz nightly, including this set by Sandra Simmons and Calvin Walker, performing with drummer Carlton Jackson, bassist Kevin Dietz and pianist Joe Heinermann. Magic happened every Sunday night, when drummer Ron Steen hosted a weekly jazz jam, which often attracted the talents of pianist Tom Grant and sax player Jay Collins. The music lasted until 1991 when the business faced foreclosure. Touche Restaurant & Bar has been in the space since 1995, but closed last year.

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Sidney's

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Allan J. de Lay, The Oregonian

Another popular downtown nightclub in the 1950s was Sidneys. Heres how The Oregonians photographer Allan J. de Lay described it in 1958: New York City's Lexington Ave. isn't the only place where they have singing bartenders and waitresses. In Portland, Sidney's nightclub features not only one of the hottest combos in town but the singing of bartender Wayne Keith and waitress Barbara Helzer. They are shown with Jobie Rucker at the bass, Sidney Porter at piano and Earl Carnett at drums. The trio played for Vice President Richard Nixon during his visit in Portland last week. The vice president was entertained at the Masonic Temple.

Sidneys, which was owned by Porter, continued to be a popular venue for live jazz until its closure in 1971.

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Tiger Bar

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Joel Davis, The Oregonian

Tiger Bar opened in 1997 on Northwest Broadway, bridging the gap between Old Town and the then-industrial Pearl District. You had to use a little bit of intuition to find Tiger Bar. Instead of a regular sign, the exterior boasted only tiger stripes. In the 2000s, the bar became the Thursday night home to Karaoke From Hell, where you could sing with a live band, not pre-recorded music. Tiger Bar closed in 2014, and is now Stag, a gay nightclub featuring male strippers.

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The Vat & Tonsure

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Brent Wojahn, The Oregonian

In 1978, Mike and Rose-Marie Barbeau-Quinn opened this quirky downtown restaurant and wine bar, which became a hit with the symphony crowd, drawn by the blaring opera on the sound system and the dependable roasted game hen and the smoked pork chop. The original Vat closed in 1997, and the building was torn down so the Fox Tower could be built. The Vat resurfaced a block away in 2003, but closed when Rose-Marie, a French-Canadian, was forced to return to Canada in 2005 following an immigration dispute about the length of her marriage to Quinn, who died in 1991. The second Vat became a Pastini Pastaria.

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Veritable Quandary

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Donald Wilson, The Oregonian

When this venerable downtown restaurant and bar closed in 2016, it ended a 45-year run. The old brick building was home to one of the city's best after-work bars, and the kitchen in recent years produced impressive American fare, like giant prawns with bacon and avocado, a remarkable veggie burger, and chocolate souffle. Owner Dennis King, tending bar in this 1975 photo, was there for the restaurant's entire run, and watched the city change. Construction is underway for a new courthouse on the VQ site.

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York's Tavern

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Oregonian file photo

This Southwest 14th Avenue tavern was a neighborhood favorite in the 1950s and 60s, and featured a modern design that distinguished it from other buildings. Owner Jack York was blind, but in a 1951 Oregonian feature said he remembered regular customers by the sound of their voices. York was born in Russia during the age of the Czars, and came to North America in 1909 to work as a tailor. An accident during eye surgery in the 1930s left him blind. As striking as the building was, it was doomed by progress  it was demolished when connecting ramps from Interstate 405 to Highway 26 were built.

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Did we miss a favorite?

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Olivia Bucks, The Oregonian/OregonLive

Portland has had plenty of bars that have come and gone over the years. If we missed one of your favorites from days gone by, tell us what made it special in the comments. And if you've got a photo of the long-lost bar to share, you can e-mail it to gbutler@oregonian.com, and we'll share it in a future story.

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More Portland history

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Collage by Grant Butler, The Oregonian/OregonLive

If youre thirsty for more on the history of Portland nightlife, youre in luck:

-- Grant Butler

gbutler@oregonian.com

503-221-8566; @grantbutlerJoin The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board and a panel of three experts at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25, to talk about how you and your family can get better prepared for the Cascadia quake. The discussion will be free, though audience members should register at www.oregonlive.com/cascadia. The event, called Earthquake Preparedness - Turning Anxiety into Action, will be held at the Bloodworks Live Studio at 1210 SW 6th Ave., Portland.

The panel will include Susan Romanski of Mercy Corps; Justin Ross, Multnomah County's Community Capacity Specialist; and Linda Kozlowski, a community organizer doing preparedness work on the Oregon Coast.

The editorial board is highlighting how Oregonians can get better prepared for a natural disaster as one of its agenda items this year. A recent editorial touched on how individuals can take a first step by creating a family plan. Read the editorial at Oregonlive.com/Opinion.What is particularly regretful about the demands of certain "victim's rights" advocates that Judge Kenneth Walker resign is that they seem to know nothing about who Judge Walker is. He is respected in the community as a no-nonsense, fair and courageous judge. Unlike many other judges I've appeared in front of as a criminal defense lawyer, he neither fears nor pledges fealty to the prosecutor's office. He is known for treating people who do not typically feel comfortable in court -- such as poor people and ethnic minorities -- with patience and compassion. Anyone who says Judge Walker is "anti-victim" does not know him as a judge.

Contrary to the extremists in the victims' camp -- who are usually encouraged if not actually led by prosecutors -- no participant in any proceeding is entitled to ramble on endlessly, especially on matters peripherally relevant to the proceedings, without risk of an abrupt judicial course-correction. That is a good thing. Judges need to maintain control of their courtrooms and are granted wide discretion in determining when a matter has been fully aired.

If Judge Walker cut off a victim after letting her talk for 20 minutes, I'd wager that he had a very good reason. Twenty minutes is longer than most state court sentencing hearings take in their entirety and longer than the time required by any of the thousands of defendants I've represented to exercise their right of allocution. Here, the parties had already agreed to the sentence, the victim's statement was likely already provided to all parties, and the judge undoubtedly had many other hearings ahead.

Judge Walker is under continual pressure to handle more cases with fewer resources, as are all of our judges. Perhaps we should respect his experience in knowing the difference between a fair proceeding and a publicly-funded soap opera audition.

Robert Reid, North PortlandBy Ed Piper

Oregon attorneys (this author included) should be justifiably hesitant to disagree with former Oregon Supreme Court Justice W. Michael Gillette, one of our state's finest and most influential legal minds. But Justice Gillette's recent column on the potential pitfalls of House Bill 4155, which the Legislature passed in response to the Federal Communication Commission's repeal of Obama-era net neutrality protections, may overstate the degree of legal peril facing the bill. If HB 4155 provokes a lawsuit, the bill's defenders probably will find themselves on solid legal ground.

The bill's saving grace is that it applies only to "public bodies," i.e., state and local governments. In practical terms, its scope is relatively narrow: it simply prohibits public bodies from entering into agreements with broadband internet providers who fail to abide by the principles of net neutrality. In other words, the people of Oregon have declared through their elected representatives that they do not want their government to purchase internet access from those types of companies. The bill is silent, however, when it comes to contracts between those companies and other private consumers who want to purchase their services.

Legally speaking, those distinctions matter quite a bit. On one hand, the constitution entitles Congress to regulate interstate commerce, which includes the sale of broadband internet access to consumers who want to buy it. On the other hand, though, the constitution prohibits Congress from forcing a consumer to purchase internet access that she, he, or it does not want. In particular, recall the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, which held that Congress may not compel a consumer to become an active participant in interstate commerce (by purchasing health insurance) when she or he has no desire to do so. The same rule applies to broadband internet access; in either case, Congress has no power to compel consumers to purchase products or services that they do not want.

Those principles carry special significance when the consumer in question is a state or local government. The Supreme Court has held several times that Congress may not constitutionally compel a state to assist it in carrying out the federal government's policy objectives. In other words, a state or local government may validly refuse to become a foot soldier for a federal regulatory agency. In a 1992 opinion, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor described that rule, known among lawyers and judges as the "anti-commandeering doctrine," bluntly: "the Constitution has never been understood to confer upon Congress the ability to require the States to govern according to Congress' instructions."

That, however, is precisely what federal law would accomplish if it were construed as preempting HB 4155, i.e., it would impermissibly dictate to the people of Oregon the manner in which their state government must purchase broadband internet access for public use. The federal government can no more require state administrators to enter into unwanted agreements for the purchase of internet access than it can require state legislators to enact unwanted laws or individual consumers to purchase unwanted health insurance.

Of course, if an enterprising telecom attorney eventually challenges HB 4155, there is little the state can do to prevent it. Birds need to fly, fish need to swim and lawyers need to sue. Such a challenge, however, might be clearer-cut (and, thus, less expensive to resolve) than it would appear at first blush. In any event, as Justice Gillette rightly notes, the net neutrality principles embodied in HB 4155 enjoy immense popular support. The vindication of those principles may require litigation, but either way, the battle for a free and open internet is a fight worth having.

Ed Piper is a Portland attorney whose practice focuses on privacy, data security and white-collar criminal defense. He lives in Northwest Portland.The United States and China are not in an all-out trade war yet, but they're getting closer to it. That's why the stock market tumbled Wednesday morning and soybean farmers are panicking.

On a grand scale, the latest development is unlikely to send the U.S. economy into a recession. Growth is strong and so far China has only threatened $50 billion tariffs on U.S. goods. The tariffs haven't taken effect yet, but even if they do, they are minuscule in relation to America's $18 trillion economy -- 0.3 percent to be exact.

But that doesn't mean there won't be pain.

Certain parts of the country -- especially Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Washington and Kansas -- will feel it acutely. And more Americans will get hurt the further the brinkmanship goes, especially if the stock market sell-off ends one of the longest bull markets in U.S. history.

Here's a quick recap of what happened in the last 24 hours: On Tuesday evening, the U.S. announced its intent to put 25 percent tariffs on 1,300 Chinese imports. The tariffs won't take effect until late May at the earliest, but the message to China was clear: Trump wants China to buy more U.S. stuff and do a better job protecting U.S. intellectual property.

China, normally known for "measured" responses in its trade dealings, fired back Wednesday with a gut punch to Trump, saying it intends to put 25 percent tariffs on the top goods the U.S. exports to China: Airplanes, soybeans and cars. America's tariff list was full of a lot of products, mostly parts of machines, that are traded on a smaller scale. But China is taking aim at key U.S. industries, and two of them -- soybeans and cars -- are concentrated in states Trump won.

The tariffs have yet to take effect on either side, so there's plenty of time for the two governments to negotiate -- and Wall Street, soybean farmers and many executives are really hoping they will.

"China's rapid and aggressive response to the proposed U.S. tariffs has raised the stakes for both sides. But its move to publish a list of counter-tariffs is primarily intended as a deterrent, and we think there is still time to de-escalate trade tensions before the tariffs come into force," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics.

The White House sent mixed messages Tuesday morning.

"Even shooting wars end in negotiations," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on CNBC just before the markets tanked. He went on to say he was "a little surprised that Wall Street is surprised by [Chinese retaliation]. This has been telegraphed for weeks."

Trump followed with a tweet saying "you can't lose" in a struggle like this with China, escalating fears this is only the beginning.

But Larry Kudlow, Trump's new top economic adviser who has long been a champion of free trade, told reporters outside the White House that Trump "wants to solve this with the least amount of pain ... I can't emphasize that enough." Kudlow's words were far more soothing, but they seemed to contradict Trump, and the president will have the final say.

Trump is making a big gamble here. His move, whatever reaction it draws, is aimed at securing a more favorable long-term reaction from China. But how much is he willing to sacrifice? And how long is he willing to go?

There's broad agreement around the world that China hasn't been playing fair on trade. Businesses are especially upset at how China has restricted the growth of U.S. companies in China. The Chinese government wants to build up domestic industries, especially in tech and high-end manufacturing, but they are doing it partly by taking some U.S. know-how and forbidding U.S. companies from getting much of a foothold in the Chinese market. Many Democrats and Republicans agree that former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush didn't go hard enough on China, and they think Trump is right to press China harder.

But while there's significant support for Trump going after China, there's also significant concern about his methods. Trump has dismissed the usual path of taking China to court at the World Trade Organization or trying to get a bunch of U.S. allies to make a coordinated move. Instead, he's going it alone.

"If protecting U.S. intellectual property is the ultimate goal here, I'm not sure how destroying shareholder wealth, damaging CEO confidence and making the American farmer the main sacrificial lamb here after six years of pain on the farm is going to get us there," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer of the Bleakley Advisory Group.

Here's where the pain is likely to hit hardest: The immediate risk is to the parts of the U.S. that produce the goods China plans to hit with tariffs. China accounts for 60 percent of U.S. soybean exports, according to Goldman Sachs. That means a major buyer of U.S. soybeans would basically disappear if the tariffs go into effect. American soybean farmers are mainly located in 10 Midwestern states: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Missouri, North Dakota and Kansas. Trump won eight of those states in the election.

But the Chinese would feel pain from this move as well. They consume a lot of soybeans. While Brazil and Argentina also send a lot of soybeans to China, the Chinese demand could not be fulfilled by those South American countries alone. It would take time for more fields to be planted in other parts of the world. That means soybean prices are going to rise in China.

"China would ultimately be the one paying for these soybean tariffs," wrote Damien Courvalin of Goldman Sachs in a research note Wednesday.

It's a bit more complicated in the airplane sector because there are really only two major players in the aircraft market: U.S. company Boeing and French company Airbus. It's obvious where China will turn now. The two companies are fierce rivals that have been competing heavily for contracts with China as the world's second-largest economy beefs up its commercial airline fleet. Boeing stock tumbled more than 2 percent Wednesday and is down about 9 percent in the past month as trade fears rose on Wall Street. It's unclear whether Airbus could meet all of China's needs, at least in the short term.

Snohomish County, Washington has the highest concentration of workers in the U.S. making airplanes and airplane parts, according to the Labor Department. The state of Washington didn't go for Trump, but it's far from the only place that would feel the Chinese tariff pain on Boeing planes. Factories around the country produce parts for the aerospace industry, including in Gresham, Oregon, where Boeing employs more than 1,600 at its 87-acre site.

After Washington, the next biggest areas with the highest concentration of employment in aerospace are located in California (a blue state), Kansas (a red state), Texas (a red state) and Connecticut (a blue state). Parts of Ohio, Massachusetts, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Florida also have significant exposure, a reminder of the wide supply chains for cars and planes.

Then there's the larger risk to the economy if the stock market continues to nose-dive: At the moment, the stock market is down just more than 10 percent from record-high levels in January. This is a situation known as a "correction." It's not fun, but it's fairly normal and doesn't mean the bull market that has been going since March 2009 is in jeopardy.

But if stocks fall 20 percent or more, then the market will experience what is known as a "bear market." That's usually a lot harder to recover from. It often causes investors, and usually the broader American public, to lose some confidence in the economy. People often start to spend less when they see the market down so much out of fear things are getting a lot worse, a scenario known as the "wealth effect." If people feel poorer when they look at their investments and retirement accounts, they often close their wallets.

"There's a growing possibility we'll end up in a trade war and that is a risk to the brisk growth we were expecting this year and next," said Karen Dynan, a Harvard economics professor and former Obama staffer.

Then there's the potential panic in corporate board rooms. If a true trade war breaks out, executives at top companies are likely to halt some spending on new factories out of fear of what's going to happen next. That starts to erase the good that was supposed to come from the tax bill. The large corporate tax cut from 35 percent to 21 percent was supposed to encourage businesses to hire more people and invest more in new products and factories, but all the uncertainty from trade could curb a lot of that spending. The fall in markets also makes it harder for companies to get money to expand operations.

"There's a risk of destabilizing financial markets ... if the market reacts strongly and negatively to protectionism, then we could see a real decline in asset values and a pullback in lending that would be really bad for the economy," Dynan said.

Right now, these are mostly fears about what could happen. But the Chinese are not backing down easily against Trump like the South Koreans did. Trump says a trade war would be "easy to win." But he didn't promise it would be without casualties.

--Heather Long

The Washington PostTrump says to use military to secure U.S.-Mexico border

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he wants to use the military to guard the country's border with Mexico until his long-promised border wall is built.

"We are going to be guarding our border with our military," Trump told reporters during a lunch session at the White House with leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

"We're going to be doing things militarily until we can have a wall and proper security," the president said. "That's a big step."

Trump also said that he's spoken with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis about the idea.

The president has been lashing out at Mexico for allowing a group of Central American demonstrators, mostly from Honduras, to march toward the U.S. border, where many hope to seek asylum.

"The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our 'Weak Laws' Border, had better be stopped before it gets there," Trump tweeted early Tuesday.

Trump has recently reiterating his hardline stances on immigration, while repeatedly calling out Mexico over the border security and stressing the need for a border wall on the southern border.

The 1.3-trillion-U.S.-dollar spending bill, signed into law by Trump last month, only grants 1.6 billion dollars for border security measures, far short of what the administration has sought.

Trump has proposed using military funding to build the border wall but it's likely to face both political and legal challenges before the idea can be put into action.Secretary of State Dennis Richardson on Tuesday backtracked on a bid to add security and a driver to his compensation package, citing the potential for abuse "by future holders of this office."

Gov. Kate Brown is currently the only statewide elected official to rate her own driver and security detail, which are provided by the Oregon State Police's Dignitary Protection Unit. But Richardson is the sole Republican in a statewide elected position, and his staff said he faces security threats because of heightened partisan tensions across the country, including in Oregon.

Debra Royal, Richardson's chief of staff, said last week that he had not received any specific threats, but insisted the concern was real, along with the potential for greater efficiency if Richardson was able to continue working while a staffer took over the driving duties when he was out of the office on state or personal business.

Deputy Secretary of State Leslie Cummings wrote to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission in mid-March to see if the move would pass ethical muster. In the letter, she claimed Richardson had the "inherent constitutional authority" to set compensation for everyone in the agency  including the addition of a driver and security services for himself - because statutes give him the power to set rules, policies and procedure necessary for personnel administration in the agency.

The response from Ron Bersin, the executive director of the ethics commission, was fairly straightforward: It's a personal financial benefit, as it would allow Richardson to avoid the financial burden of paying for his own transportation and security. And public officials have a conflict of interest when they make decisions that have a direct financial impact on themselves.

Bersin said that didn't preclude the agency from making the move, but that Richardson would have to declare the conflict, avoid participation in the decision, and the agency would have to specifically approve the additional compensation "in a formal manner."

Richardson set about doing that last week. A statement from Richardson went up on the agency website indicating that "due to new pay equity laws," the agency was performing a review of all staff positions, salaries and benefits "to ensure equity and fairness."

The statement made no mention of the driver or security question, but it directly addressed Bersin's concerns.

"Although as Secretary of State my salary and a portion of my benefits package is set by statute, I will not participate in any discussions or decisions related to those Secretary of State benefits not set by statute.

"In short, I am recusing myself from such discussions to avoid a conflict of interest, and I am providing this public notice to ensure full transparency, integrity, and accountability to the Oregon people."

Richardson apparently had a change of heart this week and decided to walk back the proposal, which he attributed to his staff.

"I appreciate my staff's concern for my safety. However, due to some public comments, it has come to my attention that providing "security" to the Secretary of State could be abused by future holders of this office... I am unwilling to set a precedent that could be abused by a future Secretary who does not prioritize fiscal responsibility like I do. Based on the above concerns, if taxpayer-funded security for the Secretary of State were offered, I would not accept."

- Ted Sickinger

503-221-8505; @tedsickingerPortland police officers who receive training in advanced crisis intervention should be sent to more mental health-related calls because they're more likely to send people to a hospital for care, city-hired consultants recommend in a report released Tuesday.

The approach will help the Police Bureau meet the requirements of a federal settlement agreement, the consultants said.

The Chicago-based Rosenbaum & Associates issued a draft of the quarterly report just two weeks before officials from the city and the U.S. Department of Justice are expected to appear April 19 before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Simon for a hearing on the status of required police reforms. The consultants also plan to hold a town hall on the report April 18.

A Justice Department investigation found in 2012 that Portland police used excessive force against people with mental illness. The negotiated settlement with the city, approved by Simon in 2014, called for changes to police policies, training and oversight.

The agreement called for a different crisis response model that has a team of trained officers responding to mental health crisis calls as their full-time role and answering to one high-ranking supervisor.

Instead, Portland police provided extra crisis training to officers who volunteered. The so-called Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team officers now number 118, 38 percent of the bureau's patrol officers. They continue to work patrol and are scattered throughout the bureau's three precincts. They're dispatched if available to certain types of crisis calls.

The consultants have worked for more than a year to try to evaluate the officers with the enhanced training and the bureau's response to mental health-related calls, but often found police and dispatch data was sparse or nonexistent.

So, they worked with police to compare outcomes of calls between regular patrol officers and the officers with the extra training from mid-April to mid-September last year.

They found that the enhanced crisis intervention officers were significantly more likely to have a person taken to a hospital, such as the Unity Center psychiatric emergency room, than regular patrol officers.

They didn't find significant statistical differences between the two groups of officers, though, in whether an encounter led to an arrest.

The police and consultants evaluated 8,939 mental health contacts. For every 100 calls, officers with the enhanced training would transport seven more people to a hospital or the Unity Center than would the regular patrol officers. They responded to 70 to 75 percent of the emergency mental health calls.

"This difference has the potential for meaningful impact on those experiencing a mental health crisis,'' the consultants wrote.

As a result, the consultants echo recommendations from a now-defunct community oversight board in suggesting that the officers with the special training be sent to all calls when a person's mental health is the primary issue.

Currently, the officers with enhanced training are sent to a mental health call if a person is violent, has a weapon, is threatening or attempting suicide, threatening to jump from a bridge or building or structure, threatening to obstruct traffic, if the call comes from a residential mental health facility or if the caller specifically requests an enhanced crisis intervention officer.

The consultants recommended that the bureau expand the types of calls that these officers handle to any mental health crisis call involving someone experiencing intense personal distress or anxiety, obvious changes in their ability to function such as neglect of personal hygiene or unusual behavior, catastrophic life events such as a breakup or loss of parental rights, or any other disaster that may make them a danger to themselves or others.

Patrol officers already often request help from the other officers for many of these types of calls, the report said.

The consultants noted that the bureau has been reluctant to expand the dispatch criteria, preferring to send patrol officers to less-serious calls so they can gain their own experience.

Yet Chief Danielle Outlaw said Tuesday that the bureau has worked with federal Justice officials and emergency dispatch to revise its protocol to enable the officers with extra training to respond to more calls involving mental health crises. The bureau did not provide further details.

The consultants had asked the police bureau to compare if force is used when the officers with extra training are sent to a mental health call, compared to a regular patrol officer. But there were only 22 cases involving force during the period studied, so it didn't provide a reliable analysis, the consultants noted without describing those encounters.

Anna So, a member of Critical Resistance PDX, urged the city to spend money on mental health resources and not police. The group is mounting an awareness campaign called Care Not Cops.

"We must ... invest in life-affirming resources that can respond and provide long-term care to people in mental health emergencies," she said.

Deadline for comments on the draft report: 5 p.m. May 2. Email rosenbaumandassociatesllp@gmail.com or go to April 18 forum, 6 to 8 p.m. at 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave., Room 2500B.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonianU.S. officials are seeking to revoke the naturalized citizenship of two convicted war criminals, including a Yugoslavian woman now living in Oregon who participated in a 1993 massacre of Bosnian Croats.

A civil complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland alleges that Sammy Rasema Yetisen, also known as Rasema Handanovic or "Zolja,'' 45, was part of an elite unit of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina that attacked the village of Trusina on April 16, 1993, in what is known as the Trusina massacre.

Sammy Rasema Yetisen

The unit targeted Bosnian Croats in the village because of their Christian religion and Croat ethnicity, according to the complaint.

Yetisen was accused of participating in the murder of at least six of the victims, including three civilians and three prisoners of war.

After the war ended, Yetisen entered the United States as a refugee by claiming she was fleeing the atrocities that she, in fact, had committed, the complaint alleges. She became a permanent U.S. resident in 1998 and a U.S. citizen in 2002.

It wasn't until 2011 that Yetisen's participation in the 1993 massacre came to light after investigations by the governments of Bosnia and Herzogovina. At their request, the United States extradited Yetisen in 2011 to stand trial for the alleged war crimes.

In April 2012, she pleaded guilty in a Bosnian-Herzogovinian court to war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war and was sentenced to five years and six months in prison. After completing the sentence, she returned to the United States.

She was last known to be living in Beaverton, according to the complaint.

"War criminals will find no safe haven or shelter within the United States,'' Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. "For too long, we have tolerated egregious fraud in our refugee program, our immigration system and the naturalization process. This administration will hold alleged fraudsters accountable.''

In 2011, Beaverton neighbors described Yetisen as an unemployed single mother of a 12-year-old boy who often kept to herself and recently started receiving disability for her fibromyalgia. At that time, she shared an apartment with her son, parents and sister, they said.

Yetisen didn't immediately return a message left at her home.

A companion civil complaint was filed in the U.S. District of Columbia against another convicted war criminal, Edin Dzeko, 46, who also was part of the same army and involved in the Trusina village massacre.

The Bosnian court found that both Yetisen and Dzeko played key roles in the massacre, participating in a firing squad. Dzeko also killed a disabled elderly man, and then shot the man's wife in the back because she wouldn't stop crying, according to the civil complaint.

Dzeko was convicted in June 2014 and is still serving his sentence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The complaints allege that both concealed and misrepresented their criminal history, military service and crimes throughout their immigration proceedings.

They each swore that they had never "ordered, assisted or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person because of race, religion or political opinion, when in fact they had specifically targeted and executed Croats, a primarily Christian group, according to the complaints.

"The United States is a refuge for those fleeing violence and the atrocities of war, not those responsible for these unthinkable acts,'' U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams, said in a statement. "I applaud the hard work and coordination of law enforcement across the country that culminated in these lawsuits.''

The complaints were filed jointly by attorneys in the U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice's national security and immigration litigation units.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonianPortland startup Stackery said Tuesday it has raised $5.5 million to market its software for managing servers in data centers. The nine-person company said its headcount could nearly double this year.

Stackery specializes in "serverless" technology, a technique for managing software in off-site data centers. It doesn't actually get around the need for servers - rather, it optimizes software so businesses pay only for the time their software is running.

"The technology itself, it's really still emerging," said Nate Taggart, Stackery's chief executive. After a year spent on engineering, Taggart said his two-year-old company will put more emphasis on marketing its technology to large companies that can benefit the most.

Stackery has now raised $7.3 million altogether. Steve Kishi of the San Francisco investment firm HWVP led Tuesday's funding, joined by Voyager Capital, Pipeline Capital Partners, and Founders' Co-op.

Investment activity in Silicon Forest startups is off to a busy start this year. Portland startups NurseGrid, SheerID and Fleet Logistics each announced notable rounds in January, and Vancouver-based augmented reality company RealWear reported $17 million in backing in February.

And Stackery's investment was one of two notable rounds Tuesday alone - online marketing company Lytics reported $12 million in funding.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699Americans across the country are remembering the life and work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

Marches and rallies are planned in many cities across the country -- including Atlanta, where King was born, and Memphis, where the 39-year-old civil-rights leader was fatally shot on April 4, 1968.

King contemporaries in the civil-rights movement such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and U.S. Rep. John Lewis will participate in the events in Memphis. Atlanta will close its commemoration with a wreath-laying at his crypt.

In Portland, a memorial march is planned for 5 p.m., starting at Northwest Naito Parkway and Davis Street along the downtown waterfront, and culminating at the MLK statue at the Oregon Convention Center on the east side.

Also, the city's NAACP branch will be officially opening its new Lloyd Center office Wednesday with a ceremony honoring King. The event begins at noon.

"Americans must rise above the narrow confines of their individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity," King said in 1961 during an appearance in Portland. "They must rid themselves of the notion that there are superior and inferior races."

He said that the choice, ultimately, was "between nonviolence or nonexistence."

King, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, became known as the "apostle of nonviolence" as he sought to achieve equality and fairness for all Americans. But his goal of peaceful racial and social progress brought a wave of threats from racists.

"We have had threats since the beginning of the struggle, but I have learned to live with it," his wife, Coretta Scott King, said during a Portland visit in 1965. "My husband has no fear of death. He has said it does not matter how long you live, but how well."

Career criminal James Earl Ray was convicted of King's murder and died in prison in 1998. The King family and others have long believed that a "high-level conspiracy" was responsible for the assassination.

"It pains my heart that James Earl Ray had to spend his life in prison paying for things he didn't do," Bernice King, the civil-rights leader's youngest child, has said.

The day after the assassination, Lewis & Clark College President John R. Howard decried King's murder, saying it "serves as a grim reminder that a significant fragment of American society still remains locked in the grip of primitive passions and prejudices despite all of our historical efforts to establish and sustain rule of reason in America."

Five decades later, there has been much progress -- and yet those primitive passions and prejudices retain their hold.

"King was a voice of reason and moderation," University of Notre Dame professor Benedict Giamo said this week. "As it was, with King gone, a more militant presence in the civil rights movement provoked more of the [white] backlash ... You lost that moderate voice. You lost the center. And the center did not hold."

Auburn University emeritus professor Wayne Flint noted the rising racial tensions and confrontations in the country in a Wednesday AL.com column about how King's dream remains unfulfilled.

"King had told his supporters that the end of segregation was only his proximate goal," Flint wrote. "His ultimate dream 'is reconciliation, the end is redemption, the end is the creation of the beloved community.' Fifty years on, that dream seems as remote as it did [in] Memphis in 1968, days before his murder."

-- Douglas PerryChina's second aircraft carrier. (File Photo)

China will conduct drills in the South China Sea from Thursday to April 11, an opportunity that might be taken to improve aircraft carrier Liaoning's combat capability.

After Hainan Maritime Safety Administration announced the drills last week, Reuters reported that some 40 ships and submarines flanking the aircraft carrier Liaoning have entered the South China Sea as seen on satellite images.

The Chinese defense ministry has not confirmed the number of vessels or the presence of the Liaoning.

"If the satellite pictures are accurate, these vessels could have come from three fleets of the Chinese navy, which shows that China is capable of assembling a large battle array in the South China Sea," Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The drills will be an excellent opportunity to improve the Liaoning's combat capability as past drills focused more on the carrier's training and scientific research, Li said.

He added China's air force and rocket force are likely to join the exercises.

"With the combat ability of Liaoning improving, the Chinese navy may change from mixed combat model to a carrier-oriented model when conducting military operation in the high sea. The aircraft carrier is expected to play a major role in defending the South China Sea," said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator.

He added that China should conduct drills in the region more frequently and regularly to improve military combat capabilities and be prepared for possible conflicts.

Western anxiety

The US aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Singapore for a regularly scheduled port visit on Monday, according to the US Navy's website.

After the scheduled visit, the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group will continue training with allies and partners in the US 7th Fleet area of operations.

Meanwhile, EU's head of security policy Francois Rivasseau told The Australian Financial Review the possibility of European navies conducting freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea could not be ruled out in the future.

The Chinese navy drills are related to the changing international situation as some countries have made moves that strategically target China, Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the National Institute for the South China Sea, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The constant meddling of these Western countries on the South China Sea issue proves their anxiety toward China's growing ability to defend its sovereignty, Chen said.

He added that the drills also aim to show that China is fully capable of safeguarding its national interests in the region, and to send a clear message to potential invaders.

The US, Japan, Australia and India are promoting cooperation through the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, and Britain was reportedly considering sending a warship to conduct freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea this year.

Beijing and Washington may have more conflicts if the US keeps challenging China on the South China Sea issue, Chen said.

Forming closer ties with Southeast Asian countries may help China balance the US and other Western countries, because some of these countries may worry that Sino-US competition may affect regional stability, Chen noted.

At an ASEAN summit in November 2017, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that China and Southeast Asian nations will start consultations on the text of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.SHANGHAI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Three universities in Shanghai started offering HIV self-test kits in vending machines on Tuesday to promote HIV testing on campus while protecting privacy.

Students at Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Shanghai University, and Tongji University can buy a kit for 30 yuan (around 4.8 U.S. dollars), take a urine sample, and return the kit to a deposit drawer in the machine.

The student can view their results online by entering a specific code number. The whole process is anonymous.

It is part of a program jointly launched by the Chinese Association of STD and AIDS Prevention and Control and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to address HIV transmission on campus.

Other universities in Chinese provinces such as Heilongjiang and Yunnan also have such kits in vending machines, according to reports.

China had about 718,270 people living with HIV/AIDS as of June in 2017, according to official data.Wednesday 4 April 2018 10:24am



University of Otago, Wellington public health researchers say that the sugar tax implemented in the UK recently would work in New Zealand too.

On 1 April 2018, the United Kingdom introduced a sugary drinks tax, an important public health measure that University of Otago, Wellington, public health researchers believe should be happening in New Zealand too.

The UK is joining many other countries and numerous jurisdictions that now have some variety of a sugary drinks tax  a tax that has been shown to work and have positive spill-over effects.

We think there is a role for Government-led action to help address the obesity epidemic, says Professor Tony Blakely, from the University of Otago, Wellingtons Department of Public Health.

A sweetened sugary beverage (SSB) tax is rapidly gaining traction as a public health measure amongst countries concerned about their growing rates of obesity and diabetes.

Professor Blakely and his team have analysed the literature and recent reports and have recently written a blog about the health impacts this levy might have here in New Zealand.

Sugary drink taxes can be configured in many ways. Professor Blakely says that the UK levy is actually a tiered soft drinks industry levy.

It is clever, and its impact is much more than via the direct price signal to the consumer.

A sugary drink tax will have a number of impacts/benefits including:

1. A price signal to the consumer to reduce consumption (makes an impact reduce obesity rates by around 1%, not massive but has an impact

2. A price signal to the industry to reformulate (i.e. reduce sugar content to move products down a tier). The health gain from this mechanism is probably twice that of the price signal to the consumer.

3. The incentives on industry to change marketing to less sugary drinks.

The researchers also refute a recent New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) report that argues against taxing sugary drinks.

This report, commissioned by the Ministry of Health, has some serious flaws, says Professor Blakely.

There have been at least nine good studies including a thoroughly researched Australian Grattan Institute report. Unfortunately the NZIER chose to include only one of the studies, says Blakely.

Blakely says a soft drinks industry levy is something that could be put in place right now in New Zealand and would not tip the apple cart in light of macro-level rebalancing of our total tax system.

The World Health Organization recommends taxing sugary drinks. And here in New Zealand, the NZ Medical Association and the Heart Foundation recommend taxing sugary drinks.

The NZ Government would be strongly supported by the scientific evidence if it did opt for a sugary drinks tax, with the UK tiered soft drinks industry levy providing an exemplar to follow.

Read the full blog here: https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/

For further information, contact:



Professor Tony Blakely

Department of Public Health

University of Otago, Wellington

Email: tony.blakely@otago.ac.nz

Mob: 021 918608

www.otago.ac.nz/wellingtonWednesday 4 April 2018 11:20am



The Otago Legal Issues Centre is demystifying the legal process by teaming up with the Auckland Community Law Centre.

Court processes can be foreign and alienating for many; new animations developed for New Zealand by the University of Otago aim to break down these barriers to justice.



The Otago Legal Issues Centre has teamed up with the Auckland Community Law Centre to develop a series of animated videos explaining common legal terms and situations for the general public.



Legal Issues Centre Professional Practice Fellow, Allie Cunninghame, says research conducted by the Centre has shown people have difficulty accessing information about the process of bringing or responding to a civil dispute.



Allie Cunninghame, Otago Legal Issues Centre Professional Practice Fellow.

The practice of law, particularly in the courts, also requires an understanding of technical legal language and many unwritten or hard-to-find rules of conduct and procedure.



These are significant barriers to justice in the civil system. They can leave litigants who do not have a lawyer feeling as though they are at a substantial disadvantage as it is information that lawyers know but is not readily available to members of the public.



The Ministry of Justice has gone some way to assist unrepresented litigants by providing more information about the court process on their website. These animations offer clear explanations that summarise and supplement the text-based information, making the information more accessible, Ms Cunninghame says.



The Centre has developed nine videos, including explanations of where to go to get help with a legal dispute, the different ways a person can be represented, and civil legal aid.



Future videos will explain common legal terms, the preparation, filing and serving of civil court case documents, settlement of court cases, and court costs.



We intend to develop multiple series of public legal education videos that span the length of a civil disputefrom how to initiate a civil proceeding through to what happens when your civil dispute has been decided by a judge.



We hope that the animations will help to demystify the court process, and to assist the public in understanding some of the steps in civil court disputes, and some of the terminology and rules which are used by the courts.



We expect that clearer understanding of the court rules may lead to better access to justice and greater efficiency when lay people are representing themselves in court, she says.



The videos are available on the Legal Issues Centres YouTube channel:



https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKloNqwybxCELOJX1MwmzxA/featured



The first nine videos have been animated by Jacinda Kumar, a recent Media and Communications graduate of the University of Otago. Bayden Harris, a current law and history student, assisted with background research and script writing.



The Centre welcomes feedback from the public via the YouTube channel. This will be taken into account during production on the next series of videos.

For more information, please contact:



Allie Cunninghame

Professional Practice Fellow

Legal Issues Centre

University of Otago

Email allie.cunninghame@otago.ac.nzBoth entrepreneurs and experts agreed that a more open China is contributing greater momentum to the world economy, adding that the unilateral move of the US goes against the times.

PC maker Dell, both a witness and beneficiary of Chinas opening up policy, has experienced rapid development since it entered the Chinese market two decades ago, Zhou Bing, vice president of government affairs at Dell China, told Peoples Daily in a recent interview.

Dell is among many foreign enterprises that are bullish on the Chinese market. Apples CEO Tim Cook believes that China is not only a producer and exporter of goods, but also a country that creates much more opportunities.

Apart from being a major manufacturer, China carries dreams as well, as it is putting great energy to develop advanced manufacturing industry and promote the strategy of Made in China 2025, the CEO said.

A World Bank report indicated that Chinas trade facilitation has moved up 18 places in the past five years. In 2017, China received a total of $136.3 billion in foreign investment, the worlds second and hitting a historic high, the report said.

An open China is contributing more to global development, which can also been proven by its outbound investment, Li Guanghui, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation noted.

Li explained that Chinas outbound investment has accelerated the industrialization pace of the destination countries, increased their fiscal revenue, boosted their economic growth and improved local peoples livelihood.

Last year, Chinese investment contributed over $30 billion in taxes to destination countries while creating 1.35 million jobs there.

The first China International Import Expo (CIIE), which is scheduled to open in November, is a concrete effort made by China to open its market to the world, and also a public platform built by China to boost global trade.

Feeling cheerful about the expo, Henry Paulson, former US Treasury Secretary and chairman of the Paulson Institute, said as an important and positive signal to the world, it embodies the importance China places.

The CIIE is now undergoing a smooth preparation, with a better-than-expected registration. Over 60 economies have registered for the country pavilion for trade and investment, and enterprises from over 120 countries and regions have signed up for the expo. The exhibition area will be 20 percent bigger than expected.

Chinese Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan pledged that China will remain unswerving in reform and opening up, and will open its door wider and wider to the outside world.

Chinas reform and opening up has entered the new era, which will bring more opportunities to the US and the rest of the world, he stressed, furthering that China is opening up out of its free will rather than external forces of intimidation.

A more open China will contribute greater momentum to the world economy, said Yang Fengming, deputy director at the research division of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies.

Against the backdrop of economic globalization, mutual benefits and win-win results serve as the basic premise to share Chinas development results, Yang said, adding that the unilateral move of the US counters the trend of the times, and will eventually shoot itself in the foot.'Black-Ish' Creator Kenya Barris Is Looking to Bail on ABC Studios

By Dustin Rowles | Industry | April 4, 2018 |

There could be a number of reasons for this  chief among them, that Netflix is offering him more money  but it doesnt look good for ABC Studios when its top comedy showrunner and the creator of Black-ish, Kenya Barris, is looking to get out of his deal with the network and bolt to Netflix only months after its top drama showrunner, Shonda Rhimes, got out of her pact with ABC to go to Netflix.

From THR:

Multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the Black-ish creator and Girls Trip writer is actively trying to get out of his overall deal with ABC Studios, his creative home since 2015. Barris, who earned a Peabody and two best comedy Emmy nominations for his ABC comedy, has three years remaining on the lucrative four-year deal he signed in 2017. Those same sources say that Barris is in preliminary talks to join Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy with a mega-deal with Netflix. Talks are very real, says a source of Barris potential move to the streaming giant.

Maybe its because Netflix is a better home. Maybe its because they offered him more money. Maybe its because they also offer more creative freedom.

But then again, maybe its because ABC refused to air the Black-ish episode discussing the kneeling controversy in the NFL. Or maybe its because Barris believes there is a double-standard where it concerns Roseanne, which is allowed to be decidedly political, while Black-ish is muted where it concerns political issues. Or maybe he didnt appreciate this his edgier Black-ish spin-off, Grown-ish was moved to Freeform, or maybe it was because ABC wouldnt greenlight his Felicity Huffman/Courtney B. Vance sitcom about politically oppositional pundits who fall in love.

Regardless of the reason, the optics for the network are not good when this news comes the day after ABCs Roseanne took an #AllLivesMatter shot at Black-ish on its most recent episode. It also doesnt look good when ABC loses its two most successful showrunners  who are both Black  to a streaming service.

Source: THR

 Vanessa Vanjie Mateo Solves The Mystery Of 'RuPaul Drag Race's Miss Vanjie Moment | Review: 'The Last Movie', a New Podcast From the Team Behind 'The Black Tapes' and 'Tanis' 

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.A renowned US economist called for rationality in dealing with the trade disputes between China and the US, saying that US President Donald Trump has incoherent objectives on trade and economic issues.

Trump wants foreigners to invest more in the US, and American firms to bring jobs back to the country, Richard Cooper, a professor of international economy at Harvard University told Peoples Daily in a recent interview, adding that the President also wants to reduce the current trade deficit.

However, all these great things are incompatible, and thats part of the problems of the US economic and trade strategy, added Cooper, who is also former chairman of National Intelligence Council and under-secretary of state.

Coopers comments came after Trump signed a memorandum that could impose heavy tariffs on Chinese exports to the US last month, claiming that this policy will help narrow trade deficit with China.

The measure wont take any effects, the economist made it clear, explaining that China as a WTO member has the rights under the WTO rules.

If the Trump administration does impose more tariffs on Chinese commodities, most of the US imports will move to Bangladesh, Vietnam and a number of other countries, he expounded, concluding that levying heavy tariffs will certainly not reduce the US total trade deficit.

The professor said an answer should be asked that is the US really going to implement relevant policies and whats the legal basis for that.

Trumps trade policy will face many uncertainties and strong resistance, he said, adding that there have been oppositions from the Republican Party and business community in the US.

The President and his administration will have to deal with these oppositions despite of his personal inclination, Cooper said, pointing out that the Trump trade policies are different from that of former US administrations.

All the US administrations in the past several decades starting from the Johnson administration have engaged in some tariff moves. The other Presidents, like Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, were still committed to an open trading environment though they all engaged in some temporary or special tariff increases, Cooper said.

He added that Trumps rhetoric differs significantly from all of his predecessors in the last decades. The latest protectionist US President may be Herbert Hoover, who promoted typical trade protectionism during his reign.

The trade war will be damaging for both countries, the professor stressed, saying it can affect the US households, and also importers of intermediate products from China. Taking steel as an example, steel is not used by final consumers, but high tariffs will hurt downstream users.

China has its rights, but if its rights are not respected under the framework of the WTO, the country will surely take actions, Cooper added.

Cooper, who is teaching subjects related to Chinese economy at Harvard University, has been keeping an eye on Chinas development. Serving the Carter administration in 1970s to 1980s, he witnessed US-China interactions such as the negotiations of whether to grant most favored nation trade status to China.

Back to 1980, no one believed that the China-US trade could reach such a large scale, or even whoever says China will become what it is today would be laughed at that time, the professor said.

Reviewing history, one can find that giving China permanent normal trading relations with the US and supporting Chinas bid for WTO membership have benefited both countries, he added.

Although the trade conflict between the two countries is watched by many people, Cooper personally sees China as an economic partner for US in the future because cooperation serves the interests of both countries.

Problems arise when economic transactions, trades and capital movements between two countries rise, the professor pointed out.

Citing the example of Canada, who used to be the biggest trading partner of the US, Cooper said that there were also a large number of disputes on trade between the two countries, but they treated each dispute one by one and these disputes didnt affect the overall relationship between Canada and the US.

The professor believes its not surprising that trade conflicts have gone up between China and the US as the trade and cooperation have gone up, and the challenge for both is to deal with trade disputes item by item in a rational manner.BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday.

The forum, scheduled for April 8 to 11 in Boao, a town in the southern island province of Hainan, will have the theme "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity."

Xi will meet with foreign heads of state and government and officials from international organizations, meet with BFA directors collectively, and hold discussions with entrepreneurs, Wang said.

It will be the third time for Xi to attend the BFA annual conference as Chinese president, indicative of the event's importance and the support given to the forum by the president and the Chinese government, Wang said.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde are expected to attend the forum.

In addition to attending the forum, the Austrian president, Dutch prime minister, Mongolian prime minister, Singaporean prime minister and UN secretary-general will also pay a visit to China.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up in China, and the beginning of the implementation of the decisions made at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Wang said Xi's attendance at the BFA annual conference at this historic moment is of great significance in further promoting major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the new era, building a community with a shared future for Asia and humanity, and advancing the cause of peace and development.

The BFA annual conference is the first major diplomatic event to be hosted by China this year, Wang said, adding that its highlights will include revealing new prospects for reform and opening-up, interpreting the new era of China's development, making new proposals for the future, promoting new progress in partnership, and injecting new impetus for BFA development.

Xi will expound on China's achievements and experience in reform and opening-up and their significance for and influence on the world. Xi will also announce new measures to expand reform and opening-up, Wang said.

"Further reform and opening-up are not only good for China, but will also bring huge benefits to the world. That's why this year's forum gets so much attention," said Lin Guijun, a scholar from the University of International Business and Economics.

Hot topics during the forum could include the Belt and Road Initiative, innovation and opening-up, as the world expects China to play a bigger role in fighting protectionism, said Lin.

President Xi will also explain China's stance on building a community with a shared future for Asia and humanity and jointly creating a better future for Asia and the world.

"The concept of 'a community with a shared future' could be a highlight, as it is important for countries to realize that they share common interests," said Wang Jun, a researcher with China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

According to Wang Yi, more than 2,000 participants from around the world are expected to get together and offer advice on cooperation, development, and prosperity.

The BFA has been expanding both in scale and influence since its establishment 17 years ago, and has played a unique role in building consensus, deepening regional cooperation, boosting common development, and resolving Asian and global problems, Wang said.Christian Englander, the man who threw a banana peel at Dave Chappelle during a 2015 stand up set in Santa Fe, New Mexico is now suing the comedian and his apparent bodyguard.

Englander filed a lawsuit that claims Chappelle's presumed bodyguard hit him twice as he was being restrained following the banana peel incident, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Chappelle addressed the incident in his 2017 Netflix special Deep in the Heart of Texas. Referring to "Bananagate," the comedian said he believed the act was premeditated based on the brownness of the peel.

Police charged Englander, who is white and has since claimed that he was not racially motivated but just angry at something the comedian had said, with battery and disturbing the peace. Charges were dropped because Chappelle did not want to participate in the prosecution, but not Englander is bringing the issue up again with the lawsuit.

The initial police report didn't include Englander's claim that he was assaulted, but his lawyer said had the case gone to trial, he would have brought it up in court.



Chappelle's publicist did not immediately reply to a request for comment by THR, but hopefully we'll hear the rest of the story in the comedian's next stand-up special.

Image via Getty

Nebraska lawmakers have voted 38 to 6 to cut family-planning funding to Planned Parenthood, a decision that affects 8,000 Nebraskans, Think Progress reports. A new bill denies health clinics Title X funding if they perform abortions. All that remains to finalize the ruling is a vote from Nebraska's governor, Republican Pete Ricketts. If he signs it, the bill will become effective immediately, and clinics will have 30 days to tell affected patients that they will no longer be served.

Think Progress says that Title X is, "a competitive grant program and the only federal family-planning program dedicated to offering reproductive care to low-income people." Defunding it greatly endangers low income women who often cannot to fund safe and legal abortions without it.

Before leaving office, former president Barack Obama signed a law protecting Title X funds, but President Trump reversed that ruling in April of last year, enabling other states like South Carolina and Arizona from attempting to withdraw the funds.

Meg Mikolajczyk, the public affairs manager for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, says, "We will keep fighting for our patients, and we are exploring all options. Our doors will remain open, and we will continue to offer all of our services. We will work with each patient individually to ensure they receive the care they need."

What Republican lawmakers don't seem to understand is that there is no way to actually prevent abortion. Defunding it only makes it unsafe and taboo for women who feel they have no other options. The decision to defund Planned Parenthood is an attack on women's bodily autonomy and safety.

Image via Getty

Paxton, IL (60957)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 79F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 62F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.Leaders of Turkey, Russia, Iran Gather in Ankara to Discuss Syria End Game

04/04/18

By Dorian Jones, VOA

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosts his counterparts from Russia and Iran Wednesday for a second trilateral summit on Syria. The three, whose countries have a significant military presence in Syria, are increasingly cooperating to resolve the civil war under the auspices of the so-called "Astana Process." The deepening cooperation comes in the face of intense rivalries.

"Since 2011, Ankara's sole purpose was to dethrone Assad," said Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat, who served widely in the region. "Whereas, Russia and Iran came to Syria upon Assad's invitation to keep him in place and this is a contradiction," he added, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

All sides have so far managed their differences, out of an awareness, analysts suggest, that is based on the realization they need one another's cooperation in efforts to secure their regional goals and ultimately bring an end to the seven-year conflict.

Under the "Astana Process," so-called deconfliction zones have been created across Syria, in which rebel groups are concentrated. Ankara, with its close ties to those rebel groups, has worked closely with Moscow within the process. Wednesday's meeting is expected to focus on the Syrian enclave of Idlib. Turkish forces have been steadily increasing their deployment there, creating observation posts to monitor the deconfliction zone.

The Turkish-led military campaign against the YPG Syrian-Kurdish militia is also expected to be on the agenda of Wednesday's summit. Ankara accuses the militia of being a terrorist group linked to a decades-long Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

Last month, Turkish forces ousted the YPG from the Syrian enclave of Afrin, but Erdogan has pledged to expand the military operation across northern Syria up to the Iraqi border. Erdogan is expected to seek to assuage any concerns from Russia's Vladimir Putin and Iran's Hassan Rouhani.

"The limits of the [Turkish military] operation [in Syria] will depend on the reaction of other actors who are stakeholders in Syria," predicted Sinan Ulgen of Brussels-based Carnegie Europe, a research institution. With Russian air defenses currently controlling most of Syria's airspace, Moscow up until now has given its tacit support to the offensive, allowing Turkish jets to fly with impunity in Syrian airspace in support of the operation.

Turkey-Iran tensions

Tehran has called for an end to the Turkish operation. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to press his concerns over the operation in the talks with Erdogan. The two leaders are scheduled for a separate face-to-face meeting.

Analysts point out Iran is likely to be increasingly concerned about the growing number of Turkish armed forces in Syria. Tehran will be aware Turkish forces seldom withdraw once deployed in a neighboring country. Regional rivalries between the two powerful neighbors are exacerbated by sectarian tensions.

"I don't see any good relation between Erdogan and the Islamic regime of Iran because Sunni and Shia Muslims are fighting for the same land in the Middle East," warns Iranian expert Jamshid Assadi of France's Burgundy Business School. "They might agree on not fighting a war, but that is all."



Tehran's recent cooperation with Ankara over Syria is giving Iran an opportunity to further undermine Turkey's strained ties with the United States. That, observers say, is important for Iran, given the importance of Turkey in any new sanctions by the U.S. against Iran.

Also Rouhani, like Russia's Putin, will be aware of the looming confrontation between Turkish and U.S. forces over the Syrian town of Manbij. Erdogan has pledged to oust the Kurdish YPG militia from Manbij, where U.S. forces are also deployed. Washington sees the YPG as a key ally in its war against Islamic State. Sources in Ankara have suggested the Turkish-led operation is as much about removing the U.S. presence in Syria as is the Kurdish militia.

Tehran, like Moscow, is also aware of the important role Ankara is playing in helping to facilitate the movement of rebels toward the region near the Turkish border.

"The Moscow-Tehran-Damascus trio wants all jihadists to seek refuge near the Turkish border, which is an extremely smart move on their part," wrote columnist Barcin Yinanc of the Hurriyet Daily News. He warned, however, that Ankara could pay a heavy price. "There is no guarantee that these Islamist and jihadist groups will not end up hitting back at Turkey in the future." Analysts, however, point out the priority for Ankara remains its ongoing campaign against the YPG.BRUSSELS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- In the face of the great harm made by "foreign garbage" to China's environment and public health, Beijing has the legitimate right to ban foreign garbage and reform its management system of solid wastes import, said Ambassador Zhang Ming in a signed article published on the Euractiv website Tuesday.

Serving as the Head of Mission of the People's Republic of China to the European Union, Zhang said he was surprised by some representatives' concerns about China's ban on "foreign garbage" during the recent meeting of the WTO Council for Trade in Goods, where some representatives even asked China to halt its implementation.

China is a Party to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal adopted in 1989. The Convention provides for and fully recognizes the right of its Parties to prohibit the import of hazardous wastes or other wastes, said Zhang in the article.

Meanwhile, the Basel Convention stipulates that Parties have an obligation to minimize the quantities that are transported, and to treat and dispose of wastes as close as possible to their place of generation. In other words, it is the due responsibility of Parties to do their best to reduce and take care of their own wastes.

In addition, before announcing the ban, China had full communication with other parties. It was half a year before the ban was actually put in place that the Chinese side notified the WTO of the change. Issues arising in the course of implementation have been well addressed through timely coordination.

"China started importing solid wastes in the 1980s, whose annual volume surged from 4.5 million tons to 45 million tons in the past 20 years," he said, adding that the decision of the ban is widely welcomed and applauded by the Chinese people.

Interestingly, those who have expressed "concerns" are all from developed countries. For a long time, well-off and well-equipped developed countries have been dumping their garbage to developing countries, said Zhang, noting that "this phenomenon should not be overlooked. It is more of a moral issue that relates to the future of mankind than of a trade issue."

The great Chinese philosopher Confucius said, "Do not do onto others what you do not want others to do onto you." A famous quote from the Bible goes like this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Islam belief has it that "none of you have faith until he loves for the people what he loves for himself". No matter in which civilization, it is morally unacceptable to dump trash in others' backyard, said Zhang in the article.

Moreover, as people already live in a global village, troubles shifted to their neighbors will get back to them sooner or later.

Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Program, said, "We should see the Chinese decision as a great service to the Chinese people and a wake-up call to the rest of the world". Now, it is high time that developed nations re-thought their use of plastics and not simply sought alternative foreign dumping grounds, read the article.

For those garbage exporters, it is inadvisable to cry out loud and ask for too much from others, like spoiled children giving little heed to others' interests, said Zhang.

"Rather, they should first examine what is going wrong on their part and fulfill their responsibilities. Developed countries need to rely on their own efforts to address excess waste and endeavor to develop a circular economy. Then they could see what they can do to help developing countries tackle their waste challenge. This is the right way to go," said the ambassador.

If China's ban could trigger other countries to develop more advanced technologies out of a greater sense of urgency and to better serve their own people with a stronger sense of responsibility, China must, indeed, be doing a good deed, he concluded.It has emerged that then President John Mahama virtually begged the government of the United States of America to allow that countrys powerful military to conduct counter-terrorism crisis response exercise in Ghana.



Leaked diplomatic notes have confirmed that the request was put in as far back as October 2013, but now that the US Marines are ready for the exercise with the Ghana Armed Forces, the same Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC), who are currently out of government, are opposing the agreement.



The request had been made long before 2015 when the NDC government re-affirmed the Ghana/US Joint Military Cooperation Agreement, and this time the agreement has enhanced terms, including the establishment of a strong US military presence in Ghana.



Bizarrely, the NDC functionaries have switched into their usual propaganda mode and currently making frantic efforts to incite the public against the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government and the Americans over the NPPs version of the Military Cooperation Agreement that was ratified by parliament on March 23, 2018.



Counter Terrorism



Mr Mahamas request for counter-terrorism planning training assistance had been put before then US Ambassador to Ghana, Gene Allan Cretz.



According to the leaked documents, the two countries then started to follow up on the request by Mr Mahama and it developed into a Crisis Management Exercise hosted by Ghanas National Security Coordinator in August 2015, which identified the need for a live crisis response exercise.



The US-Africa Command, as a result, proposed a counter-terrorism crisis response exercise in Ghana and it was scheduled to take place from April 26 to May 6, 2016, although it is unclear if that was ever conducted.



NDC Demo



Last Wednesday, a demonstration sponsored primarily by the opposition NDC against the military cooperation agreement was held amid a spurious claim that the NPP government was mortgaging Ghanas future for $20 million to the Americans.



Although the organizers  Ghana First Patriotic Front  claimed it was a coalition of opposition political parties that staged the protest, majority of the participants belonged to the NDC.



Anti-American Rhetoric



Shockingly, Mr Mahama, who as the president wanted a strong US Military presence in Ghana, turned around and supported the demonstrators anti-American rhetoric.



Although not present at the protest march, the former president posted on Facebook: I join in declaring #GhanaFirst as my compatriots and other democratic forces converge to demonstrate their opposition to the Ghana/US military agreement.



$20 million



According to the Ministry of Defence, Ghana has not received any $20 million as claimed by the NDC and its surrogates, but rather the amount is an estimated value of equipment the Americans might be bringing in.



The 2018 cooperation agreement generated heated public debate because President Akufo-Addos NPP government decided to be transparent with the people of Ghana by sending the deal to parliament for ratification.



The whole US-Ghana military partnership was introduced during the NDC administration in 1998 under President Jerry John Rawlings and enhanced in 2015 during the tenure of President John Dramani Mahama; but the two agreements were never tabled before parliament for approval as mandated by law.



Defence Ministrys Snub



In the April 28, 2015 NDC agreement, it was then Foreign Minister, Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, who signed on behalf of the people of Ghana in faraway Stuttgart, Germany, but a careful perusal of the document does not look like the ministry of defense, under whose mandate the whole operation is supposed to run, was even involved.



Striking Difference



The striking difference in the NPPs agreement and the two previous ones signed by the NDC (1998 and 2015) with the Americans is that in the instant case the agreement can be nullified at anytime without even giving reasons, if the government thinks it is not in favour of the people of Ghana.



An expert had said, Once a letter is written to this effect, the agreement terminates within one year.



The scope of the agreement does not also mandate the US to establish a military base, as claimed by the opposition NDC and its cheerleaders.



Parliamentary Process



In parliament, two committees namely, Defence and Interior, as well as Constitutional and Legal Affairs, were asked to scrutinize the NPP agreement before passing it to a vote on the floor of the house.



At the end of the joint committee sitting, DAILY GUIDE gathered that 13 opposition NDC MPs okayed the agreement while the ruling NPP had 10 MPs endorsing the deal, yet the NDC group came out to cry foul after the vote.



Strangely, before the debate leading to the ratification of the agreement was held, almost every NDC national executive, together with its political allies and some known activists fronting for other parties, had stormed the floor of parliament to encourage their MPs to disrupt the whole process.



They were all clad in red armbands and tried to make things difficult for the Speaker of Parliament.



Weird Interpretations



There have been all sorts of weird interpretations by the NDC since the agreement hit parliament.



NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia claimed there is the possibility of terrorist attacks if Ghana accepted the Americans.



He also said that the NDC will abrogate the deal if it returns to power.



He had also said specifically that when there were political disturbances in Togo, that government brought in French troops who he claimed are still in that country and as a result of their presence, the opposition parties are not able to remove President Faure Gnassingbe and his government from office.



Mr Asiedu Nketia said the French troops were in Togo because of the military pact that country has with France and implied that if Ghana signs a similar thing with the US, it might make it difficult for any adventurists to remove the government here.



No Military Base



Although both governments have come out to deny vehemently that the establishment of a military base formed part of the agreement, the NDC is still activating its propaganda machinery, insisting there is going to be a base.



Cynical Quote



A critic of the NDC said yesterday that the hypocrisy being exhibited by the opposition party following the agreement was sickening and said it showed clearly that the party does not have the country at heart.



These are the same people who brought in two hardcore terrorists released from the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay near Cuba, resettled them and granted them refugee status; but when US Marines are coming to partner with our army they see them as security threat, he fumed.

Source: Daily Guide









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Featured VideoThe death of South Africa's veteran anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at the age of 81 has sparked a national debate about how she should be remembered.



The more traditional sections of society, including her staunch supporters, want us to remember her as a faultless woman.



Others, particularly those who are still in the trenches fighting the old battles in favour of white supremacy, want us to remember Mrs Madikizela-Mandela as a violent and deeply flawed individual.



But anyone who wants to truly understand the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela I knew needs to go back in time and trace the steps of humiliation she suffered under the racist system of apartheid.

Source: BBC









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Featured VideoA Kenyan registrar has revealed he has a backlog of more than 80,000 birth certificates - because the official paper is yet to be sent to his office.



Kenya's Citizen newspaper revealed the problem after speaking to officials at the Kisii Civil Registrar office.



Registrar Mathew Khayota said people in the Kisii central, Kisii south, Kitutu central and Marani areas have been given "registration entry numbers" to those who have placed applications with the office.



According to the website, the problem arose after parents were told to produce birth certificates to their children's schools, and could take up to two months to sort out.



However, there is good news for newborns and those seeking a passport: Mr Khayota says they have held back some of the paper to print a few, select certificates.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoWILLIAMSPORT -- An inmates who brutally attacked another prisoner at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in 2014 has been sentenced to 9 years, 2 months, in prison.

Ashley Dixon, 30, of Bronx, N.Y., also will be required with the other defendants to pay restitution of $94,905 to cover the victim's medical bills.

U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann Tuesday handed down that punishment for what he described as a "very violent crime" that left the victim's vocal cord partially paralyzed.

Dixon, Troi Venable and Perlie Johnson pleaded guilty in October to a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. Christopher Goins did the same in February. The other three have yet to be sentenced.

Brann gave the following account of the Nov. 14, 2014, assault in a recreation pen at the maximum security prison he said took a minimum of two minutes:

Dixon grabbed the victim's head from behind and held it back while Venable stabbed him in the neck and head.

Johnson and Goins inflicted additional stab wounds before Dixon took back one of the weapons and continued the assault, which also included punching and kicking.

Besides the vocal cord, the victim's injuries included 20 cuts to the head and neck, five puncture wounds to the back, broken collar bone and multiple lacerations to the face that required stitches, the judge said.

Two melted 5-inch plastic spikes with sharpened points and a piece of folded metal the size of razor blade with a jagged edge were recovered after the assault, Brann said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey W. MacArthur could not provide an update on the victim's condition because he said he been cooperative with authorities.

The motive for the beating is not known, the prosecutor and defense attorney G. Scott Gardner said.

Brann rejected Dixon's argument he should receive credit for acceptance of responsibility by pleading guilty.

The judge cited eight prison write-ups for misconduct including two for assaults the reputed Bloods street gang member has received since being indicted.

"I made mistakes," Dixon said.

"He's been far from a model prisoner," MacArthur said.

Dixon would not be in jail today had not participated in the beating, Gardner pointed out. His term on drug and felony possession of a firearm charges has expired, he said.Before longtime abc27 daytime anchor Flora Posteraro launched a discrimination case against her former employer last month, she was part of a larger group of staffers who lodged an internal complaint with the station's owners.

That complaint, a copy of which has been obtained by PennLive, details a litany of off-color teasing, comments about physical appearance and personalities by station general manager Robert Bee that the staffers alleged violated company rules and created a hostile work environment.

Those actions also "violate common decency and good judgment," the complainants state.

Public attention focused on the station last month when Posteraro, one of the station's most prominent faces, was dismissed and answered with her state human relations complaint. Fans and some colleagues rallied to support her and clamor for her return.

But as with all good stories, there is more. It's also hard to separate the present controversy, say some current and former staffers, from the culture shock any company might face after a big merger.

Nexstar Media Group acquired WHTM last January as part of a $4.6 billion buyout of the station's former corporate parent, Media General. Bee moved to Harrisburg that same month, coming here from Wilkes-Barre's WBRE.

The August complaint, which a group of employees filed anonymously, is one of the trigger points Posteraro has pointed to for moves at the station this winter that ultimately led to her reassignment to a weekend anchor / reporter position.

Other WHTM staffers verified portions of last summer's complaint in interviews over the past two weeks, in part, they said, to affirm that Posteraro's challenges of Bee are not exclusive to her.

The group complaint states that "these experiences have not been isolated. They have become a pattern of behavior here at abc27 that should not be tolerated."

Nexstar regional manager Theresa Underwood told the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal in an interview last week that after an investigation of the August 2017 complaint, "the company found no merit in the claims nor any violation of company policy."

Underwood is the senior executive vice president and regional manager with Nexstar to whom Bee reports. Bee has referred interview requests to Underwood, but she has not responded to several requests for interviews in the last two weeks.

Underwood told the business journal Posteraro's planned reassignment was part of other changes planned at the station as part of Nexstar's vision for the station.

"She's not the only person whose schedule was going to be changed," Underwood told the business journal, adding that the changes would affect both men and women.

"If we wanted her (Posteraro) gone we would not have offered her a new contract," Underwood said. "We wanted her. We valued what she did. We valued her commitment to the local community, which is why we offered her a new contract."

Underwood's comments to the business journal reinforced a message delivered at a March 23 staff meeting in which several WHTM staffers said managers told them the company would defend Bee vigorously.

In the company's view, Posteraro resigned by not accepting her new assignment.

Posteraro, who has been off the air since March 12, counters she was effectively fired for refusing a demotion delivered in retaliation for her outspokenness about Bee's treatment of female employees.

The August complaint.

The 2017 complaint, as filed, only detailed grievances that occurred in semi-public settings to protect individual employees from retaliation.

Many of the issues cited dealt with Bee's apparent attempts at off-color humor that staffers interviewed by PennLive said they believe were both inappropriate coming from a boss, and well beyond the bounds of any personal relationship they'd developed with Bee.

In one example, Bee joined in a July 25 conversation about hair color with the station's morning anchors, according to the complaint.

Ali Lanyon said of her co-anchor, James Crummel, "James has always wished I would go darker." Crummel is African-American.

Bee, the complaint alleges, smiled and said 'Oh, I bet he has.' Then he put his hands up and said: 'Oh, you were talking about hair color? My bad. Easy mistake, easy mistake. I'd better leave now."

Lanyon and Crummel, the complaint continues, then talked about "how inappropriate and uncomfortable Bob's statements were."

On another occasion that month, protesters were outside the WHTM studios in Harrisburg during an in-studio appearance by U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey.

Anchor Valerie Pritchett was at the station with a service dog that she had in training. Reporter Dawn White pointed to the dog and joked that "Well, with the protestors here, at least we have a guard dog."

Bee laughed, the complaint asserts, looked at Pritchett, and said, 'Yes, and her dog, too.'"

Within three months of his arrival in Harrisburg, the complaint asserts, Bee was talking to staffers about how he liked that abc27 had so many recognizable names in the community.

In this case, with a group of at least eight staffers present, the complaint related that Bee noted a viewer asked him what Alicia Richards is like. "And I say: 'She's a mean bitch. Just kidding.'"

Several of the people present said afterward, according to the complaint, that they were uncomfortable with Bee's remark because it gave the impression that it would now be acceptable to call women "bitches" at work.

There also were at least two incidents in which Bee reportedly made comments to third parties about female on-air staffers' weight, according to the Nexstar internal complaint.

Whatever Bee's point was in making his remarks, many of the women staffers interviewed by PennLive said the cumulative effect felt like an unwelcome time warp, at best.

At worst, they said, it smacked of a hostile work environment that they wanted to nip in the bud.

A shaken staff.

PennLive spoke to six current and former WHTM staffers for this report, some directly involved in the midsummer complaint, others not. All agreed to interviews on a not-for-attribution basis.

The WHTM staffers sought that condition because of language in many broadcast television contracts that bars employees from actions that may put their station in a negative light.

The consensus of those conversations was that some of the turbulence at WHTM is the inevitable result of an ownership change, leading to management changes and new ideas thrown at what had been a relatively stable staff.

As Underwood noted, one of the sources said, the station is expected to make several anchor desk changes this spring.

Stir in the way that some of those ideas are presented -- the Bee factor -- and you have the ingredients for bigger issues.

The August 2017 complaint, which names no less than 16 witnesses to the various incidents, led to a number of interviews with personnel at the station, including Posteraro.

She is described by several of her colleagues as a woman who, by dint of her seniority at the station and experience in the business, was not afraid to raise compaints directly with Bee, including one cited in her own complaint about his directive to get female on-air staff to stop wearing sleeveless dresses on the air.

That case created a feeling of inequity among female on-air staff because while the station offered women no compensation to change out their wardrobes, it was simultaneously buying new neckties for male staffers.

What state Human Relations staff must now consider is whether Posteraro was just the first up for reassignment, or whether she became a target because she'd butted heads with management.

Several of the employees reached for this story stressed Posteraro was not alone in her concerns. The station's response to them, especially as set out publicly and privately in the past two weeks, has done little to alleviate them.To have radar or not to have radar?

On Wednesday morning that was the question.

In a packed hearing of the state House transportation committee in Harrisburg, municipal police urged lawmakers to finally let them use radar guns to catch speeders.

Under state law, Pennsylvania State Police, who enforce speed limits on Pennsylvania interstates, have been allowed to use radar guns since 1961.

Municipal police, however, who enforce speed limits in 1,100 towns and cities across the state, are barred from doing the same. Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation with such a prohibition.

For roughly 30 years, municipal police and local officials have attempted to lift that ban, but their efforts have been repeatedly quashed by lawmakers who have long-feared a rise in small town speed traps.

"I can't count how many times I have testified on this issue," said Elam Herr, a lobbyist for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, in opening remarks in support of lifting the ban.

Undeterred, Herr and others again made the case that municipal police need radar devices because, they said, they are significantly more accurate and easier to deploy than their current devices.

At present, to comply with the radar ban, municipal police typically use stopwatches or a roadside device called ENRADD to catch speeders. The acronym stands for Electronic Non-Radar Device.

But those devices, they say, have serious faults: Stopwatches can only be deployed on roads where police have a clear line of sight of traffic. ENRADD is prone to theft, is clunky to set up and requires two officers to operate.

READ MORE: Were you wrongly ticketed for speeding? Critics slam accuracy of Pa. police device

Because both types of devices rely heavily on officer judgement, others say, they're prone to error that might mean innocent motorists get ticketed.

Steve Junkin, police chief of Hampden Township in Cumberland County, said he saw no reason why municipalities shouldn't have radar.

As a former commander for the Pennsylvania State Police, Junkin said, he could vouch for the accuracy and effectiveness of radar for speed enforcement.

"It's a tool that I firmly believe in," Junkin said. "One that I have personally used thousands of times."

But the campaign to lift the radar ban, as in previous years, still has its critics.

Among the speakers, Jeffrey Williams, a representative for the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Motorists Association, said he didn't believe radar was necessary.

A much bigger issue in Pennsylvania, he said, is that speed limits across the state are too low.

"I know we want to prevent any and all deaths," Williams said. "But today, in summary, I would like to say that distracted driving is our biggest issue."

Even among supporters of police radar, divisions emerged.

The state Senate has already passed a bill, SB 251, which allows municipal police to use radar. That bill has been in the hands of the House transportation committee since November.

But to ease concerns of House lawmakers that police will exploit radar for revenue generation, a separate bill was recently introduced to the House, HB 2148, which would allow municipal police to use radar but only under a number of strict conditions.

READ MORE: Meet ENRADD: The police speed trap device used only in Pennyslvania

Among those conditions: Municipalities couldn't generate more than 1 percent of revenue from speeding tickets and municipalities would have to conduct a traffic study on any road before radar can be used by local police.

On Wednesday, several municipal officials made it clear they supported SB 251 but not HB 2148.

"It's nothing more than what we have seen in the past with a few minor changes," said Herr, the lobbyist for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors.

Herr said the provisions in HB 2148 were unnecessary because municipal police departments don't issue tickets to generate revenue - nor would it be possible for those departments to profit if they wanted to.

Of every speed citation issued by municipal police in Pennsylvania, Herr said, only a fraction - $20 in a $124 ticket - goes back to the municipality. The rest goes to the state and county.

When the cost of an officer's salary and benefit are calculated, Herr and others said, that meant speed enforcement was typically break-even or a money loser for a department.

Herr added that HB 2148's requirement that municipalities implement a traffic study on a road before radar can be used on it meant it would be prohibitively expensive for many towns to deploy.

"This is cost prohibitive and wastes taxpayers money," Herr said. "It is nothing more than a poison pill."

Herr and other municipal officials urged the House Transportation committee to put SB 251, their favored bill, to a full vote of the House and to scrap HB 2148.

As the meeting closed by early afternoon, Rep. John Taylor, chair of the committee, said he supported allowing municipal police to have radar.

However, Taylor added, it was unlikely SB 251 would put up for a floor vote without changes.

Several House committee members sympathized with the compromises made in HB 2148.

"We want to give local police the same tools as state police and we will try to put out the best bill possible," Taylor said. "We will see that happens."A midstate man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for running what authorities called a "heroin mill" in Lebanon County.

U.S. Middle District Judge John E. Jones III imposed that penalty on 39-year-old Leandro Nazario nearly three years after the DEA and the Lebanon County Drug Task Force raided two properties on Arnold Street in Lebanon.

Nazario was second-in-command of the illegal operation uncovered by the raid, U.S. Attorney David Freed said Wednesday.

The factory-like drug mill was processing kilograms of heroin a week, plus powdered and crack cocaine, investigators said. They estimated the operation put $3 million to $5 million worth of illegal drugs on the street during its two years in operation.

Nazario, a native of Puerto Rico, was convicted of conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine, Freed said. He said 11 other defendants in the case have pleaded guilty or been convicted. Six have received prison terms - Nazario's is the longest to date - and the rest are awaiting sentencing.

One alleged conspirator, Kengie Millan-Miranda, remains a fugitive.High wind gusts have brought down trees and wires and are causing power outages in parts of Cumberland and Dauphin counties this afternoon.

Blocked due to fallen power cables in #Gettysburg on Hwy 97 Both EB/WB between US 15 and Steinwehr Ave #traffic https://t.co/FBhe2icdZQ  TTWN Harrisburg (@TotalTrafficMDT) April 4, 2018

In Cumberland County, there are 1,061 First Energy customers without power due to the weather, including 688 in Monroe Township, 108 in Mount Holly Springs and 251 in South Middleton Township.

York County has 2,108 customers without power, including 1,228 in Fairview Township and 508 in Newberry Township.

Adams County has 891 out of power, with 464 affected in Franklin Township and 345 in Gettysburg.

Lebanon County has 1,083 customers without power, including 546 in South Annville Township and 447 in Annville Township.

Dauphin County has only 19 First Energy customers out of power, including 14 in East Hanover Township.

Cumberland County - 533 (240 in Lower Allen Township)

Dauphin County - 484 (390 in Mifflin Township)

Lancaster County - 2,876 (2,269 in East Donegal Township)

Perry County - 411 (243 in Spring Township)

A high wind warning is in effect until 8 p.m. in much of central Pennsylvania. Winds of 25-35 mph are expected, with gusts up to 60 mph. Strongest winds are expected this afternoon.

We're ready to respond to potential damage from the coming storms. Report any outages at 1-800-DIAL-PPL (342-5775) or https://t.co/36rGLEa1kT. Also, stay well clear of any downed lines and report them promptly at 1-800-DIAL-PPL. pic.twitter.com/7aTLyqIw4D  PPL Electric (@PPLElectric) April 4, 2018

For more traffic information, follow live traffic updates, accident reports and road closures below from PennDOT, Total Traffic Network and other Twitter sources.

Get a look at conditions on local roads -- via PennDOT traffic cameras -- anytime here on PennLive. For Pennsylvania Turnpike updates and possible travel delays visit the Turnpike website here.

Tweet us at @pennlive with any incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com.By Teresa Miller

Words matter.

There is a lot of talk these days, primarily from Republican lawmakers, about "welfare reform." It's a catchy phrase, and lawmakers pair it with evocative images: people dependent on government programs, trapped in a cycle of poverty, or unwilling to work as Pennsylvania's budget balloons.

Teresa Miller (Commonwealth of Pa. photo)

But when lawmakers talk about wanting "welfare reform," what are they really saying? It's time to leave rhetoric behind and discuss the implications for Pennsylvania's budget and for Pennsylvanians.

When most people think of welfare, they probably think of cash assistance or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF): a monthly check to families in poverty to help them meet their basic needs.

Today Pennsylvania spends less than .05 percent of state general funds on cash assistance and approximately one percent of Pennsylvanians receive this benefit. Parents are subject to employment and training requirements and there's a five-year lifetime cap on benefits, with limited exceptions.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as food stamps, is a critical program to combat food insecurity, experienced by an estimated 13.8 percent of Pennsylvanians.

Research shows that providing SNAP benefits helps to improve high school graduation rates, adult earnings, and health outcomes, and reduces health care spending. SNAP benefits are 100 percent federally funded, so changes to SNAP won't make a dent in our state budget.

That leaves Medicaid, the joint state and federal program that provides health care coverage to low-income and disabled children, adults, and seniors, and covers 2.9 million Pennsylvanians.

Some think Medicaid is just for low-income people, but it's a critical safety net for all of us.

Nearly two out of three Pennsylvanians in nursing homes are Medicaid recipients because Medicare doesn't pay for long-term care. Medicaid is the program we turn to when we are most in need of help caring for aging family members.

In 2017, the federal government mounted a sustained attack on Medicaid under the guise of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

I testified before Congress on the Graham-Cassidy proposal, which would have cut Pennsylvania's Medicaid funding by $15-30 billion over 10 years. In the face of this devastating proposal and others like it, we learned that Medicaid is actually quite popular with the public.

Three-quarters of people have a favorable opinion of Medicaid, and only 12 percent of people want decreased spending on Medicaid.

Fortunately, Americans made themselves heard, Congress backed down, and Medicaid has remained largely unscathed.

Now, lawmakers are again gearing up to target Medicaid, this time under the cover of "welfare reform."

In particular, some lawmakers are eager to apply work requirements to those receiving Medicaid. I understand their goal, and agree that we want as many people as possible to be employed. Working gives us all a sense of purpose and identity.

But stripping health coverage from individuals with diabetes, or other chronic conditions that require attention, or who are battling addiction, is not going to help them find or keep a good-paying job. It is much more likely to send them into a spiral of worsening health that ultimately will cost our society even more in medical costs and in lost productivity.

The real conversation should be about supporting and improving programs that help keep people healthy. Healthy people are much more apt to look for and find work, enabling them to support themselves and their families.

Instead of punitive proposals that could leave people without the health care and basic supports they need, we should focus on how we break down barriers for people to get good paying jobs. Those barriers may include access to childcare, transportation, educational level, or a criminal record.

I commit to working toward bipartisan solutions that support people as they seek and retain work, rather than punishing those who most need a helping hand. I welcome the conversation.

Teresa Miller is secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Human Services. She writes from Harrisburg.The Qingming Festival is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year. This year, it falls on April 5. The temperature will rise and rainfall increases after the festival. It is the high time for spring plowing and sowing. In addition to a seasonal point to guide farm work, it is also a festival of commemoration.

Origin of Qingming festival

Qinming Festival originated from Hanshi Day (literally, Day with cold food only), a memorial day for Jie Zitui, a historical character who died in 636 BC in the Spring and Autumn Period.

It is said that in the seventh century BC during the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Xiao was the monarch of the state of Jin. His eldest son, Shen Sheng should have inherited the throne on the death of his father. But Duke Xiao had other plans. He wanted the son of his favorite concubine, Li Ji, to succeed him as the ruler of Jin.

Duke Xiao had Shen Sheng murdered and would have done the same to his second eldest son, Chong'er, but Chong'er got wind of this and fled.

For 19 long years, Chong'er and his entourage of loyal officials and servants wandered homeless, no sterangers to cold and hunger. One day, Chong 'er was too hungry and close to death. One of his most faithful followers, Jie Zitui, cut a slice of muscle from his own leg and served it to his master, thereby saving his life.

Finally in 636 BC ,Chong'er managed to take the throne that was tightfully his and took the official title of Duke Wen of the state of Jin.

After becoming the ruler of the state, Chong'er decided to reward the officials who had stayed with him through his years of wandering. But he forgot about Jie Zitui who had sacrificed the flesh of his leg. Jie Zitui was heartbroken and went away. Later Chong'er remembered Jie Zitui's sacrifice and sent people to look for him.

Eventually they found him. Chong'er went in person to apologize and ask him to return to the royal court. But Jie itui left them and went deep into the mountains, so no one could find him again. Someone advised Chong'er to set fire to the area in order to force Jie Zitui into the open, where he could be talked into returning to the comforts of life in the royal house.

Chong'er took this advice and set fire to the mountain where Jie Zitui was believed to be hiding. The fires raged for three days and Jie Zitui was found leaning against a large tree, carrying his old mother on his back. But they were already burnt to death.

Chong'er was deeply saddened by this tragedy. He ordered that a temple be built in memory of his most loyal follower. He also ordered that no fires were allowed on the anniversary of Jie Zitui's death. So people had to eat their cold food on that day, or the day of Hanshi. In addition, people began to visit Jie Zitui's tomb and pay their respects to his memory.

The Qingming Festival is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year. This year, it falls on April 5. The temperature will rise and rainfall increases after the festival. It is the high time for spring plowing and sowing. In addition to a seasonal point to guide farm work, it is also a festival of commemoration.

Traditions:

Tomb sweeping:

Tomb sweeping is the most important custom of the Qingming Festival. On the day, young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, etc., to their ancestors. Therefore, the Qingming Festival is also known as the Tomb Sweeping Day in English.

Spring Outing

Qingming is the best time for a spring outing. It is a fine time to go out and appreciate the beauty of nature.

Playing swing:

Swings are very popular amongst children and are usually found on playgrounds. As a popular custom on Tomb Sweeping Day, playing swing not only stops the chillness from eating cold food, but also develops a childs bravery.

Kite flying:

Flying kites is also an important custom enjoyed by many people, young and old, during the Qingming Festival. In the past, people cut the string to let the kite fly freely. This custom is believed to bring good luck and eliminate diseases.

Qingming was frequently mentioned in Chinese Literature. Of these, the most famous one is probably Du Mu's poem "Qingming".



() 





The Mourning Day

Du Mu, Tang dynasty

A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;

The mourner's heart is going to break on his way.

Where can a wineshop be found to drown his sad hours?

A cowherd points to a cot 'mid apicot flowers.

(Translated by Xu Yuanchong)There's a little-used provision in the state Constitution that allows House leadership to remove a legislator from office "to protect its members against violence.''

It's Article II, Section 11. And it was last used by the House in 1975.

Pennsylvania House leaders and top staff have been reviewing it in anticipation of the House returning to session Monday amid a scandal in which one lawmaker has accused another of domestic violence, and lingering questions about two older scandals.

The immediate focus on Monday will be on the amped-up tension between Reps. Tarah Toohil, R-Luzerne County, and Nick Miccarelli, R-Delaware County.

Toohil and a Harrisburg political consultant, both of whom dated Miccarrelli between 2012 and 2014, filed a domestic violence and sexual assault complaint against him with the House. An investigation ensued which found the women's stories to be credible although Miccarelli's attorney said that is false.

The Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo's office launched its own investigation that is still underway. On top of all that, Toohil went to court last month to obtain a three-year protection from abuse order against Miccarelli that limits his interactions with her and his access to firearms.

With all that has transpired between Miccarelli and Toohil over the last two months, there's a lot of speculation about how they and others will react once they return to the Capitol next week.

His return to the Capitol

Miccarelli, who denies the women's allegations and strenuously proclaims his innocence, has been absent from the Capitol for most of last two months. He skipped the House budget hearings in February to take time off for his wedding and then the temporary PFA Toohil secured against him last month barred him from coming to the Capitol the one week in March the House was in session.

But he will be back next week, according to his spokesman Frank Keel.

"Representative Miccarelli looks forward to doing the work he was elected to do by the citizens of the 162nd Legislative District, the vast majority of whom continue to support Nick," Keel stated in an email. "He does not, however, look forward to the media horde that is likely to harass him upon his return to the state Capitol. As he has throughout this ordeal, Nick will handle it, secure in the knowledge that he's innocent of the outrageous claims made against him by two former, jilted and vengeful girlfriends."

Miccarelli has ignored the calls from the women, House Republican leaders and Gov. Tom Wolf, among others, to resign. He has, however, announced he will not seek a sixth term in the House this year and Keel said plans to spend the remainder of his time in the Legislature working on strengthening protections for consumers.

The three-year protection order allows Miccarelli to be at the Capitol including being in the same room with Toohil but bars him from having any interaction with her except for what their official duties require.

The whole scenario has created concern and a general uncomfortableness among members, some of whom fear it will be a distraction that gets in the way of important work getting done. That is where the newfound interest in the constitutional expulsion language comes into play that was last used 43 years ago to oust Rep. Leonard Sweeney who was charged three days after taking the oath of office with mail fraud and subsequently convicted.

Some House members have been toying with the possibility of introducing an expulsion resolution, which requires a two-thirds vote to pass, and who should do it. Others point out Miccarelli has not been charged or convicted of any wrongdoing. Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre County, says he think it's appropriate to let the law enforcement complete their investigation before expulsion is considered.

Still others point out there are two other sitting House members that should be expelled before giving any consideration of removing Miccarelli from his seat.

Specifically, they are referring to Rep. Vanessa Brown, D-Philadelphia, who continues to fight charges that she sold her vote to an undercover operative for $4,000 cash between 2010 and 2012 despite admitting to it to a grand jury. The other is Rep. Tom Caltagirone, D-Berks County, who had a sexual harassment claim filed against him which led to a $248,000 taxpayer-funded settlement in 2015 that only came to light late last year.

Brown didn't return a call seeking comment but Caltagirone said the entire story of the sexual harassment claim made against him was never fully told. He said he was denied his due process. "I wanted to go to court and the higher-ups wouldn't support me," Caltagirone said.

As for Miccarelli, Caltagirone agrees with Benninghoff in that it is premature to make a judgment on whether the Delaware County lawmaker should be expelled. "Sometimes people are too quick to rush to judgment without getting the facts," he said.

Miccarelli, himself, isn't worried about being expelled, Keel said. In fact, legislative colleagues from both sides of the aisle have reached out to him to offer words of support.

What's more, he said, "As additional information comes to light in the very near future that supports Nick's innocence, we expect pressure from his legislative colleagues to lessen, not increase, despite the full-court media press from the two accusers' shameless attorney."

Avoiding interaction

Meanwhile, Miccarelli intends to go about his business at the Capitol attending meetings and hearings to which he is assigned, he said. Other than changes in where he is to park and making him subject to going through the metal detector upon entering the Capitol, Keel said, "Representative Miccarelli is free to do his official work without restrictions."

He added: "He looks forward to doing the work of the people without being impeded by certain sensationalist members of the media."

As for Toohil, Keel said, "He wants nothing to do with Representative Toohil as has been the case for nearly six years."

Toohil, however, is worried. The man she publicly accused as posing a danger to her sits just a few assigned seats away on the House floor. Terry Mutchler, one of her Harrisburg-based attorneys, said, "When she meets with people, I'm sure she will have one eye on the lookout, scanning the crowd."

Both Toohil and Miccarelli also serve on the 27-member House Human Services Committee, which has its next meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

"It is inconceivable to me that we are still having this discussion," Toohil said in a statement released by Mutchler. "The House has a right to expel a member who continues to ignore the demand to step down from both the House leadership and from the governor of Pennsylvania."

While she said her top priority will remain on advancing the legislative agenda of her constituents and moving Pennsylvania forward, Mutchler said Toohil has told her that discussions have been held among House officials about how this arrangement will work in a practical way.

Toohil fears that the lack of inaction by House leaders to oust Miccarelli will lead to her having to make accommodations to avoid the man she accused of threatening to kill her and harming her in other ways.

"How is that acceptable?" Mutchler said. "If this case accomplishes anything, it should be another call to highlight that there are women and children around the state who live in fear every day and that as a commonwealth is unacceptable. I believe it is not enough for the House leadership, although they acted quickly to investigate, for this to be an empty word of calling for a resignation."

But one member suggested the two members will return to the Capitol next week minus the commotion that some might anticipate.

"I don't think there's going to be any more or less fireworks," said Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Cumberland County. "I think everybody is waiting for an explosion on Monday and I don't think either of them want the added drama."

Keel said Miccarelli's only "conceivable interaction with Toohil could happen in the course of their official legislative duties and only if they happen to be serving on the same committee and public dialogue is required."

PFAs between co-workers

Scenarios where the accuser and accused work at the same place is not that uncommon, said Julie Bancroft, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The hope is in those situations where a victim files a protection order against a fellow employee that the employer takes steps to avoid situations that create discomfort for the victim.

"In most cases, especially when someone has an attorney representing them, they would likely be advised to stay as far away from the victim as possible and not to have any interaction," she said.

Still, Bancroft stresses a protection order is more than just a piece of paper. "It is a piece of paper that can be incredibly effective. They are important tools for victims," she said. "In thousands of cases in Pennsylvania, it alone is the tool that is effective ... but it's not in every scenario."

It's tough to forecast how situations where protection orders are obtained can play out.

Kristen Houser, chief public affairs officer at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, said generally speaking, "when you take steps to stay safe from somebody who's been abusing you, it can increase that other person's hostility toward you and increase the danger."

On the other hand, having the protection order may increase the vigilance of others aware of it and could serve as an incentive for better behavior in the workplace.

"These things are never fun to walk through and try to predict human behavior," Houser said. "But we certainly know the dynamics that abusers use are widely misunderstood and often not taken seriously which is why so many are reluctant to report it."

Change is in the works

Toohil and the political consultant, who made known their accusations against Miccarelli several years after the alleged assaultive and abusive behavior took place, said they were emboldened to come forward by the national #MeToo movement that is highlighting the prevalence of sexual harassment in workplace situations.

That movement also has sparked action in the General Assembly.

Legislation has been introduced in both chambers to improve the reporting, investigation and resolution of sexual harassment cases within the legislative branch. The Senate last month passed a series of domestic violence bills that in many ways beef up the state's protection from abuse order process.

The House Labor & Industry Committee is planning to hold an all-day hearing on April 24 to discuss the issue of how to handle sexual harassment complaints within the General Assembly.

That includes a discussion of a bill sponsor by Rep. Leanne Krueger-Braneky, D-Delaware County, that calls for establishing an independent commission to receive and investigate sexual harassment complaints, ending taxpayer-funded settlements, and banning non-disclosure agreements that mask a lawmaker's identity.

Delozier, who has 25 years' experience as a rape crisis and domestic violence advocate, has been studying the House Republican and House Democratic and bipartisan Senate policies on sexual harassment to determine their similarities and differences in hopes of finding a common policy that protects the victim's voice and that both chambers can adopt.

"We're doing our due diligence in the House Republican side," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-York County. "We are working with victim rights groups to craft amendments and legislation that does the right thing, not just the popular thing. Everybody wants to do the right thing but they got to take into consideration that you got to protect the victims. You don't want to put them into a position where you endanger them."

Meanwhile, victims' advocates are relieved that after four years of pushing for strengthening of the protection order process legislation was finally passed and the issues related to sexual harassment, intimidation and violence are getting attention.

"I don't know that the national movement did this," Delozier said "It got the conversation started but when we had it in our own backyard, like any other entity, that's when people start to look at what we do, how do we do it, why do we do things this way and we make it easier or stronger."

PEditor's note: This story was updated with new information at 5:54 p.m. April 3, 2018.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Millions more dollars poured into the Pennsylvania governor's race in 2018, as Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf extended his fundraising lead over the three Republican candidates vying for the party's nomination to challenge him, according to reports filed at the state's Tuesday deadline.

Wolf reported more than $14.7 million in the bank for November's general election, or $8.5 million more than his nearest rival, Republican state Sen. Scott Wagner of York County, who made millions in the waste-hauling industry.

With seven weeks until May 15's primary election, Wagner reported $6.2 million in cash in the bank. Paul Mango, a former health care systems consultant from suburban Pittsburgh, had $3.3 million and Laura Ellsworth, a longtime commercial litigation lawyer from suburban Pittsburgh, had $434,000.

All told, candidates reported raising $8.7 million from Jan. 1 through March 26. That boosted contributions in the race past $40 million, including cash carried into last year.

Of the cash contributions in the most recent period, Wolf claimed nearly $5 million, with roughly half donated by labor unions. He also reported receiving $250,000 apiece from two national Democratic groups -- the Democratic Governors Association and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee led by former Attorney General Eric Holder -- as well as the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association and Michael G. Rubin, a co-owner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL's New Jersey Devils.

Wagner, who is endorsed by the state Republican Party, gave himself the vast majority of the $2.8 million in contributions he reported, including investment gains on campaign cash. That doesn't include another $320,000 Wagner clocked for expenses that he footed, largely for air travel, lodging, meals and interest.

Mango reported contributions of $573,000. Most of it was from himself and a $200,000 loan that Patrick Hampson, a private equity executive who lives a few blocks from Mango, converted into a campaign contribution.

Ellsworth reported raising $368,000.

The candidates, in total, spent $7 million during the period. Of that, Wagner and Mango combined to spend $5.4 million, including on TV ads attacking the other. Wolf spent $1.2 million while Ellsworth spent about $350,000.A conservation success story and a group that played a significant role in Pennsylvania's part of that success will take center stage in the Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania's annual conference Friday and Saturday, April 6-7, at the Eden Resort in Lancaster.

The conference's schedule of top bluebird experts will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, with John and Cathy Everhart presenting "From the Tree to the Bluebird Box: Getting Youth Involved in Bluebird Conservation by Building Nestboxes." They will be followed at 8:15 p.m. with a showing of the 50-minute video, "Bluebirding" by Bob Metzdorf.

The program will resume at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, with "American Kestrels Breeding in Nest Boxes in Eastern Pennsylvania: If You Build It They May Come" by John Klucsarits, assistant professor of biology at Alvernia University who's been involved since 1992 in a long-term monitoring project for the American Kestrel Nest Box Program with Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association and has banded more than 1,300 kestrels.

BSP President Dean Rust will present his program, "The Ecology and Management of the Eastern Bluebird," at 11 a.m. Since retiring from his dental practice in Lancaster County, Rust has become an avid worker for bluebird conservation, monitoring more than 350 bluebird boxes in 18 locations in Lancaster, York, Dauphin and Chester counties. He also wrote the acclaimed book, "The Beloved and Charismatic Bluebird."

Kathy Miller, an award-winning nature photographer and author/photographer of the "Chippy Chipmunk" book series, will present "Behind the Lens: Photography Tips & Stories from the Field" at 3:15 p.m.

The conference also will feature exhibits by vendors and organizations offering a variety of bluebird- nature-related products and information.

For more information, visit the Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania website.Guest are welcomed by people in Facebook shirts as they arrive at the Facebook Canadian Summit in Toronto on Wednesday, March 28, 2018. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made a public apology Wednesday for his company's handling of users' personal information, including more than 620,000 Canadians, as the social media giant faced a growing international uproar over the questionable use of personal data for political purposes.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris DonovanDefence lawyer Tonii Roulston speaks to the media in Red Deer, Alta., Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. An Alberta man whose random sexual attack left a southern Alberta woman having to learn how to walk and talk again will face a sentencing hearing today. Denzel Dre Colton Bird's lawyer, Tonii Roulston, said she will be asking for a sentence in the six-to-eight year range. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshMeituan-Dianping, China's largest provider of on-demand services, has bought bike-sharing company Mobike.

People ride Mobike bicycles. [File photo: China Plus]

This will expand Meituan's business operations, which include group buying, food delivery and - just recently - ride hailing.

Business news website yicai.com reports the acquisition concluded April 3, 2018, with Meituan paying 2.7 billion US dollars.

A report by business publication Caixin suggests the deal has been brokered by Pony Ma, CEO of Tencent, which is a shareholder in both Meituan and Mobike.

The acquisition comes after e-commerce giant Alibaba took over online food ordering platform Ele.me, Meituan's major competitor, for 9.5 billion US dollars a day earlier.

Mobike founder Hu Weiwei has put a post on social media early Wednesday saying both Mobike and Meituan share the same vision for people to live better, suggesting the deal is a new beginning.

In a separate post, Wang Xing, founder and CEO of Meituan, has praised Mobike for its innovation and social value, saying the two companies will create a brighter future together.

Meituan entered into a strategic partnership with Mobike in 2016. Last September, Mobike embedded its service into the Meituan app so that users can log into the Mobike service through the Meituan app.In this Tuesday, July 11, 2017, photo, East Arkansas farmer Reed Storey shows the damage to one of his soybean plants in Marvell, Ark. Canada's soybean producers say China's expanded list of tariffs applied on U.S. products will cause global disruptions and uncertainty. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Andrew DeMilloDrops of water fall off an iceberg melting in the Nuup Kangerlua Fjord near Nuuk in southwestern Greenland, Tuesday Aug. 1, 2017. More than four in 10 Canadians surveyed about climate change last month said there is conclusive evidence climate change is real, that it is being caused by people and believe the government should make addressing the problem one of its top priorities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/David GoldmanManitoba Environment Minister Rochelle Squires responds to a question during a news conference after a Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment meeting in Vancouver on Friday, November 3, 2017. After decades of silence and frequent self-blame, Squires, now Manitoba's minister for the status of women, has come forward about being a survivor of sexual assault so she can help others realize there is a way to heal.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl DyckA sales person stands inside a Tesla electric vehicle showroom in Beijing, Thursday, April 5, 2018. The United States and China, the world's two largest economies, have roiled financial markets and fueled fears of a protracted trade war by threatening tariffs this week on each other's goods. The United States on Tuesday said it would impose 25 percent duties on $50 billion of imports from China, and China quickly retaliated by listing $50 billion of products that it could hit with its own 25 percent tariffs. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)PC Alberta leadership candidate Ric McIver speaks in Edmonton on Aug. 21, 2014. United Conservative legislature member Ric McIver has lost his bid to overturn a sanction and fine for making comments in the house that violated conflict of interest rules.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason FransonChina strongly condemns, firmly opposes new U.S. tariffs to be imposed on Chinese goods: embassy

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemns and firmly opposes new tariffs to be imposed by the United States on a list of Chinese products, the Chinese Embassy in the United States said here Tuesday.

"The Chinese side strongly condemns and firmly opposes the unfounded Section 301 investigation and the proposed list of products and tariff increases based on the investigation," the embassy said in a statement, shortly after Washington unveiled the list, which will affect Chinese imports worth 50 billion U.S. dollars.

The list was authorized by the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office, which in August 2017 initiated an investigation under the Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to probe alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices.

According to the list, the products included industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics and machinery.

China has repeatedly said that Section 301 investigation is a unilateral move that violates World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

"Such unilateralistic and protectionist action has gravely violated fundamental principles and values of the WTO. It serves neither China's interest, nor U.S. interest, even less, the interest of the global economy," the Chinese embassy said in its statement.

It added that Beijing will resort to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and take the corresponding measures of equal scale and strength against U.S. products in accordance with Chinese law.

"We hope that the U.S. side, with sense and long-term picture in mind, refrain from going further down the 'wrong path'," it said.

On Tuesday, the USTR unveiled the list under Trump's tariff proclamation signed on March 22. From that date on, there will be 60 days until the import barriers actually take effect. EnditemPirates play to win against Blackcats Perryville football has had a flair for the dramatic this season. This past week was no different as they held on late for a 21-14 victory over Fredericktown on Friday at Pirate Stadium. Perryville 

St. Vincent keeps foot on the gas in victory St. Vincent made quick work of Herculaneum in week four. The Indians got off to a quick start and kept it rolling as they dispatched of the Blackcats 49-0 on Friday at Herculaneum High School. That Government confuses Concession Agreement with a Exxon/Guyana's PSA

By Kaieter News

GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 04 04 2018 While Guyanese lawyers, businessmen, environmentalists and opposition politicians believe that the nation is being shafted in its agreement with ExxonMobil, the Government remains convinced otherwise. To this extent, the Government has seemingly launched a Public Relations campaign in an effort to get the citizenry to know the facts and appreciate the ExxonMobil contract. On Monday, Government's Department of Information (DPI) released an advertisement noting the provisions of the first contract signed in Saudi Arabia.



However, in the ad, government examined a Concession Agreement signed by Saudi Arabia when the ExxonMobil contract with Guyana is actually a Production Sharing Agreement. The comparison is therefore inappropriate and at worse, misleading.



Governments choose among many contracts to delegate the exploration and the extraction of oil. However, the basic contract types are concession agreements, production-sharing agreements, service contracts and joint ventures.



The contractual form changes between and within countries, but the most common contracts are concession contracts and production sharing agreements.



Further, the highlighted contract by DPI was signed way back in 1933, some 84 years ago. The money quoted in the contract would have been worth much more back then than it is now.



Government also neglected to note that in 1948, Saudi Arabia decided that its take, which represented way more than Guyana would be getting, was not adequate and several rounds of negotiations started.



The concession agreement DPI referenced said that the operator was,  The exclusive right, for a period of 60 years to explore, prospect, drill for, extract, treat, manufacture, transport, deal with, carry away, and export oil and oil products, and to create the facilities to carry out these activities.



It states that the company was granted an exclusive' exploration area of more than 400,000 sq miles, covering almost all of eastern Saudi Arabia.



The DPI ad also states, In return for these concessions, the company agreed to meet the following conditions: A loan of 30,000 gold or its equivalent, was to be payable within 15 days of the effective date of the agreement; an additional loan of 20,000 gold after 18 months if the agreement was still in force. Repayment of those loans was to be made by deductions from one-half of the anticipated royalties owing to the government.



An annual rental' payment of 5,000 gold, was to be payable in advance until the discovery of commercial quantities of oil. Upon discovery of oil in commercial quantities the company was to make an immediate advance royalty payment of 50,000 and another payment of the same amount one year later.

Story by from Kaieter News



Kaieteurnewsonline.com 04 04 2018

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'98,ME,XP, Vista, Windows 7,8,10 +/ 800x600 pixelsGuyana must reveal steps taken to guard against inflated costs by oil entities NRGI Int'l Group





By Kaieter News



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 04 04 2018

What guarantee does the Government have that reported production costs by oil companies have not been inflated to reduce taxes along with the State's share of profit oil?



Without proper controls, companies may use abusive transfer pricing tactics (purchasing from or selling to related parties at artificially high or low prices) to shift taxable income out of the hands of the host country.



This is the view of the National Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), an international body which provides expert advice to administrations around the world as it relates to getting the best deals and arrangements out of extractive sectors. It has on several occasions, provided advice to Guyana on several matters.



Given the frequency with which oil companies have been found engaging in such devious accounting methods, the group insists that the government of any oil-producing nation has a responsibility to tell the citizenry what steps are being taken to guard against inflated costs.



It also notes that Parliamentarians, and the citizenry as a whole, are within their right to demand certain information from the government. In this regard, NRGI said that questions should not only be asked about transfer pricing, but also about the assumptions which have been used by oil companies in projecting revenues for the state. It said that questions should also be asked on whether these revenue projects are based on company assertions or independent analyses and verification.

It noted that one should ask the government what kind of risk analysis the relevant authorities have done; if prices increase by 50, 100, or 200 percent, and how the returns to the state and the company will change. And if prices fall by 25, 50 percent, or more, what the outcome would be.



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LACK OF PROVISIONS



A careful assessment of Guyana's Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) with ExxonMobil , Tullow Oil, Ratio Oil, Eco Atlantic and CGX, would reveal that there are mechanisms in place for these oil operators to recover their exploration, development and production costs.



But what is lacking in all of these contracts is a single clause that speaks to how the Government of Guyana should deal with inflated costs, once detected by these entities.



While such lose provisions exist, other nations have ensured that the necessary provisions have been taken to guard against inflated costs.



Liberia, for example, is known for its oil-rich potential just offshore West Africa. Its oil industry has attracted multinationals such as Chevron and ExxonMobil.



Even though the Government of this English-speaking nation is elated to have the attention of these oil giants, it is by no means an indication that there would be a free for all for those entities as it relates to inflated costs.



In one of its PSAs, Liberia ties ExxonMobil and its other oil partners to a strict set of provisions.



The 2013 Production Sharing Agreement says, If any such inspection or audit is finally determined to have overstated Petroleum Costs or understated revenue derived from Total Production by more than three percent (3%), all costs of the inspection or audit shall be borne or reimbursed by the Contractor and no portion of such costs of inspection or audit may be included in Petroleum Costs. Appropriate adjustments in payments and cumulative recoverable costs shall be made to adjust for all misstatements identified as a result of any such inspection or audit.



(More in this regard on the contract can be seen by following this link: (http://www.theperspective.org/2012/block_13_agreement.pdf)).



Minister Gaskin, Guyana is waiting to see Local Content proposals of oil companies





By Kiana Wilburg



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 04 04 2018

The completion of the Local Content Policy is now up to Business Minister Dominic Gaskin. This crucial document will provide guidance on the employment of locals as well as the use of goods and services provided by indigenous companies.



But there are concerns regarding the Minister's ability to handle such a central matter when he appears to be clueless on a few basic, related issues. For example, the Business Minister has not seen, much less reviewed, the local content proposals of ExxonMobil and its subcontractors. Yet, he is tasked with completing the policy that will guide the entire sector.

The Minister's lack of knowledge on the matter was revealed on a televised programme, Plain Talk, which was hosted last Wednesday by Chartered Accountant and anticorruption advocate, Chris Ram.



Ram explained to Gaskin that the law stipulates that oil companies, in their application for a production licence, must set out their plan to employ locals and use native goods and services.



On this premise, Gaskin was challenged to say if he was satisfied with the proposals of these contractors (ExxonMobil and its subcontractors Hess, Esso and China National Offshore Oil Corporation) in terms of employment targets and the procurement of goods and services.



To Ram's surprise, Gaskin, who is a member of Cabinet and part of the special quintet assigned to overlook the oil and gas industry, is yet to lay his eyes on the proposals of those companies.



The Business Minister said, Well let me be frank, I have not reviewed the proposals from the contractors. I know that there are stipulations or regulations in the Petroleum Act on local content as well as provisions in the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) 



Gaskin noted, nonetheless, that there is a need for something stronger; something that addresses more specifically, how we intend to implement a Local Content Policy and what are the specific targets we would like to set in terms of employment requirements, procurement requirements, and technology transfer.



He said that all of these things need to be, perhaps, consolidated into one local government policy and perhaps, backed up with maybe separate regulations.



While Gaskin has not seen the Local Content Proposals of the oil companies operating in the Stabroek block, Ram asked if he was satisfied with what he is seeing so far.



The Minister's assertion was that it may be too early for him to pronounce on whether the local content efforts of the ExxonMobil consortium are enough.



We haven't seen a lot so far because, to be fair, we haven't started production as yet. So a lot of what is envisaged has not had a chance to kick in. I won't say that I am not satisfied. I don't think it works like that. I think that as a government and as a people, we have to come up with a framework that is suitable to our own situation.



Gaskin went on to explain that this framework has to be in the context of what is available locally in terms of skill sets and services. He stressed that the oil industry is new to the nation; hence, many of the requirements of the contractors at this stage would not be fulfilled by locals.



He said, In many areas we don't meet the requirements of the contractors and especially at this stage in the development phase of the project, all the laying of subsea infrastructure, we don't have that sort of expertise, and that is where the really big contracts are going.



The Minister continued, And that is why I think that it is important that we have something that is legally binding in place that caters for building local capacity, and then we can set minimum levels for local employment or procurement of goods and services.



Gaskin added, We have to be aware, too, that we are a small population, and if we discover more oil and we have more operators out there developing, exploring and producing, do we necessarily have the local expertise sufficient enough to want to demand high levels of employment and management and procurement if we demand high levels in this area what we going to do with other industries?



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309 COMPANIES



ExxonMobil has often said that it takes local content seriously. But many critics question how important such an issue is to this multibillion-dollar entity when it is unable to name the 309 companies it claims to have utilized last year.



It was early last month that the entity was challenged by Chairman of the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC), Manniram Prashad to provide the evidence to support its claims.



Prashad told Kaieteur News, If these figures are accurate then we would obviously be happy about it but 309 Guyanese-owned suppliers? That is just concerning when there is no evidence provided at the same time to support it. Hence, we would like the evidence of this. We would like to have a list of the companies and the services they provided and when.

This information was not provided last month when ExxonMobil's Public and Government Affairs Advisor, Kimberly Brasington delivered a presentation on the work being done by her company thus far.



When questioned by this newspaper recently, Brasington still failed to provide the names.



Instead, the Government Affairs Advisor said, This should be a good news story not a controversial one. ExxonMobil Guyana, on behalf of all our contractors, was excited to share some of the project's local content numbers and thought Guyanese would be proud. We take building local content seriously and have demonstrated that through action and capacity building. We want Guyanese suppliers, businesses and individuals to be a part of the industry.



DRAFT POLICY



Guyana's draft Local Content Policy has also been criticized in recent months for lacking provisions, which would safeguard against exploitation by companies. The draft is still receiving finishing touches according to Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman.



Be that as it may, the draft speaks nothing of how to avoid procurement fraud, conflict of interest and favouritism, among other crucial areas.

Instead, the Local Content Policy framework seeks to address the suite of opportunities that may arise, and the approaches to be taken in selecting and developing opportunities related to enhancing the capabilities of Guyanese nationals and businesses.



The Policy articulates that this will be don't through; training, development and employment initiatives (Capacity Development), ensuring availability of ownership participation for qualified Guyanese equity interest (Ownership Value), supplier development provisions for goods and services by locals to support sector operations (Local Content); and well-tailored social contributions for greater impact and benefits (Societal Benefits).



It also describes what will be done to ensure that the activities in the petroleum sector are conducted in a manner that transparently secures the maximum benefit for the people of Guyana, while recognizing the limitations of the country; and holding all actors accountable to the present and future generations of Guyanese who are the owners of the nation's petroleum resources.



Additionally, the draft policy recognizes that the petroleum resources of Guyana belong to all its citizens, and represent an asset of significant intrinsic value, which once removed, diminishes the wealth of the nation, unless there is transformation in value from resources below the ground to improved quality of life above it for current and future generations of Guyanese.



The draft says, Guyana will approach the development of its petroleum resources, people and businesses in a pragmatic, transparent and accountable manner. This will be conditioned by existing circumstances and an analytical approach to understanding the resource, the activities it engenders and our input capabilities. We shall pursue strategic opportunities for local capacity development and participation that give us the maximum possible benefit now and in the future.



The Policy also states that Guyanese will participate in a manner that gives preferred access and opportunities to improve and enhance the country's capabilities so that it can become internationally competitive and in the end, the country will progressively provide a greater amount of future services.



Capacity development, to enable more value retention, will be treated as an investment, rather than a cost, the policy outlines.



Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela review progress on gas deal





By TT Guardian



PORT SPAIN

Petroleumworld 04 04 2018

Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young met this week with Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo to evaluate the progress of gas export agreements signed between the two countries.

The review took the form of a high level meeting at the headquarters of Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) in Caracas. Both nations ratified that the joint exploitation of unified deposits will cover the needs of both markets in the medium and long term. At the meeting, Quevedo reiterated the gas supply guarantee to T&T through the Dragon field, from the Mariscal Sucre Offshore Project, located in the Paria Peninsula, in the Sucre state.



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The bilateral meeting served to reinforce the ties of co-operation, solidarity and mutual respect between Venezuela and T&T, highlighting the energy agreements on gaseous hydrocarbons for the benefit of both nations.

It was attended by the Venezuelan Deputy Minister of Gas Douglas Sosa, and Vice President of Gas Nemrod Contreras, T&T's Ambassador to Venezuela Paul Byam; Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries Selwyn Lashey and National Gas Company (NGC) chairman Gerry Brooks.

The bilateral work day is based on the agreement for exploitation of mineral and gas resources endorsed in November 2017 by Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro for exploitation in joint blocks of Venezuela and T&T, as well as export of Venezuelan gas through the border fields.



Colombia's attorney general to investigate Ecopetrol oil spill in Santander province

By Reuters



BOGOTA

Petroleumworld 04 04 2018

Colombia's attorney general's office on Monday launched an investigation to determine whether officials from state-run oil company Ecopetrol could be held criminally responsible for a oil spill of 550 barrels in Santander province.

The Lisama 158 well, which was in the process of being shut down because of low production, leaked crude into a ravine over a three-week period, contaminating the water and affecting animal and plant life.

The investigation will seek to establish if individual officials from Ecopetrol were responsible and could be penalized, an official from the attorney general's office told Reuters.

The country's procurator general - which has the power to remove officials from their jobs - and the environmental licensing agency are also conducting investigations into the leak.

Ecopetrol Chief Executive Officer Felipe Bayon Pardo told journalists late on Monday the company will cooperate fully with all three investigations.

We will do everything necessary to re-establish environmental and social conditions in the area. It's our commitment and we will invest the human, financial and technological resources which are required, said Bayon.



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Venezuela's Crypto Petro a scam - ICOindex rating

By Patricia Laya



CARACAS

Petroleumworld 04 04 2018

Two weeks after Venezuela's cryptocurrency scheduled sale date, many aspects of the Petro remain a mystery and initial coin offering rating sites are already calling it a fraud.

Rating website ICOindex.com gave the token a "scam status," saying the project was missing critical information, from the description of the mechanism to its technology and supposed oil-backing. We can discourage people from wasting money on this project, the site reads. Another rating site, ICObench , rated the Petro 1.6 points out of 5. Other ICO raters, including Cryptorated and ICOreview, haven't even bothered to review the project, Criptonoticias reported.

Last month President Nicolas Maduro announced the sovereign cryptocurrency would be available for public sale on March 23, just days after President Donald Trump banned American citizens from buying the oil-backed currency. The sale followed a month-long private sale, which Maduro said received offers of as much as $5 billion from countries including China, Russia and Mexico.

Yet, there's little public evidence to support the latter. Between website malfunctions and poor directions, those actually interested in investing in the world's first sovereign crypto are left scratching their heads as to how they can get their hands on Petros to begin with.



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Latin America turns to clean energy, utilities ditch dirty Coal

Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg



Utility closes coal-fired plants to shift to renewable power. Region's clean-energy investment growth dwarfs the world rate.



By Vanessa Dezem



SAO PAULO

Petroleumworld 04 04 2018

As Latin America hones its focus on clean energy, international energy giants are leading the charge to get out of dirty fuels.

French behemoth Engie SA has announced it's closing coal-fired power plants in Chile at the same time AES Corp. of the U.S. and Enel SpA of Italy have pledged to stop building them. The moves constitute the less-sexy side of the conversion to clean energy in the region, where investment grew more than 25 times faster than the global rate in 2017.

Raising Investments

One-third of Engie's 2018 spending is focused on Latin America



Source: Engie

There is a clear market shift in Latin America, and it is getting more explicit in the companies' strategies, said James Ellis, Bloomberg New Energy Finance manager for Latin America. There is a momentum being built for renewables in the region and companies don't want be left behind.

Take Engie, where Latin America has become key to its global strategy of abandoning dirty power production and boosting investments in renewables and natural gas. The region is poised to receive a third of Engie's investment dollars in 2018, second only to its home market in France.

We have a clear plan to transform our energy generation portfolio in Latin America, said Philip De Cnudde, Engie's chief executive officer for Latin America. We are shifting completely to renewables and using what we have in natural gas as a backup for the new technologies.

Transformations

Engie plans to replace the Chilean coal plants' capacity with renewable energy, with more details to be announced in coming weeks. Chile, which generates about 40 percent of its electricity from coal, is pushing power companies to phase out the plants as the country seeks to curb greenhouse-gas production.

The choreographed move away from coal stands in sharp contrast to the U.S., which generates about 30 percent of its electricity from coal and where beleaguered owners of old-school nuclear and coal plants that once supplied the majority of the nation's electricity have appealed to the government to help keep their plants open.

As it exits Latin American coal, Courbevoie, France-based Engie is also buying natural gas and renewable assets in Brazil, building new plants in Mexico and Brazil and bidding in clean-power auctions in Peru and Mexico. Competitor AES is also trying to diversify in Latin America, with its Brazilian unit targeting 50 percent of its earnings from renewable sources by 2020. Engie and AES, along with Enel and Colbun SA, have agreed not to build new coal plants in Chile without carbon-capture and storage systems to limit emissions.

In Chile, coal is a very important source of energy, Cnudde said. We are working together with other companies on how we can decarbonize our operations, without putting the system in danger.

Brazil

In Brazil, where Engie is the largest private utility, the company is in exclusive talks with ContourGlobal Plc for the sale of two coal-fired power plants in Brazil totaling 700 megawatts, the last non-clean ones it holds in the country, with the bid due soon, according to Mauricio Bahr, CEO of Engie's Brazil business.

Engie was recently one of the big winners at a power-line auction and agreed in November to buy the 605-megawatt Umburanas wind complex. The company is also considering whether to bid this month for a 2,800-mile (4,500-kilometer) natural gas pipeline network that spans 10 Brazilian states, seen as state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA's largest asset sale to date.

There is room for more M&As and we'll participate in future auctions for new projects, Bahr said in an interview.





WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday published a proposed list of Chinese goods subject to additional 25 percent tariffs amid strong opposition from China and U.S. business groups.

The proposed list covers approximately 1,300 products imported from China, worth around 50 billion U.S. dollars of annual trade value,including industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics and machinery, the USTR's Office said in a statement.

The list, which will undergo further review in a public notice and comment process, is based on a so-called Section 301 investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017.

The Chinese Embassy in the United States in response said the Chinese side "strongly condemns and firmly opposes" the unfounded Section 301 investigation and the proposed list of products and tariff increases.

"Such unilateralistic and protectionist action has gravely violated fundamental principles and values of the WTO. It serves neither China's interest, nor U.S. interest, even less the interest of the global economy," the Chinese embassy said in a statement.

The Chinese side will resort to the WTO to settle the dispute and take corresponding measures of "equal scale and strength" against U.S. products in accordance with Chinese law, said the embassy.

The proposed tariff list "appears to mostly target intermediate goods," which would "harm U.S. manufactures who are sourcing from Chinese suppliers," Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Xinhua.

Business groups from China and the United States in recent weeks have warned the Trump administration not to move forward its tariff plan on Chinese imports, as it would raise the costs for American consumers and companies as well as having a negative effect on the financial markets.

"Imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way" to address trade issues between the United States and China, Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday in a statement.

"The U.S. Chamber looks forward to working with the administration throughout the comment period to make the business community's voice heard on the U.S.-China economic relationship," Brilliant said.

The Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington D.C.-based technology industry trade group, also said the proposed tariffs would "penalize U.S. consumers by increasing prices on technology products."

"If history is any indication, these proposed tariffs will not work and will be entirely counterproductive," the trade group said Tuesday in a statement.

Max Baucus, a former senator from the U.S. state of Montana and U.S. ambassador to China, said American farmers "are going to get squeezed" by the tariff proposal "from all sides."

"First, the tariffs the U.S. announced today will make the (agricultural) equipment and inputs they rely on more expensive. Then they'll face new tariffs on their exports when China retaliates," said Baucus, who now serves as the co-chairman of the farm lobbying group Farmers for Free Trade.

"It seems to me we're moving into a period of significantly increasing friction in the area of trade and investment between the U.S. and China," Henry Levine, senior advisor at leading U.S. consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group, told Xinhua, hoping both countries could sit down and negotiate solutions to address each other's trade and investment concerns.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said last week that it would go through a 60-day comment period after the administration released the proposed tariff list and "there's hope" that trade talks between the United States and China could lead to a fruitful outcome.

While the United States and China have two "very different" economic systems, "it's very possible" that the U.S.-China trade relationship could end up in "a good place" after overcoming "a series of difficulties" over many years, Lighthizer said in an interview with CNBC.OPEC output lowest in a year amid Venezuela woes



Group production fell to 32.04 million barrels a day in March. Oil fields in Algeria are said to have gone into maintenance. OPEC president says russia has been 'great partner' on cuts - Play Video

By Angelina Rascouet



LONDON

Petroleumworld 04 04 2018

OPEC crude production dropped to the lowest in a year amid the woes in Venezuela's oil industry.

Output from the 14 members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries fell by 170,000 barrels to 32.04 million barrels a day in March, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data. That's the lowest since last April's 31.9 million barrels a day. Back then, Equatorial Guinea -- which pumped 130,000 barrels a day last month -- wasn't part of OPEC.

The Odd Man Out

Iraq has yet to comply with its pledged cuts while Venezuela and Saudi Arabia have over-delivered

Pledged cuts

March cuts



Sources: OPEC survey and OPEC agreement communique

Production in Venezuela declined by 100,000 barrels a day from February to 1.51 million barrels a day, the survey showed. The International Energy Agency said in its last monthly report that the Latin American nation remains the biggest risk factor when it comes to supply disruption amid a worsening economic crisis.

Algerian output dropped 40,000 barrels a day to 1 million, the survey found. Some oil fields underwent maintenance last month, shutting down production, a person familiar with the matter said . Crude exports from the North African country also fell to the lowest level in more than two years in March, according to cargo data by Kpler SAS.

Neighboring Libya saw production drop below the 1 million barrels a day after some fields were shut down.

Output from Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de-facto leader and its biggest producer, fell 10,000 barrels a day from February to 9.87 million.

OPEC's efforts to curb production since January 2017 has helped boost oil prices. Brent rallied 5.1 percent in the first quarter, the third straight quarterly gain, the longest streak since 2011.





As classics majors in the graduate school of Bryn Mawr College, Kiki Aranita and Chris Vacca could have pursued careers in academia.

Instead, buoyed by their idea to cook and serve the foods of Hawaii (and after pragmatically assessing the job market), they set out on a different kind of odyssey: opening a food truck. Five years ago, they took over a cart on Temple University's campus and called it Poi Dog, after the Hawaiian Pidgin for "mutt." A year ago, they added a brick-and-mortar counter-service restaurant at 100 S. 21st St. in Center City.

Aranita, 33, who's from Hawaii and Hong Kong, and Vacca, 36, who grew up in northern Delaware (thus making him a Homer), sat down last week to talk about bringing the 808 vibe to 215 and the current corruption of poke, the raw-fish salad.

How did you go from the classics to mochi nori fried chicken and Spam musubi?

Aranita: A friend who was working in a restaurant that I was also working in happened to have a taco cart that was set up at Temple. We had been entertaining the idea of starting a food truck after having worked on other food trucks. We thought we could have a go at it on our own, and he was selling it at the right time. It had exactly what we needed. It happened to be called Chris' Taco Stand, so we thought that was like, fate.

Vacca: We both really enjoyed food.  Maybe it became a little bit more than just your casual obsession with food. And that started to influence what we were actually doing in grad school. At one point, we partnered on a seminar paper that was essentially about representing cultural cuisine throughout history in contemporary restaurants. So we started, basically, trying to cheat what were supposed to be doing, and like try to cheat that into, how can we use class time to go out and eat and talk about it intelligently?

Aranita: Basically, we convinced our professors to let us do our class project on going out to eat.

Vacca: It was very productive, too. It was a really interesting project that ended up developing into something that I think we're both proud of, and we, in abbreviated form, we actually presented it at a food culture and literature conference.

What was the first day like on the truck?

Vacca: We just started selling stuff. We had no idea how we were going to be received. And slowly but surely on Temple's campus we started getting traction pretty quickly. After that, we started doing some events on the weekends. And things that would involve the city at large, basically, as opposed to just college communities. We were shocked at how many folks who were from Hawaii lived in Philadelphia.

Aranita: People were coming up to the truck that I had gone to middle school with in Hawaii. It happened more than once.

Why open a restaurant?

Aranita: We spent quite a long time at the truck. I think people who had the intention of going from truck to restaurant tend to make the jump too soon. We didn't until we had the truck for about four years, because opening a restaurant was never really on the horizon. Honestly, when we started the truck, we did not think it would get the response that it did. We had to turn down a lot of business because everybody wanted to book us in advance. And it really sucks, turning down business. So we knew that we had grow. We also had the smallest food truck of all time, that only fits two people on it at once. In order to grow, we knew we had to go  brick and mortar. I think the trucking scene in Philly has diminished in its fervor somewhat in the last five years.

Why do you think that is?

Vacca: There was very intense and quick ramp-up in the interest in food trucks, surely from the customers' perspectives, but also even maybe just proportionately so from people who wanted to start food trucks. That was back in 2012 or '13, when anybody who had the idea that they maybe wanted to open up a food truck seemed to be doing it, ourselves included. There was really good reception, but it ended up being that there were so many things opening, and there were very limited options for these trucks to be directly vending to the public, outside of say, large festivals that were maybe, four, five, six a year.

Aranita: And the limited public, as well. There are only so many people in Philadelphia who have time to run out to a food truck during lunch hour.

Vacca: Along with that, the Philadelphia restaurant scene has been getting better and better with higher-end dining, and it's also been getting better with folks that have done higher-end dining [who] are starting to branch out into casual lunch places. I think that there's just more options.

Why Hawaii-inspired food?

Aranita: I don't know how to make Mexican tacos. It was just really the sort of food that we thought Philly could use because we missed it a lot.

Are these family recipes?

Aranita: For the most part, it's me and Chris tinkering in the kitchen and trying to replicate, and make better, the food that we love about Hawaii.

Did anything in your academic career prepare you for this?

Aranita: There were things teaching prepared us to deal with the staff, in some ways. To teach people about food that they have never encountered. I think that takes a lot of patience. Proper explanation. I also did promotional marketing for a good chunk of my time in graduate school, so that helped.

If somebody walks in here completely clueless, what would you steer them to?

Aranita: I would ask how hungry they are. If they're just a little bit hungry, then I'd steer them toward one of our poke bowls. If they haven't tried poke before, then I'll tell them that they can do like a half spicy ahi poke and half shoyu ahi poke bowl, so that they can try a couple different things. I definitely want to encourage people to try different things. If they're on the hungrier side, I would steer them toward the plate lunch side of the menu. Plate lunches always come with two scoops of rice and one scoop of macaroni salad. We didn't make that up. That's what a plate lunch is. And you can get kalua pig, mochi nori fried chicken, or pork belly adobo, which is our sort-of Filipino pork belly.

What do you think about all these poke shops opening?

Aranita: Well, we don't do California-style poke, which are sort of like salad bars, where you go and you choose a bunch of things and have somebody mix them all together for you according to your specification. Poke in Hawaii is not like that. At all. You go to a place that's generally very casual, and you choose a poke that's been premixed or preprepared for you.

Vacca: For instance, today I was taking an order and someone came in and ordered the shoyu ahi poke, and she asked, 'Does it come with avocado?' And I said, 'No.' And she said, 'That's strange. I've never had poke without avocado.' And I had to explain, 'In Hawaii, I've never had poke with avocado.' It's just not something that happens.

Aranita: A lot of people want vegetables to mix into their pokes or serve it over salad greens.

Will you do it?

Aranita: No.

What about giving the customers what they want?

Vacca: We are making sure that we represent the cuisine that we're serving. I mean, we do a little bit of tinkering here and there for some stuff, but it would be weird, like, when we have folks from Hawaii come in, if we were serving poke over salad, they would be like, 'What are you doing?' We take that into consideration.  And it has been transported from Hawaii to the mainland, and through that process, I think changed. That's fine. And people enjoy it, whatever.

Aranita: I wish they would call it something else rather than poke. Like maybe a fish salad or something.

Vacca: I think it's not talked about enough in the Philly food scene. I think it's just relatively accepted the way that the poke trend has altered the dish. Poke in Hawaii differs from how it's being served in the mainland and other places. It seems pretty straightforward, but for some reason, I think people run into this problem like, 'What's the big deal? I just want it on the thing that I want it on. I want it in a wrap.' Well, we don't have salad greens, and we don't have wraps and stuff, but some people do, and it's like, 'Why not?'

Aranita: We also see variations on poke, to accommodate people who don't eat fish. Here we have a tofu poke, and poke doesn't have to be fish. And I think that's often misunderstood. Poke just means 'to slice' or 'to cut' in Hawaii, and it can really refer to anything, sort of. You wouldn't make chicken into poke. You wouldn't mix strawberries into poke. Like, to me, that's just madness. And yet, we see that on menus of these trendy, new poke places. I'm probably just as upset by poke places that corrupt the word poke, like putting in accents. There should never be an accent over the E, ever!

Since its pronounced po-kay, I think people use the accent to distinguish it from poke.

Aranita: But that's not a good enough reason. Just teach people how to pronounce one two-syllable word.The annual rate of sea level rise along Chinas coastal areas increased to 3.3 millimeters on average between 1980 and 2017, according to the blue paper regarding Chinas climate change released on April 3.

The average land surface temperature in the territory of China has also been experiencing a noticeable rise since the beginning of the 21st century. Furthermore, the country has experienced the warmest period in the latest 20 years since 1900, said the paper, first of its kind released by the National Climate Center of China Meteorological Administration.

The paper said many vital indicators and comprehensive observations have indicated that global warming is continuing.

In 2017, Chinas sea level was 58 millimeters higher than the average level between 1993 and 2011, the fourth highest since 1980. The paper said the rise in sea level was caused by thermal expansion of sea water, melting of ice glaciers and changes in land water storage.Amazon opened the Spheres at its Seattle headquarters, featuring more than 40,000 plants and spaces for its workers to meet and think. Read more

Amazon's search for a location for its second headquarters has been unusually public, but the secrecy surrounding the incentives state and local governments are offering to lure the Seattle-based e-commerce giant could set a troubling precedent for taxpayers, a group that tracks corporate subsidies said in a Tuesday report.

Most of the 20 locations Amazon is considering have not shared details of their bids with the public, despite the fact that Amazon did not bar them from disclosing these terms, according to Good Jobs First, the Washington, D.C., nonprofit that issued the report. The company did impose nondisclosure agreements on the 20 locations, preventing them from releasing information on the next steps in the selection process for the project, known as HQ2.

But absent the full text of each document governments have submitted to Amazon, the report's authors say, residents of any location the company is considering have no way of knowing just how much this corporate courtship could cost them, including where the bidding opened or how massive the tax incentives being offered are. This gives the company "complete control of the conversations" in its talks with competing locations, according to the report, and prevents officials from communicating across localities to prevent overspending.

Taxpayers in the winning location, meanwhile, could see tax increases or decreased quality in their public services, especially if Amazon does not shoulder the costs of building the needed new schools or transit infrastructure or bear the costs of increased public safety, sanitation, water and sewage services, the report's authors suggest.

"Amazon's HQ2 project can go down in history as a monument to high-tech arrogance and tax-break favoritism," said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First. "Or it can usher in a new normal in economic development that is inclusive and accountable. It's up to the 20 governments and to Amazon. Will they seize this terrific opportunity?"

Amazon already has received nearly $1.4 billion in public subsidies for other projects, according to Good Jobs First. Amazon did not respond immediately Tuesday to a request for comment.

Philadelphia, which hosted a delegation from Amazon last month, released a heavily redacted document after a request for public records.

Just two cities, Toronto and Boston, have released all of their bid documents, according to a transparency study included in the Good Jobs First report.

Two states, Maryland and New Jersey, have disclosed the costs of their offers because each considered special legislation to create or expand tax incentives for the project, this breakdown indicates.

So far, though, the public knows "almost nothing" about what six locations  Dallas; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; northern Virginia; Raleigh, N.C.; and Pittsburgh  included in their bids, according to Good Jobs First.

And though they haven't announced the value of the subsidies they offered Amazon, four finalists besides Philadelphia have shared some of their bid documents: Denver; Montgomery County, Md.; Nashville; and Washington, D.C.

An additional five contenders have announced the value of their subsidies but did not share the full bid documents: Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Newark, N.J.; and New York City. California's governor has disclosed the value of the state's financial support for Los Angeles' bid, the study noted.

Good Jobs First ends its report with a wash of recommendations for both Amazon and the governments of the finalist locations, namely full disclosure of bids and related documents, public hearings, commitments to institute community benefits agreements, and a promise from Amazon to pay the same tax rates as smaller retailers.

Those elements could make the trophy deal a "game-changer," the organization argues.Warehouse at 41st and Chestnut Streets in West Philadelphia, where Amazon.coms Prime Now has a license to operate a food business. Read more

Amazon appears set to roll out its Prime Now express delivery service across a broad swath of the Philadelphia region, with staff being sought throughout the city and its Pennsylvania and New Jersey suburbs.

As of Wednesday, the company's jobs website had listings for "Prime Now Associate" positions in Philadelphia; in Rydal and Springhouse, Montgomery County; in Wayne and Concordville, Delaware County; and in Princeton and Cherry Hill, N.J.

Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Now delivers groceries, toys, pet supplies, basic clothing items, and other everyday goods within two hours of being ordered in dozens of cities including New York, Baltimore, and the Washington, D.C., metro area.

Also available for delivery in some markets are meals from area restaurants, similar to services offered by GrubHub and Caviar, and inventory from Whole Foods Market, which Amazon acquired last year.

The service was already expected to begin operating in Philadelphia itself, with Amazon's Prime Now L.L.C. unit receiving a permit in February to operate a food business at a 68,000-square-foot industrial building at 41st and Chestnut Streets in West Philadelphia.

The job descriptions on Amazon's employment site do not disclose precise locations of Prime Now facilities within the towns where the positions are based. An Amazon spokesman did not immediately respond to an email seeking details about the company's plans for the express service in and around Philadelphia.The iconic Victor mousetrap company  the one with the cartoonish-looking but effective trap that smashes the head of unsuspecting pests  is using a Comcast Corp. network to launch a mesh of wirelessly connected rodent traps in food warehouses, supermarkets, offices, schools and restaurants.

The battery-powered traps, about the length of a shoe box, zap rats or mice with electricity and then sends an alert on the downed rodent over a new Comcast wireless network, called machineQ. Building supervisors or pest-control contractors monitor the kills on an app.

For a company whose core trap hasn't changed much over the last century, Victor has been innovating with products that have gone from props in the Roadrunner cartoon to something out of Blade Runner 2049.

Victor calls it: "Connected pest control."

The company expects its new VLink product to be available later this year, marking another example of how digital tech is spreading into all corners of the U.S. economy, even furry ones. Woodstream Corp., which manufactures and markets pest control products for rodents and insects, says it believes that VLink will make rodent-killing more efficient for businesses. Someone doesn't have to physically check every trap. An Applebee's might have 20 traps, while a food warehouse could have 300.

And it comes as Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington have reported troubling levels of rodents.

If a customer photographs a rat and broadcasts it over social media, it could become a PR catastrophe for a business. "You could have a photo of a rat scampering across your countertop go viral," said Tom Daly, Woodstream's senior director of strategic technology. "You want to avoid that."

Comcast, meanwhile, is positioning its machineQ network, now available in 15 Comcast markets, to handle more nitty-gritty logistical and tracking functions for a wide range of businesses. France's Adveez uses the network to track luggage haulers, fuel trucks and food-catering transport vehicles while the Alabama-based Neptune Technology Group uses it to read water meters.

Another machineQ client is Chicago-based CareBand Inc. Its wristband tracks the movements of dementia patients who have a tendency to drift away from homes or living facilities. Adam Sobol, CareBand's chief executive officer, said there are 5.3 million older Americans living with dementia, and 60 percent of those tend to wander. "If you are not right there, they are gone," he said. He expects the product to hit the market later this year.

Woodstream Corp. which owns Victor, is a privately held Lititz, Pa. company with 500 employees.

The company already sells reusable battery-powered WiFi-enabled mouse and rat traps at Home Depot and Ace Hardware stores for homes. Woodstream's "WiFi Mouse" costs about $50 and takes four AA batteries (the classic spring-loaded wooden trap costs about $1). "WiFi Rat" takes four C-size batteries and costs $70. Peanut butter or other food lures the rodents into the enclosed trap. They are zapped and sensors send news of the kills through the WiFi network to smartphone apps, telling homeowners the traps need to be cleaned.

"It's a little more of a humane kill because it's an instant kill," said Ashley Brown, Woodstream's senior marketing manager.

Daly said that the VLink system  which will cost $50 to $100 when launched, possibly in the third quarter  could be a game-changer with 500 kills to one set of four batteries for the professional pest-control businesses and buildings owners.

"We expect it to be a power tool instead of disposable trap," said Daly. He said the pricing could change to a subscription model.

In recent months, Woodstream has been testing VLink in Pennsylvania and other states, gathering data.

For instance, a study conducted by someone else found that traps made more kills about 3 a.m. That was later connected with trucks coming into a shipping dock in the early morning; when the doors opened, rodents jumped into a facility.

Many commercial pest traps are checked only periodically. But the connected traps can tell building and restaurant owners if there is a sudden surge in mouse and rat activity,.

"When it comes to building the best mousetrap," said Daly, "we probably have the best engineers in the world."Artist's rendering of most recently presented version of the condo tower planned by Toll Bros. on Center City's Jewelers Row. Read more

Efforts by the city's design review board to goad Toll Bros. into rethinking its plan for a condo tower on Center City's Jewelers Row ended acrimoniously Tuesday, with the Horsham-based homebuilder's representatives walking out of a hearing before the panel's leader could finish delivering a final critique.

Nancy Rogo Trainer, chairwoman of the Philadelphia Civic Design Review board, was closing the panel's consideration of the proposal with remarks characterizing the project as being out of scale with its surroundings when she noticed that Toll's architect, lawyer, and other presenters were filing out of the conference room.

"Did they leave?" she asked, calling the departure a sign of "total disrespect for the committee."

Carl Primavera, the company's lawyer for the project, called the team back into the chamber but chastised Trainer for arriving late to the hearing herself.

The exchange came at the end of Toll's second and final appearance before the review board with its proposal to level several properties on the storied Sansom Street gem-shopping district and replace them with a 24-story mirrored-glass condo building.

The review board is tasked with offering design commentary on Philadelphia's biggest construction projects as a final stage of the city's zoning approval process. It can require developers to present to the group a second time after hearing the panel's thoughts on a project but can't make them follow its suggestions.

When Toll first appeared before the board last month with its most recent rendition of the tower plan, members criticized the design for what it saw as an incongruous mix of brick on its lower stories with a glass tower above, while urging the company to find a way to preserve the facades of the site's existing structures, according to coverage by the website PlanPhilly.

The tower presented by Toll on Tuesday replaced the former lower-story brick with more glass, which Jim Davidson of New York-based SLCE Architecture characterized as a response to the board's feedback.

But some panelists were not satisfied with the changes, including Philadelphia architect Cecil Baker, who said the plans were not adequately refined for their central location in the jewelry district.

"For this project to work, it has to look like a jewel," he said. "It has to look like a contemporary jewel in the neighborhood that is in the business of selling jewels."

Toll first announced its plan in August 2016 to demolish the jewelry shop buildings between 702 and 710 Sansom St., along with a contiguous property at 128 S. Seventh St., and to replace them with a 16-story condo tower. The proposal drew swift condemnation from Philadelphia's historic preservation community, which said the buildings were worthy of protection, as well as from some of the building's tenants.

By July 2017, Toll had encountered difficulties making what had grown into the 29-story proposal fit within height limits imposed by area zoning rules and announced that the planned tower would lose a few stories to clear those hurdles.

Its revised proposal for a 24-story tower was approved in December by the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections, conditional on its presentation to the Civic Design Review board.

Toll's only remaining hurdle to development would come from a legal challenge by the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia to the project's demolition permits.

A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge heard arguments in February surrounding the preservation group's argument that the 128 S. Seventh St. property should have qualified for historic protections, amid other claims, and is expected to announce her ruling soon.

David Von Spreckelsen, the New York-based president of Toll's urban-focused City Living division, has said Toll would not begin demolition work until the case is resolved.For failing to protect the privacy of its patients, Virtua Medical Group, composed of hundreds of South Jersey doctors, has agreed to pay $418,000 and improve data security protocols, state officials announced Wednesday.

In January 2016, the daughter of a patient found portions of her mother's medical records online while doing a Google search. An investigation found that confidential records for more than 1,650 patients were left unsecured after one of the medical group's vendors updated its commercial software and reconfigured its computer server. The move rendered the files, which were cached by Google, to be publicly exposed and viewed by anyone without a password.

The group, an alliance of doctors affiliated with Virtua Health, was blindsided by the breach and agreed to the settlement with the state on March 1. The settlement document described the breach as an "unconscionable commercial practice."

The vendor, Best Medical Transcription of Georgia, had been hired to transcribe notes, letters and reports from patients who had been treated by Virtua gynecologic oncology specialists in Voorhees, the Virtua Surgical Group in Hainesport, and Virtua Pain and Spine Specialists in Voorhees. The records were removed from the internet. VMG severed its contract with the transcription company.

"Although it was a third-party vendor that caused this data breach, VMG is being held accountable because it was their patient data and it was their responsibility to protect it," said Sharon M. Joyce, acting director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. "This enforcement action sends a message to medical practices that having a good handle on your own cybersecurity is not enough. You must fully vet your vendors for their security, as well."Laleeha Cephas and her mother Trinell Cephas (right) holding the flyer made to inform people of her cousins deaths. The three died in a March 20 house fire in North Philadelphia. Read more

Meeka Johnson sat hunched over a notebook at the dining room table.

Even after I finished talking to her cousin about the family who had died in a boarding house fire, she barely lifted her head.

It was only when I walked over to her, to offer my condolences, that I realized what she had been doing.

There, on the paper, was a scratched-out word here, a reconsidered sentence there.

She wasn't just writing one obituary, she was trying to write three.

Three accounts of three lives in three different stages.

Her 64-year-old stepfather, Horace McOuellem; her 25-year-old sister, Alita Johnson; and her 3-year-old nephew, Haashim, a little boy with a smile so infectious that even through her grief, her cousin couldn't help but smile while remembering him.

Three lives cut short in the same horrific moment when flames gutted a North Philadelphia rowhouse on March 20, and then, in a painful postscript, the three were left behind. Firefighters, who couldn't reach all the sections of the third floor, were apparently told by another tenant that everyone was out. They cleared the scene and left, leaving Johnson and her family. Unnoticed and unaccounted for.

After the fire, relatives said they repeatedly called officials to report that the trio were still missing. They thought something was wrong.

Johnson's cousin Laleeha Cephas was certain of it.

The young women were family, but also best friends; where one was, the other was never far behind, even if just on the other end of the phone, company in the routines of life. A walk down the block, to the corner store, and on weekends to the after-hours club where Alita loved to dance.

"Me and her really understood each other," said Cephas, 25. "When she was around, no one could tell us nothing."

Now Johnson wasn't picking up her phone or responding to texts.

"I knew something wasn't right," Cephas said.

Only after the smoke cleared, 72 hours after the fire, did the tragic reality become clear:

Even though it had been Johnson on the phone with 911, cowered in a small third-floor bathroom with her father and 3-year-old son and pleading for help, they had been missed. And now, as the fire department was struggling to explain what went wrong, the owner of the unlicensed boarding house, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent of all things, was being blamed for contributing to the tragedy.

But beyond that, there were even farther-reaching realities.

Of a city where poverty outweighs options, especially when it comes to safe, affordable housing. Where shortcuts pass for shelter and where absentee building owners and landlords know that desperate tenants are often forced to choose between substandard accommodations or the streets. As if there's a choice.

When the fire broke out on the building's second floor, investigators say six to 10 people were living inside. Two got out. One person died jumping from a window to escape the flames.

The three others  McOuellem, Johnson, and her son  were suffocated by smoke, their bodies discovered three days later in an upstairs bathroom where she had been on the phone with dispatchers for nearly 10 minutes while firefighters rushed to the North Philadelphia scene.

Before all three are laid to rest on Friday, there are still many questions  among the most immediate, how the family will pay for three funerals even after multiple fundraising efforts including a GoFundMe campaign. (https://www.gofundme.com/funeral-for-alita-haashim-horace)

And other questions, too, that will likely take longer to sort out. For the owner of the building, Tyrone Duren, and his company Granite Hill Properties, which bought up distressed buildings in poor neighborhoods across Philadelphia while he was living large in a $700,000 house outside San Diego and traveling to exotic locales including the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands.

For a city that was warned by Duren's former business partner that something bad was going to happen and whose piecemeal enforcement didn't do much to deter his company from renting out its properties to low-income tenants  often without a license and clearly without fear of consequences.

The Department of Licenses and Inspections believes Granite Hill failed to install the required smoke detectors that might have saved lives in the blaze. It's now begun a full review of about 30 other buildings that Granite Hill owns in neighborhoods across North and Southwest Philadelphia. Too late for McOuellem, Johnson, and her boy.

The fire department needs to answer for what went so horribly wrong.

In Cephas' living room, I told her I wanted to know more about the family. I wanted people to understand what was lost, beyond the already horrifying headlines of three people overlooked and left behind, including a boy who loved Spider-man and a mother who loved him as fiercely as she loved the large, close-knit folks who circled around her grandmother's home in South Philly, and who often said her goal was to make sure her son never wanted for anything.

Johnson was small, Cephas said. Under 5 feet tall. But she was a force. For that, and for never holding her tongue, her cousin said, smiling at the memory, she nicknamed her "Savage."

So it's not all surprising that it was Johnson who was on the phone with the fire department, leading rescuers to the blaze even though she and her son and stepfather would never make it out themselves.

On her Facebook page, there were hints of that personality: big smiles, big take-no-prisoner proclamations of love and loyalty.

She had her share of friends on the social-media platform, but Johnson was a member of only one group: one for people looking to rent houses or apartments in Philadelphia, where people routinely post pleas for a place that's good and affordable.Now that dangerous drugs like heroin and fentanyl have begun to decimate the white community, images and language have changed. Read more

For years, America embraced the narrative that addiction was primarily a black and brown problem, especially in cities such as Philadelphia.

But just as our poorest and blackest neighborhoods have been overrun and rebranded by richer and whiter residents, drug abuse is in the midst of a makeover.

I call it the gentrification of addiction.

The numbers tell us why. In 2016, nearly 80 percent of Americans who died from heroin and similar drugs were white. With that truth emblazoned across America's landscape, the language has changed, the problem has been rebranded, and white people who were silent during the African American crack crisis have suddenly recognized addiction as a medical issue.

Tim Golden, a critical race theorist and professor of philosophy at Walla Walla University, has watched the change with mounting concern.

"As if African Americans in the mid- to late '80s who were addicted to crack cocaine  as if that was not a medical issue," he told me in a recent radio interview. "As if it was not a medical issue prior to crack cocaine in the '40s and '50s and '60s and '70s, when heroin was the drug of use in the black community. There was no talk of safe injection sites. There was no talk of trying to have medical personnel oversee the heroin users to make sure that everything was sanitary. There was no talk of that. African Americans were routinely called junkies. That was the lexicon. And now, as you said, because we've moved from an African American prototype of drug addict to a white person, now all of a sudden it's not a war, it's a crisis."

That change in language has come with addiction's change of venue. As heroin abuse has begun to overwhelm communities that are undeniably white and rural, the same conservatives who once championed imprisoning drug users now look for ways to blame white addiction on black communities.

We heard it in 2016 from Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who said, "There are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty  these types of guys  they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave."

That kind of racist rhetoric sought to absolve the white addict while simultaneously portraying black and brown people as drug-dealing caricatures. When that didn't sufficiently obscure the reality of white addiction, America sought to change the imagery.

No longer do we see the criminalized images of the black addict that we saw during the war on drugs. Now we see the image of the white sympathetic figure as the face of the opioid crisis.

Golden says the language matters.

"The rhetorical power of the word war implies an enemy, whereas the rhetorical force of the word crisis implies someone in need," Golden told me. "And we have to find a way to reconfigure our language around these issues so that when we talk about drugs, we talk about drugs in terms of crisis no matter who it is."

But the language change around white addiction is not confined to the blame shifting employed by conservatives. The language of white addiction is also evident in the euphemistic wording used by liberals.

Now that dangerous drugs like heroin and fentanyl have begun to decimate the white community, causing an estimated 1,200 overdose deaths last year in Philadelphia alone, we no longer have a war on drugs. We have an opioid crisis.

There are even those who tell us that we must wipe the word addict from our vocabularies, and refer to addiction using its gentrified name substance use disorder.

Heroin must no longer be referred to as dope. Instead, it's just another opioid.

Helping an addict use drugs is no longer called enabling. It's now lumped in under the helpful phrase "harm reduction."

And by the way, harm reduction is the city's rationale for seeking to open safe injection sites, which many former addicts like myself see as drug houses. At least that's what they were called when they were filled with people of color. Now that addiction has been gentrified, the city wants to support opening new drug houses. They want to staff them with doctors, and they want to call them Comprehensive User Engagement Sites.

But I've lived enough to learn that problems don't go away simply because we change their names. And addiction won't change just because the people who are addicted are white.

"We have to find a way to change the rhetorical method with which we discuss these issues," Golden said. "Because if we don't, we're going to continue to demonize African Americans and we're going to continue to help whites with the same problem. And that to me is just completely unacceptable."

It should be unacceptable to all of us.

Solomon Jones is the author of 10 books. Listen to him weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon on Praise 107.9 FM. sj@solomonjones.com: @solomonjones1

Meet Solomon on Wednesday, April 4, from 12:30 to 1 p.m. at City Hall's courtyard for "A Prayer For The City"



U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Jospeh Votel waits to speak to the Senate Committee on Armed Services on March 13. Read more

Who'd have thought President Trump would be so eager to imitate one of President Barack Obama's worst mistakes in the Middle East?

In 2011, Obama nearly snatched defeat out of the jaws of U.S. military victory over al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)  by pulling the last 10,000 U.S. troops out too soon. AQI resurfaced as ISIS, seizing massive chunks of Iraq and Syria, and threatening the West.

Now, Trump wants to pull an Obama in Syria.

"I want to get out. It's time," the president said on Tuesday, speaking of withdrawing the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria that are helping our Kurdish allies eliminate the last pockets of ISIS. Even as he spoke, Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. military operations in the Mideast, was telling a conference in Washington that the U.S. presence in Syria was still needed to consolidate gains.

A slight White House walk back of Trump's remarks on Wednesday barely hid his eagerness to exit Syria prematurely. Does he not realize the beneficiaries would be Iran and Russia  and ISIS, which is trying to regroup and could still threaten the West?

What was so astonishing about the president's Syria blurt was that it ignored all the advice from his military, security advisers, and Middle East allies. Apparently, none were alerted before he started signaling at a political rally last week that he would be "making a [Syria] decision very quickly."

Even as Trump dropped his Syria bombshell on Tuesday, Votel was detailing why a continued U.S. presence is essential to cement the defeat of the jihadis. "The hard part is in front of us," he said at a U.S. Institute for Peace conference. "That is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes.

"There is a military role in this, especially in the stabilization phase."

Again, we are talking 2,000 troops, not a massive presence, mainly special forces, mostly based in the expanse of northeast Syria that is home to the Syrian Kurds. Some U.S. forces are also based in areas home to Sunni Arabs who fought alongside the Kurds to retake the ISIS caliphate capital of Raqqa.

The U.S. presence is vital for stabilizing those areas sufficiently so that refugees can go home to towns destroyed by ISIS. This does not mean nation-building  the president's bete noire  but it does mean clearing mines and restoring electricity and water.

In Syria, this work is being done on a (relative) shoestring, with $100 million being spent so far. (Trump just froze a proposed $200 million more.) The money is an investment in restoring normal life so that Sunni jihadis can't rebuild roots among unhappy Sunnis. U.S. forces are also training local security forces to keep close watch in places such as Raqqa. Coalition allies are pitching in with manpower and cash.

A Syrian Kurdish representative in Europe told me by phone: "What we hear from the Americans on the ground is that they will be there for another two years to finish the job." Of course, that is contrary to what the president said.

The continued U.S. presence in Syria is key for reasons that go beyond stabilization. Syria has become a geopolitical battleground where U.S., Russian, Iranian, Saudi, Turkish, and Israeli interests are competing.

This rivalry can only be resolved through diplomacy. If the United States pulls out, it will lose all leverage at the bargaining table. That would leave the Russians and Iranians with all of the key cards.

The biggest beneficiary of a U.S. pullout  besides Islamist jihadis  would be Tehran, whose hold over Syria is deepening. A U.S. exit would make it easier for Iran to solidify a land bridge through Syria to Lebanon to send men and weapons to Hezbollah fighters. This would increase the growing likelihood of a war between Iran and Israel over Iran's role in Syria.

One must ask: Why on earth is Trump so eager for a move that would benefit Tehran?

That question is key, given that every senior Trump security adviser has opposed a hasty Syria exit. That includes Defense Secretary James Mattis, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster. The latter duo's replacements, Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, are hawks on Russia and Iran, and aren't likely to approve of handing Moscow and Tehran  not to mention ISIS  a free gift.

Yet, Trump has done just what he criticized Obama harshly for: signaled his Syria strategy in advance and conveyed his eagerness to quit before the job is done. He has alerted Iran and Russia  and ISIS  that they don't need to worry. He seems more attuned to his political base  he promised a Mideast pullout during the 2016 campaign  than to U.S. security concerns.

"The reason not to pull out [of Syria] is to avoid another Iraq 2011," said USIP's senior Syria adviser Mona Yacoubian at the conference. "That pullout set the stage for ISIS."

Trump damned Obama for that mistake in Iraq. But in Syria, he appears bent on doing the same thing.Independent scholar Dennis McCarthy (top left) and Lafayette College professor emerita June Schlueter are coauthors of a new book in which they argue that Shakespeare relied on a previously unknown manuscript for passages in at least 11 of his plays. Read more

It's huge news in the Shakespeare world.

It began as a detective story, a hunt for secret treasure, and a high-tech, computerized analysis of ancient texts  and now goes out to the court of public opinion for judgment.

June Schlueter, a professor emerita of English at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., and a coworker, independent scholar Dennis McCarthy, have discovered an unknown, unpublished 16th-century manuscript that seems to have served as a major source for many of William Shakespeare's plays ranging throughout his career, from Richard III to Macbeth. If borne out, their discovery would be the biggest Shakespeare source discovery in generations.

They've published that source, plus side-by-side tables of the original and Shakespeare's apparent use of it, in A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels by George North; A Newly Discovered Manuscript Source for Shakespeare's Plays (D.S. Brewer/ British Library, $120).

A Shakespeare "source" is a book, poem, essay, or tale that Shakespeare read and then reflected in scenes, characters, plots, echoes, and regurgitations throughout his plays. We don't have any of his books, but we can tell what he was reading. For Romeo and Juliet, for example, there's The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Iuliet by poet Arthur Brooke, which came out in 1562, about 35 years before Shakespeare's play. (I've held a copy and read the whole thing; trust me, the play is better.) We know a lot about Shakespeare's reading and borrowing; it's a scholarly industry. But seldom, maybe never, has there been a source this rich, covering so much of his career.

"The more people read the passages side by side, the more it will be accepted," McCarthy said by phone from his home in North Hampton, N.H. "I can't imagine it won't be. There are so many parallel passages."

George North, author of Brief Discourse, was a soldier, scholar, translator, and mysterious guy. In 1576, he wrote an essay, A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels, dedicated to a man who may have been a cousin: Roger, Lord North. At the time, George North was staying at Kirtling manor, the North family seat near Cambridge. His essay argues that rebels and rebellions are always bad, even if the leaders they're trying to depose are tyrants. Roger gave George five pounds while the latter was his guest, maybe as payment or a thank-you for the essay. George pops in and out of the historical record: He was ambassador from the court of Elizabeth I to Sweden for a time, and he published three books on politics.

Shakespeare must have known Brief Discourse pretty well. At least 11 of his plays show its influence, from the Henry VI trilogy at the start of his career (around 1590) to Coriolanus (1609). If all this holds up, this text may be one of the most influential on Shakespeare's work.

Here's what's exciting and crazy: The essay was never published. Until now, it's the only Shakespeare source that's never been in a book. It sat around, ink on paper, until 

"I was researching connections between the North family and Shakespeare," McCarthy said. "And I'd been looking for texts in the North library that might have been useful to him."

He came upon a 1927 auction catalog from a London rare books house, listing Brief Discourse. Some anonymous person had written a note: "It is extremely interesting to compare this earlier Elizabethan, George North's poems  with Shakespeare's treatment of the same subject in Richard II. And Henry VI, Part 2." Bingo. "I got so excited when I saw that," McCarthy said. "I had to email June immediately."

But where did it go? Someone must have bought it at some time, but there was no record. It could be anywhere. Needle, meet haystack.

"A frustrating year followed," Schlueter said, speaking from her home in Easton. "Dennis and I checked online catalogs for almost every college and university, hoping to find some reference to it, and we found nothing."

Schlueter contacted manuscript expert Anthony Edwards, and in two weeks he found it: in the British Library, which had bought it in 1933.

McCarthy and Schlueter know their Shakespeare, and as soon as they read North's essay, "the parallels and echoes leapt out at us," in McCarthy's words.

Now for the cool, computerized part. This is the era of big data in Shakespearean studies. Stylistic analysis is far more sophisticated than ever. In 2014, a collection of 10 plays appeared, titled Collaborative Plays by "William Shakespeare and others," tracing Shakespeare's uncredited hand in some of the best team-written works of the era.

In this case, McCarthy and Schlueter used WCopyfind, software usually used to detect plagiarism, to compare North's essay with Shakespeare's entire corpus. They found echo after echo: not only of individual words and phrases, but also rare words in close proximity, and used in the same context. (That's a big point; see below.)

McCarthy went further. He wanted to separate North/Shakespeare from the way folks generally wrote in their era, to single out their body of shared words from what was out there at the time. How? By using a database called Early English Books Online, or EBOO, which lets you search nearly all known publications from 1473 to 1700  more than 60,000 texts  more or less at once.

"It really is like being in the greatest library ever," McCarthy says. "It's like having God as your librarian." What they found made it seem very unlikely that it was just chance, or the way people generally wrote, and much more likely that Shakespeare really was influenced directly by North's essay.

"It used to take people with really good memories," Schlueter says, "simply recalling where they had read something before. This is, of course, thousands of times quicker and more powerful."

Big deal. Shakespeare used someone else's words. Didn't he do that a lot? What makes this case especially powerful?

Schlueter and McCarthy say that it's not just the words, but also word clusters (groups of the same words used together), used when talking about the same topic. Clusters and context. For example, North, discussing social disorder, lists different classes of dogs and compares them to different classes of people. At the top is the mighty mastiff; near the bottom is the lowly "trundle-tail" (a rarely used term). In Macbeth and King Lear, when characters are talking about social disorder (as North does) Shakespeare mentions, as North does, all close together, hounds, greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, and (in Lear) the "trundle-tail." Rarities so close together in the same context "yield you a likelihood of billions to one, better than your chances of winning two lotteries in a row," McCarthy says.

Schlueter modestly calls McCarthy "the real brains of this outfit. He's that rare thing, an independent scholar, and as such he brings a freshness that's really needed in scholarship."

McCarthy says, "I probably would never have gotten this published without June's help. When people see her name, it makes easier the kind of serious consideration an independent scholar never gets."

But  OK, how did Shakespeare ever see this unpublished manuscript? Looking at all these echoes, you have to think he had it at elbow for upward of 15 years at least. In some dude's library in a manor house 70 miles (quite a schlep in those days) from London? Did he visit the manor house? Did he or someone else copy out the essay? Or did a third party somehow share it with him?

"We can't know for sure," Schlueter says, "but we think we know the best explanation. That," she says with a laugh, "is a subject for a book to come."

June Schlueter and Dennis McCarthy talk about their discovery on the Folger Shakespeare Library's podcast Shakespeare Unlimited: https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/george-north-manuscriptBEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday urged the United States to engage in dialogue, consultation and win-win cooperation.

"Those who attempt to make China surrender through pressure or intimidation have never succeeded before, and will not succeed now," spokesperson Geng Shuang told a daily press briefing.

The U.S. administration on Tuesday proposed a list of products to be subject to additional tariffs, covering Chinese exports worth 50 billion U.S. dollars with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.Andrea B. Laportes gift to the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania will endow the position of associate curator. Read more

The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania has received a pair of donations totaling $4.5 million that will endow two key curatorial positions, the institute announced Wednesday.

Daniel and Brett Sundheim have given ICA $3 million  $2.5 million to endow the position of chief curator, $500,000 for a new fund focused on community engagement.

Also, Andrea B. Laporte has donated $1.5 million to endow ICA's associate curator position.

ICA will now have four positions endowed, including the museum's director and all three of its senior curatorial positions.

Amy Sadao, ICA director, called the donations "visionary" gifts that would secure long-term support for the institute's curators.

Sadao said that Laporte, ICA board chair, "has played an invaluable role in the continued growth of ICA and the university." The Sundheims, she said, "are true advocates for contemporary art."

Daniel Sundheim had been on ICA's board since 2012. Brett Sundheim recently joined the board in place of her husband. Their donation endows the chief curatorial position, currently occupied by Anthony Elms, who joined ICA in 2011.

A portion of the Sundheim donation is also dedicated to endowing a new marketing and outreach fund ensuring ICA's programs are made accessible to audiences on campus, in Philadelphia, and in the broader international art world. The fund will fulfill a long-range ICA goal to secure a dependable source of support for promoting its free year-round exhibitions.

Laporte has served as a board member for Penn Nursing since 2001, assuming the role of board chair in 2016. She has been a Penn trustee (now a trustee emerita) since 2010. She joined ICA's board in 2010 and immediately took on the role of board chair, where she remained in place for six years.

Laporte's recent gift of $1.5 million endows ICA's associate curator position, currently occupied by Kate Kraczon, who has been at ICA for more than 10 years.Joe Mahon and his wife, Kathleen (standing left), share a home with Joes daughter, Lynda Schmidt (standing right), and her daughters Erin (center) and Meghan Schmidt in Huntingdon Valley. The family shares the basement and some other common areas. Joe and Kathleen have an in-law suite on the second floor. Read more

Kathleen Mahon thought she'd live in her Huntingdon Valley home forever. Then came the soaring taxes, the realization that she no longer needed a 3,000-square foot home on two acres, and the opportunity to share a home with her stepdaughter and grandkids.

"My husband Joe's daughter, Lynda Schmidt, was divorcing and struggling to make ends meet while keeping three children in Catholic school and working two jobs," recalled Mahon, 54, president of J&K Mahon Builders in Huntingdon Valley. "Looking to the future, the upkeep on our home would become more difficult and most likely unaffordable."

A year and a half ago, when the Mahons' taxes hit $12,000, the timing was right.

So her company built a house in the Montgomery County town that suited Schmidt's family and included a 700-square-foot in-law suite for herself and Joe.

The two families share a garage entrance leading to a mudroom and first-floor office and a family room and storage area in the basement. The Mahons' private space on the second floor includes a living room, full kitchen, bedroom and full bath. Preparing for the future, they installed an elevator.

A record 60.6 million people, or 19 percent of the U.S. population, live with multiple generations under one roof, according to the most recent data analyzed by the Pew Research Center. For many families, sharing space saves money while allowing children to help care for aging parents and grandparents to help care for grandchildren.

The Philadelphia area has especially taken to the idea. According to the online real estate database Zillow, 1.2 percent of all the homes nationally listed for sale in 2017 included the term in-law, while in this region, the number was 2.7 percent, said Skylar Olsen, Zillow senior economist.

"That's more than twice as prevalent in the Philly metro area than in the U.S. as a whole," she said.

The approximately half-dozen units Mahon's company has built in the Northeast, Newton and Holland have been for people in their 50s and 60s. "We haven't seen much where it was an elderly parent yet but people planning for the future," she said.

Most in-law suites function as small apartments with a bedroom, bathroom, full kitchen or kitchenette, living space, and private entrance. They can be attached to a main house or sit on the same property in a refurbished garage or carriage house. On average, they range in size from a few hundred to 1,000 square feet, with costs from $5,000 for minor changes (moving some doors or walls) to $200,000 to build or refurbish a free-standing structure.

Four key considerations for planning an in-law suite are privacy, zoning regulations, accessibility, and flexibility, said Michele Thackrah, principal of Archer & Buchanan Architecture in West Chester.

"Creating a sense of privacy is always a priority," she said. "Ideally, you want to promote a sense of independence for all family members, both the in-laws and those that own the property."

Regulations vary widely by municipality; zoning and code restrictions dictate what is allowed. For example, some municipalities won't permit a second kitchen, and others may limit the amount of impervious surfaces on a property.

"Do that homework early in the process to figure out what's allowed," Thackrah said.

Space and budget are important considerations. Especially in city dwellings, is there room for a lift or elevator? Does the dwelling need to be wheelchair accessible? Can rooms such as a bathroom or kitchen be shared?

Before committing to intergenerational living, families should consider the changes the new lifestyle will bring.

"It took a little time to get used to downsizing, getting rid of a lot of my things," Mahon admitted. "Holidays were difficult for me at first because I was always the house that had Christmas and Thanksgiving, but now we share that."

It's also important to think long term about how the space could be used over time.

"Your in-laws presumably won't be there forever," Thackrah said, "so do you need that space to function as a place for the adult kids to come back to, or if the township allows it, can it be a rental property?"

In 2015, Jane Anderson and her husband, Christopher Jones, gutted and rehabbed the trinity behind their Queen Village home to include a 350-square-foot in-law suite for Anderson's parents, who visit from Minnesota. Because her parents come only a few times a year for a couple weeks each time, the Andersons also rent out the space as an Airbnb, hoping to recoup some of their $50,000 investment.

Alongside the first-floor garage is a private outside entryway and utility closet. The second floor features a bathroom with a stall shower, living room, washer/dryer and kitchen, and the bedroom occupies the full third floor. They added two exterior doors  one to the street and one for a potential second story balcony  tore out the original chimney, installed all new plumbing, electric, drywall, flooring and HVAC, and rebuilt and rerouted a staircase.

"It's turned out to be very popular, so my parents have to book their time quite a few months in advance," Anderson said, joking.

The biggest expenses when building an in-law suite are typically kitchens, baths, and new construction. Renovating existing space can save money.

"Finding inventive ways to share space can minimize the budget," Thackrah said. Perhaps an unused dining room can become an in-law suite next to a shared kitchen and a powder room can be expanded to add a shower.

When Jane and Michael Stolper first suggested that Jane's parents move from Massachusetts into an in-law suite in their Berwyn home, Harriet and Sandford Chodosh declined.

"We had lived there for 55 years," recalled Harriet Chodosh, now 88. "And I was concerned about damaging my relationship with Jane."

But realizing that they were getting older and had no family nearby, the couple reconsidered and moved in 2005. A garage separates the main house from the 1,600-square-foot suite, which has a living room, dining room, kitchen, his and hers bathrooms, study, laundry room, and its own front entrance.

"We have huge windows that make it sunny and bright and very cheerful," Chodosh said.

After her husband died in 2010, she was glad to be living with family, she said. "Fortunately, I'm in decent health and I can still be quite active, but I'm really glad this opportunity arose. It was a real blessing."Parents Susan and Reece with kids, from left to right: William, Harrison (4 months) (both on Susans lap), Henry, Reece Jr., Weston and Charlotte (both on Reeces lap). Read more

THE PARENTS: Susan Whitney, 42, and Reece Whitney, 47, of Wyndmoor

THE KIDS: Reece Jr., 8; Charlotte, 7; Henry, 6; William, 4; Weston, 2; Harrison, born November 4, 2017

STANDOUT MEMORIES FROM THEIR WEDDING: Abundant beer and rum, a day of snorkeling, and the plane ride home, when Susan turned around to see row after row of familiar faces.

They sat in the minivan at Einstein Medical Center Montgomery. Susan's contractions were five minutes apart, but she hesitated to go inside; what if nurses said it was too early and sent the pair home again?

"Let me paint two pictures for you," Reece recalls saying. "We go in, maybe  for once  have time to fill out insurance papers, go in the room, get comfortable, and the midwife has time to get here.

"The other scenario: We have the baby in the van. Could we please just go in the hospital?"

They did. And Harrison, Whitney offspring number six, was born two hours later.

When they'd talked about kids early on, it was either zero or a full house. Both come from large families  Reece is one of seven, Susan has three brothers, and her mother was the last born of 16  so the idea of one or two children didn't feel quite right.

There was a freewheeling stretch, between their 2004 wedding in Jamaica and the birth of Reece Jr., when the two relished travel, spontaneity, and the bounty of two full-time incomes.

"I said, 'If you make the decision not to have kids, I'm OK with that. But if you do want kids, I'd like to have six,' " Reece recalls. Susan, who remembered her mother working long hours to raise her and her brothers single-handedly, responded, "I'm OK with four."

Fall 2008 was a sorrowful time; Reece's father, who had embraced Susan as another daughter, died of melanoma just before Thanksgiving. Shortly afterward, Susan stood in the shower one morning, tears mixing with the sluice of water, and held a positive pregnancy test over the curtain so Reece could see.

"I remember someone saying, 'For every life that's taken, another life will come in.' In my head, I was thinking: We just lost his dad. We're going to have a baby boy."

They did, after a pregnancy that stretched 12 days past her due date. It took an induction, an epidural, and finally a vacuum suction procedure to coax Reece Jr. into the world.

"People talk about the [birth] process being so beautiful," Reece says. "And the nurses are saying, 'It's perfectly normal.' But it's like a horror movie. Blood everywhere. All you want is for your wife and the child to be safe."

The others followed rapidly: Charlotte in November 2010, Henry just over a year later, and William 18 months after that. Each birth had its own story: Charlotte popped out ("I tell her, 'You're our little torpedo,' " Susan says), Henry's position called for Susan to give birth while kneeling on the hospital bed, and William was nearly born in the car.

Susan's water had broken on the way to the hospital and she could tell the baby's head was ready to crown. "I remember the paramedics saying, 'Mrs. Whitney, we're not letting you have this baby in the parking lot.' I remember keeping my knees together for as long as I could."

Those years, with three toddlers and an infant, passed in a fog. Susan recalls that one of Reece Jr.'s first words was squirrel, that Charlotte could speak her full name clearly at 13 months, that Henry never stopped smiling, and that William barely talked until age 2. "Other than those moments, it was really a blur."

By 2014, they were ready for a fifth. What they weren't ready for was a miscarriage at 10 weeks. "I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that  it wasn't meant to be," Susan says. "It took a while to let go of the thought that there was something I did to cause it."

That loss haunted her next pregnancy. "Once I got to 13 weeks with Wes, I remember thinking, 'OK, we made it this far.' Then I wanted to make it to 24 weeks  then, let's shoot for 32."

Wes was purple when he emerged  the umbilical was coiled around his neck  and then, in November, came Harrison, born (just barely) in the hospital after Reece urged Susan to get out of the van.

Now, each child has a distinct profile: Reece Jr. is a responsible, diligent student, Charlotte a gregarious people-person. William (aptly named, his parents joke) possesses a fierce will.

Their children have changed them. The older three listened to classical music at their day care center, a place Susan and Reece could afford when Susan was working full-time (she quit just before Henry was born) and savored storytime with their parents every night.

"The fifth one gets read to, but it's by the 4-year-old, who's making up the words," Susan says. Reece recalls his terror at bringing their firstborn home, how he walked Reece Jr. up the stairs until he was 2.

"Now, Wes is dancing on the kitchen table while his siblings clap," he laughs. "We're definitely different parents."

Though it's hard to summon moments from the last eight years, Susan and Reece vividly recall the first time they met. Susan, working three jobs to save money for law school, sold Reece a dozen chocolate noses  yes, nose-shaped chocolates on long sticks, a gag gift for Valentine's Day.

His then-girlfriend was not amused. A few weeks later, Reece returned to Mueller Chocolate Co. in Reading Terminal Market and asked for Susan's number. They went out for burgers and ended the night shooting pool in Manayunk. Four years later, Susan walked down the aisle at a resort in Montego Bay to the tune of Van Morrison's "Crazy Love."

The song still holds, especially at those moments when Wes brings a salamander to the back door, or another kid has found a garter snake, or all but the baby are trying to mimic Reece Jr.'s hip-hop moves in the living room.

"Then the music is over; they'll look at me and Reece and say, 'Who do you like the best?' We say, 'We love you all.' "Patrice O'Riordan and Grant Stringham

February 23, 2018, in Philadelphia

Hello there

Patrice noticed that Grant, a friend of a friend, had missed several sessions of the constitutional law class they had together in 2012. The next time she saw him on the Drexel University campus, she offered him her notes.

Grant was grateful to receive both the notes and her kindness. After growing up in Texas and Oregon, then living in Salt Lake City, he came to Philadelphia for law school. It was a rough adjustment. Grant had missed class because his car had been broken into  for the second time  and his laptop was stolen. The mechanic proclaimed his car fixed with the dash still damaged and bloody from the thief's hands.

"It was a breath of fresh air to have someone be so helpful," he said of Patrice's offer.

They became friends, then good friends, then friends who sometimes did things that friends generally don't do.

"I lived in Doylestown, and he would come up for the weekend, and we would study together," said Patrice, who grew up in that Bucks County town. "I would also stay at his place sometimes, and eventually I caught feelings for him." She was almost sure Grant felt the same.

One night in 2013, Grant teasingly accused Patrice of flirting with another friend. "I wasn't flirting with him, because I'm I love with you," she told Grant.

Grant was honest: "I don't feel the same way. I love you as a friend. This isn't going to affect us, I hope?"

Patrice was crushed. But soon everything returned to their normal, and Grant still treated her in the exceptionally caring, more-than-a-friend way he always had.

A month later, Grant persuaded Patrice, who prefers to view nature from a restaurant patio, to hike the Pinnacle Trail near Hamburg, Pa. They skipped breakfast but took a bottle of water and half-eaten roll of SweeTarts from her car. The views were stunning, but on the way back down, they took the wrong trail.

"It was really hot, and at this point, we're starving and we're very thirsty," Patrice said. Grant found a natural spring and they drank.

The compass app on Patrice's phone confirmed Grant's hunch that the trail map's N was not accurately pointing north. They changed course and he doled out a few SweeTarts for energy. "If you stay calm, we're going to be OK," he told her, adding that he had been kidding when he said there were still mountain lions in Pennsylvania. They had hiked about 14 miles in total when Grant saw the glint of moonlight on a pond he knew was near the car.

The next day, they were lying on Patrice's couch together when Grant told Patrice he was in love with her. It was a combination of seeing her in a new light as she remained strong, calm, and collected through their ordeal, and realizing what he had been feeling all along, said Grant, who is now 30 and an attorney at the Chartwell Law Offices.

Patrice, who is now 33 and works in legal sales for Veritext Legal Solutions, said, "I knew he'd come around."

The engagement

They graduated in 2014 and Patrice soon moved to Graduate Hospital. In summer 2016, she told Grant they needed to figure out if what they had was for a lifetime. Soon after, Grant moved in with Patrice and Biden, the couple's bichon-shih tzu mix, to test their long-term compatibility.

"The understanding was if, in a year, we didn't think we were getting married, we would break up," he said. It went more smoothly than either even hoped. "Within two months of us living together with Biden as a little family, I started looking into engagement rings," Grant said.

In April 2017, Grant lured Patrice back to Pinnacle with promises of wine and fancy cheese. It had been raining, and the flooded trail made Patrice seriously question her decision. But Biden was having a great time, they now knew the trail route, and Grant soon removed chardonnay and champagne from his backpack.

He asked her to sit on the blanket he spread and knelt beside her. Patrice thought Grant was preparing to picnic and didn't comprehend what was happening even as he told her he loved her, and that she was his best friend.

He took out the ring to clue her in. "I promise you my friendship as long as you want it, my love as long as you'll have it, my hand as long as you'll hold it, and my heart as long as you'll keep it," he said.

The family and friends waiting at Patrice's dad's place in Center City thought they were there for a surprise birthday party. "They don't know what just happened," Grant whispered to her. She flashed her new ring, and joy erupted.

It was so them

The couple wed at Union Trust with a self-uniting license. A close friend led their ceremony.

They exchanged their vows, and then Biden the Ring Dog came down the aisle. "I had hidden some salami in my pocket to make sure he would sit at the front," Grant said. Biden sat for his treat, and Grant removed the rings from the dog's bow tie.

Each guest held a candle, passing the light one to the other until it reached the couple. "It was a way to include everyone there in our ceremony, and to symbolize our friends' and families' love for us and support for our marriage," Patrice said.

Her dad welcomed everyone to the reception and addressed head-on an issue that was on everyone's mind: Yes, Grant was a Cowboys fan, but perhaps there was still hope. In came the Eagles' pep band, wearing jerseys and playing "Fly, Eagles Fly!"

Grant did not accept an invitation to stomp on a mat bearing the Cowboys logo. He was a loyal and faithful man, he told the crowd, and that extended to his team, too.

Awestruck

Patrice had been nervous all morning. "I scrapped my vows and rewrote them," she said. "I was so anxious and crying, just a wreck." And that was before her limo broke down. She called an Uber to get her to the front of the couple's Logan Square apartment building so they could see each other before the ceremony. "As soon as I knew I was on my way to see Grant, it felt like everything else just dropped away," she said. And then there he was. "He makes me feel so calm, and I was also so excited to see him, finally. It was just surreal."

During their vows, Grant reiterated the promises he'd made to Patrice when he proposed. He also vowed to encourage and inspire her, as she does for him, and to honor her sister Meghan, who died 11 years ago, as his own sister. Grant thought it would be easy to read these words to the woman for whom he wrote them, but it was one of the most powerful and emotional experiences of his life. "I was choking up," he said. "It was just so hard to get through them."

The budget crunch

A bargain: The dress Patrice really wanted was way out of budget  until the store held a trunk sale. She got the sample at half-price.

The splurge: The couple made room in their budget for the FM Band. "They were the biggest splurge, but also the biggest bargain, because they brought the house down," Grant said. "The dance floor was so packed that people were dancing on the carpet."

Honeymooning

A 12-day spring trip to Paris, the south of France, and Geneva.

Behind the scenes

Officiant: The couple used a self-uniting license. Close friend Patrick Gardner performed the ceremony.

Venue: Union Trust, Philadelphia.

Music: The FM Band, Philadelphia.

Photography: Hope Helmuth Photography, New York, Philadelphia, and Miami.

Videography: Quinn Starr Photo Video, Venice, Calif.

Flowers: Wegmans, Cherry Hill.

Dress: Marisa, purchased at Bijou Bridal, Ardmore.

Transportation: Uber, after the limo broke down on the way to pick up the bridal party.Former state Attorney General Kathleen Kane leaves in handcuffs after her sentencing in 2016. Read more

In former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane's epic battle with former prosecutor Frank Fina  a war that ultimately led to her criminal conviction  Kane suggested that Fina and his closest aides were racially biased, had botched a corruption investigation, and even circulated child pornography.

Fina and others who were subjected to Kane's verbal attacks sued. In a new ruling in the case, a federal judge picked and chose among the blows landed by Kane, saying she has immunity from being sued for some remarks but must stand trial for others.

U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III did so after previously tossing out the entire lawsuit brought by Fina and four other former state officials. An appeals court said Bartle got the law wrong and ordered him to review the case.

Peter Scuderi, a lawyer for former state prosecutor E. Marc Costanzo, another plaintiff in the case, said Wednesday that he was buoyed by the ruling.

"I'm dying to depose Kathleen Kane, and I'm getting closer," Scuderi said. "She is not going to be able to avoid me."

In his opinion, released late last week, Bartle ruled once more that Kane cannot be sued for claiming that a Fina-led investigation of corruption among state legislators had been marred by racial targeting. Fina has vigorously denied this charge, which also was rejected by a county judge presiding over criminal cases stemming from the investigation.

Even if Kane had defamed Fina, the judge ruled, her allegation of racism was legally permitted free speech so long as his job was not threatened. By the time of Kane's attack, Fina was working for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office and was beyond Kane's reach.

The judge acknowledged that two other men suing Kane  former state prosecutor Richard Sheetz and former investigative agent Randy Feathers  lost their government positions after Kane publicly linked them to pornographic emails exchanged among officials in her office.

In the fallout from Kane's attack, Sheetz was forced out as a prosecutor in Lancaster County and Feathers had to step down from the state parole board. But Bartle ruled that Kane could not be sued over their exits because she was not their employer.

The suit also noted that at one point Kane on CNN suggested that the improper email exchanges had included child pornography  in an interview that CNN illustrated with photos of Fina and others. Kane's staff almost immediately retracted her statement. The judge tossed out this part of the suit, saying that no further harm came to the men as the result of the broadcast.

On the other hand, the judge ruled that a jury should hear Fina's contention that Kane's proxies made overt threats on several occasions.

The judge noted that Fina alleges that one top aide to Kane threatened at one point that "if Fina did not stop criticizing, Kane would release the private emails."

Bartle also noted that Fina and Costanzo say they were threatened by other Kane staffers while they were in an elevator on their way to testify to a grand jury investigating the illegal leak of grand jury material.

"The threats crossed the line from protected First Amendment speech by Kane to speech threatening harm," Bartle said.

Kane and Fina could not be reached for comment. Kane's lawyers did not return calls. The Attorney General's Office had no immediate comment.

The grand jury investigation prompted Kane's arrest on charges of illegally providing investigative material to a newspaper in an attempt embarrass Fina, with whom she had been feuding. A jury found Kane guilty of leaking the material to suggest that Fina had not aggressively pursued a corruption case involving a Philadelphia civil rights leader who had been receiving state grants.

In 2016, Kane quit office midterm after she was convicted in the leak. She was sentenced to serve at least 10 months in jail but has been free pending the result of her appeal.

As for the pornography, an investigation later determined that more than 350 staffers in the Attorney General's Office had exchanged such emails and that none of the officials singled out by Kane had been prolific senders of the material. Noonan and Costanzo did not send a single email, the inquiry found.Bill Cosby, center, arrives Wednesday for the third day of jury selection in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown. Read more

The panel that will be charged with deciding Bill Cosby's fate was finalized Wednesday, as lawyers completed a three-day search for 12 Montgomery County residents who hadn't already made up their minds about the case.

In the end, all but one member of the new panel said that they were at least somewhat familiar with the sexual assault allegations at the center of the 80-year-old entertainer's first trial in Norristown last year. Some even said they had heard that a previous set of 12 jurors had been unable to reach a unanimous verdict in June, a deadlock that prompted a mistrial.

Cosby's new defense team  led by attorney Tom Mesereau  separately accused prosecutors of attempting to deliberately exclude both older white men and African Americans from the panel during the selection process. Seven men and five women, including one African American man and one African American woman, were ultimately chosen from the more than 230 Montgomery County residents summoned this week.

The lawyers will return to the courthouse Thursday to continue the hunt for six alternates, in case one of the jurors is removed.

All 18 will be sequestered starting Sunday evening for the duration of what is expected to be a monthlong trial, scheduled to begin Monday.

O'Neill has sealed identifying information about jurors due to concern about the overwhelming publicity that has followed the case from the start. The dozen chosen so far range in age from people who appear to be in their 20s to those who appear to be in their 50s.

While most said they had heard about the allegations against Cosby as well as the #MeToo movement that has brought down powerful men in the entertainment industry with allegations of sexual assault or harassment, all said they could set that aside. Three of the jurors said they or a family member had been the victim of a sexual assault, but vowed that it would not affect their ability to be fair and impartial in Cosby's trial.

The first trial also had two African American jurors. But race became an issue for the retrial Wednesday when defense attorney Kathleen Bliss objected after Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele used one of seven chances each side has to strike a potential juror without having to explain.

Bliss also accused one member of the prosecution team  whom she did not name  of making "discriminatory and repulsive" comments, which she did not detail or describe in open court.

Steele said the accusation was baseless and lodged solely for the benefit of the dozens of reporters in the courtroom. O'Neill ordered both lawyers to his chambers to discuss the matter.

After they emerged, Cosby's lawyers said they weren't backing down but had agreed to set the issue aside so that jury selection could proceed.

Bliss, in earlier arguments, had suggested prosecutors would have had no reason other than race to cut the potential juror whose removal started the argument.

"She passed every single stage as a fair and impartial juror," Bliss said. "There is thus no other explanation other than for race."

Steele, however, noted that prosecutors already had endorsed the only other two African Americans to come before them, both of whom were chosen as jurors.

"We have gladly taken both of these seemingly responsible people, and they are on our jury," he said. "To somehow infer that this isn't being done for a race-neutral reason is, quite frankly, ludicrous."

The defense had lodged a similar complaint a day earlier  alleging that prosecutors were systematically attempting to exclude older white men  but O'Neill quickly shot that down.

Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, a former friend and Temple University employee, in 2004.

Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Monday.One day, Philadelphia marijuana advocate and comedian N.A. Poe predicted after he appeared in court Wednesday, he won't be charged with a crime for throwing a bash for a few hundred people where marijuana burns all night and is sold.

But the selling was illegal last year in Pennsylvania  and still is today. And because Poe facilitated such sales when he held such a party at a Frankford warehouse, and because pot plants were found in his South Philadelphia home last year, a judge Wednesday ordered him to serve 100 hours of community service and four years' probation and fined him $2,500.

Poe, 38, whose real name is Richard Tamaccio Jr., had pleaded guilty Jan. 10 to two felony charges  possession with intent to deliver marijuana, and conspiracy. As part of the plea, other charges were dropped, including a felony offense of causing a catastrophe.

Assistant District Attorney Ryan Slaven said authorities had seized nine pounds of marijuana plants or derivatives at Poe's home that April 22 night. The charges to which Poe had pleaded guilty were tied to the seizures from his home and to his organizing of the Frankford party, the prosecutor said. Poe was at the party.

Common Pleas Court Judge Scott DiClaudio said in court that although Poe has a medical marijuana card, it remains illegal to sell marijuana in Pennsylvania, except by certain dispensaries and only in some forms.

Defense attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr., who in court called Poe "a true crusader" in the promotion of marijuana, told reporters that the charge of causing a catastrophe had been dropped because nobody was endangered at the warehouse. But Slaven said after the hearing that he believed the warehouse party risked causing a catastrophe, and that he dropped the charge because it carried the "same gravity offense" for sentencing purposes as the intent-to-sell charge to which Poe had pleaded guilty.

Poe told reporters that about 500 to 600 people had attended the party, on the 4500 block of Worth Street.

In addition to Poe, police arrested 21 other people, including his girlfriend, Rachael Friedman, and his father, Richard Tamaccio Sr.

Tamaccio Sr., 66, was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance and was ordered to do 24 hours of community service.

Friedman's case is scheduled before DiClaudio on May 2. Her attorney, Fortunato "Fred" Perri Jr., said Wednesday that he hopes to "resolve this matter as favorably as possible."

As for the remaining defendants, some were convicted and ordered to do community service, charges against some were withdrawn, and other cases are pending, Slaven said.Philadelphia residents protest an increase in the price of Kosher meats during a demonstration in 1917. Read more

Before New York became the de facto capital of the American Jewish community, there was Philadelphia.

Jewish merchants traded in the region before the American Revolution, indeed even before the arrival of William Penn. City residents founded the young nation's first Jewish publication association, benevolent society, Sunday school, and rabbinical college.

So, 10 years ago, when filmmaker Sam Katz was beginning a documentary series about Philadelphia from the 1600s into the 1900s, he decided to chronicle the history of faith groups in the first capital of a nation founded as a haven of religious freedom.

"Philadelphia is a place that is very prideful about its history. But the truth of the matter is, it doesn't know its history. It confuses its history with American history: the Liberty Bell, Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin," said Katz, 68, of Mount Airy. "That's important to Philadelphia, but that's not Philadelphia history."

Only a few months into filming, Journey: The Jewish Philadelphia Story is still a work in progress, and a sweeping one. Katz, founder of the Center City-based History Making Productions, is examining the region's evolution over centuries into the seventh largest Jewish population center in America, and one of most influential. Today, about 215,000 of the nation's 5.7 million Jews live in the area.

The Philadelphia story  stretching from the formation of a settled Jewish community here in the mid-1700s through its role in the Civil Rights movement and suburban flight, the resettlement of emigres from the former Soviet Union, and the flourishing Jewish hub in Lower Merion with its implications for the future  has often taken a back seat among historians more enamored of the New York saga of Ellis Island and the immigrant beacon on the Lower East Side.

Since the start of the 20th century, "American Jewish life is in the shadow of New York," said historian Rabbi Lance Sussman of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, a coproducer of the film. "But if you look at the Revolutionary period, half of the Jewish community lived in Philadelphia. They fought in the Revolutionary Army, knew the founders of the country, and exchanged ideas that were critically important to how the U.S. was framed as a society."

The documentary is being produced at a challenging time for the local Jewish community, which is grappling with a decline in synagogue affiliation, divergent views on Israel, and the emergence of younger generations less tied than their parents to religious institutions. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia is preparing to launch a population study that will examine these trends, updating the association's last survey in 2009.

"All of these forces make the survival and future of Philadelphia and the American Jewish community complicated," Katz said.

Even so, it remains "resilient and strong" here, said Rabbi Joshua Waxman, president of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia. He described the documentary as an opportunity to "look back at history and show how these roots are still very present."

Katz, a former political campaign manager who ran for mayor in 1999 and 2003, also has produced nonfiction films about Cecil B. Moore and the civil rights leader's mission to desegregate Girard College, and the role of Philadelphians in the development of motion pictures. Before he began planning a film on Philadelphia's Jewish community, his company did a documentary on the history of the city's Catholics. Urban Trinity: The Story of Catholic Philadelphia debuted in 2015 at the World Meeting of Families, an international conference for Roman Catholics held at the Convention Center.

History Making Productions uses films, interviews, reenactments, archival materials, graphics and animation to tell its stories, which are televised on 6ABC, shown at film festivals, and presented in schools as part of a curriculum that Katz's team develops for each documentary.

So far, Katz has raised about $90,000 of the $1 million he needs to complete the documentary, which he hopes to premiere in the fall of 2019.

For Journey: The Jewish Philadelphia Story, he has assembled a team of researchers and scholars. Sussman, for instance, will lend his expertise as author of the 1995 book Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism.

Leeser, who emigrated from Germany in the mid-1820s, was a leader of Congregation Mikveh Israel, the first Jewish congregation in Philadelphia (founded in the 1740s) and second oldest in the nation. He started the tradition of rabbis delivering regular sermons in English during services, produced the first Jewish translation of the Bible in America that used Jewish sources, and founded the first rabbinical school and Jewish publication society.

He supported the public service efforts of Rebecca Gratz, one of Mikveh Israel's most prominent members, who founded the Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstances to help families after the Revolutionary War. She also was instrumental in the founding of the Philadelphia Orphan Asylum, the first Hebrew Sunday school, and the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society.

"She never took the presidency of any of the organizations she founded, even though everyone knew she was the organizer," said Dianne Ashton, a professor at Rowan University and author of Rebecca Gratz: Women and Judaism in Antebellum America. By taking a lesser official role, "she created leadership roles for other women, and that's what she was concerned about, getting other women involved in work caring about the Jewish community."

Gratz and Lesser certainly aren't unsung, but the documentary will be peopled with others who are.

"I feel like we're creating a lasting legacy that doesn't require brick and mortar," Katz said. "There really is a value in knowing about the history of your people  whether they're African American, Catholic or Jewish. There's a story here  a really good story."BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth 50 billion U.S. dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs, including soybeans, automobiles, and chemical products.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has decided to impose additional tariffs of 25 percent on 106 items of products under 14 categories, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement on its website.

The move was taken after the U.S. administration announced a proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth 50 billion dollars with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

The date of implementation will depend on when the U.S. government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products, the MOF said.

The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement that the U.S. move was "an evident violation of rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO)."

The U.S. move "severely infringed on the legitimate rights and interests that China enjoys in accordance with the WTO rules, and threatened China's economic interests and security," the MOC said.

New tariffs China decided to impose on U.S. products were a reaction to "the emergency caused by the U.S. violation of international obligations," it added.

Affected products will include a wide variety of agricultural products such as soybeans, corn, beef, orange juice and tobacco. A range of chemicals and automobiles, as well as aircraft with unladen weight between 15 tonnes and 45 tonnes, will also be subject to the tariffs.

The economies of China and the United States are highly complementary, and "cooperation is the only right choice for the two countries," the MOF said.

Both countries should stay rational, enhance communication and manage differences in a constructive manner, the MOF added.Lydia Gonzalez Sciarrino is facing calls to resign from the Mazzoni Center. Critics say the centers board of directors failed to be transparent when it hired her. Read more

The Mazzoni Center, Philadelphia's largest LGBT health-care provider, vowed it would be transparent and cast a "wide net" for diverse candidates to replace its scandal-ridden CEO, who was forced out last year as allegations of racial hostility and a medical director's sexual misconduct rocked the center.

Yet the new CEO, Lydia Gonzalez Sciarrino, and the Mazzoni board of directors that hired her are facing calls to resign due, in part, to the lack of transparency surrounding the hiring.

The board hired Sciarrino last month after a committee interviewed and recommended her. Of the five people on that committee, just one was a Mazzoni staffer; the four others were board members.

A second committee composed of Mazzoni staffers and LGBT community leaders was supposed to meet final candidates and offer input. But that didn't happen. The center has said that's because some candidates requested confidentiality, making it impossible to meet staff.

Yet basic details  such as why they requested confidentiality, and how many candidates total were interviewed  remain unclear. Mazzoni refuses to say. The center also won't say how many people of color were considered for the position, citing a nondisclosure agreement it signed with a search firm that helped find candidates.

That makes it difficult to know whether Mazzoni followed through on its promise to interview a diverse pool of candidates. Voices that could have influenced the final decision were also left out, critics say.

"There could have been more community and staff involvement in a decision of this magnitude, especially considering Mazzoni's significant recent challenges," said Amber Hikes, Philadelphia's LGBT affairs director, who participated in the committee that was originally supposed to meet candidates. Instead, it just helped craft interview questions and desirable skills for the next CEO.

Some say the hiring of Sciarrino, a straight Latina from Florida, shows Mazzoni hasn't learned from its past mistakes.

"Mazzoni wasn't transparent at all from the start," said Abdul-Aliy Muhammad, a former HIV prevention counselor at the center and cofounder of the activist group Black and Brown Workers Cooperative.

The group's efforts to call out racism at the center, where black employees described being singled out for disciplinary action and facing retaliation for filing complaints, preceded former CEO Nurit Shein's ouster. The cooperative was also successful in demanding the firing of Philadelphia's former LGBT affairs director, Helen L. "Nellie" Fitzpatrick, who was criticized for not doing enough to address racism at bars in the city's Gayborhood.

Now the cooperative is demanding that Sciarrino resign.

"She's not a part of our community. That's the simplest way I can say it," Muhammad said, explaining that Sciarrino isn't from Philadelphia and doesn't identify as LGBT. "There's no reason why someone who's not a part of our community should be leading our organization."

Mazzoni has said it chose Sciarrino, the CEO of the Whole Family Health Center in South Florida, because of her leadership skills, commitment to the LGBT community, and background in finance.

A Mazzoni spokesman declined to make anyone available to answer questions about the hiring process, saying only, "At this point we are focusing our attention on Mazzoni Center's mission and ensuring we are best positioned to continue to deliver on the organization's commitment to providing quality comprehensive health and wellness services."

The center has yet to publicly respond to the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative's demands, which include a public meeting between the board and community. The cooperative has also demanded the resignation of any board members who were present when allegations of sexual misconduct by former medical director Robert Winn, who resigned last year, became known. (A former board member told Philadelphia Weekly that Winn was involved in sexual relationships with patients.)

Muhammad said the cooperative had heard nothing as of Monday, the deadline it gave for Mazzoni to respond to the demands. Muhammad's group will now call for the dissolution of the board and also press city and state government officials to hold Mazzoni accountable.Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said on ABCs This Week that he worried Trump wouldnt be able to stop himself from making false statements. Read more

Lost in the debate over whether President Trump should talk to Robert Mueller is this: The arguments against his doing it often betray a remarkably dim view of Trump's intellect.

To his credit, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was rather blunt Sunday in making the case for Trump's refusing the interview. He said flatly on ABC's This Week that he worried Trump wouldn't be able to stop himself from committing perjury (comments start at 8:47 in video below):

"He should never walk into that room with Robert Mueller. Because in the end, one of the things that makes the president who he is, is that he's a salesman. And salesmen, at times, tend to be hyperbolic. Right, and this president certainly has tended to do that.

"That's OK when you're on the campaign hustle. That's OK when you're working on Congress. It is not OK when you're sitting talking to federal agents because, you know, 18 USC  1001 is false statements to federal agents. That's a crime. That can send you to jail."

This kind of argument has become rather common when it comes to Trump, but let's step back for a second and focus on what Christie is really saying: He is saying that not only is Trump prone to hyperbole because he's a salesman, but that Trump can't be trusted to tell the truth even when not doing so constitutes a felony. Christie is basically suggesting that a 71-year-old man who happens to be the president of the United States can't differentiate well enough between truth and fiction (or what Trump himself has called "truthful hyperbole").

Others who have argued that Trump shouldn't talk to Mueller have danced around this point a little more artfully. Christie has said in the past that he didn't think the evidence warranted an interview with a sitting president. White House lawyer Ty Cobb and others have alluded to the prospect of a "perjury trap"  the possibility that the interview could basically be an elaborate setup to get Trump to make a false statement.

And some aides have anonymously acknowledged that Trump just isn't good with details or the truth. Washington Post contributor Daniel Drezner has been keeping a running tally of aides talking about Trump as if he's a toddler.

Daniel W. Drezner tweeted, "I'll believe that Trump is growing into the presidency when his staff stops treating him like a toddler."

But Christie on Sunday basically said what everyone is saying behind closed doors. In the debate over whether Trump is a habitual fabulist or just a strategic one, Christie seems to be coming down on the side of the former. He seems to confirm that Trump doesn't really know what the truth is.

We still don't know whether Trump will grant the interview. But his personal attorney, John Dowd, reportedly left Trump in part because of frustration with the president's insistence on testifying and apparent concern that Trump might make a false statement. Other lawyers, it seems, may have similar concerns about walking into a situation in which Trump may soon explode the case by talking to Mueller.

At its core, that requires a pretty amazing lack of confidence in the man who has been entrusted to lead our country. And the more Trump supporters like Christie feel compelled to come out and say stuff like this publicly, the more scared you will know they are.

Aaron Blake is senior political reporter for the Fix. A Minnesota native, he has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Hill newspaper. @aaronblakeRobert Mueller on February 16, 2011, as he testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. Read more

WASHINGTON  A London-based lawyer was ordered to serve 30 days in prison after a federal judge Tuesday handed down the first sentence in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Alex van der Zwaan, 33, a son-in-law of a prominent Russian-based banker, pleaded guilty Feb. 20 to lying to the FBI about his contacts in September and October of 2016 with a business associate of onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and with Manafort's deputy, former Trump aide Rick Gates. Prosecutors said van der Zwaan also destroyed emails the special counsel had requested.

According to prosecutors, van der Zwaan, who is a Dutch citizen, said he had been told by Gates that the Manafort associate had been an officer with the Russian military intelligence service. Van der Zwaan turned over secret recordings to Mueller's investigators that he had made of his conversations with Gates, the associate, and a senior partner at his law firm.

In court Tuesday, van der Zwaan said, "What I did was wrong. I apologize to the court for my conduct. I apologize to my wife and to my family for the pain I have caused."

While van der Zwaan is not a central figure in the investigation, filings in his case illustrated Mueller's continuing interest in Manafort and Gates's actions through Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Van der Zwaan was an attorney in the London office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from 2007 to 2017, when the firm worked with Manafort during a decade when he served as a political consultant in Ukraine.

Manafort, 68, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, and tax and bank fraud charges related to his lobbying work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. He has asked a judge to toss out charges, saying prosecutors are pursuing conduct that predate his work for Trump.

Gates, 45, who was deputy campaign manager for Trump and worked with Manafort in Ukraine, pleaded guilty Feb. 23 to conspiracy and lying to the FBI in a cooperation deal with Mueller's probe.

Van der Zwaan admitted lying and withholding documents about information prosecutors said was "pertinent" to their investigation: that Gates had been in direct contact during Trump's presidential run with the Manafort associate, identified in court documents as "Person A," an individual who "has ties to a Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016."

Prosecutors said when van der Zwaan was interviewed by the FBI in November, he told investigators Gates had informed him that Person A was a former officer of the Russian military intelligence service known as the GRU.

Prosecutors made the allegation without naming the Manafort associate but described his role with Manafort in detail. The description matches Konstantin Kilimnik, the Russian manager of Manafort's lobbying office in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

Kilimnik ran Manafort's office in Kiev during the 10 years he did consulting work there, The Post reported in 2017.

Kilimnik has previously denied intelligence ties, telling The Washington Post in a statement in June that he has "no relation to the Russian or any other intelligence service."

A spokesman for Manafort, who is under a court gag order, has previously declined to comment about the van der Zwaan filings.

Van der Zwaan faced a recommended sentence ranging from zero to six months in prison and asked for no prison time for one count of lying to investigators, a felony. He made his false statements to Mueller's investigation on Nov. 3, and Skadden said it terminated him that month.

He also is married to the daughter of billionaire German Khan who owns the Alfa Group, Russia's largest financial and industrial investment group.

Van der Zwaan attorney William Schwartz said that the defendant should not be punished because of who his family is, and deserved credit for the loss of his career, suffering of his wife, who is expecting the couple's first child in August in a difficult pregnancy, and for turning over recorded conversations and other evidence of his guilt.

"It is unusual conduct to make a false statement, and then immediately provide proof of a false statement," Schwartz said, saying for if it were another defendant those tapes "could have found their way to the bottom of the Thames" River in London.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson acknowledged van der Zwaan's character and willingness to turn over evidence of his crimes, but said given his means that allowing the defendant to "pay a fine at the door and walk away would not send a message of deterrence. It would do the opposite," Jackson said.

"It is a message that needs to be sent, particularly because you are an attorney," she said.

Jackson said she did not know if van der Zwaan was motivated to join Manafort and Gates for excitement, the money, or was engaged in a deeper "coverup," but that in lying "he put his own interests ahead of the interests of justice" in an investigation of national and international importance into whether the U.S. democratic process was corrupted.

Manafort has acknowledged staying in frequent contact with Kilimnik during the time he worked for Trump's campaign. He has said he met with Kilimnik in person in May 2016 and again in New York City in August 2016, about two weeks before Manafort resigned as Trump's campaign chairman.

A Manafort spokesman expressed confidence in June that investigators would ultimately conclude Manafort's interactions with Kilimnik were "perfectly permissible and not in furtherance of some conspiracy."

During his August 2016 meeting with Kilimnik, Manafort has said he and his longtime Kiev office manager discussed, among other topics, the ongoing campaign, including the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails. Stolen DNC emails had been released by WikiLeaks the previous month, and the hack was widely suspected to be the work of Russia.

During Kilimnik's time working for Manafort in Kiev, he was a liaison for Manafort to the Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, with whom Manafort had done business. Emails previously described to The Post show Manafort asked Kilimnik during the campaign to offer Deripaska "private briefings" about Trump's effort. A Deripaska spokeswoman has said the billionaire, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was not offered and did not receive briefings.

Van der Zwaan, who joined Skadden in 2007, when he was about 24, played a role at the firm in complex international litigation and government investigations that belied his junior status, a fact his lawyers attributed to his international upbringing and his command of French, Russian and English as well as Dutch.

Van der Zwaan's archived biography at the law firm stated that he represented Millhouse Capital and Evraz Holding, the private London investment firm and Russian steel and mining conglomerate owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, and defended Ukrainian banking, energy and mining oligarch Gennadiy Bogolyubov against separate claims by a fellow Ukrainian billionaire, Viktor Pinchuk, and a Russian oil company, TatNeft.

Van der Zwaan last June married Eva Khan, the daughter of Khan. The couple is expecting their first child in August after a "difficult" pregnancy, a factor his defense argued in requestion leniency from the court.

Prosecutors alleged that van der Zwaan falsely told federal investigators that he last communicated with Gates in mid-August 2016 through an innocuous text message.

Prosecutors said van der Zwaan was lying, and that he spoke to Gates and Person A in September 2016 using encrypted communications  conversations that he recorded, including a separate conversation he had with Gregory Craig, a Skadden senior partner overseeing work involving Manafort.

Van der Zwaan also deleted emails rather than turning them over to authorities, including one from Person A directing him to communicate using an encrypted application, and others showing he explored leaving the law firm to work directly for Gates and Manafort in about 2012 and 2013.

The subject of the recorded phone call, prosecutors said, was a 2012 report prepared by van der Zwaan's law firm about the jailing of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Yanukovych had imprisoned Tymoshenko, a political rival, after a gas supply controversy in 2009 involving Russia.

The Skadden report has been controversial in Ukraine in part because its findings seemed to contradict the international community's conclusion that Tymoshenko had been unjustly jailed.

In addition, the Ukrainian government claimed to have paid only $12,000 for the report, an amount that put it just below the limit that would have required competitive bidding for the project under Ukrainian law.

Prosecutors have alleged that Manafort and Gates used an offshore account to secretly pay $4 million for the report.New Jersey State Trooper Joseph Drew reached inside a young mans underwear to conduct a body search after he said he smelled marijuana during a motor vehicle stop on March 8, 2017 in Southampton, N.J. The search, conducted along a highway, was captured by dashcam and body cameras of the trooper and his back-up officer. Read more

A New Jersey state trooper donned latex gloves and reached inside a young man's underwear as the two stood on the shoulder of a heavily traveled Burlington County highway after a motor vehicle stop last year, according to court documents and police dashboard and body cam video obtained through a recent open public records request.

In the videos, Trooper Joseph Drew is first shown stopping a motorist in rural Southampton for tailgating. When he approached the car, the trooper said he smelled marijuana and ordered the driver to hand it over. When the 23-year-old driver said he did not have any drugs, the trooper ordered him and his passenger out of the car, placed the two men in handcuffs, and searched the vehicle. The trooper also checked the driver's pockets and socks, and found no drugs. According to the video footage, he then says, "If you think this is the worst I'm going to do, you have another thing coming, my friend."

A few minutes later, he is seen putting his gloved hands down the man's pants. In the disturbing footage, the driver is seen and heard screaming that he is being raped as the trooper reaches into his underwear and touches his crotch and buttocks. At one point, the man tells the trooper, "You better hope this is legal."

During the search, which lasted nearly four minutes, trucks and cars passed by.

The man, whose name is being withheld by the Inquirer and Daily News because the newspapers do not identify victims of alleged sexual assaults without their permission, later said in an affidavit that the trooper "groped my genitalia and moved my private parts around," and touched the crack of his buttocks. "It was the most humiliating experience I've ever been through, also due to the fact that people were driving by very slowly," he said.

The videos were obtained by John Paff, who runs the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. He frequently requests court documents and police videos and posts them on his website, NJ Open Government Notes. The videos include footage from the dashboard and body cameras of the trooper and his backup, Trooper Andrew Whitmore.

Lt. Theodore Schafer, a state police spokesman, said the agency has launched an internal affairs investigation into the traffic stop, which occurred on March 8, 2017. The troopers are still on active patrol pending the results of the probe, Schafer said. He said the troopers have been with the state police about three years.

Schafer said the incident came to the attention of the state police in late January, when the motorist filed a tort claim  or notice of intent to sue  contending that his civil rights were violated during the roadside search.

Arthur Lang, a Lakewood attorney, filed the tort claim in Superior Court in Burlington County, asking a judge to waive governmental immunity and allow the motorist to sue the state police, the two troopers on the scene, and a desk sergeant who he said approved the roadside search against his client. Lang is seeking court permission to pursue the case even though the 90-day filing deadline has passed.

The tort claim says the state police delayed providing the dash-cam videos and other materials surrounding the motor vehicle stop. It also says the trooper "violated the attorney general's strip search and body cavity search requirements and procedures," which were put in place in 1993 and then updated in 1995.

Lang said he may later file a claim in federal court. He declined further comment.

The state Attorney General's Office did not respond immediately to requests for information on the state's policy on strip searches and body searches. The state police spokesman said his agency needed more time to get the information.

The motorist could not be reached. While in handcuffs, he told the trooper that he was on his way back to work that afternoon as a drywall installer and asked the trooper to hurry with the search of the vehicle so he could get there on time.

When the trooper said he planned to take him to the station for a body search, the man asked if he was being charged and whether such a search was legal. He said that if he had no choice about the search, he wanted it to be conducted in front of the dashboard camera.

The tailgating charge was dismissed in Southampton Municipal Court at the trooper's request, according to the tort claim. In the videos, the trooper hands the motorist the tailgating ticket along with a paper listing his name and badge number, and invites him to report the incident "if you honestly believe your rights were violated or I was unprofessional." Then, as he walks away, he says, "Hope you get a lot of hits on YouTube."Tara Lamonaca, a pharmaceutical representative, admitted in federal court in Camden on Wednesday to "using phony claims for medically unnecessary prescriptions to defraud New Jersey state health benefits programs," according to a statement released jointly by U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito and New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal.

Like the 18 others before her, Lamonaca pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court to an information charging her with conspiracy to commit health-care fraud between January 2015 and April 2016. She faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

The out-of-state pharmacy that filled the prescriptions and passed along a percentage of the reimbursements to organizers at the top of the crime syndicate has still not been publicly identified. The state health benefits program and the school employees benefits program paid out a total of $50 million for the prescriptions, most of which were obtained without a visit to a medical professional. Doctors signed the prescriptions that were already filled out, prosecutors said.

Sentencings of those who have pleaded guilty will begin in July. Shore towns that complied with federal subpoenas have been bracing for indictments since last summer.The 2018 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) is scheduled to be held in Boao on the southern island province of Hainan from April 8 to 11, which experts believe will further promote Chinas opening up to the world and Asias future integration.

2018 marks the 40th anniversary of Chinas Opening Up. Chinas further opening up to the world will definitely be the most important highlight of this years BFA, Yang Xiyu, vice president of BFA Research Institute told Peoples Daily.

According to Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech during the opening ceremony of the BFA, in which he will expound on Chinas achievements and experience in reform and opening up, as well as their significance for and influence on the world. Xi will also announce new measures to expand reform and opening up.

I think the announcement of new measures means that China will deepen and strengthen its opening up to the world even more in the future. For the past 40 years, Chinas opening up was more like a test, but now the new measures bring us an upgraded opening up policy, which will draw the attention of international community, Yang added.

In addition to Chinas opening up policy, this years forum, with the theme An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity, will also focus on Asias integration and Chinas stance on building a community with a shared future for Asia and humanity.

According to Peoples Daily, the BFA will launch three reports, which will focus on the integration of Asian economies, the emerging economy and Asias competitiveness respectively in an effort to promote Asian countries joint development.

Yang noted that the Asian economy is now facing challenges brought on by globalization. Along with these challenges, it is evident that the economic development of Asian countries requires further innovation. The BFA will provide a great chance to tackle such issues.

China has been promoting regional integration and economic globalization. A prosperous Asia will provide the whole world with even more positive vibes and momentums, said Wang Jun, Chief economist with Zhong Yuan Bank.ATLANTIC CITY  Embattled after little more than three months in office, Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam said Tuesday that a judge's ruling, dismissing a citizens' complaint alleging he stole a $10,000 campaign check not meant for him, clears him of any wrongdoing, and urged a return to focusing on the positive narrative of a city on the rebound.

"Justice is served and justice is well deserved," Gilliam said at a news conference in the mayor's conference room in City Hall. "Atlantic City has so much that it should be honoring as opposed to the same old monotony pertaining to Atlantic City and the black cloud we continue to have."

He said a small group of disloyal Democrats were able to "place so much pressure on the system" with allegations of theft of campaign funds that it "almost outshines the fact that Atlantic City is poised for rebirth."

"For three months, that's all we could hear," he said.

The mayor handed out copies of a March 27 ruling by Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury finding no probable cause to support the complaint filed by John Devlin, a member of the Atlantic City Democratic Committee. Gilliam said that every check deposited in his account was logged properly and that he has "openly and publicly stated it was an oversight."

In the ruling, the judge said there did not appear to be "even a scintilla of evidence" that Gilliam or his campaign chair, Rich Winstead, meant any wrongdoing when Gilliam endorsed and deposited the $10,000 check from the Atlantic County Democratic Committee that was made out to the City Democratic Committee. Gilliam said he returned the money to the county Democratic Committee.

The issue of the $10,000 check has dogged Gilliam's nascent administration, which has also been limited by the presence of the state's Department of Community Affairs and its hired lawyers, who continue to oversee operations in the resort town under a state takeover act, despite some expectations that the state would transition out of its supervisory role under Gov. Murphy.

Gilliam, a former city councilman, narrowly defeated Republican Mayor Don Guardian in November.

Devlin said Tuesday that he was still waiting to see a copy of the judge's decision and that further civil action was being considered.

Even as the city prepares to welcome two new casinos this summer, the Hard Rock International remake of the Trump Taj Mahal, and a Hyatt rebranding of the Revel into the Ocean Casino Resort, as well as a new city campus of Stockton University, the political atmosphere in City Hall has appeared to slide into old patterns of infighting and allegations of corruption.

Councilman Frank Tibbett, a running mate of Gilliam and longtime ally, says he no longer supports Gilliam. Tibbett last week said he had been interviewed by county and federal investigators about checks that were made out to his campaign that also ended up in a TD Bank account of Gilliam's campaign.

"I was interviewed upon request as a victim, not as a target," Tibbett said. "By the FBI as well as the [Atlantic County] Prosecutor's Office.

Tibbett said he did not know the amount of money contained in the checks he says he was told were improperly deposited. Donna Weaver, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor's Office, referred to DeLury's dismissal when asked about any investigation into the mayor and campaign checks. "A complaint was filed but was dismissed by the presiding judge for lack of probable cause," she said by email.

Former allies of Gilliam, including Craig Callaway, a Democratic operative who ran an extensive mail-in ballot operation that helped Gilliam get elected, have publicly distanced themselves from Gilliam since he took office. "When money started getting involved, Frank changed big time," said Tibbett.

Gilliam attributed the defection of previous supporters to "a lack of loyalty, lack of love for the city, and lack of vision" on their part.

"There is a new Atlantic City that is evolving right before our eyes," Gilliam said.Former Philadelphia Sheriff John Green leaves U.S. District Court in Philadelphia after he beat all charges Tuesday April 3, 2018. Read more

Former Philadelphia Sheriff John Green beat all five charges in his federal corruption trial Tuesday, as a jury also rejected many of the charges against the businessman who prosecutors had said showered Green with bribes and kickbacks.

After a little more than two days of deliberation, the 12 jurors acquitted Green of three of the charges and were hung on the other two, apparently accepting the defense argument that prosecutors were wrongly trying to criminalize a friendship.

Glum prosecutors declined to comment afterward. They could retry Green, 70, who was sheriff for two decades, on the two counts on which no verdict was reached. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Diviny said it was too early for a decision on that.

The jury did find the businessman, James Davis, guilty on a fraud charge, concluding that he plotted to file a false campaign-finance report that hid his financial help to Green in 2007. It also found him guilty of conspiracy for doing that. But it found him not guilty of two other counts of wire fraud, and was hung on a third count.

It found him guilty of five income-tax charges, including that he failed to file tax returns for three years and tried in a fourth year to write off the cost of his 42-foot pleasure boat as a business expense.

"I'm relieved," Green, the longest-serving sheriff in Philadelphia history, said in a voice so low he could barely be heard. "In a word, I'm very relieved."

Peter Scuderi, Green's defense lawyer, had told jurors in his closing argument that the government's case was far too circumstantial and lacked hard evidence tying Green's official actions to the many benefits bestowed upon him by Davis. The defense portrayed Davis, 67, as a tireless entrepreneur who worked closely with Green to revamp a poorly funded and ineptly staffed Sheriff's Office.

After the verdict, Scuderi speculated that the federal case was fatally wounded by a failure to show jurors that city services suffered as a result of a corrupt bargain between the sheriff and the businessman. "Jurors really like to see a loss," he said. "People want to see citizens were being deprived."

Federal prosecutors had portrayed Green as a corrupt politician who sold his office to his "money man," steering lucrative secret contracts to Davis in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions, massive "loans" he never had to pay back, and even a bargain-priced house.

Scuderi scoffed at the house allegation after the verdict. "He didn't get a house on a hilltop," the lawyer said. "He got a dump."

Defense lawyers described Green, a former Philadelphia police officer, as a reformer who tried to reinvent his office to rescue homeowners facing foreclosure, and painted Davis as a critical helper.

The sheriff's job is one of five citywide elected positions, along with the register of wills, city controller, district attorney, and mayor. Its duties boil down to escorting prisoners to court and overseeing sheriff sales for mortgage or tax debts. Critics have called for the office to be abolished and its functions picked up by the courts, in the same way that the position of clerk of quarter sessions was ended in 2010.

In his closing argument, Scuderi told the jurors that the central weakness of the prosecution's case was the absence of evidence of an explicit quid pro quo in which Green agreed to sell his office. Prosecutors granted immunity from prosecution to Green's deputy and then taped her in talks with the sheriff. By then, Green had been alerted to the federal probe by raids and subpoenas. He said nothing incriminating on the tapes, played in court by the defense.

Lewis Small, one of Davis' lawyers, hit the same theme. "They have no direct evidence of a bribe," Small said. "Everything here is circumstantial, and they draw the wrong inferences."

Diviny and his fellow prosecutors, Sarah Grieb and Jennifer Clarke, urged the jurors to use common sense to connect Green's actions to the benefits bestowed upon him  almost always without public disclosure. In his last decade in office alone, Green gave Davis' firms $35 million in contracts, usually without terms spelled out in writing, effectively privatizing his office until his midterm resignation in 2010.

Although U.S. Supreme Court rulings have made it markedly tougher to prosecute public officials in recent years, court precedent establishing proof of a "stream of benefits" can be enough for conviction, even if investigators can't tie a particular gift to a particular act of a corrupt official. Diviny told the jury Wednesday that Green had received no mere stream, but "a torrent of benefits."

Green, soft-spoken and professorial, first made a citywide reputation as one of the early leaders of the Guardian Civic League, the organization for African American police on the Philadelphia force. Davis, before creating his public relations firm, was a journalist with the Philadelphia Tribune, the nation's oldest continuously published African American newspaper.

During the document-filled five-week trial, prosecutors detailed case after case in which Davis had provided financial help to Green  who was paid a yearly salary of $118,000  both personally and when he ran as a Democrat in numerous citywide campaigns. That generosity included:

Paying for $145,000 in campaign ads for Green, despite a city law that limited donors to a $2,500 contribution per race. Most of this spending was never disclosed on Green's campaign-finance reports.

Pumping $65,000 into the campaign fund, mostly to provide "street money" to pay campaign workers on Election Day. This far exceeded donation limits and went mostly undisclosed.

Renovating a home for Green in Mount Airy and selling it to him at a loss of $39,000.

Hiring Green's wife as a job recruiter and paying her $89,000 over six years.

Providing Green with a $258,000 no-interest loan to close on a retirement home near Orlando. Although prosecutors say Green has left behind a trail of unpaid loans, he repaid this loan after three months. He did so after receiving a $386,000 payment from the city's DROP retirement program.

Diviny said the money often was washed in and out of bank accounts and misleadingly labeled. "It's the strongest evidence that the defendants knew what they were doing was wrong  that's why you conceal things," the prosecutor said.

Small argued that the government had overreached in finding a sinister motivation in Davis' help for Green. Small noted that prosecutors even had raised questions about a $10,000 loan that Davis gave Green in the fall of 2011  months after Green had quit midterm amid a wave of bad press and hostile audits.

That loan, Small said, "is just where a friend helps a friend."Many years ago, my brother was senselessly ripped from this world. I was furious at the man who took his life, and I wanted him to suffer the same fate my brother had. I wanted him to be put to death and was relieved when he received the death penalty at trial.

But over time, my perspective has changed. I now believe that the death penalty is morally wrong and that we must support sentencing that allows those who perpetrate harm to learn and change.

The media often talk about those who are sentenced to die in prison and the families of victims as though they are distinct and opposing groups. But the reality is that many families have lost loved ones both to gun violence and to death by incarceration.

A few years after my brother was killed, my son was arrested. His co-defendant killed someone during a burglary of a drug house  a burglary that went terribly wrong when the people who owned the house came home. My son is incarcerated under the felony murder rule. He didn't kill anyone, but he is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for committing a crime alongside someone who took another's life.

Though I had already begun to question my stance on the death penalty before my son was convicted, now that I have a loved one in prison, I fully realize that people can and do change  and that we need to leave room for that possibility at the time of sentencing.

Today, I fight for a second chance not only for my son but also for the people who killed my brother.

If the courts had honored my wishes initially, the person who murdered my brother would be dead. But I'm glad he isn't. Today, I'd like to have a dialogue with the person who took my brother's life. I want justice that recognizes the possibility of transformation and healing; not just for those who have committed harm, but for those of us who have been harmed, who have survived violence, or lost our loved ones to violence.

I believe that society should set a limit on the kind of punishment it can dish out. Once upon a time, we tortured people to punish them, but then we decided that was wrong. Today, if someone said at trial, "I'd like you to torture the person who killed my brother," we would say: "We are sorry for your loss, and you are right to be furious, but we cannot do that."

The death penalty is an extremely costly practice that takes money from the things that truly make us safe, like public schools and anti-violence programs. In Pennsylvania, capital punishment remains indefinitely on hold, while government officials await a report, now years in the making, analyzing capital punishment's history, effectiveness, and cost in our state. I hope that Pennsylvania, like 19 other states in America, will make the death penalty illegal  and soon.

The death penalty is morally wrong.

Just as we should not torture people, we should not kill them, and we should not lock them away forever. We should give people the tools and the opportunity to change for the better, and have them try to make up for the harm they caused. We call it the Department of Corrections rather than the Department of Revenge for a reason.

I extend my deepest sympathies to the families who have lost loved ones to violence. I know your pain because I have felt it.

But the death penalty is not the solution.

Lorraine Haw is a member of the Coalition for a Just DA and the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration.As the director of the nonprofit that raises funds to support Philadelphia's public schools, it's hard not to be in awe of the San Francisco company Ripple and its $29 million donation last week to the educational crowdsourcing site DonorsChoose.org. The result? More than 35,000 teacher requests were instantly fully funded.

And more than 16,500 public schools across the country (about one in six public schools nationwide) felt the generosity in one fell swoop.

Ripple is not a first-time donor to the 18-year-old crowdfunding platform. It's been a loyal contributor and knows a lot about the mission and operation; its previous gift was $9 million. But now that Ripple is skyrocketing as the second largest company in the hot virtual currency space, the time was right to give back to what executives and staff believe is the right cause  public education. Ripple's spokesperson said in a recent New York Times interview that the company was "surrounded by people who have benefited from having great educational experiences and [they] very much recognize that's not the case across the U.S."

So what does this have to do with Philly? (Well, besides the fact that Ripple's donation brought more than $236,000 to Philadelphia public school classrooms, funding 364 projects and supporting 276 teachers.)

Our city now has a similar crowdfunding site that allows individuals and businesses to give directly to our public schools. The Fund for the Philadelphia School District's Philly FUNDamentals follows the popularity of the universal online fund-raising concepts: individual and business donors want to give to something specific and know they are making a fast impact.

The custom-designed platform is based on market research that told us Philadelphians (including alumni across the nation and around the world) and businesses want to give to improve our city's public schools, but they aren't sure where their money will go. They want to give to one specific school and contribute to something special for its students  like more books, new computers, art supplies, class trips, or gym equipment. And then they want to know when that goal has been reached, so they know they were part of providing schools what they really need the most.

And that's what Philly FUNDamentals empowers donors to do. Nearly all 225 of our Philadelphia public school principals have identified a project that will help their students achieve and improve their quality of life while at school. Each school has its own fund-raising page on the site, and donors can either search for the school of their choice or navigate a map that plots out each elementary, middle, and high school. Donations, collected directly on the site, go toward the school's project, and donors can see the progress in real time. Once a fund-raising goal is fulfilled, the school can choose another.

Across the School District, the combined total of our schools' fund-raising goals is $14 million. It's daunting, but the public has already responded in kind. Since launching Philly FUNDamentals in November, we have collected $88,100 for our schools. Ninety-six of the 225 schools have at least one donation, and 13 of our schools have already met their first fund-raising goal. Three of those schools have even met two fund-raising goals.

We're proud of those who have given in the first months since the launch  198 individuals and seven companies, including Development Workshop, Lincoln Investment, Reanimator Coffee, Beneficial, Gotham, Federal Donuts, and Modell's  but we know we can do much better. If more individuals and businesses knew, we think they'd give through PhillyFUNDamentals. So, spread the word. Or better yet: get online today, find a school, and fund a future.

Do we think Ripple will come along and fulfill all of our 220 principals' request for the $14 million of needs listed now?

Not likely, but we do believe there is a Ripple right here in the Philadelphia region that can do the same  fulfill every Philadelphia public school's request. If not in one fell swoop, then maybe a few significant gifts from our Philadelphia businesses will create a ripple.

Donna Frisby-Greenwood is president and CEO of the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia.Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon

The first watch made entirely out of carbon and the thinnest ever minute repeater actually sounds pretty good, and thats something of a surprise. Where minute repeaters are concerned, thinness is not usually an advantage. Decent volume needs decent volume, and the worlds flattest striking movement, made by Bulgari, has so far not been too convincing in its intensity. But a solution has been found, and the answer is carbon. The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon is the first watch to be made entirely out of carbon, including the dial and bracelet. In the hand, the watch is astonishingly light: 47 grams. The unusual surface of the forged carbon has a unique sheen, a bit like sharkskin. Aesthetically speaking, its definitely mission accomplished: this watch doesnt look like anything else youve ever seen, not even an Octo, because of how the material dominates the design. On the wrist it feels very slim, which is to be expected given that it is 6.8 mm deep. And its surprisingly easy on the ear. This little slip of a watch produces a remarkably full sound. Its counterintuitive, but carbon makes an excellent resonating chamber, and its not just because of its lightness. The first impressions (and, where a striking watch is concerned, first impressions should always be confirmed in a quieter setting) gave no hint of distortion, crackle or coldness. The sound is full and sustained. Its a success across the board, including the price tag, which they could have pitched 50% higher, given that there is no direct competition.

Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon  Bulgari

Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref. 5738R

Its extravagant but understated; unusual but perfectly proportioned. Perhaps Im biased, but the slimmest Patek is simply a wonderful object. Thats just my opinion, and I agree that it might not be widely shared. But for those who can discern Patek Philippes fundamental intention in the Ellipse dOr ref. 5738R, it represents a truly astonishing achievement. The intention is about much more than celebrating an anniversary, because this fifty-year-old model is a survivor from another age  the end of the 60s, and a harbinger of the 70s. Despite its apparent understatement, the shape is quietly extravagant. And yet, the Ellipses proportions make it an incredibly elegant watch. The largest version with the ultra-slim 5.9 mm case (Pateks thinnest, by the way), in rose gold with a black sunburst gold dial, is the perfect accessory for black tie. Or a charcoal suit cut of the finest cloth. Its a special occasion watch par excellence. For everyday wear there are many watches that are less formal, less demanding and easier to wear than this near oval case, with its austere baton markers. But on the wrist, it just works. It feels right.

Golden Ellipse Ref. 5738R  Patek Philippe

Seiko Presage

Seiko has brought out more new releases in 2018 than I can ever remember. Ill pass on the quartz models and just focus on the automatics. Ill also pass on the Grand Seikos, as they have become a reliable and familiar source of horological satisfaction. The surprise comes from the Presage line. This intermediate range, launched in 2017, offers a high level of watchmaking excellence at a very low price. While no sparks flew with the 2017 releases, in 2018 we have fireworks aplenty. Two models in particular struck me. The first is a three-hander with an extraordinarily intense blue flinque dial in grand feu enamel. The white Roman numerals are perhaps overly classical, but the dial, made in Nagoya using the Shippo technique, is definitely a cut above  and the watch comes in at just 1,450. For comparison, some brands charge ten times that for an upgrade from a standard to an enamel dial. Another model, the reference SJE073 (Seiko watches dont have names, just these indigestible reference numbers), comes with baton indices, a superbly finished and slimmed-down steel case and a thinner calibre, and it looks far more expensive than its 2,200 price tag. At first glance, the dial looks matt. You might think it is in fact satin-brushed, but on closer inspection its texture is more like that of paper, with tiny fibres laid in random directions. The effect is similar to that seen on some of the very best Grand Seiko dials, inspired by freshly fallen snow.

Presage Automatic with flinque enamel dial and with paper-effect dial  Seiko

Longines Record

Longines introduced the Record range in 2017. This classic, somewhat neo-vintage line was created to offer superior watchmaking credentials compared with other ranges, including systematic chronometer certification and a movement with a silicon balance spring. At 2,100 all in, the price is an attraction in its own right. The version with blue dial and Arabic numerals is a very good-looking watch, although one might quibble with the date being a little too close to the centre. But then theres the rose gold version. At 5,800 for a chronometer in rose gold  half the price of many comparable watches  its a steal.Sgt. Steve Thorpe and his son Aaron, far left, and the other Soaring Eagle recipients. ED FRANKS From left, PIE Principal Steve Hook, Aaron Thorpe and Sgt. Steve Thorpe. ED FRANKS

Pine Island resident Sgt. Steve Thorpe was awarded the Pine Island Elementary Soaring Eagle Award by his son Aaron last week. Sgt. Thorpe is a military police officer in the U.S. Army and will be deployed later this month to Saudi Arabia.

This is our third quarter principals party and as you all know at the heart of our school is kindness, caring, respect, honor, and putting others before self, Principal Steve Hook said. At the heart of the greatness of our country is the fact that there are people willing to put others before themselves.

We are honored and blessed today to have Sgt. Steve Thorp, Aarons dad, who is being deployed to Saudi Arabia and we wanted to give you a special Pine Island sendoff. We respect and honor your service and this young man (Aaron Thorp) is going to present Sgt. Thorpe with a special Soaring Eagle Award.

This is such a special honor and a privilege that our small community supports what were doing, Sgt. Thorpe said. I was here for the Veterans Day ceremony and I dont know anywhere else where anything like this is done. It means a lot to me.The third of four Town Hall meetings was held Thursday night at the Pine Island Community Church. The purpose of the meetings is to gather residents feedback on the proposed charter for the proposed Village of Matlacha/Pine Island. A completed charter and a feasibility study are required to begin the process voters will ultimately vote on.

Joe Mazurkiewicz, the president for BJM Consulting Inc., chaired the meeting of about 25 residents. BJM is a firm that specializes in local government activities. Mazurkiewicz served as mayor of Cape Coral from 1983 to 1993 before forming BJM Consulting.

We need two things to move forward with the incorporation process, Mazurkiewicz said. Youll need a feasibility study and a city charter. Tonight were working on the third session of the charter that will involve the comp plan (Greater Pine Island Comprehensive Land Use Plan) and the budget.

The decision of the group was to include the mention of the Greater Pine Island Comprehensive Land Use Plan in the city charter to include all the safeguards already in the plan related to land use, also that it would take a majority of registered voters to make any changes to the Greater Pine Island Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

There was a question from the audience about whether Matlacha or Pine Island could incorporate by themselves. Mazurkiewicz stated that either could incorporate by themselves with the proper waivers.

I was asked by the president of Greater Pine Island Civic Association to give them a proposal as to the cost to separate Pine Island, Mazurkiewicz said.

The criteria for incorporation are: the area has to be compact and contiguous (both Pine Island and Matlacha meet those criteria), you have to have 5,000 people (Pine Island meets that Matlacha does not), need a density of 1.5 people per acre (in all likelihood Matlacha meets that, Pine Island does not), must be 2 miles distance from nearest community (Matlacha would need a waiver from Cape Coral and Pine Island would not).

Waivers would be necessary to overcome the criteria that are not met, Mazurkiewicz said.

Decisions made at the three Town Hall meetings are:

Issues confirmed: The form of government will be council/manager.

Issues to be included in proposed charter: Primary funding for capital improvements and maintenance will be by special assessments from improved properties based on a prorate share or taxable value.

Language to be included in preamble: Items of importance are land use, clean water and maintaining present lifestyle (quality of life). All submitted preamble language will be submitted to drafters for consideration.

FEMA: Concerns over the impact of incorporation on flood insurance will need to be studied further.

Council makeup: Number of council members 7-member hybrid with 5 members elected from single-member districts and 2 members elected at large.

Ombudsmen: Each district must establish a community association which, in addition to whatever local business they may choose to pursue, will have standing under this charter for the following purpose: In the event that district is not represented by an elected council member, appoint a resident of that district, meeting the eligibility requirements in Sec. 2, to serve as ombudsman. The concept was discussed and decided to not get further consideration.

Separate and joint referendum: Neither the people of Matlacha nor the people of Pine Island wish to impose a new government on the other without their consent.

Therefore, this charter shall take effect, if and only if, approved by a majority of those qualified electors residing in Matlacha AND a majority of those qualified electors residing in Pine Island. Failure of this charter to attain a majority of such qualified electors in either island will mean that this charter shall not take effect.

The concept was rejected

Land use in charter: Comp plan will be included in charter with reference to existing Pine Island Plan with dates and will only be able to be changed by referendum of the registered voters

Ordinance adoption process: It was proposed that all ordinances would be adopted only after a period of time to allow for citizens to petition for a referendum vote to confirm support. This will be discussed further at the next meeting. The concept was discussed and rejected.

Council meetings: City council will meet at least once a month for a minimum total of 12 meetings per year.

City manager: Will reside in city once selected and remain during term. All staff will be hired by the city council and/or manager, none will be elected.

Debt: Any long-term debt (over 5 years) will only be allowed with approval from the voters by referendum.

Budget: The budget will be adopted in compliance with Florida law.

City staff: The original draft feasibility study included 5 employees, presently only 3. This should be reconsidered in next draft of the study.

Changes to charter: Charter changes, initiatives and recall petitions will need 5 percent or 10 percent signatures of registered voters. All will be approved by 50 percent plus one, or 60 percent of those voting in the election.

Draft documents on the incorporation  including the draft charter  are available on the GPICA.org website. Look for them under the INCORPORATION tab on the Menu Bar.

All meetings are free and open to all members of the public. You do not need to be a GPICA member to attend the meeting or to make suggestions about revisions to the existing draft charter. We respectfully request that all forum attendees practice common courtesy and please allow your neighbors an opportunity to speak and to share your input in a respectful and calm manner.

If you cannot attend or do not wish to attend the meetings, comments about the draft charter may be made online at gpica.org/incorporation/charter-comments/

The final Town Hall meeting is Thursday, April 5, at 6:30 p.m., at the Pine Island Community Church, 5320 Doug Taylor Circle  Unit #7. Thats located in the Industrial Park, east of the SunTrust Bank.A Detroit man is being arraigned in Wayne County, MI, on Tuesday on charges that he assaulted a police officer and stole the cruiser before crashing it a few blocks away.

Photo: Detroit PD/Facebook

Jerome Adams, 36, was charged on Tuesday with stealing a marked Detroit Police scout car on Sunday in Detroit after he assaulted the officer, reports WJBK.

According to the Wayne County prosecutor, Adams was on Woodward just north of Little Caesar's Arena when he dropped his bicycle and ran to enter a running Detroit PD car. Adams is accused of assaulting an officer near the car and driving away.

He made it two blocks and crashed into a hydraulic barricade near Little Caesar's Arena where he was arrested.German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on his re-election for a second four-year term in a letter on Wednesday, affirming her countrys commitment to supporting Egypt, according to Egypt's state-owned MENA news agency.

Merkel expressed Germany's complete support for Egypt's development and stability, adding that President El-Sisi had overcome many challenges in his first term, including fighting terrorism and implementing the IMF-linked economic reform programme.

In a letter, the German Chancellor also wished El-Sisi good luck in his second presidential term.

The Egyptian president and the German chancellor have met several times over the past few years, with the last meeting taking place last June in Berlin on the sidelines of the G20 Africa summit.

Merkel visited Egypt in March 2017 for the first time in 10 years to inaugurate a mega-project led by Siemens manufacturing company to upgrade Egypt's electric power capacities.

Short link:

A woman shot three people and then turned the gun on herself Tuesday at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, CA, setting off a chaotic scramble as workers dived for cover, hid in closets and ran from the building, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

San Bruno police and San Mateo County sheriffs deputies rushed to the normally quiet office park shortly after the first reports of gunfire came in at 12:48 p.m. and saw dozens of workers running out of the exits.

Inside the building at 901 Cherry Avenue, they came across one victim with a gunshot wound and in an ensuing search of the premises found the shooter with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Two other victims with gunshots were found at a nearby business, where they had apparently taken refuge, police said.

The three victims were rushed to San Francisco General Hospital. A 27-year-old woman was in fair condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious and a 36-year-old man in critical, authorities said.

Several YouTube employees took to social media to report hearing gunfire and running for their lives. Hundreds of workers were evacuated by police, who made everyone hold their hands up as they filed out onto the street.The night before Nasim Aghdam opened fire in a courtyard at YouTubes San Bruno, CA, headquarters Tuesday afternoon, Mountain View police found the San Diego woman sleeping in her car.

Our officers made contact with the woman after the license plate of her vehicle matched that of a missing person out of Southern California, said Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson.

The woman confirmed her identity to us and answered subsequent questions. At the conclusion of our discussion, her family was notified that she had been located.

She had been reported missing by her family in Southern California. Police called the family at 2 a.m. Tuesday to say shed been found. Her father Ismail Aghdam says he told police she might be going to YouTube because she hated the company. Police say that information was not provided to them until they let the woman go.

The family says it didn't know she had a gun.

In an interview Tuesday night with the Bay Area News Group, Ismail Aghdam said his 38-year-old daughter told her family a couple of weeks ago that YouTube had been censoring her videos and stopped paying her for her content.

In the interview, her father said the family knew nothing about Nasim owning a gun. Maybe she bought one recently, he said.As a kid I watched the television show, "Lassie." I loved that dog. Young Timmy and Lassie were always together. Timmy constantly seemed to get himself into a predicament, and Lassie would come to his rescue.

The actor who played Timmy in those early television days wrote his memoirs in the book "Timmys in the Well: The Jon Provost Story."

In the 50s and early 60s I was also a fan of "The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin," and "The Roy Rogers Show." Horses, dogs and kids stole the show back in the day.

These types of programs helped groom a love of animals for many boomers. My wife and I recently got back into the pet ownership world. A few months ago, we adopted two cats from Paws and Claws after sweet and relentless pressure from our granddaughter.

Our granddaughter has given out her love to the neighbor dog and cat and to her many guinea pigs. She bonds deeply with each animal she has ever known.

Most of us talk to our pets like they are a human member of the family. In a sense, they do become that, dont they? I thought Id tell a couple stories.

My friend Duane was reading his newspaper one morning when he spotted an ad for golden retriever puppies. Soon, Duane and his wife, Robbin, were in the car heading to Zimmerman. This was in the year 2000.

Duane said that once they arrived at the destination there were probably eight puppies running around. One in particular trotted up to them and sat down on Robbins foot. His destiny was decided then and there. Named Tiberius, he immediately became a major part of the family.

He would travel with them everywhere. He was a gentle and loving dog. Habits around the house had to be changed because if you placed a sandwich down for just a second it would be a much appreciated snack for Tiberius.

Duane said the two of them had a close connection but then again it could have been because he was always sneaking Tiberius a treat. Tiberius became a nightly visitor, curling up at the end of the bed.

Everyone in the household, which included three daughters, loved him. Duane told me Tiberius was afraid of their pool. Then one day he accidentally skidded butt first into the water. Tiberius then realized he loved the pool!

Tiberius got cancer. He had surgery. Duane was hopeful they would have more time. The family headed to New Orleans for a vacation in 2011. Soon after they arrived they got a phone call from Robbins brother who was watching Tiberius.

They had to say goodbye to Tiberius over the phone. All members of the family told him they loved him and what a good boy he had been. It was a difficult way to say goodbye.

Duane said that throughout his life, Tiberius always wanted to make you feel good. They still miss him.

The second story is about Karen. After finishing college, a puppy seemed like the perfect graduation present to herself. Karen and her eventual husband, Joe, were grocery shopping one day and spotted a "puppies available" sign outside a small pet store in Park Rapids in 2003.

When they walked in, there were only two puppies left. The moment one of them spotted Karen and Joe, the puppy began climbing the wire enclosure that she was in. Karen said this puppy realized that her new and forever family had just walked in the door.

She was named Abigail or Abbi for short. If Abbi got in trouble then the full name of Abigail might be used. Karen said Abbi was spunky, adventurous and a happy-go-lucky dog. It seemed like she truly enjoyed every day of her life.

The bond with Abbi became deep. She was with Karen and Joe as they lived in three states and moved 14 times. Karen reflected that Abbi walked the streets of New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. She strolled with them on the battlefields of Antietam and Gettysburg.

Abbi was waiting for them at the end of each work day bouncing with love and joy. She was Karens comfort and strength as she transitioned from a college student to an editor, a reporter, a teacher, a wife and a mother.

Karen and Joes path was not easy as they started their life together. Abbi sensed if Karen was struggling with a bad day or a difficult time. Abbi would curl up on her lap, giving her all the love that she could. Its a remarkable connection that our pets can have with us.

Along the way, Abbi picked up a doggie sister and a human baby brother. She loved them both.

Karen and Joe just lost Abbi recently. She went to sleep for good in March after 14 years and 11 months of loving, giving and protecting.

To my knowledge neither Duane nor Karen ever fell in a well where they had to be rescued by Tiberius or Abbi, but those two dogs watched over them and their families  for many years. In return, these faithful companions only needed love  and occasional treats. That was not a problem.

A trip to the vet

Shortly after writing this column I left a prescription pill on the counter. When I returned, I found one of my two cats had eaten it. Thank you to Madeline Shaw, DVM, and staff at the Affiliated Emergency Veterinary Service for watching over them for a few hours. Both are fine.HARTFORD, Conn.  Curt Deane says his grandfather would be thrilled to know that a century after his service in World War I, people have not forgotten the heroics of his dog, Stubby.

A new animated film based on the true story of the decorated war dog, "Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero" opens April 13.

Director Richard Lanni says he tried to be as authentic as possible when telling the story of the small stray who was adopted in 1917 by Deanes grandfather, J. Robert Conroy, of New Britain, while he was training in New Haven.

Conroy was able to smuggle Stubby aboard a ship taking soldiers to Europe and, as the story goes, the Boston Terrier mix became the mascot of the 102nd Regiment by charming officers with his ability to salute, a trick Conroy taught him.

Stubby was never made a sergeant, Deane said. But he did have many documented exploits, earning a medal that was presented to the dog by famed Gen. John Pershing.

"Before Stubby was a cartoon, he was a real dog, and he really did some amazing things," Deane said.

Stubby was in the trenches during 17 battles, where he was injured in a gas attack and later used his keen nose to give troops early warning of chemical shellings, said Christine Pittsley, who manages the Connecticut State Librarys World War I preservation project. He even had his own custom-made gas mask.

He also would stand by injured soldiers on the battlefield and alert medics by barking. He was even credited with capturing a German soldier he discovered behind the Allied lines, biting him on the rear end and holding on until help arrived, said Pittsley, who helped filmmakers research Stubbys story.

He also would visit wounded soldiers, including Cpl. Conroy, in field hospitals.

"What I think meant the most to my grandfather is that Stubby took some of the edge off what was a horrific war," said Deane. "There was just an absolute comfort that soldiers got from seeing him. He was, in fact, the first service dog."

After he returned from the war, Stubby became famous and toured the country. He posed for photos with celebrities and veterans and met three presidents, Deane said.

Stubby died in 1926. His hide was placed over a plaster cast and is on display at the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of American History in Washington D.C., part of an exhibit called "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War."Yemeni President Abd-Rabo Mansour Hadi congratulated his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on his re-election in a phone call on Wednesday, Egypt's presidential spokesperson Bassem Rady said in a statement.

During the phone call, Hadi reaffirmed Yemens intention to further develop the two countries' mutually beneficial cooperation in many areas.

Hadi told El-Sisi that he values the supportive role that Egypt has been playing for the stability of Yemen.

He has also stressed on his countys keenness towards its strong relations with Egypt and coordination between the two countries on issues of mutual interest.

Egypt has been continuously supporting the unity and stability of Yemen, asserting that there is no military solution for the ongoing crisis, instead insisting that a comprehensive political settlement is needed to end the conflict.

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As everyone knows, a caravan of more than 1,000 Hondurans is making its way North through Mexico toward the United States. This caravan had sought, and drawn, a great deal of publicity before President Trump began talking about it. He tweeted:

Honduras, Mexico and many other countries that the U.S. is very generous to, sends many of their people to our country through our WEAK IMMIGRATION POLICIES. Caravans are heading here. Must pass tough laws and build the WALL. Democrats allow open borders, drugs and crime!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

And:

The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our Weak Laws Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

Weirdly, the liberal media pretended to have no idea what the President was talking about. Politifact purported to fact-check Trumps fresh statement that caravans are coming our way, presumably from south of the Texas-Mexico border. But the only question there is the plural; there is no doubt that a Honduran caravan is on its way.

Which Politifact eventually gets around to admitting, after some faux confusion.

CNN reported April 1, 2018: Trump appears to be referring to a migrant caravan assembled by the group Pueblo Sin Fronteras (People without Borders), which was discussed on Fox News Fox & Friends shortly before he published his tweet. Its not known if the President watched the specific segment, but he indirectly referenced claims mentioned in an on-air interview with a Border Patrol union representative. Similarly, a news story in The Washington Post pointed to the described caravan as the likely basis of Trumps concern.

Politifact finally concedes that what Trump said was true, but inconsistent with Democratic Party narratives. (Thats my paraphrase.):

Our ruling President Trump tweeted that caravans of immigrants are coming to the Mexico-U.S. border. We confirmed that a caravan of 1,200 to 1,500 people from Central Americanot caravanswas in southern Mexico, about 900 miles from the Rio Grande, when Trump tweeted. Also, accounts vary on whether all participants are bound to enter the U.S. An organizer estimated that most of the people intend to remain in Mexico. On balance, we rate this claim Half True.

Politifact linked to the Associated Presss similarly angst-ridden fact check. The AP writes:

THE FACTS: Trump is painting an overly ominous picture of the procession of some 1,100 migrants, many from Honduras, who have been marching in a caravan along roadsides and train tracks in the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca. They are not marching en masse to the U.S. border to sneak in. These Stations of the Cross migrant caravans have been held in southern Mexico for at least the last five years. They began as short processions of migrants, some dressed in biblical garb and carrying crosses, as an Easter-season protest against the kidnappings, extortion, beatings and killings suffered by many Central American migrants as they cross Mexico. The organized portions of the caravans usually dont proceed much farther north than the Gulf coast state of Veracruz; migrants as individuals or in smaller groups often take buses or trucks from there to the border. The current march is scheduled to wind up this month with a conference on migration issues in the central Mexican state of Puebla, east of Mexico City. Thats some 650 miles by road (1,050 km) from the U.S. Migrants who break away and reach the U.S. border often turn themselves in and request asylum.

In other words: Trump is crazy to think that these people are coming to the U.S.

Oddly, neither the AP nor Politifact shows any sign of having read the press release issued by the caravans leaders, which explains what it is all about. The caravans leaders make demands on our Central American countries and Mexico and the United States. These Central Americans can make demands on their own governments, for whatever good that may do. But what standing do they have to make demands on the United States or Mexico? None.

These are the caravans demands:

We demand of Mexico and the United States: * That they respect our rights as refugees and our right to dignified work to be able to support our families * That they open the borders to us because we are as much citizens as the people of the countries where we are and/or travel

There you have it. These leftists demand open borders because as Hondurans, they are just as much citizens of the U.S. as we are. This is simply a false statement of fact. But it nevertheless represents a political agenda. These would-be migrants and their supporters in the U.S.who, unfortunately, are plentifuldont believe in sovereignty. They dont believe in borders. They dont believe in citizenship. They dont believe in countries. Most particularly, they dont believe in ours, notwithstanding the fact that some of them, at least, want to come here.

So the caravan represents a direct, if symbolic, challenge to our sovereignty and our right to govern ourselves as a free people. President Trump understands this, while Politifact and the Associated Press do not. Or, perhaps, they do understand but pretend not to.

In a press conference today, President Trump vowed to send troops to the Southern border, if necessary. Apparently U.S. immigration law is so lame that any of the caravaners who make it to the U.S. as part of a family, and ask for refugee status, must be admittedand probably lost foreverinto the interior of the country. There, they will join millions of other illegal immigrants, living mostly in sanctuary cities or states, likely subject to meaningless deportation orders. The Democrats and their press minions see nothing problematic about this. But the rest of us do.The milestones of 1968 are being recalled day-by-day, reminding us of what a roller coaster year it was. The decision of LBJ not to run for re-election (cheered lustily by the left) was followed just five days later by the assassination in Memphis of Martin Luther King, on April 4fifty years ago today.

It is hard to believe that at the beginning of 1968, things looked decent for Johnson. So much so that John Bailey, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said on January 8 that We know who our nominees will be. Im happy to be able to say the Republicans have all their bloody infighting to look forward to. Cue Chicago.

As Daniel Patrick Moynihan put it, In a sense, he was the first American President to be toppled by a mob. No matter that it was a mob of college professors, millionaires, flower children, and Radcliffe girls. In other words, it was the birth of todays Democratic Party.

Heres a portion of my narrative of Kings assassination from The Age of Reagan, vol. 1, where you can also discern the acceleration toward todays radicalized racial politics

The euphoria on the Left over Johnsons March 31 decision not to run for re-election was short-lived, as the assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis four days later plunged the nation into gloom. Kings assassination started the 1968 riot season four months early. Rioting erupted in 125 cities in 29 states, with 46 people killed, over 2,500 injured, and 21,000 arrested. Some of the worst rioting took place in Washington DC, where Stokely Carmichael gave an impassioned speech urging black people to get a gun, because they [whites] are coming for you.

Kings killing at the hand of (apparently) the small time criminal James Earl Ray set off a fresh round of hand-wringing and breast-beating about the collective guiltespecially white guiltof American society. Here was fresh evidence that America was an irredeemably sick society, just as the New Left had been saying. Benjamin Mays, emeritus president of Morehouse College (Kings alma mater), said in his eulogy at Kings funeral: But make no mistake, the American people are in part responsible for Martin Luther King Jr.s death. The assassin [at that point not yet apprehended] had enough condemnation of King and of Negroes to feel that he had public support. Stokely Carmichael went further: Bobby Kennedy pulled that trigger, just as well as anybody else. Black militants like Carmichael who had little use for King before his death had been handed a sharp two-edged sword: they had both a martyr useful for spurring white guilt, and a new reason to reject Kings principle of nonviolent democratic reform. Washington DC civil rights leader Julius Hobson, for example, argued that The next black man who comes into the black community preaching non-violence should be violently dealt with by the black people who hear him. The Martin Luther King concept of nonviolence died with him.The Washington Post reports that special counsel Robert Mueller told President Trumps lawyers last month that Trump isnt currently a criminal target in the Russia investigation. Mueller reportedly added, however, that Trump remains a subject of his investigation.

What should we make of this? Given what we have seen from Mueller and what we know about his staffs political leanings, I view Muellers statement as comparable to Leopold and Loeb saying they havent decided to kidnap your teenage son, but theyre interested in him.

In context, Muellers statement seems like an attempt to induce Trump to be interviewed by Mueller. It is said that Trumps legal team clashed over whether the president should agree to such an interview, and that John Dowd, who was adamant that Trump should not agree, quit the team over this issue.

Dowd was right. The risk that an interview would enable Mueller to accuse or charge Trump with making false statements is enormous. The risk that Trump would make true statements that Mueller could use against him is substantial. And these two consequences are not incompatible.

Muellers statement leaves open the possibility that Trump might become a criminal target. Subjects can easily become targets, especially if they make statements to investigators that the investigators deem false.

But does Muellers statement mean that his team has failed to find evidence of collusion between Trump and Russians? After all, Mueller has been probing this issue for a year. If he hasnt uncovered evidence sufficient to make Trump a criminal target, then he has probably come up empty on this front, at least.

The problem with this view is that Mueller may have concluded he lacks the power to charge Trump with any crime. The Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel twice concluded (once in 1973 and again in 2000) that the indictment and criminal prosecution of a sitting President would unduly interfere with the ability of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned duties, and would thus violate the constitutional separation of powers.

If Mueller agrees, then his statement that Trump is not a criminal target probably tells us nothing about how he evaluates the evidence.

Trump can take some comfort if Mueller believes he lacks the power to indict and prosecute the president. At least he, and the nation, would be spared of that.

But this comfort does not change the analysis regarding an interview with Mueller. In lieu of an indictment, Mueller could write a report savaging Trump. The report would serve as a vehicle for impeaching Trump if Democrats gain control of the House. Any false statements Mueller finds Trump to have made would likely be its own article of impeachment.

So far, my focus has been on the Russia collusion angle. However, obstruction of justice should probably be of greater concern for Trump and his lawyers.

Looking at the matter from the outside, a case of obstruction seems problematic. A president asking, but not requiring, the FBI director to consider going easy on Michael Flynn isnt obstruction of justice under any reasonable analysis. Neither is firing the FBI director, especially since the decision does not appear related to the directors handling of the Flynn matter and since the decision clearly was not intended to, and did not, end the Russia probe. The notion that tweeting negative things about the special counsel constitutes obstruction is laughable.

But making false statements to the special counsel? That looks like obstruction of justice. In any case, its a crime in itself.

Not agreeing to an interview with the special counsel? That might look bad, but I dont think its a sound basis for alleging obstruction of justice.

Trump shouldnt talk to the special counsel.Egypt on Wednesday offered its condolences to Mauritania over the death of one of its peacekeepers following an attack by militias that targeted a UN base in the Central African Republic early on Monday.

In an official statement, Egypts foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid accentuated Egypts supportive stance with the government and people of Mauritania in this ordeal."

Egypt appreciates all sacrifices made by the UNs peacekeeping forces in central Africa to combat terrorism in the Sahel region, the statement concluded.

The Egyptian statement comes two days after the UN said that Christian anti-balaka militias assaulted UN peacekeeping forces base in Tagbara, about 300 km (190 miles) northeast of the Central African Republic's capital Bangui. The attack left one peacekeeper dead and eleven others wounded.

The hours-long firefight left 22 militia members dead.

Central African Republic was torn apart after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted president Francois Bozize in 2013, provoking retaliation killings by the anti-balaka militias.

A 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission has struggled to restore order to the countryside where attacks on civilians are frequent.

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Theres an old saying that when youre taking a lot of flak, you know youre over the target. Right now this explains the liberal/media freakout about EPA administrator Scott Pruitt. Pruitt is systematically dismantling the legacy of decades of egregious bureaucratic overreach by the EPA, including ending the corrupt sue-and-settle practice, stopping the practice of refusing to share raw data with outside researchers that bear on multi-hundred-billion dollar regulatory schemes, and deep-sixing the so-called Clean Power Plan, which was likely to fail in federal court anyway. (This weeks sensible decision to rescind the Obama new car fuel economy requirements is being completely misreported, of course, but that subject will require a separate post.)

The height of irony is Obamas EPA head Gina McCarthy complaining that Pruitt is using the very same powers that she usedthe administrators prerogative to decide policy. Heres McCarthys complaint to the NY Times:

Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has announced that he alone will decide what is and isnt acceptable science for the agency to use when developing policies that affect your health and the environment.

And just who was it who set up the EPA administrator with such plenipotentiary powers? Thats right: liberals did (to be sure, with the foolish acquiescence of Republicans a long time ago), because they understood that the bureaucracy could be transformed into a partisan tool to achieve their ends, all the better if single administrators were given lots of power and didnt have much political accountability even inside their own agency. When I suggested in the Wall Street Journal back in 2013 that the EPA ought to be made into a five-member commission like similar regulatory agencies that observe the need to reflect the partisan divisions in the country over policy, environmentalists howled in protest that my idea would cripple the agency! Well, just now I expect theyd rather prefer my idea to Administrator Pruitt.

Pruitts changes are long overdue, and as in so many other ideas, no previous Republican administration has seen fit to attempt any of these essential reforms. The last President Bush gave us Christine Todd Whitman as head of the EPA, who was a fluffy lapdog for the EPA bureaucracy. Anyone think President Jeb Bush would have given us Scott Pruitt? (And lets recall who promoted Gina McCarthy in Massachusettss state environmental bureaucracy before she went to work for Obama: a governor named Romney.)

The Pruitt news-storm is obviously not a coincidence or a spontaneous interest: the Environmental-Industrial Complex is geared up into full battle mode, and is undoubtedly funneling pre-packaged attack stories to sympathetic producers, reporters, and editorial writers. This is a cage match that isnt going to go away. A lot of congressional Republicans may get cold feet, and if Democrats take the House in November, Pruitt can expect to be appearing before House committees every day. The media may well contrive a scandal. But in the meantime, this old scene from Star Wars comes to mind:Glenn Thrush  remember him?  attacks Ben Carson and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for abandoning certain suits and others actions undertaken by the Obama administration in the name of fair housing. It does not seem to have occurred to Thrush that there are two visions of what fair housing law requires and that Secretary Carson isnt bound to follow the more radical of the two. Or else, Thrush just wants to hide the ball.

The traditional vision of fair housing is the non-discrimination approach. It is unlawful, for example, to refuse to sell housing to African Americans who can afford to purchase a unit.

The more radical vision is that fair housing requires racially balanced neighborhoods whether African-Americans can afford existing housing in the neighborhood or not. Thus, if the number of African-Americans who can afford existing units in a well-to-do neighborhood is deemed insufficient, new units must be built  ones they can afford.

This aggressive vision is not what the authors of federal fair housing legislation had in mind. Indeed, such legislation never would have passed if it had been thought to require the social engineering of neighborhoods to achieve racial balance.

Nor, in all likelihood, does this notion enjoy popular support today. To take one example Thrush cites, would the public would support the imposition by fiat of a 233-unit mixed-income, mixed-race housing development slated for an affluent white area known for its high-end shopping and excellent schools? How about the siting of neighborhood group homes for parolees and former offenders throughout [a] citys neighborhoods?

Under Obama, HUD strained to interpret the law as requiring these results. Under Trump, HUD is moving back towards a more traditional, and my view more defensible, view of fair housing law. Thats all.

Thrush offers no inkling of this. He writes, the Trump administration is attempting to scale back federal efforts to enforce fair housing laws, as if the law is settled in favor of the radical view of fair housing law the Obama administration adopted.

It is not, and Thrush makes no attempt to show otherwise. After the mixed signals sent by Justice Kennedys majority opinion in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, the law is up for grabs.

If anything, Carsons HUD hasnt been aggressive enough in scaling back the work of its predecessor. Instead of rescinding Obamas AFFH rule, HUD has held it up and promised to reinterpret it.

Thus, when a spokesman for Carsons HUD says the agency actions about which Thrush and other leftists complain represent no philosophical shift, but only the routine recalibration undertaken from administration to administration, he is not, alas, being entirely disingenuous.

However one characterizes these moves, they are the consequence of an election left-liberals lost. A lost election is not, of course, a mandate to violate the law. However, the view of the law that underlies the Carson recalibration is legally defensible and, in my view, legally sound.In this episode, I talk with Ed Whelan, president of of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, author of Bench Memos on National Review Online, and co-editor of Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and a Live Well Lived. Its a wonderful collection. The speech Scalia gave to an Irish-American dinner on how an Italian thinks about the Irish is worth the price of the book alone.

In addition to recalling the rich legacy of Justice Scalia, we talk about the problems of jurisprudence today, and in this season of new controversy over the 2nd Amendment, I even ask the bold questionwas the Bill of Rights a mistake? Theres actually a good argumentfirst offered by Alexander Hamiltonwhy maybe it was.

As usual, you can listen or download at the link below. As always, we suggest you subscribe to Power Line in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!).Przepraszamy!

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Inne ogoszenia, ktore mogy byc w kregu Twoich zainteresowan:Upper Egypt's criminal court of Sohag on Wednesday sentenced 35 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group to life in prison on charges of weapons possession in Sohag.

In the same case, the court also convicted 155 others, handing down various sentences ranging between three and 15 years in prison. The sentences can still be appealed.

The weapons were uncovered in 2015 after the interior ministrys national-security investigations department in Sohag received information about a group hiding in a cave in the governorate's western mountains.

According to the court, 61 defendants received 15 years in prison, 62 received 10 years, 26 others received five years in prison and six members received three years in prison.

The general prosecution has accused them of acts of terror, planning terror crimes in the governorate and targeting police personnel.

Search Keywords:

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UK Prime Minister Theresa May congratulated in a phone call on Wednesday Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for winning his second presidential term in the 2018 presidential elections, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

May told El-Sisi that she looks forward to continue working to develop Egyptian-British relations in different fields.

President El-Sisi expressed his appreciation to the British prime minister and said that Egypt is keen to boost bilateral cooperation in the upcoming period to achieve common good for both countries.

The United Kingdom is the largest foreign investor in Egypt, with more than $30 billion in investments in the country since 2011, according to the British embassy in Cairo.

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Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, irrigation minister Mohamed Abdel-Ati and the acting head of General Intelligence Abbas Kamel arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday to discuss with their Sudanese and Ethiopian counterparts outstanding issues regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The tripartite talks aim to resolve an impasse in negotiations over studies conducted to determine the impact of the dam on downstream countries.

The meeting was originally scheduled to take place in late February after the leaders of the three countries agreed to set a one-month deadline to discuss how to end the stalemate, but the meeting was postponed upon Ethiopia's request following the resignation of its prime minister.

The Egyptian delegation was received at Khartoum International Airport by officials including Sudanese FM Ibrahim Al-Ghandour and Egyptian ambassador to Khartoum Osama Shaltot.

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Syrian rebel group Jaish al-Islam released five prisoners including civilians on Wednesday as part of a deal over the eastern Ghouta town of Douma, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The UK-based war monitor said the insurgents had kidnapped them from the nearby town of Adra around five years ago.

Syrian state TV separately said the army had freed four women and a man from the militants as part of "efforts...to liberate all the prisoners in Douma."

Syrian government forces, backed by Russia, have now recaptured nearly all of eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, from the rebels in a ferocious assault that began in February, marking a major victory for President Bashar al-Assad.

Jaish al-Islam holds more than 3,500 prisoners and hostages in total, Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, told Reuters.

State media has said Jaish al-Islam had accepted a deal giving its fighters safe passage to towns that are located in a buffer zone on the border with Turkey that is controlled by the Turkish military and allied Syrian rebel groups.

Jaish al-Islam has not confirmed any deal with the Syrian government over eastern Ghouta. On Tuesday an opposition source said talks were continuing with Damascus, even as state media reported the departure of another group of fighters from eastern Ghouta.

The state news agency SANA said on Wednesday buses had entered Douma for the third consecutive day to evacuate more rebel fighters and their families to the northern Syrian city of Jarablus, near the border with Turkey.

The group, which is estimated to have many thousands of fighters, has previously insisted it will not leave Douma or accept "forced displacement" to another part of Syria.

A military source told Reuters on Monday that some elements of Jaish al-Islam were still rejecting a deal and that military force would be used if they refused to accept one.

The source said on Tuesday the government had set a deadline for militants to leave Douma, without saying how long.

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MUMBAI, April 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Connecting the bustling streets of Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and Greece to the coast of Mumbai, Bayroute - a fine dining restaurant - serving the most invigorating cuisines opened its doors at Cuffe Parade. Reflecting its true meaning, the restaurant will take diners on an expedition across the region, while highlighting the diverse flavors of rich Mediterranean cuisine.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661926/Bayroute_Cuffe_Parade.jpg )

This uniquely conceptualized space, from its furniture and wall decor to lighting, is a work of art, which not only makes the space look vibrant but also adds the warmth and richness to it. The dining room is distinctive in design, with their Moroccan printed sofas, Turkish art adorning the walls, and the Arabian art flooring add to the beauty. On the other hand, the bar has been given utmost focus with its high seated chairs and wooden shelves. Bayroute exudes class while keeping things casual and chic, transporting one to the majestic Mediterranean coast.

The restaurant impresses with its Mediterranean ambience. The delectable menu leaves one spoilt for choices right from their mouth watering appetizers like Quinoa Tabbouleh, to their Shorbets such as the Shorba Manti, Lebanon Lentil. Also featuring on the menu is Manakeesh like Zaatar, Morrocon Dijaj. Moving onto the menu for the main course, the restaurant serves Fatteh, Koshari, Rotisserie Chicken etc.

Finally, comes the dessert called 'Gold Souk', which is a masterpiece in itself and is meticulously done - Evaporated Malai Milk, Rose Vermicelli, Pistachio Kulfi, Saffron Pearls, Ruby Chocolate, Lotus Flower Plated with 24K Edible Gold, Gold Leaf, Gala Fruits and Nuts - come together in this delectable delight. Other desserts like The Chocolate Fondant, Mint Chocolate and Greek Yogurt Popsicles should also be given a try.

Commenting on the launch of Bayroute, Mr. Arjun Raj Kher, Brand Head, says, "We are overwhelmed to announce the launch of Bayroute at Cuffe Parade, which showcases diverse flavors from different countries of the Mediterranean region. Our specially curated menu and the classic, true-to-the-land ambience will surely transport you to the Mediterranean region."

So, one can soak themselves in the flavours and unparalleled aromas of the Middle East, as Bayroute is all set to make its mark in Cuffe Parade.

About Bayroute

Bayroute, run by Arjun Raj Kher and actor Shaad Randhawa, is a Mediterranean restaurant located in the heart of Mumbai, Cuffe Parade.

Media Contact:



Meghna Singh

+91-8452855155

[email protected]

India

SOURCE BayrouteCHENNAI, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Treatment was done in a clinical trial conducted at Duke University using umbilical cord stem cells preserved at LifeCell

Four-year-old boy, Apartim Dey Singha resident of Kolkata, has been treated through stem cell transplant for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder - autism at the Duke University clinical trial for treatment of autism through autologous (own stem cells) cord blood stem cell transplants.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/542620/LifeCell_Logo.jpg )



Autism is a developmental disorder that impairs the social ability to interact and manifests itself through speech disability and other social behavioural issues. Autistic kids have difficulty in expressing themselves and their inability can be clearly noticed by the parent or the caretaker. It is the third most common developmental disorder in which, according to few experts, one in 166 children are affected in India. Structural damage to the brain, toxins, pollutants and environmental related, genetic metabolic, etc., are few of the most common causes associated with autism.

Early diagnosis of autism, coupled with swift and effective intervention, is paramount to achieving the best possible prognosis for the child. In recent times, stem cell transplant is emerging as one of the newer treatment options for autism. It has the potential to repair the damaged neural tissue at molecular, structural and functional level.

Apurba Dey Singha, Apartim's father said, "Initially when we got to know that our son was suffering from autism we didn't know how to take it but we were determined to get him treated and help him overcome the disorder. Our first step was to speak and consult with various healthcare experts. We browsed through the Internet and learnt about autologous stem cell transplant (using own stem cells) for autism. We were happy that we made a wise decision of preserving our baby's umbilical cord stem cells at birth in 2014 with LifeCell, which were used to treat my son for autism. Today, we are seeing great progress in terms of development milestones in my son."

Mayur Abhaya, CEO, MD, LifeCell said, " It's heart-warming to see clinical improvement and development milestones in Apartim Dey Singha. Recently, scientists at Duke University have published results of their study which indicates improvement in autistic children post infusion of autologous umbilical cord stem cells and this improvement has further validated the high-quality preservation standards of stem cells at LifeCell. There are many ongoing clinical trials across the world and this certainly gives hope to parents who have preserved their baby's stem cells at birth."

Results of the Duke University Phase 1 Clinical Trial proves autologous cord blood infusions are safe and feasible in young children with ASD. Significant improvements in children were observed on parent-report measures of social communication skills, expressive vocabulary, eye-tracking measures to social stimuli and behavioral parameters during the first six months after infusion. These data will serve as the basis for future studies to determine the efficacy of umbilical cord blood infusions in children with ASD.

About LifeCell

LifeCell, established in 2004, is India's leading provider of preventive healthcare services for family wellness, such as stem cell banking and diagnostic testing, with facilities at Chennai and Gurgaon, and a network spanning over 200 cities in India and abroad. Over 3,00,000 lakh parents already having trusted LifeCell for umbilical cord stem cell preservation services.

BabyCord Share, a community-based approach towards stem cell access, is a global first initiative that aims to provide families in India better future access to stem cells than even currently possible in advanced countries such as the U.S. LifeCell's processing, storage and testing facilities are the most accredited having received recognitions from domestic and global bodies such as the AABB (formerly American Association of Blood Banks), College of American Pathologists, National Accreditation Board for Laboratories, World Health Organization, amongst many others, and is also U.S. FDA registered.

Visit us at: www.lifecell.in

Media Contact :

Krutika Rajkumar

[email protected]

+91-9884493607

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

LifeCell



SOURCE LifeCell International Private LimitedAI, personalized healthcare, robotics and distributed energy generation among technologies that will drive growth, efficiency, connectivity, and urbanization

SANTA CLARA, California, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- By 2050, over 80% of the population in developed countries is expected to live in cities. This number is expected to be over 60% for the developing world. The creation of smart cities enables a smooth transition to urbanization, with technological advances helping municipalities optimize resources for maximum value to the population, whether that value is financial, savings in time, or improvement in quality of life.

For further information on our Smart Cities studies or to access the on demand Webinars on Smart Cities Americas, Europe and Asia, please visit: http://frost.ly/2d3

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been the most funded technology innovation space in the past two years, with large investments coming from independent and corporate venture capital companies," explained Jillian Walker, Visionary Innovation Principal Consultant at Frost & Sullivan.

AI plays a key role in smart cities in the areas of smart parking, smart mobility, the smart grid, adaptive signal control, and waste management. Major corporations, such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft, remain key tech innovators and the primary drivers of AI adoption.

Other significant findings include:

Smart cities are anticipated to create huge business opportunities with a market value of over $2 trillion by 2025 .

. AI, personalized healthcare, robotics, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), distributed energy generation and other five technologies are believed to be the technological cornerstones of smart cities of the future.

and other five technologies are believed to be the technological cornerstones of smart cities of the future. The Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to be the fastest-growing region in the smart energy space by 2025.

region is anticipated to be the fastest-growing region in the smart energy space by 2025. In Asia , more than 50% of smart cities will be in China . Smart city projects will generate $320 billion for China's economy by 2025.

, more than 50% of smart cities will be in . Smart city projects will generate for economy by 2025. North America (NA) has been quickly catching up, with many Tier II cities, such as Denver and Portland , committed to building their smart city portfolios.

(NA) has been quickly catching up, with many Tier II cities, such as and , committed to building their smart city portfolios. The total NA smart buildings market , comprising the total value of smart sensors, systems, hardware, controls, and software sold, is projected to reach $5.74 billion in 2020.

, comprising the total value of smart sensors, systems, hardware, controls, and software sold, is projected to reach in 2020. Europe will have the largest number of smart city project investments globally, given the engagement that the European Commission has shown in developing these initiatives.

will have the largest number of smart city project investments globally, given the engagement that the European Commission has shown in developing these initiatives. The European e-hailing market, central to cities developing smart mobility solutions, currently generates revenues of $50 billion and is estimated to reach $120 billion by 2025.

market, central to cities developing smart mobility solutions, currently generates revenues of and is estimated to reach by 2025. In Latin America , cities actively developing smart city initiatives include: Mexico City , Guadalajara , Bogota, Santiago , Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro . In Brazil , smart city projects will drive almost 20% of the overall $3.2 billion IoT revenue by 2021.

"Currently most smart city models provide solutions in silos and are not interconnected. The future is moving toward integrated solutions that connect all verticals within a single platform. IoT is already paving the way to allow for such solutions," added Vijay Narayanan, Visionary Innovation Senior Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

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

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SOURCE Frost & SullivanMetering-as-a-service and energy management systems will accelerate growth opportunities

SANTA CLARA, California, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan's latest analysis of the Global Smart Gas Meter Market finds the market is expected to reach $1.62 billion in 2025, driven by energy efficiency country- or regional-specific regulatory and policy measures. The analysis predicts Europe, the Middle East, and Africa to be critical regional smart gas markets, with a rise in the number of residential gas connections in China making the country the second largest regional market by 2025.

An assessment of disruptive trends, drivers and restraints, market share, and revenue forecast by country and region can be found in the analysis. A competitive examination of significant players such as Itron, Elster, Pietro Fiorentini, Landis+Gyr, AEM, Meter Italia, Aichi Tokei Denki, Flonidan, Yazaki, and Secure is also provided.

For further information on this analysis, please visit: http://frost.ly/2ce

"The market for metering-as-a-service and energy management solutions will grow as meter manufacturers look for ways to leverage their expertise and attract investment from utilities that lack the financial resources to implement a CAPEX-led rollout," said Dr. Maximilian-Eckart Wernicke, Energy & Environment Senior Consultant at Frost & Sullivan.

To gain a competitive advantage over local vendors, Wernicke recommends adopting different strategies in different regions as well as providing a wide range of solutions such as meter manufacturing, software, installation, and system integration.

Key trends disrupting the global smart gas meter market include:

Growing demand from the Asia-Pacific region;

region; 36.2 percent of the global gas meter shipments were smart meters in 2017;

Pressure on premium brands to lower their profile margins to compete with Chinese brands;

Europe is predicted to grow as utilities are under legislative pressures to install smart gas metering solutions by 2020;

is predicted to grow as utilities are under legislative pressures to install smart gas metering solutions by 2020; Increase in gasification rates and development of new buildings;

Rise in awareness of energy efficiency;

Dual-fuel rollout of electricity and gas meters offering higher benefits;

Large-scale rollouts in less saturated markets such as South America , Eastern Europe , Middle East , and Africa due to decreased sales prices and increased efficiency; and

, , , and due to decreased sales prices and increased efficiency; and The replacement and upgrade of second-generation smart gas meters providing high revenue streams for manufacturers and system integrators.

"Concerns surrounding data security, low-cost savings, high initial investment, and operational complexities are key issues dissuading buyers," noted Wernicke. "However, the establishment of common protocols and standards is expected to decrease pricing and accelerate global deployments."

Global Smart Gas Meter Market, Forecast to 2025 is part of Frost & Sullivan's Energy & Environment Growth Partnership Service program.

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

Global Smart Gas Meter Market, Forecast to 2025

MDA3-19

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SOURCE Frost & SullivanPORTLAND, Oregon and PUNE, India, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, Surgical Equipment Market by Product, Category, and Application: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023, the global surgical equipment market valued at $9,783.8 million in 2016, and is estimated to reach $15,737.1 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 7.0% during the forecast period. The surgical sutures & staplers segment accounted for two-fifths of the total market share in 2016.

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Surgical equipment are tools that are designed to view internal body organs or modify biological tissues. They are used for various surgical procedures such as neurosurgery, urology, laparoscopic, plastic surgery, cardiovascular, and others. Surge in prevalence of chronic disorders among geriatric population, increase in number of surgical procedures, and increase in demand for surgical procedures such as minimally invasive surgeries and laparoscopic surgeries act as the major drivers of the global surgical equipment market. However, uncertainty in reimbursements and highly competitive environment regarding price of surgical equipment restrict the market growth.

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The global surgical equipment market is segmented based on product, category application, and geography. Depending on product, the market is categorized into surgical sutures & staplers, handheld surgical devices, and electrosurgical devices. The handheld surgical instruments segment accounted for the one-third of the total market share. Increasing demand for handheld surgical instrument is attributed to frequent incorporation of the same in various surgeries including cardiovascular surgeries, microvascular surgeries, and laparoscopic surgeries among others.

The applications covered in the study include neurosurgery, plastic & regenerative surgery, wound closure, urology, obstetrics & gynecology, thoracic surgery, microvascular, cardiovascular, orthopedic surgery, laparoscopy, and others. The laparoscopy surgery segment held the largest market share in 2016, accounting for one-fifths of the total market. However, plastic & reconstructive surgery is estimated to grow at the fastest pace during the forecast period, owing to rise in number of aesthetic/cosmetic surgical procedures across the globe.

Key Findings of the Surgical Equipment Market:

The reusable surgical equipment segment dominated the global market in 2016 and is expected to maintain this trend throughout the forecast period.

Closure devices was the major contributor to the revenue of surgical auxiliary instruments in 2016 and is anticipated to maintain this trend throughout the forecast period.

Lancets/Scalpels registered highest growth in the surgical cutter instruments market during the forecast period.

Retractors is anticipated to grow at the fastest pace in the handheld surgical instruments market during the forecast period.

Europe accounted for one-third of total market share in 2016 and is expected to maintain this trend throughout the forecast period.

accounted for one-third of total market share in 2016 and is expected to maintain this trend throughout the forecast period. UK is anticipated to grow at the fastest pace in the European surgical equipment market during the forecast period.

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Geographically, the surgical equipment market is studies across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. North America dominated the surgical equipment market in 2016, accounting for three-sevenths of the total market. This was attributed to well-established healthcare system in North America, high adoption of innovative minimal invasive & laparoscopic surgical procedures, rise in prevalence of chronic diseases & related surgical procedures, and surge in demand for plastic & reconstructive & bariatric surgeries.

Similarly, the growth of the surgical equipment market in the European region was attributed to increase in geriatric population and high demand for minimally invasive surgeries.

Moreover, significant investments on R&D in the medical sector and modernization of healthcare facilities have positively impacted the market. However, Asia-Pacific and LAMEA are expected to possess the maximum growth potential. The robust growth rate displayed by Asia-Pacific region in surgical equipment market is attributed to substantial increase in expenditure to improve healthcare infrastructure and surge in demand for improved healthcare services.

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The major key players profiled in the global surgical equipment market include Medtronic Plc., Stryker Corporation, Johnsons & Johnsons, Conmed Corporation, Alcon Laboratories Inc., Smith & Nephew PLC, Zimmer Holdings Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, B. Braun Melsungen AG and KLS Martin Group, Johnsons & Johnsons, and Smith & Nephew. Acquisition was the key strategy adopted by the leading players to expand their product offerings and gain a substantial share in the global market.

The other companies profiled in this report include Abbott Laboratories, Applied Medical Resources Corporation, Microline Surgicals, Inc. (Subsidiary of Hoya Corporation), Olympus Corporation, Karl Storz GmbH & Co. Kg, Cook Medical Incorporated, Aspen Surgical Products, Inc, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Intuitive Surgical, and Teleflex Incorporated.

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Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market ResearchHikvision introduced AI Cloud in October 2017 at the China Public Security Expo in Shenzhen. AI Cloud is a development concept born out of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) era. It is a three-layered architecture that incorporates cloud and edge computing to provide multi-dimensional perception and front-end processing at Edge Nodes, and then process data in real-time and converged to Edge Domains for intelligent applications and create new data, and further converge on-demand data to the Cloud Center for big data analysis.

Building AI Cloud Ecosystems Through Open Collaboration

Artificial intelligence is thought to be another rising technology that is going to significantly impact the human society.

In his keynote speech, Yunhe Pan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, highlighted that Artificial Intelligence is already evolving to its next stage due to the emergence of new social needs such as smart cities, smart medicine, and unmanned driving, as well as significant changes in information environments like the Internet, mobile computing, cloud computing, Internet of Things and others. In short, the next generation of Artificial Intelligence is moving towards big data intelligence, collective intelligence, and cross-media intelligence.

"A large number of application requirements are surging in a fragmented way. The implementation of AI is restricted mainly by three factors  data, computing power and application. To accelerate the process, it is necessary for all stakeholders in every industry to be open and collaborative to build an AI industry ecosystem," said Yangzhong Hu, President of Hikvision addressing in the summit, "To enable more partners to participate in the construction and sharing of the AI ecosystem, the company will be fully open on its products and services, including the AI Cloud software platform, training system, AI services, data annotation and data sharing services, etc."

The Emerging Needs for Edge Computing

At the summit, Oliver Philippou, Associate Research Director at IHS Markit, gave Hikvision's international attendees a presentation titled "Artificial Intelligence  The Present and Future Prospects for Video Surveillance". According to Philippou, increasing numbers of network cameras on the global market pushes the development of video analytics further toward convergence  to edge and cloud systems  requiring better algorithms and deep learning to provide maximum accuracy.

Dr. Shiliang Pu, President of Hikvision's Research Institute, shared the company's AI research facilities, milestones, and achievements over the past years. Dr. Pu pointed to advantages of edge perception and its ability to generate multi-layered cognition to empower AI applications.

It is the joint efforts for various providers to build up this AI ecosystem. Hikvision was honored to have three of its strategic partners  Intel, Milestone Systems, and AxxonSoft  give keynote speeches in a summit session about mutual partnership and how AI changes partner ecosystems.

To get a glimpse of Hikvision's AI Cloud World Summit, please click here for an exciting video.

About Hikvision

Hikvision is the world's leading provider of innovative video surveillance products and solutions. Featuring the industry's strongest R&D workforce, Hikvision advances core technologies of audio and video encoding, video image processing, and related data storage, as well as forward-looking technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and deep learning. In addition to the video surveillance industry, Hikvision extends its reach to smart home tech, industrial automation, and automotive electronics industries to achieve its long-term vision. Always creating value for its customers, Hikvision operates 33 regional subsidiaries all over the world to achieve a truly global presence. For more information, please visit us at www.hikvision.com.

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SOURCE Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd.An attack on a Saudi tanker by Yemen's Houthi would not hit oil supplies, Saudi energy minister said on Wednesday, after the Iran-allied group said it had targeted a warship in response to an air strike that killed civilians.

The Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition which includes other Sunni Muslim states, says the Houthis attacked the oil tanker off Yemen's main port of Hodeidah on Tuesday.

However, the Houthis say they targeted a coalition warship in response to an air strike on Hodeidah on Monday that killed at least a dozen civilians, including seven children.

"The terrorist attack... will not affect economic activity or stall oil supplies," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on his official Twitter account.

Saudi oil industry sources told Reuters that oil operations and shipments were proceeding as normal and that security around facilities inside the kingdom had not been raised further.

"It was a minor attack. There was no impact, but the question is will it continue?" one of the sources said.

The EU naval force said that the oil tanker was the vessel Abqaiq, while shipping data showed it was Saudi-flagged, carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil and destined for Ain Sukhna in Egypt.

The tanker, whose owner Saudi shipping group Bahri did not immediately respond to a request for comment, was in international waters when it came under attack at around 1330 local time (1030 GMT), the coalition has said.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) intervened against the Houthis in Yemen's war in 2015 to restore the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The Houthis, who control most of northern Yemen, have launched missiles at Saudi Arabia, including the capital Riyadh, in the past few days. Saudi authorities said they had intercepted the missiles, although debris had killed one person.

In April 2017, Saudi forces said they have foiled an attempt to blow up an Aramco fuel terminal in southern Saudi Arabia using a high-speed boat laden with explosives, alleging Yemen's Houthis were behind the attempt.

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying missiles to the Houthis, who have taken over the capital Sanaa and other parts of Yemen. Tehran and the Houthis deny the allegation.

Short link:

KOLKATA, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Khadim India Limited (KIL) is pleased to announce that it's Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Ms. Ishani Ray as the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Mr. Indrajit Chaudhuri as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), with effect from 1 April, 2018, to steer its growth and fulfil company's vision.

Ms. Ray has been employed with Khadim India as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) since 2006. As the CFO, she has brought instrumental changes within the organization, strategically improvised the financial priorities of the company, enhanced the organisation's overall efficiency, and successfully completed its Initial Public Offering in November 2017. From here on, she will be heading the company as its CEO.

Commenting on the appointment of Ms. Ray, Mr. Siddhartha Roy Burman, the Board's Chairman, said, "We are pleased to announce that Ms. Ishani Ray will be taking charge of Khadim as the CEO. With her being at the helm of affairs, I am assured Khadim will scale even greater heights. Ms. Ray is backed by over two decades of experience in the consumer business, played an active part in the strategy for growth of Khadim's retail and distribution businesses. She carries great sense of business acumen and has been significantly instrumental in driving the company's growth over the last few years."

"Khadim India is positioned to witness exciting times ahead, having spread its wings into Eastern and Southern India. It is now on the path to establish its dominance in Western and Northern India too. I feel really privileged to having been given the opportunity to lead the company, as it embarks upon an exciting journey of becoming a household name across India. I thank the Board and all my colleagues to have bestowed this faith upon me. With continuous guidance from Mr. Burman and unflinching support from the entire Khadim family, I remain confident of contributing strategically to the company's glorious future," Ms. Ray stated.

Ms. Ishani Ray, a qualified Chartered Accountant, has been with the company since 2006. Prior to joining Khadim, she worked with Saregama India Limited for a span nearing almost six years.

As Ms. Ishani Ray assumes charge as the CEO, Mr. Indrajit Chaudhuri, GM of Finance and Strategy, is being appointed as the company's CFO with effect from 1 April, 2018. Indrajit joined Khadim in 2001 and has grown in ranks within the organization. He has been instrumental in streamlining commercial functions, taking care of direct and indirect taxes, implementation of ERP. He has played an active role with regards to the financial controls and management, the private equity investment in 2013 and the IPO in 2017. Indrajit will also be heading the legal and secretarial functions within the organization.

About Khadim India Limited:

Incorporated in 1981, Khadim India Limited (KIL) is amongst the leading footwear brands in India. It is a company providing 'affordable fashion for the entire family for every occasion'. With around 738 exclusive branded outlets (EBO), KIL owns the second largest number of retail stores across India. It has the largest presence in East India, while in Southern India it ranks amongst the top 3 players. Besides retail stores, KIL also caters to various multi-branded outlets (MBO) through its strong distribution business model of 440 distributors. In addition to its flagship mother brand 'Khadim', the company owns 9 home-grown sub-brands catering to premium segments of the Indian market.

Media Contacts:

Mr. Shantanu Banerjee

AGM - Marketing & VM, Khadim

Mobile: +91-9830741214

Email: [email protected]



Mr. Ravindra Bhandari

Associate Director - Dickenson Seagull IR

Mobile: +91-9283614197

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Khadim India LimitedPUNE, India, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "Solar Backsheet Market by Type (Fluoropolymer and Non-Fluoropolymer), Application (Utility, Industrial, Commercial, Residential, and Military), Installation (Roof-Mounted, Ground-Mounted, and Floating Power Plant), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to grow from an estimated USD 1.71 Billion in 2018 to USD 2.40 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 7.02%, from 2018 to 2023. This market growth is driven by increasing global solar PV installations as well as policy support from governments to enable the adoption of renewable technologies. Another factor driving the demand for solar backsheet is the need to reduce carbon emissions.

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Browse 69 market data Tables and 31 Figures spread through 123 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Solar Backsheet Market"

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The utility application segment is expected to hold the largest share of the Solar Backsheet Market, by application, during the forecast period.

The utility segment is expected to have the largest Solar Backsheet Market share, by application, from 2018 to 2023. This segment is driven mainly by the global increase in installations of solar power plants, both for utility and distributed power generation applications, to meet the global power demand.

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Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing Solar Backsheet Market.

In this report, the Solar Backsheet Market has been analyzed with respect to 4 regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the rest of the world. Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest and the fastest-growing market, by region, during the forecast period. This is due to the significant increase in solar PV installation in China and India. China is the largest market in Asia Pacific and is heavily investing in solar PV to reduce carbon emissions and fulfill its power needs. The other key markets in Asia Pacific are India, South Korea, and Australia. Asia Pacific accounted for more than 50% of the Solar Backsheet Market in 2017. North America is expected to be the second fastest-growing market for solar backsheets.

To enable an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes the profiles of some of the top players in the Solar Backsheet Market including Cybrid (China), Jolywood (China), Coveme (Italy), Krempel (Germany), and Hangzhou First (China).

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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.



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SOURCE MarketsandMarketsPUNE, India, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The report "Textile Dyes Market by Dye Type (Direct, Reactive, VAT, Basic, Acid, Disperse), Type (Cellulose, Protein, Synthetic), Fiber Type (Wool, Nylon, Cotton, Viscose, Polyester, Acrylic), and Region (APAC, North America, Europe) - Global Forecast to 2022" published by MarketsandMarkets, the Textile Dyes Market is projected to grow from USD 7.34 Billion in 2017 to USD 9.82 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 6.00% between 2017 and 2022. APAC is expected to dominate the global Textile Dyes Market during the forecast period. Textile dyes are organic substances which impart color to textile fibers and fabrics. They are relatively stable to external factors such as washing and light. These dyes are used for dyeing wrap yarn for denim, cotton, nylon, silk, wool, carpet, fur, and polyester/synthetic fiber blends.

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Browse 81 market data Tables and 31 Figures spread through 115 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Textile Dyes Market"

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Based on fiber type, the cotton segment is projected to lead the Textile Dyes Market during the forecast period.

Cotton is estimated to be the largest fiber type segment of the Textile Dyes Market in 2017. The large share can be attributed to its durability and abrasive resistance. This fiber type can retain many dyes, and is washable and ironable. These properties make the textiles derived from cotton appropriate for mass-produced clothing products.

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Based on dye type, the disperse segment is projected to lead the Textile Dyes Market during the forecast period.

The disperse dye segment is estimated to be the largest dye type segment of the Textile Dyes Market in 2017, in terms of both value and volume. The demand for disperse dye continues to be driven by its use in many types fibers such as nylon, polyester, acetate, and triacetate.

APAC is expected to lead the Textile Dyes Market during the forecast period.

APAC is expected to be the largest Textile Dyes Market during the forecast period. Factors such as the growing demand for textile dyes and policies mandating the use of environment-friendly and low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) products have led to innovation in the textile dyes industry. In addition, the strengthening economy of countries such as China and India is attracting new investments in the region. These factors are driving the growth of the Textile Dyes Market in APAC.

Key companies operational in the market include Archroma (Switzerland), Kiri Industries (India), Huntsman Corporation (US), Lanxess (Germany), and Zhejiang Longsheng Group Co (China).

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SOURCE MarketsandMarketsNEW DELHI, MELBOURNE, Australia and SINGAPORE, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

First-of-its-kind partnership enables enterprise success with digital transformation

Unity Technologies, creator of the world's most widely used real-time development platform, and Appearition, provider of augmented reality solutions for enterprises, today announced a partnership to launch the first-ever Unity Center of Excellence (CoE) for enterprises in Australia. Corporations worldwide looking to introduce innovative solutions now have an augmented reality-focused CoE as a resource to address corporate pain points.

"Since Unity's inception, our mission has been to democratize development, solve hard problems and enable success. We're excited to partner with Appearition because the company shares our passion through its dedication to the development of augmented reality solutions," said Hubert Larenaudie, President APAC, Unity Technologies. "We hope corporations that are tackling issues with digital transformation benefit from the solutions and support from partners like Appearition who are using Unity's technology to enable the success of enterprises."

The Unity CoE highlights the enterprise demand and growth of augmented reality solutions and the move towards digital transformation. The partnership is a significant step forward for both companies enabling corporate digital transformation and fostering an ecosystem to encourage knowledge sharing of best practices.

"Appearition's mission is to enable the success of others, a mission that we gladly share with Unity. We pride ourselves on building innovative products to help enterprises succeed," said Vivek Aiyer, Founder and CEO of Appearition. "Appearition is delighted to partner with Unity to launch the first-ever Center of Excellence in Australia. With our global presence, we are excited to continue to deliver end-to-end-deployment through the entire business technology lifecycle."

About Unity Technologies

Unity is the creator of the world's most widely-used real-time 3D development platform, giving developers around the world the tools to create rich, interactive 2D, 3D, VR and AR experiences. The company's 500+ person engineering team keeps Unity at the bleeding-edge of technology by working alongside partners such as Google, Facebook, Oculus and Microsoft to ensure optimized support for the latest releases and platforms. Games and experiences made with Unity have reached ~3 billion devices worldwide and were installed more than 24 billion times in the last 12 months. Unity's renowned flexibility gives developers the power to target and optimize their creations for Unity employs an "write once, publish everywhere" approach, enabling developers to target 25+ platforms including Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Gameroom (Facebook), SteamVR (PC & Mac), Oculus, PSVR, Gear VR, HoloLens, ARKit (Apple), ARCore (Google) and more. Unity also offers solutions and services for connecting with audiences including Unity Ads, Unity Analytics, Unity Asset Store, Unity Cloud Build, Unity Collaborate, Unity Connect and Unity Certification.

For more information, visit www.unity3d.com and to see the latest games and experiences created in Unity, go to https://unity.com/madewith.

About Appearition

Appearition was established with the vision to enable its customers' success by developing and deploying Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) software solutions across verticals. Over the years, Appearition has developed and constantly improved what it calls 'Green Spot Process' for digital transformation projects, to deliver and obtain user acceptance of the proposed solutions. On a more technical front, a proprietary, cloud based platform, Enterprise Management System (EMS), has specifically been designed for the B2B and B2B2C segments. The EMS features a state-of-the-art SDK as well as an API to connect to multiple data sources and make developers' lives easier. It ultimately delivers dynamic and personalized experiences in AR and/or VR environments in real-time. Appearition's team of global experts in their respective fields, share the ambition to be the leading supplier of immersive technologies and services to the global market. A dedicated, in-house R/D team operates out of Melbourne and entertains various international research partnerships with leading universities. Appearition is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with offices in the US, as well as in India. Opening of additional global offices to be announced later this year. It is part of the HC Group, established in 2005.

For more information, visit www.appearition.com.

Media Contact

Shilpa Narani

[email protected]

+91-9873301657

GBM



SOURCE Unity TechnologiesBOSTON, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BERG, a biopharmaceutical company that merges biology with technology to map the nature of diseases, today announced the dosing of the first patient in the United Kingdom (UK) for its Phase II pancreatic cancer clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of its drug candidate BPM 31510. This study builds upon early Phase II clinical data presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress that showed BPM 31510 appears to be well tolerated by patients as a single agent and in combination with gemcitabine.

"We are very encouraged by the expansion of the clinical trial and excited to bring a first-in-class approach to treating pancreatic cancer to a new geographical region," said Niven R. Narain, BERG co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer. "After just having received orphan drug designation for BPM 31510 for pancreatic cancer in the United States, this continued progress in the United Kingdom demonstrates BERG's commitment to improving patient health and outcomes."

This is a multi-center, open-label, non-randomized clinical trial currently enrolling patients in the United States and in the United Kingdom. The primary objective of the clinical trial is to evaluate safety and efficacy in adult patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Efforts are underway to expand the clinical trial into other European countries in 2018.

"Progress with standard care of treatment for pancreatic cancer has stalled in recent years and BERG's novel approach offers a glimmer of hope that we're enthused by and committed to explore," said Dr. David Propper of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and chief investigator of the trial. "By targeting a vulnerability that is particularly pertinent to pancreatic cancer, BPM 31510 reverses the metabolism of a cancer cell and reactivating cell death pathways in mitochondria to behave much like a normal cell."

Pancreatic cancer continues to be one of the most fatal cancers in the world. In the UK, only one in 20 people diagnosed live to see another five years and one in 100 people survive beyond ten years. These figures have not changed significantly in 50 years.1

Additional information on this clinical trial and participating sites can be found on www.clinicaltrials.gov using the identifier NCT02650804.

About BERG

BERG is a clinical-stage company disrupting and re-defining the approach to drug discovery, research and development through its Interrogative Biology platform. The platform identifies therapies and biomarkers by applying the algorithm and probability-based artificial intelligence to analyze large numbers of patients' genotypic, phenotypic and other characteristics. BERG's platform operates at the intersection of biology, technology and artificial intelligence analytics, integrating many data characteristics regarding patients' lifestyles, demographics, and biology. The platform aids in understanding patients' disease profiles and consequently, identifying and revealing molecular signatures to guide and accelerate product candidate selection and development. By identifying biomarkers and patient characteristics that are unique to the disease state, BERG has the potential to determine novel therapeutic product candidates and develop companion diagnostics to enhance specificity in its drug development process. BERG has leveraged its Interrogative Biology platform to develop a robust pipeline of therapeutic product candidates and diagnostics in cancer, diabetes and neurology. BERG's Interrogative Biology platform uses bAIcis artificial intelligence for data-driven analysis of high throughput molecular and clinical information. It is a methodology in extracting actionable insights from disparate and unmanageably large data sets. As an innovator in precision medicine, BERG has been employing AI in its work towards the discovery of novel predictive and prognostic biomarkers in oncology and neurology.

For additional information, please visit http://www.berghealth.com.

Media Contact:

Tola St. Matthew-Daniel

Ogilvy

212-880-5385

BERG@Ogilvy.com

Investor Contact:

Christina Tartaglia

Stern Investor Relations, Inc.

212-362-1200

christina@sternir.com

1 https://pancreaticcanceraction.org/about-pancreatic-cancer/pancreatic-cancer-facts/

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/659481/Berg_Logo.jpg

Related Links

http://www.berghealth.com



SOURCE BERGIranian President Hassan Rouhani held talks in Ankara on Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan ahead of a three-way summit with Russia on the Syrian conflict.

The three countries are working together to try to reduce the violence in Syria despite supporting opposing sides in the war. Russia and Iran are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's strongest backers, while Turkey supports anti-Assad insurgents.

Rouhani said before leaving Iran that foreign forces operating in Syria without approval from the Damascus government should leave - a reference to Turkey and the United States.

Turkey is waging an offensive in northwestern Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia and has pledged to extend its campaign to the country's northeast. Damascus has described the offensive as an illegal invasion.

"Iran believes that the presence of foreign forces in Syria without authorization of the Syrian government is illegal and must be halted," Iranian state television quoted Rouhani as saying in Tehran on Tuesday night.

He said Wednesday's meeting with Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin would discuss reconstruction in Syria as well as work on a new constitution, part of a plan for a political solution to end the seven-year-old war.

Despite their differences Iran, Russia and Turkey are three of the major powers involved in a conflict whose course has been largely defined by foreign interventions, and their influence could increase further if the United States pulls out.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he wanted to get US forces out of Syria but offered no timetable, as his advisers warned of the hard work left to defeat Islamic State group and stabilize areas recaptured from the hardline militant group.

Trump told a news conference the United States would "not rest until ISIS is gone", but he also suggested that victory was imminent.

"It's time," Trump told reporters, when asked if he was inclined to withdraw US forces.

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The Trump administration on Tuesday raised the stakes in a growing trade showdown with China, targeting 25 percent tariffs on some 1,300 industrial technology, transport and medical products to try to force changes in Beijing's intellectual property practices.

The US tariff unveiling, representing about $50 billion of estimated 2018 imports and aimed at dealing a setback to China's efforts to upgrade its manufacturing base, drew an immediate condemnation from Beijing, along with a threat of retaliatory action.

China's Ministry of Commerce said it "will soon take measure of equal intensity and scale against US goods."

"We have the confidence and ability to respond to any protectionist measures by the United States," the ministry said in a statement quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.

The ministry did not reveal any specific countermeasures, but economists widely view imports of US soybeans, aircraft and machinery as prime targets for trade retaliation.

The tariff list from the US Trade Representative's office followed China's imposition of tariffs on $3 billion worth of US fruits, nuts, pork and wine to protest new US steel and aluminum tariffs imposed last month by US President Donald Trump.

The standoff between the world's two largest economies has sparked market fears that they could spiral into a trade war that could crush global growth.

Asian share markets were mixed amid trade tension concerns, with Japan's Nikkei 225 off 0.1 percent but Shanghai's main index poised to open 0.3 percent higher.

Many Consumer Electronics Excluded

The USTR list ranged from chemicals to light-emitting diodes to machine parts, but US industry groups warned it would still hit supply chains that rely on Chinese components and would ultimately raise costs for consumers.

Many consumer electronics products such as cellphones made by Apple Inc. and laptops made by Dell were excluded, as were footwear and clothing, drawing a sigh of relief from retailers who had feared higher costs for American consumers.

But the USTR did include some key consumer products from China, including flat-panel television sets and motor vehicles, both electric and gasoline-powered with engines of 3 liters or less.

A Reuters analysis that compared listed products with 2017 Census Bureau import data showed $3.9 billion in flat-panel television imports, and $1.4 billion in vehicle imports from China.

Among vehicles likely to be hit with tariffs is General Motors Co's Buick Envision sport-utility vehicle, which is assembled in China and sold in the United States. Volvo, owned by China's Geely Motors, also exports Chinese-built vehicles to the United States.

More than 200 products on the list saw no US imports last year, including large aircraft and communication satellites, while some categories were highly unlikely to ever be imported, such as artillery weapons.

Publication of the tariff lists starts a public comment and consultation period expected to last around two months, after which USTR said it would issue a "final determination" on the product list. It has scheduled a May 15 public hearing on the tariffs.

China ran a $375 billion goods trade surplus with the United States in 2017, a figure that Trump has demanded be cut by $100 billion.

Algorithm Shields US Consumers

USTR developed the tariff targets using a computer algorithm designed to choose products that would inflict maximum pain on Chinese exporters, but limit the damage to US consumers.

A USTR official said the product list got an initial scrub by removing products identified as likely to cause disruptions to the US economy and those that needed to be excluded for legal reasons.

"The remaining products were ranked according to the likely impact on US consumers, based on available trade data involving alternative country sources for each product," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

USTR said the China tariffs announced on Tuesday were proposed "in response to Chinas policies that coerce American companies into transferring their technology and intellectual property to domestic Chinese enterprises."

The agency added that such policies "bolster Chinas stated intention of seizing economic leadership in advanced technology as set forth in its industrial plans."

China has denied that its laws require technology transfers and has threatened to retaliate against any US tariffs with trade sanctions of its own, with potential targets such as US soybeans, aircraft or heavy equipment.

2025 Program Targeted

A USTR official said the tariff list targeted products that benefit from China's industrial policies, including the "Made in China 2025" program, which aims to replace advanced technology imports with domestic products and build a dominant position in future industries.

The state-led 2025 program targets 10 strategic industries: advanced information technology, robotics, aircraft, new energy vehicles, pharmaceuticals, electric power equipment, advanced materials, agricultural machinery, shipbuilding and marine engineering and advanced rail equipment.

Many products in those segments appear on the list, including antibiotics and industrial robots and aircraft parts.

US business groups reacted cautiously, saying they agreed with Trump's efforts to stop the theft of US intellectual property, but questioning whether tariffs were the right approach.

"Tariffs are one proposed response, but they are likely to create new challenges in the form of significant added costs for manufacturers and American consumers," National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons said in a statement.

US Senator Marco Rubio said in a letter to Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that he was glad to see "bold" action against China.

"These necessary actions constitute an important break with the appeasement of previous administrations, and provide an opportunity to chart a new course for Americas relationship with this strategic competitor," Rubio wrote.

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Masterforex-V Expo Names Worlds Best Forex Brokers For Beginners in March 2018

Each and every forex trader out there faces the same challenge at some point in their career. This challenge boils down to choosing the right forex broker. This holds especially true for beginners who are just getting their feet wet in the forex trading environment. This choice is fairly significant for all of them since their future trading performance will depend on that choice. The truth is, all of those forex companies may differ in a number of aspects, including the offered trading conditions.

Choosing the right forex broker is not a neasy task to accomplish, especially for beginners who often lack the required knowledge about financial markets to make the right choice. Apparently, when choosing a broker to trade with such traders often keep in mind their current needs and goals. However, the reality is that most of them dont really know how to make the right choice since this task requires taking into account a whole lot of various factors, which may later affect their trading performance.

So, how do you choose the right forex broker if you are a trader with zero or little expertise? Well, to start with, advanced traders recommend that beginners take into account the unbiased and independent rating of forex brokers created by Masterforex-V Academy . Indeed, this rating that can really guide you down the right track and show you who deserves trust, who is promising, who deserves your attention, and who can offer you the most competitive trading conditions in the indsutry. Once again, the given rating is 100% unbiased since it is based on a number of quantitative criteria, including the results of the open voting. By the way, you can cast your vote for or against a certain forex broker (one vote per IP is allowed).

Best Forex Brokers for Beginners in March 2018

The current list of the best forex brokers in the wrold is represented mostly by the companies that are included in Masterforex-V Academy s list of premium brokers. The rating takes into account both the rating points (Fort Financial Services has 1000,00 points, OANDA has 871 points, Alpari has 1,020.30 points, and so on), and the results of the open voting.

The following 3 brokers occupy the first 3 positions in the rating: - Fort Financial Services. The company was founded in 2010. Since then, they have been focused on delivering premium-quality products and services to both beginning and advanced forex traders of all kinds. - OANDA. This is a true heavyweight in the international forex industry with over 20 years of expertise. The company has been taking advantage of cutting-edge technologies when rendering services to corporate and retail clients all over the world. - Alpari Limited. This is another veteran of the industry. Even since being founded almost 20 years ago, the company has been increasingly popular with international traders and investors thanks to spotless reputation as well as the exceptional quality of service. These tree top-ranking brokers are followed by such brokers as: - ORBEX - FreshForex - Larson&Holz - FXOpen - YA-HI.com - GKFX - EXNESS - InstaForex - LiteForex - Forexite - Grand Capital - 24FX - Forex4you - TenkoFX - RoboForex - ForexStart - FBS Markets Inc. - Premium Trading - Rinkost Markets - FX-Invest - Dealingcity - Forex EuroClub - Pellucid FX - Binoa - Arena FX - iP Forex

You are free to discuss this article here: forum for traders and investorsIf you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found hereShimla, March 30 : Himachal Pradesh and Japan have signed an agreement for a Rs 800 crore project that will help improvement of forest natural resources besides providing livelihood to locals, an official said on Friday.

The project named Himachal Pradesh Livelihood and Forest Ecosystems Management would be carried out in six districts -- Bilaspur, Kinnaur, Kullu, Lahaul-Spiti, Mandi and Shimla -- in 10 years.

Out of the total project cost, Rs 640 crore would be provided as loans, a government spokesperson told IANS.

He said state Forest Minister Govind Singh Thakur and Japanese Ambassador on Thursday signed the MoU for the project.Mumbai, April 2 : Indian British actress Banita Sandhu says she hired a Hindi tutor for her Bollywood debut film "October". She is now looking forward for the British audience to watch the "international film and a beautiful piece of art" helmed by Shoojit Sircar.

How did she master the language barrier?

Banita said in a statement: "The film was offered to me a year before it was shot. So I hired a Hindi tutor. I was learning the language along with my university classes. Learning a language like Hindi when you live in London and people around you speak in English, it is very hard to pick it up."

The actress shared this problem with the director, who helped her improve her diction further by training her through video calls.

According to her, the accent was the key aspect and she wanted to learn the Indian accent which Sircar helped her to attain.

On Indian cinema, she said that language is no longer a barrier and with Hindi cinema if the content is good, the movie will be watched.

"It is another world where we can open our eyes to," she said.

Banita said she has watched the movie and is proud of the way it has come out.

"I am really looking forward for all the British audience as well to watch it. It is an international film and a beautiful piece of art."

"October", which also stars Varun Dhawan, is set to release on April 13.Karachi, April 2 : Cultural exchange is the only way to bring India and Pakistan closer as politics has failed to achieve that, says Indian filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, who feels that together the two countries can be a "great force" in the world.

Bhardwaj, who was visiting Pakistan after five years, was among the Indian artistes who attended the Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF) 2018 that concluded here on Sunday. He was a part of multiple panel discussions that took place as part of the festival and featured other artistes from India and Pakistan.

"I love Pakistan. Whenever I come here, I find a reason to come back again. I didn't find any changes. The only change I found is that the love for us has increased," Bhardwaj, a National Award winning multi-talented talent, told The News International.

On cultural exchanges between the two countries and how they can bring them closer, he said: "I think this is the only way to bring normalcy between the two countries; more and more cultural events can bridge the gap. And it's very sad that we are always at loggerheads.

"We all are alike. If we come together, we'll be such a great force in the world in terms of everything - culturally, economically as well as politically."

Bilateral tensions had intensified between India and Pakistan after the September 18, 2016 Uri attack that left 19 Indian soldiers dead and the September 28 surgical strikes by India on Pakistan terror camps the same year.

The political rift has affected cultural ties too as Pakistani artistes are not getting a chance to work in India.

Bhardwaj said time will heal the situation, reports The News International.

"I think it will get smooth with time because culture is the only way possible. Generally, there are two ways to bridge the gap: cultural and political. Politics is failing in achieving that for a long time. In fact, political situation has been affecting cultural exchanges too. Therefore, culture should be left alone.

"There is a need for tolerance and acceptance from both ends. It has to be a two-way thing otherwise it won't work."

Bhardwaj also dwelt on the popularity that Pakistani actor Fawad Khan enjoys in India.

"If bias against Pakistani actors had been there, the masses wouldn't have gone to watch their films. So, there is nothing against them in the heart of masses. Whatever else is there, it is politically motivated otherwise how would have Fawad become a superstar in India?" he asked.Chennai, April 2 : It was a day of protests in Tamil Nadu on Monday against the Central government's failure to set up a Cauvery Management Board (CMB) despite a Supreme Court order.

Activists of the DMK and other organisations staged noisy demonstrations protests here and in other parts of the state.

DMK members protested at several places in the city including the arterial Anna Salai stretch in Saidapet, disrupting traffic.

In Coimbatore, around 500 km from here, DMK members stopped a train by squatting on train tracks.

The party and its allies have called for a shutdown on April 5 over the Cauvery issue.

Members of some fringe organisations picketed post offices and Central government offices in the state.

In Mannargudi, students protested outside their colleges.

The Centre has failed to set up the Cauvery Management Board within six weeks of the Supremem court's order of February 16. The six-week deadline ended on March 29.

Tamil Nadu political leaders say the BJP is acting in favour of Karnataka, which is opposed to the CMB and where Assembly elections are due.

The DMK has said black flags would be shown to Prime Minister Narendra Modi whenever he comes to Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, police in Thiruvannamalai rounded up several youths who showed black flags to BJP Tamil Nadu cief Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday.

According to reports reaching here, Puducherry's Lt.Governor Kiran Bedi has written to Modi to constitute the CMB in the interests of people of the Union Territory.New Delhi, April 2 : Prices of non-subsidised LPG, or cooking gas, have been reduced by Rs 35.50 per cylinder, and that of the subsidised one by a marginal Rs 1.74, according to state-run oil marketing companies, even as public sector Indraprastha Gas Ltd hiked the rates for piped and compressed natural gas (CNG) supply to cities in the national capital region.

As per the revised rates announced by Indian Oil Corp that are effective from April 1, a 14.2 kg non-subsidised cooking gas cylinder now costs Rs 653.50 in Delhi, as compared to Rs 689.

Similarly, the non-subsidised LPG cylinder now costs Rs 676 in Kolkata, Rs 625 in Mumbai and 663.50 in Chennai.

The price of the subsidised cylinder, which a consumer has a quota of 12 per year, was also cut marginally by Rs 1.74. The 14.2 kg cylinder now costs Rs 491.35 in Delhi as against Rs 493 earlier.

OMCs revise LPG and aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, prices on the first of every month.

Jet fuel prices have been cut by Rs 231 in Delhi and now sells at Rs 61,450 per kilolitre. Prices vary with airports depending on local taxes.

Jet fuel per kilolitre now costs Rs 65,985 in Kolkata, Rs 61,025 in Mumbai and Rs 61,615 in Chennai.

Meanwhile, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) raised the price of CNG by 90 paise per kg and of domestic piped gas by Rs 1.15 per standard cubic metres (SCM) in Delhi, effective Monday, following the change in the rate of domestic natural gas prices payable to producers.

As part of the six-monthly official revision of rates, the domestic natural gas price has gone from April 1 up 6 per cent to $3.06 per million British thermal unit (mbtu).

IGL has also raised the price of CNG by Re 1 per kg in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.

Prices of piped natural gas (PNG) to households in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad have been raised by Rs 1.20 per SCM.Cape Town, April 3 : South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has mourned the death of anti-apartheid heroine Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, calling her "an abiding symbol of the desire of our people to be free".

"It is with a profound sense of loss and deep sadness that we have learnt of the passing away of Mam' Winnie Madikizela-Mandela," Ramaphosa said on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Winnie, former President Nelson Mandela's wife, died in Johannesburg Monday after a long illness, for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year, her family announced.

"Today we have lost a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a comrade, a leader and an icon," Ramaphosa said.

Even at the darkest moments of the struggle for liberation, Winnie was "an abiding symbol of the desire of our people to be free," Ramaphosa said.

In the midst of repression, she was a voice of defiance and resistance, said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa also called Winnie "a champion of justice and equality" in the face of exploitation.

"Throughout her life she made an everlasting contribution to the struggle through sacrifice and her unyielding determination. Her dedication to the plight of her people gained her the love and the respect of the nation," Ramaphosa said.

For many years, Winnie bore the brunt of the senseless brutality of the apartheid state with stoicism and fortitude, the president said.

"Despite the hardships she faced, she never doubted that the struggle for freedom and democracy would succeed," Ramaphosa said.

Winnie remained throughout her life a tireless advocate for the dispossessed and the marginalised and was a voice for the voiceless, said Ramaphosa.

He urged South Africans to draw inspiration from the struggles that Winnie fought and the dream of a better society to which she dedicated her life.

Also on Monday, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) lowered its revolutionary banner in honour of the memory of Winnie.

The ANC called Winnie a great woman who was so loved and revered and whose name will forever be inscribed in history.

Winnie's resilience and courage inspired freedom struggles not only in South Africa, but across Africa and her diaspora, the ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule said.

As one of the greatest icons of the struggle against apartheid, Winnie fought fearlessly against the apartheid state and sacrificed her life for the freedom of the country. Her activism and resistance to apartheid landed her in jail on numerous occasions.

Despite all these attempts to break her spirit, she remained steadfast and refused to cease with her political activism, displaying exemplary courage that made her a role model for many young women activists in South Africa, Magashule said.An Iranian-born woman who blogged about veganism had railed online about dictatorship and accused YouTube of limiting viewers of her videos before opening fire at its California corporate headquarters, wounding three people and killing herself.

San Bruno police on Wednesday were investigating why Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, of San Diego, opened fire with a handgun on Tuesday at the company owned by Alphabet Inc's Google.

A review of her postings online in Persian and English showed glimpses of resentment and anger at the video-sharing company.

"BE AWARE! Dictatorships exist in all countries. But with different tactics. They care only for short term profits," she wrote on a website called NasimeSabz.com, which translates as "Green Breeze" from Persian.

"I am being discriminated. I am being filtered on YouTube. I am not the only one," Aghdam said in an English language video on YouTube before her channel was deleted on Tuesday.

A man was in critical condition and two women were seriously wounded in the attack at an outdoor patio at YouTube's Silicon Valley headquarters, which employ about 2,000 people. Police said Aghdam seemed to have chosen victims at random.

The shooting came in the midst of a particularly intense phase of the United States' long-running debate on gun rights, following the killing of 17 students and educators at a Florida high school in February. While mass shootings have become a regular occurrence in the United States, they are rarely carried out by women.

Writing in Persian on her Instagram account, Aghdam said she was born in the Iranian city of Urmiah and that she was not planning to return to Iran.

"I think I am doing a great job," she wrote. "I have never fallen in love and have never got married. I have no physical and psychological diseases. But I live on a planet that is full of injustice and diseases."

Warning From Family

Californian media reported that Aghdam's family had warned authorities that she could target YouTube prior to the shooting.

The San Jose Mercury News quoted her father, Ismail Aghdam, as saying he had told police that she might go to YouTube's headquarters because she "hated" the company.

Efforts to reach her relatives by phone were unsuccessful.

Her family in Southern California recently reported her missing because she had not been answering her phone for two days, police said.

At one point Tuesday, Mountain View, California, police found her sleeping in her car and called her family to say everything was under control, hours before she walked onto the company grounds and opened fire.

A survivor of the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Parkland, Florida, weighed in on the YouTube incident on Wednesday.

"The YouTube HQ shooting is proof that this is NOT just schools," Jaclyn Corin said on Twitter Wednesday. "Our country has a GUN problem. End of story."

Gun rights advocates have argued that more armed guards and citizens could prevent mass shootings.

YouTube has long faced complaints about alleged censorship on its site, and says it attempts to balance its mission of fostering free speech while still providing an appropriate and lawful environment for users.

In some cases involving videos with sensitive content, YouTube has allowed the videos to stay online but cut off the ability for their publishers to share in advertising revenue.

Criticisms from video makers that YouTube is too restrictive about which users can participate in revenue sharing swelled last year as the company imposed new restrictions.

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United Nations, April 3 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was saddened by the death of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a former wife of Nelson Mandela and an anti-apartheid leader in her own right, a UN spokesman has said.

"The Secretary-General is saddened by the passing of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a leading figure at the forefront of the fight against apartheid in South Africa," Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, told reporters on Monday, Xinhua reported.

"She was a strong and fearless voice in the struggle for equal rights and will be remembered as a symbol of resistance," said the spokesman.

The Secretary-General extended his deepest condolences to the people of South Africa and to Madikizela-Mandela's family, he said.

Madikizela-Mandela died in Johannesburg on Monday at the age of 81. She died peacefully surrounded by her family following a long illness that kept her in and out of hospital since the start of the year, her family said in a statement.

Madikizela-Mandela was one of the greatest icons of the struggle against Apartheid.New Delhi, April 3 : Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and discussed the current political situation in the midst of the uproar in the state over Cauvery river water issue.

While there was no official statement on the meeting, the Governor is believed to have apprised the Prime Minister of the strong feeling in Tamil Nadu over the need to constitute a Cauvery Management Board in the wake of a Supreme Court judgement and that there should be no dilution on this score.

The Governor also met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and discussed the law and order situation.

Modi is slated to visit Chennai on April 11 for a defence-related function. The DMK and a few organisations have threatened to show black flags to the Prime Minister over Centre's failure to constitute the board.Bhubaneswar, April 3 : A 10-member team will on Wednesday inspect the 'Ratna Bhandar' (treasury) of the 12th century Jagannath temple in Puri after a gap of 34 years, an official said on Tuesday.

The team, including two experts from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), will enter the 'Ratna Bhandar' to inspect its structural stability and and not the valuables stored there, temple Chief administrator Pradeep Jena said.

"Those entering the treasury will wear gamchhas (towels) given by the temple administration. They would be subjected to frisking both during entry and exit," Jena added.

The entry of devotees during the time will be restricted.

Precious jewellery and ornaments of the deities are kept in the temple treasury, which was last inspected in 1984, when only three of its seven chambers were opened.

The Odisha High Court had ordered the ASI on March 22 to assess the structural condition of the treasury and submit a status report.

The temple servitors on Tuesday appealed to Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb -- permanent Chairman of the temple management committee and scion of the erstwhile Puri royalty -- to be on the inspection team instead of sending in his representative.

"Gajapati is the first servitor of the three deities. Hence, he must be present during the inspection or else it would be a violation of the age-long tradition," said Kashinath Khuntia, General Secretary of Shri Jagannath Sebayat Sammilani.San Bruno (Us), April 4 : One person has been killed and four others wounded in a shooting at the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno in the US state of California, officials said.

Police chief Ed Barberini of San Bruno city, 19 km from San Francisco, said the suspect, a female shooter, appeared to have shot herself after injuring multiple people at the campus of the YouTube facility on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We did locate a victim with what we believe to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound," said Barberini. "It's a female, but the investigation is still ongoing before we can put all the pieces together."

The shooting took place in an outdoor cafe at the YouTube campus which houses at least 1,700 employees.

Police are still searching the building to look for another possible shooter.

Barberini said the four injured people had been transported to a local hospital for gunshot wounds.

"We have a 32-year-old female who is in serious condition, a 27-year-old female in fair condition, and a 36-year-old male in critical condition," KPIX 5 TV quoted Brent Andrew, spokesman for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, as saying.

Google, the parent company of YouTube, issued a statement earlier, saying that "We continue to actively coordinate with local authorities and hospitals. Our security team has been working closely with authorities to evacuate the buildings and ensure the safety of employees in the area."

US President Donald Trump tweeted that he had been briefed on the shooting at the YouTube headquarters.

"Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTube's HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved," he tweted.Cape Town, April 4 : South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a special official funeral "with the highest respect" in honour of anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who died on Monday.

Madikizela-Mandela will be honoured with the Category 1 Funeral which entails elements of military ceremonial honours, Ramaphosa said on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Such a funeral is declared for persons of extraordinary credentials specifically designated by the President of South Africa, said Ramaphosa.

Madikizela-Mandela "deserves the highest respect our nation can demonstrate in honour of a patriot and citizen who served our nation and humanity at large with distinction during our liberation struggle and throughout our democratic dispensation," Ramaphosa said.

In line with this declaration, the National Flag shall, with immediate effect, fly at half-mast at all flag stations countrywide and at South African diplomatic missions abroad, the president said.

This will be observed until the evening of April 14, 2018.

The President further declared national days of mourning from April 3 until April 14.

In terms of the President's declaration, the official memorial service for Madikizela-Mandela will be held at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church, Soweto in Johannesburg on Wednesday, to be followed by the Special Official Funeral proceedings at Orlando Stadium, Soweto on Saturday.

Further details will be announced as arrangements are finalized in consultation between the government and the family of Madikizela-Mandela, Ramaphosa said.

Madikizela-Mandela, former President Nelson Mandela's wife, passed away on Monday at a private hospital in Johannesburg after a long illness.

As one of the greatest icons of the struggle against apartheid, Madikizela-Mandela fought fearlessly against the apartheid state and sacrificed her life for the freedom of the country. Her activism and resistance to apartheid landed her in jail on numerous occasions.

After the end of apartheid in 1994, Madikizela-Mandela served as the Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and as a Member of Parliament. She was also the former president of the African National Congress Women's League.Washington, April 4 : US President Donald Trump has showed mixed attitude toward Russia, emphasising his toughness on Moscow while expecting better bilateral relations.

"Probably nobody's been tougher to Russia than Donald Trump," said Trump on Tuesday at the White House in a working luncheon with visiting leaders from three Baltic countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Trump said "ideally, we want to be able to get along with Russia. Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing".

"I think I could have a very good relationship with Russian President (Vladimir) Putin," noted Trump later in the day at a joint press conference with the leaders from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Relationship between Washington and Moscow has plunged to a new low, as the US expelled 60 Russian diplomats and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle in a concerted action with Britain and other Western nations over an ex-spy poisoning case.

Moscow retaliated with the expulsion of an equal number of US diplomats and the closure of the US consulate in St. Petersburg.

So far, Trump has kept from launching from direct verbal attack against Moscow over the poisoning attack.

Last week, Trump made a call to Putin to congratulate him on his re-election and offered to meet at several "potential venues" including the White House in the near future, despite strong opposition from senior national security advisors.Washington, April 4 : The US will provide about $87 million aid to Yemen to address the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country, the US State Department has said.

The aid will be used for food assistance, support for drinking water, treatment for malnourished children among others, said the US State Department in a statement on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The US government made the announcement at the Yemen High-Level Pledging Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, according to the statement.

Saudi Arabia is leading a mostly Arab military coalition to fight Iran-backed 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.Seoul, April 4 : North Korea requested a one-day postponement to the working-level meeting with South Korea, initially planned to be held on Wednesday to discuss details of an inter-Korean leader summit in late April, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

The meeting has been postponed to Thursday by North Korea, which did not specify the reasons behind the delay, a spokesperson for the South Korean Unification Ministry told Efe news.

Delegations from Pyongyang and Seoul were scheduled to hold a working-level meeting on Wednesday at the militarised border to specify details on the protocol and security of the summit.

North Korea also proposed that the two Koreas hold another talk on Saturday to discuss ways to establish a direct hotline between their leaders, Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in, with the aim of facilitating preparations for the summit, according to the Ministry.

Seoul and Pyongyang have not yet publicly detailed the contents of the summit's agenda, which will be the first encounter between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea in 11 years, and also mark the first time ever that a North Korean leader sets foot on South Korean soil, as the summit is planned to be held on the southern side of the border.

South Korea will send a seven-member delegation, led by the presidential secretary on protocol, Cho Han-ki, to the upcoming working-level meeting, while the North has yet to confirm its plan to send a six-member delegation to the talks.Washington, April 4 : A Dutch lawyer having ties with former Trump campaign officials was sentenced to 30 days in jail on Tuesday for lying to federal investigators, the first to be sentenced in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

According to the indictment, Alex van der Zwaan, 33, lied about his contacts with former campaign official Rick Gates of US President Donald Trump and a Ukraine-based business associate of both Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, reports Xinhua news agency.

Van der Zwaan pleaded guilty in late February to making "materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations" to the special counsel's office and FBI agents.

Van der Zwaan, son-in-law of prominent Russian billionaire German Khan, admitted that he withheld and deleted emails that Mueller team had requested to cover his tracks.

In a brief statement, van der Zwaan said what he did was wrong, while offering apologies to the court and his families. He was also fined $20,000 and imposed two months of supervised release.

Several other Trump campaign associates have also pleaded guilty to various charges stemming from Mueller's investigation, including Gates, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.

They are all cooperating with prosecutors but none of the charges directly relate to the issue of whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow, the main focus of Mueller's probe.

Trump, who has stepped up attacks against Mueller's probe and his team, has repeatedly denied allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russians, describing the Russia probe as a "hoax" or a "witch hunt".Srinagar, April 4 : Faced with alarming levels of muck and choking weeds, Dal lake, the main tourist attraction in the Kashmir Valley, is gasping for breath -- and the once-pristine waterbody seems to be in dire need of intervention by a specialised global agency to prevent further decay.

Despite a separate budget plan and the spending of several crores by successive governments for its conservation, the Dal Lake -- once known for its clear, potable water -- is currently dying because of the continuous flow of untreated sewage, waste material and wild creepers that are together destroying the area's ecosystem.

"We need a specialised agency to tackle the problem and to prevent the lake from dying. The existing local agency, with its conventional cleaning methods, has failed to deliver," a senior Tourism Department official, who declined to be named, told IANS.

The countrywide Swachh Bharat campaign also seems to be missing here.

"We have not got any funds under the Swachh Bharat programme. While our annual state capital expenditure on Dal Lake is Rs 80 crore, we have been allocated Rs 356 crore from the Centre for Dal Lake conservation and rehabilitation of dwellers from the lake to outside the area," said Masoodi Hafeez, Vice Chairman of Lake and Waterways Development Authority.

The Authority, responsible for cleaning and maintenance of the Dal lake, has sought Rs 1,488 crore from the Centre for a holistic project that would involve relocation of dwellers from near the lake and its conservation.

Asked about the need for seeking help of a specialised agency from abroad, Hafeez declined to comment.

"There is a need for strong political and bureaucratic will to take up the cleaning issue as the turbulence in the Valley is pushing it to the backburner, with law and order becoming the priority of the government," said the Tourism Department official.

Acknowledging that Dal is in deplorable condition and in desperate need of a massive cleaning exercise, Minister of State for Tourism Priya Sethi said strong political will is required to prevent its further deterioration.

The lake's area has shrunk to 21 sq km due to encroachments and untreated dirty water being discharged from houseboats and nearby hotels -- as well as houses on the shore.

While the lake needs a sewerage treatment plant of 80 million litres capacity daily to keep the water clean, the authorities have so far managed to install a plant that can only treat 36 million litres daily, resulting in massive depletion in water quality. Only 30 per cent of houseboats are connected to the plant, with the rest discharging untreated waste into the lake.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) recently held its annual convention in Srinagar to attract more tourists to the Valley, which is currently witnessing a decline in footfalls due to the separatist violence in the state.

The event, aimed also at changing the perception about the situation here, has returned to the Valley after 31 years, said TAAI President Sunil Kumar.

While the Dal Lake is the central attraction for tourists in Srinagar, about 500,000 local people depend on it for their livelihood.

At present, the Dal is home to about 1,200 houseboats and 4,000 shikaras and pheriwalas, Bashir Ahmed, the caretaker of a houseboat, said. However, official data -- which does not take into account unregistered boats -- contends there are only 923 houseboats and 2,700 shikaras. There are also some 150 floating shops and 58 hamlets with about 10,000 families staying around the lake.

The flow of untreated water and sewage from hotels and houses along the lake is also affecting the aquatic life of the water body.

As for those responsible for the health of the lake, Ahmed said: "Sometime they come to clean, sometimes they don't." And the result of this dangerously lackadaisical attitude is there for everybody to see -- the Dal Lake is in peril.

(Arun Kumar Das is a senior Delhi-based freelance journalist. He can be contcted at akdas2005@gmail.com)A new discovery off the coast of Bahrain is estimated to contain at least 80 billion barrels of tight oil, the kingdom's biggest ever find, its oil minister said on Wednesday.

Bahrain said on Sunday it had discovered extensive tight oil and deep gas resources off the west coast of the kingdom.

Independent appraisals by U.S.-based oil consultants DeGolyer and MacNaughton and oilfield services company Halliburton had confirmed Bahrain's find of "highly significant quantities of oil in place ... with tight oil amounting to at least 80 billion barrels, and deep gas reserves in the region of 10-20 trillion cubic feet," Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa said.

Tight oil is a form of light crude oil held in shale deep below the earths surface that is extracted with hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, using deep horizontal wells.

"Agreement has been reached with Halliburton to commence drilling on two further appraisal wells in 2018, to further evaluate reservoir potential, optimise completions, and initiate long-term production," Sheikh Mohammed told a news conference in Manama.

He said he was not sure yet how much of the estimated 80 billion barrels was recoverable, but the kingdom aims to attract foreign oil and gas firms to develop the resources.

"The newly discovered resource, which officials expect to be on production within five years, is expected to provide significant and long-term positive benefits to the kingdoms economy  both directly and indirectly through downstream activities in related industries," Bahrain's National Communication Centre said in a statement.

Sadad al-Husseini, a former senior executive at Saudi Aramco and now an energy consultant, said the discovery was positive news for Bahrain, but more data gathering, evaluation and well testing needed to follow to determine whether there are any future commercial opportunities in the resources.

"Converting resource estimates to reserves is an intense and costly process and not all the resources may ultimately be upgraded to reserves," he said.

"The additional drilling and data gathering will serve to improve the accuracy and reliability of the estimate."

Bahrain, which is rated junk by all three major credit rating agencies, revealed the oil discovery just a few days after yields on its international bonds spiked as investors became more concerned about its rising public debt levels.

Officials did not give a specific figure on Wednesday for expected production levels from the new field, but the daily Al Ayam quoted the head of the financial and economic committee in parliament, Abdulrahman Bu Ali, as saying output was expected to be 200,000 barrels per day.

The small non-OPEC Gulf oil producer, with around 124.6 million barrels of proven reserves, gets it oil revenues from two fields: the onshore Bahrain field, and the offshore Abu Safah field, which is shared jointly with Saudi Arabia.

The Bahrain field, produced around 50,000 bpd in 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia split annual revenues from the 300,000 bpd Abu Safah offshore field where production is overseen by Saudi Aramco.

The Bahraini government earned $4.3 billion in oil and gas revenue last year and ran a budget deficit of $2.7 billion.

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Chennai, April 4 : M. Prabhu, a 38-year-old autorickshaw driver in Tamil Nadu, died on Wednesday after consuming rat poison over escalating tensions over the Cauvery waters, police said.

Prabhu, a resident of Annadhanapatti near Salem, took the poison on March 31. "He is said to be a DMK sympathizer," a police official in Salem told IANS over telephone.

According to him, DMK members visited Prabhu's residence. After autopsy, the body was handed over to Prabhu's family.

Speaking from Salem, R. Rajendran, a DMK legislator, told IANS: "Prabhu is a DMK sympathizer. He has written a suicide note thanking DMK leader M.K. Stalin for convening an all-party meeting over Cauvery.

"Prabhu has also said he is committing suicide against the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Tamil Nadu," Rajendran said. Modi is expected to visit Chennai on April 11 to inaugurate a Defence Expo.

Prabhu is survived by his wife P. Sumathi, daughter Roshini (8) and son Dhanush (5).Jerusalem, April 4 : US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on phone on Wednesday amidst Israel's concerns over US planned withdrawal of troops from Syria.

Netanyahu and Trump discussed "regional developments and Iran", the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. The statement did not elaborate which developments were addressed.

According to the statement, cited by Xinhua news agency, Netanyahu thanked Trump for "his commitment to Israel's security" and the two leaders "agreed to continue the close coordination in order to repel Iran's aggression and its attempts to destabilise the region".

On March 29, Trump said the US would "come out of Syria like very soon". However, a US media report later said that their military was working on plans to send dozens of additional American soldiers to northern Syria.

Israel worries that the US withdrawal from Syria, its northern neighbour, would allow Iran to enhance its military foothold in Syria.

Top Israeli officials have warned that Israel will not allow a military Iranian presence in Syria.

The Netanyahu-Trump talk came as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met in Ankara.

Their summit was aimed at discussing measures to consolidate the truce regime in Syria, ensure the operation of de-escalation zones and address the humanitarian problems in the war-torn country.Kolkata, April 4 : Accusing the West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress of pre-poll violence, the BJP on Wednesday said it will seek the Supreme Court's intervention to ensure "free and fair" Panchayat elections in the state.

"We will appeal to the Supreme Court to direct the state administration to conduct a free and fair Panchayat polls so that everything, starting from the nomination process to counting of votes, can be conducted peacefully," Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh told reporters here.

According to sources close to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), members of the party's state unit legal cell have already reached Delhi to complete the legal formalities.

A group of BJP leaders and activists also agitated outside the office of state Election Commission on Wednesday, demanding strict action over any violence taking place during the filing of nominations for the rural elections to be held in the first week of May.

Police personnel barricaded the Election Commission office.

Referring to the communal tension in West Bardhaman district's Raniganj Asansol area centering arpimd Ram Navami rallies, Ghosh said his party would also file a defamation case against a newspaper for blatantly blaming the BJP for violence, without any evidence.

"They have reported that a police personnel got injured in Raniganj after BJP activists hurled bombs at him. This is completely baseless. We will file a Rs 10 crore defamation against the publishing house," he added.: New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party leader N. Chandrababu Naidu addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on April 4, 2018. (Photo: IANS). Image Source: IANS

New Delhi, April 4 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday accused the BJP-led NDA government of betraying the state's people on a special status to the bifurcated state and sought opposition support to get the demand met.

"Five crore people of Andhra Pradesh feel that the BJP-led government is playing with our emotions," Naidu told reporters here, days after the TDP pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance over the government's failure to give a special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

He said he waited till the last Union Budget before withdrawing from the NDA and its government and breaking ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was also part of a ruling coalition in the state.

Naidu said the government kept telling him that that it was not going to give special status because of the 14th Finance Commission.

"The Chairman and member of the Finance Commission denied it, saying their mandate was only to accord funds to the state and Centre.

"They (the government) are blaming me, saying we are prepared to give money, but you are not ready to take. They have given special status to 11 states in spite of the 14th Finance Commission. Then why not Andhra Pradesh?"

Naidu said he even told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if he could sort out the issue "we will continue in the NDA" and it was only after that they decided to snap ties.

The Chief Minister said he had entered into an alliance with the BJP because the state needed "hand-holding by the Centre".

"Had they given us special status within the first year, I would have saved Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000 crore. I want to place all this on record. I waited for four years. (But) they didn't mention any word in their Budget about Andhra Pradesh. They did not even show concern."

Naidu said he had visited Delhi 29 times in four years to meet the Prime Minister and his Ministers.

"And after 29 visits, nothing happened. They did a few minor things, but a major part of (Andhra Pradesh) bifurcation Act was not implemented."

Naidu said the BJP tried to damage his reputation through "mudslinging".

"They (BJP) want to damage my credibility. Is it right? I have built my credibility over 40 years. That is why I have come here to explain to you (media) what all is happening," Naidu said.

During the press conference, Naidu made a power-point presentation on the promises made and their status, besides clippings of Modi allegedly assuring people of Andhra Pradesh a better capital than Delhi.

Naidu said the central government had not fulfilled the revenue deficit certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General as it had released only Rs 3,979 crore as against required Rs 16,078 crore.

The Andhra Chief Minister said the central government had also not released Rs 2,568 crore of the total Rs 7,780 crore for the Polavaram dam project.

He also demanded fulfillment of promises made by Modi to fund Andhra Pradesh's new capital Amravati.

He also demanded Rs 24,350 crore be sanctioned as special development package for seven backward districts of his state.

Naidu also sought a new railway zone, with Vishakhapatnam as its headquarters.Wellington, April 4 : New Zealand's Parliament has passed a legislation to allow people who were previously convicted of homosexual offences to have their criminal records wiped.

Legislation enacting the change was cleared on Tuesday night unanimously, Radio New Zealand reported on Wednesday. Homosexuality was decriminalized in New Zealand in 1986, but people who were convicted before that time still had the offence listed on their official records.

The bill was introduced under the former National-led government by the then Justice Minister, Amy Adams, who apologized for the hurt and the distress those men had suffered.

Current Justice Minister Andrew Little said the legislation "sends a clear signal that discrimination against gay people is no longer acceptable, and we are committed to putting right wrongs from the past".

"I would like to apologize again to all the men and members of the rainbow community who have been affected by the prejudice, stigma and other negative effects caused by convictions for historical homosexual offences," Little said.

About 1,000 people will be eligible to have their records cleared when the scheme kicks in next year, the BBC reported.

The government said the convictions related to three offences that were decriminalized in 1986 -- sodomy, indecency between males and keeping a place of resort for homosexual acts.

Those with convictions or families of the convicted person who passed away, will be able to apply to the Secretary for Justice to have their convictions wiped.

To qualify, the sex that led to the conviction must have been consensual and between people aged 16 years or older, the report said.

A petition to quash historical convictions for homosexual offences was first introduced in Parliament in 2017.

New Zealand passed laws banning discrimination against gays in 1993 and became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage 20 years later.New Delhi, April 4 : State-run banks have written off nearly Rs 2.42 lakh crore worth of non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, between April 2014 and September 2017, Parliament was told on Wednesday.

Minister of State of Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that writing off is a regular exercise undertaken by banks to clean up their balance sheets and achieve taxation efficiency.

"As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on global operations, public sector banks have written off (including compromise) an amount of Rs 2,41,911 crore from financial year 2014-15 till September 2017.

"Borrowers of such written-off loans continue to be liable for repayment," the Minister said.

Shukla also said that recovery of dues is an ongoing activity under the legal mechanism, including the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets (SARFAESI) Act and debt recovery tribunals (DRTs).

"Therefore, write offs do not benefit borrowers."

Shukla said the RBI has apprised it that borrower-wise credit information is not available for disclosure as required by the RBI Act.

Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas, who heads the Insolvency Law Committee which made public its recommendations on Tuesday, told reporters on Wednesday that less than half of the staggering Rs 9 lakh crore worth of NPAs of banks had returned due to the system set in place by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) enacted by Parliament in 2016.The Hague, April 4 : Russia must cooperate with the global chemical weapons watchdog's investigation into the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury, the EU said on Wednesday during an emergency session here with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

"It is imperative that the Russian Federation responds to the British government's legitimate questions, begins to cooperate with the OPCW secretariat and provides full and complete disclosure to the OPCW," the EU said.

Wednesday's meeting was called by Russia, which wants the UK to share the evidence about the attack, the Guardian reported.

Among other things, Moscow wants to know what kind of evidence the UK provided to the OPCW, which inspectors visited the site of the attack in Salisbury, who they met and where the samples are being analysed.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with a nerve agent on March 4, setting off a dispute between Russia and the UK government, which blamed Moscow for the attack.

But Moscow denies any involvement. The incident caused a major diplomatic fallout with the expulsion of about 130 Russian diplomats by the UK and its allies being met by counter-expulsions by Moscow.

On Tuesday, the chief executive of the British government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Gary Aitkenhead, said British scientists had identified the nerve agent used as Novichok but were not able to identify the precise source.

Russia had warned it will not accept any international scientific findings on the poison administered to Skripals if its own experts were not allowed to be involved in testing the samples of the nerve agent.

On Wednesday, Russia's spymaster Sergei Naryshkin described the poisoning as a "grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and US intelligence agencies".

A Russian proposal for a joint UK-Russian investigation into the incident was dismissed by the British delegation at the Hague as "perverse".

"It is a diversionary tactic and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer," the UK team said in a tweet.

The OPCW is the internationally recognised body responsible for overseeing the 1997 chemical weapons convention and has been testing samples provided by British scientists and taken from the bodies of the Skripals.

If the dispute over the nature of the Salisbury nerve agent reaches deadlock, Russia could withdraw from the OPCW, which would be a severe blow to global efforts to control chemical weapons.

Russia has already challenged OPCW findings about Syrian government responsibility for chemical weapons attacks on Syrian civilians.

Russia is also keeping up the pressure on the UK to provide consular access to Yulia Skripal.New Delhi, April 4 : The Congress on Wednesday alleged "impropriety" and "conflict of interest" on the part of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, saying a company associated with him in the past was given a "haircut" loan waiver of 65 per cent on the outstanding loan amount of over Rs 650 crore.

The party sought his removal from the Union Cabinet and a judicial investigation by a Supreme Court judge into the case.

Talking to the media, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "A damning tale of conflict of interest, sweetened deals, gross impropriety and bank loan defaults by Shirdi Industries Ltd with past and present affiliation to Piyush Goyal and his family is out in open."

Azad, who was accompanied by party leader M. Veerapa Moily and party spokesperson Pawan Khera, said Goyal was chairman and full-time director of Shirdi Industries Ltd from April 25, 2008 to July 1, 2010. The company had worked out a loan of Rs 258.62 crore from a consortium of banks headed by the Union Bank of India.

The Congress leader said that Shirdi Industries was declared sick on June 8, 2015, almost a year after the Modi government came to power.

"Despite Shirdi Industries Ltd (of Rakesh Agarwal and Mukesh Bansal) being declared 'sick', their sister company Asis Industries proceeded to grant an unsecured loan of Rs 1.59 crore in 2015-16 to Intercon Advisors Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Seema Goyal, the wife of the Union Minister," he alleged.

Azad said Goyal was also director of this company from September 15, 2005 to July 22, 2013.

He said that Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Amending Act, 2017 prohibits a promoter of sick company from submitting bids before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

"Shirdi Industries went to NCLT. Outstanding loan amount of consortium of banks was Rs 651.87 crore. Shockingly, the consortium of banks agreed to take a haircut (waiver) of 65 per cent of loan amount and settled for Rs 228.85 crore," he said.

"Surprisingly, no one raised an objection that the promoter of Shirdi Industries could not make a bid in view of the prohibitions contained in the insolvency code," he added.

The Congress leader alleged that Rakesh Agarwal of Shridi Industries was "proximate" to Goyal as he was director in another company along with the brother of Union Minister.

He said Piyush Goyal and his wife were directors in another company and were succeeded by the sons of Agarwal and Bansal.

"The web of corporate entities that ties Piyush Goyal and his family to Rakesh Agarwal/ Mukesh Bansal is glaringly apparent," Azad stressed.

Raising questions, the Congress leaders asked if it was "not a clear-cut case of conflict of interest and impropriety" on the part of Goyal.

The party asked if Goyal had declared his status as a chairman/whole-time director of Shirdi Industries as Rs 258.62 crore loan was raised from the UBI consortium.

It asked why Goyal had not declared the unsecured loan given to his wife's company in his public filing available on the PMO website.New Delhi, April 4 : If you are someone who can't get over actor Tiger Shroff's fit body in his current release "Baaghi 2", then you can transform yourself with some basic martial art techniques.

Siddharth Singh, Mixed Martial Arts Trainer for the brand Reebok, guides beginners with tips and tricks to become the next "Baaghi"

Training in gymnastics is a must to help develop muscle coordination, flexibility and strength. The key, however, is starting gymnastics early because, with age, muscle flexibility reduces, and the chances of injuries increase manifold.

For a well-chiselled body like Tiger's, one needs to train religiously and eat multiple high-protein meals in small quantities through the day. Instead of focusing on the "how much weight one can lift or the intensity of the workout", one should focus on the consistency of training. A good mix of hard training and healthy diet (along with a bunch of supplements) will give the desired results.

While a lot of emphasis is laid on flashy and high-flying moves, in real-life situations, four key martial arts are all that are needed in hand-to-hand combat" boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling and Brazilian jiu jitsu.

Boxing gives the ability to use ones most dexterous limbs to devastating effect.

Muay Thai is a brutal martial art from Thailand, incidentally also their national sport. The form involves punches, kicks, elbows, knees and clinches.

Wrestling is based on taking the opponent to the ground as quickly and effectively as possible.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art which uses the concept of technique and leverage beating brute strength. BJJ uses joint locks, choke holds, leg locks -- all of which are essential as most fights end up on the ground.

Rajiv Khati, another a martial arts practitioner, too lists some benefits of martial arts.

Since martial arts are skill-based, they not only make our bodies fitter, but also prime our minds.

It is a complete discipline as it trains you to fight both standing up and when on the ground.

Commenting on the role played by mainstream cinema in promoting the fitness form, he said: "Just like rock music in India became popular after movies like 'Rock On', mainstream cinema can help MMA (Mixed Martial art) grow in India. However, it has to be done responsibly and audiences need to be educated in the right way. Having said that, a film star endorsing it will definitely drive more people into this fitness form."Mumbai, April 4 : Actor Randeep Hooda says he is happy that children nowadays are educated when it comes to social issues ailing the country.

Randeep was here at Vibgyor High School on Wednesday in support of the save environment and keep surroundings plastic-free movement.

"As a kid, I didn't have issues with public speaking, but I got nervous after seeing these kids here. I am happy to see kids are educated about the issues in our society and have solutions. They are also very enthusiastic about solving the problems," he said.

The actor also said people need to go beyond social media activism.

"You think your job is done after sharing and liking, but who does the actual work?"

He said schools should increasingly involve children in such activities because "until and unless these kids clean with their hands and take part in such drives they won't know what they, their parents and we as humans are doing to planet Earth".

Randeep was at the event with environmentalist Afroz Shah.

Lauding his work towards a cleaner environment, he said: "He is one of the few people who actually take action which is why I like him. He contributes to the difference with his own hands. He goes to a lot of schools, talks about his movement and gets the new generation involved."In celebration of the Modern Dance Theatre Companys silver jubilee, Egyptian Culture Minister Ines Abdel-Dayem honored the troupe's Lebanese founder and director Walid Aouni at the Cairo Opera House on 3 April.

The ceremony was held in appreciation for Aouni's extensive artistic career, and his work with the troupe since it was founded 25 years ago.

A choreographer, scenographer and director, Aouni has directed more than 25 shows for the Egyptian Modern Dance Theatre Company, as well as many ceremonies for the ministry of culture and the ministry of armed forces. He has also contributed to various other national celebrations in Egypt.

The director and choreographer expressed his joy at being honored, and thanked everyone who participated in the success of the company over the years, according to Ahram Arabic.

I will continue to dance, because the world is dancing, he said.

The celebration began with a documentary about the troupes history, highlighting the most important milestones, followed by the re-staging of Icarus, the troupe's debut performance.

The production was first launched in 1993. On Thursday, the troupe performed a new version based on Aouni's vision.

Inspired by the ancient Greek legend, Icarus is a story of hubris.

Trapped with his father Dedalus on the island of Crete as punishment from the god Mineus, they attempt to escape with wings made of wax, but Icarus ignores his father's warning not to fly too close to the sun.

The play will be performed again on 4 April at 8pm in the Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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New Delhi, April 4 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday asked Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain to direct local bodies to regularise the services of all contractual sanitation workers.

Later, the assembly also passed a resolution in this regard by a voice vote.

Kejriwal told the House that five sanitation workers of local bodies had been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike for the past 16 days and that he had urged them to break their fast.

"I request you to please break your fast, the whole assembly and the Chief Minister is with you," Kejriwal said.

The three municipal corporations of Delhi are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kejriwal asked BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta whether they would regularise the services of sanitation workers.

The Chief Minister said that in Gujarat and Haryana, which are BJP-ruled states, all workers were contractual.

"If we get Services (Department) today, we will show how to make workers permanent," he said.

The Delhi Services Department, which deals with appointments, is under Lt. Governor Anil Baijal.

Kejriwal also raised the issue of Delhi not featuring in central Finance Commission's list of states for receiving financial assistance from the central government, despite Delhi paying income tax of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

"Delhi government will go to the Supreme Court on this matter," he said.Rabat, April 4 : The Moroccan police have seized a record of 241,319 ecstasy pills at the northern Tangier-Med port.

Coming from Europe, the illicit substance was found in a vehicle bound to Morocco on Tuesday, the police said. Two people were arrested.

"This operation was part of sustained efforts by the security services to fight against international criminal networks operating in psychotropic drug trafficking," the police said.Shimla, April 4 : The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday summoned the Chief Secretary and the state roadways Managing Director over lack of wayside amenities like toilets across the state for commuters, including a large number of tourists.

Aghast over non-compliance of its earlier orders, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma observed: "HRTC (Himachal Road Transport Corp) has not complied with our earlier orders."

"Also, action taken report, pursuant to the meeting convened by the Chief Secretary, has yet not been filed."

"It appears that either our orders are not being communicated to the government or the persons dealing with the same are not apprehending the importance, urgency and the sensitivity of the matter," the judges said.

Listing the case for next hearing on April 11, the bench directed Chief Secretary Vineet Chawdhary and HRTC Managing Director Sandeep Bhatnagar to remain present in the court on the next day of hearing.

"We have been repeatedly emphasising the importance and the need for having the wayside amenities for the commuters. More so, considering the fact that Himachal Pradesh is a tourist destination," they said.

The state's Economic Survey 2017-18 says Himachal Pradesh attracted 196.02 lakh tourists last year, 2.9 times its population. It has 63 operational helipads.Kolkata, April 4 : Pointing out that trade between India and Vietnam is languishing at around one percent of the total trade done by both countries, the Vietnamese envoy to India on Wednesday said their strong bilateral relationship should be used as a foundation for greater economic cooperation.

He also urged both the countries to make a better use of the 'ASEAN India Free Trade Agreement', of which Vietnam is a member.

"The trade between Vietnam and India is growing but it is not up to the potential. Last year the trade amount between the two countries was $7.6 bn which is very little compared to our total trade. The amount is just more than one percent of Vietnam's total trade. For India it is less than one percent," Vietnamese Ambassador Ton Sinh Thanh said here.

"Both Vietnam and India are developing very fast... India's GDP growth last year was seven percent while we had 6.8 percent, which is the highest growth rate in a decade. Also Vietnam and India have very good bilateral relation that comes from a 2000-year-old tradition.

"Now we have been upgraded to comprehensive strategic partnership since Prime Minister Modi's visit to Vietnam. There has been a lot of high level visits between the two countries since then.So this good political relationship would be a good foundation for greater economic cooperation," he pointed out.

The Ambassador also urged both the countries to make a better use of theA 'ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement'.

"Between Vietnam and India, we do not have any bilateral financial agreement but between ASEAN countries and India, we have a free trade agreement already. We have to make use of the agreement between India and ASEAN, of which Vietnam is a member.

"I think we should have more promotional activities, more exploration of markets. By visiting you can see what you can buy or sell in Vietnam," he said.

Stating that Vietnam is "very open" to foreign investments and currently more than 25,000 projects from foreign investors are running there, Thnah said the investment of $1 billion from Indian companies last year is still a small amount and invited more Indian investors to Vietnam.

"Last year we received 13 million foreign tourists. the same number as India. So there are a lot of opportunities of business in terms of trade investment and tourism. We have very liberal trade regulations that interest a lot of foreign investors," he said.

Latest updates on Howdy Modi HoustonNew Delhi, April 4 : BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Wednesday apologised for a 'casteist remark' he made in the Assembly House on Tuesday, after protests by members of the ruling AAP.

Delhi Assembly was adjourned twice on Wednesday afternoon, first for 30 minutes and then for 15 minutes following protests by Aam Aadmi Party lawmakers over Sirsa's remark.

After proceedings resumed after the second adjournment, Sirsa said that he was sorry for the remark and he did not intend to hurt anyone.

As soon as the house met on Wednesday, AAP's Nitin Tyagi asked Speaker Ram Niwas Goel to suspend Sisra as the latter had called dalits "Chotti Jati" on Tuesday.

The Speaker said that the word was expunged from the the proceedings of the House.

But AAP members stormed into the well of the House raising slogans "Sirsa ji ko baahar karo" and "Dalit Virodhi", urging to suspend Sirsa.San Bruno (California), April 4 : A woman with a handgun shot three people at YouTube's headquarters in California over the video sharing platform's "discriminatory" treatment to her postings. She later killed herself.

The San Bruno Police Department said that the attacker, 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam, a Californian resident of Iranian descent, opened fire in a courtyard at YouTube's offices in San Bruno on Tuesday.

While the police did not provide a possible motive, Aghdam had alleged that YouTube was filtering her videos and reducing the money she could make, the US media reported.

On Wednesday, the police were still trying to put together Aghdam's activity in the days leading up to the shooting. Her family reported her missing on March 31 in San Diego and she was located by another police department before the shooting, about 30 miles south of YouTube's headquarters, the New York Times reported.

The violence began about 12.45 p.m. in a courtyard outside the company's headquarters. Witnesses described seeing a woman shooting a gun in the courtyard as others ran for their lives.

Several YouTube employees tweeted about the attack as it was taking place. Product manager Todd Sherman said people fled the building in panic as the shooting unfolded.

Some ran while others hid when the gunshots rang out. Senior software engineer Zach Voorhies bolted when the fire alarm blared.

"I went outside with my electric skateboard and I started skating down, because I thought it was a fire," he told CNN affiliate KPIX. "I heard some yelling and I saw somebody down on his back with a red spot on his stomach."

As they fled the building, he said, the shooter was yelling, "Come at me, or come get me!"

The female attacker took her own life after the shootings, said police.

The attacker's father Ismail Aghdam told the Bay Area News Group that she told her family in recent weeks that she "hated" YouTube because it was censoring her videos and paying her less. "She was angry," he said.

On the website and in YouTube videos, Aghdam discussed Persian culture, veganism and animal cruelty, performed music parodies and gave exercise tutorials. She had YouTube pages in Persian, Turkish and English.

Her personal website included graphic photos of slaughtered animals and pleas not to wear fur jackets or have sex outside of marriage. She also focused on what she perceived as "discrimination" by YouTube and Google.

Her brother told KGTV, a television station in San Diego, that he warned police "she might do something" after learning Agdham had travelled to the Bay Area.

By Tuesday night, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook took down her pages and videos. San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said that investigators were aware of Aghdam's criticism of YouTube and Google.

Authorities gave conflicting accounts of whether Aghdam knew any of her three victims -- one man and two women -- who were hospitalized with injuries.

Shortly after the shooting, two law enforcement officials told CNN the shooter knew at least one victim. But later, they said they had no evidence Aghdam knew any of the victims.

Google, the parent company of YouTube, said it was cooperating with law enforcement. Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a message to employees following the shooting, saying: "I know a lot of you are in shock right now... Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy."New Delhi, April 4 : The Central government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that Aadhaar unique identification number is a policy decision in the larger interest of the state, and was put in place after expert inputs, thus the scope of judicial scrutiny into it was limited.

Citing the enormous benefits of the scheme, Attorney General K.K.Venugopal told five judge constitution bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.K. Sikri, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan that it has helped in curbing the leakages in the disbursal of benefits under welfare schemes.

Telling the bench that the legitimate interest of the state or the larger public interest runs through the entire Aadhaar Act, he said that it has helped in dissipation of subsides covered under Section 7, preventing black money and money laundering by linking unique identification number with bank accounts.

The court was told that linking of Aadhaar with PAN has helped in checking evasion of tax and making its mandatory linking with SIM card has aided in preventing terrorism and protecting national security.

To buttress his arguments that similar steps were taken in other countries and were upheld by their courts, the Attorney General took the constitution bench through the judgments of the American Supreme Court which have upheld the fingerprint imaging for social security cards.

He cited 19 judgments of US top court as well as United Nations report "Leaving no one behind: Imperative of inclusive development" to drive home his point that collection of biometric data of the Aadhaar holders was not invasion of privacy or or means to surveliance.

At this Justice Sikri observed that the position taken by the European courts including by the German court was diametrically different to the position taken by US courts, and cautioned that it would be better not to refer to foreign court judgments as they may cause confusion.

The Attorney General on Tuesday (April 3) had pointed to tremendous efforts were put in to ensure that Aadhaar invades or impinges the privacy to the "minimum possible manner".

"We have structured the law so that it satisfies the three requirements of the validity of a law - that it is fair, just and reasonable," he said in the course of the hearing of a batch of petitions by former Karnataka High Court Judge K.S. Puttuswamy, Magsaysay awardee Shanta Sinha, feminist researcher Kalyani Sen Menon, social activist Aruna Roy, Nikhil De, Nachiket Udupa and others challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme on the touchstone of the fundamental right to privacy.New Delhi, April 4 : Accusing the Congress of paralysing parliament, BJP and NDA MPs on Wednesday night took the high moral ground by deciding not to take salary and allowances for 23 days of the resumed budget session that has been completely washed out due to protests by various parties.

Announcing the decision, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said it has been decided that the NDA MPs would be giving up their salary and other allowances for 23 days "for which parliament was not allowed to function by the Congress".

"The Congress is engaging in anti-democratic politics by stopping important bills from being passed, which is leading to criminal wastage of tax payers money," he told reporters at a hurriedly-called briefing.

Interestingly, Ananth Kumar singled out Congress for the trouble in parliament while there are other parties like AIADMK, TDP, YSR Congress and TRS who had disrupted parliament on various days citing different issues.

"It is people's money. MPs have been elected to work for the people. Since no work is being done we have decided not to take money," he said, adding that Congress was indulging in negative politics.

"The Congress has become intolerant of the people's mandate given to Narendra Bhai Modi. We will take the issue to the people," he said.

Both the government and the opposition have been blaming each other for the wash out of the session ever since it resumed on March 5 for the second part of the budget session.

While for the first few days the opposition including Congress had disrupted the house seeking to rake up issues like banking fraud, the protests took a different turn after YSR Congress and TDP brought no-confidence motions on the issue of special category status for Andhra Pradesh. Several other parties inlcluding Congress, TMC, CPI-M tabled similar notices.

However, the AIADMK, considered friendly to BJP, took the protest to a new level with its members in both the houses of parliament raking up the Cauvery Management Board issue and disrupting the proceedings without any break for over a fortnight.Mumbai, April 4 : Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, top legislative functionaries and elected people's representatives witnessed a demonstration of naval exercises during a 'day at sea' organised by the Indian Navy here on Wednesday.

The unique and unprecedented event was planned in accordance with the directives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi "to maintain close interaction between the elected representatives and state government officials of all coastal states with the Indian Navy", said an official spokesperson.

This was the first time such an event was attempted. Now similar ones are being planned in the near future for leaders and elected representatives of all coastal states, he added.

Western Naval Command chief, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra hosted the top officials who embarked various frontline naval warships in the morning, including aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, INS Chennai, INS Kolkata, INS Trishul and INS Teg of the Western Fleet.

An exciting live operational demo and exercises were witnessed by the dignitaries by the participating ships and submarines including the recently-commissioned INS Kalvari, missiles demo by INS Vidyut, and search and rescue demo by helicopters, providing a deep insight into the complexities of rescue operations at sea, said an official spokesperson.

Shipborne Anti-Submarine Warfare Seaking, AEW Kamov helicopters, MiG 29K carrier borne fighter aircraft, participated in a thrilling air power demo.

Luthra and other senior naval officials also briefed the visitors on the role and scope of operations of the command on the high seas, on the aircraft carrier.

On his part, Fadnavis lauded the role of the armed forces in safeguarding territorial, maritime and economic interests of the country, acknowledged the gallant services of the naval personnel to the nation with professionalism and fortitude in the challenging environments of the high seas.

Besides Fadnavis, other notables on the trip included Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade, Legislative Council Chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, several Lok Sabha and Assembly members and senior government officials.Bhubaneswar, April 4 : A team on Wednesday inspected the 'Ratna Bhandar' or treasury at the Jagannath temple in Puri and came across cracks in the wall and roof of the structure, an official said on Wednesday.

"The team members thoroughly examined the Ratna Bhandar. The ASI members and the Core Committee members found moisture on the walls," Sri Jagannath Temple Chief Administrator Pradeep Kumar Jena told reporters.

"There are a number of cracks and the technical committee will submit a detailed report on the matter," said Puri Collector Arvind Agarwal.

The team inspected only one of the seven chambers in 'Ratna Bhandar'. The 10-member team inspected the 'Ratna Bhandar' (treasury) of the 12th century temple after a gap of 34 years.

"It was not required to enter the inner Ratna Bhandar as the team could see the condition of it through the grille," Jena added.

The Odisha High Court had ordered the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) on March 22 to assess the structural condition of the treasury and submit a status report.

The ASI would soon submit a report pertaining to the inspection, the official added.

The team, including two ASI experts, was mandated to inspect the treasury's structural stability and not the valuables stored therein, Jena said on Tuesday.

It was opened twice in the past -- in 1964 and 1984.

Precious jewellery and ornaments of the deities are kept in the temple treasury, which was last inspected in 1984, when only three of its seven chambers were opened.An Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities has uncovered the remains of a Graeco-Roman temple while carrying our excavation work at the Al-Salam archaeological site, about 50km east of the Siwa Oasis.

Aymen Ashmawi, the head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, said that the mission uncovered the front part of the temple as well as parts of its foundations, its main entrance and one-metre thick stones from its outer wall.

The outer wall leads to a front courtyard with entrances to chambers.

Ashmawi said he expects the rest of the temple to be excavated this year.

The head of the archaeological mission Abdel-Aziz El-Demery said that during the removal of the debris from the site, the mission uncovered architectural elements including upper lintels decorated with scenes, as well as parts of corner pillars decorated with the egg-and-dart architectural device common in the Graeco-Roman era.

El-Demery added that the mission also uncovered the remains of pots, coins, and a statue of a man with Greek facial features, as well as two limestone statues of lions, one of which is headless.

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New Delhi, April 4 : On the day Rajya Sabha saw an unusual 11 adjournments and the government failed to get an anti-corruption bill passed, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel on Wednesday blamed the opposition for the continued logjam in Parliament and said that some parties were adamant despite government's efforts to placate them.

"It has been proved today that there are a few opposition parties who are creating ruckus and not allowing Parliament to function," he told reporters after the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day.

"It's not about this Bill only, the opposition has been stalling both Houses of Parliament for the last 19 days. Someone should tell us as to what these opposition parties want. The Bill we wanted to pass today is against the corruption. What problem did opposition have with this bill, we cannot understand," Goel said.

The government had moved the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2013 amid the din but could not get it passed as the agitating members of the Congress, TDP, AIADMK and others opposed the move and the Trinamool Congress demanded a division.

Goel said that the government has been trying to reach out to the opposition leaders.

"The government is reaching out to opposition. As we did today repeatedly during the adjournments. We are even going to the homes of opposition leaders. Today itself I went to see Mr. Thambidurai (of the AIADMK) at his place. So, when we meet the leaders outside Parliament they say they are all for running the House but inside they stall it," he said.New Delhi, April 4 : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the Revised Cost Estimates (RCE) of the scheme for updation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam up to December 31 this year at a cost of Rs 1,220.93 crore.

The scheme of NRC, 1951, is specific to Assam and covers about 3.29 crore applicants, an official statement said.

"The National Register of Citizens, Assam, will contain the names of genuine Indian citizens and will help the government to check illegal immigration in India," it said.

The first draft of NRC covering 1.9 crore persons out of 3.29 crore applicants was published on December 31 last year and included names of applicants whose process of verification has been completed.

The release said that verification of remaining applicants is at various stages of scrutiny and the complete draft NRC will be published by June 30 this year. Claims and objections will be received subsequently and disposed off before publication of final NRC on December 31 this year.

The NRC will include persons whose names appear in any of the electoral rolls up to the midnight of March 24, 1971 or National Register of Citizens, 1951 and their descendants.

The release said that 3.29 crore persons applied with 6.63 crore documents in 2015 for inclusion of their names in the NRC. This was followed by extensive field and document verification in respect of each applicant.

The release said preparation of NRC is the most extensive citizen engaging exercise, which touches the life of every resident of Assam, and is part of the action for the fulfillment of Assam Accord and understanding arrived in a tripartite meeting held in 2005 at the level of Prime Minister.

The NRC Assam, the register containing names of Indian Citizens in Assam, was prepared in 1951 as a non-statutory process by recording particulars of all the persons enumerated during 1951 Census.

The Assam agitation (1979-85) against the illegal foreigners led to the signing of Assam Accord on August 15, 1985 between the Central government, state government, All India Students' Union (AASU) and All Assam Gan Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), which stipulated March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for identification and deportation of illegal migrants from East Pakistan (Bangladesh).

Accordingly, the Citizenship Act, 1955 was amended by inserting section 6A as special provisions for Assam.

In a tripartite meeting of the Central and State governments and the AASU chaired by the Prime Minister in May, 2005, it was agreed to update NRC, 1951 and the modalities were approved by the Central government in consultation with the state government.

The release said that the exercise of NRC update in Assam commenced in December 2013 in pursuance of the Supreme Court's direction, adding that the court was continuously monitoring the progress.New Delhi, April 4 : Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday described the Congress's allegations of "impropriety" and "conflict of interest" as "false and malicious campaign".

In a statement, the BJP leader also said that the entire issue was nothing but another episode of Congress "spit and run" style of politics to divert attention from main issues relating to the common man.

"The Congress has the habit of repeatedly indulging in malicious campaigns which are full of factual inaccuracies. For cheap political mileage the opposition party is running this type of motivated propaganda," said Goyal, the Railways Minister.

He said that the malicious statement by Congress "factually misleads" and makes "incorrect conclusions" with false and defamatory statements and it was full of factual inaccuracies, mix up of dates and alluding to events with no relevance to his brief association with Shirdi Industries Ltd.

The Congress alleged that a company associated with Goyal in the past was given a "haircut" loan waiver of 65 per cent on the outstanding loan amount of over Rs 650 crore, terming it a damning tale of conflict of interest, sweetened deals, gross impropriety and bank loan defaults by Shirdi Industries Ltd with past and present affiliation to Piyush Goyal and his family.

The party sought Goyal's removal from the Union Cabinet and a judicial investigation by a Supreme Court judge into the case.

Goyal admitted that as an investment banker and as chartered accountant, he was associated with Shirdi Industries Ltd. as a whole time Director from April 25, 2008 till September 30, 2009 and thereafter served as non-executive Chairman till July 1, 2010, when he resigned.

Refuting the allegations, he said there was no fresh loan approved of Rs 258.62 crore as claimed by the Congress. "It was only an enhancement of the existing loans from Rs 181.82 crore (increased by 40 per cent in the normal course of business)."

Noting that he was neither a MP nor the Director of State Bank of India (SBI) at the time of enhancement, he said, "There is no question of influencing this loan enhancement."

He said the issues after 2010 in Shirdi Industries, have got nothing to do with him as he had no role in the Company after July 1, 2010, and any distress the company had relates to 2013 when Congress was in power.

"In any case, Goyal has had no relationship with Shirdi Industries since the last 8 years and is not responsible for their issues. None of the Ministries handled by Goyal dealt with this company," the statement read.

The minister said that the loan from Asis Industries to Intercon Advisors was not given in 2015-16 as alleged by the Congress but on September 24, 2012, a good two years after he left the company and was taken in the normal course of lending from Asis Industries at interest of 12 per cent per annum which was higher than prevailing market rates.

"The Congress cannot distinguish between a pure commercial transaction and the corrupt practices regularly indulged in by Congress and its leaders," he said.

Goyal said that there has been absolutely no wrongdoing or irregularity on his part and he was being targeted for vested political interest possibly to deflect attraction from the repeated scams of Congress and its leaders possibly to deflect attention from the repeated scams of Congress and its leaders.

Hitting out at Congress for casting aspersions on the NCLT, an independent judicial body, he said nobody can influence the judiciary. "It is unfair that Congress has tried to drag judiciary for its petty politics."

The Congress had alleged that Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Amending Act, 2017 prohibits a promoter of sick company from submitting bids before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

It said that despite Shirdi Industries Ltd being declared 'sick', their sister company Asis Industries proceeded to grant an unsecured loan of Rs 1.59 crore in 2015-16 to Intercon Advisors Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Seema Goyal, the wife of the Union Minister.Rome, April 4 : Italy's Premier Paolo Gentiloni paid tribute to '"exemplary" US civil rights leader and Nobel Peace laureate Martin Luther King on Wednesday - the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

"Martin Luther King - his dreams have come along way. His example lives on," tweeted Gentiloni.

King was fatally shot on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, aged 37, allegedly by white supremacist James Earl Ray.Rome, April 4 : Works by Italian conceptual artist and writer Luciano Fabro are on show at the 21st Biennale of Sydney running from 16 March to 11 June, Italy's Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.

The prestigious event, which this year celebrates its 45th anniversary, offers a new platform for arts and ideas and is known worldwide as it presents innovative and stimulating art works both from Australia and from the rest of the world.

The 21st Biennale's theme is SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium and Engagement and the event will be hosted by numerous galleries and locations in Sydney, the ministry said.

Fabro (1936-2007) dedicated his entire artistic career to redefining the artistic potential of sculpture by using a vast range of materials, both traditional and not, challenging the creative capacity of this form of expression.

He was also a renowned member of the Italian Arte Povera vanguard art movement. The movement was started in the second half of the 1960s, mainly in Turin, by a dozen artists who made their works - principally sculptures - with everyday materials, such as soil, rocks, cloth, paper and rope, with the aim of evoking a pre-industrial era.

The presentation of Fabro's work at the 21st Biennale of Sydney was made possible thanks to the generous assistance of distinguished Australian architect Penelope Seidler, the ministry said.Washington, April 5 : The US has made a decision on the future of its troops in Syria, and the White House will announce it soon, the media reported citing the US intelligence chief.

Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence, told reporters on Wednesday that the decision has been made at an "all hands on deck" meeting on Tuesday of top US national security officials, Xinhua news agency reported.

The White House will make the decision public "relatively soon", Coats added.

US President Donald Trump has recently reiterated his intention of bringing American troops back from Syria, saying that the fight against the extremist group Islamic State (IS) was almost done.

"Our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of Islamic State (IS). We've almost completed that task and we'll be making a decision very quickly in coordination with others, as to what we'll do," Trump said on Tuesday at a joint press conference at the White House with visiting leaders from three Baltic countries.

"I want to bring our troops home," Trump added.

Trump also complained the US has spent $7 trillion in the Middle East in the past 17 years, which has brought "nothing, except death and destruction".

Trump's remarks seemed to be at odds with opinions of the US military. The Pentagon and the State Department have advised that a much longer-term effort is necessary to defeat the militant group.

Also on Tuesday, Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the US-led coalition to defeat the IS, said that the fight was not over.

"We are in Syria to fight the IS," he said at a public event in Washington. "That is our mission and that mission isn't over and we are going to complete that mission."Cherrydale Family Dental Logo Residents of Arlington and Northern Virginia will soon enjoy quality and affordable dentistry services when the Cherrydale Family Dental Office opens its doors in summer.

Residents of Arlington and Northern Virginia will soon enjoy quality and affordable dentistry services when the Cherrydale Family Dental Office opens its doors in summer. The dentist office will be located on 4399 Old Dominion Drive Arlington, VA 22207 and patients can start booking appointments now. The dentist office will offer a wide range of dentistry services such as cosmetic dentistry, general dentistry, pediatric dentistry and restorative dentistry. Cherrydale Family Dental is recognized by the American Dental Association, the American Orthodontic Society and other dental associations.

The staff at Cherrydale look forward to offering honest, caring and straightforward dentistry services to all its patients. Some of the key dentistry services patients can expect at the Cherrydale Family Dental office include:

Cosmetic Dentistry:

Patients in Arlington and greater Northern Virginia can now look forward to getting quality and affordable cosmetic dentistry services at the soon-to-be opened Cherrydale dental office. Cosmetic dentistry encompasses dental procedures that improve the general appearance and aesthetics of the teeth and smile. Patients with tarnished or blemished teeth can benefit from the professional tooth whitening offered at Cherrydale Family Dental. Other cosmetic dentistry procedures to expect include porcelain veneers, dental implants, bonding and many more.

General Dentistry:

Cherrydale Family Dental will also specialize in general dentistry services. These services will mostly entail routine dental check-ups for patients, periodontal cleaning and scaling, tartar removal and other related procedures. General dentistry procedures are there to help patients preserve the health and well-being of their teeth. At Cherrydale Family Dental, patients can expect quality general dentistry services. Other services in this category: Scaling and Planing, Root Canal Therapy, Tooth Extractions, Mouthguards/Nightguards, Adult Braces (Orthodontics), Invisalign, and many more.

Pediatric Dentistry:

The Cherrydale Dental office in Arlington will also cater for the dental needs of children and young teens. Cherrydale's pediatric dentistry services will help to promote the health kids' teeth by using efficient and painless dental procedures. Some of the pediatric dentistry services to expect include Braces (Orthodontics), Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas), Sealants and many more.

Restorative Dentistry:

Restorative dentistry services will cater to patients with broken or damaged teeth. The services mostly involve repair and restoration of teeth. Damaged and broken teeth can impair a person's smile as well as limit the function of the mouth. The dentists at Cherrydale can help to solve these dental impairments with the help of various procedures such as White (Composite) Fillings, Dental Crowns and Bridges, Dentures, Gum Reshaping and many more. Perfectly restored teeth offer a better smile and also improve a person's confidence.

Cherrydale Family Dental looks forward to serving the residents of Arlington and Northern Virginia. Cherrydale is a PPO in-network provider and thus accepts payments from most insurance providers. With their affordable pricing and convenient scheduling, patients can expect top-notch dentistry services and a satisfying patient experience.

Cherrydale Family Dental

4399 Old Dominion Dr, Arlington, VA 22207

(703) 243-8288Republic Moving and Storage, is honored to donate services to A Night to Remember prom event which honors local Chula Vista special needs students. This free event takes place on April 27th and allows special needs students to experience prom in a fun and safe environment. Each special needs student, ages 15-22, will be escorted by a local high school student for the evening. The event is to be held at EastLake Church from 6-9pm. Republic is providing free transportation services for the dresses, tuxedos, and props used at this special event. In addition, the company is happy to offer complimentary storage year-round for these items in their secure storage facility.

Since 2011, A Night to Remember Prom is organized and fundraised by founders Rob and Cheryl Shields of Chula Vista, CA. 100% of every donation received is used to cover the costs of the prom so that special needs students can participate at no cost. The night includes a dress or tuxedo, corsage, fashion jewelry, hair and makeup, limo ride, and professional photography. Gifts from local businesses and year long fundraising efforts by founders and volunteers help to make the A Night to Remember prom a reality.

About Republic Moving and Storage

Republic Moving and Storage, headquartered in Chula Vista, CA, is a leading California moving company providing moving and storage solutions to residents and businesses all over the world for over 60 years. Active in the local real estate community, Republic will appear at the SDAR Expo, a real estate conference at the San Diego Convention center, at booth #625 on April 27th. The local residential and commercial movers at Republic Moving and Storage serve customers in San Diego County, Orange County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernadino County. The company also specializes in interstate, national, international, and military moves. As an agent of northAmerican Van Lines, Republic Moving and Storage has the resources to ensure every move is efficient, safe, and affordable.Left to right: John Benson, Chairman of the Board & CEO of Frankenmuth Insurance; Brent Neal of Frank E. Neal & Co.; and Fred Edmond, President & COO of Frankenmuth Insurance. We are extremely proud to award Frank E. Neal & Co. and its staff with our highest honor, says Frankenmuth Insurance President & COO Fred Edmond. This award is a true testament to the agencys accomplishments and commitment to protecting their business clients."

Frankenmuth Insurance named Frank E. Neal & Co. as its 2017 Agency of the Year. The award is presented to one agency that is the top performer in profitability, growth and policy retention.

Frank E. Neal & Co., located in Nashville, Tenn., has also been named a Preferred Plus Partner for 2018. This prestigious distinction is awarded to the top 5 percent of all 550 independent agencies representing the insurance company. This is the fourth year the agency has been recognized as a preferred partner.

We are extremely proud to award Frank E. Neal & Co. and its staff with our highest honor, says Frankenmuth Insurance President & COO Fred Edmond. This award is a true testament to the agencys accomplishments and commitment to protecting their business clients, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership.

Frank E. Neal & Co. has been appointed with Frankenmuth Insurance since 2005.

# # #

Frankenmuth Insurance has been providing peace of mind for families and businesses for 150 years. Because insurance is both complicated and critical to peoples lives, we work exclusively with independent agents to provide business, home, auto and life insurance policies. With more than 600 employees, we are headquartered in Frankenmuth, Michigan, and offer insurance products in 15 states. Frankenmuth Insurance is financially sound, with more than $1 billion in assets and an A.M. Best rating of A (Excellent).Burdette & Rice: Top Probate Attorneys, Dallas, Texas As presenters, Mark and Brian are known as real experts when it comes to the pitfalls surrounding powers of attorney.

Burdette & Rice, a leading Texas law firm focused on litigation in probate, estate, and trust litigation, is proud to announce that firm attorneys Mark Caldwell and Brian Thomas gave a successful presentation in February, 2018, to the Houston Business and Estate Planning Council on how estate attorneys can minimize problems for their clients which often arise in connection with the use of powers of attorney. Mark and Brian drew upon their extensive experience in litigation concerning estate and trust disputes to educate the attendees as to the pitfalls which can arise from the use of powers of attorney in Texas. Recent changes with Texas law were highlighted.

As presenters, Mark and Brian are known as real experts when it comes to the pitfalls surrounding powers of attorney," explained Elliott Burdette, Managing Director of Probate Litigation at Burdette & Rice. They often present in Dallas on the topic, so it was especially nice that they were able to share their knowledge with peers in the Houston area."

Persons interested in learning more about power of attorney issues in Texas who missed the presentation can reach out to Mark Caldwell and/or Brian Thomas by visiting the law firm's website at http://www.dallasprobateattorneys.com/ and clicking on the 'Team' link in the website navigation. Both attorneys may be available for consultation for anyone facing litigation over probate, estate, or trusts under Texas law. Persons interested in an online introduction to the firm's philosophy of handling probate, estate, and trust disputes under Texas law can visit http://www.dallasprobateattorneys.com/our-philosophy/. Although the firm is based in Dallas, Texas, it is recognized throughout Texas as one of the leading litigation law firms in litigation surrounding probate, estate, and trusts.

Both attorneys offer extensive experience representing the firms clients in a variety of probate, estate, and/or trust disputes under Texas law. The law firm has a well-deserved reputation for its commitment to continuing education with attorneys both presenting and participating in many conferences throughout Texas and across the United States. Any person who may be facing potential litigation surrounding estate, trusts, probate, or wills in Texas is urged to reach out to the law firm for a confidential consultation.

About Burdette & Rice, PLLC

Burdette & Rice, PLLC is a top Dallas probate law firm, with lawyers dedicated to listening to their clients, being fully present to them, and advocating their clients positions in the simplest and most persuasive way possible. The law firm employs some of the top probate and estate lawyers in Dallas, Texas. Clients come to Burdette & Rice to contest a will in Texas, work on complex inheritance litigation and disputes, and to litigate disputes over powers of attorney, guardianship and trustee issues all based on Texas law.

Burdette & Rice, PLLC

Media Relations

http://www.dallasprobateattorneys.com/

972-991-7700Scott Conard, a thirty-four-year-old man who, although afflicted with epilepsy, continues to touch many hearts over the years, has completed his new book Zeb Befriends Fido: a charming book about a village boy named Zeb and his unique companionship with a T. rex.

Author Conard presents a resounding virtue of accepting others for who they are despite the disparity in nature: One day while picking berries, Zeb, a smart and talented boy, gets scared by a sharp tooth better known as a T. rex. However, things are not always what they first seem to be. Readers may ask, can a T. rex become a young boys best friend and can an unlikely friendship help save Zebs village in the mountain? Read to find out what really happens in this first book of an enjoyable series to come, Zeb and Fido Adventures, book one Zeb Befriends Fido!

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Scott Conards engrossing tale is meant for all ages and generations; Inspired by Zeb Childers, featuring the illustrations of Phyllis Austin, this book lets readers discover fun and adventure like never before.

Readers who wish to experience this masterful work can purchaseZeb Befriends Fido at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all of the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not bogged down with complicated business issues like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes and the like. Its roster of authors can leave behind these tedious, complex and time-consuming issues, and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.The Word: a deeply insightful investigation into the nature, location, power, and purpose of words in general and the Word in particular. The Word is the creation of published author Dr. Ann H. Hadnot, a licensed nurse and Doctor of Theology born in Wrightsboro a few miles outside North Carolina.

Dr. Hadnot shares, Our words can condemn us or deliver us. They can destroy the personality and the confidence of others, depending upon the words that we speak. Our words can, at the same time, build up anothers confidence and personality, thereby giving a person positive affirmation. This is to express the essence, the necessity, and the definitions of words. Also, we are attempting to express the significance of the words as they are used in the world as they are used in the world in which we live. In other words, the words we use can be condensed, or the words that we use can be enlarged (expanded) enough to fit the situation at hand, or it can be condensed enough to fit the situation at hand. Words are the methods used to get whatever we need done.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Dr. Ann H. Hadnots new book draws out the natural and spiritual significance of words, discussing aspects such as figurative language and asking deceptively simple but profoundly important questions such as What is the Word? and What are words? to ultimately answer how words are alive and can comfort and determine ones destiny.

View a synopsis of The Word on YouTube.

Consumers can purchaseThe Word at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about The Word, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.No Cross No Crown: a beautifully illustrated and unique collection of fables and biblical parables for daily meditation and guidance. No Cross No Crown is the creation of published author Casandra Cannady, a lifelong aspiring author and mother of two adult sons, who was moved by Christs example and teachings from His time on earth to convey wisdom and guidance through storytelling.

Casandra shares, The poor girl knew what it was to be hungry and cold and not to have everything she needed in her life but she was taught how to be grateful for what one has because someone else has it a little rougher. She learned from her parents and from Sunday school to always give thanks unto God for all that one had. For if one is thankful for a little, then one will be thankful for plenty. The poor girl always said her prayers and thanked God things were as well as they were. She didnt go to the finest college but she went to a local community college instead.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Casandra Cannadys new book follows a fable-and-parable format, where the author describes a modern-day scenario in the fashion of Jesuss parables which seek to convey deeper, eternal truth; these fables are followed by a depiction of the Bible passage or original parable that inspired and lay the groundwork for the modern-day version, as well as the authors interpretation of the reading and explanation of the fable.

Complete with beautiful pencil storybook-like illustrations, the timeless stories in No Cross No Crown provide an ideal Bible-reading companion and daily meditation for all age groups.

View a synopsis of No Cross No Crown on YouTube.

Consumers can purchaseNo Cross No Crown at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about No Cross No Crown, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.We are extremely proud to have acquired a company that has shown strong values, impressive science and a dedication to the industry. - Kevin Mehring, President/CEO, UAS Labs

UAS Laboratories LLC (Wausau, Wisconsin, USA) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Nebraska Cultures, Inc. a company which specializes in custom-manufactured probiotic solutions including the DDS-1 strain of Lactobacillus acidophilus and the ProDURA brand of spore-based probiotics.

Through this transaction, UAS Labs will accelerate their leadership in the fast-growing probiotic industry. UAS will offer their valued global partners a complete portfolio of stable products including exclusivity to one of the longest studied probiotic strains, Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1. Furthermore, UAS will now provide spore-based probiotics utilizing the well-established ProDURA brand. Maypro Industries, a distributor for Nebraska Cultures, will continue to support the ProDURA line with their existing customer base.

Dr. Khem Shahani, founder of Nebraska Cultures, discovered and began research on the DDS-1 strain of L. acidophilus in 1959. Throughout his career, Dr. Shahani published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles, many demonstrating the potential for DDS-1 to improve health. Recognizing the strength of the strain, UAS Labs conducted multiple double-blind, gold standard clinical studies on DDS-1. This acquisition brings together the history, science and success of DDS-1 while allowing UAS Labs to continue the research and development of the unique strain.

Nebraska Cultures COO Michael Shahani comments, We are honored to have served the nutraceutical industry for several decades, beginning in the 1950s with my fathers pioneering research. We are thrilled to find in UAS a home where this work can contribute to tomorrows industry through the tremendous technical and production capabilities that this company provides.

UAS Labs President and CEO, Kevin Mehring states, We are extremely proud to have acquired a company that has shown strong values, impressive science and a dedication to the industry. This groundwork enables our passionate group of colleagues to further our company mission of providing leading and trusted probiotic-based solutions.

Dr. Gregory Leyer, Chief Scientific Officer for UAS Labs continues, We are honored to have the opportunity to write the next successful chapter for the DDS-1 strain and are grateful for the work that the Shahani family has done to continue their fathers life work.

Lakeview Equity Partners, LLC, the majority owner of UAS Labs, lead the acquisition effort which positions UAS to continue to grow as an industry leader in probiotics.

About UAS Laboratories

UAS Laboratories LLC has delivered the highest quality, science-backed probiotics to the marketplace since 1979. Strictly dedicated to probiotic manufacturing, UAS is committed to designing innovative and effective formulations that strive to enhance wellness and quality of life.

About Nebraska Cultures

Founded in 1981 as one of the first manufacturers to offer probiotic ingredients to the natural products industry, Nebraska Cultures helped set the stage for todays widespread interest and growing consumer acceptance of probiotic supplementation for improved health. In addition to supplying probiotic raw materials, they maintain a focus on research and technology.

About Lakeview Equity Partners, LLC

Lakeview Equity Partners is a private equity investment fund that focuses on investments in Midwest-based, middle market companies. Lakeview Equity's mission is to identify and invest in strong, well-managed companies to help them achieve continued growth and profitability and support ownership change, including ownership opportunities for managers and employees.Businesses do not have unlimited time, budget and resources to throw at threat hunting. What were doing is creating a way for the enterprise to leverage its existing investment in network security to achieve previously impossible levels of organizational maturity and security sophistication. Past News Releases RSS Bricata Delivers New Network...

New Bricata Software Update Tackles...

Bricata Unveils New Network...

Bricata, Inc., a developer of next-generation network intrusion detection and prevention solutions (IDS/IPS), will be showcasing threat hunting at the 2018 RSA Conference in San Francisco (booth #4415). Threat hunting is a sophisticated yet easy-to-use capability in the Bricata platform and is a natural progression of the companys unique approach to enhancing network security.

At its core, Bricata offers advanced IPS/IDS protection with multiple detection engines and threat feeds to defend network traffic and core assets, wrote John Breeden II, an award-winning journalist and reviewer, in an independent product review for CSO Online titled Review: Bricata adds threat hunting to traditional IPS/IDS. But it goes a step farther, adding the ability to launch threat hunts based on events, or simply anomalies.

The review continued, This would enable an organization to begin network-level threat hunting using the same staff and tools they are already using for IPS monitoring. It would be a good step in the right direction towards better protection without the pain of installing additional programs or re-training staff.

Over the last four years, Bricata has focused on bringing new innovation to the IDS/IPS market. The companys product is an appliance  either physical or virtual  that examines traffic for threats in three distinct yet complementary ways: signature detection, network behavioral anomaly detection, and zero-day malware detection through an OEM agreement with Cylance.

The technique of looking for threats in different perspectives brings important context which enables security professionals to more effectively triage the high-volume security alerts they observe daily. The manner in which Bricata identifies network anomalies captures useful metadata that lends itself naturally to threat hunting  and detecting lateral movement of malware most traditional sensors miss.

Team members and executives from Bricata will facilitate a number of activities and events around the RSA Conference including the following:

1) Threat hunting demonstrations. Stop by booth #4415 at the RSA conference for a demonstration of how IDS and IPS can support threat hunting. Interested parties can also find out more about these new threat hunting capabilities in greater detail here.

2) Attend this session on security analytics. Druce MacFarlane, vice president of Products at Bricata will present a session on Improving Data Quality in Security Analytics. The session will be held on Thursday, April 19, 2018, at 11:00 a.m. PT in the South Briefing Center.

3) Complimentary webinar on threat hunting. Whether you are attending the RSA conference or not, you wont want to miss this webinar with Tim Crothers, a 20-year veteran of cybersecurity with a Fortune 500 background and author of 15 books. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, May 8, 2018 at 2 p.m. ET. Keep an eye on the Bricata website for registration details which are coming soon.

4) Learn more about threat hunting. Bricata regularly publishes educational information on threat hunting on its company blog. Those interested in learning more may find these related posts useful:

a) Threat Hunting is an Imperative Despite Challenges in Definitions, Data and Skills

b) Morphing Network Security: 5 Takeaways from an SC Media Webinar

c) 10 Trends in Threat Hunting and Security Analytics

The essence of threat hunting is the combination of data, professional experience, and intuition  the security operations center has a hunch and senses an alert warrants a closer look, said Bricata CEO John Trauth. However, theres a certain urgency to all this  businesses do not have unlimited time, budget and resources to throw at threat hunting. What were doing is creating a way for the enterprise to leverage its existing investment in network security to achieve previously impossible levels of organizational maturity and security sophistication.

Bricata raised an $8 million-dollar growth round of funding in July led by Edison Partners. This round also included a strategic investment and development agreement with In-Q-Tel, the strategic investor that accelerates the development and delivery of cutting-edge technologies to support the mission of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Bricata was named a vendor to watch by a reputable technology analyst firm in 2015 and 2016. In addition, the news organization SDxCentral recently described it as one of 10 Security Startups to Watch.

About Bricata

Bricata network security solutions deliver innovative next-generation intrusion prevention, advanced threat detection and analysis, and network threat hunting to enable large organizations to actively pursue and identify advanced, persistent, and coordinated attacks. A specialized component-based approach to todays attacks has left organizations with a stack of tools to manage that provide a patchwork of uncorrelated data, leaving penetrable gaps and inconsistent security policies. The Bricata platform provides organizations with process automation, streamlining operations with the most effective, affordable solution for situational awareness and proactive threat defense, reducing complexity, dwell time and time to containment. For more information visit http://www.bricata.com.

Media Contact:

Frank Strong

PR for Bricata

202-352-5920

media at bricata-dot-comRon Norman, CEO of Team Decades (http://www.teamdecades.com), explains to a gathering of business executives today why the phrase 'In the alternative' should be a part of every upper-level job candidate's vocabulary.

"The old expression 'There's more than one way to skin a cat' is never truer than in navigating a corporation's path through a competitive marketplace," Norman begins. "The initial interviews with a potential employer provide a candidate with the opportunity to display an understanding that one strategy my not be a good fit for every company and in putting forth a possible plan of attack followed by the phrase 'In the alternative' followed by a viable Plan B shows s resourcefulness and an agility on the part of the candidate to orchestrate an approach that will be adaptable to the employer."

"A candidate doesn't want to give the impression of being married to an idea," Norman says, "unless, of course that idea is to succeed. The concept is to show a willingness to meet any situation head-on knowing that outlining a variety of strategies creates confidence that the problem has been fully understood.

Every client receives two-year continuous marketing from Team Decades.Chuck Brooks and Ron Hilton join forces to establish RJ. HILTON We will extremely excited to be alive during these days of unprecedented technological breakthroughs

Los Angeles and Tokyo. Ronald J. Hilton, Paris Hiltons uncle, the grandson of Conrad Hilton, and son of Barron Hilton, the American business magnate, hotel heir & humanitarian, and Chuck Brooks, a former executive of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and renowned expert in cybersecurity & emerging technologies, to launch RJ. HILTON, a cyber-secure interoperable ecosystem of Internet of Intelligent Things (IoIT) for Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency technologies are expected to play a significant role in financing Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Robotics, Precision Regenerative Medicine & wearables, Augmented Reality and other transformative technologies that converge in interoperable ecosystems of Internet of Intelligent Things (IoIT) and biometric sensors - worldwide.

The World Economic Forum estimates Blockchain/Crypto technology will comprise 10 percent of global GDP by 2027 and give rise to a new era far more disruptive and transformative than the current internet age. Governments thought leaders and technology prophets predict blockchain technology will revolutionize the -$74 trillion- world economy, and transform the $5.1 trillion per day Fiat currency-trading - the biggest industry in the world economy.

However, the greater the technology, the greater the risks. Blockchain/crypto technology will give rise to a new era of Sophisticated cyber threats from hackers-for-hire, organized crime syndicates, and terrorists, the FBI states. Virtually every national security and a criminal threat is cyber-based or technologically facilitated. Cybercriminals have stolen hundreds of millions and caused billions in devastating damages with a cyber-attack of just one blockchain/crypto company, and now threaten the world economy.

Impelled by these greater threats to the world economy, RJ. Hilton was established with the purpose to provide state-of-the-art secure cyber ecosystems for blockchain/crypto and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, which fuse the physical, digital and biological worlds in an inter-operable IoT ecosystem.

RJ. Hilton Projects:

1. To launch the RJ. Hilton Exchange: a next-generation secure cyber ecosystem platform that protects cryptocurrency exchange businesses and users from cyber-criminals.

2. To launch RJ. Hilton Regenerate: by Converging ElpisEremos next-generation, high-resolution body health scan system [Dr. Monolithus] & regenerative technology [ELYSIUM POD], embedded and linked to wearable biometric sensors, robotics, and actuators, with voice feedback and deep learning algorithms to perform automated precise health assessment in real-time, 24 hours/365 days, in an inter-operable IoT ecosystem with advanced cybersecurity capabilities built in. RJ. Hiltons platform generates real-time, highly sensitive, valuable health data. Enables ever-smarter actionable insight to predict disease risk, while creating a world marketplace for immutable decentralized real-time health and medical data records for RJ. Hilton's Token users.

3. Humanitarianism: Develop and donate specialized health scan systems [Dr. Monolithus] to developing countries, where children with serious diseases go undiagnosed and untreated due to underfunded, understaffed, or lack-of medical institutions; to gather immutable, decentralized, real-time critical medical data, and organize medical experts to help bring relief to children's lives by reducing suffering.

"Unprecedented that blockchain/crypto, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and powerful regenerative medicine technologies are now fusing, which are enabling technological breakthroughs at a speed unseen in human history, said James Ryan, CEO, ElpisEremo Inc. Clearly, with the stakes so high, next-generation secure cyber ecosystems will play a critical role in the next phase of blockchain/crypto contribution to world economic growth, said Chuck Brooks, CEO, RJ. Hilton and Brooks Consulting International.

To learn more about RJ. Hilton, Chuck Brooks and ElpisEremo and receive information, please visit rjhilton.org; brooksci.com, and http://www.elpiseremo.com

Media Contacts:

Patrick Walsh

pr(at)rjhilton.org

Also: contact(at)rjhilton.orgOver the years, weve heard a number of people say theyre intrigued by Sunstates, says CEO Kathryn Burrell. Initially, they were intrigued by our accents, by Glenns years at Scotland Yard and by our journey from the UK to North Carolina. Now theyre intrigued by our success and what makes us

Sunstates Security, one of the nations fastest-growing providers of uniformed security services, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. While the company officially incorporated in October 1997, it wasnt until March 1998 that founder and president Glenn Burrell left his homeland of England to pursue his childhood dream of living in the United States.

Today, Sunstates Security employs more than 2,200 men and women in 22 states. In addition, the company has achieved organic, double-digit growth for the past five years, at a time when most security firms rely on acquisitions for expansion.

Glenn Burrell arrived in Raleigh, N.C., with 20 years of experience at Scotland Yard and a business connection in North Carolina. As he made connections in the business community, his wife, Kathryn, remained in the UK, working as a partner in a multimillion-dollar, family business, while raising two young children.

It was brutal to be away from my family, recalls Glenn. For a year and a half, they would visit during school holidays. The geographic distance was terribly challenging, but Kathy and I refused to fail. We had worked too hard and sacrificed too much.

The companys two-decade track record speaks for itself. Not only does Sunstates Security continue to provide security at its first-ever account, but the current client contact at this facility originally served as a third-shift security officer for Sunstates. She advanced to site supervisor and was recruited by the client organization, again working her way through the ranks to become facility manager.

Over the years, weve heard a number of people say theyre intrigued by Sunstates, says CEO Kathryn Burrell. Initially, they were intrigued by our accents, by Glenns years at Scotland Yard and by our journey from the UK to North Carolina. Now theyre intrigued by our success and what makes us tick.

About Sunstates Security

Based in Raleigh, N.C., Sunstates Security provides uniformed security personnel and security consulting services to clients throughout the United States. The company is certified as a Womens Business Enterprise by the Greater Business Womens Council, a regional certifying partner of the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).Hays Academy of Hair Design in Hays and Salina Kansas is proud to announce that Hays Campus student Rachel Amerin took second place in the Cosmetology category at the recent Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year competition.

No one at Hays Academy is surprised. Rachel has always been the poster child for what Hays Academy most values in a student. She has had excellent attendance and a tremendous attitude toward her work, and she has fully embraced the schools culture.

Rachel quickly became one of Hays Academys most requested cosmetology students, providing unmatchable service to every guest. A born leader, she was also an encouraging voice to students facing challenges. This kind of attitude depicts why Rachel is a natural representative for both Hays Academy and Nuts and Bolts.

About the Competition

Founded in 2003, Nuts and Bolts provides business education and training to cosmetology and esthetics students to help ensure their success after graduation. The annual Nuts and Bolts International Business Student of the Year competition rewards those who demonstrate excellent business savvy in such areas as overall customer service, up-selling, and average price per ticket.

About Hays Academy

Hays Academy of Hair Design in Kansas offers cosmetology and nail technician courses to prepare students for a successful career in the beauty industry. The school also offers salon services including haircuts, nail treatments, manicures, and waxing services.

Hays Academy has two campuses in Kansas:

Hays Academy - Hays Campus

1214 E 27th St, Hays, KS 67601

(785) 628-6624

Hays Academy - Salina Campus

115 S 5th St, Salina, KS 67401

(785) 833-2280

For more information, visit the website at https://haysacademy.edu/.128 Degrees: The True Story of How a Blonde American Businesswoman Fled Saudi Arabia depicts the strength it took Evie Fox to live and work abroad in a repressive society and the strength she needed to flee from an environment where the accommodations were hardly more than what one would describe as whore housing." Its a true story from an outsiders rare glimpse into the lives of Saudi women. Evie found her voice in the Middle East during her two-year stint working with a major oil company. She is on a mission to help oppressed women, at home and abroad, find theirs too.

Evie Fox is a first-time author with worldwide living and travel experience. She has a lengthy career in corporate governance and is not afraid of new experiences. She accepted a position in Saudi Arabia with The Company under a five-year contract. After struggling with the isolation associated with the continuous limitations of the entire compound experience and the damaging sociological and psychological effects of living in a fishbowl at 128 degrees, she decided that her only option in order to maintain her sanity and security was to flee the Middle East and the harsh realities of existing there. Evie uses her wit and comedic intricacies to capture in print her uncut and unique perspective of working as a blonde American businesswoman in Saudi Arabia.

Due to the nature of the book, Evie Foxs true identity, as well as her given name, are being disguised. The book was edited and published by Melissa Latin, owner of Charlotte Fashion Plate and Peter Carey, co-owner of PAC Public Relations. Press kit for Evie Fox can be found at https://www.eviefox.com/press/Inbox Health, Inc., an innovative leader in helping medical billing companies communicate and transact with patients, announced today the appointment of Charles Gamble to the role of Chief Operating Officer. With extensive management experience, Charles brings valuable leadership to Inbox Healths executive team during a period of rapid growth. As COO, Charles will lead operations and direct the companys finance and administrative functions.

Charles joins Inbox Health with a wealth of operational and general management experience at both early-stage and mid-sized companies, said Blake Walker, Inbox Healths CEO. We are thrilled to have an experienced hand at the operational helm as we continue to enhance our product and broaden our customer base.

Prior to Inbox Health, Charles founded Tangoe, an enterprise software company that went public in 2011 and was acquired by a private equity firm last year. At Tangoe, Charles focused on developing the companys implementation team, building out its customer success organization and leading its product management group.

I am delighted to be joining Inbox Health at such an exciting time, Charles said. The company has done an outstanding job building a product perfectly suited for a large, growing market. I look forward to working with Blake and the rest of the Inbox Health team as we continue to grow the company.

About Inbox Health

Inbox Health is creating the future of patient billing communication for the US healthcare market. Its patient communication platform reinvents how billing companies engage with patients regarding the patient responsible portion of bills. The platform manages all patient communication that needs to take place after insurance adjudication is completed using bi-directional communication through SMS, email, and voice technology, along with technology enabled mailings. It utilizes massive data sets, and advanced proprietary technology to create more efficient, effective, and transparent patient follow up protocols.

Inbox Health works with healthcare providers across the United States. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in New Haven, Connecticut. Learn more at http://www.inboxhealth.com.

Inbox Health is a registered trademark of Inbox Health, Inc.Food robotics company Chowbotics will take its first product, Sally the Salad Robot, on tour this spring to several destinations across the U.S. The Chowbotics team is excited to introduce their salad-making robot to those interested in advancements in food service automation outside of Silicon Valley. We are thrilled to showcase Sally to many people who, until now, may have only read about it, says Dr. Deepak Sekar, founder and CEO of Chowbotics. Now, they can see and experience America's first commercially available fresh food-making robot for themselves.

First, Sally will become a permanent fixture at WeWork Legacy West near Dallas this spring, where those utilizing the co-working space will be able to try the robot. Next, Sally will travel to New York City from Tuesday, April 24 through Thursday, April 26, where the robot will whip up salads for the budding entrepreneurs at Galvanize West SoHo and take individual appointments. Sally made its initial debut last April at the Galvanize San Francisco campus.

From there, the team will make their way to the Midwest for the Marketing Executives Group (MEG) conference and National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show in Chicago. Dr. Sekar and Chowbotics Vice President of Marketing, Slaton Smith, will lead a presentation at the MEG conference on Thursday, May 17 at 4:45 pm entitled Robotics and Food Service: Applications and Implications, Featuring Sally the Salad Robot. Sally will conduct salad-making demonstrations during the NRA Show at booth 11317 from Saturday, May 19 through Tuesday, May 22.

Sally offers more than 1,000 custom salad options. Salads are created in about a minute and a half with any combination of up to 22 ingredients, and users can fine tune the calorie total by adding or subtracting ingredients via touchscreen. Like a vending machine, Sally doesnt require staffing; it can create salads around the clock.

For more information and/or to book appointments to see and experience Sally at any of the aforementioned locations, please contact press(at)chowbotics(dot)com.

About Chowbotics: Chowbotics develops robots for food service. By automating repetitive tasks, Chowbotics aims to increase productivity and enable creativity, both in and out of the kitchen. The companys first product, Sally the Salad Robot, allows users to create custom salads. Proprietary technology ensures precise caloric counts and protects the integrity of ingredients, keeping them fresh, sanitary and separate. Future robots will offer breakfast as well as Mexican and other ethnic foods. These robots could be used in cafeterias, restaurants, hotels and other commercial venues. Chowbotics was founded by Deepak Sekar, Ph.D., an inventor with more than 100 patents. He serves as the CEO. Rich Page, an Apple Fellow who joined Steve Jobs as Co-Founder and VP at NeXT, is Executive Chairman.In many ways this marks a natural evolution of her own development as a leader and executive but also for School Outfitters as well, School Outfitters CEO Tom Brennan said.

School Outfitters, one of Greater Cincinnatis largest private companies, has named a new president. The change marks an exciting new chapter for the Cincinnati-based company as it enters its twentieth year of business.

Betsy Neyer, formerly Chief Operating Officer of the company, has been promoted to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer. In her new role, Neyer will focus on leading the organization to achieve annual and strategic goals and position the business to meet the future. Neyer joined School Outfitters in 2004, playing a leadership role in its dramatic year-over-year growth.

The role of president has been vacated by School Outfitters Chief Executive Officer Tom Brennan, who makes way for Neyer to ascend into the position but retains his role charting the long-term path of the company as CEO.

Betsy has been an instrumental leader in our success for a very long time, School Outfitters CEO Tom Brennan said. In many ways this marks a natural evolution of her own development as a leader and executive but also for School Outfitters as well.

In the past 20 years, School Outfitters has advanced beyond their original business as a furniture retailer and distributor as theyve branched into the manufacturing space. In 2012, School Outfitters began researching, designing, developing and manufacturing innovative school furniture and equipment solutions for its own private label brands.

Brennan said hes looking forward to taking this next step together.

Betsy brings great skills in planning, leadership and culture to the role of president, Brennan said. I am looking forward to her pushing us in new directions as we continue to grow, succeed and strive to do what is right for our customer.

Neyer said shes excited to step into her new role and help lead School Outfitters into the future.

Im excited for this opportunity to grow in my role and to grow School Outfitters, Neyer said. After 20 years, School Outfitters is a recognized leader in the education industry, and the whole team at School Outfitters is motivated every day to further our company purpose of helping educators prepare people for the future.

In addition to her work at School Outfitters, Neyer serves on the Executive Committee of the Strive Partnership, a partnership comprised of leaders from the education, business, philanthropic, nonprofit, civic, and faith communities working to change the system of education for every child, from cradle to career. She also sits on several non-profit and corporate Boards of Advisors, working to grow and contribute to the success of those organizations.

About School Outfitters

School Outfitters is an industry-leading retailer and manufacturer of school furniture and equipment. Since 1998, School Outfitters has connected tens of thousands of schools with the furniture and equipment they need to create 21st-century learning environments in which students and educators thrive. School Outfitters provides expert support, advanced resources, turnkey solutions, quick, affordable shipping and the best brands at the best prices. Since 2013, School Outfitters has been recognized as a Cincinnati Enquirer Top Work Place. For more information visit https://www.schooloutfitters.com/.American Litho SOC 2 Type I Compliance Meeting or exceeding SOC 2 standards is not an easy task, said American Litho President and Co-Founder Mike Fontana, but for us, it is simply a matter of accepting responsibility for the massive data sets our clients entrust to us.

The report confirms that American Lithos data handling processes meet or exceed tough standards established in accordance with the American Society of Certified Public Accountants Trust Services Criteria. SOC 2 audit reports focus on a companys non-financial reporting controls in terms of the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy of specific systems.

American Litho delivers trust-based services for clients, and by communicating the results of this audit, the companys clients can be assured of their reliance on American Lithos controls, said Joseph Kirkpatrick, Managing Partner with KirkpatrickPrice, following the release of the report.

Meeting or exceeding SOC 2 standards is not an easy task, said American Litho President and Co-Founder Mike Fontana, but for us, it is simply a matter of accepting responsibility for the massive data sets our clients entrust to us.

Data-driven strategies such as predictive modeling are the path to growth and strong customer engagement, Fontana added. This reality has made direct mail data security a crucial priority for our entire team.

American Litho, Inc. is a privately held company providing brand-building services for retail, insurance, financial services, manufacturing, automotive, food and beverage, non-profit development and many other industries. A team of 600+ full-time-equivalent employees work in the companys 300,000-square-foot headquarters in Carol Stream, Illinois, with additional team members in support offices countrywide.

The company delivers full-service planning and production of commercial print, direct mail and omnichannel marketing programs. Company revenues topped $120 million in 2017.

The full scope of American Lithos capabilities can be viewed on the company website, http://www.alitho.com.

Visit the American Litho YouTube channel for a closer look at how the company ensures data security by keeping data and direct mail production under one roof - https://goo.gl/dwhfnUCarterra LSA Instrument IPI is deploying the LSA instrument because it is the only instrument on the market that can deliver the high-throughput kinetics and epitope binning data critical to making informed biotherapeutic candidate selections.

Carterra Inc., an innovative label-free biosensor company, and Institute for Protein Innovation (IPI) announced today that IPI has purchased a Carterra LSA, a fully automated, label-free, high-throughput monoclonal antibody (mAb) characterization instrument. Funding for the purchase of the LSA instrument was provided through a Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Capital Program Grant awarded to IPI.

Carterras LSA instrument is unique in that it provides the mAb characterization throughput and functionality that matches the output from state-of-the-art antibody expression platforms. This enables all antibodies to be rapidly and comprehensively screened early in the discovery process so that unique epitopes and potential novel therapeutic candidates can be identified, thereby expanding IP coverage for research groups.

IPI is committed to operating at the forefront of innovative protein research. The enhanced functionalities of Carterras LSA instrument complement our existing high-throughput protein production and antibody discovery pipelines and will accelerate fulfillment of our institutional mandate to produce open-source antibodies against all human extracellular and secreted proteins, said James Love, COO, IPI.

We are very excited that IPI is leading the way with the first LSA instrument purchase by a research institute, said Josh Eckman, CEO, Carterra. Along with large pharmaceutical and leading biotech companies, IPI is deploying the LSA instrument because it is the only instrument on the market that can deliver the high-throughput kinetics and epitope binning data critical to making informed biotherapeutic candidate selections.

IPI will utilize the LSA instrument for rapid biophysical characterization of antibodies isolated from their synthetic yeast display library platform. IPI will also leverage the instruments unique capabilities to process antibodies against a wide panel of antigens to validate specificity and to select for species cross-reactivity. These are key metrics in generating open-source antibodies with broad usefulness to the scientific community engaged in basic research and drug discovery.

For further information, please contact:

Julian Abery

VP Marketing

Carterra, Inc.

P: 919-724-0946

E: jabery(at)carterra-bio.com

About Carterra Inc.

Carterra is the leading provider of innovative Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) based technology for monoclonal antibody (mAb) discovery and characterization. Carterras high throughput LSA Array SPR instrument combines patented microfluidics technology with real-time SPR, enabling single unattended runs for: >1,000 kinetic interactions; 384x384 epitope binning; >1,000 quantitation measurements; 384 epitope mapping. Combined with Carterras unique data analysis and visualization software, the platform delivers the highest throughput and data quality available for mAb characterization, while using minimal sample.

info(at)carterra-bio.com

http://www.carterra-bio.com

About Institute for Protein Innovation (IPI).

IPI is a non-profit research organization whose mission is to foster innovation in protein research, train the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs in protein science, forge new ties between academic and industry investigators, and bridge the missing link between genomics and therapeutics. IPI has built a high-throughput antibody discovery platform for developing open-source antibodies targeting the entire human extracellular proteome. This resource will produce critical tools, lead therapeutics, and technologies that empower academic and industry scientists, catalyze entrepreneurship, and accelerate drug discovery.

media(at)proteininnovation.org

http://www.proteininnovation.orgOur Enhanced Analytics Platform is working to accelerate remediation of network performance issues before they can lead to application performance issues.

Apcela (http://www.apcela.com), the high-performance application delivery company, today announced the launch of its Enhanced Analytics Platform (EAP), the companys first move into machine learning. Built for complex enterprise IT environments, EAP assesses real-time event and metric-driven data between networks, applications and tools, bridging the gap between data silos due to limited analytics, while addressing enterprises need for dynamic, predictive, automated analysis across networks. This launch debuts EAPs critical enabler, Apcelas Cisco SD-WAN/ELK EAP API. Operating on Apcelas global ultra-high performance, low-latency backbone, this API leverages and extends the power of the Cisco SD-WAN solution with Elastics ElasticSearch, Logstash, and Kibana (ELK). The net result is a powerful solution empowering IT teams to reduce the time it takes to diagnose and remediate network incidents, thereby accelerating application performance.

In Gartners recent Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics , NPMD vendors have had to contend with key shifts in the environments they are attempting to monitor, such as Migration toward cloud-hosted workloads and applications fundamentally changing the flow of network traffic. In addition, Sanjit Ganguli, Research Director with Gartner's IT Systems, Security and Risk research group, et al., noted that, Exponential growth in application and infrastructure dynamism and complexity is forcing network instrumentation as the key piece of the visibility puzzle.

Apcela is addressing these challenges head on with an analytics platform that integrates real-time data across the infrastructure and application layers, said Mark Casey, CEO of Apcela. Our Enhanced Analytics Platform is working to accelerate remediation of network performance issues before they can lead to application performance issues.

As the first SD-WAN solution supported by Apcelas Enhanced Analytics, the Cisco SD-WAN/ELK API adds SD-WAN data to the platform, enabling significant reductions in time to diagnose and resolve network performance issues arising from fluid application requirements. While the Cisco SD-WAN deployments offer some log retention in the vManage portal, data visualization and analytical capabilities are limited due to static data sets. Apcelas Enhanced Analytics Platform addresses these issues by integrating SD-WAN data with other network operational data and systems logs for correlation and analyses. ELK enables immediate support for third-party components including, but not limited to, Amazon AWS, Cloudflare, Oracle, Palo Alto, vmWare, and zScaler. Because Apcela delivers core networking capabilities, it delivers performance improvements significantly faster than similar solutions disaggregated from network delivery.

The top barriers to cloud analytics and automation are insufficient data quality, integration of disparate tool sets, and the learning curve associated with advanced analytics required to resolve performance issues between networks and applications, noted Jack Dziak, President and COO of Apcela. Apcelas Enhanced Analytics addresses these challenges in one easy-to-launch, single pane of glass, as-a-Service offering. Our Enhanced Analytics Platform provides the enterprise with the means to deliver improved applications performance in a highly-agile manner, providing deeper integration between networks, applications and other systems elements traveling across networks. EAP accelerates the realization of hybrid IT benefits, Dziak added.

Overall, Apcela Enhanced Analytics Platform and Cisco SD-WAN/ELK API enables customers to:

 Collect Cisco SD-WAN and other network and application data into an indexed, query-able database;

 Retain more than six months of operational data;

 Conduct correlative analysis between Cisco SD-WAN operational data and other systems (e.g. Palo Alto and AppDynamics); and

 Implement sophisticated monitoring and alerting capabilities.

To learn more about the Apcelas Enhanced Analytics Platform, go to https://www.apcela.com/solutions/enhanced-analytics-platform/ or email sales@apcela.com.

About Apcela

Apcela enables enterprises to easily manage application performance in hybrid IT environments. Its global, award-winning platform  originally built for the worlds most sophisticated high-frequency trading firms  securely accelerates applications and data between legacy enterprise datacenters and the cloud. Managing distributed application performance and security is simplified with the companys software-defined networking and fully integrated, distributed security service. Apcela serves more than 100 clients including many of the Forbes Global 2000 in financial services, biopharmaceuticals, engineering, healthcare, and manufacturing across 185 markets in 41 countries worldwide.

Connect with us on Twitter https://twitter.com/apcela #GoFaster or LinkedIn https://twitter.com/apcela.The image showcases the gallery floor above the lobby looking through the channel glass down and across the Arcade below. The translucent channel glass bridges the old building and the new museum. It creates a contrast with the brick and refers back to the ice storage function of the refrigerated warehouse.

22.5-foot-tall channel glass by Bendheim Wall Systems greets visitors to the new Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. The brilliant, towering channel glass wall-cladding defines the museums entrance and Arcade. It conveys a crystalline appearance, symbolic of the original buildings function as a cold storage warehouse. In other areas throughout the museum, translucent channel glass facade elements bring daylight in, while establishing a sense of privacy.

Bendheims channel glass is known for its unique structural and aesthetic qualities. Its ability to span great heights was essential to achieving a monolithic, continuous look for the grand, 40-foot-tall main entrance.

Channel glass creates virtually uninterrupted walls of glass, limitless in length and up to 23 feet tall, with little or no need for intermediate framing. The U-shape of the glass enhances its structural properties, allowing it to achieve far greater spans than flat glass of the same thickness.

The entrance and Arcade of The Museum of the Bible are clad in Bendheims low-iron Clarissimo channel glass, featuring a translucent white ceramic frit. Many of the channels are selectively fritted, providing a seamless transition from opacity to transparency. Light radiating from the highly polished Clarissimo glass surfaces bounces off the 140-foot-long image-projecting ceiling. According to the architects, the effect magnifies the Arcade and surrounding areas. The reflected light, working in tandem with the LED screen technology, helps transform the character of the space and creates an immersive experience.

The translucent channel glass bridges the old building and the new museum, said David Greenbaum, FAIA, SmithGroupJJR lead designer. It creates a contrast with the brick and refers back to the ice storage function of the refrigerated warehouse.

Bendheims 504 Rough Cast channel glass, installed in the companys SF-60 frame system, enhances the exterior of the building. The light-diffusing textured glass channels create a contrast with adjacent clear insulated glass units. The design team was able to successfully integrate the two glass types with Bendheims assistance, by implementing elegant, minimal tie-ins. From a design standpoint, when compared to the clear windows, the channel glass implies the human struggle to find an ethical and moral path in our daily lives, added David Greenbaum.

Bendheim glass is quickly becoming a highly sought after material for buildings of contemporary cultural significance. The Museum of the Bible is the latest national landmark featuring the companys specialty glass. The National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. and South Street Seaports Pier 17 in New York City are other recent Bendheim projects.

For more information on Bendheim channel glass, please visit http://www.bendheim.com/glass_type/channel-glass.Uniweld employees are happy to donate when the Big Red Bus arrives!

OneBlood paid a visit to Uniweld Products Headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 22, for their semi-annual blood drive to receive donations from willing and able employees. Uniweld hosts company blood drives at their headquarters twice each year, providing employees with the opportunity to give to those in need and quite possibly save one's life.

Uniweld would like to encourage donors to visit OneBlood's website to learn about the importance of blood type specific donations and how individuals or groups can schedule a drive at their locations as well. The OneBlood website has detailed information on blood types to better educate donors on a variety of topics from what percentage of the population carries a blood type, what donation works best, what blood type they can receive, patients who will receive their red cells, who can receive their platelets, who can receive their plasma, and much more. Ensuring that each donor is well informed on what options are available to them, will allow potential donors to understand that they may not be limited to making only blood donations, but perhaps they could donate platelets or plasma instead, which is also in high demand.

The Big Red Bus rolled into Uniwelds facility at 9:00 am on Thursday morning and prepared to receive donations from willing employees. As an incentive to donate, OneBlood also likes to reward donors with tokens of appreciation and on this day, Uniweld employees were rewarded with free t-shirts and movie tickets. Uniweld employees are always proud to make donations to OneBloods cause, and several employees are often repeat donors who make contributions each time the Big Red Bus rolls into Uniwelds headquarters facility.

Uniweld urges other companies to contact OneBlood for more information on scheduling a visit or making a donation in your area.Kimberly (Kim) Howland, PhD, has joined Diameter Health, the company that cures clinical data disorder, as Chief Product Officer, responsible for the companys product strategy and roadmap. Ms. Howland is an experienced healthcare executive with fifteen years experience in senior strategy and product development roles. Prior to Diameter Health, she was Vice President of Global Product Development at Omnicell, a leading provider of medication and supply dispensing automation solutions. Omnicell has been recognized with a top KLAS award every year since 2006. Prior to Omnicell, Kim was a Vice President at Health Advances, a strategy consulting firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry.

Diameter Healths growth trajectory has been impressive and Im looking forward to continuing and accelerating our success, said Ms. Howland. Great product development requires both analytic rigor and flexibility to capitalize on existing market opportunities while scaling for the future. But what is most exciting is the opportunity to put technology and information to work improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare system.

Kims deep product development experience and passion for leveraging technology to improve healthcare are valuable assets for the Diameter Health team as we continue to scale the company, said Eric Rosow, CEO of Diameter Health. The recognized criticality of semantic interoperability is exploding and Diameter Health is well positioned to capitalize on this market opportunity with Kim leading our product development efforts.

Ms. Howlands roots in healthcare and science go deep, as she received her PhD in Immunology from Harvard University and a BS in Biology from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

About Diameter Health:

Diameter Health enables clinical insight through the normalization, cleansing, de-duplication and enrichment of clinical data from across the care continuum. This creates a single, unified source of longitudinal structured patient information for improved care and actionable analytics. The Diameter Health platform empowers organizations that depend on multi-source data streams, such as Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), health systems and health plans, to realize greater value from their data. For more information, visit the website http://www.diameterhealth.com or email us at info(at)diameterhealth.com.Leveraging a proprietary approach, combined with best practice benchmarking, the Audit process creates a road-map to a future state by assessing all aspects of current Contact Center operations We use a hands-on, holistic approach when our clients seek our assistance in examining all of the elements and aspects of the Call Center. We uncouple the thousand moving parts of the Contact Center...

Today, CX and Contact Center consultancy, The Taylor Reach Group, Inc. (TRG), announced they are administering a Contact Center Audit for one of the worlds leading digital data collection companies. The consultancy will conduct an essential health check of the market research firms network of Contact Centers.

We use a hands-on, holistic approach when our clients seek our assistance in examining all of the elements and aspects of the Call Center. We uncouple the thousand moving parts of the Contact Center and identify every element that is linked to or impacting on the operational effectiveness and efficiency of the Contact Centers. said CEO and Chief Chaos Officer of TRG, Colin Taylor.

Leveraging a proprietary People, Process, Technology and Methodology approach, combined with best practice benchmarking, the Audit process road-maps Contact Centers to a future state of success through a detailed assessment of all aspects of current Contact Center operations.

Contact Centers operate with a complex set of interconnected elements, sometimes in subtle but critical ways, said Taylor. While Call Centers across many industries share many of the same tools, processes, and functions, each Center and customer operation is unique. Thats why we dont use a cookie cutter approach at Taylor Reach, but rather, tailored solutions specific to our clients needs.

The Audit starts with benchmarking the Contact Center against 2500+ other Contact Centers to best-practice organizations. This is combined with on-site analysis and stakeholder interviews to gain a thorough understanding of operations in order to establish a prescriptive approach for change improvements within the Centers.

About The Taylor Reach Group, Inc.,

Taylor Reach Group is a globally recognized Contact Center and Customer Experience consulting firm specializing in sourcing strategies, customer experience, customer service/support, and Contact Center assessments. Established in 2003, the consultancy aligns proprietary approaches specific to clients organizational goals and objectives. TRGs vendor agnostic team has a deep understanding of all aspects of Contact Center operations, as each consultant possesses a minimum of 20 years of hands-on Call Center operational management experience. To learn more, visit thetaylorreachgroup.com

Media contact: For more information contact Sarah Hill  Stapley via phone: 1-866-334-3730 Ext 112 or email: shillstapley@thetaylorreachgroup.comVoice headsets and handheld devices and will transform the warehouse into a paperless operation. We were particularly impressed with the real-time functionality of the Accord system which means all events will be time and date stamped for total visibility, traceability and reporting.

Harro Foods, a full-service importer and wholesale distributor, deliver a range of ambient and frozen Japanese food to speciality shops and sushi factories across the UK. Established for over 30 years, their business has continued to expand as the demand for Japanese culinary delights grows. They now stock over 700 products to help their customers make authentic sushi dishes.

To support their business growth they have decided to implement a new WMS to replace their existing paper based system. Their aim is to improve productivity by having real-time order handling and efficient labour management processes. As their customers are at the heart of their business they also want a system which can help increase customer service levels.

Accord WMS was chosen as a scalable solution which enables growing businesses to maximise warehouse efficiency and reduce operational costs. Provided by Business Computer Projects (BCP), it includes industry specific functionality that food and drink wholesalers need. The system will help Harro Foods monitor and control stock movement; from goods received through to picking, replenishing and stock taking.

Chris Pass, Sales Executive at BCP, said Warehouse Management Systems have long been used to drive improvements in terms of productivity and efficiency, but are now essential for expanding businesses like Harro Foods who are working in the highly regulated and extremely competitive food and drink industry.

The new 19 user system includes voice headsets and handheld devices and will transform their warehouse into a paperless operation by automating many of their procedures. As a result, Harro Foods will benefit from improved stock visibility, real-time stock information and reduced time spent on stock discrepancies. Chris continues.

Harro Foods chose Accord WMS over other systems because of BCPs extensive experience of implementing voice systems and their expertise in the food and drink wholesale sector. Raman Sokal, General Manager of Operations at Harro Foods said We were particularly impressed with the real-time functionality of the Accord system which means all events will be time and date stamped for total visibility, traceability and reporting.

Notes to the editor:

Business Computer Projects (BCP) is a leading UK systems house specialising in supply chain software for wholesale distributors and foodservices businesses. Our software incorporates the latest technologies so our customers can successfully compete in todays fast paced omni-channel marketplace. Find out more about our services here.The eMAM Interface enables collaboration. Making access to assets and media a seamless workflow is very easy with the integration of eMAMs panel and Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder.

Empress Media Asset Management, LLC (Empress), developers of the widely used eMAM media asset management platform, announced today they are working with Adobe, Signiant, and Dell to provide an Amazon cloud-based infrastructure for Spectrum Reachs in-house agency, Kernel, to provide remote editing and advertising production capabilities across the country. As the full-service, in-house creative agency for Spectrum Reach, Kernel is an exclusive resource for creative ad solutions that generate brand awareness for clients on every screen, all powered by Spectrum Reachs scale and data-driven targeting.

The combined solution provides a secure cloud-based platform to ingest media from multiple locations, accelerate the upload process regardless of bandwidth, organize the media for remote editing, foster collaboration and review processes, and deliver finished media with linked metadata to any broadcast facility. Dells Boomi Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service coordinates the processes, linking metadata and project statuses between the systems. Signiant provides powerful and intelligent accelerated file transfer for uploads and downloads. Editing is done through Adobe Premiere Pro CC and is compatible with Team Projects, a market-leading video editing system and key component of Adobe Creative Cloud.

eMAM integrates seamlessly with Adobe Premiere Pro through a built-in extension panel. Editors can search and proxy preview media managed by eMAM in the cloud. They can localize media for mezzanine or full resolution editing. Finished sequences can be exported with media to eMAM for review and approval, email and social media sharing, digital delivery, and archiving. Non-technical staff can use eMAM to create projects, add media, mark, subclip, and rough-cut edit directly from the tablet or web interfaces. The system leverages Adobe Media Encoder, integrated with Adobe Premiere Pro, to provide transcoding on demand in the cloud between any of the vast array of supported codecs and formats.

Adobe Premiere Pro users want to focus on their creative ideas and to streamline processes whenever they can, said Sue Skidmore, Head of Partner Relations for Professional Video at Adobe. Making access to assets and media a seamless workflow is very easy with the integration of eMAMs panel and Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder.

David Miller, COO of Empress, commented, We are excited to expand our combined system to support Spectrum Reach, empowering creative teams with a complete workflow solution to maximize the value of their digital assets throughout the organization, crossing traditional departmental boundaries.

eMAM is available from Empress at http://www.empressmam.com. Visitors to NAB 2018 can see eMAM in action with the Adobe Creative Cloud apps at booth SL9024, April 9th to the 12th at the Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall.

About Empress (http://www.empressmam.com)

Empress Media Asset Management, LLC, is a privately held company providing media asset management and workflow management solutions for broadcast, media, government, and corporate clients including its eMAM Online, eMAM Vault, eMAM Publish, eMAM Workgroup, and eMAM Enterprise product lines. It is part of the Empress family of companies, which includes Empress InfoTech, specializing in customized software development, Empress Digital, one of the largest distributors of blank recording media and supplies, Real Big Hits, a distributor and agency promoting original creative content, and ESRevolution, promoting eSports through its ESRevolution.com portal and its ESR 24/7 channel. For more information, visit http://www.empressmam.com.The Tania Ivey Real Estate Group brings an impressive track record of successfully managing and growing their business, and we are here to support them in their mission to grow their business.Judy Rudat, SVP Virginia/DC Metro region

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty, one of the countrys fastest-growing real estate brokerages, announced today that the Tania Ivey Real Estate Group, a top-ranked Northern Virginia real estate team, has joined the companys Tysons Corner office. The team is led by Marc Cormier, a 15-year real estate veteran and best-selling author.

We are very excited to welcome the Tania Ivey Real Estate Group onboard, said Judy Rudat, Virginia/DC senior vice president for the Mid-Atlantic region. This dynamic group of agents brings an impressive track record of successfully managing and growing their business, and we are here to support them in their mission to grow their business.

Under Cormiers leadership, the Tania Ivey Real Estate Group has achieved remarkable results, consistently appearing on the list of top producers in the Washington metro region. In addition to providing world-class service to home buyers and sellers, Cormier is also an expert in probate and taxes, and is one of a handful of real estate professionals who holds specialty certifications in real estate divorce, seniors and luxury homes. The teams client roster includes some of the areas largest corporate and government entities, plus a number of professional athletes whom they assisted with relocation needs.

We are so pleased to be affiliated with the Berkshire Hathaway brand, which stands for a commitment to excellence said Cormier. It is very much aligned with our philosophy, and we are looking forward to our partnership for many years to come.

The Tania Ivey Real Estate Group is comprised of real estate professionals Cormier, Tania Ivey and Epi Newcomb. They can be reached at 703-445-3550. Visit their website at http://www.WeFind.Property to find out more about the team and to view their listings.

About the company

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty (http://www.penfedrealty.com) is a full-service real estate company with an annual sales volume of $4.3 billion. The company has 1,800 agents and more than 50 offices, providing complete real estate services nationwide. PenFed Realty is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PenFed Credit Union, a financial institution with more than $23.6 billion in assets and more than 1.6 million members worldwide. PenFed Realty is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices brokerage network, operated by HSF Affiliates LLC. We are proud to be an equal employment opportunity employer. Equal Housing Opportunity.O-Cedar's Corporate Habitat for Humanity Build in Nashville, April 3, 2018.

O-Cedar has joined Habitat for Humanity during the second annual Home is the Key campaign to support the critical need of affordable housing across the United States. Proceeds from ProMist MAX Microfiber Spray Mop and donations made through O-Cedar from April 1-June 15, 2018 will directly benefit Habitats mission and help more people achieve the stability and independence they need to build a better life for themselves and their families.

Building a new home is a labor intensive task, and the last thing people want to worry about is a strenuous clean-up process. Our products are known for being easy-to-use and efficient so it is a natural fit for us to partner with Habitat through the use of our cleaning tools during and post build, said Mike Esposito, Director of Marketing at O-Cedar - Freudenberg Household Products.

From April 1  June 15, 2018, help contribute to the cause. O-Cedar will donate $1 to Habitat for every ProMist MAX Microfiber Spray Mop sold by O-Cedar to any U.S. retail channel in the U.S. up to a maximum of $200,000. Visit https://promistmax.com/habitat-humanity/ for more information.

People can also back the campaign by donating at habitat.org and by sharing their support using #HomeIsTheKey on social media.

Inaugurated in 2017, Habitats Home is the Key campaign convenes sponsors, celebrities and community leaders to drive support for affordable housing needs in the U.S., and aims to demonstrate how a decent, affordable home creates a better life for families and individuals. The 2017 campaign recently won two PR News CSR & Nonprofit Awards and was named as a finalist for Engage for Goods Halo Awards and Ragans PR Daily.

Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage.

Continuing our partnership with Habitat, as one of their valued partners, means we can help the organization continue to build affordable housing with more people, and play a role in the positive impact they have on families, said Mike Esposito, Director of Marketing at O-Cedar - Freudenberg Household Products.

To learn how to get involved with Home is the Key, visit habitat.org/homeisthekey.

About O-Cedar

O-Cedar, the category leader in traditional floor care, is part of Freudenberg Household Products, a division of the Freudenberg Group headquartered in Weinheim, Germany. For more information visit http://www.ocedar.com/.

About Freudenberg Household Products

FHP is a division of the Freudenberg Group headquartered in Weinheim, Germany. The company's Household Products Division is a leading international manufacturer of branded goods including household cloths, cleaning products and laundry care products, and is the leader in virtually all markets in which it competes. The Freudenberg Household Products division employs about 2,300 employees globally and is best known in America for its O-Cedar brand and signature tagline "O-Cedar Makes Your Life Easier!"

About Habitat for Humanity

Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity began in 1976 as a grassroots effort on a community farm in southern Georgia. The Christian housing organization has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in more than 1,300 communities throughout the U.S. and in more than 70 countries. Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit habitat.org.MedCurrent Corporation Our new status represents a significant milestone on our journey to continuous innovation of our CDS offering and enabling clients to improve outcomes.

MedCurrent, a global leader in innovative healthcare IT solutions, has received full qualification by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for its clinical decision support mechanism (CDSM), OrderWise. Through this qualification, OrderWise is recognized for establishing technology and processes to support healthcare providers improve the quality of patient care, manage costs and meet regulatory requirements for the appropriate use of advanced imaging.

Starting January 1, 2020, Medicare outpatient reimbursement for advanced diagnostic imaging procedures (MR, CT, NM, PET) will be at risk if ordering providers do not consult clinical decision support (CDS) as initially set forth in the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA, 2014). To meet the requirements of this mandate, only qualified CDSMs and Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) developed by qualified provider-led entities (qPLEs) may be used.

We are pleased to receive full qualification by attesting to the standards set forth by CMS. This is an opportunity to support healthcare providers in the US make evidence-based decisions for their patients, says John Adziovsky, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), MedCurrent. Our new status represents a significant milestone on our journey to continuous innovation of our CDS offering and enabling clients to improve outcomes.

MedCurrents OrderWise guides providers through clinical decision pathways to help them order the right imaging test for their patient. The solution is complemented by robust Analytics and Authoring Studio modules to support quality improvement initiatives and system customization. In the US, OrderWise integrates imaging AUC from Intermountain Healthcare, Sage Evidence-based Medicine & Practice Institute (SEMPI), National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC). Internationally, OrderWise now runs with the eighth edition of iRefer: Making the best use of clinical radiology, the most up-to-date referral guidance from The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR).

For more information on the AUC program and qualified CDSMs, please visit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

About MedCurrent

MedCurrent is a physician-founded Clinical Decision Support (CDS) company focused on improving the quality of care and managing health system costs through our innovative and scalable solution, OrderWise. Our solution enhances the clinical decision-making process with real-time, evidence-based guidelines integrated at the point of care to improve health and healthcare delivery. Deep healthcare experience, superior technology and business agility make MedCurrent a global leader in CDS solutions. More information about MedCurrent is available at http://www.medcurrent.com.

Further information:

Hasan Dharamshi, VP Professional Services

MedCurrent

1.855.279.3380 ext. 503

hasan.dharamshi(at)medcurrent(dot)comCoveo is already a tightly run ship, and were looking forward to helping them with their next phase of growth. Im delighted to join the Board to help advise this strong team going forward. Bill Shaheen, Operating Executive, Evergreen

Coveo, a recognized leader in AI-powered insight, recommendations and search engines, has secured a $100 million investment from Elliott Management for a 27% stake in the company. The investment was led by Elliotts Menlo Park, California-based private equity affiliate, Evergreen Coast Capital.

Evergreen focuses on fast-growing technology companies that have proven customer traction and a clear opportunity to win in growth markets. With Coveos evident leadership in the machine learning applications space, the company clearly fits that bill. said Isaac Kim, Managing Director of Evergreen. Throughout our extensive due diligence, we have concluded that the company is the indisputable leader in its market, and with its management teams extensive experience and R&D superiority we see this market leadership only accelerating in the future.

Recognized by Gartner as a Leader with the most complete vision and strongest execution score among Leaders in the Magic Quadrant for Insight Engines 2017, Coveo was also named a leader in The Forrester Wave: Cognitive Search and Knowledge Discovery Solutions, 2017.

"Coveo has enjoyed hyper-growth year over year. We have been at the forefront of digital personalisation for the enterprise, a fast-growing market, with machine learning-powered search and recommendations software," commented Louis Tetu, Chairman and CEO of Coveo. "With this financing, we intend to broaden our market footprint with even more aggressive investments in sales, marketing, channels, as well as launch new lines of business beyond the current Salesforce, Microsoft, and Sitecore products. In addition, were opening up a whole range of new opportunities by expanding our platform on Elasticsearch, enabling organizations to leverage Coveo as their enterprise-wide relevance backbone, from eCommerce to customer service and the intelligent workplace.

The company intends to further expand its R & D team. Tetu noted: As a leading tech and AI company in Canada, weve grown our R&D centers in Quebec City and Montreal to more than 200 developers and data scientists, while serving a global enterprise market. Were tapping into a local talent pool with world-class machine learning and AI expertise. Coveo also recently announced its inclusion in SCALE.AI (Supply Chains and Logistics Excellence.AI), a Canadian industry-led innovation consortium with $230M of funding to accelerate the integration of next-generation AI and machine learning-powered supply chains in the Canadian economy.

Coveo plans to use the Evergreen investment to accelerate growth mostly organically and through strategic acquisition opportunities that may arise. Jean Lavigueur, CFO of Coveo, noted: Were excited to partner with a Tier 1 Silicon Valley investment firm. Evergreen has been an absolute pleasure to work with. The quality of their team and their long-term investment perspective aligns with our goals, and really stood out over the investors we explored discussions with. With their investment and capabilities we now have a war chest at our disposal to pursue our aggressive goals.

RBC Capital Markets acted as placement agent for the financing. Full terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but following the close of the transaction, Evergreen will have a minority ownership stake in Coveo approximating 27%, and Bill Shaheen, Operating Executive with Evergreen, will join the Coveo Board of Directors. He added: Coveo is already a tightly run ship, and were looking forward to helping them with their next phase of growth. Im delighted to join the Board to help advise this strong team going forward.

About Coveo

Make business personal.

Coveo uses intelligent search and AI technologies to personalize every digital experience for customers, partners, dealers, and employees. Coveo combines unified content, unified interactions and machine learning to deliver relevant information and recommendations across every business interaction, making websites, ecommerce, contact centers and intranets efficient, effortless and content-rich. Coveo is also embedded in many leading business applications from vendors including Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Sitecore, Xero and more. Coveo partners with the worlds largest enterprise technology players and has more than 1,500 activations in mid-to-large sized global organizations across multiple industries.

Coveo is a trademark of Coveo Solutions, Inc.

About Elliott and Evergreen

Elliott Management Corporation manages two multi-strategy investment funds which combined have approximately $35 billion of assets under management. Its flagship fund, Elliott Associates, L.P., was founded in 1977, making it one of the oldest funds of its kind under continuous management. The Elliott funds' investors include pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, funds-of-funds, high net worth individuals and families, and employees of the firm. This investment is being led by Evergreen Coast Capital, Elliott's Menlo Park affiliate, which focuses on technology investing.The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel celebrates the beginning of summer with the Doheny Blues Festival. The oceanfront resort has partnered with the Festival to offer a VIP room and ticket package  Wash Away the Blues. From GRAMMY winners to music legends, Doheny Blues has been host to many of the top names in rock, soul, and blues, and this year guests will enjoy a star-studded lineup led by blues-rock icon George Thorogood & The Destroyers and Texas guitar legend Jimmie Vaughan.

The Wash Away the Blues Experience includes:



Three nights accommodations for two guests in a pool/garden view guestroom with check-in Friday, May 18 and check-out Monday, May 21

Two Gold two-day passes to the Doheny Blues Festival at Sea Terrace Park, located within walking distance of The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. Gold Amenities at the Festival include access to preferred viewing area in front of the Main Stage, eight complimentary beverages per day, catered lunch each afternoon, an official Blues Fest T-shirt, and early entrance into the Festival at 10:00 a.m. each day

Blues-themed Welcome Amenity

Resort Fee and Overnight Valet Parking

The three-night Doheny Blues Experience is $2,997, exclusive of tax and gratuities.

The 2018 Doheny Blues Festival takes place May 19 and 20, 2018 at its new venue, Dana Points Sea Terrace Park. The award-winning festival will be reimagined at its new seaside home, with more intimate stage areas and elevated food and beverage offerings.

Click here for a selection of high resolution images.

About The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel

The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel rises above the Pacific Ocean and affords panoramic views across the horizon and the miles of sandy beach below. The resorts extraordinary bluff top setting creates a backdrop that elevates the guest experience and creates distinctive and unforgettable memories that last a lifetime. Make the oceanfront resort a part of your travel plans and #riseabove. For more information or reservations call 800-241-3333, the hotel directly at 949-240-2000, a travel professional or visit http://www.ritzcarlton.com/LagunaNiguel.Agents and brokers can now access a full suite of insurance solutions for their community association clients with expanded property and casualty (P&C) coverages now available through Ian H. Graham Insurance (IHG), a division of Aon Affinity, the affinity business of Aon plc (NSYE: AON). IHG recently launched a new P&C program for community associations, in addition to the umbrella, directors and officers, and crime coverages already offered.

Were very pleased to make these crucial solutions available to agents for their community association clients, said Sylvia Tagle, executive vice president, IHG. Community associations including residential condominiums, cooperatives and homeowners associations face a myriad of risks, so offering a seamless solution for both agents and their community association clients is important to ensure they are adequately protected.

The new P&C program is tailored to the needs of community associations and offers the following features:



Package or standalone coverages available including property, general liability, inland marine, and commercial automobile

Elite coverage endorsement for community associations providing numerous property coverage enhancements

Guaranteed replacement cost property valuation

Common area and all-in coverage options

Flexible deductible options

Through IHG, community associations get customized coverage through an admitted, A-rated carrier, best-in-class service and automatic renewals for qualifying accounts.

The new property and general liability coverages are currently available in 30 states and formally launched in February 2018.

For more information on the new coverages, please contact Tifinni Tegan at 312-841-0115 or tifinni.tegan@ihginsurance.com or visit IHG online at http://www.ihginsurance.com/solutions.

Ian H. Graham Insurance is the brand name for the brokerage and program administration operations of Affinity Insurance Services, Inc.; (TX 13695); (AR100106022); in CA & MN, AIS Affinity Insurance Agency, Inc. (CA 0795465); in OK, AIS Affinity Insurance Services Inc.; in CA, Aon Affinity Insurance Services, Inc., (CA 0G94493), Aon Direct Insurance Administrators and Berkely Insurance Agency and in NY, AIS Affinity Insurance Agency.

All descriptions, summaries or highlights of coverage are for general informational purposes only and do not amend, alter or modify the actual terms or conditions of any insurance policy. Coverage is governed only by the terms and conditions of the relevant policy.

About IHG

Ian H. Graham Insurance serves more than 5,000 insurance brokers representing over 42,000 community association clients. Brokers and agents have been relying on our quality products, simple processes and experienced service since 1982.

About Aon Affinity

Aon Affinity is a trade name for Affinity Insurance Services, Inc. Aon Affinity combines the specialized knowledge of affinity program management with the extensive resources of a global company to help clients achieve their goals. With an innovative approach to program strategy, from the design of products and services to the delivery of the marketing message, Affinity offers full-service capabilities; technical expertise and industry knowledge to deliver value to clients. Visit http://www.aon.com/affinity for more information.

About Aon

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.

For further information on our capabilities and to learn how we empower results for clients, please visit: http://aon.mediaroom.com.Hart Cunningham The progress we are making in renewables is not fast enough. How many acres must burn before we wake up?

The Thomas Fire is the seventh largest wildfire that the state of California has ever seen. Its destroyed countless homes, farmlands, and businesses while burning for over a month straight. This fire has disastrous implications for the economy, environment, and citizens of California. Presidential candidate, Hart Cunningham, is asking the tough questions around this event in his new YouTube video.

For example, why hasnt there been an official statement from President Trump tying this event to the true source of the problem, climate change? California Governor Jerry Brown stated that the scale of wildfires hitting the state should be a wake-up call for people to respond to climate change. He, like Hart Cunningham, is concerned that these fires are just an indication of an increasingly dire trend of more destructive weather patterns.

How long is the United States government going to ignore the overwhelming evidence and consensus among scientists? Global warming is expanding, was created by humans, and real actions must be taken to minimize the effects it has on current and future generations. As more and more natural disasters occur across the States, it becomes even more apparent that major initiatives are needed, and that they should be led by a leader who cares about our planet.

In 2020, the American people will finally have the option to elect someone who does care about this topic and isnt afraid to speak the truth, Hart Cunningham. In a recent video he released on his YouTube channel, he states, We are under-equipped for this attack. Ive lived in every major city of California and I have a large company in Sacramento. We need to take this issue much more seriously. Climate change must be stopped. Fossil fuel burning must end. The progress we are making in renewables is not fast enough. How many acres must burn before we wake up?

His plan in 2020 is to move completely away from fossil fuel energy and to adopt fully renewable sources of energy in a way that works for everyone. Its time to stop making political decisions based on greed, but to start making them based on the betterment of mankind and the planet. Watch his video to learn more about what you can expect regarding climate change from a Cunningham presidency.

Its not only Cunningham that believes that the Thomas Fire has reached this level of severity due to global warming and climate change. Scientists agree that human-caused climate change is increasing the size and frequency of large wildfires, especially in heavily wooded areas. Fires are much easier to start, as well as spread, in the hot and dry wooded areas caused by droughts.

Fortunately, there are still things that can be done to temper the effects of wildfires and to help prevent them. As Cunningham has discussed, the state of California was not prepared to deal with the scale of this disaster. There need to be more firefighters available, as well as more planning around what should be done when this occurs, to get in front of it as much as possible and mitigate the amount of devastation. A short-term plan that includes those strategies, along with a long-term plan that accounts for addressing climate change, is crucial to prepare for future events like the Thomas Fire.

About Hart Cunningham - #Hart2020

Hart Cunningham is running for the presidency in 2020 in the hopes of helping the world overcome struggles due to capitalism, unsustainable economic and environmental practices, and a lack of equality. After being a successful businessman for many years, Cunningham turned his attention to humanitarian work and to bringing awareness to these issues. Originally from the south, hes made his roots in California and has a deep understanding of democratic and republican politics and ideals. True to his name, Hart Cunningham wants to bring the heart back into politics in America and believes that poverty and climate change must be solved for the greater good of our world. Volunteer or contribute to his campaign by visiting, http://hart2020.org.

Follow Hart Cunningham on social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HCfor2020

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HartCunningham2020/Severe cyanobacteria blooms hit drinking water supplies especially hard. Even when toxin levels remain low, water treatment plants often face complaints about taste and odor. Controlling cyanotoxins and the chemicals that cause taste and odor issues are high priorities.

Controlling cyanobacteria tops the agenda for the upcoming meeting of the New York American Water Works Association (NY AWWA). The chapter holds its annual meeting in Saratoga Springs this month. The meeting follows Governor Andrew M. Cuomos recent announcement of a $65 million plan to combat harmful cyanobacteria blooms in the Empire State.

Governor Cuomos initiative responds to a string of cyanobacteria-related water quality incidents over the past several years. Since 2015, increasingly larger blooms have threatened popular lakes and drinking water supplies. Even Central Park has suffered.

Signs posted in Central Park last summer warned of cyanobacteria blooms. The signs advised parkgoers to stay out of the water. Dogs were prohibited from swimming to prevent them from drinking the toxic sludge. Similar signs appeared at popular beaches throughout the state. Such warnings help protect swimmers and boaters, but not the many residents and tourists who rely on the lakes for drinking water.

Severe cyanobacteria blooms hit drinking water supplies especially hard, said David Carrington, Business Manager at Earth Science Laboratories. Even when toxin levels remain low, water treatment plants often face complaints about taste and odor. Controlling cyanotoxins and the chemicals that cause taste and odor issues are high priorities.

ESL will send a representative to the NY AWWA to discuss EarthTec for controlling cyanobacteria. EarthTec is an advanced algaecide/bactericide. ESLs Cyanobacteria Rapid Response Team uses EarthTec to kill cyanobacteria and reduce chemicals that produce unpleasant taste and odor in drinking water.

More information on the NY AWWA annual conference can be found at https://nysawwa.org/events/nywe.

Earth Science Laboratories Inc. manufactures EarthTec for the controlling and preventing algae and cyanobacteria. EarthTec is EPA registered and approved for use in open waters and in pipelines. It is NSF Certified to ANSI Standard 60. Visit earthtecwatertreatment.com for more information.CORL Technologies Vendor Honor Roll CORL launched the Vendor Honor Roll to shine a spotlight on vendors that demonstrate their commitment to collaborate with their customers and provide transparency to their security and privacy policies and practices. - Cliff Baker, CEO of CORL Technologies

CORL Technologies, the leading provider of vendor security risk management solutions for the Healthcare industry, named three businesses to its Vendor Honor Roll, a new recognition program for Businesses Associates serving healthcare organizations.

Ciox Health (a health information management company), NAVEX Global (provider of ethics and compliance software) and ServiceNow (enterprise cloud computing solutions provider) are three businesses named to the CORL Vendor Honor Roll by health organizations employing their services.

The vendors were selected based on four criteria: 1) a willingness to provide privacy and security information to their health entity clients, 2) ability to provide assurance of security controls, 3) responsiveness to clients inquiries regarding security and privacy practices and 4) collaboration with client information security teams to protect patient information in the healthcare industry including health systems, health insurance plans, and other health-related service providers.

As Steve Crocker, CISO of Methodist Le Bonheur, said of the CORL Vendor Honor Roll recognition, The health industry is behind when it comes to Vendor Security Risk Management. Some vendors have been really cooperative in the process and we hope this puts healthy peer pressure on the others who have been difficult to work with or have real security challenges when we run an assessment.

Ever evolving regulatory threats, technology and business models require constant oversight and governance by health organizations to make sure data is secured by vendors. Less than 30% of vendors in the healthcare industry have a security certification and about 50% do not have qualified security professionals on staff. With recent vendors in the news for data breaches and misuse of personal information, businesses of all sizes are realizing they must cooperate on data security risk assessments, such as those performed by CORL Technologies and their health organization clients. The costs incurred by organizations in dealing with major breaches and related outages by vendors with broad data access in the industry is drawing attention internally from board members, investors and executive teams.

Patients are at risk and healthcare organizations are incurring millions of dollars in costs dealing with security breaches at key vendors. These vendors are increasingly more essential to the delivery of quality care and healthcare operations. Our clients are recognizing that they cannot afford the risk of working with companies that refuse to collaborate on privacy and security, said Cliff Baker, CEO of CORL Technologies.

About CORL Technologies

CORL Technologies is the leading provider of vendor security risk management solutions for the healthcare industry. The company was founded in 2012 to address the immediate need for vendor security intelligence. The CORL Vendor Security Risk Management solutions are delivered as a managed service and are supported by expert research analysts who collaborate with an intelligence sharing community. With CORL, hospitals, health systems, payers and service providers can monitor risk with vendors, ease compliance audits, and improve executive communications and risk-analytics reporting. CORL Technologies is a proponent of data security frameworks, such as NIST and HITRUST, and the firm holds a SOC 2-Type II attestation. Visit CORL at http://www.vendorsecurity.com or http://www.linkedin.com/company/corl-technologies.Greenberg Traurigs culture and stellar white collar practice will be a perfect fit for me. - Barry Vitou

Renowned white collar defence and investigations attorney Barry Vitou will be joining the global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP as a shareholder to launch and lead the firms White Collar Defence & Special Investigations Practice in London. Vitou will join from international law firm Pinsent Masons.

Companies and individuals facing scrutiny from the United States or foreign governments need experienced practitioners available worldwide at a moments notice. Greenberg Traurigs White Collar Defence & Special Investigations Practice recently ranked among the Top 10 in Law360's Mightiest Practice Groups and the launch of our London White Collar and Special Investigations Practice with Barry further enhances our capability in Europe, said Richard A. Rosenbaum, Executive Chairman at Greenberg Traurig. We are now one of a select few with this level of expertise on both sides of the Atlantic in this critical area. Developing top-tier teams in key areas of practice important to industry-leading businesses has been our stated strategy while retaining our focus on delivering value. This focus has allowed us to quickly achieve strong recognition in our European locations and strong financial gains well beyond headcount growth. And our shareholders remain hungry for further evolution to satisfy clients' evolving needs. Our practice in White Collar Defence & Special Investigations has been involved in most major global landmark cases and Barry will further that involvement in additional key markets.

Greenberg Traurigs White Collar Defence & Special Investigations Practice is comprised of nearly 100 trial lawyers, including a significant number of former prosecutors, who have tried hundreds of criminal cases and who have served at the highest levels of federal and state government.

London is a dynamic office that has experienced tremendous growth in headcount and activity in the past 18 months. We are always exploring ways to enhance what we can offer clients. This is one of the things we will achieve with the expected addition of Barry Vitou, said Paul Maher, Vice Chair of the firm, who focuses on strategic business development globally and works closely with Rosenbaum with respect to the London office he founded in 2009. We never grow simply for the sake of growth; this addition will be impactful on our office, practice, and firm for a long time to come.

Vitou said, Greenberg Traurigs culture and stellar white collar practice will be a perfect fit for me. With the criminalisation of corporate law continuing apace and cross-border cooperation among law enforcement agencies investigating and prosecuting white collar crime, a truly integrated global white collar defence practice levels the playing field. I look forward to providing the very best advice and defence from Greenberg Traurigs global platform.

Vitous representative matters include advising in connection with investigations and prosecutions conducted by numerous law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in the U.K. including the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Financial Conduct Authority, and Information Commissioners Office. He defended the first corporation in the U.K. prosecuted for failure to prevent bribery and advised in connection with the SFOs civil recovery of dividends flowing from corrupt conduct. Outside of the U.K., Vitou frequently represents clients under investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies, including the U.K.s SFO, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Vitou has dealt with law enforcement investigations all over the world including the European Union, Russia, and the British Overseas Territories. He also conducts internal investigations around the world and handles self-reporting actions. Vitou has conducted numerous compliance advisory mandates and his work is praised in the Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 directories.

"Our team utilizes the deep reservoir of knowledge from veterans in related fields across the firm to develop and integrate global strategies for our clients. Armed with this experience, intimate knowledge of the government process, and an arsenal of global resources, we tackle criminal, regulatory, and other mission-critical investigations that arise out of the unforgiving surveillance businesses face today, said Jacqueline Becerra, Marc L. Mukasey, and A. John Pappalardo, co-chairs of Greenberg Traurigs White Collar Defence & Special Investigations Practice.

Rudolph W. Giuliani, Chair of the firm's Cybersecurity, Privacy & Crisis Management Practice, added, Barry is a terrific lawyer who will be a great addition to our team in London. His experience will further enhance our global white collar practice; adding value for firm clients worldwide.

The firm has broad related experience in China and Latin America, providing global coverage. Greenberg Traurig teams in Shanghai, the U.S., and Mexico have represented companies, boards, audit committees, and senior executives in internal investigations relating to various issues such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, securities fraud, insider trading, import-export issues including export control, employment issues including sexual harassment, accounting irregularities, conflicts of interest, and related party transactions. The firm has a multi-lingual, multi-disciplinary team that consists of compliance specialists and corporate lawyers with substantive knowledge of health care, internet-related issues, technology, real estate, manufacturing, retail, international trade, and other regulated industries.

Vitou received LLB Honors from Leicester University in 1990 and Law Society Finals in 1992. Before working for Pinsent Masons LLP, Vitou was a partner with a well-known U.S. law firm in its London office. He is admitted to practice law in England and Wales. Vitou is a frequent speaker and regularly appears on television and radio interviews in connection with white collar matters. He also writes at http://www.thebriberyact.com.

About Greenberg Traurigs White Collar Criminal Defence Practice

Greenberg Traurigs White Collar Defence & Special Investigations Practice has wide-ranging experience protecting companies and individuals under government scrutiny. The firms creative defence lawyers are at the forefront of client service in this area, and Greenberg Traurig is one of very few firms with more than 90 former federal and state prosecutors in its litigation group, and where the majority of litigation shareholders and counsel have first-chair trial experience. The team's defence capabilities includes vast experience in structuring internal investigations, developing guidelines and implementing compliance programs, and addressing issues of voluntary disclosure, as well as extensive representations involving alleged securities fraud, FCPA violations, health care/pharmaceutical fraud, environmental crimes, money laundering, financial services fraud, public corruption/campaign finance, tax corruption, defence contracting, and bankruptcy fraud.

About Greenberg Traurigs London Office

Greenberg Traurig, LLP in London has established itself as a multidisciplinary law firm, with more than 80 lawyers and growing. The London office provides partner-led advice to domestic and international clients on a range of matters across the legal spectrum. Lawyers at Greenberg Traurig in London advise U.K. and multinational clients operating in many different sectors, including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, energy, real estate, financial services, automotive, retail, and communications. For additional information, please visit http://www.gtlaw.com.

About Greenberg Traurig

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. One firm worldwide, GTLaw has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, was named the largest firm in the U.S. by Law360 in 2017, and among the Top 20 on the 2016 Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.Rhoda Olsen Just as Dr. Freiberg suggests leaders should do, Rhoda established a culture of innovation and leveraged it to yield an action-oriented strategy that would position Great Clips well ahead of its competition.

Saint Marys University of Minnesota (http://www.smumn.edu) will honor Rhoda Olsen, former CEO and current vice chair of the board of Great Clips, with the 2018 Hendrickson Medal for Ethical Leadership at this years Hendrickson Forum. The Tuesday, April 24, 2018, event, Innovation Culture, is presented by Saint Marys Hendrickson Institute for Ethical Leadership and will feature a keynote address by author, business owner, and renowned leadership speaker Dr. Jackie Freiberg.

We are thrilled to honor Rhoda as our 2018 Hendrickson Medal recipient, says Audrey Kintzi, Saint Marys vice president for development and alumni relations, who leads the Hendrickson Forum. She is a wonderfully kind individual whose contributions to Great Clips are too numerous to count. Under her leadership, the organization implemented innovative technologies to completely transform the customer experience. Just as Dr. Freiberg suggests leaders should do, Rhoda established a culture of innovation and leveraged it to yield an action-oriented strategy that would position Great Clips well ahead of its competition.

At the helm of Great Clips, Olsen championed online and mobile check-in for customers, allowing them to see wait times for haircuts and be added to salon waitlists before arriving. Olsen also developed a robust customer database that alerts stylists of customers preferences, ensuring a consistent experience for the customer each and every time  no matter the location or stylist.

Olsen began at Great Clips in 1984, was named president in 1998, and promoted to CEO in 2011. She led Great Clips from 1,000 salons in 1998 to 4,200 salons at the end of 2017. She has more than 30 years of executive leadership experience in numerous positions at Great Clips as well as prior experience in human resources, business leadership, and consulting at various companies.

Past medal recipients include Inge Thulin of 3M, Mary Brainerd of HealthPartners, and more. Nominees for the Hendrickson Medical for Ethical Leadership have made significant contributions to the Twin Cities community and exhibit ethical leadership that is globally oriented and innovative or creative; citizenship that significantly improves the lives of others appreciation for diverse ideas and perspectives; and a commitment to inspiring emerging leaders.

This years Hendrickson Forum will feature a keynote address from Jackie Freiberg, author, business owner, and renowned leadership speaker. Recognized as one of the Top 30 Minds on Leadership by Leadership Excellence Magazine, Freiberg helps companies foster work environments where their employees can do their best work. Freiberg is the co-author of seven award-winning books, including NUTS!, the international bestseller describing Southwest Airlines leadership, culture, and profitability; GUTS!; BOOM!; NANOVATION!; Do Something Now!; Be a Person of Impact!; and most recently, CAUSE! A Business Strategy for Standing Out in A Sea of Sameness. To learn more about Jackie, visit http://www.smumn.edu/hendrickson.

At the Hendrickson Forum, Freiberg will discuss how organizations can harness innovation in a new way. Focusing on three critical roles for organizational success (notice, lead, and disrupt), Freibergs keynote will empower attendees to take on these roles and begin taking advantage of opportunities to transform new ideas into real solutions.

The Hendrickson Forum is a luncheon event, held this year on Tuesday, April 24, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., with check-in and networking beginning at 11 a.m., at the Saint Marys University Center on the Saint Marys University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus, located on Park Avenue in Minneapolis. The program also includes the presentation of the Hendrickson Medal for Ethical Leadership. The event is open to the public and general admission tickets are $50 per person, which includes lunch. Advance registration is required. More information and online registration is available at: http://www.smumn.edu/HendricksonForum.

About the Hendrickson Institute for Ethical Leadership

The Hendrickson Institute for Ethical Leadership is an educational enterprise of Saint Marys University of Minnesota and serves as an educational and transformational resource to the community. Founded in 1994 and located in Minneapolis on the Twin Cities Campus of Saint Marys University of Minnesota, the Institute serves both current and emerging leaders. It is an academic resource for Saint Marys University of Minnesota and the community, and a forum for exploration of ethical issues. As part of its mission, the Institute strives to provide programs that encourage and develop ethical, globally oriented leaders, offer integrative leadership models, promote ethical principles that are practical, and infuse leaders with an appreciation of spirituality and free enterprise. For additional information, visit http://www.smumn.edu/hendrickson.

About Saint Marys University of Minnesota

Saint Marys University of Minnesota awakens, nurtures, and empowers learners to ethical lives of service and leadership. At Saint Marys, students find in every classroomwhether in person or onlinea relationship-driven, person-centered education. Through intense inquiry, students discover the truths in the world and the character within. Founded in 1912 and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, Saint Marys University of Minnesota enrolls 5,800 students at its residential undergraduate college in Winona and its Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs, based in Minneapolis but extending worldwide. Saint Marys offers respected and affordable programs in a variety of areas leading to bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees, as well as certificates and specialist designations. Learn more at http://www.smumn.edu.DiscoverLehighValley.com While Lehigh Valley shakes off the winter blues, its time to think spring and plan your next getaway that will surely have your Instagram followers envious of your travels, said Alicia Quinn, strategic brand manager for Discover Lehigh Valley.

Discover Lehigh Valley the destination marketing organization dedicated to promoting tourism in Pennsylvanias Lehigh and Northampton counties, also known as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area, welcomes visitors to create Instagrammable moments by planning a spring getaway to Lehigh Valley and visiting several of the areas beautiful attractions that make the most picture-perfect backdrop.

While Lehigh Valley shakes off the winter blues, its time to think spring and plan your next getaway that will surely have your Instagram followers envious of your travels, said Alicia Quinn, strategic brand manager for Discover Lehigh Valley. As the bluebells start to bloom at Lock Ridge Park, trees begin cascading over Bake Oven Knob, and the sun casts a joyful shadow on SteelStacks, we are reminded that warmer days are here to stay and springtime adventures are just a short drive away.

To post the perfect Instagrammable moment, Discover Lehigh Valley recommends to snap a few photos at these breathtaking historical sites and captivating landscapes:



For more information on Lehigh Valleys Instagram-worthy spring locations, visit DiscoverLehighValley.com or for photos of these locations, click here. Follow @LehighValleyPa on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Tweet it: @LehighValleyPa shares #Instaworthy moments to #LiftYourSpiritsDLV this #Spring! https://goo.gl/CqSVDR

About Discover Lehigh Valley

Established in 1984, Discover Lehigh Valley makes Lehigh and Northampton counties a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases the number of visitors, the number of nights they stay and the number of things they do in the region.

Discover Lehigh Valleys official visitor website and blog, DiscoverLehighValley.com and LehighValleyInSite.com keeps locals and visitors abreast of all things happening in region. Visitors can explore things to do, upcoming events, themed itineraries and hotel packages. Compelling photography and videos, brochures and detailed visitor information make the sites effective trip-planning tools. Along with Discover Lehigh Valleys social media channels, the online platforms communicate directly with consumers. Travelers can also call and stop into one of the many visitor centers for additional information.

About Lehigh Valley, Pa.

Set amid gentle hills and charming country sides, Lehigh Valley, Pa. is home to Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, as well as dozens of small towns and picturesque boroughs.

The region is steeped in pre-Colonial, Early American and industrial history. Lehigh Valley has an impressive range of tourist attractions including nationally-recognized events like Musikfest, wineries and breweries, the Lehigh Valley Zoo, outdoor activities, world-class sporting events, 10 colleges and universities, and is home to Americas favorite brands such as Crayola, Peeps, Mike & Ike, Martin Guitars and Mack Trucks. The region offers a diverse array of memorable things to do and plenty of dining options to fit every budget and taste.

And, its easy to get to and around. Lehigh Valley is located approximately 60 minutes north of Philadelphia and 90 minutes west of New York City by car.COFES 2018 - Congress On the Future of Engineering Software It is about unsearched systems and how do you search for what you do not know.

The COFES Institute is delighted to announce the third keynote speaker, Dr. Keith Schubert, for COFES 2018, to be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, on April 12-15, 2018 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. Attendees will benefit from the talent and wisdom of a trailblazer who is a longtime collaborator with the director of NASAs Astrobiology Institute and works with researchers at numerous other leading-edge organizations.

The work that Dr. Schubert is doing, to my awareness, has never been done before. Not only do I believe it is unique in our search for life in the universe, but this genre of work is groundbreaking because it lets us see something new about our own context through the eyes of a machine, said Nathanael Miller, COFES Institute Board Director. This topic fits perfectly into the COFES 2018 theme designed to stretch the thinking of our attendees.

The three COFES keynote speakers will challenge attendees to imagine and explore new futures and possibilities for themselves, their businesses, and their communities through this years theme, Human-Aided Design: Changing the Relationship between Our Tools and Us. The annual four-day event for the design and engineering software industry brings together a diverse group of thought leaders in technology and science to engage in wide-ranging and meaningful discussions. To request an invitation, visit apply.cofes.com.

Dr. Schuberts current challenge is working with NASA researchers to develop a system to detect life forms in outer space that could be significantly different than life on Earth without consuming limited resources like chemical tests. How do you invent machines and processes that can detect life when that lifeform is likely to be very different from what we know? Moreover, the added difficulty in space is that this process has to be carried out without adding weight or impacting primary objectives, so relying on digital photography, sensors, and artificial intelligence are crucial.

Dr. Schubert's expansive knowledge in software, engineering, and medical imaging provides the foundation for his keynote address, Unlocking the Patterns of Life: What Limited Resources and Computers Can Teach Us About Life and Everything.

It is about unsearched systems and how do you search for what you do not know, said Dr. Schubert about his topic. With the use of artificial intelligence and software tools, we can discover the quintessential aspects of a problem you do not know the answer to and that is what I want to discuss. His incredible journey doing field research on several NASA Spaceward Bound expeditions, and as one of the team leads on a National Geographic expedition has allowed him to discover universal indicators to the unknown problems often based on pattern recognition and then developing software tools to detect. We leverage insights in order for tools and human beings to come together.

Dr. Schuberts keynote will be thought provoking to say the least," said Vincent Caprio, COFES Institute President. Other keynotes for COFES this year will be entrepreneur Ping Fu speaking about resilient design and machine learning. Lastly, venture capitalist George Gilder discussing his latest book Life After Google. These three people will bring ideas that will stretch the thinking of our attendees.

About Dr. Keith Schubert

Dr. Schubert is a full professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Baylor University. His interest areas are the fast, numerically stable solution of large, sparse problems, particularly for medical imaging and treatment; the design of electrical and embedded systems for medical and biological applications; the patterned growth of extremophiles and the search for life in space; and the mathematical modeling of synchronization. Dr. Schubert has been a team leader on the December 2012 National Geographic expedition to Cueva de Villa Luz in Mexico, and his work made the cover article of National Geographic July 2013. Dr. Schubert has worked on medical projects with Loma Linda University (LLU), LLU Medical Center, University of California San Francisco, Baylor Scott and White Medical centers in Dallas and Temple, and holds an adjunct full professor position at LLU. Dr. Schubert's medical projects range from developing proton computed tomography to functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain monitoring to artificial intelligence for colonoscopy.

About COFES and the COFES Institute

Now in its 19th year, COFES is the annual, invitation-only event for the design and engineering software industry. Widely recognized as a think-tank event, COFES (cofes.com) gathers design and engineering software leaders (vendors, users, press, and analysts) together to discuss the role engineering technology will play in the future survival and success of business. COFES is renowned for hosting leading keynote visionaries that provide a new perspective to the future of the industry. Apply for an invitation at apply.cofes.com.

The COFES Institute was created in 2017 to provide sustainable leadership to COFES. The COFES Institute is a non-profit 501c3 governed by a Board of Directors led by Vincent Caprio. Other members of the board are (in order of last name): Jim Brown: President  TechClarity, Jim Doxey: Product Configuration Manager  Oculus, Nathanael Miller: Aerospace Engineer  NASA Langley Research Center, Jason Preston: Co-Founder  Parnassus Group (DENT), and Rebecca Yeh: Event Director & Secretary  COFES. In addition, the COFES Advisory Board was established to provide industry input to the COFES Board, see the COFES website for a listing of the Advisory Board participants.ALOHA Mind Math Colombia MD Center We have been successfully running an ALOHA Mind Math program in Northern Virginia for the last 9 years and we are excited to bring this program to Colombia, Maryland. Our unique concept can provide the necessary tools to excel in school and best of all give our children the confidence they deserve

ALOHA Mind Math is celebrating the Grand Opening of their first learning center in the region in Colombia, Maryland during the month of April. The public is invited to join them for an overview of their unique math, and their reading | writing programs plus a tour of the new facility. ALOHA learning centers cater to both high achieving children, and to those who are struggling, ages 5-12. Programs in math, reading & writing and curriculum based Accelerated School Math Program are available; information at: ALOHAMindMath.com, or Columbia(at)aloha-usa(dot)com. (443) 885-0120

Marking the 19th state into which ALOHA has expanded, the Maryland centers will bring the companys Reading | Writing programs to the state, along with their signature mind math program called ALOHA Mind Math. ALOHA also runs accelerated School Math Program which allows students more time to engage in complex application of skills and concepts, problem-solving and critical thinking with grade-level standards. ALOHA Mind Math offer children ages 5-12 life-long skills through these elementary school programs using after-school or evening academic enrichment programs. These programs are useful for parents who want to give their high-achieving children more tools to help them excel and boost in Math self-esteem. For children who need math help or improved reading and writing skills, ALOHA gives them a broader skill set to help them do better in school.

We have been successfully running an ALOHA Mind Math program in Northern Virginia for the last 9 years and we are excited to bring this program to Colombia, Maryland. Our unique concept can provide the necessary tools to excel in school and best of all give our children the confidence they deserve, says ALOHA Columbia, MD President, Sreeja Ganesh. She adds, We balance the use of the abacus, and mental math, with modern techniques, which give children tools to help them be successful at math learning, and build confidence, while also integrating these concepts with what children need to succeed at school.

ALOHAs teacher-led Reading | Writing program's goals are to inspire children to read and write easily and excel in language arts. The program works to motivate young minds and to develop a passion for reading and writing spontaneously. The programs ALOHA will be bringing to Maryland are designed for Grades pre-k to 5th Grade. This center also plans to have summer camp programs starting in June.

ALOHA

Since 2006, ALOHA Mind Math, a leading provider of mental arithmetic and English Reading | Writing after school programs, has been guiding children in the U.S. between the ages of 3 through 14 to achieve academic excellence in these grades. ALOHA is currently training children at over 111 locations in 20 states across the U.S. Programs also include a Tiny Thinkers pre-school program for ages 3-5, and a STEM summer camp for 10-14 year-olds. The interactive learning process ALOHA uses enhances a childs math, reading and writing capabilities. The teachers also assist children in developing skills and abilities such as observation and listening that result in the overall growth of the child. The ALOHA program is also in use in 20 countries worldwide.

For more details on these unique programs please visit https://www.alohamindmath.com or search for the center closest to you by using our locator https://alohamindmath.com/find-a-center/.the spr agency has been ranked as a top agency in five business marketing categories by Ranking Arizona in 2018. Our reward is knowing that our clients are succeeding as leaders in their respective industries. If were recognized for helping them achieve that success, its simply because they position us to be successful, too.

Scottsdale-based public relations and social media firm the spr agency has been ranked as a top agency in five business marketing categories by Ranking Arizona in 2018.

The digital marketing agency, celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2018, made the lists for Public Relations, SEO/Social Media Marketing, Advertising Agencies, Internet Marketing and Best Workplace Culture.

The company's roster of clients includes national homebuilders, premier master-planned communities, electronics manufacturers and healthcare companies.

Its the latest honor for the agency, which was listed as one of Phoenixs top 25 social media firms by the Phoenix Business Journal this year. The company was also named the No. 1 public relations agency in Arizona by Ranking Arizona in 2017.

Al Stevens, president of the spr agency, said the greatest honor for his agency is in watching the agencys clients find success each day.

Our reward is knowing that our clients are succeeding as leaders in their respective industries, Stevens said. If were recognized for helping them achieve that success, its simply because they position us to be successful, too.

Founded in 2008, the spr agency has garnered a reputation for creating and implementing successful digital marketing campaigns for some of todays leading brands.

The spr agency is located at 6730 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 240, in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information, please call (480) 648-1770 or visit https://thespragency.com/.

About the spr agency

Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, the spr agency provides full-service business marketing, public relations, digital marketing and social media services to a host of successful companies throughout the United States. Currently, the company works with clients in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. For more information about the spr agency, please visit https://thespragency.com/.The rate of autism has increased dramatically and that need is what continues to drive us to do more, build more and want more for our families with autism. I don't know what the next fifteen years will bring but I'm excited to be a part of it, said Dantzler.

Including Kids, a non-profit organization that works with children and young adults with autism and other developmental delays, celebrates their 15 year anniversary in their new 2.5-acre campus during April, designated Autism Awareness Month.

On April 21, 2003, Including Kids, INC. opened with the mission of providing educational and therapeutic instruction using evidence-based analysis for children with autism and related developmental delays, endeavoring to facilitate their inclusion in the community.

Today, Including Kids has served over 900 families from 13 counties in the Greater Houston area. Programs and services include full time 1:1 ABA therapy, after-school programs, parent training and babysitting courses, behavioral therapy consultation, internship/mentorship programs, continuing education college courses with Lone Star College-Kingwood and more.

To register for a community event click here.

At the Oh, The Places We'll Go Gala on Saturday, March 24, Commissioner of Harris County Precinct 4, Jack Cagle, recognized Including Kids for their Exemplary Commitment to Youth with Developmental Disabilities.

Additionally, Jennifer Dantzler, Executive Director and founder of Including Kids was also honored that evening by State Representative, Dan Huberty who declared April 21st Jennifer Dantzler Day.

The last fifteen years have had challenges and victories. The rate of autism has increased dramatically and that need is what continues to drive us to do more, build more and want more for our families with autism. I don't know what the next fifteen years will bring but I'm excited to be a part of it, said Dantzler. Dan Huberty's declaration of Jennifer Dantzler day was surprising, overwhelming and very much appreciated. Thank you to Dan Huberty, Commissioner Jack Cagle and my board of directors for honoring me, however it is the families with autism who should be honored.

About Including Kids

Including Kids, Inc. provides evidence-based, behavior analytic interventions for persons with autism and related disabilities to maximize individual potential and to facilitate their meaningful inclusion in the community. They were the first Texas-based organization to be named one of the top behavioral service providers in the country by receiving The Behavioral Health Center of Excellence Distinction. To get involved during Autism Awareness Month, read 15 Ways to Spread Autism Awareness or to find out more about Including Kids visit our recent blog on 15 Things You Didnt Know about Including Kids.To honor our veterans, Bright Now! Dental has partnered with the Smiles for Everyone Foundation to open its Olympia, WA office to provide free dental services for veterans and their dependents on April 21 from 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Dental services provided include x-rays and exams, fillings, extractions, cleanings, fluoride treatments, and sealants. A limited number of appointments are available. Please visit the Bright Now! Dental website for more information.

About Bright Now! Dental

Bright Now! Dental provides general dentistry, childrens dentistry and, in select locations, specialty care services such as orthodontics, oral surgery, periodontics and endodontics at over 150 offices across Colorado, California, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Bright Now! Dentals Olympia office is operated by Nurani, P.C. (the Group). The Group is affiliated with Smile Brands Inc., one of the largest providers of business support services to dental groups in the United States. Smile Brands Inc. provides comprehensive business support services through exclusive long term service agreements with affiliate dental groups, so dentists can spend more time caring for their patients and less time on the administrative, marketing, and financial aspects of operating a dental practice. Smile Brands is a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors (Gryphon), a leading middle-market private equity firm based in San Francisco, CA. For more information, visit smilebrands.com.

About the Smiles For Everyone Foundation

The Smiles for Everyone Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission of delivering smiles for everyone by providing free dental care for those in need, both at home in the U.S. and around the world. Since 2011, the Smiles for Everyone Foundation has delivered over 14,000 smiles and $12 million in donated dentistry. The foundation currently supports programs which provide free dental care to those in need in Cambodia, Ghana, Laos, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Thailand and the United States. For more information or to make a donation, visit http://www.smilesforeveryone.org.

Contacts:

Bright Now! Dental

Jody Martin

PR(at)smilebrands.com

714.427.1299

Smiles for Everyone Foundation

Crystal Strait

crystal.strait(at)smilesforeveryone.org

714.824.5037Bill Stoller My goal moving forward is the continued success of Express. We are the premier staffing company in the U.S., Canada and South Africa, and serving the needs of our Franchisees, their clients and associates is paramount to the continued growth of Express. - Bill Stoller, Express CEO

Express Employment Professionals announced that plans have moved forward naming Express co-founder Bill Stoller as Chief Executive Officer and naming fellow co-founder Bob Funk as President, effective April 1, 2018.

Stoller has also been named Chairman of the Board, while Funk has been named Chairman of the Executive Committee and Vice Chairman of the Board. As CEO, Stoller will have day-to-day operational authority and decision-making responsibility of the company.

My goal moving forward is the continued success of Express, said Stoller, We are the premier staffing company in the U.S., Canada and South Africa, and serving the needs of our Franchisees, their clients and associates is paramount to the continued growth of Express.

Stoller and Funk agreed to this change several years ago, setting the stage for a transition leading into the companys 35th anniversary.

Despite this change in leadership there will be continuity, said Funk. Its business as usual at Express, and thats good for business and for all our people.

Express now boasts over 800 franchise locations, with a goal of reaching 900 total franchise locations. For every Express office that opens, on average 600 more people find work annually and work an average of 37 hours per week.

Putting people to work is a mission, added Funk. We will continue to put people to work so they can have successful careers and take care of their families.

As Express moves into this new phase of business leadership, the two founders are proud of their staff and companys impact on the communities they serve.

Our organizations great staff and leadership is the main reasons for our success, said Stoller. Within a company, the CEO and President guide the ship by creating a vision, while staff ultimately mans the ship to ensure success.

Were privileged to do what we do, and we look forward to continuing for the next 35 years.

For more information about Express Employment Professionals, visit ExpressPros.com. If you are

interested in owning an Express franchise, visit ExpressFranchising.com.

If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena

Karami, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966.

About William H. Stoller

William H. Bill Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the international staffing company has more than 800 franchises in the U.S., Canada and South Africa. Since its inception, Express has put more than 6 million people to work worldwide.

About Express Employment Professionals

Express Employment Professionals puts people to work. It generated a record $3.4 billion in sales and employed more than 540,000 people in 2017. Its long-term goal is to put a million people to work 2 annually. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.Helen Snyder, PhD Director of Preclinical Development & Strategic Partnerships Cell IDx; Marie-Louise Loupart, PhD Image Analysis Specialist for Leica Biosystems Aperio ePathology

Detecting multiple biomarkers on a single slide presents many challenges: correct selection of biomarkers, sourcing and qualifying antibodies against the biomarkers, detection methods, optimization of the staining-detection protocol and how to visualize, record and interpret the resulting complex staining pattern, all without generating artefact from cross-talk at each step.

Being able to identify the contextual relationships of immune cell phenotypes and other biomarkers in a tumor is believed to be critical to understanding the state of the immune system before and after immunotherapy. Multiplex immunostaining can also be described as image cytometry or flow cytometry in situ.

In this webinar, sponsored by Leica Biosystems, speakers will demonstrate a complete solution for standardization of immunofluorescent staining and detection, digitization and analysis for tumor biopsy material. Participants will learn what Multiplex is and the role it plays in digital pathology, along with the tools available today.

The speakers for the event will be Dr. Helen Snyder, the Director of Preclinical Development & Strategic Partnerships Cell IDx; and Dr. Marie-Louise Loupart, an Image Analysis Specialist for Leica Biosystems Aperio Digital Pathology.

A 30-year veteran, Snyder received her doctorate in immunology from the University of Cambridge, UK and trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California. She has held positions as Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego, as well as Director of Immunology at Dynavax Technologies and key business development roles at both Solulink Biosciences and Cell IDx.

Loupart received her doctorate in biological sciences from University of Leicester for deletion-mapping in human breast cancer. She has also received two diverse post-doctoral research fellowships at the University of Edinburgh, creating human artificial chromosomes, and investigating Drosophila cell cycle mutants.

LabRoots will host the webinar April 6, 2018, beginning at 9:00 a.m. PDT. To learn more about this event, discover the continuing education credits offered, or to register for free, click here.

For research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

About Leica Biosystems

Leica Biosystems is a global leader in workflow solutions and automation. 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. It has manufacturing facilities in 9 countries, sales and service organizations in 19 countries, and an international network of dealers. The company is headquartered in Nussloch, Germany. Visit LeicaBiosystems.com for more information.

About LabRoots

LabRoots is the leading scientific social networking website, which provides daily scientific trending news, as well as produces educational virtual events and webinars, on the latest discoveries and advancements in science. Contributing to the advancement of science through content sharing capabilities, LabRoots is a powerful advocate in amplifying global networks and communities. Founded in 2008, LabRoots emphasizes digital innovation in scientific collaboration and learning, and is a primary source for current scientific news, webinars, virtual conferences, and more. LabRoots has grown into the worlds largest series of virtual events within the Life Sciences and Clinical Diagnostics community.Centered on his graduate research study of the negative behaviors of students in elementary and middle schools, Dr. James A. Bracy releases his debut book, Evaluation of the Positive Behavior Support Program on Fourth-Grade Student Discipline Infractions (published by AuthorHouse).

In this informative and reflective analysis, Bracy examines the implementation of Positive Behavior Support (PBS) program and its effectiveness in diminishing undesirable behaviors among students. Surveys on the PBS program were administered to parents, students and staff. Results show majority of the participants agree that the program has an effective means curbing the number of student code of conduct violations and plays an imperative role towards students with deeply rooted societal problems and for exceptional learners who have a greater need for counseling.

The implications of this study helped provide an insight into the perceptions of a specific group of faculty members, parents and students on the PBS program. It could also be of interest for parents who want to learn more about PBS program and how it worked in this particular school.

Through this book, Bracy hopes to encourage educators, administrators and parents to use positive reinforcements to curtail the childrens behavior and lower the suspension rate in schools.

Evaluation of the Positive Behavior Support Program on Fourth-Grade Student Discipline Infractions

By Dr. James A. Bracy

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 90 pages | ISBN 9781546228837

E-Book | 90 pages | ISBN 9781546228820

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Dr. James A. Bracy is a retired educator who have taught for 30 years in the public school system. Teaching adolescent and adult students has been his passion for years. He earned his bachelors degree in special education and masters degree in curriculum and instruction in Delaware State University. He earned his doctorate degree in educational leadership in Nova Southeastern University. Bracy also took master of divinity in Palmer Theological Seminary. Evaluation of the Positive Behavior Support Program on Fourth-Grade Student Discipline Infractions is his first published book.

AuthorHouse, an Author Solutions, Inc. self-publishing imprint, is a leading provider of book publishing, marketing, and bookselling services for authors around the globe and offers the industrys only suite of Hollywood book-to-film services. Committed to providing the highest level of customer service, AuthorHouse assigns each author personal publishing and marketing consultants who provide guidance throughout the process. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, AuthorHouse celebrated 15 years of service to authors in Sept. 2011.For more information or to publish a book visit authorhouse.com or call 1-888-519-5121. For the latest, follow @authorhouse on Twitter.Applied Systems today announced that Gail Woodhall has joined Applied as part of the UK Business Development team. As Applied expands its Brighton-based operations, Woodhalls contributions to the team will further drive digital transformation for brokers in the UK market.

Woodhall brings more than 30 years of insurance experience to Applied. Previously, she worked with SSP as an account manager within the broking division, having started her career there as an analyst with the Support team. Woodhall also spent 13 years of her insurance career as an insurance consultant.

In support of our rapid growth and vision to revolutionise the global business of insurance, we are further investing in our team to support digital transformation for our customers, said Jeff Purdy, senior vice president, International Operations. Gails industry experience will further strengthen our Business Development initiatives to support brokers in enabling their digital business.

About Applied Systems

Applied Systems is the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance. Recognized as a pioneer in insurance automation and the innovation leader, Applied is the worlds largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applieds people and products enable millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most.Sound Royalties makes it a point to share industry knowledge and insight that may help music professionals succeed. We are excited to be a sponsor for this great event put on by our friend and esteemed colleague Kendall Minter, said Sound Royalties' Director of Funding, Reggie Calloway.

Sound Royalties, a leading finance firm specializing in the music industry, announced today that the companys Director of Funding, Reggie Calloway, will speak at the upcoming Second Annual Business of Music Summit panel discussion. The summit will take place on April 7 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Suite Food Lounge in Atlanta, Georgia.

Organized by respected music attorney Kendall A. Minter, Esq., Co-Founder of BESLA and Chairman Emeritus of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, the summit will include three seminars addressing topics such as protecting your assets as a music professional and a reflection of the current state of the industry and new opportunities for growth. Minter also serves on the advisory board for Sound Royalties and sits on the board of directors for Sound Exchange.

Calloway will participate as a returning panelist in the summits first seminar discussion about how independent artists, producers, songwriters and indie label musicians can be successful in todays digital and streaming market. He will also address how to properly register music in order to collect rightful royalties due as an independent music professional.

Sound Royalties is also proud to be a sponsor of the event, and will be providing branded merchandise and other giveaways to summit attendees.

AskMusicLawyer.com is proud to welcome back Sound Royalties as a co-sponsor of the 2nd Annual Business of Music Summit, said Minter, Esq. This very timely and informative conference will provide a virtual business and legal road map to the Atlanta music community with renowned and experienced industry professionals. The educational panels will address the path to developing and maintaining a successful career or business in todays music industry. Our goal is to promote the opportunity for empowerment through information and knowledge, networking and career building. This summit is an event not to be missed.

Calloway added: Sound Royalties makes it a point to share industry knowledge and insight that may help music professionals succeed. We are excited to be a sponsor for this great event put on by our friend and esteemed colleague Kendall Minter, and I am thrilled to participate as a panelist, share my experiences and advise budding young musicians.

About Sound Royalties

Founded by CEO Alex Heiche, Sound Royalties, LLC is a privately-owned specialty finance firm that helps music industry professionals fund personal and professional projects while allowing them to retain the rights to their music and royalties. The company's core business is offering royalty advances of anywhere from $5,000 to $10 million, without having to deal with credit issues, while preserving all rights to the artist's music. It does this by advancing artist royalties paid through music labels, digital performance royalties paid through Sound Exchange, songwriter royalties and performance royalties paid through music publishers and Performing Rights Organizations such as ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, and music streaming royalties from Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. To date, Sound Royalties, LLC has worked with a wide range of leading music industry professionals, including Grammy Award winners, platinum recording artists and notable music industry executives in every genre. Learn more at https://www.soundroyalties.com.Keystone Human Services is pleased to announce the acquisition of Partnerships for People, a New Jersey-based human services organization. The acquisition is part of Keystones strategy of Advancing the Human Spirit by growing both domestically and internationally.

Partnerships is known for its excellent work supporting people with intellectual disability with supported housing, employment services, and community inclusion. The organization will operate as a subsidiary of Keystone, maintaining their name and senior leadership while gaining administrative and leadership support from Keystone.

This acquisition benefits both organizations, combining expertise to support the most vulnerable citizens of New Jersey.

Partnerships has been serving people with disability in New Jersey for over 30 years and shares Keystones unwavering commitment to advancing the human spirit, supporting real community inclusion, and celebrating everyday lives, says Charles Hooker, President and CEO of Keystone Human Services. Together, we will continue to grow and support people in New Jersey, along with our work in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Moldova, and India.

This acquisition aligns with Keystones Strategic Plan to expand quality supports for people with disability, diversify services across a greater geographic area, and develop expert leadership, all to promote full community inclusion.

We look forward to our work in New Jersey, says Hooker. Keystone will continue to look for opportunities to expand our mission in the US and internationally.

About Keystone

Keystone Human Services, a nonprofit human services organization, is committed to creating an environment where all people can grow, make choices, and be valued and contributing members of society. Since 1972, Keystone has provided comprehensive community-based services for children, adults, and families in the areas of intellectual disabilities, autism, mental health, and early intervention, as well as Capital Area Head Start and Susquehanna Service Dogs. Keystone operates in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut, as well as the Republic of Moldova and the Republic of India. Keystone is headquartered in Harrisburg, PA.

About Partnerships

Since 1983, Partnerships for People, a nonprofit human services organization, has supported people with disability to live and work in the homes and communities of their choice throughout Northern and Central New Jersey. With a person centered philosophy, Partnerships provides residential and community supports, in-home supports, supported employment, life skills management, and transitional services for people with disability. Partnerships is headquartered in Florham Park, NJ.Call for Competitors: Application Deadline April 26

Today, the The Center for Space Commerce and Finance announced a call for competitors for a regional NewSpace Business Plan Competition being held in conjunction with the 2018 International Space Development Conference (ISDC) on May 26, in Los Angeles. In a Shark Tank style competition, startups will present their business plans in front of a panel of investors and the ISDC audience, for a chance to win a cash prize.

Startup companies, at any stage, that have a technology or product that will significantly advance the commercial space movement, are encouraged to apply. This could be anything from launch and propulsion companies, to small satellite manufacturers, or companies that provide products or services to any sector of the emerging NewSpace economy. This includes companies with space-scalable technologies; those technologies primarily developed to solve problems here on Earth for commercial benefit and profit, but are also scalable to solve key long-range space problems when the demand ultimately exists.

Startup companies who are selected as finalists will participate in a half-day bootcamp on Friday, May 25. This interactive workshop helps competitors perfect their pitch in a collaborative environment. For more information about how the competition works, and its rules, please visit https://www.cscf.space/newspace-bpc-rules.

This NewSpace Business Plan Competition is being held in conjunction with two days of programming, presented by the Center for Space Commerce and Finance, as a part of the International Space Development Conference. This two day space startup and investment event will include the shark tank style competition, as well as a half-day space investment summit on Saturday, May 26. On Sunday, panels and keynotes will cover space commerce topics, with a special focus on how new commercial agriculture technology will change the way humans live and work in space.

The winner of the Los Angeles regional event will receive a $2,500 cash prize, courtesy of the Heinlein Prize Trust. All interested space startup companies are encouraged to apply online prior to April 26, at: https://www.cscf.space/newspace-bpc-apply. Interested investors, media, students, and anyone who would like to be in the audience, are encouraged to sign up to attend the International Space Development Conference: http://isdc2018.nss.org/.

About NewSpace Business Plan Competition

The Center for Space Commerce and Finance (CSCF), is an educational non-profit, dedicated to space entrepreneurship. The flagship project of CSCF is the NewSpace Business Plan Competition. In the last decade, over 200 companies have participated in the competition and associated educational programs, gaining real-world fundraising experience and practical advice to improve their business ideas. The NewSpace Business Plan Competition has awarded over $350,000 in cash prizes to promising startups, through various regional and national events. Along the way, more than 60 companies were publicly showcased to investors and customers, catalyzing millions in deal flow. Find out more: cscf.space

About the International Space Development Conference

The 37th annual International Space Development Conference, ISDC 2018, hosted by the National Space Society, will be held in Los Angeles from May 24 - 27 at the Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel. ISDC 2018 is where is where space leaders, astronauts, enthusiasts and the next generations of young students and professionals participate on space development; its scientific, economic, technical and social challenges and potentials. ISDC 2018 will host various sessions and workshops focused in multiple areas of space development: Moon and Mars exploration and settlement, deep space exploration, innovative technology, science fiction influence in todays technology, commercialization of space, collaboration in space, asteroids, living in space, space based solar power, space debris, space tourism, and space law and policy, among others. Find out more: isdc2018.nss.org

About the Heinlein Prize Trust

The Heinlein Prize Trust honors the memory of Robert A. Heinlein, a renowned American author. The purpose of the Heinlein Prize is to encourage and reward progress in commercial space activities that advances Robert and his wife Virginias dream of humanitys future in space. Efforts include: The Heinlein Prize for Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities, The Microgravity Research Competition, The Heinlein Commercial Space Activity Prize, and The Flight Into the Future international contests. Find out more: heinleinprize.comGolden Apple, a leading Illinois nonprofit committed to developing great teachers, today surprised Gregory Jones, principal of Kenwood Academy High School in Chicago, with the Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award. The award, presented in memory of Stanley C. Golder, a founding board member of Golden Apple, honors exemplary performance in school leadership by a principal or head of school from the Chicagoland area.

Students, community members/parents and colleagues nominate school leaders who have demonstrated remarkable commitment, passion, and results. This is the fifth year that a school leader has been recognized with the Golder Leadership Award. Jones was surprised with the award during a school assembly.

About Gregory Jones

Jones provides exceptional leadership to over 150 staff members and approximately 1800 students in grades 7-12. Despite the challenges of a school with almost 60 percent of its students at poverty level, Kenwood Academy High School has seen impressive achievements since Jones arrived in 2012. In collaboration with teachers and counselors, Joness team dramatically improved the graduation rates, and led a college matriculation program that resulted in a significantly larger college-going population. As a leading indicator of future graduation rates, the freshman on-track measure shows that the graduation rate will likely continue to climb in future years.

Greg and his team improved student attendance and redesigned the instructional program that resulted in a very high percentage of students testing well on the SAT. Importantly, he also led Kenwood to reach the highest School Quality Rating Performance of Level 1+. Jones is keenly aware of student progress and makes every effort to help them excel. When students receive either a D or F in a course, a mandatory meeting takes place with the student, his/her parent(s) and Jones to review the situation and discuss improvements.

He also fosters a strong sense of community at Kenwood. While college readiness is an important message that Jones shares with teachers and students at Kenwood, he also works closely with their parents during Saturday meetings to help them understand the college application process. Jones strongly supports students passions and interests. As just one example, a student wanted to bring a dance studio to the high school, and Jones and his team converted half of the prior cafeteria to a dance studio where now a significant number of students participate.

The vision, energy and commitment that Greg Jones brings to the Kenwood Academy High School community is almost unparalleled, said Alicia Winckler, president and CEO of Golden Apple. Greg works tirelessly to create optimal conditions that encourage and support exceptional teaching and student achievement - and the evidence is there - they are delivering results.

Golden Apples selection committee is comprised of educational experts, university leaders, administrators and former Golden Apple Award recipients who use industry and research-based professional standards to identify exemplary educators and school leaders. Members of the selection committee observed finalists at their schools, and also interviewed their colleagues, their direct manager(s), other administrators, students, parents, and community members during the selection process.

Northwestern University provides the Golder Leadership Award recipients with a tuition-free, spring quarter sabbatical to study at Northwestern University. The recipient also receives a cash award of $10,000 with $5,000 going toward the administrators professional development and $5,000 to the school for a project of the recipients choosing. Award recipients become Fellows of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, giving them a stronger voice and a larger stage from which to make a difference in education.

Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching recipients also were surprised in their classroom recently. The award, which recognizes and honors outstanding teachers for their role in building a stronger, better-educated society, is given to 10 recipients each year. More information about all award recipients, as well as videos, photos and social media snapshots of the 2018 surprise visits, can be found at https://www.goldenapple.org/2018-award-recipients.

Golder Award recipients, along with the 10 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in

Teaching recipients, will be featured on May 19 on a WTTW one-hour TV program and

livestream marketed to local school communities. To view the livestream, visit

https://www.facebook.com/goldenappleillinois.

About Golden Apple

Founded in 1985, Golden Apple innovates teacher preparation and leadership to transform both the careers of teachers as well as the lives of students in Illinois. Its signature initiative, the Golden Apple Scholars Program, provides exceptional teacher preparation, resources and lifelong support to advance educational excellence for Illinois most underserved students in schools-of-need. Aspiring teachers/Scholars are recruited from the communities in which they return to serve -- with a passion for teaching and a drive to create positive change for young people in their communities. Scholars commit to teach at an Illinois school-of-need for five years after graduation. Nearly 1,000 Scholars currently are teaching across Illinois.

The organization also offers professional development for teachers at all stages of their careers, through programs like the Golden Apple STEM Institute. In addition, Golden Apple recognizes exceptional educators with its annual Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching and the Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award. Visit http://www.goldenapple.org for more information.

Media contact:

Kellie Kennedy

312-933-4903

kelliek@theharbingergroup.comPress release logo Diversity and inclusion are part of our core values as a healthcare organization, said Tanya Blackmon, executive vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer at Novant Health.

Novant Health is proud to announce that 14 of its acute care facilities have been recognized as Leaders in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the countrys largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization. This the second year in a row that the Novant Health has received systemwide recognition. Novant Health Clemmons Medical Center made its first appearance this year in its first year as a full-service hospital following the facilitys 2017 expansion.

Novant Health is one of only eight health care systems nationwide that had 10 or more facilities receive the recognition this year. In North Carolina, Novant Health is the only health care system with designated facilities in Mecklenburg County and one of two health care systems with designated facilities in Forsyth County. Novant Health UVA Health System medical centers were two of the three facilities recognized in Virginia.

The medical centers designated as Leaders in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality are:



Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center

Novant Health Charlotte Orthopedic Hospital

Novant Health Clemmons Medical Center

Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center

Novant Health Hemby Childrens Hospital

Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center

Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center

Novant Health Matthews Medical Center

Novant Health Medical Park Hospital

Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center

Novant Health Rowan Medical Center

Novant Health Thomasville Medical Center

Novant Health UVA Health System Haymarket Medical Center

Novant Health UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center

Diversity and inclusion are part of our core values as a healthcare organization, said Tanya Blackmon, executive vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer at Novant Health. At Novant Health, we recognize that each person brings a unique perspective and value to our organization, whether a patient, a family member or a team member. We are intentional in identifying ways to address the unique needs of our communities, including the LGBTQ community. We are continually enhancing patient-centered care across the organization for all people. From human resources to patient care to community partnerships, we value our leadership in diversity and inclusion.

This 11th edition of the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) marks the second year that participants were given a numerical score based on their LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices. HEI participants were given scores in four criteria: foundational elements of LGBTQ patient-centered care, LGBTQ Patient Services and Support, Employee Benefits and Policies, and LGBTQ Patient and Community Engagement. This years index evaluated more than 1,600 healthcare facilities nationwide.

For more information about the Healthcare Equality Index 2018, visit hrc.org/hei.

About Novant Health

Novant Health is an integrated network of physician clinics, outpatient facilities and hospitals that delivers a seamless and convenient healthcare experience to communities in Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. Named in 2016 by Beckers Hospital Review as one of the nations 150 best places to work in healthcare, Novant Health network consists of more than 1,500 physicians and over 26,000 employees that provide care at over 470 locations, including 14 medical centers and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics. Headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the health system serves more than 4.4 million patients annually and in 2016 provided more than $725.5 million in community benefit, including charity care and services. Novant Health was named one of the first to receive the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services nationwide Health Equity Award, which recognizes organizations that demonstrate a commitment to health equity by reducing disparities among CMS beneficiaries they serve, particularly among diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ and those living in rural areas. Diversity MBA has also recognized the organization as one of the 50 best places for women and managers of diverse background to work and SK&A ranks Novant Health among the top 25 integrated health systems in the nation. Novant Health provides care in Virginia under the joint operating company, Novant Health UVA Health System.

For more information, please visit our website at NovantHealth.org. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.Shield Product Line

Peco InspX, the worlds leading authority on high performance X-Ray inspection equipment for the food and beverage industries is pleased to announce its presence at Pack Expo East (April 12-22) in Booth 1009. The focus of this years show will be advanced ejection solutions and ejection traceability.

Ensuring that all products marked for ejection are in fact correctly ejected from the line is a critical part of the inspection process. At this years Pack Expo East, Peco Inspx will be demonstrating our new rejection marking solution that we developed in partnership with Domino, remarked Peco InspX CEO Rich Cisek. This solution allows 100% matching of x-ray images of rejected containers with the containers themselves  this level of traceability allows operators to have 100% assurance that all of correct containers were in fact correctly removed from the line, continued Cisek.

Peco InspX will also feature its latest top-down and side-view SHIELD X-Ray inspection systems. These systems feature industry leading hygienic design, inspection performance and ease of use. SHIELD systems are also available with comprehensive image archiving capability which allows complete serialization of the production process. Each unique X-Ray inspection image can be stored with other inspection attributes, such as the product serialization code, the label inspection image and other inspection elements. This information can be used to provide absolute objective proof of comprehensive product inspection.

For more information on Peco InspXs advanced X-Ray inspection systems, please visit http://www.peco-inspx.com/solutions/x-ray-inspection/

About Peco InspX

Peco InspX Corporation is a leading provider of advanced technology inspection solutions for the food and beverage industries. With headquarters in Silicon Valley (San Carlos), CA and European headquarters in Nuneaton, UK, the company serves customers around the world and inspects over 120 million food and beverage containers daily. The company specializes in accurate high speed package inspection in machines that are easy to use with a low cost of ownership.Heilind Electronics Brasil Ltda. is now an authorized distributor of Essentra products.

Heilind Electronics, a leading global distributor of electronic components, has expanded its franchise distribution agreement with Essentra Components, a global supplier of industrial accessories and hardware. The new agreement will position Heilind Electronics Brasil Ltda., Heilinds Brazil subsidiary, as an authorized distributor of Essentra products.

We are very excited to add Essentra to our line card and promote it throughout Latin America, said Carlos Oliva, Commercial Director, South America, Heilind Electronics Brasil Ltda. This strategic addition will allow Heilind to offer a broader selection of engineered component solutions to customers across the region.

Heilind will stock and supply Essentra products from its Visalia, California warehouse, providing two-day delivery to customers throughout Latin America.

About Essentra Components

Essentra Components (http://www.essentracomponents.com) is a global manufacturer of plastic injection molded, vinyl dip molded and metal components. With thousands of standard catalog components and extensive custom design and production capabilities, Essentras Richco line supports a wide range of critical electronics applications in virtually every industry. Its cable ties, wire management products, polymer fasteners and circuit board hardware can be found in the products of leading white goods manufacturers, medical equipment OEMs and almost any product containing a PCB board.

About Heilind Electronics

Heilind Electronics, Inc. (http://www.heilind.com) is one of the world's leading distributors of connectors, relays, sensors, switches, thermal management and circuit protection products, terminal blocks, wire and cable, wiring accessories and insulation and identification products. Founded in 1974, Heilind has locations throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong and China. Follow Heilind on Facebook at facebook.com/Heilind and on Twitter at twitter.com/Heilind.Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2018 8:00 pm

For Mahria Potter, place is essential to storytelling.

Where you are, your presence in place, dictates your story, said the musician, choreographer and storyteller who recently relocated to Port Hadlock.

Potter moved here from Bainbridge Island a few months ago, and is to tell tales of her grandparents, magic and travel at the First Friday StoryNight.

Potter remembers listening to her grandfather tell stories to her when she was a little kid. When she was a bit older, she started researching folklore. Thats kind of how it started, she said.

She combines traditions and stories that arise out of her travels, especially to India, and her current surroundings.

Potter lived in India for many years when she was in her 20s. At the time it was the early 80s; a lot of people were seeking [materialism,] which I thought was making people not really happy, she said. I just have always been a seeker.

When I got to India, it was really home. I didnt want to come back. However, she did, and then spent three decades telling stories in schools and participating in storytelling conferences throughout the United States.

Potter said shes drawn to the Pacific Northwest because of its farming community and local food movement. I was attracted to Port Townsend because of the Local 20/20 and Jefferson Land Trust. Those things are really [connected] with how I go about my stories, she said.

On Friday, Potter said, she plans to weave together personal and fictional tales, telling stories about how she got her magic from her grandparents, relating events from her time in India and telling a Zimbabwean tale with a thumb piano.

Theres a lot of different types of story telling, she said. I end up moving a lot ... and Ill sing.

She hopes her stories allow people to feel empowered. Its really about, how can we all become ourselves?

First Friday StoryNight takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, April 6 at the Friends Meetinghouse, 1841 Sheridan St.

Local bard Chris Gilbert, whose band Happenstance recently released the album The Lark in the Morning, is the host for the event. An open mic follows Potters featured presentation.

Attendees can sign up in advance to engage in the oral tradition of storytelling. Suggested donation is $10. More information is available at Facebook, Quimper Story Guild, or 360-316-9600.Friday, March 30, Donald Trump designated April 2018 Second Chance Month, during which the country will emphasize the need to provide opportunities for people with criminal records to earn an honest second chance.

On that very same Friday, California Governor Jerry Brown came under attack by Trump for pardoning five ex-convicts facing possible deportation.

The five immigrants were among 56 pardons and 14 commutations granted by Brown (on Good Friday and the start of Passover) to those who have been out of custody for at least 10 years and have exhibited exemplary behavior after their convictions. Obviously not career criminals or recidivists. Each of the five immigrants lived law-abiding lives after serving their time, and were assets to their communities and families, according to information from Browns office. Two of the immigrants came to America as child refugees. The pardons wont necessarily save the men from deportation, but they may help.

On Saturday, Trump listed the crimes originally linked to the five immigrants who were pardoned and asked Is this what the great people of California really want? The pardoned included Phann Pheach, a Cambodian refugee who more than 10 years ago served six months for possession of a controlled substanace for sale and obstructing a police officer. Also Sergio Mena, who was sentenced in 2003 and put on probation for three years for possession of a controlled substance for sale.

Donald took a different view: @RealDonaldTrump, Governor Jerry Moonbeam Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want? @FoxNews"5:53 a.m., Mar 31

But all in all, the five are not exactly examples of earlier claims that have been made by Donald. For instance: But you have people coming in and Im not just saying Mexicans, Im talking about people that are from all over that are killers and rapists and theyre coming into this country.

I wish Donald had taken the time to list the offenses of the other 65 individuals being pardoned by Brown, their ethnicity and their original crimes against society. That would have given us a better foundation for our thoughtsbut, then, that wouldnt have supported the picture he was trying to paint of Latino immigrants as criminals and rapists.

This real news was described in the main stream media as the latest discord between Trump and leaders in California, where lawmakers have been actively moving to disrupt Trumps policies by, among other things, passing immigration laws that run counter to the administrations agenda and by expanding environmental protections. Edmund Gerald "Jerry Brown Jr. is an American politician, author and lawyer serving as the 39th and current Governor of California since 2011, previously holding the position from 1975 to 1983, making him the state's longest-serving Governor.

His being dissed as Moonbeam by Disastrous Donald doesnt refute the reality that Brown has been the one of the two of them who has actually worked selflessly on behalf of the public.

To me, it all brings to mind a speech in July of last year when Donald called gang members animals and praised law enforcement for being roughat a time when the shooting of unarmed black men by law enforcement remains an ongoing problem in our society. Its difficult to determine just what Donald Trumps attitude and agenda are from one day to the next. It seems pretty clear hes soft on white nationalists, hates Mexicans and Muslims, looks down on Blacks, is disdainful of the poor. @realDonaldTrump: Sadly, the over-whelming amount of violent crime in our major cities is committed by blacks and hispanics, a tough subject, must be discussed.June 5, 2013

WITH REGARD TO WHICH we have the DACA Dreamers. @RealDLHughley: #Trump says no more #DacaDeal! On the day many celebrate the rise of Christ, hate has risen too. #TeamDl Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was implemented by the Obama administration via executive order in 2012. Trump rescinded it this past September, putting in danger of deportation some 800,000 young immigrants brought to this country illegally as children.

Donald previously had promised to work across the aisle with Congress to pass a law formalizing DACA protection. In rescinding Obamas order in September, he gave Congress a deadline of March 5 to pass a DACA law. On Jan. 9 he tweeted: As I made very clear today, our country needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval. Nothing like handicapping one side of the aisle right out of the chute.The March 5 deadline he had imposed earlier passed without a deal. Republican leaders in Congress also had promised to take up the matter back when horse-trading for a necessary few final votes for its notorious tax reform bill so desired by Trump. Didnt happen, of course, as even the Republicans found themselves stymied by Donalds duplicitous stubbornness,

And the president Monday again blamed Democrats for DACAs demise, even though he himself effectively ended the program eight months ago. DACA is dead because the Democrats didnt care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon, Trump tweeted. No longer works. Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!

My own impression is that legislators would choose to accommodate DACA Dreamers but not at the expense of the stupid wall with which Donald is holding the immigration issue hostage.

HIs tweets have continued in large number: Mexico is making a fortune on NAFTA . . . They have very strong border laws  ours are pathetic. With all of the money they make from the U.S., hopefully they will stop people from coming through their country and into ours, at least until Congress changes our immigration laws! Just hours earlier he had claimed that Mexico was doing nothing to stop people from flowing across its southern border (see following).

Trump has grown increasingly antsy and petulant over lack of funding for his wall along the Mexican border, his chief ongoing obsession. One of his latest dozen or 15 early-morning Tweets on immigration stated: Border Patrol Agents are to allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democratic) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. Caravans coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!

He followed that Tweet with another: "Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U. S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!

And another: These big flows of people are trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!

Never one to be concerned with factslet alone ethics or compassionDonald merely charges forward planting impressions of his own making into the public mind. His comments pander pre-conceived notions of his supporters and are disseminated readily via social media. But he lies freely out of convenience, as well as ignorance.

That final Tweet above is a prime example. Immigrants who come to the U. S. in 2018 cannot avail themselves of DACA. As the web site of U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services details, DACA was limited to those who can demonstrate they are under the age of 31 as of June 14, 2012, came to the U.S. before they turned 16, have continuously have resided in the United States since June 15, 2007, up to the present time, and were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012.

Donald Trump lies with devious, often vindictive, intentdriven by narcissism, paranoia, vengeful resentment, etc. There is no pretense of ethics in his words or deeds. He seems to regard altruism, empathy and such as social diseases.

The caravans (plural) referred to by Donald as he whipped at the overworked fear factor, referred to a caravan (singular) of Central Americans referred to shortly before his tweets on Fox and Friends, his never-miss TV program. A group of hundreds of Central American refugees seeing safety in numbers along the way has been proceeding north through Mexico toward the U.S., where participants will seek asylum or perhaps try to sneak across the border. It would seem Trump could just quietly (thatll be the day!) utilize our border patrol and activate some of our well-regulated militia, the National Guard, to deal with this caravan. But as usual he is exaggerating a singular thing he finds useful to his insane rhetoric.

MEANWHILE, ANYTHING FOR THAT DAMNED WALL!As I write this the morning of April 3, Trump says he talked to Defense Secretary Jim Mad Dog Mattis about using the military to secure the southern border until his promised wall is built. Were going to do things militarily. Trump has been deeply frustrated about the lack of progress building what was the signature promise of his campaign: a "big, beautiful wall" along the Mexican border. He's previously suggested using the Pentagon's budget to pay for building the wall, arguing it is a national security priority, despite strict rules that prohibit spending that's not authorized by Congress.

As Donalds mind and American society continue to deteriorate, how many Republican Congress members, I wonder, will stand firm for justice and equality in an ethical way against the ill-conceived Trump agenda with their own seats of power listed on the ballot come November.

.

.



Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2018 8:00 pm

June 7, 1953  Feb 23, 2018

The Rev. Pamela C. Armstrong, loved as a pastor, colleague, sister, and friend, died February 23, 2018, at Franciscan Hospice House, University Place.

Pam was born in Scotch Plains, NJ, June 7, 1953, grew up in Andover, MA, and attended Andover High School. She graduated from Central Connecticut State University with a degree in Behavioral Psychology. While at CCSU she worked with the National Lutheran Student Movement and was student associate in campus ministry. After earning a Master of Arts in Religion from Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, PA, Pam was appointed Executive Director of the United Cerebral Palsy Assn. of New Britain, CT. She returned to Lutheran Seminary, earned a Masters of Divinity, was ordained and in February, 1988, began serving as pastor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Meyersdale, PA.

After leaving congregational ministry, she worked in prison ministry in Virginia. In the mid-1990s Pam moved to Port Townsend, WA, and joined Kairos Prison Ministry serving the Womens Correctional Facility Purdy and Kairos Outside. With a move in 2005 to Bremerton, WA, Pam began a ministry at Womens Correctional Facility Mission Creek.

Pam loved kayaking, exploring underwater caves, riding in a motorcycle sidecar, trains, cruising on Carnival Lines, camping in the rainforest, music, tools, Frappuccinos, root beer floats, and helping all whenever and wherever they needed her help.

She is survived by her brothers, Dan Armstrong and Kevin Armstrong, her sister Susan Armstrong, her companion dog Angel, and her many friends, blessed for knowing her.

The Celebration of Pams Life is Saturday, May 5, 2018, at 3 pm, in Evergreen Park, Bremerton, WA.Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2018 8:00 pm

If Port Townsend is annexed into Jefferson County Fire District 1  more commonly known as East Jefferson Fire Rescue  property taxes for a $300,000 city home would go up by at least $60. The annexation into the fire district would apply only to firefighting and emergency medical services.

The possible increase in property taxes for city residents was one of several topics discussed at the second town hall meeting about the fire annexation process, on March 29. Voters in both the city and in the fire district are to vote on annexation later this year.

There would be no increase in property taxes for those living outside city limits.

City Manager David Timmons said East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR) currently provides fire and EMS services to the city via a 2007 interlocal agreement, but interlocal agreements are not really something thats intended for the long-term sustainability as a permanent solution  its really seen as a step toward annexation.

Fire service in the city would remain the same if annexation is approved. Fire/EMS finances would be simplified, as would the voting process for fire and EMS issues, and city residents would get two representatives on the fire district board.

More than 50 people attended the meeting to discuss the subject of fire annexation. About half of those in attendance were city or EJFR employees.

INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT NOT PERMANENT

EJFR serves about 21,000 people, 10,000 of whom are within city limits. It operates seamlessly within the city and offers the same level of service in both the city and the fire district, Timmons said. But, from a funding perspective, the fire district and the city are separate and distinct, which complicates the voting process on fire issues and complicates payments, said Bill Beezley, public information officer for EJFR.

Timmons said one of the benefits of annexation would be that funding gets improved because it establishes a single taxing district, instead of having the two [one in the city, and a second in the fire district]. And, the complications that run from trying to maintain parity across the two taxing districts is eliminated by the process of annexation.

Timmons said it would cost in the millions for the city to reconstitute its own city fire department, and a consolidation of fire services was more efficient.

If annexation is approved, the interlocal agreement would go away and the city would be annexed into Fire District 1 for purposes of fire and EMS services.

One reason annexation is an issue today is it had been delayed as a result of the 2008 Great Recession.

$300,000 GAP

Timmons said another reason for annexation was the way the finances work out. Currently, city residents pay about $300,000 less than Fire District 1 residents for fire/EMS, and this gap would be closed.

If annexation is not approved by voters, services still continue temporarily under the current interlocal agreement but its become clear now  that the status quo is not going to stay, Timmons said.

The terms of that agreement would need to be renegotiated to address the funding inequality.

Annexation of the city into Fire District 1 is one way of closing that gap, since all properties in the district would be taxed at the same rate. But, if annexation is not approved, there are alternatives:

The first is to maintain the status quo, with the city paying $300,000 less, and district residents absorbing the cost. Fire commissioners would have to approve that decision.

I dont think its highly likely that theyre going to say that theyre willing to absorb a $300,000 subsidy for the benefit of the city residents over the district residents, Timmons said.

The second option is for the City Council to lower the level of city services.

If we had to come up with $300,000 to fund this difference, then its going to come from somewhere else, Timmons said.

In 2011, services were reduced for city parks and for the pool, Timmons said.

The third option is to raise the citys current special-purpose fire levy to make up the difference.

SEAT AT THE TABLE

Presently, the city has three council members on a joint board with three elected fire commissioners. However, the City Council members role on that board is only advisory and those members have no official vote on EJFR policy.

If annexation is approved, the EJFR board would increase from three members to five, with two of those from the city, two from the fire district and one at-large representative, to vote on matters related to Fire District 1.

CITY, COUNTY AND DISTRICT LAYERS

Timmons said there were layers of government, many of which overlap, including the federal and state governments. In Washington, there are also 39 counties, 281 cities and more than 1,700 special-purpose districts.

Those special-purpose districts are dedicated to specific government functions, such as fire districts and school districts.

To illustrate how governments were layered, Timmons asked the audience to guess what percentage of users of the city pool were county residents. Guesses ranged anywhere from 10 percent to 100 percent.

Timmons said the correct answer was 100 percent.

Every city resident is a county resident  because of the layering of government, every resident of the city is a county resident  an equal with residents outside the city, Timmons said.

In a similar fashion, if annexation were to be approved, every resident of the city would also be a member of the overlaying fire district.

NEXT TOWN HALL

The third and final town hall meeting on fire annexation is 6:30-9:30 p.m., Thursday, April 5 at 200 Battery Way in Fort Worden.

A video of the first March 20 meeting is available on the citys website at

http://goo.gl/oyktt4. Timmons said the meeting may also be broadcast on Port Townsends TV station. A survey on annexation is also to be hosted on the citys website,

cityofpt.us.Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2018 8:00 pm

As the #MeToo movement grows, conversations about sexual assault and harassment are becoming more commonplace. Silence is being broken by survivors every day.

One of the barriers to speaking about a sexual-assault experience is the fear that you wont be believed, that you may even be blamed for what happened. As a therapist at Dove House, I have heard countless stories in which victims have been met with disbelief and victim blaming by family, friends, law enforcement and helping professionals. The pain of this betrayal can be immense.

Why do people struggle to believe survivors? It is difficult for us to understand that people we know, respect and trust can cause harm. It is difficult to grapple with the feelings of helplessness that come when we realize that we dont have full control of whether bad things happen to us. We can sleep better at night imagining that people are raped because of their risky choices and that rapists arent in our families, or amongst coworkers, friend groups and communities. However, the reality is that perpetrators are more often people who we are close to. The reality is that any of us can be a victim.

CONFLICTED FEELINGS

When Sherman Alexie, a famous Native American writer, and Aziz Ansari, an Indian-American actor, comedian and filmmaker, were accused of sexual misconduct, I felt that conflict. I have a lot of respect for both men and the art that they have created.

I fully believe the survivors who spoke, and I have to explore the complicated feelings that come with the understanding that people I respect have caused harm. Instead of villainizing the men or blaming the victims, Im trying to challenge myself to understand this situation in its full complexity.

I hope that part of the #MeToo movement is being able to have those hard conversations, acknowledging that people we know and love have caused harm, and asking the question: What can healing look like in our community around something as devastating as sexual violence?

Things are shifting. High-profile people are being held accountable for the harm theyve done. As the #MeToo movement gains momentum, we hear less victim blaming and more support for survivors. The people coming forward with their stories are being believed.

Why is it important that we believe survivors?

Because false reporting has been researched. In one analysis in 2010, false reports were found to be very rare: between 2 and 6 percent.

Because survivors often share that not being believed by those you love and trust is re-traumatizing.

If we dont believe someones story, the violence can continue. In the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case tried earlier this year, some of the child victims had spoken out earlier about their abuse, but were not believed. Nassars sexual abuse was able to continue for decades.

An important task for all of us who want to end sexual violence is to believe survivors when they share their stories. Whether it is someone you know, a story you read in the paper or a rumor you hear, start by believing.

We can also make changes on a systemic level. Dove House is leading a campaign to proclaim April 5 Start by Believing Day. We invite support from local partners to sign on to the proclamation.

We have reached out to the Jefferson County Prosecutors Office, Jefferson County Sheriffs Office and the Port Townsend Police Department, and are awaiting replies.

Join us as we present this request to the City Council on April 2.

Teresa Shiraishi is a therapist at Dove House Advocacy Services, and a social worker and community activist. Assisting her with writing this piece were the Rev. Kate Lore, new assistant minister at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and Bekka Bloom, who supports development at Dove House.This represents 53.61% increase over the $1.1 billion ($1,153.2million) recorded in 2016.

$135.7m balance of trade in favour of US

Data published by the United States Census Bureau puts the total balance of trade in favour of the US, at $135.7 million.

73.45% improvement in balance of trade

The figure constitutes a 73.45% improvement, compared to the $510.8 million trade deficit recorded in 2016.

US exports to Ghana hits $885.7m in 2017

According to the information, the United States exported goods valued at $885.7 million to Ghana in 2017, representing a 6.45% increase over the $832 million recorded in 2016.

Ghana makes $750m from exports to US in 2017

On the other hand, Ghana more than doubled the value of exports to the US in 2017, raking in $750 million.

This represents a 133.50% increase, compared to the $321.2 million registered in 2016.

US exports to Ghana

US exports to Ghana are mainly industrial machinery, automobile, and electronics, among others.

Exports from Ghana to US

On the other hand, exports from Ghana to US are mainly agricultural products, as well as textiles.Facebook announced Tuesday that it has removed 70 Facebook accounts, 138 Facebook pages, and 65 Instagram profiles linked to a notorious Russian troll factory that spread disinformation in an effort to interfere in the 2016 US election.

Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos said in a news release that 95% of the pages that had been removed were in Russian and targeted Russians or those who speak Russian, particularly in neighboring countries like Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan.

The accounts and pages in question were controlled by the Internet Research Agency, the Russian troll farm based in St. Petersburg that was indicted by the special counsel Robert Mueller in February for mounting a social media influence operation to sway voters in favor of then Republican candidate Donald Trump.

In total, Stamos said the 138 Facebook pages and 65 Instagram accounts that were removed reached approximately 1.5 million unique users. The press release did not provide information on how many users the 70 IRA-linked Facebook accounts reached.

Stamos said the company had removed the latest set of pages and accounts "solely because they were controlled by the IRA  not based on the content."

"This included commentary on domestic and international political issues, the promotion of Russian culture and tourism as well as debate on more everyday issues," he added.

Facebook will be updating its Help Center tool in the next few weeks so users can check whether they liked or followed any IRA-linked pages.

Facebook's announcement, titled, "Authenticity Matters: The IRA Has No Place on Facebook," comes as the social media giant faces heightened scrutiny over a security issue that allowed the data firm Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal information of 50 million Facebook users without their permission. Critics largely pointed a finger at Facebook for failing to notify users of the incident and adequately protect their private data.

Last year, Facebook announced that it had detected Russian activity on its platform that took place before, during, and after the 2016 election. In particular, the company said that "inauthentic" accounts most likely operating out of Russia hadpurchased $100,000worth of political ads between 2015 and 2016.

The Russian-bought ads reached approximately 10 million people and targeted users in Michigan and Wisconsin, both of which were critical to Trump's victory. TexasIdaho

On Tuesday, Stamos said Russian actors had spent around $167,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads since January 1, 2015.

But Russia's disinformation campaign on the social media platform long predates that. The Daily Beast reported in September.Daniel Obinim went viral entity after some stickers he allegedly sold performed numerous signs and wonders in peoples lives and Twitter has seen hilarious testimonies.

A follower of the British diplomat asked him on Twitter to share his Obinim miracle and this got a quick jab from Jon Benjamin.

Bishop Daniel Obinim is a controversial Ghanaian preacher who calls himself an angel and claims to have special powers to turn into different creatures to guide or torment people.

READ ALSO: 5 things Ghana brought to the world

This is not the first time Jon Benjamin has engaged the preacher in a controversial post.

READ ALSO: Check out the top 8 SCARIEST towns in Ghana

In 2016 when Bishop Obinim made the claims of his ability to transform into animals, Jon Benjamin too to Twitter again to ridicule his comments.Investigators working for the special counsel Robert Mueller are questioning several Russian oligarchs  at times after stopping them at the airport when they travel to the US  in connection with the Russia investigation, CNN reported Wednesday.

In particular, prosecutors are said to be focusing on whether wealthy Russians illegally funneled money, either directly or indirectly, into Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign or inauguration.

At least one wealthy Russian was stopped and searched after his private jet landed in New York, and another was stopped during a recent trip to the US, according to CNN.

The special counsel's team has also requested documents and an interview with a third Russian oligarch who has not recently traveled to the US, the report said. CNN's sources did not identify the oligarchs who had been questioned.

Campaign finance laws prohibit foreign nationals from donating to US political campaigns, and Mueller has since at least September been interested in the flow of Russian money into the 2016 election.

That month, ABC News reported that Mueller had asked witnesses about donations to the campaign from US citizens with ties to Russia. Investigators are also said to be interested in whether wealthy Russians used American donors or US companies with political action committees to indirectly infuse money into the election.

At least one prominent US organization has drawn scrutiny for its ties to wealthy Russians and faced questions about whether it may have been used as a vessel to funnel money into Trump's campaign.

Earlier this year, it emerged that the FBI was investigating whether Alexander Torshin, a prominent Russian banker and politician with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, used the National Rifle Association to illegally send money to the Trump campaign.

A wealthy Russian pharmaceutical executive named Alexey Repik and his wife were also there, as was the energy tycoon Viktor Vekselberg.

Vekselberg is said to be closely aligned with Putin, with whom he frequently meets to discuss business.Hours after the shooting at YouTube's San Bruno, California, headquarters on Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent employees a memo addressing the incident, in which authorities say a woman wounded three people with gunfire before killing herself.

In the statement, Pichai described the shooting as an "unimaginable tragedy" and a "horrific act of violence." See the tweet and read the email in full below:

Related content

Pichai also addressed the shooting on his personal Twitter account. See his tweet below:

There are no words to descr... @ Sundar Pichai

The full text of Pichais email:

Everyone,

Earlier this afternoon, while our employees were having lunch, we received reports of an active shooter at YouTube in San Bruno. Law enforcement and our security team worked to evacuate the buildings and prioritize the safety of everyone there.

The best information we have is that the situation is contained. It's with great sadness that I tell youbased on the latest informationfour people were injured in this horrific act of violence. We're doing everything we can to support them and their families at this time.

I'm grateful to everyone inside and outside the company for the outpouring of support and best wishes. I am especially thankful to the first responders and our own security team who acted so quickly to keep people safe.

I know a lot of you are in shock right now. Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy.

Let's everyone come together now to support Susan and the YouTube team.

-Sundar

More on theAccording to Tuko.co.ke, Benson Chacha engaged in the sexual encounter with the politicians and filmed them which he has been using to blackmail and demand huge sums of money from them.

Benson Chacha was reportedly arrested in Tanzania following intelligence by both the Tanzanian and Kenyan security forces about his fraudulent activities.

When he appeared before the court presided over by Senior Principal Magistrate, Christine Njagi on Tuesday, he was remanded into police custody.

The court further ordered that his mental fitness be examined at Mathari Mental Hospital after his lawyer, Job Geresa claimed he was mentally unfit.She was suspected of child abuse after her son reported her to authorities, though he did not complain of any pain aside two bumps on his leg he claimed were as a result of the alleged shocks.

Sharron Dobbins admitted to using the stun gun but denied shocking her son with it. She said she only tried to wake him up with the sound.

She is quoted as having told KNXV-TV that: "I don't think I did anything wrong because you're supposed to put God first and that's all I was trying to do is tell my kids to put God first."

"Nobody writes a book on the correct way of parenting. I tell my sons to honor thy mother and thy father or their days will be shortened and that's my favorite."

The boy did report his mother to authorities, but said he would not testify against her.According to Mr Mould, it is myopic to think the multinational companies are shortchanging Ghana. He explained that the multinational companies have to recoup their investments, adding that Ghana would begin making more money from the oil fields after the investments are made by the oil companies.

That will be a very myopic way of looking at it. You have to remove a few things from that. You have to remove all the investments and cost of producing the fuel from that. After that, look at the taxes that are paid, we dont pay the taxes from oil. So that is why I say it is a little more complicated than what the gentleman has portrayed. So the citizens of Ghana should be rest assured that the government is doing everything possible to increase the yield for the country.

READ ALSO: 13 things you cannot do without a TIN in Ghana

Most of the countries he is talking about, most of the equity have been paid back. So the investment cost has been paid back, and that is why it seems they are benefiting by about 75%These are fields that are either ten years or more than five years because when you put an investment in, you are allowed to recoup that investment in the first five years.

His was reacting to allegations made by oil and gas policy think tank, Centre for Natural Resources and Environmental Management (CNREM) that Ghana lost about $902.45 million in the oil sector because some of the oil companies in the country paid fewer taxes and royalties to the state.

The Executive Director of CNREM, Solomon Kwakumey attributed this to the payment practice of the country.

READ ALSO: Local businesses are the worst culprits in repaying loans

According to Mr Kwakumey, if Ghana were to be practising the production sharing agreement, at the end of the 7th year of oil production, the country would have been earning over 11 billion dollars as against the under 4 billion dollars that Ghana has earned for the seven years of operation.

The hybrid system is skewed towards the collection of taxes and royalties. It is very difficult to collect taxes from multinationals. Secondly, under the hybrid system, we transfer our sovereignty and ownership of the oil to the foreign oil companies. The hybrid system is just a small modification of traditional concessionjust as the way we have given out our gold concessions where we get only taxes and royalties from the mining companies; it is the same old thing being applied in the oil sector.

However, Mr Mould said government chose the hybrid system because it is more transparent than the production sharing mode.In a report by the Central Bank, it stated that the local businesses constituted 80.6 percent of loan default attributable to the private sector for last year compared to the estimated 7.9 percent of loan default attributable to the private sector, recorded by foreign businesses.

The report catalogued operations in the banking industry as at December 2017.

The total loans bank gave to their customers increased from 35.4 billion cedis in 2016 to 37.66 billion cedis in 2017.

Meanwhile, the banking sectors non-performing loans (NPLs) at 8.58 billion cedis as at the end of last year compared to the 6.14 billion cedis recorded in the preceding year.

Despite the increase in loan disbursement for both indigenous and foreign private sector businesses, the local private businesses defaulted most in terms of repaying the loans.

The total loan default attributed to the private sector is 94 percent. However, indigenous private companies accounted for as much as 80.6 percent of total NPLs in December 2017 compared with a share of 78.9 percent in 2016.

READ ALSO: 13 things you cannot do without a TIN in Ghana

In a related development, the foreign private enterprises recorded 7.9 percent. This is a reduction from the 2016 figure of 13.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the public sectors contribution to the industrys NPLs increased from 3.2 percent in December 2016 to 5.7 percent in December 2017.The event took place at a brief ceremony Tuesday, when a delegation of Chiefs and Elders of Adanwomase, and the leadership and members of Adanwomase Kente Weavers Association paid a courtesy call on the President at the Jubilee House, in Accra.

The group said President Akufo-Addo has so far dome well to honour the major campaign promises he made in the lead up to the 2016 elections, that is, the Free SHS Policy, the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor and the restoration of the nursing and teaching training allowances.

Spokesperson for the delegation said: The Adanwomase Kente Weavers and Sellers Association are here today to present a specially woven Kente cloth, which we call Oseadey Akufo-Addo, in honour of the three major political campaign promises fulfilled; namely the Free Senior High School policy, the restoration of teaching and nursing trainee allowances, and for establishing the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

He added: This flagship educational policy has brought huge relief to parents, guardians and students across the country.

"We have the conviction that the policy will go a long way to ensure that students will have broader access to quality education which will guarantee for them, a better and more secure future.

On his part, President Akufo-Addo expressed gratitude for the honour done him, whiles commending the Kente Weaving Industry in Ghana for its contribution to our national culture and identity.The family demands that the truth about the deceased, Prince Kobina Kumi, be unravelled as his death looks suspicious.

The family alleged that the police prevented the deceased from boarding any commercial car after they seized his car for suspected drunk-driving.

READ ALSO: Police arrest two medical officers over injection deaths

Sister of the deceased, Abena Osei Debrah told Citi FM that, "They [the police] claim they tried taking him to the police station but he wouldnt go with them so they actually drove the car to the police station and left him standing wherever they stopped him. [But later on], between Asuboa and the Akroso place where they stopped the car, there he was lying there in a ditch [dead] by side of the road".

She called on the Inspector General of Police, David Asante Apeatu, and Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, to institute a full-scale investigation into the case and ensure justice is served.

She insisted they will hold the police to account in the absence of any other evidence.The dead robber was part of a group of three criminals with the two unfortunately bolting away with the money they they snatched from the mobile money vendor.

The deceased was among three men on an unregistered motorbike at Kissema near the ECOBANK, armed with pistols and knives who stormed the shop of one Evelyn Kesenuh and started giving warning shots and in the process robbed the mobile money vendor of an unspecified amount of money and attempted bolting with the booty.He said, in order for Ghana to attain the status we want, we have to critically look at securing our future beyond aid.

Dr. Bawumia was speaking at an ongoing Conference in Accra on Moving Ghana Beyond Aid  Revenue Mobilization in Accra.

He said, "Judging from our history and our vision for the future, there is no doubt that we need to rethink how we develop as a country. It has become obvious that, we need to be more efficient and effective in managing our resources to ensure rapid economic growth and transformation."

Alhaji Bawumia also used the occasion to outline the five pillars behind Ghana Beyond Aid. He said, "For now, Ghana Beyond Aid is resting on five pillars: First, and most obvious, is to enhance domestic revenue mobilization. And we must do so in ways that do not undermine productive activities, or distort private incentives for work."

Second, is to encourage higher private savings as a source of loanable funds to support domestic credit and capital market, and expand financial inclusion."Third, is to pursue a more transparent, prudent and accountable use and management of public resources."READ ALSO: Government has reduced robbery attacks  Bawumia

Fourth, is to leverage our resources that are buried deep in the ground for development in more innovative ways than the conventional model of royalty and tax regimes."Fifth, is innovative mobilization and use of external resources in the emerging development finance landscape."I arrived in Accra this evening to a flurry of social media stories and other worrying reports attributed to officials of the Sierra Leonean Government, that I had cut short my mission and left Freetown because of my support for one of the Candidates and Political Parties in the just ended Presidential Run-off election.As Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the Sierra Leone Election, I was officially due to complete my Mission and leave Sierra Leone on Monday April 02, 2018, via Kenya Airways as per the ticket bought and issued to me by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.Following multiple issues that arose just when the tallying of the result from the run-off began, I was requested through a call from the Secretary General of The Commonwealth, Baroness Scotland, to stay one more day to work with my colleague Heads of International Observer Missions to resolve issues that had stalled the tallying process.My departure was therefore delayed until Tuesday April 03, 2018.With this extension in mind, I joined my colleagues in multiple meetings with the political stakeholders on April 01, 2018 until well after midnight to achieve consensus in order to have the tallying process proceed. All these meetings were chaired by Professor Amos Sawyerr, Head of the ECOWAS Observation Mission.In the afternoon, just before my departure from Freetown, I joined my colleague former Presidents, Amos Sawyer of Liberia, Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas at the Presidential Lodge to brief President Ernest Bai Koroma on our efforts in reaching an agreement between the political parties and the National Electoral Commission in order that the tallying process could proceed.I bid farewell to President Koroma before I drove to the sea coach to leave for Lungi Airport.My departure from Freetown was not sudden and when I bid farewell to President Koroma I did not get any indication in word or deed that I was not wanted anymore in his country.I was leaving because by my agreement with The Commonwealth my mandate as Head of Mission had ended. The Commonwealth technical team were also due to leave Freetown on April 03, 2018 but a cancellation of their Air France flight is keeping them there till Wednesday April 04, 2018.International Observers have no capacity to change the will of the people, in any election. I, John Dramani Mahama, have no interest in who governs the people of Sierra Leone. The long nights, early mornings, long meetings, diplomatic shuttles were all aimed at helping Sierra Leone choose their leader freely, maintain the peace and consolidate their democracy.As President of the Republic of Ghana and Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in 2014, I visited Sierra Leone when all others abandoned the country and foreigners were leaving. I offered my country as the staging post for the fight against Ebola.I have expressed openly to anyone who would listen the progress Sierra Leone has made since I last visited when the country was at its most vulnerable, at the height of the Ebola crisis. I have absolutely no interest in who becomes President of Sierra Leone at the end of this elections. I just believe that a credible election would consolidate not only Sierra Leones democracy but also its peace, bearing in mind its past gruesome civil war.If my presence, in the midst of a volatile and violent situation, at Goderich during the first round of voting to prevent what would have clearly marred a beautiful day of election, or my actions in conducting my mandate as head of my mission has so angered some people so much, as to throw such accusations at me, I can only respond that, I wish Sierra Leone well and that on this exhausting mission, I put my best experience at the service of that nations democracy and I pray that the in the end, whoever emerges as leader will continue to consolidate this process and continue to build on the good works of his predecessors.Let us all continue to join the good people of Sierra Leone in prayerTrump on Monday tweeted that "Honduras, Mexico and many other countries that the U.S. is very generous to, sends many of their people to our country through our WEAK IMMIGRATION POLICIES. Caravans are heading here. Must pass tough laws and build the WALL."

He followed up on Tuesday with another tweet reading: "The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our 'Weak Laws' Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!"

An estimated 1,500 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are walking north towards the US border in an annual event that was both a protest over conditions faced by migrants and as a way for migrants to safely reach the border.

Trump has accused Mexico of abetting and profiting from illegal immigration, and is threatening to use negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement as a bargaining chip on the issue.

Diaz accused Trump of using Honduras "to pressure the (US) Congress to approve reforms on migration law."

"Honduras is the country that has done the most to create suitable conditions so that our compatriots do not leave the country," Diaz added.

He said Honduras has also made progress on fighting crime and the conditions that spur emigration.

"Unfortunately, as long as the United States does not stop and does not really do things to stop drug consumption, violence will keep affecting those countries" on drug trafficking routes to America, Diaz said.He said common sense should not just apply to the dispute over the Skripal attack "but also all other aspects of international relations".

"We need to act within the framework of healthy political processes that are based on the fundamental norms of international law," said Putin, who attended a three-way summit in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani.

"Then the situation in the world will become more predictable and stable."

Putin's comments came as Russia and Britain traded accusations at a tense meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) over the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal with a nerve agent in England.Within the spate of four months five lawmakers - an ex-lawmaker inclusive - have been reported dead in Nigeria for 2018.

The Nigerian lawmaking chamber has continued to mourn members of the legislative arm of the government since January 2018.

In January 2018

A member of the Taraba State Assembly, Hosea Ibi, was kidnapped in the early days of January 2018 and after efforts of the security operatives to get him freed, he was killed. The remains of the lawmaker was found by the police on January 15, 2018.

In March 2018

In the early hours of March 17, 2018, Nigerians were greeted with the news of the death of Senator Ali Wakil representing Bauchi South. The shocking news of Wakil, who reportedly slumped in his home after suffering from cardiac arrest threw the National Assembly into mourning state.

Barely 13 days after the death of Senator Wakil, the news of the death of another lawmaker was announced.

This time, it was the death of Umar Buba Jibril, a member of the House of Representatives representing Lokoja/Kogi Federal constituency. Jibril passed away at the age of 58 years after serving three tenures in the house. Before his death, he was the deputy majority leader.

In April 2018

The early days of April 2018 was greeted with the news of the death of an ex-lawmaker, Independence Ogunewe. Ogunewe was on Tuesday found dead in his Abuja home on April 3, 2018 at the age of 57-year-old. The former lawmaker represented Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency, Imo State for two terms at the House of Representatives.

On April 4, 2018, a first time Senator representing Katsina North constituency, Mustapha Bukar was announced dead.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had taken out time to send his condolence message to the family of the deceased as well as the National Assembly.

He said "I am saddened to learn about the passing of another friend and colleague, Senator Mustapha Bukar. As a first-time Senator, Mustapha stood out for the quality of his contributions on the floor, his pragmatism and his work to strengthen the institution of the legislature."Following the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to rid Nigeria off corruption as well as corrupt politicians, 66 Nigerian politicians have been labelled corrupt by the country's ruling and opposition parties.

The ruling party, APC, has consistently heaps the blame of the rot in the Nigerian economy on the opposition party, PDP at every given opportunity.

Reacting, the opposition party, PDP, insists that the corrupt politicians in the country have merely dumped the opposition for the ruling party.

The reaction and counter-reaction

In March 2018, the Nigeria's opposition party challenged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to publish the list of looters in the country after so much threat.

Responding, the Nigeria's information minister, released a teaser list of alleged corrupt Nigerian politicians that included the current chairman of the opposition party amidst other former executive members of the party.

In the same vein, the opposition party responded with it's list of the corrupt Nigerian politicians with the Senate President, top ministers and serving lawmakers included.

The List of the corrupt Nigerian politicians

Some of the court cases and allegations for listing the 66 politicians as allegedly corrupt

PDP Chairman, Uche Secondus

- On the 19th of Feb 2015, he took N200 million only from the office of the then NSA

PDP Ex-Financial Secretary

- On the 24th of Oct 2014, he took N600 million only from the office of the then NSA

Ex- National Publicity Secretary Olisah Metuh

- On trial for collecting N1.4b from the office of then NSA

Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications

- On trial for taking N2.1 billion from the office of then NSA

Ex-SSA to former President Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei

- On trial over N830 million kept in accounts of four different companies

Ex-President Jonathan's Cousin Robert Azibaola

- On Thursday, a Federal High Court ruled that he has a case to answer for collecting $40 million from the office of then NSA

Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi

Indicted by the Justice George Omeregi led Rivers State Judicial Commission of Inquiry of looting 97 billion along with co indictees including a former army general.

Ex-Governor Saminu Turaki

Alleged to have looted 36 billion. First charged before Justice Sabiu Yahuza of the Federal High Court in Dutse, Jigawa State. Currently facing trial before justice Nnamdi Dimgba at the FCT High Court.

Ex-Governor Timipre Sylva

A well known financier and supporter of the APC administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Alleged to have looted 19.7 billion. Was facing trial before Justice A. Y. Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja. However, two days after President Buhari was sworn in, the new APC government WITHDREW the charges preferred against Sylva on June 1, 2015 and on October 3, 2018, the EFCC returned to Sylva, 48 houses seized from him during the administration of former president, Goodluck Jonathan in 2013 to him.

Ex-Governor Murtala Nyako

Alleged to have looted 29 billion. Currently facing trial before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja

Senator Danjuma Goje

Alleged to have looted 25 billion. Currently facing trial before the Federal High Court, sitting in Jos, Plateau State.

Senator Abdullahi Adamu

Alleged to have looted 15 billion with the help of 18 co accused. Charged on March 3, 2010. The case continues to linger in court.

Ex-Governor Orji Kalu

Alleged to have looted 3.2 billion. Currently facing trial before Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.

Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals

Kayode Fayemi: Indicted by the Ekiti Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by former Ekiti State chief judge and the Oluyin of Iyin-Ekiti, Ademola Ajakaiye, of sundry financial malfeasance totaling over 2 billion.

Senator Joshua Dariye

Alleged to have looted 1.2 billion. Currently facing trial before Justice Adebukola Banjoko at an FCT High Court.

Babachir LawalThe FastTrack programme scheduled to hold in Lagos, Nigeria, April 7, 2018, to build on the rapid success of its inaugural 2017 Cape Town tech venture accelerator programme that catapulted Nigerian startup MOBicure and their flagship application UMOMi into the spotlight.

The first-ever Startupbootcamp Africa Accelerator was a rollercoaster success with a record 32 corporate agreements including pilots and proof-of-concepts, signed during the accelerator.

Philip Kiracofe and Zachariah George, the co-founders of Startupbootcamp Africa while commenting said: Fast Track events are a rare opportunity for startups across the globe to present their businesses to an elite group of mentors comprising industry experts, corporate executives and investors. Through more than 2 hours of personal, dedicated one-on-one feedback from mentors and subject-matter experts, startups will be able to engage with the Startupbootcamp global community and will also be able to meet with industry executives and exposed to worldwide opportunities.

Startupbootcamp is seeking applications from disruptive startups in industries including blockchain, connected devices, payment solutions, capital markets and asset management, integrated supply chain, e-commerce, alternative financing, identity management, digital connectivity, data and behavioural analytics and enabling technologies for the Lagos, Nigeria FastTrack.

Stanley Gabriel, Head of Innovation at Old Mutual Personal Finance, is enthusiastic about the possibilities that the FastTrack events open up. Through our partnership with Startupbootcamp, startups have the opportunity to leverage our expertise, experience, resources and talent to build more compelling commercial propositions with clear commercial outcomes, while our business and our stakeholders, in turn, benefit from their innovative ideas. We look forward to what Kampala has to offer!

The inaugural Startupbootcamp Africa programme received applications from all over the world, and one of the Top 10 was a Nigerian startup named MOBicure.The rap icon who was a guest at David Letterman's "My Next Guest Needs no Introduction with David Letterman," said he cried because he was very happy for her.

"Imagine living your life as somebody else, right? And you think you are protecting your kids and for my mother, she had to live as someone she wasn't and hide and protect her kids, didn't want to embarrass her kids for all this time, for her to sit in front of me and tell me I love someone, I really cried, I cried because I was so happy for her that she was happy," he said.

He went on to say that even though she was a bit conservative about it, she still went ahead and told him which made him do what he hardly does, which is crying. He also talked about him writing a song about his mother's coming out the following day titled 'Smile.'

ALSO READ:Tiffany Haddish says an actress bit Beyonce on the face

Jay Z will be having a worldwide tour with wife, Beyonce this year, starting from June. The power couple was spotted in Jamaica recently shooting a video content that will be used for their upcoming On the Run II Tour.

The music icon and his diva wife, Beyonce were seen cruising on a bike at the famous Trenchtown where the music legend, Bob Marley lived for a while and always sang about.The Hollywood actor was a guest at Cool FM, where he was answering questions from OAPs, Daddy Freeze, and Kaylah Oniwo.

"Toke Makinwa reportedly assaulted by John Boyega's bodyguard," Daddy Freeze had said. Well, the whole studio went crazy when John looked all shocked and replied with the most sarcastic replies ever!

"First of all, first of all, who is that," he said. Well, he looked surprised as he claimed not to know who Toke Makinwa is and even referred to her as "that."

It would be recalled that at the beginning of the year, precisely in January, Toke Makinwa raised an alarm over what she called at a highbrow restaurant in Lagos.

The beautiful media personality who appeared to be really angry over the incident took to her Instagram page on Thursday, January 4, 2017, where she wrote a really detailed account of what happened at the said restaurant which is situated in the premises of Eko Hotel and Suites.

According to her, even though she had an early flight to catch, she wanted to make clear her experience in the hands of the bodyguard to Hollywood actor, John Boyega. She feels that if she was a guy she wouldn't have been treated in such manner.The chemistry between Tobi and Bambam elicited several Twitter reactions, with some even anticipating a romantic relationship between them.

However, things changed between them when Tobi repeatedly told other housemates that Bambam, and her relationship with fellow housemate Teddy A, was fake.

In this interview with Pulse Nigeria, Bambam explains what went wrong with their vibe and friendship.

On the good vibe and energy she had with Tobi

When we got into the house, everyone was getting along with everyone. Himself and I had a great conversation and it looked like there was good energy, there was a good vibe. Until I realized that it was a task for him to get information out of me.

So, I know that if it was genuine the way it started, we probably could have been a good pair. But fate had it otherwise.

Then when they paired us again, it was like another opportunity for him to try again what he intended before it became a task.

On Tobi projecting his own fakeness on her

But that was all it was. Over time I realized that 'ah ah, from A-Z real quick.' I didn't get it. That was why I was more upset, because we had great conversation, you got to know me, [so] why all of a sudden are you selling this lie? What are you on about?

So even when he comes and says he is sorry, it became unnecessary. I wasn't seeing him anymore. I was totally irritated by everything he was doing.

I now saw that he was projecting his own insecurity, his own fear, his own fakeness - he wanted to take it out of the public eye and put it all on me. I don't know if he succeeded, but I wish him all the best.The suspect was arraigned on Wednesday, April 4, 2018, at the Federal Capital Territory High Court located in Apo.

Mr. Jaafaru Ayitogo, the prosecutor on the case alleged that the father committed the offence in November 2017.

He was charged with willful infliction of physical injury on the child who also failed to received treatment for his injury.

Justice Idris Kutigi, who presided over the case has adjourned it until Thursday, May 17, 2018.

ALSO READ: Son kills mum who kept disappearance charm for herself

Father sentenced to death for killing daughter's boyfriend

In Calabar, Cross River State, Mr. Godwin Elewana, a former employee of the National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has been sentenced to death by hanging for killing his daughter's boyfriend.

Punch News confirmed that the convict murdered the victim, Douglas Ojugbo, on March 10, 2015. The father who shot the deceased with a pump-action gun was arraigned on a one-count charge of murder.

This is following an incarceration since the year 2016.

A statement given by the boyfriend's mother, Mrs. Maria Ojugbo, confirmed that Elewana buried her son in a hope to conceal evidence but an 'intervention by God' had ensured an uncovering of the heinous act.

I thank God for doing what should be done. It is stated in the Bible that anyone who kills by the sword, will die by the sword.

"Elewana had no reason whatsoever to kill my son in such a manner and conceal the act by burying him. It was Almighty God that gave approval for this judgement," Ojugbo expressed according to Punch.The deceased was found hanging on a tree with only his pants on.

A crowd of onlookers who watched his corpse dangle in the air were made to watch in amazement.

On Instagram, some observers attributed the suicide to an uncontrolled state of depression.

ALSO READ: Journalist accused of murdering wife releases suicide note

Some considered it as an inappropriate behaviour to take one's life believed to belong to God.

Final year IMSU damsel of 23 shot dead on birthday

Ibeh Kelechi Assumpta, a female undergraduate of the Imo State University (IMSU), Owerri, has been shot dead on her birthday.

The deceased who was getting ready to cut her birthday cake after clocking 23, was set to graduate from the institution in August 2018.

This period would have seen her complete a degree in Banking & Finance.

Reports circulating online media confirmed that she was killed in her hostel.

Her death reportedly occurred after sharing pictures on Facebook.Some images which have circulated social media revealed some male students who had the middle of their head scraped as punishment for infringing against what users described as a non-existent rule.

They have also made a prayer out of it.

A Twitter user, Omoniyi Israel, expressed scorn about the development in a tweet that can offer great strength in fervent prayers.

This reaction is connected to a chain of tweets condemning the alleged action. The comments were mostly expressed through sarcasm.

It appeared shocking and even embarrassing to individuals associated with Covenant University.

Some observed differently with positive comments about CU.

Despite the widespread criticism against the university's decision to cut the hair of its students, a few observers noted the improvement they have enjoyed in their development under the controlled mentoring of the institution.

A tweet attributed the negative response to the low capability of its critics to meet the financial expectations needed to study in the institution.

UNILORIN bans use of hair attachment on campus

The University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria has placed a ban on the use of hair attachment on its campus.

This was contained in a list of rules published on the new dress code requirement released on Monday, January 22, 2018.

"Female students should avoid among other things, wearing Short, Skimpy dress, Skirts above the knee, Tight Trousers, See-through material, Un-packed hair, Fittings or Hair attachment," an instruction on a printed document reads.

In addition, male students are also expected to steer clear sagging, tattered trousers and "unacceptable hairstyles."

If found to have infringed against these instructions, undergraduates studying in the university are expected to face severe punishment as stated in the institution's handbook.Their corpses were discovered by a relative who informed the police of their passing on the evening of Tuesday, April 3, 2018.

A statement issued by the police the following day expressed that the deceased, aged 52 and 27 years old respectively, were apparently killed by the dog,AFP News confirmed in a report.

The rate of dog attacks in Germany has encouraged the introduction of tight rules following aggression against children and adults.

Lion devours zookeeper in Kaduna

A zookeeper, Mustapha Adam, has been mauled by a lion which escaped from the Gamji Gate amusement park in Kaduna. He died early Wednesday, February 7, 2018, following an injury sustained in the neck.

The big cat has been lured back to its cage after a break-out according to many reports.

BBC Africa confirmed that a similar occurrence happened at Ibadan, Oyo State, in September 2017. A lion reportedly killed its caregiver while being fed.

Much earlier, another lion escape from its confinement located in the central city of Jos but residents came to no harm.

ALSO READ: Man bites dog that attempts to kill his pet

The animal was quickly tranquilized and killed before it could confront civilians.Despite falling in love with words at a young age when her voice left for five years after being sexually abused, Maya Angelou did not become a career wordsmith until 1969, at the age of 40.

Before then, she had lived a life that created perfect fodder for the emotions and realities she would spend the remaining years documenting.

Here are 5 things you should know about Maya Angelou.

1. She was an editor at an English Language newspaper in Egypt :

Before Maya chose to tell her own stories, she was telling stories of colonialism and local life as a journalist in Egypt. During her travels in her early 30s, the writer passed through Egypt where she married a civil rights activist named Vusumzi Make.

We married and then moved to Cairo, in Egypt. That was where I got my job as an editor for the Arab Observer, she wrote on her website.

At the time, her knowledge of journalism was limited but through the help of David Du Bois, step-son of the famous W.E.B Du Bois she got the job.

Being the only black-American, non-muslim woman on the job made it endlessly difficult. But with time, Angelou was able to hone her storytelling abilities with help from Abdul-Hassan and Eric Nemes, the in-house layout artist. She left the Observer a year later.

2. She won three Grammy Awards and has five nominations

Maya Angelou has won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word album on three occasions; in 1993 for On the Pulse Of the Morning, in 1995 for Phenomenal Woman and 2002 for A Song Flung Up To Heaven.

Her creative talent has also been appreciated in other fields where words are not the primary medium. In 1973, for instance, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Elizabeth Keckley in Jerome Kiltys 1972 play, 'Look Away'.

3. She once had a very emotional conversation with Tupac Shakur

For most casual fans of hip-hop, Maya Angelous most notable infraction into hip-hop came when she met the legendary Tupac Shakur on the set of John Singletons Poetic Justice in 1992.

As the story goes, the poet was stepping out of her trailer when she saw an angry young man in an argument. Even though he was visibly agitated, she approached him and asked, When was the last time anyone told you how important you are?

She told him of his ancestry, the travails of Africans who had been forced on slave ships to America and later, to work on plantations, and the black mans journey to where he had come. Her stories drove Tupac to tears.

4. She has had a profound influence on hip-hop

Dr Angelous influence on hip-hop goes far beyond calming Tupac down.

Over the years, contemporary hip-hop artistes have drawn inspiration from her moving poetry. Nicki Minaj and Tupac both have songs titled Still I Rise, ostensibly named after her poem of the same title about hate directed towards black women.

Her way with words has also led many artistes to attempt to carve or see themselves in a similar likeness. Wale and Danny Brown have compared their earlier, more artistic years to Maya Angelous years finding her words with just a notebook.

When Kanye West was asked to describe his ideal poet, he was too quick to mention Maya Angelou, whose beauty he also complimented by describing Nina Simones Piano flow, as like Michelangelo painted a portrait of Maya Angelou

5. She found poetry when sexual abuse rendered her mute for five years

Three years after she was born, the marriage between Maya Angelou's parents ended, and along with her siblings, she was sent to live with her paternal grandmother in Arkansas.

Four years later, she was sent again to live with her mother. At the age of eight, her mother's boyfriend sexually abused her, rendering her mute for five years.

Although he was murdered not long after, probably by Angelou's uncles, Maya was later quoted as saying, "I thought, my voice killed him: I killed the man, because I told his name.

And then I thought I would never speak again because my voice could kill anyone". It was during this period that Maya developed an extraordinary love for words in literature, and a keen, observant eye.They were joined by the podcast's producer, Segun Akande and a friend-of-the-podcast who handled recording duties on the day, Djaji Prime.

On the last episode, while they discussed "Mo Hits and Trash testimonies", the gang had invited fans of the podcast to spot members of the crew at the Gidi Culture Festival which was slated to hold on the 30th of March 2018.

Sure enough, some Loose Talk Giants came through. Shout-outs were given where Osagie and Ayo remembered their names; the concert itself was a conversation of note.

While technical difficulties were a major talking point, it is hard to discount the concert's growth and its influence on a nearly non-existent festival culture, especially as it is in its 5th year, as Osagie noted.

The Giants settled on some of the favorite performances; Brymo was mentioned as having impressed, as well as the phenomenal DJ Aye of Village Sound System.

Nigerian concert culture is still growing for the most part; but there are a few bright signs that indicate things are headed in the right direction.

What did Naomi Campbell do to you?

One of the biggest stars of Nigerian origin, Skepta, brought BBK Africa and the stars home for his maiden Homecoming concert. One of the special guests was super-model Naomi Campbell, who, quite sadly, became the target of vitriolic stereotyping and bigotry at the hands of Nigerians on social media.

The Brit would later say she was in Nigeria for Arise Fashion Week, however, most Nigerians first became aware of her presence when photos of her meeting and shaking hands with the President and other dignitaries at the 'launch' of Eko Atlantic City circulated on social media platform, Twitter.

ALSO READ: Naomi Campbell opens Arise Fashion Week 2018 for Tiffany Amber

Miss Campbell didin't do herself much good by saying she had been invited for the launch but nothing can justify the claims that she had been brought over as an escort by the country's high and mighty.

The Giants admitted that this is a stereotype that most models and beautiful women have to face when they are seen with men in positions of power or who are considerably wealthy.

In the end, such behaviour speaks to misogyny in our cultures and how it is difficult for the majority of us, young or old, to come to terms with the idea of a woman who is not an extension of another man's success.

Daddy Bubu's visit to Lagos seemed to have put more than one person in unnecessary trouble. The Lagos State government had declared Wednesday, March 28, 2017, as a public holiday for the President's visit. Important roads were blocked, effectively shutting the city down.

The major question was whether it was worth shutting down the 5th largest economy in Africa for a President's visit, effectively losing millions of dollars for what should have been a logistics issue.

The answer is more obvious than it seems.

Of Dresses and Press Releases

Speaking of women and typecasting, one woman who has done little to challenge the most basic conventional perceptions of Nigerian women is Cee-C.

Since joining Big Brother Naija as one of the primary contestants, she's been emotionally manipulative, shown a tendency to start needless arguments and fights and proved extremely toxic when things are not going their way.

Cee-C had reacted harshly after she was given a traditional attire (which she did not like) to celebrate traditional day along with her favorite housemates.

ALSO READ:

Courtesy of Pulse's Movies and TV associate, Chidumga Izuzu, the giants found that the housemates had been given varied clothing regardless of their tribe, showing that Cee-C's 'situation' was not unique in any sense.

Not everyone will agree with Osagie's assertion that she's a Psycho (although the evidence sits on his side) but they will see how Payporte's press release in reaction to Cee-C's outrage was a bit heavy-handed.

The online retailer's letter to the world had a tone of disappointment and entitlement which didn't go down well with Osagie in particular.

Despite criticism from commentators, Big Brother Naija has inspired myriad conversations since the reality show kicked off in January.

In a country where wealthy women need to explain where they got their money from, it's important we keep talking.Sitting down to an interview, Naomi brought up the issue of the fashion industry's lack of diversity and inclusivity, and wants change to be implemented to make up for it. She said that she felt Africa has not been recognised for its contributions to global fashion and called on Vogue to launch an African issue to shed light on it.

"There should be a Vogue Africa," she said "We just had Vogue Arabia, it is the next progression. It has to be." She also added that the continent has never had the opportunity to be out there and their fabrics and their materials and their designs be accepted on the global platform... it shouldnt be that way."

We've certainly come a long way, more work needs to be done, especially considering that Vogue owns editions in over 20 countries.When newsmen visited the community, they gathered that the bandits were four in number, adding that they wore the military camouflage.

The culprits attacked the church around 2a.m. on Tuesday and initially abducted three women, who were participating in the churchs vigil.

The leader of the church, however, said he picked a bottle and threw it towards the direction of the bandits as they had abducted the three women from the church.

John said upon breaking, the bottle made a gun-like sound and made the bandits to shoot back and disappeared, leaving the women behind without abducting them.

I came back, took a bottle of soft drink around the Church premises, then threw it in the direction of the bandits, it hit a rock and sounded like a gunshot.

They fired back at my direction and ran away, leaving the three women behind, he said.

Mrs komolafe Bose, who was an eye witness, said the culprits came into the church and ordered everyone to lie down flat on the floor and asked for the pastor.

Bose said that John stood up and identified himself as the pastor, adding that they searched everyone, took our phones, money and other valuables in the church.

According to her, they asked daddy where is his gun, Daddy asked them to introduce themselves first, then one of them used a stick and hit him on his body.

The other one attacked and beat him, asking where he kept his money and phone.

After robbing us, they took four women away including daddys wife, they took me with my daughter, when getting outside the Church, they asked me to go back.

My daughter was taken away, on their way inside the bush, they told one of the women to go back, and then left with the remaining three.

They told our pastor to pay N5 million for the women to be released.

He followed them behind, on his way, he saw that the woman had been released.

Mr Akinlami Aduragbemi, a resident in the area, called on the Federal Government to release securities to the area, as they need it in the community.

Aduragbem further urged the government to act now and fast about it, adding that they might not be able to sleep without proper security.The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, disclosed this on Wednesday, April 4, 2018, after President Buhari presided over a meeting with the National Security Council at the Presidential Villa.

He said, "I can inform you that of recent, our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, gave approval for the purchase of more equipment for the military, worth $1 billion."

The minister also revealed that security the president discussed the security situation across the country with service chiefs.

He said, "This is a normal meeting of security agencies in the country. As usual, we discussed the current activities that affected most of the states in the federation like Taraba, Zamfara and other states.

"We have operationalised a division in Sokoto, there will be a brigade in Katsina and another brigade in Zamfara that will take care of security situation in that area.

"The strength of security personnel has increased, including the Air Force additional quick response group, they have added enough manpower in that area."

The service chiefs present at the meeting are Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff; Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral IbikEke Ibns; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.Soldiers have been deployed to keep the peace across Nigeria even though the constitutional role of the military is to defend the country against external aggression.

The increasing deployment of military forces for internal security operations across the country underscores the profoundly dysfunctional state of Nigerias public safety institutions, particularly the ineffectiveness of the police force,Nnamdi Obasi, West Africa analyst for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, told Bloomberg.

Boko Haram

Boko Haram has been waging a brutal war against the Nigerian State with sophisticated weapons since 2009. That has left the nations police stretched and running scared.

The military is finding it difficult doing the job of the police, but it has been left with no choice.

The kind of criminality and the kinds of weapons being used have reached a level of sophistication to a point that the police doesnt have the capacity to handle it and the military has to come in, said Defense Ministry spokesman John Agim.

The situation isnt good for the military; its not good for the police.

Under-policed

Nigeria is badly under-policed with a police to citizen ratio of 1:600far below what the United Nations recommends, because police personnel are watching the backs of so-called big men instead.

The United Nations recommends one police officer for every 450 citizens. Nigeria has about 370,000 police officers.

IGP Ibrahim Idris has been pleading for more police recruits to meet the demand of policing an increasing population.

Look at the numbers: We are 180 million people and we have 400,000 policemen in the country, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu told Bloomberg. The police cant be everywhere because of their low number.

For the moment, analysts say the army cant continue doing the job of the police because they arent trained to deal with internal security challenges.

Episodic deployment of military forces will not solve Nigerias internal security challenges, Obasi said. What is needed are constitutional, political and administrative responses to grievances and demands in various parts of the country.

There have also been incessant clashes between police personnel and soldiers on civilian duties.

Last February, when after soldiers had withdrawn, the military blamed the police; saying it was its job to ensure public safety.

The police responded by saying Yobe is an army controlled area and that the military didn't officially hand over the area.The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Abali Chuku, made this known on Tuesday at a news conference in Umuahia to formally announce the death of medical officer, Dr Chizorom Ndukwu.

Chuku said before her death, along the course of her illness, she was admitted at the FMC, during which a few of the staff came in contact with her in the course of her management.

He said that the hospital had also set up committees to enhance and strengthen protocol for handling the emergency, including compliance with universal safety precautions.

The management of FMC, Umuahia, regrets to announce the death of her staff. She died of Lassa fever, the medical director said.

He said that enhanced surveillance, contact tracing and commencement of prophylaxis in high risk contacts are ongoing.

He said that it would be wrong for the government to say that there was an outbreak of Lassa fever in FMC.

According to him, it will be wrong to say there is an outbreak of Lassa fever in FMC; rather, it should be that there is an outbreak of the disease in the state.

May be, the report by the government official was not properly captioned.

Chuku explained that the deceased allegedly contacted the disease after handling an 11-month-old baby, who was on admission at the hospital.

He said that none of the people, who had contact with the baby before she died, had been brought down by the disease, 21 days after they were placed under surveillance.

The director said that the baby was admitted on March 12 and that the diagnosis had yet to be concluded before she (baby) died the following day.

He said that the hospital may not know where the late medical practitioner contracted the virus.

He said as professionals, doctors offer their services at various facilities, most of which may not observe the safety precautions as FMC.

Chuku underscored the need for the investigation concerning the source of the disease to look beyond FMC.

He said that the baby that died in the hospital was on referral from another hospital.

It is important to look in all directions. We must volunteer all the information we have, he said, adding that there could be other sources of contracting the virus outside the hospital.

Chuku urged health care providers to maintain a high index of suspicion and always observe universal safety precautions, while attending to their patients.

He said that the National Centre for Disease Control was in the hospital to lend its support in the course of the investigation and with the provision of thermometers.

In his speech, Commissioner for Health, Dr John Ahukanna, who also addressed the news conference, stressed the need for people to keep their environment clean and devoid of rats.

ALSO READ:No one knows why Lassa Fever is on the rise in Nigeria

People should make efforts to ensure that the emergency we are facing now does not escalate.

They should keep their environments clean so that rats do not cohabit with them, he said.

The commissioner said that though the development had generated tension in the area, there was no reason for people to panic.

He said that government and the management of the hospital were working hard to contain the spread of the disease.The party also challenged the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to name any members of the 'rebranded PDP' convicted for corruption.

The opposition party said this in a statement issued on Tuesday, April 3, by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had on Sunday, April 1 2018, released a second list of alleged treasury looters which contained 24 names.

The latest list was a follow-up to the six alleged looters' names released last week.

Most of the individuals on the two lists are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its loyalists, which is why the party believes it is a witch-hunt and a strategy to soil its image ahead of the 2019 elections.

Ologbondiyan said the Federal Government only released the alleged looters' list in order to divert attention from the faults of its administration.

He said: "The Presidency and the APC have failed in their ploy to use their so-called looters lists to divert public discourse from the raging questions on their failures in governance.

"The Federal Government has no case against the PDP, as the lists only have individuals who are not indicted or convicted for corruption, some of who are not even members of the PDP. We still challenge the APC to name any members of the repositioned and rebranded PDP convicted for corruption."

ALSO READ: APC chieftain tells Buhari's govt to name corrupt cabinet members

The PDP spokesman reiterated that the essence of the alleged looters' lists was to cause public misconception, 'change the topic' and divert international and national discourse from various problems confronting the nation.He said as at March 23, about 353 firms had complied with the requirements as stipulated in the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, and were subsequently cleared to secure Federal Governments contracts.

The 353 companies pushed the total sum of the companies the commission issued compliance certificates since PenComs inception to over 4000, Farouk said.

According to him, the certificate is evidence that they have fully paid the contributions of their employees.

The compliance certificates issued to the firms meant they had fully paid the contributions of their employees and had paid the premium for Group Life insurance covering their employees fully.

Thus, in the event of death in active service, their families will be paid benefits to the tune 300 per cent of the deceaseds full annual salary and allowances, Farouk said.He appealed to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to support the initiative of issuing certificate of compliance to deserving firms.

Some MDAs often accept spurious evidence of compliance from contractors and being reluctant to ensure that companies bidding for works fulfilled their obligations relating to pensions as enunciated in the Public Procurement Act 2007.

The commission posited that methods deployed by MDAs include, the exclusion of the pension requirement in the advertisement for contractors or acceptance of spurious evidence of compliance from them.

We once again appeal to them to support the laudable initiative, he stressed.

According to Farouk, some of the firms cleared by the commission included Reynolds Construction Company Limited, which has 3,643 employees and has also contributed N726.43 million.

Others are: Leadway Assurance Company Limited, with 283 employees, and has contributed N133.02 million, Ghazi Shipping and Trading Company Limited, with five employees contributed N3.13 million, AIICO Insurance Plc, with 264 employees contributed N135.11 million.

Farouk also said Cornerstone Insurance Plc with 204 employees, contributed N132.20 million, Linkage Assurance Plc, which has 231 employees, contributed N65.50 million.

NSIA Insurance Limited with 99 employees, contributed N27.95 million, while Solid Trust Insurance Brokers Limited with nine staff contributed N5.03 million.

Risk Analyst Insurance Brokers Limited, has nine employees and contributed N2.42 million.

Prorisk Insurance Brokers Limited has nine staff and contributed N2.42 million, while Image Brokers Limited has 16 employees and contributed N1.51 million.

Wib Insurance Brokers Limited with three staff, contributed N855,499.58 and Denos Insurance Brokers Limited with nine staff, contributed N660,240.12, said Farouk.

Similarly, Geo-Chem West Africa Limited with 19 employees contributed N3.86 million, while Setraco Nigeria Limited with 2839 employees contributed N455.05 million.THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER

APCs tenure extension talks end in deadlock

A closed-door meeting by President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and 22 governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to resolve the controversy over tenure extension for the John Odigie-Oyegun-led executive ended in a deadlock yesterday.

Fresh hope for economy as CBNs policy committee resumes meeting

The nations economy may be exiting a six-month apathy and cautious mode imposed on it by the standoff between the federal legislature and the executive, as the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will be ready today.

INEC inaugurates voter education, publicity committee ahead of Ekiti poll

Ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in Ekiti State and the 2019 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday resuscitated the State Implementation Committee on Voters Education and Publicity (SICVEP).

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VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

Governor Bello falls off car, on POP

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State is said to be currently on Plaster of Paris, POP, following injuries he sustained while alighting from his vehicle last Friday at Old Market in Lokoja, the state capital, on his way from Abuja.

Ogun pastor beheads secret lover, buries body in Church

An acclaimed Pastor of the Holy Gathering Evangelical Church of God, Papalanto, Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state, Oluwatobiloba Ipense, has been arrested for allegedly killing his secret lover, Railat Sanni, for ritual purposes.

Buhari, APC governors meeting deadlocked

THE meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, governors yesterday, ended in deadlock.

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THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER

Herdsmen/farmers crisis: Buhari orders assessment of damage in Benue, others

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the National Emergency Management Agency to commence an assessment of the extent of damage in communities affected by violence caused by herdsmen-farmers clashes in some parts of the country.

Obasanjo not qualified to accuse anybody of corruption  Ayo Adebanjo

Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, says former President Olusegun Obasanjo has no moral right to accuse anyone of being corrupt.

Gunmen invade Kogi police station, kill two cops

Two police officers and one detained suspect have been shot dead by yet-to-be identified gunmen who invaded Gegu Police Station on Lokoja-Abuja Road on Tuesday.

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THISDAY NEWSPAPER

Ahead of CHOGM, Buhari Heads to London on Private Visit

President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Nigeria on April 9 for London, ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled to take place between April 16 and 20 in the British capital.

NHIS Boss in Another Controversy, Ignores TSA, Moves to Invest N25bn in FGN Bonds

The Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf, is embroiled in yet another controversy following his decision to invest at least N25 billion of the schemes funds in government securities through Cowry Asset Management Limited.

Nwabueze Backs Danjuma, Insists Nigerians Have Constitutional Right to Self-Defence

Renowned constitutional lawyer and elder statesman, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, threw his weight behind the call by a former defence minister, General T.Y. Danjuma (rtd), for Nigerians to defend themselves against the marauding Fulani herdsmen who have killed hundreds of people nationwide, owing to what Danjuma blamed on as the collusion of the military with the killers.

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BUSINESSDAY NEWSPAPER

No functional tomato processor in Nigeria despite billions from FG

Nigerias Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) provided money running into billions of naira to Dangote Tomato, Erisco Foods, Vegefresh Group and Savannah Group to enable them process fresh tomatoes into triple concentrate, but none of them is currently doing so.

Hurdles hound FGs plan to recapitalise troubled DisCos

BusinessDay has learnt that the Federal Government is considering raising its stake in the electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to 60 percent from the current 40 percent as part of moves to improve the fortunes of the DisCos but analysts say hurdles against it are enormous.

Nigeria economy on the positive trajectory in Q1 2018Bello was the cynosure of all eyes when he stepped out of his car and into the Council Chambers venue of the meeting.

Accident

On Friday March 30, 2018, Gov Bello fell off while alighting from his official car.

He would go on to sustain injuries from the fall.

One source who witnessed the accident, told Punch newspaper that Bello got into trouble while trying to get off a BMW car which is quite smaller than his official Prado Jeep.

He tripped, sprained his left ankle and both arms, the report stated.

The eyewitness further disclosed that the car dragged the Governor a few meters out before he was rescued by locals and his security detail.

Gov Bello was thereafter rushed to one of the private hospitals in Abuja for further treatment, according to the story.

Refute speculations

In a statement sent to Pulse, the Kogi State government said the Governor missed his footing on Friday March 30, 2018 while alighting from a vehicle and injured his left foot. He was treated by his doctors, who bandaged the leg and discharged him.

The statement which was signed by Kingsley Fanwo, Director General, Media and Publicity in the Office of the Governor, added that: We wish to refute speculations in some quarters that the Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, is either hospitalised or otherwise incapacitated.

We thank all the Governor's supporters and well-wishers who reached us to inquire after his wellbeing. His Excellency is doing very well and will be at work as usual after the Easter holidays.

Once again, the Governor sends his best wishes to Kogites for the Easter Season and beyond.The Chairman of WAPP, Mr Mohamnmed Gur-Usman, said this in Abuja, while responding to questions on the sidelines of a meeting organised to disseminate the operational manual of WAPP.

WAPP is a Cooperation of the national electricity companies in West African under the auspices of the ECOWAS.

The members of WAPP are working for the establishment of a reliable power grid for the region and a common market for electricity.

It was founded in the year 2000 with present membership of 14 West African countries.

Gur-Usman, who is also the Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), said the transmission line was a project designed to be constructed by four member countries of WAPP.

According to him, the component of the line that concerns Nigeria is about 62 kilometers to other countries.

He said the line would run from Birnin Kebbi in Nigeria to the border, to Niamey in Niger.

He also said that the line would run from Benin Republic from Niamey to Burkina Faso.

According to him, the construction of the line that concerns other countries will be financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the French Development Agency (FDA).

The component financed by AfDB is concentrated on the side of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Niamey in Niger.

That component has been approved already by the board of AfDB and the agreements signed with those countries.

The component that concerns Nigeria is about 62 kilometres from Birnin-Kebbi to the border and we are discussing with World Bank to finance it.

All the studies for it have been carried out including the environmental disclosure.

For us to be able to supply energy on that line, we also have to build a 330kV double circuit line from Kanji hydropower plant to Birnin-Kebbi which is part of the Northern corridor project of TCN.

We have done the feasibility study and what is remaining is the validation of the feasibility study which we have hired a consultant to do.

We are at the final stage of completing the procurement of that contract, everything is starting this year.

He further disclosed that the funding of the project that concerns Nigeria would cost 29 million dollars for the transmission line from Birnin-Kebbi to the border of Nigeria and Niger.

I dont have the total funding cost for the other countries but the distance of the entire transmission lines is about 700 kilometres. So it is a long distance transmission line.

On the progress made on the Southern component of the transmission project, the WAPP Chairman said the Southern backbone project is a separate project that is under preparation.

We are doing the environmental impact assessment which is supported by the AfDB, once the study is completed, we will start looking for the financing.

The grant given is three million dollars and is equal to the amount to pay for the study, they are paying for the contract we entered with the consultant.

The chairman also said WAPP in conjunction with the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA), was hoping to launch the regional electricity market in June.

He said sensitisation programmes were being done to sensitise member utilities firms on the plan to start the regional electricity market.

There are several things that are involved in the regional electricity market and synchronisation is just one of them.

It means that all the electricity that is generated across the sub-region have to be synchronised so that from Nigeria to Cote Divoire can have the same power frequency and other places.

As TCN, we anticipated this and that is why last year, we embarked on the frequency control which we achieved and attained at 39.5 and 30.5 frequency.

In the last 20 years, this has not been achieved and it enabled WAPP and the rest of the country to synchronise their power.

He said the vision of the regional electricity market was also to provide energy security.

If tomorrow, Nigeria has a problem of gas supply, Nigeria can import energy from Ghana or Burkina Faso, depending on which has cheaper source of energy.

On if the regional market will ensure improvement in the payment of electricity supplied to international customers, Usman-Gur said:

We have other mechanism we are putting in place to ensure payment in the market but even as it is, the payment in the international market is better than the local market and we are still working to improve it.

He, however, said he could not guarantee that the launch of the regional market would ensure 100 per cent payment of electricity supplied to international customers.

Whether it will guarantee 100 per cent payment, I cant tell you because even in the WAPP sub-region like Benin and Niger, the distribution companies are still the weakest link as they are not collecting all the money.National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, announced this on Wednesday in Abuja at the end of a three-hour meeting between governors elected on the partys platform and the National Working Committee (NWC).

The party had on Tuesday, constituted a 10-member technical committee headed by Gov. Simon Dalung of Plateau to advise its leadership on the way forward on the tenure issue.

This followed President Muhammadu Buharis recent opposition to NECs approval of tenure extension for the NWC and all executive committees of the party at all levels across the country, made at its meeting on Feb. 27.

Buhari had said at another meeting of NEC in Abuja on March 26 that the NWCs tenure extension decision was illegal and unconstitutional.

The NEC had extended the tenure of the Odigie-Oyegun-led NWC and other executive committees by one year, starting from June.

The president had explained that the decision was causing acrimony within the party, with some members not comfortable with the matter, dragging the party to court.

The Governors and the NWC of our party decided to sit and look at the issues that were seemingly dividing us.

I want to say to you with absolute satisfaction and pride that all the issues that you have been commenting on has been completely and totally resolved, Odigie-Oyegun said.

He said that the technical committee constituted to look into the issue would submit its report latest on Thursday to enable the NEC to look at it.

The Chairman of the technical committee has reported that his report will be ready latest this evening or by the very most, early tomorrow morning.

This report will be placed before NEC on Monday and appropriate decision will be taken and thereafter, we shall announce to you the further steps we are going to be take, he said.

The chairman, however, added that the partys next steps would depend on its NEC considering on the committees recommendation.

He assured that the APC was back as one united and focused party, strongly behind Buhari and its executives across in the states.

Commenting on the issue, the partys National Publicity Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdulahi, told newsmen that final decision on the tenure extension issue was with the partys NEC.

It is left for the NEC to decide, and if the committee recommends that the position of NEC should be maintained, then there will be no need for an elective convention.

Then, the president and those who are concerned that the decision we have taken is correct or not, will have more confidence in the position of the party.

The APC spokesman, however, said that if the technical committee recommended that congresses should be held, the partys NEC would consider that.During the party's NEC meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, March 27, 2018, President Buhari said the committee's February decision to extend the tenure of the NWC and executive members by a year is unconstitutional.

He advised the party to conduct fresh elections according to its constitutional provisions and urged members to contribute to its success.

The president's position had gotten significant objection from party bigwigs who were bent on avoiding internal crisis in the party heading into next year's election.

A previous meeting between the president and the governors had reportedly ended in a deadlock as an agreement could not be reached on Tuesday, April 3, 2018.

However, after a follow up meeting with the president on Wednesday, April 4, 2018, Zamfara State governor, Abdulazeez Yari, Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha and a few others told State House correspondents that they're finally in agreement with the president.

Governor Yari revealed that all 24 governors under the APC had met after Tuesday's meeting and agreed that elections of party officials should hold at all party levels.

He said, "We consulted and all the 24 governors of the APC are on the same page with Mr. President that we are going to respect our party's constitution, and respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

"Therefore, we collectively agreed that we will have congresses at all levels - Local - State and National.

"The committee set up by the National Secretariat of our party headed by governor of Plateau State, is presenting its report later today (Wednesday).

"The governors are also meeting with the working committee today so that we come up with convention committee names as well as timetable of the election.

"So, there is no deadlock in our meeting, we have progressed and very soon you will have the names of the convention committee members as well as the timetable."

No crisis in APC - Okorocha

Governor Okorocha said the development should put an end to speculations that there is a crisis within the party due to its inability to agree on whether to elect new officials or extend the tenure of the current ones which will end in June 2018.

He said, "The issue was that some people who believe that we did not have enough time to organise a party congress and run election. Some people felt that it was a good idea but the most important thing is that, if we do that, we will be contravening both our party constitution and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is the major issue that we have that they call crisis. We do not have virus.

"This morning, we met with Mr. President to fine-tune issues, one regarding the congress and we have resolved that the congresses at all levels and the Chairman of the elongation committee, is also fine-tuning the arrangement in the same line. To this effect, the convention committee will be set out, it will be announced."

As disclosed by Governor Yari, Governor Simon Lalong confirmed that he would be submitting the report of the technical committee he heads to the party leadership later on Wednesday.The governor revealed that he weeps at night in worry over the implications of the situation in the run up to the 2019 general elections.

While speaking during a church service to mark the Easter Monday celebration at Okigwe Catholic diocese in Imo, Okorocha urged residents of the region to participate more actively in the electoral process by exercising their rights to vote.

He said, "A particular scenario makes me cry; INEC's data shows that south-south has nine million registered voters, north-central, 12 million registered voters, north-east, 15 million registered voters, south-west, 14 million registered voters, north-west, 18 million registered voters, while south-east has just eight million registered voters.

"This situation makes me cry. I weep every night because of this development. This means that we have lost out before the 2019 election. If care is not taken, we will make ourselves slaves.

"My lord bishop, please tell our people to register. Our bishops must encourage Igbo people to register now. I have started shouting again, the same way I shouted in 2015.

"If Yoruba people can jettison tribal politics in 2015 to ensure that the APC won, Igbo people can do the same in 2019. Today, the Yoruba people are occupying sensitive positions in the Federal Government."

Continuous Voter Registration ends in December 2018

According to statistics released by INEC, out of a total of 73,944,312 registered voters across Nigeria (as of January 2018), the northwest has a total of 18,505,984 voters while the southeast has 8,293,093.

The statistics for the other zones show that the south west has the second highest number of registered voters with 14,626,800, while the south south comes close to it with 11,101,093 registered voters.

In the other two zones, the north central has 10,586,965 registered voters, while the north east zone has 9,929,015.On the agenda was the extension of the tenure of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as APC Chairman and those of other members of the partys National Working Committee (NWC).

Extension

On March 27, 2018, President Buhari cancelled the tenure extension for APC officials as agreed by the partys National Executive Committee (NEC), a month before.

Buhari said the extension of Oyeguns tenure violated the partys constitution and could lead to acrimony within the APC.

The extension, Buhari had said, contravenes both our party constitution and the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.

If we deviate from the constitutional provisions, we might be endangering the fortunes of our party. If the tenure of our party executives can be legally faulted, then it means that any nominations and primary elections that they may conduct, can also be faulted, the president had added before a stunned house.

The decision of Buhari to overturn NECs decision on Oyeguns tenure, led to some shouting inside Aso Villa on Tuesday, as tempers flared.

I am not sure what happened inside the chamber could be called a real meeting, they were simply fighting, an unnamed source told Premium Times afterwards.

No words

When chairman of the APC Governors Forum, Rochas Okorocha and the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Abdulaziz Yari emerged, they declined questions and said nothing to the press; which is unusual after a meeting of that nature.

Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna and Simon Lalong of Plateau said the Governors had agreed not to speak to the media.

TheCable reports that on their way out, one of the Governors was heard screaming: Some people think they are tall but they can never control us. Never!

No resolution was reached at this meeting, apparently.

According to TheCable,the president had to reschedule the meeting, asking the Governors to pick another date.Senator Bukar was declared dead on Wednesday, April 4, 2018, after a brief illness.

Ekweremadu described Bukar's death as a 'heavy blow' to the Senate and the entire nation.

Distinguished Senator Mustaphas exit is a grave loss and big blow not only to the Senate and the National Assembly, but to the entire nation," Ekweremadu said in a statement made available to Pulse by his media aide, Anichukwu Uche.

ALSO READ: Senators eulogise late Bauchi lawmaker at plenary

He was a fine gentleman, quite humane, diligent, perceptive, and humble. He was a pan-Nigerian and a pro-masses lawmaker, who showed great interest in finding lasting solution to the nations perennial energy problem. He will be sorely missed.

I send heartfelt condolences to his immediate family, the Government of Katsina State, and his constituents, particularly President Muhammadu Buhari, he added.

Ekweremadu prayed God to grant eternal rest to the soul of the departed and support the late Senators family, the good people of Katsina State, and the nation with the fortitude to bear the irreversible loss.

Earlier, Senate President Bukola Saraki had expressed shock over the death of Senator Bukar.Some staff of the company raised the alarm on Twitter, saying they heard gunshots and saw people running to safety.

A YouTube employee, Vadim Lavrusik, wrote; "Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers."

A few minutes later he tweeted that hes safe and has been evacuated from the building.

Another staff, Todd Sherman, said he saw splashes of blood.

"I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front," he said.

Google, owners of YouTube, also said it is investigating a possible "gunfire incident".

According to BBC, unconfirmed reports from local media said the shooter is a woman.

Victims have reportedly been taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.They had overrun the suburb in 2012, setting up independent power structures that served around 400,000 residents and granted them a thriving popular base.

The three main factions -- Jaish al-Islam, Faylaq al-Rahman, and Ahrar al-Sham -- continually pledged to march on Damascus and rained rockets down on its residential neighbourhoods.

Weakened by a slow and painful half-decade siege, rebels could hardly hold out under weeks of bombing that culminated in negotiated withdrawals, a strategy polished by Syria's regime elsewhere.

"What happened is an absolutely huge loss strategically, militarily, and politically for the rebels. However you look at it, it's a total loss," says Nawar Oliver, an analyst at the Omran Institute.

"Just having a presence at the gates of the capital, near foreign embassies, was enough for rebels to impose themselves as essential players."

Even during Ghouta's dying days, its rebels maintained their deadly ability to lob mortar bombs and rockets on the capital, killing dozens.

It had granted them leverage for years, Oliver said.

"The regime had to talk to them, had to release prisoners, because they held the gates of the capital," he said.

"Now, they're nothing."

'Nowhere' is safe

After the crumbling last year of the Islamist State (IS) jihadist group's "caliphate" in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, Assad's troops have shifted their focus elsewhere.

Helped by air strikes from steadfast ally Russia, Syrian troops are now in control of 55 percent of the war-ravaged country.

Swathes of the north and northeast are held by Kurdish militia and IS still holds small pockets in the country's centre and east.

The conventional armed opposition still holds most of the southern province of Daraa, a few towns in central Syria, and part of Aleppo province in the north.

They are also present in northwest Idlib, but their influence has been shrinking as Islamist and jihadist groups tighten their grip on the province.

Just like Ghouta, those areas have been designated as "de-escalation zones" meant to pave the way for a nationwide ceasefire.

But after Ghouta, nowhere is safe, Nawar told AFP.

"This is the essential thing the opposition knows now: nowhere is an exception," he said.

The evacuation deals that appear to have sealed Ghouta's fate were preceded by years of similar withdrawals, most infamously in December 2016 from second city Aleppo.

After a bombing blitz, tens of thousands of rebels and civilians were bussed out of their stronghold in the city's east in what was, at the time, their most devastating defeat.

"The fall of Aleppo was the beginning of the end, but Ghouta is more symbolic," said Thomas Pierret, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh.

At the time, mainstream rebels held more territory in Idlib, Homs, and around Damascus -- and they still had Ghouta.

"At a rather symbolic level, there was this idea that we still have something. (Ghouta) was a meaningful challenge to the regime," said Pierret.

'Biggest loss'

Now, rebels across the country face three options, Pierret told AFP.

They could reconcile with the regime and join loyalist forces, or could throw their lot in with the opposition's main remaining backer -- Turkey.

"The only alternative is the jihadi option. The jihadists would be the only group left fighting the regime and not directly under the control of another state," said Pierret.

Syria's conflict has drawn in a host of international players -- including rebel backer Turkey, regime allies Russia and Iran, and the US-led coalition fighting IS.

The "Syrian National Army" -- the Turkey-backed force tied to the political opposition -- said Ghouta's rebels were welcome to join its ranks.

"Developments in Ghouta and elsewhere make us more insistent on maintaining and organising the SNA," said its spokesman Mohammad Abadeen.

Most of the fighters evacuated from Ghouta belonged to Faylaq al-Rahman, who would likely join ranks with Ankara-backed forces in Idlib and Aleppo.

Ahmad Abazeid, an independent Syrian analyst, said rebels in Ghouta's armed insurgency had been a rare case of more independent decision-making.

"Ghouta's loss shrinks the opposition's manoeuvering space with these other powers, because they now need a foreign ally and civilians need an international umbrella to protect them from a similar campaign," he said.Lawmakers unanimously passed a bill late Tuesday allowing those convicted of consensual homosexual sex to have their records expunged.

"I would like to apologise again to all the men and members of the rainbow community who have been affected by the prejudice, stigma and other negative effects caused by convictions for historical homosexual offences," Justice Minister Andrew Little said.

"This bill sends a clear signal that discrimination against gay people is no longer acceptable, and that we are committed to putting right wrongs from the past."

The justice department said the convictions related to three offences that were dropped in 1986 -- sodomy, indecency between males and keeping a place of resort for homosexual acts.

It estimates about 1,000 people will be eligible to apply to have their records cleared when the scheme takes effect next year.

To qualify, the sex that led to the conviction must have been consensual and taken place between those aged 16 years or older.

The repealed laws were first introduced in 1908. Under the new scheme family members can also apply to have the records of a deceased relative cleared.

The scheme refers to men because the old laws specifically banned sex between males. Lesbianism was not illegal, although gay women also suffered social discrimination.

New Zealand passed laws banning discrimination against gays in 1993, and in 2013 became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalise same-sex marriage.

Britain last year enacted "Turing's Law", giving a blanket posthumous pardon to almost 50,000 men convicted under old laws in England and Wales.

Named after the World War II code-breaker and mathematician Alan Turing, it also allows living people to have their convictions erased, although they must apply individually.

Turing received a posthumous pardon from Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 over a conviction in 1952 for gross indecency with a 19-year-old man, triggering calls for a blanket pardon for other men.

Turing did not go to prison but was chemically castrated, and died of cyanide poisoning in an apparent suicide two years later.

A number of Australian states, including New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, have also quashed historical convictions for homosexuality."What we expect is that common sense will in the end prevail and there will not be this damage in international relations that we have seen recently," Putin said after summit talks in Ankara.

But at the start of a meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), London slammed as "perverse" a Russian proposal for a joint probe into the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

"We will not agree to Russia's demand to conduct a joint investigation into the attack in Salisbury because the UK - supported by many other countries - has assessed that it is highly likely that the Russian state is responsible for this attack, and that there is no plausible alternative explanation," British chemical arms expert John Foggo told the OPCW executive council in The Hague.

OPCW experts have already taken samples at the site of the March 4 attack in Salisbury, and they are being analysed in its labs in The Hague, as well as in four other certified laboratories.

Results next week

Britain has said the Skripals and a British police officer were exposed to a Soviet-designed nerve agent called Novichok.

OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu told the meeting he expected the results by his team "by early next week."

"The OPCW team worked independently and is not involved in the national investigation by the UK authorities," he insisted.

The crisis has sent the long-difficult relations between Russia and the West plummeting to new lows. Both sides have already expelled scores of diplomats.

Britain has also suspended high-level diplomatic contact with Moscow.

Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin warned Wednesday in a speech in Moscow that both sides must avoid tensions escalating to the dangerous levels of the Cold War.

And he said that accusations of Moscow engineering the attack were a "grotesque provocation ... crudely concocted by the British and American security services".

At a closed-door OPCW meeting convened at Moscow's request, Russia insisted it was ready to cooperate.

"We hope that at the end of this meeting, we will reach a decision which will lead us out of this impasse," said Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Riabkov, speaking in Moscow.

"Otherwise we will find ourselves in a situation where we have even more reason to highlight our serious grievances with Britain and its supporters."

New Cold War?

But the British delegation to the OPCW said in a Tweet that "Russia's proposal for a joint, UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury incident is perverse. It is a diversionary tactic."

Foggo added that Russia was dodging all of London's questions, and had made a series of "shameless, preposterous" statements.

"Russia's refusal to accept the results of the OPCW's investigation unless Russian experts participate in it suggests that Russia is opposed .... nervous about what the results will show," he said.

But in a move hailed as a vindication by Moscow, the British defence laboratory at Porton Down analysing the nerve agent revealed Tuesday that it could not say whether the substance came from Russia.

A diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, told AFP that Russia had tabled a motion at the the OPCW asking to "involve Russia in some way or another in the investigation".

Under the rules of the Chemical Weapons Convention, it is up to Britain to lead the inquiry, with technical assistance from the OPCW which is acting in a "totally independent manner," the source said.

Russia has accused the West of wanting to put up a new Iron Curtain and warned of a return to the mutual isolation of the Cold War.

For Washington, "fighting the non-existent so-called Russian threat has become a real fixation," foreign intelligence chief Naryshkin said.Police said the woman was found dead in the building with a "self-inflicted wound."

San Bruno police had warned people on Twitter to stay away from the area housing the headquarters of the Google-owned video sharing service near San Francisco.

According to the White House, President Donald Trump is aware of the situation, adding that the administration was monitoring the incident.

Some YouTube employees recounted the ordeal on Twitter.

"We were sitting in a meeting and then we heard people running because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake," Todd Sherman tweeted.

"I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peeked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front."

The shooter has not been identified and motive is unknown as at the time of filing this report.

UPDATE:"We've made a lot of progress," Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo told a Mexican radio station on Monday.

"It appears there's a willingness to show flexibility on complex issues."

His remarks followed Trump's Twitter outburst in which he again threatened to exit NAFTA, denouncing Mexican authorities for failing to prevent flows of narcotics and clandestine migration into the United States.

"They must stop the big drug and people flows or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA," Trump tweeted.

Trump claims NAFTA has destroyed American jobs and promoted offshoring to low-wage destinations.

Guajardo said this month's Summit of the Americas in Peru would offer the chance for heads of state to broach the topic outside of the technical work that remained before an agreement can be reached.

A basic outline for solving complex disagreements could be reached in the next 12 days, he added, although the three sides are still some distance apart.

The political calendars in Mexico and the United States do not favor reaching a quick resolution.

July's presidential elections in Mexico and November's mid-term congressional elections in the United States mean negotiators may have even less room to maneuver.

In Washington, the White House must also contend with market jitters, as Trump's new import tariffs on metals and Chinese-made goods have sent stocks tumbling in recent weeks.

"The recent stock market decline may also be raising pressure on the Trump administration to cut a deal, to demonstrate to the markets that uncertainty over trade is not going to last for many months," Edward Alden, an expert on trade at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in an interview.

Quick deal faces long odds

Several obstacles remain, however, in the talks Trump launched nearly eight months ago to overhaul the 24-year-old NAFTA -- particularly Washington's proposals on rules of origin for the auto manufacturing, an overall "sunset clause" for the agreement and a dispute resolution mechanism.

Under the current agreement, 62.5 percent of the content of a vehicle must be produced within the NAFTA countries to move duty-free across borders.

Washington wants to bump this requirement up to 85 percent, with 50 percent of US origin -- a proposal that Ottawa and Mexico City have rejected.

American officials have not confirmed a Canadian media report that US negotiators have dropped this demand.

Trump's chief trade negotiator, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, is due to meet Guajardo on Wednesday. Lighthizer told CNBC last week he was hopeful of reaching an agreement.

"We continue to favor talks to reach a good outcome for the three countries," the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told AFP.

However, the odds do not favor a deal any time soon.

"Given the importance and complexity of the issues on the table, and the limited progress made to date, a quick NAFTA deal will be very hard to conclude," CFR's Alden said.

Still, he said the deal reached last week updating a free trade agreement with South Korea showed Trump can be willing "to settle for fairly small changes and call it victory."The three powers have been working together to speed up the process of finding a political solution in Syria as part of the Astana peace process which began last year.

The Ankara summit at Erdogan's presidential palace was the second such tripartite summit following one in November 2017 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi hosted by Putin.

Erdogan insisted their meetings and the Astana talks were not an "alternative" to the UN-backed Geneva process to find peace in Syria.

But the three leaders said "the Astana format had been the only effective international initiative that had helped reduce violence across Syria and had contributed to peace and stability in" the country.

They added that it had given "impetus to the Geneva process in order to find a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict" in the statement.

"What is foremost for us is getting results. We must get results. We have no tolerance for delays. People are dying here," Erdogan told reporters after the summit.

The three countries have been working together despite being on opposing sides of the civil war.

Russia and Iran have provided military and political support to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey has repeatedly called for his removal and helped Syrian opposition fighters.

Turkey last month drove out Kurdish militia from Afrin city after launching a cross-border offensive in the Syrian region in January, thanks to a reported green light from Moscow which controls airspace in northern Syria.

The next three way summit will take place in Tehran, Erdogan said, but he did not indicate when that would be.

Some 350,000 people have been killed since the start of the conflict following anti-government protests in March 2011. Millions more have been forced to flee their homes.But in remarks on Tuesday that caught some of his top advisers by surprise, he suggested the more drastic approach of sending in the military to do what immigration authorities could not.

Speaking to reporters during a news conference with the presidents of three Baltic nations, Trump described existing immigration laws as lax and ineffective, and called for militarizing the border with Mexico to prevent an influx of Central American migrants he said were ready to stream across it.

We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States, Trump said. We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the United States.

While the president couched his idea as an urgent response to an onslaught at the nations southern border, the numbers do not point to a crisis. Last year, the number of unauthorized immigrants caught at the border was the lowest since 1971, said the U.S. Border Patrol. Still, Trump seized on what has become an annual seasonal uptick in Central American migrants making their way north to make his case.

After the presidents remarks, White House aides struggled for hours to decipher his intentions.

Late in the day, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said Trump had met with Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense, and members of his national security team to discuss his administrations strategy for dealing with the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America, a problem on which she said the president had initially been briefed last week.

That strategy, she said, included mobilizing the National Guard  although Sanders did not say how many troops would be sent or when  and pressing Congress to close what she called loopholes in immigration laws. Also present at the meeting were Jeff Sessions, the attorney general; Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security; Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff.

Trump first began raising new dangers posed by immigration in a series of confusing Twitter posts and public statements that started Sunday and continued Monday, prompting White House officials to organize a conference call Monday afternoon to outline a detailed legislative push they said the president was starting for the new immigration restrictions. Deploying the National Guard was not mentioned during the call.

Both days announcements appeared to be more about political messaging than practical action. Stung by a backlash from his conservative supporters over his embrace of a trillion-dollar-plus spending measure that did not fund his promised border wall, and lacking a legislative initiative to champion with the approach of midterm congressional elections this fall, Trump has reverted to the aggressive anti-immigration messaging that powered his presidential campaign and has defined his first year in office.

Immigration advocates denounced Trumps announcement as a political ploy.

He cannot get funding for his wall, so instead he irresponsibly misuses our military to save face, said Kevin Appleby, the senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies of New York.

Others said Trumps sudden declaration was merely an instance of a now-familiar pattern wherein the president reacts angrily to something he sees in the news  in this case, reports of a large group of migrants from Honduras traveling through Mexico with hopes of reaching the United States  and seeks to use it as a cudgel against his political opponents.

Some of it is just the guy at the end of the bar yelling his opinions  his gut reaction is to say weve got to send the military, said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates slashing immigration levels. But there may also be an element here of political messaging and a desire to create problems in November for Democratic candidates who have refused to embrace his policies.

Whatever Trumps motivation, the president floated the idea after days of public stewing about the potential for the group of Honduran migrants to pour into the United States.

We have very bad laws for our border, and we are going to be doing some things  Ive been speaking with General Mattis  were going to be doing things militarily, Trump said Tuesday morning, seated beside the defense secretary at his meeting with Baltic presidents. Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military. Thats a big step. We really havent done that before, or certainly not very much before.

The caravan has been a popular topic on Fox News  the presidents favorite news network  and Trumps aides have argued that weak immigration policies are luring the migrants from Central America to the United States.

The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our Weak Laws Border, had better be stopped before it gets there, he posted Tuesday on Twitter. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!

Later, Trump claimed credit for having pressured Mexican officials during a conversation Monday to block the group from approaching the United States, in part by threatening to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement if they refused.

Ive just heard that the caravan coming up from Honduras is broken up, and Mexico did that, he said during his meeting with the Baltic leaders. And they did it because, frankly, I said, You really have to do it.'

A White House official said later that Trump had not, in fact, spoken with President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico on Monday.

While the active-duty military is generally barred by law from carrying out domestic law enforcement functions, such as apprehending people at the border, previous presidents have deployed National Guard troops to act in support roles on the border with Mexico. President Barack Obama sent 1,200 in 2010, and President George W. Bush dispatched 6,000 in 2006, while governors of border states have done the same when faced with large inflows from the south.

Trump has spoken before about launching a military operation to police the border, only to have his aides walk back the remarks amid a backlash from members of his administration and officials in Mexico.

Last February, he called his immigration crackdown a military operation, prompting Rex W. Tillerson, then the secretary of state, and Kelly, then the homeland security secretary, who were visiting Mexico at the time, to push back vigorously. They told their Mexican counterparts and reporters that the U.S. president did not, in fact, plan to use the military to hunt down and deport unauthorized immigrants. The White House later insisted that Trump had meant the word military only as an adjective.

On Tuesday, though, the president appeared convinced that troops were needed. I think its something we have to do, he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Andrew added that the mother of his son successfully sought a transfer to Bungoma without informing him where she resided for some time.

Ignore calls

"By then, our life was getting so bad that even if I called her she would not pick. One day, she opened up and told me she had another man in her life and I should never call her again. I decided to find out who this man was," he continued. To his surprise, his in-laws knew everything but opted to keep him in the dark.

"Surprising to me was that her family knew that she was even pregnant and they kept me in the dark even when I confronted her older sister who happens to be married there in Bungoma," he narrated.

The woman who is a Senior Administration Police based in Bungoma got two babies with her new man, a Bungoma based doctor who had rented her a house in the neighborhood.

Ditched

The ditched lover said all this happened without the knowledge of the doctor's wife. However, the doctor's wife is now fully aware of the situation because he (Nyamanga) told her about her husband's untoward behavior.This will bring to an end, his tenure at Nairobis Judicial Review Division in Milimani Law Courts, where he has been handling high-profile cases including Miguna Migunas deportation.

Justice Odunga, among other cases, has handled a politically sensitive petition last year challenging the legality of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commissions (IEBC) county elections managers and determined just one day to the August 8 polls that they were illegally in office.

Equally, Odunga summoned key government officials to Milimani Law Courts including CS Fred Matiangi, who after he failed, fined him Sh200,000 which would be deducted directly from his salary this month.

ALSO READ: Sabina Chege dares Wazir Chacha to release videos with female MPs

The direction from the Judge came after the CS failed to appear in court over failure to release Dr Miguna following his numerous court orders.

17 Others

Odunga also fined Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnett and Immigration boss to appear in court were ignored.

He was on Tuesday criticised by CS Matingi when he appeared before parliamentary committee, accusing him of colluding with some activists to frustrate the functioning of the government.

Justice Odunga is among the high-profile judges who were transferred by Chief Justice David Maraga after last years highly contested General Election.

Seventeen other judges were moved in the reshuffle. The list of judges affected by the transfers includes Justice Richard Mwongo, the Principal Judge at the High Court, who has been moved to Naivasha, Justice Christine Meoli (Naivasha to Kiambu) and Justice Joel Ngugi (Kiambu to Nakuru as the presiding judge).

Also on the move are Maureen Odero from Nakuru to Nairobi (Civil Division), Justice Lydia Achode (Family Division in Nairobi to Eldoret) and Justice George Kimondo (Eldoret to Kisii).ALSO READ: Raila to hold private meeting with Waiguru

Mike Sonko stated, "I wish to take this opportunity to warn Kenyans to watch out & never to send any money to these conmen. In any case you are approached, please report to police or to my office for action. My official FB page, Mike Sonko. is verified & has over 1,300,000 followers."

The group, Sonko Rescue Team Kenya, was impersonating the former senator's work force Sonko Rescue Team on Facebook.

Sonko went ahead to ask Safaricom to disable the phone number the group was using to defraud Kenyans.

"Safaricom should take action and disable this number (0715721394) to save Kenyans from being conned by these fraudsters," he added.The two leaders said they will inform their supporters on the proposed Luhya unity and planned merger between the Amani National Congress (ANC) and Ford Kenya.

According to ANC Secretary General Barrack Muluka, the rallies are set to begin on Saturday with plans already ongoing.

Mudavadi is also set to attend a church function in Eldoret on Sunday.

The two leaders visited Nandi County two weeks ago in the presence of Nandi Governor Stephen Sang and Senator Samson Cherargei where the initial plan for merging their two parties was first announced.

Mudavadi and Wetangula said they are already in talks with other political leaders and the merger will be announced at the right time.

The ANC and Ford Kenya party leaders said they are already in talks with other political leaders for possible mergers ahead of 2022.

The two along with Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka have accused NASA leader Raila Odinga of betraying them after the ODM leader's "swearing-in" on January 30 at Uhuru Park.Enjoy The Fall Season

Autumn officially starts Wednesday, September 22. We always feel a little tinge of regret saying goodbye to glorious summer, but a lot of that is...

Letters to the Editor

Help After Ida Devastation Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent the following letter to the Queens Gazette: This past week has been a very difficult one for...Welcome to Railway Gazette. This site uses cookies. Read our policy.

OKFormer Russian lawyer gets 7 years in prison for fraud

 RIA Novosti, Igor Zarembo

12:42 04/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 4 (RAPSI)  Ex-lawyer and former TV host Vladimir Reznik (Oreshnikov) has been sentenced to 7 years in high-security prison for fraud, the press service of the Nagatinsky District Court of Moscow has told RAPSI.

According to the courts representative, the court took into account repetition of crime while delivering the sentence. The defendant, who changed the name of Oreshnikov to Reznik, has been earlier sentenced to 2 years in prison for fraud as well. During investigation into the first case it was revealed that the status of lawyer he received with a forged diploma.

Investigators claim that the TV host offered his assistance as a lawyer to a businessman involved in a criminal case. He promised to change a restrictive measure and get release on parole for him. Reznik received 4.6 million rubles (80,000) from the man and disappeared.

In 2012, Reznik was convicted of a similar crime. He asked 20 million rubles (about $350,000) from a businessman and was arrested when received 500,000 rubles (about $9,000).Bankruptcy claim against Summa Groups company reaches Moscow court

 Fotolia/ Irochka

16:50 04/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 4 (RAPSI)  Soyuzdorproject engineering company has filed a claim with the Moscow Commercial Court seeking bankruptcy of Global Electro Service, an entity that is part of businessman Ziyavudin Magomedovs Summa Group, the court documents read.

In December, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals approved a settlement between two companies. According to the agreement, the Global Electro Service acknowledged its 36.2-million-ruble ($626,000) debt.

On March 31, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow detained Magomedov suspected of organizing a criminal group and large-scale fraud until May 30. During the court hearing, an investigator noted that there are four more defendants in the case with two of them hiding in the United Arab Emirates.

Magomedov himself vehemently denied wrongdoing and said that all of his actions served development of his business. The defendants lawyer Maria Belyavskaya said that there is no indication that Magomedov committed a crime as an individual and as a businessman he may be only suspected of economic crimes.

Investigators believe that Magomedov organized a gang and embezzled 2.5 billion rubles ($43.5 million) from the state budget moving some of these assets outside the country. Other defendants in the case are his brother Megomed Magomedov and ex-CEO of construction company Intex Arthur Maksidov.Russian prison accuses Pussy Riot member of slander

 RIA Novosti, Yevgeny Odinokov

18:08 04/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 4 (RAPSI)  The Nizhny Novgorod prison 2 has filed a defamation lawsuit against Maria Alyokhina, a member of the infamous feminist punk group Pussy Riot, and Sobesednik newspaper, the spokesperson of Moscows Izmailovsky District Court Daria Kryzhanovskaya has told RAPSI.

The prison authorities accuse Alyokhina and the newspaper of defamation published in one of the articles in 2017. The article reportedly tells of inmates labor conditions in the Nizhny Novgorod female penal colony where the Pussy Riot member served her sentence. The plaintiff demands to recognize statements containing in the article contradicting the reality and discrediting the penitentiary facility.

The hearing has been set for May 15, according to Kryzhanovskaya.

Feminist punk group Pussy Riot became known in February 2012, when Alyokhina along with four other young women wearing brightly colored balaclavas staged a punk rock prayer in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. An edited video of their performance was posted on the Internet and caused a public outcry.

In August 2012, the Khamovnichesky District Court in Moscow sentenced Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova to two years for hooliganism. In October 2012, the Moscow City Court changed Samutsevich's verdict to a suspended sentence and released her immediately based on her new attorneys' argument that she had been seized by security guards prior to reaching the altar. In December 2013, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were pardoned under the amnesty dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution.Prosecutors reveal 46,000 violations of school security requirements

 RIA Novosti, Anton Unitsin

13:59 04/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 4 (RAPSI)  The Prosecutor Generals Office has revealed over 46,000 violations of laws on safety of children in schools, the official website of Russia's children's rights commissioner Anna Kuznetsova reads.

According to the press-release published on the website, among all regions Crimea and Sevastopol experience the worst problems when it comes to the availability of safety equipment and employment of qualified personnel responsible for safety in schools. For example, only 1% of schools in Sevastopol employ licensed security.

On Tuesday, Kuznetsova presented a project on organization of events dedicated to prevention of accidents in schools. The events goal is improvement of childrens safety in educational and information spheres.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.

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Hello and Welcome, Selling our lot in Whitepine because it is beautiful and needs to be put to some good use. White Pine is a quiet, friendly vacation town nestled in a tight valley. Popular summer retreat for people from out of state, as well as a lodging base for hunters during the Fall seasons. The first picture with the deer was taken on County Road 888 south of Whitepine, not at the lot, but it gives you an idea of the area. Lots of public lands in the area for hunting- you can use this as ...

Price: $ 21,150 Seller State of Residence: Colorado Property Address: Route 888 State/Province: Colorado City: Colorado City Type: Homesite, Lot Zoning: Residential Zip/Postal Code: 81248 Location: 810**, Colorado City, Colorado

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We're sorry, this article is not currently availableBy Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/03/2018



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro is going to have to take a break from his partying lifestyle because he's reportedly a dad!Ronnie's girlfriend, Jen Harley, gave birth to a baby girl on Tuesday, according to E! News."He's over the moon," a source told the website of the new father.Fans speculated Jen might be in labor when Ronnie missed the London premiere of : Family Vacation, which premieres April 5 at 8PM ET/PT on MTV.Jen also documented her visit to the hospital Monday on Instagram Stories, explaining, "Ron lands at seven so we have five hours [until then]. I'm feeling very very uncomfortable." Jen was accompanied by her best friends at the time, and everything reportedly turned out to be fine.Ronnie and Jen announced they were expecting their first child together in December 2017, and one month later, they celebrated news of a baby girl being on the way at a gender-reveal party.When Ronnie shared photos of the event, he captioned them with the following hilarious hashtags: "#WaitWhat #Huh #DUHHH #AMillionThingsWentThroughMyHead #FirstThoughtWasOkNowIDefNeedAGun #JesusHowMuchIsTheWeddingToCostMe #DoIHomeSchoolOrNotHomeSchool #AllGirlCatholicHighSchool #NoCellPhoneUntilShesMarried #ThisIsWhyIWaited32Yrs."He added, "#WhenSheGoesOnADate #ImAnsweringTheDoorLikeWillSmithInBadBoys #AllGuysWillHaveToSubmitBackGroundCheck #UrineSample #MothersMaidenName #Address&SocialSecurityNumberToAllLivingRelatives #NoticeTheTelevisionScreenInTheBack #CouldaWouldaShouldaUsedARubber #CouldaWouldaShouldaBeenBlueFeathers."Jen -- who is already mom to an 11-year-old son from a previous relationship -- later enjoyed a floral-themed baby shower in Las Vegas in March."We are so thankful to have such good friends and family to come support us and fly in from all over the country!" Jen shared on Instagram at the time, standing behind a table filled with pink cupcakes and sweets."Special thanks to... my BFF for planning this for 4 months... That was so much fun. we have the most amazing pics!"Ronnie began dating Jen last year after he split from Khloe Kardashian 's best friend Malika Haqq whom he met on Season 2 of Famously Single. Ronnie and Malika called it quits on their romance in February 2017.By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/04/2018



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

featured the season's three couples traveling to different romantic destinations in attempt to reignite a spark during the latest episode of the Lifetime series' sixth season on Tuesday night.The six strangers who agreed to marry at first sight were Jaclyn Schwartzberg , a 29-year-old teacher turned sales representative; Ryan Buckley , a 29-year-old firefighter; Molly Duff , a 25-year-old commercial insurance adjuster; Jonathan Francetic , a 28-year-old U.S. Army veteran and former financial associate; Shawniece Jackson , a 29-year-old entrepreneur and cosmetologist; and Jephte Pierre , a 26-year-old second grade teacher.Jaclyn married Ryan, Molly walked down the aisle to Jonathan, and Shawniece became a wife to Jephte after being matched by experts Dr. Jessica Griffin, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, and Pastor Calvin Roberson.The episode kicked off with less than two weeks remaining of the process.On Day 44 of this extreme experiment, Dr. Pepper advised the couples to focus on the highlights and happy aspects of their marriages rather than dwell on conflict or issues currently at hand, so she asked them to take a road trip and spend some romantic, quiet time with each other since Decision Day was around the corner.While sitting down with Dr. Pepper, Jaclyn admitted she had learned not to over-think things, while Ryan acknowledged he needed to do better in his marriage and could do two things to follow through with that -- listen to Jaclyn more and spend more time with her.Before taking off on their separate weekend getaways, the three couples met and enjoyed dinner, catching up and sharing the similarities and differences in their marriages.At one point, Jephte asked everyone to describe the hardest part of marriage for them, and Jaclyn said every little problem became exaggerated in that if she mentioned a love for travel, Ryan assumed she'd take off at any point in their relationship and leave a child behind.Molly revealed she learned to be "brutally honest" with her husband because communication is key, and then Jonathan confessed the most difficult part of being married to Molly was "a whole bunch of stuff" he "didn't want to talk about.""Molly and I have not had sex. Molly said she wanted... the pressure off, and so I've taken the pressure off as best I can and internalize it. It doesn't mean the pressure is not there for me and it doesn't mean it doesn't suck for me, but it was a big risk getting married at first sight and I just want to make sure I don't screw it up," Jonathan explained."It's not about having sex. The issue is I don't think anyone realizes how cold Molly can be. She's not affectionate on-camera, but she's even colder once the cameras are gone. Getting zero affection from your spouse is really tough."Jonathan then announced to the group that getting "rejected constantly" was the hardest part of marriage for him."Yeah, this blows for me, but I'm stuck in it. I'm going to keep trying; I've got to keep trying," Jonathan blurted out."You're not stuck in it -- just so you know," Molly sniped, although she "knew better" than to let this disagreement ruin their trip to Florida.Once Jonathan went to the bathroom at the restaurant, Molly explained to her fellow MAFS stars that she was a "99 percent" match with Jonathan, as they had "literally everything in common."However, the physical chemistry was the only thing missing for Molly still, and couldn't explain why."I'm not an idiot. I know he's attractive. I know he's an attractive guy. He's got so much going for him, he's jacked. So for me, it's one of those things where we have all of these other things going for us," Molly said, adding that occasional "blowups" with Jonathan over their lack of intimacy ruin any attraction that develops.After the gathering, Ryan and Jaclyn decided to drive to New York, NY; Shawniece and Jephte opted to travel to Danville, VT -- where Jephte intended to act a little more romantic for his wife -- and Molly and Jonathan agreed to fly to Orlando, FL, since it's where Jonathan grew up.The couples took off on Day 45, and Jaclyn felt she had only "touched the surface" with her husband, so she was looking forward to getting to know him even better and growing closer."I know Ryan and I were matched for a great reason, and if I don't give [our relationship] that time, I know I'll regret it, and I know I want to," Jaclyn told the cameras."I know sometimes it's hard for me to say, 'Hey, I made a mistake,' or, 'Hey, I messed up,' but Jackie needs that supportive husband, and I want to be that person she can rely on," Ryan noted.As for Jonathan and Molly, she was feeling closer to her husband with each passing adventure and personal conversation.In New York on Day 46, Ryan and Jaclyn took a horse-drawn carriage through the city streets and Central Park. It was a romantic moment for both individuals, who knew there was potential for love between them. But Jaclyn needed more consistency in their relationship to feel that strong of a connection.After a romantic day for Jephte and Shawniece, Jephte surprised his wife with the wedding video from their photographer while they were relaxing in bed at their hotel. Shawniece broke down into tears re-living the day she married a stranger, and she called her wedding "the best day of my life.""Marrying a stranger... was the best choice I ever made," Shawniece told her husband in tears, before telling the cameras they've come "such a long way" as a couple.The following day, Jephte and Shawniece attempted a corn maze that left them both frustrated. Shawniece felt Jephte didn't listen to her or communicate well, and so getting lost in that maze just resulted in Shawniece being pissed off."He's used to doing everything by himself, so if he wants to do sh-t by himself, then why be married? Go do the sh-t by yourself. I give up," Shawniece vented to the cameras.On Day 47, Molly and Jonathan decided to go ride roller-coasters and have some fun at Universal Studios in Orlando, which is a memorable activity Molly used to enjoy with her beloved father, who passed away from pancreatic cancer.Molly had a blast at the park, and Jonathan said he had been waiting to see this happy-go-lucky side of Molly for quite some time. The day made Molly feel "hopeful" about her marriage, because she and Jonathan got along beautifully most of the time.During lunch at the amusement park, Molly opened up about her father's death, and Jonathan, in turn, shared a summary of his difficult past in which a "catastrophic event" tore his family apart. Jonathan admitted he had seen "the worst of a marriage," with his father suing his mother.Molly found it attractive that Jonathan could still be so optimistic about marriage after a rough childhood. He was motivated to succeed, and she really liked that about him.Molly then gave Jonathan a little kiss at the table, which seemed to completely shock him. Jonathan had a huge smile on his face and leaned in for another peck, and he got it!A preview for the next episode, however, shows Molly and Jonathan getting into a blowout fight that could possibly result in the end of their marriage.Porterville, CA (93257)

Today

Mostly clear. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable.She's shot over 100 weddings in four years across India.

She's travelled to exotic locations and made countless friends and memories.

Plus she's making money pursuing what she truly loves.

Manvi Gandotra is an entrepreneur who's living the life most of us only dream of.

Manvi Gandotra, founder, 1plus1 studio (centre), has travelled to different cities and countries to capture weddings.



All photographs: Kind courtesy Manvi Gandotra/1plus1 Studio

It was a sheer love for photography and creating memories that led Manvi Gandotra to volunteer to shoot at weddings of friends and family.

Little did she know that hidden in the interest and passion were a business proposition and the opportunity to go places, literally.

"I was very confident about my photography, but shooting for weddings was not something I had initially planned for," recalls Manvi Gandotra, as she inches closer to wrap her hundredth wedding.

Her first camera was a Kodak 35 MM that she took on her first trip to Agra. She remembers shooting the Taj Mahal, mesmerised by the play of light and shadows on the minarets and how challenging it was to capture the perfect shots.

Manvi Gandotra is the founder of 1plus1 studio, a wedding photography and videography services company based in Bengaluru.

An electrical engineer from NIT Nagpur, Manvi worked with two multinational companies as a technical consultant before moving onto a marketing role.

"I am a people's person, and though I have an engineering degree, I worked as a marketing manager in my last position," she says.

It was in late 2014, that she realised she was truly bitten by the photography bug and decided to turn her passion into a profession. She quit her full-time job to start 1plus1 studio.

"I had 6 to 7 years of experience and knew that I could always go back to a conventional career, if it didn't work out. Fortunately, there has been no looking back on the decision," she says.

Her marketing job had taken her to different places, and a variety of subjects intrigued her on these travels.

She put her photographic skills to good use and took some great shots on the streets, soon developing an interest in street photography.

Hi five! The bride shares a special moment with her pug.

Manvi is always fascinated by the stories more than the subjects.

What she likes most about shooting on the streets is how unpredictable it is.

"It is action-packed, and one needs to work using available light, objects, buildings, people, animals or anything else from the environment, as one can only frame and compose images for that split second.

"Once that second has passed, the image is gone forever.

"It cant be recreated. No matter what, nothing is ever the same," she explains.

From the street to weddings

About taking the plunge into the wedding photography scene, Manvi says, "Being a part of someones special day and delivering a tangible story to them was something that drew me towards wedding photography."

The immense joy she gets out of her work is something she always looks forward to.

Manvi has worked on different kinds of weddings. From the beaches of Kanyakumari to the vineyards of San Francisco, her work has been diverse and interesting.

The prankster groom photobombed the bride's group picture.

"Recently I shot an amazing wedding of an Indian bride and a Dutch groom in the backwaters of Kerala, it was actually a no-wedding wedding."

She explains, "There was no ceremony and the couple designed the whole wedding keeping their interests in life in mind. They had boat races between the two families in a Kerala lagoon.

"The dad took the bride on a boat to the groom, who arrived on the shore on a bicycle! They took their vows in the middle of the lake without a priest.

"Guests from over 40 countries and six continents attended the wedding.

"As the couple really cared about the environment, there was no plastic. They took every effort to have a different wedding, including having a world quiz and bringing in cuisine from across the globe."

How it works

1Plus1 studio receives 80 per cent of its clients through referrals and over a period of time has scaled to become a full-fledged business.

It has four full-time employees who work with Manvi, and help her with shoots and edits. She also has a few freelancers who work with her on projects.

She started 1plus1 Studio with her husband Ravi Kaushik, an MBA graduate who helps her with strategy.

"Though Ravi is a photographer himself, he is a 'silent partner' and my go-to person when it comes to management and business," she says.

1plus1 studio documents candid photos and films which are customised on an individual basis. The shorter version of a film is 5 to 6 minutes and the longer one is of 25 to 30 minutes.

She says, "Earlier, wedding photography used to be all about documenting every ceremony and not much about story-telling. A wedding is an opportunity to showcase various emotions and create artistic memories that can be relived for years to come."

Keeping it simple

The bride and groom's crazy friends decided to photobomb what would have been a romantic couple photo.

As much as photography is all about composition, edit too plays a major role.

In the age of various filters and pre-sets, Manvi believes in keeping her work as natural as possible.

As a wedding is all about the couple and their families, she wants every moment to be special rather than following what is on trend in the present.

The prices start from a lakh and above, and differs with each wedding. Though Manvi is based in Bengaluru, she feels fortunate to have travelled to various places as a part of wedding assignments. She has shot weddings in places like Jim Corbett National Park, Kanya Kumari, USA, Sri Lanka, and many more.

Manvi has had no formal training in photography but is on a constant learning path, and keeps abreast with the latest technology and developments in the field. She also draws inspiration from various photography styles practised abroad.

She says, "One cannot really compare Indian weddings with those abroad, but you compare the artistic form and learn different ways to improve your own style."

On having captured over 100 weddings, Manvi says, "I may have photographed 100 weddings but what stands out is that all of them have been unique and different."

The big future

Bride Mahima Sukhdev's father brought her on a boat decorated with flowers.

The Indian wedding industry is over Rs 1,00,000 crore and is growing at 25 to 30 percent.

According to a study, and considering the demographic dividend, and half of India's population under 35, the marriage market is set to expand over the next five to ten years.

Start-ups like Jodi Clickers, Knotinfocus, and Pranesh Photography have also entered the wedding photography space.

"When I started, it was purely for the love of it. Somewhere along the way, people have seen the value it brings to their most special day, as your memories are saved in the form of photos and videos and hence they dont mind spending on it. And now it has become a big business."

Having said that, she adds, "There are so many weddings that happen in India every day and there is enough for people who do great work."

Being a woman in this business, Manvi feels, has its own advantages and disadvantage.

"One connects with the bride easily and so if you are friendly with the couple you can get images of intimate moments like the getting ready shots. Though sometimes, people may not take a woman as seriously as they would take a male photographer/cinematographer. The opinion quickly changes once they see the work," she says.

In the future 1plus1 studio aims to have a bigger team and deliver the best moments for its clients, without any compromise on quality. "My goal is to create something sustainable and scalable and build a larger team which takes of everything, as much I do," she says, signing off.'The Modi government would chaff at the very idea of holding talks with Pakistan, facilitated by Washington and under close US monitoring, when the 2019 poll is sailing into view.'

'But in politics and diplomacy, there may be moments when drinking from the chalice of poison is necessary,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

Alice Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs in the US state department, is visiting India from April 3 to 6.

This is strictly not a 'bilateral event', but Ambassador Wells' discussions with senior Indian government officials are expected to cover 'regional and global issues', according to the US state department announcement.

Presumably, Afghanistan will be top of the agenda of discussion.

Ambassador Wells has emerged as the Trump administration's key interlocutor on the Afghan problem.

A career diplomat, low-key but very effective in the absence of turf rivalries, she has galvanised the search for a political process in Afghanistan in such a short period of time.

Ambassador Wells has succeeded in building up a good rapport with Pakistani officials who are in a position to make or mar her project.

During her extraordinarily open-ended visit (for 'several days') to Pakistan last week, Ambassador Wells was received by army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Ambassador Wells' consultations in Delhi come at a sensitive juncture.

For, no matter what the Pentagon commanders might like, President Donald J Trump wants the war to end before his campaign for a second term begins and Ambassador Wells' task is cut out for her.

Delhi must understand that this is not a routine visit she is undertaking for an exchange of views with think-tankers and officials on the sidelines of the US-India-Japan trilateral taking place on Wednesday.

In fact, the trilateral is the sideshow.

The Taliban is tiptoeing toward the negotiating table and Ambassador Wells' persuasiveness and diplomatic skill has made all the difference.

For the uninitiated, let me introduce to them her masterly briefing (external link) on March 9 at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC.

The traffic on the diplomatic track has become dense lately since the meeting in the White House in Washington between Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and US Vice-President Mike Pence on March 17.

The international conference in Tashkent on March 26-27 served the purpose of generating a modicum of regional consensus. The Russian daily Kommersant reported, quoting 'sources', that although there was no formal invitation was extended to the Taliban to participate in the conference, 'at the last minute, they expressed a desire to come to Tashkent.'

Be that as it may, the Taliban was surely eavesdropping outside the conference hall and would have noticed from the Tashkent Declaration that there is not a single voice in the international community that disapproves of the Afghan government's unconditional offer of peace talks.

Ambassador Wells proceeded to Kabul after the Tashkent conference and then moved on to Islamabad last Thursday.

Interestingly, Pakistan handed over a 'terror dossier' to Kabul last Thursday containing evidence of terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil.

It is a veritable action plan for the Afghan side and their American mentors as to what Pakistan expected them to do by curbing the terrorist activities from bases within Afghanistan.

And, four days later, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, accompanied by Director General Military Operations Major General Shamshad Mirza and other senior officials travelled to Kabul for downstream talks.

These talks are expected to prepare the ground for Prime Minister Abbasi's visit to the Afghan capital on April 6. (Abbasi is proceeding from Kabul to China on a 3-day visit.)

We may expect Abbasi's visit to Kabul on Friday to be a watershed event.

It is entirely conceivable that in a not-too-distant future the Taliban may announce its formal response to the Afghan government offer for peace talks.

The coming days and weeks, therefore, are of critical interest.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government announced on Sunday the dates for the long-delayed parliamentary elections and the first-ever local council elections -- October 20.

Of course, there is a big question mark about the feasibility of holding elections in Afghanistan in the prevailing circumstances with roughly half the country contested by insurgents.

On the other hand, it is the Taliban's participation in these elections that can make a world of difference, giving them the legitimacy they badly need and providing the country's democratic process the traction that it never could really acquire in the past decade or more.

The US' allies are extremely keen that the political legitimacy of the Afghan political system gets enhanced.

The speech made by European Union foreign and security policy chief Federica Mogherini at the Tashkent conference was particularly notable for being a stirring call to the Taliban to rise to the momentous occasion in their country's history.

Suffice to say, any Pakistani-Afghan consensus to put a moratorium on cross-border terrorism will be a major development.

The US is actively promoting it. So is China. Pakistan can be expected to reciprocate. But we aren't quite there, yet.

Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the US government-funded media organ, that Islamabad and Washington are yet to find 'common ground' on a range of issues.

Faisal didn't specify the problem areas, but it stands to reason that a principal one will be Pakistan's tense relations with India.

Quite obviously, we should anticipate that the Trump administration hopes to bring India on board.

Put differently, the Trump administration's 'regional approach' for Afghanistan demands that India-Pakistan tensions do not complicate the path of peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Ambassador Wells is likely to meet with Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in Delhi.

Significantly, on the eve of Ambassador Wells' departure for India on Monday, the US state department amended its designation of Lashkar-e-Tayiba, identifying the Milli Muslim League and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir as LeT affiliates, making it impossible for them to register as political parties in Pakistan.

Clearly, the Trump administration hopes that Delhi will appreciate this as a friendly gesture, underscoring that Washington is receptive towards India's genuine concerns in regional security.

It doesn't need much ingenuity to figure out that Ambassador Wells would also have taken Pakistani officials into confidence that capping Muhammad Saeed's political ambitions can be an important confidence-building measure at this point.

Now comes the big question: How does India respond to the totality of the emergent situation surrounding Afghanistan?

Sadly, the explosive violence in Kashmir just at this juncture will make things very difficult for Delhi to rise to the occasion and optimally align Indian foreign policies with the broader trends leading toward peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

On the other hand, the bottom line is that India is a stakeholder.

Clearly, a leap of faith is needed.

The Modi government would chaff at the very idea of holding talks with Pakistan, facilitated by Washington and under close US monitoring, when the 2019 poll is sailing into view.

But in politics and diplomacy, there may be moments when drinking from the chalice of poison is necessary -- to borrow the memorable words of Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in an analogous situation in his country's contemporary history when he allowed himself to be persuaded to agree to a ceasefire against the Iraqi aggressor who had bled his country white in the eight year war.

Given the complete policy breakdown in Kashmir, what is the alternative?

And the crisis in J&K is only deepening; the wounds are threatening to turn gangrenous.On Thursday, April 5, a court in Jodhpur will pronounce its verdict in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case against actor Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre.

How many such cases are there against Salman Khan? What is their status? Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com brings you all the details.

IMAGE: If found guilty, Salman faces a jail term of three years and a fine of Rs 25,000. Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters

What is the case against Salman Khan?

Salman Khan was accused in four cases:

>> Killing of Chinkaras (endangered gazelle) in Rajasthans Bhawad area

>> Killing of Chinkaras in Rajasthans Ghoda farms

>> Killing of two blackbucks in Kankani village

>> Arms Act

What are the cases against Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre?

Unlike Salman Khan, Saif, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre are only accused of killing two blackbucks and not the chinkaras.

What is the case in which verdict will be delivered on April 5, 2018?

This case concerns the killing of the two blackbucks.

When and where did the killings of these animals happen?

The animals were allegedly killed in September-October 1998 during the shooting of Salmans movie Hum Saath Saath Hain, which also starred Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, in Jodhpur.

Who arrested Salman Khan and the other actors?

Forest officer Lalit Bora arrested Salman Khan after he received a complaint from the Bishnoi community.

Why did the Bishnoi community lodge a complaint against Salman and the others?

The Bishnois consider Blackbucks and Chinkaras to be sacred and so protect them from poachers.

What is the status in the Chinkara case?

In the Chinkara cases, Salman Khan was acquitted by Rajasthan high court in July 2016. He was charged under section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act. The state government has now gone to Supreme Court in appeal.

Why is the killing of Chinkaras illegal?

The Chinkara is an endangered animal and accorded the highest protection under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife protection Act 1972.

Was Salman Khan ever imprisoned in the Chinkara case?

Yes. The trial court sentenced him to five years imprisonment in 2006 but after spending five days in jail, Salman got bail from the high court which subsequently acquitted him and the case is now in the Supreme Court.

Was Salman accorded any luxuries in jail?

Odomos. Yes, he asked for and was given the mosquito repellant cream.

What has been Salman Khan's stand before the courts?

"I am innocent and I am falsely implicated," the actor has said. He also said that the forest department trapped him in the case to gain publicity.

The defence lawyer, Hastimal Saraswat says the two blackbucks died a natural death. The first black buck died because of dog bite and the second blackbuck died after falling into a pit.

The other actors too claim that they are being wrongly framed and charged in the case.

What happened to Salman in the Arms Act case?

Salman Khan was acquitted in it because of weak evidence presented in court.

What happens if the actors are convicted in the case?

Under Section 51 of the Wild Life (Protection), Act 1972, the actors can be sentenced to three years' imprisonment which may extend to four and a fine of Rs 25,000.The Andhra CM charged the BJP and Centre with 'mud-slinging' and trying to 'damage his credibility'.

IMAGE: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo

Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Pary of 'mud-slinging' and said the Centre was trying to 'damage his credibility' ever since his party began the fight for special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister demanded setting up of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to look at the issue.

"After the state was bifurcated, we needed hand-holding and that is why we joined the NDA (National Democratic Alliance). We went for campaigns together and assured people that justice would be done and people voted for us," Naidu said.

"Everyone thought the BJP combination would bring betterment. Despite my 29 visits to Delhi during the last four years, nothing has happened, except minor things. Major things are left to be done," he said.

"People of Andhra Pradesh continue to feel betrayed. But why can't the present government have a review? Appoint JPC and tell them to have a look into the issue," he said.

The chief minister also played clips of Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising the special category status (SCS) to Andhra during public meetings in Nellore, Amaravati and Tirupati.

"During a meet in Tirupati, the PM had said that the capital city of Amravati will be better than Delhi. He even advised me to visit Kazakhstan's capital Astana to get ideas. I do not know what happened after that.

"Now when we are raising our voice, you (the BJP) are harassing my government. The central government is indulging in mud-slinging and it is painful. They want to damage my credibility which was built over a period of 40 years," Naidu said.

Naidu-led TDP had last month ended its four-year-old alliance with the BJP and walked out of the NDA, days after two of its Union ministers resigned over the Centre's refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Following the move, BJP president Amit Shah had in a letter accused the TDP of being driven by political considerations and not the concern for the state.

When asked if he had reached out to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, the TDP chief said, "They should support our cause as both the states share an excellent relationship".

"I did not reach out to the Tamil Nadu government. But we are sharing Krishna River water with them and have an excellent relationship. So they should offer support to our cause," he said.

Commenting on his rival Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party's efforts for getting the special status for the state, Naidu said, "I am fighting the attitude of the central government. I am not talking as TDP president. Some people may adopt different strategies or have a different agenda. But I want support of all parties".

Naidu also accused the Reserve Bank of India of reversing Rs 350 crore fund as special assistance to Andhra Pradesh, without any intimation.

Naidu's charges frivolous, Centre's commitment to Andhra firm: BJP

The BJP, however, dismissed the charges of Naidu against the Union government as 'frivolous' and something which no one will believe, and cited a number of central projects in the state to underline its commitment to development there.

The BJP fielded Union human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar to counter Naidu.

Javadekar, accompanied by state BJP chief K Hari Babu and party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member G V L Narasimha Rao, accused Naidu of 'blame game'.

The Union HRD minister cited a number of projects linked to Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy, Indian Institute of Information Technology and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, among others, besides the central work on the Polavaram project to claim that the Modi government's commitment to the state's development was firm.

He noted that party chief Amit Shah had in a letter to Naidu listed a number of projects which the Centre had granted to the state.

He also termed Naidu's claim that the BJP was getting close to the YSR Congress as 'ridiculous'.

On the Andhra Pradesh chief minister's comments that the TDP would have fared better in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections if it had not allied with the BJP, he made light of his claim, noting that Modi was a big factor then.

"If there was no Modi or the BJP, where the TDP would be," he said.

"There should be a limit to political acrimony. He is doing politics over the matter of development. He should not go to the extent of saying that the BJP is attacking Andhra," Javadekar said.

The Modi government has been "magnanimous" to the state to the extent that many states have asked it why it was giving so much to one state, he said.

To a question about the BJP's prospects in the state if the TDP and the YSR Congress, the two parties which have moved separate notices of no-confidence motion against the Union government in the Lok Sabha, fought against it, Javadekar said the BJP on its own had fetched over 18 per cent votes in the 1998 Lok Sabha polls.

SCCases of atrocities on scheduled castes decreased from 45,000 in 2014 to 40,800 2016.

Cases of atrocities on scheduled tribes went from 11,451 in 2015 to 6,568 in 2016.

Mayank Jain reports.



IMAGE: Dalits raise slogans during the Bharat Bandh against the alleged dilution of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Act, in New Delhi, April 2, 2018. Photograph: Ravi Choudhary/PTI Photo

Even as nine people died on Monday during nationwide protests by the Dalit community over the recent 'dilution' by the Supreme Court of the provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Act, the Supreme Court refused to stay its order on Tuesday in an open court hearing.

But anger in the Dalit community continues to simmer which claims that its rights to a fair trial are being taken away.

An analysis shows there could be an objective basis to the growing perception that atrocities on Dalits are increasing while the conviction rate in these cases is falling.

For instance, there was an increase of 23.6 per cent in cases of atrocities on scheduled castes between 2008 and 2016.

This increase was commensurate with a 17.7 per cent rise in cases of atrocities on scheduled tribes during the same period.

Numerically, there were more than 33,000 cases of atrocities on scheduled castes in 2008, which peaked at 45,000 cases in 2014 while 40,800 cases were recorded in 2016, according to the National Crime Records Bureau data.

Similarly, cases of atrocities on scheduled tribes rose from 5,582 in 2008 to 11,451 in 2015 while 6,568 cases were recorded in 2016, according to the NCRB.

The Supreme Court, in its order on March 20, 2018, removed the provision for automatic arrests of those accused under the Act.

The apex court also directed the police to conduct a preliminary enquiry in seven days when the case is reported before filing the First Information Report.

After the order, public servants can be arrested only after orders from their respective authorities.

Experts see this anger to be justified as they claim that atrocities continue to rise while the system remains heavily weighed against the Dalits.

"In every system there are false positives and false negatives, but the criminal justice system has to deal with them and it does. Any legislation that seeks to rebalance power particularly when the power difference is as extreme as between the Dalits and Savarnas, there is the initial discrimination, and also a huge backlash," says Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy.

While there were false cases across the board, Nundy says the authorities in the criminal justice system were failing to ensure justice for the Dalits.

"The Dalit anger is justified. Yes, nine people died -- every life counts -- one has to look at how many atrocities happened against them in a single day across the country," she says.

"How many Dalit women were harassed or raped? Our criminal justice systems are failing because it is hugely Savarna-weighted," Nundy adds.

The conviction rates in the cases of atrocities on scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have also come down in recent years.

For instance, cases against scheduled castes had a conviction rate of 31.7 per cent in 2008, which stood at 25.7 per cent in 2016.

In the same period, the conviction rate in cases involving atrocities on scheduled tribes reduced from 27.2 per cent to 20.8 per cent.

However, lawyers say the conviction rates could come down for a variety of reasons such as lack of evidence gathering, increased prejudice, pressure on the police, people testifying less because of threats or false cases.

Dalit activist Paul Divakar, general secretary, National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, says conviction rates were lower because a lot of cases were withdrawn under pressure by Dalits.

"It takes a long time for even an FIR to be lodged to the final conviction, there is immense pressure on victims to revoke their cases or change testimony," says Divakar.

"Also, the cases take so much time in coming to a final conclusion that perpetrators are often able to use money and muscle power to get off the hook."Sitharaman, who is in Russia on a three-day visit, also met her Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the international security conference.

IMAGE: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with her Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe during the Seventh Moscow Conference on International Security in Moscow on Wednesday. Photograph: Kind courtesy @DefenceMinIndia/Twitter

India is managing the complexities in its relationship with China even as it seeks to make progress within the framework of a broader developmental partnership, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday.

Addressing the Seventh Moscow Conference on International Security in the Russian capital, Sitharaman also expressed concern over the resurgence of territorial disputes in the maritime domain in the region.

"We continue to manage the complexities in the India-China relationship even as we seek to make progress within the framework of a broader developmental partnership," she said.

Sitharaman, who is in Russia on a three-day visit, also met her Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the international security conference.

They are understood to have exchanged views on bilateral issues, particularly on the situation along the nearly 4,000 km-border between the two countries, official sources said.

There was no official details about the meeting.

Sitharaman also expressed concern over the resurgence of territorial disputes in the maritime domain in the region.

"Maritime territorial disputes are extremely complex. We need to ensure that such issues are managed effectively and solely through peaceful means," she said.

Noting that the past few decades of growth have transformed the Indo-Pacific region into the most dynamic engine of the global economy, she said, "We need to ensure that the prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region is not put at risk through unilateral actions that can undermine regional peace and stability".

She said the rights of freedom of navigation and over-flight as well as unimpeded commerce should be ensured.

"For India, this is vital to sustain its own economic engagement with the Indo-Pacific region for mutual benefit," she added.

China has been asserting its vast claims to the South China Sea, transforming reefs into islands capable of hosting military equipment.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have their own claims to the sea, while United States' warships regularly conduct freedom of navigation operations near islands controlled by Beijing.

Earlier, addressing the conference, Sitharaman said the scourge of terrorism remains a primary international security challenge as it expressed concern over the continuing patronage of some 'irresponsible states' to terrorist groups, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

She said that terrorists are reinventing themselves in newer and more dangerous manifestations.

"The radicalisation of young minds using new technologies and social media networks, the trend of lone-wolf attacks and the continuing patronage of some irresponsible states to terrorist groups, need to be addressed in a comprehensive manner," she told the gathering.

Sitharaman said that efforts to establish a territorial base in West Asia by terrorists have been dealt a body blow, referring to the defeat of Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria.

"This was possible because broad objectives of all players, in particular the major international actors, were in alignment. This has been a silver lining in an otherwise challenging global scenario. It highlights the possibilities for greater cooperation in addressing the shared challenges we all face," she said.

She said that further efforts are necessary to ensure that there is no re-emergence of terrorism in the region and prevent its spill-over onto the wider region by returning terrorists.

"We should also resolutely resist attempts by some states to retain influence through terrorist proxies. We in India are well aware of such nefarious designs," the minister said.

"Efforts by states to continue training, funding or ideological support to terrorist groups for their narrow objectives should be repulsed effectively, using forceful methods where necessary," she asserted.

Sitharaman lauded Russia for re-establishing its role and influence in global strategic and defence matters.

"For us in India, Russia has been and remains a long-standing friend and partner with whom we share a Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership," she said.

"For India, cooperation with Russia is vital in ensuring stability and security in our shared Eurasian neighbourhood, especially in addressing the menace of terrorism. We also seek a cooperative relationship with Russia for broad based and mutually beneficial economic growth and development in the region," Sitharaman added.

She also expressed concern over serious differences between Russia and some countries, saying the solution to the key challenges require Russia's active involvement.

The minister said specific and concrete efforts must be made to work towards enhancing mutual confidence.

"We need to avoid perspectives that seek to enhance narrow gains while undermining the larger good," she said.

"In the economic sphere, we need to guard against protectionism. Barriers to movement of skilled labour and the closing of borders are unlikely to address the issues involved. We also need to ensure that benefits of growth continue to flow to less affluent regions," she said.

"We cannot achieve stability by devising new ways to perpetuate affluence and keeping parts of the world in relative deprivation," the minister said.

She said violent conflict in parts of West Asia, persistence of instability in Afghanistan and rising threats to security in the wider Asia Pacific region are threatening the gains made over the past few decades of growth and development in Asia.

"In particular, the rise of extremist, fundamentalist and terrorist groups needs to be addressed urgently. Violent activities of these groups are also opening up newer sectarian fissures which pose longer term challenges to stability within and across borders," she said.

On Afghanistan, she said a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism is essential. "India is committed to supporting the emergence of a secure, stable and peaceful Afghanistan. We believe this is achievable with the continued commitment of the international community," she said.

Sitharaman also said that the resurgence of territorial disputes in the maritime domain is another concern and asserted that the rights of freedom of navigation and over-flight as well as unimpeded commerce should be ensured.

"There is also scope for cooperative approaches to address the growing salience of non-traditional security challenges such as climate change, food and energy insecurity, financial instability and the disruptive effects of technology," she said.

She said India is playing its due role in maintenance of regional and international peace and stability.

"In our region, we have worked to share the benefits of our own growth by seeking to elevate the economic trajectory of our neighbours," she added.

"Economic and diplomatic engagement with the Eurasian region is a key priority for India. Building on our strong ties with Russia, we are strengthening our linkages with Central Asian countries," she said.

"We continue to manage the complexities in the India-China relationship even as we seek to make progress within the framework of a broader developmental partnership. India is also working with ASEAN countries and other partners to build a regional architecture that is open, balanced and ensures sovereignty and security of all countries," she added.

"I am confident that India's partnerships will contribute to a more stable and peaceful environment, spur greater economic development and establish India's role as a factor for growth and stability in our region and beyond," she added.Modi spent 32 days out of the country in 2017.

Nivedita Mookerji reports.



IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi boards a flight to Kabul in 2015. That year, Modi traveled overseas 12 times. Photograph: Mohammad Ismail

Prime Minister Narendra D Modi's foreign travel expenditure has been the lowest so far in 2017, according to the latest numbers made available by the government.

The cost for chartered flights to overseas destinations in 2017 was Rs 765 million, which was even lower than the foreign travel expenditure during 2014 when Modi took over as the PM on May 26.

For the seven months in 2014 (June to December), the PM's foreign travel expenditure was pegged at Rs 779 million.

Last year's expenditure was half of that incurred in 2016 towards the PM's foreign travel at Rs 1.52 billion.

The year before that, in 2015, Modi's foreign travel expenses were at Rs 1.34 billion.

The PM went on seven overseas trips in 2017, compared with eight in 2016, 12 in 2015 and seven in 2014.

So far in 2018, Modi has completed two overseas trips, the expenditure for which as not been revealed yet.

In 2014, over a period of seven months, Modi was out of the country for 35 days.

The number rose to 57 days in 2015 and then dipped to 29 in 2016, before inching up to 32 in 2017.

This year, the PM has travelled out for six days so far, but several overseas trips are lined up in the coming months.

Modi's most expensive overseas trip so far was in April 2015 when he travelled to France, Germany and Canada. The bill: Rs 312.5 million.

The cheapest foreign trip for Modi was his first as the PM to Bhutan in June 2014. The expenditure came to Rs 24.5 million.

In 2014, the PM's most expensive trip was at Rs 203.5 million when he travelled to Brazil.

Modi's most expensive and cheapest overseas trips Year Most expensive trip Cheapest trip 2014 Brazil (Rs 203.5 million) Bhutan (Rs 24.5 million) 2015 Europe, Canada (Rs 312.5 million) United Arab Emirates (Rs 59 million) 2016 Belgium, the US and Saudi Arabia (Rs 158.5 million) Laos (Rs 48 million) 2017 Germany, Spain, Russia and France (Rs 165 million) Sri Lanka (Rs 52.4 million)

While the highest spend in 2015 was Rs 312.5 million for a trip to Europe and Canada, the lowest that year was Rs 59 million in August when he travelled to the United Arab Emirates.

In 2016, the PM's trip to Belgium, the US and Saudi Arabia cost the exchequer the most that year at Rs 158.5 million.

The lowest spend was for a trip to Laos in September 2016 -- just Rs 48 million.

In 2017, the maximum foreign travel expenditure was in May-June for a trip to Germany, Spain, Russia and France for Rs 165 million, while the least spend was incurred during the same month for a trip to Sri Lanka at Rs 52.4 million.A collection of oddball, amazing moments from the world!

Girdhar Vyas shows his long moustache during Rajasthan Day celebration in Bikaner. Photograph: PTI Photo

A swimmer walks on the beach during the first opening day at Wannsee lido, a public beach in Berlin, Germany. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

A man dressed as a 'stormtrooper' character from the Star Wars film franchise shields himself from the rain in Piccadilly Circus in London, Britain. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Palestinian special effects makeup artist Alaa Abu Mustafa, 20, paints the face of a young Palestinian in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

Participants take part in the annual Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Photograph: Gaia Squarci/Reuters

Men dressed as a zebra and a panda, who pose for pictures with tourists, walk on a pedestrian crossing, in central Kiev, Ukraine. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Women laugh as they eat phallic-shaped lollipops during Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) in Kawasaki, Japan. The Kanamara Festival is held annually on the first Sunday of April. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

A veterinary medicine student feeds cats in a cat hotel in Basra, Iraq. Photograph: Essam Al-Sudani/Reuters

A boy plays in the foam, covering the polluted water of the river Yamuna in New Delhi. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Students of a dance school perform for a video shoot on the banks of river Ganges, in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/ReutersA court in Jodhpur will on Thursday pronounce its verdict in the 1998 black buck poaching case against actor Salman Khan and others.

Salman and other actors arrived on Wednesday in Jodhpur.

Final arguments of the case were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment for Thursday.

All actors, including Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, will be present in the court for the pronouncement of the verdict.

Salman Khan, 52, arrived from Mumbai in a chartered flight. He was earlier in Abu Dhabi for the shooting for Race 3.

Bendre, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu and Neelam also reached Jodhpur from Mumbai.

Later, a video went viral in which Saif, after arriving in Jodhpur, can be heard using rough language and asking his driver to roll up the car's window-panes and reverse as a crowd gathers around his vehicle.

Salman Khan was accused of killing two black bucks in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the intervening night of 1-2 October, 1998, during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain.

He is facing charges under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the other actors have been charged under Section 51 read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. Maximum punishment under Section 51 is six years.

"All of them were in a Gypsy car that night, with Salman Khan in the driving seat. He, on spotting a herd of black bucks, shot at and killed two of them," Public Prosecutor Bhawani Singh Bhati had said.

"But on being spotted and chased, they fled from the spot leaving the dead animals there," he said, adding that there was adequate evidence against them.

Denying these allegations, Salman Khan's counsel H M Saraswat said there were several loopholes in the prosecution's story and it had failed to prove its case beyond any doubt.

"Prosecution has failed to prove the allegations. It engaged in tampering and fabricating evidence and documents as well as roping in fake witnesses to prove its case," he said.

"It even failed to prove that the black bucks were killed by gunshots. Hence, such investigation cannot be trusted," Saraswat said.

The case also involved two more accused, Dushyant Singh, who was allegedly accompanying the actors when the poaching took place, and Dinesh Gawre, said to be Salman Khan's assistant.

However, prosecutor Bhati says that Gawre never appeared in court and was made to disappear by Salman Khan. Had he been around, there could have been more information available in the case, he says.In the witness box, on bald embarrassing display, was not just Sub-Inspector Ganesh Dalvi, but the entire system of police investigation too.

Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports from the Sheena Bora murder trial.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

A fresh epidemic of amnesia swept into Courtroom 51 of the Mumbai city civil and sessions court, Kala Ghoda, south Mumbai, April 3.

Its latest victim?

Police Sub-Inspector Ganesh Dalvi.

Prosecution witness number 1 (PW1) in the Sheena Bora murder trial, Dalvi, who worked at the Khar police station, north west Mumbai, was, astonishingly, on Tuesday unable to remember even the number of his own cell phone.

Or the contacts he might have on his phone.

He also seemed in a habit of not carrying his phone at crucial moments.

His phone was not in his possession on Tuesday in court either.

Nor apparently was it with him the day he arrested Indrani and Peter Mukerjea's driver Shyamvar Pinturam Rai for possession of an illegal weapon on August 21, 2015, at Carter road, Khar.

The battery of defence lawyers have, since early December 2017, been working tirelessly at buttressing their charge that Rai (Accused No 3 turned approver) was never actually arrested on August 21, 2015.

Instead, they have put forward the view that he was in the protective custody of the police from much before that date as they alleged Rai had a yet undisclosed role in the supposed framing of a case against the Mukerjeas and Sanjeev Khanna, Indrani's former husband.

Since cell towers, you have learned, are now the crucial invisible witnesses in every courtroom these days, it follows that if Rai was indeed arrested on August 21, 2015, carrying that Mamta Suiting and Shirting plastic bag, that contained a country-made katha and the cartridges, then the cellphones of the key people present that day would locate them in that area too.

But Dalvi said he left his cell phone back at the police station that day. And unraveling the records of Rai's cellphone has been a much more uphill task then first believed, ever since the defence lawyers accused the prosecution of tampering with them.

Dalvi, who debuted in the witness box last year, came across then as a young, earnest cop with a straightforward demeanour, erect posture and possessing crisp, direct answers.

But the man occupying the box on Tuesday in CBI Special Judge Jayendra Chandrasen Jagdale's courtroom, was an altogether different individual.

Had the passage of a year had altered his persona entirely?

Under the narrow cross examination of Indrani's advocate Sudeep Pasbola, Dalvi shifted about the box uncomfortably, one raised brown shoe toying with its wooden slats, alternating his weight from one foot to the next and his eyes often slithering away from offering a direct gaze.

His negative answers or limp, unstarchy "Maahit nahins (I don't know)" came after pregnant pauses and were softly tendered, but still hard to believe.

Courtroom 51 seemed to back in Rai-Maloom-Nahin territory.

Dalvi's "don't knows" were not the more rude, obstinate "Maloom nahins" that Rai habitually offered during his long sojourn on the witness stand, but equally rigid road blockers to Pasbola's line of enquiry.

In between, Dalvi would frequently take refuge from the courtroom stress by taking long sips from the chota Bisleri bottle of water he brought with him, that he had placed next to his hat on the shelf in front of the stand.

When he had to painfully agree with Pasbola about the lack of certain information, he did so in unadorned monosyllables.

If confronted with conflicting facts he processed the information in a puzzled, concerned, manner, indicating he was deeply bewildered by the contradictions and trying to figure out how it came about.

In the witness box, on bald embarrassing display, was not just Dalvi, but the entire system of police investigation too.

The sub inspector admitted they had no documents to prove many aspects of the prosecution's version of the events leading up to Sheena Bora's alleged murder, barring taking driver Shyamvar Rai's word for it.

For instance, that Khanna -- Indrani's second husband and alleged accomplice in the crime -- had arrived from Kolkata on April 24, 2012 had not been verified through documentation.

That Indrani had allegedly booked his room at the Hilltop Hotel in Worli, south central Mumbai, was not confirmed.

Nor were there documents to prove that Sheena had been 'abducted' from outside the Jockey showroom in Bandra, north west Mumbai on April 24, 2012.

Additionally, Dalvi volunteered, "I don't have any documents showing that Shyamvar Rai and Indrani Mukerjea had fixed a plan to visit Gagode Khurd (the village, near Pen, Raigad district, that Indrani selected as the spot to dispose of Sheena's remains) on April 23, 2012 (the day before the murder). It had been disclosed by Shyamvar Rai."

Pasbola raised the fact that the FIR taken from Rai for his role in Sheena Bora's murder had exact dates missing.

For instance, Rai confessed in 2015 that Sheena's body was taken and burnt in April 2012.

Asked the lawyer of Dalvi: "The specific date is missing?"

Before Dalvi could answer Special Public Prosecutor Kavita Patil chimed in, "The day of the month is not mentioned. But the month is mentioned."

Said Dalvi: "Yes, the said dates and times are not mentioned by me in the panchanama."

Pasbola: "The dates (of what happened on April) 24, 25 and 26 are not mentioned in the complaint? Barabar (right)?"

Dalvi reluctantly: "Barabar."

Pasbola accused Dalvi of concocting the whole incident.

Dalvi calmly denied it and Judge Jagdale noted down for Dalvi in the court record: "It is not correct to say that myself and my senior officers have hatched a conspiracy to create a false case...'

"It is not correct to say that in order to implicate the accused in a false case these entire incidents were fabricated."

Pasbola then asked Dalvi what kind of details were recorded routinely in a Mumbai police station diary, delving to understand what kind of record-keepers these diaries were.

Were details of an ongoing investigation not recorded?

Dalvi thought for half a second and said, "Sometimes."

Judge Jagdale gave a hearty laugh. Pasbola smiled broadly too.

Dalvi continued clarifying: "Sometimes we note down important parts of an investigation or enquiry. Sometimes we may not."

Pasbola enquired that when the police went out on routine patrol did they make entries in their station diaries on the areas they would cover.

Dalvi replied that they did not always mention all the places they covered in the station diary.

But he specified that on the day Rai was arrested in 2015, there was mention in the Khar police station diary that they had gone to Carter road, but not that they had also gone to patrol in other areas of Khar like Linking road or Chuim.

"The rest of the places we patrolled that evening were not mentioned. I have no evidence, apart from my word, that we patrolled the other places," he added.

Pasbola wanted to know if details about apprehending Rai that evening were recorded in the station diary.

Dalvi offered a vague, covering all the bases, answer: "There was an entry in the station diary, but I cannot recall what was mentioned."

The facts surrounding Rai's arrest were as peculiar, as testified by Dalvi. Stranger still than what Rai had recounted last year, which already deserved a place in the Encyclopedia of Facts Stranger than Fiction.

Pasbola worked with Dalvi to retrace the events of August 21, 2015: Yes, it was indeed 5.20 pm when he was out patrolling in a police Tata Sumo with his colleagues.

Yes, they had come across Rai running on Carter road. He was indeed carrying a plastic bag and he ran some 25 feet before they caught him, after alighting from their jeep.

But Dalvi did not remember the colour of the said "theli" or if anyone looked inside the bag or if anyone asked Rai what was in the bag, till Rai had already been detained and the panchas (five witnesses are required for a panchanama) called for and arrived within the next five or ten minutes.

Why then was Rai detained, one wondered?

Dalvi subsequently did not remember the manner in which the plastic bag containing the country pistol was handled or Rai's cellphone by his colleagues or his Khar unit and said categorically that he had not handled Rai's cellphone.

Dalvi told the incredulous court said there were no witnesses around when Rai was apprehended at 5.30 pm on that Friday on a probably super busy Carter road back in 2015 and the panchas were apparently brought in by the team.

When asked how it came to be that one of the panchas, who lived in Mira Road, north Mumbai (30 km away), was at hand on Carter road that day, Dalvi had no answer.

Pasbola muttered blackly that these were "stock witnesses" who were "under their (the police's) thumb."

Pointed out too, with heavy underlining, were the addition of facts between the first FIR filed by the Khar police station against Rai in the arms case (possession of an illegal weapon) and later FIR filed for his complicity in the murder of Sheena Bora.

Dalvi merely looked stumped.

As Pasbola questioned Dalvi loudly and roughly in Marathi, Peter's lawyer Srikant Shivade, immaculately attired as usual, sat at the lawyer's elbow, whispering suggestions and advice.

Given the summer heat and the length of Tuesday's hearing, at points, Pasbola seemed to momentarily lose his way in his line of questioning, like when he spoke (ironically) about the abduction of Sheena "Mukerjea" (remember Sheena Bora was dating Peter Mukherjea's son Rahul Mukerjea and they were hoping to marry).

That led Indrani to give a quick titter of laughter from the back and Judge Jagdale to chide the lawyer amusedly: "Pasbola Sahib prashn kaye? (what is your question?)"

The CBI's probe into the alleged financial irregularities of the Mukerjeas' erstwhile company INX Media is progressing in parallel fashion with the Sheena Bora murder trial.

Courtroom 51 is frequently the venue where both matters crisscross, as it did, distractingly, on Tuesday.

Before Dalvi's cross examination began, Ramaswamy Parthasarathy, a CBI inspector from its EO-II branch, New Delhi, took the stand. He requested further permission and time slots to interrogate the Mukerjeas.

Last week, Parthasarathy said he had the opportunity to question "Pratim" for six days "from Monday to Saturday."

Judge Jagdale patiently and politely explained to Parthasarathy that any interrogation of the Mukerjeas had to be fitted into his court's timetable.

When Parthasarathy was allowed to approach the court after the two-and-a-half hour hearing, he requested time on Wednesday, April 4, to question Indrani in Byculla jail, central Mumbai, from 10.30 am to 1 pm. Judge Jagdale granted his request.

There were plenty of other moments of intersection, between these matters, in Courtroom 51.

When Accused 1 and 4 -- Indrani and Peter -- retired to the hallways after the hearing, it was the INX Media investigation that occupied their time with their lawyers.

Parthasarthy and his team also utilised those stray moments to chat with both the accused.

The newly printed signs that hang in several places on the walls outside Courtroom 51, that declare videography and photography to be illegal on these premises, is evidence of the fallout of the heightened media interest -- interest in illegal funds with political connections trumps murder hands down in our country -- in the Mukerjeas, ever since the INX Media probe began.

The INX Media investigation too seems to have yet again changed equations in the accused box at the back of the courtroom.

As the hearing of evidence from Dalvi in this trial for the murder of a 25-year-old woman plods on, sometimes in a painstaking, tedious, fashion, it seems, it often loses the attention of the accused.

Firstly, because most of the proceedings are now happening entirely in Marathi and it is virtually impossible for a non-Marathi speaker to catch the drift of the cross examination even at the front of the court, let alone at the back, as Judge Jagdale murmurs an English translation, drowned by the racket of the fans, for the court records to the court stenographer.

Secondly, Peter and Indrani, who meet only in the accused box, every fortnight or so, appear to be using the time, perhaps, to update each other on the more immediate issues affecting them.

They sat together on Tuesday, a team once again, their mutual animosity forgotten -- she looking youthful and, as always, lively-faced in a pearl-white blouse and brown trousers and he in his usual white shirt and khakis -- whispering urgently to each other, while Khanna sat quietly at the other end.

At one point during Tuesday's proceedings Indrani needed to visit the toilet.

The procedure for an accused to request permission to visit the loo during a hearing is as cumbersome as anything else on these premises.

She had to first try and catch the eye of one of her police escorts who were sitting in front of her and not looking her way.

When she finally was able to alert them, a lady cop came to the accused enclosure to find out what she needed.

The lady cop then went to Indrani's lawyer to take permission.

The lawyer then put it to the court clerk who then put it to the judge.

The message back to Indrani again travelled through the court clerk to the lawyer to the cop and to Indrani and she was then allowed to exit the room for the toilet.

Tuesday's hearing ended with a mother of war of words between Pasbola and Judge Jagdale.

When it had been finally established that the cell phone Dalvi was still using had the same number as the one he was carrying when Rai was arrested (Dalvi covered up his earlier fantastic memory lapse about his own phone number saying he thought he was being asked about the handset and not the SIM number), Pasbola began to ask him further questions about the phone.

He wanted to know if Dalvi had the number of his senior colleague Dinesh Kadam, who had a key role in coordinating the Sheena Bora murder investigation, stored on his phone.

The sub-inspector prevaricated and said he was not sure, but conceded that he probably did.

Pasbola then asked if Dalvi had brought his phone to court and maybe it could be ascertained, right there and then, if he had Kadam's number stored.

Dalvi said he had not brought the phone to the court. "I cannot check the number from the phone because I do not have it with me in court."

Pasbola sarcastically: "Very good."

The lawyer then asked where the phone was.

Dalvi appeared blank.

Special Public Prosecutors Kavita Patil and Bharat Badami began mumbling amongst themselves, unhappy at the way the line of questioning was meandering off.

The judge then interceded at this critical juncture saying: "It is not relevant!" And that Dalvi had no reason to answer the question.

Pasbola disagreed: "That is an evasive answer."

He said at least his question had to be recorded, regardless of whether Dalvi answered it or not.

Judge Jagdale quickly lost his temper, indicating he knew what he was doing and he didn't need Pasbola to tell him.

"How is it relevant?!" the judge roared.

The judge -- who is ever aware of the speed of the trial and was perhaps worried that the defence would table fresh "unnecessary applications" possibly even for Dalvi's call data records -- said such a line of questioning was wasting time and they had to be mindful of the fact that the accused had been undertrials for two years already.

If Pasbola had anything further to say on the issue, the judge said he should give it in writing or take up the objection with a higher court.

The room instantly heated up with this blistering exchange of words as Pasbola held his ground, reiterating stubbornly that he still had the right to have his question put down in the court records.

Angrily, Judge Jagdale conceded, dictating: "On the same point it is not permitted to put a question to the same witness!"

Pasbola grimly, but courteously: "Grateful sir."

As the proceedings came to a close, drama quietly peaked, unexpectedly, with the arrival in the court at 5.30 pm of a handwritten letter in Hindi from Shyamvar Pinturam Rai who is in Thane jail.

In the one-page letter Rai requested bail for economic reasons.

The letter stated that the conditions at his home were poor and his family -- his wife, daughter and son live in Mosambi Tabela, Vakola, north west Mumbai -- was not able to support themselves.

Given that he was the only earning member (his wife works as a domestic help in his absence, a CBI officer had said earlier) he requested permission to go home since he had already finished his deposition for the trial.

The CBI was instructed to reply by Wednesday.

The next hearing is set for Wednesday too, after Indrani's interrogation in jail by the CBI's Delhi team.

Peter (who loudly and happily sucked a Frooti to beat the heat after the hearing), Indrani and Sanjeev spent another 15 minutes with their lawyers before heading back to their respective jails in central Mumbai.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.Freedom in the World 2018 - Poland

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 28 March 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Poland, 28 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ac48b0126.html [accessed 26 September 2021] 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.

Freedom Status: Free

Aggregate Score: 85 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 1.5 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 1 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 2 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 38,400,000

Capital: Warsaw

GDP/capita: $12,565

Press Freedom Status: Partly Free

OVERVIEW

Poland's democratic institutions took root at the start of its transition from communist rule in 1989. Rapid economic growth and other societal changes have benefited some segments of the population more than others, contributing to a deep divide between liberal, pro-European parties and those purporting to defend national interests and "traditional" Polish Catholic values. Since taking power in late 2015, the populist, socially conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has enacted numerous measures that increase political influence over state institutions and threaten to reverse Poland's democratic progress.

Key Developments in 2017:

In July, President Andrzej Duda vetoed two of three highly controversial judicial reform bills put forward by PiS. The third bill, which he did sign, allowed the justice minister to appoint and dismiss the heads of district, regional, and appellate courts. In November, the justice minister used his new powers to remove 10 court officials in southern Poland.

In December, new versions of the two vetoed bills were signed into law, effectively giving the PiS-dominated parliament control over the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) and the Supreme Court, and forcing about 40 percent of incumbent Supreme Court justices into retirement.

Duda signed a law in March that imposed new restrictions on public gatherings, and another in October to create an agency attached to the prime minister's office that would centralize control over public and European Union (EU) funding for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

In late December, the European Commission launched proceedings against Poland under Article 7.1 of the Lisbon Treaty, declaring that the year's judicial reforms constituted a "clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law in Poland." The process could theoretically lead to the suspension of Poland's voting rights within the EU.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 36 / 40 (-1)

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 12 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4

The president of Poland is directly elected for up to two five-year terms. The president's appointment of a prime minister must be confirmed by the Sejm, the lower house of parliament. While the prime minister holds most executive power under the constitution, the president is also meant to have influence, particularly over defense and foreign policy matters.

Duda, the candidate of PiS, won the second round of Poland's May 2015 presidential election with 52 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent Bronisaw Komorowski. The latter was supported by the center-right Civic Platform (PO), which had led the government since 2007.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4

Members of the bicameral National Assembly are elected for four-year terms. The 460-seat Sejm is elected by proportional representation and holds most legislative authority. The 100 members of the Senate, the upper house, are elected in single-member constituencies. The Senate can delay and amend legislation, but has few other powers.

PiS won 37.5 percent of the vote in the October 2015 parliamentary elections, increasing its representation in the Sejm to 235 seats. This made it the first party in postcommunist Poland to win an outright parliamentary majority, allowing it to rule without coalition partners. Beata Szydo was elected prime minister, though her role was soon eclipsed in practice by that of PiS's chairman, former prime minister Jarosaw Kaczynski. PO came in second with slightly more than 24 percent of the vote and 138 seats. Third and fourth place both went to new parties: Kukiz'15, a right-wing, antiestablishment party led by former rock musician Pawe Kukiz, which took 42 seats; and the probusiness party Modern, led by economist Ryszard Petru, which won 28. The agrarian Polish People's Party (PSL) won 5 percent of the vote and 16 seats. A representative of the ethnic German minority received the remaining seat. In the Senate, PiS took 61 seats, PO 34, and PSL 1.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 4 / 4

Poland's electoral framework and its implementation have generally ensured free and fair elections, though pending legal changes in 2017 threatened to increase political control over election administration. In December, the Senate approved PiS-authored legislation that would transfer oversight of the 2018 local elections from local authorities to the National Electoral Commission (PKW) and prevent reelection of any mayors or city council members who had already served two terms. The proposed law would also force all members of the PKW to stand down prematurely after the 2019 parliamentary elections, and change the way new members are selected. Currently, the commission is made up of active or retired judges nominated by the Constitutional Tribunal (TK), the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Administrative Court. The proposed law would empower the Sejm to nominate seven of the PKW's nine members, while the TK and the Supreme Administrative Court would nominate just one member each. The Supreme Court, which emphatically protested against the politicization of the judiciary during 2017, would lose any representation on the commission.

The proposed legislation, which was expected to pass through the Sejm in early 2018, also scrapped mail-in voting in local elections, banned candidates from simultaneously running for a mayoralty and a district council seat, and required video monitoring of polling stations.

Separately, a proposal to expand the boundaries of Warsaw, which PiS consistently loses in local elections, to incorporate more suburban municipalities was withdrawn in April due to a public outcry, though its PiS sponsors said they would continue to refine the measure.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 16 / 16

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 4 / 4

Poland's political parties are able to organize and operate freely. PiS won a narrow parliamentary majority in 2015, so it requires the support of other parties to obtain the two-thirds supermajority needed for any constitutional changes. Following the United Left (ZL) alliance's failure to cross the 5 percent electoral threshold for representation in 2015, there are no left-leaning parties in the parliament.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 4 / 4

There have been multiple rotations of power among rival parties since the transition from communist rule, and the PiS victory in the last national elections ended a lengthy period of rule by the PO, now in opposition. However, opposition parties are currently weak and divided, and they face potential long-term obstacles including propaganda by PiS-controlled public media and legal changes related to electoral administration and public gatherings.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 4 / 4

Voters and politicians are generally free from undue interference by outside groups, though there are some concerns that the personnel changes associated with the PiS government's assertion of control over various state institutions could be exploited to mobilize political support among public employees ahead of future local and national elections. In February 2017, a group of 10 schoolteachers who wore black to work in a sign of solidarity with October 2016 protests against PiS-proposed restrictions on abortion were investigated by a disciplinary committee, but they were eventually cleared of wrongdoing.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 4 / 4

Women have equal political rights and hold senior positions in government, including about 28 percent of the seats in the Sejm. Both PO and PiS fielded female candidates for the position of prime minister in the 2015 elections.

Ethnic, religious, and other minority groups enjoy full political rights and electoral opportunities. Electoral lists representing recognized national minorities are not subject to the minimum vote threshold for parliamentary representation.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 8 / 12 (-1)

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 3 / 4 (-1)

Freely elected officials generally determine and implement laws and policies without interference, though there have been some irregularities in recent years. In December 2016, the two centrist opposition parties, PO and Modern, mounted a sit-in protest in the Sejm over media access to the parliament, prompting the chamber's PiS leadership to move the session to a separate room  from which opposition members and journalists were allegedly excluded  and pass the 2017 budget bill in a procedure that the opposition said was illegal. The opposition parties ended their protest in mid-January 2017, and President Duda signed the contested budget measure.

Also during the year, PiS chairman and Sejm member Jarosaw Kaczynski continued to play a dominant role in the government despite his lack of any official executive position. He was seen as the driving force behind a December 2017 government shuffle that included the replacement of Prime Minister Beata Szydo with Mateusz Morawiecki. He also met with foreign leaders, gave authoritative media interviews, and appeared to drive the formulation of new legislative proposals.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 due to the irregular adoption of the 2017 budget and the informal government influence exercised by PiS chairman and parliamentary deputy Jarosaw Kaczynski.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 3 / 4

Cronyism, a problem under all previous Polish governments, appears widespread under PiS. The government has altered, lowered, or simply removed many criteria for staffing of public institutions, allowing for appointments based on party loyalty and personal connections. In response to a related scandal in 2016, anticorruption investigators had initiated probes into many state-owned enterprises. Nevertheless, an old friend of the prime minister's was appointed in May 2017 to the board of Pekao, Poland's second-largest bank, though her only significant professional experience involved running a small-town health clinic.

It was reported in September that the government had diverted public funds earmarked for promoting Polish interests abroad into a domestic campaign supporting the ruling party's judicial reforms. A public relations company founded by two former employees of the prime minister's office was awarded a contract for the campaign through a nontransparent tender process.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 2 / 4

The right to public information is guaranteed by the constitution and by the 2001 Act on Access to Public Information, but obtaining records and data from public institutions can be slow and difficult.

The current government avoids consulting outside experts or civil society organizations on policy ideas, and tends to introduce and pass legislation rapidly, with little opportunity for debate or amendment. The PiS government is also openly hostile to critical or independent media outlets and engages almost exclusively with state-run and progovernment outlets. Reporters from Gazeta Wyborcza, the country's largest daily, have difficulty gaining access to officials. Nevertheless, reporting on government activities and corruption remains fairly robust.

The courts' ability to uphold government transparency has been uneven. In November 2017, the Warsaw regional administrative court overturned a lower court verdict that had required the military counterintelligence service to reveal statistics on its domestic surveillance activities.

Following a hastily implemented reform of the education system in late 2016, a regional court in September 2017 ordered the Education Ministry to reveal the names of those who were paid for "expert advice" on new curriculums. The education minister refused and filed an appeal, citing the need to protect the experts from public ridicule.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 49 / 60 (-3)

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 14 / 16

D1. Are there free and independent media? 3 / 4

The constitution guarantees freedom of expression and forbids censorship. Libel remains a criminal offense, though a 2009 amendment to the criminal code eased penalties. A person may be found guilty of blasphemy, punishable by a fine of 5,000 zoty ($1,350) or up to two years in prison, even if the offense was unintentional. The state does not restrict internet access.

Poland's media are pluralistic and mostly privately owned. However, the public media and their governing bodies have been purged of dissenting voices since PiS came to power in 2015. TVP, the public television broadcaster, toes the government line on topics ranging from peaceful antigovernment protests, which it depicts as attempted coups, to critical NGOs, which are portrayed as agents of the opposition.

Since 2015, state-controlled companies have shifted their advertising to private media outlets that support the PiS government. More critical outlets have suffered a corresponding drop in advertising revenue, as well as a sharp decline in subscriptions from government ministries. According to the National Court Register, the publisher of the right-wing Gazeta Polska saw its revenue increase by 70 percent in 2016 thanks to gains in advertising, despite falling sales.

Independent private media have also faced regulatory pressure. In December 2017, the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) imposed a fine of nearly 1.5 million zoty ($415,000) on the private television station TVN24 for "promoting illegal activities and inciting violence" through its coverage of the previous year's antigovernment protests. The station's parent company was also contesting the government's claim that it owed 110 million zoty ($30 million) in unpaid taxes.

For some time, the PiS leadership has been threatening to "deconcentrate" private media ownership, especially by foreign companies. The government often blames the presence of German and other foreign owners in the Polish media market for negative coverage of its activities.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 4 / 4

The state respects freedom of religion. The PiS government is aligned with the Roman Catholic Church, which wields significant influence in the country. Some prominent clergy members have distanced themselves from the ruling party, especially on its strong opposition to the settlement of Muslim refugees in Poland. However, others endorse the government's nativist and socially conservative policies, particularly its ongoing efforts to further restrict abortion. Conservative media outlets and related institutions founded by Father Tadeusz Rydzyk continue to receive special treatment and funding from the government.

Religious groups are not required to register with the authorities but receive tax benefits if they do. Minority faiths are generally able to obtain registration in practice. There is a formal ban on state funding for church construction, but a church can obtain Culture Ministry funding in practice if, like the Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw, it includes a museum.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 3 / 4

The ruling party has sought to discredit academics who challenge its preferred historical narrative, particularly with regard to the events of World War II. In January 2017, the Supreme Administrative Court approved the government's decision to merge a new, internationally respected World War II museum in Gdansk with another, yet-to-be-built museum, allowing the culture minister to change the facility's management and content.

Educational reforms that took effect in 2017 abolished middle schools and integrated them into elementary schools, putting thousands of principals out of work and allowing the Education Ministry to appoint new administrators. In addition to staffing changes, new history curriculums focused on the Polish state, military history, and Polish heroism. Sexual education no longer included information on contraception.

Under other legislation passed in December 2016, directors and deputy directors of state research institutes can be appointed without a competitive hiring process.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 4 / 4

People are free to engage in private discussions on political and other matters without fear of harassment or detention by the authorities.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 10 / 12 (-2)

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 3 / 4 (-1)

Freedom of assembly is generally respected in law and in practice. Public demonstrations are held with some regularity, though local authorities can limit demonstrations in their districts on grounds of maintaining public order.

In December 2016, the Sejm passed controversial legislation that requires separate public gatherings to keep a distance of at least 100 meters from each other and gives priority to "cyclical" rallies organized in the same place on predictable dates. PiS, which sponsored the bill, said its intention was to prevent conflicts between demonstrators, but critics said it would allow the authorities to amplify some forms of public speech and suppress others. In March 2017, the TK deemed the legislation constitutional, though four judges appointed by the previous parliament were excluded from the decision; Duda then signed the bill into law.

There were several major antigovernment protests in 2017, but the largest episode  with tens of thousands of participants and lasting over a week in July  was triggered by PiS's plans to overhaul the judicial system. A report by Amnesty International alleged excessive police tactics in response to the July protests, including physical containment of groups of demonstrators, heavy-handed surveillance and requests for identification, summonses to police stations, and the pursuit of criminal charges against some participants.

Authorities also continued to pursue participants in December 2016 protests during 2017. In January, Warsaw police published photos of 21 unidentified protesters from December in an effort to track them down. Separately, at an October demonstration for reproductive rights in Wrocaw, several participants were reportedly questioned by police and charged with disrupting a counterdemonstration.

The government was criticized for its handling of ultranationalist marches in November that featured racist, antisemitic, and xenophobic slogans as well as cases of violence against counterprotesters. Government figures were accused of being slow or reluctant to condemn the marchers' speech and actions, and some observers said police failed to prevent assaults.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 due to new legal restrictions on public gatherings, disproportionate police tactics against antigovernment protesters, and intimidation of counterprotesters at ultranationalist marches.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 3 / 4 (-1)

Although NGOs have generally operated without government interference in Poland, public media and top government officials began systematically undermining the credibility of such groups in 2016, accusing many of lacking financial transparency and pursuing an opposition-led political agenda. The smear campaign continued in 2017, and in October the president signed a new law that would centralize distribution of public NGO funding, including money from the EU and non-EU countries like Norway, through a new National Freedom Institute attached to the prime minister's office. Critics of the new funding mechanism warned that it could be used to muzzle criticism of PiS and starve projects that do not match the ruling party's perspective and priorities. The NGO law was widely condemned by domestic and international NGOs, as well as by Poland's human rights ombudsman.

Also in October, a day after the national protest in defense of reproductive rights, police raided the offices of two women's rights organizations in four cities, seizing equipment and documents as part of an investigation into grants paid by the Justice Ministry under the previous government.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 due to a new law that centralizes government control over public NGO funding and an ongoing smear campaign against NGOs by progovernment media outlets.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 4 / 4

Poland has a robust labor movement, though certain groups  including the self-employed, private contractors, and those in essential services  cannot join unions. Complicated legal procedures hinder workers' ability to strike.

F. RULE OF LAW: 11 / 16 (-1)

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 1 / 4 (-1)

Since taking power in 2015, the PiS government has moved aggressively to assert control over the judiciary. One of its first steps was to pass legislation designed to curb the powers of the TK, and it subsequently refused to publish TK decisions that it considered invalid. By the end of 2016, after a lengthy dispute over the tribunal's membership and authority, the TK was dominated by progovernment judges. In its March 2017 ruling on the law on public gatherings, the 15-member TK excluded three judges based on a complaint from the justice minister, and a fourth was sent on compulsory leave, allowing the law to win approval with a seven-to-four vote.

In July, the parliament adopted three sweeping government-backed judicial reform laws. President Duda signed one of them, granting the justice minister the power to appoint and dismiss the presidents and deputy presidents of district, regional, and appellate courts; the justice minister used this authority in November, removing 10 court officials in southern Poland.

Faced with sustained demonstrations and international objections, Duda broke with the PiS leadership and vetoed the other two bills, which focused on the Supreme Court and the KRS. However, he signed slightly revised versions of those measures in late December. The KRS law allows the Sejm to elect a majority of the council, which plays a key role in judicial appointments and dismissals. A majority of KRS members had previously been chosen by fellow judges. The Supreme Court law lowered the mandatory retirement age for the court's judges from 70 to 65, obliging some 40 percent of sitting members  including the court's president, a vocal defender of its independence  to retire. Among other problematic provisions, the law created an extraordinary chamber of the Supreme Court to hear special appeals of final judgments, allowing such judgements to be overturned based on vague criteria including "social justice," and gave the state president expanded influence over the appointment of the Supreme Court president as well as the court's rules and structure. The extraordinary chamber and a disciplinary chamber would both include lay members chosen by the Senate, and the two chambers' heads would be appointed by the state president.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 due to legal changes that dramatically increased elected officials' influence over the Supreme Court, the National Council of the Judiciary, and lower courts across the country.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 3 / 4

Defendants generally enjoy due process protections in Poland, though the law allows for extended pretrial detention, which can be lengthy in practice, and there is a large backlog of cases.

Legislation signed in February 2016 gave law enforcement agencies broad authority to monitor citizens' communications activity, including the ability to access metadata without a court order. A counterterrorism law signed in June of that year empowered authorities to monitor the movements of foreign citizens without prior court approval, and permitted terrorism suspects to be held without charges for up to two weeks. It also contained ambiguous provisions on collecting individuals' data, arresting civilians, prohibiting demonstrations, and blocking internet access.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 4 / 4

Civilians are largely free from extralegal violence, though some incidents of abuse by police have been alleged in the context of antigovernment demonstrations. Human rights groups have reported inadequate medical care in prison facilities.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 3 / 4

Women and ethnic minorities generally enjoy equality before the law. Some groups, particularly the Roma, experience discrimination in employment and housing, racially motivated insults, and occasional physical attacks. Members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community continue to face discrimination. Hate crimes, particularly against Muslims or people believed to be Muslim by their attackers, have risen significantly over the last two years. Protests and small-scale riots broke out in early January 2017 after a Polish citizen was allegedly stabbed to death by a Tunisian national in the town of Elk. The unrest included vandalism, clashes with police, and violent attacks on perceived foreigners in other Polish cities.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 14 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 4 / 4

People in Poland typically enjoy freedom of travel and choice of residence, employment, and institution of higher education.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 4 / 4

Citizens have the right to own property and establish private businesses. However, a 2016 law imposed onerous restrictions on sale and ownership of agricultural land, ostensibly to protect small-scale farmers. State and religious institutions are not bound by the new restrictions. Separately, state-owned entities such as the insurance company PZU have been acquiring stakes in Polish banks in recent years, raising concerns that the government is effectively renationalizing the financial industry.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 3 / 4

Under Polish law, abortion is permissible through the 12th week of pregnancy if a woman's health or life is in danger, if the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act such as rape, or if the fetus is severely damaged. A bill that would have removed most of these exceptions and imposed five-year prison terms for illegal abortions triggered mass protests and failed to pass in 2016. However, a law enacted in November of that year introduced financial incentives for women to carry fetuses with severe disabilities or terminal illnesses to term.

Domestic violence remains a serious concern. In 2016, the government withdrew funding from the Women's Rights Center (CPK), an NGO that has provided support to victims of domestic violence for over 20 years. The state's justification was that the center offers help only to women, rather than to all victims of abuse. The CPK was one of the women's rights groups whose offices were raided in October 2017.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 3 / 4

The law provides meaningful protections against abusive working conditions and child labor, especially in the formal sector. The authorities work to combat human trafficking, but women and children are still subjected to trafficking for sexual exploitation, Romany children in particular are used for forced begging, and foreign migrant workers are vulnerable to conditions amounting to forced labor.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedFreedom in the World 2018 - Equatorial Guinea

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 28 March 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Equatorial Guinea, 28 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ac48b044.html [accessed 26 September 2021] 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.

Freedom Status: Not Free

Aggregate Score: 7 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 7.0 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 7 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 7 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 900,000

Capital: Malabo

GDP/capita: $10,718

Press Freedom Status: Not Free

OVERVIEW

Equatorial Guinea holds regular elections, but the voting is neither free nor fair. The current president, who took power in a military coup that deposed his uncle, has led a highly repressive authoritarian regime since 1979. Oil wealth and political power are concentrated in the hands of the president's family. The government frequently detains the few opposition politicians in the country, cracks down on civil society groups, and censors journalists. The judiciary is under presidential control, and security forces engage in torture and other violence with impunity.

Key Developments in 2017:

In September the authorities arrested Ramon Nse Esono Ebale, a blogger and cartoonist who was based abroad and was frequently critical of the government, when he returned to the country to renew his passport. He remained in detention at year's end.

In tightly controlled parliamentary and municipal elections in November, the ruling party and its allies won all contested Senate seats, all but one of the lower house seats, and control of all municipal councils.

During and after the elections, the authorities arrested dozens of opposition party supporters, claiming in late December that they had thwarted a coup plot.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 1 / 40

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 0 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Africa's longest-serving head of state, has held power since 1979. He was awarded a new seven-year term in the April 2016 presidential election, reportedly winning 93.5 percent of the vote. The main opposition party at the time, Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), boycotted the election, and other factions faced police violence, detentions, and torture. One opposition figure who had been barred from running for president, Gabriel Nse Obiang Obono, was put under house arrest during the election, and police used live ammunition against supporters gathered at his home.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

The bicameral parliament consists of a 70-seat Senate and a 100-seat Chamber of Deputies, with members of both chambers serving five-year terms. Fifteen senators are appointed by the president, 55 are directly elected, and there can be several additional ex officio members. The Chamber of Deputies is directly elected.

In the November 2017 legislative elections, the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) and its subordinate allied parties won 99 seats in the lower house, all 55 of the elected seats in the Senate, and control of all municipal councils. The opposition party Citizens for Innovation (CI), led by Nse Obiang, took a single seat in the Chamber of Deputies and a seat on the capital's city council. The preelection media environment was tightly controlled, and a wave of arrests of CI supporters began when police dispersed an opposition rally ahead of the voting. Among other irregularities on election day, a ban on private vehicles prevented many voters from reaching distant polling stations, and polls closed one hour earlier than scheduled.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 0 / 4

Equatorial Guinea does not have an independent electoral body; the head of the National Election Commission is also the country's interior minister, a prominent figure in the ruling PDGE. Elections are not fairly managed in practice.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 1 / 16

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 1 / 4

The PDGE is the dominant party, operating in conjunction with a number of subordinate parties in its coalition. In July 2017, a PDGE congress reelected President Obiang to an indefinite term as the party's leader.

The regime keeps the country's handful of opposition parties under strict control. Nse Obiang, the CI leader, was disqualified from running in the 2016 presidential vote on the grounds that he did not meet residency requirements. In May 2017, he was sentenced to six months in jail for insulting the ruling party; he was also ordered to pay financial damages and indefinitely barred from engaging in political activity.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 0 / 4

Equatorial Guinea has never had a peaceful transfer of power through elections. President Obiang appointed his son, Teodoro "Teodorin" Nguema Obiang Mangue, as vice president in 2016, paving the way for a dynastic succession.

In the wake of the 2017 legislative elections, the authorities intensified their crackdown on the CI, effectively removing it as a potential threat to the PDGE's supremacy. Dozens of CI supporters in the cities of Malabo and Bata were arrested, and the party's leaders were reportedly being held at the CI headquarters at year's end, with the government claiming that it had foiled a coup plot.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 0 / 4

The regime routinely uses the security forces to attack and intimidate opposition supporters, and political loyalty to the ruling party is treated as a condition for obtaining and keeping public-sector employment.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 0 / 4

The ethnic Fang majority dominates political life in Equatorial Guinea, leaving minority groups with little influence, and power is concentrated in the hands of the president's family and regional group in particular. Women formally enjoy equal political rights, holding a number of positions in government, 20 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and 15 percent of the seats in the Senate. However, they have little opportunity to independently advocate for their interests or organize politically.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 0 / 12

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 0 / 4

The executive branch  headed by the president, who is not freely elected  sets and implements government policy, leaving the legislature with no meaningful role in the policymaking process.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 0 / 4

There are no independent anticorruption mechanisms, and the government is marked by nepotism and graft. One of the president's sons, Gabriel Mbega Obiang Lima, is the minister of mines, industry, and energy. Teodorin, the vice president, has been the focus of money-laundering investigations in other countries. In October 2017, a French court found him guilty in absentia on charges including money laundering and embezzlement, ordering the confiscation of more than 100 million ($120 million) in French assets. The court also imposed a 30 million fine and a three-year prison sentence, both suspended. Swiss authorities had already seized property traced to Teodorin in response to a French request, and in July a Swiss court refused to release 24 luxury cars and a yacht that Equatorial Guinea claimed were owned by a state company.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 0 / 4

The government's budget process and procurement system are opaque, as are the finances of state-owned companies. In 2010, Equatorial Guinea failed in its bid to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which found that it did not meet the group's standards. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have criticized the country for pouring resources into wasteful infrastructure projects while neglecting social needs. According to IMF data from 2011, the most recent year available, the government spent just 5 percent of its budget on education and health. The infrastructure projects allegedly enrich officials by steering public contracts to companies that they own.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 6 / 60 (-1)

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 3 / 16 (-1)

D1. Are there free and independent media? 0 / 4

Press freedom is severely limited, despite constitutional protections. Journalists consistently exercise self-censorship, and those who do criticize the regime face dismissal and other reprisals. Internet service was cut off for several days surrounding the November 2017 elections, and Facebook was inaccessible for a longer period ahead of the election day. The government has sought to block access to the websites of opposition parties and exile groups since 2013. The handful of private newspapers and magazines in operation face intense financial and political pressure and are unable to publish regularly. Online versions of Spanish newspapers are regularly blocked. The only private television broadcaster is controlled by Teodorin.

Two journalists were briefly arrested while covering an opposition press conference in June 2017. In September, the authorities arrested Ramon Nse Esono Ebale, a cartoonist and blogger who is critical of the government. He had been living abroad but returned to renew his passport. He was accused of money laundering and counterfeiting, and he remained in detention at year's end.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 2 / 4

The constitution protects religious freedom, though in practice it is sometimes affected by the country's broader political repression and endemic corruption. The Roman Catholic Church is the dominant faith and is exempt from registration and permit requirements that apply to other groups. Government officials have reportedly been required to attend Catholic masses on ceremonial occasions, such as the president's birthday.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 1 / 4

Academic freedom is politically constrained, and self-censorship among faculty is common. University professors and teachers have reportedly been hired or dismissed due to their political affiliations.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 0 / 4 (-1)

Freedom of private discussion is limited. The government uses informants and electronic surveillance to monitor members of the opposition, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and journalists, including the few members of the foreign press in the country. Critics of the government are subject to arbitrary arrest, physical abuse, and trumped-up charges. In May 2017, security forces detained rapper Benjamin Ndong after he released a song in support of striking taxi drivers who faced government intimidation; Ndong, who had also complained of being followed by security personnel, was freed a day later. Such pressure on well-known figures can have a deterrent effect on others. The internet restrictions linked to the November elections also inhibited private discussion.

Score Change: The score declined from 1 to 0 due to the continued deterioration of citizens' ability to speak freely on politically sensitive topics amid government efforts to punish dissent and monitor or disrupt online communications.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 0 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 0 / 4

Freedom of assembly is severely restricted. Opposition gatherings are typically blocked or dispersed, and citizens are sometimes pressured to attend progovernment events. Police allegedly used gunfire to disperse a CI campaign event in Aconibe in early November 2017, and some officers were reportedly injured in related clashes; the incident touched off the broader crackdown on the CI that was ongoing at year's end.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 0 / 4

All associations must register with the government through an onerous process, and independent NGOs face state persecution. In March 2017, police arrested dozens of people participating in a training on International Women's Day at the offices of the CPDS; some were beaten in custody, but all were later released. In April, the government detained Enrique Asumu and Alfredo Okenve, leaders of the Center for Development Studies and Initiatives (CEID), an NGO whose activities had been suspended by the authorities in 2016. They paid fines for allegedly violating the suspension order and were released after several days, though they were never charged or brought before a judge. In November, civil society activist Raimundo Nnandong, an artist and member of the cultural group Locos por Cultura, was arrested on election day for trying to take a photo outside a polling station; he was released a few days later.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 0 / 4

The constitution provides for the right to organize unions, but there are many legal and practical barriers to union formation, collective bargaining, and strikes. The government has refused to register a number of trade unions; a farmers' organization is the only legal union. Security forces used arbitrary arrests and beatings to suppress a taxi drivers' strike against high government fees in May 2017.

F. RULE OF LAW: 0 / 16

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 0 / 4

The judiciary is not independent, and judges in sensitive cases often consult with the office of the president before issuing a ruling. Under the constitution, the president is the nation's first magistrate. He also oversees the body that appoints judges. The court system's impartiality is further undermined by corruption.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 0 / 4

The security forces routinely detain people without charge or trial. Graft is endemic in the police and other law enforcement bodies.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 0 / 4

Beatings and torture by security forces are reportedly common. Prisons are overcrowded and feature harsh conditions, including physical abuse, poor sanitation, and denial of medical care.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 0 / 4

Women face discrimination in employment and other matters, particularly in rural areas. The ethnic Bubi minority suffers persistent societal discrimination. Immigrants, including irregular migrants, are subject to raids, physical abuse, and extortion by police. While LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people face social stigma and discrimination, same-sex sexual activity is not illegal.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 3 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 1 / 4

Freedom of movement is protected by law but restricted in practice through measures such as police checkpoints, which often require the payment of bribes. Authorities have also denied opposition members and other dissidents reentry from abroad or restricted their movements within the country.

A Ministry of Education order that took effect for the 2016-17 school year requires female students to take pregnancy tests and bars pregnant girls from school.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 1 / 4

Equatorial Guinea has one of the most difficult business environments in the world. Pervasive corruption and onerous bureaucratic procedures serve as major impediments to private business activity. Most women face disadvantages regarding inheritance and property rights under both the civil code and customary practices, though women enjoy greater customary rights among the Bubi minority.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 1 / 4

The civil code and customary law put women at a disadvantage with respect to personal status matters like marriage and child custody, with some exceptions among the Bubi. Laws against rape and domestic violence are not enforced effectively. The government reportedly does little to collect data, raise awareness, or support civil society efforts to combat such problems.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 0 / 4

The country's oil wealth is concentrated among the ruling elite, leaving much of the population without access to basic services. Equatorial Guinea continues to score poorly on social and economic development indicators.

Foreign workers in the oil and construction industries are subject to passport confiscation and forced labor. Equatoguineans are also vulnerable to forced labor, including in the sex trade. Corrupt officials are often complicit in human trafficking, according to the U.S. State Department.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedFreedom in the World 2018 - Cote d'Ivoire

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 28 March 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Cote d'Ivoire, 28 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ac48b06a.html [accessed 26 September 2021] 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.

Freedom Status: Partly Free

Aggregate Score: 51 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 4.0 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 4 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 4 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 23,900,000

Capital: Yamoussoukro

GDP/capita: $1,434

Press Freedom Status: Partly Free

OVERVIEW

Cote d'Ivoire continues to recover from political turmoil and widespread conflict that ended in 2011. While the UN peacekeeping mission withdrew in 2017, the country has experienced unrest and instability within the armed forces, and growing political tensions within the ruling coalition. Several root causes of the country's violent conflict remain, including ethnic and regional tensions, land disputes, corruption, and impunity.

Key Developments in 2017:

The UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) reached the end of its mandate, and withdrew its peacekeeping mission in June.

In January and May, mutinous soldiers in the national army  many of them former rebels who helped bring President Alassane Ouattara to power in 2011  demanded the payment of bonuses from the government. While the situation ended peacefully when the government paid the bonuses, the events threatened to destabilize the country, and raised fears of a potential coup d'etat.

In October, Souleymane Kone, a top aide to National Assembly speaker Guillaume Soro, was arrested following revelations that mutinous soldiers had been given access to arms caches at a property owned by Kone. The arrest was seen as part of a widening split between the pro-Ouattara and pro-Soro factions of the current governing coalition.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) continued its trial of former president Laurent Gbagbo for alleged war crimes.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 19 / 40 (-1)

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 7 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 3 / 4

Ouattara won the 2015 presidential election in the first round. Despite tensions and some government crackdowns on opposition rallies in the lead-up, the election itself was deemed credible by international and domestic observers, and was the first peaceful presidential election in Cote d'Ivoire in more than two decades.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 2 / 4

National and local legislative elections have improved since violent conflict ended in 2011. The members of the current National Assembly were directly elected in credible, largely peaceful polls held in December 2016. The ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) coalition won a solid majority, taking 167 of 255 seats. Independent candidates took the majority of remaining seats. The 2016 constitution envisages the creation of a second house of parliament, a Senate, but at the end of 2017 the institution was not yet functional.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 2 / 4

Cote d'Ivoire's new constitution was approved in an October 2016 referendum and promulgated that November. The constitutional referendum was marred by low turnout (about 42 percent), and violence at some polling stations, and was boycotted by the opposition.

In November 2016, the African Court on Human and People's Rights ruled that Cote d'Ivoire's Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) is imbalanced in favor of the government, undermining independence and impartiality, and ordered that the electoral law be amended. At the end of 2017, legislators had not addressed the ruling.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 8 / 16

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 2 / 4

The constitution of Cote d'Ivoire permits multiparty competition, and recent presidential and legislative elections have been contested by a large number of parties and independent candidates. However, the ruling RHDP coalition holds a virtual lock on national political power.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 2 / 4

Former president Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) holds seats in parliament but remains relatively weak and disorganized, with members split between two main factions. The first is hardliners who insist on boycotting elections until Gbagbo's release from the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he faces charges of crimes against humanity; the second is comprised of moderates who support Pascal Affi N'Guessan, who served as prime minister during Gbagbo's presidency. Since 2015, the FPI has been bolstered somewhat by the release of political prisoners, the unfreezing of several FPI partisans' bank accounts, and the return of some FPI members from exile.

Several prominent opposition figures were detained by security forces during the lead-up to the 2016 constitutional referendum.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 2 / 4

Recent elections have been generally free from extensive voter intimidation or harassment. However, leaders within the military, especially former rebel commanders, are viewed as having significant political influence in the country.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 2 / 4

Citizenship has been a source of tension since the 1990s, when Ivorian nationalists adopted former president Henri Bedie's concept of "Ivoirite" to exclude perceived foreigners (including Ouattara) from the political process. A new nationality law relaxing some conditions for citizenship went into effect in 2014. However, its application remains challenging, and hundreds of thousands of individuals, mostly northerners, lack documentation.

The 2016 constitution abolished a rule that had required both of the president's parents to be Ivorian, instead mandating that only one parent be Ivorian.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 4 / 12 (-1)

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 2 / 4 (-1)

Despite several years of relative calm, military mutinies in January and May 2017 exposed the fragility of the civilian government's control over the state armed forces. To quell the crisis  which renewed fears of a potential coup d'etat  the government was forced to pay out bonuses to the mutineers, many of whom were former rebels who had backed Ouattara.

Though defense and security forces are nominally under civilian control, problems of parallel command and control systems within the armed forces, known as the Republican Forces of Cote d'Ivoire (FRCI), remain a significant challenge. Former rebel commanders of a particular faction, the Forces Nouvelles, dominate the military leadership.

Separately, the UNOCI reached the end of its mandate in 2017, and withdrew its peacekeeping mission in June.

Score Change: The score declined from 3 to 2 due to military mutinies against the government that threatened to destabilize the country.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 1 / 4

Corruption and bribery remain endemic, and particularly affect the judiciary, police, and government contracting operations. Perpetrators seldom face prosecution. Significant quantities of cacao, gold, and diamond resources are sold on illicit black markets rather than officially approved channels, with authorities frequently turning a blind eye to the issue.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 1 / 4

The government generally awards contracts in a nontransparent manner. Access to up-to-date information from government ministries is difficult for ordinary citizens to acquire, although some ministries do publish information online. In 2013, the National Assembly passed an access to information law, but enforcement has been inconsistent.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 32 / 60

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 11 / 16

D1. Are there free and independent media? 2 / 4

Conditions for the press have improved since the end of the 2010-11 conflict, and incidents of violence and intimidation against journalists are relatively rare. However, most national media sources, especially newspapers, exhibit partisanship in their news coverage, consistently favoring either the government or the opposition. In May 2017, a new media law was introduced that would have mandated heavy fines and as many as five years in prison for certain violations. However, it was withdrawn after media freedom advocates voiced strong objections.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 3 / 4

Legal guarantees of religious freedom are typically upheld. A north-south, Christian-Muslim schism has been a salient feature of Ivorian life for decades, and was exacerbated by the 2002-11 crisis. However, the schism has since receded, and the current coalition government includes Muslims and Christians.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 3 / 4

Public universities were closed and used as military bases during the 2010-11 conflict, and now suffer from a lack of adequate resources and facilities. However, academic freedom is usually upheld. In 2017, there were demonstrations by the powerful university-student union, the Federation Estudiantine et Scolaire de Cote d'Ivoire (FESCI), against a rise in tuition fees. Several of the demonstrations ended in violent clashes between demonstrators and police. There were also reports of classes being disrupted or canceled during strike actions that took place during the year.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 3 / 4

People are generally free to engage in political discussion and debate without fear of harassment or detention. However, the legacy of violent conflict can chill public debate of sensitive topics.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 8 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 2 / 4

The constitution protects the right to free assembly, but in practice the government has attempted to restrict or forcible disperse peaceable gatherings, and sometimes violence between demonstrators and police has erupted. In May 2017, several people were hurt when mutinous soldiers fired upon demonstrators protesting the mutiny. Police also arrested and employed disproportionate force against demonstrating university students during the year. Yet despite risks and restrictions, public protests and demonstrations are common.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 3 / 4

Security conditions and freedom of movement for both domestic and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were threatened in 2017 by military uprisings and fears of instability. However, most organizations continued to operate freely.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 3 / 4

The right to organize and join labor unions is constitutionally guaranteed. Workers have the right to bargain collectively. Cote d'Ivoire typically has various professional strikes every year, though sometimes strikes have become violent. In 2017, teachers' unions and civil servants organized several strikes at which they called for better wages and back pay they claimed was owed.

F. RULE OF LAW: 6 / 16

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 1 / 4

The judiciary is not independent, and judges are highly susceptible to external interference and bribes. Processes governing the assignment of cases to judges are opaque.

The ICC continued its trial of former president Gbagbo in 2017 on charges of crimes against humanity committed during the 2010-11 crisis, and in September, ruled that he would remain in ICC custody. The ICC has said it is investigating pro-Ouattara actors for crimes committed by former rebels, but it has filed charges only against pro-Gbagbo defendants so far.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 1 / 4

The constitution guarantees equal access to justice and due process for all citizens, but these guarantees are poorly upheld in practice. Prolonged pretrial detention is a serious problem for both adults and minors, with some detainees spending years in prison without trial. The state struggles to provide attorneys to defendants who cannot afford legal counsel.

Concerns about impunity, victor's justice, and reconciliation have persisted after the close of the 2010-11 crisis. To date, only a handful of individuals have been put on trial for crimes committed during that period. In 2017, some Gbagbo supporters awaiting trial for crimes allegedly committed during the crisis were provisionally released, though many others remained in custody as they awaited their trials.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 2 / 4

Overall levels of violence in the country are lower than during the height of the political-military crisis in 2010-11. However, physical violence against civilians in the form of extortion, banditry, and sexual violence, sometime perpetrated by members of the state armed forces, remain common. In many areas of the country, and particularly in the west, disputes over land use and ownership between migrants, and those who claim customary land rights, sometimes turn violent. In October 2017, intercommunal clashes near the Goin-Debe forest reserve resulted in 2 deaths and 8 injuries.

Protests and demonstrations by soldiers at military barracks around the country in 2017, along with raids and attacks against police and gendarmerie posts by unidentified soldiers, renewed fears of instability. In October, Souleymane Kone, a top aide to Guillaume Soro  the former head of the Forces Nouvelles rebel group and current National Assembly speaker  was arrested by state authorities in Abidjan after it was revealed that mutinous soldiers had been given access to arms caches at a property in Bouake owned by Kone. The arrest was part of a widening split between the pro-Ouattara and pro-Soro factions of the current governing coalition.

The country's prisons are severely overcrowded, and incarcerated adults and minors are not always separated.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 2 / 4

Same-sex sexual conduct is not specifically criminalized in Cote d'Ivoire, but LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people can face prosecution under measures criminalizing acts of "public indecency." No law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. LGBT people face societal prejudice as well as violence and harassment by state security forces.

Intercommunal tensions over land rights frequently involve migrants from neighboring countries, who sometimes experience violent intimidation.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 7 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 2 / 4

Freedom of movement has improved since the end of the civil war in 2011, with fewer illegal roadblocks along major roads and within Abidjan. However, irregular checkpoints and acts of extortion remain a problem in some areas of the country, particularly in the west and north, and near gold and diamond-producing regions. The government's efforts to combat these practices have been undermined by inconsistent financial support and a failure to investigate and prosecute perpetrators.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 2 / 4

Citizens have the right to own and establish private businesses, and private industry grown since the end of the crisis in 2011. The country has also attracted significant investment. However, property and land rights remain weak and poorly regulated, especially in the west, where conflict over land tenure between migrants and those who claim customary land rights remains a significant source of tension.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 1 / 4

Women suffer significant legal and economic discrimination, and sexual and gender-based violence are widespread. However, impunity for perpetrators remains a problem, and when it is prosecuted, rape is routinely reclassified as indecent assault. Costly medical certificates are often essential for convictions, yet are beyond the means of victims who are impoverished.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 2 / 4

Despite efforts by the government in recent years to counter the phenomenon, child labor is a frequent problem, particularly in the cocoa industry. Human trafficking is prohibited by the new constitution, however government programs for victims of trafficking  often children  are inadequate.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedFreedom in the World 2018 - Congo, Democratic Republic of (Kinshasa)

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 28 March 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Congo, Democratic Republic of (Kinshasa), 28 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ac48b0918.html [accessed 26 September 2021] 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.

Freedom Status: Not Free

Aggregate Score: 17 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 6.5 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 7 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 6 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 79,800,000

Capital: Kinshasa

GDP/capita: $475

Press Freedom Status: Not Free

OVERVIEW

Civilians and opposition politicians are unable to influence government policies through elections. Civil liberties  including freedom of expression and association  are repressed, and corruption is systemic throughout the government. Armed groups and insecurity are pervasive in many areas of the country, and state security forces have been implicated in human rights abuses.

Key Developments in 2017:

No progress was made toward holding national elections, which were originally slated for late 2016 were but rescheduled for December 2017 under a transition deal. In November 2017, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced that the elections would be held in December 2018.

President Joseph Kabila remained in power at the end of the year despite the fact that his term in office had technically expired in late 2016.

Throughout the year, demonstrators across the country protested the stalled progress toward elections. In several incidents, security forces used live ammunition and tear gas, as well as arbitrary arrests and detentions, to quell the demonstrations. The authorities at times detained and harassed journalists who covered the protests, and occasionally shut down the internet in advance of protests.

Violence across the greater Kasai region, North and South Kivu provinces, and Tanganyika province had internally displaced nearly 4 million civilians as of October 2017. The March 2017 killings of two members of the UN Group of Experts, set up to monitor the implementation of Security Council sanctions, and an attack leading to the deaths of 15 UN peacekeepers in December undermined efforts to monitor and report abuses in the country.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 4 / 40

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 0 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

Article 70 of the DRC's 2006 constitution stipulates that the president is elected for up to two five-year terms, and Article 220 prohibits amendments to key elements of the state's political framework, including the number and length of presidential terms. Kabila was declared the winner of his second term in office in 2011 amid widespread criticism of the election by international observers; he defeated longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, 49 percent to 32 percent, according to the CENI.

Kabila's constitutional mandate expired in December 2016 amid significant pressure from the opposition for him to step down. Under the mediation of the Roman Catholic Church, representatives of the government agreed to a new round of negotiations with the Rassemblement des Forces Sociales et Politiques Acquises au Changement, a joint opposition bloc, and the two sides reached an agreement in December 2016 that moved the expected date for elections to December 2017. However, little progress was made to organize elections during 2017. In November 2017, the CENI announced that elections would take place in December 2018, following a statement from Kabila in June that he had not "promised anything" regarding elections. Kabila and his allies have cited funding concerns, the lack of a comprehensive voter registry, and insecurity as reasons for the delay, but critics view these as stalling tactics.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

The most recent elections for the 500-seat National Assembly were held concurrently with the 2011 presidential election; this poll was also criticized as deeply flawed. Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) won 62 seats, down from the 111 seats it had held previously, while Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) took 41. The AMP, Kabila's parliamentary coalition, took a total of 260 seats.

Legislative elections scheduled for November 2016 were not held, meaning the constitutional mandate of the National Assembly has expired as well. As a result, citizens are effectively unable to influence legislative outcomes through the electoral process.

Provincial assemblies elect the 108-seat Senate, as well as provincial governors, for five-year terms.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 0 / 4

The country's electoral framework does not ensure transparent conduct of elections, and opposition parties and civil society groups frequently criticize the CENI for lacking independence.

Progress toward elections will require the CENI to make amendments to the electoral framework, including laws regarding election financing and the distribution of seats. In February 2017, the CENI announced that it had started registering voters. However, the electoral commission faces numerous logistical challenges in this process. Opposition politicians claim the CENI is tampering with the voter registry.

In December 2017, the National Assembly approved a law that requires political parties to earn 1 percent of the national vote in order to win a seat in that body. The law would likely reduce the number of political parties in the National Assembly. Currently, there are 148 parties and 14 independent members; more than 50 parties hold just one seat. The law holds the potential to consolidate the strength of more established parties.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 3 / 12

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 1 / 4

People have the right to organize political parties. Hundreds of parties exist, with many organized along ethnic, communal, or regional lines; most lack national reach. Key parties include Kabila's PPRD and the largest opposition party, the UDPS. Many opposition parties are gathered under the Rassemblement platform, headed by UDPS leader Felix Tshisekedi, the son of Etienne Tshisekedi, who died in February 2017. In August 2017, a group of civil society actors and other leaders authored a joint "Manifesto of the Congolese Citizen," which includes calls for Kabila to step down.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 0 / 4

Despite the existence of numerous parties, political pluralism remains limited in practice, and opposition members do not have a realistic opportunity to increase support through elections. A new transitional government, headed by Prime Minister Samy Badibanga and intended to serve through the remainder of Kabila's presidency, was announced in late December 2016. Badibanga resigned in April 2017 and was replaced by Bruno Tshibala, a former member of the UDPS who had recently been expelled from the party; his appointment caused additional friction between Kabila and the largest opposition party. Opposition politicians have called for Kabila to step down, and in September 2017, Felix Tshisekedi rejected a third round of national dialogue.

Opposition party members and leaders are often intimidated and face restrictions on their movement and organizing. In August, the security forces removed Franck Diongo, a parliamentarian and president of the Movement of Progressive Lumumbists opposition party, from his hospital room and reimprisoned him; he had first been arrested in December 2016. The government arrested UDPS members prior to Felix Tshisekedi's arrival in Lubumbashi in October.

Another leading opposition figure  Moise Katumbi, a businessman and former governor of Katanga Province who left Kabila's majority coalition in 2015  fled Congo in May 2016, and in June of that year was sentenced in absentia to 36 months in prison for selling property illegally. He remained in exile in Europe throughout 2017.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 1 / 4

The military, security services, and powerful armed groups hinder citizens' political choices. The security services interfered with the activities of opposition supporters and politicians throughout 2017. In August, the UN Group of Experts found that armed groups had impeded voter registration.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 1 / 4

Discrimination and lack of access to institutions in rural areas hinder political participation overall; certain segments of the population are particularly marginalized. Women are greatly underrepresented in government, making up only 9 percent of the National Assembly and 6 percent of the Senate.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 1 / 12

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 0 / 4

Due to the political crisis, there was no freely elected government to determine state policies in 2017.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 0 / 4

Massive corruption in the government, security forces, and mineral extraction industries continues to paralyze the functioning of the government and development efforts intended to raise living standards. Recruitment for government posts is often determined by nepotism. Accountability mechanisms are weak, and impunity remains a problem.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 1 / 4

Despite previous incremental improvements in revenue reporting, there is little transparency in the state's financial affairs. The law does not provide for public access to government information, and citizens often lack the practical ability to obtain information about state operations.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 13 / 60 (-2)

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 7 / 16 (-1)

D1. Are there free and independent media? 1 / 4

Although constitutionally guaranteed, freedoms of speech and the press are limited. Radio is the dominant medium in the country, and newspapers are found mainly in large cities. While the media frequently criticize Kabila and his government, political harassment of outlets and reporters is common, and outlets face pressure to carry progovernment content. Journalists risk criminal defamation suits as well as threats, detentions, arbitrary arrests, and attacks. Throughout 2017, several journalists covering demonstrations calling for national elections were detained, and some were beaten. The state intelligence agency (ANR) has continually repressed journalists, as have state security forces.

In recent years, the government has closed media outlets linked to the political opposition. In several incidents in 2017, members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) attacked media outlets, including a June attack on a community radio station in Shabunda, South Kivu province, and an October raid of a radio outlet near Butembo in North Kivu.

In July 2017, the government significantly restricted the movements of international journalists, prohibiting them from traveling outside Kinshasa without government approval and restricting them from covering "strategic areas" such as military outposts and telecommunications facilities without permission. The government shut down the signal of Radio France Internationale (RFI) in Kinshasa for 10 months, allowing it to reopen in August 2017.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 3 / 4

The constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and authorities generally respect this right in practice. Although religious groups must register with the government to be recognized, unregistered groups operate unhindered.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 2 / 4

There are no formal restrictions on academic freedom. Primary and secondary school curriculums are regulated but not strongly politicized. In July 2017, police arrested two students at the University of Kinshasa who were protesting a police search of the campus for opposition figures who allegedly had been responsible for a series of attacks in the capital. Students subsequently protested the arrest of their classmates, and soldiers and police responded by firing tear gas and live rounds. The students allegedly damaged campus property during the protests.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 1 / 4 (-1)

Private discussion of politically sensitive topics can be open, though civilians can sometimes face reprisal for voicing critical views in public. As the political crisis continues, citizens have grown less free to express their personal views on politically sensitive topics. In the past, the government did not frequently restrict internet access or monitor online communications, but in 2017, the government suspended internet access and text messaging temporarily during times of political unrest. It ordered the internet speed to be slowed surrounding protests in August 2017, to prevent images from being shared through social media.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 due to increased monitoring of social media during the year.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 2 / 12 (-1)

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 0 / 4 (-1)

The constitution guarantees freedoms of assembly and association. Demonstrations are held regularly despite limits on these rights in practice. The government repeatedly banned opposition demonstrations throughout the year. In 2017, police and security forces violently dispersed protests, used deadly force against civilians, and arbitrarily arrested participants. Starting at the end of 2016, security forces also recruited former members of the M23 rebel group to break up protests. Police arrested at least 100 demonstrators during protests in numerous Congolese cities on July 31, which marked the unmet deadline for voter registration. In August, members of the religious and political Bundu dia Kongo sect demonstrated against Kabila in Kinshasa and Kongo Central province. Security forces fired live ammunition at the protesters, and at least 27 people were killed. In September, 49 activists against the postponement of elections were arbitrarily arrested across eastern DRC.

Score Change: The score declined from 1 to 0 due to increased repression of protests during the year.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 1 / 4

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and professional organizations are generally able to operate, though domestic human rights advocates are subject to harassment, arbitrary arrest, and detention. There are approximately 5,000 registered NGOs in the DRC, though many have narrow scopes devoted to ethnic and local concerns. In October 2017, 15 members of citizen movements demonstrating in favor of elections were arrested. Twenty-three members of the youth group Lutte pour le Changement (LUCHA) were arrested in April 2017 while protesting against uncleanliness in Kinshasa.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 1 / 4

Congolese meeting a residency requirement of 20 years can form and join trade unions, though government employees and members of state security forces are not permitted to unionize. It is against the law for employers to retaliate against strikers. Some labor leaders and activists face harassment.

F. RULE OF LAW: 0 / 16

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 0 / 4

Kabila appoints members of the judiciary, which remains corrupt and subject to political manipulation. The judiciary often exhibits bias against opposition and civil society members, while government and government-allied forces often enjoy impunity for even the most heinous crimes.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 0 / 4

Courts are concentrated in urban areas; the majority of the country relies on customary courts. Civilian cases are often tried in military courts, which are subject to interference from high-ranking military personnel. Arbitrary arrests and detentions are common.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 0 / 4

Prison conditions are life threatening, and long periods of pretrial detention are common. Security forces have tortured prisoners.

Civilian authorities do not maintain effective control of security forces. The FARDC are largely undisciplined. There have been reported incidents of soldiers exchanging intelligence and weapons with armed groups. Soldiers and police regularly commit serious human rights abuses, including rape and torture. In February 2017, FARDC soldiers recorded themselves killing civilians in Central Kasai province. Kabila relies on a military unit, the Republican Guard, which is known for abuses. In June, the United States imposed sanctions on Kabila's military chief of staff, General Francois Olenga. The European Union also sanctioned eight high-ranking government officials and an armed group commander in May for serious human rights violations.

Peace and the rule of law remain obstructed by active rebel groups, primarily concentrated in the country's eastern and southern provinces. The impact of years of fighting on civilians has been catastrophic, with over five million conflict-related deaths since 1998. The population of the affected regions is subject to displacement and violence due to rebel activity and poor discipline among members of the armed forces. The use of child soldiers is common. Continuing fragmentation and changing coalitions among armed groups, as well as between armed groups and the FARDC, obstruct the de-escalation of conflict. Multiple jailbreaks in May and June 2017 led to the escape of around 1,000 prisoners. As of September 2017, nearly 5,000 civilians in the greater Kasai region had been killed since August 2016 and over 1 million had been displaced. Scores of mass graves had also been discovered in the region. Since the killing of the head of a militia group known as Kamuina Nsapu in August 2016, the government has used disproportionate force in the subsequent crisis, including against minors and people armed with wooden toys.

Kabila's overstay of his presidential mandate provided a pretext for another armed group, the National People's Coalition for the Sovereignty of Congo (CNPSC), to organize and start fighting in June 2017 in South Kivu. Meanwhile, the government cites insecurity as one reason for the election delay.

The premeditated killings of two members of the UN Group of Experts in Central Kasai province in March 2017, and the deadliest attack against a UN peacekeeping mission since 1993 in North Kivu in December  resulting in the deaths of 15 peacekeepers from the UN Organization Stabilization Mission for the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO)  represent efforts to intimidate international inquiries into the causes of insecurity.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 0 / 4

Ethnic discrimination, including against Kinyarwanda-speaking minority populations, remains a significant problem in some areas of the country. The constitution prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, but they often find it difficult to find employment, attend school, or access government services. Although discrimination based on HIV status is also prohibited, people with HIV face difficulty accessing health care and education. No law specifically prohibits same-sex sexual relations, but legislators have made efforts to criminalize same-sex sexual activity, and individuals can still be prosecuted for such activity under public decency laws.

Although the constitution prohibits discrimination against women in any domain, the Family Code prescribes more restrictive roles, requiring that women obey their husbands and obtain their permission to seek employment. Nevertheless, young women are increasingly seeking professional work outside the home, particularly in towns and urban centers.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 4 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 1 / 4

Freedom of movement is protected by law, but is frequently restricted in practice. Armed conflict in the greater Kasai region, North and South Kivu provinces, and Tanganyika province had internally displaced nearly 4 million civilians as of October 2017. In 2017, the government restricted the movements of international journalists and UN investigators looking into the violence.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 1 / 4

Individuals have the right to own property and establish private businesses. In conflict zones, armed groups and FARDC soldiers have seized private property and destroyed homes. The country's economy, reliant on the extraction of natural resources, has grown in recent years, though most Congolese are not employed in the formal economy. In its August 2017 report, the UN Group of Experts found that traceability standards led to lower gains by armed groups from different minerals in 2017, but illicit trafficking of gold that is mined artisanally continues. A complicated system of taxation and regulation has made bribery a regular aspect of business dealings, and embezzlement is pervasive.

Women face discrimination in nearly every aspect of their lives, especially in rural areas. Although the constitution prohibits discrimination against women in any domain, the Family Code prescribes more restrictive roles, requiring that women obey their husbands and obtain their permission to engage in legal transactions. Nevertheless, young women are increasingly engaging in commercial activities, particularly in towns and urban centers.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 1 / 4

Sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls is pervasive, especially in conflict zones; sex crimes often affect men and boys as well. Rebels and FARDC soldiers have been implicated in rape and sexual abuse. Convictions for these offenses remain rare. Abortion is prohibited, and access to contraception is extremely low.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 1 / 4

Although the law prohibits all forced or compulsory labor, the practice remains common and includes forced child labor in mining, street vending, and agriculture. Various rebel groups reportedly forced civilians to work for them and at times impose tolls on vehicles passing through territory held by the groups. The recruitment and use of child soldiers by armed groups is widespread.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedFreedom in the World 2018 - Brazil

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 28 March 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Brazil, 28 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ac48b0c4.html [accessed 26 September 2021] 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.

Freedom Status: Free

Aggregate Score: 78 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 2.0 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 2 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 2 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 206,100,000

Capital: Brasilia

GDP/capita: $8,757

Press Freedom Status: Partly Free

Net Freedom Status: Partly Free

OVERVIEW

Brazil is a democracy with competitive elections and a vibrant civil society sector. However, economic and political crises have challenged the functioning of government. Corruption, crime, and economic exclusion of minorities are among the country's most serious difficulties.

Key Developments in 2017:

The controversial bribery investigation known as Operation Car Wash, which focuses on the state oil company, Petrobras, continued in 2017.

The attorney general issued separate charges against President Michel Temer for bribery and obstruction of justice. However, the lower house twice voted to block the Supreme Federal Court from proceeding with trials on the respective charges.

President Temer's proposed austerity reforms prompted protests.

In September 2017, the government deployed troops to Rocinha, among the country's largest favelas, to quell a spate of violence between gangs that was also accompanied by shootouts between gang members and police.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 31 / 40

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 11 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4

Brazil is a federal republic governed under a presidential system. Presidential elections are generally free and fair. The president is elected by popular vote for a four-year term and is eligible for reelection to a second term. Dilma Rousseff, the incumbent and the candidate of the Workers' Party (PT), won the 2014 presidential election by a slim margin, taking 51.6 percent of the vote in a runoff against Aecio Neves of the centrist Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB).

In 2016, the Senate impeached Rousseff on charges that she had manipulated the federal budget in an effort to hide Brazil's economic problems. Temer, Rousseff's vice president and one of the leading figures in the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), was installed as interim president at the outset of the impeachment trial, and was confirmed in August 2016 to serve for the remainder of Rousseff's term, which ends in 2018.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 3 / 4

Legislative elections are generally free and fair. The bicameral National Congress is composed of an 81-member Senate and a 513-member Chamber of Deputies. Senators serve staggered eight-year terms, with one- to two-thirds coming up for election every four years. Members of the Chamber of Deputies serve four-year terms. In the 2014 legislative elections, the PT remained the largest party in the lower house with 70 deputies, followed by the centrist, PT-allied PMDB with 66 seats, and the opposition PSDB with 54 seats. The PMDB maintained its lead in the Senate with 18 seats, while the PT captured 12 seats, and the PSDB took 10.

Electoral bodies reported that as many as 20 politicians were killed ahead of the 2016 municipal elections, in attacks that were generally suspected to have been carried out by organized crime groups.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 4 / 4

Brazilian election laws are generally well enforced. A Supreme Electoral Court presides over cases related to violations of electoral law. In June 2017, the Supreme Electoral Court, in a 4-3 ruling, decided not to annul Rousseff and Temer's electoral victory in 2014 in connection with allegations of accepting bribes and improper donations to fund their campaign. The court had excluded damaging testimony from executives of the construction firm Odebrecht, who said they had directed millions of dollars toward Rousseff and Temer's campaign, raising some concerns about its impartiality. An annulment of the results would have effectively forced Temer from office.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 14 / 16

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 4 / 4

Brazil has an unfettered multiparty system marked by vigorous competition between rival parties. The electoral framework encourages the proliferation of parties, a number of which are based in a single state. Some parties display little ideological consistency. Party switching is common by members of congress, rendering electoral coalitions fragile. The sheer number of parties means that the executive branch must piece together diverse and ideologically incoherent coalitions to pass legislation, which may encourage corruption.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 4 / 4

Opposition parties are able to compete freely and gain power through elections.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 3 / 4

Recent investigations into corruption have exposed how wealthy business interests undermine democratic accountability by facilitating or encouraging corruption among elected officials. Criminal groups have carried out attacks against political candidates.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 3 / 4

The Constitution guarantees equal rights without prejudice, but some groups have greater political representation than others. Afro-Brazilians and women remain underrepresented in electoral politics. The Senate has one self-identified black representative. Women hold 12 seats (14.8 percent) in the Senate and 55 seats (10.7 percent) in the House. Temer's cabinet does not include any women or Afro-Brazilians.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 6 / 12

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 2 / 4

Widespread corruption undermines the government's ability to make and implement policy without undue influence from private or criminal interests. Political crises linked with the numerous ongoing corruption investigations against senior officials dominated the political sphere in 2017, severely weakening the functioning of government.

Despite an economic crisis and accompanying austerity proposals that helped drive his approval ratings into single digits, Temer managed to push through significant and controversial reforms to the country's labor laws in 2017.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 2 / 4

Corruption and graft are endemic in Brazil, especially among elected officials. The controversial bribery investigation known as Operation Car Wash, which focuses on the state oil company, Petrobras, continued in 2017. The investigation, which began in 2014, focuses on bribery, money-laundering, and bid-rigging involving Petrobras and private construction companies. Its findings have implicated former Petrobras executives, heads of major construction firms, cabinet members, and elected officials from across the political spectrum. A number of prominent figures associated with Temer have been convicted on charges related to the investigation.

In 2017 the lower house voted twice to shield Temer from trial on corruption charges. In June, Attorney General Rodrigo Janot charged Temer with involvement in a bribery scheme worth millions of dollars, but the lower house voted against advancing the charges to the Supreme Federal Court in August. The following month, Janot charged Temer with obstruction of justice in connection with alleged attempts to derail Operation Car Wash, and with leading a criminal organization within the executive branch. The lower house failed to advance those charges to the Supreme Federal Court in a vote in October. In an apparent attempt to maintain his congressional coalition and avoid trial  which can only be initiated against the president by the lower house  in 2017 Temer directed hundreds of millions of dollars to congressional members' favored projects.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 2 / 4

Brazil enacted an Access to Information Law in 2012, but in practice, the government does not always release requested information.

The National Controller's Office (CGU) had been an important resource for members of the public seeking information about government operations. However, President Temer reorganized ministerial cabinets in 2016 and converted the CGU into a new Ministry of Transparency, Monitoring, and Oversight. This decision was considered to be detrimental to the independence of the agency.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 47 / 60 (-1)

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF 15 / 16

D1. Are there free and independent media? 3 / 4

The constitution guarantees freedom of expression, and the media scene is vibrant. However, politicians and influential businesspersons continued to make use of existing laws, including criminal defamation laws, to curtail critical reporting in 2017.

Investigative journalists, particularly those who cover corruption and crime, face threats, harassment, obstruction, and violence, which in some cases has been deadly. In March 2017, a car belonging to investigative journalist Rodrigo Lima of the daily newspaper Diario da Regiao was set on fire, in what he said was likely retaliation for work on corruption. In June, blogger Luis Gustavo da Silva was shot and killed, and a police investigation concluded that his murder came as a result of his writings on drug trafficking and other crime.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 4 / 4

The constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 4 / 4

Academic freedom is generally unrestricted.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 4 / 4

People are generally able to express political or controversial views in public without fear of surveillance or retaliation.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 10 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 3 / 4

While freedom of assembly is generally respected, demonstrations are sometimes met with excessive force by police or other security agents. There were a number of protests in 2017 against austerity measures proposed by President Temer. In May, troops deployed in response to a protest in the capital, and reportedly opened fire with live ammunition amid clashes with protesters. Dozens of injuries were reported, including one involving a bullet, but no one was killed.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 4 / 4

Nongovernmental organizations are able to operate freely in a variety of fields. However, activists working on land rights and environmental protection issues have faced serious threats and encountered deadly violence.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 3 / 4

Industrial labor unions are well organized, and although they are politically connected, Brazilian unions tend to be freer from political party control than their counterparts in other Latin American countries. However, controversial labor reforms enacted in 2017 will diminish the strength and role of unions in collective bargaining with businesses.

F. RULE OF LAW: 9 / 16 (-1)

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 3 / 4

The judiciary, though largely independent, is overburdened, inefficient, and often subject to intimidation and other external influences, especially in rural areas. Access to justice also varies greatly due to Brazil's high level of income inequality. Despite these shortcomings, the country's progressive constitution has resulted in an active judiciary that often rules in favor of citizens over the state.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 2 / 4

The right to a fair trial is generally upheld by the judiciary. However, federal, state, and appellate courts are severely backlogged. The state struggles to provide legal counsel for defendants and prisoners who are unable to afford an attorney.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 2 / 4

Brazil's police force remains mired in corruption, and serious police abuses, including extrajudicial killings, continued in 2017. Police officers are rarely prosecuted for abuses, and those charged are almost never convicted.

The country's favelas, or slums, are heavily affected by gang violence. Highly organized and well-armed drug gangs frequently clash with security forces or with private militias comprised of off-duty police officers and prison guards. In September 2017, the government deployed troops to Rocinha, among the country's largest favelas, to quell a spate of violence between gangs that was accompanied by shootouts between gang members and police.

Brazil has a relatively high homicide rate; the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported 27 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2015, compared with a global average of less than 6 per 100,000. The victims are predominantly young, black, and poor. Many are bystanders caught in crossfire between police and suspected gang members.

Conditions in Brazil's severely overcrowded prisons are life-threatening, characterized by disease, a lack of adequate food, and deadly gang-related violence. Violence is more likely to affect poor, black prisoners. Wealthy inmates often enjoy better conditions than poorer prisoners.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 2 / 4 (-1)

Some populations are not able to fully exercise their human rights in practice. Indigenous peoples make up less than 1 percent of the population. Many indigenous communities suffer from poverty and lack adequate sanitation and education services. The government's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) in September lodged a complaint with state prosecutors over the alleged killing of up to 10 members of a previously uncontacted indigenous tribe by gold miners.

Just over half of Brazil's population identifies as black or of mixed race. Afro-Brazilians suffer from high rates of poverty and illiteracy, and almost 70 percent of Brazilians living in extreme poverty are black. Victims of violence in Brazil are predominantly young, black, and poor.

Although Brazil has a largely tolerant society, it reportedly has one of the world's highest levels of violence against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people. According to Grupo Gay da Bahia, an LGBT advocacy group, 445 LGBT people were killed in 2017 as a result of homophobic violence, marking a 30 percent increase from the group's figures for the previous year.

Score Change: The score declined from 3 to 2 due to persistent human rights violations and violence committed against LGBT people and black youths.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 13 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 4 / 4

Brazilians enjoy freedom to travel within and outside of the country, and to make decisions about their places of residence and employment. However, access to high-quality education across all levels remains a challenge. Gang violence in favelas at times has impeded free movement, and has prompted schools to shut down temporarily.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 3 / 4

While property rights are generally enforced, laws granting indigenous populations exclusive use of certain lands are not always upheld, sometimes leading to violent conflicts. Requirements for starting new businesses are often onerous, and corruption and organized crime sometimes pose obstacles to private business activity.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 3 / 4

The government generally does not restrict social freedoms. Same-sex marriage became legal in 2013. While a 2006 law sought to address Brazil's high rates of impunity for domestic violence, violence against women and girls remains widespread. Abortion is legal only in the case of rape, a threat to the mother's life, or a rare and usually fatal brain deformity in the fetus. These restrictions limit women's reproductive choices and infringe on family planning.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 3 / 4

Slavery-like working conditions pose a significant problem in rural  and increasingly urban  zones. A constitutional amendment in 2012 allows the government to confiscate all property of landholders found to be using slave labor. However, under President Temer, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in October 2017 announced it would not continue automatically making public its "dirty list" of employers who subject workers to abusive conditions. The ministry also altered its internal definition of "slave-like conditions" to a more limited set of conditions that focus on freedom of mobility.

The government has sought to address the problem of child labor by cooperating with various nongovernmental organizations, increasing inspections, and offering cash incentives to keep children in school. Legislation enacted in 2014 classifies the sexual exploitation of minors as "a heinous crime," with penalties of four to ten years in prison without eligibility for bail or amnesty.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedFreedom in the World 2018 - Azerbaijan

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 28 March 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Azerbaijan, 28 March 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ac48b0ea.html [accessed 26 September 2021] 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.

Freedom Status: Not Free

Aggregate Score: 12 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 6.5 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 7 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 6 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 9,800,000

Capital: Baku

GDP/capita: $5,500

Press Freedom Status: Not Free

Net Freedom Status: Partly Free

OVERVIEW

In Azerbaijan's authoritarian government, power remains heavily concentrated in the hands of Ilham Aliyev, who has served as president since 2003. Corruption is rampant, and following years of persecution, formal political opposition is weak. The regime has overseen an extensive crackdown on civil liberties in recent years, leaving little room for independent expression or activism.

Key Developments in 2017:

President Aliyev appointed his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as vice president in February. The post had been created via constitutional changes that were pushed through in 2016 without meaningful parliamentary debate or public consultation.

In May, a Baku court upheld a ban on five independent media websites, on grounds that they threatened national security.

In September, Azerbaijani police arrested dozens as part of a crackdown on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people.

An investigation by international media outlets exposed a $2.9 billion money-laundering scheme and slush fund used to lobby for Azerbaijani interests in Europe, and to benefit the Azerbaijani elite. Recipients of money from the so-called Azerbaijani Laundromat reportedly included former members of the Council of Europe.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 3 / 40 (-1)

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 1 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

Since the early 1990s, elections have not been considered credible or competitive by international observers. In the 2013 election, President Ilham Aliyev  who succeeded his father, Heydar, in 2003  won a third term in a predictable landslide victory amid significant evidence of electoral fraud.

In February 2017, President Aliyev appointed his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as vice president. The post had been created via constitutional changes that were pushed through in 2016 without meaningful parliamentary debate or public consultation.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

Elections to the 125 seats in Azerbaijan's unicameral Milli Mejlis, or National Assembly, were held in 2015 amid a government campaign against criticism and dissent. The main opposition parties boycotted the vote. According to official results, Aliyev's ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party (YAP) won 71 seats, with 41 going to independent candidates who tend to support the ruling party, and the remaining 12 split among small progovernment parties. Two international election monitoring mission from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) declined to send monitors, saying restrictions placed by the government on the number of observers permitted would make effective and credible observation impossible.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 1 / 4

The electoral laws and framework do not ensure free and fair elections. The nomination process for members of electoral commissions places the bodies under the influence of the ruling party, and commission members have been known to unlawfully interfere with the election process and obstruct the activities of observers. Complaints of electoral violations do not receive adequate or impartial treatment.

In 2016, voters approved a package of constitutional changes that were pushed through without meaningful debate or consultation; among other changes, the legislation further concentrated power within the president's office.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 2 / 16

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 1 / 4

The political environment in Azerbaijan is neither pluralistic nor competitive, and mechanisms for public participation are limited by the dominance of the president's YAP party. A number of laws passed over the past decade limit candidates' ability to organize and hold rallies. The political opposition has virtually no access to coverage on television, which remains the most popular news source in Azerbaijan.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 0 / 4

Opposition politicians and party officials are subject to arbitrary arrest on dubious charges, as well as physical violence and other forms of intimidation. Ilgar Mammadov, leader of the Republican Alternative movement, remained behind bars at the end of 2017 on politically motivated charges, in breach of a 2014 European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision. In December 2017, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe initiated infringement proceedings against Azerbaijan over the government's refusal to release Mammadov. In May, Gozel Bayramli, the deputy chairperson of the opposition Popular Front Party, was detained on charges of carrying $12,000 in undeclared funds into the country; she claimed that police had planted the money, and that she was arrested for political reasons. Her predecessor, Fuad Gahramanli, was arrested in 2015 on charges including appealing for the violent overthrow of the government, in connection with his criticism of authorities on social media. In January 2017, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. A local coalition of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) estimated that there were 158 political prisoners in the country as of August 2017.

The main opposition parties chose to boycott the 2015 parliamentary elections rather than take part in a flawed vote.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 1 / 4

The authoritarian one-party system in Azerbaijan largely excludes the public from any genuine and autonomous political participation. President Aliyev appointed his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as vice president in February 2017.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 0 / 4

The dominance of the ruling party limits political parties' freedom to represent a diversity of interests and views. There are no meaningful mechanisms to promote representation of minorities.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 0 / 12 (-1)

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 0 / 4

The head of government and national legislative representatives are not elected in a free or fair manner. Aliyev and the YAP determine and implement the policies of the government with little opposition.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 0 / 4 (-1)

Corruption is pervasive. In the absence of a free press and independent judiciary, officials are rarely held accountable for corrupt behavior.

In September 2017, a network of international media outlets exposed a $2.9 billion slush fund, held within United KingdomA--registered shell companies and linked to the Azerbaijani ruling elite, including the Aliyev family. Leaked banking records from 2012-14 revealed payments to, among others, former members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), London-based lobbyists, and senior officials in the Azerbaijani government. Britain's Guardian newspaper, one of the outlets that exposed the scheme, credited lobbying operations associated with the fund with a move by PACE to vote down a 2013 report critical of Azerbaijan's rights record.

Score Change: The score declined from 1 to 0 due to the revelation of a massive money laundering scheme linked to the family of President Ilham Aliyev and other elites, and a lack of mechanisms to investigate it.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 0 / 4

Government operations are opaque. Although public officials are nominally required to submit financial disclosure reports, procedures and compliance remain unclear, and the reports are not publicly accessible. There are legal guarantees for citizens' access to information, but also broad exceptions to the right, and authorities at all levels systematically refuse to respond to information requests.

In March 2017, Azerbaijan withdrew from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an international platform that promotes good governance and transparency in resource-rich countries, having been suspended due to ongoing noncompliance with EITI human rights standards. In June, the Open Government Partnership (OGP), an international initiative under which governments commit to increasing transparency and accountability to their citizens, extended Azerbaijan's inactive status for another year due to concerns about threats to civil society.

CIVIL LIBERTES: 9 / 60 (-1)

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 2 / 16

D1. Are there free and independent media? 0 / 4

Constitutional guarantees for press freedom are routinely and systematically violated, as the government works to maintain a tight grip on the information landscape. Defamation remains a criminal offense. Journalists  and their relatives  faced harassment, threats, violence, and intimidation by authorities. Many have been detained or imprisoned on fabricated charges, while others face travel bans. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), there were 10 journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan as of December 2017.

State censorship of online media intensified during 2017. Legal amendments passed in March extended government control over online media, allowing blocking of websites without a court order if deemed to contain content posing a danger to the state or society. Five independent news sites, including the local service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) were subsequently blocked, and, a Baku Court upheld authorities' decision to do so in May.

The few critical outlets that can still disseminate information in the country face constant pressure and risk. In August 2017, a criminal case was opened against Turan, the last independent news agency operating inside the country, on charges of tax evasion; its director was arrested shortly afterward on related charges, and detained for several weeks before claims against him were dropped. In September, the government-controlled Azad Azerbaycan TV and Radio Company (ATV) replaced its top management after a host criticized the Baku mayor on a morning television program.

Attacks and intimidation of journalists and their families continued in 2017. In April, blogger Mehman Galandarov, who was known for his criticism of the government, was found dead in his prison cell, allegedly by suicide; he had been arrested in February on trumped-up charges of drug trafficking. There was no independent autopsy or public investigation of his death, and local activists who attempted to speak to his family said it appeared they had been pressured into remaining silent. In February, 12 family members of Ordukhan Teymurkhan, a Netherlands-based dissident blogger, were detained and questioned by police. Two received month-long sentences for disobeying police. The brother-in-law of Turkel Alisoy, another Azerbaijani journalist based in the Netherlands, was arrested in November on charges of drug trafficking local activists said were fabricated. And in May, investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli was abducted from Tbilisi, Georgia, and transported to Azerbaijan, where he was charged with smuggling.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 0 / 4

The government restricts the practice of minority and "nontraditional" religions and denominations, largely through burdensome registration requirements and interference with the importation and distribution of printed religious materials. A number of mosques have been closed in recent years, ostensibly for registration or safety violations. In 2017, several booksellers received fines of about $1,200 for selling unsanctioned religious literature. Jehovah's Witnesses face continued harassment, with several meetings broken up during 2017 and some members detained. In January, 17 members of the Muslim Unity Movement (MUM), a conservative Shiite group, received prison sentences of up to 20 years for charges including conspiracy to overthrow the government. In September, 14 of them were pardoned.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 1 / 4

The authorities have long linked academic freedom to political activity. Some educators have reported being dismissed for links to opposition groups, and students have faced expulsion and other punishments for similar reasons.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 1 / 4

Law enforcement bodies are suspected of monitoring private telephone and online communications  particularly of activists, political figures, and foreign nationals  without judicial oversight. The escalation of government persecution of critics and their families has undermined the assumption of privacy and eroded the openness of private discussion. In recent years, activists have reported being targeted by spear-phishing campaigns designed to install malware on their computers or steal personal information.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 1 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 0 / 4

National law imposes tight restrictions on freedom of assembly, and under 2016 amendments, the right to free assembly is contingent on not violating "public order and morals." Unsanctioned gatherings can draw a harsh police response and fines for participants. After the Laundromat scandal emerged in September 2017, the main opposition organized two anticorruption protests in Baku. Although both rallies were sanctioned, at least three opposition members were detained prior to the first.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 0 / 4

Repressive laws on NGOs have been used to pressure both local and foreign organizations, many of which suspended operations when their bank accounts were frozen or their offices raided.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 1 / 4

Although the law permits the formation of trade unions and the right to strike, the majority of unions remain closely affiliated with the government, and most major industries are dominated by state-owned enterprises.

F. RULE OF LAW: 1 / 16 (-1)

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 0 / 4

The judiciary is corrupt, inefficient, and subservient to the executive. Although nominally independent, the Bar Association acts on the orders of the Ministry of Justice, and is complicit in the harassment of human rights lawyers.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 1 / 4

Constitutional guarantees of due process are not upheld. Arbitrary arrest and detention are common, and detainees are often held for long periods before trial. Opposition figures, journalists, and activists arrested or sentenced in recent years have reported restricted access to legal counsel, fabrication and withholding of evidence, and physical abuse.

A bill passed in October 2017 restricts court representation by lawyers who are not members of the bar, giving the politicized Bar Association full control over the legal profession and seriously limiting access to representation.

In April, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the state had failed to conduct an adequate investigation into the 2005 murder of journalist Elmar Huseynov.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 0 / 4

Reports of the use of torture to extract confessions continue. Prison conditions are substandard; medical care is generally inadequate, and overcrowding is common. The ECHR ruled in May 2017 that the state had failed to protect a prisoner's right to life and to conduct an effective investigation into his death in 2006.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 0 / 4 (-1)

Members of ethnic minority groups have complained of discrimination in areas including education, employment, and housing. In September 2017, police imprisoned or fined dozens of people  police said 83 but local activists put the number as high as 200  in a coordinated crackdown on LGBT people. Some were reportedly beaten by police. All were released in early October; and some reportedly fled the country.

Score Change: The score declined from 1 to 0 due to a coordinated crackdown on LGBT people in September, under which dozens of individuals were imprisoned or fined.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 5 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 1 / 4

The government restricts freedom of movement, particularly foreign travel, for opposition politicians, journalists, and civil society activists. Courts denied appeals by such individuals against their travel bans in 2017.

People with disabilities and psychiatric patients are routinely institutionalized; there is no clear procedure to review their confinement.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 1 / 4

Property rights and free choice of residence are affected by government-backed development projects that often entail forced evictions, unlawful expropriations, and demolitions with little or no notice.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 2 / 4

Traditional societal norms and poor economic conditions restrict women's professional roles. Domestic violence committed against women, men, and children is a problem.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 1 / 4

Domestic violence remains a problem, and Azerbaijan is a source, transit point, and destination for forced labor and sex trafficking. Roma children are particularly susceptible to forced labor, including by being forced to work in restaurants or as roadside vendors, or to engage in forced begging. The government has taken some efforts to combat trafficking, including by prosecuting traffickers and providing services to victims.

Explanatory Note:

The numerical ratings and status listed above do not reflect conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is examined in a separate report.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedDenver, CO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/04/2018 --Hundreds of minority constituents from Colorado say when they brought overwhelming credible evidence to Senator Michael Bennet that the Colorado U.S. Attorney's Office and federal judge Christine M. Arguello engaged in misconduct resulting in the wrongful imprisonment of five (originally six) technology executives from Colorado Springs known as the "IRP6", he repeatedly stonewalled them, even telling dozens of African-Americans on one occasion that they were not his constituents.



Family, friends and parishioners from the IRP6's church, many of whom were African-Americans, say they were hurt and disappointed when, after holding a March 15, 2013 protest at the Denver federal courthouse, they went to Senator Bennet's office for help and he wouldn't come outside to talk to them. Instead, Senator Bennet sent his chief of staff outside to tell them they were not his constituents.



The IRP6 case (District of Colo. no. 09-cr-00266-CMA) concerns five (4 black, one white) wrongly-convicted and imprisoned software executives of the IRP Solutions Corporation who developed "Case Investigative Life Cycle (CILC)" criminal investigations software that was targeted by the Department of Homeland Security and DOJ to modernize the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement case management system after 9/11. In an effort to gain business from DHS and the NYPD who showed great interest in CILC and praised its capabilities, the IRP execs, agreed to make modifications to CILC (pronounced "silk") and contracted the services of staffing companies who reviewed the potential of the CILC software, conducted credit checks and agreed to provide temporary labor to IRP Solutions to help with the modifications. After a year and a half of demonstrations, modifications and a $100 million-dollar quote provided to DHS at their request, the FBI raided IRP Solutions with a search warrant affidavit that falsely stated that IRP Solutions was a "purported" software development company and spent 11 hours imaging every computer in their building. The raid destroyed IRP's ability to complete a sale, generate revenue and pay its debts. The government falsely claimed the execs never intended to pay, CILC didn't exist and that staffing companies were duped into signing their own staffing services contracts.



Many more details of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct from the grand jury and trial were publicized by a former federal appeals judge and by advocacy organization A Just Cause and was recently provided to Senator Bennet in the form of a dossier (published online at http://bit.ly/2wBaCyJ) and he still is unwilling to meet with the families or A Just Cause.



According to advocacy organization A Just Cause, Senator Bennet continues to this day ignoring his constituents even after learning that retired federal appeals judge H. Lee Sarokin told the Washington Post that the IRP6's constitutional rights were violated, and they were wrongly convicted for failing to pay corporate debts. Sarokin, who retired from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals immersed himself into the facts of the case and reviewed trial records after a critical portion of the transcript mysteriously disappeared where Judge Arguello was alleged to have intentionally violated the defendants' constitutional rights. Judge Sarokin was so troubled by the injustice and how the case was mishandled, he sent letters to the DOJ and blogged about the case on the Huffington Post where he is a contributor.



In his Huffington Post blog, Sarokin said that trial transcripts show that Judge Arguello, indeed, had violated the IRP6 defendants 5th Amendment rights. Sarokin became convinced that the men were innocent, and that race may have played a part in their conviction. "What amazed me about the case," Sarokin told the Post, "was the theory of the government, that this program they were developing was a scam. "All the proof in the case goes the other way."



Politicians and judges across the political spectrum have acknowledged that implicit racial bias exists in the American criminal justice system and the subject has been a part of recent Senate confirmation hearings for federal judges. Judge Sarokin discussed in that the unduly harsh sentences of 7 to 11 years given to the IRP6 may also have been racially-motivated. "I don't know if race played a part. But if you put all the connections together, I don't know that there's any other conclusion," Sarokin said in his Post interview. To raise public awareness about the IRP6 injustice, Sarokin, who is a playwright in his retire, wrote a short dramatic play called "The Race Card Face Up" where professional actors portraying the IRP6 bring to life the facts in the case, including the suspicious disappearance of a critical portion of the court transcript. The play can be seen online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y94O5mMJqHU



"Senator Bennet has not shown any compassion, sympathy or empathy to these Colorado families who have suffered the wrongful loss of their loved ones to prison, nor has he shown any outrage for intentional violations of the law and the Constitution by federal prosecutors or the judiciary," says Lamont Banks, Executive Director of A Just Cause. "When families in Colorado have been damaged and are hurting from government abuse, they expect Senator Bennet to demand answers from the DOJ," adds Banks. "The dossier (http://bit.ly/2wBaCyJ) which includes Judge Sarokin's article in the Washington Post and his blogs, leaves no doubt about the prosecutorial and judicial misconduct," says Banks. "Unfortunately, Senator Bennet doesn't appear interested in reading the dossier or supporting minority constituents in Colorado which is why they sought help outside of Colorado," says Banks.



In November 2017, four members of Congress read the dossier, sympathized with the plight of Colorado families and sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking for answers about the allegations of misconduct. A Just Cause provided the letter to Senator Bennet but he has been unwilling to sign on or send a personal letter to the DOJ. The DOJ has yet to respond to letter. The IRP5 (David A. Banks, David A. Zirpolo, Demetrius K. Harper, Clinton A. Stewart and Kendrick Barnes) have been in prison for over five and a half years and counting for a crime they didn't commit based on a trial rife with misconduct and constitutional violations. "As a member of the U.S. Senate who has oversight of the DOJ and the federal courts, Senator Bennet has an obligation to his constituents and society as a whole to demand answers when federal justice officials engage in misconduct that result in a Coloradan's wrongful loss of liberty," exclaims Banks.



"We live in a nation in which liberty is cherished second to only life itself. Society commits no greater wrong than to convict and confine (or execute) one who may be innocent of the crimes with which he or she has been charged." H. Lee Sarokin, 1989Selbyville, DE -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/04/2018 --The Industry outlook report "Distribution Panel Market Size By Voltage (Low Voltage(LV), Medium Voltage(MV)), Mounting (Flush Mounting, Surface Mounting), End Use (Residential, Commercial(College/University, Office, Government/Military), Industrial(Power Generation (Thermal), Chemical, Refinery, Cement ), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Austria, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, China, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico), Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017  2024" by Global Market Insights, Inc. says Distribution Panel Market share is expected to cross $7 billion by 2024.



Growing measures to cater the electricity demand supply mismatch will drive the distribution panel market size. Over the past two decades there has been significant upsurge in the electricity consumption. As per IEA global consumption has expanded from 6,799 TWh in 1980 to 20,775 TWh in 2015. This in turn is anticipated to have substantial impact in the industry outlook.



Government measures toward rural electrification along with growing adoption of distributed generation systems will stimulate the distribution board market size. As per the recent study conducted by the World Bank over 15% of the global population lacks continuous or direct access to electric grid. In 2016, International Energy Agency stated that over USD 718 billion investment is required to achieve 100% percent electrification across the globe. Ambitious electrification targets with ongoing funding will positively influence the business landscape.



Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2392



France distribution board market is predicted to surpass USD 160 million by 2024. Strict government mandates toward installation of energy efficient systems will further complement the industry outlook. As per the country's National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, policymakers are targeting to reduce consumption of existing building structures by 38% by 2020.



China distribution panel market is predicted to witness steep progression owing to growing electricity demand. The Government of China has laid down its ambitious plan to invest USD 530 billion towards the development of smart grid network under which USD 18 billion will be used to enhance the distribution capabilities.



Browse key industry insights spread across 440 pages with 472 market data tables & 10 figures & charts from the report, "Distribution Panel Market" in detail along with the table of contents:



https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/distribution-panel-market



Commercial distribution panel market is expected to reach over USD 1 billion by 2024. Rapidly expanding service industries along with strict measure toward energy conservation will stimulate the product demand.



Growing investments across the infrastructure developmental projects coupled with surging urban population will drive the distribution panel market growth. According to recent studies by oxford economic, the global civil/infrastructure industry will require USD 94 trillion from 2016 to 2024 toward various developmental activities.



Egypt distribution panel market is projected to witness gain of over 7% by 2024. Government measure to strengthen ageing distribution infrastructure along with growing demand for reliable and continuous electricity will complement the business growth. In 2016, Egyptian Electricity Holding Co. allocated USD 220 million towards the consolidation of the country's power distribution network.



Argentina distribution panel market will witness strong growth due to rising investments across country's real estate industry. According to Government of Argentina, in 2016 over 2000/month property sales were registered regardless of having population of 3 million.



Notable players across the distribution panel market include Legrand, GE, Siemens, Eaton, Hager, NHP Electrical Engineering, ABB, Industrial Electric Mfg, ESL Power Systems, Larsen & Toubro, Schneider Electric, Arabian Gulf Switchgear, and Abunayyan Holding.



Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2392



About Global Market Insights

Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.The Zimbabwean government will this year open a metallurgical laboratory that will be used to establish the true value and quality of mineral export shipments, particularly the platinum group of metals (PGMs), a local weekly has reported.

The Zimbabwe Independent quoted the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) general manager Masimba Chandavengerwa as saying Harare would expend about $1.2 million to set up the laboratory, as well as three weigh bridges to be established at key border points.

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said in 2015 that Zimbabwe was being prejudiced up to $1,8 billion annually through mineral smuggling while former president Robert Mugabe claimed in 2016 that of the $15 billion realized from the sale of Marange diamonds since 2006 only $2 billion had been channeled to the treasury.

We want to determine the exact quality of minerals leaving the country. The final assaying is done in South Africa; it should be done in Zimbabwe, he said.

This year we will have this laboratory running. The laboratory will be used to certify exports leaving the country.

Chandavengerwa said MMCZ was also investing towards installing tracking software that would be installed at key border points across the country.

Minerals account for half of the countrys annual export revenue, with gold and platinum accounting for half of total annual export earnings, according to the Zimbabwe Independent.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished

RioZims Murowa to explore for diamonds, returns to profitability

04 april 2018 News

RioZim is expected to start diamond exploration this month on its 3,000-hectare piece of land in Chivi, as part of its expansion drive, according to a local daily.

The Herald newspaper quoted company chief executive Bhekinkosi Nkomo as saying that they were currently clearing the land where new drilling equipment would be commissioned.

He said the company was also negotiating for allocation of additional land to increase chances of finding diamonds given that seven years of exploration at Murowa found three kimberlitic pipes.

We have engaged the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, we are also in discussions with other ministries such as that of lands, said Nkomo.

We made a presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy, we also invited them to our operations at Murowa so that they tour and see the actual activities and what it takes to run a diamond mine.

Meanwhile, Murowa recorded a profit after tax of $1.4 million last year compared to a loss of $267,000 in 2016.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&PolishedThe U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has reversed the federal district court in Great Falls in the case by Defenders of Wildlife against the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project. The district court had issued a preliminary injunction that stopped construction of a new irrigation weir and fish bypass. The reversal vacates that preliminary injunction.

This is outstanding news for our communities. It is cause to celebrate. We still face, however, the upcoming hearing on summary judgment in Great Falls on April 19.

The issues on a preliminary injunction and the issues on summary judgment are not the same. Our victory in the 9th Circuit does not guarantee victory on summary judgment. But the victory will have influence, and in this instance the influence might be strong.

The influence might be strong because of how strong the opinion of the 9th Circuit is in this case.

First, the 9th Circuit acted through a three-judge panel. Theirs is not a split decision. The three judges decided to reverse the district court unanimously.

Second, this is not a nip-and-tuck reversal. It is a fairly lopsided reversal. There are four issues on appellate review of a preliminary injunction, and the 9th Circuit held the district court was in error on all four of the issues. Error on one of them would have been enough, but the 9th Circuit went through all four of them.

Third, the degree of error on some of the issues must be fairly extreme to warrant reversal. The appellate court must find that the district court abused its discretion and acted arbitrarily and capriciously. Legally speaking, that is some pretty tough talk, and the 9th Circuit used that language to describe what the Obama appointee, Judge Brian Morris, had done when he issued the preliminary injunction.

The four issues are:

A. Whether the party that sought the preliminary injunction established that it was likely to succeed on the merits when the time comes for rendering a final judgment.

B. Whether the party that sought the preliminary injunction established that it was likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief. In other words, waiting for the final judgment would be bad because, by that time, more harm would happen that a final judgment could not fix.

C. Whether the party that sought the preliminary injunction established that the equities tip in his favor.

D. Whether the preliminary injunction is in the public interest.

Judge Morris held that Defenders of Wildlife had established all four of those matters, but the 9th Circuit did not agree on any of them.

The 9th Circuit said that because Defenders of Wildlife, insofar as the preliminary injunction is concerned, did not seek to enjoin the continued operations of the existing weir, the district court erred when it considered the harm cause by continued operation of the exiting weir. That worked in our favor on appeal of the preliminary injunction, but we must remember that things will be different on summary judgment. On summary judgment, Defenders of Wildlife have indeed challenged the ongoing operations of the existing weir. That will be before the court at the April 19 hearing on summary judgment.

The 9th Circuit said the district court flipped the burden of proof backwards. The district court required the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to prove that the proposed fish bypass would allow successful pallid sturgeon passage around the weir. But on the issue of irreparable harm for an injunction, the Corps did not have that legal burden. Instead, the burden was on Defenders of Wildlife to prove some irreparable harm from the new project. This, again, will be different on summary judgment because irreparable harm is an issue for an injunction, but not for summary judgment.

So, the result on those two issues is encouraging, but far from a guarantee of success on summary judgment.

A better indicator is what the 9th Circuit said about likelihood of success on the merits when the time comes for rendering final judgment. The claims are under the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Clean Water Act. The 9th Circuit said: On each of the claims at issue, the district court erred in supplanting the deferential standard of review under the Administrative Procedure Act. This just means that when an agency has a field of expertise, courts should show deference to their decisions within that field of expertise. The 9th Circuit did not see Judge Morris showing the proper, legal deference to the expertise of those who made the biological assessment that the fish bypass would make things better for the pallid sturgeon.

The 9th Circuit went into this part of its reasoning in further detail. It looked specifically at each of the claims and each of the congressional acts. The 9th Circuits elaboration of the district courts errors on these matters provides the strongest influence of the appellate court on the upcoming decision of the district court on summary judgment. The language is especially tough relating to the district courts error under the National Environmental Policy Act. As to this Act, the 9th Circuit said Judge Morris made an arbitrary and capricious finding. Go to any standard dictionary and look up the words arbitrary and capricious. How much influence all of this will have remains to be seen, but at least all of this influence is favorable to us.

If anything, this is even more reason for as many of us from our communities as possible to attend the hearing in Great Falls on April 19. Just as the injunction itself was preliminary, our victory on it is only preliminary, but now the influence of our attendance receives a boost from the influence of the 9th Circuit.Dewberry

Dewberry has added Steven H. Santoro, former executive director of New Jersey Transit, as its new director of rail and transit.

During his 18 years spent at NJ Transit, Santoro managed 11,000 employees and a combined annual operating and capital budget totaling about $3 billion. NJ Transit is the third largest such agency in the U.S. and transports nearly one million passengers per day, Dewberry notes.

As director of rail and transit, Santoro is expected to enhance Dewberrys practice, mentor employees, grow relationships with rail and transit agencies and help bring projects to a point of client satisfaction.

Santoro joined NJ Transit in 2000, and in 2007 he was named as the agencys assistant executive director of capital planning/programs. He then managed multiple departments at the agency, including planning, project management, construction management and infrastructure engineering, Dewberry said.

Before he joined NJ Transit, Santoro was previously vice president for New York operations with a multi-office engineering and consulting company.

We welcome Steve Santoro to Dewberry with open arms, said Craig Johnson, president of Dewberrys northeast operations. My colleagues and I look forward to his guidance and significant experience implementing complex rail and transit programs here in the Northeast and anticipate his keen insight in further expanding our practice in the mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and beyond. We are humbled and excited that he chose to make Dewberry his next home.

Santoro is an alumnus of Rutgers University, where he received his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering in 1975.

In 2017, Santoro was recognized with the Service to the People Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, Dewberry said.

The American Council of Engineering Companies also honored him with its Distinguished Service Award in 2016.Imax Corp. (IMAX) announced Tuesday morning that it reached an agreement with Guangzhou JinYi Media Corporation for 30 new IMAX theatres in China.

Imax rose sharply during the first half hour of trade Tuesday and advanced further in the early afternoon. The stock ended the day with a gain of 1.55 at $21.30. Imax climbed to over a 2-week high.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsGoogle has banned all Cryptocurrency mining extensions on its Chrome Web Store, citing a rise in malicious extensions.

In a blog post, the company said that Chrome will no longer accept extensions that mine cryptocurrency, while existing extensions that mine cryptocurrency will be delisted from the Store in late June. However, extensions with blockchain-related purposes other than mining will continue to be permitted.

Google noted that Chrome Web Store policy has allowed crypto mining in extensions until now, as long as it is the extension's single purpose, and the user is adequately informed about the mining behavior.

"Unfortunately, approximately 90% of all extensions with mining scripts that developers have attempted to upload to Chrome Web Store have failed to comply with these policies, and have been either rejected or removed from the store," the company said in the post.

The company noted that malicious extensions has increased over the past few months. On the surface, they appear to provide useful functionality, but runs hidden cryptocurrency mining scripts in the background without the user's consent. According to Google, these mining scripts often consume significant CPU resources, and can severely impact system performance and power consumption.

James Wagner, Extensions Platform Product Manager, said, "The extensions platform provides powerful capabilities that have enabled our developer community to build a vibrant catalog of extensions that help users get the most out of Chrome. Unfortunately, these same capabilities have attracted malicious software developers who attempt to abuse the platform at the expense of users. This policy is another step forward in ensuring that Chrome users can enjoy the benefits of extensions without exposing themselves to hidden risks."

According to a recent report by Symantec, the practice of cryptocurrency mining by hijacking computers, known as cryptojacking, reached greater heights in the final months of 2017. The cybersecurity service provider has detected 8,500 percent increase in cyber criminals trying to make money by hacking computers through coinminers in the last quarter of 2017, a period that witnessed steep rise in the value of cryptocurrencies.

In February, electric car maker Tesla Inc. became a victim of cryptojacking, according to cybersecurity software firm RedLock. Tesla's Amazon Web Services or AWS cloud account was used by hackers to perform crptocurrency mining, which requires enormous computer power.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsC&C Group Plc (CCR.L) announced that with the support of AB InBev, it is in advanced discussions to acquire the entire issued share capital of Matthew Clark (Holdings) Limited and Bibendum PLB (Topco) Limited and their subsidiary businesses Catalyst, Peppermint, Elastic and Walker & Wodehouse. The Group noted that the proposed acquisition is conditional upon, amongst other things, the appointment of administrators to Conviviality Brands Limited, the seller, which is expected to occur immediately.

Matthew Clark Bibendum is the largest independent distributor to the UK on-trade drinks sector. On 29th March 2018, its parent company Conviviality Plc announced its intention to appoint administrators and to explore a potential sale of all or part of the .

C&C Group said the consideration for the shares will be a nominal sum, and C&C will provide sufficient funds to support the on-going working capital and other cash requirements of the business. AB InBev will provide additional financial support to the transaction.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsAmazon.com Inc is likely to make a rival offer to buy Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart Online Services Pvt., which is in deal talks with Walmart Inc, Mint newspaper reported.

The report said, citing people with knowledge of the matter, that Amazon held early exploratory talks to buy major stake in India's biggest online retailer Flipkart, but a deal with Walmart is more likely.

Meanwhile, the probability of a deal with Amazon is said to be very low for concerns of monopoly issues as Flipkart and Amazon dominate the e-commerce market in India.

Reuters reported in February that Walmart is in talks to buy over 40 percent of Flipkart, founded by former Amazon employees Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.

Amazon, which expands into online grocery delivery, has committed to investing $5 billion in India.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsAmazon.com Inc. (AMZN) said that it plans to open in North Las Vegas its fourth Nevada facility supporting customer fulfillment, creating more than 1,000 full-time jobs with benefits starting on day one. The company currently employs more than 3,000 full-time associates at its three existing Nevada facilities in North Las Vegas and Reno.

Amazon has invested millions of dollars into its local fulfillment center infrastructure and through compensation to thousands of employees in the state. Amazon's investments in Nevada contributed an additional $50 million into Nevada's from 2011 through 2016, and using methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 1,300 indirect jobs on top of the company's direct hires.

Amazon employees at the more than 800,000-square-foot fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship small items to customers such as books, household items and toys.

Full-time employees at Amazon receive competitive hourly wages and a comprehensive benefits package including insurance, disability insurance, 401(k) and company stock awards starting on day one. The company also offers up to 20 weeks of maternal and parental paid leave and innovative benefits such as Leave Share and Ramp Back, which give new parents flexibility with their growing families.

Amazon also offers full-time employees innovative programs like Career Choice, where the company will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program's launch, over 12,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsHSBC Holdings Plc's (HSBA.L, HSBC) Chief Executive Officer John Flint and Chairman Mark Tucker are considering shrinking the bank's global imprint even further as part of a plan set to be revealed over coming months, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.

Flint, who took over in February, is reviewing as many as a quarter of the 67 countries the bank operates in, and is mulling an exit or sale from smaller consumer operations such as Bermuda, Malta and Uruguay, the reports said.

The CEO is also looking at expanding the asset management unit, potentially merging it with a rival, they said. Discussions about HSBC's strategy are at an early stage and no final decisions have been made, the report said.

While the countries under review may be profitable, the duo want to sharpen the focus on the trade corridor that runs from Asia, through the Middle East and Europe, to North and Central America, the report said.

As part of the review, Flint is assessing options for the wealth and asset management unit including the possibility of creating an independent unit. It has historically been combined with retail banking because of the overlap of rich clients between the two.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsWhile the U.S. and China have recently engaged in tit-for-tat tariff announcements, President Donald Trump has dismissed the idea that he is instigating a trade war.

Trump argued in a post on Twitter on Wednesday that the trade war with China was already lost because of the policies of previous administrations.

"We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S.," Trump tweeted,

"Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion," he added. "We cannot let this continue!"

The tweet from Trump came after China issued a list of 106 U.S. products that will be subject to additional tariffs.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of U.S. exports, including aircraft, cars, and soybeans.

The announcement by China came shortly after the U.S. Trade Representative published a proposed list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs.

The publication of the list came after Trump announced last month that he planned to impose about $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods over intellectual-property violations.

The USTR said the sectors subject to the proposed tariffs include industries such as aerospace, information and communication , robotics, and machinery.

Earlier in the week, China announced it was imposing tariffs on 128 products imported from the U.S. in response to Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. has a $500 billion trade deficit with China, although his assertion is not backed up by official data.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis showed the U.S. trade deficit with China was approximately $336.7 billion in 2017, including good and services.

Excluding the U.S. surplus in services trade, the trade deficit in goods was $375.2 billion in 2017, still far narrower than the number cited by Trump.

Nonetheless, the president repeated the unsubstantiated figure in a subsequent tweet, saying, "When you're already $500 Billion DOWN, you can't lose!"

(Photo: Gage Skidmore)

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News(Agencia CMA Latam) - Brazilian regulators are investigating an alleged international cartel formation involving five manufacturers of hard-drives - Hutchinson Technology, Magnecomp Precision, NHK Spring, TDK Corporation and SAE Magnetics.

The Brazilian competition regulator, known as CADE, will probe if the companies rigged prices of so-called "suspension assemblies" - a hard disk component which holds the position of a magnetic media reader on the surface of a spinning disc.

According to CADE, there is evidence that the companies divided the market and combined prices in response to requests for quotation from customers. "The companies also shared competitively sensitive information," CADE said.

According to the regulator, anti-competitive practices would have been conducted by at least 38 individuals linked to and implemented through meetings and e-mail exchanges at least between 2003 and May 2016.

The companies should be notified to present their defense arguments.

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) - The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) started the debate on former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's habeas corpus and diverged in the first two of the eleven votes to be cast on that matter.

Lula's defense aims to keep the politician free until there are no more ways to appeal from a jail sentence for corruption and money laundering.

Market participants believe that a decision that favors Lula would be harmful to Brazilian assets because he could undermine economic reforms adopted by president Michel Temer's administration, either as a presidential candidate or using his political leverage.

Justice Edson Fachin, the first to vote Wednesday, was against the habeas corpus request. He argued that a lower instance court had already denied a similar request and that defense lawyers were unable to provide a law-related case against Lula's conviction.

However, judge Gilmar Mendes dissented and argued that criminal justice in Brazil is flawed, criticized second instance courts and voted in favor of granting Lula the habeas corpus. He also maintained that Lula's sentence should begin after a third stance court analyzes the case.

The trial continues, and nine more justices are set to vote.

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.J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM) has agreed to buy Ainsworth Pet Nutrition LLC in a transaction valued at about $1.7 billion, after an estimated tax benefit of $200 million.

"Ainsworth Pet Nutrition is an excellent strategic fit for our Company, as the Rachael RayTM Nutrish brand adds another high-growth, on-trend brand to our pet food portfolio," said Mark Smucker, Chief Executive Officer. "Their team has done a tremendous job growing this , building Nutrish into one of the most recognizable premium pet food brands in the United States."

Ainsworth is a privately-held company headquartered in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In addition to its headquarters, the transaction includes two manufacturing facilities owned by Ainsworth and a leased distribution facility. Ainsworth's 700 employees are expected to join Smucker.

Smucker expects Ainsworth's business to contribute sales of about $800 million in the first full year after closing the transaction. The business expected to contribute about $0.25 per share of accretion to the company's adjusted earnings.

Smucker plans to fund the all-cash transaction with debt. The transaction is expected to close early in the company's fiscal year beginning May 1, 2018.

Smucker also said it is reviewing strategic options, including a potential divestiture, for its U.S. baking business that includes products sold in U.S. retail channels under the Pillsbury, Martha White, Hungry Jack, White Lily, and Jim Dandy brands. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter.

"We regularly review our portfolio to ensure it aligns with our strategic priorities," said Mark Smucker. "However, our current strategic priorities include an increased emphasis and allocation of resources toward growing our coffee, pet, and snacking food businesses."

SJM closed Wednesday's trading at $123.70, up $1.98 or 1.63%, on the NYSE.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Amid Dalit unrest in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a dig at the Congress for always doing politics in the name of Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar but ignoring his contributions. Speaking at a programme to mark the inauguration of a building of Western Court Annexe in Parliament complex, Modi said it was the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government that decided to have two memorials installed at two places in the capital.



Without naming the Congress-led UPA, he said it could not happen as the governments that followed Vajpayee showed little interest and ignored Ambedkar and his contributions.



"After that, the governments ran like that... Everybody is always ready to do politics in the name of Babasahib. But nobody gave him the kind of respect and paid tributes to him as much as this government did," the Prime Minister said.



He said his government was walking the path shown by Ambedkar and asked every political group to try and do the same for the country's development.



"At the core of Ambedkar's ideals is harmony and togetherness. Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission."



The remarks came days after at least nine people were killed in widespread violence during protests by Dalit groups across the country against a Supreme Court ruling that diluted provisions of a law aimed at preventing atrocities against Dalits and tribes.





India-Russia collaboration and cooperation is indispensable for ensuring global peace and security, experts from Delhi and Moscow said during an international security conference. New Delhi: In view of the changing strategic dynamics of the world, cooperation between India and Russia becomes all-important.



In the renewed geo-politcal scenario, India-Russia collaboration is vital for ensuring peace and stability, strategic experts and diplomats said during a video-conference held simultaneously at Delhi and Moscow on the occasion of international security conference in Moscow which will be attended by Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.



Experts also opined that Russias experience in Syria is vital for combating terrorism.



Experts from Moscow said that international community can take a leaf from Russias successful mission in Syria to combat terror.



There is no ready to use therapy for combating terror elements while the essential aspects is that for any such combat there are three elements which are the military, social and political components, Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Dy Chairman Alexei Kondratiev said.



Russia has been largely successful in its Syrian operation because it could simultaneously take up all these factors in consideration and these learnings are vital for situations like that in Afghanistan, Alexei Kondratiev further added.



Speaking on the occasion, Gulshan Sachdeva from the Centre for European Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University said that, The trust built with years of working together between India and Russia is a vital element for international cooperation to fight terror and to ensure security and stability in the region which has global impications.



The video interaction titled Regional Security: A view from Moscow and Delhi organized by the Russian Information Center and was coordinated by Olga Dycheva, Head of the Information Department of the Russian Embassy.



The Governments plan to slap an extra tax on imported chicken is cold and heartless. That much cannot be denied.

While Tuilaepas administration is riding on the health ticket in a bid to make this newest tax discussed in Parliament last week easy to swallow, nothing can be further from the truth.

This has nothing to do with health. Its just an excuse.

Rather, it has everything to do with the Governments plan to continue to tax every member of the public to the bone so that in the end, they can extract every last sene  even from the people who cannot afford it.

The truth is it is a cold and calculated move that will only make life even more miserable for the poorest people in this country.

We are talking about thousands of Samoans who are already struggling.

For the past years, the pages of this newspaper exist to tell of their hardship, struggles and just how hard life has been. Indeed, the Samoa Observers Village Voice has been making some eye-opening disclosures with stories about the reality of living in paradise.

These stories without a doubt would dent our egos and bring us back to reality. They are the sorts of stories those in power dont want the outside world to know. Even some village leaderships and church people in Samoa would deny outright whats being told by these people.

But we dont make up these stories. Contrary to what Prime Minister Tuilaepa said that all news in Samoa is not real news, these stories are taking place right here in our backyards.

Many of these families dont have a steady supply of drinking water. They live in slum like huts where they sleep on rocks because the floors of their homes are not cemented. They are families without electricity.

In some of these cases, they are families of more than 10 people with only one person working and probably being paid the minimum wage of $2.30 an hour.

This is the cold truth about living in Samoa today.

For some families, many children are not attending school.

Either the parents cannot afford to send them to school or the children are forced to become breadwinners  even from a very young age. That is why on the streets of Apia  and just everywhere else now  there are children hawking goods at all hours of day and night.

Some of them are sleeping on the cold floor of street corners and public buildings. It is a heartbreaking sight.

So how can we not feel for them?

The stories of mothers trying their very best to make ends meet, grandmothers who continue to toil day in and day out, fathers and husbands working the land and many other heartbreaking stories of struggles and hardship.

Regardless of the circumstances, when we look at the minimum wage of $2.30 an hour compared to the cost of living  and the millions wasted through mismanagement, collusion, abuse of power and corrupt practices within the government - dont you think this just downright cruel, immoral?

This is why we say the Governments decision to add another tax on the cost of a box of imported chicken is cold and heartless.

Anyone who lives in Samoa and familiar with the reality of day-to-day Samoan living knows the truth. It is chicken day everyday for the simple reason that today in Samoa, it is the most affordable meat source there is.

So from Sunday to Sunday throughout the whole year, chicken is cooked in a variety of different ways to make evening meals a bit more bearable. And its not just the poorest families who do this, even families with regular incomes resort to this to try and get by.

And yet this Government just cannot help itself so that soon, you and I, and every other Samoan out there  including the poorest of the poor - will have to fork out more for a pound of chicken.

What is this country coming to?

And when will our people decide that enough is enough?

Tell us what you think, have a wonderful Wednesday Samoa, God bless!Dear Editor,

I read the Prime Ministers threat to ban Facebook with a lot of interest.

But here is my challenge, why dont you explain yourself in relation to the allegations that have been presented?

If they are wrong, why dont you prove to the country that you are totally innocent and pure? Revenge and threats dont reflect well on you.

Clarify to the public what these people have been accusing you of, and the media will continue to do its job which is to broadcast what is going on around the country and the world without any bias.

When you talk about hurting someone, it sounds like youve done this before or at least contemplated or planned one before.

Since when is a good leader hurting his own people?

Why dont you ask to talk things over?

Dont waste government money to hunt these faceless writers, use it to provide water and electricity to the poor people, and build a good sewage system for all Samoa.

There are so many productive things to do with government money than to spend it on hunting someone you just dont want to hear.

Ruta Lealaitafea WestinNext Friday has been declared a public holiday to honour the passing of Member of the Council of Deputies, Tuiloma Pule Lameko.

The decision was confirmed by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Maleielgaoi.

Tuiloma passed away at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital at the beginning of the week. He was 83.

During an interview with the Samoa Observer at his office, Tuilaepa paid tribute to one of Samoas longest serving public servants.

He described him as a hard working man who served his country, his people and the government well.

Tuilaepa said Tuilomas funeral next Friday would be a state funeral.

And starting from next Wednesday, the flags will fly half-mast in honour his work.

Tuilomas passing was confirmed by a statement issued by the family earlier this week.

Our family is deeply saddened by the passing of a man of great faith who always taught us the values of integrity, humility, respect, fairness, love and service for family, village, church and the people of Samoa, the statement reads.

A lay preacher who loved the Lord, an orator and high chief who was rich with knowledge and pride for his Samoan heritage, a statesman, a politician, a Fellow chartered accountant, a farmer and a business man whose life was devoted to serve. Known to our family as 'Meko', he will be sorely missed."The Office of the former Head of State, His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, has denied reports he has agreed to speak at a Samoa Solidarity International Group (S.S.I.G.) protest in Savaii planned for this Saturday.

Contrary to a post on the Groups website, which was immediately circulated on social media yesterday, His Highness Tui Atuas Office last night moved to distant themselves from it.

The report is not true, a spokesperson for the former Head of State said.

I can tell you he is not speaking. He is actually sad that his name is being used in such a manner.

The spokesperson declined to elaborate. But the announcement was made in a post under the headline His Highness the former Head of State Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese will speak at the Savali o le Filemu march in Salelologa Savaii posted on SSIGglobal.com.

S.S.I.G. Global Samoa has received great news, the announcement reads.

His highness the Honorable Tama Aiga, le Tui Atua, Tupua Tamasese Efi, former Head of State, has said he will be speaking at the Savali ole filemu in Salelologa, Savaii this coming weekend, April 7, 2018."

This announcement has brought great prestige to S.S.I.G. Global's march in Savaii. The leaders of this movement are honored that such a distinguished and honored traditional leader of the paramount chiefs of Samoa, the Tama Aiga, has made his will known that he will be a part of the march and that he will address those who attend the march.

Yesterday, the Land Transport Authority (L.T.A.) confirmed that it has granted the request for by S.S.I.G. for peaceful protest march in Savaii.

This was confirmed by L.T.A. Chief Executive Officer, Ta'atialeoitiiti Tutuvanu-Schwalger.

The peaceful march in Savaii aims to raise awareness and to inform the public about the threats on Samoas customary lands via the L.T.R.A. 2008.

Initially Unasa Iuni Sapolu, a member confirmed their group has already submitted a request to the Ministry of Police for a license to peacefully march in Savaii.

However last week, Police Superintendent Auapaau Logoitino Filipo told the Samoa Observer the letter was sent to the S.S.I.G. to seek authorization from L.T.A. to use the road in Savaii.

The law states that only the use of the main beach road that the Commissioner of Police has the authority to issue a permit to march, explained Auapaau.

According to the Tutuvanu-Schwalger on the 23rd March 2018, L.T.A. received a letter of request for permission from the Samoa Solidarity International Group to hold a peaceful march.

I have dispatched this letter of request to our L.T.A. Savaii Division at Salelologa with our approval of S.S.I.G.s request."

The L.T.A. will communicate with S.S.I.G. to ensure that the peace march is carried out in a safe manner.

Pertaining to the march, Unasa said the law that makes titles other than customary land titles paramount is bad law and should be repealed.

S.S.I.G., she added, is about peacefully raising awareness demonstrating the belief that our customary land is not safe.

Our fanua faaleaganuu or faasamoa is under grave attack by money interest, said Unasa.

In December last year, a similar march was held in Apia, where about 300 people attended led by Samoa Solidarity International members, lawyer Unasa Iuni Sapolu, former Member of Parliament Leota Suatele, and Papalii Titiuatoa Malietoa.The Easter holiday on Monday will forever be remembered by people of Lepa and Saleapaga on the south coast of Upolu.

While the rest of the country relaxed and recovered from the festivities of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, people of all ages from both villages were among more than 100 people who participated in a diabetes awareness walk organised by the 1 Touch Ministry and Nobesity Samoa.

The walk, which began from Lepa and finished at Saleapaga, is a continuation of the inaugural diabetes awareness campaign held last month in Apia.

The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Afamasaga Rico Tupai, organised the event by connecting with the church Ministers and inviting their respective members to join the walk.

The event, which included a 30 minutes exercise programme involving children right to the elderly, was hosted by Rugby Hall of Fame legend, Muliagatele Brian Lima.

At the conclusion of the event, the Ministry, Nobesity Samoa and businessman, Jesse Shi, donated a range of sporting gears to the participating churches.

1Touch Ministrys Director, Pastor Lenny Solomona, said this was a way of trying to promote daily exercise along with improving nutrition.

U.S. Embassy Apia, Charge dAffaires, Tony Greubel, was also present.

Im really grateful that I got the opportunity to come to Saleapaga and support Pastor Lenny and One Touch Ministries and Nobesity Samoa and help people fight diabetes and other non-communicable diseases with a message of exercise and healthy eating, he said.

God has really blessed Samoa with wonderful soil, land, rainfall and an abundance of natural produce available to our people and I want to encourage our beautiful people of Samoa to take advantage of this."

God made it all for us and here at our disposal. I had such a wonderful time with Pastor Lenny and Tai and their team.

Pastor Lenny added a similar awareness programme will be held at Savaii with the date to be confirmed later.

This will now become an annual campaign where we take this message to different parts of Samoa. Team work makes the dream work. Is it a lot of work? Yes, especially when your team are all volunteers. I cant speak highly enough of our team. Theyre people of vision, leadership and most of, passion, he said.

Since we launched our programmes in 2014 (One Touch Ministry) and 2015 (Nobesity Samoa), weve had many challenges, and with these challenges come restrictions such as finances, resources, equipment, transport, and other areas."

However, this team has never laid or down or have allowed such challenges to stop the very thing theyre passionate about, and that is the people."

We do what we do and we love why we do it because of our passion. As long as the vision and the passion are alive, well keep on keeping on. And that is because this vision comes from God.Samoas culture attracted two New Zealand university students from the United States to the islands.

With a background in anthropology and environment, Jasmine Olins and Brette Lennon were mesmerized by the bond and the value Samoans place on their culture.

They are originally from America and will be in New Zealand until June.

They both agreed that they had to come and see and feel what Samoa is like after hearing so much about it.

They arrived on Friday and will leave on Thursday for New Zealand and for them; its been so far, so good.

We have a friend who has a friend that is studying here in Samoa which is the reason we came. He said he really liked it here and we wanted to come too, Jasmine told the Dear Tourist team.

Since it was close by New Zealand and it was an easy trip to come here for a mid-semester break before school starts again.

They shared their experience of the cultural performances at the Samoa Tourism Authority Fale.

The traditional dance here is way different from New Zealand. The Maoris are more aggressive in the way they perform, Brette shared.

Watching the performances indicates how strong the culture is and its value in this country.

The dances and performances are a big part of the culture and we really enjoyed that. It was cool that kids were trying to teach us how to dance.

Just by watching, there were young kids who were giving instructions about the culture here and it seems like they were taught at a young age.

They also commented on the difference between New Zealand and Samoa.

The people here are so friendly, and its not that the people in New Zealand arent friendly, but it is way different kind of atmosphere we get here.

Seeing the children and their different kind of happiness showcases their independence.

Samoa for them was a perfect place for relaxation. They enjoyed the good food, the hot sun and especially the ocean.

In America the water is very cold and salty, for New Zealand the water is cold too. But here in Samoa, the sea is so much warmer. It is the perfect temperature.

You can go snorkeling for hours without realising that you are getting sunburnt.

We will come back again, it is a good place to visit, have a holiday and experience a different culture.In December last year, four prisoners escaped from Tafaigata Prison. Among them was a notorious criminal convicted of tying up a man while raping his wife at knifepoint at Tiavi the year before.

The good news at the time was that Lauititi Tualima was immediately recaptured. A few days later, the other two escaped prisoners, Vaioa Solia and Aniseko Vaelei, were also captured. Which means one more remained on the run.

He is Uili Manuleleua.

The Police are appealing to members of the public for their assistance in order to catch this prisoner, a notice from the Police at the time said. The public is also advised not to approach the prisoner directly as he is considered aggressive and dangerous but urgently report it to Police at phone number 22222.

The S.P.S. would like to ensure the public that their safety is our priority at this time of the year and the police are working around the clock to catch these criminals.

Well that was in December 2017.

Today is Thursday 5 April 2018, which means that three months later, Manuleleua has continued to evade capture and he is enjoying freedom just like all law-abiding citizens out there.

What has happened to the Police search, we dont know. Suffice to say, how hard is it to find an escaped prisoner in Samoa? Its a small country where everybody knows somebody. Manuleleua must come from a family in a village somewhere in either Upolu, Savaii, Apolima or Manono. It shouldnt be that difficult to locate him. And yet, here we are approaching the middle of 2018 and there has not been a single word on his whereabouts.

But then this is hardly surprising. When it comes to prisoners running away and staying far from prison, Manuleleua is not the first. Weve had many similar cases in the past. Not so long ago one prisoner escaped from Tafaigata and somehow managed to board a plane bound for Australia. He hasnt been back since.

Which is ironic if you ask for our opinion. Whats happening at Tafaigata with prisoners running away and evading capture is a bit like the story of Samoa today. That as long as criminals and dodgy individuals who are supposed to be in jail are living among us, we can never feel totally safe.

The truth is that the Government and the relevant authorities have up until this point failed to deal with instances of corrupt practices, collusion and mismanagement highlighted by the Chief Auditor and the Officers of Parliament Committee.

These instances have been publicised in detail on the pages of your newspaper time and time again. And yet nothing has been done about them. Which means that there are people who should be in prison mingling among us today.

As long as that is the case, who needs a prison? Why does it surprise us then that criminals are doing whatever they feel like? Arent they merely products of the system they have been brought up in?

Let us remind you once again that one of the very basic pillars of a peaceful country is the ability of the Government to guarantee the safety and security of its residents.

In other words, for people of any country to live happily together, there has to be peace and freedom. For peace and freedom to become a reality, law and order must be firmly established.

It means that peoples security should be the Governments first priority. This is not the case, looking at whats happening. What is happening reflects negligence and poor planning; it shows the lack of importance given to the issue.

Quite often when these things happen, we tend to view them as isolated incidents in an attempt to make sense of it all.

Its a natural reaction and its not wrong. We do it all the time.

But when we step back a bit to take a look at the bigger picture, the idea that prisoners wander in and out of Tafaigata Prison at will is perhaps telling us something far more sinister about Samoa today.

In our opinion, as a country, we have adopted such a relaxed attitude towards criminals and wrongdoing. It has become acceptable. Its almost like weve accepted injustice as the norm.

How many times have we heard things like its just another case of corruption? Another theft? Another robbery? Another rape? Another domestic violence incident? Another prison escapee? And the list goes on.

When are we going to wake up and realise that this is not normal?

Now lets begin with the idea that prisoners belong in jail and that a prison is supposed to house them for their entire sentence. Thats right; people become prisoners when they break the law. There is a price to pay. A big part of that is being deprived of the privileges law-abiding citizens are entitled to  including freedom of movement.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about some of the most dangerous criminal minds in this country. They obviously feel that they are above the law and they can do whatever they want.

Doesnt that sound awfully familiar, when we think about some of the more recent cases of abuse of public properties and corrupt practises that have been highlighted?

Isnt it ironic that some of the poorest members of the public are jailed for stealing as little as $50 while the big fish get away with incidents involving millions?

Some of these people are still driving around in flash pimped out taxpayer-funded vehicles and living a life of luxury while their deeds remain unpunished. In this country, who is prosecuted and who is not? Who is carried and who is made to walk? Are there different laws for different people? Does it surprise anyone then that criminals at Tafaigata are acting the way they do?

Have a safe Thursday Samoa, God bless!Dear Editor,

Re: Facebook, church and corruption

The income tax law as it presently stands, is that part of the faifeaus income will be subjected to income tax.

We can argue until the cows come home about the rights and wrongs of this law but the reality is that it is law  and those in breach of it will be subjected to specified penalties.

The stance therefore taken by the C.C.C.S. Church amounts to civil disobedience.

From my vantage point at the makeki, it is interesting to watch developments in this case.

Should the Fono Tele in May decide to maintain the C.C.C.S.s opposition to the tax, then the individual faifeaus will be in breach.

How will the Government react? It can start imposing monetary fines and keep doing this until when? The P.M. can order an armed police intervention to round up the non-conforming faifeaus and put them in jail. (I sincerely hope it does not come to this!)

The Government can give in and exempt the C.C.C.S. from paying income taxes but on what basis would it make such an exemption?

Once such an exemption is granted to the C.C.C.S., other churches would seek similar treatment.

If you go down this route, the leakages from the amendments to the Act will resemble the holes in my old umbrella. My old umbrella serves no useful practical purpose apart from acting as a prop.

I suspect the amended income tax act will be similar in shape, if not purpose. Total capitulation to C.C.C.Ss ultimatum would make the Government, and in particular the P.M., look weak and equivocal.

This issue is shaping up to be biggest litmus test of the P.Ms legacy as Samoas longest serving Prime Minister.

Does he want to be remembered as a prime minister with convictions or will his legacy be one of a Prime Minister full of bluster and empty rhetoric.

It now looks like the battle lines are being drawn and I await the next

development. I wonder whether the battle would be fought and won on principles or simply a demonstration of immense power of the church versus the legal authority of the state.

Vai AutuThe law which legalises the taxing of Church Ministers targets them individually, not the Church.

Thats the response from Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi to the latest development where the biggest denomination in the country has decided to disobey the law by not paying their taxes.

The law applies to the Church Ministers individually, not the church as a whole, he said.

The law does not target an organization because the taxes are to be paid by the Church Minister not the church.

The Prime Minister was asked for his view following a story titled C.C.C.S. Church opposes Govt. published in the Sunday Samoan.

Documents leaked to the Samoa Observer shows that the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S.) will not obey the demand by the Government for all Church Ministers to pay income taxes.

According to the minutes of their meeting on 14 March, 2018, the church will only agree after a discussion during their annual Malua conference next month.

But the Prime Minister said unless it is officially announced by the church, he will not respond in case the report by the Samoa Observer is inaccurate.

Unless it is publicised by the church, only then I will comment, and also my views on behalf of the Government have already been published."

The law applies to the Church Ministers individually, not the church as a whole."

The law does not target an organization because the taxes are to be paid by the Church Minister not the church.

He reiterated the law targets the Church Ministers.

It is directed to the Church Ministers meaning the hammer will fall on the head of the nail."

That is why it is important to know that if the Elders of the Church try to interfere, we look back to the law which indicates that is being a party to a crime."

Also be mindful that is a serious matter."

I cannot comment because the report is from you and there is no certainty as to the accuracy of that report."

Because I know for a fact the Elders are wise men who are holy men who live by Gods Ten Commandments and they also understand Pauls scripture in Rome pertaining to the clergy paying taxes and that is why it is hard for me to believe your report."

Unless it comes directly from the Secretary General that means it is official.

It was put to the Prime Minister, it was him who said the Church is seeking an extension until their General Conference next month, but Tuilaepa said that was not the final decision rather it was merely queries by the church.

He said this matter deals with the law, said Tuilaepa.

Minister of Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt declined to comment on what actions the Government will take when the Church Ministers do not follow the law.

Im sorry but no comment from me.

The Samoa Observer asked the Minister if he was scared of the church but he said: I am not scared, I just dont want to elaborate on the issue."

It was put to the Minister that it is going on four months since the tax became affective.

Currently the Church Ministers are undergoing registration, however taxes should have already been paid as of January 2018, said Tialavea.

The question as to how many Church Ministers who have not paid or have paid, I cannot say because I dont know."

Other than that, no comment from me."The Luatuanuu Village Council yesterday moved to set the record straight with regards to a report about their visit to the Office of Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi two weeks ago.

Contrary to a report in the Samoa Observer that the village was there to seek forgiveness, two high chiefs from the village yesterday said the report was wrong.

Luatuanuu Spokesperson, Tofete Lafaaua Tofete, the purpose of their visit was to tell Prime Minister Tuilaepa to take back what he had said about their village on national TV, radio and newspapers.

Tofete was accompanied by Luatuanuu Village Mayor, Autu Lolesio Tauiliili.

We did not go to the Prime Ministers Office to seek forgiveness, he said. That is not true and we want to make that crystal clear."

He called our village dogs and we wanted him to take back his comments and issue an apology to our village.

Tofete said the comment has caused widespread anger among Luatunuu villagers all over the world.

According to Tofete, when they visited the Prime Minister at his office, they were referred to the Ministry of Women Community and Social Development.

Our request to see him was denied, yet he was in his office, said Tofete.

Just last Thursday on 2AP, he referenced Luatuanuu again saying that we tried to apologise, yet it was too late that the water had spilled."

What apology is the Prime Minister talking about? We came to see him to retract his atrocious comments."

Luatuanuu will never be the same after we have been labeled dogs."

We are hurting as a village from such horrid comments uttered by the Prime Minister.

And we will not back down from our complaint, we have sought an attorney and we will take the Prime Minister to Court.

This week, the Luatuanuu Village Council threatened to sue the Prime Minister for defamation over his use of the word dogs in reference to the village.

But the villages request to file an official complaint against the Prime Minister with the Samoa Police Service has been rejected.

Attempts to get a comment from the Police and the Prime Minister were not successful at press time last night.

EDITORS NOTE: A story titled Village Council seeks forgiveness from P.M. published in the Samoa Observer of Wednesday 21 March 2018 was not correct. The story above has now established the true intention of Luatuanuus visit to the Prime Ministers Office. In light of that, we want to say that the error was inadvertently made and is regretted. We apologise to Luatuanuu Village Council and villagers for the hurt and inconvenience caused.The Women in Leadership in Samoa (W.I.L.S.) project was officially launched and signed into effect at the Taumeasina Island Resort yesterday.

The W.I.L.S. project seeks to build on the advances made by the Increasing Political Participation of Women in Samoa (I.P.P.W.S.) project which saw the Samoan Government introduce special measures legislation in 2016 to ensure a minimum of 10 percent representation by women in parliament.

Australias Ambassador for Women and Girls, Dr. Sharman Stone gave the keynote address at the launch with Deputy Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa, giving the governments remarks.

Womens representation in politics remains a challenge other than the social, cultural and institutional barriers that hinder womens political representation and there are many, Fiame said.

Women very often do not feel confident to put their hand up. The number of women entering politics is of course contingent on those who stand as candidates in elections. The success ratios of men and women who have run in the last few elections stand at 1:7 for men and 1:5 for women. That tells us that women never get a chance of getting in so the more women who run the higher the number of those who will succeed."

The broadening of the focus of this project then to include women in many sectors will not only impact the different sectors but it may well take those women leaders to a point where they will feel confident to put their hand up for national political office. The government welcomes the other key outputs of this project, mainly engagement of members of parliament in a sustainable development agenda.

The Deputy Prime minister also emphasised that it was important to have our male champions on the agenda and development mixes in order to move forward. She added enhanced women and youth leadership will enrich our development endeavors and raise the quality of our responses to the challenges we face.

U.N. Women Samoa Country co-ordinator, Papalii Mele Mauala talked about their approach of extending their project to affect a broader base of women in Samoa.

We have broadened it to leadership thats not just about political engagement, its about making sure that women in their communities, women who want to lead in health care, private industry  we are making sure that we are making those avenues available to them, said Papalii.

Were also encouraging women to step forward and to own the fact that theyre contributing to their communities and to their families and to whatever industry or sector that they are involved in so theres a much broader perspective involved of the approach."

It also means that we will be reaching out to a variety of types of women so these are women showing different ways in their communities or their particular sectors. The real goal is to see just to see women increase in leadership in a variety of ways. The numbers of A.C.E.O.s are 60 percent women, but when we go to C.E.O.'s that number drops, so what we are seeing is that when it comes to lower level decision making, there are a lot of women in those roles because they have the abilities and skills set to do that."

When we get to higher leadership, thats when men start to take over the numbers because of perceptions of who should be in leadership and also the anxiety of women not wanting to be seen to be going over the heads of their male counterparts. Its not just about culture what we see all around us. Theres a reason why we get excited when we see a female Prime Minister because its not that common or event.

The Women in Leadership in Samoa project is a joint initiative between the U.N. Women and U.N.D.P. in partnership with the Government of Samoa and the Australian Government with the support from local partners. The project is fully funded by the Australian Government.Worlds Preteen Miss Tourism 2018, Teuila Desiree Lafi, arrived in Samoa yesterday.

In 2017, the 10-year-old rocked the stage at Nashville, Tennessee, taking the crown home.

Despite being raised in Hawaii, the young lady carries her Samoan culture with pride.

She is the eldest daughter of Ieremia Lincolnson Lafi and Heather Marie Lafi, from the villages of Saleapaga Lepa, Avao Savaii and Vaitele-Fou.

Coming back to the motherland for her is exciting and a good opportunity to learn more about her people. Her father is from Samoa.

I have so many cultures in my blood, so I just want to find more so I can identify myself and probably other people as well. I am part Samoan, Caucasian, Swedish, my dad thinks he is German and I cant remember the rest."

My dad is basically a part of me. You know that they always say that the mother is a part of her children; well my dad is also a very big part of me. He is the one around me actually and I want to thank him for what he did and if not for him, I probably would not be here today."

In Samoa we are going to visit my grandmother in Vaitele-Fou and that is going to be very exciting because my dad told me that he grew up there and it is going to be mind-blowing, she said.

Teuila believes it is not just about having a crown and a sash but also brings forth responsibilities that she is also willing to offer her country.

I think there are a lot of things I could do here in Samoa. But one of the things I would like to do is hand down, like the things I do not use anymore to give them to the homeless."

We want to visit a homeless shelter and we are going to give them things because it is kind of hard to find things that are cheap here for them. So I really just want to help in all the ways I can here in Samoa."

It is kind of a vacation this trip to Samoa, but we also going to do a lot of community services, it is going to be very interesting because I have never seen other countries, I never really did community services in other places.

There is uniqueness within the culture that regardless of where she would be in the world, Samoa will always be where the heart is.

Speaking to the Samoa Observer, she shared her role of being a Worlds Preteen Miss Tourism.

Every single pageant winner that has a title has a platform. My platform is operation Christmas Child - that is an operation that sends shoe boxes to several countries like Samoa and the Philippines."

I think last time they went to Tonga for the little kids who never get Christmas presents ever in their life. So last year, I went to my school and I asked every class if they could donate boxes and we came over with more than 20 boxes, it is pretty good for a start.

Teuila explained: I think community work is the thing that helps everyone to realise that there is more than just wealth and other things that we can do, you can help other people and operations so this world would be a better place, she said.

She is in Samoa for 10 days with her younger brother, Ieremia Michael Lafi and their father.The Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China in Samoa has donated 200 sets of desks and chairs to Avao Primary School in Savaii.

The official handover ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of China, Wang Xuefeng and the Deputy Speaker, Nafoitoa Talaimanu Keti.

Village chiefs, villagers, teachers and all the pupils of the school were present.

Ambassador Wang said he got to know from the Deputy Speaker Nafoitoa that Avao Primary School is in need of desks and chairs for pupils and had asked Chinese Embassy for help.

The Chinese Embassy was happy to offer help and arranged for the purchase of 200 sets of brand new desks and chairs.

Today I am very happy to see that all the desks and chairs are readily set for use for students. I hope students can learn better with better conditions in the new environment, the Ambassador said.

The Ambassador encouraged students to study hard to gain more knowledge so they can become useful citizens and use their talents to contribute to the development of the community and the society.

Deputy Speaker Nafoitoa thanked Ambassador Wang for the generous donation from China.

He said the donation means a lot to the students, teachers and villagers of the Avao because it helps them realise the dream of providing better conditions for students to study at school.

He also thanked Chinese Embassy for all the help to other schools in Samoa.Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi has threatened to ban Facebook as the Government continues to crack down on anonymous writers on social media who attack the Government. What do you think? Do you support the Prime Ministers threat? Our reporter, Nefertiti Matatia, asked people in todays Street Talk and this is what they said:

Yu Felise, 20, Saleufi

I agree that it should be banned from the country. So many children have access to it and this is where all the drama begins. It is not just children, but the adults as well. They argue on Facebook and gossip about this person and that person. It is like a sickness that cannot be cured. These are the kind of behaviors that doesnt just portray a picture of you and the family you come from, but also the country you represent. So many fights and the starting point of so much hatred, jealously and gossips are from Facebook. There are some people who come to the market and they argue here and fight all because they find out that one person posted a status and they think it is about them and things like that. It is good if it gets banned to avoid trouble for the Police and the public.

Ioane Ioane, 23, Vaivase

I will not choose any sides because I agree and disagree with the banning of Facebook. I disagree because it helps us to communicate with our families overseas. There are so many people who have loved ones living abroad and Facebook is the only way they communicate. It is useful for others, but for some they use it for the wrong cause. In this time and era, there are so many teenagers who are just out of control and use Facebook for their personal issues. I have a Facebook page and I mostly see a lot of inappropriate things. Everyone would be able to read and know what they are arguing about because they go public on Facebook. Every person would be able to read it. It is not just going to be between two people. It just goes viral and that is the disadvantage side of it.

Alatina Matamua, 53, Sauano

I may not have a Facebook, but I understand how useful it is. The only reason it becomes bad is when people misuse it. I feel that Facebook should only be used by those within the appropriate age range, but definitely not for school students. There are so many different sites and things like that on Facebook. For me only, if Facebook will be blocked, this would affect those at work. Some of them have businesses and they market their products online. It is how they earn a living and will be able to sell their products. It attracts the buyer to come to them. These are the kind of cases that we should be mindful of, not many have time or the money to go and do an advertisement. It is much simpler to just post it and for people to be aware of what their products are. It should not be banned because the majority of the people use it, but the kids should focus only on their studies.

Jackson Jones, 26, Apia

I totally disagree with the banning of Facebook. I saw it on the paper that the Prime Minister will be doing something about Facebook. People not being allowed to use Facebook would be a violation of their human rights. The right of freedom of speech and the freedom to speak your mind is exactly what the people are doing. With what the Prime Minister is saying that is his freedom of speech and nobody is telling him what to do. He is the leader of this country and I think it is stupid if people will be banned from using Facebook. I understand that he is under a lot of pressure with what is happening regarding O.L.P. even with what has happened with Luatuanuu and him calling those people dogs and that is personal. Who is he to call those people dogs, what if we call him dog, a mouse or a cat or whatever. I think he wouldnt like it and that is the same for those people in Luatuanuu. He is good in some areas, but with his decision on banning Facebook I dont agree with it.

David Taua, 43, Faleaseela

In my opinion, no way should Facebook be banned from Samoa. The reason is because this makes communication accessible to relatives and loved ones abroad. I think the reason the Prime Minister is threatening to ban Facebook from the country is for those who use this social media platform for a bad cause. Come to think of it, if Facebook will be banned, then it would be a barrier to communication. Calling directly on cellphones or landlines overseas is costly. The biggest question is why all of a sudden the Government wants to ban Facebook. There is a possibility that it could be the O.L.P. Some of us have not seen our cousins or sisters and brothers for how many years and this is the only way that we keep in touch. Through Facebook, we are able to see them and know what is happening on their side of the world. With the changing of the weather and climate in terms of cyclones, through Facebook we would be able to know if they are okay and how they are doing.Veteran Salk Institute cancer researcher Tony Hunter has added yet another award to his career, along with a hefty cash prize.

Meanwhile, a team including Hunter has published a new cancer study, reflecting his continued productivity over nearly five decades at the institute.

Hunter was awarded the Pezcoller-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research. Hell get 75,000 euros, or about $92,000 dollars at the current exchange rate.

On April 15, Hunter, 74, will deliver a prize lecture at the American Association for Cancer Researchs annual meeting in Chicago. And on May 19, Hunter will be honored at a ceremony at the Teatro Sociale in Trento, Italy.

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The study Hunter took part in describes how the growth of liver cancer cells can be halted by a protein called LHPP. The study was published March 29 in the journal Nature.

Hunter made his reputation with the 1979 discovery of how enzymes called tyrosine kinases can cause cancer. That discovery led to 31 approved cancer drugs that inhibit these enzymes.

That work took place when Hunter was still fairly new at the Salk Institute, where the vast majority of his work has been performed.

It has been exciting to grow up there, as it were, Hunter said. I started there in 1971 as a postdoctoral fellow. The building was only about 5 years old, and there were only about 15 faculty total.

Seeds of basic research

Hunter said now that hes achieved senior citizen status among the scientists, he hopes the Salk Institute will continue to produce innovative science.

But were all worried that given the funding situation, whether basic research institutions like ours have a long-term future, he said.

Hunter was referring to the increasing difficulty in getting government funding, the single largest source of biomedical support.

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While basic science is the seed of successful technologies, it can be a hard sell when decades may pass before discoveries such as Hunters pay off. While private philanthropy helps, donors prefer to give to hospitals or applied research where the connection is more immediate.

But Hunters career has lasted so long that the fruits of his early work are still producing benefit to patients. And that work isnt over, as the new study indicates.

Hunter said his continued role as an active researcher was one of the reasons for the Pezcoller-AACR award, the latest in a series of distinguished awards.

In February 2017, Hunter was granted an even bigger award, bringing him $500,000. It was bestowed by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences as part of its newly established Sjoberg Prize for Cancer Research.

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The academy is best known for awarding the Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry.

Spectrum of discovery

The Nature study can be viewed as an extension of Hunters groundbreaking work in tyrosine kinases. These enzymes attach a phosphorus-containing molecular fragment to tyrosine, one of the building blocks of proteins, or amino acids.

This process, called tyrosine phosphorylation, is a normal part of cell-to-cell communication. But when the process malfunctions, it causes uncontrolled cell growth, a hallmark of cancer.

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More than 90 of these tyrosine kinases have been discovered in the human genome, indicating that they play important and widespread roles. And when they go awry, they promote a variety of cancers.

The class of cancer drugs that block phosphorylation activity are called tyrosine kinase inhibitors. They include such well-known cancer drugs as imatinib, sold under the brand name Gleevec; and sunitinib, sold as Sutent.

But tyrosine is just one of the 20 amino acids normally found in protein. The Nature study examined the same process in the amino acid histidine. Specifically, it focused on the protein LHPP, which actually reverses the process.

This protein can be likened to a brake, which keeps the process in balance  not too much growth, but also not too little.

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The study found that LHPP also suppresses tumors. Levels of this protein are lower in liver cancer, indicating that the process isnt properly regulated. Moreover, the lowest levels correlate with poor prognosis in liver cancer patients.

To put this observation to the test, Hunter and colleagues devised an experiment using a mouse model of liver cancer. They found that stimulating production of LHPP reduced the tumor and improved liver function.

This study opens up another possible path to fight cancer, as demonstrated with Hunters 1979 discovery. But like that discovery, a long road lies ahead to turn this insight into new therapies. And its unclear just how important this mechanism will ultimately turn out to be.

In the nearer term, it may be possible to use LHPP levels in tumors to better understand the severity of the cancer.

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Related reading

A Phosphorylation Pioneer

Tony Hunter receives Pezcoller FoundationAACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research

The protein histidine phosphatase LHPP is a tumour suppressor

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Scripps, Salk scientists independently make key biological advance

Big honor for groundbreaking cancer researcher Tony Hunter

Ignyta holds $75M offering

Embryonic protein worsens leukemia

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FDA approves cancer treatment for dogs

Study: Inhibiting protein in brain found to reverse effects of Alzheimers

Cancer drug shows early promise for Parkinsons disease

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Science Playlist  On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

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(619) 293-1020A fun series of vintage photography from manufacturers media archives.

The Saint Volvo

Volvo Cars showed the 1967 1800 S once owned by Sir Roger Moore and featured in The Saint television series at the recent Techno-Classica Essen, Germany, March 21-25. The Saint, always portrayed by Roger Moore as Simon Templar, drove a pearl white Volvo P1800 coupe.

The Saint ran for 118 episodes from October, 1962, until February, 1969. (Volvo )

Moores car was built at the Torslanda, Sweden, plant in November, 1966. The 1800 S is equipped with Minilite wheels with the original truncated spoke design, Hella fog lamps and a Volvo wooden steering wheel. Inside, the car still has details from the filming of The Saint, such as a thermometer on the dashboard and a separate interior fan, used to cool the actors during studio filming.

The Saint Corgi Toys scale model. (Volvo )

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The interior still has details from the filming of The Saint, such as a thermometer on the dashboard and a separate interior fan, used to cool the actors during studio filming. (Volvo )

Moore is the documented first registered owner of the now-famous 1800 S. The London registration plates, NUV 648E, were issued on Jan. 20, 1967. Moore signed the registration papers two weeks later and they have followed the car since.

Also at the heritage display at the German auto show was another Volvo 1800, an immaculate light green 1967 model owned by Hakan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars.

Moore is the documented first registered owner of the now-famous 1800 S. (Volvo )

 The Saint with Roger Moore was my favorite TV-show in the 60s and since then I always wanted a P1800, said Samuelsson. It is the most legendary Volvo model of all time and a great example of Scandinavian design.

Moores 1800 In The Saint, with license plate ST 1, made its debut in the episode, A Double in Diamonds, filmed in February 1967. It was then lead character Simon Templars transport until the series ended in 1969.

The Saint, with license plate ST 1, made its debut in the episode, A Double in Diamonds. (Volvo )

Moore later sold the car to actor Martin Benson, who played Mr. Solo in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964). Several owners followed and in the early-2000s the car was carefully restored to near-original condition.

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Also in the heritage display was the immaculate light green 1967 P1800 owned by Volvo Cars President Hakan Samuelsson. (Volvo )

Volvo bought the car a few years ago.

The Saint ran for 118 episodes from October, 1962, until February, 1969 and was later syndicated in more than 80 countries.

Two other special Volvos in the auto-show display.

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1973 Volvo 1800 ES (Estate) model. (Volvo )

1973 Volvo 1800 ES: How Swede it is. (Volvo )

1966 Volvo S Volvoville convertible. (Volvo )

1966 Volvo S Volvoville: Note the wire wheels, whitewalls and mudflaps. (Volvo )

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Early Corvettes

1953 Chevrolet Corvette Motorama Show Car and the grand unveiling of the new Corvette. (Chevrolet )

The first Corvettes were produced in Flint, Mich., beginning on June 30, 1953. (Chevrolet )

Only 300 Corvettes were made for the 1953 model year - all Polo White with red interiors. (Chevrolet )

I hope this boat-top has the heavy-duty spring rating. (Ford )

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Zora Arkus-Duntov with a 1966 Corvette (Chevrolet )

Ford Motor Co.

The Del Rios cargo capacity  pre Eddie Bauer editions. (Ford )

This 1958 Ford Del Rio Ranch Wagon concept could have been the original sport-utility wagon?. (Ford )

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This 1959 Ford Country Squire concept demonstrates push button station wagon living. (Ford )

Mopar

Photos from the Chrysler media archives.

1955 Dodges and Chryslers on line at the Windsor Passenger Car Assembly Plant. (Chrysler )

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1955 Chrysler 300 (Chrysler )

Body drop on a 1955 Chrysler. (Chrysler )In 1912, Oreo cookies, Cracker Jack and the Girl Scouts were born. So was Dorothy Dottie Coleman, who will mark her 106th birthday today with her family in Oceanside.

Coleman was guest of honor Tuesday at a birthday luncheon hosted by members of the Lake San Marcos Kiwanis Club, who have become like a second family to the centenarian since she first volunteered her services as club pianist in 2012.

Tuesdays party featured a Dorothy trivia game, youth performances, a city proclamation and a birthday sing-along, but the highlight for many was Colemans own brief cameo behind the keyboard.

To kick off the festivities, club past president Jerry Mason coaxed Coleman into playing her favorite song, the 1954 classic Fly Me to the Moon.

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When asked afterward why she liked the song so much, she quipped that the moon is one of the few places she has yet to visit.

Although she has traveled to Africa, India and Australia in her later years, Coleman has been slowing down since breaking both hips in the past five years.

Eighteen months ago, she gave up her longtime home in Lake San Marcos and moved in with her daughter, Pat Coleman, and granddaughter Cinda Smits, who share a house in Oceanside. Although she was just over a bout with pneumonia, Coleman was in high spirits Tuesday.

This is a wonderful day and its a wonderful feeling that so many nice people have shown me so much kindness over the years, she said.

Dorothy Coleman smiles as she chats with a visitor during her 106th. birthday celebration at the Lake San Marcos Kiwanis Club meeting. (Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-ribune )

When asked her secrets to a long life, one is heredity. Her great-grandmother had 12 children and lived well into her 90s. A second secret is doing everything in moderation. And the third is a positive attitude that springs from her happy childhood in the great outdoors.

Growing up in the country with fresh air and open space have something to do with it, she said.

Born Dorothy Jones, she was the youngest of three children of German-Americans Elmer and Mabel Jones of New Park, Penn. She started playing piano at age 5 and was always the apple of everyones eye, according to her daughter Pat Coleman.

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She was adored, Pat said. Shes a person who liked performing and enjoyed the adoration. Whenever shes out in public, shes always happy.

After attending a teachers college in Baltimore, Dorothy got a job teaching grade-school children on a military base. Not long after that, she met her future husband, Lester Coleman, at a dance.

She was a country girl and he was this city boy, a rebel without a cause from Baltimore, said Pat, their only child.

The Colemans married in 1934 and were together 62 years until his death in 1996.

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Pat Coleman said the highlight of her mothers life was in the early 1950s, when Lesters job in the military took the family to Vienna, Austria. There, Dorothy studied with a piano master and learned to paint.

After he retired from the service, Dorothy went back to teaching. At Fort Ord in Monterey, she helped servicemen study to earn their high school diplomas. In their retirement years, the Colemans lived in Alabama and Florida.

But as Lesters health declined, the couple wanted to live closer to their daughter and grandchildren, so they relocated in 1996 to Lake San Marcos. Not long after the move, Lester died, Pat said.

In her 80s and 90s, Coleman remained active, traveling the world, taking classes in music and writing and volunteering her piano services to the Kiwanis club and a local youth orchestra.

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At age 100, Coleman passed her drivers exam for a four-year license extension, but a broken hip forced her to give up her license a year later. In recent years, Mason has volunteered his services as her driver and said he feels like the lucky one in the arrangement.

I love to joke with her, Mason said, because she brightens up my life.

Kiwanis club member Pat Haugen got choked up Tuesday when asked what she loves about Coleman.

She is always happy and always smiling, Haugen said. You just feel good when you walk away after seeing her.

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A framed photo collage filled with birthday wishes from friends and family for Dorothy Colemans 106th birthday. (Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-Tribune )

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pam.kragen@sduniontribune.comDespite having spent years trying to distance itself from charges of racial intolerance, the city of Escondido once again finds itself in the middle of the national debate over immigration.

On Wednesday, the City Council will decide whether to authorize the city attorney to file a legal brief in support of the Trump administrations position that Californias sanctuary laws are in conflict with federal immigration policy.

Senate Bill 54, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year, prohibits state and local police agencies from notifying federal officials in many cases when they have unauthorized immigrants in their custody who could be subject to deportation.

The action would be mostly symbolic, but the fact that Escondido is entering the immigration fray again is disquieting for those who believe the North County city is harmed when the council gets involved in national politics.

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But Mayor Sam Abed, who along with Councilman John Masson placed the resolution on the agenda, said the issue is of local concern.

We have one clear goal from our action tomorrow, he said referring to the vote Wednesday. Its to keep our community safe under the rule of law.

Critics of the council say involving the city in national immigration issues hurts Escondidos reputation by projecting an image of racial strife. They also say the councils willingness to get involved in federal issues has cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and court settlements.

Some business and former local political figures, many of whom disagree with the states immigration positions, said they dont want to get involved publicly on the controversial issue.

Councilwoman Olga Diaz, the lone Democrat and Latino on the council, called the move hurtful.

Local controversies are one thing, she said. But when you mar the image of your city with national, really controversial issues that you have absolutely zero effect on the end result, thats just a waste of energy, she said.

Escondido will be the first San Diego County city to join the lawsuit as a friend of the court, but a number of other municipalities around the state, as well as the Orange County Board of Supervisors, have done the same thing or are preparing to do so. And the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss joining the federal lawsuit during a closed session meeting on April 17.

The councils meeting begins at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday with the immigration lawsuit appearing early on the agenda. Before the meeting, a consortium of Latino civil rights group, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union, will hold a rally in front of City Hall.

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Having learned from the past, Police Chief Craig Carter said officers will be out in force to keep the calm. He wouldnt give specifics, but during similar events both uniformed and plain clothed officers have been located in the city council chambers as well as in the general vicinity of city hall.

We will be prepared, Carter said.

In 2006, the city was thrust into the national limelight when Escondido enacted a rental ordinance designed to punish landlords who knowingly rented to undocumented immigrants.

For much of that year, City Hall was the focus of protests and saw large groups on both sides of the issue clashing.

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The ordinance never went into effect after the ACLU and others sued in federal court. The city abandoned the rental ordinance as part of a settlement.

A number of other policy decisions by the conservative council, including controversial DUI and license plate checkpoints being conducted in predominately Latino parts of the city, kept the fire burning over the next few years.

Then, in 2014, things heated up again when a proposal to open a shelter to house unauthorized immigrant children in the city came before the citys planning commission and council.

The council denied the shelter for what they said were land-use reasons. The ACLU sued, in part citing inflammatory comments made by Abed and other council members during media interviews. The case was settled last year with the city paying the ACLU $550,000.

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Abed said new state sanctuary laws hurt the citys ability to keep its citizens, including its Latino residents, safe.

We have not talked about immigration since 2006, Abed said. Those liberals, and the ACLU and the progressives and the Indivisible, they dont want to separate public safety from immigration issues

We have deported more than 2,000 illegal criminals since 2010 by turning them over to ICE, he said. We have made our Hispanic community safer.

How can anybody paint us and accuse us of giving the city a bad image? By opposing the sanctuary state, we are protecting the immigrant community the most.

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jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjonesIn this Jacobs Masterworks concert, the San Diego Symphony welcomes young Romanian cellist Andrei Ionita, who will perform English composer Edward Elgars Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 under the conducting baton of American Case Scaglione, formerly associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic.

The concerto  Elgars final significant composition  is, as the symphony describes it, by turns confident and darkly introspective masterpiece, a reflection of the composers extreme ambivalence about an England forever altered by war.

The concert will also feature works by Zoltan Kodaly (Concerto for Orchestra) and George Enesco (Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A Major, Op. 11).

San Diego Symphony presents Elgar Cello Concerto: 8 p.m. Friday, April 6. 8 p.m. Saturday, April 7. Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center, 750 B St., downtown. $20-$98. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

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Twitter: @outdoorlivingsd

michael.rocha@sduniontribune.comIt took a bowl of pho for Thi Duke Huynh to learn about patience.

When youre making the broth for pho  the heart and soul of Vietnamese food  it takes six to eight hours to simmer that broth, says Huynh, chief operating officer for the San Diego-based Pho Ca Dao & Grill restaurant group. You cant have the heat too high to speed things up. It ruins it. You have to be patient.

This from a man who admits patience wasnt a virtue that came naturally to him.

I had to learn how to be patient, he says with a laugh. And when I finally learned how to do that, how to be patient, I began to see things differently  for the better.

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And now that patience has paid off.

Pho Ca Dao & Grill has opened its fifth location, this one in Poway, adding to a lineup that already includes Mira Mesa, Santee, Rancho Bernardo and City Heights.

Growth came at a steady but restrained pace for the chain of family-owned Vietnamese restaurants that launched 17 years ago in City Heights, born of an immigrant familys desire to pursue the American dream.

We always wanted to get into the food business, Huynh, who attended Hoover High School before graduating from San Diego State University with an accounting degree. My family, my mom especially, had all these recipes from back home. In 2001, an Arbys location closed, and we saw an opportunity.

Over the years, San Diego County has seen a steady growth in residents of Asian descent, with the Vietnamese population third after Filipinos and Chinese, according to recent census data. Mom-and-pop Vietnamese restaurants exist in clusters around the county, especially in Linda Vista, on Convoy Street and a stretch of El Cajon Boulevard now known as Little Saigon. But a Vietnamese restaurant chain was virtually non-existent until Pho Ca Dao & Grill, originally called Ca Dao, came into the picture.

Banh mi, a traditional Vietnamese sandwich. (Courtesy photo )

Family-tested recipes served as the foundation for an authentic Vietnamese menu that boasts everything from pho noodle soup and Vietnamese sandwiches (banh mi) to vermicelli noodle bowls (bun) and spring rolls. The restaurants name is a nod to both the cuisine and the culture, with pho representing the food and ca dao (which means folk song) representing the culture.

Authenticity is priority No. 1 because this is an opportunity for us not only to share our passion for food but our love for the Vietnamese culture, says Huynh, who made sure to incorporate traditional Vietnamese artwork into the decor of the Poway location.

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There have been bumps along the way, Huynh admits, but he sees challenges as opportunities to improve.

I take feedback from our customers very seriously, he says. We cant please everybody, but we will always do our best. We may not be a five-star restaurant, but we can act like one  from the service to the quality of the food.

Some days are harder than others, but the reward is plentiful.

We will always give 110 percent, he says. Im proud of the Vietnamese culture, and I want to share it.

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How do you pronounce it?

The folks at Pho Ca Dao & Grill seem aware of the confusion about how to properly pronounce pho  so much so that on their website, they offered this primer: No, its not foe. PCD pho (pronounced fuh) is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs and meat, often topped with vegetable garnishes like bean sprouts, mint leaves, lime and jalapeno.

Pho Ca Dao & Grill

Address: 12719 Poway Road, Poway

Phone: (858) 883-5605

Online: phocadaogrill.com

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Instagram: @phocadaogrill

Bun, a vermicelli noodle bowl. (Courtesy photo )

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Twitter: @outdoorlivingsd

michael.rocha@sduniontribune.comHalf a century after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel looks almost the same as he left it.

The bedspread on Kings bed is folded back. A Bible sits on the night stand, and coffee cups, ashtrays and plates of half-eaten food are scattered across the room, which is now part of this citys National Civil Rights Museum.

As tens of thousands of people make pilgrimages to Memphis this week to this sacred civil rights spot to commemorate Kings death and celebrate his legacy, many are confronting a question: How far has Memphis and the nation moved forward?

Here we are 50 years later, and not much has improved, said Bobby Rogers, a 39-year-old electrician from South Los Angeles, who stood in the motels former parking lot one day this week with delegates from his local union, gazing up at the balcony where King was shot on April 4, 1968.

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Memphis is still poor and people are still fighting for a livable wage, he said as throngs of families, pastors, activists and union workers lined up outside the museum. We still have so much to do.

RELATED: Thousands gather in Memphis to remember Martin Luther King Jr. 

Five decades after King launched his Poor Peoples Campaign and came to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers, this majority-black Southern city is the most impoverished metropolitan area in the nation, with nearly 20% of residents living below the poverty line.

Blacks in the city of Memphis suffer disproportionately, with a median household income of about $31,000  barely more than half that of whites, according to census data. More than 52% of the citys black children live in poverty.

The phrase that keeps knocking around in my head is unfinished business, said Charles McKinney, chairman of Africana Studies and associate professor of history at Rhodes College, a private liberal arts college in Memphis. The city and the Chamber of Commerce and economic leaders brag about the low wages you can pay your workers if you come to Memphis. Economic inequality still haunts the city in much the same way that it did in 1968.

Related: 1968: A timeline of anger, grief and change 

The Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP-Getty Images )

In the years after Kings assassination, Memphis slid into decay.

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The Lorraine Motel, a source of shame for many as the site of Kings murder, became a dilapidated hub of prostitution. Manufacturing jobs across the city ebbed as a wave of major companies, such as Firestone and International Harvester, closed plants in the 1980s.

Many Memphis workers now have little choice but to make ends meet with temporary, part-time jobs that offer low pay and no benefits. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Shelby County, which contains Memphis, has one of the highest concentrations of temporary workers in the nation.

As the city has struggled with a dwindling population  from 691,210 in 2000 to 646,889 in 2010  it has also suffered a rise in crime. In 2016, the year Nashville overtook Memphis as the biggest city in Tennessee, Memphis experienced a record of 228 homicides. The vast majority of victims were black.

Our city has actually gone backward, said Keedran Franklin, 31, a local hip-hop artist and organizer with Memphis Coalition of Concerned Citizens, a nonprofit group that unites grass-roots activists to advocate for poor and minority residents.

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Though blacks make up 64% of the citys residents, he said, they continue to be treated as a minority and tricked out of economic justice.

A lot of people who left places like the Firestone plant making the equivalent of $13 or $15 an hour are now working part-time for FedEx, the citys largest employer, for lower wages, said Franklin, who has worked as a community organizer for the Fight for 15 living wage movement. And at four hours a day, thats not enough to eat.

While many of the younger generation of activists present a grim assessment of the last 50 years, some of their forebears note progress, along with setbacks.

RELATED: How 1968, a year of tumultuous events, continues to shape our world 

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If I see King again, I would like to give him a report card, said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, 76, the civil rights activist and one of the last remaining eyewitnesses to Kings shooting.

First, Jackson said, he would tell King that state legislatures have been desegregated, that industry has spread across the South, and that multiracial relationships are now common, even in the Deep South. A black man was even elected president of the United States. But he would also let King know his crusade against poverty remains unfinished.

A woman walks past the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tenn. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP-Getty Images )

More than 40% of American workers make less than $15 an hour, with the burden falling heavily on blacks and Latinos. The median net worth of white families is more than 10 times that of African American families.

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More and more got less and less, said Jackson, who visited the Lorraine Motel this week. Kings agenda is as relevant today as it was then.

Amid stagnation in Memphis, there have been glimmers of change. In 1991  the same year the city elected its first black mayor  the Lorraine Motel reopened as part of a massive downtown civil rights museum. While many nearby storefronts are boarded up and some streets remain empty for blocks, a smattering of boutiques, gourmet coffee shops and barbecue joints has opened downtown, although often they cater mostly to tourists.

On Tuesday, the Rev. William Barber, a minister known for his Moral Monday movement in North Carolina, took to the National Civil Rights Museum to detail his plan to reignite Kings Poor Peoples Campaign in May with 40 days of nonviolent action in Washington and across the country.

At the same time, a younger generation of local activists, part of a burgeoning movement that has stepped up in recent years to challenge police brutality and advocate for higher wages, held rolling block parties across the city.

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Theres a lot of struggle going on in Memphis, but also a lot of folks who are up for the challenge, Franklin said, noting that many younger African Americans were mobilizing around the Coalition for Concerned Citizens, Fight for 15 and Black Lives Matter. People have seen a marked deterioration in their material well-being.

Many younger activists say it is time for a new generation of African Americans to revive calls for economic justice in Memphis.

It hurt so many people psychologically for Dr. King to have been killed here, said Tami Sawyer, 35, a director of diversity with Teach for America Memphis. So it was easy to say, OK, lets wrap this up and push away the conversation and have this Kumbaya moment. But we cant be afraid of the conversations we need to have for a radical redistribution of power.

Sawyer, who led a successful campaign last year to take down two Confederate statues in city parks, now plans to go beyond protesting and writing letters.

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This year, she is running for Shelby County commissioner on a platform of challenging poverty and unemployment.

The last words King gave publicly were a challenge to us in Memphis to shake up economic and political power, Sawyer said. It is time for us to actually live in that challenge. We dont have another 50 years to be asleep and not live the change that he came here and died for.

Jarvie is a special correspondent.The U.S. Department of Veterans affairs will break ground Thursday morning on a new $27 million clinic in Chula Vista.

This is a big step toward getting the facilities and staff we need in the South Bay to meet our veteran needs in that area, and it aligns with the VA Major Initiatives: improve veterans mental health, enhance the veteran experience and access to health care, said Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System director Dr. Robert M. Smith in an emailed statement. There is a large number of veterans living in the South Bay area, and this clinic will be designed to meet their needs and in many cases avoid travel to the La Jolla medical center for care.

A ceremony is planned for 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the corner of H and 3rd streets in Chula Vista.

Architects have planned a two-story, 31,000-square-foot facility, three times as large as the current clinic.

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The new complex will feature 236 parking spaces, but the but the high-tech building is designed to be more friendly to the environment.

Natural lighting and sky lights, plus LED bulbs in all new offices, promise to slash energy usage. Builders also plan on installing highly efficient glasswork and insulation along with better heating and air conditioning systems, officials said.

When finished, VAs Chula Vista campus will hike the number of appointments available to former military personnel. VA officials say the clinic will continue to offer primary care, remote tele-medicine, laboratory and pathology testing and integrated mental health, audiology, optometry and podiatry services by a staff expected to number about 100 employees.

Those staffers are working with designers to determine a new layout for the clinical programs, according to VA spokeswoman Cindy C. Butler.

We will have the same services but will be expanding service for most everything. For example, we will add two more primary care teams and more mental health appointments, she said.

VA predicts construction will be completed in December of 2019 with a projected clinic opening in early 2020.

VAs current Chula Vista clinic takes care of more than 9,000 veterans living in the South Bay. They recorded 30,690 visits during the fiscal year that ended in October.

More than half of them served after 1991, according to the VA.

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cprine@sduniontribune.comThe website is a catalog of a womans passion for animal rights and her anger at YouTube.

She complains of close-minded YouTube employees suppressing her page views and stifling her content. She gripes about a lack of revenue.

Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views! she wrote on the site, which includes videos promoting veganism and photos of a woman in an array of outfits, including long gowns and a camouflage unitard. She speaks in Persian and Turkish.

There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!

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Its the website investigators are looking at as they try to piece together the motive of a woman  identified as Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39  who stormed onto YouTubes sprawling San Bruno, Calif., campus with a 9-millimeter handgun and opened fire in a courtyard during lunchtime, wounding three people before turning the gun on herself.

The eruption of gun violence Tuesday in Silicon Valley hit a nation still reeling from recent mass shootings and gripped by a tense gun control debate.

Police officers at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., after the shooting Tuesday. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images )

This is a terrible day in the United States, when once again we have a multiple-casualty situation, said Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, which is treating victims.

The shooting left a 36-year-old man in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman with serious injuries and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. A fourth person suffered an ankle injury while fleeing.

In a tweet, President Trump thanked law enforcement and first responders, and said: Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved.

Law enforcement sources told The Times they initially believed the shooting was a domestic incident, but San Bruno police said late Tuesday theres no evidence the shooter knew the victims or targeted specific people. Investigators are now focusing on the alleged shooters grudge against YouTube.

The YouTube account tied to the website was shut down due to multiple or severe violations of the companys policies against spam, deceptive practices and misleading content. But its unclear exactly when.

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The website investigators are probing, titled Nasime Sabz, translates in Persian to, Nasim the green. YouTube videos created by an account of the same name can no longer be viewed, but the site also features videos from other sources criticizing YouTubes policies, as well as clips promoting animal rights and veganism. Instagram and Facebook accounts listed on the website were deactivated Tuesday.

Nasim Aghdam during a protest at Camp Pendleton in 2009. (Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-Tribune )

Aghdam was quoted in the Los Angeles Times in 2009, speaking at an animal rights protest outside Camp Pendleton.

For me animal rights equals human rights, said Aghdam, who at the time worked as a construction company office manager. Just because they cant talk doesnt mean we should take advantage of them.

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About two weeks ago, Aghdam vented to her family that YouTube stopped compensating her for her videos, her father told the Bay Area News Group.

Ismail Aghdam said that the family had called police to report his daughter missing Monday because she hadnt answered her phone for two days. He said he had told police she might be going to YouTube because she hated the company.

Police in Mountain View, Calif., say they spotted a woman who went by the name Nasim Aghdam asleep in a car in a city parking lot early Tuesday morning and notified her family.

The first reports of a shooting came in to San Mateo County dispatchers before 1 p.m.

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Zach Vorhies, a senior software engineer, was sitting at his desk on YouTubes campus when he heard the fire alarm blaring.

He grabbed his electric skateboard and hurried toward an exit. Outside, he heard yelling. On a patio where tech workers often grab lunch, he saw a man lying motionless on his back, blood staining his shirt. As he stared, a police officer with an assault rifle popped through a nearby gate.

Vorhies skateboarded away.

He was one of hundreds of YouTube employees whose workday was thrown into chaos as panic spread across the technology hub south of San Francisco.

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I thought, This is a mass casualty event, said Vorhies, 37. I was terrified.

Some employees in a meeting heard rumbling and thought there had been an earthquake. It seemed serious, not just a standard emergency drill. As they moved toward an exit, they heard that someone had a gun.

I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs, Todd Sherman, a product manager for YouTube tweeted. After peeking around for threats, he headed down the stairs and out the front of the building.

Police in tactical vests, helmets and rifles swarmed the campus soon after, coming upon a chaotic scene as workers ran from the area. Television footage showed people filing away with their hands up.

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Uber driver Lucacio Simoes was having lunch at the nearby Tanforan shopping center when his phone buzzed with a text message from a friend: There had been a shooting at the YouTube headquarters.

Simoes, 40, hopped in his Ford Explorer to see if he could help.

When he saw people running down the street, Simoes said he turned off the Uber app and started offering rides. At one point, he said, seven people squeezed in his car.

I just opened the door and asked if they needed help. I was getting people away from YouTube, he said.

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Simoes said he gave at least six such rides Tuesday afternoon.

In a letter to employees, Sundar Pichai, chief executive of YouTubes parent company, Google, said the firm is doing everything we can to support those injured in the shooting and their families.

Michelle Tam, a hostess at the Hashes & Brews restaurant about a block away from YouTubes headquarters, said three YouTube employees came into the restaurant appearing visibly shaken.

They were in a daze, she said.

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One employee had a partial fragment of a bullet in her shoe, Tam said.

At the nearby Nueve restaurant, about two dozen customers barricaded themselves inside when authorities told them to stay far away from YouTube, bartender Carlos Gutierrez told a reporter over the phone.

Is this really happening, Gutierrez wondered aloud as he and others huddled near the bar. Or is it a false alarm?

Times staff writers Jazmine Ulloa, Hailey Branson-Potts, Angel Jennings, Ben Oreskes, James Queally and Joseph Serna contributed to this report.

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Lien reported from San Bruno, Calif.; Winton, Tchekmedyian and Parvini from Los Angeles.

richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @LAcrimes

tracey.lien@latimes.com Twitter: @traceylien

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek

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sarah.parvini@latimes.com Twitter: @sarahparviniOmar Passons takes an analytical approach to things. He looks at a pressing issue, does the research and comes up with a plan.

Not everyone will agree with his proposals but he doesnt seem to mind. If they use a fact-based process to arrive at an alternative, or to modify his plan, hes open.

The county Board of Supervisors candidate also knows he wouldnt be the first person seeking office to present comprehensive plans that dont go anywhere  because they cant get elected.

To advance his ideas on supporting children, helping the homeless and build housing, he needs a path to victory in one of the most competitive, high-profile campaigns in the region. Not everybody sees one for him.

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No one said it was going be easy, he said. So I dont mind putting in the work.

Passons, a land-use attorney with a masters degree in public health, is running in the District 4 supervisors race against a star-studdend political cast: former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and former Assembly members Nathan Fletcher and Lori Saldana. Also running is Ken Malbrough, a little-known retired deputy fire chief in the city of San Diego.

Passons has a higher profile than Malbrough, certainly in civic and political circles. But he is not nearly as well-known among the wider electorate as Dumanis, Fletcher and Saldana, who have become familiar faces with electoral successes and failures.

Theyve pretty much carved up the traditional power bases, with the Republican establishment and business groups largely going to Dumanis, big labor and the Democratic infrastructure supporting Fletcher and a split-off labor group backing Saldana.

So how does Passons rise to one of the top two spots in the June 5 primary to advance to the November runoff (assuming no one gains a majority to win outright)?

Weve got to raise the money to get there, he said. Is it harder to raise the money when the establishment has long since picked their preferred candidate? Sure, that makes things a little bit tougher.

Passons is seeking to improve lives through better use of social services, a system of programs he has experienced both personally, having been born premature and raised by foster parents, and professionally, as a policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Analytics help Passons arrive at his policy prescriptions, and hes looking at some big numbers in hopes of charting a politically successful course.

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District 4 has some 630,000 residents and more than 350,000 registered voters, about a third of whom Passons believes will actually vote in June.

So now thats the math, and the question is, can I get enough of that 100,000-person pie to get through? he said.

Since launching his ground game in June, Passons said his campaign has made contact with at least 25,000 voters in the district, which stretches down the coast from La Jolla to Ocean Beach and balloons east and south to Kearny Mesa and Oak Park and Skyline Hills.

Along the way, he has been promoting his three main proposals for children (StrongStarts4All), housing (Housing4All) and the homeless (Hope4Homeless).

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People like to say, Oh, theyre just plans or whatever, but I think people want substance, he said. I think that the actual voters who are thinking about this, they want to know, Wait, do you even know what youre talking about? . . . Have you done any research? Dont just tell me the same platitude about changing the status quo. . . Like, what are you actually going to do?

Thats what people ask me on the campaign trail and so what I said is, Im gonna do the homework and tell you.

He returns the challenge to some of the people he meets: Go to all of the candidates websites and see how proposals by the others shape up against his.

The cornerstone of Passons bid for supervisor is right there on his website: This campaign is driven by one very simple yet profound principle: every child has a right to a strong start and support. Every.single.child.

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His StrongStarts4All calls for home visits to teach expectant parents child-rearing skills; provide mental health, nutritional and academic support for kids; subsidize public transportation and provide paid internships for young people; and support arts and cultural opportunities.

He says front-loading such care and services ultimately will reduce reliance on public benefits, lower the risk of criminal behavior, and help young people get jobs.

Passons contends his proposals can be financed though better use of and leveraging existing resources that are underutilized by the county. For example, his website says state preschool providers in the region underspent their contracts by $49 million in 2016 and that the county still has a low rate of people taking advantage of the food stamp program, known as CalFresh.

He also plans to push supervisors to reverse their ban on marijuana dispensaries, which, if properly regulated, he sees as a source of revenue for the county.

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Like the other candidates, Passons believes the county needs to loosen the purse strings, though he cautions against the notion that supervisors have $1.7 billion in reserve to spend. Such a reserve does exist, but a good deal of it is encumbered and some of it needs to remain as an emergency rainy day fund.

Still, theres hundreds of millions of dollars that could be available in relatively short order.

His Hope4Homeless calls for spending up to $100 million to build and renovate apartments for homeless residents. The plan also recommends hiring more staff to connect the homeless to housing, doing away with duplicative efforts to combat homelessness and focusing on helping young people who are homeless.

His Housing4All has some familiar smart growth components, such as increasing density around transportation infrastructure.

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The effort to boost housing is aimed at creating more affordable housing, though much of the urbanized area that can handle growth is under the jurisdiction of local cities. Wherever this would happen, shifting the mindset of residents to accept rather than resist more density may be the bigger challenge than planning how to build it.

But all the proposals in the world wont matter if Passons cant take care of what is now his first order of business: shifting the dynamics of the supervisor race that currently make him an odd man out.A Navy man living in Dulzura pleaded not guilty Wednesday to trying to kill his wife with poison on three occasions.

Race Remington Uto is charged with three counts of premeditated attempted murder and three additional counts of poisoning, Deputy District Attorney Paul Reizen said.

Uto, 27, faces more than 52 years to life in prison if convicted on all charges, which include allegations that the crimes caused great bodily injury in a domestic violence situation.

During Utos arraignment in El Cajon Superior Court, the judge kept the defendants bail set at $2 million, as it has been since he was arrested.

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Uto is charged with trying to kill his wife in August, December and then again in January.

His wife was hospitalized March 15 with a then-unknown illness. A hospital staffer determined later that the wife had an extreme level of thallium in her body, sheriffs Lt. Greg Rylaarsdam said last week in announcing Utos arrest.

Thallium, he said, had once been used as rat poison and ant killer.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Heath described it online as tasteless and odorless and has been used by murderers as a difficult to detect poison. The institute said thallium has not been produced in the Unites States since 1984, but it is imported to use in making certain products, including electronics.

The multi-agency investigation led detectives to suspect Uto, listed as a third-class electricians mate assigned to Naval Base Point Loma.

Uto was arrested Thursday at Navel Medical Center San Diego.

A Navy spokesman said Uto was slated to be discharged last week but was placed on a legal hold that keeps him on active duty while his civilian criminal case progresses.

Utos preliminary hearing is set for June 5.

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teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

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(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUTA woman who says she rejected sexual advances by a former assistant sheriff in charge of the countys jails, then was demoted to a lesser job filed a lawsuit against the department and county.

Holly Adams-Fallone said that she was subjected to unwanted hugs, touches and sexually suggestive contact with Assistant Sheriff Richard Miller. She said she was also subjected to inappropriate sexual innuendo and that Miller would leer at her while she worked out in the department gym.

Miller retired from the department in March around the time the department was conducting an investigation into a complaint about him.

Former Assistant Sheriff Rich Miller (Sheriffs Department )

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In the lawsuit, Adams-Fallone said she was working as a secretary in the Detention Service Bureau, and the harassment occurred when Miller was both a commander there and later assistant sheriff. She said she told two unidentified commanders about the harassment but did not file a formal complaint because she feared retaliation from Miller.

She also said neither of the commanders said her complaints should be reported to anyone else.

In September, she sought a transfer to a different position in the department to get away from Miller, she said. But she did not get that job, and she claims when Miller learned of her efforts to transfer away he retaliated against her.

On Oct. 31, she was transferred from her job working at the department headquarters to what she described in the suit as a lesser job in the jail in Chula Vista. On that day, she complained about the transfer to department officials in human resources.

Adams-Fallone said she was interviewed by an Internal Affairs investigator in December. She also said she had heard of other complaints of sexual harassment against Miller.

She contends in the suit that the department was aware of other complaints of inappropriate sexual behavior by Miller previously.

The lawsuit, filed March 28 in San Diego Superior Court, alleges Adams-Fallone was subjected to a hostile work environment, sexual harassment and retaliation when she reported the behavior. She said she has suffered emotional stress and anxiety because of the harassment, and has had to seek therapy.

A sheriffs spokeswoman said the department does not comment on pending litigation.

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Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.comJurors in a civil wrongful death trial began deliberating Tuesday about whether Adam Shacknai killed Rebecca Zahau at his brothers Coronado mansion seven years ago.

Defense attorney Daniel Webb finished his closing arguments, saying the only case Zahaus family has against Shacknai is that he was there when the body was found.

Plaintiffs argue that hes in the vicinity, therefore he must be guilty. Thats not evidence, Webb told jurors.

1 / 12 Attorney Keith Greer puts his hand out to Pari Zahau during the second day of closing arguments in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 12 In the second day of closing arguments on Tuesday morning, attorney Dan Webb addressed the jury during his closing arguments in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 12 Adam Shacknai listens to the rebuttal given by the plaintiffs attorney during the second day of closing arguments in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 12 In the second day of closing arguments on Tuesday morning, attorney Dan Webb addressed the jury during his closing arguments in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 12 Attorney Keith Greer offers a rebuttal to the closing arguments given earlier by the defense attorney during the second day of closing arguments in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 12 Defense attorney Dan Webb (left) objects to portion of the rebuttal given by plaintiffs attorney Keith Greer (right) during closing arguments on the second day. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 12 Attorney Keith Greer offers a rebuttal to the closing arguments given earlier by the defense attorney during the second day of closing arguments in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 12 Attorney Keith Greer offers a rebuttal to the closing arguments given earlier by the defense attorney during the second day of closing arguments in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 12 Attorney Keith Greer becomes emotional in the middle of his delivering his rebuttal to the closing arguments given earlier by the defense attorney. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 12 After the second day of closing arguments, Judge Katherine Bacal reads over the jury instructions before dismissing the jury to deliberate. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 12 The mother of Rebecca Zahau, Pari Zahau sat at the plaintiffs table as Judge Katherine Bacal read final jury instructions in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 12 Adam Shacknai sat in court during the day of closing arguments in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Webb said, also, that attorney C. Keith Greer  who represents Zahaus family  kept changing his theory of the case, including whether Zahau had been strangled or hanged.

Greer, in his rebuttal, said facts and theories do change in the course of a lawsuit and trial.

The only two people who knew all the facts from the beginning are Rebecca Zahau, whos now dead, and Adam Shacknai, who is sitting right there, Greer said, acknowledging Shacknai at the defense table.

Attorney Keith Greer offers a rebuttal to the closing arguments given earlier by the defense attorney during the second day of closing arguments in the civil trial for the wrongful death of Rebecca Zahau. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune )

County authorities said Zahau, 32, died on July 13, 2011, by hanging in a suicide.

Zahaus mother and sister disagreed with the finding and filed the wrongful death case against Shacknai in 2013. The sister, Mary Zahau-Loehner, was later dropped as a plaintiff because she didnt have the legal standing her mother, Pari Zahau, had, Greer said.

Greer said in his closing arguments that Adam Shacknai sexually assaulted Rebecca Zahau, hit her on the head, manually strangled her, then staged a hanging to look like suicide.

Zahau had been dating Jonah Shacknai, Adam Shacknais older brother, and was spending the summer with her boyfriend at his Coronado mansion in 2011.

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On July 11 of that year, Jonah Shacknai went to a gym and Zahau was home alone with his 6-year-old son, Max, and her 13-year-old sister. Max suffered a traumatic fall from a second-floor stairwell landing.

Zahau tried CPR on the boy, Max, while her sister called 911.

The boy was hospitalized and died five days later. His father and ex-wife, Dina Shacknai, spent the week at their sons bedside.

When Adam Shacknai learned of his nephews accident, he flew into San Diego the next day from his home in Memphis. He is a tugboat captain on the Mississippi River.

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The morning of July 13, Adam Shacknai, who testified that he spent the night in the mansions guest house, called 911 to report finding Zahau hanging from an outside balcony. She was naked, gagged and bound in ropes.

The noose rope was tied to a bed frame in a second-floor guest bedroom. On the door was a message in black paint: She saved him can you save her.

Authorities suggested that the message that she saved him referred to Zahau helping Max.

Zahaus family initially accused Adam Shacknai, Dina Shacknai and her twin sister Nina Romano of conspiring to kill Zahau. The women later were dropped from the lawsuit when their alibis were proven.

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On Tuesday, defense lawyer Webb told jurors that out of 29 witnesses who testified, either in court or by deposition, not a single one of them gave you testimony that Adam Shacknai was in the house that night.

He stressed that the two-month law enforcement investigation turned up no fingerprint or DNA evidence showing Shacknai had touched evidence such as knives, the ropes that bound Zahau or doors in the guest room.

Greer countered that the lack of evidence is proof that it was wiped away by Shacknai.

that the knots that bound Zahau were nautical, implicating Shacknai. An expert called by the defendants lawyer said the knots were common and simple ones that many people know.

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The attorneys finished their case summaries, and jurors headed to the deliberating room about 11:30 a.m.

They are tasked with deciding if Shacknai touched Zahau with intent to harm her, or touched her with intent to cause death. If they find that he did, they are asked to decide on damages for Zahaus mother, for the loss of Zahaus economic support and future companionship.

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pauline.repard@sduniontribune

Twitter: @pdrepardPresident Donald Trump on Tuesday said he hopes to send members of the military to guard the southwest border  an escalation in his push to reduce the number of immigrants coming to the U.S. But without sign off from Congress or Gov. Jerry Brown, federal law will likely block the presidents plans, at least in California.

Since he took office, Trump has criticized U.S. laws that allow people to come to the border and ask for asylum. After reports of a large caravan of migrants traveling through Mexico to seek asylum from violence-stricken Central American countries surfaced over Easter, the president reinforced his push to change what he called weak immigration laws.

Trump said he planned to meet with Gen. Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, on Tuesday to discuss options for installing troops at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Mexican border is very unprotected by our laws, Trump said during a news conference with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We have horrible, horrible, and very unsafe, laws in the United States.

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The White House confirmed that Trumps strategy involves mobilizing the National Guard.

Trump said the military would remain at the border until his promised border wall is completed. Though Congress has granted $1.6 billion in funding for new and replacement fencing along the border, Trump has not been able to get funding to build a wall fashioned after his prototypes in Otay Mesa.

Everard Meade, director of the Trans Border Institute at University of San Diego, said the president will also have a difficult time installing troops at the border.

Theyve been using military metaphors and talking about invasions  in that sense, its not a surprise, but when you move from political rhetoric to actual policy, I dont see a legal way to actually do it, Meade said. The U.S. Armed Forces are far too professional and risk-averse and rule-bound to accept some vague cowboy mission down there. Thats just not what they do.

The Posse Comitatus Act, which passed after the Civil War to keep federal troops from policing the South, limits federal troops deployment on U.S. soil and forbids using them to enforce domestic laws.

The President can deploy troops if theres an insurrection or invasion on U.S. soil. Congress later gave the military the ability to provide equipment and personnel for certain drug enforcement operations. The Coast Guard is exempt from the acts restrictions.

The estimated 1,200 migrants in the caravan would not count as an invasion, Meade said. Border Patrol has also apprehended significantly fewer unauthorized crossers since arrests peaked in 2000, according to data from the agency, which Meade said would also argue against sending military.

Governors can deploy the National Guard in their states to respond to emergencies. Previous presidents have, with governor sign off, used the National Guard to supplement Border Patrol agents during hiring pushes.

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Yet as California has taken a firm stance as a force of opposition to the Trump administrations immigration policies, Meade speculated that Californias governor would be unlikely to give Trump access to the California National Guard. The governors office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

During George W. Bushs administration, in 2006, under Operation Jump Start, about 6,000 members of the National Guard from across the border region were sent to help Border Patrol agents. Because they werent allowed to work as law enforcement, they couldnt arrest anyone.

Instead, they worked in support roles like monitoring cameras and building and repairing roads and fencing. The operations goal was to allow more Border Patrol agents to work in enforcement roles at the border and give the agency time to hire and train 6,000 new recruits by 2008, according to Customs and Border Protection.

Between fiscal 2006 and 2008, Border Patrol staffing grew from 12,349 to 17,499, an increase of 5,150, according to data from CBP.

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During the Obama administration, in 2010, under Operation Phalanx, about 1,200 members of the National Guard again mobilized to support agents while Border Patrol recruited more staff.

From fiscal 2010 to 2011, the agency grew from 20,558 to 21,444, an increase of 886. The agencys staffing levels have decreased every year since then through fiscal 2017.

National Guard Bureau spokesman Master Sgt. W. Michael Houk said that his command doesnt have anything more to offer on this than what the White House is saying.

Both the Bush and Obama administrations communicated extensively with Mexico before deploying troops along the border. Mexico hasnt received information from the Trump administration yet.

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We have formally requested a clarification on the Presidents comments from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, Mexico Ambassador Geronimo Gutierrez said. We share the idea of having a secure border, but we do not always agree on how to achieve that goal. Mexico, naturally, will always act in accordance with our own interests.

Terence Shigg, president of the local chapter of the Border Patrol union, said that past deployments of the National Guard to augment agents resources along the border with Mexico was helpful. Border Patrol is still having issues finding new recruits, he said.

He worried that if many from the migrant caravan arrive at San Diego ports of entry around the same time, that will flood an already clogged system that is running out of detention bed space. Because of increased arrests inside the U.S. and policies that require more immigrants to stay in detention for longer, some asylum seekers have waited for weeks in Mexico for the U.S. to have room to process them.

Other asylum seekers didnt want to wait and climbed the fence to turn themselves in to Border Patrol, he said. Then agents have to find room for them in detention or release them into the community.

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We dont want that overflow to impact our operations, Shigg said. That puts a burden on our workforce, our resources, to do those things, when that is something that should be done at the port.

Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committees U.S./Mexico Border Program, has criticized what he calls militarization of the border by Border Patrol agents. Adding actual military would make the situation that much worse, he said.

Already when people are driving through checkpoints that are operated by the Border Patrol, theres a sense that sometimes the Fourth Amendment rights are not as strong or not as respected as they should be, Rios said. With the presence of any military personnel, I think it would make people feel less protected.

He worried that increased military presence could lead to unnecessary deaths. He cited the story of Esequiel Hernandez Jr., an 18-year-old who was tending his familys goats in May 1997 when a Marine sent from Camp Pendleton on a drug-surveillance mission at the border in west Texas fatally shot him.

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Vicki Gaubeca, interim director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, said she found the presidents proposal extraordinarily alarming.

We are not at war with Mexico, and our country is not facing a threat that warrants a military response at the border, Gaubeca said. The caravan of migrants traveling to the United States is made up of men, women and children seeking humanitarian and asylum assistance. Instead of talking about troops and walls, we should be focused on working with Mexico and other countries in the hemisphere to find a humanitarian response.

Jeff Schwilk, founder of San Diegans for Secure Borders, announced before the presidents proposal that he is organizing a civilian response to keep migrants from the caravan out of the U.S.

The illegal aliens and their open border supporters and handlers have overplayed their hands again with this stunt to test Americas border defenses and catch and release asylum policies, Schwilk said. If our federal government wont or cant stop this border anarchy, the American people will.

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Schwilk was part of a group that, in 2014, blocked buses carrying Central American migrants to Murrieta.

We (the people) stopped the buses in Murrieta, CA in 2014, and we will stop the caravan in 2018, Schwilk said.

Schwilk did not respond to questions about how his group planned to prevent migrants from requesting asylum  a process codified in U.S. and international law.

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Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence

Carl Prine contributed to this report.

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kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on TwitterMaya Angelou spent much of April 4,1968, in her New York City apartment kitchen, making all her favorite dishes  Texas chili with no beans, baked ham, candied yams and pineapple upside-down cake  in preparation for her 40th birthday celebration.

That evening, her friend Dolly arrived looking grief-stricken. Dolly broke the news: Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot in Memphis. He was dead.



For the record: An earlier version of this article implied that King was shot on the morning of April 4, 1968. He was shot in the evening.

When the truth finally struck her, Angelou ran out of her apartment and, with her neighbors, walked to Harlem to mourn Kings death, according to her biography written by Donna Brown Agins.

Life stopped for me for a few days. Just terrible, Angelou said in a 2014 interview with Canadian talk show host George Stroumboulopoulos. I couldnt believe that this great mans great dreams  great dreamer, this person who dared to love everybody  could be killed before he could realize his dream.

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RELATED: How MLKs death affected a nation, as told by those who remember it 

For years, Angelou, who died in 2014, did not celebrate her own birthday  a painful reminder of Kings death. But for over 30 years, she and Kings widow, Coretta Scott King, would meet, call or send each other flowers every April 4.

Coretta Scott King and Maya Angelou in New York in June 1997. (Jon Levy / AFP )

Angelou was inspired to join the civil rights movement after hearing King deliver a speech in Harlem in 1960. She and comedian Godfrey Cambridge staged the play Cabaret for Freedom, and proceeds from the production went to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King helped organize and served as its first president.

She later became northern coordinator for the SCLC, and two months into her tenure, Angelou met King during one of his visits to New York.

RELATED: Thousands mark 50th anniversary of MLKs death with pledges to continue his fight for civil rights 

Angelou remembered King as a prince of peace in an interview with Scholastic.

He literally believed in peace, she said. That doesnt mean a lack of work in stirring up the grasses and stirring up the masses.

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Angelou went on to international acclaim with her first memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published the year after Kings death and with the encouragement of her friend the novelist James Baldwin. In 1993, she became the first African American and first woman to read at a presidential inauguration, when she recited her poem On the Pulse of Morning for President Clintons first swearing-in.

In Rainbow in the Cloud, another memoir published posthumously, she wrote of King: It is a great blessing to have lived in the time of Martin Luther King Jr., when forgiveness and generosity of spirit encouraged our citizenry to work for a better world for everybody.Citing fears of school shootings, a handful of teens from the region demanded Tuesday that U.S. Rep Darrell Issa hold a town hall to address gun violence and school shootings.

Nine high school students submitted a letter  with 60 signatures gathered over 24 hours, one said  requesting Issa attend a town hall they want to hold on Saturday. The teens turned the letter into Issas staffers during the weekly protest rallies outside the congressmans Vista office.

Issas office said Tuesday afternoon that the congressman already had plans in place and would not be in town this weekend, but said he has spoken with people with similar points of view and would be happy to continue listening.

Issas 49th District includes coastal North County and some of southern Orange County.

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Aside from turning in the letter, the nine or so high school students on spring break from schools in Carlsbad and San Clemente joined the roughly 80 or so adult protesters  many of them regulars  for the sidewalk rally.

A handful of the teens took the microphone, including Sage Creek High School student Chloe Easterbrook, who became overcome with emotion as she spoke.

I want my family safe, my friends safe, she started. Her voice quivered, then she paused to collect herself as she spoke to the crowd. Easterbrook said events like a classroom walkout at schools across the nation are crucial in winning this battle.

Walking out on March 14 felt surreal, Easterbrook said. Hordes of Sage Creek students slowly moved down to the fields. It seemed down there, it became real. Vastly real. Like it could happen to us.

Easterbrook said some of her friends and classmates were among the children who attended Kelly Elementary School in 2010 when a mentally ill man jumped a fence and opened fire on second-graders during recess. Two children were hurt.

San Clemente High School senior Jake Rybczyk carried a request Tuesday for a town hall meeting with U.S Rep Darrell Issa regarding gun violence. On left is San Clemente High student Landon Russell, and on the right is San Clemente High student Mark Ballard. (John Gibbins/San Diego Union-Tribune )

Some of the students railed against the gun lobby and its influence in politics.

Jake Rybczyk, 18 and a senior at San Clemente High School, wrote the letter and pushed for signatures. He said the students themselves had the idea for the town hall, and specifically one to focus on gun violence that could affect their schools.

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Hes still our representative. We still want an answer, Rybczyk said. This movement goes way beyond (the gun lobby). This is a movement that scares corporations. We are looking to stop the influence of corporate money on our politicians.

A few counter-protesters gathered across the street, including Oceanside resident Steve Hasty, who said the protesters should talk about gun safety not gun control, and said they should argue for parents to lock up their guns so students intent on violence cant get ahold of them.

Issa, a nine-term Republican congressman, has announced that he will not run for re-election this fall.

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teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

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(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUTA motorcyclist was seriously injured when he crashed into the back of an SUV that was stopped in traffic near Ski Beach in Mission Bay, police said.

The accident happened a little before 8:20 p.m. Tuesday when the 43-year-old rider was southbound on Ingraham Street after crossing the bridge from Pacific Beach toward Ski Beach, San Diego police Officer John Buttle said.

He didnt notice traffic had stopped in front of him and he ran into the back of an SUV,' Buttle said.

The rider was hospitalized with a serious injury but was expected to survive. Officers from the traffic division are investigating the crash and do not believe alcohol was a factor, Buttle said.Fire crews tackled a small fire at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel on Harbor Island on Tuesday afternoon, a San Diego Fire-Rescue spokeswoman said.

The fire was reported about 2 p.m at the hotel, spokeswoman Monica Munoz said.

Firefighters located the source of the fire on a first-floor elevator, she said, and had it knocked down by 2:30 pm.

The building was evacuated by hotel security. Munoz said there was no word of injuries.

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teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUTPresident Trump called on Tuesday for using the military to guard the border with Mexico until his promised wall is built, highlighting his growing frustration as nationalist allies criticize him for failing to get Congress to fully fund construction.

Until we can have a wall and proper security, we are going to be guarding our border with our military. Thats a big step, Trump said during a lunchtime meeting with leaders of three Baltic nations.

We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and, by the way, never showing up for court, Trump said.

Immigrants in the country illegally who claim asylum or have another potential legal basis for staying in the U.S. are often released from detention before their hearing. A large majority do show up for court dates, government figures indicate.

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Late Tuesday, after Trump had met with senior advisors and Cabinet officials including Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the White House released a statement clarifying that the president intended to mobilize the National Guard rather than deploy active-duty troops.

The move would be part of a broader strategy, the statement said, including pressuring Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organizations.

Even as Trump talked of dispatching soldiers for domestic duty, he repeated a surprise statement he first made last week, at an Ohio appearance, that he was likely to order U.S. troops to be pulled from Syria. This time, however, he added that he could change his mind if Saudi Arabia agrees to pay the bill.

Sometimes, its time to come back home, and were thinking about that very seriously, he said.

As for deploying troops to the border with Mexico, it was unclear how much  if any  planning had been done by Mattis or other top military officials to comply with Trumps request. In interviews, several military officials said Trumps announcement caught them off guard.

What youve heard from the White House is the first Ive heard, said Kurt M. Rauschenberg, a spokesman for the National Guard Bureau, the Pentagon agency that oversees state National Guard organizations.

Deploying active-duty troops for domestic law enforcement is prohibited under a federal law known as the Posse Comitatus Act. In the past, however, the military has been used to aid the Border Patrol in a supporting role, without arrest authority.

Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama mobilized National Guard troops to help the Border Patrol monitor parts of the border; actual policing was left to border agents. Whether Trump envisioned a more dramatic militarization was not clear until the White House issued its statement hours later. The president often speaks before his staff has a chance to fully vet and plan how to put his ideas into effect.

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Despite Trumps urgent language, the number of people apprehended crossing the border  generally considered a roughly accurate gauge of illegal crossings  has fallen sharply in recent years and is now at the lowest ebb since 1971, about one-fifth the level of the late 1990s, according to Border Patrol data.

Presidents have used troops to help secure the border for over a century. Most recently, in 2010, Obama authorized up to 1,200 National Guard members to assist the Border Patrol, mostly in Arizona, for a year. They mostly provided surveillance, riding in Border Patrol vehicles and using binoculars, night-vision goggles and drones to spot people crossing the border, then reporting such incursions to federal agents.

Bush sent about 6,000 National Guard troops from 2006 to 2008 to the border in Arizona, California and New Mexico.

Governors also can mobilize National Guard units to assist with law enforcement in declared emergencies, which are generally limited in scope and time. State governments usually bear those costs.

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Democrats criticized Trumps call for border troops.

Trump intends to employ our Armed Forces to advance his extreme anti-immigrant agenda, while wasting time, resources and money and depleting our military strength in areas of real danger, said Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, a Marine combat veteran. Thats an insult to our troops and it will harm our military as an institution. Congress must stop this misguided scheme.

On a related matter, the Pentagon acknowledged last week that Mattis has discussed with Trump the presidents recent idea for potentially using military funds to pay for construction of a border wall  an action that would require approval of a likely reluctant Congress. But the military did not mention the prospect of border deployments.

Trump campaigned on building a border wall, and he promised Mexico would pay for it. Mexican government officials have consistently said they will not.

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Trump signed a $1.3-trillion spending bill last month to finance the government for the remainder of fiscal year 2018, after first threatening to veto it for providing too little for a wall. The bill allotted $1.6 billion for overall border security, with only a portion going for wall construction. Estimates for the full costs range in the tens of billions of dollars.

Influential supporters subsequently chastised Trump to show more resolve in fighting for wall money. Ann Coulter, an anti-immigration pundit who had been an early cheerleader for Trump, has blistered him since he signed the spending bill, invoking the prospect of his impeachment on Twitter and calling him a failure in the New York Times.

As soon as he gets to the White House, suddenly all he wants is the approval of the Manhattan fancy people, she said in a recent Fox Business Network interview.

Coulter and like-minded conservatives have also focused attention on reports of a group of Central Americans heading north to escape poverty and violence in their countries, prompting the president to echo their warnings in recent tweets. On Tuesday morning, for example, Trump tweeted ominously about what he calls a Caravan of People from Honduras coming across our Weak Laws border with Mexico.

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If it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and so pathetic, Trump said in later remarks, adding it is like we have no border.

He blamed Obama for an immigration practice that critics call catch and release, which is actually a policy that predated Obama, based on laws and court rulings intended to protect minors and victims of human trafficking from indefinite detention. Some detainees typically are released with summons for later court appearances.

The caravan of about 1,100 immigrants mostly from Honduras is now resting in southern Mexico and seeking advice on obtaining visas in Mexico, mostly on humanitarian grounds. Most of those involved in the symbolic march were not expected to proceed to the United States.

Trump took credit for pressuring Mexico to break up the caravan, having warned the country again of implications for ongoing negotiations to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement. He also threatened to cut aid for Honduras.

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Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen, he said in a tweet.

Trumps blast against Honduras over the immigration issue comes as his administration has sought an especially warm relationship with Honduras far-right government. Honduras was among only eight countries that sided with the U.S. in December when the United Nations voted overwhelmingly to condemn Trumps decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The decision earned Honduras a high profile visit from U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as recently as late February. During the visit, Haley tried to soften a prior threat Trump made to the countrys foreign aid over the issue of drug trafficking.

The threat against Mexico and Honduras as well as the call for soldiers on the border signal the degree to which Trump, with seemingly increased impulsiveness, speaks and sets policy apart from his advisors.

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Times staff writers Brian Bennett and Joseph Tanfani contributed to this report.

noah.bierman@latimes.com

Twitter: @noahbierman

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UPDATES:

6:20 p.m.: This article was updated to include a late White House statement.

3:15 p.m.: This article was updated with statistics on historical numbers on border crossings.

This article was originally published at 2:55 p.m.The San Diego official who was fired after work crews nearly scooped up a homeless person into a trash truck last year is back working for the city.

Angela Colton had been terminated days after The San Diego Union-Tribune reported the near-death mistake in January.

She returned to City Hall as a finance analyst last month.

The former official who was fired after The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that a homeless person was mistakenly scooped up in a neighborhood cleanup and nearly crushed to death in the back of a garbage truck has been rehired by the city.

Angela Colton, formerly a deputy director with Environmental Services, is back working for the city as a fiscal and policy analyst at the Office of the Independent Budget Analyst.

Colton, who was escorted out of City Hall when she was terminated on Feb. 2, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Independent Budget Analyst Andrea Tevlin said she offered Colton the job based on her qualifications and working alongside her for a dozen years.

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I certainly dont excuse the terrible accident, Tevlin said by phone. I was satisfied with her answers regarding her role.

City spokeswoman Katie Keach said Colton returned to work March 26 at a salary of $110,000 a year, about $20,000 less than she previously was paid. Keach declined to comment on the decision to rehire the former deputy director.

Craig Gustafson, a spokesman for Mayor Kevin Faulconer, said the decision to rehire Colton was made outside of the Mayors Office.

The Independent Budget Analysts Office is an independent city department that reports to the City Council and is outside the mayors purview, he wrote in a statement. You should direct any hiring questions to the IBA and the City Council.

Colton, 42, was the official supervising the removal of homeless encampments from areas around downtown San Diego after a hepatitis A outbreak sickened hundreds of people and killed 20.

Three days before Christmas, crews clearing a camp along Commercial Avenue placed a tent, bedding and other discards into the back of a garbage truck. Moments before the compressor was activated, a person who was inside the tent yelled and screamed and scrambled out.

The city did not acknowledge the incident until the following month, when asked about it by the Union-Tribune. City officials remain unsure whether the victim, who walked away from the truck without being treated or questioned, was a man or woman.

Colton was terminated as part of the citys review of the case, the Union-Tribune reported Feb. 5. Spokeswoman Keach did not specifically confirm Coltons termination but issued a statement at the time saying appropriate disciplinary action has been taken.

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The former deputy director was initially hired as a financial analyst in 2000. She was paid $129,800 in 2016, according to the Transparent California database of public-sector salaries.

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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

UPDATES:

4:55 p.m. Comment from Independent Budget Analyst Andrea Tevlin was added.San Diego County jail inmate Michael Sullivan killed himself last week, a death the Sheriffs Department did not acknowledge publicly until The San Diego Union-Tribune asked.

A 61-year-old convicted child molester, Sullivan killed himself at the South Bay Detention Facility.

Sheriffs Department policy calls for officials to announce in-custody deaths via a news release, but no such announcement was made in this case.

A San Diego County jail inmate who served 15 years in state prison for child molestation killed himself at the South Bay Detention Facility last week, the Sheriffs Department said after being asked about the death Tuesday.

Department spokeswoman Lt. Karen Stubkjaer acknowledged the death of Michael Patrick Sullivan, 61, after The San Diego Union-Tribune asked about the incident from March 28.

We did have an inmate commit suicide, she said by email. We believe every suicide, no matter where it occurs, is tragic and we take great steps to prevent them. For a variety of reasons, we typically do not issue press releases on suicides, in the community or in the jails.

Sheriffs Department policy specifically calls for alerting the public to in-custody deaths, a problem that has plagued Sheriff Bill Gore for several years.

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The suspicious or accidental death, or suicide, of any person in Sheriffs custody will be reported via a news release prepared by a representative of the Homicide Unit, the policy states.

Stubjkaer said the death is being probed by homicide investigators and the Medical Examiners Office.

When asked about the policy on news releases, she said, Thank you for bringing that to my attention. We believe bringing publicity to suicide can promote more suicides. We will critically review that policy and work to balance the interests of transparency and over-all public safety.

Last month, the Sheriffs Department acknowledged another inmate death after being asked about it by the newspaper. Oscar Leal, 37, died at the Vista jail after being pepper-sprayed by deputies. The case remains under investigation.

According to the Megans Law website, Sullivan was convicted of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age by force or fear. The former El Cajon and Lakeside resident was sent to prison in 1992 and released in 2007, the state database shows. County records show he was charged in October with failing to re-register within five days of relocating.

San Diego County jails have seen more than 120 deaths since 2007, including dozens of suicides. The county has paid millions of dollars in recent years to settle wrongful-death lawsuits filed by relatives of inmates who died in custody.

The department has added significant resources to our jails to identify at-risk inmates, train our staff, make housing improvements (both with classification and facility structure) and increased mental health resources in an effort to reduce the number of suicides in our jails, Stubjkaer wrote.

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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonaldThe primary election in California is inching ever closer  its on June 5!  and that means its time for voters to be doing their homework. Were here to help.

There are 27 people signed up to campaign to take Gov. Jerry Browns place in Sacramento. Yes, you read that correctly. Twenty-seven!

The 27 candidates for governor include a mathematician, a puppeteer, a virtual reality manager, a trans-humanist lecturer and a recording artist. The list also includes former public officials and current ones like the lieutenant governor and the state treasurer.

With such a long list for Californians to take in, we decided to do some digging for you and  based on official candidate statements or our own research  provide the best information we could find about each one.

Some shared a lot about themselves with the Secretary of States Office, others are elusive and have limited information online. Many have extensive campaign websites where you can learn more about them, which weve provided links to below.

Heres what we could find. We listed each candidate in alphabetical order with their political party affiliations.

Good luck.

Akinyemi Agbede  Democratic

Occupation: Mathematician

Candidate Info: Mission StatementCalifornia Strong!

Travis Allen  Republican

Occupation: California Assemblyman/businessman

Candidate Info: Born and raised in California, Ive had amazing opportunities in this state. My wife and I are raising our daughters here. I became a financial advisor and started my own small business here. I was elected to the California Assembly six years ago. Ive even had the chance to help break a Guinness World Record. I love California, and Im proud to call it home; I want my daughters to have the California I grew up with. However, our state is threatened by high taxes, burdensome regulations, soft on crime policies, and low education standards. We need to take back California. I have a five-point plan for California: 1) Cut taxes for all Californians; 2) Get tough on crime to protect Californias families, not criminals; 3) Fix our roads and reduce traffic by spending our existing tax revenue for high quality roads, not high speed rail; 4) Once again provide the best education in America by giving our children safe schools and charter schools; and 5) Complete the State Water Project to provide water storage that will preserve the Delta and supply water to Californias farms, suburbs and cities. I have a proven track record. I authored the first effort to repeal Californias excessively high new gas tax and car tax, and Ive earned A grades from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association every single year Ive been in the Assembly. As governor, Ill reverse Californias dangerous sanctuary state policies. Lets take back California: Vote Travis Allen for governor.

J. Bribiesca  Democratic

Occupation: Retired medical doctor

Canididate Info: Im running for governor to make California better. Im for the veterans, the homeless (I was a homeless child), the seniors, the disabled and the youth of California. I represent the poor, middle class and those with no voice. Im a proud American citizen, a retired medical doctor from Mexico, and the first immigrant from Mexico to run for governor of California. Im not a career politician. With your vote, Ill fight for a better California using a common-sense approach and promote prevention taking care of the causes to avoid costly consequences. Keeping our citizens safe, demand transparency, justice and accountability and respect for peoples rights by ethical and respectful conduct from all state employees and enforcing the law to all equally. Stop elected officials using their office for personal gain at taxpayers expense. Reducing regulations for economic growth, job creation. Fixing infrastructure. Lower gasoline and utility prices and encouraging renewable energy, protecting our environment. Fiscal conservative. Smaller and efficient government by reducing non-performing agencies. Affordable health care with lower drug and hospital costs. Demand better and free education. Respect womens rights, families, diversity and freedom.

Thomas Jefferson Cares  Democratic

Occupation: Blockchain startup CEO

Candidate Info: You're going to love having me as governor. I'll revolutionize credit with a platform where every Californian can create their own cryptocurrency, and make enforceable and monitored promises to make it redeemable for things like services, or a fraction of future income. Your potential will be money. This will change a fundamental framework of society to focus us on potential, so that we can reach it, individually and collectively. It's a complete game-changer, and one of many reasons you can't waste your vote on a traditional candidate. Some other things you'll love: A Department of Dignity, overseeing that all government-civilian interactions are dignified for the civilian. A Department of Potential that will empower everyone to find meaningful, creative work and growth. Incarceration rates below Canada's, instead of 6 times higher. Re-engineered education that focuses on creativity and abandons cookie-cutter matriculation requirements to nurture every students' particular talents. As we head into an age of automation, non-creative work for humans may be scarce. Zero tolerance for police brutality and renaming the Bay Bridge after Oscar Grant, and the Sacramento Tower Bridge after Stephon Clark, so it's not forgotten. A ground-breaking digital direct democracy platform, with no binding power initially, that will eventually become the standard for political systems worldwide. Everyone can act as a legislator when they want to, and be represented by their favorite person when they don't; with an overall leader, directly accountable to voters in real time. The status quo of winner-take-all districts and quadrennial elections will look archaic. A network of self-driving, synchronized, narrow cars (Traffic solved!) Studying peaceful/legal secession/independence in case things worsen.

Christopher N. Carlson  Green

Occupation: Puppeteer/musician

Candidate Info: Teach your children calculus And keep the planet safe Or feathered stones and empty bowls Will also be their fate.

Website: Not provided

John Chiang  Democratic

Occupation: California state treasurer

Candidate Info: John Chiang believes every Californian deserves the opportunity to live the American Dream. Thats why he has spent his career fighting for Californias working families  so they can have access to good-paying jobs that provide for a family, send their kids to a quality school where they can succeed, and sign up for health coverage that doesnt break the bank. As Californias next governor, John will build on our states rich cultural diversity, commitment to equality, and innovative spirit to ensure every Californian has the opportunity to live this American Dream.

John H. Cox  Republican

Occupation: Businessman/taxpayer advocate

Candidate Info: For years, the Sacramento politicians have been socking it to middle class taxpayers and small business owners. Fueled by the corrupting influence of special interest money, career politicians have saddled us with among the highest income taxes, sales taxes,and gas taxes in the country. They have piled on so many taxes, fees and regulations that they have made it impossible to build affordable housing, while driving thousands of businesses and good-paying jobs out of state. I am a conservative small businessman running for governor to roll back the tide of tax increases and job killing regulations that have made California unaffordable. Im the only conservative in the race who both supports the Second Amendment and is endorsed by the California Pro-Life Council. On my first day in office, Ill put an end to the sanctuary state law that shelters illegal felons, and puts all of our families at risk. When our California congressional Republicans asked me to serve as chairman of the real campaign to repeal the gas tax, I gladly accepted because its time to fight back, and end the war on the middle class. Lets liberate California from the corrupting influence of special interest money, and reclaim the California Dream. If youre ready to join our movement, text reclaim to 99000, and follow me on Facebook. I cant do this alone, but together, we can make California great again. Im John Cox, Republican for Governor.

Delaine Eastin  Democratic

Occupation: Educator/youth advocate

Candidate Info: Delaine Eastin is the only woman elected state superintendent of public instruction, overseeing Californias schools and responsible for 40 percent of the state budget. During her 8-year tenure Delaine moved Californias per pupil spending from 47th to 27th in the nation by suing the governor for illegally withholding funds. Delaine is running for governor because California has lost its way. We rank 41st in the nation in per pupil spending, but 1st in per prisoner. The high costs of childcare, healthcare, housing and college are crushing Californians. Budgets are statements of values. To rebuild our democracy, we need to invest in education and create an economy that works for everyone. As Governor, Delaine will foster jobs that pay living wages with equal pay; build affordable housing; provide universal healthcare; defend reproductive rights; protect immigrants; fight the climate crisis by banning fracking and transitioning to clean energy; invest in small businesses, affordable child care, universal preschool, excellent public education, debt free college, career training. Delaine is endorsed by the National Womens Political Caucus, the Young Democrats Environmental/Progressive Caucuses, the Feminist Majority, SF Berniecrats, Senators/Assembly members Dede Alpert, Joan Buchanan, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Loni Hancock and Lori Saldana, county supervisors, mayors, city council members, school board members, Teachers of the year, and thousands of everyday Californians because Delaine has the courage, vision and heart to lead our state. Delaine is the only candidate elected to statewide office, the Assembly and City Council in Union City, where there is a Delaine Eastin Elementary School. Delaine would be Californias first woman governor.

Yvonne Girard  Republican

Occupation: Judicial assistant

Candidate Info: As a veteran, and governor, I will work to deregulate California and reduce taxes. I believe justice belongs to all; from babies in the womb, families of fallen military and first responders, to historical wrongs not fully amended for Japanese, Jewish, Armenian, Indigenous and African Americans. No child should ever live in hunger. All public K12 student meals should be included in the cost to educate each student. I, Yvonne Girard, ask for your vote.

Website: Not provided

Shubham Goel  No Party Preference

Occupation: Virtual reality manager

Candidate Info: I am a recent UCLA graduate with a major in economics/business and minor in film, television and digital media.

Robert Davidson Griffis

Occupation: Entrepreneur/economist/father

Candidate Info: None available

Zoltan Istvan  Libertarian

Occupation: Entrepreneur/trans-humanist lecturer

Candidate Info: As one of Americas leading libertarian politicians, Im running for governor to restore equality, fiscal responsibility, and prosperity to California. Born in Los Angeles, Im an Ivy-league graduate, former National Geographic journalist, successful Bay Area entrepreneur, and one of the worlds top science and technology policy makers. A shortlisted potential running mate of presidential candidate Gary Johnson, I have the executive experience to lower taxes, end the drug war, defend your freedoms, and create new jobs. Im pro-choice, pro-immigration, pro-small business, and secular. As a husband, father, and citizen, I share your values in seeing California restored with a powerful new vision. Vote Zoltan!

Josh Jones  Green

Occupation: Author

Candidate Info: Corruption. Unaffordability. Waste. This has become normal. I will change it. Were listening to you, with meetings in all 58 counties. A corporation is not a person and money is not speech. Trans rights: not extra rights for corporations. We need to protect pensions, social security, sustainable energy, groundwater reservoirs, gain UBI, housing, oil royalties, provide free college, ban prison slavery, fix DACA, ban fracking, achieve single payer. Vote Josh Jones, fourth-generation Californian. Vote for human rights and strong leadership. www.candidate-statements-cost-25-dollars-a-word.com

Gloria Estela La Riva  Peace And Freedom

Occupation: Graphic artist

Candidate Info: For too long, corporations, banks and the Pentagon have dominated society. The result: Half of all people live in or near poverty. Housing cost is skyrocketing. Immigrants get scapegoated. The prison population and police repression grow. The environment is being destroyed. Enough! Vote socialist! Get involved!

Peter Y. Liu  Republican

Occupation: No ballot designation

Candidate Info: #cesp5

Albert Caesar Mezzetti  Democratic

Occupation: Retired educator

Website: Not provided

Hakan Hawk Mikado  No party preference

Occupation: CEO/business owner

Candidate Info: A True American Is Proud To Live In The Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave. A True American Stands Up For Their Brothers & Sisters To Make Our Country The Best Country In The World. True Americans Fight For Their Right To Freedom. True Americans Uphold Their Given Right To Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit Of Happiness. A True American Puts America & Her Needs First Above Their Own. True Americans Believe In The Power Of Popular Vote And A Powerful Popular Vote. A True American Values Sensible & Reasonable Jurisdiction Of Federal & State Governments Over Her People. A True American Never Folds To Oppression, Invasion Of Privacy, Or The Right Given To Them By The Founding Fathers Of Our Great Nation, These United States Of America.True Americans Give A Hand Up, Not A Hand Out, To Those In Need. Every True American Carries The Torch Of Liberty & Justice For All. A True American Calls For Sustainable Economic & Political Government Practices. A True American Creates Opportunities & Ownership Of Those Opportunities. True Americans Deserve And Demand Publicly Directed Government Spending To Uphold What They Hold Most Dear. I Am A True American And I Believe In Freedom For My Future, Join Me to Make It Happen.

Robert C. Newman II  Republican

Occupation: Research clinical psychologist

Candidate Info: Pro: God, life, U.S. Constitution, parental rights, property rights, business

Limited: Government, taxes, regulations

No: Geo-engineering, con-con

Gavin Newsom  Democratic

Occupation: Lieutenant governor/businessman

Candidate Info: On a wide range of topics including same-sex marriage, gun safety, marijuana, the death penalty, universal health care, access to preschool, paid family leave, technology, criminal justice reform, sugary drinks and the minimum wage, Gavin stuck his neck out and did the right thing, which often led to sweeping changes when his policies were ultimately accepted, embraced, and replicated across the state and nation. Gavins top priorities are economic development (creating jobs and reducing poverty), education (increasing affordable access to quality schools at all levels), protecting the environment, and justice  ensuring California continues to lead by example while actively resisting any attempt by the Trump administration to take us backwards.

Amanda Renteria  Democratic

Occupation: COO, Justice Department

Candidate Info: Government works best when inspiring public servants do the peoples business with humility, enthusiasm, and skill. From Washington to Sacramento, we run into problems when politicians are allowed to buy their way into office and use their power for personal benefit. In order to run for office, I recently stepped down from the senior team at the California Department of Justice. As the DOJs chief of operations, I led a team of 1,000 dedicated public servants and managed an $850 million budget. The DOJ has locked up human traffickers, cracked down on polluters, protected immigrants rights, fought for womens healthcare, shielding seniors from Medi-Cal fraud, and secured millions in student refunds from shady for-profit colleges. Prior to the DOJ, I was a math teacher in the Central Valley, a budget analyst for the city of San Jose, an economic policy adviser to Senator Feinstein, and the first Latina chief of staff in U.S. Senate history. This gives me the deepest policy experience in the race, but mostly it shows that Ive treated public service as a lifelong calling. Californians take pride in being on the frontiers of change in America. Thats why we cant sit back any longer. We need fresh faces and new ideas this year. Its time to shake things up. Learn more about our movement at www.amandarenteria.com.

Michael Shellenberger  Democratic

Occupation: Environmental organization executive

Candidate Info: I am a lifelong progressive Democrat who has fought for social justice and the environment my entire life. I was awarded Time magazines Hero of the Environment for telling the truth about climate change. I am running for governor to create abundant housing, good jobs, and world-class schools. Expensive housing is destroying the California Dream. We have Americas highest poverty rate and the greatest inequality. I have a bold new vision, California for All: Break up the corrupt Public Utilities Commission and clean up government contracting. Help communities across the state share the responsibility of building new homes. Create good jobs in high-tech manufacturing. Personalize education so every child benefits from one-on-one tutoring and digital learning. Pioneer cheap, clean energy and electric self-driving cars to prevent traffic jams and the deaths of more than three thousand Californians yearly. Thank you for considering my candidacy. Michael

Desmond Silveira  No party preference

Occupation: Senior software engineer

Candidate Info: Endorsed by American Solidarity Party, which stands for sanctity and dignity of human life, social justice, environmental stewardship and peace.

Jeffrey Edward Taylor  No party preference

Occupation: Marketplace Minister

Candidate Info: None available

Klement Tinaj  Democratic

Occupation: CEO/educator/artist

Candidate Info: I, Klement Tinaj, am running for the governor of California because I want to bring jobs back to the working class, invest in our schools and after-school programs, fix roads, improve our transportation and offer more affordable housing. I want to make sure that our veterans and the men and women in uniform who risk their lives everyday to keep us safe are taken care of.

Antonio Villaraigosa  Democratic

Occupation: Public policy adviser

Candidate Info: Making our state work for everyone starts with making sure everyone has a voice. Im running for governor to do big things  starting with rebuilding our middle class by investing in our schools and repairing our infrastructure. But were never going to make this state work for us again unless we give voice to the people who are all too often not heard in Sacramento. Thats what my campaign is about  giving voice to everyone. Thats what my service as governor will be about  making sure the people are heard in Sacramento and their priorities are addressed.

Johnny Wattenburg  No party preference

Occupation: Business owner

Candidate Info: Why not!

Nickolas Wildstar  Libertarian

Occupation: Recording artist

Candidate Info: Im running for governor because elected politicians no longer represent the people of this state. As a 20 year working class professional, I will defend residents from unnecessary taxation, regulatory bureaucracy and skyrocketing costs of living. As a Libertarian, I will not compromise your liberty for special interest groups desires and will uphold the United States Constitution. And as governor, I will proudly serve for all of the people of California. Please allow me this honor by choosing Wildstar for governor and lets bring back liberty!

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblinInvestigators Wednesday served a search warrant at the 4S Ranch residence where a woman was staying before she drove to the Northern California headquarters of YouTube, shot and wounded three people and then turned the gun on herself.

Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 37, was apparently upset with the online video company over its policies and practices that she thought were targeting her channels, law enforcement officials confirmed at a news conference this morning in San Bruno, where YouTube is headquartered.

San Bruno police Chief Ed Barberini also revealed that Aghdam practiced at a gun range Tuesday morning before carrying out the shooting with a 9 mm Smith & Wesson handgun registered in her name.

Aghdam was a resident of Menifee, in Riverside County, before she came to 4S Ranch to live with a relative, though exactly when was unclear.

Police said theyd obtained search warrants for two residences in Southern California, the residence in 4S Ranch and another in Riverside County.

Police say Aghdam opened fire as YouTube employees were taking their lunch breaks Tuesday. Authorities received numerous 911 calls reporting gunshots at the YouTube campus south of San Francisco at 12:46 p.m., according to the San Bruno Police Department.

Inside the complex, officers located a dead woman - later identified as Aghdam - with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Caldwell said.

The most seriously injured victim, a 36-year-old man, remains hospitalized in critical condition, according to police. Two women, ages 32 and 27, were treated for less serious gunshot wounds and have since been released. Another woman injured an ankle while fleeing the scene.

On Tuesday, family members said Aghdam was upset with YouTube for allegedly filtering her content to drive her views down. Her father said the family had called police to report his daughter missing Monday because she hadnt answered her phone for two days. Ismail Aghdam told the Bay Area News Group that he told police she might be going to YouTube because she hated the company.

Police in Mountain View, south of San Bruno, said they made contact with Aghdam sleeping in her car early Tuesday morning and then notified her family. Aghdams brother told 10News that when he realized how close Mountain View was to YouTubes headquarters, he alerted authorities to warn them she might be planning a confrontation. But the brother, who spoke with 10News on the condition that his voice be changed and his face hidden, said he wasunaware that Aghdam owned or had access to a handgun.A website that apparently belonged to her featured rants about perceived censorship by YouTube. Most of Aghdams videos featured low production values and showed her dancing, singing and sharing pro-vegan and animal rights messages.A 60-year-old Ramona man who apparently suffered a heart attack while driving in Ramona on March 31 rolled his pickup truck and died at the scene.

The accident occurred at about 10:30 a.m. near the intersection of Pamo and Burma roads, according to Cal Fire San Diego Capt. John Heggie.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. Daniel Gilbert said the pickup was traveling at about 20 miles per hour southbound on Pamo Road just north of Burma Road when it veered off the west edge of the roadway. The pickup then went up a steep embankment and overturned onto its side, Gilbert said. He said a 36-year-old man and a 60-year-old man who were passengers were able to exit the pickup safely, but the driver was having difficulty breathing.

Although bystanders attempted to perform CPR on the driver, he died at the scene of the accident, Heggie said.

The San Diego County Medical Examiners office declined to release the mans identity April 2 pending notification of his family.

In an unrelated accident, two vehicles collided on state Route 67 near Shady Bend Road on March 24, causing one of the autos to hit a tree.

The accident involved a 73-year-old man driving a Suzuki Samurai with a 71-year-old woman passenger, and a 33-year-old man driving a Scion XB without any passengers.

Both cars were approaching Shady Bend as they were heading north on state Route 67 at about 10:10 a.m.

CHP officer Benjamin Demarest said the Scion was traveling directly ahead of the Suzuki when the Scion attempted to make a left turn onto Shady Bend. The Suzuki came up from behind and failed to slow in time so the driver veered to the right and struck the right rear portion of the Scion.

The Suzuki goes around the Scion, loses control and hits a tree on the right shoulder of the southbound lane, Demarest said.

Demarest said the Suzukis driver had a broken leg and his passenger complained of chest pain after the accident. Both were transported to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido. The Scions driver was not injured.

In a separate accident on March 21, a two-car collision involving a suspected drunken driver left one person seriously injured after the incident occurred on Hanson Lane just after 8 p.m.

The accident occurred when a green 2006 Ford F-150 pickup truck heading westbound on Hanson Lane struck a black 1987 Ford Bronco sport utility vehicle as it was leaving a private driveway.

Travis Garrow, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol, said the Bronco was hit as it was facing north and trying to make a left turn to go west on Hanson Lane near Glae Jean Court. The F-150 was also westbound on Hanson and rear-ended the Bronco, causing the Bronco to roll over. Both vehicles were heavily damaged and towed from the scene, the CHP reported.

Both the 27-year-old man driving the F-150 and the 40-year-old man driving the Bronco are Ramona residents. The F-150 driver suffered minor injuries and the Bronco driver had major injuries, and both were transported to Palomar Medical Center for treatment, the CHP reported.

Garrow said the F-150 driver tried to flee the scene after the accident.

He tried to leave the scene but a couple of good Samaritans down the block stopped him, Garrow said.

Subsequently, the F-150 driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and hit and run. He was booked into the Vista Detention Facility.

Among other accidents that occurred recently in Ramona are a two-vehicle accident and a three-vehicle accident on March 14. One right-of-way violation occurred at Main and 14th streets between a Kia and a Toyota, and a rear-end collision with a minor injury occurred between two Fords and a Nissan. No one was transported to the hospital in either collision.

In previous weeks, a cluster of vehicle accidents occurred on state Route 67 in Ramona, many of which involved injuries to drivers.

The first occurred at about 5 p.m. Feb. 25 in the 17900 block of SR-67 south of Mussey Grade Road. A Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle, Cadillac Escalade SUV and a Toyota Sienna minivan collided when one vehicle made an unsafe turning move onto SR-67 while another vehicle attempted to pass.

Garrow said two adults and a 9-year-old boy were transported to a hospital with minor injuries.

An accident occurred at about 7:25 a.m. Feb. 28 near 17532 SR-67. Four vehicles involved in the collision were a Dodge Ram pickup truck, Ford F-150 pickup truck, Chevy Tahoe SUV, and a Ford Fusion sedan.

Garrow said it was a rear-end traffic collision on southbound SR-67 north of Air Mail Lane.

The back car rear-ended one car and pushed it into the next two vehicles, he said.

Although none of the people involved in the accident were taken to the hospital, Garrow said two adults reported minor injuries.

The next accident occurred at about 2 p.m. March 3 on SR-67 south of Rancho de Oro Drive. Garrow said it involved a Toyota Corolla and a Honda Civic when one driver was pulling out of a driveway and making an unsafe entry onto SR-67. One person was transported to the hospital, he said.

Another collision occurred at about 1:20 p.m. March 5 on SR-67 at Hunter Street.

Garrow said the accident occurred when a Hyundai Azera sedan heading eastbound on Hunter Street turned left on SR-67 and struck a Harley-Davidson motorcycle while it was traveling southbound on SR-67.

The car made an unsafe entry into the roadway and the motorcycle hit the left side of the car, Garrow said.

An elderly man driving the Harley-Davidson and an elderly woman driving the Hyundai Azera were both transported to a hospital with minor to moderate injuries, Garrow said.

We all know how dangerous it is (on SR-67), he said. It seems like theyre all for different reasons as well.CAMP PENDLETON  More than two dozen protesters, including children who brought their pets, gathered outside Camp Pendletons main gate Wednesday afternoon to denounce the use of pigs in military-trauma training.

Jena Hunt, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which organized the protest, said there are more humane ways for soldiers to train, including advanced human simulators that could function as victims and having soldiers rotate into military-trauma centers where they can learn life-saving techniques.

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This is just torture, said Scott Adams of Murrieta, a 53-year-old retired paramedic.

Adams, who said he served in the Army from 1979 to 2007, said he supports the troops, but disagrees with the militarys trauma training.

With the advancements in technology that we have today, this is just wrong, he said.

The training has become standard on numerous U.S. military bases and off-site locations across the country during the eight years of war in the Middle East. It is intended to prepare front-line troops and corpsmen for the gore and pressure they will encounter treating wounds on the battlefield.

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The pigs are connected to IV tubes delivering anesthesia. They are euthanized when the training is completed.

Rick Berman, executive director of the Center for Consumer Freedom, criticized PETAs protest in a statement released from Washington, D.C.

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Many corpsmen will face a time when he or she will have to pack a gunshot wound, stop a bleeding artery, or cut into a fellow soldier to restore a breathing airway, Berman said. It is during the first attempts at such procedures that most mistakes are made. Id rather see it happen on a pig than on one of our military men or women.

Berman said that placing priority for animal lives over human lives is a standard practice for PETA, but its especially upsetting to see radical activists apply their twisted priorities to U.S. Marines.

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Nasim Aghdam, a 29-year-old San Diego animal-rights activist, dressed in a wig and jeans painted with large blood drops for the protest.

For me, animal rights equal human rights, Aghdam said.

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Staff writer Kristina Davis contributed to this report.County health officials yesterday said three more local swine flu patients have died, raising the count to 16 since the virus first surfaced here in April.

Two of the victims  a 32-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman  had no underlying health conditions that contributed to their deaths. The third victim, a 49-year-old woman, did have other complicating illnesses.

Most people who have been hospitalized because of the virus, also called H1N1 influenza A, suffered from underlying health problems such as asthma, diabetes, chronic heart disease and a weakened immune system.

People need to remain vigilant in their efforts to avoid swine-flu infections, said Dr. Wilma Wooten, San Diego Countys public health officer.

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The pandemic H1N1 virus is widespread throughout our county and everyone is at risk, she said. If people are sick, stay home. If people become ill while at work or school, they should go home.

People should wash their hands often and regularly clean surfaces in common areas, Wooten said.

 K.Darce

Group protests militarys use of pigs in training

CAMP PENDLETON: More than two dozen protesters gathered outside Camp Pendletons main gate yesterday afternoon to denounce the use of pigs in military-trauma training.

Jena Hunt, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which organized the protest, said there are more humane ways for service members to train, including advanced human simulators that could function as victims and having service members rotate into military-trauma centers where they can learn life-saving techniques.

Nasim Aghdam, 29, a San Diego animal rights activist, dressed in a wig and jeans with large blood drops painted on them.

For me, animal rights equal human rights, Aghdam said.

The training has become standard on numerous U.S. military bases and off-site locations across the country during the eight years of war in the Middle East. It is intended to prepare frontline troops and corpsmen for the gore and pressure they will encounter treating wounds on the battlefield.

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The pigs are connected to IV tubes delivering anesthesia. They are euthanized when training is completed.

 A.M. & K.Davis

Council hears from public on cable ski park at lake

SANTEE: A controversial proposal to allow a cable ski park at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve drew an overflow crowd to Santee City Hall last night, where dozens of speakers argued alternately that the facility would fulfill a recreational need or create a disruption in an otherwise tranquil corner of the city.

I think this project is a good project if there werent any homes right there, Santee resident Elaine Murphy told the council.

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Testimony had run into a second hour and the Santee City Council had not yet voted on the plan. Speakers included residents from Santee and as far as Orange County, as well as water-sports enthusiasts.

The project, proposed by the Padre Dam Municipal Water District, calls for a cable ski watercourse and restaurant to be built at the preserves southernmost lake. If approved, the facility would allow wakeboarders and water-skiers to skim the surface of the lake, pulled by a cable above.

Neighbors of the preserve argued that their quality of life would be compromised by the additional people and cars they expected the facility would draw.

Padre Dam officials said they had studied the parks effects on the community over a six-year period and conducted several studies. According to a city staff report, the parks noise levels would not exceed city ordinances and traffic impacts would be minimal.

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 M.C.

Inmates, drug offenders to clean up encampment

LAKESIDE: The Sheriffs Department says a cleanup is planned beginning at 7 a.m. today for a transient encampment in a riverbed east of state Route 67 and south of Willow Road.

Workers will include inmates from the East Mesa Detention Facility in Otay Mesa and individuals assigned community service for drug offenses. They will be supervised by sheriffs deputies.

The work is expected to be completed about 2 p.m. today, said Deputy Timothy Johnson.

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EDCO disposal company is lending a 40-yard Dumpster to be used for trash and other debris that is collected. It will be placed at the north end of Vine Street in Lakeside.

 S.S.From that night through the funeral on April 19, we were glued to the TV and radio reflecting on Dr. Kings life and death, consoling each other and discussing what would happen next.

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.Washington, like so many cities in America, burned the night of Kings death  an irony not lost on those who were stirred by his calls for nonviolence as the civil rights movement of the 1960s moved to a crescendo.New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/04/2018 -- Persistence Market Research (PMR) delivers key insights on the Australia lime market in its latest report titled, "Lime Market: Australia Industry Analysis and Forecast, 20162024".



The lime market in Australia is expected to expand at a CAGR of 1.7% in terms of value over the forecast period, 20162024. The market has been segmented by product type and application. The application segmentation consists of mining & metallurgy, building materials, agriculture, water treatment and others of which the mining & metallurgy segment is expected to account for the highest share of the lime market in Australia throughout the forecast period, to account for 31.4% by 2024.



Request for Table of Contents @

https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/australia-lime-market/toc



Demand for energy-efficient and cost-effective solutions is expected to be a priority for lime manufacturers in the country over the forecast period. By product type, slaked/hydrated lime segment is expected to continue to dominate the market in terms of both value and volume throughout the forecast period.



The segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 146.7 Mn and account for volume share of 68% in 2016. By application, mining & metallurgy and building materials, segments in the Australia lime market are expected to account for significant volume shares of 38% and 35%, respectively.



New South Wales is expected to be the largest market for lime in Australia throughout the forecast period. The market in the region is estimated to be valued at US$ 59.1 Mn by 2016 end. In terms of production, Western Australia is expected to be a major producer, contributing over 65% to the total lime production in the country, and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 0.8% over the forecast period.



Key players in the Australia lime market include Adelaide Brighton Ltd., Boral Limited, Sibelco Australia, Omya Australia Pty. Ltd, Wagners, and Lime Group Australia. Key players in the Australia lime market are focusing on enhancing their product portfolios. They are focusing not only on basic lime products but also on importing quicklime from ASEAN countries such as Thailand and Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries such as China to minimize a cost of raw materials involved in a lime production.



Manufacturers are focusing on capitalizing on economies of scale to increase production, profitability, and offer cost-effective products in order to target cost-sensitive population in the region. Joint ventures, acquisitions, and strategic collaborations in terms of production and distribution of lime have been the common strategies employed by these companies to achieve their production objectives.



Request to View Sample of Research Report @

https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11503



Long-term Outlook: The long-term outlook on the Australia lime market remains on the conservative side, with the market expected to expand at a modest CAGR of 1.7% in terms of value during the forecast period. The revival of the mining sector in the country, increasing demand from the construction sector, particularly in the country's east coast region, and demand from the water treatment industry are some of the factors expected to sustain a growth of the lime market in Australia.Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/03/2018 -- Overview: Coffee premix is a fusion of different ingredients made from premium quality coffee beans with distinct flavors and aromas, which produces a unique result for consumption. It contains caffeine, coloring agents, preservatives and other ingredients. The use and necessity of coffee premixes are rising both at individual level and at Quick Service Restaurants (QSR), thus, adding more to the demand for the particular market at a substantial rate over the years. The consumption of coffee is high, and, to meet the most of the growing demand, new flavors are being introduced in the market. Coffee premixes have a relatively longer shelf life because it is sealed, which prevents it to absorb moisture. In case of revenue, instant coffee premixes mixed with milk or water captured the largest market share among all other instant beverage premixes and is projected to be the leader during the forecast period. The coffee premixes market growth is largely connected to the growing end user industry of coffee. Coffee premix can be consumed with milk or water, as per individual preferences. Seasonal menu components served in restaurants and quick serve restaurants (QSR) is an opportunity for coffee premix market. For instance with desserts, sweet coffee premixes is preferred generally as toppings or granules.



Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=16208



Global Coffee Premix: Market Segmentation



Coffee premixes is intermediate which can be directly purchased by end users for their own consumption and, it can be also used in vending machines. The global coffee premix market is segmented on the basis of type, brewing, flavors and forms. Different types of coffee beans used to make premixes are green, black, brown and white. Coffee premixes on the basis of brewing style can be mainly segmented into instant, cappuccino, mocha, latte, espresso and regular. Among all the brewing style, regular occupies the largest market share followed by cappuccino. Flavors are segmented into chicory, chocolate, maple walnut, honey cinnamon and rosemary. Chocolate occupies the largest market share among all the flavors available in the market. Different forms of coffee premixes market are roasted/grounded, blended and soluble.



Global Coffee Premix Market: Regional Outlook



Geographically, the coffee premixes industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. Coffee premixes consumption is highest in Finland followed by Norway and Netherlands. Production of coffee premixes is highest in Brazil followed by Vietnam and Colombia. The plantation of coffee covers 25,000-30,000 square kilometers of the land in Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and Parana which are the south eastern states in Brazil and it contributes 40% of the world's total coffee supply.



Read Report Overview @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/coffee-premixes-market.html



Global Coffee Premix Market: Growth Drivers



Coffee is the major application of coffee premixes which is the main growth driver for this market. The changing and varying life style is one of the driving force behind the coffee premix market. People are going experimental, so they tend to try different flavors of premixes available in the market. Health awareness is also a driving force in the market. Black coffee premixes are calorie and fat free, containing soluble fibers, which help fighting diabetes and boom mental state. Other driving health issues are, overcoming depression, improve physical stamina, burn fat, regulate blood pressure level, and the antioxidants enhance brain activity. The packaging of coffee premixes is also one of the drivers. Packaging in small sachet, provides the consumers ease of carrying it, anywhere. With the growth in service sectors and rise in number of work places, there is a high demand of coffee premixes across the globe.



Global Coffee Premix Market: Players



Some of the key players identified across the value chain of the global coffee premix market includes Nestle (Nescafe), The Coca Cola Company (Georgia), Starbucks Corporation, Unilever, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited, European Coffee Federation, Paulig Juhla Mokka, Vending Updates India Pvt. Ltd. And others.Almaty, Kazakhstan -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/04/2018 -- New Rehabilitation Center for kids suffering from ICP is going to be opened in Almaty in the nearest future. The foundation of the center will be sponsored by a well-known businessman Bulat Utemuratov, who has donated $1 million to financially support children, who suffer from ICP (infantile cerebral paralysis).



Due to the donation of Bulat Utemuratov, the new Rehabilitation Center will accept kids with ICP, where they will get the required medical help and support of the best specialists, who will be specially prepared to work with little patients of all ages. This is what Marat Ajtmagambetov, the director of Bulat Utemuratov's Fund tells: "30% out of 330 million tenge will be invested into operational expenditures, while the rest will be spent to train the specialists, who will work with children. The most advanced world-popular technologies and approaches to treat children ill with ICP will be practiced in the Center. And all of them will be free."



As of today, the number of children with disabilities in Kazakhstan exceeds 50 thousands and over a half of them suffer from infantile cerebral paralysis. This number has increased by 1.5 times during the previous 10 years. The nature of the disease has not been completely identified yet, but medical experts from around the world state that late detection of the condition is one of the major causes of bad aftereffects. The foundation of a new Rehabilitation Center, implementation of the advanced treatment methods and the required amount of specialists should help detect infantile cerebral paralysis on the early pregnancy stages.



About Bulat Utemuratov

Bulat Utemuratov is a businessman, who has distinguished himself as a generous philanthropist, making regular donations to support people, who are in need. His $1 million donation into the foundation of the Rehabilitation Center for kids suffering from infantile cerebral paralysis is a generous investment that will help support kids and their parents. All the services provided in the Center will be absolutely free.



Contact Info:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UtemuratovBulat

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bulat-utemuratov-1b32447a/Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/04/2018 -- Normal superphosphate is a fertilizer containing a mixture of the diacid calcium salt of orthophosphoric acid with calcium sulphate and small quantities of other phosphates. Normal superphosphate contains not more than 22 percent of available phosphorus pentoxide. Normal superphosphates are vital for the healthy growth of plants; they can be applied in high concentration to plants ranging from agricultural crops to houseplants. Several different variants of this fertilizer have been created for different requirements. While a regular superphosphate fertilizer can typically be used in its raw form, it is subjected to various chemical reactions as this is known to make it more effective.



Normal superphosphate fertilizer is manufactured from a reaction involving the raw phosphate rock and an appropriate percentage of water and sulphuric acid. Normal superphosphate manufacturing process releases chemicals into the air, adding to water pollution and air pollution. Controlling these waste products means producing the fertilizer in a complicated process that must be overseen in order to ensure the least amount of waste product is released into the environment. ?Although normal superphosphate generally mixes well with other products, it is not compatible with ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and urea.



Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/normal-superphosphate-market.html



Normal superphosphates are cost effective fertilizers for pasture development and ideal for capital and maintenance applications. Normal superphosphate contains sulphur in a readily available form of sulphate for plants to take up and this makes it ideal for low fertility and cropping situations. When applied to the soil, a normal superphosphate fertilizer increases the amount of phosphorus available to plants. All plants require an optimum amount of phosphorus in order to survive. Phosphorus is present in every cell of the plant, and is vital in maintaining the strength of the cell structure. High level of phosphorus also makes leaves healthier, increases the rate of movement of water throughout the plant structure and helps the plant produce superior and viable seeds. The calcium in normal superphosphate can be important for horticultural applications where use of lime is unfeasible.



Normal Superphosphate Market: Drivers and Trends



The growth in the end user industries is set to drive the normal superphosphate market. The increase in demand from fertilizer industry is expected to be a major driving factor for the growth of normal superphosphate market. The global normal superphosphate demand is increasing due to the increasing world population and growing food demand. In addition, increasing milk and meat consumption in the world has necessitated large feed volume that in turn has increased the demand for maximum forage production. Furthermore, rising demand from emerging economies is expected to increase the consumption of normal superphosphates. However availability of low cost substitutes and environmental regulations could hamper the growth of this market.



Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12569



Normal Superphosphate Market: Region-wise Outlook



Asia Pacific is currently the largest producer and consumer of normal superphosphates followed by Latin America. China and India are the major consumers of normal superphosphates due to an established fertilizer and agriculture industry. Normal superphosphate use is restricted to regions that have phosphate rock resources that are not particularly suitable feed for the more sophisticated chemical processes involved in producing ammonium phosphate and phosphoric acid.



The market for normal superphosphates is consolidated to a great extent with major fertilizer companies dominating the market. Among the key players are CF Industries Holdings Inc. (U.S.), Coromandel International Ltd. (India), Mosaic(U.S.), OCP (Morocco), Yara International ASA (Norway), Phosagro (Russia), Agrium Inc., (Canada), Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (Canada), ICL (Israel), and Eurochem (Russia) among others.



About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.



Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/04/2018 -- This report provides strategic analysis of East Africa baby diapers market, 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 product types and in-depth cross sectional scrutiny of East Africa baby diapers market across different countries. There is greater awareness among the urban population regarding the requirement for diapers as a part of an infant's hygiene and sanitation requirements. Increasing health and hygiene education and awareness in urban areas has increased the need for diapers in this region. Increasing educational and health awareness programs in both rural and urban areas of Africa is fuelling growth of personal hygiene products such as diapers. In the past couple of years, it is observed that the urban population has increased steadily in East Africa. According to the World Bank, as of 2015, the rural population in East Africa is still higher than the urban population. Various governmental and non-governmental organizations are actively participating in the personal hygiene awareness programs in East Africa.



Request for sample copy of report: https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/829792



The infant mortality rate has also reduced considerably in the regions of East Africa during the past few years. The birth rate in Kenya stood at 34.6 per 1,000 persons in 2014, which is much higher as compared to developed countries. Additionally, the birth rates in other East African countries like Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi are also increasing considerably. Increasing population with high birth rate is one of the major factors boosting the demand for baby diapers in countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.



Escalating awareness regarding environment safety is fuelling the demand for biodegradable products that are renewable or break down easily, decreasing environmental hazards. In addition, some companies combine cloth diapers and eco-friendly disposable components to produce hybrid diapers. The diapers use biodegradable and compostable materials during the manufacturing process.



One of the important factors restraining the East Africa baby diapers market is the health issues related to the disposable diapers. The disposable diapers are used for once and then they are discarded. Due to this parents have a tendency to change their baby's diapers after long gaps that leads to rashes and extreme saturation. Moreover, another restraining factor of this market is the health related issues with the diapers especially disposable diapers. As per the article "Nappy Link to Infertility" published by BBC News, the use of disposable diapers can cause infertility as well as testicular cancer in males. Scientists believe that high heat can cause male infertility; hence, the use of disposable diapers for longer durations is harmful for babies.



Request for complete TOC of this report: https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/829792/baby-diapers-by-products-product-market-research-reports/toc



Based on product type the baby diaper market has been bifurcated into four which includes cloth diapers, disposable diapers, training nappies and swim pants. As of 2015, disposable diapers market held the highest market with 80.2% share in terms of revenue followed by cloth diapers. Ease of usage of disposable diapers vis-a-vis cloth diapers is also expected to boost the demand for disposable diapers in east Africa.



To assist in strategic decision making, the report also includes competitive profiling of key players in the industry, their market share in different geographic regions (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World). Additionally, diverse business strategies adopted by major players has also been discussed in the report. The market attractiveness analysis included in the report provides insight into market dynamics and industry competition.



The report also provides review and breakdown of various factors affecting the market growth, which are appropriately described as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. These factors conclude diverse existing trends and their impact on market growth. In all, the report includes a holistic analysis of the East Africa baby diapers market, and provides an estimate of growth for the period 2016 to 2024, keeping in mind the various factors affecting the market.



Get more related reports: https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/category/177



The report segments the East Africa baby diapers market as:



East Africa baby diapers market, by product



Cloth Diapers

Disposable Diapers

Training Nappies

Swim Pants



East Africa baby diapers market, by Country:



Kenya

Uganda

Tanzania

Rwanda

Burundi

Rest of East AfricaiStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Special counsel Robert Mueller told President Trumps attorneys last month that the president remains under investigation but is not currently a criminal target, multiple sources familiar with the discussion confirmed to ABC News.



The news was first reported by The Washington Post.



The presidents legal team has been in contact with the special counsel in recent months, negotiating the terms for a potential interview with Trump and the special counsel.



The president's lawyers, according to sources familiar with internal discussions, have previously said the president should not sit down for a wide-ranging interview, and that any interview should have parameters. One option being discussed with the president is to have him answer questions in writing and avoid a sit-down interview completely, sources said.



The president's lawyer, Jay Sekulow, declined to comment when contacted by ABC News Tuesday evening, saying, "We do not discuss real or alleged conversations between our legal team and the Office of Special Counsel."



White House lawyer Ty Cobb also declined to comment, saying the president's legal team does not discuss conversations with the special counsel.



A spokesperson for Mueller's team declined to comment.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Obfuscation  to make obscure or unintelligible.

Governor Steve Bullock and his party have been considered very environmentally conscious, but it seems they are forging a new direction.

North Dakota is not currently allowing the disposal of Bakken Oilfield radioactive or hazardous garbage. But the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is moving briskly to welcome a veritable torrent of those toxic materials to a site near a Sidney subdivision and a rural school. Imagine having your home on a scenic plateau overlooking the Yellowstone Valley, and being told you will soon live less than half mile downwind from a dump for hundreds of thousands of tons of North Dakotas radioactive/hazardous garbage.

The DEQ says they are revising regulations related to these wastes and may have something by the end of 2018. But that doesnt help our community right now, as they are finalizing the permit process for a Sidney toxic dump. And how does the DEQ reply when repeatedly asked Will you be allowing the dumping of any radioactive or hazardous waste materials at this site? With an entirely straight face, they answer No.

What? you ask. How can they say that? -- when that is the stated purpose of this dumpground.

An internet search reveals the term radioactive waste is used only for nuclear power or weapons plants, not the radioactive/hazardous refuse from oil production. Word games. I had thought I was talking with the Montana DEQ but it must be the Montana Department of Obfuscation (sometimes concerned with environmental quality).

Eastern Montana desperately needs support from other Montanans to reverse this dangerous trend. This time, its Eastern Montana that is bucking these not-so environmental bureaucratsnext time it could be your community they target.

A sincerely concerned citizen ~

John Mercer

Swan Valley, Mont.To help address shortage in supply of cheap rice

NANCY TO NFA COUNCIL: ALLOW NFA TO BUY PALAY AT P18/kl FROM LOCAL FARMERS

Following reports that the National Food Authority (NFA) has run out of rice to sell, Sen. Nancy Binay today urged the inter-agency NFA Council to allow the NFA to buy palay from local farmers at a higher price to boost the grain agency's rice reserve.

"Napipilitan pong bumili ng mas mahal na bigas ang ating mga kababayan dahil walang NFA rice na mabili sa mga palengke, kaya nananawagan po ako sa NFA Council na payagan na ang pagbili ng palay sa mas mataas na presyo upang ma-replenish ang stock nito ng bigas," Binay said.

This is the first time since 1972 that the government has totally run out of subsidized rice.

The NFA at the present buys palay from local farmers at P17 a kilogram, while middlemen and traders offer P19-P21 per kilo at farm gate prices.

"Mahina ang bargaining position at hindi talaga makakapag-offer ang NFA ng magandang presyo sa ating local farmers kung ang kaya lamang nilang presyo ay P17 sa bawat kilo ng palay," she added.

Binay said that during the last Senate hearing on the issue of NFA rice, it was proposed that the NFA Council grant an additional peso to the existing NFA buying price.

"Ang sabi noong nakaraang hearing na competitive na yung proposed P18 na buying price ng NFA, so I think it would be prudent for the NFA Council to immediately grant the needed adjustment," Binay said.

The NFA sells rice at P27/kg and P32/kg, while a comparable commercial rice variety sells at a higher price of P36/kg to P41/kg.

"Kung makakayang tapatan ng NFA ang presyo sa farm gate, mas matutulungan pa natin ang mas maraming local farmers at mami-maintain natin ang required 30-day buffer stock," she added.

Binay maintained that the NFA has a mandate to maintain at least a 15-day buffer stock at any given time and 30-day buffer stock during the lean season, which usually starts in July until September.

"Kung ganitong ubos na ang stock ng NFA rice ay hindi na sumusunod ang NFA sa mandato nitong magkaroon ng buffer stock," Binay said.

The senator noted that once the NFA be allowed to buy palay at P18/kilo, local farmers will be more than willing to sell their harvests to the government.

"Ang NFA ay inaasahan ng ating mga kababayan lalung-lalo na sa panahon ng sakuna na magsu-supply ng mas murang bigas, pero hindi natin naibibigay ang tamang suporta upang magawa nito ang mandato nito," she added.Press Release

April 4, 2018 Dispatch from Crame No. 274:

Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Statement on China's defense of Duterte's withdrawal from the ICC 4/4/18 Duterte is the greatest thing that ever happened to China's expansionism in the West Philippine Sea. The President of the erstwhile independent Philippine Republic, which is now no different from a Chinese province under Duterte, has probably saved the Chinese government billions of yuans in national security, intelligence, and military spending after Duterte single-handedly turned over Philippine possession of the Spratlys, Scarborough Shoal, and even Benham Rise to China in a silver platter. The Chinese simply could not believe their luck in having such a lapdog as the President of their erstwhile bitter rival over WPS territories. It is therefore not surprising that of all the countries in the world, only China has supported Duterte's withdrawal from the ICC, despite Harry Roque's hilarious claim that an "avalanche" of nations will support the Philippine withdrawal by also withdrawing from the ICC. For China, Duterte is a godsend. It will do whatever it takes to keep Duterte in power, and this includes preventing an ICC warrant of arrest from ever touching him. China is supporting Duterte against what it alleges as ICC politicization not because it believes in the Philippines' independence to craft its own policy against illegal drugs. If there is any country that has undermined Philippine sovereignty in the past several years, it is China. China is supporting Duterte against the ICC for no other reason than because he is the closest China ever came to having a puppet in the Philippines. China is therefore only defending its puppet against his international accountability in the murder of 20,000 (and still counting) human beings in a fake drug war. What is therefore hilarious about China's defense of Duterte's "independent" drug war policy is that China itself is not doing anything to stop the flow of drugs into the Philippines. If China is truly sincere in eradicating the drug problem in the Philippines, all it has to do is to stop the shipment of shabu from China to the Philippines, and hunt down the Chinese drug lords operating in the Philippines and seize their assets in China. But China is not doing that. Its drug lords continue to pour shabu into the Philippines, while its puppet Duterte wages his fake war on drugs by killing poor Filipinos. We all know that early on, Duterte allied with China because he knows that human rights is never a consideration of China. It couldn't care less about human rights. All that Duterte had to do then to make himself indispensable to China was to be the puppet that China needed in the Philippines. And Duterte's bargain all worked out well for China. The least that China can therefore do for Duterte is to defend him against the ICC and protect him from international accountability for the mass murder of his own people. Of course, China is doing all of this for itself, because without Duterte, it loses its puppet and ever reliable ally who just surrendered territories in the Spratlys. Aside from China, no other country in the world has any reason to support Duterte's withdrawal from the ICC, because only China has a billion yuan reason to do so. As aptly put by a blogger, treason is the biggest sin, among many, of this President.Villanueva on rumors Duterte axed Aguirre, SC's move to review Oplan Tokhang

On rumors that the President is set to fire Justice Sec. Vitaliano Aguirre

Sec. Aguirre serves at the pleasure of the President. I've aired some disagreement with Sec. Aguirre before but ultimately, his accountability is with the President. If the President is not satisfied with his performance, it's his prerogative to fire him.

On Supreme Court's order to review the PNP's Oplan Tokhang

The SC's move to review the PNP's Oplan Tokhang reinforces the rule of law in the country. I hope the numerous drug suspects killed under Oplan Tokhang will find justice as the SC conducts its review of this operation. I also hope this development will trigger the PNP to evaluate and review its procedure in dealing with the war on drugs.President Xi Jinping escorts Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa during a visit on Tuesday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Both men observed several documents being signed during Mnangagwa's visit.

West urged to thaw ties with African nation

China is hopeful Western countries will improve relations with Zimbabwe and work toward the country's development, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday.

Xi made the remark while meeting with visiting Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Witnessed by the two presidents, China and Zimbabwe signed cooperation agreements covering such areas as economy, technology, agriculture and human resources.

The two leaders also agreed to upgrade the bilateral relations to comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership.

Noting that China and Zimbabwe are all-weather friends, Xi said the two countries have always supported each other in the past, no matter how international relations changed.

The two countries should continue high-level exchanges, draw the blueprint for cooperation in all areas and keep supporting each other on issues related to core interests and major concerns, Xi said.

The two sides should enhance strategic interconnection, deepen cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and continue to cooperate in such areas as infrastructure, agriculture and finance, Xi said.

In November, Zimbabwe's transition won wide recognition from the international community, Xi said.

Since the inauguration as Zimbabwe's president, Mnangagwa has been dedicated to developing the economy and improving people's lives, Xi said, adding that new policies resulted in positive outcomes for Zimbabwe.

As a friend, partner and brother of Zimbabwe, China is glad to see the Zimbabwean people have benefited from the country's new policies.

Noting that there are new opportunities for the development of China-Zimbabwe relations, Xi said he would like to make joint efforts with Mnangagwa to draw a new blueprint of bilateral relations and bring more benefits for the people of both sides.

Xi expressed gratitude for Mnangagwa's congratulatory message on his re-election as president of China at the session of the country's top legislature last month.

Xi said he appreciated his Zimbabwean counterpart's efforts in pushing bilateral cooperation in all areas in the past years.

Mnangagwa, speaking highly of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, said he hoped to develop socialism with Zimbabwean characteristics in his country.

Chen Xiaodong, assistant minister of foreign affairs, said that Zimbabwe agreed during the talks between the two leaders to issue visas upon arrival for Chinese visitors.Press Release

April 4, 2018 Legarda Supports Resumption of Peace Talks Senator Loren Legarda expressed her support for the resumption of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Legarda made the statement in support of House Resolution No. 1803 authored by 61 congressmen urging President Rodrigo Duterte to resume the peace talks with the NDFP. "I support the resumption of the peace talks. Stalling the negotiations could only lead to more deaths and suffering and neither the government nor the NDFP will win," she stressed. "As someone who has been involved in facilitating releases of captives by the New People's Army (NPA) when I was a neophyte senator, I have seen the sincerity of all sides to this conflict and have witnessed the intense desire for peace," said Legarda, who actively participated in the safe releases of General Victor Obillo, Captain Eduardo Montealto, Sergeant Alpio Lozada, Major Roberto Bernal and then Major Noel Buan, among other military and police officials who were held captive by the NPA. The Senator said that both sides want to address issues affecting Filipinos such as poverty, landlessness, lack of employment and livelihood opportunities, underemployment, lack of access to housing services, affordable health care, education and other social services, corruption, environmental degradation, among many others. "We should resume the peace talks and continue discussions on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), which is considered the 'heart and soul' of the peace talks," said Legarda. "We all desire a just and lasting peace. We may have different views on how to pursue national development, but I believe we can find our common ground," she added. Legarda, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, also assured that the national budget would support the NDFP's socio-economic reform agenda. "Many of the items in the NDFP's socio-economic reform agenda can already be addressed through existing laws and programs. In fact, the 2018 national budget has provided funding for free public tertiary education and additional funding for our state universities and colleges, free health care services in government hospitals, free irrigation services for small farmers, more budget for social welfare programs, and increased funding to support rural livelihoods and micro, small and medium enterprises. Our laws on environmental protection are already in place and, as author of most of these laws, I am glad that we are gradually seeing stricter enforcement," Legarda explained. "The Philippine Government and the NDFP should resume peace talks to come up with agreements that are acceptable to both parties and beneficial to the Filipino people. Our people have a huge stake in the peace negotiations, the success of which is a step towards a brighter future for generations to come, " Legarda concluded.Press Release

April 4, 2018 Koko to LTFRB: Fast-track entry of new TNVS players With ride-hailing platform pioneer Uber exiting the country next week, Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III urged the Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Wednesday to fast-track the entry of other transport network vehicle service (TNVS) players to ensure competition and reasonable prices for Philippine TNVS users. "There is a legitimate fear among regular TNVS users that Grab's acquisition of Uber's operations in the country will lead to higher fares, which is the natural consequence when a player monopolizes a particular industry," said Pimentel, who said that many regular TNVS users regularly compared the rates of Uber and Grab before booking a ride--an option that will no longer be available to commuters when Grab becomes the sole TNVS provider come April 9. On March 26, Singapore-based Grab acquired Uber's Southeast Asia operations, covering ride-sharing services in the Philippines, as well as Uber's operations in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Uber's last day of operations in the Philippines will be on April 8. The Senate chief said that given these developments, it was incumbent upon the LTFRB to work overtime to process pending TNVS applications and to ensure that Grab would not take advantage of its monopoly of the TNVS industry. "The LTFRB announcement that there are three new ride-sharing companies that want to enter the country can only be considered good news if any or all of these companies actually get to service our countrymen," said Pimentel. Pimentel said the LTFRB should strike a balance between encouraging the entry of new players and the need for these players to comply with the country's TNVS guidelines. "We need real competition, not potential competition. As long as riders have zero options, they will be vulnerable to overpricing and poor service--and this is where the LTFRB must come in." According to the legislator, LTFRB should also pay close attention to feedback from TNVS users and put in mechanisms to immediately act on rider complaints. "Social media has provided the LTFRB with the tools to monitor the prices and the performance of Grab after Uber exits. But the real test will be how they respond to the feedback from commuters. They should be ready to act on complaints to discourage Grab and its drivers from violating TNVS rules and regulations."Press Release

April 4, 2018 Recto: Marawi rehab should be 'Made by Maranaos, not Made in China nor Made in the USA' Manila should recognize the "Maranao's culture and resilience as the strongest building blocks" in the reconstruction of Marawi City, and treat them "as active partners and not mere passive receivers" of rebuilding plans. This was stressed by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto in reminding the national government that locals "are the best rebuilders of their own city." "Development plans are prepared on the ground and not something that is dropped from the air," he said. Recto added that "cultural sensitivities are as important as cement" in rebuilding a city--a principle which holds true in Marawi, given its "proud and dauntless people, and tradition of entrepreneurship." Recto said "it is a piece of fiction, that government alone can patch the damages of war." "Mobilize the government, harness the people--that's the best formula. To government's aid, Maranaos are willing to give their sweat equity. And we know from experience that cement mixed with sweat creates the strongest building material," Recto said. "If you allow Maranaos to build it, they will come," he added. "While we welcome help from all countries, at the end of the day it should be a Made by Maranao enterprise and not a Made in China nor a Made in the USA project." Recto urged the government to swiftly move in two fronts: the clearing of Marawi and the preparation of all pre-construction requirements, especially on procurement, "which is the Waterloo in government infrastructure spending." "The military should commit as many forces in clearing Marawi of explosives as they had in retaking it. Kung kulang, magpadala ng reinforcements. Kapag naiinip na ang tao, it creates another social powder keg that will have to be defused," he said. Government, he said, should also ready the "one time, big time" spending of at least P15 billion in "Bangon Marawi" funds in the 2018 national budget. "Pati yung ibang pondo, tulad sa DPWH for roads, and DepED for classrooms, ibuhos na ngayon. Government should take advantage of the good weather window this summer to start construction. Bakit importante yan? Because it will create jobs locals need," he said. "Bottomline is that Marawi should be the object of a humanitarian invasion, with the people in front. Kaya ang sabi ko nga dito, what will work is a different and a better kind of PPP--People, Private, Public--partnership, pero una ang tao," he said.Press Release

April 4, 2018 As PH copes with 1.6M new rice eaters a year, factionalized rice team could spike price of 'volatile political commodity' President Duterte should whip his "compartmentalized rice team" to get their act together because "rice is a volatile political commodity" in which the "slightest perception of shortage" could shoot prices up and hurt the poor most, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said. "There seems to be policy incoherence. Or at the very least, instead of being on the same page, different parts of the orchestra are playing different music. The President should grab the baton and be the master conductor," he said. "When the public receives mixed signals on the status of what they eat, it leads to market disruption," Recto said. "Bumili lang ng dagdag 10 kilos ang bawat household, malaki na ang epekto nito sa supply, especially if the buffer is thin," he explained. "Politically, a nation will tolerate all kinds of queues - MRT, passport. But rice queues must be avoided at all cost. And at present, there is no need to, because--thanks to our farmers--of the recent record rice harvests," Recto said. But Recto said despite the stable national stock, there is a need to make rice affordable to the poor who cannot afford expensive fancy varieties. "The poorest 30 percent of families spend 70 percent of their income on rice. And for many of them, 22 centavos for every 1 peso they earn are spent to buy rice," Recto said. "To prove that they're not forgotten, the government should deploy rolling rice stores to poor urban areas to show that there's enough rice," he said. He said the President should regularly meet the "Big Four" in rice policy - the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Finance, the Cabinet Secretary who heads the NFA Council, and the NFA Administrator - so that "all the important actors shall speak in one voice, and move towards one direction." "Hindi lang naman NFA 'yan. The big picture is production, which is DA's responsibility. And all aspects of the industry, where government is involved, whether production, or NFA procurement, needs funding, and the one who must raise the money is the Secretary of Finance," he said. "Mahilig tayo sa unli-rice. Every Filipino on the average eats about 108 kilos of rice a year. But our population grows by 1.6 million annually. 136 Pinoys already consume 14.7 tons of rice annually. Because we have more mouths to feed, we have to boost rice production, and that costs money. Sa patubig na lang, we have to expand our irrigation footprint by at least 70,000 hectares a year," Recto said. "But if we can't be fully rice self-sufficient, then we have no option but to adopt a sound rice tariffication policy, so that there will be no supply gaps," he said. Recto said government should also see to it that "the needle on NFA's debt should not move up as taxpayers are also saddled by P172 billion in NFA liabilities." If there's one priority area which should be funded, it is the reduction of postharvest losses, Recto said. About 17 percent of palay harvest is lost to absent or poor post-harvest facilities and practices yearly, resulting in a wastage of about 2.5 million metric tons of rice - enough to cancel yearly imports or meet the annual rice needs of Metro Manila, Recto explained.Containers are seen at Yangshan Deep Water Port, part of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, in Shanghai, Feb 13, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

China denounced a US government announcement on Tuesday listing 1,300 Chinese products subject to tariffs under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974.

The list published by the US trade representative came after US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on March 22 to impose additional tariffs on $50 billion worth of imports from China that followed a Section 301 investigation launched last August into China's intellectual property policies and practices.

"China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the US tariff proposals and is ready to take reciprocal measures on US products," the Ministry of Commerce said in Beijing shortly after the US announcement.

The Chinese embassy in Washington also denounced the US decision.

The embassy's statement said the US' "unilateralistic and protectionist action has gravely violated fundamental principles and values of the World Trade Organization. It serves neither China's interest, nor US interest, even less the interest of the global economy."

"The Chinese side will resort to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and take corresponding measures of equal scale and strength against US products in accordance with Chinese law."

The embassy said "we hope that the US side, with sense and long-term picture in mind, refrains from going further down the wrong path".

The USTR said its proposed list of products is based on extensive interagency economic analysis and would target products that benefit from China's industrial plans while minimizing the impact on the US economy.

Sectors subject to the proposed tariffs include industries such as aerospace, information and communications technology, robotics and machinery. The list covers mostly industrial products and non-consumer goods, such as aircraft seats, military rifles, machine parts, instruments, medical products, video monitors, and furnaces and ovens.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro both said recently that the Section 301 tariffs will primarily target Chinese industries under the Made in China 2025 strategy.

Lighthizer has described that strategy as a threat to the global trading system, while Navarro said China was "going to dominate every single emerging industry of the future, and therefore your economies aren't going to have a future".

The Made in China 2025 plan, unveiled in 2015, highlighted 10 sectors in advancing China's modern manufacturing power  information technology, high-end machinery and robotics, aerospace, marine equipment and ships, advanced rail transport, new-energy vehicles, electric power, agricultural machinery, new materials and biomedical.

Premier Li Keqiang said in Beijing last week that the Made in China 2025 strategy is an open and fair environment with equal treatment of domestic and overseas businesses.

"China will not force any technology transfer from any foreign company and will enhance efforts to protect intellectual property rights and severely crack down on infringement, and China welcomes more globally competitive businesses to share the China growth opportunities," Li said.

The USTR's proposed list will undergo further review in a public notice and comment period, including a hearing. After completion of the process, the USTR will issue a final determination on the products subject to the additional duties.

"The tariffs will mostly increase the price of intermediate goods and hurt US manufacturers who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of Trump's trade policies. It does not seem well thought through," said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Trump said on Tuesday before the announcement that the US will be working with China. "Our relationship is very good with China. We intend to keep it that way. But we have to do something to seriously relieve that trade deficit," he said, repeatedly mentioning a bilateral trade deficit of $500 billion.

The US trade deficit with China, however, was $375 billion, according to US data, and $275 billion according to Chinese data.

Most economists believe the bilateral trade deficit does not matter, and the US trade deficit is a result of its own fiscal policies and the role of the US dollar as a global currency.

The Trump administration tax-reduction plan, which went into effect in February, is expected to drive up the US trade deficit.

A Deutsche Bank Research report last week pointed out that the US-China trade imbalance is misleading because it includes only trade but not the sales generated through US subsidiaries based in China, which reached $223 billion in 2015 and are rising.

According to the bank's aggregate sales balance, the bilateral imbalance was only $30 billion in favor of China but moving in favor of the US.

Trump also repeated on Tuesday what he has said before. "We helped rebuild China," he told the media in a meeting with leaders of several Baltic nations.

"The Chinese people rebuilt China, not outsiders," said Yukon Huang, a senior fellow of the Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

A former World Bank country director for China, Huang said Chinese did this by drawing on their exceptionally high savings rates to fund much needed investments that led to a dramatic increase in productivity.

He said that unlike many other developing countries, China relied relatively little on foreign aid but more on foreign direct investment (FDI) facilitated by the Asian Chinese diaspora.

"The US actually provided relatively little financial support, since only about 1 to 2 percent of America's FDI over the past two decades went to China," Huang said.Winona Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm that invests in consumer brands, has put more capital into Rodd & Gunn New Zealand, saying it is "excited" to be supporting the unprofitable clothing chain during its growth phase in North America.

Winona bought an additional 16.4 million shares in Rodd & Gunn last July, lifting its holding to about 102.2 million shares, or 55 percent of the company. The firm first invested in Rodd & Gunn in October 2015, buying about 81.8 million shares for $20 million, or about 24 cents a share. If the same price was used last year, it would have injected a further $4 million.

Rodd & Gunn posted sales growth of 9.6 percent to $90.5 million in the year ended June 30, 2017, but cost of sales and increased expenses, including freight and travel, led to an operating loss of $964,314 from an operating profit of $1.4 million in 2016. Its net loss rose to $1.65 million from a loss of $968,794 in 2016, even though finance costs more than halved in the latest year. It had to get a waiver from its bank, ANZ Bank New Zealand, after breaching covenants, the annual report says. All of its $9.79 million of debt was coming due in six months or less.

"Yes we made an investment last summer - purely out of excitement," Luke Reese, managing director at Winona, told BusinessDesk. "We understand as well as we invest in companies they usually don't generate profits in the middle of their growth phase."

Rodd & Gun has opened stores in California, New York and Greenwich, Connecticut, and sells via wholesalers and through specialty menswear shops in the US and has distribution through existing Canadian stores. Winona's investment is part of a pool of funds of around US$300 million that the firm puts into consumer-related businesses and brands ranging from foods to pet care to ski gear, outdoor clothing and jewellery.

"The loss-making in '17 for Rodd & Gunn was primarily from the North American expansion," Reese said. "We're investing well ahead of the growth curve in North America and seeing spectacular growth - about eight times in a 3-year period. And we're now profitable," he said, referring to the North American market.

US sales topped $100 million in 2016, managing director Mike Beagley, who owns 34 percent of the retailer with Lewis Grant, said at the time. The brand plays on its outdoorsy New Zealand heritage and roots that it traces back to 1946. Beagley wasn't immediately available to comment on the 2017 results.

The retailer's financial statements show it had contributed equity of $36.8 million in 2017, of which $11.8 million was from 83 million ordinary shares and $25 million was from about 102 million preference A shares. The only change from a year earlier is an increase of 20 million preference shares, an uplift of $5 million.

Asked if there was a cut-off date for the Rodd & Gunn investment, which was made about 2 1/2 years ago, Reese said Winona didn't have any set maturity date such as the five-year horizon sometimes invoked for private equity firms.

"Under no circumstances do we live by a timetable," he said. "We will grow until we believe it is the right time for all shareholders. We have the utmost faith in Rodd & Gunn. We're incredibly excited."

In explaining why the company is a going concern, notes to the accounts say it has "received the commitment of continuing support of shareholders" and it doesn't see an issue around meeting the terms and conditions of its bank facilities. It also says trading is to forecast even taking into account "uncertainties relating predominantly to market conditions across all territories" and exchange rate fluctuations.

Rodd & Gunn tidied up its affairs ahead of Winona's original investment in 2015, acquiring all the shares in Rodd & Gunn Australia, which became a subsidiary, for a total consideration of $14.2 million in shares, cash and a loan.

(BusinessDesk)

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Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia Holdings will end their seven-year trans-Tasman alliance in October when regulatory approval for their shared services ends.

New Zealand's national carrier ended the strategic alliance, giving Virgin notice of its plans to quit the arrangement, the ASX-listed airline said in a statement. Separately, Air NZ chief revenue officer Cam Wallace said it was the right time for each airline to pursue their own goals and they wouldn't seek a renewal of the regulatory approval.

"Australia is the largest source of inbound visitors to New Zealand and Air New Zealand has built up a significant presence in this market," Wallace said. "This move will enable us to deliver a more consistent customer experience by using our own fleet and delivering an improved schedule, which well provide more details about shortly."

Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said the separation opens opportunities for its Virgin and Tiger brands on the Tasman route.

The tie-up was first mooted in 2010 in response to Qantas Airways' two-airline strategy where its budget Jetstar brand operated domestically in New Zealand and linked to longer-haul flights on the parent, letting Air NZ and Virgin codeshare on the Tasman and connecting flights and offer reciprocal frequent flyer and lounge access agreements.

Air New Zealand went on to build a 26 percent stake in Virgin Australia before selling in 2016 when the Australian airline raised capital from its shareholders to give it room to pursue more profitable business.

The airlines said there were no changes for bookings before Oct. 27 when the alliance ends, and that the carriers will work to ensure minimal disruption to customers.

Air NZ shares rose 3.9 percent to $3.325, having increased 0.3 percent so far this year, while Virgin fell 2.2 percent to 22.5 Australian cents.

(BusinessDesk)

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Te Hiku Iwi opposes bringing forestry rights into the Overseas Investment screening regime, arguing they will have a material impact on the value of their land and compromise their ability to attract overseas partners.

Te Hiku Iwi includes Te Manawa o Ngati Kuri Trust, Te Runanga Nui o Te Aupouri Trust, Te Runanga o Ngai Takoto Trust, and the Te Waka Pupuri Trust and one of its major assets is 22,000 hectares of forest land in Northland. Their forestry rights are currently owned by Summit Forests New Zealand, a subsidiary of Japanese company Sumitomo Corporation and Te Hiku iwi is looking to extend that agreement but said in a submission to Parliament's finance and expenditure committee the proposed changes could jeopardise the negotiations.

"Te Hiku need investment partners to maintain Te Hiku forest. Te Hikus ability to attract overseas partners, including Summit, will be compromised by the cost and uncertainty of the OIO process and the unknown nature of conditions that the Crown may impose on an investor (and by association Te Hiku)," according to the submission presented by Paul White.

The government wants to include forestry rights in the Overseas Investment Act screening regime and the matter is being considered by the select committee. Currently forestry rights - which do not involve the sale or lease of the land but the right to grow and harvest the crop - are exempt. If the law is passed, overseas investors will only be able to purchase up to 1,000 hectares of forestry rights per annum, or any forestry right of less than three years duration, without approval from the Overseas Investment Office.

Together with a decision to ban the sale of existing residential homes to foreign buyers, the government has also sought to increase its scrutiny on foreign buyers of rural and forestry land.

In November it issued a new directive letter to the Overseas Investment Office that emphasised the forestry sector has the potential to add "significant value" to the overall economy and environment. In particular, it aims to encourage an increase in the value-added processing of raw products and the advancement of its forestry-related strategies.

However, "we feel this legislation is coming in over the top of us in a very paternalistic way but also in a way that reduces the value of our land," White told the select committee.

"We are in negotiations with Summit. We believe they have some shared values that we also have. We are working on an agreement and it's complicated enough dealing with a party who is owned offshore without having to then say we can't make a decision here, we have to go back to the government to make a decision," he added.

"We as iwi want to invest more in forestry and owning the actual resource and controlling what happens to that resource on our land, but we are mindful that we can't put all our eggs into the forestry basket. We need partners. We don't really think it's up to the government to decide which partners we should have in terms of that longer-term investment," he said.

White also charged there is no analysis on the use of forestry rights and how they have impacted the industry over the past 30 years. He said the system was designed to avoid long-term leases as "we had long-term leases with the Crown - 99-year leases - and they didn't end well."

Forest rights are used by Maori landowners to provide secure access to land for forestry purposes without alienating the underlying ownership of the land, according to the submission. "It is Te Hikus intention that any long-term arrangement that it might reach with Summit, or any other forest investor, will be secured by forestry rights specifically to avoid the alienation of the Te Hiku land," it said.

However, bringing forestry right under the overseas investment region is an "unnecessary restriction" on the freedom to use land returned to Te Hiku Iwi under a settlement in 2015, something White said was "ironic."

(BusinessDesk)

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Ports of Auckland chief executive Tony Gibson has joined the board of Marsden Maritime Holdings, which owns half of Northport in Whangarei.

The appointment is effective immediately, with Gibson replacing Peter Griffiths who left at the end of March, the company said in a statement. Gibson's appointment keeps the company's board at six, the statutory requirement for designated port companies. Shareholders will vote on the appointment at the next annual meeting in October.

Ports of Auckland owns about 19.9 percent of Marsden Maritime, with Northland Regional Council holding 54 percent. Marsden Maritime jointly owns Northport with Port of Tauranga.

"Were delighted to welcome Tony to the board, bringing as he does a wealth of experience in port and associated companies, including marina developments and transport logistics," chair John Goulter said. "He understands these industries very well and we look forward to his inputs contributing to the ongoing success of Marsden Maritime Holdings."

The move comes as Northport's future comes under political scrutiny in a review of the Upper North Island Supply Chain, which will investigate the feasibility of shifting Auckland's port operations to Whangarei. Junior government coalition partner New Zealand First campaigned on moving container operations to the Northland city in an effort to revitalise the province's economy.

Marsden Maritime shares were unchanged at $5.35, and have slipped 1.5 percent so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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Instead of beating about the bush on the question of Taiwans status, Taiwans executive head Lai Ching-te recently explicitly declared himself a worker for Taiwan independence and claimed that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country.

Such remarks which are repulsive to our ears should serve as a reminder that patriotic people across the Taiwan Straits need to be on high alert against those on the island who harbor the ill intention of splitting it from the motherland.

It is an undeniable fact that Taiwan is part of China. Despite its separation from the motherland for many years, for historical reasons, people across the Straits have long stuck to the consensus that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of it.

The Chinese mainlands stand on the question of Taiwan could not be clearer. It has made unremitting efforts to promote the peaceful reunification, but it has never ruled out the option of military action if necessary. It is definitely legitimate and justifiable for the mainland to take whatever action it considers appropriate to prevent the country from being torn apart.

Those advocating separatism on the island should never underestimate the resolve of the countrys leaders and the Chinese people to defend every inch of the countrys territorial integrity. The fate of Taiwan should be decided by Chinese compatriots on the island and on the Chinese mainland, never by the will of secessionists.

However, it seems that the United States decision to enact the Taiwan Travel Act, which encourages mutual visits by officials, seems to have stirred up a hornets nest. Separatists like Lai Ching-te should not take it for granted that their remarks touting Taiwan independence will woo them supporters. Nor should they rely on such outside support to achieve their nefarious aims, as they are doomed to failure. They will meet their own political Waterloo if they continue to advocate the path of separatism.

Although Washington may be trying to keep Beijing putting out fires here, there and everywhere, the latter well knows its priorities.

The majority of people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are opposed to their conspiracy, which will only bring people on the island political turmoil, even military conflict, if they persist.Xi Jinping holds talks with Kim Jong-un at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. At the invitation of Xi, Kim paid an unofficial visit to China from March 25 to 28. [Photo/Xinhua]

The May 25-28 unofficial visit of Kim Jong-un, leader of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, to China on the invitation President Xi Jinping will not only strengthen relations between Beijing and Pyongyang but also greatly ease the tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the region beyond.

While giving the lie to speculations that Beijing-Pyongyang ties had somewhat soured, Kims visit to China created a more favorable situation for his scheduled talks with Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in on April 27, and his planned meeting with US President Donald Trump in May as part of the process to denuclearize the peninsula. In fact, the date for the DPRK-ROK summit was announced after Kims visit to China.

During Kims visit to China, the two sides discussed the denuclearization issue as well as bilateral issues. Beijing has been making consistent efforts to mediate among Pyongyang, Washington and Seoul, and Kim said at his meeting with Xi that the DPRK would strive for denuclearization if the ROK and the United States took sincere steps to ease tensions and allay Pyongyangs fears.

China has been reiterating its dual suspension proposal  the DPRK suspending its nuclear and missile tests in exchange for US and the ROK suspending their large-scale joint military drills  in order to create a favorable atmosphere for the denuclearization talks. Also, compared with its relations with China, the DPRKs ties with the ROK are less likely to remain the same in case of a leadership change in Seoul. Pyongyang-Seoul relations were rather good between 2000 and 2007, but began deteriorating after that because of a change in the leadership in Seoul.

Besides, since the longtime tension between Pyongyang and Washington cannot be defused overnight, all countries concerned, China included, should make efforts to ensure the Kim-Trump meeting takes place in May. Contrary to what some Western observers say, a DPRK-US summit cannot damage Pyongyangs relations with Beijing, not least because the two countries are interdependent neighbors.

Chinas trade with the DPRK, which accounts for about 80 percent of the latters total, has reduced as a result of the United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang for upgrading its nuclear and missile program. But China-DPRK trade will likely expand because Pyongyang is focusing on economic development and is sincere about resolving the peninsula issue through peaceful means. And a peaceful peninsula will not only better safeguard Chinas national security but also help create more favorable conditions for Chinas economic growth despite the US protectionist moves and military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

If the sound momentum for peace talks and cooperation on the peninsula is maintained, the DPRK could even return to the Six-Party Talks. Although no talks have been held under the framework since 2013, the joint statement issued after the fourth round of the Six-Party Talks on Sept 19, 2005, has built a concrete foundation for future negotiations on the peninsula issue.

Moreover, the return of normalcy on the peninsula will also allow Pyongyang and Seoul, which desperately want peace, to better focus on economic development, including resuming cooperation in industrial and tourism projects in the DPRK, especially the Mount Kumgang Tourist region.

The sanctions imposed by the US and the UN have thwarted many a DPRK effort to improve its economy. But if Pyongyangs talks with Seoul and Washington are fruitful, the door to the DPRKs economic development may open, starting with the agriculture sector and extending to economic co-development with the ROK and China.

China welcomes the DPRKs decision to hold talks with the ROK, the US or any other country to bring permanent peace and prosperity to the peninsula. Moreover, Beijing and Pyongyang have agreed to strengthen their friendship, enhance communication and deepen cooperation to jointly build a prosperous Northeast Asia.

The author is an associate researcher at the Northeast Asia Studies Center, Jilin Academy of Social Sciences.Several political parties and people in Tamil Nadu are strongly registering their voices against Sterlite Copper Plant and they are also urging Central Government to form Cauvery Management Board.





Now, Nadigar Sangam (South Indian Aristes' Association) has announced in a press statement that the film fraternity will be protesting against Sterlite Copper Plant in Tuticorin and the delay in establishing the Cauvery Management Board on April 8.



The curfew, though, would be relaxed for two hours between 10 am and 12 noon, according to police.

: Curfew will remain imposed in various areas of Gwalior, Bhind and Morena districts on Wednesday in the wake of violence witnessed by the state on April 2 during Bharat Bandh.

On Tuesday, 50 people were arrested for pelting stones at a police party in Morena.

Meanwhile, the death toll in violence reached seven in the state after one more body was recovered last morning.

Violent protests marred the nationwide shutdown that was called by several Dalit organisations to protest against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

In all, at least 11 people have died across the country in the violence that broke out in various states, including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat, and Punjab.

In the latest development, the Supreme Court has refused to put stay order on its March 20 ruling, after Centre filed a review petition against the same.China's development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has entered a new phase as the technology will allow synchronized operations between UAVs and military aircraft, and carrier-based UAVs are also being developed, Chinese experts said.

The joint operations of manned military aircraft, like fighter jets, and UAVs is the drone's future, Shi Wen, the chief engineer and designer of China's Caihong (CH), or Rainbow UAV series, told a press conference in Beijing on Monday.

"We are making efforts to promote artificial intelligence (AI) for UAVs to allow manned aircraft to co-pilot UAVs," Shi said.

Shi's team is under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), and his team has developed a series of UAVs, including the CH-3, CH-4 and the advanced CH-5, which can now engage in surveillance and attack missions. The CH series of drones is popular among nations along the Belt and Road initiative, especially in some Middle East and African countries, which have a huge demand for weapons.

"On average, every CH-series drone has a flying time of more than 1,200 around the world every year, so we have a huge database to support AI technology research," Shi said.

China is focused on building a powerful navy, and its first domestically built aircraft carrier is preparing for its first sea trial, and the carrier-based UAV is also being developed, Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"Although the military has not released any information, research into carrier-based UAVs started long ago, and ship-based UAVs on destroyers and frigates have already been used in training," Li said.

Shi told the Global Times that "considerable resources are needed in carrier-based UAV research," so it would be risky to attempt without "government support."

While military applications remains the focus, Shi stressed the importance of the civilian uses of UAVs.

"Companies from China, the US and Europe are major competitors in the UAV market, and the civilian uses of UAVs are a larger share than military uses," he said.

The CH series UAVs can also be used for forest protection, exploration of underground resources, and for monitoring oceans, according to information released at the Monday press conference.

"A new generation CH series UAVs, the CH-X," which is the most advanced achievement in the series, "will be displayed at Airshow China 2018 in Zhuhai this year," Shi said at the press conference, without elaborating.

Airshow China is held in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, every two years. This year, it will be held from November 6-11.ALGIERS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Algerian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that a "dangerous" terrorist was killed late Monday in the eastern province of Skikda.

"Following a dragging operation in the upper woods of Skikda, an army detachment killed a dangerous terrorist on Monday and recovered a Kalashnikov submachine gun," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The militant, identified as B. Farid, alias Abu Zahra, became a terrorist in 1994, according to the statement.

The Algerian troops killed four terrorists in March, it added.

Earlier in the day, anti-terror troops in Boumerdes and Batna destroyed four terrorist bunkers housing two homemade bombs as well as food and clothes.

In another statement quoted by APS news agency, the Algerian army said seven terrorists surrendered in the anti-terror operation.

A total of seven people suspected of providing support to terrorist groups were arrested in March, it noted.

Figures show the Algerian army destroyed 41 terror bunkers and seized 16 Kalashnikovs, four FM machine guns, one FM-DP machine gun, one G3 pistol, three PKT machine guns, three Simonov semi-automatic rifles, four rifles, 21 firearms and one automatic pistol in March.

Located in a region plagued by unprecedented security and political instability, Algeria is facing terrorist threats, as tens of thousands of troops are deployed on eastern and southern borders to thwart potential intrusion of militants and arms, amid instability in Mali and a civil war hitting Libya.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The Jewish Community Center of Staten Island is planning a month-long celebration in honor of 70

th

anniversary of the State of Israel.

"Israel@70" events, tailored for all age groups, will be held in the Lewis Stolzenberg Social Hall at the Joan & Alan Bernikow JCC, 1466 Manor Road in Sea View.

"This is the perfect opportunity to highlight various aspects of the music, dance, film and other aspects of the Israeli culture," said Bella Smorgonskaya, JCC Arts & Culture Director. "It's an opportunity to feel pride in Israel's accomplishments and achievements, to feel the positivity, energy and joy of Israel."

The JCC encourages the entire community to attend any or all of the programs over the nearly month-long festivities. The schedule for "Israel@70" is as follows:

Tuesday, April 17, 7 p.m.

Meet the Author: Talia Carner, author of the bestselling "Hotel Moscow & Jerusalem Maiden," does a Q&A and signing of her new book, "The Morning After-When a Nation Wakes Up To Democracy."

Activist, a feminist and a humanitarian who gives a voice to those without one. A proud 7th-generation Sabra, an award-winning author of four novels and numerous stories, essays, and articles, she is also a committed supporter of global human rights.

"Talia Carner was one of the most intelligent and engaging speakers we've ever had. Her vast knowledge and her intriguing story kept the audience riveted and begging for more. We can't wait to have her back." -- Sabrina Spector, Cultural Director, Katz JCC, Cherry Hill, NJ

Fee: $15 for Members/$18 for Non-Members

Thursday, April 19, noon

Cinema Club: "In Our Hands: The Battle for Jerusalem"

This film tells the story of Israel's 55th Paratrooper Brigade and how Israel's Defense Forces risked everything for the sake of their homeland. With firsthand interviews and historical reenactments, this docudrama focuses on the commitment and sacrifice of the soldiers who reunited Jerusalem. Experience an exclusive conversation with Gordon Robertson, as he discusses the significance of the Six-Day War.

Fee: $4

Sunday, April 22, 2 p.m.

"Magic of Israel@70"

Family event features a stilt walker and juggler, balloonist and magician, face painting and much more.

Fee: $5

Sunday, April 29, 12:30 p.m.

Alison Cook Beatty Dance Group Presents: "Passion for Dance"

Founded in 2012, the classically-based modern dance company explores the universal human condition through expansive and emotionally-driven movement grounded in American modern dance while exploring new approaches to finding unique creative expression.

Fee: $4

Tuesday, May 1, 12:30 p.m.

Cinema Club: "The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers"

The 13th release by Moriah Films, the Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaking division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Based on the best-selling book by Ambassador Yehuda Avner, the doc takes the audience inside the offices of Israel's Prime Ministers through the eyes of an insider, Yehuda Avner, who served as a chief aide, English language note-taker and speechwriter to Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres.

Fee: $4

Thursday, May 3, 12:30 p.m.

"Salute, Israel!"

A musical performance by the CLLD Young@Heart Performers.

Tuesday, May 8, 7 p.m.

Dr. Esther Grushkin Presents: Seminars for Adult Jewish Education

Nadav Yesod, human rights advisor to the Israeli Mission of the United Nations, talks current trends and what the future holds. The discussion will provide an overview on the topics that Israel deals with at the UN: Human rights, development and peace and security.

Fee: $18STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Rossville native Julio Vincent Gambuto's Borough Five Pictures, a new indie film and TV production company, hosted an exclusive script reading and Q&A recently at the historic St. George Theatre.

"Team Marco," which is in pre-production, is the first part of a five-year commitment to produce and direct in New York City's greenest borough.

"'Team Marco' is a coming of age story about technology, family and community," said Julio, a graduate of Staten Island Academy and Harvard University.

"Staten Island itself has a strong sense of family and community ties, so what better way to showcase our town than in my first feature film."

Other planned projects: "The Julie Stories," and "Jack Be Nimble," which will also be cut into independent TV pilots.

About "Team Marco"

The title character is obsessed with his electronics and hardly leaves the house. But when his grandmother dies and his grandfather moves in with his family, Marco's life is turned upside down and he's forced to play outside.

When "Nonno" introduces him to bocce and the neighborhood crew of elderly Italian men, Marco finds connection to other people "in real life" -- and inspires a team of neighborhood kids to put down their devices and band together to take on his grandfather and his pals.

The film is being billed as "'The Sandlot' meets 'Cinema Paradiso' -- a story of friendship, community and a legacy for a new generation of kids and families about a boy and his grandfather."

About Julio Vincent Gambuto

The son of a bus-driver- slash-bread-baker, "Julie" grew up in a large Italian family on Staten Island, where aunts, uncles, and cousins gathered often around Mom's seafoam-green formica kitchen table for "cake and coffee" -- always an Entenmann's crumb cake -- to tell stories, argue about the Mets, and "bitch" about the neighbors.

Julio served as a writer-producer for the pilot and first and second seasons of Nickelodeon's hit kids series, "Paradise Run," which was nominated for a Kids' Choice Award in 2017.

He also co-directed the 2017 feature "Actors Anonymous," and served as a segment producer for "Behind the Lyrics," a TV pilot which won an Emmy in 2006.

About Sam Sandweiss, producer of Borough Five Pictures

Most recently, Sam co-founded Godmother Industries (GMI) and produced its first horror/thriller feature, "Head Count," which is slated to start its festival run in late 2018.

While attending USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Sam's thesis film, "Takanakuy," (directed Austin Kolodney), was nominated for a Student Emmy for Best Comedy. After school, he worked on content for Syfy, Charles Schwab, Unity 3D and more.

As a freelancer editor and assistant editor, Sam worked with top brands like Amazon, ATTN, Caviar Content, Samsung, A&E, REI, Planned Parenthood, Roc Nation, Dun & Bradstreet, and many more.

For more information, visit BoroughFivePictures.com.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Bayonne Bridge will be blocked periodically to traffic starting at about 9 a.m. on Wednesday.

Fog and rain may affect the "brief" closing times, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Construction is the reason for traffic holds that also are scheduled for about 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:15 p.m., according to the Port Authority.

The speed limit on the Bayonne Bridge is 25 mph due to construction.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Brooklyn prosecutor from Staten Island is being investigated for having an alleged affair with a former detective accused of raping a teenager last year, authorities said.

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Manini, 34, who lives in Rosebank, is being probed for professional misconduct after she was caught having an inappropriate relationship with ex-cop Richard Hall, according to the New York Post.

Hall, 33, and former detective Eddie Martins, 37, are charged in a 50-count indictment for raping the teen in an NYPD van on Sept. 15, 2017, after she was arrested for alleged illegal possession of prescription pills.

"During our investigation of this case, we learned that a junior assistant district attorney in our office was engaged in an intimate relationship with defendant Hall and knew defendant Martins socially," said a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn DA's office in a statement to the Advance.

"This ADA had no involvement in or access to the investigation or prosecution,'' added the spokeswoman. "Out of an abundance of caution, we have disclosed this information to all relevant parties.''

Investigators said Martins and Hall repeatedly sexually assaulted the teen before releasing her. She went to the hospital, where prosecutors say DNA was obtained that matched both men.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Post reported that the affair between Manini and Hall was discovered during the investigation into the rape case.

Phone calls between the prosecutor and cop, who is married and has two children, began before the alleged rape, sources told the Post.

-- Associated Press materials were used in this report.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A busy intersection in Bulls Head may soon be getting some changes that could benefit motorists and pedestrians alike.

The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed numerous changes to the Victory Boulevard/Arlene Street/Sideview Avenue intersection, according to a social media post by Councilman Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Island).

The proposed changes would shorten walking distances for pedestrians, create a safer, more accessible bus stop and increase vehicle capacity while offering additional parking spots.

"I will continue to work with DOT on making commonsense improvements to our intersections to better move traffic and make them safer for pedestrians," said Matteo.

As currently constructed, vehicles approaching from the Richmond Avenue intersection are funneled into one lane, while the entire right side of the street is not utilized due to painted white lines.

Following the proposed changes, a concrete divider would be installed to create one lane for people turning left onto Arlene Street or continuing onto Victory Boulevard, and a second lane for people turning right onto Arlene Street or continuing onto Sideview Avenue.

These changes would increase the amount of vehicles that could clear the intersection during a green light phase, while also reducing the chances of a collision by separating traffic.

In addition, the removal of the channelization, or painted white lines that block off the right half of the road, would also restore approximately nine parking spots to Victory Boulevard.

Under the current configuration, commuters waiting for the westbound S62, S92 or X11 are forced to wait on an unsafe, unpaved portion of Victory Boulevard that often turns to a muddy mess on rainy days, as seen in the photos above.

The proposed changes include the construction of a concrete sidewalk and bus stop to remedy the poor conditions commuters face on a daily basis.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A West Brighton resident accused of shooting and wounding another man in his community last summer has pleaded guilty to a weapon charge.

Isaiah Young, 22, and an unidentified man became embroiled in a dispute with the 26-year-old victim on Campbell Avenue at around 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 21, 2017, said authorities.

Young shot the man during the altercation, authorities said.

The victim was transported to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton in critical, but stable condition.

Emergency responders were initially called to the scene of the incident following an alert from the NYPD's ShotSpotter technology.

ShotSpotter uses sound sensors on city streets to detect gunfire whether its reported or not.

The system triangulates the location of the sound to within about 82 feet. Notifications are forwarded to an incident review center where a trained operator reviews audio to determine if the sound was a gunshot or a similar-sounding incident, like fireworks or a car engine backfiring.

Young was indicted on multiple charges including attempted murder, assault and criminal weapon possession.

He pleaded guilty on Tuesday in state Supreme Court, St. George, to attempted second-degree criminal weapon possession.

Young admitted to attempting to possess a loaded firearm outside his home or place of business.

A source with knowledge of the case said the victim and an eyewitness' lack of cooperation with authorities factored into the plea agreement.

Young will be sentenced on April 20 to a year in jail.

The sentence will run concurrently to a one-year sentence the defendant is expected to receive in Staten Island Treatment Court in a felony drug case.

Young's lawyer, Manuel Ortega, declined comment outside court.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Nearly a year after the NY Wheel's contractor walked off the job and was subsequently fired, the parties are still in court hashing out a myriad of issues, including a bankruptcy case filed by the Holland-based Mammoet-Starneth.

In the latest round of court proceedings, Mammoet-Starneth -- the Wheel's former contractor that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware in December -- is asking for an extension to come up with a reorganization plan for its debt and assets.

"This motion by the debtor (Mammoet-Starneth) seeks entry of an order of the bankruptcy code extending the exclusive filing period for 110 days," state court documents. This would give Mammoet-Starneth until Aug. 1 to devise a reorganization plan.

A hearing on the extension is set for Friday, according to court documents.

"The bankruptcy code provides for an exclusive filing period after the beginning of a Chapter 11 case after which a debtor has exclusive right to file a plan of reorganization," court papers state.

ONGOING COURT BATTLE

After failing to come to an agreement during a two-day mediation session in February, the NY Wheel and its fired contractor, Mammoet-Starneth, LLC, were back in court on March 23.

However, it seems as if both sides have made some headway at the negotiating table, according to court documents.

"During the adjournment periods, the mediation parties continued to work on consensually resolving a number of open issues and engaged in good faith negotiations in an attempt to reach a settlement. Such settlement discussions consumed substantial time and effort by the debtor (Mammoet-Starneth) and the other key parties in the case," the court papers filed by Mammoet-Starneth state.

NY Wheel and Mammoet-Starneth have declined comment about the case.

RECENT COURT PROCEEDINGS

The NY Wheel filed a motion earlier this year to dismiss Mammoet Starneth's Chapter 11 case, or to lift the imposed "automatic stay" -- a freeze on the lawsuit the Wheel filed against the contractor last year for alleged breach of contract, according to court documents.

A verdict on that motion has yet to come to fruition.

BANKRUPTCY

Soon after Mammoet-Starneth filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware in December, the company asked for a lawsuit brought against it by the NY Wheel to be dismissed, according to court documents.

In February, the NY Wheel agreed to pay up to $460,000 of Mammoet-Starneth's costs to store parts, including four legs valued at $9 million, for the 630-foot observation wheel.

This came on the heels of Mammoet-Starneth's request to the court to auction off major parts of the wheel.

OTHER RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

One of the latest NY Wheel developments has been the stepping down of NY Wheel CEO Rich Marin, who has taken on two new roles: CEO of a scientific company and consultant for the newest U.S. Wheel project -- the Eye of Texas.

FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTERSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island justice has reinstated a tenured teacher fired last year from an Eltingville public school, ruling the Department of Education sidestepped due-process protections in sacking her.

Rosalie Cardinale, a longtime special education teacher at PS 55, was canned in July of last year after a hearing officer affirmed the poor teaching evaluations she received over the course of four recent school years.

However, state Supreme Court Justice Desmond Green scrapped that finding, declaring DOE had skirted state Education Law requiring the employing board, or the Panel for Educational Policy, to establish probable cause exists to bring a disciplinary proceeding against a tenured teacher.

"The DOE's failure to make a finding of probable cause and adhere to procedural protections guaranteed to (Cardinale) ... violates (her) due-process rights and violates New York's strong public policy protecting the integrity of the tenure system," wrote Green. "The DOE may not abridge the due-process protections afforded to tenured teachers for any reason."

The judge said the hearing officer had improperly found that then-Chancellor Carmen Farina could delegate her authority to hold an executive board meeting on the probable-cause issue to district superintendents, who could then pass along the same authority to local school principals.

Moreover, Green said the record was "unclear" as to whether the district superintendent or Cardinale's principal had determined probable cause existed to warrant her termination hearing.

Jonathan B. Behrins, Cardinale's lawyer, said DOE viewed his client as a "burden to the school's payroll" due to her medical issues, which included beating cancer, and sought to weed her out.

"Administrators repeatedly told her that she wasn't strong enough to perform her tasks even though she was," said Behrins, a partner in the Behrins Law Firm. "By ignoring due process and trampling Ms. Cardinale's rights, the DOE moved ahead and had their hand-selected arbitrator run her out of the system. Fortunately for her, the judge saw how baseless and craven the Department of Education actors were."

"This is a long overdue victory for teachers who have been subjected to the vicissitudes of the DOE," said Behrins, who said Cardianale was "beloved by her students and parents."

The judge said the state Court of Appeals has deemed teacher tenure is necessary to "foster academic freedom in our schools and to protect competent teachers from the abuses they might be subjected to if they could be dismissed at the whim of their supervisors."

In court papers, the city maintained the evidence showed Cardinale had "performed incompetently" during the four most recent years she was reviewed, "despite attempts by school administrators to help her improve."

In addition, the city contended the hearing officer found no evidence that Cardinale received an ineffective rating from her principal and vice principal due to her medical condition or that administrators had harassed her for any reason.

Green did not rule on DOE's allegations against Cardinale, saying the violation of her due-process rights rendered the hearing "a nullity."

The city will challenge the judge's decision.

"Numerous other courts have found that the process followed by DOE is proper," said a city Law Department spokesman. "We will respond to this ruling in court."

Besides immediate reinstatement, Green ordered that Cardinale receive full back pay from her termination date.General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, the head of the Russian Defence Ministry, held negotiations with General Wei Fenghe, the Minister of National Defence.

The efforts of the leadership of the both countries, Russian- Chinese relations today has reached principally new unprecedented level, and have become a critical factor in keeping peace and international security, Sergei Shoigu pointed out.

He recalled that meetings of Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping in May and June 2017, and in November - a bilateral meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Sergei Shoigu congratulated Wei Fenghe on his appointment as the Minister of National Defence of the Peoples Republic of China. He also thanked his counterpart for the Chinese delegation attending the VII Moscow Conference on International Security that takes place on April 4-5.

Wei Fenghe stressed that the Chinese delegation has arrived at the VII Moscow Conference on International Security to once again affirm close relationships between the two countries, and to express its position shared with Russia on international issues.

According to General Wei Fenghe, the Chinese delegation has arrived to support Russia in organising the Moscow Conference on International Security.

Wei Fenghe thanked Sergei Shoigu for warm welcome and hospitality in Moscow.Page Content

Acting Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) Cornelius de Weever, says the deadline is approaching very fast with less than two weeks left for interested persons and young people to apply for the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Scholarship Foundation for study grants and scholarships.





Interested persons must fill out application forms, supply all of the necessary information and return them directly to the Caribbean Tourism Organizations headquarters, 7th Floor, Barbados Tower, Warrens, St. Michael, Barbados, Tel: 246-427-5242; Fax: 246-429-3065 by the deadline date of April 15, 2018.





The CTO scholarship foundation is accepting applications for the aforementioned from Caribbean nationals in CTO member countries. Sint Maarten is a member of the CTO.





The main aim of the CTO Foundation is to provide opportunities for Caribbean nationals to pursue studies in the areas of tourism, hospitality and language training.





The Foundation selects individuals who demonstrate high levels of achievement and leadership both within and outside the classroom and who express a strong interest in making a positive contribution to Caribbean tourism.





The Foundation offers the following types of assistance and the various forms are downloadable from the Caribbean Tourism Organization website http://www.onecaribbean.org/our-work/scholarship-foundation/scholarships-grants/





Scholarships of up to US$12,000 to individuals wanting to study tourism or hospitality at the Masters (post graduate) level. Download 2018 Scholarship Application Form





Study grants of up to US$2,500 to individuals pursing tourism/hospitality studies at the certificate, diploma, associate degree or first degree level, and to industry personnel who want to gain proficiency in a second language to assist them in their job. Download 2018 Study Grant Application Form





A scholarship of up to US$2,500 is offered in the name of CTOs former Director of Research and Information Management, Mr. Arley Sobers, for persons working in local tourism organizations such as the Ministry of Tourism or the Board of Tourism, who wish to strengthen their skills in the areas of research and statistics. Download 2018 Arley Sobers Scholarship Application Form





Studies can be pursued both within and outside the region.



The Air Force of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) stationed in Susong County, eastern Chinas Anhui Province, issued a notice jointly with local government on Feb. 27: the PLA Air Force will conduct the 182-day high altitude live-ammunition training in the target area of Daguan Lake from Mar. 3 to Aug. 31, 2018.

The live-fire training will be mainly conducted in two areas, namely, an area with a radius of 3 kilometers centered on the Huangjinzui Target, and another area with a radius of 3 kilometers centered on the Kingjiazui Target, according to the notice.

This long live-fire training has recently caused relatively strong reaction near the target areas. Some local residents thought that an earthquake had occurred. The earthquake authorities in Huangmei County of Hubei Province near the target areas quickly debunked the earthquake rumors.

It is quite rare for the PLA Air Force to use live ammunition to conduct round-the-clock ground-attack training for as long as 182 days.

Susong County is located in the southwest of Anhui Province.

In terms of topography and geomorphology, the terrain of mountains, hills, lakes and plains in Susong gradually decreases from northwest to southeast. The topographical features in Susong County are very representative of the eastern part of China and cover most of the landforms.

Such geographical features are the reason the PLA Air Force selected this area as a shooting range. When fighter jets conduct ground-attack training, they can find target through the mountains and attack targets hidden in both mountains and waters. It is very practical to train pilots to fly at low and ultra-low altitudes in undulating terrain conditions.

The notice indicates that the 182-day live-fire training is to test one bombing skill: day and night high-altitude bombing. This bombing tactic was very common during the World War II but it is relatively rare in modern times.

In the era of anti-aircraft canons and machine guns, bombers need to be able to stay out of the range of guns to improve their survivability. After the missile became the mainstream air defense weapon, the fighter jets and bombers could no longer avoid attacks merely by increasing bombing height. Therefore, in modern air raids, fighter jets loaded with precision-guided weapons are required to launch attacks outside the range of the anti-aircraft missiles.

However, the nowadays' air forces of various countries do not abandon the traditional tactics of high-altitude bombing. Precision-guided weapons are generally expensive and therefore they are suitable for implementing point-type destruction of important nodal targets on the ground.

After eradicating ground targets such as ground-based air defense radars, weapons, and communications command centers, there will be important targets such as airports, troops, armored fighting vehicles and logistics supply areas. In this way, high-altitude bombing tactics based on unguided bombs (commonly known as "iron bombs") still have good effect on eradicating these surface targets.

Bombers that throw iron bombs in a large scale are very common. For example, the Russian Tu-22M3 bombers hit ground targets in Syria in recent years, and the US B-1 and B-52 bombers earlier bombed targets in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places. The air forces of many countries will not ease the training on bombing tactics at high altitude until the price of guided bombs falls to the same level as that of iron bombs.

The Chinese Air Force is currently equipped with the H-6K and H-6M bombers, Su-30MKK, and J-16 multipurpose fighter jets, and JH-7 fighter bombers and other ground attack aircraft. Almost all active fighter jets of the PLA Air Force have the capability to mount and drop iron bombs. Therefore, the live-fire bombing training is expected to be based primarily on professional bombers and attack aircraft. However, it is also possible that multi-purpose fighter jets or even fighters will participate in the drill.

The round-the-clock training of pilots high-altitude bombing capabilities aims to shore up their weak spots. For a long time, homeland air defense has been the main task of the Chinese Air Force. The focus has been on air combat capability that seizes air supremacy and less emphasis has been placed on the offensive capabilities of ground attacks.

After the strategic requirement of building air-space capabilities and conducting offensive and defensive operations and the establishment of a new strategic air force, more and more attention has been given to offensive tactics such as the ability to strike accurately with precision or large-scale bombing against land and sea targets.

As the main tactic in the second wave of air strikes after large-scale and accurate strikes against the ground, high-altitude iron bomb bombing will continue to be the normal training subject of various air forces in the world including the PLA Air Force for some time to come.

For the Chinese Air Force, more attention might be paid to training pilots' capability to drop iron bombs because its current guided bomb categories may prove not so abundant.

Disclaimer: The article is extracted from an article on ifeng.com and it is translated into English by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author from ifeng.com and do not reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn. Chinamil.com.cn does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM)  The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO) in its recent epidemiological report about yellow fever in the Americas, says between January 2016 and 13 March 2018, seven countries and territories of the Region of the Americas reported confirmed cases of yellow fever: Pluri-national State of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, and Suriname.

The number of human cases and epizootics collectively reported in this period in the Region of the Americas is the highest observed in decades.

The occurrence of confirmed cases of yellow fever in unvaccinated travelers highlights the need for Member States to reinforce the recommendation of vaccination. PAHO further states that the continuing occurrence of epizootics during the current seasonal period indicates that the risk of transmission to unvaccinated persons continues.

PAHO/WHO urges Member States to continue efforts to immunize the at-risk populations and take the necessary actions to keep travelers informed and vaccinated when heading to areas where yellow fever vaccination is recommended.

Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease that is endemic in tropical areas of Africa and Latin America.

The virus is transmitted through the bite of infected Aedes aegypti, the same mosquito that can transmit the dengue, chikungunya and zika viruses. Mosquitoes acquire the virus by feeding on infected primates (human or non-human) and then transmit the virus to other primates (human or non-human).

The yellow fever vaccine is safe and affordable and provides effective immunity against the disease in the range of 80 to 100% of those vaccinated after 10 days and 99% immunity after 30 days.

A single dose provides life-long protection against yellow fever disease. A booster dose or second dose of yellow fever vaccine is not recommended by the Regional and International Yellow Fever Vaccination guidelines.

Priority should be given to the use of vaccines in susceptible populations and to avoid revaccination, and to ensure vaccination of all travellers to endemic areas at least 10 days before traveling.

The Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department in the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (Ministry VSA), continues to monitor developments related to yellow fever, and has been doing so since January 2017 by having its surveillance mechanism on alert for any potential cases.

Persons traveling to countries with yellow fever should be vaccinated. Those returning to Sint Maarten experiencing symptoms should immediately consult their family physician.

For more information call CPS at 542-1122, 542-1222, 542-1322 and 542-1570; or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.PHILIPSBURG:--- The Police Department in consultation with the Ministry of VROMI and Independent Consulting Engineers N.V. is making the following knowledge to the public. In connection with the ongoing project of the Point Blanche-Sundial Utility Trench, the following traffic measures will be taken.

As of the night on April 3rd, 2018 measures;

1. To create space for traffic in both directions at the open trench in front of the Fairway Supermarket a part of the planters between the parking spots on the western side of the road will be temporarily removed.

2. The anti-parking pyramids located on the Buncamper road up to Freedom Fighter roundabout will be temporarily removed to create space for traffic in both directions.

3. On the night of April 5th, 2018 the top layer of asphalt road surface will be installed on the trench until the boatyard (Bobbys Marina) including the road crossing.

All drivers of motor vehicles are hereby informed that parking in the areas indicated will not be allowed during the period that the project is ongoing. All drivers should take keen note of this information. They should also exercise caution when driving in these areas and give all cooperation necessary to allow a free flow of traffic.

KPSM Press Release.WILLEMSTAD CURACAO:--- The Attorney-general's Office (PPG), RST and DataExpert are organizing the Caribbean Cybercrime Conference on 11 April 2018. A sequel to a previously organized cyber conference in 2016 on Aruba.

The subject at the conference will be "Cybercrime and Digital Forensis" (cybercrime and digital detection). One of the speakers is Deon Olton from Caribbean Cybersecurity Center (CCSC). Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath will conclude the conference with a short speech.

The target group for the cyber conference is the business community, investigation services, government, Judges, Prosecutors and those in the judicial chain in the region. To date, 130 people have already registered for participation in the conference at the Renaissance Hotel in Otrobanda.Museum scheduled to open on April 16th, 2018

Hurricane Irma dealt a major blow to the Sint Maarten Museum located on Frontstreet. Part of the roof caved in and many precious artifacts and rare books and material were beyond salvageable, a disheartening sight.

The board & volunteers worked hard on recovering what it could and then the reconstruction had to begin.

Thanks to the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Caribisch Gebied, a generous contribution was granted to the museum to repair the interior of the building, painting of walls & ceiling, refurbishing of floors & replacement of light fixtures. The Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds also assisted the museum in purchasing necessary items to safeguard our precious heritage further, those items included a scanner, vacuum & filters, plastic containers & air conditioning units, replacement of display cabinets & replacement of lost books.

Based on the abovementioned, the board of the Sint Maarten National Heritage Foundation & Museum hereby wishes to thank its main contributor in the recovery process, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. Without you, we could not have restored our precious museum and because of you we are happy to announce that the museum is scheduled to open on April 16th, 2018!

Come out one and all and indulge in our Sint Maarten heritage!The Hague:--- From March 26th to 28th the Boards of financial supervision visited the Netherlands. There they spoke with State Secretary of Internal Affairs and Kingdom Relations, the Minister of Finance, members of the First and the Second Chamber and they met with the Ministers Plenipotentiary. They also visited the Council of State and the General Audit Chamber. It was the first time that the Boards traveled to the Netherlands in the current constellation. The main topic was the most troublesome situation of the public finances of the three Kingdom countries in 2017. Attention was given to the background of the current state of affairs and how it should be dealt with.

The public finance of Aruba requires special attention. The public debt is growing towards 90% GDP. Aruba will not manage to comply with the LAft norms in 2017 and 2018, contrary to 2015 and 2016  although that was only with many incidental measures. The government in Aruba, which took office in November, has drawn up a plan to achieve sustainable public finances with a debt ratio of 50% GDP in the long term, and will already take measures in 2018.

On March 2, the CAft advised designing the budget in 2018 in such a manner that the deficit in 2018 would at least be lower than the deficit in 2017. The CAft also mentioned the need to adopt in the short term a new ambitious norm framework for 2018 onwards and integrate this into the regulations.

For the first time in years, Curacao has no balanced budget and the public debt is on the rise. Therefore, Curacao has taken measures that will be implemented via a budget amendment. This budget amendment was recently submitted to the Cft and it is currently being assessed. In particular, attention shall be paid to the structural effect of the measures. Furthermore, the need to have a risk analysis for the 2018 budget prepared by the Curacao government in order to manage the risks at an early stage was discussed.

Of course, attention was paid to the extraordinary situation in Sint Maarten, which is 2017 was reasonably well on its way to align its budget with the financial norms and comply with the legal terms. For the first time in years, 2016 showed a surplus. In 2017 the impact of the hurricanes caused a substantial deficit in the budget. The need was emphasized to timely draw up the mandatory documents related to the budgetary and accounting documentation and to get the economy up and running again. The reconstruction fund obviously plays an important role in restarting the economy and it will also have a positive effect on the deficit, which will therefore decrease. This underlines the need to conclude the talks between the Netherlands, Sint Maarten, and the World Bank as quickly as possible. The financial situation on the BES islands was also discussed. This attention is positive for the BES islands in the coalition agreement in financial terms as well. This attention is good for the further development of the islands. In addition, most of these special municipalities of the Netherlands are still facing a number of challenges. While Saba has received unqualified audit reports since 2014, other islands still have some steps to take.

The purpose of the trip was to get acquainted with the various discussion partners in the Netherlands. The role and function of the three Boards were discussed. The evaluation of the Kingdom Act on Financial Supervision and the deliberations between the Netherlands and Aruba on a new legal norms framework were also discussed.

The conversation partners in The Hague showed great interest in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom and the developments that are going on there. At the Council of State, where the Colleges were received by Vice-President Mr. Donner, and various state councils, including the state council for the Kingdom, Ms. Schwengle, extensive exchanges of views were held on the various current events. In particular, the challenges the ABC islands are facing in connection with the developments in the neighboring country Venezuela were discussed. Amongst other, the Kingdom Act on Financial Supervision and the question whether this Act offers the Cft sufficient tools to do its job were with the State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations. The situation on Sint Maarten and the reconstruction were also deliberated on with the Minister of Finance. The meeting with the Ministers Plenipotentiary took place during an informal lunch, and the different situations of the countries were reflected upon.

The chairman and the members look back on a successful trip. The Boards visit the Netherlands in principle once every two years.

The Boards consist of chairman Raymond Gradus, member on behalf of the Netherlands Sybilla Dekker, member on behalf of Sint Maarten Maria van der Sluijs-Plantz, member on behalf of Curacao Gregory Damoen, member on behalf of the BES-islands Herbert Domacasse and member on behalf of Aruba Robert Croes.PHILIPSBURG:--- On Tuesday, April 3rd, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephanus Blok paid a courtesy visit to Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin at the Government Administration Building. During the meeting, the two Ministers discussed Post Hurricane Irma recovery, border demarcations, French & Dutch cooperation amongst other agenda points.

Prime Minister Romeo Marlin also took the time to express her gratitude to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the assistance and cooperation especially with the coordination of evacuations and relief flights immediately after Hurricane Irma.KINGSTOWN, St Vincent and the Grenadines:----The threat of climate-driven natural disaster and the struggle to keep pace with the global digital economy are among the key factors driving the need for Caribbean Internet stakeholders to strengthen the resilience of the region's communications networks.

The term 'resilience' refers to a network's ability to maintain an acceptable level of service in the face of a range of threats, such as technical misconfiguration, natural disasters or targeted attacks. In the Caribbean, where several nations are susceptible to extreme weather events or natural disasters, the importance of network resilience has come into sharp focus.

In todays world, the security, resilience, and robustness of computer networks are critical to the development of the digital economy, said Bevil Wooding, Caribbean Outreach Liaison at the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), a US-based not-for-profit organisation responsible for Internet number resource management.

Wooding, who is also the Strategic Information and Communications Technology Advisor for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, emphasised the importance of the issue as he addressed regional officials at the 36th Executive Council meeting of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), held in St Vincent and the Grenadines in March.

"The Caribbean can no longer afford to leave important decisions about network buildout, network resource management and network infrastructure spend only to commercial telecommunications providers. Those issues are now the concern and the responsibility of governments, private network operators and even end users," he said.

Dr. Didacus Jules, Director General of the OECS Commission, pointed out that the devastating 2017 Atlantic hurricane season heightened the need to boost the resilience of regional communications infrastructure.

As a region, we must have a clear, strategic approach to building out Internet infrastructure to drive business innovation and economic development, Jules said.

He warned that the global economy will become increasingly unforgiving to regions with failing, outdated or unsecured technology.

If we do not act with urgency to address this, the impact on our economic and social development can be more devastating than last seasons hurricanes.

Wooding added that a number of collaborative initiatives are already underway in the region. The CTU recently empanelled a special commission to identify actionable recommendations for improving Caribbean network resilience. And a meeting of the Caribbean Network Operators Group, to be held in Miami in April, will focus on building technical capacity in computer network design, management and security.Solar Novus Today Has Been Integrated

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TIRIN KOT, Afghanistan, April 4 (Xinhua) -- At least two Afghan soldiers were killed and five others wounded after Taliban militants stormed a security forces' camp in restive southern province of Uruzgan overnight, a local official said Wednesday.

Militants numbered hundreds attacked a joint military camp in Khas Uruzgan district Tuesday night, triggering a fierce gunfight which lasted for hours, a provincial government spokesman, Doust Mohammad Nayab, told Xinhua.

The clashes caused two army soldiers killed and five policemen injured, he said.

Several militants were also killed and wounded, but their number could not be exactly specified as the militants evacuated their casualties after the fighting, he added.

Qari Yousf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, told local media that the insurgents' fighters attacked four security checkpoints in Uruzgan overnight, killing several security forces.

He claimed that the Taliban also seized amount of weapons and ammunition together with military vehicles besides capturing several soldiers after the fighting.

A provincial official stated that about 20 security force members surrendered to militants as army's air force failed to conduct supportive flight and strike the militants during the bad weather condition.

The Afghan security forces' casualties have risen since the beginning of 2015 when Afghan soldiers and police assumed full responsibilities of security from the U.S. and NATO troops.

The province has been the scene of heavy clashes between security forces and Taliban from time to time.Namukhula (squatting, second from right) with her coursemates in China where they were exposed to various skills

Source: newvision.co.ug

By Justine Namukhula

When I got a call from the Ministry of Health that I had been chosen to go for a four month course at the Second Military Medical University (SMMU) in Shanghai, China, I was elated.

I left Uganda for China on April 19, 2011.

In Shanghai, I met people from over 20 different countries.

We all shared a lot about our countries and also toured Shanghai and other cities together.

The places that I visited during the four months were astounding. Through university-sponsored trips, we visited the Hangzhou caves, the Shanghai Museum and the Television Tower. We enjoyed the river/ lake cruises, the speed train and visited cities like Suzhou and Hangzhou (Chinas ancient capital).

We enjoyed rides on the high-speed train, which is a key feature of Chinas advancement in public transport as well as science and technology. The forest parks and water caves were a memorable sites too. Being atop the Television Tower and viewing the city from above was thrilling.

Although I had known the Chinese to be industrious, I did not know that they outgoing.

They are also hospitable, friendly, easy to approach and accommodative to foreigners.

If you smile at them on the streets or the subway, expect a smile back.

Namukhula in a practical session while in China

Language and culture

Chinese is difficult, but I could have mastered the language if had lived there for more than four months. Despite the language barrier, handshakes, gestures and saying Ni-hao helped us get along well.

The Chinese culture is very rich and while there, I also learnt about the Chinese dragons, clothing and Kungfu.

Studies

My stay at the Second Military Medical University exposed me to different disciplines.

There were over 10 specialties or disciplinary orientations covering the full spectrum of clinical medicine, naval clinical medicine and pharmacy. The others were nursing science, anaesthesiology, medical laboratory and medical image technology. The university was well-equipped and had a very good study environment.

Chinas healthcare system is good and Uganda should emulate it.

While here, I learnt a lot of nursing techniques that I am using at the hospital where I work.

The writer taking a walk with a colleague

I was exposed to modern techniques of handling complicated emergency cases.

For instance, I learnt how to use modern equipment like the patient monitors that keep the ventilation, cooler machines and oxygen concentration in control in the intensive care unit.

I have since shared hat I learnt in China with my friends and colleagues at work.

It was while in China that I came to know that the country has a visionary leadership that will propel the country to great heights.

Not only did I receive academic benefits from studying in China, but I also received life skills. I thank the

Chinese Embassy in Uganda that sponsored me on this great adventure.

I also thank the Ministry of Health for supporting me and my hospital for recommendation.

From good climate to great cultural diversity China is the best destination one would love to study and live in.

Her cities and people, China will still remain a memorable place I ever visited.

Namukhula found the Chinese hospitable and friendly

About the food

When it comes to food, I learnt that the Chinese love rice, sea food and spices. I was amazed to see frogs and snails being prepared at meal time.

Despite having all this on their menu, my appetite did not die. I ate rice, prawns and other vegetables.

Sea food is popular with ChineseUNIFIL demining combat engineers from China carefully clear the ground near the Blue Line.

Source: unmissions.org

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) today highlighted the achievements realized together in south Lebanon while vowing to continue the dangerous but life-saving undertaking of clearing landmines.

In his remarks at a ceremony marking the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action in the UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Michael Beary hailed mine action activities conducted jointly with UNMAS and Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC).

He added that UNIFIL de-miners to date have cleared over 4,300 square metres of land and safely removed and destroyed 800 anti-personnel mines within its 1,060 square kilometre area of operation (AO) in south Lebanon. He also highlighted the benefits of the mine risk education given to over 1,500 children in the last year, saving lives and increasing the level of engagement between UNIFIL and the people of Lebanon.

These efforts conducted in partnership with our Lebanese colleagues is a demonstration of our commitment to creating a safer environment for the people of south Lebanon, said Major General Beary. Landmines and other explosive remnants of war not only endanger the lives of UNIFIL personnel, but also of local populations throughout the AO.

He especially praised the work done by UNIFILs core de-mining teams from Cambodia and China. I wish to publicly acknowledge their professionalism and courage as they set about this work, he said.

UNIFIL head Major General Michael Beary thanks UNMAS colleagues at a recent mine awareness event in Tyre.

Despite progress, the UNIFIL head added, there are approximately 1,000 minefields along the Blue Line. Some of them are located in close proximity to UN positions. He said the insidious menace of landmines should be addressed by continuing to work together.

It is a huge imperative for us to keep working to try an ensure that we make south Lebanon, and other parts of the world safer through the work of UNMAS and in this mission UNIFIL, he added.

Major General Beary also read out the message of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on this years International Mine Awareness Day, which is observed globally under the theme Advancing Protection, Peace and Development.

On 8 December 2005, the UN General Assembly declared that 4 April of each year shall be observed as the International Mine Awareness Day, calling on Member States to enhance national mine-action capacities in countries where mines and explosive remnants of war constitute a serious threat.

Addressing todays ceremony in Naqoura, UNMAS Acting Programme Manager for Lebanon, Sarah Holland, praised the partnership forged in south Lebanon with UNIFIL, LMAC and local community leaders in both clearing landmines and educating the communities.

As we commemorate Mine Awareness Day, we are proud of the achievements that we have realized together, and bravely acknowledge the task that lies before us, she said. Today, let us recommit ourselves to striving for peace and stability here in South Lebanon; and for an environment that is free of landmines and other explosive remnants of war.

At todays event, UNMAS and UNIFIL de-miners also displayed a simulation of mine clearance activities involving robots and other de-mining equipment.

UNIFIL combat engineers demonstrate their work to guests at the event marking Mine Awareness Day.A woman opened fire at YouTube's headquarters near San Francisco on Tuesday, sending employees scrambling into the street and at least three victims to local hospitals before taking her own life, police said.

Police did not release any further information on the suspect or speculate on her motives for the shooting at the offices of YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet's Google.

"We did locate a victim with what we believe to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It's a female," San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said at a news conference, describing the person police believe was the shooter.

One of the victims, a 36-year-old man, was listed in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A 32-year-old woman was listed in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. Authorities did not release names of any of the victims.Nearly a dozen U.S. states and Washington, D.C., on Tuesday promised to defend federal automobile efficiency standards against a rollback proposed this week by Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

"All Americans... deserve to enjoy fuel-efficient, low-emission cars and light trucks that save money on gas, improve our health and support American jobs," the attorneys general from 11 states said in a statement responding to

Pruitt's proposal on Monday to ease the Obama-era standards.

The standards called for roughly doubling by 2025 the average fuel efficiency of new vehicles sold in the United States to about 50 miles (80 kilometers) per gallon. Proponents say such standards help spur innovation in clean technologies and cut emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

California has long been allowed by an EPA waiver to impose stricter standards than Washington does on vehicle emissions of some pollutants. Twelve other states follow California's lead on cleaner cars.

The attorneys general, from states including New York, Iowa and Massachusetts, said they would challenge a rollback in court. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has already threatened to sue in defense of the standards.

The statement, also signed by more than 50 mayors from around the country, said automakers have been making progress in meeting the national standards and that compliance costs have been lower than projected.

Auto industry executives have not publicly sought specific reductions in the requirements negotiated with the Obama administration in 2011 as part of a bailout deal. But they have urged Pruitt and President Donald Trump to revise the standards so it becomes easier and less costly to meet the targets.

Even the Defense Ministry said it is "not appropriate to make an official comment." Opposition party lawmakers accused the government of being desperate to appease the North ahead of an inter-Korean summit later this month.

But the South Korean government refrained from commenting on Kim's gaffe. A high-ranking Cheong Wa Dae official said he had "no particular comment," and a Unification Ministry official also said he had "nothing to say."

Apparently answering the furious response to the gaffe in the South Korean media, the Rodong Sinmun said the sinking was an "extraordinary plot concocted by the pro-American and conservative regime to heighten conflict in the North-South conflict."

A day earlier, Kim Yong-chol, the head of North Korea's United Front Department, had jokingly introduced himself to South Korean reporters as "what South Koreans are calling the mastermind of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan sinking."

North Korea's state-run Rodong Sinmun daily on Tuesday again claimed that the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in 2010 was a fabrication by the South.

The Rodong Sinmun warned that Seoul government "must behave with discretion by keeping in mind that it will pay dearly by committing flippant acts at a critical time like this."

The families of the 46 sailors who died aboard the Cheonan were enraged by North Korea's comments and the South Korean government's silence. Jeon Joon-young, a survivor of the sinking, told the Chosun Ilbo, "If the sinking was a fabrication, then who killed the sailors? I was deeply distressed and insulted by the jokey attitude of Kim Yong-chol and the North Korean media's continued denial."

Chung Young-tae, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said, "Improvements in cross-border relations are good, but we need to point out what needs to be pointed out. It's disappointing to see the government failing to make any comments after North Korea made a joke out of the tragedy."

The government has been accommodating to Kim since he attended the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. It took just three to four hours to accept North Korea's proposal to send him even though his involvement in the sinking is an accepted fact here. The following day, the Unification Ministry distributed a statement to reporters saying an international inquiry into the sinking did not single out Kim as the main culprit.

In the National Assembly the same day, Kim Sang-kyun at the National Intelligence Service, told lawmakers that there was "no clear evidence showing Kim Yong-chol ordered" the sinking. Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo told reporters, "There is no official reference to Kim Yong-chol or the General Reconnaissance Bureau in connection with the attack" in the ministry's records.

But in November 2010, then defense minister Kim Tae-young told a National Assembly hearing that the government believes Kim Kyok-sik, then minister of the People's Armed Forces, and Kim Yong-chol, who headed the Reconnaissance Bureau, were directly responsible. The government identified the two officials based on ample evidence gathered at the time.

In August of 2010, then U.S. president Barack Obama issued an executive order identifying North Korea as the culprit and placed Kim Yong-chol on a list of individuals subject to sanctions. One diplomatic source said the order "was aimed at holding Kim Yong-chol responsible for the attack on the Cheonan. Even if cross-border relations improve, we must not ignore the truth."

Russia, Turkey agree to speed up delivery of S-400s: Putin



Ankara, April 3 (AFP) Apr 03, 2018



Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday said he had agreed with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to speed up the delivery of S-400 air defence missile systems to Ankara, a purchase that has alarmed Turkey's NATO partners.

"We took the decision to speed up the timetable for the delivery of these highly effective Russian systems," Putin told reporters after talks with Erdogan in the Turkish capital, referring to the S-400s but without giving a date.

He said that acceleration in production of the weapons was being done at the "request of our Turkish partners and friends".

The deal has been valued at about $2 billion according to reports.

Russian officials had said in December that the first deliveries of the S-400s were likely to begin at the end of 2019 or beginning of 2020

Such a major purchase of weaponry from Russia by a key NATO member had raised concerns both over Turkey's strategic orientation and the compatability of the systems within the alliance.

But Erdogan indicated that Turkey was in no mood to listen to criticism from the West over the purchase.

"This is a decision of Turkey. We made an agreement about the S-400s (with Russia) and this issue is now closed," he said.

According to Russian press reports, Turkey has also been hugely interested in a technology transfer and even joint production of the S-400s with Russia, a prospect that has been resisted by some in the Moscow security services.

But Putin refused to discuss the issue saying "these are exclusively commercial questions" rather than political ones.Trump vows to deploy military to Mexican border



Washington, April 3 (AFP) Apr 03, 2018



President Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to deploy the military to secure America's southern border, as a caravan of Central American migrants heads north through Mexico toward the United States.

The US leader has spent three days attacking the Mexican government for failing to block the estimated 1,500 people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador from walking north towards the border.

"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," Trump told journalists.

He said he had already held discussions with Defense Secretary James Mattis on the issue.

"That's a big step. We really haven't done that before, or certainly not very much before," Trump said.

Trump accused Mexico of abetting and profiting from illegal immigration, which he pledged in his 2016 election campaign to halt.

"The caravan makes me very sad that this could happen to the United States, where you have thousands of people that just decide to walk into our country and we don't have any laws that could protect it," he said.

"If it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and so pathetic... it's like we have no border," added the president -- who lashed out at his predecessor Barack Obama for weakening border security, without elaborating on his claims.

He also railed against the US Congress for not tightening laws on immigrants, and against Democrats for stalling the border wall he promised to build during his campaign.

Trump had previously suggested the military could help fund and build the wall, but it was the first time he proposed US troops to patrol the 2,000 mile (3,200 kilometer) frontier.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment on Trump's remarks. In the past 12 years National Guard troops have been deployed twice to bolster border security, but none have been there since 2010.

Mexico's ambassador in Washington, Geronimo Gutierrez, said he is seeking information on the issue.

"We have formally asked the departments of State and Homeland Security for a clarification on the president's comments," he told AFP.

"We share the idea of having a safe border but we do not always agree on how to reach that goal. At all times, Mexico will act, naturally, in favor of their interests."



- 'People flowing in' -



The Trump administration has sharply bolstered spending on patrolling the border, and intensified crackdowns on undocumented immigrants inside the country.

But the president remains frustrated that other initiatives by his administration to slow both legal and illegal immigration have been stalled or blocked.

After a year's delay, last month Congress budgeted $1.6 billion to begin construction of the wall, a small portion of the $25 billion Trump asked.

The initial funding might only pay for 100 miles of wall, and Trump last week proposed that the Pentagon's budget be tapped to build the rest.

"We need to have a wall that's about 700-800 miles," he said Tuesday.

The US president's rekindled anger over immigration was apparently sparked over the weekend by media reports on the migrants heading across Mexico.

Like each of the last five years, the so-called caravan set off recently from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, partly in protest at conditions faced by migrants, and partly to help migrants safely reach the US border.

Trump says the phenomenon is proof of the need for a wall.

"The caravan which is over 1,000 people coming in from Honduras thought they were just going to walk through Mexico and right through the border," Trump said.

"We cannot have people flowing in our country illegally, disappearing and, by the way, never showing up to court."Russian delivery of S-400 missiles brought forward to July 2019: official



Istanbul, April 4 (AFP) Apr 04, 2018



Turkey and Russia have agreed to bring forward to July 2019 the delivery of S-400 air defence missile systems to Ankara, a Turkish official said, in a purchase that has raised eyebrows among NATO allies.

"We brought forward the delivery date in the contract signed with Russia for the acquisition of S-400 systems and got an earlier date of July 2019," Ismail Demir, Turkish Defence Industries undersecretary, wrote on Twitter late on Tuesday.

His announcement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin held several hours of meeting with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

At the press conference, Putin said he and Erdogan had decided to "speed up" the delivery of the S-400 air defence missile systems to Ankara, without providing a precise date.

Russian officials had said in December that the first deliveries in the $2 billion deal were likely to begin at the end of 2019 or beginning of 2020.

Putin and Erdogan have forged an increasingly close alliance in recent months, from burgeoning energy ties to holding talks to end the Syria crisis.

In a sign of the importance of the partnership, Putin's visit to Turkey is his first trip abroad since he won a historic fourth presidential mandate in March 18 polls.

Erdogan said Tuesday that Turkey was in no mood to listen to criticism from the West over the purchase of the S-400 systems, saying "this issue is now closed".

According to Russian press reports, Turkey has been interested in a technology transfer and even joint production of the S-400 with Russia, a prospect that has been resisted by some in the Moscow security services.

Putin refused to discuss the issue saying "these are exclusively commercial questions" rather than political ones.Russia intel chief warns against 'new' Cuban Missile Crisis



Moscow, April 4 (AFP) Apr 04, 2018



The head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service said Wednesday that Moscow and the West must avoid the risk of escalating their current standoff to the level of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

"It's important to stop the irresponsible game of raising stakes and to stop the use of force in relations between states, not to bring matters to a second Cuban Missile Crisis," Sergei Naryshkin said at a security conference in Moscow. He was referring to the 1962 crisis between the Soviet Union and the United States that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.Israel arrests 10 Gazans accused of planning naval attack



Jerusalem, April 4 (AFP) Apr 04, 2018



Israeli authorities said Wednesday they have arrested 10 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip accused of planning a missile attack and hostage taking against a navy ship.

The announcement of the March 12 arrests comes ahead of expected new mass protests along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel on Friday.

Authorities did not immediately respond to a question on why the announcement was delayed for more than three weeks, though Israel often keeps such arrests under a gag order while it investigates.

A protest by tens of thousands last Friday led to clashes in which Israeli forces killed 17 Palestinians and injured more than 1,400 others, the bloodiest day since a 2014 war. There were no casualties among Israelis.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service announced the arrests in a statement, saying the 10 Palestinians from the city of Rafah in southern Gaza were on a boat outside a designated fishing zone off the blockaded enclave.

It alleged one of those arrested, fisherman Amin Juma, 24, has been involved in "terrorist activities" for militant group Islamic Jihad.

According to the statement, Islamic Jihad assigned him to gather information to prepare for an attack using a Kornet missile against an Israeli naval vessel.

It said the plan was to fire on an Israeli vessel and take hostages that could be used in a prisoner exchange.

Juma was expected to be formally charged later Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement called the arrests "proof of the real intentions of terrorist organisations in Gaza".

Israel's use of live fire last week has come under criticism from rights groups, while the European Union and UN chief Antonio Guterres have called for an independent investigation.

Israel has defended its soldiers' actions, saying they opened fire only when necessary against those throwing stones and firebombs or rolling tyres at soldiers.

It said there were attempts to damage the fence and infiltrate Israel, while alleging there was also an attempted gun attack against soldiers along the border.

Palestinians say protesters were fired on while posing no threat to soldiers.Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong has left flown to Toronto after a visit to Europe, his first overseas trip since he was released on parole.

Various pictures of Lee having a meal in a food court in central Toronto and selfies with other Koreans he bumped into were posted on Instagram on Tuesday.

Lee apparently wants to meet with key figures in the field of artificial intelligence in Toronto, which is Canada's Silicon Valley and one of the major centers for AI research and development.

Optimization

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The European Commission is considering linking member-state subsidies to adherence to the rule of law, a step aimed at bringing a handful of Eastern European countries back into line. But the proposal also threatens to deepen the current rift in Europe.Ahn Cheol-soo, the IT tycoon, opposition lawmaker and former presidential candidate, declared his candidacy for Seoul mayor in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Council on Wednesday.

The venue, which is just one street away from the Seoul City Hall, seems to have been chosen strategically to challenge current Seoul mayor Park Won-soon, who intends to run for a third term.

New York(United Nations), April 04, 2018 (SPS) - The United Nations denied Monday Morocco's accusations that the Frente POLISARIO had deployed soldiers in Guerguerat, stressing that the MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) has recorded no violation of the ceasefire in this buffing zone.

"Our colleagues in MINURSO have not observed any movement of military elements in the northeast territory. MINURSO continues to monitor the situation closely," Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN secretary General said at his daily press briefing.

Dujarric made the statement in reply to a question on Morocco's accusations relating to alleged violations of the ceasefire by the Frente POLISARIO in the buffer zone, which is under the supervision of the United Nations.

Morocco, which seeks to spark a crisis on the eve of UN Security Council discussions on the extension of MINURSO's mandate, has sent a letter to the chairman of the Security Council on Monday, in which it has accused the Frente POLISARIO of sending armed elements in Guerguerat.

Morocco is behind the crisis in this sensitive area, on the border with Mauritania, as it tried in 2016 to impose the building of a road crossing the territories that are under Frente POLISARIO's control.

In a confidential memo sent to the Security Council in August 2016, the UN chief recognized there was a violation, by Morocco, of the first military agreement.

Since then, Rabat has been rejecting the dispatch of a UN technical mission to assess the situation on the ground and finds the appropriate ways to resolve the crisis.

The UN Secretary General called on Morocco to "reconsider this initiative so as the two parties to the conflict may embark on discussion, in good faith, over the issue." SPS

125/090/700The new service, set to be operational from 2019, will provide the foundation for some of the best farm to fork traceability in the world when the UK leaves the EU, demonstrating our credentials as a world leader in food production.

Identifying and tracking animal movements via electronic IDs (initially dairy cows, cattle, sheep, pigs and goats) also means that the industry and government will be better-placed to respond in the event of a disease outbreak.

Todays announcement follows significant contributions from industry stakeholders over the last year through a partnership called the Traceability Design User Group (TDUG), which will help create and develop the new service.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

This service will be instrumental in improving traceability and providing guarantees to consumers about the origin of their food. NFU President Minette Batters, among others, has helped lead the way on this, showing how it will drive a progressive and vibrant livestock industry once we leave the EU.

Working hand-in-hand with industry, we will design and implement a service that puts food safety, animal health and welfare and environmental enhancement at its core.

John Cross, Chairman of the Traceability Design User Group said:

Government and industry ambitions are aligned in understanding the need for and benefits of a single digital multi-species livestock traceability and information service.

The best use of proven modern technology will make it simple for farmers, food chain companies and government to use the service and reap the benefits of shared data that will put the UK livestock industry on the front foot as a global trading partner.

NFU President Minette Batters said:

Its essential that government and industry work together and this a great example of what we can achieve when we do. I feel that this is totally transformational, underpinning our reputation in producing some of the best meat and livestock products in the world. Its a win for government, a win for team agriculture and, most of all, its a win for the consumer.The conference which takes place at the North Lakes Hotel on Saturday 17 November and is free for Texel Sheep Society members will be chaired by Mark Young, head of innovation at the Centre of Innovation Exellence in Livestock, and will see speakers address a number of key themes to help breeders and commercial producers better understand the changing nature of the UK sheep sector, explains Texel Society chief executive John Yates.

These are rapidly changing times for the UK and indeed the global sheep sector. While the UK remains the largest sheep producer in the EU and the third largest sheepmeat exporter in the world the coming years will see the industry face huge challenges.

Perhaps the most visible of these is Brexit and the negotiation of trade deals with both the remaining EU27 and the rest of the world.

But, says Mr Yates, perhaps the biggest challenge is not Brexit, but the changing pattern of lamb consumption both within the UK and further afield. Data from Kantar WorldPanel showed a 9.8% drop in retail lamb sales within the UK in 2017, a dramatic continuation of an ongoing trend.

The same shift is being seen in a number of key export markets, such as France and Spain too.

Addressing the market challenges and opportunities facing the sector will be AHDB Beef and Lamb strategy board member Rizvan Khalid. Mr Khalid of Shropshire-based Euro Quality Lamb will highlight the changing shift in UK and EU lamb consumption.

He will also give an overview of the opportunities changing demographics within the EU, including an increasing muslim and ethnic population, offer the sheep sector and how the Texel breed can best capitalise on these opportunities, particularly in relation to the growing ethnic market.Snowbasin planning major expansion, including 300-room Club Med hotel

Snowbasin has quietly been planning for big changes. Now, operators of the Weber County ski resort are moving forward. They unveiled ambitious plans this week to build a 300-room hotel on Snowbasin grounds, add new retail offerings and upgrade some of the lifts that haul skiers. Some of the work is already underway and hotel construction is to be complete by the end of 2024. "These new developments put us on track to become the world-class resort destination envisioned for Snowbasin," said Davy Ratchford, the ski resort's general manager. The planned improvements will be the most ...The Army will try out a formation flight of drones to infiltrate enemy territory and drop small bombs. It hosted a conference about the plan in Sejong City on Tuesday.

The Army will develop both small cluster drones that will actually strike enemy facilities, and mother drones that will carry them to the areas of operation.

The little drones will swarm out of their mother ship to strike enemy command posts, logistics bases and air defense systems, and return to it before coming back to their home base. They could be used to destroy North Korea's mobile missile launchers.Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono will fly to South Korea for a two-day visit next week, Kyodo News reported Tuesday. He is reciprocating a visit to Tokyo by Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha last December.

This is the first visit to South Korea by a Japanese foreign minister since Fumio Kishida came here in December 2015 to make an announcement on a bilateral agreement on the compensation of wartime sex slaves.

Tokyo hopes that Kono can come ahead of the inter-Korean summit slated for April 27. Tokyo seems worried that it will be left out of a flurry of talks between the two Koreas, the U.S., and China.

He is expected to ask Moon to bring up the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s at the inter-Korean summit.

He will also likely call on Seoul to implement the controversial sex-slaves agreement, which has been in limbo since the Moon administration found "serious flaws" in the way it was concluded.

Inauguration ceremony of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs held in Beijing

From:Xinhua | 2018-04-04 07:22

Video PlayerClose

Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua (L), also member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attends the inauguration ceremony of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Beijing, capital of China, April 3, 2018. Hu also attended a symposium held here on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)'Red passports' given to army soldiers

From:Shine | 2018-04-03 18:29

Some of the "red passports" waiting to be handed out.

"Red passports" with free admission to 22 venues including martyrs' facilities, patriotic education bases and important spots in Shanghai's urban development and history, were distributed to army soldiers in Shanghai at the Longhua Martyrs' Cemetery in Xuhui District today.

The passport, issued by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, allows entry to such venues as Shanghai Lu Xun Museum, Soong Ching-ling Mausoleum, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, Chen Yun Memorial, and the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Ti Gong

A memorial ceremony paying tribute to ancestors is held at the Fushouyuan Cemetery today, ahead of the Qingming Festival.

Meanwhile, a memorial ceremony paying tribute to ancestors was held at the Fushouyuan Cemetery today ahead of the Qingming Festival.

People from the Shanghai Party History Association of the Communist Party of China, Shanghai Film Association, Shanghai Cancer Recovery Club and Shanghai Public Security Bureau attended the ceremony.

Poems about the history of Yuyangli, a former residential complex on Huaihai Road where the Chinese Communist Youth League was founded in 1920, as well as the New Fourth Army, were read out.

Members of the Shanghai Cancer Recovery Club read poems they wrote in memory of their departed fellows, and a volunteer team on life education was also established during the ceremony.Pudong widens green card approval

From:Shine | 2018-04-04 00:29

SHANGHAIS Pudong New Area has begun granting permanent residence permits to not only top overseas professionals but also their research partners.

The policy, which began last month, aims to boost Pudongs talent pool, officials said yesterday.

So far the Shanghai free trade zone in Pudong is the only area in the city to be granted the power to pioneer the new policy.

While the person leading a research team that is deemed essential to advance Chinas needs can obtain a permanent residence permit, or green card, other top members of such a team arent usually able to do likewise. They have to renew their visas annually and deal with other administrative procedures, which costs time and interrupts their research.

To resolve the problem, the Pudong Human Resources and Social Security Bureau has rolled out a policy for overseas research teams registered at the FTZ.

Under the new policy, a maximum of six overseas professionals from the same research team can apply for permanent residency. They are required to work in high-tech or strategic emerging industries such as those involving artificial intelligence, software and integrated circuits.

This year, we focus more on a team than an individual. It will be good for global talent exchange and for the research programs, said Cai Min, deputy director of the Pudong human resources bureau.

The new policy is among a set of 35 released yesterday that are aimed to attract foreign brains. Among those policies are several firsts for Shanghai.

Now top performing overseas graduates can apply for permanent residency after they have worked for three years. And overseas professionals recruited by universities and research institutes are allowed to work part-time for companies operating in the FTZ.

It will be good to turn academic research results into production and put them into market, said Liu Guangming, deputy director with Pudong police.

Also, top overseas professionals, with permanent residence permits, can enjoy the same favorable policies as local startups if they set up technology firms in the FTZ.

Previously, despite holding permanent residence permits, overseas professionals were only allowed to set up companies through using their passports, and limits were imposed on foreign-owned companies, from fundraising to going public, said Zhang Jianhua, deputy director of the Pudong Market Supervision Administration.

Zhang Wei, a German-Chinese, was one of two people who obtained a business license yesterday to set up a startup in the FTZ. An expert in optoelectronics, he has worked here for seven years, and has always wanted to have his own company.

Previously doing so here would have been time-consuming and costly. But now I run a domestic company, and everything is easy for me, he said.

To better serve overseas professionals, Pudong plans to build over 9,000 flats for them in Zhangjiang Science City.

In three years, the district is set to have 18 international schools and at least 10 foreign-run health care facilities, officials said.Kathmandu, April 4

Nepal has proposed that Japan adopt a government-to-government model to recruit Nepali trainee workers for various jobs in Japan.

Receiving Japanese Ambassador to Nepal, Masashi Ogawa, to his office, Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Gokarna Bista, requested that Japan follow the model similar to South Koreas Employment Permit System (EPS) to recruit Nepali workforce.

In response, Ogawa said he was positive about the proposal and further discussions would be carried out to make a decision about the issue.

The government hopes that going to the G2G model strengthens the bilateral relationship as both the countries can reap maximum benefits.

Currently, Japanese companies recruit Nepali personnel through a select group of recruitment agencies. It has been suspected that the agencies select workers on the basis of political power play. Likewise, many people reportedly fly to Japan with fake documents every year.

If we retain the current model, the Ministrys Joint-Secretary Krishna Gyawali says, Workers will not benefit much. Because the Korean model has been largely successful, we should get connected with other destinations too in the same model.

The Ministry has concluded that Japan can be an attractive labour destination for Nepali workers as its labour laws are worker friendly.INVENTIVA Announces a U.S. Phase II Investigator-Initiated Study with Lanifibranor on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Inventiva Announces a U.S. Phase II Investigator-Initiated Study with Lanifibranor on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Dr. Kenneth Cusi of the University of Florida to be principal investigator

Trial in 64 patients to begin after the FDA has approved lanifibranor IND

Daix (France), April 4th, 2018 - Inventiva, a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), systemic sclerosis (SSc) and mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS), today announced that Dr. Kenneth Cusi, Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism in the Department of Medicine at the University of Florida, Gainesville, has selected lanifibranor for a Phase II investigator-initiated clinical trial. The trial's objective is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lanifibranor on intrahepatic triglycerides and hepatic insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetic patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). A positive result would further reinforce lanifibranor as the ideal drug for NAFLD and NASH patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

Lanifibranor is a new generation panPPAR agonist that activates the alpha, gamma and delta isoforms of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs). Lanifibranor selection for this study was motivated by this unique mechanism of action that can potentially address all key features of NAFLD and NASH: improvement of insulin-sensitivity, steatosis reduction, anti-inflammatory activity and reduction of fibrosis. In parallel to this investigator-initiated study, Inventiva is currently conducting two lanifibranor Phase IIb clinical trials in NASH and SSc. The Company has been granted orphan drug designation for lanifibranor by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in SSc.

"PPARs are clinically validated targets to treat patients suffering from NAFLD or NASH. Lanifibranor with its moderate and balanced panPPAR profile and its gamma activity, is a very promising candidate adressing most if not all the components of NASH," Dr. Cusi said. "We anticipate this profile will translate well into type 2 diabetic patients affected by NAFLD or NASH and are confident in the success of this trial."

Jean-Louis Abitbol, MD, MSC, Chief Medical Officer of Inventiva, said: "We are delighted that Dr. Cusi, a renowned expert in the PPAR field and world-class clinician has selected lanifibranor for this study that will provide us with additional supportive data for our regulatory filings of lanifibranor with U.S. and European regulators."

Pierre Broqua, Chief Scientific Officer and a co-founder of Inventiva, added: "We are extremely excited by this collaboration with Dr Cusi. This study meets several of our strategic objectives with a contained financial investment, including opening an IND, initiating a study in the US in a population likely to benefit from lanifibranor treatment and enlarge the clinical data package for future interactions with FDA."

The trial conducted by Dr. Cusi is expected to enroll 64 patients treated for a 24-week period with a single daily dose of lanifibranor (800mg/day) and 10 subjects in a healthy, non-obese control group. The study's overall objective is to measure the metabolic effects of lanifibranor, and its potential efficacy on steatosis in T2DM patients with NAFLD. Additionally this study will detect lanifibranor impact on fibrosis using the most recent imaging technology. The main endpoints are a decrease of liver steatosis assessed by state of the art imaging, including H-MRS (Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy), evidence of metabolic improvements in insulin resistance (glucose clamp, HBA1c), de novo lipogenesis, free fatty acids, lipids and safety. The trial should begin in Q2/Q3 2018 depending on FDA approval of lanifibranor IND filing.

Webcast

A webcast on this study will be held in English on April 5th, 2018 at 6:15pm CEST.

To join, please use the code 5361123 after dialing one of the following numbers:

France: +33 (0)1 76 77 22 57

Belgium: +32 (0)2 400 6926

Denmark: +45 35 15 81 21

Germany: +49 (0)69 2222 2018

Netherlands: +31 (0)20 703 8261

Switzerland: +41 (0)22 567 5750

United Kingdom: +44 (0)330 336 9411

United States: +1 323-794-2093

The presentation accompanying this webcast will be available on Inventiva's website at 6:15pm CEST on the same day in the "Investor" - "Documentation" - "Investor presentations" section and can be followed live at the same time at: https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/rg74y7wv

A replay of the webcast and presentation will be available from 9:30pm CEST onwards on the same day at: https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/rg74y7wv

About Inventiva: www.inventivapharma.com

Inventiva is a biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development of drugs interacting with nuclear receptors, transcription factors and epigenetic modulators. Inventiva's research engine opens up novel breakthrough therapies against fibrotic diseases, cancers and orphan diseases with substantial unmet medical needs.

Lanifibranor, its lead product, is an anti-fibrotic treatment acting on the three alpha, gamma and delta PPARs (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors), which play key roles in controlling the fibrotic process. Its anti-fibrotic action targets two initial indications with substantial unmet medical need: NASH, a severe and increasingly prevalent liver disease already affecting over 30 million people in the United States, and systemic sclerosis, a disease with a very high mortality rate and for which there is no approved treatment to date.

Inventiva is also developing in parallel, a second clinical product, Odiparcil (formerly IVA336), a treatment for several forms of mucopolysaccharidosis where dermatan and/or chondroitin sulfates GAGs accumulate: MPS I or Hurler/Scheie syndromes, MPS II or Hunter syndrome, MPS IVa or Morquio syndrome, MPS VI or Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome and MPS VII or Sly syndrome. Inventiva is also developing a preclinical stage oncology portfolio.

Inventiva benefits from partnerships with world-leading research entities such as the Institut Curie. Two strategic R&D partnerships have also been established with AbbVie and Boehringer Ingelheim, making Inventiva eligible for preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, in addition to royalties on the products resulting from the partnerships.

Inventiva employs over 100 highly qualified employees and owns state-of-the-art R&D facilities near Dijon, acquired from the international pharmaceutical group Abbott. The Company owns, a proprietary chemical library of over 240,000 molecules as well as integrated biology, chemistry, ADME and pharmacology platforms.

About Dr. Cusi

Dr. Cusi is the principal investigator of a number of ongoing clinical research projects. His grants focus on cutting-edge research in adult endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, both on clinical and basic research aspects related to the role of obesity and lipotoxicity in the development of Type 2 diabetes and its complications, in particular, the pathogenesis of NAFLD. He has published in the main journals in the fields of obesity, diabetes and liver disease. Dr. Cusi is a nationally and internationally recognized investigator and speaker on the impact of NAFLD in humans, including a frequently cited paper in the New England Journal of Medicine on the first effective pharmacological agent for the treatment of NAFLD, a common and potentially serious complication of obesity and T2DM that may lead to severe liver damage. He is a reviewer in numerous scientific journals. Dr. Cusi is also co-founder of Children in Need, Inc., an organization created to assist disadvantaged children and their families in third world countries, with emphasis on hospitals and schools in Southern Africa.

Contacts

Inventiva

Frederic Cren

Chief Executive Officer

info@inventivapharma.com

+ 33 3 80 44 75 00 Brunswick

Julien Trosdorf / Yannick Tetzlaff

Media relations

inventiva@brunswickgroup.com

+ 33 1 53 96 83 83 LifeSci Advisors

Chris Maggos

Investor relations

chris@lifesciadvisors.com

+ 41 79 367 6254

Important Notice

This press release contains forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates with respect to the clinical development plans, business and regulatory strategy, and anticipated future performance of Inventiva and of the market in which it operates. Certain of these statements, forecasts and estimates can be recognized by the use of words such as, without limitation, "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will" and "continue" and similar expressions. Such statements are not historical facts but rather are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's beliefs. These statements reflect such views and assumptions prevailing as of the date of the statements and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause future results, performance or future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual events are difficult to predict and may depend upon factors that are beyond Inventiva's control. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline product candidates that the candidates will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to be commercially successful. Therefore, actual results may turn out to be materially different from the anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements, forecasts and estimates. Given these uncertainties, no representations are made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates only speak as of the date of this press release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements.

Please refer to the "Document de reference" filed with the Autorite des Marches Financiers on April 26, 2017 under n R.17-025 for additional information in relation to such factors, risks and uncertainties.

Inventiva has no intention and is under no obligation to update or review the forward-looking statements referred to above. Consequently, Inventiva accepts no liability for any consequences arising from the use of any of the above statements.



IND: Investigational New Drug

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: INVENTIVA via Globenewswire

Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money.

Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists.Crypto Exchange, Everything that You Need to Know about ItCheyenne County Visitor Center Director Heather Hausmann submitted her resignation.

Hausmann has been the Visitor Center director for more than two years.

Her last day on the job will be no later than May 25.

I thank you for the opportunity to work for the county, she said. I have learned so much in the last two years.

The Cheyenne County Commissioners accepted her resignation, reluctantly. Hausmann said it is time for the next chapter.

In other business, the commissioners approved changes in delivery of mental health services.

In 1966, Cheyenne County entered an Interlocal Cooperation Act for the Formation of the Panhandle Mental Health Center and Mental Retardation Facility.

Cheyenne County also signed an agreement in 1974 for the Formation of the Region One Community Health Program under the Interlocal Cooperation Act, according to a resolution brought before the commissioners Monday. In 2002, the agreements were amended to form the Panhandle Mental Health Center. The Center was formed, according to the resolution, to jointly continue the purposes of the 1966 agreement and the 1974 agreement.

The agreement signed Monday forms the Region 1 Behavioral Health Authority and dissolves the Panhandle Mental Health Center and Mental Retardation Facility, effective July 1, 2018.

The commissioners also set a time for a public hearing regarding the countys one-year and six-year road improvement plan. The public hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. May 7. The plans are required by the State of Nebraska.

The board also met with Building and Grounds Superintendent Roger Conley. The discussion included the water system at the fairgrounds and if four hydrants are still necessary. Commissioner Randal Miller said with new firefighter technology, four hydrants may not be necessary. Additionally, officials suspect there may be a leak in the water system at the fairgrounds. Miller suggested that in researching the leak the county should consider rebuilding the system with new PVC pipe.

Lets develop a game plan and see where were going to go, he said.

He said hopefully the system can be redone in stages.

The commissioners also approved a motion for separate metering for irrigation.

The commissioners also met as the Board of Equalization, reviewing with County Treasurer Diane Scott vehicles owned by nonprofit agency Sidney Regional Medical Center and Regional West Medical Center. The board also met with County Assessor Sybil Prosser to review a list of personal property for Wieser Construction.

The board also consented to Plains West CASA placing pinwheels at the county building in recognition of April as Child Abuse Awareness Month.Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man will go to trial Monday, accused of murdering an adversary who returned to the defendant's house a day after an argument

Vernon Brockington, 35, rejected any plea today that included a possibility of life in prison for the June 10, 2017 shooting death of Samuel Dixon, 38.

Prosecutor Robert Moran declined to offer anything less than a murder plea, which by law includes the chance of life.

"No life on the back. I don't want to take that," Brockington said today. His lawyer, Ed Klein, noted that his client would consider another plea with a more certain prison term.

It's unclear what other plea Brockington might have considered. But manslaughter, for example, is punishable by anywhere from 5 to 25 years in prison, with no chance of life.

Under law, a convicted murderer goes before a parole board in 15 to 25 years. But there's always the chance they'll never get out.

So Brockington will take his chances at trial Monday. It's unclear what his strategy will be, though police said that he killed a man who returned to his house a day after a fight.

But the shooting itself happened in a car in front of Brockington's Murray Avenue residence, authorities said.

Syracuse police said that Brockington and Dixon had an argument the day before. Dixon then drove back to Brockington's house before the shooting.

It's unclear what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting.

Moran, the prosecutor, noted in court that he'd made "full disclosure of evidence" tying Brockington to the crime.

"His failure to take a plea puts himself in a fairly difficult position, but that's his decision," Moran said in court.

Brockington could face the maximum of 25 years to life in prison if found guilty after trial.Syracuse, N.Y. -- Patti Gomez-Michalkow has a bit of an unusual resume for a pageant winner: she's a military veteran, a trained sharp-shooter, and in the process of getting a master's degree from Harvard University.

Gomez-Michalkow was crowned Mrs. New York last month during a pageant in Rochester. The Mrs. America contest is in August in Las Vegas.

She grew up in New York City, but her husband, Nicholas Michalkow, is from Camillus. Gomez-Michalkow has been in Syracuse for four years now. She and her husband both work at M&D Financial in Syracuse. She does public relations for the firm and he is an insurance adviser.

Gomez-Michalkow, who is 28, decided to sign up with the 42nd Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard when she moved to Syracuse.

"I had always wanted to join the military, but it was something that never really quite materialized while living in New York City. My work was very demanding and I kept putting it off. Finally, when I moved to Syracuse, I had the time to pursue my dream of being a soldier," she said.

Gomez-Michalkow's service with the guard ended recently. She worked there as a "human intelligence collector," and was also trained as a sharpshooter.

She'd never been in a pageant before, but the Mrs. New York and Mrs. America contest offered a good way of helping the charities Gomez-Michalkow works with, she said. She volunteers with Clear Path for Veterans in Central New York and is now also raising money for Homes for Our Troops, a national program that builds accessible homes for injured veterans.

Gomez-Michalkow also has been studying for a master's degree at Harvard University, but she's put it on hold for her military service and now for the pageant. She'll be back at the books in fall -- unless she wins the title of Mrs. America in August.



Gomez-Michalkow was on Fox and Friends after she won the crown.Syracuse, N.Y. -- Frontier Airlines is bringing its low fares to Syracuse with flights to four cities.

The airline will offer the only nonstop service from Syracuse Hancock International Airport to Denver and Raleigh/Durham, N.C., with flights on Mondays and Fridays starting July 2.

Beginning Aug. 12, it will add nonstop flights to Chicago's O'Hare airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and to Orlando, Fla., on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

"With our new flights to Chicago O'Hare, Denver, Orlando and Raleigh, we are making air travel more accessible and affordable for travelers to and from Central New York and surrounding areas," Rick Zeni, chief information officer for Frontier, said in a statement Wednesday.

Denver-based Frontier is known as an ultra-low-cost carrier. It charges base fares that are often significantly lower than those charged by major airlines and adds fees for "optional" services such as carry-on and checked bags and advance seat assignments.

Its entrance to a market often brings down the fares charged by other carriers because of the increased competition.

"They're a game-changer," airport Executive Director Christina Callahan said. "This changes everything to have an ultra-low-cost carrier, with its vast network and low fares."

The airline said it will offer special introductory one-way fares as low as $29 to Raleigh, $39 to Orlando, $49 to Chicago and $79 to Denver, with the same fares for flights from those cities. (Tickets, which will be available on FlyFrontier.com, must be purchased by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, April 6. Travel is restricted to certain days, depending on the destination.)

Frontier flies to more than 80 destinations in the United States, Canada, Dominican Republic and Mexico on nearly 300 daily flights. The airline says it flies one of the youngest fleets in the industry, with nearly 80 planes in the Airbus A320 family and almost 200 new planes on order.

Syracuse airport officials have been trying for years to persuade discount carriers to serve the airport.

Allegiant Air, which has a similar ultra-low-cost model as Frontier, began serving the airport in 2015 and now offers nonstop flights to three Florida cities and summer service to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Nashville, Tenn.

Years-long efforts to bring the world's largest low-cost carrier, Southwest Airlines, to Syracuse have been unsuccessful. But Callahan called Frontier's announcement a "watershed moment" for the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority's push to increase competition and bring lower fares to Syracuse air travelers.

The authority had been hinting of a major announcement for several days, posting a message on the airport's Facebook page saying, "Something big is coming."

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148Richard Cohen writes a weekly political column for The Washington Post. He also contributes to the PostPartisan blog. Cohen joined The Post in 1968 as a reporter and covered night police, city hall, education, state government and national politics.

By Richard Cohen | The Washington Post

Not long after he had been freed from prison, the former deputy sheriff met me at the motel where I was staying. His name was Cecil Ray Price, and he had been convicted of sending three civil rights workers to their deaths. Their names -- never to be forgotten -- were Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney. This was Philadelphia, Miss., 11 years after the 1964 murders, and I recall it now because of what Price said about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Price had come face to face with greatness.

"That Dr. King," he said. "He had something. There was something about that man."

Price sat heavy on the bed. He had found a job working on a fuel-delivery truck, and he was grateful for that. He was appalled at what he had done and glad things had changed even though it was tough for his son, who was being hassled by some black kids in school. But the school was no longer segregated, and that was good, and the town was no longer damp with hate, and that was good, too. Looking back now, he could not believe how hard they had hated and how bitterly they had fought for a system that swiftly collapsed and nobody missed. Good riddance, Jim Crow.

And then he mentioned King. He had met King when King had come to town to protest the murders and put up bail for an associate. King stood on the steps of the county courthouse and said, "The murderers of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner are no doubt within range of my voice." From behind him, King heard Price mutter, "You're damn right, we're right here behind you."

Price had not pulled the trigger on the three, but he had arrested them, jailed them and then handed them over to the Ku Klux Klan to be shot. He got six years for violating their civil rights.

I met King only once, but indulge me if I think I grasped the greatness Price saw. It was immense courage. Price had not read King's speeches or fathomed the profoundness of nonviolence, but he was a man and he stood, like most men do, in awe of men who have conquered fear. That does not mean that King was never afraid. The vehemence of the hate he encountered in 1966 Chicago deeply shook him. The crowds were big-city big, thick with Carl Sandburg's onetime hog butchers, young men who mistook their white skin for achievement. King was shaken, "unprepared for the villainy he saw in the world," as his friend Harry Belafonte says in the current HBO documentary "King in the Wilderness."

King died in that wilderness. King's last years were painful, lonely with worry for his life and for his reputation. As I watched this remarkable documentary, I scrutinized King's face for even a hint of fear. I saw nothing. King thought J. Edgar Hoover was attempting to drive him to suicide by leaking details of his sex life. He knew he was on the target end of countless scopes mounted on countless rifles. He was a dead man walking, but he walked anyway, each day donning a bull's eye.

On the last night of his life, he rose from a sickbed to extemporaneously make a stirring speech that foreshadowed his death. "And I've seen the Promised Land," he said. "I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

He was killed the next day.

Winston Churchill called courage "the quality which guarantees all others." In King's case, it guaranteed his adherence to nonviolence. It was a difficult, often enraging choice, but it presented white America with a moral challenge. Come be as good as I am, King seemed to be saying. Morality begat morality. King was never going to be the equal of his opponents. He was always their better.

Cecil Ray Price brought up Martin Luther King on his own. I did not ask about him. It seemed he wanted to tell someone that he had encountered a great man. Price had blood on his hands and hate in his heart when he had met King, but he knew instantly that he had met his better. He saw then what we all see now. It has been 50 years, but the vision grows sharper, and King grows greater.SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Democrat Juanita Perez Williams plans to run for Congress in Central New York's 24th district, according to the Democratic Party chairman.

Onondaga County Democratic Committee Chairman Mark English confirmed that Perez Williams notified him Tuesday afternoon she would run.

"I heard from her today," he said. "It was a courtesy call and I appreciated it."

Her entrance in the race comes late in the political calendar, and has taken many Democrats by surprise. Perez Williams had previously ruled out a run.

Perez Williams, 54, will take on Dana Balter, the Democratic Party's designated candidate, in a primary later this year. Democrat Bill Bass is also running in the primary. Whoever wins will challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko, a Republican, in November.

Perez Williams' name surfaced late last year as a possible contender to run against Katko. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee met with her in Washington, D.C. while searching for a high-profile candidate. The group had also approached former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner.

In an interview in January, Perez Williams said she would not run.

"While I'm very humbled to be asked, I'm going to sit this one out and support the designee," Perez Williams told syracuse.com at the time.

Perez Williams did not return a message Tuesday afternoon.

Perez Williams is expected to announce her candidacy tonight following a meeting of the Syracuse University Democrats, who are meeting to endorse a candidate for Congress. That group and its acting president, Jordan Lally, actively backed Perez Williams when she ran for Syracuse mayor last year.

Lally declined to comment when reached Tuesday evening.

Petition signatures to get on the ballot for the race are due next Thursday, April 12. Perez Williams will need 1,250 signatures from registered Democrats in the 24th district by then.

The primary is Tuesday, June 26.

Perez Williams ran for Syracuse mayor last year. She defeated Joe Nicoletti -- the Democratic Party's chosen candidate -- in a primary in September, then lost to independent Ben Walsh in the general election.

Prior to running for mayor, Perez Williams was regional director of the New York State Department of Labor. She has also served as corporation counsel for the City of Syracuse, worked in the office of the New York State Attorney General under Andrew Cuomo and was associate dean of students at SU.

She served in the U.S. Navy in California, where she was a lieutenant commander and a JAG officer.

Last year's mayoral race was her first run for public office.

Update: The Syracuse University Democrats voted to endorse Dana Balter, though Perez Williams' name was on the ballot for consideration, along with Bill Bass.Syracuse, N.Y. -- Mizu Japanese Steakhouse on Erie Boulevard East appears to have closed.

Repeated phone calls in recent days have gone unanswered. The restaurant has been shut at lunch and dinner on days when, in the past, it served hibachi-style foods cooked in front of customers.

The person monitoring the restaurant's Facebook page, a former employee, confirmed Mizu had closed, but would not provide his or her name or further details.

In a 2015 review, Jane Marmaduke Woodman praised the restaurant, both for its skilled chefs and its menu, which also offered udon, tempera and katsu. She wrote:

"Our steak was cooked medium-rare, our salmon was crispy outside but not overcooked inside, and our shrimp was just done and very tender. Our chicken was the last to come off the grill and was thoroughly cooked but still tender.

"We were impressed with how well our chef managed the high heat of the grill along with everything else he was doing to make it all turn out right."Disgraced lobbyist Todd Howe, still in jail after his arrest midway through a trial earlier this year, isn't sure whether he'll be called to testify in a second corruption trial in June.

Howe, 57, testified for about two weeks in the trial of former top governor's aide Joseph Percoco and three businessmen.

Percoco and Syracuse Cor Development executive Steven Aiello were convicted in the trial, but the jury returned a split verdict, declining to convict the four defendants on most of the charges alleged by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Howe was the government's star witness at the trial in Manhattan that spanned nearly two months. He testified that Aiello and Cor executive Joseph Gerardi funneled bribes to Percoco through a shell company he set up. Gerardi was acquitted.

A second trial involving Aiello, Gerardi and former SUNY Polytechnic President Alain Kaloyeros is scheduled for June.

Howe is a central player in that case, which involves allegations of bid-rigging, but his lawyer said Tuesday it's not clear whether he will be called to testify.

Much of Howe's testimony in the first trial was ultimately spent going over the many people and entities Howe defrauded throughout his lifetime. Howe pleaded guilty to eight felonies in connection with the alleged corruption scheme. He is facing up to 130 years in prison.

A defense lawyer got Howe to admit under oath he attempted to bilk the Waldorf Astoria out of a $600 bill, while he was cooperating with the government.

That night, Howe was arrested. He appeared the next morning in pajamas with tousled hair, but resumed his testimony the following week.

Since then, Howe's case was transferred to U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni, who presided over the trial, remarking that he "is not a good guy."

Howe appeared as a defendant before Caproni for the first time Tuesday.

According to news reports, Howe was led into the courtroom in shackles and blue prison garb.

A New York Daily News writer observed him as appearing "worse for the wear" during his brief appearance.

According to the Daily News report, Howe lawyer Richard Morvillo said it's still up in the air whether his client will be called to testify in June.

"It's not clear to me at this point whether Mr. Howe will be participating as a witness in any further cases," Morvillo said.

Apart from the June trial, Howe could be called as a witness in a retrial of Percoco co-defendant Peter Galbraith Kelly. Percoco was convicted of taking bribes from Kelly, an energy company executive, in the form of a "low-show" job for his wife. A mistrial was declared for Kelly in March.

Prosecutors at Tuesday's hearing said they had not yet decided whether to to retry Kelly. They have until April 25 to decide.

Howe was ordered back to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan pending his next court appearance, which is scheduled for August.

Read our continuing coverage of the trial

Public Affairs Reporter Julie McMahon covers courts, government and other issues affecting taxpayers. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- State Sen. Patty Ritchie will no longer be allowed to collect a $15,000 stipend for serving in a Senate leadership position.

Ritchie is among five senators whose stipends were blocked by the New York State Comptroller, according to a report by The New York Times.

Ritchie and the other senators had been receiving the extra payments, known as "lulus" in Albany, for their roles as "vice chairs" of committees.

Ritchie collected the stipend as the deputy vice chair of the Senate Health Committee.

In all five cases, the stipends, normally reserved for committee chairs, were collected by the deputy or vice chair of the committee. The committee chairs were not permitted to collect the stipends by law because they served in other leadership roles where they were already collecting payments. That's what allowed the vice chairs to attempt to claim the stipends.

The five senators included three upstate Republicans and two members of the Independent Democratic Conference, a group of Democrats aligned with the G.O.P. Senate majority.

Stipends for Central New York Sen. David Valesky were also questioned by the comptroller's office, but officials ultimately decided he was eligible to collect the payments.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli had questioned the validity of the stipends after The Times reported on the practice last year, and federal prosecutors in New York City said they were investigating the legality of "lulus."

DiNapoli wrote to Senate leaders in March to say that he was considering rejecting the stipends unless the lawmakers could prove their leadership positions were legitimate and provide documentation along with their stipend requests.

The New York Times learned of the comptroller's rejections through a Freedom of Information Law request.

The comptroller had already paid a portion of the stipends for this year. According to The Times, the comptroller refused to pay the remaining $54,750.

The comptroller had initially questioned the stipends for seven lawmakers, including IDC leaders Valesky and Jeff Klein, D-Yonkers.

The comptroller determined Valesky and Klein were allowed to continue collecting their stipends because their titles and leadership roles were supported by additional documentation, The Times reported.

Valesky will collect $27,500 in stipends this year on top of his annual salary of $79,500.

Public Affairs Reporter Julie McMahon covers courts, government and other issues affecting taxpayers. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A top leader of the New York Democratic Party on Tuesday called on Democrats in the state Senate to set aside their "intramural politics" in order to seize control of the chamber from Republicans.

Geoff Berman, the party's executive director, warned that any Democratic senator who attempts to undermine a plan to reunify two factions of Democratic senators "is disloyal to the party and we shall and will unite to defeat them."

"We cannot and we will not tolerate any continued division or individual power struggles within the Senate Democratic Conference," Berman wrote in a statement.

Democrats already have a big majority in the state Assembly and hold the offices of governor, comptroller and attorney general. Control of the Senate would give them a lock on state government and ease the way for several high-profile proposals currently blocked by the GOP.

Republicans now have a one-seat majority in the 63-seat chamber, but Democrats hope to take over following two special Senate elections April 24 in the Bronx and Westchester County. To control the chamber the Democrats must first resolve a schism that prompted nine members to break with the mainline Democrats and ally themselves with the GOP.

The leaders of the traditional Democrats in the Senate and the main splinter group, the Independent Democrats, have agreed to join together if Democratic candidates prevail in the two special elections. Previous reunification talks failed in 2014.

Berman's warning is the latest sign that top Democrats like Cuomo are serious about repairing the rupture.

Republicans shrugged off Berman's statement and said Democratic control of the Senate would be an "unmitigated disaster."

"More than ever before, we need checks and balances to prevent the radical New York City politicians from doing whatever the hell they want," said Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif.

In the Westchester race, Democratic Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer faces Republican Julie Killian, a former local councilwoman. The Bronx race should be an easy win for the Democrats. Democratic candidate Luis Sepulveda, a state assemblyman, doesn't yet have a Republican opponent. Registered Democrats in the district outnumber Republicans by more than 20-1.

Both seats were previously held by Democrats and became vacant when former Sen. Ruben Diaz was elected to the New York City Council and ex-Sen. George Latimer won the office of Westchester County executive.The "condom challenge" and the "24-hour challenge" are not the first dangerous internet crazes, and likely won't be the last.

The Washington Post reports the "condom challenge," where teens snort condoms up their nose and pull them out of their mouths, resurfaced recently after a presentation to parents and teachers at a school in the San Antonio area. The stunt actually began in 2007 and peaked in 2013, but widespread concerns returned at the workshop titled "Dares, Drugs, and Dangerous Teen Trends."

The AV Club points out that very few actually participated in the stunt, and it appears none of them occurred in recent months. No injuries have been reported, but experts warn it can damage the sensitive inner lining of your nose, cause an allergic reaction, or result in an infection -- not to mention potential complications from latex rubbers covered in lubricant and spermicide.

Another concern is the "24-hour challenge," also known as the overnight challenge and the 24-hour fort challenge. Millions of videos on YouTube show teens and young adults attempting to hide out in stores and restaurants like Walmart, Chuck E. Cheese's and IKEA for 24 hours straight.

The trend reportedly began in Belgium in 2016, but retailers and police have been attempting to crack down in recent months. As it increases in popularity, safety concerns have also been raised.

"As well as the safety risk, children often do this without the knowledge of their parents, which could lead to large-scale searches or even cause them to be reported as missing," Detective Inspector Anna Sedgwick of Britain's South Yorkshire police told the Sun.

Attention shoppers -- Is that your teenager building a paper-towel fort in the cleaning aisle? https://t.co/za8jpAJtg4  The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 4, 2018

Previous "challenges" include the cinnamon challenge, which require teens to swallow a spoonful of ground cinnamon in 60 seconds. Doctors warned the prank can cause choking, breathing problems and collapsed lungs.

The "Tide Pod Challenge" made news earlier this year as poison control centers reported a spike in teens eating colorful packets of laundry detergent. The American Association of Poison Control Centers said eating a Tide Pod and similar products can cause seizures, pulmonary edema, respiratory arrest, coma and even death.

A teen suicide in Texas last year was reportedly blamed on the Blue Whale Challenge, an online game calling on participants to complete a series of tasks before taking their own lives. A woman in Georgia said her daughter died while participating in the same stunt.An Ohio principal has been arrested after a sex tape allegedly exposed her relationship with a teenage student.

WOIO reports Courtney Alfred, 39, has been charged with sexual battery in Bedford, Ohio. Alfred is the principal at Education Alternatives, a non-profit organization that provides education to at-risk youth around Ohio.

According to Cleveland.com, Alfred is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student during the 2016-17 school year. The student told Bedford Police that Alfred had sex with him at the school and provided text messages and video that showed him having sex with a woman.

Police say they began investigating last week and identified Alfred by a tattoo identical to a tattoo on the woman in the sex tape.

The alleged victim has not been identified.

Alfred has pleaded not guilty to sexual battery and is out on bail after paying 10 percent of a $25,000 bond, according to cleveland.com.

Alfred is next scheduled to appear in Bedford Municipal Court on April 16, according to cleveland.com.

Education Alternatives Executive Director Gerald Swartz told cleveland.com that Alfred has been placed on administrative leave.

"Upon learning of the allegations, EA immediately began investigating and working with law enforcement," Swartz said in a statement. "The employee has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the criminal investigation."

Bedford principal accused of having sexual relations with high school student https://t.co/ffd98kirrQ pic.twitter.com/ADhXfgAPTn  Cleveland 19 News (@cleveland19news) April 3, 2018OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Hundreds of teachers walked out of classrooms and crammed into the Oklahoma Capitol for a second day on Tuesday, shouting "Where's our money?" to demand more aid for public schools, amid a rebellion of educators in Republican-led states across the country.

Rowdy teachers booed lawmakers when the Oklahoma House adjourned. House officials initially called on state troopers to clear the gallery of protesting teachers but later backed off. Education advocates filled the Capitol to capacity, and troopers limited access to the building.

Leaders of the state largest teachers' union, the Oklahoma Education Association, said the strike would continue a third day on Wednesday. School districts in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Edmond, Norman and other communities across the state announced they would remain closed to honor the walkout.

"We're going to pack the Capitol," union President Alicia Priest said.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation last week granting 15 to 18 percent higher salaries to teachers. But some educators -- who haven't seen a pay increase in 10 years -- say that isn't good enough and walked out.

Fallin warned Monday that the state budget is tight and there are other critical needs besides education.

"We must be responsible not to neglect other areas of need in the state, such as corrections and health and human services, as we continue to consider additional education funding measures," the Republican said.

But Priest said teachers reject the argument that there isn't enough money to provide additional funds for classrooms. They urged lawmakers to pass legislation that would repeal the capital gains tax exemption, a measure that would yield up to $100 million.

"There's revenue out there," Priest said.

Democratic lawmaker Collin Walke said teachers should keep up the pressure.

"I think the Republican strategy is to wait the teachers out," Walke said.

Oklahoma ranks 47th among states and the District of Columbia in public school revenue per student while its average teacher salary of $45,276 ranked 49th before the latest raises, according to the most recent statistics from the National Education Association.

A crowd fills the south lawn of the state Capitol in Oklahoma City during a teacher rally to protest low student funding.

The demonstrations were inspired by West Virginia, where teachers walked out for nine days earlier this year and won a 5 percent increase in pay. Teachers in Arizona are now considering a strike over their demands for a 20 percent salary increase.

In Frankfort, Kentucky, the Legislature was not in session after teachers and other school employees held a massive rally at the Capitol Monday, chanting "Stop the war on public education."

The Kentucky teachers are mad because Republican lawmakers passed a pension overhaul last week that cuts benefits for new teachers. Opponents objected that the pension changes were inserted into an unrelated bill without a chance for public input, and worry that the changes will discourage young people from joining the profession.

Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has not yet signed the bill, but last week tweeted his support, saying public workers owe "a deep debt of gratitude" to lawmakers who voted to pass it.WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has instructed military leaders to prepare to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria but has not set a date for them to do so, according to a senior administration official.

In a meeting with top national security officials Tuesday, Trump stressed that U.S. troops can be involved in current training tasks for local forces to ensure security in areas liberated from the Islamic State, the official said.

But the president said the U.S. mission would not extend beyond the destruction of the Islamic State, and that he expects other countries, particularly wealthy Arab states in the region, to pick up the task of paying for reconstruction of stabilized areas, including sending their own troops, if necessary.

Trump on Tuesday had repeated his desire to quickly "get out" of Syria, even as his top commander for the Middle East outlined the need for an ongoing military presence there.

Trump said at a White House news conference that "I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home."

The United States, he said, had gotten "nothing out of $7 trillion [spent] in the Middle East over the last 17 years," a calculation that apparently included the Afghanistan war against the Taliban in South Asia, where he last year approved a U.S. troop increase.

"So, it's time. It's time. We were very successful against ISIS," Trump said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. "But sometimes it's time to come back home, and we're thinking about that very seriously, OK?"

Trump has used the $7 trillion figure many times, including during his campaign, although numerous experts put the figure at about half that, beginning in Afghanistan in 2001 and continuing through U.S. military operations in Pakistan, Iraq and Syria. The figure also would include substantial costs tied to veterans' care and disability benefits, and war-related domestic and diplomatic security measures.

Many military officials were taken aback by Trump's stated intent, first mentioned last week, to withdraw from Syria. In a speech ostensibly devoted to his domestic infrastructure plans, Trump told a rally in Ohio on Thursday that U.S. forces would "be coming out of Syria, like, very soon."

On Tuesday, speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Gen. Joseph L. Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, said, "A lot of very good military progress has been made over the last couple of years, but the hard part, I think, is in front of us." Upcoming efforts, he said, include the military's role in "stabilizing [Syria], consolidating gains" and "addressing long-term issues of reconstruction" after the defeat of the Islamic State.

Votel, along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, also has repeatedly said in recent months that U.S. troops would be staying in Syria for the foreseeable future to guarantee stability and a political resolution to the civil war, which initially created space for the Islamic State to advance.

In this March 2018 file photo, Syrian boys, right, sit on a pickup truck as they travel next to a U.S. vehicle, on a road leading to the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria.

There are about 2,000 U.S. troops there, advising and assisting local proxy forces and directing U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State forces. Trump described that mission as "close to 100 percent" accomplished, while Votel said that "well over 90 percent" of Syria had been "liberated" from the militants, even as "the situation continues to become more and more complex" and "other underlying challenges" become more apparent.

Among those challenges are the need to stabilize areas cleared of militants to prevent their reappearance, to forge a political solution that will end Syria's civil war without ceding power to Russia and Iran, and resolving U.S. difficulties with neighboring Turkey.

According to State Department coalition envoy Brett McGurk, fighting against the Islamic State in Syria is ongoing in two areas close to the Iraqi border, one east of Shaddadi and the other in the far southeast at Bukamal. The latter has been the site of most recent U.S. airstrikes in Syria.

The effort against the remaining militants has been slowed on the ground, Votel acknowledged, by the departure of members of the principal U.S. proxy, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces. Many of the Syrian Kurdish fighters have left their U.S.-backed units in the southeast to head to Afrin in northwest Syria, where their compatriots are fighting against Turkey and its proxy, the rebel Free Syrian Army.

"What this means for us," Votel said, "is that we're going to have to look at the ways that we keep pressure on ISIS and continue to develop mechanisms on the ground that help us de-escalate the situation" in Afrin, "so that [it] can be addressed by discussion and diplomacy as opposed to fighting."Miss Mary Shannon Webster was the granddaughter of one of Syracuse's first war heroes.

Robert Townsend had been born in Albany in 1819 and graduated with honors from the Philadelphia Naval School. He served as a captain during the Mexican War and assisted in the capture of Vera Cruz.

He left the military and married an Elbridge woman, Harriet Monroe, then settled in Syracuse. He reenlisted with the outbreak of the Civil War and served under Admiral David Farragut during the taking of New Orleans.

Red Cross canteen volunteer Mary Shannon Webster poses for a photograph in France in 1918.

In 1889, his daughter, Elizabeth, married Dr. A.G. Webster of Worcester, Massachusetts, where the couple would eventually settle.

They had three children, the youngest being Mary Shannon, who would inherit her grandfather's courage and spirit.

She was a frequent visitor to Syracuse to see her grandmother and her visits often made news in the local newspaper's society pages.

In the summer of 1917, during one of these visits, she began volunteering at Camp Syracuse, the World War I army recruit camp. The young woman fell in love with Captain Henry Worthington, of the Ninth Infantry. There were some reports that she nursed him back to health after a serious illness.

They were engaged in three weeks. After he was deployed to the fighting in France, she volunteered to join, serving in a Red Cross canteen for 14 months, from roughly Thanksgiving 1917 through after the end of the war.

Her letters home to her parents in Worcester or to her sister in Syracuse, often published in Syracuse newspapers, give an intimate glimpse into the life of a young woman in France during the Great War.

(It is difficult to get an idea of her age; one account says she "camouflaged" herself to appear much older to get around the Red Cross' 25-and-over age restriction. A 1919 report said she was "considerably younger" than 25. After arriving in Paris, she admitted she had deceived the Red Cross and was relieved when told she could stay. Another report named her one of the two youngest canteen workers in all of France.)

She arrived in Bordeaux, France is December 1917 and was instantly pleased to hear how much she and other Americans were appreciated by the French.

"Everywhere since we have landed people have told us how glad they were to have us over here helping, how fine we were to come. So, we think we are really needed. They say the French women cannot do what we are to do. They have never done that sort of thing. They say they need young strong and cheerful women."

Her first job was to fill Christmas bags for American soldiers. The days were long, often from 8:30 in the morning until 10 p.m., Sundays included.

"We did 35,000 a day and it was the hardest work I have ever done to fill these bags," she wrote.

But she did not mind: "Well, we came over to work and we got it all right, but rather more quickly than we anticipated. We just rolled into bed at night to lie like logs until we groaned and rolled out at 7:30 a.m. Factory workers have nothing on us. Working on Sunday was the hardest."

She called it "good preparation" for her upcoming work in a canteen.

Into each bag went a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap with a wash cloth, a pair of shoestrings, some candy done up in a handkerchief and a box of tobacco. (The final item many soldiers would tell her was their favorite.)

Webster received orders that she was to work at a Red Cross canteen in the American aviation camp at Issoudun, France.

The Red Cross canteen at the Aviation Camp of the American Army at Issoudun, France during the First World War. The canteen was said to have made a "warm and cheerful centre (sic) for soldiers in France."

Home to the 3rd Aviation Instruction Center, the camp had 13 fields in operation with over 10,000 ground personnel, instructors and student pilots. By the time of the Armistice, it was the largest air base in the world.

"The place is very interesting, what I have seen of it. The airplanes are flying over us in groups every day especially about sunrise and sunset."

She shared her barracks with ten other women. She described them as having wooden floors, electricity, two small stoves and "colder than Greenland."

Her day began at reveille at 5:30 a.m. and continued sometimes past 9 p.m.

She would join 13 other women in staffing the canteen, serving food to officers, cadets and privates.

Here duties including brewing coffee, tea and hot chocolate in huge boilers ("a hot and cross job"), cooking officer's meals, making sandwiches, serving the officers (which included getting the "gossip" from them) and collecting the soldiers' money, a task which required calculating the bill in American, English or French money.

"I have mastered it and find it fun," she wrote.

She would later say she became a "champion sandwich maker." Despite blisters from slicing bread she would write that "one day when there was a particular rush I made fifty in five minutes. We had to make them fast to keep up with the boys' appetites."

A few months later found Webster depressed but still devoted to her duty.

A chance to meet her fiance during a week's leave beginning on March 1 failed to come through, as Henry Worthington called was back at the front as the fighting intensified.

"Since March 1st, I've been going about with my teeth gritted and trying to keep my mind a blank, so I wouldn't think any more unpleasant thoughts than necessary."

"It was a bitter disappointment and very hard to bear, but it is war, and after all, that is why we are here for."

By all accounts, the couple never did see each other again. Worthington was killed in action in July, 1918 at Soissons. After returning to Syracuse in March, 1919 for a wedding, Webster said they had seen each other just once in Europe, probably a Christmas visit in 1917.

"No, I did not stop work," she told the Syracuse Herald in 1919. "There was no time to let personal things enter. Indeed, I was thankful for the work, which made me forget my own sorrow in helping others."

Red Cross workers serve enlisted men at their canteen at the Aviation camp at Issoudun, France in May 1918.

Her spirits rebounded and began to see herself as having an important role in the war effort.

She became friendly with a couple of lonely soldiers and helped to rally their spirits.

As did a chance to meet the Commander of the American Expeditionary Force, General John Pershing, who came to inspect the camp.

"I was making sandwiches; we all rose when he (Pershing) came in and then he ate a sandwich and talked to Gertrude and me! He asked me how I liked it here and I used slang as usual and said, "Crazy about it!"

The General told them it was "fine to see us here."

When the "grand moguls," as Webster call them, left the camp the canteen women lined up in attention.

"He was much pleased at our 'military discipline' and said it would make the soldiers better to see us," she wrote.

Letters published in May, 1918 show Webster entering the final months of her six-month enlistment, but she wrote "there is no doubt in my mind" about re-enlisting, despite the long hours.

"This working seven days a is no joke, when you never work less than eight and sometimes twelve and thirteen hours a day," she wrote home.

Like many people her age, a rare day off was spent in bed and "I surely am appreciating it."

She was growing into her role and soon the young woman was ordering around military officers.

"My officers are well trained now and if they ask for more water or bread or butter before everyone is served, they will be sat upon. I am very strict, and they know it. I show no partiality even to my best friends and blow them all up when they deserve it. We tell them 'There is a war on' when they eat too much sugar or butter."

She was now able to carry five dinner plates at a time and called it a "great moment when I achieved that success."

(She, though, had not found perfection. She joked that she sometimes still spilt gravy "down their necks or on their trousers. "If they are khaki trousers I always tell them 'That's all tight. Gravy and coffee are the same color It won't show. If they are the blue trousers of my French officers it is disastrous, for we have no blue gravy.")

Group of American Red Cross workers at the American camp at Issoudun, France on June 10, 1918.

In a letter to her sister Francis Ware of Ackerman Avenue, Webster writes about her first German bombardment, while visiting Paris.

"I have been under fire at last. It kept on all the afternoon at intervals of about twenty minutes. So now I am in the battle of Paris."

After the first day of bombing, she began to get used to it: "Your blase little sister merely turned over in bed and went to sleep again. I'm getting prepared for the front, that is all. Fatalism is the only belief to have if you want any peace over here."

After May 1918, letters from Mary stopped being published in Syracuse. She may have been too busy to write much.

She responded to an emergency call for canteen workers to follow the St. Mihiel drive, a major American attack of the German lines in September.

Posted just three miles behind the front lines, she carried a gas mask with and carried newspapers, cigarettes and chocolate to the front, her journey made dangerous by German artillery.

"The men just adored the newspapers and one I and girls with me brought were the only ones they had a chance to see," she said after returning to America in January 1919.

She often jumped into the big trucks advancing towards the front and was said to be "glad to be in the midst of so much excitement."

She finished the war helping in hospitals, making fudge.

She returned to the United States and looked back fondly on what she had done:

"I have just had the most wonderful time. I am so glad and proud of having had the privilege to be over there. I wouldn't have missed the experience for anything."

This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle: Email | 315-427-3958.Redistricting proposal places Tama County outside Rep. Hinsons district

New maps could lead to a remaking of the political landscape in Iowa  Tama County included. What is now a quadrant of four U.S. ...Posted on Wednesday, April 04, 2018

Texas A&M University-Kingsville sophomore Sara Ruiz, an art major from Orange Grove, recently won the student category for the Tejano Conjunto Poster Contest at the Guadalupe Arts Center in San Antonio.

She created the poster as a class assignment. As an assignment, I ask students to design a poster for an event as their last project of the semester. This year, that event was the Tejano Conjunto Festival, said Jesus De La Rosa, associate art professor. I didnt require them to submit their designs because there was a fee, but did encourage them to submit as a way of getting used to entering juried shows.

My first reaction was one of surprise and excitement as well as an immediate urge to thank my professor for his input and encouragement, Ruiz said. I strive to create work that I personally enjoy whether or not anyone else does, it is always a comfort when someone else does.

Going through the process of creatingformulating ideas, sketching designs, learning my way around the program and ultimately having a finished pieceis always rewarding, so to have the result of that process recognized as something of worth is just the icing on top.

Ruiz had the top design in the college student category and then competed against the other category winners for the top design to represent the 37th Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival set for May16-20 in San Antonio.

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ACCEPTZombie raccoons have been freaking out residents of Youngstown, Ohio, with the local police responding to more than a dozen such cases over the past couple of weeks.

A local veterinarian, meanwhile, attributed the bizarre behavior of the animals to a certain disease. The suggested reason for the zombie raccoons, however, was not the dreaded rabies as many might think.

Zombie Raccoons Invade Youngstown, Ohio

In March, Youngstown police have received at least 14 reports of raccoons exhibiting zombie-like behavior. Most of the incidents involving the zombie raccoons, strangely, happened during the daytime, when raccoons are nocturnal creatures.

One of the residents who reported a sighting of a zombie raccoon was Robert Coggeshall. He was out in his yard with his dogs when a raccoon appeared, interrupting their playtime.

Coggeshall let his dogs back in the house, but the raccoon followed them to the door. That was when things became really strange, as the raccoon stood up on its hind legs and showed its teeth. The raccoon then fell backward and looked like it was in comatose condition.

The Youngstown resident tried scaring the raccoon away, but it did not budge. After a while, it would come out of its trance, walk around, and then again stand on its hind legs, show its teeth, and fall down.

Other run-ins with the strange behavior revealed that the other zombie raccoons were also not scared away by loud noises and big movements.

Distemper, Not Rabies, Gave Rise To Weird Raccoons

Bark Mobile Pet Vet's Margee O'Donnell-Foust, a veterinarian in Youngstown, believes that a disease is causing the rise of zombie raccoons.

It is easy for people to think that rabies is the culprit, especially with the notoriety of rabid raccoons. There were also recent reports of a possibly rabid coyote attacking a nine-year-old girl outside her home in North Carolina and a pair of confirmed rabid coyotes in the suburbs of New York City. However, according to O'Donnell-Foust, distemper, not rabies, is the culprit for the strange raccoon behavior.

Distemper is a contagious disease that carries symptoms such as respiratory issues, digestive problems, and seizures. The disease is often passed on through inhalation, but any kind of contact with an infected animal may be considered dangerous.

O'Donnell-Foust added that while distemper could not be passed on to humans, dogs are at risk of contacting the illness. As such, Ohio residents are advised to update the vaccinations of their dogs to protect against the virus.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Government News 4/4

Vietnam attends NAM senior official meeting









The Vietnamese delegation joined other member countries at a meeting of Senior Officials of the Non-Aligned Movement, which kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan on April 3. (Photo: en.trend.az)









A Vietnamese delegation, led by Vietnamese Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, attended the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan on April 3.

The two-day event aims to prepare for the NAMs 18th Mid-year Ministerial Meeting, scheduled to be held from April 5-6.

Addressing the inaugural meeting, a representative from Venezuela, the State member taking NAMs presidency, called for greater solidarity and unity, and highlighted the active role of the movement in building a more just and democratic world, while ensuring the interests of developing countries.

Senior officials discussed the contents of the final draft to be submitted to the ministerial meeting for consideration and approval, deliberating on a number of important issues, including the implementation of major UN agendas related to security, disarmament, international law, peaceful dispute settlement, peacekeeping, and UN reform.









Scene at the working session

A delegation from the National Assembly (NA) Committee for External Affairs met authorities in the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien on April 3 to examine the local implementation of the Vietnam  Laos agreement on tackling free migration and undocumented marriage in their shared border areas.



At the function, Deputy Chairman of the NA committee Nguyen Manh Tien praised efforts made by Dien Bien in carrying out the pact and asked the local authority to study the life of Vietnamese in Laos and help them overcome difficulties.



The delegation noted shortcomings of addressing free migration and undocumented marriage in Vietnam - Laos border areas, which were said to partly stem from poverty among immigrants.



Nguyen Thanh Do, Vice Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, reported since a project to implement the agreement was approved in 2013, Dien Bien has studied and classified the groups in border areas of Dien Bien, and Laos Luang Prabang and Phongsaly provinces.



The three localities are completing their lists on the groups for proposing who will stay and who will leave, he added.



Do said the implementation has contributed to improving the state management of population and national border, adding that it plays an important role in tackling the free migration issue and contributes to border security and socio-economic development of the areas.



Earlier the same day, the delegation worked with authorities in Dien Bien district and officials at the Tay Trang international border gate, while visiting Na U commune to learn about free migration and undocumented marriage here.



Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives German Ambassador









Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) receives German Ambassador to Vietnam Christian Berger

Vietnam treasures ties with Germany and wishes for the further development of bilateral cooperation, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has told German Ambassador to Vietnam Christian Berger.



During the reception for the diplomat in Hanoi on April 3, he highly appreciated cooperation projects between the two countries which have been carrying out in Vietnam in economic, education-training and cultural fields.



Ambassador Berger, for his part, thanked Vietnamese ministries and sectors for their cooperation to promote the two countries relations.



He talked some measures to enhance the Vietnam-Germany relations, especially in economic, trade, investment, education and cultural areas.



Taking note the Ambassadors opinions, PM Phuc proposed both sides actively work together to boost the Vietnam-Germany ties.



He welcomed German businesses to do business in Vietnam and affirmed the Government and relevant agencies of Vietnam will facilitate their operations in the country.



Ministry to speed up restructuring to ensure growth target









MARD Deputy Minister Ha Cong Tuan addresses the press conference

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will speed up the restructuring process as part of efforts to ensure the set growth target for the year will be achieved, said Deputy Minister Ha Cong Tuan.



Speaking at a quarterly press conference of the ministry in Hanoi on April 3, Tuan said that this year, the ministry will focus on measures to stabilize and expand export markets, as difficulties are being seen in many major markets of Vietnamese agro-forestry-fishery products, including China, the EU, and the US.



In 2018, the sector aims for a GDP growth of at least 3 percent, along with 40.5 billion USD in export revenue, nearly 40 percent of communes nationwide recognised as new-style rural areas, and 41.65 percent of forest coverage.



Tuan said that together with restructuring to improve productivity and quality of farm produces, the ministry will design plans to develop major product groups to meet market demands and adapt to climate change.



Agricultural product processing will receive more attention, he added.



Meanwhile, Tran Van Cong, deputy head of the MARDs Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-forestry-fisheries Products, said that the ministry will drastically streamline and simplify administrative procedures. In April, the ministries will reduce procedures of inspection to avoid overlapping.



According to the General Statistics Office, in the first quarter of 2018, the GDP growth of the sector reached 4.05 percent, the highest figure in the recent 13 years. Production value of agro-forestry-fisheries products was estimated at about 189.5 trillion VND, up 4.18 percent over the same period last year.



Export revenue of the products in the first three months of this year hit nearly 8.7 billion USD, a rise of 9.6 percent year on year and reaching 21.4 percent of the yearly target.



As of March 20, the country has 3,289 communes, or 36.84 percent of total communes, have been recognised as new-style rural areas, 220 communes higher than that in the end of 2017.



ASEAN, US hold 31st dialogue in Malaysia









Scene at the event (Photo: asean.usmission.gov)









ASEAN and the US underscored the importance of their strategic partnership at their 31st dialogue in Selangor, Malaysia on April 2-3



Participating representatives of the US and ASEAN celebrated the growth of political, security, economic and cultural ties between the sides, reflected through implementation outcomes of their action plan for 2016  2020. The plan saw 83 out of its 95 activities and projects carried out.



A number of fruitful US-supported programmes in ASEAN included the Trade & Investment Framework Agreements, Expanded Economic Engagement (E3) Initiative, US-ASEAN Connectivity through Trade and Investment project, Young Southeast Asian Leaders initiative, and Lower Mekong Initiative.



The ASEAN member countries praised the Trump Government for maintaining its commitment to the bloc and stated their willingness to work with the nation to increase ASEAN self-reliance and realise the ASEAN Community Vision 2025.



ASEAN and the US agreed to effectively implement their action plan for 2016  2020, particularly in such realms as free trade  investment, digital economics, connectivity, marine cooperation, education, people-to-people exchange, and response to nontraditional security threats.



Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton highlighted the importance of ASEAN in the US policy on Asia  Pacific.



Voicing her support toward the blocs solidarity, unity, and centrality in the regional architecture, the official said the US will continue helping ASEAN tackle nontraditional security challenges like marine security, cybercrime, and terrorism.



Thornton introduced the USs idea of a free and open Indo-Asia-Pacific strategy, noting that through it, the US wants to work with ASEAN and other partners in the region to build a rules-based order of equality, free trade and investment.



The US welcomes the negotiation between the bloc and China on the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea in line with international law, including the UNCLOS, she added.



She affirmed that the US supports peaceful settlement of disputes in the East Sea based on international law, stressing the importance of free navigation and overflight on the waters, respect to territorial sovereignty, and non-militarization.



Addressing the event, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung said Vietnam attached importance to the ASEAN  US strategic partnership.



The Vietnamese diplomat lauded the sides implementation of their action plan for 2016  2020 and the USs practical moves to keep commitments to and foster cooperation with ASEAN.



On behalf of the bloc member states, Dung affirmed ASEANs stance and principles on the East Sea issue.



He listed opportunities and challenges that ASEAN, the US, and other dialogue partners of the bloc need to work together to address, including piracy, human and drug trafficking, illegal fishing, marine environmental protection, and peaceful settlement of disputes.



He added the collaboration can be achieved through regional frameworks and mechanism like the ASEAN Regional Forum, East Asia Summit, and Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum, based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to maintain a peaceful and stable environment in the region.



Vietnam, Mongolia boost defence ties









Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Van Giang, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam Peoples Army (right) hosts a reception for Chief of the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces Lieut. Gen. Dulamsuren Davaa on April 3. (Photo: VOV)

Vietnam and Mongolia should further intensify partnership through the exchange of visits at all levels, cooperation in personnel training and experience sharing in UN peacekeeping mission, said Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Van Giang, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam Peoples Army (VPA).



Giang made the suggestion during a reception for Chief of the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces Lieut. Gen. Dulamsuren Davaa in Hanoi on April 3 who is on a visit to Vietnam.



Since Vietnam and Mongolia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral defence cooperation in 2013, the two countries have worked to step up affiliation in delegation exchange, personnel training and experience sharing in UN peacekeeping activities, said Sen. Lt. Gen. Phan Van Giang.



He thanked the Mongolian Ministry of Defence for inviting Vietnam to workshops within the framework of the multinational peacekeeping drill Khaan Quest 2016, which is the capstone exercise for the United Nations Global Peace Operations Initiative Programme.



Lieut. Gen. Dulamsuren Davaa, for his part, expressed his hope to learn from the VPAs experience in use and management of military equipment and to increase exchange of visits at levels with Vietnam to further expand the two countries ties in defence.



Last week, during a meeting with Mongolian Ambassador to Vietnam Dash Bilegdorj, Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich affirmed the Vietnamese Defence Ministry is keen on working with its Mongolian equivalent to implement bilateral agreements more effectively, particularly in delegation exchanges, military health care, logistics and UN peacekeeping mission.-



Vietnam hopes for stronger ties with Switzerland in green energy









Overview of the talks between Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and Doris Leuthard, a member of Switzerlands Federal Council and head of the Federation Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication in Hanoi on April 3





Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has proposed that the Swiss Government continue paying attention to cooperation with Vietnam in energy development, renewable and green energy as well as climate change response.



He hosted Doris Leuthard, a member of Switzerlands Federal Council and head of the Federation Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication in Hanoi on April 3.



Minister Anh showed his belief that the Swiss officials visit will bring about new breakthroughs in the partnership between the two countries.



He said that currently, Vietnam is opening its door and integrating into the world and that it will sign a free trade agreement with the EU and will implement the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).



A free trade agreement between Vietnam and four members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) - Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein  will be signed soon.



He said that he believes that the deals will create favourable conditions and open up new opportunities for cooperation between Vietnam and its partners, including Switzerland.



For her part, Leuthard said that Swiss firms were interested in Vietnam and seeking investment opportunities in energy.



She affirmed that Switzerland highly values ties with Vietnam in all fields, highlighting affiliation potential between the two countries in the future, especially when progress has been seen in negotiations for the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EFTA.



She agreed with Minister Anh that once the deal becomes effective, along with joint efforts of the governments, ministries, sectors, localities and businesses of both sides, the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Switzerland will continue thriving.



State administrative apparatus needs reform for better efficiency









Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (second from right) attended an online conference reviewing Party building work in 2017 and deploying tasks of 2018.

Building a streamlined and effective apparatus for the political system is one of the key tasks that the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has set for the 12th tenure.



With high political resolve, Resolution 18-NQ/TW adopted by the 6th plenum of the 12th CPV Central Committee emphasised streamlining personnel in combination with re-organising, improving the quality of, and effectively using the contingent of officials, public servants and civil workers; cutting regular spending and contributing to reforming salary policies.



To carry out the resolution along with related plans and resolutions of the CPV Politburo and the National Assembly, the Government issued a resolution on a Plan of Action on February 3, 2018, urging drastic and urgent actions.



Under the resolution, the Government requires ministries, ministry-level agencies and Government agencies to review, re-arrange and streamline their apparatus, cut the numbers of general departments, departments, sections and sub-sections. The establishment of new organisations or sections under departments will not be allowed, except for special cases that need approval of competent authority. The number of project management units must be reduced to the minimum. Public non-business agencies must be merged and re-arranged to reduce their number and personnel.



Right in the first quarter of 2018, ministers, heads of ministry-level agencies, heads of Government agencies, and Chairs of Peoples Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities were ordered to design and issue plans to implement Resolution 18-NQ/TW and related plans and resolutions of the Politburo, the National Assembly and the Government.



With a detailed plan and roadmap, the Plan of Action demonstrates the Governments high resolve to concretise the Partys policy, thus helping create remarkable changes in the awareness and actions of officials, public servants and civil workers at all levels as well as workers across all sectors and society as a whole regarding the reform of the political systems apparatus.



Previously, at a working session with the Government in August 2017, an inspection team of the National Assembly which monitored the reform of the State administrative apparatus during 2011-2016, noted that there were yet any remarkable changes in the Governments organisation and structure in the direction of compactness and focusing on macro management and policy making, while cutting involvement in direct management and execution work.



In the period from 2011 to 2016, the number of administrative units under ministries and ministry-level agencies increased by 28, while those under general departments rose by 822. As of June 2017, there were 42 general departments, double the number in the Governments 11th tenure. The numbers of departments and sections also increased by between 4.7 and 13.6 percent compared to 2011.



It is noteworthy that such an expanded apparatus was unable to cover all aspects of State management. According to the Governments reports, in 2011 there were two aspects that had not been subject to State management and the problem was not solved until August 2017. At present, there are 18 aspects under overlapping management, or affected by differing viewpoints on the scope of responsibility among ministries and sectors.-



Vietnam wants Japans support in overcoming war consequences



Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh has called for Japans support in dealing with war aftermaths, especially toxic chemical and dioxin consequences in Vietnam.









Dioxin-contaminated area in Bien Hoa airport

He made the proposal during a working session with a delegation from Japans Foreign Ministry led by Yukiko Okano from the International Cooperation Bureau in Hanoi on April 3.



Sen. Lieut. Gen. Vinh, who is head of the standing agency of the National Steering Committee on the Settlement of Post-war Unexploded Ordnance and Toxic Chemical Consequences (Committee 701), said that Vietnam hopes for having support from the international community, including Japan in dioxin remediation projects.



He held that the Japanese delegations visit will lead to new cooperation activities between Vietnam and Japan in dealing with war aftermaths in general and dioxin consequences in Vietnam in particular, contributing to enhancing the partnership between the two countries.



For her part, Yukiko Okano said that basing on information gathered during the visit, the delegation will discuss with experts and relevant agencies of Japan on the possibilities of cooperation with Vietnam in overcoming toxic chemical and dioxin remnants of war in Vietnam.



The US army sprayed some 80 million litres of toxic chemicals from 1961 to 1971, 61 percent of which was Agent Orange containing 366 kilograms of dioxin, over nearly one quarter of the total area of South Vietnam.



Preliminary statistics showed that 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange/dioxin, and about 3 million people became victims. Tens of thousands of people have died while millions of others have suffered from cancer and other incurable diseases as a result. Many of their offspring have also suffered from birth deformities.



Despite a bruising battle in her failed attempt to move the Baton Rouge Zoo and a previous declaration that it had to relocate or it would die, BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight still enjoys the support of her governing board and expects to spend the next year master planning a renovation of the facility.

The commissioners who oversee parks and recreation in Baton Rouge made their support for McKnight clear in an unusual public announcement Wednesday  one that comes as some public officials and community activists are pushing for her resignation. While board members rallied behind the embattled superintendent, McKnight, zoo Director Phil Frost and other BREC staffers handed out timelines for a lengthy new process to redesign and renovate the zoo.

Ahead of zoo vote, BREC secret recordings surface and prompt call for resignation A Baton Rouge metro council member and fierce opponent of moving the Baton Rouge Zoo called Thursday for the resignation of the head of the Ba

Amid the campaign to move the zoo, leaked audio recordings surfaced of McKnight's meetings with employees, while emails showed her saying she would not attend further public meetings about the zoo because of past "public whippings." She was a frequent target of barbed criticism at such meetings by opponents of the zoos relocation who accused her of mismanagement.

A surge of backlash over the proposal from both north and south Baton Rouge residents led BRECs board to keep the zoo at Greenwood Park. Although it's rare for BREC's board to reject a staff recommendation, members emphasized on Wednesday that McKnight still has their support.

+14 It's unanimous: BREC commission decides Baton Rouge Zoo is where it belongs The Baton Rouge Zoo will not move to Airline Highway Park, after a tide of opposition that had strengthened in recent weeks led the board that

While we did not accept the staff recommendation, we do not question their commitment to this organization or to this community, said Lloyd Benson, chairman of the BREC board of commissioners. He referenced a request from the Keep the Zoo at Greenwood Park group of activists that an external group investigate the agency, saying BREC would not invite an outside investigation as there is simply no need to do so.

A few days after the vote to keep the zoo at its current location, BREC announced that the zoo had lost its longtime accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that the agency's leaders had frequently boasted.

+8 Baton Rouge Zoo loses accreditation; inspectors cite animal escapes, outdated facilities The Baton Rouge Zoo has lost its 40-year-old accreditation from the national Association of Zoos and Aquariums, an honor that zoo officials ha

State Rep. Barbara West Carpenter, D-Baton Rouge, also has recently filed a resolution in the Louisiana Legislature that that asks the Louisiana legislative auditor to investigate BREC. The resolution, House Resolution 59, questions how the zoo has fallen into disrepair given the millions of dollars BREC receives annually from taxpayers. Carpenter also filed another bill that would require the zoo to remain at Greenwood Park, while Democratic state Sen. Regina Barrow has filed a bill that would change the makeup of the BREC board.

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Carpenter, Barrow, Metro Councilwoman Chauna Banks and others have questioned whether the agency has lost its way with the public.

With Baton Rouge Zoo losing accreditation, group that fought relocation starts a new push A group of activists who pushed to keep the Baton Rouge Zoo at Greenwood Park announced Wednesday that their fight is not over and that they h

Benson disputed that notion Wednesday.

For every negative Ive heard regarding superintendent McKnight and or Mr. Frost, Ive heard three positives, Benson said, adding that they have the confidence and support of the public.

McKnight, Frost and their staff expect to issue a request for proposals within the next three months for consultants to help design a renovated zoo. Once consultants are chosen, they will spend the next six to nine months coming up with a master plan for the zoo.

After that, BREC said fundraising and construction for the zoo renovations are to be determined.

The Keep the Zoo at Greenwood Park group also recently announced the creation of a committee to come up with improvements for the zoo. BREC officials said then that they were open to public input but that they wanted to have their own process to master plan the zoo with experts.

Banks emailed Benson about the issue after the news conference Wednesday. Benson responded that the commission is entrusting this process to BREC leadership and that they would invite community input at the designated time.

During the news conference, BREC Commissioner Mike Walker challenged the zoos critics to cough up money to help pay for the type of re-imagined zoo many have requested. He said he would be the first, handing McKnight a $10 bill.A Darrow man wanted in the shooting and wounding of a man Monday turned himself in Wednesday to Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies, the SheriThe top school and law enforcement officials in Livingston Parish are working together on a proposal to put an armed law enforcement officer inside every school in the district, a spokeswoman for the school system confirmed.

Delia Taylor, spokeswoman for the school system, said Superintendent Rick Wentzel asked Sheriff Jason Ard in recent weeks about the possibility of placing a school resource officer in each of the district's 45 campuses.

Taylor said Ard has told school officials he is considering asking voters to fund the school security enhancements by approving a half-cent sales tax proposal in November.

"It's my understanding the sheriff is looking at a funding option that would include enough funding for (school resource officers) on every campus," Taylor said.

Lori Steele, spokeswoman for Ard, confirmed in a statement that the sheriff was approached by Wentzel about increasing school safety measures.

"Nothing has been decided, although lots of options have been discussed," Steele said.

She said Ard will continue his discussions with Wentzel and the School Board after the Easter break and at an upcoming board meeting.

The proposal comes as school districts across the nation are discussing how to secure their campuses in the wake of the fatal shootings of 17 people in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

Taylor said Wentzel wants to address safety concerns at the schools with additional school resource officers.

"Our superintendent is not for arming teachers. He believes officers are best trained for campus threats," Taylor said.

The school system has seven resource officers, who are responsible for all 45 campuses, Taylor said. One officer each from the Denham Springs and Walker police departments serves the schools within city limits, while the other five are sheriff's deputies assigned to geographic zones, she said.

The school district pays about half the cost of the officers through agreements with the law enforcement agencies, Taylor said.

A half-cent sales tax could raise from $8 million to $10 million annually, parish and schools sales tax estimate suggest.

It is unclear if the Sheriff's Office would take on the full cost of the officers and if the program would cost the full sum. It is also unclear if the officers would all be sheriff's deputies or if the sheriff would contract with local agencies.

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Denham Springs Police Chief Shannon Womack and Mayor Gerard Landry met with Ard last week about the possibility of adding a school resource officer to each of the six schools within the city.

"Provided there is a funding mechanism put in place, we are completely supportive of it," Womack said. "We want a Denham Springs police officer put in every school in the city."

We never know when the next active shooter is going to occur, and we want to be able to respond to it as best we can," he said.

Capt. John Sharp, spokesman for the Walker Police Department, said his agency also has been engaged in talks with the sheriff and the city about adding officers to the eight city schools.

He said discussions about adding school resource officers have been going on for the past two to three years but recent events have lent them a greater urgency.

"Certainly, the shooting in Florida brought it back to the forefront of our discussions. But its not something that is brand new," Sharp said.

For Sharp, as well, funding is the key to making the proposal a reality. He said school resource officers not only provide a response in case of a shooter but also deal with fights between kids, medical emergencies, contraband, intruders, parking lot accidents and irate parents.

"A school is really just a microcosm of the city," he said.

Walker police ran a series of active shooter drills at Walker Freshman High School on Tuesday while the kids are on spring vacation. Womack said he plans to do a similar training for his officers over the summer.

Ard spoke on the topic of school safety at a "See it, Say it," rally held at Walker High School last month.

'Your safety is at stake': Livingston Sheriff talks school security, reporting suspicious behavior WALKER -- Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said Friday he is taking a "zero tolerance" approach to school-related threats and social media posts.

Ard assured the students they were safe at school and said he was taking a "zero tolerance" approach to school-related threats. He encouraged kids to speak out about suspicious behavior and not to relay rumors.

The sheriff is expected to speak alongside Wentzel on the topic on the topic of school safety at a Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce breakfast on April 11.Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commissionA former LSU digital arts instructor's gender discrimination and whistleblower claims were rejected Wednesday by a federal appellate court.

Margaret "Margot" Herster, who was fired in 2012, alleged in a lawsuit against LSU that she was denied equal pay compared with her male counterparts. She also claimed she was terminated for complaining about alleged misappropriation of student fees in the School of Art.

Senior U.S. District Judge James Brady, who died in December, had thrown out Herster's gender-based compensation claim and her whistleblower claim in December 2016.

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed Brady's dismissal of those claims.

Concerning her claim of gender discrimination in pay, Chief 5th Circuit Judge Carl Stewart and Circuit Judges Edith Brown Clement and Leslie Southwick said Herster failed to show either circumstantial evidence or direct evidence of discrimination.

In addressing Hersters claim under Louisianas whistleblower statute, the panel acknowledged it is undisputed that LSU did not receive legislative authorization to collect course fees from School of Art students; those fees were intended to purchase art supplies such as special inks, paints and clay that would be used by students during classes.

The appeals court judges, however, said Herster fails to point to any authority that establishes that the imposition of any type of course fee by the School of Art or LSU constitutes a violation of Louisiana law.

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Hersters and the LSU internal auditors asserted beliefs that the course fee imposed by the School of Art constituted a violation of the Louisiana Constitution is inadequate to prove an actual violation of Louisiana law, Stewart wrote for the panel.

LSUs Office of Internal Audit found the School of Art charged students a collective average of $28,000 each year in unapproved course fees dating back several years. A month after Herster sued LSU in early 2013, the College of Art and Design began refunding more than $63,000 to 620 current and former students who were charged the fees.

Also in December 2016, a Baton Rouge federal court jury decided that LSU did not fire Herster in retaliation for her complaints to university and federal officials about alleged gender discrimination at the school.

Jury: LSU didn't retaliate against ex-instructor for gender discrimination complaint After a Baton Rouge federal judge dismissed several of her claims earlier in the day, a jury decided late Monday that LSU did not fire a digit

Herster's attorneys had asked the jury to award her nearly $1 million, but the unanimous jury awarded her nothing.

The 5th Circuit panel said Herster did not appeal the jury verdict.

An LSU faculty committee voted 19-1 not to renew Hersters contract, LSUs attorney, Carlton Jones III, told the jury.Prosecutors are contesting former Baton Rouge automobile dealer Hamid Ghassemi's claim that he lacks financial resources to hire investigators and experts to help him defend against charges that he paid to have his ex-wife murdered in 2015.

The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty against Ghassemi, 66, who is charged with first-degree murder in the murder-for-hire death of Taherah Ghassemi, 54.

The attorneys that Hamid Ghassemi hired filed a motion asking state District Judge Lou Daniel to declare him indigent and thus eligible for state funds to hire investigators and expert witnesses.

+5 Murder-for-hire defendant 'impoverished' after 3 years in jail, seeks funds for death penalty case Nearly three years behind bars has left Baton Rouge automobile dealer Hamid Ghassemi financially unable to hire investigators and experts to 

Prosecutor Dana Cummings responded to the defense request by saying the state contests the claim that Ghassemi is indigent, and she's asking Daniel to subject Ghassemi to a "rigorous screening process" to test his alleged indigency.

Cummings wants the judge to find that Ghassemi is not indigent.

In support of her argument, the prosecutor attached to her filing a February 2015 judgment of partition between Hamid and Taherah Ghassemi filed in East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court and signed by Judge Charlene Charlet Day.

The couple divorced in February 2015, and Taherah Ghassemi received $1.1 million in cash and two homes from Hamid Ghassemi as part of the division of community property.

Cummings contends the judgment of partition is "evidence of the defendant's ownership of real property and other assets" as of February 2015.

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Taherah Ghassemi was reported missing in April 2015, and her body was found May 16, 2015, in a shallow grave in a rural part of St. Helena Parish. She had been shot in the head.

The judgment of partition, which Day signed on Feb. 10, 2015, indicates Hamid Ghassemi was assigned 100 percent ownership of property in Bam, Iran, and Baton Rouge and Lafayette, including Import One auto dealerships in both south Louisiana cities.

Tommy Damico, one of Ghassemi's attorneys, said Wednesday that Ghassemi no longer owns Import One or Import One Elite. His other assets have been frozen as a result of lawsuits filed against him, Damico added.

"Even if the assets (listed in February 2015) are still there, he has no way to get to them. They are frozen," Damico said. "He has no ability to get to those assets, and he won't for years."

Ghassemi is being held without bail, as are his three co-defendants also charged with first-degree murder: Daniel Humberto Richter, 36, of Walker, and Tyler Lee Ashpaugh, 23, and Skyler Williams, 20, both of Denham Springs. Richter once worked at one of Ghassemi's dealerships, according to authorities.

+5 Death penalty to be sought against Baton Rouge auto dealer in alleged murder-for-hire of ex-wife Prosecutors said Tuesday they'll pursue the death penalty against Baton Rouge automobile dealer Hamid Ghassemi if he is found guilty of first-

Ashpaugh told detectives he went with Richter and Williams to Taherah Ghassemi's North Laurel Creek home and abducted her, authorities have said. She was put in the trunk of her car and driven to a heavily wooded area near Pine Grove in St. Helena.

Ghassemi and Ashpaugh do not have trial dates. Richter and Williams are set to stand trial June 11 and Aug. 27, respectively.Baton Rouge Police Department Chief Murphy Paul centers, answers a question Friday, March 30, 2018 after announcing at BRPD headquarters the disciplinary action decision for officers Howie Lake ll and Blane Salamoni, who were involved in the 2016 fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, 37. Deputy Chiefs Herbert Anny, left, and Jonny Dunnam, right, are background. Lake, who helped wrestle Sterling to the ground, but did not fire his weapon, received a suspension without pay, and Salamoni was terminated effective today.After pointed arguments on both sides, a state House committee Wednesday rejected a bill that would allow public school teachers to carry concealed handguns in schools.

The measure, House Bill 271, is one of a wide range of guns bills filed in the wake of the Valentine's Day killing of 17 students and adults at a high school in south Florida. Similar debates are being waged in other states amid often wrenching battles on what steps can help avert mass shootings.

President Donald Trump has also raised the possibility of allowing teachers to be armed.

But legislation to arm teachers in Louisiana failed on a 7-9 vote after two hours of debate in the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee.

All seven supporters are Republicans.

Two GOP members and one lawmaker who has no party affiliation joined six Democrats in opposing the bill.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and State Police oppose allowing teachers to be armed.

Other bills, including measures similar to the one debated Wednesday, are awaiting action in the Legislature. However, the action Wednesday may end chances for a push that already faced major obstacles.

Rep. Raymond Garofalo, R-Chalmette, sponsor of the legislation, argued that gun-free schools are an easy target for killers. "It is basically a welcome mat for criminals and crazies," Garofalo told the committee.

Banning guns from schools, he said, means "you can come and slaughter our students or employees like sheep."

"There is basically no protection for these people," Garofalo said. "I don't know what else to do. I am at wits end."

Bulletproof backpacks for public school students clears first hurdle in Louisiana Senate Bulletproof backpacks would be allowed in Louisiana public schools under a bill that breezed through a Senate committee Monday.

Opponents said the bill was a misguided, and dangerous, bid to address school shootings that have sparked national debates since 1999.

Rep. John Bagneris, D-New Orleans, a member of the committee, said the bill would put too much on the plates of teachers.

"We want teachers to be policemen too?" Bagneris said. "We don't pay them enough to teach."

He added, "I have seen people who had had guns, who had training, who were nervous, and their hands were shaking and they shot the wrong person because they never shot anyone before."

Under the bill, teachers and administrators who have a concealed handgun permit would be allowed to bring the weapons to elementary, middle and high schools.

Whether to allow the practice would be up to local school boards, which Garofalo repeatedly emphasized.

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Teachers would have to undergo training, including certification by the Council on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

But critics said the measure would likely do more harm than good.

"What will we do when a good person with a gun shoots another good person with a gun?" asked Debbie Meaux, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators.

Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport, said she would not want to see teachers with a book and gun in hand. "We have them to teach our children, not shoot for our children," Norton said.

Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, disputed Garofalo's concern about gun-free schools being targets.

Marcelle noted that courthouses and the State Capitol also ban concealed weapons.

Rep. Steve Pylant, R-Winnsboro, a former sheriff, cited testimony that 18 states have laws similar to Garofalo's plan.

"Apparently there have been no repercussions from that," said Pylant, who is vice-chairman of the committee.

Pat Grisham, who described herself as a mother, grandmother, former teacher and gun owner, backed the bill.

"Right now it is lock the door and hope," she said of school shooting sites. "That is not enough."

Rep. Stephen Dwight, R-Lake Charles, said he was torn on the bill because he has children in school and his wife is a teacher.

Dwight later voted "no" on the legislation.

Laurie Mauret, a member of Moms Demand Action, criticized the bill.

"There is no evidence, no evidence, that arming school personnel is an effective way to stop active shooters," she said.

Voting "yes" on the bill were Reps. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville; Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City; Valerie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, Frank Howard, R-Many; Nicholas Muscarello, R-Hammond; Thomas Pylant, R-Winnsboro and John Stefanski, R-Crowley.

Voting "no" were Reps. John Bagneris, D-New Orleans; Barbara Carpenter, D-Baton Rouge; Stephen Dwight, R-Lake Charles; Chris Hazel, R-Pineville; Ted James, D-Baton Rouge; Terry Landry, D-Lafayette; C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge; Joseph Marino, no party, Gretna and Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport.Stable state support is crucial for LSU to compete for Louisianas best students, school president F. King Alexander told a panel that controls the purse-strings Tuesday.

Alexander said that, after years of budget cuts, last year's standstill budget helped spark a 40 percent increase in student applications.

LSU president: TOPS funding decision delays hold families hostage, cost colleges top students LSU is losing top students to other states because of delays in funding decisions on the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, school presi

"One year of stability has put us back on offense," he said. "We just need you guys to help us create that stable environment."

Alexander made his comments to the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which is writing its version of the state operating budget for colleges and universities, public schools and other services starting July 1.

Gov. John Bel Edwards, amid state budget problems, has offered a "doomsday" spending plan that would include especially deep cuts for higher education and health care.

Edwards and his allies hope those cuts never happen, which depends on the governor and Legislature agreeing on a plan to address Louisiana's roughly $700 million shortfall.

The five-hour hearing featured a parade of college and public school leaders, who described a wide range of problems stemming from 10 years of budget upheaval and its impact on students.

Alexander said the state has fallen from 12th nationally in spending per college student to 42nd.

Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Rallo said state aid for higher education has slipped from about $1.5 billion in 2008-09 to $831 million now.

At the same time, Rallo said, tuition has shot up from $721 million to $1.4 billion, a trend experienced in other states too.

"You see that transfer of responsibility of public higher education has moved from the state to the individual," Rallo told the committee.

Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, said more money is needed for low-income students to attend school, including Go Grants.

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Southern, LCTCS leaders call for more need-based college aid The leaders of the Southern University and Louisiana Community and Technical College systems said Wednesday the state needs to spend more on n

Sullivan said the average age of his 130,000 students is 27 years old, and many cannot afford school without financial assistance.

"Let me tell you, we better do something to make sure grown folks have access," he told legislators.

The state is spending about $26 million on Go Grants and nearly $300 million for the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students.

TOPS finances tuition for nearly 52,000 students who qualify academically.

Jim Henderson, president of the UL System, said several of his nine schools saw record enrollments when state aid for colleges and universities avoided reductions last year.

"The reason is simple," Henderson said of the surge. "The market is demanding it."

Henderson said that, after the 2008 recession, 2.8 million of the newly created 2.9 million jobs were filled by college graduates.

"That is going to continue to happen," he said. "The nature of work is fundamentally changing."

Alexander said TOPS and other assistance is crucial when top students are offered a $75,000 break on a $95,000 pricetag to attend the University of Alabama and other schools for four years.

State Superintendent of Education John White said 5,000 low-income families are on a waiting list for child care assistance.

That program, which used to serve about 40,000 families, has been reduced to less than 14,000 families amid repeated budget cuts.

White noted that teacher salaries are flat amid rising retirement obligations and other factors.

"We are at a point where we are at risk of being out-competed for talent," he said.State Rep. Joe Marino III, No Party-Gretna, speaks in opposition of legislation to lengthen probation terms. House Bill 195 is sponsored by Rep. Sherman Mack, R-Albany, is seated behind on the right who is with Rep. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, on the left.State Rep. Gary Carter Jr., announces gun-control legislation he plans to introduce while speaking at Duncan Plaza during a March for Our Lives rally Saturday, March 24, 2018 in New Orleans. More than 6,000 people marched from Washington Square Park to Duncan Plaza for a rally in support of gun control legislation.Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG -- Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, tries on an "America Is Already Great" hat she found while she was cleaning out her desk drawer in the Senate Chamber Wednesday afternoon June 22, 2016.President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, March 23, 2018, about the $1.3 trillion spending bill. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)Stephen Somerstein, a college student at the time, snapped this iconic photo of Martin Luther King Jr. addressing the civil rights marchers on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol on March 25, 1965. The photo is part of an exhibit at the Louisiana Old State Capitol.SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP)  A woman who believed she was being suppressed by YouTube and told her family members she "hated" the company opened fire at YouTube's headquarters in California, wounding three people before taking her own life, police said.

Investigators do not believe Nasim Aghdam specifically targeted the three victims when she pulled out a handgun and fired off several rounds in a courtyard at the company's headquarters south of San Francisco on Tuesday, police said.

But a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that Aghdam had a longstanding dispute with the company. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, said Aghdam used the name "Nasime Sabz" online.

A website in that name decried YouTube's policies and said the company was trying to "suppress" content creators.

"Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!" one of the messages on the site said. "There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!"

Aghdam "hated" YouTube and was angry that the company stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform, her father, Ismail Aghdam, told the Bay Area News Group.

On Monday, he called police to report his daughter missing after she didn't answer the phone for two days and warned officers that she might go to YouTube, he said.

Officers in Mountain View  about 30 miles from YouTube's headquarters  found her sleeping in her car in a parking lot around 2 a.m. Tuesday but let her go after she refused to answer their questions. Aghdam didn't appear to be a threat to herself or others, police spokeswoman Katie Nelson said.

Nelson would not say whether officers had been warned that Aghdam might have been headed to YouTube headquarters.

Earlier Tuesday, law enforcement said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute but did not elaborate. It was not immediately clear why police later said the people shot were not specifically targeted.

Woman opens fire at YouTube headquarters in California; 4 wounded, shooter dead SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP)  A woman opened fire at YouTube's headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday, wounding four people before she 

One of the victims  a 36-year-old man  was in critical condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said. A 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition, the spokesman said.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the building's second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

"It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, 'Shooter,' and everybody started running," Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.

The world's biggest online video website is owned by Silicon Valley giant Google, but company officials said it's a tight-knit community. The headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.

Inside, Google several years ago famously outfitted the office with a 3-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.

"Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime," said Chris Dale, a spokesman for YouTube.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said in a tweet the company would "come together to heal as a family."

Officers and federal agents responding to multiple 911 calls swarmed the company's campus sandwiched between two interstates in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings on the campus when the fire alarm went off.

He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, "Come get me." He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw the shooter without any security check during working hours.

There was somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound.

He said he realized it was an active shooter incident when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door. He jumped on his skateboard and took off.

Officers discovered one victim with a gunshot wound when they arrived and then found the shooter with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound several minutes later, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said. He said two additional gunshot victims were later located at an adjacent business.

___

Balsamo reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Sudhin Thanawala, Janie Har and Juliet Williams in San Francisco and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.A New Orleans judge on Tuesday granted a defense lawyers request to issue subpoenas to Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other officials for records about whether and how the city used controversial crime-fighting software from a company called Palantir to investigate Central Citys 3NG street gang.

Landrieu, Police Superintendent Michael Harrison, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, Sheriff Marlin Gusman and former city crime analyst Jeff Asher will all be on the receiving end of subpoenas for information about Palantir under the order from Criminal District Court Judge Camille Buras.

Kevin Vogeltanz, an attorney for convicted gang leader Kentrell Hickerson, is looking into whether Palantir's software, known as Gotham, was used to build the case against him or any of his co-defendants. If the software was used against the gang, that information should have been turned over to the defense before their trial, Vogeltanz argues.

Hickerson is serving a 100-year sentence. He asked for the subpoenas as part of a pending motion for a new trial.

Authorities say Gotham was used to draw connections among suspected gang members and to link previously separate law enforcement databases. However, they deny that it was ever used to predict when and where crimes might occur. The city says it stopped using the program when its contract with Palantir expired in February.

Landrieu was subpoenaed because the Mayors Office crafted the citys contract with Palantir and employed Asher, the lead analyst who actually used the program. Gusman, Harrison and Cannizzaro were members of the city's Multi-Agency Gang Unit, which built the case against the 3NG gang.

The judge's decision was almost an automatic one under the state law on subpoenas, although Assistant District Attorney Alex Calenda objected, calling the request vague and asking for more time to respond.

However, all five officials targeted in the subpoenas will have the opportunity to challenge them in court, Buras said.

State prosecutors charged Hickerson and 19 other people with membership in 3NG in a sweeping indictment in 2013. He was convicted of racketeering and drug conspiracy counts two years ago.

Hickerson has been challenging that conviction ever since. He claims that the state failed to turn over crucial evidence before his trial, including the use of Gotham.

An article on the online news site The Verge in February detailed the Police Departments use of Palantir technology to build gang cases. However, it remains unclear whether Palantir was used specifically against Hickerson and his cohorts in 3NG.

Vogeltanz argued at the trial and afterward that 3NG was nothing like the cohesive gang that prosecutors alleged. He now says that even if the software failed to show links between Hickerson and other alleged gang members, that would have buttressed the defense's case at trial.

Vogeltanz is seeking any documents, spreadsheets, graphs or charts that were created using Palantir's software during the 3NG investigation, as well as the programs user guide.The man who shot St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office Deputy Justin Nail on Sunday after a high-speed chase used a pistol stolen during a rash of vehicle burglaries a few hours earlier, Sheriff Randy Smith said Tuesday.

Nail is out of intensive care at a local hospital and is expected to recover, Smith said, adding that he hopes Nail, 36, will soon be able to return to work. He has been a deputy in St. Tammany for 11 years.

The suspect, 24-year-old Joseph Johnson, was killed at the end of a chase that reached speeds of up to 95 mph. Law enforcement officials used spike strips to stop the black GMC Denali that was later discovered to have been stolen.

Johnson crashed into a ditch at La. 1077 near Railroad Avenue in the Goodbee area. When deputies approached the vehicle, Johnson fired, striking Nail in the abdomen, Smith said. Other deputies returned fire, but Smith could not say how many shots were fired or which deputies were involved.

A spokesman for St. Tammany Parish Coroner Dr. Charles Preston said Johnson was shot multiple times in the head, neck, chest and abdomen. During the autopsy, 14 bullets were recovered from his body and were turned over to the crime lab. Toxicology test results are pending, the spokesman said.

Johnson, who lived in Folsom, was the nephew of Jason Glover, an Iraqi war veteran who also was shot to death by St. Tammany Parish deputies in 2013. The officers had been responding to a 911 call from his girlfriend, who said he had fired a gun at her.

Until Tuesday, the Sheriff's Office had released few details about the Easter morning incident, which occurred about 4:30 a.m. Smith said four deputies were present when the shooting occurred.

Johnson was declared dead at the scene, he said.

"This crime spree ended in a bad way," Smith said. "We're fortunate that Nail is gonna survive. ... This could've been a lot worse."

Deputies who were responding to a rash of vehicle burglaries in the Covington and Mandeville areas came across a disabled vehicle near La. 1085 and La. 1077 that they believed had been involved in the break-ins. They began questioning John Halley, 24, of Covington, and determined that he was one of two men believed to be involved in the burglaries.

Deputies then saw the Denali driven by Johnson, which was the other vehicle believed to have been involved in the break-ins. They tried to stop Johnson, but he fled, leading them on a pursuit that at one point went into Tangipahoa Parish before ending around Goodbee.

Smith said that Halley and Johnson were working together and had committed at least nine burglaries on both sides of the parish. The gun was stolen in Slidell, Smith said.

Halley was booked on illegal possession of stolen things and simple burglary.

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The FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are overseeing the investigation of the shooting, which Smith said is customary when an officer is involved.

Smith thanked the community and other law enforcement agencies for their support.

Everybody has rallied around our department and the family of Deputy Nail, Smith said. Im grateful for all the support, concern and prayers for him and his family. It goes a long way.

Johnsons family declined to comment. Johnson had worked at his familys business, Northshore Crane and Equipment Inc., and attended Covington High.

His Facebook page shows numerous pictures of his daughter, who was born when he was still in his teens. Annie Gambino, a former classmate, said she had not been in contact with him for some time but that he absolutely adored his daughter.

His death was the second loss for the family in a police-related shooting. Johnsons maternal uncle, Glover, was shot to death in Abita Springs on March 8, 2013. The family filed a federal lawsuit naming then-Sheriff Jack Strain and the deputies who responded to the call, alleging excessive force and denial of medical treatment, among other issues. The suit did not prevail.

Sundays fatal shooting is the first involving a law enforcement official in St. Tammany since March 2016, when a Sheriffs Office deputy shot and killed Joshua Dale Douglas, who was driving a stolen vehicle.

Before that, Lucien Rolland was shot 18 times by police in September 2015. During a chase, he fired at officers, and when he stopped on an Interstate 10 overpass, he was holding a weapon. Officers with the State Police, Slidell Police Department and the Sheriffs Office opened fire.

Also that year, two deputies shot Darien Greenwood seven times as he hid in a junk pile north of Interstate 12 and east of Interstate 59. He had led deputies on a foot chase and attacked a police dog with a knife.

In each case, the officers involved were cleared of any wrongdoing by their departments.

Greenwoods father filed a federal lawsuit, and a lawsuit in the Douglas case is awaiting an appeal.#BTS Moon says BTS helped spread awareness of climate change, other global issues South Korean President Moon Jae-in thanked and praised South Korean superband BTS for using its powerful influence in encouraging people to act on various global issues, such as cl...

#coronavirus S. Korea to begin inoculating pregnant women, younger children next month South Korea is poised to begin administering COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant women and younger children starting next month as part of its inoculation campaign. The Korea Disease ...Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi...PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP/Getty Images

Its a a new month, which means its also time for a new Magpie of the Month! This April, were celebrating the jewels of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who turns 78 this month. Margrethes jewel box is one of the most interesting in Europe, filled with heirloom pieces, sentimental items, and modern jewels. Today, were kicking things off with a look at a classic piece: her Sapphire Fleur-de-Lis Brooch.

KELD NAVNTOFT/AFP/Getty Images

The sapphire and diamond brooch is a family heirloom, reportedly going back at least three generations in the Danish royal family. There are photographs of Queen Ingrid wearing the brooch, and now, Queen Margrethe is the primary (perhaps even exclusive) wearer of the piece.

NICO CASAMASSIMA/AFP/Getty Images

Margrethe often wears the brooch, which is set with diamonds and cabochon sapphires, against dark clothing, but during a May 2006 visit to Italy, she paired it with a bright yellow jacket.

Niels Henrik Dam/Getty Images

She uses the brooch in a versatile way, but she primarily wears it for day occasions and even important government functions. In October 2008, she chose it for the opening of the parliamentary session in Copenhagen.

KELD NAVNTOFT/AFP/Getty Images

Here, she wears the brooch for a diplomatic event: receiving the President and First Lady of Finland in April 2013. I like the brooch best with solid colors, but the diamonds tend to recede a bit against a white outfit like this one.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

In 2010, Margrethe wore the brooch for an important family event: the wedding of her nephew, Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark. On this occasion, she used the brooch as an ornament on a pearl necklace.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The wedding appearance gave us a clear look at the broochs details. Here, you can see the large diamond that sits in the center of the piece. You can also see some design similarities between this brooch and the pearl and diamond fleur-de-lis brooch worn by the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.

Claudio Bresciani/AFP/Getty Images

One of Margrethes more recent appearances in the brooch came in April 2015, when she wore it for the Sibelius-Nielsen Festival in Stockholm. The fleur-de-lis is a traditionally French design symbol, connecting the piece to Margrethes late husband, Prince Henrik. I wouldnt be surprised to see this one worn more often in the wake of his recent death, as a sort of quiet bejeweled tribute. The brooch would also be a natural loan to Margrethes French-born daughter-in-law, Princess Marie.Patty Victorino and Joel Jhocson, both originally from Manila, Philippines, developed their fashion lines as part of their final project before graduating from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. The two will be featured among 32 students in Wilson School of Designs 2018 The Show April 19, 20 in Richmond, BC.

Victorinos line, called Mak and Maya, celebrates her roots. When she visited Manila last year, she realized how much her Filipino roots were part of her identity. She thought it was a natural progression to base her collection around that cultural duality.

Through my research and even just casual conversation with other Filipino-Canadian women, Ive found that there was this large gap in Filipino representation in fashion, and really just how underappreciated the Philippines rich history is, especially in costume and dress, she said.

Likewise, Jhocson saw that femininity in mens apparel was lacking. He created KNEW, which challenges social norms by embracing characteristics derived from womens clothing and channels those attributes into his fluid menswear line.

Its been four years, weve grown a lot, we wouldnt be who we are today without each other. Theres just so much passion in my peers and were pretty proud of what we have accomplished so far, he said.The spirit of the Gospelgives, asking nothing in return, and spends itself for others. It is essentially hostile to the spirit of calculation, the spirit of worldly prudence and above all to the spirit of religious self-seeking and self-satisfaction. Even the sinner who possesses a seed of generosity, a faculty of self-surrender, and an openness of spirit is nearer to the kingdom of heaven than the righteous Pharisee; for the soul that is closed to love is closed to grace

The question of the bourgeois involves a real issue which Christians cannot afford to shirk. For it is difficult to deny that there is a fundamental disharmony between bourgeois and Christian civilization and between the mind of the bourgeois and the mind of Christ.

But first, let us admit that it is no use hunting for the bourgeois. For we are all more or less bourgeois and our civilization is bourgeois from top to bottom. Hence there can be no question of treating the bourgeois in the orthodox communist fashion as a gang of antisocial reptiles who can be exterminated summarily by the revolutionary proletariat; for in order to liquidate the bourgeoisie, modern society would have to liquidate itself.

This is where Marx went wrong. His theory of increasing misery led him to suppose that the line of class division would become sharper and more strongly defined, until the rising tide of popular misery broke the dykes and swept away the closed world of privileged bourgeois society. Instead of this we have seen the bourgeois culture, the bourgeois mind, even the bourgeois standards of life advancing and expanding until they became diffused throughout the whole social organism and dominated the whole spirit of modern civilization.

And so in order to understand the essential character of the bourgeois, it is necessary to disregard for the moment this universalized bourgeois culture which is part of the very air we breathe and turn back to the time when the bourgeois was still a distinct social type which could be isolated from the other elements in society and studied as an independent phenomenon.

Now the bourgeois was in origin the member of a small and highly specialized class which had grown up within the wall of the mediaeval city commune. Far from being the average European man, he was an exceptional type standing somewhat outside the regular hierarchy of the medieval state, which was primarily an agrarian society consisting of the nobility, the clergy, and the peasantry. His very existence was guaranteed by a charter of privileges which constituted the city-commune as a regime dexception. Thus there was a sharp division of material interests and social culture between the bourgeois and the countryman, a division which was deepened in Eastern Europe, including Eastern Germany, by the fact that the towns were often islands of German speech and civilization amidst a population that was predominantly Slav. And so while the peasant laboured and the noble fought, the bourgeois was free to lead his own life, to mind his own business and to grow rich within the narrow limits of the mediaeval urban economy.

All this seems infinitely remote from the modern world. But we must remember that it was not so remote from the society to which the founders of modern socialismLassalle and Marx and Engelsbelonged. The German bourgeoisie had only just emerged from a regime of corporate rights and privileges which bound the bourgeois to his corporation, the craftsman to his guild, the peasant to his land, and the Jew to his ghetto. The generation before that of Marx had seen this structure collapse like a house of cards, so that the world was suddenly thrown open to any man who possessed money and enterprisethat is to say to every good bourgeois.

Thus the process which had taken centuries to develop in Western Europe was completed in Central and Eastern Europe within a single lifetime. Whereas in England and the United States, the bourgeois spirit had already become a fluid element that interpenetrated the whole social organism; in Germany, or Austria, or Russia, it was still a new factor in social life and so it was easy for Marx to separate it from the rest of society and regard it as the distinctive mark of a definite limited class.

And this explains why class hatred comes more easily to the Eastern than to the Western European. Croce has an amusing story of how an Italian delegate to a German socialist congress was obliged to apologize for the lack of class hatred in the Italian socialist movement. We do not hate, he admitted, but we are quite willing to. And in English socialism, even the will to hatred has been lacking in spite of the fact that the proletariat in England suffered far more than the proletariat in Germany from the coming of industrialism. For the leaders of English socialism have been idealists, whether bourgeois idealists like Robert Owen and William Morris or Christian socialists like Keir Hardie and George Lansbury.

But while we may well congratulate ourselves that English social life has not been poisoned by class hatred and class war, it does not follow that the complete penetration of English culture by bourgeois standards and ideals is a good or admirable thing. It is even possible that the victory of the bourgeois has meant the destruction of elements that are not merely valuable but essential to English life, since the English tradition is something much wider and deeper than the machine-made urban and suburban culture by which it has been temporarily submerged.

Actually, we have only to open our eyes to see that this criticism is justified. The devastated areas of industrial England and the cancerous growth of the suburbs are not merely offensive to the aesthetic sense, they are symptoms of social disease and spiritual failure. The victory of bourgeois civilization has made England rich and powerful, but at the same time, it has destroyed almost everything that made life worth living. It has undermined the natural foundations of our national life, so that the whole social structure is in danger of ruin.

Looked at from this point of view the distinctive feature of the bourgeois culture is its urbanism. It involves the divorce of man from nature and from the life of the earth. It turns the peasant into a minder of machines and the yeoman into a shopkeeper, until ultimately rural life becomes impossible and the very face of nature is changed by the destruction of the countryside and the pollution of the earth and the air and the waters.

This is characteristic of modern bourgeois civilization in general, but nowhere is it more striking than in England. And since English culture has been historically a peculiarly rural one, the victory of bourgeois civilization involves a more serious breach with the national tradition and a more vital revolution in ways of life and thought than in any other country of Western Europe.

But if the bourgeois is the enemy of the peasant, he is no less the enemy of the artist and the craftsman. As Sombart has shown in his elaborate study of the historical evolution of the bourgeois type, the craftsman like the artist has an organic relation to the object of his work. They see in their work a part of themselves and identify themselves with it so that they would be happy if they could never be separated from it. For in the pre-capitalist order the production of goods is the act of living men who, so to speak, incarnate themselves in their works: and so it follows the same laws that rule their physical life, in the same way as the growth of a tree or the act of reproduction of an animal, obeys in its direction and measure and end the internal necessities of the living organism.[1] The attitude of the bourgeois, on the other hand, is that of the merchant whose relation to his merchandise is external and impersonal. He sees in them only objects of exchange, the value of which is to be measured exclusively in terms of money. It makes no difference whether he is dealing in works of art or cheap ready-made suits: All that matters is the volume of the transactions and the amount of profit to be derived from them. In other words, his attitude is not qualitative, but quantitative.

It is easy enough to see why this should be. For the bourgeois was originally the middleman who stood between the producer and the consumer, as merchant or salesman or broker or banker. And thus there is not merely an analogy, but an organic connection between the role of the bourgeois in society and the economic function of money. One is the middleman and the other is the medium of exchange. The bourgeois lives for money, not merely as the peasant or the soldier or even the artist often does, but in a deeper sense, since money is to him what arms are to the soldier and land is to the peasant, the tools of his trade and the medium through which he expresses himself, so that he often takes an almost disinterested pleasure in his wealth because of the virtuosity he has displayed in his financial operations. In short, the bourgeois is essentially a moneymaker, at once its servant and its master, and the development of his social ascendancy shows the degree to which civilization, and human life are dominated by the money power.

This is why St. Thomas and his masters, both Greeks and Christians, look with so little favour on the bourgeois. For they regarded money simply as an instrument, and therefore held that the man who lives for money perverts the true order of life.

Business, says St. Thomas, considered in itself, has a certain baseness (turpitudo) inasmuch as it does not of itself involve any honorable or necessary end.

We find this criticism repeated at the time of the Renaissance by humanists like Erasmus: indeed, it is the basis of that aristocratic prejudice against the bourgeois which has never entirely disappeared and which reappears in all sorts of forms from sheer idealism to pure snobbery in the most unlikely times and places.

Thus the classical Marxian opposition of bourgeois and proletarian is but one of a whole series of oppositions and class conflicts which the rise of the bourgeoisie has aroused. There is the aristocratic opposition of which I have just spoken. There is the opposition of the artist which did so much to bring the name of the bourgeois into disrepute in the nineteenth century. There is the opposition to the bourgeois in so far as he is the representation and incarnation of the money poweran opposition which has found a new expression in the Social Credit movement. And finally, there is the opposition between bourgeois and peasant, which is more fundamental and deep-rooted than any of them.

But while all these oppositions are real and each implies a genuine criticism of bourgeois culture, none of them is absolute or exhaustive. There is a more essential opposition still, which has been pointed out by Sombart and which goes beyond economics and sociology to the bedrock of human nature. According to Sombart, the bourgeois type corresponds to certain definite psychological predispositions. In other words, there is such a thing as a bourgeois soul and it is in this rather than in economic circumstance that the whole development of the bourgeois culture finds its ultimate root. In the same way, the opposite pole to the bourgeois is not to be found in a particular economic function of interest, as for instance the proletarian or the peasant, but rather in the antibourgeois temperament, the type of character which naturally prefers to spend rather than to accumulate, to give rather than to gain. These two types correspond to Bergsons classification of the open and closed temperaments and they represent the opposite poles of human character and human experience. They are in eternal opposition to one another and the whole character of a period or a civilization depends on which of the two predominates.

Thus we are led back from the external and material class conflict of the Marxians to a conception not far removed from that of St. Augustine, Two loves built two cities; the essential question is not the question of economics, but the question of love. Looking at the matter closely, writes Sombart, we get the impression that the opposition between these two fundamental types rests in the final analysis on an opposition of erotic life, for it is clear that this dominates the whole of human conduct as a superior and invisible power. The bourgeois and the erotic temperaments constitute, so to speak, the two opposite poles of the world. Sombarts use of the word erotic is, of course, wider than the current English term. Unsatisfactory as the word erotic is, it is the best we have, for charitable is even more miserably inadequate. Our bourgeois culture has reduced the heavenly flame of St. Pauls inspired speech to a dim bulb that is hardly strong enough to light a mothers meeting. But Sombart expressly distinguishes it from sensuality, which may be found in either of the two types of temperament. Indeed, the erotic type par excellence in Sombarts view is the religious mystic, the man of desire, like St. Augustine or St. Francis.

Seen from this point of view, it is obvious that the Christian ethos is essentially antibourgeois, since it is an ethos of love. This is particularly obvious in the case of St. Francis and the mediaeval mystics, who appropriated to their use the phraseology of mediaeval erotic poetry and used the antibourgeois concepts of the chivalrous class-consciousness, such as adel, noble, and gentile, in order to define the spiritual character of the true mystic.

But it is no less clear in the case of the Gospel itself. The spirit of the Gospel is eminently that of the open type which gives, asking nothing in return, and spends itself for others. It is essentially hostile to the spirit of calculation, the spirit of worldly prudence and above all to the spirit of religious self-seeking and self-satisfaction. For what is the Pharisee but a spiritual bourgeois, a typically closed nature, a man who applies the principle of calculation and gain not to economics but to religion itself, a hoarder of merits, who reckons his accounts with heaven as though God was his banker? It is against this closed, self-sufficient moralist ethic that the fiercest denunciations of the Gospels are directed. Even the sinner who possesses a seed of generosity, a faculty of self-surrender, and an openness of spirit is nearer to the kingdom of heaven than the righteous Pharisee; for the soul that is closed to love is closed to grace.

In the same way, the ethos of the Gospels is sharply opposed to the economic view of life and the economic virtues. It teaches men to live from day to day without taking thought for their material needs. For a mans life does not consist in the abundance of things which he possesses. It even condemns the prudent forethought of the rich man who plans for the future: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee, and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?

Thus so long as the Christian ideal was supreme, it was difficult for the bourgeois spirit to assert itself. It is true, as Sombart insists, that the bourgeois class and the bourgeois view of life had already made its appearance in mediaeval Europe, but powerful as they were, especially in the Italian cities, they always remained limited to a part of life and failed to dominate the whole society or inspire civilization with their spirit. It was not until the Reformation had destroyed the control of the Church over social life in Northern Europe that we find a genuine bourgeois culture emerging. And whatever we may think of Max Webers thesis regarding the influence of the Reformation on the origins of capitalism, we cannot deny the fact that the bourgeois culture actually developed on Protestant soil, and especially in a Calvinist environment, while the Catholic environment seemed decidedly unfavourable to its evolution.

It is indeed impossible to find a more complete example in history of the opposition of Sombarts two types than in the contrast of the culture of the Counter Reformation lands with that of seventeenth-century Holland and eighteenth-century England and Scotland and North America. The Baroque culture of Spain and Italy and Austria is the complete social embodiment of Sombarts erotic type. It is not that it was a society of nobles and peasants and monks and clerics which centered in palaces and monasteries (or even palace-monasteries like the Escorial), and left a comparatively small place to the bourgeois and the merchant. It is not merely that it was an uneconomic culture which spent its capital lavishly, recklessly and splendidly whether to the glory of God or for the adornment of human life. It was rather that the whole spirit of the culture was passionate and ecstatic, and finds its supreme expressions in the art of music and in religious mysticism. We have only to compare Bernini with the brothers Adam or St. Teresa with Hannah More to feel the difference in the spirit and rhythm of the two cultures. The bourgeois culture has the mechanical rhythm of a clock, the Baroque the musical rhythm of a fugue or a sonata.

The ideal of the bourgeois culture is to maintain a respectable average standard. Its maxims are: Honesty is the best policy, Do as you would be done by, The greatest happiness of the greatest number. But the baroque spirit lives in and for the triumphant moment of creative ecstasy. It will have all or nothing. Its maxims are: All for love and the world well lost, Nada, nada, nada, What dost thou seek for, O my soul? All is thine, all is for thee, do not take less, nor rest with the crumbs that fall from the table of thy Father. Go forth, and exult in thy glory, hide thyself in it and rejoice, and thou shalt obtain all the desires of thy heart. 

The conflict between these two ideals of life and forms of culture runs through the whole history of Europe from the Reformation to the Revolution and finds its political counterpart in the struggle between Spain and the Protestant Powers. It is hardly too much to say that if Philip II had been victorious over the Dutch and the English and the Huguenots, modern bourgeois civilization would never have developed and capitalism in so far as it existed would have acquired an entirely different complexion. The same spirit would have ruled at Amsterdam as at Antwerp, at Berlin as at Munich, in North America as in South, and thus the moment when Alexander Farnese turned back a dying man from his march on Paris may be regarded as one of the greatest turning points in world history. Even so, it is quite conceivable that Europe might have fallen apart into two closed worlds, as alien and opposed to one another as Christendom and Islam, had it not been that neither culture was strong enough to assimilate France. For a time during the first half of the seventeenth century, the Counter Reformation and its culture carried everything before them, but the bourgeois spirit in France was already too strong to be eliminated and it allied itself with the monarchy and the Gallican church against ultramontane Catholicism and Baroque culture.

Although the classicist and Gallican culture of the age of Louis XIV was far from being genuinely bourgeois, it contained a considerable bourgeois element and owed a great deal to men of bourgeois class and bourgeois spirit, such as Boileau, Nicole and even perhaps Bossuet himself. The resultant change in the spirit of French religion and culture is to be seen in that retreat of the mystics of which Bremond speaks, and in the victory of a rather hard and brilliant Nationalism which prepared the way for the rationalism of the Enlightenment. Thus French eighteenth-century culture became an open door through which the bourgeois spirit penetrated the closed world of Baroque Catholicism, first as a leaven of criticism and new ideas, and finally as a destructive flood of revolutionary change which destroyed the moral and social foundations of the Baroque culture. The uneconomic character of that culture left it powerless to withstand the highly organized financial power of the new commercialist bourgeois society. It went in the same way that the Hellenistic world succumbed to the superior organization of Roman imperialism. Nevertheless, it did not succumb without a struggle, for wherever the common people possessed the power of organization and the means of defence, and wherever the religious tradition of the Counter Reformation had struck deep roots in the soil, they fought with desperate resolution and heroism in defense of the old Catholic order,[2] as in La Vendee in 1793, in Tirol in 1809, and in the Basque provinces till late in the nineteenth century.

With the passing of the Baroque culture a vital element went out of Western civilization. Where its traditions survived into the nineteenth century, as in Austria and Spain and parts of Italy and South Germany, one still feels that life has a richer savour and a more vital rhythm than in the lands where the bourgeois spirit is triumphant. Unfortunately, the breach with the past seems too great for Europe to recover this lost tradition even when the bourgeois civilization is decadent and exhausted. Men look for an alternative not to the humane culture of the immediate Catholic past but to the inhuman mass civilization of Russia or the barbaric traditions of German paganism, while in our own country we are abandoning the competitive selfishness of the older capitalism only to adopt a bourgeois version of socialism which is inspired by a humanitarian policy of social reform, derived from the liberal-democratic tradition. It aims not at the proletarian revolutionary ideal of the communists, but rather at the diffusion of bourgeois standards of life and culture among the whole populationthe universalizing of the bourgeois rentier type.

Whatever may be the future of these movements there can be little doubt that they mark an important change in the history of the bourgeois civilization and that the age of the free and triumphant progress of Western capitalism is ended. Capitalism may well survive, but it will be a controlled and socialized capitalism which aims rather at maintaining the general standard of life than at the reckless multiplication of wealth by individuals. Yet the mere slowing down of the tempo of economic life, the transformation of capitalism from a dynamic to a static form will not in itself change the spirit of our civilization. Even if it involves the passing of the bourgeois type in its classical nineteenth-century form, it may only substitute a post-bourgeois type which is no less dominated by economic motives, though it is more mechanized and less dominated by the competitive spirit. It may not be, as so many Continental critics of English society suggest, the bourgeois capitalist order in a senile and decadent form. As we have already pointed out, the character of a culture is determined not so much by its form of economic organization as by the spirit which dominates it. Socialization and the demand for a common standard of economic welfare, however justified it may be, do not involve a vital change in the spirit of a culture. Even a proletarian culture of the communist type, in spite of its avowed hatred of the bourgeois and all his works, is post-bourgeois rather than antibourgeois. Its spiritual element is a negative one, the spirit of revolution, and when the work of destruction is accomplished, it will inevitably tend to fall back into the traditions of the bourgeois culture, as appears to be happening in Russia at present. Thus, while Western communism is still highly idealistic and represents a spiritual protest against the bourgeois spirit and a reaction against the victorious industrial capitalism of the immediate past, Russian communism is actually doing for Russia what the Industrial Revolution did for Western Europe, and is attempting to transform a peasant people into a modern urban industrial society.

No economic change will suffice to change the spirit of a culture. So long as the proletarian is governed by purely economic motives, he remains a bourgeois at heart. It is only in religion that we shall find a spiritual force that can accomplish a spiritual revolution. The true opposite to the bourgeois is not to be found in the communist, but in the religious manthe man of desire. The bourgeois must be replaced not so much by another class as by another type of humanity. It is true that the passing of the bourgeois does involve the coming of the worker, and there can be no question of a return to the old regime of privileged castes. Where Marx was wrong was not in his dialectic of social change, but in the narrow materialism of his interpretation which ruled out the religious factor.

The fact is that Marx was himself a disgruntled bourgeois, and his doctrine of historic materialism is a hangover from a debauch of bourgeois economics and bourgeois philosophy. He was no great lover, no man of desire, but a man of narrow, jealous, unforgiving temperament, who hated and calumniated his own friends and allies. And consequently, he sought the motive power for the transformation of society not in love but in hatred and failed to recognize that the social order cannot be renewed save by a new principle of spiritual order. In this respect Marxian socialism is infinitely inferior to the old Utopian socialism, for St. Simon and his followers with all their extravagances had at least grasped this essential truth. They failed not because they were too religious but because they were not religious enough and mistook the shadows of idealism for the realities of genuine religion. Yet we must admit that the Church of their day with its reactionary Gallicanism and its official alliance with the secular power gave them some excuse for their end.

Today Christians are faced with a no less heavy responsibility. There is always a temptation for religion to ally itself with the existing order, and if we today ally ourselves with the bourgeois because the enemies of the bourgeois are often also the enemies of the Church, we shall be repeating the mistake that the Gallican prelates made in the time of Louis XVIII. The Christian Church is the organ of the spirit, the predestined channel through which the salvific energy of divine love flows out and transforms humanity. But it depends on the Christians of a particular generation, both individually and corporately, whether this source of spiritual energy is brought into contact with the life of humanity and the needs of contemporary society. We can hoard our treasure, we can bury our talent in the ground like the man in the parable who thought that his master was an austere man and who feared to take risks. Or, on the other hand, we can choose the difficult and hazardous way of creative spiritual activity, which is the way of the saints. If the age of the martyrs has not yet come, the age of a limited, self-protective, bourgeois religion is over. For the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.

Originally published as Catholicism and the Bourgeois Mind in The Colosseum (London, December 1935). It is reprinted in The Dynamics of World History, ed. John J. Mulloy.

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Notes:

[1] Sombart, Le Bourgeois (French trans.), pp. 25-27.

[2] These popular risings may be compared with the peasant risings against the Reformation in sixteenth-century England. In each case, it was the common people and not the privileged classes who were the mainstay of the resistance.

The featured image is The Restoration of the Catholic Religion in Strasbourg (c. 1681) by Claude-Guy Halle (16521736) and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 08:16 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccd0f01 4 Editorial #Editorial,2018-regional-election,#2018RegionalElections,graft,corruption,Indonesian-politics,democracy,corruption-eradication-commission Free

Since their inception in 2005, direct regional elections have been touted as the fairest mechanism to select local leaders regarded by their people as the best and most trustful. To win their hearts and minds, candidates for regent, mayor or governor must know the people well, including what they want.

This will not change as Indonesia braces for its third round of simultaneous regional elections scheduled for June 27 across 171 regions, except that seven candidates, two of them incumbents, may be contesting in absentia after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested and declared them graft suspects. The figure could increase to eight if the KPK detains another candidate after recently naming him a suspect.

Of course, enforcing the law on candidates has tainted not only the regional elections, but also democracy in general. Worse, the graft cases involving these politicians have sent the wrong message that democracy begets corruption. This misperception will further find justification when we look at the Home Ministrys data, which shows that as of September last year, 313 democratically elected regional heads have been implicated in corruption cases, 77 of whom had been caught in the act in one of the KPKs sting operations.

In an effort to promote corruption-free elections, the KPK has intensified its crackdown on candidates who may have collected ill-gotten money to fund their aspirations. The antigraft body has so far ensnared Asrun, Mustafa, Marianus Sane and Ahmad Hidayat Mus, respective gubernatorial candidates in Southeast Sulawesi, Lampung, East Nusa Tenggara and North Maluku, as well as incumbent Subang Regent Imas Aryumningsih and incumbent Jombang Regent Nyono Suharli Wihandoko.

The KPK has gone further to suggest that the General Elections Commission (KPU) revise its regulation so it may disqualify candidates who have been named graft suspects. The existing regulation, in reference to the 2016 Regional Election Law, opens up the possibility to replace candidates only if they die, are medically unfit or are convicted by the Supreme Court of committing a crime.

KPU chief Arief Budiman said the polling body would require approval from the House of Representatives to amend the regulation, which is unlikely to happen. Politicians deem the disqualification of candidates as unfair because the KPU had declared them eligible in the first place and they had already embarked on their campaign trail.

While resistance from House factions to amend the KPU regulation is easy to understand, the KPKs argument makes sense and falls in line with the noble aim of elections as a democratic process to choose the best leader. An election that smacks of corrupt practices will only produce a government that steals its own peoples money, which is far from the hopes of voters when they make up their mind in the polling booth.

As we cannot expect the KPU to remove the candidates-turned-graft suspects from ballot papers, the polling body, as well as anticorruption watchdogs, should remind the voters of criminal investigations involving these politicians. A free and fair election is ideal, but a clean one would be perfect.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Eriz Wicaksono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 16:27 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cceca17 3 Opinion Jokowi,international-relations,Africa,diplomacy,Retno-Marsudi,Jokowi-administration,Foreign-Ministry Free

The legacy of the Indonesia-Africa relationship is written with a golden ink in history. Indonesia hosted the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung and is one of the initiators of the Non-Aligned Movement. The summit clearly marked a monumental landmark for the relationship.

In 2015, Indonesia once again hosted the conference in commemoration of its 60th anniversary. This summit marked a new era of relationship between Indonesia and Africa.

The 2015 Asia-Africa Conference revived the Bandung Spirit of anti-colonialism and solidarity among former colonies and developing countries, and further strengthened the New Asian African Strategic Partnership. In 2015 Indonesia was granted observer status in the African Union  Africas most ambitious regional organization yet.

In 2016, trade between Indonesia and its Sub-Saharan counterparts jumped off the charts, by not just double, but even multiplied by five times in some cases. With Rwanda, trade even multiplied by 17. Last year alone, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, and Deputy Minister AM Fachir visited Africa three time. This truly shows that Indonesia means business in Africa.

Other great economies have turned towards Africa -- labeled by many as the region of the future. President Jokowi has reiterated that the African region is a top priority. In the G20, Indonesia has expressed full support to the G20 Africa Partnership and related programs.

Earlier this year Minister Retno also said in her annual statement that Indonesia is giving development in Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, and Latin America high priority. But while Asia is often referred and divided into South Asia, Central Asia and so on, Africa is always referred as a whole continent. This indicates that while Indonesia has great plans in the region, the reluctance to name specific African subcontinents means that we are still in the process of defining which parts of Africa will be our main focus. Therein lies the need of an occasion in which stakeholders from various sides can explore the opportunities as well as discover their primary focus.

Later this month Indonesia is scheduled to host the inaugural Indonesia-Africa Forum (IAF) in Nusa Dua, Bali. With participants expected from 53 countries from both Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, the event will primarily focus on strengthening economic relations, including through business matchmaking, through the involvement of government agencies, business corporations, and many other stakeholders.

The BRICS economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have long initiated forums with African nations. The India-Africa forum summit has been going on since 2008, and China pioneered the China-Africa Cooperation in 2000. Vietnam developed the Vietnam-Africa International Forum a few years ago. Though a latecomer, its the right time for Indonesia to improve in particular its trade relations with African countries.

The Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018 by the World Economic Forum showcased many similarities between Indonesia and the Sub-Saharan Africa economies. Both share the same hurdles that are bottlenecking their economic growth; low education and lack of technological readiness. Some experts have even indicated early symptoms of deindustrialization in the two regions. Thus dialogue on sharing best-practices and confidence building measures is crucial.

As Foreign Minister Retno stated, the Indonesia-Africa relation must go beyond the Bandung Spirit. The 2015 Asia-African Summit should be viewed as the prologue of modern Indonesia-Africa Relations, and the IAF should be its first chapter.

***

The writer is undergoing diplomatic training at the Foreign Ministrys Academy. The views expressed are his own.

---------------

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.Demand for more variety in Scotch whisky from fast-growing emerging markets and the request for lower alcohol varieties among health-conscious drinkers are challenging a closely guarded centuries-old tradition.

Drinks giant Diageo, producers of market leader Johnnie Walker, sent shock waves through the industry earlier this year when a "highly confidential" document, leaked to the Wall Street Journal, revealed potential innovations such as flavoured infusions, low-alcohol variants and whisky finished in tequila casks.

But it is operating within very tight restrictions as British law states Scotch must be at least 40 percent alcohol -- which means distillers cannot reach out to health-conscious millennials or tap into the lucrative Middle Eastern market with lower or zero alcohol Scotch.

"There is a lot of interest in lower alcohol spirit drinks across the spirit sector to do with things like the Dry January craze and minimum pricing of alcohol," Matthew Pauley, an assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University's International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, told AFP.

"A few people have been experimenting throughout the sector with lower alcohol spirits, and no alcohol spirit variants. Not all of them have been well received."

Pauley's shelves are packed with herbs, spices and flavourings used in experiments with gin -- but they are kept well away from the whisky stills.

The law restricts Scotch ingredients to barley, water and yeast aged in oak casks, meaning flavoured infusions and tequila-cask finishes are also likely to attract the attention of the litigious Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).

Read also: World's most expensive whisky turns out to be fake

Whisky with a hint of chocolate

"Johnnie Walker can't suddenly make strawberry whisky and send it off to China," said Pauley.

"The SWA spend a lot of money sending people around the world collecting samples of things like random bottles of brown liquid with tartan on it, and there is a whole legal team who go and shut that person down."

He also has bagfuls of an extra-roasted barley called "chocolate malt" which has proved controversial.

French-owned giant Glenmorangie markets a single malt Scotch called Signet which uses a hint of chocolate malt -- but the Eden Mill craft distillery in St. Andrews abandoned its own chocolate malt product when the SWA warned it not to stray too far from the traditional Scotch flavour.

"It's the extra flavours that the chocolate malt will add that the distillers are looking for and that the SWA have issue with," said Pauley.

"The different roasts will potentially add different flavours so that is what is being investigated, researched and has come into some controversy.

"Some of the easy wins have been won, so people naturally start to look at some of the more left-field suggestions and line extensions, and we get back to the issue of how you make a line extension without harming the core brand."

A spokesman for the SWA said there is no bar to producing new products based on Scotch whisky but "the marketing of such products must not confuse consumers in any way -- in particular they must not suggest the product is Scotch whisky when it is not".

Read also: 'Moderate' drinking linked to brain damage: study

'A beautiful drink'

The SWA said flavoured whiskies are already marketed as liqueurs but must not be labelled Scotch, which has a similar geographical protection to Champagne.

"One would not add flavouring to Champagne and expect to trade on the reputation of Champagne by selling it as such," the spokesman said.

Murdo Fraser, convener of the Scottish Parliament's cross-party group on Scotch whisky, also urged caution on innovation.

"My own preference would be that we don't see any dilution of the Scotch whisky brand, and we therefore need to be careful about going down the route of innovating too quickly," he said.

Patrons in the Roseburn Bar, near Murrayfield rugby stadium in Edinburgh, were divided on the debate between tradition and innovation.

Sipping a dram of Aberlour, stonemason Alan McGuire, 53, warned that unpalatable innovations would "contradict the whole thing that whisky is".

"It's a beautiful drink that has been laid down for years, and to add something like ginger, or lemon or raspberry or something to it would just kill the brand," he added.

But nurse Christopher Gauld, 35, said he is "a big believer in change", as he sampled a trendy looking Islay malt called The Classic Laddie.

"The whisky we have today wouldn't be the way it is if people didn't try things in the past so I'm open to experiments," he said.Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017, Kamila Shamsie's Home Fire has reaped praise for its aptitude in tackling difficult yet relevant contemporary issues.

A modern twist on Greek story Antigone, Home Fire in its heart is a family tragedy. In fewer than 300 pages, Shamsie fleshes out how British people of Pakistani descent struggle to be accepted in society and provokes readers to re-examine views on terrorism, returning jihadist fighters, minorities and identity.

The Jakarta Post talks to Shamsie about the book, with the paperback version hitting bookstores on March 22 -- making it accessible to a wider audience.

What drove you to write Home Fire in the first place? The topic is very sensitive, how did you handle it?

The idea started because a theater director asked me to think about re-writing the Ancient Greek play Antigone in a contemporary British context. When I read the play -- which has at its center two sisters who respond differently to the legal repercussions of their brothers act of treason -- I knew immediately that I wanted to connect it to a story that was very much in the news at the time, that of young British Muslims and their relationship with the British state. I didnt end up writing it as a play; Im a novelist, so thats the form I wanted to use to tell the story.

When you write a novel you dont think about subjects as being sensitive or not -- you just think of them as being interesting and complex, and you wonder how to tell them in a story thats about a group of characters.

Home Fire delves into the experience of minorities. You grew up in Karachi before living in England and becoming a British citizen. What was it like being a minority when you were not one before?

Well, I was at university in America so Ive known from the age of 18 what it feels like to move between a place where youre part of the majority to someplace where you arent. In upstate New York I stood out much more as a Pakistani than I do in London. But of course, given the context of the world we live in, the issue isnt just being a minority; its specifically about being Muslim. Of course it can get exhausting or upsetting to be part of a minority thats so demonized in the country where you live -- but it does make you look quite closely at the society youre in, and how different groups interact. And if youre a novelist, you channel that into your writing in ways that feel rewarding.

One controversial passage from the book is how minorities should detach themselves from all the attributes that make them minorities and set them apart from the majority in order to be fully accepted in society. Have you ever considered this personally? Do you think it's possible for a minority to be accepted without having to resort to that?

You have to have a very low opinion of yourself and the place you came from and the place youve moved to in order to really believe that you have to let go of every part of that place in order to be welcome in this place. Also, its impossible. You end up being a fraud, uncomfortable in your skin, pretending to be someone you arent.

That doesnt mean you should be resistant to being influenced by any new context in which you find yourself -- but that adaptation has to come from something more genuine than the wish to "pass" as belonging to some group other than the one you grew up in.

When you ask if its possible for a minority to be accepted without having to resort to jettisoning part of themselves, my response is to want to know who you think needs to do the accepting. I live in London; its a very mixed, heterogeneous place. Some people here may not accept minorities. Many people here are one kind of a minority or another. And our mayor -- democratically elected -- is a Muslim. There will always be people who dont accept him, but Id rather focus on those who do.

Read also: God can't survive science, 'Da Vinci Code' author says

Your novel offers a very humane view of terrorists, their families and returning fighters. While national security agencies will understandably take a very cautious stance against them, how do you think we should act as members of society?

By not saying "they" as if a terrorist and their families belong to the same group. I would hope anyone who reads my novel will see that what Im saying there is that you have to look at every individual case and decide how to respond.

To The Guardian, you talked about writing fiction, saying: "But if you write fiction, you are behind someone's eyes looking out, and that's the difference." How do you hone this ability of empathy?

I suppose for me it must have started with reading fiction. I grew up seeing the world through the eyes of people very different to me. But really, empathy is a common human characteristic -- only psychopaths completely lack it. But some people are selective about their empathy; believing that they should only use it for a certain group of people. If youre a novelist, its just part of your professional life to empathize very widely in order to find human stories everywhere. But anyone can do it -- you just have to want to try.

The character Karamat Lone in Home Fire is a minority representation in politics. Do you feel you have some sort of responsibility in terms of representation in your writing?

No. I write the stories and characters that interest me. But of course I know that to write well you cant write stereotypes, or be lazy about the characters you create.

You have the privilege to be born in a family with a long literary tradition. How do you think this has affected you?

I dont know if I would have been a writer if I hadnt grown up in a house full of books and reading. So its affected me at the very deepest level.

Indonesia and Pakistan are the first and second largest Muslim country in the world. Both are struggling to function as democracies amid rising conservatism, majority-minority dynamics, and terrorism as well, resulting in a bad international reputation. Do you have any comment on this?

My comment is that the same could be said these days for many countries in the world -- India, America, Britain, Turkey to name just a few. So I dont think being the first and second largest Muslim country in the world has very much to do with it.

Pakistani writers have been vocal in representing their country in the literature world, at least compared to their Indonesian counterparts. Do you have any advice for Indonesian writers aspiring for an international breakthrough?

All the Pakistani writers I know simply started off by sitting down at their desks, wanting to write, and wanting to write as well as they could. Twenty years ago, when I was first published, there was no way of knowing that in a few years people would be talking about Pakistani writing as something new and exciting in the world of English language publishing. And there isnt really any point thinking about those kinds of things. You just write the best book you can, and then send it out to agents and publishers and sit back and hope. (kes)NASA has inked a deal with Lockheed Martin to develop a supersonic "X-plane" that could break the sound barrier without a sonic boom, officials said Tuesday.

The $247.5 million contract allows for the design, building and testing of a plane that would make its first test flight in 2021, NASA said.

The experimental plane "will cruise at 55,000 feet (16,764 meters) at a speed of about 940 mph (1,513 kph) and create a sound about as loud as a car door closing, 75 Perceived Level decibel (PLdB), instead of a sonic boom," the US space agency said in a statement.

As early as mid-2022, NASA plans to fly the X-plane over certain, as yet to be determined, US cities to collect data and gather community responses.

The goal is to enable quieter supersonic flight and create "new commercial cargo and passenger markets in faster-than-sound air travel," NASA said.

Read also: NASA is about to launch a new planet-hunter

Last month, US President Donald Trump signed a federal budget that fully funds the project, saying the new aircraft "would open a new market for US companies to build faster commercial airliners, creating jobs and cutting cross-country flight times in half."

But passenger seats are not part of the project Lockheed Martin is working on, at least not yet.

First, the company must show it is possible to fly a quiet supersonic aircraft. Then, the rules of the Federal Aviation Administration would have to be changed in order to lift the current ban on civil supersonic flights over land.

"This X-plane is a critical step closer to that exciting future," Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, told a news conference.

Other companies in the process of building supersonic passenger jets for flight in the coming years include Virgin Galactic and Spike Aerospace.Johannes Rio is one of more than 250 million people around the globe who suffer from visual impairment.

In Johannes case, his field of vision is very narrow and he has no sense of depth. In the past, he had been given tools like telescopes to help him do simple tasks like reading what his teachers wrote on the school board.



Just to walk around, he wears glasses with a +20 magnification.



You can only imagine how thick that is, he says.



For someone who was born with a visual impairment like Johannes, Samsungs Relumino app is a godsend.



Relumino is a free-to-download, visual aid app that requires Samsungs Gear VR and at minimum a Samsung Galaxy S8 or Note 8 to function.



When wearing the Gear VR, the app processes images recorded through the rear camera of the phone to produce a clearer image for the user.



For example, the app can highlight outlines, adjust contrast and brightness or remap the image to suit people that only have partial vision.

Clearer vision: How the highlights and outlines look in the Relumino app. (Relumino/File)

The app promises to have an incredible impact on the lives of visually impaired people.



I can see what was impossible for me to see before, Johannes exclaims.



It almost feels like being born again.



At a recent showcase of the app, people were given the opportunity to test the effect for themselves. Special glasses were used to simulate low vision for those who are not visually impaired.



Looking through those glasses was a bit like looking through frosted glass; you can make out certain shapes, but that is about it.



However, when you put the VR goggles over the frosted glasses, the effect was immediate and incredible.



From seeing nothing but a misty haze, you could now see clearly outlined shapes and make out faces of the people around waiting their turn.



However, according to the Samsung spokesperson during the showcase event, Kim Soo-min, the app in its current form is only a prototype of things to come. The whole set-up with the big Gear VR and smartphone defeats one of their main goals: making reading in public more comfortable.



Kim gave the example of people having to press their faces up to a menu in order to read what is on there  behavior that is sure to attract some stares, apart from being inconvenient.

User testing: Johannes Rio (center), who is visually impaired, tries out the Relumino app using Samsung virtual reality gear. (JP/Frans Snackers)

Using a phone is not really the best way [to use the product]; the way were going is developing glasses so they dont have to use the phones, he said.

The glasses will incorporate the Relumino software in a more inconspicuous way, and are set to come out by the end of the year. Unfortunately, the expected price range of the glasses is still anyones guess.



However, judging by the fact that the apps minimum requirements in its current form requires a high-end Samsung phone to operate, one can imagine the tech will initially likely be out of reach for the less affluent of the visually impaired.



The showcase of the app included a viewing of the Samsung-initiated short film Two Lights: Relumino. The romance stars Korean celebrities Park Hyung-sik and Han Ji-min, and tells the story of two young people who meet at a photography club for the visually impaired.



The film shows the audience what struggles people with a visual impairment have to go through every single day to do seemingly simple things. In the film, the Relumino app is prominently featured.



In the cinema, Johannes was watching the film wearing the same technology. Afterward he commented, [This is] the first time I can actually see that a cinema is big.



Hopefully, many other visually impaired will soon be able to share his experiences.

 Frans Snackers is an intern at The Jakarta PostIn a completely unprecedented move, Indonesians and Malaysians have united to blast television show judges over comments made about favorite dish rendang.



The apoplectic fury was unleashed on the heels of a MasterChef UK episode in which 48-year-old Zaleha Kadir Olpin of Kuantan, Malaysia, was eliminated because the judges thought her rendition of chicken rendang lacked crispiness.



Prior to the elimination, judge John Torode said the dish must be made with the right amount of coconut milk and spice, and that the chicken must be really, really soft and fall apart.



In the knockout round of the BBC One show, Zaleha served up a delectable dish of nasi lemak accompanied by chicken rendang, prawn sambal (chili sauce), omelet, anchovies, peanuts and cucumber.



Rendang is a culturally significant dish in the Minangkabau culture of West Sumatra, with the four ingredients representing Minangkabau society; meat symbolizing the clan leaders and the elders, the coconut milk representing the intellectuals, the chili symbolizing the religious leaders, while the spices symbolize the rest of Minangkabau society.



However, after the tasting session, judge Gregg Wallace criticized the dish, saying the chicken was not crispy enough for his liking.



I like the rendang flavor, theres coconut sweetness. However, the chicken skin isnt crispy. It cant be eaten and all the sauce is on the skin, I cant eat, he said.



Torode added his two cents, saying that the rendang was a mistake.It hasnt had enough time to cook down and become lovely and soft and falling apart. Instead the chicken is just tough and not really flavorsome, he said.



Zaleha looked visibly upset after the comments, saying that she was gutted as she hung up her apron.



Predictably, Twitter was abuzz as Malaysians were up in arms saying that rendang was not supposed to be crispy.



As a Malaysian for the past 22 years, for the first time I heard chicken rendang must have a crispy skin. Who the f*** in the world eat their rendang with crispy skin, said Twitter user @WayneLee92963.



Indonesian user @sissassy chimed in, saying that it was her first time hearing that chicken rendang was supposed to crispy. Are we talking about the real rendang or KFC fried chicken smeared in instant rendang spices?



KFC had indeed offered a rendang rice bucket in Singapore for a limited time in 2017, consisting of rice with boneless chicken slathered with rendang sauce.



Meanwhile, @syaf_J16 exposed deep-seated racial tensions in her tweet, saying that white people trying to tell a makcik how to cook her rendang and then penalizing her because she didnt cook her rendang the way they thought it should be. Because as always, white people telling Asians what they are and how to be.



As part of his own damage control, Torode went on Twitter saying that maybe rendang is Indonesian and signing off with namaste, likely mixing up Indonesia with India.



Culinary expert William Wongso told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that he found the judges decision to be absurd, saying that the judges should learn about the dish and its nuances beforehand.



I personally would not pass judgment on a dish if I have not mastered the dish myself, he said, adding that the judges lacked understanding of rendang.



According to William, rendang is cooked differently in Malaysia and Indonesia, noting that the chicken is lighter in color and taste than its Indonesian counterpart.



As debate raged on various social media sites, Zaleha ultimately stood by her traditional way of cooking nasi lemak on an Instagram post, saying that she wouldnt change it for the world.



As my friend said, what doesnt kill me makes me stronger! (jlm)Short documentary film Blitar, helmed by Indonesian director Livi Zheng, is set to have its gala premier in Los Angeles, the United States, on May 2.

Livi told kompas.com that a delegation of Blitar regency administration would be performing art and culture shows in Los Angeles, and the film would serve as a complement to the activities.

According to Antara, the film's production coincided with the 693rd anniversary of Blitar in East Java, and saw Livi returning to her hometown alongside her Los Angeles film crew.

"We took a lot of footage of Blitar ritual ceremonies and traditional art performances that were all very interesting and unique," she said in a statement.

Read also: Livi Zheng produces film for Indonesia's UN Security Council campaign

The film focuses on Blitar's Triangle Diamond, comprising Serang Beach, Sirah Kencong tea plantation and Penataran Temple, which are among the regency's most popular tourist spots.

Home to breathtaking sunset views, Serang Beach also serves as a breeding ground for the endangered green turtle. The Sirah Kincong tea plantation can be found at the highlands at the foot of Mount Kelud, offering a refreshingly cool air and serene view and is famous for its tea exports. Meanwhile, Candi Penataran, at 450 meters above sea level, is said to be the largest and most majestic temple in East Java, and was built around the era of King Srengga from the Kadiri kingdom in the 1200s.

Livi was born in Blitar on April 3, 1989. However, the most popular figure related to the regency was Indonesia's first president Sukarno, who was raised there. (kes)Women in ancient Peru, far from being marginalized and invisible, were political and economic decision-makers, according to a new study that challenges many traditional takes on the country's history.

Historian Maritza Villavicencio sets out the findings that run counter to previous hypotheses that high-ranking pre-Columbian women in Peru were mere "priestesses" in "Mujer, poder y alimentacion en el antiguo Peru" ("Woman, power and food in ancient Peru").

Instead, she asserts, they were monarchs.

The book, published by San Martin de Porres University, is the result of the 10 years of research.

"Women were invisible in history, and what my book does is propose restoring the memory of the real life of these women. That's why this more than just a claim," Villavicencio told AFP.

In the book Villavicencio argues that women exercised political power in their communities in different areas of pre-Hispanic Peru.

"Women were categorized as priestesses to lower their status -- not as a person who had power to participate in their people's political, economic and social activities, able to decide and make alliances with make rulers," she said.

"There is a discriminatory interpretation by researchers regarding women in ancient Peru" which "obscures the power of these women," she says.

Read also: Lesson from women and revolution in Iran

- Shattering 'male-centric' history -

The first mummy of a high-status woman was discovered in northern Peru in 1992, in an archeological site in San Jose del Moro, home to the people of the Late Sican period who lived there between the 12th and 14th centuries.

The figure had long been considered a high priestess, though she was buried wearing the clothes of a ruler, along with the remains of eight elite women and a headdress. From 2013, she started being called the Senora (Lady) of Chornancap, the historian said.

In 1987, archaeologists discovered what came to be known as the Lord of Sipan, near the modern day city of Trujillo.

"Nobody called him a 'priest.' Everybody called him a great lord, the Moche monarch, and a museum was built for him," Villavicencio said.

Another find, of the Lady of Cao, who governed in the 4th century during the Moche culture, was also originally labelled a priestess, despite being buried with a scepter similar to that found at the Lord of Sipan's tomb.

After further study, the Lady of Cao was considered a ruler, and today she has a museum in her honor.

"There is a biased view when it comes to women, a male-centric vision that puts men at the center of everything in Peru's history," Villavicencio said.

Traditional books of Peruvian history said that women were absent when governing decisions were made, but her research shows the opposite, she said.

Read also: Feminists march for equality, end to gender violence

- Serpent tattoos -

Villavicencio said lineage was a principal criterion for assuming power.

There were also four areas in which power was attributed to individuals: miracle-working, reproduction, textile-making, and supplying food.

Women's "power to heal, to summon the weather through knowledge, to show the path of life and death made them leaders," she affirmed.

An important symbol was the tattoo. "For example, the Lady of Cao had serpents tattooed on her arm, which signified she able to summon water from the rivers and possibly predict the weather."

There are also sanctuaries in which the remains of elite women have been discovered, such as at a site in the Lima neighborhood of Miraflores called Pucllana, or a nearby site in San Isidro.

The San Isidro site, Huallamarca, in 1958 yielded funeral remains of around 100 people, 73 of whom were elite-level women, among the Lady of the Long Hair (la Dama de los Cabellos Largos). The buried remains of men were also found, but they were of lower rank.

Archeologists have also dug up much evidence of textile making. Villavicencio said that cloth mantles were believed to confer power to women in ancient Peru.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 10:28 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccd8842 1 City Bekasi,crime,lynching Free

Prosecutors demanded on Tuesday that five men who allegedly burned a man to death in Bekasi serve 10 to 12 years in prison.

Muhammad Al Zahra, also known as Zoya, was killed in August by an angry mob after he was accused of stealing amplifiers from a mushola (prayer room).

In a hearing at the Bekasi District Court, prosecutors demanded different prison terms for each defendant, dependent on their roles in the alleged vigilante act.

The defendants are Rosadih, Najibulah, Zulkafi, Aldi, Subur and Karta.

"We demand that Rosadih be sentenced for 12 years in prison and Najibulah, Zulkafi, Aldi and Subur should each get 11 years, while Karta should be sentenced to 10 years in prison," said prosecutor Rudi Pradesetia during the trial, as quoted by kompas.com.

He demanded the harshest punishment for Rosadih because he was the one who allegedly poured gasoline on Zoya and set him on fire. He also gave conflicting testimonies.

"The defendant didnt tell the truth and also gave conflicting statements. Other defendants admitted the crime and were honest," said prosecutor Ibnu Fajar.

Rosadihs lawyer, Robinson Samosir, said he was disappointed with the prosecutors' sentence demand, adding that his client did not kill Zoya.

The trial will resume next Tuesday. (wnd/wit)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 19:04 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccf284d 1 City illegal-parking,Ratna-Sarumpaet,anies-baswedan Free

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has said he would discipline a staff member of his who reportedly ordered for a car to be returned to its owner after it was towed at Honda Tebet Park in South Jakarta

The owner of the car, artist Ratna Sarumpaet, said Jakarta Transportation Agency officers towed her car because they claimed it was parked illegally.

Ratna said that after she made a telephone call to a staff member working under Anies, the car was returned to her.

I will summon the staff member [who ordered for the car to be returned]. Ill discipline the staff to obey standard operating procedures, Anies said Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

He added he would find out whether his staff had committed a violation and he pledged to take action if necessary.

It is wrong to not follow standard operating procedures. That applies to everyone, especially [the staff member who] returned the towed car, Anies said.

The agency officers reportedly towed the car as it was parked on a road, but Ratna claimed she did not violate the law because there was no traffic sign that indicated parking in the area was prohibited.

Not long after Ratna reported the incident, staff members from Anies' office came to her house to return the car and apologize.

Ratna was a supporter of Anies during his gubernatorial campaign.

Separately, Jakarta Transportation Agency deputy head Sigit Wijatmoko confirmed that the car was towed and taken to the South Jakarta Transportation Agency. (wnd)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Viriya P. Singgih (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 10:11 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccd6ea4 1 Business shipment,regulation,CPO,coal,postponement Free

The Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) has called on the government to postpone implementing a new shipping policy that will oblige coal and crude palm oil (CPO) exporters to ship their commodities using only domestic shipping companies and insurance services.

The policy is stipulated in Trade Minister Regulation No. 82/2017, which was issued last October and was to take effect at the end of April 2018.

As of today, APBI executive director Hendra Sinadia said, the government was still unable to guarantee the readiness of the countrys shipping industry, including the number of local vessels available for exporting coal.

Such data should have been prepared before the regulation was issued. Hence, what we need now is for the government to revise the regulation [and] provide some certainty, especially for our foreign buyers, Hendra said on Tuesday.

Maybe it will take around a year or two years for the government to properly complete its data gathering before [it can] implement this kind of policy, he added.

The Trade Ministry's data shows a total of 25,352 domestic vessels as of 2016, of which only 1.8 percent could be used to export coal.

Nearly 43 percent of the domestic fleet has been in operation for 16-25 years, while many countries apply age restrictions for foreign-flagged tankers entering their ports. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 15:37 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cce72ea 1 Business anti-dumping,Australia,authorities,probe,steel-rod-in-coils Free

A senior official at the Trade Ministry has said that Australias Anti-Dumping Commission has terminated its investigation into steel rod in coils exported from several countries, including Indonesia.

The results of the Anti-Dumping Commission's investigation shows that the losses incurred in Australias steel industry was not caused by the alleged dumping of Indonesian [steel] products, director general of international trade Oke Nurwan said in a statement The Jakarta Post received on Wednesday, noting that the commission published its decision on Mar. 26.

The decision also covers steel rod in coils exported from South Korea and Vietnam.

Oke said the decision to terminate the investigation resulted from the government's cooperation with three companies  PT Ispat Indo, PT Gunung Raja Paksi (PT GRP) and PT Master Steel (PT MS)  which was able to convince the Australian antidumping authority that no dumping had occurred.

He said the three companies were able to provide valid information and data that the antidumping authority authority required.

We appreciate the Indonesian importers that took the initiative to cooperate with the Australian antidumping authority and in their cooperation with the government to secure its export access to Australia, said Oke, adding that the antidumping investigation commenced on June 7, 2017.

Amid Australia's ongoing investigation into the steel product, total Indonesian exports of steel rod in coils had increased to US$1.4 million in January, a 139 percent year-on-year increase.

Central Statistics Agency (BPS) records show that exports of steel rod in coils to Australia in previous years totaled $15 million in 2017, $13 million in 2016 and $26 million in 2013. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Rachmadea Aisyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 17:15 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccef7bd 1 Business BI,QR-code,QR-code-payment-regulation,national-payment-gateway Free

Bank Indonesia (BI) has confirmed that it will issue a new regulation on quick response (QR) codes due to the methods growing use among payment service providers.

The Bank Indonesia Regulation, scheduled to be launched this month, will focus on the harmonization of QR code payment systems used by all providers and on the standardization of its technology, said BI Deputy Governor Sugeng.

Currently, not all existing QR code payments are connected, causing inefficiency for people who use [QR codes as a means of payment], Sugeng told reporters on the sidelines of a digital economy seminar on Wednesday.

QR code payment facilities resemble electronic data code (EDC) machines and automated teller machines, he added, adding that the use of QR codes would slash investment costs because it would not require expensive equipment, only QR scanners that are widely available for smartphones.

The new regulation will become part of the countrys National Payment Gateway (GPN) program, which was launched last year by President Joko Jokowi Widodo to simplify and payment methods using a series of digitalized systems, Sugeng said.

Among the companies that have already tried the system include state-owned lender Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and ride-hailing app Go-Jek with its electronic wallet Go-Pay. (Bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 14:23 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cce2a79 1 City RPTRA-Jakarta,green-space,Sandiaga-Uno Free

The city administration has planned to involve citizens in developing a green open space named Taman Maju Bersama.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno said Taman Maju Bersama (Move Forward Together Park) was different compared to the existing integrated child-friendly public spaces (RPTRAs), which was one of the signature programs of former governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama.

He said unlike RPTRAs, the planned park would involve citizens in the development process.

The citizens will be involved in designing the activities and managing the park, Sandiaga said, as quoted by kompas.com. He also hoped that citizens having vacant land would voluntarily offer their land to develop Taman Maju Bersama.

By developing the new park theme, the administration will no longer build RPTRAs.

Previously the administration said it faced difficulties in finding citys assets that could be used as RPTRAs; therefore it would stop developing the park. The city currently has at least 290 RPTRAs. (vny)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba and Evi Mariani (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura/Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 18:23 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cceff45 1 National #Papua,#PapuaSelfDetermination,Freeport-Indonesia,TNI,Kopassus,Mimika Free

A clash between the Indonesian Military (TNI) in cooperation with the National Police and the Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM), a Papuan independence group, resulted in at least one fatality in Tembagapura district, Mimika regency in Papua on Wednesday, near the copper mine operated by Freeport.

The TNI said it could not confirm whether the victim was a civilian or a member of the TPN-OPM, which is referred to as an armed separatist criminal group by the TNI. The TPN-OPM claimed the fatality was a civilian.

Both the TNI and TPN-OPM confirmed the identity of the dead man as Timotius Umabak.

The TNI said the clash left two others injured, the victims were identified as Ruben Kupugau, in his 30s, and Kapin Wamang, a 15-year-old boy. Once again the TNI could not confirm whether the two injured were civilians or TPN-OPM members.

Cendrawasih Military Command spokesman Col. M. Aidi said on Wednesday that a shootout happened at 10:15 a.m. local time during a hunt for the armed group in the village of Opitawak.

The clash lasted for 30 minutes and when the shootout ended, our soldiers entered the village and found one dead and two injured, Aidi said.

This group usually uses civilians as shields, Aidi said. The military said they seized an F-16 rifle in the village.

The hunt was a follow up to an earlier clash on Sunday, in which one TNI soldier, Private First Class Vicky Irad Uba Rumpaidus, was killed. Before the incident, the group allegedly set houses, a hospital and a school building on fire.

The group had reportedly taken control of several villages in Tembagapura district, namely Utikini, Longsoran, Kimbeli, Banti 1, Banti 2 and Opitawak. On Wednesday, the TNI declared they had retaken all six villages.

TPN-OPM spokesperson Hendrik Wanmang told The Jakarta Post via phone on Wednesday afternoon that there was no shootout with the group in Opitawak on Wednesday morning. "The [Indonesian Military] shot the villagers," he claimed.

Earlier, at about 7:30 a.m. Jakarta time, or 9:30 Papua time, Wanmang said, the TPN-OPM had gathered all villagers in Opitawak for their own protection. He claimed the TPN-OPM fighters had retreated and left the village to avoid civilians being mistaken for armed fighters.

There were women and children among the 1,000. We told them if the Indonesian Military came, not to run, show yourselves with your hands up, Wanmang told the Post in Jakarta on Wednesday morning.

The TPN-OPM also denied accusations that it had set locals houses on fire, saying it was the TNI that launched mortars on peoples houses. The TNIs Aidi denied that the soldiers carried mortars or rockets.

We have 300 civilian witnesses. Ask them, did we use mortars or rockets? Aidi said. They were the ones who set the houses on fire before running into the woods, Aidi went on.

Aidi said that on Tuesday soldiers had found a crying baby in one village, abandoned in a honai, a traditional Papuan house. We gave the baby to the village head, he said.

Wanmang of the TPN-OPM said his group had received information from villagers that besides Timotius, a woman, identified as Nataro Omaleng, and a child, named Aprion, also died in Wednesdays clash. (swd)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 20:05 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccf664a 4 Business Industry-4-0,development,textile,food-and-beverage,automotive,Electronic,chemistry Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has pledged to prepare five sectors to be developed for the fourth industrial revolution. Also referred to as Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution refers to the enhanced connectivity and digitization of the manufacturing sector.

The five industries are food and beverage, textiles, automotive, electronics and chemicals, Jokowi said during the opening of the Indonesia Industrial Summit 2018 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com.

The President said the development of the five industries was expected to become the backbone of Industry 4.0 as it would improve the competitiveness of Indonesian products in the global market and create more jobs.

Jokowi, stressing the importance of developing human resources as stipulated in a road map on the implementation of the Industry 4.0 initiative, said that only those who mastered current technologies could contribute to the sectors.

The development of the five industries is expected to have a great impact on Indonesian efforts to improve its competitiveness and it would contribute to the goal of becoming one of the 10 largest economies in 2030, he added.

Meanwhile, Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said the summit would allow for the Industry Ministry and all stakeholders to hold discussions on the country's steps toward making advancements in Industry 4.0.

He said the ministry was ready to involve all parties and listen to ideas on the issue. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4 2018

Ten people have died and more than a dozen others have been hospitalized after reportedly drinking oplosan (bootleg liquor) over the weekend.



The first case was reported in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, where six people out of a group of 11 were rushed to Pondok Kopi Hospital, Duren Sawit Hospital and a community health center in Duren Sawit.



They reportedly drank bootleg ginseng liquor on Sunday.



Six of them died, East Jakarta Police criminal investigation head Sr. Adj. Comr. Sapta Maulan said, as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com on Tuesday.



In a separate incident, three were rushed to Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta on Monday after reportedly vomiting before falling unconscious. They allegedly consumed bootleg liquor after attending a party in Cipinang Besar Utara, Jatinegara, on Saturday, Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono...Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4 2018

The Jakarta Police narcotics division arrested on Sunday a housewife named Budiyah for allegedly smuggling crystal methamphetamine at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Tangerang.



The 44-year-old allegedly attempted to smuggle 511.19 grams of meth in the heels of her shoes. We got tipped off that there was a woman smuggling crystal meth from Pontianak [West Kalimantan] to Jakarta, narcotics unit sub-directorate chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Jean Calvijn told Warta Kota on Monday.



Police officers had followed Budiyah soon after her arrival at the airport, Calvijn added, until she handed over the shoes she was wearing to a man named Johari. That was when we detained them and found six small bags of meth nicely packed inside the modified shoes heels, he explained.



Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said both Budiyah and Johari were ...Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Medan  Wed, April 4 2018

A joint team comprising personnel from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), North Sumatra Police, Aceh Police and Customs and Excise Office fatally shot one alleged drug trafficker and arrested seven others believed to be linked to a Malaysian drug network.



A suspected drug dealer named Murtala from Aceh was shot dead after resisting arrest, said BNN chief Comr. Gen. Heru Winarko.



Meanwhile, the arrests of seven alleged members of a drug syndicate were made within a span of four days, from Wednesday to Saturday, in various drug raids across North Sumatra and Aceh, he added.



The syndicates modus operandi in distributing drugs is by pretending to deliver fruit from Aceh to Medan, Heru said in a press conference at BNNs North Sumatra office on Monday.



The BNN had received a tip from a member of the public on the alleged activities of the syndicate....Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 19:45 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccf3c5c 1 City ahok,basuki-tjahaja-purnama,case-review,Supreme-Court Free

A lawyer for former Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has questioned the Supreme Courts decision to reject his case review petition.

Fifi Lety Indra said all considerations to file the petition had been stated in the petition, including those related to a man named Buni Yani, who was found guilty of tampering with a video that was used to support a blasphemy case against Ahok.

Ahok was charged with blasphemy for allegedly insulting a Quranic verse on May 9, 2017.

The Bandung District Court in West Jakarta sentenced Buni to 18 months in prison on Nov. 14, last year.

We have included the [Buni Yani] case in the petition but why was it not considered? [Ahok had] no intention or desire to insult [Islam], Fifi said Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

On account of the rejection, Fifi plans to discuss the verdict, the document of which has yet to be received by Ahok, at the Amnesty International Forum on Thursday.

Fifi added that Ahok had responded to the case review rejection by saying praise the Lord.

A panel of judges lead by Justice Artidjo Alkostar rejected the case review request on March 26. Following the court decision, reports emerged that Artidjo was a member of an Islam Defenders Front (FPI) committee, however, the claims were refuted by both Artidjo and Jakarta FPI secretary-general Novel Bamukmin.

The FPI was behind a series of rallies in which participants demanded the arrest and conviction of Ahok for statements made in a speech. (wnd)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post) Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara  Wed, April 4, 2018 13:38 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cce1693 1 National NTB,West-Nusa-Tenggara,lobsters,lobster-seeds,Lombok,Lombok-international-airport Free

The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Police have foiled an attempt to smuggle lobster larvae worth Rp 629 million (US$44,030) from Lombok.

NTB Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. Tribudi Pangastuti said the smuggling attempt was uncovered at around 9:30 p.m. on Monday when personnel of the NTB water and air police unit (Polairud) stopped a black pick-up truck on a street in Beleka village, East Praya district, Central Lombok regency.

The vehicle had been targeted since it departed from Ekas Bay in East Lombok. It was suspected the vehicle carried lobster larvae that would be smuggled via Lombok International Airport. Our personnel managed to foil the attempt, said Tribudi in Mataram on Tuesday.

Prime commodity: West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Police personnel confiscate thousands of lobster larvae during an operation in Central Lombok regency, NTB, on April 2. (Courtesy of the West Nusa Tenggara Police/File)

During inspection, the police found the vehicle carried one box containing 8,501 lobster larvae. They comprise 7,650 larvae of sand lobsters and 851 larvae of pearl lobsters, which are worth around Rp 629.20 million, said Tribudi.

He said two suspected smugglers had been taken into custody at the NTB Police, including the evidence. The two suspects were both Central Lombok residents.

Tribudi said the two suspects would be charged under Law No. 31/2004 in reference to Law No. 45/2009 on fisheries and the Criminal Code (KUHP). If proven guilty, they could face a six-year imprisonment and a maximum of Rp 1.5 billion in fines.

We are investigating the case. The lobster larvae will be soon released to their natural habitat to conserve them, said Tribudi. (ebf)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Evi Mariani, Sita Dewi and Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Jayapura  Wed, April 4, 2018 10:23 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccd7fa7 1 National Papua,self-determination,separatists,Kopassus,TNI,#Papua,#PapuaSelfDetermination,Mimika,Freeport-Indonesia Free

The Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM), which is linked to the Free Papua independence movement, said on Wednesday morning over 1,000 civilian lives were at risk amid Indonesian Military (TNI) and liberation group armed conflicts in Tembagapura district, Mimika regency, Papua, near copper mine Freeport.

TPN spokesperson Hendrik Wanmang said they had gathered civilians in Kampung Opitawak and TPN fighters had retreated and left the kampung to avoid civilians being mistaken for armed fighters.

There are women and children among the 1,000. We have told them if the Indonesian Military comes, dont run; show yourselves with your hands up, Wanmang told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta via phone.

Read also: TNI on hunt for armed assailants after exchange of fire in Tembagapura

Previously, the TNI said the armed assailants had taken control of several villages in Tembagapura district, namely Utikini, Longsoran, Kimbeli, Banti 1, Banti 2 and Opitawak. The authorities feared that it was part of the groups warning to the TNI and the police that it wanted an open fight, the TNI said.

On Tuesday, Cendrawasih Military Command spokesman Col. M. Aidi said the assailants had set locals houses, a hospital and a school building on fire. The attack set the TNI to move and hunt down the armed assailants. The TNI said the military had kept the civilians safe.

One TNI soldier, Private First Class Vicky Irad Uba Rumpaidus, was killed when shots were exchanged between the military and the group in Utikini village on Sunday. He died after being shot in his right temple.

The TPN has a different account. Wanmang said on Sunday the shootout happened after the TNI passed a line set by the TPN as the border of the war zone.

On Wednesday, 270 personnel members from the TNI and the National Police entered Banti 2, and 31 personnel members from the Armys Special Forces (Kopassus) entered Banti 1, the place where a shootout had happened earlier, the TPN claimed. People are in danger, Wanmang said.

Wanmang also accused the TNI of having fired mortars at peoples houses. I saw one had cracked a window and the mortar set fire to the house, Wanmang claimed on Wednesday.

The TNI said the TPN took the civilians hostage, but the TPN said the villagers were with them. The villagers were all natives and they were with us throughout this fight against the TNI and the police. The TPN belongs to this society.

Villagers cant take up arms, so we fight [on behalf of the villagers] with their support, he said on Tuesday evening.

We, the TPN and the villagers, will continue to fight against injustice. We want Freeport to be shut down. [Freeport] is the root of the problems [here]. We are natives; we own the land, the mountain and the gold. We demand what belongs to us, he said, referring to United States-based mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia, which has been operating in Papua since 1970.

The incident marks a long-standing armed conflict between Indonesias security personnel and Papuan self-determination groups.

Last year, a member of the National Polices Mobile Brigade (Brimob) stationed in Timika, Papua, was killed in a shootout between security personnel and unidentified gunmen on Utikini bridge, Tembagapura, Mimika regency.

Papuas problematic integration into Indonesia in 1962 and the exploitation of Papuas natural resources by private companies have often been touted as the main sources of native Papuans grievances.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 16:45 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cceeab0 1 City bootleg-liquor,suspect,arrest,victims Free

The South Jakarta Police have named a suspect in the selling of bootleg liquor that caused the deaths of eight people.

We are continuing to investigate the bootleg liquor case and we have named the owner of a shop that sold the liquor a suspect, said police chief Sr. Comr. Indra Jafar on Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

He added that the man was found to be selling liquor products that did not have proper authorization.

Currently, the police are conducting autopsies and blood tests on the victims. They are also checking the substances used in mixing the liquor.

Indra said of the people who died after consuming the bootleg liquor three had died in Fatmawati Hospital, another three in Pasar Minggu Hospital and the remaining two died in Zahirah Hospital. The youngest victim was 29 years old while the oldest was aged 50 years old. (wnd)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 15:20 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cce511f 1 Politics National-Police,Sukmawati-Soekarnoputri,blasphemy,religious-defamation,Bareskrim,Setyo-Wasisto Free

The National Police are investigating reports of blasphemy allegedly committed by Sukmawati Soekarnoputri, an official confirmed on Wednesday.

Police spokesperson Insp.Gen.Setyo Wasisto said two reports of blasphemy implicating the daughter of founding father Sukarno had been filed with the Jakarta Police and the National Polices Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim).

Our responsibility is to carry out an investigation. We have to first gather evidence and then follow up, Setyo said as quoted by kompas.com.

He said that during the pre-investigation process, the police would collect evidence and question witnesses.

He further said the police would also consider settling the case out of court.

Sukmawati has been accused of insulting Islam after reading her poem titled Ibu Indonesia (Mother Indonesia) during Indonesia Fashion Week (IFW) in Jakarta last Thursday.

I dont know sharia [Islamic law], but I know the konde [traditional bun] of Mother Indonesia is so beautiful, more beautiful than your niqab. I dont know sharia, but I know that the ballad of Indonesian mothers is so beautiful, more melodious than your adzan, the poem reads.

The poem triggered outrage from various groups. Lawyer Denny Andrian Kusdayat, Hanura Party politician Amron Asyhari and the East Java chapter of Indonesias largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), have filed criminal reports against Sukmawati.

The United Islam Forum (FUIB) has also reported Sukmawati to the Jakarta Police and will file a similar report with Bareskrim.

Sukmawati is accused of committing blasphemy under Article 156a of the Criminal Code (KUHP) and hate speech, which violates Article 16 of Law No. 40/2008 on the elimination of sentiments against tribal affiliation, religion, race and societal groups (SARA). (ebf)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 12:09 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccdc77c 1 City North-Jakarta,Dispute,transparency Free

The Jakarta administration has planned to summon officials from Papanggo subdistrict in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, over a transparency dispute in one of its community units (RW).

Jakarta Governance Bureau head Premi Lasari said the summons followed a report from residents who had been reported to the North Jakarta District Court by their RW head for actively questioning transparency in the community's savings.

The RW head, Hasan Sunardi, accused them of committing slanderous action against him as well as provoking other residents, wartakota.tribunnews.com reported.

"We'll summon them again next week and demand they explain the result of the mediation," he told the news portal on Tuesday.

According to Feriana, a resident of neighborhood unit (RT) 07, Hasan sued residents for demanding transparency of the RW's savings.

"The RW head apparently couldn't accept that and felt discredited, and sued three residents deemed provocateurs," Feriana said last week, adding that two months earlier, the RW head had sent legal notices to eight of his residents.

The residents questioned where their money had gone because the RW head allegedly had not submitted financial reports for the past six years, which is against Gubernatorial Regulation No. 171/2016 on guidelines of RT and RW.

The dispute reportedly started 10 months ago. (fac)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 12:17 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccdc9cb 1 Business KPPI-Indonesian-Trade-Safeguard-Committee,safeguard,ceramic-tiles,imports,influx Free

The Indonesian Trade Security Committee (KPPI) is investigating the influx of imported ceramic tiles, particularly from China, that has seriously affected the local industry.

KPPI head Mardjoko said the investigation was opened in response to a request from the Indonesian Ceramic Tiles Industry Association (ASAKI) which complained on behalf of domestic ceramic tiles producers about unusual influx of imported products in recent years.

From the initial evidence provided in the request submitted on Mar. 26, the KPPI has observed an influx in ceramic tiles imports. We have also seen indications that the local industry has suffered serious losses, Mardjoko said in Jakarta in a statement on Wednesday.

He said the losses were indicated in the declining performance of the ceramic tiles industry from 2015 to 2017, with the stockpile of unsold products and the decline in production volume, sales and number of workers in the industry.

Based on the Central Statistics Agency's (BPS) data from 2015- to 2017, Indonesia imported 861,341 tons of ceramic tiles in 2015, 1,073,972 tons in 2016 (a 24.7 percent year-on-year increase) and 1,262,016 tons in 2017 (a 17.5 percent yoy increase).

Nearly all imported ceramic tiles came from China, at 96.03 percent in 2017. Other ceramic tile exporting countries include Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Winda A. Charmila (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 13:04 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccdf254 1 City MRT-Jakarta,trains,arrival Free

Two MRT trains, which consist of 12 cars, have arrived in Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta on Wednesday, an official has said.

MRT Jakarta corporate secretary Tubagus Hikmatullah said the trains would be unloaded from the cargo ship on Thursday and then sent to the MRT depot in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, using a multi-axle trailer.

The delivery will be conducted on April 8 from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. to prevent causing traffic congestion, Tubagus said in a statement on Wednesday.

He added that the company had been doing several delivery trials since February to smooth the process. They are the first MRT trains to be sent to Jakarta.

The trains were made by Japan train company Nippon Sharyo. There will be 14 more trains to be sent by the end of June. MRT Jakarta targets to receive a total of 16 trains by October, followed by a trial run.

In the first phase, MRT Jakarta will prepare 16 trains, of which 14 will be operated while the other two are for backup. The MRT is targeted to start running in March next year with scheduled operations from 5 a.m. until 12 a.m. and a waiting time of five minutes between trains during peak hours.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 10:48 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccd9ac6 4 Business Kertajati-Airport-Majalengka-WestJava,operation,Budi-Karya-Sumadi Free

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has said that the new Kertajati International Airport in Majalengka, West Java, will start operating in June, as its development had entered the final phase of construction.

Budi said the government was preparing several facilities to assure the new international airport's operational capacity.

Currently, we are coordinating with the immigration office, the customs and excise office and others. When [the airport] opens, it must be ready to operate as an international airport, Budi said in Jakarta on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Classed as an international airport, Budi said, Kertajati would be used initially to serve hajj pilgrims from West Java who usually flew to Mecca through East Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport.

On that, I have a meeting with all stakeholders to discuss all issues related to the airport opening, said Budi, adding that he would visit the airport on Wednesday.

Kertajadi International Airport is located some 200 kilometers from Jakarta. Its development cost an estimated Rp 2.1 trillion (US$153.7 million). Combined with its operational costs, total investment in the new airport will be about Rp 2.6 trillion.

Airport developer PT Bandara Internasional Jawa Barat (BIJB), which is owned by the West Java provincial administration, has relied primarily on Rp 1.8 trillion in capital injection from the West Java administration, civil servants' cooperatives and other funding sources to build the new international airport. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 20:07 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccf6eb4 1 National Karen-Agustiawan,pertamina,AGO,#AGO,graft Free

Karen Galaila Agustiawan was the first woman to lead state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina, challenging male domination of the industry. On Wednesday afternoon, she was named a suspect by the Attorney Generals Office for alleged graft related to a state-owned investment in Basker Manta Gummy Australia in 2009.

Read also: Ex Pertamina director, Karen Agustiawan, named corruption suspect

Who is Karen?

Karen, a mother of three, is a professional in the oil and gas industry with more than 30 years experience. When she was appointed the president director of Pertamina in 2009, she had been working in the industry for 25 years.

The following is a summarized biography:

Born Oct. 19, 1958.

1978-1983:

Studied physical engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology.

1984-1986:

Joined Mobil Oil Indonesia as a systems analyst and programmer, promoted to seismic processor and quality controller for seismic projects in 1987-1988.

1989-1992:

Moved to Mobil Oil in Dallas, Texas, in the United States for assignments including assisting the Corporate Exploration Computing Division.

1992-1998:

Returned to Mobil Oil Indonesia as a project leader in the Exploration Computing Department. She took leave to accompany her husband during his doctoral studies in the US in 1993-1994.

1998-1999:

Worked for CGG Petrosystems in Indonesia before joining Landmark Concurrent Solusi Indonesia as domain specialist for developing the market for Integrated Information Management (IIM).

2000-2002:

Took a position as business development manager at Landmark Concurrent Solusi Indonesia.

2002-2006:

Joined Halliburton Indonesia as commercial manager for consulting and project management for all oil and gas accounts.

2006-2008:

Joined Pertamina as expert staff for the upstream division before being appointed as the upstream director of the state oil company.

2009: President director of Pertamina.

May 2013: She was included in London-based event company Terrapin's 15 most influential female executives in the oil and gas industry.

Jun 2013: Reappointed to lead the state-run oil and gas firm for another five-year term.

Aug 2014: Resigned from the position because she wanted to teach at Harvard University. On Harvard University's website, Karen is listed as one of the experts at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a permanent research center within Harvard's John F. Kennedy school of government.

Read also: Karen Agustiawan among world's 15 most powerful female oil and gas figures

Notable achievements during Karen Agustiawan's six years at PT Pertamina:

* She became Pertamina's first female boss

* In March 2013, Karen was approved for a second term as CEO, making her the first Pertamina CEO for decades to lead the company beyond a single term. Most of her predecessors were replaced before they completed their first five-year term.

* In 2012, Pertamina booked Rp 25.89 trillion (US$2.67 billion) in net profits, up 18.4 percent from a year earlier, which was the highest-ever level in the company's history.

* In 2013, Pertamina became the first Indonesian company to be featured in Fortune magazine's annual Fortune Global 500 list. The list, which ranks global corporations by revenue, placed Pertamina 122nd out of 500 companies after it booked revenues of $70.9 billion in 2012.

* In 2012, Forbes put Karen at the top of its "Asia's 50 Power Businesswomen", while in 2013, Fortune Global put her in sixth place on its "50 most powerful women in business" list. (evi)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, April 4, 2018 18:29 1270 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9ccf0b03 1 World WHO,WHO-SEARO,universal-healthcare,health,health-care,healthcare-services,World-Health-Organization Free

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on countries in its South-East Asia region to step up their efforts in achieving universal health coverage to provide their people with quality healthcare services without having to suffer financial difficulties.

Universal health coverage is central to improving health and well-being  a fundamental human right. It is also imperative for a countrys well-being as healthier populations create more productive economies, WHO South-East Asia regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said on Wednesday as part of World Health Day, which is celebrated annually on April 7.

Universal health coverage is a WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) flagship program initiated in 2014. Currently, nearly half of the regions population still lacks full coverage of essential health services.

Around 65 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty, mainly due to paying for medicine out-of-pocket, especially for non-communicable diseases.

Singh said more efforts were needed to increase human resources for health, enhance the skills of health workers and aid staff retention in rural and hard-to-reach areas to ensure the availability of quality health services.

She highlighted that by 2020, more of the regions population will be over 60.

Ageing population, reversing the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, and early detection and timely treatment of infectious diseases, should be the focus of frontline services, Singh said.

Increasing access to quality and affordable medicines is also fundamental. Paying out-of-pocket for medicines is the leading cause of financial hardship from health care spending in this region, she added. (ebf)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, April 5 2018

Turkish firm Hitay Holdings has reiterated its commitment to invest US$1 billion in the development of a 220-megawatt geothermal power plant in Bener Meriah regency, Aceh.



The company is now awaiting the result of its bid from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, according to a press statement sent to The Jakarta Post by the Aceh governors office.



Chinese firm KS ORKA also participated in the bidding.



God willing, we will soon kick off the project, said Hitay Holdings chairman Mehmet Emin Hitay after meeting with Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf in Aceh on Wednesday.



Mehmet said he had visited Aceh four times to discuss the project. The company plans to drill six wells in two years to harness geothermal energy.



Meanwhile, Aceh Governor Irwandi also offered the Turkish company other investment opportunities, such as in fisheries, to...Diplomatic splendor: Ivory Coasts non-resident ambassador-designate to Indonesia, Jeanne Guehe (far left), prepares to hand her credentials to President Joko Jokowi Widodo (far right) as other foreign envoys look on in the Merdeka Palace on Wednesday. Eleven new ambassadors presented their credentials to the president that day to mark the start of their official duties in Indonesia.(JP/Seto Wardhana)(far left), prepares to hand her credentials to President Joko Jokowi Widodo (far right) as other foreign envoys look on in the Merdeka Palace on Wednesday. Eleven new ambassadors presented their credentials to the president that day to mark the start of their official duties in Indonesia.(JP/Seto Wardhana)Muggles can now have a magical experience in a bar and feel like theyre wizards taking potions classes like Harry Potter.

The Cauldron, a wizarding bar in London, lets guests wear wizard robes, mix their own drinks or cocktails (called potions) in cauldrons, and find fantastic beers with a flick of a wand. The bar offers a craft beer called Four Cauldrons that is inspired by witch or wizards magic wand.

According to its website, Four Cauldrons has a base of wand woodin this case oakand a core of ingredients used in magical historycoriander, ginger, and vanilla. Guests will have to use the magic wand given to them to pour themselves a pint of Four Cauldrons flowing from the magical tree.

It also offers a class called The Cauldron Magical Cocktail Experiencesimilar to Harry Potters Potions class where guests take an immersive and interactive pop-up experience in London where patrons brew molecular cocktails with a working IoT magic wand.

The Cauldron Magical Cocktail Experience is a one hour and forty-five minute ticketed class that lets people experience the magic in fantasy books using science and technology. Materials and supplies are provided in every class that costs 29.99 (around $42.17) per ticket and are strictly for 18 years and above since above since it involves alcoholic drinks.

Using cauldrons and other supplies, people will chop, grind, prepare ingredients, and follow instructions to create their potions that changes colors, bursts into flames, or smokes and bubbles. The Cauldron uses aeroponics and hydroponics to grow ingredients and real magical and carnivorous plants used throughout the experience such as Mandrakes, Foxglove, Monkey Jars, and Venus Flytraps.

Im a huge science and fantasy fiction geek. I was studying programming and design and I wanted to make what I was reading about in fantasy books real, said Matthew Cortland, founder of The Cauldron.

Read also: Harry Potter river cruise to set sail on River Thames

The Cauldron first started as a Kickstarter project before they opened a pop-up in London.

Now, we badly need apparate to this place and brew ourselves some Felix Felicis.The fifth Bali and Beyond Travel Fair (BBTF) will be held on June 26-30 at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) in Badung regency.

Organized by the Regional Representative Council (DPD) and the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA), the travel fair will focus on Exploring the Colors of Indonesia.

In addition to promoting Bali, the event also plans to expose Indonesias 10 most recommended tourist destinations, as well as the archipelagos cultural diversity as BBTF 2018 is expecting participants from 21 provinces to promote their respective regions.

ASITA head Ketut Ardana, told Kompas.com that BBTF 2018 was a business to business (btb) event and he expected it to be the biggest marketplace for travel in Indonesia.

Two hundred tour and travel agencies from 38 countries attended last years BBTF, he said on Monday. Our target this year is to welcome 400 tour and travel agencies, and as of today, 181 agencies from 42 countries have registered as buyers.

BBTF 2018 will also feature sellers from China, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, as well as Middle Eastern and European countries. Meanwhile, buyers will be divided into two categories, namely fully hosted and partially hosted. The former comprises tour operators who can bring in 10,000 travelers to Bali with the average expense of US$ 1,265 each per visit. Tour operators in this category will have most of their expenses covered, including full accommodation, airplane tickets to Bali and meals.

The Bali Tourism Boards head of tourism, Ida Ayu Indah, hopes the event will help sell tour packages that cover tourist villages. This will empower the villages and give the travelers a unique experience, she said.

This year, ASITA will be cooperating with Badung regency officials as co-host. According to Badung Tourism Board head I Made Badra, the regency supports this event with funding that also covers promotional expenses.

Read also: Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair 2018 eyes 80,000 visitors

Badung regency has also designed the Sasana Budaya building located at our official headquarters. The building will be completed in 2020 with the capacity of 15,000 people. It is projected to be the main BBTF venue after its completion, Badra said. (mut)On Robert Downey Jr.s birthday, and in the lead up to Avengers: Infinity War, lets take a look back at the legacy of RDJs Iron Man and what it means now in 2018.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe celebrated its 10th anniversary a few months ago, marking a decade since the release of Iron Man (2008), when superhero movies were reinvented for good.

Far from the grittiness of Nolans Batman Begins (2005) and the Ben Affleck Daredevil films, Jon Favreau's Iron Man gave us a quippy, funny hero, a brighter colour-palette, and far more feel-good fun.

The question, however, of whether that film would have enjoyed the same success today, was raised recently by Joe Robert Cole, who co-wrote the record-smashingly successful Black Panther (2018) along with director Ryan Coogler.

Cole appeared at a SXSW panel discussing how the current political and social climate, both in Hollywood and in the wider world, has impacted audience attitudes towards the superhero genre, reports IndieWire.

About Iron Man, Cole said, Think about where we are now, with this very vapid, unintelligent president, and our world is cracking on the edges because of that. Think back to Tony Stark, him being douchey, and that being okay.

If that character, Stark, was created in a movie today, I wonder if the response would be like, Oh, its cool that hes douchey and disrespectful to women  Thats fine. I think were at a different place. I think its a better place.

Hes right. Compare Tony Starks arrogant genius-playboy persona with TChalla (Chadwick Boseman)s open humility. Where Stark attitude towards women was dated even in 2008, TChalla actively surrounds himself with a plethora of women, each of whom he has a unique, respectful, and trusting relationship with.

Compare the joke of Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) taking out the trash in the morning - a.k.a. Tonys one night stand - to the complex and varied interactions between Nakia (Lupita Nyongo), Okoye (Danai Gurira), Shuri (Letitia Wright), and Ramonda (Angela Basset).

It puts the matter into stark (ha!) relief. Thats not to say that Iron Man doesnt have merit as a hero - not at all. Tonys always been a complicated hero riddled with alcoholism, self-doubt, and daddy issues. His emotional arcs, though convoluted of late, still have cathartic value.

However, Black Panther and the reinventions of Spiderman (Tom Holland) in Homecoming (2017) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in Ragnarok (2017), and the critical and commercial success of these films, proves something: our perspective on heroism is changing.

The arguably toxic, hyper-masculine ideals presented by Stark, and by Captain America (Chris Evans) and earlier iterations of Thor, are slowly being replaced by a different kind of leading man. The three latest films in the MCU have a noticeably different tone - rather than jaded and sarcastic, they present good-natured heroes with a noticeable lack of chips on their shoulders.

As Ragnarok director and all round legend Taika Waititi put it in an interview with The Independent, Thor and Loki are just two rich kids from outer space and we shouldn't really give a shit about what their problems are. And so he made Ragnarok a tongue-in-cheek romp, while simultaneously presenting a sharp examination of post-colonialism and the contemporary refugee crisis.

We should look back at Iron Man as the birth of a legacy, and praise it for what it did well in its contemporary context, but its clear that audiences are clamouring for something different now. With Avengers: Infinity War on the horizon, boasting a truly ridiculous number of heroes facing their biggest threat yet, it certainly isnt a huge leap to make that not all of them will make it out alive. Since we were robbed of a meaningful death in Captain America: Civil War (2016), there is rampant speculation regarding whether itll be Iron Man or Cap wholl bite the bullet first.

I say let them both go. Lets make room for Marvels first solo female hero in Captain Marvel (2019). Lets make room for Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) to pick up the mantle of Captain America. Lets make room for Black Panthers 3-film franchise.

Well always be grateful to Robert Down Jr. and everything hes done for the MCU, but its time to give the new  more relevant  kids the spotlight.

Avengers: Infinity War releases on April 26, distributed by Walt Disney Studios.Paul Harvey, University of Colorado

Martin Luther King Jr. has come to be revered as a hero who led a nonviolent struggle to reform and redeem the United States. His birthday is celebrated as a national holiday. Tributes are paid to him on his death anniversary each April, and his legacy is honored in multiple ways.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses marchers during his I Have a Dream speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. AP Photo

But from my perspective as a historian of religion and civil rights , the true radicalism of his thought remains underappreciated. The civil saint portrayed nowadays was, by the end of his life, a social and economic radical, who argued forcefully for the necessity of economic justice in the pursuit of racial equality.

Three particular works from 1957 to 1967 illustrate how Kings political thought evolved from a hopeful reformer to a radical critic.

Kings support for white moderates

For much of the 1950s, King believed that white southern ministers could provide moral leadership. He thought the white racists of the South could be countered by the ministers who took a stand for equality. At the time, his concern with economic justice was a secondary theme in his addresses and political advocacy.

Speaking at Vanderbilt University in 1957 , he professed his belief that there is in the white South more open-minded moderates than appears on the surface. He urged them to lead the region through its necessary transition to equal treatment for black citizens. He reassured all that the aim of the movement was not to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding.

King had hope for this vision. He had worked with white liberals such as Myles Horton , the leader of a center in Tennessee for training labor and civil rights organizers. King had developed friendships and crucial alliances with white supporters in other parts of the country as well. His vision was for the fulfillment of basic American ideals of liberty and equality.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

AP Photo/Richard Drew, file

By the early 1960s, at the peak of the civil rights movement, Kings views had evolved significantly. In early 1963, King came to Birmingham to lead a campaign for civil rights in a city known for its history of racial violence.

During the Birmingham campaign, in April 1963, he issued a masterful public letter explaining the motivations behind his crusade. It stands in striking contrast with his hopeful 1957 sermon.

His  Letter From a Birmingham Jail  responded to a newspaper advertisement from eight local clergymen urging King to allow the city government to enact gradual changes.

In a stark change from his earlier views, King devastatingly targeted white moderates willing to settle for order over justice. In an oppressive environment, the avoidance of conflict might appear to be order, but in fact supported the denial of basic citizenship rights, he noted.

We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive, King wrote. He argued how oppressors never voluntarily gave up freedom to the oppressed  it always had to be demanded by extremists for justice.

He wrote how he was gravely disappointed with the white moderate  who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another mans freedom. They were, he said, a greater enemy to racial justice than were members of the white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other white racist radicals.

Call for economic justice

By 1967, Kings philosophy emphasized economic justice as essential to equality. And he made clear connections between American violence abroad in Vietnam and American social inequality at home.

Exactly one year before his assassination in Memphis, King stood at one of the best-known pulpits in the nation, at Riverside Church in New York . There, he explained how he had come to connect the struggle for civil rights with the fight for economic justice and the early protests against the Vietnam War.

Now it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If Americas soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the hopes of men the world over.

AP Photo

He angered crucial allies. King and President Lyndon Johnson, for example, had been allies in achieving significant legislative victories in 1964 and 1965. Johnsons Great Society launched a series of initiatives to address issues of poverty at home. But beginning in 1965, after the Johnson administration increased the number of U.S. troops deployed in Vietnam, Kings vision grew radical.

King continued with a searching analysis of what linked poverty and violence both at home and abroad. While he had spoken out before about the effects of colonialism, he now made the connection unmistakably clear. He said:

I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Vietnam.

King concluded with the famous words on the fierce urgency of now, by which he emphasized the immediacy of the connection between economic injustice and racial inequality.

The radical King

Kings I Have a Dream, speech at the March on Washington in August 1963 serves as the touchstone for the annual King holiday. But Kings dream ultimately evolved into a call for a fundamental redistribution of economic power and resources. Its why he was in Memphis, supporting a strike by garbage workers , when he was assassinated in April 1968.

He remained, to the end, the prophet of nonviolent resistance . But these three key moments in Kings life show his evolution over a decade.

This remembering matters more than ever today. Many states are either passing or considering measures that would make it harder for many Americans to exercise their fundamental right to vote. It would roll back the huge gains in rates of political participation by racial minorities made possible by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At the same time, there is a persistent wealth gap between blacks and whites.

Only sustained government attention can address these issues  the point King was stressing later in his life.CCTV-footage showed Jessica Marie Cross, 27, leaning into the drive-thru window in Maryland last November and reaching inside to pour herself a drink. Following this, she then climbed out of her car and crawled through the window, seemingly unaware or not bothered that her brazen actions were being captured on the CCTV camera.

Credit: Howard County Police Department

The store was closed at the time, giving Cross the opportunity to help herself to whatever she wanted without being interrupted. As Cross left the drive-thru, she pulled her black top over her head in an attempt to disguise herself and took away another cardboard box, allegedly filled with food. However, she dropped the box while trying to make a hasty escape crawling back through the drive-thru window.

Credit: Howard County Police Department

Police said Cross spent around 35 minutes inside and is further suspected of stealing $1,400 in cash that was reported missing the following day.Cross was also sentenced to over three years of probation which includes undergoing mental health treatment as well as treatment for drug and alcohol addiction.Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here

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Home PageMGM optioned Hiding In Time, a three-issue mini-series from 2007.

Source: Deadline

Executives at MGM Television were ecstatic this week as the network announced it acquired the only unoptioned title at Image Comics, 2007's Hidden In Time. The three-issue mini-series, written by Christopher E. Long and illustrated by Ryan Winn, was discovered by janitors cleaning the basement of the publisher's Portland headquarters.

As the janitors were ready to throw out the dusty comics, Jim Valentino, whose imprint Shadowline published the original series, grabbed the comics and said, "Like everyone else, I forgot this existed."



Hiding in Time, is set in the near future, where time travel has been cracked and the Witness Protection Program begins relocating those who turn in State's Evidence to various times in history. Abraham Smith is one such witness, relocated to the past, living a life that's not his own, centuries before he's even born. When a witness within the Program is murdered anachronistically, a conspiracy is revealed and Abraham's safety is called into question.

Long is set to co-executive produce, along with Ray Miller and David Server will serve as producers. Lloyd Braun executive produces with MGM Television's Andrew Mittman.

Ironically, while the publisher is celebrating the importance of artists, it looks like Ryan Winn is not involved in the adaptation of the series he drew.Milbank Area, De Smet get homecoming wins, top Week 6's list of top football performers

Homecoming wins are a big deal and thats why two area teams that capped a week of festivities with victories  Milbank Area and top-rated Class 9A De Smet  head the Public Opinions Week 6 list of top area football performers.Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Showers in the morning, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 20C. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mainly clear skies. Low 12C. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.ATTLEBORO  With big tax increases looming to pay for the new high school, the city council is mulling ways to help senior citizens on fixed incomes.

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.Gough: Coming into its own Editors note: This is part 2 of a 3-part series analyzing the challenges the Gough community must tackle in order to overcome its stagnated state. Tackling Goughs issues requires more than just the willingness to change and grow. There is a complacency attached to the area where decades ago land...

RONDA RICH RETURNS After several years of being absent from the pages of the True Citizen, well-known columnist, author and speaker Ronda Rich has returned. Rich is noted for writing about her deep Southern roots with much humor and grace. Columnist Don Lively told the Citizen that he is very happy to see...

Shadrack Street project heads for the finish line We can actually get excited now, City Manager Valerie Kirkland told the City Council Members Monday. After many pandemicrelated material delays, the Shadrack Street Project is finally headed toward completion. Public Works Director Jody Ellison announced to the panel that the fusion machine showed up and the fusion tech is...

Governor appoints new judge to Augusta Circuit Governor Brian P. Kemp announced September 17, his appointment of Judge Amanda Heath to fill a Superior Court vacancy for the Augusta Judicial Circuit Heath will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of The Honorable Carl C. Brown, Jr. as Superior Court Judge of the Augusta Judicial Circuit. Heath...Mercy Corps is an InternationalNGO that exists to alleviate poverty and oppression by helping people buildsecure, productive and just communities. Mercy Corps has been fully registeredin Uganda as an operational NGO. Currently Mercy Corps has an office in Kampalaand is implementing Food Security programs which comprise of Water andSanitation, Livelihood and Agriculture and Conflict Mitigation ManagementProgram in North and North Eastern Uganda. We implement programs in thenorthern districts of Pader, Kitgum, Agago, Lamwo, Kaabong, Abim and Kotidowith funding from USAID, USDA, Walmart Foundation, SDC, DFID as well as otherprivate donations.Organisation: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR)

Position No.: 10028918

Vacancy Notice: 020/2018

Duty Station: Mbarara, 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 ICT Officer is a technical position within the

UNHCR operation. Direct supervision is normally exercised by an ICT Officer or

Administrative Officer. The incumbent implements the ICT operational plan in a

well-defined geographical area and provides technical guidance to locally

recruited staff. Internally, the incumbent liaises directly with own Service

Delivery Team on a daily basis as well as with end users to clarify, analyse

and resolve reported issues. S/he may also liaise with external service

providers, as required, to resolve escalated infrastructure issues. Moreover,

the incumbent interacts with (Senior) Regional ICT Officer (if any) and Senior

ICT Officer (ICT Services and Emergency Support) at the ICT Service Centre in

Amman for technical guidance.



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:

Participate in the assessment of

operational and security infrastructure needs in each UNHCR office in the

area of responsibility (AOR).

Provide support in the implementation of

the ICT operations plan to ensure that all equipment is in good working

conditions at all times as to meet the ICT needs of the offices.

Monitor and coordinate the work of other

ICT staff as directed by the Head of Offices in accordance with the

standards set by Headquarters.

Provide coaching and training to ICT staff

and users. Draft procedures and instructions to promote a better

understanding of the use of the ICT equipment.

Actively participate in the assessment of

security related projects in coordination with the Field Security Advisor

and assists in the formulation of recommendations on security

communications.

Promote relation with UNHCR implementing

partners to enhance communication and avoid duplication of efforts.

Work closely with the National Regulatory

Authority to ensure that licenses and permissions required to operate

UNHCR telecommunications networks are granted.

Maintain an up-to-date inventory of all

ICT infrastructure & equipment under AOR by accurately and promptly

updating the DIST Central Information Management Tool (CIMT) database.

Carry out missions for new installations

and routine maintenance tours of ICT equipment in Field Offices within the

AOR.

Undertake other tasks or assignments

within his/her area of competence as directed by Supervisor/Head of

Service









Key Performance Indicators:

Decide on appropriate resolution to

incidents / problems.

Escalate issues to supervisor if incident

/ problem cannot be resolved within scope of responsibility

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal candidate for the United Nations UNHCR Assistant ICT Officer

job opportunity should hold relevant qualifications

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: 4th April 2018All suitably qualified andinterested candidates should send one merged PDF with a cover letter, academicdocuments and CV ( not more than 6 pages, less than 20MB) a cell recommendationletter to careers@watotochurch.com (Subject Line: Strategic Initiatives TeamLeader, (Candidate  First Name, Last Name).Organization: UN WOMEN

Duty Station: Uganda

Reports to: Programme Specialist and Head of Sub-Office

Post Level: SB-3

About US:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter

of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against

women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality

between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human

rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Uganda has continued to

accommodate refugees fleeing from surrounding countries in the region. Inflows

of refugees from the conflict-ridden areas of South Sudan and the Democratic

Republic of the Congo continued as of August 2017. A total of 1,021,903 South

Sudanese arrived in Uganda (as per 31st August 2017, UNHCR) due to violence or

persecution, 86% of whom are women and children.

Job Summary: The Gender

& Humanitarian Project Officer analyzes political, social and economic

trends and supports formulation, management, operation, humanitarian partner

support and evaluation of programme activities within his/her portfolio and

provides advisory services to partners in local government, UN and CSOs in West

Nile and Northern Uganda. Through the Gender and Humanitarian Specialist,

provides analysis for formulation of strategies and briefings to senior

management while being based in Gulu with regular travel to the Refugee

settlements in Northern Uganda.



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:

Technical Support:

Under the guidance of the supervisor,

facilitates the organisation, coordination, monitoring and reporting on

the activities of UN Women Humanitarian Projects in West Nile and Northern

Uganda and partners in relation to implementation of the projects;

Review and analyze project components,

develop project resource profiles and timelines.

Assess delivery issues and work with

national counterparts to build common understanding and coordination on

project activities.

Participate in the formulation, design,

implementation, monitoring and reporting of UN Women Humanitarian

Programmes in West Nile and northern Uganda;

Provide technical advice and support to

implementing partners to apply lessons learnt and recommendations from

project evaluation;

Ensure quality and timely implementation

of the programme, including documentation of good practices, success

stories as well as high quality and timely reporting for results;

In close collaboration with partners,

monitor programme delivery and take timely corrective action as necessary,

in line with UN Women policies and procedures;

Maintain budget awareness and ensure funds

are utilised in line with agreed plan and budgets. Entering projects into

Atlas, finalization of contribution agreements; determination of required

revisions; coordination of the mandatory and budget re-phasing exercises,

closure of projects through review;

Financial and substantive monitoring and

evaluation of the projects, identification of operational and financial

problems, development of solutions;

Maintain awareness of contractual

obligations with donors and ensure full compliance of reporting

requirements;

Conduct environmental policy scanning on a

continuous basis for West Nile and Northern Uganda and regularly update

and advise the head office accordingly.

Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting:

Work in close collaboration with the

Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist  collect, compile, analyse and share

periodic data/ information on programme performance to inform continued

programme efficiency and effectiveness;

Ensure effective application of RBM tools,

establishment of management targets (BSC) and monitoring achievement of

results, in close collaboration with the M&E Specialist;

Ensure that aggregate reports are

regularly prepared and submitted on time.

Administrative and Miscellaneous Duties:

Ensure all travel undertaken complies with

all requirements for travel and is approved in line with the travel plan;

Participate in writing program proposals;

Other duties as required.

Key Performance Indicators:

Timely and quality inputs to programme

design

Timely and quality inputs to workplans and

budgets

Adherence to UN Women standards and rules

Timely monitoring and tracking of

programme results and finances

Timely organization of events

Number of knowledge products developed









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal candidate for the United Nations

UN WOMEN Gender & Humanitarian Project Officer job opportunity should

hold a Masters degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/

womens studies, international development, or a related field is required

Seven years of relevant experience at the

national or international level in gender equality and womens empowerment

programming and implementation as well as providing management advisory

services, hands-on experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of

development projects;

Demonstrate analytical and advocacy skills

on gender equality, womens rights and empowerment of women issues

especially with regard to policy advocacy in line with security council

resolution 1325, CEDAW and BFPA;

Familiarity and experience with UN

inter-agency coordination processes and or results-based management for

advancing gender equality and womens rights would be an asset;

Strong links with national networks on

gender equality and womens rights in Uganda;

Experience in capacity building, gender

mainstreaming and gender auditing required;

Experience in the usage of computers and

office software packages, experience in handling of web-based management

systems.

Language Requirements: Fluency

in written and spoken English is a must. Advanced spoken level of local

languages in West Nile and Northern Uganda is required;

Basic working knowledge in any of the UN

working languages in Uganda is an added advantage.

Core Values:

Respect for Diversity

Integrity

Professionalism

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender

Issues

Accountability

Creative Problem Solving

Effective Communication

Inclusive Collaboration

Stakeholder Engagement

Leading by Example

Functional Competencies:

Programme formulation, implementation,

monitoring and evaluation skills

Knowledge of Results Based Management

Ability to gather and interpret data,

reach logical conclusions and present findings

Good analytical skills

Good knowledge of Women, Peace, Security

and Humanitarian Action

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender,

nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups

and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications

will be treated with the strictest confidence.

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested candidates who so desire to join

the United Nations WOMEN in the aforementioned capacity should endeavor to

Apply Online by Clicking on the link below. Please further review job

requirements and if competent Click Apply Now.

Deadline: 12th April 2018



find us on our facebook page For more of the latest jobs, please visit http://www.theugandanjobline.com orfind us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJoblineAn IDF patrol along the Gaza border fence on Monday, 17 Nissan, discovered a back pack that contained firebombs ready for use. The bag was left near an area near an IDF outpost.

It is believed the bag was left by someone during the violent clashes between Gazans and IDF soldiers on Friday.

An Israeli military official commented, explaining the finding of the bag is yet another proof that the event was a planned terror event and not an innocent march by civilians as is claimed by Gaza officials.

Some 20,000 Gazans gathered along the border fence on Friday and engaged in confrontations with IDF soldiers, with many trying to cut the fence and enter Israel. The result according to Gaza Health Ministry officials was 16-18 dead and 1,200 wounded, including 46 who remain in serious condition.

Gaza leaders are working to arrange for an international probe into the events in another effort to isolate Israel in the international community.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)IDF forces during the night, working with the Shin Bet, Border Police and the Israel Police arrested 10 wanted Palestinians in Yehuda and Shomron region.

The suspects are suspected of being involved in terrorist activities, and violent disturbances against civilians and soldiers.

These operations are taking place literally daily as they provide quality intelligence data by questioning detainees, as well as curtailing acts of terror throughout Yehuda and Shomron.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)Sir Martin Sorrell once said that he would only leave WPP if the board were to shoot him. He wasn't joking.

The question to ask now, in the light of the astonishing allegations against him regarding the improper use of company funds and personal misconduct, is whether that moment has come.

Or has he shot himself? The WPP boss denies the charges 'unreservedly'.

What's more, sources close to the chief executive suggest that the allegations are a smokescreen, that they have been cobbled together as the result of a vicious boardroom rift over strategy, and over who is to succeed him.

Denial: WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell has been accused of improper use of company funds and personal misconduct

Those close to the board deny this, claiming there is no disagreement between directors and Sorrell over WPP's future and that, despite the trading problems over the last year, they still back him.

They also point out that if Sorrell is cleared, then it would be difficult for them to work together again now that he has indirectly accused the board of being against him.

Who knows for sure what is going on?

What is clear is that the WPP board, headed by chairman Roberto Quarta, is taking the whistleblower's accusations extremely seriously.

No fewer than three magic circle law firms have been drafted in to handle the investigation which, according to insiders, is looking at the potential misuse of WPP company expenses and 'behavioural issues'.

Whether Sorrell can survive this bruising  even if he is cleared  is impossible to judge without knowing more of the facts. But suggestions that Quarta and the board are using this as a big stick with which to oust him appear wide of the mark.

And, frankly, this would be a rather daft instrument to use even if they wanted him out because of the damage being done to WPP's reputation and its share price, under pressure from recent profit warnings.

As befitting Sorrell's idiosyncratic rule at WPP, he has no contract with the company and can leave at a moment's notice  and vice versa. Insiders also say that succession is not an issue as there are several internal candidates who have been selected and are being groomed for the top role should Sorrell leave, or decide to leave.

What the board has not done, however, is look outside yet because external benchmarking is only ever carried out once it is known whether the chief executive is about to leave.

If the charges turn out to be correct, he would not be able to say he has not been warned by critics about the potential damage of running WPP as a personal fiefdom. Yet even his critics have put up with what has at times appeared arrogant behaviour because of his undoubted brilliance.

Without question, he has created a remarkable marketing powerhouse, the biggest in the world, making fortunes for employees and shareholders.

He has not done badly either, his own share stake is worth 500million. And he has earned hundreds of millions of pounds more from controversial share schemes.

His 70.4million pay cheque in 2015 was one of the biggest in UK corporate history.

You could say, too, that Sorrell enjoyed courting controversy, attacking those who dared query his pay with the same ruthlessness he applied to turning WPP into a 14billion giant.

In his eyes, WPP was his baby: and he did anything to sell his baby, even dressing up in pink bows on US TV chat shows if it meant good PR.

When investors claimed he acted as an owner, he hit back, saying he was an owner.

The problem was he often behaved as THE owner, whether claiming for his wife's travel a couple of years ago to his disregard for corporate governance.

WPP has two executives on board  Sorrell and the finance director: the other nine are non-executives. Nothing illegal, but unusual.

The board may not be questioning Sorrell's strategy but shareholders are doing so. Many are frustrated by the 27 per centdrop in the shares after last year's tough trading conditions as companies continue to slash advertising spend in the digital era.

Some investors mutter that breaking up the empire is the best way to release value. Whoever fired the shots against Sir Martin, this might be time for a new gunslinger.

Westfield's allure

Close to 1m people visited Westfield's two London sites at Stratford and Shepherd's Bush, now Europe's biggest shopping centre, over the Easter holidays.

As well as the shops, the star attractions are the cinemas, cafes and children's play areas. Just shows that if you get the formula right, the High Street does not need to die out.Concerns: US pop star Taylor Swift withheld her music from Spotify for almost three years

Spotify has gone public for 21billion in one of the most controversial stock market debuts in history.

The music streaming service, which lets its 157m users listen to a catalogue of 35m songs, sparked a trading storm with its unorthodox float last night.

Musicians including Kiss bassist Gene Simmons and Bush front man Gavin Rossdale say the firms arrival has ushered in a new era for music.

But financiers fear its radical approach could upset the balance of power on Wall Street and break the stranglehold of the big investment banks.

Spotify shunned a normal initial public offering where investment banks oversee the issuance of new stock and line up buyers for it, in exchange for massive fees.

The firm instead opted for a rarely-used direct listing where no new shares are created but existing ones are placed onto the open market, allowing investors to buy and sell them freely.

This meant it did not raise any new money on the New York Stock Exchange but existing investors were able to cash out and sell some of their holdings for a profit.

Bankers including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are expected to pocket around 21million, far lower than normal.

Chief executive Daniel Ek told staff: Normally companies ring bells. Normally companies spend their day doing interviews on the trading floor touting why their stock is a good investment.

Normally companies dont pursue a direct listing.

Spotify has never been a normal kind of company. Instead, we will be working on trying to build, plan, and imagine for the long term.

With no set offer price, traders were forced to huddle together on the floor of the exchange and thrash out how much they thought the Stockholm-based business is worth before dealing could begin.

It meant that the stock did not start changing hands until 12.45pm in the US  the longest wait on the maiden day of trading since records began.

But following a lengthy haggling process, around a third of the companys 178.1m shares were eventually released onto the market for $165.90 each.

It is considerably higher than the $132 previously expected, suggesting huge demand for the stock from investors hoping it will emulate the success of tech titans such as Facebook. The firm is worth more than Twitter, which was valued at 15.3billion last night.

The listing, which also saw a mix-up where the New York exchange accidentally flew a Swiss flag in honour of the company instead of a Swedish one, will be watched closely by other private tech firms such as Uber as a possible low-cost model they could follow.

Wall Street banks fearful of losing business, however, will be looking on anxiously.

Launched in 2008, Spotify claims it offers musicians a way to earn money from the internet and avoid becoming victims of piracy by killing off illegal downloads.

The business makes its money through adverts between songs, and from 71m subscribers who pay 9.99-a-month for a premium service without adverts which lets users listen to music offline.

But despite revenues of 3.6billion in 2017, losses at the firm climbed to 1.1billion last year. Founders Ek, 35, and 49-year-old Martin Lorentzon own 21 per cent of the stock worth 4.4billion.

But they have followed other tech barons by refusing to relinquish control, with special shares that give them more than 80 per cent of the voting rights.

It is not the only controversial aspect of the business, which has suffered a string of high-profile spats with stars over whether it deprives them of money from album sales.

Taylor Swift withheld her music from Spotify for almost three years, saying she felt that artists were not being fairly paid, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead has voiced similar concerns.

Simmons said yesterday the internet had completely changed the music industry but that Spotify itself is not to blame.

Artists have gotten the rug pulled out from under them, he said. New artists are getting slaughtered.

Spotify, on the other hand, claims it is partly responsible for the fact that revenue from recorded music has started growing again following a period where it fell sharply due to online piracy.Troubled drinks supplier Conviviality has sold its wholesale arm to C&C, the Irish cider giant that makes Magners and Bulmers, through a pre-pack administration today.

Confirmation of the deal comes after C&C this morning said it was in advanced discussions to buy several wholesale brands from the Bargain Booze owner, including Matthew Clark and Bibendum - which Conviviality acquired only a couple of years ago - as well as Catalyst, Peppermint, Elastic and Walker & Wodehouse.

Bargain Booze will not be included in the deal as it is part of Conviviality's retail division, which is still up for sale - although a deal to get rid of the more profitable wholesale division puts the off licence chain's future in doubt.

C&C is set to buy Conviviality's wholesale division, which includes wine specialist Bibendum

It comes as Conviviality, which supplies 23,000 pubs and restaurants like JD Wetherspoon, confirmed plans to enter administration last week after a string of profit warnings and an unexpected 30million tax bill.

Under the deal, which has received the financial support also of drinks giant AB InBev, C&C will acquire Convivialitys wholesale business for a nominal sum.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said the sale will provide some much needed cash for Conviviality.

But he added: 'Its not looking good for Conviviality, whenever the administrators are called in it is usually a sign the company is being wound down. The survival of the company could depend on their ability to sell-off other assets.'

Michael Mulligan, partner and insolvency specialist at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, said Conviviality's near-collapse was indicative of the fragile state of the UKs retail and hospitality and leisure sectors.

He said: 'Matthew Clark and Bibendum have been offered a reprieve but Conviviality is not out of the woods yet. Whilst a deal is on the cards, the business is still teetering on the brink of administration.

'Convivialitys retail operations, Bargain Booze and Wine Rack, may not be attractive propositions for buyers. Consumer spending is dropping and high street retailers are coming under increasing pressure from restrictive rents and rates. There is sure to be some interest, but at what price for unsecured creditors?'

Bargain Booze is part of Conviviality's retail division, which is still up for sale

Conviviality bought drinks wholesaler Matthew Clark in October 2015 for 200million and wine specialist Bibendum for 60million in May 2016 as it embarked on an acquisition spree, which with hindsight seems to have been over-ambitious.

Conviviality also bought newsagent chain Central Convenience from Palmer and Harvey earlier this year for 25million.

The firm announced it was preparing to file for administration last week, putting 26,000 jobs at risk, after it was plunged into financial chaos in mid March.

Having already issued two profit warnings after margins came under pressure from acquisitions, the company revealed it owed 30million in taxes but could not raise money to pay it, which saw it forced it to suspend trading in shares and cancel its dividend.

New owner: C&C is the Irish cider giant that makes Magners and Bulmers

Stephen Glancey, C&C chief executive, said this of his firm's deal to buy Conviviality's wholesale arm: We know the Matthew Clark and Bibendum businesses very well.

They are great businesses with unparalleled on-trade market access, a wide range of supplier relationships and supported by a knowledgeable and loyal employee base.

The last few weeks have been challenging for employees, customers and suppliers alike. We hope today's announcement can put an end to this period of disruption and uncertainty.

The demise of Conviviality's wholesale arms had been foreseen by some of its suppliers, who noted a spike in the number of Winding Up orders issued by Matthew Clark in the second half of last year.

Such court orders force struggling firms into administration to allow creditors to collect debts.

One supplier told The Mail on Sunday recently: The collapse in restaurant bookings has been worsening since well before Christmas so why would the board take until now to realise it?Mark Newton-Jones was dismissed from the ailing business as Mothercare

Mothercare fired its chief executive yesterday morning just minutes before his replacement was announced to the stock market.

Mark Newton-Jones was dismissed from the ailing business as Mothercare quickly ushered in David Wood, a former Tesco director and the managing director of the US supermarket chain Kmart.

Mothercare's chairman Alan Parker confirmed that Newton-Jones, 49, had been dismissed yesterday morning after the board unanimously decided to replace him.

Parker said: 'I spoke to Mark and I think he understands and appreciates why this decision has been taken but nevertheless these things are a surprise when they happen.

'We have looked at the results over the last few years and frankly we have been disappointed. The share price, the performance of the company and the results have not been what anybody wanted, and sooner or later the time has come for the board to take a decision on that.

'Although we recognise that Mark has done a good job we think we can do even better going forward.'

Parker added that there were no plans to change the strategy undertaken by Newton-Jones during his four years running the business.

'The problem has been in the delivery and execution and that's where the strategy has not worked quite as well as it could have,' he said. 'At the moment the brief is do what we do and do it better.'

Wood, 48, has been roped in with the challenge of breathing life back into Mothercareafter it was forced to call in the accountants last month to advise on refinancing arrangements with its lenders.

He will be tasked with staving off a collapse of the company and returning it to profitability after issuing two profit warnings. Its share price has plummeted more than 76 per cent since the start of the year.

The quick appointment of Wood did little to calm those jitters with shares falling again yesterday by 4.8 per cent to17.38p.

After graduating with a degree in economics from Portsmouth University, Wood started his career working in marketing for the consumer goods giant Unilever.

He joined Tesco in 2007 where he was later appointed to turn around its Hungarian business, which saw him lead the division to record sales, profits and market share growth within two years.

He eventually became managing director for Tesco's global health and wellness division before becoming group president of US supermarket Kmart's $3billion grocery retail and pharmaceutical business.

During his three-year tenure at Kmart, Wood closed hundreds of stores to return the company to profit growth.

The new chief lives in Hertfordshire with his wife, Rachel, and three children, Thomas, Eleanor and Madeleine.

Wood will get a salary of 430,000 but his long-term bonuses have not been set yet.KWANYAMAZANE  Never forget the person who has made you what you are today. As South African pastor Reckem Mahlangu, the leader of the Five Assemblies of God Ministries, said these words, Sipho Big Fish Makhabane could not contain his emotions. He faced down, covered his face with his hands and cried.



This happened at the church premises at Kwanyamazane in Nelspruit.

Early last week, Makhabane got a call from Pastor Mahlangu, inviting him to attend the last service of his churchs Easter convention. The service was held last Sunday.

He insisted that he should attend without fail, not mentioning the reason why he wanted him to be there. Mahlangu called Makhabane four times still insisting that he should not miss the service.



Honour



After many calls, Makhabane then decided to honour the invitation. Little did he know that the pastor wanted to give him an award in honour for his contribution towards the growth of the church.

As soon as Makhabane arrived, Mahlangu did not allow him to even take a seat and instead ushered him towards the stage. He asked him to stand in front of the over 1 500 congregants.

He then called three other church members; namely John Shabangu who happens to be a businessman, Ronny Sikhondze, who is a police officer and Bongiwe Malope, a nurse, to join Makhabane.



First to be addressed by the pastor was Makhabane. He told Makhabane that as he was looking at how the church had grown, he remembered well Makhabanes contribution towards the church growth over the years.

Mahlangu said Makhabane played a major role in making sure that the church became what it was today.



Makhabane was described as one of the founding church members who contributed in touching a number of souls, resulting in people joining the church. This saw the churchs congregants grow from 200 to over 3 000.

Because of the growth of your ministry, you had to move but still you never forgot where you started. I am humbled by all that you have done for the church, said Mahlangu.



Wisdom



He added, I pray that God continues to bless you and to give you more wisdom as you continue with your journey.

Makhabane got emotional and cried. He was clearly shocked and at a loss for words and simply received the appreciation award from the pastor.Sir,



I am a youth who could not get education in Swaziland because my parents did not have money to pay for my fees. Most Swazi students are leaving Swaziland to seek for a better future in the neighbouring countries (mainly South Africa) because they want free education.



So much money is spent on luxurious lifestyles for people who spend money like its nothing while most Swazi people are uneducated because of high fees; others are unemployed because of poor job opportunities.

So what is there to celebrate about the so called 50/50 celebrations? What is there to celebrate when my mother could not get a piece of land to build her home because she does not have a husband?

What is there to celebrate about the 50/50 when they claim that government does not have money when I tried to ask for help to pay for my studies? Students are suspended because they protest in demand for their right to education, the right to freedom of assembly, scholarship, allowances and against the poor facilities in their institutions of higher learning.



Millions will be spent on the 50/50 celebrations while we still struggle as Swazi people. Hospitals are too far from poor people; and they receive poor treatment. There are no job opportunities, taxes are still going up, yet government says we must celebrate 50 years of independence.



How long should we turn a blind eye on what is happening in our country? How long should I be a prisoner of my own thoughts because I am scared to go to jail? How long should we sit back while people are stealing our money and land? If it is a democratic country; where do I vote and how does it benefit me? Why am I being arrested for my freedom of expression if I claim my democracy? Why am I being arrested and victimised for voicing out the wrong things that are happening in the country?



Sibonakaliso Maziya

Big BendMBABANE  Mama Winnie will get her throne on the other side. President of the proscribed Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) Mario Masuku said these words during an interview yesterday about the demise of African National Congress (ANC) veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who was aged 81. Madikizela-Mandela died peacefully on Monday.



Masuku, who shared that he knew Madikizela-Mandela personally, described her as a principled and strong woman. He said she never compromised with her principles and was straight forward with countries which dictated on their people. He stated that Mama Winnie, as she was affectionately known, suffered a lot because of her principles.



Masuku described Madikizela-Mandelas death as a great loss to the globe and said the world would be poor without her. He also described her as one of the strongest women in the struggle. He narrated how she suffered in the hands of oppressors during the apartheid era as she was taken away from her children and harassed because of her principles. He added that she was only allowed a few minutes to visit her then jailed husband Nelson Mandela on Robin Island and was further imprisoned and banished from the town of Branford.



We, in PUDEMO, wish to honour a person who stood for her principles; she never compromised. In particular I want to note that comrade Winnie was straight forward about issues of countries which are undemocratic, countries which practised dictatorship, Masuku said.

He also described Madikizela-Mandela as a colossal person in terms of politics. He said she would meet many stalwarts in the struggle and would be missed as she ran her race.



According to The Herald, a South African publication, in 1969 Madikizela-Mandela became one of the first detainees under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act of 1967. The publication states that she was detained for 18 months in solitary confinement in a condemned cell at Pretoria Central Prison before being charged under the Suppression of Communism Act of 1950.



Swaziland has a similar Act  Suppression of Terrorism Act, 2008 which is being challenged in court for being unconstitutional. Masuku and other political activists were arrested under this Act and are out on bail. Speaking about the Act in general and Madikizela-Mandelas experience with it and what it means for them, Masuku said such laws of South Africa were only meant to silence the proponents of freedom and the good life of the people. He said, however, steadfast people were needed like the ANC veteran whom he said was in grieving for a long time. He said despite all her challenges, she never cried over anything.MANZINI  After failing to discipline four Grade VI pupils, the new Mbuluzi Primary School head teacher opted to open a case of assault against them.

Cedric Mbingo turned to the police for help supposedly in fear for his life.



This follows an incident that happened on Monday March 26, 2018 at the school.

Sources said a group of male Grade VI pupils allegedly ganged up on him when he tried to punish them. According to one of the implicated pupils, it was during Religious Education period that violence almost erupted.

The pupils said Mbingo taught them this subject and on the fateful day, he did an exercise where pupils had to orally answer questions.



*Dumsani said those who failed to correctly answer Mbingos questions were made to stand in front of the class, against the chalkboard.

This, according to the pupil, disturbed the rest of the scholars because they were obstructed from seeing what was written on the board, yet they were supposed to write a quiz.

As a result, the pupil said he and three other classmates asked the standing pupils to sit down so that they could be able to see what was on the board.



Shouting



However, this did not sit well with Mbingo, who allegedly told the shouting boys that he was the only teacher in the classroom and that he was the one with authority to say whether the pupils should sit down or not.

The pupil further stated that Mbingo ordered that the four of them should go to his office to be punished for being insolent.



Even though the pupils went to the head teachers office, when Mbingo wanted to punish them, Dumsani said they refused because they felt they had done nothing wrong.

When the head teacher failed to beat us, he wrote our names on a small notebook then returned back to class.



We followed him with the intention to continue with the lesson but to our surprise, he told us not to set foot in his class, Dumisani said.

The scholar said even on this episode, the four of them first resisted to leave the classroom because they thought Mbingo was irrational about a trivial matter.

This supposedly angered the head teacher who stomped towards the four pupils who were by the door and ordered them out of class.

*Not real nameMBABANE  Speaker Themba Msibi wants his four siblings jailed for 30 days for contempt of court.



He claimed that they (siblings) continued to harass and threaten him despite that there was a court order interdicting them from doing so.

Msibi has since approached the High Court where is among other prayers seeking an order interdicting them from perpetrating acts of violence against him.



The four siblings whom the speaker wants to show cause why they should not be incarcerated are Londwengu Msibi, Nester Koto Gama (nee Msibi), Maguzumbela Msibi and Mafola Msibi.

He is further praying for an order interdicting them from calling a meeting which is slated for April 7, 2018 at his homestead and house at Ngudzeni.



The applicant (Themba) wants the court to direct the police to assist in effecting the court order it issued on October 30, 2009.

Msibi highlighted that the court order of 2009 interdicted the respondents (four siblings) from interfering with any of his properties situated at his homestead at Ngudzeni.



The court order, which was issued by former High Court (now Supreme Court Judge) Jacobus Annandale, also interdicted the four from holding meetings at the speakers homestead at Ngudzeni.

The speaker submitted that what necessitated him to again seek legal recourse against the four was because they were allegedly defying the court order.

In his founding affidavit, Msibi stated that on or about January 20, 2017, the four called a meeting which was held at Ngudzeni, his parental home.



He informed the court that the meeting took place in his three-bedroom house which he personally built.

According to Msibi, the four did this without his consent and in the process defied a court order he obtained on October 30, 2009.



These are allegations contained in an affidavit whose veracity is still to be tested in court and the respondents are yet to file their papers in the event they are opposing the application.

I submit that the four again called another meeting which was also held in my house and thereby defying the court order, alleged Msibi.



He went on to alleged that Maguzumbela had permitted his son Mcegane and one elderly man from Magele area, to reside in his(Themba) house in disregard of the court order.

According to Msibi, Maguzumbela would allegedly from time to time use his house to accommodate his friend, Anthony Khoza and his labourers.MBABANE  Users of the famous Morning After Pill are now required to furnish some pharmacists with their personal details prior to being given the emergency contraceptive.



This is partly meant to assist frequent users of the pill to desist from overly using it while also providing counselling on the dangers of unprotected sexual intercourse.

Most pharmacists are no longer keen to easily offer the pill over the counter but instead prefer to dispense it to avoid abuse due to its dangers.



Dispensing the pill means creating a profile for the client in the system and the medication is administered through that report once it has been formed.

The information which is required by most of the pharmacists includes the clients name, address and personal identity number among other things.

Any form of identification is used by the pharmacists.



Linkmed Pharmacy at Spar is one of those pharmacies that no longer offer the pill over the counter but instead capture the data of the client. Pharmacist Donovan Dube said with the system, it was impossible to repeatedly issue the medication to the same client as it immediately raised a flag when the client comes for the service again in a short space of time.

Dube said once the flag had been raised regarding a client, they were then obliged to advise on other contraceptive options available. We have discovered from our observation that people do not get the correct information regarding the various options they have on contraceptives and end up engaging in unprotected sex, said Dube.



According to Dube, most people got information from friends or other ordinary citizens and in most cases, such information was incorrect. He said because of fear, most people ended up engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse and have no other option but to purchase the emergency pills which were not always effective but convenient for the client at that particular moment.

Dube said the danger of the repeated usage of the pill was that it ended up failing and a person could fall pregnant in the process.

This, he said could result in the client opting for other options such as backstreet abortion.



There are so many dangers surrounding abortion, he added.

Dube said beyond assisting their clients, they advised and also warned them on the dangers of repeated usage of emergency contraceptives which include liver damage and an irregular menstrual cycle.

He said they had no controls or restrictions to prevent the sale of the pill as it was not addictive but people needed to be warned and educated about it.



The Morning After Pill is an emergency contraceptive and there is that chance of it not being effective following frequent dose, he said.MANZINI  A top gospel artists son has been left without a leg after being hit by a train as he sat on the railway line.



Zweli, son to Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane, the founder and leader of the countrys leading gospel group, Mduduzi Nezinceku Zamagawugawu, is currently fighting for his life at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital following the accident.



The incident that has left most gospel music followers shocked occurred on Monday night.

Apart from being Gawuzelas son, Zweli, who is in his 30s, is also a key member of the gospel group.



Crushed



The train, which ferries goods, was passing through the Phuzumoya Railway Station at around 11:30pm when it crushed Zweli. The railway line is situated about 100 metres from the Simelane homestead.

Information gathered from sources is that Zweli was allegedly seated on the railway line and for some unknown reason, he did not move when the train approached.

It is alleged that the driver could not avoid hitting him due to his position on the track.



The train is said to have crushed both his legs and as a result he sustained serious injuries, especially on the lower part of his body.

Soon after the incident, Zweli was assisted by some passersby who removed him from the accident scene while bleeding profusely.



He was later rushed to the RFM Hospital where he is currently admitted. It was gathered that due to the severity of his injuries, doctors recommended that one of his legs, which was almost severed, be amputated.

It is said that the doctors made it clear that the injuries were serious and there was no other alternative except to amputate one of the legs.



This reporter visited the hospital yesterday morning to check on him, however, visitors were not allowed as the patient was still admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

In an interview with Gawuzela, who was found in a sombre mood at his home in Manzini, he confirmed the unfortunate incident that befell his family.



It is true that my son was hit by a train on Monday night while on the rail line, which is situated next to my home, he said.

He added; I can also confirm that because of the injuries he sustained, one of his legs had to be amputated.Three foreign powers who have shaped Syria\s civil war  Iran, Russia and Turkey  will discuss ways to wind down the fighting on Wednesday despite their involvement in rival military campaigns on the ground.

The leaders of the three countries will meet in Ankara for talks on a new constitution for Syria and increasing security in "de-escalation" zones across the country, Turkish officials say.

The Syria summit brings together two powers which have been President Bashar al-Assad\s most forceful supporters, Iran and Russia, with one of his strongest opponents, Turkey.

Cooperation between the rival camps raised hopes of stabilizing Syria after seven years of conflict in which 500,000 people have been killed and half the population displaced.

But the violence has raged on, highlighting strategic rifts between the three countries who, in the absence of decisive Western intervention, hold Syria\s fate largely in their hands.

Syria\s army and Iran-backed militias, with Russian air power, have crushed insurgents near Damascus in eastern Ghouta  one of the four mooted "de-escalation zones".

Turkey, which sharply criticized the Ghouta offensive, waged its own military operation to drive Kurdish YPG fighters from the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin. It has pledged to take the town of Tel Rifaat and push further east, angering Iran.

"Whatever the intentions are, Turkey\s moves in Syria, whether in Afrin, Tel Rifaat or any other part of Syria, should be halted as soon as possible," a senior Iranian official said.

Iran has been Assad\s most supportive ally throughout the conflict. Iran-backed militias first helped his army stem rebel advances and, following Russia\s entry into the war in 2015, turn the tide decisively in Assad\s favor.

A Turkish official said Ankara will ask Moscow to press Assad to grant more humanitarian access in Ghouta, and to rein in air strikes on rebel-held areas. "We expect  Russia to control the regime more," the official told reporters this week.

RIFTS OVER ASSAD

Ankara\s relations with Moscow collapsed in 2015 when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane but have recovered since then  to the concern of Turkey\s Western allies.

Turkey was one of the few NATO partners not to expel Russian diplomats in response to a nerve agent attack on a former Russian agent which Britain blamed on Moscow  an allegation which Turkey said was not proven.

Improved political ties have been reflected in Turkey\s agreement to buy a Russian missile defence system and plans for Russia\s ROSATOM to build Turkey\s first nuclear power plant.

Turkey has also expanded relations with Iran, exchanging visits by military chiefs of staff, although its deepening ties with Tehran and Moscow have not translated into broader agreement on Syria\s future.

Iran remains determined that Assad stay in power, while Russia is less committed to keeping him in office, a regional diplomat said. Turkey says Assad has lost legitimacy, although it no longer demands his immediate departure.

At a meeting in Russia two months ago, boycotted by the leadership of Syria\s opposition, delegates agreed to set up a committee to rewrite Syria\s constitution and called for democratic elections.

Turkey says Wednesday\s meeting will discuss setting up the constitutional committee, humanitarian issues and developments in Syria\s northern Idlib region, which is under the control of rival rebel factions and jihadi groups, and where Turkey has set up seven military observation posts.

"There are issues where all three countries have different policies in Syria," another Turkish official said. "In this regard, an aim is to find middle ground and create policies to improve the current situation."

SOURCE: REUTERSThe Inspiring Story of Tomas Gorny

By Paula Bernier , Executive Editor, TMC

Theres a great scene in the 1989 movie Parenthood in which the grandmother equates life to a rollercoaster. Some people dont like the ups and downs, the grandma adds, but she enjoys the ride. Tomas Gorny seems to have a similar outlook.

Today Gorny is CEO and chairman of Unitedweb, which he founded in 2008. Thats the parent company of Nextiva, which Gorny established and leads as CEO. (SiteLock is also under the Unitedweb umbrella.)

Gorny created Nextiva more than a decade ago after he was unable to find a VoIP phone system suitable for a team of more than 300 customer service representatives. Today Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Nextiva is one of the fastest-growing cloud-based business communications providers in the country. It counts Allstate, Conan, IBM, Netflix, and Target among its customers.

Frost & Sullivan notes Nextivas customer service excellence. And Gorny aims to build on that strength and its success to date to become an even larger player in the business communications arena.

He has a lot of experience tackling new challenges and taking businesses to the next level.

Gorny spent most of his childhood in Poland. He moved to Germany at 14. Three years later he was running a PC distribution service in Europe.

Shortly after that he moved to Los Angeles. He became an early employee at Internet Communications, a web hosting company. He had to face some lean times, but his willingness to take risks and work hard enabled him to amass great wealth  and then to do it all over again.

When Interliant bought Internet Communications, Gorny became a millionaire at the ripe old age of 22. He then took those funds to invest in other businesses. Unfortunately, the dot-com bubble burst, wiping out most of that wealth.

But he clawed his way back, starting a new web hosting company called IPOWER in 2001. A few years later the company was a leading U.S. web hosting company.

IPOWER merged with Endurance International. And after that Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs bought the company for nearly $1 billion.

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Edited by Maurice Nagle[April 04, 2018] 5th BATIC to Commemorate Borderless Digital World

Conducted since 2010 to Strengthen Relationship in Telco Industries BALI, Indonesia, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International ("Telin"), a subsidiary of PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk ("Telkom") proudly hosted Bali Annual Telkom International Conference ("BATIC") 2018, a 3 day platform for telecom carriers and wholesale providers from across the related segments, regions and the world to collaborate, share ideas and business opportunities. It takes place in the Westin Hotel, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia from 4 to 6 April 2018. The event was officiated by a keynote speech of Abdus Somad Arief, Director of Wholesale and International Services of Telkom, one day before the conference started which was witnessed by telecommunications players around the world. The theme for this year is Unlocking Opportunities in the Borderless Digital World, a rationale set by seeing a vast growing of digital ecosystems with no limitation in terms of telecommunications. BATIC 2018 converges delegates from all areas of the global telecommunications community to meet and together explore alternative business insights from experts in OTT and telecommunication industries. This will also facilitate C-Level executives in strategy, marketing, and technology functions in order to extend business sustainability. Faizal R. Djoemadi, CEO Telin welcomed all BATIC 2018 participants during a welcome dinner that was held a night before "We would like to deliver a message to the world that the world we are living today, in the digital era, has no borders, equal opportunity, and high dependency", said Faizal.



On day 1 and day 2 all delegates will join the half day Conferences with speakers from telecommunication industries and consultancy agencies such as Google Indonesia, Delta Partners, Cisco, GSMA, and Dimension Data to share their expertise regarding digital telecommunication trends that touch on most aspects in both commercial and psychological determining the direction for upcoming situations in the digital world. While on Day 3 all delegates enjoy complimentary social activities such as sport activities or city tours. BATIC was first started in 2010 and annually conducted until 2012. The same format is utilized in 2018 with an authentic and interactive approach. Bali was selected for its strong culture, globally known as an exotic island and one the most desired destinations from tourist around the world. The "land of God" was chosen to create an environment that allow participants to feel relaxed at the conference. This year's BATIC is wrapped in a form of authentic east Indonesian contemporary culture that's shown in the overall essence of this event.

About Telin PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin) is a subsidiary of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk (Telkom), a state-owned telecommunication and network service provider. Telin focuses on international telecommunication business and serves as Telkom's business arm in managing and developing its business lines abroad. With its vision of "Global Digital Hub", Telin owns subsidiaries in Singapore, Hong Kong, Timor Leste via its Telkomcel brand, Australia, Malaysia, USA, global offices in Myanmar, Macau, and Taiwan as well as a project in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company also has 65 Points of Presence (PoP) located globally. Through Telkom Group strategy together with reliable networks and infrastructures, Telin is able to provide high quality services that reach all parts of the world in order to Enabling Your Global Digital Business and Solution. For more information, please visit www.telin.co.id or www.batic.events Contact Person

Gideon Octora

Corporate Communication Manager

Phone: 62-21-2995 2300

Fax: 62-21-5296 2358

Email: corcomm@telin.co.id SOURCE PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 03, 2018] Peru Medical Equipment Market Report 2018 Forecast to 2025 - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "The Future of Peru Medical Equipment Markets to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Peru Medical Equipment market is expected to witness a strong growth rate in the medium to long term future. Driven by surge in market conditions and technological advancements, the Medical Equipment has witnessed strong growth in terms of sales. The country's Electronic communication industry has strong growth potential across the market. In terms of investment opportunities and product sales, the sector is offering strong growth prospect for both domestic and international companies. New market trends continue to emerge in Peru Medical Equipment, in particular, driven by improving economic conditions. Foray of new companies coupled with technological advancements continue to shape new market dynamics. The Medical Equipment is further segmented by type and in addition to overall market forecast, the report provides forecasts for Medical Equipment by type. Further, the growth and industry conditions in the Peru market are assessed in comparion to regional Medical Equipment.



Report Scope Market overview for Peru Medical Equipment along with regional comparison and competitive analysis

Current status of the market together with detailed analysis on drivers and challenges

Identification of factors fundamental for growth in the industry, potential opportunities along with trends shaping the future of global and regional Medical Equipment

Supply opportunities including tenders available for bidding in Peru Medical Equipment segment

Trade value, import and export values and quantities of Medical Equipment sector

In depth analysis of companies present in Medical Equipment along with their strategies and company SWOT profiles

Analysis and forecasts of both macro and micro factors set to impact the existing players in Medical Equipment

Insights into recent industry developments and their impact on companies operating and planning to enter Peru Medical Equipment Key Topics Covered

1 Table of Contents 2 Peru Medical Equipment Market Overview, 2018 3 Peru Medical Equipment Strategic Analysis Review, 2018-2025 4 Peru Medical Equipment - Market SWOT Analysis 5 Peru Medical Equipment Market Value Forecast, 2017-2025 6 Global Medical Equipment market Analysis 7 Peru Medical Equipment Trade (Import-Export) Value and opportunities 8 Peru Medical Equipment Supply Opportunities 9 Peru Economic Outlook, 2019-2025 10 Peru Medical Equipment Competitive Landscape 11 Recent Industry News and Developments 12 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/jtp7s5/peru_medical?w=4 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403006620/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 03, 2018] Sikorsky Celebrates 30 Years of Black Hawk Helicopter Operations in Latin America

SANTIAGO, Chile, April 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 2018 marks 30 years of operations for the Black Hawk helicopter in Latin America, since the Colombian Air Force took delivery of its first five UH-60A aircraft in 1988. Designed and manufactured by Sikorsky, now a Lockheed Martin company (NYSE: LMT), the twin engine medium-lift Black Hawk has become synonymous with the successful defense of territorial sovereignty, providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, combatting drug trafficking, performing search and rescue missions, surveilling coastlines and borders, and transporting heads of state. "We congratulate and thank the 11 government agencies and armed forces across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico for showing the world how to adapt and operate the Black Hawk helicopter for critical missions that serve and protect their citizens," said Adam Schierholz, Sikorsky regional executive for Latin America. "Continued confidence in the Black Hawk by these countries during the past three decades stems from the aircraft's unequaled rugged military design, which translates to predictable reliability and performance in flight, effectiveness in combat, and the availability of strong product support to ensure high operational readiness." "The Black Hawk has proven to be a unique and strategic tool for the Colombian Air Force that has allowed us to perform some of the most challenging missions in very extreme conditions," said Gen. Carlos Eduardo Bueno, Chief of the Colombian Air Force. "We join in celebrating this milestone anniversary, and look forward to many more years of effective utilization of these fie machines with the help and support of our friends at Sikorsky."



Since 1988, Sikorsky has delivered 174 Hawk aircraft to the region, which includes six Seahawk variants to the Brazil Navy. The total will climb to 180 during 2018 when the Chilean Air Force takes delivery of six S-70i Black Hawk aircraft for military and humanitarian missions. A Look Back

Country-specific operations include:

Colombia : As the largest Black Hawk customer in Latin America , the Colombian Air Force, Colombian Army and Colombian National Police have collectively taken delivery of 103 aircraft, including seven S-70i digital cockpit variants in 2013. Carrying out diverse combat missions such as attack, MEDEVAC, CASEVAC, and Air Assault, these aircraft have played an essential role to defend and regain territorial control during the Colombian Conflict.





: As the largest Black Hawk customer in , the Colombian Air Force, Colombian Army and Colombian National Police have collectively taken delivery of 103 aircraft, including seven S-70i digital cockpit variants in 2013. Carrying out diverse combat missions such as attack, MEDEVAC, CASEVAC, and Air Assault, these aircraft have played an essential role to defend and regain territorial control during the Colombian Conflict. Mexico : With the region's second largest Black Hawk fleet, Mexico has acquired 48 aircraft  UH-60L and UH-60M variants  since 1991 for its Navy, Air Force and Federal Police to fight drug traffickers and crime syndicates. In 2011, the State of Jalisco took delivery of one S-70i.





: With the region's second largest Black Hawk fleet, has acquired 48 aircraft  UH-60L and UH-60M variants  since 1991 for its Navy, Air Force and Federal Police to fight drug traffickers and crime syndicates. In 2011, the took delivery of one S-70i. Brazil : In 2017, two Air Force squadrons  the 7/8 'Harpia' air group based in Manaus, and the 5/6 'Pantera' air group in Santa Maria  achieved 30,000 flight hours for all 16 UH-60L aircraft. The same year, the Exercito Brasileiro commemorated its 20th anniversary operating four S-70A Black Hawk aircraft. The Brazil Navy operates six S-70B Seahawk aircraft.





: In 2017, two Air Force squadrons  the 7/8 'Harpia' air group based in Manaus, and the 5/6 'Pantera' air group in  achieved 30,000 flight hours for all 16 UH-60L aircraft. The same year, the Exercito Brasileiro commemorated its 20th anniversary operating four S-70A Black Hawk aircraft. The Brazil Navy operates six S-70B Seahawk aircraft. Chile : The Chile Air Force has operated one S-70A aircraft since 1998 in a multirole capacity.





: The Chile Air Force has operated one S-70A aircraft since 1998 in a multirole capacity. Argentina : Argentina's Presidencia has operated one S-70A for head of state transport since 1994. A Look Ahead

Sikorsky continues to build UH-60M Black Hawk aircraft for the U.S. Army, which is expected to operate the platform into the 2070s. In March, Sikorsky began production of the HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter designed for long-distance missions. Sikorsky continues to build the S-70i, a digital Black Hawk variant customized to the preferences of international militaries. In 2018, Sikorsky will field two new mission capabilities for the Black Hawk: An aerial firefighting system, complete with belly tank, which can be easily retrofitted to the region's existing UH-60L and S-70i fleets





A sophisticated weapons system for the S-70i and S-70M models that enables either pilot to engage static or moving targets with high accuracy using forward firing guns, rockets and laser-designated air-to-ground missiles Further out, Sikorsky is developing an optionally piloted capability for the digital Black Hawk with the intelligence and autonomy to carry out missions with two, one or zero crew on board. About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 100,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sikorsky-celebrates-30-years-of-black-hawk-helicopter-operations-in-latin-america-300623927.html SOURCE Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 03, 2018] Zayo Demonstrates E-Rate Momentum

More than 20 school districts have selected Zayo Group (News - Alert) Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) for E-Rate solutions during the first calendar quarter of 2018. The contracts represent approximately double the E-Rate recurring revenue that Zayo was awarded during calendar year 2017 and demonstrate Zayo's heightened focus on the public, health and utilities segment, which includes K-12 schools. The contracts include a range of dark fiber and lit fiber-based connectivity solutions to provide schools and libraries with high-speed connectivity. The majority leverage existing Zayo network, much of which was deployed for Mobile Infrastructure projects. These projects also include network expansion, which in turn will be leveraged for other projects, including small cell deployments. Many schools are opting for Private Dedicated Networks (PDNs), which are fully managed solutions that include dark fiber, equipment and network operational support. The districts are funding the upgrades through E-Rate, a federal program that subsidizes internet infrastructure for schools and libraries. Traditionally, many school districts and charter campuses have relied on legacy copper networks, wireless or other patchwork solutions. With the widespread use of digital textbooks, streaming media and online testing, high-speed connectivity has become fundamental to K-12 education. Zayo works closely with school districts across the nation to deliver high-quality, fiber-based connectivity to replace or upgrade outdated technology. "This momentum is a result of our vertical segment and sales channel strategy, which enables dedicated focus on the education community," said Andrew Crouch, president and COO at Zayo. "Our Fiber Solutions regions were integral as well, as they matched their local understanding of Zayo existing and under-construction fiber with the requirements of the school district networks." Two of the largest are Texas and California projects. In a major metropolita area in Texas, an education region selected Zayo for a PDN and IP solution to connect 81 sites. The solution will leverage nearly 300 route miles of existing network and 85 route miles of planned fiber-to-the-tower (FTT) network. Approximately 580 route miles will be constructed.



In a large city in California, Zayo will provide a school district with dark fiber to connect 28 sites, which will leverage 15 route miles of existing network and include 30 route miles of new build. "These E-Rate awards, coupled with the previously announced FTT contract and good overall sales performance, contributed to first calendar quarter net bookings that exceed our $8.5M goal by a healthy margin," added Crouch.

Zayo anticipates first calendar quarter bookings will exceed $9.0M. Given the nature of the E-Rate award cycle, these awards represent most of the E-Rate bookings that Zayo is likely to be awarded in calendar year 2018, though additional bookings are anticipated in second calendar quarter. Last year, most of the E-Rate awards occurred in the second calendar quarter. For more information about Zayo, visit zayo.com. About Zayo Group Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) provides communications infrastructure solutions, including fiber and bandwidth connectivity, colocation and cloud infrastructure to the world's leading businesses. Customers include wireless and wireline carriers, media and content companies and finance, healthcare and other large enterprises. Zayo's 127,000-mile network in North America and Europe includes extensive metro connectivity to thousands of buildings and data centers. In addition to high-capacity dark fiber, wavelength, Ethernet and other connectivity solutions, Zayo offers colocation and cloud infrastructure in its carrier-neutral data centers. Zayo provides users with flexible, customized solutions and self-service through Tranzact, an innovative online platform for managing and purchasing bandwidth. For more information, visit zayo.com. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains a number of forward-looking statements. Words, and variations of words such as "believe," "expect," "plan," "continue," "will," "should," and similar expressions are intended to identify our forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements will be achieved and actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. For additional information on these and other factors that could affect our forward-looking statements, see our risk factors, as they may be amended from time to time, set forth in our filings with the SEC (News - Alert) , including our 10-K dated August 22, 2017. We disclaim and do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement in this press release, except as required by applicable law or regulation. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403005377/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 03, 2018] ADAO Launches New Website, "kNw Asbestos," to Educate about Asbestos Dangers and Prevention

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), an independent nonprofit dedicated to preventing asbestos exposure through education, advocacy, and community work, today announced the rollout of a new educational website. The online home of "kNw Asbestos, Think Prevention," has been designed as a comprehensive resource guide to learn and understand the dangers of asbestos and what you can do about it. It can be accessed at adaoknowasbestos.org. "ADAO is honored to have been selected by the State of Washington Attorney General to advance and disseminate easily understood educative materials to a vast audience," ADAO President Linda Reinstein noted. "It's been a joy to work with the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency (SRCAA) and to use their excellent resources which were a cornerstone for our website. Most Americans think asbestos is a thing of the past - but they are wrong - asbestos can still be found in homes, schools, and workplaces throughout the nation. Asbestos, a known carcinogen, claims the lives of approximately 15,000 Americans each year, yet raw asbestos imports and use continue." As the recipient of a restitution award, ADAO forged new digital and educational paths. "ADAO was deeply saddened to learn that a company had recklessly exposed workers to asbestos. Our vision was to review decades of kowledge and experiences as we designed a user-friendly asbestos education and awareness campaign to be used locally in Spokane, throughout Washington State, the nation, and the world," explained Reinstein. "Knowledge is power, and it is essential in preventing asbestos exposure to eliminate deadly diseases."



Built with international collaboration from experts in the US and Australia, site visitors can learn: about asbestos, where it can be found, health risks, and the latest in worker safety. Featuring prevention-centric resources, it targets three specific audiences vulnerable to asbestos exposure: homeowners/DIYers, workers, and businesses. The site also provides audience-specific information for emergencies and disasters that cause structural damage, along with links to ADAO and other national and international resources. Launching just in time to coincide with the 14th observance of Global Asbestos Awareness Week from April 1-7, the website debut also ties in with the 14th International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference taking place April 13-15 in Washington, DC.

Exposure to asbestos can cause mesothelioma, as well as lung, gastrointestinal, colorectal, laryngeal, and ovarian cancers, in addition to non-malignant lung and pleural disorders. The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study of 2013, published in the renowned Lancet Medical Journal, reported that 194,000 people die globally from asbestos-caused diseases every year, translating to more than 500 deaths per day. About the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. ADAO is the largest nonprofit in the US dedicated to providing asbestos victims and concerned citizens with a united voice through our education, advocacy, and community initiatives. ADAO seeks to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure, advocate for an asbestos ban, and protect asbestos victims' civil rights. For more information, visit asbestosdiseaseawareness.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403006670/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 03, 2018] ThreadSol Partners With PI Apparel to Front Tech Innovation for Apparel Industry

SINGAPORE and HONG KONG, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ThreadSol is proud to announce partnership with Product Innovation as a sponsor for PI Apparel Hong Kong. PI Apparel brings together the fashion, apparel and footwear industry to discuss the challenges and technologies disrupting the industry. PI Apparel Hong Kong has a focused stream for each of pre-production, production and the wider supply chain to mirror the complexity of the Asian market. ThreadSol is a technology pioneer for the global apparel industry using Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. Headquartered in Singapore, ThreadSol provides software solutions for apparel manufacturers and brands. These AI and Big Data driven solutions are aimed at boosting top-line and bottom-line for the apparel industry. Clients of ThreadSol technology include MAS Holdings, Brandix, Tristate, Luen Thai, Beximco and Hirdaramani Group to name a few. Elated by the partnership, Founder CEO Manasij Ganguli, said, "The driving force behind all ThreadSol products has been technology isruption for the apparel industry. Technology that is being actively used in all spheres of life like Artificial Intelligence and Big Data analytics need to be made available for the apparel industry. We are very excited to partner with PI Apparel to front a common stance - technology for apparel."



Manasij Ganguli would be participating in the panel discussion - Standardizing Digital Platforms to Overcome Issues of Systems Interoperability and Data Transfer. The discussion would revolve around need for interoperability, the challenges faced in order to achieve it and the requirement for global technology standards for the apparel industry. The event will also feature a talk by Mr. Wilson Poon, BPM Manager, Tristate. It will elaborate on how Tristate, a client of ThreadSol, used technology innovation like Artificial Intelligence and Big Data to increase their top-line by 1.3%.

To RSVP for the event, log on to https://www.threadsol.com/PI_ApparelHK2018 or write to us at Jessica@threadsol.com. About ThreadSol ThreadSol was established in 2012 to present the apparel industry with solutions powered by Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Mobility. In the short span of operations, ThreadSol has offices in Delhi, Bangalore, Jakarta, Colombo, Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh City and Dhaka. With over 120 success stories around the world across 15 countries, ThreadSol is a name synonymous with consistent top-line and bottom-line growth, providing incredible benefits to the customers. Media Contact:

Nikita Kalra

nikita@threadsol.com SOURCE ThreadSol Private Limited

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Eurofins Digital Testing Acquires Edge Testing Solutions

HASSELT, Belgium, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Eurofins Digital Testing, a global leader in end-to-end quality assurance and testing services, today announced that it has acquired Edge Testing Solutions, a leading independent pure-play software testing provider in the UK, to extend its software testing capabilities including managed, functional, performance and automated testing, across additional private and public sectors. Financial terms were not disclosed. Eurofins Digital Testing is a leader in end-to-end quality assurance (QA), providing test tools, test services and training to validate software, digital media services, IoT devices, and content. It is part of the larger Eurofins Group, a leading provider of multi-industry analytical services, with an international network of more than 400 laboratories across 42 countries, over 35,000 employees, and sales of over 2.54 billion euros (approx. 2.98 billion dollars) in 2016, with a 4 billion euros (approx. 4.9 billion dollars) revenue objective by 2019. Edge Testing delivers a broad range of managed testing services to clients across the telecommunications and media, financial services, utilities, retail, and public sectors. This includes managed, functional, performance and automated testing, undertaken both onsite and remotely from Edge Testing's Glasgow and Birmingham based Digital Test Hubs. Edge Testing also offers consultancy and training services together with a dedicated device lab, as well as the Edge Academy that provides a pool of qualified testers for customers to develop their own testing capabilities in an efficient, flexible and cost-effectiv manner.



As part of the acquisition, Eurofins Digital Testing will retain Edge Testing's team of more than 250 people, and gain additional test labs in Glasgow, Scotland and Birmingham, England. "Edge Testing has an impressive track-record as one of the UK's fastest growing and largest independent software testing companies," said Johan Craeybeckx, Business Line Director, Eurofins Digital Testing International. "Their highly-complementary testing solutions will further augment our capabilities to help meet evolving quality assurance needs in increasingly competitive and evolving markets. We look forward to a bright future together."

"We are remarkably proud and delighted to join Eurofins Digital Testing and collaborate to extend our software testing across the globe," said Brian Ferrie, CEO of Edge Testing Solutions, a division of Eurofins Digital Testing. "This is an exciting opportunity for our staff and our customers as we look to embark upon our next stage of growth. Being part of Eurofins Digital Testing will take us to a new level. Together we look forward to providing a broad range of managed test tools and services and helping customers operate in a more nimble, DevOps manner to thrive in competitive markets." Eurofins Digital Testing helps TV operators and other companies worldwide reduce development, testing and deployment cycles to accelerate service delivery, and support a more continuous delivery environment. Through its suite of automated test tools, professional testing support services, staffing of onsite personnel, and training, Eurofins Digital Testing helps increase test coverage and consistency to provide service validation, insights into the end-user experience, and performance monitoring for quality assurance. At the upcoming 2018 NAB Show, taking place April 7-12 in Las Vegas, Eurofins Digital Testing will be demonstrating its suite of automated test solutions in Renaissance Suite #1032. More information about Eurofins Digital Testing can be found at: http://www.eurofins-digitaltesting.com/. Additional details about Edge Testing Solutions can be found at: http://www.edgetesting.co.uk/. About Eurofins Digital Testing:

Eurofins Digital Testing is a leader in end-to-end Quality Assurance (QA), providing test tools, test services and training to validate digital media systems for operators worldwide. Eurofins Digital Testing is part of the Eurofins Group. Eurofins Digital Testing operates globally with test lab facilities in Belgium, Sweden, UK, US, Poland, Japan and Hong Kong, and serves video providers around the world, including Conax, Freesat, Freeview, Kabel Deutschland, Liberty Global, Sky Deutschland, tivu, Vodafone Group, Zenterio, and others. For more information, visit: http://www.eurofins-digitaltesting.com/. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eurofins-digital-testing-acquires-edge-testing-solutions-300624070.html SOURCE Eurofins Digital Testing

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Unity Technologies Partners With Appearition to Launch First-ever Unity Center of Excellence in Australia, Focused on Augmented Reality

NEW DELHI, MELBOURNE, Australia and SINGAPORE, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- First-of-its-kind partnership enables enterprise success with digital transformation Unity Technologies, creator of the world's most widely used real-time development platform, and Appearition, provider of augmented reality solutions for enterprises, today announced a partnership to launch the first-ever Unity Center of Excellence (CoE) for enterprises in Australia. Corporations worldwide looking to introduce innovative solutions now have an augmented reality-focused CoE as a resource to address corporate pain points. "Since Unity's inception, our mission has been to democratize development, solve hard problems and enable success. We're excited to partner with Appearition because the company shares our passion through its dedication to the development of augmented reality solutions," said Hubert Larenaudie, President APAC, Unity Technologies. "We hope corporations that are tackling issues with digital transformation benefit from the solutions and support from partners like Appearition who are using Unity's technology to enable the success of enterprises." The Unity CoE highlights the enterprise demand and growth of augmented reality solutions and the move towards digital transformation. The partnership is a significant step forward for both companies enabling corporate digital transformation and fostering an ecosystem to encourage knowledge sharing of best practices. "Appearition's mission is to enable the success of others, a mission that we gladly share with Unity. We pride ourselves on building innovatve products to help enterprises succeed," said Vivek Aiyer, Founder and CEO of Appearition. "Appearition is delighted to partner with Unity to launch the first-ever Center of Excellence in Australia. With our global presence, we are excited to continue to deliver end-to-end-deployment through the entire business technology lifecycle."



About Unity Technologies Unity is the creator of the world's most widely-used real-time 3D development platform, giving developers around the world the tools to create rich, interactive 2D, 3D, VR and AR experiences. The company's 500+ person engineering team keeps Unity at the bleeding-edge of technology by working alongside partners such as Google, Facebook, Oculus and Microsoft to ensure optimized support for the latest releases and platforms. Games and experiences made with Unity have reached ~3 billion devices worldwide and were installed more than 24 billion times in the last 12 months. Unity's renowned flexibility gives developers the power to target and optimize their creations for Unity employs an "write once, publish everywhere" approach, enabling developers to target 25+ platforms including Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Gameroom (Facebook), SteamVR (PC & Mac), Oculus, PSVR, Gear VR, HoloLens, ARKit (Apple), ARCore (Google) and more. Unity also offers solutions and services for connecting with audiences including Unity Ads, Unity Analytics, Unity Asset Store, Unity Cloud Build, Unity Collaborate, Unity Connect and Unity Certification.

For more information, visit www.unity3d.com and to see the latest games and experiences created in Unity, go to https://unity.com/madewith. About Appearition Appearition was established with the vision to enable its customers' success by developing and deploying Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) software solutions across verticals. Over the years, Appearition has developed and constantly improved what it calls 'Green Spot Process' for digital transformation projects, to deliver and obtain user acceptance of the proposed solutions. On a more technical front, a proprietary, cloud based platform, Enterprise Management System (EMS), has specifically been designed for the B2B and B2B2C segments. The EMS features a state-of-the-art SDK as well as an API to connect to multiple data sources and make developers' lives easier. It ultimately delivers dynamic and personalized experiences in AR and/or VR environments in real-time. Appearition's team of global experts in their respective fields, share the ambition to be the leading supplier of immersive technologies and services to the global market. A dedicated, in-house R/D team operates out of Melbourne and entertains various international research partnerships with leading universities. Appearition is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with offices in the US, as well as in India. Opening of additional global offices to be announced later this year. It is part of the HC Group, established in 2005. For more information, visit www.appearition.com. Media Contact

Shilpa Narani

Shilpa.narani@bm.com

+91-9873301657

GBM



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] IBS IT Services Announces Intention to Float

MOSCOW, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- IMPORTANT NOTICE: NEITHER THIS ANNOUNCEMENT NOR THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS FOR PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN OR TO ANY PERSON IN ANY OF THOSE JURISDICTIONS OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent, directly or indirectly, into the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Canada, Australia or Japan. This announcement is not and does not form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States. The securities referred to herein are not registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The Company (as defined below) does not intend to register any portion of the offering of any securities referred to herein in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States. This announcement does not constitute an offer of the securities to the public in the United Kingdom. No prospectus has been or will be approved in the United Kingdom in respect of the securities. This announcement is being distributed to and is directed only at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom; (ii) persons who are investment professionals within the meaning of Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended from time to time (the "Order"); (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order; and (iv) persons to whom this communication may otherwise be lawfully communicated (all such persons together being referred to as "Relevant Persons"). Any investment activity to which this announcement relates will only be available to and will only be engaged with, Relevant Persons. Any person who is not a Relevant Person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents. This announcement is distributed in any member state of the European Economic Area which applies Directive 2003/71/EC (this Directive together with any implementing measures in any member state, the Prospectus Directive) only to those persons who are qualified investors for the purposes of the Prospectus Directive in such member state, and such other persons as this announcement may be addressed on legal grounds, and no person that is not a Relevant Person or qualified investor may act or rely on this announcement or any of its contents. Certain statements contained in this announcement, including any information as to the Company's strategy, plans or future financial or operating performance constitute "forward looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates", "anticipates", "projects", "expects", "intends", "aims", "plans", "predicts", "may", "will", "seeks" or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans, objectives, goals, future events or intentions. These forward looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this announcement and include statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the Directors of the Company concerning, amongst other things, the Company's results of operations, financial condition and performance, prospects, growth and strategies and the industry in which the Company operates. By their nature, forward looking statements address matters that involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and the Company's actual results of operations and financial condition, and the development of the business sector in which the Company operates, may differ materially from those suggested by the forward looking statements contained in this announcement. In addition, even if the Company's results of operations and financial condition, and the development of the industry in which the Company operates, are consistent with the forward looking statements contained in this announcement, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. The forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as of the date of this announcement. The Company disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward- looking statements contained in this announcement to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which such statements are based unless required to do so by applicable law. Information to Distributors Solely for the purposes of the product governance requirements contained within: (a) EU Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments, as amended ("MiFID II"); (b) Articles 9 and 10 of Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2017/593 supplementing MiFID II; and (c) local implementing measures (together, the "MiFID II Product Governance Requirements"<>), and disclaiming all and any liability, whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise, which any "manufacturer" (for the purposes of the MiFID II Product Governance Requirements) may otherwise have with respect thereto, the securities the subject of the offering referred to herein have been subject to a product approval process, which has determined that such securities are: (i) compatible with an end target market of retail investors and investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties, each as defined in MiFID II; and (ii) eligible for distribution through all distribution channels as are permitted by MiFID II (the "Target Market Assessment"). Notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, Distributors should note that: the price of the securities may decline and investors could lose all or part of their investment; the securities offer no guaranteed income and no capital protection; and an investment in the securities is compatible only with investors who do not need a guaranteed income or capital protection, who (either alone or in conjunction with an appropriate financial or other adviser) are capable of evaluating the merits and risks of such an investment and who have sufficient resources to be able to bear any losses that may result therefrom. The Target Market Assessment is without prejudice to the requirements of any contractual, legal or regulatory selling restrictions in relation to the offering referred to herein. Furthermore, it is noted that, notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, the Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners will only procure investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties. For the avoidance of doubt, the Target Market Assessment does not constitute: (a) an assessment of suitability or appropriateness for the purposes of MiFID II; or (b) a recommendation to any investor or group of investors to invest in, or purchase, or take any other action whatsoever with respect to the securities. Each distributor is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the securities and determining appropriate distribution channels.



IBS IT Services (Public Joint-Stock Company) (the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group" or "IBS"), a leading provider of IT services in the Russian market, today announces its intention to conduct an Initial Public Offering (the "Offering") of its ordinary shares (the "Shares"). DETAILS OF THE OFFERING

The Shares are expected to be listed on Moscow Exchange (on the Innovation and Investment Market, the Moscow Exchange market dedicated to innovative and high-tech enterprises with high growth potential).

The Offering comprises an offering of the Shares (i) outside the United States and the Russian Federation in reliance on Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and (ii) in Russia to institutional and retail investors.

and the in reliance on Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and (ii) in to institutional and retail investors. The Offering is expected to consist of both new and existing ordinary shares. The shares will be offered by the Company, as well as by its shareholder, IBS Holding (Limited Liability Company), beneficially owned by Anatoly Karachinskiy and Sergey Matsotskiy. The additional share issue is expected to be over 50% of the Offering.

Following the Offering the free float is expected to amount to 30-35% of the enlarged share capital.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for strengthening and expanding its offering through both internal development and value-accretive M&A.

Citigroup and Renaissance Capital are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners. SOVA Capital is acting as Joint Bookrunner and Alfa-Bank as Retail Manager. IBS HIGHLIGHTS Track-record of outstanding financial performance with double-digit, above-market revenue growth and strong profitability during the last three years

Focus on large and fast-growing verticals and sub-segments of the IT services market

Proven ability to identify and successfully implement high-potential IT technologies, including projects that disrupt and transform traditional markets through digitization and automation (business process outsourcing and vendor programs)

Client-centric and vendor-agnostic approach, with 'best of breed' offering independently of any particular vendor, supported by proprietary products and solutions

Strong brand and a key provider of new technologies to a diversified client base of 2,000+ leading Russian and Russian divisions of international companies and government institutions

Strategic relationships with more than 500 global high-technology vendors, such as Cisco, Dell EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, SAP and others

Well-defined areas of focus and clear strategy supporting future growth, including in evolving technology trends such as cloud services, data analytics, blockchain, machine learning, internet of things, cyber security and others

Strong operating performance delivered by a highly skilled workforce and experienced management team with an outstanding track record of project execution spanning over 25 years

Long-standing compliance with public-company reporting and governance standards, and shareholders who are well known to the market and have previous public-company experience Svetlana Balanova, CEO of IBS IT Services, said: "IBS is a leader in the Russian market for IT services, one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy. The Russian IT sector has delivered strong growth in the past years, and IBS's own revenue growth, which has significantly outpaced the market, underlines the company's successful turnaround as a business. We believe that the recovery of the Russian economy, as well as increased digitalization and modernization, will provide a strong platform for further growth. "The IT sector's share of Russia's overall economy is still significantly below developed countries, in large part due to lower penetration of business automation solutions. Today this is changing, and Russian companies are investing significantly in IT services, a trend we expect to continue and intensify over the years to come. Other key growth drivers of the IT services sector are the digital transformation of the economy, substantial IT investments by the Russian government and the continued development of new technologies. "IBS has a clearly defined growth strategy and is well placed to take advantage of these positive industry trends. We are delighted to announce our intention to bring IBS to the public market, and to give investors an opportunity to participate in what we expect to be an exciting growth phase for the company." ABOUT IBS IBS was founded in 1992 and is a leading provider of IT services to a highly diversified base of large and medium-sized corporate and public-sector clients in Russia. The Group consists of three core, synergistic segments: (i) IBS, offering sophisticated customer-designed business systems and infrastructure solutions for corporates and the public sector, based on best-of-breed vendor products and proprietary products; (ii) Platformix, providing integration of ready-to-go IT solutions; and (iii) BFT, offering software solutions for regional and municipal authorities. Our competences in our core business segments include a wide range of services, including delivery and integration of sophisticated corporate IT systems to support business processes; proprietary solutions addressing the public sector's financial, management and budgeting needs; business analytics management solutions; ready-to-go replicable IT solutions; outsourcing of business processes; information security systems; software development; delivery and integration of IT infrastructure, including hardware and software; and cloud platforms. The services we provide enable our clients to improve their competitive positions by increasing efficiency and transparency, bringing down costs, reducing time-to-market for their products and services, and improving the end-user experience by implementing IT systems. We believe our 25 years in supporting our clients' IT needs has made us an important strategic partner to our existing clients, as well as a subject-matter expert to our prospective clients. In addition to growing its core business segments, the Company implements digital and innovative technological solutions that transform traditional markets, allowing us to tap into new growth opportunities. We develop platforms for outsourcing business processes, including HR outsourcing platforms. As a vendor, IBS has launched its own products such as hyper-converged computing platform SCALA-R, business-process management platform Planeta, multipurpose data platform ArenaData, as well as BFT software solutions for regional governments and municipalities across Russia. We have developed long-term partnerships with most major global technology vendors, including Avaya, Cisco, Dell EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Huawei, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, NetApp, Oracle and SAP. These partnerships enable us to provide the best-of-breed offering to our clients without becoming dependent on any particular vendor. We have a highly skilled and experienced workforce of more than 3,000 professionals. Our professional team serves our clients through our delivery centres located in Moscow and other Russian regions, including Penza, Belgorod, Ulyanovsk, St. Petersburg and Perm. Throughout our 25-year history, we have set benchmarks in the Russian IT industry, including, for example, being among the first to pioneer business systems integration services in Russia and to implement SAP based ERP practices. We regularly rank among Russia's top IT companies, according to IDC. We have had significant growth over the last three years, reflecting our strong resistance to the market downturn that the Russian IT industry experienced in the same period. Our revenue has grown from RUB 14.7 billion in the year ended 31 March 2015 to RUB 21.4 billion in the year ended 31 March 2017, representing a CAGR of 21%. Our net profit has grown from RUB 338 million in the year ended 31 March 2015 to RUB 1,461 million in the year ended 31 March 2017, representing a CAGR of 108%. In the nine months from 1 April to 31 December 2017, our revenue totalled RUB 19.7 billion, an increase of 10% from RUB 17.8 billion in the nine months ended 31 December 2016. Our net profit was RUB 2,313 million in the nine months ended 31 December 2017, an increase of 85% from RUB 1,251 million in the nine months ended 31 December 2016. The Company is currently targeting revenue growth of over 15% in the year ended 31 March 2018 from the year ended 31 March 2017. This target revenue growth is based on preliminary estimates of our financial results for the year ended 31 March 2018 which have not been audited, and is not a guarantee of future financial performance. The Company's actual results could differ from those expressed or implied by the above statement and are subject to the Company's revenue recognition policy. The Company has an experienced management team with a track record of successful growth, and has longstanding governance mechanisms in place that are in line with the standards of publicly listed companies. IBS Group Holding, which the Company formed part of until 2014, was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange from 2007 to 2014. In addition, IBS Group Holding successfully listed its subsidiary Luxoft on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2013. OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Nine months ended RUB (millions) Year ended 31 March 31 December 2015 2016 2017 2016 2017 Revenue 14,691 16,586 21,422 17,824 19,693 Growth 13% 29% 10% OIBDA[1] 889 1,268 2,363 1,957 3,149 Growth 43% 86% 61% OIBDA margin 6.1% 7.6% 11.0% 11.0% 16.0% Net profit 338 584 1,461 1,251 2,313 Growth 73% 150% 85% Net profit margin 2.3% 3.5% 6.8% 7.0% 11.7% Free cash flow[2] 351 1,331 1,094 1,329 3,034

Note on the financials: Audited IFRS financial statements for FYE March 31, 2015-2017. Unaudited IFRS financial statements for 9M ended December 31, 2016 and 2017. [1] OIBDA denotes Operating income before Depreciation and Amortisation and is calculated as Operating profit + Depreciation and Amortisation. [2] Free cash flow = Cash flow from operating activities - Capital expenditure (include proceeds from sale of PPE & Int.).

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] HealthSpace Announces New USD$3.064 Million SaaS Contract - the Largest in Company History

VANCOUVER, April 4, 2018 /CNW/ - HealthSpace Data Systems Ltd. (the "Company" or "HealthSpace") (CSE: HS) (Frankfurt: 38H) (OTC: HDSLF) announces that the Virginia Department of Health ("VDH") has signed a five year contract for the Office of Environmental Health ("OEHS") to install and maintain the HealthSpace CS Pro enterprise Cloud application for the entire Commonwealth. The contract is worth $3.064 million US over the five years. HealthSpace President, Joseph Willmott stated "This is the largest single contract ever signed by HealthSpace and is a tremendous endorsement of our new cloud technology." In 2003, VDH went live with the Virginia Environmental Health Information System (VENIS) that was an internet based client/server system developed and maintained by HealthSpace. HealthSpace provided the first public access web site in North America for VDH where the public could view restaurant inspections. VDH decided that they wanted to change to a cloud based application from the established client/server system provided by HealthSpace. They published a request for proposals and received 22 responses from vendors across North America. The HealthSpace proposal was the one accepted. OEHS is responsible for policy development, training, technical support and programmatic oversight for assigned programs. Most pogram activities are carried out by environmental health staff in the district and local health department offices. However, the shellfish program, the bedding and upholstered furniture program, the marina program and the environmental lead program are housed within OEHS. In addition, HealthSpace systems will manage the oversight of the rabies program and the beach water monitoring program provided to district staff by the Office of Epidemiology.



Statewide, there are approximately 500 professional environmental health staff, plus additional office support staff, housed in 121 local offices of 34 health districts for a total of more than 900 concurrent users. The Company has also signed a new contract for the new HS Cloud System with the LaPorte County Health Department in Indiana. The contract is worth $36,300 USD.

HealthSpace President, Joseph Willmott stated "We are pleased to have our first customer in the state of Indiana. Across North America we are gaining much interest from agencies excited about our new product lines. This is especially true in states and provinces where we currently do not have a presence." About HealthSpace HealthSpace is an industry leading technology company currently providing inspection, information, communication and data management systems for federal, state, county and municipal governments. Over the last decade, HealthSpace has successfully developed both enterprise and mobile internet-based applications currently serving over 300 state and local government organizations across North America. HealthSpace currently offers the only integrated inspection, administration and analytics product suite across all platforms in North America. Further, HealthSpace now delivers inspection and auditing systems to private businesses enabling them to gain visibility and predictability into their operations to improve performance and safety. As HealthSpace continues to deliver focused service and innovative solutions to government and business organizations, it is developing advanced blockchain technology to revolutionize service delivery to its core market while expanding into other commercial enterprise verticals. Forward-Looking Statements This release may contain 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 HealthSpace believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. HealthSpace expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE HealthSpace Data

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Hikvision Holds "Shaping Intelligence" AI Cloud World Summit

The summit discussed building an Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystem through open collaboration HANGZHOU, China, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Organized by Hikvision, the 2018 AI Cloud World Summit was successfully held at Hangzhou International Expo Centre from March 3031. Over 2,000 participants attended the summit, including industry experts and scholars, as well as Hikvision partners including Microsoft, Intel, Milestone Systems and AxxonSoft. Attendees and presenters explored trends in AI development, its real-world applications, and opportunities for AI-related partner cooperation in global markets. Hikvision introduced AI Cloud in October 2017 at the China Public Security Expo in Shenzhen. AI Cloud is a development concept born out of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) era. It is a three-layered architecture that incorporates cloud and edge computing to provide multi-dimensional perception and front-end processing at Edge Nodes, and then process data in real-time and converged to Edge Domains for intelligent applications and create new data, and further converge on-demand data to the Cloud Center for big data analysis. Building AI Cloud Ecosystems Through Open Collaboration Artificial intelligence is thought to be another rising technology that is going to significantly impact the human society. In his keynote speech, Yunhe Pan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, higlighted that Artificial Intelligence is already evolving to its next stage due to the emergence of new social needs such as smart cities, smart medicine, and unmanned driving, as well as significant changes in information environments like the Internet, mobile computing, cloud computing, Internet of Things and others. In short, the next generation of Artificial Intelligence is moving towards big data intelligence, collective intelligence, and cross-media intelligence.



"A large number of application requirements are surging in a fragmented way. The implementation of AI is restricted mainly by three factors  data, computing power and application. To accelerate the process, it is necessary for all stakeholders in every industry to be open and collaborative to build an AI industry ecosystem," said Yangzhong Hu, President of Hikvision addressing in the summit, "To enable more partners to participate in the construction and sharing of the AI ecosystem, the company will be fully open on its products and services, including the AI Cloud software platform, training system, AI services, data annotation and data sharing services, etc." The Emerging Needs for Edge Computing

At the summit, Oliver Philippou, Associate Research Director at IHS Markit, gave Hikvision's international attendees a presentation titled "Artificial Intelligence  The Present and Future Prospects for Video Surveillance". According to Philippou, increasing numbers of network cameras on the global market pushes the development of video analytics further toward convergence  to edge and cloud systems  requiring better algorithms and deep learning to provide maximum accuracy. Dr. Shiliang Pu, President of Hikvision's Research Institute, shared the company's AI research facilities, milestones, and achievements over the past years. Dr. Pu pointed to advantages of edge perception and its ability to generate multi-layered cognition to empower AI applications. It is the joint efforts for various providers to build up this AI ecosystem. Hikvision was honored to have three of its strategic partners  Intel, Milestone Systems, and AxxonSoft  give keynote speeches in a summit session about mutual partnership and how AI changes partner ecosystems. To get a glimpse of Hikvision's AI Cloud World Summit, please click here for an exciting video. About Hikvision Hikvision is the world's leading provider of innovative video surveillance products and solutions. Featuring the industry's strongest R&D workforce, Hikvision advances core technologies of audio and video encoding, video image processing, and related data storage, as well as forward-looking technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and deep learning. In addition to the video surveillance industry, Hikvision extends its reach to smart home tech, industrial automation, and automotive electronics industries to achieve its long-term vision. Always creating value for its customers, Hikvision operates 33 regional subsidiaries all over the world to achieve a truly global presence. For more information, please visit us at www.hikvision.com. Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180404/2096388-1 SOURCE Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] IPTV Market Size Worth $117.07 Billion by 2025 | CAGR: 13.7%: Grand View Research, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The global IPTV market size is expected to reach USD 117.07 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., progressing at a CAGR of 13.7% during the forecast period. Increasing demand for application-based services based on the internet would be the key factor driving the industry growth. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661327/Grand_View_Research_Logo.jpg )

Improving internet infrastructure is transforming telecom operators into complement digital service providers (CDSP). At the same time, they are also transitioning towards broadband internet protocol, which leads end-users to access television as an IPTV service. Additionally, favorable government initiatives in India, such as digitization of cable TV and Direct-to-Home (DTH) services, are anticipated to open new avenues over the next few years. Changing preferences of end-users are giving rise to intense competition between cable TV and IPTV providers. Growing demand for over-the-top (OTT) services is estimated to influence the IPTV market positively. The digital broadcasting ecosystem is widening at a fast pace leading to growth in consumer demands, thereby unfolding immense growth opportunities for service providers. This is also prompting key players to diversify their revenue streams by providing IPTV services along with OTT and pay-tv services. Furthermore, growing investments in network infrastructure owing to increasing number of IPTV subscribers are likely to work in favor of the market. Rapid advancements in compression, transmission, and watermarking technologies are encouraging telecom providers to add internet protocol television to their service offerings. Services offered in internet-based TV include HD video calls/conferencing, smart home, and video games, tend to consume heavy data traffic and higher bandwidth. This is encouraging customers to upgrade to broadband products that support higher data speed. Moreover, favorable government regulations governing the industry are making it easier for new entrants to foray into the market. Similarly, improvements in the internet infrastructure and widespread internet connectivity in households are supplementing the revenue growth. In addition, the market is undergoing vertical integration, wherein telecom operators are collaborating with TV manufacturers to develop TV units with built-in set-top-boxes. Such collaborations are being complemented with joint marketing agreements between TV manufacturers and telecom operators to promote IPTV services. p>Browse full research report with TOC on "Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Subscription Type (Subscription-Based, Subscription-Free), By Region, Competitive Landscape, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/internet-protocol-television-iptv-market



Further Key Findings From the Report Suggest: The subscription-based segment is expected to witness the highest CAGR of 11.1% over the forecast period. The growth can be attributed to increasing demand for Video on Demand (VoD) services

Asia Pacific is poised to dominate the overall IPTV market in terms of number of subscribers. The region is projected to witness a CAGR of over 8.0% from 2017 to 2025. Growing internet penetration and increasing awareness about internet-based TV services are contributing to the growth of the region

is poised to dominate the overall IPTV market in terms of number of subscribers. The region is projected to witness a CAGR of over 8.0% from 2017 to 2025. Growing internet penetration and increasing awareness about internet-based TV services are contributing to the growth of the region Latin America is expected to be the most promising region during the forecast period. The region is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of just over 21.0% during the same period, owing to increasing shift from digital terrestrial broadcasting to IPTV and cable networks

is expected to be the most promising region during the forecast period. The region is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of just over 21.0% during the same period, owing to increasing shift from digital terrestrial broadcasting to IPTV and cable networks The key players in the industry are Verizon Communications, Inc.; AT&T, Inc.; ARRIS International Plc; and Huawei Technologies Co.; Ltd.

Browse related reports by Grand View Research:

Data Analytics Outsourcing Market - The global market for data analytics outsourcing is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 25% from 2015 to 2022.

POS Terminals Market - The global retail point-of-sale terminals market size was valued at USD 13.31 billion in 2015.

Mobile VoIP Market - The global mobile VoIP market size was valued at USD 27.5 billion in 2015.

Digital Asset Management Market - The global digital asset management market size was valued at USD 1.45 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow significantly owing to the expanding densities and volumes of digital assets.

Grand View Research has segmented the global IPTV market on the basis of subscription type and region. IPTV Subscription Type Outlook (Number of Subscribers, Million, 2014 - 2025) Subscription-based IPTV Subscription free IPTV

IPTV Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; Number of Subscribers, Million, 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. Asia Pacific China India Japan Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East and Africa (MEA)



Read Our Blog By Grand View Research: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/blogs/technology About Grand View Research Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare. Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc

Phone: +1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com

Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Duco Appoints Mireille Dyrberg as Chief Operating Officer

Duco, the data engineering technology company, today announced that Mireille Dyrberg has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer, assuming responsibility for customer success, all administrative functions, finance and legal. Mireille joins from NEX Group's TriOptima, where she was Chief Operating Officer and previously CEO of EMEA. The appointment follows a recent $28m funding round for Duco. Christian Nentwich, Duco CEO, said, "Mireille brings deep industry knowledge and a reputation for execution to Duco at a time when the company is scaling rapidly and globally. She adds significant capital markets technology and strategy experience to the management team, strengthening our approach to building a global presence in financial services." Peter Sobiloff, Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners and Duco board member, added, "Mireille joins Duco at an integral point inthe company's evolution. Her leadership and expertise will be a key asset in driving continued growth and creating more opportunity to accelerate the delivery of new solutions and capabilities."



About Mireille Dyrberg

Mireille Dyrberg is Duco's Chief Operating Officer. She was previously Chief Operating Officer of TriOptima, a post-trade services firm providing trade reconciliation, portfolio compression and margin services. Earlier in her career, Mireille was the Global Business Manager for Rates at Dresdner Kleinwort, before which she held a series of Operations leadership roles both in London and Frankfurt. Mireille is consistently ranked among the most influential women in finance in the UK. About Duco

Duco provides self-service data engineering in the cloud. We empower users to normalize, validate and reconcile any type of data on demand. New clients are live in 24 hours, with results in 7 days and tangible business value in 30 days. Our customers include international banks, brokers, exchanges, asset managers, hedge funds, administrators, service providers and corporates. Headquartered in London, with offices in New York and Luxembourg, Duco serves clients throughout Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. For more information go to http://du.co

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005078/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Duo Security Continues Expansion with Addition of New Office in Downtown Detroit

ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duo Security, one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity companies in the world, today announced expansion of operations to downtown Detroit led by the companys engineering, information services and product teams.

Duos first phase of growth in Detroit entails immediate relocation of 30 team members from the companys Ann Arbor offices to temporary, shared space at Bamboo Detroit in the historic Julian C. Madison Building, located at 1420 Washington Blvd. To accommodate hiring growth and further team member relocation downtown, the company will expand into 9,000 square feet of exclusive space at Bamboo on the buildings sixth floor, by the end of the year. Detroit has always moved the world, both in body and soul, through its industry and art, said Dug Song, Duo co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. Our Detroit office is an opportunity to build upon this rich history of innovation after years of collaboration with friends in the city to bridge our regional tech community. We are proud to help invest in the historic resurgence of Detroit, excited to learn and grow together, and committed to a success much greater than ourselves. Founded in 2010, Duo has been an avid supporter of Detroits startup community, sponsoring and actively participating in city-wide events such as Detroit Startup Week and Techweek Detroit. Duo executives have also mentored numerous Detroit-based entrepreneurs through initiatives such as Venture For America (VFA), Startup Boost and Techstars Mobility accelerator programs. The company will host egular Duo Tech Talks on a range of topics featuring local and global technology leaders in its new Detroit space.



We couldnt be more proud to have Duo make their first major step downtown by welcoming them to Bamboo, said Amanda Lewan, Bamboo co-founder and CEO. Dug and his team have invaluable experience into what it takes to successfully scale and disrupt, and we look forward to connecting them with local startups for their collaboration and advice on growing their businesses. Since opening in 2013, Bamboo Detroit has become a destination for burgeoning entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses. The co-working space is home to more than 200 diverse Detroit businesses generating an estimated revenue of $74 million annually.

Bamboo has been a catalyst for Detroit entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses, and were happy to partner with them as we look to ingrain ourselves in the local community, said Song. Duo is committed to providing resources and leveraging our team member expertise in any way we can to help further accelerate the growing startup ecosystem downtown. Duo currently has 350 Michigan-based team members, and has tripled global headcount from 200 to more than 600 in the past two years. The company plans for continued hiring growth at its Ann Arbor offices, as well as its Austin, Texas; San Mateo, Calif.; and London locations. Duo is a top-rated employer with a 4.6 score on Glassdoor; providing team members a generous benefits package, including unlimited vacation time and 16 fully-paid weeks of primary parental caregiver leave. Duo also offers company equity to team members and a monthly reimbursement for a wide-range of wellness-related activities, including gym memberships, nutrition counseling and much more. In 2017, Duo raised $70 million in additional financing at an over $1 billion valuation, the largest venture-capital funding round in Michigan history, according to the Michigan Venture Capital Association. The company also surpassed 10,000 customers globally and $100 million in annual recurring revenue, making it one of the fastest-growing software-as-a-service providers in the world.



For more information, please visit https://duo.com/about. About Duo Security Duo Security helps defend organizations against data breach by making security easy and effective. The companys Trusted Access and industry-leading Beyond product suites ensure only trusted users and safe devices have access to protected data and applications - anytime, anywhere. The company has more than 10,000 customers globally, including Dresser-Rand, Etsy, Facebook, K-Swiss, Random House, Yelp, Zillow, Paramount Pictures, and more. Founded in Michigan, Duo has offices in both Ann Arbor and Detroit, as well as bustling hubs in Austin, Texas; San Mateo, California; and London. Visit duo.com to find out more. Press Contact

Meredith Corley & Jordan Fylonenko

Duo Security

Press@duo.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] CellPoint Mobile Establishes Implementation Team in Chicago

CHICAGO, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CellPoint?Mobile, a global provider of sales and payment-side technology solutions for the travel and passenger transportation sectors, took another step in its national expansion with the opening of a Chicago office. Established to help facilitate faster, "1-click" product delivery to airline and travel sector customers in the region, the company's new US location will be led by Head of Application Delivery Karim Lanquedoc and a team of front-end developers. "Our mission is to implement our products as fast and seamlessly as possible for our clients," explains Jan-Willem Luijters, Senior Vice President and Head of Delivery for CellPoint Mobile in charge of overseeing global projects. "With the new Chicago office joining our other technology hubs in Pune and Copenhagen, our implementation and development processes can 'follow the sun,' reducing time-zone-related delays and delivering timely results for our clients." Since 2010, CellPoint Mobile has made it easy for airlines, travel companies, and passenger transportation providers across the globe to deploy a variety of mobile payment solutions quickly and cost-effectively. The company's payment solutions allow customers to integrate alternative payment methods (APMs), including PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, into their payment processes. CellPoint Mobile's global development and implementation teams, including the new team in Chicago, play an instrumental role in making these soluions a commercial reality.



CellPoint Mobile's Chicago office is it's seventh around the world (in addition to the Chicago, Pune and Copenhagen tech hubs, the company also has corporate presences in London, Miami, Dubai and Singapore). This expansion reflects the CellPoint Mobile's rapid growth, and demonstrates its commitment to supporting its customers' needs in the most efficient, timely way possible. One of CellPoint Mobile's key differentiators is the ability to help companies get to market quickly with the payment, booking and merchandising solutions that are right for them; regional and global implementation teams facilitate that capability. Native iOS developer Karim Lanquedoc will lead the Chicago team. He joins CellPoint Mobile most recently from Red Foundry, a prominent app development shop also in Chicago. Karim previously held senior lead engineering roles at Punchkick Interactive, ComPsych and Branchfire. His expertise in front-end app development  along with that of the Chicago-based team  will help streamline product delivery to CellPoint Mobile customers in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

"With Karim and his team now in Chicago, we are able to shrink the time window between project initiation and completion for our customers in the region," continues Luijters. "For airlines, rail and ferry operators, and other travel companies that need mobile booking and payment solutions, this speed is a significant advantage." About CellPoint Mobile: We Make Travel Easier for airlines, travel companies and their customers.

CellPoint Mobile provides airlines, ground transportation providers, hospitality firms and travel companies across the globe with flexible, configurable solutions that help them collect revenues from the mobile channel and profitably manage interactions and transactions from both the selling side and the payment side. Dedicated to a client-first, mobile-first culture since 2007, CellPoint Mobile provides companies with the fintech and travel-tech solutions they need to get to market quickly: booking, payments, alternative payment methods, ancillary sales, loyalty transactions, communications, stored payment capability, real-time reporting, reconciliation, connections to payment service providers (PSPs) and acquirers, and more. Serving companies on five continents, CellPoint Mobile has locations in Miami, London, Copenhagen, Dubai, Pune and Singapore. Visit www.cellpointmobile.com to learn more. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cellpoint-mobile-establishes-implementation-team-in-chicago-300624067.html SOURCE CellPoint Mobile

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Maxwell Recognized by HousingWire as one of the Most Innovative Technology Companies in Real Estate

DENVER, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Maxwell, the emerging leader of digital mortgage automation software, announced today that it has been recognized for the second year in a row as one of HousingWire's TECH100 for 2018. The HW TECH100 is a list of the housing economy's 100 most innovative companies. It is the only list of its kind that evaluates tech innovation across the entire U.S. housing economy, spanning real estate to mortgage lending, servicing, and investments. "We built Maxwell on the premise that technology should empower humans, not replace them," said Maxwell CEO John Paasonen. "We believe that personal guidance is critical to the mortgage process, and with the right technology, mortgage lenders can create the most delightful experience for the borrower. This award, along with the $1B we facilitate every month, affirm our core philosophy." Maxwell enables mortgage lenders across the nation to collaborate with their homebuyers in a modern digital workspace, on any device, with connectivity to thousands of financial institutions to automate documents and with integrations into other leading mortgage technology providers. Maxwell's proprietary algorithms, built on its network of data aggregated across loans, enable its lenders to move efficiently by accelerating processing and underwriting. Today, lenders using Maxwell are closing loans more than 45% faster than the national average. In late 2017, Maxwell announced its most recent funding round, led by the investment arm of Anthemis Group, with participation from Rute66 Ventures and Assurant Inc., along with its existing investors. The new round brings the total capital raised to date by the company to $5 million.



About HousingWire

HousingWire is the nation's most influential industry news source covering the U.S. housing economy, spanning residential mortgage lending, servicing, investments, and real estate operations. The company's news, commentary, magazine content, industry directories, and events give more than one million industry professionals each year the insight they need to make better, more informed business decisions. Winner of numerous awards, including a 2012 Eddie Award for national editorial excellence in the B2B Banking/Business/Finance category, HousingWire has been recognized for excellence in journalism by the Society of Business Editors and Writers, the American Society of Business Press Editors, the National Association of Real Estate Editors, and Trade Association Business Publications International. About Maxwell

Maxwell empowers mortgage lenders to be more connected, productive and successful by intelligently automating their workflow with homebuyers and real estate agents. The platform is used by hundreds of mortgage lenders, banks and credit unions nationwide to serve their customers. Founded in 2015, Maxwell is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association and is proud to be built in Denver, Colorado.

Connect with Maxwell:

https://www.himaxwell.com

https://www.facebook.com/maxwellHQ

https://twitter.com/ilovemaxwell *IMAGE: Send2Press.com/300dpi/18-0404s2p-mmadeeasy-300dpi.jpg

*Image Caption: Maxwell powers modern digital workspaces for hundreds of mortgage lenders in the U.S. This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/maxwell-recognized-by-housingwire-as-one-of-the-most-innovative-technology-companies-in-real-estate-300624022.html SOURCE Maxwell

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Cubic to Showcase Next-Generation Training Solutions at 2018 Sea-Air-Space Exposition

SAN DIEGO, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) today announced its Cubic Global Defense (CGD) business division will be demonstrating virtual and immersive training solutions from its Game-Based Learning Studio (Cubic Studio) in Orlando, Florida as well as its fifth-generation air combat training systems at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space (SAS) Exposition. Held in National Harbor, Maryland from April 9-11, Sea-Air-Space is the largest maritime exposition for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine, bringing together private-sector U.S. companies and key military decision makers for an innovative and educational maritime-based event. "Cubic is dedicated to delivering cutting-edge live, virtual, constructive and game-based training systems that effectively improve operational readiness for our customers," said Dave Buss, president of Cubic Global Defense. "In particular, our game-based training courseware helps the U.S. Navy achieve individual and watch team readiness within the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program of record and has applicability to other Nvy and Marine Corps training needs through delivery of high-velocity learning."



Cubic will highlight the following technologies at booth #2519 on the show floor at the Gaylord National Convention Center: Immersive Virtual Ship Environment (IVSE): IVSE is a game-based learning technology that supports the U.S. Navy's LCS program by immersing trainees in a cutting-edge, 3-D virtual environment, practically identical to real-life, shipboard scenarios. IVSE allows Sailors to achieve the "Train to Qualify" objective for individual performance and "Train to Certify" for performance as a watch team. Cubic will feature the "Engineering Watch Team Training" IVSE courseware.

IVSE is a game-based learning technology that supports the U.S. Navy's LCS program by immersing trainees in a cutting-edge, 3-D virtual environment, practically identical to real-life, shipboard scenarios. IVSE allows Sailors to achieve the "Train to Qualify" objective for individual performance and "Train to Certify" for performance as a watch team. Cubic will feature the "Engineering Watch Team Training" IVSE courseware. Next-Generation Air Combat Training: Cubic's Joint Strike Fighter P5 Internal Subsystem (IS) delivers encrypted Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI), which allows F-35 aircrew to train for combat missions more effectively and with less risk. With Cubic's fifth-generation ACMI and emerging live, virtual and constructive training solutions, the operational readiness of warfighters around the world will outpace their ever increasing mission complexity. Follow Cubic Global Defense at @CubicDefense and join the social conversation with #SAS2018.

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 services 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. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cubic-to-showcase-next-generation-training-solutions-at-2018-sea-air-space-exposition-300624051.html SOURCE Cubic Corporation

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Getty Images and Cortex Partner on Artificial Intelligence Platform for Creatives

NEW YORK, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Getty Images, a worldwide leader in visual communication, today announced a partnership with Cortex, an artificial intelligence platform for creatives that recommends the best Getty Images content for social media campaigns. Cortex's artificial intelligence analyzes several years' worth of data from over 33,0000 brands to predict and recommend which color schemes, imagery, and keywords perform best on social media  that can be automated by time, frequency, and subject. Beginning today, April 4th, the recommendations will also include specific images drawn from Getty Images expansive collection of creative content. "Corex's models are now learning from the largest set of professional image performance data ever created," said CEO of Cortex Brennan White. "Partnering with Getty Images will provide our customers with access to the highest quality visuals available and give them the tools they need to effectively engage any target audience."



Cortex currently has a lengthy list of customers across several industries including: Heineken, Hulu, Jack Daniels and Marriott. According to data compiled by Cortex, marketers using the tool to create content outperform their industry benchmarks by up to 300 percent and save an average of 8.5 hours per user per week. "Having an abundance of content is amazing for choice, but without the data to understand it, it can also be overwhelming," said Getty Images Senior Vice President of Data and Insights Andrew Hamilton. "Getty Images' highly annotated visual content paired with Cortex's AI platform will give marketers a tremendous advantage in selecting the best visual content for their brand."

This announcement follows a series of partnerships as the company drives forward its Getty Images Everywhere strategy - delivering the company's world-class content to everyone. Under the leadership of Hamilton, Getty Images has developed a growing Data and Insights team that reflects the company's commitment to innovation and experimentation with the latest technology to drive value for customers and partners. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/getty-images-and-cortex-partner-on-artificial-intelligence-platform-for-creatives-300623933.html SOURCE press.gettyimages.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] LAX To Pilot "Smart Restrooms"

LOS ANGELES, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Just in time for the busy spring break travel season, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) and Tooshlights, the only smart restroom traffic management system that helps guests "know where to go," announced today a pilot program of smart restrooms in one of Los Angeles International Airport's (LAX) terminals. The patented technology helps passengers navigate busy bathrooms and will now light the way for them in American Airlines' Terminal 4. LAX and Tooshlights are also working with Infax, the data-driven provider of innovative IT solutions for airports and other public venues, which works in conjunction with Tooshlights to play a leading role in the smart restroom transformation. Tooshlights provides Infax with real-time venue-specific data that allows airport officials to track the occupancy usage of restroom stalls. LAX officials will join representatives from Tooshlights and Infax for a media preview of the restrooms, to unveil the new smart restroom system and show off how it works, on Wednesday, April 4 at 10 AM PT. Media interested in attending for interviews and photos/video should contact laxpr@lawa.org. Members of the press will need to submit ID information in advance, as the restrooms are post-security. "We're incredibly excited to try out this new technology, which should help improve our guest experience and allow us to better monitor and service our restrooms," said Barbara Yamamoto, Chief Experience Officer at LAWA. "The desire for clean and available restrooms is consistently in the top ranks of what guests want at an airport, and this will help us provide a higher level of service to the traveling public and allow us to better meet our strategic goal of delivering facilities and guest experiences that are exceptional." The new smart restroom technology being deployed at LAX combines cutting-edge technological innovation with a unique design aesthetic to solve the critical problems of cleanliness and efficiency of public restrooms. According to an Airport Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Survey, the availability of washrooms/toilets is one of the top ten most important items to all LAX guests in 2017. The LAX smart restroom pilot program of the Tooshlights system includes more than 20 smart restroom stalls, which will work similarly to parking garage lights. Each unit consists of a smart latch and indicator light. When the stall is available, the light is green. When the stall is occupied, and the smart latch activated, the light turns red. There are also blue indicator lights for ambulatory stalls. "A common problem in facility design is flow of movement, which affects passenger satisfaction," said Allen Klevens, President and Chief Executive Officer at Modus Systems LLC, the parent company of Tooshlights. "Tooshlights is disrupting the public restroom industry by fixing the efficiency of restrooms, especially in large commercial spaces like airports, where people are pressed for time. We are thrilled that our hometown airport is the first airport in the world to feature Tooshlights." LAX is leading the way on technology, by leveraging smart building technology and data analytics to boost operational efficiencies. A simple gate change, airplane maintenance, mishandled baggage and restroom janitorial issues can lead to headaches for travelers and high costs for airlines. "The real-time data that we will be receiving through our new smart restroom technology will help us to respond quicker when issues occur, and gain base-line data for daily and weekly restroom usage, so we can better pan and deploy our resources, including custodians, and maintenance workers," said Michael Christensen, Deputy Executive Director of the Facilities and Maintenance Group at LAWA. "Just like a physical traffic management system, these smart restrooms will allow us to do our job better and more efficiently."



If the smart restroom pilot is successful, LAX expects to expand the use of smart restrooms in Terminal 4 and throughout the airport. "American Airlines is thankful to have such forward thinking partners at LAWA. We share their commitment to creating a world class, 21st century experience for travelers in the City of Angels," said Jim Moses, American Airlines Managing Director  LAX. "Innovative ideas that leverage modern technology like this are how we will turn that vision into a reality."

This is just one of the many ways that LAX is using technology to improve the guest experience, which also includes the use of Automated Screening Lanes in several terminals, biometric screening for boarding on some international flights, and the recently launched integration of the airport's maps, including restrooms, pet relief areas, and concessions, into the Apple Maps app. LAX recently launched its new website, FlyLAX.com, and real-time flight information and parking information can be found there, and by "asking Alexa" for LAX information. For more information about Tooshlights, please visit https://tooshlights.com/. For more information about LAX and its technology initiatives, please contact laxpr@lawa.org. About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) LAX is the fourth busiest airport in the world, second in the United States, and was named one of Skytrax' 2017 Top 10 Most Improved Airports. LAX served more than 84.6 million passengers in 2017. LAX offers 737 daily nonstop flights to 100 cities in the U.S. and 1,386 weekly nonstop flights to 88 cities in 44 countries on 73 commercial air carriers. LAX ranks 14th in the world and fifth in the U.S. in air cargo tonnage processed, with more than 2.2 million tons of air cargo valued at over $101.4 billion. LAX handled 697,138 operations (landings and takeoffs) in 2016. An economic study based on 2014 operations reported LAX generated 620,600 jobs in Southern California with labor income of $37.3 billion and economic output (business revenues) of more than $126.6 billion. This activity added $6.2 billion to local and state revenues and $8.7 billion in federal tax revenues. The study also reported that LAX's ongoing capital-improvement program creates an additional 121,640 annual jobs with labor income of $7.6 billion and economic output of $20.3 billion, $966 million in state and local taxes, and $1.6 billion in federal tax revenues. LAX is also the second most popular airport in the world to appear on Instagram according to wego.com. LAX is part of a system of two Southern California airports  along with Van Nuys general aviation  that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City's general fund. For more information about LAX, please visit www.flyLAX.com or follow on Twitter @flyLAXAirport, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LAInternationalAirport, and on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/laxairport1. About Tooshlights Based in Los Angeles, Tooshlights -- powered by Modus Systems LLC -- is the industry's first and only automated LED lighting system that increases traffic flow in public restrooms by letting the guest "know where to go." The patented, sleekly designed smart restroom solution is solving a massive pain point for consumers  privacy and long wait times. Tooshlights enhances the guest experience, helping to increase profits and eliminate awkwardness of people not knowing which stalls are open. The company's patented technology also aims to better connect people with the spaces that they occupy through the use of real-time, venue-specific information. Tooshlights can dramatically improve restroom traffic flow of all types of commercial spaces such as, arenas, stadiums, airports, malls, hotels, convention centers, casinos, theme parks and office buildings. For more information, please visit www.tooshlights.com. Follow Tooshlights on Twitter @Tooshlights. CONTACTS:

Tracy Rubin / Jill Fox

Tooshlights PR

tracy@jcmg.com

jillian@jcmg.com Becca Doten, LAX PR

424-646-5260 Curtis Blessings

American Airlines

310-648-6471

Curtis.Blessing@aa.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lax-to-pilot-smart-restrooms-300623960.html SOURCE Tooshlights

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Kemper Director David Storch to Receive Honor at Perspectives Charter Schools Network Awards Gala

Kemper Corporation Director David P. Storch will be recognized as the recipient of the 2018 Disciplined Life Award by the Perspectives Charter Schools network in Chicago at their annual Gala in May. The award recognizes individuals who demonstrate exceptional commitment to ethical leadership and exemplify the principles on which A Disciplined Life was created. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005438/en/ Kemper Director David Storch to Receive Honor at Perspectives Charter Schools Network Awards Gala (Photo: Business Wire) "This is a well-deserved recognition for David and we're proud that he's being honored for his long-term support of Perspectives and commitment to improve the lives of children," said Joseph P. Lacher, Jr., Kemper's President and Chief Executive Officer. "David's integrity and dedication to high personal and professional standards is evident throughout his business and philanthropic endeavors, and we're grateful for the leadership h provides not only to Kemper but to the Chicago community."



Perspectives is a high-performing charter school founded in 1997 that currently serves nearly 1,800 children in economically disadvantaged and under-resourced south side communities in Chicago. Perspectives' foundation, based on "26 Principles of a Disciplined Life," helps guide student behavior and performance, and develops the students' moral compass.

"David embodies these principles, and he strives with our students and school communities to live these 26 principles with us," said Diana Shulla-Cose, Perspectives Charter Schools co-founder and President. Storch currently serves as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of AAR, a leading provider of aviation services for commercial and government customers in more than 100 countries. Earlier this year, he announced his retirement as CEO effective June 1, 2018, after which he will remain non-executive chairman. For many years, Storch and AAR have partnered with Perspectives to provide students with opportunities and resources including mentorships, internships and field study. The Perspectives' 2018 A Disciplined Life Gala will be held on Thursday, May 3, 2018, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Chicago. About Kemper The Kemper family of companies is one of the nation's leading insurers. With $8 billion in assets, Kemper is improving the world of insurance by offering personalized solutions for individuals, families and businesses. Kemper's businesses collectively: Offer insurance for home, auto, life, health and valuables

Service six million policies

Are represented by 20,000 agents and brokers

Employ 5,750 associates dedicated to providing exceptional service

Are licensed to sell insurance in 50 states and the District of Columbia Learn more about Kemper. About Perspectives Charter School Perspectives Charter Schools has been educating Chicago's youth since 1997 and is committed to providing top quality education in urban public schools. Currently, Perspectives manages five open enrollment, tuition-free public schools serving nearly 1,800 students in grades 6-12 in the communities of Auburn Gresham, Bronzeville and the South Loop. The goal of Perspectives Charter School is to ensure that students graduate from Perspectives prepared to succeed in college and in life. Learn more about Perspectives Charter Schools. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005438/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] H5 Data Centers and the Cleveland Indians Announce Iconic Downtown Cleveland Billboard

H5 Data Centers and SecureData 365 today announced a partnership with the Cleveland Indians, as they will commemorate a four-story billboard on the data center located at 1625 Rockwell Avenue. The event will be celebrated on April 6th as part of an opening day pre-game event. The event will include food, drink, games and live music plus a raffling for a special opening day prize. Fans and community members who would like to attend the event can register at www.securedata365.com/indians. The billboard will be on display on the west side of 1625 Rockwell and embody the Indians' 2018 motto #RallyTogether, including images of Indians players, Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor. Spanning 4 stories and nearly 45 yards wide, the billboard will add to Cleveland's renown skyline. "We're thrilled to be able to leverage H5 Data Centers' downtown data center as part of our efforts to reach into Cleveland neighborhoods and celebrate our community's history of family and civic pride," said Curtis Danburg, Senior Director, Communications of the Indians. "H5 Data Centers playsan integral role in the City's communication and Internet infrastructure ecosystem," said Josh Simms, CEO for H5 Data Centers. "In concert with our partners, we are proud to deepen this relationship and to expand the Indians' presence among the Cleveland skyline."



"SecureData 365 has been fortunate to build great relationships with our customers in our Canton and Cleveland data centers," explained Michael Campanelli, EVP at SecureData 365. "SecureData 365 has helped support the mission-critical needs of the Cleveland Indians and over 100 other Cleveland-area enterprises since our founding. We're thrilled to call Cleveland home and support the Indians." About H5 Data Centers

H5 Data Centers is one of the leading privately-owned data center operators in the United States with 2 million square feet of data centers under management. The company designs and engineers flexible and scalable data center and interconnection solutions to address the business and operational requirements of its customers. H5 Data Centers currently owns, operates data centers in Albuquerque, Ashburn, Atlanta, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Phoenix, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, and Seattle. For more information, visit www.h5datacenters.com. About SecureData 365 SecureData 365 is a premier, state-of-the-art data center operator with locations in Canton and Cleveland, Ohio. Designed from the ground-up to deliver unwavering power and connectivity thanks to multiple redundant systems, SD365 offers the stability and reliability required by enterprise clients. The region's Fortune 2000 organizations are quickly recognizing that the unique combination of facility, people, and service offerings make SD365 the preeminent choice for data center services in the Midwest. Visit www.securedata365.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005476/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Telit Expands European IoT Leadership in Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Alarm Security with AddSecure Partnership

LONDON, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Telit, a global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced a strategic partnership with the AddSecure Group, which provides customers across Europe with IoT solutions for smart cities, smart grids, alarm security and other mission-critical applications. The partnership is the latest example of Telit's rapidly growing relationships with industry, network, technology and integration partners across Europe and the rest of the world. AddSecure has committed to using a variety of Telit solutions in existing and future projects. These will include Telit modules supporting the latest Low Category LTE/LPWA technologies, in addition to 2G and 3G, giving AddSecure and its customers' maximum flexibility for choosing the technology and service provider that best match their unique requirements. For more information, visit https://www.telit.com/m2m-iot-products/cellular-modules/. "AddSecure is rapidly growing, both organically and by acquisition, as a leading supplier of secure critical communications in Europe," said Stefan Albertson, AddSecure CEO. "Our partnership with Telit ensures that we have access to the industry's broadest, deepest portfolio of IoT solutions, which will be key for growing our market share over the long term." "Our stratgic relationship with AddSecure is the latest example of how Telit is the go-to partner for companies worldwide that want to provide their customers with reliable, high-performance IoT solutions," said Carlos Perez, Telit President of Sales. "AddSecure will enhance our partner ecosystem by giving enterprises, governments and other end users even more options for mission-critical IoT solutions."



About Telit

Telit (AIM: TCM), is a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) enablement, with an extensive portfolio of wireless connectivity modules, platforms, virtual cellular IoT operator, and professional services, empowering hundreds of millions of connected 'things' to date, and trusted by thousands of direct and indirect customers, globally. With nearly two decades of IoT innovation experience, Telit continues to redefine the boundaries of digital business, by delivering secure, integrated end-to-end IoT solutions for many of the world's largest brands, including enterprises, OEMs, system integrators and service providers across all industries, enabling their pursuit of enterprise digital transformation. About AddSecure

AddSecure is a leading player in the secure critical communications sector. We provide more than 40,000 customers and partners around Europe with secure communications solutions within monitored alarms and critical IoT communications. Our solutions, which help save lives, protect property and secure vital societal functions, are flexible, easy to install and help boost our customers' competitive edge. For more information, please visit www.addsecure.com

Copyright  2018 Telit Communications PLC. All rights reserved. Telit and all associated logos are trademarks of Telit Communications PLC in the United States and other countries. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Media Contacts Leslie Hart

Telit

919-415-1510

Leslie.Hart@Telit.com Gaby Lechin

Valerie Christopherson

GRC for Telit

+1 949 608 0276

telit@globalresultspr.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/telit-expands-european-iot-leadership-in-smart-cities-smart-grids-and-alarm-security-with-addsecure-partnership-300622928.html SOURCE Telit

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] AACD 2018: Dental Website Marketing Firm Rosemont Media Attending Scientific Session in Chicago

SAN DIEGO, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Rosemont Media celebrates its 10th year in business, it will also be attending the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistrys annual conference for the 10th consecutive year. CEO Keith Humes and his team of dental consultants will be exhibiting at the AACDs 34th Annual Scientific Session held at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago from April 18th through April 21st. As always, Humes says, this conference will give Rosemont Media the opportunity to meet and talk with many of the prominent dentists it has worked with for so many years, and introduce itself to new faces, as well.

Rosemont Media to Attend and Exhibit at AACD 2018 in Chicago



AACD 2018 Course, "Web Marketing for the Cosmetic Practice" Will Be Presented by Keith Humes, Rosemont Media CEO







In addition to the firms exhibition booth, Humes will be presenting a course entitled, Web Marketing for the Cosmetic Practice. The course will take place on April 19th at 9:15 a.m., and will focus on how practices can create an effective online footprint, develop ethically sound link-building strategies while avoiding penalties from search engines, and understand the best dental marketing practices for an increasingly mobile-centric society. Rosemont Medias exhibition will be located at booth #508. The team says it is looking forward to demonstrating how its innovative technological concepts and strategies can help a practice improve its visibility in the online marketplace, while simultaneously providing individuals considering dental care with an in-depth, useful educational resource.

Humes says the AACD conference is a highlight of the year for Rosemont Media. In fact, the company not only regularly exhibits at the Scientific Session, but also serves as a Corporate Sponsor. Attending for his 20th year, Humes notes that there is always something special and exciting about the eventand this year is sure to be no different. I am really looking forward to providing a great educational experience to the members of the AACD; the web marketing course is going to be very comprehensive. I am also looking forward to connecting with friends and clients. About Rosemont Media

Rosemont Media is a dental and medical Internet marketing agency that offers a comprehensive array of digital services for dentists and physicians. The San Diego-based company provides a full selection of customized products for medical and dental professionals, including responsive website design, search engine optimization and social media marketing strategies, content marketing, reputation management, and more. Rosemont Media is dedicated to offering the latest in design and marketing techniques along with market exclusivity to professionals in numerous dental and medical fields, including cosmetic and implant dentistry, orthodontics, plastic surgery, orthopaedic surgery, bariatric surgery, ophthalmology, and others. Rosemont Media has built and maintained hundreds of websites for practices across the United States, Canada, and in countries throughout the world. To learn more about Rosemont Media, visit rosemontmedia.com and facebook.com/rosemontmedia. To view the original source of this press release, click here: https://www.rosemontmedia.com/surgeons-blog/aacd-2018-dental-website-marketing-firm-rosemont-media-attending-scientific-session-in-chicago/ Rosemont Media Keith Humes keith@rosemontmedia.com (858) 200-0044

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Boehringer Ingelheim and OSE Immunotherapeutics Announce Global Immuno-Oncology Partnership to Develop a Pioneering Checkpoint Inhibitor for the Treatment of Advanced Solid Tumors

Boehringer Ingelheim and OSE Immunotherapeutics enter into a global license and collaboration agreement in immuno-oncology to develop OSE-172, a novel checkpoint inhibitor antibody targeting myeloid lineage cells



Assuming all milestones are met, OSE stands to receive more than 1.1 billion

OSE-172, an anti-SIRP-alpha monoclonal antibody, is currently in late stage preclinical development with potential in various cancers

With this collaboration, Boehringer Ingelheim strengthens a core pillar of its cancer immunology and immune modulation strategy focusing on novel approaches to treat cancer INGELHEIM, Germany and NANTES, France, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boehringer Ingelheim and OSE Immunotherapeutics (Mnemo:OSE), a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative immunotherapies, today announced a collaboration and exclusive worldwide collaboration and license agreement to jointly develop OSE-172, a SIRP-alpha antagonist targeting myeloid lineage cells. SIRP-alpha is a receptor expressed by myeloid lineage cells such as Dendritic Cells (DCs), tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells (MDSCs). In targeting SIRP- alpha, OSE-172 prevents the ligand CD47 from binding to and triggering the cellular inhibitory effects of SIRP-alpha. OSE-172 has the potential to enhance anti-tumor immunity by improving T cell activity through enhancement of DC antigen presentation functionality, potentiating the phagocytic and inflammatory properties of macrophages in the tumor microenvironment and enabling differentiation of MDSCs to an effector state. This partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim is a real recognition of the value of our innovative approach to treating cancer and will create an exciting new alliance to fuel the phase 1 development of OSE-172, said Dr. Dominique Costantini, CEO of OSE Immunotherapeutics. Boehringer Ingelheims expertise and insights will be invaluable as we step up the clinical development and work to commercialize this new treatment paradigm. We are excited to partner with OSE Immunotherapeutics to develop this promising, novel cancer immunotherapy, said Jonathon Sedgwick, Ph.D., Global Head Cancer Immunology & Immune Modulation Research at Boehringer Ingelheim. A key area of focus is the identification of drugs that target myeloid cell immune regulatory receptors of which SIRP-alpha is a leading example. We are dedicated to developing ground-breaking, first-in-class therapies that can transform the lives of patients and help win the fight against cancer. Boehringer Ingelheim has acquired the global rights to develop, register and commercialize OSE-172, a monoclonal antibody targeting SIRP-alpha which is expressed in myeloid lineage cells, as part of their continued commitment to research and innovation in immuno-oncology. Under the terms of the agreement, OSE Immunotherapeutics will receive a 15 million upfront payment from Boehringer Ingelheim, and potential additional short-term milestones of up to 15 million upon initiation of a phase 1 clinical study. OSE Immunotherapeutics stands to receive more than 1.1 billion upon reaching pre-specified development, commercialization and sales milestones, plus royalties on worldwide net sales. About OSE Immunotherapeutics SA

OSE Immunotherapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative immunotherapies for immune activation and regulation in the fields of immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases. Neoepitopes innovation (Tedopi) is today in Phase 3 in advanced lung cancers (NSCLC) after Checkpoint Inhibitors failure (anti PD-1 and anti PD-L1). An option to license was exercised in July 2016 by Janssen Biotch to continue clinical development of FR104 (an anti CD28 mAb) in auto-immune diseases after positive phase 1 results. A 2-step license option was signed in 2017 with Servier Laboratories to develop OSE-127 (Effi-7) up to the completion of a phase 2 clinical trial planned in autoimmune bowel disease and Sjogrens syndrome. The company has several scientific and technological platforms: neoepitopes, agonist or antagonist monoclonal antibodies, ideally positioned to fight cancer and autoimmune diseases. Its first-in-class clinical portfolio offers a diversified risk profile.



For more information, please visit: http://ose-immuno.com/en/. About Boehringer Ingelheim

Innovative medicines for people and animals have for more than 130 years been what the research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim stands for. Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industrys top 20 companies and to this day remains family-owned. Day by day, some 50,000 employees create value through innovation for the three business areas: human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. In 2016, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of around 15.9 billion euros. With more than three billion euros, R&D expenditure corresponds to 19.6 percent of net sales.

Social responsibility comes naturally to Boehringer Ingelheim. That is why the company is involved in social projects such as the Making More Health initiative. Boehringer Ingelheim also actively promotes workforce diversity and benefits from its employees different experiences and skills. Furthermore, the focus is on environmental protection and sustainability in everything the company does. More information about Boehringer Ingelheim can be found on http://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com or in our annual report: http://annualreport.boehringer-ingelheim.com . About Boehringer Ingelheim in Oncology

Cancer takes away loved ones, time and untapped potential. At Boehringer Ingelheim we are providing new hope for patients by taking cancer on. We are collaborating with the oncology community to deliver scientific breakthroughs to transform the lives of patients. Our primary focus is in lung and gastrointestinal cancers, with the goal of delivering breakthrough, first-in-class treatments that can help win the fight against cancer. Our commitment to innovation has resulted in pioneering treatments for lung cancer and we are advancing a unique pipeline of cancer cell directed agents, immune oncology therapies and intelligent combination approaches to help combat many cancers. Media Contacts:

Boehringer Ingelheim

Dr. Reinhard Malin

Head of Communications Innovation Unit

Boehringer Ingelheim Corporate Center GmbH

Media + PR

P: +49 6132 77-90815

reinhard.malin@boehringeringelheim.com Linda Ruckel

Associate Director, Media and Corporate Reputation

Boehringer Ingelheim U.S.

Media + PR

P: + 203-791-6672

linda.ruckel@boehringer-ingelheim.com OSE Immunotherapeutics

Alexis Peyroles, COO

P: +33 611 511 977

alexis.peyroles@ose-immuno.com Florence Portejoie

French Media: FP2COM

P: +33?607?768 283

fportejoie@fp2com.fr Linda Dyson, MPH

U.S. Media: LifeSci Public Relations

P: +1 973.986.5973

linda@lifescipublicrelations.com

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains express or implied information and statements that might be deemed forward-looking information and statements in respect of OSE Immunotherapeutics. They do not constitute historical facts. These information and statements include financial projections that are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by OSE Immunotherapeutics management in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. These forward-looking statements include statements typically using conditional and containing verbs such as expect, anticipate, believe, target, plan, or estimate, their declensions and conjugations and words of similar import. Although the OSE Immunotherapeutics management believes that the forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, the OSE Immunotherapeutics shareholders and other investors are cautioned that the completion of such expectations is by nature subject to various risks, known or not, and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of OSE Immunotherapeutics. These risks could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. These risks include those discussed or identified in the public filings made by OSE Immunotherapeutics with the AMF. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. This press release includes only summary information and should be read with the OSE Immunotherapeutics Reference Document filed with the AMF on 28 April 2017 under the number R.17-038, including the annual financial report for the fiscal year 2016, available on the OSE Immunotherapeutics website. Other than as required by applicable law, OSE Immunotherapeutics issues this press release at the date hereof and does not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information or statements.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Untangle Wins EdTech Digest 2018 Cool Tool Awards

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Untangle, Inc., a leader in comprehensive network security for small-to-medium business (SMB), today announced that its NG Firewall platform was named the winner for IT networking, connectivity or access solution in the EdTech Digest Cool Tool Awards 2018. Untangle's flagship product, NG Firewall, provides comprehensive network security for schools, government agencies, nonprofits and small-to-medium businesses. NG Firewall helps schools protect, monitor and control their networks and data. Known for simplifying network security, NG Firewall delivers enterprise-grade security features that help schools meet their CIPA compliance and data privacy goals while keeping students and staff safe and productive. "We thank EdTech Digest and the judges for recognizing Untangle as the solution of choice for schools," said Scott Devens, chief executive officer at Untangle. "These awards highlight Untangle's leadership in simplifying the complexities of comprehensive network security for the K-12 and higher education marets."



"Untangle makes it easy to put policies in place," said David Phelps, Technology Director, Brown County Schools. "The ease of use, ability to see relevant reports, and be alerted to incidents is crucial for managing all the school networks." "ADTRAN is pleased to have partnered with Untangle to bring NG Firewall to the education market as part of the ProCloud Subscription Services," said Meggin Sawyer, vice president, business solutions and cloud services at ADTRAN. "ProCloud Security is the easiest way for schools and the MSPs that support them to ensure that students and staff are protected from ever-evolving threats to data privacy and the connected classroom."

See NG Firewall at RSA

Untangle is showcasing NG Firewall at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, April 16 through 20 in the South Hall of the Moscone Center, Booth #S437. About EdTech Digest

EdTech Digest offers insights, updates and interviews into the rapidly evolving world of edtech for all those involved in any aspect of edtech. The EdTech Awards are the largest and most competitive recognition program in all of education technology recognizing the biggest names in edtech  and newer talents who are shaping the future of edtech. About Untangle

Untangle is an innovator in cybersecurity designed specifically for the below-enterprise market, safeguarding businesses, home offices, nonprofits, schools and governmental organizations. Untangle's integrated suite of software and appliances provides enterprise-grade capabilities and consumer-oriented simplicity to organizations with limited IT resources. Untangle's award-winning network security solutions are trusted by over 40,000 customers around the world. Untangle is headquartered in San Jose, California. For more information, visit www.untangle.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/untangle-wins-edtech-digest-2018-cool-tool-awards-300624374.html SOURCE Untangle, Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Hill House Passport Academy Charter School Accepting Enrollments for the 2018-2019 School Year

Hill House Passport Academy Charter School (HHPACS), a tuition-free public high school for under-credited students, is now accepting enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year. A blended learning environment that combines online coursework with in-person instruction, HHPACS offers Pennsylvania students who have not been able to finish their high school education a chance to earn a high school diploma. "Our school was built on the understanding that many students face unique challenges when it comes to completing high school," says HHPACS Principal Bo Jackson. "Our unique model brings together online and in-person support to offer our students the opportunity to get their education back on track." The school's blended learning model allows students to move through the curriculum at their own pace, and balance other demands and responsibilities such as work, internships and family. Students are required to attend three hours of in-person lerning each day, taught by Pennsylvania-licensed teachers at the school's Pittsburgh campus. Classes are offered in mornings, afternoons and evenings, with two hours of independent study completed online each day.



Through partnerships with local organizations and traditional public schools, HHPACS is able to identify students who will thrive in the blended learning environment and support their academic and personal success. HHPACS provides unique programs that include workshops, ongoing development and in-person tutoring to help students set and achieve their academic goals. In addition to the school's academic program, HHPACS offers support services such as career counseling, mentoring, social service referrals, internship opportunities, post-secondary education planning and personal finance counseling.

Enrollment is now open for the 2018-2019 school year. Students and families are encouraged to attend an online or in-person information session hosted by the school. For more information about Hill House Passport Academy Charter School, visit hhpa.k12.com. About Hill House Passport Academy Charter School Hill House Passport Academy Charter School (HHPACS) is an accredited, tuition-free Pittsburgh public charter school for under-credited students. Through HHPACS, students have access to the curriculum provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of K-12 proprietary curriculum and online education programs. For more information about HHPACS, visit hhpa.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404005947/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Kentico Making Solid Gains

BEDFORD, N.H., April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kentico Software, a fast-growing provider of Content Management Systems (CMS) with offices in Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America, today announced positive developments on a number of fronts. Link between Kentico and inRiver PIM Platform

Kentico Gold Partner Ntara , based in Johnson City, TN, has just created an integration between Kentico and inRiver , the market leader for simplifying Product Information Management (PIM). inRivers Product Marketing Cloud facilitates the creation, handling, and distribution of product information for a world-class customer experience across all touch points and is used by more than 900 globally recognized brands. Watch discussion between Diane Schmidt of inRiver and Shane McCown of Ntara. Kentico Cloud debuts in Insurance Industry

Kenticos dual-rail product strategy of offering both an on-premise .NET based CMS solution (Kentico EMS) as well as a cloud-based platform (Kentico Cloud), is paying dividends. Recently a Minneapolis-based company began applying Kentico Cloud to the insurance industry and having promising results. While our online content attracts 400,000-plus visitors a month to learn about insurance and connect with a trusted insurance advisor, were a software company at heart, said Derek Hyde, chief technology officer at TrustedChoice.com . To deliver a better, faster, personalized, and more secure customer experience, we needed the best solution to both organize and optimize our digital content and be nimble enough to advance with technology.



We are delighted to provide the foundation upon which TrustedChoice.com has built its insurance industry-specific CMS solution, commented Petr Palas, Founder and CEO of Kentico Software. By providing a headless environment in which content creation is uncoupled from content delivery, this is precisely the type of customization that we hoped our customers would embrace. Kentico / UCommerce Project gets Green Light

Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, independent digital agency Ridgeway , based in London, has become one of the first Kentico Solution Partners to deploy a solution that incorporates both the Kentico CMS platform and UCommerce , the markets leading .NET based commerce platform. Simon Cole, Ridgeways Managing Director said, As e-commerce specialists, we were thrilled to hear about the partnership between Ucommerce and Kentico as it means we are able to offer our clients more options, ensuring we deliver the right solution with the right capabilities. We are excited to be the first partner to deliver a project of this nature and look forward to many more in the future.

About Kentico

Kentico Software was launched with one vision in mindto build exceptional digital platforms that allow clients to connect with their customers, surpass their business goals, and achieve digital marketing and e-commerce success. The product line includes Kentico EMS , the all-in-one CMS, E-commerce, and Online Marketing platform, and Kentico Cloud , the comprehensive cloud-first headless CMS and digital experience platform. Kentico EMSs rich selection of out-of-the-box web parts, easy customizations, and open API quickly gets websites operational. The all-in-one platform combines a full set of integrated solutions, including Online Marketing, E-commerce, Online Communities, and Intranet and Collaboration. Kentico EMS allows you to manage contacts and campaigns, track the customer journey, provide global e-commerce functionality, and measure and analyze the results to create and manage customer experiences easily in a dynamic business environment. Kentico Cloud is the cloud-first headless CMS and digital experience platform. Users can manage structured content for multichannel delivery, use the API-first CMS to display that content on any website or device, and track visitor interactions to personalize the digital experience. Kentico has 1,000 digital solution partners and powers 25,000 websites across 100 countries. Founded in 2004, Kentico is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner headquartered in the Czech Republic with offices in the US, UK, Netherlands, and Australia. Customers include Gibson, Twinings, Ingram Micro, Mazda, Kingspan, Segway, and Allergan. All product and company names herein are trademarks of their respective owners. Media Contacts: Jim Panagas

Director, PR & Analyst Relations

Kentico Software

Phone: 1-781-462-8461

Email: jamesp@kentico.com



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Insight Vacations Celebrates 40 Years of Innovative Travel and Immersive Experiences with Anniversary Gift to Travelers

RYE, N.Y., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Insight Vacations, the award-winning global leader in premium escorted journeys, is thrilled to be celebrating its 40th anniversary this April. While some might argue that 40 is the new 30, Insight couldn't be happier to look back and remember every unforgettable moment from the past four decades, and all the experiences and innovations that have become a reality. Over the last 40 years Insight Vacations has perfected the art of guided vacations, and has become the leader in its class through a combination of passion, knowledge and outstanding travel expertise. To celebrate this special milestone, Insight is offering great savings on its most exciting summer trips to Europe and North America. Travelers can save 10% on 40+ Premium Journeys departing between May and July 2018.* "This significant milestone marks the time to look back on all that we have accomplished," says Phil Cappelli, president of Insight Vacations. "We're so proud to have brought immersive travel experiences to our guests, and can't wait for them to see what we have planned for the next 40 years. Space is extremely limited on this superb Anniversary Celebration of 40+ Premium Journeys and this special offer won't last, so we encourage travelers to book their dream summer vacation with us now." Travelers can choose from a wide selection of guided vacations , including Britain & Ireland, the Western Mediterranean, Central & Eastern Europe, Northern Europe & Russia, USA & Canada and our European Discoveries collection. Here are 3 unforgettable journeys that are on sale as part of Insight's 40th Anniversary Celebration: Spectacular Scandinavia & Its Fjords: This 16-day journey begins in Copenhagen where a Local Expert walks guests through Denmark's charming capital. They'll see Hans Christian Andersen's iconic "Little Mermaid" gazing across the harbor before heading to Copenhagen Cathedral, where a real life royal wedding took place between the Crown Prince of Denmark and Princess Mary. From there, it's on to Sweden to take in the charms of Stockholm with a Local Expert who takes guests through the cathedral where many Swedish kings were crowned, the courtyard of the Royal Palace, and City Hall, whose "Golden Hall" iscovered with 18 million gilded mosaic tiles. Nature lovers will get their fill in Norway, where they'll pass waterfalls, rivers, ice fields, lakes, and snow-capped peaks around Geirangerfjord, and journey through Hardanger, Europe's greatest mountain plateau, a true wonder.



Best of Spain & Portugal: This well-paced 16-day journey hits all the must-see attractions of each country, while leaving plenty of time for guests to indulge in local cuisines and cultures. In Lisbon, travelers tour spacious avenues and elegant squares, see the Monument to the Discoveries and ancient Belem Tower, and visit Jeronimo's Monastery, built during the city's Age of Discovery. In Madrid, they enjoy an immersive Insight Experience at the Prado Museum, where an expert art historian guides them through the world's finest collection of paintings from Spain and around the world. Gaudi's extraordinary masterpieces await travelers in vibrant Barcelona, where guests spend time with a Local Expert learning about the history and architecture of the highly revered Sagrada Familia. Later that evening, they enjoy a festive Catalan Celebration dinner with the freshest cuisine and regional wines. Great Western American Adventure: This magnificent 15-day journey highlights the glorious landscapes and diverse cities of the American west, encompassing dramatic canyons, quaint coastal towns and verdant wine country along the way. In San Francisco guests spend a day seeing the iconic cable cars and visiting Haight-Ashbury, the home of the flower-power movement, before heading to the enchanting Sonoma Valley for a private dinner with local wine. As the trip heads down the California coast, guests stop at the legendary Hearst Castle, then follow the scenic 17-Mile Drive to the beachside town of Monterey. In Los Angeles they'll take a sightseeing tour that includes Grauman's Chinese Theatre and a stroll along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, then spend time browsing the historic LA Farmers Market. A thrilling ATV tour of Monument Valley with a Navajo guide is on the agenda in Utah, then guests head to Lake Powell for a leisurely cruise through the spectacular Antelope Canyon. The trip culminates with visits to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks before ending in Sin City itself, Las Vegas.

For reservations, contact your favorite travel agent,

call Insight Vacations at 1-888-680-1241, or visit www.insightvacations.com Join the conversation on social media using the hashtags

#INSIGHTVACATIONS and #INSIGHTMOMENTS * Terms & conditions: Prices are per person, twin share, land only. Single supplements apply. Full payment is required at the time of booking. Offer applies to new bookings made from April 1, 2018  April 30, 2018 only, is subject to availability and can be withdrawn or amended at any time without notice. Discounts featured in our brochure are subject to conditions and many can be combined with this promotion (incl. Frequent Traveler and Family/ Group Discount). Please contact Insight or your travel agent for further details. Last Minute Deals are not combinable with Early Payment Discount. Please quote promotional code at time of booking. About Insight Vacations

As a global leader in premium escorted travel, Insight Vacations has been crafting magical journeys for almost 40 years that embody The Art of Traveling in Style. Through meticulous planning, detailed preparation and boundless passion, Insight's collection of award-winning itineraries showcases the most outstanding destinations in Europe and North America. Guided by a highly-skilled Travel Director, guests can look forward to traveling in smaller groups, savoring authentic dining and enjoying a range of immersive Insight Experiences. To find out more, visit insightvacations.com About The TreadRight Foundation

Created as a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation's (TTC) family of brands, The TreadRight Foundation is a not-for-profit that works to help ensure the environment and communities we visit remain vibrant for generations to come. Founded by Brett Tollman, Chief Executive, TTC, to date TreadRight has supported more than 40 sustainable tourism projects worldwide. To learn more about our past and current work at TreadRight, please visit us at TreadRight.org. Insight Vacations is a member of the family-owned The Travel Corporation (TTC) and is renowned and trusted for its outstanding quality, service, value, reliability and financial stability. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/insight-vacations-celebrates-40-years-of-innovative-travel-and-immersive-experiences-with-anniversary-gift-to-travelers-300624509.html SOURCE Insight Vacations

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Ontario's fisheries and aquaculture industries receive federal and provincial funding to adopt clean technology solutions

OTTAWA, April 4, 2018 /CNW/ - The adoption of clean technology and innovation are key components to stronger and greener fisheries and aquaculture industries in Canada. Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and the Honourable Jeff Leal, Minister Responsible for Small Business for the province of Ontario, announced over $1.5 million in funding to support clean economic growth for Ontario businesses. Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program, contributed over $1 million in funding towards Cole-Munro Foods Groups and Lyndon Fish Hatcheries' projects. The Government of Ontario is investing over $570,000 towards Cole-Munro's project through the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund. Cole-Munro Foods Groups is investing in replacing on-site refrigeration trucks with new refrigeration storage facilities that will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 175.2 tons per year. A facility expansion will increase the total processing space by 27,000 square feet, increasing capacity and creating 60 new jobs and supporting 40 existing positions. The funding will also allow for the production of additional and new higher-value cuts of fish and improved use of non-consumable parts of the fish to produce additional byproducts. Lyndon Fish Hatcheries will benefit from installing water turbines to capture natural water flows, improving oxygen levels in the hatchery tanks and reducing the overall energy requirements. The Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program will provide up to $20 million over four years. The program will help Canada's fisheries and aquaculture industries incorporate existing clean technologies into their day-to-day operations. Adopting the use of more sustainable and efficient tools, practices and techniques will reduce the potential environmental impact of their activities. Since 2013, the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund has committed support of over $180 million, helping to create and retain around 43,000 jobs and leveraging over $1.97 billion in total investments. Parties interested in applying for funding can do so through the DFO website at: www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/business-entreprises/factap-application-patppa-eng.htm. Find out if your business qualifies for the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund. Quotes "Canada's fisheries and aquaculture industries know the importance of environmental stewardship for the sustainability of our inland waters. We're pleased that through this program, Fisheries and Oceans Canada is able to help these businesses decrease their environmental impact."

The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, P.C., Q.C., M.P.,

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard "We are partnering with Cole-Munro to invest in clean technologies that ensure our fisheries and aquaculture industries are environmentally sustainable, efficient and well-positioned for growth. Our strategic investments in key industries are part of our commitment to create good jobs and drive economic growth in southwestern Ontario."

The Honourable Jeff Leal, Minister Responsible for Small Business,

Government of Ontario Quick Facts Cole Munro Foods Groups Inc. received $1 million over two years to improve energy savings from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

over two years to improve energy savings from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Ontario is investing $576,212 in Cole-Munro Foods Groups from the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund supporting an additional investment of $4,816,080 from the company.

is investing in Cole-Munro Foods Groups from the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund supporting an additional investment of from the company. Lyndon Fish Hatcheries received $22,000 to improve energy savings and increase oxygen levels in the hatchery tanks from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

to improve energy savings and increase oxygen levels in the hatchery tanks from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced the Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program on December 18, 2017 .

. The program will provide up to $20 million over four years (2017-2021) to help Canada's fisheries and aquaculture industries incorporate existing clean technologies into their day-to-day operations.

over four years (2017-2021) to help fisheries and aquaculture industries incorporate existing clean technologies into their day-to-day operations. The Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program is part of a commitment in Budget 2016 of over $1 billion to support clean technology in Canada's natural resource sectors. Associated Links Apply to the Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program

NRCAN website on clean tech

Southwestern Ontario Development Fund







Internet: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca



Like us on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/FisheriesOceansCanada/



Follow us on Twitter!

https://twitter.com/FishOceansCAN

www.twitter.com/ONeconomy

SOURCE Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] Spartan College Leads Way in Addressing Skills Gap in Aviation Maintenance

Leaders at one of the leading aviation technical training schools, Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology, commends the recent legislation introduced by the US Senate, designed to help fill aviation maintenance jobs. "Serving the needs of the nation's aviation industry for ninety years, we support Senator Inhofe's legislation to establish an Aviation Maintenance Workforce Development Pilot Program," said Dr. Dan Peterson, president and CEO of Spartan. "There's a global demand for well-qualified aviation technicians. This bill will afford service providers the opportunity to develop innovative training programs and provide financial support to those seeking aviation maintenance careers." According to the Aviation Technician Education Council Workforce Study, industry growth in aviation technician jobs has increased 250% since 2016 and the need for skilled technicians continues to soar. Spartan College is at the forefront in addressing his skills gap through its many workforce pipeline programs and partnerships with industry leaders. Most recently, Spartan launched the first FAA approved hybrid-training program which allows students to take classes via distance learning for the first part of the program; thereby reducing the time required on campus.



Over the next twenty years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the need to fill over 118,000 aviation maintenance jobs. Currently the industry contributes $44 billion to the US economy each year, but struggles from a shortage of workers. "The workforce in America is no longer quantified as just higher education degrees," said Peterson. "It's now about new collar jobs. Skills training, certifications, and experience should be part of the discussion for resource allocation. Spartan is proud to play an important role in fulfilling today's workforce demands."

About Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology Since 1928, Spartan College has provided training to more than 90,000 pilots and technicians throughout the US. Spartan is an aviation technology college offering programs in Aviation Flight, Aviation Maintenance, Aviation Electronics Technology, Nondestructive Testing, and Quality Control as well as a B.S. degree completion program in Aviation Technology Management. Spartan is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges and has FAA approval. Spartan Education Group, LLC is the parent company of Spartan College. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180404006263/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][April 04, 2018] fusionZONE Automotive Announces Acquisition of MotorWebs, Inc.

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- fusionZONE Automotive, LLC, the automotive industry's highest-performing dealer website solution, today announced that it will acquire MotorWebs, Inc., a privately-held web design company specializing in the creation and management of car dealership websites. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both fusionZONE and MotorWebs. The specific terms of the acquisition have not been publicly disclosed. With this acquisition, fusionZONE further extends its reach in the digital automotive retail space and lays the foundation to expand its offerings to both dealer groups and single-rooftop dealerships. Both companies are approved Toyota website providers, and the acquisition will make fusionZONE one of the largest providers in the Toyota Digital Dealer Solutions (TDDS) program, as well as one of the largest website solutionproviders in the automotive industry. The merger will bring more service, technology, and enhancements to fusionZONE's dealer clients.



MotorWebs, which is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 2002 by husband-and-wife team Ron and Jan Clayton, with a vision to build the most service-centric company in the industry. Since its inception, the company has prided itself on prioritizing existing dealer clients above prospecting for new clients, and has experienced incredible organic growth as a result. fusionZONE, born in 2009, also was founded by a husband-and-wife team, Brett and Karen Sutherlin. Brett currently serves as CEO and Karen serves as COO. Headquartered in Pacific Palisades, CA, and with offices in California and Florida, fusionZONE quickly became one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the automotive industry. In late 2017, it entered into a strategic alliance with Primus Capital, a private equity firm out of Cleveland and Atlanta. With the current landscape of website providers serving dealers, fusionZONE has plans for more acquisitions over the next 12-18 months.

"Ron and Jan Clayton deserve high praise for the amazing business they have built," said Brett Sutherlin, CEO of fusionZONE. "Both Karen and I immediately recognized the synergies of this deal, and have had a great time brainstorming with Ron and Jan to find additional areas of value creation for our customers. MotorWebs and fusionZONE are aligned in offering the absolute best to dealers in terms of technology and customer support. We immediately knew we could really scale the business." "We have been watching the growth of fusionZONE and have been impressed with the high level of satisfaction reported by fusionZONE customers," said Ron Clayton, Founder of MotorWebs. "Seeing the similarities between the two companies made this an easy decision for us." As part of the acquisition, fusionZONE will open a third office in Seattle and will retain MotorWeb's current employees. About fusionZONE Automotive, LLC fusionZONE Automotive offers automotive dealers the nation's fastest, most cutting-edge customized and responsive websites. With the sole objective of driving website conversions and leads, fusionZONE Automotive websites help dealers sell more cars. fusionZONE also offers complete, progressive digital marketing solutions, streamlining the digital process for dealerships of all sizes. fusionZONE Automotive websites are designed to not only garner as much traffic as possible for dealer clients, but also to actively convert that traffic into leads and sales. fusionZONE is based in Pacific Palisades, CA and Lakeland, FL. Media Contact:

Gina Reuscher

(888) 576-1136

gina@fzautomotive.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fusionzone-automotive-announces-acquisition-of-motorwebs-inc-300624655.html SOURCE fusionZONE Automotive, LLC

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]Update, 4/6/18, 1pm PT: Added multiple items, posted underneath update note below.

On March 17, 2018, The Observer revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a U.S. subsidiary of the SCL Group, had harvested the user data of over 50 million Facebook users by abusing Facebooks lax data sharing rules. The story has persisted in subsequent weeks, and we've covered it closely. Here's everything you need to know:

50 To 230 Million User Profiles Harvested

Whistleblower Christopher Wylie, who was a co-founder of Cambridge Analytica, revealed to the Observer documents that showed how the firm, together with a UK company called Global Sciences Research (GSR), collected the user data of over 50 million users, mostly without their consent. GSR built a quiz application for Facebook and then got over 270,000 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers to install the application.

What those workers didnt know is that when they installed the application and agreed to all of its permissions, they were sharing not just their own Facebook data, but also the data of all of their friends. The shared data included names, profile information, likes, comments, shares, and more. GSR was able to harvest all of this data without consent from the users friends and then share it with Cambridge Analytica because of the way Facebook permitted developers to collect data.

This incident happened in 2014, but Wylie said that by now, Cambridge Analytica should have the data of over 230 million Facebook users. The company reassured Facebook that it deleted the data in 2015, but according to Wylie, the company continued to harvest Facebooks user data.

Its Not Just Cambridge Analytica

A former Facebook employee later revealed that Cambridge Analytica was far from the only company to have harvested user data in this way. Sandy Parakilas, who was the the platform operations manager at Facebook between 2011 and 2012, had warned the company that its platform rules were too lax, but his superiors didnt listen.

Parakilas revealed that there could be thousands of companies and developers that may have harvested the users friends data just like Cambridge Analytica and GSR did.

Palantirs Role In The Scandal

A New York Times report later revealed that Alfredas Chmieliauskas, a Palantir employee in charge of business development, has been teaching Cambridge Analytica how to harvest user data from Facebook.

Chmieliauskas, Alexander Nix (who is a CEO of both SCL Elections and Cambridge Analytica UK), and Erich Schmidts daughter were also trying to get Palantir and Cambridge Analytica to work together more. Wylie, the original whistleblower, noted in a UK testimony that Palantir had also been using Cambridge Analyticas harvested data, but Palantir officials denied the story. They later admitted that one of their employees was working with Cambridge Analytica.

Users Report Saved Text History And Unpublished Videos

As more users looked into deleting their Facebook accounts, some of them started noticing that their phones call and text history was being saved to their Facebook accounts. Many of them didnt seem aware of the fact that Facebooks app and Messenger could do this.

Facebook has been prompting Android users with a request to allow their call and text history to be uploaded to the company's server as part of a recent Android app permission update. However, its not clear whether or not Facebook was saving this data even before prompting users with this corresponding permission. Its only since Android 8.0 that Google started requiring developers to have more specific permissions around data collection and cloud uploads.

Other users also noticed that Facebook has been saving their unpublished video recordings since at least 2008, even though those drafts were supposedly discarded. The company said, as it did on other occasions when it was caught tracking users without their permission, that this was just a bug. Its still strange that so much video data was being saved to the companys servers for over a decade, yet Facebook's employees never seemed to notice.

The company said that it fixed the bug and deleted the unpublished videos.

After almost a week of silence after the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke out, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg issued yet another apology for the companys recent misstep--one of many in the past few years.

Facebook also committed to tightening the platform rules and auditing any company that it suspects may have abused its policies, as Cambridge Analytica did. However, the company didnt respond to our question on whether or not it will also audit Palantir for the use of Cambridge Analytica data.

Palantirs founder, Peter Thiel, also happens to be on Facebooks board of directors.

It also remains to be seen how willing the company will be to fix its privacy problems in the long term. Facebook tends to implement platform improvements only in the face of regulations or public outcry, and even then it makes only the minimum necessary changes that meet compliance or assuages the angry public.

For instance, the company recently announced new privacy controls, as well as an ending of its partnership with most third-party data brokers. However, what the company didnt mention is that it didnt implement these changes just as a response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but primarily because they were mandated by the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which goes into effect on May 25, 2018.

Asked whether or not the company will use the strong privacy protections of GDPR for its entire service across the world, Zuckerberg implied that only a limited version of the GDPR changes will be implemented globally. That means Americans and other non-EU citizens (including those in the UK, soon) will not benefit from the same strict data protection rules that EU citizens will.

Governments Investigate Facebook

The UK, EU, and U.S. governments have begun investigating Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Both a UK Parliamentary committee and a U.S. Senate Judiciary committee asked Facebooks CEO to testify. Zuckerberg rejected the UK committees invitation, but he agreed to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, at 10am. CNN sources also said that Zuckerberg may testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee next week, on April 10.

Updated, 4/6/2018, 1pm PT:



New Data Restrictions

Facebook recently announced a new set of data restrictions for third-party app developers designed to prevent abuses. These restrictions include API limitations to Events, Groups, Pages, and the Instagram Platform. The company also said it will limit the storage of call and text history on its servers to one year after they're uploaded.

The restrictions seem to have affected some services such as Tinder, but both Facebook and Tinder said they will work on fixing the issue. However, for the most part, third-party developers will have no choice but to adapt to the more restrictive APIs and data access.

Facebooks CEO also clarified that the EU GDPR privacy controls will indeed be available to everyone, but perhaps under a different format in certain countries, depending on the local law.

Abuses Ran Rampant

Facebook admitted that not only did Cambridge Analytica harvest the data of almost twice as many user accounts (87 million total) as were previously reported, but malicious actors have already scraped the publicly available Facebook data of almost all Facebook users, which now counts around 2.2 billion.

Despite all of these abuses, mostly happening due to Facebooks lax rules on data sharing with third parties, Zuckerberg told reporters that he wont fire anyone over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. He was also asked whether or not the board has discussed replacing him as the companys chairman, but he said hes not aware of such discussions.

Facebooks Other Products Track You, Too

This is probably not a huge surprise to anyone by now, but Facebook can collect data about you from places other than just its main social media platform--including your Messenger chats, WhatsApp records, Instagram, Oculus device usage, and as weve seen from multiple lawsuits and investigations in Europe, even through the simple existence of a Like button on a web page.

Congressional Hearings And Australias Investigation

After rejecting the invitation to testify for a UK Parliamentary Committee, Zuckerberg agreed to testify in two U.S. hearings, one hosted by the Senate Judiciary Committee (April 10) and the other hosted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee (April 11).

Meanwhile, the Office of Australian Information Commissioner announced its own investigation into Facebook and said it will collaborate with other international authorities.

Facebook Still Needs To Work On Platform Manipulation

In Myanmar, a country whose citizens only recently could widely afford to go online and where Facebook is now seen as the de facto internet, Facebook has played a big role in spreading hate speech, according to UN investigators. Facebook recently patted itself on the back for doing a good job censoring much of that hate speech, but a group of six organizations from Myanmar disagrees. The group asserted that Facebook is too slow to respond when content is flagged, and its policies are also not transparent enough. The group urged the company to invest more in moderation in countries such as Myanmar where the risk of Facebook content sparking open violence is high.

In the same vein, Facebook recently announced that it will start releasing more data about election interference. However, it implied that it will only do so after said elections, when the data may not have much use anymore. The company similarly removed a Russian propaganda group only two weeks after the Russian presidential election had passed (you'll never guess who won!).

Facebooks Data Woes Continue For Now

Sources told TechCrunch that messages they received from Zuckerberg years ago seem to have been deleted, demonstrating that the company can retract its CEOs messages from the platform at will. The company said that its doing this to avoid the type of data leaks Sony saw a few years ago, when its employees emails were published online by the hackers.

The irony is that Zuckerberg seems to care a great deal about his own privacy. The good news is that after this report, Facebook said that it will enable a similar feature, perhaps along the lines of time-bound disappearing messages, for all Facebook Messenger users.

Other reports from the Wall Street Journal said that users from both the U.S. and Europe are experiencing strange glitches where they receive password errors when they try to delete their Facebook accounts. Therefore, the users will not be able to delete their accounts until Facebook addresses the issue.Update, 4/5/18, 2:40pm PT: Added Eurocom Q6 entry.

Update, 4/5/2018, 1:20pm PT: HP announced new laptops featuring Intel's Coffee Lake-H processors. Unlike many of the other products in this roundup, HP's wares are targeted at the general consumer and professionals, not gamers looking for thinner and lighter gaming laptops.

Original article, published 4/3/2018, 1pm PT:

Intel announced the latest Coffee Lake-H processors in the wee hours of the morning, and OEMs were quick to reveal their latest-and-greatest laptops equipped with the new CPUs. All the usual suspects--Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and others--contributed to the flood of product revelations. But Coffee Lake-H also prompted some other companies, like Origin PC and Samsung, to contribute their own new devices to the mix.

We're bound to see more and more of these Coffee Lake-H-equipped laptops in the future. Between these processors, Nvidia's Max-Q graphics, and AMD's efforts to push into the laptop market, the future of on-the-go gaming has never looked as powerful. (Or as sleek.) Check out the products below, and be sure to come back as we update the piece when more thin-and-light powerhouses head to market.

Acer

Acer updated its Nitro series of mainstream gaming notebooks with the latest 8th-Gen Intel CPUs. The most powerful of the bunch comes with a six-core i7-8850H, whereas less powerful options come with the four-core i5-8300. The most powerful GPU that can be had in any of the new Nitro 5 laptops is the GTX 1050 Ti. Although this GPU is far from the fastest, it should be plenty enough for running current popular titles on the laptops 1080p screen.

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Asus

Beyond updating its old laptops, Asus launched a new thin-and-light called the Zephyrus M. At first glance, the M might look like another standard Zephyrus GX501, but its actually all new. Beyond being ever-so-slightly larger than the GX501, the M has a keyboard and trackpad that are at the usual locations. The M inherits the GX501s bottom-lift system that separates the bottom panel of the laptop from the body for extra cooling. Specs-wise, the Zephyrus M series sits below the GX501. The CPU on offer is the i7-8750H, and the GPU options are the GTX 1070 8GB and GTX 1060 6GB.

As for updated laptops, Asus has the refreshed the Zephyrus GX501, G703, Strix Scar, and Strix Hero. The GX501 (review here) now comes with the i7-8750H CPU, and the G703 has been updated with six-core Core i7 and i9 options. The more mainstream-targeted 15 Strix Scar and Hero laptops, which are versions of the GL503 (review here), now both have the option of a six-core i7-8750H or a quad-core i5-8300H.

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Dell

Dell launched a new laptop line called the G series. There are 15 and 17 models on offer. Regardless of size, all have the option of a six-core i7-8750H or a quad-core i5-8300H CPU, and all can be equipped with a choice of GTX 1050, 1050 Ti, or 1060 Max-Q GPUs. As for the more premium products, Dells 15 XPS can now similarly be optioned with either the i7-8750H or the i5-8300H CPU, whereas the even higher-end Alienware 15 and 17 have gained six-core Core i7 and Core i9 CPU options.

Digital Storm

We already covered it separately, but Digital Storm launched the new Equinox gaming laptop. Its available in only one CPU and GPU combination--an i7-8750H CPU with a GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU. By default, 16GB of memory and a 512GB NVMe SSD are included. Digital Storms philosophy for the Equinox is that it should provide adequate performance in all games. Consequently, the laptop can only be had with a 1080p 144Hz screen.

Eurocom

Eurocom launched the Q6 gaming laptop, which strongly resembles Digital Storms Equinox. For starters, it has the same i7-8750H processor and GTX 1070 Max-Q graphics. It does have the option of a 4K screen, though. The Eurocom lacks the Digital Storms RGB keyboard and begins at a slightly lower price. Externally, its clear that the Q6 and Equinox share the same chassis and port layout.

Gigabyte

Taking after its competitors, Gigabyte also updated its laptop lines to with new six-core Intel CPUs. The Aero series (review here) are Gigabytes thin-and-light notebooks, and beyond getting the new i7-8750HQ CPU, they now come with new 144Hz 1080p and 60Hz 4K screen options. Gigabytes more gaming-focused Aorus series (review here) of notebooks, which comes in 15 and 17 versions, only saw processor updates. Most of them now sport six-core i7-8850H CPUs, but the flagship Aorus X9 gains the Core i9-8950HK.

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HP

HPs new Coffee Lake-H-equipped laptops arent for gaming like most of the others here are. Instead, the company launched completely redesigned versions its ZBook workstation laptops. The G5 ZBooks come in 15 and 17 models that can pack everything from the four-core i5-8300H to the six-core Xeon E-2186M. They all also have discrete graphics options, including various AMD Radeon Pro and Nvidia Quadro graphics cards. HP is also making the screen a major focus on the new ZBooks. All models except for the mid-range ZBook 15v have the option of a 4K wide-gamut DreamColor display and built-in colorimeter.

HP also redesigned its ZBook Studio line. These are, relatively, more mobile versions of the traditional ZBook laptops. The ZBook Studio and its 2-in-1 sibling, the Studio x360, can still mount powerful six-core Xeon processors, but theyre limited to Nvidia Quadro P1000 graphics card. The ZBook Studios can only fit this much hardware because theyre not nearly as thin and light as they appear to be. The lighter of the two still weighs more than 2kg. Storage and ports wont be a problem on any of HPs new notebooks. All the ZBooks can fit a NVMe M.2 SSD as well as a 2.5 drive, and all have Thunderbolt 3-capable USB-C ports.

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MSI

MSI brought its full lineup to Intel Coffee Lake-H. On the thin-and-light side is the new GS65 Stealth, a step up from the older GS63 (review here). It comes with a six-core i7-8750H, but the GPU options are similar to its older brother. The GS65 comes with either a GTX 1070 Max-Q or GTX 1060. At the slightly-less-mobile middle ground sits the updated GE Raider (review here). It comes in 15 and 17 versions, which have the same specs. Generally, the GE Raider series is a thicker but cheaper option compared to the GS Stealth laptops. Finally, at the gaming powerhouse end sits the updated Titan series (review here). They range in sizes up to 18.3 and are the only MSI laptops that can be equipped with six-core Core i9 CPUs or GTX 1080 GPUs.

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Origin PC

Origin updated the existing EVO15-S gaming laptop (review here) and its professional workstation cousin, the NT-15, with new six-core Intel Coffee Lake CPUs and new screen options. In addition to all previous options, the duo now have options for an i7-8750H CPU and a 144Hz 1080p matte screen. Selecting the newer CPU means you get a newer platform and WiFi card as well--the gigabit-capable Intel 9560. Other aspects, such as I/O and the GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU, remain largely unchanged.

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Samsung

Of the notebook manufacturers mentioned here, Samsung is the odd one out. The company chose Intels mobile Coffee Lake launch to release its new Odyssey Z thin-and-light gaming laptop. It has a similar layout to the Asus Zephyrus GX501 in that the keyboard and trackpad are located on the bottom edge of the laptop.

Its far from the Asus specs-wise, however. The Odyssey Z will be coming with a yet-to-be specified six-core Coffee Lake CPU and what Samsung is calling a GTX 1060 Max-P GPU, which isnt a typo. The company specifically states that the Odyssey Zs GTX 1060 should perform on average 10% better than a GTX 1060 Max-Q. Well have to wait to see what exactly Samsung is up to here, because the notebook isnt arriving until Q3 2018.According to a Reuters report, Microsoft dismissed its own lawsuit against the government over whether or not the U.S. government can demand data stored overseas. The move comes after the Microsoft-supported CLOUD Act became law recently.

Microsoft Ireland Case Is Over

Back In 2013, the U.S. government knocked on Microsofts door to request a users data. There was just one issue: The data was hosted in Ireland, because thats where the user was living.

The government argued that this doesnt matter because Microsoft is an American company. However, Microsoft fought back, arguing that the governments warrant is invalid for data stored abroad. A federal magistrate judge agreed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on this issue, but Microsoft appealed the decision and eventually won the lawsuit on appeal against the U.S. government. The DOJ took the fight to the Supreme Court. Many technology companies, civil liberties groups, and even wireless carriers filed in support of Microsofts case, and the company likely had a good chance of winning.

However, in a surprise turn of events, Microsoft ended up agreeing with the DOJ and dismissed its own lawsuit.

And So Is The Companys Fight For User Privacy

Microsoft seems to have quit the Ireland case after the CLOUD Act became law. Microsoft was one of several technology companies, which also included Google, Apple, Facebook, and Verizons digital content subsidiary Oath, to support the CLOUD Act.

The CLOUD essentially replaces the previous international agreements between the U.S., the European Union, and 65 other individual countries to share data, called the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs). According to the EFF and Senator Ron Wyden, the CLOUD Act also removes significant human rights and privacy protections of MLATs. The bill passed with no debate as part of of the omnibus spending bill.

Microsoft must have known it would have to quit the Ireland case when it agreed to support the CLOUD Act, because now the U.S. government can serve a request under the CLOUD Act to obtain the same data. In effect, Microsoft knowingly supported a law that ended its own fight for user privacy for the past five years.

Microsoft and other cloud companies seem to have supported the CLOUD Act is because they believe this would lead to fewer governments demanding that they store data locally. That would mean the decision to support the CLOUD Act was primarily based on profit-making.

This wasnt the only deal Microsoft seems to have made with the U.S. government. Only two months before Microsoft announced its support for the CLOUD Act, in December 2017, the company also dismissed another one of its own lawsuits against the U.S. government over the DOJs routine abuse of secret data requests.

Microsoft agreed to end that lawsuit because the DOJ promised to change some its policies in regards to the use of gag orders. The company also believed that Congress would seal the deal by passing the Email Privacy Act. However, that law has been in limbo for the past two years, despite the U.S. Housing passing it unanimously twice. It will likely remain there at least until the Senate makeup changes significantly.

The CLOUD Act will likely further enable the U.S. government and other countries to share its citizens' data without having to first go through a judge, which means the potential for abuses has just increased.WITH VOTER TURNOUT AT LEVELS FAR BELOW 10% ACROSS KANSAS CITY, SALES TAX RENEWAL WON A DECISIVE VICTORY!!!

First, a newsworthy note about body acceptance and coming to terms with our. . .And then . . .Our blog community reveals that polling places were mostly abandoned today . . . It's important to realize this is by design. Politicos request unpopular tax increases at a time when locals are less inclined to visit the polls.And so,Developing . . .The Central Archaeological Council of Greece (KAS) has approved a request by the BBC to shoot at the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, following the outcry its initial rejection had caused. Following pressure by the Greek government, which had also criticised the decision by the countrys powerful archaeological council not to allow the BBC to film part of a serialised adaptation of a John le Carre novel KAS gave the green light for filming to begin.

The new KAS decision provides that shooting will commence on April 12, while preparations will begin a day earlier.

Filming at Greek archaeological sites, whether for commercial productions or news reporting, requires a permit from archaeologists that is sometimes near impossible and very costly to obtain.

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: Sonia Viva License: CC-BY-SA

Source: protothema.grNEW YORK  Greece, Images of an Enchanted Land, 1955, an exhibition of photographs by Robert A. McCabe at The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD runs from April 5-8 at Pier 94, 711 12th Avenue (55th Street and the West Side Highway) in Manhattan, Booth 705.

Sit Down Gallery of Paris in its first participation in The Photography Show presents the work of McCabe, the well-known American photographer, who began taking photographs in Greece in the 1950s. The images were taken before mass tourism, capturing the islands and villages immersed in their unique, traditional culture. In his pictures, McCabe has recorded authentic scenes of Aegean life that can never be duplicated. He also photographed many archaeological sites and has a unique record of their condition after the War. The gallery will present analog silver gelatin prints ranging from 50 x 50 cm to 100 x 100 cm as well as vintage prints by the photographer which will be exhibited for the very first time. There will also be on display prints made by Modernage Labs for an exhibition in 1967 at the Onassis Olympic Gallery in New York. Through his artistic vision, the art of Robert McCabe brings us back to an older Greece, when the light was stronger, clearer, and the monuments appeared to be revealed for the first time, said Dr. Vasileios Petrakos- General Secretary of the Archeological Society of Athens and General Secretary of the Academy of Athens, in an excerpt from text for the exhibition of McCabes photos on the occasion of the 180th anniversary of the Society.

For me, the most successful photographs represent a form of poetry Just as a short poem can create a vivid emotional experience, so too can an image, McCabe said.

Robert McCabe's photos of Greece

McCabe was born in Chicago in 1934 and grew up in Rye, NY. His father worked for the New York Daily Mirror in New York, and as the result of his fathers gift of a Kodak Baby Brownie in 1939, McCabe started taking photographs when he was five. His first photographs of Europe were the result of a trip in 1954 to France, Italy, and Greece. He returned to Greece in 1955 and 1957 and photographed the Cyclades for National Geographic. His published books cover subjects and locations in Greece, France, Italy, New York City, New England, Havana, China, and Antarctica. Currently Robert McCabe is working on several projects including books: Portraits of the Greeks 1954-2017; The Greeks and Their Seas (with Margarita Pournara); Mykonos in my Dreams; The Last Monk of the Strophades (with Katerina Lymperopoulou); and an exhibition and book of photographs of Greek archaeological sites in the 1950s, for the 180th anniversary of the Archaeological Society of Athens.

McCabes photographs, primarily though not exclusively taken in Greece, have been exhibited publicly in many locations since as far back as the 1950s. His first three exhibitions were held at Princeton University in 1955 and 1956 under the auspices of the Graphic Arts Department and the Map Department.

More information about the New York exhibition is available online at: https://aipadshow.com.

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: vimeo.com

Source: thenationalherald.comInnovation and technology progress further promote Greece as one of the world's most attractive tourist destinations

The next Facebook or Google could well be created in countries in economic crisis, such as Greece, Steve Wozniak, the famous co-founder of Apple told Athens-Macedonian News Agency in an interview on Tuesday.

"Intelligent people are everywhere and the tools for software development are also available everywhere, so of course the next company to create something in the communication sector, capable of conquering the world if it's good, could be founded in countries such as Greece," Wozniak noted.

In his interview, Wozniak added he was not afraid of the rapid progress in artificial intelligence, in contrast with fears he had expressed in the recent past, aligning with the positions of the late Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX.

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: Wikiuserrr123 License: CC-BY-SAThe value of the exported Bahrain-origin reached BD169 million ($445.2 million) during February as against BD177 million for the same month of 2017, marking a five per cent decrease, said the kingdoms Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) in a new report.



The top ten countries account for 83 per cent of the exported national origin value and 17 per cent for other countries, added iGAs foreign trade report of February 2018, which encompasses balance of trade, imports, exports (national origin) and re-exports.



The value of imports increased by 32 per cent as it reached BD440 million during February 2018 versus BD333 million for the same month of the previous year, while the top ten countries account for 67 per cent of the imports value and 33 per cent for other countries.



According to a report, China was ranked as the first country that exports to Bahrain with BD55 million; UAE as the second with BD35 million whereas Australia ranked third with BD34 million.



Aluminium Oxide emerged as the top product imported to Bahrain with BD32 million while the four-wheel drive vehicles as the second with BD18 million. AC generators were the third products with BD17 million during February 2018.



Saudi Arabia was ranked as the first country importing from Bahrain with BD53 million, the US comes second with BD22 million and UAE positioned third place with BD19 million.



As for national export products, aluminium wire emerged as the top products exported in February 2018 with BD19 million; agglomerated iron ores and concentrates were positioned second products exported with a value of BD16 million; and rectangular alloyed aluminium plates stood third place for exported products with BD12 million.



In regards to the re-exported field, the value of re-exports decreased by 15 per cent as it reached BD40 million during February 2018 versus BD47 million for the same month of the previous year. The top ten countries account for 93 per cent of the re-exported value and 7 per cent for other countries. Saudi Arabia was ranked as the first country to re-export from Bahrain with BD14 million, China ranked as the second with BD6 million and UAE as the third with BD5 million.



Four-wheel drive cars emerged as the top product re-exported from Bahrain with BD7 million, Aircraft came as second products with BD2 million; tugs and pusher craft came as third with BD2 million.



The trade balance, difference between exports and imports, value of the deficit of the trade balance reached BD232 million during February 2018 versus BD109 million for the same month of the previous year with an increase of 113 per cent.  TradeArabia News ServiceJulphar, one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), has won the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) award for 2018 along with its alliance partner, MSD.



MSD (known as Merck & Co in the US and Canada) is a global healthcare provider and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Julphar signed a five-year licensing deal with the company in 2014, giving it exclusive rights to produce, market, distribute and sell certain MSD medicines in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Iraq.



This is the first time a pharmaceutical company from the MEA has won the award, said a statement.



It does highlight the contributions both organisations are providing in alliance management to help create a stronger value proposition for the local patients and the healthcare community, it said.



The 2018 ASAP awards finalists were singled out for their exceptional leadership and contributions and competed in four different categories: Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility, Alliance Program Excellence, Individual Alliance Excellence, and Innovative Best Alliance Practice.



Winners were announced at an awards ceremony at the 2018 ASAP Global Alliance Summit, Propelling Partnering for the On-Demand World: New Perspectives + Proven Practices for Collaborative Business, which was held last month, in Florida, US, it added.



Jerome Carle, general manager of Julphar, said: Winning the prestigious ASAP award is a confirmation that the world is taking notice of the important contribution our company is making to the global healthcare market.



We take great pride in our partnership with MSD and together we bring value and quality to the healthcare community, he said.



MSD is a global leader and through our partnership, we are able to exceed expectations, develop and manufacture best-in-class solutions to help meet patients needs and make a difference to families in the region. Were truly honoured to be recognised for this award, he added.



Mazen Altaruti, assistant vice president and managing director for MSD in the GCC, said, This award represents a great success for the region in terms of alliances and partnerships on a local and global scale.



Receiving this award highlights the vital work being done in the healthcare industry by both companies to guarantee access to medicines for patients. We look forward to your continued partnership and powerful impact in 2018 and beyond, he said.



Last month, Julphar announced it had been ranked number one pharmaceutical company in the UAE by IMS Health February 2018 panel, reflecting a strong double digit sales growth versus 2017.-TradeArabia News ServiceKey issues related to the telecom sector were discussed during a meeting of Bahrain Telecommunications Regulatory Authoritys (TRA) Board of Directors today (April 4).



The board praised TRAs significant efforts in working on both the privacy and data protection regulation which aims at protecting the confidentiality of communications and the privacy of individuals, and on the International Roaming Regulation which sets rules aimed at increasing price transparency and also serves to improve the provision of information on charges and tariffs to users of international roaming services.



The Board also commended TRA on its leading role contributed to the progress towards achieving the Fourth National Telecom Plan (NTP4) objective of establishing the National Broadband Network (NBN), which is supported through a single fixed fibre network.  TradeArabia News ServiceBahrain has reached an agreement with Halliburton to commence drilling two further appraisal wells this year, to further evaluate the potential of the reservoir, the kingdoms largest ever discovery containing tight oil amounting to at least 80 billion barrels.



Halliburton will evaluate reservoir potential, optimise completions and initiate long-term production, Bahrains Minister of Oil Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa told a press conference today (April 4).



The minister said the amount of oil that can be extracted from the Khalij Al-Bahrain Basin is still being studied and commercial production could take about five years time.



The tight oil was discovered in the offshore Khalij Al-Bahrain Basin, which spans some 2,000 sq km in shallow waters off the countrys western coast, close to a fully operational oilfield with ready to connect facilities, according to Halliburton, who added that this unique factor provides potential for significant cost optimisation. The field also contains an estimated 14 trillion cu ft of associated gas.



Meanwhile, a separate discovery of significant gas reserves in two accumulations below Bahrains main gas reservoir has been confirmed.



Extensive work has already been carried out to evaluate in-place volumes. The first well in the drilling programme is planned to produce in August, and over the next two years focus will be given to maximise production and commercial efficiency.



Shaikh Mohammed said:" DeGoyler and MacNaughtons (DeMac) and Halliburtons independent appraisals have confirmed Nogas find of highly significant quantities of oil in place for Khalij Al Bahrain, with tight oil amounting to at least 80 billion barrels, and deep gas reserves in the region of 10-20 trillion cubic feet.



Oil in place of 80 billion barrels is based on a P50 resource estimate, said DeMac senior vice president Dr John Hornbrook. The discovery breaks new ground for the Bahrain oil and gas industry using established technologies, he said.



Positive well test results have successfully demonstrated the productivity of the significant resource, according to Schlumberger, who performed the first test well drilling.



Bapco has already succeeded in flowing high quality oil from the wells during the testing and flow back phases. Based on the core analysis carried out on several wells the formation could be classified at the edge of the conventional-unconventional type of plays, a Schlumberger spokesperson said.



Bapco chief exploration geologist in charge of the discovery, Yahya Alansari said: The presence of a layer with moderate conventional reservoir properties on top of an organic-rich source rock creates a unique self-sourcing and trapping system, enhancing production and economic viability. The confirmation of this significant resource highlights the vast E&P potential and opportunities in Bahrain.



The resource is expected to provide significant long-term positive benefits to Bahrains economy  both directly and indirectly through downstream activities in related industries.



The next stage of development will focus on ensuring robust frameworks, data and terms are in place to facilitate further activities and commercial opportunities with international partners.-TradeArabia News ServiceArrivals from Europe to the GCC will increase 17 per cent over the period 2018 to 2020, driven by extra flights, routes, competitive fares, and the rising number of mid-market hotels throughout the region, according to the latest data published ahead of Arabian Travel Market 2018, which takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 22-25.



According to Arabian Travel Markets research partner, Colliers International, as many as 24.6 million EU residents will travel to the GCC between now and 2020, an additional 4 million travellers when compared to figures for 2015  2017.



The UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to be the preferred GCC destinations for European visitors, together they are on track to welcome 81 per cent of the projected business and leisure travellers. The UAE is expected to receive 14.5 million, Saudi Arabia 5.4 million, Oman 2.21 million, Bahrain 1.72 million and Kuwait 738,000, by 2020.



Simon Press, senior exhibition director, ATM, said: Historically, Europe and the GCC have enjoyed excellent travel and tourism links. Building on this, over the next three years, EU arrivals to the GCC will increase and we will see this in both the leisure and business segments.



While European tourists have previously travelled to the GCC for its luxury resorts, the growing numbers of millennial travellers, middle-class tourists and corporate travellers on a budget, are slowly changing traditional market trends, as is the growth in affordable, mid-market hotels combined with an increase in low-cost flights.



Besides Emirates new route to Stansted airport in the UK, flydubai is scheduled to start flying to Krakow in Poland this month, further extending the carriers Eastern and Central European network, to 24 destinations, including Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest, Prague, Skopje, Sarajevo and Sofia.



Furthermore, GCC hotel developers have turned their attention to quality mid-market properties with Dubai and Riyadh now home to a collection of four-star hotels flagged by names such as Aloft, Centro and Studio M. This growth will continue with a 19.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) forecast in four-star development between 2018 and 2020.



In terms of the outbound market potential, this year ATM welcomes more than 100 European exhibitors to the show, with names such as Atout France, Hard Rock Hotel London, the Slovenian Tourist Board, Tourist Office of Spain, Austrian National Tourist Office and Czech Tourism Authority participating.



Figures from ATM 2017 show the number of delegates, exhibitors and attendees interested in doing business with Europe increased by 147 per cent between the 2017 edition and the previous year, with the number of delegates arriving from Europe, up by 8 per cent.



Colliers data indicates GCC travel to Europe will grow 36 per cent over the next three years, with a forecasted 8.5 million GCC residents projected to visit Europe. While part of this growth can be attributed to the UAE and Saudi Arabias large expatriate populations, GCC nationals are no strangers to European destinations, its culture, history, as well as its retail and luxury hospitality offerings.



Press added: Travel to Europe will continue to be dominated by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which together will account for 93 per cent of GCC arrivals to the continent. Germany, Italy, the UK, Austria and Switzerland have historically been the top European destinations for GCC nationals to visit.



In the UK, the Brexit announcement has weakened the British Pound providing an additional incentive for Gulf tourists, while travel to Switzerland is dominated by GCC residents growing interest in medical tourism aided by the relaxation of tourist visa requirements.



Looking further ahead, ATM 2018 will examine the impact of Brexit on the relationship between the UK and GCC during the Global Stage panel debate Going Solo. The discussion will attempt to address the many unanswered questions about inbound and outbound tourism in a post Brexit-Britain, specifically covering potential changes to aviation rules and other regulatory and economic challenges that could occur. - TradeArabia News ServiceSalamAir, Oman's first budget airline, is adding two new exciting destinations to its growing network this coming Eid.



Starting June 14, the airline will operate three weekly direct flights to Tbilisi, Georgia and two weekly flights to Baku in Azerbaijan. Guests can start planning their next holiday and book their tickets from OMR106 ($274.8) and OMR121 ($313.7), respectively.



Captain Mohamed Ahmed, CEO of SalamAir said, It is the perfect time for SalamAir to fly to Tbilisi and Baku. The Eid holidays is a time for celebration and during this period there is generally a surge in travel to the Caucasia region. Our aim is to provide guests with better choice and flexibility to create their personal journey.



He went on to add: We want to bring Oman and the Middle East closer to Eastern Europe. There is great potential for these two new destinations and we are confident that, together with affordable and direct flights, guests will be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of Tbilisi and Baku. On the other hand, our flights will also provide residence of Baku and Tbilisi with their first direct connection to Oman which will allow them to conduct their business and explore the beauty of our country easily and conveniently.



For those looking to escape the Omani summer, the relaxed visa procedures in both destinations allow guests to receive their visa-on-arrival. SalamAir will be operating flights to Georgias capital city every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, while flights to Baku are scheduled twice weekly on Wednesday and Friday.



Today, the SalamAir network consists of 14 destinations including Muscat, Salalah, Suhar, Dubai, Doha, Jeddah, Taif, Madina, Karachi, Multan, Sialkot, Shiraz, as well as Tbilisi and Baku. All routes offer a choice of three easy fare options: Light, Friendly & Flexi. A cost-conscious menu of additional services is also available to guests, which includes extra luggage allowance, seat selection, and priority check-in. - TradeArabia News ServiceNe puteti urmari si pe pagina noastra de Facebook sau pe Google Newseditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 4

The Health Department has asked the government and private schools to get consent of parents of the students enrolled with them regarding vaccination against measles and rubella virus. The department has also asked the schools to sensitise the parents about the necessity of immunisation and ensure that maximum students are covered in the drive.

Officials of the department on Wednesday met Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) president Dr Santokh Singh and informed him about the drive. District Immunisation Officer Dr Ramesh Pal Singh said the CKD president has assured us of all help.

Health officials said the children aged between nine months and 15 years will be covered in the drive.

Health officials said they had approached private schools and the Education Department to support before the drive begins at the end of this month.gspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, April 4

Snacks and beverages maker PepsiCo will reduce salt content in its snacks brandKurkurein line with its global nutrition objectives, a top company official said on Wednesday.

According to PepsiCo India vice president, snacks, Jagrut Kotech, the company has recently launched new multigrain variant Kurkure packs with 21.5 per cent less salt.

In India, we have been successful in reducing 21 metric tonnes of sodium from our entire snack portfolio till last year and aim to reduce sodium in 75 per cent of our foods portfolio by 2025.

The recently launched multigrain variant with power grain ragi is meeting our global agenda on sodium reduction with a 21.5 per cent less sodium, he said.

Kurkure Multigrain has been formulated with reduced sodium content, in line with PepsiCos global sustainability agenda of performance with purpose (PwP), said Kotecha.

As per our PwP agenda, we work to improve our snack products through a step-wise reduction approach, he said.

Kotecha said in 2018, the brand Kurkure plans to expand its reach through both push and pull strategies.

We will further accelerate our distribution efforts in fast growing semi-urban and rural markets by leveraging our distribution strength and tapping into indirect channels, he said.  IANSeditorial@tribune.com

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 3

As many as 30 per cent doctors are suffering from depression, while 17 per cent even thought of committing suicide, states a report published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry.

The report, Psychological problems and burnout among medical professionals of a tertiary care hospital of North India: A cross-sectional study, is based on an online survey conducted by the department of psychiatry of the PGI.

Of the 1,721 faculty members at the PGI, 445 doctors participated in the online survey. Of them, 376 were resident doctors while 69 were faculty members.

More than 90 per cent participants reported some level of burnout.

Long working hours, stretching from 18 to 24 hours, was the prime reason behind the growing stress and burnout among doctors.

Nearly 80 per cent doctors are leading a sedentary lifestyle, while 72 per cent could not find time to read books, states the report.

Nearly 27 per cent doctors admitted to be watching pornographic movies (once a week) as a source of recreation. The survey found that 77 per cent doctors remained hooked to the Internet and 34 per cent admitted to be chatting on the social media.

Nearly 32.8 per cent doctors admitted that they had shouted at patients and their attendants. And 54.4 per cent doctors admitted that they could not give sufficient time to the patients.

The issue of communication, that had led to suicide by Dr Krishna Prasath in February, yet again figured during the survey with 21.6 per cent doctors admitting that they face communication pangs.

The rising number of patients arriving at the PGI is becoming a major reason of burnout among doctors as 64.3 per cent doctors stated that they were seeing more than the desired patients.

Over 31 per cent doctors feel that their seniors were not showing empathy towards patients and 43 per cent doctors feel that they are not treated well by their seniors.

Nearly 48 per cent doctors admitted that senior faculty colleagues had positive and negative biases towards particular residents.

Over 16 per cent doctors admitted to be consuming alcohol during weekends to beat the stress and over 5 per cent are hooked to tobacco and 6 per cent admitted to be using cannabis.

In the findings, experts stated that the presence of stress, depression and burnout was associated with long working hours, which was resulting in negative patient-related outcomes or adverse response to a therapeutic intervention.

Adverse doctor-patient interactions and interpersonal interactions among colleagues were also leading to stress.

The experts suggest that there is an urgent need for developing mechanisms to evaluate work-related stress, burnout and depression among doctors.

Psychiatry help still a taboo

The findings also suggested that psychiatry help is still a taboo among doctors. There is need for equipping medical professionals with skills of stress management and mitigate stigma associated with mental disorders so that at the time of the need, the professionals can seek help.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Jammu, April 4

Four people, including three students, were injured in a lightning-related incident in Jammu and Kashmirs Doda district, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place at the Joura Kahara Middle School in the Gandoh area on Tuesday.

Three students--Simran Devi and Haroon Rashid (both 12) and Nadeem Ahmad (13)--and Parveena Begum (40) were injured, police said.

Nadeem had been referred to the Thathri community health centre, while the rest were discharged after being given first-aid at the Gandoh hospital, they said. PTIsinghking99@yahoo.com

Jammu/Rajouri, April 3

A young Army soldier lost his life, while four others, including an officer, suffered serious injuries in unprovoked firing by Pakistan across the Line of Control in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch on Tuesday morning.

Sepoy Mustapure Shubham Suryakant, 20, was critically wounded and succumbed to his injuries at the Command Hospital, Udhampur.

The firing and mortar shelling lasted about 45 minutes, tweeted a senior police officer posted in Poonch. The injured were airlifted to the Command Hospital.

The slain soldier belonged to Parbhani district of Maharashtra and is survived by his mother Sunita. The injured were identified as Lt Kallamputi Bhargva, Naib Subedar Mahlya V Motilal, Subedar Sakunday S Kashinath and Naik Dhumal Sandeep.  TNSshalender@tribune.com

Ishrat S Banwait

Just like love, depression is blind too! It strikes anyone irrespective of age, wealth, success, gender or any such trait. The top Google search results for fighting depression suggest ways to fight depression naturally and all alone. However, a first-of-its-kind event in the region is trying to get people to talk about depression and other such mental issues.

Titled Rangamanch, the event is being organised by a 24-year-old Panchkula-based girl. Kriti Pahuja, who just quit her job with a media house, says she had seen so many people around her suffer, so she just couldnt take it anymore and, therefore, decided to do something about it. Her newly launched venture Viroka is the banner under which the event is scheduled to take place on April 8 at the Upstairs club in Panchkula.

Issue based

Kriti describes Rangmanch as a stage of expression for people dealing with issues. The problem, she feels, is that people are not encouraged to open up about such issues and they try to fight all alone while hiding the pain. The ones hiding all the pain without anyone guessing are the real actors and we are surrounded by them, she adds.

The event will thus feature numerous people who will talk about depression, stress, anxiety, incest and related problems in an artistic manner. Poets, musicians, painters, actors and storytellers will all be a part of this event. Along with them, a couple of doctors will also discuss the medical aspects. A completely non-commercial initiative, Kriti claims to not have spent a penny on promoting the event till date. Hence, she did not expect a great response but was overwhelmed when she got 86 entries of performers!

Pan-India aim

Having worked in large corporates and media houses, Kriti is well aware of the pressures and problems of working life. Having lost her father when she was still in college, she knows pain and suffering well. Kriti feels that lack of communication is a major factor for an increase in depression and related problems. She wants to make it a regular event and also take it to other places in India. In the next one year, she plans to hold five more such events in different cities across the country.

Experiences of people who have suffered will come out and thus encourage others to open up as well. This will go a long way in an individuals fight against mental health problems, she shares.

Kritis team includes volunteers who want to work for the cause. They have created a website for the event and are promoting it on social media. The promotional video of the event is playing in public places like gyms and salons, which agree to play it. The team has also been reaching out to NGOs and doctors for the event.

Catch upeditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 4

The meeting of the task force for the Measles-Rubella drive was held on Wednesday at the Civil Hospital, Sahnewal, on the directions of Civil Surgeon, Dr Parwinder Pal Singh Sidhu.

Dr JP Singh, Senior Medical Officer, Civil Hospital, said this vaccine was completely safe. Kids from the age of nine months to 15 years will be given this vaccine and is totally safe. The MR drive will be started in the month of April.

Further Dr Naveen Sikka, Nodal Officer for the drive said that this vaccine is fully safe and more than 140 countries have used these. Even if the kid had vaccine for measles earlier then also it can be given as it does not have any side effects. Kids at schools, anganwadis and those at home will be covered during the drive, he said.

On the line of polio eradication, the Health Department has now launched measles eradication programme. The deadline of 2020 has been given to World Health Organisation by India for measles eradication and three rounds have already been completed in the country and in the fourth round, Punjab will be covered.

Currently the vaccine of measles is administered to the kids during the routine vaccination programme but after the special drive is conducted, the vaccine which will be administered to the kids will be Measles-Rubella.

The programme for measles eradication has been prepared under which Measles-Rubella vaccine will be given to the kids. In case any case of measles is found in the district then the entire case history will be noted and the blood samples will be sent to PGI for further investigation.

What is measles?

Measles is a viral infection in the respiratory system. It is a contagious disease that can spread through contact with infected mucus and saliva. Infection can be released into the air through cough and cold.

Symptoms

Cough, red eyes, runny nose, sore throat, muscle ache, fever, rashes on skinuttara@tribuneindia.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4

Nepal Prime Minister KP Olis first visit to India since being re-elected will provide an opportunity for the two sides to move past differences that began with Madhesi protests and were heightened by the fall of his previous government in 2016.

Oli, who blamed New Delhi for its ally CPN (Maoist Centre) pulling out of the government, will arrive in India on Friday. On his schedule are meetings with businessmen and Nepali Diaspora in Delhi.

He will hold talks with his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday, and will deliver an address at an event organised by India Foundation. He is scheduled to visit Uttarakhands GB Pant on Sunday, before leaving for home.

Rather than piling up new agreements and forgetting about them, well focus on how to make tangible progress on past agreements and in areas of mutual cooperation, Oli told Nepalese Parliament in Kathmandu on Tuesday on his upcoming visit agenda. According to sources focus in talks will remain on connectivity, including cross border railways, border management, energy and trade. Four pacts are likely to be signedagreements on inland water navigation in Koshi river, agriculture, bulk cargo movement through more transit points and one concerning Raxaul border.

The two prime ministers will also jointly lay foundation stone of the 900MW Arun III hydro project through pressing of a button on Saturday. The plant, to be developed by state run Indian firm SJVN (Sutlej Jala Vidhyut Nigam) in eastern Nepal, under construction with an Indian assistance of $1.5 billion. The leaders will also inaugurate the Integrated Check Post at Birgunj-Raxaul border developed over last seven years.

Oli government hopes to expedite implementation of Pancheshwor Multipurpose Power Project, talk on ferrying goods via Ganges and open more air routes from India. Nepal will seek loans at low rates of interest for post-quake rehabilitation, and assure India of Cooperation to counter terrorism, human trafficking and cross border crimes. In his Parliament speech, Oli said he wanted a harmonious relationship with neighbours based on mutual respect, equality, non-interference. With Nepal as chair for SAARC and BIMSTEC, Oli wants to push for regional and sub-regional cooperation, which will be tricky areas of conversation given the India led boycott of SAARC summit in Pakistan in 2016 in wake of Uri terror strikes.

Oli also lent his support to the Chinese grand BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) that India opposes since it has CPEC (China Pak Economic Corridor) running through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

Ties between India and Nepal soured after Oli was elected in October 2015, with Kathmandu blaming India for the Madhesi protests and the five-month blockade on the Indo-Nepal border that followed.

Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) pulled out support from Olis government in July 2016, causing his government to fall. Oli has blamed India for trying to destablise his government, a charge New Delhi has denied.monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Badaun (UP), April 4

A local court here has dismissed a sedition case lodged against Samajwadi Party leader Mohd Azam Khan for allegedly making controversial remarks on Kashmir.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Amarjeet Singh dismissed the case yesterday and rejected the final report filed by the police in the matter.

The case was registered against Khan by Bajrang Dal leader Ujjawal Gupta for his alleged controversial comments on Kashmir on December 21, 2010.

The investigating officer had filed a final report in the case on May 5, 2012, against which Gupta had moved a protest application on January 8, 2013.

On May 24, 2013, the court rejected the final report and said it was false and was based on baseless facts to get desired results.

It directed a re-investigation, asking police to obtain original recording from the media and make it a part of the probe.

Following the court's judgment, Gupta said he will approach the high court against the decision.

Khan had come under attack from the Congress and the BJP for his controversial remarks on the status of Jammu and Kashmir.

While the Congress had slammed Khan for his reported comment that senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad belonged to Kashmir and not India, and for questioning the status of the state, the BJP had demanded action against him.

Dubbing his remark as "anti-national", the UP unit of the BJP had demanded that Khan should be booked for the offence.

PTIAs most of you already know, people often do not buy a premade PC, they create their own configuration. Pre-made still sells though, some people just dont want to go through all that trouble and simply ask for an opinion on what is in store,rchopra@tribunemail.com

Mumbai, April 4

In a caustic attack on the Centre, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday said the violence during a nationwide bandh by Dalits to protest against the softening of provisions of the SC/ST Act is a reflection of a weak and selfish leadership.

It also raked up the multi-crore Punjab National Bank scam, saying while diamond jeweller Nirav Modi looted the nation, the present government was breaking the country.

It said coming out on the streets against an order of the apex court was akin to going against the ideology of Dr BR Ambedkar--the architect of the Indian Constitution.

Incidents of violence happen when the leadership is weak and selfish, the Sena said in a hard-hitting editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

The country had once been divided in the name of religion. If it is once again being broken apart in the name of caste, where is Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what is he doing? it asked.

At least 11 people died and several others were injured in the Bharat bandh called on Monday by Dalit outfits to protest against the softening of certain provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

On the BJPs allegation that the Congress was fuelling tension in society with an eye on polls, the Sena said if some were claiming that Dalits had been misled into coming out on the streets to protest, it would also hold true for riots in Asansol (West Bengal), where a party is allegedly fanning the unrest for its political gains.

The Asansol-Raniganj belt had witnessed clashes between two groups over Ram Navami celebrations, resulting in the death of a person. Two police officers were also injured in the clashes.

Creating a social divide and fanning riots for the sake of votes is political corruption. Nirav Modi looted the nation; however, the present dispensation is breaking the nation, the Sena said, lashing out at the ruling NDA.

It wondered what was wrong with the Supreme Court ruling that there should be an investigation before an arrest so that the Act was not misused.

The SC has no intentions to dilute the Atrocities Act but just wants to ensure it is not misused. There is nothing wrong in that, it said.

Coming out on the streets against the SC order is like going against the ideology of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the Sena opined.

It said that 25 years back, there was a massive unrest in Ayodhya and today, when the Modi-Shah government is in power, it did not take any decision on the Ram temple, except pushing the issue to the Supreme Court.

The countrys politics is at a dangerous stage now. If attempts are made not to let the courts work independently, then we are facing much more difficult times, it cautioned.

The Centre has again knocked the doors of the SC with a review petition. This is not the sign of a strong leadership, it said.

If PM Modi is famous among the masses, he should have made attempts to stop Dalits from indulging in violence, said the Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.

Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru did not care about their lives and went amongst rioters and even heard abuses, it noted.

Even the current prime minister and his ministers should have done this. Filing a review petition is like running away from the situation and insulting Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the Sena opined. PTIeditorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, April 4

India, Japan and the United States held the 9th round of trilateral consultations on regional and global issues at the level of Joint Secretary, Director General and Assistant Secretary in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The meeting follows the directives provided by the Foreign Ministers of the three countries who met in New York in September last year on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The officials explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development, counter-proliferation, counter-terrorism, maritime security, maritime domain awareness and HA-DR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief), said an official Indian press statement.

The three nations are part of the revived Quadrilateral Security Dialogue along with Australia, focussing on the stability of Indo-Pacific region and Chinas aggressive maritime ambitions. All sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through partnership with countries in the region, the statement said.  TNSamansharma@tribunemail.com

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 4

The Maharashtra government will soon introduce rules governing the sale of food and drinks inside multiplexes, its counsel told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday.

The court is hearing a PIL filed by a citizen, Jainendra Baxi, who has challenged the ban on carrying of food inside movie theatres and multiplexes in Maharashtra.

The petitioner submitted that there was no law to prohibit film goers from carrying their own food and water inside movie theatres.

A division bench of the High Court comprising judges S M Kemkar and M S Karnik observed that food and drink sold at multiplexes were priced much higher than in premises outside. "The price of food and water bottles sold inside movie theatres are, indeed, exorbitant. We have ourselves experienced it. You should sell it at the regular price," Justice Kemkar noted.

The court went on to observe that if patrons were banned from bringing in their own food and drink, then there should be a total ban on eatables inside the theatre premises.

The petitioner's lawyer pointed out that the ban on patrons bringing in their own food affected the old and the ill who cannot tolerate the junk food sold in theatres and multiplexes. He also argued selling of food inside auditoriums and theatres were banned by law in Maharashtra. However, the rules were violated by multiplexes which deliver food to customers at their seats.amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, April 4

Maldives has declined an invitation by India to send a ministerial-level delegation to the Defence Expo, a biennial exhibition of weapons and military hardware, which will be held in Chennai next week, official sources said.

The decision by Maldives is seen as an apparent snub to New Delhi which was critical of the Abdulla Yameen government for imposing emergency in the island nation earlier this year.

Sources told PTI that Maldives has conveyed to New Delhi that its defence minister would be travelling abroad and it would not be possible for him to lead a delegation to attend the expo, which will be held from April 11-14 in Thiruvidandai, south Chennai.

In February, Maldives had declined India's invitation to participate in the eight-day mega naval exercise -- Milan -- from March 6-13.

Ties between India and Maldives nosedived after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen declared emergency on February 5 following an order by the country's Supreme Court to release a group of Opposition leaders, who had been convicted in widely criticised trials.

On February 21, India had reacted strongly over the extension of emergency by a month. The emergency was lifted 45 days later.

China has been trying to expand its influence over Maldives and it had appeared to be supportive of President Yameen's decision to clamp emergency.

Interestingly, Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa paid a rare visit to Maldives this week. Bajwa met Maldivian defence minister Adam Shareef Umar and called on Maldives President Yameen.

Sources said India has also invited China for the Defence Expo but there has not been any response from Beijing. - PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4

Nepal Prime Minister KP Olis first visit to India since being re-elected will focus on building confidence and providing an opportunity to the two sides to move past the differences that began with the Madhesi blockade and the fall of the previous Oli government.

The communist leader, perceived to be Pro-China, arrives on Friday and will engage with the business community and Nepali diaspora in New Delhi. On Saturday, Oli will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhawan, hold formal talks with PM Narendra Modi and deliver an address at an India Foundation event. On Sunday, he will travel to GB Pant University in Uttarakhand before leaving for home.

Rather than piling up new agreements and forgetting about them, well focus on how to make tangible progress on past agreements and in areas of mutual cooperation, Oli said while briefing Parliament in Kathmandu on Tuesday on his visits agenda. Sources said talks would focus on connectivity, including cross- border railways, border management, energy and trade. Three pacts are likely to be signed  on inland water navigation in Koshi river, on agriculture and on bulk cargo movement through more transit points other than Raxaul border.

The two PMs will also jointly lay foundation stone for the 900MW Arun III hydro project by pressing a button on Saturday. To be developed by state-run Indian firm Sutlej Jala Vidhyut Nigam (SJVN) in eastern Nepal, the project is under construction with an Indian assistance of $1.5 billion. The leaders will also inaugurate the Integrated Check Post at Birgunj-Raxaul border.

The Oli government is hoping to expedite the implementation of Pancheshwor multi-purpose power project and talks on ferrying goods via the Ganga and open more air routes from India. Nepal will seek concessional loans for post-quake reconstruction works and assure India of cooperation to counter terrorism, human trafficking and cross-border crimes.

In his Parliament speech, Oli underlined that he wants a harmonious relationship with neighbours based on mutual respect, equality, non-interference. With Nepal as chair for SAARC and BIMSTEC, Oli wants to push for regional and sub-regional cooperation which will be tricky areas of conversation given the India led boycott of SAARC summit in Pakistan in 2016 in the wake of Uri terror strikes. In Parliament, Oli also batted for Chinese BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) that India opposes since it has CPEC (China Pak Economic Corridor) running through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as its flagship project.

Outreach to Nepalese actorsmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Hubballi (Karnataka), April 4

BJP president Amit Shah was in for a surprise on Tuesday when Election Commission officials searched his private aircraft on landing in this Karnataka city for party events ahead of the May 12 Assembly poll.

"A team of our officials searched the chartered aircraft in which Shah arrived here from New Delhi for party activities, to ensure the Model Code of Conduct is being observed," a poll official told IANS over phone.

Shah, who is on a two-day visit to the state was accompanied by two more party leaders.

The search was carried by three poll officials, though nothing "unusual" was found in the aircraft.

"It was a routine check. Found nothing. It's part of our drill under the MCC, in force since March 27 when the election was announced," noted the official.

Party's Lok Sabha member from Dharwad Prahlad Joshi received Shah at the airport and accompanied him to Kaginele in Byadgi taluk of Haveri district for addressing a convention of Other Backward Classes.

Asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was going to form the next government in the state, Shah said the party would fulfil the demand of the OBC community for constitutional status to the OBCs.

"Though the BJP-led NDA government has formulated 116 schemes for the OBCs across the country, unfortunately, they have not been reaching the intended beneficiaries in Karnataka due to non-cooperation of the state government," charged Shah without naming the ruling Congress.

Later, the party chief visited Badami in the state's northwest Bagalkot district for an interaction with seers of religious sects and mutts.

IANSgspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, April 4

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met her Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of an international security conference in Moscow.

They are understood to have exchanged views on bilateral issues, particularly on the situation along the nearly 4,000 km-border between the two countries, official sources said.

Both Sitharaman and Wei are in Moscow to attend the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security.

Sitharaman herself tweeted a picture of her meeting with Wei.

There were no official details about the meeting.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The face-off ended on August 28.  PTImonicakchauhan@gmail.com

New Delhi, April 4

A Zimbabwean woman has been apprehended at Delhi airport for allegedly trying to smuggle out party drugs worth around Rs 15 crore.

Based on a tip off provided by the sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Betty Rame, who was supposed to travel to Goa, was apprehended by CISF personnel on Monday night, he said.

As she was about to enter the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here, a CISF staff intercepted her and took her for detailed frisking.

"About 3 kilogrammes of Methamphetamine, a party drug also known as 'ice', was recovered from the bag of the woman who hails from Zimbabwe. She was handed over to the NCB," the official said, adding the seized drug is valued at about Rs 15 crore in the market.

Rame had arrived in Mumbai on March 20 from Zimbabwe and had visited India earlier in November last year, they said.

The drug consignment was handed over to her by an African man in Delhi and she was supposed to smuggle it to Manila in Philippines via Goa.

PTIsinghking99@yahoo.com

Chandigarh, April 3

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday restrained banks from taking coercive steps against Punjab farmers for recovery of loans up to Rs 2 lakh. The direction by the Division Bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal will remain in force till the next date of hearing, May 8.

The Bench at the same time made it clear that generosity could not be shown towards those arranging classy weddings and buying expensive cars with loans.

It said the distressed farmers were also required to be given benefits of various government schemes.

Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Vishawajeet Khanna submitted that a relief of Rs 308 crore had already been disbursed for 2017-18 and a provision of Rs 4,250 crore made for the current fiscal.

Taking on record the statement, the Bench called for details regarding the disbursement of relief amount. The state counsel was asked to examine the suggestions put forth by amicus curiae (friend of the court) RS Bains on providing relief to the farmers. The Bench made it clear that excessive attachment of farmers assets would be viewed with utmost seriousness.

The High Court had brought the issue of farm debt waiver under its ambit by asking the government to specify the methodology it intended to adopt.

The case has its genesis in a petition filed by Mohit Kapoor in September last year, when farmer unions were planning to assemble outside the Patiala residence of Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh. The petition against the protest call by farmer unions sought imposition of Section 144.

As protests across the state continued, the HC Bench made clear its intent to look into the wider issues resulting in the agitation by small landholders.  TNSrchopra@tribunemail.com

Washington, April 4

US President Donald Trump has said nobody has been tougher on Russia than him even as he expressed hope that having a good relationship with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would be a great thing.

Trumps comments came on Tuesday during a meeting with leaders of the Baltic states--Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania--a day after the White House confirmed the President invited Putin to the Oval Office for a potential meeting.

I think well be able to have great dialogue, I hope. And, if we cant, youll be the first to know about it. Nobodys been tougher on Russia than I have, he said.

Trump was asked if he considered Putin a friend or a foe.

Its a real possibility that I could have a good relationship. And remember this: Getting along with Russia is a good thing. Getting along with China is a good thing. Getting along with other countries, including your three countries, is a good thing, not a bad thing, Trump told reporters at a White House joint news conference with Baltic leaders.

So I think I could have a very good relationship with Russia and with President Putin. And if I did, that would be a great thing. And theres also a possibility that wont happen. Who knows? he said.

Trump noted that the US is very strong on energy, which he said, is not good for Russia.

Were essentially now energy-independent. Were an exporter of energy. That is not a positive for Russia. But its certainly a positive for the United States, he said.

His administration, Trump said, had just passed a USD 700 billion military budget.

Next year, USD 716 billion, the largest ever passed. We are going to have a military stronger than weve ever had before, by far. Now, thats not exactly a great thing for Russia. But thats the way it is. Were going to have the strongest military that we ever had, he said.

The US President reiterated the non-payment of bills by some NATO member countries.

NATO was delinquent. They were not paying their bills. They were not paying, a lot of states, as we discussed. They were not--they were not paying what they should be paying, he said.

Trump said since he came in, many billions of dollars additional had been paid by countries that werent paying, and now theyre paying.

And they will have to pay more, frankly. Theyre going to have to pay more, Trump said.

So there are many things that Ive done, and not only the 60 diplomats. Germany did four, France did four, we did 60. Theres nobody been tougher on Russia, he said on the US expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats in response to a chemical attack on a former Russian spy in the UK. PTI.         III-866  -             .      ...rajivbhatia82@gmail.com

Beijing, April 4

China on Wednesday said it was ready take countermeasures in retaliation against the new round of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, expressing firm opposition to the new duties targeting USD 50 billion worth of Chinese products.

"Disregarding strong representations by China, the US announced the tariff proposals that are completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes," China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said.

The Trump administration on Tuesday published a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports that could be targeted for tariffs.

The US plans to apply the tariffs to about USD 50 billion worth of goods to punish China for its alleged theft of trade secrets, including software, patents and other technology.

Trump is demanding that China cut down USD 375 billion trade deficit by USD 100 billion in about a month.

China reacted sharply to the new tariffs, again raising fears of a trade war between the two largest economies of the world.

The MOC said the US published the list in disregard of the mutually-beneficial and win-win nature of the China-US commercial cooperation of the past 40 years, the appeal of the Chinese and American business communities and the interests of consumers, it said.

The move went against the interests of China, the US and the world economy, violating the basic principles and spirit of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), it said.

China has already slapped tariffs on 128 US products including wine and pork totalling to USD 3 billion in retaliation to Trump's move to impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium.

China plans to immediately bring relevant US practice to the dispute settlement body of the WTO, and is ready to take countermeasures on US products with equal force and scale that will be published in the coming days, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have the confidence and ability to respond to any US trade protectionist measures," the MOC said.

On Tuesday, another Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media that China will not shy away from a trade war and fight till the end.

"We keep reiterating that China won't initiate a trade war, and a trade war is the last thing we want. However, we will not be afraid of it. If someone is bent on waging it and even closing in on our doorstep, then we will keep them company and let's see who last to the end," he said.

"China has the determination and capability to take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate and lawful rights and interests. They may have their list, but we also have our own," he said in comments posted on the Foreign Ministry's website and added that the door for negotiations is still open.

Trump signed a memorandum on March 22 that could impose tariffs on Chinese imports and restrictions on Chinese investment in the US.

The memorandum is based on a Section 301 investigation, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017 into the alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices.  PTI.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Islamabad, April 4

The UN Security Councils updated list of terrorists and militant groups has 139 entries from Pakistan alone, including Hafeez Saeeds Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to a media report.

The list, headed by Osama bin Ladens heir apparent Ayman al-Zawahiri, identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with groups that used Pakistani territory for carrying out their operations, Dawn News reported.

LeTs Hafiz Saeed is listed as a person also wanted by Interpol for his involvement in terrorist activities.

The LeT is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The list also includes Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, an Indian national who, according to the UN Security Council, has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, the report said.

The UN claims that he owns a palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Noorabad, Karachi, it added.

Kaskar, wanted in India as the mastermind of the Mumbai bomb blasts in 1993 and accused of crimes such as match-fixing and extortion, accrued a vast property portfolio across the Midlands and south-east in the UK as well as India, the UAE, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Cyprus and Australia.

Haji Mohammed Yahya Mujahid, LeTs media contact, and Hafiz Saeeds deputies, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal, are also listed. Like Hafiz Saeed, they are all wanted by the Interpol.

The LeT is listed with its various aliases, such as al-Mansoorian, Paasban-i-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle Hadith, Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, the report said.

The UN data claims that first person on the list Ayman al-Zawahiri is still hiding somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, the report said.

Several of his lieutenants are also on the list who, the UN believes, are hiding with him.

The second person on the list is another internationally known terrorist, Ramzi Mohammad bin al-Sheibah, who is identified as a Yemeni national, arrested in Karachi and handed over to the US authorities.

More than a dozen suspected terrorists are listed in the same category, arrested in Pakistan and handed over to the US authorities. Some of them had Pakistani passport, issued by various Pakistani missions in the Middle East and renewed in Pakistan.

The report, however, did not give the total number of entries in the updated UNSC list.

The terrorist entities that were allegedly based in Pakistan, worked from there or had links to Pakistani individuals include Jaish-e-Mohammed, Afghan Support Committee, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Al Akhtar Trust International, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaatul Ahrar and Khatiba Imam Al-Bukhari.

Some of them are listed as based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, according to the report. PTIsanjiv@tribunemail.com

Washington, April 3

In a major setback to Hafiz Saeeds political ambitions, the US today designated the Milli Muslim League (MML), the political front of Pakistan-based Mumbai attack mastermind-led Jamaat-ud Dawa, as a foreign terrorist organisation.

In a simultaneous move, seven members of the MMLs central leadership body have been designated as foreign terrorists.

The US also added Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) to the list of terrorist groups. TAJK is said to be a front of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which according to the Trump administration, continues to operate freely inside Pakistan.

The move comes a day after the Election Commission of Pakistan asked the MML to produce a clearance certificate by the interior ministry for its registration as a political party. General elections are scheduled to be held in Pakistan in July. Pakistans election commission had earlier rejected the MMLs application for registration as a political party after the interior ministry objected to its ties to banned militant outfits.

The State Department said the move was aimed at denying the LeT resources it needs to plan and carry out further terrorist attacks.

Both MML and TAJK are LeT fronts created to circumvent the sanctions against it (LeT)...Todays amendments take aim at LeTs efforts to circumvent sanctions and deceive the public about its true character, said Nathan A Sales, Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the Department of State.

Make no mistake: whatever LeT chooses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group. The US supports all efforts to ensure that LeT does not have a political voice until it gives up violence as a tool of influence, Sales said.

Among other consequences of the designations, LeTs property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the group.

LeT continues to operate freely within Pakistan, holding public rallies, raising funds, and plotting and training for terrorist attacks, the State Department said.

LeT members make up MMLs leadership and the so-called party openly displays Saeeds likeness in its election banners and literature, the State Department said. Todays actions notify the US public and the international community that TAJK and MML are aliases of the LeT.  PTI

India welcomes US move to rein in Pakistan

New Delhi: India on Tuesday welcomed the US designating Pakistan-based Milli Muslim League (MML) and Tehreek-e-Azad-e Kashmir (TAJK), aliases of Lashkar-e-Toiba, as foreign terror organisations, saying the decision reflects rejection of the attempts being made in Pakistan to mainstream terrorist individuals and entities. Reacting to the US move, the external affairs ministry said the designation of the MML also shows Pakistans failure to dismantle terror sanctuaries in that country and vindicated Indias position that Islamabad has not taken effective action against terrorist groups and individuals. It is also cognisance of the fact that terrorist individuals and entities are allowed to change names and continue to operate freely from territory under Pakistans control, the ministry said in a statement. TNSThe domain turkeytelegraph.com may be for sale. Please click here to inquireSyrian refugee chefs Ahyam Orabi, Amer Marai and Ahmad Orabi in the kitchen of Loam, Galway  Philip Bromwell/RTE

CHEFS/BAKERS WANTED

UNHCR Ireland is looking for experienced chefs and bakers who would like to participate in this years Refugee Food Festival. The event will take place in mid-June in several restaurants in Ireland.

As a participating chef/baker you will have the opportunity to collaborate on a unique venture and put you skills to use in the kitchen of an Irish restaurant. You will be paid by the hour and may request a reference in recognition of your work.

The Refugee Food Festival is an event that aims to showcase the cooking talents of refugee chefs and bakers, to provide them with opportunities to get to know local restaurants and restaurant owners and to promote employment opportunities for refugee chefs.

You can participate if

You are a qualified chef or have experience working as a chef/baker, and

have experience working as a chef/baker, You are a refugee, beneficiary of subsidiary protection, have been granted humanitarian permission to remain or are an asylum seeker whose application was lodged before October 2017 and who has yet to receive an international protection decision from the Office of International Protection.

If you would like to participate, please download the form from our website and send it to us via email to: [email protected]

Paper forms will also be distributed to Reception Centres and can be sent by post to:

UNHCR Ireland, 102 Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland. D04 E7N6

The deadline for registrations has been extended to Friday 4 May . We will contact the chefs/bakers that have been chosen by the end of April to discuss the details. If you have any questions please contact Svenja von Reuss: [email protected]UN eyes transition of Haiti role from peacekeeping to development

United Nations, Apr 4 (UNI) The United Nations has already started to prepare for a post-peacekeeping presence in Haiti, a senior UN official has said, stressing there are many reasons to be optimistic that the countrys progress towards stability is now irreversible.

While achieving results should remain our common priority, we have already started to prepare for a transition to a non-peacekeeping presence, based on lessons learned in Haiti and in other contexts, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, told the Security Council on Tuesday.

He said that in the coming months, his office will provide progress assessments to allow the 15-member body to take well-informed decisions for the drawdown and eventual withdrawal of the UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH).Addressing irregular migration in Ukraine: UNODC, under the framework of GLO.ACT, stands ready to support the development of a national strategy

Kiev, Ukraine - 4 April 2018 - On 22 March 2018, Mr. Rostyslav Gavrylov, GLO.ACT's National Project Officer for Ukraine, took part in a multi-agency meeting hosted by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. The aim of the meeting was to address the need to develop a national strategy on countering irregular migration in Ukraine.

Years of ongoing conflict as well as reform programmes and the implementation of the EU-Ukraine association agreement have created a number of challenges in terms of migration issues and how to deal with them. The challenges have made it obvious that proper coordination, on a national and international level, is required. Although a number of plans have been developed in the area of migration, most of them have not addressed the issue of irregular migration.

It is in this context that the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine hosted the multi-agency meeting, recognizing that there is a need to draft appropriate legislation which would help institutionalize coordination and provide a clear set of measures for addressing irregular migration. At the beginning of the meeting, participants acknowledged the role of UNODC on countering human trafficking and migrant smuggling. It was mutually agreed that UNODC should be included in relevant working groups dealing with these matters. In addition, UNODC was tasked with providing in-depth expertise in order to support the development of a national strategy on addressing irregular migration.

A direct result of the meeting was the establishment of a first working group, and it was agreed that the working group's activities should be aligned with the overall strategy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in addressing irregular migration. Moreover, due to the broad mandate of UNODC, the participants decided that UNODC should also be included in working groups set up by the Ministry of Internal Affairs that look at areas such as setting up effective border management processes and developing a balanced migration policy.

Being a member of these working groups will enable UNODC to provide national counterparts with best practice examples from other GLO.ACT countries. The aim is for the first working group meeting to take place in April 2018. This first meeting will examine issues on countering irregular migration and how to best coordinate national efforts in this area. Furthermore, participants will consider developing national legislation in line with international regulations and protocols.

Representatives attending the meeting were from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Secret Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police, the State Migration Service, the State Research Institute of the National Security Council, the National Academy of Internal Affairs and international partners.

The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), 11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms.

For more information, please contact:

Rostyslav Gavrylov, National Project Coordinator, UNODC

rostyslav.gavrylov@un.org

www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/

Email: glo.act@un.org

Twitter: @glo_actGLO.ACT supports workshop to improve the coordination amongst key government departments in the fight against human trafficking

Pretoria, South Africa - 4 April 2018 - UNODC, under the framework of GLO.ACT and in collaboration with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, convened on 27 to 28 March 2018 a coordination workshop for the National Inter-Sectorial Committee on Trafficking in Persons, the Provincial Trafficking in Persons Task Teams and the Provincial Rapid Response Task Teams. At present, there is poor coordination amongst the various bodies involved in the response to trafficking in persons (TIP). This lack of coordination has, in the past, had a negative effect in terms of TIP identification, investigation and prosecution. The central aim of the workshop was therefore to exchange good practices on local coordination mechanisms for the identification and referral of TIP cases.

Additional objectives of the workshop were to:

Foster common knowledge on Anti-Trafficking National Policy Framework and Coordination Structures;

Review the Terms of References (TOR) of the National Inter-Sectorial Committee on Trafficking in Persons, the Provincial Trafficking in Persons Task Teams and the Provincial Rapid Response Team;

Exchange best practices on local coordination mechanisms for the identification and referral of TIP cases;

To map priorities and next steps to finalize the National Policy Framework

During the opening ceremony of the workshop, Dr. Arno Schaefer, Minister Counsellor, Head of Cooperation, at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of South Africa said that "law enforcement is the basis of all operational work to detect, investigate and prosecute this serious and organized crime. The need for improved sharing of intelligence knowledge, coordination and cooperation among you is vital. Any kind of work in silos must be avoided." He further said that "GLO.ACT represent our joint efforts to partner with countries globally and contribute not only at promoting international legal standards but also at supporting implementation of these standards".

Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Hon. John Jeffrey said that "South Africa's response to trafficking in persons is at a critical juncture, and therefore proper coordination and role definition of the national and provincial TIP structures will be critical to the successful implementation of the National Policy Framework and Implementation plan". He further said, "It is crucial to stress that the successful implementation of the TIP Act will require that all the law enforcement agencies work together in ensuring successful prosecutions. This requires clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each department and institution on how to administer the TIP Act."

Meanwhile, Ms. Zhuldyz Akisheva, UNODC Regional Representative, reaffirmed during her speech, "I would like to challenge participants at this workshop to look beyond coordination at the national level and take time to consider cooperation with other countries in the SADC region. The 2016 UN Global Report confirmed that trafficking in persons is primarily domestic and intra-regional in nature, meaning that trafficking in persons primarily happens either within the same border, or across borders of countries within the same region. This indeed is the case in the SADC region". She went on to say that " South Africa has actively participated in UNODC/SADC regional fora where important regional initiatives to facilitate cooperation have been established. Notably, a regional network on trafficking in persons known as SADC TIP Net was launched in Swaziland in June 2017. This network shares information on TIP trends and patterns, as well as cooperates in resolving transnational cases, working primarily through a regional database on trafficking in persons."

One of the key outcomes of the workshop was an agreement on the structure of the TORs for the various coordination structures and a way forward on their finalization and of the National Policy Framework. Workshop participants included the National Inter-Sectorial Committee for Trafficking in Persons (NICTIP), Provincial Trafficking in Persons Task Teams (PTT), Provincial Trafficking in Person Rapid Response Task Teams, Civil Society Organizations. Also taking part were our donor the European Union and project-implementing partner IOM.

The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), 11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. GLO.ACT works with the 13 countries to plan and implement strategic national counter-trafficking and counter smuggling efforts through a prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships approach. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms.

For more information, please contact:

Banele Kunene, National Project Officer

banele.kunene@un.org

www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/

Email: glo.act@un.org

Twitter: @glo_actUNODC and Ministry of Public Security initiate interventions to protect victims and vulnerable groups in Lao PDR

Vientiane, Lao PDR - 4 April 2018 - Under the framework of the Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT), UNODC and the Ministry of Public Security signed the GLO.ACT Action Plan to implement selected interventions against trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants with Lao PDR Government counterparts. The interventions include utilizing police media channels to raise awareness of these crimes among vulnerable groups, promoting inter-disciplinary cooperation on human trafficking cases among criminal justice practitioners and social workers, delivering training on victim identification and appropriate legal and social responses to cases of human trafficking and migrant smuggling, as well as strengthening child protection networks.

At the ceremonial event to mark the initiation of GLO.ACT activities, Pol.Col.Dr. Phengsavanh Thipphavongxay, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Police, Ministry of Public Security, and Head of Secretariat to the National Committee on Anti-Trafficking in Persons, urged for close cooperation among government representatives and international development partners on GLO.ACT events, particularly for building the capacity of law enforcement, assisting victims of trafficking and prevention efforts.

Representing the UNODC Regional Office of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Benjamin Smith, Regional Coordinator of the Programme on Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling, stated, "The complexity of transnational organized crime quickly develops far beyond our anticipation, especially in Southeast Asia. Through a comprehensive approach and multi-country implementation, we can better prevent threats, improve and strengthen the response to these crimes and, importantly, meet our obligations to victims."

During his opening speech, Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Lao PDR H.E. Mr. Leon Paul Faber took the opportunity to thank Pol.Col.Dr. Phengsavanh Thipphavongxay, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Police, Ministry of Public Security, and Head of Secretariat to the National Committee on Anti-Trafficking in Persons, as well as UNODC, IOM and UNICEF. He went on to say that the EU believes that projects such as GLO.ACT are the most appropriate mechanism to support the government in its efforts to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Mr. Faber concluded by saying that this project will, without a doubt, strengthen the synergies on the ground.

Representing UNODC Country Office of Lao PDR, Ms. Siliphaithoun Xayamoungkhoun, GLO.ACT National Project Officer, provided an overview of project delivery at the national level, guided by the findings of the 2016 GLO.ACT consultative review of the Lao PDR response to trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling.

Under the GLO.ACT framework, IOM Head of Office in Lao PDR, Ms. Misato Yuasa, oversees activities on the protection and assistance to trafficked victims and vulnerable migrants. IOM is focused on strengthening the national coordination mechanisms, as well as supporting civil society on victim services. UNICEF Lao, represented by Mr. Myo Zin Nyunt, oversees activities to strengthen the child protection framework in the country.

Also present at the ceremony were 40 representatives who were comprised of senior government officials from key line ministries, international and civil society partners, as well as diplomats from multiple embassies. The officals from government authorities represented the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Justice, the Border Liaison Office, Judicial Research and Training Institute, Office of the Supreme People's Prosecutors, People's Supreme Court, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Lao Women's Union and Lao Youth Union. Also participating were representatives from the Lao Bar Association, Village Focus International, Asia Foundation, Association for Development of Women and Legal Education, the Tripartite Action to Protect Migrant Workers from Labour Exploitation within and from the Greater Mekong Subregion, as well as UN colleagues from UNODC, IOM, UNICEF and the International Labour Organization.

The Lao Ministry of Public Security Television aired the ceremonial event nationwide, affirming its commitment to support GLO.ACT interventions.

The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), 11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. GLO.ACT works with the 13 countries to plan and implement strategic national counter-trafficking and counter smuggling efforts through a prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships approach. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms.

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Siliphaithoun Xayamoungkhoun

GLO.ACT National Project Officer

siliphaithoun.xayamoungkhoun@un.org

www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/

Email: glo.act@un.org

Twitter: @glo_act

(April 4, 2018)  Its easy for first-generation students at The University of Texas at San Antonio to feel a sense of belonging. The more than 11,000 Roadrunners who are the first in their families striving to earn a bachelors degree are surrounded by support. That is evident this week as UTSA hosts the First-Gen Fest. The second annual festival has grown from one day to six with a series of events on the Main and Downtown Campuses.

Hundreds of first-gen students, faculty and staff filled the Sombrilla on Tuesday for the First-Gen Fair. More than two dozen UTSA offices and organizations provided information tailored to first-gen students.

Aldo Sepulveda is a first-generation Roadrunner studying physics. The San Antonio native benefited from the First to Go and Graduate Program when he arrived at UTSA. Now hes a peer mentor with the same program.

Having these programs for first-gens meant a lot to me, and now I can use my experiences to give back and be there for other students, Sepulveda said.

At the fair, students also enjoyed playing games, eating, listening to music and socializing with fellow Roadrunners. T-shirts were available for all UTSA first-gens so they can show off their pride.

At the end of the fair, first-gen students, faculty and staff came together at the Roadrunner Statue for a group photo. Patricia Sanchez, professor and department chair in the UTSA Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies and first-generation faculty, was part of the celebration.

When I was in college, I didnt even know the term first-generation student. I had to figure the college process out myself, Sanchez said. Its great to know there are so many people at UTSA dedicated to the success of first-gens.

First-generation staff member and UTSA alumnus Brandon Cruz 16 contributes to cultivating an exceptional student experience as the senior program coordinator for the First-Generation and Transfer Student Center.

We want to empower them with knowledge about the opportunities out there, whether its about scholarships, leadership or work study opportunities, Cruz said. UTSA invests in its first-generation students. We want to see them persist, graduate and go on to successful careers. We remind them they can do it.

A second First-Gen Fair takes place today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Bill Miller Plaza on the UTSA Downtown Campus.

Other UTSA First-Gen events:

First-Gen Poetry Slam

Thursday, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., Student Union Fountain Courtyard, Main Campus



Albuquerque Poet Laureate Jessica Helen Lopez will lead a night of slam poetry just for first-gen students, faculty and staff.



First-Gen Institute

Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Student Union Denman Room (SU 2.01.28), Main Campus



The First-Gen Institute is a free, one-day institute for UTSA faculty and staff, featuring presentations by David Laude from UT Austin and LaTonya Rease Miles from UCLA.

First-Gen Familia Day/Dia de la Familia

Saturday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., Main Building (MB 0.104/0.106), Main Campus



First-gen students are invited to bring their families to campus for an afternoon geared specially for parents and relatives of first-gen students.

The UTSA community is encouraged to use the hashtags #FirstGenUTSA, #FirstGenPride, #FirstGenOrgullo, and #FirstGenRunners during the First-Gen Fest.Photo credit: Craig Lambaria

(April 4, 2018) -- In an effort to foster a campus culture of respect, graduate social work students at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), in collaboration with Beaks Up, Speak Up, will present a photo exhibit to bring awareness to perceptions related to sexual violence. The Photovoice exhibit is on display throughout the month of April at Gallery 23, located on the first floor of the Student Union on the UTSA Main Campus. The exhibit is free and open to the public, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The mission of the Photovoice project is to advocate for increased awareness and response to sexual violence within the UTSA community through empowerment and respect to diversity, using symbolic photographs and fostering dialogue.

The exhibit is the culmination of three Photovoice projects that UTSA masters of social work students completed in 2017. The pictures represent the social action that students could take to address sexual violence. The UTSA student organizers also recruited other college students in the San Antonio and Coastal Bend regions of Texas to contribute to the project. The exhibit features 14 photographs.

"The Photovoice exhibit represents the ideas, feelings and values students have about preventing campus sexual violence and fostering a campus culture of respect, said Candace Christensen, UTSA assistant professor of social work. These images generate emotional, intellectual, and artistic understandings of how the UTSA community can identify and prevent sexual violence. What is most important about this exhibit is that it represents the perspectives of university students who are actively addressing a campus community problem."

This is just one example of Roadrunners inspiring a culture change against sexual assault and misconduct.

Hundreds of UTSA students, faculty and staff participated in Its on Us Call to Action Day on April 3 on the UTSA Main Campus. More than 20 exhibitors provided information on sexual assault and sexual violence including resources on how to report incidents and support services available at UTSA for survivors. Several student groups featured interactive games to educate the UTSA community on the reality of sexual assault and the need to stand up against it. Many attendees signed a giant poster making the Its On Us pledge, a personal commitment to keep women and men safe from sexual violence by becoming an active bystander.Save the Date: Free Sexually Transmitted Disease Testing and Pizza for UW Students April 18

The University of Wyoming Student Health Service is offering free sexually transmitted disease (chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV) testing for UW students Wednesday, April 18, from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Wyoming Union Center Ballroom. Free pizza will be available to students.

Student Health Service, in partnership with the Wyoming Department of Health, Albany County Public Health, Wyoming Public Health and the Wellness Ambassadors, sponsors the event.

According to the latest health data, Wyoming has seen a 50 percent increase in cases of gonorrhea since 2016. And more than half of those infected with chlamydia, and many more infected with gonorrhea and those with HIV infections (until AIDS develops) may not have any symptoms, says Joanne Steane, UW Student Health Service director.

At the free testing event, students will collect their own specimens in the bathroom. Males will collect a urine specimen in a cup and should not urinate one hour before testing; women will collect a vaginal sample. Students who want to be tested for HIV will have a fingerstick blood sample obtained. No physical exam is involved, Steane says.

The Wyoming Union is not a confidential setting. If this is a concern, students should consider making an appointment for private testing at the Student Health Service, she adds.

To make an appointment, call 766-2130.

If you have symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection, you will not obtain treatment at this event, Steane says. Please consider making an appointment for testing at the Student Health Service, where you can receive testing, an examination -- if appropriate -- and treatment in one visit.

For more information, call Student Health Service at 766-2130.Two to Receive UW Honorary Degrees

The University of Wyoming will confer its highest award, the honorary doctoral degree, upon two individuals who will be recognized during UW commencement ceremonies May 12.

They are famed Wyoming artist and philanthropist Neltje, a major supporter of arts programs at UW and elsewhere; and Margaret Webster Maggie Scarlett, a UW alumna who has served in literacy, library, museum and arts volunteer leadership roles, and has received state and national recognition for her work in creating and expanding museum and library collections.

Neltje will receive the Doctor of Arts degree; Scarlett, the Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

UW alumni, current or former trustees and faculty members are eligible to nominate individuals for honorary degrees who embody the universitys high ideals; exemplify the values of excellence, service and integrity; and possess distinguished accomplishments in their professions, public service or service to humanity. Submissions are referred to a joint committee of trustees and faculty members, which forwards recommendations to the full Board of Trustees for approval.

Neltje was born in New York City and raised in Oyster Bay, Long Island. An abstract expressionist, she is essentially a self-taught artist who moved to Wyoming in 1966 and also has gained distinction as a rancher, developer, entrepreneur, educator, retailer, designer and benefactor.

In 2005, she was recognized as one of Wyomings pre-eminent artists with the Governors Arts Award. Neltjes work has been featured in collections at the Smithsonian, the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Mont., the IBM Corp. in Denver, the UW Art Museum and the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne, among others. In addition, her work is in private collections in California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania and Wyoming.

From her home in Sheridan County, she has been a major contributor to that community, including saving the historic Sheridan Inn from demolition and renovating it for public use; and contributing to the Sheridan YMCA, the Sheridan Young Writers Camp, Sheridan Memorial Hospital, Sheridan College and other entities.

She also founded the Jentel Foundation, which awards artists and writers from across the country with monthlong artistic residencies. And, the estate gift of her Sheridan County ranch to UW, to serve as the universitys Neltje Center for Contemporary Visual and Literary Arts, constitutes the largest private gift in UWs history.

As always, her purpose has been one of advancing Wyomings cultural life, often without public recognition, wrote Susan Moldenhauer, recently retired UW Art Museum director. To say that Neltje has changed the cultural life and opportunities in Wyoming is an understatement.

For more than four decades, she has quietly, and often anonymously, gone about working with the Wyoming Arts Council and other nongovernmental organizations to build and strengthen Wyomings cultural community, wrote Tom Buchanan, former UW president. Her legacy will live on and, hopefully, will inspire others to follow her footsteps.

Scarlett was born and raised in Cody, and earned a bachelors degree in hearing and speech science from UW in 1963. She worked in public schools for 21 years as a speech-language pathologist. She now resides in Jackson.

Her volunteer service in Wyoming includes work for two important cultural institutions in the state: the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody. She helped found the National Museum of Wildlife Art and served on its board for many years, and she played a significant role in expanding the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, where she serves as a board member.

Her work to create and expand museum and library collections has received state and national recognition. She was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Institute of Museum and Library Services board, and she led the renovation of the vice presidents residence in Washington, D.C.

She also served on the boards of the Teton Literacy Program, Bills Fun Run and Dance with the Stars, and has been an active leader in the Republican Party.

She and her husband, Dick, are major UW benefactors, including establishing the Maggie Scarlett Endowed Lecturer Series, and the Dick and Maggie Scarlett Endowed Chair in Business Administration.

Maggie is truly a living symbol of all that is so great about the University of Wyoming, wrote retired U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson. She has developed so many numerous talents, in addition to the ones she learned at the university, including art appreciation, philanthropy, political volunteerism and even dancing!

Maggie cares deeply about Wyoming -- its university, its government, its cultural institutions, its people, wrote D. Kurt Graham, director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, and former director of the Buffalo Bill Center of the Wests McCracken Research Library. She has given her time, talent and resources to making the state a better place to live. An honorary degree from her alma mater is a fitting tribute to a lifetime of service that has already formed the basis of a distinctly Wyoming legacy.UW Art Museum to Offer Two-Day Smartphone Photography Workshop

The UW Art Museum will host a two-day Smartphone Photography Workshop inspired by the exhibition Warhol in Wyoming: The Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Gift. (UW Art Museum Photo)

The University of Wyoming Art Museum will host a two-day Smartphone Photography Workshop inspired by the exhibition Warhol in Wyoming: The Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Gift.

The workshop will take place Saturday, April 28, and Saturday, May 5, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

The workshop costs $50 per person and is limited to 15 participants, ages 16 and up. Registration will be accepted through Friday, April 20. To sign up, go to https://tinyurl.com/uwyoartmus-photoworkshop.

Bailey Russel, photography instructor, and Rani Robison, foundations and digital media instructor, both from the UW Department of Art and Art History, will lead the workshop.

Russel and Robison will cover basic composition, exposure techniques and artistic vision, as well as creative approaches to framing, apps and more. They will give participants a unique studio assignment during the week between the two workshops to practice.

One photo will be printed in a large format for each participant and will be shown in a mini-exhibition at the Art Museum. A reception for friends and family is planned Saturday, May 5, from noon-1 p.m.

Having Andy Warhols work on view is a great opportunity to offer a fun and interactive workshop for an adult audience at the Art Museum -- one that we dont often focus on, says Katie Christensen, curator of education and statewide engagement. Warhols use of technology was cutting-edge for his time. Today, your smartphone also is underutilized, cutting-edge technology. After this workshop, you will be the envy of your Instagram feed!

For more information, call the Art Museum at (307) 766-6622, visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum, or follow the museum on Facebook and Instagram.

Through its Museum as Classroom approach, the UW Art Museum places art at the center of learning for all ages. Located in the Centennial Complex at 2111 Willett Drive in Laramie, the museum is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday hours are extended to 7 p.m. February through April and September through November. Admission is free.UW Religion Today: Romans, Jews and Christians at Legio, Israel: Early Evidence for Christianity in Ancient Palestine

By Paul V.M. Flesher

According to Matthews Gospel, Jesus told his disciples to Go and make disciples of all nations. And, that is the story the New Testament tells.

The apostle Pauls letters are addressed to churches he founded across the northern Mediterranean lands and, although the Acts of the Apostles begins in Jerusalem, it quickly moves to stories of evangelizing gentiles in the countries beyond Galilee and Judea.

The land of Israel became important to early Christianity only under Emperor Constantine, who, in the early fourth century, made Christianity an accepted religion across the Roman Empire. He sent his mother, Queen Helena, to Israel to identify locations important to Jesus and the Bible, building churches at those sites. Within a century, the land that early Christians had left to evangelize the world became the Holy Land, and pilgrims began arriving to visit the sacred sites with their new churches.

But, what of the Christians who stayed in Israel in the first century; did they flourish? That is a good question. The historian Eusebius mentions bishops in Jerusalem, Caesarea and Maximianopolis, but we know little about the Christians they led. Did Christianity flourish and increase in Israel after Jesus resurrection, maintain only a small presence or die out? We know surprisingly little. While archaeologists have made extensive finds and excavated churches from the time of Constantine and his successors, there have been few finds from previous centuries.

So, when archaeologists announced the excavation of a Christian prayer hall near the ancient site of Megiddo in Israel 12 years ago, initial expectations hoped that here, finally, were archaeological remains of the early Christians of Israel. In the end, however, it turned out to be something totally different. The prayer hall showed that Christians not only served in the Roman army, but they were accepted and their worship acknowledged as legitimate.

Megiddo, what the New Testament calls Armageddon, was located at the crossroads of important ancient roads for more than two millennia. After the city mound was abandoned, the area continued to be inhabited and, by the first century, a village of Jews and Samaritans known as Kefar Othnay had grown up at the crossroads.

When the Roman Empire decided to station a legion in Palestine, it settled on these crossroads as the place from which most of Palestine could be quickly reached. Ultimately, six Roman highways linked this location to the rest of the province, including Jerusalem, Galilee, Ptolemais and Caesarea.

The 6th Roman Legion spent 170 years in this base, known as Legio. Situated next to Kefar Othnay, it became the sites name from the early second century to the end of the third century.

While the wall around Legios army base separated the village from the camp, the soldiers and the villagers led intertwined lives. This is clear from the Christian prayer hall, for it was located in the village but in a building controlled by the legion.

The building in which the prayer hall was located was large, about 65 feet by 100 feet. It served primarily as living quarters for Roman officers (centurions). One part of it was set aside for a commercial bakery. The discovery of bread stamps -- bearing the names of the bakers next to the ovens -- indicates that it supplied the soldiers of the army base.

The prayer hall itself comprised a small, 15-by-30-foot room within the larger building. Paved with a mosaic, mostly laid out in geometric patterns but with a depiction of two fish (early symbols of Christianity), it contained a table-shaped podium in the center. According to an inscription, the table was offered as a memorial to the God Jesus Christ.

A larger inscription makes clear that the room was constructed by army officials, for it credits one Gaianus, a centurion and a brother, with paying for its construction. Since the prayer hall is in a Roman building housing officers and paid for by a Roman centurion, it is clear that the hall was constructed for Christian officers and soldiers.

Whether the army men became Christians after being stationed in Palestine or they had been Christians when they arrived is unclear. But, this level of recognition indicates that at Legio, Christians were acceptable in the Roman army and could freely practice their beliefs.

If you are in Laramie April 18, come hear Matt Adams, director of the Albright Archaeological Institute in Jerusalem, speak about the army base and Christian prayer hall at Roman Legio. His talk, Armageddon and the Roman VIth Ferrata Legion: New Excavations at Legio, Israel, and Early Jewish-Christian-Roman Relations, will begin at 4:10 p.m. in Room 214 of the University of Wyomings Classroom Building.

Flesher is a professor in UWs Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. Past columns and more information about the program can be found on the web at www.uwyo.edu/RelStds. To comment on this column, visit http://religion-today.blogspot.com.The votes are in! Get a recap of the 2021 Election.

The votes are in! Get a recap of the 2021 Election.

Subscribe now>The decision by the Lutheran Church of Sweden to offer a temporary place of worship to a local Catholic parish reflects the spirit of Pope Francis' visit to the city in 2016 for a joint ecumenical commemoration of the Protestant Reformation

By Philippa Hitchen

The medieval cathedral in the southern Swedish city of Lund will be the setting for a Catholic celebration of the Eucharist for the first time since the days of the Reformation.

The chaplain of the Lutheran cathedral and the Catholic parish of St Thomas announced on Tuesday that the initiative follows on from the historic visit of Pope Francis to the city in October 2016 for a joint commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Listen and download our report

Since the Pope and leaders of the Lutheran World Federation stood together in the ancient cathedral, praying for forgiveness and pledging themselves to closer spiritual and practical cooperation, Catholics and Lutherans in Lund have been meeting regularly in each others churches for ecumenical Vespers.

Strengthening Lutheran-Catholic relations

One of the main promoters of this monthly initiative is the chaplain of the cathedral, Rev Lena Sjostrand, who says the papal visit to Lund and the nearby city of Malmo touched so many people. She says that through these continuing celebrations, people are happy to see that the visit was not merely a one-off event, but rather a concrete way of strengthening relations between the two Christian communities.

This autumn, the Catholic parish of St Thomas will close for major restoration work and the cathedral has offered to host the community on Sundays. The first Catholic Mass since the Reformation will be celebrated there on October 21st and will continue on a weekly basis until the parish church is ready for use again in the spring.

From Conflict to Communion

Promoters of the initiative note that the development also reflects the spirit of the 2013 joint document From Conflict to Communion, which focused on the fruits of fifty years of dialogue since the Second Vatican Council.

The ancient cathedral, dating back to the 11th century, was originally dedicated to St Lawrence and became the religious heart of the region during the Middle Ages. It is one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in Europe, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Common journey of reconciliation

Beneath its austere stone arches, Pope Francis and the Lutheran leaders spoke of their common journey of reconciliation. They also signed a joint statement recommitting Catholics and Lutherans to witness more closely together, to remove the remaining obstacles that stand in the way of full Christian unity.

The statement urges parishes and communities to be bold and creative, joyful and hopeful in their common witness and service to their neighbours in need. This latest ecumenical initiative is another important milestone, putting into practice the spirit of that historic encounter.The funeral service of slain Pakistani Catholics in Quetta, April 3, 2018. (AFP or licensors)

In an attack on Christians in Pakistan on April 2, Islamic State militants have killed four Catholics

Four members of a Catholic family were killed in a militant attack in the southwestern province of Balochistan on Easter Monday, and in another incident the following day, a group attacked worshippers in a Christian church in Punjab province, injuring many.

Quetta terrorist gun attack

The deadly April 2 gun attack took place in the Shah Zaman area of Quetta, the capital of the restive Balochistan province.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.

"Four Christian relatives were going to a nearby market on an auto-rickshaw when two unknown gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on them," police officer Moazzam Jah Ansari told UCANEWS. "It was a targeted attack and an act of terrorism," he added.

Pervaiz Masih, Tariq Masih, Imran Masih and Firdous Bibi died in the attack while a 10-year-old girl was injured.

Relatives on holiday

A neighbour, Aftab, told UCANEWS that Pervaiz Masih, a rickshaw driver, was taking his relatives to an ice cream shop after dinner when they were targeted just outside their home.

"Pervaiz Masih had been living in Quetta for 10 years. His relatives came from Lahore and Dubai for the first time to celebrate Easter with him on March 29," Aftab said.

Aftab said the whole community was in a state of shock.

Assault in Punjab province

The following day, April 3, a mob forced its way into the Gospel Assembly church at Village 77/4R in Punjab's Sahiwal district, beating up the worshippers.

Pastor Cecil Daniel told UCANEWS that "more than two dozen men carrying sticks forced their way into the church and beat up the Christian worshippers." Among the injured were women and children, he said.

Mubarak Masih, a Christian human rights activist, said police had yet to take action against the attackers.

"The village has around 200 Christian families who are confined to their homes over fear of further violence," he told UCANEWS.

Tension in Faisalabad

The attack came a week after supporters of a hardline Islamist group attacked the minority Christian community in Faisalabad, the second largest city in the eastern province.

Tension began when activists of Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLY) painted the wall of a Christian house adjacent to Good News Church with pro-Islamic slogans.

This led to a day-long violent clash between Christians and Muslims with both sides using firearms.

"Police have booked five Christians under anti-terror laws while no action has been taken against TLY activists for instigating the violence," Masih said.

Massiha Millat, a Christian political party, has strongly condemned the rise in attacks on religious minorities.

"The attacks have become so frequent that it has become difficult to keep count," general secretary Aftab Gill told UCANEWS.

"The Punjab government has failed in its constitutional duty to protect the rights of Christians living in the province."

Around 2 percent of Pakistan's population of 208 million are Christians. (Source: UCANEWS)U.S. President Donald Trump says he is sending troops to the border with Mexico in response to a caravan procession of Central American migrants making their way towards the United States.

By James Blears

A caravan procession of more than a thousand Central American would-be migrants travelling through Mexico has brought a sharp response from U.S. President Donald Trump. On Tuesday he announced plans to deploy military troops to secure the nation's southern border with Mexico and make sure the migrant caravan doesn't attempt to cross into U.S. territory.

Calling it a "Big Step" President Trump announced that in lieu of a border wall, American troops are being sent to reinforce National Guard and Border Patrol Agents.

"We will be doing things with Mexico, and they will do something about the Caravan. Otherwise, I'm not going to do the NAFTA deal," he said. He also stressed: "We have immigration laws that are being laughed at by everybody."

Mexico's Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Navarrete, has already bluntly insisted: "We will act to enforce our immigration laws. But with no pressure whatsoever, from any country!"

The migrant caravan is still more than a thousand kilometers from the U.S. border in a field in the Southern State of Oaxaca.

Officials are checking the immigration status of the mostly Honduran migrants, some of whom might qualify for asylum. President Trump has already threatened to cut all aid to Honduras over this incident.Kaleidoscope colours: Co Thach Beach and Co Thach Pagoda (called Cave Pagoda) in the provinces Tuy Phong District attract droves of photographers who arrive in the early morning to take shots of moss-covered stones that can look turquoise, purple, red or other colours, depending on the angle of the sunlight.

But only 100 kilometres away is Co Thach Beach in the provinces Tuy Phong District, an unusual coastal site lined with seaweed-covered pebbles and rocks of varying shapes and sizes.

In recent years, the area has seen thousands of people, mostly photographers, coming to visit between February and April to capture images of the rocks at sunrise and sunset.

When the tide recedes, the green seaweed on the stones and rocks glistens in the morning sunlight and appears blue, but at noon it takes on a yellow hue. The stunning changes in colour can also be seen at sunset.

For me, Co Thach Beach and Chua Hang (Cave Pagoda) nearby are part of my childhood memories with many caves nearby to discover.

On holidays, especially during Tet (Lunar New Year festival), locals would visit the beach to relax after a year of hard work and study.

Good morning: Sunrise at Co Thach Beach in Binh Thuan Provinces Tuy Phong District.

Today, the beach, which is about one kilometre long and 200 to 300 metres wide, is as beautiful as ever. With a dizzying variety of small and big stones, I can still climb up to the top of a rocky boulder and sit and enjoy the sound of waves crashing onto the shore.

As children, we were fascinated with the stones and rocks that had been pushed to the shore for thousands of years. We would pick up the small oddly-shaped stones, some with a heart shape, and take them home with us after each trip.

Many of the small stones appear in a variety of colours. Some look turquoise or yellow, and others purple, white, pink or red under the sunlight and morning dew.

The stone shapes are dependent on the strength of the sea waves and the flow of water.

Every year, shortly after Tet, our parents would take us to Chua Hang Pagoda by motorbike to pray for happiness and to have a picnic. It was an easy trip as our home was only 14 kilometres away in Tuy Phong Districts Phan Ri Cua Town.

Built between 1835 and 1836 on a low hill 64 metres above sea level, the pagoda was recognised as a national historic site by the Ministry of Culture and Information in 1993.

Reflective: Stones and rocks covered with moss shimmer under the sun.

The pagoda was first built by Zen Master Bao Tang in the mid-19th century. Over the last 176 years, the structure was expanded, and there are now shrines that can be seen inside many caves located on the pagodas grounds.

In 2011, the Viet Nam Guinness Book Centre officially recognised the beach as one of the most colourful in the country because of its thousands of stones and rocks.

Many of the stones from the beach are used by artisans in the area in their works, which are the pride of Tuy Phong District residents.

Like other beaches in Binh Thuan Province, the beachs water is clear and deep blue. Besides the small stones, the beach is surrounded by giant rocks of different sizes and shapes that resemble an elephant or an old woman with a hunchback, some of which have legends associated with them.

At the beach, many tourists like to eat fresh seafood like crab, scallop and grilled or boiled fish at food stalls located near the beach or on the way to the beach and pagoda.

Enchanting: Stones and rocks covered with moss take on a deep blue hue. - VNS Photos Duong Duc

To get to the beach from HCM City, you can travel by bus for around seven hours to Tuy Phong and then hire a motorbike driver. They can either hire a tent for VND50,000 to camp on the beach or stay at inexpensive hotels for no more than US$5 a night.

If you drive on your own from HCM City, it will take longer, about eight or nine hours, but you will be able to see the sea and sand dunes the entire way.

From HCM City, drive to Phan Thiet City and then travel along the provinces Mui Ne beach until you reach Phan Ri Cua Town in Tuy Phong. Co Thach beach is about 14 km away.

To attract more local and foreign tourists to the area, provincial authorities have invested in new roads that extend from HCM City to the beach and the pagoda.

Visitors can often see young people on motorbikes taking in the peaceful, beautiful views of the sea and the colours of the seaweed and stones on the beach as they pass by on a leisurely ride during the weekend.In the afternoon, the fire was not extinguished. Photo: La Nghia Hieu

At 2 AM today, on April 4, the fire spread along a thousand square metres at Texhong Yinlong Technology Limiteds factory No.4, in Hai Yen Industrial Park, in Mong Cai city of Quang Ninh province.

Vu Van Kinh, chairman of the citys Peoples Committee informed that the fire has been extinguished before today evening. During the fire, leaders of the city and industrial parks management unit, relevant departments and agencies arrived to the scene to direct firefighting activities and determine the reasons behind the inferno.

The Quang Ninh province Firefighting Department sent four fire engines and 45 firefighters, while Cam Pha and Halong citys departments also sent over ten fire engines and 90 fighters.

60 Chinese firefighters from Guangxi province were also sent to the scene

Mong Cai city also asked Dongxing city of Chinas Guangxi province for support. Nine fire engine, two water sprayers, two excavators, and 60 Chinese firefighters were sent to Hai Yen IP to combat the fire.

Nguyen Manh Tuan, director of Quang Ninhs economic zone management unit, said that Texhong Yinlong Technology Limited has complied with fire safety regulations. The company has a professional firefighter team including 23 people. Hai Yen IP, which was built by Viglacera Corporation-JSC also has two water tanks with the capacity of 1,500cu.m to support firefighting.

However, because the fire broke out from a warehouse filled of cotton and fabric material, which are very easy to catch fire, the fire escalated too fast to be checked by Mong Cai citys Firefighting Department, noted Kinh.

The fire was extinguished by the end of this afternoon

The huge fire lasted for more than 15 hours and destroyed 5,000 tonnes of cotton and fabric materials inside Texhon Yinlong's factory. There are no reports of fatalities, but the property damage seems extensive, although it has not been assessed yet.

Texhong Yinlong Technology Limited was established in May 2012 with the total investment of $300 million on an area of 53-hectare and employing 5,000 workers. It is a subsidiary of Hong Kongs Texhong Textile Group.

In November 2014 Texhong Textile Group started to build Hai Ha Industrial Parks first phase. The facility has already been put into operation. This is the largest foreign invested project in Quang Ninh with the total registered capital of $450 million and taking up an area of 660ha.

(Video source : vnexpress.net)Rapidly-developing technology has had an impact on many sectors, including tourism

Tuan gave the information at Online Tourism Forum 2018 held by Vietnam E-Commerce Association (VECOM) and VNAT in Hanoi on March 29.

Rapidly-developing technology has had an impact on many sectors, including tourism. Over the past two years, personal and group experience travel booked using smartphones to search information has been on the rise, replacing travel agents. Visitors often book flights tickets or rooms through OTAs.

At the meeting, Tuan cited VECOMs information as saying that OTAs such as Agoda.com, booking.com, Traveloka.com and Expedia.com account for up to 80% of Vietnams online travel market share.

Most foreign visitors who come to Vietnam and domestic holidaymakers use foreign OTAs. Meanwhile, Vietnamese firms supply online travel service, including vivu.com, chudu24.com, mytour.vn, tripi.vn, gotadi.com and vntrip.vn mainly serve the local market but see low numbers of transactions.

Vu The Binh, vice chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association, said that many tourism companies in Vietnam still face technological and financial difficulties, which has affected their development. The association has nearly 4,000 members nationwide, but just a small number among those specialising in tourism technology development.

Well soon set up a club to discuss online travel issues. This is expected to help boost the co-operation among members in this area, Binh noted.Several of the EU's biggest airports, including Amsterdam's Schiphol, warned of problems because of the computer breakdown. (AFP/Remko de Waal)

Nearly 15,000 flights could be held up by the problem, acording to Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency in charge of managing Europe's skies.

Several of the EU's biggest airports, including Amsterdam's Schiphol, warned of problems and advised passengers to check on their flights because of the computer breakdown.

"Today 29,500 flights were expected in the European network. Approximately half of those could have some delay as a result of the system outage," a Eurocontrol statement said.

"We very much regret the inconvenience caused to passengers across Europe today, however safety is our number 1 priority at all times. We are working hard to ensure the network returns to normal operations over the coming hours," it later tweeted.

Eurocontrol - which covers 41 countries including all 28 EU nations plus others in Europe including Ukraine, Turkey and Norway - said it hoped to have the system back up and running by late on Tuesday.

It blamed a "failure of the Enhanced Tactical Flow Management System", which tracks and manages traffic demand across the continent, and said it had activated contingency plans which reduced European flight capacity by 10 per cent.

The cause had been identified, it said, without saying what it was.

Eurocontrol added that flight plans from before 1026 GMT were "lost" and asked airlines to refile them. "We have never had anything like this before," a Eurocontrol spokesman told AFP.

'VICIOUS CIRCLE'

The breakdown comes a day after the Easter holidays when many travellers are on the move around Europe, and as commuters across France faced disruption from a massive rail strike in protest at President Emmanuel Macron's reforms.

Several airports across the continent warned of problems, with Amsterdam's Schiphol saying that the "system failure" at Eurocontrol could have "possible consequences" for departures.

Brussels airport said departures were limited to 10 flights an hour. The Belgian airport manages 650 flights a day, according to its website.

Helsinki, Prague, Copenhagen and Dublin airports also warned of delays.

Frankfurt airport, Germany's biggest and one of the busiest in Europe, said the effects were "limited" but added that planes from Brussels "might not be able to arrive".

"We have delays at departures, but this is nothing dramatic. Punctuality is currently under 80 per cent," a spokesperson of Fraport, which runs the airport, told AFP.

German air traffic control operator Deutsche Flugsicherung warned of a possible "vicious circle" of delays.

"Since 2 pm this system, the network manager, has failed in Brussels. This is the system, the department, that controls the flight schedules," a spokeswoman said.

"You work from experience, but things are going slower. But of course, a vicious circle can arise. If nobody takes off, nobody can land. We don't know how long it'll take," the spokeswoman added.

The main airports in Paris and Rome, and the organisation that runs all of Spain's airports, said, however, they had no initial reports of disruption.The fire started at a warehouse owned by Texhong Yinlong Technology Limited

At 2 AM today, on April 4, the fire spread along a thousand square metres in Hai Yen Industrial Park, in Mong Cai city of Quang Ninh province.

According to nearby workers, the fire broke out from a warehouse of Texhong Yinlong Technology Limiteds Factory No.4, which contains 4,000-5,000 tonnes of cotton and fabric materials and goods.

The fire spread swiftly, to engulf a thousand square metres

Five fire engines, three excavators, and a hundred firefighters were mobilised to put out the fire. Chinas Guangxi province has sent six fire engines to support the fire fighting efforts.

While the fire has not been extinguished, it was brought under control by 14 PM. There are no reports of fatalities, but the damage to property seems extensive, although it has not been assessed yet.

Five fire engines, three excavators, and a hundred firefighters were mobilised

Guangxi province of China sent six fire engines to support the firefighting efforts

Texhong Yinlong Technology Limited was established in May 2012 with the total investment of $300 million on an area of 53-hectare and employing 5,000 workers. It is a subsidiary of Hong Kongs Texhong Textile Group.

In November 2014 Texhong Textile Group started to build Hai Ha Industrial Parks first phase. The facility has already been put into operation. This is the largest foreign invested project in Quang Ninh with the total registered capital of $450 million and taking up an area of 660ha.

(Photo, video: source Vnexpress.net)Talking about the banks business strategy in Vietnam, Pattanapong Tansomboon, first senior vice president of Kasikornbank (KBank), spoke to VIRs Sam Luong about the prospects of Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the finance and banking sector, the banks specialisation and experiences in handling financial crises, and how the bank plans to promote the long-haul growth of Vietnam-based SMEs.

What were the purposes of the seminar hosted on March 30?

One of the main targets was to bridge the gap between the government and the private sector to create a nurturing environment for the long-term growth of Vietnam-based SMEs. With the long history of the Thai government in carrying out favourable policies for the SME segment, especially in tackling financial crises, the seminar was one of the measures KBank and MPI brought out to discuss the current financing challenges and provide practical solutions.

What do you think of the current development scene of SMEs in Vietnam?

The Vietnamese government has issued many policies to support SMEs, offering incentives, access to credit and human resources development, reinforcing the trust of the business community as well as bolstering foreign investment.

However, in order to maintain the current supportive condition as well as advance production and services, the Vietnamese government ought to place more stress on regulations, capital management, and technical consultation to meet the target of one million enterprises by 2020, which currently stands at 600,000.

In 2017, the SME sector constituted roughly 98 per cent of the total number of enterprises in Vietnam, contributing 30 per cent to the state budget and 40 per cent to the GDP, as well as creating 50 per cent of all new jobs in the country.

Kasikornbank (KBank), one of the leading SMEs bank and the fourth largest commercial bank in terms of assets in Thailand, made an unwavering commitment to provide both credit and supporting investments, especially for FDI from Thailand to Vietnam, by sharing technologies and expertise for Vietnams SME development in both credit and non-credit sectors. Currently, KBank has established two representative offices in Vietnam, one in Hanoi and another one in Ho Chi Minh City.

However, due to their modest charter capital, the majority of Vietnam-based SMEs encountered shortages of investment for infrastructure development as well as hurdles in market penetration, product distribution, and marketing activities. To add, a substantial number of SMEs also struggled with seeking the right sources of capital in order to fund further business activities.

Since early 1990s, the Thai government has provided immense support to the SME sector. As one of the leading lenders in the country, what contributions did KBank make to the overall landscape of Thailands SME sector?

In Thailand, the total earnings of SMEs accounted for 40 per cent of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP). The SME sector, which is the backbone of the Thai economy, can employ 83 per cent of the total labour force in Thailand, indicating boundless potential on the long run.

From my perspective, the prominent conglomerates today started as small- or medium-scale companies at some point, which received financial or other support from the finance and banking sector in the past. Thanks to experienced entrepreneurs, todays SMEs have a good chance to become the next business leaders in, say, 15 to 20 years.

Take the example of one of the worlds largest conglomerates based in Thailand, the $45-billion revenue Charoen Pokphand Group (CP). Starting from scratch as an SME in 1921, CP Group grew to become a leading business specialised in agribusiness and food, retail and distribution, and telecommunications.

Throughout our lengthy involvement in the Thai SME sector, KBank was the first financial institution to choose SMEs as our core business, constructing todays thriving SMEs scene from a formerly underserved sector. Specifically, after introducing the SME Operation Foundation, the bank accomplished cost efficiency with prudent risk management, excellent brand image, and increased its market share as well as customer centricity.

In addition, KBank specifically tailored its products and lending policy to serve different customer segments. Moreover, KBank also organised various interactive learning and networking activities targeting SMEs sustainable business development and opportunities for SME expansion.

As an experienced lender in the finance and banking sector, KBank would offer support to the local SME community by expanding their networking and business via supply chain financing, advisory, and business matching, as well as public and private sector partnerships. In order to actualise this target, KBank needs to be a licensed lender incorporated in Vietnam, the application for which is currently pending.The headquarters of Pou Chen Vietnam Enterprise Ltd. in Bien Hoa city

Tan Tao Investment and Industry Corporation's (ITA) representative said that the footwear research and development centre will be deployed in Tan Tao Industrial Zone (Binh Tan district, Ho Chi Minh City).

The developer of this project has fulfilled all the procedures to be certified and start in the next months, he said.

Last year, IDEA Limited Company signed a contract to rent about 20 hectares of land in Tan Tao IZ with an estimated leasing fee of VND500 billion ($20 million) for this centre. The project may be divided into several phases, but in the first phase, IDEA will lease 6.5ha only. The project was received the investment certificate with total investment of $80 million at the end of 2017.

Tsai Pei-Chun, chairwoman and CEO of Pou Chen Group, said the group is present in six Vietnamese localities with over ten factories and 160,000 workers.

These include PouYuen Vietnam Enterprise Ltd. located in Binh Tan district, Ho Chi Minh City, as the groups first manufacturing arm in Vietnam, which was built and put into operation in 1994. It has more than four plants and 90,000 workers, manufacturing 72 million shoes and producing $1.2 billion of revenue a year.

Tsai Pei-Chun said that she wants to invest and do business for a long time in Vietnam. The group is developing a closed manufacturing chain, including research, design, and manufacturing.

Tsai Pei-Chun said that she wants to invest and do business for a long time in Vietnam. The group is developing a closed manufacturing chain, including research, design, and manufacturing.

Pou Chen is one of the leading footwear manufacturers of the world for top brands like Nike, Adidas, and Asics. The group has manufactured 325 million shoes in 2017, gained $6.3 billion in revenue, and seized 20 per cent of the global footwear market.

In addition to Pou Chen, Taiwanese apparel giant Far Eastern has also strengthened investment and completed its manufacturing chain in Vietnam.

Binh Duong province has just issued the investment certificate for the apparel factory of Far Eastern Apparel Vietnam Co., Ltd. in VSIP II-A with the total investment of $25 million. This expansion aims to complete the groups manufacturing chain. Far Eastern has become the biggest foreign-invested apparel enterprise in Binh Duong.

In June 2015, Far Eastern's textile project was granted an investment certificate with the total investment of $274 million in Bau Bang Industrial Park (IP). In the early of 2017, this project was risen investment capital by $485.8 million to $760 million and expanded the area to 120ha.

Up to date, the first phase of Bau Bang IP has filled 1,000ha with over 90 foreign and domestic investors and $1.2 billion of the total registered capital.

The director general of the Binh Duong Department of Planning and Investment said that two more foreign-invested apparel projects received investment certificates earlier this year. Apparel and footwear are one of the major advantages of Vietnam after joining the new-generation free trade agreements.

Since the beginning of the year, the largest newly-established foreign-invested projects are in the apparel and footwear industry. They include the footwear manufacturing project of British Virgin Islands' August Sport Co., Ltd. in Tam Phuoc IP with the total registered capital of $15 million, and the apparel plant of Singapore's Great Kingdom Nhon Trach 2 Co., Ltd. in Nhon Trach IP with the total registered capital of $10 million.US President Donald Trump (2nd right) hosts a working lunch with the Baltic heads of state in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC. (Olivier Douliery/AFP)

The US leader has spent three days attacking the Mexican government for failing to block the estimated 1,500 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras from walking north toward the border.

"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," Trump told journalists.

In an evening statement, the White House clarified that Trump's plan involved mobilising the National Guard - not active duty military troops, which would be barred by US law.

Senior officials including Defense Secretary James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford and Chief of Staff John Kelly briefed Trump last week and follow-up discussions Tuesday, it added.

"President Trump and senior officials present also agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organizations," the statement added.

Trump accused Mexico of abetting and profiting from illegal immigration, which he pledged in his 2016 election campaign to halt.

LAWS ARE "WEAK" AND "PATHETIC"

"The caravan makes me very sad that this could happen to the United States, where you have thousands of people that just decide to walk into our country and we don't have any laws that could protect it," he said.

"If it reaches our border, our laws are so weak and so pathetic ... it's like we have no border," added the president - who lashed out at his predecessor Barack Obama for allegedly weakening border security, without elaborating on his claims.

He also railed against the US Congress for not tightening laws on immigrants, and against Democrats for stalling the border wall he promised to build during his campaign.

Trump had previously suggested the military could help fund and build the wall, but it was the first time he proposed US troops to patrol the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) frontier.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment on Trump's remarks. In the past 12 years, National Guard troops have been deployed twice to bolster border security, but none have been there since 2010.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said he was seeking further information about the announcement.

"Mexico has asked the United States, via official channels, to clarify the announcement by @POTUS on the use of the military on the border," Videgaray said on Twitter.

"The Mexican government will decide its response based on said clarification, and always in defense of our sovereignty and national interest."

"PEOPLE FLOWING IN"

The Trump administration has sharply bolstered spending on patrolling the border, and intensified crackdowns on undocumented immigrants inside the country.

But the president remains frustrated that other initiatives by his administration to slow both legal and illegal immigration have been stalled or blocked.

After a year's delay, Congress budgeted $1.6 billion last month to begin construction of the wall, a small portion of the $25 billion Trump asked.

The initial funding might only pay for 100 miles of wall, and Trump last week proposed that the Pentagon's budget be tapped to build the rest.

"We need to have a wall that's about 700-800 miles," he said Tuesday.

The US president's rekindled anger over immigration was apparently sparked over the weekend by media reports on the migrants heading across Mexico.

Like each of the last five years, the so-called caravan set off recently from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, partly in protest at conditions faced by migrants, and partly to help migrants safely reach the US border.

Trump says the phenomenon is proof of the need for a wall.

"The caravan which is over 1,000 people coming in from Honduras thought they were just going to walk through Mexico and right through the border," Trump said.

"We cannot have people flowing in our country illegally, disappearing and, by the way, never showing up to court."A view of Cai Bau Island in Van Don District. Quang Ninh is working to build Van Don into a special administrative-economic zone to meet new development requirements. - VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyet

The decision comes as the master plan for the future special administrative-economic zone is pending approval. Projects subject to the proposed suspension exclude new projects relating to social security of Van Don District, along with the Con uong di san (Heritage Road) project, Sonasea Dragon Bay resort complex, Ngoc Vung Island project and Sun Group project, which are major investments.

The Van Don Economic Zone Authority proposed that other projects only be permitted to continue by the Peoples Committee of Quang Ninh Province after a master socio-economic plan and general construction plan of the Van Don special administrative-economic zone were approved.

For projects that have received investment approval or investment registration certificates, the authority will ask the provincial administration to allow them to reschedule their progress, if necessary, so that their implementation can continue after the master plan is adopted.

The north-eastern border province of Quang Ninh is working to build Van Don into a special administrative-economic zone to meet new development requirements.

Van Don is also expected to become a green coastal city and an example of climate change response in the region. Quang Ninh has employed Arcadis & Callison RTKL company, which has branches in the US, the Netherlands and some other countries, to prepare the master plan.

Van Don will be one of the first three special administrative-economic zones in Vietnam. The others are Bac Van Phong in central Khanh Hoa Province and Phu Quoc in southern Kien Giang Province.The main hall of Daewoo Hotel in Hanoi today was packed with over a thousand government officials, representatives from international organisations, experts, and local and foreign journalists.

They came just to hear about how the government and localities have improved their public services in favour of enterprises and the public. This is reflected via the United Nations Development Programmes annual Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), a policy monitoring tool assessing citizen experiences and satisfaction with the governments performance at the national and sub-national levels, across governance, public administration, and public service delivery.

PAPI 2017, a survey of over nearly 14,100 citizens across the nation, reveals significant improvements in five of the six PAPI indicators compared to 2016. These are Transparency, Vertical accountability, Control of corruption in the public sector, Public administrative procedures, and Public service delivery.

Control of corruption in the public sector has been a notable bright spot, with both perceptions and actual experiences of citizens improving significantly. The points rose impressively from 5.8 in 2016 to 6.15 last year, announced Kamal Malhotra, UNDP resident representative in Vietnam. This is a particularly remarkable rise, given that the Control of corruption dimension had been steadily declining since 2013.

Vietnam has been taking firm steps to root out corruption at all levels

33 out of 63 cities and provinces saw significant year-on-year improvement in this dimension, which is featured via four sub-dimensions, including limits on public-sector corruption, limits on corruption in public service delivery,, equity in state employment, and willingness to fight corruption.

Also under PAPI 2017, the rate of those agreeing that local officials do not divert public funds for personal use climbed from 54 in 2016 to 64 per cent in 2017. Besides, the rate of those agreeing that no bribes are requested for land use rights certificates increased from 46 to 55 per cent.

Also, there has been a significant increasefrom 79 per cent in 2016 to 86 per cent in 2017in applicants accessing the one-stop window for land use rights certificates. Additionally, a big rise from 3.55 to 3.78 points on a scale of 0-4 was also seen in the quality of services for construction permits.

These figures show strong efforts by the Party, the state, and the Government of Vietnam to fight corruption and administrative reforms. They have launched numerous campaigns to eradicate corruption, Malhotra said. We hope these efforts will be continued strongly in the coming time.

For example, most recently, the Hanoi Peoples Procuracy sentenced former chairman of PetroVietnam Dinh La Thang to 18 years in prison for irresponsibly pouring VND800 billion ($36.4 million) into Ocean Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OceanBank). Thang also had to pay VND600 billion ($26.5 million) in compensation for his violations.

Earlier, Thang was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his violations at PetroVietnam and PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation.

According to the Berlin-headquartered Transparency International (TI), corruption can be seen in many sectors in Vietnam. Overall, the countrys energy sector is one of the areas most plagued by corruption as it is subject to weak governance due to a lack of transparency, few checks and balances, bureaucracy, and close ties between the government and businesses.

With the Vietnamese government planning to attract more investment and capital to guarantee energy security, it has made increasing efforts to tackle corruption, but has yet to bring about significant improvements.

In late February 2018, TI also launched its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2017, ranking 180 countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be, as determined by opinions and assessments of experts and business people.

Vietnam scored 35 points out of 100 on CPI 2017, ranking 107th out of the 180 countries surveyed. This is a two-point improvement against CPI 2016, and four points against CPI 2015.

According to TI, the slight increases in Vietnams CPI score for two consecutive years are indicative of a positive signal for its anti-corruption efforts in recent years.

In 2017, with the renewed commitments of the Party and the state, the national anti-corruption efforts have achieved positive results, including the adjudication of serious cases of corruption involving several high-level public officials, Nguyen Thi Kieu Vien, executive director of Towards Transparency, the National Contact of TI in Vietnam, told VIR.The suspect in a shooting at YouTube's headquarters in San Fransisco has been identified as video blogger Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39. (Photo: @SanBrunoPolice/Twitter)

The woman who opened fire with a handgun at YouTube's headquarters near San Francisco on Tuesday (Apr 3) has been identified as 39-year-old video blogger Nasim Najafi Aghdam.

She appears to be a vegan-themed content creator who had raged against YouTube on her personal website over the purported censorship of her videos prior to the shooting, said media reports.

According to AFP, the police had informed reporters of a deceased person inside the building with a "self-inflicted wound".

"At this time, we believe it to be the shooter," the police was quoted as saying. A statement was later released to confirm the details of the suspect, adding that there is no evidence to show that she knew the victims or that anyone was specifically targeted. The motive of the shooting remains under investigation.

The shooting rampage at YouTube, a video-sharing service owned by Alphabet Inc's Google, left three people dead as employees of the Silicon Valley tech company fled into the surrounding streets, authorities said.

MSNBC earlier reported that investigators believe a woman in her 30s approached an outdoor patio and dining courtyard on the campus around lunchtime and began to fire before entering the building.

Senior law enforcement officials believe the shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute, MSNBC and other media reported. A US government security official told Reuters there was no known connection to terrorism.

ABC News, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said the suspect was 35 to 40 years old, and lived in Southern California, with no apparent connection to YouTube.

In a recording of a 911 call posted online by the Los Angeles Times, a dispatcher can be heard saying: Shooter. Another party said they spotted someone with a gun. Suspect came from the back patio ... Again we have a report of a subject with a gun. They heard seven or eight shots being fired."

Dozens of emergency vehicles quickly converged on the YouTube campus, and police could be seen on televised aerial video systematically frisking several employees leaving the area with their hands raised.

One of the victims, a 36-year-old man, was listed in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A 32-year-old woman was listed in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. Authorities did not release names of the victims.

The three patients taken to San Francisco General Hospital were all awake, Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, said at a news conference. All three people were victims of gunshot wounds, Campbell said, but none of them had undergone surgery. A fourth person was taken to a local hospital with an ankle injury from fleeing the scene.

"We have one subject who is deceased inside the building with a self-inflicted wound," San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters earlier. "At this time, we believe it to be the shooter."

San Bruno police earlier warned on Twitter to stay away from the area housing the headquarters of the Google-owned video sharing service near San Francisco.

"We are responding to an active shooter. Please stay away from Cherry Ave & Bay Hill Drive," the police department tweeted.

FRANTIC ESCAPE

Employees recounted frantic scenes as they fled the headquarters of the Google-owned video sharing service near San Francisco, with one saying he saw blood on the floor as he escaped.

"We were sitting in a meeting and then we heard people running because it was rumbling the floor. First thought was earthquake," employee Todd Sherman tweeted.

"Sherman said that as he headed for an exit "someone said that there was a person with a gun," and added "at that point every new person I saw was a potential shooter."

I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peeked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front."

One image posted by a Twitter user showed employees being led out of the building with their hands up, with no further explanation.

Another YouTube employee Vadim Lavrusik tweeted: "Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers."

Later, Lavrusik said he had escaped to safety.

Witnesses reported helicopters on the scene as well as police SWAT teams.

Police survey the scene outside YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, after a shooting incident left at least one person dead and several wounded. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP)

The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed and that his administration was monitoring the ongoing situation in San Bruno.

Shortly afterward, Trump tweeted, "Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene."

YouTube headquarters is located some 50 kilometres from the main Google campus in Mountain View.

The shooting, which follows a series of deadly gun incidents at schools and elsewhere, comes amid heated debate on gun control measures in the United States.

An estimated 1.5 million people participated in demonstrations Mar 24 calling for stricter firearms measures following a deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Organisers of the March for Our Lives sent a message of solidarity to the employees hit by Tuesday's shooting, tweeting "Our hearts are with you, @YouTube."All wars end with winners and losers. The seventeen years we have just lived through in the "Greater Middle East" is no exception. Yet, while Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi have been eliminated and Syria is winning, the only real losers are the Arab people.

At the most, one can pretend to believe that the problem concerns only Syria. And that in Syria, it is circumscribed to Ghouta. And that in Ghouta, the Army of Islam has been defeated. Yet, this episode will not be enough to declare the end of the hostilities that have ravaged the region, destroyed entire cities and killed hundreds of thousands of men, women and children.

Nevertheless, the surviving myth that "civil wars" spread by contagion [1] allows the 130 states and international organizations that participated in the "Friends of Syria" meetings to shirk their responsibilities and to hold their heads high. Furthermore, since they will never admit failure, they will continue to perpetrate their abuses in other theaters of operation. In other words: their war will soon be over in this region, but it will resume elsewhere.

From this point of view, what has played out in Syria since the US declaration of war nearly 15 years ago - i.e. when the Syrian Accountability Act was passed into law in December 2003 - will have shaped the world Order that is currently emerging. Indeed, while almost all the states in the "Greater Middle East" have been weakened or completely wrecked, Syria is the only one still standing and independent.

Consequently, the strategy of Admiral Cebrowski, designed to destroy the societies and states of non-globalized countries while compelling the globalized ones to ensure the security of the US military, allowing it to plunder the raw materials and energy sources in the destroyed areas, can not be implemented by the Pentagon either here or in any other region. Ajouter footnote de ton article!

Under President Trumps leadership, the US Armed Forces have gradually ceased to support the jihadists and have begun to withdraw from the battlefield. This does not mean they have become philanthropic overnight , but simply realistic. This development should mark the end of their interventions against foreign states.

In the spirit of the 1941 Atlantic Charter in which London and Washington agreed to jointly control the oceans and world trade, the United States is now preparing to sabotage the trade of its Chinese rival. Donald Trump is reforming the Quad (together with co-members Australia, Japan and India) to limit the movements of the Chinese merchant fleet in the Pacific. Simultaneously, he named John Bolton as National Security Advisor, whose great achievement under the Bush Jr. Administration was to involve NATO Allies in the military surveillance of the oceans and global trade.

Chinas grand "silk road" project on both land and sea is not likely to materialize for some time. Now that Beijing has decided to move its goods through Turkey instead of Syria and through Belarus instead of Ukraine, we should expect "disorders" to erupt in these two countries.

Already in the fifteenth century, China had tried to reopen the Silk Road by building a huge fleet of 30,000 men under the command of the Muslim admiral Zheng He. Despite the warm welcome received by this peaceful armada in the Persian Gulf, Africa and the Red Sea, the undertaking failed. The emperor had the whole fleet burned and China withdrew into itself for five centuries.

President Xi drew inspiration from this illustrious predecessor to envisage "the Road and Belt Initiative" but, like Emperor Ming Xuanzong, he could be led to scuttle his own initiative, notwithstanding the risk of losing the huge amounts already invested by his country.

For its part, the United Kingdom has not renounced its plan to instigate a new "Arab revolt", a scheme which in 1915 served to bring the Wahhabis to power, from Libya to Saudi Arabia. However, the so-called "Arab Spring" of 2011, which this time was meant to install the Muslim Brotherhood in power, was snuffed out by the Syrian-Lebanese resistance.

London intends to exploit the US "pivot to Asia" strategy to recover the influence it wielded during its former empire. The UK is poised to leave the European Union and has directed its armed forces against Russia. It has tried to secure the largest possible number of allies by manipulating the "Skripal case", but has suffered several setbacks, including New Zealands refusal to continue playing the docile "dutiful Dominion". Logically, London should redirect its jihadists against Moscow as it did during the wars unleashed in Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and Chechnya.

Russia is the only great power to have emerged victorious from the Middle East conflict, thereby achieving the goal set by Catherine the Great to gain access to the Mediterranean and save the cradle of Christianity, the bedrock of Russian culture.

Moscow is now expected to enlarge the Eurasian Economic Union, to which Syria applied to join in 2015. At that time, its membership had been suspended at the request of Armenia, reluctant to introduce a state at war into the common economic space, but now the order of things has changed.

The new world balance has been bipolar from the moment Russia unveiled its new nuclear arsenal. It is very likely that the world will be divided in two, not by an iron curtain, but by the will of the Western powers who are already in the process of separating the banking systems and will soon try to do the same with the Internet. On the one side, it should be based on NATO and, on the other, no longer on the Warsaw Pact but on the Collective Security Treaty Organization. In a period of about thirty years, Russia has turned the page of Bolshevism and has shifted its influence from the center of Europe towards the Middle East.

In a pendulum movement, the West - the former "free world"  has morphed into a set of coercive and falsely consensual societies. The European Union is endowed with a bigger and more oppressive bureaucracy than that of the Soviet Union. And Russia becomes once again the champion of International Law.Eleven. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix

The Duffer Brothers, creators of Netflixs sci-fi hit Stranger Things, are being sued over the concept of the show (no, its not just that its based on 1980s sci-fi). Per Deadline, Charlie Kessler, who directed a short film called Montauk that debuted at the 2012 Hamptons Film Festival, filed a lawsuit claiming that he pitched his idea to the brothers in 2014 and they used it as the basis for their own show. Kesslers Montauk involved a secret military base conducting experiments on children and monsters from another dimension, as does Stranger Things, which was originally set in Montauk before moving to Indiana. (Both projects came after the publication of the 1992 book series The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time, and later cult speculation about secret government experiments in Montauk.) Kesslers suit claims, Defendants have made huge sums of money by producing the series based on Plaintiffs concepts without compensating or crediting Plaintiff for his Concepts. He is suing for breach of implied contract and seeking monetary damages and a jury trial.

Update: THR received a response from the Duffers through their attorney, Alex Kohner, who gave the following statement.Excerpt from Xerxes. Photo: Frank Miller/Dark Horse Comics

Comics icon Frank Miller could have retired in comfort and acclaim decades ago, but like the Spartans at Thermopylae, he refuses to give in. The writer and artist has had a truly remarkable career, having crafted one masterwork after another: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil: Born Again, and Sin City, just to name a few. But the master of comic-book violence was never more forceful than in his 1998 historical graphic novel 300, which told the story of a group of Spartan warriors who held off the hordes of Persia in a suicide mission that altered the course of civilization. Following a successful film adaptation, a less-successful film sequel, and years of delays, Miller has returned to the world of 300 with a spinoff series called Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander. It chronicles the travails of the titular figures but, as he told Vulture, not in the way you might expect.

So, people are a little confused about the title, since Alexander the Great wasnt contemporaneous with Xerxes. Are we going to see travel through time?

No, no. The story goes beyond the life of Xerxes. The piece Im working on right now deals with his heir, Darius. The overarching theme of this is the rise and fall of the Persian Empire and the rise of Alexander. So, its kind of a big book.

Yeah, thats a lot to cover in just a few issues. Whats interesting to you about the Persian Empire?

Well, everything from the Persian Empire and the Greek Empire is a real study in how the course of the world  of civilizations and the power therein  could be changed so radically. Everything thats come since then was forged by these wars. Wed be living very differently if Alexander hadnt come along. To me, the largest issue is the concept of civilization itself, and the clash between Western and Eastern points of view, which has been ongoing ever since. Its still playing a role.

How long has this been in the works? Its been a while since youve visited the 300 universe.

Oh, its been in the works forever. Much interrupted. Its great to be back on it. It was interrupted for years. A lot of that was research, a lot of that was life. But its formed together now.

What, exactly, was its relationship with the second 300 movie, Rise of an Empire? Did you give them an early script of the comic or something?

Sure, yeah. But Ive been carrying along on my own book. My book is, obviously  A comic book, like a novel, can go much further and longer. This is a much longer view on the whole subject.

Photo: Frank Miller/Dark Horse Comics

What lessons do you think we can learn from looking at the rise and fall of the Persian Empire?

I dont think of it as lessons, per se. More as an instruction of who we are and where we came from. Because the same forces that fought in such primal ways back then are in play  Much of whats going on, particularly with the Middle East and the Eastern-Western conflicts that persist, is rooted in those eras. The same issues do exist. And Alexander is a wonderful figure  he was a Macedonian Greek who did conquer the world, did conquer Persia and all that, but became quite Persian himself in the end. He brought both cultures together as much as he conquered one.

So this series isnt a diss of the Persians, but more a story about how civilizations contribute to one another?

That is the nature of most conquering, that the conquered civilization is absorbed. People are very resilient and cultures are very persistent. You couldnt simply crush all the beauty of the Persian culture as if it never existed.

On a technical level, why is it that 300 and Xerxes are laid out horizontally instead of vertically?

The horizontal reason is very practical: These were all decided by land battles, and land battles are essentially a horizontal activity. Beyond that, they involve large groups of people in action, and the horizontal format gives all of the basic movements of the characters. It just gives things a grander sweep. If you think about it, when youre taking in a vista, if youre looking at new territory or enjoying a view, your eyes move from side to side, not up and down.

You mention land wars, but the first issue of Xerxes also features a sea battle.

Boy, is that hard. But its really worth doing. The battles at sea are also chopping across waves, and to put it bluntly, water is really hard to draw.

Did you go back and reread 300 in preparation for Xerxes? I know a lot of creators dont like looking at their old work.

Oh, I have to refer to it. Im very, very proud of 300. I look at it and I dont think, Well, what would I do differently? I simply accept it as what it is. It was very much a product of the time I did it, but it was the best story I ever had my hands on, and I did my very best by it.

What do you mean by it being a product of its time?

I mean, it was a product of my entire life. Ive loved the story ever since I saw The 300 Spartans, starring Richard Egan, when I was a young kid in the 60s, and I researched it as thoroughly as I could. Its as pure a story of heroism as I could find. Our version would probably be the Alamo, in terms of the overwhelming size of the enemy.

What did you think of Zack Snyders 300 movie and the sequel?

I thoroughly loved the 300 movie. It was just absolutely wonderful.

Photo: Frank Miller/Dark Horse Comics

Something that always struck me about the movie is how Snyder changed the bit where the Persian messenger says, This is madness, and Leonidas replies, This is Sparta, from a quiet one-liner to a thing that Leonidas just screams. Its a small thing, but what did you think of that change?

Oh, it was brilliant. I think it worked beautifully.

Xerxes, so far, focuses on Athenians, not Spartans. What makes them interesting in ways that the Spartans arent?

Ill try to answer this in less than half an hour. The difference is, the Spartans were the oldest of the Greeks and they very much represented the old ways of the world. Whereas the Athenians were new, far-reaching, future-oriented. Basically, the Spartans were a bunch of farmers who learned to fight wars to defend their farming territory, while the Athenians were the philosophers and the teachers and the writers and artists. But the role of the Spartans in history is both pivotal and fascinating.

But the Athenians can hold their own in the battlefield. Honestly, in junior high, I mostly just learned about them as paragons of democracy and culture.

They were brilliant in battle and they were a culture that succeeded on every level. The Spartans, essentially, became so culturally paranoid that they kind of ceased to exist because they didnt read. They built for war while the Athenians built for progress. What we have from the Greeks is basically Athenian: the art, the learning, the culture, the sense of democracy.

A warrior named Aeskylos shows up and theres mention of him being a dramatist. Is that supposed to be Aeschylus, as in the great Greek playwright?

Aeschylus was actually an Athenian warrior. He was a great warrior-playwright. The term that we use to refer to the Athenians is citizen-soldiers. You were either a citizen-soldier or you were a slave, in that era.

That was news to me. Hes sort of an Athenian ninja in this, leaping around and cutting dudes in half.

[Laughs.] Well, I had to make up my own version. I just thought itd be cool. I want a T-shirt right now.

Saying what?

Athenian ninja.It seems like some British customs agents are behind on their celebrity gossip. Though John Krasinski and Emily Blunt tied the knot in 2010, eight years and two babies later it was still up to the actor to inform one such agent at the airport that hes married to the The Girl on the Train-star. According to Krasinskis account on The Tonight Show, that guy had trouble believing Mary Poppins was with an actor from the American version of The Office. But, hey, if A Quiet Place, the new horror movie starring Blunt and Krasinski as a married couple, is a hit, maybe more Brits will finally start believing Krasinski. Maybe.K.J. Apa in Hollywood, CA in March 2018. Photo: Gabriel Olsen/FilmMagic

Just months after Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey through reshoots in All the Money in the World, The Hate U Give is undergoing a similar change. According to Deadline, Riverdale star K.J. Apa has been tapped to take over Kian Lawleys part in the film adaptation of Angie Thomass best-selling debut young-adult novel. Lawley was dropped from the movie after a video surfaced of the YouTube star making racist jokes and using racial slurs. At the time, the production was reportedly almost completely wrapped. The studio Fox 2000 has given director George Tillman Jr. an additional week for reshoots with Apa.

The movie stars Amandla Stenberg as Starr, an African-American teenager who witnesses a police officer shoot and kill her unarmed friend. The tragedy turns her into an activist.

Following the studios decision to fire Lawley, the YouTuber said in a statement, Words have power and can do damage. I own mine and I am sorry. I respect Foxs decision to recast this role for The Hate U Give as it is an important story, and it would not be appropriate for me to be involved considering the actions of my past.Kenya Barris. Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

After Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy left their big, lucrative network producing deals with ABC and Fox for bigger, more lucrative deals at Netflix, it seems like another big name might be next. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Black-ish creator and Girls Trip writer Kenya Barris is looking to get out of his overall deal with ABC Studios, even though he has three years remaining on the contract he signed with them in 2017. He is also reportedly in preliminary talks with Netflix for a new deal. The news comes after ABC decided not to air a politically charged episode of Black-ish, which was set for February 27, after creative differences with Barris. Barris also produced Grown-ish for ABC, which got moved to Freeform in 2017, along with two other shows that were not picked up. This season, ABC ordered a comedy from him with Alec Baldwin (which Baldwin left after reading a script), while another one of his shows, the comedy Bright Futures, eventually went to NBC. One imagines these are all factors that might play into the negotiations with both ABC and Netflix.President Donald Trump, mulling how to end the US role in the Syrian conflict while having other countries "take care of it," has maintained an unusual fixation: the jumbo jets owned by Persian Gulf monarchs.

"Without us you wouldn't last two weeks. You'd be overrun. And you'd have to fly commercial," Trump told one Gulf leader recently in a conversation he boasted about later to friends.

As the President's national security team prepares options for Syria, advisers and officials say economic factors -- rather than a concern for global security -- have animated Trump. Even as top US military officials quietly prepare plans that would actually increase the number of US troops deployed to Syria, Trump has decided that the time has come to cut an early exit, according to people familiar with the situation.

He's increasingly pressed foreign leaders -- particularly in the oil rich Gulf states -- to step up.

Speaking to reporters in the East Room, Trump said Tuesday that he and his team were nearing a decision on how to proceed in Syria now that ISIS has lost most of its territory.

"Sometimes it's time to come back home. And we're thinking about that very seriously," Trump said, bemoaning the trillions of dollars spent on wars in the Middle East which he said resulted in "nothing except death and destruction."

"I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation," Trump said.

Those were views Trump first aired publicly last week during a freewheeling, campaign-style event in Ohio, where Trump inserted his declaration that "we'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon" into a speech that was otherwise focused on a booming US economy.

The statement caused a stir back in Washington, where puzzled Pentagon and State Department officials contacted the White House to determine what, precisely, the President's position on Syria was.

Recipe for withdrawal

National security officials had been weighing for months the conditions that would need to be met before US troops withdraw from the country, where they have helping battle ISIS. Military commanders have not recommended to Trump that he order a withdrawal of US troops there, citing the persistent presence of ISIS and the power vacuum that would result if the US departs.

But he has insisted in private since at least February that he wants out of the country, multiple people familiar with the matter said. And he has lamented the expenditure of billions in US taxpayers dollars to fund a fight he says should be financed by regional players.

That's in contrast to members of his own administration, who insist the ISIS fight must continue until the terror group is eradicated. While the US and its allies on the ground have made massive gains reducing ISIS' territory, the grou is entrenched in its remaining strongholds and removing them will require continued US involvement, those national security officials have said.

Officials have also warned Trump that players like Iran, Turkey and Russia could use a US withdrawal to advance their own strategic interests in Syria. The leaders of those countries -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo-an and Russian President Vladimir Putin -- are meeting this week in Ankara to discuss further steps in Syria.

"In terms of our campaign in Syria, we are in Syria to fight ISIS. That is our mission. And our mission isn't over, and we're going to complete that mission," said Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy for defeating ISIS, said during remarks at the US Institute for Peace in Washington.

McGurk's comments came a mere three minutes before Trump declared in the East Room that "it's time" for American troops to come home.

Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of the United States Central Command, said Tuesday the "hard part" in Syria lies ahead while speaking at the same event as McGurk.

"A lot of very good military progress made over the last couple of years, but again the hard part I think is in front of us, and that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, addressing the long terms issues of reconstruction and other things that will have to be done," he said.

While Trump's top commanders have each individually said that now is not the time to withdraw from Syria, a person close to the White House told CNN that Defense Secretary James Mattis has avoided bringing up the issue -- beyond the fight against ISIS -- directly with the President.

That's a calculated move on the part of Mattis, who does not want Trump to associate him with an issue that he perceives as troublesome -- or at least overly complicated -- said the person. The source added there is a view within the White House that the Pentagon sees its job as destroying ISIS -- a topic Trump likes -- so there is no upside in pushing the broader Syria issue with him.

Transitional moment

The deliberations over Syria come as Trump transitions to a national security team that's seen as more willing to agree with him on issues like troop levels and diplomatic efforts. That includes incoming national security adviser John Bolton, who is replacing H.R. McMaster next week.

Bolton is a noted hawk, though he hasn't voiced an opinion on whether to keep US troops in Syria since being named by Trump to the position last month. He was, however, an architect of the Iraq War, which Trump has used as a cautionary tale when explaining his motives in advocating a withdrawal from the region.

"We get nothing, nothing out of it, nothing," Trump said during his news conference. "For years, I said keep the oil, I was always saying keep the oil. We didn't keep the oil. Who got the oil? It was ISIS got the oil. A lot of it."

A person familiar with internal discussions on the issue told CNN on Tuesday the White House would likely push for a deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council -- a political and economic union consisting of all the Arab states in the Persian Gulf except for Iraq -- in an effort to secure territory in southern Syria so that it doesn't fall to Iran. The agreement would utilize the minimum amount of US troops possible, the person said.

This source added the White House is seeking additional assistance from Saudi Arabia, which the administration has worked to convince to send money and troops.

"Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision, and I said, 'Well, you know, you want us to stay, maybe you're going to have to pay,' " Trump said on Tuesday.

Trump met last month with Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, at the White House. After their meeting, the crown prince told Time Magazine that American troops should remain in Syria "for at least the midterm, if not the long-term."

On Monday and Tuesday this week, Trump spoke with both King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar, emphasizing to both leaders the importance of restoring a "united" Gulf Cooperation Council and thanking them for their continued cooperation on fighting terrorism.

Trump and Salman "discussed joint efforts to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and counter Iranian efforts to exploit the Syrian conflict to pursue its destabilizing regional ambitions," the White House said.

In his past conversations with Gulf leaders, Trump has pointed to their extravagant lifestyles -- including fleets of Boeing 747s and massive superyachts -- as evidence they have money to spare to play a bigger role in securing the region.

"Have you ever flown commercial before?" Trump asked one leader, according to a person he recounted the conversation to afterward. "He said, 'No.' And I said, 'Get used to it.' "Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has taken the unusual step of questioning Russian oligarchs who traveled into the US, stopping at least one and searching his electronic devices when his private jet landed at a New York area airport, according to multiple sources familiar with the inquiry.

A second Russian oligarch was stopped during a recent trip to the US, although it is not clear if he was searched, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Mueller's team has also made an informal voluntary document and interview request to a third Russian oligarch who has not traveled to the US recently.

The situations have one thing in common: Investigators are asking whether wealthy Russians illegally funneled cash donations directly or indirectly into Donald Trump's presidential campaign and inauguration.

Investigators' interest in Russian oligarchs has not been previously reported. It reveals that Mueller's team has intensified its focus into the potential flow of money from Russia into the US election as part of its wide-ranging investigation into whether the Trump team colluded with Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The approach to Russian oligarchs in recent weeks may reflect that Mueller's team has already obtained records or documents that it has legal jurisdiction over and can get easily, one source said, and now it's a "wish list" to see what other information they can obtain from Russians entering the US or through their voluntary cooperation.

Foreign nationals are prohibited under campaign finance laws from donating to US political campaigns.

The sources did not share the names of the oligarchs but did describe the details of their interactions with the special counsel's team.

One area under scrutiny, sources say, is investments Russians made in companies or think tanks that have political action committees that donated to the campaign.

Another theory Mueller's office is pursuing, sources said, is whether wealthy Russians used straw donors -- Americans with citizenship -- as a vessel through which they could pump money into the campaign and inauguration fund.

The encounters with Russian oligarchs at American airports are another sign of the aggressive tactics Mueller's investigators are using to approach witnesses or people they are interested in speaking with.

"Prosecutors and investigators like the element of surprise when you can get more instinctive (and often truthful) responses," said Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor, in a text. Mueller's team is using search warrants to access electronic devices and, Goldman added, "surprise is crucial for those searches because you don't want anyone to wipe their phone."

In January, FBI agents stopped and questioned George Nader, a Middle East specialist, when he arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport. They imaged his electronic devices and subpoenaed him for testimony. Nader, who attended secret meetings during the transition between the United Arab Emirates and Trump associates, is cooperating with the investigation. Nader was in the Seychelles when Trump supporter Erik Prince met with Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of the state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund. Prince denied any wrongdoing when he spoke with congressional investigators.

Ted Malloch, a self-described informal Trump campaign adviser, last week issued a statement saying he was stopped in Boston when returning from an international trip by FBI agents who took his cellphone and questioned him about Republican political operative Roger Stone and WikiLeaks. Malloch is scheduled to appear before Mueller's grand jury on April 13.

Late last year Mueller's team asked some witnesses if they knew of Russians who made donations directly or indirectly to the Trump campaign, sources said.

Another source added that Mueller's investigators have asked about a handful of American citizens who were born in former Soviet states and maintain ties with those countries. This person said the inquiry appeared focused on Republican fundraising and how money flows into US politics. ABC News reported in September that Mueller's team has asked questions about the timing of contributions from US citizens with ties to Russia, citing a Republican campaign aide interviewed by Mueller's team.

Trump raised $333 million for his presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. His inauguration committee raised a record $106.8 million, more than twice as much as any of his predecessors. Watchdog groups have criticized the committee for not fully disclosing how it spent the inauguration funds.

Another potential source of information for Mueller's investigators is Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign deputy chairman who pleaded guilty in February to financial fraud and lying to Mueller's team. Gates worked closely with Paul Manafort, who was Trump's campaign chairman for part of 2016, and stayed on as deputy chair of Trump's inaugural committee. As part of his plea agreement Gates is required to cooperate fully with Mueller's investigators and answer all their questions.

It isn't clear whether Mueller's team has identified illegal financing or if the questions are more exploratory. A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment.

"One could say either money is fungible wherever it [ended] up," one source familiar with the inquiry said. Or Mueller's team could take the view that "you made a contribution for a purpose."Huntsville City Schools Board of Education may begin the process of reprimanding one of their own Tuesday at a special-called meeting.

We first told you about School Board President Elisa Ferrells plan to censure Board Member Pam Hill last month.

Superintendent Dr. Matt Akin and other members of the Huntsville board of Ed hosted a community conversation meeting Monday about state report cards and improving the district.

What wasnt being talked about is the fact that in less than 24hrs the district is considering taking action against a fellow board member.

Board President Elisa Ferrell put together a document accusing 5th district board member Pam Hill of acting impaired, slurring her speech and "eccentric" behavior. Listing a February 1st work session as an example where Hill made the following comment, You dont blacklist the parents, because you dont like them or they got a big mouth. Cause if you blacklist them, because they got a big mouth, look where they end up. She goes on to curtesy and grabs her thermos and took a sip and jokingly said Its just coke.

WAAY 31 tried to ask her about the censure, but she could not comment on it.

Ferrell says the censure, by the Huntsville BOE and superintendent of the Alabama Department of Education, is necessary because Hills actions are putting the districts accreditation at risk.

If censured, Hill could receive something as minimal as a reprimand on the local level and could potentially lose her right to run for office again if it reaches the state level.

The special censure meeting is set for 5:30P Tuesday.A piece of NASA's Space Launch System is at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the space agency's Super Guppy aircraft delivered it from Huntsville.

The giant cargo plane landed in Huntsville Monday afternoon and left ahead of schedule Tuesday morning to avoid potential severe weather heading into north Alabama.

The Super Guppy was carrying the Orion stage adapter that will connect the SLS to the crew vehicle. It's the only piece of the SLS that is totally unique to Huntsville.

"Unlike the rest of the Space Launch System hardware, it was designed and built here at the Marshall Space Flight Center," said Orion stage adapter manager Brent Gaddis. "Our engineers designed it and they saw it all the way through the manufacturing process, and now we're actually seeing it depart and go down to where it's going to be launched."

The Super Guppy last visited Huntsville in July to pick up test hardware for the Space Launch System.A 600 pound bull led Skowhegan Police on a nearly 2-hour chase after escaping a trailer headed for the butcher.

It happened on the Waterville Road around 4 pm Monday afternoon.

Skowhegan Police say the 1 year old bull broke loose from the trailer and took off running down South Factory Street.

He then ran through a four-way intersection near the Margaret Chase Bridge before going into the Kennebec River.

That's when police say they were forced to shoot it.

The dead bull then floated down the river and over the steep falls at the power station dam before being retrieved.

Police say the bull was acting aggressively and heading toward a large crowd and they had no choice but to put him down.Australia's biofuel industry has the potential to add more than 8000 jobs and $1 billion a year in revenue to the economy despite being neglected for more than a decade.

Queensland University of Technology economists have outlined how Australia could lift its energy security by increasing the levels of locally-produced biofuels and bioproducts. The first step was to grow our bioethanol and other biofuel industries, lead author Ian OHara said.

Biofuels in Australia are mainly made from food processing waste. Credit:Peter O'Donnell

Biofuels are the gateway to creating a bioeconomy, and biofuels production and consumption in Australia lags behind benchmark countries such as the United States and Brazil, said Professor OHara, the principal research scientist at QUTs Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities.

Professor O'Hara said ethanol-blended (E10) petrol accounted for only 1.1 per cent of Australia's total petrol sales in 2015-16. Increasing that figure to 10 per cent could create more than 8600 direct and indirect jobs, attract $1.56 billion in investment and generate more than $1.1 billion in additional revenue a year in regional areas.A backbench push for a new taxpayer-funded coal fired power station has been derided as "ludicrous" by energy analysts who believe it would cost at least $3 billion, drive up energy prices and take eight years to build.

The plan, led by a group of conservative MPs including Tony Abbott, Eric Abetz and Kevin Andrews, emerged as Commonwealth and state energy ministers prepare for a new round of negotiations in late April over the Turnbull government's signature energy policy, the National Energy Guarantee.

The backbench group known as the Monash Forum wants the government to give more support to coal-fired power generation. Credit:Chris Ratcliffe

The chair of the Coalition's backbench energy and environment committee, Liberal MP and climate change sceptic Craig Kelly, said the group -known as the Monash Forum - wanted to address rising power prices, which he claimed were caused by the renewable energy target and closure of coal power plants.Why, they didn't even have the courtesy of inquiring of John Monash's descendants whether it might be all right to use the name Monash in their cause.

To have pulled this stunt, clearly designed to undermine their own prime minister, serves only to prompt the thought that none of the members of the new pro-coal Monash Forum is worthy of licking the boots of a giant like Sir John Monash.

Almost on the eve of the last Anzac Day of the centenary of World War I, with the Australian Prime Minister about to dedicate a major memorial on the Western Front to the nations greatest general, John Monash, a small group of malcontents - double entendre intended - decides to draft Monashs name into a political argument over  coal!

It wasn't all right, it turns out, with seven direct descendants issuing a statement on Wednesday declaring "we disassociate ourselves specifically from the Forum's use of the Monash name to give their anti-science and anti-intellectual argument an air of authority, and we ask that they withdraw the name".

Members of the Monash Forum include Craig Kelly, Eric Abetz, Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce and Kevin Andrews. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The signatories to what you'd have to call now the illegitimate Forum, headed by the usual suspects - Tony Abbott, Eric Abetz, Kevin Andrews and Craig Kelly, and announced on Sky TV by Abbotts non-commissioned officer, Peta Credlin - presume, in their manifesto, to be entitled to dedicate their cause in the name of Monash because in civilian life, he was an engineer who in 1921 became the first full-time chairman of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

In this role, Monash oversaw the creation of Victorias brown coal electricity-generating power stations. It was revolutionary at the time - the Latrobe Valley was the site of the second brown-coal station in the world after Germany.

Almost a century later, the members of the Monash Forum, climate change deniers and sceptics among them, want governments to continue focusing their energy and their treasure on the production of electricity by coal, including brown coal, ahead of alternatives. This is not news.Drug companies have come under fire for allegedly using a crackdown on codeine sales as an opportunity to market stronger painkillers to doctors.

Since February, pharmacists have been banned from offering weaker codeine tablets such as Nurofen Plus over the counter, with the medication now available only via a doctors prescription.

One of the concerns about the change was that doctors could end up prescribing even stronger medication to pain sufferers.

Now doctors say that is exactly what some pharmaceutical companies are trying to get them to do, via advertising sent to GPs.

One of the ads causing concern, for painkiller Zaldiar, shows five silhouetted figures jumping into the air as the sun sets or rises behind a mountain range.Precious artefacts and exhibits have been lost forever following last month's devastating blaze at Busselton's Old Butter Factory.

The fire left a damage bill of $400,000, but no price can be put on the loss of historical items destroyed when flames engulfed the building's second floor.

Smoke billows from the second storey of the Old Butter Factory Museum. Credit:Michael Torrent..

Busselton Historical Society president Sandra Johnston said the fire claimed the museums most valuable historical collection.

All the wedding dresses are gone as is the cape Stewart Bovell was knighted in and the furniture in the main upstairs room, she said.Jakarta: Six Vietnamese rights activists, including a prominent human rights lawyer arrested way back in 2015, will finally appear in the Peoples Court of Hanoi on Thursday.

The six men, including Brotherhood for Democracy co-founder and lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, have been charged with "carrying out activities that aim to overthrow the peoples administration".

The Brotherhood for Democracy offers legal assistance to activists in Vietnam and agitates for democracy, greater religious freedoms and human rights in Vietnam.

Vietnam has undergone sweeping social change in recent years, with the size of the middle class growing and the economy increasingly open to the world. It is an increasingly close partner of Australia, the United States and some other ASEAN countries as a strategic balance to China's rise.Although it infrequently finds front-page news, Americas longest warnow in its 17th yearcontinues in Afghanistan. While Afghan security forces have taken the lead on the ground, the ongoing and evolving mission still involves an important American and coalition role. Last summer, President Trump announced an increase of several thousand U.S. troops, after also relaxing and broadening their rules of engagement to allow commanders more leeway in the employment of force. Today, with the summer fighting season around the corner, examinations of past effectiveness and upcoming plans are well underway in hopes of applying learned best practices while moving forward.





On March 30, Foreign Policy at Brookings hosted Brigadier General Roger B. Turner, Jr., recently back from a tour in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, to discuss the current state of the conflict there. After opening remarks from General Turner, Brookings Senior Fellow Michael OHanlon posed several questions to the general, and took audience questions. - Read More



BOULDER, Colo., April 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hygge Power, a Boulder-based smart plug and energy storage device company, has announced an alpha test of its signature Orchestrated Power Outlet (OPO)  a smart plug and home energy storage device. The alpha test will run over a six-month period commencing second quarter 2018. For more information, please visit www.hyggepower.com.

Hygge Power will work with customers during the alpha test to gather feedback for further fine-tuning of OPO. The patent-pending smart plug seamlessly powers electronics without interruption and is equipped with smart sensors and smartphone-enhanced functionality that allows individuals to remotely turn their electricity up, down, on or off. OPOs functionality reduces energy costs and electricity usage on the consumer side, and the device enables participating utilities to improve customer service and grid reliability.

When we founded Hygge Power, our vision was simple: to make every home a smart home, to help families reduce their electricity bills and to provide peace of mind that every home can remain connected, even during power outages, said Caleb Scalf, founder and CEO of Hygge Power. We are excited to share OPO with homes throughout Colorado and to use these findings to help drive future innovations.

Hygge Power will be opening applications for the alpha test in April. Visit www.hyggepower.com to apply and learn about the details of the alpha program.

Key features of the OPO outlet include:

Wi-Fi connectivity

Energy backup storage

Power quality monitoring

Remote outlet control and scheduling

Smart energy & cost savings

Surge protection

Hygge Power addresses a growing desire by consumers to have power storage in the home. A new entry into the smart home market, the OPO product is one of the many products predicted to make up a market of $54 billion by 2020. The company raised $150,000 in pre-seed funding in May 2017, recently completed the Boomtown and Upramp Accelerator programs and is currently in process of raising a subsequent round.

About Hygge Power

Hygge Power delivers smart power and real energy savings to homeowners. Hygge Powers signature product, OPO, is an affordable home battery storage system that seamlessly powers electronics without interruption and is equipped with smart sensors and enhanced functionality that allows users to control their electricity through API integrations and smartphones. Hygge Power is based in Boulder, Colorado. For more information, please visit www.hyggepower.com.

###



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bankers Cobalt Corp. (TSXV:BANC) (OTCQB:NDENF) (FSE:BC2) (the Corporation or Bankers) is pleased to announce further high-grade copper results from the ongoing drill program at the Kabolela North concession in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).



Kabolela North, Hole KADD013 has returned 3.69% Copper over 6m from 72m  78m depth extending the zone originally discovered in Hole KADD011 (3.17% copper over 4m from 28m) and Hole KADD012 (2.01% copper over 6m from 34m; including 1m @ 0.3% cobalt from 39m).

A total of 1,537 meters have been drilled to date on the first ever drilling campaign conducted at Kabolela. Thirteen holes have been released to date with additional holes pending from the Kabolela discovery zone.

Stephen Barley, President and CEO states, We are excited by our initial drilling at Kabolela North. To place our results in perspective, public records for the operating Boss Mine located three kilometers west of Kabolela show an estimated mineral resource of 75.1Mt averaging 2.2% copper and 0.2% cobalt. Copper is an important aspect of our business plan as cobalt invariably comes as a credit to copper in the DRC and regional geology indicates the frequent occurrence of high grade copper with pods of higher grade cobalt similar to our recent results.

Note: Mineralization at Kabolela North may not be necessarily indicative of mineralization at the Boss Mine which will be determined with additional work at Kabolela North.

Adam Anderson, Bankers DRC Exploration Manager states, The drill target at Kabolela North is a shallow, fault hosted, sub vertical high-grade supergene copper zone of dominantly chalcocite mineralization with more abundant malachite at surface and with zones of cobalt. Drilling to date has now demonstrated continuity between three sections and a possible south plunge to the fault hosted mineralization which appears open to the south west. Further drilling is required to confirm the concept at this early stage of exploration. (Click here for maps of the Kabolela property)

All drill core has been submitted to SGS Lubumbashi for copper and cobalt determination by AAS. The initial drilling program is intended to provide information on the orientation, width, and strike length of the mineralization discovered to date. Mineralization is contained in two sub-parallel fault hosted zones and is open along strike at this early stage of exploration. Drill hole KADD013 intersected a 6-meter-wide (downhole width) zone of carbonate altered breccia with disseminated and blebby chalcocite mineralization.

Drilling is continuing to follow up these results and provide additional structural information on the mineralization. Drill sections are being developed to further display the deposit parameters and this will require additional drill holes.

Hole ID From To Interval Cu% Co% KADD013 72 78 6 3.69 <0.05

Note: Intercepts calculated using a 0.35% Cu cutoff and all samples are 1m in length, no internal waste and sample lengths are measured downhole as true widths of the mineralization are not known at this time.

The Corporation also plans to release additional geochemical results from Kabolela South and an update on its 600,000m3 dump located to the south of the property shortly.

Assay QAQC

Bankers Cobalt has implemented an industry best practice QAQC program. All core samples are picked up on site by Bankers' geologists or delivered by the drillers to Bankers' personnel. All samples are delivered by Bankers' personnel to the SGS Laboratory in Lubumbashi, DRC for cobalt and copper determination. Check assay standards and blanks are submitted every 20 samples with each assay job and are then reviewed for accuracy. Coarse reject splits will be done every 20 samples for duplicate samples of diamond core. Umpire assaying will be performed by ALS Chemex in Johannesburg, South Africa at a rate of 5% of submitted samples. Selected core samples are also being sent to ALS Chemex in Johannesburg, SA for multi-element analysis to identify geochemical signatures associated with mineralization in the concession.

Qualified/competent person -- National Instrument 43-101 and JORC Code

The geological information in this announcement has been reviewed by Mr. Adam Anderson, a competent person (as defined in the JORC Code, 2012 edition) and Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG), a recognized professional organization for the purposes of the Australian Securities Exchange listing rules. Mr. Anderson, who has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release, is also a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Mr. Anderson is the DRC Country and Exploration Manager for Bankers. He has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralization, the type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a competent person as defined in the JORC Code and as a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

About Bankers

Bankers is a natural resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of cobalt and copper mineral properties in the DRC to world-class Canadian standards. As battery production for EVs surges, demand for cobalt will probably exceed supply for many years. According to a recent report by Transparency Market Research, global sales of lithium-ion batteries are expected to reach US$70B by 2024, for a compound growth rate of 11.6% over the years beginning in 2016. Bankers efforts are intended to supply feedstock for processors having excess capacity and address the supply chain custody and verifiable sources of ore issue being imposed on processors in the DRC by consumers. Bankers holds rights to 26 separate mineral concessions strategically located in the southern DRC Copperbelt and having a total area of more than 391 km. Bankers has the intention to acquire interests in additional concessions. All concessions were obtained as either new grants or through reputable DRC partners and have clean title with no government involvement, making Bankers one of the few, and perhaps only, junior public mining company in the DRC to have 26 concessions capable of being currently explored and developed. Bankers has an experienced operations team operating in the southern Cobalt-Copperbelt of the DRC. Bankers believes it is the front runner in advancing cobalt and copper exploration by a junior mining company in the DRC.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF BANKERS COBALT CORP.

Stephen Barley



President & CEO

For further information:

Phone: 604.684.6730

Email: info@bankerscobalt.com

Website: www.bankerscobalt.com

Reader Advisory

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws including statements relating to the outlook of the business of the Corporation, including statements relating to the Corporations drilling program, timing, execution and results of such program, the Corporations intention to acquire additional concession, the Corporations ability to explore and develop the concessions, the results of any development and exploration, the ability of the Corporation to meet standards for verifiable supply chain custody, and the Corporations status as a leader in the junior mining sector for cobalt and copper in the DRC. Although the Corporation believes considering the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate, that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them as the Corporation can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of the Corporation its securities, or its financial or operating results.Federal Court Rules in Favor of KY and TN, Halts Unconstitutional Tax Mandate in ARPA LawsuitEmail To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required.

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Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required.By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 04, 2018 | 07:39 AM | MARSHALL COUNTY, KY

A Paducah man faces drug and alcohol charges in Marshall County.

On Saturday, a Marshall County Sheriff's Deputy was dispatched to the area of US Highway 68 West and Sharpe School Road in reference to a reckless driver. The deputy was then notified that the vehicle had stopped in the middle of the road and the driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel.

When deputies arrived, they saw open beer bottles in the front cup holder of the vehicle. The driver, 62-year-old Robert M. Anderson, of Paducah, failed a field sobriety test and was placed under arrest. When deputies searched the vehicle, they found empty beer bottles, an additional beer bottle in the center console, along with a mason jar of moonshine that was nearly empty. Police also found two Hydrocodone pills in a key chain.

Anderson was charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence, obstructing a highway and possession of controlled substance.By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 03, 2018 | 09:06 PM | MARSHALL COUNTY, KY

A traffic stop over the weekend in Marshall County led to a drug arrest.

The Marshall County Sheriff's Office says a deputy in the Briensburg area Saturday observed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed and crossing the center line. The vehicle pulled into a driveway and the deputy pulled in behind it.

The driver, 35-year-old Marty Higgins of Benton, told deputies he had marijuana in his pocket and some pills in his cigarette pack. Higgins was given a field sobriety test and it was determined that he was under the influence.

Higgins was placed under arrest and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence, possession of controlled substance, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duo Security, one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity companies in the world, today announced expansion of operations to downtown Detroit led by the companys engineering, information services and product teams.



Duos first phase of growth in Detroit entails immediate relocation of 30 team members from the companys Ann Arbor offices to temporary, shared space at Bamboo Detroit in the historic Julian C. Madison Building, located at 1420 Washington Blvd. To accommodate hiring growth and further team member relocation downtown, the company will expand into 9,000 square feet of exclusive space at Bamboo on the buildings sixth floor, by the end of the year.

Detroit has always moved the world, both in body and soul, through its industry and art, said Dug Song, Duo co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. Our Detroit office is an opportunity to build upon this rich history of innovation after years of collaboration with friends in the city to bridge our regional tech community. We are proud to help invest in the historic resurgence of Detroit, excited to learn and grow together, and committed to a success much greater than ourselves.

Founded in 2010, Duo has been an avid supporter of Detroits startup community, sponsoring and actively participating in city-wide events such as Detroit Startup Week and Techweek Detroit. Duo executives have also mentored numerous Detroit-based entrepreneurs through initiatives such as Venture For America (VFA), Startup Boost and Techstars Mobility accelerator programs. The company will host regular Duo Tech Talks on a range of topics featuring local and global technology leaders in its new Detroit space.

We couldnt be more proud to have Duo make their first major step downtown by welcoming them to Bamboo, said Amanda Lewan, Bamboo co-founder and CEO. Dug and his team have invaluable experience into what it takes to successfully scale and disrupt, and we look forward to connecting them with local startups for their collaboration and advice on growing their businesses.

Since opening in 2013, Bamboo Detroit has become a destination for burgeoning entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses. The co-working space is home to more than 200 diverse Detroit businesses generating an estimated revenue of $74 million annually.

Bamboo has been a catalyst for Detroit entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses, and were happy to partner with them as we look to ingrain ourselves in the local community, said Song. Duo is committed to providing resources and leveraging our team member expertise in any way we can to help further accelerate the growing startup ecosystem downtown.

Duo currently has 350 Michigan-based team members, and has tripled global headcount from 200 to more than 600 in the past two years. The company plans for continued hiring growth at its Ann Arbor offices, as well as its Austin, Texas; San Mateo, Calif.; and London locations.

Duo is a top-rated employer with a 4.6 score on Glassdoor; providing team members a generous benefits package, including unlimited vacation time and 16 fully-paid weeks of primary parental caregiver leave. Duo also offers company equity to team members and a monthly reimbursement for a wide-range of wellness-related activities, including gym memberships, nutrition counseling and much more.

In 2017, Duo raised $70 million in additional financing at an over $1 billion valuation, the largest venture-capital funding round in Michigan history, according to the Michigan Venture Capital Association. The company also surpassed 10,000 customers globally and $100 million in annual recurring revenue, making it one of the fastest-growing software-as-a-service providers in the world.



For more information, please visit https://duo.com/about.

About Duo Security

Duo Security helps defend organizations against data breach by making security easy and effective. The companys Trusted Access and industry-leading Beyond product suites ensure only trusted users and safe devices have access to protected data and applications - anytime, anywhere. The company has more than 10,000 customers globally, including Dresser-Rand, Etsy, Facebook, K-Swiss, Random House, Yelp, Zillow, Paramount Pictures, and more. Founded in Michigan, Duo has offices in both Ann Arbor and Detroit, as well as bustling hubs in Austin, Texas; San Mateo, California; and London. Visit duo.com to find out more.

Press Contact

Meredith Corley & Jordan Fylonenko

Duo Security

Press@duo.comWHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA  Joseph Harrison, of Pine Grove, West Virginia, was indicted April 3 by a federal grand jury on firearms charges, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Harrison, age 48, was indicted on two counts of Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition. Harrison, having previously been convicted of a felony, is accused of having two .22 caliber revolvers, a .380-caliber pistol, and rounds of ammunition for the firearms in October 2017 and January 2018 in Wetzel County.

Harrison faces up to 10 years incarceration and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Perri is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Wetzel County Sheriffs Office investigated.

In late January 2018, Harrison was arrested in connection with a Wetzel County shooting that had occurred earlier that month. He was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Harrison was shot during a Jan. 9 incident, but Sheriff Mike Koontz said law enforcement believed Harrison was shot in self-defense.

An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.Shooting wolves and bears from airplanes is once again legal in Alaska's national wildlife refuges after President Trump signed legislation to allow the hunting of predator animals.The legislation signed Monday repeals a federal rule put in place during the Obama administration that banned the aerial shooting or baiting of animals with food in order to curb the population of bears, wolves and other predators.Put in place by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in August 2016, the rule prohibited the hunting of predator animals unless it was authorized by a refuge manager. It also outlined specific times when the ban could be temporarily lifted in order to reduce a predator population if the decision had been evaluated and other alternatives studied.Former Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe, characterized the hunting tactics at the time as "a withering attack on bears and wolves that is wholly at odds with Americas long tradition of ethical, sportsmanlike, fair-chase hunting."Alaskan lawmakers disagreed.Not only was it a massive jurisdictional power grab, it clearly undermined the laws passed by Congress to protect Alaskas authority to manage fish and wildlife upon all our lands, Alaska Rep. Don Young, a Republican, said in a statement earlier this month when the Senate passed the resolution along a party-line vote. Alaskans take the management of our lands and wildlife extremely serious.National wildlife refuges cover nearly 78 million acres in Alaska, stretching from the Arctic in the north to the Aleutian islands in the south.According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the practice of "predator control" was implemented often to increase the population of other non-predatory species, including those that would be targeted by hunters in the refuges.The ban also prohibited the killing of bears when they were near cubs or dens.The Center for Biological Diversity criticized the legislation as it headed to President Trump's desk for his signature."This isn't hunting - it's slaughter," government affairs director for the Center for Biological Diversity Brett Hartl said in a statement. "Killing wolves and bears in this cruel, unsportsmanlike fashion is outrageous, especially in national wildlife refuges that belong to all Americans."The Sierra Club also condemned the lifting of the ban.Targeting cubs with mothers, baiting, and other extreme hunting measures promoted by this resolution have no place on our public lands, said Alli Harvey, Alaska representative with the Sierra Clubs Our Wild America campaign.Alaska's congressional delegation, however, supported the bill's passage through the Senate and House to overturn the hunting ban. Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan applauded the change and criticized the Fish and Wildlife Service, which he said usurped the state's authority.Alaskans have been able to maintain these strong and life-sustaining traditions through a rigorous scientific process that allows for public participation and ensures we manage our fish and game for sustainability, as required by the Alaska Constitution," he said.MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smart Employee Benefits Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SEB), will hold its Fiscal 2017 Year and 4th Quarter Results Conference Call & Webcast on Friday, April 6, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss results and current business initiatives.

Conference Call Details:

Canada & USA Toll Free Dial In: 1-800-319-4610

Toronto Toll Dial In: 1-416-915-3239

Callers should dial in 5-10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and simply ask to join the call.

Webcast Link: access at SEB-inc.com or http://services.choruscall.ca/links/sebq420180406.html

Conference Call Replay Numbers:

Canada & USA Toll Free: 1-855-669-9658 Code 2168

Replay Duration: Available for one week until end of day April 13, 2018.

For further information about SEB, please visit www.seb-inc.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.

Media and Investor Contacts:

John McKimm

President/CEO/CIO

(888) 939-8885 x 354

(416) 460-2817

john.mckimm@seb-inc.com

Bill Mitoulas

Venture North Capital Inc.

(416) 837-7147

billm@venturenorthcapital.comSAN DIEGO, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Rosemont Media celebrates its 10th year in business, it will also be attending the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistrys annual conference for the 10th consecutive year. CEO Keith Humes and his team of dental consultants will be exhibiting at the AACDs 34th Annual Scientific Session held at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago from April 18th through April 21st. As always, Humes says, this conference will give Rosemont Media the opportunity to meet and talk with many of the prominent dentists it has worked with for so many years, and introduce itself to new faces, as well.



In addition to the firms exhibition booth, Humes will be presenting a course entitled, Web Marketing for the Cosmetic Practice. The course will take place on April 19th at 9:15 a.m., and will focus on how practices can create an effective online footprint, develop ethically sound link-building strategies while avoiding penalties from search engines, and understand the best dental marketing practices for an increasingly mobile-centric society.

Rosemont Medias exhibition will be located at booth #508. The team says it is looking forward to demonstrating how its innovative technological concepts and strategies can help a practice improve its visibility in the online marketplace, while simultaneously providing individuals considering dental care with an in-depth, useful educational resource.

Humes says the AACD conference is a highlight of the year for Rosemont Media. In fact, the company not only regularly exhibits at the Scientific Session, but also serves as a Corporate Sponsor. Attending for his 20th year, Humes notes that there is always something special and exciting about the eventand this year is sure to be no different. I am really looking forward to providing a great educational experience to the members of the AACD; the web marketing course is going to be very comprehensive. I am also looking forward to connecting with friends and clients.

About Rosemont Media

Rosemont Media is a dental and medical Internet marketing agency that offers a comprehensive array of digital services for dentists and physicians. The San Diego-based company provides a full selection of customized products for medical and dental professionals, including responsive website design, search engine optimization and social media marketing strategies, content marketing, reputation management, and more. Rosemont Media is dedicated to offering the latest in design and marketing techniques along with market exclusivity to professionals in numerous dental and medical fields, including cosmetic and implant dentistry, orthodontics, plastic surgery, orthopaedic surgery, bariatric surgery, ophthalmology, and others. Rosemont Media has built and maintained hundreds of websites for practices across the United States, Canada, and in countries throughout the world.

To learn more about Rosemont Media, visit rosemontmedia.com and facebook.com/rosemontmedia.

To view the original source of this press release, click here: https://www.rosemontmedia.com/surgeons-blog/aacd-2018-dental-website-marketing-firm-rosemont-media-attending-scientific-session-in-chicago/

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/0c93cd8e-e522-4c0c-8ac8-d746116a710a

http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/2281a973-a035-4fbb-939d-d54aeee60817By: Paige Cline The hills are still green for the most part, but a little[Read More]Toronto, Ontario, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adam Vaughan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development makes a crime prevention funding announcement to Child Development Institutes SNAP evidence-based mental health program on behalf of the Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness along with Julie Dzerowicz, Member of Parliament for Davenport.



With this current project Public Safety Canada is investing in a venture philanthropy model which is an innovative concept to create substantive social change by bringing government, business, foundations and individual donors together.



Dr. Leena Augimeri, Director and co-founder of SNAP expresses gratitude and optimism for the funding, explaining Child Development Institute is honoured to have the opportunity to work with Public Safety Canada to expand and implement our evidence-based Stop Now And Plan (SNAP) mental health program to reach over 100 communities across Canada. These scaling efforts will continue to be supported by LEAP | Pecaut Centre for Social Impact. SNAP teaches children with disruptive behaviour concerns in the middle years (ages 6-11) emotion regulation, self-control and problem-solving skills. The SNAP strategy is targeted and designed to help children and families stop and think before they act and make better choices in the moment  keeping them in school and out of trouble. Multiple studies have shown increased emotion regulation/self-control, greater cognitive executive functioning, and decreased behavioural concerns with proven cost effectiveness.



The funding from Public Safety Canada is spurred by the interest to develop evidence-based programs which yield high, rigorous evidence-based testing in various communities. SNAP has been selected due to the programs vast implementation, testing and effectiveness in urban, rural and Indigenous communities. The funding is also provided to support further development of CDIs risk/need assessment tools which assess the level of risk and need of elementary school-aged children for violent and anti-social potential in order to create effective and appropriate treatment plans.



Tony Diniz, CEO of Child Development Institute, illustrates how the investment will help the program by remarking We are delighted to have Public Safety Canada funding support that allows us to use an innovative approach that offers start-up training and consultation fees. This support will enhance our ability to reach new Canadian communities in need of evidence-based mental health services and support for their children; thus helping to create massive social change that will foster happier, healthier children and families and safer communities. When this initiative is realized, Canada will have its first childrens mental health program with national reach bringing a proven solution to Canadian children and families. The support of Public Safety Canada matches a similar level of support from other governments, from foundations, corporations and donors and the willingness of agencies across Canada to assist children and their families.



Dr. Leena Augimeri adds Canada is leading the way by using this innovative model to create massive social change in mental health to provide access to service in communities that might not otherwise have the capacity to do so.



Company Backgrounder:



Child Development Institute (CDI) is a Toronto-based organization mandated with the mission to transform the lives of children, youth and their families by developing and delivering world class, innovative, evidence-based mental health programs. CDI is an accredited childrens mental health agency providing a range of programs and services for children, youth and their families in Toronto. We offer evidence-based programs across four streams: Early Intervention Services, Family Violence Services, the Integra Program and Healthy Child Development. Our approach is family-focused, and we work with each child and familys unique strengths, needs and challenges. For more information about CDI please visit: childdevelop.ca



About SNAP: Developed by Child Development Institute over 30 years ago as an intervention program for children under 12 in conflict with the law, SNAP has evolved into an internationally recognized model for teaching children with disruptive behaviour problems and their parents effective emotion-regulation, self-control and problem-solving skills. Gender-specific SNAP Boys and SNAP Girls programs are offered at CDI in Toronto, and through SNAP Affiliates across Canada and around the world. The primary goal of SNAP is to keep children in school and out of trouble by teaching them to stop and think before they act. The SNAP National Expansion launched in 2014 with the goal of reaching over 100 communities (and up to 20,000 high-risk children) across Canada by 2020 with the help of LEAP | Pecaut Centre for Social Impact. Reaching these children can result in a social impact of billions of dollars in savings in criminal justice system costs alone. Using a venture philanthropy model, Phase 1 of the SNAP Campaign has raised over $12 million dollars for the SNAP Expansion to cover SNAP start-up costs for organizations interested in implementing the program in their community. This innovative childrens mental health initiative will transform the face of childrens mental health in Canada by addressing unmet service needs in communities, in addition to supporting schools. For more information about SNAP, please visit stopnowandplan.com

AttachmentsMISSISSAUGA, Ontario, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CWB Franchise Finance, a division of CWB Financial Group, today announced it has led a syndicate to provide a $109 million loan facility to InnVest Hotels LP, owners of ninety-two hotels across Canada. The loan facilities will be used to refinance existing debt and invest in capital projects and opportunistic acquisitions, and are secured against a portfolio of six of InnVests assets located across Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick. CWB Franchise Finance is proud to hold the majority position and lead the syndicate with partners including ICICI Bank Canada and Fiera Properties Limited.

CWB Franchise Finance truly are hotel financing specialists with deep understanding of the industry, said George Kosziwka, CFO of InnVest Hotels LP. It was a pleasure working with Ed and his team. Their knowledge of the brands and markets coupled with competitive terms, made the transaction run smoothly from start to finish.

Were pleased to support InnVest as they continue to grow across Canada, said Ed Khediguian, senior vice president of CWB Franchise Finance. As specialists in the Canadian hospitality industry, were looking forward to more opportunities to work with InnVest and other hotel owner-operators looking for tailored, creative, and robust financing structures that align with their borrowing and growth needs. Our in-depth understanding of the hotel market, alignment with high quality owners and products that enhance our clients return on equity has been key to our success over the past 15 years.

About CWB Franchise Finance

CWB Franchise Finance, a division of CWB Financial Group, specializes in financing for regional and national restaurants and hotels and is a leading lender to the Canadian restaurant and hospitality industries. Previously GE Capital Canadas franchise financing arm, CWB Franchise Finance was acquired by CWB Financial Group in 2016 following a successful track record of more than 800 clients with upwards of 1,525 property locations over 14 years. To date, more than $3 billion has been invested in the Canadian hotel and restaurant space.

About CWB Financial Group

CWB is a diversified financial services organization serving businesses and individuals across Canada. Operating from its headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta, CWBs key business lines include full-service business and personal banking offered through 42 branches of Canadian Western Bank and Internet banking services provided by Motive Financial. Highly responsive specialized financing is delivered under the banners of CWB Equipment Financing, National Leasing, CWB Maxium Financial, CWB Franchise Finance and CWB Optimum Mortgage. Trust Services are offered through Canadian Western Trust. Comprehensive wealth management offerings are provided through CWB Wealth Management, which includes the businesses of McLean & Partners Wealth Management and Canadian Western Financial. As a public company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), CWB trades under the symbols CWB (common shares), CWB.PR.B (Series 5 Preferred Shares) and CWB.PR.C (Series 7 Preferred Shares). Learn more at www.cwb.com.

About InnVest Hotels LP

InnVest holds one of Canada's largest hotel portfolios comprising 92 hotel properties and representing over 12,600 rooms, operated under 18 internationally recognized franchise brands. InnVest's hotels are managed by six hotel management companies. InnVest also holds a 50% interest in Choice Hotels Canada Inc., one of the largest franchisors of hotels in Canada.HOUSTON, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) ("Crown Castle") announced today that it plans to release its first quarter 2018 results on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, after the market closes. In conjunction with the release, Crown Castle has scheduled a conference call for Thursday, April 19, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 800-239-9838 and asking for the Crown Castle call (access code 3965492) at least 30 minutes prior to the start time. The conference call may also be accessed live over the Internet at http://investor.crowncastle.com. Any supplemental materials for the call will be posted on the Crown Castle website at http://investor.crowncastle.com.

A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available from 1:30 p.m. eastern time on Thursday, April 19, 2018, through 1:30 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday, July 18, 2018, and may be accessed by dialing 888-203-1112 and using access code 3965492. An audio archive will also be available on the companys website at http://investor.crowncastle.com shortly after the call and will be accessible for approximately 90 days.

ABOUT CROWN CASTLE

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 60,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major US market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service  bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.

For more information on Crown Castle, please visit www.crowncastle.com.

CONTACTS

Dan Schlanger, CFO and Treasurer

Ben Lowe, VP Corporate Finance

Crown Castle International Corp.

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Digital Issue Would you like to receive our Digital Issue? Signup today!SEATTLE, WA, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VisionGate is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to the Board of Directors, significantly expanding the depth of biotech leadership and business acumen within the company.



Maria Forero, MPH, Board Director, is founder and principal of Ridgetop Health, the life sciences private equity arm of Ridgetop Capital Partners, a $500 million AUM investment firm. Prior to Ridgetop, Maria spent ten years at Novartis in numerous senior management roles across geographies and divisions including Head of Sales & Marketing for Sandoz Latin America and General Manager of Spain & Portugal for Novartis Vaccines. Before Novartis, Ms. Forero was a VP at Morgan Stanley and an Audit Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London. She holds a Master of Public Health from Columbia University, New York, and a BSc in Human Genetics, from the University College London, UK.



Paul Kelly, MBA, Board Director, is an analyst, consultant, and investor in the biotechnology sector for more than twenty years. He has had extended and successful assignments as an equity analyst at many top-tier firms where his principal focus was the genomics, tools, and diagnostics subsector of biotechnology. Subsequently, Mr. Kelly engaged in consulting for biotechnology companies, and for hedge funds. He currently manages his own investments, continues his consulting activities, and serves on the Board of Relmada Therapeutics. Mr. Kelly holds an AB in Biochemistry from Brown University, he attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and received an MBA in Finance from the University of Rochester.



As we advance late stage product development and accelerate our commercial readiness it is particularly advantageous for the Company to strengthen its board with two highly experienced biotech industry executives, CEO and Founder Dr. Alan Nelson said in a statement. Both Maria and Paul know our technology well and bring exceptional experience in the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industries. We are thrilled to be adding their leadership and guidance to the Board of Directors of VisionGate, added Dr. Nelson.



For more information on VisionGate, please visit www.visiongate3d.com.

###

About VisionGate, Inc.



VisionGate is a clinical stage oncology pharmaceutical and diagnostics company focused on the early detection and prevention of cancer. Our lead investigative pharmaceutical drug is oral iloprost, currently in clinical development for the treatment of pre-cancerous bronchial dysplasia and the prevention of lung cancer following a successful Phase 2 clinical trial. The LuCED lung test will be the companion diagnostic for oral iloprost. VisionGates proprietary LuCED lung test is a non-invasive liquid biopsy diagnostic test in development for detection of early-stage lung cancer, demonstrating exquisite sensitivity and specificity in blinded clinical studies. This non-invasive sputum test is processed on the worlds first automated 3D single cell imaging and analysis technology, the Cell-CT platform, named aptly because it is similar in principle to taking a CT scan of individual cells, but using visible light without harmful radiation. With 176 issued patents in 13 countries, VisionGate expects to play a leading role in the battle against lung cancer - the worlds number one cancer killer. VisionGate, Inc. is led by Dr. Alan Nelson, physicist, bioengineer, and serial entrepreneur who previously developed the worlds first and only automated screening test to detect cervical cancer, marketed globally today as FocalPoint by Becton Dickinson. The LuCED lung test is a product in development and is not currently available commercially.

About the Cell-CT 3D Imaging Platform



The automated Cell-CT 3-Dimensional Single Cell Imaging and Analysis Platform is the enabling technology which produces high-resolution 3D images of individual cells using a technique called optical computed tomography. This 3D optical CT platform breaks new ground in the field of quantitative cell analysis by its unique ability to compute the true 3D internal structure of cells based on molecular optical absorption densities. The Cell-CT platform produces high-resolution 3D images of individual cells and measures hundreds of critical disease indicators in each cell. Together with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, these produce accurate cell classifications that aid in the early detection of disease. Additionally, the Cell-CT platform has the potential to deliver molecular and genetic biosignatures of disease longitudinally to compliment drug development in the biopharma services arena. Cells are not placed on slides, but rather, they are suspended in fluid (liquid biopsy) and injected through a micro-capillary tube that permits multiple viewing perspectives around 360. The Cell-CT platform is a device under development and not currently cleared in the US.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements for VisionGate



This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and made in reliance on the "safe harbor" provisions of said act. These forward-looking statements are based on estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions of the Company at the time of such statements and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions that may cause actual results to differ materially, including unanticipated developments and the risks related to the efficacy or safety of the Companys development pipeline, the results of further research and development, the high degree of risk and uncertainty associated with drug and diagnostics development, clinical trials and regulatory approval processes, other market or economic factors and competitive and technological advances. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation, the acceptance by customers of our products, our ability to develop new products cost-effectively, our ability to raise capital in the future, the development by competitors of products using improved or alternative technology, the retention of key employees and general economic conditions. Forward-looking statements are subject to change without notice. VisionGate disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to unduly rely on such forward-looking statements when evaluating the information presented in this press release.HOUSTON, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Halcon Resources Corporation (NYSE:HK) (Halcon or the Company) today announced it has closed on the previously announced West Quito Draw Acquisition for a purchase price of $200 million and, separately, has elected not to exercise its previously disclosed Monument Draw East Option. The Company also provided an update on its recent well results in addition to its current liquidity and hedge positions.

The West Quito Draw Acquisition is comprised of 10,524 net acres and related assets in central and western Ward County, Texas and is currently producing approximately 1,200 boe/d (56% oil). Halcon plans to bring a rig to this area in the second quarter of 2018 to begin drilling 10,000 foot Wolfcamp laterals, which the Company anticipates will generate estimated ultimate recoveries (EURs) in excess of 1.1 MMbo of oil and a total EUR of oil and gas (2-stream) of approximately 2.2 MMboe. Including additional landing zones (Bone Spring, Avalon, etc.), Halcon estimates there are 383 potential operated horizontal locations within this acreage position. This property is approximately 47% held by production and is 91% operated with an average working interest of 72%.

Halcon has decided not to exercise its option to purchase 7,680 net acres on the eastern side of its existing Monument Draw area for $10,000/acre (the Monument Draw East Option). Halcon will retain ownership of the Sealy Ranch 5902H well and 160 net acres on which this ~10,000 lateral length well was drilled.

Halcon now has ~59,152 net acres in the Delaware Basin comprised of 21,839 net acres in Monument Draw, 10,524 net acres in West Quito Draw and 26,790 net acres in Hackberry Draw. Collectively, these properties are currently producing in excess of 13,500 boe/d net to the Company (70% oil).

Floyd Wilson, CEO of Halcon, commented, We are excited to close on this important acquisition which we have named West Quito Draw. This is a great complement to our other Ward County holdings at Monument Draw. Our technical review plus impressive results from offset operators have solidified our plan to station a drilling rig here throughout 2018 and beyond.

Our decision to not exercise the Monument Draw East Option was driven by our technical review of all payzones across the entire Monument Draw area plus our focus on our balance sheet and liquidity. The success of our Sealy Ranch 5902H well (30-day IP of 1,653 boe/d, 88% oil) de-risks the entirety of our southern Monument Draw area where we have hundreds of Wolfcamp and Bone Spring locations. We will continue to develop this world class asset through the balance of 2018 and beyond with at least two rigs assigned to this development program which includes both horizontal and vertical spacing tests in all intervals.

Our business plan, supported by a strong balance sheet, ample liquidity and our hedge book will result in significant growth for years to come while driving leverage down and keeping liquidity strong throughout.

Operated Well Results

In Monument Draw, Halcons three most recently completed wells, the Sealy Ranch 7902H, 7903H and 5902H, reached an average peak 30 day rate of 1,680 boe/d (83% oil). This equates to an average 30 day rate, per 1,000 feet of lateral, of 177 boe/d which is significantly higher than the Companys type curve of 143 boe/d per 1,000 feet of lateral. The Company plans to put an additional three wells online in Monument Draw during the second quarter of 2018.

In Hackberry Draw, Halcons two most recently completed wells, the Jose Katie East 1H and Jose Katie West 1H, reached an average peak 30 day rate of 1,010 boe/d (86% oil). This equates to an average 30 day rate, per 1,000 feet of lateral, of 103 boe/d which exceeds the Companys type curve of 94 boe/d per 1,000 feet of lateral. The Company recently began flowing back the Geneva West Joanne 1H well and plans to put an additional four wells online in Hackberry Draw during the second quarter of 2018.

Liquidity & Hedging Update

Halcons liquidity as of 12/31/17 pro forma for recent acquisitions and financings was $478 million as set forth below.





Exercise of the West Face Value Monument Draw 6.75% HY Common Equity Quito Draw Adjusted HK Capitalization ($MM) 12/31/2017 North Option (1) Tack-on Issuance Acquisition 12/31/2017 Cash & Cash Equivalents $ 424 $ (108 ) $ 203 $ 61 $ (200 ) $ 380 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility - - 6.75% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2025 425 200 625 Total Debt $ 425 $ 625 Total Net Debt / (Cash) $ 1 $ 245 Stockholders' Equity 1,072 61 1,133 Total Capitalization $ 1,497 $ 1,758 Borrowing Base $ 100 $ 100 Less: Borrowings - - Less: Letters of Credit (2 ) (2 ) Plus: Cash 424 380 Total Liquidity $ 522 $ 478 (1) Exercised option in January 2018.

Halcon expects the borrowing base on its senior secured revolving credit facility to increase with the upcoming spring redetermination and will announce the results of the redetermination in conjunction with Q1 18 earnings in early May. The Company has ample current liquidity to execute on its business plan over the next several years and is committed to maintaining a strong balance sheet.



Halcon currently has 9,510 barrels of oil per day hedged in 2018 at an average price of $52.65/Bbl. This represents approximately 75% of its 2018 oil production based on the Companys previously issued 2018 production guidance. Halcon also has 12,247 barrels of oil per day hedged in 2019 at an average price of $55.30/Bbl. The Company has also been active in hedging basis differentials to mitigate the impact of any basis widening that may occur through 2019. Halcon currently has MidCush basis swaps in place for 10,526 bbl/d in 2018 at an average price of -$1.23/Bbl and another 13,000 bbl/d in place for 2019 at an average price of -$1.12/Bbl. The Company also has 10,000 Mmbtu/d of Waha basis swaps in place from July 2018 to December 2019 at an average price of -$1.05/Mmbtu.

Halcon plans to issue updated 2018 production and cost guidance, including the impact of West Quito Draw, as part of its first quarter 2018 earnings release in early May.

About Halcon Resources

Halcon Resources Corporation is an independent energy company focused on the acquisition, production, exploration and development of liquids-rich assets in the Delaware Basin.

For more information contact Quentin Hicks, Executive Vice President, Finance, Capital Markets & Investor Relations, at 832-538-0557 or qhicks@halconresources.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements that are not strictly historical statements constitute forward-looking statements and may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words such as "expects", "believes", "intends", "anticipates", "plans", "estimates", "potential", "possible", or "probable" or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "will", "should", or "could" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and expectations and involve certain assumptions or estimates that involve various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the statements. Estimates of future production levels are based on the Companys current drilling program, which may be subject to revision, suspension or delay based on well results, significant acquisitions and significant changes in commodity prices and/or drilling and completion costs. These risks include, but are not limited to, those set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and other filings submitted by the Company to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), copies of which may be obtained from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or through the Company's website at www.halconresources.com. Readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which are made only as of the date hereof. The Company has no duty, and assumes no obligation, to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or changes in the Company's expectations.

We may use the terms resource potential, EUR and type curves in this press release to describe estimates of potentially recoverable hydrocarbons. These are based on the Companys internal estimates of hydrocarbon quantities that may be potentially discovered through exploratory drilling or recovered with additional drilling or recovery techniques. These quantities do not constitute reserves within the meaning of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Petroleum Resource Management System or SEC rules and are subject to substantially greater uncertainties relating to recovery than reserves. EUR, or Estimated Ultimate Recovery, refers to our managements internal estimates based on per well hydrocarbon quantities that may be potentially recovered from a hypothetical future well completed as a producer in the area. For areas where the Company has a very limited operating history, EURs and related type curves are based in large part on publicly available information relating to operations of producers operating in such areas. For areas where the Company has sufficient operating data to make its own estimates, EURs and related type curves are based on internal estimates by the Companys management and reserve engineers.

Drilling locations represent the number of locations that we currently estimate could potentially be drilled in a particular area using well spacing assumptions applicable to that area. The actual number of locations drilled and quantities that may be ultimately recovered from the Companys interests will differ substantially. There is no commitment by the Company to drill the drilling locations which have been attributed to any area.

Factors affecting ultimate recovery include: (1) the scope of our on-going drilling program, which will be directly affected by factors that include the availability of capital, drilling and production costs, availability of drilling services and equipment, drilling results, lease expirations, transportation constraints, regulatory approvals and other factors; and (2) actual drilling results, including geological and mechanical factors affecting recovery rates. In addition, our production forecasts and expectations for future periods are dependent upon many assumptions, including estimates of production decline rates from existing wells and the undertaking and outcome of future drilling activity, which will be affected by changes in commodity prices and costs.President Donald Trump's decision to crack down on Chinese trade practices may seem a world away from the rural roads of Martin County, Minnesota, the self-proclaimed "Bacon Capitol of the USA."

But as the President and Republicans prepare to protect their majorities in the House and Senate in November, China's tit-for-tat trade skirmish with Trump looms large.

"I think the marketplace is speaking for itself. Hog futures are down. Stock market is down," says David Preisler, the CEO for the Minnesota Pork Board said Wednesday. "There are some pieces in the President's trade policy that we really like, but this is a big piece that we don't."

The stock market would end up closing up 200 points Wednesday afternoon.

Though Republicans and industry experts in key congressional districts from Minnesota to Florida argue that Trump has been good for their bottom lines, they acknowledge that a trade war that makes it harder for American products to be sold in key Chinese markets would not reflect well on Trump's trade rhetoric -- or his midterm hopes.

Most of the biggest pork producing counties are in red states, including Iowa, where there is a competitive House race, and Indiana and Missouri, two states that will be home to competitive Senate races in 2018.

The tariffs also target a host of orange and citrus products, many of which are produced in Florida, home to a host of key House races and one Senate contest, and California, where many political analysts believe the balance of the House could be decided.

US-China trade battle: How we got here

And tariffs on soybeans, a cash crop for much of the Midwest, could impact key Senate races in North Dakota and Ohio, two states in the top 10 of soybean producing states.

Trade war concerns also threaten to dampen Republican plans to focus 2018 campaigns on the -- until now -- booming US economy, fueled in part by this year's tax cut, the top GOP legislative accomplishment.

Minnesota's pork country

The new tariffs have put one Republican vying for office in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, Jim Hagedorn, in a tough place. He supports the President, but it was noticeably difficult for the Republican to defend Trump's recent trade rhetoric.

"This is a very serious and crucial matter," Hagedorn said. "My position as someone who would like to represent Southern Minnesota is that we need to do everything we can at the federal level to expand exports and create new markets for our goods."

Hagedorn, who grew up on a grain and hog farm near Truman, Minnesota, has openly touted Martin County's "Bacon Capitol of the USA" moniker. He owns a T-shirt with the logo, he said, and thinks making it easier for pork producers to ship their product worldwide is something the administration should aim to support.

Hagedorn's district includes Minnesota's entire border with Iowa and has been represented by Democrat Tim Walz since 2007. But he decided to run for governor in 2018, opening up a race in a district where Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton by 15 points.

But the Republican was clearly worried about Trump's latest volley with China.

"I trust the President is going to do everything he can to make sure our farmers have markets globally and we are not penalized," he said.

Not unique to Minnesota

Hagedorn's predicament -- a Republican running in a district that is now feeling pressure from Chinese tariffs -- is now common across the United States: China's moves, announced over the last few weeks, strategically targeted products in areas key to the President.

Trump and many inside the White House reject the idea that the United States is slowly walking into a trade war with China.

The President tweeted Wednesday that because the United States already has a sizable trade deficit with China, it's impossible to lose a trade war.

"When you're already $500 Billion DOWN, you can't lose," he wrote.

But multiple top White House officials have looked to cushion that possibility of a trade war by arguing that not only is the United States trying to avoid a tit-for-tat with China, but that the tariffs are just posturing.

Larry Kudlow, the President's new top economic adviser, said Wednesday that he is negotiating with tariff threats is just "part of the process."

"I'm not a fan of tariffs. But I think the President is completely right to take these actions now," Kudlow said.

The issue is even more complicated for Terry Branstad, Trump's US ambassador to China, who served six terms as the governor of Iowa, the leading pork producing state in the country.

"I don't want to see a trade war," Branstad told CBS last month. "I want to see us work together to resolve these differences."

But Democrat Brad Ashford, a former House member who lost his Nebraska seat in 2016 but plans to run again in 2018, seized on the tariff news and foreshadowed potential political messaging.

"Attention soybean growers, pork producers and the Nebraska businesses and communities that depend on them in #NE02, you can express your opposition to Trump's trade wars, by voting against one of his biggest enablers @RepDonBacon this November," he wrote.

A long time coming

Trump has long talked about the new for more protectionist trade policies. In fact, it is one of his most consistent and long held beliefs. Because of this, many of these industries were preparing for tariffs long before they were imposed this week.

But the fact that the reality of a trade war is now far more real, most are looking to Washington for guidance. Some are hoping that this is nothing more than positioning, others are preparing for limits on the Chinese markets.

"We are disappointed that China has placed an additional 25% tariff on US pork exports," the National Pork Producers Council said Tuesday night. "We recognize that the US and China are negotiating, and we are hopeful that the 25% tariffs on US pork will be short lived."

That sentiment was echoed by the beef industry.

"It is unsettling to see American-produced beef listed as a target for retaliation. Sadly, we are not surprised, as this is an inevitable outcome of any trade war," Kent Bacus, director of International Trade and Market Access for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said in a statement.

Trump's initial decision to impose sizable tariffs on steel and aluminum and crack down on China's intellectual property violations led China to respond by imposing tariffs on 128 products ranging from pork, meat and fruit to steel pipes with a range of tariffs. The United States responded on Tuesday by publishing a list of about 1,300 Chinese exports that could be targeted for tariffs, including products from China's aerospace, tech and machinery industries. China, late on Tuesday, responded in kind, proposing tariffs on aircraft, soybeans and automobiles.

And Republicans, including some close to Trump, have already begun looking to soften the blow with Trump's base of voters.

"We want free and fair trade and to be quite honest there are issue with China," Kim Reynolds, Iowa's Republican governor, said this week. "We need to figure out a way to hold them accountable but we need make sure that we are not having untended consequences by getting into a trade war. Nobody wins a trade war."

Even Sonny Perdue, Trump's agriculture secretary, told an audience at Michigan State University on Tuesday that the administration doesn't want to make farmers "sacrificial lambs in this trade war."

"In my conversations with the President, he's not going to let the big agriculturals be a pawn in this issue," he said, according to the Detroit News.

Speaking at the university, the Perdue added: "We're not going to let farmers be sacrificed on trade wars."SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on a shooting at YouTube headquarters (all times local):

2:25 p.m.

The White House says President Donald Trump has been briefed on a shooting at YouTube headquarters in Northern California and that officials are monitoring it.

Coroner's spokesman Thomas McGovern says investigators were called to the scene Tuesday afternoon. He wouldn't say if anyone was dead.

One hospital in Northern California says it has received four to five patients from the shooting. Police in the city of San Bruno have confirmed an active shooter.

Television images showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building. Officers then patted down people grouped outside.

___

2:10 p.m.

Northern California's Stanford Hospital says it has received four to five patients from a shooting at YouTube headquarters.

Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Kim did not have information on their conditions or their wounds.

Police in the city of San Bruno have confirmed an active shooter. City Manager Connie Jackson says multiple 911 calls reported a shooting and that police and fire officials have responded.

Television images showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building. Officers then patted down people grouped outside.

___

1:50 p.m.





Police in Northern California say they're responding to an active shooter at YouTube headquarters.

The San Bruno Police Department told people on Facebook to stay away from the area Tuesday. There was no other immediate information.

Google, which owns the online video website, posted on Twitter that the company is coordinating with authorities.

City Manager Connie Jackson says there have been multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting and that police and fire officials have responded.

Television images showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building. Officers then patted down people grouped outside.

___

1:35 p.m.





City Manager Connie Jackson says there have been multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting and that police and fire officials have responded.

TV helicopter video shows officers patting down people grouped outside a building and police vehicles surrounding the area. San Bruno police said they could not provide more information.

The world's biggest online video website is located on a suburban campus.

Calls and emails to YouTube representatives were not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)A local veteran who was recently honored on National Vietnam War Veterans Day has died at age 68.

Frank Zaffarano died unexpectedly on Saturday, March 31, according to his obituary.

Zaffarano, who was born in Ilion in 1949, enlisted in the U.S. Navy Seabees with his twin brother, Leonard, following their high school graduation, and the brothers served in the Vietnam War together. Frank Zaffarano received his honorable discharge on Nov. 19, 1970.

The two brothers were among those honored at the Parkway Center in Utica on March 29 for National Vietnam War Veterans Day, and they were given pins for serving together in combat.

Frank Zaffarano received his degree in engineering from Mohawk Valley Community College after serving in the military, and he went on to work at Remington Arms for 32 years. He also worked for Craska Trucking and Heartland Express, and he was the commander of the Yorkville VFW Post 6001.

Zaffaranos burial will be held with full military honors at Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica.VAIL, Ariz., April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eckrich, the makers of naturally hardwood smoked sausage and perfectly seasoned deli meats, has surprised one special Arizona military family with a year of free groceries, a total value of more than $13,000. This gift, awarded in collaboration with Safeway, is part of Eckrichs ongoing commitment to honor, thank, and support military families across the country.

Derrick Johnson is a technical sergeant in the United States Air Force, serving as a noncommissioned officer in charge of aircrew training for the 41st Electronic Combat Squadron. He has deployed three times to Afghanistan in his 12-year Air Force career. Derrick and his wife, Aubree, have five children.

This gift of groceries for a year will help our family immensely, said Tech. Sgt. Johnson. With five children, groceries are our largest expense, and we can now put that money toward other important bills. We cant thank Eckrich and Safeway enough for their support.

Eckrich is proud to recognize the service of Tech. Sgt. Johnson and his family, said Michael Baughman, Smithfield Foods director of marketing. We acknowledge that both he and his family have sacrificed so much in his service to our country. This gift of free groceries for a year is a small sign of our appreciation for all that they have given.

For more information about Eckrich, please visit www.eckrich.com or follow Eckrich on Facebook and Twitter.

Eckrich is a brand of Smithfield Foods.

About Eckrich

Founded by Peter Eckrich in 1894, Eckrich has a rich heritage starting from a small meat market in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to one of the most recognized regional premium deli and meat brands on the market today. Through it all, Eckrich meats have been recognized for their great taste and supreme quality, craftsmanship, care, and pride. For more information, visit www.eckrich.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 Albertsons Companies

Albertsons Companies is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, with both a strong local presence and national scale. The company operates stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia under 19 well-known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, and Carrs. Albertsons Companies is dedicated to helping people across the country live better lives. In 2015 alone, with the help of generous customers, Albertsons Companies and the Albertsons Companies Foundation gave more than $270 million in food and financial support to the more than 2,300 communities they serve, improving the lives of millions of people in the areas of hunger relief, education, cancer research and treatment, programs for people with disabilities, and veterans outreach. Albertsons Companies is committed to making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Contact :

Hunter PR on behalf of Eckrich

Megan Milano

MMilano@HunterPR.com

(212) 679-6600

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/8d085a49-0d77-473e-8ee7-3a1c3c7f655fNEW HARTFORD -- Tensions were high at Tuesdays school board meeting in New Hartford.



The New Hartford board of education met to discuss the school districts $900,000 budget gap.

Parents and students addressed the board with concerns over the 2018-2019 school budget. Many of those concerns include teacher job cuts.

Parents, students, and teachers voiced their concerns about how the district is handling closing the budget gap.

The room was packed to capacity at the meeting. Teachers wore red to show unity and solidarity.

Board members say they have managed to balance the budget gap for the 2018-2019 school year.

Superintendent Robert Nole says staff cuts were made along with other changes in order to help balance the budget.

Board members say they try to communicate budget issues with the community, but some parents say they want better lines of communication between them and the school district.

Board members say the budget gap stems from a lack of revenue and not a spending problem.

The school district received over $600,000 from the state to use towards the 2018-2019 budget.

The superintendent says he will continue to lobby for more money for the school district.HERKIMER  The chancellor of SUNY schools met with Herkimer College students and faculty on Tuesday as part of her 64-campus tour throughout New York State.

Kristina Johnson was appointed to the position last year. She was previously an engineer who served as Under Secretary of Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Johnson took questions from students and staff during her meeting on Tuesday. Her goal is to get to know the campuses, and get feedback from students and faculty on ways they can improve.

She spoke about how the state is trying to improve enrollment numbers for community colleges.

"I think what we are seeing with the Excelsior Program is an uptick now in our applications, about 9 percent of the comprehensives, and I believe three or four of the community colleges, so well have to see how that converts to a metriculation in the fall. I think that we will be looking at programs that will attract more of our students to come to SUNY and come to all the campuses," Johnson said.

Johnson has toured about half of the SUNY systems 64 campuses since taking office in September.INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  The state of Indiana is accepting nominations for high school students to be named to Gov. Eric Holcomb's 2018 "STEM Team."

The program recognizes four high school students for accomplishments in science, technology, engineering and math  a group of academic disciplines often referred to with the acronym STEM.

The program is a revamp of the Mr. and Ms. Math and Science awards, which were created under former Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Winners receive a $1,000 college scholarships and a commemorative letterman jacket.

Extracurricular activities, work and research projects, leadership roles and community service are also considered when selecting a winner.

The deadline for nominations is 11:59 p.m. EDT on April 22. Winners will be announced in May.SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP)  A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding at least four people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said.

Officers and federal agents swarmed the company's complex in the Bay Area city of San Bruno after receiving multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire.

Television news footage showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air. Officers patted them down to make sure none had weapons.

The shooting left "four victims who have all been transported for gunshot related injuries and we have one subject who is deceased inside the building who we believe to be the shooter," said San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini.

YouTube employee Vadim Lavrusik posted on Twitter that he heard gunshots and saw people running. He said he was barricaded in a room with co-workers before being safely evacuated.

Will Hudson said a friend who works for YouTube texted him about the shooter.

"I think there might be a shooter in my building," read one text. "The fire alarm went off so we started to evacuate and then people (started) running saying there was a shooter."

San Francisco General Hospital received three patients: a 36-year-old man in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition, a spokesman said.

The hospital said later that it did not expect to receive more patients. It was not immediately clear where the fourth gunshot victim had been sent for treatment.

Google, which owns the world's biggest online video website, posted on Twitter that the company was coordinating with authorities. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it also responded.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on a shooting and that officials were monitoring developments.

Hudson said his friend made it safely back to San Francisco and was in contact with his family. Hudson said he's become used to hearing about gun violence but has never been so close to it.

"It just feels strange. It feels like it could really be anyone. That's really the strangeness of it," he said.

Calls and emails to YouTube representatives were not immediately returned.DELPHI, Ind. (WLFI)  The Delphi community gathered to discuss solutions to the growing opioid epidemic.

The public forum included members of law enforcement, lawyers and representatives for addiction services. The event aimed to provide solutions for individuals and families in need.

Jennifer and Dustin Noonkester have been directly affected by the epidemic. They spoke to raise awareness after losing their son.

"It's hard to get everybody on the same page. That's ok in my opinion because what happens is when you have all of these different opinions, that forces you to have a conversation," said Noonkester. "When you have a conversation, that helps with finding results."

Dustin and Jennifer started an organization called "Brady's Hope" in their son's name. Their goal is to raise awareness about all drug addictions.LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  Wednesday afternoon the Greater Lafayette community is invited to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's legacy. 50 years ago on April 4, the civil rights activist was assassinated on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Tippecanoe County Public Library is hosting the "MLK 50 Sidewalk March" in his memory. The march will start on 18th street at the Hanna Center at 4:30 p.m. and end at the Library. It's a 1.6 mile march and they plan to walk even if it rains so dress accordingly.

The walk will be followed by a program with activities in the library meeting room. This will also be a time for people to share their memory of Dr. King and their hopes for continued harmony in Tippecanoe County.

"This sounds very simplistic, I want them to learn that we all like each other," said Tippecanoe County Public Library Communications coordinator Marina Neal. "That's what he was all about. Dr. King wanted us all to like each other and respect each other so this is a chance to do that."

At 6:01 p.m. on Wednesday one Lafayette pastor will lead a prayer and a moment of silence. Around this time at Central Presbyterian has agreed to ring its bell 50 times.LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) -- Plans are in place for a new traffic light to go up at Main and Wallace Streets in Lafayette.

This is a new addition to the rebuilding of Loeb Stadium. It was approved at the Board of Works meeting Tuesday morning.

The new stadium will shift out into Main Street, making it hard for drivers to see. City Engineer, Jeromy Grenard, said a new traffic light should fix the issue.

The light will be coordinated with the signal at Main and Kossuth Streets.

Grenard said the city is in the process of relocating water mains and storm sewers around the stadium.

"Anything exterior to the stadium itself, we are trying to get that done before construction begins on the stadium," said Grenard.

Official construction on Loeb Stadium will begin in 2019.PHILADELPHIA, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Opportunity Finance Network, the national network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of the Treasurys recommendations to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).



Opportunity Finance Network commends the US Treasury Department for developing a thoughtful set of recommendations regarding modernization of the Community Reinvestment Act, said Lisa Mensah, president and CEO of OFN. CRA plays a critical role in increasing bank investment in low- and moderate-income communitiesincluding through direct investments in CDFIs. Most banks satisfy much of their CRA obligations through direct lending, but many also invest in CDFIs, which has allowed CDFIs to expand lending to small businesses, microenterprises, affordable housing, community facilities, and commercial real estate development in low- and moderate-income communities. In 2005, bank loans comprised 38% ($731 million) of OFN member CDFI loan funds borrowed capital, increasing to 54% ($2.8 billion) in 2016. OFN member CDFI loan funds used the $2.8 billion from banks to lend $3.3 billion, creating or preserving 154,600 jobs; 382,000 housing units; 12,000 childcare seats; 107,000 education seats; and 788,000 healthcare patients.

OFN looks forward to working with the Treasury Department and bank regulators on reforming CRA policy and practice to improve access to credit and capital for regions of the country lacking adequate investment and financial services.

About OFN

Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), the national network of community development financial institutions (CDFIs), strives to ensure low-income and other under-resourced communities have access to affordable, responsible financial products and services. Members of OFN are CDFIs that deliver responsible lending to help low-income communities join the economic mainstream. Through 2016, OFNs network originated $54 billion in financing in rural, urban, and Native communities. This financing has helped to create or maintain more than 1,202,000 jobs, start or expand more than 256,000 businesses and microenterprises, and support the development or rehabilitation of nearly 2 million housing units and more than 10,000 community facility projects. For more information, visit http://www.ofn.org.

Contact:

Debby Stefaniak

609.721.1368

dstefaniak@ofn.orgW&M cyber conference examines digital data at risk

Protecting digital assets: Hosted by W&M Law School and the Mason School of Business, "A Day at the Breach: Cyber Intrusion  A Conference of Experts" drew upon the remarkable knowledge of William & Mary's alumni, faculty and friends to bring a better understanding of the risks associated with protecting data. Photo by David F. Morrill

Protecting digital assets: W&M alumna Jane Church Horvath touched on a number of topics during her Friday evening keynote speech, including affirmative legal requirements regarding cybersecurity, incident response in data breech, continued new developments in data localization, and other topics. Photo by David F. Morrill Photo - of - Hide Caption

Every day the headlines get more ominous. Theres hacking, cyber terrorism, compromised digital assetstechnology fraught with peril for large and small organizations alike.

Facing the problem head on, William & Marys law and business schools partnered to host Another Day at the Breach: Cyber Intrusion  A Conference of Experts. Held at W&M Law School on March 16 and at the Mason School of Business the following day, the conference tapped into the extraordinary expertise of William & Mary alumni, faculty and friends to both define the problem and offer solutions.

We are in the midst of one of the most dramatic technical revolutions in human history, said Davison M. Douglas, dean and Arthur B. Hanson Professor at William & Mary Law School, during opening remarks. "But there's a downside, and ... thats cyber intrusion. We have these extraordinary tools that were developing, but theyre also dangerous.

Experts from around the country came to Williamsburg to discuss that danger, beginning with panels that provided an Introduction to Information Security and A Deeper Dive into Security. These led to a foundational discussion about what cybersecurity and data privacy mean, a history of information security and cyberattacks, the change in attitudes on what information is private, and more.

Panelists defined more advanced terms and fielded complex questions on the nature of encryption, cybersecurity and data privacy to help the audience gain an understanding of the security concerns various security professionals are concerned with each day.

More focused topics were explored in breakout sessions, including Mindset of a Hacker vs. Internal Errors, The Technology of Cyber & The Cloud and A Conversation on a Day in the Life, which examined the responsibilities during a normal day in the cyber field.

During her Friday keynote speech, Jane Church Horvath, who graduated from William & Mary with a degree in computer science, made sure to touch on such topics as affirmative legal requirements regarding cybersecurity; incident response in data breech; continued new developments in data localization; and the relationship between data localization and law enforcement access to data.

The strategic conference continued on Saturday at William & Marys Raymond A. Mason School of Business. Panels walked through preparing, during and after an attack. Additional breakouts included Legal Landscape and Future Legislation, Third Party Breach and A Conversation on Getting into the Field & its Evolution  Cybersecurity and Data Privacy, among others.

Attendees came away with greater understanding of ways to better manage threat, understand the legal landscape, access resources necessary to mitigate their exposure and articulate and deploy an organizationally understood plan to protect digital assets.

The most impressive aspect of the conference was its truly inter-disciplinary nature, said Tom Morina J.D. 83. Not only did the sessions deal with the most crucial aspects of a topic of immense importance, the involvement of business leaders, technology experts, law enforcement, government representatives, academics, and practicing attorneys ensured that relevant issues were addressed from a wide variety of perspectives.

Jay Sinha J.D. 12 agreed, saying the conference was a must for those seeking to broaden and deepen their understanding of security and privacy in a single weekend.

While there are many cybersecurity & data privacy conferences, the William & Mary Cyber Intrusion Conference uniquely brought new and experienced industry players, together with students and community members, to converge their understanding of the challenges in cybersecurity and privacy, and how we should adapt to them, in an accessible and informative way, Sinha said.

Douglas considered the conference an excellent start for law and business at William & Mary as both schools increasingly tackle the topic of cybersecurity in their course offerings.

We see this as sort of the opening of a door, Douglas said. Both of us want to do more with this issue, with the law students and the business students, in terms of how we train our graduates. This is now an incredibly important issue, and it will only become more important in the years ahead.Belgium maintains nuclear phase-out policy

04 April 2018

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The Belgian government has approved a new "energy pact" that maintains the previous policy to phase out nuclear energy in the country by 2025. A draft bill on the new federal energy strategy will be submitted to the cabinet by the end of May.

The energy pact was agreed last December by Belgium's four energy ministers, at federal, Brussels, Walloon and Flemish level. The new strategy maintains the country's plan to shut down its seven operating nuclear reactors by 2025. It also calls for investments in gas and renewables, particularly off-shore wind turbines, to replace the capacity that will be lost through the nuclear phase-out.

The Council of Ministers approved the new energy strategy on 30 March.

The government noted that while the energy and climate objectives for the period 2021-2030 had already been set at the European level, the national energy and climate plan to 2030 has yet to be agreed between the different federal entities. However, the new energy strategy confirms that Belgium will adopt its national energy strategy for 2030 by next year.

The latest federal energy strategy, the government said, aims to ensure security of supply; respect the Paris climate change agreement; maintain affordable energy for businesses and families; and maintain the highest level of safety at energy facilities.

Belgium's seven operating nuclear reactors - four at Doel and three at Tihange - produce about half of the country's electricity.

"To achieve the very ambitious climate goals, we need all the solutions existing today: nuclear energy, like renewables, produces very few CO2 emissions," Belgian trade body Forum Nucleaire said yesterday. "As a carbon-free energy source, nuclear enables Belgium to ensure its security of electricity supply, maintain a stable price for energy and move towards its climate objectives. Nuclear energy will enable the energy transition."

A study by PwC Enterprise Advisory, commissioned by Forum Nucleaire and published in October 2016, concluded that even with "massive" development of renewable energy sources, a nuclear phase-out would lead to a "considerable deterioration" in Belgium's carbon footprint by 2050, with the country needing to resort to imports and "more expensive power plants". The study also found that without nuclear capacity, Belgian electricity generation would not be enough to meet the country's demand.

In a May 2016 report, the International Energy Agency also noted that the country's policy to phase out the use of nuclear energy by 2025 "does not help Belgium meet any of its energy policy goals".

According to the IEA, "A rapid phase-out ... would have a significant impact on energy supply, on the level of electricity prices and on the country's ability to meet its long-term GHG emission targets." It suggested, "The government should reconsider the current phase-out policy and opt for a more gradual approach. A better option would be to allow nuclear power plants to run as long as the regulator considers them safe. The IEA recommends the government to simply avoid a phase-out as it is currently envisaged."

In November 2017, three major Belgian business associations  Essenscia, Agoria and Febeliec  said that shutting all nuclear plants by 2025 was not an affordable idea, and that the plan would boost carbon dioxide emissions and damage Belgian businesses.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topicsNuclear Power in Turkey

(Updated March 2021)

Turkey has had plans for establishing nuclear power generation since 1970. Today, plans for nuclear power are a key aspect of the country's aim for economic growth.

Recent developments have seen Russia take a leading role in offering to finance and build 4800 MWe of nuclear capacity.

The country's first nuclear power plant, at Akkuyu, commenced construction in April 2018.

A Franco-Japanese consortium was expected to build the second nuclear plant, at Sinop.

China is in line to build the third plant, with US-derived technology.

A small uranium mining project is planned.

Electricity sector

Total generation (in 2018): 304.8 TWh

Generation mix: coal 113.2 TWh (37%); natural gas 92.5 TWh (30%); hydro 59.9 TWh (20%); wind 19.9 TWh (6.5%); solar 7.8 TWh (2.6%); geothermal 7.4 TWh (2.4%); biofuels & waste 2.7 TWh.

Import/export balance: 2.5 TWh import, 3.1 TWh export

Total consumption: 255 TWh

Per capita consumption: c. 3100 kWh in 2018

Source: International Energy Agency and The World Bank. Data for year 2018.

Turkey imports much of its energy  just under 75% in 2019. Improving energy efficiency and energy security are high priorities1. About one-third of its gas comes from Russia2, and in February 2016 Gazprom arbitrarily increased the gas price by 10.25% regardless of contracts, and cut supply when Turkish firms declined to pay the extra.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources' (EKTB) base scenario, consumption will rise to 376 TWh by 20233. Plans for nuclear power are a key aspect of the country's aim for economic growth, and it aims to cut back its vulnerable reliance on Russian gas for electricity. The state generation company is Elektrik Uretim AS (EUAS).

Plans are to have 30 GWe of coal-fired capacity by 2023, along with 4.8 GWe of nuclear capacity. However, much of the countrys coal resources are lignite with low calorific value  less than 12.5 MJ/kg  and a substantial amount (Afsin Elbistan) at less than 5 MJ/kg (one-quarter of typical steam coal) with high sulfur.

The countrys National Renewable Energy Action Plan set out by the ETKB aims to boost the share of renewables in the energy mix to 30% by 2023, adding 61 GWe to enable secure energy supply and reduce carbon emissions. This means adding 34 GWe of hydropower, 20 GWe of wind, 5 GWe of solar, 1 GWe of geothermal, and 1 GWe of biomass capacity. The plan will be assisted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Nuclear power industry

Several nuclear power projects have been proposed: in 1970 a feasibility study concerned a 300 MWe plant; in 1973 the electricity authority decided to build a 80 MWe demonstration plant but didnt; in 1976 the Akkuyu site on the eastern Mediterranean coast near the port of Mersin was licensed for a nuclear plant; and in 1980 an attempt to build several plants failed due to a lack of government financial guarantee.

In 1993 a nuclear plant was included in the country's investment program following a request for preliminary proposals in 1992, but revised tender specifications were not released until December 1996. Bids for a 2000 MWe plant at Akkuyu were received from Westinghouse + Mitsubishi, AECL, and Framatome + Siemens. Following the final bid deadline in October 1997, the government delayed its decision no less than eight times between June 1998 and April 2000, when plans were abandoned due to economic circumstances.

Early in 2006 the province of the port city of Sinop on the Black Sea was chosen to host a commercial nuclear power plant. This has the advantage of cooling water temperatures about 5 degrees C below those at Akkuyu, allowing about 1% greater power output from any thermal unit. A 100 MWe demonstration plant was to be built there first, then 5000 MWe of further plants to come into service from 2012. Some kind of public-private partnership was envisaged for construction and operation.

In August 2006 the government said it planned to have three nuclear power plants total 4500 MWe operating by 2012-15. Discussions had been under way with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd regarding two 750 MWe CANDU units as an initial investment. These and the PWR type were apparently preferred. The first units of some 5000 MWe total were to be built at Akkuyu, since the site was already licensed, but licensing was also proceeding for Sinop.

In November 2007 a new law concerning Construction and Operation of Nuclear Power Plants and Energy Sale (of their electricity) was passed by parliament and subsequently approved by the President. The bill provided for the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) to set the criteria for building and operating the plants. The Turkish Electricity Trade & Contract Corporation (TETAS) would then buy all the power under 15-year contracts. The bill also provided for public institutions to build the plants if other offers are not satisfactory. It also addressed waste management and decommissioning, providing for a National Radioactive Waste Account (URAH) and a Decommissioning Account (ICH) which generators would pay into progressively at 0.15 /kWh. The OECD Paris and Brussels Conventions on third party accident liability would apply.

Immediately subsequent to this law, Criteria for Investors who will Construct and Operate Nuclear Power Plants, and regulations were published.

In May 2008 a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the USA entered into force, in June 2010 a nuclear cooperation agreement with South Korea was signed, and in April 2012 two such agreements with China were signed.

In November 2013 the IAEA conducted an integrated nuclear infrastructure review (INIR) in Turkey to assess the countrys progress in preparing for the new nuclear power programme. It reported positively but recommended completing a national policy on nuclear energy, strengthening the regulatory body, and developing a national plan for human resource development.

Under Construction, Planned and Proposed Nuclear Power Reactors

Type MWe gross Start construction Planned startup Akkuyu 1 VVER-1200/V-509 1200 April 2018 2023 Akkuyu 2 VVER-1200/V-509 1200 April 2020 2024 Akkuyu 3 VVER-1200/V-509 1200 March 2021 2025 Akkuyu 4 VVER-1200/V-509 1200 (2022) 2026 Sinop 1 Atmea1 1150 uncertain Sinop 2 Atmea1 1150 uncertain Sinop 3 Atmea1 1150 uncertain Sinop 4 Atmea1 1150 uncertain Igneada 1-4 AP1000x2,

CAP1400x2 2x1250

2x1400

Akkuyu

The Turkish Electricity Trade & Contract Corporation (TETAS) called for tenders in March 2008, inviting bids for the first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu, near the port of Mersin in Mersin province on the eastern Mediterranean coast. The Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK) issued specifications, allowing for PWR, BWR or PHWR types of at least 600 MWe and with 40-year service life. Design certification in country of origin was acceptable, allowing TAEK to concentrate on site-specific aspects of the 4800 MWe project. In the event, only one bid was received from 14 interested parties, this being from Atomstroyexport in conjunction with Inter RAO (both from Russia) and Park Teknik (Turkey), for an AES-2006 power plant with four 1200 MWe reactors. After some deliberation, TAEK found that it met technical criteria. (It was later reported that TAEK required foreign vendors to take back used fuel, and none except ASE were prepared to do so.)

Following commercial advice from TETAS, a government decision was expected in April 2009, but in fact only a series of statements resulted, regarding the cost of power over the first 15 years being too high. Then in August 2009 two agreements between TAEK and Rosatom were signed with much fanfare. One was a nuclear cooperation agreement, the other was a standard one on the early notification on a nuclear accident and the exchange of information on nuclear facilities. These progressed the possibility of a Russian nuclear project at Akkuyu, probably with 25% government equity to dampen the likely electricity price rise. The first reactor was expected to come online in 2016, and others in 2017, 2018 and 2019. However, following a ruling by the country's top legal body, TETAS cancelled the Atomstroyexport agreement and said that a new tender would be launched. Instead, the parties proceeded to a direct high-level agreement.

In May 2010 Russian and Turkish heads of state signed an intergovernmental agreement for Rosatom to build, own and operate (BOO) the Akkuyu nuclear power plant of four 1200 MWe AES-2006 units as a US$ 20 billion project. Rosatom, through Atomstroyexport and Inter RAO UES, will finance the project and start off with 100% equity in the Turkish Akkuyu project company set up to build, own, operate and decommission the plant. Longer-term, Rosatom entities intend to retain at least 51% of the company. The Turkish firm Park Teknik and state generation company Elektrik Uretim AS (EUAS) were expected to take up significant shares. In May 2013 Rosatom invited EdF to become an equity partner in the project, but EdF declined. Meanwhile, EUAS transferred the site to the project company.

Earlier, in July 2010 parliament ratified the May agreement for 4800 MWe at Akkuyu, and in November the Russian parliament ratified it. The project company was registered in December 2011 as Akkuyu Nuclear JSC (Akkuyu Nukleer Santral/NGS Elektrik Uretim AS), with full Russian equity.* In October 2013 Rusatom Overseas was made responsible for the main Russian involvement in the project, as majority owner through JSC Rusatom Energy International, and manager. A 49% non-Russian strategic investor was sought, and this was initially taken up in mid-2017 by a consortium of three Turkish companies: Cengiz Holding, Kolin Construction and JSC Kalyon Construction, each to hold 16.33%, subject to approval by the Turkish government and the energy regulator EPDK. The financial details and shareholder agreement were expected to be finalized by the end of 2017, but in February 2018 the energy ministry announced that the three companies had failed to reach commercial agreement with Rosatom and had pulled out of the project.

Late in 2012 JSC Akkuyu NPP quoted the cost as $18.7 billion, and in December Russia's President announced that Russia would fully finance the project to more than $20 billion. Turkey's prime minister said that the equity capital of JSC Akkuyu NPP would be increased to $2.4 billion, and the overall investment in the project would total $22 billion. Rusatom will supply the fuel.

TETAS will buy a fixed proportion of the power at a fixed price of 12.35 /kWh for 15 years. The proportion will be 70% of the output of the first two units and 30% of that from units 3&4 over 15 years from commercial operation of each. The remainder of the power will be sold by the project company on the open market. After 15 years, when the plant is expected to be paid off, the project company will pay 20% of the profits to the Turkish government. (These sovereign guarantees are not on offer for the Sinop plant.)

By mid-2012 Rosatom said that the total cost could be $25 billion. In December 2011 the project company had filed applications for construction permits and a power generation licence. In mid-2012 the company had received a site licence, and it let the first major contract for site works in February 2013. Another site licence was received in January 2014. A revised environmental impact assessment (EIS) was re-submitted in July 2014  the fourth time, and approved at the end of November. A report on site design parameters was then submitted to TAEK. The Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) granted a 36-month preliminary licence for the project in June 2015, allowing for some preparatory activities and permits pending the production licence. In August 2016 the government said that it would classify the project as a strategic investment, allowing favourable tax treatment.

TAEK approved design parameters for the site in February 2017. In June 2017, EPDK issued a power generation licence for the 4.8 GWe plant for 49 years. In August the IAEA completed a site and external event design (SEED) review of the project, and in October 2017 TAEK granted a limited construction permit for unit 1, allowing the start of excavation and work on non-nuclear parts of the plant. TAEK granted a construction licence for unit 1 at the beginning of April 2018, and the start of construction was announced on 3 April 2018. A construction licence for unit 2 was granted at the end of August 2019, and construction commenced in April 2020. A construction licence for unit 3 was granted in November 2020, and construction commenced in March 2021. An application for unit 4 is being reviewed. Atomstroyexport is general contractor for construction, though Turkish companies are expected to undertake 35-40% of the work. The reactors are based on the VVER-1200/V-392M design at Novovoronezh and designated as V-509.

In October 2020 it was reported that Inter Rao had decided to withdraw from the project.

Sinop

Since February 2008 preparatory work has been under way at Sinop on the Black Sea coast to build a second nuclear plant there, along with a 1.7 billion nuclear technology centre.

In May 2013 the government accepted the proposal from a consortium led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Areva (now Framatome), and with involvement of Itochu and Engie, which proposed four Atmea1 reactors with a total capacity of about 4600 MWe.* These would be the first Atmea1 units built. They would be designed for load-following and use the same steam generators as Framatomes large EPR (but three instead of four). At the time cost was estimated at some $22 billion, though this has since doubled. Acceptance of the proposal was followed by an intergovernmental agreement with Japan for exclusive negotiating rights to build a nuclear power plant, and in October 2013 an official agreement at prime ministerial level was signed for the project. This was ratified by parliament in March 2015 and provides for 70% loan financing, 30% equity.

EUAS intended to take a 35% stake in the project company, with the balance shared among Mitsubishi, Itochu and Engie. MHI said it planned to take 15%, and it expected the same for Itochu and 21% for Engie. EUAS now intends to take 49% equity. Engie, which operates seven nuclear reactors in Belgium, was to be the operator. Government sources have described it as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement, whilst Engie describes it as build-own-operate (BOO). In April 2018 Itochu withdrew from the project.

* Earlier negotiations included a March 2010 agreement signed between Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) and EUAS for Kepco to prepare a bid to build the plant at Sinop, with four APR-1400 reactors starting operation from 2019. The bid, in conjunction with local construction group Enka Insaat ve Sanayi, was due in August. Kepco was to take 40% equity in the plant, and would help with financing. However, this proposal foundered due to the Kepco insistence on receiving electricity sales guarantees from the government, rather than from TETAS as at Akkuyu.

Japan then indicated its interest in negotiating to build the 5600 MWe plant, and in December 2010 signed an agreement to prepare a bid for it, with a more definitive agreement expected in March 2011. Toshiba and Tepco were involved with the proposal, using four 1350 MWe ABWR units. However talks were suspended at Japan's request following the Fukushima accident, and Tepco has since opted out. Subsequent reports suggested a possible bid by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with Kansai, which operates 11 PWRs, and using APWR units. In March 2012 Japans Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that progress continued towards a nuclear cooperation agreement with Japan.

In April 2012 Canadas Candu Energy signed an agreement with the EUAS to undertake a six-month study on building a 3000 MWe plant at Sinop. In March 2013 the energy minister said that they had withdrawn from the process.

A feasibility study was originally due for completion in mid-2017, and the announced timeline was for construction start in 2017 and operation from 2023. In May 2018 it was announced that the feasibility study was still several months from completion. The operational target date of 2023 has been dropped. In December 2018 it was reported that MHI and partners were negotiating to abandon the project. In January 2020 the energy minister said the government was reviewing its choice of partner due to feasibility studies falling short of his ministry's expectations regarding the construction budget and the schedule for its completion. In September 2020 the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation approved the final environmental impact assessment report for Sinop.

Igneada

There are plans to build further nuclear capacity at another site, as part of 100 GWe required by 2030. TAEK has identified Igneada in Kirklareli province on the Black Sea, 12 km from the Bulgarian border, and this was confirmed in October 2015. Akcakoca between it and Sinop was also considered. Ankara  with low seismic risk  and Tekirdag on the northwest coast of the Sea of Marmara had also been mentioned as possible sites. The energy ministry anticipated announcing the site for the third plant with an invitation for expressions of interest to be issued by the end of 2013. This did not happen and in October 2014 the prime minister said that the project would be substantially indigenous, with construction start about 2019.

In November 2014 EUAS signed an agreement with the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) of China and Westinghouse to begin exclusive negotiations to develop and construct a four-unit nuclear power plant in Turkey. No site was specified. As well as Westinghouse-based passive reactor technology  two AP1000 and two CAP1400  the agreement also covers all lifecycle activities including operations, nuclear fuel, maintenance, engineering, plant services and decommissioning. SNPTC was the agent introducing Westinghouse AP1000 technology into China, and has developed it further to the CAP1400. Four AP1000 units are operating in China and two are under construction in the USA. The first two CAP1400 units are under construction at Shidaowan in China.

In June 2018 Turkey's Minister for Energy and Natural Resources confirmed that the Thrace region was almost certain to be the site of the country's third nuclear power plant.

Fuel cycle

Uranium

Turkey has modest uranium resources. The Temrezli deposit in the central Anatolian region 220 km east of Ankara was discovered by the Department of Energy, Raw Material and Exploration (MTA) in the early 1980s. MTA continued to explore the region for the next 10 years. Regional towns of Yozgat and Sorgun are nearby.

US-based Westwater Resources (formerly Uranium Resources Inc., URI) was planning to develop the Temrezli ISL mine. Australian-based Anatolia Energy* had a 100% interest in 18 exploration licences which included the Temrezli project. Project activities were undertaken by A Dur Madencilik (Adur), a wholly-owned subsidiary. In June 2015 Westwater Resources took over Anatolia Energy.**

* Anatolia Uranium Pty Ltd (AUL) had 65% ownership of the Temrezli project, with parent company Anatolia Energy directly holding 35%. AUL was an incorporated joint venture but ownership was rationalised in 2012-13. In February 2014 Azarga Resources, parent company of Powertech Uranium, increased its holding to a 15% share in Anatolia Energy.

** In June 2015 Anatolia announced a merger with Colorado-based Westwater Resouces (then URI), with uranium projects in Texas. It was technically a takeover, so that the Turkish projects were then under URI (now Westwater Resources).

A preliminary economic assessment of the Temrezli ISL uranium project was published in June 2013 and updated in May 2014, based on NI 43-101 figures. It found that costs would compare favourably with other (US) ISL projects. Measured resources at Temrezli are 2351 tU, indicated resources are 2004 tU, and inferred resources 732 tU, at 0.117%U, 0.092%U, and 0.075%U respectively at the end of 2013. The Ministry of Energy & Natural Resources has awarded a production licence for the project, and a pre-feasibility study was completed in February 2015. With initial capital cost of $41 million, 3800 tU could be recovered over 12 years at $16.89/lb U 3 O 8 , giving project payback in less than one year. Subject to finance, a development decision was expected, but in 2016 the project was put on standby pending market improvement.

Westwater Resources commenced a pre-feasibility optimization study of the Temrezli ISL project in 2015, and at the time was pushing forward on permitting-related issues, and preparing to move the Rosita treatment plant from Texas to Temrezli. Low uranium prices have delayed construction.

Westwater Resources' Sefaatli uranium project has significant uranium mineralisation discovered in the 1980s, and an intensive drilling programme on the Delier prospect is defining resources. Tulu Tepe is also prospective in that project area, 5 km southwest of Delier. A third prospect is Akcami, 2 km west of Tulu Tepe. The three cover 15 sq km. Sefaatli may be operated as a satellite of Temrezli (35 km away). The company also has a tenement holding in the West Sorgun area.

In June 2018, Westwater Resources received notification from the Turkish government that its mining and exploration licences for the Temrezli and Sefaatli projects had been revoked. The projects were owned by the companys Turkish subsidiary Adur Madencilik Limited Sirketi, which had held exclusive rights for the exploration and development of uranium there since 2007 and had invested heavily in them. In December 2018 Westwater filed a request for arbitration on the matter.

The Rosatom agreement for Akkuyu provides for setting up a fuel fabrication plant in Turkey.

Waste management

Though originally TAEK required reactor vendors to take back used fuel, the question of whether used fuel for Akkuyu will remain in Turkey or be repatriated to Russia in line with normal practice for Russian plants in non-weapons states had not been settled (by May 2014).

Nuclear power plants operating in Turkey are required to make payments of $0.15 per kWh of generated electricity into a fund for waste management.

Organisation

The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MENR or Enerji ve Tabii Kaynaklar Bakanlg, ETKB) is responsible for meeting energy needs.

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) oversees all nuclear activities, submits budgets to the prime minister, and sets the nuclear regulatory authoritys (NDK's) programmes. An advisory council assists the AEC on matters referred to it. The Advisory Committee on Nuclear Safety is involved with licensing matters and gives advice to the NDK, which decides on them.

Turkey Energy, Nuclear and Mining Research Institute (TENMAK) was established in March 2020. This entity consolidates the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK), the National Boron Research Institute and the Research Institute of Rare Earths. TAEK was set up under the 2007 law to set the criteria for building and operating nuclear plants, but in July 2018, most of its duties were passed to the NDK (see below).

The main law applicable to the electricity market is the Electricity Market Law which regulates the obligations of all those directly involved in the generation, transmission, distribution, wholesale supply, retail supply, import, and export of electricity in Turkey. The law entered into force in March 2013 to establish a more stable, strong, and transparent electricity market in Turkey. The preceding electricity market law became the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA or Enerji Piyasas Duzenleme Kurumu, EPDK) law, establishing that body.

The Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA or EPDK) issues licences for generation, transmission, distribution and supply, and implements electricity market legislation.

The state-owned Turkish Electricity Trade & Contract Corporation (TETAS) will buy the nuclear power for distribution. It operates alongside numerous private sector companies.

Electricity transmission is managed by the Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEIAS), the state-owned grid operator with a legislatively mandated monopoly on the Turkish electricity transmission network.

Turkey is a signatory of the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability, and various amending protocols.

Research & development

A small Triga research reactor has operated at the Istanbul Technical University since 1979. It is regulated by the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority.

Regulation, safety & non-proliferation

Turkey established the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Nukleer Duzenleme Kurumu (NDK), in July 2018. It assumed many of TAEK's responsibilities, including regulation of nuclear power plants and all related fuel cycle activities. TAEK is now responsible solely for the disposal of nuclear waste.

Non-proliferation

Turkey ratified the NPT in 1979 and has had a safeguards agreement in force with the IAEA since 1981 and the Additional Protocol to its safeguards agreement has been in force since 2001.

Notes & references

1. International Energy Agency country profiles: Turkey [Back]

2. Energy Market Regulatory Authority, Turkish Natural Gas Market Report 2019 [Back]

3. Republic of Turkey Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources  Electricity page [Back]INDIANA, Pa., April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) announced today that it will webcast its 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. David S. Dahlmann, Chairman, and T. Michael Price, President and Chief Executive Officer, will share information about First Commonwealth and will answer questions from shareholders.



Webcast Information: What: First Commonwealth Financial Corporation 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders When: 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Tuesday, April 24, 2018 Where: First Commonwealth's Investor Relations webpage www.fcbanking.com/investorrelations How: Live over the Internet

To listen to the webcast, go to First Commonwealth's investor relations webpage at the address listed above, click on the "2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders Webcast" link and follow the instructions. After the live presentation, the webcast will be archived on this website for 30 days. There is no charge to access this event.

To Ask Questions:

Shareholders who are unable to attend the session in person on April 24, 2018 can email their questions to InvestorRelations@fcbanking.com. Emailed questions will be accepted until 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, April 24, 2018.

About First Commonwealth Financial Corporation

First Commonwealth (NYSE:FCF), headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a financial services company with 135 banking offices in 20 counties throughout western and central Pennsylvania and northeastern and central Ohio, as well as a Corporate Banking Center in northeast Ohio and mortgage offices in Hudson and Dublin, Ohio. First Commonwealth provides a full range of commercial banking, consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management and insurance products and services through its subsidiaries First Commonwealth Bank and First Commonwealth Insurance Agency. For more information about First Commonwealth or to open an account today, please visit www.fcbanking.com.

Media Relations

Amy Jeffords

Assistant Vice President / Communications and Community Relations

Phone: 724-463-6806

Email: AJeffords@fcbanking.com



Investor Relations

Ryan M. Thomas

Vice President / Finance and Investor Relations

Phone: 724-463-1690

Email: RThomas1@fcbanking.comWrangell Public School District has narrowed the field in its search for a new school superintendent.

Current superintendent Patrick Mayer informed the WPSD Board in February his intention to move on after finishing out the current academic year. Since then the district has been working with the Association of Alaska School Boards to find a replacement.

AASB had been the organization which had referred Mayer when he was hired in 2014. After working out a fee with the Wrangell district, the association put forward eight interested candidates for consideration.

Board president Georgianna Buhl...CALGARY, Alberta, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Africa Hydrocarbons Inc. (NEX:NFK.H) (OTC:KNPRF) (STU:KRL1) (the Company) is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced brokered private placement offering (the Brokered Offering) of 400,000 subscription receipts of the Company ("Subscription Receipts") at an issue price of $1.25 per Subscription Receipt, for aggregate gross proceeds of $500,000. In connection with the Brokered Offering, the Company entered into an agency agreement with Mackie Research Capital Corporation (the "Agent").



The Company is also pleased to announce that it has also closed the second tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement offering (the Non-Brokered Offering) of 70,000 Subscription Receipts at an issue price of $1.25 per Subscription Receipt, for aggregate gross proceeds of $87,500. The Company has raised in aggregate, approximately $3.669 million pursuant to the Non-Brokered Offering (see the Companys January 19, 2018 press release for information about the first tranche of the Non-Brokered Offering).

The Brokered Offering and the Non-Brokered Offering are being completed in conjunction with the previously announced proposed Change of Business (COB Transaction) pursuant to the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange), with the result that the Company will become a blockchain technology company, listed on the Exchange. See the Companys press releases dated November 23, 2017, January 5, 2018 and January 17, 2018 for further information regarding the COB Transaction.

In total, the Company has raised approximately $4.257 million in conjunction with the COB Transaction.

Each Subscription Receipt entitles the holder to receive, without further consideration or action, one (1) common share of the Company (Common Share) and one-half of one (1/2) Common Share purchase warrant (each whole Common Share purchase warrant, a "Warrant"), upon satisfaction of certain release conditions, including the satisfaction of applicable conditions precedent of the COB Transaction (the Release Conditions). The gross proceeds from the sale of the Subscription Receipts are being held in escrow pending the completion of the Release Conditions, unless the Exchange grants a waiver for earlier release of such escrow. If the Release Conditions are not satisfied by 5:00 pm (Calgary time) on May 31, 2018 (unless otherwise extended in accordance with the terms of the subscription receipt agreements which govern the Subscription Receipts), then the Subscription Receipts will immediately become null and void and the escrow agent shall distribute the escrowed proceeds to the holders of the holders of the Subscription Receipts, together with their pro rata share of interest earned thereon.

Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one (1) Common Share at an exercise price of $2.00 per Common Share for 12 months from the date of issuance (the Time of Expiry). The Warrants will contain an acceleration right in favor of the Company that will allow the Company to accelerate the Time of Expiry to a date that is a minimum of thirty (30) days following the delivery of the applicable acceleration notice to the holders of the Warrants, if at any time following the issuance of the Warrants, the VWAP is equal to or greater than $2.50 for a period of twenty (20) consecutive trading days on the Exchange.

All of the securities of the Company issued in connection with the conversion of the Subscription Receipts will be subject to a hold period of four months and a day.

The net proceeds of the Offerings will be used with a view to developing the business of the Company resulting from the COB Transaction and for general working capital purposes.

In connection with the Brokered Offering, the Agent is to receive as compensation (i) a corporate finance fee comprised of $52,500 (inclusive of taxes) and $25,000 (plus tax) worth of equity units, which equity units consist of 20,000 Common Shares, 10,000 Common Share purchase warrants that have the same terms of the Warrants and a cash payment of $1,250 representing the tax portion of the equity units, (ii) a cash commission of seven percent (7%) of the gross proceeds raised pursuant to the Brokered Offering, (iii) a non-transferable brokers warrant entitling the Agent to acquire up to 7% of the number of securities issuable upon exercise of the Subscription Receipts issued pursuant to the Brokered Offering, which brokers warrant will have an exercise price of $1.25 per Subscription Receipt and a term of twenty four months from the closing of the Brokered Offering. The Company will also pay all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the Agent in connection with Brokered Offering, including legal fees, up to a maximum of $35,000 plus disbursements and taxes.

In connection with the Non-Brokered Offering, the Company has agreed to pay to Corporate Resource Group OU a finders fee in connection with the second tranche of the Non-Brokered Offering comprised of a cash fee equal to 7% of the gross proceeds raised in respect of such second tranche.

To correct the Companys January 19, 2018 press release announcing closing of the first tranche of the Non-Brokered Offering, the Company had also agreed to pay Corporate Resource Group OU a cash finders fee equal to 7% of the gross proceeds raised in respect of the aggregate sales to subscribers under the Private Placement that were introduced by Corporate Resource Group OU (up to $24,500).

The Company will issue additional press releases related to the COB Transaction, financing, sponsorship, the names and background of other proposed management and directors of the Company, its proposed name change and other material information as it becomes available.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Related Party Disclosure

Under the Offerings, Sergei Stetsenko, a director of the Company purchased 140,000 Subscription Receipts at a subscription price of $175,000. His participation in the Offerings constitutes a related party transaction as defined in Multilateral Instrument 61- 101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transaction (MI 61-101), which has been adopted by the NEX / Exchange pursuant to its Policy 5.9 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transaction. This transaction is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of such instrument and policy, pursuant to subsections 5.5(a), 5.5(c), 5.7(a) and 5.7(b) of MI 61-101 as the fair market value was not more than 25% of market capitalization, the distribution of securities was for cash and the fair market value not more than $2,500,000.

The Company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing of the Offerings because the details of the participation therein by related parties of the Company were not settled until shortly prior to closing of such transactions and the Company wished to close on an expedited basis for sound business reasons.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF

AFRICA HYDROCARBONS INC.

Douglas Wu

Director

For further information, please telephone: (403) 984-3194.

Completion of the COB Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to acceptance by the Exchange and if applicable pursuant to the Exchange requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the COB Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the COB Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the COB Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the acquisition may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.

The Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the COB Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains statements which constitute forward-looking statements, including completion of the proposed COB Transaction, receipt of requisite approvals for a name change for the Company and other information concerning the intentions, plans and future action of the Company described herein. The words may, would, could, will, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made, and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the general risks of a public company, currently with limited business and financial resources, risks related to the Companys inability to satisfy a condition precedent to the completion of the COB Transaction (including obtaining necessary regulatory approvals and completion of the financings thereon), as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's continuous disclosure record available at www.sedar.com . Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable law.

THIS PRESS RELEASE IS INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION IN CANADA ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.



Despite Germanys terrible crimes in two world wars, the government is endeavouring to re-establish new militaristic traditions that prepare the Bundeswehr (armed forces) and the population for war.

Last week, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen issued a Traditionserlass, an edict outlining what traditions underlie service in the military. At the ceremony, she said, The old Traditionserlass [of 1982] did not know anything about the army of [German] unity and the army in action. It knew nothing about the fight against todays terrorist militias, which use brutal violence to construct regimes of terror, hybrid threats, clashes in cyberspace and the information sphere.

One of the focal points of the new edict was therefore that it places the rich, more than 60-year history of the Bundeswehr at the heart of our culture of remembrance. A Bundeswehr that has been contributing to international crisis management for a quarter of a century and has proven itself in multinational operations and in tough combat; whose soldiers have repeatedly shown courage, valour and their willingness to stand up for their mission, with even the highest good; which is there for the people of our country when it is needed; which for more than six decades stands for the right and freedom of our country. The Bundeswehr can be immensely proud of this history!

The defence minister wants to establish a modern form of hero worship that glorifies the fallen of the German war effort of the last two decades. On the basis of the new edict, von der Leyen renamed the Emmich Cambrai barracks in Hanover the Hauptfeldwebel-Lagenstein barracks. Thus, for the first time in the history of the Bundeswehr, a barracks bears the name of a Bundeswehr soldier killed in a foreign operation. Military police sergeant Tobias Lagenstein was killed on May 25, 2011, in an explosive attack on his group in northern Afghanistan.

Von der Leyens speech reawakens the cult-like veneration of fallen war heroes of the Kaisers Empire and at the time of the Nazis: Four days ago, I stood in the grove of honour at Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan. We were commemorating our fallen soldiers. At the end of the ceremony, I went once again to the plaque for First Sergeant Tobias Lagenstein with my field commander. It was an impressive, a moving moment to see the plaque in the light of the torches.

The renaming of the barracks was a strong sign of solidarity, a sign that the bonds of comradeship reach even beyond death. But it is also an expression of the high esteem of the soldierly virtues that Tobias Lagenstein embodied.

According to the edict, such soldierly virtues are bravery, chivalry, decency, loyalty, modesty, comradeship, truthfulness, determination and the conscientious fulfilment of duties, but also examples of military excellence, e.g., outstanding leadership. They could all find recognition in the Bundeswehr and be used in teaching and training. For the Bundeswehr, however, only a soldierly self-image that cannot be reduced to professional skills in battle can be meaningful and inspire traditions. After all, the Bundeswehr was committed to liberal and democratic goals.

Wherever the Bundeswehr is deployed, it fights not for freedom and democracy but spreads war and terror. This is demonstrated by the mission in Afghanistan, which was recently extended and expanded.

From 2001 to 2014, the Bundeswehr was already involved there in a brutal combat mission as part of the ISAF. A previous high-point was the massacre at Kunduz on September 4, 2009. On the order of the then Bundeswehr commander at Kunduz, Colonel Georg Klein, air raids on two tankers killed or injured up to 142 people, many of them women and children, according to official NATO figures.

In returning to a belligerent foreign policy, however, the Bundeswehr is not confining itself to the traditions of the recent past but is also explicitly placing itself in the criminal continuity of German militarism. From all epochs of German (military) history, exemplary soldierly ethical attitudes and actions, as well as military forms, symbols and traditions could be taken into the traditions of the Bundeswehr, it is said in the edict.

For example, the varied history of the German armed forces until 1918 was a source of commemorative role models and events of German (military) history and thus worth preserving. The German armed forces of that era had developed many progressive and trend-setting procedures, structures and principles, which still have significance today. These included modern staff work, commanding, leading from the front or the ethos of the general staff.

Like the 1982 Traditionserlass, the new version says that while the Third Reich cannot form the basis for traditions, the inclusion of individual members of the Wehrmacht [Hitlers army] in the body of traditions of the Bundeswehr was in principle possible. The prerequisite for this was always a detailed consideration of individual cases as well as a careful balancing. This must take into account the question of personal guilt and make a contribution that serves in an exemplary or meaningful way into the present, such as participation in military resistance to the Nazi regime or special service in the development of the Bundeswehr.

In other words, the generals and officers of Hitlers Wehrmacht, who then built up the Bundeswehr in the 1950s, and those who were or are declared resistance fighters by the military leadership, continue to be explicitly part of the tradition of the Bundeswehr. The defence ministers announcement last spring to cut off all ties to the Wehrmacht was pure hypocrisy. It was due to the anti-militarist sentiments in the population and served to downplay the extent of the then recently exposed neo-Nazi network around the army officer Franco A., who has been free since he was released from jail at the end of November 2017.

After the new Christian Democrat-Social Democrat coalition government entered office last month, the defence ministry and the military are again on the offensive. The new Traditionserlass permits not only the glorification of individual members of Hitlers Wehrmacht, but relativises its criminal character. The Wehrmacht, as an institution, could not belong to the traditional canon of the Bundeswehr, because it was the tool of a criminal regime, the text says. This standard also applies to the former East Germanys National Peoples Army and therefore also excludes it as a tradition-setting institution.

The Wehrmacht was not simply a tool but an integral part of the Nazi regime of terror. It waged a war of annihilation in Poland, in the Balkans and in the Soviet Union and, like the SS and the Gestapo, its generals and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers were actively involved in the Holocaust. In all, about 10 million people were killed by the Wehrmacht not in the war at the front, but through mass shootings, executions or the extermination of entire villages, cities and regions.

It is no surprise that the drafting process of the edict involved professors who have been rewriting history for some time in order to relativise the crimes of German imperialism. In the third of four tradition workshops, Humboldt Professor Herfried Munkler openly addressed which goals were being pursued in the new edict.

The Bundeswehr was now deliberately placing itself in dangerous situations, but the post-heroic society only took note of this with surly indifference. If it stays that way, we have a permanent problem, Munkler complained. The edict must therefore also transport a form of patterns of behaviour, of acceptance into society. These include, among other things, the valourisation of the sacrificial in the German concept of victimhood.English Vietnamese

SAN JOSE, Calif. and HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- eSilicon, an independent provider of FinFET-class ASICs, custom IP and advanced 2.5D packaging solutions, has created a new scholarship program to recognize outstanding female STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students with outstanding global citizenship. On March 9, 2018, eSilicon awarded seven scholarships in a ceremony at STEMCON 2018 Vietnam. These awards are sponsored by eSilicon and implemented through the USAID sponsored BUILD-IT (Building University-Industry Learning and Development through Innovation and Technology) public-private partnership, led by Arizona State University.



eSilicon supports engineering students around the globe in achieving their career goals. This scholarship program aims to nurture and develop the next generation of female engineering leadership in Vietnam, helping them fund their university tuition fees or engineering research projects. eSilicon also offered paid internships to three top-level winners who are in their final year of study with a potential for an employment offer to join its large engineering team at eSilicon Vietnam upon graduation.

eSilicon evaluated students in key areas in addition to academic excellence, including developing practical engineering project solutions, demonstrating leadership and exhibiting a passion to help others. The eSilicon team directly interviewed and selected the winners, with support for marketing, application and the award ceremony though partnership with Arizona State University, implementing partner for BUILD-IT. The award ceremony was held during STEMCON, which brings together education leaders, faculty and corporate partners to discuss and promote quality STEM education and public/private partnerships at the largest conference of its kind in Southeast Asia.

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eSilicon is an independent provider of complex FinFET-class ASICs, custom IP and advanced 2.5D packaging solutions. Our ASIC+IP synergies include complete, 2.5D/HBM2 and TCAM platforms for FinFET technology at 14/16/7nm as well as SerDes, specialized memory compilers and I/O libraries. Supported by patented knowledge base and optimization technology, eSilicon delivers a transparent, collaborative, flexible customer experience to serve the high-bandwidth networking, high-performance computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G infrastructure markets.

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As the third major USAID award to ASU, the BUILD-IT public-private ecosystem is designed to produce graduates who can solve problems and engineer solutions and value for Vietnams social and economic development. BUILD-IT leverages the vast capabilities of the implementing partner Arizona State University, along with diverse government, industry, and academic partners linking technology and engineering higher education to the needs and capabilities of industry partners, building strategic leadership skills to advance university autonomy, program and instructional quality and formal lasting partnerships. Industry partner commitments throughout the life of the five-year project are anticipated to reach nearly $6M.

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Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American research university, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it. For three years in a row, ASU has been ranked the nations most innovative university by U.S. News & World Report.

About STEMCON

Arizona State University hosts the largest, longest running engineering education conference in Vietnam. The 2018 conference was the sixth year for bringing together Southeast Asias greatest minds and influencers in the STEM fields. The conference unites policy makers, corporate leaders and educational directors as well as students, teachers, and entrepreneurs poised to make an innovative change in the Southeast Asian STEM environment.

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Contacts: Sally Slemons Susan Cain eSilicon Corporation Cain Communications 408-635-6409 408-393-4794 sslemons@esilicon.com scain@caincom.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/57c989fa-d899-434b-8e1d-4b4d3b51c0d0Leaders of the ruling Popular Party (PP), the right-wing Citizens and the Socialist Party (PSOE) are using limited street protests as a pretext to demand Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy steps up repression against Catalan nationalists.

On Monday, Citizens leader Albert Rivera called on Rajoy to use all necessary means to protect judges, prosecutors, public officials, police and, in general, honest and decent Catalans from the violent separatist commandos who are organising in Catalonia.

Rivera added, Violence cannot condition daily life and sow terror among people, claiming that Citizens party members have felt the increase in pressure and harassment in recent days and requested police protection. He did not reveal who these members were, saying that doing so would mean giving clues to the enemy.

Rivera failed to note that the most violent act in the past week was an arson attack on Thursday against a community centre in Sarria, Barcelona, popular among Catalan separatist youth, which left the premises practically unrecoverable. Nazi and Francoist symbols and slogans were daubed on the walls.

Riveras comments were followed by a statement by the secretary of organization of the Catalan section of the Socialist Party (PSC), Salvador Illa, demanding the regional police, the Mossos dEsquadra, stop the CDRs insurrectional acts.

On the same day, the deputy secretary of Social and Sectorial Policy of the PP, Javier Maroto, said that the Committees for the Defence of the Referendum (CDRs) remind him of Kale Borrokathe Street Fighting undertaken by Basque nationalist youth aligned with the armed separatist group ETA in the 1980s and 1990s.

Rivera, Illa and Maroto made their demands in the context of a handful of protests over the Easter break in which supporters of the CDRs occupied motorway toll booths and dismantled the barriers, allowing cars to pass for free. The CDRs, which are dominated by the pseudo-left Candidatures of Popular Unity party (CUP), describe their protests as active pacifism as a way of transforming society to build the Republic.

According to the Spain Report, the protests were negligible. The Catalan traffic authorities told the online news source that the effect on traffic flow was relatively minor, with alternate routes in place at all three of the protest spots.

Within hours of Rivera making his comments, the Public Prosecutors Office at the National High Court in Madrid announced it was launching an investigation into the CDRs. Their actions were described as intolerable, amounting to rebellion, sedition and embezzlement. These are the same charges levelled at former regional premier Carles Puigdemont and his ministers and officials for declaring independence in October and for which they face sentences of up to 30 years in jail.

The prosecutors office said it was working with the police and High Court judges to actively investigate the activities of the CDRs. The office is accusing them of being linked to a broader plan to subvert the constitutional order, defending and praising people who are being investigated by the courts for the gravest crimes that can be committed against a social and democratic state of law, such as rebellion.

The CDR campaign only came back to life after weeks of relative inactivity following the arrest of Puigdemont in Germany on March 25 and his threatened extradition to Spain, and the rounding up of several separatist leaders by Spanish judges.

The Catalan separatist movement has been overwhelmingly peaceful. Massive annual demonstrations, attracting more than 1 million people, have always ended without incident. The first real signs of violence started the day Puigdemont was arrested, with protests around the region leaving 100 injured, including 23 police.

On Monday, Puigdemont spoke for the first time since his arrest urging Catalans not to be provoked, saying, We cannot let down our guard before a state that is becoming more and more authoritarian and that is curtailing our rights.

Marotos comments about the Kale Barroka are ominous. Spain has a long record of brutal repression against Basque separatism. In 2000, the PSOE and PP modified the Criminal Code to designate Kale Borroka as low-level terrorism, which allowed offenders including minors to be judged by the High Court, normally reserved for terrorism and organised crime cases with sentences of up to 18 years in prison.

In 2002, the two parties colluded to pass the Parties Law allowing the High Court to ban political groups which attack this democratic regime of liberties,or politically support the violence and activities of terrorist groups, complement or politically support the action of terrorist organizations, with the purpose of subverting the constitutional order, or seriously alter the public peace, terrorise the public authorities or certain individuals or groups.

Another amendment to the Criminal Penal Code was enacted to punish anyone who made an apology for terrorism. The maximum period of detention was increased to five days in which suspects can be locked up in solitary confinement, prevented from communicating with third parties and from receiving visits from private doctors or relatives.

By defining the latest incidents as Kale Borroka, the Spanish state is seeking to bring to bear the whole anti-terror legislation, built over decades against ETA, against Catalan nationalists.

The Catalan crisis is being used to criminalise all political and social opposition under conditions of intensification of the class struggle. Aware that their militarist and austerity policies are deeply unpopular, the ruling elite and its parties are seeking to mobilise far-right forces, the police, and the army.

No confidence can be placed in any section of the ruling establishment to oppose the governments authoritarian policies.

Podemos, the main pseudo-left group in Spain, has sought to defuse the deep-seated opposition among workers and youth to the developing of an authoritarian state. This in a country which lived under military, fascist or monarchist dictatorships for up to two-thirds of the 20th century. They have demobilised all opposition to the PP government by corralling workers and youth behind a policy of putting pressure on Madrid and Barcelona to begin negotiations with the Catalan separatists, while Rajoy continued his policy of repression.

At the same time, they plead incessantly with the PPs partners in crime, the PSOE, to form a new government of progress in coalition with Podemos. The party has remained silent on the campaign by the press and the main parties over the alleged violence in Catalonia.

The Catalan nationalist parties, Puigdemonts Catalan Democratic Party (PdeCat) the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and their political shadow, the CUP, are incapable of opposing the PPs authoritarian agenda. Their sole aim is to secure increased benefits for the regional bourgeoisie through a negotiated settlement with Madrid granting them greater tax raising powers and the retention of a larger share of revenues. To attract investment, they have imposed savage austerity on the Catalan working class, while playing the nationalist card to secure political supportespecially among layers of the middle class. The net result is to divide and demobilise the working class.

For the same reason, the Catalan nationalists cannot count on the support of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which is involved in backdoor negotiations with the Rajoy government to pass this years budget for its own benefit. While formally opposed to supporting Rajoys budget until Article 155, imposing direct rule from Madrid, is lifted from Catalonia, the PNV has not called for any protests in the Basque Country where traditionally tens of thousands have been mobilized against the crackdown on democratic rights by Spain.

The only means of opposing Madrids repression in Catalonia and the plans for authoritarian rule throughout Spain is the development of a unified movement of the working class.

Workers throughout Spain, including Spanish and Catalan-speaking workers in Catalonia, must wage a common political struggle, against all the parties of big business and the capitalist state apparatus and in defence of democratic rights and for socialism.April 4 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had gone to support the struggle of African-American sanitation workers for decent wages and human dignity. In the days leading up to this anniversary, the media has been filled with articles on the life and legacy of the slain civil rights leader.

The example of King raises questions that have lost none of their urgency in the past five decades. A serious discussion of this period shines a bright light on present-day American society and exposes the lies and hypocrisy of the defenders of the status quo who falsify Kings legacy.

In the twelve-plus years between December 1955, when the Montgomery Bus Boycott began, and Kings death in April 1968, he became the spokesman and leader of a progressive, democratic and egalitarian movement for racial and social equality in the United States. The words of this Baptist preacher moved many millions, especially working people, and articulated the deepest strivings for equality and against exploitation and oppression.

However, King never broke with the capitalist system. He remained a pacifist, and his appeal for social justice, though courageous and deeply felt, had more in common with Christian socialism than with Marxism. The fatal flaws in Kings political orientation found expression in the growing crisis of the movement he led, and to its disintegration after his death.

In the peak years of the civil rights struggle, the mass movement of civil disobedience, marches and voter registration campaigns, conducted in the face of murderous racist violence, led to the landmark civil rights legislation of 1964 and 1965. In the remaining three years of his life, King did not preach complacency or contentment with the modest gains that had been achieved. On the contrary, he turned more and more to the economic roots that had been exposed all the more clearly as the barriers of Jim Crow segregation were dismantled.

King described the urban riots, which began in the same year that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, as the cry of the oppressed. We have left the realm of constitutional rights and we are entering the arena of human rights, he wrote in his 1967 book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? The Constitution assured the right to vote, but there is no such assurance of the right to adequate housing, or the right to adequate income.

King spoke not only of those whites who cherish democratic principles above privilege. Even more significantly, he pointed to another and more substantial groupcomposed of those having common needs with the Negro and who will benefit equally with him in the achievement of social progress. There are, in fact, more poor white Americans than there are Negro. Their need for a war on poverty is no less desperate than the Negros.

The shift to the left reflected in these words was accompanied by a denunciation of the US war in Vietnam. King broke with the administration of Lyndon Johnson, and newspaper editorialists at the New York Times and elsewhere bitterly attacked the man whom they had lionized until then as the apostle of gradualism and accommodation.

Turning to the struggle against poverty and inequality, King called for a Poor Peoples Campaign, to take place in Washington DC. With this initiative, launched only months before he was killed and in the face of the strenuous opposition of many of his colleagues, such as future Atlanta mayor and UN ambassador Andrew Young, King crossed swords with the White House and Congress, which were in the process of abandoning the half-hearted War on Poverty in order to sustain the US intervention in Vietnam.

The Poor Peoples Campaign was explicitly aimed at building a political coalition across racial lines. At the same time, King responded to the call for support from the sanitation workers in Memphis, where the struggle for union recognition and better wages was bound up with the fight against racism and second-class citizenship.

It was in Memphis that the assassination took place, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, just after 6 p.m. Two months later, James Earl Ray was arrested and charged with the crime. Ray confessed in exchange for a deal to avoid the death penalty, but soon recanted his confession, and for the remaining 29 years of his life he insisted that he had been set up to take the blame.

Coretta Scott King and other members of the family believed Rays denial of involvement. There is much evidence pointing to a conspiracy in this case. The notorious record of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover in hounding and targeting the civil rights leader makes such suspicions entirely plausible.

The murder of King cannot be separated from the events of 1968 and earlier in that explosive decade. Kings was the third high-profile assassination of those years, coming after the 1963 killing of President John F. Kennedy and the 1965 murder of Malcolm X. Only two months after King died, Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in Los Angeles, where he had just won the California primary to emerge as the frontrunner in the contest for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

Kings assassination was followed by rioting and unrest in 100 cities around the US. Meanwhile, the antiwar protest movement had assumed a mass character on university and college campuses, and labor militancy was on the rise.

Earlier that year, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam had exposed the disaster facing US imperialism in its war against the Vietnamese people. On March 31, only four days before Kings death, Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not run for reelection.

Behind all of these developments lay the growing crisis of American capitalism. The post-World War II boom was beginning to unravel, and the hegemonic economic position of the US was increasingly challenged by its rivals in Europe and Japan. The upheavals in the US were part of a worldwide crisis that was ushering in a period of revolutionary struggle, spanning the years from 1968 to 1975.

King was beset by a deepening crisis of perspective in the last years before his death, feeling the political ground shift beneath his feet. He recognized the need for a new strategy in the fight for social equality, but was unable to articulate one beyond the bounds of a left-reformist alternative to the excesses of American capitalism. Even this was too much for the US political establishment. His erstwhile liberal allies denounced him, while many of his own lieutenants were critical.

Kings death accelerated a process that had been foreshadowed in the previous several years, with the evident exhaustion of the civil rights struggle as a mass movement for democratic rights and social equality. What was required was an orientation to the working class and the adoption of a clear socialist program. This was beyond the capacity of King, an enlightened representative of the middle class.

Even before Kings murder, the American ruling class set in motion a new policy to defend its rule in the face of mounting social opposition. This turn was enunciated in the Kerner Commission report on the urban riots, issued in March 1968, just one month before the assassination.

This lengthy report closed with a summary warning that the US was moving toward two societies, one black, one white. This officially sanctioned racial interpretation of American society, disguised in the language of liberal concern, has guided the policy of the ruling class ever since. According to the Kerner report, it was white institutions and white society that were responsible for the social crisis in America, and not the capitalist economic system and the capitalist class that controls it.

A bipartisan program, christened black capitalism by the reactionary Nixon administration and affirmative action by the Democrats, was designed to cultivate a thin layer of privileged African-Americans as a new base of political support for a system that was no longer capable of granting the reforms associated with the postwar boom and the War on Poverty. For the ruling class, a useful byproduct of the policy was its encouragement of resentments on which racist elements could feed.

Deindustrialization led to the wholesale elimination of decent-paying jobs just as the politics of austerity were becoming the norm during the economic crisis and stagflation of the 1970s. Black mayors were elected, in cities like Newark, Detroit and dozens more, just in time to administer the austerity regime.

New methods of divide-and-rule were developed. On the one hand, the Republicans adopted the so-called Southern strategy, based on an appeal to racist elements and disoriented social layers angered by the Democratic Partys embrace of civil rights legislation. This has remained an integral part of the Republican political arsenal from Nixon to Reagan through Bush and Trump.

The Democrats simultaneously adopted the dogma of identity politics, abandoning even the mildest program of social reform while posing as defenders of racial minorities and diversity. This division of labor between Republicans and Democratsand above all the role of the former liberals who had moved sharply to the right and turned the Democratic Party into the unabashed and open representative of Wall Streetwas crucial in shifting the political spectrum sharply to the right in the years after King.

The spokesmen for the ruling elite have long promised that African-American elected officials and police commissioners will usher in a new era of harmony and prosperity. Instead, these officials have presided over record levels of inequality, mass incarceration and escalating police violence, which disproportionately affect black and other minority workers and youth, along with the continuing decay of public education, the growth of homelessness and attacks on health care and all public services.

Identity politics has gone hand in hand with attacks on every section of the working class. Only a thin layer of the upper-middle class has benefited. Statistics show that inequality has grown more rapidly within the African-American population than within American society as a whole.

Critical in the growth of inequality and reign of political reaction has been the role of the pro-capitalist trade unions over this same period. Reflecting the interests of the wealthy defenders of the status quo who make up the union hierarchy, they have openly adopted a corporatist model, cementing their role within the state apparatus and suppressing the class struggle.

This has been the road map for more than four decades of social counterrevolution, culminating in endless war and a second Gilded Age, with socioeconomic divisions more extreme than before the mass movement that erupted in the struggle against Jim Crow.

With the election of the first black president ten years ago, the ruling class has had to escalate its use of identity politics. There were hosannas over the first black president to divert attention from the fact that Obama presided over deepening attacks on African-American workers and every other section of the working class. This was accompanied by the promulgation of an even more malignant version of identity politics, characterized by attacks on the white working class as irredeemably racist, as though such claims could explain why workers who voted twice for Obama should, in despair over the results, shift their votes to Donald Trump.

Now we have reached the stage of outright falsification of Martin Luther Kings outlook. Figures such as Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose views are summed up in his book on the Obama presidency entitled We Were Eight Years in Power, are put forward as the successors to the civil rights leader. Coates forecasts and virtually celebrates an America that will forever be divided on racial lines. Kings views are presented as consistent with the current efforts to fuel racialist politics, ignoring and in practice repudiating Kings insistence on the primacy of the fight for social equality.

King, however, fought for integration and opposed the black power slogan. Writing in 1967 in the abovementioned Where Do We Go From Here? he criticized from the left those like Stokely Carmichael who advanced this reactionary demagogy.

The Black Power movement of today, wrote King, like the Garvey Back to Africa movement of the 1920s, represents a dashing of hope, a conviction of the inability of the Negro to win and a belief in the infinitude of the ghetto. In words that anticipate the bitter experience with Obama, King wrote, Black power alone is no more insurance against social injustice than white power. Negro politicians can be as opportunistic as their white counterparts if there is not an informed and determined constituency demanding social reform.

Those who today distort and falsify Kings role and legacy do so to defend a system of class privilege and domination. Kings struggle makes the advocates of identity politics uncomfortable because, five decades after his death, the issues are posed more sharply than ever in class and not in racial terms.

The 50th anniversary coincides with a new upsurge of the class struggle, signaled by the eruption of rank-and-file teachers struggles in the US and strikes and protests by workers across Europe as well as in Iran, Tunisia and other oppressed countries. These struggles explode the lies about the racist working class and the claim that the basic division in society is race or gender, rather than class. They pose before millions the urgent need to unite and mobilize workers of all races and nationalities in a common political struggle against a common enemy.

Kings call for a united struggle for social reform illustrates both the strength and the fatal weakness of his outlook. The struggle against poverty, inequality, austerity and the threat of dictatorship and imperialist war requires the building of a revolutionary leadership that bases itself on the progressive foundations of earlier struggles but shows the way forward in the fight for socialism.On Sunday, three national newspapers devoted their front pages to attacking Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for his supposed refusal to tackle anti-Semitism in the party.

Leading the pack baying for blood was the Sunday Times, which published the results of an investigation into what it called Corbyns hate factory.

The Sunday Times investigation is a dubious exercise in McCarthyite witch-hunting, which has produced nothing whatsoever to substantiate allegations of widespread anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

Seven years ago, Rupert Murdochs News International was forced to close the News of the World to limit the damage from revelations that it had employed phone hacking on an industrial scale and other illegal methods infringing on personal privacy.

The Sunday Times, which barely differs from its former sister paper regarding journalistic standards, now boasts that its two-month investigation involved whistle-blowers working with the Sunday Times in the groups, who gained access to restricted membership groups.

Who these whistle-blowers are and how they secured access to restricted Facebook pages is not explained. But had they found anything of substance to reveal, they would not have been forced to rely on trawling through every posting in 20 pro-Corbyn Facebook groups.

After this Herculean effort of monitoring the online activity of close to half a million people, the Sunday Times claims to have found thousands of anti-Semitic, misogynistic and violent messages, and examples of Holocaust denial and wild conspiracy theories linking the Rothschild family and Israel with Isis terrorists appearing routinely. Yet it manages to report only a handful of genuinely anti-Semitic posts and one example of Holocaust denial, while portraying several others as anti-Semitic that are nothing of the sort.

Not a single posting cited is attributed to Corbyn, or to the dozen people in his immediate circle the newspaper accuses of being members of groups supporting their partys leader! For the most part, an outraged reaction is expected regarding things such as personal abuse levelled against Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and a prominent witch-hunter of the Labour left, or to the posting by a non-Labour Party member of a picture superimposing a swastika on an Israeli flag in protest at the treatment of the Palestinians.

Only someone wholly ignorant of social media could lend credence to such nonsense. Unless carefully moderatedwhich is the exception, not the rulethere is no way of knowing who has posted a comment or their political affiliations, let alone to claim broader support for the views expressed.

Instead, we are told that the Sunday Times has conducted an analysis of a sample of the two biggest groupswhat sample and what analysis is not explainedproving that their members are more likely than the general population to be paranoid and agree with statements condoning violence against female politicians; half of them definitely believe the world is controlled by a secretive elite.

The other leg, as they say, should be pulled as it has bells on.

Significantly, a good portion of the Sunday Times coverage is given over to disparaging those within the Labour Party who have described the complaints about abuse and anti-Semitism within the party as an orchestrated effort to stifle legitimate debate about Israels occupation of Palestinian territories as the work of agents provocateurs of a very powerful special interest group and an alliance of the partys Blairite wing with Conservatives, Blairite to far-right, seeking to defame Jeremy.

Ridiculousexcept that all the leading figures involved in this rotten campaign are Blairites and Toriesslandering not just Corbyn but hundreds of thousands of Labour members and supporters as anti-Semites, misogynists, National Socialists or worse to delegitimize and defame the entire left.

In a Mail on Sunday article, for example, Blairite Dan Hodges stated that Corbyns party isnt as bad as the fascist National Front, the British National Party and the English Defence League, Its far, far worse. None of those repugnant organisations have ever held any prospect of securing office. Labour does. And as a result, it has now become the largest, most high-profile racist organisation in the nation.

Blairite businessman Alan Sugar retweeted to his 5.5 million followers a photoshopped picture of Corbyn sitting in a car with Hitler at a Nuremburg rally, alongside the comment, Many a true word spoken in jest Corbyn.

The same holds true for the official mouthpiece of the Blairites, the Guardian and its Sunday sister paper, the Observer. Having played a key role in whipping up feigned outrage over anti-Semitism on the left, the Observer joins the Sunday Times in insisting that no one must be allowed to identify the obvious political pedigree and intentions of those involved. It editorialises, This has been too common a response from the left: to argue claims of anti-Semitism are being weaponised by Labours opponents.

To this the Observer replies, So what? It is not for those who have committed grave failings to speculate on the motivations of those who call them out. And any hint that the Jewish community itself might be politically motivated in protesting against anti-Semitism in Labour is itself anti-Semitic.

In response to this coordinated attack, Corbyn and his backers have, once again, retreated every step of the way. In a video message for Passover last Friday, Corbyn declared, It is easy to denounce anti-Semitism when you see it in other countries, in other political movements. It is sometimes harder to see it when it is closer to home.

Begging Alan Sugar to take down the concocted photo of Corbyn and Hitler, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell pleaded, We all desperately need to bring people together now. We can hold strong views about each others politics, but now is the time to learn from each other and unite people.

It is of some interest that the timeline given by the Sunday Times indicates that its investigation was launched shortly after supporters of Corbyn secured a majority on Labours National Executive Committee (NEC)the partys controlling bodyfor the first time since his election as leader in September 2015. Those elected included Jon Lansman, who controls the pro-Corbyn Momentum campaign group. He won against comedian Eddie Izzardwho was supported by the anti-Corbyn Labour First and the Blairite think-tank, Progress, but who received just 39,000 votes.

Christine Shawcroft, a director of Momentum and an NEC member for 19 years, also took over the disputes committee post from Ann Blackwho had previously voted to bar 130,000 supporters of Corbyn from voting in the Labour leadership election.

This week Shawcroft was forced to step down after 39 right-wing MPs wrote to Corbyn demanding her dismissal after she opposed the suspension of a local council candidate, Alan Bull, who is accused of anti-Semitism and who strenuously denies the charge. Izzard has automatically replaced Shawcroft on the NEC. His first public act was to give credence to the campaign against the left by declaring, We must stamp out completely the stain of anti-Semitism.

On Monday evening, Momentums National Coordinating Group issued a statement expressing its own belief that accusations of anti-Semitism should not and cannot be dismissed simply as right-wing smears nor as the result of conspiracies.

It added, Current examples of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party are not only a problem of a few, extreme bad apples but is more widespread in the Labour Party than many of us had understood even a few months ago.

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Anti-Semitism accusations against Corbyn aimed at criminalising the left

[]Thousands of Oklahoma teachers, students and their supporters are expected to converge on the state capitol today, the third day of a walkout by nearly 40,000 educators in the southwestern US state. Teachers are demanding pay raises and the restoration of more than a decade of bipartisan school funding cuts, which have left the state near the bottom in the US for both teacher pay and per-pupil funding.

To the chagrin of state legislators and the teacher unions, which first opposed the strike and then hoped to limit it to one day, thousands of teachers showed up at the state capitol in Oklahoma City yesterday. By mid-morning, capitol officials said the building had reached capacity and prevented additional protesters from entering.

Outside the building there was an almost festive atmosphere, with teachers coming in on busses from throughout the state. Many carried signs denouncing Republican Governor Mary Fallin and demanding sufficient funding to provide the states 700,000 school children with a quality education.

By early Tuesday evening, most of the states districts, including Oklahoma City and Tulsa, announced that schools would be closed Wednesday, with many saying they would determine on a day-by-day basis if enough teachers showed up to resume school. Tulsa teachers are beginning a 110-mile march to the state capitol today.

The strike was initiated by rank-and-file teachers, who used social media to communicate and launch a series of coordinated sickouts and protests to build up support for a statewide strike. For months, the unionsthe Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) and the Oklahoma City American Federation of Teachers (AFT)opposed a walkout and then tried to delay it. This was overruled by rank-and-file teachers inspired by the nine-day strike of West Virginia teachers and the growing militancy of educators in Kentucky, Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey and other states.

In a last gasp effort to prevent a strike, the OEA and the AFT praised as historic an insulting bipartisan pay raise and spending bill, which would fund an average $6,000 raise chiefly through a series of regressive taxes on cigarettes, gas and diesel fuel, and potentially other cuts to state services.

Determined to reverse years of union acquiescence to funding cuts that have left teachers pay and per pupil educational spending near the bottom in the US, rank-and-file teachers overwhelmingly rejected the sham offer and walked out Monday.

Jennifer, a teacher at Orvis Risner Elementary School in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, told the World Socialist Web Site, I have 25 or 26 kids in my classroom, and I have to share science textbooks between classes. In my class I only have 13 textbooks. Because we dont have funding for enough science kits, we have to share among teachers. Why cant the students have their own textbooks?

Referring to the impact of the social crisis in many public schools, her co-teacher, Mary, added, The students arent thinking about math when theyre thinking about what theyre going to eat that night or where theyll sleep.

Mary and another Risner Elementary School teacher, Arlisa, said they thought the unions expected teachers to return to work after the first day of the strike on Monday. The teachers should say thank you, Arlisa said, a reference to OEA President Alicia Priests repeated statements thanking legislators for the miserable funding bill passed last week.

We have power in numbers, Mary said. It seems like its a trickle-down effect from West Virginia. Everyones saying, Look, they can do it; we can do it. So maybe it will start just taking off, with everyone saying, Were not going to take it anymore. Even the state workers yesterday were fighting for their rights, she added. Its like wildfire.

Their co-worker Jennifer noted, We had an Uber driver picking us up yesterday. She was also a state worker, and she said this is my last pickup, and then Im joining you at the state capitol.

Explaining how rank-and-file workers had used Facebook and other social media to organize the strike, Jennifer said, Thats how weve got our voices heard. It started with a small group, The Time is Now, and overnight the growth was phenomenal. You see that were all saying the same things, and were all wanting the same things for our kids.

Penny, a teacher from the Santa Fe South Schools told the WSWS, Because of social media and technology, theres so much that we can do to pass the word around, to get assistance, to organize and bond together. Were using the internet and social media to make a change and make a difference.

Hostile to a broader mobilization of teachers throughout the country, the unions have sought to boost illusions that maneuvers with bought-and-paid for politicians will address the school funding crisis.

Responding to the strike, Governor Fallin, who has handed out massive tax cuts to the states oil and gas industry, said in statement, Just like Oklahoma families, we are only able to do what our budget allows We must be responsible not to neglect other areas of need in the state such as corrections and health and human services as we continue to consider additional education funding measures.

One Republican legislator, Kevin McDugle of Broken Arrow, in a Facebook livestream he later deleted, denounced the teachers for protesting inside the capitol and claimed legislative assistants had been sent home because of death threats. The threats, he claimed, were not necessarily from Oklahoma teachers but could have come from outside protesters from Chicago and California. McDugle said, All year long, we supported you and now youre going to come and act like this, after you got a raise. Go right ahead. Be pissed at me if you want to.

While Republicans steadfastly opposed any further funding measures, the state Democrats who supported the bogus funding bill last week postured as champions of the teachers, with backing of the unions. On Tuesday, Democrats brought a bill to the floor of the House to repeal a capital gains tax reduction, which they knew would be blocked by the Republican-controlled House, and then marched out of the chambers with their fists up in the air.

This was nothing but a cynical charade. The capital gains tax cut, which benefits the states hundreds of millionaires and robs an average of $100 million each year in revenue, was authored by Democratic state senators, backed by Governor Fallins Democratic predecessor, Brad Henry, and passed by Democratic-controlled House in 2004. At the time Henry said the capital gains tax and permanently reducing the top income tax rate for the rich would encourage new investment and boost our economy.

The OEA and the AFT are working desperately with state Democrats and Republicans to come up with some type of gesture to get teachers back to the classrooms. The unions have said they would call off the strike if legislators agreed to fill a $50 million budget gap created by the last-minute repeal of the hotel/motel tax included in the funding bill and pass a bill that would increase revenue by allowing ball and dice gambling and find additional resources to fund schools.

None of these measuresbased on further regressive taxes on the working class and the poor, just like past lottery and gambling schemeswould seriously address the 11 years of consecutive school funding cuts implemented by Democrats and Republicans alike.

The strike is at critical juncture. The unions want to wear down teachers with fruitless lobbying campaigns, while awaiting a shift by school superintendents and local school boards to move against the strikers and threaten teachers with punitive measures.

The only way to prevent this sabotage is for teachers to elect rank-and-file committees, completely independent of the anti-working class unions, to launch a campaign to mobilize the broadest support throughout the working class to back the teachers. These committees should also reach out to teachers in Arizona, Kentucky, New Mexico, Colorado and throughout the US to organize a national strike to defend public education.

Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Times reported that teachers in Florida are setting up Facebook pages to press for a statewide strike. In response, the Florida Education Association posted a statement on its website saying that a strike was illegal and not appropriate and comes with harsh consequences.

On Monday, an AP world history teacher from the Miami-Dade public school system launched a Facebook group, Florida Educators United, with the message: As underpaid teachers from West Virginia, to Oklahoma, to Kentucky, and Arizona use social media to organize both from within, and independently of, established unions, this group seeks to unite Florida educators and their supporters to raise awareness and encourage activism amongst public school teachers, parents, and students from across the Sunshine state.

Nadia Zananiri, the organizer of the page, said she would rather the unions take action, but they arent.  We have lost faith in our unions to accomplish anything.The state prosecutor in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein has applied for detention pending extradition for former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. The prosecutor deemed Spains extradition request to be valid and added that Puigdemont posed a flight risk.

A careful review of the European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish judiciary resulted in the finding that a valid extradition request has been presented, declared the prosecutors office. An orderly extradition procedure is to be expected, it continued.

The Schleswig-Holstein state prosecutor argued that the accusation of rebellion levelled against Puigdemont by the Spanish judiciary contains in essence the accusation of carrying out the referendum on Catalan independence from Spain, which was illegal under the constitution, even though violent clashes were to be expected. The accusation of rebellion finds its counterpart in Germany in sections 81 and 82 of the Criminal Code (high treason), the prosecutors office continued. A word-for-word correspondence between the German and Spanish provisions is not legally required, it added.

With this decision, the state prosecutor in Schleswig-Holstein is giving its backing to the Spanish government and adopting Madrids arguments. The District Court of Appeals in Schleswig must now determine whether Puigdemonts transfer to Spain is permissible. The court has 60 days to issue a ruling. However, it is anticipated that the decision will be reached in a few days.

If the court follows the argumentation of the state prosecutor and rules Puigdemonts extradition to be permissible, the final political decision will be in the hands of the German government. Puigdemont can only be handed over to the Spanish judiciary if Justice Minister Katarina Barley (Social Democrats, SPD) grants her approval.

Many indicators suggest that the governments decision has already been made.

If the Justice Minister spoke out now in favour of Puigdemont, there would no longer be any grounds for his detention. In addition, the state prosecutor is bound by directives. One must therefore assume that state prosecutor Wolfgang Zepter only reached his decision after consulting with Schleswig-Holsteins Justice Minister Sabine Sutterlin-Waack, who, as a former Christian Democratic Union deputy in the federal parliament, would have consulted with Chancellor Angela Merkel and federal Justice Minister Barley.

If the German government extradites Puigdemont to Spain on the basis of the 69-page indictment, it will not be a judicial decision, as Barley and her government colleagues have repeatedly claimed, but a political decision to move in the direction of a police state. It would set a precedent for the persecution of all forms of protest and resistance to the powers that be.

In legal terms, the European arrest warrant with which the Spanish government is seeking Puigdemonts extradition is very weak. It is imprecise, unsustainable and adventurous, declared Wolfgang Schomburg, the German lawyer for the former Catalan president.

The main charge levelled against Puigdemont and 24 others is rebellion. According to Spanish law, such a charge must involve a violent uprising against the state power. But there is no evidence of this from the separatist leadership around Puigdemont. They came to power through democratic elections, always opposed the use of violence, and relied on parliamentary decisions and mass protests.

Since the presiding Spanish judge Pablo Llarena found no evidence that Puigdemont and his colleagues called for acts of violence, in spite of a months-long investigation, he accused them of deploying the power of the masses to achieve their goals. According to a report from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which apparently had access to the indictment, Llarena spoke of criminal plan with the goal of Catalan independence. This included creating the basis for their own state and mobilising the masses.

If the mobilisation of the masses is defined as a criminal offence, and the German government approves a European arrest warrant on this basis and extradites Puigdemont, this will mark a major step in the direction of the abolition of democratic rights and establishment of a European police state. Strikes, mass demonstrations and protests of all kinds could in the future be outlawed on this basis, and their organisers judicially persecuted and criminalised.

The only crime Puigdemont is guilty of is campaigning for the separation of Catalonia from Spain. In the case of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, the European powers and US imperialism pursued the same goal, the separation of entire regions and states, with ruthless violence. By contrast, the Catalan separatists have relied on peaceful and democratic means: elections, parliamentary motions, and demonstrations.

The real reason for the judicial witch-hunt of Puigdemont is the desire to criminalise all opposition. This includes intimidating and suppressing all forms of opposition and protest.

It is no mere coincidence that the criminalisation of resistance and the introduction of police-state measures in Europe take place simultaneously with the largest strike movement to date against Macrons labour market reforms in France and increased warning strikes as part of collective bargaining talks in Germany.

The social and economic crisis in Spain is especially acute. As Amazon workers took strike action last week, pensioners also organised mass protests to demand decent pensions and improved social welfare benefits.

Catalan, Basque and Spanish workers all confront the same horrendous social crisis. Almost 3.5 million people in Spain are unemployed. Millions more have only temporary and poorly-paid jobs. Oxfam Intercom identified Spain as the country in the EU with the third highest growth of social inequality since 2007. According to the report, the richest 1 percent own one quarter of Spains wealth. The wealth of the three richest Spaniards is equal to that of the poorest 30 percent of the population, i.e., of more than 14 million people.

More than 10 million people live below the official poverty line. This is a poverty rate of 22.3 percent, the third highest in the EU. Nine million families live on less than 684 per month, and 1 million live on less than 342. Close to 30 percent of Spaniards living in poverty reside in accommodation without electricity, with no secure water supply, mould on the walls and floor, and in a dirty environment.

Under these conditions, resistance is growing to the hated government of Mariano Rajoy, whose Popular Party traces its roots directly to Francos fasciststhe rulers of Spain from 1936 to 1975. As in the past, far-right governments are working to erect police states based on terror to brutally suppress all forms of opposition across Europe.

As the social and political crises deepen, heralding new class battles, sections of the petty bourgeoisie who previously described themselves as liberal are shifting sharply to the right and calling for police state repression. Typical of this trend is an open letter from the editor-in-chief of Spanish daily El Pais, Jose I. Torreblanca. He wrote under the headline Why Germany should extradite Carles Puigdemont that the former Catalan president has committed serious criminal offences, violated Spains constitution, betrayed our democracy, and endangered social peace.

This was followed by effusive praise for the Rajoy government, which, while not perfect, is the best for 40 years. The constitution of 1978 guarantees all Spaniards social and political rights, he continued, and has ensured a life in peace and prosperity. This peace was not disrupted by the social and political attacks from the government, but rather by the Catalan separatists.

The separatists attack on democracy must be resisted, he added. The Spanish judiciary may well not be perfect, but it is subordinated to the European Court of Human Rights, claimed Torreblanca. As a result, he concluded that the German government must extradite Puigdemont.

Germanys Green Party argues along similar lines. There is a procedure according to the rule of law, Spain has an independent and brave judiciary, and if a European arrest warrant is presented one cant just shut ones eyes, stated Jurgen Trittin, who is considered a representative of the partys left wing.

The Left Party fears that Puigdemonts extradition could provoke bitter social struggles in Catalonia and Germany and is therefore offering its services as a mediator. Left Party representatives visited Puigdemont in prison over the Easter weekend, and on Tuesday, Left Party European policy spokesperson Andrej Hunko told Deutschlandfunk, I think that here it is necessary to get around the negotiating table with international mediation. Only in this way could the frustrations provoked by an extradition be prevented from turning violent, he added.

The World Socialist Web Site and Socialist Equality Party (SGP) condemned Puigdemonts arrest from the outset and demands his immediate release. We wrote, His targeting by the German authorities is a warning. The only way to prevent the establishment of a police state, and a relapse into militarism and war, is through the development of a socialist movement to unite the European and international working class in the struggle against social inequality, dictatorship and war.Teachers have voted overwhelmingly for strike action over pay and pensions at conferences of the National Education Union (NEU) and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) held last weekend.

Members of the Education Institute of Scotland (EIS), the largest Scottish education union, have meanwhile rejected a derisory 3 percent pay rise offer and given the union a mandate to ballot for industrial action.

Representing the vast majority of teachers in the UK, the votes are a response to the catastrophic conditions prevailing in primary and secondary schools across the country.

The action must be seen as part of a struggle of educators across four continents that are in conflict with governments attempting to impose massive cuts to their livelihoods and increase workloads. This week strikes by teachers erupted in the US states of Oklahoma and Kentucky, following those last month in West Virginia and Arizona.

In the UK, most teachers pay has fallen by up to 20 percent in real terms since 2010, thanks to a 1 percent maximum pay rise cap fixed by the government for the last seven yearsthe cap was scrapped this year in Scotland.

This has exacerbated the attack on pensions made in 2015, when teachers were switched from a final salary to a less generous career average scheme. Their retirement age was also raised to 68.

Cuts to pay and pensions have been imposed in the context of a staggering increase in workloads. According to a survey carried out by the Guardian in 2016, roughly three in five teachers were working more than 55 hours a week, with nearly a third working more than 60 hours a week. Much of this is unpaid overtime.

Opposing this, delegates at the NEU supported a call for the removal of a clause in the Schools Teachers Pay and Conditions Document that demands teachers must work such reasonable hours as needed in discharging their duties.

The sector is suffering a severe staffing shortage. A report by the Public Accounts Committee in January found the number of qualified teachers exiting the profession for reasons other than retirement increased from 6 percent of the workforce in 2011 to 8 percent in 2016. The number of secondary school teachers has fallen by nearly 11,000 since 2010.

This has seen class sizes increase across the country, adding yet more work for those who remain in the profession.

This is part of a broader crisis in primary and secondary schooling, itself the product of government education cuts, of the social breakdown produced by austerity measures generally and of the introduction of private interests into the schools sector.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), schools will have suffered a 4.6 percent real terms cut in budgets between 2015 and 2020.

Teachers are paying out of their own pockets to fill the gaps, with 94 percent of respondents to a Times Educational Supplement survey saying they are having to buy stationery items, books, art materials and storage equipment.

The current level of funding is leaving many schools unable to provide the most basic levels of educational provision, as they are also dealing with the consequences of other cuts to social care and benefits. Figures from the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) found that 60 percent of teachers felt child poverty in schools had gotten worse since 2015 and 55 percent thought free school meal provision did not come close to meeting the needs of poorer pupils. Half those surveyed said their school offered anti-poverty services like food and clothes banks or emergency loans.

While schools scrape for funds to provide food and toiletries, the government has provided a total of 241 million for 42 state-funded, but privately run free schools in areas with no need for additional places. Vast sums of public money are also being given hand over fist to the trustees, head teachers and chief executives of academy schools and trusts. There are 121 trusts where at least one individual is being paid more than 150,000 a year. One in five of these are paid more than 200,000. A total of 21 million is spent on these salaries, with the highest paid individual, Dan Moynihan of Harris Foundation, earning just over 500,000.

Academies were first set up under the 1997 Blair Labour government as a halfway house to privatized education and have since been massively expanded under the Conservative Party. They now make up 60 percent of secondary schools and 20 percent of primaries in England.

Numerous studies have shown no tangible benefit brought to a school by switching to academy status. The real winners are the well-paid academy bosses and the business interests they bring with them. Wakefield City Academies Trust, for example, which is in charge of 21 primary and secondary schools, paid private companies associated with its chief executive Mike Ramsay (and his daughter) some 440,000. Bright Tribe Multi-Academy Trust was reported by the Observer to have paid nearly 3 million to businesses in which the Trusts founder, venture capitalist Mike Dwan, had interests.

Far from flourishing with private sector involvement, eight out of ten academies are in financial deficit, based on findings from the Kreston UK accountancy network. Multiple schools and trusts are reliant on continued government bailout programmes.

The intolerable situation facing teachers is the responsibility of the teaching unions who have refused to fight the attacks on jobs, wages and conditions. Teachers have repeatedly shown their willingness to fight the attacks by government and management, only to see any struggles isolated along local and regional lines and led into a dead end by their unions. What few strikes have been organised have been of a token character and designed only to placate growing anger.

With 400,000 members in the NEU, 280,000 in the NASUWT and 54,000 in the EIS, a joint offensive by teachers, in unity with lecturers and Further Education staff, as well as health and local government workerswho are also in disputewould represent a powerful challenge to the governments austerity and privatisation agenda. Lecturers and academic staff in universities and colleges workers are currently also fighting for decent pensions and pay against funding cuts and the marketization of education.

The sentiment for such unity was shown by an amendment passed at the NEU conference calling on the teaching unions to submit a joint pay claim for all school workers. Based on an initial pay increase of 5 percent, this was so as to begin restoring the cuts in living standards all school staff have suffered.

The teaching unions are opposed to any such struggle. All that the NEU is proposing is a joint committee of the union to meet in May to consider the ballot for strike action called by delegates in its National Union of Teachers (NUT) section. Delegates to the other Association of Teachers and Lecturers section are meeting at their annual conference this week.

The NEU is only committed to holding an indicative ballot of members this summer. If successful, this would be followed by a formal ballot of members for strike action to possibly take place in the autumn.

In order to take their struggle forward teachers must break the stranglehold of the unions. It was only when lecturers threw out an attempt by the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) to sell out their strike last month that it was able to continue. Now, the UCU has agreed another sell-out agreement with Universities UK and is attempting to end the dispute on managements terms.

The UCU has opposed joint action between lecturers and FE staff, with the last strike of FE workers involving staff at just seven colleges out of nearly 300.

Teachers and students across the education sector must organise themselves into rank-and-file committees, independent of the trade unions. Such a struggle must be waged as part of a socialist programme calling for fully funded highly quality and well-resourced public education as a social right.

The Socialist Equality Party and its Education FightBack initiative are holding an online and call-in forum on April 10 to discuss these vital issues. We urge teachers, lecturers, academic and FE staff and students to attend.

Education FightBack forum, Tuesday, April 10, 7:30 p.m.

To participate in the meeting, visit http://bit.ly/efb100418 when the meeting begins, or call +44 330 221 0088 and enter access code 274-739-237.On Wednesday, March 21 more than 300 students and professors at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point (UWSP) marched together and occupied an administration building in response to the proposed elimination of 13 majors and demanding their right to a liberal arts education. As part of the protest, students sent the universitys chancellor and administration a letter requesting to work with the universitys administration to create alternative proposals that will not cut any humanities programs.

Students held signs, reading, Wheres your Humanity? Its been Cut! Mackenzie Madison, an art student, lamented the possible loss of the nationally accredited art department, telling Wisconsin Public Radio, Im really infuriated. The art department is what brought me here. The art department is what defines this campus. Its a big part of this community.

Earlier in March, administration officials announced a proposal to eliminate 13 academic majors from UWSPs humanities programs, a move which has drawn widespread anger from students and professors, as well as national notoriety. The proposal has been framed as a necessary cost-cutting solution to resolve the schools projected deficit of $4.5 million over the next two years and stabilize declining enrollment.

The money to fund high quality public education, including the humanities, is readily available. The effort to slash the humanities at UWSP in order to cover a comparatively modest budget shortfall comes amid immense levels of social inequality in the United States and record profits for the wealthy. Wisconsins nine richest people control nearly $50 billion in wealth, a mere 0.0001 percent of their combined net worth would more than cover UWSPs projected shortfall.

As part of Republican Governor Scott Walkers plan to transform impoverished areas of the state into cheap labor platforms, seemingly unlimited amounts of money are being made readily available to subsidize the costs of private businesses such as electronics manufacturer Foxconn, which will receive $4.5 billion in public funds. A recent $100 million Safety Plan bill, which easily passed the Wisconsin State Senate, will place more armed police officers at Wisconsin schools.

The 13 majors slated for elimination include Art, English, French, Foreign Languages, History, Music, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, and Sociology; fields which promote the development of culture and critical thought, but are derided as unable to meet state workforce needs. The plan will eliminate multiple tenured professors and block countless future students from having the opportunity to pursue these disciplines.

The universitys administration declared they want to move away from liberal arts and humanities programs in favor of those more technical in nature in part by emphasizing high-demand career paths, which they hope will be more popular and therefore more likely to attract additional students and revenue. This includes the proposal to expand eight technical programs supposedly more likely to lead to employment, which include finance, graphic design, management, marketing, business administration and physical therapy.

However, forcing students into a technical major does not mean that they will be guaranteed a job under present economic conditions, where those who do find employment in their field end up in low wage jobs or are forced into unrelated fields, all saddled by immense student loan debt.

Formal proposals for changes made by the campus governance system and the University of Wisconsin, which will detail projected numbers of job cuts and program eliminations, will come after August 1, with approval from the UW System Board of Regents. Faculty and staff of the academic departments being axed will face mass layoffs, with tenured teaching jobs set to begin being eliminated starting in June 2020.

Since 2013, the university, located in central Wisconsin, has seen a decline in enrollment of 15 percent, down to 8,200 students in 2017 from 9,600 in 2013. According to the university, student population has been declining due to a reduction in the number of high school students looking to enter college upon graduating, a 12 percent drop in first year student retention, and the reduction in the general education courses required to graduate resulting in students leaving their studies earlier.

The proposed sweeping cuts to the humanities studies at UWSP are part of a broader restructuring of the University of Wisconsin system statewide, undertaken specifically for the purpose of cost-cutting.

UW System President Ray Cross announced a plan last October to restructure the states public university system, which was approved in November by the UW Board of Regents for implementation beginning July 1, 2018. This restructuring would tie the thirteen two-year UW Colleges to their larger sister universities nearest to them, effectively making them regional satellite campuses of the latter.

The proposal also removes separate administration of the UW-Extension campuses and places them under UW-Madison and UW System administration. UW Colleges Online, which has been operated as an additional campus just as the UW-Extension, will also be reorganized under UW System administration.

The systems restructuring was announced without consulting any of the campuses, UW administrators affected or shared governance groups, and drew heavy criticism for being a nakedly rushed-through cost-cutting measure resulting from demands by Walker to reduce the cost of operations and resolve the UW Systems budget deficit.

The latest system-wide changes follow earlier attempts by Walker to amend the so-called Wisconsin Idea by removing words that commanded the university to search for truth and improve the human condition and replace them with meet the states workforce needs.

Wisconsin state Democrats reacted to the proposed cuts at UWSP with general ambivalence and no proposed plans to keep the humanities programs running. Their sole offering to date came at a March 13 campus town hall meeting hosted by Democratic State Representative Katrina Shankland and the UWSP Student Government Association, providing a forum for student and community members to voice their dismay at the proposed cuts.

Students and faculty are planning further demonstrations against cuts, fearing that the UWSP plan will be a test run for further cuts throughout the UW system in step with Walkers Wisconsin Idea vision for the university to be repurposed as providing cheap labor for corporate interests in Wisconsin.

Rather than demanding a seat at the table to devise alternative ways of implementing funding cuts, students, instructors, and staff must appeal to workers and youth throughout the US and internationally to reject all attempts to gut the UW System, insisting on the right of all to higher education.A United States Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II jet crashed in Djibouti, in East Africa, on Tuesday, according to two defense officials. The pilot was able to eject and is currently being medically evaluated the officials added, the extent of the pilot's injuries are currently unknown.

The United States has a large military presence in Djibouti based at Camp Lemonnier where some 4,000 US personnel are stationed.

This story is breaking and will be updated.Roger Stone appeared on the InfoWars radio show the same day he sent an email claiming he dined with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange -- and he predicted "devastating" upcoming disclosures about the Clinton Foundation.

Stone's comments in his August 4, 2016, appearance are the earliest known time he claimed to know of forthcoming WikiLeaks documents. A CNN KFile timeline shows that on August 10, 2016, Stone claimed to have "actually communicated with Julian Assange."

The comments also raise more questions about what Stone knew about WikiLeaks and about the veracity of his claims to have been in contact with Assange, which he now denies.

On the August 4, 2016, InfoWars show, Stone described the soon-to-appear WikiLeaks disclosures. He also mentioned that he spoke with then-Republican nominee Donald Trump on August 3 -- the day before the interview. InfoWars is a fringe media outlet run by Alex Jones, who is known for spreading conspiracy theories.

Stone wrote to former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg on August 4, 2016, that he had dinner with Assange the night before, according to a source familiar with the email exchange. The email was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Monday. The Journal also reported that special counsel Robert Mueller is examining the exchange.

Stone has said the email about the dinner was sent in jest and that he has never met or spoken with Assange.

Stone further discussed the dinner with Nunberg over the phone, this source said. In that conversation, Stone told Nunberg that forthcoming leaks would be about the Clinton Foundation.

In the interview with Jones on InfoWars, Stone said that he believed Assange had proof of wrongdoing at the Clinton Foundation.

"The Clinton campaign narrative that the Russians favor Donald Trump and the Russians are leaking this information, this is inoculation because as you said earlier, they know what is coming and it is devastating," Stone said in the InfoWars interview. "Let's remember that their defense to all the Clinton Foundation scandals is not that 'we didn't do,' but 'you have no proof, yes but you have no proof.'"

"I think Julian Assange has that proof and I think he is going to furnish it for the American people," Stone said.

In an email to CNN, Stone again denied meeting with Assange.

"Airline and credit card records establish that I flew on Jet Blue from NY to LA on August 1 and returned from LA to Miami on August 3. Credit card records show I stayed at the London hotel in West Hollywood on August 1st and 2nd. My passport shows I never left the country in 2016- never mind traveling to London. Even I have not perfected the ability to be two places at once," he wrote.

Stone's statement matches what he said in the InfoWars interview in August 2016. He told Jones that had flown from Los Angeles to Miami that night.VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - Vigo County students are back to school today. It's the first day back since students at Terre Haute South Vigo High School lost one of their own.

William Garrett Sands was a student at South. That's why the Vigo County School Corporation will have extra support for students as they return from spring break.

The trauma loss team will be on-hand at Terre Haute South starting Tuesday. Grief counselors will be talking to students and staff.

They want to help them channel their grief in a healthy way.

We want parents to know that they're there and we want them to be readily available to discuss these things, said Dr. Tom Balitewicz with VCSC.

The support team includes pastors, mental health specialists and staff from other schools.HOUSTON, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cub Energy Inc. (Cub or the Company) (TSX-V:KUB), a Ukraine-focused upstream oil and gas company, announced today its audited financial and operating results for the year ended December 31, 2017. All dollar amounts are expressed in United States Dollars unless otherwise noted. This update includes results from KUB-Gas LLC (KUB-Gas), which Cub has a 35% equity ownership interest, Tysagaz LLC (Tysagaz), Cubs 100% owned subsidiary and CNG LLC (CNG), which Cub has a 50% equity ownership interest.

Mikhail Afendikov, Chairman and CEO of Cub said: We are pleased to report income from our equity investment during the year ended December 31, 2017 amounted to $6.8 million and, excluding non-recurring impairment charges, our 2017 net income would have been $1.7 million. During 2017, the Company received $4.1 million in dividends from its eastern Ukraine investment. We believe 2018 should provide our shareholders with several key catalysts, including the anticipated drilling of the Uzhgorod and West Olgovskoye licence prospects in western and eastern Ukraine, respectively.

Operational Highlights

Achieved average natural gas price of $6.50/Mcf and condensate price of $69.56/bbl during the year ended December 31, 2017 as compared to $6.11/Mcf and $51.66/bbl for 2016.

Production averaged 977 boe/d (97% weighted to natural gas and the remaining to condensate) for the year ended December 31, 2017, which decreased 25% as compared to the 1,305 boe/d average during 2016.

On December 30, 2017, a new law was passed in Ukraine reducing the royalties on new wells drilled after January 1, 2018 to 12% from 29% for a period of five years.

A 118 square kilometer 3D seismic program was completed during the second quarter of 2017 on the Uzhgorod licence which was largely funded by our partner. The 3D seismic was processed and the Company and its partner hope to drill up to three exploration wells on the licence in the latter half of 2018.

KUB-Gas completed a 150 kilometer 2D seismic survey during the second quarter of 2017 on the prospective West Olgovskoye licence in eastern Ukraine. KUB-Gas will utilize the 2D seismic survey to identify drill targets. The Company expects KUB-Gas to drill its first well on the licence in 2018 and commence a 3D survey.

In 2017, the Company contracted to purchase a new Nitrogen Rejection Unit (NRU) to re-commence production on the wholly-owned RK field in western Ukraine.

Financial Highlights

Netbacks of $25.19/boe or $4.20/Mcfe for the year ended December 31, 2017 as compared to netback of $22.40/Boe or $3.73/Mcfe for 2016.

During the year ended December 31, 2017, the Company received $4.1 million in dividends from KUB Holdings as compared to $0.8 million in dividends in 2016. Subsequent to December 31, 2017, the Company received a further $1.1 million in dividends. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) eased certain capital controls by allowing limited dividends. The Company expects to continue to repatriate dividends to the extent possible and allowed by the NBU, although there are no assurances the NBU will continue to ease restrictions indefinitely.

Three Months Ended Three Months Ended Year Ended Year Ended (in thousands of US Dollars) December 31, 2017 December 31, 2016 December 31, 2017 December 31, 2016 Petroleum and natural gas revenue - - 24 1,456 Pro-rata petroleum and natural gas revenue(1) 3,609 4,023 14,285 17,704 Revenue from gas trading 3,957 4,793 13,099 6,915 Net income (loss) (15,290 ) (308 ) (14,342 ) 3,931 Income per share  basic and diluted (0.05 ) 0.00 (0.05 ) 0.01 Funds generated from operations(2) 1,407 (573 ) 337 (2,569 ) Pro-rata funds generated from operations(3) (1,041 ) 857 (1,646 ) 6,219 Capital expenditures(4) 637 887 1,678 1,350 Pro-rata capital expenditures(4) 596 1,296 4,320 3,074 Pro-rata netback ($/boe) 27.29 25.60 25.19 22.40 Pro-rata netback ($Mcfe) 4.55 4.27 4.20 3.73 December December 31, 2017 31, 2016 Working capital (deficit) (478 ) 3,255 Cash and cash equivalents 6,190 4,585 Long-term debt 5,451 6,332

Notes:

Pro-rata petroleum and natural gas revenue is a non-IFRS measure that adds the Companys petroleum and natural gas revenue earned in the respective periods to the Companys 35% equity share of the KUB-Gas natural gas sales that the Company has an economic interest in. Funds from operations is a non-IFRS measure and is defined as cash flow from operating activities, excluding changes in non-cash working capital. Pro-rata funds from operations is a non-IFRS measure that adds the Companys funds from operations in the respective periods to the Companys 35% equity share of the KUB-Gas and 50% equity share of CNG Holdings funds from operations that the Company has an economic interest in. Capital expenditures includes the purchase of property, plant and equipment and the purchase of exploration and evaluation assets. Pro-rata capital expenditures is a non-IFRS measure that adds the Companys capital expenditures in the respective periods to the Companys 35% equity share of the KUB-Gas and 50% equity share of CNG Holdings capital expenditures that the Company has an economic interest in.

Outlook

The Company expects KUB-Gas to drill two wells in 2018. Its expected that one well will be drilled in either the Olgovskoye or Makeevskoye field and the second well will be the first well drilled by KUB-Gas on the West Olgovskoye licence in eastern Ukraine. KUB-Gas is also contemplating a 3D seismic program on the West Olgovskoye licence.

In western Ukraine, the Company committed to purchase a new NRU with a goal of resuming production at the RK field which is estimated to be latter half of 2018. Also in western Ukraine, CNG LLC completed a 118 square kilometer 3D seismic program and the Company and its partner expect to drill up to three exploration wells in the latter half of 2018.



Supporting Documents

Cubs complete quarterly reporting package, including the unaudited interim financial statements and associated Managements Discussion and Analysis, have been filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and has been posted on the Companys website at www.cubenergyinc.com.

About Cub Energy Inc.

Cub Energy Inc. (TSX-V:KUB) is an upstream oil and gas company, with a proven track record of exploration and production cost efficiency in Ukraine. The Companys strategy is to implement western technology and capital, combined with local expertise and ownership, to increase value in its undeveloped land base, creating and further building a portfolio of producing oil and gas assets within a high pricing environment.

For further information please contact us or visit our website: www.cubenergyinc.com

Mikhail Afendikov

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

(713) 677-0439

mikhail.afendikov@cubenergyinc.com

Patrick McGrath

Chief Financial Officer

(713) 577-1948

patrick.mcgrath@cubenergyinc.com

Oil and Gas Equivalents

A barrel of oil equivalent (boe) or units of natural gas equivalents (Mcfe) is calculated using the conversion factor of 6 Mcf (thousand cubic feet) of natural gas being equivalent to one barrel of oil. A boe conversion ratio of 6 Mcf: 1 bbl (barrel) or a Mcfe conversion of 1bbl: 6 Mcf is, based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead and is not based on either energy content or current prices. While the boe ratio is useful for comparative measures, it does not accurately reflect individual product values and might be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. As well, given that the value ratio, based on the current price of crude oil to natural gas, is significantly different from the 6:1 energy equivalency ratio, using a 6:1 conversion ratio may be misleading as an indication of value.

The disclosure in this press release is prepared in accordance with NI 51-101 standards.

Reader Advisory

With the current cash resources, suspension of the RK field, uncertainty surrounding the successful installation of the NRU, dividend restrictions, currency fluctuations, reliance on a limited number of customers, and impact on carrying values, the Company may not have sufficient cash to continue the exploration and development activities. These matters raise significant doubt about the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern and meet its obligations as they become due.

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. Cub believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable; however there can be no assurance those 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: general economic conditions in Ukraine, the Black Sea Region and globally; political unrest and security concerns in Ukraine; industry conditions, including fluctuations in the prices of natural gas and foreign currency; governmental regulation of the natural gas industry, including environmental regulation; unanticipated operating events or performance which can reduce production or cause production to be shut in or delayed; failure to obtain industry partner and other fourth party consents and approvals, if and when required; competition for and/or inability to retain drilling rigs and other services; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; volatility in market prices for natural gas; liabilities inherent in natural gas operations; competition for, among other things, capital, acquisitions of reserves, undeveloped lands, skilled personnel and supplies; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; geological, technical, drilling, processing and transportation problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs relating to the natural gas industry; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

This cautionary statement expressly qualifies the forward-looking information contained in this news release. 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.SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP)  A woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, setting off a panic among employees and wounding at least four people before fatally shooting herself, police and witnesses said.

Officers and federal agents swarmed the companys complex in the Bay Area city of San Bruno after receiving multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire.

Television news footage showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air. Officers patted them down to make sure none had weapons.

The shooting left four victims who have all been transported for gunshot-related injuries and we have one subject who is deceased inside the building who we believe to be the shooter, said San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini.

YouTube employee Vadim Lavrusik posted on Twitter that he heard gunshots and saw people running. He said he was barricaded in a room with co-workers before being safely evacuated.

Will Hudson said a friend who works for YouTube texted him about the shooter.

Graphic shows location of YouTube shooting in San Bruno, California.

I think there might be a shooter in my building, read one text. The fire alarm went off so we started to evacuate and then people (started) running saying there was a shooter.

San Francisco General Hospital received three patients: a 36-year-old man in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition, a spokesman said.

The hospital said later that it did not expect to receive more patients. It was not immediately clear where the fourth gunshot victim had been sent for treatment.

Google, which owns the worlds biggest online video website, posted on Twitter that the company was coordinating with authorities. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it also responded.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on a shooting and that officials were monitoring developments.

Hudson said his friend made it safely back to San Francisco and was in contact with his family. Hudson said hes become used to hearing about gun violence but has never been so close to it.

It just feels strange. It feels like it could really be anyone. Thats really the strangeness of it, he said.

Calls and emails to YouTube representatives were not immediately returned.President Donald Trump in recent days has decried "weak" US border laws that he says leave the US vulnerable to unfettered immigration -- but some of his policies could have the effect of worsening a Central American migrant crisis.

Even as the Department of Homeland Security says the southern border "is more difficult to illegally cross today than ever before," Trump has stepped up his hardline immigration rhetoric, calling on the US military to guard the US-Mexico border until his long-promised wall is complete. He's hammered Mexico and other countries for policies that he says are disadvantageous to the US and that send unsavory individuals into the country.

But experts say the President has been pursuing other policies that could substantially harm Central America -- and in doing so, he risks creating conditions that generate the exact kind of mass exodus north that he talks about wanting to solve.

Immigration is driven by what are called push and pull factors. The US has been seeking aggressive immigration powers to cut down on what they say are pull factors -- the perception that immigrants can live illegally with impunity in the US. But those very policies could affect push factors -- the conditions of poverty and violence that drive immigrants elsewhere out of desperation.

"The US sort of talks out of both sides of its mouth," said Eric Olson, a Latin America expert at the nonpartisan Wilson Center.

"If you're investing in the region to address the drivers of migration and at the same time pursuing a policy of large-scale deportation, or at least potentially large-scale deportation, and you're creating more obstacles for people leaving the region for reasons like violence and so on, you're really creating more instability, not less instability."

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The administration argues its policies are designed to close "loopholes" in US immigration law and save lives by deterring immigrants from taking the dangerous journey north.

The policies that experts find particularly harmful fall into a few categories.

Deportations

The administration has pursued an aggressive effort to arrest and eventually deport far more immigrants, especially non-criminal ones, than Barack Obama did toward the end of his presidency.

The problem with that is two-fold. For one, while getting criminals and gang members out of the US is an understandable policy goal and has been pursued by many administrations, Central American countries already struggle to keep organized crime at bay. MS-13, Trump's favorite target, actually began in the US among Salvadorans, and became a transnational gang that morphed into the enterprise it is today because the US deported those criminals back to Central America, where the gang grew much stronger. El Salvador has complained that the US does not always warn them or give them adequate information when criminals and gang members are sent back so they can track or imprison them, though the US has worked to do so.

But experts say that it's the vast increase in the numbers of non-criminal immigrants that are being arrested and deported that is more concerning for stability in the region. These individuals often have roots in US communities and live peacefully. They also may be sending money back home. The World Bank estimates that remittances from abroad made up 17% of El Salvador's Gross Domestic Product in 2016. Deported back to their home countries, these citizens could struggle or compete with an already struggling middle class and lack of job opportunities. They could also become targets for gangs.

"Trump has gone beyond (Obama) and it's a much broader and less selective, targeted deportation, and that aggravates already high levels of insecurity in those countries. ... They simply just don't have the capacity to absorb them," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, which promotes prosperity and democracy in Latin America.

Ending Temporary Protected Status

The Trump administration in the past year decided to terminate a group of protections for Central American immigrants based on natural disasters back home. In January, the Department of Homeland Security announced that more than 200,000 Salvadorans who have lived in the US since at least 2001 would no longer be covered, meaning many of them could be forced to move back or risk deportation. That followed a similar decision for thousands of Nicaraguans and what is expected to be a similar fate for tens of thousands of Hondurans later this year, all of whom have lived in the US since at least 1999.

Many of those immigrants have had US citizen children, held jobs, opened businesses, bought homes and were required to maintain clean criminal records, but the Trump administration said the effects of the original natural disasters in the region had improved enough to end their permission to stay in the US.

Back in Central America, those individuals would also likely be targets for gangs' extortion attempts, as they would be perceived to have some more wealth coming from the US, and also would struggle to find jobs and housing in the region.

Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin American Program at the Wilson Center, called the move to end TPS "short-sighted" and "cynical."

"These are people who have been in the US for many, many years, have family here, have jobs, have been contributing ... and to say that we're trying to address the root causes of migration at the same time that you make it excruciatingly difficult for countries in the Northern Triangle to receive these large numbers of returnees is ... short-sighted at best and cynical at its core," Arnson said.

Cutting aid

The administration has proposed steep cuts to aid to Central American countries in its annual budget proposals. Congress has ignored the White House's requests, keeping funding steady. But in its proposals, the White House has sought to cut tens of millions of dollars from State Department support to El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and the region writ large. The budget proposed to cut 36%, 43%, 29% and 74% from each of those budgets, respectively, in 2018, and another 16% for Guatemala and 84% for the region in 2019.

Trump on Tuesday said he would consider cutting aid off if countries do not cooperate enough to his liking.

"The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our 'Weak Laws' Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!" Trump tweeted Tuesday.

Trade

One of the more difficult to assess areas of the administration's policies is trade. Trump has repeatedly threatened to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement that includes Mexico, but has been quiet about the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which generally favors the US.

Still, the improvement of the Mexican economy has been a major stabilizing force in the region, and is part of why net migration from Mexico to the US is near zero in recent years and why the Mexican government is able to stop and deport large numbers of Central Americans before they reach the US. If US-Mexico relations were to sour or a trade war to ensue, the results could be unpredictable and potentially drive more Mexicans and Central Americans north.

"Mexico is a big player in that region, the big story is how out-migration from Mexico has gone down," Shifter said. "I think if there are economic pressures that get worse, that could change. So all of these things are interconnected in a way. ... You just can't close off from these countries and say we're not going to give you aid and review our trade agreements, that simply is not going to work over the long term and in fact is going to be self-defeating."The leaders of three major players in Syria -- Russia, Iran and Turkey -- ended a summit Wednesday with a commitment to achieving a "lasting ceasefire" in Syria, even as the future role of US forces in the country remains in doubt.

The meeting in the Turkish capital Ankara brought together two of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's strongest supporters -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani -- with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which backs some rebel forces.

At a joint news conference, the three leaders reiterated the need to drive "terrorists" out of Syria, to find a political solution to the seven-year-old conflict and to aid Syria's beleaguered civilian population. They also stressed their respect for Syria's sovereignty.

"We should help the future of Syria. No country has the right to decide the future of Syria. The future of Syria belongs to the Syrian people," said Rouhani.

Notably absent from the talks, which followed on from a trilateral summit in Sochi last November, were representatives from Syria itself and from the United States, another important player in the conflict.

US President Donald Trump surprised military leaders last week when he said the US would "be coming out of Syria like very soon," just hours after the Pentagon highlighted the need for US troops to remain in the country for the immediate future.

Conflicting messages from US

In remarks at the White House on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his desire to pull US troops from Syria, telling reporters that "it's time" for them to come home. "I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation," he said.

The US President also suggested that if Saudi Arabia wanted US forces to remain in Syria, it should help meet the cost.

Tuesday's remarks came only minutes after Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy for defeating ISIS, delivered a contrasting message at the US Institute for Peace in Washington. "In terms of our campaign in Syria, we are in Syria to fight ISIS. That is our mission. And our mission isn't over, and we're going to complete that mission," he said.

Trump told his national security team in a meeting on Tuesday that he was willing to keep US troops in Syria in the short term, but made it known he wants US troops to exit soon, a senior administration official told CNN on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Trump said he wanted to defeat ISIS but that the costs of stabilizing Syria must be borne by regional players.

Officials have warned Trump that the likes of Iran, Turkey and Russia could use a US withdrawal to advance their own strategic interests in Syria.

As Rouhani, Erdogan and Putin met Wednesday, the UN humanitarian adviser for Syria, Jan Egeland, warned against losing sight of the awful plight of Syria's civilians as its intractable civil conflict grinds on.

More than half a million people have been displaced this year alone in and around Eastern Ghouta, Idlib and Afrin -- where the fighting has been focused -- Egeland told a news conference Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland. "This is the very wrong time to turn our back on Syria's civilians," he said.

The humanitarian operation in Syria is "acutely" underfunded, he added, as he described the "terrible" living conditions faced by some 80,000 people who fled Eastern Ghouta for shelters in government-held areas.

The Syrian government has claimed that members of the last remaining and most powerful rebel group in Eastern Ghouta are in the process of leaving, though that account was disputed by an activist on the ground who said those evacuated this week were humanitarian cases.

On Monday, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that 20 buses carrying 1,065 Jaish al-Islam fighters and their families had left Douma, the enclave's largest city, for al-Wafideen crossing. SANA said the buses were headed to Jarablus in northern Syria.

On Tuesday, a CNN crew in Syria witnessed half a dozen buses leaving Douma. The government said the passengers were Jaish al-Islam fighters.

The state media reports have not been confirmed by Jaish al-Islam. The group's representatives previously told CNN they were negotiating with the Russians on a deal that would allow them to stay in Douma.

The removal of Jaish al-Islam would be a milestone for the Syrian regime, which has assailed the rebel-held area for weeks to regain control of the battered region.VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A Working Group delegation representing stakeholders from Langara College, UBC-Okanagan, BCIT, and Capilano University simultaneously marched to the offices of their administrators Wednesday to deliver a series of recommendations urging Management to adopt a socially responsible approach in its tendering process by implementing a Living Wage for all workers on campus and not awarding contracts to Bad Employers.



Its terrible that our colleges and universities rely on poverty wages for the cleaning staff to keep our campus clean. Its even worse that the company our administrators contracted the work to has actively interfered in workers attempts to join the trade union of their choice, said Bradley Hughes, an instructor at Langara College.

Everyone on campus benefits if we are all paid a living wage and are part of legitimate trade unions. Our administration has an obligation to require its contractors to pay a living wage and to behave ethically on campus, Hughes added.

The working group delegation was joined by a handful of supporters at each campus as they delivered the list of recommendations attached to a makeshift trophy in the shape of a trash can, meant to represent the garbage policies of the institutions that have subjected the most vulnerable workers on the campus communities to poverty.

At UBCO, Best Service Pros cleaners were also able to join the Student Union, faculty and staff in delivering the recommendations and spoke about their experience as janitors at UBCO and struggle on the ground to fight for better working conditions.

Michael Gauld, the Arts Faculty Representative of the UBCO Student Union explains that as students of a leading global university, we can and should expect more from the administration. If we are to be global citizens, we need to first look at our campuses and communities. If the institution wants to put itself forward as a leader, it has to face the truth that workers on our campus are not treated fairly and deserve better. That is why we are calling on UBCO to review their contracting practices and to critically view their role in these issues.

For the last two weeks, members of the solidarity working group at each campus have been mobilizing for the Day of Action through tabling, petitioning and engaging with students, faculty and unions at their respective campuses.

This working group is doing a very important thing by bringing to light the social costs of poverty working conditions, explains Alan Stewart, who works as a Research Analyst at BCIT and participated in the one-day conference. As a post-secondary institution whose sole purpose is to educate the next generation of brilliant minds, the last thing we want to be teaching is that it's okay to achieve this by exploiting workers.

VCC had also set up a table at the downtown campus to raise awareness on the issue and do more petitioning. So far, over 700 students, faculty and supporters have directly emailed their administrators at the five respective campuses over the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, at Capilano University, students from the Student Workers Alliance Group (SWAG) led the way in delivering the recommendations to the Presidents office. SWAG has been one of the key groups supporting Best Service Pros cleaners at Capilano University and pushing forward a Living Wage for all direct and contracted workers on campus.

The launching of SEIUs Justice for Janitors campaign on post-secondary campuses cleaned by Best Service Pros has led a group of concerned academics, staff and students to come together and create an ad-hoc solidarity working group.

BCIT FSA members expect to be treated fairly and to have a say in their working conditions through collective bargaining. If the BCIT administration allows the lowest paid workers on campus to be stuck in a 10-year long contract that was negotiated without the employees' consent, then we know that free and fair collective bargaining is not valued by this Employer. We cannot allow BCIT to stand by while bargaining rights on campus are being eroded by Best Service Pros and their friends at CLAC, said Paul Reniers, the Executive Director of the BCIT Faculty & Staff Association.

Under the slogan, Justice Begins on Our Campuses, the working group held a one-day conference on Saturday March 17, 2018 at the Vancouver Community College Downtown Campus, where together, they developed and discussed the series of recommendations.

SEIUs Justice for Janitors is a movement of workers that has successfully organized to improve wages, benefits, and job security for over 7,000 janitors across Canada. SEIUs goal is to organize all janitors in BC, so together, workers can raise industry standards and reverse the race to the bottom.

For more information, please visit www.bestworkersdeservebetter.com



Contact Information

Zoe Luba: 604-360-2690, zluba@seiulocal2.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/34c86d2e-4eb4-446d-b6e1-57730b5103bbMIAMI (WTXL) - The parents of a woman killed in last month's South Florida bridge collapse, file a lawsuit against several companies connected to the tragedy.

Florida International University freshman Alexa Duran was driving her SUV under the bridge when it came crashing down.

She was one of six people killed, and her parents are the sixth family to file a lawsuit.

The bridge collapse was followed by details about pre-existing concerns regarding the bridge's 'structural integrity'.

FIU revealed that a discussion had occurred about a crack in the bridge just hours before it collapsed.(RNN) - The shooter who opened fire at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, CA, Tuesday afternoon has been identified as 39-year-old Nasim Aghdam, according to San Bruno Police.

Police say they are investigating a motive for the shooting, and at this time, there is no evidence Aghdam knew the victims or that anyone was specifically targeted.

Aghdam's father told the Bay Area News Group he warned police his daughter might be going to YouTube headquarters because she "hated" the company, the Associated Press reports. He says she was angry because YouTube stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform.

The AP initially reported police were investigating the incident as a domestic dispute.

The shooter left three people wounded before taking her own life. Police Chief Ed Barberini said the woman believed to be the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Zach Vorhies, a senior software engineer at YouTube, told the AP that he and others were calmly leaving the building after a fire alarm went off, when he saw a shooter in the courtyard yelling, "Come at me, or come get me."

Vorhies then saw a victim lying on his back with a possible gunshot wound to his stomach. Soon after, an officer carrying an assault rifle walked through a security door.

The San Francisco Chronicle described the victims as two women, ages 32 and 27, and a 36-year-old man.

The women are in serious condition and the man is listed as critical.

Reports of the shooting came in at 12:46 p.m. PT, just as lunch hour was ending.

Stanford Hospital says it has received patients from a shooting at YouTube headquarters, according to the AP.

San Francisco General Hospital spokesman Brent Andrew told KPIX the hospital received patients from the incident but could not confirm a number.

Todd Sherman, an employee at YouTube, tweeted about the ordeal. He was sitting in a meeting when he heard people running.

He first thought it was an earthquake. But when he left the room, he saw more people running and figured it was not some kind of drill.

As he headed toward the exit, someone informed him there was a person with a gun.

He looked down and could see blood drops on the floor and stairs.

Employees are exiting the building with their hands up and are being frisked by police.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told White House reporters that President Trump has been briefed on the shooting. He later tweeted about the incident.

YouTube is a free video sharing and streaming service. Originally created in 2005, YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the web. Visitors watch billions of hours of video every month.

YouTube also has a TV service that streams network programming.

Google, who purchased YouTube in November 2006 in a stock deal that was worth about $1.65 billion, tweeted that it is coordinating with authorities. YouTube employs 1,100 people at the campus.

Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.

____________________________________________________

(RNN) - Police in San Bruno, CA, are responding to a shooting at YouTube's headquarters.

Reports of the shooting came in at 1 p.m. PT, just as lunch hour was ending.

The suspect in a shooting at YouTube's headquarters in California's Bay Area is believed to be a woman who was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Stanford Hospital says it has received four to five patients from a shooting at YouTube headquarters, according to the Associated Press.

San Francisco General Hospital spokesman Brent Andrew told KPIX the hospital received patients from the incident but could not confirm a number.

KRON is reporting a woman was shot and crawled to Carl's Jr. next door.

We are responding to an active shooter. Please stay away from Cherry Ave & Bay Hill Drive.  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 3, 2018

Police activity at 901 Cherry Ave, please stay out of the area. pic.twitter.com/H6iAj0g7ra  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 3, 2018

Todd Sherman, an employee at YouTube, tweeted about the ordeal. He was sitting in a meeting when he heard people running.

He first thought it was an earthquake. But when he left the room, he saw more people running and figured it was not some kind of drill.

As he headed toward the exit, someone informed him there was a person with a gun.

He looked down and could see blood drops on the floor and stairs.

Police cruisers pull up, hopped out with rifles ready and I told them where the situation was as I headed down the street to meet up with a couple team members.  Todd Sherman (@tdd) April 3, 2018

Employees are exiting the building with their hands up and are being frisked by police.

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi tweeted about the incident.

My staff & I are closely following developments from the active shooter situation at YouTube HQ in San Bruno, CA. Thank you to our heroic first responders. Our Bay Area community  and all American communities  deserve real action to #EndGunViolence.  Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) April 3, 2018

The ATF is also responding to the shooting.

The ATF San Francisco Field Division is responding to a reported shooting at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif. pic.twitter.com/l7XabZ5FpI  ATF HQ (@ATFHQ) April 3, 2018

YouTube is a free video sharing and streaming service. Originally created in 2005, YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the web. Visitors watch billions of hours of video every month.

YouTube also has a TV service that streams network programming.

Google, who purchased YouTube in November 2006 in a stock deal that was worth about $1.65 billion, tweeted that it is coordinating with authorities. YouTube employs 1,100 people at the campus.

Re: YouTube situation, we are coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available.  Google Communications (@Google_Comms) April 3, 2018

Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.

SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on reports of a shooting at YouTube headquarters (all times local):

1:50 p.m.

Police in Northern California say they're responding to an active shooter at YouTube headquarters.

The San Bruno Police Department told people on Facebook to stay away from the area Tuesday. There was no other immediate information.

Google, which owns the online video website, posted on Twitter that the company is coordinating with authorities.

City Manager Connie Jackson says there have been multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting and that police and fire officials have responded.

Television images showed people leaving the building in a line, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building. Officers then patted down people grouped outside.ST. PETERSBURG, FL (WFLA/CNN) - The peace and serenity of the lapping waters drew Marilyn and Jack Frieman to their Florida home 40 years ago.

But all that came to a crashing halt.

My grandson came screaming. I mean, it affected him so terribly, Marilyn Frieman explained. He was just crying and screaming and he was yelling about Bucky."

Otters had crept up into their backyard and attacked Bucky, the couple's 13-year-old Papillon.

The Friemans ran to catch a glimpse of the offending creatures.

"One got off the pavement, ran into the pool, jumped out of the pool and jumped into the bay," Jack Frieman said.

They rushed a bleeding and badly injured Bucky to a 24-hour emergency vet, but it was too late.

Now, the retirees only have photos of Bucky, his dog toys and his empty cage to remind them of the dog they cherished.

"It's been shattering for me. Every time I think of him I, start crying," Jack Frieman said.

Aren't otters supposed to be carefree, lovable, playful animals?

Earlier this month, one attacked kayakers on the Braden River.

"I think that people should watch out for their pets, Jack Fieman stressed. Every time I see someone with a dog, I tell them, If you live on the water, please look out for that."

Copyright 2018 WFLA via CNN. All rights reserved.(RNN) - A social studies teacher who allegedly hosted a white supremacist podcast has resigned.

Dayanna Volitich submitted her resignation Monday. Charles E. Moore, Volitich's attorney, didnt comment on her resignation letter.

The Citrus County School District had removed the 25-year-old teacher from her classroom at Crystal River Middle School while it investigated allegations that she bragged about disseminating white supremacist ideas to her students while hiding her views from school administrators.

The Huffington Post first reported last month that Volitich had revealed those details on the podcast Unapologetic, in which she went by the pseudonym Tiana Dalichov.

Volitich also allegedly made racist remarks on Unapologetic and a related Twitter account, which is now deleted. She later attributed her remarks to political satire meant to attract followers.

Volitichs resignation isnt final until the school board approves it, which it could do during its April 10 meeting.

Volitch has taught at the school for more than a year, said Michael Mullen, the Citrus County Schools assistant superintendent.

Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.GWINNETT COUNTY, GA (WSB/CNN) - A Georgia woman and her alleged lover, who was also a family friend, were denied bond on charges of murder in the November shooting death of the womans husband.

Police Detective David Smith says since he first began interviewing Tia Young and Harvey Tim Lee about the death of the formers husband, their stories just didnt add up.

"The inconsistencies came from how they found the body, when they found the body and what time the 911 call came in, Smith said.

Tia Young claimed she and her three sons were asleep upstairs while Lee, who lived with the family, was downstairs on his laptop, when her husband, George Young, was killed in November 2017.

As he returned home from his private security job, George Young was fatally shot on his front porch.

Hours after the murder, Tia Young appeared distraught as she told reporters she suspected a robbery.

"I don't know. I don't know how I'm going to do it by myself, she said in the interview.

But police say those words were fake and that Tia Young and Lee murdered her husband because they were having an affair. The two had known each other from early adulthood, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

"They were both involved, maybe not necessarily one more than the other, but they had been talking about it for some time, Smith said.

The two allegedly wanted George Youngs $1 million life insurance policy.

In court Tuesday afternoon both Tia Young and Tim Lee were given court-appointed attorneys. They are charged with malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault.

Copyright 2018 WSB, Gwinnett County Sheriffs Office, Family photos via CNN. All rights reserved. Raycom News Network contributed to this report.State auditor candidate stops by Worland Saturday

WORLAND - Cheyenne resident Jeff Dockter and Democratic candidate for state auditor hopes to visit all 99 incorporated municipalities this year.

Dockter, who came to Worland late Friday night to attend Saturday's Washakie County Democratic Convention, said he is running primarily a grassroots campaign in which he wants to get to know the state of Wyoming. His co-pilot is his wife of 12 years, Jenny.

He said he hopes to visit all 99 communities between now and the general election in November, but added he does not want to be presumptuous in case another Democrat comes in to the race so he will be working to visit as many as possible before the Aug. 21 primary. He said he's starting with attending the county democratic conventions, his first in Johnson County a week ago and Washakie County on Saturday. Still working full time, Dockter said he and his wife hit the road at 5 p.m. on Fridays.

"I've been thinking about running for office for some time," Dockter said during an interview at the Worland Community Center Complex. He said he wanted to find a position where he could use his 15 years in state government as well as make a difference in the lives of the state residents.

In an interview with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, when he first announced his campaign, Dockter cites his work in state government in the Department of Family Services and Enterprise Technology Services and as a program manager as qualifying traits for the auditor's office.

In Saturday's interview Dockter noted that he inherited a system that took 45-60 days to process payments to vendors and he was able to cut that time down to about four hours.

Dockter also holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Montana and a master's from the University of Wyoming in public administration.

While no official accounting or business degrees, Dockter said his experience preparing budgets and program audits for the Weatherization Assistance Program at DFS will be an asset in the position.

Dockter, who grew up in Circle, Montana, and moved to Wyoming 20 years ago, said he felt the time was right. "I'll be 47 next month and it just feels like the right time."

If elected, Dockter said one of his goals is to make the state auditor's office more innovative and interactive. "I want it be more business friendly and make information available so communities have access to information about how state money is being spent in their communities," Dockter said.

Along with innovation, Dockter is also emphasizing transparency in government. "Decisions need to be made in such a matter that the process is transparent," he said, adding that it is also important to get the appropriate feedback before making decisions.

Jenny Dockter said Jeff has mentioned running for office since she met him 15 years ago.

"I've worked in state government for 21 years and worked with the state auditor's office. The auditor's office is the perfect fit for him," she said, noting his experience in overseeing LEIAP (low income energy assistance program) and his ability and experience in understanding the state's compliance programs and issues.

She added, "The public doesn't understand the importance of the auditor position." She said every report in the state goes through the state's accounting system and it is important that the accounting system is updated and run efficiently. "If the state audit and accounting system is not working, the government shuts down," she said, noting that all state payments go through the state auditor's office.

She said Jeff's work at the state government level has given him the experience to understand how the accounting systems at the state and federal levels work and that's important for the state auditor position.

"I believe in good government. That's where my passion is, to improve the processes and to improve efficiency."

Currently no other Democrat has announced for the position. State Rep. Nathan Winters of Thermopolis announced last week he would not seek re-election to the legislature but rather seek the Republican nomination for state auditor.

Winters stated that current state auditor, Cynthia Cloud, has indicated she would not seek a third term.

Jeff Dockter and Jenny live in Cheyenne. Together, they have two children and five grandchildren.With all the talk of Washingtons expelling Russian diplomats , its easy to overlook Afghanistan, an area in which Russia and the United States have butted heads for years. The list of things that confound their cooperation there is long, but perhaps no issue is more important now than the Islamic State.

The United States and Russia have profoundly different views on just how strong, and therefore what kind of threat, the Islamic State in Afghanistan poses. Russias foreign minister described it as rather serious, noting that the groups ranks have swelled into the thousands, aided in part by an influx of foreign fighters. The United States disagrees. Washington understands that there is an IS presence in Afghanistan but maintains that most of the fighters were already in the country fighting for groups like the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Washington says they simply fight under a new banner. The distinction may seem trivial, but the way each country frames the IS presence in Afghanistan corresponds with its strategic interests. An Abiding Peace Russia has two objectives in Afghanistan. The first is to prevent Islamist extremism from consuming Central Asia. Moscow already fights jihadists in the Caucasus , so the last thing it wants is to open up another and much larger front to the east in a region that is predisposed to extremist activity. For the past 25 years or so, strong central governments have largely kept extremists in check, but there are signs that that may soon change. Kyrgyz media recently noted that the number of extremist and terrorist subjects in Kyrgyzstan has increased literally exponentially in the past eight years. Kazakhstan recently allocated $840 million over the next four years to a state program meant to counter religious extremism and terrorism.

This may not be much, but any counterterrorism assistance is welcome news for Russia, which can do only so much to tackle the Islamic State in Afghanistan head on. The government has no desire to enter yet another military conflict, bogged down as it is in Syria , and it has even less appetite for the domestic blowback such a campaign would incur. And that is to say nothing of how difficult it is to subdue Afghanistan even with a fully supported campaign.

This is partly why Russia advocates the Talibans participation in the Afghan peace talks. Supporting the Taliban, even informally, props the group up as it fights the Islamic State itself. The Islamic State is particularly active in the provinces of Jowzjan, Kunduz, Badakhshan and Takhar, all of which are near the border of Tajikistan, where Russia holds military exercises.

( click to enlarge ) The other reason Russia supports the Taliban dovetails nicely into its second objective in Afghanistan: preventing the U.S. departure there for as long as possible. Russian cant really compete with the U.S. military, so it practices a foreign policy of disruption , inserting itself into areas and conflicts not to win them outright but to preoccupy Washington and gain leverage in areas that are more important to its interest, such as Ukraine. The longer the U.S. remains in Afghanistan, the longer its military resources will be spent in the very area Russia wants extremism to be relegated to. By emphasizing the threat of the Islamic State, Moscow is sounding an alarm that attracts the attention of the rest of the international community and forces the U.S. to address yet another security issue.

Its a simple but effective ploy. The past few years have demonstrated that where there is the Islamic State, there is cause for international involvement, and international involvement demands that the United States remain in Afghanistan when it would rather leave. The desired outcome for Washington is a negotiated settlement between the Taliban and the Afghan government, one that would enable the U.S. to save face in ways it did not in Iraq, where a power vacuum created a more formidable enemy than the government Washington deposed, and would allow it to keep a limited military presence in the country. Such a presence would give Washington the option of helping to keep jihadists in check and, perhaps as important, give it enhanced strike capability over nearby targets in the future.

The more parties get involved in Afghanistan, the more difficult it will be to reach a peace settlement that everyone can abide. Washington naturally wants whats best for Washington, so it needs near-unilateral control over Kabuls military and political operations  hence its version of events in Afghanistan. Saying the Islamic State is just the same old fighters in a new uniform downplays the threat it poses, obviating the need for the involvement that parties hostile to U.S. interests may offer. Crossing Borders Waiting in the wings is Iran, which of course has interests of its own. Iran wants to expand throughout the region and needs to protect its eastern border from any threats originating in Afghanistan. It must therefore consider what a settlement in Afghanistan may look like, especially if it entails a U.S. withdrawal, however remote a possibility that may be. Tehran, constituted as it is by Shiites, does not want to see a Sunni government take control in Kabul, let alone one with U.S. ties. Iran cannot prevent that from happening, but it can create a buffer space or a proxy force near the border to secure its territory. In fact, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps already operates in Farrah province alongside the Taliban. Moreover, Tehran has been actively recruiting Afghan fighters for the Fatemiyoun brigades, which fight in Syria. Both of these moves sow the seeds of a future Iranian proxy group to operate in Afghanistan (or in a potential conflict in Pakistan).

Then there is China, which is likewise preparing to capitalize on any potential peace agreement. As with Russia, Chinas primary interest in Afghanistan is to make sure extremism stays in Afghanistan. It can ill afford militants crossing the border into Tajikistan, where they could then move into China. The East Turkistan Islamic Movement seeks to establish an Islamic state in the territory of East Turkestan and parts of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in China. The Chinese government has Xinjiang effectively on lockdown, but it is still keen to prevent local militants from organizing abroad or finding support from beyond Chinese borders. To that end, it signed an agreement with Tajikistan in 2015 for the construction of 10 border posts along the common border with Afghanistan and one training center for Tajik border troops. Some reports also indicate plans to build a Chinese military base in the Afghan province of Badakhshan.

Stability in Central Asia also benefits China commercially. Beijings One Belt, One Road initiative and its special economic corridor to Pakistan both run through Afghanistan. Moreover, several of Beijings mining operations in Afghanistan have been delayed because of instability, and China, which consumes vast amounts of natural resources, is keen to bring them back online.

With so many countries engaged in Afghanistan, its little surprise that the shared desire to start settlement talks is gaining traction. Even the Taliban have openly expressed an interest for the United States to enter into peace talks  even if it was just to get Washington out of the country. The Afghan government, for its part, has expressed its interest in reaching some degree of political solution with the Taliban and has welcomed Russian calls for a trilateral meeting between the Russian, U.S. and Afghan governments. But U.S.-Russia relations could get in the way of a resolution. Partly that is by design. One way or another, their differences will need to be either overlooked or overcome before any settlement can be reached.WHS students selected for UW summer high school institute

WORLAND  Worland High School sophomores Jonathan Anderson, Karter Dunham, Caleb Fraser and Talon Anderson have been selected to fill four of the 85 spots available for the UW (University of Wyoming) summer high school institute in Laramie this summer. The UW summer high school institute is a program, which began in 1985, designed to offer intellectually talented high school students a challenging and enriching educational experience.

To be selected for the honor, the students sent an application letter, essay and two letters of recommendation. Their academic performance and extracurricular activities also played a large part in being selected.

Worland High School counselor Andrea Bilodeau stated that as far as she knows, Worland High School has never had so many students selected for the honor. Usually its one or two students selected, but never four, Bilodeau said.

According to the UW website, Scholars from all over the state of Wyoming come together on the University of Wyoming campus for three weeks to experience college life. Students will take college classes, stay in the dorms, participate in community service and attend events both on and off campus. Our goal is to provide a self-discovery atmosphere for a variety of scholars who would relish a challenge or may need a little push to be challenged. The array of activities that scholars participate in are designed to push the limits of the student as a whole, and help each individual learn more about themselves as they move into their junior year.

UW offers them an opportunity to achieve intellectual and personal growth, cultivate their leadership capabilities and measure their capacities and interests.ADDIS ABABA, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's new prime minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday stressed Ethiopia's commitment to reconcile with its neighbor Eritrea.

Ahmed, addressing the Ethiopian House of People's Representatives, extended an invitation to the Eritrean government towards dialogue and solving misunderstandings.

"We are fully committed to reconcile with our Eritrean brothers and sisters and extended an invitation to the Eritrean government to start dialogue and establish rapport," Ahmed said.

Eritrea, once part of the Ethiopian federation before its independence in 1993, has had tense relations with Ethiopia that had been exacerbated by border dispute, which resulted in a border war between 1998 and 2000 that killed an estimated 70,000 people from both sides.

The Ethiopian government often alleges Eritrea of funding outlawed rebel groups, while the Eritrean government accuses Ethiopia of supporting Eritrean rebels and running an international campaign to isolate the Red Sea nation.

Ahmed stressed that Ethiopia "must actively seek peace within our borders and outside."VIENNA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Unemployment in Austria has seen a 7.5 percent year-over-year decline for March, as the number of jobless persons drops to 398,503, according to data released on Tuesday by the social affairs ministry.

In addition, the number of available jobs saw a 2.7-percent increase last month to take the total number of non-self-employed persons in the country to a record high of over 3.7 million.

Also notable was a large 17.2-percent decline in unemployment for persons aged 25 and below, while that of persons aged 50 and over fell a more modest 5.4 percent. The latter category remains a problem area however, responsible for almost one in every three unemployed persons.

In keeping with recent trends, Austrian nationals saw a significantly higher 10.5-percent decline in their unemployed than did foreigners on 5.7 percent.

The unemployment drop was observable in all states of the country, with Tyrol recording the most significant drop of 25.4 percent, while the capital Vienna saw a notably lesser six-percent decline.

Social Affairs Minister Beate Hartinger-Klein said in response to the figures that Austria is on a "good path", though there is still a discrepancy between the qualifications needed for available jobs, and those that many job seekers possess.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 01:58:13|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey (L) and Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia attend a joint press conference after their meeting in Algiers, Algeria, April 3, 2018. Algeria and Spain on Tuesday inked five draft agreements to boost economic cooperation, during the visit of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey to Algiers. (Xinhua)

ALGIERS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Algeria and Spain on Tuesday inked five draft agreements to boost economic cooperation, during the visit of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey to Algiers.

The deals were signed on the sidelines of the 7th Algerian-Spanish High Level Meeting held on Tuesday in Algiers and co-chaired by Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and his visiting Spanish counterpart.

The draft agreements aim to enhance bilateral cooperation in the sectors of industry, agricultural insurance, vocational training, higher education and scientific research.

In his opening remarks, Ouyahia hailed "remarkable quality of bilateral cooperation which is harmoniously progressing, as we have signed in recent years some 50 cooperation agreements in almost all sectors."

"Our historical relations are based on the Treaty of Friendship for Good Neighborhood and Cooperation, concluded between the two countries in 2002," said Ouyahia.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey on Tuesday arrived in Algeria to boost bilateral relations.

In 2017, Spain was ranked the third biggest customer of Algeria with a total of 4.1 billion U.S. dollars, and the fifth biggest supplier of the North African nation with 3.1 billion dollars.

Yet, Spain overcame Italy in the first two months of 2018 to become Algeria's biggest customer, according to figures of Algerian customs.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 02:18:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Tuesday strongly condemned the attack against the temporary base of the UN mission in Tagbara in the Central African Republic (CAR), which resulted in the death of one peacekeeper.

"The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the family of the fallen peacekeeper and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at the daily news briefing.

Early on Tuesday morning, the temporary base of the UN mission in Tagbara, which is 60 kilometers northeast of Bambari, was attacked by anti-balaka fighters, which are terrorists based in the CAR said to be composed primarily of Christians.

Peacekeepers fired back and after several hours of exchange of fire, one peacekeeper was killed and 11 others were injured, said Dujarric.

Separately, the UN mission later discovered the bodies of 21 civilians, including four women and four children in Tagbara, he said.

On Monday evening, UN peacekeepers had been informed that the UPC group (Unite pour la Centrafrique) had detained 23 people, including 13 women and three children. These people were released peacefully to the UN mission and spent the night at the UN temporary base to guarantee their safety, Dujarric added.

On Saturday, UN peacekeepers and the CAR forces rescued 15 people who had been taken hostage by the Lord's Resistance Army, said Dujarric, adding that 15 Central Africans had been taken hostage in the village of Koumbou, near the town of Obo.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 02:33:20|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is preparing for a transition of its mission in Haiti to a non-peacekeeping presence given the return of stability in the Caribbean country, said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, on Tuesday.

"A broadly consulted and owned, benchmark-based exit remains the right approach to preserving the stabilization and peacebuilding gains achieved over a decade in Haiti," Lacroix told the Security Council. "We are determined to ensure ... that Minujusth be the last peacekeeping operation deployed in Haiti."

Minujusth (the UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti) is already a smaller police mission than its predecessor, the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (Minustah), which was composed of military personnel. Minujusth replaced Minustah on Oct. 16, 2017.

Briefing the Security Council, Lacroix said the new mission is fully operational and is actively implementing its mandate of assisting the Haitian government to strengthen rule of law institutions, further developing the national police and advancing human rights.

Lacroix cautioned that alongside opportunities, there remain challenges and risks, especially in the context of a transition of the UN peacekeeping mission.

Haiti has come a long way to achieve the relative political and security stability it is now enjoying. But persistent economic uncertainties, which can result in social exclusion, particularly of youth and the most vulnerable, may undermine this progress, he warned.

The work of the Legislature has recently slowed down, characterized by disagreements over procedural issues. The anticipated holding of elections in the last quarter of 2019 to possibly renew the Legislature could lead to a more polarized political landscape, creating an environment less conducive to addressing systemic challenges to the rule of law, he warned.

The Security Council is due to renew the mandate of Minujusth, which expires on April 15, 2018.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 02:43:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Buses have prepared on Tuesday to transfer the second batch of the Islam Army rebels and their families from the district of Douma, the last rebel-held area in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta.

Buses waited at the Wafideen crossing northeast of Damascus for the second batch of the rebels to move out of the adjacent Douma district, a day after more than 1,400 Islam Army militants and their families left toward the rebel-held city of Jarablus in northern Syria near the Turkish border.

The evacuation of the rebels and their families from Douma comes after a deal was reached on Sunday between the Islam Army militants and the Syrian army under the mediation of Russia.

Douma is the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta, after other towns in that sprawling countryside have seen the evacuation of all the rebels and their families toward Idlib Province in northwestern Syria.

The Syrian army launched a massive operation late in February on the rebels in Eastern Ghouta and secured the evacuation of 150,000 civilians who were hosted in government-run shelters until the situation settles in their areas in Eastern Ghouta for their return.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, used to be occupied by several rebel groups, who posed the last threat to the capital by firing shells into Damascus' government-controlled neighborhoods.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 04:18:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,198 militants with the Islam Army rebel group and their families evacuated Douma in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta on Tuesday toward a rebel-held city in northern Syria, state news agency SANA reported.

24 Buses transported the rebels and their families from Douma through the government-controlled Wafideen crossing northeast of Damascus, a day after over 1,130 Islam Army militants and their families left toward the rebel-held city of Jarablus in northern Syria near the Turkish border.

The evacuation of the rebels and their families from Douma comes as a deal was reached on Sunday between the Islam Army militants and the Syrian army under the mediation of Russia.

Douma is the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta, after other towns in that sprawling countryside have seen the evacuation of all the rebels and their families toward Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

The Syrian army launched a massive operation last late in February on the rebels in Eastern Ghouta and secured the evacuation of 150,000 civilians who were hosted in government-run shelters until the situation settles in their areas in Eastern Ghouta for their return.

Eastern Ghouta, a 105-square-km agricultural region consisting of several towns and farmlands, poses the last threat to the capital due to its proximity to government-controlled neighborhoods east of Damascus and ongoing mortar attacks that target residential areas in the capital, pushing people over the edge.RABAT, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Moroccan police have seized a record of 241,319 ecstasy pills at the northern Tangier-Med port, the Moroccan official MAP news agency reported on Tuesday.

Coming from Europe, the illicit substance was on board of a four-wheel drive bound to Morocco, the report said citing a statement from the police.

Two people boarding the vehicle were arrested, it added.

"This operation is part of sustained efforts by the security services to fight against international criminal networks operating in psychotropic drug trafficking," it said.PRAGUE, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Czech government on Tuesday has officially acquired 7.1-hectare land of a former pig farm located on the site of a WWII concentration camp in Lety in Pisek, a town 100 km south of Prague.

The Museum of Romani Culture, a Czech-based state-funded organization, confirmed the handover on Tuesday on behalf of Jana Horvathova, the museum director.

Horvathova said the representatives of the museum signed the required transfer protocols and started to take over the premisses on Tuesday from the previous owner AGPI, a company specialized in the production of pork, fresh chicken eggs and others

She said that the pig farm shall be completely demolished by the end of the year. A monument to the Romani Holocaust will be created on the site later this year.

She added that "the cooperation with AGPI went very well, the area is prepared for disposal now, everything should go smoothly."

According to the AGPI vice chairman Jan Cech, the state offered the installment payment plan, which includes the first 80 percent of the purchase price of 450.8 million crowns (21.88 million U.S.dollars) to be received by April 16, the next 10 percent - within 30 days of Tuesday's handover, and the remaining 10 percent be transferred as soon as the land is completely unoccupied.

According to Horvathova, the demolition of the pig farm will cost the state additional 110 million crowns (5.3 million U.S.dollars), as well as 1.5 million crows (72,800 U.S.dollars) for a required archaeological site survey to be carried out by the end of June.

The memorial is planned to include a visitor center with an exhibition with archaeological findings, and a lectures hall for the group visitors. The form and symbols of the memorial will also be discussed on April 25 at a public meeting in Lety. Most likely, as Horvathova said, the Memorial to the Romani Holocaust could include a replica of the original barracks, alleys, or a mound with a cross.

The camp in Lety was opened in August 1940 as a working camp under the protectorate of Nazi Germany during the WWII. Since May 1943, over 1,300 Romani had passed the camp, and 327 of them died. (1 U.S. dollar = 20.6 Czech crowns)HELSINKI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- As a friendly gesture to immigrants, Finland has just opened door to those who want to move from outside the European Union to Finland to establish a startup company in the country.

Jukka Hayrynen, director for startups at Business Finland, said on Tuesday that his organization, upon receiving an application, would send a response within ten days.

Founded in early 2018, Business Finland is a governmental organization promoting Finnish business. It comprises a government budgeted innovation fund and a separate incorporated part.

Under the new regulation that took effect in the beginning of April, Business Finland must issue an assessment of eligibility to the applicant. If the response is positive, the applicant should attach the statement to his or her residence permit application. The Finnish immigration authority will assure the process is completed within a month.

Hayrynen told business daily Kauppalehti that before the regulation was activated on April 1, there was no channel for startup-based immigration to Finland. Business Finland said it had already received inquiries from Russia.

The residence permit in this situation would be valid for two years. Hayrynen told Kauppalehti that a period of two years is enough for the business nature of the startup to emerge.

In making its decision for endorsing or not, Business Finland will evaluate the growth potential of the would-be company and its business model. The statement will be valid for two months.

The newly established fast track does not involve any public financial support. But having started in Finland, an enterprise can apply for public startup funding.

Koopee Hiltunen, director of Neogames, a cover organization of the Finnish game industry, told Kauppalehti the new system hardly brings a rush of game industry entrepreneurs to Finland. "But in the future, many countries will be competing about skilled people, and small things such as a fast process may turn the scale in favor of choosing Finland."

The new regulation is also expected to benefit non-EU graduates in Finland. "After graduation they have a window to get work. We want to encourage them to remain in Finland," said Hayrynen.WASHIGNTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday showed mixed attitude toward Russia, emphasizing his toughness on Moscow while expecting better bilateral relations.

"Probably nobody's been tougher to Russia than Donald Trump," said Trump at the White House in a working luncheon with visiting leaders from three Baltic countries.

Meanwhile, Trump said "ideally, we want to be able to get along with Russia. Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing."

"I think I could have a very good relationship with President (Vladimir) Putin," noted Trump later in the day at a joint press conference with the leaders from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Relationship between Washington and Moscow has plunged to a new low, as the United States expelled 60 Russian diplomats and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle in a concerted action with Britain and other Western nations over an ex-spy poisoning case.

Moscow retaliated with the expulsion of an equal number of U.S. diplomats and the closure of the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg.

So far, Trump has kept from launching from direct verbal attack against Moscow over the poisoning attack.

Last week, Trump made a call to Putin to congratulate him on his re-election and offered to meet at several "potential venues" including the White House in the near future, despite strong opposition from senior national security advisors.A trader has a rest after market closing at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, on March 22, 2018. U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday, with the Dow plunging over 700 points, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to impose tariff on imported products from China. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday published a proposed list of Chinese goods subject to additional 25 percent tariffs amid strong opposition from China and U.S. business groups.

The proposed list covers approximately 1,300 products imported from China, including industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics, and machinery, the USTR's Office said in a statement, noting they're worth approximately 50 billion U.S. dollars of annual trade value.

China has stressed that it's ready to take any necessary measures to defend its legitimate interests, while hoping to properly handle the trade dispute with the United States through dialogue and consultation.

"We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of it. If someone insists on starting a trade war, we will fight till the end," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday.

The United States should stay rational, listen to calls from business communities and common people, discard unilateralism and trade protectionism, address the dispute through dialogue and consultation, and work with China for a healthy and steady development of bilateral trade to benefit both peoples, said the spokesman.

The proposed tariff list is based on a so-called Section 301 investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017.

U.S. President Donald Trump signs a memorandum on potential tariffs on Chinese goods at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States on March 22, 2018. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

Now it will undergo further review in a public notice and comment process, including a hearing, before the USTR issues a final determination on the Chinese products subject to additional tariffs, according to the USTR's Office.

Business groups from China and the United States in recent weeks have warned the Trump administration not to move forward its tariff plan on Chinese imports, as it would raise the costs for American consumers and companies as well as having a negative effect on the financial markets.

"Imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way" to address trade issues between the U.S. and China, Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday in a statement.

"The U.S. Chamber looks forward to working with the administration throughout the comment period to make the business community's voice heard on the U.S.-China economic relationship," Brilliant said.

Laptops made in China are on sale at a Best Buy store in New York, the United States, on March 22, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said last week that it would go through a 60-day comment period after the administration released the proposed tariff list and "there's hope" that trade talks between the United States and China could lead to a fruitful outcome.

While the United States and China have two "very different" economic systems, "it's very possible" that the U.S.-China trade relationship could end up in "a good place" after overcoming "a series of difficulties" over many years, Lighthizer said in an interview with CNBC.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 07:39:23|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the U.S. tariff proposals and is ready to take counter measures on U.S. products, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Wednesday.

A MOC spokesperson made the statement after the U.S. government announced the proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth 50 billion U.S. dollars with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

"Disregarding strong representations by China, the United States announced the tariff proposals that are completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes," according to the statement.

The U.S. side published the list in disregard of the mutually-beneficial and win-win nature of the China-U.S. trade and economic cooperation in the past 40 years, the appeal of the Chinese and American business communities and the interests of consumers, it said.

The move went against the interests of China, the United States and the world at large, seriously violating the basic principles and spirit of the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to the spokesperson.

China plans to immediately bring relevant U.S. practice to the dispute settlement body of the WTO, and is ready to take counter measures on U.S. products with equal force and scale that will be published in the coming days.

"We have the confidence and ability to respond to any U.S. trade protectionist measures," the spokesperson said.

Related:

U.S. releases proposed China tariff list amid strong opposition

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday published a proposed list of Chinese goods subject to additional 25 percent tariffs amid strong opposition from China and U.S. business groups. Full Story

U.S. tariff proposals typical unilateralist and protectionist action: spokesman

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The United States tariff proposals are "typical unilateralist and protectionist action" and China strongly condemns and firmly opposes such action, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday. Full Story

U.S. unilateral measures "intentionally" violate WTO's fundamental principles: Chinese diplomatSource: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 08:34:30|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the U.S. tariff proposals and is ready to take countermeasures on U.S. products, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Wednesday.

A MOC spokesperson made the statement after the U.S. administration announced a proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth 50 billion U.S. dollars with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

"Disregarding strong representations by China, the United States announced the tariff proposals that are completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes," according to the statement.

The U.S. side published the list in disregard of the mutually-beneficial and win-win nature of the China-U.S. commercial cooperation in the past 40 years, the appeal of the Chinese and American business communities and the interests of consumers, it said.

The move went against the interests of China, the United States and the world economy, seriously violating the basic principles and spirit of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

China plans to immediately bring relevant U.S. practice to the dispute settlement body of the WTO, and is ready to take countermeasures on U.S. products with equal force and scale that will be published in the coming days.

"We have the confidence and ability to respond to any U.S. trade protectionist measures," the spokesperson said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also made a response Wednesday, saying the U.S. tariff proposals are "typical unilateralist and protectionist action."

China strongly condemns and firmly opposes such action, Lu said.

Despite strong warnings from business groups and trade experts, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on March 22 that could impose tariffs on Chinese imports and restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States.

The memorandum is based on a Section 301 investigation, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017, into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices.

The move came after the U.S. administration took an increasingly hawkish turn on China, as it blamed its trade deficit with major trading partners for its domestic economic woes and job losses.

Related:

U.S. releases proposed China tariff list amid strong opposition

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday published a proposed list of Chinese goods subject to additional 25 percent tariffs amid strong opposition from China and U.S. business groups. Full Story

U.S. unilateral measures "intentionally" violate WTO's fundamental principles: Chinese diplomatPhoto taken on March 26, 2018 shows the cross-border Friendship Tunnel on China-Laos railway is under construction in Boten, Laos.

VIENTIANE, April 3 (Xinhua) -- After more than a year's construction, the China-Laos railway is taking shape in northern Laos bordering China.

"Now we have 2,401 staff and 603 sets of equipment at our construction sites," Zhou Xiaoxia, the superintendent of the China-Laos railway construction project's first section, told Xinhua on Monday by phone.

The superintendent from China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group (CREC 5) told Xinhua, up until the end of March, his unit had completed around 26 percent of the project section.

"For example, we have bored more than 14 km of tunnels which is 44 percent of the total and set up the lower portion of bridges which span more than 1,000 meters," said Zhou.

In 2018, Section One of the China-Laos railway project will see tunnels extended between 18 km and 20 km into the mountains and before Chinese New Year in February, 2019, the section will have bored through six tunnels, Huang Zongwen, a senior official with the China-Laos railway construction project told Xinhua during a tour to the construction sites.

He added that all the lower portions of the bridges, and the main roadbed work will be finished in 2018 and, before June this year, most of the culverts will be built.

The China-Laos railway construction project is divided into six sections. The CREC 5 is in charge of Section One in northern Laos, which borders China.

"There's a feeling of real enthusiasm towards this construction project and our team has been touched by the eagerness and expectations of the Lao people towards the railway," Hu Yong, a senior official of a CREC 5 said while showing Xinhua the tidy construction sites, factories and living zones.

"I am sure this year will see the construction work continue to boom and we can assure the timely and quality progress of the China-Laos railway."

In Hu Yong's team, Boten Tunnel is listed as one of the China-Laos railway's "important but difficult" projects.

Inside the Boten tunnel, engineering blasting, digging and cement lining were being carried out in an orderly fashion, and the in-and-outward bound heavy-duty trucks carried out earth and gravel continually, Xinhua reporters saw at the scene.

"We have almost bored half of the tunnel," Hu said proudly.

In the China-Laos border area, China Railway No.2 Group (CREC 2) is boring the Friendship Tunnel from each side.

"We have made a 300-meter entrance into the cross-border mountains, and will have half of the job completed on the Lao side at the end of this year," said Wang Xiaodong, a senior official of the CREC 2 unit, on Sunday.

The tunnel, with a total length of 9,595 meters, is divided into two parts, 7,170 meters on the Chinese side and 2,425 meters on the Lao side.

By March 26, the CREC 2 had bored 1,530.6 meters into the mountains from the Chinese side.

In December, 2017, Ban Somsanook No. 2 Tunnel with a length of 301 meters in Laos' Vientiane Province, was bored by the Chinese project contractor Sino Corporation Engineering Bureau 15 Co., Ltd., and became the first completed tunnel along the China-Laos railway route.

The China-Laos railway is being promoted by the leaders of the two countries as a project of interconnectivity. Since the commencement of construction in December 2016, the building of tunnels, bridges, roadbeds and other sections has progressed smoothly along the route.

The China-Laos railway has a total length of more than 414 kilometers comprising 60 percent of bridges and tunnels, linking Mohan-Boten border gate in northern Laos and the capital of Vientiane.

The operating speed of trains on the route is designed to be 160 km per hour. The railway is expected to be fully operational in December 2021.SYDNEY, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Australian supermarket giant Woolworths will stop providing disposable plastic bags at its stores nationwide from June 20, bringing forward a major green move that is expected to stop more than 3.2 billion of the items being handed out in the country every year, the company said Wednesday.

"We feel very strongly this is the right thing to do, and that together with our customers we can help create a greener future for Australia," Woolworths Group quoted its CEO Brad Banducci as saying in a statement.

"We know this is a big change for our customers and store teams, and we need to do all we can to make the transition as seamless as possible for both."

Customers who do not use their own shopping bags will be able to buy thicker reusable plastic bags and canvas bags at the group's outlets, said the company.

At least two Australian environmental groups, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation and Boomerang Alliance, have backed the move.

"Single-use plastic bags have become a huge problem for Australia's oceans and waterways where they cause significant harm to turtles, whales and fish. They also don't breakdown in landfill and require significant resources to manufacture in the first place," said nonprofit group Planet Ark Environmental Foundation CEO Paul Klymenko.

"Experiences in countries like Britain and Ireland have shown the introduction of small charges on plastic bags can end up reducing plastic bag usage by up to 85 percent as shoppers embrace reusable alternatives, and we have every confidence this can happen in Australia too."

Rival supermarket chain Coles last July also rolled out plans to ban its use of plastic bags within the year.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 11:04:58|Editor: Mengjie

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NEW YORK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to be "a responsible stakeholder" in the global community as the country builds on its economic success achieved through 40 years of reform and opening-up, a senior U.S. expert has said.

"2019 will be my 40th anniversary of me first setting foot in Beijing," Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, told Xinhua in a recent interview. "I would have never dreamed in the years I was in the (U.S.) State Department that China would develop the way it has... So I've witnessed this miracle, I believe the miracle will continue."

China is also making great contributions to global peace and development, noted the former diplomat and investor.

China is a productive member of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, he said. "With efforts like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), China is building upon the existing global system in a positive way."

China's proposals for boosting global growth, like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and AIIB, have demonstrated its role as a "responsible stakeholder" in the world, Orlins said, citing a term then U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick famously used in 2005.

The BRI projects are expected to help lift people out of poverty in areas that have been hotbeds of terrorism, Orlins noted.

"When they bring this economic development there, it's good for reducing terrorism. It's a good thing for the United States and for the rest of the world," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 11:09:59|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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RIO DE JANEIRO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Real Madrid left-back Abner has joined his original club Coritiba on loan until the end of 2018, the Brazilian side said on Tuesday.

Abner has played just 24 matches for Real Madrid B since signing with the Spanish giants in 2014.

He was loaned out to Estoril last August but returned to the Bernabeu in February after struggling for opportunities with the Portuguese club.

"I'm really happy to go back to Brazil and have the possibility of being a part of Coritiba's plans to return to Serie A," Abner told Coritiba's official website.

Coritiba were relegated to Brazil's second tier last year after finishing 17th in the Serie A standings.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 11:09:59|Editor: Mengjie

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BUENOS AIRES, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The first shipment of high-tech rail maintenance machines financed by a Chinese company arrived at Argentina's Buenos Aires Port on Tuesday.

The shipment is part of a financing agreement between Argentina's state-run passenger and cargo train company, Trenes Argentinos, and the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC).

The CMEC provided some 650 million pesos (32.5 million U.S. dollars) in credit for the project to renovate the South American country's rail network.

The new equipment with cameras and GPS can rapidly detect the exact location of a problem and assess how to fix it. It is expected to reduce maintenance costs, according to Argentine officials.

President of Trenes Argentinos Marcelo Orfila said the machinery will help speed up the trains by ensuring the rails work at their optimum.

"This translates into reliability, security and a reduction in travel time," said Orfila.

The new machines "were designed especially for Trenes Argentinos by local technicians who were trained in China," he said.CANBERRA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Millions of sterile male fruit flies have been released in South Australia (SA) to breed with wild females and eradicate the species.

The two million sterilized flies were released by authorities to counter a major outbreak of Queensland fruit flies in north-west Adelaide.

The outbreak, which was detected in January, prompted several suburbs to be put into biosecurity lockdown, preventing the removal of any fruit from the zone.

In response to the outbreak, the sterile fruit flies were bred in SA's National Sterile Insect Facility in Port Augusta, 300 kilometers north of Adelaide.

Queensland fruit flies were bred at the facility and given supplements to make them sing better, seem fitter and smell better to the wild females before they were sterilized with x-rays.

The aim is that the wild female flies will choose the sterilized males as mates, preventing them from reproducing and eventually killing the species off.

"This is an absolute game-changer, not only for South Australia's horticulture, but for the nation's exporters," SA Agriculture Minister Tim Whetstone told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday night.

"Creating more jobs, making sure that South Australia and the nation is fruit-fly free."

"What we've seen at Port Augusta, the breeding of these sterile flies is just a small step in the big picture to make sure that here in South Australia we lead by example."

Whetstone said that while 2 million seemed like a big number it was a "very, very small step" with as many as 50 million flies to be rel eased every week in the latter stages of the project.

Queensland fruit flies cost the Australian horticultural industry an estimated 300 million Australian dollars (230 million U.S. dollars) every year.

"The damage it does is to... the horticultural regions, but also our reputation (as an exporter)," Whetstone said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 11:20:04|Editor: Mengjie

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HAVANA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Cuba condemned Tuesday recent attacks by the Israeli army against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which have left 17 dead and more than 1,600 injured, and advocated a "comprehensive, just and lasting" solution to this conflict.

Emilio Lozada, director of bilateral affairs of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, said in a press statement that Havana expresses its "strongest condemnation" to this aggression that has been taking place since March 30.

"This brutal act constitutes a grave and flagrant violation of the United Nations (UN) Charter and international humanitarian law, and aggravates tensions in the region," Lozada said.

The senior Cuban official said these events roll back the possibility of "any effort aimed at resuming peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis."

He also called on international organizations, as well as the UN Security Council, to demand an "immediate end of Israel's aggression" against the Palestinians and its "expansionist and colonizing policies."

"We express our solidarity with the Palestinian government and people and reiterate our firm position of support for a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the conflict," he added.

Lozada said Cuba advocates a two-state resolution that grants Palestinians the right to self-determination and an independent and sovereign nation, with its capital in East Jerusalem and the pre-1967 borders.

The clashes between hundreds of Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers are part of a six-week protest called the Long March of Return.

Israeli media reported earlier that the army was ordered to open fire on Palestinian protesters near the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 11:20:04|Editor: Mengjie

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VIENTIANE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China Eastern Airlines' Vientiane Representative Office and its travel agency partners have hosted a joint cooperation exchange to help promote visits to the Laos.

"The promotional activity enabled travel agencies from northern and eastern China to understand Laos' tourism resources, experience the atmosphere and attract tourists from these markets in support of Visit Laos Year 2018," Wan Li, the China Eastern Airlines Vientiane representative told Xinhua on Wednesday.

The organizers invited more than 20 Chinese travel agencies from Shandong, Shanghai and Beijing, who toured northern Lao ancient town Luang Prabang, scenic Vangvieng before arriving in Vientiane.

"The highlight of the tour was that participants have experienced Laos' cultural traditions, beautiful mountains and rivers, and relaxing leisure," said Wan.

The meeting also invited representatives from Lao government agencies as to enable the invited travel agencies to fully understand the regulations and procedures for entry into Laos.

The number of passengers passing through Vientiane airport increased by an annual average of 9 percent from the years 2000 to 2009, according to Lao daily Vientiane Times on Wednesday.

In 2016, the airport handled about 1,108,000 international and 412,000 domestic passengers and this figure is expected to increase to about 1,151,000 international and 460,000 domestic passengers in 2023, according to the Civil Aviation Department.

Tourist arrivals in Laos reached 3.8 million people in 2017, decreasing from 4.23 million tourists in 2016. The Chinese were the only nationality whose numbers increased by around 5 percent to 639,000 people, according to the Tourism Development Department of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.

Headquartered in Shanghai, China Eastern Air Holding Company is among China's major air transportation groups.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 11:30:07|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Photo taken at the U.N. headquaters in New York, the United States, on June 17, 2016 shows Anna Chan Chennault, widow of US general Claire Lee Chennault who headed the wartime Flying Tigers pilots to fight against Japanese invaders in China during World War II. Anna Chan Chennault, or Chen Xiangmei, died on March 30 at her home in Washington, The Washington Post reported on April 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Anna Chan Chennault, widow of the late U.S. general Claire Lee Chennault who headed the wartime Flying Tigers pilots to fight against Japanese invaders in China during World War II, has died at 94.

Anna Chan Chennault, or Chen Xiangmei, died on March 30 at her home in Washington, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Chen's daughter Cynthia Chennault said her mother had complications from a recent stroke.

Born in June 1923, Chen graduated from Hong Kong's Lingnan University in 1944 and met Chennault while working as a war correspondent before marrying him in 1947. After Chennault died in 1958, Chen moved to Washington and raised her two daughters on her own.

Over the past several decades, Chen had been active in U.S. political and diplomatic fields and dedicated to facilitating friendship and cooperation between the United States and China. She was called a "folk ambassador" between the two countries.

During the early days since the establishment of the U.S.-China diplomatic ties and the launch of the reform and opening-up in China, Chen accompanied several U.S. delegations on their visits to China.

Besides, she traveled to China several times, along with Flying Tigers veterans and their families.

In September 2015, Chen attended the military parade held in Beijing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

Chen also wrote novels, poetry and non-fiction books.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 11:30:07|Editor: Mengjie

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by Edgardo Loguercio

BRASILIA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Newly imposed tariffs on imported metals and other protectionist measures taken by U.S. President Donald Trump could backfire, said Brazilian economist Cesar Bergo of the Federal Economic Council (Cofecon).

Far from shoring up national industry, "the United States is shooting itself in the foot," and impacting world trade, said Bergo, who also teaches at the University of Brasilia (UnB).

Last month, Trump unveiled steep tariffs of 25 and 10 percent on steel and aluminum imports, respectively, and tariffs on up to 60 billion U.S. dollars on imported Chinese goods.

He later exempted a few countries from the onerous taxes, including Mexico, Canada and Brazil, but many observers worry the measure will disrupt international trade and, by extension, global economic growth.

"If the U.S. maintains this conservatism regarding imports, it is going to reduce trade volume and the whole world ends up losing," said the economist.

Trump seems to be living up to his campaign pledges to protect U.S. workers through protectionism, "but what's going to happen is the measures are going to add to the cost of products in the U.S. market," predicted Bergo.

Domestically, the tariffs are set to push up costs along the entire automotive productive chain and in household appliances, he said.

Long-term U.S. trade relationships with key partners are also going to suffer as a result, said Bergo.

"This policy is very dangerous for Americans themselves, because it ends up damaging what is most important in trade ties, which is trust," he said.

"Currently, with globalization, this places the United States on the margins, not just in trade matters. It adopted the same attitude in climate matters by withdrawing from the Paris agreement," he said, adding "this foreign policy is isolating the United States, with attitudes that are quite dangerous."

As isolationism runs counter to traditional U.S. foreign policy, it remains to be seen to what degree Trump's proposals will be implemented, said Bergo.

"Historically, the United States and (former president Barack) Obama himself, worked a lot on opening up and strengthening some partnerships. I think the current U.S. administration ... is adopting a somewhat erratic stance. I think time will show it is not taking the right path and will have to backtrack in some cases," the economist said.

Trump's protectionism appears to be distinctly directed at China, a country that has seen strong development and growth in recent years, with a thriving steel industry and technology sector, said Bergo.

"It seems to me that when the U.S. adopts a stand against steel, aluminum and high-tech goods, it is seeking out this target, that is an argument with the Chinese government," Bergo said.

"China produces 830 million tons of steel and ends up being one of the countries most affected by this U.S. policy," he said.

In contrast, the United States does not make enough to meet its domestic demand, and has to import the metal.

"I think the U.S. and China will have to sit down and talk. China may suffer a negative economic impact on the one hand, but on the other it has huge negotiating potential since China is the main creditor of the U.S.," said the economist.LOS ANGELES, April 3 (Xinhua) -- In light of trade disputes between the United States and China, Australia stands to gain as Canberra can increase production or take price advantage to replace American companies in Chinese market, National Public Radio (NPR) predicted on Tuesday.

According to a report of NPR, the biggest radio network in the country, China was the largest trading partner of Australia. Australia produces many of the things which China also imports from the United States and appears on China's list of 128 U.S. goods.

China suspended tariff concessions on 128 items of U.S. products from Monday, which will see a tariff of 15 to 25 percent on products including fruits, pork and related products, in retaliation for the Trump administration's decision to impose similar tariffs on aluminum and steel from China.

The story said U.S. wine industry is facing a crisis now and will suffer long-term damage even though U.S. producers were already at a disadvantage to Australian competitors in China.

Current Chinese customs duties for U.S. wines are 14 percent, while wines from Australia is charged customs duties of 0 percent under bilateral free trade agreement.

In 2017, exports to mainland China, Australia's single-largest wine export region, grew up a whopping 63 percent, with a total value of 848 million U.S. dollars, nearly twice as large as the United States.

Robert Koch, CEO of the Wine Institute, was quoted by NPR as saying that the new increased tariff would have a chilling effect on U.S. wine exports to China, one of the world's most important and fastest-growing markets.

The report also listed Australia as the biggest competitor to the U.S. fruit and nuts exports to China since data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows 40 percent of the country's fruit already gets shipped off to China and tree nut exports to China have grown 10 times in five years to 63 million dollars in 2016.

"The market share that we've been trying to develop over the past several years becomes expendable and there's an opportunity for others to steal it," Joel Nelsen, president of the trade group California Citrus Mutual, told NPR.

The report said in sectors of scrap aluminum, steel and coal exports, Australia will have a good opportunity to grab a larger market share previously lost by Washington in a tariff dispute with China.

"It has been said often in the last few weeks: 'No one wins a trade war.' Nevertheless, staying out of a war is often the best way to win, or at least not to lose," the report concluded.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 12:00:15|Editor: Mengjie

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top aircraft manufacturer Boeing Company (Boeing) announced Tuesday that it has finalized a new order from an American aircraft leasing company for eight more 737 MAX airlines.

Boeing said it has signed a deal with Air Lease Corp.(ALC), an American aircraft leasing firm founded in 2010, to sell the aircraft at 936.8 million U.S. dollars at list prices.

The ALC said it owns 213 various kinds of aircraft including Boeing, French-made Airbus, Embraer and other models, and the latest order raises its total 737 MAX orders to 138.

It leases the jets to over 80 airlines across 47 countries in every major geographical region in the world.

Boeing said the ALC has been a big buyer of the improved 737 airplane.

"Our success in MAX placements to date speaks to the strong market demand for these aircraft," which reflected the growing need of its customers for additional 737 MAX 8 aircraft, said John Poerschke, executive vice president of Air Lease Corporation.

The 737 MAX family is the fastest-selling airplane in Boeing history, accumulating more than 4,400 orders from 96 customers worldwide.

Boeing has delivered more than 100 737 MAX airplanes to over 20 customers worldwide, including four to the ALC.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 12:00:15|Editor: Mengjie

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BRASILIA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles on Tuesday joined President Michel Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement party (MDB), with an eye on running for president in general elections in October.

Meirelles had been mulling a run for the office as the candidate of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) which he previously belonged to. However, as the PSDB planned to back Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin, he would share a ticket with Temer in the MDB at present.

Temer, party leaders and affiliated lawmakers attended a ceremony for Meirelles, held at the MDB's headquarters in the capital Brasilia.

During the ceremony, party members chanted a campaign jingle that goes: "M for Michel, M for Meirelles, M for the MDB," and put up banners with a photo of the two men along with the words "Our union makes us strong."

Asked whether he plans to become a presidential candidate, Meirelles avoided the question, saying it was not the time to discuss it.

MDB President Romero Juca, who presided over the ceremony, said the minister's participation strengthened the forces "to win an election" and continue the country's political and economic transformation.

According to the Brazilian law, Meirelles must leave the cabinet post by Saturday, which he took in May 2016 amid the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff and the assumption of power by her then-vice president, Temer.

Ministers planning to run for office must relinquish their cabinet posts six months before the election.

Meirelles is minister of finance and an executive of the Brazilian financial sectors, prior to which he headed Brazil's Central Bank during the two presidential terms of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from 2003 to 2011.SYDNEY, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A former economics professor is facing court for allegedly paying foreign workers at his Asian grocery store in Victorian state capital Melbourne as little as 10 Australian dollars an hour, authorities said on Wednesday.

Jordan Shan, formerly an associate professor of applied economics at the Victoria University of Technology, and the company Jenni International, which had operated the store in downtown Melbourne with Shan as the sole director, allegedly underpaid two South Korean employees a total of 14,015 Australian dollars over less than four months in 2016, according to a statement from the Fair Work Ombudsman, an independent statutory agency of the Australian government.

The employees, in their mid-20s, were on working holiday visas. One of them was a full-time employee, working six or seven days a week with duties including ordering and stacking stock, while the other was a part-time cashier, said the agency.

The workers were allegedly paid flat rates of 10 Australian dollars to 12.50 Australian dollars an hour, despite being entitled to minimum hourly rates of 19.44 Australian dollars for normal hours. The agency's inspectors investigated the case after the workers asked for help.

The underpayments allegedly occurred despite the agency had previously told Shan about workplace law violations.

The seriousness of the alleged contraventions, with factors such as the low wages, vulnerable workers and an employer who had been put on notice, were key in deciding to take legal action, the agency's acting head Kristen Hannah said.

"A clearly well-educated employer allegedly blatantly underpaying workers even after being informed of their lawful obligations is a completely unacceptable conduct," she said.

"We also treat cases involving underpayment of overseas workers particularly seriously because we are conscious that they can be vulnerable due to a lack of awareness of their entitlements, language barriers and a reluctance to complain."

Shan faces penalties of up to 10,800 Australian dollars per contravention and the company faces additional penalties of up to 54,000 Australian dollars per contravention.

The agency also wants the workers to be back paid in full plus interest. A hearing on the case is scheduled for July in Melbourne's federal circuit court.

Australia's working holiday visas are popular ways for young foreigners to travel and work in the country, with many filling vacancies in the agricultural, services and other sectors.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 13:00:23|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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RIO DE JANEIRO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Brazilians around the country took to the streets on Tuesday to support or protest against the arrest of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the eve of the Supreme Court's ruling on his habeas corpus request.

The former president who was found guilty of corruption by the appeals court in January should have been arrested and started serving his sentence, according to Brazilian law.

However, Lula's defense team made a habeas corpus request to the Supreme Court, which will be judged on Wednesday.

Opponents of the former president, including some right-wing parties and civil society organizations, as well as the Sao Paulo Industry Federation, called a nationwide protest to put pressure on the Supreme Court to deny the habeas corpus, which would lead to Lula's arrest.

There were protests in several major municipalities; the largest ones were in populous Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, but a heavy storm aborted the Rio protest halfway.

In Sao Paulo, up to 20,000 protesters turned out after work, and some of them gathered in front of the Industry Federation building, local media reported.

Meanwhile, defenders of Lula also organized rallies in several cities, calling for the habeas corpus to be granted. On Monday, Lula participated in a large political rally to his support in Rio de Janeiro, which gathered thousands of people.

Lula's presence, or absence, in the presidential election may make significant changes. With him on the run, all polls give the former president a landslide victory; while without him, no other candidate has a secure lead and the result is confusing and even unpredictable to some extent.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 13:05:23|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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RIYADH, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Spying on one's spouse's phone is now a crime in Saudi Arabia that could land the offender in jail or with a fine of up to 133,000 U.S. dollars, according to a government release Monday.

The new "Anti-Cybercrime Law" criminalizes activities such as spying on data transmitted through a computer without authorization, or access to computers with intention to threaten or blackmail any person.

"The growth of social media has resulted in a steady increase in cybercrimes such as blackmail, embezzlement and defamation, not to mention hacking of accounts," said the release.

The government said the law aimed to "protect morals of individuals and society and protect privacy," and would apply to both men and women.

Yet some argue that it may ultimately be more protective of men, as the law will make it more difficult for women to prove allegations of abuse or promiscuity against their husbands.

Social media technology is increasingly popular in the Arab state. As of the third quarter in 2017, 75 percent of the country's total population were active social media users.

The most popular social network in the country is mobile messenger WhatsApp with a penetration rate of 71 percent.WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A Dutch lawyer having ties with former Trump campaign officials was sentenced to 30 days in jail on Tuesday for lying to federal investigators, the first to be sentenced in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

According to the indictment, Alex van der Zwaan, 33, lied about his contacts with former campaign official Rick Gates of U.S. President Donald Trump and a Ukraine-based business associate of both Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Van der Zwaan pleaded guilty in late February to making "materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations" to the special counsel's office and FBI agents.

Van der Zwaan, son-in-law of prominent Russian billionaire German Khan, admitted that he withheld and deleted emails that Mueller team had requested to cover his tracks.

In a brief statement, van der Zwaan said what he did was wrong, while offering apologies to the court and his families. He was also fined 20,000 U.S. dollars and imposed two months of supervised release.

Several other Trump campaign associates have also pleaded guilty to various charges stemming from Mueller's investigation, including Gates, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.

They are all cooperating with prosecutors but none of the charges directly relate to the issue of whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow, the main focus of Mueller's probe.

Trump, who has stepped up attacks against Mueller's probe and his team, has repeatedly denied allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russians, describing the Russia probe as a "hoax" or a "witch hunt."SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Fruit farmers in California said they hope the United States and China could step up negotiation efforts to stop tariffs as the fruits on the trees are awaiting harvest.

California's fresh fruits, primarily citrus, are subject to a 15-percent tariff increase from China since Monday. The imposition of the tariff is in retaliation of the Trump administration's proposed tariff on China's steel and aluminum.

"Our growers are concerned about the proposed action," Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, which represents the state's citrus growers, told Xinhua Tuesday.

An increase in the tariff would mean a more expensive product for Chinese consumers and place the industry in a less competitive position compared with other imports, he said.

The tariff depends upon the variety of citrus, but generally the current tariffs on California's fruit are 12 percent to 15 percent plus a value added tax, said Nelson.

China is becoming a larger export market for the California citrus industry, with oranges and lemons being two of the major varieties exported.

In the past two seasons, there has been growth in the Chinese market and China is currently California's third largest export market behind Canada and South Korea, according to the organization.

California exported more than 2 billion U.S. dollars worth of agricultural products to China in 2016-2017, according to California Food and Agriculture Department. Oranges, lemons and related citrus products accounted for 153 million dollars.

China has expressed hopes to resolve the trade conflict through talks. It means a trade war between the United States and China can still be avoided if Washington comes to the negotiating table.

California's citrus industry has felt the urgency for the Trump administration to be able to reach a resolution with China before the harvest season gets into full swing.

For now, about 35 percent of the oranges are on the trees and the lemon harvest will begin in the coming weeks, said Nelson.

"We are hoping that some positive results can be developed in the next 30 to 60 days," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 13:15:27|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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JALALABAD, Afghanistan, April 4 (Xinhua) -- At least four members of Islamic State (IS) militant group were killed following an airstrike conducted by the U.S.and NATO-led coalition forces' unmanned plane, authorities said Wednesday.

The strike occurred at around midday on Tuesday after the plane targeted an IS hideout in Haska Mina district, the provincial government said in a statement, adding amount of weapons and ammunition of the IS group were also destroyed.

No security force member or civilian was hurt following the strike, it added.

The mountainous province, 120 km east of Kabul, has been the scene of clashes between security forces and IS militants from time to time.

The clashes have forced thousands of villagers to flee to safer places.

The IS group, which emerged in Nangarhar in early 2015, has yet to make comments on the report.China Tuesday released 47 rare milu deer into the wild in the wetland around Poyang Lake to improve biodiversity and protect the ecosystem of the country's largest freshwater lake.

This was the first release of milu deer into the wild in region in east China's Jiangxi Province where the species disappeared around 1,000 years ago.

Milu deer are a flagship species of the wetland ecosystem and releasing them into the wild will help improve biodiversity and protect wetland environment, said Zhang Xiwu, deputy head of China Wildlife Conservation Association.

A herd of milu deer leave a fenced area when they are set free in the wetland around Poyang Lake in east China's Jiangxi Province, April 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)

The released deer weigh up to 200 kg and range from newborns to 10-year-olds.

Each has ID microchips implanted and some have GPS collars to allow researchers to trace their migratory routes and habits.

"We can offer timely help in case they have difficulty adapting to the environment," said Bai Jiade, director of Beijing Milu Ecological Research Center.

The center placed 10 milu deer in the Poyang Lake National Wetland Park in 2013 to conduct a five-year adaptability test to see if the deer could live and reproduce there.

"Their numbers increased to 21 and this showed that the wetland was a suitable environment for the survival and reproduction of the species and has met the conditions for the release into the wild," said Bai.

A herd of milu deer gallop in the wetland around Poyang Lake in east China's Jiangxi Province, April 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)

More milu deer will be released into the wild in the region each year for the next five to 10 years to help establish a wild self-sustaining population, said Yang Qibo, head of the Poyang County Wildlife Protection Station.

Milu, also known as Pere David's deer, is a species endemic to China, but overhunting and habitat loss led to its near extinction in the early 20th century.

The species, still under A-level state protection in China, was named after Armand David, a French missionary and naturalist who first recorded the existence of the deer in China in 1865.

In this aerial photo taken on April 3, 2018, a herd of milu deer wait to be set free in the wetland around Poyang Lake in east China's Jiangxi Province. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)

In 1986, the British government gifted 39 milu deer to Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve in east China's Jiangsu Province, starting the revival of the population in its homeland.

Milu was first mentioned in Chinese books more than 2,000 years ago. The wetland deer species bears the odd nickname of "sibuxiang," or "like none of the four" for its unique features -- a horse's face, a donkey's tail, cow-like hooves and a stag's antlers.SUVA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Six people have been killed in Fiji on Wednesday after Tropical Cyclone Josie battered the western part of South Pacific Island state of Fiji over the weekend.

Fiji's Director for National Disaster Management Office Anare Leweniqila confirmed on Wednesday that the body of a 19-year-old man who went missing in the flood waters was found on Wednesday, bringing the total number of dead people to six.

The 19-year-old man was missing after trying to cross a flooded area over the weekend. Fijian police are still searching for a 7-year-old boy who also went missing after he had gone with his grandfather to search for crabs. His grandfather's body was found on Monday.

Josie hit western Fiji by bringing heavy rain and flooding throughout the Saturday night and Sunday. Four people were confirmed dead on Sunday night.

Meeting basic needs of the people and the restoration of essential services are the Fijian government's priorities in its emergency response to the areas affected by the recent floods.

The National Disaster Management Office through the Office of the Divisional Commissioner Western is leading government's response through coordination of key response agencies.

In the immediate aftermath of the floods, clearing debris from communities and municipalities was spearheaded by personnel from the National Fire Authority, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, the Fiji Police Force and the Fiji Corrections Service.

Clearing of debris now makes way for the deployment of public health teams from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to conduct health assessments of evacuation centers and affected communities.

The teams are conducting health screening, general health awareness, and inspection of sanitation and hygiene conditions. Disinfection and mosquito spraying is also being carried out where required as the health officers are also monitoring food and water quality.

The Office of the Divisional Commissioner Western had begun distribution of food rations on Monday to evacuation centers, and it continues to do so to affected communities.

As of Wednesday, a total of 39 evacuation centers are active in the west with a total of 2,244 evacuees.

Teams from the Fiji Electricity Authority and the Water Authority of Fiji are working continuously to ensure the full restoration of electricity and water supply in affected communities and municipalities. Water tanks are being placed and filled in strategic accessible locations while water carting takes place simultaneously.

The Fijian government said that it was committed to ensuring that basic needs of food, water, and shelter are met. Multi-sector teams consisting of various government agencies are on the ground conducting initial damage assessments as schools remained closed.SARI PUL, Afghanistan, April 4 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 militants were killed and eight others injured as cleanup operations entered the second day in Shiram area outside Sari Pul's provincial capital on Wednesday, an army spokesman of the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said.

The government forces, according to the official, launched cleanup operations in Shiram area on Tuesday and also recaptured several villagers from the militant group.

A Taliban group commander Qari Amin was also among those killed in the ongoing operations supported by air power, the official asserted.

Without mentioning the possible casualties of security forces, the official said that the operations would last until the area is cleansed of insurgents.

Taliban militants haven't commented on the situation.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 14:25:41|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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UNITED NATIONS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said Tuesday that China was keen to see the international community continue to help improve the situation in Haiti through the provision of humanitarian and development assistance.

"China commended MINUJUSTH (the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti) for its efforts for the smooth deployment and functioning of the mission," Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), said at a debate of the Security Council on MINUJUSTH.

Much had been achieved with regard to the UN efforts to combat cholera, he said, calling on the international community to positively respond to the organization's newest initiative for cholera response, with a view towards wiping out the epidemic once and for all.

With MINUJUSTH fully operational, preparations have already begun for the follow-up peacekeeping operation to make way for a new UN presence by the end of 2019 that would focus on the Caribbean nation's long-term sustainable development.

The UN is preparing for a transition of its mission in Haiti to a non-peacekeeping presence given the return of stability in the Caribbean country, said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, on Tuesday.

Lacroix said the UN stood ready to support the Haitian government in devising a clear road map for reforms, taking into account the UN mission's capacities on the ground.

The Security Council is due to renew the mandate of Minujusth, which expires on April 15, 2018.SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A woman shot and injured at least three people with a handgun at the headquarters of the world's largest online video network in California Tuesday afternoon before she died from self-inflicted wounds, authorities said.

Police identified the woman suspect as Nasim Aghdam, a 38-year-old YouTube user, who entered an open courtyard at YouTube's campus at lunchtime, shooting and wounding three people, one critically, before she took her own life.

The Sheriff's Office of San Bruno, a city about 19 km south of downtown San Francisco, issued a statement Tuesday evening, saying the shooting took place at around 12:48 p.m. local time (2048 GMT) in an outdoor cafe on the grounds of the facility and police officers arrived at the scene two minutes after receiving numerous 911 calls about the shooting.

"A total of four people were transported to local hospitals, three of which had gunshot wounds," and an initial search of the YouTube building "located a deceased female inside with a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound," said the police statement.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters at the scene earlier that the female suspect appeared to have shot herself after injuring the three other people.

Local news outlet CBS SF BayArea quoted unnamed sources as saying that a 9MM weapon was used in the shooting and one of those injured was the woman's estranged boyfriend.

"Two females and one male. We have a 32-year-old female who is in serious condition, a 27-year-old female in fair condition, and a 36-year-old male in critical condition," said Brent Andrew, spokesman for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

The shooting triggered huge panic and chaos in the building of YouTube, which houses some 1,700 employees.

"I heard some yelling and I saw somebody down on his back with a red spot on his stomach," Zach Voorhies, a senior software engineer at YouTube, told local media.

Another YouTube employee said she saw the woman shooter pointing the handgun during the incident.

"And she was firing her gun and I just said 'Shooter! and everybody started running," the witness recounted.

The Bay Area News Group quoted the female shooter's father as saying that she got very angry with YouTube because it stopped paying her for videos she posted on its website.

She "hated" the company because YouTube had stopped paying her for the content she posted on the site, where YouTube users can receive payment for advertisements accompanying their videos, her father said.

He added that the family did not know that Aghdam owned a gun, which he guessed was probably bought recently.

Google, the parent company of YouTube, said in a statement earlier that it was actively coordinating with local authorities and hospitals.

"Our security team has been working closely with authorities to evacuate the buildings and ensure the safety of employees in the area," it said.

"There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today," YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki tweeted.

Tuesday's incident was one of the worst in gun-related violence in the past two months since the massacre in a high school in the state of Florida in February, when 17 people were shot to death including many students on campus.

The bloodshed at the YouTube headquarters highlighted the seriousness of gun violence in the United States, and many took to social media to express their outrage.

"The YouTube HQ shooting is proof that this is NOT just schools. Our country has a GUN problem. End of story," a high school girl Jaclyn Corin tweeted.

Another Twitter user called Alan Vargas tweeted: "58 shootings have already occurred in 2018. America has a gun violence problem."

A 2014 report by the U.S. Federal Investigation Bureau said a total of 160 massive shooting incidents had occurred between 2000 and 2013, among which six women shooters were involved.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 15:20:51|Editor: Yamei

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A trader has a rest after market closing at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, on March 22, 2018. U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday, with the Dow plunging over 700 points, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to impose tariff on imported products from China. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday published a proposed list of Chinese goods subject to additional 25 percent tariffs amid strong opposition from China and U.S. business groups.

The proposed list covers approximately 1,300 products imported from China, worth around 50 billion U.S. dollars of annual trade value,including industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics and machinery, the USTR's Office said in a statement.

The list, which will undergo further review in a public notice and comment process, is based on a so-called Section 301 investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017.

The Chinese Embassy in the United States in response said the Chinese side "strongly condemns and firmly opposes" the unfounded Section 301 investigation and the proposed list of products and tariff increases.

"Such unilateralistic and protectionist action has gravely violated fundamental principles and values of the WTO. It serves neither China's interest, nor U.S. interest, even less the interest of the global economy," the Chinese embassy said in a statement.

The Chinese side will resort to the WTO to settle the dispute and take corresponding measures of "equal scale and strength" against U.S. products in accordance with Chinese law, said the embassy.

The proposed tariff list "appears to mostly target intermediate goods," which would "harm U.S. manufactures who are sourcing from Chinese suppliers," Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Xinhua.

Business groups from China and the United States in recent weeks have warned the Trump administration not to move forward its tariff plan on Chinese imports, as it would raise the costs for American consumers and companies as well as having a negative effect on the financial markets.

"Imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way" to address trade issues between the United States and China, Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday in a statement.

"The U.S. Chamber looks forward to working with the administration throughout the comment period to make the business community's voice heard on the U.S.-China economic relationship," Brilliant said.

The Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington D.C.-based technology industry trade group, also said the proposed tariffs would "penalize U.S. consumers by increasing prices on technology products."

"If history is any indication, these proposed tariffs will not work and will be entirely counterproductive," the trade group said Tuesday in a statement.

Max Baucus, a former senator from the U.S. state of Montana and U.S. ambassador to China, said American farmers "are going to get squeezed" by the tariff proposal "from all sides."

"First, the tariffs the U.S. announced today will make the (agricultural) equipment and inputs they rely on more expensive. Then they'll face new tariffs on their exports when China retaliates," said Baucus, who now serves as the co-chairman of the farm lobbying group Farmers for Free Trade.

"It seems to me we're moving into a period of significantly increasing friction in the area of trade and investment between the U.S. and China," Henry Levine, senior advisor at leading U.S. consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group, told Xinhua, hoping both countries could sit down and negotiate solutions to address each other's trade and investment concerns.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said last week that it would go through a 60-day comment period after the administration released the proposed tariff list and "there's hope" that trade talks between the United States and China could lead to a fruitful outcome.

While the United States and China have two "very different" economic systems, "it's very possible" that the U.S.-China trade relationship could end up in "a good place" after overcoming "a series of difficulties" over many years, Lighthizer said in an interview with CNBC.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 15:57:46|Editor: Zhou Xin

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White cranes fly over the Momoge National Nature Reserve in Zhenlai County, northeast China's Jilin Province, April 3, 2018. The Momoge nature reserve is a stopover site and breeding place for migratory birds. Now more than 2,000 migrant birds have flied to the reserve after wintering in the south. (Xinhua/Lin Hong)Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 15:30:54|Editor: Zhou Xin

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Photo taken on April 4, 2018 shows the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Washington Tuesday published a proposed list of Chinese goods subject to additional 25 percent tariffs amid strong opposition from China and U.S. business groups, the latest unilateralist and protectionist action taken by the United States to escalate the trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.

The proposed list covers approximately 1,300 Chinese products, including industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, and robotics, whose annual trade value is about 50 billion U.S. dollars.

To defend its legitimate rights, China plans to immediately bring relevant U.S. practice to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and is ready to take countermeasures on U.S. products with equal force and scale.

Analysts said the United States has been playing a game of slapping tariffs one by one on its trading partners to force concessions in bilateral negotiations.

By wielding the tariff stick, the United States is jeopardizing the international market and posing a serious threat to global trade rules.

CHINA TO FIGHT BACK IN SELF-DEFENSE

The announcement of unilateral measures by the United States against China under its domestic Section 301 investigation is an intentional and gross violation of the WTO's fundamental principles of non-discrimination and bound tariffs, Zhang Xiangchen, Chinese ambassador to the WTO, said Wednesday.

"The findings of the U.S. Section 301 investigation are a willful distortion of facts and full of selective assertions and allegations, turning a blind eye to the actual progress that China has achieved in the market-oriented reforms, further opening-up and enhanced intellectual property protection," said the diplomat.

Zhang called on all WTO members to lock arms with China in fighting the blatant protectionist acts of the United States.

"Disregarding strong representations by China, the United States announced the tariff proposals that are completely unfounded, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that China strongly condemns and firmly opposes," said China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Wednesday.

China plans to immediately bring relevant U.S. practice to the dispute settlement body of the WTO, and is ready to take countermeasures on U.S. products with equal force and scale that will be published in the coming days.

"We have the confidence and ability to respond to any U.S. trade protectionist measures," said a MOC spokesperson.

Chinese Foreign Ministry also made a response Wednesday, saying the U.S. tariff proposals are a "typical unilateralist and protectionist action."

Despite strong warnings from business groups and trade experts, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on March 22 that could impose tariffs on Chinese imports and restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States.

The memorandum is based on a so-called Section 301 investigation, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017, into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer malpractices.

The move came after the U.S. administration took an increasingly hawkish turn on its trade partners including China, as it blamed its trade deficit with major trading partners for its domestic economic woes and job losses.

TARIFFS SLAPPING GAME

The recent month has witnessed a series of unilateral actions from the United States to slap tariffs on its trading partners, evoking concerns about a trade war and further damage to the current global trade system.

At the beginning of March, Trump's administration announced that the United States would impose 25 percent of tariff on steel imports and 10 percent for aluminum, which is more like a bargaining stick rather than true tariffs to urge trade partners to compromise.

Later, Washington announced that it would grant exemptions from the steel and aluminum tariffs to key U.S. allies and trade partners including the European Union, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Australia, after urging its "real friends" to compromise.

These moves are only the tip of the iceberg of Trump's grand tariff-slapping plan. Calling trade wars "good, and easy to win," Trump's administration crushed hopes of progress in talks of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), raising fears among Canada and Mexico about the trade deal's future.

At the end of March, the United States sparred with China at the WTO over the legality of the high tariffs on Chinese products based on Section 301, after it took unilateral actions, ignoring the WTO rules.

"The U.S. focus is on the advanced manufacturing sectors that China wants to become a global leader in," Louis Kuijis, head of Asia Economics with Oxford Economics, wrote in an article.

"However, there are risks of much more serious trade friction. During the announcement of the memorandum, President Trump said this measure will be the 'first of many,' underscoring the risk of escalation," Kuijis added.

POLITICAL INTENTIONS DISTURB FAIR TRADE MARKET

"The recent action by U.S. President Trump to slap tariffs on China outside of the established WTO rules ... is troubling," said Tom Watkins, an advisor to Michigan-China Innovation Center.

"While it has some short-term political benefit to President Trump's political base of disenfranchised voters, it is unlikely to have any significant long-term economic benefit to working class people in America, nor address the real issue of free and fair trade imbalances," Watkins said.

Echoing the view, Justin Yifu Lin, former chief economist of the World Bank, called the U.S. move to impose high tariffs against China "politically motivated," which will "fly in the face of reciprocity, contradict the win-win principle of trade, and jeopardize the interests of U.S. voters."

In an online article released by Project Syndicate, Lin said: "East Asia, including China, is not the main cause of the rapid expansion of the U.S. trade deficit."

U.S. consumers will bear the costs of the Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese imports, having to pay more for the same products from other countries, according to him.

"Meanwhile, higher prices of those countries' products will lead to an increase in the U.S. trade deficits with them," he said.

In face of trade disputes, Washington appears to be in favor of unilateral actions and use its superior economic status to force concessions from its partners.

"In the past, the United States took advantage of its position as the world's biggest economic power and largest trader to rule out any multilateral trade provisions that did not serve its interests," said Lin. "Otherwise, the United States would not promote free trade."

WORLD TRADE SYSTEM AT RISK

Washington's reckless tariff moves are breaking the modern trade rules that had been established by the United States itself with the WTO at the center.

"I think the (U.S.) administration is definitely moving away from the WTO and moving in the direction of the unilateral trade measures," said Henry Levine, senior advisor at leading U.S. consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group.

Calling the Trump administration's choice "very unfortunate," Levine said it's bad for every country in the world if the WTO loses more effectiveness, "because we do need some rules."

"I think we're all going to be worse off if the WTO were to fall apart because one major country or another totally ignored WTO rules," said Levine.

Stephen Lamar, executive vice president of American Apparel & Footwear Association, told Xinhua that actions need to be taken to prevent trade wars that are very likely to be triggered by the current tariff-slapping game.

"We support the United States helping to create the WTO and China's entry to the WTO for precisely that reason to ensure there was a neutral place to peacefully, amicably, productively resolve disputes," said Lamar.

(Xinhua reporters Tian Dongdong, Wang Zichen, Shuai Rong in Brussels, Gao Pan in Washington contributed to the story)

(Video editors: Zhu Jianhui, Cao Ying, Liu Ruoshi, Liu Yuting and Geng Linlin)ANKARA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The deployment of Russian S-400 anti-ballistic missile systems has been scheduled in July 2019, the head of Turkish procurement agency said Wednesday.

"The time of delivery cited on the purchasing contract of S-400s has been brought forward to July 2019," Ismail Demir, the head of the Undersecreteriat for Defense Industries (SSM) wrote on his Twitter.

Demir's words came after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday to speed up the delivery of the advanced defense systems, during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Erdogan in Ankara.

Turkey struck a deal with Russia on purchasing of S-400 missile systems in September 2017. Three months later, the two countries signed a loan agreement for the missiles purchase.

Turkish and Russian delegations met Tuesday for the Turkey-Russia High-Level Cooperation Council, which was attended by the presidents of the two countries and several ministers in order to enhance bilateral relations.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 16:26:09|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The State Council announced the appointment of several senior officials Wednesday.

Xu Ganlu was appointed vice minister of Public Security and the head of the State Immigration Administration.

Wang Hong was appointed chief of the State Oceanic Administration.

Nie Chenxi was appointed head of the State Administration of Radio and Television.

Liu Jieyi was appointed director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, replacing Zhang Zhijun.

Xie Fuzhan was appointed president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, replacing Wang Weiguang.

Shen Haixiong was appointed president of the Central Station for Radio and Television.

Guo Shuqing was appointed chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Zhang Jianlong was appointed director of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Fu Zhenghua is no longer vice minister of Public Security.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 16:41:14|Editor: Mengjie

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Matsuoka Tamaki (L) donates videotapes consisting of Nanjing Massacre survivors' accounts to the Nanjing Massacre memorial hall in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, April 4, 2018. Japanese educator Matsuoka Tamaki donated hundreds of videotapes of survivors' accounts to the Nanjing Massacre memorial hall Wednesday, in an effort to raise awareness of atrocities during WWII. The videotapes document interviews Matsuoka conducted with more than 300 survivors of the massacre from 1998 to 2006, as well as testimonies some gave at hearings in Japan. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

NANJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Japanese educator Matsuoka Tamaki donated hundreds of videotapes of survivors' accounts to the Nanjing Massacre memorial hall Wednesday, in an effort to raise awareness of atrocities during WWII.

On Dec. 13, 1937, Japanese invaders captured Nanjing, then China's capital, and started six weeks of mass killings, rape and pillage that resulted in the deaths of about 300,000 Chinese.

The videotapes document interviews Matsuoka conducted with more than 300 survivors of the massacre from 1998 to 2006, as well as testimonies some gave at hearings in Japan.

"The tapes are of immense historical value, as the survivors are now in their twilight years and number less than 100," said Zhang Jianjun, curator of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

That the interviews were conducted when survivors had better memories increases their value, Zhang said.

Matsuoka, who has made nearly 100 trips to Nanjing since 1988, made great efforts to gain the trust of the survivors.

"At first, the survivors were afraid to be interviewed by a Japanese. My interpreter had to repeatedly assured them that I am not 'a bad Japanese' before they began to trust me," Matsuoka recalled.

The memorial hall plans to digitalize the videotapes.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 16:41:15|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth 50 billion U.S. dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs, including soy bean, automobiles and chemical products.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has decided to impose additional tariff of 25 percent on 106 items of products under 14 categories, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement on its website.

The move was taken after the U.S. administration announced a proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth 50 billion dollars with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

The date of implementation will depend on when the U.S. government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products, the MOF said.

The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement that the U.S. move was "an evident violation of relevant rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO)."

The U.S. move "severely infringed on the legitimate rights and interests that China enjoys in accordance with the WTO rules, and threatened China's economic interests and security," the MOC said.

Related:

China firmly opposes U.S. tariff proposals, countermeasures underway

Xinhua Headlines: U.S. tariffs slapping game threatens global trading system

China strongly condemns, firmly opposes new U.S. tariffs to be imposed on Chinese goods: embassySource: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 16:46:16|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China expressed strong condemnation after Washington Tuesday announced tariffs on a proposed list of Chinese goods worth 50 billion U.S. dollars and subject to additional tariffs of 25 percent.

The list involves industries in aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics and machinery, and targets around 1,300 Chinese products.

"The Chinese side strongly condemns and firmly opposes the unfounded Section 301 investigation and the proposed list of products and tariff increases based on the investigation," the Chinese Embassy in the United States said in a statement Tuesday, shortly after Washington unveiled the list.

The list was authorized by the U.S. Trade Representative's office, which in August 2017 initiated an investigation under the Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to probe alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices.

China has repeatedly said that Section 301 investigation is a unilateral move that violates World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

"Such unilateralistic and protectionist action has gravely violated fundamental principles and values of the WTO. It serves neither China's interest, nor U.S. interest, even less, the interest of the global economy," the Chinese embassy said in its statement.

Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to the WTO Zhang Xiangchen in a written statement said the U.S. unilateral measures against China have gravely undermined the foundation of the WTO and put the WTO in an unprecedented danger.

"The findings of the U.S. Section 301 investigation are a willful distortion of the facts and full of selective assertions and allegations, turning a blind eye to the actual progress that China has achieved in the market-oriented reforms, further opening-up and enhanced intellectual property protection," said Zhang.

Both Zhang and the Chinese embassy's statement noted that China will take the issue to the WTO as well as corresponding measures of equal scale against U.S. products in accordance with Chinese law.

China's Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said in an interview with China Global Television Network on Tuesday that "We will certainly fight back," and "the (Chinese) Ministry of Commerce will make the announcement very soon, and you will see."

"Our actions are taken in direct response to the emergency situation caused by the United States, and are necessary and just actions served to fight protectionism," Zhang reiterated.

He also called for the entire WTO membership to lock arms with China in fighting the blatant protectionist acts of the United States.

"We hope that the U.S. side, with sense and a long-term picture in mind, refrain from going further down the 'wrong path,'" the Chinese embassy's statement said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 16:46:17|Editor: Zhou Xin

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by Xinhua writers Lyu Qiuping, Wang Wenhua and Lyu Mengqi

TAIYUAN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The best known tree in China is probably a big locust in Hongtong County, Shanxi Province.

Over 600 years ago, some 1 million people living near the tree were relocated to war-torned areas for economic recovery. Now, their descendants from around the world are returning, tracing their roots and searching for their ancestors. More people are coming especially prior to the Tomb-sweeping Day.

On a warm sunny morning last week, 11 buses packed with people from Shandong Province stopped in front of the locust tree.

"I was told our forefather moved away from here during the Ming Dynasty, so I decided to come and have a look," said visitor Zhang Xinyuan.

In the history of Chinese migration, Hongtong was the source of a very large number of migrants. There are 18 distinct batches of local people known to have moved to areas like Anhui, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu and Shandong from 1373 to 1417, scattering their descendants across China and the world.

"If you ask me where my ancestors were from, I'd say the big locust tree in Shanxi's Hongtong...," goes a saying.

While migrants' former homes are nowhere to be found today, the locust tree has stood here for nearly 2,000 years and become their symbolic home.

Liu Yanqin is a retired policeman from Pizhou, Jiangsu Province.

His ancestor Liu Huaizhi trekked hundreds of miles with his wife and children among the first batch of migrants to settle in Jiangsu. More than 100 years later, his great great grandson tried and failed to return because of his old age and the long distance.

Nowadays, airplanes and high-speed trains enable descendants to visit from every corner of the world. The nearest high-speed train station is only four km from the tree.

Liu Yanqin made the trip for his ancestors in 2008 and found his family tree greatly resembled that of Liu Baoqiang, from Hongtong's Wan'an village.

"It took us 600 years to finally find home," said the 75-year-old. Since then, he often talks to his Shanxi relatives by phone.

"Our hearts are bonded as long as our roots are connected," he said.

Visitor numbers have risen from less than 60,000 in 1996 to over 2 million last year. About 65,000 came from overseas.

The worship room by the tree has expanded from 40 to 6,000 square meters. A total of 1,230 tablets inscribed with surnames are placed where visitors can pay tribute, said receptionist Wang Hongmei.

Wang recalled that only those who afford the travel expenses came in the past. To save money, some people brought their own food. "Now, very few bring their meals with them, and more people drive here," she said.

Huang Zeling has studied the big locust tree culture for more than 20 years. Huang said more people come to trace their roots have revealed cohesiveness of the Chinese culture and people's unprecedented confidence in Chinese culture.

Businessman Max Soong from Taiwan has lived on the Chinese mainland for over 10 years. A nursing home he has invested in is about to open in Shanxi.

"On hearing that I was visiting here, my mother was quite delighted. The big locust tree is our roots on the mainland and will never be forgotten," he said.

Tomb-sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, falls on April 5 this year. It is a traditional Chinese holiday during which people pay tribute to deceased friends and family members.A Kuwaiti perfume salesman displays colorful bottles of perfume at the International Perfumes and Cosmetics Exhibition in Kuwait City, on April 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Nie Yunpeng)

KUWAIT CITY, April 4 (Xinhua) -- "We can not stop going to China to buy products for perfumes," Adel Al-hamad, a Kuwaiti perfume maker, said on Tuesday at the Kuwait International Perfumes Exhibition.

The exhibition, held at the Kuwait International Fairground, aims to showcase beauty products, cosmetics and perfumes from major companies in countries such as Saudi Arabia, France, the U.S., Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

Al-hamad, who established his own perfume workshop 28 years ago, spends one to six months on developing new perfumes every year.

"The Arabian Peninsula has been closely connected with incense since ancient times, and Arabs are known for their specialty in planting, making and using it," Al-hamad said.

"Each perfume maker has his unique technology, and the recipe for making perfume is only passed down from generation to generation in the family," he noted.

Incent burners, many of them are made in China, are on display at the International Perfumes and Cosmetics Exhibition in Kuwait City, on April 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Nie Yunpeng)

But 18 years ago, the Kuwaiti perfume maker began to go to China to buy various products for his perfumes, such as bottles, packaging boxes and incense burners.

"Every year I will go to China once or twice. The place I usually go to is the Canton Fair, as there are a variety of bottle manufacturers that can meet the needs of my products," he explained.

"China is the best country in the world to buy good things, and with good prices also," he said.

"Now I have a small factory to make perfume and have many agents in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. About one third of our perfume bottles come from China," Al-hamad added.

There are also dozens of perfumes displayed at the booth of Ali Dalil, also an owner of a perfume shop.

"These bottles are all from China," he said, pointing to some tall and thin glass perfume bottles.

He pointed to a beautiful golden metallic incense vessel which attracted attention of many visitors to the exhibition.

"It was also from China," Dalil said while smiling.

Ali, a shop assistant at another perfume booth, said almost 90 percent of his shop's bottles come from China.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 17:01:20|Editor: Zhou Xin

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TIANJIN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Seventy-eight Taiwanese suspected of telecom fraud were escorted by mainland police from the Philippines to the north China city of Tianjin Wednesday morning.

They are suspected of conducting several hundred telecom fraud cases on the mainland involving more than 100 million yuan (15.88 million U.S. dollars), according to a statement from the Ministry of Public Security.

The suspects were part of a group of 151 detained in a joint police raid on an international criminal organization in the Philippines in January, the statement said.

The other 73 suspects, who are all mainlanders, were brought back to the mainland in February.

The suspects allegedly carried out the fraud by impersonating law enforcement and judicial officials, the statement said.

Some of the Taiwanese suspects were senior members of the fraud ring, the statement said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 17:06:21|Editor: Jiaxin

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by Xinhua writer Chen Jipeng

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Despite strong opposition at home and abroad, Washington on Tuesday unveiled a China tariff list, a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice that will eventually lead America to a dead end.

China has condemned the policy and said it would take corresponding measures.

This is to be expected. The real problem in the United States is not the trade imbalance that the White House insists upon, but that the majority of ordinary people bear the brunt of constant painful economic adjustments while not getting the benefits.

In an essentially political move, U.S. President Donald Trump is knowingly shooting the wrong target by imposing steep tariffs on 50 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese imports. The protectionist policies will hurt most those Trump has claimed they will help.

Trump has cited perceived trade imbalances as the rationale for targeting Chinese exports, claiming that such policies would bring jobs back to the United States. However, the numbers, upon a more thorough examination, do not really support such a claim.

Deutsche Bank said in a recent report that when the sales of the Chinese subsidiaries of U.S. multinationals are taken into consideration, the difference between trade flows in the two directions becomes modest.

Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show the total sales of U.S. firms in China was about 372 billion dollars in 2015, comprising 223 billion dollars by their subsidiaries in China and 150 billion dollars through exports from America to China. The 223 billion dollars consist of nearly 171 billion dollars of manufactured goods and 51 billion dollars of services.

The number in the opposite direction was 402 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, including mostly exports and a modest direct sales of 10 billion dollars. The U.S. has a clear advantage in sectors such as IT, chemicals and transport equipment.

The trade imbalance is also partly a result of accounting practices. Overall values of iPhones going to the United States are counted as Chinese exports, but most of the value-added goes to Apple in America and key component suppliers in Japan and South Korea.

Based on comparative advantage, trade generally leads to finer division of labor and increased productivity. Nevertheless, we have to acknowledge that trade in a certain single sector may produce winners and losers. In the United States, some industries are bearing the brunt of traditional jobs becoming obsolete faster and the painful adjustments.

However, in the big picture, international trade overall remains mutually beneficial. While the traditional sectors are facing challenges, jobs are being created in new sectors in the United States thanks to the expansion of the Chinese market.

Yet, something has indeed gone wrong. This is reflected in growing income disparity. A report by the Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank based in Washington, says the richest three people in the United States collectively hold more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of the U.S. population.

The real problem is while the IT and financial giants harvested the benefits, the real income of the majority, including the middle class, has been stagnant.

It calls for strong leadership to make growth inclusive, but not strong in the sense of resorting to aggressive and cheap protectionist moves. Trump's policies will only make it worse, with or without the retaliations, which are to be expected.

Finally, it should be obvious that any attempt to curb the development of another country through unilateral trade aggression does not bode well. They are counterproductive and should not be tolerated.NEW DELHI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Wednesday left for a three-day visit to Azerbaijan to attend a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Apart from attending the two-day mid-term ministerial meeting of NAM that starts in capital Baku Thursday, Swaraj will call on Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and hold bilateral talks with her Azerbaijan counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, according to the External Affairs Ministry.

Swaraj's participation in the NAM Ministerial Meeting "will underline India's continued active and constructive engagement" within the movement "with a view to further strengthen solidarity and cooperation among its member states," it said in a statement.PHNOM PENH, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Wednesday invited international observers to monitor the national election, which is scheduled for July 29, according to a National Election Committee (NEC) statement.

The registration for international observers will start from April 23 to July 25, the statement said, adding that the international observer should be an observer of international non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and various countries.

"Following the completion of the electoral process, the international observers shall submit a report in writing on its observation and conclusion on the electoral process to the NEC," it said.

Cambodia holds a national election once in every five years.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 17:46:33|Editor: Jiaxin

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JERUSALEM, April 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke early Wednesday, amidst Israel's concerns over U.S. planned withdrawal of troops from Syria.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office released a statement, saying Netanyahu and Trump talked over the phone about "regional developments and Iran."

The statement did not elaborate on which developments were addressed.

However, according to the statement, "Netanyahu thanked President Trump for his commitment to Israel's security," and the two leaders "agreed to continue the close coordination between the two states in order to repel Iran's aggression and its attempts to destabilize the region."

On Thursday, Trump said the United States would "come out of Syria like very soon." However, according to a U.S. media report on Monday, the U.S. military has been working on plans to send dozens of additional American soldiers to northern Syria.

Israel worries that the U.S. withdrawal from Syria, its northern neighbor, would allow Iran to enhance its military foothold in Syria. Top Israeli officials have warned that Israel will not allow a military Iranian presence in Syria.

The Netanyahu-Trump talk came also as Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met in Ankara.

The summit is aimed at discussing measures to consolidate the truce regime in Syria, ensure the operation of de-escalation zones and address the humanitarian problems in the war-torn country.NAIROBI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- East Africa's bloc on Wednesday lauded Kenya for being one of the first countries to approve the framework establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which will create a single market for goods and services in the continent.

The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said the quick approval of the bill to ratify the AfCFTA demonstrates the strong political will of the Kenyan government to strengthen inter-African linkages on trade through the elimination of trade barriers to foster a liberalized single continental market.

"The IGAD Secretariat also welcomes the signature of the African Continental Free Trade Area by all Member States of IGAD - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda - and will endeavor together with the African Union to work alongside its Members States to facilitate efforts to enhance free trade within its respective region and across the continent," the bloc said in a statement.

All the East African countries except Burundi which did not attend the Summit on March 21 in Rwanda signed all the three protocols. Only 22 member countries were required to sign the agreement to make the AfCFTA treaty operational.

According to the Africa Union, AfCFTA aims to establish a single liberalized market that will spur industrialization, infrastructural development, economic diversification and trade across the continent that is home to some 1.2 billion people.

IGAD said the trade pact which requires ratification by 22 countries before entering into force seeks to increase intra-African trade by 52 percent, leading to an increase in industrialization, job growth, and economic diversification.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 18:46:46|Editor: Mengjie

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Wang Yang (2nd L), chairman of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, inspects in Shanghai, east China, April 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

SHANGHAI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Wang Yang has called on the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to keep up with the new era, develop and innovate, and do its work with solid effort.

As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, the CPPCC now faces higher requirements, Wang, chairman of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, said during his visit to Shanghai.

Wang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, stressed the importance of studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress in CPPCC work.

The CPPCC must stay problem-oriented, carefully study the new situation, solve new problems, and provide more targeted and timely advice, said Wang.

Wang has also listened and reviewed work reports from local CPPCC committees in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 19:06:53|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States should seek constructive measures to deal with problems and challenges so as to bring bilateral economic ties back to healthy and stable track, China's Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said Wednesday.

"We don't want a trade war because that will only bring losses to both sides," Zhu said at a press conference.

Self-willed and impulsive actions should not be used by both countries to address their economic ties that are so significant to the welfare of the Chinese and American people, he said.

China-U.S. economic relations have always been mutually beneficial, Zhu said. Bilateral trade volume reached above 580 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, up from only 2.5 billion dollars in 1979, when the two countries established diplomatic relations.

Trade frictions are inevitable considering such rapid development in economic ties and huge trade volume, Zhu said, adding China always seeks to deal with the frictions via policy coordination and negotiations under the principle of mutual respect, and in accordance with WTO rules.

Zhu acknowledged the challenges facing both sides but also reiterated that China will not surrender to external pressure.

"Looking at it another way, external pressure is the driving force for innovation and development," Zhu said.

China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth 50 billion U.S. dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs, including soybeans, automobiles, and chemical products.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has decided to impose additional tariffs of 25 percent on 106 items of products under 14 categories, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement on its website.

The move was taken after the U.S. administration announced a proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth 50 billion dollars with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

The date of implementation will depend on when the U.S. government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products, the MOF said.

Related:

China launches WTO dispute settlement procedures over U.S. tariff hike

China urges U.S. to loosen tech exports limitsSource: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 19:06:54|Editor: Yamei

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(Xinhua file photo)

LONDON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Downing Street has mounted a damage-limitation exercise after the head of the government's top science lab said the precise source of the nerve agent used to poison former Russian agent Sergei Skripal has not been identified.

The Times newspaper in London reported Wednesday that an interview on Sky News with Gary Aitkenhead, CEO of the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), risks undermining Prime Minister Theresa May's international coalition against Moscow.

Under the headline "May battles to preserve alliance against Russia", the Times cites an ally of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel raising doubts over Britain's global push to isolate Moscow after Dstl defense laboratory at Porton Down could not confirm that the Salisbury nerve agent came from Russia.

Britain's national media also reported Wednesday that Russia's President Vladimir Putin also seized on the admission by Aitkenhead that he had not identified the "precise source" of the poison, and used it against Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The Times reported that the interview, approved in advance by Number 10, had caused dismay in Downing Street.

Aitkenhead said his laboratories had identified the nerve agent used to poison the pair as a military-grade novichok, which could probably be deployed only by a nation state.

Putin said that given the lack of precise information about the agent's origin "the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes "bewilderment".

May has yet to comment on the latest development, with the government instead referring to a statement issued by the Foreign Office.

The statement of the Foreign Office says "We have been clear from the very beginning that our world leading experts at Porton Down identified the substance used in Salisbury as a novichok, a military grade nerve agent. This is only one part of the intelligence picture."

But it insisted its assessment that Russia was responsible for the attack, saying "there is no other plausible explanation."

Dstl, in a series of posts on its social media site said: "Our experts have precisely identified the nerve agent as a novichok. It is not, and has never been, our responsibility to confirm the source of the agent."

"This chemical identity of the nerve agent is one of four factors used by the Government to attribute the use of chemical weapons in Salisbury to Russia."

Skripal remain in a serious condition in hospital, while his daughter is recovering in hospital.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 19:11:56|Editor: Jiaxin

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CAPE TOWN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South Africa on Wednesday called for an independent inquiry into the recent killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces in the occupied Gaza Strip.

"South Africa aligns itself with those members of the United Nations calling for an independent inquiry into the killings, with a view to holding to account those who are responsible," Minister of Foreign Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu said.

This came after the Israeli army opened fire at Palestinian demonstrators in protest against the U.S. move to relocate its embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed holy city of Jerusalem, killing 17 Palestinian citizens and injuring scores of others.

The South African government strongly condemns the latest act of violent aggression carried out by Israeli armed forces in Gaza Strip, Sisulu said.

"The actions of the Israeli armed forces present yet another obstacle to a permanent resolution to the conflict, which must come in the form of two states, Palestine and Israel, existing side-by-side and in peace," said Sisulu.

She reiterated South Africa's position that the Israeli Defence Force must withdraw from the Gaza Strip and bring to an end the violent and destructive incursions into Palestinian territories.

South Africa maintains further that the violence in the Gaza Strip will stand in the way of rebuilding Palestinian institutions and infrastructure, Sisulu said.BRUSSELS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) does not support measures that would run counter to WTO law, Daniel Rosario, spokesman of the European Commission, told reporters Wednesday on Washington's proposed list of Chinese goods subject to additional 25 percent tariffs based on the investigation of the so-called Section 301.

"We call on the relevant parties to ensure WTO compliance of their trade actions. We will analyze the measures being taken in terms of their WTO compatibility," said Rosario, responding to Xinhua's question on the list.

According to the spokesman, the EU has noticed the U.S. action against China under Section 301 and has been closely following the investigations since they were launched in August 2017.

Rosario also underlined the importance of the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in dealing with trade differences. "What is important to stress is that the EU believes that measures should always be taken within the World Trade Organization framework, which provides numerous tools to effectively deal with trade differences," said the spokesman.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 19:21:58|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese official has warned against overseas individuals or entities using religion as a tool of infiltration.

You Quan, head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China will resolutely guard against such acts.

He said the country will stop and deal with illegal religious activities of any sort.

You, who made the remarks during a two-day work inspection in east China's Anhui Province, stressed the importance of taking practical but effective measures to safeguard state security and maintain social harmony and stability.

The official, however, also said that the believers' normal needs for religion will be met.

During his inspection, You visited Anhui Theological Seminary and met with religious figures as well as local government and Party officials.

He called upon them to uphold the sinicization on religion, strengthen law-based governance of religious affairs, and adapt religious activities to a socialist society.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 19:26:59|Editor: Yamei

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(Xinhua file photo)

BRUSSELS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) does not support measures that would run counter to WTO law, Daniel Rosario, spokesman of the European Commission, told reporters Wednesday on Washington's proposed list of Chinese goods subject to additional 25 percent tariffs based on the investigation of the so-called Section 301.

"We call on the relevant parties to ensure WTO compliance of their trade actions. We will analyze the measures being taken in terms of their WTO (World Trade Organization) compatibility," said Rosario, responding to Xinhua's question about the list.

According to the spokesman, the EU has noticed the U.S. action against China under Section 301 and has been closely following the investigations since they were launched in August 2017.

Rosario also underlined the importance of the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in dealing with trade differences.

"What is important to stress is that the EU believes that measures should always be taken within the World Trade Organization framework, which provides numerous tools to effectively deal with trade differences," said the spokesman.

China expressed strong condemnation after Washington announced the list of Chinese goods worth 50 billion U.S. dollars, which involves industries in aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics and machinery, and targets around 1,300 Chinese products.

"The Chinese side strongly condemns and firmly opposes the unfounded Section 301 investigation and the proposed list of products and tariff increases based on the investigation," the Chinese Embassy in the United States said in a statement Tuesday, shortly after Washington unveiled the list.

The list was authorized by the U.S. Trade Representative's office, which in August 2017 initiated an investigation under the Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to probe Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices.

China has repeatedly said that Section 301 investigation is a unilateral move that violates WTO rules.

"Such unilateralistic and protectionist action has gravely violated fundamental principles and values of the WTO. It serves neither China's interest, nor U.S. interest, even less, the interest of the global economy," the Chinese embassy said in its statement.

Washington's reckless tariff moves are breaking the modern trade rules that had been established by the United States itself with the WTO at the center.

"I think the (U.S.) administration is definitely moving away from the WTO and moving in the direction of the unilateral trade measures," said Henry Levine, senior advisor at leading U.S. consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group.

Calling the Trump administration's choice "very unfortunate," Levine said it's bad for every country in the world if the WTO loses more effectiveness, "because we do need some rules."

"I think we're all going to be worse off if the WTO were to fall apart because one major country or another totally ignored WTO rules," said Levine.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 19:27:00|Editor: Jiaxin

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BEIRUT, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah, a militant organization based in Lebanon, said it is not a "war fanatic" but reiterated its readiness to defend Lebanon against any future "Israeli aggression," al-Joumhouria daily reported Wednesday.

"There are no real chances of war between Lebanon and Israel, or between the enemy and countries of axis of the resistance. But it seems the Israelis have lost their minds in the light of the great victories achieved by the axis of resistance in Syria," unnamed sources from Hezbollah said.

The daily quoted the sources saying that Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has responded to Israeli threats and stressed that Hezbollah is not a war fanatic, but will always be ready to defend Lebanon.

The remarks came in response to Israeli chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot's recent statements that Israel still has a lot of work to do to slow down Hezbollah's progress.

The Israeli official said Israel has tens of thousands of opportunities to harm Hezbollah.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 19:27:01|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Mobike said Wednesday it has signed a deal with Meituan, which fully purchased the bike-sharing firm.

Under the deal, Mobike, China's leading bike-sharing company, will keep its management team and brand, said a joint press release from the two firms.

Wang Xing, CEO of Meituan, will be chairman of Mobike. Meituan is an online platform for ordering food, buying movie tickets and booking restaurants.

The deal will create a new consumer experience for users. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Mobike has huge social value in promoting low-carbon lifestyles. Meituan will fully support Mobike in pursuing technological innovation, said Wang.

Mobike, founded in 2015, has more than 200 million users and provides over 30 million rides per day.Palestinian women seen during their visit to the Roman historical site of Sebastia village, north of the West Bank city of Nablus, on March 22, 2017. (Xinhua photo)

NABLUS, West Bank, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A heated cultural conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is raging on, with an archaeological town near the West Bank city of Nablus as the battlefield.

Sebastia, a small historical town located on a hill with panoramic views across the West Bank, accommodates ancient Roman and Hellenistic antiquities.

The town embraces Roman churches, temples and tombs as well as a Roman amphitheater and an artistic theater where the celebrations used to be held.

Christians and Muslims believe that St. John the Baptist is buried here.

Palestinians seen during their visit to the Roman historical site of Sebastia village, north of the West Bank city of Nablus, on March 22, 2017. (Xnihua photo)

Palestinians accuse the Israeli authorities and settlers of trying to destroy historic monuments in the town and falsify its history, which has a glorious civilization spanning more than 3,000 years.

"The Israeli authorities and settlers are launching continuous attacks against the archaeological area of about 2,000 dunums," Mayor of Sebastia Mohammad Azem told Xinhua.

He explained that these acts included preventing the restoration work as well as prohibiting providing tourist services to visitors from around the world.

Palestinians complain that settlers have repeatedly attacked the town and fenced parts of its antiquities area where they hold Jewish religious rituals.

Last week, the Israeli army removed road directive signs placed by the Municipal Council in Sebastia to facilitate tourists.

"The Israeli authorities threatened to remove these signs if they do not include directions in Hebrew," the mayor revealed.

He accused Israel of attempting to illegally seize the town by pressuring the Palestinian population to displace them.

Twelve dunums of the archaeological area is located within (B) areas, which are controlled by Israeli military and Palestinian administrative authority, while the other part of the area lies within (C) areas, which falls under complete Israeli administrative and military control.

Owners of restaurants and hotels complain about the Israeli acts in the town which have caused them severe damages and losses.

"We suffer daily from the settlers who attack our shops... The Israeli army also prevents tourist buses from reaching our area," Nael Aqel, owner of a tourist restaurant in the town, told Xinhua.

The man said the Israeli attacks included gunfire, which scares tourists who in the end decide not to visit a place plagued with clashes and trouble.

"This has led to grave losses," he added.

Aqel pointed out that the Israeli army demolished his restaurant "under the pretext" of not obtaining legal construction permits.

"My restaurant is built on my own private land," he stressed.

Murad al-Sudani, Secretary-general of the National Palestinian Commission for Education, Culture and Science, said the repeated attacks by Israel and its settlers on the historical town of Sebastia are an attempt to seize the town and "steal its history to serve the Jewish narrative."

"Israel targets all Palestinian heritage and history... We have previously documented Israel's theft of antiquities from Sebastia and other historical sites in Palestine," he added.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 19:52:11|Editor: Mengjie

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Liu Jieyi (R), director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, meets with former Kuomintang (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu, in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, April 4, 2018. Hung Hsiu-chu came to Xi'an to attend a ceremony paying homage to Huangdi, also known as the Yellow Emperor, regarded as one common ancestor for all Chinese. (Xinhua)

XI'AN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland's Taiwan affairs chief Wednesday called on both sides across the Taiwan Strait to work together for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and peaceful reunification of the motherland.

Liu Jieyi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, met Hung Hsiu-chu, former Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman, and Yok Mu-ming, chairman of Taiwan's New Party, respectively in the northwestern city of Xi'an.

Hung and Yok were in Xi'an to attend a ceremony paying homage to Huangdi, also known as the Yellow Emperor, regarded as one common ancestor for all Chinese.

At the meetings, Liu expressed appreciation for the effort made by Taiwan's organizations and politicians, including Hung and Yok, to uphold the one-China principle and oppose "Taiwan independence."

He expressed the hope that people from all walks of life on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to work together for the greater national interest.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 19:57:14|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday dismissed the idea that political motives were behind its countermeasures against U.S. soybean imports after the U.S. administration proposed tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese products.

"Business is business," Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said at a press conference. "We should analyze the challenge we face and the way we deal with it from the perspective of the economy."

He made the remarks in response to a reporter asking whether China intends to hit U.S. President Donald Trump's political base in agricultural states by putting soybeans at the top of a U.S. product list to be subject to higher Chinese tariffs.

"We are forced to bring forward the product list, and there are grounds for the specific items and their order on the list," Zhu said.

U.S. soybeans sold to China account for 62 percent of its total soybean exports, with 32.85 million tonnes of soybeans exported to China last year, or 34.4 percent of China's total imports, according to Zhu.

While U.S. farmers can benefit from healthy Sino-U.S. economic ties, the export amount to China was too big, he said.

Chinese farmers have petitioned industry associations that U.S. government subsidies hurt the interests of Chinese soybean growers, and China must respect its farmers' demands, Zhu told reporters.

China on Wednesday unveiled the list of products, worth 50 billion U.S. dollars, imported from the United States that will be subject to additional tariffs of 25 percent, including soybeans, automobiles, and chemical products.

The move was taken after the U.S. administration announced a proposed list of products covering Chinese exports worth the same amount with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

"The product lists have not come into effect yet. Now that the two sides have put the issues onto the table, it's time for negotiations and cooperation," Zhu said. "The prerequisite for negotiations and cooperation is mutual respect, not one side recklessly forcing conditions on the other."

The two sides should return to negotiations and solve the trade disputes in a pragmatic and constructive way to cement Sino-U.S. economic ties and benefit the people of the two countries, including soybean farmers, according to Zhu.

He thanked U.S. soybean growers and the American Soybean Association for calling on the U.S. administration to protect Sino-U.S. economic ties.BERLIN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Niels Annen (SPD), state secretary in the German Foreign Office has ruled out revoking a moratorium on deportations of Syrian nationals from Germany to their homeland in the near-term on Wednesday.

Speaking to the public broadcaster "ARD", Annen said that "he could not imagine at all" that Syrian nationals who had failed to obtain asylum in Germany could be deported to their home country as long as violent conflict is ongoing there.

"The conditions to enable a return are not yet fulfilled," Annen told "ARD". As a consequence, there was currently no reason to revoke Berlin's earlier ban on deportations to Syria. The German Foreign Office has yet to conclude a new situation analysis of threats and risks to citizens following the recent conquest of the last parts of Eastern Ghouta by the Syrian government.

Annen expressed scepticism that a widely-publicized international summit between Turkey, Russia and Iran on Wednesday could lead to a swift resolution of the Syrian civil war. The State secretary emphasized that it was Germany's official position that it was the United Nations the best-suited "platform" to find a multilateral response to the regional conflict.

According to recent figures by the Federal Statistical Office, the number of newly-arrived Syrian refugees in Germany continued to fall in February 2018. Nevertheless, the country still accounted for the single largest number of new asylum seekers in Germany.HARARE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean women are to hold a memorial service in honor of the late South African political icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (81) who died on Monday.

Many Zimbabweans have been paying condolences to her family and to South Africans in general on social media since news of her death in a South African hospital filtered into the country.

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee for Women and Youth Affairs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga confirmed the memorial service which she said would be held after the burial.

"You may want to know that we are planning as women activists to have a memorial service for the late Winnie, to celebrate her life. And we have spoken to the Ambassador of South Africa," she told The Herald newspaper Wednesday.

She said they would want some members of the African National Congress' women's league to attend and give testimonies about the late anti-apartheid activist's life.

"Her death is a heavy blow to many of us. Her death has educated us to rethink about what we need to do to celebrate heroines of the struggles that we had. We recognize her and celebrate her life," she said.

She added that the late should not be celebrated for her links with South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela, but because of her ideals and what she stood for.

Madikizela-Mandela was once married to Mandela but the couple divorced during the husband's presidency.

Minister of State for Bulawayo Province Angeline Masuku said Madikizela-Mandela could have given up the struggle during her husband's 27-year incarceration but she fought on.

"She fought for the liberation of her country. She fought for the emancipation of women and fought to emancipate black people.

"Therefore we honor her for her bravery as she continued with the struggle while her husband was in jail for 27 years," Masuku said.

Madikizela-Mandela, who has been accorded a state funeral, will be buried on April 14.

The African Union and the United Nations have also paid tribute to one of the few remaining anti-apartheid stalwarts who fought against the repressive minority regime in South Africa which finally gave way to majority rule in 1994.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 20:02:17|Editor: Mengjie

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Photo taken on April 3, 2018 shows a demonstration area of Huawei's openlab in Paris, France. Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has launched Paris OpenLab as part of its plan to create an open system offering innovative solutions to pave the way for digital transformation and promote industry ecosystem development, it said in a statement released on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Matthias)

PARIS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has launched Paris OpenLab as part of its plan to create an open system offering innovative solutions to pave the way for digital transformation and promote industry ecosystem development, it said in a statement released on Wednesday.

"Huawei is an innovative company, we have a global technology platform and our goal is to make this platform available to French companies for the co-construction of solutions," said Shi Weiliang, Managing Director of Huawei France.

"With the opening of this OpenLab, we are taking a new step in our support of the French ecosystem in order to allow it to spread abroad," he added.

The OpenLab Paris, the second such platform of Huawei in Europe following that in Germany, will " support competitiveness of French companies" by improving expertise in retail, smart city, connected car and internet fields.

50 French partners, including Orange Business Services (OBS), the PSA Group and Thales, attended the opening ceremony of the Chinese group's innovative platform in Paris.

Worldwide, Huawei aims to invest 200 million U.S. dollars and mobilize 1,000 people to build 20 OpenLabs by 2019.

"The OpenLab is a platform for cooperation between technology partners for the development of new products and solutions that meet the needs submitted by customers," the Chinese group said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 20:02:18|Editor: Jiaxin

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BANGKOK, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Thailand is riding on the astounding popularity of a recent historical television series to promote Thai culture and tourism in the upcoming water splashing festival.

The country's tourism and culture bodies have been asking tourists to wear traditional Thai costume to enjoy the water splashing festival, known as Songkran which is the Thai new year festival from April 13 to April 15.

"The popularity of TV series Bupphaesannivas (Love Destiny) has led to Thais from all walks of life donning traditional costumes on increasing occasions across the country. The government will further hold cultural functions nationwide during Songkran festival to promote patriotism and Thai culture," said Veera Rojpojchanarat, culture minister on Tuesday at the joint press conference with the sport and tourism ministry briefing preparations of the festival.

Weerasak Kowsurat, the sport and tourism minister invited foreign tourists to dress up in Thai traditional garb and take trips to historical places and enjoy the specially tailored "love destiny tour packages" such as Thai traditional wedding route, ancient temple trip and Thai foodie trip.

Historic tourist destinations used to film the romantic comedy series "Love Destiny" have seen a nearly three-fold increase in Thai tourists, according to local tourism officials.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 20:07:19|Editor: Zhou Xin

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Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan (R) meets with Thai crown princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in Beijing, capital of China, April 4, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan met with Thai crown princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in Beijing on Wednesday.

Sun praised the Thai royal family's important role in promoting China-Thailand relations, and voiced appreciation for Sirindhorn's contribution to deepening friendship and pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.

Sun said China attaches great importance to its ties with Thailand and is willing to make joint efforts with Thailand to deepen their friendship and enhance cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Sirindhorn spoke highly of China's rapid development and said Thailand cherishes its friendly ties with China.

Sirindhorn said she will contribute more to the development of bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 20:07:19|Editor: Jiaxin

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ISTANBUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Two suspected Islamic State (IS) militants have been detained in Istanbul, along with a large amount of cash, gold and silver, Istanbul police said on Wednesday.

Anti-terror teams launched simultaneous operations in several places in the city on March 16 against IS suspects who were believed to send weapons and logistic equipment to war zones and illegally transfer money to other jihadists both in Turkey and abroad, the police said in a press release.

Police also seized weapons, ammunition clips, bugging device detectors, hidden cameras, walkie-talkies and other devices, the press release said.

In the operations, a large amount of cash was found, including 1.3 million U.S. dollars, 118,000 euros and other foreign currencies.

According to the Hurriyet daily, police seized 8.5 kg of gold and 25 kg of silver as well.

The two suspects were arrested on March 30 following a court hearing, according to the police press release.

Turkey has been hit by a series of suicide attacks carried out by IS militants since 2015 and the security forces have been cracking down hard on the group which is being routed in neighboring Iraq and Syria.TOKYO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Five Air Force CV-22 Osprey aircraft were unloaded at the U.S. Army's Yokohama North Dock and will fly to Yokota Air Base in the suburbs of Tokyo amid public opposition, local media reported Wednesday.

The arrival of the controversial tilt-rotor planes followed a sudden announcement that the plane's formal deployment would be brought forward from the fiscal year through September 2020, as was previously planned, to this summer.

Along with the arrival of the aircraft, 100 personnel will also arrive ahead of a broader deployment of 10 Ospreys and about 450 personnel to Yokota in the coming years.

The sudden, unexpected disclosure about the change of plans was made by U.S. forces in Japan on Tuesday, with the news unnerving local residents near the base and those who might be in the vicinity of the planes' flight paths.

The backlash, particularly from residents close to the Yokota base and Japan in general, comes as the turboprop planes are known to have a heavily checkered safety record, which includes a fatal crash occurring off the coast of Australia last year that killed three personnel aboard.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK on Wednesday, while highlighting the fact that the Yokota base is located in a densely-populated area adjacent to central Tokyo, said ,"Residents have demanded that the Osprey deployment plan be withdrawn."

The Marine Corps already have Ospreys based in Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, much to the chagrin of the tiny island's local residents and officials, and the plane's deployment on Japan's mainland will mark the first for the accident-prone aircraft.

Defense analysts here have highlighted the instance of a commander of one of the U.S. Marine Corps two MV-22 Osprey squadrons based in Okinawa being fired in February, owing to a loss of trust in his ability to command.

The U.S. commander was in charge when the fatal accident occurred off the coast of Australia last year.

They noted that his high-profile removal came as tensions here continue to rise amid a recent spate of accidents and mishaps involving U.S. military aircraft.

Despite the public's ongoing and vehement safety concerns, however, the Japanese government still believes the Osprey's deployment at Yokota will help with domestic and regional stability, its proven unsound performance record, notwithstanding.BERLIN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The newly-appointed German Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) on Wednesday called for a significant expansion of the responsibilities and resources of the European Union external border agency Frontex.

Speaking to the newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Spahn expressed the view that securing the external Schengen frontier was a quintessential example of how Germany's national interests had become inextricable from those of the wider EU and justified the new government's prioritization of Europe in its coalition agreement.

"Frontex needs 100,000 employees and should really protect the frontier," Spahn said. He argued that surrendering a part of German sovereignty in this context was possible if it actually improved the quality of border management.

Following the collapse of the current Dublin III regime in 2015, more than one million asylum seekers from non-EU countries arrived in Germany.

Spahn criticized the fact that Frontex currently has 250 permanent staff, assisted by a small contingent of 1,500 national officers, and was hence unable to effectively fulfill its tasks.

While the EU would always be open to refugees who could demonstrate a credible entitlement to asylum under the Geneva convention, it needed to "know who wants to enter (the Schengen area) and then decide whether they are allowed to do so".

The minister reiterated earlier calls by German chancellor and CDU leader Angela Merkel for a widening of the scope of Frontex to better protect the Schengen area's 14,000 km external frontier.

Spahn belongs to the conservative faction of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and has repeatedly clashed with the more moderate party leader prior to joining her fourth cabinet.

In another example of divergence in the two CDU politicians' worldviews, Spahn praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in his interview on Wednesday for his efforts to keep refugees out of his country.

"Despite all valid criticism of Orban: he is implementing European law at the Hungarian borders and hereby protects Europe's border," Spahn said.

Hungary, along with other so-called "Visegrad" group of Eastern European states, faces legal prosecution by the EU Commission for failing to fulfill their respective refugee quotas under a new European asylum system agreed in 2016.

Merkel and other senior German politicians have regularly lashed out at Budapest for non-compliance in this regard.BERLIN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- John Thain, former chief executive officer (CEO) of the U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has been nominated to join Deutsche Bank's supervisory board, the Frankfurt-based financial institute announced on Wednesday.

Deutsche Bank informed shareholders of the nomination in an invitation letter to the publicly listed company's upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 24.

The news comes amidst growing rumors of bitter infighting between CEO John Cryan and board chairman Paul Achleitner.

Media reports recently suggested that Cryan would be replaced prior to the official termination of his current contract in 2020, a claim which was vehemently disputed by the CEO in a subsequent internal letter to staff.

The newspaper "Times" cited information from an unnamed insider that Cryan's and Achleitner's relationship had "broken down entirely" after it was revealed that 2017 would be yet another year of losses for the embattled company.

Cryan assumed the post of CEO in 2015, vowing to reform the investment bank with an ambitious corporate restructuring program until the end of his contract in 2020. In March, it was revealed that Deutsche Bank had suffered annual losses of 735 million euros (904 million U.S. dollars) in 2017, taking the total figure of cumulative annual loses since 2015 to 9 billion euros.

Bonus payments to Deutsche Bank's management more than doubled during the same period and prompting widespread outrage in German media.

The German Social Democratic Party (SPD) economic policy spokesperson Bernd Westphal described the situation as "anything but positive" and attacked Cryan for signing generous pay-rises while the bank was still in the red.

Thain is only the latest of several new nominations in a wider ongoing supervisory board reshuffle at Deutsche Bank which has been overshadowed by a poor financial performance.

Following the departure of Eon CEO Johannes Teyssen and the retirement of SAP CEO Henning Kagermann, there will be no representatives of the German industry on Deutsche Bank's supervisory board for the first time in history.

Like many other German financial institutions, founded in the 1870s at the height of Germany's industrial catch-up process, Deutsche Bank has traditionally retained close ties with the country's powerful manufacturing sector. By contrast, the newly-assembled supervisory board will be dominated by managers who made their careers in the Anglo-American financial services industry.

Deutsche Bank is Germany's largest financial institute measured by the size of its balance sheet and employees 43,000 employees in the country.

The bank has been rocked by a series of international scandals since the 2007/08 financial crisis surrounding diverse allegations of fraud which have harmed its reputation and profitability.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 20:52:39|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China's vice commerce minister on Wednesday refuted claims that China was the one that started the "trade war" by forcing foreign firms to share technology, calling it "fake news" and "groundless."

"There is no law in China that forces foreign firms to transfer their technology to their Chinese partners," Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen told a press briefing.

As a developing country, it is completely in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules for China to ask foreign investors to establish joint venture enterprises when entering certain Chinese industries, said Wang.

Technology transfer between enterprises is voluntary based on mutual agreements without government intervention, he said.

Wang said China is firm in protecting intellectual property rights (IPR), noting that the country has improved its legal and administrative system on IPR protection and will continue to make progress in this regard.

By investigating alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices, the United States has breached its promises that it will not determine whether other countries have violated WTO rules with the Section 301 investigation unilaterally and will deal with trade disputes strictly in accordance with WTO procedures, he said.

"Who has actually started the 'trade war?' The answer is self-evident," the vice minister said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 20:52:39|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Bulgarian President Rumen Radev (R) and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic attend a joint press conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, on April 4, 2018. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and his visiting Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said here on Wednesday that the European Union (EU) should maintain dialogue with Russia. (Xinhua/Wang Xinran)

SOFIA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and his visiting Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said here on Wednesday that the European Union (EU) should maintain dialogue with Russia.

"First of all, let us not forget that Bulgaria is presiding the Council of the EU and, as such, it must conduct a policy of dialogue and balance," Radev said at a joint press conference when answering a question on the tensions related to the poisoning row between Britain and Russia.

On Friday, Bulgaria said that it would not expel Russian diplomats, becoming one of the few EU countries that have not done so.

Such a position was taken by Austria, which would be the next chair the Council of the EU, Radev said.

"I agree with President Radev that dialogue is the only source of policy," Grabar-Kitarovic said in turn.

According to her, Russia is a world power, and talks should be held with it not only on mutual disputes but also on many other issues such as international security, EU security against terrorism and all other common threats.

The Croatian president called on the EU and Russia to return to dialogue and move towards normalization of ties.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 20:57:41|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The "Made in China 2025" strategy should not be used as an excuse for unilateral measures as it does not go against China's obligations to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said Wednesday.

"The strategy is transparent, open, and non-discriminatory. Not only Chinese companies but also foreign firms can participate in it," Wang said at a press conference.

The "Made in China 2025" strategy, a plan to upgrade the manufacturing sector, was reportedly a source of concern in the U.S. Section 301 investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices, launched by the Trump administration in August 2017.

Wang said China completed rigorous compliance reviews on the strategy when it was rolled out, and it was made in line with WTO rules.

The targets set in the strategy are of predictive and instructive nature, and are not mandatory tasks, Wang said.

Similar plans had been rolled out previously by many countries including the United States, Wang said.

Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said China's rapid development is a result of reform and opening-up. China made big strides in the field of intellectual property with a focus on talent and innovation, Zhu said.

China and the United States should properly settle trade disputes, including issues on intellectual property protection, via consultation on the basis of equality, Zhu said.

China will place intellectual property protection as a top priority in its innovation-driven development, Zhu said.

China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth 50 billion U.S. dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs, including soybeans, automobiles, and chemical products.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has decided to impose additional tariffs of 25 percent on 106 items of products under 14 categories, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement on its website.

The move was taken after the U.S. administration announced a proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth 50 billion dollars with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

The date of implementation will depend on when the U.S. government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products, the MOF said.BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Rimbink Pato, foreign minister of Papua New Guinea, will visit China from April 10 to 15 at the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang announced Wednesday.

Wang and Pato will hold talks during the latter's stay in China, and the two sides will exchange views on bilateral ties and international and regional issues of common concern, according to Geng.

Geng said the two countries have seen rapid development of their relationship over the past 42 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Geng said Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting to be held in Papua New Guinea in November, which will provide important opportunities for the development of bilateral ties.

China stands ready to work with Papua New Guinea to continue the momentum of interactions at all levels and enhance cooperation in various fields, Geng said.

He said that China will enhance communication and coordination on international and regional affairs with Papua New Guinea and promote greater development of bilateral strategic partnership.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 21:32:49|Editor: Jiaxin

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PRAGUE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia has never blamed the Czech Republic for involvement in the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain, Russian ambassador to the Czech Republic Alexander Zmeyevsky told a press conference at the Russian Embassy in Prague on Wednesday.

According to the ambassador, what was really mentioned by Russia previously is that the Czech Republic is able to work on the research of poisonous substances.

"We have just stated the facts," said Zmeyevsky, noting that no charges against the Czech Republic have ever been raised by Russia.

Zmeyevsky said Russia has known from open resources that Czech experts are able to work on the research of nervous paralytic agents, such as gas sarin, sobin and others, and such research resulted in the development of antibodies for the Czech Army and NATO.

"Specialists are well aware that in 2011 the Czech Republic and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded an agreement which allows to produce up to 10 kilograms of these substances," he said.

Over the poisoning row between Russia and Britain, which has led to expulsions of diplomats from the both sides and many Britain's western allies, the Russian ambassador said Russia is going to suggest a "civilized solution" over the poisoning incident at Wednesday's exceptional meetings of the OPCW Executive Council in The Hague.

"We hope to establish professional cooperation. If Britain does not want to cooperate with us directly as a responsible state, then we could do so via OPCW Executive Council or an expert group of the General Director of the OPCW Technical Secretariat. In any case, we intend to invite the OPCW to cooperate to identify the facts and to ensure a fully transparent investigation and solid cooperation," he said.

Former Russian intelligence officer Skripal and his daughter were reportedly exposed to a nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain and its allies accused Russia of launching a chemical attack against them.

Although Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement, 25 countries, including Britain and the United States, have expelled a total of more than 100 Russian diplomats, incurring tit-for-tat from Moscow.

Zmeyevsky also expressed his regret and disappointment over the Czech decision to hand over a Russian citizen Yevgenyi Nikulin to the United States, where he was charged with hacking attacks.

He said that people who decided to have handed over Nikulin are obviously guided "by their allied commitments", but not the facts of the case.

"It is sad that not all legal possibilities have been used, the loyalty had more priority over the legal obligations," said the ambassador.LUSAKA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Wednesday defended its decision to expel a Cuban envoy, who publicly declared support to a new opposition party.

On Sunday, Zambian announced the expulsion of Cuban Ambassador Nelson Pages Vilas after he attended the launch of the Socialist Party and publicly declared to support it, barely a few days after he presented his letters of credence.

The decision has however received mixed reactions, with some accusing the government of being intolerant.

Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya said while the government will allow divergent views from stakeholders within the country, it will not tolerate outsiders to meddle in the internal affairs of the country.

Siliya said Zambia will not allow foreign elements to dictate the governance of the country.

She told reporters at a press briefing that the Zambian government has already agreed with the Cuban government to send a new envoy.

She further reiterated that relations with Cuba have not been affected and will remain cordial.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 21:47:58|Editor: Jiaxin

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ANKARA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Ankara and Moscow are strengthening their security ties on major issues in the region especially in war-torn Syria, and they have recently boosted their cooperation beyond a tactical one, according to local experts.

As it could take years for Syria to restore peace and stability, Turkey's presence there would last accordingly. During the years, Turkey and Russia are expected to cement their cooperation on regional security matters, said Serkan Demirtas, an Ankara-based analyst.

Coordination between Turkey and Russia in Syria had paved the way for the former's military offensive in the northern part of the country, said Demirtas, adding that Turkey's cooperation with Moscow helped Ankara become a hard power in the region.

"Turkish troops are currently in the Idlib, Afrin and al-Bab regions of northwestern Syria. The government has vowed that the next targets will be east of the Euphrates and even northern Iraq. It is a fact that Turkey's military moves are now taken much more seriously by world powers and regional countries," he said.

Turkey and Russia have forged an increasingly close alliance recently, from boosting energy ties, sealing defense agreements, to holding talks on ending the Syria crisis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Ankara on Tuesday as his first trip abroad since he won a historic fourth presidential mandate on March 18.

During his visit, Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended a groundbreaking ceremony via video teleconference in southern Mersin province for the launching of Turkey's first nuclear power plant project, Akkuyu Nuclear Plant, a powerful symbol of the deepening cooperation between Ankara and Moscow.

Although the financial problems of the Akkuyu project are yet to be resolved, Putin attended the ceremony upon Turkey's request, and this indicates the importance he attaches to his relations with Erdogan, noted Aydin Sezer, head of the Turkish-Russian Research Center.

By doing so, Erdogan intended to underline the economic and investment capacity of his country, the expert said.

Turkey's atomic energy authority on Monday granted Russian builder Rosatom a construction license to start construction work of the first unit of the nuclear power plant, one day before Putin's visit.

Nevertheless, the shares allotment of the project is yet to be clarified. Rosatom holds a majority of 51-percent stake of the plant, and it is still seeking to sort out the remaining 49-percent stake.

The original plan was to give it to a Turkish consortium of three contracting conglomerates known as Cengiz-Kolin-Kalyon (CKK), but the investors have recently withdrew due to disagreement on commercial terms.

"The probability to reach an agreement on the stake sale of the plant is low this year, but it is likely to take place in the next year," Alexei Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom, told reporters during a press conference in Moscow last week.

In a joint press conference with Erdogan on Tuesday, Putin announced that Russia will meet Turkey's demand for an early delivery of S-400 missile defense systems ahead of the schedule, a purchase that has raised eyebrows among NATO allies.

Turkey and Russia have agreed to bring forward the delivery of the defense missile systems to July 2019, Ismail Demir, Turkish Defense Industries Undersecretary, wrote on Twitter late on Tuesday.

Turkey is also interested in a technology transfer and even joint production of the S-400 systems with Russia, but Moscow did not agree.

Asked at the press conference, Putin did not comment on the possibility of technology transfer, saying "these are exclusively commercial questions" rather than political ones.

In terms of partnership between Turkey and Russia in Syria, Sezer recalled that Russia had allowed a limited military operation of Turkey in southern Afrin province against the People's Protection Units (YPG), a group that Ankara deems as the Syrian branch of outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In return, Turkey cooperated with Russia on the evacuation of rebel fighters in Syria's Eastern Ghouta and their settlement in rebel-held province of Idlib, the expert said.

Moscow also aimed at increasing its leverage on Syrian Kurds, who had chosen the United States as their ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), according to Sezer.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 21:53:01|Editor: Yamei

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Travellers walk inside Montparnasse Train Station in Paris, France, on April 2, 2018. The three-month railway strike in France started on Monday. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen)

PARIS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A strike launched by the French national rail service (SNCF) and the resurgence of hotbeds of social frustration have appeared like a reality check in a France troubled by multiple concerns. This railroad battle promises difficulties for President Emmanuel Macron in the coming days.

The launch of the "pearled strike" movement by rail workers on Tuesday signals the beginning of a power struggle for the next phase of young French head of state's five-year term.

GROWING DISCONTENT

Elected as president, in part as a default choice to block extreme-right candidate Marine Le Pen, Macron initially assumed office with the role of a reformer on the international scene, advocating action and good will.

However, French citizens reminded him of reality of 2018 in France: record levels of abstention in the presidential election, with blank and invalid votes at historic highs; populist candidates who, in the first round, won close to half the votes; the results of the extreme right and the radical left. These elements are important in understanding the lack of support for projects proposed by Macron.

The list of people with disgruntlements is growing. Apart from employees of SNCF, those working at Air France (privatized in 1999), Carrefour (the largest private employer in the country), sanitation workers, electricians, pensioners, and students, all plan to mobilize.

It remains currently impossible to know if the movement will come together, but this does not preclude the possibility that a "convergence of conflicts" may start to worry the French executive branch.

The SNCF strike has in fact taken a turn that was unpredicted. The government banked on a repetition of the 1994 strike, which featured a complete block for several days. With this "pearled strike" (two days of strike followed by three days of work, then two more days of strike, until the end of June) the SNCF union seems to have caught the government off-guard.

In addition, if the French often "complain" about the SNCF, they are still attached to this national symbol of public service, the line connecting regions, perceived by many as an indispensable social link.

Even if the government criticizes what it calls the "strike culture," the idea of a social struggle remains rather popular in a country nostalgic for large social movements where the political culture is always the imprint of a form of revolutionary romanticism.

In announcing in February that the reform of the SNCF would be made by executive order, France also gave the impression that the government was deciding to force its way through.

Announcements by the transport minister on Friday, indicating that the project would finally be discussed within the framework of the law, covered their tracks. And many questions regarding the terms of the reform are still without answer.

TOO MUCH REFORM TOO SOON?

Arriving in office with a program that promised to go beyond "the old parties of the right and the left," the "reforms" and "plans" announced by Macron have followed one another at a pace so quick that it has sometimes given vertigo to close observers.

The presidential program, contrary to that of former center-right candidate Francois Fillon, featured a "liberal and at the same time social" dimension, doubted by many French citizens who suffer from a feeling of being left behind and wonder about who will profit from all these reforms.

Different polls have showed that, since his arrival in office, Macron has appeared like the "president of the rich" for more than 75 percent of people queried, while the government, composed largely of experts and technocrats, is perceived by many French people as disconnected from everyday reality.

The railroad battle is only the tip of the iceberg: the fight for public opinion will be critical. Communications will also be decisive, in the weeks to come, as the social struggle.

According to the a recent poll, 53 percent of the French find "unjustified" the reform project for the SNCF, meant to revoke the special status of the rail workers, and open the rail network to private competition starting in 2019.

The stakes for the head of state are considerable. He wishes to succeed where many of his predecessors have come up short. Until now, he has followed a middle way, leaving his prime minister on the front lines.

Less than a year after his election, however, he could be trapped by his own principle of doing things "at the same time".HELSINKI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- All three members of a family were killed in a house fire that broke out Tuesday night in Kotka, southern Finland.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, the detached wooden house which was built during WWII was completely destroyed, and the parents and their adult son had died, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported on Wednesday.

Veli-Matti Heininen, chief of the local fire brigade, told Yle that it was unclear whether there was a functional smoke detector in the house.

"Apparently there wasn't, as the family members were unable to escape. None of them," he said, adding that a fire alarm might have given them time to flee from the fire.

The fire started somewhere in the downstairs and developed overwhelmingly, as the house was furnished with many synthetic and oil-based materials, such as cushions, pillows, duvets and rugs, which were burnt very rapidly, according to Heininen.

Police and firefighters are investigating the cause of the fire.KIEV, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian capital is demonstrating its tourism potential to Chinese tour operators to attract more tourists from China, the official Ukrinform news agency said Wednesday.

Representatives of the Kiev City Administration and 35 Ukrainian travel agencies held a tourism workshop for 20 Chinese tour operators to introduce unique routes and sightseeing attractions in Kiev that could be particularly interesting for Chinese visitors.

Anton Taranenko, head of the tourism department at the city administration, said Kiev is ready to offer Chinese tourists a variety of cultural and historical tours.

"Chinese people are particularly interested in our monumental buildings and temple architecture. They do not perceive the churches as religious objects, but first and foremost, as places that can display the culture and the life of Ukrainians," Taranenko said.

Gastronomy tourism could be another interesting experience for Chinese travelers in Kiev, he added.

Taranenko said he hopes that cooperation between Ukrainian travel agencies and Chinese tour operators will attract about 24,000 Chinese tourists to Kiev this year.

The number of overseas tourists visiting Kiev in 2017 increased by 25 percent annually to 1.6 million visitors.MANILA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Staff from the Chinese embassy swept tombs on Wednesday for Philippine Chinese who died in the Philippines in their fights against Japanese aggressors during the Second World War.

The commemorations fell on the traditional Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day, during which Chinese people remember their late loved ones.

Tan Jiesheng, Charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy, led the embassy staff members visiting the Manila Chinese Cemetery and laying flowers at the foot of the Philippine Chinese anti-Japanese War Heroes Monument.

Tan said during the ceremonies that the Philippine Chinese never forget their mother country. After Japan invaded China in the 1930s, the Philippine Chinese organized vast campaigns, throwing their weight behind China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

When Japan invaded the Philippines on Dec. 8, 1941, the Philippine Chinese staged a guerrilla war, called "Wha Chi," fighting, alongside their Philippine comrades, against the Japanese army. More than 200 Philippine Chinese died during the war.

The guerrilla contingent is composed mainly of Chinese, whose previous generations came from China's southern Fujian and Guangdong provinces. It started with 52 members and expanded to more than 700.

"Our annual commemorative ceremonies not only extend our salute to the Philippine Chinese heroes but also show our respect to the friendship of the people from the Philippines and China," Tan said.

Dee Kong Hi, a 95-year-old Philippine Chinese veteran, witnessed Japan's atrocity in the Philippines during the Second World War. He joined the anti-Japanese "Wha Chi" in the Philippines at the age of 19.

Dee told Xinhua that he came to the commemorative ceremonies on Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day to honor his comrades-in-arms.

Some Philippine Chinese and members from Chinese media also joined the ceremonies.BERLIN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- More than a quarter (25.8 percent) of vocational jobs training program in Germany are not completed, the newspaper "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" reported on Wednesday.

It cited official figures from the Ministry of Education, which would be featured in an upcoming "Jobs Training Report" for the year 2018. The report threatens to dent the reputation of the widely-admired German dual educational system, comprised of a university and a vocational training path, as a means to endow citizens with the necessary skills for the labor market.

The report listed a range of reasons why individuals chose not to conclude a vocational training program, including conflict with supervisors, a low quality of training, unfavorable working conditions and false expectations.

Companies polled by the Ministry of Education in turn indicated "insufficient performance of training tasks" by apprentices and a lack of "motivation or integration into the business environment" as frequently-encountered obstacles to a successful completion of a program.

In certain career training schemes, like ones for cooks, waiters and hairdressers, the number of dropouts was even higher -- nearly every second apprentice gave up on their vocational training before sitting final exams.

Overall, the rate of incomplete programs in 2018 was the highest since the early 1990s despite record low unemployment in Germany's booming economy.

The Ministry of Education noted in its report that it was possible that the availability of jobs was incentivizing apprentices to switch more readily between different types of training programs as the overall risk of being out of work was currently low.

The Federal Labor Agency registered 778,000 job vacancies this March, 86,000 more over the same period last year. On an annual basis, unemployment declined by 204,000 individuals in March while the official unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 5.5 percent.

According to the official analysis seen on Wednesday, there were significant differences in the rate of dropouts across different vocational programs. Whereas 50.6 percent of security personnel trainees gave up on their career prematurely, while only 4.1 of apprentices in administration did not conclude their program.

Elke Hannack, deputy director of the Federation of German Trade Unions (DGB), mainly attributed the discrepancy in dropout rates across specific types of careers to poor pay in some training programs.

Hannack consequently urged Berlin to speed up plans to create a minimum wage for participants in vocational training which is scheduled to become legally-applicable by January 2020 according to the new federal government's coalition agreement.

However, business representatives have sought to prevent the measure from being enacted which they have described as illicit government interference in collective bargaining.

Although the Ministry of Education described the general situation of the vocational jobs training sector as "slightly positive", with a growing number (80 percent) of firms are no longer taking apprentices although they had the legal right to do so for lack of demand.PARIS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- France received a record high number of foreign holidaymakers in 2017, maintaining its position as a main tourist destination in the world, figures released by the foreign ministry showed Wednesday.

"2017 confirmed the strong recovery of international tourist traffic on the French territory with a record of nearly 89 million foreign visitors," said the foreign ministry, which is in charge of the tourism portfolio.

The number of nights spent stood at 132.7 million, up by 6.8 percent last year from a year earlier.

Thanks to its wealthy history and abundant cultural and natural heritage, France drew 32.9 more Russian tourists over the period while the number of Japanese holidaymakers rose by 22.1 percent.

The number of Chinese tourists was up 19.3 percent, and visitors from the United States were up by 16 percent.

Regarding arrivals of European tourists, those from Germany grew by 9.9 percent. South Mediterranean markets such as Spain and Italy also recorded a rise of 11.3 percent and 9.2 percent respectively, according to the ministry figures.

By 2020, France hopes to to welcome 100 million tourists, the report said.LUSAKA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Wednesday called for an end to a debate on the origins of President Edgar Lungu, saying the debate has become unproductive.

Mike Mulongoti, an opposition leader who has repeatedly accused the Zambian leader of being a foreigner, has written to the Office of the Public Protector for an inquiry into Lungu's identity.

Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya said the Zambian leader has stood for elections twice without anyone raising the issue of his identity.

"We believe that the debate on the president's origin has to come to an end. We believe that it is unproductive," she told reporters during a press briefing at her office.

On Sunday, a group of traditional leaders from eastern Zambia that Lungu hails from dispelled assertions that he was a foreigner from Malawi.

Lungu is not the first Zambian leader to have his origin questioned as this happened to late former president Frederick Chiluba.MANILA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered on Wednesday the temporary closure of the world-class resort island Boracay in central Philippines for six months beginning April 26 to rehabilitate the island, his spokesman said.

Harry Roque said Duterte made the order during a cabinet meeting at the presidential palace late on Wednesday.

Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra confirmed Roque's statement, saying that Duterte has indeed approved the "total closure" of the country's most famous tourist destination.

Guevarra said a calamity fund will be activated to help those who will affected by the shutdown, including the residents and the thousands of resort workers who will be displaced.

The island, which has a total land area of 1,064 hectares, has more than 56,000 population, according to government figures.

Duterte has earlier said that he supports the recommendation of three government departments to shut down Boracay for six months to give way to the massive clean-up on the island.

Duterte, who likened the island to a "cesspool," has ordered a crackdown on the island after learning that many of the establishments there have no proper sewerage system and emptying their waste directly into the sea.

Since Duterte gave the order, the government started dismantling illegal structures erected in forest lands and on the beach.

The popular resort island's powdery white sand and calm blue waters attract 2 million visitors yearly.File Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn heading for the Marine One departing from the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 29, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday met with three leaders from the Baltic states at the White House, vowing to tighten cooperation on security and energy amid escalating tensions between Russia and NATO.

In a joint press conference held on Tuesday afternoon with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskite, Trump, in his first Baltic summit, said the United States will remain a steadfast ally of the three Baltic nations.

In a statement released ahead of the press conference, the White House said it plans to provide nearly 100 million U.S. dollars for procurement of large-caliber ammunition for the Baltics and over 70 million dollars in training and equipment.

Washington will continue to improve defense and security infrastructure in the Baltic region, the statement added.

A tank participates in "Saber Strike 2017" exercise at a military base in Tapa, Estonia, on June 14, 2017. "Saber Strike" is a multinational combined forces exercise which helps to facilitate cooperation among NATO allies and partner nation focusing on promoting interoperability, and improving joint operational capability. (Xinhua/Sergei Stepanov)

The White House also announced that more than 5,000 U.S. troops will join multinational forces in this year's Saber Strike, an annual U.S.-led exercise of land and air forces.

It will make the military drill "the largest event of its kind to take place in the Baltic region," the statement said.

Energy was another focus for closer ties.

The United States will help beef up the three nations' capacity to resist cyber-attacks and support energy diversification projects, including synchronizing the Baltic and European electric grids, the statement read.

Soldiers act in the second phase of Saber Strike 2015 multi-nation military exercises in Pabrade, Lithuania, June 12, 2015. (Xinhua/Alfredas Pliadis)

The visit of the three leaders came amid escalating tensions between NATO and Russia. The Baltic states are seen as a bulwark against Russia in eastern Europe.

In a working luncheon on Tuesday, Trump also applauded the Baltic nations on meeting their defense spending obligations to NATO this year, saying it distinguished them from allies who "haven't met their obligations."

"But they will," insisted Trump, who has been skeptical about allies' inadequate defense spending since he took office last year.

He noted that Germany paid only one percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense while spending "billions of dollars for energy into Russia."

NATO members are committed to spending up to two percent of their GDP expenditure on defense.

U.S. Army and German army soldiers attend the Saber Strike military exercise at Central pylon in Tapa, Estonia on June 20, 2016. Saber Strike is an annual U.S.-led exercise of land and air forces. (Xinhua/Sergei Stepanov)

Lithuanian President Grybauskaite told reporters that she called Trump's strong stance "very good pressure to all of us, all members of NATO."

Relations between Russia and the West become strained after more than two dozen countries expelled Russian diplomats over the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy.

Moscow has denied any involvement in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain on March 4, and has taken corresponding measures against the United States and its allies in response to the diplomat expulsions.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 23:08:29|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C), Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pose before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, on April 4, 2018. (Xinhua/Turkish Presidential Palace)

ANKARA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Turkey, Russia and Iran stressed their determination to speed up efforts to "ensure calm on the ground and fight against separatism in Syria," said a joint statement released after the trilateral summit on Wednesday.

The Turkish, Russian and Iranian presidents "vowed their joint resolve to speed up efforts to ensure calm on the ground and protect civilians in the de-escalation areas, as well as to facilitate rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to these areas," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the three countries expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighboring countries.

The leaders "reject all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism," added the statement.

The presidents "underlined that the Astana format had been the only effective international initiative that had helped reduce violence across Syria and had contributed to peace and stability in Syria, giving impetus to the Geneva process in order to find a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict."

A tripartite summit on Syria was held in Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The closed-door meeting lasted around one hour and 40 minutes, during which the leaders discussed steps that will be taken in the coming days to resolve the Syrian crisis.

The first such tripartite summit was held in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 22, 2017 to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks and changes in Syria's de-escalation zones.WASHINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration would be "taking strong action" on immigration, a day after he said he wants to use the military to secure the country's border with Mexico.

"Our Border Laws are very weak while those of Mexico & Canada are very strong. Congress must change these Obama era, and the other, laws NOW!" Trump said in a tweet.

"The Democrats stand in our way -- they want people to pour into our country unchecked ... CRIME!" the president said. "We will be taking strong action today."

During a lunch session at the White House with leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that his administration is going to be guarding the U.S.-Mexico border with the military until his long-promised border wall is built.

"That's a big step," Trump said of the proposed measure that, according to the White House, included mobilizing the National Guard.

Trump has recently reiterated his hardline stance on immigration, while repeatedly calling out Mexico over border security and stressing the need for a border wall on the southern border of the United States.

The White House said the president has received briefings on what it called "the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America" and is directing an administrative strategy to confront it and protect the United States' national security.MOSCOW, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that it would expel a Hungarian Embassy employee in a tit-for-tat over the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal.

Earlier in the day, Hungarian Ambassador to Russia Janos Balla was summoned to the foreign ministry, where he received a note of protest against Hungary's expulsion of a Russian diplomat on March 26 based on Britain's "unproven allegations" against Russia, the ministry said in a press release.

In response to this "unfriendly and unreasonable" move, the Russian side declared an employee of the Hungarian Embassy as "persona non grata," it said.

Skripal and his daughter Yulia were reportedly exposed to a nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain and its allies accused Russia of launching a chemical attack against them, but Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Western countries expelled a total of about 150 Russian diplomats in a concerted action, while Russia has so far expelled diplomats from 27 countries in response.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 23:23:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 4, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China and Zimbabwe on Wednesday agreed to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in key areas and promote their relationship to a new level.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Li said Zimbabwe is an important partner of China in Africa.

The two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation during talks between heads of the two countries on Tuesday.

Li said China will continue to uphold the principles of sincerity, friendship and equality, and bring new vitality to the traditional friendship between China and Zimbabwe.

China is ready to work with Zimbabwe to give full play to the complementary advantages of both economies, innovate cooperation methods and deepen cooperation in infrastructure construction, agriculture, production capacity and human resources, said Li.

The Chinese government encourages capable Chinese enterprises to conduct business cooperation in Zimbabwe and is willing to provide support for Zimbabwe's economic and social development within China's capabilities, said the premier.

Mnangagwa said the Zimbabwean government is committed to further strengthening traditional friendship with China.

Zimbabwe is ready to work with China to cement political mutual trust and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in such areas as trade, infrastructure, energy, agriculture and tourism to lift bilateral ties to a new level, said the president.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), also met with Mnangagwa on Wednesday.

During their meeting, the top legislator said the NPC is willing to strengthen exchanges with the parliament of Zimbabwe to provide sound legal protection and convenient policy services for business cooperation and personnel exchanges.

Mnangagwa voiced his appreciation over China's achievements in development.

He showed support for enhanced cooperation between the legislatures of the two countries, saying Zimbabwe will firmly adhere to the one-China policy.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 23:33:38|Editor: Mengjie

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Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe speaks during the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security in Moscow, Russia, on April 4, 2018. China is willing to improve defense cooperation with various countries and create a win-win and benefit-sharing global security environment, Wei Fenghe said Wednesday. (Xinhua)

MOSCOW, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to improve defense cooperation with various countries and create a win-win and benefit-sharing global security environment, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe said Wednesday.

China is ready to work with other countries to promote the concept of common security and resolve disputes through peaceful means, Wei said at the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security.

Peace and development are an irreversible trend of our time, and so are multi-polarization and globalization, he said, adding that the idea of cooperation and a win-win situation is widely embraced, and mutual trust and inclusiveness are the correct approach to dealing with international affairs.

At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017 and this year's "two sessions", President Xi Jinping demonstrated China's resolution to pursue a path of peaceful development and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, Wei said.

China is committed to being a contributor to world peace, a propeller of global growth and a preserver of international order, the defense minister added.

As for Chinese-Russian ties, Wei said the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is "as stable as Mount Tai," adding that strengthened cooperation between Chinese and Russian militaries has contributed to regional and global peace and stability.

During his visit, Wei also held a formal meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.Turkey, Russia and Iran pledge Wednesday to speed up efforts to ensure calm on the ground and fight against separatism in Syria. (Xinhua Photo)

ANKARA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Turkey, Russia and Iran stressed their determination to speed up efforts to "ensure calm on the ground and fight against separatism in Syria," said a joint statement released after the trilateral summit on Wednesday.

The Turkish, Russian and Iranian presidents "vowed their joint resolve to speed up efforts to ensure calm on the ground and protect civilians in the de-escalation areas, as well as to facilitate rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to these areas," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the three countries expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighboring countries.

The leaders "reject all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism," added the statement.

The presidents "underlined that the Astana format had been the only effective international initiative that had helped reduce violence across Syria and had contributed to peace and stability in Syria, giving impetus to the Geneva process in order to find a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict."

A tripartite summit on Syria was held in Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The closed-door meeting lasted around one hour and 40 minutes, during which the leaders discussed steps that will be taken in the coming days to resolve the Syrian crisis.

The first such tripartite summit was held in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 22, 2017 to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks and changes in Syria's de-escalation zones.ABUJA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian authorities on Wednesday said the 8,500-year-old Dufuna canoe, believed to be the oldest in Africa and third oldest in the world's watercraft, is set for public viewing in the west African country.

The canoe, which has undergone various stages of conservation, is now in the final stage of treatment before the exhibition in Nigeria, according to the official News Agency of Nigeria.

Although a date has not been set for the public unveiling, local officials said the canoe, made from black African mahogany, is considered to have huge benefits for the country's economy during and after its first public exhibition.

Mohammed Abare, permanent secretary of domestic affairs in Nigeria's northern state of Yobe, told reporters the canoe has rich potentialities for international tourism and academic research.

The canoe was discovered in Nigeria's northeastern village of Dufuna in 1987.

The canoe, which was measured eight meters in length, 0.5 meters in width and 5.5 meters in thickness, was designated a national monument in 2014.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 23:43:42|Editor: Yurou

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Photo taken on April 4, 2018 shows the entrance to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Li He)

by Xinhua writers Liu Jie, Cheng Yunjie and Fang Dong

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- As the Chinese saying goes, it is only polite to reciprocate.

Hours after the U.S. administration announced proposed tariffs on products from China worth some 50 billion U.S. dollars, China unveiled countermeasures on Wednesday targeting the same value of U.S. goods.

This marked rare trade tensions between the world's top two economies, and may trigger a trade war if worse comes to worst.

China has stated it has the confidence and ability to deal with any U.S. protectionist measures, pledging to fight till the end if a trade war breaks out.

TIT-FOR-TAT RESPONSE A MUST-DO

The unilateral measures by the United States against China under its domestic Section 301 investigation fly in the face of international norms.

China has showed sincerity in seeking solutions through dialogue.

"However, the United States has repeatedly missed the best opportunities for an appropriate solution," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Wednesday at a press conference.

At another press briefing, also on Wednesday, China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said, "We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of it. If someone insists on starting a trade war, we will fight till the end."

"If people want to play tough, we will play tough with them, and see who will last longer," Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said in late March.

In the eyes of Tu Xinquan, a professor with the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, the U.S. move is "a very dangerous signal."

"Although 50 billion U.S. dollars of goods is not a big deal in bilateral trade, it is highly possible that such a vicious cycle will get worse," Tu told Xinhua.

The findings of the U.S. Section 301 investigation are a willful distortion of facts and full of selective assertions and allegations, turning a blind eye to the actual progress that China has achieved in market-oriented reforms, opening-up and enhanced intellectual property protection.

China's confidence and strength have improved by overcoming difficulties and dealing with pressure over 40 years of reform and opening-up, Geng said.

"MADE IN CHINA 2025" NO THREAT

Which of the world's top two economies has a more powerful manufacturing industry?

When responding to reports saying the U.S. tariff list targeted products that benefit from the "Made in China 2025" action plan, Geng said that the plan aims to turn China into a great power in manufacturing. However, "There is nothing wrong with strengthening our own manufacturing capability."

The United States, with the world's leading technology and manufacturing capabilities, should be more confident and compete fairly, rather than imposing unilateralist, protectionist measures, he added.

Sharing Geng's views, experts say the United States retains its lead in indigenous innovation and basic research, in which China has a long way to catch up.

The United States is panicking when faced with a rising China with advanced manufacturing prowess, but this is largely unnecessary, Song Guoyou, a U.S. studies professor with Shanghai-based Fudan University, told Xinhua.

As a national initiative, China put forward the "Made in China 2025" program in 2015 to sharpen manufacturing capabilities in industries ranging from robotics to high-performance CT scanners.

"The West believes the plan aims to replace high-tech imports with domestic products. In my view, it is a big mistake," Tu Xinquan said.

"It is not exclusive or unilateral and brings opportunities for cooperation," he added.

The program covers many sectors that cannot be done by China alone. Instead, different countries need to participate, as each of them plays a part in the chain.

The two countries should jointly develop the high-end manufacturing market to realize win-win results.

UNWAVERING OPENING

Amid trade tensions with the United States, China will not scale back its opening up and will remain a staunch supporter of free trade and globalization.

"China will not close its door to the world. We will only become more and more open," said the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

China has been moving steadily to cut red tapes, strengthen the protection of intellectual property, downsize saturated sectors including steel, and push for more balanced imports and exports, said Zhang Yi, an analyst with Capital Securities.

Since its accession to the WTO in 2001, China has actively assumed its responsibilities, cutting overall tariff levels from 15.3 percent to 9.8 percent.

With its economy deeply integrated into the global economy, China will open even wider to the rest of the world, as closing the doors will only block its own way, Premier Li Keqiang said at a press conference after the conclusion of the annual legislative session in March.

"We aim to make the vast Chinese market a fair place for both domestic and overseas firms with all kinds of ownerships to compete to offer more options for about 1.3 billion Chinese consumers, expediting upgrading of Chinese products and services," Li said.

Foreign investors will see more access to the finance, telecommunications, heath care, education and elderly care sectors. Caps on foreign holdings in banks, brokerages, insurers and other financial companies will be gradually removed.

More than 35,000 foreign-funded businesses were established in the Chinese mainland last year, with investment hitting an all-time high of 878 billion yuan (about 140 billion U.S. dollars).

As Chinese President Xi Jinping has put it, the global economy is the big ocean that one cannot escape from. Any attempt to cut off the flow of capital, technologies, products, industries and people between economies, and to channel waters in the ocean back into isolated lakes and creeks is simply not possible. Indeed, it runs counter to the historical trend.

No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war.

(Xinhua reporter Xie Jiang contributed to the story)GABORONE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Parliament of Botswana on Wednesday endorsed ruling party Member of Parliament (MP) Slumber Tsogwane as the country's vice president.

Tsogwane was nominated by the new president Mokgweetsi Masisi who succeeded Ian Khama on April 1. Out of the 54 MPs who were eligible for voting in the endorsement, 35 approved the nomination while only one opposed.

Most of the opposition MPs present either abstained or did not vote at all.

Following his swearing in as president, Masisi relinquished the post of party chairmanship and nominated Tsogwane to replace him, a move that was endorsed by the party central committee.

This had led many to belief that he was earmarked for the vacant vice-presidency post.

Tsogwane is the longest serving MP of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), having been in parliament since 1999.

He had also held several ministerial portfolios in his long political career, and he is currently the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.

Meanwhile local political pundits have opined that Tsogwane would only serve as vice president for a short period until the 2019 general elections, where, if the BDP wins the president would appoint someone to hold the post for the long haul.CAPE TOWN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South Africa on Wednesday hosted an anti-poaching meeting of defense and security chiefs from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

Taking place on the outskirts of the Kruger National Park in northeastern South Africa, the 4th Multilateral Forum of the Defence and Security Chiefs on Anti-Poaching kicked off with a pledge to stem the scourge of poaching.

The two-day meeting focused not only on legal issues pertaining to anti-poaching efforts, but also ways to ensure that the punishment meted out to those convicted of poaching in the region is standardized.

During previous anti-poaching multilateral meetings, it was noted that punishment for convicted poachers differed from country to country in the SADC region.

After much deliberation, the SADC countries have adopted a strategy that will boost efforts to combat poaching and trafficking in wildlife by introducing a common approach to combat the illicit transnational trade in wildlife, said South African Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa said in her opening address.

Africa is home to most of the world's surviving species of wild animals and plants and the SADC region in particular is unique and rich with an abundance of wildlife.

"This makes us prone to daily threats of poaching. But while we are faced with similar challenges, we also have similar opportunities to tackle this threat," Molewa said.

The biodiversity and ecosystems play an important role in meeting the developmental objectives of the region, she said.

"The illegal killing and trafficking of our wildlife undermines our investments in the protection and conservation of our natural heritage," the minister warned.

In recent years, the SADC region has experienced increased illegal trade and poaching of wildlife, especially elephants and rhino species.

This year's meeting is attended by defense and service chiefs from defense forces of Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as senior officials from the departments of police, justice, environmental affairs and intelligence.

The first meeting of this kind was held in Botswana in 2014. Subsequent meetings were held in Zambia and Zimbabwe.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-04 23:53:46|Editor: Mengjie

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People offer wreaths to Chinese martyrs at the Xuan Mai Martyrs Cemetery in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 4, 2018. Representatives of the Chinese embassy in Vietnam, Chinese enterprises, students and the media, accompanied by local officials, on Wednesday held a memorial ceremony in the cemetery where 10 Chinese martyrs were buried, on the occasion of Tomb Sweeping Day, or Qingming Festival. (Xinhua/Wang Di)

by Tao Jun, Nguyen Xuan

HANOI, April 4 (Xinhua) -- In front of a monument with a red inscription reading, "Everlasting remembrance of martyrs," a group of around 40 people bowed their heads in silence here on Wednesday morning.

Dressed in black and white, representatives of the Chinese embassy in Vietnam, Chinese enterprises, students and the media, led by Yin Haihong, Charge d'Affaires of the embassy, accompanied by local officials, stepped upward in sequence.

They offered incense in this memorial ceremony on the occasion of Tomb Sweeping Day, or Qingming Festival.

Here in the cemetery in Xuan Mai town, Chuong My District, about 40 km from downtown Hanoi, 10 Chinese martyrs whose black granite graves lie in the shade of longan and areca palm trees, lay resting in eternal peace.

"The Chinese martyrs sacrificed themselves here in Vietnam for our country's independence. Generations of Vietnamese people have been, and will always be taking good care of their tombs with gratitude," said 44-year-old Huynh Thi Phuong, who has been a custodian at the cemetery over the past 10 years.

Phuong took over at the cemetery from her father-in-law, veteran Phan Van Thai, when he passed away in 2008.

"My father-in-law fought in both the anti-France war and the war against the United States invasion. He went home in 1972 and took care of the tombs here until he died," recalled Phuong amid the faint, fragrant smoke of the burning incense.

Phuong's family used to live far from the cemetery, but her father-in-law relocated to just opposite the place to better take care of it.

"Now my younger son often helps me with cleaning the tombs. My father, myself, and now my son. It spans generations," Phuong said, smiling happily as she talked about her 12-year-old son, Nghia, which means "gratitude."

Not only in Phuong's family, generations of Vietnamese people in the Xuan Mai have been told about the sacrifice the Chinese martyrs made.

"We tell students in our locality about the Chinese heroes who gave Vietnamese people a helping hand. We even assign students from Xuan Mai A Secondary School to come here regularly to help with cleaning," Le Thi Bich Hong, an officer at the People's Committee of Xuan Mai town, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

Besides regular upgrades, in November 2017, the committee, with support from Chuong My authorities and the Hanoi Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, conducted a large-scale refurbishment at the cemetery with a total investment of 1 billion Vietnamese dong (44,250 U.S. dollars).

"We see it (the cemetery) as a monument of solidarity between our two peoples," said Nguyen Huy Du, vice president of the Xuan Mai People's Committee, adding that visits are often organized on occasions such as Vietnam Martyrs' Day (July 27) and the Lunar New Year Festival to pay tribute to the fallen heroes.

According to the custodian, people in the area also come to pay their respects to the Chinese martyrs by offering incenses and fresh flowers on the 1st and 15th day of a lunar month or on lunar holidays.

"China-Vietnam bilateral relations are developing very healthily. It is our historical responsibility to preserve and develop such good relations between the two parties and two countries," Yin said.DAR ES SALAAM, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania said Wednesday it is reviewing taxes imposed on meat production, which investors say posed a burden on industrial growth.

Deputy Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Abdallah Hamisi Ulega, said the ministry has submitted tax review recommendations on meat processing industries to the Ministry of Finance and Planning.

"Our intention is to reduce taxes imposed on meat processing factories and where possible abolish them all. Our expectations are to see a boom in production of meat and other animal products to meet local demands," Ulega told the National Assembly in the capital Dodoma.

Tanzania has the second largest population of cattle in Africa after Ethiopia, but the East African nation imports at least 2,000 tonnes of meat annually.

The Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries has also proposed for heavy taxes on imported meat products in order to discourage such imports that suffocated the local market, said Ulega.

The minister was responding to a question posed by Special Seats Member of Parliament Zainab Katimba who observed that heavy taxes imposed on meat production and imports of meat were discouraging investors from putting up meat processing plants.

"We urge the government to give a push to the industrialization drive by giving tax incentives to investors in meat processing factories," Katimba told the House.

In response, Ulega said Tanzania has 23 meat factories with a total capacity of processing 44,820.6 tonnes of meat annually.

Ulega said in 2016/17 at least 2,608.93 tonnes of meat were exported abroad, earning the country 5.68 million U.S. dollars, adding that the meat was exported to Oman, China, Vietnam and Dubai.LUSAKA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government said Wednesday that it will launch investigations following revelations that one of the opposition parties was linked to promotion of homosexuality.

Wynter Kabimba, a former minister of justice and now leader of the opposition Rainbow Party, revealed on Tuesday that some of the party's members who have broken away and formed the Socialist Party left as they differed on sexual orientation and adherence to Christian values.

But Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo said if the allegations were true, then it was regrettable as Zambian laws do not support homosexuality.

"Investigations will be launched to establish whether there are some elements of truth and if it is found, the necessary action will be taken by law enforcement agencies," he said.

He added that the action may also include deregistering the party.

According to him, the issue of homosexuality in Zambia was not only a moral issue but the country's laws do not allow such practices.

Meanwhile, the Socialist Party has described the allegations as false, baseless and shameful.

Cosmas Musumali, the party's general secretary, said he and others did not give any reasons when they left the Rainbow Party and that the reasons given by the former justice minister were not true, according to local media.

Same-sex relationships are illegal in Zambia, with those found guilty risking jail time of up to 14 years.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 00:03:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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AMMAN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A Jordanian delegation representing the country's industrial and trade sectors will visit Syria in the middle of April, said an official source on Wednesday.

The visit will be the first by such a delegation since the outbreak of unrest in Syria in 2011.

The Jordanian delegation will hold several meetings with Syrian business delegations and industrialists and representatives from the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, Damascus Chamber of Industry and the Syrian Exporters Union, Jordan Chamber of Industry President Adnan Abul Ragheb told Xinhua on Wednesday.

Representatives from various constructions companies and clearance companies will also be among the delegation, he said.

"The relationship with Syria is very important for us and it is a brotherly relations and we hope for the restoration of safety in the neighboring country," he said.

Discussions with the Syrian counterparts will also focus on efforts by Jordan to help in the reconstruction of Syria, he said.

He added that the Jordanian industries and businesspeople are keen on the re-opening of the borders with Syria to boost trade exchange and help increase economic growth.

He added that preparations have been completed for the visit and necessary security approvals were issued.

The visit seeks to bring back to life Jordan's economic relations with Syria.

Jordan closed the Jaber border crossing with Syria in 2015 for security reasons. The Ramtha crossing, the other border crossing with the war-torn country, has been closed for more than five years.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 00:08:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ANKARA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Wednesday called for a "lasting ceasefire" in Syria and expressed their commitment to the territorial integrity of the war-torn country during a trilateral summit in capital Ankara.

"As guarantor countries, we have a common understanding for Syria's territorial integrity and rebuilding," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a joint press conference following the trilateral summit.

"The main aim of tripartite summit is to rebuild a Syria where peace prevails," he added.

Erdogan endorsed the importance of Syria's territorial integrity and underlined Turkey had to take military action against Kurdish militia in Syria over security threats posed to its borders.

The Turkish president expressed Ankara's readiness to take action in the northern Syrian city of Tal Rifaat along with Russia and Iran to build a peaceful environment for its residents.

He also proposed to set up military hospitals in cooperation of Turkish and Russian armies for those evacuated from Eastern Ghouta.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed that main objectives for Syria should be the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also reiterated Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty and warned against provocations to fuel up ethnical and sectarian clashes.

A trilateral summit on Syria was held on Wednesday in the capital Ankara with the participation of Turkish, Russian and Iranian presidents.

The closed-door meeting lasted around one hour and 40 minutes, during which the leaders discussed steps that will be taken in the coming days to resolve the Syrian crisis.

The first such tripartite summit was held in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 22,2017 to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks and changes in Syria's de-escalation zones.Turkey, Iran, Russia on Wednesday call for lasting ceasefire, territorial integrity in Syria. (Xinhua Photo)

ANKARA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Wednesday called for a "lasting ceasefire" in Syria and expressed their commitment to the territorial integrity of the war-torn country during a trilateral summit in capital Ankara.

"As guarantor countries, we have a common understanding for Syria's territorial integrity and rebuilding," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a joint press conference following the trilateral summit.

"The main aim of tripartite summit is to rebuild a Syria where peace prevails," he added.

Erdogan endorsed the importance of Syria's territorial integrity and underlined Turkey had to take military action against Kurdish militia in Syria over security threats posed to its borders.

The Turkish president expressed Ankara's readiness to take action in the northern Syrian city of Tal Rifaat along with Russia and Iran to build a peaceful environment for its residents.

He also proposed to set up military hospitals in cooperation of Turkish and Russian armies for those evacuated from Eastern Ghouta.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed that main objectives for Syria should be the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also reiterated Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty and warned against provocations to fuel up ethnical and sectarian clashes.

A trilateral summit on Syria was held on Wednesday in the capital Ankara with the participation of Turkish, Russian and Iranian presidents.

The closed-door meeting lasted around one hour and 40 minutes, during which the leaders discussed steps that will be taken in the coming days to resolve the Syrian crisis.

The first such tripartite summit was held in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 22,2017 to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks and changes in Syria's de-escalation zones.DAR ES SALAAM, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania with support from WWF, the world's leading conservation organization, has launched the country's largest ever elephant collaring program aimed at protecting the dwindling elephant population, WWF said in a statement on Wednesday.

With almost 90 percent of the elephants lost over the last 40 years in the Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage site, enhancing rangers' ability to guard the remaining ones from poaching is essential to rebuilding the population, said the statement.

Sixty elephants are expected to be collared in and surrounding the Selous Game Reserve in a span of 12 months, said the statement.

"This will enable reserve management and government rangers to track elephant movements, identify and act against threats in real-time. The use of satellite collars is a proven effective measure to monitor wildlife movements and provide enhanced security," said the statement.

The collaring program is being led by researchers and veterinarians from the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) in collaboration with the Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA) and the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA).

The statement said data collected through the collars will help teams predict where the elephants and their herds are moving to anticipate the dangers they may face, such as the risk of encountering poachers.

"It can also alert teams if the herd is heading toward community settlements to help move them away from farmlands and reduce the risk of human-elephant conflict," said the statement.

"In a landscape as vast as Selous where poaching continues, better information on the whereabouts of elephants is critical to anticipate the risks they may encounter, including fatal attacks by poachers," said Asukile Kajuni, WWF Tanzania Deputy Programs Coordinator for the Elephant and Ruvuma landscape programs.

He added: "The collars mark an important first step in the zero poaching approach we are taking by enabling wildlife protection teams to be on the front foot against poaching attacks."

Kajuni said the key to the success of elephant collars is ensuring all relevant teams have access to the data to help inform decision making.

The project will provide secured elephant movement data on a mobile phone to enable key security and research personnel to access the data, he added.

In the past 40 years, rampant poaching of elephants for ivory has seen the population in Selous decimating, with numbers plunging to around 15,200 from 110,000.

In 2014, UNESCO placed Selous on its List of World Heritage in Danger due to the severity of elephant poaching.

WWF is working with the government of Tanzania to adopt a zero poaching approach using a tool kit to protect the country's elephants and ecosystems in one of Africa's last wilderness areas.Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe speaks at the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, April 4 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to improve defense cooperation with various countries and create a win-win and benefit-sharing global security environment, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe said Wednesday.

China is ready to work with other countries to promote the concept of common security and resolve disputes through peaceful means, Wei said at the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security.

Peace and development are an irreversible trend of our time, and so are multi-polarization and globalization, he said, adding that the idea of cooperation and a win-win situation is widely embraced, and mutual trust and inclusiveness are the correct approach to dealing with international affairs.

At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017 and this year's "two sessions", President Xi Jinping demonstrated China's resolution to pursue a path of peaceful development and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, Wei said.

China is committed to being a contributor to world peace, a propeller of global growth and a preserver of international order, the defense minister added.

As for Chinese-Russian ties, Wei said the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is "as stable as Mount Tai," adding that strengthened cooperation between Chinese and Russian militaries has contributed to regional and global peace and stability.

During his visit, Wei also held a formal meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.ARUSHA, Tanzania, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania Immigration Services Department (TISD) said it has arrested 40 illegal migrants from six African countries.

Paul Eranga, Mwanza Region Immigration Officer, said Wednesday that the aliens are from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Eranga said the illegal immigrants were arrested following a special operation by TISD in collaboration with police between March 28 and April 3 in the Lake Zone region of Mwanza.

He said during the security operation they arrested the illegal migrants including 14 Kenyans who were working with a local music group without proper documents. He said the music band is led by a Kenyan national, Moreen Achieng.

"They illegally crossed into Tanzania to perform music shows during Easter holidays without having travel documents and work permits," he said.

According to Eranga, on March 29, they arrested other illegal migrants from Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi, Nigeria and DRC.

The immigrants are said to be using Tanzania as their transit route to South Africa or European countries.

Tanzania's authorities have blamed the vastness of the region for the runaway influx of foreigners into Tanzania through porous borders.

Refugee rights organizations and aid agencies have blamed poverty in Africa for the rising cases of human trafficking.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 00:34:02|Editor: Yurou

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A butcher cuts the lamb meat for customers at the central meat market in central Athens, Greece, on April 4, 2018. Greek Orthodox Christians prepare for Easter Sunday, by buying lamb meat and intestines. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

ATHENS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Eight years into the debt crisis, cash-strapped Greeks queue in marketplaces this week to make final-minute purchases to prepare this Sunday for one more frugal Easter meal.

As the country is expected to exit this summer the bailout programs which kept her afloat since 2010, shopkeepers and clients at Athens' central market "Varvakeios" expressed hope, speaking to Xinhua, that this may be the last time austerity that is preventing them from celebrating in style.

For Greek Orthodox Christians, Easter, which falls on April 8 this year, is one of the most important holidays on their calendar. Traditionally it is an opportunity to meet relatives and friends around a table and enjoy the special delicacies of the day, sing and dance.

During years of the debt crisis, consumers learnt to celebrate on limited budget, cutting back on "luxuries".

Although according to surveys conducted by research institutes of sellers and consumers groups, in 2018 the typical Easter meal will be marginally less expensive compared to 2017, and consumers add to their baskets only the necessary ingredients for the festive meal.

A typical Sunday Easter lunch will cost Greek households about 55.74 euros (68.5 U.S. dollars) which is 5 percent less this year compared to 2017, according to a price survey carried out by IELKA (Institute of Retail Consumer Goods) at supermarkets chains.

IELKA experts attributed the lower prices to the good weather which helped keep lower prices of vegetables lately and special offers made by supermarkets, according to a press statement.

This typical basket, according to IELKA's survey, includes: one kilo of lamb meat, one kilo of goat meat, 12 eggs painted red, one kilo of flour and one kilo Greek feta cheese.

The list also includes one kilo of desserts, one kilo of yoghurt, half a kilo of butter, 250 grams of mustard, one liter of vinegar, 750 grams of wine, six beers of 330 ml, one kilo of potatoes, one kilo of tomatoes, one lettuce and one soft drink of 1.5 liters.

IELKA experts noted that depending on one's income, an Easter basket may cost 40 percent more.

The Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE) estimated that a typical Easter meal for 6-8 persons will cost on average 92.7 euros this year, down from 94.4 euros last year.

"Prices compared to last year are about 20 percent lower. Due to the shortage of money, prices have dropped as low as never before. The lamb meat starts from 5-7 euros per kilo and goat about the same," Kleanthis Tsironis, President of Varvakeios market, told Xinhua.

"Greek people are inventive and they will always find a way to serve some meat on the table. Easter is a special festival for Greeks and even the poorest households will cook some lamb," he explained.

"Due to the crisis, the prices have declined, but also the quantities Greeks buy by some 20-30 percent for meat compared to the past. Why? Because of the reduced disposable income," he added.

"We will buy about the same ingredients as last year. As everybody else we get only the minimum necessary. We will spend the holidays at home with our children and grandchildren," Anna, one of the clients at Varvakeios, told Xinhua.

"Of course everything in daily life has become more expensive, not only meat. Isn't this true?" Konstantina, another consumer, said.

For those who will not cook at home, restaurateurs such as Dimitris Kostakos, who in the past 33 years runs a traditional Greek tavern in an Athens suburb, are preparing a lavish Easter meal trying to keep the prices as low as possible.

"For the Easter holiday, we are preparing traditional kokoretsi (a dish consisting of lamb or goat intestines wrapped around kidneys, hearts, lungs) and of course lamb roasted on a spit. The meal may cost about 12-15 euros per person," he said.

"Our prices are standard. We do not increase them. Although VAT rates have increased, we are trying to keep them low so that we can keep our clientele," he told Xinhua. (1 euro = 1.23 U.S. dollars)PARIS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron and his American counterpart Donald Trump discussed Wednesday their countries'joint action against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, vowing further efforts to stamp out the group in the region, the French presidency said in a press release.

"France and the United States are determined to continue their actions within the international coalition to fight to the end this terrorist organization which represents both a threat to regional stability and to our security interests," both leaders said over phone.

"Nothing should distract us from the objective of preventing Islamic State's resurgence in the region and allowing an inclusive political process in Syria," Macron added, according to the statement.

The French president is to visit Washington from April 23 to 25.BUJUMBURA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Burundian government on Wednesday accused Rwanda and UNHCR staff of taking Burundian refugees hostage.

Burundian government spokesman Philippe Nzobonariba in a statement urged Rwanda to free and repatriate "other refugees taken hostage by the government of Rwanda in complicity with some agents of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rwanda."

The statement came after the repatriation of about 2,500 refugees from Rwanda on Sunday and Monday from three Rwandan transit camps.

Rwanda's Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees Affairs on March 31 said more than 2,500 Burundian "asylum seekers" who crossed into Rwanda from a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be repatriated to their home country starting from Sunday. They refused any form of registration due to their religious beliefs, said the ministry in a statement.CHICAGO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The American Soybean Association (ASA) on Wednesday urged President Donald Trump to solve the U.S. trade disputes with China "in a constructive manner," instead of hurting the U.S. soy growers' interests.

Responding to China's newly announced countermeasures in the escalating trade tensions with the United States, which include proposed 25 percent tariff on American soybeans, the ASA president said there is still time to reverse this damage as China expressed that the heavy tariff would only go into effect based on the course of action the Trump administration takes.

"We call on President Trump to engage the Chinese in a constructive manner - not a punitive one - and achieve a positive result for soybean farmers," ASA President and Iowa farmer John Heisdorffer said in a statement.

He added that the Trump administration should "find ways to reduce our trade deficit by increasing competitiveness rather than erecting barriers to foreign markets."

A 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans into China will have "a devastating effect on every soybean farmer in America," he said.

Soybean futures plunged more than 30 cents a bushel, or about 3 percent as of 1530 GMT Wednesday. At a projected 2018 crop of 4.3 billion bushels, U.S. soybean farmers lost more than 1.29 billion U.S. dollars in value for their crop on Wednesday morning alone.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 00:54:09|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Photo taken on April 4, 2018 shows the entrance to China's Ministry of Commerce in Beijing. (Xinhua/Li He)

BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- As the Chinese saying goes, it is only polite to reciprocate.

Hours after the U.S. administration announced proposed tariffs on products from China worth some 50 billion U.S. dollars, China unveiled countermeasures on Wednesday targeting the same value of U.S. goods.

This marked rare trade tensions between the world's top two economies, and may trigger a trade war if worse comes to worst.

China has stated it has the confidence and ability to deal with any U.S. protectionist measures, pledging to fight till the end if a trade war breaks out.

TIT-FOR-TAT RESPONSE A MUST-DO

The unilateral measures by the United States against China under its domestic Section 301 investigation fly in the face of international norms.

China has showed sincerity in seeking solutions through dialogue.

"However, the United States has repeatedly missed the best opportunities for an appropriate solution," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Wednesday at a press conference.

At another press briefing, also on Wednesday, China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said, "We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of it. If someone insists on starting a trade war, we will fight till the end."

"If people want to play tough, we will play tough with them, and see who will last longer," Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said in late March.





China unveils a list of products worth 50 billion U.S. dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs, including soybeans, automobiles, and chemical products on April 4. (Xinhua/Meng Lijing)

In the eyes of Tu Xinquan, a professor with the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, the U.S. move is "a very dangerous signal."

"Although 50 billion U.S. dollars of goods is not a big deal in bilateral trade, it is highly possible that such a vicious cycle will get worse," Tu told Xinhua.

The findings of the U.S. Section 301 investigation are a willful distortion of facts and full of selective assertions and allegations, turning a blind eye to the actual progress that China has achieved in market-oriented reforms, opening-up and enhanced intellectual property protection.

China's confidence and strength have improved by overcoming difficulties and dealing with pressure over 40 years of reform and opening-up, Geng said.





"MADE IN CHINA 2025" NO THREAT

Which of the world's top two economies has a more powerful manufacturing industry?

When responding to reports saying the U.S. tariff list targeted products that benefit from the "Made in China 2025" action plan, Geng said that the plan aims to turn China into a great power in manufacturing. However, "There is nothing wrong with strengthening our own manufacturing capability."

The United States, with the world's leading technology and manufacturing capabilities, should be more confident and compete fairly, rather than imposing unilateralist, protectionist measures, he added.

Sharing Geng's views, experts say the United States retains its lead in indigenous innovation and basic research, in which China has a long way to catch up.

The United States is panicking when faced with a rising China with advanced manufacturing prowess, but this is largely unnecessary, Song Guoyou, a U.S. studies professor with Shanghai-based Fudan University, told Xinhua.

File photo taken on Dec. 4, 2017 shows mechanical manipulators work at a production line at the new energy vehicle producer NEVS in north China's Tianjin Municipality. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

As a national initiative, China put forward the "Made in China 2025" program in 2015 to sharpen manufacturing capabilities in industries ranging from robotics to high-performance CT scanners.

"The West believes the plan aims to replace high-tech imports with domestic products. In my view, it is a big mistake," Tu Xinquan said.

"It is not exclusive or unilateral and brings opportunities for cooperation," he added.

The program covers many sectors that cannot be done by China alone. Instead, different countries need to participate, as each of them plays a part in the chain.

The two countries should jointly develop the high-end manufacturing market to realize win-win results.





UNWAVERING OPENING

Amid trade tensions with the United States, China will not scale back its opening up and will remain a staunch supporter of free trade and globalization.

"China will not close its door to the world. We will only become more and more open," said the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

China has been moving steadily to cut red tapes, strengthen the protection of intellectual property, downsize saturated sectors including steel, and push for more balanced imports and exports, said Zhang Yi, an analyst with Capital Securities.

Since its accession to the WTO in 2001, China has actively assumed its responsibilities, cutting overall tariff levels from 15.3 percent to 9.8 percent.

File photo taken on Jan. 18, 2017 shows a freight train from Yiwu City in east China's Zhejiang Province, arrives in Barking, east London, Britain. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

With its economy deeply integrated into the global economy, China will open even wider to the rest of the world, as closing the doors will only block its own way, Premier Li Keqiang said at a press conference after the conclusion of the annual legislative session in March.

"We aim to make the vast Chinese market a fair place for both domestic and overseas firms with all kinds of ownerships to compete to offer more options for about 1.3 billion Chinese consumers, expediting upgrading of Chinese products and services," Li said.

Foreign investors will see more access to the finance, telecommunications, heath care, education and elderly care sectors. Caps on foreign holdings in banks, brokerages, insurers and other financial companies will be gradually removed.

More than 35,000 foreign-funded businesses were established in the Chinese mainland last year, with investment hitting an all-time high of 878 billion yuan (about 140 billion U.S. dollars).

As Chinese President Xi Jinping has put it, the global economy is the big ocean that one cannot escape from. Any attempt to cut off the flow of capital, technologies, products, industries and people between economies, and to channel waters in the ocean back into isolated lakes and creeks is simply not possible. Indeed, it runs counter to the historical trend.

No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war. Enditem

(By Xinhua writers Liu Jie, Cheng Yunjie and Fang Dong. Xinhua reporter Xie Jiang contributed to the story)Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 01:19:16|Editor: Mengjie

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Representatives of the Laos-China Joint Expressway Development, China Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group ("YCIH") and the Lao Planning and Investment Ministry attend a signing ceremony of a concession agreement for Laos' first expressway in Vientiane, Laos, April 4, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Ailun)

VIENTIANE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Laos-China Joint Expressway Development, China Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group ("YCIH") and the Lao Planning and Investment Ministry signed a concession agreement here on Wednesday for Laos' first expressway.

The Laos-China Joint Expressway Development, a joint venture between the Lao government and the YCIH, is to invest, construct and operate the expressway project on basis of "BOT" (Build-Operate-Transfer) in accordance with the Concession Agreement.

The expressway linking the capital Vientiane and scenic Vangvieng is part of the Vientiane-Boten Expressway, the first full closed expressway in the Laos and a major project of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The 460-km expressway starts from Vientiane and ends in Boten, the Laos-China border town.

The project is expected to improve the living standards of residents along the road and deepen the cooperation and communication between China and Laos.

"The signing of the Concession Agreement represents an important step of the project's progress," said Chen Wenshan, YCIH chairman and shareholders' representative of the Laos-China Joint Expressway Development.

The YCIH has the confidence and ability to complete timely and quality construction of the project, Chen said, adding the expressway will be a demonstration model for future highways in Laos.VILNIUS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania is in talks with the United States on establishing a regional cyber security center in Kaunas, the Baltic country's second largest city, said the senior adviser to the Lithuanian president, Nerijus Aleksiejunas, on Wednesday.

According to Aleksiejunas, Lithuania is ready to take leadership in the area of cyber security both in the European Union (EU) and possibly cooperating with the United States in this area.

"As we create rapid response cyber security forces in the EU, we are also talking with the U.S. about establishing a regional cyber security center in Lithuania," Aleksiejunas was quoted as saying by local media.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, together with leaders of Latvia and Estonia, met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday in Washington.

According to Aleksiejunas, the visit was a "good chance" to introduce Lithuania's achievements in security.

Meanwhile, Edvinas Kerza, Lithuania's vice minister of defence, said the center should become a basis for creating measures of cyber security and implementing research and development.

According to the plan, cyber security officers from the Pennsylvania National Guard could cooperate with the center in Kaunas.

According to Kerza, Lithuania is currently waiting for an answer from the U.S. Department of Defence at the Pentagon.

The Lithuanian authorities also expect that activities of the EU rapid response cyber security forces could be coordinated from the center in Kaunas. Last year, the EU welcomed this Lithuanian initiative.U.S army soldier holds a gun as he stands guard next to an armoured vehicle as Brett McGurk, U.S. envoy to the coalition against Islamic State, visits the town of Tabqa, Syria June 29, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The United States has made a decision on the future of its troops in Syria, and the White House will announce it soon, U.S. media cited the nation's intelligence chief as saying Wednesday.

Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, told reporters that the decision has been made at an "all hands on deck" meeting on Tuesday of top U.S. national security officials.

The White House will make the decision public "relatively soon," Coats added.

Smoke rises after a U.S. air strike on Islamic State terrorist group in Kobani, Syria, Oct. 11, 2014. (Xinhua/Cihan)

U.S. President Donald Trump has recently reiterated his intention of bringing American troops back from Syria, saying that the fight against the extremist group Islamic State (IS) was almost done.

"Our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of ISIS (IS). We've almost completed that task and we'll be making a decision very quickly in coordination with others, as to what we'll do," Trump said Tuesday at a joint press conference at the White House with visiting leaders from three Baltic countries.

"I want to bring our troops home," Trump added.

File Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a joint press conference with visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (not in the picture) at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on July 25, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump said at the joint press conference Tuesday that he won't let Syrian President Bashar al-Assad get away with the "horrible" actions he has done. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

The U.S. president also complained that the United States has spent seven trillion U.S. dollars in the Middle East in the past 17 years, which has brought "nothing, except death and destruction."

Trump's remarks seemed to be at odds with opinions of the U.S. military. The Pentagon and the State Department have advised that a much longer-term effort is necessary to defeat the militant group.

Also on Tuesday, Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the U.S.-led coalition to defeat the IS, said that the fight was not over.

"We are in Syria to fight ISIS (IS)," he said at a public event in Washington. "That is our mission and that mission isn't over and we are going to complete that mission."Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 02:24:32|Editor: Yurou

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China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Wu Haitao (R, Front) addresses a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 4, 2018. Wu Haitao said here Wednesday that China firmly opposes the use of chemical weapons under any circumstances. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said here Wednesday that China firmly opposes the use of chemical weapons under any circumstances.

Speaking at the UN Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East, Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said that his country is "greatly concerned by the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria."

Recent incidents of suspected use of toxic chemicals are "deeply concerning," and in that regard, establishing a new investigative mechanism to find out the truth and prevent the recurrent use of such weapons is "of vital importance," he said.

All parties should continue to insist that the Security Council and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) should be the main channels for addressing the use of chemical weapons, said the Chinese envoy.

Wu expressed the hope that the Syrian Government would continue to cooperate with OPCW on the resolution of the initial declaration and properly resolve the outstanding issues.

Political settlement is the only way to resolve the Syria issue, and in that context, the international community should support the next round of Geneva talks, Wu said.LONDON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was on Wednesday accused of misleading the public as a war or words over the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal gathered pace.

In a further major development, it emerged a message on a Ministry of Defense social media site has been deleted. It had said government scientists blamed Russia for the attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in the southern England city of Salisbury a month ago.

The wrangle over "who did it" was thrown into chaos after the CEO at the British government's own scientific research center at Porton Down said they had not identified Russia as the source of the nerve agent used in the attack. The two victims Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia both remain in hospital in Salisbury where Skripal is in a critical condition.

Media attention focused in a television interview Johnson gave a few days ago to a German television station.

Diane Abbott, Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, has challenged Johnson to explain his previous comments on the source of the nerve agent Novichok in the case.

Abbott said:"It seems Boris Johnson misled the public when he claimed that Porton Down officials confirmed to him that Russia was the source of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack. Those officials have made it clear they cannot identify its source, and are not able to definitively say it came from Russia or elsewhere.

"Boris Johnson is supposed to represent Britain on the world stage, but time and again he has shown he is unable to do so responsibly."

Britain's allies have reacted to the incident by expelling 150 Russian diplomats from their countries.

The Russian Embassy in London highlighted how the British Foreign Office had deleted a social media message which had suggested scientists at the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory had said the nerve agent had been produced in Russia.

The deleted message read: "Analysis by world-leading experts at Dstl at Porton Down made clear that this was a military grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia. Porton Down is OPCW-accredited and designated laboratory."

The Foreign Office said the deleted message had been part of a real-time account of a speech by the British ambassador in Moscow and was deleted because it had "not accurately reported the ambassador's words".

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party accused Johnson of completely exceeding the information he had been given.

Corbyn told journalists: "The Foreign Office then issued a tweet in support of what the foreign secretary said, and then removed that yesterday after Porton Down had said they couldn't identify the source of it. Boris Johnson has serious questions to answer."

Downing Street has been forced into what the Times newspaper in London described as a damage limitation exercise. The government says the Porton Down tests were only one part of the intelligence picture, insisting there was still no other plausible explanation than Russian culpability.

The Kremlin has continually denied any involvement in the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter. Moscow has taken corresponding measures in response to the diplomat expulsions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Russia had no interest in poisoning ex-spy Sergei Skripal, but Britain's special services and government could gain from the incident.

"It may well be beneficial to the British special services, known for their ability to act with a license to kill," Lavrov said at a news briefing, obviously referring to James Bond, British super spy movie character known as 007.

"It may be beneficial to the British government, which found itself in an uncomfortable situation after not fulfilling promises to its electors over Brexit," he added.

Meanwhile the British government has described as perverse, a demand by Russia for a joint intervention into the Salisbury poisoning. Russia made its request at a meeting Wednesday in the Hague of OPCW, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 02:49:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GENEVA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Cameroonian army has freed 12 European hostages, including seven Swiss nationals, who were kidnapped by a rebel group in the southwestern part of the country, Swiss media reported Wednesday.

The hostages were tourists heading to a local national park when they were kidnapped by "armed terrorists" and subsequently freed on Monday in a special operation by the army, the Swiss News Agency, SDA-ATS, reported.

The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed that the seven Swiss citizens had been "abducted and were subsequently freed in Cameroon".

The people affected were in good health given the circumstances and their relatives had been contacted by the Swiss embassy in Cameroon.

The abduction took place in the English-speaking Western region of Cameroon.MADRID, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Spain received a total of 4.2 million international tourists in February, according to data published on Wednesday by Spain's National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The figure meant an increase of 2.6 percent when compared to the same month of 2017.

Arrivals from Britain reached 865,316. The French and Germans ranked second and third, with 549,654 and 532,636 arrivals respectively.

The archipelago of the Canary Islands received the largest number of tourists in February, accounting for 28.2 percent of the total, while the regions of Catalonia (east) and Andalusia (south) received 24.1 percent and 13.8 percent of the total respectively.

The INE also revealed that international visitors spent a total of 4.5 billion euros (5.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the second month of the year, 4.7 percent more than in February 2017.

The average expenditure per tourist stood at 1,067 euros, 2.1 percent more than last February, while the average daily expenditure grew by 8.2 percent year-on-year to 143 euros.

Spain's tourism sector is key for the economy, representing about 11 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

According to experts, international tourism has been essential to overcome the crisis, counteracting the decline of national tourism and the difficult situation of other sectors of the economy.

Some specialists, however, call for reflection on aspects such as the tourist model or the uneven distribution of the tourism in Spanish territory, which is especially concentrated in areas such as the archipelagos of the Balearic Islands.

In 2017, Spain received 81.8 million international tourists, 8.6 percent more than in 2016, breaking its own record.BERLIN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- An immigration policy proposal by new Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) has provoked a heated dispute within the new German government, media reported on Wednesday.

According to the reports, Seehofer's plan to limit refugees' right to family reunification from refugees was met with heavy resistance in the German Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Amongst others, the interior ministers' proposals would revoke the humanitarian right from any refugees who receive welfare benefits in Germany and further establish a fixed cap for the total number of individuals who can be brought to the country by relatives at 1,000 per month.

"Mr. Seehofer appears to be intent on using the interior ministry as a permanent election campaign instrument for the Christian Social Union (CSU)," SPD migration policy spokesperson Aziz Bozkurt lamented in the newspaper WELT with view to looming regional elections in the CSU homestead of Bavaria.

He complained that Seehofer had breached the grand coalition agreement between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), CSU and SPD and hereby placed a hard-won "peace in the governing coalition" at risk.

The "Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland" (RND) reported that under Seehofer's desired new definition, only spouses, parents of underage children and underage, single refugees would be eligible to apply for family reunification. Spouses of refugees who had not legally married in their country of origin would be barred from receiving residency in Germany.

The Green party (Gruene) joined the SPD on Wednesday in attacking the legislative proposal. "Seehofer's criteria are a renewed breach of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child", Green party leader Annalena Baerbok told RND.

By contrast, Free Demoractic Party (FDP) leader Christian Lindner praised the interior minister's proposals to drastically limit family reunifications. "I welcome a restrictive management of family reunification. The absorption capacities are limited", Lindner was cited by RND.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 03:24:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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JERUSALEM, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Israeli security forces said on Wednesday that they thwarted a planned Palestinian attack on an Israeli naval vessel on March 12.

A total of 10 Palestinians, who are residents of Rafiah in southern Gaza Strip, were detained in the attack, according to a joint statement issued by the Israeli Security Authority (ISA) and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

The suspects planned to use one boat to serve as a decoy to lure the naval vessel when a second boat would attack the vessel with a Cornet ship-to-ship rocket, before a third boat would approach to abduct the sailors for an exchange of captives, according to the statement.

The statement said one of the detainees, identified as 24-year-old Amin Saadi Muhammad Jumaa, is an Islamic Jihad terrorist who observed naval vessels to gather intelligence in the course of planning the attack.

Jumaa was indicted by the State Attorney's Office (Southern District) on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the IDF and the ISA for thwarting the terrorist sea attack planned by the Islamic Jihad Movement.

Netanyahu said security forces will operate on every front to protect Israel and its citizens.

"This is proof of the true intentions of the terrorist organizations in Gaza which are trying to camouflage their murderous intentions by organizing provocations on the security fence," he noted.LILONGWE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Malawi has strongly condemned the resurfacing killings of people with albinism in the country, describing it as retrogressive given the achievements made since 2014.

The UN made the condemnation in reaction to the recent brutal killing of a 22-year-old man, Macdonald Masambuka, who went missing early March and whose body was found buried in a shallow grave on April in the country's eastern district of Machinga.

In a statement dated April 4, UN Resident Coordinator in Malawi Maria Jose Torres described the act as retrogressive given the achievements the country had made since the fight against the act started in 2014.

"We encourage the authorities to ensure that a thorough, prompt and impartial investigation into the killing of this young man is made and that the alleged perpetrators are brought to justice," urged the UN Resident Coordinator in the statement.

She urged Malawi government and stakeholders to redouble their efforts to implement the National Action Plan which addresses the root causes of attacks on persons with albinism, including a nationwide awareness raising campaign.

The Malawi Police Service (MPS) has so far arrested seven suspects in connection to Masambuka's murder and among the suspects are police officers and a medical practitioner.

"We are concerned that persons that were entrusted with the responsibility of promoting and protecting the life of all Malawians including persons with albinism are the ones allegedly suspected to have had a hand in the killing of Macdolnald," explains the UN Resident Coordinator.

Masambuka's incident brings to four the total number of attacks on persons with albinism in 2018 alone.

Currently the Association for Persons with Albinism in Malawi (APAM) has also registered its concern on the latest development, saying capital punishment to the offenders could have helped to end the malpractice.

Since 2014, Malawi has registered at least 125 cases of attacks and killings of persons with albinism where at least 20 people were brutally killed.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 03:34:56|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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NEW YORK, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices retreated on Wednesday as trade tensions between China and the United States dampened investor sentiment.

China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth 50 billion U.S. dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs, including soy bean, automobiles and chemical products.

The move was taken after the U.S. administration announced a proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth 50 billion dollars with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

The date of implementation will depend on when the U.S. government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products, the Ministry of Finance said.

Oil prices traded sharply lower in the morning session, but then they pared losses after official data showed a surprise draw in U.S. crude stockpiles.

U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels last week to 425.3 million, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report on Wednesday. Analysts had expected a 2-million-barrel gain.

The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery fell 0.14 U.S. dollar to settle at 63.37 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for June delivery lost 0.10 dollar to close at 68.02 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 03:34:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Wednesday that the country's tax law must be subject to a comprehensive review for joint citizen-state efforts to combat corruption.

"A comprehensive review of Lebanon's tax law since the independence must be considered," Aoun told a delegation of the Lebanese Tax Association, highlighting the need for "stable taxation schemes that attract investment and strengthen productive sectors."

The Lebanese president also emphasized the close link between taxes and fighting corruption.

"Fighting corruption and tax evasion is a responsibility shared by the citizen and the state," he noted, as "taxes are a cornerstone of encouraging investments, especially foreign ones."MADRID, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Computer expert and former HSBC Bank employee, Herve Falciani, who is accused of filtering the fiscal details of over 130,000 bank clients, was arrested here on Wednesday when attending an event at Pontificia de Comillas University, Spanish police have confirmed.

Falciani was arrested due to the extradition order issued by Swiss authorities for Falciani for releasing the list which revealed thousands of possible cases of tax evasion connected to undeclared accounts in the Geneva office of the British bank.

He now faces extradition and a possible sentence of five years in prison for economic espionage.

He had previously been detained in Barcelona in 2012 on the same charges, although in 2013 Spain refused to extradite him to Switzerland because the information he filtered "referred to suspicious activities of doubtful legality, including possible criminal actions."

Falciani's arrest comes at a delicate moment in relations between Spain and Switzerland after Spain issued a European detention order for crime of rebellion against Catalan separatists Anna Gabriel and Marta Rovira, who are currently in exile in the Alpine country.

Switzerland has so far failed to arrest the them, arguing that the accusation is political in nature.SKOPJE, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Macedonia has decided it wants to join NATO as its 30th member, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev declared Wednesday during a reception organized by the NATO Liaison Office on the occasion of NATO day.

Zaev said the Macedonian government was firmly committed to efficient domestic reforms, democratic values, rule of law, respect for human rights, functional institutions in the service of citizens.

"Good neighborly relations and regional cooperation remain our strategic goals along with the aspiration for NATO and European Union (EU) membership. We are building a new spirit of inclusive policies that lead to solutions, not to problems," Zaev said.

Moreover, "Macedonia and NATO have been close partners for 22 years and Macedonia has been contributing to NATO activities since 2002 in missions like the one in Afghanistan," he said.

Furthermore, Zaev highlighted Macedonia would increase its participation in the Afghan peacekeeping mission by 20 percent, and raise the armed forces budget by 0.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) per year.

In his speech, NATO Liaison Office head Captain Gorazd Bartol evaluated the Macedonian's government efforts and results in implementing reforms related to NATO membership and building good neighborly relations.

"NATO's aim is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members, promote democratic values, build trust and conditions for prosperity, as well as to solve problems and prevent conflicts," Bartol said.

Moreover, Bartol said NATO was ready to assist Macedonia on its path to membership of Euro-Atlantic organizations, adding that the country's accession to the alliance would be a great benefit for Macedonia and the region, as well as for NATO.

Macedonia is formally called Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) by the United Nations. Macedonia is also the name of a northern province in Greece and Athens is worried that the use of the same name by the neighboring state could lead to territorial claims.

The solving of name row that exists between the two countries is seen as main obstacle that Macedonia has to overcome in order to make progress towards EU and NATO integration.

During the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, Greece vetoed FYROM's application to enter the alliance without having solved the name issue. As Skopje has renewed efforts to join the EU and NATO, Greece has signaled that its position remains unchanged.OSLO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Recent statistics from the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) showed that more Norwegian foreign warriors got killed in Syria or Iraq, online newspaper Nettavisen reported Wednesday.

"Out of the 100 men and women who have gone to Syria and Iraq, we expect 30 to be killed, 40 have returned to Norway and 30 are still in Syria or in Iraq, but many of the remaining have an unclear status. Several of them may also be killed," Martin Bernsen, senior adviser in PST, told Nettavisen.

Earlier estimates from PST were around 20 killed foreign warriors, Bernsen said.

He also added three main reasons for small number of soldiers returning to Norway.

"One is that it is very difficult to get out of the conflict area. The second is that in Norway they will be arrested and risk long prison sentences, and the third reason is that many have died," Bernsen said.

Several female foreign warriors have given birth to children in Syria and Iraq, PST reported, and according to Bernsen, these children most likely still live in these countries.

"There are about ten women who have left Norway to join the caliphate. We have previously found that ten children with connection to Norway were born there. That figure is probably higher now," he said.

If people who have stayed in Syria or Iraq return to Norway to resume contact with extreme Islamists in this country, this could adversely affect the threat, according to PST's latest threat assessment for this year.KHARTOUM, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Delegations of Egypt and Ethiopia on Wednesday arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to take part in a tripartite meeting regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour and Sudan's Water Resources and Electricity Minister Mutaz Mussa received the Egyptian and Ethiopian delegations participating in the meeting.

The Egyptian delegation includes Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Atti and Acting Chief of General Intelligence Service Abbas Mustafa Kamel.

While the Ethiopian delegation includes Minister of Foreign Affairs Workneh Gebeyehu, Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, Sileshi Bekele, and Deputy Chief of Security and Intelligence.

The meeting is expected to review means to utilize the water resources and make the GERD a means of development in the three countries instead of a source of conflict and difference.

The meeting is held under decisions of the recent summit which brought together leaders of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa late last January.

The last round of talks between the three countries on the Nile dam ended last November without reaching an agreement on a technical report prepared by French firms (BRL) and (Artelia) about the dam.

In late December 2017, Egypt proposed for the Ethiopian side to involve the World Bank as a neutral party in the activities of the tripartite technical committee, but Ethiopia refused the Egyptian proposal.

Egypt fears that the construction of the dam would affect its share in the Nile water, while Ethiopia reiterated that the dam is likely to make a shift in its wealth, namely in the field of electricity.

The GERD, extending on an area of 1,800 square km, is scheduled to be completed in three years at a cost of 4.7 billion U.S. dollars.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 05:35:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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RIYADH, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Saudi forces once again intercepted a missile fired by Houthi militias towards border city Jazan on Wednesday, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The missile was shot at 9:30 PM local time (6:30 GMT) from Saada in Yemen towards Saudi Arabia, while the Saudi air forces destroyed it and its shrapnel fell on residential areas of the city. No injuries were reported until now.

The intensity of such attacks has increased recently with the completion of Saudi-led war against the militias in Yemen its third year.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthis, Col. Turki Al Maliki told a press conference on Wednesday that the coalition assisted the flow of humanitarian aids to Yemen that targeted more than two million Yemenis.

He highlighted that the militia fired 107 missiles, but the air forces have proven their competency in tackling such attacks.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 05:40:25|Editor: Jiaxin

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Forza Italia party leader and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (C) speaks to the media after the consultations with Italian President Sergio Mattarella (not seen in the picture) at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, capital of Italy, on April 5, 2018. The first round of formal government talks since an inconclusive March 4 general election kicked off in Rome's Quirinal Palace on Wednesday.(Xinhua/Jin Yu)

ROME, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The first round of formal government talks since an inconclusive March 4 general election kicked off in Rome's Quirinal Palace on Wednesday, but the real game was being played outside the palace walls as the leaders of Italy's main parties engaged in mutual thrust and parry in a flurry of interviews, statements, and blog posts.

The election delivered two relative winners: a center-right bloc led by the rightwing, anti-immigrant League, which also includes ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's moderate Forza Italia party; and the populist, euroskeptic Five Star Movement.

The third player is the center-left Democratic Party of outgoing Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, which went into the opposition after a dismal electoral showing.

Neither the center-right bloc nor the Five Stars won enough seats in parliament to form a government on their own. While both their leaders - Matteo Salvini of the League and Luigi Di Maio of the Five Stars - claim the right to be the next prime minister of Italy, the two have been courting each another since the election.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Di Maio wrote that he wants to meet with Salvini as well as the Democratic Party "as soon as possible" -- as long as Salvini gets rid of his ally Berlusconi, and the Democrats get rid of former premier and party secretary, Matteo Renzi.

In response, Democratic Party bigwig Lorenzo Guerini in an interview on the party website accused Di Maio of "using the alleged dialogue with (our party) solely...to drum up the price of negotiations with the League".

On Porta a Porta (Door to Door) talk show on RAI public broadcaster, League House whip Giancarlo Giorgetti warned Di Maio that "placing vetoes... will only take us back to the vote" -- meaning that the Five Stars must accept that the League is in a coalition with Berlusconi's party, and living in denial of this fact will only hasten a return to the voting booth.

He was echoed by Berlusconi's party, which in a statement "strongly reiterated the unity of the center-right coalition and its unwillingness to engage in any form of dialogue or hypothetical government line-up with those that place unacceptable vetoes".

President Sergio Mattarella, who has the power to appoint a prime minister but also to call new elections if need be, met on Wednesday with the newly elected speakers of both houses of parliament and with delegations from Italy's smaller parties, ranging from the far left to the far right.

But the tough part of his job comes when he meets with the big players on Thursday: Berlusconi, Di Maio, Salvini, and interim Democratic Party secretary, Maurizio Martina.

It remains to be seen whether Mattarella can broker an agreement between some combination of these forces, in order to give Italy a stable government.WASHINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump will sign a proclamation on Wednesday directing the deployment of the National Guard to the country's border with Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said.

"The President has directed that the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security work together with our governors to deploy the National Guard to our southwest border," Nielsen told a White House news briefing.

"The president will be signing a proclamation to that effect today," she said.

Troops could be sent to the border as early as Wednesday night, Nielsen said, adding that the National Guard would support U.S. Custom and Border Protection but would not be involved in enforcement.

Though Nielsen did not detail the number of those deployed, where they will go, how long they will stay, or the cost of the operation, she said the administration would be asking Congress to provide the legal authority and resources to address "this crisis at our borders."

The announcement came after days of Trump's public fuming over the immigration policy and border security as a result of what he sees "weak" border laws.

The president, who has signaled intentions to use the military to guard the border until his long-promised wall is built, tweeted earlier Wednesday that the administration will be "taking strong action today."RABAT, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Moroccan king Mohammed VI congratulated Wednesday Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi following his re-election as President of Egypt.

In a message to Sisi, Morocco's king expressed his heartfelt congratulations and sincere wishes for the success of the Egyptian people for further progress and prosperity.

He also expressed his pride in the ties of sincere fraternity and mutual esteem between the two peoples and in the longstanding relations rooted in fruitful cooperation and active solidarity between the two countries.

He reaffirmed his determination to continue working with President Sisi to strengthen bilateral ties and serve the two peoples' shared interests in the aspirations for sustainable development.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 05:55:31|Editor: Yurou

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C), Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attend a joint press conference after their meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on April 4, 2018. The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Wednesday called for a "lasting ceasefire" in Syria and expressed their commitment to the territorial integrity of the war-torn country during a trilateral summit in Ankara. (Xinhua/Mustafa Kaya)

ANKARA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran vowed to secure the territorial integrity of Syria during a trilateral summit in Ankara on Wednesday.

The trio also called for "a lasting ceasefire between the conflicting parties" in the talks on the Syrian crisis, according to a joint statement released following the summit.

The three countries also stressed their joint determination to speed up efforts to "ensure calm on the ground and protect civilians" in Syria after talks on the future of the country.

Meanwhile, the leaders called on the international community, particularly the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies "to increase assistance to Syria by sending additional humanitarian aid, facilitating humanitarian mine action, restoring basic infrastructure assets, including social and economic facilities, and preserving historical heritage."

The summit brought together two powers which have been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's most forceful supporters, Iran and Russia, and one of his strongest opponents Turkey.

Cooperation between the rival camps raised hopes of stabilizing Syria after seven years of conflict, in which 500,000 people have been killed with half the population displaced.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters during the joint press conference after the summit that the Islamic State (IS) "retains its destructive potential to attack in different regions across the globe" despite its defeat in Syria.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted that Ankara-led "Operation Olive Branch" in northern Syria aims to fight the Kurdish militia as it poses a threat to Turkey.

"Turkey will not stop until all regions under the control of the People's Protection Units (YPG), including Manbij, are secured," he said.

Erdogan also expressed Ankara's readiness to take action in the northern Syrian city of Tal Rifaat along with Russia and Iran to build its peaceful environment.

For his part, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States of trying to use the jihadists of the al-Nusra Front and the IS as tools in the region, saying the Syrian conflict has no military resolution.

Putin said the three sides have also agreed to broaden peacemaking efforts.

"It was unacceptable to politicize humanitarian aid for Syria and the final goal in Syria is to put an end to terrorism," he stressed.

Syria's army and Iran-backed militias, along with Russian air power, have crushed insurgents in Eastern Ghouta of Syria's capital Damascus.

Turkey, which has sharply criticized the Ghouta offensive by the Syrian government, has launched a major military operation to drive Kurdish fighters from the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin.

It vows to capture the town of Tel Rifaat and push further east, which has angered Iran, which has helped Assad's army fight rebel advances, and risked a confrontation with the U.S. which has special troops deployed there.

Ankara's relations with Moscow collapsed in 2015 when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane but recovered later.

Their improved political ties have been reflected in Turkey's agreement to purchase a Russian missile system and plans for Russia's ROSATOM to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant.

The first tripartite summit was held in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 22, 2017 to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks and changes in de-escalation zones across Syria.

A third trilateral summit of Russian, Turkish and Iranian leaders is expected to be held in the coming months in Tehran.Soybeans being sorted according to their weight and density on a gravity sorter machine at Peterson Farms Seed facility in Fargo, North Dakota, the United States, on Dec. 6, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

CHICAGO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The American Soybean Association (ASA) on Wednesday urged President Donald Trump to solve the U.S. trade disputes with China "in a constructive manner," instead of hurting the U.S. soy growers' interests.

Responding to China's newly announced countermeasures in the escalating trade tensions with the United States, which include proposed 25 percent tariff on American soybeans, the ASA president said there is still time to reverse this damage as China expressed that the heavy tariff would only go into effect based on the course of action the Trump administration takes.

A worker harvests soybeans at a farm north of Birmingham, Alabama, the United States, on Nov. 13, 2009 (Xinhua/REUTERS)

We call on President Trump to engage the Chinese in a constructive manner - not a punitive one - and achieve a positive result for soybean farmers," ASA President and Iowa farmer John Heisdorffer said in a statement.

He added that the Trump administration should "find ways to reduce our trade deficit by increasing competitiveness rather than erecting barriers to foreign markets."

A sample of clean, processed soybeans at Peterson Farms Seed facility in Fargo, North Dakota, the United States, on Dec. 6, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

A 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans into China will have "a devastating effect on every soybean farmer in America," he said.

Soybean futures plunged more than 30 cents a bushel, or about 3 percent as of 1530 GMT Wednesday. At a projected 2018 crop of 4.3 billion bushels, U.S. soybean farmers lost more than 1.29 billion U.S. dollars in value for their crop on Wednesday morning alone.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 06:05:33|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SANAA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Saudi-led coalition warplanes hit military camps inside Yemen's capital Sanaa five times on Wednesday night, local residents said.

The airstrikes came a few hours after Houthi rebels said they fired a ballistic missile toward Saudi Aramco storage tanks.

The residents in the capital reported five airstrikes hitting military camps in Attan mountain in the southwestern part of Sanaa.

The explosions echoed across the densely populated city, which is under the control of the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebels.

No casualties among residents were reported yet.

The airstrikes targeting Sanna on Wednesday night came amid military escalation on the ground from all rival warring forces in Yemen, after more than a month of relative calm in the capital city.

Earlier in the day, the Houthi group said its fighters fired a ballistic missile toward storage tanks of Saudi oil giant Aramco in the southwestern province of Jizan, according to a statement by Houthi-controlled state Saba news agency.

However, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported that the missile was intercepted and destroyed.

A day earlier, Saudi Arabia said one of its oil tankers was targeted in the Red Sea international waters off the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, which is under control of Houthis.

The Houthi group has yet to claim responsibility, but some of its activists said Tuesday's attack on the Saudi tanker in the Red Sea was done by a land-to-sea missile in retaliation for the coalition's recent airstrikes on Hodeidah.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of Arab forces, backed by the United States, to intervene in Yemen's conflict to back the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The coalition has launched thousands of airstrikes on the Iran-aligned Shiite Houthis, in attempts to roll back rebel gains and reinstate President Hadi in the capital Sanaa.

In return, Houthis have fired hundreds of ballistic missiles toward Saudi cities, with most of them intercepted by Saudi air defense forces.

The war has so far killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and pushed the Arab country to the brink of mass famine.The Armenian National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (Yerevan Opera House) and tenor Liparit Avetisyan won top prizes at the Second Annual Tsitsernak National Music Awards.

The much-anticipated awards ceremony, held on March 31 at the Yerevan Opera House, is an initiative of Armenias Ministry of Culture.The Yerevan Opera House won the award in the Best Musical Presentation category, for the Armenian premiere of The Last Judgment. The award was accepted by Maestro Constantine Orbelian, the Yerevan Operas General and Artistic Director.

Performed at the Yerevan Opera House in September 2017, The Last Judgment was an ambitious multimedia presentation conceived and directed by Paolo Micciche of Italy. The mega show comprised an extraordinary performance of Giuseppe Verdis Requiem, set to visual accompaniment featuring a 3-D animation of Michelangelos Sistine Chapel paintings.

The Last Judgment was performed by the Yerevan Opera, under the baton of Maestro Constantine Orbelian. In addition to the theater orchestra and chorus, soloists Marine Deinyan (soprano), Sargis Agamalyan (tenor), Haig Tigranian (bass) and guest soloists Eleni Matos (Mezzo Soprano) performed in the prize-winning opera. Maestro Orbelian congratulated the soloists, chorus and their choir master Karen Sargisyan for their excellent work in preparing this very difficult production.

Liparit Avetisyan won the Tsitsernak Award in the Best Musical Performer (Vocals) category. An internationally acclaimed young tenor and a beloved star of the Yerevan Opera House, Avetisyan has appeared on the stages of the Royal Opera House (London), the Moscow Music Theater, and the Cologne Opera, among others, as well as in several prestigious music festivals in Europe and elsewhere.

For all of us at the Yerevan Opera, it is a distinct honor to win the Tsitsernak Awards in the Best Musical Presentation and Best Musical Performer categories, Maestro Orbelian said. We are also profoundly grateful to the RA Ministry of Culture for encouraging and fostering world-class musical excellence through the Tsitsernak National Music Awards, an event that has already become synonymous with the cutting edge of contemporary Armenian music.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 06:30:36|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Wednesday voiced deep concern over the safety and protection of civilians from Eastern Ghouta who continue to be displaced from their areas of origin, as well as those who remain in the besieged enclave, said a UN spokesman on Wednesday.

Since March 9, an estimated 133,000 people have left Eastern Ghouta, either through established corridors to internally displaced persons (IDP) sites in rural Damascus or through evacuation agreements to Idlib and Aleppo governorates, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman.

As of Tuesday, some 44,000 people remain in eight IDP sites in rural Damascus, down from a peak number of 83,000. But most shelters still largely exceed their capacity, he said.

While some assistance is being provided to the population remaining in newly accessible areas, there has been no access to the besieged area of Douma since the last inter-agency convoy reached the area on March 15, said the spokesman.

The United Nations and partners are also facing serious funding gaps to respond with life-saving assistance and protection services, he said.

In Afrin, where Turkish troops are pursuing a military campaign against the Kurds, the gradual return of IDPs reportedly continued mainly from Nabul and Zahraa, and a smaller number from Tal Refaat toward Afrin district, but exact figures are not yet available, said the spokesman.

The United Nations continues to be concerned for the safety and protection of civilians impacted by hostilities in the area and reported restrictions of movement, he said.

An estimated 137,000 people have been displaced to Tal Refaat and to the surrounding villages due to recent fighting, he noted.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 06:30:36|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CHICAGO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural commodities closed lower on Wednesday, with soybean futures dropping over 2 percent after China announced tariffs on U.S. soybean, corn, beef and other goods.

Chicago corn futures also fell sharply, then recovered a portion of the heavy losses.

The most active corn contract for May delivery fell 7.5 cents, or 1.93 percent at 3.81 dollars per bushel. May wheat delivery went down 1.75 cents, or 0.38 percent to close at 4.5575 dollars per bushel. May soybeans dropped 22.75 cents, or 2.19 percent to settle at 10.1525 dollars per bushel.

China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth 50 billion U.S. dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs, including soy bean, automobiles and chemical products.

The move was taken after the Trump administration announced a proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs, which covers Chinese exports worth 50 billion dollars with a suggested tariff rate of 25 percent.

The date of implementation will depend on when the U.S. government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products, China's Ministry of Finance said.SAN FRANCISCO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- California's booming wine exports to China have met with a major hurdle as China imposed retaliatory tariff on U.S. wine imports, which took effect on Monday.

Wente Vineyards, a winery in Livermore Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California, has recently suspended the shipment of 5,000 cases of wine destined for China.

Part of the reason is the importers in China would prefer to wait and see how the tariff implementation plays out, according to the winery, about an hour's ride from San Francisco.

The importers would also like to see how Chinese consumers perceive the U.S. products and how it influences their immediate buying habits, said Michael Parr, vice president of international sales at Wente Family Estates, on Wednesday.

"We hope that diplomacy and negotiation efforts between U.S.A. and China will step up soon to avoid escalation of these unfair trade barriers," he said.

Compared with Wente, Klinker Brick Winery in Lodi city in California Central Valley was luckier. It had already shipped 1,000 cases of wine to Shenzhen in southern China last week. It's the first time that the winery has ever exported wine to China.

But the new tariff will pose a major challenge for Klinker Brick's journey into the Chinese market.

China started the retaliatory tariffs of between 15 percent and 25 percent on 2.75 billion U.S. dollars worth of U.S. imports, including wine, nuts and pork, in response to steep duties on aluminum and steel announced by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

California farmers call the tariffs "a blow" to their business.

The Chinese market is developing rapidly and it has huge potential of imported wine consumers, said Pat Patrick, president and CEO of Lodi Chamber of Commerce. Lodi is a major wine production area in the U.S., with 100,000 acres of wine grapes and about 100 wineries.

China is expected to surpass the U.K. as the world's second largest wine market by 2020, driven by the growing middle class and the millennial generation, and China proves to be an exciting market as the California wine industry has seen a growing interest from Chinese consumers, said Patrick.

"The Chinese consumers trust American products because they are of top quality," said Patrick. But he said they would have to wait and see if the Chinese consumers were willing to pay more for the U.S. wines.Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-05 06:40:38|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Syrian children wave Syrian national flags in Wafideen area, northeast of Damascus, Syria, on April 4, 2018. A total of 635 Islam Army militants and their families departed on Wednesday night from the capital Damascus toward the rebel-held city of Jarablus in northern Syria, state news agency SANA reported. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 635 Islam Army militants and their families departed on Wednesday night from the capital Damascus toward the rebel-held city of Jarablus in northern Syria, state news agency SANA reported.

13 buses transported the Islam Army rebels and their families from the Douma district in Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside to a crossing point in the Wafideen area northeast of Damascus before they set off toward Jarablus late in the evening.

It's the third batch to leave Douma after 2,328 militants and their families evacuated that area over the past two days.

The evacuation of the rebels and their families from Douma comes as a deal was reached on Sunday between the Islam Army militants and the Syrian army under the mediation of Russia.

Douma is the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta, after other towns in that sprawling countryside have seen the evacuation of all the rebels and their families toward Idlib province in northwestern Syria.SAN FRANCISCO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The tariff battle between the U.S. and China, which is poised to trigger a trade war between the two sides, will potentially impact farm products of Oregon on the U.S. west coast, an Oregon daily said Wednesday.

The tariff announced by China on Sunday will slap an extra 25 percent on U.S. products, which took effect on Monday.

China's move came in response to U.S. President Donald Trump administration's unilateral plan to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports of aluminum and steel announced last month.

In Oregon, the tariffs would apply to such agricultural products as hazelnuts, pears, berries, apples and wine, said The Register-Guard, a daily newspaper formed in 1930 and published in Eugene, Oregon in the western United States.

"Our assumption is there will be some effect," it quoted Alexis Taylor, director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, as saying.

The paper said China is Oregon's fourth-largest importer of agriculture products, behind South Korea, Canada and Japan.

"In 2017, Oregon sent more than 320 million U.S. dollars in agricultural products to China, including Hong Kong," said the paper, quoting the data of Euromonitor, a global market research company.

According to the state's agriculture department, Oregon leads the nation in hazelnut production, accounting for nearly 100 percent of U.S. output, and about 60 percent of Oregon's crop is exported, with Asian and European nations buying much of the harvest.

China said it would impose a 15 percent tariff on hazelnuts, also called filberts, along with several other U.S. farm products on Sunday.OTTAWA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A child was found dead and other 14 were sent to hospital from a home of the Stoney First Nation in Calgary, Canada, according to CBC Wednesday.

The 14 children in hospital range in age from two-and-a-half years to late teens.

Police and paramedics were called to the home Wednesday noon (local time) for what the latter described as a medical situation.

The cause of the death and hospitalizations was not immediately clear. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating the tragedy.Latest News

Baltimore, Maryland - A military employee who resided in Maryland before moving to Japan in November 2017 has been arrested and indicted for the production, transportation, and possession of child pornography.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen M. Schenning of the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the FBIs Baltimore Field Office made the announcement.

Spencer E. Steckman, 34, who lived in Silver Spring, Maryland at the time the alleged conduct began, was charged in an indictment on March 26, with one count of production of child pornography, one count of transportation of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. Steckman had his initial court appearance earlier today and was remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

According to the indictment, between Aug. 17, 2017, and Sept. 22, 2017, while in Maryland, Steckman enticed a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography. In mid-November 2017, Steckman moved to Japan to work with Commander Navy Region Japan. In Japan, Steckman transported and possessed child pornography.

Steckman was detained by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Japan on March 27, and transported back to Maryland by the U.S. Marshals Service on April 1, to appear before the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

The charges and allegations contained in an indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The FBIs Baltimore Field Division and the Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriffs Office are investigating the case, with substantial assistance from NCIS. Trial Attorney Jessica Urban of the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Baldwin of the District of Maryland are prosecuting the case.

This investigation was a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.Coun Perez reiterates warning to barangay leaders involved in drugs

07 Aug 2017 Hits:37 Comments(0)

Liga ng mga Barangay President, Councilor Jerry Perez yesterday reiterated his warning to all barangay officials from using or selling drugs. Perez said he is closely monitoring the activities of all the barangay officials and vowed sanctions against erring leaders. Aqui gane na mio barangay ya quita ya iyo na puesto cunel dos barangay leaders quien mas temprano ya sale positivo na...12 paturi la ATI mai sunt libere pentru pacientii bolnavi de COVID-19

12 paturi la ATI mai sunt libere pentru pacientii bolnavi de COVID-19 in intreaga tara, iar trei sunt in Bucuresti  conform datelor anuntate astazi de autoritati. Acestea au comunicat ca in procesul de operationalizare a unor noi paturi se pune accent pe cele [citeste mai departe]A pair of female Crested Screamer chicks hatched in early March at Woodland Park Zoo. The little birds represent the first offspring between the 15-year-old mother and 23-year-old father. The last successful hatching of this species at the Seattle, WA, zoo was in 2002.

At just a few weeks old, the chicks are fluffy and downy and currently weigh about 6 ounces.

So far, were pleased to report the chicks are experiencing good weight gains, said Mark Myers, bird curator at Woodland Park Zoo. Theyre eating well and the parents are very attentive. The chicks need lots of food and exercise to grow. Based on how theyre doing, were optimistic theyll continue to thrive under the care of their parents and our animal care staff.

According to the Zoo, Crested Screamer parents do not regurgitate food for their chicks. Instead, they lead the chicks to food and drop tasty treats as a lesson on how to peck for food. Myers said the Zoos family dines on a blend of game bird, waterfowl pellets, lots of fresh romaine, and broccoli florets.

Photo Credits: Woodland Park Zoo/ Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren

The Crested Screamer (Chauna torquata) is aptly named for its loud, distinctive call, making it among the loudest of any bird. Native to Bolivia and southern Brazil, to northern Argentina, these large goose-like birds are common in tropical and subtropical wetlands, including marshes, estuaries and lowland lakes.

Another distinctive feature of the species is a large, sharp spur on each wing, which the birds use to defend themselves against predators. Adults reach and average size of 8195 cm (3237 inches) long and a weight of around 35 kg (6.611.0 pounds).

Screamers form monogamous relationships, and both adults take part in incubation and caring for the chicks. The female lays between two to seven white eggs, and incubation takes 43 to 46 days. Chicks leave the nest as soon as they hatch, but the parents will care for them for several weeks. The fledging period takes 8 to 14 weeks.

Although the Crested Screamer population is not threatened in their home range, Screamers and many other species of waterfowl are threatened by habitat loss due to human-imposed activities.

The new family at Woodland Park Zoo is currently off-exhibit, to allow animal keepers to monitor the chicks closely and weigh them regularly to ensure acceptable weight gains.NEW YORK: United States President Donald Trump has affirmed that the US "will not stop until ISIS is gone" while justifying the presence of the US troops in Syria.

Presidents of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia visited the White House on Tuesday to attend the Baltic Summit in the United States.

Trump took to his Twitter account to welcome all the three Presidents to the White House while congratulating Estonia on its 100th anniversary of Independence.

"Today, it was my honour to welcome Estonia President @KerstiKaljulaid, Lithuania President @Grybauskaite_LT, and Latvia President @Vejonis to the @WhiteHouse. Congratulations on your 100th anniversaries of independence! #BalticSummit", Trump tweeted.

The three Presidents of the Baltic nations hosted a joint press conference with Trump as part of the Baltic summit.

Trump, while addressing the conference, mentioned the World's Declaration of 1940 and US-Baltic Charter of 1998 and assured to stand with it.

He further acknowledged the assistance of the Baltic countries in providing military training to the soldiers to fight against military group ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Trump said, "We will not stop until ISIS is gone".

Trump further called for expanding mutual trade relations between Baltic countries and US.

He encouraged the move of Lithuania to begin buying the liquid natural gas from the United States as part of an effort to secure alternative energy supplies and reduce its dependence on Russia.

Referring to US sanctions on Russia for its alleged role in manipulation of the 2014 US elections, Trump said, "Nobody's been tougher on Russia than I have."

Trump also praised the Baltic countries for their robust defence spending. Latvia and Lithuania come close to meeting the NATO benchmark of devoting two percent of their economies to defence while Estonia spends slightly more than two percent.

"When nations are committed to peace and to security, they have to pay their share and we will all enjoy a much more safe and prosperous future," Trump said.

Trump was followed by President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite, who focused on the defence issues being faced by the countries while mentioning the Article 5 of the US-Baltic Declaration.

Grybauskaite said, "Our discussions are more about bringing reforms in defence. We are helping the United States to combat terrorism in Afghanistan, Maali and wherever it is required. We see the willingness of US to see a different quality of NATO."

Further, the Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis said the US has committed to apply deterrent policies in the Baltic regions.

"We will commit 2 percent GDP towards military strengthening NATO in eastern area and contribute to international security," Vejonis said.

He further mentioned of combating military terrorism, cyber information warfare and nuclear proliferation, while highlighting the growth of the digital economy and trade relations with the US.

Further, Estonia's President Kersti Kaljulaid reiterated the commitment of Baltic nations towards military strengthening by saying, "Peace and security depend on strong sovereign nations. We stand together like-minded partners and allies. We find it important to contribute to counter-terrorism and spend 2 percent of GDP on defence".SAN BRUNO: A woman opened fire at YouTube`s headquarters near San Francisco on Tuesday, wounding four people before taking her own life as employees of the Silicon Valley technology company fled into the surrounding streets, authorities said.

Police initially did not release any further information on the suspect or her motives for the shooting rampage at YouTube, a video sharing service owned by Alphabet Inc`s Google.

However, the law enforcement authorities later identified the suspect as Nasim Aghdam of Southern California, news agency AP reported.

MSNBC earlier said that police believe a woman in her 30s approached an outdoor patio and dining area on the campus around lunchtime and began to fire, before turning the gun on herself.



Senior law enforcement officials believe the motive behind the shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute. They had no known connection to terrorism, a US government security official told Reuters.

A YouTube product manager, Todd Sherman, described on Twitter hearing people running, first thinking it was an earthquake before he was told that a person had a gun.

"At that point, every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves," Sherman said on Twitter.

"I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peaked around for threats and then we headed downstairs and out the front," Sherman said.

The shooting was the latest in an epidemic of mass killings that have plagued the United States in recent years. Most recently, the massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school has led to calls for tighter restrictions on gun ownership.

In a recording of a 911 call posted online by the Los Angeles Times, a dispatcher can be heard saying: Shooter. Another party said they spotted someone with a gun. The suspect came from the back patio ... Again we have a report of a subject with a gun. They heard seven or eight shots being fired."

Dozens of emergency vehicles quickly converged on the YouTube campus, and police could be seen on televised aerial video systematically frisking several employees leaving the area with their hands raised.

One of the victims, a 36-year-old man, was listed in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A 32-year-old woman was listed in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. Authorities did not release names of the victims.

The three patients taken to San Francisco General Hospital were all awake, Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, said at a news conference. All three people were victims of gunshot wounds, Campbell said, but none of them had undergone surgery. A fourth person was taken to a local hospital with an ankle injury from fleeing the scene.

Google said on Twitter that it was coordinating with local authorities. YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki declined to comment to reporters as she left the building.

President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he had been briefed on the shooting.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved, Trump tweeted. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

In response, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey tweeted: "We cant keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it wont happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots. Its beyond time to evolve our policies."

Last month, YouTube announced it would ban content promoting the sale of guns and gun accessories as well as videos that teach how to make guns.

Female mass shooters are rare. A recent Washington Post analysis shows only three out of 150 U.S. shootings with more than four victims since 1966 were done by women. In 2015, a husband and wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.PATNA: Former deputy Bihar chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, who has taken a centrestage in Bihar politics in the absence of his father and veteran politician Lalu Prasad, has once again dared the ruling BJP to chargesheet him if it can.

Tejashwi Yadav, who has been very vocal in his attacks on the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, took to Twitter and tweeted, ''From state assembly to streets, I have openly dared Sushil Kumar Modi (Bihar Dy CM) to tell CBI to chargesheet me.

Tejashwi also asked to know if there is any other leader in the country to have dared the authorities to chargesheet him?

Further, in a warning to the ruling BJP, Yadav said that those who indulge in 'table politics' on CBI can threaten people like Nitish Kumar, but not him.

               CBI                   -   ?  BJP , CBI    Table Politics             Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) April 3, 2018

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader had recently alleged that there is a threat to his father Lalu Prasad Yadav's life and claimed that a conspiracy is being hatched by the BJP.

"I am sure there is a threat to Lalu Ji's life, looking at the conspiracy being planned by BJP," he had said.

He made the remarks on Saturday after Lalu was sentenced to seven years in prison each in connection with two cases in the fourth fodder scam case.

Former Bihar deputy chief minister also blamed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP for recent incidents of violence in Araria, Bhagalpur and Darbhanga.

Launching a scathing attack on the Janata Dal-United leader, Yadav alleged that Nitish Kumar is taking decisions under fear.

Hum jitna BJP ko doshi maante hain, usse zyada hum doshi Bihar ke CM ko maante hain. Jo bhi hinsa huyi hai, woh chaahe Araria ho, Bhagalpur ya Darbhanga ho, iska doshi aur koi nahi Nitish Kumar ji hain (While we believe BJP to be the culprits, we feel that Nitish Kumar is more to be blamed. Whatever violence has taken place  be it Araria, Bhagalpur or Darbhanga, no one else but Nitish Kumar is responsible for it), said the young RJD leader.

Responding to his father's conviction in fodder scam cases, Tejashwi had said that Lalu ji (former chief minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav) in an ideology himself.

He said this shortly after the RJD won a Lok Sabha seat and an Assembly seat in Bihar by-elections held recently.

Tejashwi's father has been awarded a 14-year-jail term and asked to pay Rs 60 lakh in fine for the fourth fodder scam cases. Tejashwi, however, said that they will challenge the verdict in High Court. "We will challenge it in HC and decide the further strategy on the basis of overall judgement in all the four cases," he said.

The fourth case pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury in the early 1990s. Lalu has been sentenced under different sections of the Indian Penal code and the sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.

Former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra, however, was acquitted in the case along with 12 other accused.

Lalu has been serving a prison term in Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi since 23 December 2013 after being convicted in the second fodder scam case pertaining to illegal withdrawal of money from the Deogarh treasury.

The RJD supremo is currently undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, where he was admitted last week after he complained of chest pain and discomfort in jail.

(With Agency inputs)By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. You can find out more by clicking this linkNew Delhi: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the sole indigenous manufacturer of fighter jets, aircraft and helicopters for the Indian Armed Forces, achieved an all-time high turnover of over Rs 18,000 crore (provisional and unaudited) during the financial year 2017-18 and produced 40 new aircraft/ helicopters and 105 new engines. The government-owned company had recorded a turnover of Rs 17,605 crore during the 2016-17 fiscal.

HAL issued a statement on April 2, 2018, in which it claimed to have overhauled 220 aircraft/helicopters and 550 engines. HAL also received an order of 41 Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and eight Chetak helicopters from Indian Armed Forces during the 2017-18 fiscal. The Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) certificate for HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), Certificate of Airworthiness for its civil variant Dornier Do-228 from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), acceptance of multirole, single-engine fighter Mirage 2000 upgrade by Indian Air Force after its Final Operational Clearance, first successful run of Hindustan Turbo-Shaft Engine -1200 and successful test firing of BrahMos missile from Su-30 MKI etc were also received by the company.

The company strongly supports the Indian Armed Forces with its indigenous and licence manufactured products. The company has also continued to emphasize on self-reliance towards the development of indigenous products, diversification into the civil segment, enhancement of capacity, support development of defence manufacturing eco-system by developing domestic vendors (including MSMEs) and enhance outsourcing. These efforts will provide steady growth of the Company and opportunities to capitalize on the future requirements arising for Indian Armed Forces, said T Suvarna Raju, Chairman & Managing Director, HAL.

Recently, Indian Air Force agreed to buy at least 123 Tejas Light Combat Aircraft at the cost of Rs 75,000 crore from HAL. IAF is facing a severe depletion in its squadron strength and the induction of 324 Tejas fighters will help in making up the numbers although the jets are not combat-ready even after three decades of development given its limited range.

HAL has been issued a request for proposal (RFP) by the IAF for 83 Tejas fighters. The jets will join the IAF from 2019-20 after completion of Final Operational Clearance (FOC) contract for 20 Tejas.

According to the IAF, the single-engine Tejas has limited endurance of just an hour, with a radius of action of only 350-400-km and weapon-carrying capacity of 3-tonne. In July 2017, the IAF inducted the first squadron, called Flying Daggers 4, of Tejas with two fighter planes joining the force.NEW DELHI: National Law School of India University in Bengaluru has been ranked at the first spot for pursuing law as per the Human Resource and Development (HRD) Ministry's National Institutional Ranking Framework 2018 released on Tuesday. National Law University in Delhi and Nalsar University of Law in Hyderabad have been ranked at the second and third spots respectively.

This is the first time that the NIRF has ranked institutes in the law category. Along with law, architecture and medical colleges have also been ranked by the ministry for the first time. As per the data, All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi holds the top spot for medical studies while the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur topped in the architecture category. The Indian Institute of Science (IISC) in Bengaluru was adjudged the overall best institution in the country. The list also includes six IITs in Madras, Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur, Kanpur and Roorkee, JNU, BHU and Anna University in Chennai.

Here is the full list of top 10 law colleges of the country as per the NIRF rankings:

1) National Law School of India University

2) National Law University

3) Nalsar University of Law

4) Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

5) National Law University Jodhpur

6) Jamia Millia Islamia

7) The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences

8) Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow

9) Symbiosis Law School

10) Dr. B. R. Ambedkar College of Law

The rankings for 2018 were released by the HRD Ministry on Tuesday. The announcement was made by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar along with Minister of state HRD Satya Pal Singh at Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad topped in the engineering category and management categories as per the NIRF rankings.New Delhi: In the wake of protests by Dalit groups, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said no regime had honoured BR Ambedkar as his government had.

"We are walking on the path shown by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. At the core of Dr Ambedkar's ideals are harmony and togetherness. Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission," he said at the inauguration of an annexe building at Western Court that acts as a transit accommodation for newly elected lawmakers.

Widespread protests had taken place on Monday in different parts of the country over Supreme Court order on SC/ST Act.

"No government has, perhaps, given respect to Babasaheb the way our government has. Instead of dragging him into politics, we should all try to walk on the path he has shown us," PM Modi added.

He also said that it was his government that completed the Ambedkar international centre though the idea was conceived when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM.

The 26, Alipur road house where the Dalit icon died would be dedicated to the nation on April 13 on the eve of his birth anniversary, he said. Hitting out at the UPA, PM Modi pointed out that the previous government had dragged its feet on the project for years.

There are two places in Delhi, which are associated with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, on whom the Vajpayee Government had made crucial decisions. It was our Government that got the opportunity to work on them and pay tributes to Dr. Ambedkar: PM @narendramodi  PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 4, 2018

We are walking on the path shown by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. At the core of Dr. Ambedkar's ideals is harmony and togetherness. Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission: PM @narendramodi  PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 4, 2018

Normal life was thrown out of gear on Monday in more than ten states, most of them BJP-ruled, with widespread violence during the protests called by Dalit organisations with poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan bearing the maximum brunt.

On Tuesday, the apex court had declined to stay its recent order on the SC/ST Act. On the other hand, the government maintained that it was not responsible for any dilution of the Act and said that it was fully committed to protecting the interests of the backward communities.

(With PTI inputs)BHAWANIPATNA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday held the opposition parties responsible for the death of 10 people across the country during the Bharat Bandh on Monday. Questioning the opposition, he said: "When we had announced that we will file a review petition, why did the Congress and other opposition parties call for a Bharat Bandh? The opposition is responsible for 10 lives lost during the protest."

Assuring support to minorities, he said that the BJP government will neither remove reservation nor will let anyone end it. He was speaking at a public meeting in Bhawanipatna in Odisha.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that the government is working for the poor and needy. "We are walking on the path shown by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. At the core of Dr. Ambedkar's ideals are peace and togetherness. Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission," he had said at a programme to mark the inauguration of the New Building of Western Court Annexe.

He also noted how the BJP governments have worked on the path shown by Dr Ambedkar. "There are two places in Delhi, which are associated with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, on whom the Vajpayee Government had made crucial decisions. It was our Government that got the opportunity to work on them and pay tributes to Dr. Ambedkar," he said.

A nation-wide Bharat Bandh was organised by Dalit groups on Monday against a Supreme Court order which allegedly dilutes the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. At least ten people lost their lives and there was a huge loss of property reported during the protests that took place across the country.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh appealed for peace, while Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government was not a party to the Supreme Court decision on the SC/ST Act and 'respectfully' did not agree with its reasoning behind the verdict.NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday at the Andhra Bhawan. The meeting between the two chief ministers began around 9 am.

Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal met Andhra Pradesh CM & TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/s2jqA3rR1c  ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2018

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu had arrived on a two-day visit to the national capital on Monday and met several leaders from different parties at Parliaments Central Hall on Tuesday towards securing a Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh.

The list of party members that Naidu met in the Parliament's Central Hall are - Sharad Pawar (NCP), Farooq Abdullah (J&K NC), Saugata Roy (TMC), Supriya Sule (NCP), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Congress), Jitender Reddy (TRS), M Veerappa Moily (Congress) and Rajiv Satav (Congress).

He also met Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Shiromani Akali Dal) and Tariq Anwar (NCP).

According to the reports, Naidu also sought support for the no-confidence motion against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The no-confidence motion has been moved by Telugu Desam Party.

The Chief Minister is meeting key leaders in Parliament to send across a message to the country that not only making commitments, but honouring it also is very important, TDP lawmaker TG Venkatesh had told reporters after the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MPs continued to protest outside the Parliament building, demanding Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu had last month asked his partys MPs to continue fight against injustice in Parliament.

All the TDP MPs must be present in the Parliament. See that MPs of other parties also attend the House and that other parties also give notices of No Confidence Motion, the Chief Minister told TDP lawmakers.

He added that the support the TDP is getting from all the other parties indicate the sympathy from all corners of the country for the state, for the injustice, it is facing. The MPs should continue with the same spirit. You have the support of 5 crores people of the state, he added.

The AP Chief Minister also wrote a letter to BJP president Amit Shah in which he said the ruling party at the Centre appears insensitive to the aspirations of people of the state.

Last month, the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP pulled itself out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) last month over the special status issue. The TDP tabled a no-confidence motion against the Modi government over its refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh and also issued a whip to its MPs, directing them to attend the Parliament till the end of the Budget session.

(With ANI inputs)Hindaun: Curfew continued in Rajasthan's Hindaun city on Wednesday in wake of the violence across the state on April 3 during 'Bharat Bandh' by several pro-Dalit outfits against the alleged dilution of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court.

According to ANI, the situation was returning to normal in most-affected areas of Rajasthan. However, the authorities suspended internet services as a precautionary measure.

#Visuals from Rajasthan's Hindaun where curfew is imposed till 1 pm. pic.twitter.com/jStJ6xsldu  ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2018

The situation flared up in Hindaun city on April 3 after the houses of local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Rajkumari and former Congress MLA Bharosi Lal Jatav were set ablaze by protesters in favour of the 'Bharat Bandh'.

Some women travelling onboard a bus were also allegedly molested by a group of protesters.

Local police battalions including Border Security Force, Rajasthan Armed Constabulary and Special Task Force have been deployed in the city to maintain law and order.

Madhya Pradesh

The state government authorities on Wednesday suspended arms licenses in some of the areas of Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district in the wake of violence during Bharat Bandh by pro-Dalit outfits.

The order was also implemented in cities like Mehgaon, Gohad and Machhand of Bhind district. In two separate incidents, protesters torched a shop outside the municipal office and set a tyre on fire in Bhind during curfew.

Madhya Pradesh: In two separate incidents, protesters torched a shop outside municipal office and set a tyre on fire, in Bhind during curfew, police present at the spot. pic.twitter.com/hgHdakl7J7  ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2018

Meanwhile, the curfew remained clamped in various areas of Gwalior, Bhind and Morena districts today. However, it was relaxed for two hours between 10 am and 12 noon.

The Madhya Pradesh Police on Wednesday conducted a flag march in Gwalior city after which Dr Ashish Kumar, City SP said that 'the situation is normal and internet services have been restored.'

Madhya Pradesh: Police conducted flag march in Gwalior, Dr Ashish Kumar, City SP says, 'the situation is normal. Internet services have been restored.' pic.twitter.com/VhhT1i9PR0  ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2018

During Bharat Bandh, Madhya Pradesh Minister Lal Singh Arya's residence in Bhind district was targeted by the protesters during their agitation, however, police foiled the attempt.

The death toll in Madhya Pradesh due to violent protests during the nationwide bandh called by several Dalit organisations reached seven after one more person succumbed to injuries on Tuesday.

Protests across the country turned violent on Monday after protesters resorted to stone pelting, damaging public properties and rail and various other blockades.Violent protests were reported from various states, including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat, and Punjab.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay its order on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

(With ANI inputs)Reported by Vishal Pandey

New Delhi: Those visiting Delhi's famous Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) will now be able to access information pertaining to all prime ministers of the country and not just Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

As per of the BJP government's new initiative, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) will now highlight lives of all prime ministers, including Narendra Modi.

The decision to this effect was taken by the Union Culture Ministry, which said that from now onwards the NMML will not just showcase the journey of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru - the first Prime Minister of India - but all the prime ministers of the country.

Not only this, the NMML will also reportedly showcase the childhood struggle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The idea to showcase the journey of all prime ministers of the country was first mooted at the NMMLs executive council meeting which was held in August last year.

At present, Nehru Memorial or the Teen Murti Bhawan, which was once the residence of Jawaharlal Nehru, is solely associated with him.

It should be used to showcase the life of Nehruji and those who had contributed to the freedom struggle or building modern India, MoS, Culture, Mahesh Sharma was quoted as telling a newspaper.

Thousands of people have contributed to the making of modern India. But the Congress believed that its only for showcasing Nehru or his family. We have democratised the NMML, Sharma added.

In 2017, a first-of-its-kind exhibition of books on prime ministers of India was opened at the NMML.

At least 494 books written on or by PMs were showcased during the NMML exhibition. The initiative, which was part of the BJP government's plan to set up a Prime Ministers Museum in the Teen Murti Estate, was strongly criticised by Congress.

The Congress party termed the move as the government's attempt to meddle with the legacy of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The renewed Nehru Memorial Museum and Library is likely to be opened for visitors from October this year.

(With Agency inputs)NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has told the Supreme Court that it supports the proposal to allow one candidate to contest from only one constituency in an election. The EC expressed this view in an affidavit it filed in the petition over the matter.

The Supreme Court had in December 2017 issued notices seeking replies from the Election Commission and the Centre on the issue. At the time, the Supreme Court had said the practice of one candidate contesting multiple seats was a drain on the exchequer since it necessitated bypolls. The petition against the practice had been filed by lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

The petition relates to the practice of political parties across the country to field senior leaders from more than one seat in a bid to ensure victory. If they win from multiple seats, these leader are then required to vacate other seats and continue to hold only one. This means a general election is usually followed closely by a bye-election to the seats that have been vacated.

A prominent recent example of this was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from two seats - Vadodara in Gujarat and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. He had won from both places in the general elections held in May 2014, and subsequently vacated the Vadodara constituency. This meant a bye-election was held in Vadodara just three months later, in September 2014, which was won by the BJP's Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt.

Upadhyay's petition challenges Section 33(7) of the Representation of People Act, which governs the conduct of elections. He also sought the top court's direction against independent candidates in the election.WASHINGTON: In the wake of alleged misuse of user data on Facebook, the social media giant on Wednesday revealed that the data on as many as 87 million users was improperly shared with British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, far greater than the 50 million previously estimated.

The announcement was made in a statement by Facebook's chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer. He also announced the implementation of new privacy tools for users of the huge social network.

"In total, we believe the Facebook information of up to 87 million people - mostly in the US - may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica," he said.

Facebook has come under fire in recent weeks after it was revealed that the personal data of millions of users of the website fell into the hands of a political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica that worked for US President Donald Trump's campaign.

The firm's former employee Christopher Wylie has accused Cambridge Analytica of gathering the details of Facebook through a personality quiz in 2014. He has alleged that because 270,000 people took the quiz, the data of some 50 million users, mainly in the US, was harvested without their explicit consent via their friend networks.

He has further claimed the data was sold to Cambridge Analytica, which then used it to psychologically profile people and deliver material in favour of Trump during the 2016 US presidential elections. He has also criticised the firm of running campaigns in "struggling democracies", which he called "an example of what modern-day colonialism looks like," as per PTI.

However, Cambridge Analytica has denied any of the data acquired was used as part of the services it provided to the Trump campaign.

Meanwhile, amid data breach backlash, Facebook recently said it will overhaul its privacy settings tools to put users "more in control" of their information. The updates will include improved access to Facebook's user settings and tools to easily search for, download and delete personal data stored by them.

A new privacy shortcuts menu will allow users to quickly increase account security, manage who can see their information and activity on the site and control advertisements they see, they had also said. "We've heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find and that we must do more to keep people informed," chief privacy officer Erin Egan and deputy general counsel Ashlie Beringer had said in a post.

(With inputs from agency)Moscow: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that India is managing the complexities in its relationship with China. Addressing the Seventh Moscow Conference on International Security, she also expressed concern over the resurgence of territorial disputes in the maritime domain in the region.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from June 16, 2017, after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the area by the Chinese Army. The face-off had ended on August 28, 2017.

"We continue to manage the complexities in the India-China relationship even as we seek to make progress within the framework of a broader developmental partnership," Sitharaman said. "Maritime territorial disputes are extremely complex. We need to ensure that such issues are managed effectively and solely through peaceful means," she added.

Noting that the past few decades of growth have transformed the Indo-Pacific region into the most dynamic engine of the global economy, she said, "We need to ensure that the prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region is not put at risk through unilateral actions that can undermine regional peace and stability", PTI reported.

Sitharaman further said that the rights of freedom of navigation and over-flight as well as unimpeded commerce should be ensured. "For India, this is vital to sustain its own economic engagement with the Indo-Pacific region for mutual benefit," she added.

"We need to ensure that the prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region is not put at risk through unilateral actions that can undermine regional peace and stability."

- Smt @nsitharaman at the plenary session of the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security@DG_PIB pic.twitter.com/NLvGkt5l9D  Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) April 4, 2018

China has been asserting its vast claims to the South China Sea, transforming reefs into islands capable of hosting military equipment.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have their own claims to the sea, while US warships regularly conduct freedom of navigation operations near islands controlled by Beijing.

(With PTI inputs)Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Narendra Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at an election rally in poll-bound Karnataka. Accusing the Modi government of benefitting the rich people, Rahul Gandhi said its a war of ideology between the BJP and the Congress.

Encouraging Congress workers to put in their best efforts during poll campaign in Karnataka, the Gandhi scion said, Every Congress worker will show the strength of the party to the BJP, the whole party is fighting as one. And when the Congress becomes one, no one in the world can defeat it.

Asserting that people in Karnataka were with him in the battle against the BJP, the Congress chief said, Wherever am going to in Karnataka, people are showing me love, and Congress is going to form government in the state.

We will come to power in Karnataka and work for the poor and the under-privileged. And as soon as we come in Centre, we will give you real GST, he added.

He further hit out at the Modi government at the Centre over demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying while the BJP called notes ban a fight against corruption, people in suit-boot stole money from banks.

It was the same money that you took out from your pockets and put in banks. Modi ji knows Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi very well but never mentions their names in his speeches. He doesnt tell you that Nirav Modi ran away with Rs 30,000 crore of your money, said the Congress president.

Talking about GST, the Gandhi scion said that people were promised relief with implementation of one tax, but ultimately it turned out to be Gabbar Singh Tax, which destroyed small businesses like toy and silk industries as the big players did not buy them because of GST.

He further accused the Modi government of not doing anything for the benefit of farmers. He said that farmers folded their hands before PM Modi for farm loan waiver, instead he waived off loans of his corporate friends.

I went to his office and told him that he should give relief to farmers, he did not even answer my questions. I asked the same question to Siddaramaiah, he gave a relief of Rs 8,000 crore within 10 days to the farmers, said Rahul Gandhi.

He also lauded the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka for moves like free education for girls and Indira canteens. We did what we promised, he said.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre of betraying the people of his state and entertaining political parties that are tainted.

Speaking to News18, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief claimed that the Narendra Modi government was promoting tainted political parties, referring to the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He further accused the government of indulging in mud-slinging. Responding to a question on Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyals recent statement on the TDP government was not giving an account of Centres aid, Naidu said that the NDA government did not have any problem with him till he was a part of their alliance, but now that he parted ways, they were raising baseless allegations.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday, the TDP chief accused the BJP-led NDA government of playing with the emotions of people of Andhra Pradesh. He added that he waited till the last budget before deciding to part ways with the NDA government, adding that he was always told by the government that they would never give special status to Andhra Pradesh because of the 14th Finance Commission.

"They (the government) are blaming me, saying we are prepared to give money, but you are not ready to take. They have given special status to 11 states in spite of the 14th Finance Commission. Then why not to Andhra Pradesh?" asked Naidu.

He said he even told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if he could sort out the issue "we will continue in the NDA" and it was only after that they decided to snap the ties.

He said he had his alliance with the BJP was because the state needed "hand holding from the Centre".

"Had they given us special status within first year, I would have saved Rs 3,000-5,000 crore. I want to place all this on record. I waited for four years. (But) they didn't mention any word in their budget about Andhra they did not even show concern."

Naidu said he had come to Delhi 29 times in the last four years, to meet the Prime Minister and his ministers.

"And after 29 visits nothing happened. They did a few minor things, but major part of (Andhra Pradesh) bifurcation act was not implemented."

(With IANS inputs)NEW DELHI: Agitated by repeated disruptions in the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday lashed out at the members of the Upper House and said that the patience of the country is being tested. "We have not transacted any bills. The country wants development, you are testing the patience of the people of the country. Please understand that the entire country is agitated with what is happening in the House," Naidu said while adjourning the House till 2 pm.

The uproar began on Wednesday shortly after 12 newly-elected and re-elected MPs took oath in the House. Opposition MPs started hurling slogans to protest and even entered the well of the House. While the Chairman pleaded with them to return to their seats, the protesting members did not pay any heed. Naidu repeatedly said that nothing is going on record but the sloganeering continued. On failing to stop the protests, he adjourned the House till 2 pm.

"I've allowed every issue, you are not discussing, unfortunately. It is the misfortune of the people of India. Chairman allows discussion, the government agrees but we are not able to have a discussion. I do not understand what is this. This is no good. This is murdering democracy. The entire country is agitated, depressed," Naidu said.

While MPs belonging to the Congress and the BSP were protesting against softening of certain provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Tamil parties - DMK and AIADMK demanded immediate constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board for the division of river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Members of the TDP and KVP Ramachandra Rao of the Congress held placards demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu also noted that just two days were left before the session ends on Friday and it was imperative that some legislative business was transacted in these days. However, the disruptions continued.

A massive uproar was also seen in the House on Tuesday when 41 members took oath in Rajya Sabha. The House transacted business for just for 37 minutes on Tuesday when the newly elected and re-elected members took the oath.

Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha also witnessed disruptions following which Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House till Thursday. It was the 20th consecutive day on Wednesday when the Houses could not function due to the disruptions.

Both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha have not transacted substantial business ever since it met on March 5 after a recess to carry forward the Budget session. The two houses have been witnessing repeated disruptions by different parties on matters like bank frauds, Cauvery river water, special status for Andhra Pradesh and issues related to Dalits.ANANTNAG: Killing of Pakistan-backed terrorists by the security forces during fierce encounters in the high-risk areas of Jammu and Kashmir is a routine affair in the state. However, not many are aware that the security personnel involved in such operations take desperate measures in convincing the terrorists  often misguided jobless youths - to shun the path of violence and surrender so that they can stay alive and later reunite with their families.

One such incident has now come to fore where the parents of a Hizbul terrorist and the cops involved in an encounter in south Kashmir's Anantnag district desperately tried for six hours to convince him to surrender before he was finally eliminated.

According to reports, Rauf Khanday and another terrorist, believed to be linked to Hizbul Mujahideen, were holed up in a house in the Dialgam village in south Kashmir's Anantnag district recently.

Around 11 pm on Saturday, the Anantnag division of J&K Police received a tip-off about the presence of two terrorists inside a house in Dialgam. After ascertaining the identity of the terrorists, the house was cordoned off by security personnel and they were asked to surrender.

The security personnel involved in the operation and the 'worried' parents of Rauf Khanday  one of the two terrorists holed up in the house - tried to talk to them into surrendering.

The officials present at the spot waited for nearly six hours in convincing the two terrorists and but one of them showed no signs of surrendering.

One of the two terrorists, whose identity has not been disclosed, did so immediately leaving young Rauf Khanday inside, cut off from the rest of the world.

Narrating Rauf Khanday's last hours, officials recounted that a phone was also passed on to him so that a conversation could begin. Then followed the hours of trying to talk to him, reason with him and even bringing in his parents so they could convince him to surrender.

"It is always a tough call. I was pretty sure that the parents will be able to convince Khanday and he will come out and surrender. But destiny willed it otherwise," Senior Superintendent of Police Anantnag Altaf Ahmed Khan told PTI.

"I tried everything that is possible to make him surrender. But every effort of mine was stonewalled by the young boy, who had been brainwashed," the SSP said.

Asked what had transpired, Khan, who has earlier headed districts like Shopian and Sopore, said he spoke to Khanday to understand his mental frame of mind and found he had interpreted various religious books wrongly.

The Anantnag SSP even narrated the verses from Holy Quran and advised him that whatever he was doing was against the teachings of Islam. The conversation continued for over 30 minutes during which Khanday got agitated and abusive. But, the SSP did not lose his cool and ignored all that because he wanted to save him from getting killed.

Listening to the entire conversation were the commanders outside, their eyes fixed on the house where Khanday was hiding, an official told PTI.

Around 1 am on Sunday, Khanday said that he wanted to speak to his mother for which permission was granted.

"I sent a police team to his native place seven kilometres away. Security personnel escorted his father Bashid Ahmed Khandey and mother to the site so that they could persuade him to come out and surrender," said Khan.

"We were so desperate to save his life that we all agreed to his mother's request to take him home if he surrenders," he added. Both parents went inside to speak to their son, raising hopes that there might not be any bloodshed. They came out after half-an-hour, despair writ large on their face.

"I missed a heartbeat. A chill ran down my spine as we had to perform our final job now and fight him out," Khan said. A commander present at the encounter site apologised to the parents, who knew the fate awaiting their son.

"I sent the parents to my place as they were quite nervous, especially the mother... I refused to give up," said Khan.

It was past 3 am now and Khan made yet another bid to engage with Khanday. He asked a small team to see if there could be a backdoor entry into the house so security personnel could overpower him. Khan said Khanday fired at him when told that he was entering the house unarmed and would only engage in talks with him. "I tried my best but all efforts failed," Khan said in a choked voice.

Following this, security personnel began the final onslaught, killing Khanday.

Rauf Khanday, who was killed in the pre-dawn darkness of Sunday at Dialgam village in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, had just passed his first year of graduation.

Director General of Police SP Vaid later made a special mention about Khan's efforts to save Khanday during a press conference on the three counter-insurgency operations in the Kashmir Valley that left 13 terrorists, three Army jawans and four civilians dead.

(With PTI inputs)SRINAGAR: A Jammu and Kashmir Police constable was on Wednesday suspended over charges of firing on a protester in the Ganderbal district of the state. A police statement said Gulzar Ahmad of Ganderbal district was placed under suspension till a detailed enquiry is underway into his involvement in the killing of Gowhar Ahmad Rather. Gowhar succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday after he was shot at in Kangan on Monday.

The man was buried on Wednesday morning in Kangan town after authorities assured the family that those responsible for his death would be punished. A police spokesman said a departmental inquiry was ordered and entrusted to the DIG (central Kashmir) to ascertain the sequence of events in which he was injured. "A magisterial inquiry has been ordered by the Deputy Commissioner of Ganderbal as well," the spokesman said.

Owing to tensions in the area, traffic on the otherwise busy Srinagar-Sonamarg highway that passes through Kangan town remained suspended for a second day on Wednesday.

A resident of Kangan in Ganderbal, Gowhar was admitted to the SKIMS hospital with critical head injuries. He was on ventilator support since Monday when he was injured during clashes between protesters and security forces in Kangan area.

The locals alleged that he sustained pellet injuries, but the police are denying the claims. "Reports regarding bullet injury are completely false since no bullet was fired at the spot," the spokesman said.

The police spokesman in fact said that Gowhar had fallen into a drain due to which he sustained injuries. "A group of miscreants had gathered in Kangan market to pelt stones. A police party soon reached the spot. The miscreants started to run after seeing the personnel, in the course of which Gowhar Ahmad Rather fell down and hit his head on the edge of the drain," the police spokesman said.Magadi: Hitting out at the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday that jobs in India are at a four-year low.

He also slammed the Modi government over demonetisation saying that "people in suit-and-boot stole money from banks. "Nirav Modi with 30,000 crore went to London. It was the same money that you took out from your pocket and put in the banks. The Prime Minister knows Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi very well, but in his speeches, he never tells you that Nirav Modi ran away with Rs 30,000 crore of your money," Rahul told people at a rally.

Earlier, in Davanagere, he accused the Modi government of "disrespecting" and "demolishing" various institutions by having RSS men "sitting in every ministry and giving orders."

"BJP Govt frames policies to benefit big business. Instead of making GST simple, Modi Govt complicated it & made it a 'Gabbar Singh Tax'. Congress believes in empowering small & medium businesses & simplifying GST": @RahulGandhi at the Traders meet in Davangere  Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) April 4, 2018

People like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi escape with peoples money because the Modi govt does not respect institutions. They are destroying our institutions such as the RBI and the judiciary: @RahulGandhi at Traders meet, Davangere #RG4NavaKarnataka pic.twitter.com/ElEQJSeUcG  Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) April 4, 2018

Congress President @RahulGandhi stops to have the Davanagere benne dose & coffee for lunch. Conversations with people followed. #JanaAashirwadaYatre #RG4NavaKarnataka pic.twitter.com/yAZfLlueoS  Congress (@INCIndia) April 4, 2018

Earlier, interacting with the city's traders, Rahul said if voted to power, the Congress would free these institutions from the RSS control. "I don't know if you all know that in every single minister's office, there is an RSS man sitting and giving orders. So what can you expect? Nothing but disrespecting the institutions. The banking system of the country has been? demolished by having this structure," he said, PTI reported.

Asked how the Congress would solve the unemployment problem, Rahul said it would do so by encouraging small and medium scale businesses in construction, agriculture and other sectors.

He also said China is successful in creating jobs because its government imparts skill training to its workforce. "In Modi ji's government, there is no talk on (imparting) skills," he said.

Rahul said the banks should give loans also to small and medium scale entrepreneurs, but this benefit is being usurped by 15 big names in Indian business.

(With PTI inputs)Swaraj India, the fledgling political outfit led by psephologist and former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, is set to contest in 12 seats in the coming Karnataka Assembly election, a party spokesperson has said. The party released its first list of six candidates for the polls.

The six candidates named by the party so far feature five seats in south and central Karnataka and one in the state's northeast. The party's named candidates feature in two seats in Mandya and one each in Bengaluru and Chamarajanagara districts, all southern districts with strong agricultural communities. Also named were candidates for one seat each in the central Chitradurga and northeastern Yadgir districts.

Addressing a gathering after releasing the first list of candidates, party leaders spoke of a number of issues, ranging from corruption and developmental inequalities to climate change. They also characterised Swaraj India as an amalgamation of farmer, Dalit and anti-corruption movements.

The first list of candidates of the party features Darshan Puttannaiah from Melukote and SH Linge Gowda from Maddur in Mandya; KP Bhoothaiah from Challakere in Chitradurga, S Srikantaswamy from Hanur in Charamajanagara; Ramesh Chandra from Mahadevapura in Bengaluru, and Vaijanath Patil from Yadgir.

Darshan Puttannaiah is the son of farmer leader KS Puttananaiah, who died in February. He will contest for the Melukote seat which his father held at the time of his death, for the Karnataka Sarvodaya Paksha, which merged with Swaraj India last year.

The leaders said they would soon announce candidates for the other seats the party would contest, in time for the April 25 deadline for the filing of nominations. The Karnataka Assembly elections are set to held in a single phase, will all 225 seats going to the polls on May 12. The counting of votes is set to take place in May 15.HUBLI: BJP chief Amit Shah has attacked the Congress party in Karnataka and said that his party won't allow the ruling dispensation to divide the southern state on the basis of religion and caste.

''Many have expressed concern over Siddaramaiah government's resolution on Veershaiva-Lingayat community. This is nothing but a conspiracy to mislead people before the elections and stopping BS Yeddyurappa from becoming the CM. We will not let this happen,'' the BJP national president said.

Many have expressed concern over Siddaramaiah govt's resolution on Veershaiva-Lingayat community. This is nothing but a conspiracy to mislead people before the elections and stopping BS Yeddyurappa from becoming the CM. We will not let this happen:BJP President Amit Shah (3.3.18) pic.twitter.com/WcSmWARhfg  ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2018

Rejecting Congress governments demand in Karnataka to make Lingayat a separate religion, Shah said that there is no separate religion for Lingayats and assured Veershaiva seers that there will be no division.

Amit Shah made these remarks after meeting around 250 Veerashaiva Lingayat seers (Rashtriya Veerashaiva Mathadeeshara Parishath) in Shivayogi Mandir in Badami on Tuesday.

He interacted with jagadgurus of Hospet, Kashi, Ujjaini and Srishaila mutt.

During their interaction with Amit Shah, many seers reportedly condemned the state government's move to recommend a separate Lingayat religion.

Shah said that this is the commitment of the Narendra Modi government to them.

Amit Shah also rebuffed rumours that the Central Government would repeal the provision for reservation in the Constitution.

"It is pure rumour. Dalits should not pay attention to this. BJP has immense faith in the Constitution and would not allow any other party to do the same," Shah told reporters on Tuesday.

Shah also trained guns at the Opposition, holding them accountable for the violence that marked the Monday protest against Supreme Court's ruling on the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

Shah added that the call for a nationwide bandh was not necessary, given the Centre had already decided to file a review petition in the apex court.

The apex court had on March 20 introduced the provision of anticipatory bail in the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act while directing that there would be no automatic arrest on any complaint filed under the law.

(With ANI inputs)Indore: Two religious leaders, who were accorded the Minister of State (MoS) status, cancelled their proposed campaign against the alleged 'scam' in the Madhya Pradesh government's Narmada conservation programme.

The BJP government in MP on Tuesday had given the MoS status to five Hindu religious leaders - Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant. On March 31, 2018, the five religious leaders were appointed to a committee set up for the Narmada river conservation, PTI reported.

Computer Baba had earlier announced to take out the 'Narmada Ghotala Rath Yatra' along with Yogendra Mahant in every district of MP from April 1 to May 15, to expose the alleged scam in planting saplings on the banks of the Narmada river and to demand a ban on illegal sand mining.

The publicity material of the campaign was also circulated widely on the social media.

However, MoS Computer Baba said on Wednesday that they have cancelled the campaign because the state government had fulfilled their demand to form a committee of saints and seers for protection of the Narmada river. "Now why would we take out the yatra?" he asked.

We thank the govt on behalf of the 'sadhu' community for showing trust in us, we will try our best to work for welfare of the society: Computer Baba, on being granted Minister of State rank by #MadhyaPradesh govt. pic.twitter.com/wfKXmaroGL  ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2018

On accepting the government facilities meant for a MoS despite being a saint, he said, "If we do not get the post and other government facilities, how can we work for the protection of the Narmada." "As a member of the committee, we have to talk to the district collectors and look after other necessary arrangements for the river's conservation. A government status is required for these works," he pointed out.

Yogendra Mahant, who was the convener of the proposed campaign, also said that they had cancelled the yatra as the state government had fulfilled their demand to set up a panel for the river conservation.

Meanwhile, the Congress dubbed the decision as an attempt by the BJP to exploit the respect these religious leaders enjoy in the society.

Its a gimmick to score political points. This is also an effort by the Chief Minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) to wash off his sins. He ignored conservation of the Narmada. These saints should inspect where the state government has planted six crore saplings (along the river banks) as claimed by the CM, said Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi.

(With PTI inputs)BHUBANESWAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah will be on a two-day visit to Odisha starting from Wednesday. He will take part in various programmes concerned to the state.

BJP president is also due to meet poll-bound Chhattisgarh's Chief Minister Raman Singh and other party leaders at the Raipur airport premises during a brief stopover before proceeding on Odisha tour.

The CM will be accompanied by state unit BJP president Dharamlal Kaushik, state BJP general secretary (organisation) Pawan Sai, Cabinet ministers and senior leaders.

The meeting is considered significant ahead of the elections, which is due later this year.

Shah is expected to take feedback from the BJP leaders about the poll preparations in the state.

The ruling BJP has 49 members in the state assembly.

Meanwhile, During his stay in Odisha, the BJP chief will address a public meeting at Lal Bahadur Shashtri Stadium, Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district.

Later in the day, Shah will visit Maa Manikeshwari Temple located in Kalahandi district for darshan and puja of the deity.

He will also address a Vistarak Meeting and Core-Group Meeting at Hotel Bhagirathi Inn, Bhawanipatna.

In the evening, Shah will address a meeting of the State Core Group, State Office Bearers, Parliamentary Constituencies, District In-charge, District President, State Morcha General Secretary and all MLAs at Hotel Bhagirathi Inn.

On the second day, around 9:30 am Shah will be visiting Saintala village in Baniband of Balangir district of Odisha.

At 11 pm, Shah will visit Degaon village also in the Balangir district.

Shah will also address a Yuva Maha Samavesh at Kaushal Kala Mandal field, Balangir at 12: 30 pm.

He will then attend the 'bhoomi pujan' of the BJP's Balangir district office.

The BJP has emerged as the strongest challenger to the ruling BJD in the state of Odisha in the last few years replacing Congress.Bhawanipatna: Amid protests by Dalits groups, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday clarified that the central government would neither scrap the policy of reservation for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in education and jobs nor allow anyone to do so.

Addressing a public meeting in Odisha's Bhawanipatna, he said that "no one can dare to change" the reservation policy "as set by BR Ambedkar in the Constitution".

Addressed the huge gathering in "Vishaal Jan Samavesh" today in Bhawanipatna, Odisha. This mammoth turnout in Odishas sweltering heat itself reflects that the people of Odisha is fed up of present government & they want a BJP government which can bring development in the state. pic.twitter.com/u98vDtZLPA  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 4, 2018

Shah also held the Congress and other Opposition parties responsible for the violence during a nationwide bandh called by various Dalit outfits against Supreme Court's order on SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

"Why was the bandh call given when the Prime Minister assured the people that the Centre would submit a review petition on the Supreme Court judgement. The Congress and other Opposition parties are responsible for the deaths of people," he said.

Alleging that a "misinformation campaign" had been launched in the media and on social media that the BJP would withdraw reservations, Shah maintained, "I want to make it clear in this public meeting in the presence of so many people that the BJP will not withdraw reservations at all, nor will it allow anyone to do so," as per PTI.

Further, quoting PM Narendra Modi, he said, "We have full faith in the Constitution of India. There will not be the slightest change in the reservation policy as set by BR Ambedkar in the Constitution. No one can dare to change it. The BJP will also not allow anyone to change the reservation policy."

On Tuesday too, the BJP chief had tweeted:

Right from the day the Honourable Supreme Court gave a judgment on SC/ST Atrocities Act, Central Government acted in an immediate and informed manner. An effective review petition has been filed that will protect rights of Dalits.  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 3, 2018

The script is now oldbefore every election, the same vested interest groups start spreading panic about reservations.

BJPs stand is clear, which I am once again stating- we fully believe in the Constitution given by Babasaheb and the rights it has given to SC/ST communities. pic.twitter.com/2hLAVG28xI  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 3, 2018

Congress, which is mocking the DNA of PM @narendramodi is the same party which:

Defeated Dr. Ambedkar not once but twice. Made flimsy excuses to ensure his portrait was not placed in Central Hall. Denied him a Bharat Ratna.

India has seen through their negative politics!  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 3, 2018

Normal life was thrown out of gear on Monday in more than ten states with widespread violence during the protests called by Dalit organisations with poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan bearing the maximum brunt.

The Centre on Tuesday had moved a plea in the apex court seeking to review the March 20 order. The SC had, however, asserted that "no provisions of the SC/ST Act have been diluted" and had refused to keep in abeyance the verdict.

(With PTI inputs)PURI: The treasury of the 12th century Lord Jagannath Temple will be opened for inspection on Wednesday after a gap of 34 years, said reports.

According to PK Jena, the Chief Administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), a 10-member team will inspect the physical condition of the floor, roof and wall of the 'Ratna Bhandar' (treasury) on Wednesday.

The team also includes two experts from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Jena said.

The inspection team will comprise Puri 'King' Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deb or his representative and Pattajoshi Mohapatra.

Two ASI engineers along with two ASI's core committee members GC Mitra and NC Pal and advocate NK Mohanty, who has been appointed as Amicus Curiae by the Orissa High Court to inspect the on-going repair works in the temple, would be among the other team members.

The panel members will only inspect the temple's 'Ratna Bhandar' to examine its structural stability and its safety, he added.

However, no one will be allowed to touch the jewellery kept in the 'Ratna Bhandar'.

Precious jewellery and ornaments of the deities are kept in the 'Ratna Bhandar' which was last inspected in 1984, when only three of its seven chambers had been opened.

Jena said arrangements are being made to open the 'Ratna Bhandar' in the afternoon and no devotee will remain in the temple premises during the inspection. All members of the team will go through a three-tier check before entering the treasure trove.

He said the team members would be frisked by police officials to bar them from carrying any metal item or electronic gadget.

In the second stage, they would be required to wear the gamuchha' (traditional towel) provided by the temple administration.

In the final step, the inspectors would be scanned thoroughly by the servitors of the temple, authorised to check the 'Ratna Bhandar' entrants as per the temple tradition.The temple administration has not yet taken any decision whether to video-graph the important event.

The 'Ratna Bhandar' was last opened in 1984. It was earlier opened in 1978, 1926 and 1905, the temple administration sources said.

The key of the 'Ratna Bhandar' would be procured by the temple authorities on the day itself from the government treasury in Puri.

The Shree Jagannath Temple is located in Puri, one of the four 'dhams' the Hindus considered holy. The other three 'dhams' are Badrinath, Dwarka and Rameswaram.

(With PTI inputs)New Delhi: Actor Saif Ali Khan, who is one of the co-accused in the blackbuck case, was on Wednesday caught on the camera allegedly lashing out at his driver.

The actor, who is generally known to be cool, had allegedly got frustrated with the media who were chasing him in connection with the 19-year-old poaching case. In a rush to evade the media, the actor was seen shouting at his driver asking him to roll up the car video. "Bhaisaab, sheesha upar karo aur reverse karo, varna padhegi ek," Saif, who was sitting inside his car, was seen telling his driver in the video.

The clip has gone viral on the social media.

#WATCH: Actor Saif Ali Khan outside Jodhpur Airport says 'sheehsa upar karo aur reverse kar lo warna padegi ek' to his driver when he was being asked questions by reporters. Jodhpur Court will deliver verdict in blackbuck poaching case tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/n6AYIcHgY8  ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2018

On April 5, a Jodhpur court will announce the impending verdict in the 1998 black buck poaching case against Salman Khan, who is accused of killing two blackbucks on October 2, 1998 in Kankani village in the city while shooting for the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. Salmans co-stars Saif, Sonali Bendre, and Tabu, who were also shooting for the film, are the co-accused in the case.

Meanwhile, all the celebrity-accused were today snapped arrived in the Rajasthan city, a day ahead of the court hearing on the matter. While Sonali was spotted arriving with her husband Goldie Behl, Salman arrived with his sisters Arpita Khan Sharma and Alvira Agnihotri and actor Aftab Shivdasani at the Kalina airport.New Delhi: The long-pending verdict in the blackbuck poaching case involving 'Hum Sath Sath Hain' actors Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre and Tabu is likely to be delivered by the Jodhpur court on April 5.

On Wednesday, it was reported that all the accused celebrities arrived in Rajasthan today for the hearing. Tabu, who is also one of the accused in the blackbuck poaching case, arrived in the city today. However, little did the actress know that she would be the latest from the tinsel town to pay the price of being famous.

Pic: Tabu at Jodhpur airport

Tabu, who landed at the Jodhpur airport today, allegedly faced an unsavoury incident. Though the details of the incident are yet to come, it has been reported that as soon as she stepped out of the airport, a fan managed to breach the security cover of the actress and got dangerously close to her and misbehaved with her.

Although the security guards pushed away the intruder, the actress was reportedly in a state of shock following the unpleasant behaviour. She, however, did not file any complaint on the incident, the report said.

In the meantime, Salman Khan, who wrapped up the shooting schedule of 'Race 3' in Abu Dhabi, was spotted at the Kalina airport along with sister Alvira and Arpita and actor Aftab Shivdasani.

See photos:

Salman is accused of killing two blackbucks in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the intervening night of 1-2 October 1998, during the shooting of the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. The 53-year-old actor is facing charges under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the other actors have been charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code.

In two other cases, Salman went on to killed chinkaras in Bawad area and Ghoda farms. He was, however, acquitted by the Rajasthan High Court in the Chinkara killing case in 2016.Mumbai: Ahead of the verdict by a Jodhpur court in the blackbuck poaching case, Bollywood actors Sonali Bendre, Saif Ali Khan and Tabu left for the Rajasthan city from here this morning.

The three actors did not speak to mediapersons waiting outside the Mumbai airport while they left from here.

Superstar Salman Khan, meanwhile, arrived in Mumbai in the early hours today from Abu Dhabi where he has been shooting for "Race 3".

After arriving, he went to his house and is expected to leave for Jodhpur later today.

A Jodhpur court will announce tomorrow the verdict in the 1998 black buck poaching case against Salman Khan.

Salman Khan was accused of killing two black bucks on October 2, 1998 in Kankani village in Jodhpur during the shooting of "Hum Saath Saath Hain".

Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, and Tabu, who were also shooting for the film, are the co-accused in the case.

Salman Khan, 52, had earlier pleaded innocence in the case, claiming before the court that he had been "framed".Mumbai: A teenaged girl from a village in Madhya Pradesh attempted to scale the walls of Galaxy Apartments in Bandra West to meet her idol Salman Khan, but was prevented by security personnel, a police officer said here on Wednesday.

The incident happened on Tuesday when the girl landed at Bandra Terminus from an outstation train and proceeded straight to the Khans' joint family sea-front residence.

When she attempted to directly enter through the main gate, she was prevented by the security personnel, who said the actor was not at home, and she went away.

Not losing heart, she then quietly tried to scale the wall of the building to reach the first-floor apartment complex of the Khans but was espied by the security guards who informed the Bandra police station.

A team from Bandra police station rushed there and took charge of her and later questioned her at the police station.

Senior Police Inspector Pandit Thakre later said that from her Aadhaar Card, they learnt she was from Berasia, near Bhopal, and had fled her home on Sunday, hoping to meet Salma, her favourite star.

The police immediately informed her family who are reaching Mumbai to take her back home.

Till then, the girl was kept under the care of the Dongri Juvenile Home.

Mumbai police official spokesperson Deepak Deoraj said that after the incident, there has been no complaints in the matter from the Khan family, nor have police increased security around their residence.

Nearly 25 years ago, another teenaged girl had run away from her home in Jalandhar to become a heroine opposite Salman, then a rage among youth after a string of hits starting with "Maine Pyar Kiya", "Baaghi" and "Saajan".

However, an alert mediaperson handed her over to the Western Railway authorities who collaborated with a women's organisation to arrange for her safe return home.New Delhi: Indian cinema's first female superstar, Sridevi not only proved her acting mettle in Bollywood but tasted huge success in regional cinema as well. Her death not only shocked the nation but also created a void which can never be filled. A film on Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao aka NTR will reportedly have a part featuring Sridevi and none other than Deepika Padukone's name is doing the rounds for playing the legendary actress in it.

Recently, a biopic based on the life of the south superstar and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao was announced at the Ramakrishna Studios, Hyderabad. Renowned actor and NTR's son Nandamuri Balakrishna will be seen stepping into his father's shoes and play him on-screen.

Now, the latest rumour about the ambitious project is that none other than Bollywood current number one actress Deepika Padukone will be seen playing late actress Sridevi in the film.

According to a report published in Deccan Chronicle, there is a huge possibility that Deepika might be seen playing Sridevi in the biopic as seems to fit the bill. NTR and Sridevi delivered several superhit films together such as 'Vetagadu', 'Kondaveeti Simham' and 'Bobbili Puli'. Therefore, there will be a small part in the film which will showcase Sridevi in it and for that Deepika has been approached. The report quoted a source as claiming this.

Sridevi's untimely death left the nation wailing for her as she breathed her last on February 24, 2018 in Dubai where she had gone to attend a family wedding. An ocean of fan following and the entire film industry gathered together to pay their last respects to the veteran star.

Teja will be helming the ambitious project which will map NTR's entire life journey from movies to politics. It will be made in Telugu and Hindi. The makers are planning to release the film during Dussehra.

The biopic will be jointly produced by Balakrishna, Sai Korrapati and Vishnu Vardhan Induri. NTR died on January 18, 1996 at the age of 72.

No official statement has been made by the makers of the project of the actor regarding the casting as yet.London: Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) may help us to predict the probability of life on other planets, according to a study. Researchers at Plymouth University in the UK used artificial neural networks (ANNs) to classify planets into five types, estimating a probability of life in each case, which could be used in future interstellar exploration missions.

ANNs are systems that attempt to replicate the way the human brain learns.

They are one of the main tools used in machine learning, and are particularly good at identifying patterns that are too complex for a biological brain to process.

The team has trained the network to classify planets into five different types, based on whether they are most like the present-day Earth, the early Earth, Mars, Venus or Saturn's moon Titan.

All five of these objects are rocky bodies known to have atmospheres, and are among the most potentially habitable objects in our Solar System.

"We are currently interested in these ANNs for prioritising exploration for a hypothetical, intelligent, interstellar spacecraft scanning an exoplanet system at range," said Christopher Bishop, who presented the work at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) in the UK.

"We're also looking at the use of large area, deployable, planar Fresnel antennas to get data back to Earth from an interstellar probe at large distances. This would be needed if the technology is used in robotic spacecraft in the future," said Bishop.

Atmospheric observations - known as spectra - of the five solar system bodies are presented as inputs to the network, which is then asked to classify them in terms of the planetary type.

As life is currently known only to exist on Earth, the classification uses a 'probability of life' metric which is based on the relatively well-understood atmospheric and orbital properties of the five target types.

Bishop has trained the network with over a hundred different spectral profiles, each with several hundred parameters that contribute to habitability.

So far, the network performs well when presented with a test spectral profile that it has not seen before.

"Given the results so far, this method may prove to be extremely useful for categorising different types of exoplanets using results from ground-based and near Earth observatories," said Angelo Cangelosi, the supervisor of the project.

The technique may also be ideally suited to selecting targets for future observations, given the increase in spectral detail expected from upcoming space missions such ESA's Ariel Space Mission and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, researchers said.Washington: NASA has inked a deal with Lockheed Martin to develop a supersonic "X-plane" that could break the sound barrier without a sonic boom, officials said today.

The USD 247.5 million contract allows for the design, building and testing of a plane that would make its first test flight in 2021, NASA said.

The experimental plane "will cruise at 16,764 meters at a speed of about 1,513 kph and create a sound about as loud as a car door closing, 75 Perceived Level decibel (PLdB), instead of a sonic boom," the US space agency said in a statement.

As early as mid-2022, NASA plans to fly the X-plane over certain, as yet to be determined, US cities to collect data and gather community responses.

The goal is to enable quieter supersonic flight and create "new commercial cargo and passenger markets in faster-than-sound air travel," NASA said.

Last month, US President Donald Trump signed a federal budget that fully funds the project, saying the new aircraft "would open a new market for US companies to build faster commercial airliners, creating jobs and cutting cross-country flight times in half."

But passenger seats are not part of the project Lockheed Martin is working on, at least not yet.

First, the company must show it is possible to fly a quiet supersonic aircraft. Then, the rules of the Federal Aviation Administration would have to be changed in order to lift the current ban on civil supersonic flights over land.

"This X-plane is a critical step closer to that exciting future," Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, told a news conference.

Other companies in the process of building supersonic passenger jets for flight in the coming years include Virgin Galactic and Spike Aerospace.Lucknow: Fresh calculations are back on the drawing board of Uttar Pradesh politics as the dominant players of the ruling BJP and Opposition SP and BSP draw up new strategies for the upcoming state legislative council election.

The election to 13 seats of the legislative council will be held on April 26. Counting of votes will take place on the same day.

After securing a thumping win in the recently-concluded biennial Rajya Sabha elections from the state by bagging nine out of 10 seats that went to polls, the BJP is confident to secure at least 11 Council seats going by its brute strength in the Assembly along with it allies.

In the 100-member UP Legislative Council, the BJP has just 13 members. The Samajwadi Party has 61 members, the BSP nine, the Congress two, the RLD one and others 12. Two seats are vacant.

UP BJP vice-president JPS Rathore said to ensure victory, a candidate needs 29 first preference votes.

Arithmetically, the BJP and its allies are likely to win 11 out of 13 seats comfortably and still be left with five additional votes, he said.

Exuding confidence on the ruling party increasing its tally in the Upper House, UP BJP spokesperson Alok Awasthi said, "Our party will register a thumping win in the legislative council polls."

Samajwadi Party spokesperson and MLC Sunil Singh Sajan said the SP-BSP combine will comfortably win the two legislative council seats.

"With the backing of the BSP and the Congress along with mass support, we will ensure a grand performance in the Lok Sabha polls. In this (Council) polls, the BJP may have the numbers, but in the general elections we will have people's mandate," SP chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said.

His 'feuding' uncle Shivpal Yadav also said that the SP-BSP understanding would "wipe out the BJP" in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Samajwadi Party's confidence stems from the victory of the SP-BSP combine in the recent Lok Sabha bypolls. The combine struck gold in the 'saffron' bastion of Gorakhpur --- associated with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Phulpur -- represented by his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya.

UP Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh said, "Going purely by numbers, we cannot field any party candidate (for the Council polls), but we can support the candidates from other like-minded parties. However, we expect the BSP to support our candidate (if we decide to field one), since we supported the BSP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections."

According to the Election Commission, tenures of 13 MLCs, including SP national president Akhilesh Yadav and two ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government - Mahendra Kumar Singh and Mohsin Raza - will end on May 5.

Of the 13 seats falling vacant, seven were held by the SP, two each by the BJP and the BSP, and one RLD. The thirteenth seat was held by former SP minister Ambika Chaudhary. His seat fell vacant when he switched over from the SP to the BSP.

Apart from the SP chief, six other MLCs from the party whose term is coming to an end are state SP chief Naresh Chandra Uttam, senior party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary, Umar Ali Khan, Madhu Gupta, Ramsakal Gurjar and Vijay Yadav.

MLCs from other parties whose term ends on May 5 are Vijay Pratap and Sunil Kumar Chittor (both BSP) and Chaudhary Mushtaq -- the lone RLD member.

Though the BJP and its allies have 324 MLAs in the 403-member state Assembly, it may not get the required strength in the Upper House to get the bills passed even after winning 11 of the 13 seats by dint of its strength.

During the winter session of the state legislature last year, the Yogi Aditynanath government had suffered embarrassment when it failed to ensure the passage of the Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime (UPCOC) Bill in the Upper House.

The notification for the legislative council polls will be issued on April 9. The last date for filing nominations is April 16.

Scrutiny of nominations will be done on April 17, while the last date for withdrawal of the same is April 19.Washington: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, the panel said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Facebook has come under fire in recent weeks after it was revealed that the personal data of 50 million users of the website fell into the hands of a political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica that worked for US President Donald Trump`s campaign.

The firm's former employee Christopher Wylie has accused Cambridge Analytica of gathering the details of Facebook through a personality quiz in 2014. He has alleged that because 270,000 people took the quiz, the data of some 50 million users, mainly in the US, was harvested without their explicit consent via their friend networks.

He has further claimed the data was sold to Cambridge Analytica, which then used it to psychologically profile people and deliver material in favour of Trump during the 2016 US presidential elections. He has also criticised the firm of running campaigns in "struggling democracies", which he called "an example of what modern-day colonialism looks like," as per PTI.

However, Cambridge Analytica has denied any of the data acquired was used as part of the services it provided to the Trump campaign.

Meanwhile, amid data breach backlash, Facebook recently said it will overhaul its privacy settings tools to put users "more in control" of their information. The updates will include improved access to Facebook's user settings and tools to easily search for, download and delete personal data stored by them.

A new privacy shortcuts menu will allow users to quickly increase account security, manage who can see their information and activity on the site and control advertisements they see, they had also said. "We've heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find and that we must do more to keep people informed," chief privacy officer Erin Egan and deputy general counsel Ashlie Beringer had said in a post.

(With Agency inputs)Riyadh: King Salman reiterated Saudi Arabia`s support for a Palestinian state after his son and heir apparent said Israelis were entitled to live peacefully on their own land - a rare statement by an Arab leader.

The king also emphasised the need to advance the peace process in a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Monday night, made after Israeli security forces killed 16 Palestinians last week during a demonstration along the Israel-Gaza border. The number rose to 17 on Tuesday.

King Salman reaffirmed "the kingdom`s steadfast position towards the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital", state news agency SPA said on Tuesday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised King Salman, thanking him for his support.

"President Abbas expressed his gratitude and appreciation ... for his supportive positions of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian cause and the cause of Jerusalem and its sacred sites," said a statement published by the official Palestinian WAFA news agency.

Abbas also praised Saudi Arabia for continuing to support the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the statement said.

The report did not refer to the comments by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an interview published on Monday by US magazine The Atlantic, which are the latest public sign that ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel may be growing closer.

Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland, Prince Mohammed was quoted as saying: "I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations."

Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines, does not recognise Israel. It has maintained for years that normalising relations hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war, territory Palestinians seek for a future state.

Increased tension between Riyadh and Tehran has fuelled speculation that shared interests may push Saudi Arabia and Israel to work together against what they see as a common Iranian threat.Highlighting a recent incrase in the number of Pakistanis peddling drugs into Dubai, a high-ranking Emirati security official has said that members of the Gulf communities are under serious threat.

Security officials in Dubai have reportedly uncovered several drug rackets either being operated within Dubai or which target people in the city at large from headquarters elsewhere. The role of Pakistanis in trafficking drugs is believed to be alarmingly high, prompting Lt Gen Dhahi Khalfan - head of general security in Dubai - to issue a stern warning on Twitter. "The Pakistanis pose a serious threat to the Gulf communities for the drugs they bring with them to our countries," he wrote in Arabic on Twitter, adding a photo of three Pakistanis and the drugs they were allegedly trafficking.

Local media reports say that Lt Gen Khalfan has also urged people in Dubai not to employ Pakistanis, going to the extent of saying it is a 'national duty to stop hiring them.'A website called uaeviral.com even quoted him as saying that while Indians are disciplined, Pakistanis coming into Dubai are prone to crime and smuggling. This statement though could not be independently verified.

Nonetheless, what Lt Gen Khalfan himself has put on social media has angered many in Pakistan. The official has been accused of rampant generalisation and also slammed for calling for a greater level of inspection of Pakistanis in UAE.Islamabad's image in the eyes of the world once again suffered a thorough beating when the United Nations included 139 Pakistan entries in its latest and consolidated terror list.

The UN released the updated list on Tuesday and included 139 Pakistan entries - especially highlighting terrorists who have lived in Pakistan and/or operated from the country and/or have ties with groups in the country to carry out their dubious operations. While Ayman al-Zawahiri - the current leader of al-Qaeda - figures on top of the list, other prominent names here are that of Dawood Ibrahim - wanted in India and shielded by Pakistan's ISI, LeT's Hafiz Saeed, his deputies Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal. Terror outfits in Pakistan or with links to Pakistan like Al Rasheed Trust, Harkatul Mujahideen, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Wafa Humanitarian Organisation, JeM, Rabita Trust, Ummah Tameer-i-Nau, Afghan Support Committee, Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Al-Harmain Foundation, Islamic Jihad Group, Al Akhtar Trust International, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaatul Ahrar and Khatiba Imam Al-Bukhari are also in the UN terror list.

Pakistan has repeatedly claimed that it is a victim of terrorism but ground evidence has pointed to the opposite. On international forums, the country has been repeatedly embarrassed with the United States in recent months openly expressing its displeasure with the country's efforts against terror networks. The possibly biggest dent to Pakistan's image was when Osama bin Laden was discovered here and eventually shot dead by US Navy Seals on May 2 of 2011.

India too has highlighted Pakistan-sponsored terrorism creating menace in South Asia. In what can only be described as a feeble response, Pakistan has tried to bring up the Kashmir issue although it is an internal matter of India.Such sentence became the first in the history of the Hungarian court in such case

Open source

A citizen of Hungary who fought on the side of the pro-Russian militants of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in Donbas got two years of suspended sentence as DW reported.

Such sentence became the first in the history of the Hungarian court in such case. On April 3, the court of Szekszard found a 43-year-old Kristian L. Guilty in 'the forbidden joining to the armed group that participates in the armed clashes'.

A man was detained last year in the Budapest airport when he returned after the participation in the military actions against the Ukrainian Army in Donbas on the side of the DPR.

A former police officer came to the territory of Donbas controlled by the pro-Russian militants where he joined the illegal armed formations, completed the training and got the financial award for his illegal acts.

At the same time, the judge explained pretty lenient sentence by the fact that such crime is considered in Hungary for the first time and the defendant did not realize that he violates the Hungarian laws.According to the information, the woman, who is a resident of the Donetsk Peoples Republic was allegedly gathering and transmitting data concerning her service in the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic

The representative of the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic stated that the military court sentenced Donetsk resident to ten years of imprisonment for the espionage on behalf of Ukraines special services. Donetsk news agency, the informative resource of the militants, published this information.

Donetsk resident was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for the espionage. She was found guilty in committing a crime under the article of Donetsk Peoples Republic Criminal Code by the sentence of the military court as Donetsk Peoples Republic Supreme Court Chamber, the message says.

According to the information, the woman was allegedly gathering and transmitting data concerning her service in the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic.

The woman, when carrying out the foreign intelligence assignment from February to October of 2016, was transmitting data to SBU about the officers of the State Property Fund and other information on the Funds activity through the Internet, the message says.An official trade delegation from Ukraine has begun its operation in Accra, the capital of Ghana, under the framework of the First Ukrainian Trade Mission to the country. The mission is headed by the Ukrainian trade representative and the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Nataliya Mykolska, UNIAN reports.

The mission also includes the representatives of the Export Promotion Office of Ukraine and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, the Deputy Minister for Agrarian policy and food of Ukraine Olha Trofimtseva, as well as representatives of 14 Ukrainian businesses working in such fields as agriculture, automotive manufacturing and aviation, engineering and IT, chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing, Business Ghana wrote.

The first ever Ukrainian trade mission to Ghana intends to improve the trade relationship between the two nations, as well as to analyze and discuss the system of foreign trade relations, trade barriers, and legislative features. In order to do so, Ukrainian officials and corporate actors are going to meet with officials and businessmen from Ghana at the Ghana-Ukrainian Business Forum held under the framework of the trade mission on 3 April.

The agenda of the mission also includes on-site market research in local retail networks and the meeting with members of the Ukrainian business diaspora in Ghana. According to the results of 2017, trade turnover between Ukraine and Ghana stood at $193.58 million and indicated a 70.5% growth from the figure a year earlier.

Ukrainian goods are in high demand on the African continent. The top 30 commodities with the largest potential for export to Ghana include ferrous metals and goods, live animals and animal products, engines and pumps, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, electrical equipment. After Ghana, the Ukrainian delegation will continue its mission to Nigeria, where the majority of business and government activities are going to be held on 4-6 April.Open source

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved and submitted to the Parliament a bill that provides for the transfer of 500,000 hectares of agricultural land to farmers ownership, UNIAN reports.

We are now going to endorse the draft law and ask lawmakers to support it. This will create an opportunity to transfer 500,000 hectares of land to some 23,000 Ukrainian farmers without having any estate in that land because of injustice, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said during a presentation of the bill at a government meeting on Wednesday, 4 April.

At the same time, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine said that during the 1990s, the farmers of Ukraine received agricultural land for permanent use, but without estate, which considerably curbed business opportunities.

Volodymyr Groysman earlier stated that farmers should become landowners in Ukraine, rather than large transnational corporations. According to the land reform suggested by the Ukrainian government, only Ukrainian citizens could be eligible for land purchase, should the moratorium be canceled.

Nevertheless, the maximum plot size per citizen shall not exceed 200 hectares. The working group assembled by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy offers the possibility of selling land plots to small-scale farms, subject to several restrictions. The moratorium on the purchase and sale of agricultural land in Ukraine has been in place since 2001.Open source

In late 2017 Ukrainian media was widely talking about the charitable foundation "International Anti-Corruption Courts" (IACC). The scale of their performance became noticeable enough for the prime minister of Ukraine to order two ministries to work on the problems the Foundations public statements created for a number of exporting businesses. Pobuzhsky Ferronickel Plant (PFP) became one of the entities mentioned in the complaints about the Foundation. Rustam Dzhamhurov, head of the PFP legal department, helped us to clarify the order of events and the essence of the claims the Charitable Foundation "International Anti-Corruption Courts" made.

When did your plant draw attention to the charitable foundation "International Anti-Corruption Courts" and what is the essence of its claims?

PFP became of interest to the IACC back in early 2016. That was way before the scale of their activity grew and badly influenced the rights and interests not only of a number of businesses but also the State image of Ukraine. IACC approached Presidential and Prime Ministers offices in Ukraine six times, as well as a number of governmental entities of foreign countries. These appeals were based on quite a variety of topics. As far as I know, IACC representatives provided responsible state offices of Ukraine and a number of other countries with falsified information on PFPs illegal performance in the area of environmental protection and ferronickel export. IACC also accused PFP of smuggling, illegal ore mining and its latent processing.

All these appeals are united by one common factor  none of the statements are backed up by facts. No objective proofs are attached to these claims. All of the IACC complaints are based on fictional stories created by the so-called anti-corruption activists. It all proves IACC performance is based on blackmailing and providing false facts about the operation of a number of export businesses to the respected state entities of Ukraine and foreign countries. Let me give you an example: in one of their appeals, IACC claimed that PFP uses illegally mined ore from Zapadno-Lashevsky deposit. Anyone can check the site of Ukrainian geology and mineral resources service to prove that PFPs former contractor had a license authorizing these mining works. This information is public. But why bother? Instead, IACC provides falsified information on a non-existent crime. By doing so the foundation accuses not only us of conducting illegal deeds, but also the licensee, and also blames the Prime Minister, prosecutors office and national police of protecting non-existent crimes. We are very much looking forward to seeing the prosecutor acting as per Chapter 383 in Ukraines Criminal Code in this case. We are ready to provide the required proof that PFP is not using any Ukrainian ore at all since 2014 due to the low quality of the product.

How objective and truthful are the claims?

Unfortunately, respected state offices have never informed us on the output of processing IACC claims. In their latest appeals to the Presidents office, IACC not only blamed PFP but also the Prime Minister, prosecutors office, and the national police. Judging from the fact that there was no response on that, the government did not consider those features to be truthful stories. We have delivered all the documents that show proof of environmental test results, describing modernizing activities and investments the plant implements to follow environmental protection standards, also we provided Ukrvneshexpertiese reports on where ferronickel is exported. According to the official statistics, Ukraine does not export any nickel to Russia. None. The Foundations claims happened to be an ill-conceived fiction that piggybacks on our countrys tragic events in the East.

In addition, our plant does not export ferronickel at all. It works according to the tolling system. Toll processing, or tolling, can be defined as performing a service on a customers product for a fee. PFP processes ore for an Estonian company that sells ferronickel within the EU. PFP operations are very transparent. Every month we have audits from environmental and fiscal authorities, and the customs control supervises our produced metal. In case there were any violations of the law, state authorities would know this, not because of the IACC but due to the state supervision of performance.

How often do the institutions like IACC attack your entity?

We have never experienced such an intense and well-organized attack. But if the State of Ukraine does not urgently enforce the regulation against public calumny, mudslinging will become acceptable. More people will become engaged in blackmailing businesses. I am not saying the Ministry of Jurisdiction or lawmakers do nothing about it. They just are not doing enough to stop these activities. Let me share a very representative example of you. Back in spring 2015 raiders illegally changed property ownership records in the state registry in their favor and tried to overtake PFP by force. Back then we stated in the media multiple times that in case the State does nothing, this behavior would turn into a pattern and there would be more and more cases like ours. Nowadays the media is full of stories about illegal takeovers of private and commercial properties through unauthorized changes in the state registry records. This actually shows that the measures taken to protect the registry are weak and ineffective. From my point of view, the lawmakers ignored the key principles of private property protection, so-called the Torrence title, while working on a set of regulations strengthening the registrys security. Particularly the principle of insurance, where the State guarantees title and is usually supported by a compensation scheme for those who lose their title due to private fraud or error in the State's operation. Legal functionaries do not have personal responsibility. Therefore they can ignore problems of the property owners and pretend to be fighting the system of illegal property seizure instead of defending ownership rights.

The work of the prosecutors office and law-enforcement agencies is another story. I consider IACC fraud operations to be a natural narrative of the 2015-raiding story. It only became possible for the IACC to act now because the law enforcement agencies stayed inactive and indifferent back in 2015. IACC first filed its claims to the state authorities after raiders failed to succeed in seizing our property and stealing PFP from its legal owners by using a number of fake court decisions. Their aim was to initiate endless audits of the plants operational activities, open pre-trial investigations, block PFPs daily operations including international ones and as a result damage our business reputation.

How did Ukraines state authorities respond to the IACCs performance?

It is known that during the Cabinet of Ministers session, the executive director of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine has raised the question of IACC performance. In his turn, the PM of Ukraine, Vladimir Groysman, agreed that the said activities show all the signs of fraud and ordered the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to look into the matter. He also encouraged the Department of Economic Protection to keep it under control because it entails the loss of state revenue.

This might stop further operations of the Foundation, but it does not set up legal regulations that impose responsibility for providing false facts to the national and international state authorities with the intent of causing business operations to fail and damaging reputations of investors. Without this set of rules, there will be more activists mudslinging goodwill taxpayers.

Overall, I would say the State stays passive and prefers not to interfere. State authorities accept any of the fiction features the Foundation provides. In many cases, the name of the entity and its registration details do not correspond to the actual records in the register. Nevertheless, the claim starts bureaucratic procedures such as anticorruption pre-trial application, systematic damage claim, statement of servitude etc. It also engages all sorts of ministries, prosecutors office, state administration, and the Presidential office. The financial burden falls on taxpayers for the state authorities to answer questions initiated by the charitable foundation "International Anti-Corruption Courts", but that is not directly related to the content of the Foundations request. And the whole story goes in rounds: IACC creates a new fictional story, state services initiate a new audit, businesses spend time collecting and providing proof that the facts created by the Foundation are false.

Most of the companies that attract IACCs attention have foreign capital. Can we say that IACC activities are meant to compromise international investors in Ukraine?

We certainly can. By sending false statements IACC complicates the companys business operations, initiates audits, puts administrative pressure on business. This can be seen as an attempt to devalue the business reputation of the companies in the spotlight and of their investors nationally and internationally. This limits access to the primary products, blocks export operations, decreases competitiveness, and jeopardizes the ability to complete contractual obligations in time; but I think the problem is much wider than that. Representatives of the foundation love using tragic events from the Eastern part of our country to form a connection between businesses they attack with the state aggressor. This is primitive emotional manipulation. Lets ask "Cui prodest? Cui bono?" LLC Delta Wilmar CIS called a halt to the USD 150 mln investment project in the seaside commercial port Yuzhny. It was a forced choice following a number of IACCs information attacks against the company in Ukraine and abroad. In the nearest future, all investors under attack will stop investing in Ukraine. Who will suffer? The State of Ukraine. The economy will be underfinanced; there will be no new jobs created and no taxes paid. Who is interested in weakening the countrys economy? Whose interests do the representatives of the Foundation consciously or unconsciously serve? I am sure the readers know the answers.

As if it is not enough, IACC activists are damaging the countrys reputation of being trustworthy to international onlookers. For example, in their appeal to the EU commissioner on European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations IACC blames the government of the Netherlands for creating a criminal community that in cooperation with Ukrainian fiscal authorities legalized billions of dollars of dirty money in order to finance terrorism. International perception of Ukraine as a country has been far from ideal for a long time. The results of the referendum where people of the Netherlands voted against Ukraine to be associated with the EU are still a fresh memory. It seems like it was not enough for the Foundation. Instead, they added some oil to the fire to worsen economic relationships with the Netherlands. This could possibly lead to banning Ukrainian goods as a security measure. This is why the Foundations behavior should be seen as a part of the hybrid war against Ukraine. The consequences of the IACCs activities affect not only territories and areas of influence but also the economy. Therefore the states passive response to raiding, blackmailing, and mudslinging negatively influences healthy businesses and should be stopped as soon as possible. Those in power should realize these are no private cases but are questions of state security.

How do the PFP investors evaluate the current state of things?

We expect zero tolerance from the state when it comes to any form of illegal interference into business operations. We also expect the state to provide us, the goodwill taxpayers, with high-quality services that protect our rights and guard our interests as determined by the power of the law. Our aim is to continue honoring our obligations as both employer and business. In the current situation none of the investors can make any long-term plans; not without the state protecting the interests of the business and its reputation. This will always influence our decisions on whether to finance projects in Ukraine or not.

What do you think can prevent the possibility of IACC continuing to act this way in the future?

It is absolutely necessary to change the laws and approaches the state now exercises while dealing with the requests from organizations like IACC. It is worth establishing a system of reimbursing the costs caused by the falsified claims. Also, there should be clear straightforward guidelines obliging the authorities to make the swindlers accountable for the expenses caused by their actions. As well, there should be changes in the law regulating cases where the claimants have falsely accused citizens of criminal activities. It should be obvious to everyone that these types of cases can only be heard in the criminal courts. Other authorities should inform the claimants about their rights while reporting on the illegal deeds or criminal activities and the system of punishments for falsifying the facts these claims are based on (Chapters 214 and 383 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). This will match the necessity to check all the facts before filing an appeal and to evaluate the consequences; otherwise, the claimants would go directly to the criminal court themselves.

As it turns out, those claims often go hand in hand with the illegal business or property seizures, or so-called raiding attacks. Although the word raiding is often used in a daily life, it has officially appeared only once since 2008 when it was used in the declaration of the budget by the cabinet of ministers. Raiding is explained as the seizure of state or corporate rights out of the privatizing processes or illegal takeover of business properties. There is a need for detailing what raiding actually is and to include this deed into the Criminal Code of Ukraine, especially when talking about the occurrence of such a high-level social danger. Currently, there is raiding, but there is no law that recognizes it as a criminal deed. This could be an annex to the Chapter 206 of the Criminal Code for example. At the moment illegal seizure does fall under this article. But the thing is  raiding is not only about transferring ownership and the request to stop business operations. It limits the rights to sign agreements and the ability to fulfill obligations under the previous agreements. This causes material damage and devaluates the rights to manage the business properly. It also comes with a physical threat to the business owner or his/her inner circle and damage caused to their property without any signs of blackmailing. It is the whole pack of criminal deeds performed by a group of people aiming to seize corporate and property rights from the legal owners. Raiding is an unlawful change of private ownership and the law should enforce obligatory responsibility for private and corporate units. On top of that, this group should be seen as an organized crime unit. As per today, there is no corporate responsibility for these types of deeds. This allows the use of the same corporate entities in a number of illegal seizures. International research on fighting organized crime such as corruption and takeovers shows that only collective responsibility of legal entities brings effectiveness into solving these cases. The USA uses the RICO Act for protecting businesses against takeovers. The RICO Act is a US federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. In France, they use Chapter 4 of the Commercial Code for the same purposes. These law amendments could help narrow down the group of criminals and identify the level of their involvement and degree of guilt in the crime. The fact that all personalities controlling the legal entity (officials and founders) might fall under investigation and be held responsible as a gang, even if there is no obvious connection between them and the illegal takeover, could be the reason for not using legal entities in these types of schemes.

Also, it is necessary to widen the interpretation of the concept of "counteraction". This would help the courts to identify the existence of unreasonable obstacles to economic activities based on fact falsification as counteraction, and act accordingly.

Considering all that has been said above, how would you evaluate the investment climate in Ukraine? What can international and local businesses do to increase the countrys investment attractiveness?

There are changes happening every day. In many cases, there is no need for business to deal directly with the authorities any more. Some registries went public, some changes were introduced to the laws; overall, information became transparent and easy to access. All of these changes are bringing us closer to the international business and life standards. According to the World Banks Doing Business report - the project that provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 189 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level  Ukraine holds the 77th position in the ranking. This certainly shows some progress in comparison with the results of 2013 when the country was ranked 137th.

For many people the speed of those changes is really disappointing. The government does not fulfill expectations of the citizens and foreign investors. It is important to understand that the old-fashioned corrupt system of the state management is not going to give up easily. Time, political wills, and the power of law and fair trial are should be synchronised to overcome this resistance. It is important to support formal actions aimed at creating such institutions of power such as anticorruption court, federal bureau of investigations etc. with high quality content. This means incorporating highly professional management whose duties would not only include solving crimes and fighting corruption but also serving the interests of those who are governed.When it comes to gas price for the population, social justice could be achieved not only through the development of the market and the creation of a gas hub in Ukraine but also provided that the society becomes a real beneficiary of the Ukrainian gas production system, albeit at a market price

Read the original text at 112.ua.

Open source

Apparently, a heroic deed has been noticed in the recent actions of Ukraines Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. He decided not to raise the gas price for the population. However, there are no reasons for rejoicing, because everything can change in two months (June 1). Our ministers are not capable of something more.

After the Cabinets meeting, it was decided to extend the effect of the so-called special obligations of Naftogaz of Ukraine and regional gas supplying enterprises with regard to natural gas supplies to domestic consumers (that is, to the population) as well as to heat and energy companies for another two months.

In recent months, the main battles in this gas struggle occurred, where the interests of external creditors, represented by the IMF and the government, converged. Of course, there is a group of people wishing to shake the situation during the final pre-election line. Of course, you can ask people: "Do not rock a boat, we have a seasickness". But the electorate is no longer afraid of the vomitus of the domestic elites.

If we examine the political background, the least favorite "Naftogaz" would do its job, while the government gets the paddle from the indignant proletariat. Relationships within the gas management vertical are already strained to the limit. After winning the Stockholm Arbitration, Naftogaz top managers have acquired an indulgence from the resignation for the next year. Therefore, some politicians have to keep the brand and ignoring the fact that Naftogaz leadership causes some personal dislike.

As it usually happens, our government would blame the International Monetary Fund for everything. To be fair, it is worth noting that the IMF never makes any direct demands for increasing or decreasing something. The Fund, the largest creditor of our country, wants to see the progressive elimination of the deficits that have emerged in various segments of the economy and the public administration system. And any deficit could be minimized both due to the revenues growth and due to the increased costs. With regard to the supply of natural gas to the population, the Naftogaz deficit might be overcome both with the help of simple extensive methods, primarily tariff increases, and with more flexible, intensive and complex mechanisms (for example, by increasing gas sales to commercial consumers that can pay the market price), as well as intensification of the management system and the more optimized corporate structure. Of course, it is much easier to constantly increase the tariffs for the population and increase your own salary. While doing this, do not forget about constant blaming of the "evil" IMF.

On the other hand, what can change in these few months? The decision of the Stockholm Arbitration concerning the Gazprom-Naftogaz dispute has unlocked the process of creating a gas hub in Ukraine, which should attract the world's leading fuel and transit operators in order to ensure efficient transportation synergy, storage and sale of gas in the domestic market. And in this case, the price deficit will be overcome by the most important weapon of the market economy - open competition, when hundreds of operators selling natural gas will be able to offer a better price, not exceeding the administratively established upper limit. If a real market model is created, the monopolistic groups of suppliers would not create their puppet traders to imitate the competition, the price of gas for the population will inevitably decrease. Of course, we are not talking about the returning of the times when gas really cheap, but a price reduction of 15-20% is quite realistic.

The gas issue has always been extremely toxic for Ukrainian politics. Just recall the former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who, while being in opposition, was actively persuading his counterpart Mykola Azarov that the gas, extracted in Ukraine, should be much cheaper for the population. But as soon as Arseny Yatsenyuk occupied the prime minister's office, all the right calculations were completely forgotten. Obviously, the gas issue causes our politicians a sharp attack of anterograde amnesia, like it happened with the hero of Memento film directed by Christopher Nolan. Let me remind you that in this film, the hero was "reverted" every 15 minutes, and he did not remember anything at all. The hero realized that he had to prepare a plan for revenge, he wrote down the most important facts of biography and promises in the form of the body tattoos. Actually, this is a good method to force domestic politicians to remember their pre-election promises.

According to the resolution of the Cabinet, adopted in March of 2017, Naftogaz was supposed to sell gas to sales companies for preferential consumer groups at a price of 190 USD per thousand cubic meters (excluding VAT, transportation, and distribution tariffs). In its financial plan for 2018, Naftogaz laid an increase in purchasing prices for natural gas, for which it purchases energy from UkrGasVydobuvannya company (without VAT), to 2010 USD per thousand cubic meters at the beginning of the year, and to 313 USD as of October 1, 2018. In comparison with the current level, the price growth amounts to 58.5% (if the financial plan is approved).

Naturally, the population would suffer the most, as "Naftogaz" provides gas supplies for utilities and gas consumers for the domestic consumers.

As you might have guessed, the scheme of virtual mixing of Ukrainian gas, the real cost price of which is much lower than the selling price, and expensive import supplies is a real Klondike for the profits. As of November 1, 2017, Naftogaz purchased 19 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 40% is imported, and 60% is gas purchased from UkrGasVydobuvannya (that is, gas of Ukrainian origin). As the investigations of the Antimonopoly Committee have shown, the current pricing methodology does not distinguish between imported gas and Ukrainian gas. At the same time, the "total" price is determined based on the price parameters on the NCG hub (Germany), plus transportation costs and entrance/exit tariffs on the western border of Ukraine. According to Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU), the peg to imported parity led to an artificial increase in the price of Ukrainian gas from 61 USD per thousand cubic meters up to 180, that is, more than three times.

If we take the indicators of the maximum prices for the sale of natural gas to the population (metered and VAT included), then we will see that starting from 2013 this indicator has grown from 103 USD per thousand cubic meters to 275 USD in 2015, that is almost 2.7 times. Only in the past two years, gas prices for residential consumers slightly decreased to 267 USD or 8,8 USD per thousand cubic meters (a 3% drop). But even this relative price stabilization did not have a positive social impact: the price run-up was too great in 2014-2015 when the ideologists of the tariff explosion laid a too wide delta for personal profit.

Further increase in natural gas prices for the population without creating a full-fledged market and appearance of truly market-based, independent traders will be perceived not only as a forced concession to the IMF for the next tranche but also as an acute social injustice.

But the launch of the gas hub will only remove the tariff tension for a while because even a 15-20% price cut will not solve the global problem of the insolvency of the population. Experience of Norway (as an energy-efficient country) shows fuel prices have never been truly market-oriented. They are only a mirror image of how much subcutaneous fat has the society accumulated and whether it is ready to lose weight. A rich Norwegian society is able to pay a high price for gas even in conditions of high volumes of its own extraction and export. The same can be said about the United States, where the president's rating is inversely proportional to the rise in prices for car refuels. And this is in a country where there are colossal oil reserves, including effective shale mining technologies. The price of gasoline in the States is an average of 50 cents per liter. This country is the standard model of the world market relations. Even under Putin's tyranny in Russia, the gas of own extraction for the population costs an average of 5.7 thousand rubles for a thousand cubes. We will not compare the solvency of our domestic market and the German one, but we can do an analysis of prices in countries similar to ours.

Russia and Kazakhstan, as countries rich in hydrocarbon, endure the lowest gas prices for their population using the rents for gas production (in Russia, this is the mineral extraction tax): the equivalent of 100 USD and 53 USD per thousand cubes respectively. Belarus, which has a good transit potential, sells gas to the population at 115 USD per 1,000 cubic meters. But Ukraine, which can fully provide the population with its own gas and receives 3 billion USD a year for transit, sells gas to the public for 265 USD per thousand cubic meters, that is, it is almost five times more expensive than in Kazakhstan, 3.7 times more expensive than in Russia, and 2.2 times more expensive than in Belarus. With such a model of redistribution of public goods, ordinary Ukrainians will never be beneficiaries of the use of their national wealth, be it transit or natural resources.

Social justice in such a sensitive issue as the price of gas for the population can be achieved not only through the development of the market and the creation of a gas hub in Ukraine, but also provided that the society becomes a real beneficiary of the Ukrainian gas production system, albeit at a market price. And for this, profits from the use of mineral resources should be redistributed in the interests of all citizens of the country, and not by one closed, albeit state-owned company.

We have been told that high gas prices are a kind of inoculation against corruption. It turned out that the "vaccination" is too strong, and high prices are just a part of a corruptive scheme.

It might sound a little bit pathetically, one should not only remember the election promises, but also think about Memento populo motto as a permanent principle of political life. This phrase does not need a translation.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners.Before the parliamentary elections in Moldova, Unionist Movement of the Republic of Moldova becomes very popular in the country

Read the original text at 112.ua

Open source

Unionist Movement of the Republic of Moldova goes out

This year has become special for Romania. The country has marked the 100th anniversary of the Great Unification. It is about 1918, as a result of the First World War, after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires, the Transylvania joined the Romanian kingdom, and Bessarabia and Northern Bukovyna did it even earlier. Then the country was called "Great Romania" and it claimed the role of regional leader.

The unification of 1918 is considered the most important event in Romanian history, and in 1990, December 1 was approved as a national holiday. But since this date is historically linked only with the entry of Transylvania into the Romanian state, last year the Romanian MP from the National Movement Party (NMP), one of the companions of Romanias ex-president Traian Basescu Eugen Tomac offered another national holiday  March 27 (Day of "reunification" of Romania and Bessarabia).

NMP took full advantage of this legislative initiative in 2018. Since the beginning of this year, unprecedented events have been held in Moldova with its support.

March 25, a many-thousand rally of supporters of the union with Romania was held in the capital of Moldova. The Moldovan authorities counted about 7 thousand participants. The organizers assured that more than 100 thousand people gathered at the central square of Chisinau.

The event was organized by the Moldovan Unionists, led by the National Unity Party (NUP). And headed by Gheorghe Simion, leader of the Moldovan platform of unionists Actiunea 2012, Dorin Chirtoaca, former mayor of the Moldovan capital, first vice-chairman of the Liberal Party of Moldova, and Traian Basescu, ex-president of Romania, honorary chairman of the NUP.

The rally in Chisinau on March 25, 2018

March 27, a formal solemn meeting was held in the Romanian parliament, but with the participation of Moldovan parliament and government representatives, led by Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament Andrian Candu.

The general picture on the eve of the holiday was supplemented by Basescus intention, announced earlier this year, to submit to the Romanian parliament a declaration on Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact denunciation with a view to reconsidering the transfer of a number of territories in Eastern Europe to the USSR.

Neither the idea of the Romanian ex-president about the denunciation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, nor the mass rallies of the Unionists with the slogans of "reunification" of Romania are not something new.

In 2009, the State Duma of the Russian Federation condemned the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and at a ceremony in Gdansk (Poland), Putin called on other countries that "went on a deal with the Nazis" to do the same. However, in 2015 the Russian president revised his views and actually justified the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, supporting the opinion of Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky that the pact was necessary to ensure the security of the Soviet Union.

Another striking example is that in September 2016, Polish Sejm adopted a resolution condemning the pact, but in October of the same year signed the Declaration of Memory and Solidarity together with the Ukrainian parliament.

In August 2010, Moldova took an attempt to adopt a document condemning the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact at the state level. Then, Liberal Party of Moldova led by Mihai Ghimpu was at the peak of popularity in the republic; its program activities were also based on the ideas of unionism. The party was then part of the ruling coalition "Alliance for European Integration." And Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat (2009-2013), who was not a unionist, shared the idea that Moldova was "the second Romanian state" and that the state language of the country should be called only Romanian. Even after the collapse of the coalition in 2013, the liberal party has been gaining up to 20% of the support for another two years, and in the local elections of June 2015, it showed the fourth result (12.6%). But after the election of the country's president, socialist Igor Dodon, the ratings of the liberals did not exceed 2%.

Each of these countries invested in their decisions their own interpretation of those historical events. But none of them, unlike Basescu's proposed document, openly indicated the possibility of revising the borders of the existing states.

Traian Basescu

In addition, this year there was an event that goes beyond the previous public statements of the Unionists. A the end of January, Civil Platform Actiunea 2012, which includes non-governmental organizations from Moldova and Romania, supporting the unification of both countries, initiated "100 villages  100th anniversary of the unification" campaign, carried out to sign the declaration by the populated areas of the republic for unification with Romania. The symbolic document was approved by the authorities of almost 14.5% of villages and towns of the Republic (organizers collected signatures of more than 130 villages, cities, and even districts of Moldova  898 settlements). March 10, more than hundreds of mayors and members of rural councils of Moldovan settlements took part in a conference in Romanian Iasi. Together with representatives of the local authorities of Romania, they adopted a resolution on the unification of the two countries.

This event should be considered as a precedent that can be later used by Bucharest as a legal and ideological justification for territorial claims to Moldova.

Should Ukraine be afraid of this?

Is it possible that such tactics would be used against our country in places of compact residence of ethnic Romanians? These days, neither Chisinau nor the Romanian Parliament voice opens statement concerning the south of Bessarabia or the north of Bukovyna (part of Ukraines Odesa and Chernivtsi regions). Moreover, Basescu made it clear that his activities in Moldova do not affect the interests of Ukraine. He said that it was only about restoring the border of Romania along the Dniester. Ukrainian question was openly raised by the Unionists two years ago. Then "Sfatul Tarii-2" Congress, established in Chisinau, proposed to give Ukraine Transnistria in exchange for the south of Bessarabia and part of Bukovyna. Civil Platform Actiunea 2012 became the organizer of the congress. But even with the current optimistic forecast of Kyiv, one should not forget that Romania and Moldova has a large number of supporters of territorial claims to Ukraine.

For example, in an interview with Ogonek magazine, one of the most famous historians of Romania, Professor Ioan Scurtu recently stated that he "always said that this democratic Ukraine, which wants to join NATO, has profited most from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact." It becomes obvious from his words that Bucharest has ceased to take any steps towards territorial claims to Ukraine since 2014. This was due to the change of power in Romania itself, the Eurointegration and Euro-Atlantic self-determination of Ukraine and, of course, Russia's occupation of Crimea, Donbas conflict, and the reaction of the West.

Bucharest still continues to hold the same views concerning Ukrainian question. Let us remember its reaction (together with Hungary) to Ukraines law "On Education". Then, at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where the law was discussed, People's Deputy of Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko noted that "aggressive statements of some representatives of the Hungarian and Romanian delegations can be considered as hidden territorial claims to Ukraine, and this is unacceptable."

Elections first

At the end of November, Moldova to hold the parliamentary elections, using a new mixed system. The Democratic Party under the leadership of the oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc will try to stay in power. The main rival of NMP would be presidents party of socialists. The National Unity Party, which promotes the idea of uniting Moldova with Romania, is a young political force with rather modest ratings  0.5-0.7% (according to the latest sociological surveys of February 2018 conducted by the "Barometer of Public Opinion", with the funding of the Soros Foundation).

According to experts, the NUP has all chances to get into the Moldovan parliament this year and join the coalition with the ruling democratic party.

NUP has the support of the Romanian opposition NMP, which is represented in the European Parliament, is a full member of the European People's Party and has 8 seats in the Senate and 17 seats in the Chamber of Deputies of Romania. Honorary chairman Traian Basescu also gives authority to NUP in the eyes of Moldovans.

The latest sociological surveys conducted in November 2017 by the Public Opinion Foundation show that 62.8% of respondents in a possible referendum would have voted against the accession of Moldova to Romania. However, 23% of those polled would immediately say yes. At the same time, 8% of citizens did not decide on the answer, and 5.9% said they would not participate.

The popularity of unionism in Moldova is constantly growing, the senior researcher of the Center for Post-Soviet Studies at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Andrei Devyatkov assures. Firstly, a change of generations takes place in Moldova, and a significant part of modern Moldovan youth falls under the Romanian cultural and educational influence. Secondly, the so-called pragmatic unionism, when many people, regardless of social status, mass poverty, an outflow of population, corruption of politicians, constant political instability, are disappointed in Moldova as a state. Basescu uses this situation, arguing that the only way to the EU is for Moldova is through unification with Romania.

In turn, Moldovan politician and journalist, former chairman of the Christian Democratic People's Party Iurie Rosca believe that if the unification of Moldova with Romania becomes possible, it will be implemented in two possible scenarios. The first one is the military, following the Georgian and Ukrainian models, including military actions, the loss of Transdniestria in favor of Russia (or Ukraine in the event of Russia's weakening), the entry of NATO and Romanian troops into the territory of Moldova "to maintain peace," and then (or simultaneously) a merger with Romania. The second, more gentle and peaceful, with an observance of legal formalities.

Therefore, most likely, the current movement of the Unionists is based on a short-term perspective. They want to take revenge on the parliamentary elections scheduled for November 2018 in Moldova. And statements about the "reunification" of great Romania is a long-running issue (and nothing more than a pre-election PR move).

According to Vladislav Kulminsky, executive director of the Chisinau Institute for Strategic Initiatives, the theme of unionism is profitable for both the pro-Western government of Moldova and the pro-Russian president Igor Dodon. "Without the encouragement of the authorities, it would be impossible to adopt declarations on unification with Romania," Kulminsky said. The activation of the Unionists gives the authorities the opportunity to create their own agenda. They take a step for geopolitics. This is also a wonderful gift to the Socialists, who during the election campaign would speak about the danger of unionism and thereby distract the voter from the real problems, he added.

With all this, we should not forget that speculation with the historical past is very fraught with grave consequences for the relations of the neighboring countries. During the times of Putins Russia, they began to warm up the cult of the primordially Russian Crimea, which resulted in the annexation of the peninsula in 2014. By the way, many experts are sure that this has been done to raise Putins ratings. In Poland, right-wing forces came to power and also raised questions of the historical past. This has already resulted in the deterioration of relations between Warsaw and Kyiv. In addition, Polish nationalists are increasingly speaking about the "Polish Lemberg", referring to the past of Lviv. The observers point out that the aggressive foreign policy of Polish PiS could be explained with the struggle for the votes. In Hungary, PMs Viktor Orbans party, which is losing its ratings, has suddenly "remembered" the problems of the Hungarians of Transcarpathia. Ukraine is concerned about Hungarian territorial claims on the region. This has aggravated relations between countries. These lessons indicate that the threat of turning pre-election themes into real territorial disputes is quite possible and dangerous.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners.The first substantive session is planned for April 16

Open source

On April 4, the so-called Supreme Court of occupied Crimea extended the arrest of Yevhen Panov, the citizen of Ukraine involved in 'the case of the Ukrainian saboteurs' for another six months as Crimea.Reality reported.

It is noted that the court session took place in the closed regime.

The first substantive session is planned for April 16.

Previously the Lefortovo Moscow court extended the arrest of the so-called Ukrainian "saboteur" Evgen Panov for three months until March 7, 2017, later on prolonging the arrest until October 10.

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation claimed to have detained Ukrainian saboteurs in Crimea. Russia says that Ukrainian diversionary group planned terrorist acts in the occupied Crimea, and Evgen Panov was allegedly the leader of the group.Poland, Ukraine work on the organization of visit of Piotr Glinski, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland in Ukraine

Open source

Vasyl Bodnar, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine admits that Poland can get the permission for the exhumation in case of the presence of the proper background of the bilateral relations and expects from Poland a step for the restoration of the Ukrainian memorials at the territory of the state as Interfax-Ukraine reported.

'In fact, there is no moratorium, but the commission that gives the permission for the performance of the particular works. The proper background, not negative when there are always complaints to Ukraine, should be created for such permission. At least, a first step should be made in the restoration of the memorials and we wait for this. I think the permissions will be issues', Bodnar claimed.

He emphasized that not only the officials but also the representatives of the non-governmental organizations.

Bodnar specified that the Ukrainian side is interested in the restoration of the Ukrainian memorials in Poland, protection of the rights of the Ukrainian minority in Poland and solution of the situation around law 'On National Remembrance Institute'.

Also, Ukrainian and Polish side work on the organization of visit of Piotr Glinski, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland in Ukraine in the nearest months.Russia has been testing missiles over Latvia's exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea. Leta outlet reported this on Wednesday morning.

'After Russia announced the missile tests, Latvian defense ministry asked the Russian side to give as much information about the tests as possible, including which kinds of missiles will be used and which measures will be taken to provide security', the message reads.

Russia claimed the missile tests are a part of military drills, and all the necessary security measures will be taken; however, no more questions were answered.

Previously, Russian Centre for Management of Air Traffic informed the Latvian government that the Russian Navy would hold missile tests over Latvia's exclusive economic area in the Baltic Sea.Ukraine does not stand for the termination either for the extension of the treaty for another 10 years

Open source

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine does not plan to terminate the Treaty of friendship with Russia. Olena Zerkal, the Deputy Foreign Minister for European Integration claimed this as Interfax-Ukraine reported.

'We do not stand for the termination of the treaty but we want to not extend it for another 10 years as the condition of the relationship between Ukraine and Russia changed. These conditions need new approaches to the treaty bases, Zerkal said.

She added that 44 agreements of 450 between Ukraine and Russia are already torn.

'Until 2014 451 international agreements were concluded between Russia and Ukraine. After the beginning of the armed aggression, we have begun the inventory of the legal basis of the bilateral relations with Russia. As at April 2018 we fulfilled all necessary inner-state procedures and made the decision to suspend or stop one inter-state agreement, 25 inter-governmental agreements (20 initiated by Ukraine, 5 by Russia), 18 inter-departmental agreements', Zerkal said.

Ukraine and Russia signed the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership in 1997. The agreement stipulates the basic principles of bilateral relations - strategic partnership, recognition and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity, and mutual commitments not to use each other's territory in the breach of each other's security.

The treaty was extended for 10 years in 2008. Its action expires in April 2019.

Earlier Russia offered to denounce the Agreement on friendship, cooperation and partnership between Ukraine and Russiain the part where countries recognize the territorial borders of each other. Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine commented this.The US will send more than 5,000 troops to Saber Strike drills in the Baltic region as the press service of the White House reported.

'More than 5,000 U.S. troops will join multinational forces in this years Saber Strike exercise, the largest event of its kind to take place in the Baltic region', the message said.

Annual Saber Strike drills took place from May 28 until June 24 at the territory of the Baltic countries and Poland in 2017. 11, 000 troops from 20 countries participated in it.

As we reported Russia has been testing missiles over Latvia's exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea.Children of up to nine months, pregnant women and people with a nasty form of a protein allergy or a severe immunodeficiency are not to be vaccinated

Due to the yellow fever plague in Brazil, Ukraines Foreign Ministry recommends its citizens to get a vaccination if they plane to visit this country, as the press office of the Foreign Ministry reported.

Due to the epidemic outbreak of the yellow fever plague in Brazil, including the Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais Ukraines Foreign Ministry recommend Ukrainian citizens, who travel in Brazil (in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Amapa, Mato Grosso, Para) to take preventive measures in time to minimize possible risk of the infection, the message says.

It was noted that tourists are not obliged to get a vaccination against yellow fever when they travel to Brazil (except the tourists who travel from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo).

Yet, the World Health Organization is intensively informing the tourists about the necessity of the vaccination against this virus.

The message says, that children of up to nine months, pregnant women and people with a nasty form of a protein allergy or a severe immunodeficiency are not to be vaccinated.

Ukrainian citizens, who are in Brazil, can be vaccinated in the medical center in the country. If someone is diagnosed with this disease we recommend Ukrainian citizens apply to the medical center to receive medical treatment, the Foreign Ministry added.

The yellow fever  is a virus disease, transmitted to the person by Aedes or Haemogogus mosquito bite.The video contains the fragment of Kholodnitskys conversation with the witness on case of bribing Health Minister Uliana Suprun

Open source

National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has published fragment of declassified records of tapping the head of Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) Nazar Kholodnytsky. The parts of his conversations were posted by the NABU in Youtube on Wednesday, as the bureau reported in Facebook.

The National Bureau believes necessary to make public the fragments of the declassified materials of covert investigation held in the cabinet of the SAP head, the message says.

NABU also noted that investigation was conducted under the ruling of investigating judge within the frameworks of criminal proceedings registered by the General Prosecutors Office.

As a result of this, according to NABU, facts that could evidence criminal and disciplinary offence in the actions of the SAP head. In particular, it could be instigation of witnesses to give false testament or disclosing information of pre-trial investigation to persons not involved in the corresponding criminal proceedings, the message says.

The video record contains the fragment of Kholodnytsky's conversation with the witness on the case of bribing Health Minister Uliana Suprun.

NABU also said that the revealed facts of possible offences in the actions of SAP head do not in any way characterize the work of the organization he heads, and the cooperation of NABU detectives and SAP prosecutors in investigating criminal cases will proceed in normal mode.

At the same time, the Bureau noted that the question of prosecuting the SAP head is in the competence of the General Prosecutors Office as the body of pre-trial investigation in this case. As for the disciplinary component of the case, on March 30, 2018, NABU Director Artem Sytnyk filed a complaint to the Qualification-Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors.

Earlier, Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged the authorities of Ukraine to provide the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

Video of the tapping record:

Related video:According to the preliminary data the ship is Ukrainian and the members of the crew are Ukrainian citizens

Russian diplomats will not have access to the crew of arrested Nord ship, which was detained by Ukraines border guards in the Sea of Azov on March 25, as the press-office of the State Border Guard Service reported.

The Nord ship is Ukrainian (Kerch is its port of registration) and the members of the crew are preliminary Ukrainian citizens, therefore the officials of Russian diplomatic agencies do not have access to it, the message says.

The representatives of the Service added that the Ukrainian side uses best endeavors to provide the crew with everything they need.

The Nord ship is connected to the Berdiansk commercial seaport industrial electric power supply, the lawyers are allowed to visit the crew and they are also provided with food products, medical supplies, and other necessities, the State Border Guard Service informed.

Ukrainian border guards detained fishing ship-violator under the Russian flag in the Sea of Azov on March 25.

The Nord ship was stopped in 15 miles from the Obytichna sandspit. The inspection defined that the ship was registered in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Besides, the members of the crew violated the order of the exit from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. All of them had the so-called Russian passports, issued in Kerch. Later, the court arrested the detained ship. Ukrainian border guards detained Volodymyr Gorbenko on April 4.

As we reported earlier, the ports, located on the territory of Crimea (Yevpatoria, Kerch, Sevastopol, Feodosia, Yalta) were shut down by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers on Ukraine (Some question on the functioning of marine and river transport) and according to the order of the Ministry of Infrastructure (on shut down of sea ports).The key issues of todays meeting in Minsk were the security, the violation of the Easter ceasefire by the enemy side, and the new stage of hostages release

Open source

Ukraine announced that it intends to trad 23 Russian diplomats for its political prisoners in Russia. Iryna Gerashchenko, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraines Representative in the subgroup of humanitarian affairs, on her Facebook page.

At the session of the humanitarian group and the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk the Ukrainian side expressed the readiness to pass 23 Russians, who are kept in Ukrainian prisons for the crimes against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, for the crimes related to war to Russia, in exchange for Ukrainian political prisoners, who are kept in Russia. Now we are waiting for Russias reaction and response to these initiatives, she wrote.

Gerashchenko also stated that the key issues of todays meeting in Minsk were the security, the violation of the Easter ceasefire by the enemy side, and the new stage of hostages release.

Certainly, we have raised the question of release of the hostages, who are kept in Russian prisons and on the occupational territories. Here we are ready for the broad healthy compromise, except the unacceptable positions, as that Berkut officers release etc., she wrote.

They also discussed the question of the reconstruction of the bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska.

We also raised the question of the bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska, we are for the reconstruction of the bridge with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Besides, the project has to correspond with all the standards = agreed with Ukrainian competent services and agencies, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada said.

Gerashchenko informed about the discussion of the question of missing civilians, noting that Russia demonstrates a complete unwillingness to solve this problem.

I have touched upon a question of missing people, the creation of the participatory mechanism of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Russia to intensify the searching of the people. Unfortunately, the other side, Russia and its satellites, have a destructive position on this issue and do not agree with Russian experts participation and representatives in such mechanismI resent the fact that the Russian side shows a complete unwillingness to take care of its own missing civilians, so we continue working to move forward on this issue, Gerashchenko noted.

The next meeting in Minsk will be held in two weeks.

Earlier, Herashchenko stated that Ukraine was ready to pass 23 Russians in return for Ukrainian prisoners.Starting April 4, Ukraine will be giving foreigners electronic visas for business and tourism

Open source

Ukraine has started issuing online electronic visas for foreigners visiting Ukraine with business and tourism purposes. This was reported on the website of Ukraines Foreign Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry has considerably simplified the process of receiving an electronic visa which also allows to effectively monitor migration.

It is reported that in order to receive the electronic visa, one has to fill the online form, download the scanned copies of the necessary documents, pay with a bank card on the website (with MasterCard Worldwide or Visa International) and print the electronic visa you receive by e-mail.

According to the Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, citizens of 46 countries can get a visa to Ukraine without leaving home.

As it was reported earlier, Ukraine and Qatar signed an agreement on the mutual abolition of visa requirements in March 2018.

The head of state also noted that Doha is an aviation hub and launched two planes a day from Kyiv.

It is expected that the signing of the document will promote the cooperation between the countries, both in the consular, economic and humanitarian spheres, will allow bringing to a qualitatively new level the protection of the rights and interests of legal entities and individuals, activate contacts of business representatives, open additional opportunities for national tourist industries.

Related video:Enjoy the first large-scale museum exhibition dedicated to tramp art since 1975. More than 150 examples of tramp art, concentrating on works from the United States, with additional international examples.

For Immediate Release: October 24, 2016 (Santa Fe, NM) The Museum of International Folk Art presents No Idle Hands: The Myths & Meanings of Tramp Art, the first large-scale museum exhibition dedicated to tramp art since 1975. The exhibition will present more than 150 examples of tramp art, concentrating on works from the United States, with additional examples from France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Canada, Mexico and Brazil to demonstrate the far reach this art form has had. Additionally, the show will analyze and dismantle the myths and misperceptions about tramp art, particularly as they relate to assumptions related to class, quality, and the anonymity of the makers.

Tramp art describes a particular type of chip-carved woodwork that was practiced in Europe and the United States between the 1870s and 1940s, making use of discarded cigar boxes or crates that were then notch-carved along the edges and layered. Objects made were primarily boxes and frames, but other household objects such as small private altars, crosses, medicine cabinets, wall pockets, clock cases, plant stands, and even furniture can be found.

"Tramp art's place in art history has been troublesome. It has had detractorspeople who regard it as 'the ugly duckling' of folk artbut also numerous champions," said Laura Addison, Curator of North American & European Folk Art at the Museum of International Folk Art, and the show's curator. "This exhibition will erase any doubts about the quality and craftsmanship of the work and situate tramp art as a practice at the crossroads of cultural transformation at the turn of the 20th century," she said. Addison also pointed out that by juxtaposing historic pieces with those by contemporary artists working in the tramp art style, the exhibition frames this art form as an ongoing tradition that continues to capture the public's imaginationmyths and all.

"The ingenious objects in the Tramp Art exhibition use recycled or repurposed wood, and highlight a moment in time a century ago when artisans, many of them immigrants to the US, created a new variety of folk art," said Khristaan D. Villela, Director of the Museum of International Folk Art. "They are a testament to the ability of untrained artists to produce objects of immense beauty and complexity," he said.

For many years, tramp art was believed to have been made by itinerants and hobos, thus its name. It has been demonstrated, however, that this belief, first put in print by Frances Lichten in a 1959 Pennsylvania Folklife article, is erroneous. Nonetheless, the name "tramp art" has remained the only terminology used for this practice, and the paucity of scholarly studies to dispel the mistaken notions about tramp art have allowed the myths to persist.

Whittling objects such as wood chains and ball-in-cage whimsies was a common pastime, including among railriding "hobos," and some examples of tramp art were likely by the hand of itinerant laborers or artisans. However, this style of carving was more commonly the practice of family men and blue-collar factory workers making functional domestic objects or gifts for the women in their lives. Efforts have been made in recent years to identify makers by name and unearth their biographies; these personal narratives illustrate a very different story of the makers of tramp art. As these makers and their stories come to light, it has become obvious that home and family are central to an understanding of the practice of tramp art.

No Idle Hands will present tramp art objects according to four primary areas: Introduction/historical context, home & nation, frames & boxes and devotional objects. Works in the exhibition will come from the Museum of International Folk Art permanent collection as well as loans from a number of private and museum collections across the country. An exhibition publication will accompany the exhibition, with essays by Laura Addison, Curator of North American & European Folk Art, Museum of International Folk Art; Leslie Umberger, a curator in the area of folk art and self-taught art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; and Eric Zafran, a retired curator of European art, most recently at the Wadsworth Atheneum.

The Museum of International Folk Art Museum Shop is located in the museum at 706 Camino Lejo (Museum Hill just off Old Santa Fe Trail). 505-982-5186.

MUSEUM OF INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART

The Museum of International Folk Art is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

The Museum of International Folk Art's mission is "to enrich the human spirit by connecting people with the arts, traditions and cultures of the world." Founded in 1953 by Florence Dibell Bartlett, the museum holds the world's largest international folk art collection of more than 150,000 objects from six continents and over 150 nations.

The museum's collections represent a broad range of global artists whose artistic expressions make Santa Fe an international crossroads of culture. For many visitors, fascination with folk art begins upon seeing the whimsical toys and traditional objects within the Girard Collection. For others, the international textiles, ceramics, carvings and other cultural treasures in the Neutrogena Collection provide the allure. The museum's historic and contemporary Latino and Hispano folk art collections, spanning the Spanish Colonial period to modern-day New Mexico, reflect how artists respond to their time and place in ways both delightful and sobering. In 2010, the museum opened the Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience, where exhibitions encourage visitors to exchange ideas on complex issues of human rights and social justice.

Over 90,000 national and international visitors visit the Museum International Folk Art every year. Through folk art, the museum encourages all to find a common ground upon which to craft better lives for all.

Museum exhibitions and programs are supported by donors to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and its Director's Leadership Fund, Exhibitions Development Fund, and Fund for Museum Education, as well as by the International Folk Art Foundation, also established by museum founder Florence Dibell Bartlett.Yuh Shioh  The Light Behind the Sun

Matthew Finley  Fragile

March 9April 13

Gallery Reception: Saturday, March 31, 68 pm

Richard Levy Gallery is pleased to present The Light Behind the Sun, an exhibition of paintings by Yuh-Shioh. Inspired by personal visions and concepts from ancient civilizations, Yuh-Shioh creates ethereal compositions that are both deliberate and impulsive.

Her interest in Shamanism and the spiritual realm leads Yuh-Shioh to paint atmospheric landscapes that are summoned from her experiences with nature. She uses large Sumi and Hake brushes to apply diluted acrylic paint to stretched raw canvas. Her confident shapes are painted with intention, while watery edges bleed spontaneously into the natural raw canvas surface.

Yuh-Shioh earned a BA in painting at Harvard University and an MFA in painting from Hunter College in New York City. She also attended Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in Maine. In 2013 she was the Artist-in-Residence at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Yuh-Shioh currently lives and works in Mount Shasta, California.

In the project room the gallery presents Fragile, a selection of tintype photographs by Los Angelesbased artist Matthew Finley. This series of conceptual portraits explores ideas of introversion in contemporary society. Matthew Finleys work has been published in Fraction Magazine, Shots Magazine, and the journal Plates to Pixels. He won the Juror Award in the Visual Armistice 10th Annual Juried Showcase.

Images for this exhibition can be found on our website www.levygallery.com. High-resolution images are available on request. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @levygallery #yuhshioh #thelightbehindthesun #matthewfinley #fragile

Dates: March 9April 13, 2018

Gallery Reception: Saturday, March 31, 68 pm

Gallery Hours: TuesdaySaturday, 11 am4 pm

Location: 514 Central Avenue SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102

Contact: 505.766.9888, info@levygallery.com, www.levygallery.com

Gallery Reception: Saturday, March 31, 68 pm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!)Geneva  A project recently launched in Lesotho looks at getting young people to work in agro-processing, boosting food production in a country which  surrounded by South Africa  has for an eternity depended on importing essentials.

The Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC) has facilitated the development of a brand new horticultural market centre in the capital, Maseru. It will allow those in the business to better preserve their fruits and vegetables and receive prompt payment for their products.

The venture advances better farming, marketing of agri-products and stakeholder access to finance whilst advancing commercial activity in Lesotho.

The country is one of the world's Least Developed Nations. The mountain kingdom, with a size of 30,000 square kilometers, is about three-quarters the size of Switzerland and supports a population of 2.2 million.

The centre opened its doors with an inauguration ceremony led by Lesotho Prime Minister Motsoahae Thomas Thabane. Also present were the Trade and Industry Minister Tefo Mapesela and Ratnakar Adhikari, executive director of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), which works with Least Developed Countries.

Expanding productive capacity

Prime Minister Thabane said that the development of the market centre is in line with Lesotho's economic policy to expand its productive capacity and diversify its export products and markets.

"The development is also a quest by the government to accelerate job creation and poverty reduction in general, particularly among the youth and women," said Thabane.

ITC executive director Arancha Gonzalez said at its opening: "Ownership at the country level, government level and farmers' level is imperative to make this initiative accessible and have an impact."

Gonzalez was excited about the scheme when she spoke to AllAfrica about how this agro-processing scheme is going to reap multiplier benefits to Lesotho, which has so long been dependent on its big neighbour.

"The scheme is going to be a win-win for both Lesotho and South Africa, stimulating the local food market and employment," said the ITC head.

Gonzalez knows about trade, big and small. She served as chief of staff at the World Trade Organization for eight years before joining the ITC, a joint development agency of the WTO and the United Nations, in 2013.

Income-generating agriculture

She said, "We must show young people especially that agriculture is an income-generating occupation that is worth investing in.

"We must seize all opportunities for value addition: in industry, in services and in agriculture."

In all, 115 greenhouses have been provided to smallholder farmers in four districts  Mafeteng, Maseru, Berea and Leribe  which are all close to South Africa's Free State province.

The Lesotho Productivity and Trade Development Project was funded under the Enhanced Integrated Framework for an amount of U.S.$ 2.74 million and implemented over four years.

Farmers can now drop off produce at the centre for cleaning, packing and cold storage. Upon delivery, they receive payment in cash or through bank transfer when possible.

The centre then sells the produce that included the likes of tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers and peaches to hotels and supermarkets in Lesotho.

This initiative marks an important step in helping producers work towards their goal of exporting to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and beyond.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Lesotho Sustainable Development International Organisations By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Services for smallholder farmers

The centre is also equipped with up-to-date facilities enabling it to provide smallholder farmers in Lesotho with services. Encouraging farmers to receive payments through bank transfer helps build their credit history, improving their access to finance.

Gaining experience with banks and becoming familiar with the workings of financial institutions helps them strengthen their case when approaching banks and financial institutions for financing to expand their small businesses.

Gonzalez said the results from the project have enhanced the potential for the initiative to boost Lesotho's productive capacity in the production of fresh vegetables in targeted agriculture sectors.

The ITC also believes that the introduction of greenhouse technology enhances produce quality, reduces the risk of production losses and facilitates market access.Chris Dupin has written about trade and transportation and other business subjects for a variety of publications before joining American Shipper and Freightwaves.YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The tender for selecting a contractor for the Masrik 1 project has been completed.

The lowest bidder for electricity production tariff has been selected to construct the 55 MW solar power station.

The government selected the consortium comprising the Dutch Fotowatio Renewable Ventures B.V and Spanish FSL Solar S.L.

Armenias Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said on Facebook that the proposed tariff is 0.0419 without VAT (20,11 drams).

For comparison, the current tariff for active small hydro power stations on natural watercourses in Armenia is 23,8 drams. This tariff is unprecedented in the world for such relatively small capacity international tenders. This proves high confidence of investors towards our energy system and investment policy. This project is also an exemplary and unprecedented project in the context of state-private sector cooperation. By breaking all stereotypes, this tender opens a new and extremely important prospect stage towards a secure and independent energy system, Karapetyan said.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Armen Sarkissian, who was elected President of Armenia by the Parliament on March 2, met with more than two dozen representatives of the Kazakh-Armenian community in Astana on April 3, his Office told Armenpress.

Addressing the community representatives during the reception organized in the Armenian Embassy, the President-elect introduced Armenias foreign and domestic challenges, the steps of the countrys leadership aimed at socio-economic development, deepening the Fatherland-Diaspora ties, as well as attached importance to the preservation of cultural, linguistic and national identity of Armenians living in Kazakhstan.

During the meeting Armen Sarkissian got acquainted with the main activity directions and programs of Armenian businessmen, cultural figures, urged them to make efforts aimed at uniting the community, assist the youth in receiving contemporary education, further intensify the ties with the Fatherland.

English translator/editor: Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The State Service For Food Safety suspended a bakery business in the town of Hrazdan, Kotayk province.

The service said inspections revealed significant violations of sanitary requirements.

The bakery didnt even carry out laboratory control of neither raw materials, nor finished products.

The photos released by the food safety service shows the extent of the violations.

The business was banned from operations until further notice.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani Movement for Democracy and Prosperity has demanded from the countrys central electoral commission to release the property and income declarations of presidential candidates for the upcoming snap elections, which incumbent President Ilham Aliyev ordered to take place April 11, Azerbaijans Turan News Agency reported.

The Movement For Democracy and Prosperity said it will sue the commission if the latter fails to respond, because the declarations must be released under Azerbaijani laws.

Turan said that income and property declarations of presidential candidates are kept secret during all elections.

This is a deliberate step to conceal facts on massive widespread corruption, Turan said.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. A Russian person on the same flight into the UK as Yulia Skripal before returning to Moscow a few hours later is being investigated over the nerve agent attack, Daily Mail reported.

UK intelligence agencies have red-flagged the individual who arrived on the Aeroflot flight on March 3 in Heathrow airport.

The Russian returned to Moscow after only a few hours in Britain, which raised suspicions.

Earlier it was reported that Sergei Skripal had given his daughter access to a 150,000 secret bank account just days before he was poisoned.



On 4 March 2018, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer, and his daughter Yulia, visiting him from Moscow, were poisoned with an alleged Russia-made nerve agent in Salisbury, England. As of 13 March 2018, they remain critically ill at Salisbury District Hospital. The poisoning is being investigated by British authorities as attempted murder.

The United Kingdom believes it is "highly likely" that the Russian government was behind the attack. Russia denies any involvement.

The incident sparked a diplomatic row as many Western countries began expelling Russian diplomats. Russia retaliated by expelling 60 American diplomats.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The consortium comprising the Dutch Fotowatio Renewable Ventures B.V and the Spanish FSL Solar S.L.  the bidder which was selected for the construction of the Masrik 1 55MW solar power station, has expressed interest for constructing an even larger station in Mets Masrik, Hayk Harutyunyan, deputy minister of energy infrastructures and natural resources told a press conference.

These two companies are interested in a construction project of a bigger station in Masrik. Here we have bigger opportunities in terms of land space, and it isnt ruled out that they will construct a station with greater capacity than 55MW as a result of negotiations. We will specify this in the coming months, he said.

Concerning the construction and commissioning of the 11 solar power stations approved by the governments program, the official said they will be built and commissioned until the end of the year.

The total capacity of the stations will be 10 MW. Three of them are already connected to the network, the remaining are under construction, he said.

The deputy minister said they are currently also discussing an efficient option for implementing another industrial-scale solar power station project in Aragatsotn province.

Asked about the volume of solar resource potential in Armenia, the deputy minister answered  unlimited.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, 4 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 4 April, USD exchange rate up by 0.05 drams to 480.28 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.38 drams to 589.64 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.04 drams to 8.30 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 1.13 drams to 674.55 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 150.37 drams to 20590.28 drams. Silver price up by 3.73 drams to 255.09 drams. Platinum price down by 137.47 drams to 14314.14 drams.YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenia plans to increase electricity export to Iran. This year we have drastically increased electricity export to Iran. We plan to bring it to 1 billion and 600 thousand kwh which will be 40-50% rise against 2016", Hayk Harutyunyan, deputy minister of energy infrastructures and natural resources told at a press conference at ARMENPRESS media hall.

He noted that talks with Iran over gas imports are underway. We negotiate over gas supplies that will meet the needs of the existing agreement (gas for electricity  edit.) and other needs, the deputy minister added.

Referring to the announcements coming from the Iranian side about their readiness to supply Armenia with gas with affordable prices, Hayk Harutyunyan reiterated that the Iranian price is higher than the Russian one. He did not want to publicize the offer of the Iranian side, noting that its a trade secret.

English translator/editor: Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan held a consultation on April 4, during which the amended version of the draft document Armenia Development Strategy 2030 was discussed.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Presidents Office, the republican executive bodies participated in drafting of the document, which have so far held numerous thematic discussions through established working groups.

Premier Karen Karapetyan briefed on the works done and results, noting that an ambitious and realistic program has been developed.

English translator/editor: Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenian minister of foreign affairs Edward Nalbandian held a meeting on April 4 with outgoing Russian Ambassador Ivan Volinkin.

The FM thanked the Ambassador for the productive and active work, mentioning that during Volinkins tenure the allied and strategic partnership between Armenia and Russia strengthened even more.

The Russian Ambassador said he is proud to have been able to have his contribution in the development of the Armenian-Russian brotherly ties, and thanked the foreign ministry for cooperation.

The sides exchanged ideas over joint actions for further enhancement of bilateral relations.

The Armenian FM awarded the Ambassador with the Medal of Honor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for significant contribution in strengthening the Armenian-Russian relations.

English translator/editor: Stepan KocharyanEric Jon Schmidt, a candidate for city council in the gay-friendly city of West Hollywood, California, has taken the principle of openness with voters to a whole new level, publicly leaking nude photos of himself, some in explicitly sexual situationsapparently immunizing himself against any possible upcoming sex scandal, according to the local news site WeHoVille.

Schmidt himself alerted WeHoVille to his portfolio of nude photos and videos posted on the site DudesNude, where he posts under the profile name Need2BNude, according to WeHoVille.

I do not think it will hurt my campaign anymore than it would a candidates stamp collecting hobby. My hobbies do not affect any other part of my life, Schmidt told WeHoVille in an email. Being a performance exhibitionist is one of my hobbies. I also danced nude in Canada to help pay for college, but I loved it.

Schmidt is running for one of three West Hollywood city council seats that will be up for election on March 5, 2019. But despite the fact that he will not face any surprise revelations of his online nude postings, he faces an uphill battle against the incumbent candidates. Perhaps making his run more difficult, he has also pledged not to accept campaign contributions, according to WeHoVille.

But even though Schmidt himself publicized his DudesNude posts, the gay news site Queerty on Tuesday uncovered another cache of sexually explicit material that, it reports, also belongs to Schmidt.

The candidate apparently also maintains a profile on the adult video tube site XVideos.com. That newly unearthed profile contains 197 photos of Schmidt, and 27 videos, according to Queerty.

Schmidtwho has given his age alternately as 51 or 53describes himself as a United States Army veteran who now works as a fitness trainer, and participates in such social activism groups as Project AngelFood and Heal the Bay, according to the gay news site TowleRoad.com.

On his DudesNude profile Schmidt says that he has posted his nude photos and videos strictly for his own enjoyment, describing himself as a horny little sexhibitionist and asserting that he is not a porn star nor does he want to be one.

West Hollywood has a population of 34,399, according to 2010 U.S. Census data, with about 40 percent of those residents identifying as members of the LGBT community.

Photo via Eric John Schmidt For WeHo Facebook pageWe've detected that JavaScript is not enabled in your browser.

You must enable JavaScript to use craigslist.Now that it is fully apparent, to all who have the ability to pay some modicum of attention, that Imposter President Biden has extreme cognitive issues, in addition to being an inveterate liar: Can OUR Republic continue with this Executive Office that has completely failed, so many times, on far too many issues here at this early date in this abysmal presidency?

No, Joseph R. Biden is completely unqualified, morally and cognitively, to represent real Americans, and lead this Republic of disparate peoples.

Yes, Joseph R. Biden has started whispering again, even softer now than before; so, I know he still cares, plus, OUR media will soon stop reporting on Afghanistan in favor of OUR Socialist ideals."Whatever money is recovered on behalf of the taxpayers of the state should come to this body for expenditure for the citizens of this state," said Delegate Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, the sponsor of the bill. "It shouldn't be used by any attorney general for political purposes or self-aggrandizement."

said Delegate Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, the sponsor of the bill. The issue heated up ... this fall after Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced his office was transferring $1 million to the State Police to hire staff for the crime lab to help clear a case backlog. Questions arose about whether the Attorney General has the authority to appropriate state funds to another agency. ...

Morrisey's office ... expressed concern that the proposal would suppress state agencies' motivations to file suits to recover damages when they are harmed if those wouldn't receive money from their efforts. [Emphasis added.]

Republican lawmakers are questioning the structure of an $850 million settlement between the state of Minnesota and 3M Co. that leaves them out of how the money is spent.

3M agreed to pay the money last month, resolving a massive lawsuit alleging damages to natural resources and groundwater in the Twin Cities' east metro. ...

The 11-page agreement between the state and 3M makes clear the "grant" from 3M won't go to Minnesota's general fund, but will stay in a remediation fund managed by state agencies and overseen by Hennepin County District Court. ...

Republican state Reps. Pat Garofalo of Farmington and Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa said the state constitution requires legislators to appropriate all money the state spends, yet the court-authorized settlement locks out the Legislature.

"I think we need to take a much deeper exploration," Drazkowski said. "This does not seem to be consistent with our constitution."

When the settlement was announced in February, Swanson noted it was designed so that the money would specifically target clean-water efforts in the east metro. ...

"Minnesota learned a lesson from the tobacco trial, where the settlement money never compensated the victims. Instead, much of the money was sidetracked by the legislature to sell bonds to balance the budget. [Emphasis added.]

In 2011, the state borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars against money from the 1998 tobacco settlement to close a budget gap. Critics then said it was diverting money away from intended programs.

As Carolina Journal readers know , North Carolina Republicans have raised objections to Gov. Cooper's Atlantic Cost Pipeline fund.One of their objections is that Cooper effectively forced the pipeline operators to contribute to the fund as a condition for permit approval. Such extortive "pay-to-play" schemes, they claim , violate federal anti-corruption laws. They also object to the fact that the deal Cooper made with the pipeline operators gives his administration, rather than the General Assembly, the power to decide how the money is spent. The Republicans suggest that this violates the North Carolina Constitution, which grants the legislature exclusive power to appropriate revenue.Pay-to-play schemes, like the one under scrutiny in North Carolina, aren't the only way a state can extort funds from private businesses. Lawsuits filed by state attorneys general are an equally effective tool. Both approaches have become commonplace across the country and so have squabbles over who gets to spend the money.Last month, for example, the Metro News reported a dispute over a bill requiring the West Virginia attorney general to deposit all lawsuit settlement proceeds in the state's general revenue fund.Last week, the Associated Press reported that a similar controversy had arisen in Minnesota:According to the AP report:As I have indicated by the use of emphasized text above, there's an important lesson imbedded in each of these stories.The lesson embedded in the Minnesota story is that, while enforcing state constitutional requirements regarding the appropriation of funds is all very well, simply transferring control over "extorted" funds from executive branch officers to state legislatures won't ensure that those funds are used wisely. Easy money often leads to easy virtue no matter who gets to spend it.The lesson embedded in the West Virginia story is even more important. The biggest problem in all such cases isn't how the money gets spent; it's how the money gets raised. Regardless of whether the state demands payment in exchange for permits and other favors or as a settlement in a lawsuit, allowing the state to extort money from private businesses perverts the relationship between the government and the public by turning the former into a predator and the latter into its prey. Predatory government is incompatible with a free society and ultimately leads to ruin: just ask the people of Detroit or Argentina.After a year of operation, wind farm isn't meeting performance projections and Navy report may show it still interferes with radar facility

After operating a little more than a year, the Amazon Wind Farm, North Carolina's only large-scale wind energy project, continues to cause concerns. The project - located in Perquimans and Pasquotank counties near Elizabeth City - generated just 75 percent of its expected power. Military officials also remain uneasy about the wind farm's interference with a sophisticated radar facility that provides crucial intelligence for the United States.Interference with military operations may be the project's Achilles' heel - and it may spell trouble for other large wind projects considered for the region. Last year, North Carolina legislative leaders asked the Trump administration to consider shutting down the $400-million, 208-megawatt, 104-turbine project. State lawmakers said the massive turbines would interfere with the U. S. Navy's Relocatable Over-the-Horizon-Radar facility, or ROTHR, in southern Virginia, bordering North Carolina's Currituck County.The sophisticated ROTHR receiver plays a key role in the military's tracking of aircraft and ships suspected of transporting illegal drugs and other banned substances to the United States. The Navy commissioned a study on the interference which will be released this spring, Katisha Draughn-Fraguada, a public affairs officer for Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, told Carolina Journal.Nor has local opposition to the project eased. Currituck County Commissioner Paul Beaumont, a former U. S. Navy pilot, recently toured the ROTHR facility. He said ROTHR personnel made it clear to him that the Amazon Wind Farm has degraded signal reception. ROTHR has trouble detecting and identifying targets of interest, including fast moving and semi-submersible watercraft, because of interference from the wind farm.he said, and he will ask fellow commissioners to support the change.The wind project was built and is operated by Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of Madrid-based Iberdrola Group. Online retailer and data center operator Amazon agreed to buy the electrical power generated by the project and assumed naming rights.The Amazon Wind Farm went into operation in December 2016 and was fully operational in February 2017. Amazon and Avangrid said it should generate approximately 670,000 megawatt hours of wind energy annually - or enough to power more than 61,000 U.S. homes in a year.Carolina Journal has tracked the project using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. For the 12-month period spanning February 2017 and January 2018, the project reported generating only 503,914 MWH, or 75 percent of projected output.April 2017 and January 2018 were the only two months the wind farm produced more than the 1,836 MWH/day needed to satisfy Amazon's projected production levels. Three months it produced less than half that amount.Avangrid did not respond to CJ's questions about the lower power output and the radar interference issues.In June 2012, the government's ROTHR Program Office released a study concluding that a large-scale wind farm should be no closer than 28 miles from a ROTHR facility to prevent interference with the radar's operation. The Navy released a map showing the "interference awareness area" in relation to the ROTHR receiving facility in southern Virginia. The Amazon Wind Farm covers about 20,000 acres. It begins about 14 miles from the ROTHR facility stretching to a point about 22 miles away. It is entirely within the 28-mile interference awareness area described in the 2012 study.The Obama administration's Department of Defense reversed position in October 2014 and entered an agreement citing a goalUnder the agreement, the Navy would "discuss strategies" with Iberdrola Renewables [Avangrid] if the installation adversely affected radar operations. But under the agreement, if the turbines compromised the radar facility's effectiveness, the Navy had no option to terminate the project or force Avangrid to reduce the wind farm's operations.If the Navy detects an adverse impact from the turbines, the parties willand discuss strategies likely to prevent problems.The agreement also states that Iberdrola Renewables is not obligated to undertake any measures that it, by its sole discretion,The legislators' 2017 request to the Trump administration - signed by House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and seven other General Assembly members - was addressed to retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, who became Trump's secretary of homeland security and then the president's chief of staff.Kelly commanded the U.S. Southern Command from November 2012 - January 2016. In that role, he oversaw all military operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean. The radar system provides critical surveillance capability to support the Southern Command's program to detect and monitor drug-smuggling aircraft and ships from Central and South America.CJ first reported on the potential conflicts involving the wind farm and the radar facility in September 2015. Kelly had testified before Congress about the project, and that testimony was noted in the CJ story.Kelly told the House Armed Services Committee in February 2014.Kelly's Southern Command successor, Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, also expressed concerns about wind farm interference with ROTHR installations in testimonies to the Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2017 and February 2018.Right now, a massive conversation has been launched about the value and danger of social media. Most of that conversation has centered around two specific problems: the first is privacy; the second is manipulation.The first problem is the most obvious, and the most broadly concerning to the most people. People are worried that companies like Facebook and Google have been using all their data for purposes of profit-making or marketing, that they've been packaging that data to third parties or allowing third parties to grab that data without user permission, that the searches they've been entering with the assumption of anonymity aren't anonymous in the slightest.The answer to this is: of course this was happening. And not only was it happening, it was celebrated by many of the same people on the political Left currently decrying it. The Obama campaign was praised mightily in 2008 and 2012 for their masterful use of so-called "Big Data." The worm has only turned now that Donald Trump is president and many on the Left are looking for someone to blame - and so they blame Facebook's supposed focus on profit over privacy.Then there's the second problem: the problem of manipulation. People on the Left purport to be worried about the idea that right-wing sources and Russians used social media data to provide narratives to susceptible crowds. They blame this sort of manipulation for Hillary Clinton's devastating election loss. The reality, again, is that the Obama team engaged in precisely this sort of manipulation for years, and nobody on the Left cared.But there is real informational manipulation currently taking place on social media. And it threatens the entire structure of the new media.The old media used to be able to control the nature of journalism as well as the information that the public saw. There were gatekeepers. The expense of running a television network was extraordinarily high; the same held true for newspapers. The legacy media had a de facto monopoly on the distribution of information: ABC, NBC, CBS controlled television; The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and a few others controlled print. Fox News was the first company to challenge that monopoly. Then the internet came along and blew up the system completely.But something happened. For years, Americans got their news from websites they bookmarked and visited - or they used link-directed sites like Drudge Report to determine which news was worth following. The Drudge Report still acts as perhaps the last remaining bastion of such news-visiting, cultivated by a conservative - it's massively powerful, and drives millions of eyeballs. But most Americans no longer bother bookmarking sites; they now get their news via Facebook and Youtube and Google and Twitter other social media sites. Fully 78% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 get their news from social media; so do 55% of 50+ Americans.That transition in news consumption occurred because social media promised implicitly to act as open platforms: you no longer had to bookmark Daily Wire, you could just follow Daily Wire and its updates would appear in your feed. This was quicker and easier, and you could also engage with your friends on the stories that appeared in your feed. And so publishers began appealing to the aggregated eyeballs on those outlets. Consumers and news outlets saw social media as a platform, in other words, not as a publisher. And that's how social media billed itself.Then social media decided to act as a publisher, and to re-establish the old media gatekeeping function. No longer would Facebook act like AT&T, simply providing a mechanism for informational distribution. Now, Facebook announced that it would cultivate news from only approved sources, and downgrade other news - so if you followed Daily Wire, Daily Wire stories might still not appear in your feed. Mark Zuckerberg was no longer Steve Jobs or Bill Gates - now he was Arthur Sulzberger. Youtube and Google and Twitter did the same. Suddenly, rising, successful alternatives to mainstream media were downgraded by the same companies that had pledged openly and implicitly to merely connect users and publishers. As multiple studies have shown, traffic has plummeted for a wide variety for conservative sites across the spectrum; the same hasn't held true for outlets on the Left, and particularly for those considered "mainstream."This is dangerous, obviously. And it raises a serious legal question: should these social media outlets, which have now made clear that they see their mission not as platforms but as publishers, be given legal exemption as platforms? Or should they be held accountable as publishers?This is a question that bears severe fiscal ramifications. Publishers are liable for defamatory statements they print, for example, as well as copyright infringement and plagiarism. Social media are replete with all of these types of content. Historically, social media have claimed immunity to suit on these grounds since they are mere platforms, just as AT&T is a platform for talking but can't be sued for defamatory statements made over its phone lines. But what if social media are cultivating content? What if they're making decisions about what consumers see, and which opinions must be quashed, in a non-neutral fashion? If, for example, Facebook chooses to elevate a particular story in people's newsfeed that contains defamatory information, could Facebook feel the sting in the court?That, however, is a side point. The bigger point is this: the gatekeepers are back, and they have an agenda. If platforms are going to start treating themselves as publishers, perhaps we should all start treating them as such accordingly.Shakespeare suggested in "As You Like It" that "all the world's a stage." Now, 400 years later, our constitutional system faces threats from political "actors" who are treating the Bard's words too literally.That's one key takeaway from Yuval Levin's recent speech in Raleigh for the John Locke Foundation. Editor of the journal National Affairs, Levin is also author of recent books on our "fractured republic" and on the "great debate" between radical disciples of Thomas Paine and conservative followers of Edmund Burke.Levin's latest project focuses on the health of American institutions. His diagnosis: Many of them are failing.Levin told his Raleigh audience on March 26.These and other institutions no longer play their traditional roles.Levin explained.An institution helps "form" people, Levin added.he said.In the past, institutions tended to earn our trust.Levin explained.Now that trust has eroded.Levin said.Levin sees a transformation in the way we think about institutions.The transformation generates negative consequences.Levin contends.he adds.Picture a politician as a performer, and the current president might come to mind. Levin agrees that Donald Trump's administration has demonstrated his interest in something other than the traditional institutional role of the American presidency.Trump's supporters and critics make a mistake when they assume he ran for president to pursue a fairly standard set of policy goals.Levin says of Trump.The presidency follows Trump's previous role asLevin said.Trump is not alone. His immediate predecessor exhibited similar signs of treating the presidency as a performance, Levin argues.Nor is the president the only current political actor who has bypassed his institution's traditional role.Levin said.Not even the courts have escaped this institutional change. One need only read the flowery language of an opinion authored by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy to sense the degree to which performance has taken hold within the judicial branch.Levin concludes about the three branches of federal government.In a conversation for Carolina Journal Radio, Levin offered suggestions for addressing the problem.he said.Recognizing the negative shift from formative to performative institutions marks the first step toward making a change.During Congress SESTA/FOSTA deliberations, opponents repeatedly promised that the Doe v. Backpage litigation in Massachusetts would imminently provide key insights into Section 230s purported limitations. Indeed, a week after the Senate passed the Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA, the court partially denied Backpages Section 230 motion to dismissexactly as the opponents had argued. The tiny time gap between the Senates passage and the Doe v. Backpage ruling highlighted Congress possible hastiness.

The Massachusetts litigation is only one of many pending lawsuits against Backpage. Last week (i.e., also about a week after the Senates passage), another courtthis time in Floridadenied Backpages Section 230 motion to dismiss. So now we have 2 court rulings, each within 10 days of the Senates passage, each indicating that the courts are already doing what Congress thought Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA was required to achieve.

The Florida court contextualizes Section 230 by saying: Some courts characterize the protection of  230(c)(1) as a broad immunity, but this view is not universal.  [cites to Chicago Lawyers v. Craigslist and Barnes v. Yahoo] Even without the scare quotes around protection, this statement is a bad sign for the defense because it means the court will ignore many precedential cases saying that Section 230 is a broad immunity and instead cite some outlier cases that the court will read tendentiously (e.g., the Barnes case says that Section 230 immunity isnt absolute, which is not a synonym for broad). Thus, the courts contextualization signals strongly that this judge isnt comfortable with Section 230; and its a leading indicator of judicial activism.

The court concludes:

even if  230(c)(1) is something other than an affirmative defense and can be properly addressed on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, factual issues preclude a ruling on the  230(c)(1) issue at this stage of the casePlaintiffs have alleged facts suggesting that Defendants materially contributed to the content of the advertisements, and thus the issue of CDA immunity cannot be resolved on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss in this case.

This is not exactly the most thoughtful Section 230 opinion Ive ever seen. What facts sufficiently suggested Backpages material contribution? How do those facts differ from the ordinary activity of every other UGC site? Given the courts obvious discomfort with Section 230, apparently those questions involve inconsequential details.

Although Section 230 doesnt moot the complaint (yet?), the court nevertheless dismisses the complaint (with leave to amend) because of other procedural defects in the complaint, plus

the only federal claim asserted in the ComplaintCount Idoes not state a claim for which relief can be granted. Defendants note that Count I does not include a plausible allegation that Defendants saw the ad concerning Plaintiff Doe and knew it related to illegal sex trafficking. And the Complaints allegations largely describe Defendants alleged actions of masking advertisements of minors by creating content that obscures the fact that they are minors. Yet Plaintiff Doe was not a minor at the time of the events at issueshe was twenty-six years old

So obviously were not dealing with the best-drafted complaint. But even a weak complaint and a thinly reasoned opinion are enough to demonstrate the illogic of Congress hasty passage of the Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA.

Case citation: Florida Abolitionist v. Backpage.com LLC, 2018 WL 1587477 (M.D. Fla. March 31, 2018). Plaintiffs complaint. Backpages Motion to Dismiss.

More SESTA/FOSTA-Related Posts:

* District Court Ruling Highlights Congress Hastiness To Pass Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA Doe 1 v. Backpage

* More on the Unconstitutional Retroactivity of Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA (Guest Blog Post)

* Senate Passes Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA (Linkwrap)

* Why FOSTAs Restriction on Prostitution Promotion Violates the First Amendment (Guest Blog Post)

* SESTAs Sponsors Still Dont Understand Section 230 (As They Are About to Eviscerate It)

* Can the Worst of Both Worlds FOSTA Be Salvaged? Perhapsand You Can Help (URGENT CALL TO ACTION)

* Congress Probably Will Ruin Section 230 This Week (SESTA/FOSTA Updates)

* Whats New With SESTA/FOSTA (January 17, 2018 edition)

* New House Bill (Substitute FOSTA) Has More Promising Approach to Regulating Online Sex Trafficking

* My testimony at the House Energy & Commerce Committee: Balancing Section 230 and Anti-Sex Trafficking Initiatives

* How SESTA Undermines Section 230s Good Samaritan Provisions

* Managers Amendment for SESTA Slightly Improves a Still-Terrible Bill

* Another Human Trafficking Expert Raises Concerns About SESTA (Guest Blog Post)

* Another SESTA Linkwrap (Week of October 30)

* Recent SESTA Developments (A Linkwrap)

* Section 230s Applicability to Inconsistent State Laws (Guest Blog Post)

* An Overview of Congress Pending Legislation on Sex Trafficking (Guest Blog Post)

* The DOJs Busts of MyRedbook & Rentboy Show How Backpage Might Be Prosecuted (Guest Blog Post)

* Problems With SESTAs Retroactivity Provision (Guest Blog Post)

* My Senate Testimony on SESTA + SESTA Hearing Linkwrap

* Debunking Some Myths About Section 230 and Sex Trafficking (Guest Blog Post)

* Congress Is About To Ruin Its Online Free Speech Masterpiece (Cross-Post)

* Backpage Executives Must Face Money Laundering Charges Despite Section 230People v. Ferrer

* How Section 230 Helps Sex Trafficking Victims (and SESTA Would Hurt Them) (guest blog post)

* Sen. Portman Says SESTA Doesnt Affect the Good Samaritan Defense. Hes Wrong

* Senates Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017and Section 230s Imminent Evisceration

* The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 Bill Would Be Bad News for Section 230

* WARNING: Draft No Immunity for Sex Traffickers Online Act Bill Poses Major Threat to Section 230

* The Implications of Excluding State Crimes from 47 U.S.C.  230s Immunity

The imminent implementation of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been hailed as a victory for global privacy advocates; since the regulation severely limits the collection of data on Europeans  even when they're communicating with non-Europeans  services like Facebook would risk running afoul of the GDPR if they collected data on anyone in a way that violated EU rules, and since the penalties for violating the GDPR are incredibly draconian, the benefits of such surveillance would surely be outweighed by the risk of getting it wrong.



Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg disagrees. In an interview with Reuters' David Ingram and Joseph Menn, Facebook's founder signaled that Americans waiting to have the GDPR applied to them shouldn't hold their breath.

The EU's privacy rules are an interesting inversion of the usual problem of the close interconnectedness of our social networks when it comes to privacy. In the USA, the NSA is only supposed to spy on communications that involve foreigners (the NSA is theoretically prohibited from conducting domestic surveillance), but since virtually everything we do online crosses at least one border, the NSA ends up spying on Americans with approximately the same ardor that it approaches the rest of the world with.

The GDPR flips this dynamic on its head. If you're operating a platform on the scale of Facebook or Google, it's nearly impossible to be sure that the people you're spying on aren't in the EU, or aren't EU citizens (for example, I hold an EU passport, but I'm writing these words in my home in California). Almost any social interaction you spy on has a moderate likelihood of including at least one person who is covered by the GDPR.





In that way, EU privacy rules should end up being world privacy rules. This has led Clay Shirky to quip that Germany is playing the same role in global privacy that California plays in global emissions standards: a source of extremely stringent consumer protection regulations, in a market that no global business can afford to skip, meaning that nearly every car sold nearly everywhere benefits from California emissions standards, and (in theory) nearly every internet user nearly everywhere gets to be treated like a German internet user when it comes to privacy.





But apparently not. Zuck apparently has some plan to sort the surveillable from the protected, and is confident enough that he'll get it right that he's willing to bet billions of dollars on it  this being the scale of the fines that Facebook could pay under the GDPR if they slip up.





It's a characteristically arrogant move: Zuck is betting that he can do something that is technically impossible, and also betting that Americans won't mind that he's decided to treat them worse than Europeans. I'm betting he's wrong on both counts. He usually is, and honestly, he always has been.



GDPR is likely to hurt profit at Facebook because it could reduce the value of ads if the company cannot use personal information as freely and the added expense of hiring lawyers to ensure compliance with the new law. Data is central to Facebook's advertising business, and it has not yet sketched out a satisfying plan for how it plans to comply, said Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser. "I haven't heard any solutions from Facebook to get ahead of the problem yet," Wieser said. Failure to comply with the law carries a maximum penalty of up to 4 percent of annual revenue.



It should not be difficult for companies to extend EU practices and policies elsewhere because they already have systems in place, said Nicole Ozer, director of technology and civil liberties at the American Civil Liberties Union of California.

Exclusive: Facebook CEO stops short of extending European privacy globally [David Ingram and Joseph Menn/Reuters]

(Image:

Jason McELweenie

, CC-BY)

(via /.)U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign a proclamation today to authorize deployment of National Guard troops to the southwest border with Mexico.

"We are going to be guarding our border with our military," Trump said earlier this week, in a meeting Tuesday with heads of state from the Baltic region. "That's a big step."

"It's time to act," said Kirstjen Nielsen, homeland security secretary, briefing press on the policy at the White House on Wednesday.

From the New York Times:

In recent days, and in anticipation of an annual increase in numbers of people who attempt to cross the border, the Trump administration has been ramping up plans to block migrants and asylum seekers, including young unaccompanied children, from entering the United States. The announcement came a day after Mr. Trump said he wanted to send the military to the southwest border to guard against growing threats from unchecked immigration, suggesting he might want to use active-duty armed forces to do what immigration authorities cannot.

JUST IN: Homeland Security Secretary announces Trump will sign an executive order to deploy the National Guard to "assist the border patrol." "The president will be signing a proclamation to that effect today." pic.twitter.com/5eAiNmja4w  MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 4, 2018

AG Sessions' statement on "National Guard deployment" leads off with discussion of the "caravan"  despite DHS Sec. Nielsen just pushing back from the White House on claims the deployment was related to recent TV coverage of the caravan. pic.twitter.com/f7DjIX0Rfi  Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) April 4, 2018Back in 2016, the ACLU and First Look (the publishers of The Intercept) sued the US government to force it to clarify that the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act  the overbroad statute passed during over a panic sparked by the movie "Wargames"  does not prohibit violations of terms of service.

At issue is the CFAA's incredibly broad definition of hacking: "exceeding your authorization" on a computer. Tech companies have argued that this means that any violation of their terms of service (through which they define your authorization) is a felony under the CFAA. This was the basis for the US government's legal attack on Aaron Swartz, allowing a federal prosecutor to threaten him with 35 years in prison for failing to abide by the legal fine-print on a website.





The US Government moved to dismiss the suit and a Federal Circuit judge has dismissed their motion, and will allow the suit to proceed.





The Intercept and the ACLU are seeking a judgment that would allow them to systematically explore whether services are practicing illegal racial and gender-based discrimination in advertising and offering financial products to their users; to do this, they want to be able to create fake personas and login to the services to gather data.

Axios's Joe Uchill points out that this is a fraught business in the midst of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, with some skeptics arguing that a victory in the suit for the ACLU and The Intercept would be the thin edge of the wedge for allowing companies like Cambridge Analytica to violate terms of service by scraping user profiles. I think that this is overstated: other circuits have already narrowed the CFAA and its ability to turn EULAs into private law; and the issue being argued here is a narrow one: whether a specific legal activity can be made illegal by adding a term-of-service prohibiting it.



The details: A handful of researchers and First Look Media (which operates The Intercept and other sites) would like to use bots and create dummy accounts to test the behavior of employment and real estate websites.

*

The researchers are studying whether machine-learning algorithms on employment and real estate websites might have developed gender or racial bias. To do that, they would set up multiple similar accounts, changing only minority or gender status between them, and apply for jobs or housing.

* That might violate the sites' terms of service  and doing so, some courts have ruled, constitutes a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the major U.S. anti-hacking law.

Suit to let researchers break website rules wins a round [Joe Uchill/Axios]When a couple told their doctor they were moving out of town, the doctor reacted in an unusual way  he cried. Maybe his odd response was due to the fact that, unbeknownst to the couple, the doctor was the biological father to their young daughter, Kelli Rowlette.

Let's fast forward. Rowlette, from Washington state, recently took a DNA test with Ancestry.com, only to find out her father wasn't her biological father. In fact, Ancestry said her bio dad was a doctor named Gerald Mortimer who lived 500 miles away. This was so surprising that she told her mother that Ancestry had got it wrong.

What she didn't know was that her parents had gone to the same Doctor Mortimer in the 1980s, and her mother had undergone artificial insemination with both her father's sperm and that of an "anonymous donor" who was supposedly a 6-foot tall college student with brown hair and blue eyes (which the doctor was not). The parents had kept the artificial insemination a secret from their daughter, while the doctor had kept the fact that he and their daughter shared the same DNA a secret.

Even after the DNA test revealed that Rowlette's biological father was not her father, Rowlette's mom kept mum.

According to The Seattle Times:

But several months later, Rowlette discovered the shocking truth on her own. In August, Rowlette was helping to sort through her parents' old papers when she ran across her birth certificate. It had been signed by the doctor who delivered her  Gerald Mortimer.

Last week the Rowlettes filed a lawsuit. They are suing the now retired doctor for "fraud and medical negligence." They claim they are "suffering immeasurably."

Ancestry just put out a statement which, in part, reads, "We are committed to delivering the most accurate results, however with this, people may learn of unexpected connections."

Image: PixabayBusiness / Companies

by Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange-listed miner RioZim expects to start exploration for diamonds this month on its 3 000-hectare piece of land in Chivi, as the group eyes expansion. Chief executive Bhekinkosi Nkomo said a team of geologists was already clearing the land where new drilling equipment will be commissioned.The company is in negotiations with legislators and Government officials in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development as well as the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement for favourable conditions to ensure the new venture succeeds.Further, the diversified miner is negotiating for allocation of additional land and a review of ground rentals in support of the project."We made a presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy, we also invited them to our operations at Murowa so that they tour and see the actual activities and what it takes to run a diamond mine; so they came."The committee is the one that then advises because this is about law," Mr Nkomo told The Herald Business on the sidelines of the company's annual results briefing last week.He said the company required more land to increase the chances of finding the resource given that seven years of exploration at its 33 000ha Murowa Diamond Mine, for instance, found three kimberlitic pipes."We have engaged the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, we are also in discussions with other ministries such as that of lands," he added.The RioZim executive said ground rentals currently being charged by Government make exploration uncompetitive and threatens the viability of mining.The miner is also in discussions with a number of investors for its Sengwa energy project. Sengwa has 1,3 billion tonnes expected to back a power project with capacity to generate 2400MW. This will help plug the power deficit now at about 600 MW. The project will cost about $1,2 billion.Mr Nkomo said a binding agreement is expected to be signed by end of 2018 and works commence in 2019.The implementation period is expected to be between 2 and 3 years.In terms of the group's financial performance, RioZim posted an after tax profit of $8,1 million up from $2,5 million the prior year after revenue grew 36 percent to $88,9million on the back of an average gold price of $1 255/oz when compared to $1 251/oz achieved in 2016.Revenue growth was achieved despite the fact that the Empress Nickel Refinery (ENR) remained under care and maintenance.RioZim's Murowa Diamonds rolled out a new mine plan, tripling the plant's processing capacity and investment in the mine.Murowa recorded a 69 percent growth in volumes and returned to profitability, thus posting a share of profit of $1,4 million compared to a loss of $267 000 in 2016.Cam and Motor Mine remained the flagship operation after it produced 974kgs of gold during the year under review, while Renco Mine produced 688kgs of gold.Going forward, the group is focused on an accelerated exploration and development programme, which is aimed at identifying new mining areas and enhancing flexibility in the management of its ore grade.Entertainment / Arts

by Tidi Kwidini

UK based Zimbabwean spoken word artist, Munnya Usuwana has added another monumental project to his glowing CV after being commissioned to compose a poem for the upcoming Coal miners' documentary, Digging Deep, backed by one of the UK's largest lottery funders, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).Usuwana's poem will serve as the documentary score that will navigate and bring to light the trials, tribulations and journeys of African-Caribbean miners and some of the hardships they suffered in the 60s and 70s.The two-year project, based in Nottingham, began last April and will run until April 2019. Produced by celebrated historian and author, Norma Gregory, the project focuses on the shared experiences of former coal miners, of African-Caribbean heritage, and will be shown through a variety of media-based, creative art forms to emphasise various aspects of the miners' journeys.The documentary is in collaboration with Communities Inc. Nottingham, the National Coal Mining Museum for England (NCMMfE) in Yorkshire, and is being led by volunteers from across the UK."Digging deep has been such a privilege to work on. It has been truly insightful and one filled with so much history. It has opened my eyes to what miners' of African-Caribbean heritage experienced in the UK, dating back to the 1970s."Usuwana said that he drew a lot of inspiration from the detailed and often heart-breaking tails of approximately 40 miners."Writing the poem for the documentary was a challenging but incredibly rewarding experience.""Understanding and reflecting on what the miners went through helped me appreciate the work they did, as it contributed to the economy and day to day running of households that we still see to this day," Usuwana said.Nottingham News Centre CIC received just over ninety thousand pounds from the Heritage Lottery Fund to produce the documentary.Munnya said that not many people were aware that there were so many African-Caribbean coal miners who were pioneers and contributed immensely to the growth of Britain."African-Caribbean miners worked side by side with white British, European and Asian miners, labouring underground to help fuel the UK economy and, sadly, there were some that died in the process.""Their part in Britain's industrial past has never been told and it was wonderful to collaborate with so many talented and passionate people, but more so, to unearth the stories of these heroes," he added.Gregory who has interviewed over 40 black miners, is now searching South Wales for more. She plans to create an exhibition that will give the miners' an opportunity to share their perspective of life and working in coalfields across Britain.Who is Munnya Usuwana?With a number of major projects under his belt, Munnya first discovered his passion for poetry in his early teens, performing at church conferences and small parties that gave him the confidence and inspired him to start writing and sharing his poetry with the world.Since the release of his debut poem Andrew, which was officially released as a video in 2014, he has gone on to produce several singles, including Caroline, Commitment Issues, and his latest, Vicious Rebels.Munnya has also taken to the big screen, starring in Zim-Nigerian production Love Triangle, which follows the complex love story of protagonist - Razor - played by Usuwana - a very intellectual fraudster who is embroiled in a world of dishonesty and corruption.The award winning artist has performed at several prestigious events across England, including Havant Literary Festival, Petersfield Write Angle Poetry and Music Cabaret, BBC Radio Leicester and the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards.Currently working on numerous projects, he is planning to host an evening of poetry and is working on his next single.News / National

by Staff reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has implored Chinese businesses to come and invest in Zimbabwe saying opportunities abound in most sectors of the economy.Addressing the Zimbabwe-China business forum in Beijing where he is on a five day State visit, the President reiterated the mantra that Zimbabwe is open for business and that the visit demonstrated the country's desire to deepen relations with the Asian giant."In our vision to leapfrog Zimbabwe's developmental path, my administration recognises the role that Foreign Direct Investment and private investment will play."We are indeed inspired by the vast strides made by China in every facet of development and your journey in the path to transformation serves as an inspiration and template for us in Zimbabwe and the rest of the developing world," he said.About 200 business executives attended the meeting, including 70 from Zimbabwe.President Mnangagwa said the rehabilitation, refurbishment and establishment of road, rail, air, energy, water and ICT infrastructure was an area yearning for investment.Opportunities were also available in the agricultural and mining value chains, tourism, financial services and manufacturing sectors.News / National

by Staff Reporter

FORMER Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's family has failed to agree on an executor, it has emerged. This has resulted in two lawyers being appointed to jointly assist in the distribution of the estate.Two camps have emerged resulting in Mr Tsvangirai's widow, Ms Elizabeth Macheka, and two of the late politician's children calling for the appointment of Mr Innocent Chagonda of Atherstone & Cook as executor to the estate.The rest of the children and relatives want Mr Charles Maunga of Maunga & Associates.An officer at the Master of High Court's office, who convened the edict meeting last week, later resolved to appoint both lawyers as joint executors.The decision puts to an end the dispute pitting the family members.The executors, according to the law, have the duty to investigate the correctness of the inventory filed on registration of the estate.They will identify and account for all the property that could have been left out in the initial inventory.The Tsvangirai family recently wrote to the Master of High Court Mr Eldard Mutasa challenging the legality of Ms Macheka's marriage to the late politician.They accused her of fraudulently leaving out five houses, a farm and 17 vehicles in the inventory of properties.The family members contend that Ms Macheka deliberately under-declared the properties left behind by the late politician.Soon after burial, Ms Macheka registered the estate and indicated that she was the only surviving spouse.She went on to declare one house in Strathaven, Harare, as the only immovable property that the late politician owned.Ms Macheka listed six vehicles, 45 cattle in Kwekwe and others in Buhera as the only movable property forming the estate.The family, through its lawyers, informed the Master of High Court that the following immovable properties were fraudulently left out by Ms Macheka: Highlands house, Borrowdale house, Philadelphia house, Number 16 Kent Road and a farm in Mazowe.The following vehicles, according to the relatives were also left out on the inventory: three Mercedes-Benz vehicles, a Range Rover, Nissan Navara, three Toyota Prado vehicles, a Toyota Vitz, a Toyota Hilux, five Isuzu trucks, a BMW X5 (at Gwanda Police Station) and a Toyota Land Cruiser (at CMED).Mr Tsvangirai died at Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre, South Africa, on February 14 after battling cancer of the colon.He was accorded a State-assisted funeral and was buried at his rural home at Humanikwa Village in Buhera.News / National

by Staff Reporter

The trial of former Energy and Power Development Minister Samuel Undenge, accused of prejudicing Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) of $12 650, has been set for April 24.Undenge yesterday appeared before magistrate Ms Tilda Mazhande, who remanded him to his trial date after prosecutor Ms Linda Gadzikwa notified the court that the docket was now complete.Meanwhile, former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation chief executive Happison Muchechetere, accused of contravening the Procurement Act, will now stand trial for his 2013 case.Muchechetere's docket is back at the magistrates' court and he would be summoned to appear before a magistrate on a date to be set.The court in 2016 dismissed his second attempt to seek relief at the Constitutional Court. It is alleged that on January 18, 2013 Muchechetere  without going to tender - entered into a procurement deal with a Chinese company to purchase an outside broadcasting (OB) van for $1 050 000. On April 23, 2013, he allegedly misrepresented to ZBC's executive committee that $495 000 donated by BancABC was enough to purchase an audio van, a cargo van and a crew bus.The committee approved the purchase of the items. The State alleged that Muchechetere did not disclose to the committee that he had already entered into a deal for only one item, the OB van.The court heard that Muchechetere flew to China and signed an agreement for inspection of the van, which was never carried out by other members of the executive committee. The OB van was delivered in August 2013 after BancABC released $100 000 to the Chinese company.The alleged crime was discovered after Muchechetere's suspension in November of the same year.It was established that the OB van had a market value of $350 000, contrary to the $1 050 000 he had stated.News / National

by Staff Reporter

South Africa's Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has approached Government to discuss immigration issues.Home Affairs and Culture Minister Dr Obert Mpofu confirmed the discussion with his South African counterpart. He, however, noted that further discussions, which have been delayed due to the Easter Holidays, will be held in due course."I was contacted by South Africa's Home Affairs Minister Gigaba just a few days ago. But because of the holidays I have not managed to talk to him. But I will call him when I get back to the office," said Dr Mpofu."I am sure he would want us to talk about Zimbabweans that are in South Africa and the attitude of some of the immigration officers at the border posts, especially at Beitbridge where Zimbabweans have been subjected to unfair treatment by the South Africans."The imminent meeting between the two follows complaints by travellers over the ill-treatment they receive at the hands of South Africa's immigration officials.Last month, an immigration officer and her three supervisors were suspended after a viral video of her on social media sparked outrage.The alleged harassment of travellers prompted Minister Gigaba to visit the South African side of the Beitbridge Border Post, where he uncovered security breaches by SA immigration officials.The security breach could have led to some individuals entering and exiting the neighbouring country without being accounted for.Dr Mpofu said the country will also assess whether travellers are not being harassed at the entry and exit point or not."We also want to check on our side if travellers are not subjected to harassment and certain influences which impede free movement of people," he said.News / National

by Staff reporter

THE situation is back to normal at Government hospitals following the return of doctors who had gone on strike last month.Some departments at major hospitals such as Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) had been shut down as a result of the strike.The industrial action was called off during the Easter holidays and the doctors said they were resuming work yesterday.Mpilo Hospital clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya confirmed that doctors at the institution were back at work and the situation was back to normal."The doctors started reporting for work today and everything is back to normal. Mpilo was, however, functioning in any case except for the out patients department which was closed."We're grateful that the doctors are back at work and all our departments are operational now. We had made duty rosters to stretch up to April 3 to cover the holidays and make sure that our patients were attended to," said Dr Ngwenya.United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) clinical director Dr Narcisius Dzvanga also confirmed that operations had also normalised at the institution yesterday."The strike ended during the Easter holidays and the doctors informed us that they would be back on April 3. The doctors have since reported for work as promised and this has come as a relief to the hospital management and the patients."Operations at the institution were almost grinding to a halt due to the absence of doctors," said Dr Dzvanga.The Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors' Association spokesperson Dr Mxolisi Ngwenya said they had finally reached an agreement with the Health Services Board after President Mnangagwa intervened.He said there was an upward review of on call allowances with the procurement of essential medicines and drugs in the process to improve service delivery at the hospitals.Dr Ngwenya said his association will continually review the situation until the attainment of regional and international standards despite the limitations in the country's economy.Apart from reviewing the doctors' allowances, the Government also promised to correct grading anomalies in the health sector.However, the Zimbabwe Nurses' Association said nurses would continue with their plans to down tools as they were not satisfied with what the Government was offering them.Full statement below:

Khupe and her acolytes remain expelled from the partyFormer Vice President Thokozani Khupe, Abednigo Bhebhe and Obert Gutu remain expelled from the party and have neither the power nor the mandate to call for a purported extra-ordinary Congress under the name of the MDC-T.

The facts are that Ms Khupe is just an individual; an expelled one for that matter with no power at all to call for any Congress or any meeting of the party.The National Council, the supreme decision-making body between Congresses, has in its wisdom already put to rest the issues that she purports to be complaining about. Khupe has the right to exhaust all available domestic and internal remedies as provided for in the party Constitution.The Constitution is very clear on how and who should call for an extra-ordinary Congress and former members that have been expelled have no such powers. Their cause has no support from any of the organs of the party, including any of the 12 provinces or of the 1 958 wards the party.Theirs is simply a lost cause. The party president and the leadership even extended the time frame given to him by the national council in order to give dialogue a chance but the former comrades remained obstinate.All stakeholders, including members of the public and the press are advised not to entertain the aforementioned as officials acting for or on behalf of the party.The party is pursuing all remedies and putting in place the necessary measures to stop the abuse of the party, its name and/or property.Everyone awaits the advent of a new Zimbabwe and this is certainly no time for needless sideshows meant to distract us from the key matters at handHon. Thabitha KhumaloActing national spokespersonMovement for Democratic ChangeNews / National

by Virimayi Chidembo

Since President Emmerson Mnangagwa started preaching about corruption, heads had been rolling both in Government and private sector. Recently, a list from both the private and public sectors was made public, signalling that the new administration means business.The President is a practical man as evidenced by what is currently happening. There is no purging but everyone is made to account for the economic crimes they are alleged to have committed.During the administration of former President Robert Mugabe, there hasn't been serious commitment to absolute eradication of corruption. Mugabe used to talk of corruption but he never fired anyone on corruption allegations. The new administration is leaving no stone unturned.The recent outburst by Grace Mugabe that his property in Mazowe was invaded has exposed the Mugabe family that they have been defying the principle of one man one farm.Grace Mugabe took advantage of Mugabe's advanced age to engage in criminal and dirty deals. She has been grabbing land in Mazowe, causing a lot of people to suffer. She even evicted people in Mashonaland Central, and ignored court orders which gave the Manzou farmers right to the land.She was a boss unto herself to the extent of arm-twisting Zimbabwe National Water Authority to give her exclusive water rights to Mazowe Dam.During his interactions at the World Economic Forum at Davos, President Mnangagwa categorically made it clear that there are no sacred cows on corruption.Grace Mugabe still thinks she enjoys immunity but she must understand that the new administration means business. She simply has to respect the law. It is high time Grace Mugabe's issues come to the attention of Parliament of Zimbabwe so that she can be summoned either by ZACC or police or even Parliament so that she can explain to the nation how she ended up with 21 farms under her ownership.All her shenanigans are now coming out. She is currently under investigations on allegations of smuggling ivory. She is obsessed with corruption. She has been smuggling latest cars to South Africa and other neighbouring countries.Russel Goreraza, her son from the previous marriage, tried as well to grab a gold mine in Kadoma taking advantage of the powers that the Mugabes wielded then.She was involved in a ring dispute which exposed her profligacy in a sea of poverty. The Government of Zimbabwe would do well if it repossesses Grace Mugabe's farms and properties which belong to the State.The enactment of the Public Asset Act is a step in the right direction as officials would be expected to declare their assets before assumption of public office.The courts should make a decision that empowers the miners whose source of livelihood is derived from such mafia operations. The Mugabes have enough to sustain their families and to deprive the empowered miners is very unfair.People want leadership which listen to the downtrodden. President Mnangagwa is on record saying the voice of the people is the voice of God.News / National

by Staff reporter

Harare City is set to ban all political posters in a bid to keep the city clean.Mayor Benard Manyenyeni said political parties should embrace technology because council is trying to deal with pollution that posters bring."After my two-day "Look and Learn" trip to Kigali last week, I am back to my beloved Zimbabwe capital Harare where I am tethered to serve."The timing is perfect  our national elections are perhaps just three months away."Straight from visiting such a clean capital city, I think it is very much in order to BAN the 100 or so political parties and the thousands of their vote-splitting candidates from putting campaign posters anywhere in our City," he said.He added:"We have started the programme internally and we are months away from the elections, so the time for implementation is now."City is always struggling with this kind of pollution. Political parties should take advantage of technology, they should embrace social media instead of putting posters on walls and buildings."The problem we face is that no one comes back to remove them, whether they win or lose they will not come back," he said.Harare City council's objective is to reach world-class status by 2025.News / National

by Simbarashe Sithole

The People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Tendai Biti has expressed sadness over the passing on of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who died on Monday in the neighbouring South Africa.Biti took it to micro blogging Twitter saying, "Very sad to learn that Mama Winnie Mandela is no more."A true giant of the struggle of humanity against all forms of oppression A true king pin of the struggle against racial bigotry and apartheid. Rest In Peace, daughter of the soil."Mandela died at the age of 81 at Netcare Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa after a long illness.News / Press Release

by NPP

Dr JTR Mujuru, the President of National People's Party and People' s Rainbow Coalition Presidential Candidate wishes to express sadness and shock on the passing on of South Africa' s revolutionary ant- apartheid icon Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at Netcare Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa on the 2nd of April 2018. Indeed Mama Winnie was a supreme justicar of South Africa. She fought evil apartheid to ensure that the world and South Africa at large must be made safe for democracy. She was an iron lady who made South Africa's march to freedom irreversible. Without doubt, Mama Winnie demonstrated to the world an indomittable and revolutionary spirit of women who fought alongside their male counterparts in fighting repressive laws of colonial administrations.Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela suffered all forms of discrimination and retribution on the hands of the racial supremasists and diabolic apartheid regime. As a Mother, she bore the brunt of looking after the family while her late and former Husband Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years at Robben lsland. Mama Winnie's fortitude and quest for total emancipation of mankind kept the revolution alive notwithstanding the incarceration of the late iconic Nelson Mandela and other South African revolutionary luminaries. She bore the mark of Mother of the nation. She got arrested on numerous occassions and was even banished to Brandfort in the orange free State by apartheid supremacists. We say thank you Mama winnie for showing and teaching humanity that the world can be a best place to live in if we all love one another irregardless of race, sex, tribe, gender and status.To our heroine, we wish you eternal rest in peace. You ran your journey and you conquered. The revolutionary footprints you leave behind remain a hub of instructive wisdom for generations to come. To the Mandela family we ask you to find comfort and solace in the know that your loss is also our collective loss. We pray that instead of mourning, may the lord grant us wisdom and power to celebrate life enriching lessons that Mama Winnie imparted into humanity of the world that by loving one another we can all make the world a better place to live in. May her Soul rest in eternal peace.Dr Joice Teurai Ropa MujuruNational People's Party President and People's Rainbow Coalition Presidential Candidate for 2018.Opinion / Columnist

National Constitutional Assembly president, Professor Lovemore Madhuku's, pronouncement that he has joined MDC Alliance is already showing that the purported marriage of convenience is doomed to fail.Prof Madhuku was once struck off from the Law Society register for converting client funds to personal use and spent 15 years without interfacing in his profession. This person cannot be entrusted to hold any public office and anyone celebrating his company is as lost as he is.Embracing Madhuku into MDC Alliance is tantamount to taking Zimbabweans for a ride and this cannot be condoned in the new dispensations of hope and a better future for the Zimbabwean people.Madhuku is perennial failure and as such cannot offer anything to the already directionless Alliance.Recently he was rejected as a candidate to take up the post as the Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Zimbabwe. How can an individual who is seen as unfit to lead a Faculty be part of those masquerading as the country's future leaders, truly this is really a fallacy.Chamisa himself is priding himself in accomodating unwanted and failed politicians like Kudakwashe Bhasikiti (former Zanu Pf and Zim PF), Munacho Mutezo (former Zanu PF), little known Jacob Ngarivhume and now Madhuku among others. Surely an Alliance made up of such pretenders cannot be serious and as such should not be taken seriously.It really shows that the MDC Alliance is composed of bunch of failed political opportunists who think they can sway the great minds of the Zimbabwean electorate by capitalising on Chamisa's misguided the silver tongue.The MDC Alliance is doomed to fail due to number of reasons essentially because it was formed by a bunch of power hungry politicians who failed to adhere and even butchered their own constitutional and usurped power from the legitimate and democratically elected vice president of the MDC-T faction, Dr Thokozane Khupe.Chamisa is trying to play to the gallery by welcoming such people as Madhuku without addressing real bread and butter issues affecting the people. What Zimbabweans are looking for is a real statesman who has a firm grasp of issues and will be able to tackle them head on.Opinion / Columnist

President Mnangagwa's ongoing five-day state visit to the People's Republic of China has made headlines and his detractors and the opposition are unhappy. They have begun to commit acres of media space to criticising the visit mainly based on non-issues and minutiae rather than its substance and objectives. This is because no person in his or her right senses would criticise efforts to revive the country's economy after nearly two decades of stagnation.Since President Mnangagwa took office in November last year, the country has realised over US$7 billion in investment deals. The fact that the economy has been on a downward spiral for years has created a crisis of expectations as people expected an overnight turnaround but any sensible person would know that it will take much more than the four months that the President has been in office.The opposition, which has neither meaningful achievements to point to ahead of this year's poll nor credible policies to offer the electorate, has pounced on the fact that the investment deals are yet to be consummated to cast aspersions on the President's noble efforts to re-connect with the international community and revive the country's economy in order to improve Zimbabweans' lives.The opposition's Harare Central aspiring independent legislator, Linda Masarira, this week tweeted: "(Chinese President Xi Jinping) and ED (President Mnangagwa) should tell Zimbabweans what happened to the so called mega deals done with Zimbabwe in 2015 before our people are seized with more fictitious paper work whereas there are still unanswered questions. Who is benefitting from these so called mega deals?"This tweet exposed Masarira's dangerously very little knowledge of what goes on in the economic world. She and other opposition elements think that business deals of this nature are consummated overnight as one would when buying a loaf of bread from a neighbourhood tuck shop. Another error on the part of the critics of President Mnangagwa is comparing him to his predecessor. This is a new dispensation and economic order under the stewardship and captaincy of a totally different vision for the country's prosperity. He is different from the former President Robert Mugabe who desired economic prosperity but was not prepared to provide the necessary investor friendly policies to help make this happen. Where the former leader prioritised politics, the incumbent President is calling for more economics than politics. While the two are ZANU PF members, they are totally different individuals and it would be unfair to ask President Mnangagwa about the Mugabe era mega deals.This week it also become evident that some of the criticism which is being thrown at President Mnangagwa and Government is mere pettiness. When the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) website reported that two Zimbabwean companies, Platinum Agriculture and Princewood Enterprises had sealed three deals to the tune of US$520 million and some print media rounded the figure down to US$500 million, the internet was awash with jokes to the effect that US$20 million of the deals had already been salted. Although this was a mere joke, it shows how petty some Zimbabweans can be. It demonstrates how some people stand ready to leap on any inconsequential detail to discredit the President and Government for political mileage or pleasure.The President's detractors have also latched onto the costs of his travel to different continental and global destinations on Government business with tabloid private dailies, the NewsDay and the DailyNewsrunning screaming front page story headlines on Tuesday about the trips. While citizens are within their rights to have concerns for Government spending, they should understand that in order for President Mnangagwa to turn the economy, which deteriorated over two decades, around he needs to travel, meet and interact with potential investors and leaders. He needs to sell the message that Zimbabwe has turned over a new leaf, is ready to re-engage with the international community and is open for business.This requires financing. They should be patient with him and give him time to achieve his objective of making Zimbabwe a country which every citizen would be proud to belong to. Even those in the opposition, who normally gloat about the "success" of the 2009 to 2013 unity Government, should be honest enough to admit that the economy did not suddenly recover abracadabra style. It was only until around 2012 that meaningful improvement in the economy began to be perceivable.All the negative criticism seems to be born of a frustrated opposition, which has no grounding from which to base its campaign message since the "Mugabe must go" mantra suddenly fell out of reason and season on 24 November 2015. The opposition camp is also miffed by the fact that since his inauguration, President Mnangagwa has hit the ground running and struck the right chords by addressing all the issues which they were hoping to use to present themselves as better than ZANU PF during the election campaign period.Given that the opposition has neither a plan, policy, project nor a programme to earn the electorate's support, it has resorted to badmouthing anything to do with President Mnangagwa to spite him and ZANU PF. In view of this, the electorate needs to carefully assess the electoral promises, candidates, campaign messages and track records before voting for vana muti ngauwe tiwane tsotso (destructive people) instead of people who have the country's best interests at heart.China's military leadership has pledged its support to Russia as tensions between Moscow and the West further deteriorate into diplomatic isolation, economic sanctions and dueling defense drills.

In his first visit to Russia, newly appointed Chinese Defense Minister Wei Feng attended the seventh Moscow International Security Conference accompanied by a delegation of other high-level military officials. Emphasizing that his trip was coordinated directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Wei said that he had two major messages for Russia at a time when both nations were attempting to modernize their armed forces and strengthen their hands in global affairs in spite of U.S. fears.

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"I am visiting Russia as a new defense minister of China to show the world a high level of development of our bilateral relations and firm determination of our armed forces to strengthen strategic cooperation," Wei said at a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency.

"Second, to support the Russian side in organizing the Moscow International Security Conference the Chinese side has come to show Americans the close ties between the armed forces of China and Russia, especially in this situation. Weve come to support you," he added. "The Chinese side is ready to express with the Russian side our common concerns and common position on important international problems at international venues as well."

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Russian Ministry of Defense

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart command what's often considered the world's second and third most powerful armed forces, respectively, behind the U.S. While the Pentagon has managed to retain a comfortable lead against its leading competitors, Moscow and Beijing have coordinated closely as they both aim to close this gap and check U.S. influence abroad.

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As Russia showed off its military prowess by declaring victory in the Syrian conflict and boosting its military power across Europe, China has invested in international infrastructure projectsespecially across Asia and Africaand expanded its presence in the Pacific. Both countries argue they are looking to work with and not against the U.S., but Washington has viewed their rise with suspicion and has taken countermeasures against perceived challenges to the international order it has traditionally dominated for decades.

In addition to boosting its own military power in Europe and Asia, the U.S. has portrayed growing Russian and Chinese influence abroad as an assault on democracy. The West has singled out Russia especially, accusing it of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential race and other foreign elections.

Washington has also charged Moscow with being behind cyber attacks and physical attacks, including the poisoning of ex-Soviet intelligence officer Sergei Skripal who was arrested for being a double agent for London before being released in a 2010 spy swap and moving to the U.K.

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Reuters

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The nerve agent attack, which targeted both Skripal and his daughter, has led a number of Western countries and their allies to expel more than 100 Russian diplomats and close consulates. Russia has responded in kind, denying responsibility and accusing the U.K. of denying it access to the investigation.

When asked about the global reaction to the case, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang urged "that the relevant parties shall sort out the facts behind the Skripal incident at an early date and properly resolve disputes based on mutual respect and equal-footed consultation," during a regular press conference Tuesday.

"The international community is challenged on so many fronts today. Cold War mentality and group confrontation is the last thing we need. We should all work together to preserve world peace, stability and security and build a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, equality, justice and win-win cooperation," he added.

Russia has also suggested that the U.S. or the U.K. may be the true culprit behind the attack against Skripal in a bid to frame the Kremlin. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the Rossiya-24 station on Thursday that "the Skripal affair was used in order to tighten the ranks of the European Union and NATO, which loosened lately, and to inject another portion of Russophobia" ahead of the Western military alliance's Brussels summit in July, Tass reported.

ChinaRussiaMilitary

CHINA MILITARY ONLINE/WANG HUAWEI/WANG TAO/ZHOU HUANCHENG

In response to Wei's visit, his Russian counterpart also stressed better relations between the two countries, which once formed the world's largest and most powerful communist alliance before falling out in the 1960s. With both Putin and Xi having been re-elected last month, the two presidents have successfully consolidated power in their respective countries.

"Thanks to the efforts of the leaders of our countries, the ties between Russia and China are now reaching a new and unprecedented level, becoming an important factor in ensuring peace and international security," Shoigu said, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekOntario PC Leader Doug Ford will not be participating in a provincial leaders' debate organized by the black community scheduled for April 11, CBC Toronto has learned.

In a statement to CBC Toronto, Ford's campaign says the Ontario Progressive Conservative leader will be in Northern Ontario on the date of the Black Community Provincial Leaders Debate.

"Doug Ford has been meeting with Ontarians of every background and listening to their concerns," the statement reads. "Doug Ford will be a Premier for all Ontarians and will bring relief to families, including those in the black community."

Debate organizers have already secured the participation of all the other provincial leaders, including Premier Kathleen Wynne, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.

Multiple attempts to reach Ford

Velma Morgan, interim chair of Operation Black Vote Canada, organized the debate with nine other black community groups and told CBC News that there were multiple attempts to reach out to Ford.

The first invitation was sent on March 11, the day after Ford won the PC Party leadership. On March 18, another email was sent after a follow-up conversation with a Ford communications official.

The group received a response on March 23 saying Ford would not be able to participate , but only heard last Saturday that Ford would be in northern Ontario on the date of the event.

"We invited all the leaders to discuss the concerns of the Black community. We're disappointed that one of the leaders won't be there," Morgan said. "We're missing out because Doug Ford could be the premier of the province."President Donald J. Trumps upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be an historic encounter between two supremely self-confident, headstrong, and mercurial men, each seeking the others surrender.

The irresistible force of Donald Trump, whose administration has declared it will never accept, allow, or tolerate a North Korean nuclear threat to America, will soon meet the immovable object of a North Korean regime that has declared it will never give up its nuclear weapons even in a dream. What could possibly go wrong?

President Trump agreed to the summit on a whim, surprising his advisers and the South Korean envoys who conveyed Kim Jong Uns invitation. Had he discussed the invitation with his advisers first, he would have heard that Kims reported interest in a deal on denuclearization of the whole Korean Peninsula is nothing of the kind.

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Those who have negotiated nuclear matters with Pyongyang know that Kims words were a familiar North Korean demand to end the threat posed by the U.S.-South Korea alliance, the presence of U.S. troops in Korea, and the nuclear umbrella that defends South Korea and Japan.

A senior North Korean official once explained to a group of American experts, If you remove those threats, we will feel more secure and in ten or twenty years time we may be able to consider denuclearization. In the meantime, he continued, we are prepared to meet with you as one nuclear weapon state with another to discuss arms control.

That is North Koreas concept of denuclearization. It bears no resemblance to the American definition.

North Korea

STR/AFP/Getty Images

Its no wonder that veterans of U.S. nuclear talks with Pyongyang have been troubled by President Trumps eagerness to talk to Kim Jong Un about denuclearization, especially since he seems convinced this long-sought goal may be within reach.

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Experts have questioned whether the president fully appreciates that Kim has no intention of giving up the nuclear weapons his regime has struggled and sacrificed so much to build, and which play a central role in Pyongyangs survival strategy. North Korea will not give up its nuclear weapons easily, if at all. As Kim Jong Un declared on January 1, 2018, North Korea has at last come to possess a powerful and reliable war deterrent, which no force and nothing can reverse.

Kim Jong Un travelled to Beijing on March 26 to get Chinas support before his summits with South Korean President Moon and President Trump. He offered Chinese President Xi Jinping the same assurances about the denuclearization of the whole Korean Peninsula.

The Chinese, noted experts on North Korean rhetoric, understood these were empty words. But Xi Jinping also knew that Seouls and Washingtons willingness to open negotiations based on insincere promises would reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula and prevent, at least for now, Chinas nightmarea military conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

China was also prepared to bless Kim Jong Uns game plan because it shares North Koreas hope to dismantle the U.S.-South Korea alliance. For all the difficulties in China-North Korean relations in recent years, Beijing and Pyongyang remain strategic bedmates when it comes to the U.S. threat.

Trump Kim Jong Un

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque, KCNA/Handout

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Xi Jinping was also pleased that Kim Jong Un declared the need for South Korea and the United States to create an atmosphere of peace and stability and to take phased, synchronized measures to achieve peace. In plain English, the first phrase aims to get Washington and Seoul to ease sanctions, reduce military exercises, and ease the pressure on Pyongyangall steps China favors.

But the second phrase speaks ominously to Pyongyangs intentions. North Korea wants to resuscitate the approach it pursued in every previous nuclear negotiation: Launch a lengthy, complicated negotiation to get agreement on actions each party must take, and use this process to buy time for the development of the Norths nuclear weapons program.

Kim Jong Uns game plan is a familiar one. It is tainted old wine in old bottles. But this time, the North Korean leader is offering to pour it himself, in the hope that President Trump will find it as palatable as his predecessors did.

By now, the president has been briefed on Kims game plan and understands the challenge he faces. His new national security team, who have no illusions about North Korea, may try to convince him to cancel or postpone the summit, urging him instead to ramp up the pressure on Pyongyang so that it has no choice but to yield on denuclearization.

But if President Trump insists on meeting Kim, he must be prepared either to agree to a long negotiating process that will play into Kims hands, or to walk away from the table, admit failure, and look at other options, including the use of military forcea step he has previously threatened and one that would lead to a disastrous second Korean War.

Faced with these options, the prudent choice might be to press the pause button.

Evans J.R. Revere is a Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center For East Asia Policy Studies

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekImproving services for children with autism and their families has put a town in western Newfoundland on the pages of a national magazine.

Today's Parent has declared Channel-Port aux Basques the most autism-friendly town in Canada.

To mark World Autism Day on Monday, the publication released a video and web article telling the story of two women who "transformed their tiny Newfoundland community from a zero-resources town to the best place in the country to raise kids on the spectrum."

One of those women, Joan Chaisson, founded a support and education group called AIM, or Autism Involves Me, with the mother of a child with autism who Chaisson works with.

Improving resources

"I think that the children and parents both, especially the parents, they felt very alone because the people outside  the public  just didn't understand anything about autism," Chaisson said, referring to life before AIM.

"There was no awareness and very little education on it for the parents."

AIM set out to change that.

It helped a local hotel become the first autism-friendly lodging option in the country  modifying some units and creating a sensory room.

Business have donated spaces for storage and social events.

There's a mini gym set up at the town's recreation centre, where staff have received training in how to work with autistic children.

"The parents have places to go now," Chaisson said.

"If their child is having a sensory issue at home, they can take their child there."

Autism in the province

Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest rate of autism spectrum disorder in the country at one in 57 children between ages five and 17, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The national average is one in 66 kids.

According to the Today's Parent article, 14 of the 300 children in Channel-Port aux Basques's elementary school have been diagnosed.

Community partnerships have been vital in AIM's work to create accessible spaces for those children, according to Chaisson.

She says the group has "never had a closed door."Isobel Granger vividly recalls listening to the radio newscast on April 4, 1968, at her family's home in Zimbabwe.

"At first we thought it was a king that died, and then we learned who it was," said Granger, the first black woman to rise to the rank of inspector with the Ottawa Police Service.

"[I remember] the almost panic on the faces of our parents and others, and realizing someone really important had died."

That "king" was Martin Luther King Jr., the American civil rights leader who was assassinated at a motel in Memphis, Tenn., 50 years ago today.

His legacy is being remembered this week and, according to Rev. Anthony Bailey of Ottawa's Parkdale United Church, King's speeches are still inspiring  and challenging  people in 2018.

"The issues of racism, of poverty and militarism, which he called the 'three evils', are still with us today, and we still have a long way to go," Bailey said on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning.

Bailey said King would have plenty to talk about if he were around today.

"We're on the brink of rhetoric that's been ratcheted up with respect to nuclear language and threats from Russia and North Korea. We're still dealing with poverty. It's a scourge, really," he said.

"I think one of the things that we're seeing in terms of the racial issues in Canada, the United States and around the world is that they still require critical thinking and a commitment to engage with a systemic nature of it. There are systemic ways that people are continually excluded."

King was a personal source of hope for Bailey after his brother was killed in a racially charged attack in Montreal.

"His words continued to be resonant and helpful in my recovery because they were hope-filled. That gave me encouragement to carry on and inspire me with his words of racial reconciliation to make that my life's work," he said.

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Granger recalled visiting a small town in the south of France where a street had been named after King, and thinking it was an example of the impact his work has had around the world.

"The people that assassinated him, I think had they applied some critical thinking they would have realized what they were doing would end up being used for good," she told Ottawa Morning host Robyn Bresnahan.

"I don't think they realized the power they were giving to the purpose he was on Earth for."By Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States, Mexico and Canada have made significant advances on reworking the NAFTA trade deal and ministers will meet in the coming days to determine the scope to agree on the basics of a deal, Mexico's economy minister said on Monday. Ildefonso Guajardo told Mexican radio he would travel to Washington on Wednesday for ministerial talks, adding that the United States was looking for a "quick solution." He added, "We've made a lot of progress, but on the complex issues, well, it looks like there's a willingness to be flexible." Ministers and negotiating teams have been meeting for weeks to try to narrow their differences, and Guajardo also held out hope for progress on NAFTA at a summit in Peru that begins on April 13. "There will be an opportunity at the Summit of the Americas for the three North American leaders to greet one another, and undoubtedly there could be an opportunity to send proactive messages and instructions at presidential level, irrespective of the fact that there is still technical work to do," he added. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to dump NAFTA if it cannot be reworked to his satisfaction. In the next 12 days, there could be "the principal lines of understanding for solving complex issues" though the three sides were "not there yet," Guajardo said. A longer period would be required to hammer out technical details, he added. "The ministers need to get working together to get things settled," said Guajardo, who has held meetings with his NAFTA counterparts, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer since a last formal round of negotiations ended in Mexico in early March. Guajardo said there was still no date set for another formal round of talks, adding, "It's clear that, given Washington's interest in advancing this process, they didn't want an eighth round." Instead, a ministerial meeting in "around two weeks" would decide what form another round could take, he said. Guajardo said the three were discussing a U.S. idea to have a certain amount of auto production in high-salary areas. Details of the plan began emerging after industry sources said U.S. officials had dropped a demand for at least 50 percent of automotive content to be from the United States, a highly contentious sticking point at the NAFTA negotiations. Such a modification could put Mexico at a disadvantage because of its lower salaries, and Guajardo said its potential impact would need to be evaluated. Besides autos, Mexico's negotiators aim for steps to improve conditions for its agriculture, textile, aerospace and medical device sectors, Guajardo said. (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Dave Graham; Writing by Julia Love; Editing by Sandra Maler and Clarence Fernandez)A mother from Montreal's West Island plans to contest a $169 traffic ticket she was given for driving in a lane reserved for buses, taxis and carpools with her daughter.

Stephanie Emond was driving on Sources Boulevard with her nine-year-old daughter, and was heading back to the West Island to pick up her son from school when she was pulled over.

"I showed the police officer, 'Look, my daughter is here with me in the back,' and she told me that the passenger needs to have a driver's licence."

"I was surprised with the cop, when she saw my daughter, that she still issued a ticket," Emond told CBC News. "The police officer was really sure [of] what she was telling me."

The rules on carpooling are laid out in article 295 of the Highway Safety Code, which merely states that reserve lanes are for the exclusive use of road vehicles carrying the number of passengers indicated by signs along that route.

As of April 2017, Transports Quebec said, there were 67 carpool lanes in use across the province.

In addition, a spokesperson for Transports Quebec is quoted on the CAA-Quebec website as saying there is no age requirement for carpooling.

"In fact, a parent taking a child to daycare is assumed to be carpooling," Transports Quebec spokesperson Solene Lemay is quoted as saying on the website.

Emond said she will contest the ticket, and hopes her experience clarifies the rules for others.

More Montreal news:Reuters

New York hospitals on Monday began firing or suspending healthcare workers for defying a state order to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and resulting staff shortages prompted some hospitals to postpone elective surgeries or curtail services. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference the city's hospitals were not yet seeing a major impact from the mandate, adding he worried about other areas of the state where vaccination rates are lower. A spokeswoman for Catholic Health, one of the largest healthcare providers in Western New York, said it had reached full compliance, counting staff members who had been vaccinated, those with exemptions and some who had been suspended without pay.Got an idea on how to make St. John's a healthier and more active place to live? It could earn the city $10 million.

The City of St. John's and Happy City St. John's want public input in their application for a federal government initiative that could result in a $10-million prize to be spent on infrastructure meant to help residents get moving.

The Canadian Smart Cities Challenge is a federal government program to encourage communities to "seek smart, transformative solutions to big problems," according to a press release from the city.

The application for St. John's will focus on the development of an "integrated mobility network" that would combine transportation, planning and urban design to make it easier for people to get around the city year-round.

"It's designing transportation, it's designing an entire network based on the needs of the people. That includes public transit, vehicular transit, active transportation and bike lanes  all the ways in which people move around," said Rob Nolan, chair of Happy City St. John's, a non-profit organization that encourages discussion of civic issues in the city.

"Like a lot of cities, St. John's has focused on cars and vehicular transportation, and of course right across the city we see a large desire for more active transportation."

Smart tech

The Smart Cities Challenge is designed to inspire towns and cities to use smart technology in their proposals to overcome problems. St. John's is hoping to win one of two $10-million prizes designed for communities of fewer than 500,000 people.

If the city's proposal makes it to the final round, it will get $250,000, which would go toward analyzing data to help figure out what the problems are and finding solutions to them.

Coun. Maggie Burton said with the application's deadline of April 24, there's not a lot of time to get going, which is why they will be looking for public input over the next few weeks on how residents think the city could improve its mobility.

Story continues

Unhealthiest city

While that public input is needed, Burton said it's clear from years of comments and complaints that St. John's needs to step up its game when it comes to helping people get around, which is why the $10 million could be such a boost for the city.

"There's a lot of data out there. We know people are unhappy with the way they can get around in the city, especially pedestrians," she said.

"We are the capital city of the unhealthiest province in Canada. People have to walk around in damp windy cold weather most of the year so that has led us to be a rather unhealthy province."

More information on the Smart Cities Challenge can be found on the Happy City St. John's website.Tobique First Nation will be majority owner of a $50-million wind energy farm near Sussex that will begin selling energy to NB Power near the end of 2019.

Chief Ross Perley said it took three years of working with Nova Scotia-based Natural Forces and NB Power to get to this point, and he hopes the $3 million in annual revenue will help the First Nation fill some gaps in housing and education.

"We're looking at a 200-lot subdivision and we hope that some of this revenue will help offset that cost," he said.

"I know you can't go wrong investing in education. We have a post-secondary program that we can subsidize. We also have a band-operated school that we can put more resources in there for our younger learners."

Natural Forces, with 49 per cent ownership of the project, has leased Crown land about 20 kilometres northeast of Sussex, between Route 114 and Portage Vale.

Six turbines will go up there, said Andy MacCallum, the renewable energy company's vice-president of development.

"All the electricity generated from the wind farm will be sold to NB Power, and Natural Forces and Tobique will reap the benefit of that sale of power," MacCallum said.

Stewards of the land

Tobique will be responsible for 51 per cent of the cost of building the wind farm, and Natural Forces the rest. No government financing is involved.

Perley said it's important to him and the residents of Tobique to have a project that's both lucrative and environmentally sustainable.

"We have to move away at some point to non-carbon energy sources," he said. "Moving towards solar and other green renewable energies is the way to the future, and us as a community need to take part of that. ... It's part of our duty as stewards of Mother Earth is to take care of it."

He said he hopes Tobique will be a leader among First Nations in Atlantic Canada in the renewable energy market. The First Nation is also looking at a solar plant, but it's just in the beginning stages.

Story continues

Projects across Canada

MacCallum said Natural Forces has partnerships with First Nations across Canada, and all have expressed the importance of being environmentally sustainable.

"First Nations groups certainly believe in the benefits of renewable energy and how it's good for the planet," he said.

This partnership came out of a provincial project called LORESS, which stands for Locally Owned Renewable Energy Projects that are Small Scale.

The program allows NB Power to obtain up to 40 megawatts of renewable energy from two First Nations and an additional 40 megawatts from municipalities or other local entities.

30-year lifespan

The Sussex-area wind farm will provide 20 megawatts, which could power about 6,000 homes, said NB Power spokesperson Marc Belliveau.

He said no agreement has been signed yet with a second First Nation, but "but the process is well underway."

MacCallum said that at the end of the project's lifespan 30 years from now, there will be two options: to "re-power" or refurbish the turbines and sign another contract, or to decommission them and reclaim the land.

He said the Sussex location was the best option for the project because of its higher elevation and its distance from houses and environmentally sensitive areas such as parks and wetlands.

It is also close to the existing NB Power grid.LONDON (Reuters) - The United Nations has blacklisted a North Korean ship for receiving oil in an October transfer that breached U.N. sanctions, as first revealed by Reuters. Reuters in December reported that Russian tankers had supplied fuel to North Korea, which relies on imported fuel to keep its struggling economy functioning, by transferring cargoes at sea. European security sources told Reuters that a Russian vessel conducted a ship-to-ship transfer with the North Korean-flagged Sam Ma 2 tanker in open seas during October. "A DPRK-flagged (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) tanker, SAM MA 2 owned by Korea Samma Shipping Company, conducted a ship-to-ship transfer of oil and fabricated documents in mid-October 2017, loading almost 1,600 metric tons of fuel oil in one transaction," the United Nations said. It is the first confirmation of the Reuters report. The U.N. Security Council on Friday blacklisted dozens of ships and shipping companies over oil and coal smuggling by North Korea, boosting pressure on Pyongyang as leader Kim Jong Un plans to meet with his South Korean and U.S. counterparts. The council's North Korea sanctions committee acted on a request by the United States, designating 21 shipping companies - including five based in China - 15 North Korean ships, 12 non-North Korean ships and a Taiwanese man. The 12 non-North Korea ships are now subjected to a global port ban and must be deregistered, while the 15 North Korean ships are subjected to an asset freeze and 13 of those a global port ban. The move comes days after Kim met Chinese President Xi Jinping and an announcement that the North Korean leader would meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27. He is also scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump some time in May. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Jonathan Saul in London and Polina Nikolskaya in Moscow; Editing by Mark Potter)"During the first Palestinian uprising, Palestinian youths used slingshots to confront the soldiers of the Zionist Occupation and defend themselves from their treacherous bullets. What is the relationship between the elongation of the slingshot's rubber and the tensile strength affecting it?"

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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..Gatestone Institute..04 April '18..In 2016, a study carried out by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) found that for literacy in the developed world, England ranks dead last. The same study also stated that for numeracy in the developed world, England ranks second-to-last. Even among graduates from English universities, the OECD study found, one in ten had literacy or numeracy skills that were classified as "low".These results are astonishing, not to mention shaming. They reflect decades of misdirection in British education, including the misdirection of resources. Understandably, successive governments complain about a lack of resources. But all of those laments only serve to highlight the strangeness of Britain's latest priorities in funding education.This past weekend it emerged that last year the British government funnelled 20 million to Palestinian schools. A review by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) found that these revenues go towards funding a curriculum which omits teaching peace, promotes the use of violence -- specifically jihad -- and encourages martyrdom. An analysis of the textbooks used in Palestinian schools funded by the UK government -- using UK taxpayers' money -- found that these textbooks, which come from the Palestinian Authority (PA), "exerts pressure over young Palestinians to acts of violence."A science textbook intended for 12-year-olds, for example, teaches them Newton's second law of physics in the following way:Another textbook, which is meant to be used for teaching arithmetic to 9-year-olds takes a highly local approach to the matter. Math lessons as provided by the PA -- courtesy of the UK government -- teach Palestinian children addition by asking them to calculate the number of "martyrs" in various Palestinian uprisings.Late last year, JRE Tobacco started to soft launch the Aladino Maduro, an extension to the companys signature line, Aladino to a group of its select retailers. JRE Tobacco is a company headed up by legendary Julio R. Eiroa and his son Justo Eiroa. It was back in 2016, when the father-son duo launched JRE Tobacco. At that time, three brands where distribution was being handled by Julios son Christian Eiroa were moved from Christians company C.L.E. Cigar Company into JRE Tobacco. These brands included Tatascan, Rancho Luna, and Aladino. Aladino Maduro marks the first major expansion of the brands portfolio since the launch of JRE Tobacco. It also is JRE Tobaccos second maduro offering, now complementing the Rancho Luna Maduro. Today, we take a closer look at the Aladino Maduro in the Cazador size.

In particular, Aladino has probably become the brand that JRE Tobacco Co is most associated with. For the Aladino Maduro, the Eiroas have decided to source a San Andres maduro wrapper from Mexico. JRE Tobacco Companys other San Andres wrapped blend is the Rancho Luna Maduro.

As for the Aladino name, it can be traced back to the 1970s. There was a historic movie theater in Danli, Honduras known as El Cine Aladino. This theater was operated by Christian and Justo Eiroas grandfather. Today, Christian owns the Aladino factory, which is in the theaters former location. Aladino is also the name that Julio Eiroa chose to name one of his brands. When Aladino was released, this was a brand positioned as delivering a classic, old-fashioned cigar experience reminiscent of those during the golden age between 1947 and 1961.

Without further ado, lets break down the Aladino Maduro Cazador:

Blend Profile

The original Aladino featured a 100% Authentic Corojo grown at the Eiroa Tobacco Farm in Honduras. In addition to the San Andres Mexican wrapper, the Aladino uses Honduran tobacco grown at the Eiroa farm (including Authentic Corojo).

Wrapper: San Andres Maduro

Binder: Honduran

Filler: Honduran

Country of Origin: Honduras (Las Lomas)

Vitolas Available

When the soft launch occurred last Friday, there were five sizes that were a part of it. All of these sizes were soft launched Company owner Justo Eiroa informed Cigar Coop that the Cazador, Robusto, and Toro sizes will be box-pressed releases when the Aladino Maduro goes into national distribution this year. The Cazador assessed here was a rounded parejo released late last year.

Elegante: 7 x 38

Cazador: 6 x 46

Robusto: 5 x 50

Toro: 6 x 50

Appearance

The San Andres Maduro wrapper of the Aladino Maduro Cazador has a dark coffee bean color to it. Upon closer examination, there was some subtle mottling on the surface of the wrapper. I didnt find much in the way of oil on this wrapper. This was a relatively smooth wrapper for a San Andres. The visible veins and wrapper seams of this wrapper were on the thin side.

The Aladino Maduro features the same band found on the original Aladino. The front and center of the band features a brown circular field with silver trim. On that field is a large silver A with the text ALADINO arranged in a curved fashion above it. To the left of the circle is the text 1947, while to right is the text 1961  both in silver font sitting on a background consisting of a combination of brown and maroon. Sitting on that same row to the far right side is the text (also in silver font) HECHO A MANO. The lower portion of the band almost looks like a pseudo-secondary band. It is yellow in color with silver trim. The text JULIO R. EIROA appears in maroon font on that yellow background.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

I commenced my experience with the Aladino Maduro Cazador by placing a straight cut to remove the cap of the cigar. After the cap was clipped I moved on to the pre-light draw. The dry draw delivered a mix of cocoa and fruit sweetness along with a slight amount of spice. I was quite pleased with the pre-light draw of this cigar. At this point, it was time to light up the Aladino Maduro Cazador and move on to the smoking phase.

Flavor Profile

The Aladino Maduro Cazador started out with notes of chocolate, fruit sweetness, cedar, and black pepper. Early on, the chocolate notes moved into the forefront. The other flavors settled in the background. In addition to being a secondary note on the tongue, the black pepper was also a flavor that was prominent on the retro-hale.

By the latter part of the first third of the Aladino Maduro Cazador, the chocolate notes transitioned to a classic mocha note (a fusion of chocolate and coffee). This remained the primary note going into the second third. During the second third, there was a slight increase in the pepper notes. While both the pepper and fruit sweetness remained in the background, I still found the pepper notes had a slight edge.

Later in the second third, some earth notes emerged and quickly displaced the mocha as the flavor. The earth notes remained the primary note for the duration of the smoking experience. This was balanced out by some notes of mocha, pepper, and some of the fruit sweetness in the background. As the Aladino Maduro Cazador came to a close, the cigar finished up with a slight soft nub that was cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

The burn to the Aladino Maduro Cazador maintained a straight path from start to finish. There was a slight amount of curvature on the burn line, but I this didnt result in additional touch-ups. The resulting ash was on the tight side with a salt and pepper color to it. The burn temperature was ideal. The burn rate seemed a tad faster than I would expect from a 6 x 46, but this didnt result in any adverse effects.

While I mentioned the burn was a little more rapid than I expected, this wasnt due to an open or loose draw. I fact, I found the draw to the Aladino Maduro Cazador to have a sweet spot with just enough resistance to satisfy me. This also was a low maintenance cigar to derive flavors from.

Strength and Body

In terms of the Aladino Maduro, I found it to be a medium strength and medium bodied cigar from start to finish. There was a slight increase in the intensity level of both attributes along the way, but in the end both attributes still remained in the medium range of the spectrum. Both the strength and body of this cigar balanced each other nicely with neither attribute overpowering the other.

Comparing this to the original Aladino Cazador, I found the Aladino Maduro Cazador to be slightly bolder in terms of strength and body.

Final Thoughts

The father and son team of Julio and Justo Eiroa have a winner with the Aladino Maduro Cazador. Ive been smoking these cigars for the past 3 1/2 months and while it was ready for prime time when I first got it, this is a cigar that continues to get better with age. I would say if you smoke this right off the truck; you will get an enjoyable cigar, yet probably arent getting everything this blend will have to offer. In the end, I found the Aladino Cazador Maduro to be a little less old school than its natural counterpart, but still quite satisfying. Its a cigar I could recommend to either a novice or experienced cigar enthusiast. As for myself, this is a cigar that I would smoke again  and its one that easily values a box purchase.

Summary

Key Flavors: Mocha (Coffee and Chocolate), Pepper, Fruit Sweetness, Earth

Burn: Excellent

Draw: Excellent

Complexity: Medium

Strength: Medium

Body: Medium

Finish: Very Good

Rating

Value: Box Purchase

Score: 93

References

News: n/a

Price: $9.50

Source: JRE Tobacco Co.

Brand Reference: JRE Tobacco Co

Photo Credits: Cigar CoopWEDNESDAY, April 4, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Children born to parents who are cousins have a significant risk for developing a mood disorder -- such as depression or anxiety -- when they grow up, a new study suggests.

For adults whose parents are first-cousins, the risk is triple that of people whose parents are unrelated, the researchers reported. And, mood disorder risk is also significantly higher among children of second-cousins, they said.

"The size of this association is significant, and understanding why children of 'related parents' are at an increased risk of psychoses and common mood disorders warrants further research," said study lead author Aideen Maguire. She is a lecturer with the Center for Public Health at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland.

The findings -- based on an analysis of nearly 364,000 people born in Northern Ireland between 1971 and 1986 -- may seem unremarkable at first glance. But fully 10 percent of people worldwide are born to parents who are first- or second-cousins, largely in Asia and eastern Africa.

Fewer than 1 percent of Western marriages fall into this category of what is known as "consanguineous marriage." Though marriage between blood relatives increases the risk of genetic defects in offspring, the practice is banned in only three nations: the United States, North Korea and China.

The study findings were published online April 4 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Of the men and women included in the current study, 609 -- or 0.2 percent -- had been born to parents who were first- or second-cousins. Of those, 349 were born to second-cousin parents, and 260 were resulted from first-cousin pairings.

The researchers inferred adult mental illness when any offspring had been prescribed an antidepressant, anti-anxiety or anti-psychotic medication at least once between 2010 and 2014.

Thirty-six percent of adults who had been born to first-cousin couples had been prescribed either an antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug. This compared with about 31 percent of second-cousin offspring, and about 27 percent of those born to unrelated parents, the findings showed.

Almost 9 percent of first-cousin offspring had been given antipsychotic meds, compared with roughly 4 percent of second-cousin offspring, and about 3 percent of unrelated offspring, the study authors said.

Based on those findings, Maguire suggested that couples should be counseled about the reproductive risks associated with consanguineous unions.

Dr. Philip Muskin, secretary of the American Psychiatric Association, called the findings unsurprising and suggested that they be taken with a grain of salt.

When couples who are close relatives have children, genes that may be rare in the general population are more likely to appear in their offspring, he said.

"But identifying a single gene that causes depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and so on has not happened, nor is it likely to happen," said Muskin, who is also a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. "These genetic influences are more subtle and determined by many genes."

What's more, the study doesn't prove cause and effect, and Muskin said it has significant limitations.

"For example, we know nothing about the parents," he noted. "Their health, their mental health, their background. Nothing. And a lot of times things get prescribed incorrectly, or for the wrong thing. So you can't really feel comfortable saying the prescriptions are true proxies for having an actual illness."

In addition, people figured out thousands of years ago that close relatives shouldn't reproduce, Muskin said. This study simply reinforces that.

"People figured out way back that when it happened there was something not right with the offspring," Muskin said. This study "says that these societal norms are substantiated by our data. It basically says it's a big deal."

More information

There's more on genetics and mental health at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.WEDNESDAY, April 4, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity can lead to liver disease in kids as young as 8 years old, a new study warns.

The long-term study of 635 children in Massachusetts found that a bigger waist size at age 3 increases the odds that a child will have a marker for liver damage and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by age 8.

That marker is called ALT. By age 8, 23 percent of children studied had elevated blood levels of ALT. Those with a bigger waist size at age 3 and those with larger increases in obesity between ages 3 and 8 were more likely to have elevated ALT at age 8, the researchers found.

About 35 percent of obese 8-year-olds had elevated ALT, compared with 20 percent of children whose weight was normal, according to the Columbia University study.

"With the rise in childhood obesity, we are seeing more kids with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in our pediatric weight management practice," study lead author Dr. Jennifer Woo Baidal said in a university news release.

"Many parents know that obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes and other metabolic conditions, but there is far less awareness that obesity, even in young children, can lead to serious liver disease," she added.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease occurs when too much fat accumulates in the liver, triggering inflammation that causes liver damage. The condition affects about 80 million people in the United States, and is the most common chronic liver condition in kids and teens, the researchers said in background notes.

While nonalcoholic fatty liver disease typically does not cause symptoms, it can lead to scarring (cirrhosis) of the liver and cancer.

"Some clinicians measure ALT levels in at-risk children starting at around 10 years old, but our findings underscore the importance of acting earlier in a child's life to prevent excess weight gain and subsequent liver inflammation," Woo Baidal said.

She said the best way for kids and adults to combat fatty liver disease is to lose weight, by eating fewer processed foods and getting regular exercise.

"We urgently need better ways to screen, diagnose, prevent and treat this disease starting in childhood," Woo Baidal said.

Woo Baidal is director of pediatric weight management at the Center for Adolescent Bariatric Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Children's Hospital, and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia.

The study was published April 4 in the Journal of Pediatrics.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers advice on helping children maintain a healthy weight.Share this: Twitter

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At least 15 journalists were assaulted and seven detained while covering widespread protests across Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq between March 25 and March 27, according to CPJ research and local press freedom and human rights groups. The wave of detentions and assaults has sparked fear among local journalists and press freedom groups that Kurdish authorities will apply a heavy hand in the lead-up to elections. CPJs Emergencies Response Team (ERT) has issued the following advisory for journalists working in the region.

The fallout from an annulled Kurdish independence referendum in 2017 has further fragmented the divided political landscape in Kurdistan. The two main parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party (PDK) and the Kurdish Patriotic Union (PUK), face unprecedented unpopularity that has led to a proliferation of political splits and the rise of new parties to challenge the status quo. Meanwhile, Iraqi parliamentary elections and a Kurdish general election are expected, respectively, for May and September 2018. CPJ research shows that the media are vulnerable whenever internal political tensions flare in Iraqi Kurdistan.

On March 24, Kurdish public servants took to the streets to protest corruption and austerity measures they say have resulted in unpaid salaries. The protests are ongoing. Demonstrators have been beaten and harassed, according to Amnesty International. Between March 25 and 27, at least 15 journalists covering the protests were assaulted and some had their equipment snatched by security forces, including officers with the Kurdish security services, Asayish, who were mixed in with the protesters, sometimes in uniform and sometimes in plainclothes, according to two journalists present. Seven journalists were detained and held for hours, they told CPJ. The latter had their equipment confiscated, and their memory cards and mobile phones erased. According to CPJ research, the journalists who were beaten and detained work for news organizations mostly associated with the political opposition.

The exact date has not been set for the Kurdish presidential elections expected in September, but as the campaign heats up, there are likely to be more rallies and potential protests. Journalists covering events are advised to follow this advice:

Prepare ahead of the assignment:

Plan the assignment and ensure that you have a full battery on your cell phone. If you have a lot of sensitive material on your personal phone, consider taking a clean device that can be lost if necessary.

Know the area to which you are going. Work out in advance what to do in an emergency.

Always try to work with a colleague and have a regular check-in procedure with your base. Have a pre-recorded text message ready to go to indicate the situation is deteriorating or if arrest is imminent. Ensure that your colleagues understand what to do in case of arrest. Consider having legal assistance on standby to make enquiries about you should you not check in.

Wear clothing and footwear that allow you to move swiftly. Avoid loose clothing and lanyards that can be grabbed, as well as flammable material, such as nylon. Press identification may deter hostile action directed at you by the security forces. However, if possible avoid branding specific to any particular news organization, particularly if it may make you a target. Always carry accreditation to produce if questioned by the authorities.

Consider your position. Ideally find an elevated position that may offer greater safety. If working in a crowd, plan a strategy. Try to keep to the outside of the crowd and avoid the middle, where it is hard to escape. Identify an escape route.

At any location, always plan an evacuation route. If working with others, select an emergency rendezvous point.

Maintain situational awareness at all times and limit valuables in your possession.

Given the climate, journalists should also be aware of the potential sensitivity regarding quoting sources at these protests who may fear the repercussions of being identified.

When dealing with aggression:

Read body language and use your own body language to pacify a situation.

Keep eye contact with an aggressor, use open hand gestures, and keep talking with a calming manner.

Keep an extended arms length from the threat. Back away and if someone grabs hold of you, break away firmly without aggression. If cornered and in danger, shout.

If cornered and in danger, shout. If the situation escalates, keep a hand free to protect your head and move with short, deliberate steps to avoid falling. If in a team, stick together and link arms.

Be aware of the situation and your own safety. While there are times when documenting aggression can be newsworthy, taking pictures of aggressive individuals can escalate a situation.

In August 2017, the CPJ Emergencies Team issued a safety advisory warning of the dangers of the rise of militias and fragmentation of control following Islamic States defeat. Any international journalist planning to travel to contested areas in Iraq should also read this article about the rise of checkpoints from New York Times former Baghdad Bureau Chief Alissa Rubin.

CPJ encourages local, freelance journalists and media organizations covering the protests in Kurdistan to closely follow the safety principles and practices of the ACOS alliance, which can be found here.

EDITORS NOTE: The spelling of Alissa Rubins name has been corrected in the penultimate paragraph.Share this: Twitter

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New York, April 4, 2018The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities in the Dominican Republic to investigate threats made against Alicia Ortega, an investigative reporter with the national news channel Noticias SIN, and to take all necessary steps to ensure the journalists safety.

During the April 2 edition of Ortegas weekly show El Informe, the journalist said that her news station was informed that inmates in La Victoria prison made threats against her. The threats were in response to a segment aired on Ortegas show the previous week about Matias Avelino Castro, who is detained in La Victoria while he stands trial for allegedly ordering the murder of journalist Jose Agustin Silvestre, according to news reports.

National Attorney General Jean Rodriguez wrote on Twitter yesterday that his office was opening an investigation into the threats and would offer Ortega protective measures.

We are encouraged by the Dominican authorities response to the threats against Alicia Ortega and call on them to act swiftly to ensure the journalists safety and to identify and hold accountable those responsible for the threats, said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. We applaud the Dominican Republics steps in bringing the alleged mastermind in Jose Silvestres murder to trial, but authorities must demonstrate that all threats to journalists will be taken seriously. Silvestre, a magazine director and television host, was shot dead in August 2011, according to CPJ research. Police in 2011 identified Avelino Castro, a hotel owner and alleged drug trafficker, as the alleged mastermind and had him extradited from Colombia in January 2017 to face charges in the case, according to reports.Share this: Twitter

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New York, April 4, 2018The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Ukrainian prosecutors to return the passport of Fikret Huseynli, a Dutch national of Azerbaijani origin, and to respect a district courts April 2 ruling that the journalist should not be extradited to Azerbaijan or have his movements restricted.

Earlier on the day that the judge ruled, Kiev prosecutor Serhiy Ostapets took Huseynlis passport from a court secretary and left the courtroom, according to reports. Ostapets has refused to return the passport or give a reason for confiscating it, according to the Kiev-based Institute for Mass Information and the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.

CPJs phone calls to the Kiev regional prosecutors office went unanswered.

Kievs regional prosecutors office should immediately return Firket Huseynlis passport and comply with the district courts ruling that the journalist be allowed to move freely, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. Ukraine must not succumb to the demands of Azerbaijans authoritarian regime, which is notorious for persecuting critics both at home and abroad.

Huseynli, a correspondent for the opposition-leaning online Azerbaijani television channel Turan TV, was detained in Kiev in October last year, while Ukraine investigated an extradition request from Azerbaijan, according to news reports. 

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This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics.Kerala: Issues order for Ockhi relief for missing fishermen's kin

by Laxmi Prasanna

April 04,2018 | Source: The Times of India

The state government has issued an order for immediate release of relief grant for the family of the 91 missing fishermen in the Ockhi cyclone. This comes five months after Ockhi cyclone hit Kerala coast on Nov 30 last year. The fisher folk had raised concerns that Kerala is yet to release the announced relief for the affected families. Social activists also wrote to the Prime Minister indicating that the Ockhi affected fishermen community in Kerala continue to live in dilapidated houses with no proper rehabilitation.



The state government order, dated March 27 released now through the state disaster management department (DMD) endorsed by department undersecretary, indicates that the state had constituted an expert committee with disaster management, revenue, home and fisheries department additional chief secretaries as its members. The committee had verified the inquiry report on the missing fishermen submitted by the district collectors, district police chiefs and fisheries department director. Among the FIRs filed for 102 cases of missing fishermen in Kerala, the committee had examined and approved 91 cases for relief grant.



The legal heir from the family of the 91 missing fishermen will be identified and the relief grant of Rs 20 lakh each will be offered as announced by the state, an official at DMD told TOI. Citing the government order, he said, the state will also take measures for the release of Rs 2 lakh each as relief from the Centre in addition to the state grant, he said. A day before social activists had told TOI that though Kerala stood ahead initially in releasing the relief fund of Rs 20 lakh each for the families of the 49 deceased fishermen, it has gone behind Tamil Nadu in completing the rehabilitation support announced for all the affected families.



In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, social activist Govindan Namboothiry points out that Kerala is yet to provide support to the family of missing fishermen. After initial relief grant for the family of the deceased, no precautionary measures, basic infrastructure facilities to the family of the victims including compensation relief and livelihood support was offered after making the announcement by the state. Even the rehabilitation process has not started in full swing and many affected families continue to live in dilapidated houses, he said. Despite intimating it to the Kerala State Human Rights Commission, state government has not taken effective action, he said.



Though Kerala offered relief grant of Rs 20 lakh to the families of the deceased fishermen in addition to the Rs 2 lakh each announced by the Prime Ministers Office, families of the missing and affected were not offered any compensation. State had announced that it would rehabilitate the affected families providing support for education, employment and livelihood, it is yet to be implemented. Initially, Kerala had promised, but now Tamil Nadu has taken the lead, National Fishworkers Forum general secretary T Peter told TOI.



A social activist maintaining anonymity said, Tamil Nadu released relief fund to the families of 26 deceased and 177 persons missing, while Kerala is yet to offer the relief support for all affected. The state could not trace 94 fishermen from Kerala, yet 10 persons from other states are also missing. Tamil Nadu coordinated things efficiently with the support of local fishermen, Christian churches and others. Kerala though formed a committee, it couldn't provide result so far as most of them are government officials, the activist said. Kerala government had urged the Centre for Ockhi relief package of Rs 7340 crore, but it is yet to receive a response. The state government has also constituted an expert committee to examine the terms for supporting the Ockhi affected, but it is yet to complete the process.



When contacted, officials of the state government told TOI that the state constituted expert committee led by former chief secretary SM Vijayanand is formulating the conceptual framework for a comprehensive special package for overall development of Ockhi affected fish folk in Kerala. The committee is examining the terms of reference for finalising the framework for the ockhi special package which covers the rehabilitation of the fishermen community, the official said.LINCOLN (AP)  Attorneys for a Nebraska death row inmate whose case inspired the 1999 movie "Boys Don't Cry" say he should be found ineligible for execution because he has the intellect of a child.





John Lotter was sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 killings of Teena Brandon, who was a transgender man and went by Brandon, and two witnesses, Lisa Lambert and Philip DeVine, at a farmhouse in Humboldt, about 75 miles south of Omaha.





The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Lotter's lawyers filed a motion stating that recent IQ testing shows that Lotter, 46, is intellectually disabled and therefore can't be put to death under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling forbidding the execution of the intellectually disabled.





Nebraska law says an IQ of 70 or below is presumptive evidence of an intellectual disability.





Court records show Lotter scored a 67 last year, which would be the equivalent IQ of an 8-year-old.





The judge will need to grant an evidentiary hearing to consider the issue.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeThe execution of Indonesian migrant workers highlights the need for new protections, both abroad and at home.





On Sunday March 18, Saudi Arabian authorities beheaded Indonesian migrant worker Zaini Misrin without providing diplomatic notice to the relevant Indonesian authorities.





The execution was carried out undeterred by repeated requests from Indonesian President Joko Widodo for clemency. Zaini was executed in spite of strong evidence suggesting he was coerced into confessing to killing his employer and that his own translator was complicit in this coercion.





There are fears that more Indonesian migrant workers may be executed in Saudi Arabia. While a large number of Indonesian citizens are on death row in Saudi Arabia, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated there are 2 specific cases involving Indonesian female migrant workers that have been listed as critical.





Zaini is not the 1st Indonesian to be beheaded in the Gulf state. In 2011, the execution of an Indonesian migrant worker prompted Indonesia to recall its ambassador and to begin a moratorium halting the placement of Indonesian migrant workers in the informal sector in Saudi Arabia. In 2015, the execution of 2 mentally ill Indonesian women migrant domestic workers prompted the Indonesian government to extend the moratorium to 21, mainly Middle Eastern, countries.





Despite the moratoriums, which have been widely criticized by migrant rights organizations for being a reactionary move that violates a number of human rights, thousands of Indonesians continue to be employed in Saudi Arabia as domestic workers, migrating through irregular channels and living without any of the legal and social protections that documented migrant workers enjoy.





The latest beheading sparked waves of protest within Indonesia and across the globe. Swathes of outraged activists have called the execution a blatant violation of human rights. The framing of the capital punishment as a human rights violation, however, is made difficult by the fact that none of the core international human rights treaties explicitly forbid capital punishment.





The use of the death penalty is only forbidden in an Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and this optional protocol, with only 85 state parties, has not come close to achieving universal ratification. In spite of a number of nonbinding resolutions issued by the United Nations General Assembly calling for its abolition, capital punishment continues to largely be understood as a legally permissible exception to the right to life.





The United Nations Convention Against Torture is one of the few human rights treaties that Saudi Arabia has ratified. Although the committee that implements the convention has been notably inconsistent in its stance on the death penalty, the committee in its 2016 concluding observations on the report of Saudi Arabia encouraged the state to establish a moratorium on executions and to commute all existing death sentences. With 20 Indonesian citizens currently on death row in Saudi Arabia, Jakarta has a vested interest in seeing the recommendations of the committee implemented.





Indonesia fights tirelessly to secure clemency for its citizens facing the death penalty abroad through diplomatic negotiations, legal channels, and even by paying blood money or ransoms where possible. Domestically, however, Indonesia continues to implement capital punishment, executing Indonesian and foreign citizens alike and defending its right to do so with arguments of national sovereignty.





During the 2017 Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, where Indonesia's human rights track record was reviewed by 103 states, capital punishment was the main human rights issue that came into the spotlight with 30 individual states recommending Indonesia abolish the death penalty or place a moratorium on its use.





The Indonesian National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) contends the Indonesian government is losing the moral justification to protect its citizens on death row abroad when the state continues to carry out executions at home. The results of extensive monitoring carried out by Komnas Perempuan regarding women facing the death penalty revealed that the majority of women on death row are victims of gender-based violence and that female domestic workers are targeted by international drug smuggling and human trafficking syndicates, unknowingly made into drug mules by perpetrators who exploit the women's layered vulnerabilities.





An important finding of the Commission shows that the death penalty and the extensive periods of time that people spend on death row in Indonesia have economic, physical, and psychological effects on the convicted person and their families that are torturous and inhumane. These findings of the Commission are in line with the statement of the Committee Against Torture that prolonged time on death row could amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.





Komnas Perempuan notes that currently in Indonesia there are a number of former women migrant workers who have been sentenced to death despite indications that they are victims of human trafficking. Filipino national Mary Jane Veloso and Indonesian Merry Utami, imprisoned in 2010 and 2001 respectively, are 2 women currently on death row in Indonesia. Both of these women are former migrant workers and they are both indicated to be victims of human trafficking whose progress through the judicial system has been markedly unjust.





The commissioner of Komnas Perempuan's Migrant Worker Task Force, Thaufik Zulbahary, explained, "Migrant workers, especially women migrant domestic workers are one of the most vulnerable groups in society ... they are prone to experiencing human rights violations at every stage of migration." To effectively work at reducing these vulnerabilities and improving outcomes for migrant workers, international advocacy - including pushing for global ratification of the Convention on Migrant Workers - must be accompanied by grassroots initiatives aimed at improving the fulfillment of migrant workers' human rights.





One such grass roots initiative is TKI Bijak, a program that is operating in West Java, Indonesia, disseminating information to prospective migrant workers about proper recruitment procedures and practical information regarding destination countries and human rights concerns for each respective country. Through initiatives like this, prospective migrant workers are equipped with the means to make educated decisions about their deployment and the risk of human rights violations are minimized.





On the international stage it is essential that the discourse surrounding the death penalty stops focusing on capital punishment as an issue of state sovereignty and a legitimate exception on the right to life. The various international human rights mechanisms and treaty bodies, especially the Committee Against Torture, have the responsibility to take a stronger stance in opposing the death penalty and take the lead in shifting the international discourse to focus on the right to life as the ultimate, nonderogable human right that transcends notions of sovereignty.





While the international community slowly works toward global abolition of capital punishment, states should at a minimum observe the Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty. This document, published by the Economic and Social Council in a 1984 resolution, states in the 4th and 5th points that capital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts. The safeguard further states that capital punishment may only be imposed pursuant to a final judgement rendered by a competent court after legal process that gives all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial, including adequate legal assistance at all stages of the proceedings.





It is estimated that there are around 4.5 million Indonesian migrant workers currently working overseas. As a country that prides itself on endeavoring to provide the highest possible protections for its citizens abroad, Indonesia in a purely pragmatic sense has a vested interest in leading by example and looking to abolish the death penalty or at the very least commute the death sentence for victims who are indicated to be victims of human trafficking or have been denied a fair trial. The domestic cessation of the implementation of capital punishment is an important first step that will give added legitimacy to Indonesia's attempts to seek clemency for its citizens on death row abroad.





Source: the diplomat.com, Jack Britton, April, 2018. Jack Britton is a translator, researcher, and writer currently embedded with the Indonesian National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeMan currently in Lebanese custody while authorities mull a Kuwaiti request to extradite him





Dubai: A Kuwaiti court has sentenced a Lebanese man and his wife to death after they were convicted in absentia of killing Filipina domestic helper Joanna Demafelis in a case that triggered a crisis between the Philippines and the Gulf Arab state, Kuwaiti newspapers reported on Sunday.





Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte last month ordered workers in Kuwait to return home over alleged abuse following the discovery of the female workers body in the freezer of an abandoned home that belonged to a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife.





Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai said the pair were convicted in absentia of premeditated murder.





Al Qabas, another newspaper, said the criminal court issued its verdict at its first hearing, convicting the pair of killing the Filipina worker and putting her body in the freezer.





It said the murder was discovered more than a year after it had taken place and that the couple had been sentenced in absentia. Both newspapers reported the death sentence.





The sentences are subject to appeal under Kuwaiti law.





Lebanese media reported last month that the workers former employer was in custody in connection with the case and that authorities were considering a Kuwaiti request to extradite him.





AFP news agency, quoting a judicial source, reported in February that the woman was being held in her native Syria.





Kuwait and the Philippines, eager to end the crisis, signed an agreement last month regulating some working conditions for domestic workers in the Gulf Arab State.





There are more than 250,000 Filipinos in Kuwait, the Philippine Foreign Ministry estimates, with most working as domestic helpers. There are also large numbers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Solon: Death sentence vs. employers of slain OFW just 'paper victory'

While most welcomed the decision of a Kuwaiti court to impose death penalty on the employers of slain overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis, a lawmaker remained skeptical on the ruling.





"I didn't rejoice, because first of all, there is no jurisdiction over the suspect because he was never arraigned, although we have different justice systems," Rep. Aniceto Bertiz of the ACTS-OFW Party-list said.





Bertiz also said information on the whereabouts of Lebanese Nader Essam Assaf and his Syrian wife Mona Hassoun all came from Kuwaiti officials, and Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa.





"For the past several months now, since the imposition of the ban, (we hear) only the side of Ambassador Villa who is in Kuwait. Why did we not hear anything from the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) coming directly from our post in Lebanon?" he asked.





The lawmaker then said that it would not be possible for Kuwait to carry out the sentence against Assaf soon, until the Lebanese government decides he is really guilty.





"If it's really true that the killer is in the custody of Lebanon, it can only be imposed or implemented if both countries will agree to extradite the suspect, pero until then, para bang, it is just a paper victory," Bertiz said.





He also said the sentence felt like it was just to appease President Rodrigo Duterte, after he ordered the total deployment ban to Kuwait.





"Although we really appreciate the decision of Kuwait because it is sweet and swift justice for Demafelis, para bang kinakalma 'yung isipan ng tao [it feels like it's to pacify] because of this crisis going on," he said.





The lawmaker also noted the Philippines should not lift the ban anytime soon.





"Partial-lift we can consider for those skilled workers, but definitely if Kuwait government is just doing this for their self-interest so that we can send workers again to the country, I think this is really not a good gesture," he said.





Bertiz said there should be a task force monitoring Demafelis' case - which would involve the DFA, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in the Philippines.





Interpol-Lebanon earlier released the details on Assaf being under Lebanese custody.





Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevara said Tuesday that Duterte has ordered DFA, through the official mission to Kuwait, to verify reports that Assaf will face death penalty.





Assaf and his Syrian wife Mona were found guilty of murder in the death of 29-year-old Demafelis, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello. Her body was found inside a freezer in an apartment in Kuwait, where it may have been kept for over a year.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeLINCOLN  Nebraska took another step toward bringing back the death penalty Tuesday by seeking an execution date for condemned killer Carey Dean Moore.





Attorney General Doug Peterson filed a motion with the Nebraska Supreme Court seeking a death warrant for Moore, 60, the longest-serving inmate on death row. The legal filing says a date of execution must be set no later than 60 days after the court issues a death warrant.





The motion also states that Moore has no pending appeals or stays of execution in state or federal courts. In recent months, Moore has declined to be named in a new round of legal challenges filed by death penalty opponents.





The State of Nebraska has a constitutionally acceptable method of carrying out Moores death sentences by lethal injection, said the motion, which was co-filed by State Solicitor General James Smith.





Last year, Nebraska prison officials obtained four drugs that they intend to use for the execution. The drug combination has never been used in an execution, and state officials have refused to identify their supplier.





A leading death penalty opponent on Tuesday condemned the rush toward an execution, given that there are several pending legal and administrative challenges of an execution protocol that the state amended last year.





Danielle Conrad, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, said Moores decision to stop fighting at this juncture heightens the need to allow the death penalty challenges to play out. Among other things, the ACLU has alleged that Nebraska officials misled federal authorities in obtaining the lethal injection drugs.





Holding a lawless execution would greatly diminish our state, she said.





Moore shot and killed Omaha cab drivers Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland in the summer of 1979. Over the years, he has said he took the lives of the men to steal money for drugs and because he wanted to prove that he could kill.





Helgeland and Van Ness were both 47-year-old fathers and military veterans.





If the execution takes place, it will mark the first time Nebraska has used lethal injection to put an inmate to death. The states method was the electric chair in 1997, when the last execution took place.





Moore has evaded execution multiple times during his 38 years on death row. The Supreme Court last set an execution date for him in 2011, but withdrew the death warrant after Moores attorney challenged how Nebraska authorities had obtained the drugs it intended to use.





Its unclear whether he currently has legal representation.





Lincoln attorney Alan Peterson, who has represented Moore in the past, said his former client has a request for a commutation hearing pending before the Nebraska Board of Pardons. Such a hearing would give Moore the opportunity to ask for his death sentence to be reduced, most likely to a life term.





The Pardons Board, made up of the governor, the attorney general and the secretary of state, does not have to grant a hearing. Peterson and Gov. Pete Ricketts are strong supporters of the death penalty.





Nebraska prison officials notified Moore in January that the Corrections Department had obtained supplies of four lethal injection drugs it intends to use to execute him.





The ACLU last week filed a lawsuit challenging the execution protocol that would be used. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha also has filed an administrative complaint in the Legislature that challenges how the Ricketts administration established the new protocol.





In addition, the ACLU has alleged that Nebraska officials misled federal authorities in obtaining the lethal substances last year. The organization has asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to launch an investigation into possible violations by prison officials.





A DEA spokesman recently confirmed that the agency had received the ACLUs allegations, but he declined to say whether an investigation was underway.





Nebraska officials revealed they had obtained the drugs in November when they gave formal notice to death-row inmate Jose Sandoval. But since then, Sandoval has filed a post-conviction motion challenging his death sentence, and the attorney general has not yet sought a death warrant.





In 2015, the Legislature voted to repeal the death penalty, overriding the governors veto to do so.





Ricketts then helped lead and fund a petition drive that put the issue on the ballot in 2016, when 61 percent of voters decided to restore capital punishment.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeA Republican lieutenant governor candidate says women who get an abortion should be punished if it is ever criminalized in Idaho, adding the punishment should include the death penalty.





Bob Nonini's comment came during a Monday candidate forum in Moscow hosted by the conservative Christian podcast CrossPolitic.





"There should be no abortion and anyone who has an abortion should pay," Nonini said.





Pressed by moderators on the nature of the punishment, Nonini nodded in agreement when asked if he supported the death penalty as a possible outcome for abortion.





Nonini, a 3 term state senator from Coeur d'Alene, confirmed that position in a phone interview with The Associated Press.





"I don't believe in any exceptions. There is always another option," Nonini said Tuesday. "Women should be charged...I firmly believe if the penalties were tougher, there would be fewer abortions."





Nonini added that his wife, Cathyanne, does not share his endorsement of the death penalty even though both are devout Catholics.





It's common for Republican candidates to express their anti-abortion positions in GOP-dominant Idaho. However, many stress the importance of educating women on alternative options to an unplanned pregnancy or making access to abortion clinics more difficult rather than focus on possible punishment for the woman.





A handful of anti-abortion advocates have begun increasing their call for stricter penalties for women and providers.





Last year, Abolish Abortion Idaho launched a ballot initiative seeking to charge both abortion providers and women with 1st-degree murder - but it is unclear if the group will have enough signatures to make it on the ballot in November.





Meanwhile, Republican state Sen. Dan Foreman attempted to introduce legislation that would also classify abortion as 1st-degree murder for mothers and doctors, but the proposal never received a hearing.





Nonini was joined at Monday's forum by 2 other Republican candidates: Idaho Falls businesswoman Janice McGeachin and former Idaho Republican Party Chairman Steve Yates.





5 Republicans are running in the May primary election after incumbent GOP Lt. Gov. Brad Little announced he would run for governor, but only Nonini, Idaho Falls businesswoman Janice McGeachin and former Idaho Republican Party Chairman Steve Yates were invited to attend the forum.





Both McGeachin and Yates say abortion is murder, but stopped short of supporting charging women with 1st-degree murder for undergoing the procedure.





"No, I cannot support a woman facing the death penalty for having an abortion," said McGeachin. "What we should do is prevent that."





Yates downplayed that criminalizing abortion would result in fewer women seeking the procedure.





"In terms of criminalizing things, I have no problem with that except that doesn't always solve the problem," Yates said.





Nonini's comments echo similar rhetoric said by Donald Trump during the presidential campaign. In 2016, Trump came out in support of "some sort of punishment" for women who get abortions, but the campaign later backtracked that he believes abortion providers should be the ones punished.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

The Associated Press, April 4, 2018Iran Human Rights (Mar 3, 2018): Mohammad Kalhors Lawyer, Mohammad Aqakhani, declared that his client who is sentenced to death for murdering his teacher at the age of 15, might be executed soon.





According to a close source, Mohammad Kalhor is a student from Boroujerd city who stabbed his 43-year-old physics teacher, Mohsen Khashkhashi, on November 22, 2014, when he was 15.





Mohammad Kalhors lawyer, Mohammad Aqakhani, told IHR that the Head of the Judiciary approves the verdict and the case is sent to the Sentence Implementation Branch; therefore, Mohammad might be executed soon.





According to the forensic report which was delivered in January 2016, Mohammad Kalhor was mentally immature at the time of the crime. However, Branch 1 of the Criminal Court of Lorestan sentenced him to death. The verdict was rejected by the Supreme Court and was processed again in a parallel court in Lorestan. The second court also sentenced him to death in January 2017 which was approved by the Supreme Court.





Mohammad Kalhors lawyer confirmed that his client was only 15 at the time of the crime and said, Mr. Boroujerdi, Head of the National Security Commission and Boroujerds representative, wrote a letter to the Supreme Court and asked for special attention to this case. Consequently, the Supreme Court approved Mohammads verdict.





Mohammad Aqakhani continued, We asked for a retrial for the third time, but the Supreme Court hasnt replied to our request yet. Since our request has been denied twice before, the sentence might be implemented anytime which worries us.





He concluded, We are worried about Mohammads condition. He shouldnt be held at adults prison. Besides, he needs to see a doctor and a psychiatrist.





It should be noted that Mohammad Kalhor was transferred from Lorestans Correctional Center to Boroujerd Central Prison in February 2018 because he is 18 years old now and his case was sent to the Sentence Implementation Branch around the same time.





It is worth mentioning that the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran has signed, clearly bans execution and life imprisonment of juveniles.





In 2017, at least five juvenile offenders were executed in Iran. Furthermore, at least three juvenile offenders were executed in January 2018 in Iran.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeThe militarys media wing said the terrorists were involved in killing of 62 people and heinous crimes including attack on security forces and a five-star hotel in Peshawar.





Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday approved death penalty for 10 terrorists including those who shot dead Amjad Sabri, one of the countrys finest Sufi Qawwals.





In a statement, the militarys media wing said the terrorists, tried by special military courts, were involved in killing of 62 people and heinous crimes against the state including attack on security forces and a five-star hotel in Peshawar.





The terrorists were identified as Muhammad Ishaq, Muhammad Rafique, Muhammad Arish, Habibur Rehman, Muhammad Fayaz, Ismail Shah, Muhammad Fazal, Hazrat Ali, Muhammad Asim and Habibullah.





Ishaq and Asim were involved in the killing of Sabri and attacking the law enforcement agencies/armed forces of Pakistan, which resulted in death of 17 officials, the statement said, adding that they were awarded death sentence.





Sabri, 45, was travelling in a car in Karachis congested Liquatabad 10 area when two motorcycle-borne gunmen shot him in the head in a targeted terror attack on June 22, 2016. He was rushed to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.





The Tehreek-e-Taliban Hakimullah Masood group had claimed responsibility for the attack on Sabri.





Sabri was the son of renowned Qawwal Ghulam Farid Sabri whose family is famous in the subcontinent for their contribution to this sufi art and mystic poetry.





Some of the most memorable and famous qawwalis of the Sabris were Bhar Do Jholi Meri, Tajdar-i-Haram and Mera Koi Nahin Hai Teray Siwa.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar WildeAs anxiety is common in older people, rising anxiety symptoms may prove to be most useful as a risk marker in older adults with other genetic, biological or clinical indicators of high AD risk. (Photo: Pixabay)

Washington DC: Anxiety could be an early indicator of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study.

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative condition that causes the decline of cognitive function and the inability to carry out daily life activities.

Investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital examined the association of brain amyloid beta and longitudinal measures of depression and depressive symptoms in cognitively normal, older adults.

Their findings suggest that higher levels of amyloid beta may be associated with increasing symptoms of anxiety in these individuals. These results support the theory that neuropsychiatric symptoms could be an early indicator of AD.

"Rather than just looking at depression as a total score, we looked at specific symptoms such as anxiety. When compared to other symptoms of depression such as sadness or loss of interest, anxiety symptoms increased over time in those with higher amyloid beta levels in the brain," said first author Nancy Donovan.

"This suggests that anxiety symptoms could be a manifestation of Alzheimer's disease prior to the onset of cognitive impairment. If further research substantiates anxiety as an early indicator, it would be important for not only identifying people early on with the disease but also, treating it and potentially slowing or preventing the disease process early on."

As anxiety is common in older people, rising anxiety symptoms may prove to be most useful as a risk marker in older adults with other genetic, biological or clinical indicators of high AD risk.

Researchers derived data from the Harvard Aging Brain Study, an observational study of older adult volunteers aimed at defining neurobiological and clinical changes in early Alzheimer's disease.

The participants included 270 community-dwelling, cognitively normal men, and women, between 62 and 90 years old, with no active psychiatric disorders. Individuals also underwent baseline imaging scans commonly used in studies of Alzheimer's disease, and annual assessments with the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), an assessment used to detect depression in older adults.

The team calculated total GDS scores as well as scores for three clusters symptoms of depression: apathy-anhedonia, dysphoria, and anxiety. These scores were looked at over a span of five years.

From their research, the team found that higher brain amyloid beta burden was associated with increasing anxiety symptoms over time in cognitively normal older adults.

The results suggest that worsening anxious-depressive symptoms may be an early predictor of elevated amyloid beta levels - and, in turn AD -- and provide support for the hypothesis that emerging neuropsychiatric symptoms represent an early manifestation of preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

The study has been published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.Betty Rame from Zimbabwe has been handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau for further questioning. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: A Zimbabwean woman was caught at the Delhi airport for allegedly trying to smuggle out drugs worth around Rs 15 crore. Security officials said the woman was carrying about 3 kilograms which she was trying to smuggle to Manila in Philippines via Goa.

Here's how it unfolded.

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials got a tip-off from the sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) about a foreign woman carrying drugs on Monday. On the same evening, Betty Rame, a Zimbabwe citizen, reached the departure terminal of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport at around 8:30 to catch a flight to Goa. Just as she was about to enter the airport from Gate 3, a security official stopped her.

CISF staff intercepted Betty Rame and took her for detailed frisking. She was made to give her baggage for checking. When the officers passed her suitcase through the X-BIS machine, officials spotted an image which looked suspicious. On lifting it, it seemed unusually heavy.

The CISF staff then cut open the false cover to find a packet weighing about three kilograms. On closer inspection, they realised the packet contained popular party drug Methamphetamine also known as "ice".

"About 3 kilogrammes of Methamphetamine, a party drug also known as 'ice', was recovered from the bag of the woman who hails from Zimbabwe. She was handed over to the NCB," a CISF official said.

The woman has been handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau in Delhi for further questioning.

The CISF said Betty Rame took the drugs from an African peddler in Delhi. She reached Mumbai from Zimbabwe on March 20 and had visited India earlier in November last year.

Methamphetamine or "Meth" is prepared from another drug called ephedrine which has a huge demand in India and abroad.

(With inputs from PTI)Ukraine's Antonov An-225 Mriya makes another commercial flight

The giant is expected to make another three in April.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterGas transit via Ukraine to drop by 90% once Nord Stream 2 launched  Gazprom

CEO notes the possibility of concluding a new gas transit contract with Naftogaz.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterUkrainian products are in high demand on the African market.

An official trade delegation of Ukraine has started its work in Accra within the frames of the First Ukrainian Trade Mission in Ghana.

The delegation is headed by the Trade Representative of Ukraine  Deputy Minister for Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Mrs. Nataliia Mykolska and also includes the representatives of the Export Promotion Office of Ukraine and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, the Deputy Minister for Agrarian policy and Food of Ukraine Mrs. Olha Trofimtseva, as well as representatives of 14 Ukrainian companies working in such industries as agrarian and food, automotive and aviation, engineering and IT-technology, chemical and pharmaceutical production, Business Ghana wrote.

This first ever Ukrainian Trade mission to Ghana aims to enhance the trade relationships between two countries as well as to study and discuss the system of export-import relations, trade barriers and legislative features. For this purpose, Ukrainian officials and businessmen will meet with officials and business representatives from Ghana at the Ghana-Ukrainian Business Forum held within the frames of the Trade mission on April 3. The program of the Mission also includes the on-site market research in local retail networks and the meeting with representatives of Ukrainian business diaspora in Ghana.

Read alsoUkraine trade mission visits NigeriaAccording to the results of 2017, trade turnover between Ghana and Ukraine grew by 70.5% and amounted to $ 193.58 million.

Ukrainian products are in high demand on the African market. Among the top 30 commodities with the largest potential for export to Ghana, there are ferrous metals and products; live animals and products of animal; engines and pumps; alcoholic and non-alcoholic; electrical equipment.

After Ghana the Ukrainian delegation will continue its mission to Nigeria, where most business and governmental activities are going to be held on April, 4-6.Ukraine's Cabinet approves bill to transfer 500,000 ha to farmers' ownership

Some 23,000 farmers will obtain ownership over land if Parliament passes a relevant draft law.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterWhen awarding multi-billion dollar contracts, Uncle Sam expects taxpayers to trust the competitive bidding process. Unfortunately, increasingly fewer contracts are awarded by competitive bid, raising costs for taxpayers.

Consider the Pentagon, where the share of contract spending awarded competitively has declined over the past decade, driven by no-bid deals in Human Resources and Special Operations Command. In fiscal year 2017, more than half of Defense Department procurement spending  totaling more than $100 billion  was on noncompetitive contracts.

While the public interest can at times merit no-bid contracting, its increasing share is cause for concern. In an environment devoid of transparency and competition, quality suffers and prices rise.

In February, the Pentagon announced a $950 million no-bid contract to REAN Cloud, LLC, for the migration of legacy systems to the cloud. As an Amazon Web Services LLC consulting partner and reseller, REAN Cloud was likely favored due to Amazons recent $600 million cloud project for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The contract was awarded via other transaction authority and exempt from the competitive acquisitions process. OTA was created to facilitatenon-traditional defense contractors or small businesses creating prototype projects. Yet circumventing the competitive process for Amazon sets a disturbing precedent.

In response to criticism, the Pentagon announced in early March that the maximum value of the contract would be reduced from $950 million to $65 million. True to the original intent of OTA, the contract was skimmed down to the prototype aspects of the agreement, rather than the entire cloud migration as originally stipulated. But even after the awards revision, concerned lawmakers requested additional scrutiny of the DoDs cloud migration award process. Attached to the omnibus spending law signed by the president on March 23 was a requirement that the Pentagon submit a framework for the process within 60 days.

While its a welcome sign that Congress, after spending $1.3 trillion, has put the Pentagon on notice, more needs to be done to ensure that the law is followed. A lack of transparency leads to rising costs. Fortunately, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) passed in 2014 allows more light to shine on the awards process.

Currently, grant and procurement reporting by agencies is still in the pilot phase, and the reporting of awards by some agencies has remained limited. The Government Accountability Office found in November that the Department of Defense failed to link budget and award data in submissions to the Treasury. By requiring all agencies report all non-classified information to the Treasury, Congress can ensure that taxpayers are at least made aware of the types of contracts being made on the public dime.

Enforcing the DATA Act alone will not be sufficient for competitive bidding. But consistent data reporting, along with the limitations of innovative arrangements such as OTA bidding, will lead to reduced federal spending. Consistent with transparency reforms, Congress can tie funding to bidding competitiveness benchmarks, and allow watchdog groups to keep up the pressure on agencies that award contracts without due diligence.

As Congress gears up to spend even more on an array of wasteful and duplicative programs, it should make sure that contracts are awarded competitively to the lowest bidder.

Greater competition and more transparency can ensure that companies such as Amazon dont get special treatment without due scrutiny and rival bids from other companies. Uncle Sam can save billions of dollars through a competitive system for awards.

Ross Marchand is the director of policy for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.

Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning Ebrief.President Trump  incensed by the 2,232-page, $1.3 trillion monstrosity of an omnibus appropriations bill that he just signed into law  has asked lawmakers to provide him with a line-item veto, which would allow him and future presidents to veto individual spending and tax provisions within larger bills.

Countless commentators have pointed out that Congress already enacted the line-item veto in 1996 before the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1998.

But there is another potential reform, albeit a more modest one. Congress could pass the bipartisan legislative line-item veto, to strengthen existing rescission authority. Essentially, this reform would allow the president to sign the whole bill, but then send wasteful provisions back to Congress for a guaranteed up-or-down cancellation vote.

Presidents already have limited rescission authority. The 1974 Budget Act allows presidents to withhold certain discretionary spending for 45 days while asking Congress to vote to cancel certain programs or projects. However, Congress can block a rescission request by simply ignoring it. This policy is constitutional because it preserves Congress role in enacting any new spending cuts, rather than allowing the President to cancel items unilaterally.

Under the legislative line-item veto, Congress would be required to vote on the presidents rescission request within ten legislative days of its submission. The entire package would be guaranteed an up-or-down Congressional vote with no amendments, and no Senate filibuster allowed  and the savings must reduce the deficit rather than pay for new spending. This proposal could also be broadened to include entitlement provisions and targeted tax breaks.

Strengthening rescission powers may improve their record of success. From 1976 through 2008 (the latest data available), the Congressional Research Service reports that presidents requested just $76 billion in rescissions, of which Congress enacted $25 billion  or just 0.05 percent of total federal spending over that period. Three-quarters of those enactments occurred before 1986. Additionally, Congress initiated and enacted $143 billion in rescissions over the 1976-2008 period (0.3 percent of all spending). Today, most rescissions are added to appropriations bills to offset higher spending in other parts of the same bill. Rescissions are rarely used for deficit reduction.

Legislation to strengthen rescissions has historically enjoyed bipartisan support. Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama all endorsed it. So have the editorial boards of the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. In Congress, the legislative line-item veto has been historically championed by lawmakers ranging from conservative Reps. Paul Ryan and Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), to blue dog Democrats like Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), to liberals like Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA).

Thus, the bipartisan Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act easily passed the House in 2012 after being co-introduced by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (now the House Speaker) and ranking-Democrat Chris Van Hollen (now a Senator). Unfortunately, then-Senate majority leader Harry Reid refused to allow this popular bill to come to a Senate vote. Reid may have been swayed by former Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV)  a notorious champion of special-interest earmarks  who had once scorned the legislative line-item veto as a lethal aggrandizement of the chief executives role in the legislative process, adding, Ill stand here until my bones crumble under me, until I have no further breath left, if necessary, to oppose such a proposal.

Yet asking Congress to re-vote on certain tax-and spending provisions is quite modest relative to the 44 states that provide their governors with line-item veto authority. Fun fact: Wisconsin allows its governors to strike individual words (including not), cross out letters to build new words and sentences, and replace large numbers with smaller ones.

The legislative line-item vetos relative modesty may limit its savings, but there are reasons for optimism. Critics point out that most appropriations have historically resulted from careful, bipartisan negotiations between the House, Senate, and White House  so why would Congress suddenly agree to cancel many of these same negotiated provisions a few weeks later? However, the recent trend of appropriations committees unveiling large, unamendable omnibus appropriations bills may make rescissions more popular. The large majority of lawmakers who had been denied amendments would finally have an opportunity to trim spending levels or make changes without having to vote down the entire bill and risk a government shutdown.

And even when the appropriations bills do reflect the will of Congress, a rescission request from the president could introduce new political pressures on lawmakers. One approach would target special-interest provisions that lawmakers had inserted quietly in hopes of avoiding a public backlash. Another approach could merge a large number of provisions  in a way that spreads the pain fairly across lawmakers  and then make a national case that deficit reduction is worth all sides enduring some pain. Either way, the bully pulpit would likely determine how successful a president uses this tool. One potential pitfall is a president using the threat of a rescission request as a weapon to win legislative concessions for more spending.

Even if lawmakers do not pass these procedural changes, they can always give the president a de facto line-item veto through flexibility language in appropriations bills. Instead of appropriating $200 million for a provision, lawmakers could appropriate an amount not exceeding $200 million, which would allow the president to spend less than that amount.

President Trump has requested more tools to reduce wasteful spending. Much of Congress is on the record supporting constitutional bipartisan reform. Lawmakers should give presidents the legislative line-item veto.

Brian Riedl is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on twitter @Brian_Riedl.

Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning Ebrief.April 4th is the United Nations International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. The occasion provides an opportunity for the world to reflect on both the progress made, and the challenges that remain, in clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance, which still endanger civilians in more than 60 states and other areas.

The United States is working closely with partners worldwide to address this serious humanitarian challenge which puts innocent people, including many children, at risk.

The United States is the worlds single largest financial supporter of efforts to address humanitarian hazards from landmines and unexploded ordnance in post-conflict countries, and to reduce the availability of excess, loosely-secured, or otherwise at-risk weapons and munitions.

Since 1993, the United States has invested more than 2.9 billion dollars for the securing and safe disposal of excess small arms, light weapons, and munitions, as well as the safe clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war in more than 100 countries.

The United States has funded programs worldwide aimed at reducing at-risk weapons and munitions, and at improving stockpile security. The goal is to prevent diversion of arms to terrorists and other destabilizing actors.

Through the conventional weapons destruction program, the U.S. government has collaborated with partner nations and international organizations since 2003 to destroy more than 39,000 excess or poorly-secured man-portable air-defense systems. Also known as MANPADS, these are shoulder-fired missiles that, in the hands of terrorists or insurgents, pose a serious potential threat to global aviation.

Proactive community outreach through our Mine Risk Education programs have prevented countless injuries. At the same time, U.S.-funded Survivor Assistance has provided essential medical and rehabilitation services to more than 250,000 people injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Working in close cooperation with the Department of Defense and the U.S. Agency for International Developments Leahy War Victims Fund, the Department of State has helped numerous countries to declare themselves mine free.

On this day of mine awareness, we urge other nations to join us in a robust international partnership with the shared goal of reducing the impact of landmines around the world.After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings  though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.



Jen Johnson, CTU, Local 1 in Substance

Despite calls from city council members to rescind his resignation, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi is resolved to leave his post for medical reasons, city Budget Committee Chairman Majid Farahani announced April 3.

The mayor has presented three different medical certificates confirming he is suffering from an illness that is difficult to treat, and has refused to withdraw his resignation, Farahani said.

But the mayors resignation saga is shrouded in a bit of mystery, as many city council members and observers hint at political pressure by conservatives being the real reason behind his decision.

Najafi, 66, an MIT-educated politician who held cabinet positions in the 1990s and in 2014, was overwhelmingly elected as Tehrans mayor last August and officially took the helm at city hall in September.

He replaced Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander and former chief of police who challenged Hassan Rouhani in last Mays presidential election, but dropped out midway to back another conservative candidate.

The Tehran City Council is scheduled to vote to approve Najafis resignation April 8.

One of Najafis aides has implied that city council members are under pressure to endorse the mayors resignation as soon as possible.

Mr. Najafi is not inclined to resign, and Tehran city council members are also reluctant to endorse his resignation, Gholam-Ali Rajaei, and aide to the mayor, wrote on his Telegram channel, adding, However, if it [Najafis resignation] is expedient for the regime, the council members will give in and accept the resignation.

The news of Najafis difficult to treat illness and his sudden resignation have coincided with bitter attacks against the mayor by conservative allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They have accused him of impropriety for attending an event marking International Womens Day March 8 where young girls danced in front of a mixed-gender audience.

The news of Najafis resignation also comes just one week after the Tehran prosecutors office summoned him for questioning about his presence at the event in Tehran, where a group of eight to nine-year-old girls performed a dance on stage in the mayors presence.

However, even before this incident, conservatives had started to attack the mayor after his administration began to go public about corruption and wasteful spending during his predecessors term.

The Islamic Republics judiciary demanded Najafi present evidence he claims he possesses of widespread financial corruption in the Tehran municipality under the former mayor.

Judiciary spokesman and mid-ranking cleric Gholam-hossein Mohseni Ejei has dismissed Najafis attacks on General Ghalibaf, maintaining, Most of the people who are newly appointed to serve in a position love to criticize their predecessors, but they never present any evidence to prove their allegations.

Two other council members concur that the mayors illness is not the only reason he decided to resign.

City council member Bahare Arvin believes Najafi has been forced to resign.

The prosecutor-generals humiliating behavior and comments on Mr. Najafi, as well as the postponement of the mayors scheduled meeting

with the Supreme leader are among the real reasons Najafi resigned, said Ms. Arvin.

Morteza Alviri, a former mayor of Tehran and current city council member, has gone further by insisting that Najafis alleged illness is a common disease many suffer from, and [not an acceptable excuse for resignation].JERUSALEM (AP)

The head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency is "100 percent certain" that Iran remains committed to developing a nuclear bomb and believes the international community must change or scrap its nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.

Yossi Cohen, who leads the shadowy spy agency, has been holding discussions about the Iranian nuclear program and delivered his assessment in a recent closed meeting with senior officials, according to a person who attended the meeting.

Cohen called the nuclear deal a "terrible mistake," saying it allows Iran to keep key elements of its nuclear program intact and will remove other restraints in a few years. "Then Iran will be able to enrich enough uranium for an arsenal of nuclear bombs," Cohen said, according to the meeting participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a classified security matter.

Cohen also criticized the decision to lift sanctions on Iran, saying it has resulted in "significantly increased" aggression by Iran, and noted Iran's continued development of long-range ballistic missiles.

"As head of the Mossad, I am 100 percent certain that Iran has never abandoned its military nuclear vision for a single instant. This deal enables Iran to achieve that vision," Cohen said. "That is why I believe the deal must be completely changed or scrapped. The failure to do so would be a grave threat to Israel's security."

Cohen's comments come amid an intense international discussion about the future of the 2015 nuclear deal, in which Iran agreed to curbs and inspections on its nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions. His analysis aligns closely with that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a time the Israeli leader is hopeful that President Donald Trump can negotiate changes to the deal.

The issue has sparked some debate inside Israel's security community, with some voices pointing to positive aspects of the deal in that it has delayed Iran's nuclear development. Trump has set a mid-May deadline for changes while also threatening to withdraw from the deal.

However, it remains unclear whether a compromise can be reached, and how Iran would react. Trump's disdain for the deal has been a welcome development for Netanyahu. The Israeli leader was a leading opponent of the deal, saying it did not contain sufficient safeguards to prevent Iran from reaching the capability to develop nuclear weapons as the agreement's restrictions expire.

Israel and Iran are arch enemies, and Israel has identified Iran as its top threat, citing the nuclear program, its hostile rhetoric, support for anti-Israel militant groups and its development of long-range missiles.

Yet the deal has also set off debate within Israel's security ranks. As head of a powerful agency and a close aide to Netanyahu, Cohen is an influential voice. Yet other officials, both active and former, have taken a more nuanced approach by focusing on the positive aspects of the deal.

In a recent interview, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot told the Haaretz newspaper that he knows of no violations of the nuclear deal by Iran, though he said Israel is closely watching and assuming Iran can operate secretly.

"If its intentions change, we will know. Right now the agreement, with all its faults, is working and is putting off realization of the Iranian nuclear vision by 10 to 15 years," he was quoted as saying.Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) held a workshop, which was entitled The Status and Future of Drilling Rig Automation and arranged by International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC).

It was conducted by Director of Business and Technology Development  Rig Systems of National Oilwell Varco company (NOV) Tom Yost. SOCAR AQS Drilling Manager, IADC Caspian Chapter Chairman Graham Clark, NOV Branch Manager for the Caspian Region Ramiz Imamkuliev and Drilling Engineer at BP, IADC Committee Member Tural Naghibayli also participated in the event that gathered more than 70 undergraduates of the Higher School. Its main objective was to familiarize the students with current situation and the newest trends in the field of drilling rig automation.

Opening the workshop and welcoming the participants, BHOS Vice rector for General Affairs Rashad Hasanov spoke about effective cooperation between the Higher School and International Association of Drilling Contractors.

Director of Business and Technology Development of NOV company Tom Yost made a presentation and showed video materials on the workshop subject. He also shared his own experience of the work on drilling rig automation. In conclusion, Tom Yost thanked the students for their active and successful participation in the workshop. He also noted that he was delighted to see the Higher Schools campus and its facilities, and the conditions created there for the students.

At the end of the workshop, the IADC representatives answered numerous questions from the undergraduates.The presentation of the book Our heroes are our blood memory was made at UNEC.

The book compiled by the Social Community of Alumni of Turkish Universities and with the financial support of the Youth and Sport Ministry was dedicated to the memory of April martyrs.

The associated professor, prorector for work with students Saadat Gandilova noted that, the April fights demonstrated the strength of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, the combat capability of the soldiers and officers, and the professionalism of the army.

He noted that two UNEC alumni Tural Dadashov and Mahir Mirzoyev were martyred heroically during the April fights, emphasized that the publication of such books as the Our heroes are our blood memory were of great importance in the growth of the younger generation in the spirit of patriotism.

The head of the Department of the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Rauf Demirov spoke about the successful results of the April battles and stressed the historical significance of these battles. Was noted that, the April fights were the heroic history demonstrating the power of the Azerbaijani army.

Demirov stressed the confidence that the occupied Azerbaijani territories would be soon liberated thanks to the purposeful policy of President Ilham Aliyev.

The chairman of the Social Community of Alumni of Turkish Universities Chingiz Bayramov spoke about the glorious April battles, which was one of the vivid historical victories of the Azerbaijani army, and noted that the presented book was the fist encyclopedic publication about the sons of the motherland, who were martyred at the peak of heroism during the April battles.

Ali Mammadov, the head of Patriotism and Civic Education department of the Ministry of Youth and Sport, spoke about the achievements of the army during the April fights and called on young people to heroism and patriotism. The April battles are one of the brightest pages of the military history of our people, said the chairman of the Azerbaijani Young Scientist, the Doctor of Philosophy, the chairman of the Society for post-graduate and masters degree level students, Ilqar Orujov.

Kamala Dadashova, the mother of UNEC alumni  the April martyr Tural Dadashov, Sabir Mirzoyev, the father of UNEC alumni and the April martyr Mahir Mirzoyev shared their memories of their sons. The parents noted that the names of their sons, who were martyred during the April battles were always dearly praised and spoke about the states care for martyr families.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 87 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said April 4.

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.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

The perpetrators of the Khojaly genocide rule Armenia and remain at large, Arye Gut, a well-known expert in the field of international relations, said in an interview with the Vestnik Kavkaza news agency.

Arye Gut, who is also a political analyst and blogger in the Jerusalem Post, said that he always writes in the newspaper that the difference between the Khojaly tragedy and the Holocaust is that most of the Holocaust perpetrators were punished after the Nuremberg Trials, and those who were not convicted were punished thanks to Israeli intelligence.

The situation regarding Khojaly is different, and none of those guilty in the tragedy were punished, he said, adding that unfortunately, double standards are applied in international relations.

Gut noted that events, roundtable meetings are held in Israel both within the universities and as part of a political dialogue with parties and movements, where the Khojaly tragedy is spoken about.

The Heydar Aliyev Foundation is very helpful in this regard, and the Khojaly Year was held in Israel in 2013, Gut said.

A major photo exhibition Justice for Khojaly was held as part of the Justice for Khojaly international campaign, he added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

On Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi, committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed in the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.

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, April 4

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

The internationally-recognized territory of Azerbaijan is illegally occupied by Armenia and the entire generations of Azerbaijanis grew up in exile, Azerbaijani Ambassador to US Elin Suleymanov wrote in his Washington Times article about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He reminded that these Azerbaijani lands are not, as once described by Armenian leaders, bargaining chips but the homeland of nearly 1 million very real human beings.

Even as the Minsk Group-mediated negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan continue, no real progress has been made in the talks lasting for a quarter of a century. Perhaps because of this lack of any real progress, some tend to describe the occupied Azerbaijani lands and a generation-long displacement of the Azerbaijani civilians in abstract terms, Suleymanov wrote.

He noted that solution of the conflict is not as simple as finding the right mathematical combination and piecing together different parcels of land, thats why for some the convenient term compromise allows for drawing no distinctions between a perpetrator of aggression and a victim.

In order to be lasting, any peaceful solution should consider not just a snapshot of the unsustainable status quo but the regions long-term prospects as well. For the Azerbaijanis, this means recognition of their strong attachment to Karabakh as well as return of the displaced communities to their homes. For the Armenians in Karabakh, this is the need to feel secure and an opportunity for self-government, the ambassador wrote.

According to him, when speaking of potential compromises, it is important to recognize each sides right for life and dignity, and while Azerbaijan acknowledges that all of its citizens are entitled to equal rights regardless of religious and ethnic affiliation, Armenia is yet to demonstrate that it has a vision beyond narrow and simplistic lines of ethnicity.

Naturally, this stalemate continues to breed popular frustration in Azerbaijan. The nations political leadership is well aware of this. So should be the Armenian leaders and international mediators. Both because, unless some progress is achieved, such sentiments will only deepen and because Armenias own progress depends on how soon the conflict is resolved, Suleymanov noted.

He added that Karabakh is an integral and, perhaps, the most acutely painful part of Azerbaijans identity and that is very much a reality of the region.

He reminded that many Armenians rightly call Karabakh home as well and yet, territories under Armenian occupation are today mostly empty because the numerous Azerbaijani natives have been ethnically cleansed.

They [Azerbaijanis of Karabakh] cannot be kept away forever. Both communities should learn how to live side-by-side again and, for Armenians, the first important step is to realize that the very real people they violently chased from their lands are not abstract statistical numbers, Suleymanov concluded.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanovBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Afghanistans Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani will pay a working visit to Azerbaijan.

A delegation led by the Afghan foreign minister will be in Baku on April 4-7 to attend the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to be held in the city on April 5-6.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Mid-Term Ministerial Conference will be held in Baku under the theme of Promoting international peace and security for sustainable development on April 5-6.

A meeting of Senior Officials of member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement kicked off in Baku April 3.

NAM participating states, representatives of observer states and international organizations, countries and institutions invited as special guests will take part in the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference.



NAM includes 120 states. Seventeen states and 10 international organizations have an observer status in NAM.

NAM Mid-Term Ministerial Conference, to be held in Baku, is expected to be attended by 800 participants.Details added (first version posted on 10:20)

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today received Foreign Minister of Palestine Riyad al-Maliki.

The foreign minister extended greetings and best wishes of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the head of state.

He stressed the importance of President Ilham Aliyevs participation in OIC extraordinary summit on the issue of Al Quds in Istanbul, and thanked the head of state for support demonstrated at the event.

The Palestinian foreign minister noted the significance of the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement being held in Baku, and said he was pleased to attend the event.

President Aliyev emphasized the importance of al-Malikis participation in the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The head of state said the people of Azerbaijan have always stood by the state and people of Palestine, describing Azerbaijans participation in the OIC Summit in Istanbul as a sign of this solidarity.

President Aliyev thanked for greetings of Mahmoud Abbas, and asked the foreign minister to extend his greetings to the Palestinian president.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

Experts from the United States Army Europe (USAREUR) are holding a seminar titled "Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) in Peacekeeping Operations" in Baku, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a message April 4.

During the event, the USAREUR experts will hold presentations on Military Decision Making Process within the context of its applicability to peacekeeping operations, and many other topics.

Servicemen of the Azerbaijani Army are attending the seminar which will last until April 5.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Andrei Dapkunas will attend the ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Baku on April 5-6, Head of the Department of Information and Press Secretary of the Foreign Ministry Dmitry Mironchik said at a briefing on April 4, Belta reported.

Dapkunas will address the conference on behalf of Belarus as well as on behalf of the European group of countries of the Non-Aligned Movement. He will speak about the main approaches of Belarus on key issues of the international agenda.

On the sidelines of the NAM conference, Dapkunas will hold bilateral meetings with heads of delegations of the participating countries.

The Non-Aligned Movement Mid-Term Ministerial Conference will be held in Baku under the theme of Promoting International Peace and Security for Sustainable Development on April 5-6.

NAM participating states, representatives of observer states and international organizations, countries and institutions invited as special guests will take part in the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference.

NAM includes 120 states. Seventeen states and 10 international organizations have an observer status in NAM.

The Mid-Term Ministerial Conference, to be held in Baku, is expected to have 800 attendees.Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 16:41)

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Anwar Gargash on April 4.

Minister of State Anwar Gargash extended greetings of President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to President Aliyev.

Stressing the importance of the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement being held in Baku, Gargash recalled with satisfaction his previous meeting with the Azerbaijani president.

Touching upon bilateral ties between the two countries, the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs hailed the visa facilitation for tourists traveling to Azerbaijan, adding that it gives great impetus to increasing the number of UAE tourists visiting the country.

President Aliyev underlined the significance of Gargash`s participation in the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement being held in Baku.

The Azerbaijani president said that bilateral relations between the two countries are developing successfully, and noted with satisfaction that the number of UAE tourists visiting Azerbaijan are increasing year by year.

Touching upon the work to develop the tourism sphere in Azerbaijan, President Aliyev said that additional steps are expected to be taken for even further visa facilitation.

The Azerbaijani president stressed the importance of UAE tourists visit not only to Baku, but also regions of the country.

They exchanged views over the issues related to the development of cooperation between the two countries in a variety of fields.

President Aliyev thanked for Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan`s greetings, and asked Gargash to extend his greetings to the president of the United Arab Emirates.Details added (first version posted on 17:42)

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

The Azerbaijani embassy in France will send the note of protest to the French Foreign Ministry, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend April 4.

He added that the note of protest will be sent in connection with the visit of Ashot Gulyan, who presented himself as a representative of the illegal regime created by the Armenian Armed Forces in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, to France, one of the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group.

"We regret to note that although the entry of Gulyan, the resident of Azerbaijans Khankendi city using the diplomatic passport of Armenia, into the territory of the EU countries, violates the agreement on simplification of the visa regime and readmission between Armenia and the EU, the French side has not taken any measures to prevent this visit, Hajiyev said.

The systematic nature of such visits and the turning of the territory of France into a place of propaganda for an illegal regime raises a question about France's impartiality as a co-chair country and puts the credibility and reliability of France at the international level and in the Azerbaijani public under question," he said.

According to the general code of the French self-government bodies, as well as the letter dated July 2, 2015 of the Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry sent to the plenipotentiary representatives of the government, all international relations of local self-government bodies must comply with international obligations undertaken by France, and local self-government bodies are not authorized to sign any agreement with one or another structure not recognized by the French government, he said.

The central government of France has recently demonstrated a tough position when the questions in connection with Corsica arose, but the creation of an opportunity by France to encourage the illegal separatist regime created in the occupied Azerbaijani territories on its territory is regarded as another example of double standards, Hajiyev said.

He said that Azerbaijan calls upon France, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to observe its obligations, norms and principles of international law and suppress such actions directed against Azerbaijans sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"From now on, the Azerbaijani side will proceed from the principle of reciprocity in relations with France," Hajiyev said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.(Details added 16:41)

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has today received Mohammad Momani, Minister of Information and Communications Technology of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Momani conveyed greetings and best wishes of King Abdullah II to President Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan. The guest noted that Jordan has a great respect for leadership of President Aliyev, for Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani people.

The minister said that Jordan follows with interest the success achieved by Azerbaijan, and noted that Azerbaijan is an exemplary country that hosts important international events.

Noting that personal friendly relations between the King of Jordan and the President of Azerbaijan play a big role in the bilateral relations of the two countries, Momani said that the King of Jordan gave instructions to develop cooperation with Azerbaijan in both political and economic spheres.

The Jordanian minister, highly appreciating Azerbaijan's holding the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, expressed gratitude for the invitation to this event.

Expressing gratitude for the kind words, President Aliyev stressed that personal friendship with King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein contributed to the development of the relations between the two countries.

The head of state said that Jordan is a friendly country for Azerbaijan, and noted that the two countries have good relations in the political sphere.

President Aliyev further stressed the importance of expanding cooperation in the economic sphere, including increasing the trade turnover and using investment opportunities.

Praising the fact that Azerbaijan has become a venue for important international events, President Ilham Aliyev noted the significance of the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Alignment Movement. The head of state expressed his confidence that Azerbaijan's chairmanship at the NAM in the years to come will see successful cooperation on the issues that interest both countries.

President Aliyev thanked for King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein`s greetings, and asked the minister to extend his greetings to the King of Jordan.(Details added 16:57)

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India Sushma Swaraj on April 4.

The head of state, touching upon the importance of Swaraj's participation in the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, noted that at the same time it is a good opportunity to discuss the bilateral relations.

Noting the importance of the Ministerial Conference of the NAM in Baku, Swaraj said that India is a founding member of this organization, and expressed satisfaction with participation in the event.

Further highlighting the historical ties between the two countries, the Indian minister assessed the significant growth in the trade as a good indicator of the bilateral ties.

Swaraj, emphasizing that large-scale economic reforms are underway in her country, said that India has great potential in this area. The minister stressed the importance of her country's participation in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project, further adding that at the same time there are good opportunities to expand cooperation in other areas.

The Indian minister pointed to her country's interest in cooperation in the projects on the international transport corridors "North-South" and "South-West", implemented at the initiative of Azerbaijan.

The head of state, for his part, expressed satisfaction with the increase in the trade turnover and noted the need to define opportunities for cooperation in various fields, including in the political, economic, investment, trade, transport and tourism sectors.

Voicing satisfaction with India's participation in the global project Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, President Aliyev expressed hope that in the future other Indian companies will participate in the economy of Azerbaijan as an investor.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

India supports Azerbaijans position in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said.

The Azerbaijani foreign minister made the remarks at the press conference following the meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj in Baku April 4.

Mammadyarov said that during today's meetings Swaraj was updated about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"I can say that India supports Azerbaijan's position both in documents signed within the Non-Aligned Movement and in other documents," he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

Azerbaijani Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov met with Head of Staff of the CIS observation mission Evgeny Sloboda, the Prosecutor General's Office said in a message.

Stressing the work carried out in Azerbaijan to ensure the free expression of the voters will, holding of election in conditions of democracy and transparency, Garalov updated Sloboda about the tasks facing the prosecutor's bodies in connection with the violation of the electoral legislation.

During the meeting it was stressed that a working group was set up to immediately investigate information of a criminal nature on violations in the electoral process received by the Prosecutor General's Office.

Speaking about the importance of the meetings held in Azerbaijan, Sloboda stressed that all conditions were created in the country to hold the election.

He said that the professionalism of members of district election commissions has improved compared to the previous election.

Along with the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission, Sloboda appreciated the efforts of the prosecution bodies in the field of enlightenment.

The sides exchanged views on issues of mutual interest.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and India reached $1.7 billion, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said.

The Indian foreign minister made the remarks at the press conference following the meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku April 4.

Swaraj stressed that India is interested in the development of cooperation in tourism, education, transport, energy and other spheres.

The Indian foreign minister also stressed the holding of fruitful discussions within the visit and said that relations between the two countries in various spheres will further develop.

Mammadyarov said that the issues in politics, economy, energy, transport, trade, tourism, etc. were touched upon during today's meeting with his Indian counterpart.

The minister said that at the suggestion of the Indian side, another meeting of the Azerbaijani-Indian intergovernmental commission is planned to be held in May.

The Azerbaijani foreign minister stressed that today an agreement has been signed between the Azerbaijani and Indian governments on the exemption of people having diplomatic, official and service passports from visa requirements.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between ADA University of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and the Foreign Service Institute of the Indian Foreign Ministry.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

The number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan in the first three months of 2018 increased by 12.5 percent as compared to the same period of 2017, Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Garayev said.

The minister noted that many tourists visited the country during the Novruz holiday.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and National Tourism Promotion Bureau held many events during the Novruz holiday, Garayev said.

He added that more than 1-1.5 million people attended these events.

This is a pretty good figure. I think we have the right direction in the development of tourism, the minister noted.Baku, Azerbaijan, April4

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) and the Azerbaijani government are discussing the possibility of issuing manat loans in the country, a source in the bank told Trend.

The source said that the BSTDB shows interest in issuing loans in the national currency, manat, in Azerbaijan and plans to expand their share in its loan portfolio in the future.

"Today we are actively studying the possibilities how we can start lending in the national currency. However, it presently, it is difficult to issue manat loans [for foreign investors] because of the hedging cost," the source said.

The source explained that the interest in issuing manat loans is also linked with the fact that Azerbaijani banks are almost not interested in dollar funds.

"The banking system of Azerbaijan is very dollarized and the banks have a significant short open currency position [the volume of deposits in foreign currency exceed the volume of loans in foreign currency], so they are more interested in finding manat funds and almost do not show interest in USD loans," the source said .

However, according to the source, even in spite of such a demand, it is difficult for international creditors to gain access to mid-term manat financing at competitive rates.

The BSTDB was established by Azerbaijan, Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Armenia, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. The banks authorized capital is 3.45 billion euros.

Twitter: @AzadHasanliBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

Saudi Arabian businessmen and investors are planning to familiarize with conditions and opportunities of Tajik market for investments, Tajik agency CA-News reported on April 4.

The business circles of the Arabic state are expected to visit Dushanbe sometime in 2018.

Corresponding agreements were achieved by the two sides during the events held in Saudi Arabia on April 3. The second meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and cultural-technical cooperation between Tajikistan and Saudi Arabia was held in Riyadh on April 1-2. Additionally, business forums of the two countries were held in Riyadh and Jeddah on April 2-3.

The Tajik delegation was headed by Chairman of the State Investments and Property Management Committee Farrukh Khamralizoda. The events were co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Trade and Investments of Saudi Arabia Majid bin Abdulla Al-Bovardi.

During the meeting, the sides discussed expansion of cooperation in trade, economy, investments, finances, banking, security, transportation, infrastructure, humanitarian aid, energy, agriculture, education, tourism, culture, the press office of the State Investments and Property Management Committee of Tajikistan stated.

A final protocol of the intergovernmental commission meeting was signed on April 2.

Businessmen and investors from Saudi Arabia are expected to arrive to Dushanbe to familiarize with Tajik market, its conditions and opportunities for cooperation with Tajik entrepreneurs, the press office added.

Saudi Arabian businessmen invested $160.2 million in Tajikistan in 2007-2017.



---

Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanovAs of January 2018, AsstrA offers door-to-door import and export of goods between the US, Europe and the CIS countries.

In order to serve the American logistics market, a special AsstrA USA operative group was created with 29 agents promoting and improving services offered on the transport corridors between Europe and USA.

AsstrA provides clients with import and export logistic services on 15 trade lanes involving the US. The company pays a great deal of attention to the air transport and maritime container transport of neutral, hazardous, and high-value cargoes.

AsstrA-Associated Traffic AG had been operating on the US market before the establishment of the AsstrA USA branch. One of the companys key clients there was the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC), from Russia.

AsstrAs total turnover from the US market in 2017 amounted to approximately one million euros. By the end of 2018, the company is planning to triple its turnover there.

"We strive to expand the company's capabilities to service intercontinental destinations. 6.7% of the world's transport stream is between North America and Europe. That is why we see great opportunities for the company's development, notes Vladislav Lagun, Head of the AsstrA USA branch. The American market is very competitive, largely due to the considerable turnover of goods and the presence of heavyweight logistics service providers. Nevertheless, thanks to our established position on the international transport market in Europe and the CIS, as well as strong ties with experienced and professional agents in the USA, we can offer optimal door-to-door delivery services. A big advantage is also the expert knowledge of our sales specialists. AsstrA has a wide customer network in Europe and the CIS. AsstrA takes a unique approach to serving customers that, especially after a local office has been opened, will set us apart from homegrown American transport providers.

In order to strengthen AsstrAs position on the container transport market between the US, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, the company has begun a competitive analysis of other providers based in those countries. The development of a network of agents was planned for the beginning of 2019 in order to offer sea and air transport between Canada and the United States. According to the plans, AsstrA will be officially represented in the US by 2020.

About the company:

AsstrA-Associated Traffic AG is an international transport and logistics holding company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It has been operating in the sphere of logistics for more than 20 years. The company is represented in 16 countries of Europe, Asia and the CIS. It offers a whole entire range of services through a single logistics operator.



In particular, the company ensures international transportation by various types of transport, import and export support of any type of cargo, as well as cargo insurance "against all risks" in the most reputable insurance companies in Germany and Switzerland. The package also includes project logistics, trading, warehousing and customs services.

Thanks to the wide geographic range and cooperation with professionals, AsstrA offers advantageous logistics solutions at reasonable prices and takes into account the needs of each customer and partner.

Contact us:

Email: [email protected],

.: +994 55 813 59 74

WhatsApp & Viber: +48 576147796

Website: http://www.asstra.com

Fb: https://www.facebook.com/AsstrAsia/?ref=bookmarksBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

As of April 4, Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) paid compensations worth 45.5 million manats (1.7 manats = $1 on April 4) to the depositors of Azerbaijans DemirBank OJSC, the license of which was revoked in December 2017, the ADIF said in a message April 4.

The volume of compensated deposits in DemirBank totals 63.5 million manats, while the volume of uncompensated deposits amounts to 28.3 million manats.

DemirBanks license was revoked Dec. 23, 2017. The Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FIMSA) of Azerbaijan said the license was revoked due to a discrepancy between the total capital of the bank and the minimum capital requirement set for banks, adding that the adequacy ratio of the aggregate capital was lower than 3 percent stipulated by the legislation.

The bank also lacked the capacity to fulfill its obligations to creditors.

For the first time, payments of compensations to depositors of bankrupt banks are carried out in the non-cash form. DemirBanks depositors can receive compensations via both the Khazri instant money transfer system and Kapital Banks personal debit cards.

The depositors can receive compensations in 26 branches of Kapital Bank OJSC until Feb. 1, 2019.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

China hopes that Baku will become a major hub between Asia and Europe, Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Wei Jinghua said at the presentation of the equipment handed over to the Baku International Sea Trade Port on April 4.

He stressed that regular mutual visits of the leadership of the two countries and signing of numerous documents determined the development of relations between China and Azerbaijan.

"China pays great attention to Azerbaijan's special advantages in the Eurasian transport hub. Thus, Chinese companies support cooperation with Azerbaijan in the field of transport and logistics. The technology that was transferred to the Port of Baku will further increase Azerbaijan's capacity to receive cargoes and strengthen its role, as a trade and logistics center in the region," the ambassador said.

China hopes that Baku will soon become a major logistics hub on the route from Asia to Europe, he said.

"The Great Silk Road connected our peoples more than 2,000 years ago. After Azerbaijan regained the independence, our historical ties were restored, and now they are being strengthened within the framework of the" One Belt and One Road" project. Both countries support each other on all issues," said the ambassador.

The Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat is expected to become one of the most promising logistics zones throughout the New Silk Road.

The Port in Alat, which will become the largest port on the Caspian Sea, is an important part of Azerbaijan's transport infrastructure. The first phase of construction of the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat settlement will be completed in May 2018.

After the first phases completion, the ports capacity will be 15 million tons per year. The ports capacity will be increased up to 25 million tons of cargo and 500,000 containers per year at the second stage, and up to one million containers per year  at the next stage.(Deatil added 12:09)

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

The Baku International Sea Trade Port has received 34 units of equipment from the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges, Trends correspondent reported form the event dedicated to the presentation of the equipment on April 4.

The equipment, the total cost of which is about $2 million, was transferred to the Port of Baku on the basis of an intergovernmental grant agreement signed between China and Azerbaijan.

The equipment includes 16 forklifts with carrying capacity from 1.5 to 20 tons, two 45-ton telescopic container loaders, three 30-ton trailers for tractors, one 220-ton crane and other equipment.

Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Abid Sharifov and Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Wei Jinghua signed the acceptance certificate on new equipment.

The Port in Alat, which will become the largest port on the Caspian Sea, is an important part of Azerbaijan's transport infrastructure. The first phase of construction of the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat settlement will be completed in May 2018.

After the first phases completion, the ports capacity will be 15 million tons per year. The ports capacity will be increased up to 25 million tons of cargo and 500,000 containers per year at the second stage, and up to one million containers per year  at the next stage.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

European bank for reconstruction and development (EBRD) continues to support renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan, working closely with the government of the country on green energy laws, regulations and other carbon-reduction programs, a source in the bank told Trend.

One of the latest projects, which Kazakhstan currently works on with EBRDs support is Kokshetau Water sub-project. The project will be complemented with participation of Kazakhstans State Communal Enterprise "Kokshetau Su Arnasy", the municipal water and wastewater utility, owned by the government. The project envisages a senior loan to the company of up to 1.5 billion tenge (4.3 million euro), Trend was told.

The project is aimed to finance priority capital investments, including the modernization of the Water Treatment Plant ("WTP") and rehabilitation of other infrastructure components with the majority of the investments directed towards improvement of the water quality and water supply security.

The source added that several other large-scale renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan under project finance structure also have been supported by the EBRD.

The EBRD will provide a loan in local currency, Kazakh tenge, up to an equivalent of $8.8 million, and the Clean Technology Fund will lend up to $3.9 million for the Zadarya solar plant in the South Kazakhstan region, near the city of Shymkent. The solar park project will be implemented by a special purpose company, Kaz Green Tek Solar LLP, incorporated in Kazakhstan and majority owned by Urbasolar, said the source.

The new Zadarya solar power plant will add 14MW of solar capacity to Kazakhstans energy mix, bringing the total amount of existing and planned renewable energy to 365 MW.

Loan agreements and a project support agreement were signed at the 8th Session of the Assembly of IRENA, the international renewables body, in Abu Dhabi on 13 January 2018, according to the source.

To date, the EBRD has invested over $8.7 billion in the economy of Kazakhstan.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Huseyn Valiyev - Trend:

The Azexport.az portal has established cooperation with postal operators of importer countries, Head of Azexport Zaur Gardashov told Trend.

He said talks are held with the Post of Russia, the postal operator of Ukraine, Ukrposhta, and Turkish transport company MNG Kargo.

The subject of the negotiations is to get optimal conditions to deliver goods purchased through the portal to customers by Azerbaijani mail.

Gardashov said the talks also cover wholesale delivery of goods by the Azerbaijani side to the border, after which the goods can be distributed by the postal and transport services of other countries.

At the initial stage we want to implement this project with three countries, Gardashov said.

Azexport was created to provide information on goods of Azerbaijani origin and is a platform for their sale in foreign and domestic markets.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyevBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The Turkish State Railways (TCDD) has announced a tender for conducting reinforced concrete work on a ,1000-meter stretch in the Elazig province of the country.

The tender will be held at 09:30 (GMT +3) on May 2, 2018.

Bids are accepted at: GAZI MAHALLESI MEDENIYYET CAD. NO:10/2 44080 YESILTEPE/ YESILYURT/MALATYA.

For additional information, please call: (+90 422) 212 48 00

Fax: (+90 422) 212 48 26.

Email: [email protected]d.gov.tr

Tender fee is 250 Turkish liras.

(1 USD = 3.9832 TRY on April 4)

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Members of the Board of KazTransOil JSC Oral Idyrisov and Zhaidarman Isakov flew to Batumi on April 4 to negotiate with the workers on strike of the Batumi Sea Port (BMP) and participate in the normalization of the BMP's operational work, press service of KazTransOil said in a message.

"KazTransOil JSC is in favor of resolving all issues within the legal framework of Georgia, in the territory of which the facility is located," the message said.

Presently, 8 employees of the BMP announced a hunger strike. The demands of the protesters relate to the reinstatement of previously dismissed workers, who reached the retirement age, the issuance of financial assistance for the Easter holiday, the revision of the insurance package, as well as an increase of the port workers' salaries.

The BMP administration was offered to start negotiations within the framework of the mediation procedure stipulated by the labor legislation of Georgia and to consider all the issues raised jointly with the trade union of the port.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

First Vice Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Askarbek Shadiev met with the Chairman of the State Committee of Hygiene and Health of China Ma Xiaowei in Beijing, the press service of the Kyrgyz government said in a message.

Shadiev stressed that the Kyrgyz side intends to continue bilateral cooperation, in particular in matters of interaction in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, medical tourism and scientific research.

"Presently, there is an intensification of bilateral relations in the health sector between our countries. We continue to work on construction of a hospital complex equipped with necessary and modern equipment in the city of Osh. Kyrgyzstan also offers China to participate in a project of construction of a medical diagnostic center on the shore of the Issyk-Kul lake," said Askarbek Shadiev.

In turn, Ma Xiaowei stressed that the health sector is an important part of bilateral cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and China.

"We are ready to consider the proposals of the Kyrgyz side on the implementation of the project to build a medical facility on the shore of the Issyk-Kul lake. We also intend to develop cooperation in the field of medical tourism, traditional medicine, remote diagnosis, treatment, since this sectors represent become one of the drivers of relations between our countries," he said.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 4

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

Baghdad has hosted Turkmen-Iraqi political consultations, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message April 4.

The sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest. In addition, the sides discussed trade and economic relations between Turkmenistan and Iraq.

The parties noted the need to strengthen traditional cultural and humanitarian cooperation, which is an integral part of bilateral relations, the message said.

Diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and Iraq were established in 2009.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 4

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has sent a congratulatory letter to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the occasion of his reelection as Egyptian president, the Turkmen government said in a message.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov wished good health, happiness and success to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at his presidential post for the sake of further progress and prosperity of the friendly country.

Ashgabat and Cairo attach special attention to the issues on increasing the export of final goods by discussing the prospects of further intensification of the Turkmen-Egyptian interaction in trade and economic sphere.

Two countries also intend to expand relations in energy sphere and processing sector of the chemical industry. Meanwhile, medicine and pharmaceutical industries are considered as the fields of mutual interest.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 4

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

A seminar of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), dedicated to combating the threats of extremism and radicalism in the modern world, is being held in Ashgabat, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message.

Employees of several ministries and authorities of Turkmenistan, international experts, staff of the OSCE Secretariat and relevant structures from the US, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are invited to participate in the seminar.

Participants discuss steps to strengthen cooperation and various national approaches in the fight against violent extremism and radicalism.

During the seminar, it was noted that the fight against the threat of violent extremism and radicalism is becoming the most effective thanks to the establishment of an international system to counteract these global negative phenomena, coordination of efforts of various states on a long-term basis, says the message.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 4

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend

The employees of the Turkmennebit (Turkmenoil) State Concern underwent training in the Tatneft Personnel Training Center, said a message posted on the Russian oil company's website.

The Tatneft Personnel Training Center trains and improves professional skills of workers and specialists in oil extraction industry.

"The partnership in oil and gas production between Tatneft and Turkmennebit allows Turkmen specialists to undergo training at the company's enterprises," the message said.

This is the fourth group from Turkmenistan, which is getting acquainted with the innovative processes of the company. This time Turkmennebits specialists were involved in the training entitled "Automation and Instrumentation of Oil and Gas Production Processes and Communication". The specialists studied the issues of automatic monitoring of production processes and measuring instruments, visited a number of oil and gas production facilities and service enterprises.

Tatneft has been cooperating with Turkmenistan since 2010. Rehabilitation work was carried out on forty wells as part of the previous contract signed with Turkmennebit to render services. Oil production was restored at 32 wells.

"In total, over 144,000 tons of additional oil were extracted during the contract," Nebit-Gaz, online newspaper of the countrys Oil and Gas Complex, reported.

About 10 million tons are produced annually in Turkmenistan. A significant part of the raw material is processed internally.

Earlier it was reported that the Russian company was interested in rendering services in Turkmenistan for the restoration of oil wells, the supply of oilfield equipment, chemical reagents, base oils and tire products.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Fikret Dolukhanov - Trend:

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a law On ratification of the Shanghai Cooperation Organizations convention on prevention of extremism, Uzbek media reported on April 4.

The convention was signed by the SCO heads of state in Astana in June 2017.

The document forms interaction mechanisms in preventive activity sphere, joint counteraction to extremism, including operational, investigation and procedural activity.

The SCO General Secretary Rashid Alimov earlier noted that member-states of the organization were among the first countries in international community, which approved such legislation on consensual basis. The UN, for example, has been holding disputes for over 40 years already to develop the General Convention on Fighting Terrorism.

According to data of the antiterrorist body of the SCO, special services of the member-countries have revealed more than 600 crimes, eliminated more than 500 training facilities, put an end to more than 2,000 terrorists, seized more than 1,000 homemade explosive devices and more than 10,000 homemade fire-arms.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanovBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the law On ratification of the ninth additional protocol to the charter of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), Uzbek media reported on April 4.

The law was signed by the legislative chamber of the Uzbek parliament and the Uzbek Senate in March 2018. The protocol was adopted by the 26th UPU Congress and signed in Istanbul on October 6, 2016.

To ratify the ninth additional protocol to the charter of the Universal Postal Union, the text of the law read.

The press service of the Uzbek Senate noted that the protocol provides for a single postal territory for mutual exchange of postal items, specifies the definition of a postal dispatch for countries adopting the UPU regulations.

Ratification of the protocol will promote development of international cooperation in postal communication sphere.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanovBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the law On ratification of the Charter of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Uzbek media reported on April 4.

The document was adopted in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Nov. 26, 2015.

The ratification of the Charter of the ISESCO will contribute to further development of international cooperation in education, science and culture and will additionally allow widely promoting achievements of Uzbekistan in the cultural and humanitarian spheres.

The Tashkent Islamic University will organize work of the Special Chair of the ISESCO after the entry of the Charter into force.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanovBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Gazenfer Hamidov  Trend:

Iran imported 1.71 million tons of staple food products through its ports during the latest month of last Iranian fiscal year (ended March 20).

The figure indicates a rise by 26 percent compared to the preceding month, according to the data released by Irans Ports and Maritime Organization.

The food products mentioned in the report include wheat, barley, butter, soy, rice, sugar, cooking oil, and meat products.

The country loaded and unloaded 1.794 million tons of food products at its ports in the one-month period, indicating a 18.4 percent increase year-on-year.

The figure was 1.409 million tons in the preceding Iranian calendar month (ended Feb. 20).

In the meantime, the country exported 84,307 tons of staple food products through the organizations ports in the period, compared to 50,605 tons in the preceding month.

According to the report, 18 ports - Abadan, Astara, Arvandkenar, Imam Khomeini, Amirabad, Anzali, Bushehr, Tiab, Jask, Chabahar, Chavibdeh, Khorramshahr, Shahid Bahonar, Shahid Rajaee, Fereydounkenar, Qeshm, Lengeh and Noshahr - were involved in loading/unloading of staple food products during the period.

The report also unveiled that over 550,106 tons of fertilizers and chemicals were loaded/unloaded at Iranian ports, which was 14.7 percent more compared to the same month of preceding year. The volume of the unloaded fertilizers and chemicals was 144,018 tons in the one-month period from Feb. 20 to March 20, 2018.

Iranian ports saw loading and unloading of a total of 12.698 million tons of various goods and commodities, including food and metal products between Feb. 20 to March 20, 0.3 percent less year-on-year.

In total, over 153 million tons of various goods have been loaded/unloaded at Iranian ports during the last fiscal year.

The volume is 5.5 percent more than the loaded/unloaded products in the preceding year.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend:

Iranian flag carrier airline, Iran Air, has operated 12 flights between Tehran and Baku during Nowruz holidays.

Mojtaba Gholamian, the head of Iran Air representative office in Baku, told Trend that the company has served about 1,800 passengers between March 19 and April 3.

Saying that the flag carrier normally operates two flights per week on Mondays and Thursdays, he added that during the Nowruz holidays Iran Air carried six extra flights between Tehran and Baku.

Iran Air resumed its Baku flights since late January and it is expected to continue flights over the next two years.Tehran, Iran, April 4

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad  Trend:

The Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran (RAI) plans to hold a tender on selecting contractors for constructing an Azerbaijan-backed railroad segment in the coming months, a senior official told Trend.

The documents for the tender on the construction of Rasht-Astara railway are being prepared and the tender will be held during spring in the current year, Nourollah Beiranvand, the deputy for planning and investment at the RAI said.

The official suggested that a consortium including domestic and international contractors would be formed to complete the project.

The 170-kilometer long railway is a crucial part of the larger North-South Transportation Corridor which is designed to connect northern Europe with India and South-East Asia. The route will also connect the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.

At an initial stage, six million tons of cargo are planned to be transported through the corridor per year and 15-20 million tons of cargo in future.Tehran, Iran, April 4

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad  Trend:

Mohammad Reza Najafi-Manesh, the secretary of Auto Parts Association of Iran, has expressed hope that a price correction over the current fiscal year which started on March 21 would lessen hurdles of the countrys second largest subsector of the economy.

Over the past year, we experienced difficulties regarding liquidity. We hope the price correction in the automotive industry will contribute to resolving the issue, Najafi-Manesh told Trend.

Over 1.718 million of various new vehicles were sold at Irans market in 2017, according to the latest report of the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA).

The figure which indicates a rise by 19 percent year-on-year, is the highest volume of sold vehicles in the country in recent years.

Iran was the 12th biggest car market in the world in 2017 with 7.1 percent share of global market.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

The forces that undermine the agreements within the Iran nuclear deal will be responsible for negative consequences for the worlds security system, Iranian Defense Minister, Brigadier General Mohammad Amir Khatami said, RIA Novosti reported.

The failure of the US and some of its Western partners to fulfill their obligations, their search for pretexts for non-fulfillment of these agreements can be assessed as a factor that is detrimental to the climate of confidence in the international arena. And while declaring Irans commitment to these agreements, as well as other commitments, I warn that the forces, led by the United States undermining these agreements, will be responsible for the negative consequences for the international order and the security system, he said speaking at the Moscow International Security Conference.

Iran and five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council  the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia  plus Germany signed the nuclear deal on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

The agreement limits Irans nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related bans against the Islamic Republic.

The US seeks to change the agreement with Iran. A representative of the US State Department previously told RIA Novosti that the US will withdraw from the Iranian deal if European partners do not work on correcting its shortcomings. The source stressed that if at any time the president decides that the agreement is unattainable, the US will immediately exit the deal.details added (first version posted on 17:12)

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Gazenfer Hamidov  Trend:

Irans President Hassan Rouhani underlined that Syrias territorial integrity must be respected.

He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Russian and Turkish counterparts Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

We emphasize that the Syrias territorial integrity, national sovereignty, unity, independence are the main goals that should be respected by all the parties, Rouhani said.

Rouhani said that Iran, Russia and Turkey have the main role in establishing ceasefire in the crisis-hit country, the state-run IRINN TV reported April 4.

Meanwhile, he accused certain countries, including the US, of supporting terrorists groups in Syria.

The Iranian president reiterated that the Syrian crisis has no military solution, adding that fighting against terrorism should continue in Syria.

No country can determine the destiny and future of Syria, Rouhani added.

The negotiations between the Syrian sides should continue until achieving a solution, including the necessary amendments to the constitution and holding free and fair elections, he said.

Rouhani added that the involvement of foreigners in determining the type and form of the Syrian government would only result in continuation of the crisis.

Rouhani called his negotiations with Turkish and Russian presidents regarding the Syrian crisis constructive.

We agreed to cooperate within the framework of the Astana talks results, Rouhani said.

A trilateral summit of the presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani was held in Ankara today. The summits main topic was the settlement of the Syrian conflict.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has arrived in Baku to attend the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement on Thursday, IRNA reported.

The Non-Aligned Movement Mid-Term Ministerial Conference will be held in Baku under the theme of Promoting International Peace and Security for Sustainable Development on April 5-6.

NAM participating states, representatives of observer states and international organizations, countries and institutions invited as special guests will take part in the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference.

NAM includes 120 states. Seventeen states and 10 international organizations have an observer status in NAM.

The Mid-Term Ministerial Conference, to be held in Baku, is expected to have 800 attendees.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend:

Ankara and Moscow have apparently taken major steps in improving once hostile ties as the Turkish and Russian leaders on Tuesday took part in a symbolic ceremony marking the construction of the Muslim nations first and long-awaited nuclear power plant.

Turkey is a priority, very reliable partner for us. That concerns as well the adherence to our agreements on a range of large regional problems that we face and would like to be solved. I see no issues today that would hinder further development of the relations with the Republic of Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a joint press conference with Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on April 4.

The Akkuyu power plant in the Mediterranean coastal province of Mersin is estimated to cost $20 billion and meet 10 percent of Turkey's energy needs.

Irans footpath

Despite the fact that Erdogan and Putin exchanged warm words and the Russian leader expressed firm commitment to completing the nuclear power plant, many still remain skeptical of many aspects of the project.

It seems that Ankara is now following in Tehrans footsteps as its atomic program reminds the experience of cooperation between Russia and Iran where the sides worked together for long years to bring Bushehr nuclear power plant on stream.

Irans 1,000-megawatt Bushehr plant, which was connected to the national grid only in September 2011, has a long history.

Germanys Siemens was the first constructor of the project under the reign of the US-backed Pahlavi monarchy which was shut down following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The uncompleted project sustained major damages by Iraqi air strikes during the war between the two countries in the 1980s.

Later in 1990s Russian engineers took over the project but the launch was further delayed by disagreements between Tehran and Moscow as well as technical and political challenges.

Studies have suggested that international sanctions in addition to the expenses of construction, operation and research made Irans nuclear program astronomically costly.

The inauguration of Ankaras Russian-backed project has also been postponed over the past several years and now Turkey is apparently seeking to join the worlds nuclear energy club but it remains unclear when it would really come online.

Although it is projected to inaugurate the first phase of the project in five years, neither the required technology transfer from Russia nor a construction completion date has been set.

Russia  Turkey ties improve, why?

While some believe that Turkey and Russia are on a collision course, the past year has seen evidence of progress in the gradual rapprochement process between the two sides.

The diplomatic ties between the two countries witnessed serious crisis after Turkey downed a Russian warplane back in November 2015 but the recent trip has been interpreted by many as a strong indication of improvement in ties.

Mutual interests in international relations appear as the main drive behind the unity between the former rivals.

The Middle Eastern developments, in fact, display the interest of Russia in Turkey which Moscow considers as a huge market and in the meantime a path to deliver its gas to Europe. But more important is Moscows triumph in luring a NATO member to its front.

On the other hand, the fact that both leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have recently become under the fierce criticism of westerners has also contributed to the improving ties.

Meanwhile, Turkey appears interested in getting financial and technical support from Moscow as Russian influence in the Middle East is rapidly growing.

Turkish nuclear program

From the economic point of view, it appears that Turkey has a legitimate right to obtain nuclear fuel because the 80 million-nation lacks hydrocarbon resources.

In the meantime, Saudi Arabias plans to achieve nuclear technology and available nuclear energy in other regional countries give ground to Turkey to justify its plan to fulfill its nuclear ambitions.

On the other hand, the May 12 deadline is looming and the US will probably leave the nuclear deal which would encourage Iran to resume its nuclear program.

Any objection by US President Donald Trumps administration to Ankara over its nuclear program would be met by criticism as Riyadh has already gotten the green light from the White House to go on with a similar plan.

In this situation involving Russia in its nuclear project will win Turkey a strong diplomatic support in the international arena.

Farhad Daneshvar is the head of Iran Desk at Trend Agency, follow him on Twitter: @Farhad_DaneshPresident Donald J. Trump spoke today with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to address recent developments in the Middle East.

According to the administration's readout of the conversation, president Trump reiterated the commitment of the United States to Israels security and the two leaders agreed to continue their close coordination on countering Irans malign influence and destabilizing activities.

Kirstjen Nielsen, the United States secretary of Homeland Security, announced Wednesday that US President Donald Trump is directing the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security to cooperate to deploy the National Guard to the Mexican border, Sputnik News reports.

The president will be signing a proclamation regarding the deployment later today, Nielsen told a press briefing. Deployed forces would be involved in support activities, not enforcement at this time.

When asked why the guard was needed, Nielsen said that smugglers were exploiting loopholes in US detention and that illegal border crossings had risen dramatically.

"We must change the environment, we must change these pull factors," Nielsen urged, before stating that it would take some time before new legislation would be "finalized."

It's unclear how much the deployment will cost, but the DHS secretary said past figures would be useful references.An attack on a Saudi tanker by Yemens Houthi would not hit oil supplies, Saudi energy minister said on Wednesday, after the Iran-allied group said it had targeted a warship in response to an air strike that killed civilians, Reuters reports.

The Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition which includes other Sunni Muslim states, says the Houthis attacked the oil tanker off Yemens main port of Hodeidah on Tuesday.

However, the Houthis say they targeted a coalition warship in response to an air strike on Hodeidah on Monday that killed at least a dozen civilians, including seven children.

The terrorist attack... will not affect economic activity or stall oil supplies, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on his official Twitter account.

Saudi oil industry sources told Reuters that oil operations and shipments were proceeding as normal and that security around facilities inside the kingdom had not been raised further.

It was a minor attack. There was no impact, but the question is will it continue? one of the sources said.

The EU naval force said that the oil tanker was the vessel Abqaiq, while shipping data showed it was Saudi-flagged, carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil and destined for Ain Sukhna in Egypt.

The tanker, whose owner Saudi shipping group Bahri did not immediately respond to a request for comment, was in international waters when it came under attack at around 1330 local time (1030 GMT), the coalition has said.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) intervened against the Houthis in Yemens war in 2015 to restore the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The Houthis, who control most of northern Yemen, have launched missiles at Saudi Arabia, including the capital Riyadh, in the past few days. Saudi authorities said they had intercepted the missiles, although debris had killed one person.

In April 2017, Saudi forces said they have foiled an attempt to blow up an Aramco fuel terminal in southern Saudi Arabia using a high-speed boat laden with explosives, alleging Yemens Houthis were behind the attempt.

The Saudi-led alliance has conducted thousands of air strikes targeting Houthis, often hitting civilian areas, although it denies doing so intentionally.China condemned the United States on Wednesday as the Trump administration pushed ahead with plans to slap tariffs on about $50 billion of Chinese industrial and hi-tech products, and vowed imminent countermeasures in the escalating trade dispute, Reuters reports.

The U.S. government hours earlier unveiled a detailed breakdown of some 1,300 Chinese industrial, transport and medical goods that could be subject to 25 percent duties, ranging from light-emitting diodes to chemicals and machine parts.

The move, broadly flagged last month, is aimed at forcing Beijing to address what Washington says is deeply entrenched theft of U.S. intellectual property and forced technology transfer from U.S. companies to Chinese competitors, charges Chinese officials deny.

Chinas Commerce Ministry said in a statement that it will soon take measures of equal intensity and scale against U.S. goods, and Beijings ambassador to the World Trade Organization, Zhang Xiangchen, urged members to join with China in firmly resisting U.S. protectionism.

The ministry did not reveal any specific countermeasures, but economists widely view imports of U.S. soybeans, aircraft and machinery as prime targets for retaliation.

The trade showdown between the worlds largest economies has fueled market fears that they could spiral into a trade war, crushing global growth.

The sense of uncertainty persisted on Wednesday, with MSCIs broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan flickering between positive and negative territory, though Chinese shares rose on hopes that final measures will be watered down after negotiations.

The tariff list from the office of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer followed Chinas imposition of tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S. fruits, nuts, pork and wine to protest new U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs imposed last month by Trump.

Publication of the list starts a public comment and consultation period expected to last around two months.

Many consumer electronics products such as cellphones made by Apple Inc. and laptops made by Dell were excluded, as were footwear and clothing, drawing a sigh of relief from retailers who had feared higher costs for American consumers.

A U.S. industry source said the list was somewhat unexpected in that it largely exempts major consumer grade technology products, one of Chinas major export categories to the United States.

The tech industry will feel like overall it dodged a bullet, the source said, but added that traditional industrial goods manufacturers, along with pharmaceuticals and medical device firms could suffer.

Many U.S. business groups support Trumps efforts to stop the theft of U.S. intellectual property, but have questioned whether tariffs are the right approach. They warn that disruption to supply chains that rely on Chinese components will ultimately raise costs for consumers.

Tariffs are one proposed response, but they are likely to create new challenges in the form of significant added costs for manufacturers and American consumers, National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons said in a statement.French carmaker PSA Group (PEUP.PA) plans to begin production of Peugeot and Citroen delivery vans at its newly acquired Opel/Vauxhall divisions Luton plant in England, a company source said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

The move is likely to be seized upon by British Prime Minister Theresa Mays government as a sign of confidence in the countrys economic prospects as it prepares to leave the European Union.

A PSA spokesman declined to comment on Luton production plans or on a Bloomberg report that the auto group was ending the existing van partnership between Opel/Vauxhall and French rival Renault (RENA.PA), which also declined to comment.

Luton builds the current Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro van model on technical underpinnings shared with Renaults Trafic model, which has also been assembled at the UK plant in the past.

PSA Chief Executive Carlos Tavares is expected to announce new van production plans during a visit to the factory on Wednesday.

Right-hand-drive variants of the Peugeot Expert and Citroen Jumpy models will be built in Luton alongside future versions of the Vivaro, the company source told Reuters. PSA acquired Opel/Vauxhall from General Motors (GM.N) last year.The Reform movement's billboards told women that they cannot be forced to move airplane seats because ultra-Orthodox men won't sit next to them, Globes reports.

The Israel Airports Authority (IAA) has banned an ad telling women that they cannot be forced to move airplane seats because a Haredi (ultra-orthodox Jewish) man won't sit next to them. The billboard, which said, "Ladies please take your seat and keep it," was prepared by the Reform movement's Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) for the Passover holiday when Ben Gurion airport is at its busiest. The ad explained, "Requiring a passenger to switch seats because of their gender is illegal. A flight attendant may not force you to switch seats to avoid mixed seating."

However, four days before the holiday the IAA told IRAC that the ad would not be displayed because it was part of a divisive political debate.

IRAC executive director Anat Hoffman told "The Guardian" that asking female passengers to switch seats is discriminatory, dehumanizing, and illegal.

Last year IRAC represented 83 year-old lawyer Renee Rabinowitz who was forced to move seats on an El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) flight between New York and Tel Aviv. The Tel Aviv District Court ruled that asking a passenger to move to avoid mixed seating was illegal and awarded Rabinowitz NIS 6,500 damages.

Hoffman told "The Guardian," Since the ruling, we believe its still happening. Women are still not sure whether its kosher or not kosher. The dynamic is that a Haredi [ultra-Orthodox] man refuses to take his seat, then other passengers, instead of telling him to sit down, focus on the woman, saying, Why dont you just move, so the plane can take off?Venezuela will use its own cryptocurrency dubbed Petro, while paying to Russia for the delivered automotive parts and components, Jose Vielma Mora, the Venezuelan minister of foreign trade, said, according Sputnik.

On Monday, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said that the use of Petro in international transactions was on the agenda of the recent Russian-Venezuelan high-level intergovernmental commission. According to Mora, the cooperation of the Venezuelan side with the Russian KAMAZ company best known for its trucks.

"[The issues of cooperation] include the purchases of automotive parts and components, of tires and batteries, as well as assembling of these vehicles in our country and the forms of payment, in which we include the payments with the use of Petro," the minister said, as quoted by the AVN news agency.

According to the politician, the Russian side has also expressed interest in purchases of different goods, such as steel, aluminum, flowers, coffee, and cacao, from Venezuela.

Venezuela has become the first country to launch the oil-backed cryptocurrency. The sales of Petro started in March after a month of pre-sales. On February 21, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Petro raised $735 million in the first day of its pre-sale.

Maduro plans to create four economic zones for working with Petro. The shift to Petro in public procurement, and sales of property for the cryptocurrency are among other presidents plans.

Also in February, Maduro said that Venezuela was preparing to launch another cryptocurrency backed by gold and other precious metals.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan Vice President Wilmar Castro Soteldo said that Venezuela and Russia want to increase the volumes of bilateral trade by 30 percent before the end of the year.

"We have a goal in 2018  to reach an increase in trade turnover by 30 percent," Castro Soteldo said Tuesday during a session of the Russian-Venezuelan high-level intergovernmental commission, as quoted by the Universal media portal.

The official said that taking into account the potential agreements the increase could be higher that 30 percent. Universal reported that in 2017 the trade turnover stood at $459 million.European businesses are not planning to quit their Russian projects over the so-called Skripal case, Russias EU envoy Vladimir Chizhov has told the Rossiya-24 TV channel broadcast, TASS reports.

"When all those events were in full swing, I was accepting a delegation of the leadership of the Association of European Businesses in Russia in Brussels. This is a prominent organization that unites several dozens of companies working on the Russian market," Chizhov said. "Not only they assured me that they have no plans to curtail their activities, but even said that their contacts in Brussels revealed that there is readiness to develop cooperation."

At a summit on March 22-23, the leaders of EU countries passed a decision to recall EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer for consultations in a show of solidarity with the United Kingdom over the incident involving poisoning for former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Britains Salisbury.Venezuela has invited Russian military pilots, who took part in the military operation in Syria, to share their experience with their Venezuelan colleagues, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez told reporters after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday, TASS reports.

"We have discussed matters of our cooperation. We want to go beyond regular military and defense cooperation, to strengthen it and to develop cooperation at the operative level," he said.

The Venezuelan minister said he suggested "sending Venezuelan Su-30 pilots to share their experience in Russia and to invite Russian pilots, who received precious combat experience in Syria, to come and share it with their Venezuelan colleagues."

The official added that he accepted Moscows invitation to attend the annual International Security Conference in Moscow.Four Russian diplomats expelled from Poland as part of a coordinated move over the so-called Skripal case have left the country, Vladimir Alexandrov, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy, informed TASS on Wednesday.

"To comply with the Polish sides demands, the diplomats declared personae non gratae by Poland left the country by midnight on April 3," he said.

On March 4, former Russian military intelligence Colonel Sergei Skripal, 66, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and was later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench near the Maltings shopping center in Salisbury, the UK. Police said they had allegedly been exposed to a nerve agent.

London immediately accused Russia of being involved, but failed to produce any evidence. British Prime Minister Theresa May rushed to blame Russia for "unlawful use of force" against her country. She identified the alleged substance used in the attack as the so-called Novichok nerve agent, allegedly developed in the former Soviet Union. Subsequently, the UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats and announced other restrictive measures against Moscow. Russia has flatly rejected these allegations pointing out that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia had any programs to develop that substance.

Some European countries, along with the US, Canada and Australia, decided to expel more than 100 Russian diplomats over the Skripal episode in solidarity with Britain. The Russian Foreign Ministry said last week tit-for-tat measures would be taken against the countries that expelled Russian diplomats.One person has been killed in a fire in the Persey Dlya Detey (Perseus for Children) childrens shopping mall in Moscow, the ambulance service told TASS.

"The victim evacuated from the burning facility has died in the ambulance. Efforts to save him have failed," the source said.

Three firefighters have been injured in the fire, said Ilya Denisov, head of the Main Directorate for Moscow at the Emergencies Ministry. "Three firefighters have been injured," he told reporters.

The blaze that scorched 80 square meters has been extinguished.

About 600 people have been evacuated from the burning Persey Dlya Detey shopping mall and 20 people were rescued by firefighters, the firefighting control point told TASS. "Six hundred people have been evacuated from the facility and 20 people more have been rescued," the source said.

Emergency services received reports about the blaze in the four-storeyed building at 12:32 Moscow time.

The Persey Dlya Detey shopping mall was opened in 2009 near the Semyonovskaya subway station. There are shops with childrens clothes and shoes, baby carriages, child safety seats, kids furniture and cribs, infant food, books and toys there. The Afina (Athena) childrens club is located on the upper floor.North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho will make a visit to Russia on April 9-11, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday, TASS reports.

"The foreign ministers (of Russia and North Korea) will hold talks on April 10," she said.

"There are plans to discuss the current state of and the prospects for bilateral relations, as well as to exchange views on pressing regional and global issues, while the focus will be on ways to resolve the situation on the Korean Peninsula," Zakharova added.Syrias restoration is hardly possible without huge capital investments, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference following a three-way summit on the Syrian conflict on Wednesday, adding that Moscow urges all countries to join the process, TASS reports.

"Apart from political settlement it is necessary to make sure that people live in normal conditions, and nothing can be done without huge capital investments, particularly, from outside. We urge all countries of the world to be actively taking part in fact rather than in word," he said.

Almost no countries participate in providing humanitarian aid to Syria, except for Russia, Turkey and Iran, with only small supplies through the United Nations, the president noted. "But it is absolutely not enough, and it is definitely necessary to join common efforts on restoration of the Syrian economy, on infrastructure restoration," Putin added.What Russia is waiting for is not apologies but the triumph of common sense in the Skripal case, Russian President Vladimir Putin said while answering questions following a trilateral meeting of the guarantor states of the Astana process for the promotion of Syrian settlement, TASS reports.

"We are not waiting for anything," he said, when asked if Russia wanted Britain to present formal apologies after failing to present any proof of Russias involvement in the Salisbury incident. "We are waiting for the common sense to prevail in the end and for no more harm to be caused to international relations, contrary to what we saw lately. This concerns not just the Skripal case. It concerns all other aspects of international relations as well."

Putin urged for following the track of "sound political processes based on international law." Then, he said, "the world situation will become more stable and predictable."Russia-Pakistan military cooperation is developing dynamically and an intense joint program has been mapped out for 2018, Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Khurram Dastgir Khan on the sidelines of the 7th Moscow conference on international security on Wednesday, TASS reports.

"Over the past few years, bilateral meetings have contributed to building up contacts between the Armed Forces of Russia and Pakistan in such areas as the joint drills of land troops and the navies, and also the strengthening of ties between the General Staffs. This year, our defense ministries also have an intense program of measures," Shoigu said.

The Russian defense minister said Moscow supported Pakistans participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

"We support Pakistans participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a full-fledged member. We expect that SCO interaction will contribute to developing and strengthening friendly ties between our defense ministries," Shoigu said.

The development of constructive relations between the two countries "is an important factor of ensuring regional stability," the Russian defense minister said.

We are grateful to the Pakistani side for regular participation in the Moscow conference on international security. From year to year, the forum is increasingly turning into a venue for an open and professional dialogue on a wide range of present-day problems," Shoigu said.

The Russian defense minister suggested exchanging opinions on the topical issues of bilateral military and military-technical cooperation, noting that he was glad to personally get acquainted with his Pakistani counterpart.

"I had warm and comradely relations with your predecessor. On his invitation, I visited Pakistan for the first time," the Russian defense minister said.Russian Foreign Ministry will invite the media to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs forthcoming meeting with the diplomats expelled from Western countries recently in order to shatter all speculations regarding their work and the reasons why they had been declared personae non gratae, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday, TASS reports.

"In the near future - we will discuss a date a little bit later - the foreign minister will meet with these diplomats. We will invite the media and make the meeting open to the maximum extent to ensure there should be no speculations," she said.Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

Trend:

Turkey will receive S-400 Triumf missile systems in July 2019, Ismail Demir, head of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) of Turkey wrote in Twitter.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the top-level Russia-Turkey Cooperation Council in Ankara that the implementation of the contract for supplies of Russian S-400 missile systems to Turkey is a priority task.

"We changed the date of delivery of the S-400 systems in the agreement for July 2019", Demir stated.

Russias S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is the latest long-range antiaircraft missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and surface targets. The system can hit aerodynamic targets at a range of up to 400 kilometers (249 miles) and tactical ballistic targets flying at a speed of 4.8 km/s (3 mi/s) at a distance of up to 60 kilometers (37 miles).Baku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Ankara and Paris will discuss Turkeys accession to the EU during the visit of Turkish Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Omer Celik to France, the Turkish Ministry for EU Affairs told Trend April 4.

Celik will visit Paris April 4-5, according to the ministry.

During his visit to France, Celik will also meet with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, as well as with Minister for European Affairs Nathalie Loiseau," the ministry said.

Previously, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that Turkey doesnt need the EU, nevertheless, the European Union must make a final decision on Ankara's membership in this structure as soon as possible.

Yildirim added that Islamophobia has recently grown in the EU and this could lead Europe to a serious crisis.

An association agreement between the EU and Turkey was signed in 1963. Ankara filed an application for membership in the EU in 1987, but accession negotiations were launched in 2005.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Servicemen of the Turkish Armed Forces in Syrias Afrin district will receive financial compensation, the Turkish media reported citing military sources on April 4.

Reportedly, the National Defense Ministry will pay financial compensation to the Turkish servicemen. However, the amount of compensation was not disclosed.

On March 18, Turkish Armed Forces and the Free Syrian Army liberated Afrin city from PYD/YPG terrorists.

On Jan. 20, the Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Free Syrian Army, launched the Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, Syria.

On Aug. 24, 2016, Turkish Armed Forces, with the support of the Syrian opposition, launched the Euphrates Shield Operation against the IS militants and liberated the city of Jarabulus as well as the city of Al-Bab in northern Syria.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway (BTK) railway contributes to the development of tourism sector, the Turkish media cited the countrys Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Ahmet Arslan as saying April 4.

Arslan added that BTK will become an important route for local tourists, as well as for travelers from Central Asian countries, in particular from Kazakhstan.

The minister also stressed that the volumes of cargo transportation via BTK will increase up to 17 million tons by 2035.

Arslan said that up to three million passengers are expected to be transported via BTK by 2035.

The official opening ceremony of the BTK railway was held in Baku Oct. 30, 2017. The BTK railway was constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement.

At an initial stage, railways peak capacity will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The countries must not distinguish among terrorist organizations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the press-conference following the summit in Ankara April 4.

A trilateral summit of the presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani, has kicked off in Ankara today.

The summits main topic is the settlement of the Syrian conflict.

Erdogan said that Turkey is ready to restore infrastructure in all Syrian lands liberated from terrorists.

Security has been ensured in all areas where the Turkish Armed Forces have completed military operations, the Turkish president added.

The Syrian people are losing most of all in the military clashes in Syria, and we, as guarantor countries, must contribute to the solution of the Syrian crisis, the president stressed.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, April 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey will fight against terrorist organizations in Syria to the bitter end, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a press conference on the results of the summit on Syria April 4, which was held with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Ankara.

Erdogan noted that PYD terrorist organization is a serious threat to the security of the region, as well as the territorial integrity of Syria.

Turkey also calls on the world community to contribute to the solution of the Syrian crisis, the he said.

The Turkish president noted that the Syrian people suffer the greatest losses in the military clashes in Syria, and we , as guarantor countries, must contribute to the solution of the Syrian crisis.

A trilateral summit of the presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran was held today in Ankara.

The summits main topic is the settlement of the Syrian conflict.President Donald Trump is planning to deploy the US National Guard to the Mexican border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and violent gangs, the White House said in a statement, Sputnik reports.

"Today, he [Trump] received a follow up briefing to discuss his administrations [immigration] strategy, which includes the mobilization of the National Guard," the statement said on Tuesday.

The move is part of the administrations plan to address "the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America," according to the statement.

Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration and build a wall along the US-Mexico border to prevent illegal entry in the United States.

Earlier, Mexico officially asked Donald Trump for clarification on his remarks earlier on Tuesday that he wants the military to guard the US-Mexico border.

"The Mexican government has formally asked for clarification of the president's statements, both through the State Department and the Homeland Security Department," Mexican Ambassador to the United States Geronimo Gutierrez told CNN International. "I do expect that in the next few hours, we will get clarification on this issue."President Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday amid simmering tensions in the Middle East, The Hill reports.

A readout of the phone call issued by the White House said the two leaders agreed to continue their close coordination in the region.

The conversation between Trump and Netanyahu also follows the U.S. president's suggestion that he could pull troops out of Syria "very soon."

Trump has voiced support in recent days for an early withdrawal from the wartorn country. Such a move, however, would go against the advice of many national security officials, who have warned that a U.S. presence is needed in the country to keep Islamic State militants at bay.

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was unceremoniously fired by Trump last month, previously laid out a plan for an indefinite U.S. military presence in Syria.

Trump also fielded phone calls with Gulf leaders this week, including Saudi King Salman on Monday and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Tuesday. Those calls, according to the White House, hinged on the ongoing dispute between Qatar and several Gulf states.US President Donald Trump has said that Saudi Arabia might have to pay if it wants continuing US presence in Syria, Al Jazeera reports.

"We've almost completed that task [of defeating ISIL] and we'll be making a determination very quickly, in coordination with others in the area, as to what we'll do," said Trump on Tuesday during a White House press conference with leaders from three Baltic nations.

"Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision, and I said, 'Well, you know, you want us to stay, maybe you're going to have to pay."

Trump spoke on Monday with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud over the phone to discuss a range of regional issues, including a peace plan between Israelis and Palestinians and opportunities to strengthen the American-Saudi strategic partnership.

But the White House statement of the call, released on Tuesday, did not mention any discussion about Saudi Arabia's boosting funding for US military efforts in Syria.

Similarly, a White House readout of his March 20 meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman made no mention of US military efforts in the region.A Gulf summit that was supposed to take place at the beginning of April in Washington, DC has been postponed to September, a number of United Statesofficials said, Al Jazeera reports.

According to Reuters news agency, the decision came as a result of US President Donald Trump's busy schedule of diplomatic meetings, and the absence of a secretary of state, until CIA director Mike Pompeo is officially sworn in.

Some US officials said that the delay was also an indication that Washington had not yet made progress to end the Gulf crisis.

The leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were meant to meet on April 1 for the first time since diplomatic sanctions on Doha were imposed last year by the aforementioned countries including, Bahrain and Egypt.

One US official said there was a general consensus that it would be better to postpone the summit after the month of Ramadan, or beyond mid-June, according to Reuters.

The same source added that the summit was discussed during the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington, and that there were developments on starting discussions.

"There is a movement to start a dialogue and allow more time for the summit," the official told Reuters.

A spokeswoman for the US National Security Council said that Trump is committed to resolving the Gulf crisis this month, and that the US-Gulf summit was not linked to the Gulf crisis.An Air Force F-16 jet crashed Wednesday at Nellis Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas, defense officials told Fox News.

The status of the pilot, or pilots, was not immediately clear.

In a statement, the Air Force said, Emergency responders are on the scene. As soon as additional details become available, they will be provided. The accident is under investigation."

The jet crashed around 10:30 a.m. during routine training at Nevada Test and Training Range, officials said.

The incident marks the third crash of a U.S. military aircraft since Tuesday, when a Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed during exercises along the U.S.-Mexico border in California, killing four crew members.KYODO NEWS - Apr 4, 2018 - 11:27 | All, Japan

Polish Ambassador to Japan Jacek Izydorczyk on Wednesday toured the city of Tsuruga, where a large number of Jewish refugees landed after a Japanese diplomat risked his career by issuing visas that allowed them to escape Nazi persecution.

The diplomat, Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986), is said to have violated orders from his superiors to issue transit visas to some 6,000 Jews while serving as acting consul to Lithuania in 1940. Many of the refugees who landed at the Fukui Prefecture city were from Poland, where the Nazi-run Auschwitz concentration camp was located during World War II.

Tsuruga is also known as the place where the Japanese Red Cross provided refuge to some 760 Polish orphans from Siberia around 1920 following the Russian Revolution. The children temporarily stayed in Japan before returning to Poland.

The ambassador met with Tsuruga Mayor Takanobu Fuchikami and visited the Port of Humanity Tsuruga Museum, which illuminates the history of Jewish refugees and Polish orphans in the city.KYODO NEWS - Apr 4, 2018 - 07:12 | Feature, All

Japanese high school girls are the least satisfied with their body shape compared with those in China, South Korea and the United States, with over half believing they are fat, according to a recent survey by a Japanese government-affiliated body.

They hold such views despite the fact that 71 percent of Japanese senior high school students, including boys and girls, have body mass indexes indicating normal weight, the highest proportion among the four countries, according to the survey by Japan's National Institution for Youth Education.

Around 23 percent of Japanese high school girls are satisfied with their body shape, the lowest percentage in the four-country survey, while around 52 percent of the girls believe they are fat or a little overweight, the highest proportion among the four.

On the reasons for the Japanese outcome, Yoichi Akashi, head of the institution's Research Center for Youth Education, said, "There are many students (in Japan) who yearn to have body shapes like celebrities. Also many Japanese tend to be concerned about what other people think of them."

The survey on body mass indexes showed that 50.2 percent of high school students in China, 65.6 percent in South Korea and 59.0 percent in the United States were of normal weight.

Among students in China, 48.2 percent of high school girls viewed themselves fat or a little overweight, compared with 45.9 percent in South Korea and 19.7 percent in the United States.

In another question about body shape, over 60 percent of high school girls in the United States said they were satisfied, while 40.5 percent said so in China and 31.6 percent in South Korea.

The survey on students' mental and physical health, conducted in September to November last year, covered 8,480 students.KYODO NEWS - Apr 4, 2018 - 11:43 | All, World

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has asked South Korean President Moon Jae In to visit Japan before the planned summit between North and South Korea in late April, Japanese government sources said Tuesday.

He made the request during phone talks with Moon on March 16, but South Korea has yet to respond, and Moon may find it difficult to make time for a visit to Japan amid his preparations for the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on April 27, the sources said.

Abe wants to get Moon to raise with Kim the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.

Abe has said resolving the abduction issue is one of his government's top priorities. Tokyo officially lists 17 citizens as having been abducted by North Korea, and suspects the country's involvement in other disappearances.

Five of the 17 were repatriated in October 2002, a month after the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il admitted to the abductions of 13 Japanese nationals to the North in a landmark summit with then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Abe, deputy chief Cabinet secretary at the time, accompanied Koizumi to the summit in Pyongyang.

Tokyo seeks as well to deepen trilateral cooperation with the United States before President Donald Trump meets with Kim by the end of May.

At present, Moon is expected to visit Japan in May for a meeting of the leaders of Japan, China, and South Korea.

Another option under consideration is for Moon to visit Japan on a different occasion from the trilateral summit and ahead of the U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled to be held before the end of May, the sources said.

Abe's invitation for Moon to come to Japan follows his own visit to South Korea in February for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry has said the two countries have agreed to work toward arranging a trip by Moon separate from the trilateral summit.

In the meantime, according to government sources, Foreign Minister Taro Kono plans to meet Moon in South Korea next week and ask him to raise the abduction issue with Kim.

During talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Wha in Washington in March, Kono requested that South Korea raise the abduction issue during the inter-Korean summit.

Japan has been calling for maximizing pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.HC dismisses plea challenging Karnataka's decision to restrict entry from Kerala

The high court said the restrictions, like a negative RT-PCR certificate, were imposed in view of the unprecedented surge of COVID-19 pandemic prevalent in Kerala.Oversight

Lawmakers worry about a second Heartbleed

Two Republicans on key House committees are looking for more information about the challenges surrounding the cybersecurity of open-source software.

Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), respectively the chairs of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, want information from Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin about the cybersecurity risks of open-source software.

In a letter to Zemlin, the lawmakers specifically cited the widespread "Heartbleed" programming vulnerability that allowed attackers to access web servers, eavesdrop on communications, steal data and impersonate services and users that led to companies and government agencies' scrambling to review their operations and patch the defect.

"While the extent of OSS adoption clearly demonstrates the value that the ecosystem provides, its pervasiveness also creates widespread, distributed and common points of potential risk across organizations when OSS vulnerabilities are found," they wrote.

The lawmakers also raised concerns over the ability of the "globally-located volunteers" who create and maintain OSS while balancing full-time employment and compensation challenges to quickly address vulnerabilities.

They asked whether Linux's Core Infrastructure Initiative has conducted a comprehensive study into which aspects of open-source software are most critical to the global information infrastructure and, if not, what CII would need in order to do so.

They also asked for statistics surrounding open-source software usage, as well as an appraisal of the stability and sustainability of the open-source software ecosystem, plus suggestions for bolstering it.

"OSS adoption will continue to grow, making the sustainability and stability of the OSS ecosystem even more vital," they wrote.

The lawmakers requested a response by April 16.Enterprise IT

FEMA looks to industry for IT help

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is looking to the private sector not only to help coordinate responses to natural disasters in states and local communities, but also to help FEMA innovate solutions to knotty IT problems, said one of the agency's top managers.

The problems integrating the 200-odd IT systems that enable FEMA to help state and local emergency responders, governments and private citizens, "are not unknown to leadership," Deputy Administrator Daniel Kaniewski said in an April 4 presentation on the agency's recently released strategic plan for 2018-2022.

Those hundreds of systems "aren't communicating with each other," he added.

The plan's overarching theme is to increase its reliance on state and local government, as well as individual Americans, to take more control in preparing for and enduring natural disasters.

A key part of FEMA's ability to help state and local governments in the aftermath of disasters is through its grants programs, Kaniewski said. However the agency has 10 systems that support the grant programs.

In asking state and local governments to shoulder more of the disaster response preparation and first responder responsibilities, Kaniewski said FEMA is also looking for commercial high-tech help to solve its nagging IT issues.

"We're in the middle of a multi-year effort" to solve those difficulties, he said. Part of that effort, he said is FEMA's Grant Management Modernization program.

FEMA kicked off the GMM program in 2016, to simplify and coordinate business management approaches across all of the agency's grants programs. When the program is completed, the agency expects to have a common grants lifecycle and platform for users. GMM's completion, said Kaniewski, won't be for "several" years, however.

Earlier this month, the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security told FEMA Administrator Brock Long that it planned a comprehensive investigation into the agency's IT management practices because of concerns about progress and transparency. Kaniewski didn't address the IG's notice, but outlined his agency's broader mission.

According to Kaniewski, FEMA is looking to private industry to help solve some of its thorny IT problems. He said he had recently visited Silicon Valley to talk with industry.

"They embraced us" when it came to talking about alternatives to using hundreds of legacy systems, he said.Do you have a question about your taxes? Email them to us at moneyquestions@yahoo.com.

The tax overhaul passed by Congress in December did more than just change the tax code for individuals, it also drastically overhauled the way businesses handle taxes in the U.S.

Business taxes are handled much differently than individual taxes, and Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) said in the 32 years since Ronald Reagans 1986 tax reform, the tax code had gotten more complicated and burdensome for businesses through small changes. Rep. Conaway said the new code was a way to simplify that.

But not everyone agrees  not even every Republican. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) doesnt think the new reform simplified the business tax system, but he still voted for its passage.

Yahoo Finance is answering your tax questions, live. Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at 1pm. Send us your questions

We actually made it more complex. My proposal would have really simplified business tax system by taking the five percent of American corporations that were C Corps, I would have turned them to pass-through entities.

A pass-through entity is a business that organizes in one of several fashions so that the business income passes through to the individual owners and is taxed at the individual level.

Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) voted against the tax reform, saying any tax reform is going to produce winners and losers.

Im getting a lot of people complaining to me  corporations  that they got their taxes raised. Because they make a hundred grand they ended up having a significant increase.In the view of a 33% uptick of oil prices in 2017, following a collapse from the prior level of over $100 a barrel, oil majors are currently showing interest in deepwater blocks. This is evident from the attendance in the Brazil auction of oil and gas fields located off the country's coast.



The large number of operators and participants from the United States as well as other major European countries attended the auction, which reflected its success. Cumulatively, the auction raked in more than $2.4 billion from deepwater and shallow-water prospects.



Petrobras PBR, Brazil's state-owned oil company, formed a consortium with major foreign players. About 22 of the 47 offered offshore blocks were picked up in the auction. Since September 2017, this was the third Brazilian offshore sale.



The major international companies included ExxonMobil Corporation XOM, Chevron Corp CVX, Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A, Norway's Statoil ASA STO, Germany's Wintershall, and France's TOTALSA TOT. All the above-mentioned companies carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Reforms in Brazils Oil Sector



A series of regulatory changes have piqued the interest of oil majors for deepwater blocks in Brazil. Earlier, Petrobras had to be selected as the managing company, which is not compulsory anymore. The number of Brazilian machinery and construction material required for exploration and production has been reduced.The changes came into effect when most oil majors were reluctant to invest in offshore blocks amid rigid regulations and price volatility.



Per the International Energy Agency, Brazil is likelyto be the second-biggest contributor, after the United States, to the growing oil supplies outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries over the next few years.The majority of the contribution is expected to come from offshore drilling. In a recent report by the agency, Petrobras, along with other international oil companies, will boost global supplies by more than a million barrels a day by 2023, exceeding 1% of the global market.



Top Bidders in the Brazil Auction



ExxonMobil, in particular, was very aggressive in the Brazilian auction. The company is keen on restoring exhausted reserves and boost production. Along with several partners, ExxonMobil won eight bids spread over 640,000 acres of fields. Of which, one bid was valued at $848 million.



Per the current global trend, oil majors were shying away from deepwater activities. BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Germanys Wintershall went against the current global trend and emerged as the top winners in the auction. Since the oil spill in 2011 off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Chevron has been discreet in its operation in Brazil. The company won bids for four exploration units.



Repercussions of Oil Price Volatility



In recent years, we have witnessed a drastic fall in oil prices. These forced the oil and gas operators to lower costs and control their spending.



In 2017, global investment in offshore oil and gas operations fell to about $160 billion from a high of $335 billion in 2014. Per Rystad Energy, a Norwegian energy consulting firm, offshore investments are expected to stabilize at $155 billion in 2018, and steadily increase over the next five years.



Is a Recovery Visible?



A lot of money is involved in offshore projects, since they entail drilling and construction ofmassive production platforms. Oil is produced after a gap of another five to 10 years. Currently, prices are hovering around $60 a barrel and we can expect a further hike. The investors wanting to put in dollars in the offshore market also need to keep in mind the ongoing drilling activities in West Texas and a few other American shale fields, where new technologies have made returns rapid and comparatively cheap.



There are other signs of recovery for deepwater exploration. Project developments are in progress in the Gulf of Mexico. ExxonMobil has made a series of large offshore discoveries in Guyana and plans to begin production there in the next few years. Royal Dutch Shell is planning to drill 10 wells in the Mediterranean off Egypt.



Bottom Line



While the pace of recovery cannot be measured, the Brazilian auction has established the fact that the markets for deepwater blocks are in a state of rebound. The auction also raised much required funds for the Brazilian government.



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Zacks Investment ResearchBy Cate Cadell BEIJING (Reuters) - Meituan Dianping, China's largest provider of on-demand online services, is buying bike-sharing firm Mobike for $2.7 billion, in a deal that will intensify the rivalry of their common backer Tencent Holdings with Alibaba Group. Meituan announced the deal on Wednesday but did not disclose the value of the deal. Two sources told Reuters the equity value of the deal was $2.7 billion. The deal consolidates the resources of the two firms, which are backed by Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent, as Mobike faces off against Alibaba-backed Ofo, which also counts ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing as a major investor. The two bicycle-sharing companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors but have waged a costly war of subsidies in a bid to win the Chinese and overseas markets. "(We) need to be more soberly aware that the competition Mobike is facing is becoming increasingly fierce," said Mobike executives in a letter to employees shared with the media on Wednesday. Mobike in June raise $600 million in a round led by Tencent and expanded into Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom, among other markets. Ofo this month said it raised $866 million in a new funding round led by Alibaba. Both Mobike and Ofo say they have roughly 200 million users each globally. As part of the acquisition, Meituan and Mobike will share technology, operations, marketing and customer service resources, Meituan said. Mobike, which counts over 30 million rides a day, will maintain its brand following the deal and keep its current management team, Meituan said. The consolidation will help Meituan sharpen its offerings in the on-demand sector. Alibaba-backed services are also integrating aspects of their payments and apps to create linked services that provide ticketing, bike-sharing, ride-hailing and food delivery. Earlier this week, Alibaba said it would assume full control of Chinese food delivery platform Ele.me, a rival to Meituan. And Alibaba-backed Didi has begun integrating Ofo's service into its own platform, and is also launching its own branded sharing bicycles. (Reporting by Cate Cadell in BEIJING, Julie Zhu and Kane Wu in HONG KONG; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)DEERFIELD - Monday night, a suburban village board northwest of Chicago voted to ban the possession, sale and manufacture of semi-automatic firearms. As of June 13, Deerfield residents will have 60 days to get rid of "assault" weapons or pay the city up to $1000 per day, the ordinance that passed with unanimous support says.

The Deerfield board is following the example of their neighbors just to the east in Highland Park, which holds a similar ban. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Highland Park's assault weapons ban, which, gun rights advocates said, strengthened the hand of municipalities to ban firearms.

The Illinois State Rifle Association urged members to attend Monday night's meeting, and be prepared to defend their right to make public comments. The ISRA wrote on its website alert that "the ban might make people in Deerfield somehow feel safer."By Susan Taylor

TORONTO, April 4 (Reuters) - Canada's Eldorado Gold Corp said on Wednesday that an arbitration panel in Greece has ruled it has a valid technical plan to build a metallurgy plant to process concentrate mined from Skouries and Olympias.

Vancouver-based Eldorado, which decided to freeze investment and suspend operations in Skouries last November following a years-long permit tussle with Greece, said it will now consider its next steps.

Greece has argued that Eldorado's 2014 technical report on the Madem Lakkos metallurgy plant was in breach of a 2003 contract, related to its acquisition of mining assets in the Halkidiki region.

The ruling "should reduce the level of perceived political risk related to the company's Greek build-out, which has been a key headwind for Eldorado shares the last few years," RBC Capital Markets analyst Dan Rollins said in a note to clients.

"We expect the first test on this front will be receipt of the remaining permits/approvals for Eldorado's Skouries project which is in the final stages of being place on care-and-maintenance following ongoing regulatory delays advancing the project forward."

Last week, Eldorado filed an updated technical report on the Skouries development that it said reduces the project footprint by 40 percent.

The mine, which has 3.77 million ounces of gold reserves and 779 million pounds of copper, has a 21 percent after-tax internal rate of return and net present value of $925 million, the report said.

Eldorado Chief Executive George Burns said the ruling provides a foundation to advance dialogue with Greece on path forward.

"We look to the Greek state to fulfill its obligations under the transfer contract including issuing the outstanding permits for the Skouries project," he said in a statement.

For 2018, Eldorado has forecast $20 million in development capital for Skouries with future care and maintenance costs estimated at $3 million to $5 million annually. Last year, as permitting delays slowed development in the second half, Skouries' capital expenditure came in at $73.2 million. (Reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by David Gregorio)Messaging app provider Telegram has just concluded the second round of its record-setting initial coin offering (ICO), and Irans government is none too pleased.

The app  extremely popular in the authoritarian country  has long incurred the ire of government officials, particularly since it played an important role in enabling residents to organize a string of recent protests.

It appears that Telegrams ICO, through which the company has raised at least $1.7 billion to develop a full-service blockchain ecosystem, may be the last straw.

US-based news outlet Al-Monitor reports that several government officials have publicly called for Telegram to be banned in the country, confirming rumors that had been circulating for several weeks.

Lambasting the company as an enemy of the private sector, Hassan Firouzabadi, secretary of the governments High Council for Cyberspace, warned that the companys new cryptocurrency will undermine the local economy if left unchecked.

Telegram is not a dominant messenger in any country except for Iran, Firouzabadi said on state television. Telegram has officially announced that it will be used as an economic platform, and Telegram will undermine the national currency of Iran.

We cannot allow [Telegrams virtual] currency to enter the country, he continued, reportedly adding that its presence could lead to as much as $50 billion being funneled out of the country.

That said, the proposal does not have universal support among Iranian officials. President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate, reportedly declared his opposition to the ban in a meeting with other high-ranking officials.

Nobody is opposed to breaking Telegrams monopoly [in Iran], but blocking Telegram is not the solution for creating [and enhancing] local messaging applications, he reportedly said.

Notably, Iran is also reportedly researching blockchain technology and considering launching its own state-backed digital currency, a move it believes could help it evade international economic sanctions. Previously, Iran had expressed an openness to Bitcoin and other decentralized cryptocurrencies, though the government has walked back those comments in recent months.

Featured image of Hassan Rouhani from Shutterstock.



The post Irans Government May Ban Telegram Over Its $1.7 Billion ICO appeared first on CCN.

Nectome, the brain preservation startup that has raised more than $200,000 in deposits from people who want to use the 100% fatal process, has lost a contract with MIT.

MIT Media Lab terminated a subcontract with Nectome following a report by MIT Technology Review that described the companys promotion of its technology. Nectome's brain storage service is not yet for sale. But it has taken deposits, including one from investor and Y Combinator president Sam Altman.

Nectome is developing a brain freeze technology that it says will preserve the neurons and synapses, and in turn, the memories stored there. Its like a digital backup for your brain that will keep it--and its contents--preserved for centuries, the company claims.

The upshot? The process will kill you. In order to preserve the brain in microscopic detail, it has to be fresh. Nectomes pitch: connect terminal patients to life support, put them under with anesthesia, and then fill the body with a chemical embalming cocktail through the carotid arteries while the customer is still alive. Nectomes approach is similar to physician-assisted suicide.

Nectome had received nearly $1 million in federal funding from the National Institute of Mental Health. MIT is party to a subcontract under the NIMH small business grant awarded to Nectome. MIT Media Lab Professor Ed Boyden professor and neuroscientist Edward Boyden and his team were working on an academic research project to combine aspects of Nectomes chemistry with the Boyden groups invention called expansion microscopy, to better visualize mouse brain circuits for basic science and research purposes.

Such a novel chemistry could, if achieved, facilitate brain disorder drug discovery, boost basic neuroscience circuit mapping, and facilitate brain banking for future research into health and disease states, MIT said in a statement. However, the organization has decided to terminate the subcontract after reviewing the scientific premises underlying the company's commercial plans, as well as certain public statements that the company has made.

Story continues

Boyden is not personally affiliated with the company Nectome, according to MIT Media Lab, an interdisciplinary research lab that encourages the unconventional mixing and matching of seemingly disparate research areas..

MIT also notes that neuroscience has not advanced to the point to know whether any brain preservation method is powerful enough to preserve all the different kinds of biomolecules related to memory and the mind. Nor is it know whether its even possible to recreate a persons consciousness.

In other words, if a persons brain is later uploaded to an avatar or computer, whose to say that it is even conscious, MIT mused.

To understand this will require new science that represents a nonlinear jump from the neuroscience occuring today, and some people regard this as an unsolvable problem (aka the "hard problem" of consciousness), MIT said in its statement.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.comU.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross testifies to the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on the Commerce Department's FY2019 budget request on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday he expects trade actions between the United States and China will likely lead to a negotiated deal, but that it was unclear whether such talks would happen by the end of May or later.

"It wouldn't be surprising at all if the net outcome of all this is some sort of a negotiation," Ross said in an interview with CNBC. "It's very difficult to put a specific time denomination on negotiations that are as complex as these."

Ross' comments come after China slapped retaliatory duties on a number of American products earlier on Wednesday in response to Trump's planned tariffs on Chinese goods, rattling global financial markets.

"I'm frankly a little surprised that Wall Street was so surprised by it. This has been telegraphed for days and weeks," Ross said.

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier Wednesday stood by his administration's actions, tweeting: "We are not in a trade war with China."

Ross echoed those sentiments, telling CNBC that China's response was "relatively proportionate to the tariffs that we put on based on the intellectual property."

He added that he also expected other countries to start "coalescing against China" over its trade practices.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Makini Brice; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)Twenty years ago, the 2000 U.S. Census Long Form contained this question for every member of a household:

One particular question is especially important to Illinois, a state already likely to lose one Congressional seat due to Illinois' declining population. Asking residents whether or not they are citizens of the U.S. could cost Illinois a second seat, as those who haven't gone through the nation's immigration system to become legal citizens are likely to not respond, opponents say. That could cut the state's reported population dramatically.

CHICAGO - Should the 2020 U.S. Census ask one particular question that it included 20 years ago? Yes, says U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner. No, says Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, plus 16 other state attorneys general, the ACLU and immigration rights groups.

Wilbur Ross, U.S. Secretary of Commerce says the question should be included in 2020.

"The citizenship data provided to [Department of Justice] will be more accurate with the question than without it, which is of greater importance than any adverse effect that may result from people violating their legal duty to respond," he said in a statement.

A spokesperson from Governor Rauner's office said the question should be included because the governor believes "we should collect accurate citizenship data." Rauner, first elected in 2014, lost substantial support from the Republican Party base after signing into law a measure effectively making Illinois a sanctuary state.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says she will join a lawsuit with other states opposing the citizenship question. "We must encourage every person in our country to participate, instead of putting up barriers to prevent people from being counted," she said.

The US Constitution emphasized "persons" be counted, and doesn't mention"citizens," opponents argue. Article 14, Sec. 2 of the U.S. Constitution says "Representatives shall be approtioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, county the whole number of persons in each state."

Not only does the census count affect congressional representation, federal allocations would diminish if there are more people than those reported in the survey every ten years.By Paul Lienert and Norihiko Shirouzu

(Reuters) - Escalating trade tensions between the United States and China may dent production of German luxury SUVs made in the U.S. South and sent to China, with exports from electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) also vulnerable.

If a tit-for-tat tariff dispute between the two countries erupts into a full-blown trade war, auto production in both will be affected, but U.S. factories would feel the strongest effect because China imports nearly 270,000 U.S. vehicles, worth $11 billion, and sends relatively few back.

Tesla's California plant, which ships an estimated 15,000 cars a year to China, as well as BMW's (BMWG.DE) South Carolina facility and Daimler AG's (DAIGn.DE) Alabama factory, could lose hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of production if China goes ahead with its threat to double import tariffs. All three export high-margin luxury models, many of them sport utility vehicles, to China.

Ford's problem is twofold, involving both imports of premium Lincoln vehicles to China and a plan to export low-cost Focus compacts from China to the United States.

General Motors Co's (GM.N) exposure is limited because it imports only 30,000 Buick Envision crossovers a year from China, while sending just a handful of vehicles back.

Shares of automakers ended higher on Wednesday as Wall Street stocks changed course in the afternoon when investors' trade fears subsided. [.N] Tesla shares closed 7.3 percent higher at $286.94, Ford shares gained 1.6 percent to close at $11.33, and GM shares were up 3 percent at $38.03.

Barclays auto analyst Brian Johnson, in an investor note on Wednesday, predicted that Tesla "would bear the brunt of any increased auto tariff on a relative basis," with China accounting for 17 percent of the company's revenue.

The United States has a 60-day comment period on plans, and China is waiting for U.S. action before implementing its own. A Washington-based source close to one of the automakers called the moves "a posturing exercise by both countries (and) part of a process" that will play out over the next two months.

Story continues

China has threatened to double tariffs to 50 percent on imported automobiles and other U.S.-made goods to retaliate against the Trump administration's proposed tariffs on a broad range of products, including vehicles and automotive parts.

The proposed U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles could affect Ford's plans to shift production of the compact Focus next year from Michigan to China, a move the company said last year would save it $500 million.

The Lincoln brand meanwhile is struggling to gain traction in China's crowded luxury car market. Ford has said it ships about 80,000 vehicles a year to China, including various Lincoln models.

Ford declined to comment specifically on plans for the Focus and Lincoln. It said in a statement on Wednesday: "We encourage both governments to work together to resolve issues between these two important economies."

A Mercedes-Benz spokesman said the company does not speculate on ongoing negotiations, adding that it is "monitoring the situation closely."

BMW said in a statement: "A further escalation of the trade conflict between the U.S. and China would be harmful for all stakeholders."

Tesla declined to comment. A spokesman for the United Auto Workers union, which represents workers at Ford and GM, but not at Tesla, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, declined to comment.

GM said on Wednesday it is "too early" to say how the Trump administration's proposed tariffs will impact its future production plans for the Envision.

Chinese vehicle imports from all markets last year climbed to 1.2 million, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association. Less than a quarter of those - 267,473, according to Statista - came from U.S. auto plants, including 100,000 from BMW's South Carolina factory.

Decisions on whether and where to shift vehicle production could be complicated by U.S. President Donald Trump's moves to significantly revamp or withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement that allows tariff-free shipments of vehicles to the United States from Mexico and Canada.

(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit and Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing; additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington, Allison Lampert in Montreal and Alexandria Sage in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew Lewis)The next link in the (block)chain

Agencies that want to take advantage of blockchain can have a hard time figuring out if technology can address their specific need or focus. To help them move forward with development and deployment of the distributed-ledger technology, the ACT-IAC Blockchain Working Group has released the Blockchain Playbook for the U.S. Federal Government. It is the group's latest effort to educate and guide government technology leaders on building a customized, agency-specific implementation strategy.

Released at the April 3 ACT-IAC Blockchain Forum, the playbook is describes three phases of a five-phase process of agency blockchain development: assessment, readiness and selection Details on two additional phases, implementation and integration, will be released in the future.

The first phase, problem assessment, covers how stakeholders and collaborators can determine if blockchain is appropriate to solve a problem. A short quiz helps agencies scope the problem they're trying to solve and determine whether blockchain's attributes  such as immutability, shared governance and its trust requirement  suggest a solution that cannot be addressed with other technologies.

The playbook also has a list of best practices to follow as well as outcomes that should result from the assessment process. These include specific use case examples, documentation on stakeholders' roles, business friction points and a list of regulations that apply to each of the use cases.

Phase 2, organizational readiness, establishes the goals of the blockchain project and identifies all participants. Preliminary guidelines outline what needs to occur during the readiness phase, including setup of a blockchain program management office, identification of the scope of blockchain services and processes and establishment of risk management processes. Existing systems must be assessed for integration and key performance indicators evaluated.

The readiness phase assures all stakeholders that they have determined initial business capabilities, the scope of services, a change management strategy, a proposed risk management plan and a procurement plan. By the end of Phase 2, agencies should be able to make a decision on whether or not to proceed with the blockchain project and the governance and management strategy for the proposed system.

Phase 3, technology selection, requires stakeholders to examine their business considerations, technical requirements and the procurement options.

To address business requirements, agencies should map out control and governance related to the software platform, determining whether to use a public, permissioned or private blockchain network, requirements for digital assets protection, transaction costs and requirements for data on the chain. Operating costs and security requirements should also be factored in.

One of the goals of the playbook is to make it easier for agencies to work together.

We have a lot of cultural barriers that need to be broken down to explore opportunities, said Sherri Sokol, innovation leader at the Defense Information Systems Agency. We need to take down barriers with emerging technology at its fullest, and we have created an internal community of practice for blockchain to work and be able to change with the industry.

Sokol wrote the introduction to the playbook and is leading efforts to educate Defense Department officials on blockchain. DISA is in the early stages for two proof of concepts related to identity and asset management, Sokol told GCN. We want to see how blockchain could be used in these environments.

We have cloud environments that are able to talk with each other  without needing my guidance, said Mark White, principal at Deloittes Innovation Office. Interoperable blockchain platforms will make it easier to design complex business practices for government agencies.

Former Federal CIO Tony Scott pointed to the General Service Administrations blockchain proof of concept to automate the FASt Lane process for IT Schedule 70 contracts as an example of using the technology to benefit multiple agencies.

The Schedule 70 example is creating something that agencies would have the ability to take advantage of right away rather than doing work at each agency, Scott said. Getting the federal government to do anything as a whole is hard, so we need to leverage examples and use it as lubricant on the flywheel to get stuff going.

ACT-IACs playbook is the second deliverable of the groups strategy to explain blockchain to a federal audience. In October, the group released a primer, Enabling Blockchain Innovation in the U.S. Federal Government, to explain how the technology works and some key challenges that agencies must solve.

The blockchain playbook can be found here.English Lithuanian

By the initiative and the decision of the Board of APB APRANGA the annual general meeting (hereinafter referred to as the Meeting) of APB APRANGA (legal entity code 121933274, registered at Kirtimu str. 51, Vilnius, hereinafter  the Company) shareholders will be held on 27th April 2018 at 11:00 am. Registration starts at 10:00 am. on 27th April 2018.



Meeting place is the Company's premises at Vasario 16-osios g. 2, Vilnius.

The accounting date for the shareholders is 20th April 2018.

The rights accounting day is 14th May 2018. Property rights shall be held by the persons who will be shareholders at the close of the tenth working day after the general shareholders' meeting having adopted the respective decision.

Meeting agenda:

1. Consolidated annual report on the activities of the Company in 2017.

2. Auditor's report on the Companys financial statements and annual report.

3. Approval of the consolidated and Companys financial statements for the year 2017.

4. Company's profit (loss) allocation for the year 2017.

5. Election of firm of auditors and establishment of the terms of remuneration for audit services.

6. Election of Board Members.

7. Amendments of Companys Articles of Association.

8. Change of Companys residence address.

9. Amendment of Charter of the Audit Committee.



The Company is not providing the possibility to attend and vote at the Meeting through electronic means of communication.

Draft decisions on each Meeting agenda item, the documents to be submitted to the Meeting and information, which is related to the implementation of the shareholder rights, not later than 21 days prior to the Meeting will be available at the Companys website http://www.apranga.lt under Investors. This information also will be available for the shareholders at the Company's premises at Vasario 16-osios g. 2, Vilnius on working days from 9:00 am. to 16:00 pm. Information shall be provided by telephone: +370 5 2390 843.

Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing to supplement the agenda of the Meeting. Draft decisions on the proposed issues shall be submitted together with the proposal or, if the decisions are not needed to be approved, explanations on each proposed issue of the Meeting shall be presented. Proposal to supplement the agenda must be presented in writing sending it by a registered mail to the Company, address: Vasario 16-osios g. 2, 01106, Vilnius. The agenda shall be supplemented if the proposal will be received not later than 14 days before the Meeting.

Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the Meeting, additional candidates to members of the Company board, the audit company. The proposed draft decisions must be presented in writing sending them by a registered mail to the Company, address: Vasario 16-osios g. 2, 01106 Vilnius. The shareholders shall also be entitled to propose draft resolutions on the Meeting agenda issues, additional candidates to members of the Company board, the audit company in writing at any time prior to the Meeting or during the Meeting.

Shareholders have a right to submit in advance in written by registered mail to Company questions related with Meeting agenda by indicating shareholders personal identification code and consent to process personal data  personal identification code. The Company must respond if the questions will be received not later than 3 working days before the Meeting. The Company shall not respond personally to shareholders questions if respective information is provided in Companys website http://www.apranga.lt.

The persons who are shareholders of the Company at the close of the accounting day of the Meeting (20th April 2018) shall have the right to attend and vote at the Meeting in person or their authorized persons or persons with whom an agreement on the disposal of the voting right in concluded.

The person attending the Meeting and having the right to vote must submit the document confirming persons identity. The person who is not a shareholder besides this document must submit document confirming the right to vote in the Meeting.

Each shareholder has a right pursuant to the procedure established by laws to authorize other person to attend and vote on his/her behalf at the Meeting. Authorized person must present a proxy issued pursuant to the procedure established by laws. The proxy issued by private person must be notarized. The proxy issued abroad must be translated to Lithuanian and legalized pursuant to the procedure established by laws. The Company does not establish special form of proxy.

The shareholder or its authorized person has a right to vote in advance in written by filling general ballot paper. Upon the shareholders written request the Company at least 10 days before the Meeting shall free of charge send the general ballot paper by registered mail or deliver it personally against acknowledgement of receipt. The filled-in general ballot paper and the document confirming the right to vote must be submitted to Company by sending it by registered mail to the address Vasario 16-osios g. 2, 01106 Vilnius or by delivering it to the Company personally not later than on last working day before Meeting.

The total number of the Companys shares and the number of shares granting voting rights during the Meeting is the same and amounts to 55 291 960.

Rimantas Perveneckas

Apranga Group Director General

+370 5 2390801MINNEAPOLIS, MN, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Solutran announced it has successfully begun processing Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) transactions for the Arkansas Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program pilot. The statewide EBT program is scheduled to rollout this summer.



Solutran provides Smart Card and online WIC EBT technologies and is the only processor providing both solutions. Smart Card WIC EBT provides comprehensive WIC functionality with unique Smart Card security. WIC EBT will improve the shopping experience for all participating Arkansas households at authorized retailers.



Superior service can only occur with great technology as the foundation, and that is what we are providing to the Arkansas WIC Program with our proprietary S3 EBT technology, said Brian May, General Manager of Government EBT at Solutran. Solutran is proud to serve Arkansass needs for WIC EBT.



To date, Solutran has processed over 60 million EBT transactions representative of over $1.4 billion in food purchased at more than 6,000 retail vendors. Solutran has provided processing support for WIC programs since 1989 for 72 state and Inter-Tribal Organization WIC Programs across the country.

About Solutran

Solutran is a leading national payments processor with state-of-the-art Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) technology and a long-standing reputation for excellence in customer service for high-volume payment transactions. For over 30 years, Solutran has provided customized payment solutions including rebates and check depository, WIC and SNAP payment processing, and private sector EBT Healthy Savings. Solutran is committed to developing and providing solutions for the ever-changing needs of all EBT industries. For more information, visit www.Solutran.com.

From the shooter's website still available as of 12:00 PM CST

SAN BRUNO - The shooter that stormed San Bruno California's YouTube headquarters Tuesday was angry about the company's new distribution policy that she claimed was causing her to lose views and revenue, family members and her remaining website says.

The shooter had several YouTube accounts in various languages - including Farsi, Turkish and English languages. The videos feature her vegan lifestyle, her Persian heritage and her concerns about animal abuse. She also featured a video warning of the dangers of anal sex.

But featured most recently is the shooter's disdain about YouTube's policies that she said was causing her to lose revenue and viewers.On the Occasion of the Republic of Senegal's National Day

Washington, DC - Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan: "On behalf of President Trump and the American people, I congratulate the people of Senegal as you celebrate the 58th anniversary of independence on April 4, 2018.

"The United States values the ties that bind the American and Senegalese people. I commend Senegals economic growth and leadership in the region, including its contribution to UN peacekeeping missions. Our close coordination underscores our shared values of working toward a more secure and prosperous future for both of our countries.

"As you celebrate the anniversary of your independence, please know that the people of the United States celebrate with you."George Soros gave Ivanka's husband's business a $250 million credit line in 2015 per WSJ. Soros is also an investor in Jared's business.As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQKabul, Apr 4 (IBNS): Suspected Taliban terrorists shot dead a lawmaker's brother in Afghanistan's southeastern Paktika province, media reports said Wednesday.

The victim has been identified as Haji Dawood.

Provincial council member Afsar Khan, also a nephew of the victim, told Pajhwok Afghan News Haji Dawood was shot dead while offering night prayer at a local mosque.

He told the Afghanistan-based news agency that Dawood, a tribal elder and brother of Wolesi Jirga member Sulemankhel, had no link to the government.

Police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Azim Hashimi told Pajhwok Afghan News that Dawood was killed by TalibanWinnipeg, Apr 4 (IBNS): In an explosive statement, Manitoba Mayor Brian Bowman has said it is easier for him to meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau than Premier Brian Pallister, media reports said.

Bowman told CBC News, "I've made many efforts to meet with the premier and will continue to do so. I've reached out on many occasions."

Bowman has reportedly met Pallister only twice after the Progressive Conservative Party, to which both the leaders belong, was elected in 2016.

Brown said further, "It's more helpful when you can get that face-to-face dialogue."

"I represent a city that has 70 per cent of the population in Manitoba and 75 per cent of the province's GDP."

Bowman said he could meet Trudeau frequently.

"I've met a lot with the prime minister. He's been very available for dialogue and I do appreciate that" Bowman said.

However, Pallister has rubbished the statement of Bowman.

The Premier said there are number of ways to meet other than face-to-face.

New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Wab Kinew also said Pallister has a problem in his management ways.

"He concentrates all power in his office and then he turns out the lights to his office and refuses to engage with people in any meaningful way," Kinew told the media.

Pallister rejected all the allegations.On Monday, The Atlantic featured an interview with Prince Mohammad, in which he described Iran as part of a triangle of evil, the other members of which are the Muslim Brotherhood and non-state Islamic terrorist groups. He also suggested that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was worse than Hitler, in the sense that Hitler attempted to conquer Europe whereas the Islamic Republic of Iran has set its sights on the domination of the entire world. This, Prince Mohammad said, was the nature of a regime based on an ideology of pure evil.

The purportedly reformist Saudi royal also used the interview to level more specific criticisms against the Iranian government. He noted that economic problems have remained serious and possibly even worsened for much of Iranian society even in the more than two years after the implementation of the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, which lifted many economic sanctions. Referring to the oft-cited 150 billion dollars figure for the value of this relief, the crown prince alleged that none of it had been used for the benefit of the Iranian people.

Additionally, Prince Mohammad proudly compared the Saudi publics relationship with the internet to the levels of access enjoyed in Iran. Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat. Name it, its open for all Saudis, he said. We have the highest percentage of people around the world using social media. By contrast, Facebook and Twitter have been formally banned throughout the Islamic Republic of Iran since the 2009 Green Movement protests that these platforms helped to organize.

Many Iranians evade these restrictions through the use of virtual proxy networks, but in the nearly 10 years since the bans were put into place, much social networking activity has moved to the newer and reportedly more secure platform, Telegram. This smartphone app is used by the overwhelming majority of Iranians who own smartphones, and it was credited with helping in the planning and organization of nationwide anti-government protests in late December and early January.

In light of that fact, and coincidentally around the same time that Prince Mohammad shined his spotlight on Irans restrictions on social media, Iranian MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi announced via Iranian state media that the decision had been made to block Telegram permanently. The stage was previously set for that announcement when the indictment of several anti-government protesters described them as having been under the influence of cyberspace. Such statements reflect not only an ongoing crackdown on the recent demonstrations but also a larger pattern of paranoia about foreign infiltration.

Expressions of that paranoia have appeared at times to be closely related to Irans responses to Saudi rhetoric on the international stage. In other words, Tehrans criticism of foreign adversaries often links together multiple entities into the depiction of a sort of monolithic threat. This was evident in the wake of the January uprising, when Khamenei delivered a speech describing the movement as the creation of a triangle of enemies consisting of Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Israel, with the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran operating as foot soldiers on the ground inside Iran.

The pattern has been put on somewhat more subtle display at various other times, in the form of targeted repression of dual nationals and persons with real or imagined links to foreign entities of any kind. As one example of this phenomenon, the Center for Human Rights in Iran highlighted the case of Nikan Khosravi and Arash Ilkhani, two heavy metal musicians who were arrested and interrogated by the Iranian Rev

lutionary Guard Corps over the course of ten days, before being sentenced to six years in prison for insulting the sacred and spreading propaganda through their music.

According to Khosravi, those interrogations and a subsequent trial included repetitive questions about supposed connections and foreign sources of financial support. There is no indication of evidence having been presented to substantiate this line of questioning, and in this way, Khosravis case is reminiscent of various other Iranian political prisoners who have been defamed as foreign spies for no apparent reason other than their possession of foreign citizenship or their promotion of views or lifestyles that are out of step with those enforced by the clerical regime.

One of the most prominent such political prisoners from recent years, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, marked a troubling anniversary on Tuesday. She has now been detained for a full two years, during which time her three-year-old daughter Gabriella has been barred from leaving the country to reunite with her father in the United Kingdom. The child is now in the care of her Iranian grandparents, whom she first met on the family visit during which her mother was arrested. Nazanin remains in Evin Prison serving a six year sentence after having been accused of being the leader of an infiltration network.

Buzzfeed News detailed the latest details in her case on Monday, including accounts of the frustration expressed by her husband Richard Ratcliffe over the efforts that have been made so far by the British government. The report emphasized that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was supposedly cleared for release months ago, following a visit to Tehran by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. This led to expectations that she would be free by the Iranian New Year holiday, Nowruz, which took place on March 21. But since then there has been no sign of progress on her case, and some reports indicate that negotiations are stalled over Irans demand for the settlement of a more than 500 million dollar outstanding debt.

In January 2016, the Obama administration made a cash payment of 700 million dollars at the same time as the nuclear agreement was set to go into effect and four Americans were set to be released from prison in Iran. Critics of the administration decried this as ransom, while the White House sought to portray the prisoner release as one benefit of a policy of outreach, made possible by 2013 election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a purported moderate.

Subsequent developments have raised serious questions about Rouhanis moderate credentials, and the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case has fueled accusations that the policies of the previous American president encouraged Tehran to view foreign nationals as potential bargaining chips. To the extent that this has been blamed on hardline political adversaries of the Rouhani administration, that narrative has been undermined by Rouhanis personal participation in anti-Western rhetoric, particularly following his reelection last year.

Reuters reported upon one of the latest examples of this on Tuesday, noting that Rouhani had publicly attacked the US just before leaving from Tehran to meet with representatives of Turkey and Russia in order to discuss the future of Syria. In that speech, Rouhani reaffirmed his governments support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and he suggested that American opposition to Assads long-term hold on power was indicative of a secret desire to partition the country.

Another report from Reuters detailed the expectations surrounding the talks that were scheduled to begin on Wednesday. It pointed out that although the three parties involved in the talks have been expanding relations in recent years, there is little sign of progress toward an agreement that is acceptable to each of them. Whereas Iran and Russia were both credit with saving Assad from overthrow during the seven year civil war, Turkey opposed his rule but is now more focused on containing the Kurdish separatist groups that helped to beat back Islamic State militants.

Russian priorities in Syria have also reportedly shifted, and Reuters indicates that Moscow may no longer be committed to Assads permanent hold on power. In fact, the report suggests that Turkey and Russia have both moderated their views on Assads future, which were once diametrically opposed. Iran, meanwhile, remains intransigent. One might thus conclude that Iran is the greatest obstacle to a compromise among the negotiating parties, and that this could even threaten to isolate the Islamic Republic from foreign powers that are cooperating with it but also with each other.

There has been longstanding speculation about the possibility of Russia and Iran being divided against each other in Syria. And although this has so far come to naught, it is also worth noting that there are other areas in which their interests might clash. Russia has been working with Saudi Arabia and its allies, for instance, in maintaining limits on oil output which are aimed at stabilizing prices that sank to 30 dollars per barrel in 2016.

As CNBC noted on Tuesday, that agreement might come under threat over the course of this year, as Iran and Saudi Arabia continue the mutual escalation of their war of words. If the OPEC-Russia oil agreement does indeed fall apart, it could prompt the war of words to escalate into a trade war, which would likely have knock-on effects upon the trade partners of the countries involved. For its part, Russia and other world powers may find themselves more seriously torn between Iran, which holds the worlds fourth largest oil reserves, and Saudi Arabia, which holds the second largest.According to several reports, he has been contemplating such a move with top aides since mid-February.

Matthew RJ Brodsky writes in his article for the National Review that the Trump administrations confused messaging on Syria reflects a confused policy, in which strategy and objectives are not aligned to achieve an outcome that serves Americas best interest.

Trump signed off on an updated strategy for Syria a few months ago. Five key objectives were laid out, that emphasized the need to contain Iran. Denying Tehran the Middle Eastern sphere of influence it covets, and preventing it from using Syria as a base to further destabilize and threaten the region was an important part of the strategy. This reflected Irans prominent position in the Trump administrations National Security Strategy, released in December 2017.

This dissonance is found in General Joseph Votels prepared statement before the House Armed Services Committee in February. While the head of U.S. Central Command identified Iran as the major threat to U.S. interests and partnerships in the Central Region, during his testimony, in response to questions from Committee members he revealed that countering Iran is not one of the coalition missions in Syria.

Pentagon estimates put the loss of territory ISIS once held in Iraq and Syria at around 98 percent.The Pentagons own National Defense Strategy identified that, inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in U.S. national security.

Brodsky believes that the U.S. focus on counterterrorism strategies enabled and empowered dangerous adversarial states such as Iran and Russia at the expense of Americas position in the world. Its a stark realization that should mandate an immediate shift in strategy, and the DOD knows as much: They didnt bury the line in question in an obscure passage of the report; they stuck it on page one.

He says further that, Degrading Irans position, whether in terms of its nuclear plans or its effort to become a regional hegemon, should be Americas top priority in the Middle East.

The U.S. should stop Iran from converting its areas of strategic depth into zones of control, and focus on preventing Tehran from strengthening Hezbollah and other proxies, according to Brodsky. America must also limit the creation of new missile-manufacturing facilities in Syria and Lebanon, and keep Iran from conducting nuclear-related weaponization experiments. The IAEA must be allowed to conduct vigilant inspections.

While Trump may want to limit the investment of American capital in, and avoid responsibility for, Syrias reconstruction, the U.S. could work with the Sunni Arab states and anti-Iran militias already on the ground. Brodsky writes, Tehran and its allies share a unity of purpose and benefit from Russias backing. Only American leadership can bring balance to this equation by unifying and leading the disparate forces that seek to prevent additional gains by our adversaries.

A U.S. military presence in Syria opens up opportunities to prevent the an Iranian post-war order being imposed on the country. It would disrupt Irans logistical lines, including the land corridors used for moving weaponry. It may give Washington leverage in determining Syrias future and prevent the return of ISIS.

Protecting Americas interests and those of its Middle Eastern allies, doesnt allow for ceding the region to Iranian proxies.It is uncertain how Iran will react to the news, but national security officials are discussing a number of possibilities.

Officials are likely to be preparing how to justify Trumps potential decision as the right move. They will also be discussing how aggressive the United States can be when it comes to reimposing the sanctions that were lifted when the deal was agreed.

Another concern is the relations between the United States and Europe if Trump goes ahead with the pull-out.

Many have said that the likelihood of Trump making the decision to pull out of the deal increased when he announced the appointment of his new national security adviser (NSA) and Secretary of State.

Both John Bolton and Mike Pompeo have been outspoken critics of the Iran nuclear deal and their appointments may signal Trumps determination to get tough on Iran.

The 2015 Iran nuclear drawn up under former president Barack Obamas administration divided the nation, and world, when it was being negotiated. Many believed that Iran was getting too many concessions and predicted that Irans behaviour would not change. Those in favour of the nuclear deal argued that it was the only way to curb the nuclear threat. They said that Irans behaviour would align with what is expected of it.

As it turns out, those that apprehended the deal were right in that Irans behaviour did not change. It was just one more piece of irrefutable evidence that appeasement does not work with Iran.

What Obama considered to be a major foreign policy achievement may soon be confined to the history books.

Iran has already threatened to restart nuclear activities if the United States pulls out of the deal. Iranian officials have also said that if the US pulls out and reimposes sanctions, the deal will be destroyed.

One possible course of action by the United States is to immediately reimpose the sanctions that were lifted and that do not need action from Congress, but to delay their enforcement for several months. This will give foreign entities and governments the chance to comply.

A different possibility is a reimposition of sanctions that permit Iran and Europe to remain part of the deal despite a US pull-out. The Iranian government would then decide whether to remain in the deal.

In a bid to save the deal, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have submitted a proposal to impose non-nuclear sanctions on Iran. However, they need a unanimous vote from the EU members and there has already been some resistance, notably from Italy which is concerned about multi-million-dollar business deals with Iran.

Once again, it seems that appeasement is sneaking back into dealings with Iran. Perhaps the EU members should remember the importance that is placed on human rights and international compliance before doing business with the belligerent Iranian regime.This is Whats Trending Today

California officials are praising workers for rescuing a 13-year-old boy who fell into a river of sewage in Los Angeles.

The boy, Jesse Hernandez, spent more than 12 hours in the citys large underground sewage system. It is filled with refuse liquids and other waste materials, some of them poisonous.

Jesse had been playing at a public park with other children during a family gathering on Sunday. At one point, the children were on pieces of wood that covered an opening leading to the sewer system. One of the wooden planks broke.

The boy fell about eight meters down and landed in fast-moving sewage, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The other children quickly told adults what had happened. The adults then called an emergency telephone line for help.

Rescuers immediately began searching for Jesse underground. They set cameras on floatation devices, which they put into the sewage system.

Rescuers finally found Jesse after seeing images of handprints on a pipe. A crew of sanitation workers hurried to the area and opened a manhole.

The first thing they heard was Help! said Adel Hagekhalil, an official with the Los Angeles sanitation department.

The crew lowered down a long hose to Jesse, who was about three meters deep in the pipe. The boy held onto the line while workers pulled him up.

By the time workers found Jesse, about 700 meters of pipes had been inspected during a 12-hour period.

Jesse was found less than two kilometers from where he fell in. He was taken to a hospital for a full physical examination and to be reunited with his family.

More than 100 people took part in the search for Jesse. In addition to the major rescue effort, Humphrey credited the boy for being able to survive.

Not only did he survive being pushed through sewage moving at speeds of 24 kilometers an hour, Jesse was able to find a small area of breathable air and wait there until he was found, officials said.

Many would call it miraculous, Humphrey said of Jesses survival. He added that the chances of someone surviving such an event are low.



Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was among those closely watching the rescue effort.

On Twitter, Garcetti praised rescuers and thanked Jesses family for their patience and optimism during the frightening experience.

And thats Whats Trending Today

Im Ashley Thompson.

The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

sewage - n. waste material (such as human urine and feces) that is carried away from homes and other buildings in a system of pipe

miraculous - adj. very wonderful or amazing like a miracle

optimism - n. a feeling or belief that good things will happen in the future : a feeling or belief that what you hope for will happen

plank - n. a long, thick board that is used especially in building something

sanitation - n. the process of keeping places free from dirt, infection, disease, etc., by removing waste, trash and garbage, by cleaning streets, etc.

hose - n. a long, usually rubber tube that liquids or gases can flow through

manhole - n. a covered hole in a street that a person can go down into to do work under the streetThe leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey have promised to increase efforts to end unrest in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Ankara on Wednesday.

A joint statement by the three countries said they wanted to speed up their efforts to ensure calm on the ground in Syria. The three also promised that they would work towards the achievement of a lasting ceasefire there.

Trump considers withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria

The meeting came a day after United States President Donald Trump announced that a decision on withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria will be made soon.

About 2,000 American ground troops are helping Kurdish fighters in the countrys north. Their goal is to defeat supporters of the Islamic State (IS) militant group. IS forces once controlled large areas in Syria and Northern Iraq.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the goal of defeating the Islamic State in Syria has largely been reached. He said his administration would be making a decision on the troop deployment soon in coordination with others in the area.

Trump said the United States sent troops to the Middle East 17 years ago, and that it was time to bring them home. He said the military operation has been very costly for our country, costing about $7 trillion. Trump added that the mission has helped other countries more than the U.S.

On Tuesday, the leader of the U.S. Central Command, Army General Joseph Votel, spoke at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. He said that the IS forces in Syria had mainly been defeated. But, he said the difficult part was still ahead.

And that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, addressing the long term issues of reconstruction and other things that will have to be done.

The Associated Press reports that some officials close to the president have advised against a speedy troop withdrawal. They include Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo, who has been nominated to be secretary of state.

The presidents comments have raised questions about the future of millions of dollars in aid to U.S. allies in the Middle East.

Turkey, Russia, Iran continue their talks

The three countries meeting in Ankara also met last year during negotiations in Astana, Kazakhstan. The AFP news agency reports that Erdogan said the meeting Wednesday and the Astana talks were not an alternative to a United Nations peace process for Syria.

The Turkish president told reporters that those at the talks were looking to get something done. We must get results, he added.

Russia, Turkey and Iran have been working together in recent months, although each side has different goals in Syria.

Russia and Iran have supported the leadership of Syrian President Assad while Turkey has called for his removal. Turkey has supported Syrian opposition fighters in their efforts to overthrow the Assad government.

Turkey strongly opposes armed ethnic Kurdish groups operating in Syria. The United States has provided support to those groups in their fight against the Islamic State.

Turkeys military has carried out an operation to force Kurdish militia fighters from the city of Afrin after launching an offensive inside Syria in January. Turkish officials say the Syrian Kurds have ties to Kurdish organizations banned in Turkey.

The Reuters news agency reports that Iranian President Rouhani said that U.S. forces had failed to topple the Syrian government. He blamed the U.S. for causing insecurity in the area. Rouhani also said he believed U.S. forces would remain in Syria.

The conflict in Syria started after anti-government protests in March of 2011. It is estimated that 350,000 people have died since the start of fighting.

Millions more have fled to become refugees in neighboring Turkey or sought asylum in western countries.

Im Mario Ritter.

Mario Ritter wrote this story for VOA Learning English. His story was based on reports from Agence France Presse, the Associated Press, the Reuters news agency and VOANews.com. George Grow was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

stability  n. the quality of not changing easily

achievement  n. something that has been done through effort or hard work

coordination  n. organizing people and resources so they work correctly together

consolidating  adj. related to combining or joining together to improve something

alternative  n. something that offers a choice or another way of doing something

topple  v. to bring down, to throw out of power

mission  n. a campaign or military operation

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

This is Whats Trending Today

A woman who believed YouTube suppressed her videos fired shots at the companys California headquarters on Tuesday. Police said she wounded three people before killing herself.

Officials do not believe the woman, Nasim Aghdam, targeted the three victims. But they told the Associated Press that she had had a long-standing dispute with the company. She used the name Nasime Sabz online.

A YouTube account under that name was removed on Tuesday night.

Her website had criticized YouTubes policies. It said the company tries to suppress video creators. The site had posts about veganism and animal cruelty along with photos of Aghdam and her exercise videos.

Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views! one of the messages on the site said. There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!

People can receive money from advertisements connected to their videos on YouTube. But the company will limit payment to some channels for reasons including unacceptable material or having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

Her father Ismail Aghdam told the Bay Area News Group that his daughter hated YouTube. He said she was angry that the company stopped paying her for videos she posted on the site.

On Monday, he called police to report his daughter missing after she did not answer her phone for two days. She lived in the southern California city of San Diego. Ismail Aghdam said that he also warned the police that she might go to YouTube headquarters in northern California.

A police official said officers found Nasim Aghdam sleeping in her car around 2 a.m. about 48 kilometers from YouTube headquarters. She was let go because she did not appear to be a threat to herself or others.

The police official official would not say whether officers had been warned that Aghdam might have been headed to YouTube headquarters.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the buildings second floor when she heard gunshots. She then ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

Arnspiger said, It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, Shooter, and everybody started running.

A spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said one of the shooting victims  a 36-year-old man  is in serious condition. The two other shooting victims, both women, have been released from the hospital.

A spokesman for YouTube said, Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime.

And thats Whats Trending Today.

Im Ashley Thompson.

Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on AP and other news reports. Caty Weaver was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

veganism - n. a philosophy of not eating meat or using animal products

filter - v. use software to prevent someone from looking at or receiving material through the internet

channel - n. a path for particular contents online

opportunity - n. a situation in which something can be done

patio - n.  a flat area of ground that is covered with a hard material (such as bricks or concrete), is usually behind a house, and is used for sitting and relaxing6 hours ago

3 Reasons to Buy Costco (NASDAQ:COST) Stock in Bulk

If you have to own one big-box retailer in your portfolio, make it Costco (NASDAQ: COST). The multinational chain continues to generate strong sales year after year from its 817 membership warehouses and is about as safe of a stock pick as you can find, particularly with so many question marks about where the indices are headed next.

Read ArticleCF Industries Holdings, Inc. engages in the manufacture and distribution of nitrogen fertilizer. The firm owns and operates nitrogen plants and serves agricultural and industrial customers through its distribution system. It operates through following segments: Ammonia, Granular Urea, UAN, AN, and Other. The Ammonia segment produces anhydrous ammonia, which is company's most concentrated nitrogen fertilizer product as it contains 82% nitrogen. The Granular Urea segment produces granular urea, which contains 46% nitrogen. The UAN segment produces urea ammonium nitrate solution, which is a liquid fertilizer product with a nitrogen content from 28% to 32%, is produced by combining urea and ammonium nitrate. The AN segment produces ammonium nitrate, which is a nitrogen-based product with a nitrogen content between 29% and 35%. The Other segment includes diesel exhaust fluid, nitric acid, urea liquor and aqua ammonia. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Deerfield, IL.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Stanley Black & Decker: 3xLOGIC Dalian Technology Company Limited, 3xLogic Florida LLC, 3xLogic Holdings Inc., 3xLogic Inc., 3xLogic Indiana LLC, 3xLogic Systems Inc., A & E SECURITY NV, ADT France, ARGOS-SIGNALSON SECURITY SA, ASIA FASTENING (US) INC., AeroScout (US) LLC, AeroScout Industrial, AeroScout LLC, AeroScout Ltd, AeroScout Ltd., Aeroscout (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Alkhaja Pimex LLC, Allan Brothers, Anzi Masterfix Tool Limited Liability Company, Asia Fastening (Cayman) S.a r.l., Asia Fastening (US), Automatic Doors Systems, Automatic Entrances of Colorado, Avdel Deutschland GmbH, Avdel France SAS, Avdel Holding Limited, Avdel Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited, Avdel Italia S.r.l., Avdel Spain S.L., Avdel UK Limited, Aven Tools Limited, B&D Holdings, B&D Holdings Inc., B.B.W. BAYRISCHE BOHRERWERKE GmbH, B.B.W. Bayrische Bohrerwerke G.m.b.H., BD Abrasive LLC, BD Precision (Hong Kong) Limited, BD Suzhou (Hong Kong) Limited, BD Suzhou Power Tools (Hong Kong) Limited, BD Xiamen (Hong Kong) Limited, BDB Ferramentas do Brasil Ltda, BDC International Limited, BDK FAUCET HOLDINGS INC., BDK Faucet Holdings, BELCO Investments Company, BGI Distribution SAS, BLACK & DECKER (SUZHOU) CO. LTD., BLACK & DECKER (SUZHOU) POWER TOOLS CO. LTD., BLACK & DECKER (SUZHOU) PRECISION MANUFACTURING CO. LTD., BLACK & DECKER ASIA MANUFACTURING HOLDINGS 1 S.a.r.l., BLACK & DECKER ASIA MANUFACTURING HOLDINGS 2 S.a.r.l., BLACK & DECKER DE REYNOSA S. DE R.L. DE C.V., BLACK & DECKER DISTRIBUTION PTY. LTD., BLACK & DECKER GLOBAL HOLDINGS S.a.r.l., BLACK & DECKER GROUP LLC, BLACK & DECKER HOLDINGS LLC, BLACK & DECKER INDIA INC., BLACK & DECKER INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS S.A.R.L., BLACK & DECKER INVESTMENT COMPANY LLC, BLACK & DECKER SHELBYVILLE LLC, BLACK & DECKER SSC CO. LTD., BLACK & DECKER TRANSASIA S.a.r.l., BLACK AND DECKER S.A. de C.V., Baltimore Financial Services Company, Baltimore Financial Services Company Unlimited Company, Baltimore Insurance Designated Activity Company, Baltimore Insurance Limited, Bandhart, Bandhart Overseas, Bed-Check, Belco Investments Company Unlimited Company, Bellwether Capital Private Limited, Besco Investment Group Co. Ltd., Besco Investment Holdings Ltd., Besco Machinery Industry (Zhejiang) Co, Besco Machinery Industry (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., Besco Pneumatic Corporation, Best Lock Corporation, Black & Decker, Black & Decker (Cayman) Finance Limited, Black & Decker (Czech) s.r.o., Black & Decker (Ireland) Inc., Black & Decker (OVERSEAS) GmbH, Black & Decker (Suzhou) Co., Black & Decker (Suzhou) Power Tools Co, Black & Decker (Suzhou) Precision Manufacturing Co., Black & Decker (Thailand) Limited, Black & Decker (U.S.) Inc., Black & Decker Argentina S.A., Black & Decker Asia Based Enterprises, Black & Decker Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Black & Decker Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Black & Decker Distribution Pty. Ltd, Black & Decker Europe, Black & Decker Far East Holdings B.V., Black & Decker Finance, Black & Decker Finance (Australia) Ltd., Black & Decker Finance SAS, Black & Decker Funding Corporation, Black & Decker Global Holdings S.a r.l., Black & Decker Group, Black & Decker Hardware Holdings B.V., Black & Decker Healthcare Management Inc., Black & Decker Holdings, Black & Decker Holdings (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Black & Decker Holdings B.V., Black & Decker Holdings GmbH, Black & Decker Holdings de Venezuela C.A., Black & Decker Hong Kong Limited, Black & Decker Inc., Black & Decker India Inc, Black & Decker International, Black & Decker International Finance (UK) Limited, Black & Decker International Finance 1 Limited, Black & Decker International Finance 1 Unlimited Company, Black & Decker International Finance 3 Designated Activity Company, Black & Decker International Finance 3 Limited, Black & Decker International Finance Holdings (UK) Limited, Black & Decker International Holdings B.V. & CO. KG, Black & Decker International Holdings S.a r.l., Black & Decker International finance 3, Black & Decker Investment Company, Black & Decker Investments (Australia) Limited, Black & Decker Investments LLC, Black & Decker Limited BVBA, Black & Decker Luxembourg Finance S.C.A., Black & Decker Luxembourg S.A.R.L., Black & Decker Macao Commercial Offshore Limited, Black & Decker Manufacturing Distribution & Global Purchasing Holdings LP, Black & Decker Mexfin LLC, Black & Decker No. 4 Pty. Ltd., Black & Decker Puerto Rico Inc., Black & Decker S.A. de c.v., Black & Decker SSC CO, Black & Decker Shelbyville, Black & Decker TransAsia S.a r.l., Black & Decker de Colombia S.A.S., Black & Decker de Panama LLC, Black & Decker de Panama S. de R.L., Black & Decker de Reynosa, Black & Decker de Venezuela C.A., Black & Decker del Ecuador S.A., Black & Decker del Peru S.A., Black & Decker do Brasil Ltda., Black and Decker de Costa Rica Limitada, Blick Plc, Bost Garnache Industries SAS, Bostitch-Holding, Bostitch-Holding L.L.C., Bulldog Barrels LLC, CAMACC Systems Inc., CLP2 GP, CLP2 GP LLC, CONNEXCENTER SA, CPE Acquisition Co., CRC-EVANS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS INC., CRC-EVANS WELDING SERVICES INC., CRC-Evans B.V., CRC-Evans Canada LTD., CRC-Evans International, CRC-Evans International Holdings, CRC-Evans International Inc., CRC-Evans Offshore Limited, CRC-Evans PIH Servios De Tubulao do Brasil Ltda, CRC-Evans PIH Servicos De Tubulacao Do Brasil Ltda, CRC-Evans Pipeline International, CRC-Evans Pipeline International Inc., CRC-Evans Pipeline International Sdn.Bhd., CRC-Evans Welding Services, CWS Industries (Mfg.) Corp., Chesapeake Falls Holdings Company, Chesapeake Falls Holdings Company Unlimited Company, Chesapeake Investments Company S.A.R.L., Chicago Steel Tape, Chiro (Cayman) Holdings Ltd., Chiro Tools Holdings B.V., Christie Intruder Alarms Limited, Clarke Security Services Incorporated, Connex Group SA, Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing, Contact East, Contract Fire Systems Ltd, Cooperheat of Africa (Pty) Ltd, Craftman, DEWALT INDUSTRIAL TOOLS S.A. DE C.V., DISTRIBUIDORA PORTER CABLE LIMITADA, DIYZ, DIYZ LLC, De-Tect Unit Inspection (Pty) Ltd, DeWalt Industrial Tools S.p.A., Devilbiss Air Power Company, Dewalt Industrial Power Tool Company LTD., Dewalt Industrial Tools, Doncasters US Holdings Inc., Dubuis et Cie SAS, ELU B.V., ELU Power Tools LTD, EMHART TEKNOLOGIES LLC, ETAC ALARME SERVICE SECURITY SA, ETAC ALARME SERVICES SECURITY SA, ETAC GENT NV, ETAC GENT SA, Eastern Vault & Security, Emglo Products, Emhart Fastening & Assembly SNC, Emhart GmbH, Emhart Guangzhou (Hong Kong) Limited, Emhart Harttung A/S, Emhart Harttung Inc., Emhart International Holdings Limited, Emhart International Limited, Emhart Panama S. de R.L., Emhart Panama S.A., Emhart Teknologies, Emhart Teknologies (Thailand) LTD., Emhart Teknologies B.V., Facom, Facom Belgie BVBA, Facom Holding SAS, Facom SAS, Facom UK Limited, Fastener Jamher Taiwan Inc., First National AlarmCap LP/Premiere Societe en Commandite Nationale, First National AlarmCap LP/Premiere Societe en Commandite Nationale Alarmcap, First National AlarmCap. Trust, Frisco Bay Industries, GDX Technologies, GMT China, GRUPO BLACK & DECKER MEXICO S. DE R.L. DE C.V., GUANGZHOU EMHART FASTENING SYSTEM CO. LTD., Gamrie Designated Activity Company, Gamrie Limited, Global Fastening (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Global Project (Services) Limited, Grupo Black & Decker MEXICO, Guangzhou Emhart Fastening System Co, Generale de Protection, HSM Electronic Protection Systems, Hangtech Limited, Hardware City Associates Limited Partnership, Hefei INTACA Science & Technology Development Co, Hefei INTACA Science & Technology Development Co. Ltd., Herramientas Stanley S.A. de c.v., Horst Sprenger GmbH Recycling-tools, I.D.L. Techni-Edge LLC, INFASTECH CAMCAR MALAYSIA SDN BHD, INFASTECH DECORAH LLC, ISR Solutions, IguanaFix, Infastech (Australia) PTY Limited, Infastech (China) Limited, Infastech (Korea) Limited, Infastech (Labuan) Limited, Infastech (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Infastech (Mauritius) Limited, Infastech (Shenzhen) Limited, Infastech (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Infastech Company Limited, Infastech Decorah, Infastech Fastening Systems (Wuxi) Limited, Infastech Holdings (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Infastech Intellectual Properties Pte. Ltd., Infastech Receivables Company Pte. Ltd., Infastech S.a r.l, Infastech S.a r.l., Infastech Thai Company Limited, Infastech/Tri-Star Limited, Infastehc (Singapore) Pte. Ltd, InfoLogix, InfoLogix Systems Corporation, Infologix - DDMS, Infologix - DDMS Inc., Infologix Inc., Innerspace Products, Interfast B.V., International Equipment Solutions LLC, Irwin Industrial Tool Company, Irwin Industrial Tool Ferramentas do Brasil Ltda., Irwin Tools Canada ULC, JAFFORD LLC, JMD SECURITE SA, JRB Attachments LLC, Jafford, JennCo1, JennCo1 Inc., Jewel Attachments LLC, Jiangsu Guoqiang Tools Co., Jiangsu Guoqiang Tools Co. Ltd., Jiangsu Tongfeng Hardware Co, Joint Prosperity Investment Private Limited, Jointech Corporation LTD., Kodiak Mfg. Inc., Lenox India Private Limited, Lista International Corporation, M. HART DO BRASIL LTDA., M.HART do Brasil Ltda., MASTERFIX POLAND LTD. SP.Z O.O., Mac Tools Canada Inc., Maquinas y Herramientas Black & Decker de Chile S.A., Masterfix Poland Sp. z o.o., Meta Vision Systems Limited, Microalloying International, Microalloying International Inc., Microtec Enterprises, Microtec Enterprises Inc., Monarch Mirror Door Co., Mont-Hard (Canada) Inc., NEWFREY LLC, NSW Fabristeel Netherlands B.V., National Manufacturing, Nelson Bolzenschwei-Technik GmbH & Co. KG, Nelson Bolzenschwei-Technik GmbH Verwaltungs GmbH, Nelson Fastener Systems, Nelson Fastener Systems de Mexico SA de CV, Nelson Saldatura Perni S.r.l., Nelson Soudage de Goujons SAS, Nelson Stud Welding (Tianjin) Company Ltd., Nelson Stud Welding Canada Inc., Nelson Stud Welding Inc., Nelson Stud Welding India Private Limited, Nelson Stud Welding International LLC, Newell Brands - Tools Business, Newell Rubbermaid Products (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Newfrey, Nippon Pop Rivets & Fasteners LTD., Niscavah Investments Ltd, Niscayah Asia Limited, Niscayah Asia Ltd, Niscayah Group AB, Niscayah Holdings Limited, Niscayah Investments Limited, Niscayah Teknik AB, Novia SWK SAS, OSI Security Devices, Oceaneering Heat Treatment Services (Pty) Ltd, Onglin International Limited, PIH (Thailand) Company Limited, PIH Holdings Limited, PIH Services Limited, PIH Services ME LLC, PIH Services ME Ltd., PIH U.S., PIH U.S. Inc., PIPELINE EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES SARL, PORTER-CABLE ARGENTINA LLC, POWERS FASTENERS INC.(Panama), PT Stanley Black & Decker, Pacom Group AB, Pacom Systems (North America) Inc, Pacom Systems (North America) Inc., Pacom Systems Espana, Pacom Systems Espana S.L., Pacom Systems Pty Limited, Paladin Brands Group Inc., Paladin Brands Holdings Inc., Paladin Brands International Holdings Inc., Pengo Corporation, Pinnacle Electronic Systems, Piole Parolai Equipement SAS, Pipeline Induction Heat Limited, Porter-Cable Argentina, Powers Fasteners Australasia Limited, Powers Fasteners Australasia Pty Limited, Powers Fasteners Australia Limited, Powers Fasteners Inc., Powers Rawl Pty. Ltd., Powers Shanghai Trading Ltd, Powers Shanghai Trading Ltd., Precision Hardware, Pro One Finance SAS, QINGDAO SUNGUN POWER TOOL CO, RIGHTCO II, RIGHTCO II LLC, Rawl Australasia Pty. Ltd., Rawlplug Unit Trust, Refal Industria e Comercio de Rebites e Rebitadeiras Ltda., SBD Cayman LLC, SBD European Investment, SBD European Investment Unlimited Company, SBD European Security Holdings S.a r.l., SBD European Security International Unlimited Company, SBD European Security Investment Unlimited Company, SBD HOLDINGS CAYMAN LP, SBD Holding AB, SBD Holdings Cayman, SBD Infastech 1 Unlimited Company, SBD Infastech 2 Unlimited Company, SBD Insurance, SBD Insurance Inc., SBD LinQ Inc., SBD MDGP Partnership Holdings LLC, SBD MDGP Partnership Holdings S.a r.l., SBD MDGP Partnership Holdings S.a r.l., SBD Manufacturing Distribution & Global Purchasing Holdings L.P., SBD Niscayah S.a r.l., SBD Panama Investments LLC, SBD Panama LLC, SBD Property Holdings, SBD Property Holdings LLC, SBD Scala Inc., SBD UK Canada Holdings Inc., SETEC Vertriebsgesellschaft fr Brand- und Einbruchmeldesysteme mbH, SETEC Vertriebsgesellschaft fur Brand- und Einbruchmeldesysteme mbH, SPIRALOCK DO BRASIL LTDA., SPIRALOCK GLOBAL VENTURES LIMITED, STANLEY BLACK & DECKER HUNGARY KORALTOLT FELELOSSEGU TARSASAG, STANLEY BLACK & DECKER IBERICA S.L., STANLEY BLACK & DECKER MOROCCO SARL, STANLEY ENGINEERED FASTENING EASTERN EUROPE SP.Z O.O., SWK (U.K.) Holding Limited, SWK (UK) Limited, SWK Utensilerie S.r.l., Sargent & Greenleaf, Sargent & Greenleaf Inc., Sargent & Greenleaf S.A., Scan Modul, Security Group, SecurityCo Solutions, SecurityCo Solutions Inc., Shanghai Eastern Iron Hardware Co, Shanghai Emhart Fastening System Co. Ltd., Shanghai Emhart Fastening Systems Co, Sidchrome Tool, Sielox Security Systems, Societe Miniere et Commerciale SAS, Sonitrol, Southern Monitoring Services Limited, Speciality Bar Products Company, Spiegelberg Manaufacturing Inc., Spiralock, Spiralock Corporation, Spiralock do Brasil, Stanley Access Technologies LLC, Stanley Atlantic Inc, Stanley Atlantic Inc., Stanley Black & Decker (Barbados) SRL, Stanley Black & Decker (Hellas) EPE, Stanley Black & Decker Asian Holdings B.V., Stanley Black & Decker Australia Pty Ltd, Stanley Black & Decker Australia Pty Ltd., Stanley Black & Decker Austria GmbH, Stanley Black & Decker Belgium BVBA, Stanley Black & Decker CCA S. de R.L., Stanley Black & Decker Canada Corporation, Stanley Black & Decker Cayman Holdings Inc., Stanley Black & Decker Chile L.L.C., Stanley Black & Decker Colombia Services S.A.S., Stanley Black & Decker Czech Republic s.r.o., Stanley Black & Decker Deutschland GmbH, Stanley Black & Decker Finance 1 LLC, Stanley Black & Decker Finance 2 LLC, Stanley Black & Decker Finance Limited, Stanley Black & Decker Finance Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker Finland Oy, Stanley Black & Decker France SAS, Stanley Black & Decker France Services SAS, Stanley Black & Decker Hardware Holdings B.V., Stanley Black & Decker Holding GmbH, Stanley Black & Decker Holdings Australia Pty Ltd, Stanley Black & Decker Holdings S.a r.l., Stanley Black & Decker Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Stanley Black & Decker Iberica, Stanley Black & Decker Inc., Stanley Black & Decker India Limited, Stanley Black & Decker India Private Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 1 Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 2 Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 2 Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 3 Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 3 Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 4 Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 4 Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 5 Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance L.P., Stanley Black & Decker Ireland, Stanley Black & Decker Ireland Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker Italia S.r.l., Stanley Black & Decker Italy Production S.r.l., Stanley Black & Decker Latin American Holding BVBA, Stanley Black & Decker Latin American Investment, Stanley Black & Decker Latin American Investment Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker Limited, Stanley Black & Decker Limited Liability Company, Stanley Black & Decker Logistics BVBA, Stanley Black & Decker MEA FZE, Stanley Black & Decker Manufacturing SAS, Stanley Black & Decker Middle East Trading FZE, Stanley Black & Decker NZ Limited, Stanley Black & Decker Netherlands B.V., Stanley Black & Decker Norway AS, Stanley Black & Decker Partnership Japan, Stanley Black & Decker Partnership Japan Holdings S.a r.l., Stanley Black & Decker Polska Sp. z o.o., Stanley Black & Decker Precision Manufacturing (Shenzhen) Co, Stanley Black & Decker Precision Manufacturing (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Stanley Black & Decker Romania SRL, Stanley Black & Decker Sales GmbH, Stanley Black & Decker Slovakia s.r.o., Stanley Black & Decker Sweden AB, Stanley Black & Decker Turkey Alet Uretim Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Stanley Black & Decker Turkey Alet retim Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited, Stanley Black & Decker UK Group Limited, Stanley Black & Decker UK Holdings Limited, Stanley Black & Decker UK Limited, Stanley CLP2, Stanley CLP3, Stanley Canada Holdings L.L.C., Stanley Chiro International Ltd, Stanley Convergent Security Solutions, Stanley Convergent Security Solutions Inc., Stanley Engineered Fastening Benelux B.V., Stanley Engineered Fastening France SAS, Stanley Engineered Fastening India Private Limited, Stanley Engineered Fastening Industrial Deutschland GmbH, Stanley Engineered Fastening Italy S.r.l., Stanley Engineered Fastening Spain S.L.U., Stanley Europe BVBA, Stanley European Holdings, Stanley European Holdings B.V., Stanley European Holdings II B.V., Stanley European Holdings L.L.C., Stanley Fastening Systems, Stanley Fastening Systems Investment (Taiwan) Co., Stanley Fastening Systems L.P., Stanley Fastening Systems Poland Sp. z o.o., Stanley Feinwerktechnik GmbH, Stanley Finance Hungary Group Financing Limited Liability Company, Stanley GMT Hardware Co, Stanley Grundstuecksverwaltungs GmbH, Stanley Healthcare Solutions France Sarl, Stanley Housing Fund, Stanley Housing Fund Inc., Stanley Industrial & Automotive, Stanley Industrial & Automotive LLC, Stanley Inspection, Stanley Inspection Canada Ltd., Stanley Inspection L.L.C., Stanley Inspection South Africa (Pty) Limited, Stanley Inspection US, Stanley Inspection US L.L.C., Stanley International Holdings, Stanley International Holdings Inc., Stanley Israel Investments B.V., Stanley Logistics, Stanley Logistics L.L.C., Stanley Pipeline Inspection, Stanley Pipeline Inspection L.L.C., Stanley Safety Corporation LLC, Stanley Security AS, Stanley Security Alarmcentrale B.V., Stanley Security B.V., Stanley Security Belgium BVBA, Stanley Security Denmark ApS, Stanley Security Deutschland Administration GmbH, Stanley Security Deutschland GmbH, Stanley Security Deutschland Holding GmbH, Stanley Security Europe BVBA, Stanley Security France SAS, Stanley Security Holding AS, Stanley Security Holdings AS, Stanley Security Limited, Stanley Security Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Stanley Security Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Stanley Security Nederland B.V., Stanley Security Oy, Stanley Security Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Stanley Security Singapore Pte. Ltd., Stanley Security Solutions, Stanley Security Solutions (NI) Limited, Stanley Security Solutions - Europe Limited, Stanley Security Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Stanley Security Solutions Inc., Stanley Security Solutions India Private Limited, Stanley Security Solutions Limited, Stanley Security Solutions Taiwan Ltd., Stanley Security Solutions-Europe Limited, Stanley Security Sverige AB, Stanley Security Switzerland Sarl, Stanley Technical Services Ltd., Stanley Tools SAS, Stanley U.K. Holding Ltd., Stanley UK Acquisition Company Limited, Stanley UK Services Limited, Stanley Unit Inspection (Pty) Limited, Stanley Works (Europe) GmbH, Stanley Works (India) Private Limited, Stanley Works (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Stanley Works (Wendeng) Tools Co, Stanley Works (Wendeng) Tools Co. Ltd., Stanley Works Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Stanley Works China Investments Limited, Stanley Works Holdings B.V., Stanley Works Limited, Stanley-Bostitch S.A. de c.v., Stanley-Bostitch Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Stanley-Bostitch Servicios s. de r.l . de c.v., Stichting Beheer Intellectuele Eigendomsrechten Blick Benelux B.V., SureHand Inc. f.k.a. SBD Aura Inc., Sweepster Attachments LLC, TOG Holdings Inc., TOG Manufacturing Company Inc., TSI Monitoring LLC, TSI Sales & Installation LLC, The Black & Decker Corporation, The Farmington River Power Company, The Ferry Cap & Set Screw Company, The Stanley Works (Langfang) Fastening Systems Co, The Stanley Works (Langfang) Fastening Systems Co. Ltd., The Stanley Works (Shanghai) Co, The Stanley Works (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., The Stanley Works (Shanghai) Management Co, The Stanley Works (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., The Stanley Works (Zhejiang) Industrial Tools Co, The Stanley Works (Zhejiang) Industrial Tools Co. Ltd., The Stanley Works (Zhongshan) Tool Co, The Stanley Works (Zhongshan) Tool Co. Ltd., The Stanley Works Israel Ltd., The Stanley Works Limited, The Stanley Works Pty. Ltd., Tong Lung Metal Industry, Totaal Beveiligingen B.V., Tucker Fasteners Limited, Tucker GmbH, Tucker S.R.O., Unit Inspection (International) (Pty) Ltd, Unit Inspection Property (Pty) Ltd, Universal Inspection Systems Limited, VAG SECURITY SYSTEMS SPRL, View Technologies, View Technologies LLC, Visiocom International Pte Ltd, Waterloo Holdings Inc., Waterloo Industries Inc., Wintech Corporation Limited, XMARK Corporation, Yong Ru Plastics Industry (Suzhou) Co, Yong Ru Plastics Industry (Suzhou) Co. Ltd, Zag USA, Zag USA Inc., and tanley Black & Decker Finland Oy.SAdzucker AG produces and sells sugar products in Germany, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Sugar, Special Products, CropEnergies, and Fruit. The Sugar segment produces and sells sugar, sugar specialty products, molasses, and animal feed to food industry, retailers, and agriculture markets, as well as offers by-products of sugar. The Special Products segment produces functional food ingredients, including inulin, oligofructose, Isomalt, and Palatinose, as well as rice starches, rice flours, rice proteins, and wheat proteins for food, animal feed, non-food, and pharmaceutical sectors. This segment also offers frozen and chilled pizzas, frozen pasta dishes and snacks, baguette, and sauces and dressings; starches, sweeteners, animal feed; and portion packed foods and non-food products to hotels, caterers, and restaurants. The CropEnergies segment produces fuel-grade ethanol, rectified spirits, protein-based food and animal feed, and liquid CO2 to oil and pharmaceutical companies, food and animal feed producers, and beverage and cosmetics producers. The Fruit segment produces fruit preparations for the dairy, ice cream, bakery, and food service industry; and fruit juice concentrates, pure juices and purees, fruit wines, natural aromas, and beverage bases for beverage industry. It is also involved in agricultural activities; and cultivation of wheat, sugar beet, corn, chicory, rapeseed, soybean, and other products. The company was founded in 1837 and is headquartered in Mannheim, Germany. SAdzucker AG is a subsidiary of SAddeutsche ZuckerrAbenverwertungs-Genossenschaft eG.

Read MoreOne of my favorite things Google added to recent versions of Android is the ability to see the battery level of connected Bluetooth devices from the Quick Settings drop-down.

While Im a big fan of using Bluetooth headphones on in order to avoid getting tangled up in wires, it can be kind of a pain to start a long walk only to have your headphones die unexpectedly because you hadnt been keeping track of their battery level.

Now its easy to see the battery level on your phone assuming youve got a set of headphones or earbuds that support the feature. Not all of mine do.

Anyway, this isnt actually a post about Android though. Its about Windows because Microsoft is bringing a similar feature to Windows 10.

The company has released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17639 (RS5) for Skip Ahead. This is an early test build of the version of Windows 10 that will ship after the Spring update thats coming soon. In other words, it includes features that will probably be available to the general public this fall.

While most of the changes in the new build are related to Microsofts new Sets feature that lets you group apps and app windows together as if they were browser tabs, the feature that stood out to me was the addition of Bluetooth battery percentage reading to the Windows Settings menu.

Its not a feature youre necessarily going to need every day. But its one thats awfully nice to have if you use Bluetooth speakers, headphones, mice, keyboards, or other accessories like a Microsoft Surface Pen.

Keeping an eye on the battery level could help you figure out when to stop and charge your gadgets at a convenient time so that you dont have to interrupt your workflow due to an unexpected power failure.

As for the Sets updates, Windows 10 build 17639 now lets you:

Drag and drop app tabs within and between Sets (except for Edge browser tabs originally opened outside of a Set).

Switch between tabs using Alt+Tab (or optionally only show the primary window in Alt+Tab switcher).

Open a new File Explorer tab with Ctrl + T keyboard shortcut.

Open a folder in a new tab via a right-click context menu option.

You can find a more complete run-down of new features and changes in Build 17639 at the Windows Blog.

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Let us be your guide to great programs, stimulating things to do, local services, discounts and more. Learn all about interesting places to go, things to see and social spots!Restricting the Vaticans control over the appointment of bishops in China does not infringe on religious freedom, a Chinese official said yesterday, amid historic negotiations between Beijing and the Holy See aimed at healing divisions.

Chen Zongrong, an official overseeing religious affairs, said Beijing would not allow foreign forces to govern the countrys faith groups.

The Chinese constitution clearly states that Chinas religious groups and religious affairs cannot be controlled by foreign forces, and [the foreign forces] should not interfere in Chinese religious affairs in any way.

I disagree with the view that preventing Rome from having full control over the selection of bishops hinders religious freedom, Chen said.

Speaking at a State Council briefing, the former vice administrator for the recently dissolved State Administration for Religious Affairs emphasized a need for faiths in China to adapt to socialist society and develop religions in the Chinese context.

Actively guiding religions in adapting to the socialist society means guiding religious believers to [] be subordinate to and serve the overall interests of the nation and the Chinese people, said a white paper released yesterday.

It also means guiding religious groups to support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system, the document said.

The statements are in line with a push in recent years for major religions to Sinicize  code for accepting the ruling Communist Partys leadership over foreign influence.

During last months annual meeting of Chinas rubber-stamp legislature, the State Administration for Religious Affairs was folded into the United Front Work Department, which manages the partys relations with non-party entities, both domestically and abroad.

I believe there is no religion in human society that transcends nations, Chen said.

For years, Chinas Catholics have been split between those who follow state-authorized churches outside the Vaticans authority and those who attend underground churches that swear fealty to the pope.

An expected deal between Beijing and the Holy See has spurred accusations that the Vatican is giving too much away after asserting the need for the Catholic Church in China to remain independent of government control over the nearly seven decades since relations were severed.

Under the agreement being discussed, the Vatican is expected to recognize seven Beijing- appointed bishops not chosen by the pope, while two underground bishops would step aside. The Holy See is believed in the past to have objected to some of those unapproved bishops because of their personal conduct or other moral issues.

Guo Xijin, one of the Vatican-ordained bishops who may cede his post, was temporarily removed from his southern Chinese parish last week but returned in time for Easter Sunday services.

Chen denied that Guo was deprived of freedom when government agents put him on a train to Xiamen, a city more than 255 kilometers (160 miles) from his Fujian province church, saying hed been invited there by a local bishop.

Priests and nuns in Guos parish told The Associated Press last week that it was customary for authorities to require the bishop to take a forced vacation during sensitive periods.

They said he had likely been taken this time to prevent him from speaking to the media about the ongoing talks with the Vatican, which have sparked a sharp backlash by some Catholic clergy and supporters of the underground church. Yanan Wang, Beijing, APThe New Macau Association (ANM) has submitted an 11-page document to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council to provide insight for a review on Macaus political issues.

Submitted for the 31st Session of Universal Periodic Review on Macau, which will formally be held in November, the pro-democracy association disclosed the citys issues on political rights, freedom of expression and movement, privacy and surveillance, gender recognition and domestic violence.

According to ANM, the five topics it addressed should not be considered as an exhaustive list of human rights issues in Macau, rather only recommendations that are technically achievable.

ANM continually calls for universal suffrage, noting that the right to political participation and expression is limited in the city  but government officials have denied the introduction of universal suffrage to the elections of the Chief Executive and all the members of the Legislative Assembly.

Jason Chao, a political activist, lamented that the city has had no improvements in democracy.

It is regrettable that the government is denying citizens the right to participate in the formation of the Municipal Institute. Its a step backward rather than going forward towards democracy, said Chao, who was present at yesterdays press conference.

The activist slammed the government as he claimed that the future Municipal Institute is just another name for the current Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau.

I barely see the difference but in terms of political rights, I would say that the SAR is denying [the] publics participation in the municipal institute, Chao stressed.

Meanwhile, ANM noted the local authorities denial of entry to Macau of Hong Kong journalists, lawmakers, scholars and writers was not infrequent, criticizing justifications posed by the local government such as internal security or the International Security Framework Law.

However, that law is a piece of legislation intended to combat cross-border organized crime and terrorism. People with common sense would see these claims [as] hardly convincing, the association wrote in their submission. The historical, cultural and economic ties between Macau and its neighboring regions made the freedom to enter and leave Macau part of peoples lives, it continues.

According to Chao, the association compiled a list of activities as well as journalists and scholars that have been denied entry to Macau, and hopes that the UN will review the document and assess the visitors.

Of course this is an open violation of freedom of expression Chao defended.

The ANM also was frustrated by the use of surveillance technologies being deployed by police authorities being unavailable to the public.

According to the association, the mechanism to protect citizens personal data from being abused by the authorities is weak, noting that the existing personal data mechanism is impotent in the face of state surveillance in the digital era.

The association requested the Human Rights Council urge Macau to oblige public authorities to publish true and complete information on the capabilities of the network surveillance technologies use in the upcoming cybersecurity legislation.

What is lacking is transparency and accountability. The cybersecurity law proposed by the Secretary for Security only [intends] to expand its power but [there is] no [] mechanism to keep its exercise of power in check, said the activist.

There was nothing [by which] the public can get to know the real capabilities of this surveillance technology and what data of citizens is being held by public authorities.

ANM hopes that the document submitted last week would serve as a historical record in the UNs database, and would apply pressure on the city to improve its transparency and security.

Meanwhile, lawmaker Sulu Sou, who is currently suspended, told the press that pursuing universal suffrage is still problematic, revealing that he had been speaking with some Portuguese politicians to hear their views on the matter.

We tried to communicate with some Portuguese politicians to discuss whether its suitable to amend the Basic Law and discuss and check the documents [of the agreement] between China and Portugal. Its still in the discussion stage for ANM, said Sou.

Chao sued for defamation

A criminal charge was filed against Jason Chao by the former director of the University of Macaus (UM) Public Administration department, after Macau Concealers revealed several allegations of the professors involvement in sexual harassment back in 2015.

Chao yesterday announced that Wang Jian Wei has sued him for defamation, as the media outlet revealed information regarding the alleged perpetrator.

As information unfolded, we would guess the identity of the alleged perpetrator, Chao explained.

The UM previously released a statement admitting that there were investigations going on, and the scholar admitted that there were three complaints against him.

He denied the allegations [but] Macau Concealers just revealed allegations and complaints. But he said that it was defamatory and the whole thing was fabricated by Macau Concealers, the activist said.

Im happy and Im open to taking the matter to the court, he added.

The case will be brought to court on July 24.When a drone flew within meters of a landing plane last week, endangering 278 passengers and crew, Air New Zealand responded by saying that such reckless drone operators should be thrown in prison.

Other agencies also sounded the public alarm. Air traffic controllers said they were concerned about the increasing numbers of drones flying illegally in controlled airspace, while regulators said flying drones into a flight path was inexcusable and the height of stupidity.

Yet The Associated Press has found that none of the agencies involved notified police about the drone. Not while it was endangering the plane, nor later to try to track down the perpetrator.

Air New Zealand didnt call. Auckland Airport didnt call. Air traffic controllers didnt call. And the Civil Aviation Authority, the regulatory agency that oversees aviation safety, didnt call.

Flight NZ92 from Tokyo was landing at Auckland Airport on March 25 when it had the close call. Air New Zealand said the pilots spotted the drone about 5 meters from the plane at a point in their descent when it was impossible to take evasive action.

The airline said the drone passed so close that the crew worried it had been sucked into an engine, although a later inspection showed that hadnt happened.

Its clear the time has now come for tougher deterrents for reckless drone use around airports to safeguard travelers, David Morgan, the airlines chief operations and integrity standards officer, said in a statement last week.

But police told the AP that there was no record of any report to them about the drone. And thats despite police officers being routinely stationed at the airport.

Under current regulations, drone operators who breach aviation rules can be fined up to 5,000 New Zealand dollars (USD3,600).

Airways spokeswoman Emily Davies said the first priority for air traffic controllers during a drone incursion is to safely manage the planes in the area. She said a controller can call police if its operationally safe to do so.

On Sunday [March 25], the controllers on duty were unable to safely leave their positions to make a call due to the workload associated with heavy traffic volumes and managing the drone incursion, Davies said.

She added that controllers are required to notify regulators, who may decide to involve police in an investigation.

Auckland Airport said airlines contact controllers about drones, who in turn contact police if there is an imminent threat. Air New Zealand said questions about tracking down the drone operator should be directed to regulators.

The Civil Aviation Authority said it had received a report from the pilot about the drone but couldnt provide further details as its part of the information gathering that is now underway in connection with this incident. Nick Perry, Wellington, APA consortium of companies including Pansy Hos Shun Tak Holdings has secured an exclusive contract to operate bus transportation services across the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB), and will offer lower consumer prices than existing transportation options.

The consortium comprises Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Land Transportation (Macau) Corporation, Zhuhai Yuegong Xinhai Transportation Company, Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge Shuttle Bus Services and a subsidiary of Shun Tak Holdings.

Ho disclosed the consortiums tender victory while announcing the groups annual results last week, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The company has participated in a consortium, via its subsidiary, which has succeeded in the tender, she said, according to the Hong Kong- based newspaper.

According to media reports, the consortium intends to set fares at an affordable HKD80 per journey  about one-third of the price of traveling between Hong Kong and Macau via ferry.

The price is also lower than existing land transportation links that traverse the lengthy perimeter of the estuary, sometimes reaching as far north as the provincial capital, Guangzhou, before returning south along a route parallel to the Pearl River.

Shun Tak already operates one of the worlds largest jetfoil fleets, serving the coastal cities of the Pearl River estuary as well as several routes between Macau and Hong Kong. Its involvement in the bridges bus contract is expected to strengthen its transportation arm in the region.

Some 90 to 140 buses are expected to run each day between the three cities, according to the SCMP, departing every five minutes at peak hours and every 10 to 15 minutes during off-peak period. Night bus services will also operate, departing every 15 to 30 minutes.

The bus services are expected to begin operating later this year.A South Korean court said yesterday that it will allow a rare live broadcast of the verdict at the trial of disgraced former President Park Geun-hye later this week.

Park was arrested last year on a slew of corruption charges after being removed from office following months of huge rallies calling for her ouster. Prosecutors are demanding a 30-year sentencing live in consideration of public interest. It would mark the first broadcast for a verdict at the trial of a district court, though trials at higher-level courts have been previously broadcast, including the one that dismissed Park from office.

Park has boycotted court sessions since last October, and its unlikely shell attend the verdict. Both Park and prosecutors can appeal Fridays ruling.

Among the key charges are that she colluded with a longtime confidante to take tens of millions of dollars from companies in bribes and extortion.

Park, the daughter of a deeply divisive dictator, became South Koreas first female president in early 2013.

Nearly all South Korean presidents have been arrested or embroiled in scandal at the close of their terms or after leaving office. Last month, Parks conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, was arrested and jailed over a separate corruption scandal. APA push to save and expand a visa program unique to the Northern Mariana Islands is hitting skids after recent cases of labor abuse and visa fraud, delivering a major blow to the U.S. commonwealths economy, which relies heavily on foreign workers.

The visa classification, known as CW-1, allows employers to seek permission to hire foreign workers and is aimed at alleviating a labor shortage among the Pacific islands population of roughly 52,000. The program was launched about a decade ago and has brought in nurses, teachers, hotel maids, bakers and more.

But a recent spate of visa abuses in the Northern Mariana Islands has cast a shadow over efforts to bolster the program, due to sunset next year.

Just this month, labor authorities reached a USD14 million settlement with Chinese companies for exploiting a visa waiver loophole to bring in illegal workers. And a local businessman and two associates were convicted in federal court for their role in a scheme to defraud foreigners by promising them U.S. jobs and green cards in exchange for cash.

Seen from the distance of Washington, D.C., this looks like a program that doesnt deserve to be continued  its not being properly monitored for abuse, said Bruce Mailman, an attorney at Mailman & Kara in Saipan who has worked with companies employing workers on the CW-1 visa. Still, its a critical program for this place.

Only 4,999 visas have been allotted for 2019, half of what was available the previous year.

Cutting the number of visas threatens jobs and hurts the Marianas economy, Rep. Gregorio Sablan, a Democrat representing the islands, said in a March 23 statement. He also has said recent violations of U.S. law give the Marianas a black eye and make it increasingly challenging to maintain a sufficient workforce.

A bill introduced in January by Sablan and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican who recently visited the islands, seeks to extend the program for another decade. It would increase the number of visas allotted and crack down on oversight.

Provisions to defend against labor abuses include allowing only legitimate businesses to be approved for permits  defined as firms that comply with wage laws and safety regulations for at least five years. Companies cannot engage in illegal activities, such as human trafficking, according to a version of the bill from March 20. It also reiterates that construction firms are barred from using the program, a change that passed into law last year in a separate bill.

The U.S. Labor Department has found contractors with the Hong Kong firm Imperial Pacific in violation of most of those requirements. Imperial Pacific is building a casino in Saipan, the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands. But construction stalled as thousands of illegal workers returned home to China following an FBI raid after a Chinese man died in a construction accident.

The legislation is on hold as Congress is in recess until April 9. By the time lawmakers are back in session, the government will already be accepting applications for 2019.

Companies have long known the CW-1 program would end but continued to favor the program over other visas because it allows them to pay the local minimum wage. In 2008, when the program was introduced, that was $3.55 an hour, far below federally mandated levels.

But that incentive is disappearing. Incremental changes over the years have raised the visas required hourly wage to $7.05, and by this September it will match the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Saipan businesses that rely on the program are scrambling to make changes. Hong Electric Enterprises, an electric supply firm, has brought in employees on CW-1 permits for years and is working to transition some workers to other visas given uncertainty over the program. We cannot afford to lose key personnel, said Carol Tamparong, a Hong Electric manager who originally came on a permit.

Employers could consider visas including the H-1B for skilled workers or the H-2B for seasonal work, as a federal cap that applies in other states doesnt apply to the Northern Mariana Islands, given the local labor shortage, said Janet King, an immigration attorney in Saipan. Other visas, like the EB-3, which cover a range of jobs from accounting clerks to architects, also confer visa applicants more rights and a path toward a green card.

By comparison, a CW-1 visa applies only within the commonwealth and doesnt allow the holder to travel or work elsewhere in the U.S.

More than half of the Northern Mariana Islands workforce is from China, the Philippines and elsewhere, filling 80 percent of all construction and hospitality jobs.

Without those workers, the commonwealths economy would have clocked as much as a 62 percent reduction in 2015, according to a May report by the Government Accountability Office.

Demand for the CW-1 program exceeded the number of available permits for the first time in 2016, and the report predicted a labor shortage given plans for additional hotels, casinos and other projects that would require thousands of employees.

Foreign workers are vital to the islands, Mailman said. Because of our distance from the U.S. mainland, its kind of hard to entice people to come out here for jobs that pay below the scale for what theyre used to, despite being a tropical paradise, he said. Sophia Yan, Honolulu, APPakistans former Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, has been hanged in spite of international calls for clemency.

Mr Bhutto, 51, who had been Pakistans leader since 1973, was deposed in an army coup 18 months ago.

He was sentenced to death for the murder of a political opponent following a trial which was widely condemned as unfair.

The appeal process was also tainted by allegations of bias on the part of some judges.

No advance warning of the execution had been given.

Mr Bhuttos wife and daughter, Benazir, who are both under house arrest, visited him on the morning before his death.

They had been told it would be their last meeting but the military regime, led by General Zia ul-Haq, continued to deny an execution was imminent.

Autocratic leader

Few details have emerged of the circumstances surrounding the hanging but it is believed to have taken place at 0200 local time (2100 GMT, 3 April) in the Rawalpindi district jail in north-east Pakistan.

Pakistanis learnt of Mr Bhuttos death when it was announced on state radio at 1100 local time (0600 GMT).

Shortly after his execution, Mr Bhuttos body was flown to his home village in the Sind province and buried in the family plot.

His wife and his daughter were not permitted to attend the funeral.

Another four men convicted with Mr Bhutto of murder remain in prison.

Mr Bhutto, a member of a rich and influential family, was known as an autocratic leader but was respected internationally.

His death looks set to lead to Pakistans isolation on the world stage.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Kurt Waldheim, said he deplored the decision by Pakistans leaders to ignore appeals for clemency.

British Prime Minister James Callaghan, who made a third appeal for Mr Bhuttos life only yesterday, expressed his deep regret.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

Martial law remained in force in Pakistan until 1985.

In 1986 Zulfikar Ali Bhuttos daughter, Benazir, returned from exile to take on the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founded by her father.

In August 1988 General Zia was killed in a plane crash and Benazir Bhutto went on to lead the PPP to victory in elections in 1988 and 1993.

However, her government was dismissed both times  in 1990 and 1996  following allegations of corruption.

The man who replaced her in 1996, Nawaz Sharif, was overthrown in a military coup three years later.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, 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LLC, XOOM Ontario Holdings LLC, XOOM Solar LLC, and eV2g LLC.Ormat Technologies, Inc. operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of geothermal and recovered energy power business. It operates through the following segments: Electricity, Product and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment focuses in the sale of electricity from the company's power plants pursuant to PPAs. The Product segment involves in the manufacture, including design and development, of turbines and power units for the supply of electrical energy and in the associated construction of power plants utilizing the power units manufactured by the company to supply energy from geothermal fields and other alternative energy sources. The Energy Storage segment consists of battery energy storage systems as a service and management of curtailable customer loads under contracts with U.S. retail energy providers and directly with large commercial and industrial customers. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Reno, NV.

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France is considering changing its legal age of consent so that sex before the age of 15 is automatically considered rape after recent child sex cases raised serious concerns. At the moment, prosecutors have to prove that the underage sex was non-consensual to obtain a rape conviction.

The change is being proposed as a way to tackle issues with the laws in France that mean if no violence or coercion has taken place or been proved, offenders can only be charged with sexual abuse and not rape. In fact, sentences of this nature are the same for sexual assaults of minors and non-minors.

The debate around the age of consent is still as relevant and as serious as it ever was. In the UK, the age of consent is 16. But in Germany and Italy it is 14, whereas in Turkey the age of consent is 18. Yet, if we consider that one in three teenagers are having sex before the age of 16, does that mean the age of consent needs to be considered again in the UK?

Children and the law

It is an issue that emerges time and time again in the UK and it always remains at deadlock. But does UK law ensure that our children are always on the edge of being a "sex offender"?

In the UK, under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is illegal to engage in sexual activity with someone under the age of 16. In some cases, it may be a defence to say that it was reasonable that there was a belief that the person was 16 or over. But, ordinarily, a "sex offender" is likely to be imprisoned for around five years if someone was under 18 at the time. The sentence increases to ten years to life if the offender is over 18 at the time of the offence.

In effect, it does not matter what your age is. But if you have sex with someone under 16, you become a sex offender. That is despite half of all UK teenagers having their first sexual experience by the age of 14, according to the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. So is it right to see young people hauled before the courts, convicted and put on a sex offenders register alongside adult rapists and paedophiles?

This is the reality but the law is there for a reason  to protect the vulnerable and less experienced. Although this does not always happen. The NSPCC says five child sex offences are reported every hour. It is no surprise then that people have expressed concerns that some sex offenders would see any change in the law on consent as an opportunity to focus their sexual intentions on young teenagers. The worry is it could lead to an increase in abuse cases and increasing pressure to have sex at a younger age.

Some are concerned that it might lead to a further increase in STI rates and unwanted pregnancies (the UK has some of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Western Europe).

There are wider issues relating to the sexualisation of childhood and the culture that we live in. Can we not just let children be children?

There is also the issue of education  or lack of it  in schools and at home relating to sexual consent and behaviour. So lowering the age of consent is not necessarily the answer.

A confusing global picture

While 16 remains the average age of consent in Europe and beyond, there are dramatic differences globally. This ensures there are confused messages about when it is right to have sex or not. In some countries, you have to be married before you have any sexual relations (Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia). In other countries, you can have sex from the age of 11 (Nigeria) and quite a few countries allow the age of consent to be 13, including Japan and Niger. For many, for the age of consent to be so low is unthinkable. But it may reflect the traditions, religion, culture and history of a particular country.

Perhaps the laws of consent need to be more flexible and realistic to ensure that young people are protected. At the same time, there must be an appreciation that many reach sexual maturity quicker than others and therefore are able to make choices about their own bodies. For example, in Canada, while the age of consent is 16, the legislation is constructed in such a way that older sexual predators would be prosecuted rather than young teenagers who might be in established relationships, even if they have not quite reached the age of 16. This also alleviates some of the pressure associated with having sex at a younger age.

The issue of consent is an emotive one that may never be fully resolved. But it is an important issue for people of all ages. France is having that debate once again. Perhaps it is time the UK joined in?

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.Neutrophils are double-edged in bacterial pneumonia: They kill the bacteria but also cause damaging lung inflammation. Inhibiting the enzyme IP6K reduces the number of neutrophils, but makes them stronger. Credit: Adobe Stock/Wikimedia Commons

Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat in bacterial pneumonia. While immune-stimulating treatments can help the body kill the bacteria, they can also cause inflammation that damages and weakens lung tissue. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital now describe an approach that offers the best of both worlds: enhanced bacterial killing with reduced lung damage.

Their findings were published April 4th in Science Translational Medicine.

When the immune system sees a bacterial infection, it triggers an influx of cells known as neutrophils at the infection site. Neutrophils can kill the bacteria, but they also cause harm by releasing inflammatory compounds that damage the lung's air sacs.

"The question is, when we have pneumonia, do we want to enhance neutrophil function or suppress it? It's very tricky," says Hongbo (Robert) Luo, PhD, a researcher in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital and senior investigator on the study.

Fewer but stronger neutrophils

Luo's lab has long been studying an enzyme called IP6K, and recently showed that it inhibits signaling by another molecule in neutrophils called PIP3. When IP6K is inhibited in a mouse model, PIP3 becomes elevated and neutrophils become more active, killing more bacteria and living longer - "like 'super' neutrophils," says Luo.

Luo's team, with collaborators at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in China, decided to further investigate IP6K1's role in neutrophil function in a mouse model of bacterial pneumonia. When the team deleted the IP6K1 gene in the mice, they saw enhanced bacterial killing by neutrophils, which more actively engulfed bacteria and killed them with toxic compounds.

But the researchers also saw reduced neutrophil accumulation in the lungs' air spaces and reduced lung damage. "This was a surprise," says Luo. "The exciting thing is that bacterial killing is high, and tissue damage is low."

When the researchers used an IP6K inhibitor drug called TNP instead of genetic manipulation, results were the same.

The role of platelets

Why was there less neutrophil accumulation? The team found that the effect was occurring through blood platelets, which produce a chemical regulator known as polyphosphate that make neutrophils more active and apt to migrate.

"When we inhibit IP6K, platelets make less polyphosphate, reducing neutrophil recruitment," explains Luo. "But when the neutrophils get there, they kill bacteria more. We have a treatment that can enhance neutrophils' bacterial killing activity, but their recruitment is controlled, so we have better outcomes."

Luo cautions that TNP has never been tested as a potential drug in humans. But he thinks the study findings may have implications not just for bacterial pneumonia, but for other infections that involve neutrophils.

In addition, Boston Children's Transfusion Medicine group, where Luo's lab is based, is interested in pursuing IP6K inhibition in cancer patients, who often have severely reduced neutrophil counts that put them at high risk for infection.

"We could try transfusing neutrophils, treated with TNP to enhance neutrophil function, but leaving platelets untreated so that neutrophil recruitment wouldn't be inhibited," Luo says.

Explore further Heart-resident macrophages call in neutrophils following ischemic injury

More information: Q. Hou el al., "Inhibition of IP6K1 suppresses neutrophil-mediated pulmonary damage in bacterial pneumonia," Science Translational Medicine (2018). Journal information: Science Translational Medicine Q. Hou el al., "Inhibition of IP6K1 suppresses neutrophil-mediated pulmonary damage in bacterial pneumonia,"(2018). stm.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/  scitranslmed.aal4045Immigrant youth from specific racial-ethnic groups in the USA tend to have lower rates of certain mental disorders compared to their non-immigrant peers, reports a study published in the April 2018 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP).

The study was conducted by a team of epidemiologists from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health in the US and the Offord Center for Child Studies at McMaster University in Canada. They examined the lifetime prevalence of mood, anxiety, and behavior disorders (attention deficit, oppositional defiant, conduct, and substance use disorders), as well as mental health service use in 6,250 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years who were part of a national database. Youth were classified by both self-identified race-ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, Asian) and immigrant generation (first, second, third, or greater).

The authors found that prevalence rates of mental disorders among immigrant youth differed by immigrant generation and by racial-ethnic group. Consistent with the "immigrant paradox" in earlier studies, foreign-born Asian youth had lower rates of both emotional and behavior disorders, but by the second generation, they had significantly higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders compared to non-immigrant white youth. The authors also report a general trend for lower rates of behavior disorders among foreign-born Asian and Hispanic youth, and among both immigrant and non-immigrant black youth compared to non-immigrant white youth.

"Many of these differences were not apparent when immigrant generation and race-ethnicity were considered separately," said lead author Dr. Katholiki Georgiades, an Associate Professor and the David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at McMaster University and the Offord Centre for Child Studies. "This underscores the importance of joint consideration of these characteristics in studies of disparities in adolescent mental disorders and service use."

"One of the most concerning findings was that most immigrant youth with mental disorders were significantly less likely to receive mental health services than their non-immigrant peers" said senior author Dr. Kathleen Merikangas, Senior Investigator and Chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch in the NIMH Division of Intramural Research Programs. "This finding highlights the need to address cultural and economic barriers to mental health service use for youth with mental disorders from immigrant families, particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds."

These findings could have major public health implications because children living in families with at least one foreign-born parent represent the fastest growing segment of the US population and are projected to represent up to one-third of the child population in the next few decades, according to the US Census Bureau. Identifying barriers to recognition of mental disorders and access to treatment for these youth will therefore be of increasing importance.

Explore further Self-esteem key to treating mental health

More information: Katholiki Georgiades et al. Prevalence of Mental Disorder and Service Use by Immigrant Generation and Race/Ethnicity Among U.S. Adolescents, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2018). Journal information: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Katholiki Georgiades et al. Prevalence of Mental Disorder and Service Use by Immigrant Generation and Race/Ethnicity Among U.S. Adolescents,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2018.01.020Credit: Medical Research Council

A new clinical study will test for the first time if MRI scans can be used for population screening to detect prostate cancer more accurately. The current prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is considered too unreliable for population screening, and the scientists will study if MRI could be used to screen men to pick up cancers earlier and more reliably, and help save lives.

They will also study whether, combined with cutting-edge techniques such as genomics and machine learning, MRI scans can replace prostate biopsies. Prostate cancer patients advising the study say they are particularly excited by the prospect of large reduction in biopsies, as they have serious side effects in the majority of patients, which include pain, bleeding, infections leading to sepsis, and urine retention (sudden inability to empty the bladder).

The study is being launched with funding of 4.1m from the Medical Research Council and 1m from Cancer Research UK, as part of the MRC's Stratified Medicine Initiative. The initiative is investing a total of 16.8m in four new 'stratified medicine' studies that aim to develop ground-breaking approaches in treating prostate cancer, kidney disease, alcoholic hepatitis and childhood arthritis.

The prostate cancer study will be led by Professor Mark Embertonopens in new window at UCL, in partnership with King's College London, the Imperial College London and at least 12 industry partners.

It builds on a ground-breaking study led by Professor Emberton and colleagues, published in The Lancetopens in new window last year, which reported that MRI scans for men who had a positive PSA test could rule out prostate cancer in 27% of the men tested, meaning they could avoid having a biopsy. They also found that for men with a possible tumour, the MRI scan could be used to direct the biopsy needle to the right location, so 18% more cases of serious prostate cancer were detected.

Replacing biopsies with precision diagnosis

The team aims to recruit 1,000 men with medium to high risk cancers to find out if MRI can be combined with other high-tech diagnostic tests to predict cancer progression. The ultimate aim is to develop tests that are better than biopsies for targeting the right cancer treatment to the right person (including determining if they don't need treatment).

Credit: Medical Research Council

Professor Emberton said: "Our recent studies have begun to show how MRI technology will transform prostate cancer screening and diagnosis. Now we're starting an ambitious new study, to combine MRI with the latest technologies  such a machine learning on MRI images and detecting DNA shed by cancers in blood  to see if we can find a way to make prostate cancer testing more reliable and maybe even do away with the need for biopsies altogether. We want to use MRI combined with new diagnostic tests to predict how the cancer will progress and to target the right treatment to the right person."

Professor Sir John Savill, until recently Chief Executive at the MRC, said: "Stratified medicine is reshaping the medical landscape by taking a patient-first approach that looks at how  and why  different groups of patients respond differently to therapies. Instead of looking for a 'one-size-fits-all' solution, stratified medicine is increasing what we know about diseases and how they affect individuals, and applying these findings to current tools in diagnostics and treatment to improve health outcomes."

Could MRI give us the first reliable population screening for prostate cancer?

Currently, the PSA blood test for prostate cancer is considered too unreliableopens in new window to be used for population screening in the UK: about 75% of menopens in new window who get a positive result are not found to have cancer (a false positive), and it misses the cancer in about 15% of men with prostate cancer (a false negative).

In this study, the researchers will also be taking the MRI test out into the community for the first time to see how well it detects prostate abnormalities in 300 men aged 60 to 75 who have never had a PSA test.

Professor Emberton said: "We will be testing if the MRI can be used for screening men and we hope that it will detect serious cancers earlier that are currently missed. If we can detect cancers earlier and more reliably with a non-invasive test, this could help to improve the survival rates to prostate cancer, which kills about 11,800 men in the UK annually.

MRI scanning for prostate cancer could also help a quarter of a million men, maybe up to half a million men a year, to avoid an unnecessary biopsy if the MRI is negative. The majority of men will be reassured they don't have prostate cancer and importantly they may be able to avoid the harms of a biopsy, plus healthcare systems will be able to avoid the costs. MRI is the perfect tool because it's relatively cheap, widely available and reliable."

Dr. Ian Walker, Cancer Research UK's director of clinical research, said: "We're delighted to partner with the MRC to support such an ambitious project. Providing men with an accurate diagnosis is one of the biggest challenges in prostate cancer. Current tests are blunt and unreliable when it comes to helping doctors decide what course of action is best. Too many men are treated for cancers that would never have caused them harm and some cancers are missed altogether. By exploring the potential of new diagnostic methods  such as advances in imaging and blood tests  we're aiming to improve how the disease is diagnosed and treated."

Explore further One-off PSA screening for prostate cancer does not save livesThe study subjects participate in a daily Tai Chi session. Credit: CHEST

Finding ways to help patients with COPD improve their functional status is an area of interest for pulmonary healthcare providers. Currently, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is used where available to improve exercise capacity and quality of life, but the treatment requires access to trained staff and specialized facilities. A new study in the journal CHEST looked at Tai Chi as a lower cost, more easily accessed treatment option. Investigators found that this slow, methodical form of exercise is equivalent to PR for improving respiratory function in patients with COPD.

Tai Chi, an ancient martial art that involves significant levels of physical exertion, is gaining popularity, especially among older people, across the globe. Originating in China, Tai Chi incorporates stretching, breathing, and coordinated movement and requires no special equipment. "Knowing the potential benefits of Tai Chi, we hypothesized that, in patients being treated with medication to manage their COPD symptoms, it could help improve the quality of life when compared to a course of classical western style PR," noted Professor Nan-Shan Zhong, MD, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou, China.

The study tracked 120 patients with COPD in rural China who had never used a bronchodilator. After beginning daily treatment with indacaterol, subjects were randomly assigned to groups receiving traditional PR or Tai Chi. Both the Tai Chi and PR groups showed similar improvements in Saint Georges Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores, a standard measure of health status in patients with diseases causing airway obstruction. However, after twelve weeks, a clinically significant difference in SGRQ scores emerged favoring Tai Chi. Similar trends were noted in performance of a six-minute walk test.

"Tai Chi is an appropriate substitute for PR," explained lead investigator Professor Yuan-Ming Luo, Ph.D., also of the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease. "While neither training approach differed from the other by more than the minimal clinically important difference of four SGRQ points at the end of this 12-week study, an additional 12 weeks after discontinuation of formal training, improvements emerged in favor of Tai Chi in SGRQ score, six-minute walk distance, modified Medical Research Council dyspnea score, and quadriceps strength. We conclude that Tai Chi is equivalent to PR and may confer more sustained benefit."

Subjects in the Tai Chi group met for formal instruction five hours per week for 12 weeks and were taught the 24 form Yang style. The results of the Tai Chi group were compared to that of another group of subjects who received PR three times a week for 12 weeks. After the initial 12 weeks, participants were encouraged to continue their Tai Chi either alone or with a group in their community; however, no formal assistance was provided to patients during this period. Those in the PR group received verbal encouragement to remain as physically active as possible. Final analysis of all data was conducted 12 weeks after the formal training had concluded.

For many patients, reducing the symptoms of COPD can greatly improve their quality of life. While medication continues to play an important role in treating COPD, the cost of those medicines can be a barrier for some patients, especially for treating a chronic illness like COPD.

"This study demonstrates that a low-cost exercise intervention is equivalent to formal pulmonary rehabilitation, and this may enable a greater number of patients to be treated," concluded lead author of the study Michael I. Polkey, Ph.D., NIHR Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit, The Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College, London, United Kingdom. "Physical activity is key to reducing symptoms in COPD. We do recommend PR, but our study shows that Tai Chi is a viable alternative when there is no local PR service. We encourage pulmonary rehabilitation providers to consider offering Tai Chi as an alternative therapy that patients would then be able to continue unsupervised in their own home."

Explore further An Internet-mediated exercise program improves quality of life in COPD patients

More information: Michael I. Polkey et al, Tai Chi and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Compared for Treatment-Naive Patients With COPD, Chest (2018). Journal information: Chest Michael I. Polkey et al, Tai Chi and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Compared for Treatment-Naive Patients With COPD,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.chest.2018.01.053(HealthDay)Even though it's widely known that tanning bed use greatly increases the odds for skin cancer, 70 percent of Americans who've used the devices have never had a doctor check them for the disease.

That's the finding from a new study of data on more than 30,000 U.S. adults.

The researchers also found that people who frequent tanning salons are more likely to use a low-SPF (sun-protection factor) sunblock, further raising their odds for skin cancers.

"It is crucial to ensure that any individual who has been repeatedly exposed to ultraviolet radiation, whether through indoor tanning or not, be screened for skin cancer," said Dr. Victoria Sharon, who directs dermato-oncology at Northwell Health in Great Neck, N.Y.

Sharon wasn't involved in the new study, but said the data shows that the frequency of skin cancer checks "remains low" for all Americansincluding those at high risk.

The new study was led by Carolyn Heckman of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Her team examined 2015 data on more than 30,000 adults tracked by the annual National Health Interview Survey.

The findings showed that about 16 percent of those surveyed had ever used a tanning bed, and about one-fifth of that group said they'd indoor-tanned at least once during the past year.

Indoor tanners were more likely to have ever undergone a doctor-guided skin cancer check compared to people who'd never used the devices30 percent versus 19.5 percent, respectively, according to the report.

But that still means that 70 percent of indoor tanners have never consulted a trained physician to check their body for potentially malignant skin lesions.

That's in contradiction to a 2014 recommendation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that "persons repeatedly exposed to UV radiation should be regularly evaluated for skin cancer." The FDA mandated that this warning be posted by manufacturers on all indoor tanning devices.

Interestingly, people who'd used indoor tanning recently (within the past year) were less likely to have had a skin cancer check than those who's last tanning salon visit was further back in time. According to Heckman's team, that could mean that people who've given up indoor tanning may be more "aware of their increased risk and seek skin cancer screening accordingly."

The study also found that while 12.6 percent of people who'd never used tanning beds used a relatively low-protection sunscreen (an SPF between 1 and 14), that number jumped to about 15.5 percent among indoor tanners.

"Thus, some individuals may be putting themselves at risk for skin cancer in multiple ways," Heckman's team said.

The study authors added that "almost 5 million skin cancers are diagnosed annually in the United States, and skin cancer incidence has been rising over the past few decades."

Dr. Doris Day is a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Reading over the new findings, she stressed that "indoor tanning continues to be an important source of skin cancer risk."

Day said the study shows that "we still need to improve education on the need for regular skin cancer screenings by a board-certified dermatologist, and also for regular self-exams."

The study was published online April 4 in JAMA Dermatology.

Explore further AAD: Fathers may not perceive harms of teen indoor tanning

More information: Doris Day, M.D., dermatologist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Victoria Sharon, M.D., director of dermatologic surgery and dermato-oncology, Northwell Health, Great Neck, N.Y.; April 4, 2018, JAMA Dermatology, online. Doris Day, M.D., dermatologist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Victoria Sharon, M.D., director of dermatologic surgery and dermato-oncology, Northwell Health, Great Neck, N.Y.; April 4, 2018,, online. Find out more about skin cancer detection at the Skin Cancer Foundation. Journal information: JAMA Dermatology

Copyright  2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.On 1 April 2018, the United Kingdom introduced a sugary drinks tax, an important public health measure that University of Otago, Wellington, public health researchers believe should be happening in New Zealand too.

The UK is joining many other countries and numerous jurisdictions that now have some variety of a sugary drinks tax  a tax that has been shown to work and have positive spill-over effects.

"We think there is a role for Government-led action to help address the obesity epidemic", says Professor Tony Blakely, from the University of Otago, Wellington's Department of Public Health.

A sweetened sugary beverage (SSB) tax is rapidly gaining traction as a public health measure amongst countries concerned about their growing rates of obesity and diabetes.

Professor Blakely and his team have analysed the literature and recent reports and have recently written a blog about the health impacts this levy might have here in New Zealand.

Sugary drink taxes can be configured in many ways. Professor Blakely says that the UK levy is actually a tiered soft drinks industry levy.

"It is clever, and its impact is much more than via the direct price signal to the consumer."

A sugary drink tax will have a number of impacts/benefits including:

A price signal to the consumer to reduce consumption (makes an impact reduce obesity rates by around 1%, not massive but has an impact A price signal to the industry to reformulate (i.e. reduce sugar content to move products down a tier). The health gain from this mechanism is probably twice that of the price signal to the consumer. The incentives on industry to change marketing to less sugary drinks.

The researchers also refute a recent New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) report that argues against taxing sugary drinks.

"This report, commissioned by the Ministry of Health, has some serious flaws," says Professor Blakely.

"There have been at least nine good studies including a thoroughly researched Australian Grattan Institute report. Unfortunately the NZIER chose to include only one of the studies," says Blakely.

Blakely says a soft drinks industry levy is something that could be put in place right now in New Zealand and would not tip the apple cart in light of macro-level rebalancing of our total tax system.

The World Health Organization recommends taxing sugary drinks. And here in New Zealand, the NZ Medical Association and the Heart Foundation recommend taxing sugary drinks.

"The NZ Government would be strongly supported by the scientific evidence if it did opt for a sugary drinks tax, with the UK tiered soft drinks industry levy providing an exemplar to follow."

Explore further British teens drink a 'bathtub' of sugary drinks a yearCivilian trauma medicine has adopted many methods and techniques that have been developed and tested on the battlefield. One such technique, the use of tourniquets to stanch early bleeding in arms and legs, has been shown to improve a trauma victim's chance of survival. Although the use of tourniquets in civilians had been previously studied, its survival benefit had remained unclear. However, new study results published as an "article in press" on the website of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons demonstrate that the use of tourniquets improves survival in civilian trauma victims. These findings are very timely as the first ever National Stop the Bleed Day was just observed across the U.S. on March 31.

"This is the first time that we were actually able to prove the survival benefit of using the tourniquet in the civilian population," said lead study author and trauma surgeon Pedro G. R. Teixeira, MD, FACS, of the University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School.

While tourniquets may seem like a simple way to stop serious bleeding, their use had fallen out of favor in both civilian and military medicine in the 20th Century. "During the Korean and the World Wars, there was a lot of concern about tourniquet use and they got a bad reputation, but much of the problem was that tourniquets were left in place too long, cutting circulation to the extremity for many, many hours," Dr. Teixeira said. Since then, trauma surgeons have become more sophisticated about tourniquet use.

"What we learned from more recent conflicts in the Middle East is that when tourniquets are applied early and removed in a timely fashion and the definitive repair is performed, also in a timely fashion, they actually have a significant role in preventing death from severe blood loss from an extremity injury," Dr. Teixeira said.

For the study, the Texas Tourniquet Study Group evaluated 1,026 patients with vascular injuries of the arms or legs admitted to 11 urban Level I trauma centersthe highest level for trauma centersin Texas from 2011 to 2016. A prehospital tourniquet was used in 17.6 percent of the cases, although tourniquet use varied widely among individual centers, ranging from 62 percent to 1.4 percent.

Overall, 9.6 percent of the study patients had amputations, but more than one-third of them35.7 percenthad received a tourniquet. Among the amputation patients, those who received a tourniquet had significantly lower mortality rates than those who did not2.9 percent vs. 7.9 percent (adjusted p=0.015). The non-tourniquet group had almost six times greater odds of death (odds ratio 5.86, 95 percent confidence interval, range 1.41 to 24.47).

Dr. Teixeira explained that the types of civilian settings in which tourniquets can be used are automobile and motorcycle accidents, pedestrian struck by a vehicle, stab wounds, and gunshot wounds. "All these types of mechanisms that have a major hemorrhage coming from either an arm or a leg are amendable to having a tourniquet placed to stop that bleeding and allow that patient to survive long enough to reach a trauma center and get taken care of," Dr. Teixeira said.

Tourniquets work best when they are applied as early as possible at the site of the injury. "The ideal person to apply that tourniquet is the person who can do it the quickest immediately after the wound is identified," said Dr. Teixeira. "That scenario is the highest chance for the patient to survive."

The study noted efforts to increase the use of tourniquets in the civilian population, most notably the American College of Surgeons forming the Joint Committee to Create a National Policy to Enhance Survivability From Mass Casualty Shooting Events as a response to recent mass shootings. Their recommendations became known as the "Hartford Consensus." In 2015, the White House issued a call to action called the Stop the Bleed campaign to train bystanders to help in a bleeding emergency. Tourniquet use is a key component of that call to action.

"The idea is that the same way that we have defibrillators in public spaces for patients that have a cardiac arrest, we would have bleeding control kits in public spaces too, allowing for tourniquet application by someone who has had minimal training for a patient that has an injury resulting in bleeding from a limb," Dr. Teixeira said.

He acknowledged that there is a cost involved in having tourniquets available for general use, but the study may help justify that cost. "Being able to demonstrate that tourniquets actually do the job they're supposed to do is important and supports the recommendations by the Stop the Bleed campaign, contributing to reducing mortality from bleeding on the streets of America and elsewhere," Dr. Teixeira said.

The study results were first presented in September 2017 at the 76th annual meeting of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Clinical Congress of Acute Care Surgery in Baltimore.

More information: Pedro G.R. Teixeira et al. Civilian Prehospital Tourniquet Use Is Associated with Improved Survival in Patients with Peripheral Vascular Injury, Journal of the American College of Surgeons (2018). Journal information: Journal of the American College of Surgeons Pedro G.R. Teixeira et al. Civilian Prehospital Tourniquet Use Is Associated with Improved Survival in Patients with Peripheral Vascular Injury,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2018.01.047Around on in five women might need surgical treatment for prolapse or urinary incontinence. Credit: shutterstock.com

Last week, a Senate Committee investigating the impacts of "transvaginal mesh implants" on women in Australia handed down its report, with 13 recommendations. The implants are medical devices surgically inserted to prevent prolapse and urinary incontinenceconditions that affect many women over their lifetime, with around 20% requiring surgical treatment.

The inquiry was the result of many women coming forward reporting serious side effects, such as chronic pain and trouble walking, after vaginal mesh surgery. Recommendations included that these medical devices are to be used only "as a last resort", that each mesh implant be registered, patient counselling and decision-making, surgeon training and better reporting of adverse events.

Proposals to improve outcomes for patients by implementing stricter standards in training, audit, research and monitoring of medical implants are welcome. However, the Senate has lumped together incontinence and prolapse devices, considering them all to be "transvaginal meshes".

Only the prolapse devices are problematic, while those used for incontinence are safe and evidence-based procedures. Conflating the two confuses women and may lead them to seek snake-oil type treatments that have no evidence base, and can be risky.

Different devices

Prolapse is when pelvic organs  such as the bladder, bowel or uterus (womb)  fall through the vagina. Stress urinary incontinence is involuntary urine leakage with activity such as sport, coughing or even walking. Both conditions are types of pelvic floor dysfunction, but the surgery and medical devices used to treat them are different.

Despite many submissions to the inquiry from clinical bodies, the Senate committee has been unable to distinguish between midurethral mesh slings (used for urinary incontinence) and transvaginal mesh (used for prolapse). The first is a mesh tape placed under the urethra like a sling for support. The second are sheets of mesh placed under the bladder, or in front of the bowel, to stop prolapse and prevent recurrence.

Midurethral slings in Australia have been associated with complaints in around equal numbers to mesh used for prolapse, but proportionately most problems have been seen with prolapse. This is because an estimated 120,000 sling operations have been performed, compared to only around 30,000 prolapse mesh procedures.

There is still clinical uncertainty and insufficient data on indications for use and best practice when it comes to the mesh used to treat vaginal prolapse. A review of several studies found that the artificially grafted mesh had more problems than benefits, and the women who underwent the operation had high rates of needing repeat surgery due to mesh exposure, bladder injury and urinary incontinence.

Read more: Common surgery for vaginal prolapse can lead to complications, review shows

Midurethral slings, however, have an excellent track record and are the most researched incontinence procedure in history. Midurethral slings have been recognised by every national and international medical or regulatory organisation as the treatment of choice for stress urinary incontinence in patients who have failed conservative management, such as pelvic floor exercises.

There are riskier procedures

The Senate also tasked the Australian Commission on Quality and Safety in Health Care with carrying out many of its recommendations. The commission recently published guidelines for hospital credentialing of surgeons to perform transvaginal mesh procedures for urinary incontinence and prolapse.

Along with many sensible recommendations on training and audit, the commission determined that surgeons needed to perform: "a minimum of ten surgeries for stress urinary incontinence (either mesh or non-mesh) each year."

This is not ten midurethral slings  the procedure for which the whole guideline was designed  but any surgery for stress incontinence.

There is no requirement from the commission that such procedures have proven efficacy and safety. This means that, in theory, a completely non evidence-based treatment such as vaginal laser could be claimed as a continence procedure. Vaginal laser is essentially a cosmetic laser treatment, for which there is absolutely no scientific data for any effect in patients with urinary incontinence.

Along with the Senate's recommendation that mesh be used as a "last resort", this suggests patients should be offered less effective procedures, such as an injection therapy, or big abdominal operations, with more complications and no better efficacy, simply because they don't involve mesh.

We have already seen a reduction in continence surgery over the last several years, which could be related to adverse mesh publicity. This has not been replaced by an increase in conservative management. Rather Australian women are now continuing to suffer with their incontinence. And there is a risk they will turn to expensive "snake oil" treatments, such as vaginal rejuvenation therapy.

We anticipate further patient anxiety and poor outcomes if the system doesn't guarantee patients receive evidence-based care. We have the data on midurethral slings so we can't compromise access to the safest and most effective surgical treatment for their stress incontinence.

Explore further 'Surgeon-tailored' mesh repair resolves urinary incontinence

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.Young people belonging to alternative subcultures, such as goths, emos or metal fans, are at a greater risk of self-harm and suicide than those who do not, according to a research review.

Dr. Peter Taylor, a clinical psychologist from The University of Manchester, says health, educational and social services need to be more aware of the risks to these young people.

"Victimisation, stigma and hate crime may explain the greater risk these individuals face. A prime example of that is the aggression faced by Sophie Lancaster in 2007," said Dr. Taylor.

"Sophie was tragically murdered by a group of young men purely because of her affiliation to Goth culture."

The systematic review of 12 English language papers published in the British Journal of Clinical Psychology was conducted by experts at The University of Manchester, University of Liverpool, the psychological services organisation Changing Minds UK, Leeds Beckett University and The University of Central Lancashire.

The findings reflect the growing concerns over the risks of young people: Suicide is a leading cause of death in adolescents and the second leading cause of death in 15-29 year olds according to a 2017 report by the WHO.

Dr. Taylor, from The University of Manchester, said: "The belief that alternative subcultures may be at an increased risk of self-harm and suicide is considered by some to be a myth.

"But the literature we reviewed does suggest that these individuals are indeed in greater danger.

"But this research requires interpretation within the wider context of public concern around alternative subcultures and their impact on the mental health of young people.

"The public and media have at times, unhelpfully, demonised alternative subcultures and music as a cause of problems including self-harm.

"That is why organisations such as the Sophie Lancaster Foundation have an important job of increasing awareness about victimisation of alternative subcultures.

"Getting the message to health, education and social services staff is also an important consideration."

Dr. Mairead Hughes, from The University of Liverpool said: "There is not enough evidence to tell us why it is that people belonging to these subcultures are at greater risk.

"Young people who have faced more adversity may be more likely to become part of a subculture, but this does not seem to fully explain the increased risk.

Explore further Suicide risk for youth sharply higher in the months after self-harm

More information: Mairead Ann Hughes et al. This corrosion: A systematic review of the association between alternative subcultures and the risk of self-harm and suicide, British Journal of Clinical Psychology (2018). Mairead Ann Hughes et al. This corrosion: A systematic review of the association between alternative subcultures and the risk of self-harm and suicide,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/bjc.12179Armenia Security Council Secretary receives US Ambassador

Armenia Investigative Committee launches case on soldier wounded from Azerbaijani army's gunshot in Kut village

Digest: PACE adopts report on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, 125 Armenian POWs reportedly detained in Baku

Aliyev says he is ready to meet with Armenia's Pashinyan and work on a peace treaty

Azerbaijan MOD receives new commander of Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh

Armenian analyst: Armenia's recognition of Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan isn't in Moscow's favor

Head of Armenia's Verin Shorzha village: Fire set by Azerbaijanis was put out this morning

Dollar goes up in Armenia

Freedom House concerned about criminal case against Facebook user who insulted Armenia PM in a comment

Armenia Deputy PM, US Ambassador discuss situation regarding Goris-Kapan motorway

Judge deprives the lawyer and the client to exercise their rights to defense

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Legislature opposition factions petition to Armenia President

Armenia MOD: Soldier wounded by shot fired by Azerbaijan army

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Armenia parliament majority member: Work of committee investigating 44-day war circumstances will begin soon

Georgia PM to leave for Azerbaijan

Armenia's My Step Foundation has new executive director

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Russias Putin, Turkeys Erdogan to discuss situation in South Caucasus

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Lavrov: Minsk Group Co-Chairs reached agreement with Armenia, Azerbaijan to resume working trips to Karabakh

Azerbaijan and Turkey reach new gas agreement

38 Artsakh civilians were killed by Azerbaijan by way of physical violence, stabbing, beheading, close-range shooting

Armenia, Sweden sign memorandum on judicial collaboration

US threatens Turkey with new sanctions over S-400 missiles

National Interest: Nagorno-Karabakh - a year of US failure in the South Caucasus

Armenia ex-president Kocharyan, former deputy PM and now MP Gevorgyan criminal case court hearing resumes

Armenia Central Bank chief attends international online research conference

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Opposition Armenia Faction in parliament demands account from authorities

Explosion in Sweden injures some 20 people

Armenia revenue committee chief, Italy envoy discuss prospects for cooperation in tax, customs administration

772 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

PACE adopts proposal of Armenian Ombudsman on creation of demilitarized zone

World oil prices going up

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1 dead, 1 wounded after shooting occurs in Yerevan

Newspaper: No holding of office without joining Armenia ruling party

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Armenia ombudsman: Azerbaijan soldiers setting fire near Gegharkunik Province villages

Frank Pallone: I will continue to push for Aliyev, Erdogan to be held accountable for their deadly actions

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with US Department of State representatives

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Armenia Ombudsman receives delegation of Swedish National Courts Administration

Guterres hopes for continued dialogue between Yerevan and Baku

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Fire breaks out in research center of IRGC in Tehran, leaving 2 dead

Event commemorating martyred heroes of 44-day Artsakh war held at Yerablur Military Pantheon in Armenia

Advocate: Baku is keeping Armenian captives hostage in order to achieve political goals

Erdogan holds phone talks with Aliyev

EU Special Representative: Scars have not healed yet, but there is opportunity to rebuild South Caucasus

Russia Embassy in Armenia pays tribute to victims of 44-day Karabakh war with moment of silence

PACE adopts report on humanitarian consequences of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Stefan Schennach: In our society there is no place for phenomenon such as Azerbaijan's 'war trophy park'

PACE Vice-President: Final and peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict will require difficult concessions

Aliyev: Armenia needs to realize the current reality with regard to borders

UK delegate to PACE solely interested in demining issue in the context of Karabakh conflict

French delegate to PACE calls on protecting population of Nagorno-Karabakh

Digest: 1 year since Nagorno-Karabakh war, PACE debates on Artsakh conflict humanitarian consequences

Armenia official attends unveiling of cross-stone commemorating 44-day Artsakh war victims, visits military pantheon

PACE rapporteur concerned about Azerbaijan's aggressive rhetoric

Azerbaijan President positively assesses Russian peacekeeping forces' activities

Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker receives delegation led by International Republican Institute director

Advocate of Armenian POWs in ECHR: 125 captives are detained in Baku

Armenia PM dismisses head of Personnel and Human Resources Management Department

Embassy in Armenia: France will spare no effort to contribute to resumption of dialogue within Minsk Group Co-Chairs

Armenia 1st President met at his mansion with Russia Ambassador

Aliyev advises Armenia to normalize relations with Turkey 'before it's too late'

Dollar gains some value in Armenia

Garibashvili: Georgia can become platform for Azerbaijan-Armenia talks

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Bidens advisor travels to Riyadh to discuss Yemen

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Armenia justice minister, US Ambassador discuss judicial-legal, anti-corruption and digitization reforms

Aliyev accuses OSCE Minsk Group of creating conditions for Azerbaijan military aggression against Artsakh

Armenia President sends congratulatory messages to Cypriot and Turkmen counterparts

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Number of deputies in Bundestag to increase after elections

South Korea says North Korea is not answering their calls

Armenia finance minister: Negative economic consequences of COVID-19 and war still seen in 2021

Armenia ruling party MP believes PM didn't need to tell UN that Shushi and Hadrut are occupied

Armenia PM visits Soldier's Home, respects memory of fallen, heroic Armenians with moment of silence

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Armenia finance minister: Foreign trade turnover grew by 13.4%

Artsakh President attends church requiem service in memory of 44-day war casualties

Armenia premier is briefed on Park of Life project, planned work

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Requiem service offered for Armenian homeland defenders killed in 44-day Karabakh war

First transgender woman to enter German parliament

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Azerbaijanis place their flag at position they occupy at Verin Shorzha village section of ArmeniaSeparating terrorist groups from the armed opposition in Syria is crucial for protection of civilians, says a joint statement signed by Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Hassan Rouhani of Iran at talks in Ankara on Wednesday. The document is posted on the Iranian presidential website, TASS reported.

"Underlined that, in the fight against terrorism, separating the above-mentioned terrorist groups from the armed opposition groups that had joined and would join the ceasefire regime bore utmost importance with respect to preventing civilian casualties," the statement reads.

"Reaffirmed their determination to continue their cooperation in order to ultimately eliminate DAESH/ISIL, Nusra Front and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al-Qaeda or DAESH/ISIL as designated by the UN Security Council in Syria and underscored the success of their collective efforts in the fight against international terrorism," it says.

Russia, Iran and Turkey will continue their cooperation in order to eliminate in Syria the terrorist organizations Islamic State and Al-Qaeda (outlawed in Russia) and the groups associated with them.

The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran are confident that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict.

"The presidents expressed their conviction that there could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict and that the conflict could be ended only through a negotiated political process," the statement reads.

Putin, Erdogan and Rouhani "emphasized their strong and continued commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, territorial integrity and non-sectarian character of Syria. They highlighted that none of the actions, no matter by whom they were undertaken, should undermine these principles, confirmed by relevant UN resolutions and by the will of the representatives of all segments of the Syrian society. They rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combatting terrorism and expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighboring countries."YEREVAN.- German Embassy in Armenia will continue accepting applications for Schengen visa until the situation with the VisaMetric company is clarified.

Earlier it was reported that starting April 3 the German Embassy in Armenia would no longer accept applications for Schengen visa for Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, and would transfer the function to VisaMetric center. However, the Armenian Justice Ministry suspended the activities of the company.

According to Radio Liberty, German Ambassador to Armenia Matthias Kiesler does not want to comment on why the Armenian Justice Ministry temporarily suspended the work of VisaMetric.

"We did not hide the fact that the company really has Russian-Turkish origin. But we have to wait and see how the process goes," Matthias Kiesler said. " At the moment I cannot say whether we will again accept applications for visa in the future or we will be able to find a solution. I want to repeat that the agreement concluded between the Germany's Foreign Ministry and the VisaMetric company provides that protection of personal data will be at the highest level, and I can assure that they can't be transferred to the third party".

In turn, head of Personal Data Protection Agency, Gevorg Hayrapetyan noted that the temporary suspension of the VisaMetric's activity is provided by law and is not connected with public interest.

As for the origin of the company, then, according to the head of the agency, this circumstance did not become the reason of the inspection. However, in making a final decision, the agency will surely take into account the fact that Turkey isn't included in the list of the states providing rather high level of personal data protection.An award-winning journalist, Hector Tobar is perhaps best known for his bestselling account of 33 Chilean miners who were buried alive for 69 days. Virginia Espino is an oral historian and filmmaker who has documented the civil rights struggles of California's Latinx community.

These two talented storytellers, known for their dedication to telling the stories of those whose voices are muted, will be honored by the UC Santa Cruz Division of Social Sciences for their sustained and exemplary contributions to society during a free public reception on Friday, April 27, at 2 p.m. in the La Felix Room at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. The public is invited to join the celebration; please register here.

Tobar and Espino are recipients of the Division of Social Science's 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award. This marks the first time two award recipients were selected; Tobar and Espino, who met at UCSC, are married and the parents of three children.

"Hector Tobar and Virginia Espino are change agents," said Katharyne Mitchell, dean of the Division of Social Sciences. "Through their work and their commitment to truth and justice, they have empowered individuals, educated the public, and helped create a more fair and compassionate society. It is an honor to recognize their contributions and celebrate their achievements, especially during UCSC's Year of Alumni."

Tobar, a 1988 graduate of Oakes College with degrees in sociology and Latin American Studies, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has written for the Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, LA Weekly, and other publications. His book, Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Free, became the definitive account of the 2010 mining disaster that captivated the world. Based on exclusive interviews with survivors, Deep Down Dark was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Tobar's other books include the novel The Tattooed Soldier and the nonfiction Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the Spanish-Speaking United States. The son of Guatemalan immigrants, Tobar is an associate professor of Chicano/Latino Studies, English, and literary journalism at UC Irvine.

Espino, a 1987 graduate of Merrill College with a degree in psychology, is a historian who has documented the struggle for social change. Her investigation of the coercive sterilization of immigrant women from Mexico at Los Angeles County General Hospital in the 1970s inspired the Emmy-nominated documentary No Mas Bebes/No More Babies. Espino conducted oral histories with the women when she was in graduate school, and then served as producer and lead historian on the film, which aired on PBS in 2016. Espino teaches in the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department and in the Labor and Workplace Studies program at UCLA.

The reception will include the screening of a clip from Espino's film, as well as the reading of an excerpt from Deep Down Dark.

The Social Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award is given annually to a graduate of the division whose career is characterized by sustained and exemplary contributions to society through research, practice, education, policy, or service. Past recipients include marriage equality advocate Kris Perry (Merrill College '86, sociology and psychology), Pulitzer Prize winner Dana Priest (81, politics, Merrill), and NPR science correspondent Joe Palca (82, psychology Ph.D.).

As part of a 2015 feature about alumni authors in the UC Santa Cruz magazine, Tobar wrote that he arrived on campus as a pre-med major but "quickly switched to the study of Latin American history, and to the theories of injustice and social change. Writing became my passion, in part because I was often in small classrooms where my professors worked hard at critiquing and editing my papers. UC Santa Cruz made me a thinker and a writer."

Although Tobar and Espino met on campus, they didn't connect until years later in Los Angeles.Home | News | General | Pastor reportedly confesses to killing female lover, steals her head, hands

- A pastor who allegedly killed his female lover and buried her body inside his church has been paraded by the police

- Police said that the pastor, upon discreet analysis of facts, was the last person who was seen with the missing person

- The suspect, however, said that he was not the one that killed the victim, alleging that it was his accomplice who carried out the act and later cut off her head and two hands

Ogun police command on Tuesday, April 3, arrested a pastor who allegedly killed his female lover and buried her body inside his church.

Parading the suspect at the scene of the crime, the commissioner of police, Ahmed Iliyasu, said the command had received a report of a missing person at the divisional headquarters in Ewekoro.

The commissioner said that the case was reported by one Adebola Saheed, who stated that his younger sister, Mrs Raliat Sanni, 35, had left home since March 21 and had yet to return.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation for Oyegun, others reportedly splits APC governors

Iliyasu said on the strength of the report, police operatives at Ewekoro Division led by SP Oluwarotimi Jeje, the divisional police officer, swung into action and embarked on investigation.

He said the pastor, upon discreet analysis of facts, was the last person who was seen with the missing person.

The so called Pastor was promptly arrested and thoroughly interrogated.

In the course of interrogation, the pastor confessed to killing the victim and burying her inside his church after removing her head and two hands for reasons only known to him and God, he said.

The police commissioner said the suspect named another accomplice who was also paraded.

This is the height of wickedness that can be meted out to a fellow human being. It will interest you to know that the victim was a secret lover to the pastor who eventually hacked her to death, he said.

He said that forensic investigation into the case had commenced and the matter would eventually be charged to court.

This is another breakthrough resulting from painstaking technical intelligence investigation aimed at wiping out crime in our society as well as bringing to justice those who are adamant in making crime their business.

I appeal to the people to be always watchful of those they associate with and always disclose their movements to at least one person close to them no matter how confidential the movement in order to prevent occurrence of this type of dastardly act, he said.

Speaking to journalists, the suspect said that he was not the one that killed the victim, alleging that it was his accomplice who carried out the act and later cut off her head and two hands.

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The suspect, a teacher at Methodist High School, Private, Arigbajo, said that he was forced by the accomplice to join his cult group.

He revealed that the victim was killed in the process of his initiation as a member of the cult group.

The alleged accomplice, however, denied having anything to do with the pastor, saying that the last time he saw him was last year.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that the police in Lagos state, on Friday, March 30, said they had arrested two suspected cultists, simply identified as Kanmi,( also known as Father) and Alami Samuel.

The spokesman of the command, SP Chike Oti, in a statement, confirmed the arrest to newsmen, stressing that they were nabbed on Thursday, March 29, while trying to attack a rival gang member at Illasamaja area of Lagos.

NAIJ.com visits family attacked by Badoo cult group - on NAIJ.com TV:

[embedded content]

Source: Naija.ng

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Loading...Home | News | General | Governor Ambode and the show of materialism by Bada Yusuf Amoo

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos was in Alimosho area of the state on Monday, April 2 to commission some projects.

In this open letter by a Lagosian, Bada Yusuf Amoo, he calls the attention of the governor to pay for attention in investing in Education as much as he is in infrastructure opining that failure to do the former will only bring ruins on the latter

Mr. Governor Sir, Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State. I am writing from the extreme corner of Lagos State, Ayobo in Alimosho. While it is pertinent to commend your efforts to ensure proper road network in the rural areas, it is also essential to remind you that the best way to sustain the development of any society is to ensure proper education system. It is unfortunate that the state of education in Lagos state is nothing to write about, especially the primary and secondary education.

READ ALSO: PDP chieftain blasts Obasanjo

Mr. Akinwunmi, your visit to Alimosho on Monday further justifies your materialistic nature as governor, just like it is obvious in many other mainland of Lagos. You seem to care-less about the education development of the people in the rural area. For your information, a society cannot be a society without the haves not who perform certain tasks for the haves, the haves not of Lagos can often be found in the rural areas. However, to enhance peaceful coexistence between the two classes of the people, a right thinking society needs education.

A society without flexible and affordable education system for all her people is like a house without a door, and a house without a door is prone to violence attack any time. What I am trying to insinuate is that, no matter the amount your administration invest in security, if the people are not educated, you are not reducing the chances of violence in our society, you are only oppressing and dehumanizing the human consciousness. The number one approach to curb violence in any society is to offer education to the people.

Paulo Freire in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed says that both humanization and dehumanization are real alternatives, only the first is the peoples vocation. This vocation is constantly negated, yet it is affirmed by that very negation. It is thwarted by injustice, exploitation, oppression, and the violence of the oppressors; it is affirmed by the yearning of the oppressed for freedom and justice, and by their struggle to recover their lost humanity. The struggles here could be direct on the government or the innocent people of the state.

I was in the Salvation Army Primary school in Ayobo to get my permanent voters card last week, the classrooms are overpopulated. In fact, there is no space between the teachers desks and the primary school students. Thus, the learning environment is not human and cannot guarantee the safety of life and properties of government and individual in the hand of its product in the near future.

Another is the state of the public library, which is Bola Tinubu Memorial Library in Ayobo. Aside that this library is located beside a police station which is often noisy, share compound with a department of the Ayobo Ipaja Local Council Development Area (LCDA), what I know about this department is that they deal with motorcyclists popularly called Okada riders. This tells you that the only Public Library in Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA is always under noise attack.

The most unfortunate in this is that the library is more of reading hall than library, this is because it lacks books and readers only come to the library with their own books, there is no book in the library for visitors to read. All these are meant to discourage majority of the people in the rural areas to have interest in education. Thus, it appears that the state government built the library for materialistic sake, not to really impact the intellectual life of the people of the community.

One of the things that makes the administration before you unique is its advocacy for brighter rewarding future for the haves not and it laid the foundation in which you do not continue. The administration made education flexible and educate the local people through proper channel of communication. Aside from building classrooms, most especially the secondary schools, it took care of the teachers and gave books to the students. Giving books to the students did not only encourage the people to send their wards to school, it also built trust between the people and the administration and gave them reasons to pay tax, I still know a vegetable seller in a local market in Agege that always see the need to pay tax then, but now, the trust is lost.

Unfortunately, your administration failed to sustain such brighter rewarding future policy, especially the books aspect to the students and the rural people no longer feel the need to pay tax to the government, especially the likes of market women, artisans, and other non salary earners. If you are a good observant, you will observe that most people that filled the BRT and other Busses that accompany you in your tour in Alimosho are either half educated or non educated persons. Most of the shops were locked because of your coming and even the Ipaja market people were not allowed to do their business until you left. If you observe the market on your way to Command from Ayobo, you will see their shops locked.

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On this note Mr. Akinwunmi, as much as it is important to appreciate your effort in taking Lagos to next level, it is also pertinent to remind you that education is the key to all development. If the people are not educated, all developments are temporal and not meant to be sustained. If you are the type that also believes education is expensive and it is meant for those who can afford it, well, I will like to inform you that if you leave a part of society uneducated and a part is educated, the uneducated will become the burden of the society and those who are educated may not know peace. In the same vein, if Chief Obafemi Awolowo believed in such ideology, majority of the western people today would not have been educated unlike what most politicians of today hold on to, many do not say it but their body language speak it.

Source: Naija.ng

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Loading...Home | News | General | Edo Govt, Elephant Group, H2A Foods partner on 1,155ha cassava farm

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has disclosed plans to partner Heritage Agro-Allied (H2A) Foods and Elephant Group Plc, to cultivate a $6 million 1,155-hectare cassava farm and set up a food processing facility in the state, to boost agricultural development.

R-L: Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki; Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Agro-Allied (H2A) Foods, Dr. Tony Bello; Project Manager, H2A Foods, Engr. Don Onyegbu; and Head, Project Monitoring and Remediation Office (PMRO), Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Adeniyi Oguntuyi, during the firms courtesy visit to the governor, at the Government House, Benin City.

Obaseki disclosed this when senior executive officers of the group paid a courtesy visit at the Government House in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

He said, The partnership with the H2A Foods and Elephant Group Plc will enable the state government achieve its promise to create 200,000 jobs within four years especially through agricultural development.

Obaseki explained that the cassava project is a model for job creation for the teeming unemployed youths in the state, adding, The state government will provide the required infrastructure for the partnership. We will support the cassava project through the construction of roads to link the farms for easy evacuation of cassava produce.

He added, We will also facilitate provision of electricity for the cassava processing plant through the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).

Chief Executive Officer, H2A Foods, Dr. Tony Bello, who spoke on behalf of the group, said, About 420 cassava farmers drawn from the three senatorial districts in the state would be engaged in the pilot scheme of the project. We have set a target to produce 20-tons of cassava per hectare.

Bello added, The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and the Anchor Borrowers Programme, is ready to invest about N214 million in the project.

On our part, we are investing about $6 million in cassava transformation for staple foods in Edo State. This will enable us process cassava into value-added nutritious foods. The products will target local and foreign markets. In the first phase, we will begin with 850 hectares out of the 1,155 hectares. We expect that the state government will engage at least 100 agriprenuers in Edo state to actualise the project, he said.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Kogi crisis: Interpols position has vindicated me, says Senator Dino Melaye

By Henry Umoru

ABUJA- CHAIRMAN, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Senator Dino Melaye, APC, Kogi West, has said that he has been vindicated by the action of the International Police Organisation (INTERPOL) which explained why it has refused to do the bidding of the Nigeria Police by placing him on its Watch List.

Dino Melaye

According to Melaye, the position of the INTERPOL has validated his assertions and belief that the latest allegations against him were politically motivated by the Kogi State government and its agents, adding,  hence he has been vindicated from outside Nigeria since INTERPOL does not engage in politically-motivated operations.

In a statement Tuesday night by his Special Adviser, Media, Gideon Ayodele, the Senator said that the Kogi State Command of the local police had last week declared him wanted over pre-meditated and spurious allegations of illegal possession of firearms and arming political thugs.

The statement read, There is no doubt that the position of the INTERPOL validates his assertions and belief that the latest allegations against him were politically motivated by the Kogi State government and its agents, hence he has been vindicated from outside Nigeria since INTERPOL does not engage in politically-motivated operations.

We have earlier expressed our worry regarding the institution of the Nigeria Police becoming entangled in the Kogi political crisis and its partial involvement rather than a mediator or law enforcement agency. Perhaps the message to the local police will be more lounder now that INTERPOL has refused to be dragged into local and partisan politics in Kogi State.

We are not surprised by the INTERPOL pronouncement regarding Senator Dino Melaye because its charter forbids it, at least in theory, from undertaking interventions or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial nature or involving itself in disputes over such matters.

The Interpol gave reasons why the senator has not been publicly placed on its watch list, saying it does not engage in politically-motivated operations.

Although Interpol, according to PREMIUM TIMES INTERPOL examines requests by member countries to issue Red Notices to ensure compliance with INTERPOLs constitution or rules. This includes Article 3 of INTERPOLs Constitution, according to which it is strictly forbidden for the organisation to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character, the agency said in response to a March 28 e-mail from PREMIUM TIMES.

INTERPOL evaluates legal and quality compliance issues in individual cases if it becomes aware of information that may prompt reevaluation of a case, it added.

Also, Interpol gave three reasons why a notice might not be published for an individual expected to be on its website.

If no Red Notice is published on INTERPOLs public website, this is either because one has not been requested or issued for that person, or the requesting country has asked that it not be made public, or the Red Notice did not meet the criteria for publication on INTERPOLs public website, Interpol said.

Of these three possibilities, the second about the requesting country not wanting the details to be made public may no longer apply in Mr. Melayes case because the police have already publicly declared that hes wanted and placed on Interpols watch list.

Therefore, the unavailability of Messrs. Melaye and Audu on the Interpols website could either be because the police have not requested that the duo be placed on Interpols red notice panel, contrary to their claim, or their request failed to comply with Interpols Article 3 because theyre politicians.

A red notice is an alert for Interpol to locate and temporarily detain an individual pending extradition. It is issued and often published by the international crime-fighting organisation at the request of a member country or an international tribunal based on a valid national arrest warrant.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Umahi vows to drag ex-SSG, Prof. Odoh to court

Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi on Tuesday, swore-in Dr Hyginus Nwokwu as the new Secretary to the State Government (SSG) to replace Prof. Bernard Odoh.

Benard Ifeanyi Odoh

Odoh tendered his resignation letter to Umahi on Monday over alleged governments inconsistent policies, but the governor in a reaction said Odoh had been sacked.

Umahi, while swearing-in the new SSG, vowed that after reviewing Odohs resignation letter, he would probe the allegations he made in the letter.

I will find out if he breached his oath of office through the contents of the letter and challenge him in court to prove all the allegations he made.

I know that no civil servant is being owed in the state for instance and we rank among the states in the south east zone that prioritise our workers welfare.

People act most times without knowledge as David said in the Bible that the most painful thing about Absoloms betrayal is that it came from a person he loved most, he said.

The governor said that he would not be distracted by the Odohs action, adding that those who wanted to tow the line of betrayal were free to do so.

When I received the heaviest dose of betrayal in 2015, I had no Executive Council, House of Assembly and even SSG to say the least presently that these organs are in place.

I am sure to have at least five faithful followers in an EXCO of 60 and would therefore not retreat or surrender, he said.

He congratulated the new appointee and noted that it was a decision that has made a lot of people happy.

Nwokwu is the deputy director of our divine mandate platform and though he was denied of choice appointments and elevations in the past, he never complained.

I did not know that he is popular such as this and this is an opportunity for all of us to work together, he said.

Nwokwu in his reaction, said that he accepted the appointment wholeheartedly and pledged to discharge his duties with dedication.

A man who does not belong to a set-up is a weed, no matter how genuine he might appear.

When the weed is cleared, the soil would receive more nutrients and we should therefore not allow saboteurs to be part of our generals, he said.

Umahi also inaugurated a 28-member committee on farmers/ herdsmen crisis in the state with the charge to permanently check clashes between both groups.

The committee consists of representatives of the government, security agencies, traditional rulers, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, among others.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Rebuilding of communities damaged in herdsmen, farmers clashes underway  VP Osinbajo

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to commence an assessment of the extent of damage in communities affected by violence caused by herdsmen-farmers clashes in some parts of the country.

This was stated by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, Tuesday during the inaugural meeting of the recently composed Governing Council of NEMA at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

VICE President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo

Prof. Osinbajo said, Mr. President has directed that we do a survey and assessment on the damage done to towns cities, communities that have been affected by violence in some parts of the country, including the farmers-herders clashes. NEMA will play a leading role in this and the Presidency will also provide direct support.

We will involve the people in the affected communities, and not just bring people from outside these communities, in the rebuilding efforts. We will involve people in these villages, artisans and other people in the communities, with required skills so that they can also benefit economically as we rebuild these communities.

It will be recalled that, at the monthly meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) on February 15, Prof. Osinbajo informed the Council that President Buhari had approved the formation of a national Committee to look into the rebuilding of communities affected by the violence in the affected states. This is in line with the Buhari administrations commitment towards finding permanent solutions to the herdsmen-farmers clashes in some parts of the country, and ensuring the peace.

During todays inaugural meeting, the Vice President, who is the chairman of the Governing Council, congratulated the new members and expressed the hope that the board would continue to be committed to the task ahead, adding that NEMA has been very visible in its role.

NEMA has been taking on assignments even beyond its mandate. This is a responsibility that we must take seriously, he said.

The Vice President further urged the agency to devote more to public sensitization regarding matters of emergency in the country and what the public needs to do in such circumstances.

Prof. Osinbajo added that NEMA should engage stakeholders more to participate in addressing its responsibilities, including the private sector and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

Members of the board include the Director-General, NEMA; the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF; representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Water Resources. Other members include representatives of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Nigeria Police Force.

At the meeting, the Director-General, NEMA, Engr. Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja, made a presentation on the work, role and challenges of the agency.

Meanwhile, the Vice President also today received a delegation from Oxford Business Network for Africa from the Oxford Business School, London, United Kingdom, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Led by Mr. Bayo Owolabi, the delegation thanked the Vice President for his role in Nigerias improved ranking in the World Bank Doing Business report, while also commending the Federal Government for its efforts in improving the countrys economy generally, supporting the establishment of technology hubs in the country, among other socio-economic development initiatives.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Trump says he will use military to protect U.S. border

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would use U.S. military forces to protect the nations southern border with Mexico until there is a border wall and proper security in place.

Trump

We are going to be doing things militarily, Trump said at the White House, adding he had discussed the idea with U.S. Defence Secretary, Jim Mattis.

Until we can have a wall and proper security were going to be guarding our border with the military. Thats a big step, he said.

We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way, never showing up for court.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump had said U.S. foreign aid to Honduras and other countries was at risk unless they stopped what he called a caravan of more than 1,200 Central American migrants headed to the U.S. border with Mexico on a 2,000-mile (3,200-km) journey from the Mexico-Guatemalan border.

Mexicos government has said such caravans of mostly Central Americans, including many escaping violence in Honduras, have occurred since 2010.

Trump has stepped up his immigration rhetoric in recent days and his administration has moved to further crack down on people, who are in the U.S. illegally.

Trump has already blasted Mexico and threatened to upend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) over the caravan.

The current trip has also put pressure on Mexican authorities ahead of the July 1 presidential election there.

We will be doing things with Mexico, and they have to do it, otherwise Im not going to do with the NAFTA deal, Trump said.

In a post on Twitter, he had said the caravan heading to our Weak Laws Border, had better be stopped before it gets there.

Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!

On Monday, the Republican president railed against Democrats over immigration and again pressed U.S. lawmakers to pass legislation to build his long-promised border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

In spite months of efforts, no immigration deal has emerged in the Republican-led Congress, where lawmakers are not expected to pass much major legislation ahead of Novembers midterm congressional elections.

NAN

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Loading...Home | News | General | Buhari using looters list to divert attention from his many scandals  PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday alleged that the presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) was using the recently released looters list to divert public discourse from the raging questions on their numerous scandals, manifest sleazes and overall failures in governance.

A statement by PDPs spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan said the nation had now seen that the Federal Government had no case against the PDP, as the looters lists only had individuals who were not indicted or convicted for corruption.

The statement reads, It is now a notorious fact that the whole essence of the flimsy and contemptible lists was to cause public misperception, change the topic, and divert international and national discourse from various serious issues including;

The parlous state of the nations economy caused by President Muhammadu Buharis misrule, for which Nigerians are now resorting to vices, including slavery and suicide as options.

The intensive global vote of no confidence on President Buhari-led APC-government, particularly on its painful anti-people policies, as presented in damning verdicts by international figures, the latest being the world renowned Bill Gates.

The vote of no confidence on the Buhari administration by eminent statesmen, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former military President Ibrahim Babangida and former minister of defence and ex-chief of army staff, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, who also indicted this administration of failure to protect the citizens.

The international interest over speculations of conspiracy theorem on the alleged manipulation of security in the abduction and return of the Dapchi schoolgirls for which Amnesty International (AI) has called for an open inquest.

The international embarrassment over alleged procurement of the Martin Luther King Jr Award for President Buhari, which has now attracted global opprobrium to our dear nation and entire citizenry.

The Transparency International (TI) latest verdict, indicting the Buhari-led government of superintending over the spiraling of corruption in Nigeria in the last three years.

Efforts by the Buhari Presidency to conceal the N9 trillion corrupt oil contracts at the NNPC, alleged stealing of N1.1 trillion worth of crude oil, looting of N18 billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) intervention fund and the stealing of N10 billion National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), all by APC officials and Presidency cabal.

The public resentment that trailed President Buharis last weeks visit to Lagos as well as his embarrassment at the National Mosque last Friday, where worshippers demonstrated their resentments to his administration and almost resorted to near mob action.

These are issues that cannot be swept under the carpet using any ploy whatsoever.

While we still challenge the APC to name any members of the repositioned and rebranded PDP convicted for corruption, we wish to remind them that our three-day ultimatum to explain the source of looted fund to finance President Buharis 2015 campaign still subsists and no amount of blackmail or intimidation can stop Nigerians from holding the dysfunctional APC accountable.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Daddy Freeze blasts Bishop Oyedepo for claiming church resurrected dead man

- Daddy Freeze has questioned Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church Worldwide over claim that a dead man was resurrected in the church

- He specifically questioned the respected man of God on why he failed to resurrect a boy who allegedly died in Covenant University pool

- The Living Faith Church had reportedly shared a story about how a man declared dead came back to life

Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church Worldwide has been critisiced by controversial On-Air Personality (OAP), Daddy Freeze, for claiming the church resurrected a dead man.

The Church was said to have shared a story of man, Luiz Fedeliz, who had been declared dead by different hospitals but came back to life after the prophetic mantle was placed round his neck.

In his reaction, Freeze questioned the respected man of God on why he failed to resurrect a boy who allegedly died in Covenant University pool some time ago.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation for Oyegun, others reportedly splits APC governors

Im getting really tired of all these Pentecostal principalities! Can the bishop please be silent? The internet NEVER forgets!

Why didnt he raise the boy that allegedly died in the covenant swimming pool incident last year? Or the little girl in kindergarten whose death was reported along with a lawsuit? He should go and sit down!

Scroll left to see both stories. In the #FreeNation in Christ, we are nurturing shepherds! Spiritually and scripturally strong Christians, who dont fall for Pentecostal, Freeze wrote on Instagram.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that Daddy Freeze, popular Nigerian media personality has been attacked on social media after he insulted a popular pastor.

In a post on Instagram, Daddy Freeze called the founder of Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, a bald-headed fowl.

The media personality took to social media to insult Bishop Oyedepo after news spread that a witness told a Nigerian court that former Joint Task Force boss, Emmanuel Atewe, had given N35m to Winners Chapel.

Cobhams differentiates between gospel and 'Christian' music - on NAIJ.com TV:

[embedded content]

Source: Naija.ng

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Loading...Home | News | General | Military sets up panel to probe deadly Maiduguri Boko Haram attack

THE Nigerian Army has set up a four-man panel to investigate Easter Sunday attack by Boko Haram fighters in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, which led to the killing of 28 persons and injuring of 83 others.

Head of the military operations in the North East, Major General Nicholas Rogers, who disclosed this yesterday in Maiduguri, said the investigation became expedient, given the large civilian casualties recorded in the attack.

Cross section of military officers.

He told journalists in his office that at least 28 people died and about 80 others were injured as a result of attacks by Boko Haram on two suburbs of Maiduguri.

He said over 10 suicide bombers, accompanied by gunmen, attempted to infiltrate Maiduguri but were stopped on the outskirts of the city.

Speaking shortly after inaugurating the four-member committee, headed by an army brigadier, Rogers said their task was to unravel what went wrong and proffer solutions on how to avert future occurrence.

He said: The committee has been inaugurated by the Theatre Command to unravel what happened and to ensure that such occurrences do not happen again.

We are going to tighten security and work with the state government to ensure that the various communities assist us with information.

Rogers, who bemoaned the high casualties recorded in the attack, said it could have been worse had the troops under his command not moved in quickly to stop the attackers from making their way into Maiduguri.

The chairman of the four-man committee is Brigadier General Henry Wesley, and others are Col. Bassey , Lt. Col Mohammed and the secretary of the committee is Captain Mairuwa.

This team will visit the location, interact with the state government and the locals in the general area and come up with a report.

The team has been given three days to complete its assignment so we can forward the report to (the) appropriate security authority for their necessary action, Rogers said.

While urging the committee to swing into action and turn in their report within stipulated time-frame, General Nicholas advised residents to avoid rushing to scenes of attacks because the terrorists target is to get large number of people before they carry out their acts.

If people had remained indoors, we wont have had this large number of casualty. But in the normal sense in Nigeria, when something happens, people rush out to find out what happened, he said.

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Loading...Home | News | General | On desperate attempts by high profile persons to link Jonathan to corruption  Reno

My attention has been drawn to a viral video, initially circulated by agents of the All Progressive Congress led Federal Government, and purported to be videos of a police raid of the home of former President Goodluck Jonathan, and in which huge sums of money was found.

Let it be known that no police officers or any other security agents have stormed any of the residences of former President Jonathan and no cache of dollars or any other foreign currencies have been found in any of his residences and indeed none can be found because no such stash exists.

Nigerians may want to recall that there was a curious burglary of the former Presidents house in 2017. The motive of that incident or who was behind it may never truly come to light until sometime in the future, but even during that burglary, no monies were discovered in the house and only sundry properties and electronics were stolen.

It will also be recalled that on March 7, 2014, then President Jonathan declared to Nigerians as follows I am loyal to Nigerias economy. I dont have accounts or property abroad.

That declaration remains true today as it was then. Furthermore, the former President, in keeping with the cashless Policy which his administration introduced and fully implemented, does not keep huge sums of cash at his residence.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is a modest man and whatever he has by way of cash and property are the result of his legitimate earnings.

He is the most investigated living former President in Nigerias history. That nothing implicating has been found on him should not lead his traducers to become desperate and fabricate evidence and circulate it as propaganda.

I urge Nigerians to be on the alert to fake news circulated by desperadoes via WhatsApp and other social media platforms and intended to malign the good name of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

Finally, I advise anyone willing to take my advise that the only way to make progress in Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index is to fight corruption and not the opposition and to do the fighting in the courts and not in the media.

That is how the Jonathan administration was able to achieve Nigerias best ever performance on Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index in 2014 when Nigeria improved by eight places from 144 to 136.

Reno Omokri

Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and Other Conspiracies

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Loading...Home | News | General | Drug Abuse: Ndigbo and the real authors of moral decadence among northern youths

A University Don, Malam Bala Mohammed, of the Faculty of Communications, Bayero University, Kano, has accused the Igbo of being responsible for the drug abuse prevalent among youths in the north. He was reported to have made this wild claim of unscrupulous Igbo drug dealers as brain behind the scourge while presenting a paper titled Nexus between youth, drugs, crime and insecurity at the Kano Youth Summit on Peace Advocacy and Development, organised by Hamisu Magaji Foundation, at Mambayya House, on Tuesday, 3rd of April, 2018.

Such assertions as this are irresponsible, callous, wicked and deliberately woven to exculpate northern elites and shield them from taking full responsibility for the high, well documented and almost irreversible moral decadence of northern youths under their watch.

One wonders why a university don would condescend so low as to attributing the horrendous failures of northern leaders and elders in instilling discipline in their youths to another ethnic stock when it is obvious that those who go about hawking fake, expired, unapproved and hard drugs in the open markets everywhere including in Igboland are young men of the Hausa/Fulani stock.

What do the northern elites expect when their region is notorious for the highest number of children running into millions in the country without a home? It is not the fault of the Igbo that the north boasts of the highest number of illiterates not only in Nigeria but also in the whole wide world! Does Malam Bala Mohammed not know that such level of illiteracy comes with a price? Does he and his co-travellers on this infamous road of constantly blaming others for their own self-inflicted woes expect that their youths would be engaged in decent acts even when they are deliberately denied education and proper parental upbringing by their elites?

As at 2011, the then UN Under Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the United Nations, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, had during the Northern Nigeria and Economic Summit in 2011, in Abuja, lamented this situation when he said, On Health and Education, the level of immunization of Children against dangerous childhood diseases, in the South-East is 44.6% immunization coverage, but the North-West has 3.7% and the North-East 3.6%. If you take the education of the girl-child as indicator, you see similar pattern of inequality with the South-East having an enrolment rate of 85%, South-West having an enrolment rate of 85%, South-South 75%, while the North-East 20% and North West 25%.

The continued dismal performance of the north on immunization as in other areas of life is not surprising. When children are left to roam the streets homless and hopeless as we see in the north everyday, who takes them for immunization?

In a data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in 2017, it indicates that Yobe State, for example, has the lowest literacy level of 7.23% in the whole country followed by Zamfara (19.16%); Katsina (10.36%); Sokoto (15.01%); Bauchi (19.26%); Kebbi (20.51%); and Niger (22.88%) respectively. Compared to Ebonyi (77.76%), Imo State (96.43%), Abia (94.24%), Anambra (92.11%) and Enugu (89.46%), one understands why northern elites feel threatened by the Igbo and would always want to give the good people of the southeast a bad name in order to have them hanged!

When one further considers the fact that Yobe State with nearly two times less (2.8 million people) the population of Imo State (4.7 million), according to the 2014 population estimates, received N30.59bn from federal allocation in the whole of 2016 compared to Imo State that received N29.85bn in the same period even though Imo has more population to cater for than Yobe State, one is bewildered at how northern elites are deliberately impoverishing their citizens by denying them education, keeping them in perpetual poverty and disease, making them easily vulnerable to social vices that are natural consequences of such neglect only for them to turn around to find easy targets in people of the southeast to blame for their own calamities.

Rather than lament about their precarious situation which is driving the north against itself while their southern counterparts have continued to make the best of the meagre resources that the skewed sharing formula has forced on it, the north would do well to look at themselves in the mirror and do an honest soul searching on why it has remained the most backward, illiterate, diseased and poverty-stricken of all the regions in Nigeria despite the monumental resources it has cornered for itself over the years at the expense of the other regions.

For example, according to data sourced from Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, In (about) 10 years, 2007  2016, successive northern governors have received over N12 trillion in federal allocation on behalf of the 19 states and its 413 local government areas excluding FCT.

The breakdown of the allocation from 2007 to 2016 reveals that states in the Northwest, North East and North Central have received a total of 3trillion, N2.5 trillion and N2.2 trillion respectively. And out of the over N10 trillion allocated to the 774 local government, northern states have received more than 50 per cent of the funding.

Furthermore, between 2005 and 2016, the federal government has disbursed N153bn to the 19 states in the north and N115bn to the 17 states in the south, yet, the north burdens the whole nation with its nauseating level of illiteracy and its unavoidable consequences. It is children from Igbo states in particular and those of the south in general who make unimaginable and heroic sacrifices by being continually denied admission into federal government colleges despite scoring very high marks at entrance examinations, after their parents and government invest heavily on them, just to give room for some of their street-roaming, drug addicted, homeless and directionless northern counterparts who score as low as just 2 in some cases.

When Bill Gates insisted that our federal government under a northern president, Muhammadu Buhari, has not done enough to invest in human capital despite the humongous amount made available to it for such noble venture, it was another northern governor in Nasir El Rufai who rose up stoutly to defend the obvious dismal performance of northern leaders in that critical area. What a shame!

Ndigbo are known to be everywhere, in Lagos, Edo, Oyo and such other places, carrying out their legitimate businesses. Why are there no similar complaints about them from these hosts? In fact, from their legitimate businesses, Ndigbo contribute greatly to the IGR of states they reside and do business in. Rather than lament and whine continuously, the north should find ways of making the best opportunities huge presence of the Igbo in their localities present to them.

Northern leadrs, elders and elites should put their house in order and stop blaming the Igbo for every of their avoidable self-imposed misfortune. It is not our fault that despite them having unfettered access to the political and financial capital of the nation for nearly sixty years, they remain the most illiterate, diseased, backward and poverty-stricken region in the whole of Nigeria!

By Jude Ndukwe

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Loading...Home | News | General | Tenure elongation: Govs leave meeting with Buhari frowning, angry

Buhari, APC govs talks end in deadlock

APC sets up 10-man committee to resolve logjam

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru & Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJAThe differences between All Progressives Congress, APC, governors and President Muhammadu Buhari over the structure and future of the party widened, yesterday, after a reconciliatory meeting on the issues ended in a deadlock.

President Muhammadu Buhari; Govenor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State; Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State; Governor Shetima of Borno State and Governor Atiku Bagudu of Adamawa State during the meeting between the President and members of the APC Governors Forum at the State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 03/04/2018

Several governors, who attended the meeting with the President, came out wearing angry faces reflecting their bitterness over the Presidents last-minute withdrawal of support for the extension of the tenure of executives of the party across board.

President Buhari, it was also learned, will formally declare his interest or otherwise in a second term after the resolution of the increasingly protracted dispute.

The stalemate in the Villa came as the embattled National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, yesterday, inaugurated a technical committee to recommend a way out of the imbroglio over the extension or not of the tenure of the executive structures.

21 governors, including Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, who came on crutches after he had a foot injury last weekend, were present at the meeting.

The closed-door meeting in the council chamber of the Presidential Villa earlier scheduled to start at 2.00 p.m. did not start until 2.15 p.m. a situation that further stretched the governors.

The President, nevertheless, apologised for his lateness to the meeting, saying I apologise for coming a bit late.

The meeting came against the background of the uncertainty thrown into the future of the partys structures upon assertions by President Buhari at last weeks meeting of the National Executive Committee, NEC, where he turned against the earlier decision to extend the tenure of the Odigie-Oyegun-led NEC and similar executive committees at the zonal, state and lower levels.

Majority of the governors and state chairmen, according to Vanguard findings, were supportive of the decision as it would allow the governors most of who have control of their state structures to supervise the conduct of the primaries for the 2019 elections.

All attempts by correspondents to gather information on the proceedings at the meeting were futile as one of the governors said there was an agreement not to divulge information to journalists.

Vanguard, however, gathered that the extension of the tenure of the partys executive committees took centre stage.

Also part of the informal agenda of the meeting was a proposal for the governors to adopt a structure for the Presidents re-election campaign.

It was gathered that the meeting was very stormy with the governors expressing their opposition to the Presidents assertion on the illegality of an extension of the executive structures.

One source said that at a point, the President excused the meeting for the governors to come up with another date for further deliberations.

Governor Abdulazeez Yari, Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum, was said to have proposed April 9 and 10 but was countered by a strong supporter of the President among the governors on why he picked those dates.

The challenge may have been because the pro-Buhari governor may have been earlier informed of the Presidents trip to the United Kingdom.

Many of the governors wore long faces as they emerged from the meeting, reflective of the deadlock. Some of them put their fingers to their lips, indicating they were not going to comment.

One of the governors leaving the venue of the meeting was heard telling his colleagues, some people who think they are tall, think they can control us, it will not work.

Earlier, before President Buhari entered the Council Chambers for the meeting, the governors had formed a circle around Governor Rochas Okorocha, Chairman of the APC Governors Forum, as they engaged one another in a heated debate.

Some were overheard saying what they are bringing to the table today, we will not allow it to stand. This is a coup, and we will not allow it to stand.

One was overheard saying angrily in Hausa language, ba zamu yeda ba, meaning, we will not agree.

Another governor was overheard saying that they would not allow themselves to be controlled by anybody.

At least, 21 governors were present at the meeting which also had in attendance Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, and Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Ade Ipaye.

Sources at the meeting also disclosed that the dispute may have put forward the schedule of Buharis public declaration of his second term bid.

Baba will come out to speak about whether he will run or not after the resolution of the tenure elongation issue, a source said last night.

Oyegun inaugurates 10-man technical committee

Meanwhile, the embattled National Chairman of the party, Chief Odigie-Oyegun, yesterday, inaugurated a 10-man technical committee to fine tune a way out of the political logjam.

Odigie-Oyegun gave the committee, headed by Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State up till this Friday to come up with a report.

The committee, which was established upon a recommendation of the NEC, is to also assess all the information available and recommend a course of action consistent with the provisions of the partys Constitution, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all relevant laws, Odigie-Oyegun said in a letter of appointment to the committee members.

As this issue is of utmost importance and is extremely time sensitive, I look forward to your report by Friday the 6th of April 2018, Chief Odigie-Oyegun signed off in the letter obtained by Vanguard.

The technical committee also has as members, Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of Oyo State; Nasir EI-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State; Rotimi Akeredolu, Governor of Ondo State; Senator Ben Uwajimogu; Kabiru Ajanah; Elisha Kuroh; Prof. Dakas C. J. Dakas; and Dr. Muiz Banire, the partys legal adviser who will serve as secretary.

Inaugurating the committee yesterday, Odigie-Oyegun said the issue in contention was a constitutional matter but with a lot of political implications.

Therefore, your job is to bring these two together and advise us on the way we can implement our activities in the next few weeks and months in a way that is politically advantageous to our party, the APC.

We must observe the law and at the same time emphasize that we try to do things that will be advantageous to the party. We will furnish you with all the documents like the resolutions of NEC, the party constitution and the Nigerian constitution to help you do a good job.

You are also at liberty to request for additional materials like the statement of Mr. President during the last NEC meeting and every other thing to guide you achieve the task you are about to undertake. I am praying, hoping that this is the kind of thing you can accomplish in about three to four days.

Getting answers from you is crucial (and) time sensitive and depending on which way you advise, we may have to put in motion very serious activities in the party virtually within a week of getting the report and taken decisions. I thank you for accepting this onerous assignment and wish you the very best of luck.

Not about Tinubu Lalong

Governor Lalong in his speech, was quick to dismiss insinuations that the work of the committee centered around the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is opposed to tenure elongation.

The discussion there was not anything against Tinubu. Tinubus name was not mentioned in that discussion. The discussion was a NEC decision on the way forward on the position of the President who is also a member of the NEC, and that was subjected to discussion.

So, the issue of whether it satisfies somebody is not there. Our decision is not going to be final. We will only advise the NEC on the issue, he said.

We didnt extend Oyeguns Tenure

On his part, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State said the controversy was needless since NEC never extended the tenure of the Odigie-Oyegun led NWC and party officials across the country.

Let me let everybody know that the issue has nothing to do with tenure elongation. You journalists are the ones to advise or lead in the discussions. By law, nobody can extend their tenure. The usage of that word is wrong. There was no time at our NEC that we took the decision to get their tenure elongated.

He, however, added but we can have them work in an acting capacity or work as a caretaker for some time, not over 12 months. That, on its own, is not tenure elongation. It is not the intention of APC to elongate anybodys tenure.

ROLL CALL

Governors who attended the meeting yesterday included Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Jubrilla Bindow (Adamawa), Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Abdufattah Ahmed (Kwara).

Others were Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Tanko Al- Makura (Nasarawa), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun).

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Loading...The police have arrested six persons for allegedly aiding the escape of six suspects from police custody in Division A Lokoja, Kogi State, on Wednesday, last week.

Those arrested include John Beneche, 22, Seye Atowoju, 27, Danjuma Yunusa, 35, Egga Ochai, 50, Abbas Haruna, 30, and Gloria Audu, 28, sister to Emmanuel, one of the re-arrested prime suspects in the Senator Dino Melayes arms case.

The force, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by its spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, explained that the six suspects played criminal roles in the escape of Kabiru Seidu (a.k.a. Osama), Nuhu Salisu (a.k.a. Small), Aliyu Isa, Adams Suleiman, Emmanuel Audu and Musa Mohammed.

Their escape led to the removal of the state Commissioner of Police, Ali Janga, who was replaced by Sunday Ogbu. Thirteen other police officers are also being detained over the incident and are facing disciplinary action.

Seidu and Salisu had alleged that Melaye, representing the Kogi West senatorial district in the National Assembly, gave them guns and some money to disrupt the 2019 general elections.

The police said the six principal suspects and the accomplices that aided their escape were re-arrested in different locations and had been transferred to a detention centre in Abuja last Saturday.

The statement explained that Beneche took four of the fugitives to a hideout at Ganaja village, Lokoja, adding that Atowoju was arrested in the process of relocating Seidu, Salisu, Mohammed and Audu to another location to escape police re-arrest.

The police further stated that Yunusa accompanied the gang leader, Seidu, to the house of one Egga Ochai by Waterside, Lokoja.

Ochai harboured Seidu in his house for two days and thereafter went to the village of the principal suspect in the Dekina Local Government Area and brought one Abbas Haruna (his Mallam) to Lokoja.

Haruna orchestrated his movement from Lokoja to his hometown in the Tafa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State where both of them were arrested, the statement said.

It added that the only female suspect, Gloria, was nabbed for harbouring Emmanuel, her brother, for some days to enable him to escape arrest.

All suspects will be arraigned in court for prosecution on completion of investigation, the police stated.Home | News | General | Obasanjo remains the least qualified to accuse anyone of corruption - Ayo Adebanjo hits at ex-president

- Ayo Adebanjo, a prominent Yoruba leader, accuses Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption

- Adebanjo says Obasanjo only had N20,000 as at 1999 when he was released from prison

- He says a good government in Nigeria would take over Obasanjo's presidential library located in Abeokuta

A leader of the Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Ayo Adebanjo, has reportedly tongue-lashed former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, saying the latter has no moral right to accuse anyone of being corrupt.

The Punch reports that Adebanjo noted that Obasanjo had not disputed that he had only N20,000 in his bank account as at when he returned from the prison in 1999 and that he was rescued from bankruptcy by Atiku Abubakar, and a businessman, Oyewole Fasawe.

According to Adebanjo, Obasanjo should not feature in public life again if Nigeria was a decent country as it was rather amazing that the former president continues to assume undue prominence in spite of his known character.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation for Oyegun, others reportedly splits APC governors

When a real government of the people comes into power, they would take Obasanjos Presidential Library Complex in Abeokuta, Adebanjo, who will turn 90 years on April 10, said.

The report said the Yoruba leader made the statement in his autobiography, Telling it as it is, which was publicly presented in Lagos on Tuesday, April 4.

Adebanjo called Obasanjos eight years in government between 1999 and 2007 as a tragedy and calamity and declared that his scorecard was nothing to write home about.

The man who carried on as if he was all-in-all failed woefully on all counts as president. His eight-year tenure (1999-2007) was a tragedy. His scorecard was nothing to write home about.

What did he do in eight years? Before he came, we were buying fuel for N20 per litre, and crude oil was $23 per barrel. In 2007, under his regime, we were buying fuel at N75 per litre, and crude oil was between $65 and $75 per barrel. In the worst days of Abacha, one dollar was over N120, the disciple of Awolowo said in the book.

He accused Obasanjo of humiliating Awolowo, when the latter visited him to discuss the interest of the Yoruba after the former became the military head of state following the assassination of Major General Murtala Mohammed on February 13, 1976.

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There are many incidents to show that Obasanjo is anti-Yoruba. He has no interest in, or sympathy for the Yoruba cause, he only has his own interest for everything he does. That is my conclusion, and I have copious evidence to prove it.

As far as I am concerned, the moment Bola Ige joined Obasanjos government, following his (Bola Ige) loss of ADs presidential primaries where he polled six votes against Chief Olu Falaes 17, marked the beginning of the end of the party. In my opinion, these are the scenarios which led to the collapse of the AD, he said.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that Chief Ayo Adebanjo blamed the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bola Tinubu for the suffering of Yorubas.

In an interview with The Punch, the elder statesman reacted to the statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari that the World Bank should shift its focus to the north.

Prominent Nigerians attended the book presentation.

Consider rest - Obasanjo to Buhari - on NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | 2 people killed as gunmen kidnap community leader in Rivers

- Some gunmen have invaded a community in Rivers state

- The gunmen were said to have forcefully gained entrance into the residence of a community leader in Rundele, Emohua local government of the state

- The community leader Chief Goodluck Umetor was kidnapped in the process while two others were killed in a clash between rival cult groups

Two people have been reportedly killed in Rundele, Emohua local government of Rivers state.

The individuals killed were said to be members of rival cult groups that had clashed during a heated argument in the area.

The incident, which happened in Mgbuelia village in Rundele, was said to have caused panic among residents of the area as the sound of gunshots in the community forced people to remain indoors.

Also, a community leader, Chief Goodluck Umetor, was kidnapped by some gunmen who invaded his residence in the same community.

READ ALSO: Suspected herdsmen attack guard in Enugu community

The kidnap incident happened shortly after the clash between the rival cult groups.

NAIJ.com gathered that gunmen had forcefully gained entrance into the house belonging to Umetor and kidnapped him.

No word has been heard from the gunmen since the kidnap which happened on Monday, April 2.

A resident of the community said the chief was kidnapped after the gunmen shot sporadically at about 10 pm.

There was an argument among some youths and there was serious shooting, which led to the death of two persons. It happened on Sunday when the village was observing their hunting festival.

But on Monday night, at about 10 pm, we heard the sound of gunshots and later, we noticed that our chief had been kidnapped. We have not heard anything from those who kidnapped our chief since then, the resident said.

READ ALSO: Daddy Freeze blasts Bishop Oyedepo over story of resurrected dead man

Confirming the incident the police spokesperson in the state, Omoni, said only one person was shot in the incident.

Omoni said he however has heard that the victim has died in a hospital.

The police spokesperson also said that effort is being made by the force to ensure that the community leader is rescued in less than no time.

There was a clash between rival cult groups and one person was shot; I learnt that he later died in the hospital. On the chief that was kidnapped, we are already combing the bushes within the area to arrest the kidnappers and rescue the victim, Omoni said.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that the chairmen of Takum and Wukari local councils of Taraba state, Shiban Tikari and Daniel Adi, on Sunday, January 28, escaped being killed by gunmen in different locations in the state.

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It was gathered that while Adi was attacked by suspected herdsmen who were said to be uncomfortable with the recent implementation of the open grazing law, Tikari was attacked by armed bandits in the state.

Sources had also said that Adi was under severe attack by suspected herdsmen in Gindi Doruwa, a few kilometers to the administrative headquarters of Wukari local council.

He said some suspected herdsmen were and killed a Tiv man on his farm, which prompted him and his security personnel to visit the village when the incident happened.

Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis | NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Suspected herdsmen attack guard in Enugu community

- Some suspected herdsmen have attacked a security guard in Enugu community

- The herdsmen were said to have launched the attack when the guard tried to stop them from plucking mangoes from a private compound in the area

- According to a resident of the community, the herdsmen used the matchet on the guard who sustained some injury

A security guard in Okpanku community, Aninri local government area of Enugu state has been attacked by some suspected herdsmen.

The attack which occurred on Monday, April 2, left the guard with substantial injury, Vanguard reports.

It was gathered that the suspected herdsmen had invaded the a private residence belonging to Barrister Eric Ogudu and started plucking mangoes in the compound when the guard alerted community members.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation for Oyegun, others reportedly splits APC governors

Residents of the community said the herdsmen machetted the security guard for trying to stop them from plucking the fruits.

One of the residents said: "The herdsmen and their cattle were passing through the community when suddenly, the herders entered inside the compound of one Barrister Eric Ogudu and started plucking mangoes in the compound.

The security guard in the compound (name withheld) tried to stop them but they refused and in the ensuing commotion, the herdsmen gave him several machete cuts on his arms and shoulder.

The guard started shouting Fulani people have kill me! And immediately the attention of the people were drawn and the villagers that came out started pursing them," the resident said.

He also added that the herdsmen ran into the bush when the attention of the villagers were drawn.

READ ALSO: Opinion: Like TY Danjuma, University don reveals why Yakubu Gowon must speak up against killings across Nigeria

Also, the owner of the compounded invaded by the herders is said to have reported the incident to the police division in Aniri divisional headquarters in Okpanku.

Following Eric's statement at the police station, a team of police officers have been deployed to the community who are currently trying to calm the youths of the area against any form of reprisal.

Confirming the attack, the spokesperson for the police in Enugu state, Ebere Amaraizu said: Police have commenced investigation into the matter.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that the vice president, Yemi osinbajo, had supported calls for the establishment of state police across Nigeria.

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The vice president the use of state policing could be used to curb some activities of criminals including suspected 'killer' herdsmen in some areas.

Osinbajo also refuted the allegations that President Muhammadu Buhari is shielding killer herdsmen.

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Loading...Home | News | General | President Muhammadu Buhari sends special message to Oshiomhole at 65

- President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria has greatly benefitted from Adams Oshiomhole's leadersip

- Buhari expresses optimism that Oshiohole's wisdom would be useful for the growth of Nigeria

- He congratulates the former governor on his 65th birthday

President Muhammadu Buhari has joined other Nigerians and members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in congratulating former governor of Edo state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who is marking his 65th birthday.

A statement by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesperson, said Buhari felicitates with the foremost labour leader, his family, friends and colleagues on the milestone, which has been lined with awards and recognitions for courageous and selfless service to humanity, the nation and his community as a former leader of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and a governor.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation for Oyegun, others reportedly splits APC governors

The president extols the vision, bravery and forthrightness of Comrade Oshiomhole in instituting long lasting changes in Edo state for eight years, particularly the investments in people by enhancing the health, educational and physical infrastructure standard of the state.

As a unionist and labour leader, President Buhari acknowledges the vocal and frontline roles Oshiomhole played in ensuring a return to democracy and the entrenchment of democratic principles in governance by continually challenging the norms and emphasizing the rule of law, people friendly policies, probity and accountability.

Buhari affirmed that the nation has benefitted a lot from the robust and responsive leadership style of the former governor.

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The president, who prayed for long life for Oshiomhole, expressed belief that as the former labour leader grows older, his invaluable wisdom would be most useful for the growth of the nation.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that Adams Oshiomhole marked his 65th birthday on Tuesday, April 4.

Photos obtained by NAIJ.com showed the ex-governor's lovely wife, Iara Oshiomhole, who was dressed in a peach coloured sleeveless gown, she added beauty to the occasion as she was full of radiant smiles.

The birthday celebration held in their Abuja residence and had in attendance few friends and family members.

Martin Luther King Award Scandal: Buhari recognized for leadership? |Naij.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Gowon: Silence is no longer golden By Olabode Lucas (Opinion)

Editor's note: A Professor Olabode Lucas from Old Bodija, Ibadan has condemned the continued killings across various states in Nigeria.

Lucas in his piece calls on General Yakubu Gowon to speak up against the killings in the nation. He also gave reasons it is necessary for the retired general to air out his views on the issues of herdsmen/ farmers crisis in Nigeria.

When a nation is adrift and the future seems shaky with attendant national disaster, it behoves on men of conscience and past leaders of such a nation to speak out and point out ways of avoiding the danger confronting such a nation.

I will like to make a brief incursion into history to buttress my point. When the ominous dark cloud of war was gathering in Europe in the late 30s, Sir Winston Churchill in Britain spoke out against the appeasement policy of Prime Minister Chamberlain towards Hitler whose army was rampaging across Europe.

In France, Charles De Gaulle also later spoke and acted against the Vichy regime of Petain who collaborated with Nazii programmes of oppression and genocides.

Over here in Africa, the legendary Nelson Mandela of South Africa condemned his successor Thabo Mbeki when he was becoming aloof and impervious to the yearnings of the Black South Africans.

It is also on record that Archbishop Bishop Desmond Tutu condemned strongly the anti-democratic policies of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation for Oyegun, others reportedly splits APC governors

It is no exaggeration to say that since independence our dear country, Nigeria had faced many dire situations that threatened its corporate existence.

The latest of these is the gory activities of the fiendish Fulani herdsmen in many parts of the country especially in the middle belt region of Plateau, Benue, Kaduna and Taraba states.

These Fulani herdsmen go about with sophisticated weapons like AK47 to kill and maim innocent people.

They burn houses, and take over peoples land by force. In fact some of their apologists have told the whole world that the Fulanis own the land of the proud Tiv people by conquest.

These Fulani herdsmen had brought sorrow and misery to the people. These marauding herdsmen are bad news to the people of Nigeria as they have brought untimely death of up to 2000 people and we are still counting.

The heinous activities of these herdsmen who have been referred to as Fulani militias by some people had attracted the attention of the United Nations that had classified them as terrorist organization on a scale above the dreaded Boko Haram.

Back home, two of our past leaders, Generals Obasanjo and Babaginda had condemned the activities of these malevolent herdsmen.

These leaders had no doubt failed the nation in the past but with regard to their condemnation of these herdsmen, people are ready to ignore the messengers and concentrate on the message.

These leaders have now been joined by the taciturn General Theophilus Danjuma whose Taraba home state, has been ravaged mercilessly by these rampaging Fulani herdsmen.

READ ALSO: Daddy Freeze blasts Bishop Oyedepo over story of resurrected dead man

Danjuma is not known to be frivolous and for this reason he commands a lot of respect in the country and that is why his intervention on the atrocities of the herdsmen is causing a lot of concern in the government circles especially for his call on the people to defend themselves because the statutory organ empowered to protect the people have failed as they were colluding with the evil killers.

Whatever may be the past shortcomings of these leaders, I think Nigerians owe a debt of gratitude to Obasanjo, Danjuma and Babangida for speaking out against the latest threat to the corporate existence of the country.

Unfortunately there is an important voice missing in the condemnation of the quagmire imposed on the country by these Fulani herdsmen. That missing voice is that of General Yakubu Jack Dan-Yumma Gowon, the man who was the shining face of Nigerian unity at the darkest moment in our history when the country was at the brink of breaking up.

I believe but I concede that I may be wrong to say that we may not have a country called Nigeria today if General Gowon had not been the Head of State during the political crisis in 1966 and during the ensuing civil war that ravaged our country between 1967 and 1970.

His calm posture and moderate ways with which he handled delicate national issues thrown up in the political crisis and the war won the hearts of many people for the cause of Nigerian unity which he championed. His policy of no victor, no vanquished calmed the nerves of protagonists of succession and won him international acclaim.

Despite his lofty and unforgettable achievement as the man who prevented the disintegration of Nigeria, General Gowon has disappointed many people including his numerous ardent admirers for his tepid approach and attitude to issues that could destroy the corporate existence of the country which he championed in a godly fashion between 1967 and 1970.

This unfortunate disposition of the General had been observed by this writer with concern as one of his admirers as far back as 1994. In that year out of frustration, I wrote him an open letter which was published in The Punch of August 30, 1994.

In the letter, I implored the General with all the respect I could muster, to call the late malevolent Sani Abacha to order before he destroyed Nigeria by his draconian actions. Nothing was heard from General Gowon on many atrocities committed by Abacha before he expired in 1998.

READ ALSO: Police arrest pastor for allegedly killing lover, burying her in church

It is pertinent here to catalogue briefly, instances where General Gowon let the people down with his deafening silence on vital national crises. In the first coming of President Buhari in 1984, we were inundated with oppressive retroactive decrees which sent some people to their untimely death.

We also had under his military administration, emasculation of press freedom with the infamous Decree 4 which led to the imprisonment of two leading journalists, Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor.

Nothing was heard from General Gowon on this vicious erosion of peoples freedom. This attitude continued under the succeeding Babaginda military regime that annulled the freest election ever held in this country  the June 12, 1993 election. General Gowon up till today had never condemned the annulment.

Also the debilitating economic policy of Babaginda dubbed by some people as Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) without human face which was roundly condemned by Obasanjo and leading economists in the land did not get any attention from this architect of one Nigeria.

None of the Obasanjos dictatorial tendencies during his second coming also caught the attention of General Gowon as he kept quiet during this period. We also did not hear any voice of condemnation from Gowon on the unbridled corruption and waste that characterised the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Now to the present regime of President Buhari which every body knows is riddled with nepotism, sectional arrogance and other failings.

All these shortcomings of the administration pale into insignificance when compared with present gory action of the rampaging fiendish Fulani herdsmen which Buhari administration has made very tepid attempt to curb.

Plateau state where General Gowon comes from is one of the states in the eyes of the storm with regard to the killing and maiming of people by the herdsmen, despite the pretence of the governor, Simon who prefers the praise of President Buhari to the safety of his people.

General Gowon is yet to make any statement on the misfortune of his people and other people who are being killed by the herdsmen all over the country.

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Many people still look up to Gowon to say something on this unacceptable situation in our country. When he led Nigerians in the war against the disintegration of the country, I am sure he was not bringing us together to be slaughterred systematically by the Fulani herdsmen some years later.

General Gowon owes it a duty to the memories of the people who fought gallantly to keep Nigeria one, to speak loud and in an unambiguous way against the carnage being perpetrated by the Fulani herdsmen in different parts of our country. The earlier he does this, the better for his image.

I know that General Gowon runs an outfit called Nigeria Prays in which he mobilizes people in different parts of the country to pray for Nigeria.

This is commendable but it is my humble opinion that prayers do not preclude loud and clear condemnation of evil in whatever form or guise it may appear. In ending this piece, I will like to draw attention of General Gowon to an Anglican hymn which among others says that the person who is on the side of the Lord is somebody who is Noble, True and Bold

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Loading...Home | News | General | Obasanjo: What does he want?

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

No one has been gifted with the opportunity Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo had in presiding over the affairs of Nigeria for a cumulative 11 years. Does that privilege give him the justification for his repeated incursions and interventions in directing the moral compass of the nation?

Dr. Obasanjos categorisation of President Muhammadu Buharis administration as incompetent and as a failure came barely two months after he first advised his two time successor to step aside from seeking re-election in 2019.

Obasanjo

There should have been a serious chemistry between the two men. Buhari was the first military head of state to succeed Obasanjo after the brief Second Republic. Buhari also became the fourth president of the Fourth Republic after Obasanjos historic emergence as the first president of the Fourth Republic.

Both men were also expected to be chummier by the fact of their collaboration in the movement that arose against the third president of the Fourth Republic, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

However, whatever liking they should have had for one another disappeared after Obasanjos open advisory to Buhari on January 23, 2018 not to seek a second term because of the challenges of incapacity and poor performance.

That missive was couched in much finesse and respect of the office of the President.

That advisory, however, did not go down well with the presidency despite the public show between Buhari and Obasanjo on the sidelines of an African Union summit few days later.

An indication of that discord was seen in the failure of the presidency to wish Obasanjo well on his birthday. The customary role of the president in wishing statesmen well on their birthdays was skipped in the case of Dr. Obasanjo as the presidency kept quiet on his 81st birthday on March 5, 2018.

The open statement asking Buhari not to seek a second term according to sources came after much cogitation and consultations. Vanguard gathered that revered statesmen, including a very prominent northerner laid siege on Obasanjo to speak out on the claim that Obasanjo was one of the few with the moral fibre to intervene to address the negative direction they felt the country was heading towards.

Suggestions that Obasanjo may have been intimidated by the presidency after his first communication were put to rest last Monday when the former president again opened up on the state of the nation.

Though the presidency did not directly respond, there were insinuations that presidency officials were involved in recruiting some prominent Nigerians to hit back at the former president. A direct link between the presidency and former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu could not be established, but many were shocked when Adamu, a one time famous apologist for Obasanjo including the third term plot came out to denounce his former patron.

Receiving a joint delegation of the Nigeria Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) and New Nigeria 2019, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta last Monday, he summarised the Buhari administration thus:

The truth is this: when you have an ineffective and incompetent government, we are all victims. And dont let anybody deceive you. Those of you who are in business, your business could have been better today if we have a competent and effective and performing government.

As I said, stop giving excuses; we met challenges. If there are no challenges, then we wouldnt need you to come. You came in because you know there are challenges and then giving us excuse that you have many challenges, that is why you havent achieved results. And then you still want to go.

The first lesson I learnt in my military training is never reinforce failure. What we have now is failure. Never you reinforce failure. Let failure be failure.

Expectedly, reactions to Obasanjos latest utterance are coming in measured tones.

Contacted by Vanguard, the presidency was wary of frontally responding to Obasanjo.

The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC was, however, forthcoming when contacted as the party asked Dr. Obasanjo to put things in proper perspectives in his assessment of the polity.

APC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi who is abroad in a text message said:

I think it is important for elder statesmen like former president Obasanjo to always put things in perspective. No doubt there are areas that even President Buhari would wish things had been done better.

But to dismiss a government as failure after less than three years is grossly unfair. I am sure there are those who would come to a similar conclusion based on the performance of his government in its first term between 1999 and 2003. Those were turbulent times.

But the benefit of another term enabled President Obasanjo to correct some of its mistakes and consolidate on its achievements. This is why someone of his calibre, with his experience should be more considerate.

But beyond that, what really does Obasanjo want?

In his first missive Obasanjo had claimed he wanted the best for the country noting among others that the drift towards ethnic and religious sectarianism under the Buhari administration was leading the country to the precipice.

Many critics of the former president like Adamu are, however, quick to lace their reactions with invectives about Obasanjos perceived failures some pointing at the promotion of the third term agenda by some agents of his administration.

Some other critics see Obasanjo as being vain as they whisper that he is jealous of any one exceeding his stature in the polity.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Bail for accused person and the presumption of innocence: Requirement for written application erroneous

By Afe Babalola

It is wrong for a court to send an accused person to prison pending a written application to court. An oral application is sufficient. See Chief Abiolas case.

Lately there has been an upswing in the number of cases filed by law enforcement agencies. Most of these cases have been in relation to allegations of corruption and financial crimes for which the government not too long ago set up a special team of prosecutors. As a result, media coverage of these proceedings have naturally attracted the attention of Nigerians. While many are by now familiar with the procedure adopted by prosecutors, defence lawyers and the courts following an arraignment, there are several others who have yet to comprehend in any measure all that transpires in court after charges are read to a criminal defendant and he is asked to plea to the said charges.

It is therefore not surprising to find many questioning why a man already adjudged in the court of public opinion to be guilty, should be allowed to return home so soon after arraignment while his trial is ongoing and his innocence or guilt yet to be determined. For many, the moment a man is charged to court, he should immediately be committed to prison custody and kept there to serve as punishment for whatever crime he is accused of having committed. For such people it matters not that there is a process called Bail by which a person is entitled to be released and allowed to attend court while his case is heard. Such people can easily be forgiven when it is considered that even amongst Lawyers and Judges there is still a great deal of misconception about the law and procedure pertaining to bail and bail applications and in no other instance is this misconception revealed than with regards to the question whether an application for bail can be made orally or whether it can only be made by a written application supported by an affidavit.

I must state straightaway that I do not intend this to be a comprehensive write up on the legal principles surrounding the decision of a court whether or not to grant bail to a criminal defendant. My intention is to briefly highlight errors which are still being committed by some courts in dealing with the issue of bail. In doing so it is my objective that these errors will be corrected and that the entire criminal justice system will be better for it.

BAIL

The Blacks Law Dictionary defines bail as a security such as cash or bond; especially security required by a court for the release of a prisoner who must appear in court at a further trial. In Nigeria, the Courts have generally held that the whole concept of bail generally is about surety or sureties taken by a person duly authorised for the appearance of a defendant at a certain day and place to answer charges leveled against him and be justified by law.Put simply, the essence of bail is to ensure that a criminal defendant appears in court to answer to the charges against him.

The importance of bail also finds firm footing in the provisions of Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigerian 1999 (As Amended) regarding the right to a fair hearing. This point was made in the case of Obekpa v. Commissioner Of Police (1980) 1 NCR @ 113 where Al-hassan Idoko J. (as he then was) stated the law in the following words:

as it appears, the spirit behind the provision in S.32(4) (a) and (b) of the Constitution is to keep an accused person out of incarceration until found guilty through the process of court trial. It is a conditional privilege, which he is entitled to under the Constitution. The reason for such privilege is obvious. It allows those who might be wrongly accused to escape punishment, which any period of imprisonment would inflict upon them while awaiting trial, staying out of prison guarantees easy access to counsel and witness and ensures unhampered opportunity for preparation of the defence. Of much greater importance in this regard is the fact that, unless the right to bail or to freedom before conviction is preserved, protected and allowed, the presumption of innocence constitutionally guaranteed to every individual accused of a criminal offence would lose its meaning and force.

The implication of all the above is that a person is constitutionally entitled to his liberty. Even when he is brought before a Court of law to answer for the alleged commission of a crime, he would still be entitled to bail and a presumption of his innocence. Despite this, it is still common nowadays to read that a Judge before whom a person has been arraigned, has ordered the counsel to file formal applications supported with affidavits to ask for the bail of his client after which the defendant is then ordered to be remanded in prison custody pending the hearing and determination of the application for bail. This is very wrong.

The requirement of a formal written application law is unknown to law where the application for bail is made before the Judge or Court before whom the defendant has been arraigned. After such an arraignment, the procedure is for the counsel for the defendant to make an application for bail orally and for the prosecution, should it elect to oppose, to give reasons why the application should not be granted. The law was stated correctly by the Court of Appeal in ABIOLA VS FRN (1995) 1 NWLR (PT.370) 155. In that particular instance, the judge before whom Chief Abiola was arraigned had refused to entertain an oral application for his bail and had ordered his counsel to file a written application. The Court of Appeal set aside the decision of the Trial Judge and held quite rightly that a formal application was not required. This is still the position of the law even with the passing of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. The Act provides that a person accused of a crime is entitled to his bail. With respect to offences in respect of which a sentence exceeding 3 years is imposed, the law states that upon application, the accused shall be entitled to bail, taking certain conditions into consideration. It does not stipulate a formal written application.

It is said in law that Justice is not a one way traffic. A person who has been accused of infraction of a law and thereby arraigned before a court of law is still deserving of the protection of the law applicable to his case. The law relating to bail is one of such. It must be respected at all times and in relation to all persons. Ordering the remand into prison of a person who under the constitution enjoys a presumption of innocence pending the filing of a written application for bail is erroneous as the higher court has ordered that application for bail can be made orally. An order to file written application for bail is a great disservice to the cause of justice.

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Loading...Home | News | General | 2019: ANN joins Obasanjo, others to campaign against Buhari

By Innocent Anaba

As the race to 2019 presidential election continues to gather momentum, a political party, Alliance for New Nigeria, ANN, yesterday joined forces with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and others to campaign against President Muhammadu Buhari.

Obasanjo had knocked Buhari at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, OOPL, Abeokuta, Ogun State while receiving a joint delegation of Nigeria Young Professional Forum, NYPF and New Nigeria 2019 at the weekend.

Obasanjo

In a statement in Abuja, Chairman, Board of Trustees, BOT of ANN, Adekoya Adebola, corroborated the ex- presidents stance and called on Nigerians to ensure that the 2019 election was a test of competence and not sentiments or political blackmails typical of previous elections.

Adebola said: The reality is how can we explain the continuous insecurity and the ravaging killer herdsmen? Even when the core of the government focus is to deliver security but since inception of this administration, the country has witnessed more of security breaches and senseless killings in virtually every part of the country with no one apprehended, or prosecuted.

How can we explain the failure in the fight against corruption even when the reason Nigerians voted for this government was essentially because of the stealing that was going on in government?

And right now, the same is the order of the day in the nose of the current government. Monies are swallowed by monkeys and snakes; questionable list of looters. The list can go on and on.

He said that in view of these blatant failures, Obasanjos assertion was not out of scope.

He urged Nigerians to come out en masse in 2019 to vote out an incompetent All Progressives Congress, APC and Buhari government.

He revealed that the Alliance for New Nigeria stands to offer Nigeria competent hands, persons who have been able to prove their mettle in their chosen fields and those with an impeccable integrity and character.

He urged Nigerians to get their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) ready, promising that his party comprises men and women who are true patriots, adding that ANN represents a new Nigeria that will foster growth, development and peace.

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Loading...Home | News | General | 2 killed in fatal accident involving convoy of Abia state governors wife

- Several persons are left injured following fatal crash involving the convoy of the wife of Abia state governor, Nkechi Ikpeazu

- Presidency reportedly orders release of comprehensive looters list

A fatal accident involving the convoy of the wife of Abia state governor, Nkechi Ikpeazu, has reportedly resulted in the death of two women with several others sustaining various degrees of injuries.

This Day reports that the crash which occurred on Tuesday, April 3, also left with some in critical condition.

READ ALSO: Daddy Freeze blasts Bishop Oyedepo over story of resurrected dead man

Sources in the convoy said the accident occurred at Ndiolumbe in Isiala Ngwa north local government when the governors wife was returning from Obingwa local government area.

The two victims who reportedly died in the crash were identified as Nwamaka Maduabuchukwu, a senior special assistant, media, office of the wife of the governor and Promise Uche Nwankpa fondly called Tomato Jos, whose husband was a former member of the state House of Assembly.

Nwankpa was reported to have died instantly while Maduabuchkwu was confirmed dead on arrival at the federal medical centre

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Meanwhile, a top official of the federal government on Tuesday, April 3, disclosed that Presidency has ordered the release of a comprehensive list of those it claims engaged in the massive looting.

Vanguard reports that the official said Presidency conveyed the directive to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the weekend.

According to him, Presidency was miffed by attempt by the opposition to whip up sentiments into a purely criminal matter, which its top officials in the last administration committed against Nigeria and Nigerians.

Top 5 the Richest People of Nigeria: The Luxury of Corruption on NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | 2019: Taraba senator debunks governorship ambition, says he'll wait till 2023

- The deputy Senate minority leader, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, has debunked rumours of his governorship ambition

- Bwacha who represents Taraba South Senatorial District in the Senate, said he will wait till 2023

- He said he is instead interested in returning back to the Senate

The senator representing Taraba South Senatorial District in the Senate, Emmanuel Bwacha, has said he is not interested in the Taraba state governorship seat as widely speculated in the state.

According to the senator, he would rather wait for Governor Darius Ishaku to complete his eight-year term as a governor, before contesting for the position.

Senator Bwacha said he would rather wait for Governor Ishaku (pictures) to complete his tenure in 2023. Photo source: Twitter

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army extends Exercise Ayem Akpatuma for two months in Taraba state

Bwacha, who is the deputy Senate minority leader in the upper chambers, made his stance known on Tuesday, April 3 in his hometown, Mararaba, in Donga local government area of the state.

Bwacha, who is serving his second term as a senator on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he had already made up his mind to remain in the Senate where his impact would be more felt.

His words: I am not interested in the governorship seat of the state as widely speculated. I have already made my intention of going back to the Senate known to my people. Some people felt offended when I said I wanted to go back to the Senate, but they dont know the implication of my decision.

I was part of the people that formed the PDP government in the state in 2015; I dont want to be party to destroying what I put in place. I want Governor Ishaku to complete his eight years. So, I will not be party to stopping him from completing his eight years as a governor, he said.

He however expressed dismay over the leadership quality of the PDP in the state.

If you want to threaten peoples interest, they will go away. There are other platforms that they can join and fulfil their dreams.

The governor is supposed to be relying on the partys leadership, but when you dont work with the people, they will all go away. I will advise the party leadership to change its ways because we need people now more than ever before, he said.

Meanwhile, the Taraba government has said that it no longer had confidence in the Federal Government security apparatus deployed to the state.

The government's position was made known by the senior special adviser to the Taraba state governor on media and publicity, Dan Bala Abu who spoke to journalists on Friday, March 30.

Abu said that although there was relative peace now in Taraba, the state government did not have confidence in the security apparatus of the Federal Government to maintain peace and security in the state.

READ ALSO: Exercise Cat Race: Troops arrest herdsmen while setting ablaze Gwamba village

Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis | NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | No cache of dollars found in Jonathan's home - Omokri

- Reno Omokri has denied unverified news that cache of foreign currencies were found in the house of former President Goodluck Jonathan

- Omokri blamed the APC for circulating fake video of money allegedly found in Jonathan house

Reno Omokri, the former media spokesperson of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has described a viral video of dollars allegedly found during a raid in the ex-president's house as fake and the handiwork of political opponent.

Omokri blamed members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of allegedly trying to tarnish the former president's image by circulating a fake video.

In a statement on his Facebook, he said no police raid was conducted on any of Jonathan' residence.

READ ALSO: Stop entertaining Nigerians with looters' lists - Senator Sani slams APC, dares PDP

He wrote: "My attention has been drawn to a viral video, initially circulated by agents of the All Progressive Congress led federal government, and purported to be videos of a police raid of the home of former President Goodluck Jonathan, and in which huge sums of money was found.

"Let it be known that no police officers or any other security agents have stormed any of the residences of former President Jonathan and no cache of dollars or any other foreign currencies have been found in any of his residences and indeed none can be found because no such stash exists.

"Nigerians may want to recall that there was a curious burglary of the former Presidents house in 2017. The motive of that incident or who was behind it may never truly come to light until some time in the future, but even during that burglary, no monies were discovered in the house and only sundry properties and electronics were stolen.

"It will also be recalled that on March 7, 2014, then President Jonathan declared to Nigerians as follows I am loyal to Nigerias economy. I dont have accounts or property abroad.

"That declaration remains true today as it was then. Furthermore, the former President, in keeping with the cashless Policy which his administration introduced and fully implemented, does not keep huge sums of cash at his residence.

"Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is a modest man and whatever he has by way of cash and property are the result of his legitimate earnings.

"He is the most investigated living former President in Nigerias history. That nothing implicating has been found on him should not lead his traducers to become desperate and fabricate evidence and circulate it as propaganda.

"I urge Nigerians to be on the alert to fake news circulated by desperadoes via WhatsApp and other social media platforms and intended to malign the good name of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

"Finally, I advise anyone willing to take my advise that the only way to make progress in Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index is to fight corruption and not the opposition and to do the fighting in the courts and not in the media.

"That is how the Jonathan administration was able to achieve Nigerias best ever performance on Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index in 2014 when Nigeria improved by eight places from 144 to 136."

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NAIJ.com earlier reported that Jonathan, in a post on his Facebook account on Sunday, March 25, warned Nigerians of an impending accusation against him by people he claimed are out to ruin his reputation.

The former president, who is set to jet out of the country to Sierra Leone, made this post after an allegation in the news that a billionaire supporter of his hired Cambridge Analytica to hack into President Muhammadu Buhari's health and financial records ahead of 2015 election.

Will you vote Goodluck Jonathan if he joins 2019 race? - on NAIJ.com TV:

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Loading...Home | News | General | Rivers PDP begins registration of old, new members

By Onozure Dania

Ahead of the June 16, 2018 local government elections in Rivers State, the state chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has commenced re-registration of old and new members into the party across the 23 local government areas of the state.

Addressing council Chairmen and Secretaries of the party at the PDP Secretariat in Port Harcourt, yesterday, state Chairman of the party, Mr Felix Obuah, charged them to take the message to their respective LGAs and ensure that the exercise was given the seriousness it deserves.

PDP

He urged the party executives to go into all the Wards across the state and ensure that all the decampees from the All Progressives Congress, APC and other political parties are registered.

Even those of them who will be decamping today and wish to join our party must be registered. Do not restrict anyone from becoming a member of our great party. We need them and we dont want anyone to stop them from registering due to personal interests.

While handing over the party registers to the Chairmen, Obuah charged them to immediately reach out to the Ward Chairmen and Secretaries and ensure that the exercise kick started in earnest.

He warned that on no condition should the membership cards be hoarded, adding that even though most of the cards had expired, arrangements were being made to give out the new cards before the end of the day.

Obuah said the party will charge a token for the cards to ensure that members make financial commitment to the party.

He warn against adoption of candidates for the various elective positions in the forthcoming local government elections.

He said it will be out of place for him as state party Chairman to supervise such undemocratic practice, adding that the PDP was committed to uphold its constitution and give every aspirant a level playing ground.

So it will be bad of you as a leader who is supposed to be an unbiased umpire to adopt one person and follow him or her to campaign. It is unfair and does not encourage, he said, warning that the party will not hesitate to use its hammer on any chairman who indulges in such act.

At the meeting which was also attended by the Vice Chairman of the party, Mr Charles Awortu and State Secretary, Mr Samuel Okpoko, Obuah charged the Chairmen not to hesitate to contact the State Secretariat for clarifications in the event of challenges.

He disclosed that the sale of forms for the respective elective positions are still on and called on interested members to seize the opportunity to realize their political aspirations.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Looters list: You cant fool Nigerians with incompetence, PDP tells Presidency

By Henry Umoru & Dirisu Yakubu

ABUJAThe Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said the Presidency and All Progressives Congress, APC, have failed in their ploy to use their so-called looters lists to divert public discourse from the raging questions on their incompetence, numerous scandals and overall failure in governance.

Lai Mohammad and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus

PDPs statement came as former Minister of Aviation, Senator Stella Oduah (PDP, Anambra North), challenged the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to provide evidence linking her with his allegations that she looted N9.8 billion.

The party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbon-diyan, said in a statement yesterday that Nigerians have now seen that Federal Government has no case against it, noting that the lists only had individuals who were not indicted or convicted for corruption, some of who were not even members of the party.

The statement read: It is now a notorious fact that the whole essence of the flimsy and contemptible lists was to cause public misperception, change the topic and divert international and national discourse from various serious issues, including the parlous state of the nations economy caused by President Muhammadu Buharis misrule, for which Nigerians are now resorting to vices, including slavery and suicide as options.

Meanwhile, in a statement yesterday in Abuja, Senator Oduah, who noted that Lai Mohammed came up with such a list with her inclusion to win a quarrel, said the allegation involving the said sum was not only untrue but also laughable.

The statement read: My attention has been drawn to the list of looters released by Lai Mohammed in which, by treachery or by happenstance, my name featured.

It is worrisome how a serving Minister could condescend so low in what appeared like a childish altercation to start mentioning names of his alleged looters without verified or verifiable facts, to win what he considered a quarrel.

I would have simply ignored him since his notoriety in making false and laughable statements has gained prominence in recent times.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Dasuki facilitated 1983 coup that brought Buhari to power Jokolo

Embattled former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd), currently in detention, was a financier and facilitator of the 1983 military coup that terminated Nigerias Second Republic and installed Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State.

Buhari-Dasuki

Mustapha Jokolo, who was the Aide de Camp, ADC, to Mr. Buhari after the coup that toppled the government of President Shehu Shagari, made this claim in an interview, while reacting to a new book authored by Muhammadu Bashar, a retired general who replaced him as Emir of Gwandu, after he was deposed.

He said Dasuki, then a major in the Army, played active roles through sourcing the funds for the coup that made Buhari Head of State at the end of 1983.

Jokolo, who took exception to some details in Bashars book, said about the funding of the 1983 coup thus: Honestly speaking, that is why sometimes my heart bleeds because of what is happening to Sambo Dasuki now; I worry a lot.

How I made the connection

Continuing, he said: It is an irony. If I had not brought him (Dasuki) in this thing (1983 coup plot), it could not have happened, with Buhari as Head of State. It was Sambo Dasuki who facilitated it not me. I only suggested it.

He was the one who convinced these people. I swear to God, Almighty. He was the one. He did a lot, honestly speaking.

So I connected them with Sambo Dasuki and wallahi, even when we were planning the coup that saw Buhari as Head of State, Sambo Dasuki was the one who was getting money for us from Aliyu Gusau and Chief of Army Staff votes to help the coup plot, because not a single kobo did we get from Buhari.

Not only that, he used his fathers money to sponsor some Mallams to go to Saudi Arabia to help pray for the success of the coup.

Dasukis narrative

In a recently published book, entitled An Encounter with the Spymaster by Yushau Shuaib, Dasuki disclosed how he and two young army officers went to meet Buhari on the 1983 coup detat.

Dasuki said: He and two young military officers (Major Mustapha Jokolo and Major Lawal Gwadabe) travelled to Jos to brief Major-General Buhari, who was then the General Officer Commanding, GOC, of 3rd Armoured Division on the furtherance of the planning of the 1983 coup, which made Buhari the major beneficiary of the ouster of the elected President Shehu Shagari.

Dasuki disclosed how Buhari expressed bitterness about insinuations on his stewardship in one of the public institutions, upon which Dasuki assured him not to worry about such reckless and mischievous insinuations, since we are taking over power from the politicians.

When the author of the book asked Dasuki why he participated in the ouster of Buhari less than two years afterward, he simply answered that General Buhari should know who he should blame.

Dasuki said: I always respect and dignify my seniors and those in positions of authority, whether in service or after, though as a young officer I was reluctant to be among those that arrested him. And I was not.

I only met him afterward at Bonny Camp with Lawal Rafindadi. There is no way I could have maltreated him as being alleged in some quarters. I am glad most of the actors are still alive.

Abdulmumini Aminus version

Lending credence to Dasukis claim that he was not in the team that arrested Muhammadu Buhari during the 1985 coup, a retired colonel, Abdulmumini Aminu, from Katsina State, revealed the identities of the three majors who arrested the ousted Head of State in an interview in August 2015.

Aminu said he led the team that arrested Buhari, with the other junior officers being Lawan Gwadabe and John Madaki.

Aminu said in the interview: I must confess that I led that operation. I went to Dodan Barracks in company of two other officers then Major John Madaki and Lawan Gwadabe. Three of us went, but specifically I was the one that went upstairs to bring Buhari.

With due respect, I have been reading in the papers and listening to radio; people saying that we manhandled him, we disrespected him. That was not true. General Buhari and I are the only two who knew what transpired upstairs and there was nothing like that.

We gave him his absolute respect as a superior. Even before that time we had absolute respect for him because of who and what he was.

We respected him a lot till today and there is no animosity between us and he knew it was a military assignment that we were carrying out from our superior. It is just like the other way round when he came to power during the anti-Shagari coup I was among those who played a major role in getting him to power.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Dress saga! Go and apologise to Cee-c Kemi Olunloyo tells Toyin Lawani and BBNaija sponsor

On Saturday night, March 31, the major sponsor of the ongoing Big Brother Naija reality show Payporte took to social media to announce her disappointment in one of the housemates, Cee-c.

Cee-c was reported to have rejected the dress sent to her by Payporte. Because she had no choice than to follow the theme of the night, the housemate ripped her dress apart and changed it into a style that suites her body.

Aside from the sponsor calling out Cee-c, one of the designers of the show Toyin Lawani of Tiannah Styling Empire also blasted the young lady on social media.

READ ALSO: I looked like a character from The Sound of Music - Cee-c reveals why she tore her Calabar dress

In support of Cee-c, ex-governors daughter Kemi Olunloyo on Wednesday, April 4, took to her Instagram handle to support the housemate. She added that the dress was truly ugly.

Olunloyos post reads: THE CEE-C DRESS @ceec_official #BBNaija In America where I first watched #BigBrother 2001, sponsors do not talk. Viewers still don't pay phone charges to vote till today. Of course we have no landlines left in Nigeria since our leaders looted NITEL, Nigeria's original phone company where we could have been making toll free calls to vote now. @Payporte should NOT have uttered a word online. This is NOT about your brand alone! It is also about the young lady's brand. This is a REALITY SHOW! This is a REAL UGLY DRESS! Keep it REAL! Let CeeC be!

See post below:

The self-acclaimed journalist did not end there but further shared a video on Instagram, instructing the sponsor of the show and Toyin Lawani to apologize to Cee-c.

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Olunloyo shared the video with the caption: A sincere message for @therealtoyinlawani and @payporte. Smooches to ma baby @lordmaine2. The @ceec_official issue. Umm @antolecky ma daughter is still gonna win. HOWEVER #PAYPORTE SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO #CeeC. Yes it is a PR advice and my 2ND degree is a FIRST CLASS in Public Relations Management and I've dealt with celebrities and even company crisis relations. Focus on the bigger picture. It's a REALITY show. You don't want her to go say it behind later. She kept it real. That in my opinion was very U G L Y1. Cheers @kemiolunloyo.

See post below:

Interesting!

BBNaija 2018: Angel Interview for Star Chat - Why Cee-C Doesn't Like Tobi | Naij.com TV - on NAIJ.com TV.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Nigerian Army debunks reports of soldiers beating a man to death in Taraba

- The Nigerian Army has denied a media report making the rounds

- The report had claimed a man was beaten to death by soldiers in Taraba state

- The Army described the report as misleading and untrue

The Nigerian Army has reacted to newspaper reports where it was alleged that soldiers deployed on Exercise Ayem Akpatuma beat up one 27 years old man named Yusuf Haruna to death.

According to the report, the incident happened at Mbanga in Sardauna local government area of Taraba state.

The statement exonerated the soldiers of Exercise Ayem Akpatuma of any wrongdoing. Photo credit: Nigerian Army

READ ALSO: Exercise Ayem Akpatuma: Troops neutralize bandits, recover arms

A statement sent to NAIJ.com by the director army public relations, Brigadier-General Texas Chukwu, on Wednesday, April 4, described the report as misleading and untrue.

Contrary to this allegation, the deceased was a notorious youth who lived in Mbara quarters of Mbanga community. He was known to be engaging in all forms of criminal activities.

He was apprehended by troops deployed on Exercise Ayem Akpatuma and while making efforts to hand him over to the police for questioning, he however scaped from custody. The soldiers were later informed that he died at the Family Health Care Hospital Mbanga.

The deceased was not beaten nor tortured as reported by some section of the media. The deceased was said to be an epileptic patient according to a source from the Family Health Care Hospital Management, the statement said.

The army cautioned the media to always cross checked their fact before publishing and be objective in their reportage of security related issues.

They also advised the general public to report suspected movements in their areas to the nearest security agency for prompt action.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army has announced that Exercise Ayem Akpatuma will be extended for two months in Taraba state.

This was disclosed in a statement sent to NAIJ.com by the director army public relations, Brigadier-General Texas Chukwu, on Monday, April 2.

According to the statement, the exercise needs to be sustained in some areas in other to consolidate on the initial gains.

READ ALSO: Exercise Ayem Akpatuma: Troops arrest criminals in Taraba state

Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis | NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Mark Zuckerberg set to testify before congress on Wednesday, April 11 over safety of users' data

- Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive officer (CEO) has been summoned to appear before the congress

- The hearing was fixed for Wednesday, April 11

- It was reported to be on how the social media protects its users' online data

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive officer (CEO) will testify on Wednesday, April 11, before the house energy and commerce committee, to answer questions on how the social media network protects its users' data. The hearing will take place at the Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, USA.

Many congress committees have asked Zuckerberg to testify in light of reporting about Cambridge Analytica's use of Facebook data to target American voters in the 2016 election. This is the first confirmation that Zuckerberg will take questions from members of congress.

READ ALSO: Labor union asks Buhari against reinstatement of Gwarzo, suspended SEC DG

In a statement made on Wednesday, April 4, House lawmakers accepted the opportunity to listen to Zuckerberg.

Greg Walden and Frank Pallone, the top Republican and Democrat on the panel, in a statement said: "This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online.

"We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg's willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions on April 11th."

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Zuckerberg has also been invited to testify at hearings by the Senate's judiciary and commerce committees, but proceedings from the sessions had been kept top secret.

The Senate judiciary committee has also invited the CEOs of Google and Twitter to testify, but it is not yet certain they will attend.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com reported that Zuckerberg's first daughter, Max, had started school. The Facebook CEO and his wife welcomed Max into the world in 2015.

What is working well and what needs improvement in Nigeria? - On NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Police recover 70 illegally acquired arms from suspected hoodlums in Kaduna state

- The Kaduna state commissioner of police, Austin Iwar, says more arm recoveries are being expected daily from parts of the state

- The police boss states that the items will be displayed before the end of the week

- Police uncover gun making factory in Ebonyi

The Kaduna state police command on Wednesday, April 4, said that it had recovered no fewer than 70 illegally acquired arms and ammunition from individuals and suspected hoodlums in the state.

The commissioner of police in the state, Austin Iwar, made the disclosure at a stakeholders meeting with the state hunters volunteer association and some traditional rulers, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Another senator Mustapha Bukar from Katsina dies at 63

Iwar, who did not display the recovered items, said that more recoveries were being expected daily from other parts of the state.

According to the police boss, the items will be displayed before the end of the week.

He said that the command was aimed at mopping up arms that were illegally in private hands.

He assured the stakeholders that the tempo would be sustained to ensure that peace and development of Kaduna State was guaranteed in Kaduna.

Earlier, the state chairman of the hunters group, Alhaji Baba Wuro, commended the commissioner for introducing community-based policing.

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Wuro said the police had given them the necessary support which in return had given positive results.

He added that the various communities in the state had shown willingness to work with the police in addressing challenges facing them.

The leader of the hunters, however, identified some of the challenges as kidnapping, armed banditry and cattle rustling.

Our aims and objectives are to help the security operatives to dislodge criminals from their hideouts.

We remain committed to work with the police, military and other stakeholders to address the menace in the state, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that members of state hunters association were drawn from Kudan, Lere, Saminaka and Kubau Local Government Areas.

Meanwhile, a gun making factory in Ebonyi state has been uncovered and destroyed by the state police command.

The Nation reports that the commissioner of police in the state, Titus Lamorde, on Wednesday, April 4, said the police acting on a tip off destroyed a factory where guns were manufactured at Mgbo in Ohaukwu local government area of the state.

He said the operation was carried out in compliance with the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris's directive to all police commands and other formations to mop up illegal firearms and ammunitions in circulation nationwide.

Lagos Police Commissioner parades suspected criminals (Nigeria News) | NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | 2019: Northern group endorses Buhari

By Chris Ochayi

ABUJA  A pro-democracy group, the Northern Alternative Forum, NAF, has endorsed the second term bid of President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of 2019 general polls, saying Buhari remains the credible presidential candidate from the region for now.



In order to achieve its dream, the group announced it is forming an alliance with other 15 groups with a view to engaging the services of two ICT professionals from Germany and Switzerland to execute the 2019 campaign for the Buhari/Osinbajo re-election bid.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the National Chairman of NAF, Mallam Gidado Ibrahim, said no amount of campaign of calumny against the President that would deter him from seeking for re-election to continue his quest to return the country to path of glory.

Mallam Ibrahim, who said there is no better candidate than President Muhammadu Buhari for now, however, advised some Northern elements searching for a replacement for Buhari from the region ahead of the 2019 general polls, to dump the ideas.

He said recent moves by the elders and stakeholders in the North to get a consensus credible presidential candidate from the zone other than Buhari, would amount to wild a goose chase.

Recall some elders converged in Abuja penultimate Saturday where they had said President Buhari and late President Umaru YarAdua, both from the North, were not chosen by Northerners but were rather foisted on the North and the country in general by some political forces.

Ibrahim said the search for a credible candidate other than President Buhari may turnout to be a wild goose chase, as no politician from the region has shown strong political will to change the economic and social fortunes of the country.

According to him, After reviewing the outcome of the meeting held recently by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and other interest groups in the North, we in the Northern Alternative Forum have come to the conclusion that shopping for a credible presidential candidate other than President Muhammad Buhari will only come to a dead end.

Apart from acceptability and credibility, neither the ruling APC nor the opposition PDP can boast of a political figure with the will-power to govern Nigeria with its current complexities. The search in PDP is quite herculean for them and in the APC the case is not different. We urge our very respected elders to thread with caution so as not to return the country to wrongs hands like what we saw in the 16 years of PDP misrule.

Ibrahim also urged Nigerians to be wary of political propagandists in the opposition camp who are bent on wielding the country back to the era of massive looting by attempting to destroy the goodwill President Buhari enjoys among the Nigerian populace in order to install another corrupt regime.

He further noted that the era of siphoning funds meant for arms purchase was over, even as he noted that the oil sector under the current administration has been purged of corrupt elements who squandered the countrys fortunes on frivolities.

Those who think they can sabotage the Buhari administration through malicious allegations shall soon take their own tea with salt. It is very disappointing and disturbing to see people with bad records in leadership taking Nigerians for a ride. Sadly for them, their campaign of calumny against the President has failed woefully because Nigerians can read between the lines.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Sen. Bukar dies at 63

Senator Mustapha Bukar, representing Katsina North senatorial district, President Muhammadu Buharis constituency, is dead. He was aged 63.

Alhaji Kanta Bukar, the younger brother of the deceased, confirmed the death and said that Bukar died in the early hours of Wednesday at the Nizamiye Hospital, Abuja.

Sen. Bukar

He said the deceased was survived by two wives and 12 children, including Dr Ibrahim Bukar of the Nigerian Communications Commission.

He said the deceased would be buried in Daura today.

Bukar described the death of his elder brother as an irreplaceable loss to the family, the state and the nation in general, stressing he was a bridge builder.

Malam Ahmed Abdullahi, the Personal Assistant to the late senator, described him as a hard working lawmaker, who represented his people diligently.

Abdullahi said the district would remember Bukar as one of the few lawmakers who represented the zone with commitment and dedication.

Bukar (APC) returned to Nigeria in March after spending one month in the UK on a medical mission.

Senator Bukar was the second senator to die in weeks, after Senator Ali Wakili, 58, who represented Bauchi south in the senate.

According to a biographical sketch published by National Assembly, Bukar finished his primary education in Daura in 1968, and thereafter went to Government Secondary School, Katsina. He graduated in 1973.

He also attended School of Basic Studies in Zaria(1975), from where he gained admission to read Engineering at Ahmadu Bello University. He graduated with a Bachelors in 1978.

After the National Youth Service, he worked as project manager for the Kaduna State Water Board and later as general manager.

He retired in 2008 as director of Katsina State Water Board.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Breaking: President Buhari approves $1bn to fight Boko Haram

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of $1 billion for the purchase of arms to aid in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency.

The Cable reports that the minister of defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, disclosed this on Wednesday, April 4 following a security meeting with the president.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Another senator Mustapha Bukar from Katsina dies at 63

He said they reviewed the security situation of the country before te president gave his approval for more equipment to be purchased.

He said: I can inform you that of recent, our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, gave approval for the purchase of more equipment for the military, worth $1 billion.

This is a normal meeting of security agencies in the country. As usual, we discussed the current activities that affected most of the states in the federation like Taraba, Zamfara and other states."

We have operationalised a division in Sokoto, there will be a brigade in Katsina and another brigade in Zamfara that will take care of security situation in that area.

The strength of security personnel has increased, including the Air Force additional quick response group, they have added enough manpower in that area.

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On Leah Sharibu who has not been released by the dreaded insurgency group, the minister said: Well, we are making all available efforts to see that the girl is returned safely.

NAIJ.com had reported that the presidency announced that there will be no weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). President Buhari will, instead, meet with the service chiefs on Wednesday, April 4.

The reason the president is meeting with the service chiefs is not yet known. Nigerian Tribune reported that there could be an emergency reason since routine security council meetings are usually held on Mondays.

Jonathan replies to Buhari's allegations | NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Governor Obaseki sacks Edo state commissioner for environment

- Governor Godwin Obaseki orders disengaged staff to hand over government property in their possession to the appropriate authorities

- He directs the immediate redeployment of the permanent secretary in the ministry of environment Obahiagbon

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state has sacked the commissioner for environment and sustainability, Reginald Okun and retired the general manager, of the state waste management board, Aiyamenkue Akonofua.

Their sack was announced in a statement signed by secretary to the state government, Osarodion Ogie, and made available to journalists in Benin on Wednesday, April 4.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Another senator Mustapha Bukar from Katsina dies at 63

The statement directed the officials to handover their assignments to the most senior government official in their offices with immediate effect.

They are also to handover all government property in their possession to the appropriate authorities, it said.

The governor also directed the immediate redeployment of the permanent secretary in the ministry of environment, Obahiagbon.

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Although no reason was given for the governments action, NAIJ.com learnt that the reported failure by the ministry of environment to pay sweepers in the state likely prompted the removal of the officials.

Meanwhile, the tenure elongation of the John Odigie-Oyegun-led executive and other party officials has reportedly caused division among governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Premium Times reports that governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna and Simon Lalong of Plateau simply said they (governors) have agreed not to speak to the media.

The news outlet, however, quoting an unnamed source, reported that the governors had a heated debate over the tenure elongation of party officials.

What is working well and what needs improvement in Nigeria? on NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Lagos convenes security summit to tackle arms proliferation, crimes, others

The Lagos State Government on Wednesday said plans have been firmed up to convene a security summit where a comprehensive strategy and homegrown solutions will be developed by critical stakeholders to myriads of security challenges confronting the State such as cultism, drug abuse, gender-based crimes, arms proliferation, among others.

R-L: Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan; Special Adviser to the Governor on Lagos Global, Prof. Ademola Abass; Executive Secretary/C.E.O, Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Dr. Abdurrazaq Balogun and Chairman, Organising Committee, 2018 Lagos State Security Summit, Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje during a Press Conference on the 2018 Lagos State Security Summit, at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday, April 4, 2018.

Executive Secretary of the States Security Trust Fund, Dr Abdurrazaq Balogun, who said this at a press briefing held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa, Ikeja on the forthcoming summit scheduled to hold on April 9, 2018 at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, said other critical topics including terrorism, transnational crimes, intelligence and community policing would also be examined at the summit.

He said the idea of the summit followed a pledge by the State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode at the annual Town Hall Meeting on security held last year, to convene a larger platform for a more robust deliberation on current security issues, and to proffer actionable solutions which can be implemented by the State Government.

The summit would have four panel sessions on various aspects of security from cultism, drug abuse and gender-based crimes to arms proliferation, terrorism and transnational crimes including intelligence and community policing, among others, Balogun said.

He added that the summit, with the theme  Securing Lagos State: Towards a Sustainable Framework for a Modern Mega City, would specifically provide a platform for leaders, leading minds and subject matter experts to share best practices, knowledge and experiences focused on recommendations for a sustainable security framework for the State from 2018 to 2030.

While enumerating the objectives of the summit, Balogun said the event would be used to design and agree on an overall security strategy and system, as well as engage and secure input and buy-in of all critical stakeholders to the said security strategy, while it would also be deployed to develop homegrown solutions that can be implemented by the State Government.

He added that a sustainable funding model for security in Lagos State would also be brought to the fore at the summit.

Balogun, who addressed the briefing alongside other members of the Organizing Committee, also revealed plans of the State Government to incorporate private security outfits operating in the State into the security architecture of the State.

He said: This is going to be a very engaging summit even though it is just for a day but we are going to be having about 15 sub themes and these themes speak to the germane issues that we have in Lagos.

For example, we have a topic on integrating private security practice in security architecture of Lagos State which is a very important aspect of our security architecture because as we speak, there are so many private security companies operating in this State and there is a need to bring them into the security of this State; they must collaborate with the Nigerian Police so that we can have a very robust security network in the State.

Also speaking, Special Adviser to the Governor on Oversees Affairs and Investment, Professor Ademola Abass, recalled the Traffic Summit held by the present administration at inception which to a large extend helped in developing solutions to traffic challenges in the State, saying that the Security Summit was also designed to come up with acceptable and sustainable solutions to the challenges in the sector.

Already, Abass said a British-Nigerian scholar and founder of African Leadership Centre, Professor Funmi Olonisakin has been prepared to deliver a lead paper on Leveraging Global Best Practices for a Security Network for Lagos State, while the Commissioner of Police, CP Imohimi Edgal would present paper on important security data for the State, among other speakers.

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Loading...Home | News | General | Tenure Elongation: Were on same page with Buhari  APC governors insist

Abuja  Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday dismissed media reports that there was disagreement between them and President Muhammadu Buhari over tenure elongation for the APC national and state executives.

From left: Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State; Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State; Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State; Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State arriving for a Press Parley after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 04/04/2018

Gov. Abdul-aziz Yari of Zamfara stated this when he briefed State House correspondents alongside Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo on the outcome of the meeting between the APC governors and the president in Abuja, on Tuesday.

He said that all the 24 governors of the APC were on the same page with President Buhari over the issue of the national leadership of the party.

Yaris audio on APC Govs meeting with Buhari

We have seen so many captions that there is disagreement between the governors over the issue of our party Chairman or about the party leadership.

No, we had a meeting with Mr. President yesterday (Tuesday), and we extended the meeting tonight and we followed up with consultations with the President now.

We consulted and all the 24 governors of the APC are in the same page with Mr President that we are going to respect our party constitution; we are going to respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

According to Yari, the governors have collectively agreed that there should be congresses at local, state and national levels.

He revealed that the committee set up by the National Secretariat of the party headed by Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau would be presenting its report later today.

`The governors are also meeting with the working committee today so that we come up with convention committee names as well as a timetable for the election.

So, there is no deadlock in our meeting, we have progressed and very soon you will have the names of the convention committee members; as well as the timetable.

Gov. Okorocha on his part said, I just want to let you know that there is no crisis in the APC at all and we want to use this opportunity to advise the media to stop spreading rumours of crisis in APC. There is no single crisis in APC.

But let me correct one impression, the issue of congress and convention does not mean that the previous people who have served the party have done badly.

And it does not mean that they cannot come back or that they cannot re-contest, that is not it.

We are simply saying that their tenure has ended and those who wish to re-contest can re-contest and can be elected into our party structure.

So, we are all one as family and we are set to go for 2019 elections in victory. (NAN)

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Loading...The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will soon commence the trial of those listed as looters in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the federal government.

TheCable reports that an EFCC official said presidency has directed the anti-graft agency to swing into action as controversies continue over the publication of a looters list by government.

We are getting the case files ready, the source said but refused to divulge specific details on those to be charged to court.

Many members of the party which formed government at the centre for 16 years are already facing corruption trial, but some were only quizzed.

But the party has continued to accuse the government of witch-hunting its members, an allegation the current administration denies.

The allegations and counter-allegations on corruption took a new dimension when Lai Mohammed, minister of information, released lists of looters last week.

Former governors, ex-senators and those who are not members of the PDP were also listed as looters.

Mohammed had said the government took the action as a response to the challenge of the opposition party.

The PDP has challenged us to name the looters under their watch. They said they did not loot the treasury. Well, I am sure they know that the treasury was looted dry under their watch. Yet they decided to grandstand Some of the people on this list are seeking to plea bargain, and that is a fact, Mohammed had said.

Some of the key PDP members on the list were Uche Secondus, chairman of the party; Stella Oduah, senator representing Anambra north; Jonah Jang, senator representing Plateau north senatorial district; and Peter Nwaboshi, senator representing Delta north.

A majority of those mentioned had denied any wrongdoing and threatened to file legal action. Secondus had given Mohammed an ultimatum of 48 hours to withdraw the list and tender an apology.

Responding to the list, Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the opposition party, said his party would expose looters in Buharis government.

Reno Omokri, a former aide of Jonathan, subsequently wrote an article detailing allegations levelled against some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and top government officials.

Apart from the PDP, critics have accused the government of President Muhammadu Buhari of being selective in its anti-graft war but the current administration has vehemently defended its record.

Here are the names on the looters list:

Most of the persons on the list have denied the allegations.The two-day event features case studies, demos and sessions covering one of the hottest topics in technology today, blockchain.

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Edited by Mandi NowitzCompany breaks narrative by refusing to pull ads from Ingrahams show

Fox News host Laura Ingraham has lost a number of advertisers as part of a boycott organized by Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivor and gun control activist David Hogg.

(Article by Scott Kelnhofer republished from ConservativeTribune.com)

But one advertiser announced Monday he has no plans to take his ads off Ingrahams program.

Mike Lindell, CEO and founder of MyPillow, used his Twitter account to announce his ads are staying on Ingrahams show.

I did not take my advertising down from @IngrahamAngle and @FoxNews, nor do I intend to. @seanhannity  Mike Lindell (@realMikeLindell) April 2, 2018

The calls for an advertiser boycott began last week when Ingraham posted a rather innocuous tweet saying Hogg had whined about not being accepted to four colleges he had applied to.

Hogg viewed that as an attack and followed up with a tweet of his own listing the advertisers on Ingrahams program and suggesting his followers pressure them to remove their ads from the program.

According to Time Magazine, as of Friday afternoon, companies who have pulled ads from Ingrahams show include Atlantis Bahamas, Expedia, Hulu, Jenny Craig, Johnson & Johnson, Liberty Mutual, Nestle, Nutrish, Stitch Fix, TripAdvisor, and Wayfair.

Lindell, a Christian and a conservative, isnt following course, however. And his decision earned praise from a number of people on Twitter.

i'll buy some, and let them sit in the closet until needed. i'd rather spend the money to support a company that supports free speech then spend it on anything else actually.  Alexis  (@xoxalexisdiana) April 2, 2018

Well, looks like Im going to be sleeping on a my pillow!  RuskziBot (@jMOTOrist) April 2, 2018

Im gonna have to get some @MyPillowUSA now. What do they cost? pic.twitter.com/eVIX6kfG6i  Globird (@Globird3) April 2, 2018

Naturally, there were others who responded to Lindells tweet by announcing they would pressure retailers such as Walmart and Kroger to stop selling My Pillow products.

I want Walmart, QVC, and Kroger Co. to send all My Pillows back to Mike Lindell. Send tweets to@Walmart@QVC @kroger @FredMeyerStores Kroger is the parent company for Fred Meyer.  Dawn #FBR #Resist (@DawnRedden2) April 3, 2018

Ingraham apologized for her comment, saying Hogg and any other student should be proud of a 4.2 grade point average. She has been off the air this week for vacation.

Hogg, however, said he refused to accept Ingrahams apology, saying on CNN, a bully is a bully, and its important that you stand up to them.

Meanwhile, in a statement released Monday, Fox News co-president Jack Abernethy defended Ingraham and said the network would not be intimidated by the boycotts.

We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts, Abernathy said. We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children.

Read more at: ConservativeTribune.comSan Jose de las Lajas (Cuba) (AFP) - Cuba's signature rum, Havana Club, competes with the best known brands in the world even though it cannot be sold in the largest rum-consuming market.

In Cuba, there are barrels that have been used to age rum for more than six decades -- as long as the US embargo on the island has been in place -- and that give the liquor distilled from sugar cane its unique flavor.

Hundreds of casks rest in the Havana Club warehouses in San Jose, 30 kilometers from Havana, bathed in a sweet woody aroma redolent of vanilla, while bottle after bottle moves down the production line waiting to be filled.

It was in Cuba 150 years ago that light Spanish-style rum was first created, which through natural aging in white oak casks, blending and skill, has evolved into the softer, darker, more subtle version consumed today.

"We are not afraid to say that for us Cuban rum is the best in the world," says rum master Asbel Morales, 49, who has been making rum for three decades.

Despite the US embargo, global sales of Havana Club, which is available in 120 countries, grew six percent in 2017, led by Germany and France. And China, a big market for Cuban cigars, has huge potential.

"The US represents 39 percent of the global market for premium rum. For political reasons, Havana Club is excluded from that market and yet despite that we are among the three leading rums in the world," marketing director Sergio Valdes told AFP.

According to the latest ranking by Drinks International magazine, Havana Club is among the top three in sales globally along with Plantation and Bacardi.

- Cuban from Cuba-

Since 1993, the brand has been co-owned by the Cuban government's Cuba Ron SA, and French company Pernod Ricard, the number two spirits company in the world.

But the family that owned Havana Club from 1934 until Fidel Castro's revolution expelled them from the country, kept the original recipe, and in 1994 the Arechabalas sold the recipe to Bacardi, another Cuban exile company.

Story continues

A year later Bacardi began selling its own version of Havana Club, produced in Puerto Rico and sold in the US market, with the slogan: "Forced from home. Aged in Exile. Forever Cuban."

Pernod Ricard dismisses the Puerto Rican version as an upstart misleading consumers, and sued Bacardi for using the trademarked brand name -- litigation that continues.

"You can't talk about Cuban rum if you don't have the soil, the temperature, the humidity that exists in Cuba," Morales said. The aging process "is not comparable to anywhere else in the world. It's done naturally with no additives."

And Cuba "has very little pollution," he said. "This makes sugar cane grow more quickly, with a high sugar content and low amount of substances that degrade the molasses," the raw material for rum.

Under former US President Barack Obama relations with Washington thawed, which led Cuba Ron to register the "Havanista" trademark in the United States in preparation to sell a seven-year-old version in the US market if the embargo were lifted.

But that seems unlikely under President Donald Trump, so the rum will just keep aging while it waits.

London-based rum expert Ian Burrell told AFP the three-year-old versions of the two Havana Clubs are very different, and he can pick out the Cuban style -- aged in Scotch and Irish whisky barrels -- in a blind taste test with its light woodiness and citrus notes.

The Bacardi version -- aged in barrels used for American bourbon -- "is lighter compared to the modern-day Cuban rums. So there is a really big difference between the two products," he told AFP.

"To me as a bartender, both rums can be used in different ways as a base for cocktails that showcase their qualities. I find the Cuban version a little sweeter on the palate with the Puerto Rican version drier."

German tourist Curosch Zandi, 41, is a fan.

"Cuban rum? I don't know, there is something special about the taste. Maybe it's about the country," he said after buying a bottle at the Rum Museum in Havana.

- Rum master -

The human touch is key to a rum's flavor.

"The role the rum master plays, what he has in his mind, nose, throat, identify the profile of product he wants to obtain," Morales said.

"Without the master who controls the process from the raw material to the finished product, it is impossible to make Cuban rum."

Burrell says a rum master is "like an artist using a palette," blending rums from different distilling columns to create a final product that matches the desired flavor profile.

In Cuba, there are eight rum masters -- including one woman -- who benefit from a tradition passed from generation to generation.

And those old white oak barrels are critical. They have been used to age whisky, and are essential to the rich color and natural flavors of the rum.

The master selects the specific barrel for each batch and decides how long to age it there. For example, vanilla notes become apparent after 10 years.

The highest quality rums are aged in 60-year-old barrels, in which only oxygen, time and the wood contribute to the smooth liquor's flavor.Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil's supreme court is to rule Wednesday on whether former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva should start a 12 year prison sentence for corruption, potentially upending this year's presidential election.

The court showdown in the capital Brasilia is a key battle for Brazil's deeply polarized electorate ahead of the October polls, in which Lula is currently the heavy favorite, despite his legal problems.

Late Tuesday, up to 20,000 people demonstrated in Brazil's biggest city, Sao Paulo, to demand Lula go to prison and be barred from the election.

More protests -- for and against Lula -- were planned in Brasilia on Wednesday, with demonstrators separated by a metal barrier and heavy police presence.

The head of the army, General Eduardo Villas Boas, tweeted that the military shared Brazilians' "desire for the repudiation of impunity."

The comment, likely to be seen as backing prison for Lula, was a rare foray into politics by a general in a country that was under military dictatorship for two decades until 1985.

Villas Boas also asked "who is really thinking about the good of the country and future generations and who is only worried about personal interests?"

The court was due to start deliberations at 2:00 pm (1700 GMT), but with 11 justices casting votes, the session was likely to be lengthy.

Lula, 72, was sentenced to 12 years and one month prison after being convicted last year of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe from a major construction company seeking government contracts. He appealed in a lower court but lost.

Under current law, that means he should go immediately to prison, even while conducting further appeals. However, Lula has asked the Supreme Court to grant him habeas corpus, allowing him to remain free while pursuing those appeals.

The court is believed to be evenly split on the issue, so that if only one judge changed position it would secure Lula's temporary freedom -- and boost his uphill bid for a third term in office.

Story continues

If the court turns him down, he could face jail this week.

- Hot rhetoric -

Lula left office after two terms between 2003-2010 as Brazil's most popular president on record, but he has since turned into a hugely divisive figure, inspiring adoration on the left and hatred on the right.

"We want Brazil to be freed of this shameful corruption. Imprison Lula and let Brazil turn the page," said Mara Massa, 67, at the protest in Sao Paulo, where the crowd chanted "No more Lula!"

Lula portrays himself as framed by a right-wing judiciary bent on preventing him from returning to power.

He won cheers from a large crowd in Rio de Janeiro late Monday when he portrayed his legal struggle as continuation of his long fight against dictatorship as a young union leader, then founder of the Workers' Party.

"I did not accept the military dictatorship and I will not accept this dictatorship of the prosecutors," he said, insisting on his right to run for office.

Ahead of Villas Boas' unusual comments, an army reservist general lashed out in Estadao newspaper that a Supreme Court ruling that freed Lula would "induce" violence and "fratricidal conflict."

General Luiz Gonzaga Schroeder Lessa, who has a history of making provocative remarks, even appeared to threaten a coup, saying an eventual Lula election victory would "leave no recourse but an armed reaction. The armed forces would have to restore order."

The top court is also under huge pressure from prosecutors like Deltan Dallagnol, who spearhead Brazil's mammoth "Car Wash" anti-graft probe, which has netted scores of high-ranking politicians beyond Lula over the last four years.

On Monday, more than 5,000 judges and prosecutors signed a petition against granting Lula his habeas corpus request.

And on Wednesday, Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge said that allowing convicted criminals to stay free pending several appeals would "annihilate" the justice system.

However, one of the Supreme Court justices, Gilmar Mendes, tried to reassure the nation, saying the court's ruling -- whichever way it went -- would lead to "a calming down, not an increase in conflict."Juliette 

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I like Mia Goth. She reminds me of Shelley Duvall.

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Art sci fi is a fave genre, i'm excite

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The aesthetic looks so pretty.

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looking forward to this

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Pattinson as a convict who volunteers to go into space where strange reproductive experiments are performed him



is it weird that my 1st thought was "i hope he doesn't get pregnant"??

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no sis cause i HOPE HE DOES GET PREG

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SIS ME TOO



GIMME THAT MAINSTREAM MPREG ISH



SERVE ME SEAHORSE EXPERIMENTATION

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I honestly don't know if I'd be into this or not, I've never seen any of her films. Any recs?

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Trouble Every Day! Also Beau Travail, L'intrus, and 35 Shots of Rum

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Her most accessible easily enjoyable films are 35 Shots of Rum, Beau Travail and Chocolat.



If you like those you can work you way into the weirder parts of her filmography.

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High Life: Deep space. Beyond our solar system. A solitary man, whose strict self-discipline is a protection against desire  his own and that of others  Monte fathered a child against his will. His sperm was used to inseminate the young woman who gave birth to her. They were members of a crew of prisoners: space convicts, death row inmates. Guinea pigs sent on a mission to the black hole closest to Earth.



Watching the performances in her movies, you can just feel the freedom she gives her actors. She creates an entire world for them to behave in. And I think having such wide parameters to capture things from means her movies can be built from an enormous amount of incremental details rather than a narrow narrative thrust. Her movies feel like waves building and breaking. --Robert Pattinson

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His sperm was used to inseminate the young woman who gave birth to her.



What?

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The child he fathered is a daughter. Her.

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I love my older French wife

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Juliette Binoche? I met her once, she's lovely.

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I'm jealous tbh

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Yes, I am very ready!! (I hope I like it more than I did Let the Sunshine In. :\ )

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i really hope this goes to cannes

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"British author Zadie Smith is also rumoured to have contributed to the script."



I believe the original story was hers and she was initially working on the script but dropped out of any direct involvement about a year ago. Her husband (can't remember his name) kind of subbed in for her but she's still getting a writing credit.

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The director of Ghost Story, David Lowery, is very excited about High Life. He just put this on his IG stories:





https://www.instagram.com/davidpatricklowery/

Yes, originally Zadie Smith, Nick Laird, Jean-Pol Fargeau and Claire Denis were all working on the script.The director of Ghost Story, David Lowery, is very excited about High Life. He just put this on his IG stories:

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This sounds and looks awesome. Hope it'll get ready in time

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that sounds like it'll be depressing, have there been any good comedies lately

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NATS announced that, working with Leidos and Heathrow Airport, it has launched the world's first fully systemized Optimized Runway Delivery tool. It will improve punctuality at the UK's busiest airport.

NATS, the UK's leading provider of air traffic management services, announced March 27 that, working with Leidos and Heathrow Airport, it has launched the world's first fully systemized Optimized Runway Delivery tool at the airport. The tool, known as enhanced Time Based Separation (eTBS), uses the latest European Wake Vortex Reclassification (RECAT-EU) both for arrivals and departures and will improve punctuality at the UK's busiest airport.

Developed by Eurocontrol, RECAT-EU is a more precise categorization of aircraft than the traditional ICAO one. It aims at safely increasing airport capacity by redefining wake turbulence categories and their associated separation minima, dividing the current Heavy and Medium categories into two sub-categories and creating a new Super Heavy one for the Airbus A380. Its use could significantly reduce airport delays.

eTBS provides air traffic controllers with separation indications to the runway threshold based on RECAT-EU plus Optimized Runway Delivery, which models the compression between aircraft pairs as they slow down to their landing speed. The tools also gives controllers runway occupancy indications for pairs of arriving aircraft when that is more limiting than wake separation, according to NATS, which reported air traffic controllers in NATS' Swanwick control center and Heathrow Airport control tower started using eTBS on March 16. The organization predicts the combination of RECAT and eTBS will increase tactical capacity at the airport by at least one arrival and one departure per hour.

"This enhanced version of TBS is a cornerstone of our new Intelligent Approach air traffic control IT suite, jointly developed by NATS and Leidos. It builds on the success of TBS, which was first introduced for Heathrow in March 2015," said Juliet Kennedy, NATS Operations director. "We are confident eTBS will increasingly enable faster recovery from adverse weather conditions, reduce overall delay, and help mitigate the increasing use of heavier aircraft types."

Alison Bates, head of Service Transformation & Performance at Heathrow Airport Limited, said, "eTBS has been a joint program between Heathrow Airport and NATS and is a great example of the benefit of airport and air traffic control working together. It will help meet Heathrow's flight punctuality goals  bringing noticeable benefits to the airport, airlines, and passengers alike."

Leidos air traffic control systems are used in Air Navigation Service Provider facilities that control more than 60 percent of the world's air traffic.Chinese online services giant Meituan Dianping said Wednesday it would acquire bike-sharing start-up Mobike in a deal reportedly worth more than $3 billion, escalating a turf battle between some of the world's biggest internet companies. The acquisition values Mobike's equity at about $2.7 billion and Meituan will also assume roughly $700 million in debt, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the deal. A joint statement by Meituan and Mobike said the latter would retain its current management and continue to operate as an independent entity. It did not give financial terms or a timetable for completing the deal. The acquisition is the latest salvo in a fight for market share largely pitting e-commerce heavyweight Alibaba against social-media, messaging and mobile game giant Tencent. Alibaba and Tencent -- two of the world's most valuable companies -- are jockeying to build competing all-in-one online-services ecosystems that cater to China's hundreds of millions of digitally-savvy consumers. Meituan's acquisition of Mobike -- both of which are backed by Tencent -- comes just two days after Alibaba announced it was acquiring full ownership of Ele.me, China's leading food delivery firm and Meituan's main rival. Alibaba said that deal valued Shanghai-based Ele.me at $9.5 billion. The Tencent-Alibaba tussle revolves around their competing online payment platforms, WeChat Pay and Alipay, and the fight to add a suite of online services -- from bike rentals to food delivery and e-commerce -- that can be paid for via those digital wallets. In shared bikes Alibaba already backs Mobike's rival, Ofo. Meituan, which began as a group-purchase website offering services similar to Groupon, has expanded to offer a wide range of services, recently adding a ride-hailing app. It is eyeing a possible IPO in Hong Kong, perhaps as early as this year and with a potential valuation of $60 billion, Bloomberg has previously reported. "(The Mobike deal) is quite positive for Meituan as now it fully covers local services of all aspects," Zhou Xin, president of Beijing-based internet consultancy Jkinvest Bigdata, told Bloomberg. "Meituan is becoming a significant force in itself. Yes, it still belongs to the Tencent camp. But within camps, Meituan is also trying to build its own ecosystem." Mobike, Ofo and others have grown rapidly by tapping into the "sharing economy" ethic behind Airbnb and ride-hailing apps such as Uber. Their bikes are unlocked using a smartphone app, cost as little as one yuan (15 cents) an hour in China and can be left anywhere for the next user. Mobike now claims more than 200 million users who take more than 30 million bike trips every day.Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Research published today in Nature has found that many of the viruses infecting us today have ancient evolutionary histories that date back to the first vertebrates and perhaps the first animals in existence.

The study, a collaboration between the University of Sydney, the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, looked for RNA viruses in 186 vertebrate species previously ignored when it came to viral infections.

The researchers discovered 214 novel RNA viruses (where the genomic material is RNA rather than DNA) in apparently healthy reptiles, amphibians, lungfish, ray-finned fish, cartilaginous fish and jawless fish.

"This study reveals some groups of virus have been in existence for the entire evolutionary history of the vertebratesit transforms our understanding of virus evolution," said Professor Eddie Holmes, of the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases & Biosecurity at the University of Sydney.

"For the first time we can definitely show that RNA viruses are many millions of years old, and have been in existence since the first vertebrates existed.

"Fish, in particular, carry an amazing diversity of viruses, and virtually every type of virus family detected in mammals is now found in fish. We even found relatives of both Ebola and influenza viruses in fish."

However, Professor Holmes was also quick to emphasise that these fish viruses do not pose a risk to human health and should be viewed as a natural part of virus biodiversity.

"This study emphasises just how big the universe of virusesthe virospherereally is. Viruses are everywhere.

"It is clear that there are still many millions more viruses still to be discovered," he said.

The newly discovered viruses appeared in every family or genus of RNA virus associated with vertebrate infection, including those containing human pathogens such as influenza virus.

Because the evolutionary histories of the viruses generally matched those of their vertebrates, the researchers were able to conclude that these viruses had long evolutionary histories.

Explore further Researchers capture first representative of most abundant giant viruses in the sea

More information: The evolutionary history of vertebrate RNA viruses, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature The evolutionary history of vertebrate RNA viruses,(2018). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0012-7Investors like the share price rise that buybacks almost always bring

Share buybacks are all the rage among the world's companies, to the delight of many shareholders but not of critics who say they are lazy, short-sighted and mostly designed to enrich corporate fat cats.

Be it Adidas and Total in Europe or Cisco and Boeing in the United States, big names are rushing to announce such buybacks which involve using surplus cash to pick up the company's own stock in the open market.

Usually the shares are then cancelled, meaning the company's value is now spread over fewer shares.

Share buybacks are not new, but 2018 portends to be a particularly big year for such operations.

According to TrimTabs, an independent institutional research firm in the United States, US firms have already announced $226 billion in share buybacks since the beginning of the year.

A JP Morgan analyst expects $800 billion from companies listed on the S&P 500 alone this year, up from $530 million last year, thanks in no small part to tax reforms of US President Donald Trump.

Companies, sitting on big profits from last year when the economy grew briskly, need to decide whether to plough the cash back into the business, or give it back to shareholders, either via dividends or share buybacks.

US firms tend to opt for buybacks, a choice that's becoming more frequent in Europe as well.

"Share buybacks are an option that provides more flexibility than dividends," said William De Vijlder, chief economist at BNP Paribas.

"But for shareholders turns out to be the same, expect for tax treatment," he told AFP.

By going for the shares option rather than a cash payout, companies support their share price, which typically increases in such operations.

As there is less stock in circulation, they also mechanically boost their profits per share, a measure of performance that market analysts consider key.

Some observers suspect that the enthusiasm of top managers for share buybacks may also be motivated by boosting the value of the variable part of their remuneration package which often includes stock options and outright share allocations.

Adidas said last month it would buy back three billion euros worth of stock

"The remuneration incentive of executives based on the share price is without a doubt behind this increase in share buybacks," said Christophe Moussu, a professor at the ESCP Europe business school.

Dividends and share buybacks have doubled in 15 years, he noted.

Wage compression

While most shareholders welcome share buybackswhich can reach billions of dollars per companysome experts call them a manifestation of short-term thinking by corporate leaders.

Larry Fink, the chief executive of the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock, has criticised share buybacks for undermining a company's long-term strategy.

A 2015 study by US economist Heitor Almeida found that share buybacks can have a detrimental effect on research and development spending.

"When a company buys its shares, that is saying it doesn't have anything better to do with its cash, which is somewhat worrying from an investment perspective," said Patrick Artus, chief economist at French corporate and investment bank Natixis.

"There is an issue, but is there a problem?" queried BNP Paribas's De Vijlder.

"We could also ask how shareholders accept companies having way too much cash, which is saying that part of their assets aren't bringing in anything," he added.

For Natixis's Artus, it hasn't been investment that has suffered from the cash spent on share buybacks.

"US companies invest a lot. The cuts haven't been made there, but more on wages, which have under considerable pressure for 20 years," he said.

Artus pointed to another, perhaps unintended, effect of share buybacks: Thanks to share buybacks "there are half as many listed firms in the United States than 20 years ago. US capitalism is gradually becoming non-quoted," he said.

Relying on private capital instead of listed stock means "there is less short-termist pressure," said Artus. "That could have a positive effect on US capitalism in the long term."

Explore further Icahn asks 'undervalued' Apple to boost share buybacks

 2018 AFPThe Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) is a state-of-the-art unique collection of optical cameras, fast light meters and X- and Gamma-ray detectors. Credit: University of Bath

A University of Bath scientist will see over 15 years of work realised today (Monday 2 April), when a scientific experiment his research has contributed towards will be sent into space for the first time.

The Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) is a state-of-the-art unique collection of optical cameras, fast light meters and X- and Gamma-ray detectors, which for the first time, will allow researchers to observe lightning in the Earth's atmosphere with unprecedented detail from space.

ASIM will observe and record the inner anatomy of lightning processes to improve an understanding of the impact of lightning on the atmosphere and infrastructure and it will contribute to more accurate climate models.

The ASIM equipment will make it possible to measure bursts of Gamma-rays  known as TGFs (Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes) emanating from thunderstorms. It will also observe lightning and high-altitude lightning types such as red sprites, blue jets, and gigantic jets  known as TLEs (Transient Luminous Events) - which only last a millisecond to a second in duration. The instruments will run continuously and data collected will be saved and sent to Earth for analysis.

Dr. Martin Fullekrug from the University of Bath is the only UK-based academic involved in the project and has spent over 15 years conducting research into lightning and thunderstorms which has contributed towards the development of ASIM.

The device, which weighs 314 kilograms and is roughly just over a square cubic metre in size, will be mounted on the outside of the International Space Station's (ISS) Columbus module, circulating the globe at 400km altitude. The ISS is the lowest orbiting platform in space in continuous use bringing this observation technology closest to the thunderstorm events and covers all the main thunderstorm regions, making it ideal to observe lightning processes taking place above thunderstorms between ~10-100 km.

A thunderstorm seen from space. Credit: University of Bath

New, unrivalled insight into lightning phenomena

The simultaneous collection of data from the combination of different cameras and sensors provide scientists with new, unrivalled insight into lightning phenomena. This data will also be combined with measurements recorded from geostationary meteorological satellites and ground based observations from all over the world.

Lightning causes many thousands of fatalities and injuries worldwide every year, it can have an impact on infrastructure assets, for example power distribution and railways, and reduce the efficiency of safety critical operations such as aviation. The ASIM space mission is the centre piece of a large-scale collaboration that brings together industry and academia to derive the maximum benefit for society from the knowledge gained.

ASIM is due to be launched on the SpaceX Falcon-9/Dragon rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA at 9.30pm BST and will observe lightning from space over the next 2 years.

The ASIM instrument was built by a number of international partners including Technical University of Denmark (DTU); Danish defence and aerospace manufacturer, TERMA; University of Valencia, Spain; University of Bergen, Norway; Space Research Center, Poland; and Italian aerospace company, OHB-Italia.

The realisation of over 15 years of research

Reader in the University of Bath's Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, Dr. Martin Fullekrug, said: "I have been researching and investigating space and lightning events for over 15 years and the launch of ASIM feels like the pinnacle of my journey into understanding this phenomenon.

"This is the first time such a detailed and technologically-advanced measurement device will be flown into space to observe lightning and will hopefully provide us with new knowledge about how lightning is initiated and how the properties of lightning can affect our daily lives in so many different ways.

Dr. Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency said: "This experiment will give scientists all over the world the opportunity to study the effects of powerful lightning storms from the unique vantage point of the International Space Station. It's another exciting moment for international space collaboration and commercial spaceflight, which the UK Space Agency supports through the Government's Industrial Strategy."

Explore further A space window to electrifying scienceSample of the material. Credit: NUST MISIS

NUST MISIS scientists have developed composites that conduct heat many times better than their counterparts and are even subject to simple and cheap processing. By using the newly obtained technology in modern electronics, it is possible to solve the problem of PCB overheating. The research results were published in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

Electronics can overheat, freezing up, automatically restarting, etc., but this is only the visible part of the problem. With regular overheating, a device simply degrades as elevated temperatures are always dangerous for its inner components. Often, overheating is manifested by regular "freezes" after launching the gadget, or worse, by a blue screen or an unexpected shutdown. Computer and smartphone processors and video cards are the most sensitive to temperature rises, as high temperatures reduce the time of their stable operation. Although modern devices are automatically turned off when a critical temperature is reached, a more normal increase in temperature leads to processor errors and even the chip's breakdown.

To solve this problem, NUST MISIS scientists have proposed a universal method for producing cheap, light composites with high thermal conductivity and profound mechanical properties.

"A material that conducts heat well and doesn't conduct electric current and thus has a polymer base, is potentially cheaper than common analogues in the cycle of production and processing, so that has become our aim," said Dmitry Muratov, one of the study's authors, and senior researcher at the NUST MISIS Department for Functional Nanosystems and High-Temperature Materials.

According to Muratov, the obtained composite is very promising for replacing reinforced layered materials in printed circuit boards or in small electronics' cases where there is noticeable heat generation (for example, diode lamps).

Process control block. Credit: NUST MISIS

The technology implemented at NUST MISIS implies that high-density polyethylene is used as a polymer basis, and hexagonal boron nitride as a material filler. The research team has developed an optimal combination of processing modes to ensure the filler's desired properties.

"As a result, we have achieved positive results. The work demonstrates the strength of the composite based on polyethylene and boron nitride in the amount of 24 MPa, and its thermal conductivity has become at least two or three times higher than that of fiberglass, which is used in analogue devices," said Dmitry Muratov.

Muratov believes the material can effectively replace fiberglass in modern electronics because it doesn't have corresponding disadvantages of toxic epoxy resins in the composition. Besides the fact that the composite removes heat to the desired extentabout 1W/m*Kit is also easy to recycle.

"The economic benefit of our materials is due to the ease of utilization, while fiberglass is extremely difficult to process because its polymer is made of reactive plastics (epoxy resins) that cannot be reused after curing," said Muratov.

Currently, scientists are collaborating with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (U.S.) in th synthesis of two-dimensional materials and studies of their properties. They are looking for a way to dramatically increase the thermal conductivity of composites by using materials where high rates have been theoretically justified.

Explore further Scientists develop elastic metal rods to treat scoliosis

More information: Dmitry S. Muratov et al, Controlling thermal conductivity of high density polyethylene filled with modified hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), Journal of Alloys and Compounds (2017). Dmitry S. Muratov et al, Controlling thermal conductivity of high density polyethylene filled with modified hexagonal boron nitride (hBN),(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2017.11.234

Provided by National University of Science and Technology MISISCredit: Texas State University

Legendary photographer Ansel Adams created many stunning black-and-white landscape images during his lifetime, and one of his most striking masterpieces is "Denali and Wonder Lake" (formerly known as Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake).

Adams considered "Denali and Wonder Lake" significant enough to select it as print number one in his limited edition Portfolio One, published in 1948. Despite taking detailed photographic notes, Adams was notoriously lax in recording the dates of his work, and controversy over when "Denali and Wonder Lake" was taken has persisted for decades.

Now, Texas State University astronomer, physics professor and Texas State University System Regents' Professor Donald Olson has applied his distinctive brand of celestial sleuthing to "Denali and Wonder Lake," precisely determining the date, time and location Adams' created his famous photograph.

Olson publishes his findings in his new book, Further Adventures of the Celestial Sleuth: Using Astronomy to Solve More Mysteries in Art, History and Literature, out now from Springer Praxis Books.

Elusive dates

Adams kept detailed notes on the technical aspects of his photographsexposure time, film type, filters, lens settingsbut information about the location, date and time of his images was often incomplete or contradictory. Such is the case with "Denali and Wonder Lake," taken by Adams in Alaska's Denali National Park and featuring the bright, glassy lake below the snow-covered mountain in the distance. Various sources give the date of the photograph as 1947, while others list it as 1948.

"Denali and Wonder Lake," Denali National Park, Alaska, 1948, photograph by Ansel Adams. Credit: Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona, The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

Although the photograph contained no celestial objects in the sky, Olson suspected he could still use astronomy to resolve the question. A review of records revealed that "Moon and Denali," another well-known Adams photograph, had been created the previous evening. The position of the moon in that image could be used to calculate the date, but first the precise spot Adams had set up his tripod needed to be located.

Adams in Alaska

Using detailed topographic maps, Olson and student Ava Pope pored over the park road leading to Wonder Lake, the route Adams had driven during his visit. The foreground of "Moon and Denali" featured a number of glacier-carved landforms known as cirques. The semi-circular, steep-sided hollows were distinctive enough that Olson and Pope were able to identify three on the topographic maps. Additionally, they identified in the image a foreground peak known as Gunsight Mountain.

This modern image from the Wonder Lake webcam shows the scene at 2:00 a.m. Central Alaska Standard Time on July 15, 2008. Ansel Adams could not have captured his famous photograph, "Denali and Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska," at 1:30 a.m., as claimed on some web sites and other publications, because sunlight is not yet striking the face of the mountain. Credit: Texas State University

Identification of these features provided their exact longitudes, latitudes, and elevations. Using this information, Olson and Pope wrote a computer program that used parallaxhow nearby objects shift relative to background objectsto calculate the view from any location along the park road. The result determined the precise coordinates of the location where Adams photographed "Moon and Denali." The spot was next to the road approximately 8 miles from the Wonder Lake ranger station.

Armed with the location, Olson could now calculate the precise coordinates of the Moon over the mountain, and from that determine the time and date. Entering the data into astronomical software proved that the only time during the Alaskan summers of 1947, 1948 or 1949 the waxing gibbous Moon would appear in that position in the sky was 8:28 p.m. on July 14, 1948.

"Moon and Denali," Denali National Park, Alaska, 1948. Credit: Ansel Adams. Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona, The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust

Back to Wonder Lake

With that date now certain, Olson set about refining the time and location of "Denali and Wonder Lake," taken early the next morning. Again employing topographic maps and parallax to align lake shore features with the distant mountain, the researchers found the precise location Adams set up his tripod to overlook Wonder Lake. Although no celestial objects were visible in the sky of this photograph, Olson and Pope used the size and shape of the dramatic shadows along the mountain's face to extrapolate the position of the sun.

The Texas State researchers determined that Adams created "Denali and Wonder Lake" on July 15, 1948, on 3:42 a.m. Central Alaska Standard Time.

The red dot indicates the location along the park road where Ansel Adams set up his tripod to capture the dramatic image, "Moon and Denali, Denali National Park, Alaska," on July 14, 1948, at 8:28 p.m. Central Alaska Standard Time. Credit: Texas State University

Celestial Sleuth

The research into Ansel Adams is one of several new projects included in Further Adventures of the Celestial Sleuth: Using Astronomy to Solve More Mysteries in Art, History and Literature. The book collects many of Olson's past studies published over the past 25 years and also includes such new topics as the sinking of the British battleship HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow by the German submarine U-47 during the early days of World War II, new insights into famous paintings by Edvard Munch, Claude Monet, Ford Madox Brown and Caspar David Friedrich, plus an explanation of Sancho Panza's method to tell time by starlight in the famous novel Don Quixote, among other topics.

As part of the analysis of Moon and Denali, the appearance of the waxing gibbous Moon at 8:28 p.m. Central Alaska Standard Time on July 14, 1948, was calculated by Roger Sinnott of Sky & Telescope. Credit: Texas State University

The red dot indicates the location on the east side of Wonder Lake where Ansel Adams set up his tripod to capture his dramatic image, "Denali and Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, Alaska." Credit: Texas State UniversityA waxwork of Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg. Credit: Shutterstock

Facebook makes most of its money from advertising, and  as the Cambridge Analytica scandal continues to haunt Mark Zuckerberg's company  users are demanding to know how their data is being wrangled and harvested.

But while concern about Facebook user privacy has spiked, it's been clear since Facebook's inception that its business is based on widespread surveillance of people, whose data is the product.

Some have portrayed the revelations of the Cambridge Analytica scandal  in which data was allegedly harvested from 50m Facebook profiles  as an "existential crisis", while others have highlighted potential implications for academic research.

In short, Facebook's data harvesting methods have become a subject of sudden and widespread concern.

What is data harvesting?

Harvesting data, as its agricultural name suggests, is similar to gathering crops because it involves collection and storage with the expectation of future reward.

Data can be harvested in different ways, ranging from simple copy-and-pasting to more complicated programming. The chosen method is often constrained by the site being harvested. At simple search levels, many sites combat automated harvesting with Google CAPTCHAs and reCAPTCHAs, which help sites differentiate between humans and bots.

If you've ever copy-and-pasted text from Facebook or saved an image from Twitter, you've harvested social media data. The action of "screenshotting" is permitted on most sites because users can usually only access information that is either public or visible to them because they have logged in. Also, it would be impossible to completely eradicate the simplest data harvesting methods, such as making notes and taking photographs.

Facebook and other social networks are more concerned with restricting automated data harvesting, due to demands on web servers and to control who has access to what data (and why). Personal information and behaviour on social media have commercial, political and research value.

Social networks decide their own usage policies, balancing commercial interests with third parties and regulatory user privacy concerns  often described in company documents as juggling the optimisation of "customer behaviour" and adhering to "community standards".

How is data harvested?

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are used by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other sites to restrict would-be harvesters' access. APIs work as a software go-between that allows a researcher or app developer's computer to "talk" to a social network in a controlled way.

Read more: How Cambridge Analytica's Facebook targeting model really worked  according to the person who built it

One of the main conditions involves restrictions on how collected data can be used and shared, which can be pursued aggressively. In 2010, computer programmer Pete Warden harvested data from 210m public Facebook profiles for research purposes. But he failed to seek permission from Facebook first, thereby violating its terms of service. He later faced the threat of legal action from Facebook and was forced to delete the data  in an echo of academic researcher Aleksandr Kogan's alleged part in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Kogan's app, dubbed "thisisyourdigitallife", developed in 2014 through his company Global Science Research (GSR)  separate from his university work  was a personality test that 270,000 users logged into, accepting that it would have access to some of their personal information and some of their friends' data too. It also meant that those friends had not consented to their data being used in this way.

Facebook routinely updates its API and in 2014 the company confirmed it would stop allowing third-party apps to have access to data on the friends of app users. This disabled the data collection method allegedly used by Kogan.

There are a few different ways developers  who are required to agree to Facebook's policies  can harvest data using the company's API and they all assume at least basic computer programming skills. One of the easiest ways to do this is to access the API using a specialist software toolbox  Python and R have tools designed specifically for this purpose. In my research, I use the Rfacebook package to harvest Facebook data.

A key distinction between my app and others is that I'm not interacting with users, because my app isn't live. My app is essentially an automated way to copy-and-paste information from public Facebook groups. I use the Facebook API to research how public community group pages have been used to protest austerity in Ireland.

Because I'm harvesting public data from public pages, I'm not asking users to login and there's no front-end interface on Facebook, although this can be done using Facebook's API toolkits to expand the amount of data that can be accessed. It's a method that raises a number of questions about functionality, user information and access permissions.

Facebook's API can be used to harvest all sorts of publicly available information, like some of The Conversation UK's recent posts or posts in public groups.

But attempts to move beyond public information to harvest data of Facebook users who haven't logged in to the app  such as Zuckerberg, for example  return errors. Facebook "likes" can't be harvested because Zuckerberg isn't a user of my app and he hasn't granted it permission to access his data.

Under Facebook's latest API updates, app permissions are required to harvest any information beyond public profile properties. This means that users have to login to an app and authorise access to any other information to allow developers to harvest the data.

Legimate research under threat?

While ad-stuffed companies clearly have an interest in "leveraging" data, academics  in recent weeks  have drawn attention to researchers who harvest Facebook data. The practice has become relatively mainstream in social sciences research.

The extent to which future research could be restricted by changes to Facebook's API is a pressing one. But it's worth noting that, once data has been harvested, Facebook  which can legally pursue people who "violate" its terms of service to try to force them to delete data  has limited control over where data that ends up.

For researchers who are fretting about how the Cambridge Analytica scandal will affect their work, it's worth keeping an eye on what changes Facebook implements in its next API update. It may provide a better understanding of the type of research that can be permitted from the use of harvested Facebook data  and what may be permanently excluded.

Explore further Firefox maker Mozilla to stop Facebook advertising because of data scandal

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.Writing in Nature today, a group of 12 scholars from across the developing world made an unprecedented call for developing countries to lead on the research and evaluation of solar radiation management (SRM) geoengineering.

Solar radiation management is a controversial idea for reducing some of the impacts of climate change. The leading proposal would involve spraying tiny reflective particles into the upper atmosphere, filtering the sun's energy to mimic the cooling effect of volcanoes.

The consequences of solar geoengineering are still uncertain and developing countries could be most affected by its use. SRM would lower global temperatures and so could reduce some of the harmful effects of climate change that affect poor countries, such as higher temperatures, changes to rainfall patterns and stronger tropical cyclones. But it could have unexpected and damaging side effects, could cause international tensions and could distract policymakers from cutting carbon emissions. Without leadership from the Global South, Northern voices will set the policy agenda and developing countries will be left behind.

Most research to date has taken place in Europe and North America. The Comment in Nature argues that developing countries have the most to gain or lose from SRM and should be central to international efforts to understand the technology.

The Comment's co-signatories are a diverse group of distinguished scientists and NGO leaders, all of whom ran pioneering workshops to expand discussion of SRM in their countries or regions: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Pakistan, the Pacific, the Philippines and Thailand.

Dr Atiq Rahman, Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and the Comment's lead author, said: "Clearly SRM could be dangerous but we need to know whether, for countries like Bangladesh, it would be more or less risky than passing the 1.5C warming goal agreed by the UNFCCC. This matters greatly to people from developing countries and our voices need to be heard".

Prof Paulo Artaxo, a Brazilian physicist and IPCC lead author, who helped organise the first major workshop on SRM in Brazil, agreed: "I support aggressive mitigation and am dubious that SRM will ever be safe enough to use, but developing countries have to lead on research to better understand what it might mean for them".

The Comment is linked to the launch of a new SRM modelling fund for scientists in the South. The DECIMALS fund (Developing Country Impact Modelling Analysis for SRM) will provide grants to scientists who want to understand how SRM might affect their regions. It is being administered by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the SRM Governance Initiative, with funding support from the Open Philanthropy Project. The call for proposals is open until 29 May 2018 and scientists from across the Global South are encouraged to apply if they would like to better understand the impacts of SRM while stimulating a wider conversation about its risks and benefits.

Explore further Climate change could raise food insecurity risk

More information: A. Atiq Rahman et al. Developing countries must lead on solar geoengineering research, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature A. Atiq Rahman et al. Developing countries must lead on solar geoengineering research,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-018-03917-8

Provided by TWASThis ancient stellar jewelry box, a globular cluster called NGC 6397, glitters with the light from hundreds of thousands of stars. The new measurement sets the cluster's distance at 7,800 light-years away, with just a 3 percent margin of error. NGC 6397 is one of the closest globular clusters to Earth. Credit: NASA, ESA, and T. Brown and S. Casertano (STScI) ; Acknowledgement: NASA, ESA, and J. Anderson (STScI)

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have for the first time precisely measured the distance to one of the oldest objects in the universe, a collection of stars born shortly after the big bang.

This new, refined distance yardstick provides an independent estimate for the age of the universe. The new measurement also will help astronomers improve models of stellar evolution. Star clusters are the key ingredient in stellar models because the stars in each grouping are at the same distance, have the same age, and have the same chemical composition. They therefore constitute a single stellar population to study.

This stellar assembly, a globular star cluster called NGC 6397, is one of the closest such clusters to Earth. The new measurement sets the cluster's distance at 7,800 light-years away, with just a 3 percent margin of error.

Until now, astronomers have estimated the distances to our galaxy's globular clusters by comparing the luminosities and colors of stars to theoretical models, and to the luminosities and colors of similar stars in the solar neighborhood. But the accuracy of these estimates varies, with uncertainties hovering between 10 percent and 20 percent.

However, the new measurement uses straightforward trigonometry, the same method used by surveyors, and as old as ancient Greek science. Using a novel observational technique to measure extraordinarily tiny angles on the sky, astronomers managed to stretch Hubble's yardstick outside of the disk of our Milky Way galaxy.

The research team calculated NGC 6397's age at 13.4 billion years old. "The globular clusters are so old that if their ages and distances deduced from models are off by a little bit, they seem to be older than the age of the universe," said Tom Brown of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, leader of the Hubble study.

This video zooms into a Hubble Space Telescope view of globular star cluster NGC 6397. Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

Accurate distances to globular clusters are used as references in stellar models to study the characteristics of young and old stellar populations. "Any model that agrees with the measurements gives you more faith in applying that model to more distant stars," Brown said. "The nearby star clusters serve as anchors for the stellar models. Until now, we only had accurate distances to the much younger open clusters inside our galaxy because they are closer to Earth."

By contrast, about 150 globular clusters orbit outside of our galaxy's comparatively younger starry disk. These spherical, densely packed swarms of hundreds of thousands of stars are the first homesteaders of the Milky Way.

The Hubble astronomers used trigonometric parallax to nail down the cluster's distance. This technique measures the tiny, apparent shift of an object's position due to a change in an observer's point of view. Hubble measured the apparent tiny wobble of the cluster stars due to Earth's motion around the Sun.

To obtain the precise distance to NGC 6397, Brown's team employed a clever method developed by astronomers Adam Riess, a Nobel laureate, and Stefano Casertano of the STScI and Johns Hopkins University, also in Baltimore, to accurately measure distances to pulsating stars called Cepheid variables. These pulsating stars serve as reliable distance markers for astronomers to calculate an accurate expansion rate of the universe.

With this technique, called "spatial scanning," Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 gauged the parallax of 40 NGC 6397 cluster stars, making measurements every 6 months for 2 years. The researchers then combined the results to obtain the precise distance measurement. "Because we are looking at a bunch of stars, we can get a better measurement than simply looking at individual Cepheid variable stars," team member Casertano said.

The tiny wobbles of these cluster stars were only 1/100th of a pixel on the telescope's camera, measured to a precision of 1/3000th of a pixel. This is the equivalent to measuring the size of an automobile tire on the moon to a precision of one inch.

The researchers say they could reach an accuracy of 1 percent if they combine the Hubble distance measurement of NGC 6397 with the upcoming results obtained from the European Space Agency's Gaia space observatory, which is measuring the positions and distances of stars with unprecedented precision. The data release for the second batch of stars in the survey is in late April. "Getting to 1 percent accuracy will nail this distance measurement forever," Brown said.

Explore further Image: A Hubble sky full of starsThe research team collected cores of bottom sediments from three oxbow lakes to trace the history of major floods along the lower Mississippi River. Lakes such as this one (called False River) are former meanders that have become separated from the main river channel. During large floods, river water flows into them again, carrying suspended sediments that settle to the lake bottom -- a 'signature' of flooding that researchers can identify. Credit: (Google Earth, 2018)

A new study has revealed for the first time the last 500-year flood history of the Mississippi River. It shows a dramatic rise in the size and frequency of extreme floods in the past centurymostly due to projects to straighten, channelize, and bound the river with artificial levees.

The new research, led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), also uncovered a clear pattern over the centuries linking flooding on the Mississippi with natural fluctuations of Pacific and Atlantic Ocean water temperatures. This newly recovered long-term record provides a historical context that spotlights how more recent river engineering has intensified flooding to unprecedented levels.

"The floods that we've had over the last century are bigger than anything we've seen in the last 500 years," said Sam Munoz, a former postdoctoral scholar at WHOI and the lead author of the study, published April 5, 2018, in the journal Nature. The research shows that in the past 150 years, the magnitude of the 100-year flooda flood that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given yearhas increased by about 20 percent. The research team found that about three-quarters of that elevated flood hazard can be attributed to human modifications of the river and its basin.

"There's been a longstanding question about the extent to which all the changes we have made to the Mississippi Riverone of the most engineered rivers in the worldhave altered the probability of really large floods," said Munoz, now an assistant professor at Northeastern University.

To answer that question, the scientists used a technique that WHOI paleoclimatologist Jeff Donnelly pioneered in the coastal ocean to track the history of hurricanes: extracting long cores of bottom sediment from lakes and marshes.

"It's sort of the equivalent of sticking a straw in a milkshake, putting your thumb over the top, and pulling it out," said Donnelly, a co-lead on the study. In this case, the "straw" was a 30-foot-long aluminum tube deployed from a small pontoon boat, and the "milkshake" was the mud, sand, and silt at the bottom of three oxbow lakes adjacent to the Mississippi River.

During large floods, faster moving water from the river channel stirs up larger-grained sediments and flows into the usually disconnected lakes, carrying sediments and debris along with it. The material from the river is caught in the lakes and eventually sinks. It forms a layer on the bottom that is subsequently buried over time. The layers are telltale clues of past floods. The deeper the cores, the further back in time the scientists can reach.

The grain size in the layers provides clues to the size of the floods. The larger the flood, the more energy is generated by the river water, and the larger the grains that get deposited in the lakes, said WHOI geoscientist Liviu Giosan, another lead member of the research team. By analyzing grain size and flood size for known flood eventsfor example, the Great Mississippi River flood of 1927Munoz could estimate the sizes of previously unknown floods represented in the sediment cores.

To find out when those floods had occurred, the team used isotopes of lead, cesium, and carbon to date the coarse sediment layers. Zhixiong Shen of Coastal Carolina University used a technique called optically-stimulated luminescencewhich determines a material's age by analyzing when it was last exposed to sunlight. Matthew Therrell of the University of Alabama used annual tree rings to reconstruct a detailed record of more recent regional flooding. Combining these methods, the team traced the history of floods back over 500 yearsabout 350 years further back in time than the oldest written flood records.

Next, they compared what they found to records of naturally oscillating climate cycles that affect sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic and Pacific, such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). They found that the Mississippi's flood cycles corresponded with ocean and climate cycles.

In particular, El Nino events bring more storms and rainfall to central North America, which saturates the ground around the Mississippi. One phase of the Atlantic Ocean oscillation brings extreme rainfall over the Mississippi basin. When the two coincide, flooding is more likely.

"We're able for the first time to really parse out how the natural variability of the climate system influences flooding, and then how people have modified that," Munoz said.

The sediment data also showed that the natural rhythm of flooding caused by ocean changes was greatly amplified by major federally-funded river engineering projects that began after 1928 to facilitate commercial navigation on the river and to protect communities and cropland from floods. The societal benefits of river engineering should be weighed against the risks that more large floods pose to agriculture, infrastructure, and communities, the scientists said. In addition, big floods sweep more pollutants and fertilizers into the Gulf of Mexico, causing oxygen-depleted "dead zones."

Giosan says restoring more natural flood patterns to the river and allowing sediments to flow onto the floodplain during floods would help rebuild the drowning Mississippi delta, whose planned restoration is projected to cost tens of billions of dollars.

According to the team, the next steps will be to dig deeper into the river sediments to extend the flood record even further back in time and to apply this new method to understand what drives flooding on other major rivers systems around the world.

Explore further New study shows seafloor erosion now occurring like coastal land loss

More information: Climatic control of Mississippi River flood hazard amplified by river engineering, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature Climatic control of Mississippi River flood hazard amplified by river engineering,(2018). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature26145An Australian emu. Credit: University of Adelaide

Emus that lived isolated on Australia's offshore islands until the 19th century, including Kangaroo Island, King Island and Tasmania, were smaller versions of their larger mainland relatives  and their overall body size correlated to the size of the islands they inhabited.

Published today in the journal Biology Letters, this was the surprise finding of a University of Adelaide study that analysed the DNA and bone measurements of the now extinct small emus, using both ancient and modern museum specimens. The study revealed that the small stature of the island emus evolved relatively quickly.

Australia's iconic emu is the only living representative of its genus but fossil evidence and reports from early European explorers suggest that three island forms became extinct during the 19th Century. While the King Island emu had already been shown to be of the same species as the Australian mainland emu, little was known about the evolutionary relationships of the others.

"Our results have shown that all the island emus are genetically closely related to the much larger mainland emu," says lead author Dr. Vicki Thomson, an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award Fellow at the University of Adelaide's School of Biological Sciences.

"The leg bones, a measure of overall body size, show size differences from the smallest, found on King Island, to the largest, on the mainland, with Kangaroo Island and Tasmanian emus in between," she says.

"The smallest, the King Island emus, are typically two-thirds of the size of our mainland emus, with others ranging upwards according to the size of their island."

Co-author Dr. Kieren Mitchell, post-doctoral research associate at the University's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, says: "This suggests that island size, and presumably the associated reduced food resources available, may have been important in causing smaller body size in island emus."

Dr. Thomson says, however, that more work needs to be done to confirm the role island size plays in the smaller stature of the extinct island emus.

"We do know that prior to European arrival, Kangaroo Island, King Island and Tasmania had these smaller bodied emus and they would have been isolated from the mainland after sea-levels rose around 10-15,000 years ago.

"The change in body size thus appears to have happened quite quickly, and independently on each island."

Explore further Study shows treeshrews break evolutionary 'rules'

More information: Genetic diversity and drivers of dwarfism in extinct island emu populations, Biology Letters, rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.or  .1098/rsbl.2017.0617 Journal information: Biology Letters Genetic diversity and drivers of dwarfism in extinct island emu populations,Side view of a baboon cranium from Misgrot Cave, South Africa. This is one of the comparative assemblages the authors used in the analysis. Credit: PNAS

An international team of researchers has used a machine learning algorithm to assess whether hominin bones found in caves were placed there as part of a burial service by early human ancestors. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes the factors they fed into the algorithm, and what it revealed.

One of the defining characteristics of humans is our ability to fully understand the nature of our own mortalitywe are all going to die, and we all know it. But when did humans evolve to the point where this became so? Some researchers have suggested that it goes back several hundred thousand years. As evidence, they claim that hominin fossils found in caves in Spain (Sima de los Huesos) and South Africa (Dinaledi Chamber), both from the Middle Pleistocene, were put there by their fellow hominins as a part of a mortuary service, which, of course, suggests a possible understanding of the finality of death and the possibility of an afterlife. Not everyone agrees with that assessment, however. Thus, new ways to test for the possibility arise periodically. In this new effort, the researchers turned to machine learning to shed some light on the debate.

To assess whether the bones at the two sites were placed there intentionally or if they arrived by some other means, the researchers used a learning algorithm to analyze data regarding other burial sites, including those of modern humans, other primates and archaic humans. They then programmed the algorithm to assign the sites to categories such as scavenged corpses, undisturbed human corpses, etc. Then they added data from the caves in Spain and South Africa to see how the algorithm would categorize them.

Partial baboon skeleton from Misgrot Cave, South Africa. This is one of the comparative assemblages the authors used in the analysis. Credit: PNAS

The researchers report that the algorithm assigned both sites to scavenged corpses, which suggests that the bones made their way into the caves via carrion animals carrying them to feed in relative peace. They note that the algorithm did not rule out the possibility of early hominins conducting burial services in general, just in these two cases.

The findings by the team will not settle the debate, of course. Research surrounding the remains in the two caves will undoubtedly continue, with each side using evidence, such as the learning algorithm, to bolster their case.

Explore further Study shows changes in anatomy would have made walking easier without reducing muscles for climbing in early hominins

More information: Charles P. Egeland et al. Hominin skeletal part abundances and claims of deliberate disposal of corpses in the Middle Pleistocene, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018). Charles P. Egeland et al. Hominin skeletal part abundances and claims of deliberate disposal of corpses in the Middle Pleistocene,(2018). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1718678115 Abstract

Humans are set apart from other organisms by the realization of their own mortality. Thus, determining the prehistoric emergence of this capacity is of significant interest to understanding the uniqueness of the human animal. Tracing that capacity chronologically is possible through archaeological investigations that focus on physical markers that reflect "mortality salience." Among these markers is the deliberate and culturally mediated disposal of corpses. Some Neandertal bone assemblages are among the earliest reasonable claims for the deliberate disposal of hominins, but even these are vigorously debated. More dramatic assertions center on the Middle Pleistocene sites of Sima de los Huesos (SH, Spain) and the Dinaledi Chamber (DC, South Africa), where the remains of multiple hominin individuals were found in deep caves, and under reported taphonomic circumstances that seem to discount the possibility that nonhominin actors and processes contributed to their formation. These claims, with significant implications for charting the evolution of the "human condition," deserve scrutiny. We test these assertions through machine-learning analyses of hominin skeletal part representation in the SH and DC assemblages. Our results indicate that nonanthropogenic agents and abiotic processes cannot yet be ruled out as significant contributors to the ultimate condition of both collections. This finding does not falsify hypotheses of deliberate disposal for the SH and DC corpses, but does indicate that the data also support partially or completely nonanthropogenic formational histories. Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

 2018 Phys.orgNew research by scientists shows that when cellular barriers are exposed to metal nanoparticles, cellular messengers are released that may cause damage to the DNA of developing brain cells. The discovery may have implications for the development of potential drug targets in the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. The research was carried out by scientists at Trinity College and the University of Bristol, and is published online this week in Nature Nanotechnology.

Nanoparticles are very small particles of between 1-100 nanometres in size. They are being increasingly used in drug delivery, chemotherapy, imaging and diagnostics due to their ability to travel within organisms by utilising cellular pathways. During their interactions with cell membranes and internalisation into cells, key signalling pathways and processes are altered. In addition to affecting the health of directly exposed cells, the internalisation of nanoparticles can also detrimentally affect neighbouring cells in a manner similar to the radiation-induced bystander effect.

For this particular research, scientists grew a layer of BeWo cells, a cell type widely used to model the placental barrier, in a laboratory on a porous membrane. This cell barrier was then exposed to cobalt chromium nanoparticles and the media under the barrier was later collected and transferred onto cultures of human brain cells, which sustained DNA damage. Confirmatory exposures to maternal mice during embryonic development were also performed that also found exposures resulted in damage to DNA in the hippocampus (part of the brain involved in learning and memory) of the newborn offspring.

The scientists demonstrated that cells in the barriers, processed the nanoparticles by a natural cellular pathway, known as autophagy, leading to those cells generating signaling molecules. These signaling molecules caused DNA damage to the brain cells astrocytes and neurons; this was confirmed as when either autophagy or IL-6 (main cell messenger identified) was blocked, the amount of DNA damage was reduced. These findings support the idea that indirect effects of nanoparticles on cells which is the case in this study might be as important to consider as their direct effects when evaluating their safety.

Importantly, the DNA damage to neurons was dependant on astrocytes being present. Astrocytes are the most common cell type in the brain, which for years were thought to have their major role as a support cell, however, it is now known that they have multiple roles in the brain and can have both positive and negative effects on neighbouring neurons.

Maeve Caldwell, Professor in Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, lead author on the study said: "Astrocytes are the most common cell type in the brain which for many years were considered to play a supportive role to neurons. However, the fact that media from nanoparticle-exposed cellular barriers only damaged neurons when astrocytes were present, provides further evidence that the role of astrocytes in the brain goes way beyond that of providing support to neurons. When astrocytes are stressed (under our experimental conditions) they are capable of damaging neighbouring neurons. This could have implications for developing our understanding of how astrocyte behaviour may affect neuronal health in many neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and hence warrant their continued development as potential drug targets."

These findings demonstrate that nanoparticle damage to brain cells can cause DNA damage that's dependent on astrocytes. This has implications for further studies aimed at developing astrocytes as potential drug targets for neurodegenerative conditions.

Explore further Brain astrocytes linked to Alzheimer's disease

More information: Nanoparticle-induced neuronal toxicity across placental barriers is mediated by autophagy and dependent on astrocytes, Nature Nanotechnology (2018). Journal information: Nature Nanotechnology Nanoparticle-induced neuronal toxicity across placental barriers is mediated by autophagy and dependent on astrocytes,(2018). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/s41565-018-0085-3An artists concept of the low-boom flight demonstrator outside the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Companys Skunk Works hangar in Palmdale, California. Credit: Lockheed Martin

NASA's aeronautical innovators are ready to take things supersonic, but with a quiet twist.

For the first time in decades, NASA aeronautics is moving forward with the construction of a piloted X-plane, designed from scratch to fly faster than sound with the latest in quiet supersonic technologies.

The new X-plane's mission: provide crucial data that could enable commercial supersonic passenger air travel over land.

To that end, NASA on April 2 awarded a $247.5 million contract to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company of Palmdale, Calif., to build the X-plane and deliver it to the agency's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California by the end of 2021.

"It is super exciting to be back designing and flying X-planes at this scale," said Jaiwon Shin, NASA's associate administrator for aeronautics. "Our long tradition of solving the technical barriers of supersonic flight to benefit everyone continues."

The key to success for this mission  known as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator  will be to demonstrate the ability to fly supersonic, yet generate sonic booms so quiet, people on the ground will hardly notice them, if they hear them at all.

Current regulations, which are based on aircraft speed, ban supersonic flight over land. With the low-boom flights, NASA intends to gather data on how effective the quiet supersonic technology is in terms of public acceptance by flying over a handful of U.S. cities, which have yet to be selected.

This modified Northrop F-5E jet was used during 2003 for NASA's Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration program, a successful effort to show that an aircraft's shape can be used to reduce the intensity of the sonic booms it creates while flying supersonic. Credit: NASA

The complete set of community response data is targeted for delivery in 2025 to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) from which they can develop and adopt new rules based on perceived sound levels to allow commercial supersonic flight over land.

Years of sonic boom research, beginning with the X-1 first breaking the sound barrier in 1947  when NASA was the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics  paved the way for the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration X-plane's nearly silent treatment of supersonic flight.

The answer to how the X-plane's design makes a quiet sonic boom is in the way its uniquely-shaped hull generates supersonic shockwaves. Shockwaves from a conventional aircraft design coalesce as they expand away from the airplane's nose and tail, resulting in two distinct and thunderous sonic booms.

But the design's shape sends those shockwaves away from the aircraft in a way that prevents them from coming together in two loud booms. Instead, the much weaker shockwaves reach the ground still separated, which will be heard as a quick series of soft thumps  again, if anyone standing outside notices them at all.

It's an idea first theorized during the 1960s and tested by NASA and others during the years since, including flying from 2003-2004 an F-5E Tiger fighter jet modified with a uniquely-shaped nose, which proved the boom-reducing theory was sound.

NASA's confidence in the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration design is buoyed by its more recent research using results from the latest in wind-tunnel testing, and advanced computer simulation tools, and actual flight testing.

Recent studies have investigated methods to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of supersonic aircraft wings, and sought to better understand sonic boom propagation through the atmosphere.

In this schlieren image, shockwaves are seen starting to form around this T-38. They propagate away from the aircraft and are heard on the ground as a sonic boom. NASA uses this imagery to study shockwaves and learn how to make sonic booms quieter. Credit: NASA

Even a 150-year-old photographic technique has helped unlock the modern mysteries of supersonic shockwave behavior during the past few years.

"We've reached this important milestone only because of the work NASA has led with its many partners from other government agencies, the aerospace industry and forward-thinking academic institutions everywhere," said Peter Coen, NASA's Commercial Supersonic Technology project manager.

So now it's time to cut metal and begin construction.

The X-plane's configuration will be based on a preliminary design developed by Lockheed Martin under a contract awarded in 2016. The proposed aircraft will be 94 feet long with a wingspan of 29.5 feet and have a fully-fueled takeoff weight of 32,300 pounds.

The design research speed of the X-plane at a cruising altitude of 55,000 feet is Mach 1.42, or 940 mph. Its top speed will be Mach 1.5, or 990 mph. The jet will be propelled by a single General Electric F414 engine, the powerplant used by F/A-18E/F fighters.

A single pilot will be in the cockpit, which will be based on the design of the rear cockpit seat of the T-38 training jet famously used for years by NASA's astronauts to stay proficient in high-performance aircraft.

Jim Less is one of the two primary NASA pilots at Armstrong who will fly the X-plane after Lockheed Martin's pilots have completed initial test flights to make sure the design is safe to fly.

NASA research test pilot Jim Less. Credit: NASA / Maria Werries

"A supersonic manned X-plane!" Less said, already eager to get his hands on the controls. "This is probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. We're all pretty excited."

Less is the deputy chief pilot for Low-Boom Flight Demonstration. He and his boss, chief pilot Nils Larson, have already provided some input into things like cockpit design and the development of the simulators they will use for flight training while the aircraft is under construction.

"It's pretty rare in a test pilot's career that he can be involved in everything from the design phase to the flight phase, and really the whole life of the program," Less said.

The program is divided into three phases and the tentative schedule looks like this:

2019  NASA conducts a critical design review of the low-boom X-plane configuration, which, if successful, allows final construction and assembly to be completed.

2021  Construction of the aircraft at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility in Palmdale is completed, to be followed by a series of test flights to demonstrate the aircraft is safe to fly and meets all of NASA's performance requirements. The aircraft is then officially delivered to NASA, completing Phase One.

2022  Phase Two will see NASA fly the X-plane in the supersonic test range over Edwards to prove the quiet supersonic technology works as designed, its performance is robust, and it is safe for operations in the National Airspace System.

2022 to 2025  Phase Three begins with the first community response test flights, which will be staged from Armstrong. Further community response activity will take place in four to six cities around the U.S.

All of NASA's aeronautics research centers play a part in the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission, which includes construction of the demonstrator and the community overflight campaign. For the low-boom flight demonstrator itself, these are their roles:

Ames Research Center, Californiaconfiguration assessment and systems engineering.

Armstrong Flight Research Center, Californiaairworthiness, systems engineering, safety and mission assurance, flight/ground operations, flight systems, project management, and community response testing.

Glenn Research Center, Clevelandconfiguration assessment and propulsion performance.

Langley Research Center, Virginiasystems engineering, configuration assessment and research data, flight systems, project management, and community response testing.

"There are so many people at NASA who have put in their very best efforts to get us to this point," said Shin. "Thanks to their work so far and the work to come, we will be able to use this X-plane to generate the scientifically collected community response data critical to changing the current rules to transforming aviation!"

Explore further NASA hires Lockheed Martin to build quiet, supersonic planeShell is among the world's top climate polluters, according to Friends of the Earth

An environmental campaign group on Wednesday threatened to take Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell to court should it fail to comply with climate targets set out under the Paris Agreement.

"Friends of the Earth Netherlands announced today that they will take Shell to court if it does not act on demands to stop its destruction of the climate," the group said in a statement, accusing the firm of being "among the ten biggest climate polluters worldwide".

The group said Shell promotes gas as a "clean fuel", as it cited research that "shows that Europe cannot continue to use fossil fuels including gas" and meet its climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Shell did not respond to requests for comment from AFP on the threatened lawsuit.

According to Friends of the Earth's Dutch chapter, Shell has two months to take action or else face legal action.

The group said in its statement that the threatened lawsuitsupported by Friends of the Earth's European and international sectionswas the first demanding climate action from a fossil fuels company.

"This ground-breaking case, if successful, would significantly limit Shell's investments in oil and gas globally by forcing them to comply with climate targets," the statement said.

Karin Nansen, chair of Friends of the Earth's global office, said: "This case matters for people everywhere... With this lawsuit we have a chance to hold Shell to account."

The threat comes a month after Amnesty International urged energy-rich Nigeria to re-open investigations into oil spills in its southern delta region after claims that Shell and Italian oil firm ENI misreported the causes.

Shell rejected the allegations, saying they were "false, without merit and fail to recognise the complex environment in which it operates".

The energy giant in February said a major recovery in oil prices enabled it to nearly triple profits in 2017.

Explore further Shell to buy electric vehicle charging providers

 2018 AFPA 15cm wide fragment of the Seymchan iron-nickel meteorite found in Russia in 1967. The long filament of dark grey material in the centre is the phosphorus-rich mineral schreibersite. Credit: M. Pasek / University of South Florida.

Work by Cardiff University astronomers suggests there may be a cosmic lack of a chemical element essential to life. Dr. Jane Greaves and Dr. Phil Cigan will present their results at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Liverpool.

Greaves has been searching for phosphorus in the universe, because of its link to life on Earth. If this elementwith the chemical code Pis lacking in other parts of the cosmos, then it could be difficult for extra-terrestrial life to exist.

She explains: "Phosphorus is one of just six chemical elements on which Earth organisms depend, and it is crucial to the compound adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which cells use to store and transfer energy. Astronomers have just started to pay attention to the cosmic origins of phosphorus and found quite a few surprises. In particular, P is created in supernovaethe explosions of massive starsbut the amounts seen so far don't match our computer models. I wondered what the implications were for life on other planets if unpredictable amounts of P are spat out into space and later used in the construction of new planets."

The team used the UK's William Herschel Telescope, sited on La Palma in the Canary islands, to observe infrared light from phosphorus and iron in the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant around 6500 light years away in the direction of the constellation of Taurus.

Composite of infrared (shown as red), visible (green) and ultraviolet (violet) images of the Crab Nebula, with IR enhanced and visible/UV balanced to yield neutral star colors. Credit: J. Greaves

Cigan, an expert on these stellar remnants, says: "This is only the second such study of phosphorus that has been made. The first looked at the Cassiopeia A (Cas A) supernova remnant, and so we are able to compare two different stellar explosions and see if they ejected different proportions of phosphorus and iron. The first element supports life, while the second is a major part of our planet's core".

The astronomers struggled with foggy nights at the telescope, back in November 2017, and are only just starting to get scientific results from a few hours of data.

Cigan cautions "These are our preliminary results, which we extracted only in the last couple of weeks! But at least for the parts of the Crab Nebula we were able to observe so far, there seems to be much less phosphorus than in Cas A. The two explosions seem to differ from each other, perhaps because Cas A results from the explosion of a rare super-massive star. We've just asked for more telescope time to go back and check, in case we've missed some phosphorus-rich regions in the Crab Nebula."

Spectrum of one position in the Crab Nebula from the William Herschel Telescope, La Palma. Credit: IAC

The preliminary results suggest that material blown out into space could vary dramatically in chemical composition. Greaves remarks: "The route to carrying phosphorus into new-born planets looks rather precarious. We already think that only a few phosphorus-bearing minerals that came to the Earthprobably in meteoriteswere reactive enough to get involved in making proto-biomolecules.

'If phosphorus is sourced from supernovae, and then travels across space in meteoritic rocks, I'm wondering if a young planet could find itself lacking in reactive phosphorus because of where it was born? That is, it started off near the wrong kind of supernova? In that case, life might really struggle to get started out of phosphorus-poor chemistry, on another world otherwise similar to our own."

The researchers now plan to continue their search, to establish whether other supernova remnants also lack phosphorus, and whether this element, so important for complex life, is rarer than we thought.

Explore further Chandra reveals the elementary nature of Cassiopeia ALeft to right: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service District Conservationist Brad Michael and Working Lands for Wildlife Coordinator Emily Heggenstaller meet with private landowners Mike and Laura Jackson to discuss young forest habitat management on their property. Credit: Justin Fritscher

Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment research published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE shows that private landowners trust conservation agencies more and have better views of program outcomes when they accompany conservation biologists who are monitoring habitat management on their land.

Engaging private landowners in conservation and sustaining that interest is critically important, particularly in the eastern United States, where more than 80 percent of land is privately owned. Outreach from conservation professionals can connect private landowners with voluntary conservation programs, such as those administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and could also help keep landowners involved in conservation.

Federal conservation programs funded through the Farm Bill, such as Working Lands for Wildlife and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, provide private landowners with financial and technical assistance to conduct conservation on their lands. Since 2012, efforts through these two programs have helped landowners create young forest habitat to benefit wildlife, such as the at-risk golden-winged warbler.

According to lead author Seth Lutter, a master's student in fish and wildlife conservation, the goal of the research was to understand how effective these habitat programs are from a social perspective. The researchers were interested in evaluating how outreach could influence landowners' program experiences and possibly their future management for wildlife on their land.

Lutter worked with Ashley Dayer, assistant professor of human dimensions in Virginia Tech's Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, to survey landowners to supplement a wider NRCS Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) assessment. The CEAP assessment, led by Jeffery Larkin, professor of biology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and forest bird habitat coordinator with the American Bird Conservancy, evaluates the effectiveness of young forest management in creating quality habitat for the golden-winged warbler and other wildlife species.

The phone survey was conducted with a group of landowners who had participated in NRCS programs to manage young forest since 2012. These landowners had voluntarily allowed biological technicians onto their properties to monitor bird populations and vegetation regrowth as part of the assessment project. Some landowners accompanied these technicians on site visits, while many chose not to. In addition, some landowners received another form of outreachpersonalized mailings that described the birds detected on the monitored property.

The survey investigated landowners' experiences with the habitat program and what they thought the effects of management were for their land and its wildlife. The researchers then compared responses from landowners who had received additional outreach with those from landowners who had not.

Landowners who had accompanied technicians expressed higher trust of the agency and better perceptions of program outcomes. Meanwhile, the mailings contributed to increased landowner knowledge about birds, but did not improve landowner trust of the agency or perceptions of program outcomes.

These findings suggest that outreach, particularly in-person interactions, can have a significant effect on shaping landowner experiences with conservation programs. At a time when funding for agency outreach is tight, these results are particularly important.

"This study shows the value of investing in face-to-face interactions and relationship building," Lutter explained. "Further, the results show an important and unexpected role that biological monitoring technicians can play in building landowner trust with the agency delivering conservation programs."

Dayer and Lutter hope their results will help agencies like NRCS focus their efforts on effective outreach strategies, including training technicians and field staff on landowner interactions, encouraging site visits, and providing feedback to landowners on management outcomes.

"This study gives NRCS a unique perspective on how landowners perceive the conservation planning help we provide them to manage sustainable working lands and emphasizes the importance of including landowners when assessing outcomes of conservation efforts," said Charlie Rewa, the NRCS biologist coordinating CEAP's wildlife component.

Dayer added, "Private landowners are critical to the health of our nation's wildlife populations. Ensuring that conservation programs are designed and delivered in a way that works for landowners and fosters their continued interest in conservation is essential."

Moving forward, Lutter and Dayer will further explore the experiences of landowners in programs to manage young forest in an effort to understand what causes some of them to manage habitat after incentives from conservation programs have ended. This research will build on a literature review about management persistence after conservation programs that Dayer and Lutter published last year.

Dayer, who is affiliated with the Global Change Center housed in Virginia Tech's Fralin Life Science Institute, will also follow up on this study's findings with research into the effects of outreach in the context of biological monitoring for eastern hellbender salamanders in Southwest Virginia.

Explore further Research calls for enhancing long-term benefits of Farm Bill programsMitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) today announced the release of the 2018 Carnegie Mellon Power Sector Carbon Index, at CMU Energy Week, hosted by the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. The Index tracks the environmental performance of U.S. power producers and compares current emissions to more than two decades of historical data collected nationwide. This release marks the one-year anniversary of the Index, developed as a new metric to track power sector carbon emissions performance trends.

"The Carnegie Mellon Power Sector Carbon Index provides a snapshot of critical data regarding energy production and environmental performance," said Costa Samaras, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "We've found this index to provide significant insight into trends in power generation and emissions. In particular, the data have shown that emissions intensity has fallen to the lowest level on record, as a combination of natural gas and renewable power have displaced more carbon intensive coal-fired power generation."

The latest data revealed the following findings: U.S. power plant emissions averaged 967 lb. CO2 per megawatt hour (MWh) in 2017, which was down 3.1 percent from the prior year and down 26.8 percent from the annual value of 1,321 lb CO2 per MWh in 2005 The result of 2016 was initially reported as 1,001 lb/MWh, but was later revised downward to 998 lb/MWh.

"The power industry has made significant progress in reducing emissions for over a decade, as new technology, state and federal policies and market forces have increased power generation from natural gas and renewables, and decreased power generation from coal. As this Change in Power continues, the Carnegie Mellon Power Sector Carbon Index will not only report the results but also provide analysis of the underlying reasons for the changes we're seeing," said Paul Browning, President and CEO of MHPS Americas. "Our team at MHPS is proud to support this important work by Carnegie Mellon researchers."

College of Engineering and Scott Institute for Energy Innovation faculty members Costa Samaras and Ines Azevedo describe their work on the Power Sector Carbon Index. The Index is an open and transparent tool that allows anybody to understand how emissions from the electricity sector have changed over time.

This year, CMU announced enhancements to the Index. New regional information from within the US will be reported, allowing for greater insight into the impact of regional trends on fuel types, usage, and emissions. In addition, the index will begin to incorporate emissions data from other countries across North and South America. As the Index continues to expand, it will serve as a source of objective insight regarding emissions trends across the Americas for policy makers, regulators, utilities, industry analysts and the public.

"We are excited to regionalize and internationalize our work on the Power Sector Carbon Index," said Ines Azevedo, Professor of Engineering and Public Policy, and co-Director of the Climate and Energy Decision Making Center, "and to help educate and support the decision making process regarding emissions reductions."

Explore further Carnegie Mellon University launches carbon emissions indexCredit: CC0 Public Domain

A team of researchers at Lund University has found evidence that suggests a certain protein plays a prominent role in bird navigation. They have published their findings in Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Birds that are able to migrate great distances obviously have some form of navigation systemthey stop at the same places and have very clear destinations in mind. But how do they do it? In recent years, some in the field believed it had to do with iron-rich cells in their beaks serving as mini-compasses, but this theory has had some problems, such as how the birds translate beak sensations to directional signals. In this new effort, the researchers suggest it is not the cells in the beak that are responsible, but a type of protein that exists in their eyes. The researchers came to this conclusion by studying the brains, muscles and eyes of zebra finches. More specifically, they studied Cry1, Cry2 and Cry4, proteins associated with the circadian clock. The researchers found that Cry1 and Cry2 levels tend to rise and fall throughout each day, but Cry4 remains constant, suggesting it has another purpose.

The researchers chose to study these particular proteins because they are made of a type of molecule that sometimes has an odd number of electrons, leaving some unpaired, and thus sensitive to a magnetic field. They also found that Cry4 tends to exist in clusters in a part of the bird retina that tends to get a lot of light and which is sensitive to blue lightthis is important because prior studies have shown that birds are only able to navigate when blue light is available. Taken together, the evidence suggests that the protein plays a strong role in navigation.

The study does not prove that the Cry4 protein is the key to bird navigation, but it makes a strong case for it. Earlier this month, a Danish and German team of researchers studying robins found that Cry4 levels also remain constant each day, but rise during the migratory season.

Explore further Migratory birds eye-localized magnetoreception for navigation

More information: Atticus Pinzon-Rodriguez et al. Expression patterns of cryptochrome genes in avian retina suggest involvement of Cry4 in light-dependent magnetoreception, Journal of The Royal Society Interface (2018). Atticus Pinzon-Rodriguez et al. Expression patterns of cryptochrome genes in avian retina suggest involvement of Cry4 in light-dependent magnetoreception,(2018). DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2018.0058 Abstract

The light-dependent magnetic compass of birds provides orientation information about the spatial alignment of the geomagnetic field. It is proposed to be located in the avian retina, and be mediated by a light-induced, biochemical radical-pair mechanism involving cryptochromes as putative receptor molecules. At the same time, cryptochromes are known for their role in the negative feedback loop in the circadian clock. We measured gene expression of Cry1, Cry2 and Cry4 in the retina, muscle and brain of zebra finches over the circadian day to assess whether they showed any circadian rhythmicity. We hypothesized that retinal cryptochromes involved in magnetoreception should be expressed at a constant level over the circadian day, because birds use a light-dependent magnetic compass for orientation not only during migration, but also for spatial orientation tasks in their daily life. Cryptochromes serving in circadian tasks, on the other hand, are expected to be expressed in a rhythmic (circadian) pattern. Cry1 and Cry2 displayed a daily variation in the retina as expected for circadian clock genes, while Cry4 expressed at constant levels over time. We conclude that Cry4 is the most likely candidate magnetoreceptor of the light-dependent magnetic compass in birds. Journal information: Journal of the Royal Society Interface

 2018 Phys.orgCredit: Oregon State University

The coastal marten, a small but fierce forest predator, is at a high risk for extinction in Oregon and northern California in the next 30 years due to threats from human activities, according to a new study.

The study, published today in the online journal PeerJ, will be available to federal and state wildlife agencies for their consideration to determine whether distinct geographic population segments of the coastal marten warrant state or federal listing as threatened or endangered, said Katie Moriarty, a certified wildlife biologist and lead co-author on the study.

"Martens are like the river otters of the woods," Moriarty said. "But they can be vicious little critters, too. When you capture one and it's growling at you from inside a cage, there is no mistaking its intent. They're the size of kittens and act like they'll attack a pit bull."

Some threats to coastal martens include trapping and being hit by cars, said Moriarty, an Oregon State University graduate now with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. Martens are trapped for their fur throughout Oregon with no bag limit.

"This study provides the most conclusive evidence yet of risk to a coastal marten population," she said. "It's the only robust population estimate of a marten population in the Pacific states."

Martens are rare in the coastal forests of Oregon and northern California. A different subspecies of martens thrives in the high elevation forests within the Cascade mountains. Martens resemble a cross between a fox and a mink, with bushy tails and large paws with partially retractable claws. Coastal martens were petitioned for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 2010, but withdrawn for consideration by the fish and wildlife service in 2015. Last year, the U.S. District Court for Northern California denied the withdrawal, and the fish and wildlife service is now collecting information on marten populations for a decision to be made in October.

"This marten population is now so small that it is in imminent danger of extinction, which would leave martens without a source population to recolonize the central and northern coast of Oregon," said Taal Levi, a professor of wildlife biology in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences and a co-author on the study.

Martens once ranged throughout coastal forests throughout Oregon to the northern California wine country. Extensive surveys revealed that the coastal marten population is now restricted to two populations, one in southern Oregon and Northern California, and another small population in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, west of U.S. Highway 101 in central Oregon.

To determine how many martens are in the Oregon Dunes, the researchers live-trapped and attached radio collars to 10 adult martens (six females, four males) and set 31 remotely triggered cameras in the study area that could identify unique patterns on collars. Statistical models were then used to estimate the number of martens based on the frequency in which uniquely marked martens were seen on camera.

Their population assessment revealed that the central Oregon population of coastal martens is likely fewer than 87 adults divided into two subpopulations separated by the Umpqua River. Using a population viability analysis, they concluded that the extinction risk for a subpopulation of 30 martens ranged from 32 percent to 99 percent.

In the short term, limiting human-caused deaths of the coastal martens would have the greatest impact on the animal's survival, said Moriarty, who has studied the animals for several years. In the long term, the species requires more habitat, which perhaps could be accomplished by making the adjacent federal land in Siuslaw National Forest suitable for martens.

Explore further Study shows forest thinning changes movement patterns, habitat use by martensLeo Aerospace plans to use 'rockoons' (high altitude balloons) that left rockets about 11 miles (18 kilometers) above Earth, where there is 95 percent less atmosphere to cause drag. That makes the rockoon less expensive to launch than a traditional rocket. The system works only for microsatellites. Credit: Purdue University

A Purdue University-affiliated startup is seeking to open up access to space for microsatellite companies by modernizing a launch technique first used in the 1950s.

Leo Aerospace LLC plans to use "rockoons," or high-altitude balloons, that launch rockets into suborbital and orbital flights. Suborbital launches are frequently used by researchers who need access to zero gravity or vacuums for experiment, while orbital flights are used by satellites.

Officials of Leo Aerospace, which took its name from Low Earth Orbit, say the company will revolutionize the space industry by giving priority service to microsatellite developers that now are secondary payloads for large rocket companies. Currently, developers have to wait to see if there is room left on large rockets carrying government payloads and often have to wait six months or more to find space on a rocket, a delay that can be quite costly. Those microsatellite developers also have limited options on which orbit their satellites are delivered to and when they are launched.

"We're targeting the microsatellites by saying, 'You don't have to ride-share with anyone. We can guarantee you will be our only payload and we will be focused on you,'" said Drew Sherman, Leo Aerospace's head of vehicle development. "'We will work with you exclusively to get you into orbit. You won't have to worry about other payloads or getting dropped off in the wrong spot.'"

Abishek Murali, head of mission engineering, said a selling point for Leo Aerospace will be its flexibility and ability to meet customers' needs.

The company can tailor its launch vehicles and its operational capabilities to the exact needs of its clients.

"Our goal is to give people access to space. The only way to do that right now is to help people get their satellite into orbit. That's where we want to leave our mark," he said.

Leo Aerospace plans to harness physics to cut costs and expand mission capabilities.

The cost of sending a satellite into space can be up to $60,000 a kilogram. Leo Aerospace is confident it can lower that cost to launch microsatellites, which can weigh 1 to 50 kilograms. The rockoon, a hybrid of a rocket and high-altitude balloon, is less expensive to deploy than a traditional rocket since there is less drag because the rocket isn't launched until the balloon is 11 miles above Earth, where there is 95 percent less atmosphere to cause drag.

Leo Aerospace LLC was started by five then-Purdue University students as a club and then turned into a business. The founders are, from left, Mike Hepfer, head of product development; Drew Sherman, head of vehicle development; Abishek Murali, head of mission engineering; Dane Rudy; chief executive officer; and Bryce Prior, head of operations and strategy. Credit: Purdue University

"By doing that you can scale your rocket down much more efficiently," said Sherman, who is pursuing a master's degree at Purdue in engineering management with an emphasis on propulsion.

Leo Aerospace conducted a customer discovery and market validation study through the National Science Foundation I-Corps program and found a large demand to deploy microsatellites.

The rockoon was first used by the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s. Leo Aerospace can precisely launch the rocket by controlling the pitch and angle using core integration technology, for which it has filed patents.

The company's goal is to launch its first suborbital flight by 2020 and use these funds combined with a series B funding round, to launch its first satellite into orbit in 2022. Its long-term goal is to increase launch frequency as operations develop. The company has done some preliminary analysis work and some hardware testing.

Leo Aerospace plans to initially launch the rockoons from existing spaceports licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The spaceports stretch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Kodiak Island in Alaska.

Leo Aerospace plans to reuse the balloons for future launches, but the rockets will be used only once, said Murali, who is pursuing a graduate degree at Purdue in engineering management with an emphasis on dynamics and control systems.

Leo Aerospace is now looking for funding to get off the ground. The company won $15,000 in March through the Burton D. Morgan Business Model Competition. Leo Aerospace already has raised more than $130,000 of its $250,000 goal through Netcapital, a private equity and venture capital firm.

People interested in investing can get more information here. The company plans to seek Series A funding in the next two years.

The company was started by five then-Purdue students as a club that they then decided to turn into a business, receiving guidance from the Purdue Foundry, an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship at Purdue. The rocket scientists developed their business plan and learned what they needed to do to move forward.

"We want to be part of the space market," Murali said. "People are interested in space and creating technologies that not only can operate in space but also help people back on Earth. What we're trying to do is help them get there."

Explore further Rocket Lab successfully sends rocket into orbitArtist's impression of all the space junk in Earth orbit. Credit: NASA

This past weekend, a lot of attention was focused on the Tiangong-1 space station. For some time, space agencies and satellite trackers from around the world had been predicting when this station would fall to Earth. And now that it has safely landed in the Pacific Ocean, many people are breathing a sigh of relief. While there was very little chance that any debris would fall to Earth, the mere possibility that some might caused its share of anxiety.

Interestingly enough, concerns about how and when Tiangong-1 would fall to Earth has helped to bring the larger issue of orbital debris and reentry into perspective. According to the SDO, on average, about 100 tonnes of space junk burns up in Earth's atmosphere every year. Monitoring these reentries and warning the public about possible hazards has become routine work for space debris experts.

This junk takes the form of defunct satellites, uncontrolled spacecraft, the upper stages of spent rockets, and various discarded items (like payload covers). Over time, this debris is slowed down by Earth's upper atmosphere and then succumbs to Earth's gravitational pull. Where larger objects are concerned, some pieces survive the fiery reentry process and reach the surface.

In most cases, this debris falls into the ocean or lands somewhere far away from human settlement. While still in orbit, these objects are tracked by a US military radar network, the ESA's Space Debris Office, and other agencies and independent satellite trackers. This information is shared in order to ensure that margins of error can be minimized and predicted reentry windows can be kept narrow.

Radar images acquired by the Tracking and Imaging Radar system  one of the worlds most capable  operated by Germanys Fraunhofer FHR research institute. Credit: Fraunhofer FHR

For the SDO team, these efforts are based on data and updates provided by ESA member states and civil authorities they are partnered with, while additional information is provided by telescopes and other detectors operated by institutional and private researchers. One example is the Tracking and Imaging Radar (TIRA) operated by the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques near Bonn, Germany.

This is a challenging task, and often subject to a measure of imprecision and guesswork. As Holger Krag, the head of ESA's Space Debris Office, explained:

"With our current knowledge and state-of-the-art technology, we are not able to make very precise predictions. There will always be an uncertainty of a few hours in all predictions  even just days before the reentry, the uncertainty window can be very large. The high speeds of returning satellites mean they can travel thousands of kilometres during that time window, and that makes it very hard to predict a precise location of reentry."

Of the 100 tonnes that enters our atmosphere every year, the vast majority are small pieces of debris that burn up very quickly  and therefore pose no threat to people or infrastructure. The larger descents, of which there are about 50 per year, sometimes result in debris reaching the surface, but these generally land in the ocean or remote areas. In fact, in the history of spaceflight, no casualties have ever been confirmed by falling space debris.

Tiangong-1 as seen in a a composite of three separate exposures taken on May 25, 2013. Credit: David Murr

The ESA also takes part in a joint tracking campaign run by the Inter Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, which consists of experts from 13 space agencies. In addition to the ESA, this committee includes several European space agencies, NASA, Roscosmos, the Canadian Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Indian Space Research Organization, the China National Space Agency, and the State Space Agency of Ukraine.

The purpose of these campaigns is for space agencies to pool their respective tracking information from radar and other sources. In so doing, they are able to analyze and verify each other's data and improve prediction accuracy for all members. The ESA hosted the 2018 campaign, which followed the reentry of China's Tiangong-1 space station as it entered Earth's atmosphere this weekend  the details of which are posted on the ESA's Rocket Science blog.

"Today, everyone in Europe relies on the US military for space debris orbit data  we lack the radar network and other detectors needed to perform independent tracking and monitoring of objects in space," said Krag. "This is needed to allow meaningful European participation in the global efforts for space safety."

While predicting when and where space debris will reenter our atmosphere may not yet be an exact science, it does have one thing going for it  its 100% safety record. And as the Tiangong-1 descent showed, early warning and active tracking ensure that potential threats are recognized well in advance.A digital reconstruction shows how atoms in a nanoparticle with crystal facets react when that nanoparticle collides with another of similar shape and size in a vacuum. The atoms turn blue when they are in contact with the opposing nanoparticle, which is not shown. In a new study, such reconstructions helped to reveal that nanoparticles with crystal facets are better at transferring energy during collisions than nanoparticles with a more spherical shape. Credit: Yoichi Takato

Helmets that do a better job of preventing concussions and other brain injuries. Earphones that protect people from damaging noises. Devices that convert "junk" energy from airport runway vibrations into usable power.

New research on the events that occur when tiny specks of matter called nanoparticles smash into each other could one day inform the development of such technologies.

Using supercomputers, scientists led by the University at Buffalo modeled what happens when two nanoparticles collide in a vacuum. The team ran simulations for nanoparticles with three different surface geometries: those that are largely circular (with smooth exteriors); those with crystal facets; and those that possess sharp edges.

"Our goal was to lay out the forces that control energy transport at the nanoscale," says study co-author Surajit Sen, PhD, professor of physics in UB's College of Arts and Sciences. "When you have a tiny particle that's 10, 20 or 50 atoms across, does it still behave the same way as larger particles, or grains? That's the guts of the question we asked."

"The guts of the answer," Sen adds, "is yes and no."

"Our research is useful because it builds the foundation for designing materials that either transmit or absorb energy in desired ways," says first author Yoichi Takato, PhD. Takato, a physicist at AGC Asahi Glass and former postdoctoral scholar at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan, completed much of the study as a doctoral candidate in physics at UB. "For example, you could potentially make an ultrathin material that is energy absorbent. You could imagine that this would be practical for use in helmets and head gear that can help to prevent head and combat injuries."

An illustration shows cross sections of two largely spherical nanoparticles before and after they collided at 31 meters per second in a computer simulation. Individual atoms within the particles are depicted as tiny dots. Scientists studying nanoparticle collisions generated images like these for many different crash types, such as those involving different velocities and different nanoparticle shapes. Credit: Yoichi Takato

The study was published on March 21 in Proceedings of the Royal Society A by Takato, Sen and Michael E. Benson, who completed his portion of the work as an undergraduate physics student at UB. The scientists ran their simulations at the Center for Computational Research, UB's academic supercomputing facility.

Additional multimedia not available through EurekAlert! can be found at http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2018/04/008.html.

What happens when nanoparticles crash

The new research focused on small nanoparticlesthose with diameters of 5 to 15 nanometers. The scientists found that in collisions, particles of this size behave differently depending on their shape.

A digital reconstruction shows how individual atoms in two largely spherical nanoparticles react when the nanoparticles collide in a vacuum. In the reconstruction, the atoms turn blue when they are in contact with the opposing nanoparticle. Credit: Yoichi Takato

For example, nanoparticles with crystal facets transfer energy well when they crash into each other, making them an ideal component of materials designed to harvest energy. When it comes to energy transport, these particles adhere to scientific norms that govern macroscopic linear systemsincluding chains of equal-sized masses with springs in between themthat are visible to the naked eye.

In contrast, nanoparticles that are rounder in shape, with amorphous surfaces, adhere to nonlinear force laws. This, in turn, means they may be especially useful for shock mitigation. When two spherical nanoparticles collide, energy dissipates around the initial point of contact on each one instead of propagating all the way through both. The scientists report that at crash velocities of about 30 meters per second, atoms within each particle shift only near the initial point of contact.

Nanoparticles with sharp edges are less predictable: According to the new study, their behavior varies depending on sharpness of the edges when it comes to transporting energy.

A digital reconstruction shows how atoms in a largely spherical nanoparticle react when that nanoparticle collides with another of similar shape and size in a vacuum. The atoms turn blue when they are in contact with the opposing nanoparticle, which is not shown. In a new study, such reconstructions helped to reveal that largely spherical nanoparticles are better at absorbing energy during collisions than nanoparticles with crystal facets. Credit: Yoichi Takato

Designing a new generation of materials

"From a very broad perspective, the kind of work we're doing has very exciting prospects," Sen says. "It gives engineers fundamental information about nanoparticles that they didn't have before. If you're designing a new type of nanoparticle, you can now think about doing it in a way that takes into account what happens when you have very small nanoparticles interacting with each other."

Though many scientists are working with nanotechnology, the way the tiniest of nanoparticles behave when they crash into each other is largely an open question, Takato says.

"When you're designing a material, what size do you want the nanoparticle to be? How will you lay out the particles within the material? How compact do you want it to be? Our study can inform these decisions," Takato says.

Explore further On the rebound

More information: Yoichi Takato et al, Small nanoparticles, surface geometry and contact forces, Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Science (2018). Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society A Yoichi Takato et al, Small nanoparticles, surface geometry and contact forces,(2018). DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2017.0723The "Lofotr" viking ship and the smaller "femkeiping". Both recosntructions based on excavations from the Gokstad find. Credit: Geir Are Johansen/Wikipedia

A pair of researchers with ELTE Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary has run computer simulations that suggest that tales of Vikings using a sunstone to navigate in cloudy weather might be true. In their paper published in Royal Society Open Science, Denes Szaz and Gabor Horvath describe the factors that contributed to their simulations and what they found by running them.

For the time period 900 to 1200 AD, Vikings, by nearly all accounts, ruled the northern Atlantic. Their skill in building strong boats and in navigation allowed them to travel throughout the North Atlantic. Prior research has suggested the Vikings used a type of sundial to navigate, which was apparently quite accurate. But what did they do when it was cloudy or foggy? Viking tales passed down through the generations claimed it was through the use of sunstones, which allowed Viking navigators to find the sun even on cloudy days. But proving the tales true has been problematicno sunstone has ever been found on or near a Viking shipwreck. A crystal was found on a 16th-century English shipwreck in 2002and English sailors could have learned to use them from the Vikingsbut much stronger evidence is needed.

Most who have studied the possibility of a sunstone assume it was a form of crystalit has been noted that some crystals, such as those formed from calcite, cordierite, and tourmaline, can split sunlight into two beams even when it is cloudyand when the crystal is turned, splitting the two beams at the same brightness, a navigator could see the polarized rings around the suneffectively showing its placement in the sky.

Szaz and Horvath noted that thus far, no one has actually tested the use of such crystals to navigate from Norway to Iceland, Greenland, or even North America, likely because one or two excursions would not be enough to prove its usefulness, especially if it was not cloudy very often during such a journey. A better approach, they thought, would be computer simulations of multiple trips from one single point in Norway to one point in Greenland. After inputting data describing such trips, the researchers ran the simulations multiple times over the course of two specific virtual days, the spring equinox and the summer solstice. They ran the trials for different types of crystals and with differing intervals between sunstone tests.

The researchers report that they found mixed results overall, depending on which type of crystal was used and how often a mariner made a sun reading. In the best-case scenario, however, they found that using a cordierite crystal for a minimum of every three hours was approximately 92.2 to 100 percent accurate.

Explore further Experimentation suggests Vikings could have used sunstone to navigate

More information: Success of sky-polarimetric Viking navigation: revealing the chance Viking sailors could reach Greenland from Norway, Published 4 April 2018. Success of sky-polarimetric Viking navigation: revealing the chance Viking sailors could reach Greenland from Norway, Published 4 April 2018. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.172187 Abstract

According to a famous hypothesis, Viking sailors could navigate along the latitude between Norway and Greenland by means of sky polarization in cloudy weather using a sun compass and sunstone crystals. Using data measured in earlier atmospheric optical and psychophysical experiments, here we determine the success rate of this sky-polarimetric Viking navigation. Simulating 1000 voyages between Norway and Greenland with varying cloudiness at summer solstice and spring equinox, we revealed the chance with which Viking sailors could reach Greenland under the varying weather conditions of a 3-week-long journey as a function of the navigation periodicity t if they analysed sky polarization with calcite, cordierite or tourmaline sunstones. Examples of voyage routes are also presented. Our results show that the sky-polarimetric navigation is surprisingly successful on both days of the spring equinox and summer solstice even under cloudy conditions if the navigator determined the north direction periodically at least once in every 3 h, independently of the type of sunstone used for the analysis of sky polarization. This explains why the Vikings could rule the Atlantic Ocean for 300 years and could reach North America without a magnetic compass. Our findings suggest that it is not only the navigation periodicity in itself that is important for higher navigation success rates, but also the distribution of times when the navigation procedure carried out is as symmetrical as possible with respect to the time point of real noon. Journal information: Royal Society Open Science

 2018 Phys.orgIn the college biology classroom, men perceive themselves as smarter, even when compared to women whose grades prove they are just as smart. And, ASU researchers were surprised to find that women were far more likely to underestimate their own intelligence than men. Credit: Sandra Leander/ASU

If you believe it, you can achieve it. You've probably heard this motivational phrase more than once. But what if your beliefs about your own intelligence compared to others come down to your gender?

A first-of-its-kind study shows that in the college biology classroom, men perceive themselves as smarter, even when compared to women whose grades prove they are just as smart. The study, published April 4 in the journal Advances in Physiology Education, shows that gender greatly impacts students' perceptions of their own intelligence, particularly when they compare themselves to others.

Katelyn Cooper, a doctoral student in the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences and lead author of the study, has talked with hundreds of students as an academic advisor and those conversations led to this project.

"I would ask students about how their classes were going and I noticed a trend," shared Cooper. "Over and over again, women would tell me that they were afraid that other students thought that they were 'stupid.' I never heard this from the men in those same biology classes, so I wanted to study it."

The ASU research team asked college students enrolled in a 250-person biology course about their intelligence. Specifically, the students were asked to estimate their own intelligence compared to everyone in the class and to the student they worked most closely with in class.

The researchers were surprised to find that women were far more likely to underestimate their own intelligence than men. And, when comparing a female and a male student, both with a GPA of 3.3, the male student is likely to say he is smarter than 66 percent of the class, and the female student is likely to say she is smarter than only 54 percent of the class.

In addition, when asked whether they are smarter than the person they worked most with in class, the pattern continued. Male students are 3.2 times more likely than females to say they are smarter than the person they are working with, regardless of whether their class partners are men or women.

A previous ASU study has shown that male students in undergraduate biology classes perceive men to be smarter than women about course material, but this is the first study to examine undergraduate student perceptions about their own intelligence compared to other people in the class.

Is this a problem?

"As we transition more of our courses into active learning classes where students interact more closely with each other, we need to consider that this might influence how students feel about themselves and their academic abilities," shared Sara Brownell, senior author of the study and assistant professor in the school. "When students are working together, they are going to be comparing themselves more to each other. This study shows that women are disproportionately thinking that they are not as good as other students, so this a worrisome result of increased interactions among students."

Brownell added that in a world where perceptions are important, female students may choose not to continue in science because they may not believe they are smart enough. These false perceptions of self-intelligence could be a negative factor in the retention of women in science.

Cooper said: "This is not an easy problem to fix. It's a mindset that has likely been engrained in female students since they began their academic journeys. However, we can start by structuring group work in a way that ensures everyone's voices are heard. One of our previous studies showed us that telling students it's important to hear from everyone in the group could be enough to help them take a more equitable approach to group work."

Explore further Your gender may affect how you perceive a woman's anxiety in STEM

More information: Advances in Physiology Education, DOI: 10.1152/advan.00085.2017On the summit of Piz Linard in the Swiss Alps, 3410 meters above sea level, the botanists could identify 16 plant species, where in 1835 only one individual of one species had been found: The alpine rock-jasmine (Androsace alpina). Among the new species are several that a century earlier had never been found to grow at such altitudes. Credit: Hansueli Rhyner, SLF, Switzerland

It is not as lonely at the top as it used to be. At least not for plants which, due to global warming, are increasingly finding habitats on mountain tops that were formerly reserved for only the toughest and most hardy species. Over the past 10 years, the number of plant species on European mountain tops has increased by five times more than during the period 1957-66. Data on 302 European peaks covering 145 years shows that the acceleration in the number of mountain-top species is unequivocally linked to global warming.

A large international research team has not only ascertained a considerable increase in the number of plant species on 302 European mountain peaks over the past 150 years; they have also found that this increase is accelerating. Moreover, it is certain that this development is linked to rises in temperatures; changes in precipitation and nitrogen input could not explain the increase.

Therefore, the researchers have demonstrated that the flora is trying to keep pace with the consequences of accelerating anthropogenic impacts on all the Earth's system.

During the decade from 1957-1966, the number of species on each of the 302 mountain tops increased by 1.1 species on average. Since then, the trend has accelerated: From 2007-2016, on average, 5.5 new species moved up to the 302 summits.

The researchers have only been able to count the plant species that have already responded to the temperature rise and actually have moved upwards. They have not studied the number of species that might be on the way upwards.

Dr. Sonja Wipf identifying a tiny Draba species on Piz Murter in Switzerland, 2.836 meters above sea level. Credit: Hans Lozza, Parc Naziunal Svizzer.

Competitive immigrants

However, the results of the new study, which has recently been published in the journal Nature, has not yet prompted researchers to sound the alarm.

The study does not show how much the increase in new plant species on summits has displaced existing species that have been growing at these heights for centuries. However, the figures do indicate that this might be happening or will happen in the future.

"Some of the species, which have adapted to the cold and rocky conditions on mountain summits, will probably disappear in the long term. They have nowhere else to go, and they can't develop rapidly enough to be able to compete with the new arrivals, which are taller and more competitive under warmer climates," explained the main author of the study, Manuel Steinbauer.

Even though it is likely that highly specialised species on mountain summits will be out-competed in the future, this is not absolutely certain. Manuel Steinbauer says, "The species that move upwards often come from grassland above the tree line. But they can't survive everywhere on the mountain top, so it's not certain that they will be a threat to all the existing species up there. The local soil conditions and micro-climates also play a role."

Manuel Steinbauer analysed the huge volumes of data while he was working at the Department of Bioscience at Aarhus University, funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. He is now a professor at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU).

"Even though the existing species on mountain tops are not acutely endangered, the strong acceleration in the effects of global warming on plant communities on the peaks does give cause for concern, as we expect far stronger climate change toward 2100," explained professor and VILLUM Investigator Jens-Christian Svenning from the Department of Bioscience at Aarhus University, who has also been involved in the research project.

Average species richness change (in species numbers) on mountain summits over time (lower part of panels) compared to mean annual temperature over time (upper part of panels). Nobs indicates the number of summits/surveys within the mountain region providing data for the respective panel. Tcor indicates the correlation between rate of change in species richness and rate of change in temperature. Credit: Manuel Steinbauer/Nature

A unique study

The new study was conducted by researchers from 11 European countries, and it could not have been completed anywhere, other than in Europe.

Not because the plants were afraid of heights in the other parts of the world, but because only in Europe is there data on how plant species have moved since the 1870s.

Therefore, the researchers have not only climbed up the mountains many times to register flora meticulously: some of them have also delved into the 150 years of records fastidiously kept by hundreds of botanists around Europe, while they botanised on the same mountains.

"Mountain peaks have the great advantage that they don't move. Therefore, we can be sure that we have investigated precisely in the same places as the botanists of the past. We wouldn't be able to compare the old records from mountainsides or valleys with our own investigations if we couldn't be sure that we had looked at the same places. Of course, at that time there was no GPS," said Dr. Sonja Wipf from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, WSL in Davos, Switzerland.

Future-proof data from the past

One of the many botanists was the Swiss professor, Josias Braun-Blanquet (1884-1980), who more than a century ago predicted that this type of study may be necessary:

"In order to create a solid foundation for the future, I investigated numerous mountain peaks in detail. [...] On the basis of a comprehensive description of locations, it will not be difficult to verify my species lists, and an increase or decrease of species richness in the future will be possible to detect with high certainty," he wrote (in German) in one of his major works, Die Vegetationsverhaltnisse der Schneestufe in den Ratisch-Lepontischen Alpen. Ein Bild des Pflanzenlebens an seinen auersten Grenzen in 1913.

"We're confident that this old data is of high quality. And to make sure that our own new data is also good, on several of the summits we've had two people climb up to gather data independently of each other," said Sonja Wipf, who has been responsible for collecting much of the new data.

"Braun-Blanquet's foresight has given us food for thought. Without his fascination for understanding the distribution of plant species on mountain peaks, we wouldn't have been able to ascertain that the effects of global warming are accelerating. This is a really good example of the importance of non-targeted research and fascination for understanding complexity in nature," said Associate Professor Signe Normand from the Department of Bioscience at Aarhus University, who also participated in the research project.

Explore further Climate change is shrinking mountain hares' habitat in the Alps

More information: Manuel J. Steinbauer et al, Accelerated increase in plant species richness on mountain summits is linked to warming, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature Manuel J. Steinbauer et al, Accelerated increase in plant species richness on mountain summits is linked to warming,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0005-6Credit: University of California - Berkeley

Low-achieving, non-white and poor students stand to gain the most academically from attending charter schools but are less likely to seek charter school enrollment than higher-achieving, more advantaged students who generally live closer to charter schools, according to research from the University of California, Berkeley.

UC Berkeley economist Christopher Walters says in his paper, "The Demand for Effective Charter Schools," forthcoming in the Journal of Political Economy, that examination of charter middle school enrollment in Boston suggests a need to adjust the schools' selection processes by expanding parental outreach and education, and targeting neediest students to better realize charter schools' educational potential while reducing achievement gaps between racial and socioeconomic groups.

He says he was surprised that students with larger achievement benefits are less likely to apply to Boston's charter schools in the Boston Public Schools, Massachusetts' largest school district, which boasts an unusually large share of charter students.

Instead, BPS charter applicants tend to have higher socioeconomic status and fewer academic problems than students who do not apply to charters, are less likely to qualify for subsidized lunches, to have special education status, or to be classified as limited English proficient.

"In the literature on school choice programs, it is often assumed that higher-benefit kids will be more likely to opt in to these programs, either because they may be less satisfied with the effectiveness of their other schooling options or because they have some information about whether the program is a good match," Walters says.

But in Boston, New York and most other cities," writes Walters, decentralized charter school application systems require parents to take steps beyond the usual school choice process, possibly erecting logistical barriers for some high-benefit families.

Time for a change?

Enrollment in Massachusetts charter schools is open to all students living in the local school districts. Students interested in more than one charter school have to submit an application to each school. Charter school admissions are determined by a random lottery when applications exceed the number of available classroom seats. However, in Boston's traditional schools, lists are maintained of student preferences for schools and a streamlined, single offer is generated for each student.

It turns out, Walters says, that while most charter applicants submit just one application, an offer to enter into a charter lottery increases the probability of charter attendance by 64 points, and a one-mile increase in the distance of an applicant's residence from a charter school decreases the probability of charter attendance by 2.6 percentage points.

But Walters says his findings "suggest that this is not the right way of thinking about who decides to participate in school choice programs, at least for Boston charter schools."

The school choice process differs in important ways across American cities, and Walters says that the institutional details could make a difference in terms of who chooses charter schools and other alternative schooling options.

Some cities, such as Denver, for example, are set up where charters and traditional public schools are combined into a single application process, while in Boston the charter application process operates outside the traditional public school choice system.

Walters says that Boston has tried to expand outreach to students who might otherwise be less likely to apply to charter schools. In 2010, Massachusetts passed a law allowing some Boston charter operators to expand to new campuses. As part of this law, schools were also required to increase recruitment efforts for high-need students, as measured by special education, subsidized lunch status and other factors.

New, as-yet-not-peer-reviewed research by Walters, Sarah Cohodes and Elizabeth Setren looks at the new expansion charter schools, or those allowed to expand existing campuses or to open new schools in the district after being deemed by the state as "proven providers" with track records of success.

The latest study suggests that expansion charters enroll a more representative mix of students and remain as effective as their "parent" campuses.

Charter lessons uncertain

One original motivation for charters was to allow more experimentation with new school models, which seems to have uncovered some very effective approaches and others that are less so, Walters says.

"At the same time, most students still attend traditional public schools and that is likely to remain the case," he says. "It is an open question how the lessons that have been learned from effective charters in Boston and elsewhere can be generalized to serve more students."

Most Boston charter schools follow a model that features extended instruction time, strict behavior codes, an emphasis on traditional reading and math skills, selective teacher hiring, and teacher monitoring  a combination that other research indicates boost student achievement. In 2010-2011, some 12 percent of Boston middle-schoolers attended charters, which then numbered 14.

Walters based his "Demand for Effective Charter Schools" research on demographic data including race, sex, subsidized school lunch status, English proficiency and special education status; school attendance; as well as math and reading achievement test score data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He also tapped into statistics about charter applications and lottery offers collected by individual charter schools from the 2001-2013 school years.

Charters and economic equality

His research was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, and an Institute for Education Sciences award. Walters' research focuses on school choice, school effectiveness and early childhood interventions.

He says his research into the economics of education was spurred by an interest in economic inequality.

"There is convincing evidence that conditions in early life can affect kids' long-term economic outcomes," Walters says, "so the education system is an area where changes in public policy may have particularly important impacts on inequality. There are also a variety of interesting recent policy experiments in this area and good data sets that can be used to study their effects."

Explore further Charter school practices in Michigan similar to public schools

More information: Can Successful Schools Replicate? Scaling Up Boston's Charter School Sector: Can Successful Schools Replicate? Scaling Up Boston's Charter School Sector: eml.berkeley.edu/~crwalters/papers/replicates.pdf The Charter School Movement: 25 Years in the Making, a free E-book and comprehensive guide to charter school education produced in 2016 by Education Week: www.edweek.org/ew/marketplace/  ?intc=highsearch-ewp Journal information: Journal of Political EconomyA composite image of the Western hemisphere of the Earth. Credit: NASA

An Ohio University geologist who first proposed the now-accepted supercontinent cycle theory in the 1980s has rallied to the cause of one of those supercontinents, Pannotia, that is in danger of being overlooked.

Dr. Damian Nance, Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences, said the supercontinent cycle is known to have had a profound influence on the course of Earth history and the evolution of its oceans, atmosphere and biosphere, and is now thought to be, in addition, the dominant influence on the circulation of the Earth's mantle, even fundamentally affecting the behavior of Earth's magnetic field.

"We now know a whole lot more about what's going on between the surface and the Earth's core," Nance said. "It seems quite clear now that the supercontinent cycle plays an enormous role in the circulation of the material in the earth's mantle, and that has an impact on the Earth's magnetic field. It's taken the implications of the cycle to a whole new level. That's really pretty fundamental stuff."

Nance and Ohio University colleague Tom Worsley proposed the supercontinent cycle in the early 1980s. Based on data available at the time, they proposed the existence of five supercontinents that pre-dated the well-known Pangaea supercontinent. Some of them have been accepted, such as the supercontinent Rodinia, which came together about 1,100 million years ago, and Columbia, which broke up some 400 million years before that. However, the most recent pre-Pangaean supercontinent, Pannotia, is still subject to disagreement. Nance and Worsley argued that it came into existence about 600 million years ago.

"When we first put forward this supercontinent cycle idea, this was one of the supercontinents we had identified from the data we had at that time, and we weren't the only ones who have done so," Nance said. "In the intervening 20 or 30 years, an awful lot has been made of some of the earlier supercontinents we had proposed, but this one has been shortchanged, largely because the database which has allowed these things to be identified has not been able to nail this one down very successfully."

The understanding of much of that data has changed since the 1980s, he added. Another group had published a paper in the 1980s that documented the breakup of a supercontinent, later called Pannotia. But later dating suggested this breakup occurred at around the same time it would have formed, leading some to question whether it ever actually existed. However, subsequent changes to the geologic time scale indicates a broader gap for Pannotia to have existed, he said.

The new paper, published by Nance and colleague Brendan Murphy of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada, is titled "Supercontinents and the case for Pannotia." It was published by the Geological Society of London. Nance and Murphy argue that the recognition of past supercontinents need not rely solely on continental reconstructions, but can also exploit a variety of phenomena that accompany their assembly and breakup.

For example, supercontinent assembly is accompanied by worldwide mountain building as the continents collide, just as evidence of continental rifting will accompany supercontinent breakup. Similarly, supercontinent assembly fosters extinctions as surface conditions change and habitats are destroyed, whereas breakup fosters radiations as new habitats are created.

Supercontinents also affect the world's sea level, ocean chemistry and climate in predictable ways and produce an array of isotopic signals that can be identified in rocks. When the geologic record is examined for evidence of these accompanying phenomena, the case for Pannotia is unmistakable, they argue. The time interval encompassed by the assembly and breakup of Pannotia was accompanied by some of the most profound changes in Earth history, changes that were heralded by widespread mountain building, followed by global evidence of continental breakup, and affected the Earth's oceans, atmosphere, biosphere and climate just as predicted.

These signals, Nance and Murphy caution, argue strongly for the existence of Pannotia, and to ignore them and dismiss this supercontinent is to potentially overlook the profound changes in mantle circulation that likewise accompany the assembly and breakup stages of the supercontinent cycle.

Explore further Australia on path to join supercontinent 'Amasia'Credit: petrmalinak, Shutterstock

If we are to have truly smart cities our transport systems will have to be more cost-effective, safer and sustainable. Perhaps most of all they will need to be more integrated, as the EU-funded project MFDS demonstrates.

The stated aim of the EU's 'smart, green and integrated transport' initiative is to build a European transport system that is 'resilient, resource-efficient, climate- and environmentally friendly, safe and seamless for the benefit of all citizens, the economy and society.'

In contribution, the EU-funded MFDS project has developed a versatile and affordable 'Intelligent Transport System' offering several functions including wrong-way driver detection, traffic congestion detection, vehicle counting by vehicle classification and parking accounting. The core innovation of MFDS is the system's ability to perform its functions simultaneously, while remaining low-cost to buy and install, as well as running on minimum power. The project's feasibility study has demonstrated that the system will be of interest to multiple EU markets.

Over and above state-of-the-art alternatives

A standard 'Multi-Functional Detection System' (MFDS) consists of six delineator posts which distribute a secure radio field across the target path, detecting and classifying objects with 100 % precision. The system can be placed at car park entrances and exits or on highways, reporting vehicle details to a web portal in real time. Beyond categorisation, the innovative sensors mean that the system can detect the direction, size and speed of vehicles. This proved the most difficult aspect of MFDS, as project coordinator Mr Dennis Dorn recalls, "The challenge has been developing the novel sensors to be able to detect and classify the traffic accurately enough to pass the required standards and certifications."

The data accrued by MFDS can be viewed centrally through the web portal or redistributed securely via interfaces and the cloud, to motorists or the relevant authorities. Crucially the system can be integrated into existing guide posts or bollards, making installation it more cost-effective and seamless.

During the recently closed Phase 1 of the project, the team developed a Feasibility Study. The subsequent market study, incorporating customer feedback, has paved the way the creation of a new company (S-Tec GmbH) and for Phase 2. Phase 2 will identify strategic collaborators, scope legislative requirements and plan the technical and commercial groundwork to include finalising the system for multiple scenarios and markets.

Elements of the system have already been assessed on the German Ministry of Transport test tracks. The first MFDS application selected for rollout in late 2018, is the car park accounting (without classification) functionality. Amongst additional features, Phase 2 should see the roll-out of car park accounting classification, alongside wrong-way driving detection. As Mr Dorn explains, "Speaking with the relevant authorities has given us the idea of a multifunctional use of the system, such as including parking and traffic counting." Ultimately the target is for over 6 500 units to be deployed across the EU by 2024.

Benefiting all road users

The system can work across many markets. As Mr Dorn summarises, "The system will benefit all road users, with road safety increased especially on highways, parking spaces better utilised and congestion significantly reduced, by connecting traffic management with municipal parking spaces. Everyone can also use the data to better plan the management of resources, from authorities with the deployment of staff, to lorry drivers planning the timing of their rest breaks." There are also commercial markets, for example with the offer of parking space accounting for stadiums or exhibition spaces.

To make these full benefits tangible there are a number of challenges the team are working to overcome. The system must first be further developed and tested, especially for the public market, which means stress testing the innovative sensor technology  the core of the system  to ensure reliability regardless of weather conditions. This will then lead to the production and assembly of the system.

Explore further How self-driving cars could shrink parking lotsCredit: CC0 Public Domain

A Columbia University-led team of astrophysicists has discovered a dozen black holes gathered around Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The finding is the first to support a decades-old prediction, opening up myriad opportunities to better understand the universe.

"Everything you'd ever want to learn about the way big black holes interact with little black holes, you can learn by studying this distribution," said Columbia Astrophysicist Chuck Hailey, co-director of the Columbia Astrophysics Lab and lead author on the study. "The Milky Way is really the only galaxy we have where we can study how supermassive black holes interact with little ones because we simply can't see their interactions in other galaxies. In a sense, this is the only laboratory we have to study this phenomenon."

The study appears in the April 5 issue of Nature.

For more than two decades, researchers have searched unsuccessfully for evidence to support a theory that thousands of black holes surround supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of large galaxies.

"There are only about five dozen known black holes in the entire galaxy100,000 light years wideand there are supposed to be 10,000 to 20,000 of these things in a region just six light years wide that no one has been able to find," Hailey said, adding that extensive fruitless searches have been made for black holes around Sgr A*, the closest SMBH to Earth and therefore the easiest to study. "There hasn't been much credible evidence."

He explained that Sgr A* is surrounded by a halo of gas and dust that provides the perfect breeding ground for the birth of massive stars, which live, die and could turn into black holes there. Additionally, black holes from outside the halo are believed to fall under the influence of the SMBH as they lose their energy, causing them to be pulled into the vicinity of the SMBH, where they are held captive by its force.

While most of the trapped black holes remain isolated, some capture and bind to a passing star, forming a stellar binary. Researchers believe there is a heavy concentration of these isolated and mated black holes in the Galactic Center, forming a density cusp which gets more crowded as distance to the SMBH decreases.

In the past, failed attempts to find evidence of such a cusp have focused on looking for the bright burst of X-ray glow that sometimes occurs in black hole binaries

"It's an obvious way to want to look for black holes," Hailey said, "but the Galactic Center is so far away from Earth that those bursts are only strong and bright enough to see about once every 100 to 1,000 years." To detect black hole binaries then, Hailey and his colleagues realized they would need to look for the fainter, but steadier X-rays emitted when the binaries are in an inactive state.

"It would be so easy if black hole binaries routinely gave off big bursts like neutron star binaries do, but they don't, so we had to come up with another way to look for them," Hailey said. "Isolated, unmated black holes are just blackthey don't do anything. So looking for isolated black holes is not a smart way to find them either. But when black holes mate with a low mass star, the marriage emits X-ray bursts that are weaker, but consistent and detectable. If we could find black holes that are coupled with low mass stars and we know what fraction of black holes will mate with low mass stars, we could scientifically infer the population of isolated black holes out there."

Hailey and colleagues turned to archival data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory to test their technique. They searched for X-ray signatures of black hole-low mass binaries in their inactive state and were able to find 12 within three light years, of Sgr A*. The researchers then analyzed the properties and spatial distribution of the identified binary systems and extrapolated from their observations that there must be anywhere from 300 to 500 black hole low-mass binaries and about 10,000 isolated black holes in the area surrounding Sgr A*.

"This finding confirms a major theory and the implications are many," Hailey said. "It is going to significantly advance gravitational wave research because knowing the number of black holes in the center of a typical galaxy can help in better predicting how many gravitational wave events may be associated with them. All the information astrophysicists need is at the center of the galaxy."

Hailey's co-authors on the paper include: Kaya Mori, Michael E. Berkowitz, and Benjamin J. Hord, all of Columbia University; Franz E. Bauer, of the Instituto de Astrofisica, Facultad de Fisica, Pontificia, Universidad Catolica de Chile, Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Vicuna Mackenna, and the Space Science Institute; and Jaesub Hong, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Explore further Study shows first evidence of winds outside black holes throughout their mealtimes

More information: Charles J. Hailey et al, A density cusp of quiescent X-ray binaries in the central parsec of the Galaxy, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature Charles J. Hailey et al, A density cusp of quiescent X-ray binaries in the central parsec of the Galaxy,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/nature25029Researchers fitted common terns with geolocators (on the bird's leg) to track their movements. Credit: C. Henderson

The Common Tern is most widespread tern species in North America, but its breeding colonies in interior North America have been on the decline for decades despite conservation efforts. The problem, at least in part, must lie elsewhereand a new study from The Auk: Ornithological Advances presents some of the best information to date on where these birds go when they leave their nesting lakes each fall.

The University of Minnesota's Annie Bracey and her colleagues attached geolocatorssmall, harmless devices that record a bird's location over time based on day lengthto 106 terns from breeding colonies in Manitoba, Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York. When the birds returned to their breeding grounds in the following years, the researchers were able to recapture and retrieve data from 46 birds. The results show important migratory staging areas in the inland U.S. and along the Gulf of Mexicoa surprise, since it was previously thought that most Common Terns head for the Atlantic coast before continuing south. Birds from different colonies intermingled freely in the winter, but most ended up on the coast of Peru, suggesting that the population could be especially vulnerable to environmental change in that region.

For long-lived birds such as Common Terns, adult survival likely drives population trends more than breeding productivity, so identifying causes of mortality is crucial for effective conservation. Coastal Peru is vulnerable to multiple effects of climate change, including increasingly frequent and severe storms, changes in the availability of terns' preferred foods, and rising sea levels. "Because survival is lowest during the non-breeding season, identifying coastal Peru as a potentially important wintering location was significant, as it will help us target studies aimed at identifying potential causes of adult mortality in this region," says Bracey.

"This paper is both important and interesting, because it takes a species we consider 'common' and examines the reasons for its decline," adds Rutgers University Distinguished Professor of Biology Joanna Burger, a tern conservation expert who was not involved in the research. "In short, this is one of the first studies that examines the entire complex of terns breeding in inland US locations, along with migratory routes, stopover areas, and wintering sites. It vastly increases our knowledge of the causes of declines and the locations and times at which terns are at risk, and more importantly, provides a model for future studies of declining populations."

Explore further Common terns stay with the same partner for life even though they have poor breeding success

More information: "Migratory routes and wintering locations of declining inland North American Common Terns" The Auk: Ornithological Advances, DOI: 10.1642/AUK-17-210.1 "Migratory routes and wintering locations of declining inland North American Common Terns"Elephant collaring. Credit: WWF / Joakim Odelberg

In Tanzania, the government, with support from WWF, has launched the country's largest ever elephant collaring effort to protect its dwindling elephant population. With almost 90 per cent of the elephants lost over the last 40 years in the Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage site, enhancing rangers' ability to guard the remaining ones from poaching is essential to rebuilding the population.

In a project spanning 12 months, 60 elephants are expected to be collared in and surrounding the Selous. This will enable reserve management and government rangers to track elephant movements, identify and act against threats in real-time. The use of satellite collars is a proven effective measure to monitor wildlife movements and provide enhanced security.

The data collected through the collars will help teams predict where the elephants and their herds are moving to anticipate the dangers they may face, such as the risk of encountering poachers. It can also alert teams if the herd is heading toward community settlements to help move them away from farmlands and reduce the risk of human-elephant conflict.

"In a landscape as vast as Selous where poaching continues, better information on the whereabouts of elephants is critical to anticipate the risks they may encounter, including fatal attacks by poachers," said Asukile Kajuni, Deputy Programmes Coordinator for the Elephant and Ruvuma landscape programmes, WWF-Tanzania. "The collars mark an important first step in the zero poaching approach we are taking by enabling wildlife protection teams to be on the front foot against poaching attacks."

"The key to the success of elephant collars is ensuring all relevant teams have access to the data to help inform decision making. The project will provide secured elephant movement data on a mobile phone to enable key security and research personnel to access the data.

An elephant herd in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. Credit: WWF / Rob Beechey

"WWF is also working with local communities, training village game scouts, and with wildlife crime investigators and prosecutors to ensure they are appraised of the severity of crimes and perpetrators are handed appropriate sentences."

In the past 40 years, rampant poaching of elephants for ivory has seen the population in Selous decimated, with numbers plunging to around 15,200 from 110,000. In 2014, UNESCO placed Selous on its List of World Heritage in Danger due to the severity of elephant poaching.

WWF is working with the government to adopt a zero poaching approach using a tool kit to protect the country's elephants and ecosystems in one of Africa's last wilderness areas. Zero poaching involves not just tackling poaching incidents but identifying the signs of poaching activities like snares and poachers' camps. On the ground, it involves action on several key areas; from ensuring there are enough properly equipped rangers to working closely with the local communities surrounding the protected area. It also includes working with prosecutors and judges to ensure that when poachers are brought to trial they face penalties that can act as a deterrent.

"Achieving a world free of poaching is an ambitious goal but just the kind of commitment we must deliver if we want to tackle the world's biodiversity crisis and ensure our future generations know and admire elephants and other species in the wild," said Margaret Kinnaird, WWF Wildlife Practice Leader. "Every year, on average, 20,000 elephants are killed for their tusks in Africa  this is unacceptable and must stop now."

Last week, two elephants from the Selous Game Reserve population were collared in the adjoining Mikumi National Park. To collar an elephant, the animal is first sedated by an immobilisation dart. When the elephant is sedated, the team moves in to attach the collar while gathering health data about the elephant. This takes a total of up to 30 minutes, following which the elephant is given an antidote to revive and join its herd.

Ongoing since 20 March, the elephant collaring activity will continue until November 2018.

Explore further Elephants in Tanzania reserve could be wiped out by 2022April 4, 2018 in Software (E)

[prMac.com] Florence, Italy - Independent development team, River SRL today is proud to announce the release and immediate availability of Sparkle 2.5.3, an important update to their visual web designer for macOS systems. Sparkle allows anyone to easily build beautiful, custom websites, without being constrained by canned templates or web-based website interfaces.



Sparkle offers users a fully freeform canvas, making it easy for visual thinkers to design their customer websites without the need to be versed in HTML, CSS, or browser compatibility and web performance details. The app produces fully optimized code, including responsive images, CSS shapes, and other cutting-edge features.



"The complexity of building a responsive website today is so high that many people simply give up and resort to using a customized WordPress theme, or a cookie-cutter template, resulting in websites all looking the same," says River SRL co-founder Duncan Wilcox. "We designed Sparkle to be used by visual thinkers who simply don't have the time or inclination to learn HTML, CSS, and other technologies, simply to build a website."



Sparkle offers a freeform canvas interface, making it easy to build any website. The interface is designed to be more like a graphic designer app than a webpage layout app. While the app is easy-to-use, it produces fully-optimized code, making use of modern web features and implementing best practices under the hood.



Features Include:

* Fully freeform canvas - Perfect for visual thinkers

* Drop in images, videos, MP3 music, downloadable files, and more

* Access to hundreds of web fonts

* Visual contact form creator

* Built-in Google Maps generator

* Ability to design for desktop, tablet, and smartphone screens

* Live preview of the site on computers and mobile devices

* Integrates with ecommerce tools such as Shopify, PayPal, and many more

* Advanced SEO

* Analytics and Tag Manager

* Twitter and Facebook sharing

* Site verification, robots.txt, and sitemap.xml all built-in

* Produces fully optimized code

* Built-in incremental FTP capabilities

* Native macOS interface

* Close integration with other Mac apps

* Much more



Sparkle allows anyone to create landing pages in just a few minutes. The app is the perfect way to test ideas, focusing fully on content and layout without worrying about arcane HTML and CSS layout code. Sparkle's freeform layout means anyone can create a website, without being constrained by a template, or worrying about the results looking just like everyone else's WordPress template-based website.



Users love Sparkle:



"We used to create comps in Photoshop for developers. With Sparkle we have our sites up and running in hours rather than weeks." - Hossein Farmani, Founder and Curator, The Lucie Awards, IPA - International Photography Awards



"We use Sparkle to create hundreds of quick landing pages to test our marketing strategies, Sparkle has saved us many hours of development time." - David Tera, Director of Marketing, IDA - Int'l Design Awards.



"I have tried out many different tools to create websites, but none of them can top Sparkle." - Philip Amour, Product Designer



What's New in 2.5.3:

* Added text wrapping around images

* Significantly improved text layout precision and accuracy

* Added advanced text settings and text shadows

* Added image color filters

* Added per-image links and labels on image galleries

* Added Google Tag Manager support

* Added local business metadata editor

* Added HTML id customization

* Improved file format to reduce system resource usage

* Improved video player compatibility

* Improved publishing compatibility with many web hosts



"Duncan and I spent years coding websites and writing HTML parsers, and we were growing frustrated with the state of web design tools and their technological complexity," shares River SRL co-founder Daniele Trambusti. "So, in 2013 we decided to team up and fix the problem for good. Our goal was to make it possible for users to easily develop a custom website without ever being required to see a line of HTML or CSS code. Sparkle is the fruit of our labor."



Sparkle Free is a full-featured app, and allows users to publish a single site, consisting of 3 pages, with "Made with Sparkle" branding on the pages. Sparkle One allows publishing of a single site with no page limit or branding. Sparkle Pro allows publishing unlimited sites, the ability to export site to disk with no page limit and no branding. Sparkle One is available as a one-time $44.99 USD purchase. Sparkle Pro is available as a one-time $89.99 USD purchase. Multi-User licenses are also available.



System Requirements:

* macOS 10.9 Mavericks or later

* Optimized for macOS 10.13 High Sierra

* 30.7 MB



Pricing and Availability:

Sparkle 2.5.3 is free and is available worldwide through the Mac App Store in the Graphics and Design category. The app is also available from the Sparkle website. Expanded capabilities are available as one-time purchases. Redeem codes are available to journalists upon request. Contact Duncan Wilcox for more information.

Based in beautiful Florence, Italy, River SRL is a privately funded company, founded in 2011. With a passion for user interface design and utility, River brings 10 years of Cocoa development experience to the Mac and iOS platforms. Copyright (C) 2018 River SRL. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

###

Duncan Wilcox

Founder

+39-347-3226106

Italy

Acacia Mining plc, together with its subsidiaries, mines, processes, and sells gold in Africa. The company has three gold mines in north-west Tanzania, including Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi, and North Mara; and a portfolio of exploration projects at various stages of development in Tanzania, Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Mali. It also produces co-products, such as copper and silver. The company was formerly known as African Barrick Gold plc and changed its name to Acacia Mining plc in November 2014. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Acacia Mining plc is a subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation.

Read MoreWere sorry

An error occurred while processing your request. The page you are looking for on this website is unavailable, has moved, or does not exist. We recently migrated content to collinsaerospace.com, and we encourage you to visit that site to find the product or service you are looking for.Yahoo News Singapore file photo

Next year will see four long weekends, together with 11 gazetted public holidays, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Wednesday (4 April).

Two of the 2019 holidays fall on a Friday  Good Friday on 19 April and National Day on 9 August  and three on a Sunday, when the following Monday will be a public holiday.

The holidays that will fall on a Sunday are: Vesak Day on 19 May, Hari Raya Haji on 11 August and Deepavali on 27 October.

As National Day and Hari Raya Haji fall on the same weekend, there will only be four long weekends rather than five.

For 2018, there are also four long weekends expected. Three of them have already passed: New Years Day, the first day of the Chinese New Year and Good Friday. The final one, Hari Raya Puasa, falls on 15 June, a Friday.

In a statement, MOM reminded all employers of some rules under the Employment Act.

For example, an employee who is required to work on a public holiday is entitled to an extra days salary at the basic rate of pay. Alternatively, the employer and employee may mutually agree to substitute a public holiday for another working day.A piece of East Africa is expected to break off the main continent in tens of millions of years. And if you need any proof, look no further than Kenya's Rift Valley, where a giant, gaping tear opened up following heavy rains and seismic activity, according to Face2Face Africa.

The enormous crack appeared on March 19 and measures more than 50 feet (15 meters) wide and several miles along, Face2Face Africa and other news sources reported. Moreover, it's still growing longer.

The rift is likely a sign of things to come as the plate tectonics under Africa rearrange themselves. The majority of Africa sits on top of the African Plate. However, a long, vertical piece of eastern Africa lies on top of the Somali Plate. This juncture where the two plates meet is known as the East African Rift, which stretches an astonishing 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers), or about the distance from Denver to Boston. [50 Interesting Facts About Planet Earth]

To avoid confusion (given that Africa doesn't sit on only one plate), researchers call the giant African plate the Nubian Plate. In essence, the Nubian and Somali plates are being split in two, according to a piece in The Conversation by Lucia Perez Diaz, a postdoctoral researcher at the Fault Dynamics Research Group at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Here's how two plates split apart: The lithosphere, which is broken up into tectonic plates, is made of the Earth's crust and the upper part of the mantle. When the lithosphere experiences tugging forces, it becomes thinner, until it eventually ruptures, Perez Diaz wrote. This rupture has already led to the formation of the rift valley.

This cartoon illustrates why the rift is happening. DBoyd13/CC by 3.0

The rupture process is often accompanied by seismic activity and volcanism. In the East African Rift's case, a large mantle plume under the lithosphere is weakening it, allowing it to stretch, Perez Diaz said.

Rifts lead to recognizable land formations  that is, a series of depressions surrounded by higher ground. The East African Rift has a series of rift valleys that can be seen from space. However, not all of these rifts formed at the same time. Rather, they started in northern Ethiopia about 30 million years ago and spread southward toward Zimbabwe at an average rate of between 1 and 2 inches (2.5 and 5 centimeters) a year, Perez Diaz said.

Story continues

As the Somali and Nubian plates move apart, the region can experience earthquakes, as it did in southwestern Kenya last week. The giant crack tore the busy Mai Mahiu-Narok road in two and split apart houses, including the home of a 72-year-old woman who was eating dinner with her family when it happened, according to Face2Face Africa.

Original article on Live Science.

Editor's RecommendationsChina is creating its own version of Americas Caltech  a top global science and technology university  by establishing the countrys first doctorate-granting private institution focused on high-level research and innovation.

Westlake University, which is to enrol its first 130 PhD students for the new academic year starting in September, will become first-class in Asia, joining legions of other world-class institutions, Shi Yigong, a prominent biophysicist who is leading the new institutes preparation team, said.

State education authorities this week approved the project in Hangzhou, in eastern Chinas Zhejiang province.

In five years, our faculty research abilities will be on a par with those of Tokyo University, Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Shi said in a December speech that outlined the then-proposed universitys ambitions.

For a start, like its US role model, the California Institute of Technology, the new Chinese university  which has received extensive funding from Chinas government and business leaders  will only take in students studying for doctorates.

Within a decade, enrolment is expected to reach 5,000 students, after the school begins to admit undergraduate, according to its website.

With its campus in Hangzhous Sandun town, the new universitys speciality will be high-level research and innovation, an area in which China is increasingly closing the gap with other nations, including the US.

In 15 years, every indicator of our university will be on a par with that of Caltech, Shi said. It will be regarded as one of the best universities, not just in Asia but around the world.

Shi, who will become a full-time Westlake faculty member in January, after stepping down as Tsinghua Universitys vice-president, raised eyebrows in Western academic circles when he left a US position as a tenured professor at Princeton University a decade ago to teach at Tsinghua, a highly respected Beijing-based research institution.

Story continues

Westlake is to have four institutes, covering biology, basic medicine, natural sciences and advanced technology.

However, a Beijing-based material science professor who declined to be identified for this article said he was sceptical that the new university would provide quality programmes for undergraduate students, or that it could attract top full-time scientists.

Undergraduate education is the core part of a university, and so far we have not seen a clear plan on this aspect [of Westlake], said the scholar, who emphasised that undergraduate education measures the difference between a university and a research institute.

He said he was cautiously optimistic that the university would be able to lure cutting-edge full-time scientists.

Its not highly possible for many overseas top-level scientists, especially those Nobel Prize laureates whom Westlake vowed to recruit, to work full-time for it, the professor said.

Although state authorities just this week gave Westlake the green light to open, plans for the institution have been in the works for years.

It already has held six global recruitment drives to fill 58 teaching positions, hiring 34 people so far out of more than 2,500 applicants, it said.

Shi and six other top scientists and scholars spearheaded the projects establishment in 2015, lobbying the Chinese government to set up a new-type, privately run research university crucial to the needs of the changing Chinese economy.

The Zhejiang governments willingness to make the institution a priority in the provinces development strategy helped the proposal win Beijings support.

Much of the projects financial support came from both the government and the business world.

The Hangzhou government injected 400 million yuan (HK$496 million; US$63.6 million) into the proposed university last year. Land was allocated at no charge.

Among the leading Chinese entrepreneurs who have donated to the institute are Pony Ma and Chen Yidan, founders of technology giant Tencent; Wang Jianlin, chairman of property developer and cinema chain conglomerate Wanda Group; Wu Yajun, chairwoman of property developer Longfor; and Zhang Lei, founder of investment company Hillhouse Capital.

Donors also include The Kerry Group Kuok Foundation, a charitable organisation focused on poverty alleviation in China.

Li Jiayang, a plant gene scientist, told the South China Morning Post in an interview that Westlake was launched to meet the demand for science and technology research posed by Chinas rapid growth.

They chose to focus on a limited number of majors and on a small scale, rather than [on a] big scale, in order to cultivate this small group of students well, Li said.

Besides that, this university is supported by the government and [has the involvement of] globally renowned scientists. So its likely that they will succeed.

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the Beijing-based 21st Century Education Research Institute, said the new universitys value lay in its ability to contribute to higher education reform in China, rather than being another Peking University or Tshinghua University.

This article China is setting up its own version of Americas Caltech to rival US in innovation first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the United States Cui Tiankai speaks during the "China and the U.S.: One Belt, One Road and 100-Day Plan," a discussion hosting high-level delegation of Chinese leaders, in Manhattan, New York, U.S., June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Bria Webb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, arrived at the U.S. State Department on Wednesday for talks with Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan amid a deepening U.S.-China trade dispute.

Cui did not respond to reporters questions on arrival. State Department officials said the meeting had been set up before the United States announced new tariffs on Chinese products on Tuesday, a move that provoked Chinese retaliation.

A U.S. trade official said on Wednesday that the United States and China may pursue negotiations to resolve deepening differences over trade, but he declined to say whether any new high-level meetings were planned.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Susan Thomas)A Japanese spitz rescued by marine police from Victoria Harbour on Saturday has died after police suspect it was thrown from the roof of a 23-storey residential block in Hong Kong.

On Wednesday, officers arrested the dog owners son, 23, for animal cruelty at his home on the ninth floor of the same building in Cheung Sha Wan.

Detectives from Sham Shui Po police district are handling the case. A police source later said the man, who was released from prison last year for burglary, admitted to throwing the dog from the building on impulse as he found it annoying. But he denied dumping the animal in the sea last week.

Earlier in the day, police received a call at 6.17am from a resident who heard a loud bang at Cheung Fai Building on Cheung Wah Street. The male dog was found dead from the fall and officers from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) took the body away.

The source said: Officers had arrested the man for cruelty to animals. Initial investigation showed the mans mother was the owner of the dog.

Broken glass and blood stains were also found on the terrace of the building, police said.

A check on the dogs identity chip showed it was the same pet which fell into Victoria Harbour outside the Harbour City shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui on Saturday, according to the source.

It was plucked from the water by marine police before being taken to the SPCA office for examination. No injuries were found on the dog at the time. After being checked by a vet, staff issued a verbal warning to the female owner when she came to pick up the dog.

Police had treated the Saturday case as animal in danger but the source said officers later switched to investigating if the dog was thrown into the sea.

An SPCA spokeswoman said: We are saddened to hear the news regarding the death of the Japanese spitz. The SPCA is working closely with the police in assisting them with this investigation.

Story continues

Lawmaker Roy Kwong Chun-yu from the Democratic Party condemned the cruelty and said police should set up a team overseeing such matters, as animal abuse cases were common.

Au Fung-lin, chairwoman of charitable organisation Green Animals Association Limited, said even strong enforcement might not be enough to stamp out cruelty to animals as such problems originated from the mindsets of owners.

She urged the government and NGOs to step up publicity on the matter and raise awareness among Hongkongers. It is like throwing your family member from a building. Humans and animals are equal, Au said.

It is like throwing your family member from a building

Au Fung-lin, Green Animals Association Limited

People should not treat animals and pets like toys or furniture. They are your friends or family members. We should have more attachment to them.

Calling the incident over the Japanese spitz ridiculous and cruel, El Chan Suk-kuen, founder of the Society for Abandoned Animals, an NGO, appealed to pet owners and their family members to seek support when faced with problems concerning their furry companions.

They should seek help or support through different channels to determine if they can continue to keep their pets, or if it is necessary to find new owners so such tragedies can stop, she said.

Chan said a bill should be introduced in the legislature to ban repeat animal abusers from keeping pets again.

Cruelty to animals is a serious crime in Hong Kong and carries a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment and a fine of HK$200,000 (US$25,480).

In light of such matters, police launched the Animal Watch Scheme in 2011 to combat abuse. Members came from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, SPCA, City Universitys school of veterinary medicine, as well as veterinarian associations.

In the first half of 2017, authorities prosecuted 10 people and convicted another 10 for abusing animals, compared with 15 prosecutions and 11 convictions in 2016.

This article Dog rescued from Victoria Harbour found dead after being thrown from roof of Hong Kong building first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.An Albanian court on Wednesday jailed 11 protesters for an undefined period of time over a violent demonstration against the introduction of a toll on a motorway linking the country with Kosovo. Several hundred protesters pelted police with stones and destroyed toll booths before setting them alight during the demonstration near the Morina border crossing on Saturday. Police said 14 officers were injured. Twenty-three protesters were arrested, 11 of whom were given prison terms whose length would be determined later. They appeared before the court in the capital Tirana under tight security in place to prevent more violence. Following the ruling, the rightwing opposition Democratic Party urged Albanians to begin "civil disobedience" and to "rise up" against the government led by socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama. The highway, an important route for trucks trading with neighbouring Kosovo, was built in 2009 and was free until the weekend. New tolls of between 2.5 to 22.5 euros ($3 to $28), to fund road maintenance, came into force on Sunday along the 100-kilometre (60-mile) long highway. The cost is significant in a country with an average monthly salary of around 350 euros. It is seen as a particular burden in Kukes, where the toll barrier is located, which is one of the poorest regions in Albania. "I urge the citizens to rise up against the regime of Prime Minister Edi Rama and to resist until his departure, in all possible ways and by all democratic means," Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha said after the ruling. He also encouraged his compatriots to start "civil disobedience, by refusing to pay taxes" and offered his support to a planned blockade of the country's roads on Thursday. Rama accused the opposition of wanting to "use Kukes as a Molotov cocktail".A relaxing soak in a hot tub is a time-honoured stress reliever but the advantages are not confined to humans -- with monkeys also benefiting from spa time, researchers in Japan say. Japan's "snow monkeys" are known for their love of hot springs in the country's northern Nagano region, with tourists flocking to photograph the mediating macaques soaking in steaming baths. It was long assumed that the blissed-out bathers were simply trying to warm up during the chilly winter months, when snow blankets the region. But experts at the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University who observed 12 female Japanese macaques in 2014 at the Jigokudani Yaen-Koen monkey park in Nagano found there was more to it. They examined the bathing behaviour of the monkeys and collected their excrement to measure glucocorticoid, a hormone whose concentration increases when stress levels are high. They found that stress levels in the monkeys, aged between five and 24, were about 20 percent lower on average after bathing. The results of their study were published this week. "The study showed that bathing in hot springs is beneficial not only for people but for Japanese macaques too," researcher Rafaela Sayuri Takeshita told AFP. Takeshita believes the spa treatment may have additional benefits for the macaques, perhaps increasing both fertility and longevity. "We also want to study the relationship between bathing and their reproduction and longevity in the future," she said.The family were heading to Lake Garda when the incident happened (REX)

A German man accidentally left his two children at a motorway service station and only realised his mistake when police called him 90 minutes later.

The Easter holiday from Baunatal in western Germany to Italys Lake Garda took an unexpected turn when the man went to pay for petrol at a filling station in Holzkirchen at around 5.20am on Saturday.

After returning to his Volkswagen minibus, he was blissfully unaware that his daughters, aged 10 and 14, had taken a trip to the toilet. He drove off and headed for the direction of the Alps, with his daughters returning minutes later to realise they were marooned 300 miles from home.

They then waited half an hour for their fathers return, before they eventually approach petrol station customers for help and police contacted their father.

The man left his children behind at a filling station (REX)

The children gave the officers their fixed telephone number at home in Baunatal because they didnt know their fathers mobile phone number, police later confirmed.

The mother, who had not joined them on their trip to Lake Garda, could not immediately be reached. She appeared still to be asleep.

Police subsequently searched the motorway for the minibus, and eventually got through to the father after he realised 48 missed calls on his phone.

At this point, he was already in Austria  100 miles from his children.

By that time he was on the Brenner Pass and had still not noticed that his children werent in the car, police said.

The children were safe and sound when the father returned to collect them, said a spokesman for Tank & Rast, the company that manages the service station.

The staff at our franchise partner behaved very thoughtfully.The United Nations said Wednesday that it has conducted its first humanitarian mission to Raqa since the Syrian city was liberated from the Islamic State group, warning that returning civilians face enormous risks. The city, which IS proclaimed part of its "caliphate" in 2014, is littered with unexploded devices, the head of the UN's Syria humanitarian taskforce, Jan Egeland, told reporters in Geneva. "Homes are still full of bombs (and) grenades. Children are still being maimed and killed," Egeland said, after receiving a report on the visit, which was carried out in recent days. Roughly 100,000 people have returned to Raqa since IS was flushed out in October by fighters backed by a US-led international coalition. Egeland said another 100,000 displaced people are waiting near the city and want to go back. Compounding the risks of returning is the near complete absence of basic services including water, electricity and healthcare. "It is incredible to have a city with nearly 100,000 people and no public services," the UN official said. "There is no real police (or) law and order." The battle against IS in Raqa included a heavy bombardment by coalition jets and left much of the city in tatters. Egeland said the extent of the devastation observed by the UN team again raised the question of whether it was "necessary to totally destroy (Raqa) to liberate it." Relief work in Raqa had been carried out by local civil society groups, but Egeland said the UN expects to start its own humanitarian operations in the city soon.Hotel operators push for law against simply illegal Airbnb hosts and users in Hong Kong

Hong Kongs hoteliers have united to demand a law that would punish Airbnb users  hosts and guests  and allow authorities to raid flats suspected of being unlicensed holiday rentals.

The Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, which represents 90 per cent of businesses in the industry, said on Tuesday while Airbnb was not a direct competitor, the home-sharing service was simply illegal and must be opposed as a matter of principle.

Under the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance, premises that offer sleeping accommodation for a fee over a period of less than 28 days must be licensed. But many hosts advertising on home-sharing sites were unlikely to have done so, critics said.

Airbnb has been operating illegally under the guise of a shared economy. But what have they really shared with the Hong Kong community? Michael Li Hon-shing, the federations executive director asked.

What has Airbnb really shared with the community?

Michael Li, Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners

Around 5,000 properties in the city  most of which are residential flats  were listed as temporary lodging on Airbnb last year. About 300 were available at a given time, compared with 79,000 hotel rooms on offer.

The citys hotels have an occupancy rate of close to 90 per cent and this is expected to continue with about 60 million tourists set to visit this year.

On Tuesday, the trade body questioned why efforts to tighten the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance, which began in 2014, had stalled.

Enforcement of the ordinance is currently done through undercover operations.

Last year the Office of the Licensing Authority carried out 14,416 inspections, and successfully convicted offenders in 129 cases out of 158 prosecutions. Penalties mostly involved fines or a suspended jail sentence, though the maximum punishment is a HK$200,000 (US$25,500) fine and two years imprisonment.

Story continues

Under the tightened laws, if authorities had circumstantial evidence but not direct proof, they could still begin criminal proceedings against owners.

Li said authorities should also be allowed to apply for court orders to enter flats that were used illegally. At present, if enforcement agents knock on the doors of such flats, they have to leave if the owner turns them away.

The Home Affairs Department, which is overseeing the review of the law, said it planned to submit the revision to the Legislative Council later this year.

Lawmaker Elizabeth Quat, who supports tougher laws, said it was unlikely changes would be passed this year.

The debate could drag on if the government launches a public consultation or if lawmakers request public hearings, she said.

Li added that tourists looking for a more authentic Hong Kong experience may be lured by Airbnb, but most were unaware of the risks.

They do not provide insurance ... Many are even lacking proper fire safety equipment, he said.

Airbnb said it recognised the need to strike a balance between embracing innovation and addressing concerns from the community, and welcomed discussion to help stakeholders reach a decision.

This article Hotel operators push for law against simply illegal Airbnb hosts and users in Hong Kong first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.Chinese authorities have broken up an international prostitution ring that used the popular social media service WeChat to run its business.

A total of 349 people were arrested and more than 32 million yuan (US$5 million) seized from the gang in the southern megacity of Shenzhen, news website Oeeee.com reported on Tuesday.

The gang operated in mainland China and Malaysia and its business was largely conducted through WeChat, Chinas most popular social media platform, according to a statement by Shenzhen police on Saturday that first disclosed the arrests.

Transaction records showed the ring earned 100 million yuan last year.

Chinas Jack the Ripper sentenced to death for murdering 11 women and girls and mutilating bodies

It is one of Chinas biggest cases of online organised crime, as the use of technology by criminal gangs increases.

The case first came to the authorities attention in September when the Ministry of Public Security ordered the Shenzhen police to investigate a gang that was suspected of sending Chinese women to Malaysia to work as prostitutes and run brothels there.

After a three-month investigation, Shenzhen police identified two alleged ringleaders, identified only by their surnames Li and Liu, from southern Hunan province.

The gang used a complex structure, moving many of its operations to Malaysia to avoid detection by the Chinese police.

According to the report, 32-year-old Li is accused of setting up a fake technology company in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, as a front for the gangs operations.

Li and Liu are accused of controlling online cash transactions though five WeChat accounts and developing an app within the platform that allowed them to run brothels in Malaysia.

The gang also used bank accounts opened by Malaysians in China to withdraw and transfer money.

Chinese drink-driving suspect accused of fleeing scene without realising his son had been killed

The vice ring is thought to have been operating in the southern province of Guangdong since 2015 before expanding into Malaysia.

Story continues

The gang tried to drum up business in Malaysia by pretending that the woman were actresses and models in China and created fake websites to reinforce this impression.

Police in Malaysia cooperated with the Chinese investigation and Li was detained in the country on December 12. Liu was arrested in Hunan and a coordinated operation by the police in both countries resulted in the detention of a total of 349 suspects.

A total of 69 Chinese suspects have since been extradited to the mainland.

This article Hundreds arrested after police bust WeChat vice ring run in China and Malaysia first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.Central American migrants participating in a caravan heading to the U.S. receive flavored water from Catholic volunteers in Matias Romero Central American migrants participating in a caravan heading to the U.S. receive flavored water from Catholic volunteers in Matias Romero, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, April 2. REUTERS/Jose de Jesus Cortes

By Delphine Schrank

MATIAS ROMERO, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican officials on Tuesday screened a dwindling group of hundreds of largely Central American migrants who are moving through Mexico toward the United States, seeking to break up the "caravan" that has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump, doubling down on his tough stance against illegal immigration, has railed against those making their way from the Guatemala-Mexico border in the past 10 days.

Trump repeated threats to torpedo the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which underpins much of Mexico's foreign trade, and said he wanted to send troops to the U.S. border to stop illegal immigrants until a long-promised border wall is built.

In response, the Mexican government has said the migrants are being vetted to determine whether they have a right to stay, or would be returned to their countries of origin.

Hundreds of men, women and children from Central America were stuck on Tuesday in the town of Matias Romero in the poor southern Mexican state of Oaxaca awaiting clarification of their legal status after officials began registering them.

Confused and frustrated by paperwork, many were uncertain what lay in store, and desperate for information.

"What was the point of all this then if they don't let us stay?" Elizabeth Avalos, 23, a migrant from El Salvador who was travelling with two children, said angrily. "There's no food, my children haven't eaten since yesterday."

Hundreds of people camped out overnight in a park near the town's train station, with shoes and bags strewn about.

Jaime Alexander Variega, 35, sat alone in a patch of shade and cupped his head in his hands, weeping or praying, his feet still bearing lacerations from walking for four or five days straight through Guatemala from El Salvador.

"We're not safe in El Salvador," said the former security guard, his hat smeared in dirt, explaining he had left his home because of the threats from local gangs. "I know it's difficult to get into the United States. But it's not impossible."

Story continues

Around them, Mexican migration officials with notepads and pens took basic information from the migrants, asking for names, nationalities, dates of birth and proof of identity.

The caravan was organised by U.S-based advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which seeks to draw attention to the rights of migrants and provide them with aid. The Mexican government says the caravan, which like others travels by road, rail and on foot, has been organised every year since 2010.

Honduran Carlos Ricardo Ellis Garcia clutched a handwritten list of names belonging to more than 100 people who joined the caravan in the southern border town of Tapachula, where it began on March 25, reaching a peak of around 1,500 people.

But by Tuesday the number was down to about 1,100, according to Pueblo Sin Fronteras spokeswoman Gina Garibo.

Many had broken off from the group, eager to move on more quickly, she said. Many others aimed to stay in Mexico because they had family ties there or planned to work, Garibo said.

"Now they're separating these groups," Ellis Garcia said, referring to an estimated 300 people who split from the caravan on Monday. "I don't know what's the deal, we have no answers."

Advocacy groups told Reuters dozens of people left the caravan and travelled to the crime-ridden eastern state of Veracruz, where they were met by migration officials and police.

The government said on Monday evening around 400 people in the caravan had already been sent back to their home countries.

Geronimo Gutierrez, Mexico's ambassador to the United States, told CNN that Mexican authorities were "looking at the status of the individuals so we can proceed either with a repatriation process" or offer humanitarian relief. That could include granting asylum or humanitarian visas.

Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are among the most violent and impoverished countries in the Americas, prompting many people to leave in search of a better life.

Trump, who ran for office in 2016 on a platform to stem illegal immigrants from Mexico, said he had "told Mexico" he hoped it would halt the caravan.

The migrant caravan also poses a political problem for Mexico's unpopular government in a presidential election year.

President Enrique Pena Nieto is barred by law from seeking re-election in the July 1 vote, but the ruling party candidate is running third, well behind the front-runner.

The government does not want to be seen as kowtowing to threats by Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Mexico.

In a country where millions of people have friends or relatives who have migrated legally or illegally to the United States, many Mexicans harbour sympathy for the Central Americans.

(Reporting by Delphine Schrank; Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz, Diego Ore and Daina Solomon; Editing by Dave Graham and Grant McCool)President Rodrigo Duterte has launched a foul-mouthed attack on the UN human rights chief, calling him "empty-headed" in a row over international criticism of the Philippine leader's deadly drug war. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, had last month said Duterte needed "psychiatric evaluation" and that his verbal attacks on a United Nations rapporteur who condemned his anti-drug crackdown could not go unanswered. "Hey son of a whore, you commissioner, I need to go to a psychiatrist?" asked Duterte in a speech late Tuesday. "The psychiatrist told me: 'You are okay, mayor. You are just fond of cursing,'" Duterte said, referring to his former title. The Philippine leader added he had been advised to refrain from commenting on the remarks of Zeid, a Jordanian prince, but he wanted to "seek revenge". "Look, you have a big head but it's empty. There is no grey matter between your ears. It's hollow. It's empty. It cannot even sustain a nutrient for your hair to grow because his hair here is gone," Duterte said as he touched his head. Duterte, 73, has launched curse-laden tirades on world leaders, including former US President Barack Obama and Pope Francis, as well as critics of his anti-crime crackdown. Duterte won a presidential election in mid-2016 after promising to eradicate drugs in society within six months by killing tens of thousands of users and dealers. Philippine police say they have killed roughly 4,100 suspects who fought back during arrest, but rights groups allege the actual number is three times higher and accuse the authorities of murder. The International Criminal Court has launched a "preliminary examination" into killings in the anti-drug campaign. Zeid, who has criticised alleged extrajudicial killings in the drug war, last month said Duterte's remarks about a UN rapporteur seeking to investigate the matter were "absolutely disgraceful". Zeid last month also condemned Duterte's statement ordering troops to shoot female rebels in the vagina. In Tuesday's speech, Duterte defended the comments along with his war on drugs. "I am rude? I am really rude. There is nothing I can do about that," Duterte said. "I kill people? Yes, I really kill people... go ahead and do drugs there. I already told you to stop." Addressing human rights groups, Duterte said: "You are dreaming if you think you can jail me."Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit out at Iran on Wednesday after President Hassan Rouhani accused Israel of supporting "terrorists" in Syria. "Absurdity has no limits: Iran's terrorist regime that sends tentacles of terror across the region accuses Israel of terrorism," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter. "If Rouhani is unaware of the terrorist and sabotage activities conducted daily by the Iranian Quds Force in Syria, Israel can provide him with an update," Netanyahu said, referring to the foreign arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. Earlier Wednesday, during a summit in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin, Rouhani denounced "the daily support of the Zionist regime for terrorists in Syria", according to the website of the Iranian presidency. Tehran is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, but Israel does not want its arch-rival to entrench itself militarily next door. In February Israel carried out major air raids in Syria, including against sites it described as Iranian targets. Iran has also long supported Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has written to Hamas chief Ismail Haniya pledging the Islamic republic's backing "in any form". "It is a religious duty and an obligation as human beings ... and, God willing, we will act in accordance with this obligation, as in the past," he wrote. Excerpts of the letter were published Wednesday on Khamenei's website after de facto Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Israel has a "right" to a homeland, in a notable shift in the kingdom's position. Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, but behind the scenes their ties appear to have improved in recent years against what they see as a common Iranian threat.The Russian woman who was poisoned last month alongside her former spy father said she is recovering, in her first public statement since the attack, as Moscow and London unleashed a new war of words during a bitter session at the UN Security Council. Britain blames Russia for the March 4 poisoning on UK soil of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with what it says was a Soviet-made military-grade nerve agent, a charge the Kremlin furiously denies. The crisis has sent relations between Russia and the West plummeting with the biggest wave of tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats in recent memory. In the latest expulsions, some 60 US diplomats who were ordered to leave flew out of Moscow airport early Thursday. A few hours later British authorities released a statement from Yulia commenting on her recovery. "I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily," she was quoted as saying in comments released by the police. That statement came on a day of furious rhetoric between Moscow and London at the UN Security Council. Russia unleashed a blistering war of words against Britain deflecting accusations of poisoning a former double agent in England with Moscow's envoy issuing a series of denials and colourful insults. "It's some sort of theatre of the absurd. Couldn't you come up with a better fake story?" Vasily Nebenzia, told the council. "We have told our British colleagues that 'you're playing with fire and you'll be sorry.'" British Ambassador Karen Pierce was on similarly fiery form. "I won't take any lectures on morality or on our responsibilities," said Pierce, "from a country that, as this council debated yesterday, has done so much to block the proper investigation of the use of chemical weapons in Syria." - Dead pets - At one point in the clash Nebenzia mused on the whereabouts of reported Skripal pets, two cats and two guinea pigs. "What happened to these animals? Why doesn't anyone mention them? Their condition is also an important piece of evidence," he said. A British government spokeswoman later told AFP that both guinea pigs had died and that a cat found in a distressed state was euthanized. She did not mention a second cat. Yulia and her father Sergei, a former double agent, were found in a critical condition on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury last month. Yulia appears to have made more of a recovery than her father, who remains unconscious. Russian state television earlier aired an unverified recording of a phone conversation between Yulia and her cousin who lives in Moscow. In the call, a woman introducing herself as Yulia Skripal said she was expecting to be discharged from hospital soon and that her father Sergei was "fine". The hospital where the pair are being treated said in their latest update last week that Sergei remained in a critical condition. - Russia isolated - Russia called for UN Security Council talks a day after it failed to win diplomatic support for a joint probe of the spy poisoning at a meeting of the global chemical watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The OCPW meeting also saw a day of bitter rhetoric between Moscow and Britain and its western allies. London slammed the joint probe idea as "perverse". British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hailed the defeat of Russia's bid. "The purpose of Russia's ludicrous proposal at The Hague was clear - to undermine the independent, impartial work of the international chemical weapons watchdog," he said, adding that Moscow's main goal was "to obscure the truth and confuse the public." Britain is carrying out its own probe, with independent technical assistance from OPCW experts. Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence, warned that both sides must avoid tensions escalating to the dangerous levels of the Cold War. He called the affair a "grotesque provocation... crudely concocted by the British and American security services." OPCW experts have already taken on-site samples which are being analysed in The Hague, as well as in four other certified laboratories. The watchdog said it expected the results by early next week. But in a move hailed as a vindication by Moscow, the British defence laboratory analysing the nerve agent revealed Tuesday that it could not say whether the substance came from Russia. The Kremlin immediately demanded an apology from Prime Minister Theresa May and her government for implicating Putin in the nerve agent attack, saying this "idiocy has gone too far." On Thursday, The Times newspaper cited British security sources saying they believe they have pinpointed the location of a Russian laboratory where the nerve agent used in Salisbury was manufactured. burs-am/pg/har/jta/cebVideo screen shot of Yan Jun protesting outside Raffles Place MRT on 3 July 2017.

A protestor who called for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongs resignation and repeatedly held illegal demonstrations at several locations across Singapore was back in court on Wednesday (4 April), less than seven months after he was sentenced for a similar offence committed in the same place.

At his trial in the State Courts, Yan Jun, a 42-year-old Singaporean, contested three charges of holding a protest in February this year.

Yan, who claimed to have held protests around Singapore eight times, is accused of one count of taking part in a public assembly without a permit. He also faces one count of behaving in a disorderly manner by shouting in the face of a police officer, and one count of ignoring a police order to leave an area for a period of 24 hours.

All the charges stem from the incident outside Raffles Place MRT on 22 February this year when Yan held two placards to protest against the corruption of Singapores judicial system and call for Lees resignation.

It was the fourth time that he was prosecuted for offences related to breaches of the Public Order Act.

Last July, Yan also protested at the same place, where he displayed a sign with the words PM Lee: resign over Terrex conspiracy! on one side and criticised the judicial system on the other. He was arrested and released later that day before returning to the area the following day to protest about the same issues.

He was sentenced to three weeks jail and fined $20,000 on charges of participating in a public assembly without a permit and a count of behaving in a disorderly manner

In late 2016, Yan also demonstrated outside the US Embassy and the British High Commission.

During his trial on Wednesday, Yan accused the police of corruption and had his back turned to District Judge Luke Tan throughout the proceedings after claiming that the judge refused to accept his case.

He remained uncooperative and asked questions related to the duty of police officers and the judicial system when invited to cross-examine prosecution witnesses.

Story continues

The prosecution, led by Deputy Public Prosecutor G Kannan, played two video clips  including one from a body-worn camera  taken by the police of the incident in court.

In the video, Yan was seen holding two placards with the words PM Lee and Justice Chao: resign over the Terrex conspiracy! and Singapores legal system is totally corrupt written on one of them. The other placard had the words The Opposition: Prove yourself! written on one side.

Yan was seen protesting outside Raffles Place MRT during lunch hour as a crowd gathered near him. Two police officers approached him with a written direction to leave the area for 24 hours. The officers were seen leaving the document by Yans feet before moving off for a few minutes.

When the officers approached him again, Yan told them to arrest him and shouted, If you dont arrest me, tomorrow I will continue my protest. He got louder throughout the exchange until two officers handcuffed and led him away.

One of the officers who arrested Yan, Inspector of Police Siaw Kah Swee, testified that Yan was rowdy and hostile towards him.

Senior Investigation Officer Ahmad Salihin Mashadi testified that Yan emailed the police about his impending protest outside the MRT station three days before the incident.

Yan had only ever applied once to hold a public assembly outside the Istana from 10am to 8pm in March 2016. His application was rejected.

When asked to give evidence, Yan took the stand for less than 10 minutes without calling any witness. He said that his defence was in relation to police corruption.

The case will be heard again in court on Thursday for the prosecution to file additional submissions.American preacher Lou Engle made a statement on 13 March 2018 at a conference organised by Cornerstone Community Church (CCC) that had caused considerable distress to the Muslim community in Singapore, said a pastor at CCC. Photo: Kingdom Invasion Singapore/Facebook

A pastor in Singapore has apologised to the Muslim community over comments made by an American preacher at a conference last month.

In a letter of apology to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) on Wednesday (4 April), Reverend Yang Tuck Yoong of Cornerstone Community Church (CCC) referred to the Kingdom Invasion conference that he organised at the Singapore Expo, during which Lou Engle made a statement on 13 March about holding back the push of the new modern Muslim movement in Spain.

Yang, who met Singapores Mufti Dr Fatris Bakaram and other Muis leaders earlier Wednesday, said that the comment has been the cause of considerable distress and misunderstanding, particularly among the Muslim community.

I stand before you, as the organiser of this conference, to humbly and sincerely apologise for the offence caused to the Muslim community, said Yang, adding that CCC will no longer invite Engle to speak in Singapore again.

Cornerstone Community Church will not tolerate any foreign preacher we have invited espousing insensitive and extreme views in our multiracial, multi-religious society, said Yang. The church is also tightening its processes to ensure that an incident of this nature does not recur.

In a post on Facebook, Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister-in-charge of Muslim affairs, said he appreciated that Yang has apologised and taken responsibility as the organiser who invited Engle to the conference.

Words matter, and words that sow discord and ill will among the various communities have no place in Singapore, said Yaacob.

In a separate statement on Wednesday, the Singapore Police Force said it has asked Engle to return to Singapore for an interview.

In response to media queries, the police confirmed that Engle left Singapore shortly after the end of a conference. As investigations are ongoing, the police are unable to comment further.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had previously said it was looking into allegations that Engle had made comments against Islam.ACTS-OFW party-list Rep. Aniceto John Bertiz

MANILA, Philippines  ACTS-OFW party-list Rep. Aniceto John Bertiz has expressed fears over Kuwait governments death sentence against the employer of Joanna Demafelis, the overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) found dead inside a freezer in Kuwait.

The solon said the Philippine government should not be complacent because it might just be Kuwaits attempt to pacify public rage over her death.

Bertiz cited that the case of two foreign nationals sentenced to death by the Kuwaiti government in January 2016 but later dismissed due to a conflict in international laws.

This might also happen to the case of Joana since the suspects are not Kuwaiti nationals.

Apat na bansa po ang involved  Philippines, Syria, Lebanon, and Kuwait. That death penalty can only be imposed if both countries will agree to extradite or bring the alleged killer to Kuwait para mahatulan ang sinasabing hatol ng kamatayan, said the lawmaker.

(Four countries are involved  the Philippines, Syria, Lebanon, and Kuwait. That death penalty can only be imposed if both countries will agree to extradite or bring the alleged killer to Kuwait to impose the death sentence.)

Bertiz also questioned why the Philippine Embassy in Lebanon and Syria has not received any information up to now.

Based on the report of the Kuwaiti government, it was the Interpol who arrested the two suspects Nader Essam Assaf and his wife Mouna Hassoun in Syria.

Nader and Mouna were turned over to Lebanese and Syrian authorities respectively.

The lawmaker noted that the Interpol also failed to give a report to the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the arrests.

This is the reason why I urge our government to form a joint task force of DFA and DOJ para malaman natin kung totoo bang nasa kustodiya ng Lebanon authorities ang suspect na ito, said Bertiz.

(This is the reason why I urge our government to form a joint task force of DFA and DOJ for us to know it if it is true that the suspects are in the custody of Lebanese authorities.)

Story continues

Bertiz also called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to study further the deployment ban in Kuwait until death sentence was imposed on the suspects.

Ang nakakatakot kasi niyan yung mga sinabi na nahuli na tapos wala pala. Ibig sabihin ginagawa tayong uto-uto ng Kuwaiti government. Huwag naman natin madaliin na i-lift agad ang ban, said the lawmaker.

(Whats vexing is when they say the perpetrators have been arrested and it turns out to be untrue. It means the Kuwaiti government is just leading us on. Lets not rush into lifting the ban.)  Grace Casin | UNTV News & Rescue

The post Solon: Kuwaiti govt not in position to convict Demafelis employers appeared first on UNTV News.The hotly anticipated Echelon TOP100 2018 pitching event will include ambitious startups across industries such as Energy, Education, and Medical.

The Echelon TOP100 in Vietnam ended with a spectacular showing by the local startup scene! The energy and hype continues to grow as we travel to our next location: Myanmar (Burma), Yangon. As the biggest startup pitching event of the year, 18 shortlisted startups in Myanmar steps up to the challenge to showcase their ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit to the world.

They will pitch in front of panels of judges on April 5, Thursday, including KK Fund, Patamar Capital, and Phandeeyar.

They will battle it out to be crowned the Judges Choice and Fan Favourite  get fast tracked to the Finals at Echelon Asia Summit in Singapore this June amongst the shortlisted 100  and ultimately vie for prizes from WeWork, STSP, Web in Travel and SPRING Singapore!

In alphabetical order, these are the ones to watch:

AMZ Express

Flexible Pass

Gudcare

Kargo Myanmar

Konesi

MMTUTORS

MYEO

Next Code

Paypoint

Pancasikha

RecyGlo

Shwe Bite

The Photo Booth

Technoholic

Tun Yat

Win Pricious

Yangon Bookings

ZigWay

Got you curious? Join the community at a Qualifier Roadshow

near you!





TOP100, presented by WeWork, is a programme powered by e27 that empowers insights, connections, talent and funding opportunities for early-stage tech startups in Asia. In order to shine a spotlight on the chosen 100, we travel through 23 APAC cities in 2 months, span 7 market categories, and partner with community leaders and ecosystem expertise to curate the ones to keep an eye out for. Learn more or apply now at e27.co/echelon/top100

TOP100 Qualifier Roadshows begin across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar from March 6th, 2018, before taking on the rest of APAC. The TOP100 2018 Official Startup Application Round for joining the Qualifier Roadshow has ended, but we are still accepting applications for Discretionary Admission.

The post Startups to compete at Myanmars largest pitching event of the year appeared first on e27.The threat from online and mobile fraud is growing in Asia-Pacific, with digital financial services firms in China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia now among the least trusted by consumers, according to new findings from top information services firm, Experian.

But the rising threat has at least prompted more than half of the regions financial services firms to increase their investment in the latest technology needed to tackle the challenge, such as real-time fraud detection and digital security systems.

The Dublin-based but London-listed firms 2017 Fraud Management Insights Report, released on Wednesday, says companies across the region are seeing the scale and variety of fraud growing into 2018.

It lists five top types to look out for this year: online, credit and debit card frauds, malware (malicious software) affecting online and mobile transactions, and identity fraud.

The report surveyed 3,200 consumers across 80 organisations from the financial services, telecoms and retail sectors, each with revenues of at least US$10 million. Thirty eight financial services companies from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Australia, Singapore, and other APAC countries took part in the study.

Fraud cases were most commonly reported during retail banking activities , especially when customers used their cards, the report said, but instances also grew in the consumer tech, digital-only, telecoms, and airline sectors.

Financial services companies are focusing on real-time detection of fraud because they are on the frontline of attacks and realise it is no longer enough to mitigate incidents only after they happen, said Mohan Jayaraman, Experian Asia-Pacifics regional managing director for decision analytics and business information.

Hong Kongs SFC makes fighting corporate fraud a top priority in 2018

The study also examined trust levels of digital financial services offered across the region, and revealed New Zealand, Japan and Australia had the highest readings among customers, with Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia registering below-industry average trust levels.

Story continues

The industry average was 4.95 out of 10 for the financial services sector, according to Experians specially created Digital Trust Index, which gauges trust levels among customers.

Financial services companies are focusing on real-time detection of fraud because they are on the frontline of attacks and realise it is no longer enough to mitigate incidents only after they happen

Mohan Jayaraman, Experians regional managing director for decision analytics and business information

China and Hong Kong scored just 3.87 and 3.80, respectively, ranking them sixth and seventh of the regions 10 countries under review. Indonesia had the lowest score (2.9) with New Zealand top with 8.01.

Hong Kongs SFC makes fighting corporate fraud a top priority in 2018

To tackle the challenges presented by growing instances of fraud, 59 per cent of the regions financial services companies said the focus of their investments are now going on strengthening their real-time fraud detection capabilities.

That rise in awareness is driving more companies to invest in quality data which lets them fully understand their customers needs.

Chinese woman admits using impostor to take US college English test, amid crackdown on fraud by foreign students

It said that gaining popularity is a method called the single customer view  a marketing and sales concept that sees organisations store and consolidate their customer data, to allow them to get to know them better and customise their services to suit individuals.

But 39 per cent of companies polled admitted they lacked an efficient overall data management strategy, meaning they still had problems gathering sufficient data.

Only when companies improve their data quality and implement a Single Customer View, will they be able to improve their business results, said Jayaraman.

This article Threat from online and mobile fraud growing in Asia-Pacific: Experian first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

More from South China Morning Post:The presidents of Iran, Turkey and Russia meet on Wednesday for their second tripartite summit in under six months, aiming to speed the peace process for Syria and bolster their influence in the country. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host his Russian and Iranian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani in Ankara for a meeting that could have a critical bearing on developments in Syria. The meeting will be the second such tripartite summit after the first hosted by Putin in November in the Black Sea city of Sochi and will be a new symbol of the increasingly deep cooperation. The three powers have backed peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana which they argue are a parallel process to support UN-supported discussions in Geneva. Experts say that Ankara, Moscow and Tehran have quite different interests but have for now decided to team up to take advantage of the waning Western influence in Syria. Hours before the summit, US President Donald Trump said he wanted to "bring our troops back home" from Syria after indicating last week the US would withdraw from the country "very soon". Jana Jabbour, professor of political science at Sciences Po university in Paris, said the aim of the summit was to "reorganise and renegotiate the zones of influence in Syria as well as to reflect on the future of Syria's north after US withdrawal". - 'Key player' - Turkey drove out Kurdish militia from Afrin city on March 18, two months after it launched an offensive in northern Syria supporting Syrian rebels. Erdogan has indicated Turkey could extend its operation to the YPG-held town of Manbij as well as Ayn al-Arab (Kobane) and Qamishli, all east of Afrin. "Erdogan likely wants to use the summit to secure Russian and Iranian support for expanded operations in northern Syria or Iraq," said Elizabeth Teoman, Turkey analyst at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). After bilateral talks with Putin on Tuesday, Erdogan said Turkey and Russia would continue their cooperation "focusing on our common interests" in Syria. Jabbour said Iran and Russia would give free rein to Turkey in the north against the YPG in exchange for bringing the groups it controls to the negotiating table. "Turkey remains a key player in the Syrian crisis especially because of the opposition groups it controls. A solution to the crisis is unimaginable without Ankara's contribution," she added. - 'Tensions to flare again' - While Moscow and Tehran support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad politically and militarily, Turkey has repeatedly called for his removal and supported Syrian opposition fighters. Last year, the powers agreed to set up "de-escalation areas" in western Idlib province, north of Homs province, parts of Deraa and Quneitra provinces in southern Syria and Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, which has come under heavy bombardment. Cooperation between the three in Syria "may break down at some point", Teoman warned, while issues between Moscow and Turkey could come to the fore over Idlib. Idlib's civilian infrastructure is largely controlled by the jihadist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate. Turkey is keen to prevent a Russia-backed regime assault on the province home to around 2.5 million people who analysts say would have few places to flee after having already fled areas like Ghouta and Aleppo. Turkish armed forces have now set up eight observation posts to keep the ceasefire intact but Moscow wants Ankara to also exert influence over the jihadists in control of Idlib. Teoman said that tensions between Russia and Turkey "will flare up again when the pro-regime coalition refocuses on Idlib province." Tensions may also be emerging behind the scene between Russia and Iran, with Moscow much more concerned to press for reform under Assad than Tehran. More than 340,000 people have been killed since the war began following anti-government protests in 2011, while millions have been internally displaced or forced to flee. Turkey hosts over 3.5 million Syrian refugees and Ankara is keen to avoid a further influx ahead of 2019 elections and also wants to install some refugees in safe zones inside Syria.1. Comments must not be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or otherwise bigoted.

2. Comments must not involve little more than name-calling and insulting remarks.

3. Comments must not be made by "anonymous" or "unknown".

4. Comments must not try to sneak in some free advertising for themselves (like spam).

I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules. If your comment violates these rules, it will not be published.Skeptical Science at EGU 2018

Posted on 4 April 2018 by BaerbelW

Next week, about 14,000 scientists will meet in Vienna, Austria for the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2018. Skeptical Science will make an appearance in a few of the thousands of sessions held from April 9 to 13.

Here are the sessions with SkS involvement:

Stephan Lewandowsky, Kevin Cowtan and Ari Jokimaki are co-authors for an oral presentation given by Stefan Rahmstorf on Monday:

CL2.03

Detecting and attributing climate change: trends, extreme events, and impacts

Convener: Pardeep Pall

Co-Conveners: Alexis Hannart , Seung-Ki Min , Aurelien Ribes

Barbel Winkler will be one of the panelists in a short course about fighting misinformation convened by Barbara Ferreira offered on Monday afternoon:

Session SC2.12 ECS

Debunking myths and fake news: how can geoscientists fight misinformation and false claims

Convener: Barbara Ferreira | Co-Convener: Olivia Trani

Mon, 09 Apr, 15:3017:00 / Room -2.91

On Wednesday we'll have John Cook's Denial101x poster presented by Barbel Winkler in a session about climate change education:

Session EOS13

Climate Change Education

Convener: Robin Matthews | Co-Conveners: Anne Gold , Helena Martins , David Wilgenbus , Sylvia Knight

Orals - Wed, 11 Apr, 10:3012:00 / Room L7

Posters - Attendance Wed, 11 Apr, 15:3017:00 / Hall X1

We plan to blog about these and other sessions during and after EGU2018.According to the Hollywood Reporter, Black-ish creator and Girls Trip writer Kenya Barris may be trying to exit his overall deal with ABC Studios. The creator has been working for the network since 2015, earning them a Peabody and two best comedy Emmy nominations for Black-ish. This move could prove tricky for Barris, who signed a four-year deal with ABC just last year.

Barris is reportedly trying to move to Netflix, where he would join other poached network writers like Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy. The streaming conglomerate has been courting creators who can produce both critical darlings and moneymaking hits, so Barris work certainly fits the bill. Black-ish is beloved across demographics, Freeform spinoff Grown-ish is poised for similar success, and I dont even need to tell you how much America loved Girls Trip. According to a source, talks between Barris and Netflix are very real, although Barris representatives declined to comment. Barris has a film deal with Fox, the expiration of which is unknown.

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Despite his overwhelming success, its been difficult for Barris to get his latest television projects to air. Neither his Toni Colletteled passion project Unit Zero nor his political opposites-attract comedy Libby and Malcolm were picked up by ABC. The network was trying to push through Barris multicamera series starring Alec Baldwin, but the project fell through after Baldwin left. Barriss Bright Futures did find a home, but not with ABCNBC picked up the millennial comedy with a late-season pilot order.

The split could be due to politically motivated creative differences between Barris and ABC. Just last month, the network axed an episode of Black-ish in which Dre (Anthony Anderson) imparts his political concerns to his son. This was a mutual decision, according to Barris, who said, Given our creative differences, neither ABC nor I were happy with the direction of the episode and mutually agreed not to air it. The news was notably bizarre, considering episodes of Black-ish that dealt with Juneteenth, post-Trump grief, police brutality, and the N-word have all gone to air. There is also speculation that this could have something to do with Roseannes recent, dubiously racist Fresh off the Boat and Black-ish jab. The controversial reboot is undoubtedly in good standing after it drew record numbers last weekit has already been renewed for a second season.

It would certainly make sense for Barris to sign with Netflix. He fits the bill, it would be a very lucrative move (Rhimes and Murphy both reportedly scored nine-figure deals from the studio), and hes already in cahoots with them for the Shaft reboot and Coming to America sequel. If this is true, it could mark a huge win for the talented writerand an enormous loss for ABC.If youre a puzzler without a subscription to the beloved New York Times Crossword, today is your lucky day: While the section typically requires a separate subscription from the paper itself, Wednesdays installment, created by Weird Al Yankovic and Eric Berlin, is publicly available as a part of its ongoing, 75th anniversary series featuring celebrity-helmed crosswords. Berlin shared a PDF of the puzzle in a Tweet early Wednesday morning, and if previous celebrity puzzles are any indication, this one will soon be available to play online as well.

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The @nytimes has made today's puzzle, by @alyankovic and me, available to all comers without a subscription. You can find it here:https://t.co/in4X6D0WMb  Eric Berlin (@puzzlereric) April 4, 2018

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The Times crossword gets progressively harder as the week goes on, although pop culture mavens and pun enthusiasts alike may find a few wins here. The Times column on the puzzle explains its themecheese-related puns on all things pop cultureand breaks down its more difficult clues. If you get stuck, you might want to give it a read, but crossword purists will probably want to avoid the spoilers.

As the Times highlights in their column, Yankovic was an ideal crossword candidate: Who would be more perfect for the cruciverbal arts than the man who turned Robin Thickes song Blurred Lines into a song about bad writing? We just might be living in a Puzzlers Paradise.This week, in Room 209 of the Multicultural Student Services Center on the campus of George Washington University, the colleges interim associate director for inclusion initiatives will conduct a seminar on the concept of Christian privilege. The workshop will last 90 minutes and will include a PowerPoint presentation. There will be a Q&A. Registration is required.

This urgent national news was reported Tuesday by the College Fix, a conservative site focused on investigative reporting on campus atrocities such as all-female debate tournaments, single classroom exercises on gender identity, and dorm-poster displays on toxic masculinity. If a freshman sociology major whispers gender normativity to herself in a dorm room at 2 a.m., the Fix is on it.

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The GWU event will ask participants to examine questions like, Even with the separation of Church and State, are there places where Christians have built-in advantages over non-Christians? It seems uncontroversial to answer this question in the affirmative, but the Fix story was engineered to outrage, and it succeeded. The phrase Christian privilege was trending on Twitter for hours on Tuesday, prompting a range of thoughtful responses:

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Christian privilege? This may be the most disturbing story youll read all day. Someone shouldve told the martyrs about Christian privilege. https://t.co/bHXhAQ15ks  Dan Bongino (@dbongino) April 3, 2018

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Just when we thought the idea of white privilege was stupid enough, the left has now coined the term Christian privilege. NEWSFLASH: Christians are the most persecuted religion in the world! This is just sick!  Mark Lutchman (@marklutchman) April 3, 2018

I didnt realize Christians had Christian Privilege? All I see is Christians being mocked, persecuted, and murdered for their beliefs   realPolitiDiva  (@realPolitiDiva) April 3, 2018

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The Fix reporter, a senior at Auburn University, notes indignantly that the GWU event will be held Just four days after Easter. Couldnt the college have waited a more respectful period of time after the most sacred holiday in Christianity, which persecuted American believers are forced to celebrate in secrecy with large parades, an annual party on the White House lawn, and live network TV musicals about Jesus Christ?

Dont tell the Fix, but the idea of Christian privilege has not gone unexamined by Western Christians in recent years. Plenty of thoughtful Christian leaders have made the point that Western Christians are hardly an oppressed class. As the former Archbishop of Canterbury put it in 2013, Persecution is not being made to feel mildly uncomfortable. For goodness sake, grow up, I want to say. Even the toxic term itself has failed to trigger much backlash until now. In 2012, activist Sam Killermanns list of 30+ Examples of Christian Privilege (14. It is easy for you to find your faith accurately depicted in television, movies, books, and other media) made the rounds on a number of Christian sites. Ed Stetzer, an influential columnist at Christianity Today, called the list helpful and thought provoking, particularly when Christians in the West say they are being persecuted.

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Still, it is hard to overestimate how important the concept of persecution is to some Christians in America. Some genuinely believe that American Christians are an oppressed class, because of developments like the legalization of gay marriage and the rising influence of non-Christian and nonreligious voices in American culture. Others are responding to the real and violent persecution of Christians in the Middle East in particular, covered closely by Christian news outlets. Its a good thing that American Christians view themselves as part of a global body of believers. But for a faith whose founding stories are bound up in narratives of subjugation and martyrdom, it can be tempting to use the oppression of Middle Eastern Christians as proof that Christians everywhere are being similarly abused.

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It would be foolish to devote as much firepower to the Fix article as the Fix devoted to the workshop in Room 209. But its worth asking why stories like this one find such traction online. Christian conservatives rightly complain when the mainstream media elevates the kooky blatherings of Christian leaders like Fred Phelps of the minuscule Westboro Baptist Church or the obscure Florida pastor whose plan to burn copies of the Quran attracted international headlines in 2010. Why, then, do so many of them reward media outlets that ferret out tiny events on college campuses and describe them as the end of Western civilization?A recently proposed law in New York City has the potential to change the way residents workor more accurately, the way they dont. City Councilman Rafael Espinal Jr. introduced a bill that would make it illegal for businesses with at least ten employees to require that their staff check or respond to emails, phone calls, or any other work-related communication after-hours. The law would be the first in the country to enshrine work-life balance into the legal code, and, while it wouldnt bar employers from sending after-hours messages, it would leave the choice to respond up to employees. Because of technology, its become very easy for people to be pushed to do their jobs 24 hours a day, Espinal said in an interview with USA Today, and employees should have the right without fear of retribution to draw a clear line as to whether they want to work during their personal time.

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Similar to a 2017 French law requiring companies with over 50 employees to set guidelines on how to deal with after-hours communications, the proposal is a step in the right direction for everyone who feels pressured to check Slack or email while cooking dinner. Under the proposed law, employees who feel theyre being retaliated against for refusing to work after-hours would be able to file a complaint with the city. If found in violation of the law, employers could face stiff penalties ranging from a $250 fine to having to pay out full compensation plus $2,500 to a worker who was fired as a result. Certain industry sectors would be exempt from the law, including government employees, on-call staff like doctors and nurses, and companies with overseas business that requires employees to work at odd hours. While theres no doubt that the intent behind the law is a good one, the fact that one of the exemptions allows any company to define a situation that must be dealt with immediately raises some questions regarding the effectiveness of a blanket bureaucratic fix to the problem of never-ending work.

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At this point, constant email and Slack are just a symptom of a broader societal inability to unplug. According to USA Today, 63 percent of those surveyed by the Workforce Institute said they would still work after hours even if it violated company policy. So, its unclear exactly how many people would take advantage of a law like this, and even if they werent responding to email specifically, that wouldnt necessarily prevent them from working after they clock out. And while the law might prevent retaliation, in a culture that praises workaholism, it wouldnt prevent the crippling fear that being unwilling to be available at all hours will ultimately prevent you from getting ahead.

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The bureaucratic minefield that employees would have to go through to report their employer also seems like a deterrentalthough theres an argument to be made that having a theoretically neutral governmental mediator might be more effective than a solution like Frances, where individual companies are required to implement their own policies, leaving the enforcement entirely up to individual HR departments. There are also plenty of industries besides international business and medicine where not responding to communications after 6 p.m. isnt workable, including journalism. Of course, our collective inability to take our eyes off Slack doesnt mean that employers should just throw their hands up in the air and resign themselves to their employees continually clocking uncompensated overtime. Espinals proposed law is a positive bellwether of a broader societal shift that needs to happen, one that clearly delineates boundaries between work and home.Better Life Lab is a partnership of Slate and New America.

Paula was six months pregnant and working full time as a shift supervisor at a restaurant. She wanted the option to sit on a stool when business was slow, and she wanted a bigger uniform shirt that fit her growing stomach.

So she brought a doctors note, asking for reasonable accommodations for her pregnancy.

But that wasnt what she got.

They thought it was a big joke, she said. Her boss read the note, then called over the kitchen manager for a laugh. I started crying. It was my health, the health of my baby, and I was pregnant. It wasnt a joke to me, she said.

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As more states like California provide pregnancy-discrimination protections and accommodations, employers are still catching up to the new regulations and learning how to implement such changes. For many pregnant women, navigating these rights can be difficult, with few readily available legal resources. And groups like Californias Legal Aid at Work, who do provide free legal assistance across the state to low-income workers whose rights arent being recognized, struggle to reach women, especially those most in need of legal support.

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Thats where doctors stepped in.

After the humiliating doctors-note experience, Paula was at one of her prenatal appointments at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospitals (ZSFG) Womens Health Clinic, when she saw a poster advertising Legal Aid at Work. Instead of going to a lawyers office, Paula met with one of the Legal Aid staff attorneys in the Womens Health Clinic conference room. The same place where she received sonograms and prenatal vitamins was also dispensing legal advice.

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Legal Aid at Work took on Paulas case; director Sharon Terman sent a letter to Paulas employer citing violations of Californias Pregnancy Disability Leave Act. (Paula asked that Slate use only her middle name because of the ongoing legal settlement). A legal exchange ensued, and a settlement is pending, with monetary compensation for Paula and mandatory training on pregnancy discrimination for the restaurants management.

Twice a month, since 2014, Legal Aid at Work sends a staff attorney for appointments or drop-in visits at ZSFGs Women Health Clinic. Virtually all women seek prenatal care. In San Francisco, its very high, 99 percent. Even nationally, its a very high number, said Julia Parish, a staff attorney with Legal Aid at Work, who often does the bimonthly shifts at ZSFG. By tying this system to prenatal care, we can get this information into the hands of the women when they really need it, said Parish. Women will go to the doctors to take care of their babies even if they dont take care of themselves.

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Most of the 1,000 women who visit the hospitals Womens Health Clinic annually for prenatal care are low-wage workers of color who receive Medi-Cal, the state-based Medicaid program, said Dr. Rebecca Jackson, chief of OB-GYN at ZSFG and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

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Staying employed is especially important in a state that offers paid leave to new parents. They have to keep their jobs long enough to receive that benefit.

Jackson is part of a group of doctors and health care advocates who train other physicians about the power of their doctors notes and the legal rights their patients have. The Center for WorkLife Law at UCHastings has developed an online doctors note writing tool, which will generate specific language that theyve found leads to better outcomes. Terms like no stress or no physical activity can be overly broad, said the centers deputy director, Liz Morris. If an employer says, We cant provide them, then the employee needs to go home, said Morris. Instead, the notes should describe any necessary restrictions in a very specific, detailed way.

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For our patients, the most important thing is to find a way for her to keep working, said Jackson. She keeps her benefits, her salary, and her job. Staying employed is especially important in a state that offers paid leave to new parents. They have to keep their jobs long enough to receive that benefit.

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A lot of these women face discrimination at work, with pregnancy, said Tahnee Gantt, a medical social worker at the ZSFG Womens Health Clinic. Some women have been fired as soon as they disclosed they were pregnant, or if an employer isnt willing to make accommodations.

Before the partnership with Legal Aid at Work, Gantt would have to go through the state Employment Development Department and wait on hold. The number of people on hold would often max out, so Gantt couldnt even remain on the line. It was so hard to receive an answer by phone, Gantt would send women down to the office, where theyd spend hours waiting to speak to someone. Now, she can refer women to an attorney sitting down the hall.

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Now, I have the confidence and knowledge to educate them fully about their rights and their partners rights. We gain information as its coming out, said Gantt. For example, this year, Californias paid leave policy increased the percentage of wage replacement for those taking leave (from 55 percent of wages to 70 percent of wages for the lowest-paid workers) and moved up the time. Now employees can receive their paid benefits on day one of their family leave, rather than requiring a weeks absence before the benefits kick in. Because of the partnership with Legal Aid, Gantt was well-equipped to educate patients about their benefits.

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Despite the success of the program, Terman said the legal-medical partnership that focuses on pregnancy and employment in California is an outlier, both among other states in the country and among the types of legal-medical partnerships provided. A 2017 survey report from the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership shows that only 9 percent of medical-legal partnerships surveyed nationwide said they target services to pregnant women. This month, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a committee opinion, which for the first time urges OB-GYNs to discuss workplace expectations with their working pregnant patients and includes a guide on how to best write and structure a doctors note to maximize its impact. Jackson was the primary author, and Morris and Terman served as legal support.

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Legal Aid at Work recently received a $300,000 Aspen Grant to explore the feasibility of scaling and replicating this model in other communities around the country. We plan to produce a toolkit documenting best practices and lessons learned for advocates in other states and regions, said Terman.

Paula is still on leave from her job. After giving birth to a baby boy in December, she still has the option to return this June. As the pregnancy-discrimination claims are settled, all managers at the restaurant chain will have to undergo pregnancy-discrimination and accommodation training. When you are pregnant, youre going through a lot already. If I didnt stop it, they were just going to do it to someone else who was pregnant, she said.

And she credits Legal Aid at Work, and that connection she made at ZSFG, with allowing her to keep her job.

It was so stressful, I wanted to quit, she said. Because I got Legal Aid involved, they gave me a ray of light.

Support for this article was provided by Rise Local, a project of the New America National Network.Thousands of teachers and sympathetic demonstrators in Oklahoma gathered on Tuesday, for a second straight day, at Oklahomas state Capitol to demand higher teacher pay and increased education funding. The protests were sparked by Oklahomas Republican governor, Mary Fallin, signing a bill last week that increased teachers pay by 15 to 18 percentnot enough, walkout supporters say, for teachers who are often stuck paying for school supplies out of pocket, in a state that pays teachers well below the national average.

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There were similar scenes in Kentucky on Monday, when thousands of teachers and sympathetic demonstrators rallied at the state Capitol in Frankfort in opposition to significant changes to public pensions attached to a sewage bill and passed speedily Thursday night by Republicans in the Legislature. Efforts to overhaul the states pension system have been contentious for some time. In October, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said that opponents of his pension reform efforts lacked the sophistication to understand whats at stake in negotiations.

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The demonstrations in Oklahoma and Kentucky followed a massive wildcat strike in West Virginiathe longest in the states historythat ended in a pay hike for teachers; a brief strike over health benefits by teachers in Jersey City, New Jersey; and last week, a rally that brought thousands to Arizonas state Capitol to demand better teacher pay and education funding. Buttons worn by many of the protesters in Phoenix bore a warning: I dont want to strike, but I will.

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There remain deep fissures within the party over the role of teachers unions and the project of education reform.

Coverage of all this among commentators in the press has been uniformly rosy, unlike the criticisms leveled at the Chicago Teachers Union during that citys strike in 2012, as Brooklyn College and CUNY professor Corey Robin pointed out Tuesday morning. Even though their cause was just as righteous as that of the teachers in these southern states  the hostility from media outlets, including liberal media outlets, was palpable, he wrote. One has to wonder if these strikes were happening in blue states, with Democratic governors and state legislatures, what the reception might be. One also has to wonder if the strikers and/or students were of color, what the reception might be.

As positive as the media reception might be this time around, Democratic leaders, aside from perfunctory supportive statements from leaders like Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, have been relatively muted on the demonstrations. And during the West Virginia strike that kicked off this wave, national Democrats mostly kept their distance, as the Daily Beasts Sam Stein and Gideon Resnick noted:

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Tom Perez, the chair of the Democratic National Committee and the former Secretary of the Department of Labor, has sent several tweets in solidarity with the striking teachers. But he has not joined them on the line. Nor has his top lieutenant, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) a high-profile progressive and vocal labor champion. A spokesperson for the DNC said that they had been working with the West Virginia Democratic party but did not elaborate further.  The distance has fed the perception, for some, of a wasted opportunity for the Democratic Party. At a time when local activism is demandingand potentially producingtangible political gains, the political party most closely associated with those demands and those activists has remained afar, not associating itself too closely with the teachers or capitalizing organizational on their movement.

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This is largely because there remain deep, substantive fissures within the party over the role of teachers unions and the project of education reform. People are still scared shitless in the Democratic Party of being connected to teachers unions and strikes, a labor activist told the Daily Beast. There was a period where the [former D.C. public school chancellor] Michelle Rhees of the world beat the crap out of teachers doing anything, even if we were fighting for more money for schools. We are in a transition period but were still scarred by that.

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That transition period has likely been smoothed by the election of Donald Trump. Had Hillary Clinton won, there may have been a pitched fight to define the partys agenda on K12 education, which wasnt the center of Clintons education proposals. Instead, Democrats have largely closed ranks in opposition to President Trump and Betsy DeVos, who has become one of the most reviled figures in the administration even though her views overlap considerably with the technocratic, competition-centric reform agenda the party pursued during the Obama administration and endorsed in the Bush years. Broadly speaking, the regime of compelling competition between schools by creating charter-school or school-choice programs and by rewarding those whose students do well on standardized tests was launched at a federal level by the No Child Left Behind Act; the NCLB was co-sponsored by Ted Kennedy and passed the Senate in 2001 with 87 votes, our own Ben Mathis-Lilley wrote in March. When Barack Obama became president, he created the Race to the Top program, which the Washington Post described at the time as a competition for $4.35 billion in grants that would ease limits on charter schools and tie teacher pay to student achievement, i.e., direct extra funds to already-successful schools.

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Were Trump and DeVos not on the scene, continuing to pursue that agenda would prompt confrontations with the very teachers unions now agitating against Republicans and who raged against Education Secretary Arne Duncan during Obamas tenure. One sticking point was the initial ruling in the case Vergara v. California, a lawsuit advanced against union-negotiated employment protections that reform advocates argued hurt minority students by keeping ineffective teachers on the job. A statement from Duncan upon the initial ruling said it presents an opportunity for a progressive state with a tradition of innovation to build a new framework for the teaching profession that protects students rights to equal educational opportunities while providing teachers the support, respect and rewarding careers they deserve. Teachers unions ultimately prevailed in the courts, but Duncans move and the approach taken in the Race to the Top program deeply upset union activists.

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Animosity to teachers unions, and the ineffective teachers theyre said to protect, among the partys centrists is quite old at this point. In the Baffler in November, Jennifer Berkshire described the Clintons as early adopters of rhetoric against teacher largesse, rhetoric taken up in support of competency tests pushed while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas:

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Hillary made the cause her personal crusade in 1983, trotting out anecdote after anecdote about teachers shed heard about who couldnt add or read. The reform package passed, cementing Bills reputation as a new breed of Democratic governor, one who wasnt afraid to take on entrenched interests in order to tackle tough problems. Anytime youre going to turn an institution upside down, theres going to be a good guy and a bad guy, recalls Clinton campaign manager Richard Herget. The Clintons painted themselves as the good guys. The bad guys were the schoolteachers.

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Reform rhetoric now is generally aimed at establishing a conceptual division between teachers and the unions advocating on their behalf. Provisions like those that protect teacher tenure have become a prime target for reform advocates who argue they make bad teachers incredibly hard to fire, keeping more qualified potential teachers out of schools. Some recent research complicates this view. A 2014 report by Matthew Chingos of the Brookings Institution studying fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in North Carolinaa state where teachers could earn tenure after four years on the job at the timefound that administrators were not substantially likely to fire teachers deemed ineffective by state metrics when they had the chance pre-tenure. There are a number of potential explanations for this finding, he wrote, including a limited supply of effective teachers (its rational to keep a mediocre teacher if the likely replacement will be no better), a lack of administrator ability to discern teacher quality (their observations are less predictive of value-added than those of outside observers), or a simple unwillingness to make the unpleasant decision of firing someone.

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A 2016 paper from University of Utah economist Eunice Han found that unionized school districts fire more bad teachers than nonunionized ones. By demanding higher salaries for teachers, unions give school districts a strong incentive to dismiss ineffective teachers before they get tenure, she told Jennifer Berkshire. Highly unionized districts dismiss more bad teachers because it costs more to keep them. A November study by researchers at Michigan State University and the University of Connecticut suggested that tenure reforms passed in that state in 2011 made it particularly hard to keep teachers in schools with lower test scores and more impoverished students. And a January paper by researchers at Brown University, the University of Connecticut, and Syracuse University also found that tenure reforms passed under Race to the Top sharply, if temporarily, reduced the number of teaching applicants. The researchers failed to find evidence that those dissuaded were underqualified. They did find, though, that fewer black candidates applied.

The prevailing narrative about tenure has nonetheless been useful to reformers in the project of casting union advocates as villains. But if Democrats want to take advantage of the red-state organizing capacity teachers have demonstrated over the past few weeks, theyll have to jettison antagonism for a rhetoric making the case that the people who educate our kids deserve workplace advocates, and that better pay and protections for teachers are worth taking to the streets for.On the March 25 episode of 60 Minutes, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission said Donald Trump was in an enormous legal mess. The source of that mess, Trevor Potter explained, was the $130,000 payment from Trumps lawyer Michael Cohen to Stephanie Stormy Daniels Clifford, which Potter described as a $130,000 in-kind contribution by Cohen to the Trump campaign, which is about $126,500 above what hes allowed to give. Potter went on to argue that the prosecution of John Edwards had been a similar casean instance in which the federal government brought charges against a politician for failing to disclose a campaign contribution.

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The presidents defenders may take solace in the fact that the Department of Justice failed to convict Edwards. But theres another precedent that Potter didnt mention: the conviction of former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, which I secured as a federal prosecutor. Taken together, the Edwards and Rowland prosecutions hold important lessons for building a campaign finance case against Trump and his associates.

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Federal law limits the total amount an individual can donate to a candidate. In 2008, the limit was $2,300; in 2016, it was $2,700. In-kind donations, which count against the contribution limit, must be reported to the Federal Election Commission so they can be scrutinized by the press, opposing candidates, and the public. The government can charge anyone with evading these rules so long as that person knows about the contribution limits and reporting requirements and intends to circumvent them. In this way, a defendants knowledge and intent become very important.

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In the Edwards case, the DOJ charged him with raising illegal donations for his 2008 presidential campaign by having one of his donors, the heiress Bunny Mellon, funnel more than $700,000 to cover the living expenses of Rielle Hunter, Edwards pregnant mistress. The government also charged him with conspiracy and with misleading the FEC by not reporting Mellons payments. But even though Edwards, as the candidate, was responsible for raising funds and making honest reports to the FEC, a jury ultimately could not agree that hed committed any crimes. Edwards lawyers argued that he hadnt known about the payments, and a defense witness testified that Edwards had been surprised when he ultimately found out. If he didnt know about the payments, the argument went, he couldnt have intended to use that money to help his campaign, nor could he have intended to evade the public-reporting requirements.

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Rowland, meanwhile, was convicted in 2014 of receiving under-the-table payments to support a political candidate. Ten years before that, Rowland had pled guilty to corruption charges arising from his tenure as the governor of Connecticut. Hed serve a nominal prison term and re-emerge on the public scene as a reformed man. Earning some renown as a radio talk show host, he still held considerable sway with the Republican establishment when he gave his support to Lisa Wilson-Foley, who ran for Congress in Connecticut in 2012.

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While Trump may try to follow Edwards lead, the same defense isnt really available to him.

After Wilson-Foley obtained Rowlands support, a reporter revealed that Wilson-Foleys husband, Brian Foley, was routing secret payments to Rowland through an attorney. Although Rowland, Foley, and Wilson-Foley all swore the payments were for consulting services to Foleys nursing home company, the government alleged that they were conspiring to buy Rowlands support with clandestine payments outside the campaign finance system. Rowlands attorney made an impassioned plea that the ex-governor had no responsibility to report anything to the FEC and thus couldnt be convicted. However, in email after email, Rowland discussed ways to hide his arrangement with Foley. He sent an email to Wilson-Foley reminding her that, if anyone asked, he was just a volunteer. The jury easily convicted him.

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Trumps possible violations center on a pair of payments made by his associates. The first is a deal his attorney Michael Cohen negotiated with Stormy Daniels. The second is the payment the National Enquirer made to Karen McDougal, which, she asserts, was orchestrated by Cohen. While Cohen has vociferously maintained that the president never reimbursed him for his payment to Daniels, this is of little import. If the government could prove Trump knew about the payment and intended it to aid his candidacy, he would still be a conspirator in such a crime.

In the Rowland case, we made that evidence, in part, by rolling Brian Foley against hima tactic Robert Mueller has perfected. But a cooperating defendant is not necessary. Attorneys for both Daniels and McDougal have claimed that the payments to their clients were for political purposes, raising the prospect that the women could testify to that point. Moreover, the Wall Street Journals reporting that Cohen complained to friends [after the election] that he had yet to be reimbursed for the payment to Daniels suggests Trump did have knowledge of the payment. A few additional pieces of evidence in the form of emails or texts could cement this proof.

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Its clear that Cohen intended to conceal the payment to Daniels: He drafted a nondisclosure agreement that referred to Daniels as Peggy Peterson and Trump as David Dennison, and he paid Daniels through a private company named Essential Consultants. While evidence of concealment is always useful in building a campaign finance case, the secrecy must be for corrupt purposes. Some of the more damning evidence against Rowland was the way he and Foley attempted to hide their arrangement, talking in emails about creating cover, drafting sham contracts to disguise their activity, and routing payments through a shell company called Ridgeview Realty. There was concealment in Edwards case, tooMellon disguised many of her checks to make them appear to be payments for furniture. The deceit gave the case an air of criminality until a government witness testified that the ruse was meant to throw off Mellons money manager, not to hide payments from the FEC.

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The Edwards and Rowland cases also make it clear that if the government charges conspiracy, there must be more than one defendant. Given that Edwards was the only individual charged with a crime, its unsurprising the jury returned an acquittal on his conspiracy count. In the Rowland case, by contrast, both Foley and Wilson-Foley pleaded guilty. As such, it seems fair to say that theres no way Trump is going down for illegal campaign payments if the government doesnt take down Michael Cohen first.

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Finally, while the prosecutions main role is to prove up its own story, disproving the defenses theory of the case is almost as important. Defense attorneys must only raise reasonable doubt in one jurors mind to trigger a mistrial, and telling a coherent story can be enough to raise that doubt. From the prosecutions perspective, it appeared self-evident that Mellons payments to Hunter were intended to help Edwards campaign. But the defense argued that payments to conceal Hunter were intended to spare Edwards family, particularly his sick wife, personal embarrassment and shame. The claim apparently had some sway with at least one juror. In Rowlands case, disproving his parallel assertion that Foley was paying him for consulting became vital to the governments efforts.

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While Trump may try to follow Edwards lead, the same defense isnt really available to him. Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, made their partnership a central aspect of his public persona. They had raised four children together, suffered through the death of one of them, and persevered through Elizabeths battles with cancer. Trump, on the other hand, has never been beholden to notions of family values or fidelity. Alleging that the payments to Daniels and McDougal were intended to protect him from personal embarrassment gives the government a free pass to show how he has always been a man without shame.

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Trumps notorious philandering notwithstanding, any prosecution will have to contend with Cohens claim that he made payments to Daniels of his own volition. Cohens reported annoyance at not being reimbursed by Trump undermines that assertion, as does his use of his Trump Organization email account and the fact that counsel for Essential Consultants, the company that paid Daniels, is another attorney from Trumps company. In the end, proving the political nature of the payments will almost certainly require a full-scale assault on Cohens credibility.

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For now, direct links back to the president are minimal. Trumps uncharacteristic silence about the two women could be an attempt to keep himself from conceding any knowledge of the payments. Moreover, special counsel Robert Mueller and his team have not expressed any interest in the womens stories, which may be a shrewd political move. An investigation that touches on Trumps sexual dalliances wakes the ghosts of Monica Lewinsky and Ken Starr, reminding the country of a tawdry history many would rather forget.

But if the special counsel wants to probe the payments, he has a valid basis to do so. The nondisclosure agreements signed by Daniels and McDougal have no force in a grand jury hearing. Whats more, if Trump spoke to Cohen about the payments to the women before they happened, the attorney-client privilege would likely not protect him. All Mueller would have to do is show that there is probable cause to believe the conversations were in furtherance of a crimein this case, illegal payments to benefit the Trump campaign. At the moment, that looks more than probable.Upon his appointment in May, special counsel Robert Mueller was publicly tasked with focusing on Russias interference in the 2016 election and any potential links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump. According to his critics, Mueller has strayed from this path by, for instance, indicting Paul Manafort on charges related to work he did prior to the Trump campaign. When Manafort was indicted, Trump sent a barrage of tweets parroting Manaforts attorneys argument that his former campaign chairmans alleged crimes were irrelevant. The president also added the now standard refrain of there is NO COLLUSION!

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One of Muellers chief critics in CongressRep. Matt Gaetz of Floridahas made similar noises. None of the charges  have anything to do with collusion, Gaetz told MSNBC last month in calling for Muellers removal. With Manafort it was bad business dealings prior to Trumps campaign for the presidency.

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Earlier this year, Manaforts lawyers used these arguments to challenge Muellers legal authority to go forward with his case against their client. Late on Monday, the special counsel released a response to Manaforts call that the case against him be dismissed. That response dismantles the calls to limit the scope of Muellers investigation, revealing them to be both hollow and dangerous.

Muellers 44-page response cites a heavily redacted memo sent to Mueller last August by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. That memo explains that the initial public order authorizing a special counsel was worded categorically in order to permit its public release without confirming specific investigations involving specific individuals. The heavily redacted memo then outlines some individuals and allegations that are within the scope of the investigation. The one unredacted portion includes:

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Allegations that Paul Manafort: Committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials with respect to the Russian governments efforts to interfere with the 2016 election for President of the United States, in violation of United States law; Committed a crime or crimes arising out of payments he received from the Ukrainian government before and during the tenure of President Viktor Yanukovych.

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What Muellers critics have missed, seemingly intentionally, is that allegations relating to one potential crimefor which a grand jury has issued several indictmentsare intrinsically tied to allegations relating to other potential crimes. If Manafort was in the pocket of Russia partially because of illegal work he did for Ukraine, then that would demonstrate a possible motive to collude with Russians to interfere in the election. If he had connections to top Russian political and intelligence figures through his work in Ukraine, that would provide a potential opportunity for collusion.

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Contrary to Gaetzs claims, Mueller has released plenty of evidence relating to collusion. That doesnt mean theres not even more evidence still to come, and that doesnt mean the motive and opportunity evidence is irrelevant in building the broader case. The memo makes it plain that Manafort wasand likely still isunder investigation for possible collusion.

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The special counsel needs to be able to conduct a full, unfettered investigation to determine what figures like Manafort did and didnt do. This is the point Mueller made in his response to Manafort on Monday. The response explains that Manaforts alleged links to Russia are well within the scope of the special counsels investigatory power and even hints at how those links might eventually tie into a broader case for collusion. Specifically, the memo describes how:

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Open-source reporting also has described business arrangements between Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin.

It then argues that a collusion investigation:

would naturally cover ties that a former Trump campaign manager had to Russian-associated political operatives, Russian-backed politicians, and Russian oligarchs. It would also naturally look into any interactions they may have had before and during the campaign to plumb motives and opportunities to coordinate and to expose possible channels for surreptitious communications.

The inquiry into Manaforts factual links to Russian persons and Russian-associated political actors  furthers a complete and thorough investigation of the collusion case, Muellers response explains.

The connection to Deripaska could provide clues regarding both Manaforts motive and opportunity. The Washington Post reported last September that in the midst of his work on the Trump campaign, Manafort was emailing a former employee named Konstantin Kilimnik. In one of these emails, he offered private briefings on the campaign to someone who appears to be Deripaska. Last week, meanwhile, the government released evidence that Manaforts former deputy, Rick Gates, knew Kilimnik was a former Russian Intelligence Officer with the GRU and stayed in touch with him in September and October of 2016. The GRU has been linked to the hack of the Democratic National Committeethe primary prong of Russias interference in the 2016 election.

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What Mueller needs to complete his investigation is what any investigation needs: time, space, and a certain degree of secrecy.

Additionally, according to the Post, Manafort emailed Kilimnik in April 2016 pointing to his work for Trump and asking, How do we use to get whole? (Deripaska had previously alleged that Manafort had ripped him off to the tune of millions of dollars). And on Monday, the New York Times reported that the FBI has sought to investigate possible evidence that Deripaska was meeting with Americans on his yacht in the summer of 2016 to discuss the election.

Most of these activities took place from April to August 2016, when Manafort was in charge of the Trump campaign. These events also neatly line up with the period when Trump began to take an even more adamantly pro-Russian tack on the campaign trail.

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Muellers critics might argue that none of this is evidence of collusion. But as Mueller makes clear in his response to Manafort, he cant be expected to show all his cards while the investigation is still ongoing. Meanwhile, the information we already know about Manafort helps justify a continued collusion investigation. It also justifies efforts to push Manafort to cooperate in the broader investigation. Mondays response to Manafort cites guidance that accompanied the Justice Departments special counsel regulations that says a Special Counsel may conclude that investigating otherwise unrelated allegations against a central witness in the matter is necessary to obtain cooperation. Investigating Manaforts alleged crimes relating to his work for Ukraine may pressure him to cooperateas Michael Flynn and Gates have already agreed to dowhich in turn could lead to further evidence in the collusion case.

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What Mueller needs to complete his investigation is what any investigation needs: time, space, and a certain degree of secrecy. Muellers response to Manafort emphasizes this last part by arguing that prematurely revealing evidence could jeopardize the entire project.

The grounds for Muellers ongoing collusion investigation are clear and there is more than enough evidence for it to continue to completion. If the president and his various attack dogs in Congress and the media have nothing to fear from this inquiry, then they have no reason to assail Mueller and his probe. That they continue to do so speaks volumes.As recently as a month ago, President Trump was still not a criminal target of the Russia investigation, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. Special counsel Robert Mueller told Trumps lawyers as much in early March as part of the negotiation over the possibility of doing an interview with Trump as part of the investigation. Mueller told the Trump legal team while the president is not a target (yet), he is a subject of his investigation, a designation given to a person [who] has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges, according to the Post.

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During that conversation, Mueller indicated the thrust of the interview would center on possible obstruction of justice by the president and that, while Mueller is required to submit a confidential report of the special counsels findings and recommendations to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to the Post Muellers investigators have indicated to the presidents legal team that they are considering writing reports on their findings in stageswith the first report focused on the obstruction issue.

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What would the significance be of reports to answer the publics questions authored by Mueller and his team? From the Post:

[S]everal legal scholars and impeachment experts believe Mueller may conclude he does not have the authority to charge a sitting president with a crime under an opinion written by the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel in 1973 and reaffirmed in 2000. If Mueller finds Trump engaged in criminal conduct, he could detail it in a report, experts argue, and let Congress to decide whether to launch impeachment proceedings based on Muellers findings.

Its unclear how the possibility of written reports, which Trump advisers reportedly worry could be scathing, would affect the presidents willingness to submit to questions from the special counsel. It seems hard to imagine a situation where Mueller submitted his findings, even without criminal charges, and Rosenstein simply kept them to himself. The calls to release the details of the sprawling, high-profile probe in the name of the public interest would surely be overwhelming.Abstract

This case highlights an attending surgeons conflicts between duty to care for individual patients, train independent surgeons, and serve a patient population in an efficient manner. Although oversight of surgical residents and multiple operating room scenarios can be conducted in an ethical manner, patients might not understand the realities of surgical training and clinical logistics without explicit disclosure. Central to the ethical concerns of the case are the attending surgeons obfuscation of resident involvement and her insufficient oversight of two concurrent procedures. Full and proper informed consent, increased transparency, better planning, and improved communication could have prevented this difficult situation.

Case

Dr. Kim walks into the preoperative area of the hospital to greet her team of resident physicians and medical students early in the morning before a day full of cases. Dr. Mali and Dr. Lora, Dr. Kims senior residents, greet her and begin discussing patients. Dr. Mali, youll be in Mr. Cs ischial wound debridement and closure, and Dr. Lora, youll be leading Mrs. Bs blepharoplasty, Dr. Kim says.

Dr. Lora looks somewhat hesitant. I apologize, Dr. Kim, its been a while since I have done a blepharoplasty. I am not sure that its safe for me to be doing the operation without your observation and assistance.

Thank you for letting me know. Dr. Mali, are you okay with doing the majority of Mr. Cs procedure? Dr. Kim asks while walking toward the patients beds. Dr. Mali nods in agreement with this plan, saying, Ive done so many of these debridements, I dont think I will need much help.

Both Mr. Cs and Mrs. Bs cases are the first of the day, so Dr. Kim and her team meet both patients before they are wheeled into the operating rooms. Dr. Kim assures both patients, creating the impression that she will be doing each of their cases.

Dr. Kim walks into Mr. Cs operating room to be present for time out, which is a check-in before the procedure begins. After Mr. C is anesthetized, she tells Dr. Mali, Ill be back at the very end when youre closing up. Ill be in Mrs. Bs room helping Dr. Lora. Dr. Kim leaves.

Dr. Mali proceeds with the case and encounters a lot of bleeding when creating the muscular flap to cover the wound. He ligates and cauterizes the vessels and is able to control the bleeding. As Dr. Kim promised, she returns for the end of the case.

Later that day, Dr. Mali gets a page that Mr. C has a significant hematoma at the surgery site. He pages Dr. Kim and they both go to Mr. Cs bedside. They tell Mr. C, This is a complication from your surgery this morning. We are going to have to take you back to the operating room. Mr. C sighs and says, Dr. Kim, how could this have happened with you as my surgeon? Dr. Kim is unsure how to answer.

Commentary

It is a fundamental ethical requirement for physicians to deal honestly and openly with patients at all times [1]. Being honest supports accepted bioethical principlesrespect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice [2]and is the foundation for trust, the keystone of the patient-physician relationship [3]. Here, Dr. Kim put herself in a difficult situation by obfuscating the role of resident surgeons in her operations and by failing to disclose her oversight of multiple surgeries. A truthful explanation of the circumstances of Mr. Cs complicationthat his case was handled primarily by her resident while she was in another operating roomwould likely surprise Mr. C and potentially undermine his future trust in her. Furthermore, it appears from the scenario that Dr. Kim might not even have been present for any of the case, calling into question whether she truly provided oversight. To evaluate this case, we will draw upon four key topics in surgical ethics: (1) the necessity of disclosure for informed consent, (2) the distinction between overlapping and concurrent surgery, (3) the balance between trainee oversight and autonomy, and (4) the relationship between complications and errors.

Disclosure

Unless informed otherwise, it is reasonable for patients to assume that the attending surgeon will be present for and perform all of their surgery. That surgeons might circulate between operating rooms and that residents can perform routine portions of procedures independently is not (yet) common knowledge. This informational asymmetry places the burden of disclosure on the surgeon. Although professional surgical guidelines do not directly address the issue of trainee involvement in overlapping operations, respect for autonomy demands that patients be informed of trainee participation and of which portions of their case will not have attending physician presence. It would also be appropriate to indicate any risks that are uniquely associated with the portions for which the attending physician will not be present. In this case, it would have been appropriate for Dr. Kim to explain that the senior resident would be handling the majority of the procedure, to state his apparent experience performing debridements, to explain what aspects she would be overseeing directly, and to discuss the common risks (e.g., bleeding) so that the patient could better understand the care he is receiving. Such disclosure allows patients to give informed consent to the procedure or to refuse the proposed plan of care.

Disclosure needs to be not only clear and honest but also timely. When possible, explanations of resident participation and overlapping cases are best handled prior to the day of surgery. Indeed, several aspects of this case would have been better handled earlierthe case reads as though the senior residents were unaware of the cases they would be participating in (ostensibly leaving them no opportunity to prepare, read ahead, or flag the attending surgeon of their inexperience), and, by extension, Dr. Kim was unaware of the help she would have for each of the cases. While the ideal of knowing every cases exact timing and team composition in advance can be challenging to accomplish, surgeons should strive to plan as much in advance as possible, especially when proposing to economize their effort over multiple cases or rooms [4]. Surgeons running multiple rooms should also be prepared to adjust operative schedules when it becomes apparent that ethical care is not feasible. In this case, Dr. Kim could conceivably have pushed back the start of one of the cases to ensure that she was present for the critical portions of both.

The Distinction between Overlapping and Concurrent Surgery

The notion of critical portions is central to the recent controversy concerning overlapping surgery. Surgeons frequently oversee and operate in two rooms at once in academic medical centers [5], focusing their time in individual cases on the portions that require advanced judgment, skill, or expertise (i.e., the critical portions). This economical use of surgeon effort can lead to increased throughput, decreased wait time for patients, and more of a surgeons procedures being performed during daylight hours when experienced teams and ancillary services are more readily available [4, 6]. The practice of overlapping surgery is formally approved within a framework set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and requires an attending surgeon to be present for the critical or key portions of both overlapping procedures [7]. This means that attending surgeons have latitude to delegate noncritical portions of procedures to qualified trainees, a practice that is specifically acknowledged by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) [8]. The American Medical Association (AMA) also acknowledges the participation of substitutes and endorses full and proper informed consent (which, in this case, would include notify[ing] the patient  that others will participate, including whether they will do so under the physicians personal supervision or not [9]). Other prominent professional societies, such as the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), support proper informed consent but do not have specific statements with regard to the ethics of running two operating rooms [10].

In contradistinction to overlapping surgery, concurrent surgery, in which the critical or key portions of procedures are occurring at the same time (as appears to have happened in this case), is inappropriate. As discussed above, it is reasonable for patients to assume that the attending surgeon will lend his or her skills and time during the critical portion of the surgery. Therefore, because the attending surgeon is absent during critical portions, concurrent operations deny the implicitly promised care to the patient. Moreover, the operations are unjust (in that only one of two concurrent patient receives the benefit of the expert attending surgeons skills) and possibly maleficent (causing harm with unclear benefit). Legally, concurrent operations approach medical fraud: such procedures are not eligible for CMS payment unless the teaching physician is physically present during all critical or key portions of the procedure and immediately available (or assigns a colleague to be immediately available) during other portions [7].

From the wording of the case as it pertains to Mr. C, we dont know for how much (if any) of the actual operating Dr. Kim was present. That surgeons are entrusted to define critical portions for a given case implies that at least some portion of every case is critical. Although there are some emerging attempts to generate consensus on what constitutes the critical portions of specific procedures [11], we cannot, at this point, definitively say what would have been critical in this case. At the very least, we would expect Dr. Kim to be present for some of the procedure, to a degree that she could personally ensure that the case was done properly (even if she was confident in Dr. Malis work).

Trainee Oversight and Autonomy

Surgical residency training involves residents progressing from surgical assistance and observation to independent performance of surgical tasks. Concomitantly, there is a natural transition in attending surgeon oversight from show and tell to no help [12]. This last stage of training, at which point an attending surgeon typically provides no unsolicited advice to a resident, still requires attending surgeon oversight to ensure optimal patient care. At no point in surgical residency training is there a no-supervision phase [4]. It would be incumbent on the supervising physician, at the very least, to inspect the work of the resident, which means being present at a stage in the case prior to closure when factors in the adequacy of the care can be assessed (e.g., in this case, complete debridement, viability of the flap, skin tension, and hemostasis might all be important). The case describes Dr. Kims presence only at the very end once closing was underway, suggesting she might not have been able to do even this minimum of oversight in this particular case.

Errors and Complications

Regardless of resident involvement in surgery, complications are a near inevitable part of surgical treatment. Even patients of the best surgeons might have surgical complications, and a complication does not mean an error occurred. This point warrants additional clarification: when anticipated potential negative consequences occur, they are considered complicationsa term distinct from error. Errors, in medicine, are preventable acts of omission or commission that could or could not lead to complications [13]. Dr. Kim (and we) cant know if the complicationa hematoma requiring reoperationwas caused by an error. It might alternatively have been caused by uncontrollable factors or even factors outside the operating room (e.g., a rough bed transfer). Her absence from the case denies us an attending surgeon level evaluation of the causative factors and also denies Dr. Mali a potential educational opportunity and Mr. C an acceptable explanation. While the complication might not have been due to an error and been unpreventable even in the best hands, once the circumstances surrounding this error are revealed to Mr. C, he might understandablyconclude the complication was directly due to Dr. Kims lack of oversight.

Conclusion

The duty of the attending surgeon to the patient requires oversight of and responsibility for resident actions. Attending surgeons are obligated to personally ensure that portions of procedures performed independently by residents were done correctly and that any complications or errors be disclosed in detail to the patient. Dr. Kim should disclose her lack of appropriate oversight to Mr. C and explain, in a manner that does not inappropriately blame Dr. Mali for the outcome, that she was wrongly involved in concurrent surgeries on two different patients in two different operating rooms. Dr. Kim should apologize for poorly informing the patient of the logistical and training circumstances regarding the patients surgery and attempt to salvage any trust in the relationship. She also should not attempt to bill for this case if she wasnt present for the critical portions. Finally, Dr. Kim and her team should present this case at a departmental morbidity and mortality conference to receive feedback, improve their practice, and prevent this situation from happening again. Future strategies for preventing this situation might include better planning of the cases and of resident involvement, more transparent disclosure about the (important and valuable) role of trainees, and latitude to delay the start of cases when proper attending surgeon oversight cannot be assured.While much has been and will be said about Justice Neil Gorsuchs deeply conservative jurisprudence on this weeks anniversary of his confirmation to the Supreme Court, the biggest impact of his elevation to the court is not actually seen in his early judicial leanings. Rather, its in the already hugely consequential legacy of his nomination fight.

With the success of the Gorsuch nomination, the White House recognized that reshaping the federal judiciary could become not just President Donald Trumps signature achievement but a path to future legal victories. The Senate GOPs decision to abolish the filibuster to push Gorsuch through also set the stage for the further obliteration of the judicial confirmation process. Finally, exercising that nuclear option removed a final incentive for bipartisanship in Supreme Court nominations, a development that promises to produce even more extreme justices, further damaging the law and the legitimacy of the court. Ultimately, the legacy of the Gorsuch fight is much deeper than anything Justice Gorsuch has yet to opine and may ultimately prove to be greater than his actual judicial legacy.

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Early in his presidency, Trump faced a series of high-profile court losses over unconstitutional executive actions, such as his initial Muslim ban, leaving the chief executive to console himself with Twitter tantrums against so-called judges and other perceived judicial adversaries. Gorsuchs confirmation, however, handed Trump his first accomplishment as president and made real the possibility of packing the courts with judges who share his anticivil rights agenda and his disdain for core constitutional principles and precedents. Trump has done this with a torrent of judicial nominations: 69 in his first year in office, more than double Barack Obamas 34 at a similar point in his presidency. With judges who share this administrations views on the bench, there will be many fewer checks against its continued assaults on constitutional rights and civil liberties. The Republican-led Senate has voted to confirm these nominees through at record speed.

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The confirmation of Gorsuch heralded a year of lower court nominees created in his imagepredominantly white and male, relatively young, and often hostile to consumer, worker, health, and environmental protections, as well as gender, racial, and LGBTQ equality. A disturbing number of Trumps judicial nominees are actually lawyers who have built their careers denigrating LGBTQ people and their families. Analysis by Lambda Legal (where I work as a legal fellow) at the end of last year found that nearly 1 in 3 (16 out of 59) of Trumps judicial nominees to that point had anti-LGBTQ records.

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Of those nominees, somelike Jeff Mateer, who described transgender children as Satans planwere withdrawn following public outcry and civil rights opposition. Otherslike Kyle Duncan, who claims that transgender people are delusionalare equally condemned yet remain pending for a vote on the Senate floor. People now confirmed to lifetime judgeships include Gregory Katsas, a lawyer in Trumps White House who helped morph the transgender military ban from tweet to policy, and John Kenneth Bush, a lawyer and an anonymous blogger who compared abortion to slavery and posted extensive rants calling Nancy Pelosi Mama Pelosi and Hillary Clinton nanny Secretary of State.

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The Senate has confirmed 29 of Trumps judicial nominees, including 14 circuit court nominees. At this stage in their presidencies, Obama had six confirmed circuit court judges, George W. Bush had seven, and Bill Clinton had three. This feat is made possible by the breakdown in the judicial confirmation process that took hold in the Obama years and gained momentum with the Gorsuch fight.

After all, Trump was only ever allowed to fill a Supreme Court vacancy because of Republicans obstruction of Obama nominee Merrick Garland, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Gorsuchs nomination was supported by the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative dark money group that spent $17 million on blocking Garland and confirming the newest justice. When Gorsuch still failed to earn the necessary votes to pass the Senate, Republicans invoked the nuclear option: ending the filibuster by lowering the threshold for advancing Supreme Court nominees from 60 votes to a simple majority.

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The same Obama-era obstruction and hyperpartisanship that resulted in Justice Gorsuch also produced more than 100 lower court vacancies. It was like the gift from heaven, Trump said last week of the open judicial seats while giving a speech in Ohio. Obviously, after years of leaning on procedural rules to block and delay Obamas judicial nominees, the Senate GOP is now breaking and bending every rule to rush Trumps nominees through.

In the past year, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has scheduled hearings for nominees over the objections of home-state senators, departing with the century-old blue slip process. He has stacked multiple circuit court nominees into one hearing over the objections of Democrats, leaving little time for review and questioning. And he has ignored and undermined the evaluations of the nonpartisan American Bar Association, advancing nominees who failed to meet even basic professional standards.

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After Neil Gorsuch, there will be no more Anthony Kennedys.

The ABA unanimously deemed four of Trumps judicial nominees not qualified in a single year; none of Obamas nominees had earned that rating over eight years. One nominee, Brett Talley, received the unqualified rating for his complete lack of trial experience and still earned Grassleys endorsement. Talley was eventually withdrawn from consideration following criticism over his inexperience and his failure to disclose his wifes work in Trumps White House, as well as his online posts defending the first KKK and disparaging Muslims, marriage equality, and Roe v. Wade. Another nominee, Leonard Steven Grasz, received an unqualified rating out of concerns of bias. Many of Graszs professional peers interviewed by the ABA had questioned his ability to detach himself from his deeply-held social agenda and political loyalty. Despite these serious concerns and his long history of fighting LGBTQ equality, Grasz was confirmed on a party-line vote and now sits as a judge on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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The unqualified nominees and procedural breakdowns of the past year are unprecedented both in their brazenness and their sheer numbers, and would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. And with rumors of Justice Anthony Kennedys retirement circulating, we may yet witness the full aftermath of the Gorsuch fight in the next Supreme Court battle: that the end of the Supreme Court filibuster removed any remaining incentive to nominate moderate justices.

While the Supreme Court has a clear ideological divide, individual justices from both sides have at times reached across that divide or met in the middle. In fact, many of the courts landmark opinions upholding race-based affirmative action and protecting reproductive and LGBTQ rights were authored by Ronald Reagan appointee Anthony Kennedy. Kennedys jurisprudence over the past two decades has transformed the place of LGBTQ people in American society, but this does not mean that he has turned out to be a liberal stalwart. Rather, as Yale law professor Reva Siegel shows, Kennedys opinions have come to play a significant role in developing constitutional law in part because he has tried to balance competing interests and arrive at solutions that might preserve social cohesion.

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After Gorsuch, there will be no more Anthony Kennedys. Just last week, Trump took to Twitter to criticize former Justice John Paul Stevenss op-ed calling for a repeal of the Second Amendment. He asserted that we need more Republicans in 2018 and that the GOP must ALWAYS hold the Supreme Courteither ignorant or ambivalent to the fact that Justice Stevens was a registered Republican appointed by a Republican president. White House Counsel Don McGahn, Trumps chief adviser on judicial selection, has stated more clearly that he wants conservative nominees who wont change and turn into someone else after confirmationand pointed to Gorsuch as the exemplar.

Should Trump get another Supreme Court appointment this summer, we will have a nominee as or more ideological than Gorsuch. The court will not just shift to the right but also become more patently partisanjoined by justices who appear more interested in winning culture wars than bridging social divides or realizing the Constitutions promise of equal citizenship.

That would be a sadly appropriate legacy of Neil Gorsuchs tragically partisan elevation to the Supreme Court.Im in tears right now because I seriously am heartbroken once again. How can this happen AGAIN?! For everyone working at the YouTube Headquarters I hope you are okay. We are here for you. I am so sorry its come to this. I am so sorry you had to go through this.The Washington Post reported late on Tuesday what sounded like two pieces of relatively bombshell news in the Mueller investigation. First, special counsel Robert Muellers team has reportedly told the presidents legal team that he is not yet considered a target of the probe. Second, the special counsels office reportedly told the presidents lawyers that it wants to issue a report on its investigation into whether or not the president committed obstruction of justice but would like to do an interview with Trump first.

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This may sound like a mixed bag for the president. Indeed, the Post reports that Trump has been privately expressing relief at his apparent legal status, telling allies that he is not a target of the probe and believes an interview will help him put the matter behind him. In actuality, though, there is very little for the president to be relieved about. In fact the entire report is terrible news for the president.

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First, the Posts summary of the meaning of target is incomplete and makes not being one in this case sound better for Trump than it actually is. The Post reports:

Prosecutors view someone as a subject when that person has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges. . Under Justice Department guidelines, a subject of an investigation is a person whose conduct falls within the scope of a grand jurys investigation. A target is a person for which there is substantial evidence linking him or her to a crime.

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This would imply that Mueller does not yet see substantial evidence linking Trump to a crime, which implies that hes unlikely to find such evidence in an obstruction probe that appears to be winding down. In actuality, though, it implies no such thing.

As University of Missouri School of Law professor Frank Bowman notes, that is not all that the DOJ guidelines say about the definition of a target.

The full DOJ definition also offers that a target is someone who, in the judgment of the prosecutor, is a putative defendant. This is relevant, because current Department of Justice guidelines say that a sitting president cannot be indicted, which means that according to these guidelines he cannot technically be a putative defendantat least not while in office.

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The not a target designation doesnt convey much of real substance concerning Muellers assessment of the current evidence against Trump, Bowman told me over email. If Mueller really said Trump is not a target, all he may be saying is that, while there is substantial evidence linking him to a crime, DOJ policy precludes making him an actual indicted defendant.

The upshot is that his subject versus target designation could be relatively meaningless given the unusual circumstances. It might just mean that Mueller accepts the current DOJ guidance on whether or not a sitting president should be indicted, which would seem to be an in character, small c conservative approach.

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What would be consequential, however, is the news that Mueller is seeking to issue a report on whether Trump obstructed justice or not. From the Post:

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Theyve said they want to write a report on this  to answer the publics questions  and they need the presidents interview as the last step, one person familiar with the discussions said of Muellers team.

As former Enron prosecutor Samuel Buell noted in Slate last July, there has long been a significant amount of public evidence that Trump obstructed justice.

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That Mueller wants to issue a public report is an indication that he feels some sort of legal conclusion about the evidence in the case is warranted. Its generally DOJ protocol to not issue a full public finding in cases where someone has been exoneratedthat James Comey did this in the Hillary Clinton investigation was the justification used for firing him.

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Additionally, if Mueller does accept the DOJ guidance that precludes him from recommending indictment, he would have to get permission from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to issue a public report on his findings.

That he would seek such a dramatic step sounds like more terrible news for Trump.

If Mueller ultimately were to issue a finding that the president engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct justice but could not be indicted because of DOJ guidelines, then the issue would be kicked to Congress.

[T]he appropriate response from Congress would be for the House Judiciary Committee to immediately open an impeachment inquiry, says Bowman, who authors the blog Impeachable Offenses?.

With Republicans in control of the House having shown zero interest in even investigating Trumps possible crimes, much less holding him accountable for them, the question would then likely be up to midterm voters in November.The last two decades have been pretty bleak for voting rights advocates. President George W. Bush revived the myth of voter fraud to give cover to Republican lawmakers efforts to restrict the franchise. The Supreme Court upheld voter ID laws and disemboweled the Voting Rights Act. Democrats down-ballot collapse in 2010 paved the way for state-level suppression across the country. The results have been entirely predictable: voter roll purges. Cuts to early voting in minority communities. Ever-more draconian ID and registration requirements. Insidious racial gerrymandering.

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Voting rights supporters have been on the defensive for most of this battle, and Democrats have not always spent their political capital championing suffrage for all. Thats changing. This year, Democrats in four states have passed landmark legislation to make voting easier and fairer for everyone, and theyve pursued an ambitious platform designed to restore and expand the franchise in the face of GOP attacks.

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Start with Washington state, which vividly illustrates the new urgency of this issue to Democratic lawmakers and constituents. In November 2017, Democrat Manka Dhingra won a special election that tipped the control of the state Senate, giving the party a trifectacontrol over both chambers of the legislature as well as the governors office. Almost immediately, Democrats got to work on a far-reaching slate of voting reforms dubbed the Access to Democracy package. Both houses passed the entire package over Republican opposition. Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed it into law in March.

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The passage of automatic voter registration in Washington is especially worthy of celebration. AVR dramatically simplifies the registration process, signing up citizens to vote when they interact with a state agency, unless they opt out. (When a resident renews her drivers license, for example, she is also registered to vote.) When Oregon became the first state to pass AVR in 2016, an additional 270,000 people were added to the voter rolls. (Experts estimate AVR could add 400,000 voters to the rolls in Washington.) A Demos study found that Oregons AVR bill substantially increased the racial, age, and income diversity of the states electorate. Forty-four percent of automatic registrants ended up voting in the next election, increasing the overall turnout rate by about 23 percentage points. The overwhelming majority of automatically registered voters chose to remain registered.

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Democrats in Washington didnt stop with AVR. They also included Election Day registration, which appears to drive up turnout. And they threw in automatic pre-registration for older teenagers, ensuring they can vote the day they turn 18.

Finally, Democrats made Washington the second state, after California, to pass its own Voting Rights Act. This law gives cities, counties, and school districts an incentive to abolish at-large voting, which tends to disenfranchise minority communities by diluting their votes. In 2014, a federal court found that Yakima, Washingtons at-large scheme routinely suffocates Latino voters in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act; the city eventually agreed to scrap at-large voting following years of expensive litigation. Shortly thereafter, Yakima elected its first Hispanic councilmember. In 2016, the same story played out in Pasco, Washington, though the city relented more quickly. Pasco elected its first three Hispanic councilmembers in the following election.

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Washingtons new state-level Voting Rights Act seeks to avoid such costly lawsuits. It allows a resident to notify a city when it plans to challenge its voting scheme, then gives the city 180 days to fix the problem. The measure also grants local lawmakers clear authority to reform their election systems, as well as guidelines to ensure that these reforms increase voter equality. If cities still refuse to remedy biased election schemes, voters can sue under the law, and state courts can swiftly mandate new fairer districts.

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With the passage of its Access to Democracy package, Washington caught up to its neighbors on the West Coast. Oregon pioneered AVR and added pre-registration in June 2017. California passed AVR in 2015 and pre-registration in 2017; it has had its own Voting Rights Act since 2002. In February, the state took a step forward by automatically pre-registering older teens.

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Now the East Coast is beginning to catch up. In March, Marylands Democratic Legislature passed AVR; Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has not indicated whether hell sign the measure, but Democrats likely have the votes to override a veto. That same month, the New Jersey Senate also passed an AVR bill out of committee with bipartisan support. Democrats in both chambers, as well as Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, back the bill and hope to pass a slew of other reforms, including online voter registration, pre-registration, and expanded early voting.

In all of these states, at least a few Republicans have joined Democrats in backing voting rights. But the partisan divide on this issue is still entrenched. Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed an AVR bill in 2016 and only agreed to sign a watered-down version in 2017. Nevadas Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval also vetoed an AVR bill in January; the state will now have to vote on the measure via ballot initiative in November. New Jersey, for its part, is lagging behind because Republican Gov. Chris Christie repeatedly vetoed Democrat-sponsored voting reforms throughout his two terms. Ed Gillespie, who ran for governor of Virginia as a Republican, attacked former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe for restoring voting rights to 168,000 rehabilitated felons. Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott is fighting a court order that undermines his ability to keep former felons disenfranchised. (Voters may restore voting rights to these individuals through a 2018 ballot initiative.)

In an ideal world, both major parties would oppose disenfranchisement. In America, one actively supports disenfranchisement. That is not healthy for American democracybut it does give voting rights activists a concrete goal. The Democratic base already appears enthusiastic about prioritizing equal ballot access, and politicians are now getting the message. (It helps that voter suppression tends to hamper Democratic turnout.) Voting-rights advocates have no choice but to push to elect more Democrats and to hold their feet to the fire until they enact reforms that will get ballots in the hands of more Americans.We dont yet know exactly why a shooter opened fire Tuesday afternoon at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, California, where multiple people were sent to the hospital for gunshot wounds. The suspected shooter killed herself during the incident, according to multiple reports. The Los Angeles Times reports that law enforcement believes the shooting was a domestic incident, though the investigation into the shooters motives is obviously in its very early stages. (Update, 11:15 p.m.: Numerous outlets are identifying the shooter as Nasim Aghdam.) One thing we do know is that the Google subsidiary has been thinking a lot about gun violence latelyand removing gun-related hoaxes and conspiracy theories as well as other kinds of gun-related content from its platform.

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YouTube has emerged as an important node in the national debate around gun violence and gun reform following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February. Far-right media outfits, like Alex Jones InfoWars, used the platform to promote the blatantly false conspiracy theory that David Hogg, one of the student survivors of the shooting who has emerged as a vocal advocate for enacting stricter gun laws, was a crisis actor working to sensationalize the news in an effort to strip away gun rights. About a week after the shooting, the No. 1 trending video on YouTube was another video falsely claiming that Hogg is an actor. YouTube took that video down after a report from Motherboard that the video had amassed more than 200,000 views.

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YouTubes response to the Parkland shooting follows a long-standing critique that YouTube and Google are unreliable and misleading sources of news in the immediate aftermaths of national tragediesmass shootings in particular. The top three YouTube search results immediately following the deadly mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, last November included two right-wing news feeds and a channel created by TruthNews Network, which professed to focus on content related to Earthquake feed, North Korea & More. After the Las Vegas shooting in October, Google offered results at the top a search page from the notoriously shady troll site 4chan.

Something has clearly improved. On Tuesday evening, a search for YouTube shooting on YouTube surfaced videos from reliable and verified news outlets, with ABC, the Washington Post, and CBS occupying the top three spots.

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The changes in how YouTube handles videos about guns and gun violence on its platform arent limited to removing conspiracy theories during breaking news events. In March, likely in response to the wave of attention gun violence has received since the Parkland shooting, YouTube said it will ban all videos that link to sites that sell guns or gun accessories, like bump stocks, which are attachments that can be added to semi-automatic rifles to make them fire faster, as well as videos that instruct how to assemble guns. The do-it-yourself gun-making movement has seen tremendous growth as conversations around tightening national restrictions on gun sales have escalated following the Parkland shooting.

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In response to YouTubes ban of videos that link to sites that sell guns and gun accessories, the National Rifle Association slammed the decision on its NRA-TV network as an act of politically motivated censorship and encouraged gun enthusiasts to fire back and keep putting their videos up on YouTube despite the ban to let them try to censor it and overwhelm these leftists in California.

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This isnt the first time YouTube has taken this kind of action. After the Las Vegas shooting, in which the shooter used bump stocks to enhance his firearms, YouTube banned videos demonstrating how to install the accessories. And YouTube has banned videos that promote gun sales for years.

There are still improvements Google and YouTube could make, of course. On Google Shopping on Tuesday evening, it was still possible to buy speed magazine loaders for AR-15s and AK-47s. And despite the video-sharing sites moves to ban videos about gun sales, which was supposed to go in effect this month, on Tuesday evening Slate found multiple videos about buying automatic and semi-automatic rifles, including videos titled What you need to know when shopping for an AK47 variant and AK47 Buyers Guide and Top 6 AK 47s Under $800. The company should take the time it needs to process Tuesdays horrible incident. And then it should probably consider removing these videos, and any videos like them.Some economists predict that the next recession and the end to a decade of economic growth will coincide with President Donald Trumps re-election campaign.

Its not a sure thing, and professional market watchers dont like to make strong predictions, but an economic downturn is coming and its just a matter of how long there is to wait.

Im very comfortable about this year and I feel pretty good about 2019, too, Joel Prakken, chief economist at Macroeconomic Advisers, told Bloomberg News. My anxiety level starts to rise after 2019, Prakken said.

If the recession fell before November 2020, it would give the Democratic challenger easy ammunition and potentially hurt Trumps chances at a second term.

One factor economists are considering when predicting the turn in markets is the massive spending package Trump signed Friday. The government expenditures will act as a temporary stimulus, but those effects will wear off in a few years.

The economy under Trump has exceeded expectations in terms of GDP growth and stock market gains, thanks in large part to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that boosted corporate profits and contributed to lower tax rates and one-time bonuses for many workers. The question is how long those gains, the strong jobs economy and increased family savings can last, and how soon before the economy reaches a full recession or at least slowed GDP growth.

2020 is a real inflection point, Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moodys Analytics Inc., told Bloomberg. Its going to take some real good policy making and some luck to avoid a recession in 2020.

The stock market tumbled last week as Trump announced targeted tariffs on Chinese imports, as well as import duties on steel and aluminum from many countries. Trumps currently announced tariffs themselves would likely not hurt the economy, but counter-tariffs might, according to Ian Shepherdson, economist at the British firm Pantheon Macroeconomics.

The Trump administrations tariffs on selected imports from China will amount to only about $15B per year, some 0.08% of U.S. GDP and less than 0.02% of global GDP, well within the margin of measurement error, Shepherdson told Politico. Markets, therefore, are reacting much more to the threat of further, more aggressive actions.

If the recession occurs in an election year, Trump will have a difficult time running on an economic platform. The most recent recessions have fallen closer to election years where the sitting president isnt eligible for another term. The Great Recession came at the tail end of former President George W. Bushs second term and the dot-com bubble burst at the beginning of his first in 2001.

One-term former President George H.W. Bush, however, was widely blamed for the brief recession in 1990, which gave former President Bill Clinton a chance to successfully campaign on the economy.

Republished by permission. Original here.Carmelo Marsala started his business to fill a special niche  providing a solution for painting vinyl and aluminum doors, windows and other challenging surfaces. Spray-Net offers franchisees  and their customers  a unique solution.

The company has developed its own line of exclusive coatings for buildings made of all different materials. Read about the business and what it offers in this weeks Small Business Spotlight.

What the Business Does:

Provides exterior paint and finishing services.

President and founder Carmelo Marsala told Small Business Trends, Spray-Net has created a line of proprietary coatings specifically formulated for each surface we revamp: siding, brick, stucco, doors and windows.

Business Niche:

Using technology to create an easy-to-apply and effective coating.

Marsala says, Spray-Net is known for the technology we use to formulate our proprietary line of coatings that can be spray-applied and last but not least the technology weve developed in creating a custom business software that helps our franchisees under their business and simplify their day-to-day operations.

?

How the Business Got Started:

After getting into another franchise business.

Marsala explains, While studying finance and marketing at Concordia University, I got into the painting business as a Student Painting franchisee at the age of 19. Like most painters, I did both interior and exterior work using a brush, roller and commercially-available latex paints. When my customers would ask me to paint their aluminum and vinyl doors and windows to save on the cost of replacing them, I didnt feel good about doing it. The finish would look streaky, noticeably repainted and could eventually end up peeling. I knew brand-new siding, doors and windows were painted in a factory and if I could reproduce that same factory finish and durability on-site, then Id be on to something. In March 2010, at the age of 23 and while still enrolled at Concordias John Molson School of Business, I founded Spray-Net.

Biggest Win:

Winning the IFAs NextGen in Franchising Global Competition.

Marsala says, After sharing our innovative permanent exterior paint concept and growth trajectory with the panel of judges, we were thrilled to have been awarded the top prize at the IFAs annual convention in San Antonio, Texas.

Biggest Risk:

Taking on franchisees early.

Marsala says, After our appearance on CBCs Dragon Den we generated nearly 500 franchise requests. We then had to ask ourselves, Should we start up franchisees we cant fully support at this time? We went with it and signed on 10 new franchisees. Since we did not have full support at the time, the journey started off a little rough, but with perseverance the franchisees are now doing well.

How Theyd Spend an Extra $100,000:

Investing in software and automation.

Work Culture:

Laid back.

Marsala explains, There are no set schedules, no rigid procedures. However, everyone knows their work must be done and stands accountable for their own actions.

Favorite Quote:

If everything seems under control, youre not going fast enough. Mario Andretti

* * * * *

Find out more about the Small Biz Spotlight programOur shared values are the cement of the European Union. Let us defend them!

Political evolutions in our countries have shown than we need more than ever to reassert our shared commitment to the respect for rule of law and of human rights, writes Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

This year was marked by various electoral processes, with one common feature throughout: a dramatic increase of populist parties. Sometimes flirting with one or the other extremes of the political spectrum, populist parties advocate the rejection of the other, national retrenchment and the abandonment of the European project. In some cases, those tendencies could be stopped, in others it is not so sure We are not out of danger. We have to remain alert in order to avoid that certain fundamental values of our democracies, those on which the European Union was built, would be undermined.

These values lie at the basis of our commitment to being a member of the European Union. They are the cement of the Union, on which European solidarity, our external credibility and our common future are based. It is not a Polish or Hungarian issue. Threats are present in Belgium and in all European countries. Let's look at the migration crisis or the terrorist attacks. Those events have inspired such a feeling of insecurity that it brought about the risk of adopting measures that would affect our democratic achievements and the rule of law.

Today more than ever, we must proactively move forward within the European Union on topics that are fundamental to our society: defense and security, but also a common migration policy which recognizes the principle of shared responsibility and solidarity. We must deepen the Economic and Monetary Union, work on the Banking Union and reinforce economic governance. Furthermore, our citizens expect us to develop a genuine social Europe.

In this constantly changing context, I have been pleading for the last two years for the creation of a stock-taking exercise of the situation of human rights in all the Member States of the European Union. Candidate countries are closely scrutinized for their economic records but also for their respect of good governance and rule of law, as part of the Copenhagen criteria. But it is striking that, after the accession, Member States' economic and budgetary situation continue to be regularly monitored by the Commission, but the respect for democracy, rule of law, human rights and minority rights is not looked at anymore. I was pleased in this regard to note the importance that the Commission attaches to the rule of law in its Strategy for the Western Balkans published on February 6 of this year.

This is why I believe it is essential to assess annually the situation of human rights and of the rule of law within the Union, through a peer review. Through this regular review, risks of abuse could be identified at an early stage and corrective measure could be proposed in time. Each Member State could ask questions and make recommendations. Although the specific details of this mechanism have yet to be defined, a few principles can already be brought forward: a political mechanism, where all Member States would be treated on an equal footing. Such a mechanism would prevent us from having to wait until the situation has escalated to the point of having to trigger the procedure foreseen in Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union. Article 7 of the Treaty, if implemented, could lead to the suspension of a Member State, in the event that a violation of the rule of law is established. But the procedure for its activation is cumbersome.

We need such a mechanism in order to reaffirm our desire of being Europeans, but also to remain credible and legitimate on the international stage given the very active role played by the European Union to defend human rights worldwide.

Political evolutions in our countries have shown than we need more than ever to reassert our shared commitment to the respect for rule of law and of human rights. The introduction of a dialogue within the Union on these fundamental rights would make this possible while strengthening the credibility of the Union on the international stage. This initiative has already gathered the active support of at least half of the European Union's Member States as well as the European Parliament. The Commission has also announced an initiative on the rule of law this year, and I am very pleased about it.

For its part, Belgium will continue its efforts to convince more Member States and maintain the momentum created by the launch of this proposal. It can also count on my personal commitment.

Didier Reynders is Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs

4. Apr 2018 at 6:30 | Didier ReyndersProsecutor orders NAKA to launch investigation into farm subsidy fraud

Agricultural state offices last week initiated a motion opening the investigation of a vast fraud, in which more and more facts about the blatant misuse of EU funds have been surfacing.

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A prosecutor of the Special Prosecutors Office (USP) instructed the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) to launch an investigation into the case of agricultural subsidies for the Agro Porubka company.

Based on last week's information in the media, the prosecutor of the Special Prosecutors Office economic criminal department instructed NAKA on March 28, 2018 to launch an investigation into the provision of agricultural subsidies for Agro Porubka, USP spokesperson Jana Tokolyova told the TASR newswire on April 3.

Ministry and PPA file a motion

Last week, the Agriculture Ministry and the Agricultural Paying Agency (PPA) declared that they had a serious suspicion of subsidy fraud committed with farmland in eastern Slovakia. They filed a criminal complaint with the General Prosecutors Office on March 27, launched inspections and vowed to take other resolute measures.

Read also:

Read also: Minister Matecna points to serious agricultural subsidy fraud suspicions Read more

The Dennik N daily broke news of suspected fraud with farm subsidies in which former Smer district chief Lubica Roskova was allegedly involved. Her firm Agro Porubka reportedly received farm subsidies for plots of land it neither owns nor cultivates. The firm obtained 40,000 from EU funds for 2017. Based on the media information, the PPA checked its information system for all direct payments going to Agro Porubka and identified the relevant farm areas. It found that the Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute (VUPOP) had failed to update areas depicted in ortho-photo maps and it verified in the system areas that should not have been there. These included, for example, the false registering of a parking lot as arable land.

A comprehensive inspection showed that the company applied for subsidies related to a total of 470 hectares of area in 170 specific plots of land in eastern Slovakia.

Mysterious farming airport

Another case involving Roskova and her company is that of an abandoned airport near the village of Trhoviste in the eastern Slovak district of Michalovce. Unlike neighbouring plots, farmed by the local agricultural cooperative, the airport is definitely not used for farming  and the only thing that could indicate this is a heap of muck, which belongs to the cooperative.

The airport, unused for long years (and previously used for the operation of crop busters) and owned by the Trhoviste cooperative, cannot be used anymore, the regional daily Korzar wrote on April 4. Chairperson of the cooperative Janka Fazekasova told Korzar that they bought the tarmac plot back in 2010 from Agrocentrum Michalovce, so that they could get to adjacent lands in order to manage and cultivate them. In winter, they found out through ortho-photo maps that a company declared the airport as farmland. However they did not take any steps, Fazekasova said, since the land under the airport does not belong to them but to two private individuals.

Read also:

Read also: Slovakia investigated for alleged EU funds abuse Read more

Roskova, who allegedly cultivates the airport, has never been seen by the mayor of Trhoviste, Robert Koba (Smer party), nor is she known among locals, he told Korzar.

NAKA taking over

Since the start of the scandal, Roskova has not communicated with media. The ex-MP of the ruling Smer party has returned to her original profession of psychologist, and refuses to comment on the farming subsidies.

It seems, though, that so far, the media have discovered only the tip of the iceberg concerning agricultural subsidies. The NAKA investigation could shed more light on Roskova's activities.

Possible top-level connections

The bad news is, according to Dennik N, that Roskova managed to escape the network of audits and checks, including the most recent satellite audits  which checked on all plots and parts of the land in the Zemplin area of eastern Slovakia, except for the ones her company took subsidies for. This points to corruption at a deeper level, and Roskovas good contacts in this field. She must have been on best terms either with someone from the PPA, or directly at the ministry.

There is one connection that points directly to the incumbent Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matecna (a nominee of the coalition SNS party). When still at the helm of the Slovak Land Fund (then as Smer nominee), she signed contracts with Roskova to rent several hundreds of hectares of state land  and some of the contracts are valid until 2042, which is an unusual step for a state authority.

Minister Matecna and PPA head Juraj Kozuch admit a possible agri-mafia and fraud but try to shift the responsibility to their subordinates, the researchers in charge of the digitalisation of fields and their maps.

New facts indicate that suspicions may reach even higher.

4. Apr 2018 at 13:46 | Compiled by Spectator staffNews reporters from RTVS published an open letter to the head of the public service TV and Radio, Jaroslav Reznik, worried about his decisions.

Journalists of the public-service broadcaster Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) published an open letter after the management banned them from wearing badges showing solidarity with murdered journalist Jan Kuciak and his partner Martina Kusnirova, and after the experienced head of foreign department, Olga Bakova, was dimissed.

They describe that the situation in the newsroom has been tense for several months already.

We are fighting with the mistrust we feel towards our superiors, towards their intentions and skills, reads the letter signed by about 60 people.

Read also:

Read also: Public broadcaster fires one of its most experienced journalists Read more

They point out that with Jaroslav Reznik, former spokespeople and press staffers at ministries and state offices have made it to RTVS. Until now, no process has been started that would eliminate possible conflict of interests concerning the contents of newscasts, the Sme daily wrote on April 4.

Addressing the viewers and listeners, the RTVS head and the Broadcasting Council, the journalists describe that they work freely  but in a hostile atmosphere, witnessing the elimination, degrading and re-assigning of professionals who express criticism towards the management.

Mistrusting their superiors

The editors and journalists do not trust their superiors to be able to protect RTVS from strong pressure, hinting that their reports and debates are artificially balanced by the presence of people flirting with disinformation media, lacking due expertise, or have open political ambitions.

They are allegedly not catching onto to the latest trends but instead going back in time.

How it all started at RTVS

The re-assignments, lay-offs and hiring of new people started after Jaroslav Renzik became the new head of RTVS, appointed by Smer and SNS MPs. He made former spokesperson of the University Hospital Bratislava, Petra Stano-Matasovska, the head of Slovak Radio (SRo), and former Economy Ministry spokesperson Juraj Rybansky and former rescuers spokesman Boris Chmel the leaders of the TV newscast. They both announced that they would end at RTVS, but by end of February 2018. Rybansky stated that he had health issues and Chmel claimed he wanted to focus more on his family; but according to Sme, the tensions between management and the news staff was behind their resignations.

It started with the suspension of the Reporteri investigative news show and the sacking of two authors of the Dejiny.sk radio show.

Rybansky was replaced by former Education Ministry spokesman Vahram Chuguryan, who last week banned journalists from wearing the #allforjan badges  allegedly it was just a recommendation but the staff felt it was a clear ban.

UPDATED: Reznik reacts

RTVS general manager Jaroslav Reznik reacted by writing to Sme that the new management has made steps in the public broadcasters newscast to bring objectivity, balance, an unbiased stance and to provide a basic information service for the public.

Those who cannot identify themselves with this fail to accept the long-term rules, the law on RTVS, statutes, code of ethics, as well as other effective regulations, and have started looking for an enemy, since they have perceived problems.

"By taking audiences hostages and pointing to an 'outer enemy', they are only shifting attention from the core of the problem and striving for something which already some of them (mainly those internally uncertain and fragile) have already pinned as exterminating every new management, Reznik writes.

4. Apr 2018 at 13:55 | Compiled by Spectator staffOrava Castle is closed in April

Until the big festival in the end of April, Orava Castle is closed the whole month due to maintenance.

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More information about travelling in Slovakia

Please see our Please see our Spectacular Slovakia travel guide

Orava Castle is closed for visitors during April. The reason is technical maintenance, the Orava Museum of P.O. Hviezdoslav, which operates the castle, wrote on its website.

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Read also: undefined Read more

The same goes for the unique Orava Historical Back-Swath Forest Railway in Oravska Lesna.

Read also:

Read also: undefined Read more

The opening of the new season at Orava Castle and the forest railway comes on April 28-29, during the Thurzo festival (Turzovske Slavnosti), which will hail, among other things, the 150th anniversary of the Orava Museum, the TASR newswire wrote, citing the museum website.

Read also:

Read also: undefined Read more

video //www.youtube.com/embed/sRmQLJAwOYA

4. Apr 2018 at 13:57 | Compiled by Spectator staffPolice are manipulating crime statistics, NGO claims

The non-governmental organisation and a weekly magazine interviewed police officers, who point out the image presented by police representatives differs from the actual state.

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The real state of Slovak police is much different from the image presented by the leaders of the Interior Ministry and the Police Corps. This stems from the findings of the Stop Corruption Foundation and the Trend weekly which interviewed 16 police investigators.

Among the most serious revelations is the manipulation of crime statistics in order to make the police appear successful in finding perpetrators of serious crimes and forced returns to the civilian life of some officers by their politically nominated superiors. Moreover, the police are suffering from fluctuation, as it is difficult to find replacements for retired investigators, partly due to low starting salaries, the TASR newswire reported.

All 16 police officers, two-thirds of whom are still with the police, told the interviewers that they cannot imagine prosecuting a bigwig in the current situation.

We attempted to select officers that we viewed as trustworthy and the interviews were really in-depth, said the foundations head Pavel Sibyla, as quoted by TASR. They took up to several hours and we present only things that all of them concurred on.

Police gave cases different classifications

Providing some details on the manipulation of crime statistics, Sibyla cited a theft of a wooden box containing apples by some youths who were arrested after the crime. Nonetheless, the police ranked the crime as burglary, pointing out that the youths needed to crawl through a fence to be able to get possession of the box.

Conversely, a case involving a homeless man who was found dead with a cut throat was ranked as an accident, as the officers knew that it would be next to impossible to find the murderer.

Many officers practice self-censorship and keep away from politically sensitive cases, according to Sibyla. At the same time it is possible for politically nominated superiors to distribute sensitive cases to specific investigators.

A superior has a person at their department who has 90 percent of their cases dropped because theyre idle to collect evidence, lack the necessary skills or just know well what the desirable outcome is, said Sibyla, as quoted by TASR, citing one of the interviewed officers, who did not show particular trust for the Interior Ministrys internal affairs inspectorate, either.

Police reject the accusations

The police objected to the report, calling the revelations untrue, misleading, and a deliberate attack.

It is a fabrication and misleading of the public with the aim to harm the positive results and activities of the Police Corps, its press department wrote in a statement, as quoted by TASR. These attacks are intensifying in the context of trying to recall Police Corps President Tibor Gaspar.

The police cannot manipulate the number of road accidents or the number of thefts and murders. In addition, every criminal proceeding is supervised by the prosecutors office and any willful change of classification by the police is impossible, the press department added.

Regardless of this explanation, Drucker will check how statistics indicators are created and presented, informed the Interior Ministrys press department.

4. Apr 2018 at 21:32 | Compiled by Spectator staffUber out of service in Bratislava, for now

Transport Ministry is working on new rules for operation of taxis in Slovakia

While a Bratislava court ruling has stopped the US alternative taxi service Uber from operating in Bratislava, it has not offered any solution for this segment of the sharing economy in Slovakia. It remains unaddressed by local legislation and locked in the gap between new technologies and old regulations.

The Transport Ministry has been working on changes to the over-regulated taxi services in Slovakia for a while, but for now it has specified neither the changes nor the term when they become effective.

Uber suspends its services in Slovakia

US alternative taxi service Uber suspended its operation in Bratislava in the evening of March 27, in response to the ruling of the district Bratislava Court I responding to a lawsuit filed by traditional taxi drivers. The court ordered Uber to suspend the provision of taxi service via persons or mediate it to persons not meeting the requirements imposed on taxi drivers.

Even though we have not received the verdict of the court yet, we have registered it. We are temporarily suspending our operations in Bratislava until the situation is cleared, wrote Miroslava Jozova, spokesperson of Uber in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, in response to the latest development.

The Bratislava-based Civic Association of Certified Taxi Drivers (OZKT) filed the lawsuit in January, arguing that Uber drivers do not meet the requirements for professional taxi drivers and their cars do not meet the safety and regulatory requirements for professional transport services.

The lawsuit by the traditional taxi drivers arrived on the heels of a ruling by the European Unions top court in December, stating that Uber should be classified as a transport service and regulated like other taxi operators, and not as a tech company acting as an intermediary between drivers and customers looking for a ride. This means they should fall under lighter EU rules for online services.

Taxi drivers welcomed the ruling by the Bratislava court.

We find this verdict to be the logical outcome of our several months-long fight for business equality in the field of taxi services, said OZKT representatives as cited by the TASR newswire. The court fully identified itself with our claims, thus confirming the fact that Uber was mediating taxi services through drivers and vehicles at odds with Slovak legislation and harm the business environment.

Read also:

Read also: Dissatisfied taxi drivers hit Bratislava streets, again Read more

4. Apr 2018 at 21:06 | Jana LiptakovaBratislava celebrates World War II liberation

We must continue to commemorate what happened during WWII to preserve the values the European Union was founded on, says PM Peter Pellegrini.

A commemorative ceremony was held at the Slavin memorial to mark the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of Bratislava during World War II on April 4.

Not learning any lessons

Europe has been witnessing a kind of silent renaissance of depraved ideologies returning to politics even though we have been living in peace for over 73 years, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said, as cited by the TASR newswire, when laying a wreath at Slavin.

This war memorial commemorates thousands of people who fought for the capitals liberation, he added.

"Although the European community has formed the basis for democracy and the fundamental human rights of the individual, we are witnessing a kind of renaissance of depraved ideologies that are returning to political life, said Pellegrini, as quoted by TASR, adding that this trend does not concern only Slovakia, but also other democratic countries.

It is necessary to find out what has been done wrong when a part of the young generation is open to ideologies that have no place in modern times, according to the prime minister.

If society returns to the values on which the entire European Union is founded and keeps commemorating what happened during WWII, the negative trend will be reversed, Pellegrini added.

Other personages celebrated, too

Speaker of Parliament Andrej Danko (SNS), also present at the Slavin ceremony, called on Slovak and European politicians to make their ultimate goal a permanent, sustainable peace. Wars are ongoing even now, and humankind refuses to learn lessons from tragedies, he added, as quoted by the Sme daily. He also mentioned the need for Slovakia to be the bridge between East and West, and for the world leaders to learn how to lead open and friendly dialogue which shall ease the recent tensions. Also, Danko opined that without a strong Russia, global peace is not possible.

The liberations anniversary was also commemorated by Bratislava self-administration and representatives of the Regional Committee of the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters, invited guests, and Bratislava inhabitants at the Victory Memorial in the Eugena Suchona Square.

Bratislava Mayor Ivo Nesrovnal in his address pointed out, according to the Sme daily, that on this day, we commemorate the event which led to the defeat of the worst evil which has ever taken control over Europe. He also paid tribute to all soldiers who fought for our country, and he stressed peace, freedom and democracy which is ever more perceived as something self-evident.

4. Apr 2018 at 22:42 | Compiled by Spectator staffRed Hat, Inc. provides open source software solutions to develop and offer operating system, virtualization, management, middleware, cloud, mobile, and storage technologies to various enterprises worldwide. It offers infrastructure-related solutions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, an operating system platform that runs on hardware for use in hybrid cloud environments; Red Hat Satellite, a system management offering that helps to deploy, scale, and manage in hybrid cloud environments; and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, a software solution that allows customers to utilize and manage a common hardware infrastructure to run multiple operating systems and applications. The company offers application development-related and other technology solutions, such as Red Hat JBoss Middleware, a solution for developing, deploying, and managing applications; integrating applications, data, and devices; and automating business processes in hybrid cloud environments; The company's application development-related and other technology solutions also includes Red Hat cloud offerings, a software solution that enables customers to build and manage various cloud computing environments; Red Hat Mobile, a software development platform that enables customers to develop, integrate, deploy, and manage mobile applications for enterprises; and Red Hat Storage, a software solution that enables customers to manage large, unstructured, or semi-structured data in hybrid cloud environments. It also provides consulting, support, and training services; and realtime operating system, distributed computing, directory services, and user authentication. Red Hat, Inc. has collaboration with Juniper Networks Expand to provide a unified solution for enterprises designed to manage and run applications and services. The company was formerly known as Red Hat Software, Inc. and changed its name to Red Hat, Inc. in June 1999. Red Hat, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Read MoreUVM post-doctoral student Dylan Burns demonstrates how the cognitive ground penetrating radar apparatus could be wheeled over an area to scan and map underground infrastructure. The GPR unit, housed in the box near the ground, can peer six to 12 feet down. Credit: Brian Jenkins

Digging a hole in most major citiesfor new construction or infrastructure repairis no minor undertaking.

With a dozen or more separate utilities required to inspect the ground under the dig site for a welter of obstructions like water, sewer and gas pipes, electric lines and electric generatorssome so old they don't appear on city mapsthe permitting process can take 18 months or more.

Transformational new technology being developed jointly by the University of Vermont and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga could reduce the inspection process to an afternoon's work.

The ongoing research project, "Underground Infrastructure Sensing," recently won a Smart 50 Award from a coalition that includes Smart Cities Connect, the Smart Cities Connect Foundation and US Ignite honoring the 50 "most transformative smart projects each year."

The technology, which is being supported by two National Science Foundation grants and one from U.S. Ignite, was showcased in a featured demo at the Smart Cities Connect national conference in Kansas City on March 29.

The project's goal is bold, said Dryver Huston, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Vermont, and the project's principal investigator.

When the technology is fully developed, "a person with augmented reality goggles or a specially equipped smart phone or tablet will be able to walk over the area that needs to be inspected, look into the device and see in detail what's underground six to 12 feet down," he said.

In this video, augmented reality software converts a grainy scan of a pipe buried under sand, captured with a ground penetrating radar system, to a perfectly rendered 3-D object visible with augmented reality goggles. The technology is being developed by researchers at the University of Vermont to identify underground infrastructure at construction dig sites, vastly speeding the inspection process. Credit: University of Vermont

Ground-penetrating radar with video-game like imagery

The project, which Huston describes as "cognitive" ground penetrating radar, has two major components.

At the University of Vermont, researchersincluding electrical engineering professor Tian Xa, Huston's UVM collaboratorare refining an advanced ground penetrating radar, or GPR, system Huston developed that can peer deep underground to detect buried infrastructure, some of it dating to the mid-19th century, and create scans of what it sees.

The researchers are able to locate scans in a geographic space the program can remember and knit together into a mapthe cognitive part of the projectby using a common 3-D scanning smart phone app.

The phone then converts the grainy radar scans to clearly recognizable, nuanced three-dimensional objects using augmented reality software, commonly used for video game development.

"The net result is that the system knows where you are, knows what's underneath, and can show you detailed images of what's there," Huston said.

Computing at the edge

In its other major component, researchers at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, led by Dalei Wu, an assistant professor of Computer Science and Engineering, are developing an edge computing platform that will enable the huge amount of data generated by the UVM team's technology package to be processed near the data collection siteat its "edgeso it can be quickly relayed back to the radar operator in real time as the area is being mappedor, later, to utility or construction workers who are walking the site to see what lies underneath.

Conventional cloud computing that relied on a faraway centralized server could not provide this feedback loop without frequent breaks and longs delays in the visuals.

Wu's team is also developing an encryption system that will keep the infrastructure data secure as it flows back and forth, addressing a key concern of safety and law enforcement officials.

"Ground-truthing" shows technology is on track

After working on technical development for three years, Huston and his team have spent the last six months "ground-truthing" the radar scans and the associated technology on the University of Vermont campus and in the neighboring town of Winooski, with Burlington scheduled for the spring.

In partnership with the university's physical plant team and city workers in Winooski, Huston and his team took scans of underground infrastructure at dig sites before the work took place, then compared what the GPR showed with what was actually there.

"It checked out," Huston said.

Similar work took place in Chattanooga last December, with the edge computing component added.

Wu's team was able to transfer the huge amount of data generate by the GPR and the 3-D scanning software from a street near the university back to a server on the campus in real time, a technical challenge of the highest order, Wu said. He is also making headway in developing encryption systems.

"We paved the way to go further," he said.

A system like the one being developed by Huston and Wu is sorely needed. According to the American Public Works Association, an underground utility line is hit, on average, every 60 seconds in the United States, which costs national economy billions of dollars. A study by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences found that only 35 percent of municipal utility records are complete and up to date.

Both Burlington and Chattanooga are U.S. Ignite cities with high speed gigabit networks. The work between Huston and Wu is being facilitated by this high speed connection.

In addition BTV Ignite, Burlington's digital city initiative, has worked closely with UVM to support and promote the project.

"UVM's work on underground infrastructure sensing is truly remarkable, and a great example of how Vermont can lead the way on developing 21st century digital innovations," said Dennis Moynihan, executive director of BTV Ignite.

Explore further Kobe's smart city project begins undergroundThe United Nations has announced it has dispatched a human rights team to Kunduz, Afghanistan, where an airstrike on Taliban-controlled territory appears to have caused dozens of casualties. The attack has been the subject of conflicting reports, with several media outlets placing the number of killed and wounded

, many of whom were civilians.





The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is "actively looking in to disturbing reports of serious harm to civilians yesterday,"

, noting that it had a team at the site "establishing facts."





Afghan officials say the country's military had been targeting a suspected meeting of Taliban fighters in Dashti Archi district,A former CEO of DongA Bank (DAB) and 20 accomplices will be prosecuted for violations in financial management and credit grants that led to a hefty loss for the Vietnamese lender, police said on Tuesday.

The investigation police under the Ministry of Public Security said they have completed the investigation into the VND3,405 billion (US$150 million) loss of DAB caused by ex-CEO Tran Phuong Binh and his accomplices, and transferred the case file to the Supreme People's Procuracy for prosecution of the defendants involved.

Binh was also deputy chairman of DAB board of directors, and chairman of its credit panel. He was arrested as part of the investigation in November 2016.

Among the 20 other defendants are two former deputy CEO of DAB, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Van and Nguyen Thi Kim Xuyen, and former directors of the banks branches and transaction offices.

All now face charges of deliberately acting against state regulations on economic management that results in serious consequences.

Thirteen of the 21 defendants of the case are being held in custody.

Binh was leader of a group of shareholders which collectively held a 10.25 percent stake of DAB. Another group, consisting of Binhs relatives, owned 7.7 percent of the bank.

Investigators have found that Binh had instructed others to manipulate the credit institutions banking and monetary operations, through making false loan payments and grants, resulting in the VND3,405 billion damages.

A transaction office of DongA Bank is seen in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Binhs violation was mainly responsible for sending DAB to incur an accumulated loss of VND31 trillion ($1.37 billion), and a negative equity of more than VND25 trillion ($1.1 billion) in late 2015.

In one instance, Binh helped Nguyen Hong Anh, a former Ho Chi Minh City police officer, to borrow 2,000 taels of gold from DAB in 2005, when lending and savings in gold were still allowed in Vietnam.

The ex-CEO then faked papers to show that Anh had repaid 1,900 taels of his loan, while he did not give the DAB any single gold bar, resulting in a VND53 billion ($2.33 billion) loss for the bank. (1 tael = 37.8 grams)

Anh is among the 20 other defendants of the case.

In another case, Binh asked his employees to prepare papers showing that business tycoon Phan Van Anh Vu had deposited VND200 billion ($8.81 million) to DAB, while he did not do so. Binh then had DAB transfer VND200 billion from the lenders fund to Vu.

Vu had been on the loose in Singapore in January, before being deported to Hanoi, where he was arrested by Vietnamese police for leaking state secrets.

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country's central bank, placed DAB under special supervision on Aug. 13, 2015 "for violations in financial management and credit grants" by some executives.Commuters in Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asian got into a double whammy on Tuesday evening when they were unable to book a ride with Grab, whereas fares charged by its rival Uber skyrocketed over high demand.

Users in Vietnam reported they were unable to access the service from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, leaving them no other choice than to switch to Uber or hail a conventional cab or xe om (motorbike taxi).

During the outage, the app greeted its user with an error message, saying Looks like we weren't able to connect to our server. Please try again in a few minutes.

Hung, a Ho Chi Minh City resident, said he could not book a ride during this period, when he was trying to travel from his home in Binh Thanh District to District 1.

He made another booking attempt using another phone but also had no success.

GrabBike drivers in the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho. Photo: Tuoi Tre

I tried two different smartphones using two different operating systems and eventually had to call for a cab, Hung recalled.

Duong, who lives in Go Vap District, said she had to switch to Uber after spending nearly 45 minutes on hailing a ride via Grab to no avail.

The unexpected high demand only helped send Uber fares through the roof.

A journey from Tan Dinh Ward, District 1 to Go Vap District, which normally costs about VND54,000 ($2.37), spiked to VND133,000 ($5.83) and VND160,000 ($7) during the Grab outage.

A representative of Grab Vietnam admitted to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday night that their booking system encountered an error.

A group of GrabBike drivers in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Drivers were also unable to gain access to the app.

According to Hai, a GrabBike driver, the app has suffered from repeated errors over the last few days. For instance, the app was filled with Thai language for a whilte on Tuesday morning, he elaborated.

The technical error appeared to occur not only in Vietnam but also in other Southeast Asian countries.

Grab Singapore updated on Twitter that the problem had been fixed at 11:00 pm on Tuesday, about five and a half hours after it first announced the issue.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, Grab said in a statement on Wednesday that the outage was "due to problems with our underlying infrastructure".

An Uber driver carries a passenger in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Grab has recently announced that it will take over Uber operations in Southeast Asia. Uber will be entitled to 27.5 percent of Grabs shares in return.

Uber will be exiting Vietnam on April 8.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade previously ordered Grab to provide all information and documents regarding its deal with Uber prior to Tuesday, April 3.

However, the request has not been met, thus competent authorities do not have enough grounds to determine the legitimacy of the transaction.

Grab currently offers services in more than 190 cities across Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!The consumer protection agency under Vietnams competition watchdog has asked state cable television VTVCab to submit a report on the removal of 23 foreign channels from its service since the start of April.

The request was made after the agency received complaints from local subscribers denouncing the provider of making the move without proper notice.

If VTVCab is found in violation of Vietnamese laws on consumer protection, the corporation will face legal consequences, the agency, managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said.

On Sunday, subscribers of VTVCab and its partnered service NextTV  provided by military-run telecom giant Viettel  were shocked to find that 23 foreign channels had been removed from the services.

Those include popular channels such as HBO, Star Movie, CineMAX, RED, AXN, WarnerTV, Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic, Fox Sports, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, CNN, and BBC News.

They were replaced by 12 brand new channels including Movie 1, Hollywood Classics, FOX, Planer Earth, History, Baby TV, Cartoon Kids and Happy Kids, many of which had never been known in Vietnam.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, VTVCab is only allowed to remove, replace or change the number of channels in its subscription packages on condition that subscribers have been made aware of the change beforehand.

Notification about the change must be posted publicly on the companys website and sent to customers either through text messages or mail.

Customers shop inside a VTVCab store in Vietnam. Photo: VTV

Subscribers retain their rights to unilaterally terminate the contract with VTVCab or file a complaint to the company if they are unsatisfied with the change, the ministry said.

VTVCab is mandated by law to respond to each complaint within five working days from reception.

The consumer protection agency advises VTVCab subscribers to revise their subscription contract with the company to fully understand their rights in the scenario.

A VTVCab representative later explained that the change was to offer subscribers new choices and allow the streaming of its service from mobile devices and over the top (OTT) distribution, which were prohibited under broadcasting contracts with the 23 old channels.

However, customers who had paid a full year of subscription in advance said they had little choice but to stick with the service for another nine months until they could switch to a new provider.

Those living in apartments said they could either grin and bear it or stop using cable TV entirely, since they could only subscribe to whichever provider had a contract with the condominium developer.

VTVCab is wholly owned by Vietnam Television (VTV), the national television broadcaster of Vietnam.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Two Vietnamese scientists have been listed in the 2018 edition of Asian Scientist 100, an annual listing of the regions top academics by the Singapore-based magazine.

Prof. Dr. Phan Thanh Son Nam from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Sum from Quy Nhon University were honored in the list for their accomplishments in chemistry and mathematics, respectively.

The Asian Scientist 100 list, which honors Asias top 100 researchers, academics and innovators, has been compiled and published by Singapore-based science and technology magazineAsian Scientist since 2016.

Each of the 100 honorees is qualified by having won a national or international prize in 2017 for their scientific research or leadership, according to the magazines website.

Together, they represent the best of what Asia has to offer the scientific community at large, an introduction to the list reads.

Both of the Vietnamese scientists were honored thanks to their winning of the 2017 Ta Quang Buu Awards, which is awarded by Vietnams Ministry of Science and Technology to local scientists with remarkable contribution to fundamental research in natural sciences and technology.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Sum is listed in the 2018 edition of Asian Scientist 100 in this screen grab taken from the magazines website.

Dr. Phan Thanh Son Nam was the lead author of an excellent work on molecular catalysts in organic transformation.

Specifically, his work explored the application of metal-organic frameworks as catalysts for the synthesis of propargylamine organic matters.

The study, which Nam co-authored with four of his Vietnamese colleagues, has been cited 21 times in scientific research globally.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nguyen Sum was honored for his work on topology, a branch of mathematics dealing with properties of space that are preserved under continuous deformations.

Sums work was praised for its solving of a unique case of the famous Peterson hit problem, posed by U.S. mathematician Frank Peterson 30 years ago.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!No Vietnamese was killed in a fire that broke out at an apartment in Bangkok on Tuesday, but 13 of them are among those injured, the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand confirmed later the same day.

At around 2:30 am, flames spread on the seventh floor of the 30-year-old Ratchathewi Apartment Building in Bangkok, claiming the lives of three inhabitants and injuring 60 others, according to the embassy.

The embassy had immediately contacted local authorities in search of Vietnamese victims in the wake of the fire, and eventually confirmed that no Vietnamese was among the three deceased victims.

One of the three dead remained unidentified as of late afternoon the same day.

The injured Vietnamese either were discharged or are in a speedy recovery in four local hospitals.

The preliminary cause of the incident is a short circuit, according to the Thai media.

N.V.A., a Vietnamese student who was initially assumed dead, is being treated in good condition at a a local hospital, Tran Tuan Kiet, a student at Bangkok-based Chulalongkorn University, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday.

A. was unaccounted for during the fire, while she had been in fact stranded in her room on the 13th floor before being rescued by fire fighters.

Her unavailability for contact for nearly 12 hours following the fire is explained by the fact that she failed to bring a cell phone with her while being hospitalized.

Kiet said a number of Vietnamese students attending schools in downtown Bangkok have rented rooms in the 30-year-old apartment building.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand said it would continue paying attention to the event, stay updated on findings from local authorities, and take necessary actions to protect Vietnamese citizens.

Its ambassador, Nguyen Hai Bang, visited and offered support to the Vietnamese victims in late afternoon of the same day.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!A woman seen in a viral Facebook video spreading incorrect information about Vietnamese history to a group of alleged Chinese tourists at a museum in the central city of Da Nang in February has been identified.

The woman in question is Chinese national Wang Jihong, 49, who already left Vietnam on March 2, Tran Chi Cuong, deputy director of the municipal Department of Tourism, confirmed on Tuesday.

Wang appeared in a video uploaded on Facebook on February 28, showing her giving inaccurate explanation of Vietnamese history to a group of visitors at the Da Nang Museum.

The 32-second footage was uploaded to a Facebook group of Chinese-speaking tour guides in Vietnam, with the original poster claiming it was filmed on February 26.

Wang was heard telling four tourists in Chinese that Vietnam had once been a part of China, and that ao dai, the traditional Vietnamese dress, derived from Chinas body-hugging cheongsam

It is strictly prohibited to operate as a tour guide without authorization from the museum. Wang was not wearing a tour guide pass at that time.

Wang Jihong (R) speaks to a group of tourists at the Da Nang Museum in this screenshot taken from the video clip.

Now that Wang is no longer in Vietnam, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism plans to ask its Chinese counterpart to consider imposing appropriate penalty on her, Cuong said.

The official added that Wang was given a travel visa in Vietnam via the service of the Da Nang branch of Eviva Tour Vietnam, a local tour operator.

The visa agent now faces fine as it should be held responsible when its customer was found doing work not allowed by her visa.

It has also been identified that the four tourists in the video clip were members of a group of Chinese people who were visiting Da Nang on a package organized by the Uyen - Hung 79 travel agent.

The guide of the trip was Tran A Hung, who has been fined VND12.5 million (US$548) for his negligence, which allowed Wang to tell untrue information about Vietnam to tourists he was responsible for.

Uyen - Hung 79 was also slapped with a VND4 million ($175.3) fine for improper management of business-related documents, following an inspection by the tourism department.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!The developer of Ho Chi Minh City-based Carina Plaza apartment building, which caught fire late last month, has extended its official apologies to affected tenants, particularly families of the 13 deceased victims and nearly 100 injured ones.

Hung Thanh Co. apologized for responding late to the incident due to the fact that the firms director was among the injured victims as he also lives at Carina, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The developer and its holding company, the 577 Investment Corporation, are committed to continuing to compensate for any damages caused by fire, according to the statement.

The fire at Carina Plaza in District 8 took place in the early morning of March 23, taking away the lives of 13 and injured 91 others.

Preliminary investigation found that a motorbike parked in the buildings basement was short-circuited, resulting in the blaze afterwards.

Police have launched legal proceedings against the developer for failing to comply with fire safety regulations.

Days after the tragedy, the building developer gave each family of the deceased victims VND100 million (US$4,400) in support. Of the 91 injured victims, 42 had to be hospitalized and each of them was given supports ranging between VND5 million ($220) and VND50 million ($2,200), depending on their severity, from the company.

The company has so far set aside more than VND2 billion (US$88,000) to cover daily expenses for tenants of other 668 apartments at Carina Plaza as the affected parts of the building have yet to be rebuilt.

Besides the initial support totaling VND2.2 billion ($96,000) for the deceased and injured victims, Hung Thanh Co. and 577 asserted that they will ensure tenants will receive appropriate compensation to re-settle their lives after the devastating fire.

Any damage caused by the fire will be complexly fixed, according to a Hung Thanh representative.

The preparation process, however, has been postponed since March 30 as the tenants had asked to cease it so that the authorities can examine the place and better identify the cause of the fire.

While waiting for the final results of the investigation, we will take full responsibilities for the incident and fully comply with any investigative agencies, the developer said.

Workers clean the buildings walls and windows after the fire. Photo: Tuoi TreNo deaths were reported in multiple crashes on an expressway leading to Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, when the road was blanketed with smoke, resulting in poor visibility that could well have led to a traffic tragedy.

The chain-reaction crashes took place at around 2:30 pm on the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway, when all drivers could hardly see anything due to a dense mass of grass smoke covering the road.

The 55-kilometer expressway links Ho Chi Minh City with Dong Nai Province.

The Google Maps location (red) of the smoke-caused accident along the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway in Southern Vietnam, April 3, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

One of the crashes is a pile-up involving a tank truck and three passenger buses. Four passengers on one of the involved buses were injured, according to Nguyen Thi Hoang Phuong, deputy director of the Vietnam Expressway Services Engineering JSC, the operator of domestic freeways.

Three of the injured people were discharged from the hospital while one has been referred to another infirmary for advanced care.

Phuong put the accident down to a great cloud of smoke rising from a nearby burning paddy field and to winds that blew it onto the highway.

Poor visibility therefore resulted on all the lanes in both directions of the affected road portion, she concluded.

Beside this crash, four cars also slammed into each other near Dong Mon Bridge on the carriageway of the highway which leads to Long Thanh from Ho Chi Minh City, causing congestion on both carriageways.

Phuong also said that while police were dealing with the problems on the carriageway leading to Long Thanh amidst a curtain of smoke, two collisions involving multiple cars played out on the other half, but no one died.

A traffic tie-up appeared on both directions of the road.

Burning grass and straw in paddy fields after a harvest or before farmers grow rice is a common practice in getting rid of the dried plants.

The deputy director attributed the above road accidents to strong winds which changed directions unpredictably, bringing clouds of dense smoke to fill the expressway.

Her firm had spotted three fires adjacent to the highway, which it extinguished by itself.

The authorities of the area where the crashes took place said that they have repeatedly warned famers against burning along the road and the generation of smoke responsible for the pile-ups this time was unintentional.

Police are investigating the case.

A water truck puts out a fire along the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway in Southern Vietnam, April 3, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Here are pictures of the accident and its aftermath:

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Julia Zemiros Home Delivery returns for its 6th season on ABC in a months time.

It returns to Wednesday nights from May 2nd with Rebecca Gibney, leading into Gruen and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering.

Other guests this season include Barrie Cassidy, Maggie Beer, Cate McGregor, Dave Faulkner, Raelene Boyle, Nicky Winmar, Louis Theroux, Brian Cox and Germaine Greer.

Once again, the playful and always entertaining Julia Zemiro walks notable people through their former lives, and helps uncover the people, places and events that shaped them into the people they are today.

After many years living in Australia, much-loved actress and Gold Logie winner Rebecca Gibney takes Julia to her native New Zealand. After a cable car ride overlooking her home town of Wellington, Rebecca and Julia jump into a classic green mini and head out to explore Rebeccas life in the countrys capital.

Nervous about visiting an old family home, Rebecca decides they should visit her primary school, Kelburn Normal School. As they drive, she recounts to Jilia how her father Austin was an alcoholic and frequently changed jobs, forcing his wife Shirley to constantly find new homes for the family. So, before she was 10-years-old, Rebecca had moved at least ten times before ending up in Wellington.

8pm Wednesday May 2 on ABC.This week on The Living Room, Dr. Chris meets Komodo dragons in Indonesia, Baz does a DIY bedroom and Miguel has a fishy problem.

Dr Chris has had plenty of experience dealing with unruly animals large and small, but he may have meet his match on the Indonesian island of Komodo, where dragons still rule. While they may not breathe fire, Komodo dragons can be just as dangerous for the locals, who Chris meets to learn what it is like living day to day with the three-metre monsters.

Barry catches up with a young mum to provide a simple DIY solution for her daughters bedroom, which looks straight into the neighbours house, while design guru James Treble presents some very handy tips to transform a chaotic linen cupboard into a thing of organised beauty.

Finally, armed only with a can of tuna, Miguel comes to the rescue of mum Tamara, whose sons love of surfing is matched only by his dislike of the tinned fish. Can Miguel change his mind?

7:30pm Friday on TEN.Topics: Opinion

Green-shaming wont help solve the climate crisis  this is how we can move forward

Emissions fell only slightly during the pandemic. A Greta-than-thou mindset is not going to get us where we want to go.Israel was quick to state that it would not participate in any inquiry into the recent violence in Gaza. Both the UN-secretary Antonio Guterres and the EU diplomatic chief, Federica Mogherini, have called for an investigation into the events that lead to the death of 17 Palestinians and an estimated 1000 injuries. For his part, Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the Turkish prime minister's call for an inquiry by likening it to an April Fools. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli prime minister tweeted on Sunday:"The most moral army in the world will not receive moral exhortations from those who for years have indiscriminately bombed civilian populations.

Apparently, this is how Ankara marks April first."

Peaceful protests turn violent

Gazans had gathered at the border to stage a peaceful sit-in and mark the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian mass exodus that followed the creation of Israel in 1948. At that time, an estimated 700'000 Palestinians were either expelled from their homes or fled. Advertised as a peaceful protest, this "Great March of Return" soon turned violent when Israeli snipers gathered alongside and opened fire. Life ammunition, as well as tear gas can-dropping drones, were used against the thousands of Palestinians, among them, women and children.

Friday's clashes are the most violent episode in Gaza since 2014. As funerals for those killed by the Israeli army took place on Saturday, large crowds gathered expressing grief, anger, and desperation.

Israel blames Hamas

Dismissing any suggestion that the Israeli defence forces killed defenceless, peaceful protesters, Israel has laid the burden of responsibility on Hamas, saying that it was using civilians to stage violent riots. On Twitter, the IDF outlined its view of the events.

Everything you need to know about the riots in Gaza today, explained by Maj. Keren Hajioff pic.twitter.com/irJL12DrQp  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) March 30, 2018

After videos showing the IDF's violent actions emerged online, the Israeli military accused Hamas of deliberately releasing "edited or completely fabricated" videos.

Israel will not partake in an inquiry

Despite condemnation from human rights organisations and high-profile calls for an independent inquiry into the events, Benjamin Netanyahu has praised the actions of the IDF, saying it had done a good job "guarding the country's borders." These sentiments were echoed on Israeli Army Radio by the Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who said:"I think that all of our troops deserve a commendation, and there won't be any inquiry."

Human Rights Watch says killings were "unlawful and calculated"

In its new report on the events, Human Rights Watch said that the killings were "unlawful and calculated." HRW also said that Israel failed to produce evidence that the Isreali soldiers were under threat.

The shooting dead of 17 Palestinians was the "foreseeable consequence of granting soldiers leeway to use lethal force outside of life-threatening situations in violation of international norms", the report also stated.

According to Aljazeera, the Israeli army announced deploying over 100 snipers with permission to fire.

The death toll is set to rise because of the high casualty numbers and lack of medical supplies in the Gaza Strip.A lawyer who was formerly linked to an aide of US President Donald Trump has been sentenced to 30 days in prison and a $20,000 fine (which is virtually nothing to a guy like him) in Robert Muellers FBI probe into the potential, alleged ties between the 2016 Presidential campaign of the would-be POTUS and the Russian government. This is the first official sentencing in Muellers highly publicised special investigation.

This guys name is Alex van der Zwaan

Alex van der Zwaan is the lawyer whos been sentenced. Hes the Dutch son-in-law of one of the richest men in Russia and he used to work with one of Trumps aides.

US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson made the historic sentencing. Its only a short sentence, sure, but it will probably be the first of many as Mueller continues his crusade to bring the Trump team down and expose every tie between his campaign and the Kremlin.

Paul Manafort, who was the chairman of Trumps campaign back in the day, is the aide who van der Zwaan used to work with. The lawyer pleaded guilty of the charges against him  which included lying to the FBIs investigators and withholding emails from them, and even deleting some before they could get to them  on 20 February and hes only just been sentenced.Tanesha Melbourne-Black was only 17 when she was shot by the occupants of a passing car on Monday. She was out with friends in Tottenham when a car drove up at around 9.30 pm. Speaking to the Guardian, a friend, who did not want to be named, told reporters that "the car just pulled up and started shooting." After the incident, crowds gathered and among them was Tanesha's distraught mother. Tanesha's violent untimely death is the second in 24 hours. On Monday, a 16-year-old boy was shot in Walthamstow and later also succumbed to his injuries.

The local community alongside politicians, community leaders, and the Metropolitan police have been trying to understand the recent increase in violent crime.

The 2018-London Crime Rates are staggering. In January, eight people were victims of a violent death, 15 in February, 22 in March, and four so far in April. If this trend continues, the 2018-crime rates will surpass 180, a figure last topped in 2005. Last year, the total number of violent deaths in London was 116. Stabbings and violent assaults account for the majority of the killings.

London's crime rates worse than New York's

London has been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Numerous media sources lead with similar headlines, pointing out that London's crime rates are now worse than New York's. Originally, the Sunday Times broke the story, which was later echoed in countless broadsheets across the globe.

Comparisons are easy because the population sizes of both cities are similar. Reacting to the reports, the Metropolitan police insisted that "London remains one of the safest [cities] in the world." Nonetheless, the recent spree of violent deaths often involving individuals with no links to crime has been a major source of concern.

Who is responsible for tackling London crime?

In recent days, politicians have been engaging in squabbles attempting to lay blame for the upsurge in violent crime. Labour MPs have blamed government cuts, while the government has been holding London's Mayor, Sadiq Khan responsible. According to the Guardian, a spokesman for the prime minister said:" The Mayor of London is accountable for the performance of the Metropolitan police." Meanwhile, on Twitter, Sadiq Khan promised to increase funding for the Metropolitan police.

Tory police cuts have already cost London thousands of police officers & staff, most of our police station front counters & police buildings. City Hall's 2018/19 Budget invests an additional 110 million into the Met, boosting officer numbers & helping to tackle knife crime. pic.twitter.com/W9WD8mYfrl  Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) April 4, 2018

For the families of the victims, these exchanges provide no comfort, nor do they ease the fears of the many people living in disenfranchised communities. Behind every victim lie a devastated community and a distraught family. The Metropolitan police have vowed to investigate Tanesha's murder and continue to combat violent crime. Detectives now believe that her murder may be connected to a feud between Wood Green and Tottenham gangs.

London crime - the bigger picture

At the weekend, an emergency services doctor pointed out on Twitter that the current spree of killings points to a far greater issue.Scientists have discovered a new type of moth with golden-coloured hair and a very small penis and they have decided to name it after US President Donald Trump. This is because the sitting President contests the size of his hands and brags about the size of his penis so much that many people believe that the lady doth protest too much. Oh, and the wispy blond hair is a contributing factor to the naming decision, of course.

The new moth, just 1cm in width, was discovered by a biologist named Vazrick Nazari. The main distinction that Nazari found between this new moth and its closest moth relative, the Neopalpa neonata, is that its winky is comparatively smaller. Therefore, this new moth species has been called the Neopalpa donaldtrumpi.

Oh, snap!

The new moth species lives in Mexico

Oh, how perfect! The species of moth with the yellow-orange hair and the small penis thats been named after Donald Trump lives in Mexico. This is the country that Trump hates the most. He wants to build a wall between its border and his. Hes sending a military force down to that border right now to counterstrike the caravan of immigrants who are reportedly on their way to America. And its the same place where the Neopalpa donaldtrumpi lives.For those who havent read the book Drums of Autumn, dont be surprised if Jamie will meet a likely ally once he gets to America. This is not the first time it was teased that Aunt Jocasta or veteran actress Maria Doyle is set to join the cast. Jocasta is the youngest sister of Ellen Fraser, mother of Jamie. There is a myriad of speculation already on this character on whether or not she will be true to Jamie and the MacKenzie creed. But again, for those who have perused the book of Diana J. Gabaldon, they have a clear idea of what Aunt Jocasta is all about.

Jaime the bear killer

The bear killer makes his entrance but might not be welcomed by the bookworms. Moore stated in one of his interviews that they will eventually show this epic scene with a twist. They havent provided a clear detail yet on what the twist is all about. However, they are positive that it will be accepted by real fans of Outlander. No more playful and romantic scene between Jamie and Claire. With that said, some fans especially the elderly (according to polls) will no longer see the intense chemistry that they look forward to every episode. The reason behind it is to show some angle of them being a couple as hinted by Sam in an interview.

The reunion that everybody was longing to see

Father and daughter moments will bring out the best of the characters. Arguably the main catalyst of season 4 is when Jaime finally meets her daughter. Having a family might be the greatest blessing that Jaime and Claire could have asked for. The only problem is, not everything will go as planned.

With the upbringing of their daughter, it will create some disagreement between the two which is a normal situation in any given family. Tears will surely shed in multiple episodes of season 4. Scotland will still be the main setting for the latest season. There were a few miscommunications weeks ago about the series filming in North Carolina amongst fans.

Sad to say that the US fanbase wont have a chance to see the set stateside as the North Carolina angle will be shot in Eastern Europe.

New villain will raise hell

Another element on why the show is on top of the food chain is the way this set of actors portray their roles. Father Bain, Jack Randall, Laoghaire Mac Kenzie, Prince Charles Edward Stuart and Geillis Duncan are just some of the antagonist who made a remarkable impression between seasons 1-3. Ed Speelers has the chance to be part of the best villain list as he will play Stephen Bonnet. A smuggler, well rounded and fierce pirate which will provide some problems for Jaime Fraser.President trump is accused of many things. One of them is a close Russian connection, for which a grand jury has been assembled headed by chief prosecutor Barry Mueller, the investigation is ongoing and there is every chance that at some stage the president himself will be interviewed. This will not be the end as there are other persons who feel that Trump has some connection with Russia. One of the respected four-star generals of the US Army, who has now Retired, has at last opened his mouth and he has accused the president of a conspiring with the Russians and undermined national security.

MSN has reported that the General has spoken up as his conscience did not permit him to keep silent.

General McCaffrey

It must be mentioned that general McCaffrey is one of the most decorated 4-star generals of the US Army who saw action in Vietnam and the Gulf War, he is a straightforward soldier and his opinion is not biased. The Russian connection is definitely something which Donald has not been able to explain. The old Red Indian saying that there is no smoke without fire is true to an extent. The fact that even after one year of his inauguration as president of the USA, the allegations of a Russian connection are very much in the news shows that perhaps there may be some truth in them.

Trump himself may not have been in touch with the Russians but some of his office staff may have and there is a distinct possibility Russia would have launched a cyber war to try and swing the vote in favor of Trump.

One must remember that Trump was short of the popular vote by over 3 million and yet won the election. Such a thing rarely happens and it is a moot point how much a hand the Russians had in getting Trump elected. The president is incensed by such comments but the view of a retired and respected four-star general cannot be brushed under the carpet.

The general holds no political position and has nothing to gain by making frivolous allegations. It is likely that he is concerned that a man who has become the President of the USA, may have been put in the chair by the Russians.

High-level game

Such a scenario is within the realm of possibility and is not entirely fiction.

The president has tried to show that he is very tough with the Russians by expelling 60 diplomats in retaliation for an attempted poisoning of a Russian spy in Britain. This does not seem to have satisfied his opponents who feel the president has something to hide. As I have written earlier the president himself may not have been in touch with the Russians but then for the Russians to act in his favor there is no requirement to contact them. Cyber warfare is a high-level technical game and the Russians could have made an attempt, irrespective of how much success they had.The Murray Goulburn manufacturing facilities in Rochester, Australia, May 3, 2017. AAP/Tracey Nearmy/via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Australia's competition regulator on Wednesday approved a planned $1 billion takeover of the country's largest dairy processor, Murray Goulburn Co-operative <MGC.AX>, by Canada's Saputo Inc <SAP.TO>.

The deal, which Australia's largest dairy processor says is key to its survival, was approved after Saputo agreed to sell a milk plant in Victoria state to address concerns from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

"Saputo's divestiture undertaking has remedied the ACCC's competition concerns about the Koroit plant," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

Farmers had expressed concerns about any short-term ACCC intervention in the transaction because they wanted certainty after "a bumpy ride with Murray Goulburn", Sims added.

The Melbourne-based company has struggled since 2016 when plans to sell high-margin products such as infant formula in China led it to overpay for source milk, while sales also fell below expectations.

Saputo, Canada's biggest cheesemaker, agreed to sell the Koroit dairy plant to ease concerns the deal would leave some Victorian farmers with little choice when selling their milk.

The deal is subject to the approval of shareholders and Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board. Murray Goulburn plans to hold a meeting on Thursday to vote on the deal.

"We remain confident in our offer and expect to be able to finalise this transaction by 1 May 2018," Saputo Chief Executive Officer Lino A. Saputo Jr said in a statement.

(Reporting by Aditya Soni in BENGALURU. Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook in SYDNEY; Editing by Stephen Coates and Aaron Sheldrick)Manfred Weber has sparked a controversy with his comments over Christianity (Getty)

A senior EU politician has sparked a seasonal spat over religious diversity.

Manfred Weber, the leader of the largest group in the European Parliament, has been widely criticised for comments about a dominant culture in Europe.

In an Easter Monday message, he wrote: If we want to defend our way of life we must know what determines us.

Europe needs a debate on identity and dominant culture.

While he didnt mention Christianity specifically, his statement was accompanied by a photograph of the interior of a Catholic church.

He has also previously said that European values are inspired by our Christian roots.

If we want to defend our way of life we must know what determines us. Europe needs a debate on identity and dominant culture. pic.twitter.com/3qbJVysNUi  Manfred Weber (@ManfredWeber) April 2, 2018

Critics have pointed out that the church in the photo, San Cataldo in Palermo, is ironically a notable example of Arabic influence on European architecture and culture.

The German MEP has also faced a major backlash from political rivals in the European Parliament.

The strongest condemnation for his comments came from EU chief Brexit negotiator and Liberal group leader Guy Verhofstadt, who called them abhorrent.

This notion of a "dominant culture" is abhorrent. Quite rightly, the EU's motto is "united in diversity." What we need is tolerance, respect for each other's culture, religious freedom and the #RuleofLaw. https://t.co/ZTB01ggRMn  Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) April 3, 2018

Dutch Liberal MEP Sophie in t Veld wrote: The strength of Europe lies in diversity and equality. And in the rule of law. Dominance does not unite, it divides.

Story continues

And Green group spokesperson Ruth Reichstein replied: Dear Manfred Weber  the Europe I want is an inclusive, free and tolerant Europe. I always thought these were our Christian values apparently I was wrong.

Some have suggested the controversy was caused by a clumsy translation of the German word leitkultur  which can also be translated as leading culture or guiding culture.

The term was coined by a Syrian-born German political scientist who envisaged a common set of values  including the separation of the church and state  being the basis for a united society.

It reentered the political lexicon recently as debate raged in Germany about how to integrate recently arrived refugees.

Manfred Weber (right) with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Getty)

Politicians from Germanys centre-right have been accused of the term to keep voters from turning to the far-right Alternative for Germany party, who strongly support the concept of a leitkultur.

It has been suggested Mr Weber was attempting to do exactly that ahead of elections in Bavaria later this year where his centre-right CSU party is being challenged from the far-right.

His tweet was the latest in a string of recent high profile moves designed to appeal to his conservative constituents.

Last month he travelled to Hungary to campaign alongside the countrys stridently anti-immigration Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The two British MEPs in Mr Webers political group  Julie Girling and Richard Ashworth  did not want to comment.



Credit reporting company Equifax Inc. corporate offices are pictured in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., September 8, 2017. REUTERS/Tami Chappell

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts can move forward with a lawsuit accusing credit reporting firm Equifax Inc <EFX.N> of failing to safeguard its databases or provide prompt notice of a breach that exposed the personal data of 147 million people, a state court judge has ruled.

Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Salinger in Boston, in a decision made public on Wednesday, denied a motion by Equifax to dismiss a lawsuit Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed after the breach was disclosed in September.

Salinger wrote that the lawsuit stated a plausible claim that Equifax breached its legal duties to address all reasonably foreseeable risks to its data security and to implement reasonably up-to-date fixes to its software.

The lawsuit alleged that Equifax knew or should have known by March 2017 that a serious security vulnerability existed in computer code that the company used in its systems but failed to patch or upgrade its software to eliminate it.

As a result, hackers were able to access its databases and steal personal information, the lawsuit alleged.

"These allegations state a viable claim for violation of the data security regulations," Salinger wrote.

Equifax declined to comment.

The lawsuit is one of several legal challenges facing Equifax related to the data breach. It also faces class action lawsuits and investigations by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and various state attorneys general.

The lawsuit that Healey filed in September is the only one by a state attorney general to date. The lawsuit seeks penalties and restitution as well as an order requiring Equifax to disgorge any profits it obtained during the breach.

In a statement, Healey, a Democrat, said her office was prepared to make its case in court to protect state residents and prevent future breaches.

"Today's order confirms that Equifax is not above the law and can be held accountable for violating the rights of Massachusetts consumers," she said.

Story continues

Equifax in March said it expects costs related to its massive data breach to surge by $275 million this year, suggesting the incident could turn out to be the most costly hack in corporate history.

Equifax in court papers says that it is continuing to cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies to investigate the breach and identify the hackers behind it.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)A man walks past eletricity pylons in Soweto, South Africa, March 5, 2018. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Thomson Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa signed long-delayed renewable energy contracts worth $4.7 billion with independent power producers on Wednesday, in the first major investment deal under President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The signing of power purchase agreements for the 27 mostly solar and wind projects was held up for over two years under ousted president Jacob Zuma, who favored a plan to build additional nuclear power plants.

It was also the subject of a last-minute legal challenge by the NUMSA labor union and Transform RSA lobby group, but a court rejected their application for an urgent interdict last week.

The signing represents a victory for Ramaphosa, who has promised to unlock investment and kick-start economic growth since replacing scandal-plagued Zuma in February.

"This will bring much-needed policy and regulatory certainty and maintain South Africa's position as an energy investment destination of choice," the energy ministry said in a statement.

Ramaphosa, a wealthy businessman, has prioritized revamping the economy and turning around struggling state-owned enterprises like utility Eskom, which will purchase power from independent producers as part of the deals agreed on Wednesday.

Opponents of the renewable contracts argued that Eskom could not afford the additional financial burden and that they would lead to job losses in the coal sector.

South Africa relies on coal-fired plants for more than 80 percent of its electricity generation, while renewables contribute around 7 percent.

Transform RSA, which opposed Zuma's removal as head of state, said it would continue to fight the renewable deals and had appealed last week's court ruling dismissing its application for an interdict.

"Eskom simply does not have the liquidity, cashflow and strong balance sheet to support this hideous gamble on the fiscus and state electricity supplier," Transform RSA president Adil Nchabeleng said.

Story continues

(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Joe Brock)

See Also:ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland could try to expel as many as 3,200 Eritreans whose requests for asylum fail, marking a major policy switch in a country that has granted thousands temporary refuge, broadcaster SRF reported on Wednesday.

People from Eritrea - which has drawn criticism over its human rights record - topped the Swiss list of asylum seekers last year with nearly a fifth of the more than 18,000 overall requests. More than 13,700 Eritreans were in the asylum process in February.

The policy switch, hailed by conservatives and attacked by the left, followed a Swiss court ruling last year that Eritreans who have completed their military service can safely be sent home.

Now authorities have started to inform Eritreans that they have to leave, SRF's Rundschau program said, although they cannot force people out as Switzerland lacks a treaty on repatriations with the Horn of Africa country.

It cited a letter sent by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) to an Eritrean woman who has lived in Switzerland since 2015 that her returning to Eritrea was "reasonable" and that it was revoking her temporary admission.

"At the moment we are reviewing around 3,200 temporary admissions for Eritreans," an SEM spokesman told SRF, adding each case would be treated individually.

A Unitred Nations special rapporteur on the situation in Eritrea in March again expressed concerns about human rights violations across the country.

Eritrean leaders should be tried for crimes against humanity including torture, rape, murder and enslaving hundreds of thousands of people, an investigation set up by the U.N. Human Rights Council said in 2016.

Eritrea has said the U.N.'s allegations of human rights violations are biased and based on false information. It dismissed suggestions of crimes against humanity as laughable.

(Reporting by Michael Shields; editing by David Stamp)

See Also:YAOUNDE (Reuters) - A group of European tourists travelling in southwest Cameroon were not kidnapped, their Swiss tour operator said on Wednesday, contradicting government reports that separatist militants had held them hostage.

Speaking on state television late on Tuesday, government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said 18 hostages had been taken on Monday and were freed hours later by the army's elite Rapid Intervention Battalion.

He said the group included seven Swiss and five Italian tourists as well as six Cameroonian municipal officials, who were taken by English-speaking separatists in the restive southwest region.

However tour group African Adventures said its clients had simply been stopped on Monday by a group of armed individuals who carried out a check of their documents and vehicles.

"Our negotiation carried out with this group resulted in their granting our permission to leave," the tour operator said in a statement on its website.

"Shortly before our departure, Cameroon army force special forces arrived on the scene and a brief engagement followed," it added, without elaborating.

None of its group was subjected to violence and all were doing well, the company said.

The Ambazonian Defence Force (ADF), the main anglophone separatist group battling state security forces, had earlier denied the government version of events.

"ADF does not take hostages. ADF arrests enablers and collaborators and does not arrest foreign nationals," Cho Ayaba, a leader of the Ambazonian Governing Council, to which the ADF is loosely affiliated, told Reuters.

The ADF has been responsible for most of the shootings that have killed more than 20 state security agents in a year-long uprising against President Paul Biya's francophone government that they say has marginalised the English-speaking minority.

However, a number of smaller armed groups have emerged in recent months in reaction to a government crackdown that has included razing villages in rural anglophone Cameroon near the Nigerian border.

(Writing by Aaron Ross and Joe Bavier; Editing by Edward McAllister and Robin Pomeroy)Facebook makes most of its money from advertising, and  as the Cambridge Analytica scandal continues to haunt Mark Zuckerbergs company  users are demanding to know how their data is being wrangled and harvested.

But while concern about Facebook user privacy has spiked, its been clear since Facebooks inception that its business is based on widespread surveillance of people, whose data is the product.

Some have portrayed the revelations of the Cambridge Analytica scandal  in which data was allegedly harvested from 50m Facebook profiles  as an existential crisis, while others have highlighted potential implications for academic research.

In short, Facebooks data harvesting methods have become a subject of sudden and widespread concern.

What is data harvesting?

Harvesting data, as its agricultural name suggests, is similar to gathering crops because it involves collection and storage with the expectation of future reward.

Data can be harvested in different ways, ranging from simple copy-and-pasting to more complicated programming. The chosen method is often constrained by the site being harvested. At simple search levels, many sites combat automated harvesting with Google CAPTCHAs and reCAPTCHAs, which help sites differentiate between humans and bots.

If youve ever copy-and-pasted text from Facebook or saved an image from Twitter, youve harvested social media data. The action of screenshotting is permitted on most sites because users can usually only access information that is either public or visible to them because they have logged in. Also, it would be impossible to completely eradicate the simplest data harvesting methods, such as making notes and taking photographs.

Facebook and other social networks are more concerned with restricting automated data harvesting, due to demands on web servers and to control who has access to what data (and why). Personal information and behaviour on social media have commercial, political and research value.

Story continues

Social networks decide their own usage policies, balancing commercial interests with third parties and regulatory user privacy concerns  often described in company documents as juggling the optimisation of customer behaviour and adhering to community standards.

How is data harvested?

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are used by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other sites to restrict would-be harvesters access. APIs work as a software go-between that allows a researcher or app developers computer to talk to a social network in a controlled way.

Read more: How Cambridge Analyticas Facebook targeting model really worked  according to the person who built it

One of the main conditions involves restrictions on how collected data can be used and shared, which can be pursued aggressively. In 2010, computer programmer Pete Warden harvested data from 210m public Facebook profiles for research purposes. But he failed to seek permission from Facebook first, thereby violating its terms of service. He later faced the threat of legal action from Facebook and was forced to delete the data  in an echo of academic researcher Aleksandr Kogans alleged part in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Kogans app, dubbed thisisyourdigitallife, developed in 2014 through his company Global Science Research (GSR)  separate from his university work  was a personality test that 270,000 users logged into, accepting that it would have access to some of their personal information and some of their friends data too. It also meant that those friends had not consented to their data being used in this way.

Facebook routinely updates its API and in 2014 the company confirmed it would stop allowing third-party apps to have access to data on the friends of app users. This disabled the data collection method allegedly used by Kogan.

There are a few different ways developers  who are required to agree to Facebooks policies  can harvest data using the companys API and they all assume at least basic computer programming skills. One of the easiest ways to do this is to access the API using a specialist software toolbox  Python and R have tools designed specifically for this purpose. In my research, I use the Rfacebook package to harvest Facebook data.

Grainne Nic Lochlainn

A key distinction between my app and others is that Im not interacting with users, because my app isnt live. My app is essentially an automated way to copy-and-paste information from public Facebook groups. I use the Facebook API to research how public community group pages have been used to protest austerity in Ireland.

Because Im harvesting public data from public pages, Im not asking users to login and theres no front-end interface on Facebook, although this can be done using Facebooks API toolkits to expand the amount of data that can be accessed. Its a method that raises a number of questions about functionality, user information and access permissions.

Facebooks API can be used to harvest all sorts of publicly available information, like some of The Conversation UKs recent posts or posts in public groups.

Grainne Nic Lochlainn.

Grainne Nic Lochlainn

But attempts to move beyond public information to harvest data of Facebook users who havent logged in to the app  such as Zuckerberg, for example  return errors. Facebook likes cant be harvested because Zuckerberg isnt a user of my app and he hasnt granted it permission to access his data.

Under Facebooks latest API updates, app permissions are required to harvest any information beyond public profile properties. This means that users have to login to an app and authorise access to any other information to allow developers to harvest the data.

Grainne Nic Lochlainn

Legimate research under threat?

While ad-stuffed companies clearly have an interest in leveraging data, academics  in recent weeks  have drawn attention to researchers who harvest Facebook data. The practice has become relatively mainstream in social sciences research.

The extent to which future research could be restricted by changes to Facebooks API is a pressing one. But its worth noting that, once data has been harvested, Facebook  which can legally pursue people who violate its terms of service to try to force them to delete data  has limited control over where data that ends up.

Read more: Cambridge Analytica scandal: Facebook's user engagement and trust decline

For researchers who are fretting about how the Cambridge Analytica scandal will affect their work, its worth keeping an eye on what changes Facebook implements in its next API update. It may provide a better understanding of the type of research that can be permitted from the use of harvested Facebook data  and what may be permanently excluded.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Grainne Maedhbh Nic Lochlainn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.Allegations of misconduct and unethical behaviour by Oxfam staff during its response to a humanitarian crisis in Haiti in 2011 and other behaviour by some working in the humanitarian aid sector has raised serious concerns about public trust and accountability in charities and triggered a statutory inquiry into Oxfam.

According to many commentators, the Oxfam scandal will have a lasting impact on public perceptions of the organisations trustworthiness. Some segments of the media have portrayed the humanitarian NGO sector as something of a Wild West, where predators can abuse freely with no check on their activities.

The gravity of the scandal means that something must be done to repair the lost trust. The most popular type of solution  one advocated in such times  involves some type of increased oversight and tighter regulation of NGOs. But we must be careful in jumping to conclusions. Not only are there already a large number of oversight and regulatory mechanisms already in existence, but the addition of more will shift resources away from the work that the government and the public value NGOs for to meet new bureaucratic requirements.

This might be unnecessary if, as we suggest, NGOs could alternatively regain trust by working to re-establish the social message that the public and government identify with NGOs in the first place.

Existing NGO regulations

Plentiful evidence does exist of the prevalence of sexual exploitation and abuse in the sector, stretching back to Save the Childrens report on offences in West Africa in 2002. But it is important to correct the misconception that regulations do not exist at the international level. On the contrary, serious work has been devoted towards developing freely accessible guidelines and practical measures to counter sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian contexts.

These include the Core Humanitarian Standard, Interaction, Sphere Companion Standards on Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, and an Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task Team. Certification is available to organisations deemed to have appropriate safeguarding measures from Keeping Children Safe, in addition to the background (DBS) check that UK employees working with vulnerable people undergo.

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Report the Abuse (despite folding in August 2017 for lack of funding) also has extensive policy and practical recommendations for aid workers and organisations.

All of these regulations have been available for a long time, and they cover all issues. Given this, it doesnt make good sense for NGOs to create more of them in an effort to regain the trust of the public. The reason why public trust has declined in NGOs is not necessarily because of lack of regulations. It goes deeper than that.

It is understandable that governments want to be seen to be doing something in an attempt to regain trust. But there is a need for caution about unveiling new initiatives without considering all options. Additional regulations and oversight are a costly means to regain trust that draw resources away from programme delivery. But, luckily, they are not the only means through which trust in NGOs can be rebuilt.

Rebuilding trust

It may seem intuitive that if an NGO has more oversight mechanisms, more people will trust it. Such oversight, after all, provides more information about their operations, from which judgements about trustworthiness can be made.

Although this model, what we call a rational model of trust, is certainly part of the story, it is certainly far from the only reason NGOs are trusted, as we have recently shown.

This is because NGOs also benefit from social trust, which is generated by feelings of common identity and working towards a common cause. Put simply, where social trust exists, the public will trust NGOs without having what might otherwise be thought of as sufficient information. Social links act as a trust-filler for the absent information.

So if members of the public have some type of identification with the NGOs cause, they will tend to trust more readily  barring blatant evidence that they should not. This means that NGOs can weather brief storms of broken promises so long as they re-establish with the public the core social message that generates this identification in the first place.

The costs

NGOs and the public alike should not overlook this advantage when rallying from these recent scandals. Research suggests that a primary reason why NGOs join self-regulation mechanisms is to send a signal to donors that they are credible recipients of funding. But senior staff report concerns that bureaucratic accountability procedures can turn into a tick-box exercise that aims to provide a paper audit trail rather than transform relationships on the ground. What is more, they argue that an industry of standard-setting has mushroomed in recent years. NGOs struggle to comply with reporting requirements from donors and voluntary self-regulation mechanisms, often leading to the duplication of work as the same information is recycled in different formats.

So NGOs shouldnt fall into the trap of thinking that more regulations will fix the problem of regaining the trust of the public. This outcome is not necessarily good for anyone. The NGOs find themselves burdened by increasing bureaucracy and cannot devote as many resources to the programmes that the public supports them for. Regulation adds operational costs that might ultimately be inefficient to the delivery of services, or even completely unnecessary, if NGOs can regain trust through avoiding further scandal and reconnecting their central ethical message with the public at large.

Regulation based on rational trust has a place, but it is not the panacea for all ills. Organisations that have conventionally benefited from a privileged position of trust in society should ensure that they reflect on all possible sources of trust when considering the right solution to regain their perception of trustworthiness.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.A North Korean missile test in July 2017. Photograph: KCNA/Reuters

North Korea is almost certain to complete development within 18 months of ballistic missiles capable of reaching the UK, according to a Commons defence select committee report. The report says the missiles could potentially carry nuclear warheads and it says the UK has only a limited ballistic missile defence capability.

But it adds a crucial caveat: The Ministry of Defence does not consider that the UK will be a target of North Korean nuclear missiles, as its regime does not believe the UK to be a threat. The focus of North Korean military planning is mainly the US and South Korea, it says.

If there were a conflict in the region, the UK would have no legal obligation to provide military assistance. Yet, in the event of North Korean aggression against South Korea and/or against the United States, it is unlikely we would stand aside.

The committee, made up of Conservative, Labour, Scottish National party and Democratic Unionist MPs, began taking evidence in September before the de-escalation of the crisis on the Korean peninsula. A face-to-face meeting between North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump is provisionally scheduled to take place before the end of May.



The report, Rash or Rational?: North Korea and The Threat It Poses, says North Korea significantly escalated both its missile and nuclear testing during 2016 and 2017. The committee, which took evidence from the MoD and the Foreign Office among others, suggests that cyber-attacks originating from North Korea pose a more immediate threat to the UK.



With its current rate of development, it is possible that North Korea can already strike the United Kingdom with an intercontinental ballistic missile potentially able to carry and deliver a nuclear warhead, the report says. Within the next six to 18 months, it is almost certain to be able to achieve this capability.



But it says there is nothing in the public domain to prove North Korea has succeeded in mastering the technology required to arm such missiles with nuclear warheads.

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We consider Kim Jong-un, though undoubtedly ruthless, is nevertheless rational. As such, he could be dissuaded and deterred from launching a nuclear weapon, the report says. It is far more likely that the UK will continue to suffer from reckless North Korean cyber-attacks, such as WannaCry. North Korea has shown an utter lack of concern about who gets hurt by such attacks. Similarly, there is a definite danger that North Korea would have few if any qualms about promoting nuclear proliferation to other states or even non-state actors.

The WannaCry attack hit targets across the world, including the NHS, potentially one of the most damaging cyber-attacks yet in the UK.The next Overwatch Uprising event will be renamed Overwatch Retribution and feature a special Venice map, according to leaks from members of the community who recently visited Blizzard HQ. The Uprising event, which brings players back to Kings Row on thee day of the Null Sector raid, will return alongside a brand new mode. Recent tweets from the PlayOverwatch account have alluded to something new, and it looks like its Blackwatch related.

overwatch chinese venice incident

Weibo

Game Director Jeff Kaplan showed off the Chinese name for the Uprising event at the Blizzard offices recently. According to a games editor who visited, the Venice Incident was fun to play and features the Blackwatch Overwatch heroes. Reddit user DocterifficDoc posted an image from Twitch streamer Chinglish who shared a picture of the Overwatch Retribution title and the map showing off a Venice skyline. Another streamer, Muselk, leaked the same poster with a selfie with Kaplan. The posts were quickly deleted. The final piece of the puzzle comes from a mural in Melbourne, Australia. Blizzard-mandated artists have recently added Genjis Blackwatch skin.

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melbourne mural

Reddit

Venice is already a part of Overwatch s lore. Moiras backstory reveals she was a hidden member of Overwatch, working on the covert Blackwatch team. After the Venice incident, the world became aware of her involvement in the group and officials disavowed all knowledge of her affiliation with them. She was a world-class scientist with sketchy ethics at best, so she must have done something truly heinous in Italy to get wiped from the tomes of history.

We still dont know much about Blackwatch, but its exciting that we are going to finally learn more. Theres this whole Xforce of Overwatch that isnt afraid to play by the rules, and this event might show players how they blew their cover.

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The Overwatch Archives event releases on April 10, so were going to have a week to find out if all of this theorycrafting and speculation pans out.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBogdan Bernavic has been jailed after raping a 13-year-old girl (SWNS)

A paedophile who fled to Romania in an attempt to avoid standing trial for raping a 13-year-old girl has been jailed after being extradited back to Britain.

Bogdan Bernavic, 26, was charged with multiple rape offences in January 2017 after he plied the unidentified teenager with drugs after meeting her at a youth club  leaving her paralytic before raping her several times a day.

He was initially arrested in 2014 when he was spotted picking up another 13-year-old girl from school in his flashy Mercedes.

Bernavic left the country whilst on bail and trial at Warwick Crown Court went ahead in his absence, and he was convicted of the offences on January 18.

In March, officers working abroad traced Bernavic to an address in Romania but he made one last-ditch attempt to evade capture by booking a flight to Spain.

However, when he arrived at the airport on March 16 with the intention to fly to Madrid, he was greeted by officers and extradited back to the UK.

On March 28 he was jailed for 18 and a half years for two counts of rape and failing to answer bail, and was placed on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely.

Bernavic was jailed for 18 and a half years at Warwick Crown Court (Geograph)

Judge Anthony Potter, sentencing, said: I am satisfied you were deliberately looking for young vulnerable females to use for your own sexual gratification.

It would have been obvious to you just how vulnerable she was. I am satisfied you cynically exploited that.

On the first occasion you and others fed her so much vodka she was paralytic.

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You ignored her protests that she had already had sex that night with someone to whom she had lost her virginity.

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Thereafter, she was someone you treated like a chattel. She was just someone to be used and abused by you.

You introduced her to class A drugs, giving her four lines of cocaine on one occasion, and you raped her after that.

The 26-year-old fled to Romania in an attempt to avoid standing trial (SWNS)

Since then, she was taking drugs to dull the pain you and others had caused her.

Cathlyn Orchard, prosecuting, said that in 2015 Social Services agreed for a 13-year-old girl to stay with a couple in Coventry after she had been thrown out by her father, during which time she met Bernavic.

The pair visited the park and started kissing but after she refused to have sex with Bernavic, he raped her.

After that, he continued to demand sex from her on a regular basis, often before and after school.

The teen told the court that the ordeal has caused her to self-harm and consider suicide, and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

After the case, Detective Inspector Joseph Davenport, from West Midlands Police, said: Bernavic is a dangerous sexual predator who targeted and took advantage of a vulnerable young girl.Ocular melanoma, an extremely rare form of eye cancer, is being disproportionately diagnosed among young women in two Southern towns. Doctors do not know why these cases are confined to these cities, and efforts to raise funding to better study the mystery have so far been unsuccessful.

In Auburn, Alabama, with about 60,000 residents, the only common trend between the 33 known cases of ocular melanoma is that every individual either lived or worked in the city between 1980 and the early 1990s, Healthline reported Monday. Of these, 31 were former students at Auburn University, a Facebook page on the phenomena reported.

In Huntersville, North Carolina, with about 54,000 residents, the only connection in another 18 cases is having lived, worked or spent a large amount of time in the town since 2000.

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There are more cases of ocular melanoma in Alabama than any other U.S. state, WLTZ reported. Doctors do not believe the cases are a coincidence.

04_03_eye

Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images

According to the National Institute of Health, ocular melanoma is a type of cancer that affects eye cells, beginning in the middle layer of the eye called the uvea. It is more common in older individuals and those with fairer skin tones and blue or green eyes. Signs of the condition include blurred vision, seeing floaters in your eyes or developing dark spots on the iris. The condition is also more common in men than women.

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But in the Southern cases, most of the patients are women, and they are typically younger in age.

In February, Alabama Senator Larry Stutts attempted to get $100,000 in state funding to back research into the eye cancer cluster. The proposal was denied. Auburn University, the alma mater of many of the current patients, also refused to fund research into the cluster, WLTZ reported. The university, however, will lead a committee to find out why so many people associated with Auburn have been diagnosed with the cancer.

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Despite the recent setbacks in funding, there are other measures being taken to help identify why this problem is affecting so many Alabama and North Carolina residents. An ongoing study at Columbia University in New York is analyzing tissue from patients who have died or lost an eye to the cancer, The Charlotte Observer reported. Meanwhile, a state backed analysis is mapping patients entire lives in an attempt to find similarities.

Carolinas HealthCare Systems has also offered free genetic counseling to residents in Huntersville to see if there is a genetic predisposition to the disease.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekAMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Russia lost a vote 15-6 at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) seeking a new joint investigation into the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in Britain, a diplomatic source told Reuters.

Russia had put forward a proposal for a joint investigation as Britain did not invite it to participate in a probe being carried out by the OPCW, results of which are due next week.

China, Azerbaijan, Sudan, Algeria and Iran backed the Russian motion, the diplomatic source said. Seventeen member states abstained.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Catherine Evans)Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was called out on Twitter after she expressed shock over a California city's universal basic income experimentan initiative based on Alaska's model that guarantees income floor for its residents.

"Are you kidding me?" Palin tweeted early Monday along with a link to a right-wing blog that denounced the income initiative in Stockton, California, as a "socialist" concept.

The blog post on AmericaNewsCentral.com criticized Stockton's plan to provide a small number of low-income residents with a $500 stipend per month.

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"Socialist ideas seem to be on the rise in the country, everything from attacking gun rights to some embracing [Vermont Senator] Bernie Sanders and single payer healthcare," the blog post read. "Now, some are pushing for the concept of universal basic income and one city is even trying it out."

GettyImages-505736806

Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs may not have seen Palin's tweet when it posted at 3:20 a.m. local time, but he responded later that afternoon. "Actually modeled after the Alaska Permanent Fund. Are you familiar with it?" he tweeted.

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The Alaska Permanent Fund pays out dividends to Alaska residents every year. According to the state's constitution, at least 25 percent of Alaskas mineral royaltiesmostly oil moneyis deposited into that principal. As of February 2018, the fund was worth $64.7 billion. In 2017, it paid out $1,100 to qualifying residents.

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Tubbs explained his inspiration for the income experiment during an interview with NPR in January. "I think the idea is like in Alaska. So Alaska has this permanent dividend fund that's been around for a generation where just for being an Alaskan citizen, as being part of that social contract, you're given a check every year," he said.

"We need to see if it works and we need to try it. And if it doesn't work, there's a conversation about, OK, well, why didn't it work and how can this apply to the next solution we need to implement?" he said.

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Details are still being worked out for Stockton's experiment, called the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, or SEED. In a second tweet aimed at Palin, SEED's Twitter account posted, "Thank you, Alaska for helping to inform our approach!"

The America News Central blog post also called into question how the funding for the Stockton's program works. "The obvious question is where is the money coming from?" blogger Nick Arama asked. "It does not say if more money from the other citizens of Stockton is also required to float this experiment."

The experiment is philanthropically funded by the Economic Security Projecta group of organizers, elected officials, researchers and technology developerswhich has donated $1 million toward the effort.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekThis is the shocking moment a man was gored to death after he taunted a bull during an Easter festival in southern Spain.

The 45-year-old victim died after his lung was pierced by the horn of the animal, who gored him as he was thrown to the ground.

Hundreds of people at Arcos de la Frontera watched on helplessly as the man was fatally injured, in what is the first bull-running death of 2018.

The man was gored to death by the bull after taunting it on the street (Facebook)

The man, wearing a bright yellow top, was seen taunting the bull, named Trapero, before he was gored in the chest and thigh.

People watching dragged him away from the animal but medical staff who treated him were unable to save the man.

He was transferred to a hospital near to the Andalusian town but pronounced dead on arrival.

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Another man was gored in the stomach by the same bull but his injury was not life-threatening, according to The Local.

The festival in Arcos de la Frontera is celebrated on Easter Sunday and kicks off the bullfighting season in Andalusia.

Bull-running is included in fiestas in hundreds of towns across Spain and while injuries are reported, deaths are rare.

Spaniards are becoming less supportive of bullfighting according to recent polls (Rex)

The bulls running through the streets during the fiestas are killed in the same day in bullfights.

Some 2,000 bullfights are held every year in Spain, but its popularity seems to be on the decline.

According to El Paid, audiences for bullfights are falling while TV audiences have also dipped to below one million viewers.

An Ipsos MORI poll conducted in 2016 found that 19% of adults in Spain aged 16-65 said they supported bullfighting, compared to 58% who opposed it.Two men pulled the victim of a fiery car crash to safety in Aurora, Illinois, on Saturday, March 31.

Aurora police arrived on scene to see Jose Martinez, who lives across the street, pull a man from the burning vehicle, and his actions were caught on a cruisers dashcam. Devin Johnson then pulled the crash victim further away from the burning vehicle.

The 34-year-old victim was charged with a number of traffic offenses and driving under the influence, according to police. He also suffered burns and other injuries and was taken to a local hospital for the non-life threatening injuries. The victims name was not released by police.

To say Joses actions were heroic and brave are an understatement, Aurora police said on Facebook. Had he not taken immediate action, the driver would not have lived. Devin should also be commended for assuring the man was out of harms way. Outstanding job, gentlemen. Credit: Aurora Police Department via StoryfulA Hyundai Motor's booth is seen near the Pyeongchang Olympic Plaza in Pyeongchang, South Korea, February 11, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

Thomson Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) - A female executive of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor has resigned after being accused of pressuring female subordinates to pour drinks for, and dance with, senior male members of staff, the Yonhap news agency said on Tuesday.

The global #MeToo movement has accelerated in South Korea since January, spawning accusations of sexual misconduct and prosecution investigations of prominent figures.

Fear of reprisal has made South Koreans traditionally wary of being whistleblowers over harassment at family-run conglomerates that dominate the economy, with open accusations of this type far outnumbered by anonymous posts on the subject.

Yonhap, citing Hyundai Motor, said a female employee had made the accusation while preparing to leave the company, saying the woman executive had pressured her female subordinates to attend a drinking party with senior men and pour drinks.

She also accused the executive of pressuring the women to dance with men at a karaoke session, and said the men were in positions that could influence the female executive's position in the corporation, Yonhap reported.

In a statement, Hyundai Motor said media reports on the issue did not reflect its views and policies.

"We will take appropriate actions on any irregularities or breaches by individuals within the company that do not ensure equality in the workplace," it said, declining further comment.

Neither Hyundai Motor nor the news agency identified the executive.

Hyundai Motor had three female executives among its total of 298 executives by the end of 2017, regulatory filings show.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

See Also:It remains thin gruel in terms of Thursday's corporate news, with trading updates from property developer Hammerson and distributor Electrocomponents on Thursday, with surveys on the UK's and the eurozone's services sectors on the macro platter.

Hammerson is due to provide a first-quarter update after a roller-coaster few months for the FTSE 100-listed retail property developer.

Late last year Hammerson shook hands with bosses of smaller rival Intu on an all-share takeover that was designed to create a group with 21bn of property across Europe, including 19 of the UKs top 30 shopping centres.

Then, last month French group Klepierre, almost seven years after a failed attempt to acquire a former incarnation of Intu, made a 5bn approach for Hammerson. Hammersons board described it as "unsolicited and entirely opportunistic in its timing".

The trading update will give the group a platform to show exactly why, said analysts at Hargreaves Lansdown.

A pre-close trading statement is also due from Electrocomponents, the distributor of electronics and industrial equipment for engineers.

After a stagnant few years, recent trading has been strong, noted Hargreaves analyst George Salmon, with Februarys trading update confirming double-digit percentage sales increases across Europe, the Americas and the Asia Pacific region.

"Comparatives are getting tougher, but itd be good to see this momentum continue into the spring," he said.

"Its not just the top line where improvements are being realised. Customer satisfaction is growing, and with cost savings in the pipeline, analysts are hoping operating margins can rise. We may need to wait until full year results in May, but since the group has geared investors to expect further efficiency measures, well be keeping an eye out for any early word of more earning-enhancing plans."

Broker Numis estimated that fourth-quarter growth will be around 10% after a was very strong third quarter but a slower January against a more challenging comparative. "This could create some upside potential to our FY18 Group SPD growth assumption of 12%."

German factory orders, eurozone retail figures, the US trade balance and jobless claims also are among data points that traders will be keeping an eye out for.

In London, the 0930 BST release of the services purchasing managers' index from IHS Markit will be watched as it takes the temperature of the country's dominant sector at the end of what's been a fairly uninspiring first quarter.

The market expects the March PMI to have cooled off to 54.0 from the 54.5 a month before.

Barclays said the sector's confidence is likely to have remained stable around the average seen in the past six months: "Retail sector weakness may be offset by strength in professional services as Brexit preparations continue."

With the survey conducted both sides of the 19 March announcement about progress on Brexit transition period was announced on 19 March, Barclays said the impact on corporate sentiment is likely to depend on whether the majority of survey responses were taken prior to or after this date.

Though US trade is dominating the headlines amid the spat with China, none of the tariffs have been imposed and may not be for months, meaning the US trade balance remains unaffected.

Economists predict only a modest widening in the trade deficit to $56.8bn in February, having widened fairly sharply since last October.

Thursday April 05

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

PMI Services (EU) (09:00)

PMI Composite (EU) (09:00)

Producer Price Index (EU) (10:00)

Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)

Balance of Trade (US) (12:30)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

Factory Orders (GER) (07:00)

PMI Composite (GER) (09:55)

PMI Services (GER) (09:55)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

PMI Services (10:30)

FINALS

HSS Hire, Walker Greenbank

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Electrocomponents, Hammerson

ANNUAL REPORT

ProPhotonix (DI), Rentokil Initial

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

South32 Limited (DI)

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Direct Line Insurance Group, F & C UK High Income Trust B Shares, Quartix Holdings

EGMS

Himalayan Fund NV

AGMS

Scottish American Inv Company

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Barclays, Greencore Group, MTI Wireless Edge Ltd., Thomas Cook Group

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Amino Technologies, Aviva, Chemring Group, Convatec Group , Direct Line Insurance Group, Elecosoft, FBD Holdings, Fisher (James) & Sons, GKN, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, IMI, John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd, Lighthouse Group, Melrose Industries, Moneysupermarket.com Group, Old Mutual, Pearson, Quartix Holdings , Rotork, Schroder Asian Total Return Investment Company , Shore Capital Group Ltd., Smith & Nephew, St James's Place, Taylor Wimpey, TP ICAP, Travis Perkins, Ultra Electronics Holdings, Virgin Money Holdings (UK)

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Mid Wynd International Inv Trust, South32 Limited (DI)

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Bioventix, Ferguson, Go-Ahead Group, Origin Enterprises, Photo-Me International, Redrow, Smith (DS), Smiths Group, St Ives

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Blue Capital Alternative Income Fund Ltd (DI), F & C UK High Income Trust , F&C Private Equity Trust, Primary Health Properties, Schroder Income Growth Fund, SQN Secured Income FundTesla shares are falling by as much as 5% in pre-market trading on Wednesday after analysts dissected its first-quarter production and delivery numbers and China announced brand-new tariffs on 106 US products, ranging from soybeans to cars, aerospace and defence.

JP Morgan pointed to Tesla's more-or-less unchanged delivery numbers from a quarter earlier, despite Elon Musk claiming that growth would be "supercharged" in 2018 after the addition of its first mass-market model, the Model 3.

Analyst Ryan Brinkman pointed out in a research note issued on Wednesday morning that Tesla stated it would not be looking to raise any capital this year; however, the Californian firm said the same thing back in 2016 before going on to raise billions of dollars.

Brinkman reiterated his 'underweight' recommendation on the company's shares but trimmed Tesla's target price from $190 to $185.

Separately, RBC Capital reiterated its 'neutral' on Tesla, but lowered its target from $380 to $305, noting that while Tesla had provided some relief by virtue of its avoidance of adding any debt or equity raising in its current financial year, its production miss raised several longer-term concerns.

Elsewhere, China's tariff announcement hit all automakers, with Ford and General Motors shares down nearly 1% in early trade.

As of 1500 BST, shares had recovered slightly and were trading down by 3.28% to $258.76 each.The woman, who was identified by police as Nasim Aghdam, a 39-year-old resident of San Diego, was said to have taken her own life after the attack. She was found holding the handgun that had been used in the shootings.

Two of the workers shot were left in critical condition and the other is in fair condition.

San Bruno Police Department has opened an investigation on the event, saying it was search for a motive for the shooting. "At this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted."





The suspected shooter in todays YouTube incident has been identified. Please see press release for details - https://t.co/Xvr2l9bB9s pic.twitter.com/NEBoX3WWK5  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 4, 2018

Police chief Ed Barberini said: "We know very, very little right now, and we probably won't know more until tomorrow morning."

According to other police comments, Aghdam may have known at least one of the victims but it could be a domestic violence incident.

According to the FBI, a female shooter is a rarity, with only six out of 160 incidents between 2000 and 2013 perpetrated by a woman.

SBPD released a statement early on Wednesday morning confirming that officers arrived on scene at 12:48pm and "encountered numerous employees fleeing the premises. Officers encountered one victim with an apparent gunshot wound at the site and two additional gunshot victims that had fled to a neighboring business.

"Inside the complex officers located a deceased female inside with a gunshot wound that is believed to have been self-inflicted. A total of four people were transported to local hospitals, three of which were suffering from gunshot wounds. The extent of the victims injuries are unknown at this time."

YouTube spokesman Chris Dale gave a statement on the incident and said: Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube and all of the employees were victims of this crime. Our hearts go out to those who suffered in this particular attack.".

US President Donald Trump tweeted on the event sending thoughts and prayers to the victims.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTube's HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal law enforcement officers and first responders that are currently on the scene," he wrote.

Andre Campbell, the surgeon treating the victims, lashed out against the soft gun control measures in the country: Once again we are confronted with the specter of a mass casualty situation in the county of San Francisco. You would think that after Las Vegas, Parkland and the Pulse nightclub shooting, that wed see an end to this but we have not.

Gun violence happens every day in the United States. Weve got a serious problem we need to address. I dont have all the answers but at least we need discussion about it nationally.Stocks are trading near their worst levels of the session after China stepped-up its response to US proposals to levy up to $60bn-worth of trade duties on Chinese imports.

For the most part, economists seemed sanguine that the ongoing trade tensions may only have a marginal impact on the global economy, although some market watchers pointed out that the heightened uncertainty might offset any gains resulting from China opening up its economy further in response, not to mention should the reciprocal tariffs escalate past a certain point.

Commenting on the market action, Joshua Mahony at IG said: "The trade war between China and the US remain front and centre of the collective market mind-set this morning, with the tit-for-tat action ramping up in the wake of announcements from both sides."

Against that backdrop, as of 1220 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 1.17% or 4.33 points at 364.74, alongside a 1.33% or 162.79 point drop on the German Dax to 11,839.54, while the FTSE Mibtel was off by 1.15% or 257.93 point fall to 22,251.25.

In parallel, futures on the S&P 500 were pointing towards a 39.75 point slide for the benchmark US equity gauge to 2,573.50, with American stocks in effect set to relinquish what on Tuesday had seemed a promising bounce.

Overnight, Beijing said it would slap 25% tariffs on 106 US products worth $50bn, including soybeans, automobiles, chemicals and airplanes.

That followed the release by the US Trade Representative the day before of Washington's own list of $50bn-worth of Chinese made goods it would impose levies on, including electronics and aircraft.

The reaction in financial markets was swift, with stock in US jet-maker Boeing sliding 6% and soybean futures erasing 5%.

In an initial reaction to Beijing's move, economists at Capital Economics said: "It is still uncertain how this will play out. Chinas response could embolden Trump to push for broader US tariffs, escalating trade tensions further. Equally likely, however, is that there will be some compromise that allows both sides to row back, or at the very least, water down the proposed tariffs."

Back in Europe, Eurostat reported that 'core' euro area consumer prices were unchanged in March, with the year-on-year rate running at 1.0% (consensus: 1.1%).

In a separate report, investors learned that unemployment in the single currency bloc retreated from 8.6% in January to 8.5% in February, as expected.

Meanwhile, in the corporate space, Airbus was in focus after investor adviser PIRC reportedly voted against choosing ex-Deutsche Telekom chief Rene Obermann to the board of Airbus, because of his possible links to the German state.FTSE 250 waste-to-product company Renewi said on Wednesday that its results for the year to the end of March 2018 are expected to be in line with the board's expectations in terms of underlying trading and cash.

In a brief update ahead of the full-year results next month, the company said trading in the final weeks of the year continued to be in line with its expectations, along with its merger synergy and integration plans.

Last month, the group said it would take a 73m hit from impairments and provisions against expected losses from onerous municipal contracts, but that there would be no material impact on the group's cash flow or banking covenants.

Renewi said at the time that it would exit a loss-making PFI operating contract at Dumfries & Galloway and the facility at Westcott Park, which management said would simplify and de-risk the UK municipal portfolio, but result in 9m and 16m of extra costs respectively.

Onerous contract provisions were increased 27m in respect of the Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham PFI operating contract and another 27m for the Wakefield PFI contracts. Management said this reflected prudent recognition of expected future losses over the remaining lives of the contracts.

At 0812 BST, the shares were up 0.1% to 77.10p.WPP said it had commissioned an independent investigation into an allegation of personal misconduct against chief executive Martin Sorrell.

The company said: "The board of WPP has appointed independent counsel to conduct an investigation in response to an allegation of personal misconduct against Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive officer of WPP. The investigation is ongoing. The allegations do not involve amounts which are material to WPP.

WPPs brief statement follows a Wall Street Journal report that the board is examining whether Sorrell misused company assets. The investigation also covers allegations of improper personal behaviour by Sorrell, the Journal reported.

Sorrell has run WPP since 1986 when he took control of Wire & Plastic Products, a maker of wire baskets, and used it as a vehicle to snap up advertising companies round the world. WPP is now the worlds biggest advertising company and Sorrell is one of the best-connected people in the business world.

Sorrell has regularly been the top-paid FTSE 100 boss, leading to complaints that the board allows him to dominate the company. But after many years of outperforming the market, life has got tougher for WPP. The company issued a string of sales warnings last year and 2017 was its worst year for performance since the global recession.

Sorrell said short-sighted budget cuts at big consumer goods clients were more to blame than the rise of digital giants that have cut out traditional ad agencies. But WPPs shares have fallen by more than a third in the past year, putting pressure on Sorrell and the board.

Sorrell is trying to revive business by speeding up efforts to integrate WPPs sprawling business so share expertise and offer clients more services. Some investors have said WPP, built up through hundreds of acquisitions, is too complex and have questioned whether a successor to Sorrell, 73, could make sense of his empire.The Trump administration has raised the stakes in a growing trade showdown with China by placing 25% tariffs on some 1,300 industrial technology, transport and medical products to try to force changes in Beijings intellectual property practices. The US announcement targets about $50bn of estimated 2018 imports and is aimed at hampering Chinas efforts to upgrade its manufacturing base. The goods include electronics, aircraft parts, medicine and machinery. - Guardian

The influential Commons Brexit committee has urged the government to consider negotiating continued membership of the European Economic Area (EEA) or joining the European Free Trade Association (Efta) after the UK leaves the European Union. The Brexit secretary, David Davis, has previously ruled out both options, calling them the worst of all outcomes. - Guardian

Shop prices are falling at the fastest pace in more than a year as retailers battle for a bigger slice of shrinking household incomes. Deflation in the shops accelerated to 1 per cent in March compared with last year, according to a monthly release by the British Retail Consortium and Nielsen. In February prices fell at annual rate of 0.8 per cent. - The Times

Trade deals with China should be a priority target for Britain as it leaves the European Union because it can take advantage of the growing demand for drugs and medical equipment in the worlds second largest economy, the UKs new trade commissioner for the country has argued. Richard Burn aims to persuade China to reform its highly regulated markets, such as pharmaceuticals, to make it easier for British exporters to sell products there. - The Times

A woman opened fire at YouTubes headquarters in California overnight, injuring at least three people before apparently killing herself. About 200 staff at the video-sharing site, which is owned by Alphabet's Google, fled the building after hearing gunshots at lunchtime. Three victims were taken to local hospitals, two women aged 32 and 27 and a 36-year-old man who was in a critical condition last night. - The Times

Sports Direct, Savills and Foxtons are among the hundreds of British businesses yet to disclose their gender pay gap figures despite the government deadline being midnight on Tuesday. All UK companies with more than 250 staff have to publish their gender pay gap figures by April 4 under new laws, with around 9,000 businesses estimated to be eligible to do so. But hundreds of names were still missing from the register by Tuesday evening. - Telegraph

The UK equality watchdog must be more aggressive to enforce changes that would reduce the size of the gender pay gap, Harriet Harman has said. The Labour MP  a key architect of the Equality Act 2010, which requies businesses with 250 or more employees to reveal the differences in what they pay men and women  said that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)should set up a series of inquiries and force change. - Guardian

EDF has threatened to abandon work on a proposed nuclear plant in Suffolk unless it receives assurances from the government this year that a viable funding model exists. Simone Rossi, EDF Energys UK chief executive, said that rapid progress was needed on the development of the sister project to its 19.6 billion Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset because promised cost savings would not materialise if there was a significant delay between work on the two. - The Times

The RAC could be forced to offer refunds to up to 1 million breakdown recovery customers after its policy renewal letters failed to prominently display the previous years premium. Under transparency regulations introduced a year ago by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), companies have to clearly show the amount the customer paid the previous year alongside the renewal price. - Guardian

Spotify's value shot up dramatically in its New York listing on Tuesday, pushing the music streaming giants market capitalisation as high as $30bn (21bn) and making its flotation the third-biggest for a technology company on record. The Swedish company defied some predictions of a tricky first day on the markets to open trading at $165.90, well above the $132 reference price that had been set the night before, although shares later lost some ground to close at around $149. - Telegraph

Facebook has removed 135 accounts which it believes are linked to the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA), an organisation accused of spreading divisive messages across the internet, supporting the Russian government and attempting to weaken its rivals. The social media giant said the IRA - among those charged by a US grand jury with conspiracy to defraud the United States - has no place on Facebook after abusing the service. - Guardian

Young's Seafood is planning to close its Pinney's site in Annan, in the south of Scotland, putting 450 roles at risk, saying it is "no longer financially sustainable" to keep the factory open. Under the proposals, the facility, which had been largely dedicated to producing seafood for Marks & Spencer, would close before the end of 2018. - GuardianThe Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (Daca) was set to expire on Monday, but due to various federal judges, permits will continue to be renewed. With the original deadline arriving, Donald Trump decided to lash out and attack the Democratic Party.

Its March 5th and the Democrats are nowhere to be found on DACA. Gave them 6 months, they just dont care. Where are they? We are ready to make a deal!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2018

Trump on DACA

The DACA program has become one of the most talked about parts of the entire immigration debate.

The program allows undocumented immigrants brought into the United States illegally when they were children to stay in the country as long as they fit the criteria. Democrats have been strong supporters of DACA, with many Republicans pushing back, calling for instant deportation. For Donald Trump, he's tried to keep a hard line on immigration to appeal to his base, while also pushing a narrative that the White House believes could sell to the general public in an attempt to take heat off himself and his entire team.

DACA permit deadline arrives with diminished sense of urgency https://t.co/n3tRee5K6n pic.twitter.com/mp7p3lUd3Z  CBS News (@CBSNews) March 5, 2018

While the March 5 deadline is now a non-starter due to the orders by multiple federal judges forcing the Department of Homeland Security to continue renewing DACA permits, Donald Trump still took time to tweet out his frustration and accuse the Democrats of not caring about the issue.

"Its March 5th and the Democrats are nowhere to be found on DACA," Trump tweet. "Gave them 6 months, they just dont care," he added, before rhetorically asking, "Where are they? We are ready to make a deal!" Within minutes of his tweet, the president came under fire from critics.

DACA backlash

After Donald Trump put the blame on the Democratic Party for not getting a long-term deal done on DACA, those who continue to oppose the president wasted no time in sounding off.

"Like the deal you made with Stormy Daniels?" actor Tommy Campbell wrote.

They went to find your Russian Sanctions, million dollar donation check, and those tax returns you cant find!  Ll Hall (@LlHall10) March 5, 2018

Deal was on the table. You rejected it.  Nicholas Bauer, PhD  (@BioTurboNick) March 5, 2018

Like the deal you made with Stormy Daniels?  Tommy Campbell (@MrTommyCampbell) March 5, 2018

"Deal was on the table.

You rejected it," one Twitter user pointed out. "They went to find your Russian Sanctions, million dollar donation check, and those tax returns you cant find," a follow-up tweet added. "They made one ages ago, which you shot down. This is all after you shot down the original deal instead of just renewing it," yet another tweet stated.

You do realize that literally nobody believes you  Jeremy D (@DlastwordJeremy) March 5, 2018

They made one ages ago, which you shot down. This is all after you shot down the original deal instead of just renewing it.  Travel Botterman (@TravBot) March 5, 2018

"You do realize that literally nobody believes you," a follow-up tweet stated.

"DUDE. YOU KILLED DACA IN THE FIRST PLACE!! Stop trying to blame it on Democrats," a social media user noted. The negative reaction continued as the backlash to Donald Trump and the current administration showed no signs of coming to an end.A family of four from England have been killed in a collision with a pick-up truck in the sunshine state of Florida.

The Stephenson family, from Tower Road, Bristol, were returning from a trip to the Kennedy Space Center when their rented white Mitsubishi fatally collided with a Ford F-250 pick-up, with the passenger side of the rental car taking the brunt of the collision.

Violent collision

The driver, Adam Stephenson, 30, along with his 29-year-old wife, Maryanne Stephenson, 66-year-old Brian Stephenson, and 56-year-old Sheralyn Stephenson died at the scene according to Deputy Chief Todd Hutchinson of the Titusville police, who also said that close family members had been informed.

He described the loss as "tragic."

Brother informed

Deputy Chief Hutchinson also said that one family member, Adam Stephenson's brother, decided to skip the trip to the Space Center to see the launch of Elon Musk's Space X rocket, the Falcon 9 embarking on a second mission to the International Space Station and was staying at their rented house in the town of Davenport, roughly 70 miles from Orlando.

The launch, at 4.30 pm local time, was the first of three planned for this month by Musk's company.

Eyewitnesses said that the car carrying the family turned left into the path of the pick-up truck. Local man, James Walsh, 28 from Port St. John said: "there was nothing he could do to avoid the crash." He is being treated for minor injuries at a local hospital, police sources said.

Unfamiliar with area

Police also said that one of the controlling factors was the unfamiliarity that the Stephenson's had with the area. At the point of the impact, the police said the GPS showed that the family was re-routed to avoid heavy traffic as a result of another accident on the SR 407. "It instructed them to do a U-turn at that location, which was an intersection," said Hutchinson.

"They were in the process of making that U-turn at the time of the collision." He also said: "Our emergency service personnel were on the scene within a few minutes."

A preliminary investigation showed that the rented vehicle drove into the path of the oncoming pick-up truck at the junction of Sisson Road, on the SR 405.

Emergency services

The car was so badly crushed, emergency services used a hydraulic tool to remove the victim's bodies from the wreckage.

In a statement, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of four British people who have died in Florida. Our thoughts are with them at this deeply difficult time."On the 50Th Anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, millions across the United States honored one of the greatest leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. After Donald Trump tweeted out his thoughts, some were not impressed.

Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. Earlier this year I spoke about Dr. Kings legacy of justice and peace, and his impact on uniting Americans. #MLK50 Proclamation: https://t.co/XXtPO0VX5A pic.twitter.com/SH0esMSyMT  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018

Trump on MLK

It was on March 29, 1968 that Martin Luther King made his way to Memphis, Tennessee to support African-American union workers that had been on strike for the previous two weeks.

Days later on April 3, King gave his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech before making his way back to his room. Less than 24 hours later at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, James Earl Ray assassinated King with a gun shot. The news sent shock-waves throughout the United States, leading to a famous speech announcing the news by Robert F. Kennedy, who was ironically assassinated just months later while running for president. Since then, King's legacy lives on and has been embraced and honored by the country each year.

In recognition of the anniversary of Martin Luther King's death, Donald Trump tweeted out a message, while also attaching a video clip of himself elaborating. "Today we honor Dr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his assassination,"Trump tweeted. "Earlier this year I spoke about Dr. Kings legacy of justice and peace, and his impact on uniting Americans," he added. "On this cherish day, we honor the memory of Rev. King," Trump said in the video. "I ask every citizen in remembering this great American hero...God Bless the memory of Rev.

King and God bless the United States," he concluded.

MLK backlash

In response to Donald Trump's tweet about Martin Luther King, many Americans weren't impressed. "Dr. King would be ashamed that America elected a racist demagogue like Donald Trump," one tweet read.

Dr King would have seen what an impoverished man you are and pitied you. More than you deserve.  Zaza Chilvers (@ZazaChilvers) April 4, 2018

Youre so fake ! Hypocrite. You can honestly believe your words ?! Why even bother mentioning him when you mean none of it. Youre dividing Americans.  H. (@hlw_2604) April 4, 2018

Hell be turning in his grave at this tweet.  Pumpedup Trump (@PumpedupTrump) April 4, 2018

"You do a disservice to MLKs legacy," a Twitter user wrote.

"Uniting Americans. Something you have made no effort to do," an additional tweet added. "Hell be turning in his grave at this tweet," a tweet noted.

and what he accomplished you would are trying to undo ..... 'so many good people on both sides' one of your most repulsive comments ever.... it will never be forgotten.  MaryDerrickArt (@maryderrickart) April 4, 2018

Oh please, you wouldve called the guy who shot him a very fine person. Youve been racist your whole life.  Sarah Wood (@sarahwoodwriter) April 4, 2018

Way to flip this around to be about you.  Charlie Tague (@charlie_tague) April 4, 2018

"Dr King would have seen what an impoverished man you are and pitied you. More than you deserve," a social media user wrote.

"Oh please, you wouldve called the guy who shot him a 'very fine person.' Youve been racist your whole life," a tweet stated. "And what he accomplished you would are trying to undo .....'so many good people on both sides' one of your most repulsive comments ever.... it will never be forgotten," a follow-up tweet read.According to CNN, over the holiday weekend, Trump hosted a small gathering at his Florida home with some of his FOX News friends. These friends gave the President feedback, advised him and expressed their dismay at his recent decisions and policies. His friends also informed him that his base thinks he is weakening on immigration reform. The wall was also a topic of conversation, or rather the lack of it.

This comes after Ann Coulter a high profile author, columnist and political commentator who has been one of Trumps major supporters recently went on record stating that she is now a former supporter, and offered her belief that Trump may likely be impeached.

On Tuesday (Apr. 3) Coulter gave an interview on KPEL 96.5FM, expressing her thoughts of the POTUS, noting she thinks he hasn't done a good job at keeping his promises, especially regarding the wall.

Fight or flight

It was no surprise that Easter weekend was filled with blistering presidential tweets--tweets unleashed on the world-wide-web in response to hearing the sobering critiques about his job performance. Trumps major social media criticisms were about Amazon and the postal service, immigration, and the wall. It appears that Trump's tirade was an ode to his base, and perhaps, a way to regain favor and realign allegiances.

While the POTUS was busy tapping away at his keyboard, a group of Central American refugees was en route through Mexico heading toward the southern American border.

They too were being criticized online by the President and accused of trying to gain entry to the US for the purpose of getting in on DACA, the Dreamers' Act. This is simply not true, nor is there any law that supports this.

To be clear, the refugee journey is not something new. Central American refugees travel to the US yearly seeking asylum from the conflict in their homeland.

However, this is not the messaging currently being shared across Trump supported news stations. Instead, the message is cloaked in bellicosity and fear.

Army or asylum seekers?

On Monday (Apr. 2) FOX News picked up the story and told viewers that a migrant army was headed for the US and showed footage of a stream of people walking, covered in dust.

Some were shoeless, and others shrouded in tattered clothing, but all were linked by a cause under Mexico's sun.

The FOX anchors questioned if America would do anything once the 1,000 refugees reached the border, implying that the US has weak border laws. They expressed concern that the US would be under siege by immigrants and all agreed the refugees should be arrested.

Other far-right media outlets likened the immigration move as a flat-out invasion. All of their perceptions may be owed in part to the Presidents holiday Twitter statements and already unfavorable opinions about Hispanics and Latinos.

Slamming the border's doors

In light of the refugee travel and Trumps job performance discussions, Trump told the media on Tuesday (Apr.

3) that he wants to do things militarily to guard the border until the wall is built.

In this case, it would be an unspecified number of troops from the US National Guard. This news came after the Presidents National Security meeting with top White House officials.

Trump will not be the first POTUS to deploy National Guards to assist border patrol agents. Both former Presidents G.W. Bush and Obama deployed personnel to relieve the pressure of clerical duties and operations at the Southern Border.

However, in Trump's case, this doesn't seem to be the reason. There is no need for urgent deployment of troops especially considering that illegal immigration is down, and there are no immediate threats from the region.

So since America is not being invaded or over-run by immigrants now, because most of us are here already, Trump may have to justify spending more money on this kind of border protection to his base--especially since Mexico still hasn't paid one single peso toward the wall.As the United States continues to stoke tensions with a number of adversarial countries, some of those countries are now banding together to strengthen their resolve. In a rare visit to Russia, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Feng pledged the nation's support for Russia, should the country in fact go to war with the United States. Wei Feng made it very clear during his visit that he was there on the strict authority of President Xi Jinping. This small but crucial detail highlights the growing divide between the United States and china. The two nations are currently going tit-for-tat in what appears to be a new trade war.

If things continue on this path, an actual war might be what follows.

Nations on the rise

At this time, the United States enjoys a comfortable margin as the world's number one military superpower. China and Russia are regarded as second and third respectively, but with a large gap to catch the U.S.

Their cooperation has closed that gap, though, and the U.S. has taken notice. Before their falling out in the 1960's the Russian-Chinese alliance was the strongest communist alliance in the world. Both nations still to a degree run on communism and their reunification may have only been a matter of time.

China has asserted its dominance in the South China Sea, which accounts for a large percentage of international shipping routes.

Russia, on the other hand, has declared victory in their battle against ISIS in Syria. They have been increasingly engaging in conflicts abroad, much like the United States does in its battle against global terrorism.

Should the U.S. worry?

Right now, the pledging of support from China to Russia is nothing more than platitudes.

Two nations who are battling with the United States for global superiority in a number of areas should naturally want to combine their forces to better their chances of success.

However, if an actual war with Russia breaks out, it is still very uncertain how China would respond. Do they feel that Russia would jump to their aide if the situation is reversed?

Lingering doubts and understandable paranoia may kill any detente that the two nations have agreed to.

Regardless, the United States cannot ignore that the two major world powers that compete with it have pledged their support for one another. The pieces are falling into place for another World War as countries continue to take sides in global disputes.As known, YouTube attacker Nasim Najafi Aghdam was a social media star, and it happens that she was admired and ridiculed in Iran. She was known as Green Nasim on YouTube and Instagram and had a huge following. Reports by the New York Times provided all of the information used in this article.

Green Nasim posted videos in three languages, Persian, Turkish, and English, which proved to be pretty effective in reaching out to a nice large audience. In her videos, she claimed she was from a small town in Iran called Urmia, near Turkey. She also claimed to be of a minority faith in Iran called Bahai.

The social media star was quite popular in the way that she fit the stereotype in a Muslim nation like Iran. Perhaps that was her schtick. While producing wild and quite bizarre videos on YouTube and Instagram, she was able to gain a big audience due to her wacky videos.

In one video, she responded that she was not mentally ill. Green Nasim had released this specific video to answer many of her followers questions. Most of the question were directed to her, asking if she truly was mentally ill. In the end, the social media star was ridiculed in Iran while having a lot of followers.

Green Nasims crime

The social media star attacked a YouTube office in San Bruno with a Smith & Wesson nine-millimeter, semiautomatic handgun on Tuesday afternoon (April 3).

Green Nasim decided to park her car next to the office building and entered through the parking garage.

The first area in which Nasim walked into, once inside the office building, was the lunch area of the building. She wounded three people and decided to turn the gun on herself before being confronted by the authorities.

The motive behind the attack is not clear.

However, authorities believe that Nasim was upset at YouTubes policies and practices. It was also reported that the San Bruno office was beginning to develop a better security protocol to deal with cases like the one it had experienced with Nasim.

Nasims problem with YouTube

In recent weeks before the attack, Aghdam had told her family that she was angry with YouTube because the site was cutting her pay and censoring her videos.

The social media star known as Green Nasim had also posted a video on YouTube criticising the site for not allowing one of her workout videos to be viewed.

Aghdam also claimed that Google altered her site so it would not come up in searches. She claimed that her link would come up with a message that an error occurred. She claims that her site NasimeSabz.com was altered by Google with an error message, so people would be discouraged from visiting.

Bizarre site

Green Nasim had some pretty weird videos on YouTube and had some graphic material on her website. It is reported that it the site had graphic pics of slaughtered animals in protest not wearing fur jackets.

In conclusion, the bizarre manners of her expressions through social media caught the eye of many people. However, it was seen as silly, and the social media star Green Nasim was ridiculed a lot because of it.Blac Chyna is once again in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The former stripper-turned-model, host, and reality TV star spent Easter Sunday at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California with her children, five-year-old King and one-year-old Dream when she had an altercation with a lady who touched Dream. The lady, who took to Twitter to share her side of the story, claimed that she only approached Dream to praise her for being a beautiful baby, but when Chyna found out that some stranger touched her baby, the reality TV star and Rob Kardashian's ex-girlfriend got upset and attempted to hurl a plastic trolley at her.

Not one to back down, she fought back. Later that day, Chyna took to Instagram Stories to share that "Being famous is hard enough dealing with scrutiny but when someone feels comfortable to come and touch your child its a whole other story."

Chyna loses her stroller deal

Celebrities are often approached by brands to help promote their products and Blac Chyna isn't an exception. According to New York Daily News, Chyna had a deal with stroller company Momiie, which did not push through thanks to the altercation that occurred on Sunday at Six Flags. The collaboration will now not push through. TMZ reported that according to Momiie, "(We) cannot excuse that sort of reaction and behavior particularly in a family resort around children." Chyna's relationship with Momiie was fairly new, as she only came on board as a brand ambassador in February.

It seems, however, that the relationship didn't end well, just like the one with ex-boyfriend and baby daddy, Rob Kardashian, who is said to be "worried" about his daughter, Dream.

Rob Kardashian upset about the altercation

Just as any parent would, Rob Kardashian is reportedly "very angry" about the altercation that occurred at Six Flags, where his ex-fiancee Blac Chyna tried to hurt a woman, PEOPLE reported.

While neither Dream or King were near Chyna when she attempted to physically hurt another woman, it's still worrisome to see a mother act that violently toward other people. A source told PEOPLE that Kardashian is "definitely worried about Dream when he's not with her. He knows who Chyna is and he doesnt like her behavior around Dream."

'Not violent'

Blac Chyna, who just lost a deal with a stroller company, defended herself in an Instagram Story saying that, "I do not condone violence nor am I a violent person" but sources say Rob Kardashian "knows who Chyna is" and dislikes her rather violent behavior when she's around their child. Chyna was also once accused by Kardashian of physical assault back in 2017.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died 50 years ago on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was killed with one fatal shot by James Earl Ray. Five decades later, people still remember and talk about it as if the assassination happened just yesterday. A report by the New York Times was used for most of the information presented in this article.

Television specials

Radio and televisions stations around the country will air specials the entire day, recounting the life and legacy of Dr. King. On Wednesday, April 4, the actual day of the anniversary of his death, Paramount Network will air, "I Am MLK Jr.

" That particular broadcast will highlight King's activism during his Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington.

Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. One of his final campaigns before he died was about ensuring #universalbasicincome in order to eliminate the link between racism and economic inequality. pic.twitter.com/TqHdGJKWK7  Timeline (@Timeline_Now) April 3, 2018

There will be a combination of an older civil rights leader like Jesse Jackson, along with modern-day celebrities such as Nick Cannon and Van Jones. An interview with Shaun King, a key figure in Black Lives Matter, will be highlighted and will show how Dr. King's legacy is still an inspiration and example of activism today.

Documentaries

Some documentaries marking the 50th anniversary of King's Assassination have already been aired ahead of the actual date. Not all documentaries start with the day King was killed, but they cover events leading up to his death.

Not only that, but the primetime news coverage featured some of the people who supported Dr.

King and were with him on many occasions. Many of those civil rights activists are still alive today. A notable person of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee is Congressman John Lewis. He has not been silent all these years about his relationship with King and how it was during his final years.

Many young people were not born during King's era and only know about him and what he stood for through television coverage, where his memory has been kept alive.

The newer generation has learned about a man whose legacy lives on through black and white footage.

NBC aired "Hope & Fury: MLK, the Movement and the Media" last month and again on MSNBC on Easter Sunday, April 1. The two-hour documentary was hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt. The show was centered around the civil rights activist and how he was covered in the news.

How Martin Luther King Jr.'s children are carrying on his legacy 50 years after his death https://t.co/pgtmUWTCm3  TIME (@TIME) April 3, 2018

HBO aired "King in the Wilderness" on April 2. That documentary presented news accounts from the year of King's death in 1968 up to 2014. Filmmakers focused mostly on his "I Have a Dream" speech that many people have heard countless times over the last 50 years.

Everyone is bound to see or hear something on television about the death of Dr. King that happened 50 years ago as he is still remembered today.A few days ago, a rumor surfaced that claimed Meryl Streep was going to replace Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa in the next "Star Wars" movie. While this is definitely just a baseless rumor that had the entire fandom riled up, I'll admit that the idea got me thinking.

Leia's fate is currently unknown

No one knows yet what Lucasfilm and JJ Abrams have planned for General Leia in the next film. The much-beloved character was played by legendary Carrie Fisher until her untimely passing in December 2016. Since "Episode IX" was supposed to bring an end to her story arc, many fans have wondered about what will happen next.

Leia Organa deserves a happy ending more than any other 'Star Wars' character

There's been a lot of speculation surrounding the fate of everyone's favorite space princess, but there are no definitive answers yet. There have also been many thoughts on how to finish Leia's character arc, and the most popular solution brought forward by fans is an off-screen death that is mentioned in "Episode IX's" opening crawl. I personally hate that idea because I think simply killing Leia off would be a huge mistake. It'll be unsatisfying end to her decades-long journey, and an insult to everything Leia endured.

The "Sequel Trilogy" has already been incredibly tragic for the characters from the original movies.

Han Solo was killed by his own son, and Luke Skywalker sacrificed himself to help the Resistance escape from The First Order. There's been plenty of unhappiness and death in what is actually a fairytale aimed at children, and it seems like Leia was originally going to survive the trilogy. I still want her to, even if Carrie can't be there to make it happen.

Leia has been fighting her entire life. She watched her entire planet get blown up, she was tortured by her biological father, she lost her son and husband one after the other, and she saw the rise of a new fascist regime determined to bring an entire galaxy to heel. In "The Last Jedi", Leia was close to reaching her breaking point, but a visit from Luke reminded her that there's always hope.

Unlike Han and Luke, who both ran away due to the guilt of their own failings, Leia stayed and kept on fighting. She endured, and she always hoped that all her fighting would eventually pay off. I want to see her faith rewarded, and since Carrie Fisher can't give Leia the happy ending she deserves, I'm alright with it being someone else.

No one will replace Carrie Fisher

No one will ever be able to replace Carrie Fisher. No one will ever truly be Leia except for Carrie Fisher herself, but if someone else needs to temporarily step up and see to it that at least one of the original characters gets a happy ending, then I will definitely support any kind recasting decision on Lucasfilm's part.

I'm sure whatever Lucasfilm and Abrams have planned will be what's best for the character, and I know whatever they decide will be met with backlash. "Star Wars" fans are a hard bunch to please, and they all have their own ideas for what's best for the saga. In the end, all we can do is believe Abrams has Leia's best interests at heart.M&A

Orolia makes deal to bolster military offerings

Orolia, a company focused on the high-tech area of resilient positioning, navigation and timing, has acquired another firm to address vulnerabilities in global navigation and search and rescue.

Known by the acronym PNT, the technology is a critical to the military, particularly for accurate communications, situational awareness and search and rescue missions. The technology is used to locate and track equipment around the globe.

Terms of the deal to acquire Talen-X were not disclosed. It still needs to clear approvals by the Defense Security Service and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Orolia is headquartered in France with a U.S. headquarters in Lanham, Maryland. Talen-X is based in Dayton, Ohio.

Military personnel know that accurate and trusted time and position information is a critical enabler for almost all warfighting functions and systems said Orolia CEO Jean-Yves Courtois in a release.

The acquisition of Talen-X adds more security offerings to Orolia's product portfolio.

Our culture of innovation, together with our demonstrated testing capabilities, will complement Orolias global technology expertise and significantly enhance the reliability, performance and safety of military operations, said Tim Erbes, CTO of Talen-X.Google's culture clashes with Project Maven work

A lot has been made about the cultural differences between the government market and the private sector but generally it manifests itself in terms of business models, sales cycles and rules and regulations.

But the New York Times is reporting on a mutiny going on at Google where thousands of employees are asking the companys CEO to pull out of a Defense Department initiative known as Project Maven.

Project Maven is about developing and deploying artificial intelligence-based algorithms against some of DODs toughest challenges. And few companies are as good at algorithms as Google.

DOD wants to integrate bid data, artificial intelligence and machine learning into more programs. The Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental, the DOD Strategic Capabilities Office and the Army Research Lab sponsored an industry day in October that drew over 100 companies. DOD wants the private sector, academia and the national labs to participate in the effort.

The Google employees are objecting to the company working on a project that will improve the effectiveness of warfare such as improving the targeting of drone strikes, according to the Times.

The letter, which the Times posted in whole, asks that CEO Sundar Pichai, cancel the companys involvement in Project Maven.

We believe that Google should not be in the business of war, the letter states in its opening.

Company leaders explained that the portion of work Google is involved in is not used to operate drones or launch weapons, but according to the letter that did little to appease those who are objecting.

Google will join the ranks of companies like Palantir, Raytheon, and General Dynamics, the letter states. The argument that other firms, like Microsoft and Amazon, are also participating doesnt make this any less risky for Google. Googles unique history, its motto Dont Be Evil, and its direct reach into the lives of billions of users set it apart.

They urge Pichai to create a policy that Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology.

In the Times article, Google officials say that the letter and most of the signatures were collected before the company could brief employees about the project.

In a statement released Tuesday, the company emphasized that its involvement is for non-offensive. Google is a subcontractor to ECS Federal.

Its doubtful that Google will pull out of the project but it makes me think this is some growing pain for the Silicon Valley portion of the tech industry.

Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence can increase the lethality of weapons but they also can save lives on the battlefield.

One of the arguments in the Google employee letter is that the companys brand will be damaged and it will be hard to recruit the kind of talent they want.

Those are legitimate points because Im sure most of the people who have gone to work for Google never saw themselves joining the defense industry.

The idealism at Google has fueled much of its success. Can they keep that idealism and be a defense contractor at the same time?

There was a time when many in the commercial tech world ignored the federal government and the defense industry but as the technology they have evangelized in the commercial world moves full steam into the government, theres bound to be more of these internal clashes.Opioid Crisis Background

Munzing pointed out that physicians who trained many years ago, himself included, once practiced under a very different set of prescribing rules.

"We were told to get the pain score down to zero, that people wouldn't get addicted, to just up the dosage," said Munzing. Now physicians know that was wrong, he added.

Munzing flashed slides of a U.S. map in in which states were color-coded by the number of opioid prescriptions issued per 100 people and graphs showing the upward trend of U.S. deaths from 2002 to 2015.

He said current statistics show that some 91 people die each day from opioid drug overdose, including deaths from illicit opioids; of those, about 50 die every day from prescription opioid pain reliever overdose.

"If a 747 crashed every week, and every person (on it) died every week, how many weeks would it take for them to say the 747 can't fly? Probably week number two," said Munzing.

Predicting Patient Misuse

There are predictors that indicate which patients are prone to misuse prescription opioids, and when Munzing polled his audience, 60 percent of attendees knew that the list does not include gender, race, literacy level, disability or socioeconomic status.

Munzing then shared a list of characteristics that do predict which individuals are more likely to get into trouble with opioids. That list included a patient/family history of drug or alcohol abuse, previous drug-related criminal conviction, and psychiatric disorders.

"That's why it's vitally important when you're doing a history of someone for whom you're considering prescribing a controlled substance that you ask about mental health history and drug and alcohol history," said Munzing. Ask about past and current issues, he added.

He went over the universal precautions for opioid prescribing, which are

evaluate the need;



assess the risk;



select the specific opioid treatment;



discuss with the patient, get a written agreement and informed consent;



monitor the patient closely; and



document thoroughly.

Munzing urged physicians to always look for nonpharmacologic alternatives and adjunctive treatments first and then nonopioid alternatives.

If opioids are chosen as a treatment, "start low and go slow with very limited prescription numbers," said Munzing. Lastly, trust, but verify as best you can, what your patient is telling you.

Munzing described a scenario where a patient receives an opioid prescription for an injury and takes that prescription for eight straight days. One year later, 13.5 percent of all patients who fit that description will be on an opioid.

"That is super scary. There is nothing I do as a family doctor that is potentially more dangerous to a patient as writing a script for an opiate," said Munzing.

Educating Patients

During his portion of the session, co-presenter Murray covered, among other topics, how to establish realistic patient goals before starting opioid treatment.

"Sit down with the patient and say, 'Our goal is to help you function better,'" Murray said. "If we could change from 'pain meds' to 'function meds,' that would be a lot nicer nomenclature."

Murray said he advises patients to take the lowest dose possible of an opioid medication, and he is very clear about the "why."

He tells patients, "I want you to be able to go out and exercise, move and increase your function." Murray also stressed the importance of monitoring patients who take prescription opioids to keep them safe.VStock RF/Getty Images

Too many eye doctors are not giving their patients a copy of their contact lens prescriptions. And that doesnt sit well with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has required contact lens prescribers to automatically give patients a written prescription for free since 2004.



Without a prescription, consumers are unable to shop around for the best deal on their lenses. The regulatory agency also requires eye care professionals to verify or provide a prescription to any contact lens seller upon request.

After numerous consumer complaints, the FTC has issued a proposed rule requiring doctors to get a signed acknowledgment from their patients that they had received their prescriptions.

People just dont know about the rules, and there are some bad actors playing a few games to keep customers captive, says Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for Consumer Action, a not-for-profit consumer rights organization. The 60 percent of contact lens consumers that Consumer Action surveyed didnt know they were entitled to a free copy of their prescription.

Consumers, eye doctors and companies that sell contact lenses have been arguing over the availability of prescriptions for more than a decade.

On one side are consumers who want to be able to comparison shop for their lenses, which they can do only if they have their prescription. Eye doctors, who are losing business to competing contact lens sellers, contend patients health may be jeopardized if they buy lenses from unscrupulous dealers. Online, warehouse and other contact lens sellers say consumers are unable to get lower-cost contact lenses because doctors arent verifying prescriptions or giving a copy to their patients.

Many eye doctors oppose the additional regulations. The American Optometric Association has long held that the FTCs Contact Lens Rule changes weaken the doctor-patient relationship, place burdensome requirements on Americas eye doctors and ultimately ignore online contact-lens retailers who are subverting the current laws, says association president Christopher J. Quinn.After just 10 days, the Germans marched us and 10,000 other POWs to another camp north of Munich because the Americans were getting close. It took us almost two weeks to get there, walking in groups of 200, sleeping under the stars. We were always hungry. The Germans didnt even have enough food for themselves. Once a day theyd bring in a big pot supposed to be soup, which was really nothing more than water. George and I did what we could: Once we cooked up dandelion greens. And instead of opening up two tins of Spam, we would open up one tin and share it to make our food last that much longer.

We were in the new prison for about two weeks when we started hearing the tanks rumbling. We knew it wouldnt be long. Then on April 29, 1945, General George S. Patton came through with his tanks, knocked down the fences and liberated us. Iles and I and everybody else were hollering and screaming, so happy, happy! The war was over for us!

Back home we were stationed together for a while, then eventually led our separate lives. But Ive always considered him a big brother. We couldnt have been closer.

Bettmann/Getty Images

The first handheld cellular phone call was made on April 3, 1973, by Motorola engineer Martin Cooper from Sixth Avenue in New York while walking between 53rd and 54th streets.

Cooper hoisted the 2 1/2-pound prototype to his ear and called a rival, Joel Engel of Bell Laboratories at AT&T, to declare that his Motorola team had devised a functional portable phone. There was silence at the other end of the line, Cooper recalled to Bloomberg in 2015. To this day, Joel doesnt remember that call, and Im not sure I blame him.

The clunky shoe phone, almost as big as a shoebox, allowed a user to talk for 35 minutes and required 10 hours to recharge, according to Wired magazine.

Motorola spent 10 years overcoming technical and regulatory hurdles, and began commercial service in 1983 using a slimmer 16-ounce model that cost between $3,500 and $4,000.

The early phones were too big and expensive to suit most consumers, but they set a precedent for todays sleek and lightweight models that have become standard equipment for just about everybody.Getty Images

Most retirees and those within 15 years of retirement agree that its crucial to invest conservatively to protect their nest eggs from stock market losses. But surprisingly, many actually do the opposite, a new poll indicates.

The survey, conducted by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual), included 804 preretirees with incomes of at least $40,000 and 801 current retirees with at least $100,000 in investable assets.

The poll found that 94 percent of preretirees and 92 percent of retirees agreed on the importance of avoiding too much investment risk close to retirement. Nevertheless, 59 percent of preretirees and 32 percent of retirees described their investment strategy as one of moderate or aggressive growth.

Thirty-two percent of preretirees and 49 percent of retirees said they were trying to strike a balance between riskier investments aimed at growth and preservation of their savings, while just 6 percent of preretirees and 18 percent of retirees were mostly or wholly focused on the more conservative preservation strategy. The remainder were unsure.

Seventy percent of preretirees and 65 percent of retirees were fine with at least some risk, if it meant the possibility of above-average returns.

Tina Wilson, head of Investment Solutions Innovation for MassMutual, sounded a note of caution. "Because many retirees rely on their investments for income and have more limited-time horizons to recoup investment losses, a significant market downturn could significantly reduce their income," she said.Water main break floods intersection near Simmons Middle School

Water is off at the intersection of 12th avenue southwest and south third street after an early morning water main break.JERUSALEM  In an abrupt and startling reversal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nixed his own deal Tuesday with the United Nations to resettle tens of thousands of African migrants in Israel and other Western nations, caving in to nationalist critics who have demonized the migrants for taking over poor neighborhoods in Tel Aviv.

The move leaves unresolved one of Israels most charged and divisive issues  what to do with the Africans who say they fled for their lives in search of sanctuary in the Jewish state.

The about-face also opened Netanyahu to scathing assaults on his leadership, raising doubts about his ability to make controversial decisions on bigger issues in the future, including how he would respond to a peace plan promised by President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu proudly announced the deal Monday in a nationally televised news conference, saying Israel had agreed to cancel a planned expulsion of tens of thousands of Africans that had been widely condemned both at home and among Jews around the world.

Under the deal, roughly half of the 35,000 migrants living in Israel would be resettled in the West with the rest absorbed in Israel. Netanyahu praised it as a good agreement that marked an important day for Israel.

But hours later, after heavy criticism among nationalists within his own ruling coalition, he said he was putting the plan on hold. After meeting angry residents of working-class neighborhoods in south Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Netanyahu said he was canceling it outright.

From time to time there are decisions that have to be reconsidered, he said. We will continue to act determinedly to exhaust all our options of removing the infiltrators.

A coalition of human rights organizations in Israel said the flip-flop proved the government could not be trusted to fulfil any moral, legal or international commitments.

Domestic critics said it raised broader questions about whether Netanyahu could carry out any proper decision-making process.

How will you, as prime minister, handle the Iranian threat? How will you deal with the cost of living? asked Avi Gabbay, leader of the opposition Labor Party. Lack of leadership, cowardice, escape from responsibility, incitement, empty slogans, inability to make decisions and zero ability to implement them  this is what we have seen over the past few hours from he who pretends to deal with the real threats and problems of Israel.

The aborted U.N. deal had looked to avoid the specter of forced deportations to undisclosed African destinations, widely believed to be Rwanda and Uganda, with which Israel said it had reached a secret agreement. Israel had planned to begin the mass deportations on Sunday.

The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants advocacy group said Netanyahus initial announcement revealed there was no such agreement. Rather than resolving the migrants status, it said they were once again in limbo while the state had no legitimate recourse to deport any of them.

Of course we will continue our struggle and consider all our legal options until every last asylum-seeker gets the status they deserve, said Dror Sadot, a spokeswoman for the group.

Rwandas minister of state for foreign affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, and Ugandan Foreign Affairs Minister Okello Oryem also said no deal had ever been signed with Israel.

While nationalist activists celebrated Netanyahus reversal, dozens of migrants and their Israeli supporters protested in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Some stripped to the waist, draped themselves with chains and taped their mouths shut at a protest in Tel Aviv. Others waved signs reading, Human lives are not to play with. Yes to the deal.

Teklit Michael, a 29-year-old asylum-seeker from Eritrea, said that while he had unanswered questions about the U.N. draft he was at least encouraged about the efforts to address his needs. Now, he said, he was confused and dispirited.

Not only do we have no security, we also have no one to believe, he said. People have no hope and no trust in the state of Israel.

In Geneva, the U.N. Refugee Agency expressed disappointment with Netanyahus decision and urged him to reconsider. It noted that the deal had been reached after lengthy negotiations, and reflected a shared effort to find a solution that would benefit all parties.

UNHCR continues to believe that a win-win agreement that would both benefit Israel and people needing asylum is in everyones best interest, it said in a statement.

Nearly all the migrants hail from war-torn Sudan and dictatorial Eritrea. The migrants say they are asylum-seekers fleeing danger and persecution, while Israeli leaders have dismissed them as mere job seekers.

The Africans started arriving in 2005, after neighboring Egypt violently quashed a refugee demonstration and word spread of safety and job opportunities in Israel.

Tens of thousands crossed the porous desert border before Israel completed a barrier in 2012 that stopped the influx. But Israel has struggled with what to do with those already in the country, alternating between plans to jail and deport them and allowing them to work in menial jobs.

Thousands have concentrated in poor neighborhoods in south Tel Aviv, an area that has become known as Little Africa. Their presence has sparked tensions with working-class Jewish residents, who have complained of rising crime and pressed the government to take action.

On the other hand, a wide coalition of critics at home and in the Jewish American community had called the governments deportation plans unethical and a stain on Israels image as a refuge for Jewish migrants.

Groups of Israeli doctors, academics, Holocaust survivors, rabbis, poets and pilots had all appealed to halt the plan. Several mass protests against it have taken place in recent months.

As in other recent moves, Netanyahu appears to have been taking his cues from his education minister, Naftali Bennett, leader of the nationalist Jewish Home party.

Bennett and other nationalist allies who dominate Netanyahus coalition had harshly criticized the deal because it would allow thousands of Africans to remain in Israel, even though it also called for them to be dispersed throughout the country and for investments to be made in rehabilitating Tel Avivs impoverished southern neighborhoods.

Ironically, their victory raised the possibility of leaving the migrants in Israel for even longer while their status is resolved.

Nduhungirehe, Rwandas foreign affairs minister, said that while no deal was ever signed with Israel, his country has a general open policy toward the migrants, as long as they come without any form of constraint.

But Oryem, Ugandas foreign affairs minister, said his country was not an option.

If any migrants deported from Israel arrive in Uganda, we will insist that the airlines return them to the country where they came from.

We do not have a contract, any understanding, formal or informal, with Israel for them to dump their refugees here, he said.

____

Associated Press writers Ignatius Ssuuna in Kigali, Rwanda, and Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, contributed to this report.

____

Follow Heller at www.twitter.com/aronhellerapSAN BRUNO, Calif.  A woman suspected of shooting three people at YouTube headquarters before killing herself was furious with the company because it had stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform, her father said late Tuesday.

Two law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Nasim Aghdam of Southern California. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

YouTube had stopped everything, and she was angry, her father Ismail Aghdam said from his San Diego home in a telephone interview with the Bay Area News Group.

People who post on YouTube can receive money from advertisements that accompany their videos, but the company de-monetizes some channels for reasons including inappropriate material or having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

Ismail Aghdam said he reported his daughter missing on Monday after she did not answer her phone for two days.

He said the family received a call from Mountain View police around 2 a.m. Tuesday saying they found Nasim sleeping in a car.

He said he warned them she might be headed to YouTube because she hated the company.

Mountain View Police spokeswoman Katie Nelson confirmed officers located a woman by the same name asleep in a vehicle asleep in a Mountain View parking lot Tuesday morning. Nelson said the woman declined to answer further questions but the police spokeswoman did not respond to a question about whether police were warned Aghdam might go to YouTube.

Authorities said earlier Tuesday that the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute.

Terrified employees huddled inside, calling 911, as officers and federal agents swarmed the companys suburban campus sandwiched between two interstate freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the buildings second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a big huge pistol.

It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, Shooter, and everybody started running, Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.

It was terrifying, she said.

A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said.

Witnesses described terror before officers arrived and discovered a victim near a front door and then found the shooter several minutes later with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said.

He said two additional gunshot victims were found at an adjacent business minutes later. Barberini initially said there were four people who had been shot but later clarified that a fourth person had suffered an ankle injury.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings when the fire alarm went off. He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, Come at me, or come get me.'

He saw somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound. Vorhies said he realized there was an active shooter when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door.

He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw the shooter during work hours.

Michael Finney, a 21-year-old supervisor at Carls Jr. across from the campus, said he came out of the bathroom to see a woman in a booth bleeding from the calf. Two friends were trying to stop the bleeding, using the victims sweatshirt as a tourniquet, but it wasnt helping, he told the San Jose Mercury News.

Everyone was figuring out what to do, Finney said. I was trying to stay calm and see what I could do. Everybody is shocked.

Google, which owns the worlds biggest online video website, said the companys security team worked with authorities to evacuate buildings and was doing whatever it could support the victims and their families.

YouTubes headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.

Inside, Google famously outfitted the office several years ago with a three-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.

Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime, said Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman. Our hearts go out to all those who suffered.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and that officials were monitoring developments.

___

Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles, Eric Tucker in Washington and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected with new information from authorities that three victims suffered gunshot wounds and a fourth was taken to the hospital but wasnt shot. A reference also has been removed to patients being taken to Stanford Hospital because the facility says it gave incorrect information.An Air Force lieutenant at Kirtland Air Force Base will spend at least the next five years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to nine child pornography charges in federal court in Albuquerque on Tuesday.

Prosecutors, along with federal and New Mexico-based child exploitation investigators, say between May 2014 and January 2016, Jesse Furse, now 35, used a computer to share and possess thousands of child sex images and videos, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Mexico.

According to prosecutors, agents with the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Albuquerque police identified an electronic device that had been sharing child pornography online as being registered at Furses home on Kirtland Air Force Base.

Computers and items taken from Furses home during a search were encrypted and required repeated attempts by FBI experts to access.

What investigators found  and what Furse pleaded guilty to having  was about 1,400 video files and 13,000 image files of child pornography on his computer.

In addition to pleading guilty to possessing images and videos, Furse also pleaded guilty to sharing 58,529 images and videos using online peer-to-peer sharing platforms over several occasion in late 2015 and early 2016, according the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Federal prosecutors say he faces a statutory mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment on the distribution charges, and a statutory maximum of 20 years of imprisonment on the possession charge.A rule issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2015 that expanded the endangered Mexican gray wolfs habitat by millions of acres has been remanded to the service for further revision, a federal judge in Arizona decided Monday.

The Revision to the Regulations for the Nonessential Experimental Population of the Mexican Wolf describes procedures for the wolfs release, population area and management in the United States. But environmental groups felt it did not do enough to save the species.

The bottom line is that this rule only gave the wolf a short-term chance of survival, said Bryan Bird, director of Defenders of Wildlifes Southwest Program.

Several groups sued over the rule, arguing it violated the Endangered Species Act and did not provide for the recovery of the wolf.

While the rule did expand the wolfs habitat, it also eased restrictions on killing the animals if livestock is preyed upon, capped the number of wolves in the U.S. at 325, and did not allow wolves north of Interstate 40 in New Mexico and Arizona.

Many aspects of the rule directly contradicted the earlier recommendations of top wildlife biologists, the groups argued.

Among those was a recommendation that three interconnected U.S. populations containing a total of at least 750 wolves were necessary for the species recovery.

A group of wolf biologists commented to FWS in 2014 expressing concerns over the way their data were being used.

This case is unique in that the same scientists that are cited by the agency publicly communicated their concern that the agency misapplied and misinterpreted findings in such a manner that the recovery of the species is compromised, U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Zipps wrote in the decision. To ignore this dire warning was an egregious oversight by the agency.

Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity said he is hopeful the new rule will include more of that scientific data.

Part of the tragedy of this is Fish and Wildlife was told by some of the best biologists in the world how to do this right, Robinson said. And now theyre having to be retold.

He said he also hopes FWS moves as expeditiously as possible to come up with the new rule.

Time is not the friend of the Mexican wolf, he said.

There are currently 114 Mexican wolves in the U.S.

The Service must now revise the rule and provide the court with a proposed deadline for completion within 30 days of the ruling.

FWS spokesman John Bradley said the agency is still in the process of reviewing the courts decision and hasnt determined a specific path forward yet.SANTA FE  One of the three laboratories that determines if medical marijuana products are safe for New Mexico patients claims that the state Department of Health improperly gave away its secret trade practices to a competing laboratory through a public records request.

Steep Hill Labs filed the suit against DOH, its Secretary Lynn Gallagher, Scepter Lab LLC and its owner, Kathleen ODea, in state District Court Monday.

The suit says Scepter used the state Inspection of Public Records Act to request and recive Steep Hills confidential standard operating procedures (SOPs) from DOH.

Steep Hill has also filed a restraining order to halt Scepter from viewing or sharing Steep Hills SOPs and prevent DOH from further disclosing any trade secrets.

A lawyer representing Scepter says the company only made the records request to see if the DOH was making the other labs submit SOPs and added that no one at Scepter actually has looked at Steep Hills procedures. Attorney Jason Marks also said there was nothing malicious about making a public records request.

All producers of medical cannabis products in the state are required to have their products tested by one of three labs in New Mexico. The labs are required to submit their SOPs every year when they reapply for certification.Steep Hill had no option other than to provide trade secret information to DOH in order to maintain its regulatory approval, the lawsuit states.

Steep Hill had worked for over 10 years to develop a system that uses high-performance liquid chromatography to test marijuana products, according to the suit. The company claims a competitor seeking to match Steep Hill would have to invest years and millions of dollars and have high-level scientific expertise. The suit says labs around the world pay millions of dollars to license their SOPs and are contractually bound to keep them confidential.

Last month, Scepter sent the Health Department a records request for SOPs Steep Hill submitted and proficiency tests submitted to DOH by any medical cannabis laboratory or laboratory applicant.

Steep Hill says in the suit that it learned Thursday that the DOH had disclosed the proprietary SOPs and proficiency tests. The DOH also gave Scepter social security numbers and results of criminal background checks for Steep Hill employees, even though Scepter didnt even ask for those, according to the suit.

With access to Steep Hills SOPs, Scepter could skip years of investment, a seven-figure licensing fee, and set up an HPLC machine almost overnight to turn out Steep Hill-quality testing, the suit says.

There is an IPRA provision that makes an exception for records that contain trade secrets. DOH spokesman Paul Rhien said Tuesday the department wont comment on pending litigation.

Scepters lawyer Marks, said Scepter wanted to know if the DOH was making all three labs submit SOPs. The only way to find out was to ask for the SOPs to see if the Department of Health had them, Marks said in an telephone interview. They had no idea they could be trade secrets until they were served with this lawsuit. He says no one at Scepter has looked at the Steep Hill SOPs.

Marks also said Scepter has been using the same process as Steep Hill for about a year and purchased the SOPs for the method from a third party. They (Scepter) have no reason for wanting to use Steep Hills trade secrets, he said.  Making a public records request is an activity that any person has the right to do. For Steep Hill to describe that as something nefarious is offensive.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A panel of the New Mexico Court of Appeals on Tuesday affirmed a 5-year-old ruling that approved an agreement between the Navajo Nation and state government settling Navajo water rights claims in the San Juan River basin in northwestern New Mexico.

The Court of Appeals decision, in sometimes scathing terms, rejected numerous arguments against the historic water settlement in a case that dates back to 1975.

The opinion written by Judge Bruce D. Black says that the entire appeal made by non-Indian water users, including acequia and ditch associations, was based on a failure to understand the nature of the relationship between Indian nations and the United States.

The approved settlement, set to become a major piece of the New Mexico water picture, increases the Navajo Nations share of the states water from 6 percent to 10 percent, according to a 2013 Journal analysis.

Opponents, who apparently could appeal further to the state Supreme Court, emphasize that the deal allows the Navajo Nation to use more than six times as much water as the city of Albuquerque. The agreements defenders call that an apples-to-oranges comparison, because all of New Mexicos agricultural water agencies use substantially more water for irrigation than is used by cities.

In affirming the 2013 decision in favor of the tribal-state settlement by former appeals court Judge James Wechsler, the court panel rejected a recent motion by Victor Marshall of Albuquerque, the non-Indian water users attorney, seeking to overturn Wechslers ruling on conflict of interest grounds.

Marshall maintained that Wechsler improperly had failed to disclose that he had worked in the 1970s on the Navajo reservation as an attorney for a non-profit legal aid group that Marshall contended was an agency and instrumentality of the Navajo Nation, a party in the water rights case.

Lawyers for the Navajo Nation and state government have called Marshalls argument reckless and defamatory because DNA Legal Services is independent from tribal government and often sues the Navajo Nation on issues such as prison conditions and housing evictions.

In a separate order written by Judge Linda Vanzi, the appeals court panel on Tuesday called Marshalls motion against Wechsler frivolous and said that basic inquiry and simple investigation would have shown that the motion was without factual foundation.

The appeals court order said Marshall is hereby sanctioned and must pay costs and attorneys fees that the other parties in the suit incurred responding to his conflict-of-interest motion.

The panel likewise went after Marshall near the end of the 32-page opinion by Black upholding Wechslers 2015 decision. The opinion says the appellants represented by Marshall accused Wechsler of substituting a fake hydrological survey prepared by the federal government and the Navajo Nation.

Black wrote, The allegation that the court fraudulently substituted a fake hydrological survey alleges a felony  .

Appellants counsel  Marshall  is strongly admonished not to advance any such frivolous and unfounded accusation in the future, the opinion said.

Black added that Marshall also made allegation of ex parte, or outside of court, communications among the judge and other parties. Appellants counsel is cautioned that, in the future, such unsupported accusations and evidence-free speculation will not be so politely addressed by this court, but will instead result in sanctions, wrote Black.

Marshall couldnt be reached for comment Tuesday. In a recent court filing, he wrote, Mr. Wechsler carried out his mission for the Navajo tribe with zeal and devotion during the 1970s, and he should be very proud of what he accomplished. The problem is that Judge Wechsler carried out the very same mission 40 years later, when he awarded 635,000 acre-feet of water to contribute to the revitalization of the Navajo people  .

Wechsler, who was sitting as presiding judge in state District Court for the water rights case, retired last year after 22 years on the Court of Appeals.

2013 ruling

His 2013 ruling recognized the Navajo Nations right to divert 635,729 acre-feet of water per year, which translates to consumption of 325,756 acre-feet annually. Consumption is defined under state law as the total amount of water diverted, minus the amount returned for use by others downstream.

Supporters of the settlement said it removes major uncertainties over water availability for non-Indians in the San Juan basin, because of the risk that the Navajo Nation might have gone to court and won a substantially larger amount of water.

The Navajo Nation agreed to forgo larger water claims in return for federal support for construction of a water pipeline to water-scarce Navajo country in the deserts of northwest New Mexico.

The appeals court on Tuesday rejected the non-Indian water users argument that the settlement should have gone to the Legislature for approval. Congress approved the settlement, preempting any state considerations, the opinion says. But the Legislature did approve $50 million as the states share of the cost of the settlement, Blacks opinion notes.

No comment was available Tuesday from the Navajo Nation or the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, which supported the settlement.When considering gun controls, a nation must first acknowledge that this world is, by definition, broken. Its a given evil will erupt from time to time, no matter what anyone does to prevent it. Its just where and when it will happen that is most often unforeseeable.

Once that is agreed upon, perhaps we can also further agree that, when evil does erupt  whether the threat is personal or national  the last thing any of us should want is for us to have allowed our government to have removed our ability to defend ourselves against it.

Consider Hitler. He took away guns in Germany in the 1930s and in every country he conquered thereafter, particularly from (those) disfavored by his government.

In the words of Heinrich Himmler, Ordinary citizens dont need guns, as having guns doesnt serve the State.

Within that context, compare the evolution of todays gun debate with the events that actually occurred in Germany not so very long ago:

In 1931, Weimar (Republic government) authorities discovered plans for a Nazi takeover In reaction to such threats, the (Weimer) government authorized the registration of all firearms  for public safety. The interior minister warned that the records must not fall into the hands of any extremist group.

In 1933, the ultimate extremist group, led by Adolf Hitler, seized power and used the (gun registration) records (of the former Weimer government) to identify, disarm, and attack political opponents and Jews.  (How the Nazis Used Gun Control, by Stephen P. Halbrook, National Review, Dec. 2, 2013.)

At minimum, the foregoing should highlight that, from the perspective of some governments like Hitlers, the operative word in gun control is control.

Such control as that which allowed the Nazis, i.e. German government, in the 1940s to deport millions of people on trains to destinations like Auschwitz from every country over which Hitlers government, i.e. tyranny, took control. These were people who knew  they were destined to die  people who should have resisted, but didnt in part because they had been disarmed.

Guns taken from good people by their government only really matters when government, for whatever reason, turns evil and decides to do evil to good people.

Whether a person supported Clinton or Trump, all should be able to agree  any government anywhere is susceptible to becoming a tyranny led by men or women who are evil. If you dont think that can happen in any nation  even America  think again.

Consider the massacre at Wounded Knee in South Dakota on Dec. 29, 1890. After the United States 7th Cavalry confiscated the firearms of a group of Lakota Sioux for their own safety and protection at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 297 Indians were murdered. After the majority of the Sioux had peacefully turned in their firearms, the Calvary began shooting and wiped out the camp; 200 of the dead were women and children.

To empower the people of the United States with the ability to resist any tyranny that might threaten them in the future was the sole reason our founding fathers gave all Americans the right to bear arms guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment. Those who disagree should ask: Why?

Clifford C. Nichols is licensed to practice law in California and New Mexico.I was incredibly inspired by the (March 24) March for Our Lives, and I was proud to support the students who marched here in Albuquerque. While this event and debates around gun violence have been politically charged since the terrible massacre in Parkland, (that) Saturdays marches were a sharp reminder that an entire generation has grown up practicing active shooter drills, fearful of when tragedy might strike their own school. These students are afraid  yet empowered  and it is past time we create comprehensive strategies to keep our schools safe.

What can we do to prevent gun violence and tragedy from impacting future lives? One answer is to actually listen to the students and focus on what theyre saying will make them feel more secure. As Albuquerque march organizers so eloquently declared: Safety to us looks like prevention, intervention, and support services. So, lets start there.

When reviewing plans put forth by elected officials and candidates, I find they are often limited in scope and do not adequately address those three critical elements  prevention, intervention and support services. Physical security, such as metal detectors or armed resource officers, may make schools look more secure, but they dont address what happens before an armed gunman arrives. Gun legislation, including universal background checks and bans on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and bump stocks may restrict access and limit potential carnage, but it, too, fails to deal with whats happening with the individual.

Thats why, as important as physical security measures and gun legislation might be, we must also shift the culture of our schools to prevent students from reaching a psychological or emotional point where they view gun violence as an answer in the first place. This is fundamental to keeping our students safe.

Schools must be appropriately funded to promote environments free of bullying, harassment, discrimination and assault. We must expand mental health services and ensure there is adequate staffing in schools to provide care for those who need it most. Likewise, we must reform school discipline to avoid ostracizing troubled students through exclusionary practices. Instead, we want them to remain engaged in the school and their community through positive emotional, behavioral and academic success plans.

Next, we need to strengthen bonds (among) law enforcement, mental health care professionals and school leaders, allowing them to better work together to identify threats and intervene when necessary. More practically, this means reforming legal barriers that prevent information sharing when a threat is made. And we need time-limited restraining orders allowing local law enforcement to intervene and remove firearms from an individual who has threatened violence against themselves or their community.

Finally, we must conduct scientific research to confront this public health crisis. To that end, Congress must repeal the Dickey Amendment and allow gun violence research at the CDC. (The recently enacted) spending bill included language to allow for research to be conducted  a positive development  but it lacked federal funding to actually do it. We can find evidence-based ways to reduce gun violence that respect Second Amendment rights, but we cannot do it without congressional resources.

This is a complex problem, and the fix will not be quick or easy. The good news is most Americans are listening: With 97 percent voicing public support of universal background checks and 67 percent supporting an assault weapon ban, the voices of our students are getting through. Now will our elected officials listen up or let them down again?Almost one year has passed since Chelsea Manning was released from the U.S Army prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Manning, the most famous Army whistleblower, served seven years of a 35-year sentence for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified records about the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The day after receiving that sentence in 2014, she released a statement that read in part: As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence before he left office, and she has not wasted any time, announcing a run for the U.S. Senate seat in Maryland.

Appearing on the Democracy Now! news hour, she talked about her newfound freedom: Its overwhelming. I wake up some days, and Im not sure that this is actually happening. Im seeing more and more of the world and how its become the world I feared a decade ago.

A decade ago she was known as Pvt. Bradley Manning, working as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq, where she had a front-row seat to the war: These were real people in real places, not just dots on a map, she said. These are peoples lives and emotions. Were in their home  I couldnt separate my work from my emotions anymore.

Manning continued: I went to my housing unit at night, and I couldnt sleep. I would look at the news  it was almost like a glossing over of what had happened in Iraq, what I was seeing on the ground  I was very worried about that disconnect.

Chelsea Manning amassed a trove of hundreds of thousands of classified, digital records of the U.S. wars: field reports from soldiers detailing everything from thousands of civilian deaths to torture and summary executions, along with thousands of diplomatic cables. After encountering technical hurdles in getting the material to both The Washington Post and The New York Times, she turned to what was at the time a little-known website designed to securely and anonymously receive leaked documents: WikiLeaks.

On April 5, 2010, WikiLeaks released the first of Chelsea Mannings leaks: a grainy video called Collateral Murder. The video was shot from the onboard camera of an Apache helicopter gunship, and captured the helicopters attack on a group of civilians on the ground in Baghdad, as the soldiers laughed and cursed. All 12 men were killed, including videographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh, two employees of the Reuters news agency. Manning said of the Collateral Murder video, on Democracy Now!: This is not unusual. This is not a freak incident. This is what war is.

More leaks followed, with many of the worlds most prominent newspapers and magazines partnering with WikiLeaks to produce scores of in-depth, impactful stories based on the leaks.

Manning had confided details of the leak to someone via an online chat, and that person reported her to U.S. authorities. She was arrested, beginning an ordeal of imprisonment and military prosecution that the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, said constituted cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment that could constitute torture.

Manning was held in a cage in Kuwait, then moved to a Navy brig in Quantico, Va., where she continued to be held in solitary confinement. She described solitary as a practice that needs to be ended everywhere. Nothing justifies doing this to any human being.

In prison, she fought for trans rights, suing officials for access to hormone treatments. In 2016, she wrote a letter to President Obama from the all-male prison at Fort Leavenworth where she was being held, appealing for a commutation of her sentence. I am merely asking for a first chance to live my life, she wrote, as the person I was born to be.

Chelsea Manning is now embarking on that life. Part of that is running in the June primary against Sen. Ben Cardin to be the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. Cardin has been in Maryland politics for 40 years, she says. Hes been behind a desk that whole time. What experience can he bring to the table? I have life experience. Ive been homeless. Ive been to prison. Ive been to war.

Reform is not in her vocabulary. Manning is calling for the abolition of prisons, the elimination of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, for universal health care and more. We need to start pushing back. And the way we do that is by focusing on the systemic problems, she said.

Chelsea Manning ended her first campaign video last January with the hashtag that has come to signify her optimism and determination: #WeGotThis.

Amy Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,400 stations. She is the co-author, with Denis Moynihan and David Goodman, of Democracy Now!: 20 Years Covering the Movements Changing America. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SUNLAND PARK  President Donald Trump said he plans to use U.S. military force to protect the nations border with Mexico  a move that stunned residents living near the border fence.

Oh, wow, said Anselmo Rascon, 76, sitting on a bench outside the Sunland Park Senior Citizen Center. Im not sure what to make of that.

Sitting across from him, Jose Lozoya de la Vera, 77, scratched his head and added, I dont believe its necessary, but hes the president.

Jose Navarrete, another retiree, said he liked the idea of troops, if it made life better.

Trump gave few details about his plan Tuesday when he announced he would send troops to the southwest border until he can build a big, beautiful wall, a key campaign promise. So far, Congress has refused to provide the necessary funds.

Until we can have a wall and proper security, we are going to be guarding our border with the military. Thats a big step, Trump said during a White House visit with the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

The president said he had spoken with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, who was present during the announcement.

We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way never showing up for court, he said.

The Mexican government immediately asked for clarification of his statement and reiterated binational cooperation is the way to deal with issues such as immigration and border security.

Trump has been threatening to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement both to secure more favorable trade terms and to pressure Mexico to block immigrants coming from Central America.

A caravan of migrants, mostly from Central America, moving north through Mexico has enraged Trump. The caravan has become a regular event in Mexico to document the plight of migrants, and some request asylum in the U.S. when they arrive at the border.

Immigrant advocates and human rights organizations criticized the idea of using the military for border enforcement.

This is the extreme consequence of a racist policy promoted by this president, said Fernando Garcia, director of the Border Network for Human Rights.

He said using the military promotes the image of the border as a war zone.

Theres a war on the border, but who is the enemy? Immigrants? Immigrant families? Garcia asked.

Although the number of immigrants crossing illegally has dropped in the past decade, Trump points to the illegal drugs that continue to pour into the U.S., wrecking lives in cities and rural areas, and the criminals who bring them.

Both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have sent National Guard troops to help the Border Patrol in a support role with surveillance, building infrastructure and maintenance, but those troops were not involved in arresting undocumented immigrants.

Its going to put Congress in a very precarious situation, use of the military on domestic soil to enforce domestic policy, said Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, a shelter for migrants in southern New Mexico and West Texas, many seeking asylum.

We have enough security here, said Sunland Park resident Norma Reyes, who owns a scrap metal business with her husband located a short drive from the border fence.

We have (Border Patrol) helicopters flying over all the time, Reyes said.

The Border Patrol agents union and the Dona Ana County Republican Party did not respond to phone calls requesting comment on the presidents plan to deploy troops on the border.WASHINGTON  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday replaced the special master overseeing a case that pits New Mexico against Texas for rights to Rio Grande water, but justices gave no explanation for the change.

New Orleans lawyer Gregory Grimsal, who had served as special master overseeing the complex case since March 2014, was discharged by the court and replaced with Senior Judge Michael Melloy of the Missouri-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

The Supreme Court order said Grimsal was hereby discharged with the thanks of the court. Special masters act as fact-finders for the Supreme Court in disputes between states.

Matt Baca, a spokesman for New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, would not speculate on the courts reasoning, but said the office is aware of the case, and we look forward to presenting our case to Judge Melloy.

Texas sued New Mexico in 2014, claiming that New Mexico farmers and pecan growers illegally pump groundwater from below Elephant Butte Dam that would otherwise flow to El Paso and West Texas. New Mexico claims that its water obligations to Texas are measured at the dam.

Tony Mauro, a writer at The National Law Journal, on Tuesday suggested the Courts decision to discharge Grimsal was about money. Mauro wrote that it may signal a money-saving return to the courts tradition of appointing senior federal judges as special masters, rather than private practitioners who charge the parties significant fees.

Grimsal was paid $614,587 in legal fees through March 2017, according to The National Law Review.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A former legislator kicked off the ballot for living outside the district she wants to represent is warning the state Supreme Court of absolute chaos at the Legislature if the decision stands.

Former Rep. Idalia Lechuga-Tena, D-Albuquerque, is asking New Mexicos highest court to rule that she meets the residency requirements for House District 21, even though she hasnt lived there for a year.

Lechuga-Tena  who wants to run against Democratic incumbent Debbie Sarinana  compares her situation to that of legislators who leave their home districts for a month or two each year to rent a place in Santa Fe during legislative sessions.

Lechuga-Tena argues that her own absence from the district is similar  because she always planned to return to the home she owns there. Its also where shes registered to vote.

If the District Courts decision is upheld, it will cause absolute chaos in the New Mexico Legislature, Lechuga-Tenas argues in her appeal.

Most legislators arent physically present at the residence indicated on their voter registration cards during the session, she argues, raising the prospect that election proclamations could be issued when lawmakers are away from home and therefore not actually in their district on the required date.

District Judge Nancy Franchini determined last week that Lechuga-Tena wasnt qualified to run as a candidate in House District 21 because she hadnt actually lived there for a year.

In particular, Lechuga-Tena, by her own admission, lived outside the district on Jan. 29  the day Gov. Susana Martinez issued a proclamation setting the June 5 primary election.

Intent to return to the district isnt enough to establish residency, the judge ruled.

Physical presence absolutely is required, Franchini said last week as she ruled from the beanch.

Her decision came after a three-hour hearing in which Sarinanas attorneys called witnesses  even the tenant who rents Lechuga-Tenas home  who testified that the former representative hadnt been living there this year.

Lechuga-Tena acknowledges that she has been renting the home to another family for about a year and living outside the district. But she said she is preparing to move back in next week.

Sarinana defeated Lechuga-Tena two years ago to win the House seat, which covers much of the International District in Albuquerque.

Constituents should be neighbors and share a community with their representative  its not that complicated, Sarinana said in a written statement to the Journal.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

William Paul Alexander was a gifted cheesecake baker who had big plans to open a cafe on Central.

He found a location close to the University of New Mexico and came up with a name: Felony Cafe, reads a large sign painted on the west side of the building, It is a crime it tastes so good.

So that was his dream, the Felony Cafe, said Michael Patrick, spokesman for the District Attorneys Office. It never went any further than the paint on the exterior.

Instead, Alexander was charged in June 2016 in the bludgeoning death of 29-year-old Tiffany Boyer.

And on Tuesday, he was sentenced to life plus 36 years in prison after a jury in January found him guilty of first-degree murder and lesser charges. As he handed down the sentence, 2nd Judicial District Judge Brett Loveless said the case spoke to the abhorrent brutality humanity is capable of.

Alexanders three co-defendants, whom his attorney referred to as a cast of deplorables, have already been sentenced for their roles in the crime.

According to prosecutors, in August 2015, the group took Boyer to a home in Northeast Albuquerque where she and her boyfriend were held for several hours. She was beaten and killed, and her body was dumped close to Mountainair.

Police have said that Boyer was targeted because the group believed she played a role in the death of their friend, Robert Machete Bob McGuire. McGuire was killed  possibly with a crossbow  shortly after Boyer accused him of rape. Prosecutors have said that Alexander was the primary bad actor in the murder.

Alexanders attorney, Liane Kerr, argued during Tuesdays sentencing hearing that there was no DNA or fingerprint evidence incriminating her client, who around the same time had been trying to open a business that would employ people convicted of crimes.

He, by all accounts, baked wonderful cheesecakes, Kerr said in court. His idea was, Lets get jobs for these folks, well call it the Felony Cafe. I will hire people who have gotten out of custody who want to make their lives better. 

In his own statement to the judge, the 58-year-old mentioned his restaurant plans and denied killing Boyer.

I was trying to help people, Alexander said. I wasnt trying to hurt Tiffany.

Prosecutor Sean Sullivan said he was shocked to hear Alexander refusing to take responsibility for the crime.

Hes not a small-business owner, hes a murderer, Sullivan said after asking the judge to hand down the maximum sentence. This isnt about cheesecake, its about a life, and he took Tiffany Boyers life.

Boyers father, Blair, said the sentence came as a relief to his family. He has previously described his daughter as a sassy and strong-willed mother of two who was quick to help others.

This is the day we can finally close the book on this story and truly begin to heal, Boyer said in court.

Tuesdays hearing effectively brings the nearly three-year-old case to a close. No arrests have been made in McGuires death.

As for the would-be Felony Cafe, the property owner said Tuesday he is in the process of repainting the building, which currently features painted yellow police tape that reads crime scene and come on in. He said the tenant abruptly abandoned the project a few years ago.New Mexico State University dean honors Parkland student leaders and invites them to apply

Carlos Andres Lopez

Las Cruces Sun-News, N.M.

LAS CRUCES  An article posted Tuesday on the celebrity gossip website TMZ suggested that David Hogg, a survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who has since become a noted gun-control activist, had been offered an acceptance letter from New Mexico State University.

But thats not exactly the case, according to the NMSU dean behind the letter.

However, Miriam Chaiken, dean of NMSUs William Conroy Honors College, did offer assurances Hogg and some of his classmates would be admitted to the university and said shed commit to raise funding for scholarship support.

Chaiken told the Sun-News that she sent an email letter dated March 31 to Marjory Stoneman administrators praising their students activism in the aftermath of the Feb. 14 shooting that left 17 students dead. But, Chaiken said, it was not an acceptance letter, as reported by TMZ, nor was it was specifically addressed to Hogg or any of his classmates.

Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman, has emerged as one of the driving forces of a student-led movement advocating for gun-control reform that formed immediately after the Parkland shooting. He and fellow student leaders, including Emma Gonzalez and Cameron Kasky, recently organized the massive March for Our Lives on March 24, a day in which hundreds of gun-reform rallies were held across the nation, including Las Cruces.

The students have been both praised and vilified for their activism, especially speaking out against the National Rifle Association and lawmakers who take money from the gun lobby.

More recently, Fox News personality Laura Ingraham mocked Hogg in a tweet that has since cost her advertisers for her show, The Ingraham Angle.

Four days after the March for Our Lives rally, Ingraham tweeted: David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPAtotally predictable given acceptance rates.)

That same day, Hogg, 17, called on advertisers to boycott Ingrahams program. As of Tuesday, more than a dozen advertisers, including Johnson & Johnson, Nestle and Jenny Craig, abandoned Ingrahams program over her dispute with Hogg, according to USA Today.

Chaiken said it was news of Ingrahams tweet toward Hogg that prompted her to pen a letter to Marjory Stoneman administrators.

 I wanted to tell you first what magnificent students you have, and how like many I am inspired by their determination and commitment to making the world a better and safer place, Chaiken wrote in the letter. These young people will be our leaders within my lifetime and I am exceedingly encouraged to see their activism and their vision for a better country.

Chaiken shared the letter with the Sun-News on Tuesday. It was emailed to Marjory Stoneman Principal Ty Thompson, Guidance Director Terrence Sullivan and 12th grade counselor Gerald Turmaine.

The faculty and staff at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas have obviously done a wonderful job of educating these articulate, thoughtful, and kind young people, the letter stated.

She also wrote that Hogg, Gonzalez and their classmates would be welcomed at NMSU.

Please tell David, Emma, and any other of your student leaders, that they are welcome at the William Conroy Honors College and at New Mexico State University, the letter stated. If they would like to learn more I would be delighted to talk with them on the phone, I can assure them that they will be admitted to our university, and I will personally make it my commitment to raise as much funding as I can to support them with scholarships.

In a statement to the Sun-News, Chaiken said it was not her intent to offer an acceptance letter to the Marjory Stoneman students.

 (I)n fact I have not communicated with any of the Parkland students directly, and certainly not offered any scholarships, she said. I wrote to their school principal and guidance counselors when the news was published that Hogg was denied admission at several University of California campuses, despite his 4.2 GPA.

She said Hogg and any high school student with that track record would likely be accepted to NMSU and the Honors College.

Of course no student can be offered admission or scholarships unless they apply, and we have not yet heard from any of the Florida students, Chaiken said. Really the message of my email to the school administrators was to congratulate them as educators for the mentoring they provided for these poised and articulate students.

Carlos Andres Lopez can be reached 575-541-5453, carlopez@lcsun-news.com or @carlopez_los on Twitter.



2018 Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)

Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

_____ANKARA, Turkey  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that his military wont stop trying to oust Syrian Kurdish fighters from Syrias north, as he met with the leaders of Russia and Iran for talks on resolving the conflict.

The three countries, which have teamed up to work for a Syria settlement despite their differences, reaffirmed their commitment to Syrias territorial integrity and the continuation of local cease-fires. They called on the international community to provide more aid for war-ravaged Syria.

Erdogan, President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani were holding their second summit to discuss Syrias future since attending a similar meeting in Sochi, Russia, in November.

Erdogan said Turkish troops, which last month took control of the northwestern enclave of Afrin, would move eastward into Manbij and other areas controlled by the U.S.-backed Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey considers to be terrorists.

I say here once again that we will not stop until we have made safe all areas controlled by the (YPG), starting with Manbij, Erdogan said.

He stressed that Turkeys fight against the YPG would not distract from efforts to eliminate the remnants of Islamic State group from the country.

Erdogan said the Turkish and Russian militaries were discussing the possibility of establishing field hospitals in Syrias Tal Abyad town to take care of people injured in attacks in the Damascus eastern Ghouta suburb. He also spoke of plans to establish bakeries to help feed those in need.

Be it the Turkish armed forces, be it the Russian armed forces, (we) want to quickly establish a field hospital so that initial treatment can be provided, Erdogan said.

The three leaders summit meeting came as the U.S. said its military mission to eradicate the Islamic State group in Syria was coming to a rapid end but offered no timetable for withdrawal. President Donald Trump had said earlier that the U.S.s primary mission was to defeat IS and weve almost completed that task. He said Tuesday he wants to bring troops home to start rebuilding the U.S.

Trumps comments conflict with views of his top military advisers, some of who spoke at a separate event in Washington about the need to stay in Iraq and Syria to finish off the militant group, which once controlled large swaths of territory in both countries.

Asked about the possible U.S. pullout, Rouhani said the United States move from Syria is an excuse for soliciting money from countries that want them to remain there.

One day they say they want to pullout of Syria , then it turns out that they are craving money, he said. They have told Arab countries to give them money to remain in Syria.

Russia and Iran have provided crucial support to President Bashar Assads forces, while Turkey has backed the rebels seeking to overthrow him. The three nations have sponsored several rounds of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition, and brokered local truces in four areas, helping to reduce hostilities.

Irans Rouhani reiterated that there can be no military solution to the Syrian crisis. It should be resolved through political solutions, he said.

The next tripartite meeting will be held in Tehran.

Meanwhile, the Russian military said Wednesday that it expects a rebel evacuation from the suburbs of the Syrian capital to be completed in the coming days.

The Russian Defense Ministry and Syrian rebels struck a deal on Sunday for the Army of Islam, the biggest opposition group in the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta, to leave the area for the rebel-controlled north.

The rebels were still leaving the town of Douma, but the evacuation was expected to wrap up in the coming days, said Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff.

Earlier, Russias Defense Ministry said that more than 3,000 rebels and their family members had evacuated Douma since Sunday.

The evacuation comes after a blistering five-week government offensive in February and March that killed hundreds of people and caused catastrophic damage in the besieged suburbs.

___

Associated Press writers Zeina Karam and Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Cinar Kiper in Istanbul and Amir Vahdat in Tehran contributed to this report.DENVER  A former state employee was found guilty of secretly photographing up the skirts of women in Colorado.

A jury convicted 43-year-old Thanh Ta on Tuesday of 17 of 19 counts that included charges of sexual assault, stalking and invasion of privacy for sexual gratification.

The former budget analyst for the Colorado Department of Education was arrested in October by Denver police after state personnel found numerous files of suspected pornography. The files were on Tas external hard drive that was at one point connected to the offices network.

Prosecutors say the thousands of photos and videos were taken from 2011 to 2017. The images included co-workers and hundreds of people in public places in downtown Denver.

Ta is scheduled to be sentenced in June.A former Bernalillo Public Schools employee pleaded guilty of fraud today in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, admitting to stealing thousands of dollars in federal money intended for the school district.

Antoinette Garcia, 45, of Bernalillo was indicted last June and charged with committing federal program fraud by embezzling federal education grant funds received by the district, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a news release issued today.

During court proceedings, Garcia admitted that in 2014 and 2015, she stole between $40,000 and $95,000 intended for the Bernalillo Public Schools system. Garcia admitted stealing funds that were intended to pay for childrens education and supplies, and by writing herself checks with school money instead of paying school-related expenses, the news release reads.

Garcia faces a statutory maximum of 10 years of prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution as ordered by the court at sentencing, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. A sentencing hearing date has yet to be set.

The Albuquerque office of the FBI investigated the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Mysliwiec.The U.S. military recently tested a new, high-powered microwave weapon built by Raytheon in New Mexico to down swarms of incoming drones and missiles.

Raytheon successfully demonstrated the system in December during an Army exercise at Fort Sill, Ok., where the ground-based weapon shot down 33 unmanned aerial vehicles with high-power electromagnetic waves, simultaneously knocking out groups of two-to-three drones at a time, said Raytheon New Mexico site director Susan Kelly.

At one point in the final demonstration scenario, there were eight drones coming at us from different directions in groups of two and three and we took them all out, Kelly said. We showed the system is now ready and available as a counter-swarm weapon to down multiple drones at once.

The prospect of incoming swarms of UAVs is a rapidly-emerging battlefield threat, and the U.S. military is considering laser and microwave weapons as a way to counter them, Kelly said. In the Fort Sill experiment, Raytheon also demonstrated its high energy laser to destroy 12 more UAVs in flight, plus six stationary mortar projectiles.

It will take more time for such weapons, known as directed energy systems, to actually be deployed in war zones, but the military is developing the tactics, techniques and procedures for those weapons, said Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Heinrich has spearheaded bipartisan efforts to get the Pentagon to move directed energy systems into final test-and-demonstration phases. The federal spending bill signed last month by President Donald Trump earmarks $158 million for directed energy development, including about $70 million for work by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. AFRL worked last year with Raytheon under a $2 million contract to get that companys microwave system ready for the Fort Sill demonstration.

Two laser systems have been deployed to date  one on the USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf and one on a Stryker armored vehicle in Europe  but no microwave weapons are yet being used.

Were at a turning point where were truly moving from the idea phase to the implementation phase, Heinrich told the Journal this week. Its a moment of inflection now as the Pentagon conducts all the managerial work to figure out how these weapons will actually be used in war-fighting environments.

Thats a huge step forward, given the militarys cautious approach in the past to directed energy weapons, Heinrich said.

Many systems were either partly or fully developed in New Mexico, including Raytheons ground-based anti-swarm weapon.

Raytheon and Boeing also worked together on the militarys Counter-electronics High-Powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project, or CHAMP, which places a microwave weapon in a cruise missile to destroy electronics, computers and other systems as it flies over buildings and installations. Raytheon upgraded two CHAMP missiles under a $5 million contract last year for the AFRL and Navy to adapt for delivery on B-52 bombers.

Such work has grown Raytheons Albuquerque workforce to about 190 employees, with 50 more hires expected in coming months, Kelly said. The company has also expanded its facilities at the Sandia Science and Technology Park, adding a 72,000-square-foot building to its existing 103,000-square-foot space.

If the military opts to acquire Raytheons anti-swarm microwave system, it would likely be built in Albuquerque, although that depends on how many are ordered.

It depends on the quantity and timeline to do it, Kelly said. If the order is for one, for sure wed do it here, but if its thousands, wed have to think about it.

Microwave systems like the anti-swarm weapon offer rapid, low-cost, unlimited firepower that relies on a diesel generator.

Missile and bullet rounds can be expensive and take time to reload, but this doesnt have those issues, Kelly said. Its an unlimited magazine that just uses energy. As long as the generator is operating, you can keep on firing.

Todays easy access to inexpensive drones that can be cheaply and rapidly modified with explosives makes such next-generation directed energy weapons critical, said Raytheon spokesman John Patterson.

As threats advance and become more challenging, were being called open to innovate new speed-of-light solutions, Patterson said. Thats what this system offers. It game-changing technology.Mr.Kansal moves in from Indigo Consulting (the digital wing of Leo Burnett) where he served as National Creative Director for close to 3 years.



At 21N78E Creative Labs, Navin will be responsible for all the creative output of the agency and will also be a core member of the management team. The agency currently has a client base spread across Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.



Navin Kansal has over 20 years of experience in the creative arena, including 15 years in digital communications. He has been associated with creating numerous breakthrough campaigns, right from Indias first video-based brand website to helming the first and the largest ever twitter led campaign out of India. At Indigo Consulting he led the business wins for digital communications and social media mandates of brands like Google, YouTube, Garnier and Danone among a host of others. During his tenure, Indigo was the runner-up at the Indian Digital Media Awards in 2017 besides winning Best Digital Integrated Campaign for Bajaj V at Kyoorius Awards as well as DMA Asia, Smarties, Maddies etc.

Sudhir Nair - Founder & Director 21N78E said  We have been in an investment mode over the last year and half. The growth has been very good with a slew of new business wins. The agency operations has expanded to Bengaluru. The products are taking shape and the beta test outcomes have been very enouraging. The focus is on building a unique model that is capable of marketing to hundreds of ecosystems. It is the perfect time to get Navin on board. His varied interests, expertise and penchant for disruptive thinking is in line with the vision with which 21n78e was set up.

Sudhir and I go back a long way. We have done amazing things together in our erstwhile stint at Grey, creating work which helped us become the Digital Agency of the Year twice. While the media landscape, particularly digital, has evolved since then, it presents even more opportunities to recreate the magic at 21N78E Creative Labs with an eye on convergence. I was taken in by the vision the agency has. A start-up culture with a focus on creating digital products and compelling communication that is media-agnostic and idea-centric is just the right fit for me now.Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) announced Jeep  4x4 Month a first-of-its-kind customer celebration for the Jeep  brand in India. The Jeep  4x4 month kicks off as part of the International Jeep  4x4 Day, which the Company celebrates with its Jeep  customers globally on the 4th day of April, which is the 4th month of the year. The Jeep  4x4 Month will run from April 4th to April 30th in India.

In an innovative program devised by FCA India, Jeep encourages new customers who are currently considering or have booked a 4x2 variant to upgrade to the Limited 4x4 variant by paying just Rs. 50,000 more, This limited option will be available across India from April 4th to April 30th, 2018 as part of an International celebration of the legendary Jeep 4x4 capability.

FCA India will run Camp Jeep  , a 4x4 driving as well as Jeep  brand experience, for potential customers and enthusiasts in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad, this month.

Commenting on the Jeep  4x4 Month, Mr. Kevin Flynn - President and Managing Director, FCA India said, The Jeep  4x4 Month is a special and unique opportunity for customers to book their Jeep Compass and enjoy the legendary capability, freedom and adventure which remains core to our brand. We have sold close to 20,000 Jeep Compass SUVs since market launch and it is humbling, yet exciting to witness the sheer pride and exuberance of Jeep Compass owners as they our product out of the ordinary and explore new horizons. It is our endeavour to take every opportunity to help them achieve their aspiration.

FCA has planned a high impact and intensive Communications campaign encompassing Print, Digital, OOH and TV to inform customers across the country promoting the Jeep  4x4 Month and encourage them to participate in the activities planned.

Flynn added, Our Dealer Partners are excited to take the Jeep  brand engagement with our existing Compass owners to the next level in the Jeep  4x4 Month. They have clearly done a splendid job in the first quarter of this calendar year delivering over 6000 Compass SUVs to new Jeep customers.Lodha Group, Indias largest real estate developer (by residential sales), today announced Akshay Kumar as the corporate brand ambassador promoting various Lodha projects. The company released a global advertising campaign Come home to the best, Come Home to Lodha, which was shot at actual locations of Lodha projects featuring the Bollywood superstar.

Lodha Groups vision of Building a Better Life extends across geographies which include Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune and London, price points and consumer segments. With the help of Akshay Kumar, the company aims to reinforce its commitment and promise of delivering high quality homes and lifestyles to its customers. The Bollywood superstar will be seen in a series of ad films under the umbrella campaign Come home to the best, Come Home to Lodha which will run for 2 months in India and international markets. The film has been entirely shot at actual locations of Lodha Group projects in Mumbai and Pune, giving a glimpse of the real, holistic lifestyle being lived / enjoyed by the customers today across price points from premium luxury to affordable housing.

Announcing this partnership, Abhishek Lodha, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Lodha Group said, It is a moment of great satisfaction to on-board Akshay Kumar as our groups brand ambassador. His values of trustworthiness and the passion for fulfilling dreams are an extension of our core vision of building a better life, which makes this partnership a substantial one. With an aim to deliver world class homes and lifestyles, we have traversed the globe to bring in the best-in-class practices and partners to ensure the highest standards of services to our residents. This philosophy is imbibed in our new campaign where we aim to convey that we deliver nothing but the best and Akshay personifies that well. The brand film has been shot at our various developments to narrate the story of a life that every Lodha resident is now living for real.

Speaking on his alliance with the company, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar said, It gives me great pleasure to partner with Lodha Group, which is changing the way people are living in India today. The brand has worked relentlessly since the last 3 decades to bring luxury and highest quality of services, irrespective of the price. It's a brand that just doesnt build homes but also gives people a chance to weave sweet memories with their loved ones.

Narrating the idea behind the campaign, Viral Oza, Chief Marketing Officer, Lodha Group added, We believe consumers dont buy homes but a dream of what their life will be like when they move in. Our new campaign, Come Home To The Best, Come Home To Lodha, is a manifestation of this dream. At Lodha, we have been continuously innovating through the journey of customer experience which transcends from building homes to creating enriching lifestyles and memories. It was exciting to work with Akshay and would like to thank our partners, Alok Nanda & Company, Richard Caesar, Didier Daubeach and Visual Art and Technology films (VAT films) for stitching this campaign together.

Conceptualised and created in partnership with Alok Nanda & Company and Visual Art and Technology films (VAT films) with a team of artistic and talented directors like Ronnie Wadia, Radha Ghai, Richard Caesar and Didier Deaubeach, the film translates beautifully through the visual story with the right balance of depicting premium real estate, emotions and sensitivity.April 1st marked the 90th anniversary of the development of the modern sweet pepper, also known as the bell pepper. In Central America, Mexico, and northern South America there is evidence that numerous types of peppers (Capsicum annuum) have been cultivated by native peoples for at least 6,500 years.

Hot peppers were the first New World crop grown in Europe, with seeds arriving in Spain in 1493. Since that time, plant breeders around the world have selected peppers for various traits, giving rise to such names for this Native American vegetable as Hungarian and Thai hot peppers.

Bell peppers are the only cultivar of this species which do not contain capsacin, the chemical that gives peppers their heat. Traditionally available in green, red, and yellow, more recent offerings include lavender and dark purple. Despite their widespread acceptance today, bell peppers were initially very unpopular in Europe.

We know sweet peppers as large, hollow, thick-fleshed vegetables (technically a fruit, though try to find someone who cares), but the original strain was named bell for a very good reason. It had a rather hard, thin wall, and contained an elongated vestigial stigma inside. The stigma is part of the female complement of the flower, the outermost part which often produces nectar and/or sweet aromas to entice pollinators.

This leftover stigma acted as a natural clapper, striking the walls of the bell pepper as it swayed in the wind. As a result, sweet peppers were a very noisy crop. So much so, in fact, that during high winds, maturing bell peppers would startle livestock, causing them to bolt, and would keep villagers awake at night. So for over 400 years, bell peppers were relegated to a curiosity, and not widely cultivated.

Fortunately for us, self-taught plant breeder Gregor Carillon developed the first silent bell pepper in 1908. And the rest, as they say, is history. An interest in agronomy must have run in the family, because Gregors great-uncle Mendel Solanaceae also tinkered with plant genetics. He is credited with breeding the first seedless oranges, double-yolked melons, and boneless tomatoes, all unveiled on April 1, 1888.

Photo of Bell Peppers, courtesy Wikimedia user Aldipower.US officials in charge of the fight against the Islamic State (IS) warned today that the American-led coalitions hard-fought gains could yet be reversed as President Donald Trump considers pulling out 2,000 US troops from Syria.

The hard part is in front of us, US Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel said at a US Institute of Peace panel alongside top diplomatic and humanitarian officials. Stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains.

Votel said the US mission to stabilize areas cleared of extremists was six to eight months ahead of schedule. US forces and their Syrian and Iraqi allies, he said, have been through some very lengthy fights.

The remarks come amid uncertainty about the Trump administrations plans for the region as Syrian President Bashar al-Assads forces reclaimed the last rebel-held Damascus suburbs earlier this week. The National Security Council was set to discuss the US strategy in Syria today, CNN reported, while Trumps latest public remarks cast doubt on a Pentagon proposal to send dozens more military advisers to aid US-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

At a campaign rally in Ohio last week, the president promised to withdraw US troops very, very soon. And at a gathering of Baltic leaders at the White House today, he expressed his desire to get out of the war-torn country and called on Saudi Arabia to help pay for the US military presence in the country. During his visit to the White House last month, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly asked Trump to keep US troops in Syria.

US officials insist that the American effort in Syria wont last indefinitely.

What I saw in Raqqa wasnt an open-ended commitment, but a clear mission, US Agency for International Development administrator Mark Green said at the US Institute of Peace panel, reflecting on a recent trip to the region.

Brett McGurk, the US special envoy for the counter-IS fight at the State Department, said the administration is currently undertaking a spending review of the Syria campaign that extends from counter-explosive aid to rubble removal. He declined to address the presidents decision last week to freeze $200 million in US stabilization funds for opposition-held areas, which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had promised at a pledging conference in Kuwait in February before getting the boot.

Im not going to make any news on the panel, McGurk said, even as Trump, just over a mile away at the White House, appeared to contradict US pledges to remain in the fight against IS in Syria. None of us are going to make any news.

The Pentagon says the counter-IS coalition has dislodged the militant group from 98% of the land it once held in Iraq and Syria, a figure Trump has cited as a key accomplishment of his 14 months in office. Yet Votel and other US commanders also acknowledge that Turkeys intervention in the Syria conflict in January to overrun the Kurdish enclave in Afrin has slowed down operations against IS.

McGurk said US support for Kurdish partners in Manbij, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to overrun, remains an irritant to Ankara. The American presence there, he said, was designed to stop IS cells from gathering to plan attacks on European cities.

Overall, the Trump administrations budget for the upcoming fiscal year seeks $300 million more for the Pentagons fight in Syria. But experts say the commander in chief, who has said he opposed the 2003 Iraq War, remains worried about getting bogged down in another Middle East war.

The hard rule in Syria is that he doesnt want his Iraq War, Nick Heras, a Middle East fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Al-Monitor. He doesnt want an open-ended conflict that grabs media headlines.

Talk of a prompt US withdrawal from Syria has unnerved American allies. Leaving the war-torn country would send a frightening message to leaders in Iraq, said Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Governments US representative, at todays US Institute of Peace panel. Right now were hearing alarming things without an explanation.Srinagar, April 02:Multiple rounds of live bullets and tear smoke shells were fired into the congregation of civilians assembled in an open ground in Shopian town. The civilians has assembled for the funeral of a local militant, Zubair Turray killed in a gunfight earlier.

According to eyewitnesses, the CRPF is firing from both the sides of the ground, and the people have nowhere to go. While speaking to Free Press Kashmir, an eyewitness said that people were trying to save themselves by taking cover behind trees, as forces on both the exits were firing.

Eleven militants were killed in the twin operations at Dragad and Kachdor. Seven militants were killed in Dragad, and three killed in Kachdor where the forces blasted the house to kill the remaining militants when reports last came.

One militant Rouf Bashir Khanday was killed and his associate Imran Rashid was arrested during an overnight gunfight at Brunty Dialgam in Anantnag district.

Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik on Sunday called for a Kashmir-wide shutdown. The Shutdown call is for Sunday and Monday.

A civilian youth was killed, while a dozen others were injured near the gunfight sites.

Police sources in Srinagar and Shopian have identified the killed militants as Yawar Itoo, a resident Safnagri Zainpora, Nazim Nazir of Nagbal, Adil Thokar of Homhona, Ubair Shafi Malla, a resident of Trenz, Rais Thokar of Paderpora, Ishafaq Malik of Pinjoora and Zubair Turay of Shopian town.CAIRO  Amid difficult economic circumstances and a job market where the participation of male workers is considerably higher than their female counterparts, Egyptian women are taking new steps in the technology sector, an area dominated by men.

Motoon, which helps develop networks in the technology sector, partnered with the Google Developer Group (GDC) in Cairo to organize a conference titled Egyptian Women in Technology, which took place March 10. The conference at the Goethe Institute featured successful women and shed light on the main challenges and obstacles facing them.

Motoons Noon Tech program supports women working in the technology field by organizing regular training sessions and workshops.

There arent many women in this field. Is it because we do not want to support them or we do not believe in their capacities? Are there real problems impeding their professional career paths? We are trying to understand this by organizing events that give them a chance to participate, show their practical and scientific experience, and reveal the difficulties they are facing, Sara al-Sherif, a project manager at Motoon, told Al-Monitor.

She said that women in Egypt need a supportive environment and network, so one of the first steps is to introduce newcomers to the success cases and the latest techniques in the field, as well as connecting them to companies and associations to launch their own projects.

Samira Negm, 30, a participant in the conference, is the CEO of the company that created Raye7, a culturally sensitive carpool app. She told Al-Monitor, I thought about using technology to serve society by creating the app Raye7 to solve the traffic crisis. The app aims at encouraging carpooling and helping people benefit from their resources efficiently to enjoy safe and affordable transportation."

Asked whether she faced many difficulties as a woman in the technology sector, she said her determination helped overcome challenges and that she got promoted in her eight years of professional experience. Perhaps I chose a different path from the others, but I succeeded, she added. Negm has worked in software development, training, process design and project management.

Negm said she was lucky to have a family who supported her in her career path from the beginning. They understood the importance of technology and taught me to love programming. I am lucky to have a supportive family and a husband who understands the nature of my job and my late working hours, she said. Negm's husband also works in technology.

Although Negm was appreciated by her employers, Sherif said that this is not the case for most Egyptian women. According to her, one of the main challenges is that company owners do not want to employ women due to the nature of the work that requires staying late and because men are considered  culturally  to be more apt at technology.

Women feel that society does not help them or encourage them enough, and they often decide to [opt out] themselves, Sherif said, adding that the work structure, with men at the helm, is not easily adaptable to womens responsibilities after marriage. Faced with a boss who does not understand womens increased workload at home after marriage, female employees often end up leaving work once they start a family.

Women also face bias in the job market when it comes to leadership positions and salary. A report titled Equality Between Men and Women in the Arab Region in a Changing World, published by the International Labor Organization in April 2017, stated that six Arab countries, including Egypt, are among the 10 countries where the salary gap between both genders is the widest. The Egyptian government is trying, through Egypt Vision 2030, to increase the participation rate of women in all fields in the job market from 4.2% to 35% by 2030. The strategy seeks to empower women and youths in a systematic way that achieves a positive impact in reducing the generation and gender gap.

Although there arent any official figures about the number of employees in the technology field in Egypt, the sector is dominated by men.

Bassant Todray, 26, overcame her fears and worked hard to become a trainer at Women Techmakers Cairo, a program run by Google that supports women in the technology field. She told Al-Monitor, After I graduated, I was afraid of starting in this field, but I learned to believe in myself and my capacities. This is what I am doing with Google.

Todray graduated from the faculty of information and technology at El Shorouk Academy in Cairo. She currently works as an Android app programmer and developer for Egyptian governmental services, in addition to her work with Google where she organizes events to serve women's needs in the technology field.

She noted that in her first job in a private tech company, she was the first woman working in a team of men. She added, I noticed that there are fewer women than men [in the field of technology]. I want to encourage more women to choose this field and introduce them to their financial rights such as fair pay and level of salaries. Many of them want an opportunity, even if the pay is low.

GDC team leader Abdul Rahman Rifai told Al-Monitor, We mainly focus on developing womens abilities and help them in the field of technology. We are present in nine provinces  including Alexandria, Faiyum and Minya  and this might expand to other governorates. We are also launching events to introduce Googles latest technologies, in addition to training men and women to use and develop them.

Todray added, "Since I found someone to help me, I also want to help women trying to enter this field. Sharing success stories is great motivation. We want to reach high school students and focus more on girls. I hope Egypt will have the biggest number of female employees in the technology field with more female participation in the coming years.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed vows to drive out Syrian Kurdish militants across Turkeys borders after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Irans President Hassan Rouhani in Ankara today.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Erdogan said, Turkey will not stop until all regions under PYD/PKK control, including Manbij, are secured.  We will never allow either Syria or our region to be attacked by a few terrorist groups. The PYD is the acronym for the Democratic Union Party, the dominant Kurdish group in northern Syria whose armed wing, known as the Peoples Protections Units (YPG), is the US-led coalitions top ground force in the fight against the Islamic State. PKK is short for the Kurdistan Workers Party, the militia that is fighting for Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey and is closely allied with the PYD. Turkey says they are one and the same.

The summit to discuss the trios future steps in Syria is part of the so-called Astana process to end hostilities between regime forces and opposition rebels through a series of cease-fires, the establishment of humanitarian corridors and the deployment of peace monitors in the country's north, west and south, which fall outside the United States zone of influence. Of immediate concern is the fate of Idlib province, the last remaining rebel stronghold on the Turkish border where infighting among jihadi groups is weakening their grip.

In a statement issued at the conclusion of the summit, the three presidents declared there was no military solution to the seven-year Syrian conflict and "reiterated the necessity to assist the Syrians in restoring the unity of their country and in achieving a political solution of the ongoing conflict through an inclusive, free, fair and transparent Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process."

The picture of unity displayed by the leaders, however, belied the extent to which they also differ in their respective priorities in Syria. For Turkey it is to dismantle PYD rule. For Iran, it is to ensure the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remains intact. For Russia, it is to consolidate its strategic foothold in the eastern Mediterranean though a mix of diplomatic dexterity and military muscle.

In comments carried by Irans official news agency IRNA, Rouhani repeated calls for the United States to go. The fact is that the illegal presence and interference of the United States in Syria lead to the increase of tension and the countrys disintegration, he said. Irans state television quoted Rouhani as also telling Erdogan and Putin that Turkey must hand control of the mainly Kurdish enclave of Afrin, which it captured last month from the YPG, back to the Syrian regime.

All must have been dazed by the flurry of conflicting messages coming out of Washington as to whether some 2,000 US special operations forces will remain in Syria. Over the past week President Donald Trump said twice that US forces would be leaving soon. Today, US officials quoted by Reuters affirmed that the president still wants the troops to return but had reluctantly agreed to their continued deployment until IS is defeated.

Turkey is fiercely opposed to an American presence that relies on the YPG, but is equally alarmed at the prospect of a hasty US withdrawal that would see sophisticated weapons given to the Kurds to fight IS left in Kurdish hands. Erdogan reportedly aired those concerns in his April 2 telephone conversation with Trump, sources familiar with the substance of the exchange told Al-Monitor.

Ankara wants the Pentagon to partner with rebel groups it mentors instead, foremost in Manbij, an Arab-majority town the coalition helped YPG forces wrest from IS in August 2015. Manbij lies just to the west of the Euphrates River, which Turkey labeled a red line the Syrian Kurds must not breach. The Pentagons failure to fulfill pledges to end the YPG presence once Manbij fell sparked escalating tensions between Ankara and Washington, culminating in veiled threats by Erdogan to confront US forces in Manbij if need be.

Brett McGurk, the US special envoy for the counter-IS fight at the State Department, outlined the difficulties of the Turkish plan at a US Institute of Peace panel yesterday. He dwelled in particular on the Islamist nature of Turkeys rebel allies, which is why the Pentagon remains leery of working with them.

McGurk reminded a packed audience that the reason the United States partnered with the YPG to take Manbij, where major attacks against the West had been planned, was because earlier attempts to do so with the Turkish-backed rebels had failed. The clearing of Manbij in turn facilitated Turkeys own Euphrates Shield operation against IS in Jarablus soon after. McGurk said, The complexity of this  is not just US-Turkey conversation, it is on the ground in Syria.  These are mostly people from Manbij, there are Arabs that live in Manbij, but the people working with the Turks are also from Manbij, but they have a very different orientation." He said that many of the opposition groups outside of Manbij have "a more Islamist orientation, where in Manbij right now some women are covered, some are not. It is a much more, for lack of a better word, secular environment.Mansur Moradi began panicking as blood poured from both his legs after an unexpected explosion. Stranded in a minefield in western Iran, any movement he made could trigger yet another blast. The mountainous region is covered with millions of anti-personnel landmines laid during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. Ultimately, the 36-year-old survived, thanks to luck. Iranian border guards managed to safely retrieve him, unlike many other similar victims, and transport him to a nearby hospital by air ambulance.

The prevalence of landmines in western Iran, largely home to ethnic minorities, including Kurds, Lurs and Arabs, poses a serious hazard to the lives of millions of Iranians. The people living in the border provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam and Khuzestan continue to experience serious injuries as well as death from landmine explosions nearly 30 years after the end of the war with Iraq, a devastating conflict that saw the widespread use of anti-personnel mines.

While memories of air raid sirens, warplanes breaking the sound barrier and a constant fear of bombs and missiles might have faded in some parts of Iran, residents of the border areas between Iran and Iraq are regularly reminded of the costs of the war. An estimated 20 million landmines were laid in western Iran during the hostilities with Iraq and during fighting between Kurdish militants and the Tehran government in the 1980s. On top of this, another 7 million anti-personnel mines were scattered on the other side of the border, laid by the Baghdad government in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Iranian government launched de-mining efforts after the war, but its approach has been insufficient as well as mismanaged. Despite official claims about the end of de-mining operations in some areas, people still lose their lives or sustain long-term injuries on a regular basis. On Feb. 27, a mine exploded under the vehicle of a family of four out for a picnic near the southwestern city of Shush. Everyone in the car suffered injuries, including a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy.

No one appears to have reliable figures on how many people have fallen victim to landmines since the end of the war with Iraq. "Landmine Monitor," the annual report of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, references 10,000 casualties since 1988. The economic cost of clearing these random death traps has been a financial burden on the government and the people of Iran.

In 2017, Iran Without Landmines, a campaign that this writer helped launch in 2013, documented 79 casualties, including nine children, from landmines and other explosive remnants of war. Of those, 17 died and 62 sustained serious injuries, such as the loss of limbs. Ilam province accounted for the highest number of civilian deaths in 2017, with four people killed. Iran Without Landmines documented 56 casualties nationwide in 2016, including 18 deaths.

Government support and rehabilitation for landmine victims has also been inadequate. A 1994 law, amended in 2010, mandates the payment of salaries or benefits to war refugees, people who return to their homes in war-torn areas of the country and those disabled as a result of contact with explosive materials. Victims who are not recognized as disabled veterans by a special commission are only entitled, upon commission approval, to negligible allowances afforded by the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation or the State Welfare Organization.

The law does not provide for legal procedures to appeal commission decisions. Victims also face prolonged investigations into their cases, leaving them in the meantime without financial assistance from the state to cover medical and other costs before a decision is made regarding their status. Even in the case of a favorable decision, the assistance provided is not retroactive. Costs incurred between the moment an accident occurs and the commissions decision are not reimbursed.

Iran has a mixed track record on measures opposing anti-personnel mines. In 1997, it implemented an open-ended moratorium on the export of anti-personnel landmines, and later, at the UN General Assembly in November 1998, the Iranian ambassador stated that the total elimination of mines backed by a comprehensive verification mechanism was the ideal. Iran, however, has not become a party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which counts 80% of countries as signatories. Iranian authorities have also consistently refused to seek the assistance of international organizations specializing in de-mining.

A landmine is inherently indiscriminate by nature. Once a mine is laid, it does not distinguish between a combatant and a civilian. It remains active long after the end of hostilities, striking fear in the heart of nearby communities and limiting the mobility of residents to move around and in some cases access productive natural resources.

Iran still refuses to benefit from the experiences of other countries in clearing the millions of landmines dotting its western border. The time has come for authorities in Tehran to rethink their policy, first and foremost for the sake of the country's citizens.On April 4, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attended a trilateral summit with his Turkish and Russian counterparts to discuss the path forward in Syria. As expected, the trip gained the attention of Iranian media and foreign policy analysts in Tehran.

This is the second trilateral summit for the three presidents. In November, Vladimir Putin hosted Rouhani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi to discuss the Syrian issue.

Government-run newspaper Iran wrote April 4 that the trilateral meeting in Ankara is important due to recent positive and negative developments in Syria, including [US President Donald] Trumps decision to withdraw US forces from Syria, the disagreements between the governments of Syria and Turkey over the Turkish armys movements in Afrin and the eastern Ghouta issue.

Nosratollah Tajik, a former Iranian ambassador to Jordan, believes that the aim of the trilateral summit is primarily to coordinate positions for how to deal with future developments in Syria.

Tajik told the ILNA news agency April 4, The outcome of the summit of Iran, Russia and Turkey in Ankara about Syria is expected to establish a new bloc to create a new order not only for Syria and its people, but also for the benefit of the countries of the region. He added, The first summit, which was held last November in Sochi, led to further consolidation of the Astana summit, which the United States isnt pleased with."

Under the headline The complexities of three neighbors meeting, former Iranian diplomat Fereydoun Majlesi focused on the goals of Tehran, Moscow and Ankara, arguing in the Reformist Shargh daily April 4 that Turkey seeks a share of the Syrian market and is also interested in participating in the planned oil and natural gas pipeline running from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea via Iraq and Syria. Majlesi also argued that Turkey wants to prevent the Kurds from having more power in Syria and deny Kurdistan Workers Party fighters a base in the country.

Addressing Iranian concerns and goals, Majlesi wrote that Tehran seeks to have a share in the regional market following the return of calm to Syria and have access to the Mediterranean Sea, so it can take advantage of the connecting bridge between Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

He added, It is important for Iran that a political system like the regime of Saddam Hussein, which was under the destructive influence of Saudi Arabia, doesnt come to exist in Syria and Iraq.

Majlesi said that preserving the only remaining military base, inherited from the Soviet Union, in Latakia is of great importance for Russia.

Reformist Ebtekar newspaper wrote April 4, In 10 summits, the Astana triangle with the presence of Iran, Russia and Turkey managed to reach achievements including the establishment of a relative truce as well as creating de-escalation zones in Syria. But [following] the military presence of Turkey in Afrin, which according to experts was done after Russia and the US green light, the continuation of this cooperation [between Tehran, Moscow and Ankara] has faced uncertainty.

The Reformist daily elaborated, In such a situation, the summit of the three countries in Turkey for the settlement of Syrias future and their support for its territorial integrity are very far from [the current realities]. The question is how the preferred political solution of all sides involved in this issue will be fulfilled following Turkeys invasion of northern Syria as well as the complexity of the developments in the country.Should the Israeli state mandate kosher Passover food in hospitals? This issue has become the center of a secular-religious battle. A group of secular activists petitioned the High Court against the regulation that prohibits bringing leavened bread, or chametz, into hospitals during Passover. But the petition seems like a fight for the sake of a fight and not motivated by a true desire to allow families to bring food for their hospitalized loved ones. The Israeli public is clearly smarter than those purporting to fight for it and knows how to be flexible and considerate when necessary.

In general, hospitals in Israel forbid bringing in food except that in its original sealed packaging. In practice, however, the prohibition isnt meticulously enforced. A deputy director of operations at one of the hospitals in Jerusalem admitted in private conversation with Al-Monitor that the Israeli public cannot comply with this decree, and so long as they don't bring enormous pots or cause real disturbance to the other patients and hospital routine, hospitals turn a blind eye.

According to the kashrut regulations of the Chief Rabbinate and at the instruction of the Ministry of Health, there is also a specific prohibition against bringing in leavened food into hospitals during Passover, since they undergo Passover cleaning and their food service items are intended only for kosher Passover food. Accordingly, hospital security guards have been instructed that from the morning that the hospitals are cleaned for Passover until the end of the holiday, they must enforce the rule and not allow visitors to bring food thats not kosher into the hospital area.

This year the Secular Forum, whose stated goals include fighting religious radicalization, decided to petition the High Court against the prohibition on bringing leavened food into hospitals. Knesset members Ksenia Svetlova (Zionist Camp), Michal Rozin and Mossi Raz (Meretz) joined the effort. The chairman of the Secular Forum, Ram Fruman, claimed, This instruction takes advantage of patients. The State of Israel is not a state governed by Jewish law, and therefore it isnt ethical, proper or legal that its institutions trample on the rights of citizens.

In response, the state claimed that the prohibition on bringing leavened food into hospitals during the Passover holiday is reasonable and proper, since it is intended to ensure that medical facilities remain open and accessible to those who keep the laws of kashrut during the holiday. According to the state, the injury to those who dont keep kashrut is minor and amounts to a few days a year of eating kosher food.

Several hospital directors have announced that they wont enforce the regulation, angering Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman of ultra-Orthodox Yahadut HaTorah. Theres no authority for a director not to uphold or implement the regulation thats been in place for 60-70 years. This is the regulation that has existed until now, and we will maintain it, he said.

According to the hospital official who spoke with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, during Passover most of the public refrains from bringing food into hospitals at all. Visitors are mostly aware of the problem regarding kashrut for Passover and prefer to make do during the holiday with food provided by the hospital to their hospitalized loved ones, he said. According to him, most of those who have brought food with them during Passover were simply unaware of the regulation and, aside from isolated arguments, visitors have accepted the prohibition and left the food they brought at the entrance to the hospital.

Rabbi Menachem Rosenberg, the rabbi of Kupat Hacholim Hakelalit (Israels largest HMO that operates 14 hospitals there), said that leading up to the holiday, signs were posted at hospital entrances asking visitors to respect the public who observes the holiday and refrain from bringing in leavened food. Volunteers also explain to visitors the importance of the matter. In his experience, people usually cooperate and understand the importance of the matter. He didn't discount the possibility that some people have brought leavened food into hospital areas unobserved, but he said no complaints have been received on the matter. The public has solved the issue without the help of the High Court or a public battle.

A survey by Ynet revealed that in most hospitals security guards do not conduct chametz checks and anyone who wants to bring in food does so. At the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba checks were conducted, and if leavened food was found it was kept at the entrance in designated boxes. In most cases, it was pita bread brought by families of Bedouin patients.

Aviad Hacohen, president of the Academic Center for Law and Science, described the fight against the chametz regulation as pointless. He said that when an unenforceable law exists, It turns into a battle instead of tolerance, which is true freedom. Its simple humanity between people.

There are quite a few loaded issues of religion and state in Israel, some of them fundamental. The issue of bringing unleavened food into hospitals is not one of them, but its being used by the two sides to create the impression of a rift. But even the High Court has delayed its decision until after Passover, as if telling the litigants that not everything is a judicial issue.The Jordanian government is considering whether to renew a 25-year special regime  under an annex of the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel  set to expire in 2019. This agreement gives Israel private landownership rights and property interests in the Baqoura area under Jordans sovereignty. However, former Prime Minister and chief peace negotiator Abdel Salam al-Majali delivered a shocker in a TV interview March 20. The former premier stated that lands in the Baqoura area, which Israel calls Naharayim, are in fact privately owned by Jews. Majali told Al-Urdun Al-Youm TV station that while Jordan has sovereignty over the area, the land in Baqoura was registered to Jewish owners back in 1926. He said the area was under Israeli occupation and was returned to Jordan, which did not lease it to Israel since it is private property.

The revelations reverberated across the Hashemite Kingdom with Lower House deputies expressing outrage. Two days before Majalis interview, 20 deputies signed a petition calling on the government not to renew what for the last 24 years has been described as a lease, which covers Baqoura, along the Jordan River, and al-Ghamr in Wadi Araba.

It took the government a few days to respond to the controversy. On March 25, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi responded to a question in parliament on the issue by confirming that while Baqoura was privately owned by Israelis since 1926 Jordan maintains sovereignty over the territory, along with al-Ghamr in Wadi Araba. He said that the decision to renew the lease or not belongs to the government, which will make the decision in accordance to the kingdoms highest national interest.

But Safadis response only added fuel to the fire. Former Minister of Justice Mohammad al-Hammouri fired back March 26 by telling Jo24.net news site that the terms "Israel" and "Israelis" did not exist in 1926. If the sale did take place then, the deed would have been registered under the names of foreign nationals and that does not affect Jordans full sovereignty over the land, he said. Baqoura is as Jordanian as Amman and Irbid and under the constitution, the government cannot cede an inch of its territory.

A detailed study by Jordanian academic researcher Shaker Jarrar, published by 7iber.com in Arabic on Oct. 25, 2017, revealed that under the 1994 peace treatys Annex 1(B), Jordan and Israel agreed that a special regime will apply to the Baqoura/Naharayim area, noting that they recognize the area is under Jordans sovereignty with Israeli private landownership rights and property interests.

Accordingly, Jordan undertook, among other things, to grant without charge unimpeded freedom of entry to and exit from the land, not to apply its customs or immigration legislation to landowners, not to impose discriminatory taxes or charges with regard to the land or activities within the area, and to permit uniformed officers of the Israeli police force access to the area.

A similar special regime was also agreed to under Annex 1(C) regarding the use of al-Ghamr area, where Jordanian sovereignty is recognized against Israeli private landownership in that area along the Jordan-Israel border. Nowhere does the word "lease" appear, but instead the two sides agree that the annex will remain in force for 25 years and shall be renewed automatically for the same periods, unless one year prior notice of termination is given by either party, in which case, at the request of either party, consultations shall be entered into.

In his study, Jarrar explains how Baqoura lands ended up being owned by Jews. He says that Pinhas Rutenberg, a Russian-born Zionist, won a concession in 1926 from the British Mandatory government in Palestine to generate electricity in the Baqoura area using waters from the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers. On Jan. 8, 1928, the government of Transjordan approved the 70-year concession. In the process, Rutenberg was able to purchase 6,000 square meters (roughly 1.5 acres) of land in that area. Jarrar adds that the land deed, which is kept at the Irbid Land Department, stipulates that Rutenberg cannot transfer ownership of the land to a third party. But Jarrar insists that Rutenberg did sell thousands of square meters to the Jewish Agency. Baqoura was occupied by Israel following the 1948 war.

Jarrars study, which was reposted by 7iber.com in English following Majali's interview and the ensuing controversy, forced deputies, political analysts and officials to revisit the treaty. Former Minister of Information Taher al-Udwan wrote March 25 on Maqar.com that following Majalis revelations, which fell on our heads like a hammer," he re-read the articles of the peace treaty only to discover that we as political parties, politicians and the media were fast asleep [when the treaty was passed by parliament on Nov. 6, 1994] when we believed the story of leasing and liberating our land. Udwan added, Now we know that the land was neither leased nor liberated and that our sovereignty is incomplete.

Udwan called on the government not to renew the agreement and to annul Israels ownership of Jordanian lands. His call was echoed by the president of the Jordan Bar Association, Mazen Irsheidat, who on March 27 told Jo24.net that Jordan land sales to Israelis should be annulled since Jordanian laws do not allow land sales to Jews.

In his column in Al-Ghad daily on March 27, political commentator Fahad al-Khitan said the controversy over Baqoura will continue for weeks to come since it is tied to Israel. He noted that the government finds itself in an unenviable position because of legal constraints that have been imposed on it (by the British Mandate authority) 84 years ago. He concluded by saying that ironically in 1950, then-Defense Minister Fawzi al-Mulki, who is the father of present Prime Minister Hani al-Mulki, told parliament that Baqoura was a Jordanian territory by international law and that the government was determined to repulse by force Jewish aggression on it. Khitan asked, "Now that the son faces the same challenge as his father did 68 years ago, will he fulfill his fathers promise and regain full sovereignty?"The dust seems to be settling somewhat over Iraq's Kurdistan Region, but fallout from the discord among Kurds, and with the central government, could still be considerable come election time.

Thousands of demonstrators protested for months, and hundreds of civil servants have been on strike in several cities over delayed and reduced pay. Teachers and health care workers in Sulaimaniyah agreed this week to end or suspend their strikes after meeting with administrators, though details about the financial situation apparently have yet to be worked out. Those workers also voiced their anger because what money Baghdad had provided was being doled out among all of Kurdistans civil servants  none of whom had been paid since September. As a result, nobody received a full salary.

The protests have been most prominent in Kurdish areas not dominated by the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)  areas such as Sulaimaniyah, where tents were erected in front of the local courthouse, allowing people to participate in huge demonstrations. In other cities such as Rania, Koya and Kifri  where the KDP is less popular than the other ruling party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the opposition to those ruling parties  hospitals and schools closed.

More significantly still, hundreds of protesters also hit the streets in KDP-ruled towns like Erbil and Dahuk, undeterred by local authorities refusing to grant them permits. Anti-government protests are rare in KDP territory, where discontent is hardly ever expressed openly for fear of retribution. But that fear didn't keep people from protesting this time, and it's not expected to discourage them from voting their minds in the May elections for a new Iraqi government. Their impact is expected to be even greater during Kurdistan parliamentary elections, currently scheduled for September.

Since the Kurds' costly fight against the Islamic State (IS) erupted in 2014, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) hasn't been able to pay its 1.2 million civil servants their wages in full. Instead, the KRG cut those salaries by 25-75%, with the highest paid people, such as doctors and professors, receiving the largest cuts. Then, last year, after the Kurds defied Baghdad by holding an independence referendum in September, the central government imposed sanctions, withholding money budgeted for the KRG, making the situation even more dire.

As part of the recent detente between the Kurds and Baghdad, the Iraqi government resumed payments, but only in part, claiming that Kurdistans payroll is inflated by nepotism and corruption and that the Kurdistan government could use its own oil income to cover the deficit. This fed the protesters suspicions that their politicians have been skimming oil money, leading the protesters to accuse the KRG of stealing and lying.

The division of oil revenues is still unresolved. When the Kurds drove IS out of the region, they gained control of disputed areas previously held by Baghdad, including oil-rich Kirkuk. When the Kurds began making their own oil deals and keeping the income, Baghdad cut the region's budget.

While protests last week in Sulaimaniyah and other areas were generally peaceful, those in Dahuk and the KRG's capital city, Erbil, were marred by security force and police violence, said lawyer Hiwa Omer.

Omer, the coordinator of the Kurdistan Social Forum for Free Speech Groups, said he has submitted evidence to the Erbil prosecutor regarding dozens of cases in which people were beaten and even kidnapped by plainclothes members of the security forces and the secret police. The perpetrators mingled with the protesters while police in riot gear looked on.

They hit three girls in front of us, Omer said, adding that many attacks were indiscriminate, with women and old men also falling victim to the violence. As they had taken all our phones, nobody could record it. His organization has also reported these human rights abuses to the United Nations in Iraq.

A video of a teacher being kicked in the face and stomach March 25 by a plainclothes policeman went viral on social media, stirring public ire. The anger increased further when, on March 28, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani criticized the protesters, saying that if they used knives and guns, the authorities would use the same methods against them. There were no reports of weapons being used by protesters.

Journalists were also targeted, and reporters were prevented from doing their work in Erbil and Dahuk. The Metro Center for Journalists' Rights and Advocacy said March 29 that in the previous four days it had documented 78 violations against 48 journalists, including 10 cases in which journalists were beaten and assaulted. Another 10 reporters have been detained. Authorities also seized some journalists' cameras and other equipment.

Amnesty International called on Kurdish authorities to immediately put an end to the beating, harassment and intimidation of demonstrators and journalists, stating, They have a duty to ensure that everyone can exercise their right to peaceful protest without interference.

The Kurdistan government has reacted to the uproar by promising to scrap cuts on the lowest salaries and setting a maximum deduction rate of 30% on the others. Although that didn't end protests in non-KDP areas, where the demonstrators were demanding that all cuts be eliminated, the demonstrations fizzled out in Erbil. According to Omer, this was because people felt they had shown that Erbils discontented residents could raise their voices. As one of the protesters said, People are beyond their fear of the KDP.

This state of mind, combined with the continued discontent, is expected to affect the May and September election results. While loyalty to the ruling KDP and PUK parties runs deep, it has also allegedly been bought sometimes with bribes of houses, land, cars and jobs  one of the reasons there are so many civil servants. And even though the Kurdish prime minister has accused the opposition of using the protests to further its political agenda, KDP and PUK loyalists have also joined in.

Speaking by phone from London, independent Kurdish political scientist Shivan Fazil predicted that the governing KDP and PUK will lose votes and the opposition will gain support because of broken promises and the violence unleashed on protesters. After months without pay, they finally expected to receive a full salary. People will [also] have second thoughts about voting for the government parties because of the undignified way [citizens] were treated during the protests.

The Kurdish opposition will increase its seats in both the Iraqi and Kurdistan parliaments, he predicts, with opposition members taking over ministerial positions in Iraq that in the past have been held only by KDP and PUK members. Change could happen in Erbil, too, if we get a better government in Baghdad, he added.

Fearing that some political parties will try to halt this changeover, Fazil is calling on the electoral commission to make sure the upcoming elections are "clean."

Political differences between the Kurdish parties have been set aside in recent years, he pointed out, as economic hardship, the war against IS and the conflict with Baghdad forced Kurdish politicians to show at least a modicum of unity. All this will now be fought out at the ballot box.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Mahmoud Abu Riyala, a young fisherman from Gaza City, returned to the sea March 23 after nearly a month off of work, despite the unhealed shrapnel wounds in his chest and hands from an Israeli naval patrol shooting at him off the Gaza coast Feb. 25.

His cousin Ismail Abu Riyala, 18, was not as lucky. He was shot dead by the patrols while both young men were fishing off the coast of the northern Gaza Strip.

Fishermen in Gaza were outraged by Abu Riyalas killing, which they see as a serious threat to their own lives. They suspended their fishing trips for two to three days. The Israeli side held Abu Riyal's body for two weeks before his father recovered it March 14 from the Beit Hanoun checkpoint.

Mahmoud Abu Riyala, who has been fishing for six years since he was a young teen, witnessed firsthand how his cousin was killed. We went off on a fishing trip in the afternoon on Feb. 24. The next morning, Israeli naval patrols  were circling the boat and taking photos of it. We were 5 miles from the shore," within the permitted fishing zone, he told Al-Monitor.

Israel Defense Forces said the "suspicious" ship had strayed outside that zone and ignored warning shots.

Under a truce agreement after their 2014 conflict, Israel restricts Palestinian fishing to within 6 miles of shore. Israel says it considers ships outside that zone suspect because they could be smuggling arms. However, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, Israeli attacks are taking place within the permitted area.

The Israeli naval patrols fired at us, although we were within in the permissible limits of the fishing zone," Abu Riyala said. "We held our hands up and started waving. Then, I turned to the engine so that we could escape back to the shore. Ismail was trying to shelter me when he was shot in the head."

Saad Ziada, the director of the Support and Advocacy Department at Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, During the past three months, there has been an alarming number of attacks against Palestinian fishermen. One fisherman was killed, five wounded and 25 arrested. Three fishing boats were confiscated; other boats were sabotaged along with dozens of fishing nets. All these attacks occurred at 3-4 miles from the Gaza Strip coast.

Statistics from another UAWC unit, the Department for the Documentation of Israeli Violations Against Fishermen, show that in all of 2017, two Palestinian fishermen were killed, 21 wounded and 39 arrested. Moreover, nine fishing boats were partially or fully destroyed, 13 boats were confiscated in addition to damages and losses in fishing gear.

There's been an uptick in Israeli attacks on fishermen in the past three months, all occurring within 6 miles of shore, as per the designated fishing area set in the post-2014 war agreement," said Zakaria Bakr Abu Ayed, a coordinator of UAWC fishing committees in Gaza. "Meanwhile, the Oslo Agreement provided for a 20-mile fishing area off the coast."

He said Israel's actions are designed to displace and intimidate fishermen "who are being shot at, killed and arrested and are having their fishing gear destroyed.

Mufleh Abu Riyala, a member of the Gaza Fishing Syndicate, told Al-Monitor that during periodic meetings with fishermen representing the Ministry of Agriculture and international organizations, Israel has been discussing proposals to prevent future conflicts.

One of the proposals was to establish fish farms within the 6 miles, instead of increasing the fishing zone, Mufleh Abu Riyala said. Israel is seeking to [maintain] the 6-mile area as a fait accompli on fishermen, although this zone is rocky, while fishing is abundant starting at 9 miles off the coast."

He added, Israel sees the maritime borders as more dangerous than the land border. This is why the Israeli side has already started the fish farms project and has been receiving applications for [Palestinian] professional divers, who will be trained outside Palestine."

A senior Palestinian official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Al-Monitor, The project to establish three fishing farms off the Gaza coast has been underway for six months. This will help increase the fishery resources of Palestinian fishermen.

Adel Atallah, the director of the Fisheries Department in Gaza's Agriculture Ministry, told Al-Monitor that while Gazas need of fish amounts to 20,000 tons a year," it is obtaining far less currently, with 4,000 tons "covered by domestic fishing and 8,000 from imports from Israel, as well as 600 tons from local fish farms.The town of Manbij in northern Syria has been gradually becoming a dangerous fault line between Turkey and the West, as Turkish strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his loyalists continue lambasting Western capitals  particularly Washington and Paris  one after the other for their lack of support for Turkeys offensive against Syrian Kurdish groups.

One of the most recent and striking examples of this enmity came April 1, when Turkeys low-profile deputy prime minister accused Western governments of supporting terrorist groups to avenge the defeat of their grandfathers.

"We drove their grandfathers into the sea," he said. "That is why they are waging a relentless struggle against us, Hakan Cavusoglu said, referring to the Greco-Turkish war in 1897. However, because they do not dare to confront us openly, they franchise the terrorist organizations."

He said, Look at France, Germany, Italy and Spain, they are ruled by technocrats. No real leaders. In the whole world, Recep Tayyip Erdogan occupies the top seat as a leader. You may perhaps add [Russian President Vladimir] Putin next to him.

Cavusoglus remarks are a good example of the anti-Western theme prevalent among the rulers of Turkey who see Syrian Kurdish groups, including the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Peoples Protection Units (YPG), as synonymous with terror. According to the Turkish establishment, those who support and fund these groups include the United States, France and the Gulf states.

Erdogan, whose daily public speeches have added up to some 1,300 minutes in the past month, has not hesitated to castigate Western leaders in humiliating terms. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, became the latest target after he received a Kurdish delegation of PYD and YPG figures at the Elysee Palace on March 29. After the Associated Press reported that the French leader promised to send French forces to Manbij should Turkey proceed to realize its threats against the Syrian Kurdish groups there, Macron quickly became a hated figure in the eyes of the Turkish establishment.

Manbij is a very sensitive issue for Turkish ears and any commitment to the PYD or YPG are unacceptable for Turkey, said Olivier Piot, a French expert on the Kurdish issue.

Emmanuel Macron is crossing a line in his relationship with Turkey. Until now, he expressed concern and warned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he had to pay attention to the stability of the region. But its become clear that Ankaras goal is to capture the 900-kilometer [560-mile] frontier in northern Syria, Piot said in an interview with France24. The French president is beginning to draw a red line for the Turks, warning them against entering the town of Manbij. We're in a situation in which diplomatic posturing wont be enough. Soon we are going to find ourselves facing military engagement. If France wants to continue to play a role in the region, it will have to make a choice.

In the meantime, it is the United States, not France, that will test the future of Turkeys relations with the West.

The United States and Turkey are on a collision course in northern Syria, threatening to ignite a dangerous new phase in the Syrian civil war, undermine the fight against IS and redraw the map of the Middle East. The epicenter of this brewing conflict is Manbij, where the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish-backed rebels face off across a combustible front line, Deutsche Welle reported.

On March 28, the Turkish National Security Council issued a statement saying, Terrorists in Manbij need to leave the region immediately; otherwise Turkey will not hesitate to take its own initiative as it did in other regions. Turkey will maintain the same steadfastness against terrorist groups east of the Euphrates," the report read. Manbij is just west of the Euphrates.

For the Kurds, Turkeys occupation of mainly Kurdish Afrin has been achieved thanks to Russian betrayal and now in Manbij they suspect a possible American one, too. Some segments of American policy-making are careful to keep Turkey on board as an important NATO ally and not to lose Ankara to Putin.

The indecisiveness in Washington on Manbij, President Donald Trumps recent statement that he wants the United States to leave Syria soon and his decision to freeze American assistance to the SDF embolden the Turkish leadership's determination to move into the contested city in northern Syria. Following the departure of Rex Tillerson, who is to be replaced by Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, Manbij's fate is uncertain. Neither Pompeo nor Trumps incoming national security adviser, John Bolton, are particularly known as Erdogan fans.

If American policymakers get over their indecisiveness on Manbij, they have to either take a Turkey-appeasing stand that would be termed another American betrayal by the Kurds or stand by the US partnership with the SDF, putting Turkey-US relations on a collision course. Can Turkey dare to set such a course?

The Western world is still in disbelief, unable to see that a confrontational relationship with the United States and the West is a necessary ingredient in Erdogans quest to consolidate his nationalist base. Thus, it is highly plausible that Turkey and the United States will collide over Manbij.

Erdogans recent bashing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a terrorist is a harbinger of what Washington can expect if it persists on its partnership with the SDF in Manbij.

Turkeys ever-increasing reliance on Russia also expands its room to maneuver against the United States and West, as one of Erdogans aides bluntly put it. Without Russian support, we cannot even fly drones over Afrin, CNN-Turk quoted him as saying. That is exactly the reason Putin is investing in Erdogan. The cracks between the NATO allies are deepening, and Manbij is the most vulnerable fault line.WASHINGTON  A day after President Donald Trump said he wanted to bring US troops home from Syria, the White House announced that the US-led coalition will complete its mission to eradicate the so-called Islamic State in Syria and then leave it largely to allies and partners to fund and conduct stabilization efforts to ensure that the militant group does not return.

The announcement reflected a decision by Trump to narrow the US military goal in Syria largely to a counterterrorism mission, after his administration had earlier said it would keep an extended US troop presence in Syria to also counter the Iranian presence there and give leverage to stalled talks on a Syria political settlement. The United States has approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria, largely to battle the Islamic State, often abbreviated IS but also as ISIS.

The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee said in a written statement today.

The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated, the White House statement continued. We will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans. We expect countries in the region and beyond, plus the United Nations, to work toward peace and ensure that ISIS never re-emerges.

Trump made calls to the leaders of France, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar over the past two days to discuss the decision, among other matters.

In a phone call today, Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron have reaffirmed their commitment to ensure the total defeat of ISIS, the French ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud, wrote on Twitter.

On Syria, the President and the King [Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud] discussed joint efforts to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and counter Iranian efforts to exploit the Syrian conflict to pursue its destabilizing regional ambitions, the White House said in a readout of Trumps call with the Saudi king on Tuesday.

Trump, in a press conference with Baltic leaders Tuesday, expressed growing impatience with an open-ended military mission in Syria, and said he wanted to bring US troops home.

I want to get out, Trump said at a press conference with Baltic leaders Tuesday. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation. We will have [spent], as of three months ago, $7 trillion in the Middle East over the last 17 years. We get nothing  out of it.

So it's time, Trump continued. We were very successful against ISIS. We'll be successful against anybody militarily. But sometimes it's time to come back home, and we're thinking about that very seriously, OK?

There has been a long-running difference of opinion among Trumps advisers over whether the US mission in Syria should be narrowly focused on counterterrorism, or should be more expansive to counter Irans influence and put pressure on the Bashar al-Assad regime. The camp that advocated for a more narrow counterterror mission, which appears to have won out, includes longtime US counter-IS envoy Brett McGurk, US Central Command commander Gen. Joseph Votel and the US military more generally. The camp that advocated for a more expansive mission to push back on Iranian influence includes Joel Rayburn, the National Security Council senior director for Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, as well as former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and, at least previously, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.

The United States will maintain a military presence in Syria, focused on ensuring ISIS cannot re-emerge, Tillerson said in a major Syria speech at Stanford University in January. It is vital for the United States to remain engaged in Syria for several reasons. Among the reasons for an open-ended US troop presence in Syria, Tillerson said, was so that Iranian influence in Syria is diminished  and Syrias neighbors are secure from all threats emanating from Syria.

While Trump had signed off on in December on the expansive policy Tillerson announced, he appears to have soon changed his mind. Appearing at a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Feb. 23, Trump said, Were there [in Syria] for one reason, were there to get ISIS and get rid of ISIS and go home. He added, Were not there for any other reason and weve largely accomplished our goal.

Policy veered way off track in December but gravity will pull it back to earth, a US official, speaking not for attribution, told al-Monitor, referring to the Syria policy Tillerson announced after Trump had agreed to it.

Meantime, Rayburn has spoken to think-tank experts on Syria about how the United States will help push back on Irans malign influence in Syria, analysts said.

Trump empowers people that dont believe in what he wants, Aaron Stein, an analyst on Turkish and Middle East security issues at the Atlantic Council, told Al-Monitor. So they dont deliver to him the policy options that fit with his worldview. It works until it doesnt.

Stein said, Trump has managed to undercut the factions within his own administration that have spent the past year putting in place talking points and briefing papers on a counter-Iran strategy in Syria, independent of the IS war. Trump clearly doesnt want to stick around, so at some point hell get his way. He is the boss, after all.

The section in Tillersons speech that discussed diminishing Iran in Syria  is the most problematic section for elements of the Trump administration that really and authentically believe that the US should stop getting involved in land wars in the Middle East, and should instead focus attention to the real and what they believe to be imminent threats that they believe emanate from Asia, particularly the crisis in the Korean peninsula, Nicholas Heras, a military analyst at the Center for New a American Security, told al-Monitor.

And quite frankly that assessment is shared by many in the US military, Heras said. But the US military also wants to get the job done right and comprehensively when it comes to defeating IS.

The US military is generally supportive of Trumps decision to avoid Syria mission creep, and will try to train the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces to perform many of the stabilization operations and prevent the re-emergence of IS, Heras said.

What the US military is trying to do is get SDF to be a self-running machine capable of providing security, governance and administration for areas that have been conquered from IS, and allow the SDF to be able to negotiate effectively for its place in a future Syria, led by Assad or not, and to be able to interface with international organizations that can provide humanitarian assistance, and reconstruction in territory conquered [from] IS, he said.

Where the US military has seems to have carried the day is  helping President Trump further refine his definition of what defeating IS 100% means. In this, the military has played a very important role in advising the president, Heras said.

From my understanding, the US military looks at the Syria situation as moving from active military operations to preventative counterterrorism, Heras said. What that means, is not simply about erasing all the black spots on the map where IS controls. That is just the first part. The second part is making sure SDF can secure and govern, and the US can shift its focus to North Korea.

Trumps counter-IS envoy McGurk, speaking at the US Institute for Peace on Tuesday, said the United States is training the Syrians to do a lot of the critical work removing rubble, land mines and restoring electricity and water so displaced people can return home. We are training Syrians on this dangerous work and they are getting the job done, McGurk said. So almost 100,000 [have] now returned to Raqqa.Srinagar, April 04: On Sunday, when an army general, to mark the killing of thirteen militants, told the media that it was a special day, it was perhaps for the first time in the last nearly twenty years of armed insurgency that so many Kashmiri men had been killed in a single day of violence in the Kashmir valley.

The thirteen Hizbul Mujahideen fighters were shot dead in three different shootouts in Shopian and Anantnag on Sunday fuelling widespread protests in Kashmir that have led to four deaths and injuries to more than two hundred people.

Seven years back eight militants had been killed by the government forces in the Chenab valley of Jammu that was nowhere as close the last Sundays bloodshed. The Chenab valley encounter, according to records, took place on 8 November 2011 in Doda and Poonch in Jammu. All the militants, who were natives of the place, belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashker-e-Toiba. All the eight were killed in two separate counter-insurgency operations. They were top and key members of outfits, said a senior officer of the security establishment. From that very day militancy in Chinab valley went all time low.

In was in 2011 again that 17 militants were killed in about seven day long gunfight in Drayengyari- Hafruda forests of Kupwara. Eight Indian army men were also shot dead by the guerrillas in the shootout that went on for seven days in the forests of Hafruda, in Kupwara. It was assumed that most of the guerrillas were from Pakistan. A few months later13 more fighters were killed in a five day long gun battle in the Kangan area of Kashmir in which an army man also died. Again all of them were believed to be from Pakistan.

On 20 August 2011, 12 militants, again from Pakistan, and an Indian army officer were killed in a fierce gunfight close to the Line of Control, in the Bandipora district.

The feeling among the top security officials of the state is that the killing of thirteen militants might somehow deter more Kashmiri youngsters from taking up arms against the government. Whether that would happen remains to be seen. But if the past is any evidence, the death of a militant only encourages more to take up arms.

(Kashmir Reader)Kashmirs main hospital is overwhelmed with victims of pellet guns bringing memories of mass blinding two years ago.

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir  Mohsin Nabi is lying on a hospital bed in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir. His face and left eye have small visible holes of iron pellets fired by the Indian security forces.

The 23-year-old says while he was walking along with his friends towards Kachdora village when the group of boys were hit by a volley of pellets fired by Indian security forces.

Three villages, including Kachdora, in southern Kashmirs Shopian district, was the scene of a bloody encounter on Sunday in which 19 people were killed that included at least four civilians.

A fifth civilian, a 17-year-old boy, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.

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Protests were happening at a distance but the firing was unprovoked, a total nine boys were hit with me. We were just walking and they targeted us, said Nabi, whose friend is also being treated for pellet injuries in the same ward.

Everything went dark then I dont know who brought me here, he says adding that the doctors have performed a primary surgery of removing the pellets from his eyeballs.

Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS), located in the main city Srinagar, is overwhelmed with patients, most of them with bloody eyes.

The medical superintendent of the hospital Dr Saleem Tak told Al Jazeera that at least 41 young men are being treated with the pellet injuries in their eyes.

Lifelong vision impairment

Southern Kashmir has been on the boil since charismatic rebel commander, Burhan Wani, was killed in 2016. More than 200 rebels have been killed since then in security operations run by the Indian armed forces.

They deliberately blind our children to silence us Mother of a pellet victim

Thousands of people came out on the streets to protest one of the bloodiest days in recent months. Nearly 50 people were wounded, most of them in their eyes, after security forces fired on a crowd of tens of thousands gathered to attend the funeral of those killed.

The Muslim-majority region remains tense as schools, colleges and businesses were closed as part of the two-day shutdown called by separatist leaders.

The young men, mostly in their teenage years and early 20s, are now facing a bleak future after losing their vision, the doctors say.

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A senior doctor at the hospital, who was not authorised to speak to media, told Al Jazeera that he has performed 40 eye surgeries in two days.

It depends on the nature of the injury. The eye is very delicate, though the injury is not life-threatening, they will likely suffer from some kind of lifelong vision impairment.

In the past two years, we have treated more than 1,000 people with pellet injuries. Now we are used to mass injuries and always geared up, he said.

On the bed adjacent to Nabi, Adil Sheikh, 18, from Supura Shopian village is silent. The blocked blood clots on his swollen left eye depict the graveness of his injury.

I had gone to a shop and was hit on the way, said Adil in a feeble tone as he was not able to make a frequent lip movement due to pain. I dont know what happened after that.

Back home his mother doesnt know that her son has lost his one eye. I told her that he has a minor injury on his face, Adils uncle, who did not want to be named, said.

Injured in cross firing

The ward number eight in the Ophthalmology Department is full of pellet victims from Shopian and adjoining villages of south Kashmir.

The scenes look similar to 2016 when hundreds of Kashmiris were blinded either completely or partially due to the use of pellet guns on protesters.

The mass blinding of civilians two years ago had drawn criticism from the international human rights groups.

Amnesty International has repeatedly urged security forces to stop the use of pellets guns immediately in line with international human rights standards on the use of force.

People tried to break the cordon at the encounters sites in which we had to retaliate and some were hit with pellets in the clashes. Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar, the senior police officer, Shopian

Security forces say the pellet-firing shotgun is non-lethal and used to disperse crowds, but hundreds of families have been scarred by the blinding injuries to teenagers since the weapon was introduced six years ago.

A strong anti-India sentiment runs high in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley. The region is claimed by both India and Pakistan, but New Delhi and Islamabad govern parts of the disputed Himalayan territory.

The conflict has changed drastically in the past decade as popular street demonstrations took centre-stage and locals are openly supporting the cause of rebels who are fighting the Indian state in the region.

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Most of the young men admitted to the hospital with eye injuries say they now fear lifelong blindness.

The house where gunfight occurred belongs to my uncle. In our family, one house was completely damaged and five houses have been left roofless. The forces created havoc even after the gun battle, says Ahmad, a resident of Kachdora village who is attending his cousin at the hospital.

They fired at people in front of my eyes. How can we come to terms with that, if India is celebrating that they have defeated people here by killing and blinding, they are wrong, hundred more are ready to die and resist.

The family members attending the pellet victims fight their emotions in the hospital ward. Forty-five-year-old Hanifa sobs silently while looking at her sons eyes covered with a bandage.

It seems the pellets have pierced my heart. They deliberately blind our children to silence us, she said.

They can shoot their legs and below [the] chest, they just want to maim them for life. Blinding of hundreds cannot be a coincidence, said Hanifa, adding that her 18-year-old son was hit in the eyes while he was standing in the lawn of her sisters house in Dragad village of Shopian.

Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar, the senior superintendent of police of Shopian, told Al Jazeera that people were either injured in cross firing or they were trying to break the cordon at the encounter sites.

People tried to break the cordon at the encounters sites in which we had to retaliate and some were hit with pellets in the clashes, he said.The rich and modern metropolis of Singapore is frequently described as an economic miracle.

When Lee Kuan Yew, the principal architect and first prime minister of the wealthy island state, died in 2015, over a million Singaporean residents turned out to honour his memory and his accomplishments  not the least of was the creation of an effective and largely incorrupt government and civil service, which proved a huge magnet to foreign investors.

But with economic pressures increasing amid a growing appetite for greater democracy, Lee Kuan Yews complex legacy is coming under scrutiny.

That scrutiny has been given an extra edge over the past few months because of a bitter family dispute between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his two younger siblings about what should happen to the house in which Lee spent most of his life.

This week, a ministerial committee laid out a range of options for the Oxley Road property. But Lees younger children insist their father was unwavering about wanting the house demolished after his death.

Li Shengwu, who works as an economist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the son of Lee Hsien Loongs younger brother, Lee Hsien Yang. Three years after his grandfathers death, Li talks to People & Power about the family feud, Singapore politics and LKYs legacy.

Al Jazeera: Singaporeans first got wind of the family dispute when your father put up a Facebook post titled, What has happened to Lee Kuan Yews values?. What were your grandfathers values?

Li Shengwu: You know, it [Singapore] is not sort of robustly democratic, right? Theres not great political competition, but at the very least theres got to be competent excellence, theres got to be rule of law, and theres got to be very strict separation of the personal and the public. I think the worry is that this is being eroded quite substantially.

Al Jazeera: Your grandfather didnt really believe in political competition.

Family members at Lee Kuan Yews state funeral in 2015 [The Associated Press]

Li Shengwu: I think the fair thing to say is that he believed in political competition as a very last resort. He didnt want a model where there were multiple parties, where the parties took turns governing.

But there should be elections  if genuinely everything is going wrong then people should throw one set of politicians out. And that threat  should serve to discipline the party and keep it from abusing power.

I think the question is whether or not thats a sustainable model. And in particular one worries if the very strong control of the present Singapore, the current legislative supermajority, allows for constitutional changes. All of these things very substantially mute the effects of electoral competition.

Al Jazeera: In your eulogy to your grandfather you spoke about the rule of law and about your grandfathers desire not to have monuments to him. Was it because you believed that certain things would happen?

Li Shengwu: Having political legitimacy relate strongly to a brand name kind of inevitably mixes the personal and the public. The things I said in my eulogy come from a belief that there was a path for Singapore, there was a story for Singapore that says this is about a set of institutions and about abiding by the rule of law, and this isnt about the cult of one man. At the time I gave the eulogy, I believed that was true. And I hope very much in the future that it will turn out to be true. But Im less sure of that than I was back in 2015.

My grandfather had a vision for how Singapore politics should be without him. And part of that vision was that we shouldn't build shrines to him. Li Shengwu

Al Jazeera: This is the tension that is quite hard to resolve, isnt it? Because your grandfather was such a personality.

Li Shengwu: A lot of the stories Singapore tells itself is wrapped up with my grandfather and a lot of the stories the world has about Singapore is wrapped up with him. And thats difficult. Theres a version of Singapore, sort of projecting 10, 20 years out, right? Theres a version of Singapore that says this is like a monarchy. You hand it on in the family with brief transitions in between. And theres a version of Singapore that says my grandfather did a lot to build a modern society, and if you build the foundations of a society right, it shouldnt depend on the continuance of one family line.

Those two visions are certainly in tension. And they are in tension in the stories that Singapore tells itself. That there is at once clearly immense respect for my grandfather among many people in Singapore, and there is a wish to believe that my grandfather is technocratic and not the province of personality politics and not the province of political dynasties. These stories are hard to make work together.

Al Jazeera: Your grandfathers story featured a lot during the 2015 elections. The ruling PAP party won a landslide victory, and there seems to be this belief that since then because they had that landslide victory, they have the mandate to do whatever they like.

Li Shengwu: I worry a lot about this. I dont feel like the last election was fought on policies. I think a lot of the last election seems to have been a vote of gratitude for what my grandfather did, rather than a vote of confidence for what the party will do or plans to do.

I don't feel like the last election was fought on policies. I think a lot of the last election seems to have been a vote of gratitude for what my grandfather did, rather than a vote of confidence for what the party will do or plans to do. Li Shengwu

Al Jazeera: Would you be saying this if the feud hadnt erupted?

Li Shengwu: I have been saying this to lots of my friends in private for a long time. I did a lot of competitive debating at university. Ive had a lot of lively discussions about how governments work, and what it would mean for them to function well.

In the counterfactual where the feud hadnt erupted and I was reasonably confident in the ruling party and in the fact that it was performing well, for the most part, I think I would have remained quite quiet because I think its valuable in Singapore that there be a transition away from the family brand name.

Al Jazeera: Why did your father and aunt decide to go public over the fate of your grandfathers house?

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Li Shengwu: My grandfather didnt ask much of them. But he did ask that they made sure that this wish was respected, and he was incredibly explicit about this. He said it on TV. He said it in writing. He said it over and over again.

The sort of choice that my father and aunt faced was that if they were going to keep quiet, it seemed reasonably foreseeable that the government was going to disregard my grandfathers last wish.

But more than that that there was seemingly a desire to rewrite history about what that last wish was. There is a wish to claim somehow that my grandfather changed his mind, in the teeth of all the evidence. And I think that there was a point where my father and my aunt decided they wouldnt be able to live with themselves if theyd kept quiet about this.

Al Jazeera: Does it feel as if theyre milking his legacy while ignoring his last wish?

Li Shengwu: My grandfather had a vision for how Singapore politics should be without him. And part of that vision was that we shouldnt build shrines to him. That we shouldnt be that kind of country.

One of the things thats remarkable to me is that the government has wanted to frame this as a narrative about what my grandfather wishes to be done with his own private property. And although that is part of the problem, the bigger part of the problem is whether they think that he was  whether or not he was making a wise decision about the building of shrines and monuments to him.

And it just seems remarkable to me that the things he said about that just dont seem to be absorbed in the way the modern party sort of goes about referencing him. He gets quoted at every corner. Theres a continual attempt to harken back to his legacy, and I cant help but think that, surely, he would have wanted the party to fail or succeed on its own merits or on its own policies without having to constantly remind everybody of its special connection to him.

Al Jazeera: Is there a contradiction between having that kind of vision, and letting his own son go into politics?

Li Shengwu: I think a lot of parents have blind spots for their children. Every parent wants to believe that their child is very special. And especially to be trusted. And if you had something that you cared a lot about, it is not unreasonable for you to believe  truly or falsely  that your child might be a good caretaker of that. This is something that happens in a lot of businesses, right? There are a lot of family businesses that keep being family businesses long after they should have become publicly listed companies.

Im not sure why my grandfather chose his own son and was willing to have his own son go into politics and be prime minister. But all I can say is that  if theres one person in the world youre going to overestimate, its your own child. And so this is not an inhuman error.

I'm not sure why my grandfather ... was willing to have his own son go into politics and be prime minister. But all I can say is that ... if there's one person in the world you're going to overestimate, it's your own child. Li Shengwu

Al Jazeera: Your father and aunt said that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching have political ambitions for their son, your cousin Hongyi. Do you think he wants a political career?

Li Shengwu: If he doesnt want it, all he has to do is publicly say that he doesnt intend to do it.

Al Jazeera: He has said that he has no interest in politics.

Li Shengwu: The thing about not being interested is that its cheap not to be interested. You can remain uninterested until you become interested. I cant read my cousins mind. All I can say is that if he didnt want to be in politics, he could have said things a lot more clearly and in a way that would be at least a little bit difficult to walk back.

Al Jazeera: Are you interested in politics?

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Li Shengwu: No. I think theres an issue of principle and theres an issue of personality. I think any involvement by me in Singapore politics would have the fairly toxic effect of helping to tip Singapore into the kind of country where it matters whether or not youre a Clinton or a Gandhi. Where you know legitimacy is fought out not because of what you did, not because of what you will do, but because of who you are.

And it seems that theres no way that that works out well. But also, just as a matter of personality, I really, really dislike managing people. I really cant work with having subordinates. It makes me feel incredibly awkward.

Al Jazeera: Do you worry about the possible dismantling of your grandfathers legacy?

Li Shengwu: Yes, I worry a lot. So, there are two histories we could be telling ourselves 20 years from now. Theres a history that says that my grandfather made a great contribution to Singapores development  helped make it become a modern society, with sort of professional, unimpeachable government, where policies are assessed on their merits and politicians are assessed on their performance. And his legacy would be unlike many models of independence leaders, who were big personalities, that he would have managed to create good institutions that would outlast him.

And there is a model, 20 years from now, where we look back on Singapore and say, This is just one more country where it had a good leader (and there are lots of early independence leaders who did great things for their country) and its still circling the orbit of what used to be.

Al Jazeera: And if that were to happen, would it be because of the system he did set up?

Li Shengwu: This is difficult. Its certainly true that at various points in Singapores early development, an argument was made that Singapore isnt ready for these kinds of political liberties, open contestation and so on. Its not ready yet is the argument that I think my grandfather and a lot of his contemporaries made.

Singapore is now, by reasonable per capita measures, as rich as any country in the world could be. If its not ready now, its never going to be ready.

Al Jazeera: What do you think will be a good outcome during the next elections?

Li Shengwu: I dont know. But, I think that it would be better if the modern PAP felt the heat a bit and didnt feel like they can rule with impunity. Certainly, I would worry if they got another legislative supermajority because I am not confident in the way theyve been using that power recently.

Robust political systems dont work on the people at the top sort of being magically and luckily of goodwill and character. They work because they place a set of incentives that make governments behave well. And I would like the next elections in Singapore to reflect strong incentives in that direction.The controversial jailing of ex-PM Zia and persecution of dissent raises fears months ahead of general elections.

Dhaka, Bangladesh  The controversial jailing of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and the state persecution of dissent have raised fears that the next parliamentary election could turn into a violent sham.

Fear of a 2014 repeat, when the parliamentary elections were boycotted by almost all the opposition parties and marred by large-scale violence and killings, runs high in Bangladesh as the ruling Awami League (AL) government faces allegations of a concerted persecution of its opponents.

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While activists and political workers opposed to the government live under an increasing threat of being jailed or worse, there is widespread concern, even among the common people, over what lies ahead in an election year.

Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh are due by December.

It's a government and a political party which believe that they are not accountable to anyone. It's a dangerous sign in a democracy. Asif Nazrul, Professor Dhaka University

Nadia Tabassum Khan, an employee of a multinational company in Dhaka, told Al Jazeera that the Awami League has suppressed all dissent to such an extent that she doesnt think anyone would dare to protest against them.

Hasan Habib is the owner of a real estate company based in Dhaka. He says the enmities between the two leading political parties have made the voting process a nearly impossible task.

Enforced disappearance

Since the controversial imprisonment of Bangladeshs opposition leader and two-time Prime Minister Khaleda Zia last month, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to reject allegations of turning into an authoritarian regime.

Zia was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years on February 8 for embezzling 21 million takas ($253,000) in foreign donations meant for a charity named after former President Ziaur Rahman, Zias husband. Her elder son and heir apparent, Tarique Rahman, and four others were also sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Nearly a month later Zia was granted bail. However, the countrys Supreme Court stayed the bail within a week without assigning any reason, effectively putting the 72-year-old leader in jail till May 8, when the next hearing on her bail application is expected to be held.

The arrest and subsequent imprisonment of the former prime minister, which Zias Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) called the Hasina governments conspiracy to keep the opposition party out of politics, led to widespread violence in cities across Bangladesh, with BNP supporters clashing with police and ruling party members.

Police records say nearly 300 leaders and supporters of the BNP were arrested on the day of Zias verdict. Since February this year, over 3,000 members of the opposition party have been put behind bars.

Hasina and Zia  both women are related to former Bangladesh leaders  have dominated the countrys politics for more than two decades. In fact, the bitter rivalry between the countrys most powerful begums has pushed Bangladesh in the grip of violence and unrest for years.

The BNP alleges that over 500 of its supporters have been killed and nearly 750 abducted by the police and thrown in various jails since 2014. The party claims around 150 more of its missing workers have either been killed in extrajudicial encounters or have been forced to disappear.

The main opposition party says it has not yet decided on a plan of action following the Zia verdict. The party has largely resorted to non-violent protests against the crackdown on it. However, as permissions for political rallies are denied, many in the BNP are losing patience with the strategy of holding peaceful protests.

The spectre of large-scale violence now threatens to destabilise the parliamentary elections in the country scheduled to be held in December this year.

Last week, German think-tank Bertelsmann Foundation released a report that said the country is now under an autocratic rule. Listing 13 countries where the political situation has become significantly worse, the report said in five of these countries, namely Bangladesh, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nicaragua and Uganda, democracy has been gradually undermined for years and that they no longer meet its minimum standards.

Scepticism over elections

Political commentators in and outside Bangladesh concur with such a damning reading of the Hasina government, especially in the context of the state conducting free and fair elections.

In 2014, Hasina had returned to power for a second consecutive term through a controversial and bloody national election, which was boycotted by the centre-right BNP.

In her 10-year tenure as the prime minister of Bangladesh, Hasina has been accused of using the states law enforcement apparatus as well as the judiciary to suppress the voice of the opposition.

Rights groups, both local and international, have reported a deteriorating human rights situation in Bangladesh in recent years.

Bangladesh rights group Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) says as many as 519 people have allegedly fallen victim to enforced disappearances since 2010 while over 300 people are still missing.

My father has been missing since December 4, said Shabnam Zaman, daughter of former Bangladesh ambassador to Qatar and Vietnam, Maroof Zaman, who was accused of sharing anti-government posts on social media and was allegedly scooped up by unidentified abductors in Dhaka in December last year.

The police stopped their investigation when they came to know about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of my father, she told Al Jazeera.

On March 13 this year, Jakir Hossain, a leader of Chatra Dal, which is the BNPs student wing, died in police custody after he was allegedly tortured by the police.

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report last year said the Bangladesh government had secretly arrested hundreds of people, mostly activists and political figures, opposed to the Hasina government.

Complete freedom, claims government

The Awami League government, however, dismissed the allegations.

When Al Jazeera asked Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu about the political persecution as alleged by the BNP, he said the opposition party enjoys complete freedom in its exercise of the democratic rights.

But that doesnt mean the law enforcers will not check their activities which may harm the common people, Inu said.

When reminded of the controversial 2014 national election, which the BNP had boycotted and which has renewed fears of a similar undermining of the electoral process in Bangladesh, Inu said; The 2014 election was held as per the constitution. The BNPs decision of boycotting it was a political decision and they now realise it was a wrong decision on their part.

The Bangladesh minister also rejected the German think-tank report that called the AL government autocratic as intentional and baseless. He said he was eager to know what data Bertelsmann Stiftung had looked at.

All the arms of a true democracy, including the judiciary and media, are fully independent in Bangladesh, Inu said.

Senior Awami League leader Faruq Khan told Al Jazeera the rights groups accusation of human rights violation in Bangladesh is not true.

Our government has, in fact, set up an example before the world of upholding human rights by giving refuge to a million Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar, Khan said.

Dangerous sign in a democracy

But the experts and rights activists are not buying the governments defence.

Meenakshi Ganguly, who is the South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, says Bangladesh may have won international praise for its humanitarian response to the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya by Myanmar but the domestic human rights situation remains a cause for concern.

The government continues to deny enforced disappearances  It must release individuals taken into custody by the security forces. Many of those disappeared are linked to the political opposition, Ganguly told Al Jazeera.

Ganguly said Bangladeshi journalists and activists operate in a climate of fear, while many citizens have been slapped with cases for criticising the government on social media.

Ali Riaz from the Illinois State University in the United States told Al Jazeera that the current political and human rights situation in Bangladesh is not suitable for holding an election, let alone an inclusive one.

Riaz thinks if the beleaguered BNP is forced to boycott the next national election, along with other parties of the political alliance it leads, the election will be hollow without any moral legitimacy, just like the 2014 elections.

Continued persecution of the opposition is not only unwise, but also counterproductive. There is a tendency among the ruling parties here to forget that, said Riaz.

Asif Nazrul, a professor of law at Dhaka University, said that the government denies the BNP and other opposition parties permission to hold rallies and processions on security grounds, while it continues to hold large rallies in the run-up to the elections.

Its a government and a political party which believe that they are not accountable to anyone. Its a dangerous sign in a democracy, said Nazrul.International community keeps turning blind eye to the crimes being perpetrated in Syria, chemical weapons expert says.

On April 4, 2017, Syrian air raids pummeled the small rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in the northern province of Idlib.

As news of the attack spread, it quickly became apparent that something other than conventional weapons had been used.

Residents told Al Jazeera they saw people choking and foaming at the mouth, suffocating while their lungs collapsed.

More than 80 people, including many women and children, died when nerve agent sarin or a sarin-like substance was dropped onto Khan Sheikhoun. Hundreds more were wounded, in one of the worst chemical attacks since sarin gas killed hundreds of civilians in Ghouta, near the capital, Damascus, in August 2013.

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Syrias government has denied involvement and claims it no longer possesses chemical weapons after a 2013 agreement under which it pledged to hand over thousands of tonnes of deadly chemical agents following US threats of a unilateral attack.

But in October 2017, the Joint Investigative Mechanism, a group tasked by the UN Security Council and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate chemical weapons attacks, confirmed that the chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun did happen, and that the Syrian government was responsible for the killing of civilians.

On the one-year anniversary of the Khan Sheikhoun attack, Al Jazeeras Faisal Edroos spoke with Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a chemical weapons adviser to NGOs working in Syria and Iraq, about the usage of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, and what can be done to prevent their use.

Al Jazeera: How many chemical weapons attacks have there been since the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011?

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon: While its difficult to gauge exactly what has been done and where, weve seen the use of sarin in Khan Sheikhoun as well as in Ghouta  thats where hundreds of people, including scores of women and children, were killed.

But its predominantly chlorine barrel bombs, dropped from regime helicopters, that make up the bulk of the regimes attacks.

Al Jazeera: What has been the international communitys reaction?

De Bretton-Gordon: Its ridiculous that the international community continues to turn a blind eye to the crimes being perpetrated in Syria.

A red line has been crossed and the US hasnt acted as it said it would.

After the Khan Sheikhoun attack, the Trump administration launched a few Tomahawk missiles to take out the Syrian aircraft that bombed the town. But aside from that, theyve done very little.

Instead, the 100-year taboo on the use of chemical weapons has been completely broken.

Now, any despot, dictator, rogue state, terrorist, sees chemical weapons as a viable weapon. We could end up seeing more chemical weapons proliferation across the world than weve been witness to.

Al Jazeera: Why is it difficult to determine whether a chemical attack has taken place?

De Bretton-Gordon: The OPCW cant get into Syria, and since most attacks happen in rebel-held areas its difficult to obtain the necessary evidence.

Assad and the Russians [Syrian government allies] say they dont use chemical weapons, but the OPCW hasnt been able to collect enough evidence that can prove otherwise.

The OPCW needs to review of its operations and the international community needs to state categorically that they wont stand for chemical weapons attacks and will take action  which is something they havent been able to do.

Al Jazeera: Most of the information obtained from rebel-held areas is filmed by local activists and subsequently posted on social media. Can videos of chemical attacks uploaded on such platforms be trusted and how do we know theyre not fake news and disinformation?

De Bretton-Gordon: The Union of Syrian Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) has more than 50 hospitals across Syria, and weve treated many of the casualties affected by the regimes chemical weapons attacks.

Hospital staff have told me [about treating chemical attacks victims] and even I  investigated a chemical weapons attack.

Hence, I can state quite unequivocally that there have been several chemical weapons attacks in the country.

So with all the evidence Ive collected over the past four-and-half years, coupled with videos uploaded to social media, eyewitness testimony and samples that have been analysed, we have proof that the Syrian regime has and does use chemical weapons.

Al Jazeera: Pro-Assad supporters have accused some of the victims of being paid actors and peddling a false narrative. Is there any truth to this?

De Bretton-Gordon: When people come to our hospitals, theyre received by trained medical professionals, so we can tell if people are faking it. So, no, we havent seen any paid actors.

Im absolutely confident that the Syrians who appear in videos exhibiting trauma from chemical attacks are real and they are who they say they are.

Al Jazeera: Do the rebels have the capabilities to launch chemical attacks?

De Bretton-Gordon: The so-called Islamic State group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) launched chemical attacks against civilian populations in both Syria and Iraq, mainly against the Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters), and its quite possible that al-Qaeda linked groups such as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly known as the al-Nusra Front) have as well.

But when it comes to groups such as the Free Syrian Army, there hasnt been any evidence of that.

Al Jazeera: Is there anything that the UN, regional powers can do to stop attacks on civilian areas?

De Bretton-Gordon: The international community has to reimpose its view that the use of chemical weapons is prohibited and it will act firmly should the Assad regime persist.

What has to happen is they have to launch air strikes through the UN Security Council, just as they did after the Khan Sheikhoun attack.

That is the only way we can stop chemical attacks in the future.Since 2013, thousands of Syrians have been injured and hundreds killed by chemical warfare.

The first chemical attack on record in Syria was in March 2013 near Aleppo. Since then, 17 locations have been attacked with chemical weapons.

One year ago, sarin gas (or a sarin-like substance) was used to attack the town of Khan Sheikhoun. On the anniversary of that attack, Al Jazeera looks at the various chemical weapons used to attack rebel-held areas since 2013:

Sarin

Sarin gas is odourless and tasteless and works immediately to inhibit natural processes that control neurotransmitters in the body. The nerves are overstimulated uncontrollably, and the afflicted persons nose starts running, eyes crying, and they vomit continuously as their bowel and bladder evacuate themselves. Depending on the level of exposure, sarin gas can cause death within 10 minutes.

White phosphorus

White phosphorus has been used in conflicts since World War I. It is highly efficient at creating smoke and is used to cover troop movements or positions in conflicts. Exposure to white phosphorus causes severe burns as the gas sticks to the skin and causes severe burns that can result in the absorption of phosphorus into the organs of the body. In addition, inhalation of phosphorus smoke or fumes, as well as the oral ingestion of as little as 15mg can affect the bodys organs and bones, sometimes causing death.

Chlorine gas

Used as a chemical weapon in World War I, chlorine gas is dispersed when pressurised chlorine is delivered via any explosive device. An everyday chemical with many peace-time uses, chlorine is readily available and exists in a grey area as a chemical weapon. Exposure to chlorine gas causes respiratory distress, severe irritation to the respiratory tract and eyes, and, depending on the level of exposure, can cause lasting damage to both.

Mustard gas

Mustard gas, or sulfur mustard, is a yellowish brown gas that has an odour resembling mustard, garlic or horseradish. It is a blistering agent, causing severe blisters on the skin and in the lungs. The effects of mustard gas are not immediate, and victims can start showing symptoms up to 24 hours after exposure, with chemical burn blisters appearing all over the body and, in some cases, damage to eye tissue and lungs. Severe mustard gas burns (on more than 50 percent of the body) can be fatal, and mustard gas victims are said to be more likely to develop cancer later in life. It was used towards the end of World War I and during the Iraq-Iran war between 1979-1988.April 4 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Although five full decades have passed since the American civil rights leader was martyred in 1968, his words are just as relevant today, if not more relevant than ever in the age of Donald Trump. King was prophetic in his assessment of Americas problems  his condemnation of the triple evils of racism, militarism and economic exploitation  and his prescription for change, including a radical redistribution of economic and political power to bring about racial and economic justice.

Today, America has not overcome these triple evils, these forms of oppression that are interrelated and create a vicious cycle.

The election of Trump represented a racial backlash on the part of aggrieved whites who resented the changes afoot in society. Barack Obama, the first African American president, was a nightmare for some, as he represented black power in a nation built for white men, occupying a White House once intended as a whites only space in perpetuity. People of colour are emerging as a national majority in the coming few decades, and brown and black babies already constitute the majority of children born in the US today.

Trump promised to return angry white America to the pre-civil rights era, when white people reigned supreme in the land of the free. This would seem an impossible feat, and yet if Trump were to accomplish this, he could do so only through policies of violence  whether through voter suppression, police violence and mass incarceration against black people, law enforcement crackdowns and mass deportations of Latino and other immigrants, or travel bans and the ostracisation of Muslims.

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Do you know that a lot of the race problem grows out of the drum major instinct? King asked. A need that some people have to feel superior. A need that some people have to feel that they are first, and to feel that their white skin ordained them to be first.

As Trump enacts measures to uphold white supremacy, he empowers the neo-Nazis, white nationalists and other very fine peopleas he calls them to commit acts of violence. White supremacists are the most serious source of domestic attacks in the US, responsible for 71 percent of domestic extremist-related killings over the past decade.

Exactly a year before he was assassinated, on April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York, Dr King broke his silence on the Vietnam War. In that speech, he called the US government the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. Kings words have stood the test the time.

US military spending amounts to 54 percent of the federal discretionary budget at $700bn for 2018. America has less than 5 percent of the worlds population but as much as half of the worlds civilian gun supply, ranking first in firearms per capita, and first among the advanced nations in firearm-related homicides.

The recent brutal killing of Stephon Clark  who was shot eight times, mostly in the back, by Sacramento, California police while in his grandmothers backyard  and the recent failure of state and federal prosecutors to indict Baton Rouge, Louisiana police officers in the 2016 shooting death of Alton Sterling speak to the continuing crisis of police brutality in communities of colour.

However, the US also exports its violence to foreign countries. For example, the US government provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, which that country uses to maintain its occupation of the Palestinian people, a human rights catastrophe. Most recently, the Israeli Defense Forces fired live ammunition on a peaceful protest of 30,000 Palestinians during the Great March of Return in Gaza, with snipers shooting unarmed people in the back and killing 18 and wounding as many as 1,700. The massacre caused some observers to make comparisons to the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre and the 1976 Soweto youth uprising in apartheid South Africa.

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Although the US has the worlds largest military and the largest economy, it also suffers from the most inequality and poverty among the advanced nations  with 40 million Americans living in poverty, and inequality rivaling pre-Great Depression-era levels. The top 1 percent now has more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. Again we have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that Capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifice, King said. The fact is that capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor  both black and white, both here and abroad.

The Republican-controlled government in Washington has tightened the screws even further with a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, and a corrupt system of politics that rewards lobbyists and politicians, yet fails to meet the needs of its people. This, as thousands of teachers in Republican-controlled states such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma have waged massive strikes and walkouts. This red state revolt in protest of low education spending and teacher salaries is only part of a greater movement of activism  from Black Lives Matter to students fighting for gun control to women and the #MeToo movement. This level of opposition to Trumps policies  and activism this country has not seen since the days of the civil rights movement King helped lead  is reassuring.

Martin Luther King said the US would have to undergo a radical revolution of values that would cause the country to question the fairness and justice of its past and present policies, its glaring economic inequality, and the spiritual death that comes with spending more on the military than programs of social uplift.

We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. Fifty years after Kings assassination, there is still much work to do.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.Group treks in Pamir Mountains in country with eco-tourism potential but dependent on migrant workers remittances.

Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan  Up to 60 percent of families in Tajikistan rely on remittances by relatives working as migrant labourers in Russia.

Yet eco-tourism is a potential source of income for the mountainous country.

Tajikistan has been trying to boost tourism, introducing academic tourism courses in local universities in 2012 but with little focus on outdoor skills.

Christine Oriol, a French development worker, noticed the lack of experienced trekking guides while working on a trekking guidebook for the region and started a training course.

She is teaching a group of young Tajik women crucial outdoor skills, like map reading, pitching tents, getting the stoves going and shouldering heavy backpacks to survive a week out in the Pamir Mountains.

Oriols course is defying traditions in Tajikistans Muslim society.

The mountains I would say is considered mostly as a mans area, she says.

Women never go to the mountains. There are very few male guides, and women guides absolutely dont exist in Tajikistan.

Tajik women enjoy more freedom than in neighbouring Afghanistan but are often expected to stick to traditional roles.

Even my family, they are saying its too hard for you, says Safina Shohaydarova, a tourism graduate.

They think its more for men  all this trekking and stuff.A new generation of young people are embracing Martin Luther King Jrs message as they lead movements throughout the US.

New York City  The news that Martin Luther King Jr had been murdered on a balcony in Memphis, Tennessee hit 17-year-old Freeman Hrabowski like a death in the family.

In 1968, Hrabowski was a math-obsessed undergraduate at Hampton University, in the midst of pledging Kings Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

His fellow students were devastated, especially those, like him, with roots in the Deep South.

The other kids were sad, but they were trying to understand why we felt almost like this guy was a part of our family, Hrabowski told Al Jazeera. It was as gut-wrenching as an experience could be for some of us. The ineluctable question became: is there any more hope?

Hrabowski knew King better than most.

As a 12-year-old boy, he marched in the Birmingham Childrens Crusade to protest his citys rigid racial segregation, the hand-me-down textbooks, the endless reminders, big and small, that the all-white authorities who ruled the city did not accord him full humanity.

Children participating in a Civil Rights protests wait for a police van to take them to jail in Birmingham, Alabama in May 1963 [Bettman/Getty Images]

He remembers King speaking at his familys church  Hrabowski in the back, eating M&Ms and working on math homework  and telling the congregation that, if the children marched for equal rights, the country could not turn away.

The anniversary of Kings death, 50 years ago on Wednesday, comes as a new generation of young activists tests itself against the entrenched and powerful.

The young black leaders of today

Several prominent leaders of the movement for gun control lent new strength in the aftermath of Februarys school shooting in Parkland, Florida, are not yet old enough to vote.

Black Lives Matter chapters draw much of their membership from activists in their teens and twenties.

Among them is 25-year-old Tifanny Burks who is an organiser with Black Lives Matter in Broward County, Florida. Burks said that she sees her work as continuing a tradition set by King and other civil rights leaders.

The type of organiser I am relies on shared wisdom from people who have done this work in the past, Burks said. I take a lot of inspiration from Martin Luther King, but also from freedom fighters who are less well known like Eula Johnson, Ella Baker or Fannie Lou Hamer.

Burks grew up in South Florida and returned there from New Jersey two years ago, leaving a lacklustre job as a data analyst.

Though she had long felt passionate about social justice, the 2016 police shootings of Alton Sterling, Michael Eugene Wilson Jr and Gregory Frazier spurred her to become a community organiser with Black Lives Matter Alliance Broward.

When some 800 people turned out for the first action she organised, she felt certain she had chosen the right path.

Burks described her time with Black Lives Matter as a crash education in all the United States history omitted from standard high school curricula, including the history of the US labour movement, black feminist thinkers from the 1960s and 1970s, and the role of youth in the civil rights movement.

I take a lot of inspiration from Martin Luther King, but also from people who for one reason or another are less well known like Ella Baker or Fannie Lou Hamer. Tifanny Burks

Together with other chapter members, she has worked on a number of campaigns. One recent success was an effort to rename several streets in Hollywood, Florida. The streets, which ran through predominantly black communities, had been named after prominent Confederate leaders, including the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

After the Parkland shooting last February, Burks began working with black student survivors who felt invisible in the national debate over gun control that abruptly descended on their high school.

Last week, she helped them organise a press conference at which students told reporters that, while mass shootings like Parkland produce national outrage, nothing comparable follows police shootings of unarmed black people. Individual gun homicides, which dwarf mass shootings and disproportionately kill black youth, also receive a fraction of the attention paid to high-profile shootings.

My school feels more like a prison than a school with the heavy police presence. I have already been racially profiled.- Kai Koerber, A Black student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas pic.twitter.com/c08UwzmDh4  Chanice McClover-Lee (@ChaniceALee) March 28, 2018

Some proposals in the wake of the Parkland shooting, such as stationing police in public high schools, are liable to make students of colour feel even less safe, Burks said.

Instead, she suggested examining the complex factors underlying gun violence that might extend to police militarisation and white entitlement. That conversation would be difficult, but essential, Burks said.

Otherwise, only some people will benefit from this, she told Al Jazeera.

Young people bring out the humanity

Like civil rights activists half a century before her, Burks sees children and teens as uniquely capable of sparking that conversation. Somehow, young people bring out the humanity in folks who might otherwise have been indifferent, she said.

In Wisconsin, 15-year-old Alemitu Caldart is also taking notes from the civil rights era. Last week, Caldart took part in a four-day, 50-mile march for gun reform, dubbed 50 Miles More, emulating Kings 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Caldart and the other marchers ended in Janesville, Wisconsin, home of House Speaker Paul Ryan, to call out Ryans consistent opposition to gun control legislation.

I am tired of seeing all these lives being taken every single day due to the inaction of our elected officials, Caldart said.

People join a rally to show support for students who finished the last leg of a 50-mile journey in the hometown of Paul Ryan to call attention to gun violence [Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP]

While opposition to gun control often seems insurmountable, Caldart takes heart from the civil rights movement, which persevered even when success felt remote and ultimately won sweeping legislative victories.

Caldart sees gun control as an entry point in a larger fight for safer, more equitable communities. She, too, feels that mass shootings monopolise attention that should be paid to daily gun violence, which young black activists have long for.

Black youth have been fighting for gun reform in their own neighbourhoods for a long time, and it seems to be diminished and it seems to be looked over, Caldart said. I want to make sure that people understand that this issue did not just happen.

We need to focus on all aspects of gun violence, she added.

We dont accept injustice

Freeman Hrabowski, who today is president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), sees continuity between Kings struggle for civil rights and todays young activists.

Young people are crying out and taking action because adults have not done enough, Hrabowski said. In both cases  young people are saying in a very strong and convincing way: we dont accept injustice.

Activists face no shortage of challenges. The semi-centennial of Kings death arrives as many of the signature achievements of the civil rights era, such as the 1965 Voting Rights Act, are weakened or rolled back. A recent report from the Eisenhower Foundation warned of neighbourhood and school re-segregation, emboldened white supremacists, and the erosion of many economic gains, such as home ownership, that black Americans made since the 1960s.

To see kids of all races from around the world - from Baltimore and DC, but also from everywhere else - connecting together and focusing on ideas ... it is exactly what Dr King's dream was. Freeman Hrabowski, president of University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Still, Hrabowski is adamant that the more hell youve been through, the more you realise there is always hope.

After the initial shock, Kings assassination did not destroy Hrabowskis hope for a more just US. Hrabowski carried it into a career in education, building UMBC into an institution that, today, produces more black MD and PhD graduates than any other US school. Hrabowski sees his university, with its diverse and international student body, as the fulfilment of Kings vision.

I could never have imagined that such a place could ever even exist. People take so much for granted today, Hrabowski said.

But to see kids of all races from around the world  from Baltimore and DC, but also from everywhere else  connecting together and focusing on ideas  it is exactly what Dr Kings dream was.The Austrian governments intent to ban the hijab is the latest in a series of measures targeting Muslims.

The Austrian government has announced that it will seek to ban the hijab for girls in kindergarten and primary school in the latest measure targeting Muslims in the country.

Education Minister Heinz Fassmann said on Wednesday that the draft law on the hijab  a headscarf worn by many Muslim women who feel it is part of their religion  would be ready by summer, describing the measure as symbolic.

The announcement came just days after Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, a member of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), proposed such a ban to protect girls under the age of 10 and allow them to integrate into Austrian society.

The announcement is one in a string of moves critics say single out and target Muslims, including refugees and migrants, in Austria.

In December 2017, the FPO and the right-wing Austrian Peoples Party (OVP) reached an agreement to form a coalition. It marked the second time since 2000 that the FPO became a junior partner in a governing coalition.

In January, the OVP-FPO coalition introduced a political programme that mentioned Islam some 21 times, prompting criticism of an undue focus on the comparably low number of Muslims living in the country.

That same month, Austrias interior minister, Herbert Kickl of the FPO, said the government should concentrate refugees and migrants in one place, sparking widespread criticism in a country where a concentration camp was hosted during the Second World War.

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Of the countrys 8.75 million people, an estimated 700,000 people identify as Muslims.

In October 2017, just weeks before Austrians voted in national elections, the government introduced a ban on the face veil. The law allows authorities to fine violators up to $180.

Both the FPO and the OVP have a lengthy history of pushing anti-Muslim measures.

Islamophobia

A recent report  The European Islamophobia Report 2017 (PDF)  noted 256 Islamophobic incidents a cross the country last year. The report concluded that Muslims in Austria can envisage an increasingly authoritarian form of political behaviour under the OVP-FPO coalition.

The FPO was founded by former Nazis in 1956. Although it claims to have abandoned its Nazi roots, the FPO has been widely accused of Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and racism.

While acting as an opposition party up until entering the government in December, the FPO drummed up populist support by focusing much of its ire on refugees, migrants and Muslims at large, said Sabine Schatz, a spokesperson for the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO).

In opposition, the FPO combined social issues with racism, especially anti-Muslim racism, she told Al Jazeera. This made the party successful.

Farid Hafez, a senior fellow at Georgetown Universitys Bridge Initiative, explained that the FPO has attempted to distance itself from anti-Semitism in order to legitimise its anti-Muslim racism.

Describing the tactic as a strategic move, Hafez told Al Jazeera: With Islamophobia being much more en vogue, the FPO concentrates on this form of racism, which is openly [employed].

Despite these efforts, the FPO has found itself embroiled in a spate of controversies tied to anti-Semitism.

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In one of those incidents, an attache in Israel was recalled to Austria last month after posting on Facebook a photo of himself wearing a pro-Nazi shirt.

In Suben, an area of northwestern Austria, two local FPO councillors were expelled from the party after they were arrested last month over charges that they had shared Hitler photos and slogans via the WhatsApp messaging app.

The SPOs Schatz said there have been at least 22 similar scandals surrounding the FPO since it joined the government.

Anti-Semitism and racism are deeply connected with the Freedom Party, its structure and history, she said.

Austria Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the OVP has declared his support for the plan to bar pupils from wearing headscarves in primary schools and kindergartens.

We want all girls in Austria to have the same opportunities, he told the Oe1 radio station before the announcement.Boat carrying Rohingya refugees reaches Malaysia

After weeks at sea, a boat carrying nearly 60 refugees was intercepted by coastguards on Tuesday in waters off Langkawi island in northern Malaysia.Shopian: All five militants killed in the Kachdora encounter were identified as locals and buried on Monday at graveyards in their native villages, amid huge gatherings of mourners. Due to the continuous throng of people, multiple rounds of funeral prayers were held for the militants.The militants were identified as Ishfaq Ahmad Thoker, resident of Paderpora; Gayas-ul-Islam, resident of Paderpora; Aetimad Fayaz Malik, resident of Amshipora; Sameer Ahmad Lone, resident of Hillow  all residents of Shopian district  and Aqib Ahmad Malik, resident of DH Pora in neighbouring Kulgam district.Ishfaq Ahmad Thoker, son of Abdul Majeed Thoker, resident of Paderpora village, was active since three-and-a-half years, his relatives said. Villagers said that 10 rounds of funeral prayers were offered by thousands of mourners at his native village. Ishfaq has left behind three sisters, two brothers and parents. Locals said that two active militants appeared at the funeral and offered gun salute to Ishfaq.

Gayas-ul-Islam, son of Bashir Ahmad Thoker, was a resident of Padderpora. Villagers said that his body was charred beyond recognition. They said his body was brought home at about 2pm Monday, after a DNA test was conducted to identify him. Villagers said there were only some bones that were handed over to the family. Gayas has left behind three brothers, three sisters and parents. Family sources said that he was active since one-and-a-half year ago. He belonged to a well-off family.

Aetimad Fayaz Malik, 28, son of Fayaz Ahmad Malik, resident of Amshipora village, was active since November 5, 2017, his younger brother said. He said that before joining militant ranks, Aetimad completed his MPhil in Urdu at a Hyderabad university. He also qualified the JRF (junior research fellowship) and had a Bachelors in Education (BEd), the brother said.

Villagers said that Aetimad belonged to an economically well-off family. One villager who identified himself as Fayaz Ahmad said that the famiys orchards yield more than 12,000 of boxes of apple and the family is considered to be the richest in the area. Aetimad has left behind two sisters, a brother and parents.

Sameer Ahmad Lone, son of Ghulam Nabi Lone, resident of Hillow-Imamsahib, was active since a month ago. Locals from the village told Kashmir Reader that Sameer went to Pakistan twice on visa. According to family sources, he was an undergraduate student. He has left behind two brothers, a sister, and parents. Eyewitnesses said that Sameers body had suffered major damage.

Aqib Ahmad Malik, 20, son of Muhammad Iqbal Malik, resident of DH Pora Kulgam, was active since October 2017. Before joining militant ranks, he was an undergraduate student at Kulgam degree college. Two rounds of funeral prayers were offered by thousands of people at his native village in Ringat Damhal-Hanjipora of district Kulgam. He has left behind three brothers and parents.Duo, who wanted to visit imprisoned rights defender Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, told by officials they were security risks.

A Danish MP and an Irish human rights activist have been denied entry to Bahrain after they cited their reason as visiting a prominent Bahraini prisoner.

Lars Aslan Rasmussen and Brain Dooley wrote on their visa application To visit jailed human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja as the purpose of their visit.

Dooley, a senior adviser to the Human Rights First organisation, and Rasmussen had arrived at the airport on Wednesday morning and were photographed holding up Khawajas poster in the airport.

In a series of Twitter posts, Dooley said that airport security officials informed him and Rasmussen that they were security risks.

Despite refusing them entry, airport security has refused to hand over their passports back, where they have been waiting in the airport for more than 15 hours, Dooley said, describing the situation as a Kafkaesque scenario.

A Bahraini government spokesperson said that the two foreigners had probably known that they would be denied entry for not following the required procedures.

Two individuals were denied entry to Bahrain this morning having failed to follow the countrys clearly defined visa and immigration procedure, the spokesperson said.

Khawaja, who also has Danish citizenship, was arrested by Bahraini security forces in April 2011 following the countrys short-lived uprising advocating for government reforms.

He was among 13 other activists and political leaders, were tried in a military court and charged with organising and managing a terrorist group.

Khawaja and six of those charged were sentenced to life in prison the same year. Human rights organisations condemned the trials and called the detainees prisoners of conscience convicted simply for attending protests.

Plea to Denmark

Khawajas daughter Maryam wrote on Twitter that the Danish government must do more to ensure the release of her father.

On the 5th of April Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja will turn 57, and on the 9th of April it will have been seven years since he was beaten unconscious and arrested, she posted on Twitter.

He was then severely tortured, subjected to enforced disappearance, and then sentenced to life in prison.

Bahrain is due to host its annual Formula One race, watched by millions around the world. The race has been held each year since 2004, with the exception of 2011 when the uprising forced its cancellation.

Preventing members of parliament, human rights groups and journalists from entering the country shows how much the regime has to hide, Dooley said a statement released by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), a London-based non-profit organisation for promoting democratisation and human rights in Bahrain.

Formula One fans planning to arrive this week should know what theyre getting into.Reporters say Adil Sabry was targeted over the websites coverage of Egypt elections and criticism of state authorities.

Egyptian journalists have spoken out in support of a detained news website editor, saying state authorities targeted him over the outlets coverage of the countrys recent presidential elections.

Police in Cairo on Tuesday raided the office of the Masr al-Arabia news website and arrested its editor-in-chief, Adil Sabry.

He has since been held at Dokki police station, Mohamed Mounir, Masr al-Arabias managing editor, told Reuters news agency.

According to Masr al-Arabia, Sabry has been charged with operating a website without a local license.

The raid came two days after the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, an official oversight body, told the website to pay a $2,849 fine for republishing a New York Times article on alleged irregularities during last weeks vote.

Fellow journalists said they believe Sabry was targeted for the websites coverage of the Egyptian elections and its criticism of state authorities.

Masr al-Arabias editor-in-chief was arrested because the website is one of few independent news outlets in Egypt, Kotb al-Arabi, an Egyptian journalist and media analyst, told Al Jazeera.

Sabry was detained because the websites coverage of the elections was critical and didnt toe the official narrative, he added.

The New York Times defended its reporting. We stand by the accuracy of our reporting and strongly condemn any arrests meant to intimidate journalists and stifle freedom of the press, said spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha.

A member of staff at Masr al-Arabia, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, told Al Jazeera that the news website was targeted because it had not submitted to the regime.

The government wants no one but hypocrites. [Sabry was detained] because the website includes different voices and points of view  in addition to siding with the 25th of January Revolution, the member of staff added, referring to the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubaraks 30-year rule.

According to an account published on the website, security agents in civilian clothes entered the offices of Masr al-Arabia at 3:30pm local time and ordered journalists to turn over their computers. Staff members refused to hand over their devices without logging out of their emails, the outlet said.

Masr al-Arabia is one of about 500 websites that have been blocked in Egypt in recent months, although some are still accessible through virtual private networks. Rights groups say the closures amount to a crackdown against freedom of expression.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a United States-based watchdog, condemned Egypt for the crackdown on media outlets in the run-up to the elections.

Egyptian authorities must stop intimidating and punishing journalists who have simply done their jobs, its Middle East and North Africa coordinator Sherif Mansour said in a statement last week.

President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, who ran virtually unopposed, secured a second term by winning 97 percent of the vote, according to official results.

Widening crackdown

The news of Sabrys detention came after the arrest and deportation from Egypt late last month of Bel Trew, a British reporter with the Times of London.

The newspaper has since denounced the oppressive environment for journalists created in the country by authorities before a presidential election.

According to Egyptian journalists, the crackdown on journalists in Egypt is likely to continue even after the completion of the elections.





Sabrys arrest is the latest in a series of measures taken [by the state] to stifle dissent as part of a widening crackdown on the media in Egypt, said an Egyptian journalist, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions.

It is an indication that the freedom of speech and the crackdown on journalists in Egypt will not east after the elections, added the journalist, who is also a member of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate.

The CPJ dubs Egypt one of the worlds biggest prisons for journalists.

With at least 20 journalists behind bars in relation to their work, Egypt is among the worlds top three jailers of journalists.

Reporters Without Borders ranks the country 161st out of 180 countries in its press freedom index.Catalonias former leader has been in detention for almost 10 days after he was arrested on a European arrest warrant.

German prosecutors have asked a court in Germany to permit the extradition of the former Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to Spain.

The prosecutors in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein applied for the extradition of Puigdemont after extensive examination of the European arrest warrant issued by Spain against him and five other fugitive separatist leaders.

The prosecutors also asked that Puigdemont is to remain in jail until the court decides on his charges.

It is not immediately clear when the court will rule on his possible extradition.

Puigdemont was arrested by German police on March 25, as he was travelling from Finland back to Belgium, where he was living in self-imposed exile since Catalonias independence referendum last October.

Spain is seeking the former presidents extradition under charges of misuse of public funds in relation to Catalonias independence declaration, as well as rebellion in organising a referendum, which Madrid has deemed illegal.

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The charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.

The request by prosecutors for his extradition comes after demonstrations by independence supporters last weekend in Berlin and Catalonia, calling for Puigdemonts release.

An extradition request requires that the conduct that gave rise to the arrest warrant in Spain would also be punishable under German criminal law.

While the charge of rebellion does not apply in Germany, the state prosecutor said on Tuesday that it could be equated with high treason in German law.

A lower court in Germany had already ordered Puigdemont to remain in custody in the northern town of Neumuenster, as judicial authorities decide on his extradition.

They have 60 days to make a decision.

Puigdemonts lawyers said they will appeal the order of extradition to a German federal court.

In Spain, Puigdemont has already filed an appeal against a decision to prosecute him, arguing that the rebellion charge against him is unjustified.

His lawyers have also urged the German government to intervene in the case.

German media has reported, however, that Angela Merkels government has already decided not to veto any decision made by the court.US officials say that there is movement for dialogue to take place between Gulf countries ahead of postponed summit.

A Gulf summit that was supposed to take place at the beginning of April in Washington, DC has been postponed to September, a number of United States officials said.

According to Reuters news agency, the decision came as a result of US President Donald Trumps busy schedule of diplomatic meetings, and the absence of a secretary of state, until CIA director Mike Pompeo is officially sworn in.

Some US officials said that the delay was also an indication that Washington had not yet made progress to end the Gulf crisis.

The leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were meant to meet on April 1 for the first time since diplomatic sanctions on Doha were imposed last year by the aforementioned countries including, Bahrain and Egypt.

The blockading Arab quartet had cut off ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and regional rival Iran. Qatar has denied the allegations.

One US official said there was a general consensus that it would be better to postpone the summit after the month of Ramadan, or beyond mid-June, according to Reuters.

The same source added that the summit was discussed during the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington, and that there were developments on starting discussions.

There is a movement to start a dialogue and allow more time for the summit, the official told Reuters.

A spokeswoman for the US National Security Council said that Trump is committed to resolving the Gulf crisis this month, and that the US-Gulf summit was not linked to the Gulf crisis.

US-Qatar

Meanwhile, the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a telephone call from Trump on Tuesday.

The two leaders discussed strategic relations between Qatar and the United States, including the two countries joint efforts in combating extremism and terrorism, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

In a statement, the White House said Trump and the Emir agreed on the importance of regional unity to address security threats.

The leaders discussed Irans increasingly reckless behaviour in the region and the threat it poses to regional stability, the statement read.

The statement also said that Trump thanked the Emir for Qatars continued commitment to counter terrorist financing and extremism.

Trump then contacted Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and stressed the importance of resolving the Gulf crisis in order to restore the unity of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), to safeguard the security of the people in the region.Israel scraps UN deal to resettle African asylum seekers

Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a deal with United Nations to relocate African asylum seekers living in the country, a day after reaching an agreement.Kennedys landmark speech on MLKs death remembered

The US House of Representatives has voted to make the site of that speech a national landmark. Last week, his words were commemorated on a plaque on that site as a reminder of how far the US has come, and how far it has yet to go.German man was subjected to torture, unlawful detention and other abuses in connection with CIA rendition programme.

Macedonia has issued a formal apology to Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese origin who was unlawfully handed over to United States authorities and tortured under the CIAs secret rendition programme 14 years ago.

Macedonian intelligence services detained el-Masri while he was on vacation in the country in December 2003, and interrogated him for more than three weeks. Accused of being an al-Qaeda member, he was handed over to CIA agents.

El-Masri was then shackled, beaten, stripped naked, sodomised and drugged before being secretly transferred to a CIA-run black site prison in Afghanistan.

For more than four months during his captivity there, he was routinely beaten, tortured and force-fed, after which he was flown back to Europe and dumped on a roadside in rural Albania in the middle of the night.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of el-Masri against former CIA director George Tenet, but the case was dismissed in 2006 under state secrets grounds.

In a 2012 ruling, the European Court of Human Rights found Macedonia in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights in el-Masris case and awarded compensation of 60,000 euros (currently $74,000), which the government subsequently paid.

{articleGUID}

Human rights lawyer James Goldston, who represented el-Masri in the European court case, said he welcomed Macedonias apology, but argued that it was not enough.

Macedonia has yet to open a formal criminal inquiry into what happened or to hold anyone to account, Goldston said in a statement to the ACLU.

US government documents show that the CIA was aware of its mistake very shortly after it had wrongfully detained him, but he was still secretly held and abused for over four months, Goldston said.

Jamil Dakwar, one of el-Masris lawyers and director of ACLUs Human Rights Program, noted that the US Senate should insist on declassifying the Senate Torture Report to reveal the whole truth about the CIAs unlawful and barbaric torture programme which destroyed the lives of many people like el-Masri.

While we welcome Macedonias official apology, it is only the first step in revealing the whole truth about el-Masris illegal kidnapping and torture, Dakwar said in a statement emailed to Al Jazeera.

Its also a stark reminder of Americas utter failure to hold its own officials accountable for serious violations of US and international law, which is important for preventing anything like it from happening again.

El-Masri deserves justice and nothing less than full and transparent investigation into those responsible for overseeing and implementing the CIA torture and rendition programme. He also deserves an official apology and compensation to help him and his family to rebuild their lives.According to the report, government forces killed 1,421 people, including 187 children and 244 women.

Syrian government forces carried out 214 chemical attacks since 2011, according to a Syrian watchdog.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said these attacks have claimed the lives of at least 1,421 people.

A total of 187 children and 244 women were among the victims, the NGO said.

Report

The report was released on the first anniversary of a chemical attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the northwestern Idlib province last year, in which over 100 people were killed and hundreds injured.

A fact-finding mission by the UNs chemical watchdog, the OPCW, following the attack had concluded that sarin or a sarin-like substance was used as a chemical weapon in the April 4 attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun.

At least 87 people, including many children, were killed in the attack that the United States, France and Britain have said was carried out by President Bashar al-Assads forces.

According to the NGO, the Syrian regime has carried out 11 chemical attacks since the Khan Sheikhoun attack.

Last year, a UN investigation panel has concluded that Syrian army forces were responsible for the sarin gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since March 2011.

UN officials say hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.Palestinian protests persist despite Israel threats, killings

Eighteen people have been killed there since Friday and more than 1,000 others have been wounded.Al Jazeeras senior political analyst Marwan Bishara says US leader is taking advantage of tensions in the Middle East.

US President Donald Trump is milking Gulf countries and exploiting tensions in the Middle East to bolster its arms sales.

Thats according to Al Jazeeras senior political analyst Marwan Bishara, who was commenting shortly after the US leader told Saudi Arabia it needed to pay up if it wanted the US to continue its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria.

Bishara said the US was acting like a mercenary and putting itself forward for the service of whoever was willing to pay highest.

The US was also benefiting financially from both sides of the ongoing Gulf crisis, he went on to add.

While on the one hand, the United States does want Gulf unity under an American umbrella, I think President Trump is having a good time exploiting this crisis, Bishara said, referring to the crisis between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar, which has seen both sides sign lucrative arms deals with the US.

Certainly hes milking the various Gulf countries in a major way. I mean it was embarrassing even for the Crown Prince [Mohammed bin Salman] the way [Trump] brought that sign saying we are selling you this much hundreds of millions, this much billions in arms while they were meeting in the White House.

For every possible service, he would ask for money in return.

Hes done that with the United Arab Emirates, with Qatar, with Saudi Arabia, with Kuwait and so forth.

Ostensibly at least, Trump has spoken against US intervention in the Middle East and described is as both costly and deadly in terms of US lives lost.

Trump told supporters at a rally in the state of Ohio that he wanted US troops out of Syria soon.

While initially taking the Saudi side in its dispute with Qatar, Trump has since taken a more neutral approach.Restrictions in to prevent Shopian march

Srinagar, April 04: Curfew and restrictions were imposed by the authorities across the Kashmir to prevent a solidarity march towards Shopian, today.

Call for the march was given by the Joint Resistance Leadership to express solidarity with the people and families of 18 martyrs, killed by the troops on Sunday. The authorities sealed all main roads and highways including Pulwama-Shopian highway with barricades. The troops were deployed in large numbers in Srinagar, Pulwama and South Kashmir districts to prevent the march.

Indian police barred the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani, from coming out of his Hyd0erpora residence while arrested Mirwaiz Umar Farooq after he defied his house arrest and tried to march towards Shopian town. The authorities continued to put Hurriyat leaders Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Muhammad Yasin Malik under house arrest or in jail.

Complete shutdown was observed on the fourth consecutive day, today, against the Shopian killings. All business establishments were closed while public transport was sparse. Government offices were empty, while schools, colleges and Kashmir University remained closed. All university exams were postponed. The authorities continued to suspend train and internet services. Clashes were reported between protesters and Indian troops in Shopian and other parts of the territory.

Meanwhile, Indian Supreme Court has endorsed that the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, is not a temporary provision. The Indian apex court gave the ruling while hearing a petition filed against a similar verdict given by Delhi High Court in April 2017. Interestingly, the High Court of occupied Kashmir while rebutting the Indian claim of Kashmir being part of India had in October 2015 ruled that Jammu and Kashmir had never been part of India and that Article 370 of Indian Constitution that deals with the status of Jammu and Kashmir was beyond abrogation, repeal or even amendment.Groups say proposal to send military to US-Mexico border is an act of aggression and will lead to tragedy.

Rights groups have decried US President Donald Trumps plan to send the military to guard the US-Mexico border as an act of aggression.

Its an act of aggression quite frankly, if you station the military at your perimeter what does that say about your relationship with the neighbouring country, Andrea Guerrero, the executive director of rights group, Alliance San Diego, told Al Jazeera.

The militarys presence on the border will escalate the tension between the two countries and our fear both here and in Mexico that will lead to tragedy, she said.

Trump made the announcement at a White House luncheon with Baltic delegates on Tuesday, saying that until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with our military.

I spoke with [Defence Secretary James] Mattis, were going to do some things militarily, he said.

We cannot have people flowing into our country illegally, disappearing, and by the way never showing up for court.

The proposal has brought about criticism from those on both sides of the political aisle, as well as from rights groups who pointed that a border wall and fence already exists on much of the US-Mexico border.

He says we need these troops because we do not have a wall  that is not true, we do. We have 700 miles of a wall, Guerrero said.

We are not at war with Mexico and theres no military threat facing us. Theres no justification for the military, she added.

Tara Tabassi, an organiser for the rights group War Resisters League, which seeks to end war and its causes, said that its wrong to assert that the US-Mexico border is not already militarised.

Let it not be mistaken, the US-Mexico border is already militarised, and the addition of soldiers and a wall will only serve to further harass, criminalise, and endanger refugees and migrants fleeing economic and political violence created and sustained by US policies and intervention, Tabassi told Al Jazeera.

Trumps call only enforces the long-standing practice of using US military personnel as a tool of white supremacy to protect profits over people, she added.

Not the first time

Both George W Bush and Barack Obama deployed the National Guard to the US-Mexico border during their presidencies.

The last time we had the military deployed at the border in the form of the national guard that happened in Texas, that resulted in a border resident, a young by the name of Esequiel Hernandez being killed, Guerrero said.

The military personnel were not equipped or trained to handle what they believed was an immigration incident, although the gentleman was a US-citizen, she added.

Their presence resulted in racial profiling.

According to rights group, Southern Border, at least 50 people have died as a result of an encounter with US border agents since 2010.

Trumps comments on Tuesday came off the back of a series of tweets criticising Mexico for its immigration policies and calling on Congress to pass strict immigration laws, as well as fund his border wall.

According to US media, many defence officials were unaware of Trumps plan to militarise the border and were not sure exactly what he meant by the comments.

Trump also repeated his threat to pull the US out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada.It was a minor attack. There was no impact, but the question is will it continue?

An attack on a Saudi tanker by Yemens Houthi would not hit oil supplies, Saudi energy minister said on Wednesday, after Houthi rebels said they had targeted a warship in response to an air raid that killed civilians.

The Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition, says the Houthis attacked the oil tanker off Yemens main port of Hudaida on Tuesday.

But the Houthis say they targeted a coalition warship in response to an air raid on Hudaida on Monday that killed at least a dozen civilians, including seven children.

No disruption

Saudi oil industry sources told Reuters news agency that oil operations and shipments were proceeding as normal and that security around facilities inside the kingdom had not been raised further.

It was a minor attack. There was no impact, but the question is will it continue? one of the sources said.

The Houthis, who control most of northern Yemen, have launched missiles at Saudi Arabia, including the capital Riyadh, in the past few days. Saudi authorities said they had intercepted the missiles, although debris had killed one person.

In April 2017, Saudi forces said they have foiled an attempt to blow up an Aramco fuel terminal in southern Saudi Arabia using a high-speed boat laden with explosives, alleging Yemens Houthis were behind the attempt.

The Saudi-led alliance has conducted thousands of air raids targeting Houthis, often hitting civilian areas, although it denies doing so intentionally.

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying missiles to the Houthis, who have taken over the capital Sanaa and other parts of Yemen. Tehran and the Houthis deny the allegation.Parliament debating no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is likely to survive the vote.

Colombo, Sri Lanka  Sri Lankas parliament is debating a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, with voting likely to be held later on Wednesday.

The no-confidence motion was initiated by the Joint Opposition group in the parliament led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

However, only 55 opposition MPs, including four members from the ruling SLFP signed the document that was handed over to the speaker seeking the no-confidence vote. Interestingly, Rajapaksa did not sign the document.

The United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) led by Wickremesinghes United National Party (UNP) has 107 MPs in the 225-member parliament. The UNP, with 81 MPs, relies heavily on the support of allies from the UNFGG to survive the vote.

Wickremesinghe needs the support of 113 MPs to survive the no-confidence motion.

Last night, many parties that form the UNFGG pledged their support to Wickremesinghe. These include the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (seven MPs), All Ceylon Makkal Congress (five MPs) and the Tamil Progressive Alliance (three MPs).

The UNP seems to be cautiously optimistic that it will be able to stave off the challenge posed by the no-confidence motion.

This no-confidence motion is only the first step of a political conspiracy, however, due to the good fortune of the nation and the misfortune of the Rajapaksas it will be defeated today, said Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera from the UNP while speaking during the no-confidence debate.

Money being thrown

However, much depends on the way that the main Tamil party in parliament  the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will vote. The TNA has 16 MPs in the parliamentary opposition and has the numbers to swing this vote.

A prominent member of the Joint Opposition Group in parliament, Vidura Wickremanayake, son of former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake told Al Jazeera, we are confident of victory.

However there is a lot of money that is being thrown about and promises of cabinet portfolios to ministers to persuade them to vote against the no-confidence motion. Even though we are confident of victory the promises being thrown about may be decisive.

With reports of President Maithripala Sirisenas Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) deciding to abstain from the voting, the PM may scrape through the vote.

Unless there are dissenting votes within the UNP ranks, together with support from the TNA the prime minister is expected to sail through the no-confidence motion against him.

UNP parliamentarian and deputy minister of National Planning and Economic Affairs, Dr Harsha de Silva told reporters on Tuesday that members of the UNP will not under any circumstances support this no-confidence motion. We will defeat this motion and undertake radical structural reforms within the UNP hitherto unwitnessed and prepare the party to face future elections.

Task cut out

Even if he manages to win the vote, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has his task cut out. He needs to win the confidence of the UNP rank-and-file. And secondly, he has to heal the cracks in the coalition in the wake of the poor showing in the recent local government elections.

His position has been weakened by the rift at the highest levels of the current ruling coalition between the UNP and the SLFP, which fought the local elections separately, in which they were trounced by the Rajapaksa backed opposition parties.

Following the poll debacle President Sirisena stripped Wickremesinghe, who is also the Minister of Policy Planning & Economic Development, of two key financial institutions from his command including the Central Bank and repatriated the authority of these institutions back to the finance ministry.

Wickremesinghe has been the leader of the UNP for 24 years and is the longest serving leader in the history of the centre-right party. Under him, the UNP has lost series of elections over the past two decades.

Owing to his unpopularity in rural electorates, dominated by Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe did not contest the 2010 and 2014 presidential elections, choosing to back a common candidate instead.

Experts say that the constitution has no provision for a no-confidence motion against the prime minister but if he loses the vote, his position becomes politically and ethically untenable.

The constitution does not facilitate for a no-confidence motion against a prime minister. Therefore, if the no-confidence motion is passed it is not constitutionally binding, Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, a political scientist and constitutional expert, told Al Jazeera.

Only a no-confidence motion on the government as a whole and not just the prime minister will have outcomes that are constitutionally binding.Trump reiterates necessity for US troops to leave Syria unless Riyadh pays for continuation of US presence there.

US President Donald Trump has said that Saudi Arabia might have to pay if it wants continuing US presence in Syria.

Weve almost completed that task [of defeating ISIL] and well be making a determination very quickly, in coordination with others in the area, as to what well do, said Trump on Tuesday during a White House press conference with leaders from three Baltic nations.

Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision, and I said, Well, you know, you want us to stay, maybe youre going to have to pay.

Trump spoke on Monday with the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, over the phone to discuss a range of regional issues, including a peace plan between Israelis and Palestinians and opportunities to strengthen the American-Saudi strategic partnership.

But the White House statement of the call, released on Tuesday, did not mention any discussion about Saudi Arabias boosting funding for US military efforts in Syria.

Similarly, a White House readout of his March 20 meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman made no mention of US military efforts in the region.

I want to get out

Trumps remarks appeared to contradict the rhetoric on Syria from other top US officials. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had pledged an enduring presence in Syria last year.

But Trump reiterated calls to end US presence in the region, after he made similar statements at an event in Ohio last week.

I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home, Trump said.

We do a lot of things in this country, we do them for a lot of reasons, but it is very costly for our country, and it helps other countries a hell of a lot more than it helps us, he added.

Trump also railed against ongoing US intervention in the Middle East and its growing cost.

Think of it, $7 trillion over a 17-year period. We have nothing. Nothing except death and destruction. Its a horrible thing. So it is time. It is time, he said at the White House press conference.

We were very successful against ISIL. Well be successful against anybody militarily. But sometimes it is time to come back home. And were thinking about that very seriously.

The Obama administration launched a war in 2014 against the ISIL after the group flourished in the chaos of the Syrian civil war and then surged over the Iraq border in a bid to overtake Baghdad.Turkish president says Ankara and Moscow will coordinate over project, after meeting Russian and Iranian counterparts.

Turkey and Russia will collaborate to establish a hospital in Syrias Tel Abyad to treat those escaping Eastern Ghouta, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday alongside his Russian and Iranian counterparts  Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani  after a summit on Syria, Erdogan said Turkish and Russian armed forces would coordinate to build the medical facility.

Turkey, Russia and Iran also said they were committed to achieving a lasting ceasefire in Syria, in a joint statement issued following the meeting in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

The three countries reaffirmed their commitment to cooperating for the achievement of a lasting ceasefire between the conflicting parties, the statement said.

Al Jazeeras Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Ankara, said that after the meeting the three leaders expressed their increasing hope for peaceful solution in the Syrian crisis in light of the achievements produced by their trilateral dialogue.

These are the three parties who have the highest level of influence over what is happening in Syria. However, ironically, the Syrian government or opposition was not present in this meeting where the Syrias fate is decided on, he said.

The leaders revisited their achievements they have reached inside Syria through their dialogue in the last few months.

Rival camps

Iran and Russia, backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, which supports the moderate opposition, have been in close cooperation through a series of talks aimed at finding a solution to the Syrian conflict since last year.

Various so-called de-escalation zones were agreed among the three powers in Syria as a result of multiple rounds of talks throughout 2017.

Syrian government forces are reportedly close to taking full control of the opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta near the capital, Damascus.

The seizure of the suburb will mark a major development in Assads efforts to reclaim lost territories in the seven-year war.Advocates have expressed hope the data will help companies address inequality, but critics call it worse than useless.

Private companies in the UK have hours left to report their gender pay gaps as part of a new regulation aimed at showing women exactly how much more their male colleagues are getting paid.

The Wednesday midnight (GMT) deadline for private sector companies marks the first time UK businesses that employ more than 250 people are required to disclose the difference between what they pay men and women. The deadline for public sector firms already passed last Friday.

Gender equality advocates hope the measure will enable employees to talk to their firms about pay inequality and spur employers on to examine why a gender gap may exist within their firm.

The UK is one of the first countries in the world to require companies to submit the data.

On Tuesday morning, 8,874 of the more than 9,000 employers affected by the regulation had filed their figures to the UK gender pay gap service, which allows employees to check their companys record.

Shining a light on where women are being held back means employers can begin to take action, a UK Home Office spokesperson said.

Employers that do not disclose their figures risk legal action from the UKs Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Reporting gender pay gap data is not optional, it is the law, the spokesperson said.

Conversation starter

Kate Andrews, news editor at the Institute of Economic Affairs, a UK-based free market think-tank, strongly opposes the reporting measures, calling them worse than useless.

The problem we face now is an ongoing effort to conflate equal pay with the gender pay gap. The former is rightly protected by law, the latter is a variety of calculations that are more or less meaningful depending on the extent to which they compare like-for-like circumstances.

But Andrew Bazely, policy and insight manager at the Fawcett Society, a UK-based womens rights campaigning group, believes the statistic has value.

[Gender pay gap figures] go beyond just the issue of equal pay and look at whether youre promoting women as much as you are men, whether you are giving them bonuses to the same degree as youre giving men bonuses, whether for example you have lots of underpaid women at the bottom of your organisation, he told Al Jazeera.

Equal pay, the idea that people who do the same job should be paid the same amount, has been legally enforced in the UK since 1970.

But with men often occupying more senior positions than women, a gender pay gap, the difference between average hourly earnings of men and women, persists.

Women earn less than men in all OECD countries. According to the organisations numbers, a gender pay gap of 16.8 percent existed in the UK in 2016. In South Korea, women earned 36.7 percent less than men in the same year.

Of the companies that had already published their data by Tuesday afternoon, 78 percent pay men more than women, the BBC reported.

Ryanair was among the big names with high gaps, registering a median hourly rate for women 71.8 percent lower than mens. Barclays bank reported a womens median bonus pay of 46.9 percent lower than mens.

The most important thing to come out of this is the conversation that this will provoke, Bazely said.

[For employees to] come together to challenge their senior management to produce an action plan that will change the gender pay gap.

No official measures for companies that register a high pay gap have been announced.

Having a pay gap is not unlawful, an EHCR spokesperson said. Action plans to tackle the reasons behind them are key.

Niki Kandirikirira, director of programmes at Equality Now, hopes that companies with large pay gaps will take it on themselves to analyse what is causing the discrepancy and what they can do to adjust it.

She points to deeper cultural issues, such as underrepresentation of women in industries that are better paid, and a higher valuation of full-time workers, as some of the factors that companies should look into.

For child care we pay 8 ($11) an hour, say, to a woman whos looking after children. This is the most precious thing we have in our life and yet we will pay a plumber, 35 ($49) an hour to mend the boiler.

We undervalue the roles that women do deliver on  so that puts them on the back foot in the first place.

With this [gender pay gap registration] youre saying heres an indicator, you need to take some action, you need to do the analysis, you need to understand this, and you need to start putting this right.Family members reject defence ministry claims that no civilians were killed in Kunduz attack targeting Taliban fighters.

Distraught relatives of children killed in a government air raid targeting Taliban fighters in Afghanistans Kunduz province have rejected official claims that no civilians were killed in the attack as dishonest.

A religious school in the Dasht-e-Archi district of the northern province was hit late on Monday.

The Afghan government said the raids targeted a Taliban gathering, but witnesses and local officials maintained that at the time of the attack, a Dastaar Bandi ceremony  an event celebrating young men completing the memorisation of the Quran  was taking place at the school.

There are conflicting reports over the number of people killed in the attack, and under which circumstances.

A district official said a total of 70 people  including children and top Taliban commanders  were killed, while witnesses put the death toll to at least 100. Nematullah Temori, spokesman for the provincial governor, said seven civilians were killed in the attack.

But General Mohammad Radmanish, spokesman for the defence ministry, said that according to their intelligence, no civilians were present at the time of the air raid.

He told Al Jazeera that the air raid targeted a Taliban gathering where members of the group were discussing plans to capture Kunduz city.

The Taliban were gathered in a room planning their next move to take over Kunduz city.

We have surveillance footage of armed men and pictures of Taliban leaders in the area that was attacked, he said, adding that 18 Taliban commanders were killed in the raid.

Civilians not killed

Radmanish said the civilians killed in the attack could be the result of an attack we are not aware of.

The government is investigating the death of these civilians.

Radmanish also said that the civilians admitted into hospitals were hit by bullets, a claim denied by the father of one of the victims.

My son, a 13-year-old, had finished his Quran and was being recognised at the ceremony. He was well-dressed and was very happy upon his accomplishment, Abdul Khalid told Al Jazeera.

His body had no signs of bullet wounds. He was killed in the air raid, not by firing.

My son is dead now, and I buried him yesterday. I dont understand why would they attack children? We need to know the truth, he said, calling the government dishonest.

Abdul Matin Atifi, head of public health in Kunduz, told reporters that hospitals in the city received the bodies of 30 civilians.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani acknowledged in a statement that the air raids had caused civilian casualties, but said that they were aimed at a meeting by Taliban fighters who had gathered to discuss an attack.

The Afghan National Army, based on precise information, tried to destroy it to save the people from great disaster but there are reports that unfortunately civilian casualties were also caused in the attack, the statement said, adding that an investigation would be opened.

Scene of carnage

Kunduz resident Faiz Mohammed said his two younger brothers  Mirwais, 11 and Ahmed, 12  were participating in the ceremony and managed to escape the attack.

They are still in shock and are very sad because they lost their friends, he told Al Jazeera.

After the attack, Faiz Mohammed rushed to the site and described devastating scenes.

There were so many children and mullahs lying on the ground screaming in pain. Many were in shock, he said.

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said on Twitter that a human rights team on the ground will independently probe the incident.

Aerial attacks causing civilian deaths

Afghanistans air force, backed by US-led NATO coalition advisers, has accelerated aerial raids in the country in recent months to push the Taliban to the negotiating table. However, civilians have reportedly been killed in several incidents.

Earlier this month, a unit of the Afghan security and intelligence forces carried out a deadly raid in two villages in the Chaparhar district of Nangarhar province which resulted in the death of seven farmers, including two teenagers.

Afghan officials maintained that the people killed in the attack were Taliban fighters.

On January 31, Afghan special forces backed by US air raids launched an offensive against Taliban fighters in the Maiwand district in Kandahar, according to a Human Rights Watch report, released in February.

At least 20 civilians were killed in the operation, the report said.An American POTUS is being persecuted

We are in the second year of the Trump presidency, and things are going amazingly well with the administration  such as the Saudi recognition of Israel this week, an amazing breakthrough after sixty years of war. Trump must get his share of the credit. But  I keep realizing that for the first time in American history, with the possible exception of Watergate, a duly elected American POTUS is being persecuted by an official witch-hunter, appointed by the DoJ along with sixteen ranting Democrat partisans still in the bag for Hillary. We know that Mueller comes up with one flimsy excuse after another, hoping the Democrats will return to power in Congress in November of 2018. This witch hunt is completely corrupt and politicized, and Mueller has known this all along. Mueller is protecting the anti-American sabotage of the Obama years, including the Uranium One scandal. Mueller is in the bag for the Democrats, and half the country knows it. What this will do to respect for constitutional law cannot be good.

We know damned well that Obama's DoJ was radicalized by Obama, Valerie Jarrett, and Eric Holder, and that Obama encouraged jihad infiltration into the highest levels of the U.S. government. We even know that Obama's Chicago friends met with a self-declared jihad head of state in 2013, Hassan Rouhani, and that Louis Farrakhan played a prominent role in that private meeting. There's no way Obama and Jarrett did not know about the Rouhani-Farrakhan meeting. I keep having the stunned realization that the left is outright trying to hunt down a duly elected POTUS, in open rebellion against constitutional government; that we know that this is a coup d'etat plot at the very top of the Obama FBI, CIA, and White House; and that the media no longer seem to recognize the legal authority of a duly elected chief executive of the United States. We also know that the media have been filled with murderous hatred for the U.S. Constitution and the American people. We are clearly seeing sedition against the United States. The last time this happened was when Abe Lincoln got elected as the first Republican, and the Democrats  the party of slavery and armed rebellion  started a war that killed 800,000 Americans. The same party is now repeating history, because it hates you and me. Democrats have hardly made it a secret. Let me just repeat the bottom line. A legally elected American POTUS is being hounded and persecuted, under color of law, but in plain and open violation of the U.S. Constitution. The rules for this vicious witch hunt are judge-made or bureaucracy-made and completely arbitrary. These rules have no constitutional standing, and if we had a Supreme Court worthy of the name, its justices would say so. This is not normal. This is not American, and it certainly is in profound violation of constitutional government. Forget Donald Trump, the human being, for a second. If Mueller and the black-hat posse succeed, they will have destroyed constitutional government for many years to come. Perhaps forever.In response to Manafort's motion for dismissal, this previously secret memo was revealed (with heavy redactions) expanding Mueller's scope of investigation.

Paul Manafort's legal team has forced disclosure of a troubling secret memo issued by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that expanded the scope of the Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation beyond allegations of Russian election interference. Manafort's lawyers have moved to have his initial and the subsequent superseding indictments for business dealings years ago dismissed because, among other reasons, Mueller had no legal authority beyond probing Russian election interference in the 2016 election when he was appointed by Rosenstein on May 17, 2017.

The first and obvious question is, why on Earth was this kept secret? It smacks of secret police, not an open and fair investigation.

But there is another, truly serious problem that William A. Jacobson of Legal Insurrection explains in his excellent lengthy article on the memo:

By the time of the August 2 memo, Mueller already was investigating Manafort's business dealings and gathering evidence for an indictment (which would be unsealed less than three months later). On July 26, 2017  a week before the Rosensten memo  Mueller's team raided Manafort's home, as the Washington Post reported on August 9, 2017: FBI agents raided the home in Alexandria, Va., of President Trump's former campaign chairman, arriving in the pre-dawn hours late last month and seizing documents and other materials related to the special counsel investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The raid, which occurred without warning on July 26, signaled an aggressive new approach by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team in dealing with a key figure in the Russia inquiry. Manafort has been under increasing pressure as the Mueller team looked into his personal finances and his professional career as a highly paid foreign political consultant. Using a search warrant, agents appeared the day Manafort was scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and a day after he met voluntarily with Senate Intelligence Committee staff members. The search warrant requested documents related to tax, banking and other matters. People familiar with the search said agents departed the Manafort residence with a trove of material, including binders prepared ahead of Manafort's congressional testimony. The August 2, 2017 memo was classic boostrapping [sic]. It purported to confirm Mueller's authority to go after Manafort's business dealings, but Mueller already was doing that and had been doing it for weeks, culminating in the July 26 home raid.

The midnight raid on Manafort's home, waking him and his wife, was a shocking example of unnecessary bullying on its face intended to intimidate, not just to develop evidence. But the fact that it took place before the scope was even authorized, and that subsequent authorization took place in secret, absolutely stinks.

Mueller is earning the title of "rogue prosecutor," while Rosenstein is looking more like his accomplice than his boss.2 idols missing for 40 years brought back from US

Two idols that had gone missing for the past 40 years have been brought back to Nepal from the United States of America, informed Department of Archaeology.In other words, Mexico will host (for now) those who are not prepared to claim asylum in the U.S. Lack of economic opportunity and high crime rates do not qualify one for U.S. asylum  only justifiable fears of political or ethnic or religious persecution. That presumably smaller group will proceed to an unspecified place on the border.

Everyone else was encouraged to take a humanitarian visa in Mexico, a document allowing them to travel in Mexico for 10 to 20 days, or document giving them permission to stay in the country for 30 days to file an immigration claim. They will not go beyond Mexico City.

At caravan general meeting Irineo Mujica said the caravan will continue and will not be stopped. The group plans on going to Puebla and then Mexico City. After that they will go on with asylum seekers.

The march on the U.S. border by Central Americans could become a nightmare for Democrats hoping to capture control of the House of Representatives. Following threats of retaliation by President Trump, Mexico has not stopped or dispersed the group but apparently has thinned it down. Adolfo Flores, the BuzzFeed reporter embedded with the group, reports in two tweets the latest plans:

But those seeking succor in the U.S. are not exactly supplicants. They began by issuing demands, including "open the borders to us to us because we are as much citizens as the people of the countries where we are and/or travel."

Investor's Business Daily sees trouble ahead for the Democrats:

Perhaps the People Without Borders leadership believe they're going to bring the entire immigration crisis to a head with this stunt. Well, they may be right, but not in the way that they think. President Trump is pushing Congress hard for tougher immigration laws, even asking Republicans in the Senate to employ the "nuclear option"  a filibuster-free vote  to get the job done. By the way, Mexico, which frequently criticizes the U.S. for its "harsh" immigration policies, is far harder on Latin American immigrants than the U.S. would ever dream of being. Illegal immigrants [sic] who enter Mexico are immediately apprehended, jailed and summarily sent home. Their southern border is secure. [Except that they allowed this caravan through.  T.L.] ... Because Trump isn't about to let the Central American throng cross the border, and he'll have support from average Americans. It's possible he'll even deploy troops. [Update: National Guard.] Will the "refugees" instigate a violent confrontation? We wouldn't put it past the leftist leaders of this political caravan. The left has a rich history of sacrificing the very people it pretends to help on the altar of socialist ideals. What better way to win the immigration debate than to have a few martyrs?

John Daniel Davidson of The Federalist sees even more potential trouble

Make no mistake: if the caravan reaches the U.S. border, it will be a disaster on several levels. At the most basic level, it will be a humanitarian crisis. Depending on where groups of migrants decide to cross, food, water, and exposure will be an immediate problem. Vast stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border are sparsely populated and geographically harsh. Facilities to house and feed hundreds of families for more than a day or two simply do not exist along the border. Most of those who manage to cross into the United States would have to be released before long. While Border Patrol is dealing with all that, drug cartels would no doubt take advantage of the situation. While I was on a reporting trip to the Rio Grande Valley last month, Border Patrol agents told me that when unaccompanied minors began showing up in large numbers in 2014, it swamped their resources and left vast stretches of the border un-monitored. Drug cartels sent over large groups of minors on purpose, they said, as a diversionary tactic. A group of 80 or 90 children and families surrendering to Border Patrol would tie up every agent in that area for the entire day, allowing smugglers to ferry drugs across an unguarded border with impunity. All of this would in turn trigger a political crisis that very well might accrue to Trump's advantage.

The Democrats, with their commitment to identity politics, would have a hard time turning away from their backing of any and all border-crossers. The crush of new cases seeking asylum would, under current law, necessitate admitting asylum-seekers and their residence here while the lengthy process of adjudication takes place. A.G. Sessions just rolled out quotas for immigration judges to handle such cases at the rate of 700 per year or more, to predictable outrage from the left, but President Trump wants reform of immigration law to end the "catch and release" policy for border violators, including non-adults.

All of this could well become an election issue in the next five months, and I don't think it helps Democrats turn many GOP seats blue. President Trump, like Rahm Emanuel, is not one to let a crisis go to waste.NPR:

China responded on Wednesday to the Trump administration's published list of Chinese exports that could soon be subject to a steep 25 percent tariff.

The White House list covers some $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in sectors such as aerospace, robotics, IT and machinery.

China's Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday that it would impose tariffs of 25 percent on 106 types of U.S. products worth $50 billion, including soybeans, aircraft and automobiles. There was no indication of when the new tariffs would take effect. The Commerce Ministry also said it had opened a dispute against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization.

"It must be said, we have been forced into taking this action," a deputy commerce minister, Wang Shouwen, said at a news conference, according to The Associated Press. "Our action is restrained."

China's commerce ministry said it has initiated a World Trade Organization dispute procedure against the U.S. 301 tariffs investigation on Wednesday, amid an escalating trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

Last month, President Trump directed his trade advisers to develop the list as a way to punish China for what the White House calls unfair treatment of American intellectual property. Trump has also ordered his treasury secretary to weigh new limits on Chinese investment in the United States.

The list of tariff targets was made public after the market closed on Tuesday. News of retaliatory tariffs from China on $3 billion worth of U.S. goods contributed to sharp sell-off on Wall Street Monday.

The administration will solicit written comments on the proposed tariff targets through May 11 and hold a hearing on May 15. Supporters and opponents began weighing in as soon as the list was released.Defeating America with a false racist narrative

We're living in some bizarre times. White people must be constantly on guard in their use of language whenever a minority is within earshot  not because whites are racist, even though some are, but because any utterance passing their lips can be parsed to create an inference that was never intended. As a result, a form of speech repression has taken place, turning innocuous conversations into unwarranted guilt trips. Contrary to what's being pushed by extremist groups, the overwhelming numbers of whites are decent, fair-minded, and devoid of racial prejudice. In fact, I've often seen whites go out of their way to be extra-accommodating toward non-whites. Undoubtedly, that's because they want to assure them that racism has been properly disposed of in the dustbin of history. Yet there are some race-hustlers who try to keep the corrosive image of white supremacy alive in order to further their own political ambitions. After all, if racial conflict ends, how are those hustlers going to get funded by all those self-hating liberals?

The constant accusation of bigotry is a pervasive problem in today's culture because it makes for a false narrative regarding races, genders, nationalities, religions, etc. and uses it as leverage to promote the inaccurate notion of unfairness or discrimination. The consequences may provide a loser's limp for minorities. If a minority student is receiving low marks in school, the student or the parent can blame it on bigotry in the education system. The failing white student has no such crutch to limp along on. How about the minority who is less than productive in the work environment? Suppose the employer feels intimidated about terminating the worker because of the worker's color, sex, or sexual orientation. To the minority employee, that may seem like job security, but, in reality it may be the best reason for employers to hesitate when deciding to hire a minority. If a typical white man shows a propensity for substandard work or takes sick days too frequently, his employer can hand him a pink slip (assuming he's not in some politically-protected classification) without compunction. The fired worker won't have that crutch, so there'll be no to reprisals, legal or otherwise. Make no mistake about it: accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia, and all the rest have become powerful weapons of mass hysteria, with the capacity to destroy the most militarily superior and bountifully prosperous country in recorded time. For example, the aggressive invasion from south of the border could one day be written as the first time in the history of the planet that a mighty nation was conquered not by gun or sword, but by a morbid fear of being characterized as intolerant by the aggressors. U.S. citizens have been warned against using the term "illegal alien" because it's now considered a form of bigotry. Instead, we're told that the proper term is "undocumented immigrant." Using that logic, a burglar who's exiting your home with your TV on his shoulder should be called an undocumented shopper. Hostile illegal aliens have no intention of "melting" into the "pot" that gave us a unified language and unified laws and customs. Instead, they demand that their own cultures be etched into the landscape. While they stomp on and burn our American flag, they proudly fly their own flags, as if they were marching to victory over a defeated enemy. If that's not a definition of invasion, I don't know what is. What I do know is that our country is becoming Balkanized in ways that haven't been seen since just prior to the Civil War. When we finally elected a president who stands up to the false and dangerous rhetoric of the invaders and takes steps to defend our country, a new paradigm emerged. The left wing has taken steps to undermine the clearly expressed sentiment of the voters. President Trump is called racist for trying to preserve the sovereignty of our nation by stopping the illegal mass migration from the south. Democrats, realizing they've lost the votes of patriots across the country, have turned their backs on citizens and embraced the invaders, hoping to give them amnesty and the right to vote  for Democrats, of course. All of the foregoing makes our country feel less safe, which impels mass numbers of people to arm themselves in preparation for the violent civil unrest that seems imminent. Meanwhile, in their typically bizarre method of reasoning, some Democrats are calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment. Hence, if the drug-crazed mugger is coming toward you with an illegal gun, you'd better not be able to defend yourself with a legal one. In the mind of a liberal, one should reason with the mugger and beg forgiveness for the social and economic conditions that caused him to embark on a life of crime. In the mind of a conservative, the mugger is a dangerous thug who should have lethal force used against him. His skin color will not be a factor in the decision.The chairwoman of the DNC's Black Caucus told a town hall in Detroit over the weekend that she is a former member of the notorious Black Panthers, a radical extremist activist group formed in the 1960s.

"I'm a former Black Panther and, when we talk about the movement , as a former Black Panther with Angela Davis and Kathleen Cleaver, it was important ... to make people understand it was about the movement for us," said Rollins. "Educating us. We got out and we taught kids, we fed the hungry, and we clothed the naked." At the end of Rollins' statement, which was secretly taped and posted online by the GOP War Room, she asks blacks to vote for Democrats in the 2018 midterms and help take Congress back from the Republican Party. "We got to turn back to the revolution!" Rollins yelled. Sitting near Rollins was Democratic National Committee Deputy Chairman Keith Ellison, D-Minn.

Noted political scientist Norm Ornstein wrote that Republicans are no longer conservatives; they are radicals. Perhaps Ornstein should train his famous powers of observation on the Democrats to find real radicalism.

By any definition, the Black Panthers were far out of the mainstream in the U.S. in the 1960s and '70s. They were even out of the mainstream among blacks. They were radical "community activists" who have been accused over the years of everything from extorting money from black shopkeepers to murder.

Conservative intellectual David Horowitz details, in his conversion from far left to the right, the murder of his bookkeeper, Betty Van Patter, by the Panthers as one of the defining moments of his life. Van Patter had been doing the books for a Black Panther school when she disappeared, only to be found a few weeks later floating in the bay.

Black Panther-defenders point to all the good work they did in trying to make blacks self-sufficient and instill pride in people living in inner-city communities. But their radical agenda was doing blacks no good, and the violent and extreme nature of many Black Panther members wipes away any good they may or may not have done.

The Democratic Party is far more radical than the GOP. Prominent radicals include not only Ms. Rollins and DNC vice chairman Keith Ellison, but also the radical socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, and many others in Democratic party leadership positions.

That's the difference. The GOP has its share of loons and right-wing nuts. But they are mostly shunted to the sidelines. Democrats feature their radicals, give them power, and allow them to set the party's agenda.

They are a far more dangerous party, and God help us if they ever achieve power.The ad was for a Christian theology program at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, featuring an image of a crucifix, the famous, ornate, iconic (in the real sense) San Damiano cross from the Italian village church where St. Francis of Assisi first received his religious mission. Franciscan University, Franciscan crucifix  get it?

The offending cross was this one, which has its own Wikipedia page:

And here is the rejected ad, which contained only a detail of the image.

To start, notice that it is not a particularly violent-looking image  even less so, given that the ad features only a detail of the image, not the full Crucifixion. If you want a violent crucifix image to censor, you have to go to the art of Matthias Grunewald. The San Damiano crucifix image is less violent because it is about more than just a crucifixion; its featured images in the Eastern tradition suggest that it is also about the communion of the saints and the broader church as a whole. It is not just a documentary image about the Crucifixion, but an artist's effort to tell the whole story of the church, which is why the violence is minimized in the stylized art. It was obvious enough for the past thousand years to everyone who saw it...until Facebook came along. The one thing that can be observed about this is that, like the Roman empire doyens, who were shocked at the image of the cross and in their pagan logic threw Christians to the lions for it, Facebook's denizens creating these algorithms are generating approximately the same reaction.

It's also astonishing that the famous San Damiano crucifix was the image targeted. Shows how classy Facebook is. This censorship shows that Facebook's people are totally ignorant not only of Christian culture in their algorithms, but also of art  making themselves perfect zero-refinement Philistines, in addition to being anti-Christian, as everyone suspects.

Banned because it was too violent...presumably, that is because violent images cause teenagers and Muslims to go out and do violent things, and Facebook wants to put a stop to it. Lot of that we have been seeing from the theology programs of Christian universities, ain't that so, Facebook?

No, it was just a ban of a Christian image because Facebook has too many minions who don't like Christianity. What's obnoxious about this ban is that the left has always up until now hollered about religious images invading the public square. Now leftists are protesting religious images even in places where these images are appropriate, such as the theology department of a Catholic university. It's not enough to just leave Christians alone among themselves; they need to be the kind of Christians Facebookers think they should be: bland, with no knowledge of the crucifix, historic Western traditions, or fine art. Just a happy-face emoji.

No wonder Facebook has so many opponents among ordinary Americans these days. Maybe if it can lighten up on the anti-Christian censorship, it can regain its lost trust.Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III informed President Trump's attorneys last month that he is continuing to investigate the president but does not consider him a criminal target at this point, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

I am suspicious of the latest "news" regarding the Mueller probe that has morphed from its original charter to investigate Russian interference into the 2016 election into something far broader, based on a secret memo from Rod Rosenstein. According to leaks to the Washington Post by "two people with knowledge of the conversations":

In private negotiations in early March about a possible presidential interview, Mueller described Trump as a subject of his investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

Before any Trump-supporters take comfort in this, consider that this is far from a final dismissal of charging Trump. The difference between a "subject" and a "target" is explained in The Week:

A "subject" is someone whose conduct prosecutors are investigating but they don't have sufficient evidence to bring charges against. Mueller and Trump's attorneys were negotiating the terms of a possible presidential interview when he made the announcement, and Mueller said he wants to ask Trump about whether he tried to block the investigation so he can finish this part of the probe, the Post reports. Mueller also told Trump's attorneys he is working on a report about Trump's actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice, two people with knowledge of the matter told the Post.

Josh Gerstein in Politico adds:

"As a practical matter, federal prosecutors typically don't decide until late in an investigation whether they will charge a person who is under investigation," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti wrote on Twitter. "Usually prosecutors don't make that judgement [sic] until they've interviewed witnesses and reviewed the relevant documents. ... All today's news tells us is that Mueller hasn't decided to indict Trump at this time. If Trump's lawyers know what they're doing, they'll tell him he's still under great risk."

But what leaped out at me is something highly irregular, it seems. From the WaPo:

Mueller's investigators have indicated to the president's legal team that they are considering writing reports on their findings in stages  with the first report focused on the obstruction issue, according to two people briefed on the discussions. Under special counsel regulations, Mueller is required to report his conclusions confidentially to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who has the authority to decide whether to release the information publicly.

The key word here is "confidentially." Yet the very next paragraph in the story, written by Carol D. Leonnig and Robert Costa, tells us:

"They've said they want to write a report on this  to answer the public's questions  and they need the president's interview as the last step," one person familiar with the discussions said of Mueller's team.

Clarice Feldman notes that Mueller has no authority to issue a public report. The statute governing him is different from the one that that applied to the Kenneth Starr investigation.

(c)Closing documentation. At the conclusion of the Special Counsel's work, he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel.

Yet left-wing Trump-hating Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe is exultant about the prospect of a report that has no basis in law:

BREAKING NEWS: The key isnt that Trump is not (yet) a target but that he IS a SUBJECT of Muellers investigation & that Mueller will write a REPORT on what Trump did, why, and what it adds up to. That is HUGE.https://t.co/GiEtV4OwdY  Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) April 4, 2018

It appears to me that, based on the WaPo's leaks (if accurate), the Mueller team is planning to manipulate public opinion and thereby Trump's decision on whether to speak with the investigators:

Mueller's investigators have indicated to the president's legal team that they are considering writing reports on their findings in stages  with the first report focused on the obstruction issue, according to two people briefed on the discussions. ... The president's allies believe a second report detailing the special counsel's findings on Russia's interference would be issued later.

Obstruction would be a process crime. We have no information about what exactly might be in such a report, but there have been suggestions that President Trump's firing of James Comey as FBI head  his clear constitutional prerogative  could be taken as obstruction. I am no lawyer, but this would require mind-reading of a high order. And criminalizing the exercise of constitutionally stipulated powers seems highly dubious.

The Post cites anonymous "experts" who believe that the goal is not criminal charges, but impeachment:

If Mueller finds Trump engaged in criminal conduct, he could detail it in a report, experts argue, and let Congress to decide whether to launch impeachment proceedings based on Mueller's findings. "The president's personal risk is primarily on the impeachment front," [Princeton professor Keith] Whittington said. "Even if there are not things that lead to indictment, there may be matters that warrant an impeachment investigation and proceedings."

I am highly suspicious that the leak that he is not a criminal target and prospect of a public report by Mueller  despite the fact that the law specifies that his report must be confidential  is being used to manipulate President Trump into speaking with the Mueller investigators. As General Flynn learned, even innocent memory lapses or inadvertent misunderstanding of the scope of a question can lead to criminal charges with this group made up of mostly or exclusively Democrat partisans.

The Trump legal team is remaining silent for now.Several other municipalities have joined a suit filed last month by the town of Los Alamitos, claiming that the law is unconstitutional. Significantly, the third most populous county in the state, Orange Country, recently voted to join the suit after the sheriff's department announced plans to circumvent the law by informing federal immigration officials of illegal aliens in custody.

A revolt by local governments against California's sanctuary policies is growing. Huntington Beach has filed suit in federal court to opt out of the state's sanctuary policies for illegal aliens, referring to the law that came into effect January 1 of this year as "constitutional overreach."

Several other cities and towns are considering joining the Los Alamitos suit.

Fox News:

Just last month the city of Los Alamitos started the movement across the state after it voted to opt out of the sanctuary city law over the belief that it "may be in direct conflict with federal laws and the Constitution." Council members also felt that the law conflicts with their ability to "honor our oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States," which they took upon their appointments. Other cities and towns have since acted to join a federal lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department which argues that three recent California laws deliberately interfere with federal immigration policies. The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last week to join the lawsuit just after the county sheriff's department announced a new method to inform federal agents about illegal immigrants [sic] that have been released from custody that still complies with the law. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra threatened the sheriff's office with the possibility of arrest. "State law is state law. It's my job to enforce state law and I will do so." Huntington Beach could be the first to file a lawsuit outside of the federal government's lawsuit. Council members asked city Attorney Michael Gates "to work with the county or other municipalities that wish to join our efforts," The Orange County Register reported.

I can't recall a similar revolt by local governments against a state statute anywhere else. And the movement to sue the state is growing:

Aliso Viejo Mayor Dave Harrington said his council will discuss similar action next month. "It is a great thing what they did," Harrington told the Orange County Register. "I think they were spot-on, that we take the oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States." Buena Park Councilwoman Beth Swift said she will follow the lead as well and will request a discussion on the measure at the next council meeting.

While the state's A.G., Xavier Becerra, was threatening city officials with arrest, California's Senate leader, Kevin de Leon, who authored the controversial sanctuary law, was threatening small local governments with ruinous lawsuits:

The Los Alamitos Council's "symbolic vote in favor of President Trump's racist immigration enforcement policies is disappointing," de Leon told the Ventura County Star. "Local governments that attempt to break state law will saddle their residents with unnecessary and expensive litigation costs."

Nice town ya got there. Be a shame if it went broke because you disagreed with me.

Talk about "unnecessary and expensive litigation costs"  imagine a couple of hundred California local governments suing the state. De Leon will have all the litigation he wants if that happens.

Obviously, this is an issue made for the Supreme Court. Lower courts will almost certainly rule against the local governments, given how liberal many of them are. But the larger issue of whether California can refuse to enforce federal immigration law will wait for the Department of Justice suit against California's sanctuary policies to be settled.Rand Paul is wrong to oppose Mike Pompeo's nomination

Sen. Rand Paul has announced that he will oppose the nomination of CIA director Mike Pompeo, condemning him as a "failed neocon." However, a thorough review of Pompeo's record as CIA director demonstrates that far from an unrepentant neoconservative, he is a pragmatic realist with the necessary skills and experience to lead the State Department effectively. As Paul himself often pointed out, the CIA has armed dozens of Syrian rebel groups over the last few years, including radical Islamists linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. These groups often collaborated with al-Qaeda affiliates and undermined anti-ISIS efforts by attacking U.S. coalition forces as well as Syrian government forces. According to a report by the New York Times, as CIA director, Pompeo recommended ending this program. Trump agreed, and the aid was ended, much to the chagrin of Paul's nemesis, Sen. John McCain, a prominent neoconservative.

Far from his media portrayal as a reckless warmonger, Pompeo became instrumental in the Trump administration's covert diplomatic efforts with rogue states, successfully establishing back channels with the spy agencies of both Syria and North Korea. The Syrian back channel, which was aimed at securing the release of American journalist Austin Tice, was described as the "highest-level contact between the governments in years." Coupled with the cessation of aid to the rebels, this constituted a clear shift away from the Obama-era policy of regime change in Syria. Working with South Korean intelligence, Pompeo also helped engineer the administration's ground-breaking diplomatic opening with North Korea, which will culminate in the first meeting between the sitting leaders of the United States and North Korea since the beginning of the conflict on the Korea peninsula. Though Pompeo has at times publicly hinted at a more aggressive approach toward North Korea, there is a strong suggestion that this is merely part of the administration's negotiating strategy: to utilize unpredictability as a tool to extract concessions from Pyongyang on denuclearization. To put it in Paul's own words, the United States must engage in a "robust diplomacy with those we disagree with," but "diplomacy requires implied force." Paul will also find plenty of common ground with Pompeo on Russia. Although Pompeo remains a staunch critic of Russian foreign policy maneuvers over the last few years, he takes a fairly reasoned approach to relations with Moscow. During an ongoing rift within the White House, outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster has pushed for a more belligerent stance, while Pompeo eschews confrontation in favor of a balanced outlook that emphasizes greater coordination, noting the dependence of many of our European allies on Russian oil and gas. Given that Paul himself repeatedly emphasized a similar position on the 2016 campaign trail, he ought to celebrate the Pompeo nomination as evidence of the administration embracing a position closer to his own. Furthermore, Pompeo has often been described as exceptionally loyal to the president. Unlike past foreign policy officials such as Rex Tillerson and McMaster, Pompeo is seen as someone who will follow orders from the president and implement them, rather than using his position to pursue his own ideological agenda. Given Trump's diplomatic, "deal-making" instincts and frequent criticism of the neoconservative worldview, this characteristic is a strong asset for the secretary of state-designate. In addition, Pompeo is from the conservative wing of the party and is willing to engage with the Republican grassroots, which is far more war-weary than the more globalist party establishment. Just ask Paul's close ally, Freedom Caucus rep. Justin Amash, who served alongside Pompeo in the House. When Pompeo was nominated as CIA director, Amash proclaimed on Twitter that he was a "great pick" who "will listen to our concerns and serve with integrity." As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Paul will also have the opportunity to work closely with Pompeo, a open-minded secretary of state who is prepared to take into account more than just the conventional views espoused by Republican congressional leadership. Finally, it has been widely reported that the only real alternative that the administration considered was United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley. Although Paul supported Haley in her confirmation vote, she later emerged as the administration's most vocal and fervent foreign policy hawk, particularly on Syria and Russia. If she were elevated to secretary of state, she would burnish her credentials as a prospective 2024 presidential contender  a less than ideal outcome for Paul, who has dedicated his career to moving the Republican Party away from the foreign policy excesses of the Bush years. Rand Paul has said "the job of the State Department is diplomacy, not war." Mike Pompeo understands this. If Paul seeks a shrewd diplomat who will advance President Trump's "America First" agenda on the world stage, he should vote to confirm Mike Pompeo as U.S. secretary of state.Will anything stop the media's relentless daily attacks on Trump?

The theme every day is the same: Trump is stupid, Trump is immature, no one is around Trump to keep him in line, and Trump is the worst president ever. The theme never changes no matter how well the economy does. The following is just a small sample of just the headlines Washington Post writers have written to attack Trump in the last few days. The reporting at CNN, ABC, NBC, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times is similar, but I get the WaPo at my email, so it is easier to show the disdain these supposedly elite journalists have for balanced reporting. Jeff Bezos is fond of robots, and his journalists could easily be replaced.Amazon has slowly been growing its advertising business, and analysts believe that it could be a $20 billion business by 2020. Which could seriously compete with Google, and even take a pretty big chunk out of its market share. Google currently has virtually no competition in the space, as it holds a huge market share in advertising, with other advertisers like Yahoo and Bing taking a very small amount of the market.

An analyst from Cenkos Securities, Alex DeGroote, believes that Amazon takes up about $3 billion of the US advertising market right now, which is actually around $200 billion. Thats just 1.5 percent market share right now, but that could grow to around $20 billion in just two years, if Amazon really expands the business. DeGroote believes that users will head to Amazon for retail searching, rather than Google. And that Amazon could beat Google in search advertising and not display ads. Display ads are those ads youll see on other sites, that are not search engines. Of course, the antitrust investigations that Google has been facing lately, due to its shopping ads, arent going to help Google keep this market share and may make it easier to head to Amazon. DeGroote thinks that Amazon could take Google to the cleaners in search advertising. And a big part of this is because of the amount of products Amazon lists on its site already.

During its Q4 conference call last week, Amazons CFO stated that search advertising was a big contributor to its growth in North America in the quarter. Which is likely going to lead to Amazon expanding its ad business in North America. Analysts at Citi believe that Amazon could become a $1 trillion company before Apple does, but that is with bolstering its ad business. Both Amazon and Apple are closing in on the $1 trillion market cap right now. Though Amazon is having some trouble getting close to that $1 trillion mark right now, with the president calling them out in various tweets over the past week or so. Which has shaved over $100 off of its share price in just the past five trading days.Biker dies after being hit by Sajha bus

A man died after a Sajha bus hit a bike he was riding on at Bijulibazaar in the Capital on Wednesday.Top Chinese Android smartphone makers including Huawei and Xiaomi, as well as sister companies OPPO and Vivo, are all targeting record device shipments in 2018, DigiTimes reported Wednesday, citing industry sources familiar with their plans. The largest original equipment manufacturers in the Far Eastern country are hence also aiming at increasing their global market share in a rapid manner, with at least some of them seeing India as their largest foreign opportunity to do so. Outside of India, the Chinese phone vendors are also understood to be looking at other emerging markets where their value-oriented and aggressively priced devices have the best opportunity to thrive, as per the same report.

The foreign investments greenlit by Chinas mobile industry are thus likely to be at an all-time high over the course of this year, with not a single major OEM in the country expecting stagnation or being satisfied with simply maintaining its existing share of the global handset market. Huaweis internal global phone shipment target stands at 200 million units for 2018, insiders claim. The figure represents a major increase compared to 2017 when the firm met its product goal by shipping 153 million devices worldwide. Xiaomis in-house targets remain unclear, though the companys recent manufacturing output suggests it may be able to ship between 120 and 150 million smartphones over the course of this year, sources say. All of the top Chinese OEMs are expected to promote artificial intelligence features and value-oriented nature of their upcoming devices as their main selling points in emerging markets.

The chances that every phone vendor from China meets its 2018 targets remain slim, with recent studies suggesting the global handset industry has been slowing down in 2017, having experienced a particularly notable decline in the final quarter of the last year in terms of shipments. Smartphone sales also dropped for the first time ever over the three-month period ending December 31, according to a Gartner-conducted analysis from February. Neither OPPO nor Vivo are expected to enter many new markets in 2018, whereas Huaweis failed attempt to penetrate the U.S. should see its overseas focus return to Europe. Xiaomi will possibly target the most aggressive expansion plan of Chinas big four this year, with the Beijing-based firm reportedly planning an IPO in the second half of 2018 and hence likely looking to cater to investors with new major growth opportunities instead of solely strengthening its existing operations in the near term.Facebook has announced a number of new features that would provide more context about articles read by the users of the social media platform. The tech company claims that it considered the feedback and input of publishers and participants of the Facebook Journalism Project in the development of the new features. One of the new features that the social media giant has recently introduced is dubbed More From This Publisher, which shows a number of recent stories that have been released by the articles publisher. On the other hand, the Shared by Friends feature informs the user regarding which friends have already shared the article. Among the additional information that the social media giant is providing to readers include the Wikipedia entry of the articles publisher, articles that report or discuss the same topic, as well as where and how many times the article has been shared on the social media platform. In order to access this information, users may tap on the About this article button located near the title of the article.

The social media giant also announced that the company is currently testing a new feature that provides more details about the writer of the article that users are reading. By tapping on the authors name in Instant Articles, users may access information like the Wikipedia entry of the articles author as well as some of the recent stories written by the person. Moreover, the company has also included a button that allows readers to follow the page or profile of the articles author.

Within the last few months, the tech giant has been developing ways to combat the spread of fake news and questionable content on its social media platform. One of the ways that Facebook is implementing to combat fake news is through showing related articles on news stories that have been disproved by independent fact-checking organizations. In addition, the tech firm is also utilizing machine learning algorithms to determine and automatically demote clickbait articles and low-quality content.

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https://www.facebook.com/facebook/videos/10157254148271729/Samsung might be close to launching a new mid-range J series smartphone in India. The support page for a device with model number SM-J720F/DS is now live on Samsung Indias website along with its user manual suggesting the phones design and some major features. The Samsung SM-J720F device is speculated to be called Galaxy J7 (2018) but it could carry a different moniker depending on the market it is released in. According to the user manual, the handset will support Bixby Home, making it the first Bixby-enabled Samsung smartphone in the mid-range segment. However, due to the lack of a dedicated physical Bixby button, usually a part of Galaxy flagships, Bixby Voice will not be supported. Having received Wi-Fi certification in March and with the user manual now available on the companys website, the Galaxy J7 (2018) could be launched anytime soon, with the roll-out possibly starting from India.

Besides this, the user manual also includes a handful of device schematics revealing some pieces of crucial information, like the presence of two rear cameras, again a first for Samsungs J series. Interestingly, the Galaxy J7 (2018) will include a removable battery, which also means a polycarbonate-based build instead of metal. From the front, Samsung doesnt seem to have made a radical change with the device looking exactly like the previous generations. The phone seemingly uses a conventional 16:9 display with a physical home button doubling as fingerprint scanner placed below it with capacitive navigation keys on its either side. The front camera will also be paired with an LED flash, while the device will retain the 3.5mm headphone jack.

According to the previously leaked information, the Samsung SM-J720F is expected to sport a 5.5-inch display with a 720p resolution in 16:9 aspect ratio. It will be powered by an octa-core Exynos 7885 processor and Mali-G71 GPU paired with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable flash memory. The dual-SIM capable device will support 4G VoLTE and will come running Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. It is expected to sport a 13-megapixel camera on the back along with a secondary camera of an unknown variety, while there will be an 8-megapixel camera on the front. The Galaxy J7 (2018) had appeared on a couple of benchmarking websites in January with a similar set of specifications.

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Samsung SM-J720F User ManualEarlier today reports started to surface through media outlets on the presence of an active shooter at YouTubes office in San Bruno, California. Since the first reports came through, this has remained an ongoing situation with details slowly coming in. Now, however, firmer reports are starting to come through on the situation, its current status, and to some degree, what actually happened. Including a statement released by Googles CEO, Sundar Pichai, explaining to Google employees what has transpired.

Most importantly, Pichai states the situation has now been contained. Although Pichai does not specifically go into detail on this, reports in general seem to be confirming the containment equates to the death of the shooter. In addition to what is currently understood to be a self-inflicted fatality, Pichai confirmed four Google employees were injured during todays events with no details provided on the extent to those injuries. Pichai does qualify the number by stating it is based on the latest information and so it is possible the number may change, or the severity of the injuries may escalate as new information becomes available. In either case Pichai states Google, and its security team, along with local law enforcement, did look to evacuate everyone who was on site during the incident. With Pichai also explaining how Google is continuing to work with local authorities and hospitals, while also providing support to the injured employees and their families.

Pichai did not provide any context or details on the shooter or why the person specifically seemed to be targeting YouTube. Although this is understandable considering the finer details surrounding the shooter, and why this has happened remain unknown at the moment  in spite of a number of outlets speculating on the matter. As the details become clearer, and the investigation continues to understand this tragic event, firm details, and responses from those at Google and YouTube will likely come to light. In the meantime, those interested in reading the statement from Pichai, in full, can do so in the tweet below which was shared through the companys Communications Twitter handle. Messages were also provided by Pichai and YouTubes CEO, Susan Wojcicki, on their respectively Twitter accounts.

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Here is the note that @sundarpichai just sent to Googlers worldwide. pic.twitter.com/bdC6KeTl9c  Google Communications (@Google_Comms) April 3, 2018Google is now making it easier and quicker for people to find the right movie to watch at the theaters. As Google has now announced an update to their way in which Google Search displays new movie-related data with a view to streamlining the search experience overall.

Specifically, Google states that while the movie itself is likely to be one of the major factors leading to someone heading out to the theater in the first place, it is only one of those factors. For example, if the movie a user wants to see is not showing at a theater close to the searcher, or not at the time the searcher ideally wants to visit the theater, then there is a good chance those other factors  theater location and showtimes  might result in the searcher opting for a different movie altogether, one that is more theater or time-relevant. In other words, Google says it understands movie theater location and times are as important factors in the decision process as the actual movie and due to this Google Search will now provide its users with the option to filter movie results based on factors such as these.

This essentially means when someone performs a search for generic movie-related search terms, such as movies and showtimes, there will be a number of additional filters shown in the prominent results. These will not only be resigned to theater location or time, as users will also be able to refine by additional aspects including Critic scores, Ratings and even screen type  for instance, if you want to just check out a movie in 3D or on an IMAX screen, both of these options are now displayed as primary filter options. Regardless of which filter is used to identify the right movie, users will be able to continue with a booking and purchase a ticket through one of the many available options. Google states the update is now live for those making searches through the Android version of the Google app or through a mobile browser. Although the feature is currently only available to users in the US and in India.Tech giant Google recently involved itself with the Pentagon as part of an artificial intelligence and computer vision project, called Project Maven, and a number of employees have taken issue with the project and penned a letter asking CEO Sundar Pichai to pull out. The Pentagon and Google previously assured the masses that the fruits of the joint project would not be used for offensive purposes, but the Google employees penning the letter are having none of it, opening the letter by saying We believe that Google should not be in the business of war. On top of calling for the cancellation of Project Maven, Googlers want to see a refusal to ever work on any kind of wartime or weaponry technology be declared loud and clear as company policy. Thus far, the letter has the backing of around 3,100 Google employees and counting.

The heart of Project Maven is an image analysis system that is being built to take images and videos captured by drones and other means, then interpret that data not only by identifying objects, but by tracking their movements. It is worth noting that while such a project could easily be used against a database to identify people out and about with facial recognition, that does not seem to be part of the plans for this project. The projects results would be reported to the Department of Defense, a decisive red flag that drove Googlers to put their concerns out in the air by voice, and then on pen and paper to write this letter. Despite assurances to the contrary, many Google employees are convinced that this technology will be put to work for offensive purposes, such as driving machines of war, launching weapons, or carrying out remote strikes with militarized drones.

It is no secret that Googles collective values, as a company, lean toward the political left. Naturally, this means that most employees would abhor warfare and not want their work to aid that particular cause. According to the letter, Project Maven stands to irreparably damage Googles brand image and core values, which will make it harder to garner talent, among other potential setbacks. We cannot outsource the moral responsibility of our technologies to third parties, the letter states, touching on the fact that Googles core business model has been built upon user trust from the companys outset. This controversy comes amid growing fears over the possibility of rogue, biased, or misused AI causing harm to humanity, and the letter directly addresses this before closing with a strong reiteration of the direct call to action found at the beginning of the document.According to a new report  called WhatsApp, Doc?A First Look at WhatsApp Public Group Data  WhatsApp may not be as secure as many users think it is. The report, which was pulled together by researchers from both EPFL, Switzerland and Queen Mary University, show that the apps Group Chat feature is actually vulnerable to data scraping. Specifically, the data shared in a group thats been made public can be stolen by any user in the group  including identifying information such as phone numbers and more. While that may not seem like such a big deal at first glance, its important to remember that groups that are made public can be linked into and that those links are discoverable online.

Thats down to the fact that users can share the link to a public Group Chat for others to join the chat. Since chats can hold up to 256 members, with the task of keeping track of authenticity becoming more difficult the more members are added, theres a lot of opportunities there for enterprising would-be data thieves. In fact, the researchers behind the paper were able to glean phone numbers, images, videos, and web links shared across almost 454,000 messages from 178 public groups used by 45,794 WhatsApp users over just six months. Presumably, some of that is pulled from Android users as well. It stands to reason that any bad actors looking to do the same could very easily accomplish a similar goal. Users also dont need to send very many messages to end up at risk. As many as 75-percent of those users who inadvertently were included in the study sent only 5 messages on average. Meanwhile, more than 30-percent of those groups sent less than 1000 messages in total over that six-month period.

The primary thing that all of these groups had in common is also the thing that put them at risk. Its also hardly surprising given that earlier reports showed other areas where the chats are vulnerable. Namely, they were public groups or groups that had been made public by a user from the group sharing the link to the group on the internet. There are also websites that actively archive indexes of public groups, according to the researchers. That means that any public group thats joinable by a link is effectively at risk.Samsung Electronics is reportedly putting the operations of its OLED production plant in South Korea to a halt for up to six months, as sales of the Apple iPhone X are stagnating and demands for OLED screens from Chinas phone makers are diminishing, recent reports indicate. The iPhone X is the first OLED smartphone from the Cupertino-based tech giant, with Samsung as the supplier of the handsets display panel. However, Apple recently moved to scale back the production of its 2017 flagship iPhone model due to its lower-than-expected sales, causing an oversupply of Samsung Displays smartphone OLED panels.

It is, perhaps, important to remember that Samsung Display signed a two-year OLED contract with Apple last April in a deal that was estimated to be worth $9 billion. Apple initially projected to hit more than 100 million unit sales for the iPhone X. However, its sales target has now been slashed by half for this year due to the cold reception from consumers. As a result, Samsung Display decided to hold back its OLED production in its home country until Apple and a number of Chinese smartphone manufacturers place new orders for OLED panels. An earlier report from market analyst firm IHS Markit predicted that flexible OLED display production is going to outpace demand for the panels by about 44-percent throughout this year. Its no secret that OLED panels are more expensive than LCD screens, a fact that is believed to have contributed to the sluggish adoption rate of OLED panels in general. Naturally, the OLED screens have become almost exclusively the choice for the manufacturers of the higher-end smartphones. However, the majority of phone makers in China are still largely focused on mid-range handsets, leaving Samsung with little choice but to drastically deal with the situation.

Recent reports indicate that less than 10-percent of smartphones manufactured by Chinese original equipment manufacturers have adopted OLED displays, with the rest of their device offerings continuing to depend on LCD panels. The weak demand for OLED panels now leaves Samsung scampering to look for other outside clients in order to alleviate the losses. However, things might be difficult for the South Korean tech giant due to the hefty cost of OLED screens.According to a new report, South Koreas top four business groups  of which Samsung and LG are among them  have made as much as an 80-percent increase in profits in recent times, yet paradoxically are investing an average 10-percent into R&D. Business Korea cites data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) which looked at the industry leaders: Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, SK Hynix, and LG Electronics. Samsung is quoted as having spent 16.81 trillion won  roughly $15.91B  on R&D, with most of that cash going towards televisions and semiconductors. This represented a 13.6-percent increase over what was invested last year during the same period. LG Electronics spent 4.03 trillion won  roughly $3.82B  on R&D which represented a 3.9% increase over the previous year; most of the money went to televisions and washing machines, however, components for self-driving cars were also mentioned. This news concerns industry analysts who feel the R&D investment allocation should be more proportional to the growth seen by the companies, especially as competition on all consumer electronics segments heats up in China.

While Samsung has largely been enjoying its prime time to shine in recent years thanks in part to the massive success of its Galaxy brand of phones and tablets, the company is not without its fair share of scandals, including the Galaxy Note 7 recall fiasco as well as, more recently, legal trouble for its top brass. Equally concerning is the fact that reports are now emerging that suggest the Galaxy S9, released last month, is not performing as expected which may result in an earlier than planned release date for the Galaxy Note 9. Where Samsung plans to go for growth in the future is also somewhat unknown: the company had plans to increase OLED production yet a new report indicates that it may have overstock due to lower-than-expected sales of the iPhone X. The Korean conglomerate has still yet to produce the foldable tablet product it has been hinting at for ages. By spending more money on R&D, the company can more sufficiently cement its future success.

LG meanwhile has been making profits, despite the continued failure of its mobile division to do so. A recent report found that just one quarter in the past two years had been in the black, with the companys bottom line overall being salvaged by its non-mobile industries. LG continues to make industry-leading OLED televisions, however as more and more people use their smartphones or tablets to consume media, television in and of itself may hold less long-term appeal.Samsung is opening a new Design Innovation Center in San Francisco, California, the South Korean tech giant announced Wednesday. The institute will be led by MIT Design Lab and MIT Mobile Experience Lab veteran Federico Casalegno who is understood to have left the Massachusetts-based university after being approached by the worlds largest smartphone manufacturer. The move itself is technically a restructuring of an existing San Francisco unit of Samsung which started operating in 1994 as the firms North American product design arm. While crafting devices and services will still be at the core of the SDICs activities, the institute will now be shifting its overall focus from individual offerings to ecosystems with the goal of creating consistent multi-device user experiences, Samsung said.

The center will have its attention divided between creating and localizing solutions meant to cater to North American consumers and contributing to Samsungs long-term goal of conceptualizing and commercializing entirely new product categories. As such, the SDIC is becoming the seventh international unit of the chaebols Seoul-based Corporate Design Center. Samsung Executive Vice President and design chief Lee Don-Tae recently said the firm is still targeting a seamless user experience when coming up with all of its products as its striving to both differentiate itself from its rivals and improve the overall quality of its offerings. In the mobile segment, Samsung continues to stand as the largest defier of industry trends, having resisted the possibility of removing a headphone jack from its devices and insisting on curved display panels for its flagship Android smartphones in previous years. More recently, the company signaled it wont be adopting any kind of display notches with its handsets and is also said to be working on a solution for implementing an iPhone X-like 3D camera into the Galaxy S10 without resorting to such a cutout.

Regarding more general product philosophy, Samsung mobile chief DJ Koh took to this years MWC to state that the OEM is now prioritizing refined experiences instead of industry-first features, having suggested such an approach is the main reason for the Galaxy S9 lacking an in-display fingerprint reader and a depth-sensing mechanism. The company is still expected to become the worlds first device vendor to deliver a truly foldable smartphone, with such a gadget being expected to debut by 2019.Chitwan authorities destroy illegal Indian chicken

Livestock Quarantine Check Post in Aaptari, Chitwan on Monday confiscated a refrigerated truck from India loaded with a consignment of frozen fish and chicken and destroyed it.The San Bruno Police Department has identified a shooter that has been involved in the shooting incident over at YouTube HQ. The shooters name is Nasim Aghdam, and this is a 39-year-old woman. As you probably already know, from previous reports, Nasim Aghdam shot and injured three people at YouTube Headquarters before she decided to end her life. This woman had lived in San Diego, and according to the source, she actually had a number of YouTube accounts.

According to the source, Nasim Aghdam talked about YouTube issues on her YouTube accounts, she commented on YouTube monetization issues, and the companys policy in general. CNET also notes that she was not in contact with anyone at YouTube Headquarters, or anything of the sort. The San Bruno Police Department said that they do not have any evidence that she targeted anyone in particular over at YouTube Headquarters, though that is not final info, the police will conduct an investigation regarding the matter. Three people that got shot by Nasim Aghdam, a 32-year-old woman, a 27-year-old woman, and a 36-year-old man were quickly transported to the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Google, as a company, still did not comment on the matter, the company did point towards Sundar Pichais statement, though, but additional statements will almost certainly be made in the near future, as soon as things settle down a bit and more info surfaces.

Having said that, Googles CEO, Sundar Pichai, did confirm, earlier, that the shooting took place, while he emphasized that the safety of everyone over at YouTube Headquarters (home to about 1,100 employees, not all of which were present at the time of the shooting, of course) is the companys first priority. He also confirmed, before anyone else, that four people were injured in the whole incident, seemingly including the shooter itself. Mr. Pichai also said that the company will continue providing support to those affected by the shooting. That is pretty much all the info that is available at the time, but chances are that more info will surface in the coming days, so stay tuned.While most smartphones do have a pretty decent speaker, and come with a pair of headphones  a trend that is starting to make a return lately  its still great to have a great pair of headphones with you. We have rounded up the best active noise cancelling headphones available right now. These range from as low as $40 all the way up to nearly $350. So theres definitely something here for everyone. Active Noise Cancelling headphones are a great choice for those that do a lot of traveling, and also those that just want to tune out the noise around them.

One of the better options here, for those that dont care about spending a bit extra, are the Sony WH1000XM2 headphones. These sport around 25 hours of battery life with active noise cancellation turned on and also have ambient noise, so you can actually hear whats going on around you  but only slightly. They also come with a nice carrying case. Now a direct competitor to the WH1000XM2 is the Bose QC35, which is around the same price. These also sport ANC and ambient sound, and have battery life around 30 hours. The Bose models do sport slightly better sound quality, if you prefer deeper bass than clearer mids and highs.

There are some other choices here, for those that want something a bit cheaper. Bluedio has a couple of great options here that are going to give you a great experience with active noise cancellation as well. And they are both below $100, with one being below $50. So if you are in need of a great pair of headphones with active noise cancellation, Bluedio has you covered. Out of all the options listed below, you really cant go wrong with any of them. Some are definitely more feature-rich and have longer battery life than others, but all of them are great choices.Toshibas newly appointed Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Nobuaki Kurumatani, has reiterated the companys goal of divesting itself of its chip business even in the midst of regulatory battles it is currently facing. Toshiba signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bain Capital in September last year to sell its NAND memory chip division to the consortium led by the Boston, Massachusetts-based private equity firm.

The MoU signifies the completion of the negotiation process for the sale of the chip unit for 2 trillion yen, which translates to $18 billion. The transaction was initially expected to conclude last March 31, though Chinas move to delay its approval of the deal has left the sale process in pending status. Now the transaction has until April 13 to secure the requisite regulatory clearance to meet the new deadline for closing the deal on May 1 as part of its agreement with the Bain Capital-led group. It is understood that Toshiba is resolved to close the deal as soon as possible as the Japanese conglomerate is reeling from a huge cash crunch after its U.S. nuclear business Westinghouse Electric Company filed for bankruptcy early last year. The company was also pressured by the Tokyo Stock Exchange to recover from the negative shareholder equity, with a threat of being delisted. However, that is no longer the case now after the company sold 600 billion yen of new stock and is also in talks to sell its nuclear business for 410 billion yen, according to a report from Bloomberg.

At present, Toshiba is waiting for Chinas decision on an antitrust approval filed by Bain Capital in the country last year as the final step in the transaction. Kurumatani, however, explained that if China refuses to approve the deal, it will be considered as what he calls material change, which will allow Toshiba to end the sale process and resort to other options such as renegotiating the deal for a higher price or filing an initial public offering for the chip business. It was reported shortly after the signing of the MoU that majority of Toshibas directors were supposedly more inclined toward favoring the bid from a Western Digital-led consortium, though it would have raised antitrust concerns in the country since the group is backed by direct rivals of Toshibas chip division.Major OEM HTCs ad featuring its HTC U11 flagship being dunked into a swimming pool by professional swimmer Tom Daley, has been branded misleading by the UKs Advertising Standards Administration and banned from the airwaves, along with a somewhat unsettling and gory ad by Chinese firm OnePlus. The HTC ad shows Daley jumping from the high dive of a large pool and taking selfies with the phones squeezable sides on the way down, then using the phone as he exits the pool. The OnePlus ad, meanwhile, draws fairly obvious inspiration from the Friday the 13th franchise. The ad featured a bit of bait-and-switch comedy against a decidedly dark background in order to emphasize the fact that the OnePlus 5 takes better photos than its rivals, all while poking fun at modern smartphone owners collective drive to document everything around them with their beloved devices. The commercial, titled Lake Blood, is implied to end with its dual protagonists done away with by a masked man with a chainsaw, who is seen in the end of the commercial using one of the OnePlus 5 phones that the protagonists were using near the beginning to take photos and video of him.

The exaggeration of the HTC U11s waterproof capabilties is argued by HTC, with the company saying that the ad shows the phone being only briefly submerged at shallow depths, a situation covered by the devices IP67 rating. The ASA, on the other hand, argues that the average consumer may not be able to keep the phone within the recommended depth level in such a situation, and the differing compositions of swimming pools mean that not all pools are safe places for the device. The ad has been banned in the UK thanks to the ASAs ruling, but HTC has not taken it down from many international channels in its collective YouTube presence, The ASA has stated that it intends to ensure this happens. As of this writing, OnePlus has not said anything about the motion, and the Lake Blood spot is still up on YouTube across many of OnePlus corporate channels.

While these two ads were banned for different reasons, one fact remains constant between the two of them; the campaigns, while complained about, did receive a lot of praise, and have almost certainly been uploaded all around the internet, making it impossible for the ASA to eliminate them entirely. Even on YouTube, the HTC ad has already been uploaded by people with no formal ties to HTC, which means that getting them down would require the ASA to demand private uploaders to remove their content. This would arguably amount to censorship of the citizenry, a volatile topic in its own right.A Tuesday shooting at YouTubes San Bruno, California-based headquarters sparked a new gun control debate in the United States, with many Silicon Valley executives coming out in support of stronger regulations meant to lower the amount of privately owned firearms. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, and Box CEO Aaron Levie were among some of the high-profile names who publicly expressed their sympathies for Googles video streaming subsidiary and interpreted the tragedy as yet another sign that the U.S. needs stricter gun regulations.

Not all top executives in the stateside tech industry followed suit, with the likes of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook only attempting to comfort YouTube victims and their families without referencing the topic of gun control. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki havent referenced gun control in their statements on the incident either. According to a preliminary investigation conducted by San Bruno authorities, the shooter that injured three YouTube employees was identified as one Nasim Najafi Aghdam, a YouTube critic and vegan activist who ended up killing herself on the premises. A San Francisco General hospital official confirmed all three of her victims are alive, with one of them still being in a critical condition. Authorities havent found any evidence of the injured employees being specifically targeted by the shooter, with the incident hence being considered an attack on YouTube itself.

Aghdam reportedly ran several YouTube channels and previously accused the video streaming platform of filtering her channels to prevent them from receiving more views. Its presently unclear whether those allegations were the primary motive for the attack. The 39-year-old attacker lived in San Diego and possibly had her YouTube videos demonetized in recent months. YouTubes corporate headquarters employ approximately 1,700 people, all of whom were evacuated following the Tuesday incident. A YouTube spokesperson praised the swift response to the shooting on the part of local authorities, a sentiment that was later echoed by President Donald Trump. The investigation into the matter is still ongoing and is likely to be concluded in the coming weeks.CM Pokharel likens situation of province to a migrated family

Province 5 Chief Shanker Pokharel has compared the current situation of the province to a family recently migrated from Hills to Tarai.In the last six months, dozens of attacks and violent acts have been committed in Catalonia by pro-Spain, far-right, and neo-Nazi groups, big and small. Neither the PP nor Ciudadanos have said a word about them (which is logical, as they are their voters), and neither have the PSOE or the PSC: on the contrary, socialist leaders have dedicated themselves to attending the demonstrations held by the so-called grassroots groups that protect and encourage these extremists. The violence perpetrated in these attacks has been very real, and doesn't need to be invented in synchronized statements by politicians (like those we're seeing these days, from leaders of the aforementioned parties) nor by the prosecutors who are acting under orders from their leaders.

When extremists attack, there are always people who end up getting injured, and public and private property that is damaged, along with insults, intimidating or degrading attitudes, and exhibition of Nazi and Franco-era symbols. All of this happens, we repeat, without any Article 155 politician appearing to offer the most minimal comment, and almost always with absolute police and judicial impunity. Those responsible for the attack at the Blanquerna bookstore, despite being sentenced to prison, are still walking around freely --remember that one of them, one Inigo Perez de Herrasti, is the brother-in-law of the bridegroom of death and Minister of Education and Culture Inigo Mendez de Vigo, and cousin of the ex-Minister of Defense and arms dealer Pedro Morenes.

The absurd and grotesque logic of repression has neither shame nor limits today in Spain

Speaking of families, that of the young Valencian anti-fascist activist Guillem Agullo will mourn the 25th anniversary of his murder at the hands of a far-right group one week from today. Of his murderers only one, Pedro Cuevas, went to prison, and only for four years, after which he continued to be a member of violent, ideologically extremist groups, and has even run in elections; he was also found non-guilty by Spains Supreme Court in a second trial for the illegal possession of firearms, and they returned the arsenal that was taken from his house. The impunity of the far right in Spain is hardly a new thing. It's always been there. Once again: do not expect to see the day when some socialist or intellectual who doesn't hesitate to write that Catalonia has been fanaticized by pro-independence totalitarianism will say something about all that.

The CDR (Catalonias Committees for the Defense of the Republic) have not committed any acts of violence, only acts of civil disobedience, but who cares. As with those arrested for burning photos of the king, or with councilman Joan Coma, who was transported in handcuffs in a police van from Vic to Madrids National Court for having said that in order to make an omelette you have to break a few eggs, the absurd and grotesque logic of repression has neither shame nor limits. They say whatever they want and do whatever they want, with the same goal as always: to subjugate the people by force and fear. The false accusations against the CDR will probably result in further arrests and who knows how many more imprisonments. The government of Spain and its accomplices don't want to see it, but these are the kinds of excesses that precede the fall of an authoritarian regime.by

Setting aside PostClassical Ensemble, the guerilla DC chamber orchestra I co-founded fourteen years ago, the most exceptional American orchestra I know is the South Dakota Symphony.

South Dakotas Copland and Mexico festival, which concluded last Sunday afternoon, had many highlights. The performance of Silvestre Revueltass Sensemaya was lots better than the versions you can see on youtube conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. The crucial difference was a slightly slower tempo, maximizing the weight and momentum of this amazing Mexican juggernaut, and the expert punctuation of certain rhythmic details at the very end. The musicians, for whom Revueltas was a discovery, responded with an infectious gratitude and excitement I do not typically encounter elsewhere.

Another new work for the orchestra as Aaron Copands prize-winning 1934 Communist workers song, Into the Street May First! It was to have been sung by a local chorus. When that fell through, the musicians took it over with interest and alacrity, singing from their seats. (A few scurrilously threatened to take a knee.)

Only a veteran of American symphonic affairs could fully appreciate the South Dakota situation. Many orchestras are fractured by tensions between labor and management. Wariness and indifference are pervasive. When the Pittsburgh Symphony went on strike in 2016, the picketing players were quick to differentiate themselves from the institution. That would be unthinkable in Sioux Falls.

The crucial ingredient is the 57-year-old music director: Delta David Gier. A year into his tenure, he moved to Sioux Falls. He and his wife have raised their kids there. What he has achieved would have been unthinkable had he not decided to become a local resident. That many American music directors live off site is tolerated far more than it should be. Art museums arent run by outsiders. Neither are theater companies.

Giers South Dakota programing is sophisticated. He emphasizes new and American works. Next seasons Mahler 8 will complete a comprehensive South Dakota Mahler cycle. He does without guest conductors and brand-name soloists. His 14-year tenure shows what can happen, over time, when a music director with vision is manning the home front.

The orchestras signature initiative is the Lakota Music Project, which Gier initiated in 2009. It connects SDSO to six Indian reservations. The relationship is symbiotic; it builds trust and community. To date, SDSO has produced more than 30 side-by-side musical events juxtaposing two cultures and their practitioners.

Two seasons ago, SDSO travelled to the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation to perform Dvoraks America, exploring the influence of Longfellows The Song of Hiawatha on Dvoraks New World Symphony. I reported the outcome in this space. The mood on the bus was cheerful: business as usual. Many another orchestra would have resented that three-hour ride.

Last weeks Copland and Mexico was partly undertaken as an overture to Sioux Falls Hispanic community. The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe was a center of attention. So were two middle school classes that spent two months studying aspects of Mexican culture and history. The students infographics were displayed in the lobbies of the Washington Pavilion performing arts center. Six middle schoolers took part in pre-concert discussions with Gier. More than 500 newcomers to SDSO attended the festival concerts for free. The hall was packed with families.

The contract SDSO has negotiated with its players promotes a degree of service flexibility that could be controversial elsewhere. It maximizes opportunities to send musicians to schools, hospitals, health centers  and Indian reservations. The musicians feel well utilized. They interact as a family.

Both Dvorak and America and Copland and Mexico came to Sioux Falls via the NEH-funded Music Unwound consortium that I am fortunate to direct. SDSO is the ideal recipient. Both prongs of Music Unwound  contextualized, cross-disciplinary programs, and linkage to institutions of education  are fully served.

Copland and Mexico tells the story of Aaron Coplands 1930s Mexican epiphany. The examples of Diego Rivera and Carlos Chavez turned him into a populist  even, for a time, a political artist on the far left. We heard Coplands El Salon Mexico. Mainly, however, the program introduced a lesser-known musical genius surpassing Copland: the mercurial, short-lived Revueltas. The main event was a film with live music: Redes (1935), in which Paul Strands hypnotic cinematography and Revueltass volatile score mark one of the highest and most dialectical achievements in marrying music with the moving image.

It was Giers inspiration to rupture the concert with a surprise. Not only did Into the Streets, May First! interrupt the scripted narration; it was instantly followed by a re-enactment of Coplands testimony when in 1953 he was subpoenaed by Joe McCarthy and asked if he had ever been a Communist. Bob Wendland, playing Copland, stood in a solitary spotlight; McCarthys voice of god was declaimed from on high. As with so many American artists and intellectuals, Coplands Depression-era politicization returned to haunt him during the Red Scare.

The SDSO concerts incorporated vigorous 45-minute post-concert discussions. On Saturday night, an audience member asked how the musicians felt about accompanying a film. Mario Chiarello, one of three members of the double bass section who teaches music in Sioux Falls public schools, had joined the post-concert audience  and volunteered a response. He explained that Redes was twice rehearsed without the film. With the addition of the film at the dress rehearsal, he said, a new dimension was attained. The musicians could not see the overhead screen, but an uncanny sensation swept the orchestra  a feeling of being empowered by something bigger.

That could stand as a metaphor for the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.William Infante won election to Basalt Town Council Tuesday night, along with fellow challenger Ryan Slack and incumbent Gary Tennenbaum. The race for three seats attracted six candidates including two incumbents. Councilman Bernie Grauer was on the ballot but did not win another term.Forwarders urge PM to lobby India to simplify procedures

Freight forwarders have urged Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to talk with the Indian government about simplifying cross-border cargo movement during his three-day state visit to India which starts on April 6.In theory, the GT2 RS, with its 6:47 Nurburgring production car record, means one can dominate a track day event when behind the Alcantara-clad wheel of the beast.Nevertheless, while the Zuffenhausen engineers may have brought the handling balance of the 991.2 Rennsport Neunelfer to a stratospheric level, with the machine being surprisingly friendly to its driver, there's no engineering magic that can protect a car from its driver. And the said GT2 RS track stint comes to provide an example for this.Thanks to the piece of footage at the bottom of the page, we can see the 700 hp animal showcasing the pendulum effect associated with the rear-engined layout.With the GT2 RS behind a 991.2-generation Porsche 911 GT3, we can see the first entering the frame slightly sideways. The driver managed to stay off the brakes (stepping on the pedal on the lft would've only amplified the sideways movement), but the aficionado's reactions seemed rather slow.We're not sure about his throttle modulation (a moderate gas pedal application would've helped bring the car back in line, albeit with this risking making things worse in the absence of proper countersteering action, since the car would've gained more momentum).Speaking of which, the driver obviously didn't countersteer in time, with the Porscha eventually spinning.And while no other car was close enough for contact at the time, the GT2 RS did seem to have a rather unfriendly encounter with the rumble strip.Sure, plenty of practice is required before building the kind of skills that prevent such episodes. But perhaps a less expensive machine would be more suitable for such training.P.S.: If the 991.1 GT3 RS covered in the Jamaican flag colors (the car that passes the GT2 RS after the latter spins) seems familiar, it's probably because we first showed you this animal back in 2016.As promised since last week , NASA made public the first details surrounding the new plane. The agency will build a so-called Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD), with which it will fly supersonic over inhabited areas, in an attempt to gather relevant information from civilians about the perceived noise level.This data set will be provided to U.S. and international regulators for their use in considering new sound-based rules regarding supersonic flight over land, which could enable new commercial cargo and passenger markets in faster-than-sound air travel, says NASA.The prototype is to be called X-Plane and will be produced by Lockheed Martin, on the basis of a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract valued at $247.5 million awarded on Tuesday. The plane should be ready for first flights by the end of 2021.The contract states that Lockheed Martin is to produce an aircraft that would fly at an altitude of 55,000 feet (16,700 meters) and speeds of 940 mph (1,512 km/h). The trick is that the X-Plane should create a sound of at most 75 Perceived Level decibel (PLdB), about as loud as a car door closing and nowhere near the sonic boom current fighter jets produce.Trials over populated areas are expected to begin in mid-2022, over select U.S. cities. The final goal of the research is the creation of the currently called QueSST X-Plane or Quiet Supersonic Transport. This aircraft would be able to avoid FAA restrictions preventing planes from going supersonic above land.The X-Plane is planned as a replacement for the Concorde. At the speeds announced by NASA, travel time between London and New York would be cut down to a little over three hours. A flight from New York to Hawaii could be cut to 4.5 hours.Now that the Scion brand, which offered the FR-S incarnation of the sportscar, has been put to sleep, we have a pair of unidentical twins to discuss. And, according to a report coming from Japan Times , the carmakers are working on a displacement increase for the boxer engine of the rear-wheel-drive coupe.The four-cylinder should see its capacity jumping from 2,000 to 2,400cc, with the boxer configuration maintaining a lower center of gravity. Of course, the horsepower and torque boost associated with this grabs plenty of attention. After all, the mid-cycle revamp of the car only delivered a modest 5 hp boost, bringing the total output to 205 ponies.However, we're hoping the engineers will change the character of the engine, since it's current incarnation doesn't feel particularly fit for a sportscar, regardless of its max muscle.We'll remind you that the rumor mill also talks about the next Hachi-roku (this is a reference to the Toyobaru paying homage to the Toyota AE86) using a modified version of the ND Mazda Miata 's platform.On the one hand, that would be a pity, since competition is always welcome and such a move would inevitably bring the cars closer together.On the other hand, the all-new uber-light chassis of the Mazda could benefit from a different tune, one that wouldn't involve the hefty role that's part of the Miata philosophy.However, we wouldn't pay too much attention to such rumors - for one thing, the Miata is a two-seater, while the 86 prides itself on being the world's smallest four-seater coupe.Moreover, Toyota is rumored to bring back the glory of its 90s sportscar lineup, which included the uber-compact MR2, the Celica middle child and the Supra daddy.And now that the Japanese carmaker's BMW collaboration is bringing back the Supra , a Mazda tie-up would be more likely to spawn the rumored MR2 comeback rather than the next-gen 86.But other means of transportation are much easier to automate. Trains and naval vessels could be made to operate independently much faster, easier and with greater success. So far, few have dared into creating such technologies.The floodgates might have opened however this week, as far as maritime autonomous systems are concerned. Global maritime industry group Wilhelmsen announced an agreement with technology provider Kongsberg that would lead to the creation of autonomous ships in Norway.Plans are that the worlds first 100 percent electric, autonomous vessels would be launched as soon as 2019, with full automation to be achieved one year later.The project is to be headed by a new company created by Wilhelmsen and Kongsberg, which will be called Massterly. At first, the ships would act pretty much as drones do, being remotely operated from land-based control centers. Later, these centers would act as supervising facilities for the autonomous vessels.The new ships will be used at first for short sea shipping, aiming to help reduce emissions.In recent years there has been rapid development driven by a significant increase in demand from customers worldwide, from the traditional maritime industry and others," says Geir Haoy, Kongsberg CEO.When autonomous ships soon are a reality, Massterly will be crucial for digitalizing the infrastructure and operations.At the beginning of the year, another player in the industry, this time from The Netherlands, announced the world's first barges powered by carbon-neutral batteries.The transport vessels will be capable of doing their runs unattended, being designed to operate autonomously but also be controlled remotely from the shore.The current generation of the van is also manufactured in Luton, but the fate of the plant was uncertain, as were the jobs of some 1,400 workers. The main reason behind this was Britains projected exit from the European Union in March next year.Under a new agreement reached with the Unite Trade Union and the British government, PSA will supply the location with the required hardware to support the release of the new Vivaro as soon as 2019.Performance is the trigger for sustainability, and I would like to thank all stakeholders involved and underline the open mindset of our union partners, as well as that of the UK Government, said PSAs president Carlos Tavares.This is a major milestone for the future of the Luton plant and a key enabler to serve our ambitions in the commercial vehicle market, guaranteeing customers the best offering in this segment.Last year, the Luton plant manufactured around 60,000 Vivaro vans, out of a total of 476,500 units of such vans sold by Opel and Vauxhall worldwide. For the next generation, planned production output has been set at 100,000 vehicles per year starting 2019.The new Vivaro will be built on PSAs Efficient Modular 2 (EMP2) platform, the same use to underpin models like the Peugeot Rifter Citroen Berlingo Multispace or the Citroen C4 SpaceTourer. The current generation Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro, now nearly four years old, has been developed by the Germans using a platform shared with Renault, Nissan and Fiat. The use of a new platform for the 2019 model year of the van would mark a significant change of direction for the still struggling former GM cash cow.Frost & Sullivan partners with Saarc CCI

Frost & Sullivan signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Saarcs Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) at the 6th Saarc Business Leaders Conclave in Kathmandu.With Series 23 of the popular car show, the Dunsfold Aerodrome received a rallycross circuit alongside it and the studio also went through a minor redesign. To date, the hosting line-up and guests still use the 1.75-mile (2.82-kilometer) track with 12 corners, but things will change from here on in.But first, lets get a couple of things straight. British Aerospace successor BAE Systems sold the aerodrome to The Rutland Group in 2002, thus forming Dunsfold Park Ltd. Four years later, the owners of the aerodrome and park proposed the construction of a 2,600-home settlement on the site. After a handful of refusals, the planning permission was granted in late 2016 Heres how things are coming along: planning application to build 1,800 new homes at Dunsfold Aerodrome was approved by the Secretary of State. Chief executive Jim McAllister argues that this is a very positive decision and that hes looking forward to working with Waverley Borough Council and the local community to progress the detail in due course.Theres collateral damage to be mentioned, however, and that is the demolishing of the aerodromes infrastructure, including the test track. As fans of Top Gear  both old and new  were saddened by this development.Opposition groups such as Protect Our Waverley are disappointed in the Secretary of States decision, arguing that Dunsfold isnt the right place for affordable housing and new businesses. The most telling argument is the added strain on the A281, which is busy as is during rush-hour traffic.The 2017 Robert J. Collier Trophy, awarded annually by the National Aeronautic Association for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, goes to Cirrus Aircraft, the association announced on Wednesday. The award recognizes the company for designing, certifying, and entering-into-service the Vision Jet  the worlds first single-engine general aviation personal jet aircraft with a whole airframe parachute system. Dale Klapmeier, CEO and co-founder at Cirrus, said the company is honored and humbled by the award. He dedicated the award to all the employees and partners who contributed to the airplanes development, production and delivery. We will celebrate this great honor by continuing to focus on our core mission of creating safer aircraft, safer pilots and safer skies, he said.

The Vision Jet was certified by the FAA in 2016. The cabin accommodates five adults and two children, and the cockpit features the Cirrus Perspective Touch by Garmin flight deck. Past recipients of the Collier trophy, first awarded in 1911, include Orville Wright, Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 team, Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1, the Boeing 747, Gulfstream 650, Blue Origin and many more aviators, scientists and engineers whose work has helped aviation to progress. Other nominees for this year included the Perlan Projects high-altitude glider, the 737 Max, and an autonomous helicopter system. The trophy will be formally presented at a dinner hosted by the NAA on June 14, at a location to be announced. AVwebs Paul Bertorelli flew the jet last year; click here for his analysis.File photo

A Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing crashed in the vicinity of El Centro, California, at about 2:35 p.m. Tuesday during a routine training mission, the Corps has announced. All four crew members are presumed dead. The crash site is about 10 miles from the border with Mexico. The helicopter was assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, north of San Diego. The CH-53E is largest and heaviest helicopter in the U.S. military, with three engines and seven rotor blades.It can carry dozens of troops and tons of cargo.

The names of the crew members will be withheld until 24 hours after their relatives are notified, officials at the Miramar base said. In January 2016, 12 Marines were killed when two Super Stallions collided off the coast of Hawaii during a training mission.Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned as president of Peru on March 23, after videos revealed his attempts to bribe political opposition members ahead of a vote on his impeachment. The former investment banker was involved with two financial firms that had alleged contacts with Odebrecht, the infamously corrupt Brazilian construction company.

Why it matters: Kuczysnki is the latest casualty of a growing anti-corruption wave sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean, and he's unlikely to be the last. While the backlash might finally herald the end of the era of political impunity in the region, it could also have uncertain and harmful consequences for democratic stability and due process.

The background: Since strongman Alberto Fujimori's election in 1990, Peru's political parties have served primarily as vessels for individual leaders to get elected. Kuczysnki's eponymously initialed Peruanos por el Kambio (PPK) party was formed in the lead-up to the 2016 elections and won only 18 of 130 congressional seats.

Kuczysnki narrowly defeated Keiko Fujimori (Alberto's daughter), whose Fuerza Popular party won a majority in the legislature with 73 seats, made life difficult for him. Despite Fujimori's own corruption charges  and her father's imprisonment for bribery and crimes against humanity  she became the opposition leader and architect of Kuczynski's downfall, blocking proposals, removing ministers and finally, on a second attempt, pushing him out of office.

The political ground is ripe for similar upheaval elsewhere in the region: As of a 20162017 survey, only 57.8% of Latin American citizens support democracy  a decline of more than 10% from 2010  and only 17.5% support existing political parties. Its no surprise, then, that politicians like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico  populists from both extremes of the ideological spectrum  have powered their leads in the polls with vague, messianic anti-corruption messages.

The bottom line: Perus tumultuous political system seems to have reached a momentary calm with the swearing-in of Martin Vizcarra, the former vice president. But the larger structural issues of perpetual electoral flux and political soap operas in the region have not been resolved: Parties remain weak, personalistic vehicles, and popular trust in politicians is at an all-time low.

Christopher Sabatini is a lecturer at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and executive director of Global Americans.Donald Trump Jr. is ramping up his efforts for the midterms, a source tells me. Don Jr., a favorite of outdoors enthusiasts, was a draw in 2016. Now Republicans are betting (hoping?) that he'll be equally effective for the midterms. The president's eldest son will focus on helping members who would benefit from his involvement and have been helpful to POTUS and his agenda.

Two of the first stops on his dance card: Don Jr. will headline an event for Greg Pence, the vice president's brother who's running for U.S. House in Indiana. Wayne Berman and Tommy Hicks are hosting that April 23 event in New York City. And he just confirmed for an event benefiting Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) that top GOP fundraiser Steve Louro is hosting in early August on Long Island.The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed 25% tariffs on Chinese-made products worth $50 billion in response to alleged technology theft, sparking growing fears of a trade war with Beijing.

The details: The U.S. Trade Representative said the new rounds of tariffs would target products "that benefit from China's industrial plans while minimizing the affect on the U.S. economy." 1,300 industries could be subjected to a 25% tariffs, include aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics, and machinery. The Chinese embassy in Washington strongly condemns the proposal, saying in a statement: "China is not afraid of and will not recoil from a trade war. ... If a trade war were initiated by the U.S., China would fight to the end to defend its own legitimate interests with all necessary measures"Gangster Manoj Puns main aide Gurung arrested

Police have arrested and made public an accomplice of notorious gangster Manoj Pun, the mastermind in the murder of businessman Basanta Paudel in Rupandehi.Insurers are afraid of a deteriorating market for individual coverage, fueled by the repeal of the Affordable Care Acts individual mandate as well as regulatory changes from the Trump administration.

What to watch: Over the course of the spring, theyll be deciding whether it makes sense to simply quit offering ACA coverage in some parts of the country. Rural areas will likely be the first to see insurers leave.

Pharma fears Washington after a couple of surprising defeats on Capitol Hill have shown the industry may not be as bulletproof as it seems.

What to watch: The Trump administration is eager to show progress on drug prices, and its early efforts have largely steered clear of drug companies themselves. But Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar is open to reining in some of the industrys patent tricks  a move that could cost drugmakers billions of dollars.

Everyone fears Amazon. Just the possibility that it might enter the pharmacy business has accelerated a trend of health care mega-mergers, as the old guard looks to lock in as much market power as it can.

And the public fears the cost of health care. Thats part of the reason the industry, which profits from those costs, is right to worry about whats ahead.

Sign up for Sam's daily Vitals newsletter here.Indonesia declared a state of emergency after an oil spill near the coast of the island Borneo ignited and killed at least four people over the weekend, BBC reports.

The details: The cause of the spill is still unknown. Hundreds of people have reported "difficulty breathing, nausea and vomiting" since the fires started, per BBC. A spokesman for the environmental group Greenpeace, Arifsyah Nasution, told CNN the Indonesian government is "late to mitigate the impact of this incident." Per BBC, authorities said that "the risk of further fires is increasing."Top military leaders confirmed in a Senate hearing Tuesday they recommended earlier this year that the U.S. keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, and that they believed withdrawing those forces would lead to the collapse of the Afghan military.

Why it matters: Biden denied last month that his top military advisers wanted troops to remain in Afghanistan, telling ABC's George Stephanopoulos: "No one said that to me that I can recall."The 1968 bulletin ... "MEMPHIS, TENN., APRIL 4 (AP) Nobel Laureate Martin Luther King Jr., father of nonviolence in the American civil rights movement, was killed by an assassin's bullet Thursday night."

Why it matters, from an AP retrospective: "Kings death changed the world and altered the lives of those who lived through it. Some would spend the rest of their lives fighting for racial equality and economic justice"

More from the breaking news bulletin 50 years ago:

"King, 39, was hit in the neck by a bullet as he stood on the balcony of a motel here. He died less than an hour later in St. Joseph's Hospital."

was hit in the neck by a bullet as he stood on the balcony of a motel here. He died less than an hour later in St. Joseph's Hospital." "Gov. Buford Ellington immediately ordered 4,000 National Guard troops back into the city. A curfew, which was clamped on Memphis after a King-led march turned into a riot a week ago, was reimposed."

immediately ordered 4,000 National Guard troops back into the city. A curfew, which was clamped on Memphis after a King-led march turned into a riot a week ago, was reimposed." "The 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner was standing on the balcony of his motel here, where he had come to lead protests in behalf of the city's 1,300 striking garbage workers, most of them Negroes, when he was shot."

Go deeper ... Historic photos and coverage from the N.Y. Times.This Sunday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is set to win another term in national elections, giving him a fresh mandate to advance his project of building what he calls an illiberal state at the heart of Europe.

Why it matters: Over the past eight years, Orbans democratically-elected governments have, in fact, behaved less and less democratically  steadily centralizing power, eroding the independence of the courts, the media, and even cultural institutions.

For Orban and his defenders, this is a closing of ranks meant to defend Hungarys interests against EU bureaucrats whose policies  particularly on the resettlement of refugees from Syria and North Africa  threaten to dilute Hungarys traditional Christian identity and reduce its sovereignty. Orban himself openly looks to the authoritarian efficiency of Xi Jinpings China and the conservative nationalism of Vladimir Putins Russia as examples.

this is a closing of ranks meant to defend Hungarys interests against EU bureaucrats whose policies  particularly on the resettlement of refugees from Syria and North Africa  threaten to dilute Hungarys traditional Christian identity and reduce its sovereignty. Orban himself openly looks to the authoritarian efficiency of Xi Jinpings China and the conservative nationalism of Vladimir Putins Russia as examples. His critics, meanwhile, say he has mounted an opportunistic political power play that has enriched friendly oligarchs, deepened economic inequality, and undermined the accountability of the government.

All of this presents a growing existential challenge for the EU. Alongside Polands move in a similarly illiberal direction, Orbans continued strength sharpens two critical questions: First, how to impose costs on countries that buck EU institutions and ideals without alienating them further. And second, how to reconcile the desire of core Western European countries like Germany and France, which seek to further integrate the bloc, with Eastern countries resurgent nationalism.

Sign up for Signal, a twice-weekly newsletter from GZERO Media, a Eurasia Group company, and follow @saosasha on Twitter.Embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday dismissed growing criticism over his connection with a lobbyist whom he paid $50 per night for a bedroom in the lobbyists apartment near Capitol Hill, telling Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard, "I'm dumbfounded that thats controversial.

The backdrop: His remarks come a day after a White House official told the WSJ the administration is digging "a little deeper" to determine if Pruitt's action violated federal ethics rules. On the other hand, Pruitt told Bedard the backlash is part of a concerted effort to undermine President Trump's deregulation agenda, adding: Its toxic here in that regard." ABC News first reported the rental controversy last week, which said the lobbyist has clients in industries regulated by the EPA.White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday the "military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed." An announcement on America's future military involvement in Syria will be made relatively soon, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said, per the AP.

The big picture: If the U.S. pulls out, it would likely be a gift to Iran, Syria, and Russia, which have been backing Syrias Bashar al-Assad. It would also raise security concerns for Israel, which has called for stronger action to counter Irans presence and influence in Syria.

Trumps national security team held an all hands-on deck conversation about how to proceed militarily in Syria, Coats told reporters Wednesday, per the AP.

conversation about how to proceed militarily in Syria, Coats told reporters Wednesday, per the AP. Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday that he wants to "get out" of Syria as he believes the U.S. has completed its mission of defeating ISIS.

that he wants to "get out" of Syria as he believes the U.S. has completed its mission of defeating ISIS. If the U.S. withdraws, this would harken back to Trump's campaign days when he railed against past U.S. leaders for ensnaring the U.S. in conflicts abroad.

this would harken back to Trump's campaign days when he railed against past U.S. leaders for ensnaring the U.S. in conflicts abroad. It would contrast with Trumps decision to remain in Afghanistan indefinitely even though he had said he wanted to withdraw troops there as well. What he said then: "My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts. But all of my life I heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.

What the White House is saying this morning:

"The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed," Sarah Sanders said in a statement. She also said "The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated."

 White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders

Go deeper: The administrations recent mixed messages on Syria.Opposition leader Nikol Pashinian acknowledged on Wednesday growing differences with his key political ally, while saying that he hopes to prevent the collapse of their Yelk bloc, the third largest force in Armenias parliament.

There has never been a stale atmosphere of total accord in the Yelk alliance, Pashinian told reporters. We have had heated debates right from the beginning and those debates in no way reduce the difference between opinions and my respect for our partners.

Unfortunately, those differences are becoming more pronounced by the day, he said. But our position has always been constructive and will remain constructive.

I think that the Yelk alliance needs to overcome the differences, he added on the fifth day of his 200-kilometer-long march through Armenias northern and central regions.

Pashinian and a group of activists of his Civil Contract began the unusual walking tour in advance of their demonstrations in Yerevan against President Serzh Sarkisians apparent plans to stay in power after completing his second term on April 9. The first such rally is scheduled for April 13.

The two other parties making up Yelk have refused to join the campaign, saying that it will not draw strong popular support. One of them, Bright Armenia, has been particularly critical of Pashinians tactics. Edmon Marukian, the Bright Armenia leader, called it reckless on Tuesday.

In a newspaper article, Marukian said that instead of trying to unseat the outgoing president by street protests Yelk should gain more levers to hold the government in check. In that regard, he suggested that the authorities allow the opposition and civil society to name the chairpersons of two standing committees of the Armenian parliament, a member of the Constitutional Court and the countrys human rights ombudsman.

Pashinian dismissed the idea. My march is not aimed at securing any state posts for the opposition and in this context we cannot even consider that, he said.

Pashinian again insisted that his fight against Sarkisians continued rule reflects the views of the vast majority of Armenians who voted for Yelk in the April 2017 parliamentary elections.

We are ready to stay patient so that pessimists reconsider their views and believe that the people can win, the Civil Contract leader said in a live video message aired through Facebook later in the day. He claimed that his ongoing march has already created an atmosphere of optimism among opposition supporters in the country.Goodwill hunting

There is absolutely no doubt that Nepals transitional justice (TJ) mechanisms have been severely hobbled by a lack of support from successive governments and by weak legislation.Armenia reportedly joined a dozen other states on Wednesday in defending Russia in its intensifying dispute with the West over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England.

Britain has accused Russia of using a nerve agent to poison Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, who were hospitalized in critical condition after being found collapsed on a bench in the southern city of Salisbury on March 4. The United States, the European Union and NATO have added their voice to the accusations strongly denied by Moscow. More than 150 Russian diplomats have been expelled from Washington, London and other European capitals as a result.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague discussed the crisis on Wednesday at an emergency meeting called by Russia. Britain's delegation to the OPCW dismissed Moscow's proposal for a joint British-Russian investigation into the poisoning of the Skripals as "perverse."

The Russian Embassy to the Netherlands reported that Russia and 13 other nations, including Armenia, issued a joint statement at the meeting that backed Moscows demands addressed to the chemical weapons watchdog. According to it, the signatories also included Azerbaijan, four other former Soviet republics as well as Iran, Pakistan, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba and Nicaragua.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry did not immediately confirm the information. Yerevan has not yet issued any official statement on the Skripal case.

In a statement read out at the OPCW session, the European Union said it is "imperative" that Russia "responds to the British government's legitimate questions, begins to cooperate with the OPCW Secretariat, and provides full and complete disclosure to the OPCW."By Trend

Insults, made on social networks by some Azerbaijani emigrants living in Europe in relation to the Azerbaijani authorities, are unacceptable, Head of the Azerbaijani House in Paris Mirvari Fataliyeva told Trend on April 3.

Fataliyeva said that the aim of these individuals, serving certain groups, is to damage Azerbaijan's image in the international arena and attempt to destabilize the situation in Azerbaijan on the eve of the presidential election.

It is very important that Azerbaijan, located in a complex region, has maintained its stability against the backdrop of the current tense geopolitical situation in the world, ongoing conflicts and wars, she believes.

"From this point of view, we think that the upcoming election in Azerbaijan is of great importance not only for the South Caucasus region, but for the whole world. Unfortunately, some forces attempt to break the democratic conditions created in Azerbaijan and to commit provocations. Thus they damage the national interests of Azerbaijan. We, the Azerbaijanis of France, strongly condemn the provocative activity of these forces. We declare that the political struggle and the policy itself should be conducted within the framework of ethical norms. Otherwise, these forces insult first of all the Azerbaijani people, society and statehood," she said.

Fataliyeva called on Azerbaijanis living in Europe to counteract this dirty campaign conducted against Azerbaijan.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

There is a stable and calm situation in Azerbaijan on the eve of the presidential election, Lev Spivak, director general of the Israel-Azerbaijan International Association, told Trend April 3.

He said that stability in Azerbaijan causes peoples confidence in the authorities.

In early March, we visited Azerbaijan with the delegation of Kiryat Bialik city, Spivak said. We traveled to several settlements of Azerbaijans Ismayilli district, and also went to Sheki city. We had the best impressions from conversations with people.

Relatively difficult period for the countrys economy is over, and the people feel real improvement, he said.

People become economically more literate, he noted. They understand that economic and political stability in the country ensures inflow of investments. This, in turn, contributes to the creation of new jobs and, ultimately, leads to an increase in the well-being of the population.

Touching upon the Azerbaijani-Israeli relations, he expressed confidence that the cooperation between the two countries will only grow in the future.

Our countries actively cooperate in the weapons and oil sphere, he said. Many joint private facilities are being created. These relations are so important for the Israeli elite that the Israel-Azerbaijan International Association will send observers for the upcoming presidential election to Azerbaijan. They will also include Knesset MPs.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijans National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) cleared 4,410,908 square meters of the countrys territory in March, the agency informed on April 3.

During this period, ANAMA discovered and cleared 1,541 unexploded ordnance (UXOs) and an anti-tank mine. The operations involved 490 members of the operational staff, 136 members of the administrative personnel, six demining vehicles and 40 sapper dogs.

In general, ANAMA cleared a total of 518,051,689 square meters of Azerbaijans territory, discovering and defusing 794,151 mines and UXOs.

In March, demining operations were conducted in Agjabadi, Agdam, Agstafa, Beylagan, Jabrayil, Goranboy, Lankaran, Tartar, Yevlakh regions and Sumgayit. During this period, ANAMA received 12 appeals from the 102 Call Center of the Interior Ministry and 13 from the Emergency Management Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Based on the appeals, 8,050 square meters of territory were inspected and 1,329 UXOs and an anti-tank mine were found. With a view of ensuring the safety of the population, they were transported for neutralization to the central territory of the agency for destruction of dangerous items and devices.

ANAMA was established in 1998 for planning and coordination, management and monitoring of mine action related activities all over the country. The problem of unexploded ordnance in Azerbaijan can be divided into the areas that are still under the occupation of Armenian forces and other areas of the country. Most of the UXOs are the result of Armenian aggression.

Over the past year, ANAMA defused up to 93 million square meters of the Azerbaijan's territory, detecting and defusing 35,117 UXOs, 204 anti-tank mines and 35 anti-personnel mines.

From the beginning of 2018, the agency experts conducted inspections in Agdam, Agjabadi, Agstafa, Absheron, Fuzuli, Tartar, Gazakh, Naftalan, Goranboy, Khizi, Shamkir and Lankaran regions as well as in Baku, Ganja and Sumgayit.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Turkish-Azerbaijani relations are at a very high level, and will continue to develop, Metin Kulunk, MP from the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party for Istanbul, told Trend April 4.

Today, Azerbaijan has achieved serious success in all spheres, according to the MP.

He said that although Turkey has faced some external threats in recent years, and these threats still continue, the relations between Ankara and Baku have never been in the background amid these events.

"Along with cooperation in political, military and economic spheres, Turkey and Azerbaijan cooperate in many spheres and this relationship is intensifying. Let no one doubt that the strengthening of Azerbaijan means the strengthening of Turkey, " Kulunk said.

He further said that both states should further expand cooperation in various fields.

After gaining independence, Azerbaijan began to strengthen and develop more seriously, and Turkey has always supported Azerbaijan in this regard, Kulunk said.

"The role of the country's leadership in Azerbaijan's strengthening is indisputable. Today, Azerbaijan strengthens relations not only with neighboring countries, but also with the countries of the Far East. The country's government pursues a policy that serves the national interests, protects the interests of Azerbaijan on the world arena," the MP said.

Despite a number of problems that emerged after the independence, Azerbaijan tried to switch to a new economic model, and was able to achieve this at a high level.

"The signing of the "Contract of the Century " in 1994 can be shown as an illustrative example of the transition to a new economic model," he noted.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Iranian defense minister on Tuesday expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between Tehran and Moscow in the military field, Irna reported.

'Iran and Russia's military cooperation has experienced good growth based on the framework of military cooperation between the two countries,' Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu.

He noted that 'our cooperation for complete annihilation of terrorism in Syria would continue'.

The Russian defense minister for his part hailed the victories against terrorism in Syria and noted that there are lots of grounds for cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.

Boosting security in the region and in particular return of refugees in Syria are the main topics to be discussed, he said.

The Iranian Minister of Defense arrived in the Russian capital on Tuesday to participate at the VII Moscow Conference on International Security.

This year the Conference will focus on the defeat of terrorists in Syria. Security issues facing Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America will also be in the spotlight of the forum.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has paid his first foreign visit after the re-election to Turkey, which proves the importance of the Moscow - Ankara relations. Although the leaders of the two countries will today mainly discuss the bilateral ties, the fate of Syria mainly depends on the future of the Russia - Turkey relations.

Just an hour later Vladimir Putin's arrival in Ankara, a foundation of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power plant was laid in Turkey.

The Akkuyu NPP is the first BOO (build-own-operate) nuclear power plant project in the world. According to this model, Russia will have the right to use the station's facilities.

Russia and Turkey signed an agreement on construction of the Akkuyu NPP in Ankara on May 12, 2010. The Akkuyu Nuclear JSC was registered in Turkey on Dec. 13, 2010.

The Akkuyu NPP project stipulates the construction of four power units with VVER-1200 reactors with total capacity of 4,800 MW. These reactor systems correspond to the highest, "post-Fukushima" safety standards. The capacity of each unit will be 1200 MW.

The project cost is estimated at $20 billion.

The construction of the Akkuyu NPP shows that despite a number of political disagreements between Moscow and Ankara over the Syrian issue, this is not an obstacle before the two countries to develop energy and economic relations.

But along with the construction of the Akkuyu NPP, there are other important issues on the agenda of the two leaders.

This is primarily the abolition of visas by Russia for Turkish citizens and increasing the trade turnover.

Secondly, this is a matter of settling the Syrian crisis and also the purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems.

One should not rule out that during the meeting, the two leaders will discuss the issue of construction of passenger aircraft for Turkey.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Tajikistan has called measures used by Russia against the Tajik aviation authorities counterproductive, Tajik agency News.tj reported on April 3.

Tajik Foreign Ministry expresses concern over the situation that has emerged between the civil aviation authorities of Tajikistan and Russia. A Tajik civil aviation delegation today left for Moscow to conduct negotiations with Russian counterparts over the airlines battle.

The statement, in particular notes that the measures taken by the Russian aviation authorities cause economic damage to the airlines of both countries.

Taking into account the situation that has emerged, the Tajik side considers the measures used counterproductive and proposes to settle the arising problems through consultative meetings and negotiations between the aviation authorities of the countries, according to the statement.

The statement says that any disputes arising between the parties should be settled in accordance with the government-to-government agreements between Tajikistan and Russia on air communication that was signed on Sep. 12, 1997.

The Tajik side adheres strictly to fulfillment of obligations on the reached agreements and is interested in close and mutually beneficial cooperation with the aviation authorities of Russia, says the statement.

Meanwhile, an official source at the Ministry of Transport of Tajikistan says a Tajik civil aviation delegation left for Moscow today to conduct negotiations with Russian counterparts over the airlines battle. The delegation members include Deputy Transport Minister Sherali Ganjalzoda, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Agency Aziz Nabizoda and representatives of the Foreign Ministry of Tajikistan.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

Bulgarias Deputy Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva will visit Baku on April 5-7 to participate in the 17th Azerbaijan International Travel and Tourism Fair (AITF 2018), Azerbaijans Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a message on April 3.

As part of her visit, Georgieva will meet Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Garayev.

During the meeting, the sides will discuss issues of expanding cooperation in the sphere of tourism between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan and ensuring mutual tourist flow.

In accordance with the agreement reached as part of the talks held by the presidents of Azerbaijan and Bulgaria on the opening of air communication between Baku and Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria has become the first city in the European Union, to which Azerbaijan's low-cost air carrier Buta Airways launched its direct flights.

To this end, the tourism potential of Bulgaria and the existing tourist opportunities will be demonstrated at the AITF 2018. At the same time, Bulgaria this year became the official partner of the AITF 2018.

The first flight from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, to Bulgarian Sofia was sent off on January 16.

Earlier, Bulgarian Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications Ivaylo Moskovski noted that Azerbaijan and Bulgaria will be able to implement a number of important tourism projects through the launch of a direct flight.

In terms of tourism, Baku and Azerbaijan offer a number of interesting opportunities. The same applies to the opportunities of Azerbaijani tourists in our country. I am sure that we can realize a number of important projects through the development of these ties between our countries. I believe that the flight from Baku to Sofia can become a symbol of the development and deepening of tourist ties between our countries and provide an opportunity for a number of new projects, the minister said.

More than 3,000 Azerbaijani tourists visit Bulgaria annually.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

Over 60 million tons of oil, produced in Kazakhstan, is planned to be pumped through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) in 2018.

This was announced by CPC General Director Nikolai Gorban during a press conference, Kazinform reported.

In 2018, the consortium plans to pump 67 million tons through its pipeline system. It is estimated that about 60 million of them will be produced in Kazakhstan, and about 7 million we expect to receive from Russian producers. An almost two-fold increase in oil consumption from Kashagan to 13 million tons is planned. Last year, we received 7.4 million tons, he said.

According to the announced data, out of 60 million tons of oil produced in Kazakhstan, about 13 million tons will fall for Kashagan, about 12 million tons  for Karachaganak, and about 28 million tons for Tengiz while the rest (about 7 million tons) - for other producers.

The head of the CPC also said that the consortium plans to make payments on debt to shareholders in the amount of 1.3 billion dollars this year.

As of the first quarter of March 29, payments were made on a debt of $310 million in favor of shareholders.

Of them, $268 million are for Russia, and there are Kazakh shareholders as well, and 42 million dollars is for a Kazakh enterprise. In total in 2018, we plan to repay $1.3 billion according to the principle equally and simultaneously for both enterprises, Gorban added.

He further said that no change in priorities and quotas is expected in connection with the increase in production at Kashagan.

The increase in volume does not imply a change and redistribution. The shareholder contract is registered in such a way that it is not tied to a specific physical volume. Therefore, in this case, there will be no changes, CPC head noted.

To date, there is no plan to change the tariff, and there are no such discussions among shareholders, he said, answering journalists' questions.

He went on to say that the CPC expansion project has actually been completed.

The mechanical capacity of the pipeline system is 67 million tons, which is the project figure that we reached last December. The application of the additive is practically irrelevant, and the volumes for today are minimal, because we carried out the whole range of physical works that allowed us to reach these indicators. We apply the additive only because of uneven delivery of consignors of their volumes. That is, when we need to increase the volume of one-time pumping, CPC head explained.

Meanwhile, it was reported that in March 2018, the CPC Marine Terminal hit a new record of monthly loading.

It loaded 5,506,294 tons or 43,609,021 barrels, which is almost 6 percent higher than the previous record dated December 2017 when the monthly loading achieved 5,196,229 tons, the Consortium's press service said.

Volumes loaded in March this year appeared to be 11.7 percent higher compared to the same period of last year. As a reminder, 4,929,486 tons were loaded into tankers in March 2017.



The remarkable thing is that the Marine Terminal handled 140 tankers from the beginning of 2018 through April 2 (50 of which were handled in March); these tankers received over 15 million tons of crude.



CPC Base Business has seen such an impressive increase due to the Tengiz-Novorossiysk Pipeline Expansion Project completed by the Consortium. In 2017 alone six new PSs were put into operation: A-PS-4A and A-PS-5A in Astrakhan Oblast, PS-8 in Krasnodar Krai, PS-5 in Stavropol Krai, A-PS-3A in Kazakhstan and PS-2 in Kalmykia, where comprehensive testing was successfully completed and the PS was put into pilot operation.

Caspian Pipeline Consortium was established to build a pipeline and export Kazakh oil through Russian territory.

CPC exported 55,107 million tons of oil in January- December 2017, showing a 24.4 percent increase compared to 2016.

CPC owns 1,511 km long pipeline system that connects the oil fields in Western Kazakhstan with the Marine Terminal near Russian Novorossiysk. In 2017 the Caspian Pipeline Consortium will complete the Expansion Project and which will increase its capacity to 67 million tons of oil per annum. Kazakh producer will account for 56 million tons of that volume and Russian producers - for 11 million tons.

CPC Shareholders: Russia (represented by Transneft  24 percent and CPC Company  7 percent)  31 percent; Kazakhstan (represented by KazMunaiGaz  19 percent and Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC  1.75 percent)  20.75 percent; Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company  15 percent, LUKARCO B.V.  12.5 percent, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company  7.5 percent, Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited  7.5 percent, BG Overseas Holding Limited  2 percent, Eni International N.A. N.V.  2 percent  Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC  1.75 percent.

The volume of CPC shipment of oil for export in 2016 was 44,298 million tons, which is 3.6 percent more than in 2015.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzHouse endorses HPE Ordinance

The House of Representatives on Tuesday endorsed the Health Profession Education Act that the President had promulgated as an ordinance, barring establishment of new medical schools in Kathmandu Valley for a decade.By Kamila Aliyeva

As many as 187,500 hectares of land will be allocated in Tajikistan for the cultivation of cotton this year, which is 13,500 more than last year, according to forecasts.

By the beginning of April, cotton has been planted on over 42,300 hectares of land, which is 22.6 percent of the land allocated for this technical culture in Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Avesta reported.

Specialists of the industry noted that the decision to increase cotton crops was made by the government of the country in connection with the growth of market needs. Thus, cotton fields will be expanded at the expense of grain and fodder crop areas.

Earlier, cotton cultivation areas and, correspondingly, cotton production were decreasing in the country.

In 2012, 418,000 tons of cotton was harvested, while the harvest was 393,000 tons in 2013, 372,000 tons in 2014, 335,000 tons in 2015, and 270,000 tons the last year. A consistent decrease in cotton cultivation fields caused the decline as 200,000 hectares were allotted for cotton in 2012, with only 160,000 hectares allotted in 2016.

In 2017, Tajik farmers managed to meet the Agriculture Ministry's forecast for the first time over the past several years. Thus in 2017, 380,000 of cotton was harvested in Tajikistan, 5.2 percent more than in 2016.

Until the middle of the 2000s, cotton was considered one of the two main export goods of Tajikistan (along with aluminum). In the 1980s, about 800,000 tons of cotton was harvested annually in Soviet Tajikistan.

At the same time, most of the cotton fiber produced in the country is exported as raw materials. The processing of these products within the country is insignificant.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

The forces that undermine the agreements within the Iran nuclear deal will be responsible for negative consequences for the worlds security system, Iranian Defense Minister, Brigadier General Mohammad Amir Khatami said, RIA Novosti reported.

The failure of the US and some of its Western partners to fulfill their obligations, their search for pretexts for non-fulfillment of these agreements can be assessed as a factor that is detrimental to the climate of confidence in the international arena. And while declaring Irans commitment to these agreements, as well as other commitments, I warn that the forces, led by the United States undermining these agreements, will be responsible for the negative consequences for the international order and the security system, he said speaking at the Moscow International Security Conference.

Iran and five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council  the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia  plus Germany signed the nuclear deal on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

The agreement limits Irans nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related bans against the Islamic Republic.

The US seeks to change the agreement with Iran. A representative of the US State Department previously told RIA Novosti that the US will withdraw from the Iranian deal if European partners do not work on correcting its shortcomings. The source stressed that if at any time the president decides that the agreement is unattainable, the US will immediately exit the deal.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzA Hardin County jury on Tuesday handed down the state's first death sentence of 2018, deciding a Kountze man convicted of torturing and killing his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter is irredeemable and likely to commit future violent crimes.

The jury deliberated for more than three hours before unanimously determining there was no reason Jason Wade Delacerda, 40, should spend his life in prison instead of being executed by lethal injection.

"What mitigates the horror that she lived in? What mitigates the pain she suffered?" District Attorney David Sheffield asked during his closing statements, holding up a picture of Breonna Nichole Loftin, who prosecutors said was abused for weeks before she died.

He asked the jury to think about how they would explain to Breonna their decision not to sentence him to death. "This is a wrong that we cannot turn right for her," he said. "However, we can prevent one last death. We can prevent the death of justice for her."

Defense attorneys James Makin and Ryan Gertz, attempting to save Delacerda's life, argued Tuesday morning that he was unlikely to commit future violent acts while in prison.

They provided the jury with more than 600 pages of records documenting his time in the Hardin County Jail for the last 6 1/2 years and called Beaumont psychiatrist Edward Gripon to testify that "in a prison setting, his risk of future violence is low."

In his closing statement, Makin told the jury not to let Delacerda's son, who testified Monday, live with the knowledge that he was part of the process that killed his father.

His son was not in the courtroom Tuesday and did not speak during his testimony about the punishment his father should receive.

"Your verdict says that, between life and death, Jason made the wrong choice," Gertz said, telling the jury that they could make the right choice instead. "Some of you are people of faith," he said, and asked them to consider their moral compass.

"This was, absolutely, a terrible tragedy. Nobody's condoning it, supporting it, nobody likes it. But there's nothing we can do. There's not one thing you can do in that room that fixes this for this little girl." he said.

> > RELATED: James Byrd Jr. killer's appeal denied

Assistant District Attorney Bruce Hoffer, who was emotional as he addressed the jury, said Delacerda would be a danger to other prisoners and has a history of trouble, pointing to past misdemeanor convictions and a threat he allegedly made to kill his parents in 1996.

"The facts of this case tell you Breonna went from being that loving little child to laying on a gurney at the morgue because of moving in with him," he said.

During his closing statement, Sheffield said Delacerda's son's testimony was the "most compelling." He said Monday that his father punched, kicked, choked and abused Breonna "all the time" the summer before she died, forcing her to stand on bottlecaps all night and sit in bathtubs of ice for hours.

The 19-year-old said that while he and his brother visited their biological father, he put pushpins in Breonna's face and fingers and paddled her so hard she bruised and bled.

>> RELATED: Delacerda's son: Abuse was constant

During his testimony, he said at first the 4-year-old cried, but then "she got used to it."

Sheffield said visualizing and reliving the abuse was difficult, and it was clear that it affected him as a then-12-year-old. "He's a victim, too. He carries that with him all the time," he said.

Delacerda did not visibly react when the verdict was read.

Makin said afterward that he and Gertz told their client that the death penalty was likely when they explained their strategy last week. They did not cross-examine witnesses, make an opening statement or call any witnesses of their own during the guilt/innocence phase, and objected to all evidence that did not relate to the 24 to 48 hours before Breonna died. The judge's decision to include that evidence will be targeted in their appeal, they've said.

As a death penalty case, it will go automatically to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for review, and new counsel will be appointed.

Gertz said they have an appellate attorney in mind who they will request be assigned to the case.

> > PHOTOS: Southeast Texans on Death Row

Breonna's mother, Amanda Guidry, is also charged with capital murder. She was released on bond in 2014. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in her case.

After Delacerda was sentenced, Hoffer praised Sheffield for deciding to seek the death penalty in the case, as well as the District Attorney's Office and Hardin County law enforcement for their work.

He said Breonna's family members who testified last week chose not to attend the sentencing. "This was very hard, and everybody deals with things in different ways," he said.

During his closing statement last week, before Delacerda was found guilty, he showed a picture of Breonna to the jury and played a clip of a song from the movie "Pitch Perfect," called "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone."

He declined to comment on the decision last week, but said Tuesday that it was inspired by the last words Breonna said to her grandmother, Wanda Bailey. Bailey was not allowed to testify about that conversation, because it was ruled hearsay, but Hoffer said Breonna was trying to tell Bailey goodbye.

"This case goes back 6 1/2 years," he said. "Everybody at that time knew this case should end this way."

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitzA Kountze woman accused of killing her 4-year-old daughter in 2011 will go to trial this summer, five months after her boyfriend was found guilty of capital murder in the child's death.

Amanda Nichole Guidry's trial is set for July 2, according to the Hardin County District Clerk's Office.In an effort to address some of the greatest threats against mankind, the Outrider Foundation has put together a data visualization tool that shows the potential impact of a nuclear blast.

The tool allows visitors to see how devastating a surface or air nuclear explosion would be in any given city. Of the four bombs a visitor can choose from, the Tsar Bomba stands out as one of the deadliest.

The bomb was developed by the Soviet Union and test detonated in the northernmost part of Russia on Oct. 30, 1961, the BBC reported.

READ MORE: This nuclear-explosion simulator shows where radioactive fallout would go using today's weather

"In a flash, the bomb created a fireball five miles wide. The fireball pulsed upwards from the force of its own shockwave. The flash could be seen from 1,000km (630 miles) away," the BBC added. "In Soviet districts hundreds of miles from the blast zone, damage of all kinds  houses collapsing, roofs falling in, damage to doors, windows shattering  were reported. Radio communications were disrupted for more than an hour."

The Soviets never created another Tsar Bomba. Russia and the U.S. today own and control 93 percent of all nuclear weapons in the world, according to NBC News. That number amounts to roughly 13,950 nuclear warheads, according to data from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).

It is this reality that inspired the Outrider Foundation's research, managing director Tara Drozdenko told Chron.com.

"If we had to pick one take-away it would be that people need to take action about nuclear weapons. Average citizens have already had a huge impact on nuclear weapons policy and have the ability to continue affecting change. We have resources outlining what individuals can do, and we also highlight how ordinary people have had an impact," Drozdenko said.

Swipe through the gallery above to see what sort of damage the Tsar Bomba could have caused on Texas' major cities.

Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @fernalfonso.The Michigan Board of Medical Examiners accused Louis Spagnoletti, MD, of "indiscriminately" prescribing opioids, the Courier Post reports.

Here's what you should know.

1. The state took issue with his treatment of seven patients from September 2005 to July 2017.

2. Dr. Spagnoletti allegedly prescribed several full-month supplies of painkillers weeks apart to at least one patient that was at high-risk of opiate abuse. He also allegedly prescribed opioids to a patient for more than six years. The patient had told Dr. Spagnoletti they wanted to quit taking the pain pills and enter a detox center.

2. The state banned Dr. Spagnoletti from treating patients and prescribing drugs. He will remain banned until he goes before a judge.

4. Dr. Spagnoletti denied any wrongdoing.

5. Dr. Spagnoletti has been barred from practicing medicine since August 2017. He cannot enter a medical office when patients are present, and he must seek board approval to engage in any nonclinical medical employment.Patients are recording medical visits both with consent and also covertly, and Medscape examined every aspect of the issue.

Here's what you should know.

1. A survey, published in BMJ Open, revealed 24 percent of 161 patients admitted to covertly recording their physicians. Only 11 states have laws in effect on covert recordings.

2. Patients are often recording conversations to remember a physician's instructions. Many believe the recordings will aid in their compliance and understanding.

3. Physicians worry the recordings could create a barrier where patients aren't entirely truthful.

4. Medscape reports while there haven't been many lawsuits including recordings, they do occasionally occur. One notable example happened in Northern Virginia. A patient was about to undergo a colonoscopy. He began recording the conversation prior to his procedure to save the instructions his physicians gave him after the procedure. While under anesthesia, the physicians made several comments about the man.

The physicians "talked about avoiding the man after the procedure, instructing an assistant to lie to him and [place] a false diagnosis on his chart." Notably an anesthesiologist said to the sedated patient, "After five minutes of talking to you in [preoperative], I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit." The anesthesiologist made another disparaging comment later as well.

5. When the patient played back the tape, he filed a malpractice and defamation suit against several physicians. A jury ordered the anesthesiologist and her practice pay the man $500,000, including damages.

6. Several organizations have accepted recording as commonplace, but the nation's largest professional liability carrier in Napa, Calif., The Doctor Company, discourages the practice.

7. The Doctor Company fears the recordings can be altered and manipulated to create an inaccurate portrayal of what occurred. The recordings can also easily be shared, potentially violating HIPAA.

To read the whole article, click here.Man murders two kids, age 3 and 5

Police have arrested a man for murdering the children of his cousin in Tribeni Rural Municipality-2, Rolpa. Kharka Bhiswakarma,Here are new ASCs and outpatient surgery centers that were announced or opened over the past month.

1. Stuart, Fla.-based Martin Health System, Compass Surgical Partners and a group of physician investors will open the Stuart Surgery Center in early 2018.

2. Cincinnati-based Mercy Health began construction on the three-story Eastgate Medical Center, which will feature an ASC, in the eastern part of the city.

3. Missoula (Mont.) Bone & Joint gained approval to open a larger ASC.

4. Bakersfield, Calif.-based Rio Bravo Medical Center is developing four medical buildings to add to its campus. The campus currently has a 65,000-square-foot cancer and imaging center with an attached surgery center. By the end of 2019, the cancer and surgery center will double in size.

5. Froedtert Hospital & the Medical College of Wisconsin opened a health center in Oak Creek, Wis. At 109,000 square feet, the Drexel Town Square Health Center contains an outpatient surgery center, cancer center, pharmacy and lab services.

6. Portland-based Maine Medical Center won board approval to launch an expansion project in early May. The five-year expansion plan includes a new surgery center and an employee parking garage.

7. Nashville, Tenn.-based Saint Thomas Health purchased three acres of land in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to construct a 13,000-square-foot surgery center with two operating rooms and one procedure room.

8. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services issued Fayetteville, N.C.-based Valleygate Dental Surgery Center a certificate of need March 1, clearing the group to open its new center in Greensboro, N.C., June 1.

9. The Douglas Co. began construction on a 92,174-square-foot Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Rochester, N.Y. The facility will feature an ASC, as well as an eye clinic, a dental clinic, a pharmacy, exam rooms and radiology rooms.

10. Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center proposed the purchase of up to 14 acres of property for a new ASC and pediatric clinic. The Murfreesboro City Council voted to approve the property sale.

11. The newly opened Fayetteville, N.C.-based Valleygate Dental Surgery Center, the first ASC in North Carolina focused on children's dental care, scheduled its first patient appointment for March 26.

12. Opelika-based East Alabama Medical Center plans to open a freestanding emergency department with an ASC in Auburn, Ala. The ASC will have four operating and procedure rooms.Cogentix Medical is a global company that provides urology, gynecology, bariatric medicine, critical care, otolaryngology, pulmonology and gastroenterology technologies.

Here are five things to know.

1. The Minnetonka, Minn.-based company was formed after Vision-Sciences and Uroplasty merged in 2015. Uroplasty focused on bulking agents and office-based neuromodulation, and Vision-Sciences introduced a sterile, sheathed-endoscope technology.

2. The PrimeSight transnasal esophagoscopy system is Cogentix Medical's flagship GI product. The system offers on-the-spot biopsy capability and combines endoscope technology with the sterile EndoSheath protective barrier for immediate diagnosis of the esophageal anatomy.

3. Cogentix Medical agreed to an acquisition bid from Laborie Medical Technologies. Laborie will pay $235 million to acquire Cogentix, approximately $3.85 per share of outstanding stock.

4. Laborie will pay a 28 percent premium over Cogentix' average 30-day closing price.

5. Darrin Hammers has served as the president and CEO of Cogentix Medical since July 2016. Mr. Hammers joined Cogentix' predecessor company Uroplasty as vice president of global sales in May 2013.

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HyGIeaCare provides chronic constipation sufferers reliefOvercoming another financial hurdle, Greenville (S.C.) Health System and Columbia, S.C.-based Palmetto Health received approval from the Greenville City Council to refinance $1.5 billion of debt, according to Greenville News.

The decision, which was passed by a vote of 9 to 3, was previously approved by councils in the Columbia area. The bond refinancing plan must still be approved by the South Carolina Coordinating Council for Economic Development and the state's Jobs-Economic Development Authority.

The bond refinancing plan, sought after as part of GHS and Palmetto's new partnership, is expected to save the merged entity $100 million in interest payments.

"This is money that we will use to reinvest in the hospital system, in patient care, in innovation, facilities and our mission taking care of the poor of Greenville County," Spence Taylor, MD, president of GHS, told Greenville News.Gainesville-based Northeast Georgia Health System has reached a conditional agreement with DL Investment Holdings to buy Chestatee Regional Hospital in Dahlonega, Ga. Under the agreement, NGHS would close the hospital and then possibly sell the property to the University of North Georgia, also in Dahlonega.

Here are four things to know.

1. Following NGHS' acquisition of Chestatee Regional, the health system would give the University of North Georgia the opportunity to purchase the property. Georgia legislators have earmarked dollars in the state's budget for fiscal year 2019 for the University of North Georgia Board of Regents to buy the property from NGHS.

2. The University of North Georgia would not occupy the property for the next few years. UNG President Bonita Jacobs said the facility could potentially house nursing, physical therapy and counseling education programs, as well as two existing outreach clinics.

3. Under the agreement, Chestatee Regional is required to notify federal regulators of plans to close the hospital later this year. This will help ensure existing liabilities are not tied to future owners or operators.

4. A specific date for the hospital's closing has not been set.

"Our immediate goal is to assess what is needed to re-establish high-quality healthcare services in Lumpkin County after the hospital closes," Louis Smith, president of acute and post-acute operations for NGHS, said. "Given what information we've received about existing resources, we estimate it may take as many as 12 months to complete that assessment."

More articles on healthcare finance:

SSM Health's annual operating income drops 43%

IU Health CFO Jennifer Alvey: Health system finance chiefs must be 'thoughtful, collaborative and agile'

Top 5 healthcare finance stories in MarchIndianapolis-based Indiana University Health Senior Vice President and CFO Jennifer Alvey is a seasoned finance executive who understands the challenges the industry is facing.

Ms. Alvey joined IU Health, a 15-hospital, nonprofit system, in January 2011 and served as treasurer and vice president of revenue cycle services before being promoted to her current position. Prior to coming to IU Health, Ms. Alvey spent five years with the Indiana Finance Authority, where she worked her way up to public finance director.

Here, Ms. Alvey discusses the essential skills a health system CFO needs today, the challenges facing the industry and how she stays excited about work each day.

Question: What skills are essential for a health system CFO in today's healthcare climate, beyond traditional financial and business acumen?

Jennifer Alvey: A health system CFO today still must rely on traditional financial and business acumen to manage traditional financial operations; however, effectively managing through the changing healthcare landscape requires creativity, an appreciation for the needs and desires of both patients and providers, and the ability to be thoughtful, collaborative and agile.

Q: What is the greatest challenge facing hospital and health system CFOs today?

JA: The lack of stability in healthcare continues to be our greatest challenge. The constant debate surrounding healthcare creates insecurity for our patients and makes it more difficult for us to develop long-range plans. In this environment, it would be easy to say "no" rather than take risks. It is increasingly important to get creative and challenge operational and financial teams to figure out how to fund and support needs with the resources we have. As a CFO, I look to provide creative options to ensure that we can continue to provide our patients with the highest quality care in the most efficient way.

Q: As the healthcare industry shifts to value-based systems of pay, what is the biggest challenge your system is facing? What strategies are you employing to meet this challenge?

JA: The shift to value-based pay requires that we choose to move from fee-for-service care delivery toward a population health model with the right velocity at the right time. It's hard to know what "right" is with so much volatility due to reimbursement changes from government mandates and consumer pressure from payers and patients. To prepare for this large-scale change, we are highly focused on attracting and retaining top talent to ensure we have an engaged and agile team capable of successfully transitioning to this model and deploying strategies that win in both systems. Our team members, from direct clinical care to financial areas, are mission-driven to deliver on our No. 1 priority  providing the highest quality of care for our patients  and are prepared to adapt to changes within our industry to do so.

Q: In the face of so many challenges from seemingly all corners of the industry, what keeps you excited and motivated to come to work each day? How do you replenish your energy and enthusiasm outside of work?

JA: I am energized each day by working alongside a highly skilled team of compassionate and dedicated individuals who inspire and challenge me because of their commitment to serving our patients. I reconnect by volunteering in patient-facing spaces, sometimes just helping to walk patients and visitors around the hospitals to their destination. I also enjoy mentoring up-and-coming leaders because their enthusiasm and progress are so energizing. Lastly, spending time with my husband and our children rejuvenates me. It's great to have young ones at home to keep you laughing.

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SSM Health's annual operating income drops 43%

Your hospital signed a direct-to-employer contract  6 factors to help build a successful program

Top 10 value propositions for your medical group's RCM partnershipA federal judge seeks input from hospitals and health systems on how to reduce the Medicare appeals backlog at the Administrative Law Judge level, according to a report from the American Hospital Association.

Here are five things to know.

1. The issue of clearing the appeals backlog was taken up in December 2016. Following a lawsuit filed by AHA and others against HHS, a federal judge ordered HHS to incrementally clear pending appeals by the end of 2020.

2. HHS asked Judge James Boasberg with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reconsider the order, but that request was denied in January 2017.

3. After HHS appealed the decision, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia overturned the order in August 2017, permitting the lower court to decide whether, as HHS contended, it would be impossible to comply with the order's timetable for reducing the backlog.

4. In February 2018, the AHA asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reinstate the HHS deadline for clearing the appeals backlog, saying HHS "has not shown it is impossible to clear the backlog  minus, perhaps, some claims with serious program-integrity concerns  within five years."

5. Judge Boasberg has now called on the AHA to "elaborate and expand upon on the recommendations it has made over the course of litigation for clearing the backlog by June 22," according to the AHA. HHS' deadline to respond is in July.

Ayla Ellison contributed to this report.

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Mission Hospital to name cancer institute after donors of record-setting gift

7 latest hospital credit downgrades

10 hospitals seeking RCM talentBecker's Hospital Review reported on the following events related to hospital-union relationships  including contracts, protests, legal issues and elections  since March 16.

1. Labor board to hear nurses' complaints against Berkshire Medical Center: 9 things to know

The National Labor Relations Board determined an administrative law judge will hear three unfair labor practice charges filed against Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Medical Center by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

2. Unionized nurses' allegations of employee coercion at UPHS-Marquette spur NLRB complaint

The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint and notice of hearing in relation to allegations filed by Michigan nurses against Upper Peninsula Health System-Marquette.

3. New York governor calls for investigation into Albany Medical Center nurses' abuse complaints

New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged the New York State Department of Labor to investigate allegations of threatening and coercive behavior at Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center, according to the timesunion.

4. NLRB takes up SEIU complaint over Mayo's Christmas work stoppage in Albert Lea

The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a hearing with respect to a union's allegations that Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic violated federal labor law when it banned workers from returning to work following a one-day strike in Albert Lea, according to a notice from the NLRB.

5. Baystate Franklin nurses plan to strike in April

Nurses at Greenfield, Mass.-based Baystate Franklin Medical Center revealed new strike plans March 26 nearly one month after postponing a previously scheduled walkout.

6. Minnesota hospital workers picket over contract

Workers at Minneapolis-based Hennepin Healthcare picketed March 17 over contract negotiations.

7. Virtua nurses agree to tentative labor deal, avert strike

Approximately 1,500 registered nurses at Marlton, N.J.-based Virtua Health reached a proposed contract agreement March 15, averting a potential strike, according to a union news release.

8. Kaiser Permanente reaches tentative labor deal with 19k healthcare workers

Tens of thousands registered nurses and nurse practitioners at facilities owned by Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente reached a tentative labor deal with the healthcare giant March 16, according to a union news release.

9. Dignity Health closes 5-year labor deal with 15k California workers

Tens of thousands healthcare workers at facilities owned by San Francisco-based Dignity Health ratified a new labor deal with management, according to a union news release.

10. Union nurses protest staffing levels at California hospital

Nurses at St. Joseph Hospital, Eureka (Calif.), part of St. Joseph Health, Humboldt County, picketed March 15 over staffing issues, according to a News Channel 3 report.

11. Pennsylvania nurses, technologists rally over staffing

Registered nurses and technologists rallied and picketed March 15 at Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) General Hospital, according to a joint union news release.

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NLRB takes up SEIU complaint over Mayo's Christmas work stoppage in Albert Lea

Disruptive Collaboration in HealthcareThe National Labor Relations Board determined an administrative law judge will hear three unfair labor practice charges filed against Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Medical Center by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

This determination is not a ruling on the charges, but means the judge will hear the case. The NLRB's "action to allow the allegations to go forward to a hearing is a preliminary step in a process that may take as long as two or three years to fully resolve," the hospital's legal counsel said in a statement.

Here are nine things to know.

1. The union, which represents nearly 800 BMC nurses, highlighted various allegations against the hospital in an April 3 news release, primarily taking issue with the hospital's handling of a nurse strike in October 2017.

2. The union alleges BMC violated nurses' protected rights to authorize and initiate a strike by "misrepresenting the consequences of a vote to strike" and "threatening to stop health insurance benefits for nurses while on a one-day strike." This charge is based on a letter sent to nurses last July by now retired BMC Vice President of Human Resources Arthur Milano.

3. The union also alleges BMC violated federal labor law by not responding to nurses' requests for correspondence, contracts and documents between the hospital and the staffing agency it used for replacement workers during the October strike and subsequent work stoppage.

4. Additionally, the union alleges BMC did not respond to the MNA's request for health insurance data in a timely manner. The MNA indicated nurses sought the data to help determine their health insurance rates were determined.

5. BMC's legal counsel said the hospital "is confident in its position on each of the three charges."

6. As far as the first charge, the hospital's legal counsel described Mr. Milano's letter as "a caution to the registered nurses." The statement adds: "Before the strike, however, the hospital arranged to continue its contributions during the strike and told the nurses that there would, if fact, be no interruption. Nevertheless, the legality of Mr. Milano's earlier warning to the nurses of the possibility of a gap in their health insurance coverage will now be subject of formal litigation."

7. With the second charge, BMC's legal counsel said the hospital is prohibited from sharing the staffing contract or contract terms unless the agency provides written consent. "The agency initially did not consent to the hospital's sharing the contract at all, although it later agreed that certain terms of the contract could be shared with an investigator from the National Labor Relations Board," the legal counsel said. "The question of whether the hospital should somehow have turned over the agency contract to the union despite the contract term prohibiting it from doing so will now also be considered by an administrative law judge."

8. Regarding the third charge, the hospital's legal counsel said BMC provided "volumes of information about the health plan," but "strongly believes that detailed information about how plan participants use their health insurance coverage was irrelevant to whatever analysis of the plan the registered nurses wanted to undertake." The legal counsel also said protecting plan participant information was the focus of the hospital's decision.

9. Both sides have been in negotiations since September 2016. Nurses had planned to strike for a second time Feb. 27 after unsuccessful attempts to resolve contract issues such as staffing and health insurance. However, the MNA said those strike plans were postponed.

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Disruptive Collaboration in HealthcareThe National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint and notice of hearing in relation to allegations filed by nurses at Upper Peninsula Health System-Marquette (Mich.) against the hospital.

Allegations made by the nurses, who are represented by the Michigan Nurses Association, suggest UPHS-Marquette violated federal labor law through various actions related to a two-day strike in October. The nurses said a hospital supervisor "impermissibly threatened employees with adverse consequences for engaging in strike activity." They also said an operating room director notified an employee her union activity negatively affected the hospital's assessment of the worker's job performance and was inconsistent with the hospital's "communication and conflict resolution standards."

Overall, the nurses alleged UPHS-Marquette, which is owned by Brentwood, Tenn.-based Duke LifePoint Healthcare, "interfer[ed] with, restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed" under the National Labor Relations Act.

The nurses seek to have the hospital upgrade a November 2017 performance review for an employee, and remove language from the review regarding the employee's union activity.

The NLRB has scheduled a tentative hearing for July 24 to review the alleged unfair labor practices, according to union officials. The hearing date will be cancelled if both parties reach an agreement before that date.

Duke LifePoint said in a statement to Becker's Hospital Review it is aware of the NLRB's complaint and notice of hearing, as well as the MNA's allegations on behalf of nurses.

"We know that the MNA's portrayal of UPHS-Marquette is not a fair representation of the quality leadership and work taking place at the hospital," the statement reads. "We are confident that the hospital continues to bargain in good faith with the MNA to find the common ground necessary to negotiate a labor agreement that is acceptable to all parties and constituents."

Both sides have been negotiating a new contract for nearly one year. An extension of the current contract expired last July.

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Disruptive Collaboration in HealthcareAmericans are increasingly misusing the nonopioid, nonaddictive painkiller gabapentin in conjunction with opioids and alcohol in areas of the U.S. already racked by the opioid crisis, according to a report from NBC News.

Here are three things to know.

1. Gabapentin, commonly prescribed to treat nerve pain and seizures caused by shingles, enhances the effects of opioids and alcohol when taken together. Gabapentin also increases the lethality of these drugs. One 2017 study found gabapentin taken in tandem with opioids increases the risk of overdose by 49 percent.

2. Ohio police have documented a sharp rise in the rates of gabapentin misuse over the last several years. Recent reports have suggested 300 milligram pills were sold on the streets of Athens for just 75 cents apiece. In 2016, rising rates of gabapentin misuse spurred Kentucky to become the first state to classify the medication as a Schedule 5 Drug, meaning its prescription requires documentation on the state's prescription drug monitoring program, according to NBC News.

3. James Patrick Murphy, MD, a Louisville, Ky.-based pain specialist, told NBC News the gabapentin problem is similar to the opioid crisis in that they both stem from overprescribing.

"It got prescribed so much that everybody taking an opioid for chronic pain was also taking gabapentin," Dr. Murphy told NBC News. "[S]ome people will take a valium with opioids, and some people will take a handful of gabapentin. The sad thing for patients who do well on gabapentin is that this will make physicians less likely to prescribe gabapentin."

To read the full NBC News report, click here.

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Subash Chandra Nembang has been appointed as deputy leader of CPN-UMLs Parliamentary Party on Wednesday.The parents of missing CDC employee Dr. Timothy Cunningham told Cleveland's FOX News station they received a disturbing text from their son the day before his disappearance nearly two months ago, according to Atlanta's FOX 5.

Dr. Cunningham's parents would not elaborate further on the contents of the text message, but the epidemiologist's father said he shared the information with investigators. The Atlanta Police Department told Becker's via email the department had "no new updates to share concerning this investigation."

Dr. Cunningham, a 35-year-old epidemiologist and alumni of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, was last seen Feb. 12 leaving CDC's headquarters in Atlanta. His family later found his phone, wallet, vehicle and dog at his home.

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Where access to birth control staggers, contraception apps prosperSurgeons at Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Hospital performed the first liver transplant on a patient with HIV in December, reports WRAL TechWire.

Stan Boling, a 61-year-old man from Knoxville, Tenn., contracted hepatitis B in 1976 and HIV in 1982. While Mr. Boling successfully controlled his HIV with medications, he experienced liver failure last summer from his hepatitis.

In September 2017, Duke physicians identified Mr. Boling as an ideal candidate for a transplant and put his name on two transplant lists  one for HIV negative donors and one for HIV positive donors. Physicians found a donor match on the second list three days before Christmas, and Mr. Boling underwent a successful transplant.

The Hope Act of 2013 opened the door for more HIV patients like Mr. Boling to receive transplants. Before 2013, it was illegal for people with HIV to become organ donors.

"Those organs, unfortunately, went into the trash," Carl Berg, MD, director of liver transplantation at Duke University Hospital, told WRAL TechWire. "When Stan is able to get an HIV positive organ, it frees up a potential donor that he was waiting for on the regular list."

Duke Hospital is the only transplant center in North Carolina that accepts HIV organ donors for transplants.Smith & Nephew named Namal Nawana CEO. Mr. Nawana will succeed CEO Olivier Bohuon, who will step down May 7.

Here are four things to know about Mr. Nawana.

1. Prior to joining Smith & Nephew, Mr. Nawana was CEO of Alere, a medical diagnostics company that was acquired by Abbott for $5.3 billion in 2017. He spent five years at Alere before the acquisition and 15 years at Johnson & Johnson before that.

2. During his time at Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Nawana held several leadership roles and in 2011 became the worldwide president of DePuy Synthes Spine. He oversaw the transformation of the program, which included a substantial margin improvement and integration of Synthes after it was acquired in 2012.

3. As CEO of Smith & Nephew and chairman of the board, Mr. Nawana will be employed on the standard U.S. executive contract, receiving $1.5 million per year as his annual salary. He will also receive an Annual Incentive Plan and Performance Share Plan, with awards prorated to reflect the time served in 2018 during that year.

4. As the new CEO, Mr. Nawana will oversee the company's growth and development. "I am passionate about the medical devices industry where I have worked all my life and it is an honor to become the new chief executive of Smith & Nephew, a company I greatly admire," he said. "I am most excited by its portfolio of innovation which I believe gives an excellent platform from which to drive the business forward into its next exciting chapter."

Mr. Bohuon plans to retire Nov. 6, 2018, and will receive salary, benefits and payment in lieu of pension in the interim.Evangelos Megariotis, MD, is banned from prescribing opioids after investigators discovered more than 75 percent of the orthopedic surgeon's patients were written prescriptions, North Jersey reports.

Here's what you need to know.

1. Dr. Megariotis is now required to hire a board certified orthopedic surgeon to be present during all patient visits. The investigation alleged the orthopedic surgeon was over prescribing thousands of doses of opioids to patients who were not using them.

2. Investigators also alleged Dr. Megariotis performed unnecessary surgery. His prescription restrictions are temporary, pending the outcome of an administrative law judge.

3. In 2014, Dr. Megariotis was arrested on domestic violence charges. He did not disclose the arrest in his 2015 license renewal application. He also told regulators he did not believe in testing patients for substance abuse prior to treatment because it could harm the relationship with the patient.

4. The investigation stirred from a review of nine patient records from 2012 to 2017. The complaint describes Dr. Megariotis' disregard for patient's drug abuse habits and use of the state's opioid database.

5. New Jersey requires physicians to check the Prescription Monitoring Program for patient's who might be physician shopping. According to the investigation, some of Dr. Megariotis' patients were receiving prescriptions from five to six other physicians.

6. Dr. Megariotis paid $1.1 million to settle a medical malpractice lawsuit in 2016, according to state records.Here are 32 spine and neurosurgeons that joined new organizations, moved locations or received promotions in the first quarter of 2018.

January

Roderick Claybrooks, MD, joined Tampa, Fla.-based BioSpine Institute.

Tampa, Fla.-based Physician Partners of American welcomed minimally invasive spine surgeon James St. Louis, DO.

Kirkland, Wash.-based EvergreenHealth welcomed Dustin Hayward, MD, to its spine and neurosurgical team.

Brunswick-based Southeast Georgia Physician Associates-Neurosciences welcomed Justin S. Whitlow, MD.

Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Medical Group welcomed five neurosurgeons to Park Ridge, Ill.-based Advocate Lutheran General Hospital:

Egon Doppenberg , MD

Dean Karahalios, MD

Jonathan Liu, MD

Patrick Sugrue, MD

Robert Givens Kellogg, MD

Spine surgeon Jason Kelly, MD, joined Fargo, N.D.-based Essentia Health-32nd Avenue Clinic.

HaysMed of the University of Kansas Health System added spine surgeon Max Franco De Carvalho, MD.

John S. Kuo, MD, PhD, will serve as the inaugural neurosurgery chair of the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences at The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School.

UC San Diego Health selected Alexander Khalessi, MD, to serve as its neurosurgery chair. He will also serve as chief of neurosurgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Neurosurgeon Adesh Tandon, MD, joined the neurosurgery department at Binghamton, N.Y.-based United Health Services Hospitals.

February

Mark Dekutoski, MD, joined the Marshfield Clinic Eau Claire (Wis.) Center's orthopedic surgery department. He specializes in adult and pediatric minimally invasive spine deformity, including scoliosis, kyphosis, spine tumors, spondylolisthesis and disc degeneration.

Jeffrey Beecher, DO, joined Wilmington, N.C.-based Atlantic Neurosurgical & Spine Specialists. With Dr. Beecher, Atlantic Neurosurgical & Spine Specialists can offer patients who suffer strokes, aneurysms, brain tumors and other blood vessel abnormalities treatment options.

Milford (Mass.) Regional Medical Center welcomed three neurosurgeons Timothy Smith, MD, PhD, Hasan Zaidi, MD, and Omar Arnaout, MD, to its staff. The neurosurgeons joined Milford Regional Medical Center after opening the Brigham and Women's Neurosurgery of Milford (Mass.).

James Harris, MD, senior member of Western Surgical Group, and Lori Rawson, MD, chief of surgery at VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System, will co-chair the new orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery department at University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine.

Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine, welcomed Nicolas Arredondo, MD, to its staff at Maine Spine Surgery. Dr. Arredondo's interests include traumatic, metastatic and degenerative spine pathology.

Grand Junction, Colo.-based Community Hospital is welcoming two surgeons to open a new orthopedic spine surgery program. Kirk Clifford, MD, and James Gebhard, MD, are joining the hospital to jumpstart an orthopedic spine surgery service line.

March

Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine appointed Odette Harris, MD, as a neurosurgery professor. She is the first African-American neurosurgery professor at Stanford.

Orthopedic spine surgeon Keith Wilkey, MD, joined Bradford (Pa.) Regional Medical Center, Olean (N.Y.) General Hospital and Smethport, Pa.-based Foothills Medical Group,.

Jean-Pierre Mobasser, MD, was elected to serve as president of Indianapolis-based Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine.

Intraoperative neuromonitoring services provider Assure Holdings added orthopedic spine surgeon Jeffrey Ratusznik, MD, to its Texas network.

Kirk Clifford, MD, and James Gebhard, MD, joined Community Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., and created an orthopedic spine surgery program.

Physician Partners of America welcomed Stefan Pribil, MD, who specializes in stem cell and biologics for neuroregeneration, minimally invasive spinal reconstruction and laser-assisted spine procedures.

Brett G. Menmuir, MD, joined Laser Spine Institute's Scottsdale, Ariz., location. He specializes in minimally invasive techniques for spine and sacroiliac joint fusions, motion preservation surgery, pain management and orthopedic procedures.

More articles on spine:

Spinal cord epidural stimulation elevates blood pressure in SCI patients with chronic low blood pressure: 5 insights

Modular head vs. preassembled head screws: Which lowers fracture rate during spine surgery?

Davis Regional CEO welcomes new spine surgeon: 4 key pointsRichard Wohns, MD, recently traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal, to participate in the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital's Spine Week.

Here are five things to know.

1. Dr. Wohns participated in lectures on spine surgery and interventional pain management as well as taught sessions for surgeons and residents.

2. Around 35 of Nepal's neurosurgeons attended Spine Week, where they learned about different surgical techniques. Dr. Wohns also gave a talk on cervical arthroplasty.

3. During Spine Week, Dr. Wohns and his team performed three cases including the first artificial disc replacement in Nepal.

4. TUTH made Dr. Wohns an official visiting professor of neurosurgery and invited him back on an annual basis to teach surgeons in the future.

5. Dr. Wohns founded NeoSpine in Puyallup, Wash., and has pioneered outpatient spine surgery in the U.S.Lagan Homes marks the approval of 483 new homes at the Millmount Village development on the Comber Road, Dundonald last June

Stephen Bell, of Lagan/ Fasthouse, Alan Gammon, Jackson Design Associates, Kevin Lagan, from Lagan/Fasthouse, and Brian Kennedy and Cormac Fitzpatrick, from Sisk, view Center Parcs plans

A sale of most of the assets of Northern Ireland construction giant Lagan Group will be finalised over the next few weeks, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.

Kevin Lagan, the head of Lagan Group, is to sell business interests including cement, asphalt and road-building divisions to English construction firm Breedon Aggregates.

However, he will retain the group's house building division - Lagan Homes.

Details of the planned sale first emerged in February.

No-one from Lagan Group was available for comment yesterday, but it's expected that the deal will be finalised in the coming weeks.

The sale is the latest development in the story of the Lagan family businesses. Kevin and his brother Michael inherited the business after it was built up by their father Peter.

However, the brothers separated the majority of their business interests in 2004.

Meanwhile, Michael Lagan has started a fresh action against Lagan Holdings, which used to count Kevin Lagan among its directors.

Lagan Homes is one of Northern Ireland's biggest housebuilders. Last month, the company's FastHouse division announced it had won a deal to build 470 lodges on the site of the new Center Parcs in Co Longford. FastHouse was awarded the deal by Ireland's largest building company, John Sisk & Son.

In Feburary, Lagan Group said it was considering the "unsolicited approach" for part of its business from Leicestershire-based Breedon Aggregates.

Breedon is the UK's largest independent construction materials firm. The pair already operate a successful joint venture in the asphalt business - Whitemountain - and it's expected that any takeover deal would run to several hundred million pounds.

Lagan Group is one of Northern Ireland's largest private companies, employing more than 1,000 people with an annual turnover of more than 350m.

In February, a spokeswoman said: "The Lagan Group confirms that it has had an unsolicited approach for part of its business from a trade buyer which it is considering."

And Breedon released a statement confirming talks with Lagan are taking place.

"Breedon notes that it regularly engages with companies in its sector and it can confirm that it is in discussions with Lagan and its major shareholders in connection with a possible acquisition of a substantial part of the Lagan business," it said.

Lagan operates two bitumen terminals at the Dublin and Belfast ports and has quarry and concrete businesses in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The firm is also involved in brick and block making, as well as making timber frames for housing projects.

Lagan has several operations in England and Wales, including Welsh Slate, which employs 200 people and has an annual turnover of over 20m.

Breedon operates the UK's largest cement plant, two cement import terminals, around 60 quarries, 30 asphalt plants, 200 ready-mixed concrete plants and three concrete products plants nationwide.

The company employs around 2,300 people.Kerri with her daughter Libby, who could follow in her mothers footsteps

Belfast actress Kerri Quinn couldn't be more delighted by her first major TV role in the hit drama Come Home and how it has been received. Critics have hailed the BBC show, which is filmed and set in Northern Ireland, as "painful and powerful" with one saying it was "beautifully played and beautifully put together".

As the second of the three part series aired across the nation on BBC1 last night, Kerri revealed that she knew immediately on reading the script that her character Brenna was made for her but never thought for one minute she would land the role.

She also paid tribute to star Christopher Eccleston for his encouragement and support, especially when it came to filming intimate scenes with him.

The 35-year-old single mum to six-year-old Libby is known as a stalwart of theatre in Belfast and has been overwhelmed by the positive comments and support from the people of her home city since the opening episode was broadcast.

As first TV roles come they don't get much bigger than working alongside veterans like Eccleston and Belfast-born Paula Malcomson in a drama written by Bafta and International Emmy award-winning screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst.

Kerri says: "It meant the world to me to get the part. I never thought in a million years when I went for the audition I would get it.

"To even be considered for it alongside Chris and Paula was rare and it was amazing to get it. And it was also so emotional.

"It was the big break I had been waiting for a long time and my family were also so delighted. They have been with me through unemployment and some dark times and it was a massive deal for all of us. I will always keep it close to my heart.

"It is great that the public are loving it. All the comments on social media have been so lovely and supportive.

"People in Belfast really do support their own and really root for you and I think that is amazing. It is lovely to read their comments."

Filmed from October to December last year around Belfast and Larne, the drama focuses on a family reeling after mother Marie, played by Malcomson, walked out leaving behind her bereft husband Greg, played by Eccleston, and their three children. The couple had been married for 19 years and viewers have been left wondering why she would suddenly call time on family life.

Kerri plays Brenna Quinn, who is struggling in an abusive relationship and is herself a bit "damaged". She falls for mechanic Greg and quite quickly their relationship becomes very physical.

She says: "I was worried about the sex scenes as I hadn't done anything like that before and also because I have a young daughter.

"But it was all very tasteful and there was no nudity and it was done with modesty.

"Chris put me at my ease straight away. I just laughed a lot when we were shooting those intimate scenes. I think it helped I used lots of mouthwash before we had to kiss in a test scene and I just went for it."

Initially she was also worried that people wouldn't warm to Brenna, who is a complicated character.

It took Kerri some time to get to know the character and says it was a role which she immediately knew was made for her.

"At first Brenna comes across as a bit of a bunny boiler and I was concerned there would be a bad reaction to her," admits Kerri.

"But there is no side to her; she has no filter, what you see if what you get. She is one of those women who has had a tough life and has been damaged on some level. But she is warm and very likeable. When I read the script I knew I could play that part. I knew I was the right person for the job.

"It is like when you read a part and you have someone in your head who you know is perfect for it - that is how I felt about Brenna. I couldn't see or hear anyone else - it was Kerri Quinn's role."

Most of Kerri's career so far has been as a leading lady in local theatre and it was only last year that she signed with an agent in London in the hope of breaking into TV.

On stage she is known for portraying strong characters. She played the enigmatic Sally Bowles, a role made famous by Liza Minnelli, in Cabaret at the Mac several years ago and won rave reviews for her performance as a feisty Belfast hairdresser who goes to university in Educating Rita.

Kerri grew up in north Belfast with her parents Cathy and Gerard Quinn, older sister Roisin and younger brother Gerard. She had another brother, Kevin, who died as a child.

She still lives close to her childhood home with her daughter Libby and says her family mean the world to her and have been a huge support throughout her career.

"Libby's dad is very present in her life and she sees him a lot and my family too have been a great support so I've been lucky to never really have had a problem balancing parenthood with work," says Kerri.

"Libby is my world. She is a real diva and I have just spent this morning deleting about 40 videos she made from my phone.

"Everyone says she is going to be on stage. She is a really good kid."

Kerri describes herself as having been very shy as a child. It was only in secondary school when she was first introduced to drama that she started to consider acting as a career - and found taking part in stage productions did wonders for her self-esteem.

She studied performing arts at Belfast Institute of Further Education and then completed a degree in theatre studies at Queen's University.

"I always loved singing and I was also really shy. In secondary school when I saw the older girls doing plays I admired their confidence so much," she says.

"I believe drama is a great way to improve your confidence and I enrolled Libby in a drama school during the summer. It was amazing to see the difference in her confidence after just three weeks.

"It was brilliant for her; she just blossomed and came out of it as a more articulate and confident child."

After university, Kerri took a year out before knuckling down to focus on her career.

Getting into acting was harder than she thought and she credits well-known local playwright Martin Lynch and her good friend Patrick J O'Reilly, a director and actor with theatre production company Red Lemon, for getting her started.

In fact, she was contracted to do a play in the Lyric in Belfast, where she has spent so much of her career to date, when the opportunity arose to be part of Come Home.

The theatre was so delighted that she had been given such a big break on TV that they were happy to release her from her contract.

"We had the posters and the photo shoot completed and it was a done deal. I was invited to audition for Come Home and was going on holiday and did a self tape and sent it in," she says.

"The next thing I was brought in to read with the director. They then called me back again and that's when I thought 'this is getting a bit serious'.

"I had to do a chemistry read with Chris and I was so nervous before we went in that he just grabbed me and looked at me and told me I would be fine. He was brilliant.

"He has achieved so much in his career yet he hadn't forgotten what it was like to start out and he got me through it.

"We just clicked straight away and I knew the two of us would get on. He made it very easy.

"The Lyric was brilliant and so supportive and they realised it was an opportunity not to be missed."

With rave reviews following the first episode last week, Kerri is naturally hoping that more TV work will follow.

But she says she is especially delighted for her co-stars Chris and Paula.

Honoured to work alongside them, she says she made the most of every minute to learn as much from them as she could.

"I'm delighted for Paula. She left Belfast in very different times and it was great for her to come back to the city and do this drama," Kerri adds.

"Chris loved Northern Ireland so much and he worked so hard on his accent. He never dropped it once. Even when we weren't shooting scenes he kept talking with a Northern Ireland accent.

"The two of them are incredible and they are so established and great at what they do that I was just like a wee sponge learning as much as I could from them. To me, from the start it was a learning platform."

Since making Come Home, Kerri, on the advice of her agent, has not taken on any new jobs in the hope that now the series is on screen new TV roles will come her way.

"It is the first time in ages when I have had nothing to do and to be honest I'm bored, I'm dying to get stuck into something," she adds.

"My heart is in theatre and I would love to do theatre in London and Dublin and of course more TV."

The final episode of Come Home airs next Tuesday, BBC1, 9pm

The critics on Belfast-based TV drama Come Home

Euan Ferguson, The Observer:

It's quite something - to have a drama centring not on police, drugs, Mafia, or garrotted young naked women, or sliding wall panels revealing drawings of stick children, but simply centring on Woman Leaves Man Shock. And it's quite a superb something. It's hard to watch at times, although the physical violence (apart from one shocker) is negligible when set against the psychological and social nastiness. If looks could kill, Marie would be bleeding from a thousand female cuts for the incomparable crime of the leaving of the wains. Thrillingly well acted, unerringly scripted, this is seriously yer man.

Sean O'Grady, The Independent:

There were many moments during Come Home when I wondered just how much humiliation could be heaped on Christopher Eccleston's lonely and confused single dad character Greg. (The drama happens to be set in Northern Ireland, too, but with, thus far, no sectarian or Brexit-related intrusions)... (Greg) wound up getting into a fight and - result - drunkenly copping off with the woman who brings the sarnies round to his garage. By the way, that's Brenna Doyle (played by Kerri Quinn with commendable lustfulness) of Brenna's Baps (pun intended).

David Stephenson, Daily Express:

The start of writer Danny Brocklehurst's three-part drama was both subtle and enthralling, playing with your sympathies all along. We instantly sided with Greg although you couldn't help but think a darker plot line was double parked around the next corner... finally Greg found a connection with the sandwich lady who visited his garage every day, now offering him substantially more than his regular tuna mayonnaise. But he wisely turned down the meal deal on their first encounter. She was the best thing since sliced bread until she moved in and tempted the children to indulge in a friendly whisky at the dinner table. Bless you Brenna.Austin Powers star Verne Troyer is getting the best care possible after being hospitalised for possible alcohol poisoning.

US news site TMZ first reported that Troyer, who is best known for playing Mini-Me in the spy comedy films, was taken to hospital on Monday night after a friend became concerned that he was suicidal and intoxicated.

A message posted on Troyers official Instagram and Facebook pages read: Asking you to keep Verne in your thoughts and prayers.

Hes getting the best care possible and is resting comfortably. Appreciate the support from family, friends, and fans around the world. We will keep you updated here.

It was reported Troyer is being kept in hospital for 72 hours for evaluation.

The US actor revealed in April last year that he was receiving treatment for alcohol addiction.

The 49-year-old star, whose other acting credits include Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone and Keith Lemon: The Film, told his fans at the time: As you know, Ive battled alcohol addiction in the past and while its not always been an easy fight, Im willing to continue my fight day by day.

Ive been receiving treatment for the last week and I am voluntarily checking into a treatment centre later this week to continue to get the help that I need.Viewers have said Patrick Kielty did his late father proud, following a BBC programme about his death at the hands of paramilitary gunmen.

The comedian, 47, was born in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and was only 16 when his dad Jack Kielty was shot dead by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).

Three men were convicted in connection with the murder, but they were freed under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

On the 20th anniversary of the agreement, Kielty returned to his hometown of Dundrum and travelled around to see if the historic peace deal has delivered on its pledge to create a new Northern Ireland.

The star was inundated with messages from viewers who said they were lost for words over the thought-provoking My Dad, The Peace Deal And Me.

One person wrote on Twitter: Brilliant Doc Paddy. Best bit of telly Ive seen in ages. Sincere, intelligent, honest and optimistic.

What a phenomenal programme you made, said another. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Incredibly powerful & really balanced.

Many people said his father would have been proud.

One person tweeted: Well done @PatricKielty your dad will be looking down on you tonight a very proud man.

Well done @PatricKielty your dad will be looking down on you tonight a very proud man.  Terry Hallahan (@TerryHallahan) April 4, 2018

Another said: Fantastic show Paddy! Your hopes for the province speak for a lot of people here!

Your da would be proud of you!

Fantastic show Paddy! Your hopes for the province speak for a lot of people here! Your da would be proud of you!  Maurice Quinn (@QuinnMauri) April 4, 2018

Prior to the programme airing, Kielty tweeted that it was a film about home. And hope.

As it concluded, he posted a picture of his father on Instagram, writing: Our Dad x Heres to the future PM Oli meets his predecessors to discuss India visit

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held a meeting with former Prime Ministers to discuss his upcoming visit to India slated to begin from Friday.Stormont has been accused of asking people to "do as I say, not as I do" after serving alcohol in Parliament Buildings on Good Friday.

Licensed premises here can only sell booze between 5pm and 11pm on the Easter holiday despite annual appeals from the hospitality sector for a change in the law.

But customer Kathryn Kennedy expressed surprise on social media that wine was being served when she had lunch with her mother Barbara in Stormont's Members' Dining Room restaurant on Good Friday.

"We had our wine and thoroughly enjoyed our meal," Barbara told BBC Radio Ulster.

"It just puzzled me. Do they ever take notice of the licensing laws or can they drink there whenever? It's absolutely stupid, they make the rules and they can ignore them."

However, as a Crown property, it is understood that Parliament Buildings is technically exempt from the licensing laws.

But Colin Neill from Hospitality Ulster branded it "total hypocrisy".

"It reeks of different rules for them than the rest of us," he said.

"Our licensing laws are an anomaly here. You have alcohol available in so many other places like supermarkets.

"The question has to be asked why the hospitality industry is being singled out."

Mr Neill estimated pubs and restaurants in Northern Ireland lost 20m over the Easter weekend because of the laws.

In contrast, pubs in the Republic netted 35m over the weekend after its Good Friday booze ban was lifted after 90 years.

"Our restrictions go over four days, so that turns Easter visitors away," Mr Neill said.

He added: "I don't think Stormont needs to stop serving alcohol on Good Friday, they should just let us open.

"Having a glass of wine with your lunch on Good Friday is disrespectful to no one. Lots of people are doing it, they just can't do it in a proper restaurant."

Mr Neill said the licensing debate was one of many fixable issues faced by all sectors in Northern Ireland being held up by the political stalemate.

"It is not just time we had a government, we deserve a government to sort it out," he said.

"It's holding us back and stopping our guys making a living while increasing our overheads at the same time." Last week Belfast restaurateur Michael Deane protested against the drink laws by closing his six city premises at lunchtime to "avoid any more embarrassment to our hard-working staff".

The Assembly was contacted for a comment yesterday but did not respond.Calls are growing for a change in how members are appointed to a body for victims of the Troubles after it emerged a Provo bomber has served on the panel for more than a year.

Robert McClenaghan, a member of the Victims and Survivors Forum, revealed in a 2011 documentary that he was "immensely proud" of joining the IRA.

The victims' campaigner, whose grandfather Philip Garry was killed in the UVF McGurk's bar bombing in 1971, also said it was his "daily job" to plant bombs around Belfast.

Police have confirmed they are now investigating the claims from the documentary When The War Ends, which can be seen online.

Last week Jackie Nicholl (79) resigned from the forum after he was made aware of McClenaghan's past - a year after he joined.

Mr Nicholl's 17-month-old son was killed in a no-warning IRA bomb on the Shankill Road, also in 1971.

Members are appointed based on them meeting the legislative definition of a victim.

A spokeswoman for the forum said it is "made clear" to people applying for membership that it would be "likely they would have to work with people who had caused harm".

"Everyone said they could do that," the spokeswoman said.

Members are not asked for a criminal record declaration as it is not part of the criteria for the role.

She added: "In light of the current situation, the forum has had an exceptional meeting recently to reaffirm their individual commitment to being able to work under the principles and all have said that they can.

"In all of its deliberations, the commission and the forum act within the requirements of the general data protection regulations.

"The forum is selected by and reports to the commissioner (Judith Thompson) with a remit to share their experiences to inform the commissioner in the delivery of advice to Government.

"As part of the call for new members in April 2016, all forum appointments were made from a panel of victims and survivors. All panel members were under no obligation to disclose any other information other than basic monitoring data.

"All members were made aware of the inclusive nature of the forum and that its task is to engage in dialogue with all those affected by the conflict, regardless of background or personal history, and that the nature of the role may mean engaging with individuals who they may perceive as representative of those who caused hurt or harm.

"Each member indicated that they were content to proceed on this basis before appointment. Following Mr Nicholl's resignation, whilst not legally able to share personal and sensitive information, the commissioner held an exceptional forum meeting to engage with members and to reaffirm their commitment to this difficult job."

However, Kenny Donaldson, director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) victims' group, called for further background checks to be carried out on new members. He said some members are "vulnerable".

"No criminal background checks are felt appropriate for those being considered for appointment despite the fact that the forum is comprised of vulnerable adults, many of who suffer trauma-based conditions," Mr Donaldson said.

"There are a lack of checks and balances around people trying to be appointed. These people don't have to go through any form of Access NI check (a process where criminal records and cautions are disclosed appropriate to the level of check).

"All they have to demonstrate is that they meet the definition of a victim but there are people who come from a very vulnerable background who are sitting on that forum.

"Another issue is when exactly that information about Mr McClenaghan became known to the forum.

"People who have terrorist backgrounds have no requirement whatsoever to declare that but that needs to change. People play the law very acutely and I don't think that's in the spirit of what we are dealing with.

"There are questions as to how people can sit on a body with others and discuss these really sensitive issues."Tenerife police chase the hit and run driver after Carter Carson was killed

Police investigating the hit-and-run death of a Northern Ireland boy in Tenerife say they have gathered "abundant evidence".

Carter Carson (9), from Newtownabbey Co Antrim, died after being struck by a car near the Gran Sur shopping centre in Adeje last Thursday.

Read More

He was with dad Stuart and his partner Clair on the Spanish holiday island when the incident happened.

The family are still waiting for permission to bring Carter's body home.

In a Press conference in Tenerife yesterday, Commissioner Carlos Ludena and sub-inspector Victor Secades provided information on the investigation that led to the arrest of two suspects.

The pair, aged 39 and 34 and of Latvian nationality, were due to appear before a judge in Arona last night.

One of the two - who were described by police as "construction workers" - had recently arrived in Tenerife, while the other had lived on the island for some time.

Police said the suspects initially admitted they had been driving the car at the time but later refused to give a formal statement while in custody.

Commissioner Ludena praised officers at the Playa de Las Americas police station for "working against time and in the face of intense pressure" to trace the occupants of a red car that sped away from the scene.

He said: "We have completed the primary focus of our investigation, which was to locate the vehicle and the person driving it.

"The abundant evidence gathered has been passed on to the court and it is now up to the judge to decide on the next course of action. It would be inappropriate for us to comment on certain specific aspects at this stage."

Commissioner Ludena described the "extreme difficulties" encountered by police in seeking to establish the identity of the occupants of the car.

He said: "The vehicle, an old Alfa Romeo, had changed hands within the Eastern European community on the island.

"We spoke to the last owner for whom details existed, but it emerged that he had sold it four years ago for just 250 (220).

"Clearly, he was unable to tell us anything about who had the vehicle now". Following a public appeal for information on the vehicle the damaged Alfa Romeo was photographed by an off-duty police officer parked at a roadside near the scene of the hit-and-run. It was later moved to a covered parking space "linked to the owner and some distance away", where it was recovered by police and taken for forensic tests. Earlier this week Carter's mum Carlene O'Connor paid tribute to her "smart, fun-loving" little boy.

She said: "On Thursday I got the unthinkable phone call that every parent dreads, telling me that my beautiful son had been involved in a tragic accident while on holiday with his dad and family.

"My heart sank. I didn't want to believe what I was hearing."

She added: "My world instantly fell apart.

"To think that my baby boy had gained his angel wings - just as his wee life was really beginning.

"There are just no words to describe this horrific tragedy."As Belfast marks two decades since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the people of the city will get the chance to see the very hands that made history.

An extensive programme of arts and cultural events kicks off next Tuesday - exactly 20 years after the deal was reached.

And major political players of the day, including John Hume, David Trimble, David Ervine, Mo Mowlam, and Monica McWilliams, will be remembered with an exhibition showing casts of their hands taken at the time.

Others added since by artist Raymond Watson for his Hands of History +20 exhibition include senior figures like Lord Alderdice and Seamus Mallon, who have used their influence to promote ongoing peace.

The exhibition will go on display at Riddel's Warehouse on Ann Street - a former storeroom for Musgrave Police station at the height of the Troubles - on Tuesday.

The Peace and Beyond Arts Fringe will showcase works by a huge range of local artists, international writers and poets.

Music journalist Stuart Bailie will read excerpts from his new book, Trouble Songs, at Belfast City Hall on April 10. He will share interviews with iconic figures like Dolores O'Riordan, Christy Moore and Bono, as well as musicians from seminal bands The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers and modern legends, the Rubberbandits. Stuart said: "I wrote Trouble Songs because I thought music was a tool for opening minds and agitating for better fixes to the conflict.

"It felt like an important story and the last 20 years have allowed us the distance to appreciate this. My faith in musicians remains strong; they played a significant part."

Other highlights include a performance of Kabosh Theatre Company's Green & Blue, a one-hour show based on accounts of RUC and gardai officers who patrolled the border. Performed by James Doran and Vincent Higgins and directed by Paula McFetridge, the play is written by Laurence McKeown, a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike and is now an author, playwright, and screenwriter.

Poetry Jukebox, the on-street sound installation currently located outside the Crescent Arts Centre, will also come to Riddel's Warehouse.

British Council director, Jonathan Stewart, said: "There is a growing recognition of the contribution of arts and culture to peace-building and alternative narratives, a theme we will be picking up in a number of sessions during the conference, including a visit to the new Troubles and Beyond exhibition in the Ulster Museum."A Latvian man has been charged in connection with the death of a County Antrim boy in Tenerife.

Carter Carson (9) from Newtownabbey, died after being struck by a car while leaving a shopping centre in the town of Adeje last Thursday. He died in hospital the following day.

He was with his dad Stuart and his partner on the Spanish holiday island when the incident happened.

The family is still waiting for permission to bring Carter's body home.

On Tuesday evening it was confirmed that two suspects had appeared in court, but that the case was suspended until Wednesday.

The court heard on Tuesday from witnesses to the hit and run and ordered a full reconstruction of the events on Wednesday at the scene of the incident, which occurred close to the Gran Slur shopping centre near the resort of Playa de Las Americas.

Judge Daniel Alamo ruled that there was sufficient preliminary evidence to charge the the 39-year-old man with causing death by negligence and failing to stop to assist the nine-year-old at the scene.

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A second man, aged 34 and also from Latvia, who was a passenger in the vehicle at the time, has been released on bail but will also stand trial for failing to assist the victim of a road accident.

If convicted of the main offence, the driver faces a maximum jail term of four years, plus a further 18 months maximum for failing to stop after the collision.

Earlier this week Carter's mum Carlene O'Connor paid tribute to her "smart, fun-loving" little boy.

She said: "On Thursday I got the unthinkable phone call that every parent dreads, telling me that my beautiful son had been involved in a tragic accident while on holiday with his dad and family.

"My heart sank, I didn't want to believe what I was hearing."

She added: "Mt world instantly fell apart. To think that my baby boy had gained his angel wings- just as his wee life was really beginning."Police have issued a fresh appeal about a missing 15-year-old boy, saying they are becoming increasingly concerned for his welfare.

John Crumlish, who is from the Omagh area, was last seen on March 17 and was reported missing that evening.

It is understood one sighting of John has been reported to police since he went missing 17 days ago.

A Lisnaskea woman said her little boy had been speaking to the missing Omagh teenager in Enniskillen on St Patrick's Day.

John is described as 5ft 3ins tall with dark brown hair and blue eyes.

He was wearing skinny jeans, a black and grey Nike hoodie and black and white Converse trainers.

Independent Omagh councillor Joanne Donnelly said: "Everyone is desperately worried about his safety.

"If he has gone away from home with friends, I hope he gets in touch with his family.

"They must be worried sick."

Anyone with information should contact police on 101, quoting reference number 1111 17/03/18."Around half of flights could be affected (Chris Radburn/PA)

Northern Ireland travellers have been urged to consult with airlines after a fault with an air traffic management system caused widespread disruption across Europe.

Eurocontrol warned that around 15,000 flights may be hit after it suffered a computer failure.

The issue affected a system used to manage air traffic by analysing demand and capacity.

Flight plans submitted to Eurocontrol before 11.26am were lost and airlines were then asked to resubmit the information. The organisation, which has 41 member states including the UK, said: "We are very sorry about all the disruption and are working hard to get operations back to normal.

"We are expecting that our system should be fully up and running tomorrow."

There are no safety implications as a result of the computer failure, the group added.

Flights from Belfast last night seemed largely unaffected, but an airport worker said any fallout from the fault could be knocked back into today.

Travellers here have been advised to check with their airlines.

Luton-based carrier easyJet said: "Due to an earlier flight failure of the Eurocontrol flight planning system, easyJet like other airlines experienced delays to some departing flights.

"Ten flights were delayed between one hour and three hours with 16 flights delayed as a knock-on effect caused by the initial delays.

"EasyJet will operate 1,598 flights today.

"For passengers on delayed flights we are providing the latest information and refreshments as required.

"We understand that the issue has now been identified and we are working with Eurocontrol to minimise any further disruption for our passengers.

"While the situation is outside of its control, easyJet apologises for any inconvenience caused by the delays."

The UK's busiest airport, Heathrow, said there was no impact on its operations.

Around 59% of departing flights at Gatwick were delayed between 3pm and 4pm, according to data company FlightStats.

The airport was last night unable to confirm that the disruption was caused by the system failure.PUP leader Billy Hutchinson has claimed that Northern Ireland has gone backwards in the two decades since the Good Friday Agreement.

Speaking in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the deal being signed, the Belfast councillor voiced frustration at the lack of progress in the intervening years.

In an interview with the Irish Times, he said politicians should be dealing with "issues that matter to everybody".

He said: "We never had shared responsibility because no matter who was in power, the two largest parties carved things up, and that's not good for society.

"It shouldn't be a case of a penny for me and a penny for you, a pound for you, a pound for me, a million for you, a million for me.

"It should be about dealing with the issues that matter to everybody."

Hutchinson stressed that Sinn Fein and the DUP needed to find a way of breaking the deadlock at Stormont.

He also said that the death of former PUP leader David Ervine from a heart attack 11 years ago at the age of 53 had been "a blow to loyalism".

He said that if his friend, who "wanted to change the world", was alive today he would be "totally frustrated".

The PUP now has just four elected representatives.

The former loyalist prisoner, who is a councillor for the city's Court ward, served 15 years in the Maze for the sectarian murders of Catholic workmen Michael Loughran and Edward Morgan in October 1974.

He said: "I don't want to change the world. I want to make a difference.

"It's about longevity."

He recalled the long days and nights of frantic negotiations leading up to the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998.

He referenced one particularly lengthy discussion regarding north-south bodies and an issue over whether the wording in a document should be "could, would or should".

During the whole process he indicated that then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and former Northern Ireland Secretary, the late Mo Mowlam, impressed him the most.

He added: "I always found them down-to-earth.

"Privately, if they were in a room and they were talking, they let their guard down. There was no pomp about anything."

He spoke of the "pragmatism and sincerity" of the Women's Coalition and the Ulster Unionsts' Ken Maginnis, who "told it as it was".

And he commented on the SDLP's Seamus Mallon, saying: "Seamus probably would not have agreed with our politics and he certainly would not have agreed with our background, coming from the UVF, but he never let it get in the way of things."

Hutchinson also discussed a face-to-face encounter with Ian Paisley at Stormont during the first Northern Ireland Assembly.

He said the former DUP leader had refused to share an elavator with him, saying: "I will not be getting into any lift with a UVF murderer."

"And I said: 'Well, you should have told people that in the 1960s when you sent them to their deaths'."

"And the door closed."Detectives have charged a 34 year old man with 15 offences including burglary, attempted burglary, theft and criminal damage.

A 34-year-old man has been charged with 15 offences including burglary, attempted burglary, theft and criminal damage.

He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on Thursday April 5.

As is normal procedure all charges are reviewed by the PPS.

The offences were committed in the north Belfast area on Tuesday April 3.SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has refused to rule out "a realignment in Irish politics" that would see his party standing aside and Fianna Fail organising in Northern Ireland.

Senior SDLP sources told the Belfast Telegraph that around 80% of the party supported it "leaving the stage" to make way for Fianna Fail.

They want the move to happen swiftly so Fianna Fail can contest next year's council elections here.

However, Mr Eastwood indicated that while progress towards such major political change was unlikely to happen imminently, it couldn't be ruled out over a longer time-frame.

He said: "We are having a conversation with other parties about the new political context as a result of Brexit.

"Our immediate focus is on responding to that change. Is there a possibility of change that leads in future to political realignment? Yes, there is. But that is a conversation for another day."

In an interview ahead of the SDLP's annual conference in Belfast this weekend Mr Eastwood acknowledged that the loss of the party's three Westminster seats had been a major blow and that, in terms of finances, it was "up against an opponent with a seemingly endless war chest".

SDLP sources separately said their party "from the upper echelons to grassroots" had been involved in talks with Fianna Fail.

They said a merger wasn't on the cards as it would be unfair to those in the SDLP who identified more with the Irish Labour Party.

"If this process happens, it would be a case of the SDLP leaving the stage. That would then create the space for Fianna Fail to announce it's organising here," a source said.

"Those former SDLP people who wish to join a 32-county party working for a new Ireland - which isn't tarnished with a 30-year campaign of violence - could do so."

The SDLP insider said some in the party wanted this process to begin as soon as possible.

"The 2019 council elections is the perfect time for Fianna Fail to enter the political field here. The stakes would be too high in Assembly or Westminster elections," he added.

However, Mr Eastwood said while there had been discussions with Fianna Fail and others "about the future of our country and the impact of Brexit", there were currently "no negotiations" about a political realignment.

The SDLP leader acknowledged that last year's Westminster election results had been deeply disappointing.

"The election took place in the most polarised context you could imagine and the middle ground crashed," he said.

"But in Foyle Mark Durkan polled 18,100 votes - his highest vote ever and I'd foresee him winning back that seat in whatever political context we fight the next Westminster election."

Mr Eastwood branded as "disgraceful" the petrol bombing of the PSNI during a dissident republican parade in Derry on Monday. He said he was alarmed that dissident republican groups appeared to be attracting a significant number of young people in the city.

"Previous Easter marches haven't been big but we saw an increase in the size and support for this one," he said.

"That is what happens where there is a political vacuum. The last Stormont Executive also did little to help Derry, which is on its knees economically. It's very concerning that young people are attracted to dissident groups determined to carry on a mindless campaign of violence.

"Not only are they morally bereft, they have neither tactics nor strategy. Throwing petrol bombs will achieve nothing."

Mr Eastwood said the SDLP will hold a special conference on abortion on May 19, six days before the Republic's referendum.

He said while he expected the party to maintain its "pro-life policy", debate would focus on whether to allow members "freedom of conscience" on the issue.

The conference will be held in private with the media excluded to "allow full and frank discussion on a sensitive issue", he said.

Asked about his own views on abortion, Mr Eastwood stated: "The SDLP is a pro-life party. I'll play my part in next month's debate but I don't want to lead it. It's not appropriate for me to say anything further before we have a membership-led discussion."PM tells Parliament: Past pacts in priority

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said implementing past agreements between Nepal and India would be the priority as he visits the southern neighbour from Friday.Angela Bermingham with her twin geeps named This and That at her home in Murneen, Claremorris, Co. Mayo

A nanny goat has welcomed half-sheep hybrid twins known as 'geeps' on a Co Mayo farm.

According to livestock experts, the unusual animals born to Daisy the goat may be the world's only surviving twin geeps.

Angela Bermingham, originally from Bury, Manchester, the proud owner, intends keeping Daisy's offspring as pets rather than dispatching them to a butcher or a meat plant.

The geeps have been nicknamed This and That.

Michael Holmes, father of Padraic Holmes, who owns the Cheviot ram who bred with Daisy on the Holmes farm at Murneen, Claremorris, has done extensive research on geeps since This and That came prancing into the world some weeks ago.

"To have one geep survive is rare," he explained, "but to have two fit and healthy twins running around must be regarded as something of a miracle."

Ms Bermingham, who doesn't own a billy (buck) goat, says there are no roaming billies around who could have mated with her Daisy.

She says she knew there was something going on when Daisy, "a bit of gallivanter" jumped a fence outside her cottage into land owned by Mr Holmes, where a flock of ewes, which were being serviced by a Cheviot ram, were grazing.

"I knew something was going on because she didn't come out of the field for a week," she said. "When she became obviously pregnant I knew immediately what had happened."

Experts say it's rare for a sheep and goat to mate successfully, and most resulting pregnancies are never carried to term. But Ms Bermingham says she is that convinced her geeps are genuine hybrids and that any genetic tests in future would prove this.

Hugging the two extremely agile little animals on one of the rare occasions she could get her hands on them, Ms Bermingham took a close up look and reckoned: "Well, they're not goats and they're not lambs either. They were born with no horns and a full set of sharp teeth. That's not usual."

She then pulled back one of the little geep's lips to reveal a formidable arrangement of sharp-looking teeth.

Michael Holmes, a member of Mayo County Council, also expressed certainty that the curious looking little animals are the product of a relationship between Daisy the goat and his son's ram.

A long-time livestock farmer, he is a former chairman of the Irish Farmers' Association's National Sheep Committee.

"Angela's goat used to jump into the field where my son has the sheep and ram. These little geeps are very unusual.

"I have never seen twins before and I have seen a lot of sheep all over Ireland and all over the world."

Ms Bermingham, with the blessing of the ram owner who technically has some right to ownership, says she hopes to keep the geeps as pets.The arrival of a towering cruise liner in Belfast ahead of a major refit project has been hailed as a new chapter for the citys shipping industry.

The Azamara Pursuit docked at Harland and Wolff shipyards on Wednesday, where it will be berthed for the next four months while undergoing a complete internal renovation.

The entire project is being managed by Co Down-based marine fitout specialist MJM Group.

While the crew who accompanied the vessel on its two-week voyage from the Bahamas got a warm welcome from flag-waving Azamara colleagues on the dockside, the weather was not quite so hospitable  with biting cold rain and wind lashing the decks as they arrived at their temporary new home.

The luxury liner is managed by Azamara Club Cruises, a global brand of Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd.

The towering Azamara Pursuit cruise liner docks at Harland and Wolff shipyards ahead of major refit project by Co Down company @LtdMJM . Crew has sailed from Bahamas. No doubt overjoyed to disembark in Baltic Belfast. pic.twitter.com/BUdod9ezq1  David Young (@DavidYoungPA) April 4, 2018

Brian McConville, founder and chairman of Newry company MJM, said he hoped the Azamara Pursuit was the first of many liners to undergo a refit in Belfast.

I am already working on potentially trying to secure the next couple of ships to come to Belfast, he said.

This is a very historical day for Northern Ireland, the fact we have taken this ship back  this will hopefully rekindle the start of many, many great ships and shipping lines to come in here and get such contracts done in the future.

Jonathan Guest, a director at Harland and Wolff, welcomed the arrival of the ship.

What a day. @AzamaraPursuit has arrived in Belfast @Harland_Wolff1 and the press were out in force. pic.twitter.com/uFGXESwRiT  MJM Marine (@LtdMJM) April 4, 2018

I think its a great boon for the economy, he said.

Its the first time a large-scale refit has been carried out in Northern Ireland and I think thats hugely significant.

He added: Harland and Wolff has a great history of cruise ships and cruise ship building, but not so much in the refit side.

So we hope this is a new chapter in the development of Harland and Wolff along with MJM in bringing cruise ship refits to Belfast and seeing where that can take us.

MJM will direct a team of around 800 workers during the most intense phases of the refit.

At the same time, the 600-plus crew that will staff the liner once the project is complete will be assembled and trained in Belfast prior to its end of July departure date.

Richard Twynam from Azamara Club Cruises said it was unprecedented in the cruise industry to hand an entire refit project to just one company.

Its never been done before, he said.

We are effectively making MJM from Newry an extension of our new build team for Royal Caribbean, so its really exciting.Sinn Fein is to contest the next Irish presidential election, but Gerry Adams will not be their candidate, according to party leader Mary Lou McDonald.

President Michael D Higgins has not confirmed whether he intends to seek a second term in office, but it is understood he is considering standing again.

Speaking to The Irish Times, the Sinn Fein leader said she believed that there should be a contest, but insisted they would not be fielding her predecessor.

Ms McDonald said that it was "a matter of principle" that there should be an election.

"I don't favour this idea that somebody just moves from one term of office into another automatically, I think it's healthier to have the debate," she said.

"Not least because the campaigns like that allow for broader political debates than we have in general election campaigns. So as a matter of principle, I think there ought to be an election."

While expressing her admiration for Mr Higgins, Ms McDonald said the party had identified candidates for the role, but it must adopt an official position first.

Asked who it may put forward, the Sinn Fein leader said the party has " loads of candidates", but stressed her predecessor will not be one of them.

A number of politicians have already said they will challenge Mr Higgins, who, as the incumbent, can nominate himself for a second term.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has said he will wait until the president outlines his position before deciding if his party will stand a candidate.

However, observers have said that it will be extremely difficult for Fianna Fail not to participate if Sinn Fein decide to enter the race.

Mr Higgins has previously said he would make his intentions clear by September, with a presidential election due to take place by November at the latest. However, it was reported earlier this year he will confirm his position by July.Undated handout image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland of Myles Joyce (PA)

An innocent man hanged for murder almost 140 years ago has been granted a pardon by the Irish President.

The posthumous pardon issued to Myles Joyce by Michael D Higgins is the first granted by an Irish president in a case predating the foundation of the state, when Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom.

The Co Galway native was one of three men hanged in December 1882 for the murders of five members of the same family, also called Joyce, in the townland of Maamtrasna on the Galway/Mayo border.

Shortly before their executions two of the men confessed to the crimes but insisted their co-accused Joyce was innocent.

Their admissions were deemed insufficient to postpone or revoke the execution order.

On Wednesday 4 April, 5 pm, President Michael D. Higgins signed a warrant granting a posthumous pardon to Mr. Maolra Seoighe (Myles Joyce), in respect of his conviction of November 1882 and subsequent execution on 15 December 1882.  President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) April 4, 2018

The confessions combined with concerns on the reliability of other evidence presented at trial have long raised serious doubts about the safety of his conviction.

Mr Joyce was a Gaelic speaker, yet his trial was heard in English, a language he did not understand.

Alleged eyewitnesses in the case were also awarded significant compensation under the direction of the then lord lieutenant of Ireland.

Thank you to Niamh Howlin. Report on Maamtrasna murders is well worth a read. I was pleased to ask Government to recommend a Presidential pardon for Myles Joyce. https://t.co/5gi7lEJIyw  Charlie Flanagan (@CharlieFlanagan) April 2, 2018

A legal expert commissioned by the Irish government in 2015 to examine the circumstances of the case concluded that Mr Joyce, whose Irish name was Maolra Seoighe, was wrongfully convicted.

Following the assessment of University College Dublin academic Dr Niamh Howlin, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan last week sought and secured the backing of cabinet colleagues to recommend the granting of a presidential pardon.

President Higgins, who has a long-standing interest in the Joyce case, signed a warrant granting a posthumous pardon, under article 13.6 of the Irish Constitution, at his residence at Aras an Uachtarain in Dublin.

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The pardon is only the fifth issued by the state since 1937, and only the second granted posthumously.

Mr Joyce was related to members of the Joyce family murdered at Maamtrasna, and a number of their descendants attended the ceremony at the Aras.

President Higgins described the trial as a shameful episode in Ireland and Britains history.

He hailed the simmering outrage and steely determination of those who had campaigned to have the case revisited.

Mr Higgins said the pardon would correct the historical record.

And declare that a man  Maolra Seoighe  was wrongfully convicted of murder and was hanged for a crime he did not commit, he added.Russia's ambassador to Ireland has defended the expulsion of an Irish diplomat.

Yury Filatov said the measure was a principle of diplomacy after the Republic ejected a Russian representative over the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning.

He urged the Dublin authorities to use common sense.

The Republic was among several EU countries to take action in solidarity with the UK following the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The pair were poisoned on March 4 in Salisbury with what UK investigators have concluded was a Russian nerve agent called Novichok.

Mr Filatov said: "Nobody will doubt the leading principle of diplomacy, which is reciprocity. Basically you have to assume that every action finds its counter action, that is the way it is."

He expressed optimism it would not damage the positive relationship between the two countries where close ties exist in areas such as business and agriculture.

Mr Filatov also suggested that some who took solidarity action with the UK harboured doubts, alleging the general public in Europe and some states and nations did not buy the claim put forward by London blaming Russia for Salisbury.

He added: "Even countries which took part in the so-called solidarity demands have doubts and they acted, as we know, on grounds which have nothing to do with Salisbury but mainly to do with some other agenda bilaterally or multilaterally."

Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney has described the Salisbury attack as an affront to international law and order.

Mr Skripal (66) and his daughter Yulia (33) remain in hospital. Mr Filatov said the expulsion of a Russian official from Ireland was "unfortunate" but did not have any bearing on the "real state of things".

"It is not the end of the world and we have a very positive agenda." His comments came as a retired Russian general warned the fallout from the Salisbury poisoning could lead to the "last war in the history of mankind".

Relations between Russia and the West could become "worse" than the Cold War and "end up in a very, very bad outcome", Lieutenant-General Evgeny Buzhinsky said. Responding to arguments that many countries across the world believed the Kremlin was responsible for last month's attack, Mr Buzhinsky, who heads international security think tank the PIR Center, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Please, when you say the world, you mean EU and United States and some other countries.

"You see it's a cold war, it's worse than the Cold War because if the situation will develop in the way this (is) now, I'm afraid that it will end up in a very, very bad outcome."

Asked to spell out what this would mean, he said: "A real war, worse than a cold war is a real war, it will be the last war in the history of mankind."

He added: "You're saying that the pressure will continue - what are you going achieve? If you are going to achieve (the) regime change, it's useless, you don't know Russians. The more external pressure (there) is, the more the society is consolidated around the President."

Mr Buzhinsky accused the West of "cornering" Russia, which he argued was a "very dangerous thing".

He said: "You don't want to discuss, you say Russia should change its behaviour. It's not the kind of talk, it's not the kind of compromise we need."Police are investigating after the body of a newborn baby was found in a field.

Officers were called to George Street in Heywood, Greater Manchester, at around 7.10am on Wednesday.

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The scene has been cordoned off.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: At around 7.10am on Wednesday April 4 2018, police were called to a field near George Street in Heywood, to reports that the body of a baby had been found.

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Officers attended and discovered the body of what is believed to be a newborn baby.

A scene is in place while police inquiries continue.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting incident number 368 of April 4, or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

The area where the child was found is cordoned off with police tape, with forensics officers and police dogs at the scene.

It is in an area of woodland, part of Roch Valley Woods, with the River Roch running through it and popular with local families, dog walkers and children.

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Millie Crosdale and Jess Hawkins, both 18, who live locally came to lay a bouquet of flowers at the police cordon.

Miss Crosdale said: It is so close to home, you dont expect it to happen here. It is heartbreaking really, all you can do is come and pay your respects.

Miss Hawkins said: This is where we all come down in the summer and its nice, when its snowing you bring your kids down with the sleds. You wouldnt think something like that would happen here.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused Boris Johnson of exaggeration over the evidence that Russia was to blame for the Salisbury poisoning.

Mr Johnson has come under fire after an announcement on Tuesday that Porton Down scientists had not verified the source of the Novichok nerve agent believed to have been used in the March 4 attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The statement appeared to contradict claims made by the Foreign Secretary in an interview on German TV on March 20.

Asked why the UK believed that Russia was the source of the nerve agent, Mr Johnson said: The people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical. I asked them that myself. I said Are you sure?. He said Theres no doubt.

Speaking during a local election campaign visit to Watford, Mr Corbyn said: He claimed categorically  and I think he used the words 101%  that it had come from Russia. Porton Down have not said that, they said that theyve identified it as Novichok, they cannot identify the source of it.

Either the Foreign Secretary has information that hes not sharing with Porton Down or it was a bit of exaggeration. I dont know which it is, but I think we need a responsible, cool approach to this.

We need to get to the source of this to prevent it ever happening again.

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Commenting on Mr Johnsons interview, a Government spokesman said: The Foreign Secretary was making clear that Porton Down were sure it was a Novichok  a point they have reinforced.

He goes on in the same interview to make clear why based on that information, additional intelligence and the lack of alternative explanation from the Russians, we have reached the conclusion we have.

What the Foreign Secretary said then, and what Porton Down have said recently, is fully consistent with what we have said throughout. It is Russia that is putting forward multiple versions of events and obfuscating the truth.

Meanwhile, a message stating that Porton Down had established that the Novichok nerve agent came from Russia was deleted from the Foreign Office Twitter feed.

22 March: Porton Down lab @dstlmod clearly established that the source of Salisbury toxic agent was Russia

3 April:  @dstlmod never had the task to establish the source of the toxic agent pic.twitter.com/rVyJsbNJiG  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 4, 2018

The tweet, issued on March 22, said: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott challenged the Foreign Secretary to explain his earlier comments.

It seems Boris Johnson misled the public when he claimed that Porton Down officials confirmed to him that Russia was the source of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack, said Ms Abbott.

Those officials have made it clear they cannot identify its source, and are not able to definitively say it came from Russia or elsewhere.

Boris Johnson is supposed to represent Britain on the world stage, but time and again he has shown he is unable to do so responsibly.

Explaining the deletion of the tweet, a Foreign Office spokesman said it had been an inaccurate summary of comments made by the UKs ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, at a briefing in Moscow.

Referring to Dr Bristow as HMA  Her Majestys Ambassador  the spokesman said: A full transcript and video of the briefing have been available on GOV.UK since 22 March.

An HMA Moscow briefing on 22 March was tweeted in real time by @UKinRussia and amplified by @foreignoffice, to explain what happened in Salisbury to as wide an audience as possible. One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our ambassadors words. We have removed this tweet.Boris Johnson has attacked Jeremy Corbyn for playing Russias game after the Labour leader accused him of exaggeration over evidence that Moscow was to blame for the Salisbury poisoning.

The Foreign Secretary has come under fire after an announcement on Tuesday that Porton Down scientists had not verified the source of the Novichok nerve agent believed to have been used in the March 4 attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Mr Corbyn said the Tory either had information that he had not shared with the laboratory or it was a bit of exaggeration and called for a responsible approach to the situation.

It is lamentable that Jeremy Corbyn is now playing Russias game and trying to discredit the UK over Salisbury attack.

Lets remember the key facts:  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 4, 2018

During a local election campaign visit to Watford, Mr Corbyn said: He claimed categorically  and I think he used the words 101%  that it had come from Russia. Porton Down have not said that, they said that theyve identified it as Novichok, they cannot identify the source of it.

Either the Foreign Secretary has information that hes not sharing with Porton Down or it was a bit of exaggeration. I dont know which it is, but I think we need a responsible, cool approach to this.

1) Porton Down identified nerve agent as military grade Novichok; 2) Russia has investigated delivering nerve agents,likely for assassination,& as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks; 3) Russia has motive for targeting Sergei Skripal.  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 4, 2018

In an interview on German TV on March 20 when he was asked why the UK believed that Russia was the source of the nerve agent, Mr Johnson said: The people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical. I asked them that myself. I said Are you sure?. He said Theres no doubt.

The Foreign Secretary hit back at Mr Corbyn over the row and accused him of playing Russias game.

In a series of tweets, Mr Johnson said: It is lamentable that Jeremy Corbyn is now playing Russias game and trying to discredit the UK over Salisbury attack. Lets remember the key facts:

1) Porton Down identified nerve agent as military grade Novichok; 2) Russia has investigated delivering nerve agents, likely for assassination, & as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks; 3) Russia has motive for targeting Sergei Skripal.

28 other countries have been so convinced by UK case they have expelled Russians. In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn chooses to side with the Russian spin machine.

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Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said Mr Johnson seems to have misled the public and claimed he has shown repeatedly that he is unable to represent the country responsibly.

Meanwhile, a message stating that Porton Down had established that the Novichok nerve agent came from Russia was deleted from the Foreign Office Twitter feed.

22 March: Porton Down lab @dstlmod clearly established that the source of Salisbury toxic agent was Russia

3 April:  @dstlmod never had the task to establish the source of the toxic agent pic.twitter.com/rVyJsbNJiG  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 4, 2018

The tweet, issued on March 22, said: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

Explaining the deletion of the tweet, a Foreign Office spokesman said it had been an inaccurate summary of comments made by the UKs ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, at a briefing in Moscow.

Referring to Dr Bristow as HMA  Her Majestys Ambassador  the spokesman said: A full transcript and video of the briefing have been available on GOV.UK since 22 March.

An HMA Moscow briefing on 22 March was tweeted in real time by @UKinRussia and amplified by @foreignoffice, to explain what happened in Salisbury to as wide an audience as possible. One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our ambassadors words. We have removed this tweet.Pun mulling to award some projects to IBN

The Energy Ministry is mulling to award the implementing authority for a few 500 MW plus hydropower projects to Investment Board Nepal (IBN) in a bid to resolve their longstanding dispute about who has jurisdiction over them.DUP MLA Maurice Bradley has deleted his Twitter account and apologised after retweeting an account calling the Mayor of London the "enemy within".

The backlash was the second controversy related to anti-Islamic social media posts to hit the DUP in less than a week over, after Ian Paisley came under fire for retweeting controversial commentator Katie Hopkins.

East Londonderry MLA Bradley retweeted a message about Sadiq Khan, who is a Muslim, from an account which posts extremist far-right content.

In a statement he said: "I removed earlier RT and apologise for it. I disagree with Sadiq Khan's approach to Hezbollah - brutal terrorist apologists. The Mayor has a democratic mandate & his religion is irrelevant.

A spokesperson for the DUP said: "Maurice has rightly removed the retweet. It did not represent the DUP's views. This matter will be considered by the Party Officers."

The tweet featured a video in which Conservative member of the London Assembly Andrew Boff asked the Mayor if he would write to the Home Secretary to ask for clarification on "the rules for a banned organisation".

The video is accompanied with text which reads: "The enemy within: Muslim Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, refuses to support ban of Hezbollah terror group, says he must consider if it is the right thing to do.

Yesterday DUP MP Ian Paisley apologised for RT a Katie Hopkins anti-Islam tweet. Today SDLP MLA Claire Hanna criticises DUP MLA Maurice Bradley for RT tweet calling London mayor Sadiq Khan the enemy within and for RT a questionable tweet defending a far right march in Poland. pic.twitter.com/o0zyxZUSf9  Amanda.ie Ferguson (@AmandaFBelfast) April 4, 2018

On Monday DUP MP Ian Paisley faced criticism for retweeting controversial right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins, who wrote on Twitter that London had a higher murder rate than New York, and that "Ramadan's not yet begun".

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Speaking on BBC's Good Morning Ulster radio programme, SDLP MLA Claire Hanna said: "I think it is very creepy. There has been a bit of an overlap between loyalism and the far right for a while, but it is very worrying when it is propagated by senior elected representatives."

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Mrs Hanna said the "dog whistle demonisation of Sadiq Khan" was something which had happened in the Conservative party in the past, but that they had "distanced themselves from it" and the Government party would not be "very impressed that the coalition partners are openly promoting it".

The Belfast South MLA noted that Mr Bradley had retweeted content supporting a far-right march in Poland a few months ago, and it was her view the comments about Sadiq Khan had not been retweeted accidentally.Police are investigating the cause of the one-car crash on the A9 (Andrew Milligan/PA)

A man who died in a crash on the A9 was on his way home for the Easter break, his family have said as they paid tribute to him.

Duncan Mackay was killed when his Porsche Cayman crashed near Latheron, Caithness, at around 12.50pm on Friday. No other vehicles were involved.

The 37-year-old had been living in Manchester and was travelling to visit family in Caithness over the weekend.

His family said: Duncan Mackay was a loving and caring son, brother, nephew and friend to many.

He was thoughtful, considerate and lived his life to its fullest. He was a creative, adventurous individual and was an inspiration to us all.

Although currently based in Manchester, he loved Caithness and visited the county regularly. He had been very much looking forward to coming home to spend Easter with his family and long-time friends.

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Mr Mackays family said he had represented Scotland at touch rugby tournaments and loved to keep fit.

The statement, released through police, added: He had a keen interest in cars and motorsport, and especially loved fishing with his dad on Wick River. He also played touch rugby for many years and had represented Scotland at various tournaments around Europe.

We, along with his extended family and friends, are devastated by his death. We have an overwhelming feeling of heartache and grief, and so much love for him.

We very much appreciate the good wishes and support we have received since Fridays crash and extend our extreme gratitude to everyone who attended the scene and tried to help Duncan thereafter.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash.

Sergeant Ewan Calder said: Our thoughts and sympathies remain with Mr Mackays family at this time.

We are continuing with enquiries to establish the circumstances around this tragic incident.

The only vehicle involved in the collision was the grey Porsche Cayman driven by Mr Mackay, however we would like to speak to any drivers who were on the A9 in the Caithness area at the time.

We are keen to speak to the driver of a white 44 which was in the Latheron area which may have seen Mr Mackays vehicle. The driver may have information which could assist with our enquiries.The father of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence has said he has "grave concerns" about the inquiry into undercover policing.

Neville Lawrence called on chairman Sir John Mitting to agree to sit as part of a panel rather than alone amid concerns about the number of undercover officers being granted anonymity in inquiry hearings.

This came as a number of women who claim they were deceived into romantic relationships with police moles wrote to Home Secretary Amber Rudd to demand an urgent meeting about the probe.

The Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) is examining the conduct of Metropolitan Police officers in England and Wales.

There has been controversy because the inquiry has not been extended to Northern Ireland.

Last month, dozens of campaigners and their lawyers walked out of an inquiry hearing in protest over the number of officers granted anonymity and "scant" reasons for the decision to do so.

In a statement issued through his lawyers, Mr Lawrence said: "I have grave concerns about how Chairman Mitting has been handling the anonymity applications by police officers, consistently granting them anonymity after hearing evidence behind closed doors and disclosing almost nothing to the lawyers representing the victims of police spying.

"Even senior officers who could give evidence about whether my family or I were spied upon have been granted anonymity, meaning they will give their evidence behind closed doors, shrouded in secrecy.

"This completely undermines my hopes for this inquiry."

Undercover officers from Scotland Yard's special demonstrations squad infiltrated groups linked to the campaign for justice for Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in 1993.

Mr Lawrence added: "This is starting to look like anything but a public inquiry. If I do not have the cover names of people who were involved in undercover spying operations, I have no way of knowing for myself whether my family, my friends and I were victims and I will be unable to assist the inquiry in getting to the truth.

"The inquiry will be unable to consider anything except the views of the police whose actions they are investigating."

After initial denials, it was confirmed that members of the units worked in Northern Ireland, without the knowledge of the RUC or PSNI.Four people were injured by a female shooter who killed herself after going on a gun rampage at YouTube's California headquarters.

San Bruno Police chief Ed Barberini said the woman was found dead in the building with a "self-inflicted wound".

The condition of the injured, who have been taken to hospital, was not confirmed last night. Early reports said at least one was critical.

According to witnesses, the woman - dressed in a headscarf - shot her boyfriend then herself. The first reports came at 12.46pm local time (8.46pm UK time) when dozens of employees called police.

Officers who arrived found the woman dead inside.

TV helicopter video shows officers searching people grouped outside a building and police vehicles surrounding the area. A spokeswoman for California's Stanford Hospital said it had received four to five patients from the shooting but had no information about their condition.

President Donald Trump tweeted last night: "Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTube's HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene."

YouTube, the world's biggest online video website, is located on a suburban campus.

Employee Vadim Lavrusik posted on Twitter that he heard gunshots and saw people running. He said he was barricaded in a room with co-workers before being safely evacuated.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein said she was praying for those at the scene.A vending machine for the homeless which a charity claimed was the first in the world has been scrapped after just three months.

Action Hunger installed the device in the Broadmarsh Centre in Nottingham to provide food, socks and toothbrushes, among other essentials, to people sleeping rough at Christmas.

But the city council has now said it was a misguided and ill-informed attempt to address complex problems.

The machine was unique to Nottingham, but there were said to be plans for over 100 more for cities such as Manchester and London.

Toby Neal, from Nottingham City Council, told the BBC: This is a well-meaning but misguided and ill-informed attempt to address complex problems faced by people with accommodation and health issues.

There is no evidence that it helps, and may distract people from finding long-term solutions.

The charity said the decision not to support the project further was a shame for Nottingham but they are committed to solving the citys homelessness issue.The Prince of Wales will visit France later this month to attend commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the First World War battle of Villers-Bretonneux.

Australians fought alongside British troops in the decisive military encounter.

Charles will travel to the Australian National Memorial, near the French town of Villers-Bretonneux, to honour those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the 1918 battle.

The commemorations will be held on Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day - April 25 - which also marks the start of the First World War Gallipoli landings, and is a national day of remembrance Down Under.

Charles will travel on behalf of the Queen and will be joined at the event by Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his French counterpart Edouard Philippe.

On April 24, 1918, the Australian 13th and 15th Brigades took part in a counter-offensive to recapture Villers-Bretonneux from German forces during a night attack along with three British battalions.

The military engagement has been described as a crucial turning point in the war as its success effectively put an end to the Germans' 1918 Spring Offensive.

Around 8,000 guests are expected to attend the commemorations, including those whose family members fought and died in the battle.

The event will feature a Spirit of Place ceremony and a dawn service will follow, during which Charles will give a reading and lay the first wreath of the official wreath-laying ceremony.

Later at an official breakfast Charles will meet representatives from 17 nations who fought on the Western Front. He will also visit the newly-opened Sir John Monash Centre, which tells the story of Australia's involvement in the Western Front during the First World War.

The fighting around Villers-Bretonneux in April resulted in over 9,500 allied casualties.Police activity on Christie Miller road in Salisbury, near to the home of Sergei Skripal (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Russia has failed in its ludicrous bid for a joint UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury attack, Boris Johnson has said.

Moscow called a meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague to insist its experts must be involved in the testing programme and probe.

But it lost the vote after Britain told the extraordinary meeting the demand was a sign Moscow was nervous of what the inquiries will find.

Mr Johnson said Russias goal was to obscure the truth and confuse the public.

"The international community has again stood up and said no to Russian attempts to confuse and frustrate this process."



@nickheathfco following vote today at the #OPCW Executive Council pic.twitter.com/jvd7V5M9Th  Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) April 4, 2018

The Foreign Secretary, who has faced claims he has exaggerated the evidence against Moscow, said countries around the world continue to share our assessment about the nerve-agent attack.

He said: The purpose of Russias ludicrous proposal at The Hague was clear  to undermine the independent, impartial work of the international chemical weapons watchdog.

Russia has had one goal in mind since the attempted murders on UK soil through the use of a military-grade chemical weapon  to obscure the truth and confuse the public.

The international community has yet again seen through these tactics and robustly defeated Russias attempts today to derail the proper international process.

It shows that many countries around the world continue to share our assessment of what happened in Salisbury and are determined to stand up to Russias behaviour.

In a vote at OPCW, six of the 41 members backed Russia while 15 voted against, 17 abstained, two were absent, and one was not entitled to vote.

Nick Heath, deputy British ambassador to The Hague, said Russia had failed again in its attempts to frustrate the process of justice.

Russias proposal for a joint, UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury incident is perverse. It is a diversionary tactic, and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer.  UK Delegation OPCW (@UK_OPCW) April 4, 2018

Russian officials speaking after the meeting concluded said they had presented a common sense case and pointed to the lies by Tony Blair over Iraq as they criticised the intelligence about the attack.

Moscow has called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Thursday to discuss the case.

Only six of the 41 OPCW members voted in favour of the Russian draft decision proposing the joint UK/Russian investigation. 15 voted against, including the UK, 17 abstained, 2 were absent, and one was not entitled to vote.

UK ambassador John Foggo accused Russia of showing disdain for the independence of the international body, which is conducting tests on samples of the nerve agent used in the March 4 attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

He told the meeting: The work of the Technical Secretariat must remain impartial.

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Russias refusal to accept the results of the OPCWs investigation unless Russian experts participate in it suggests that Russia is opposed to the independence and impartiality of the Technical Secretariat and is nervous about what the results will show.

Mr Foggo said that Russias statements displayed a wilful ignorance of the Chemical Weapons Convention and disdain for the independence and competence of the OPCWs Technical Secretariat.

The UK was backed by the European Union, which reaffirmed its support for Britains demand for answers from Russia on how the Novichok agent which it developed came to be used in Salisbury.

Speaking on behalf of the EU, Bulgarian ambassador Krassimir Kostov said: We have full confidence in the UK investigation and laud UKs collaboration with the OPCW Technical Secretariat, in full compliance with the convention.

Tension between Moscow and London has risen a notch after the head of the Porton Down military research facility said scientists had not verified Russia as the source of the substance used in the attack on the Skripals.

Vladimir Putin seized on the comments from the chief executive of the Governments Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Gary Aitkenhead, as he accused the UK of launching an anti-Russian campaign.

Russia has flatly denied UK claims that it was to blame for the March 4 attack, with foreign intelligence service director Sergei Naryshkin even claiming it was staged by the UK and US as a provocation.

Mr Naryshkin told a global security conference in Moscow: Even as far as the Skripal case goes  which is a grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and US intelligence agencies  some European countries are in no hurry to follow London and Washington, preferring to sort the situation out.Inebriated man attacks police personnel with khukuri

A drunken youth has attacked a night patrolling police team with a khukuri at Bhadrapur of Jhapa district on Tuesday night.Officers run towards the YouTube office in San Bruno (Jeff Chiu/AP)

A woman opened fire at YouTubes headquarters in Californias San Francisco Bay Area, wounding four people before she shot and killed herself, police said.

Employees hid and tried to flee while officers and US federal agents swarmed the companys headquarters complex in the city of San Bruno as multiple emergency reports came in reporting gunfire.

San Bruno Police chief Ed Barberini told reporters the victims had gunshot wounds and were taken to hospitals.

A spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said it received three patients.

Spokesman Brent Andrew said a 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition.

The hospital was expecting more patients but Mr Andrew did not know their conditions.

We are responding to an active shooter. Please stay away from Cherry Ave & Bay Hill Drive.  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 3, 2018

Television news footage showed people leaving the building, holding their arms in the air for police to inspect as they were leaving the building.

Officers searched people to make sure none had weapons, and police vehicles surrounded the area

YouTube employee Vadim Lavrusik posted on Twitter that he heard gunshots and saw people running.

He said he was barricaded in a room with his co-workers before being safely evacuated.

Police activity at 901 Cherry Ave, please stay out of the area. pic.twitter.com/H6iAj0g7ra  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 3, 2018

Will Hudson said a friend who works for YouTube texted him about the gunwoman.

I think there might be a shooter in my building, read one text.

The fire alarm went off so we started to evacuate and then people (started) running saying there was a shooter.

Northern Californias Stanford Hospital said it has received four to five patients, but a hospital spokeswoman did not have information on their conditions or their wounds.

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Google, which owns the worlds biggest online video website, posted on Twitter that the company is coordinating with authorities.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also said it responded to the shooting at YouTubes suburban campus.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on a shooting and that officials were monitoring it.

Mr Hudson said his friend made it safely back to San Francisco and was in contact with his family.

Mr Hudson said he has become used to hearing about gun violence but has never been so close to it before.

It just feels strange. It feels like it could really be anyone. Thats really the strangeness of it, he said.

Calls and emails to YouTube representatives seeking comment were not immediately returned.It would be churlish not to acknowledge the comments of Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O'Neill in the wake of the violence that accompanied a dissident republican parade in Londonderry on Monday.

She described the scenes as disturbing and said it was a far from dignified way of remembering republican dead.

She went further in saying that those responsible for hurling bricks and petrol bombs at police should be brought before the law.

Her comments were not in the same league as those of her predecessor Martin McGuinness, who denounced the killers of PSNI officer Stephen Carroll in Craigavon and two soldiers at Massereene within days of each other in 2009 as traitors to the island of Ireland. Nevertheless, they show she is keen to distance mainstream republicanism from the mindless violence of dissidents.

But unionists will recall her comments at a memorial service last year for IRA men killed by the SAS in her native Clonoe, which praised their actions and the republicans' "freedom struggle".

Many people in Northern Ireland can never forget past violence, from whatever source it came. They are the bereaved and survivors of terrorism. Jackie Nicholl resigned from the Victims and Survivors Forum this week after learning that a convicted Provo bomber was also on the body.

Mr Nicholl's baby son was killed in an IRA bomb attack.

Today we carry an interview with a babysitter, then just 13, who was hand-in-hand with three-year-old Johnathan Ball when he was killed by an IRA bomb in Warrington 25 years ago.

She wants the investigation into the outrage reopened, echoing the feelings of many bereaved and injured people who feel they have never got justice.

DUP MP Gregory Campbell gave Mrs O'Neill's comments a qualified welcome and called for Sinn Fein to agree to the restoration of devolved government to help fill the current political vacuum.

Of course, he knows the issues that divide his party and Sinn Fein remain unresolved, and unless both sides have a change of heart and a real desire to find compromise, the impasse will continue.

Mrs O'Neill's comments are a step in the right direction in what she calls outreach to unionists. The journey towards meaningful re-engagement between the parties could be lengthy, but perhaps this is an important gesture and a tentative first step.The continuing acrimonious fallout in the wake of the collapse of the talks has left many bewildered as to where this will all lead and how we can address the pressing needs in our society. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel; indeed, the tunnel seems to have collapsed completely and we seem to be doomed to an indefinite period of political stasis.

Since that fateful Ash Wednesday, all of us have had to endure the Lenten penance imposed upon us by the two sectarian juggernauts, DUP and Sinn Fein.

Neither of them realise that it matters little who was responsible for that disastrous collapse, because we have no local administration to tackle the litany of pressing social and economic issues bubbling away underneath the heady rhetoric that passes as political discourse.

Therefore, the proposal by the Alliance leader Naomi Long to have a transitional Assembly is worthy of serious consideration.

It has, however, prompted a generally dismissive response from the other political parties, in particular Sinn Fein. But given the political desert that we are in, it is worth exploring.

There is merit in the idea, particularly when there is a precedent for such a transitional Assembly following the St Andrews Agreement in 2006.

This transitional Assembly was agreed by all the parties at the time including Sinn Fein. The idea following the deal at St Andrews was to provide an opportunity for all politicians to prepare for a new Assembly and pending power-sharing Executive.

The transitional Assembly came into being on November 22, 2006, and its officially declared role was to take part in preparations for the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland in accordance with the St Andrews Agreement.

This Assembly did some good work and produced reports on diverse subjects such as the review of public administration, the economic challenge for Northern Ireland, schools admissions policy, Workplace 2010 and the devolution of justice and policing.

This body of work was subsequently used to draft the Programme for Government, presented in January 2008.

In addition it worked on drafting standing orders, a ministerial code and also nominated the First and Deputy First Ministers. Its remit ended in January 2007 in order to facilitate elections to the new Assembly.

It wasn't a talking shop, nor therapy for underemployed politicians, but rather a preparatory arrangement to provide support for the new Assembly that was elected in March 2007.

The problem for Long's proposition is that her proposal is not for a preparatory Assembly, because there has been no agreement as there was at St Andrews.

On the other hand, it could be argued that the Assembly could do work on a draft Programme for Government in the event of a new Executive, and pass some legislation.

The danger is that it could become a cosmetic exercise to keep the pretence of politics alive, and in turn become a purposeless talking shop.

However, the Alliance proposal for a transitional Assembly is not made in isolation, for it also has a parallel proposal for the setting up of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and at the same time continuing the negotiations for a new Executive under an independent facilitator.

The intergovernmental conference could well be a game-changer for the way forward, because if the London and Dublin Governments act together, then that puts pressure on both the other two parties to respond in kind. It could incentivise an agreement at Stormont.

The counter-argument is that Prime Minister Theresa May is so dependent on DUP support that the party could stymie any joint development between the two Governments. But there are limits to the DUP's influence, because it cannot continually cry wolf.

If it goes too far, May might lose patience, allow the plug to be pulled and call for a fresh election, thus ending the DUP's powerful role at Westminster.

Some have expressed doubts about the DUP's commitment to a return to a power-sharing Executive given the enthusiasm that some of its MPs, like Ian Paisley, have expressed over the introduction of formal direct rule.

But that must be counter-balanced by those DUP MLAs back home in the Assembly: they are not likely to act as turkeys voting for Christmas. Arlene Foster has 27 (very hungry) MLAs and their respective staffs, itching to get back into Stormont.

If nothing is done to break this deadlock, there is the risk that we lose a cohort of politicians across all the parties, probably for ever.

Politicians can't wait around endlessly for a new Assembly to materialise. Contrary to popular opinion, we need to hold on to seasoned, experienced politicians - not throw them onto the scrapheap.

Therefore, in all our dire circumstances, Long's proposal for a transitional Assembly, with all its faults, is worth a try.Bangladeshi police stand guard in front of a building where investigators found the body of lawyer Rathish Chandra Bhowmik in northwestern Rangpur district, April 4, 2018.

Bangladeshi authorities said Wednesday they had arrested the wife of a missing prominent Hindu lawyer, whose body was found later in the day, on suspicion that she and her alleged lover conspired to kill him by drugging and strangling him.

Investigators dug up the corpse of Rathish Chandra Bhowmik, who had served as a state prosecutor in high-profile murder trials against Muslim extremists and went missing last week, from the ground floor of a building under construction in northwestern Rangpur district, police said.

Police arrested Bhowmiks wife, Snigdha, and three others over allegations that her extramarital affair led to his murder. News of his disappearance made national headlines and caused protests in recent days, fueling speculation that Bangladeshi extremists might have taken him.

Rathish Bhowmik was murdered over a family feud out of an extramarital affair of his wife, Benazir Ahmed, director-general of the special police wing, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), told a news conference.

We have arrested four people, including his wife, on suspicion of having links to this murder.

The wifes alleged lover, Quamrul Islam, was among the four taken into custody in connection with the killing of Bhowmik, 58. Both Snigdha and Islam were high school teachers in Rangpur, and the two other suspects were students of hers who allegedly helped them bury the attorneys body, police said.

Snigdha and Islam had planned the murder for two months, Ahmed said, alleging that the suspects carried out the plot by feeding the attorney milk and rice laced with 10 sleeping pills on March 29.

Later, both Snigdha and Quamrul strangled him with a scarf, Ahmed said. He said the suspects hid the body in a wooden closet and took it to a building not far from the lawyers home. Two of the womans students assisted in burying the lawyer, he said.

Rathish Bhowmik BenarNews

Missing

Police launched a massive search for Bhowmik after relatives reported him missing since early Friday morning. His disappearance spurred huge demonstrations in Rangpur and other parts of the country, with lawyers demanding his immediate rescue.

Bhowmik was the legal affairs secretary of the district unit of Bangladeshs ruling Awami League party. He was a popular leader in the minority Hindu community and served as a trustee of the Dhaka-based Hindu Religious Welfare Trust.

The lawyer disappeared about two weeks after eight militants belonging to the outlawed militant group Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were sentenced to death for murdering a caretaker at a Sufi shrine in November 2015.

Bhowmik had also appeared as a prosecutor in the trial of five JMB militants, who were also sentenced to death for the murder of a Japanese farmer living in Bangladesh, Kunio Hoshi, three years ago.

Bhowmiks younger brother, Shushanto, said he was last seen driving his motorbike.

At first we thought that militants were involved, he said. Now we have come to know that my sister-in-law killed my brother.  She could have sought a break up and began afresh with her lover. Why was the killing necessary?Sukmawati Soekarnoputri displays her book of poetry during a news conference in Jakarta as she apologizes over complaints she insulted Islam, April 4, 2018.

A daughter of Indonesias first president, Soekarno, apologized Wednesday for reading a poem last week that was deemed blasphemous by Muslim groups, which reported her to police.

Sukmawati Soekarnoputri read her poem Ibu Indonesia (Mother Indonesia) on Thursday as part of the 2018 Indonesian Fashion Week during a celebration marking the 29-year career of Anne Avantie, famous for her traditional blouse designs.

From the bottom of my heart, I apologize to Indonesian Muslims, especially to those who feel offended and objected to the poem Mother Indonesia, Sukmawati said while tearing up during a news conference in Jakarta.

Her poem read: I dont know sharia (Islamic law), but I know the Konde (traditional bun) of Mother Indonesia is very beautiful, more beautiful than your niqab (a full face veil worn by some Muslim women). I dont know sharia, but I know Mother Indonesias ballad, its so very elegant. More melodious than your azan (Islamic call to prayer).

Middle Eastern-style Muslim garb has become much more common in Indonesia in recent years, and the poem expresses a nationalistic wistfulness for traditional Indonesian styles.

Despite her apology, Muslim groups announced plans to hold a mass protest Defend Islam Action on Friday at the National Police headquarters. In addition, an online petition at change.org demanding action against her for blasphemy received thousands of signatures.

Muslim groups held similar themed protests against former Jakarta Gov. Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian, in 2016 and 2017 after an edited video made it appear like he said that the Quran deceived people. Ahok was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison.

Under Indonesias criminal code, blasphemy is punishable by up to five years in prison.

No intention of insulting Islam

Sukmawati said the poem represented her personal view as an artist.

The fashion shows theme was Cultural Identity. The poem was in accordance with the theme, Sukmawati said.

The younger sister of Megawati Soekarnoputri, leader of President Joko Jokowi Widodos ruling party, Sukmawati said she had no intention of insulting Islam.

I am a Muslim who is grateful and proud of my Islamic identity, a daughter of the founding father, Bung Karno, who was well-known as a Muhammadiyah figure and received an honor from Nahdlatul Ulama, she said referring to the two biggest Muslim organizations in Indonesia.

Dedi Suhardadi, who represents Muslim group Persaudaraan Alumni 212, talks to reporters after filing a criminal complaint in Jakarta, April 4, 2018. [Rina Chadijah/BenarNews]

Criminal reports filed

Persaudaraan Alumni (PA) 212, an umbrella group of Islamic hardline organizations behind the mass protests against Ahok, reported Sukmawati to police on Wednesday.

I personally have no problem. The problem is not that I have been insulted, but my religion, Islam, PA representative Dedi Suhardadi said.

On Tuesday, lawyer Denny Andrian Kusdayat filed a similar blasphemy complaint with Jakarta Metro Police.

What she has conveyed through her poem is worse than Ahok. And this really offends Muslims, he told BenarNews.

Following Sukmawatis apology, Denny said he had not withdrawn his police complaint.

I will consult with ulemas. After that I will make my decision, he said.

Politician Amron Asyhari and the East Java chapter of Indonesias largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, filed complaints against Sukmawati.

Police spokesman Inspector Gen. Setyo Wasisto said law-enforcement agencies will respond to the complaints.

Our responsibility is to carry out an investigation. We have to first gather evidence and then follow up, Setyo told reports at police national headquarters.

Rights group responds

Hendardi, a representative of the Jakarta-based human rights group Setara Institute, said the poem had nothing to do with blasphemy. He called it an artistic expression that had a sufficient degree of factual truth.

On the complaint that has been submitted, let the police process proceed without pressure from political motives, he said in a written statement, adding the issue could spawn conflict in the coming elections.A woman gathers a few copies of the Quran from her ruined home in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, April 4, 2018.

Almost 1,000 displaced Filipino families have been allowed back into battle-scarred Marawi city to check their homes under tight military security over the past few days, but unexploded bombs strewn amid the rubble have limited their movements.

On Wednesday, BenarNews reporters and journalists from other media outlets accompanied some of the families that have been trickling into the former war zone in batches since April 1.

The Philippine government gave them permission to venture back inside so they could pick through the debris for whatever was left of their previous lives, five months after a siege by Islamic State-linked militants and an ensuing battle with government forces destroyed the scenic southern city.

The families and reporters were packed into private vehicles that snaked through the citys main battle area.

No one was permitted to stray. Reporters who joined the first batch on Wednesday were allowed to observe, but were told to respect the grieving returnees.

A woman in a traditional Muslim garb was visibly upset as she gathered tattered copies of the Quran from her home in Tulali, a village in Marawi. Around her was a wall that had been painted a vibrant pink. Now, bullet holes pockmarked it.

This is too painful, the grieving woman told BenarNews. She was too distraught to say her name.

Troops armed with assault rifles patrolled nearby streets, while others stationed themselves inside the ruined homes, their outlines framed by gaping holes in the walls.

Philippine troops guard hundreds of residents who were allowed to visit their ruined homes in the southern city of Marawi, April 4, 2018. [Richel V. Umel/BenarNews]

Troops recover human remains

Apart from Tulali, the military allowed the 979 families to enter two other villages, said Maj. Gen. Roseller Guanzon Murillo, who is with the Armys 1st Infantry Tabak Division and commands Joint Task Force Ranao.

But the military explosive ordnance and disposal team and the engineering brigade were also on constant lookout after finding many unexploded bombs in the debris.

To date, these include eight unexploded ordnance, one 60-millimeter mortar, one hand grenade and six 40-millimeter rounds of ammunition, Murillo said.

Since the fighting ended in late October, the military so far had recovered 1,178 unexploded bombs and 323 improvised explosive devices, he said. Only 17 of the more than 70 bombs dropped by the military, but which did not explode, have been recovered.

And troops were still recovering human bodies, with eight skeletal remains retrieved this week alone, he said.

Ordnance-clearing teams were slowly combing through the rubble, and hoped to finish it by the end of June, although it does not mean 100-percent clear, Murillo said.

Meanwhile, the military was continuing to ask civilian residents of nearby areas to turn over unregistered firearms to the army, as a precaution against violence breaking out, he added.

Fighting broke out in May 2017 when the military moved to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, the acknowledged leader of Islamic State (IS) in the Philippines, who spotted hiding out in Marawi, a lakeshore community considered the center of Islam in the predominantly Catholic Philippines.

But Hapilon, backed by local militants from the Maute group and Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern fighters, repulsed the troops, provoking a battle that dragged on for five months and saw the militants engage the Philippine military in vicious urban warfare.

The siege ended in October after troops killed Hapilon and the rebellions other leaders. Officials said 1,200 people, most of them militants, died in the fighting.

The battle, however, forced Marawis 200,000 residents to flee into overcrowded evacuation camps, where sanitation became a major challenge.

Col. Generoso Ponio, the local army brigade commander, said the military was continuing to monitor fresh recruitment efforts by those militants who had escaped from Marawi.

We are calling the civilians and other organizations not to allow themselves to be infiltrated and recruited by the terrorists, Ponio said.His courage saved dozens of Syrians from dying in a gas attack  but he paid a high price.

For 30 years, Zaher al-Saket was a member of the Syrian army. At the end of his service, he was the head of the Syrian militarys research centre for chemical weapons and was responsible for armament issues. One could say that he helped to build up Assads chemical weapons arsenal. He has now been on the run from the dictators regime for almost five years.

When he received the order to use poison gas on his fellow Syrians, the brigadier says, he filled the containers with water instead of chemicals. He buried the containers that had been filled with phosgene rather than using the gas. Soldiers helped him.

Assad ordered the poison gas attack in Aleppo

Until now, the common assumption has been that sarin was used in the poison gas attack in Aleppo in March 2013. However, many of those who died had narrowed pupils and were foaming at the mouth. The British researcher Richard Guthrie therefore assumes that phosgene was used instead. The dangerous liquid gas is an industrial chemical, not a neurotoxin. This matches the former generals report.

Al-Saket says: Bashar al-Assad gave the order. Nobody else can do this.

All of this despite the fact that, due to international pressure, Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013, committing itself to destroying its chemical weapons. However: Assad has not even destroyed half of his chemical weapons, claims al-Saket.

The Syrian brigadier estimates that Assad still possesses approximately 700 tons of toxic, internationally banned substances like mustard gas and sarin. According to the UN report on the gas massacre in 2013 (where more than 1000 people were killed), 1300 tons of chemical agents were supposed to be destroyed.

Al-Saket has been on the run for years. Following the sabotaged phosgene attack, he came under suspicion. On 11 March 2013, he fled from Aleppo to Europe. The Assad regime followed him, arrested his son and sought to kill him.

BILD INTERNATIONAL 7 years war in Syria Hala was 9 years old, when she was killed Hala was nine years old when she was killed, burried alive after an air strike. Assads and Putins bombs killed her.

Greek-Turkish border Evros, the river of death Evros river, the alternative passage of migrants and Turks to Europe since the Balkan Route closed back in 2016. BILD at the river of death.

Clowns helping refugees We give them their smiles back After a bitterly cold night, in a far too small boat, Nasser (8) has finally made it: He has arrived in Europe on this early morning.

Al-Saket therefore prefers to keep his place of residence a secret. The Syrian former general now lives in exile in a small flat with his wife, his mother, and his three sons. On a shelf in the living room are framed pictures of him in a dark-green uniform, from his time as a general.

He thinks that the prospects for Syrias children are bleak. They will receive no education, since most of the schools have been bombed, says al-Saket. Since December, there have been frequent major offensives by Assad and his allies, Russia and Turkey. The most recent of these took place in the regions Hama, Afrin, and Eastern Ghouta. Thousands died. Half a million people were displaced.

The former generals worry is that Assad and his followers will continue the war in Syria until they have reclaimed every last bit of land. And even if the war were to ever end, the whole country will be in ruins.This project is expected to strengthen Taiwans biopharma sector by combining the R&D resources from ITRI with key technologies and advanced manufacturing processes from Merck to cultivate high-end professionals in Taiwan.

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Merck, announcing the establishment of Taiwan-Merck Biopharma R&D & Training Collaboration Program at ITRI Guangfu Innovation Campus in Hsinchu.

This project is expected to strengthen Taiwans biopharma sector by combining the R&D resources from ITRI with key technologies and advanced manufacturing processes from Merck to cultivate high-end professionals in Taiwan. The collaboration aims to enhance Taiwans biopharma production competence, expand the global market share of its biopharma industry, and create new business opportunities in precision medicine.

Dr. Chii-Wann Lin, Vice President of ITRI and General Director of its Biomedical Technology and Device Research Laboratories, explained that this collaboration includes two stages, and the Taiwan-Merck Biopharma R&D & Training Collaboration Program is only the beginning of this joint program.

In addition to introducing world-leading drug manufacturing and purifying technologies and high-efficiency mass production processes, the program will bring in validation and verification methods that meet the standards of international, European, and US regulations.Manitoba Premier Brian Pallisters holding company has been flagged for nonpayment of a luxury tax owed on his Costa Rican vacation home for almost a decade, the Free Press has learned.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 4/4/2018 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Manitoba Premier Brian Pallisters holding company has been flagged for nonpayment of a luxury tax owed on his Costa Rican vacation home for almost a decade, the Free Press has learned.

Penalties for failing to pay the Costa Rican national luxury tax, or under-reporting the value of a qualifying property, are as high as 10 times the amount of tax that should have been paid.

Costa Ricas luxury tax on homes, also known as the Solidarity Tax for the Strengthening of Housing Programs, was instituted in 2009  two years after Pallister and his wife, Esther, purchased their vacation property through a holding company, Finca Deneter Doce S.A.

The tax is assessed in addition to standard property taxes levied by local governments. Its purpose is to tax the wealthy to improve housing for the Central American countrys poor.

Documents obtained by the Free Press reveal Pallisters holding company is on a list of property owners who havent paid the luxury tax.

Pallisters 7,700-square-foot getaway home, which sits on seven acres of land near Tamarindo, along the countrys Pacific coast, is worth anywhere from US$550,000 to more than US$1 million, according to estimates from real estate agents based in the area. (The estimates were based on photos of the home and a description of the property provided by the Free Press  not on actual visits.)

FACEBOOK / Tierra del Sol Arquitectura y Construccion The Costa Rican home of Premier Brian Pallister includes a lavish entryway and an infinity pool.

Previously published photos of Pallisters Costa Rican home show an infinity pool overlooking a forest vista, a modern kitchen with marble countertops, and a lavish entrance way.

The total amount of tax the Manitoba premier owes, irrespective of penalties, could be as much as US$20,000 (CDN$25,600) depending on his Costa Rican homes actual market value, according to an analysis done by the Free Press.

In a statement Tuesday night to the Free Press, Pallister disputed any notion he is in arrears.

"We have never received any legal or accounting advice that our house in Costa Rica was subject to this luxury tax," the premier said. "If we are, then we would be happy to pay it.

"I have always paid all of my taxes in Canada and Costa Rica."

Costa Ricas luxury tax operates on a sliding scale, starting at one-quarter of one per cent of a propertys market value and climbing to more than one-half of one per cent for the most expensive homes. At the base rate, the premiers holding company would be on the hook for anywhere from US$1,375 to US$2,500 a year in luxury taxes, depending on whether his home was judged to be worth US$550,000 or US$1 million.

The threshold for determining whether a homeowner is obliged to pay the tax is based on the construction value of the home itself. If that threshold is met, the value of the surrounding land is also factored into calculating the tax.

FACEBOOK / Tierra del Sol Arquitectura y Construccion Costa Rica home of Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister

According to information supplied by Pallisters company to Costa Rican authorities  and obtained by the Free Press  the premier took out a building permit with the municipality of Santa Cruz in 2008 to construct a one-floor residence on his property. The builder was Jimaco Construction, and the permit declared the value of construction at 105 million colones (roughly US$186,000 at current rates). In 2009, a second permit was taken out for an addition to the home, with a declared construction value of 24.7 million colones (US$44,000).

When the luxury tax was instituted in 2009, homes were exempt if they were valued at less than 100 million colones. According to information Pallister supplied in obtaining municipal permits, the construction value of his home was worth almost 130 million colones at the time.

The exemption levels set by the Costa Rican government vary from year to year. In 2014, for example, the luxury tax kicked in at homes with a construction value of more than 121 million colones; for 2017, the base value was 126 million colones.

In an article dated Dec. 17, 2009, the website CostaRicaLaw.com published a list of luxury home tax "debtors" -- those deemed by the Costa Rican revenue department to be "currently delinquent in the filing and payment" of the tax. There were hundreds of companies on the list, including Pallisters holding company, Finca Deneter Doce S.A.

In a pair of 2017 emails obtained by the Free Press, a taxation branch official with Costa Ricas finance department asks another government official whether Finca Deneter Doce S.A. has paid the Solidarity Tax (luxury tax), and is told there is no record of such a transaction.

According to Melendez & Bonilla, a Costa Rican law firm that specializes in tax law, the Costa Rican government expects property owners to determine the tax they owe and declare it. It is calculated on an annual basis, and is due annually in mid-January.

However, an email from a Costa Rican lawyer Pallisters office provided to the Free Press, defended the premier.

"To my knowledge, Mr. and Mrs. Pallister have not been told to pay this tax, and actually the house may not even qualify for the tax, but that can only be known if they were to do an appraisal," Paul Oporta wrote.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.caBy Padraig Hoare

Norwegian must bring down costs if it is to make its business model successful, according to Davy  as the airline announced it was scaling back a number of transatlantic services to the US East Coast, including from Cork.

The low-cost long-haul airline said it was suspending its year-round routes such as Cork, Shannon and Edinburgh to Providence in Rhode Island for the winter months, instead concentrating on the March-October schedule for 2019.

Norwegian said it was fully committed to its Irish routes last month, after saying it would post larger-than-expected losses for the current quarter, and that it had raised 136.8m in a share sale to help fund its expansion and cope with higher fuel costs.

Davy analyst Ross Harvey said the model could only work if it is actually low-cost amid speculation about its sustainability. Mr Harvey said: We believe Norwegian is targeting a potentially profitable niche, namely leisure oriented, high density, long-haul low-cost from major European cities. However, for capital providers  debt, equity and leasing  to retain confidence in the Norwegian version of this, there needs to be an improving cost trajectory through the second half of 2018.

The first-ever transatlantic flight from Cork took off last summer, while the airline also has flights from Dublin, Shannon and Belfast. The airline said in February that its Irish expansion is just getting started and that it is in a much better position for growth this year.

Chief executive Bjorn Kjos said he hoped 2017 would be the last year of loss and that he was optimistic of the picture at the end of the year.

The airline has undertaken an ambitious expansion plan, buying more than 200 new fuel-efficient jets.

However investors have voiced concerns that its drive to put more passengers on more planes is pushing up costs quickly without producing higher returns.

Meanwhile, Dubai-based airline Emirates said it was looking to recruit a number of Irish pilots for both passenger and freighter aircraft.

The airline said it would offer a tax-free salary, monthly housing allowance, 42 days annual leave and chauffeur-driven transport to and from work.By Geoff Percival

Providence Resources could drill off the west coast  as well as in the Celtic Sea  next year as it continues to ramp up exploration activity.

The Government has granted the Tony OReilly Jr-led company an extension to its ownership of the frontier exploration licence which holds the highly-rated Newgrange prospect off the south-west coast.

The first phase of the licence will now run to March 2019, allowing Providence to acquire new seismic data to help further de-risk the prospect and pave the way for the planning of an exploration well.

Newgrange is in relatively shallow waters and is viewed as a cheaper, quicker and less risky drilling target than many Atlantic Ocean-based prospects.

Providence is talking to other operators over the potential to share rig machinery. It is also talking to a number of third parties regarding the raising of further development funds via a partial equity sale in the project.

Last week the company announced a long-awaited partnership agreement which will see its flagship asset, the Barryroe field off the Cork coast, developed next year over the course of a six-well, six-month drilling programme.

The companys shares jumped by over 15% on yesterdays news, having been up by over 20% earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, another Irish explorer United Oil & Gas has announced an extension of an option to increase its stake in UK offshore assets, at which drilling is due this year.Beijing has announced a $50bn list of US goods for possible tariff hikes in a spiralling technology dispute with Washington.

That followed the release of a US government list of Chinese goods targeted for punitive tariffs in response to complaints that Beijing pressures foreign companies to hand over technology.

On Monday, China raised duties on $3bn of US pork, apples and other goods in response to higher American import duties on steel and aluminium.

The issues at stake:

WHY DID THE DISPUTE BLOW UP?

President Donald Trump says Beijing is violating its free-trade commitments by pressuring foreign companies to hand over technology to potential Chinese competitors in exchange for market access.

He has pledged to narrow the US trade deficit with China, which Washington put at $375.2bn last year, a record for any country.

A key irritant is Beijing's long-range industry plan, dubbed "Made in China 2025", which calls for creating Chinese global leaders in electric cars, robotics and other fields. Foreign companies complain that will limit or block their access to those industries.

WHAT HAVE THE TWO SIDES DONE SO FAR?

Mr Trump approved tariff increases on steel and aluminium imports in response to complaints that American suppliers were threatened by unfairly low-priced imports.

The US buys little steel and aluminium from China, but analysts said Beijing felt compelled to respond, partly as a "warning shot" ahead of an expected fight over technology.

On Monday, China raised duties on pork and aluminium scrap by 25%, and on apples, sparkling wine, steel pipes and other goods by 15%. The measures appeared to target farm states that voted for Mr Trump in 2016.

China raised duties on pork and aluminium scrap by 25%, and on apples, sparkling wine, steel pipes and other goods by 15%.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

The US and China have the world's biggest trading relationship. That gives them an incentive to reach a settlement to avoid damaging many businesses on both sides.

Exports to China directly or indirectly supported 1.8 million new US jobs in 2015, according to the US-China Business Council, an industry group.

Wednesday's Chinese tariff hike targeted goods including soybeans, the biggest US export to China, and aircraft.

Economists and investors worry other governments might respond by raising their own import barriers. That might chill commerce and set back a global economic recovery.

WHY DOES TECHNOLOGY MATTER?

The latest tariff dispute strikes at the heart of technology industries China's leaders consider vital for its economic future.

Chinese factories assemble most of the world's smartphones, computers and consumer electronics, but Beijing wants to capture more of the profits by becoming a creator of technology instead of a low-cost factory.

The ruling Communist Party is spending heavily and pressing foreign companies for help in developing Chinese global competitors in telecoms, electric cars and other technologies.

Washington is trying to promote technology exports to offset its imports from China and support higher-paying jobs.

American and other foreign companies have long complained about Chinese rules that require car makers and others to work through local partners, compelling them to share technology with potential competitors.

Last month, Washington filed a World Trade Organisation complaint over Chinese policy it said limits the ability of foreign companies to control and profit from their technology.

WHAT'S LIKELY TO COME NEXT?

Chinese officials have acknowledged their country has more to lose in a full-blown conflict with Washington but say they will endure the cost.

Beijing has options for retaliating against US companies operating in China. Regulators could withhold licences or alter other conditions to hamper foreign business activity.

Some economists have suggested Washington could target state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that dominate industries including energy, telecoms and banking.

Europe and Japan have also complained about the monopolies and other privileges given to SOEs. Washington may try to get them to jointly pressure Beijing for change.

- PAIn honour of the 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King Jr's death, former US president Barack Obama and Congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis, discuss MLK's legacy.

Leading the conversation, Obama asks Lewis if he remembers where he was when he heard MLK had been assassinated.

He said: "On April 4, 1968, I was in Indianapolis, Indiana, campaigning for Robert Kennedy.

"It was Kennedy who announced to the group that Dr King had been assassinated."

The 44th president told the students who were invited to take part in the discussion that John Lewis was a huge influence for him to enter public office.

Lewis was asked by a young audience member about coping with the passing of Dr King and gave a moving response about his relationship with the leader of the civil rights movement.

He said: "It was a very sad and dark time for me.

"He was my leader, he was my inspiration."When he was assassinated I said 'Listen...You cannot get down, you got to pick them up and keep going.

"The thing I regret more than anything else is I probably didn't spend enough time with him...I thought he would have been around a long time."

Watch the full video below to hear more about John Lewis' work with the civil rights movement.

Congressman Lewis is the last surviving speaker from the march on Washington, on the day when Dr King delivered his famous I Have A Dream speech.

"Dr King spoke at number 10, I spoke number six.

"There were some people who suggested that my speech was too extreme, it was too radical, but I thought what I had to say, was important to be said.

"Black people in the South couldn't register to vote simply because of the colour of their skin.

"In some places, people were asked to count the bubbles on a bar of soap or the number of jelly beans in a jar."

President Obama highlighted the struggle of people like Lewis, who were speaking up on behalf of minority groups.

He said: "If you are speaking on behalf of social justice, then, by definition, there's going to be some controversy, because if it wasn't controversial, somebody would have already fixed it.Update 6.09pm: The Agriculture Minister says the importation of fodder supplies should begin as soon as tomorrow.

Michael Creed confirmed earlier that his department will support the importation of animal feed, to prevent livestock from starving.

Michael Creed

Months of wet weather has meant that many farmers have completely run out of fodder.

The import scheme was announced by Minister Creed after a meeting with the main agricultural co-ops this afternoon.

"The plan is to work through the co-operative structure," said the Minister.

"It is the co-ops who are involved in the importation, the sourcing and the contract arrangements for the implementation.

"We will be subsequently reimbursing some of the transport costs associated with this. And that is a detail we will probably be in a position to announce tomorrow."

Update 4.27pm: Officials will develop scheme to support importation of fodder, says Michael Creed

The Department of Agriculture says fodder will need to be imported again after the recent bad weather.

Storm Ophelia in October and Storm Emma at the end of February means fodder supplies are at an all-time low across much of the country.

Minister Michael Creed says officials will develop a scheme to support this importation after meeting with the main co-ops this afternoon.

Some farmers say they are breaking point - while there are reports of some animals starving in parts of the country.

Farmer and News Correspondent with the Irish Farmers Journal, Hannah Quinn-Mulligan says it is an unacceptable situation

"Spring has been prolonged. Summer is delayed. Turn out is delayed.

"The housing pressure on farmers trying to keep animals fed is intense.

"What we're looking at is a situation where there is not enough grass to feed animals to let them out. Where you should have grass for three cows, there is no not enough even to feed one.

Update 2pm: Fianna Fail calls for urgent action to tackle fodder crisis

Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said that Agriculture Minister Michael Creed needs to take urgent action to tackle the serious fodder crisis affecting farmers across the country.

Storm Ophelia in October and Storm Emma at the end of February means fodder supplies are at an all-time low across much of the country.

Minister Creed says his department may consider importing fodder if required - but claims there are still enough supplies available.

He is meeting with officials from the main co-ops this afternoon as the crisis continues.

Deputy McConalogue says the Ministers failure to address the situation has had a direct impact on the severe conditions affecting farms.

Despite warnings from my party and farm organisations as far back as September last year, the Minister ignored farmers and failed to take any concrete action to address the situation. As the bad weather continued through the winter, it increased pressure on fodder stocks as animals were being kept indoors and feed was being used up.

Now that the crisis has reached emergency levels, it is not acceptable for the Minister to continue with his hands-off approach, said Deputy McConalogue.

Even this morning on Morning Ireland the Minister seemed to contradict himself. On the one hand he said there was enough fodder stock in the country, but then admitted that fodder may have to be imported. The reality on the ground is that moves are already underway to bring in fodder from other countries  Dairygold is expecting its first delivery tomorrow.

Minister Creed needs to get on top of the situation and ensure that his Department begins co-ordinating the transport and importation of fodder so that it gets to those who need it promptly. A fodder voucher scheme must also be introduced so that farmers can receive financial help to afford to buy the fodder they need to get through the next few weeks.

Many simply dont have the finances after an exceptionally long winter to meet the cost of buying in additional fodder.

I have also contacted the Chairman of the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee seeking an emergency meeting with Minister Creed so that he can outline a clear plan to deal with this crisis.

This situation was forecast more than 6 months ago, but as a result of the Ministers refusal to act, we are now in an emergency situation. Farms are under threat and the Minister has a responsibility to act.

Lakeland Dairies has set up a dedicated fodder helpline for its milk suppliers on 042 969 4341.

Update 2pm: Animals beginning to starve as fodder crisis worsens

Animals across the country are reportedly starving as the fodder crisis deepens.

Officials from the Department of Agriculture are meeting with the main co-ops again today to discuss their response.

Minister Michael Creed has also announced a national review of fodder supplies following months of wet weather.

Farmer and News Correspondent with the Irish Farmers Journal Hannah Quinn-Mulligan says it is a dire situation.

"I've been talking to vets, and vets have been telling me that they go into yards and animals are hungry, and we have to think of the mental strain that's putting on farmers," she said.

"No-one wants to see hungry animals. I could not imagine, as a farmer myself, anything worse than listening to animals bawling with hunger."

- Digital deskTrade unionist Jack O'Connor has been selected as a Labour Party candidate in Wicklow to contest the next General Election.

Mr O'Connor was the long-serving general president at Siptu but he stepped down last December.

At a Selection Convention in the Glenview Hotel, Mr O'Connor spoke about a number of issues including housing, employment and the Eighth Amendment.

"Investment in high-quality public services and the provision of decent secure long-term jobs are the key to a better, fairer future," said Mr O'Connor.

We cannot afford to be putting hundreds of millions away in a so called Rainy Day fund either, when it's bucketing down on our public housing, healthcare, education and childcare services.

"Parallel with this we must prioritise decent secure long term jobs instead of the growing phenomenon of insecure precarious work, by increasing public investment in scientific research, supporting new companies subject to a quality employment standard, focussing on continuous re-skilling of our workforce for the age of digitalisation and legislating for the right to representation at work for all who wish to avail of it."

Mr O'Connor also described the housing waiting list increase as shocking, while adding that "there is no plan for major development of the strategically important ports of Rosslare, Arklow or Wicklow even in the light of the imminence of Brexit."

In relation to the Eighth Amendment Mr O'Connor called for a Yes vote in the Referendum while emphasising respect for those who differ.

It is not about imposing our view on others. It is about accommodating the diversity of views on this extremely complex and sensitive issue.

"We opposed its insertion in the Constitution in the first place and for a long time we were the only significant political party to commit to its removal in our manifesto."

He concluded at the selection convention by saying:

"While the Labour Party made mistakes in the last Government, we ensured that we regained our economic sovereignty and set in train a dramatic economic recovery, while preserving the core infrastructure of our social welfare system, avoiding a sell off of state assets and preserving as well as enhancing our employment protection legislation.

"As a result there is a unique opportunity for the People of Ireland to break with the failed policies of the past and forge a better, fairer future in a New Republic based on the core values of Equality and Economic Justice for all, as we approach the advent of the second century since independence.

"It is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss."An Irish citizen claims he is being prevented from leaving Bahrain International Airport after being denied entry to the country.

Human rights campaigner Brian Dooley says airport authorities took his passport, and are refusing to return it.By Gordon Deegan

The CityWest hotel in Dublin has been found to have unfairly dismissed a security guard who permitted a female guest to view a sex tape of herself and a man on the hotel premises.

In the case, the Labour Court has found that the decision by CityWest to dismiss Nicholas Reddin was procedurally unfair and has awarded Mr Reddin 6,000.

However, the Labour Court found that Mr Reddin was 80% responsible for his own dismissal.

The decision by the Labour Court overturns an earlier ruling by an Adjudication Officer at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) who found that Mr Reddin's dismissal was fair.

No parties were named in the WRC report but as Mr Reddin appealed the WRC ruling to the Labour Court, the parties are now named.

In the case, a colleague on October 31st 2015 alerted Mr Reddin to hotel CCTV footage showing the two hotel guests engaging in a sexual act, but not intercourse, on a hotel corridor from the previous night.

The following night in the hotel bar when Mr Reddin was trying to get guests to finish their drinks, he made the female guest aware of what he had seen on the hotel security cameras.

According to his own account given at a disciplinary hearing, he asked her if she knew what she did the night before.

Mr Reddin then offered to show the woman the footage and the woman and a friend went to view the CCTV footage at the hotel security base.

The woman subsequently made a complaint to the hotel over Mr Reddins conduct and that he had subjected herself and her friend to offensive and inappropriate language and that several sexual remarks were made towards her.

Mr Reddin told the Labour Court hearing that he didnt engage in any offensive behaviour towards the woman.

In the hotel bar before viewing the footage, she said that Mr Reddin had told her that he was aware that she had been kissing a man on CCTV.

As a result of the womans complaint, CityWest launched disciplinary proceedings against Mr Reddin and he was dismissed at a meeting on December 10, 2015 with immediate effect.

The dismissal letter stated that due to the nature of the allegations against you, all of which you accepted to be true, the company was left in a position where the bond of trust between the employer and the employee had been completely destroyed, rendering your position with the company untenable.

Mr Reddin was dismissed for displaying inappropriate and offensive behaviour towards a guest in the hotel, and flagrant disregard for the procedures within the hotel by allowing two guests of the hotel to enter the security base and to view CCTV footage.

In his evidence at the Labour Court, Mr Reddin said that he showed the footage to the woman as she had asked to view it and that he was worried for her.

Mr Reddin stated that it appeared to him that the male involved in the incident was dragging the female guest and that what he was doing was malicious.

The hotel stated that if Mr Reddin had considered what he had seen on the CCTV to be an assault on the premises he was obliged to report that to the security manager, HR and the Gardai via an incident report.

The hotel said that Mr Reddin did none of these things and in his evidence, Mr Reddin said that he had no chance to do an incident report.

He said that three or four other male colleagues had looked at the CCTV and had laughed while watching it. Mr Reddin said that he had worked at the hotel since 2006 and never had any disciplinary issues before.

In its findings, the Labour Court noted that Mr Reddin made no incident report as regards the incident involving the female guest.

Mr Reddins security colleague who played the footage for the two female guests was also subject to disciplinary process.

The Labour Court found that a senior Citywest employee conducted the two disciplinary processes of each men and as she failed to share the account of the other security man with Mr Reddin, it was a failing of the disciplinary process. The Court also found that there were failing on its other aspects of the disciplinary process.

The Labour Court found that in all the circumstances the court finds that the dismissal of the Appellant (Mr Reddin) was procedurally unfair".

A spokesman for CityWest said today that it had 'no comment' to make on the outcome of the case.Update 12.46pm: The Government is being asked to introduce Rent Pressure Zones nationwide in a bid to tackle the housing crisis.

The Labour Party says having rent caps in every county would stop landlords hiking prices.

It comes as the Labour Party publish their Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty Bill, to give renters greater security in their homes.

Spokesperson on Housing and Planning, Jan OSullivan TD has warned that the number of people becoming homeless will continue to rise unless there is decisive and quick action from Government.

Commenting on the publication of the Bill, Deputy OSullivan said: Today I am launching the Greater Security of Tenure and Rent Certainty Bill, in the context of the homeless figures published last week that showed nearly 10,000 people homeless in the country.

The most shocking figure is that this includes 3,755 children, which is up 48% in the past year. There are 222 more families homeless than there was this time last year.

Most people who are being made homeless end up that way because their rents have been hiked or they have been put out of their private rented accommodation because their landlords have said that it is needed for a family member, that the place has to be done up or that it is being sold.

The main purpose of this Bill is to address that issue. It is a really urgent and serious situation and this is something that we can do in the shorter term.

The anxiety and misery endured by families and particularly children, has to end.

The Constitution contains property rights but they are supposed to be balanced with social rights and the needs of the common good. I strongly urge that in the crisis we have with homelessness, the common good needs to be served by giving people the kind of certainty and security that their counterparts in the rental sectors in most neighbouring European states have but which they do not have.

The simple legislation we are proposing would address that.

Thousands of people are expected to march through Dublin next Saturday in a united front to demand action on the Housing crisis.

Labour members will be participating in the march along with other political parties, trade unions and civil society and community organisations and I urge people to join in.

Earlier: Labour Party Bill hopes to offer more security of tenure in rental market

The Labour Party is launching a Bill today which it says aims to help stem the flow of people into homelessness.

The Bill hopes to provide more security of tenure in the rental market, as well as rent certainty.

It comes after the latest figures showed just under 10,000 people are now living in emergency accommodation, including over 3,000 children.

"Well, basically this Bill is about stemming the flow of homelessness because a very large number of people, including families, who are becoming homeless now are coming out of the private rented sector," said Labour's housing spokesperson Jan O'Sullivan.

"So it's about giving those people more security in their homes, and also ensuring that their rents are not hiked."

- Digital deskSchools will be required to consult with parents and pupils on the use of smartphones in schools.

The Education Minister will send out a circular to all schools immediately telling them smartphones are an item requiring consultation.The current Deputy President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has been appointed President for the 2018-19 term at the annual Congress in Galway.

Siona Cahill, 25, won the election and is currently the Vice President for Equality and Citizenship as well as Deputy President.

The Maynooth University student has previously served two terms as Maynooth's Students Union Vice President for Welfare and Equality.

After being announced as the new President, the Longford native stated: "In 2018-2019, students will be a force to be reckoned with in the battle ongoing about the future and current funding of higher level education in Ireland.

Its time the Oireachtas reveal which model they recommend before our entire educational landscape collapses. With the Technological Universities enshrined into law, we must protect Students Unions and their ethos by working closely with allies in other unions. At all levels of higher education, we must ensure students are at the centre of decision making, and we must resist absolutely the commodification of education in Ireland.

"The housing crisis is now rumbling into a rental crisis - pricing students out of accommodation," said Ms Cahill.

"Students are waiting up to 6 weeks to maybe see a counsellor on campus. It is the very basis of our movement that we create the space to criticise and improve the systems we interact with as students.

"This will be a core battle into next year, and I am committed to it."

Ms Cahill added that she looks forward to working with Ireland's students and that "come July 1 I will be reaching out to organisations and policy makers who share our goals.

"More importantly, I want to reach out to those who do not share our vision, yet, for an accessible education system in a bid to bring people on side."

The USI represents over 374,000 students across Ireland.

The new USI Officer Board for 2018-19 is as follows: President - Siona Cahill (Originally Maynooth Students Union, presently USI Officer Board)

Vice President for Campaigns - Michelle Byrne (Originally Waterford IT Students Union, presently USI Officer Board)

Vice President for Academic Affairs - Oisin Hassan (Originally Queens University Belfast Students Union, presently USI Officer Board)

Vice President for Welfare - Damien McClean (TCD Students Union)

Vice President for Equality and Citizenship - Aisling Cusack (Originally IT Tallaght Students Union, presently USI Officer Board)

Vice President for the Border, Midland and Western Region - Barry Clohessy (IT Sligo Students Union)

Vice President for the Southern Region - Lorna Fitzpatrick (IT Carlow Students Union)

Vice President for the Dublin Region - Colm OHalloran (Trinity College Dublin Students Union)

Vice President for the Irish Language - Aoife Deasy (Saint Angelas College Sligo Students Union)

- Digital DeskThe arrival of a towering cruise liner in Belfast ahead of a major refit project has been hailed as a new chapter for the city's shipping industry.

The Azamara Pursuit docked at Harland and Wolff shipyards on Wednesday, where it will be berthed for the next four months while undergoing a complete internal renovation.

The entire project is being managed by Co Down-based marine fitout specialist MJM Group.

While the crew who accompanied the vessel on its two-week voyage from the Bahamas got a warm welcome from flag-waving Azamara colleagues on the dockside, the weather was not quite so hospitable - with biting cold rain and wind lashing the decks as they arrived at their temporary new home.

The luxury liner is managed by Azamara Club Cruises, a global brand of Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd.

Brian McConville, founder and chairman of Newry company MJM, said he hoped the Azamara Pursuit was the first of many liners to undergo a refit in Belfast.

"I am already working on potentially trying to secure the next couple of ships to come to Belfast," he said.

"This is a very historical day for Northern Ireland, the fact we have taken this ship back - this will hopefully rekindle the start of many, many great ships and shipping lines to come in here and get such contracts done in the future."

The Azamara Pursuit docking at Harland and Wolff shipyards ahead of undergoing a major refit at the Belfast docks. Picture: David Young/PA Wire

Jonathan Guest, a director at Harland and Wolff, welcomed the arrival of the ship.

"I think it's a great boon for the economy," he said.

"It's the first time a large-scale refit has been carried out in Northern Ireland and I think that's hugely significant."

He added: "Harland and Wolff has a great history of cruise ships and cruise ship building, but not so much in the refit side.

"So we hope this is a new chapter in the development of Harland and Wolff along with MJM in bringing cruise ship refits to Belfast and seeing where that can take us."

MJM will direct a team of around 800 workers during the most intense phases of the refit.

At the same time, the 600-plus crew that will staff the liner once the project is complete will be assembled and trained in Belfast prior to its end of July departure date.

Richard Twynam from Azamara Club Cruises said it was unprecedented in the cruise industry to hand an entire refit project to just one company.

"It's never been done before," he said.

"We are effectively making MJM from Newry an extension of our new build team for Royal Caribbean, so it's really exciting."

- PABy Olivia Kelleher

A former Lord Mayor of Cork has called on a triple rapist not to return to his native city following his release from prison on the grounds that women in the area have expressed fear about his presence in the local community.

In 2009 David Hegarty, then 32, from Mahon in Cork was jailed for 13 years for raping a young nurse in the early hours of May 22, 2008 close to a bus station in the city.

Mr Hegarty raped the woman just two years following his release from a 10-year sentence imposed in 2000 for raping two female students in Cork city centre in October 1998.

Mr Hegarty was released from Arbour Hill prison in February and is understood to be living on the streets in Dublin.

Sinn Fein councillor Chris O'Leary told the Opinion Line, on Cork's 96FM, that residents in Mahon are very concerned that he will return back to Leeside.

Former Lord Mayor of Cork Chris O'Leary

"We don't want him. I don't think any place will want him. An individual like this needs to be tagged on release from prison. People have contacted me. They are concerned that he would wish to return to the area. The big message I am getting is that people fear this individual returning to a community where he is not wanted.

We have heard the Government talk about tagging but they have failed to bring it in. People have the right to know that there is a dangerous individual and they should be alert to their activities.

Cllr O'Leary says that the presence of Hegarty in the community would effectively impose a self-enforced curfew on women and young girls arising out of fears for their safety.

Meanwhile, at the sentencing hearing in 2009 Mr Justice Carney said the attack on the nurse the previous year was particularly predatory and opportunistic."

He said that he considered life imprisonment in the case because "the women of Ireland have a constitutional right not to be raped."

Detective Garda John McDonagh said Hegartys victim was waiting outside the bus station in Cork at 5.30am on May 22, 2008 when he grabbed her around the neck from behind and dragged her a short distance away before raping her.

He was caught near the scene by Garda Aidan OMahony after a member of the public telephoned the gardai.

The victim told Mr Justice Carney: I will never forgive him for what he did and I will never forget it.

She said that Hegartys attack on her had totally changed my lifestyle and left her afraid to walk anywhere on her own. She had become suspicious of men and didnt feel safe on her own anymore.

The woman said she also suffered sleepless nights, needing indication to help her sleep at all and she was still having regular counselling.

Counselling is the only place where I can talk openly about what happened.

Hegarty said in evidence that he wished to apologise to her and say he was sorry. He added that he would wholeheartedly co-operate with any treatment he might be offered in prison.Britain has rejected a Russian call for it to be involved in the investigation into the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

Addressing an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, UK ambassador John Foggo said that the demand was a sign that Moscow was "nervous" of what the probe will find.

Mr Foggo accused Russia of showing "disdain" for the independence of the international body, which is conducting tests on samples of the nerve agent used in the March 4 attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia..

Moscow called the meeting of the OPCW's executive council to insist that its experts must be involved in the testing programme and to demand a joint UK/Russian investigation into what happened at Salisbury.

But Mr Foggo dismissed the move as "cynical", telling the meeting: "The work of the Technical Secretariat must remain impartial.

Russia's refusal to accept the results of the OPCW's investigation unless Russian experts participate in it suggests that Russia is opposed to the independence and impartiality of the Technical Secretariat and is nervous about what the results will show.

Mr Foggo said that Russia's statements displayed a "wilful ignorance" of the Chemical Weapons Convention and "disdain for the independence and competence" of the OPCW's Technical Secretariat.

"We will not agree to Russia's demand to conduct a joint investigation into the attack in Salisbury because the UK - supported by many other countries - has assessed that it is highly likely that the Russian State is responsible for this attack, and that there is no plausible alternative explanation," he said.

"There is no requirement in the Chemical Weapons Convention for a victim to engage the likely perpetrator in a joint investigation. To do so would be perverse."

The UK was backed by the European Union.

The UK was backed by the European Union, which reaffirmed its support for Britain's demand for answers from Russia on how the Novichok agent which it developed came to be used in Salisbury.

Speaking on behalf of the EU, Bulgarian ambassador Krassimir Kostov said: "We have full confidence in the UK investigation and laud UK's collaboration with the OPCW Technical Secretariat, in full compliance with the convention."

But the Russian Embassy in the Netherlands said that Moscow's position had won the support of 14 state parties in the OPCW meeting.

"We consider it's necessary to ensure that this problem is solved within the international legal framework using the full potential of the Chemical Weapons Convention," said the embassy.

Tension between Moscow and London has risen a notch after the head of the Porton Down military research facility said scientists had not verified Russia as the source of the substance used in the attack on the Skripals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin seized on the comments from the chief executive of the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Gary Aitkenhead, as he accused the UK of launching an "anti-Russian campaign".

Russia has flatly denied UK claims that it was to blame for the March 4 attack, with foreign intelligence service director Sergei Naryshkin even claiming it was staged by the UK and US as a "provocation".

Mr Naryshkin told a global security conference in Moscow: "Even as far as the Skripal case goes - which is a grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and US intelligence agencies - some European countries are in no hurry to follow London and Washington, preferring to sort the situation out."

Mr Foggo said that, rather than providing a "substantive response" to the UK's questions, Moscow had indulged in a series of at least 24 "shameless and preposterous" counter-narratives, many of which contradict one another.

He said Russia had shown "contempt" for the victims of the Khan Sheikhoun chemical weapon attack in Syria by calling the OPCW meeting on the first anniversary of the atrocity.

Moscow continues to demand that Britain hand over samples of the substance found in Salisbury so it can carry out its own checks.

But a Foreign Office spokesman said there was "no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator".

The spokesman described Wednesday's meeting in The Hague as "yet another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion".

He said: "Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack."

- PAA British police officer has been sacked for biting a woman's nose leaving her victim with permanent scarring.

Pc Rebecca Barnett was dismissed from Thames Valley Police following a disciplinary hearing which found that her off-duty actions amounted to gross misconduct.

Pc Barnett has previously pleaded guilty to a charge of GBH without intent in relation to the incident which happened on June 10 2017, in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

She will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on June 11.

A force spokesman said: "Whilst off duty, Pc Barnett became involved in an argument with a woman, and a scuffle ensued.

"Pc Barnett then grabbed the woman and bit her on the nose, causing a significant injury, which required surgery and has left the victim with permanent scarring."

Deputy Chief Constable John Campbell said: "Pc Barnett's actions were very much below the standards expected of an off-duty police officer.

"Barnett has been convicted of a violent offence and it would be completely unacceptable for her to continue in her duties protecting the public as a serving police officer."

- PAA Dutch lawyer who lied to federal agents investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 30 days in prison in the first punishment handed down in the special counsel's Russia investigation.

Alex van der Zwaan's sentence could set a guidepost for what other defendants charged with lying in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation may receive when their cases are resolved.

Among them are a former White House national security adviser and a Trump campaign foreign policy aide.

Van der Zwaan, 33, who was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine, had faced up to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, and his lawyers had pushed for him to pay a fine and leave the country.

But US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, citing the need to deter others from lying in an investigation of international importance, said incarceration was necessary.

"These were not mistakes. These were lies," Ms Jackson told van der Zwaan as he stood before her. Being able to "write a cheque and walk away," she added later, would not fit the seriousness of the crime or send the right message.

The criminal case against van der Zwaan is not directly related to Russian election interference, the main focus of Mr Mueller's probe. But it has revealed new details about the government's case against Mr Manafort and opened a window into the intersecting universes of international law, foreign consulting work and politics.

The case has also exposed connections between senior Trump campaign aides, including Rick Gates, and Russia. Just last week, the government disclosed that van der Zwaan and Mr Gates spoke during the 2016 presidential campaign with a man Mr Gates had previously described as having ties to the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency. Mr Gates is now cooperating with Mr Mueller.

US President Donald Trump.

During the hearing on Tuesday, van der Zwaan made only a brief statement, telling Ms Jackson, "Your Honour, what I did was wrong. I apologise to the court. I apologise to my wife."

Van der Zwaan, who was fired last year by the high-powered international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, admitted in February to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Mr Gates and the person with ties to Russian intelligence.

Van der Zwaan had previously grown close to Mr Manafort, Mr Gates and the person, Konstantin Kilimnik, during his work on a 2012 report commissioned by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice. The report, written by the law firm, was about the corruption trial of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Mr Kilimnik, who was born in Ukraine while it was a Soviet republic, has previously denied having any relation to Russian intelligence services.

Though prosecutors did not take a position on whether van der Zwaan should be locked up, they stressed that he had lied "repeatedly" to investigators. "This is not an isolated instance of bad judgment or criminal conduct," prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said.

Van der Zwaan's lawyers argued that he had suffered enough already. His life has been destroyed by his "terrible decision" to lie to federal authorities, they said. The lawyers pushed Ms Jackson to allow van der Zwaan to return to London, where he lives with his wife, who is going through a difficult pregnancy.

He has been here well over four months without a home, without his wife and without his family," his lawyer, William Schwartz, said. "He is literally in limbo.

Mr Schwartz stressed that his client had made the effort to return to the US to "correct the record" after he lied to the special counsel's office, though prosecutors took issue with the characterisation, noting that van der Zwaan was under a grand jury subpoena at the time.

Ms Jackson said she recognised that van der Zwaan has been away from his family for months, but the defence's attempts to paint him as a tragic figure did not ring true.

"This is not something that happened to him. He did not suffer unavoidable circumstances of tragedy. This is something he did," she said.

Jackson also said his signs of remorse were relatively "muted". He did not write a letter to the judge, as his family and friends did, and has not used his time in the US to perform community service or other good deeds to make up for his actions, she said.

In addition to the prison time and fine, Ms Jackson imposed two months of supervised released. She allowed him to voluntarily surrender to prison authorities.

- PAThe Labour party in the UK has accused the British Government of rushing to blame Vladimir Putin for the Salisbury nerve agent attack, after scientists at Porton Down said they had not verified that the substance came from Russia.

The development ratcheted up tensions between Moscow and London on the day of an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, called by Russia to discuss the case.

Mr Putin seized on the comments from the chief executive of the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Gary Aitkenhead, as he accused the UK of launching an "anti-Russian campaign".

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Aitkenhead said on Tuesday that the lab had identified the substance used to attack former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia as a military-grade Novichok nerve agent which could probably be deployed only by a nation-state.

But he told Sky News it was not Porton Down's role to work out where the agent came from and said the Government's conclusion that it was highly likely to be Russian was based on "a number of other sources".

His comments appeared to contradict the answer given by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson when he was asked recently on German TV why the UK believed the source of the nerve agent was Russia.

"The people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical," Mr Johnson said. "I asked them that myself. I said: 'Are you sure?' He said: 'There's no doubt'."

And on March 22, the Foreign Office issued a tweet saying: "Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia."

Diane Abbott.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said the development raised questions about the Government's approach, and said Jeremy Corbyn should now be given credit for demanding more evidence before allocating blame.

"It doesn't surprise me Porton Down is saying this because the security services were always very cautious in what they said," Ms Abbott told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

What surprised me was that so many were willing to rush into the media and say it was unequivocally Putin. That's not necessarily what we were told.

Ms Abbott acknowledged that Prime Minister Theresa May had been "quite careful" in her language, but added: "Boris Johnson apparently going on international media and saying he was 101% certain it was Putin - I don't understand where he got that information from."

Mr Putin called for a thorough investigation into the poisoning during a visit to Turkey, saying that "the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes bewilderment".

Following Mr Aitkenhead's comments, a Government spokesman said ministers had always been clear that the identification of the substance as Novichok by the Porton Down experts was "only one part of the intelligence picture" leading to the assessment that Russian state involvement was the only plausible explanation for the attack.

But Russia's EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov insisted that the nerve agent "could have been manufactured anywhere".

Russian news agency Tass quoted Mr Chizhov as saying he was "not surprised" by Mr Aitkenhead's comments, as Novichok "is widely known - its formula is even available on the internet".

"It means that it could have been manufactured anywhere, provided its manufacturers had a fairly equipped laboratory and the skills of chemistry students," said Mr Chizhov. "So it is only natural that its origin cannot be identified."

Russia is expected to restate its denial of responsibility at Wednesday's meeting of the OPCW's executive council behind closed doors in The Hague.

The Foreign Office dismissed the meeting as a "diversionary tactic" by Moscow.

"Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack.

"Of course, there is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator.

"This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion."

- PAA furniture shop owner has appeared in court charged with causing an explosion which injured more than 30 people.

Pascal Blasio, 56, of Gillingham in Kent, appeared at Wirral Magistrates' Court in Birkenhead on Wednesday charged with causing an explosion likely to endanger life or injure property after the blast in New Ferry on March 25 last year.

Blasio, director of the Homes in Style shop on Bebington Road, New Ferry, was given unconditional bail and ordered to appear at Liverpool Crown Court on May 2.

He wore a brown leather jacket with a sheepskin collar and a striped scarf and spoke to confirm his name and address.

About 20 members of the public were also in court for the short hearing, including Lewis Jones, 21, who was seriously injured in the explosion.

Representatives for company Contract Natural Gas, based in Harrogate, Yorkshire, also appeared in court charged with failing to discharge general health and safety duty to a person other than an employee.

The company is accused of failing to ensure the redundant live gas service to the furniture store was disconnected after a meter was removed.

District Judge John McGarva also sent the case to Liverpool Crown Court on May 2.

No pleas were entered to the charges.

Thirty-three people were injured, two seriously, and several buildings collapsed in the explosion.

The blast, which happened at 9.15pm on a Saturday, destroyed a dance studio where children had been just an hour before and blew in the front of a Chinese restaurant.

Wirral South MP Alison McGovern has called for "urgent" regeneration of the area since the explosion more than a year ago.

In a statement released on the anniversary of the blast, she said: "New Ferry is in urgent need of regeneration and there are still a lot of empty buildings blighting the town.

However, I do believe that with the determination that has been shown by everybody in New Ferry that we will get there and it will come back from this stronger if we continue to pull together.

Regeneration plans for the area were submitted to the Government by Wirral Council in December in the hope of securing financial support for the scheme and the authority has since been asked to provide more information on the level of resources needed.

A council spokesman said: "We have received no guarantees from the Government that they are able to provide any financial assistance, but council officers, the council leader, the local MP and the Metro Mayor are all committed to maintaining dialogue with ministers on this crucial issue and the council's own commitment to helping to build a better New Ferry in the short and long term is unwavering."

He said the council had spent 350,000 so far on the recovery effort following the explosion.

- PADigital disruption in finance is being exploited by criminals seeking to launder illicit cash, which underlines the need for banks to work closely with authorities, financial intelligence agency Austrac says.

The chief executive of Austrac, Nicole Rose, on Wednesday said the regulator was looking to forge deeper partnerships with banks, which the agency regards as a vital line of defence against money laundering and terrorism financing.

Austrac CEO Nicole Rose says banks and authorities need to work together to fight money laundering. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

The push for closer ties comes after Austrac last year launched explosive legal action against the Commonwealth Bank alleging a mass breach of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing laws, which the CBA claims took it by complete surprise.

Ms Rose said it would not be appropriate to comment on the case, which is before the courts. But she said Austrac did not generally seek to spring surprises on banks, and the agency disagreed with CBAs version of events on this issue.For a nation of just 25 million people, Australia punches above its weight in sport, science and medicine. But when it comes to success overseas, many of our biggest companies are falling short.

From QBE Insurance Group to National Australia Bank, corporate Australia has burnt through at least $6.1 billion in offshore losses and writedowns in less than two years. In the UK, Wesfarmers is reviewing the future of its unprofitable Bunnings home-improvements business after wiping $1 billion from the unit's value in February.

Bunnings owner Wesfarmers has written down $1 billion on its UK business. Credit:Patrick Scala

Confidence, irreverence and a refusal to conform -- traits that have arguably defined Australians for centuries -- may be partly to blame, say behaviour analysts and business consultants. Those characteristics, nurtured in a rather small and remote consumer market, can leave companies ill-prepared to compete offshore.

"There are some cultural factors at play -- Australians are more individualistic than most other people and we're less enamoured of authority," said Conor Wynn, who's studying behavioural change at Monash University's BehaviourWorks research body in Melbourne. "Just because you dominate the market here doesn't mean that's going to translate into a winning formula overseas."1. Yes. Several other districts factor them in. It would provide a more complete picture.

2. Yes. Theyre not as accurate, but they can be useful in spotting a trend in infections.

3. No. The district is keeping tabs on those numbers, so the public doesnt need to.

4. No. As long as the public health district is aware of those stats, thats all that matters.

5. Unsure. The district isnt obligated to include them, but it might be helpful.

Vote

View ResultsRupert Murdoch ratcheted up the pressure on Britain to approve his $US15 billion ($18.9 billion) -plus bid for pay-TV group Sky by offering to sell or legally separate Sky News, aiming to head off objections the deal could give him too much political influence.

Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox said on Tuesday that Walt Disney Co was interested in buying Sky News. Alternatively, Fox said, Sky News could be legally separated within the Sky group.

Rupert Murdoch has been trying for years to get the Sky deal over the line. He doesn't give up now.

Even if Fox's proposals satisfy Britain's government and competition regulator, however, it may still need to raise its recommended offer for Sky after US cable group Comcast Corp said it intended to make a higher counter-bid.With an entourage costing almost a quarter of a million dollars a night to accommodate, you could never accuse Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of travelling light.

The 32-year-old son of King Salman has booked all 285 rooms at Los Angeles' luxurious Four Seasons Hotel - and another 40 at the nearby L'Ermitage to handle the overflow - for the duration of his stay in LA this week.

Both hotels sell rooms upwards at around the $US550-$600 ($715-$780) mark, meaning the bedrooms alone are costing around US$190,000 a night, excluding the cost of top-tier suites, such as the Four Seasons' US$10,000 a night presidential suites, and other expenses.

The week's hottest ticket was dinner at Rupert Murdoch's Bel Air mansion on Monday night, an invitation-only chance for Hollywood's most powerful players to press the flesh with one of the world's deepest pairs of pockets.Things moved fast on the first episode of Channel Ten's Bachelor in Paradise. "I just want somebody to love me for me," earnestly declared a contestant on a reality relationship show cynically contrived to smash together pungent personalities on national television.

The Fiji resort cocktail bar was permanently open, plunging necklines were an option for both men and women, and a previous assignation was explained with the timeless phrase, "you get smashed and things happen".

These things  which include tears, arguments, cheerful exhortations to "get in there", viewers grimacing that someone actually got in there, a dash of lesbian kissing, and enough waterfall foreplay scenes to satisfy the hardiest Cocktail devotee  are going to happen because Channel Nine's Married at First Sight is now the leading free-to-air television show in Australia.

It has set the trend for the year to come and perhaps longer, with its built-to-be-bonkers mix of perpetual relationship crises.Australian actor Eric Bana will play 'Dirty John' Meehan in a television adaptation of the podcast Dirty John.

The formation and subsequent disintegration of Meehan's relationship with 59-year-old California woman Debra Newell was the subject of the hit podcast, which was released last October and downloaded 10 million times in just six weeks.

The podcast's author, Los Angeles Times reporter Christoper Goffard, described the story as "a cautionary tale about the ways that a sociopath, like a predator, can find the victim and tell these victims exactly what they want to hear."Judges on a popular British cooking show are being ridiculed for ignorance of Asian food after insisting a Malaysian contestant's chicken rendang curry should have been crispy.

Foodies in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have taken to social media to vent at the critique of the Malaysian-born cook's traditional and standard method for preparing chicken rendang.

"The skin isn't crispy. It can't be eaten but all the sauce is on the skin I can't eat," one of the MasterChef UK judges complained in a recent episode of the show.

Online, Southeast Asians pointed out that the chicken is cooked in curry sauce, not fried, and is never crispy. Some accused the judges of neo-colonial attitudes and racism.A young Bundeena fisherman in a tinny reeled in a 3.28-metre bull shark during a tug-of-war that lasted for four hours in Port Hacking.

Kai George, 16, with the bull shark on a sand bar at Lilli Pilli before the shark was released.

Kai George, 16, was helped by friends Daniel Vergitos and Lachie Dick as the shark towed his boat 4.2 kilometres from Lilli Pilli to Yowie Bay and Gymea Bay and close to the North West Arm entrance.

The group were shocked at the size of the shark, which they released after taking photos and videos.The distraught father of a young Aboriginal man who died in prison is urging the ACT government to open an inquiry into his son's death.

Matt Hogan is haunted by the death of his 23-year-old son Jonathon, who died by hanging inside Junee prison, NSW, on February 3 this year.

Matt Hogan, who is holding a photo of Jonathon, wants a public inquiry into his son's death. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Jonathon had a history of substance abuse and mental health issues, and had absconded from the mental health unit at Canberra Hospital before his incarceration at Junee.

He had been taken to Canberra Hospital's mental health unit last year after he was arrested in the ACT for property offences and had self-harmed in police custody.The man was seen wearing a tracksuit, a cap and fingerless gloves. He climbed into a box on the bridge and at one stage appeared to be shouting at police officers below. He was arrested on the bridge framework just before 10am. All lanes across the bridge were reopened and traffic had returned to normal by 11am, but there were heavy delays across the city during the police operation. Shortly before his arrest, the man climbed out of the box where he had been sheltering and yelled down towards the police on the road: "Get out of the f---ing car!"

He then moved towards two police rescue officers on the bridge structure and was arrested. Two Special Operations Team paramedics had also climbed the bridge to help police. The man was handcuffed and led down to the bridge's elevator. At the bottom, he was put on a stretcher and put into the back of a waiting ambulance. He was assessed at the scene by paramedics before being taken to St Vincent's Hospital for further assessment, an ambulance spokesman said. A man sits in a box in the framework of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as police negotiate with him. He was arrested shortly before 10am. Credit:Kate Geraghty Superintendent Michael Fitzgerald said traffic lanes on the bridge had been closed, "not only for the safety of that individual but for the safety of the travelling public".

"It was incredibly dangerous. I was seriously concerned for the travelling public, travelling underneath him. I did not want him to fall and come into contact with an innocent member of the public travelling beneath him," he said. Superintendent Fitzgerald said "significant charges" would be laid against the man once a mental health assessment was completed. Today's operation was very sensitive, demanding a great deal of police resources. The scenario was constantly changing, and police responded to these changes quickly and efficiently. We worked as hard as possible to get this resolved peacefully without injury and we appreciate the co-operation of all agencies involved.

We also thank the media who have been sensitive to the man's situation in their reporting of the incident, he said. He said police would review bridge security with the Roads and Maritime Services. Traffic delayed Earlier, citybound traffic was significantly delayed with traffic queued on the M2 back to North Epping, on Victoria Road past Ryde, and the City-West Link past Haberfield. Traffic was also heavy on the Eastern Distributor, Southern Cross Drive and General Holmes Drive.

Police stand on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during a police operation on Wednesday morning. Credit:Kate Geraghty The Cahill Expressway was closed northbound, and traffic was being diverted into the Harbour Tunnel, the spokeswoman said. Citybound traffic was reduced to a 40km/h speed limit. The North Shore Line, Northern Line and Western Line trains across the bridge were unaffected by the police operation. Buses travelling across the bridge had been delayed by up to 70 minutes, and there were also delays for buses on Victoria Road, the Anzac Bridge and the Western Distributor.

Traffic is banked up and passengers wait for buses on Victoria Road due to the ongoing police operation on the Harbour Bridge. Credit:Daniel Adams Some buses travelling towards the city from the north shore were terminating at north shore stations so passengers could catch trains into the city, the TMC spokeswoman said, but following the conclusion of the police operation buses were returning to their normal routes. The pedestrian footpaths and bike lane on the Harbour Bridge remained open throughout the operation, the TMC spokeswoman said. Support is available for those who may be distressed by phoning Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636.Queensland's so-called billionaire tradie has walked from court a free man after pleading guilty to possession of MDMA, meth and valium.

Phillip Johnathan Harrison made international headlines two years ago when his lawyer told a court he had almost $600 million in the bank and was worth as much as $12 billion all up.

Phillip Johnathon Harrison walks out of the Supreme Court of Queensland on Wednesday.

He was caught with more than 10 grams of MDMA and meth while driving a stolen white Audi, which he told police had been "given to him" on March 25, 2016.

Police described him as agitated, with dilated pupils, but it was what happened in court the next morning that caught the attention of people around the country.An Australian property developer who spent more than $80 million buying riverfront land in West End has promised more public space in its revised $500 million apartment project.

R&F Property Australia purchased a 1.6-hectare site of riverfront land between Hockings and Donkin Street in September 2015 for $82.5 million.

R&F Property Australia has released new plans for its $500 million West End development.

The land had been owned by PointCorp, who had purchased it for $25.5 million in May 2014.

There is a current Brisbane City Council approval for seven buildings and 981 apartments on the site, but on Wednesday R&F Property Australia senior development manager Rodney Chadwick announced a new masterplan specifically focusing on open riverside space.Prince Charles and his wife Camilla have been welcomed to Australia, with their first official event during the royal visit for the Commonwealth Games.

But the royal couple has been in the country for a number of days, spending time with friends in regional New South Wales before their arrival in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Prince Charles is greeted by members of the public during a visit to Brisbane. Credit:AAP/Dan Peled

The Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall, who was wearing a pale green lace dress by Fiona Clare and a Philip Treacy hat, were greeted at Old Government House at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane's CBD on Wednesday about 1pm, with the royal guard of honour standing to attention on the lawn.

They were met at the door to Old Government House by Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynne Cosgrove, with Home Minister Peter Dutton and his wife Kirilly, and High Court Justice Susan Kiefel also entering the building, as the waiting crowd of onlookers shouted out welcome!2. 1967: The young prince returned to Australia to represent his mother at the funeral of Prime Minister Harold Holt, who disappeared while swimming.

1. 1966: Visited Australia for the first time as a schoolboy, spending two terms at Timbertop, the rural campus of Victoria's Geelong Grammar School.

Prince Charles is making his 16th visit to Australia for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Prince Charles arrives at the memorial service for Harold Holt. Credit:Fairfax Media

3. 1970: Prince Charles accompanied his mother the Queen, his father Prince Philip and his sister Princess Anne on the Royal Tour of Australasia. The family visited the Royal Easter Show while in Sydney.

4. 1974: The Prince went for a dip at the famous Bondi Beach while in the country to open the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Springs with then prime minister Gough Whitlam.

5. 1977: Visited Australia as Patron of the Queen's Silver Jubilee Appeal for Young Australians.

6. 1978: The Prince, representing his mother, attended the funeral of Sir Robert Menzies in Melbourne.

7. 1979: In one of his more memorable visits as a young bachelor, Prince Charles was ambushed in the surf at Cottesloe Beach by Perth model Jane Priest who stole a quick kiss.EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

The Catholic Church in Australia faces a pivotal moment in its history, with an official search now underway to replace long-serving Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart.

Senior Catholic sources have told The Age that a highly secretive selection process is near completion, with Pope Francis to have the final say on Archbishop Harts successor.

Archbishop Denis Hart will be 77 next month. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

The process is meant to be subject to pontifical secret  an order made by the Vatican under canon law which imposes silence  so is not meant to be discussed.Prince Charles being greeted by members of the public in Brisbane. Credit:AAP

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says he is almost 100 per cent certain that Prince Charles never told Paul Keating he favoured Australia becoming a republic.

Australias revived republic row spilled into the British news cycle on Wednesday, with monarchist Downer and republican former prime minister Julia Gillard giving their views on the influential Today program on BBC Radio 4.

They were asked about Paul Keatings comments in a short column he wrote for the Sunday Times, in which he said he had no doubt Prince Charles believes Australia should be free of the British monarchy and that it should make its own way in the world.

The claim has set off a political row, with ex-PM Tony Abbott Tweeting Prince Charles would just want to do his duty and he shouldn't be verballed by an ex-PM.Kate Coates, the general manager of AGL Macquarie, at Liddell plant last year. Credit:Janie Barrett Delta expressed interest in the power station late last year but did not engage in any due diligence because AGL insisted the asset was not for sale. While AGL offered a tour of the facility to journalists last September, it has not offered any access for potential bidders. Mr Everett, who is familiar with Liddell from his time as chief executive of Delta when it was owned by the NSW government, has previously said there was a reasonable chance of extending the life of the power station beyond 2022. People can see that theres room for a productive asset as long as its productive, he said.

The first thing youd want to check is the safety issues. Youd also be wanting to make sure that the structural aspects of the plant are still sound. Delta, a private company, operates the Vales Point coal-fired generator in the same region of NSW as Liddell. A key concern is the way the Liddell shares access to water and coal with the neighbouring Bayswater power plant, also owned by AGL. Critics of Mr Vesey claim his plan to shut Liddell aims to use the subsequent shortage of reliable baseload power to boost the price AGL gets for the coal-fired electricity from Bayswater, boosting the companys profits. Mr Everett said due diligence could only start if AGL agreed to consider bids.

Thats the trigger. They have to say its for sale and, if it is, they have to facilitate the sale through due diligence and shared arrangements, he said. AGL issued a cautious response to the new interest in its asset from Alinta. "AGL is relying on Liddell to generate power for our customers until 2022 and we will require its infrastructure for our replacement plans into the future," an AGL spokesman told Fairfax Media. "AGL received an approach from Alinta last night expressing an interest in entering negotiations to acquire the Liddell Power Station. No formal offer has been received. "Should a formal offer for Liddell be received, it would be given consideration in order to meet our obligations to customers and shareholders."

Mr Turnbull ramped up the pressure on AGL on Wednesday morning, saying it was in the public interest for Liddell to stay online. "AGL should do the right thing by their customers, by the community, and I think by their own shareholders, and either keep this plant going for another four or five years or sell it to somebody who is prepared to do so. It's manifestly in the public's interest that that happens," Mr Turnbull said. "I really welcome the offer from Alinta - that's a very credible energy company. I know

there's another Australian company that's expressed interest, Delta." He said there was no request or need for government subsidies to facilitate the extension of the plant's operational life. Liberal backbenchers pressuring Mr Turnbull over energy policy have welcomed the government's efforts to push AGL into selling the ageing Liddell station.

Western Sydney Liberal MP Craig Kelly backed the proposed sale to Alinta and said there was no need for government subsidies to incentivise it. "I don't think there's any need for subsidies. I believe, firstly, that AGL have to agree to sell it," Mr Kelly said, warning of the impact on energy supply and prices if the plant closes. He also dismissed the suggestion that Liddell continuing beyond 2022 would eliminate the need for a new station to be built. "Liddell will still have to be replaced. Keeping it open is only going to be a patchwork job  any upgrade will mean it will last another five or ten years. It needs to be replaced entirely in the long term. But in the meantime, the current wholesale energy price is still unacceptably high and that's why we need additional baseload generation to get that price down." Liberal senator Eric Abetz said the push for AGL to seel was "absolutely the right move" and expressed a hope it would succeed.

Asked if it would mean a government-funded station was no longer necessary, he said "hopefully" but maintained that all options needed to be on the table. Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg ruled out the possibility of financial support or incentives to encourage the sale. We are not looking to provide financial assistance to Alinta but rather create the environment where the parties can have a constructive discussion about the sale of Liddell, Mr Frydenberg told Fairfax Media. Alinta is likely to put forward an official offer at the end of April and wants to take control by September. If a sale were to occur, it would not be the first joint coal-fired power station partnership between Alinta and AGL.Beijing: China has hit back strongly at US President Donald Trump's trade threats, announcing a $US50 billion ($65 billion) punitive package that will slap an extra 25 per cent tariff on American soybeans, cars, planes and chemicals.

The move is likely to hit car plants and farmers in the President's voter base. China is the world's largest soybean importer, and buys about 60 per cent of the US soy crop, making it, at $US14 billion, the most valuable US agricultural export to China.

China is also the world's largest car market, and Mr Trump had been seeking greater access for American automakers, which already faced a 25 per cent tariff. A quarter of Boeing aircraft are sold to China.

Soybeans being harvested in Illinois, US. China is the world's largest importer of soybeans. Credit:Bloomberg

The retaliation comes after Washington, hours earlier, had named the 1300 Chinese products it proposes to hit with a 25 per cent tariff under the $US50 billion package first announced by Mr Trump a fortnight ago.London: Jeremy Corbyn's decision to celebrate Passover with Jewdas, a self-described radical leftist Jewish group, has been heavily criticised in Britain, where his opposition Labour Party has been accused of tolerating anti-Semitism.

The group's very name  a play on Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ  is a provocation, one that has angered many of those encountering the group for the first time. Some critics say that Jewdas' name, and antics, risk stoking age-old myths and hatreds that have led to anti-Semitic violence.

Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Credit:PA

Created in London more than a decade ago, Jewdas is a group of left-wing activists who are at odds with most of Britain's mainstream Jewish organisations. Its members say they are opposed to capitalism and fascism, but the group may be best known for its vociferous criticisms of Israel and its policies toward Palestinians.

"It's a radical diaspora Jewish group that has taken an explicitly non-Zionist stance, alongside satirising the many absurdities of the British Jewish community and throwing excellent parties," according to a founder of the group, Joseph Finlay.Latest News Resimac turnaround times down to 1-2 days, cuts interest rate Turnaround times now 1-2 days, 15pts shaved off home loan rate at big lender

60% of customers think banks are doing well on customer hardship Survey reveals that Aussies back the banks to help them through the pandemic

Property in Australia will soon be available online alongside groceries, household items and clothing.

A new partnership in China could see international investors shopping for property on retail site JD.com, before completing the sale with the countrys largest real estate agent for international properties, Juwai.

It is hoped the partnership will make it easier for JD.coms 292.5 million customers to research and buy property online.

Juwai currently showcases more than 2.8 million listings from 90 countries, but will be focusing on Chinas four most sought after countries to live in.

Customers will be able to view real estate listings on the website for the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and Canada. Once theyve expressed their interest in the property, Juwai will step in and get in touch to move forward with the purchase or to help with further queries.

Carrie Law, CEO of Juwai, said: We are truly excited to be launching this partnership with JD.com, which is not just one of Chinas but one of the globes most advanced commerce and e-commerce companies.

This partnership with JD.com is incredibly innovative and exciting on one level, but on a deeper level it simply represents Juwai.com continuing to fulfill its core mission of helping Chinese become global residents and investors.

Juwai has also recently teamed up with Australian real estate platform Ironfish, becoming the latters exclusive marketing partner in China. This gives the company an extra reach of the 2.2million monthly users currently signed up on Juwai online.

Ironfish CEO and founder, Joseph Chou, said: Chinese buyers have an active interest in Australian property and the evidence suggests they are still Australias largest foreign buyer group. This partnership helps us provide our services to an underserved group that we know can benefit from it.

Related stories:Latest News Resimac turnaround times down to 1-2 days, cuts interest rate Turnaround times now 1-2 days, 15pts shaved off home loan rate at big lender

60% of customers think banks are doing well on customer hardship Survey reveals that Aussies back the banks to help them through the pandemic

Many of Australias small businesses would collapse were it not for mortgage brokers, says a brokerage specialising in business finance.

According to the Managing Director of Auswise Finance Pty Ltd, Paul Boyd-Skinner, Australias small business sector is relying more and more on mortgage brokers for assistance in tough times because of a lack of support from their bank.

The Gold Coast-based brokerage is now trying to encourage SMEs to go in a different direction to traditional banking.

Some of the companys clients are faced with selling their family home and breaking up their business due to a lack of finance options.

One manufacturing business client had been placed into a Deed of Company Arrangement as they owed the Australian Taxation Office $300,000 as well as money to creditors, all while an administrator was charging them $20,000 per month.

Boyd-Skinner, whose firm specialises in non-bank and alternative business finance, said he was able to help them by using equity in the business directors home to obtain a short-term mortgage through a private lender.

After six months he was able to refinance the home and pay back the private lender through alternative finance solutions.

He said: The business clients I deal with can be at any level from start up, established businesses to a business that looks like they are going under. Our aim is to provide SMEs with the peace of mind to focus on their day to day business activity without carrying the burden of finance related stress.

Sometimes we need to think outside of the banking arena and segregate facilities to other non-bank specialist providers.

Related stories:Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC

Heres listening to you, kid!

A Park Slope piano prodigy will debut three of his original tunes at a concert with the Regina Opera Company this weekend. The Companys 48th Annual Gala Concert on April 8 will feature a collection of famous arias, Broadway tunes, and the world premiere of three songs from 12-year-old Julian Raheb. The preteen pianist blooms while in front of a keyboard, said Reginas chairwoman.

Hes shy except for when you put him in front of a piano, said Francine Garber. The keys fly off cause hes so skilled.

Raheb has played piano with Regina before, but the concert this Saturday will mark the first time the company has performed the work of the junior composer.

His songs include a piano and flute duet, which Raheb will play alongside flutist Richard Paratley; a second piece with lyrics taken from the Langston Hughes poem I, too, with the pint-sized pianist accompanying soprano Courteney Wilds; and a third, orchestral tune based on the apocalyptic poem Fire and Ice by Robert Frost. Raheb will also play a short piece by Chopin during the concert.

Raheb said he is most excited to hear his song of ice and fire performed by the company.

I think the music I wrote really matched the poem, said Raheb. When I hear that poem, I can picture it in my mind.

The first time he heard Frosts poem, said Raheb, he was inspired to set it to music. His compositions begin with straight-forward tunes, he said.

Usually I think of a simple melody, and then I harmonize it, he said.

Garber describes Raheb as a prodigy, and said she was surprised the first time she heard his original compositions.

I thought it was remarkable a young person wrote all that music, she said, recalling the first time she heard his original songs. For a young person, his music is quite interesting and melodic.

She played Rahebs music for the companys orchestra without telling them who wrote it. They liked the tunes, she said, and were blown away when they found out that 12-year-old Raheb was the boy behind the notes.

Raheb, who credits Chopin and Bach as influences, developed his songwriting skills with help from the New York Philharmonics Very Young Composers Program, according to his father Jeff. The younger Raheb dreams of someday playing solo in that famed concert hall, but said that for now, he is happy to finally showcase his own songs for a Brooklyn audience.

I like other people hearing my music, said Raheb. I see what I accomplished and all the hard work I put into it.

Regina Opera Companys 48th Anniversary Gala Concert at Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help school auditorium (5902 Sixth Ave., between 59th and 60th streets in Sunset Park, (718) 2592772, www.regin aoper a.org ). April 8 at 3 pm. $15 ($13 in advance).Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC

They followed in his footsteps.

Hundreds of devout Catholics processed across the Brooklyn Bridge behind a massive wooden cross on Friday to commemorate the final journey Jesus took before the Romans crucified him.

Many participants in the 23rd-annual Way of the Cross march started their Good Friday  the day Jesus died, according to the Bible  at Downtowns Cathedral Basilica of Saint James, where they began their journey alongside such esteemed clergymen as Brooklyns top Catholic, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, and his colleague Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who heads the Archdiocese of New York, before walking over the boroughs namesake span and picking up more celebrants along the way, according to a marcher.

Its beautiful to see people literally from all walks of life in New York City, said Christopher Vath, a member of the Catholic faith-based group Communion and Liberation, which stages the event each year. We had a good crowd.

Vath directed a roughly 30-person choir that marched behind other Communion and Liberation officials as they led the more than 1,000-person procession over the bridge, stopping five times along the way to sing traditional hymns such as What Wondrous Live is This as well as folk and other Easter songs, he said.

We sort of mix it up, its a good mix, Vath said.

The event preceding Easter Sunday concluded at another Roman Catholic house of worship on the distant isle of Manhattan, after the last of the celebrants stepped off the span in the outer borough.Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC

88th Precinct

Fort GreeneClinton Hill

Subway scoundrel

A knave socked a senior in the face inside a train station near Flatbush Avenue on March 27, police said.

The 67-year-old victim told police she was waiting for a subway near Fulton Street at about 7 pm when the nogoodnik punched her in the right side of her face and then fled, according to authorities.

Employee revenge

Some crook broke into a storage facility inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard sometime overnight on March 20 and stole a bunch of tools, cops said.

The baddie smashed the glass security gate with a rock to get into the facility on Flushing Avenue sometime between March 29 at about 6 am and the next day a little before 7 am, police said.

The cur, who could have been a former employee fired two months ago, swiped thousands worth of tools, including a hammer and drill, and spray painted a bunch of clothing and food containers, according to authorities.

Bye, bye, bicycle

A baddie stole a guys electric bike parked on Fulton Street while he was making deliveries on March 26, police said.

The 33-year-old victim told cops he was out making deliveries on his Arrow-9 Electric bike when he locked it up to a rack near Washington Avenue at about 3 pm. But when he came back out about 20 minutes later, it was gone, according to authorities.

Pick-pocketing in the park

A scoundrel swiped a teens cellphone from his pant pocket near Fort Greene Park on March 29, police said.

The 15-year-old told police he was walking near DeKalb Avenue at about 3:45 pm when the creep followed him and snatched his iPhone from his back pocket and then ran into the green space toward Myrtle Avenue.

The baddie told the teen he had a gun but didnt display one, according to authorities.

Grab and go

A snake snatched a womans headphones from her head while on a moving train near Fulton Street, police said.

The malefactor grabbed the 23-year-old victims Beats Solo headphones from her head on the Manhattan-bound C train near Washington Avenue at about 10:20 am, cops said. Transit authorities detained the jerk at the Fulton Street station, but he fled, according to authorities.

 Julianne CubaSign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC

72nd Precinct

Sunset ParkWindsor Terrace

Sunset Park Five

Police arrested a pack of five suspects who they say severely beat up a man on Third Avenoe March 31 and then barricaded themselves inside a motorcycle hangout when police arrived.

The man was between 57th and 58th streets at around 7:15 am when the suspects beat him up, breaking his eye socket, before stealing $300, a gold chain, and a wrist watch, cops allege.

Crashing while drunk

Cops cuffed a woman who allegedly crashed into three parked cars while driving drunk on 59th Street on March 25.

The woman crashed into the cars between Third and Fourth avenues just after 8:45 pm, and police arrested her shortly after, according to the police report.

Purse snatcher

Police arrested a man who they say stole a womans purse with her credit and debit cards inside from the counter of an Eighth Avenue store on March 26.

The man allegedly grabbed the bag from the store at 60th Street at around 11:30 am, and police arrested him later that same day.

Bounced

A lout swindled a 31st Street resident out of $1,700 on March 19 when he wrote her a bogus check  and then requested she wire some of the money back to him, she reported to police on March 26.

The woman, who lives between Fourth and Fifth avenues, told police she received the faux check for $2,450 for a business deal, and the perp contacted her soon after claiming he wrote the check for more money than he meant to, and requested she wire the difference of $1,719 to him in return. The woman did, but two days later, the original check bounced, cops said.

Phoned in the theft

A thief stole a package with a Samsung S9 phone inside that was delivered to a 49th Street home on March 23, the resident reported on March 26.

The package was delivered to the address between Fourth and Fifth avenues, and the homeowners blurry camera footage shows the robber grabbing the package and taking off, according to the report.

Corner store

Police arrested a woman who they say was loitering on Third Avenue to prostitute herself on March 28.

The woman was waiting at 59th Street around 10 am, when she offered one male passerby oral sex for $10, according to the report, and police arrested her later the same day.

Stick attack

A brute attacked a man with a stick on Fifth Avenue on March 29, causing a minor laceration to his nose and cheek, and swelling to his lip.

The brute attacked the man between 40th and 41st streets, and the man refused medical attention, police said.

Drunk driver

Police arrested a man who they say drove drunk on the Prospect Expressway on March 29.

Officers saw the man making lane changes without using his signal at the Gowanus Expressway around 2:30 am. When they pulled him over, he admitted he had had a few cocktails, and his Breathalyzer test showed his blood alcohol content was just over the legal limit, according to the police report.

One-two-three-four punch

Cops cuffed a man who they say punched a man in the face four times on Fourth Avenue on March 30 for not giving him a dollar.

Authorities the victim was at 57th Street just after 6 am when the suspect approached him from behind and commanded that he hand over a dollar. When the victim refused, the suspect socked him in the face four times, breaking his eye glasses in the process, cops said.

The victim suffered substantial pain, bruising, and swelling, according to officers.

 Julianne McShaneCognizant Technology Solutions has got a breather with the Madras High Court directing the company on Tuesday, April 3, to place 15 per cent of the income tax demand of around Rs 2,800 crore in a suspense account. In a release early in the morning (India time) on Wednesday, April 4, the company said that the court granted Cognizant's application for a stay of the actions of the Indian Income Tax Department (ITD) and a lifting of the department's attachment of Cognizant's bank accounts. As part of the stay order, Cognizant will deposit $75 million (Rs 4.9 billion), representing 15 per cent of the disputed tax amount, in a suspense account by the ITD, with the remainder marked under lien. The court further granted the request of Cognizant to address the ITD's collection actions and scheduled a hearing later in April 2018. Business Today learns, it is scheduled for April 18.

"Our operations remain unaffected," said Karen McLoughlin, Chief Financial Officer, Cognizant and added: "This dispute is with respect to a lawful, fully reviewed and disclosed transaction, and we are pleased with today's decision that restores appropriate due process. Cognizant is committed to complying with the law in all jurisdictions in which we operate, and we will continue our defense against the assertions of the Indian Income Tax Department in this and other tax disputes."

Giving the background to the case, the company says, "The underlying dispute involves the Indian Income Tax Department's recent assertion that it is owed additional taxes in connection with a 2016 $2.8 billion share buyback transaction undertaken by Cognizant's principal operating subsidiary in India. In that transaction, undertaken pursuant to a plan approved by the Madras High Court, Cognizant paid approximately $135 million (Rs 9 billion) in Indian income taxes, which it believes are all applicable taxes owed according to Indian law."A CAG report tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday slammed the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government for not constructing a single toilet under the Swachh Bharat Scheme since its inception in October 2, 2014. The report poses a question over Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) election promise of constructing two lakh toilets in Delhi. That around Rs 40 crore released for making toilets under the Mission remains unutilised shows the Delhi government did not give "adequate importance" to the Swachh Bharat Mission Scheme, says the report.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report named 'Social, General and Economic Sectors (Non-Public Sector Undertakings)' for the year 2016-17 says not a single toilet was constructed under the mission in two and half years since the inception of the Swachh Bharat mission.

The Centre had launched the Swachh Bharat Mission on October 2, 2014, with 25 per cent state share to improve sanitation and cleanliness in the country. Experts say the Modi government's vision to eliminate open defecation by October 2, 2019, could remain just a dream if similar trend is seen in other states as well.

As per Census-2011 extrapolated to 2019, Delhi needed 1,27,005 household toilets, 2,357 community toilets and 9,157 public toilets whereas the Delhi government assessed only 11,117 household toilets, 25,097 community toilets and 605 public toilets to be constructed under the Mission up to October 2019, says the report. The question that the Kejriwal government needs to answer is why the funds were not used if there is a requirement of over 1.7 lakh toilets in the national capital.

The report says not a single toilet was constructed by any of the six implementing agencies till March 31, 2017, even though the centre released Rs 30.23 crore. Also, the beneficiaries of unauthorised colonies were even not considered for construction of household toilets, which means most of habitats known for lack of toilet facilities were excluded.

Here are some findings of the CAG report.

Delay in release of funds

The Delhi government received Rs 2.26 crore in March 2015 and Rs 27.97 crore in November 2015 from the centre for construction of toilets. It released Rs 40.31 crore to the implementing agencies, including the state share of Rs 10.08 crore in January 2016, i.e. after two to ten months of receiving funds from the Centre. "As per the guidelines, funds were to be released to ULBs within 30 days of receipt of the central share along with state share," says the report. The CAG noted that due to delay in disbursal of fund to the implementing agencies, no amount of the Mission funds was used in 2015-16.

Agencies didn't utilise funds

The audit report says the implementing agencies received total Rs 40.31 crore under the Mission and the entire fund remained unutilised as of March 2017. "DUSIB (Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board) refunded the entire amount of Rs 6.86 crore of the Mission funds to the Delhi government in April 2017 whereas funds given to other implementing agencies were lying idle in their saving bank accounts," says the report. DUSIB told the CAG it returned Rs 6.86 crore as additional state share demanded was not provided.

Funds not allocated as required

The Delhi government did not allocate the Mission funds as per the requirement of the agencies. "North DMC, South DMC, and DCB did not assess the requirement of household toilets but Mission funds worth Rs 16.92 crore were released for household toilets. North DMC and DUSIB assessed the requirement of 8,886 and 16,050 community toilets for which they requested (September 2015) Rs 23.10 crore and Rs 41.49 crore, respectively. North DMC, however, did not receive any funds for community toilets and DUSIB received only Rs 6.86 crore. NDMC projected construction of 156 community toilets but it did not receive any funds," says the report.



DUSIB didn't get state share

DUSIB was responsible to make slums and JJ clusters open defecation free by implementing the Mission. For this, DUSIB received Rs 6.86 crore, including state share of Rs 1.71 crore, against Rs 41.49 crore required by them. Later, in July 2016, the Centre enhanced the basic unit cost of community toilets from Rs 65,000 to Rs 98,000 and also reduced the central share from 75 per cent to 40 per cent. Thus, the state was to bear 60 per cent of the cost of construction of community toilets. Though DUSIB followed up with the government for the state share (60 per cent), the Delhi government did not release the funds during 2016-17. Therefore, DUSIB refunded the entire fund of Rs 6.86 crore.While growing up, Ankur Jain never thought he would one day lead a start-up in a sector considered to be the toughest for new entrants in India-liquor. Beset with archaic state regulations and an overwhelming lack of transparency, the alcoholic beverage industry in India is not for the faint hearted. Born in a middle class family of professionals in South Delhi-his father is an architect, mother an interior designer-Jain was an above average student deeply passionate about technology. He followed the usual script till college and graduated with a computer engineering degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2002.

Following a blink and you miss stint at Motorola, the entrepreneurial bug first struck him when he started a healthcare information start-up.

"I always wanted to start something of my own. The drab routine of a job is not for me," he says in his usual matter of fact manner. "I did not really encounter any resistance from back home. My parents may not be entrepreneurs in the strict sense, but from my mother's side my extended family is quite entrepreneurial. So it is not an unheard of thing."

When he returned to India in 2007 after selling off the healthcare start-up that had reached its inflection point, his own fondness for beer turned him into a brewer. "When I returned to India, I could not get even one beer that tasted good," he says. "That is when I thought it made sense to bring to this market good tasting beers." Over the next few years, Jain imported some of the craft beers that he loved during his time in the US. The concept of craft beers-loosely defined as those that are brewed in small quantities by standalone independent brewers-was nascent in India a decade back. Add to that the complexities of the Indian market-each state has its own liquor laws and taxes-and odds were stacked against the challenger.

Yet, Jain stood firm and after gaining enough knowledge of the market, consumer tastes and price elasticity, he settled on two staple beers-a wheat beer, Bira White, and a lager, Bira Blonde-to launch his own bottled craft beer firm B9 Beverages in 2015. Initially brewed and imported from Belgium, the wheat beer in particular was an overnight success. "The benchmark for beer in India is Kingfisher. So it is not really very difficult to make better tasting beers."

The kind of growth Bira has been able to achieve in the domestic market is unheard of in the Indian alcoholic beverage industry, hamstrung by its inability to advertise. Jain relied heavily on word of mouth publicity where the novelty factor of his beers worked wonders. He also imbued the brand with a youthful character with a mischievous monkey as his mascot. In its first year, the firm sold 150,000 cases of beer-each case is equivalent to roughly 8.5 litres. The following year in 2016, sales went through the roof to more than 700,000 cases. Last year, it quadrupled to nearly three million (30 lakh) cases. In 2018/19, Jain wants to double sales to six million cases and clock revenues of `450 crore.

It is not like Jain has had a smooth sailing all this while. In the middle of 2016, just as Bira was gaining momentum, a miscalculation led to a shortage of beer at the outlets, never a good thing in a market where consumers are spoilt for choice. It had been over a year that Jain had been importing the beers from Belgium but as the brand gained critical mass, he wanted to brew it locally and bring down prices. A deal with a brewery in Haryana fell through late last year creating the mismatch in production and demand.

He recovered quickly enough and leased a local brewery in Indore in Madhya Pradesh within months to restore parity. Local production also led to the expected drop in prices. When launched, a 330-ml pint of the beer cost anywhere between `170-220 in different markets. Prices are now down to `90 for a bottle of Bira White in Delhi. The reduction led to the kind of demand upsurge that the company has seen over the past few years. Jain is mindful he cannot make the mistake of under-estimating demand again and the market would be less obliging next time. Last year, he leased another brewery in Nagpur and is on the verge of finalising the deal for a third one in Alwar. At the same time, he is also building his own greenfield brewery in Mysore that would be operational by the end of 2018. Jain is eventually looking at an overall capacity of 12 million cases per annum. Recently, he has also started brewing in New York to service its operations there.

Jain has also expanded his portfolio by adding two more beers, a strong and a low calorie variant, last year. He has also added a pale ale in the process. He says he would launch at least one new beer every year.

Some early fans of the brand, however, have noticed a change in the taste of the beer and have begun to move away. Ankit Mishra, 28, who works in a bank at Rajiv Chowk in central New Delhi and is an avid beer drinker, says he is not hooked on to Bira anymore.

"Maybe the novelty factor has worn off but the Bira White doesnt taste the same anymore," he says. "I was one of the early adopters of the brand and have introduced it to my entire friend circle. I dont look out for Bira anymore now. Between one bottle to the other it doesn't taste the same."

Has Jain taken his eyes off the ball and has the quality really suffered?

"When he brought the beers from Belgium, the product was exceptional and that is where he got the acceptance," says Sandeep Bhatnagar, Director, Ambicon Consultants, that helps set up microbreweries and brewpubs. "Unfortunately, when he started brewing it here the quality has really suffered and he needs to be very careful of that. It would be very critical for survival in a tough market. I do not think water is a factor. May be they compromised with the ingredients because they wanted to bring the price down. When you go to overseas markets, which are very mature, quality will be even more essential."

Jain plays down the talk of change in the taste of the beers and says the difference in water between Belgium and India has nothing to do with it.

"It is not (a question of) Belgium versus India. There is technology available to replicate water back to its source. We have ensured quality standards are at par if not better than in Belgium," he says. "On the contrary, because the beer is being brewed here, it is very fresh. Overwhelmingly the response from customers has been positive on the taste. Most of the complaints that we get on social media are regarding availability or the lack of it. Beer is a perishable product so from a batch to batch the taste may wary."04 Apr 2018, 1:35 PM

Several systemic loopholes led to PNB loan fraud, says ICAI panel

A high-power group, constituted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to look into the PNB loan fraud case, has found systemic failure at many levels that led to the fraud in the first place and then failed to detect it for a long time. The group found that Nirav Modi's company was granted loan despite his company having only current account with the Brady House branch of the bank. "When there is only current account, no credit facility should be granted -- neither the letter of undertakings (LoUs) nor Letter of credit (LoCs)," a member of Central Council, ICAI has said.



McDonald's goes healthy

McDonald's is trying to get nutritious options to India in a bid to position itself as a health-conscious fast food chain. McDonald's franchisee in west and south India, Hardcastle Restaurants, a subsidiary of Westlife Development, has increased efforts to reduce sodium, oil and fats, covering nearly 75-80 per cent of the menu in the process. The entire McDonald's menu in the west and south will be covered in the coming months as reported by Business Standard. The burger chain has said it had reduced sodium in french fries, nuggets, patties and sauces by over 20 per cent from 10 per cent earlier.

Air India employees to get VRS, ESOPs says Jayant Sinha

Air India employees are the government's top priority minister of state for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha has said, ahead of the sale of a 76% stake in the national carrier. The employee protection plans under consideration include a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), an employee stock option (ESOP) scheme, a government-funded scheme to meet the medical expenses of retired employees and settlement of past dues from the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines as reported by business daily Mint.

Amazon may offer to buy India's Flipkart: Mint report

Amazon.com Inc may submit an offer to buy Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, which is currently in talks with Walmart Inc for a stake sale, business daily Mint has reported, citing sources. A deal with Walmart is more likely to go through, according to people with knowledge of the matter, the report added. Amazon declined to comment while Flipkart did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. Walmart is in talks to buy a stake of over 40 percent in Flipkart, a direct challenge to Amazon in India.



Government confident of meeting fiscal deficit, tax revenue targets

The government is on its way to achieve the revenue collection and fiscal deficit targets for 2017-18. While announcing the latest GST and direct tax collection figures, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said in a press briefing that the government would not only stick to the 3.5 per cent fiscal deficit target but also the revised tax revenue collection figures for 2017-18. Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra said that they are confident of achieving the revised estimates as well.Cryptojacking attacks, defined as the secret use of a computing device to mine cryptocurrency, rose by a massive 8,500 per cent around the globe in 2017, says a recent research report by cyber security giant Symantec. The report, also reveals that India ranks second in Asia-Pacific Japan region, when it comes to cryptojacking and is the ninth most affected country around the world. "During the past year, an astronomical rise in cryptocurrency values triggered a cryptojacking gold rush with cyber criminals attempting to cash in on a volatile market," says the report.

The report claims that the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies has made it a more lucrative option for cyber criminals, who are adding cryptojacking to their arsenal and creating a highly profitable revenue stream as the ransomware market becomes overpriced and overcrowded.

According to Tarun Kaura, Director, Enterprise Security Product Management, Asia Pacific and Japan at Symantec, the massive profit incentive puts people, devices, and organisations at risk of unauthorised coin-miners siphoning resources from their systems. "Now you could be fighting for resources on your phone, computer or IoT device as attackers use them for profit. People need to expand their defenses or they will pay for the price for someone else using their devices," he added.

Coinminer, using a device illegally, can slow devices, overheat batteries, and in some cases render devices unusable. In India, many companies have been used for coin-mining recently and were left unaware about it for a long time.

The report also revealed that IoT devices continue to be ripe target for cyber attacks around the world and found a 600 per cent increase in overall IoT attacks in 2017. Malware attacks saw an increase on 200 per cent in the period. Threats in mobile space too continued to grow in the period. Symantec claims it blocked an average of 24,000 malicious mobile applications each day last year. It claims that India featured amongst the top ten list of countries where mobile malware was most frequently blocked in 2017.

Globally, the report says, US remains the country with most threats in 2017, followed by China and then India.

The Internet Security Threat report by Symantec, the developer of Norton AntiVirus, is based on data from Symantec's Global Intelligence Network, which records events from 126.5 million attack sensors worldwide and monitors threat activities in over 157 countries and territories.HMD global, the official licensee of Nokia smartphones, is getting aggressive in the Indian market. After launching the Nokia 2, Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 last year, the company has now launched four new Android smartphones that were announced just last month, during Mobile World Congress 2018.

Ajey Mehta, Vice President and Country Head - India, HMD Global, says, "Of the 70 million Nokia smartphones sold globally, India is amongst the top three markets contributing to the global sales for Nokia smartphone. We have even registered a 5x growth during the last eight months. And 2018 is the year where we will really scale up."

HMD Global is expanding its collaborations for scaling operations. The company has already entered into an association with the Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders as its principal sponsor. Mehta says, "A lot of people are asking us that we are still doing the same old things. But this partnership is to announce that Nokia is back. People know Nokia but they don't necessarily know what Nokia Android smartphone is. It will also drive contextual awareness about our phones - Nokia Android smartphone. The partnership will also help us in connecting with our fans. The kind of fan following IPL has is the kind of consumer base we want to reach out to."

In the year 2018, the company will focus on three main aspects. The first is to expand product portfolio, second is the innovation in the way they run their business and, lastly, deepening channel presence. In India, HMD Global has expanded its offline footprint and has a network of over 510 distributors with over 100,000 stores. Apart from the partnership with e-commerce players, the company has started selling smartphones through Nokia Mobile Shop Z(nokia.com/phones).

With the focus shifting towards 'Make in India', three out of four Android smartphones launched today, the Nokia 1, New Nokia 6 and Nokia 7 Plus will be manufactured at the Foxconn facility in India. However, the Nokia 8 Sirocco, the most premium of the lot, is the only device that will be imported into the country. As there has been an increase in the import duties of mobile components in the country, Mehta says, "We are following the phased manufacturing program with Foxconn. We are a little late but over time we will be in line with the phased manufacturing programme."

The New Nokia 6 has been priced at Rs 16,999, Nokia 7 Plus at Rs 25,999, and the Nokia 8 Sirocco will be available at Rs 49,999.

The company is also focusing on expanding its presence in the enterprise channel. Mehta further explains, "We are on Android One, the purest and securest version of Android, which enterprises are keen to adopt." For this, HMD Global is working with HCL where the staff is. "We are working with our partner HCL and our ground staff is making calls on large and medium enterprises. We are at a very early stage on this and need to understand it better."While Mumbaikars stuck in traffic were wishing they could fly from one end of the city to the other, superstar Shah Rukh Khan actually beat them to it. The star whose upcoming movie Zero directed by Aanand L Rai is scheduled to release on December 21, is currently shooting in Vasai. Rather than spending his time in Mumbai's infamous traffic, SRK has been taking a chopper to the shooting area in Vasai from Vile Parle, which is a distance of around 49 km.

A report in Hindustan Times mentions that the 52-year-old actor reaches the sets in the evening and shoots through the night. A source revealed to the paper that that SRK has been commuting on a chopper and only shoots from sundown.

The source added that he usually arrives by 7 pm and leaves by 6 am in the morning after shooting through the night. This schedule will continue till April 8.

Rai's Zero will see the actor reuniting with actors Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif. Three of them had worked together in Jab Tak Hai Jaan in 2012.

In his upcoming movie Zero, SRK plays a dwarf man who travels from Meerut to New York.

Rai and Khan are working together for the first time. "I think he is a very gutsy actor from day one, he has always taken up challenges. And that is the reason I am with him. As a director, you should be prepared to take him on a journey and explore such a superstar. He says yes to subjects that are extraordinary and puts himself in a space that is new, yet different," Rai told PTI.

According to the report, even though SRK's last movie had failed to impress the audience, Rai is not worried about his new movie.

(With PTI inputs)Companies are also seeing flexible office space as a key element of their corporate portfolios, according to new research released last month. The proportion of companies making no use at all of flexible space is expected to decline from 35% to 21%, indicating a growing awareness and broadening of interest even among previous non-adopters.

The 2018 EMEA Occupier Survey from CBRE shows that occupiers are also increasingly differentiating among the various types of flexible space available, and in general favouring co-working space. All see double-digit increases in their expected level of usage in three years time compared with currently.

The increase is most marked for co-working space which sees a rise of over 20 percentage points to 56%, taking it above serviced/furnished space as the most popular type of flexible space.



CBRE believe it is increasingly likely that some larger corporations will respond to the emerging flex market dynamics by developing their own bespoke co-working environments, which mirror the design, service and vibe of 3rd party spaces, supported by similar technologies and concierge solutions, but delivered and operated directly to preserve the relationship between employer and employee.



The global real estate advisor believes the wellness agenda has evolved into a core pillar of real estate strategy. Four out of five occupiers have, or plan to introduce, wellness programs and an even higher proportion have some degree of preference for wellness enabled/capable buildings. This is supporting a range of innovative approaches to delivering and measuring wellness, including broadening and adapting the offer and seeking to measure the impacts.

Commenting on the research, Head of Advisory Services & Transactions - Offices, Paddy Conlon said, "Over the last few years, we have seen a seismic shift in occupier demands, placing an increased focus on user experience alongside employee engagement, productivity and wellness benefits. This trend is being experienced across Europe but also mirrored in the Irish market where a lot of millennials are employed."

He added, "Tomorrows optimised workplace will be best enabled by people-led technology platforms that connect the features of a personalised workplace experience. The planned increase in real estate technology investments, demonstrated in the survey, will only serve to accelerate this."

Source: www.businessworld.ieFacebook Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg will testify next week before a congressional committee over a political consulting firm's misuse of customer data to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, U.S. lawmakers said on Wednesday.

Zuckerberg will appear before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, the panel said on Wednesday.

"This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online," the panel's Republican chairman Greg Walden and top Democrat Frank Pallone said in a statement.

Facebook has come under fire in recent weeks after it was revealed that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, gained access to the personal data of 50 million Facebook users.

Facebook said in March it had suspended the accounts of Cambridge Analytica and its parent company and hired forensic auditors to probe whether Cambridge Analytica still had the data.

Facebook also said at the time it would investigate all applications that had gotten access to large amounts of data before the firm changed its platform in 2014, would further restrict developers' data access and roll out a tool to let users more easily revoke access by applications to their data.

Zuckerberg said in March he would testify before Congress, but he turned down an invitation by British lawmakers to explain to a parliamentary committee what had happened.

The technology company has faced pressure to do more, both in terms of protecting user privacy and stopping "information warfare" on its platform.

In February, 13 Russian nationals were indicted for using Facebook and other social media sites to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.

On Tuesday, Facebook announced it had removed hundreds of accounts and pages associated with the Russia-based Internet Research Agency that included fake activist and political posts in the 2016 U.S. election campaign.

American spy agencies have warned that Russia would try to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections by using social media to spread propaganda.

Since March 16, when the news about Cambridge Analytica was disclosed, Facebook shares have fallen nearly 18%. The stock was down 2.7% on Wednesday.

Two other U.S. congressional committees have asked Zuckerberg to appear. A Facebook spokesman said conversations with the other panels were continuing. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie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.Step 1

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The NEET-UG (Undergraduate) is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in medical colleges and/or institutes spread across the country. The syllabus for the NEET-UG will be based on the CBSE class 11 and 12 subjects.

All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)

AIIMS is a group of autonomous public medical colleges offering higher education. With this entrance examination, a student can get admission to the MBBS course at the AIIMS colleges spread across the country. The minimum qualification for AIIMS is at least a 60 percent aggregate in the subjects such as biology, physics and chemistry at 10+2 level.

Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER)

The JIPMER is one of the leading medical institutes in the country recognised by the government. The institute located at Puducherry carries its own entrance test for admission to the courses in European medicine. The JIPMER offers both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

NEET-PG

The NEET-PG (Postgraduate) is a mandatory test conducted for admission to MD/MS/PG Diploma courses. The National Board of Examinations (NBE) will be conducting NEET-PG. Only candidates who has MBBS degree/provisional MBBS pass certificate from a recognised medical college are eligible to take the NEET-PG. However, quota is there for this entrance exam.

AIIMS-PG

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences-PG (Postgraduate) is conducted for admission to various PG medical courses such as MD, MS and MDS. Only candidates who have an MBBS degree/provisional MBBS pass certificate from a recognised medical institution can apply for AIIMS-PG.

AFMC

Armed Forces of Medical College in Pune is one of the prestigious medical institutes in India. Till the merge of NEET, AFMC carried its own entrance examination. The AFMC provides training to students in medicine with the aim of serving in the defense. Candidates who are aiming to get admission in AFMC have to clear NEET. After successfully clearing NEET, they have to register themselves for the counselling session. The shortlisted candidates will be called for an interview.

Explore The Top 10 State-level Engineering Entrance ExaminationsPhoto: CTV

Safety concerns have been raised over Victoria's new Johnson Street Bridge.

Bumpers have been installed under the south side of the bridge, but there is only a small temporary pontoon on the north side.

The lack of "fendering" could seriously damage boats if they collide with the structure.

"That pier has already got thickening of the concrete walls in key places to resist some kind of ship impacts," project manager Jonathan Huggett told CTV.

"We've just got this new bridge. Wouldn't it be prudent to have insurance against damaging it and it coming out of service?" said watchdog Brian Simmons.

"One option is to do nothing, and you say to them OK, if you do nothing, these are the consequences," said Huggett.

The city's old blue bridge suffered significant damage when in 1958 and 2011, when it was was struck by a tug boat.

The new bridge cost $105 million and was beset with delays. Any safety options will take at least a month to come before council, meaning they likely wouldn't be in place until 2019.

 with files from CTV Vancouver IslandTranscript for VitalSigns Teleconference: Antibiotic Resistant Germs

Press Briefing Transcript Tuesday, April 3, 2018 Audio recording [MP3, 5 MB] (http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/t0403-antibotic-resistant-germs.MP3) Please Note: This transcript is not edited and may contain errors.

OPERATOR: Welcome. Thank you for standing by. Throughout todays conference, all participants will remain in listen only mode, during the Q&A session, you can press star one if you would like to ask a question. Todays conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. Now Ill turn over the course to Michelle Bonds. The Division Director for Public Affairs.

MICHELLE BONDS: Thank you. Thank you all for joining us today for the release of the new CDC Vital Signs. This months vital signs is on antibiotic resistance and how CDC resources and containment strategy are helping protect people from untreatable infections. We are joined by Dr. Anne Schuchat, Dr. Jay Butler, Chief Medical Officer and Director of Alaska Division of Public Health and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials also known as ASTHO. We have also joining us today is Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, Associate Director for Healthcare Associated Infections and Prevention Programs here to help respond to your questions as well. I would like to turn the call over to Dr. Schuchat.

ANNE SCHUCHAT: Thank you, Michelle. Thank you for joining us today to discuss the Vital Signs report. As you know each month we focus on the latest data about one of the critical health issues facing our nation and what can be done about it. Today, well be talking about CDCs containment strategy which can help stop the spread of unusual types of antibiotic resistance that havent yet spread widely. You have heard us talk about the emergence of resistant infections that are virtually untreatable with modern medicine. We dont just rely on antibiotics to treat common infections. Antibiotics are the safety net for most cancer treatments, surgical procedures, and ICU care and organ transplants. Antibiotic resistance threatens this safety net. Today were talking about urgent efforts, the public health and clinical community is taking. There is good news and bad news to report. As you know the dangerous antibiotic, resistance is common. Taking a terrible human toll, 2 million Americans get infections from antibiotic resistance and 23,000 die from those infections each year. Today were talking about tackling a less common but highly important piece of the antibiotic resistance problem. Using CDCs containment strategy to stop new and unusual antibiotic resistance from spreading. These unusual threats are the uncommon or highly resistant germs that have yet to spread throughout the U.S. we are working to get in front of them before they do become common in order to protect patients now and in the future. The good news is that we had hard data showing an aggressive approach works. Our report today summarizes our experience over the first several months of improved lab testing by CDCs antibiotic resistance lab network. The report shows that in nine months in all states and Puerto Rico health departments in the AR lab network tested 5,776 samples of highly resistant germs. These germs were tested for unusual resistance. Those genes that were highly resistant or rare with special resistance that could spread. Of the 5,776, about one in four of the bacteria had a gene that helps it spread its resistance. And there were 221 instances of an especially rare resistance gene. These results prompted an aggressive response including many infection control assessments and colonization screens. The screenings showed that about one in ten, meaning one in ten could have continued spreading if left undetected. When screening tests were positive, vigilant infection control and additional screenings continued until the spread was stopped.

The bottom line is that resistance genes with the capacity to turn regular germs into nightmare bacteria have been introduced into many states. But with an aggressive response, we have been able to stomp them out promptly and stop their spread between people, between facilities and between other germs. CDCs containment strategy calls for quickly identifying unusual resistance in patients, assessing infection control and the facility if unusual resistance is found. Sometimes testing contacts of patients with resistance to screen for spread, coordinating with other facilities and continuing infection control screenings until the spread is fully controlled. Todays report describes how two types of resistance decreased from 2006 to 2015 using variations of this containment strategy. With independent or single facility approaches to control spread, a dangerous type of unusual resistance found in Enterobacteriaceae decreased by about 2% per year, but with the more aggressive approach using guidance like CDCs CRE toolkit which was released in 2009 another type of unusual resistance in the same germ decreased by nearly 15% per year. The difference seen may be due in part to the more directed response to slow the spread of the second germ that nightmare bacteria CRE once it was identified. The Containment Strategy we have reported on today further builds on these efforts, encouraging health care facilities around public health authorities to respond to even single cases of an emerging antibiotic resistant pathogen. CDC estimates show if only 20% effective, the Containment Strategy can reduce the number of nightmare bacteria cases by 76% over three years in one area. That is the Containment Strategy will let us bend the curve or slow the spread of rising resistance. The Containment Strategy isnt a new concept. But what is new is tremendously increased capacity in every state which is allowing more rapid detection of resistance and prompting a more aggressive response. The detection and response capacities from the newly established antibiotic resistance lab network and stronger state-based antibiotic resistance response efforts are improving prevention and response nationwide. Germs do more than spread and cause infections in people. They can also share their resistance with other germs making some untreatable. Much like a fire, finding and stopping unusual resistance early when it is just a spark could help people. The new lab capacity allows us to detect smaller resistance fires and in some cases even resistant sparks so that they can be extinguished immediately. Detection is not enough on its own. When theres a fire somebody needs to put it out. CDC supports more than 500 local staff across the country to combat antibiotic resistance wherever it emerges. Every state is now better able to stop the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria and help keep these new threats from becoming common. Heres how it worked at an Iowa nursing home when a patient got a urinary tract infection. Rapid testing by the healthcare facility and the CDC Antibiotic Resistance Lab Network detected unusual resistance. Over the following weeks the Iowa department of health and the nursing home did several on site assessments to identify any gaps in the infection control that might have let this germ spread. Because this patient had lived in the nursing home for several years, and had not recently had surgery or been hospitalized, the Containment Team tested 30 additional residents in the facility to determine if the threat had come from or spread to other people. Sure enough, five of the others were carrying the resistant gene. By following infection control protocols simple steps like consistent use of gloves and gowns workers at the facility were careful not to let the germs spread further. The facility and health department worked together to continue assessing the patients there until no other infection was found. because the facility was on guard rapidly, identified the germ and followed vigilant infection control and testing until the spread was stopped no further cases  stopped no further cases occurred. Well see more successes like Iowas and state and local leaders continue to champion this leader. Let me turn it over to Dr. Jay Butler whos going to join us to talk about the perspective from the state.

JAY BUTLER: Thank you, Dr. Schuchat. Thank you for highlighting how theyre battling the antimicrobial resistance at the ground level, together with state and local and public health personnel who are truly on the front lines of the countrys detection and response effort. As past president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials which represents the health leadership in all 50 states, the eight territories and the District of Columbia, I can say that were already seeing the impact of the CDC resources and improving our ability to prevent infections and improving our capacity to detect and respond to antimicrobial resistance. I have a day job, Im Chief Medical Officer for the state of Alaska. We saw the emergence of drug resistant pneumococcal nearly 30 years and community acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus in 2000. We have also detected highly resistant gram-negative rods. I think its important to recognize that even in remote areas the threat of highly resistant gram negative pathogens is real because patients often transfer for care between our major cities and sometimes between states. I have seen firsthand the devastating effects of drug resistant infections plus what it takes to effectively tackle these new threats. Prior to my appointment as chief medical officer, I oversaw infection control at one of the community hospitals. I know the amount of work involved on the front lines in the intensive care unit and on the wards to prevent the spread resistant infections and the benefits of infection control programs and procedures that work. The report today suggests that what we do can make a difference. The support from CDC has also helped us develop greater lab and epidemiological response capacity. More providers are able to access local consultation and, in partnership with state hospital associations and tribal health organizations, we continue efforts to prevent infections and improve antibiotic use so that we can continue to tackle resistance were already familiar with organisms like MRSA, sometimes called MERSA plus the never before seen threats. And, I have heard from my state and local colleagues from across the nation that these resources have been a game changer in their states. Public health and health care work together to respond to first case of new threats. A critical role for CDC, state, tribal, and local health agencies is to help providers know how to best provide care based on the current science using antibiotics and the right clinical situations with the right drug at the right dose for the right duration and the right infection control policies and procedures to prevent spread of resistant organisms. We cant wait until one case becomes ten or ten cases becomes a hundred. We can intervene early and aggressively to stop spread and to keep these threats out of our states. Unusual resistance is relevant to all of us. These organisms dont care about state or city lines or the size of our team. The Containment Strategy provides resources that are useful to all of us. We dont have to be in a big city or a huge metro area to make it work. We hope stories like the one that Dr. Schuchat shared from Iowa will be the new norm but it will require leadership at every level. Continued collaboration and communication between public health and health care leaders is critical to the successful implementation of the Containment Strategy across our country. This contributes to a comprehensive and the antimicrobial infrastructure thats helping to protect all Americans against new resistance threats. I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today and Ill turn the microphone back to Dr. Schuchat.

ANNE SCHUCHAT: Thank you so much Dr. Butler. Its critical that were able to support nationwide enhancements to labs and infection control and response infrastructure. The Containment Strategy was part of our vision when we launched the landmark antibiotic resistant solutions initiative in 2016. Though again at a very high level the Containment Strategy includes rapid detection in health care facilities, infection control in those supported by the health department, colonization screenings when needed to make sure that unrecognized spread has not already occurred. Coordination between health care facilities in the area and then infection control assessments and colonization screening until the spread is controlled. Before we take your questions, I do want to say that our work to stop antibiotic resistance is ongoing. In addition to confronting the new kinds of threats we talked about today, we are also working with partners across the country to prevent infections with established threats like MRSA. Were very committed to preventing infections through tactics like vaccines, infection control and improving antibiotic use. The Containment Strategy complements these effective strategies and leverages our new capacities nationwide. But the hard truth is that as fast as we have run to slow resistance, some germs have outpaced us. We have had some success but it just isnt enough to turn the tide. We need to do more and we need to do it faster and earlier with each new antibiotic resistance threat. Ill turn things back over to Michelle then.

MICHELLE BONDS: Thank you, Dr. Schuchat. We now have Dr. Schuchat, Dr. Srinivasan and Dr. Butler to answer your questions. Operator, we are ready for questions.

OPERATOR: If youd like to ask a question on the phone lines please press star one and record your name at the prompt. Again, press star one, please check to be sure that your line is unmuted and record your name, when prompted. Parties, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question. Our first question comes from Richard Harris with NPR.

RICHARD HARRIS: Thanks very much. My understanding is that some of these early efforts were funded by the Affordable Care Act, money that went to the CDC which has since evaporated. Im wondering whether funding for what youre talking about here is secure.

ANNE SCHUCHAT: Thank you for that question. The antimicrobial resistance solution resources are more recent than that and we have been very appreciative of congress support for this effort. Across the U.S. government theres a real commitment to tackling antimicrobial resistance and in fact were working with other countries on the global dimensions of the problem. But with the resources that we have had since is 2016 we have been able to build up the lab network and we really feel theres bipartisan support to continue this.

RICHARD HARRIS: So youre saying the efforts need to be intensified. Would that then mean more state support and state effort on this or just more of the same, just turning up the tap a bit?

ANNE SCHUCHAT: We have now been able to support the state health departments and their laboratory and response teams. What we need is clinicians and labs in hospitals and health care facilities to be aware of this opportunity, to look for the resistant infections and recognize they can get help from the states because the more you look unfortunately the more you find. Many clinicians and facilities may not have been aware of this or they may not have been looking because they werent able to keep up with the response strategy. But now with some 500 staff across the country to help, and with the laboratories in every state, as well as, seven regional antimicrobial resistant labs that can actually do the testing for colonization specimens we think theres abilities for us to respond. So I think in intensifying we want additional awareness by the clinicians in the hospital facilities and long term care facilities and really taking advantage of this network that we have established.

MICHELLE BONDS: Next question.

OPERATOR: Next we have Susan Scutti with CNN. Your line is open.

SUSAN SCUTTI: Hi. So the report also discusses asymptomatic carriers of CRE germs. Did the CDC report look at how many people may be currently walking around carrying this highly resistant germ without showing symptoms?

ANNE SCHUCHAT: No, this study didnt  the surveillance didnt do that. But we did find when we had an individual with a clinical infection from the highly resistant germ and we tested their context, one in ten of those was also carrying  asymptomatically carrying that resistant germ or the resistant gene. So we cant say that one in ten people in general are because this is really  the testing was prompted by identifying the resistance in an individual. You know, I can say though that silent carriage disease is happening and thats one of the reasons we think this aggressive containment strategy is important. When theres a single case, it is an opportunity to uncover the reservoir of these resistant germs and to snuff it out before its spreads and becomes widespread.

SUSAN SCUTTI: My follow-up question, if you were to come into contact with an asymptomatic carrier, how likely is it that you would develop a CRE infection.

ANNE SCHUCHAT: We dont know that. This kind of containment strategy and the data that we gather from it will help us learn. Certainly our outbreak investigations have helped us understand some, but we dont have that kind of transmission dynamic data yet.

MICHELLE BONDS: Next question.

OPERATOR: Next we have Kate Sheridan with Newsweek. Your line is open.

KATE SHERIDAN: Hi there, very quick question for you. I was wondering if we knew how many of the 221 cases unfortunately resulted in a fatality or a death? Do we have any information on mortality from these nightmare bacteria?

ANNE SCHUCHAT: We dont from this particular report. In the past though, when we looked at the CRE or the nightmare bacteria studies suggest up to 50 percent can result in death. So these can be very serious infections. What we say almost untreatable or very, very difficult to treat.

KATE SHERIDAN: Great, thank you.

MICHELLE BONDS: Next question?

OPERATOR: Next we have Marilyn Marchione with the Associated Press. Your line is open.

MARILYN MARCHIONE: Hi, thanks so much. I wonder if you can explain a little more about who was screened. Is this other patients or family members or both and how they were tested? Nasal swabs and what was done about any who tested positive?

ANNE SCHUCHAT: Thank you. Let me begin and see if we need to supplement my quick response. When an individual case was identified, the assessment of contacts was focused on the health care facilities. It may not have been just at one facility if they have been transferred there might have been contact with other patients at other facilities. But this didnt involve testing family members. The testing because these are  these were generally bowel bacteria, the testing was done by rectal swabs and the laboratory testing for the colonization specimens was done in one of the seven regional labs. Really centers of excellence that could happen the high volume and the new molecular diagnostic tests. The CDC had developed lab tests for the unusual kinds of resistance, what we called Carbapenems resistance, that is not the KPC type, but there were some molecular probes used to test.

MICHELLE BONDS: Next question.

MARILYN MARCHIONE: Im sorry, what was done if anyone tested positive?

ANNE SCHUCHAT: Let me let Dr. Srinivasan expand on that.

ARJUN SRINIVASAN: So the samples are tested for a number of the resistance genes and the key as Dr. Schuchat is mentioning is to uncover the really unusual ones because whenever you have something thats really unusual it presents the greatest opportunity to control it and to prevent it from spreading to other people. So whats done is some specific genetic testing that looks for the presence of all of these resistance genes and then that information then goes back to the hospital through the state. So that both the laboratory and the state is aware of whats going on. And then the response team in the state can help the facility respond. So its really specific genetic testing for these unusual types of resistance.

ANNE SCHUCHAT: And then in that facility there would be contact precautions or the contacts who had the resistance genes without symptoms were handled specially so that they in turn couldnt spread. Maybe you want to talk about the infection control around the asymptomatic patients.

ARJUN SRINIVASAN: Right, absolutely. So, you know, obviously the provider is at the center of this. So that is the person taking care of the patient. Theyre the primary focus of the information. They get these results back and then it really becomes a team effort. One of the messages that we want to send with this is that no provider has to go it alone. This is not something where you should feel like youve uncovered this situation and now you dont have resources to help you handle it. So the provider gets this result and then they have their infection control team at the hospital that can come and show them this is the way that you care for that patient safely. Do you wear gowns and gloves to enter the room, is there special cleaning that needs to happen in the room so that the environmental services staff can be aware. The health department comes in to support the infection control team at the facility to help them understand what are the latest best practices? Are there ways that we can prevent the spread more effectively? So its all done together. Its done collaboratively. And it keeps happening. Thats the key message here. This is not a one and done. You dont go and then say okay, well, we assume that this has gone the way we hope it does. We keep at it, so the infection control team and the hospital, the providers, the health departments continue to look, continue to assess and if necessary, continue to test until they know that the spread is controlled.

ANNE SCHUCHAT: So as you can see this can be a lot of work. Thats one of the reasons the resources to the state health departments were so vital. Because we do think its worth the effort, but we know its resource intensive. So the teams that are assessing and reassessing are supported through the antimicrobial resistance dollars that weve gotten. Next question.

OPERATOR: Next, Amy Birnbaum from CBS Evening News. Your line is open.

AMY BIRNBAUM: Hi, thank you for taking my question. Of the 221 of those highly resistant, how did that compare to previous years? Is there any way to compare or to figure out what the spread of these highly resistant bacteria are?

ANNE SCHUCHAT: No, this was the beginning of the surveillance and so its just the first nine months. I can tell you that I was surprised by the numbers that we found. This was more than I was expecting. But its the beginning of looking. We hope though that this wont be an inevitable march upward, but that by finding them early when theres only one in the facility we can stop this from becoming very, very common. So we dont have any trend data.

MICHELLE BONDS: Next question.

OPERATOR: Next, we have Betsy McKay with the Wall Street Journal. Your line is open.

BETSY MCKAY: Hi, thanks. I wanted to ask about these 221 samples. I know you didnt have mortality data to share, but can you tell us anything more about what types of patients these were, what conditions? You know what types of health care facilities they were in or anything else about them that would give us some idea of where these unusual  uncommon types are being identified.

ANNE SCHUCHAT: The 221 were in 27 different states. So this wasnt just a problem in one or two states where we have been following up outbreaks. The kinds of infections that they had included pneumonia, urinary tract infections and blood stream infections. We dont have data right now on the underlying conditions or the age range or sex, but we do think that these germs are out there and theyre a problem. We have seen, you know, young people with cystic fibrosis succumb to these types of resistance germs. We have seen the elderly, weve seen a variety of individuals, but this particular report is just the surveillance.

ARJUN SRINIVASAN: The only thing Ill add, Becky, is that these werent just in hospitals. I think thats an important point. We know that the health care system is connected by patients. And when patients move the resistant bacteria move with them. So these isolates were sent in from hospitals, but some of them were also sent in from nursing homes and especially nursing homes where they take care of sicker patients, in particular nursing homes where they have patients who might be on ventilators for long periods of time. Indeed, what we found is that these types of unusual resistance and the spread of unusual resistance poses even more of a challenge in some of those nursing home settings. Thats an area where were really actively going to work with that community, with our providers in that setting, state and local partners to better understand how we can optimize the control of the spread of resistance in those types of settings where its very challenging.

MICHELLE BONDS: Next question.

OPERATOR: Next we have Lynne Peterson with Trends in Medicine. Your line is open.

LYNNE PETERSON: Hi, I actually have two questions. Ill ask them both at the same time. One is whats the role of negative pressure rooms? I know some hospitals are looking at creating those. Is that going to be useful for these patients? And secondly, in the patients  if this is treatment resistant, antibiotic resistant, how do the patients recover?

ANNE SCHUCHAT: Thanks. Theres no role for a negative pressure rooms for this kind of infection. And the issue with recovery of course many of the patients dont recover. And thats one of the reasons that were so concerned about these resistance genes. And other supportive care may help them get through it, but well be learning more as we continue to follow this. Next question.

OPERATOR: We have John Tozzi with Bloomberg News. Your line is open.

JOHN TOZZI: Hi, thanks for taking my question. Im just wondering if the surveillance network has detected any instances of the NCR1 resistance gene and if so, what the frequency of that is like.

ANNE SCHUCHAT: The system has detected the NCR1 gene. In terms of the frequency I think somebody could get back with you later. But absolutely, one of the nice things about this approach is were not limiting the surveillance system to the five or six threats we are aware of right now. Its a nimble, flexible system. Recently we talked about Candida auris, thats one of the germs that the system is looking for now. The NCR1 as well. So when we find a new threat or another country finds a new threat, we incorporate it into the system.

MICHELLE BONDS: Last question, please.

OPERATOR: Our final question today comes from Molly Walker with Medpage Today.

MOLLY WALKER: Thank you for taking my question. Going back to the first question where you talked about clinicians and the importance of letting them know, do you have any outreach plan directly to clinicians other than this press call?

ANNE SCHUCHAT: Yes. Let me let Dr. Srinivasan explain the outreach we are planning, but we certainly appreciate your help in getting the news out.

ARJUN SRINIVASAN: Yeah, absolutely. We have a number of clinical societies that we work with actively. The list would be too long to mention here, but rest assured we are making direct outreach to providers directly, through hospital associations, through all of you, to make sure that providers know that these  what they need to do, that these resources are available and I said, that they dont have to go it alone.

MOLLY WALKER: Thank you.

MICHELLE BONDS: All right. Thank you all for joining us today. Id like to especially thank Dr.s. Anne Schuchat, Dr. Arjun Srinivasan and Dr. Butler for joining us today as well as all the reporters. For follow-up questions please call the press office at 404-639-3286 or send an e-mail at media at cdc.gov. Thank you for joining us today and this concludes our call.

OPERATOR: Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time.

###

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESexternal iconLafargeHolcim - March 2018

LafargeHolcim's underlying turnover for 2017 amounted to CHF26,129m, a decline of 2.9 per cent YoY, while in euro terms there was a 10.2 per cent decrease to EUR22,672m. The Asia-Pacific region generated 28.5 per cent of group turnover, while Europe represented 27.4 per cent and North America 21.7 per cent. Latin America contributed 11.3 per cent and Africa/Middle East 12.9 per cent. Margins improved from 22.1 to 22.9 per cent. Underlying operating EBITDA improved by 0.7 per cent to CHF5990m in Swiss franc terms, while it declined by 4.6 per cent to EUR5198m, when measured in euros. At the trading level there was a 10.8 per cent improvement to a profit of CHF3351m (EUR2908m) and after a 4.5 per cent increase in the net financial charge to CHF958m (EUR831m) there was a pretax profit of CHF2393m (EUR2076m). After a CHF3829m impairment charge, of which CHF2724m represented goodwill and country book value, there was a net attributable loss of CHF1675m (EUR1453m) compared with a CHF1791m profit the year before.

To continue reading this story and have 100% free access to the CemNet.com website, please Register for a subscription to International Cement Review or LoginCiments de Bizerte resumes exports after a decade

ICR Newsroom By 04 April 2018

Ciments de Bizerte has restarted exports after 10 years with a 25,000t shipment of clinker to Cameroon. The consignment is part of the companys renewed efforts to enter the export markets with bulk deliveries of clinker and cement.



The Tunisian cement producers plans to export large volumes of clinker and bulk to African and Mediterranean markets, its CEO, Jalel Ben Ohman told TAP news agency. Ciments de Bizerte is investing TND250m (US$104m) in modernising its packing equipment and upgrading its shipping facilities to handle 500tph. A further TND23m has been spent to develop its commercial port to help petcoke imports.

Published underLafarge Cement Zimbabwe reports 4% revenue decline in 2017

04 April 2018

Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Ltd posted a loss of US$609,589 for the year ended 31 December 2017. Revenue during the period under review fell 4.14 per cent to US$58.4m from US$61m recorded at the end of 2016. Total current liabilities rose by 9.2 per cent to US$38.18m.



Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Chairman, Kumbirai Katsande, said a full-year sales decline of four per cent was recorded with reduced volumes, which contributed to the loss. Heavy rainfall adversely affected cement stocking patterns and partially contributed to low sales in the early part of 2017.



"Additional costs incurred to optimise logistics networks, distribution costs increased by six per cent. Administration expenses increased by 26 per cent mainly driven by the SAP [systems, applications and products] project implementation costs and current information system productivity upgrades. Retrenchment costs recorded in the year reflected the partial implementation of plans targeted at managing costs. As a result, the company recorded a profit before interest and tax of US$860,000, down from US$4.47m in 2016," he said.



"The company incurred increased finance costs due to the utilisation of standby financing facilities. Ultimately, the company registered a total loss after taxes of US$610,000 from a profit of US$3.13m in the prior year, a decline of 119 per cent. The total current assets increased by 3.9 per cent, largely due to increases in prepayments, following a decision to hedge price increases on strategic raw materials."



Insufficient foreign currency to import critical equipment and other production inputs led to the increased finance costs.

Published underSouthern Colorado Alzheimers advocate appointed to statewide commission

A Southern Colorado dementia advocate is now part of a statewide commission to help first responder interactions with people with disabilitiesWhat is truth? Does it matter?

After the death of Sir Owen Dixon, then Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, he was described in the Sydney press as an intellectual colossus. He wrote a series of essays about the rules of evidence which he entitled: Jesting Pilate.

It is recorded in the Bible that the fifth Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate asked Jesus: what is truth? On an earlier occasion in a different setting when answering a question by Thomas, Jesus said: I am the way and the truth and the life. (John chapter 14 verse 6).

Our individual response (including silent indifference right till death) always adds to the growing division as the whole of humanity (past, present and future) necessarily lines up behind either the first Adam (of Adam and Eve fame) or the second Adam (Jesus). In a very real sense ultimately the Bible is about these two men.

What the dictionary says

Unhelpfully, the Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines truth as: the quality or state of being true, that which is true as opposed to false, a fact or belief that is accepted as true.

Bible dictionary

Conformity to fact or actuality. Truth is a fundamental moral and personal quality of God himself. He is described as the God of truthwithout injustice.

The Christian knows that Jesus is much more than just an historical figure. He is described as the Word of God who became flesh full oftruth. (John chapter 1 verse 14).

As His gruesome death by crucifixion drew near, Jesus promised His disciples (His followers then and always) that He would send in His place the Spirit of truth, a Helper who would for all time guide them into all truth. (John chapter 16 verse 13).

The witnesses oath

The witness used to enter the witness box and swear on oath before God and in His presence and hearing, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God.

In the melting-pot of cultures of diverse and conflicting beliefs which is secular Australia, the witness now simply promises to tell the truth.

What Jesus says

Still today Jesus describes Himself as: the way the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through Me. (John chapter 14 verse 6). Heaven is for real, but unless we genuinely turn to Him the alternative of hell is for real too.

Lovingly and graciously, Jesus came to save us from forever experiencing the loneliness of hell.

The car rear-window sticker read: speed on brother: hell aint full yet. With immense gratitude and relief we can confidently say that God knows: heaven aint full yet either.

Jesus earthly revelation of Himself is the final ultimate revelation and definition of truth about God, humanity, redemption, history and the world.

Which is true?

I put to one side the phoney empty mindset of evolution about which its apparent high priest ex-Oxford University Professor Richard Dawkins frankly concedes there is no evidence.

Expert opinion, interpretation and inference about the earths supposed deep past is not evidence. Accordingly, evolution cannot legitimately be called a theory. It is merely the mindset of the atheist.

The detective can only formulate a theory about what happened if there is at least some evidence to examine.

Regarding the truth of each of the many religions of the world, what is the best test to enable and assist human assessment of its reasonableness? Answer: its own explanation of its origin and before that how the earth and its multitudinous life forms (human, animal and vegetable) came to be.

If a religion cannot do that, how much acceptance and faith should it seriously attract?

Is it sufficient to either satisfy or convince, for the offered explanation to simply be that its human founder received a private revelation from its so-called deity?

Worst of all is for its holy book to fail to satisfy mans basic need to know by being tantalisingly silent or unclear on the issue. Various world religions contain these shortcomings.

Christianity stands apart

In contrast, the Bible regularly places its events and characters among already known and verified people, places and happenings, thereby weaving individual historicity into the broader fabric of world affairs.

Included (and prominent) in that world history are many events which occurred during the charismatic and magnetic life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Such was the universal significance of same that our calendar tells us this is the year 2018 and not some fanciful figure such as 4.6 billion years as the evolutionists would have it.

Jesus courageous steadfast refusal to accomodate the religious leaders of His day, and His fierce denunciation of their beliefs and attitudes combined with His enormous public appeal (for a time), finally led to His gruesome death.

This was graphically witnessed by many and subsequently recorded for all to read, culminating in His spectacular resurrection to indestructible eternal life.

When another historical figure, Paul was making his defence to King Agrippa and to Festus the Roman governor, having stated that Jesus was the first to rise from the dead, he then significantly and boldly stated that this was not done in a corner. (Acts chapter 26 verse 26).

A paraphrase of the above statement records that this was not done behind the scenes but rather was played-out in full view of many peopleno claimed but unverifiable private revelation made in secret.

Jesus rising to new life was an actual event lived out in historical time and place.

The truth

So what is truth?

Jesus simply but powerfully still says about Himself even today: I am the truth.

We need to digest that and then positively and maturely respond. NOW.

Gavin Lawrie is a retired Barrister and Solicitor from Tweed Heads NSW Australia and author of the book: 'THE EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION: Uncovering The Faulty Science Of Dawkins' Attack On Creationism'. He is married to Jan with two adult children and they are grandparents.

Gavin Lawrie's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/gavin-lawrie.htmlViktor Frankl, after studying under both Freud and Adler and then being imprisoned in German concentration camps during the Second World War, proposed that "the will to meaning" is the primary driving force in humans. While imprisoned, he discovered the importance of finding meaning and purpose in all forms of existence - including suffering - and therefore a reason to continue living.

Psychologists generally agree that the "will to live" is the very basic drive in humans. The will to live can be described as having a "fight for survival" mentality. This idea stems from the belief that people, when on the edge of death, can consciously or unconsciously decide to stay alive because of the belief that there is something to live for.

This is a concept that is directly impacted by hope. It's also generally agreed that without the will to live, it would not be possible for humans to satisfy other drives.

Driving forces

I believe it's not the same for everyone. For some, their driving force is the will to pleasure, for others, it is self-improvement. For me, finding the purpose for my life has always been my driving force. Through my early-to-mid teen years, before I was a Christian, I knew I was born for something more than what I was settling for. However, I didn't know what that was, so I spent three years of my life lost and going in circles. I was chasing far off dreams and the bottom of bottles.

My driving force made me uncomfortable and restless, because I knew I was here for a reason, but I had no idea what that was. It wasn't until a close friend of mine helped me find Jesus that I finally found how to work through my driving force productively.

When I found Jesus, I found love. When I found Jesus, I found my place on earth and my place in His kingdom.

Because of God's love and grace, I found the purpose I'd been looking for. It wasn't revealed to me overnight  quite the contrary. Over the past four-to-five years of my Christian walk, there have been a lot of dead-ends and a lot of missed opportunities. But that doesn't matter, because all the while I was living through my driving force. God was slowly revealing His purpose for my life.

More than we do

As far as I'm aware, humans want to live a happy and fulfilling life, surrounded by the people we love, and who love us, doing something we're truly passionate about. The fact is, God wants that for us too (maybe even more than we do).

After all, He knows us better than we know ourselves (Romans 8 verse 27). He knows what we're passionate about, He knows what really gets us going, and He knows our true driving force. God wants us to live a truly happy, fulfilling, joyous life, and He knows exactly what will help us live a life just like that.

A driving force may be something that you treasure  after all, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6 verse 21). It's what causes you to have hopes and dreams. For me, it's my reason to get out of bed in the morning, and quite literally, it's the reason I'm alive.

I believe that knowing our own personal driving force is the key to understanding ourselves and finding that fulfilling life we all want to live. Obviously, your driving force may differ from the very few I listed above. It could be something totally unique to you or something as mainstream (and possibly self-focused?) as mine.

It could be to spread as much love as you possibly can. Maybe it's money. Maybe it's family. Maybe you don't want your driving force to be what it is (for example, greed).

An easy way to find out what your driving force is, is to pay attention to what you think and talk about throughout the day. Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matthew 12 verse 34), and we learned earlier that what we treasure is in our hearts. Chances are, the thing that fills your thoughts and takes over your conversations during the day is your driving force.

At least one

So, what's the driving force behind your life? It's a very thought-provoking question, but an important one to ask yourself. We all have at least one. After some soul-searching, you may find that your driving force is a lot stronger and a more powerful influence in your life than you previously thought it was. Like I mentioned earlier, on the other hand, you may find your driving force to be selfish.

The great thing about a driving force, is that you can always change it if it becomes unhealthy or ungodly. What does God want any one of us to focus on?

I suggest some soul-searching, and meditate on your driving force. Find out what really gets you going. Find the passion and re/ignite the fire in your heart. And lastly, surround yourself with like-minded people.

Through knowing my driving force, God has positioned my life to a place where my passions for creativity and helping young people work hand-in-hand. I firmly believe that God has the same position of your dreams for you as well. My laudable aim is each person who reads this might pursue it?

Lehi is a youth worker at Zeal Youth Centre in Wellington, NZ, and is currently studying for a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He loves painting, writing bad poetry, and doing life in the company of people with big hearts.

Lehi Duncan's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/lehi-duncan.htmlAmbrose of Milan: The bishop who made an emperor kneel

On this day in AD 397, one of the great saints of the church, Ambrose of Milan, died after a lifetime of labour. From a noble family, he served as governor of Gaul before being unwillingly named as a bishop. He had attempted to mediate between two factions during a heated election, one representing orthodox Christians, the other heretical Arians; to his dismay, someone shouted 'Ambrose for bishop!' and they chose him instead.

He was to prove effective and courageous. With the help of his brother, who joined him and took over the administrative work of the diocese, he combatted the heresy of the Arians, who denied the divinity of Christ, and was a tireless pastor with an open-door policy: everyone who wanted to see him was admitted. Among his visitors was a young man named Augustine, himself to become a towering figure in the life of the church.

Ambrose became a statesman and a counsellor to emperors in a time when the Roman empire was under huge pressure. Among the stories told of him is how, during the warfare with the barbarian Goths and Huns, he would ransom the prisoners they took. On running out of money, he had the precious gold chalices used at communion melted down and used to free even more people. When his Arian enemies accused him of sacrilege, he replied they had forgotten the meaning of the eucharist  the vessels were made of gold because they contained the precious blood of Christ, shed for a ransom. And, he said: 'If the church possesses gold it is to use it for the needy, not to keep it.'

Ambrose is remembered not just for his wisdom, though, but for an act of courage in which he confronted the Emperor himself. Theodosius, later called 'the Great', committed a terrible atrocity. The town of Thessalonica had rioted and killed the governor. In revenge, Theodosius surrounded it with his army and butchered 7,000 men, women and children.

Theodosius was an orthodox Christian and a powerful ally for Ambrose in the struggle against heresy. But rather than ignore what he had done, Ambrose wrote to him demanding that he repent and do public penance.

Ambrose wrote to him: 'What has been done at Thessalonica is unparalled in the memory of man...You are human, and temptation has overtaken you. Overcome it. I counsel, I beseech, I implore you to penance. You, who have so often been merciful and pardoned the guilty, have now caused many innocent to perish...'

Penance meant standing outside the church, dressed in sackcloth and begging those going in to pray for him. Theodosius, overcome with shame, did exactly that.

When Ambrose preached his funeral sermon a few years later he said: 'He stripped himself of every sign of royalty and bewailed his sin openly in church. He, an emperor, was not ashamed to do the public penance which lesser individuals shrink from, and to the end of his life he never ceased to grieve for his error.'

Today the world remembers Martin Luther King, who said: 'Cowardice asks the question  is it safe? Expediency asks the question  is it politic? Vanity asks the question  is it popular? But conscience asks the question  is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.'

Ambrose, in facing up to a man who had the power to have him killed, did exactly that. And in doing so he made a vital contribution to the way we understand the church and the state.

As Marcellino D'Ambrosio says in Who Were the Church Fathers?: 'For Nicene Christians, even the emperor who is the champion of the Catholic faith is not himself the law but is, instead, under God's law. Or as Ambrose put it so succinctly, "The emperor is in the Church, not above it."'Congo priest abducted after Easter mass

Kidnappers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are demanding US $500,000 for the release of a Catholic priest abducted just after he had celebrated mass on Easter Day.

Father Celestin Ngango, parish priest of Saint Paul of Karambi, in the diocese of Goma, North Kivu, was taken from his vehicle and forced to go with his captors into the bush. They demanded the enormous ransom from his parish, which is one of the most war-torn areas of DRC, near the border with Rwanda and Uganda.

In a statement, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) said it 'condemns the kidnapping of Father Celestin Ngango and demands his immediate release. It recalls that priests are people consecrated to God to serve others. To prevent them from working is to deprive many of our compatriots of many benefits.'

Three other priests, Assumptionist Fathers Jean-Pierre Ndulani, Edmond Kisughi and Anselme Wasukundi, were abduced on October 19, 2012, and two more, Jean-Pierre Akilimali and Charles Kipasa, on July 17, 2017. None of them has been heard from since.

CENCO said it 'calls on the competent authorities to take responsibility for themselves by ensuring the protection of citizens and their property throughout the country, particularly in North and South Kivu, as well as in Ituri'.

DRC has suffered decades of war and unrest, driven by inter-communal tensions, poor leadership, corruption and the involvement of surrounding nations eager for a share of its natural resources. The UN reported in March 2018 that 2 million children are at risk of starvation.Cuba bars ministry from distributing NIV Bibles

Cuba put an end to its ban on printing new Bibles in 2015, but the Communist government is still not allowing modern translations of the text to enter the country.

According to a recent report from Mission Network News, Christian ministry Biblica has been sending New International Version Bibles to churches in Cuba in their native tongue. However, when the ministry's partner in Miami sent a shipment containing 17,000 Bibles in 2016, the government prevented its distribution and sent it back to the U.S.

Esteban Fernandez, Biblica's Area executive director in Latin America, said that the government refuses to allow NIV Bibles to enter the country and will only allow older versions similar to the English King James Version.

Biblica, established in 1809, holds the copyright to the NIV Bible, which some say is much easier to read compared to older translations.

"We think that we need something really strong, easy to go from the head to the heart of the people," Fernandez said, according to Mission Network News.

Apart from the lack of modern Bible translations, Cubans still do not have enough Bibles to go around.

"Many in Cuba are sharing one Bible for every six people in the group. Can you imagine thathaving one Bible? Comparing that with the U.S. where we have an average of two Bibles per household," Fernandez said.

"When you share the Bible, if you can see their faces and their tears on their faces [when] receiving the Bible, it's incredible," he added.

The Communist Party has ruled Cuba since 1959 when Marxist leader Fidel Castro overthrew the government of dictator Fulgencio Batista.

The number of Christians in the country increased after the government amended its Constitution in 1992 to declare Cuba as a secular state that would partially allow religious activities, rather than an entirely atheist state.

The regime implemented some economic and political reforms after Raul Castro succeeded his brother Fidel in 2008, but there are concerns around religious repression remain. A report released by the advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide said there were 325 cases of religious freedom violations in the country in 2017.

In 2015, the Cuban government began allowing the printing and distribution of new Bibles for the first time since 1959.

Biblica had already sent 33,000 Bibles to Cuba and the 2016 shipment would have brought the total number to 50,000.Donald Trump is not our saviour: A Palestinian priest's perspective on Trump and Middle Eastern Christianity

As the Trump Administration has announced its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman decided to use the Holy Sepulcher to make a political point in support of Israel's control over the city.

He wished Christians a Happy Easter while tweeting that it was 'encouraging to see religions coming together, flourishing, in Jerusalem'. Only a few days later he was silent when defenseless Palestinians were being killed for peacefully demonstrating in Gaza. This only confirms that his Easter tweet aimed at misleading the reality of the Israeli occupation.

This week I visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, viewed by many as Christianitys holiest site. Encouraging to see religions coming together, flourishing, in Jerusalem. Wishing my Christian friends good health and happiness on #GoodFriday and #Easter . pic.twitter.com/P8Z2QdYIwH  David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael) March 28, 2018

The 'March of Return' that took place in Gaza is linked to the marking of 70 years of the Nakba. It is impossible to talk about the situation of Christians in the Holy Land without mentioning what happened in 1948 to dozens of Palestinian parishes, whose communities were expelled and never allowed to return. In 1948 Jerusalem had a population of about 31,000 Christians. Many of them became refugees during the Nakba and today the number has been decreased to less than 10,000.

After the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, the city began to be separated from the rest of the country. The surrounding Christian communities, such as Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Al Izzariya (Bethany), have been cut off from the city by a network of settlements, checkpoints, walls and other movement restrictions. This, in addition to several policies such as ID Revocations and denial of family reunifications, has pushed thousands of Palestinians out of the city, including many Christians, severely affecting our social fabric.

In order to enter Jerusalem, Palestinians need special military-issued permits. It has been noted how Palestinian Christians from Gaza under the age of 55 were banned from celebrating Easter in Jerusalem, only about 80 kilometers from their homes. As a Palestinian priest, the only way that I have to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is through one of those permits. By obtaining one, it does not mean that one could necessarily do things like driving or sleeping over. In the case of Easter, obtaining a permit doesn't necessarily mean joy: crossing the Qalandia or the Bethlehem 300 checkpoints is a humiliating experience. Once inside, we are treated just like any other Palestinian.

Just a few days ago, young members of my community, alongside their families, were celebrating with joy the Palm Sunday procession when they were harassed, insulted and physically assaulted by Israeli Forces, detaining three young Palestinian Christians. They were not involved in any act of violence. Rather, they had raised a Palestinian flag, just like dozens of pilgrim groups were raising their national flags. The Israeli Police managed to turn the joy of Palm Sunday into a trauma for our children. This, unfortunately, was not an isolated case. We have seen how year after year there are more acts of discrimination against Palestinian Christians celebrating Easter in Jerusalem, including during Palm Sunday, Good Friday procession and the Holy Fire Saturday, known in Arabic as Sabt il Nour.

The US Administration, represented by Mr Friedman, has encouraged the Israeli Government to advance their policies against the rights of the Palestinian people, and particularly against the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem. Both Christians and Muslims suffer the consequences of this.

Instead of endorsing policies of coexistence and inclusivity that reaffirm the need to exercise equal rights in the city for Muslims, Christians and Jews, President Trump and his team have decided to encourage policies of discrimination and exclusivity by those who refer to Jerusalem as the 'eternal and indivisible capital of Israel'.

By 'taking Jerusalem off the table', as President Trump said, the US is not making any favour for the cause of a just and lasting peace. Let us be clear: President Trump didn't change anything on the ground. What he did though, was to tell the peoples of the region, and particularly to the Christian communities, that the US Administration cares very little about their fate. All parties have to respect the special inclusive identity of Jerusalem; it cannot and should not be under the sovereignty of one part or one religion. Equal rights to all should be respected.

As Mr Friedman talked about 'flourishing religions' in Jerusalem, I doubt that he can tell the difference between local Christians and foreign pilgrims, as he considers all Christians to be outsiders in the 'eternal capital of Israel'. Christianity is not foreign to this land, certainly not to Jerusalem.

We have been living here for centuries and we refuse all policies aimed at making us foreign aliens in our land. Our percentage may have decreased since 1948, but we are the 'salt of this earth'. Whoever cares about the situation of Christians in the Middle East, and particularly in Palestine, rather than encouraging unjust policies, should take concrete measures for freedom, justice, equality and dignity to be restored to all the inhabitants of the Holy Land. This is the only way for peace.

Fr. Jamal Khader is the parish priest of the Holy Family Roman Catholic (Latin) Church in Ramallah, a Palestinian city in the West Bank. He is the former rector of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Seminary as well as Dean of Arts of Bethlehem University.I'm a privileged white Christian male  and I need to know it

George Washington University, a prestigious institution located in the United States capital, is under fire for an innocuous-sounding course it's running tomorrow.

The unfortunate Timothy Kane, from the university's Multicultural Student Services Center, announced the seminar with the title 'Christian Privilege: But Our Founding Fathers Were All Christian, Right?!' on its website. A series of red-rag-to-the-conservative-bull questions followed, including: 'How do Christians in the USA experience life in an easier way than non-Christians?' and 'Even with the separation of Church and State, are there places where Christians have built-in advantages over non-Christians?' By the end of the evening, he said, participants should know all about privilege in general, white privilege in particular, be 'able to list at least three examples of Christian privilege' and 'be able to list at least three ways to be an ally with a non-Christian person'.

Cue the outrage, with Twitter users complaining that Christians are persecuted around the world and aren't privileged at all. NEWSFLASH: Christians are the most persecuted religion in the world! wrote one user, while another said, 'Talk about intolerance at its best, talk about racially driven religious hate at its best. If you want to gain an under grad degree in hate, enroll at GWU.'

Just when we thought the idea of white privilege was stupid enough, the left has now coined the term Christian privilege. NEWSFLASH: Christians are the most persecuted religion in the world! This is just sick!  Mark Lutchman (@marklutchman) April 3, 2018

Now, let's not be unaware that this backlash is largely confected by the usual media suspects, who take a certain line on these things. Christians, in their narratives, are always the victims, increasingly driven out of mainstream society by the forces of liberal darkness. That's what drives the success of the God's Not Dead film franchise, which gives a voice to a whole Christian sub-culture.

But there's something pretty repugnant about representatives of this culture drawing a parallel between the minor inconveniences involved in being a Christian in a plural society and the genuine suffering of Christians in places where your faith can get you shot. It is, with respect, not the same. And the GWU course is about the former, not the latter.

As such, white Christians shouldn't find it contentious. Of course, in a white majority country, Christians are privileged. Of course, in a Christian-majority country, Christians are privileged. It's true in the US, it's true in the UK and all over the world. What's wrong with acknowledging that?

This is not, however, solely a rhetorical question. The whole 'check your privilege' thing can be abused, like every other human enterprise. Rather than just advising people to be aware of where they're coming from before they comment or opine, it can be used to shut down debate altogether. It becomes another blunderbuss in the increasingly weaponised public square. At its worst, it says you only have a right to an opinion if you belong to the particular group or sub-group you're talking about. That's just nonsense, an abdication of intellectual responsibility that needs to be called out in defence of free speech and free thought everywhere.

But here's the thing: I am a white Christian middle-class male. I am privileged. I'm not ashamed of it for one moment, because it's pointless being ashamed of what I can't control (what I can control, on the other hand, is another matter entirely). But it simply never occurs to me that I couldn't do any job I wanted, walk down any street I like, or express any opinion I want. If I'm not running the world it's because I can't be bothered, not because of my gender or my skin colour.

I need to know, not just how illusory those assumptions are (it's OK, I have friends who'll tell me that) but what it's like for people who don't even have those illusions, and who'll consequently never be all they could be  who assume they can't do things, while I assume I can.

And Christian privilege in particular? You bet. In England there's a state church, for heaven's sake. Even in the more enlightened UK nations, bishops are listened to because they're bishops. In the US, highly politicised evangelicals make headlines all the time.

There's nothing wrong with learning about how that works, acknowledging we don't deserve it and humbly laying it down. And yes, that does sound pretty biblical, doesn't it?

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoodsMartin Luther King died 50 years ago: 12 quotes from a hero of the faith

Martin Luther King, murdered 50 years ago today, was a Baptist minister and one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement that challenged the oppression of black people in the United States. A spellbinding orator, his courage and vision helped galvanise resistance to systematic and brutal discrimination. But his message throughout was one of love, not hate  he preached non-violence and understanding alongside confrontation and challenge.

He was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Here are 12 quotes from Martin Luther King.

1. I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

2. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

3. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That's the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love.

4. I want to tell you this evening that it is not enough for us to talk about love, love is one of the pivotal points of the Christian faith. There is another side called justice. And justice is really love in calculation. Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love.

5. Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

6. Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

7. Cowardice asks the question  is it safe? Expediency asks the question  is it politic? Vanity asks the question  is it popular? But conscience asks the question  is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.

8. Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.

9. Like anybody, I would like to have a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will . [In his last sermon, the night before he was killed.]

10. When I took up the cross I recognised its meaning. The cross is something that you bear, and ultimately, that you die on.

11. God is able to give you the power to endure that which cannot be changed... Why be anxious? Come what may, God is able.

12. The cross may mean the death of your popularity. It may mean the death of your bridge to the White House. It may mean the death of a foundation grant. It may cut your budget down a little, but take up your cross and just bear it.Methodists accuse Israel of 'crimes against humanity' at Gaza protests

The president and vice-president of the Methodist Conference have condemned the shooting of protesters on the Gaza Israel border that left 18 Palestinians dead and hundreds injured.

The Good Friday protests were dubbed the 'Great March of Return' and were designed to highlight the plight of the two million residents penned in to the territory for more than a decade. Israel has accused the ruling Hamas party of orchestrating the march in order to provoke confrontation.

In a statement, Rev Loraine Mellor and Jill Baker appealed to 'all sides to step back urgently from actions that can only lead to more suffering, and to seek peaceful solutions'.

However, they accuse Israel of 'crimes against humanity', saying the killing of unarmed protesters is 'unacceptable in any circumstance'.

'The Government of Israel is bound by the same standards of international law as any other nation. Live rounds must never be used except in the most critical circumstances to protect life,' the Methodist leaders say.

They highlight the 'desperate' situation in Gaza, where according to the UN, clinics and hospitals are reporting a 'huge' rise in malnutrition and 80 commonly-used medicines are not available.

They say: 'Electricity is on for four hours a day and water in many areas of Gaza is undrinkable. Reports of Hamas fighters being armed for further conflict have been greeted with dismay by the civilian population itself.

'We pray for a resolution of the conflict in the region, for the end to occupation and a just resolution for Palestinian refugees.

'We call on the Government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and all regional and international powers to do everything possible to prevent a further slide into conflict and bloodshed, to provide humanitarian aid, and to revive the stalled reconstruction of Gaza.'

Catholic aid agency CAFOD also highlighted the effects of Israel's blockade.

Its director of advocacy Neil Thorns said: 'The horror of this tragedy underlines how the political process, along with the economy, are paralysed, and living conditions for the Palestinians have worsened, leaving communities with deepened levels of desperation and frustration.

'The blockade of Gaza, through which Israel controls all but one of the entry points, continues to have a devastating effect, limiting people's movement, their access to health care and markets, and leaving the majority of the population dependent on humanitarian aid. Bearing the brunt of this suffering are the most vulnerable, including the elderly, persons with disabilities, women and children, who have experienced unimaginable suffering.'

He said: 'The only way out of the cycle of violence for Israelis and Palestinians to be truly secure, is to revive hope for a just Israeli-Palestine peace process, aimed at creating the conditions for a stable peace based on justice, where all must be treated equally.'

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres and the European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, have called for an independent investigation into Friday's bloodshed.

However, Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli defence minister, rejected criticism of Israel's actions, saying soldiers along the Gaza frontier 'deserve a medal' and did what was necessary to protect the border.

'As for a commission of inquiry  there won't be one,' he told Israeli Army Radio.WANG ZHAO, Contributor / AFP/Getty Images

The Trump administration Tuesday unveiled its list of roughly $50 billion in Chinese electronics, aerospace and machinery products it plans to hit with steep tariffs, the latest move in a deepening U.S.-China trade conflict.

The 25 percent import taxes are designed to penalize China for discriminatory policies that the United States says puts its companies at a disadvantage in the Chinese market. President Donald Trump has complained that the Chinese government forces U.S. companies to surrender their proprietary technology in return for access to the Chinese market and engages in cyber theft to acquire other American trade secrets.At least four U.S. pipeline companies have seen their electronic systems for communicating with customers shut down over the last few days, with three confirming it resulted from a cyberattack.

On Tuesday, Oneok Inc., which operates natural gas pipelines in the Permian Basin in Texas and the Rocky Mountains region, said it disabled its system as a precaution after determining that a third-party provider was the "target of an apparent cyberattack."

A day earlier, Energy Transfer Partners LP, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP, and Chesapeake Utilities Corp.'s Eastern Shore Natural Gas reported communications breakdowns, with Eastern Shore saying its outage occurred on March 29. The Department of Homeland Security, which said Monday it was gathering information about the attacks, had no immediate comment Tuesday.

"We do not believe any customer data was compromised," said the Latitude Technologies unit of Energy Services Group, which Energy Transfer and Eastern Shore both identified as their third-party provider. "We are investigating the re-establishment of this data," Latitude said in a message to customers.

The company wasn't ready to make a statement or discuss the details of the service disruption yet, Carla Roddy, marketing director at Energy Services Group, said in a brief interview at the company's headquarters in Norwell, Massachusetts.

The attacks follow a U.S. government warning in March that Russian hackers are conducting an assault on the U.S. electric grid and other targets. Last month, Atlanta's government was hobbled by a ransomware attack.

Computer to Computer

The electronic systems help pipeline customers communicate their needs with operators, using a computer-to-computer exchange of documents. Energy Transfer said the electronic data interchange system provided by Latitude was back up and working Monday night. The business wasn't otherwise affected, spokeswoman Vicki Granado said in an email.

Eastern Shore Natural Gas's Latitude system was restored on Monday as well, the company said in a notice to customers. In addition to providing EDI services, Latitude also hosts websites used by about 50 pipelines for posting notices to customers. At least some of the websites went down on March 29 and didn't start returning until Monday, according to Dan Spangler, pipeline manager for data provider Genscape Inc. in Boulder, Colorado.

"Although all of the sites are back up now, many of them are still missing" data for March 30 and April 1, he said. "Other than Energy Transfer pipes and the pipelines hosted by Latitude, we haven't seen any issues with gas data."

The shutdowns are "not operationally serious in the sense that it's stopping the natural gas from moving, but it is serious because it's causing these companies to use workarounds for communication," said Rae McQuade, president of the North American Energy Standards Board in Houston, which is responsible for developing industry standards.

"If somebody is running a business that has some kind of critical asset to it -- pipelines, energy, finance -- those networks are going to be targets; those networks have been targets," said John Harbaugh, chief operating officer at R9B, a Colorado Springs, Colorado, cybersecurity solutions provider.

Many of the 3 million miles of pipelines that spread across America rely on third-party companies for their electronic communication systems, Andy Lee, senior partner at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, said by telephone Tuesday. In turn, they depend on those companies to provide security for those systems from attacks.

Latitude is "very well known in the industry," the energy board's McQuade said. "They have a lot of clients, they are very well respected."

The systems are gaining attention from hackers because they've proven to be "low-hanging" fruit that creates an opportunity for ransomware or to sell the information on the dark web, Lee said.

Entry Points

While the EDI systems may be entry points for hackers, they are likely not the ultimate target, said Jim Guinn, managing director and global cybersecurity leader for energy, utilities, chemicals and mining at Accenture Plc, a technology consulting company.

"There is absolutely nothing of intrinsic value for someone to infiltrate the EDI other than to navigate a network to do something more malicious," Guinn said by telephone Tuesday. "All bad actors are looking for a way to get into the museum to go steal the Van Gogh painting."

He also said there is nothing inherently different about oil and gas EDI systems.

Not First Time

This isn't the first time U.S. pipelines have been targeted. In 2012, a federal cyber response team said in a note that it had identified a number of "cyber intrusions" targeting natural gas pipeline sector companies. The group, the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, is a division of Homeland Security.

"It's important to recognize that this does not appear to be an attack on an operational system," said Cathy Landry, a spokeswoman for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. "An attack on a network certainly is inconvenient and can be costly, and something any company  whether a retailer, a bank or a media company -- wants to avoid, but there is no threat to public safety or to natural gas deliveries."

She said she "cannot speak for any of the companies specifically about what may or may not have happened to their systems."A subsidiary of STAG Industrial has purchased the 232,950-square-foot Brookhollow West Business Park from AIV, a global distributor of valves and actuators based in Houston.

Trent Agnew, Rusty Tamlyn and Dane Petersen of HFF represented the seller. Jon Farris and Matteson Hamilton of Stream Realty also worked on the deal.

The business park, consisting of two buildings at 7140 and 7049 West Sam Houston Parkway North, is 100 percent leased to three tenants, HFF said. The buildings were completed between 2007 and 2008.

AIV will consolidate three area locations, including the Brookhollow West facility, to a new campus in 2019.

RELATED: Deal of the Week: AIV to get new headquarters

"Brookhollow West represents the rare value-add opportunity in the industrial space due to the pending relocation of AIV to its new headquarters facility off Highway 290 and Telge Road in northwest Houston in early 2019," Agnew said in an announcement.

"As a result, there was a tremendous amount of interest from investors that were drawn to the prospect that they could get their hands on some vacancy at a location considered to be the epicenter of the Houston industrial market within two newer buildings that possess all the specifications that future tenants will desire."

STAG Industrial owns nearly 1.3 million square feet of industrial property in the Houston market. The Boston-based real estate investment trust acquires and operates single-tenant industrial properties throughout the United States.

Also in northwest Houston, HFF assisted Houston-based Triten Real Estate Partners with the sale of the Intrepid Business Park, a two-building industrial project totaling 270,750 square feet on 17 acres at 5737 and 5747 Brittmoore Road.

The buyer was not disclosed.Third time's the charm for a number of local socials. Six bold-faced Houstonian's top the 2018 Salonniere 100, an annual list of America's most notable party hosts.

Bayou City's Paige Fertitta, Lucinda Loya, Becca Cason Thrash, Phoebe Tudor, Sheridan Williams and Lynn Wyatt all made the cut.

According to the site's Austin-based founder, Carla Stanmyre McDonald, Houston boasts more repeat honorees than any other town.

"What we're looking for is not necessarily the person who throws the most parties or the most lavish parties," McDonald explained. "But people who throw parties with purpose, passion and flair. Some actually host very few parties, but they make a huge impact within their communities and the people around them."

The idea for the Salonniere was originally inspired by the 17th and 18th century salons (read: parties) when historic hosts and hostesses brought together great artists and philosophers of the time.

"Through the conversations that ensued, they were really affecting change," McDonald said.

Legendary salonnieres of late include Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Truman Capote "because he hosted what may well be the most famous party in history, the 'Black and White Ball,'" Jackie Kennedy, Caroline Astor, Bunny Mellon and Marie-Helene de Rothschild.

Of course, this year's au courant roster boasts plenty of recognizable names from Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Aspen, and more. Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Heidi Klum, Cindy Crawford and Solange (she's an honorary Houstonian, right?) are just some of 2018's heavy-hitters.

McDonald's team receives more than 1,000 nominations each year that require six months of contemplation.

Aspire to be a future Salonniere 100 inductee?

"Don't worry about how often you entertain or how much you spend on entertaining," McDonald advised. "Focus on entertaining with a purposewhether that purpose is to advance a cause or idea that you're passionate about, to support a person you care about, or to unite members of your community through joy and conversation."

A killer ballgown never hurts, either.Martin Luther King Jr. has come to be revered as a hero who led a nonviolent struggle to reform and redeem the United States. His birthday is celebrated as a national holiday. Tributes are paid to him on his death anniversary each April, and his legacy is honored in multiple ways.

But from my perspective as a historian of religion and civil rights, the true radicalism of his thought remains underappreciated. The civil saint portrayed nowadays was, by the end of his life, a social and economic radical, who argued forcefully for the necessity of economic justice in the pursuit of racial equality.

Three particular works from 1957 to 1967 illustrate how Kings political thought evolved from a hopeful reformer to a radical critic.

Kings support for white moderates

For much of the 1950s, King believed that white southern ministers could provide moral leadership. He thought the white racists of the South could be countered by the ministers who took a stand for equality. At the time, his concern with economic justice was a secondary theme in his addresses and political advocacy.

Speaking at Vanderbilt University in 1957, he professed his belief that there is in the white South more open-minded moderates than appears on the surface. He urged them to lead the region through its necessary transition to equal treatment for black citizens. He reassured all that the aim of the movement was not to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding.

King had hope for this vision. He had worked with white liberals such as Myles Horton, the leader of a center in Tennessee for training labor and civil rights organizers. King had developed friendships and crucial alliances with white supporters in other parts of the country as well. His vision was for the fulfillment of basic American ideals of liberty and equality.

Letter from Birmingham jail

By the early 1960s, at the peak of the civil rights movement, Kings views had evolved significantly. In early 1963, King came to Birmingham to lead a campaign for civil rights in a city known for its history of racial violence.

During the Birmingham campaign, in April 1963, he issued a masterful public letter explaining the motivations behind his crusade. It stands in striking contrast with his hopeful 1957 sermon.

His Letter From a Birmingham Jail responded to a newspaper advertisement from eight local clergymen urging King to allow the city government to enact gradual changes.

In a stark change from his earlier views, King devastatingly targeted white moderates willing to settle for order over justice. In an oppressive environment, the avoidance of conflict might appear to be order, but in fact supported the denial of basic citizenship rights, he noted.

Larry Bleiberg/Special to The Chronicle

We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive, King wrote. He argued how oppressors never voluntarily gave up freedom to the oppressed  it always had to be demanded by extremists for justice.

He wrote how he was gravely disappointed with the white moderate  who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another mans freedom. They were, he said, a greater enemy to racial justice than were members of the white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other white racist radicals.

Call for economic justice

By 1967, Kings philosophy emphasized economic justice as essential to equality. And he made clear connections between American violence abroad in Vietnam and American social inequality at home.

Exactly one year before his assassination in Memphis, King stood at one of the best-known pulpits in the nation, at Riverside Church in New York. There, he explained how he had come to connect the struggle for civil rights with the fight for economic justice and the early protests against the Vietnam War.

He proclaimed:

Now it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If Americas soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the hopes of men the world over.

He angered crucial allies. King and President Lyndon Johnson, for example, had been allies in achieving significant legislative victories in 1964 and 1965. Johnsons Great Society launched a series of initiatives to address issues of poverty at home. But beginning in 1965, after the Johnson administration increased the number of U.S. troops deployed in Vietnam, Kings vision grew radical.

King continued with a searching analysis of what linked poverty and violence both at home and abroad. While he had spoken out before about the effects of colonialism, he now made the connection unmistakably clear. He said:

I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Vietnam.

King concluded with the famous words on the fierce urgency of now, by which he emphasized the immediacy of the connection between economic injustice and racial inequality.

The radical King

Kings I Have a Dream, speech at the March on Washington in August 1963 serves as the touchstone for the annual King holiday. But Kings dream ultimately evolved into a call for a fundamental redistribution of economic power and resources. Its why he was in Memphis, supporting a strike by garbage workers, when he was assassinated in April 1968.

He remained, to the end, the prophet of nonviolent resistance. But these three key moments in Kings life show his evolution over a decade.

This remembering matters more than ever today. Many states are either passing or considering measures that would make it harder for many Americans to exercise their fundamental right to vote. It would roll back the huge gains in rates of political participation by racial minorities made possible by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At the same time, there is a persistent wealth gap between blacks and whites.

Only sustained government attention can address these issues  the point King was stressing later in his life.

Kings philosophy stood not just for opportunity, but for positive measures toward economic equality and political power. Ignoring this understanding betrays the dream that is ritually invoked each year.

***

Paul Harvey is a Professor of American History at the University of Colorado. This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Send your tips, comments or pitch for this blog to Olivia P. Tallet.College students nationwide are grappling with threats of hunger and homelessness, a new nationwide study found.

The report, released Tuesday, found that more than one-third of university students nationwide did not have reliable access to sufficient amounts of affordable, nutritious food in the last year. That figure was 42 percent for community college students.

Its researchers, led by Temple University professor Sara Goldrick-Rab and the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, say it is the largest national survey tracking students' basic needs. The team surveyed 43,000 students at 66 community colleges and universities in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Huston-Tillotson University in Austin and Amarillo College were among the participants.

Community college students were more likely than four-year university students to be in need of food or housing, the study found. But both populations had students in need.

Additional findings include:

36 percent of university students were housing-insecure in the past year, as were 46 percent of community college students.

Less than half of all students surveyed reported being completely secure, meaning they did not experience any food or housing insecurity, or homelessness, in the past year.

Black and Native American students were more likely than non-Hispanic white or Asian students to experience food or housing insecurity.

Scholars are studying hunger's impact on Houston students, too.

Goldrick-Rab is also working with University of Houston health and human performance professor Daphne Hernandez on a separate study tracking 2,000 Houston Community College students to see if receiving free food will improve their academic performance.

Universities and colleges across the region have acknowledged that hunger is a roadblock for student learning. Lone Star College, San Jacinto College and the University of Houston-Downtown have added food pantries in recent years.

In an interview with NPR's All Things Considered, Goldrick-Rab said high college prices are responsible for some of the need for more reliable access to food or housing.

"Their resources pale in comparison to those high college prices," she said in the interview. "They really wouldn't be going through these issues if they weren't in college."

Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com.High school is no longer one-size-fits-all. More and more students are making decisions in junior high that will lead them on a college-like career path beginning in ninth grade.

Across the Houston area, students in various school districts can choose STEM-heavy technical programs, early college high schools where they can earn an associate's degree, or a variety of specialty programs that allow students to start a rewarding career upon graduation.

Magnet schools draw diverse groups of students from across a school district to take part in these specialized curricula.

SALARIES: Here's what Houston-area school district pay their teachers

In Houston ISD, for example, students can choose to attend the High School for Law and Justice, where they can learn to be peace officers or attorneys.

The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is well-known for its theater program.

And at Kashmere High School, all students are enrolled in the magnet STEM program. Students there also have the option to specialize in fine arts.

MEASURE OF SUCCESS: Houston schools with the highest graduation rates

But, just as all high school students have diverse skills and challenges, not all high schools are the same.

The nonprofit organization Children at Risk graded the schools in the above photos on an A-F scale for the 2016-17 school year.

See which Houston-area magnet, technical and early college high schools are performing the best.

Dana Burke is a digital reporter at Chron.com. You can read more of her stories here and follow her on Twitter at @danapburke.A third U.S. pipeline company reported its electronic system for communicating with customers has stopped working, a day after a cyberattack resulted in a similar shutdown.

The Department of Homeland Security, which said Monday it's gathering information about the potential intrusion, had no immediate comment on the latest shutdown. Tuesday's closure affected Oneok Inc., which operates natural gas pipelines in the Permian Basin in Texas and the Rocky Mountain region. The cyberattack Monday didn't affect flows on the pipeline.

The shutdowns come after U.S. officials warned in March that Russian hackers are conducting a broad assault on the nation's electric grid and other targets. Last month, Atlanta's municipal government was hobbled for several days by a ransomware attack.

The systems hit in the last two days help pipeline customers communicate their needs with operators, using a computer-to-computer exchange of documents. Energy Transfer Partners LP and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP reported breakdowns Monday. Energy Transfer, which reported the reason as being a cyberattack, said its electronic data interchange system -- provided by third-party Energy Services Group LLC -- was back online in the early evening, and that business wasn't affected in any other way.

"It is not operationally serious in the sense that it's stopping the natural gas from moving, but it is serious because it's causing these companies to use workarounds for communication," said Rae McQuade, president of the North American Energy Standards Board in Houston, which is responsible for developing industry standards.

"If somebody is running a business that has some kind of critical asset to it -- pipelines, energy, finance -- those networks are going to be targets; those networks have been targets," said John Harbaugh, chief operating officer at R9B, a Colorado Springs, Colorado, cyber security solutions provider.

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Oneok said its EDI system would be "unavailable until further notice," but didn't provide a reason, according to a website notice. The company didn't immediately respond to requests for further comment. Latitude, the unit of Energy Services Group that operates Energy Transfer's system, didn't return phone calls or emails on Monday or Tuesday.

Latitude is "very well known in the industry, " the energy board's McQuade said. "They have a lot of clients, they are very well respected."

Many of the 3 million miles of pipelines that spread across America rely on third-party companies for their electronic communication systems, Andy Lee, senior partner at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, said by telephone Tuesday. In turn, they depend on those companies to provide security for those systems from attacks.

Gaining Attention

The systems are gaining attention from hackers because they've proven to be "low-hanging" fruit that creates an opportunity for ransomware or to sell the information on the dark web, Lee said.

This isn't the first time U.S. pipelines have been targeted. In 2012, a federal cyber response team said in a note that it had identified a number of "cyber intrusions" targeting natural gas pipeline sector companies. The group, the Industrial Control System Cyber Emergency Response Team, is a division of Homeland Security.

"It's important to recognize that this does not appear to be an attack on an operational system," said Cathy Landry, a spokesman for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. "An attack on a network certainly is inconvenient and can be costly, and something any company  whether a retailer, a bank or a media company -- wants to avoid, but there is no threat to public safety or to natural gas deliveries."

She said she "cannot speak for any of the companies specifically about what may or may not have happened to their systems."Memorial Hermann Cypress Hospital, a $168 million facility, is planning to expand just as the hospital nears its one-year anniversary in the Cypress community.

The recently approved expansion will cost nearly $25 million and develop empty space already built on the Cypress campus. Expansion additions will include 24 licensed beds, including intensive care unit beds, as well as an additional catheterization lab for heart procedures and endoscopy suite for gastrointestinal procedures.

"Our intentions are to continue to grow and meet the needs of the Cypress community. We are lucky in serving a community that has a projected growth of about 11 percent in the next five years," said Heath Rushing, senior vice president and CEO of Memorial Hermann Cypress. "We know it is our responsibility to keep pace of that growth. In order to do that, we need to expand the current offerings that we have at the facility. Luckily, the forethought was put into the design of the building to have some space, so we can expand into what is already built into the current infrastructure."

The hospital includes medical specialists, board certified physicians, and other health care professionals. The 81-bed hospital addresses the community's health care needs with online routine outpatient visits to inpatient procedures. It serves the Cypress community as a full-service, acute-care hospital and sits on 32 acres on the northeast side of U.S. 290 and the Grand Parkway between Mason Road and Mueschke Road.

The facility includes an endoscopy and bronchoscopy suite, 16-bed intensive care unit, a cardiac catheterization lab, a neonatal intensive care unit, and a Memorial Hermann Life Flight helicopter pad.

The 24-hour emergency center, staffed by affiliated board-certified emergency medicine physicians and emergency-trained nurses, offers digital x-ray, computed tomography and ultrasound, an onsite laboratory, online appointment scheduling, and access to care from the hospital system's air ambulance transport.

The facility's birthing center features a high-risk pregnancy clinic, OB emergency center, nurses who are trained breastfeeding experts, a "couple care" model so that mother and baby are cared for together, a level II nursery providing 24-hour neonatal coverage, childbirth and parenting education classes.

Cypress patients also have access to the hospital's breast care center. The center offers 3-D mammography, bone density screenings, breast MRI and MRI biopsies, breast ultrasound, stereotactic breast biopsies, and ultrasound biopsies.

Other services and specialties Memorial Hermann Cypress Hospital offers includes a diagnostic laboratory, heart and vascular services, an imaging center, neuroscience services, orthopedics, surgical services, and women's care.

Since opening in March 2017, the hospital has added multiple services, including a high-risk pregnancy center, Memorial Hermann Wound Care, robotic surgery capabilities, and occupational medicine services for companies in the region.

"As we continue to align with the physicians in the market, partnering with them on services they want to see provided for their patients; we have been able to add more services to the facility," Rushing said. "It's a result of meeting the needs of our community and listening to our physicians in terms of important services. We are excited about continuing to grow with the community and to provide the trusted health care resources that they have come to already depend from us."

The hospital now offers services provided by 480 affiliated physicians spanning 40 specialties.

Additionally, Memorial Hermann Cypress is working toward becoming a designated Level III trauma center and Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The expansion project will take place over the course of next year and is expected to be completed by summer 2019.

"It takes time to demonstrate the consistent, high-quality care offered at the hospital needed to receive these designations," said Jessica Rivas in a statement released to the press, vice president of operations at Memorial Hermann Cypress. "We feel confident that we will show the state that we can provide remarkable care to seriously injured and ill patients."

Memorial Hermann Cypress Hospital

27800 Northwest Freeway

Cypress, TX 77433

346-231-6800After a tedious court hearing on Tuesday regarding a conflict between the chairman of the Galveston County Republican Party and a splinter group within the party attempting to oust him, the judge presiding over the dispute urged both sides to resolve the matter before reconvening on Friday.

The court hearing, held in Galveston County Constitutional Court, was the first since Carl Gustafson, the party chairman, accused eight party members -- referred to as the steering committee -- of attempting a "political coup" to oust him and take control of the local GOP's bank account. He alleges that the steering committee called an unauthorized meeting in November with the intention of amending the county party's bylaws to remove him as chair.

The steering committee - consisting of precinct chairs Janis Lowe, Deborah Winters Chaney, Alison Putman, Kathy Rogers, Paula Smith, Scott Apley, Alicia Youngblood, and David Buckner -- alleges that Gustafson is trying to use the court for personal monetary gain and that he has no individual right to control the bank account since the account is in the name of the Galveston County Republican Executive Committee.

Visiting Judge Lisa Burkhalter, who is presiding over the case after Judge Lonnie Cox of the 56th District Court recused himself because of his relationship with the county GOP, was visibly exasperated that the two sides could not come to a resolution after nearly settling the matter during the hearing.

"This reminds me of a family law case," Burkhalter said. "I know that probably too much water has gone under the bridge for you to reconcile and we're probably not gonna sing Kumbaya, but at the end of the day I think you all are on the same side and you're all Republicans right? If there's any way you can set aside your differences and resolve this without putting it in the public domain -- embarrassment might be a bigger incentive than court action."

Burkhalter's frustration stemmed in part from a failed settlement agreement during the hearing that would have put the conflict to rest, at least temporarily.

Tom Dickens, the attorney representing precinct chairs Rogers, Smith, Apley, Youngblood, and Buckner, and Alton Todd, representing Gustafson, agreed that the precinct chairs would take no action to change the bylaws until the beginning of the new party term in June, when the party would write its new bylaws anyway.

The authority over county funds at Moody National Bank -- represented in the hearing by attorneys Michael Adams and Tara Ann Weiler because of a lawsuit filed against the executive committee, seeking a declaratory judgment as to who had legal rights to the party's bank account -- would have remained under Gustafson's control in the meantime.

But Reese Campbell, the attorney representing precinct chairs Lowe, Winters Chaney, and Putman, declined to agree, over concerns that Lowe could still be held liable in the lawsuit with Moody Bank, since she was elected treasurer by the steering committee.

After the hearing, Campbell declined to elaborate on why the proposed settlement fizzled, but said that he was still hoping the issues between the precinct chairs and Gustafson could be resolved before the next hearing on Friday.

"My clients were obviously interested in resolving the issues and doing so in an agreeable way," Campbell said after the hearing. "In that vein, there continues to be conversations on how we can resolve those issues. We haven't been able to do that yet, but we continue to try."

With the settlement off the table, Campbell and Dickens argued that the court should not even hear the conflict, citing numerous Texas State Supreme Court rulings that demonstrate that the judiciary has no authority over internal political conflicts.

By the end of the hearing, Burkhalter ruled that the court does have jurisdiction. She pleaded with the attorneys to come to a resolution as soon as possible.

"I would just encourage you all to figure out what you have to have and what you can compromise on, at least until June when everything switches over," Burkhalter said.Proud that an estimated 15,000 people attended the March 24 March for Our Lives in Houston, a Mayde Creek High School junior who helped organize the event now is moving on.

What's next for Steven Adriano Garza, 17, includes an April 7 town hall, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner's Mayor's Commission to End Gun Violence and a concentrated effort to encourage young people to register to vote and then run for elective office themselves.

"Town Hall for Our Lives" is a national movement in which March for Our Lives organizers are working to have every single member of the U.S. House of Representatives host an April 7 town hall. Visit www.facebook.com/TownHallProject or https://townhallproject.com for details. As of Saturday, a town hall tentatively has been set for 5-7 p.m. April 7 at Rice University.

Though the same Houston/Katy area students remain involved, they will work through a renamed group: Students Rise, in which Garza expects to hold a leadership position. Student co-leaders with Garza are Paige Cromley of John Cooper School in The Woodlands and Manju Bangalore of the University of Oregon who's temporarily working at NASA. Adult leaders are Alyssa DuPree, Kristina Woods and Joseph Say.

At the March for Our Lives rally and march, which Garza called "amazing," Turner announced he would form the special commission to focus on researching and recommending solutions at a local level. It's possible that Garza also could serve on that commission. In the coming weeks, Turner was to announce his commission appointees and to release more details about the commission's goals, according to a news release from his office.

Garza said he's been involved in politics the last three years and hasn't encountered too many teenagers. "This past Saturday was one of the most beautiful things I've seen."

The event, which was primarily led by young people, has taught him about the power of students. Organizers ranged in age from 10 to 22 and Garza pointed out the attention 10-year-old Dezmond Floyd received after saying he has led a happy life and would stand between his classmates and a gunman if there were a shooting at his school.

"Never underestimate the power of students," Garza said.

"They're the ones that made Saturday happen. Because they're young and inexperienced doesn't mean anything at all. Those kids in Parkland went through something 99 percent of Americans shouldn't have to go through." On Feb. 14, 17 students and staff were fatally shot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Their murders sparked nationwide rallies.

The Houston rally did draw some counter protesters, said Garza. "The biggest problem is they're not willing to listen. We say gun reform, they hear confiscate their weapons."

Garza said the intent is to increase awareness of gun violence not only in schools but also in the community and to make it more difficult for those things to occur. Law-abiding citizens should be able to keep their weapons, he added.

"We're not trying to repeal the Second Amendment," Garza said.

"We're trying to make sure that kids feel safe going to school, the movie theater or concert or anywhere without fear of being gunned down because people in the Legislature failed to act in their best interest."There will be an open casting call this Saturday in La Marque for locals to have bit parts in an upcoming feature film.

According to the Houston Film Commission's Rick Ferguson, the independent film's working title is "Bull" and it has a bullfighting theme.

HOUSTON ON FILM: Director Richard Linklater needs your Houston photos, videos from the 1960s

The production has recently held casting calls in Humble, Sugar Land and Kingwood.

As Chron.com previously reported, Texas-bred director Richard Linklater could soon be in the area to shoot portions of his upcoming film about growing up in the Houston area during the 1969 Apollo moon landing.

The Linklater team has said that the La Marque movie is not their production.

The La Marque casting call is looking for adults, ages 30-45, boys and girls in their mid-teens, plus younger females 5-7. People of all ages and ethnicity are welcome.

The event will be held on Saturday, April 7, at the The Back Porch and Events Center in La Marque, starting at 10:30 a.m. and running through the middle of the afternoon.

"People who are dare-devils and love risky adventure are strongly encouraged to attend," according to a news release sent on Wednesday.

People with experience with the Texas prison system are also encouraged to attend. Which side of the bars wasn't specified.

TEXAS ME: Movies you need to see to understand the Lone Star State

Vicky Boone Casting is handling this event. They have handled previous casting calls in the Texas area for Linklater, Terence Malick and others.

The La Marque casting call's film is due to be shot over the summer, according to the release.

The release also notes that the production has ties to the Sundance Film Institute and will premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival.

"We have been honored to support the film making team behind this project through our Screenwriters, Directors, and Creative Producing Labs," Sundance Institute director Michelle Satter said in the release. "We believe deeply in the team's integrity to make a film of quality and will continue to support their efforts as they bring the film to life."

Stay tuned for more details.

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com.A Beaumont man was on life support Tuesday after being shot in the head by a woman playing with a gun, video of which has made national news.

Devyn Holmes was shot Sunday as he sat in a car in Houston's Museum District. In a Facebook Live video, Cassandra Nickcole Damper, 25, can be seen shooting Holmes. She later told police the shooting was accidental, and her case is being referred to a Harris County grand jury.

Damper was also charged with tampering with evidence after police said she tried to wipe off gunshot residue that was on her. Court records note that there is video of the incident.

In a Facebook Live video that captured the shooting, Holmes, Damper and another man can be seen sitting in the car.

The three joke around as they set up the video. Shortly after, Damper picks up a gun from the center armrest and points it directly at the camera. Holmes grabs the gun, holding it with Damper.

Hey man, youre making me nervous, he says.

The friend in the backseat reassures Holmes, saying the gun aint got no clip, bud, apparently referring to a lack of an ammunition clip.

Then, Damper appears to cock the gun and point it at Holmes.

Hey, where you from again? he asked.

She responded, Say something, b----.

Then, a gunshot.

The incident is the latest shooting to be broadcast on social media.

Earlier this week, an 18-year-old Detroit resident was fatally shot by another as the two showed money during an Instagram video, according to the Associated Press. The person who fired the gun told police that he accidentally put his finger on the trigger.

The Houston shooting appeared to involve young people "playing with guns," Houston police Detective John Roberts said. Damper and the unidentified friend told police they had been handling two guns that they thought were unloaded.

The incident has garnered national media attention, with hundreds pouring out support for Holmes and his recovery. Among the well-wishers was rapper Trae tha Truth, who posted a photo on Monday of him posing with Holmes.Two people, including a juvenile, were shot outside a southeast Houston gas station Tuesday afternoon.

The victims, both males, were parked at a gas pump at the Shell station near South Loop East at Cullen Boulevard around 12:25 p.m. when an unknown assailant opened fire on them, striking both several times, Houston Police Department southeast patrol division Capt. William McPherson said.

The two tried to drive away to evade the gunfire but did not get much farther outside the gas station parking lot.

FACEBOOK LIVE SHOOTING: Man shot during Facebook Live video on life support

They were both taken to Ben Taub Hospital in stable condition and are expected to survive, McPherson said.

A man was seen running toward a nearby apartment soon after the shooting, but police scoured the complex and came up emptyhanded, McPherson said. Police hope surveillance video at the gas station captured the shooting and will help the investigation.

In the meantime, authorities are asking anyone with information about the shooting to reach out to Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

No other information was available. Check back for updates on this developing story as they come in.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.More than 1.3 million people turned out April 5, 1986, on an overcast Saturday night to see French composer Jean-Michel Jarre's "Rendez-vous Houston: A City in Concert."

The show landed the city in the Guinness Book of World records and made enduring memories for Houstonians who were there.

WHEN OIL FELL: How Houston dealt with the oil bust in the '80s

The music, fireworks, laser beams and the bigger-than-life projections on the sides of Houstons tallest skyscrapers were a feast for the eyes and ears.

Rendez-vous was a component of the Houston Festival, which would later be called the Houston International Festival, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Texas and Houston that year.

The event also paid tribute to the men and women who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, just months before.

According to Houston Chronicle web producer and history blogger J.R. Gonzales, the concert also included a piece of music that Challenger astronaut Ron McNair had planned to perform in space during the concert itself.

THE BIG BASH: Looking back at Rendez-Vous Houston decades later

The event was in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest crowd ever to witness a sound-and-light display.

CNNs Jonathan Hawkins turned in a bittersweet chronicle of the event, with details on McNair and Jarres touching friendship.

It's not uncommon to see a yellowed poster featuring the night's lights and fire in the back of a local eatery or antique store, all these years later. However, that skyline appears sparse compared to what Houston has now.

SCRAPING THE SKY: Houston's favorite skyscrapers as they looked while under construction

Talk of Rendez-vous usually sparks discussions about having something similar here in Houston again. Lord knows, technology has progressed enough over the years that a modern light spectacle would make what we saw in 1986 look like an Etch-A-Sketch in comparison.

Back in 2011, Jarre told the Houston Chronicle hed love to come back to the Bayou City for another round. Maybe next time we can find a way to avoid the hellish traffic jam that came after it. We have more bicycles now.

Jarre himself will be in Houston again on April 10 for a concert at the Smart Financial Centre in the Sugar Land.

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com.The man accused of sexually assaulting at least eight of his foster daughters allowed his cousin to repeatedly rape a teen in his care, according to an arrest affidavit.

The cousin, Juan Antonio Rivera, 34, faces a charge of sexual assault of a child. He was booked into the Bexar County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

RELATED: Former foster daughters react to arrest of S.A.-area man accused of sexually assaulting 5 girls

Rivera is the cousin of Miguel Briseno, a suspect in eight sexual assault cases in Medina and Bexar counties. Officials and former foster children have said Briseno ran a girls home in Von Ormy and later in Devine, Texas, in Medina County.

At various times, he had up to 12 foster girls living with him and his family, and law enforcement authorities have estimated as many as 180 girls passed through his home.

Briseno was first verified to receive foster children into his Von Ormy home in the 19500 block of Morin Road in 2002, according to Child Protective Services. Rivera, who was around 18- or 19-years-old at the time, lived on the same property but in a different home, according to the arrest affidavit.

The victim told authorities Briseno gave Rivera permission to do whatever he wanted with the victim because she was his "property," according to the affidavit. Briseno also told the victim, who was 13-years-old at the time, to do whatever Rivera wanted or else he would kick her out of the foster home, the affidavit says.

RELATED: Sheriff: S.A.-area man accused of sexually assaulting 5 foster children took in 180+ girls

According to the affidavit, Briseno would regularly bring the victim to Rivera's home and allow him to sexually assault her. This happened numerous times between September 2003 and May 2007, officials said.

Afterwards, Briseno would take the victim home. She told Bexar County deputies that Briseno told her "that if she ever said anything about what happened (sic) that he would kill her," according to the affidavit.

Briseno was arrested on Oct. 11, 2017, on five charges of sexual assault of a child. Three of the charges stemmed from his years at the Von Ormy property, and the other two originated from his home in Devine, Texas. Since he was jailed, he has been indicted on at least five more sexual assault charges in Medina County for a total of seven. He's being held on only one charge from Bexar County, and it's unclear whether the other two charges were dropped and whether he has been or will be charged in connection with Rivera's accuser.

The victim whom Rivera allegedly raped reported the years of sexual assault to Bexar County deputies on Oct. 16. Authorities secured a warrant for his arrest on March 29 and jailed him on Tuesday.

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Area charities were the ultimate winners as Chef Fest served up great food for hungry patrons recently.

Chef Fest dished up $4,000 for four Houston-area charities during an event featuring more than a dozen of the region's culinary stars.

The farm-to-table food festival took place earlier this month at the 12-acre Harvest Green Village Farm. The featured chefs - hailing from Houston, Dallas and Austin - prepared an assortment of dishes utilizing ingredients sourced from area farms for about 700 food lovers.

In addition, attendees bid on numerous silent auction items such as wine tours, private chef-cooked meals, cookbooks and more. The auction raised $4,000, which will be shared equally between the Houston Food Bank, I'll Have What She's Having, Urban Harvest and the Houston Food System Collaborative.

"We were very pleased with the results of the silent auction," said Scott Snodgrass co-owner of Agmenity, the Houston-based company responsible for organizing Chef Fest. "Each of these causes is near and dear to our hearts, and we are thrilled to be able to help them with their missions."

Brian Greene, president and chief executive officer of Houston Food Bank, thanked Chef Fest for the donation and said the money raised would help provide meals for children, adults and senior citizens in need of meal assistance.

"Chefs are in the business of feeding people, as is the Houston Food Bank," Green said. "When they gather to celebrate the importance of feeding people well, to support local farms and purveyors and to help raise money for our neighbors in need, it is a win-win situation for all involved."

I'll Have What She's Having focuses on women - especially members of the culinary industry - who cannot access affordable health care.

"Texas has the country's highest rate of uninsured women, which includes many in the restaurant industry and our own organization," said Lori Choi, co-founder of the organization. "The Chef Fest contribution will provide services such as well-women exams, cancer screening and treatment, teen sexual education, STD testing and treatment and post-partum care to impact Texas' maternal mortality rate."

Urban Harvest and the Houston Food System Collaborative will use the donations to further their work educating consumers on the value of organic, sustainable food production.

Chef Fest takes place each year at Harvest Green, Houston's first farm-centered community. In addition to the chef-prepared dishes, Chef fest attendees sampled craft beers by Southern Star, Spindletap and St. Arnolds breweries. Children learned about cooking at a special Kids Can Cook tent.

For more information about Harvest Green, visit www.harvestgreentexas.com.After seven months of living in a hotel and with friends, Olivia Thornton is back in her Cinco Ranch home.

Thornton and her 10-year-old son, Chris, celebrated the April 4 homecoming with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and representatives of BuildAid Houston, HomeAid Houston and David Weekley Homes.

The nonprofit BuildAid Houston was formed to help homeowners who fell victim to Harvey and is an initiative of HomeAid Houston, a charity of the Greater Houston Builders Association. BuildAid works with association members to offer materials and contractors at cost.

When construction started in January, the house had been mucked out but had no insulation or Sheetrock, said Randall Rowlett, special projects manager, David Weekley Homes, who supervised the rebuild of the home flooded by Hurricane Harvey last August. While he's been building homes for David Weekley Homes for five years, what he's doing now is a little bit different. "Charity is a big part of David Weekley Homes," he said. "It does a really good job of getting employees involved doing charity programs. I'm happy to be helping people."

Rowlett added that he has seven other projects similar to the Cinco Ranch home going on right now.

"The need is astounding," said Bette Moser, executive director of HomeAid Houston. "We (BuildAid Houston) do have a goal of 250 homes in the next 12 months."

The nonprofit HomeAid Houston has a mission to provide housing for homeless families, she said. That mission expanded after Hurricane Harvey flooding and a phone call from David Weekley, president of David Weekley Homes and past GHBA president, to Moser that led to the pilot project BuildAid Houston. "We don't want people to lose their home ownership," she said. "It's all about homeownership.

"Home is where you start the day and where you end the day. It's a fundamental need," said Moser.

Weekley said he was out of town when Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. As he kept watching events unfold in the media, he saw an opportunity for the GHBA. "Building homes is what we do."

Initially, he thought it couldn't be that difficult. At the April 4 homecoming celebration, he said, "Boy was I wrong. There's a lot to this."

Chris Yuko, director of BuildAid Houston, encourages homeowners affected by Hurricane Harvey to visit http://www.homeaidhouston.org to apply for help. People also can email help@buildaidhouston.org or call 1-409-768-0118.

Yuko wants to maintain property values of homes and neighborhoods. "That's why people shouldn't short sell. We want people back in their homes. We want to preserve the community."

Citing figures for homes flooded and property damage, Yuko said, "It's easy to lose sight of the people behind the statistics."

Bringing experience to BuildAid Houston is St. Bernard Parish, a third-party consultant that began in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The David Weekley Family Foundation committed $1 million to the fledgling BuildAid. Builder partners are David Weekley Homes, Trendmaker Homes, Chesmar Homes, Partners in Building and Taylor Morrision.

The Hurricane Harvey Relief fund, established by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, recently gave a $5.5 million grant to BuildAid.

Yuko said everyone coming together can make a dent in what Harvey did to Houston. BuildAid reduces the cost of rebuilding for homeowners, he said. Plus grants and low-interest loans are available.

With 40 years in the building business, David Weekley Homes offers the experience and connections to building trades needed to help rebuild the flood-damaged homes at cost, said Weekley. "I feel privileged to be able to help."

And Thornton, who lived in Cinco Ranch three years before Hurricane Harvey came, wants to repay the kindness shown her. From the resodding of the yard to the rebuilding of the kitchen with granite countertops and new appliances, Thornton thanked everyone. "Without Hurricane Harvey, I wouldn't know these people's kindness."

The kitchen also contains the only item that survived Harvey: a table that shows a rust mark about 3 feet off the floor indicating the depth of the water when the house flooded.In Kevin Laus work, the smallest details are examined with microscopic precision. The Canadian pianist delicately shapes each musical phrase, each moment of harmonic color, while dedicating equal attention to establishing a cohesive sound that ties the piece into a whole.

Sometimes, he remains in his comfort zone. Other times, he relishes exploring something hes never said before, at least not in his compositions. Most recently, he has done the latter, indulging in a sense of romanticism to capture the fundamental spirit of a known story. This weekend, the Toronto-based virtuoso, 35, will make his debut with Houstons River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in the final performance of its thirteenth season, Magical Inspirations, premiering a new Disney-inspired trio based on Hans Christian Andersens The Nightingale. The intimate concert at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston also features Bela Bartoks complex Contrasts and Erich Wolfgang Korngolds colorful Much Ado About Nothing Suite  a program requiring minimal instrumentation with Lau on the piano alongside clarinetist Nathan Williams and violinist Scott St. John.

Scott (St. John) is a massive Disney fan. Hes just a child at heart, Lau said of his Ontario-based colleague and mentor.

With great fondness for Disneys work, St. John has always wanted to present a program involving its classic soundtracks, Lau said, but the practicalities of obtaining permission to arrange pieces from Disneys canon of music is difficult. Their brainstorming, however, set Laus mind in motion.

When he came across Hans Christian Andersens fairy tale  one left untouched in the corporations rich history  he thought, What if I wrote a piece of music to the fairy tale in the same way that Disney has appropriated some of the fairy tales like The Snow Queen and The Little Mermaid and so forth? 

Set in ancient China, The Nightingale is rooted in a culture familiar to Lau, who is originally from Hong Kong. The story was relatable, but it also had a natural inclination toward music, he said. The plot revolves around the enchanting song of a nightingale  a melody that transfixes the emperor of China and a theme that Lau completed first.

The moment I had the theme, I could navigate through the rest of the structure with a bit more ease, he said. Its like finding the core identity of the piece, and then once you know what that is, the rest of it falls into place.

More Information 'ROCO Unchambered: Magical Inpsirations'  When: 5 p.m. Sunday  Where: MATCH, 3400 S. Main  Details: $25; 713-665-2700, roco.org See More Collapse

Although Lau didnt assign a specific role to each instrument, there were moments in which he took advantage of their temperaments. For example, when a bejeweled, artificial nightingale appears, the clarinet plays a lovely waltz over strong, percussive sounds of the violin, creating a parody of the original tune and perhaps alluding to the ominous nature of the mechanical bird, which threatens the livelihood of the living one.

As with most, if not all fairy tales, The Nightingale encompasses a wide range of emotions. Despite its overall ethereal beauty, the tale is not all sunshine and roses, Lau said. Wickedness transcends heartfelt gaiety in the form of neglect, illness and despair. Yet, the conflict doesnt last long - a detail that Lau found appealing. This was a piece that gave me a shameless opportunity to write very melodically and very beautifully, he said. It has a happy ending, which is not guaranteed when youre reading Hans Christian Andersen.

Lawrence Elizabeth Knox is a writer in Houston.Federal prosecutors concluded their case Tuesday against former Republican U.S. Congressman Steve Stockman, following nine days of testimony in a campaign fraud trial including a statement from a co-defendant and longtime aide that he regretted not questioning widespread misconduct by his ex-boss.

"I'm sorry I had the lack of character to stand up to him and ask why," testified Jason Posey, one of two former staffers who pleaded guilty and provided key testimony for the government.

The prosecution called as its final witness one of the two FBI special agents who investigated the case to detail some of Stockmans final monetary transactions via crypto currency and cash withdrawals in Switzerland and Egypt while his aide was overseas, laying low to avoid the attention of investigators, according to the aides testimony.

RELATED: Aide says ex-Congressman Steve Stockman told him hed come clean if their plot was discovered

Stockman, 61, of Clear Lake, a firebrand for right wing causes, maintains his innocence in a 28-count criminal indictment, to which the two aides Posey and Thomas Dodd have pleaded guilty. Prosecutors allege the two-time GOP congressman led a a white collar crime spree, diverting $1.25 million in charitable donations from two leading conservative backers to pay off personal and campaign costs.

Stockmans legal team has argued his finances were messy, but his heart was always in the right place. If funds were not spent as donors intended it does not mean he committed fraud, they say.

MORE: Charity donations paid for tanning salons and amusement parks, says FBI investigator in Steve Stockman trial

Posey, a former campaign treasurer now working as a short order cook in his native Mississippi while he awaits sentencing, told the jury Wednesday he knew his boss was directing him to make unlawful transactions, setting up several sham nonprofit organizations and telling a donor they were legitimate.

RELATED: Onetime aide testifies against former Rep. Steve Stockman

Outside of court, Poseys lawyer, Philip Hilder said his client was blinded by his trust in Stockman, who hed known since the mid-1990s, when Posey was a young idealistic intern at a Washington, D.C. leadership organization.

Posey found him to be charismatic and over time a mentor and father figure that he believed in and trusted to the extent that it caused an impairment in Poseys judgment, Hilder said.

He said his client knew crossed the line and violated the law, and he accepts responsibility for his actions.

The prosecution ended its case by calling back to the stand FBI Special Agent Leanna Saler, to explain to the jury how Stockman used Bitcoin to forward funds to Posey who had fled to Egypt to avoid investigators and the purchases of so-called burner phones which were used to discuss an improper campaign donation, according to Poseys testimony. Both were difficult for law enforcement to trace, Saler testified.

Defense lawyer Sean Buckley asked whether the Bitcoin transactions were charged in Stockmans indictment. Saler said no. The ATM withdrawals Stockman made in Switzerland and Cairo were also not included in the charges, she testified.

Under further questioning from Buckley, the agent stated that the FBI never investigated the two mega-donors who gave Stockman the charitable contributions that were later diverted to pay personal and campaign debts.

MORE: Megadonor says he thought former U.S. Congressman Steve Stockman was trustworthy

After the government ended its presentation, Stockmans lawyers called Callie Beck as their first witness to begin their defense of the charges. The court adjourned shortly after Becks testimony to await the expected arrival of another witness who Stockmans lawyers said was flying in from the Republic of Congo to testify about the GOP lawmaker's work shipping medicine to developing countries.

Beck was on the stand less than 10 minutes in all, detailing what she did during a summer program Stockman paid for with a charitable donation. She said the Summit, a two-week camp in Colorado run by a Christian organization, involved lectures and team building for youths before entering college.

Under cross examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Annis, Beck acknowledged she was not familiar with Freedom House, a housing and training program for Capitol Hill interns. Stockman successfully pitched the project to Richard Uihlein, one of his big donors, before he wrote a $350,000 check that was later diverted to pay for Becks camp and other expenses, earlier testimony showed.

Gabrielle Banks covers federal court at the Houston Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter and send her tips at gabrielle.banks@chron.com.The woman accused of accidentally shooting a man in the head while the incident was being recorded on Facebook Live now faces upgraded charges, Houston police said Wednesday.

Cassandra Nickcole Damper, 25, now faces a charge of aggravated assault with bodily injury in the shooting on Sunday that injured Devyn Holmes.

She was previously charged with tampering with evidence and was released on $2,500 bond.

The shooting was captured in a now-nationally shared video that streamed live on Facebook. In that video, Damper can be seen shooting Holmes as they sat in a car. Damper later told police the shooting was accidental and that she thought the gun was unloaded.

Damper, Holmes and another man in the backseat were playing with two guns when the shooting occurred, she told investigators.

At one point in the video, Damper grabbed the gun and pointed it at the camera.

Hey man, youre making me nervous, Holmes says.

The person in the backseat said the gun didnt have an ammunition clip, and Damper pointed the gun at Holmes. A gunshot sounded.

Holmes is still in the hospital fighting for his life, his mother told television reporters Tuesday.

The shooting has garnered national media attention, and a second apparently accidental shooting was broadcast live from Detroit this week. On Monday, an 18-year-old Detroit resident was fatally shot by another as the two showed money during an Instagram video, according to the Associated Press. The person who fired the gun told police that he accidentally put his finger on the trigger.

Dampers original charge came after she attempted to wipe gunshot residue off of her, police said.Two Houston brothers are facing federal charges that accuse them of running separate operations to steal over-the-counter medicines and beauty products and resell them across the country.

Yasser Saleh Ouwad, 47, and Bilal Saleh Awad, 45, were charged March 28 and will appear in court for initial hearings Wednesday.

A third man, Luis Garcia-Oyuela, 33, a Honduran resident living in Houston without legal documentation, was also charged for his alleged role in Ouwads operation.

Ouwad and Awad are accused of being fences in multi-million dollar organizations spanning over several states, facilitating the sale of stolen over-the-counter medicines, diabetic test strips and health and beauty supplies between June 2015 and March 2018, according to a news release from U.S Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.

The charges allege that Ouwad, through a company called Houston-based GPS Wholesale, Inc., repackaged the illicit goods at a warehouse in west Houston and shipped them to wholesale companies in New Jersey.

Awad has been accused of conducting a similar operation, though he allegedly received merchandise at a Cube Smart in southwest Houston and shipped the goods to New York.

The brothers were also accused of hiring immigrants who were living in the country without legal permission to steal the products from major chain stores such as Wal-Mart, CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens, Patrick said. The thieves, called "boosters," are paid to travel and steal merchandise, according to the charges.

A February raid of Ouwads warehouse ended with the seizure of almost $600,000 in stolen items, as well as inventory lists and items related to his alleged operation. Awad had similar items at his residence, Patrick said.

Ouwad and Awad are accused of using fake names and company names to avoid being caught.

The brothers and Garcia-Oyuela could each be sentenced to five years for conspiracy to transport stolen merchandise in interstate commerce, Patrick said. They could also receive 10 years for each count of possession and transporting interstate stolen merchandise. Each charge could include a maximum $250,000 fine.

The investigation was run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, with help from CVS, Walgreens, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Abbott and Kroger, Patrick said.Sex assault case against Lance Armstrong's son dropped Luke Armstrong was charged in April related to an incident in 2018.

One Houston judge is center of Biden's attempt to shield DREAMERs Trump tried to end DACA, but the Supreme Court concluded he did not go about it properly.Houston police detailed a major human trafficking bust Wednesday that led to the arrest of a man who allegedly pimped out 10 women throughout the country.

Marquis Dominick Holmes, 27, was arrested Saturday at his southwest Houston apartment on five felony charges accusing him of running a prostitution ring, often in a violent fashion.

FACEBOOK LIVE SHOOTING: Charges upgraded for woman in Facebook Live shooting

Holmes became the target of an investigation a few months ago when one of the prostitutes came forward to police about the enterprise.

Vice detectives with the Houston Police Department said Holmes would use violence against the prostitutes, such as choking them or striking them with a vehicle. Detectives said Holmes also threatened to hurt the 6-year-old child of a prostitute at one point.

Police said Holmes would threaten and harm the prostitutes if they did not perform at least 10 sex acts per day or turn around $1,500 in revenue daily.

"Often times, (the prostitutes') documents are withheld or food is withheld, things of that nature, to continue the forced coercion," HPD Lt. Jessica Anderson said.

At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, HPD Capt. James Dale turned his focus away from Holmes and onto other pimps in the Houston area, vowing to take similar action against them.

FLOOD RULES: Houston City Council adopts stricter flood plain development rules

"It's so egregious and so violent what this suspect was doing," Dale said. "We want to say a warning to others ... we're coming for you."

Dale also said people who pay for prostitutes are also in their cross hairs.

"You're not innocent in all of this," Dale said. "We're focusing on you as well. These women aren't working on their own free will. A majority of them work with a handler or pimp. If they don't do what this pimp says, violence or worse things can occur."

OLYMPIC BAN: Sugar Land native, Olympic coach banned from sport for sexual misconduct

Holmes is sitting in Harris County Jail on two felony counts of trafficking of a person, two felony counts of compelling prostitution by force and one felony count of aggravated promotion of prostitution.

A judge ordered him detained with no bond, although he was out on bond for felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and felony assault-family violence at the time of his most recent arrest, court documents show.

He is facing up to life in prison if convicted.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.Strong storms swept through the Houston area overnight, bringing in colder weather and high winds that caused damage to a hangar at Houston Hobby Airport.

Just before midnight, winds were tracked at 40 mph at the airport, with gusts up to 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service.WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he is preparing to send the military to guard parts of the border with Mexico, escalating his campaign against illegal immigration and his fight with Congress over funding the border wall.

The president, who has closely monitored conservative media accounts of a caravan of Central American immigrants in Mexico, offered no details on what sort of military presence he wants or when troops might be deployed.

But seated next to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the White House, Trump said he had spoken with the retired Marine Corps general about doing things militarily.

Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military. Thats a big step. We really havent done that before, or certainly not very much before, he said.

At a news conference later alongside Baltic leaders, the president referred again to the Central Americans moving north and to horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States on immigration, an offensive he has stepped up on his Twitter account since the weekend.

It was unclear from the remarks if the president had issued a firm policy directive to the Pentagon or whether sending troops to the border was something he was simply mulling while taking heat recently on immigration from elements of his base.

After Trump's comment about sending the military to the border, the White House issued a statement saying his border strategy "includes the mobilization of the National Guard."

National Guard troops have periodically been deployed to the border by the federal and state governments, and serve only in support roles to immigration and law enforcement officers.

Today, the Texas National Guard maintains a light footprint on the border, with 100 soldiers and airmen serving there at a cost of just under $1 million a month, said Sgt. Mark Otte, a spokesman based at Camp Mabry in Austin.

The presidents demand for troops on the border drew immediate reactions from across the political landscape.

"Securing our southern border remains a priority for the Governor, which is why he has deployed the Texas National Guard and added more Texas Department of Public Safety officers to the region. Governor Abbott will continue to work with the federal government to ensure greater border security."

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick applauded the decision.

Texas has added 500 additional troopers on the border and the Border Patrol has also increased manpower. Military troops can make an immediate difference in securing the border and help protect Texas communities and the rest of America, he said.

"Securing our southern border remains a priority for the Governor, which is why he has deployed the Texas National Guard and added more Texas Department of Public Safety officers to the region, Ciara Matthews, a spokeswoman for Governor Abbott . She added the governor "will continue to work with the federal government to ensure greater border security."

Its just a really, bad, dangerous idea, said U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke, an El Paso Democrat running against incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who was endorsed Tuesday by the national Border Patrol union. We do not want the military in our communities patrolling the border. We want the military being able to serve our country overseas, or at military installations like Fort Bliss or Fort Hood in Texas.

How about the families of the men and women who are serving, who are spread so thin across the globe, and then ask them to go guard a border with not only one of our allies, but one of our strongest trading partners? It just seems so ignorant, said state Sen Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio and the son of immigrants  his mother from Mexico, and his late father from Cuba.

Its another example of the fact that we have a showman, a celebrity, a reality star in the White House who is playing a role that he just doesnt know how to play. He lacks the skills to be a statesman or even a politician, he said.

The president has embraced the conservative media portrayal of the migration north of Hondurans and others from Central Americans as an effort to flaunt American immigration laws. The annual protest, which drew more participants this year, is led by Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which translates to People Without Borders.

Mexican immigration officials this week began registering the migrants, many fleeing turbulent political and economic conditions. Some may qualify for humanitarian visas and or temporary permits to remain in Mexico, Mexican officials said, and some were deported.

The president has stewed over immigration matters since Congress last month approved just $1.6 billion of the $25 billion he wants for the border wall, stipulating that much of the money was for fencing and imposing restrictions.

But his repeated assertions of a border out of control conflict with a long trend of declining immigration. Apprehensions of unauthorized immigrants on the southern border have declined from a peak of 1.6 million in 2000, to about 304,000 last year.

The presidents intentions are unclear, and perhaps in their infancy, but the use of National Guard troops on the border is not new and generates debate over legalities.

The Posse Comitatus Act bars the military from civilian policing, including search, seizure, arrest or other similar activity while supporting civilian law enforcement.

In 2006, President George W. Bush announced the deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard troops to support the Border Patrol, and between 2006 and the summer of 2008, some 30,000 Guard members took part in what was called Operation Jump Start.

The Guard units, under control of border state governors, took part in engineering, aviation, border entry identification teams and support activities other than what is deemed law enforcement.

In 2007, Gov. Rick Perry ordered 604 Texas Guard troops working in security platoons to patrol the Rio Grande as part of what was described by state officials at the time as a rolling surge. More than 6,800 people in all were involved in that operation, with personnel coming from the Texas Guard, police departments, sheriffs officers, the Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Coast Guard

In 2010, President Barack Obama, although referring to immigration as inherently the job of the federal government, announced that 1,200 National Guard troops would be deployed to assist the Border Patrol. Then last year, the Trump administration considered mobilizing 100,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, an idea that was quickly disavowed, according to a draft internal document obtained by the Associated Press.

The presidents declaration is certain to roil Congress. Texas reaction to the idea was either muted or split along party lines, with the most strenuous objections coming from some border district Democrats.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, remarked: What the president fails to understand is that deploying troops to secure a border and constructing a 14th century concrete wall, are outdated and inadequate answers to protecting our nations borders.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio and a leading member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, asserted that we shouldnt turn border communities into militarized zones. In fact, using military troops for that purpose may violate the Posse Comitatus Act. President Trump should let Border Patrol do its job and let our military service members focus on the important duties they signed up for.

U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, a Brownsville Democrat, had harsher words for the president.

Trump is a racist and an idiot, Vela said. Mexico is an ally, not an enemy.

In Houston, U.S. Rep. Gene Green, a Democrat, also spoke out against the idea. President Trumps plan to deploy troops along the Rio Grande will likely harm our states border communities and turn immigrants seeking safety and a better life into the enemy, he said.

Many Republicans in Congress, taken by surprise, remained silent on the presidents comments, noting that they fell short of a fully-developed plan.

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, a Houston-area Republican, who gave partial support to Trumps idea, called instead for the National Guard to be deployed to the border upon the request of state governors.

Protecting American sovereignty and the American people is a constitutional requirement of the federal government, Poe said.Police in the United Kingdom released a bizarre sketch of a burglary suspect Tuesday.

The electronic sketch, properly called an e-fit in the UK, depicts a white male with stubble, dark eyes ... and an abnormally wide mouth, stretching almost as wide as his eyes. The Warwickshire County police shared the e-fit on Twitter, which has already garnered more than 14,000 retweets and 2,300 replies.

Even though the depiction is comical at best, detectives in Warwickshire County are serious about catching the suspect.

FACEBOOK LIVE SHOOTING: Man shot during Facebook Live video on life support

Police said the suspect is accused of burglarizing a woman's home on Feb. 5 by posing as a worker for Orbit Housing and gaining access to the home. Ultimately, the suspect and another man made off with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Detectives are hoping the popularity of the e-fit will lead to someone recognizing him and coming forward.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has extended the deadline on its request for input on possibly excavating soil out of the Addicks and Barker reservoirs.

The new deadline is May 4. The original deadline for responses was Feb. 23, but it has been extended twice.

In a notice originally posted online Jan. 24, the Army Corps said it "is evaluating the level of interest from government, industry, and others parties for the excavation and removal of alluvial soils deposited within" the reservoirs.

"The concept of the potential project is to allow for the beneficial use of material by interested parties while increasing capacity" at Addicks and Barker, the notice states.

READ: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers exploring excavation of Addicks and Barker reservoir flood pools

So far, two firms have inquired about the notice, Corps officials said.

"The intent of the Request for Information is to survey the market to determine if there is a sufficient demand for material in the Houston area," said Timothy Nelson, Chief of the Corps Galveston District's Real Estate Division. "Our purpose is to assess whether vendors have the need for this type of material and the capability to successfully remove it off government property."

Nelson said the extension "was to provide additional time for interested parties to inquire."

The notice revives an oft-discussed proposal that would allow the reservoirs to hold more storm water and keep it out of nearby Houston neighborhoods. The Addicks and Barker dams have been vital to Houston's growth.

READ: Officials patched and prayed while pressure built on Houston's dams

Rapid development to the north and west paved over prairie and ranch land, causing more runoff to flow into the reservoirs. As a result, Addicks and Barker are storing larger volumes of water than their designers intended, and for longer periods.

That has stressed the aging earthen dams. It also has heightened the risk of flooding for communities adjacent to the reservoirs. Since the reservoirs are not bounded by walls or banks, water can spill beyond their boundaries during intense storms.

The idea of excavating the reservoirs has been a fixture of official reports and politicians' to-do lists for more than 20 years.AUSTIN -- Weighing in on contentious NAFTA negotiations as President Trump wants a deal to be hammered out by mid-April, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is warning U.S. trade negotiators not to dump investor protections.

He's also urging them to avoid changing rules that could disrupt supply chains in the Lone Star State.

In a two-page letter Wednesday to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Abbott said the two provisions in the current agreement that are "critical to the economic growth and stability of both Texas and the entire nation" should be safeguarded and not changed.

One of those provisions establishes binding arbitration procedures that allow private investors to pursue claims against U.S., Mexican and Canadian governments for alleged violations of investor protections contained in the agreement."

"Investments like those in the Mexican energy industry make it possible for U.S. exports to enter more foreign markets and to be more effectively tailored, marketed and distributed to foreign consumers," the letter states. "This is crucial for the rapidly increasing volume of U.S. crude oil, natural gas and petroleum product exports, more than half of which come from Texas."

Abbott notes that a "significant portion" of current U.S. energy exports are bound for Mexico and Canada, "with Mexico purchasing about half of all gasoline exported by U.S. refiners and Canada importing more U.S. crude oil than any other country."

"In order for American companies to continue to invest in Mexican and Canadian infrastructure and natural resource development and for our country to fully realize the associated benefits for U.S. exports, those companies must be assured of fair and equitable treatment by our NAFTA trading partners," Abbott states in the letter.

So-called "rules of origin" provisions of NAFTA should be retained, as well, because they ensure that the benefits of the agreement "extend only to good produced by the parties to the agreement and not to goods produced wholly or in large part in other countries."

Negotiators working on changes to NAFTA reportedly are considering changing those provisions concerning certain goods, including motor vehicles.

"Such changes could radically disrupt the vast network of supply chains throughout North America, drive up costs and create inefficiencies for American companies," Abbott warned, noting that Texas would be particularly hard hit.

Texas annually imports 40 percent of its goods used in manufacturing under NAFTA, including and $11.5 billion in in petroleum products from Canada and Mexico and $6 billion in auto parts from Mexico.

"Stricter rules of origin will force Texas businesses and businesses throughout the country to produce greater numbers of goods without NAFTA benefits, which will lead to increased production costs, higher consumer prices and job loss," the letter states.

Texas exports

Noting that NAFTA has helped diversify Texas' economy and "fostered a robust, yet stable labor market," Abbott cautions against changes in the agreement that could undo its benefits to Texas and other states.

"For more than 20 years, NAFTA has been an important agreement for Texas," Abbott said. "The stability and predictability of the agreement have enabled investment decisions that have led to a substantial increase in exports between Texas and our NAFTA trading partners.

"I hope you will champion the preservation of the provisions that have contributed to the economic prosperity of our state and the nation as a whole," he said.

Over the past 23 years, the trilateral free-trade treaty has tripled U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico to $1.2 trillion of goods and services last year, from about $350 billion when the treaty was first signed.

No state has won more from this growth in trade than Texas, which exported more than $110 billion worth of goods to NAFTA nations last year, according to statistical reports.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported that the Trump administration is pushing for a preliminary NAFTA deal to announce at a summit in Peru next week, and will host cabinet ministers in Washington to try to achieve a breakthrough.

The White House wants leaders from Canada and Mexico to join in unveiling the broad outlines of an updated pact at the Summit of the Americas that begins on April 13, as technical talks continue to work out the details, according to the report.

Mike Ward, the Chronicle's Austin Bureau chief, covers the governor and Executive Branch as well as state politics, criminal justice, ethics issues and investigations. Send him tips at mike.ward@chron.com and and follow him on Twitter @ChronicleMike.AUSTIN  Education advocates, including parents and students, have until April 18 to provide feedback on the latest proposal to overhaul Texas' special education services.

In March, the Texas Education Agency officials proposed spending $211.3 million over six years on professional development, engaging special education parents, monitoring special education practices at school districts and identifying previously unidentified students who may be eligible for special education services.

The 42-page draft is the latest version of a correction action plan due to the federal government in the next month.

The U.S. Department of Education in January found the state illegally set an 8.5 percent benchmark on the number of students receiving special education services, well below the national average of 13 percent. A 2016 Houston Chronicle investigation found the practice led school districts to deny access to special education services to tens of thousands of students with disabilities.

Parents and others can review the plan and submit feedback at texas.gov/TexasSPED, or by sending an email to TexasSPED@tea.texas.gov.

After the public comment period ends April 18, the state will update its plan and submit the final version by the end of the month.For a while, a set of liberals has argued that Donald Trump isnt an aberration from other Republican presidents. Now, some surprising conservatives, including friends and colleagues of mine, are starting to agree.

The conservative arguments take several forms, but a key point shared by all of them is that theres nothing new about Trumps melding of populism and conservatism.

I think people who see Trumpism as something aberrant in the Republican Party havent thought much about the history of the Republican Party. Unless theyre NeverTrumpers, in which case theyre in a state of denial, Sean Trende of Real Clear Politics argued in a much-discussed Twitter peroration. Successful Republican campaigns and presidencies have always involved an integration of the partys populist and establishment wings.

Henry Olsen, a scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has been arguing for quite a while that Trump is a more authentic incarnation of Reaganism, because Trumps active leadership style and his combination of populism with market economics is far closer to Reagans words and deeds than anything House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky offer.

Rich Lowry, my boss at National Review, agrees. Writing in Politico, he recounts Reagans and other past Republican presidents deft use of populist issues and themes to win both the GOP nomination and the White House. We can argue about what role populism and nationalism should have in conservative politics, Lowry said, but that they have a place, and always have, is undeniable.

Lowry is right. It is undeniable. It is also undeniable that Democrats from Andrew Jackson to FDR to Barack Obama have used populism to galvanize their candidacies and presidencies. This fact alone should tell you something: Not all populisms are the same, because though they all claim to be the voice of the people, they invariably speak with a specific voice for a specific subset of the people.

Or as then-candidate Trump put it in May 2016: The only important thing is the unification of the people  because the other people dont mean anything.

Populism is a bottom-up phenomenon, but it is shaped and defined by rhetoric from the top. And just as there are differences between left and right populism, there are different kinds of conservative populism.

Until recently, right-wing populism manifested itself in the various forms of the tea party, which emphasized limited government and fiscal restraint. That populism was not only very different from the populism of Occupy Wall Street, it is very different from Trumps version.

It is true that Reagan championed populist themes, but no one can seriously dispute that Reagans themes and rhetoric were decidedly un-Trumpian. The conservative populist who delivered A Time for Choosing used broadly inclusive language, focusing his ire at a centralized government that reduced a nation of aspiring individuals to the masses.

This was a running theme of Reagans rhetoric. Ive been privileged to meet people all over this land in the special kind of way you meet them when you are campaigning, he said in a 1978 radio address. They are not the masses, or as the elitists would have it  the common man. They are very uncommon. Individuals each with his or her own hopes and dreams, plans and problems and the kind of quiet courage that makes this whole country run better than just about any other place on Earth.

Reagans populist rhetoric was informed by a moderate, big-hearted temperament, a faith in American exceptionalism and a fondness for immigration. He warned of concentrated power that corrodes self-government.

From time to time weve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by and of the people, Reagan declared in his first inaugural. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?

Trump rejects American exceptionalism, saying that other nations have outsmarted us. His indictment of our own government is that it is too weak and dumb. His solution: I alone can fix it.

Im not merely indulging in Reagan nostalgia. Every president enlists populist passion, but to leave it at that ignores the purpose of that passion and reduces the people to nothing more than the masses.This April, we observe two anniversaries with an interesting coincidence. Today marks 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination at age 39, and April 23 marks 25 years since Cesar Chavez died at age 66.

This twin commemoration calls us to reflect on the common call-to-action of these two great leaders who were in touch with and shared a common view of militant nonviolent action for social justice.

Their message today, no doubt, would be not to slack off, no matter how difficult, frustrating or improbable the struggle may seem and not to leave behind the tool of militant nonviolent action that they used so effectively for justice and passed on to us. Nonviolent action must be a way of life, not just a tactic or strategy.

EDITORIAL: King's message stays with us on MLK Day

The Parkland students have shown us most recently that, if for every violent act committed against persons, they respond with nonviolence, they attract others support. They can gather the support of millions who have a conscience and want a nonviolent resolution of injustice and social problems.

In his speech honoring the 10th anniversary of Kings death, Chavez said, We are convinced that, when people are faced with a direct appeal from individuals struggling nonviolently against great odds, they will react positively. The American people and people everywhere still yearn for justice. It is to that yearning that we appeal.

It bears remembering that both King and Chavez were organizing against economic injustice. In fact, King was preparing the Poor Peoples March on Washington when he was killed. This is important to emphasize because, in a sense, it is easier to struggle against segregated theater, bathrooms and facility entrances than to address economic disparities, criminal justice, poverty or gender discrimination. These latter inequities are tightly woven into the fabric of our society and extremely difficult to unravel. But unravel them we must.

As Kings famous 1966 telegram to Chavez put it, The fight for equality must be fought on many fronts  in the urban slums, in the sweat shops of the factories and fields. Our separate struggles are really one  a struggle for freedom, for dignity and for humanity  for righting grievous wrongs 

Rather than yielding to the dark forces that seem ever higher on the horizon these days, we must join our colleagues demonstrations and marches, strikes and boycotts for whatever cause, not just to the ones that appeal most to us. These are our only weapons against injustice and how we bring dignity and honor to those movements and our community.

EDITORIAL: Houston approaches a 50-year memorial of Martin Luther King's last speech here

We have to push back against those who promote rugged individualism over community, who aggrandize wealth on the backs of others, and who exploit immigrants, women and people of color for political and economic gain. The list is long and complicated, but we can at least do as much as those who went before us to make our life on the planet more than just how they found it. We owe the same to our grandchildren and those who follow after us.

Something else we can do is help raise up leaders. Neither Chavez nor King descended from heaven. Their families, friends and colleagues help shaped them, sometimes with corrective actions and by cajoling, so that they became who they did. We, too, can help shape and support those around us to become fellow travelers for justice.

HARRINGTON: Cesar Chavez's legacy is a lesson in guidance, leadership

Perhaps in this years twin commemoration we will hear King and Chavez speaking to us in the words of the 1966 telegram: We are together with you in spirit and in determination that our dreams for a better tomorrow will be realized. And they would certainly add, Get out there, demonstrate, and organize! Change and justice will not come in any other way; change and justice are not granted from on high, but won only with struggle.Concerned with cybersecurity breaches and digital disruptions, corporate boards are installing seasoned IT leaders who can balance data protection with innovation. In fact, the number of CIOs serving on Fortune 100 boards in the past three years has grown by 74 percent, according to a 2017 Korn Ferry study.

And with good reason. Forty-eight percent of board technology conversations center on cyber risk and privacy topics, while 32 percent are concerned with technology-enabled digital transformation, according to research from Deloitte, which offers a CIOs guide to engaging with the board.

Not having someone at the table who understands digital transformation is a competitive disadvantage, says Diana McKenzie, former CIO of Workday. For example, McKenzie says that many corporate boards dont understand the landscape regarding cybersecurity threats. "It's becoming a major factor now for many boards, McKenzie tells CIO.com.

CIOs meanwhile view boards as platforms for burnishing their business acumen, where they can demonstrate their ability to analyze anything from balance sheets to 10-K filings. Technology leaders shared their experiences landing board seats and offered advice for how up-and-coming peers may do the same.

Passion, board bio are critical

In April 2018, McKenzie was two years into her role as CIO of Workday when she got a surprise call from an executive recruiter. Insurance provider MetLife was looking to install a seasoned tech leader on its board, the recruiter told her. Was she interested? Absolutely. McKenzie, who had previously worked as CIO of biotechnology firm Amgen, is passionate about the health-care sector. After a whirlwind courtship, MetLife installed McKenzie in November 2018. In July, McKenzie also joined the board of health-care technology concern ChangeHealth. McKenzie offers the following advice.

Workday Diana McKenzie

The what and the why. The first step in seeking a board seat is being certain about what industries youre the most passionate about, says McKenzie. "It starts with knowing why you want to be on a board," she says.

Crush your board bio. Crafting your board bio isn't like agonizing your resume, in which you list your accolades in reverse chronological order. Rather, you're regaling board members with a one-page narrative about your experiences that support your argument for why you should be on the board. Have you scaled global businesses, or created digital products or revenue streams in your previous roles? Play that up. "It's who you are and where you can bring value," McKenzie says, adding that it's critical to distill what the board must know about you.

Two ears, one mouth. The first board meeting can feel like drinking from a firehose of information, so listen well and chime in only where you can add value. Sometimes a baptism by fire is the best way to get acclimated. At McKenzie's first board meeting for MetLife, the top action item was about finding a new CEO. She listened, synthesized the information, and thought about how to frame questions for future discussions. "It really is two ears and one mouth," McKenzie says.

Keep current. In the past, it may have been acceptable for board members to prepare for quarterly meetings by reading up on topics to be discussed. But businesses are changing so rapidly that board members must be "students of industry. That means reading analyst reports and regulatory updates, while also keeping a finger on the pulse of succession planning, talent management and other critical topics. McKenzie also keeps fresh by cultivating relationships with venture capitalists and by interacting directly with MetLife's tech team, to whom she occasionally recommends relevant startups.

Referrals, networking pave the way

While working as vice president of talent at PayPal in 2016, Kirsten Wolberg secured a role as board director and audit committee member at tech firm SGI. Wolberg, now CTO and COO of DocuSign, says a Deloitte consultant referred her to SGI, which was looking to diversify its board. Wolberg advised SGI on the strategic direction of its product line until HP Enterprise acquired it.

DocuSign Kirsten Wolberg

Wolberg in 2016 also joined the boards of Sallie Mae and its industrial bank subsidiary, which she says coveted her technology expertise, as well as her financial services background.

"I've had a great and successful career in technology and wanted to look at the technology as well as business problems from a board perspective," says Wolberg. The SGI and Sallie Mae roles gave Wolberg a window into mergers and acquisitions and other strategies she might not have experienced.

Network in the right places. Wolberg says CIOs looking to join boards should attend networking events focused on building board skills. Wolberg says many CIOs attend CIO networking events but don't branch out to other networks that may help them explore board work and other opportunities.

Word of mouth. Many public board and other opportunities come from serving on non-profit boards. The Deloitte consultant who connected her with SGI served with Wolberg on the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society board. Moreover, Wolberg says she wouldn't be working at DocuSign if she hadn't gotten a tip from a peer who serves with her on the board of YearUp, a workforce development entity.

Seek professional help. Word of mouth helps, but sometimes CIOs need a different push. Wolberg noted that consultancies are great matchmakers because they work with the world's largest companies and know plenty of candidates to recommend for culture and skill fit. Organizations such as Deloitte's onboarding academy, for example, work with executive leaders to help build out board resumes.

Boards help CIOs refresh old skills

Kristin Darby, CIO of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, has been serving on community boards for the past decade. But she couldn't pass up the opportunity to join the board of non-profit biotech entity Addgene, which she says allows her to become familiar with new types of genomic research intended to tackle cancer.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America Kristin Darby

"It exposes me broadly to upstream activities that affect my current job," Darby says. For example, Addgene has helped Darby learn about CRISPR technology.

Darby also saw Addgene as an opportunity to refresh her financial skills. She formed the group's audit committee and instituted board-level financial governance the organization lacked. Darby also serves in customer innovation advisory roles with Salesforce.com and Infor, where she is able to get insight into and influence the technology roadmaps of her strategic vendors.

When companies come calling. Sometimes companies will come exploring with job opportunities, but CIOs are quite happy where they are. It's happened more than once to Darby, who says she politely declines but may tell companies that she might be interested in a board role. And word travels fast. "I haven't joined a board that way, but if a seat comes open they'd think of me," Darby says.

State your preference; know your limitations. Some people prefer private boards, while others love the thrill of public company boards, where stakes are higher and the personal liability is greater. Darby says she doesn't currently have time for such public boards, which tend to meet monthly (she has a quarterly meeting-only rule). Those who do crave the public boards challenge had better be on point. "You don't want to make a mistake early on in your board career because it can hamper your progression long term," Darby says.

Understand the food chain. Know how boards operate, and know the responsibilities of your role before beginning work. For example, a board secretary must know how minutes work. And don't vote if you don't have authority to vote. "You want to perform to the standards of your role because gaps will be noticed," Darby says.Digital is more than marketing at Conagra, the $8 billion global food manufacturer whose brands include Orville Redenbachers, Reddi-Wip, and Peter Pan peanut butter. As CIO Mindy Simon discusses in our Q&A, digital is variable infrastructure, shorter technology lifespans, and knowing all about the consumer.

What does digital mean to Conagra Brands?

Simon: To Conagra, digital is technology-enabled innovation and transformation  from delivering to consumers who shop digitally to our cloud enabled infrastructure, and everything in between.

Digital is marketing in the right place, time, and context for the consumer, whether thats social, email, or some other channel. We need to be on the digital shelf and meet consumers wherever they are.

With infrastructure, it is all about cloud enablement for innovation and variability. By digitizing our infrastructure, we are developing and delivering products faster  and on a more variable cost model. With a fixed infrastructure, it is cost-prohibitive to ramp capacity up or down. With a cloud-enabled variable model, we can spin up infrastructure when we need it. With infrastructure, we are always asking, Can we variablize it?

Conagra Mindy Simon, CIO, Conagra

When it comes to digitizing processes, we look for friction because where there is friction, there is opportunity. How can we use analytics to help our chefs develop new products? How can we use sensors to improve our distribution? Can we use digital to analyze the data that sits in emails from our suppliers to eliminate supply chain friction? A couple of years ago, we looked at digitizing processes in our manufacturing plants, but the cost of sensors and bandwidth were too high. But today, the price has come down and opened up what is possible.

How is IT driving digital transformation?

Simon: Our job is to support Conagras strategy to grow the business, build our brands, and expand our margins. That involves educating our business partners on the potential of emerging technologies. We are being digital with them; we are not doing digital to them.

In IT, we ask ourselves, Are we relevant? That is our most important question. Being relevant means doing more than driving down costs; it also means driving growth.

To drive digital transformation, we are also shifting from running projects to developing and building products. When you focus on products, you do the work differently. For example, we were going to upgrade a video teleconferencing system that was used widely across our business. Just as we have always done in IT, we were decommissioning outdated technology and upgrading to a newer version. As a project, that would have been the right thing to do and we would have called it a success. But with a product focus, we went a different way. We realized that for users, the upgrade  in terms of functionality and user interface  would have taken us two steps back. So, we decided to stop the upgrade. When you shift from projects to products, you focus more on features and experience, and you make different decisions.

What is disposable technology?

Simon: Many of us were brought up to put in infrastructure that lasts decades. But with our current ability to implement new technology at a lower cost, the lifecycle is months or weeks, not years. Our attitude is, Dont overbuild it because you may not have it for long. The days of five-year contracts and capitalizing everything are gone. If the system supports your core business processes, you might want to go for the long-term solution. But it you are providing innovation at the edge, dont over solve the problem. In call centers, for example, the pace of chat and voice technology innovation is so fast that we no longer commit to a platform for five years to get a better price. Technology is cheaper, so we commit for a shorter term and watch how the technology evolves.

How can CIOs drive a digital mindset across other business units?

Simon: As CIO, you need an external focus. When you look only at the services you are providing, you are seeing half the picture. But when you understand your competitors and customers, the walls come down, and you and your business partners look at challenges together. We are seeing an emergence of digitally native companies in our space, like a startup ice cream company that has no manufacturing plants, office space, or traditional marketing. The company is all digital and has disrupted the traditional pint ice cream market. What did this company do? How did they do it? And how can we apply what theyve done to our own operations? If you have your eye on the market, you can take the good things happening in the startup up space and bring those ideas inside.

When you understand your competitors and customers, the walls come down, and you and your business partners look at challenges together.

The CIO can also leverage the digital mindset that already exists across the company. We are all consumers: Everyone has a smart phone or a smart home. In IT, our job  every day  is to take those experiences and ask what is possible in our own companies. Take voice capabilities like Alexa: Can we sit Alexa on our analytics platform and ask her to report on customer behavior? A critical role for IT is to find places for consumer technologies to meet industry challenges. Our job is to remove the friction.

About Mindy Simon

Mindy Simon is CIO for Conagra Brands. In this role, Mindy has enterprise responsibility for global business services, IT, cybersecurity, and leadership in digital transformation, leveraging digital capabilities such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and augmented reality.

Since joining Conagra in 2000, Mindy has held a variety of roles in finance and IT. Her responsibilities have included analyzing economic indicators and tracking major commodity markets in finance and IT, and leading technology transformation across the organization. Most recently, Mindy led global business services, including customer order management, accounts receivable, accounts payable, data management organization, and vendor management organization.

Mindy holds a BS in agricultural economics from the University of Nebraska  Lincoln, and an MBA from Creighton University. She serves on the Omaha Chamber of Commerce board of directors, serves on the Evanta CIO Governing Body Chicago, supports Girls Inc. of Omaha, is member of CIO Gartner Research Board, and has served on the Institute of Career Advancement Needs (ICAN), SAP Services Advisory Board, University of Nebraska  Omaha Data Science Curriculum Advisory Board, and Omaha Chamber of Commerce Guiding Coalition for the Technology Talent Taskforce.A major technology overhaul at Axis Capital's insurance division is paving the way for data analytics programs geared to generate revenue. But the IT revamp wouldn't have been possible without a preemptive change management program, says Darryl Catts, CIO of the companys insurance business.

"We struggled in the beginning, but we assigned roles in change management and got leadership involved," Catts, who worked at Zurich Insurance before joining Axis in 2010, tells CIO.com. The success of Catts' change initiative underscores the importance of aligning IT and business before kicking off a transformation.

Fighting against but-this-is-how-Ive-always-done-it syndrome and coaxing employees to embrace new and emerging technologies is challenging for most CIOs. But 62 percent of 1,700 respondents polled by Capgemini and analyst Brian Solis said that corporate culture remains the biggest impediment to change.

Catts knew hed have to usher in some significant changes  both technical and cultural  when he joined Axis to lead an IT modernization effort designed to leverage technology for growth.

The fragmentation challenge

Years of mergers and acquisitions had left Axis with fragmented technology systems, making it difficult for data to flow freely between the business units. The company had more than 160 disparate insurance products, covering a range of property and casualty services.

Executive leadership had a tall task for Catts: Craft an IT strategy that consolidates every insurance product on a single insurance platform. Axis IT and business teams met frequently to hash out a global IT strategy and roadmap for what they call the future insurance platform.

Catts knew that he had to carefully choose the core platform, a significant strategic decision that could position the company for growth. He considered two paths: replacing individual components of the existing platform over time, or building a new platform in parallel and migrating the legacy system when it was done.

Electing the latter option, Catts worked with his staff and product managers to develop a common architecture with which to fulfill product requirements. Enlisting the help of PwC, Catts sought out vendors who could provide a core platform.

That a CIO would source core IT vendors is nothing new, but Catts tried something a bit different for Axis. He demanded that his business peers, including product managers and operations managers, help vet the solutions to make sure that they aligned with their process requirements.

Though many initially resisted  Catts says they "pushed and shoved, and they kicked and screamed  he insisted they come along for the ride because the wrong choice could set the company back.

"Early on, I highly encouraged strong executive sponsorship and engagement from the business," Catts says. "This is something we need to do together."

Axis opted for a property and casualty insurance platform from Duck Creek, which includes such core tasks as policy and claims administration, billing, and commissioning. Catts says all of these functions are highly integrated, ensuring that policy information aligns with claims filed with the company. Axis product managers and other employees access the system from desktop systems comprised of Microsoft email, file-sharing and customer relationship management software.

Conversion to the Duck Creek platform is ongoing, but roughly 23 of the products are now running on Duck Creek across all 50 U.S. states, and Axis anticipates the remaining 47 will be running on the platform by 2020. Axis has also whittled down its product count from 160 to 70 products over the past two years.

Efficiencies from the new platform are so significant that Axis has already recouped the value of its investment, including significant efficiencies. For example, Axis can now issue a general liability policy for large casualty in 15 minutes, compared to 60 minutes with the previous platform.

Data analytics driving business insights

Catts has loftier goals with the Duck Creek platform in 2018. With the new platform offering over 1,000 more data attributes than the previous system, Catts, along with Axis actuaries, data scientists and analysts are poring over the data to identify new business opportunities. Catts is also forming formal analytics groups and aims to move data into data lakes for faster, more holistic analysis.

"When we book a claim in Duck Creek, claims get mashed to the coverage and policy to create greater data insights," Catts says. "I know if I take that claim it was against this coverage and within a certain policy route so when pricing actuaries look at that claim they know what policy coverage to take action on."

Axis has also developed predictive software that analyzes characteristics of claims submissions to help anticipate future success, as well as inform better product pricing and underwriting decisions. Ideally, these moves will help Axis better understand what partners and customer segments offer the most growth potential.

"If we can get to the right stuff first and get good quotes out the fastest and with a lot of accuracy, the opportunity to book more business increases significantly," Catts says.

Catts says that the platform launch validated the change management initiative, lending IT greater credibility with the business and helping to infuse new cultural DNA into the company. When Catts joined the company, Axis' business managers had a history of passing off platform changes to IT, only to loop back around when they are complete.

But Catts says engaging the business early to be co-owners of the initiatives created greater cohesion. For example, business line presidents are demoing product launches on the platform, something IT would have shepherded previously. Every other week, IT and business congregate to walk though and share feedback on changes to platform features and functionality.

"Before it was the business and IT, and now it's us," Catts says. "Business ownership is phenomenal now."Audio Transcript

Seth Barron: Hi everyone. Welcome back to 10 Blocks, the official podcast of City Journal. This is your host for today, Seth Barron. Our show is coming to you from the Manhattan Institute near Grand Central Terminal, and our guest today is E. J. McMahon. E. J. is the founder and research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy. He is a noted expert on fiscal policy, labor relations and budget trends in New York State. E. J. is published widely, including many pieces for City Journal, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the New York Post and Daily News, Barrons, and elsewhere. Thanks for joining us, E. J.

E. J. McMahon: You are welcome. Thank you.

Seth Barron: So, last week a key aide and associate of Governor Cuomo, named Joseph Percoco, was convicted on federal bribery charges. E. J., can you explain what these charges were?

E. J. McMahon: Well, what it boiled down to was he was convicted of supposedly accepting $300,000 in bribes. In part largely in the form of a no-show, what was called a low-show job for his wife with a company that was seeking the states help or his help in getting the state to move on with a project for a natural gas fired energy plant. Also, he was accused with a couple of, pardon me, Syracuse area developers in connection with a state-funded project in Syracuse. One of the two private developers on trial with him was convicted of charges related to that allegation, the other was not. But, basically, they said that he had used his position as the governors top closest aide to basically seek to enrich himself and he was convicted of some of those charges  I think three counts.

Seth Barron: Now there is a lot, I mean, New York State has a pretty large budget and Governor Cuomo has put a lot of money into economic development Upstate. Did these charges pertain to any of those?

E. J. McMahon: There are other cases still pending pertaining more centrally to those. But, yes, it pertained to some of them. I think the Syracuse project was part of the Governors broader economic development portfolio if you will. The next case coming up involves allegations of bid rigging in connection with the so-called Buffalo Billion. The centerpiece project in the so-called Buffalo Billion initiative is a $750 million factory that the state has basically built and handed over the keys for to Elon Musk to manufacture solar panels or actually assemble solar panels, which is not actually open and in full operation yet. But, that really is the biggest, literally and figuratively, the biggest project in the governors Upstate agenda, the notion that you can kind of force-feed a new era of growth and tech-oriented growth into parts of Upstate New York by dumping a lot of state money into private projects, which essentially benefit private companies based on the promise that they are going to open up a big new facility and employ a lot of people.

Seth Barron: Well, we are getting into a lot of territory here, but let me ask you, so when the governor or the state puts a bunch of money into a program, how is it that the governors friends or associates get to choose who gets the money? Isnt there any kind of procurement process or?

E. J. McMahon: Well, one of the controversies here, one of the few reforms that have been talked about as being necessary in the wake of these cases that actually would be an actual beneficial reform that might have actually had an effect, or at least slowed, some of this is procurement reform. Because actually back in 2011, the type of projects, some of the projects involved in these cases, particularly those done with an affiliate of the State University of New York as the developer, which did not figure in the case that Percoco was just convicted in.

Seth Barron: Right.

E. J. McMahon: They were taken out of the audit purview of the state comptroller. And, so, the argument at the time which the legislature accepted was well, we need to move faster. So, we need to just move the, pick our developers and get going with these projects and hurry on toward the projects we want. And I think now that it has been realized that there needs to be a procurement reform that puts these things back under the purview of the state comptroller. Now, beyond that, this is where there is a divide on this, yes, the economic development projects have figured or allegedly figured in some of the corruption cases to come and peripherally to the Percoco case that just completed, but a lot of the good government groups are goo-goos, as Al Smith dubbed them decades ago. Their attitude on this is transparency.

Seth Barron: Sure.

E. J. McMahon: And we are all about, where I come from, I am all about transparency and accountability. Transparency is a good thing. I think this leaps over the question of whether the state should even be doing much of this stuff. There is actually a clause in the state constitution that is over a century old, a provision known as the Gifts and Loans provision, that basically is designed and fairly explicitly prohibits gifts and loans of state money to private companies.

Seth Barron: Okay.

E. J. McMahon: You may be surprised to hear that because you are thinking if such a thing exists how did any of this come about?

Seth Barron: Indeed.

E. J. McMahon: It basically, like some other provisions of the constitution, for instance the limitation on state debt, was over the years gradually turned into a dead letter. There was all sorts of corner cutting that ultimately produced court decisions that narrowed it to the point of near disappearance. I think it needs to reappear. I think a lot of the stuff that the state does wont be cured by greater transparency. It wont be any better just because it is done according to a better process and nobody is actually sent to jail for having tried to rig a bid. It is stuff the state shouldnt be doing. So

Seth Barron: It sounds like you dont think that economic development programs are necessarily a good use of taxpayer money, but how else is the state supposed to promote growth in Upstate and on the Western Tier, Southern Tier? I mean, what is the

E. J. McMahon: Well, I mean, almost everything that governments almost everywhere do in the name of economic development, especially state governments, is almost by definition the wrong thing. Because what they do is, and they use a new favored word, invest, meaning they target money to favored companies with the hope that they will do stuff. This isnt limited to New York. I mean, Wisconsin just threw a ton of money at a company, at a tech company there, in a very controversial way. It has been done in the South with auto manufacturers, etc. What we really need is climate change, the right kind of climate change economically. The economic climate Upstate is the problem and is, I think, the thing that is really hindering growth the most. Now, different parts of Upstate New York have different problems. The Southern Tier, which is economically the weakest part of Upstate New York, its the part of Upstate New York that actually is sinking fairly rapidly, its losing people, its losing jobs, its really in bad shape. The Southern Tier is the part of the lower part on the map from Binghamton running out across all the way west to Jamestown, so you have Elmira in there and basically everything along the Pennsylvania border. That is the region that would benefit most from shale gas exploration, including hydraulic fracturing, which the governor has banned. Therefore, there is no benefit occurring from that. It would also benefit from expansion of capacity and pipeline capacity of just transmitting natural gas to the industries that are still there, which it lacks sufficient capacity to serve. In fact, one of the governors own regional economic development councils successfully pushed for state approval to run gas lines to two of the largest surviving manufacturers in the Southern Tier only to learn a few months later that the governor had blocked the pipeline itself from being built. So, this would be spurs to nothing. So natural gas and energy policy is the problem for the Southern Tier that could be solved by better state policy. Generically in all of Upstate, the problem Upstate has is not even principally taxation other than property taxes, its regulatory. The states labor laws and the way the state enforces them, the states public works contracting laws, the states environmental regulations, its development regulations, all of these things hinder growth in Upstate New York. A lot of what has happened in Upstate New York and a lot of the problems Upstate New York suffers from are similar to those afflicting other parts of the interior of you know, the Northern United States. But if you compare the Great Lakes, the other Great Lakes basin states, and Upstate New York is really a Great Lakes basin state along with Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, thats the peer group for Upstate New York, they are all doing better than Upstate New York. They are not doing great necessarily, but for instance they are all doing better in terms of manufacturing employment than Upstate New York. I think that while they all struggle at varying degrees they have also got better prospects and have demonstrated better prospects than Upstate New York has. And I think one key reason for that is that state policy is worse as it affects Upstate New York than it is in any of those states. And thats not, you know, those states do more to throw money, throw economic development money at potential employers, its that those states have better climates in general.

Seth Barron: But isnt  I feel like Governor Cuomo is pursuing a policy of smart investment by moving away from classic sort of rust belt industrial era policy, you know, industrial policy, and trying to invest in solar and wind power and all of these, you know, the future of the American...

E. J. McMahon: Right. I mean thats kind of like the sort of faddish thing he is trying to do. Even taken on its own terms, the problem is  and there is research, you know there is a lot of research in this area  when you try to plant and start out of nothing a tech sector in say Utica, which is one of the things he is doing, where it just hasnt existed, you just kind of take a hunk of money, do a deal with (in this case G.E. or some other company), and say if you do one project that we will give you a lot of money from in this area, we will also subsidize you doing more in say Utica. But Utica is not a naturally occurring tech cluster; you are basically attempting to transplant. It is like this sort of hothouse theory. In Albany, successfully to a certain degree so far, sustainability is another question, the state over a period of twenty years created this sort of intense greenhouse that became the State University Polytechnic Institute. Huge injections  picture a greenhouse with, you know, the huge trays of exotic plants that although the climate is not necessarily favorable otherwise they are kept under intense light, they get a lot of fertilizer, lots of money is spent to make it flourish, and they are flourishing in the greenhouse. That is what has happened with the tech sector in Albany where in fact the state has spent billions of dollars, hunks of it have been invested in the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, another big hunk went to what is now the GlobalFoundries Chip Fab plant, one of the largest in the world, in southern Saratoga County, and those things began or had their most intense period of spending actually under Governor Pataki, a Republican. Which goes to prove among other things that first of all that if you have your academic establishment under the control of a true visionary, who this President of SUNY Polytechnic, Alain Kaloyeros, who now is the central figure in the next corruption trial for allegedly involved in bid rigging, but if you have a brilliant visionary and marketing and promotion guy who also is a scientist, like Alain Kaloyeros, involved in an institution like Polytechnic and give them enough

Seth Barron: Dr. Nano.

E. J. McMahon: Dr. Nano or Dr. K., give him infusions of money to go out and gather up partners among private companies who are enticed to the campus because they are going to get basically grad students basically becoming sort of like the free research auxiliaries that that kind of public-private partnership if you design it shrewdly and spend enough money on it can produce results. GlobalFoundries was simply a case of throwing money at a company that was originally AMDs manufacturing subsidiary and is now owned by the sovereign wealth fund of, I think, it is Abu Dhabi. I get my gulf principalities mixed up, but one of those. And that is a huge multibillion-dollar tech fit, one of the few in the world, but also in a very competitive industry. Having done that there, the theory was, well we can do this everywhere. In fact, the governor is very enamored of Alain Kaloyeros, and said Alain Kaloyeros model included creating not technically private, non-profit affiliates of the State University of New York through which they could rush procurement and contracts and control who was picked to do different work. And it was much easier and more convenient than having to go through the whole bureaucratic process that is normally required of state agencies. So, the appeal for the governor is, well, this guy Kaloyeros gets things done. That model is a great fast model. Lets do it. Lets scale it all over the place. Lets do it all over Upstate New York and plant, create these hothouses all over the place, these greenhouses if you will. Lets take the money and plant. So, youve got Elon Musk, basically they have given Elon Musk a $750 million factory. Now Elon Musk, in fact, who owns Solar City, who acquired Solar City, or Solar City acquired the technology that was originally mixed up with this plant, basically has now merged Solar City with Tesla, but the plant is actually being co-owned now, or co-managed, by Panasonic because Panasonic actually knows how to assemble solar panels and the small detail is that Elon Musk doesnt know. Solar City had never actually run a large-scale manufacturing plant when we gave them $750 million. So, now with Panasonic they are about to open this plant. Everything about the governors energy policy is meant to promote and subsidize solar panels as well as wind. But the notion that you can kind of make New York into this, basically this array of thriving tech clusters by simply throwing enough money at them so far has not panned out. The word nano, for instance, figures in a lot of these things and you may have heard of the Syracuse Nano Film Hub?

Seth Barron: Yes.

E. J. McMahon: All right. Which had the word nano in it for reasons I forget. But it is basically a multimillion-dollar, brand-new facility that sits empty near Syracuse because somehow nobody was all that interested in producing films, nano, or otherwise, in a huge state-of-the-art facility in Syracuse. And it is sounds derisive of Syracuse for me to say this, but the point is all of these Upstate metro areas have at least the vestiges of strong traits and characteristics that can be appealing. For instance, they are very affordable. Many of these cities are very appealing places to live although they have lost many of their jobs. The surrounding rural and suburban areas are very nice. Again, they are inexpensive except for their relatively high property taxes. And they, in a properly groomed climate and an economic climate that was more favorable to growth, they would have a chance of doing better with a whole different approach, I think. But thats not the approach the state has taken.

Seth Barron: Well, so, for instance with Solar City, I mean is there a chance, will it employ thousands of New Yorkers?

E. J. McMahon: Its not going to employ that many. I think the employment target has been taken down. I hesitate to say what the target is now. It is over a thousand ultimately, directly or indirectly. It is not going to be a very employment-intensive plan, actually. So, the idea is the theory behind it is, that once you have something that gigantic, a high-tech manufacturing plant that is as gigantic as Solar City  and it is gigantic  in a site known as RiverBend, which was formerly a steel plant, that this will be the critical mass out of which other things grow. We will see. Thats the theory. Now, again, there has actually been research into these theories, the theory that you can kind of transplant an agglomeration rather than having to have it grow naturally, the founding theory was Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, but Research Triangle Park took decades to grow before with luck, like SAS came out of it. I think was one of these firms. The theory is that you can sort of transplant these shoots. Im dubious. So far it has not produced much results. The good things that have happened in Buffalo, and the economic actual measures are not tremendously impressive, but to the extent there is some growth in Buffalo, it is not related to the Buffalo Billion. There is a big, most of these Upstate cities, like many interior cities that are struggling in other ways, their strongest sectors are eds and meds. That is, often higher ed-related med. That is, a university medical center or a research center. Buffalo is. Roswell Park, which is a state cancer research institute is in Buffalo. There is a huge new health sciences center that has been built in Buffalo that is a state-related facility. That is not part of the governors Buffalo Billion. The problem with eds and meds, especially in the cities themselves, is that they are principally government or non-profit. So, they dont pay taxes. They are enormous employers, often with enormous footprints in communities for which they pay little or nothing in taxes. So, theres that. And the question is can you build a sustainable future based on eds and meds alone? It certainly helps. I mean, Rochester, for instance, quite apart from anything the governor has done, remember Rochester was the headquarters of Kodak. Kodak in the space of the last twenty-plus years has disappeared, has all but disappeared. The brand survives, they were making crypto currency was the last thing they were known to be doing for sure. They are a brand that owns patents now. They used to be a massive employer. It was a huge worldwide corporation based in Rochester. Its now gone. If I had told you in the late 1990s that Kodak would essentially disappear and that the presence in Rochester companies like Bausch & Lomb would shrink and that regionally prominent manufacturers of other sorts would shrink or be bought up or leave, you would not expect Rochester to have held its own the way it has. So, in other words Rochester is not a boomtown, but Rochester is not actually a dustbowl either. Rochester again has two very good universities. The University of Rochester and RIT have actually stepped into the void. And thats a strong higher-ed sector with a technical bent that on its own, that nobody from the state came in and planned, with some government involvement has actually done fairly well. The biggest success story in agriculture in New York, or one of the biggest, has tended to be in the food-related, I mean, is the manufacturing side of agriculture and food processing. And it had to do with Greek yogurt. Well, if you had asked somebody from the State of New York what are we going to do to help the dairy industry and farmers in Upstate New York? What is going to be the next big thing in food that you know, that somehow we can get a piece of? Nobody would have said Greek yogurt, nobody. Well there are several yogurt plants in Upstate New York. I mean Greek yogurt became a big thing. So, you cant always see the next thing coming, you just need to be positioned to do it. Was there an economic development role in that? Yes, to an extent there was an empty former Kraft Foods plant, I think it was Kraft, in Norwich, New York, that was in good shape, not terribly old, that the local economic development agency basically had the keys to. And when the guy who founded Chobani Yogurt was looking for a place to manufacture it  Im over-simplifying it  but when he came by basically and said, you know, what do we have here, they said, lets show you the old plant. So, thats economic development at its most basic. So, here point you to the opportunity.

Seth Barron: Opening the door.

E. J. McMahon: And they opened the door and the rest is history. Thats the kind of thing thats luck, but luck is the residue of design and is the design to go out and pick winners and make the state government a venture capitalist or is it to basically try to essentially, to use the overused phrase, leverage the assets the region already has, and to create a climate, a climate in which businesses and the economy can naturally grow as opposed to this sort of hothouse into which you funnel lots of money.

Seth Barron: Sure. And then you have to keep up.

E. J. McMahon: Then you have to keep it going, yeah.

Seth Barron: So, let me ask you. I mean New York State, Im not sure about where it ranks in the country in terms of corruption, but, there is a lot of corruption and I dont know if its set from the top or if it bubbles up. But, you know, what is going on, and the Percoco trial certainly reflects this, now we have heard a lot about ethics reform and it seems like thats really the way to go. Like we need to have term limits. We need to have public financing of campaigns. We need to make the legislature a full-time job. Where do you stand on this?

E. J. McMahon: Well, I mean, this is the, there ought to be a law approach, that there ought to be a law against. There are laws against all the things that go wrong. New York  if what you knew about corruption in New York was limited to what you read in the New York media, you would think this is just notoriously the most corrupt state in the country. And thats true for the same reason that Derek Jeter was a very good shortstop. But he wasnt just a very good shortstop. He played for the Yankees. He was the greatest shortstop of his generation. Havent you heard? Because he was, all right, if you get the picture. I mean its in New York, so its got to be better. Look, two governors of Illinois in a row went to federal prison. Over a fifty-year period, four Illinois governors went to prison. The governor of Connecticut, one of the recent governors of Connecticut went to jail. Three Massachusetts House Speakers in a row were convicted of felonies. There has been a big corruption scandal in the legislature in Pennsylvania. I mean, this is not unique to New York. There was a large number, at one point the body count was going on, and a fairly large number of state lawmakers had been indicted on different charges. And did that testify to a certain sort of venality and just sort of general, something in the water in Albany? Yeah. Its not something uniquely in the water in Albany, and a lot of the problem in New York State is not because we dont have good enough ethics laws, it is because when you have a big, sprawling, overweening government that gets its hands into everything, and arms its selves with large pots of discretionary cash, you create an opportunity for this to flourish. Remember the famous George Washington Plunkitt Tammany Hall guy quote was I seen my opportunities and I took em. When you run government, when government operates the way New York government does, it is a huge pot of opportunity. Thats the problem. And the thing is just making it more transparent that you can sort of spot when George Washington Plunkitt obeying all the laws walks off with another piece doesnt make it any better. For instance, Sheldon Silver, the assembly speaker who is about to be retried on charges that were overturned in light of a recent Supreme Court decision, but that have to do with supposedly using his office to steer business to basically make money off of asbestos cases

Seth Barron: Yeah.

E. J. McMahon: ultimately that had to do with his control of a big discretionary grant program. Well, they have created a whole new enormous discretionary grant program just in the last few years. Its this billion-and-a-half-dollar pot of money called the State Municipal Facilities Program. Now, they say that oh, we are being much more careful with this. The question is they dont need it. There is no need for this thing. It is simply another big pot of money for them to hand out and basically it serves as a form of capital project pork. And what needs to be done in the long-term is we dont need a full-time legislature. California has had corruption cases with a full-time legislature. If anything, we need a more part-time legislature. They actually hang around Albany for six months a year, and for four of those months are up to almost no good. They have no public hearings on big issues that require careful study analysis and a weighing of pros and cons, they almost never ever have a public hearing. But, for instance, they jump to and had a big publicity show in Westchester this past week because Con Ed didnt do a good enough job of getting the power turned on in Westchester. And by gosh, they had to investigate that and have a hearing, and everybody just sit round and furrow their brows for a while. But the legislatures power does not come from how much its members are paid or how long it is there. It has real power that it could exercise effectively if it actually got its act together institutionally and focused. And that does not require more time on task, it requires better use of their time. So thats part of the problem. You dont need a full-time legislator. Yes, you need better disclosure of what people are doing. But ultimately if you think that theres laws, that there is some set of laws that are going to make all these people honest, youre not living on the same planet as the rest of us. Thats just not going to happen.

Seth Barron: So, its idle hands for the devils workshop?

E. J. McMahon: Well, it is. Corruption you are always going to have with you, unfortunately, to some degree or another. It would be nice, though, to reduce the opportunities that are created by this vast government we have that gets its hooks into everything. One other example, one of the points of leverage Sheldon Silver had as speaker on a key industry, and this was brought up in his trial, ultimately was created because we have rent control laws in New York City. In fact, we have a uniquely, we have unique rent control regulation laws on a scale unseen elsewhere in the you know, the hemisphere. And that was another point of leverage. Thats why legislators like that program continuing to exist, because it gives you a way to, gives you more leverage over a very well-healed industry that is desperate not to have the regulations made worse.

Seth Barron: Ah-ha.

E. J. McMahon: Yeah.

Seth Barron: Fascinating discussion, E. J. Thanks for coming in. Dont forget to check out E. J.s excellent work at empirecenter.org and follow him on Twitter, @EjmEj. We would also love to hear your comments about todays episode on Twitter, @CityJournal. Lastly, if you like our show and want to hear more of it, please leave ratings and reviews on iTunes. This is your host, Seth Barron. E. J., thanks so much for joining us.

E. J. McMahon: Thanks, Seth.Mayor David Dinkins, not Mayor Rudy Giuliani, deserves the credit for sparking New Yorks epochal crime drop, a dinner companion asserted recently. After all, did not Dinkins cajole Albany to raise taxes in 1991 to provide $1.8 billion over five years to put some 6,000 additional cops on Gothams streets? And arent those additional cops the reason that murders began to drop from their Hobbesian high of 2,245 in 1990more than one every four hours, every dayto 1,946 in 1993, Dinkinss last year in Gracie Mansion? Given the chance, would not Dinkins, or some Democratic avatar, have continued the crime drop by the same methods, with the same success for which Giuliani wrongly gets praise?

The answer is noemphatically no. To be sure, my dinner partners numbers are correct. But his conclusion is wholly wrong, for important and instructive reasons.

If sheer numbers of policemen on patrol were the magic elixir of crime-fighting, Chicago, with some 44 cops per 10,000 citizens in 2016, compared with New Yorks 42, should be correspondingly safer. But its 28 murders per 100,000 residents that year was seven times Gothams rate. What counts is not numbers but technique. Chicago cops, in that citys version of community policing, placidly patrol their territory but studiously ignore such low-level offenses as small-time marijuana dealing or disorderly conduct. The message to would-be criminals: not even the cops care about lawbreaking but just look the other way, especially in the anti-cop Black Lives Matter era.

The praise for New Yorks crime drop during the Dinkins administration belongs to Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Robert Kileys inspired choice of Boston cop William Bratton to head New Yorks transit police in 1990. Bratton immediately set about restoring order underground, cracking down on fare-beaters and other low-level crimes of disorder, including those of the mentally ill homeless, that made the subways such an especially frightening place in the frightening city of those days. The very visible spectacle that the authorities were taking charge began to scare some potential malefactors straight, and by that accomplishment Bratton proved that restoring order in public places can cut crime. Bratton went home to run the Boston police department in 1992, but two years later, newly elected mayor Rudy Giuliani called him back as Gothams police commissioner, where he instituted such order-keeping policing city-wide, along with a host of other reformsfrom crime-mapping to command accountabilitywith instant and inexorable success that has continued ever since. Murders totaled 290 last year13 percent of 1990s butchers bill.

As George Kelling pointed out in these pages, the MTA and its parent body, the Transit Authority, pioneered Gothams official order restoration, even before Brattons arrival. As early as 1984, TA chief David Gunn began removing the omnipresent graffiti from the subway cars, cleaning and doggedly recleaning every time the vandals defaced the trains, until they gave up. Not just the hooligans but also ordinary New Yorkers started getting the message that anarchy was stoppable, and they began to dream that perhaps their city didnt have to die. Even earlier, private citizens kindled the first sparks of that hope, starting in 1980, with the start of the Central Park Conservancys magical, 15-year restoration of what had become a thug- and bum-infested dustbowl back into an urban Elysium. That same year, Daniel Biederman and Andrew Heiskell, with Rockefeller money, began plans to restore the drug supermarket that Bryant Park had become, and Biederman, as head of the Bryant Park and Grand Central Business Improvement Districts, went on to keep his midtown bailiwick clean and orderly.

My dinner companion knew that crime and disorder nearly killed this city, though he was wrong about who brought it back to life and how. Its a mistake that Hillary Clinton also made in one of her first presidential campaign speeches, risibly praising Dinkins as a policing visionary. Younger New Yorkers, though, dont even know how close a brush with death the city once had, much less what saved it. As de Blasio-era homeless bums and madmen proliferate, and Black Lives Matter hostility from City Hall on down increasingly demoralizes and discourages the NYPD, these are important lessons to remember, or relearn, accurately. Yes, there is a great deal of ruin in a great city (as Adam Smith said of Britain), but its not infinite. In this disorderly era, at the very moment when Amazon is emptying out our storefronts, Spotify our concert halls, Netflix our movie theaters, and Vanguard our financial district, its not unthinkable that Gotham will someday once again need citizens who know their urban CPR.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesTwo disability charities have announced they are entering into a overarching partnership which would see them share facilities and frontline delivery staff - but have stopped short of a full merger.

Enable Scotland and Sense Scotland made a joint announcement over the long weekend, saying the two organisations had entered into an innovative group structure, thought to be the first of its kind in the charity sector in Scotland.

The two charities will share property and resources in an overarching group structure, which the organisations say will enable them to reach even more disabled people throughout Scotland.

A spokesman for the new group denied however that the two organisations were set to merge. He said both organisations would continue to have separate chief executives and trustee boards and would retain their individual charity brands as part of the arrangement.

According to the two organisations most recent set of accounts filed with OSCR, Enable Scotland had a total income of over 34.5m in the last financial year, while Sense had an income of 22.0m.

Possible redundancies in back offices

The organisations have said that all frontline jobs currently being performed at both charities will be protected but conceded that a small minority of affected back office staff will be asked to explore alternative career options across both organisations.

The spokesman would not say how many back office staff would be affected. He reiterated the statement from both organisations which said that both Enable and Sense Scotland will be working with their recognised Trade Unions during the process.

Both Sense Scotland and Enable Scotland say this collaboration will help the two organisations to reach even more disabled people throughout Scotland in the future. It will also help the organisations share costs so that frontline services and jobs can be protected.

According to its accounts, Sense Scotland employed 900 staff. While Enable Scotlands employed 1,767.

The organisations have said the move to a group structure will likely take a year, and that consultations with staff and wider stakeholders was expected.

Organisation chief executives invite other charities to join 'collaboration'

Andy Kerr, chief executive of Sense Scotland and Theresa Shearer, chief executive of Enable Scotland, have also called on other Scottish disability charities to join the collaboration.

Kerr and Shearer said: Enable Scotland and Sense Scotland are joining together to further boost the quality of care and help for more disabled people.

Our shared vision is delivering the support needed for disabled people to live the lives they choose, in their own homes and local communities.

By bringing two strong charities together, we will accelerate change and improvement for disabled people, and for the dedicated staff who care for them.

Ultimately, we are doing this to help share the cost of continuing to deliver quality care and support to those who need it in their own homes.

Editor's note: This article has updated both annual income figures and the total number of staff working for Enable Scotland last year.



Last week, a new program in Stamford, Connecticut, sponsored by the local police department, distributed gift cards to passersby following pedestrian safety laws. The Stamford Advocate, the citys daily newspaper (whose parent company this reporter used to work for*), covered the event. But, while the event was certainly newsworthy, the Advocate fell into a common narrative of crash coverage. The story was full of quotes by members of the police department claiming pedestrian fault, like this one from the assistant police chief: If you go back over the past 10 years and look over our pedestrian fatalities, in just about all of them, there has been some contributory negligence by the pedestrian.

In the Advocate story, there was no discussion of the role of drivers in these crashes, or how the police department was (or was not) enforcing safe driving. The message of this new police initiative, and the Advocates corresponding coverage, was straightforward: If pedestrians follow the rules, they will stay alive. If they die, its their fault.

She ran into traffic. He was wearing dark clothing. They didnt use the crosswalk. In the aftermath of crashes between drivers and vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, theres a tendency to blame the victim. Its just one way the media fails to properly cover traffic collisions, according to a new report from MacEwan University. When nearly 5,000 Americans are killed every year in traffic while walking, and another 800 on bike, it makes you wonder whats really happening on our streets and how we, as journalists, can better communicate those stories to our readers. The words we choose matter, and so do the ways we examine the actions of drivers, and the infrastructure and policy decisions of our cities and towns.

ICYMI: She identified herself as a reporter. He then walked behind her and punched her in the side of the head

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Pedestrian (and cyclist) blame is the predominant framework in a lot of news coverage, according to Angie Schmitt, an editor of Streetsblog, a news site about transportation reform. Journalists will report that the victim darted into traffic, a verb you see almost exclusively in stories about traffic deaths. Or theyll emphasize that the victim was jaywalking, texting while crossing the street, or not wearing a helmet.

The helmet fixation redirects attention away from the overarching problem of vehicular violence, assisting in its denial, according to a report released last month by the University of Heidelberg. Even in cases when a helmet would not have prevented death, the absence of one is usually noted, as in The Cleveland Plain Dealers 2009 coverage of the death of a young cyclist, Sylvia Bingham. Wearing a helmet would not have made a difference in the outcome of the crash, according to Binghams doctor. But the reporter, in the paragraph immediately following that statement, noted Bingham wasnt wearing a helmet and included two additional incidents in which cyclists lacked them.

Journalists need to scrutinize drivers actions as much, if not more, than the behavior of pedestrians or cyclists.

Whether its speeding, running a red light, texting, or just a general lack of attentiveness, journalists need to scrutinize drivers actions as much, if not more, than the behavior of pedestrians or cyclists in these situations. These oversights can be startling. For instance, local television station KTSM solely focused on the victim following a fatal 2016 crash in El Paso, Texas. Eduardo Dill attempted to cross a street in his neighborhood in his electric wheelchair when a driver struck him. The police cited Dills failure to yield the right of way as the contributing factor in the crash, and so did the stations story.

In reporters defense, Schmitt says, crash information usually comes from flawed police reports, which inform the news coverage. Those reports tend to reflect a survivors bias since, in crashes with fatal outcomes, the pedestrian or cyclist is not around to share their side of the story. Instead, the reports are usually based on a single eyewitnessthe driver.

But the bias wasnt always in favor of motorists. The narrative surrounding pedestrians changed as automobiles became the default choice of transportation. In the late 19th century, pedestrians dominated the streets. Drivers were the interlopers, and cars considered rare and dangerous, according to Smithsonian Magazine. At first, the public (and media) expressed outrage over growing pedestrian fatalities. Nation Roused Against Motor Killings, read one headline from The New York Times in 1924. Another newspaper, the St. Louis Star, compared cars to Moloch, a god associated with child sacrifice, in one of its cartoons the year before, according to the podcast 99% Invisible.

As anti-car attitudes grew, the automotive industry pushed back. Stakeholders joined togethercalling themselves the Motordomto shift public conversation. Instead of blaming cars, they argued, we should blame human behavior, specifically reckless pedestrians. Their makeshift public relations campaign worked. They coined and then popularized the term jaywalking. They also started advertising heavily in newspapers and magazines, which shifted the medias allegiance to the auto industry.

Today, that allegiance is alive and well in the default language used by journalists, which absolves drivers of responsibility. In most cases, theyll choose the word accident to describe what happened. Sure, the crash wasnt intentional, and the journalists choice of words is likely subconscious. But the word accident is loaded. It implies inevitability, explains David Dudley, executive editor of CityLab, The Atlantics vertical dedicated to urban issues. It also implies that nobody is at fault.

Instead, he says, journalists should use more neutral terms such as crash or collision. Crash says something went wrong and can be fixed, Dudley says. Car crashes can be prevented, and the language in the news media should reflect that. The Associated Press Stylebook agrees. In 2016, the news service recommended avoiding the word accident in cases where negligence is claimed or proven, following a successful #CrashNotAccident campaign led by Transportation Alternatives, a NYC-based pedestrian, bike, and public transit advocacy group.

When describing crashes, reporters will use phrases like, Joe Smith was struck in the parking lot, or Jane Doe was killed while crossing the street. With passive voice, the reporter removes the driver from the equation. We think like drivers because most of us are drivers, Dudley says. Reporters dont address, or deemphasize, motorist errorspeeding, distracted driving, failure to yieldwhich is the leading cause of traffic collisions.

We think like drivers because most of us are drivers.

Reporters also tend to write about the car, and not the person behind it. They may even give a vehicle a personality when, in reality, its just a machine. Thats how WAAY-TV covered a crash in Huntsville, Alabama, last week: Security video of the incident from a nearby gas station shows Smith [the victim] crossing the road on his bicycle and getting hit by a car. As he tried to get back to his feet, he was hit by another car going in the opposite direction. The car hit Julius Smith, the story says, not the person driving the car. In a way, journalists gave a kind of quasi-autonomy to cars long before autonomous vehicles existed, Dudley says. The vehicle is responsible, not the motorist, in most news reports. [Its] framing traffic deaths as things that kind of happen, and not being skeptical about why it happened and who is responsible, Dudley says.

Journalists also often miss opportunities to talk about infrastructure. According to Schmitt, many local news reports ignore the conditions of crash sites, even though pedestrian and cyclist fatalities are often concentrated in a few areas. In many cases, the cause of a crash boils down to poor street design. For example, in Denver, Colorado, 5 percent of the citys streets have witnessed half of all traffic deaths. This shows how these crashes are not random, but have a pattern, Schmitt says. This is common in almost any city that takes the time to look at this.

Pedestrian and cyclist deaths arent isolated incidents, and reporters can use a single death to highlight at-risk areas in their city. Coverage that fixates on individual responsibility, such as wearing a helmet or waiting for the pedestrian signal, misses the opportunity to push the conversationand the cityforward. Reporters should ask questions like, Why did the victim cross the street where they did?, What can be done to prevent a similar situation in the future?, or Why are so many cyclists getting struck at that intersection?

Last week, in his piece for New York magazine, City Editor Christopher Bonanos set an example for crash coverage. Instead of rehashing the details of a crash in Park Slope earlier this month or focusing on the victims behavior, he excavated the event. A driver killed two toddlers and injured their mothers after driving through a red light at 9th Street and Fifth Avenue on March 5. He doesnt apportion blame to the pedestrians, especially since they had the right of way. Instead, he visits the site of the crash and considers the street design:

It has all the pedestrian activity of a Village cowpath, but whats not obvious, till you stand there and stare at it for a while, is just how wide it is. Traffic roars through that width, partly because the grade that gives Park Slope its name causes drivers to speed downhill. It does have a pair of bike lanes, but theyre painted on, rather than set off by curbs or bollards, and faded.

He discusses the drivers behaviorshe blew a red light and had a record of traffic violationsimportant details. But policy is Bonanoss primary concern. Its easier to fix a street than the attitudes of hundreds of motorists. A well-designed road will make driving easier and safer, and you wont have this constant anxiety about what that person will do, Dudley says. This type of reporting requires journalists to educate themselves on some wonky stufftheir citys planning history, road design principlesbut its critical education. Its a solutions-oriented approach to practical urban, or suburban, problems. If people cover it [crashes] more, we will see more things done to address it, Bonanos tells CJR.

Compare, for instance, traffic deaths to gun violence. As a society, and this includes the media, weve become somewhat inert when it comes to violent behavior. We lose the ability to ask why somethings happening. Once in awhile, theres a moment that breaks through, and we think, This is crazy, Dudley says. The New York story is the exception, not the rule. But it doesnt have to be. As pedestrian and cyclist fatalities surge in this country, journalism can and should use its platform to address whats become a systemic problem.

ICYMI: In an editorial meeting, Texas Monthly staffers sat in stunned silence

*Disclosure: This reporter worked for Hearst Connecticut Media, the parent company of The Stamford Advocate, in 2016. She also founded the now-defunct Bike Stamford, a cyclist advocacy group in 2014.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Meg Dalton is a freelance journalist and audio producer based in Connecticut. She's reported and edited for CJR, PBS NewsHour, Energy News Network, Architectural Digest, MediaShift, Hearst Connecticut newspapers, and more. Follow her on Twitter: @megdalts. Find her on Twitter @megdalts.Facebook and five US news and fact-checking organizationsABC News, the Associated Press, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, and Snopescreated a partnership to combat misinformation shortly after the 2016 US presidential election. When it was launched, it was variously seen as a public relations stunt, a new type of collaboration, or an unavoidable coupling of organizations through circumstances beyond their exclusive control.

Over a year later, how has the partnership fared? In a new report for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, I look at how this partnership works and what it can tell us about how news organizations and technology companies collaborate. My focus here is neither fake news nor fact-checking, but the partnership press that emerges when technology companies and news organizations team up.

The partnership centers around managing a flow of stories that may be considered false. Through an online dashboard accessible only to partners, Facebook curates a list of these stories. The news organizations then independently choose stories to debunk, adding their fact-checks. Facebook uses these to change how it algorithmically surfaces stories for its users.

ICYMI: CNN frustrates viewers with gun comment controversy

What I uncovered is a partnership in which news organizations negotiate their professional missions with Facebooks, and struggle to understand the coalitions impact. Both Facebook and the news organizations want to improve the quality of online media. But while the fact-checkers largely define their motivations in terms of public service and journalistic ethics, Facebook is looking to adhere to its official community standards. There is an ongoing struggle within the partnership to define fake news in a way that doesnt leave most of the classification power with Facebook, and a general unease among partners about how opaque and unaccountable much of the arrangement isboth within the partnership and to outsiders.

From August 2017 through January 2018, I conducted a mix of on-the-record, background, and off-the-record interviews with six senior people, representing four of the six partners. For the purposes of the report, I have granted these sources anonymity. A report draft was shared with all interviewees, who were invited to comment on its findings before publication. No one responded with feedback.

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READ THE FULL REPORT HERE.

Origin stories

The partnership has no single origin. Some people I spoke with saw the 2016 election as its impetus; others highlighted the International Fact Checking Networks open letter to Facebook, which urged the platform to start a transparent conversation about accuracy in the news ecosystem. Some cited Facebooks admission that it may have played a role in spreading election misinformation, and its employees desires to make solutions and public amends. Still others saw it as a quick public relations win.

Regardless, many people from the partner news organizations saw themselves as public servants, trying to empower the people who are being talked over, reduce deception in politics, and create example-driven systems that reduce the spread and impact of fake news. Many joined the initiative because they wanted to understand the provenance of fake news, empirically examine the worst of the worst, and prevent future failures. There were those who doubted Facebooks agenda, saying that the company was using fact-checkers for cheap and effective PR [public relations] and enrolling them in the companys experiment-driven culture. Its been tinkering with the democratic process for years, one person told me. Its ugly.

Priorities

The fact-checking dashboard largely reflects Facebooks priorities, not fact-checkers, many said. It provides links to stories that have been flagged by users, or maybe algorithms, I dont know, one fact-checker noted. In the dashboard interface [we can sort] those stories by popularity. Weve asked [Facebook] a hundred ways to Sunday what popularity means. We dont know the mechanism they use to determine popularity.

Another suspectedbut could not provethat stories with high advertising revenue potential would never be listed as popular because sometimes fake news can make money, and Facebook likely wouldnt want fact-checkers debunking lucrative stories. True or not, partners didnt view the dashboard as a neutral tool, but as a place of clashing priorities, mistrust, and suspicion.

We arent seeing major conspiracy theories or conservative mediano InfoWars on the list. Thats a surprise.

They also wanted more from it. One said, We should be doing work on memes. The partnership doesnt address memes, just stories. Weve had these conversations with Facebook, its something they say they want to do but havent done it. Another wanted to fight false advertising, to debunk the paid, partisan content circulating on Facebook. Several questioned if Facebook was hiding stories from them. We dont see mainstream media appearing [in the dashboard]is it being filtered out? Is it not happening? Another said, We arent seeing major conspiracy theories or conservative mediano InfoWars on the list. Thats a surprise.

Access and publicness

Most were critical of the lack of transparency both within the partnership and to outsiders. Several fact-checkers stressed that they wanted to talk openly with me, but could not because Facebook had banned them from speaking publiclyan irony, they noted, given Facebooks interest in transparent, verifiable, and publicly trusted accounts. Many interviewees took personal and organizational risks just by speaking with me off the record. Others noted that even if they were willing to break non-disclosure agreements and speak publicly, they still lacked detailed knowledge about the partnership and couldnt offer deep insights if they wanted to.

Still others discussed public accountability beyond the partnership itself, and decided to speak with me because the partnership needed outside scrutiny. As fact-checkers, they saw their public responsibilities differently from how Facebook did and worried that the secrecy surrounding the partnership was harming its legitimacy and the trust that their profession relies on.

Leverages and types of power

Facebook initially offered partners no compensation to join the network. Later, in June 2017, the platform volunteered funding. Despite public reports that in exchange for weeding through user flags and pumping out fact-checks, Facebooks partner organizations each receive about $100,000 annually, several partners denied accepting money. They said to do so would breach their independence and suggest that they were in Facebooks service. Others gladly took it. One person told me, Our model is that if we do the work, you need to buy it. Facebook is using it, and benefitting from it, so we should be compensated.

Paid or not, many saw Facebook as controlling the phenomenon that they care about most: helping people debunk misinformation and access high-quality news. Facebook supplied the raw goods (false stories), was the gatekeeper of popularity, and controlled which fact-checks reached which audiences. It was an invitation they couldnt refuse.

Partners described their own leverage, though, in adhering to the International Fact Checking Networks principles and the reputations of their own long-standing brands, which they felt insulated them from those charges of self-interest and bias that are often leveled at Facebook. Fact-checkers also cited their power to self-organize. Although they rarely coordinated with other organizations and knew little of how they worked with the dashboard, at one low moment in the partnership several partners banded together to discuss its future, and to tell Facebook they felt taken for granted, used as public relations cover, and ignored. None would tell me, though, if this confrontation changed anything.

ICYMI: She identified herself as a reporter. He then walked behind her and punched her in the side of the head

Categories and standards

Two types of categorization work drive the partnership. The first involves how misinformation is identified, distributed among partners, and fed back into Facebooks proprietary systems. Despite claiming that fact-checkers define fake news, Facebook controls if, when, and how stories appear on the fact-checkers dashboard. Partners derided the dashboards inscrutable categories: Facebook doesnt say where the [dashboard] list comes from or how its made. One person noted that people flag stories at some rate, but I dont know what the dashboards threshold is.

Facebook doesnt say where the [dashboard] list comes from or how its made.

In the second type of categorization work, fact-checkers have more power: They independently choose which stories to work on, how to debunk them, and how to label them as false. Partners largely did not coordinate their work, saying, I think our dashboard is the same as other organizations but Im not sure, and We tried to do a Slack channel [amongst partners], but it didnt really work as people got too busy. This local control over standards was both the preference of partnerswere not really interested in what competitors are doingand aligns with Facebooks public statements that multiple fact-checks are needed before a story is classified as disputed. One partner said they like multiple fact-checkers with multiple methods because diversity of methods made the partnerships collective judgment stronger and more defensible.

Managing scale

One reason Facebook created the dashboard was to move some of the work of mass-scale judgment to news and fact-checking organizations. To do this, the platform needed to restrict the flow of content it sends to fact-checkers, reduce their workload, and avoid overwhelming their relatively small organizational capacity. The need and responsibility to, as one partner put it, deal with scale is inescapably Facebooks. One person added, Facebook knows how to deal with scale, we dont.

However, many partners described unease with this arrangement, expressing confusion around how the dashboard represents the large number of potentially false stories. One said there were currently 2,2002,300 stories in the queue right now, but that about 75 percent of them seem to be duplicates (other partners agreed with these numbers). It was hard to know the true scale of the misinformation problem because, they said, although the dashboard had many stories, their URLs often looked similar and it was unclear which stories were circulating uniquely.

One person summarized the confusion over the scale of misinformation, saying, I cant entirely answer the question [about scale]. Id need to identify how many stories could be done versus how many were doing. I dont know what the entire universe is, we just do what were able to do. My sense is we could do more if we had more resources. . .I dont know what the full scope is.

Timing

Almost everyone I talked to stressed a desire to get ahead of misinformation by debunking stories before they could travel far and wide. One fact-checker said that their work within their own organization was mostly prompted by readers questions, but by the time we answered the question, it was usually days after the [misinformation] had gone viral. We would wait until something had critical mass before we wrote about it, which felt too late. Many described the need to anticipate virality, with one person seeing it not only as an important way to minimize misinformations impact, but also as a way to reduce fact-checkers workload.

Partners made up folk theories about time, and seemed resigned to ignorance about the dashboards rhythms: We dont know how time works on it, but it seems pretty quickan event will happen and then we see it. Probably a lag of 24 hours. We look at it and you cant really tell; were told its updated every day.

Fact-checkers commonly expressed skepticism about whether the dashboards timing aligned with the kind of urgency they thought fact-checking required. One cautioned against placing too much emphasis on speed and anticipating virality, saying, Its never too late because fake news stays around for a long time. . .These stories have long, long, long tails. It doesnt matter if it takes fact-checkers a few days to do their work [because] whenever theres an opportunity for these stories to reappear, they will.

Automation and practice capture

No partner worried about, or hoped for, automated fact-checking, but several described dynamics that suggest a kind of proto-automation. To populate the dashboard with potentially false stories, Facebook combines user feedback (people flag stories they see as false) and computational processing (algorithms sense misinformation). As fact-checkers interact with the dashboardpicking or ignoring stories, prioritizing content, judging story similarity, flocking to particular stories, appending rebuttalsthey help Facebooks algorithmic guesses about defining and sensing misinformation, guesses that are used to further populate the dashboard. This feedback loop is critical to iterating and refining the dashboards example-driven design. Fact-checkers teach machines which stories are false, which are relevant, and which are exemplars of misinformationand those exemplars can be safely ignored. Their work is modeled and operationalized in a process I call practice capture.

It is unlikely that fact-checkers subtle judgements will be fully automated any time soon. More likely, as one partner put it, Facebook will gradually become better at confidently modeling fact-checking work, using fact-checkers for particularly difficult edge cases, and when expert bad actors invent new misinformation techniques. Fact-checkers will not disappear and algorithms will not displace them, but there is a very real potential that Facebookthrough its dashboard feedback loop and ever-increasing amount of training datawill gradually narrow the space within which fact-checkers work.

Impact

It was often hard for partners to tell what effects, if any, the partnership was having. One said, I just cant answer that question [about impact] without data that only Facebook has. Citing a leaked email in which Facebook claimed that a news story thats been labeled false by Facebooks third-party fact-checking partners sees its future impressions on the platform drop by 80 percent, a number of partners expressed skepticism, saying: I dont know how that number is calculated and we have no public proof of that and I cant fact-check that claim, and thats a problem.

From Facebooks perspective, the partnership is successful if it reduces misinformation exposure, removes content that violates community standards, and contextualizes information that does get through. As partners work within these measures of success, they have little power to independently evaluate them and implicitly agree to Facebooks metrics.

Some partners made their own success metrics, seeing increases in workload and funding as indicative. Were doing more now than we have been able to do, which is good. It seems to be effective enough. Others said the partnerships continued existence was evidence of success, citing the very fact that fact-checking organizations were partnering and cooperating with Facebook. Even without considering Facebooks role, several fact-checkers said they were proud of the partnerships demonstration that fact-checking was a mature field; the partnership has raised the profile of fact-checking [and is] helping to reach new people and educate in new ways.

A final aspect of impact focused on what partners think should happen to misinformation they identify. Echoing a marketplace model of speech in which the answer to bad speech is more speech, all partners agreed that misinformation should be removed from Facebooks News Feed, but that it should continue to exist on web pages that the platform did not surface. Success was not seen as the eradication of false news outside of Facebook or as the broader media systems health, but as an online marketplace of claims and counterclaims.

Change management

Finally, I consistently heard concern from partners about the management of the partnership itself. While several people expressed repeated appreciation for Facebooks attention to their work, and for the platform providing resources that allowed them to hire staff and grow their capacities, none of the members was satisfied with the partnerships current state.

Several complained about Facebooks early, repeatedly unfulfilled promises to hold regular summits, have detailed meetings with partners, and share metrics data and infrastructure specifics. One partner, who expressed little dissatisfaction beyond a desire to know more about the impact of fact-checking, essentially said that except for information exchanged through the dashboard the partnership was virtually nonexistent: I dont have much back and forth, I dont really hear from them. While more recent moves by the company may alleviate some of these concernsa roundtable was held in February 2018complaints about the companys responsiveness were widespread.

Only one partner departed significantly from others and argued for a more fundamental, existential change. Questioning the partnerships ability to regulate itself, they said: Facebook needed a [regulation] team from the outside. . . It needs an outside government to monitor them. . .Break up the company, they should not be going into news.

Going forward

This partnership is still very much in flux as it decides which parts of it will be known to itself and others, what categories and standards it will assume, which visions of success and impact will guide its design, how skills will be shared and challenged, and how it will govern itself. This partnership focuses on fact-checking, but its blend of public-driven journalism and proprietary technology is not unique.

The partnerships secrecy is one of its key challenges. Several people generously shared their reflections, but would not go on the record for fear of breaking confidentiality agreements. Many fact-checkers refused to talk at all, even off the record, and instead pointed me to public relations statements. Still others gave largely placating interviews that echoed marketing materials, stonewalling when it came time to offer original reflections.

I appreciate the challenges of such positions and understand the hesitations to talk with a researcher, but the interview process offered a kind of meta-conclusion: the partnership has a great deal of power, but is accountable neither among its own partners nor to outsiders. All partners are technically private companies without official obligations to discuss internal practices. But how can both news organizations and technology companies reconcile this lack of accountability with their service to the public?

This research was generously funded by the Knight Foundation and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

Update: In an email to CJR, a Facebook spokesperson writes that ABC News had worked as a US partner for only two weeks before being replaced by The Weekly Standard. The company says all current partners are paid for their work, though it does not disclose how much, and adds that it changed its policy of requiring multiple fact-checks before it considers a story disputed in December.

ICYMI: In an editorial meeting, Texas Monthly staffers sat in stunned silence

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Mike Ananny is an assistant professor of communication and journalism at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and a fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism.Sheps Promoted to VP of Claims at Coverys

Coverys, a provider of medical professional liability insurance, announced the appointment of Stephanie Sheps to vice president of Claims. Sheps inherits the position from Barbara Staples who recently retired from the organization after more than 40 years of service.

Sheps has been with Coverys since 2001 and in her new position oversees claims operations for the East and West regions, as well as national claims operations for Coverys Specialty Insurance Company and Coverys Custom Accounts. Since joining Coverys, she has been instrumental in facilitating the integration of acquisitions, developing Coverys analytic capabilities, creating operational efficiencies, and helping to transition the claims staff to adapt to our national platform and alternative underwriting book.

Prior to joining Coverys, Sheps worked in private practice as medical professional liability defense

counsel.

FM Global Appoints U.S. Cyber Defense Experts to Cyber Hazards Unit

John P. Morrow, Wade M. Chmielinski and Randolph P. Schmidt have been appointed as assistant vice presidents, cyber security consultants at FM Global. They are responsible for helping clients better assess and mitigate property-related cyber risk.

Morrow, who most recently worked for the U.S. Department of Defense, brings more than 25 years of experience in information technology to the organizations expanded team.

Chmielinski, a seasoned information security professional within military and civilian sectors.

Schmidt previously worked for PwC and Accenture on cyber security-focused projects and assessments for Fortune 500 clients.

Leading the team is Jeff Tilley, recently appointed vice president and manager of cyber hazards. He succeeds Carmelina Borsellino, who has been appointed vice president, chief engineer. Tilley has been with FM Global for more than 15 years and has served in a variety of loss prevention engineering roles.

Tokio Marine HCC Names Chief Operating Officer

Susan Rivera joined Tokio Marine HCC as executive vice president and chief operating officer effective April 1, 2018, reporting to Christopher J.B. Williams, Tokio Marine HCCs Chief Executive Officer, and working with Tokio Marine HCCs executive management team.

Rivera has relocated to Houston, Texas.

From 2009 until earlier this year, Rivera served as president and chief executive officer of V3 Insurance Partners LLC. From 2014 to 2015, she was an independent member of Tokio Marine HCCs Board of Directors and served on the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Enterprise Risk Oversight Committee. From 2007 to 2009, Rivera was president of QBE Specialty and chief actuary of the Americas division of QBE Insurance Group Limited. Previously, she was president and chief underwriting officer of Praetorian Insurance Company from 2006 until its acquisition by QBE in 2007. Prior to 2006, Rivera spent 15 years at AIG, holding a variety of positions of increasing responsibility.A bill on Gov. Eric Greitens desk would limit how much money insurance companies would have to pay after accidents.

The proposal affects cases where multiple people are owed money from an insurance company, such as after a car accident that leaves multiple people injured. If Greitens signs the bill, the drivers insurance company could not be obligated to pay more money than whatever is listed in its policy contract. The funds could be handed over to a court, which would determine how to distribute it to victims.

Insurance companies would still have to represent their clients in court throughout a trial.

The proposal, HB 1531, was approved by the House Wednesday in a 110-34 vote, and passed the Senate earlier in the month 32-0. The bill is one of several pieces of legislation sponsored by Republicans aimed at making Missouri courts friendlier to businesses.

The bills sponsor, Republican Rep. Bruce DeGroot of Chesterfield, said in a statement that the current law was damaging the Missouri business climate, and reform was overdue. Supporters have argued the change will protect companies from being ordered to pay unreasonable amounts.

Currently, if insurance companies distribute money to victims on their own, that settlement releases their client and the company from further liability. Turning insurance money over to a court always leaves open the possibility of a future lawsuit.

The new law would provide an incentive for insurance companies to turn that policy money over to a court because the company itself would no longer be on the hook for future lawsuits, even if their client was later sued.

Justin Arnold, the Missouri Chamber of Commerces general counsel, said he was confident that the final version of the bill wouldnt put the insured at any additional risk. Even if an individual was later sued for more money, he said, they would still be represented by the insurance company.

A.W. Smith, a personal injury lawyer with the A.W. Smith Law Firm, thought the bill would instead leave the insured hanging in the wind. He said the bill would allow companies to not necessarily act in the best interest of their client because they couldnt be sued later over bad decisions.

He also questioned how strong a defense insurance companies would be obligated to offer in court if the proposal becomes law.

Smith is on the board of the Missouri Trial Lawyers Association, which opposes the measure. Some lawmakers also expressed concern that the measure would favor insurance companies over individuals.

Ultimately, the bill still does not provide consumer protections that are needed, said Democratic Rep. Gina Mitten of St. Louis.

A spokesman for the governor did not respond to a question whether Greitens will sign the bill.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Its small enough to fit inside a shoebox, yet this robot on four wheels has a big mission: keeping factories and other large facilities safe from hackers.

Meet the HoneyBot.

Developed by a team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the diminutive device is designed to lure in digital troublemakers who have set their sights on industrial facilities. HoneyBot will then trick the bad actors into giving up valuable information to cybersecurity professionals.

The decoy robot arrives as more and more devices  never designed to operate on the Internet  are coming online in homes and factories alike, opening up a new range of possibilities for hackers looking to wreak havoc in both the digital and physical world.

Robots do more now than they ever have, and some companies are moving forward with, not just the assembly line robots, but free-standing robots that can actually drive around factory floors, said Raheem Beyah, the Motorola Foundation professor and interim Steve W. Chaddick School chair in Georgia Techs School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In that type of setting, you can imagine how dangerous this could be if a hacker gains access to those machines. At a minimum, they could cause harm to whatever products are being produced. If its a large enough robot, it could destroy parts or the assembly line. In a worst-case scenario, it could injure or cause death to the humans in the vicinity.

Internet security professionals long have employed decoy computer systems known as honeypots as a way to throw cyberattackers off the trail. The research team applied the same concept to the HoneyBot, which is partially funded with a grant from the National Science Foundation. Once hackers gain access to the decoy, they leave behind valuable information that can help companies further secure their networks.

A lot of cyberattacks go unanswered or unpunished because theres this level of anonymity afforded to malicious actors on the internet, and its hard for companies to say who is responsible, said Celine Irvene, a Georgia Tech graduate student who worked with Beyah to devise the new robot. Honeypots give security professionals the ability to study the attackers, determine what methods they are using, and figure out where they are or potentially even who they are.

The gadget can be monitored and controlled through the internet. But unlike other remote-controlled robots, the HoneyBots special ability is tricking its operators into thinking it is performing one task, when in reality its doing something completely different.

The idea behind a honeypot is that you dont want the attackers to know theyre in a honeypot, Beyah said. If the attacker is smart and is looking out for the potential of a honeypot, maybe theyd look at different sensors on the robot, like an accelerometer or speedometer, to verify the robot is doing what it had been instructed. Thats where we would be spoofing that information as well. The hacker would see from looking at the sensors that acceleration occurred from point A to point B.

In a factory setting, such a HoneyBot robot could sit motionless in a corner, springing to life when a hacker gains access  a visual indicator that a malicious actor is targeting the facility.

Rather than allowing the hacker to then run amok in the physical world, the robot could be designed to follow certain commands deemed harmless  such as meandering slowly about or picking up objects  but stopping short of actually doing anything dangerous.

So far, their technique seems to be working.

In experiments designed to test how convincing the false sensor data would be to individuals remotely controlling the device, volunteers in December 2017 used a virtual interface to control the robot and could not to see what was happening in real life. To entice the volunteers to break the rules, at specific spots within the maze, they encountered forbidden shortcuts that would allow them to finish the maze faster.

In the real maze back in the lab, no shortcut existed, and if the participants opted to go through it, the robot instead remained still. Meanwhile, the volunteers  who have now unwittingly become hackers for the purposes of the experiment  were fed simulated sensor data indicating they passed through the shortcut and continued along.

We wanted to make sure they felt that this robot was doing this real thing, Beyah said.

In surveys after the experiment, participants who actually controlled the device the whole time and those who were being fed simulated data about the fake shortcut both indicated that the data was believable at similar rates.

This is a good sign because it indicates that were on the right track, Irvene said.

Source: Georgia Institute of TechnologyEarly reporting, insured cooperation and thorough investigation aid claims handling when dealing with catastrophic or complex injuries or damages, according to four experienced lawyers who spoke as part of a panel during the American Bar Associations mid-year conference on insurance coverage litigation held in Phoenix, Ariz.

The panelists were careful to note the discussion was based on their opinions and may not reflect their firms position.

The format followed a checklist of items needed to conduct a thorough coverage, liability and settlement analysis.

No matter the type of claim, Caryn Bellus, a shareholder at the Fla.-based firm of Kubicki Draper, stressed the necessity of securing the site where the loss occurred, as well as promptly initiating a scene investigation.

John Reitwiesner, vice president and head of casualty claims with StarStone Insurance, said it was important to obtain key facts, including the date and location of the loss, the parties involved and any insured correspondence relating to the matter.

Its never too soon for the insured to report a claim, said Teresa Milano, assistant vice president of Claims at StarStone. In the case of an insured reporting a loss, the panel stressed the importance of determining what the insured is seeking. Is it defense or indemnity, the ability to select their own counsel or the consent to settle?

Reitwiesner, who mainly deals with excess casualty, said hes seen a rise in initial claim notices coming directly from plaintiff attorneys, especially in Florida. The insured may not even be aware of the claim. He cited an example where he received a copy of the check for the underlying policy limit with a letter demanding the excess policy limit.

During the initial investigation, an assigned attorney may contact the insured, obtain supporting documentation, review and respond to time demands and evaluate internal measures, such as litigation holds. Other relevant documentation might include the insurance policy and underwriting file, personnel records and social media accounts. In addition, the attorney will determine if an expert is needed and will interview the claimant. Reitwiesner likes using local counsel to obtain witness statements rather than independent adjusters or investigators, stating that they tend to be more thorough.

Defense counsel can evaluate comparative fault and identify collateral sources, added Milano.

Other Coverage and When to Hire Coverage Counsel

The timing for retaining coverage counsel depends on the coverage issue and whether there is enough information available to obtain an opinion. Because plaintiff attorneys are becoming savvier, coverage counsel will be necessary more often than not, Reitwiesner said.

According to Milano, other factors that may impact the decision to hire coverage counsel include whether a policy is new or a renewal, the scope of the provided documentation, the preliminary coverage analysis and the jurisdiction.

Coverage analysis helps a carrier identify holes or pitfalls in a policy. For example, its important to evaluate whether an insurer is primary, excess or co-primary, she said.

I always look to see if this claim can fall somewhere else, said Milano.

If there is the potential for shared coverage or the opportunity to tender the matter, she places potential carriers on notice and includes the other insurance language within coverage letters.

According to Gary Gassman, ABAs Tort Trial & Insurance Practice diversity officer and a partner in the Chicago office of Cozen OConnor, the insured doesnt always know all the available coverage they have.

If there is a retention limit, Milano stressed the importance of communicating that expenses will reduce that amount. She emphasized the importance of negotiating reasonable rates, as well as considering damages throughout the life a claim.

Bellus added that once there is a coverage attorney on board, the file should be split internally to ensure there is no conflict of interest.

With respect to the counsel hired to defend the case, an early evaluation is sought.

Im hiring you to get to the point, said Reitwiesner.

Milano said she wants a budget within 30 days and the counsels gut reaction to the case.

Im not asking you to set everything in stone, she added.

According to Bellus, an early and honest assessment of the liability exposure and analysis of the case is welcome.

Important elements include whether media coverage will expose an insured to reputational risk or the possibility the case could anger the jury.

Milano added that she likes to see a breakdown of the covered cause of action and exposure. She added that its important to consider defense costs and case evolution when weighing the pros and cons of settlement versus trial. She also recommended evaluating coverage as new information is received.

No claim gets better or cheaper, she said.

Because severity in cases is increasing, its important to evaluate how coverage affects liability, said Reitwiesner, who added that excess is the new primary.

In some cases, early mediation can be beneficial by providing the defense an opportunity to access discovery early, preview trial arguments, control cost and exposure, save defense costs and minimize publicity. Bellus has seen benefits of early mediation in trucking injury cases, in particular.

Panelists emphasized the importance of educating the mediator on the case and coverage.

Insufficient discovery and a claimant thats still treating can detract from the benefits of an early mediation, Milano said.

In terms of settlement obligations, Bellus said that in Florida, a demand is irrelevant. If the insurer has all the facts it should move forward with settlement. She added that the best way to handle a time-sensitive demand is with an immediate response.An SUV carrying a large, free-spirited family from Washington state accelerated straight off a scenic California cliff and authorities said the deadly wreck may have been intentional.

Information pulled from the vehicles software shows it was stopped at a flat, dirt pull-off area before it sped off the steep rocky face and plunged 100 feet, said Capt. Greg Baarts with the California Highway Patrol Northern Division. Speaking at an evening news conference Sunday night, Baarts said the electronic information combined with the lack of skid marks or signs the driver braked led authorities to believe the crash was purposeful.

Five members of the Hart family were found dead. The search continued for three more children believed to have been in the vehicle when it went over a coastal overlook and landed on rocks in the Pacific Ocean below. The missing children may have been washed out to sea, authorities say.

This specific location is very difficult to search because the ocean currents and tides are strong, its unpredictable, and the murkiness of the water makes it difficult to see, said Capt. Greg Van Patten, a spokesman for the Mendocino County Sheriffs Office.

Known as the Hart Tribe, the multiracial family of two married women  Sarah and Jennifer Hart  and six adopted children often took spontaneous road trips to camp and hike and traveled to festivals and other events, offering hugs and promoting unity.

Authorities dont know exactly when the wreck took place. A passing motorist discovered the vehicle on March 26, three days after social service authorities in Washington state opened an investigation apparently prompted by a neighbors complaint that the children were being deprived of food. Authorities believe at least one felony was committed but Van Patten declined to specify.

Well before the wreck, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty in 2011 to a domestic assault charge in Douglas County, Minnesota, telling authorities she let her anger get out of control while spanking her 6-year-old adopted daughter, court records show.

The two women, both 38, were found dead inside the SUV, while three of their children  Markis Hart, 19, Jeremiah Hart, 14, and Abigail Hart, 14  were discovered outside the vehicle. Searchers were looking for Hannah Hart, 16; Sierra Hart, 12; and Devonte Hart, 15.

Devonte drew national attention after the black youngster was photographed in tears, hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest in Portland, Oregon, over the deadly police shooting of a black man in Ferguson, Missouri. Devonte was holding a Free Hugs sign.

Two weeks ago, Bruce and Dana DeKalb, next-door neighbors of the Harts in Woodland, Washington, called state Child Protective Services because Devonte had been coming over to their house almost every day for a week, asking for food.

Dana DeKalb said Devonte told her his parents were punishing them by withholding food. The boy asked her to leave food in a box by the fence for him, she said.

Social service authorities opened an investigation, and a state caseworker went to the house on March 23 but didnt find anyone home. The agency had no prior history with the family, said Norah West, a spokeswoman with the Washington Department of Social and Health Services.

On Thursday, authorities in Washington state combed through the familys home for information. The Clark County Sheriffs Office said deputies were looking for bills, receipts or anything else to shed light on why the family left and other circumstances related to the trip, KGW-TV reported.

To the best of my knowledge, there was not a suicide note found at the residence, said Baarts, who added that authorities have been interviewing friends and family members of the Harts.

There have been red flags, he said, but did not elaborate.

Van Patten said he was not aware of any other evidence of abuse.

Family friend Max Ribner last week took issue with the notion it was something other than a tragic accident. The couple adopted the six children, many of whom came from hard backgrounds, he said. They transformed these kids lives.

(Associated Press writer Michelle A. Monroe contributed to this report.)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Difficult conversations are all part and parcel of working life.

From asking for a promotion to dealing with a frustrating colleague, we're each bound to face countless tricky discussions throughout the course of our careers.

But instead of avoiding those moments, learning how to tackle them head-on can be one of the best ways to advance your career, according to the British Council Professional Development Centre, which runs training courses on workplace communication.

It has identified 10 simple steps which it says can be applied across the board to help make potentially awkward encounters go more smoothly.

"Difficult conversations, although hard for both parties, enable people to make choices and decisions, to learn and to grow, and can enable breakthroughs in relationships which can be incredibly productive and positive," the educational organization said in a training note.

"You have to be sensitive to the company and the culture," Amanda Moody, director of the development group's Singapore arm, told CNBC Make It. "But these tips can be applied to many different scenarios and age groups."

Here are the 10 tips and how to put them to work:China's ambassador to the United States explained why his country was striking back against U.S. trade measures, as Beijing slapped a new tariff hike on $50 billion worth of American goods.

"We certainly don't want to have any trade war with anybody, but people have to understand who started all this," said ambassador Cui Tiankai.

Speaking ahead of the official announcement, he said China would resort to the World Trade Organization dispute settlement mechanism.

"We'll, in accordance with Chinese laws, take measures to fight back," he said.

Cui's comments come after President Donald Trump's White House unveiled a list Tuesday of Chinese imports the administration proposes to target as part of a crackdown on what the president deems unfair trade practices.

Sectors covered by the White House's proposed tariffs include products used for robotics, information technology, communication technology and aerospace.

On Wednesday morning, Beijing then hit back with additional tariffs on 106 U.S. products. The new charges are targeted at goods including soybeans, cars and whisky. The effective start date for the tariffs is set to be revealed at a later time.Following is the transcript of an exclusive CNBC interview with Cui Tiankai, China Ambassador to the United States. The interview was broadcast on CNBC's Squawk Box on 4 April 2018.

All references must be sourced to a "CNBC Interview".

Interviewed by CNBC's Seema Mody.

Seema Mody (SM): You saw the list of new tariffs that were announced by the Trump administration, what is China's reaction?

Cui Tiankai: Good evening, you see we are against the so-called 301 investigation from the very beginning and today's announcement is another step in the wrong direction. We will certainly respond accordingly. We will resort to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and we will in accordance with Chinese laws take measures to fight back. Maybe with the same intensity, the same scale.

SM: How exactly will China fight back? I mean the question of retaliation, we have already seen a new list of tariff's from China's side. Will we see more tariffs in the coming days?

Cui Tiankai: Well it will be announced in Beijing, very soon.

SM: Can you expand on what types of tariffs or sectors this could potentially impact here in the U.S.?

Cui Tiankai: We will see how much the U.S. measures will hurt our economy and we will fight back accordingly.

SM: What do you make of the list? The new list we got from the Trump administration, it's quite expansive, really focused on high tech, the semi-conductors. What kind of impact could this have on the Chinese tech industry?

Cui Tiankai: I think it will have negative impact clearly on Chinese economy, but it will also have a negative impact on the U.S. economy. Such protectionism would not protect anybody. It will not protect American workers or American farmers. It will not protect American business or American consumers. Actually it will hurt everybody, including the U.S. economy itself.

SM: What is the Chinese government's response to these allegations that Beijing is forcing U.S. companies to transfer valuable technology as a condition of doing business there?

Cui Tiankai: I think that these accusations are groundless. They never gave us specific cases of such accusations. But still, we are ready to have consultation with the U.S. side on any possible between us. But any measures of this nature of protectionism or unilateralism... You see that is the problem, people do not seem willing to have such consultations to address the issues in a constructive way, in a mutual and beneficial way. So if their choice is to have protectionist moves or even unilateral moves then we have to fight back.

SM: After the last round of tariffs, it were announced by the Trump administration on steel, what have the conversations been like between Washington and Beijing?

Cui Tiankai: We are always to continue and intensify our dialogue and communication with the U.S. side on any possible economic or trade issues. But, we need reciprocity. Our good-will has to be met by the same degree of good-will.

SM: Though it doesn't seem like you're getting that reciprocity right now, Ambassador. You realize if China does respond with stronger tariffs, this could really intensify this trade conflict between the U.S. and China. Is China ready for that, for a potential trade war?

Cui Tiankai: We certainly don't want to have any trade war with anybody. But people have to understand who started all this.

SM: And the treasury market, China is the biggest buyer of U.S. bonds. Is that a place that we could see retaliation? Will China reduce the number of U.S. bonds that it buys?

Cui Tiankai: You see our two economies, the Chinese economy and the U.S. economy, we're so closely interconnected so actually we do have a great deal of common interest. Any unilateralist measures will hurt the other side. But, the end result will be probably, it will hurt itself. So we have done our utmost to avoid this kind of situation. But, if the other side makes the wrong choice then we have no alternative but to fight back.

SM: But, Ambassador just lastly can you get specific on what type of retaliation we could see? Will it be soybeans, more agricultural tariffs or will it in fact be in the treasury market or the currency market?

Cui Tiankai: I think all this will be announced in Beijing very soon.

SM: And how serious is the Beijing government on this topic of showing the U.S. that it is willing and ready to participate in this trade war?

Cui Tiankai: You see the primary responsibility of the Chinese government is to preserve, protect and promote the interests of the Chinese people. So if anybody tries to hurt the interests of the Chinese people, it's a very serious matter for us, we will certainly fight back.

SM: Ambassador, there was one note from an analyst today that said watch the currency market, the USD-CNY pair. Is a yuan devaluation, is that something you've been hearing from your colleagues at the embassy or at the Beijing government as something that they're considering doing?

Cui Tiankai: You see in today's global economy almost everything is interconnected. So when people take some wrong measures, when people take some protectionist measures it will hurt people's confidence in the overall prospects for the economy and it may hurt finance, will hurt trade, will hurt economic performance, will hurt consumer confidence, everything.

SM: Well, we'll be certainly watching all those different factors as we await the specific around China's response and the retaliation that you just referenced. Ambassador, we will leave the conversation there. Thank you for joining us in this CNBC Exclusive interview.

END

Media Contact:

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Communications Manager, CNBC Asia Pacific

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About CNBC

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For more information, please visit www.cnbc.comThe sale in May of the Rockefeller collection at Christie's has something for every type of collector  from rare Picassos and coveted Monets, to Asian Buddhas, carved wooden ducks, diamond cuff links and antique English furniture. It's estimated the collection could bring in $500 million, and some say it could reach $1 billion. But for the Rockefeller family, the sales  a series of auctions between May 8 and 11  will be the bittersweet end of an era. Virtually all of the family treasures owned by the late David Rockefeller (the grandson of America's first billionaire, John D. Rockefeller) and his wife Peggy will be sold, with the proceeds going to charity. Family members will see heirlooms and paintings they grew up with in their homes awarded to the highest bidders.

David Rockefeller Courtesy of Rockefeller Archive Center

While Picasso's famed painting "Young Girl with a Flower Basket" will no doubt be the most expensive item sold the collection, expected to fetch more than $100 million, the Rockefeller's personal favorites are more about memories than a price tag. In an exclusive interview, David Rockefeller Jr., David's son, shared a few stories about the family's favorite items.

"Young Girl with a Flower Basket" courtesy of Christie's Images Ltd. 2018 David Jr. says one of his dad's favorite items was a small 13th century Syrian incense burner. It was given to him by his mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and David always kept it on his desk at Chase Manhattan bank, of which he was chairman until 1981.

Incense burner courtesy of Christie's Images Ltd. 2018 David Jr. says one thing about the piece that interested his dad was that even though it was an Islamic artifact, it has Christian figures in the carvings, which speaks to the ability of art and beauty to bridge different religions. "It's really quite an interesting piece," David Jr. says. It's expected to sell for more than $200,000. David Jr. says his favorite item being sold is a Matisse painting that hung in the family's estate in Westchester County, New York. The piece, called "Odalisque couchee aux magnolias," was painted in 1923 in Matisse's studio in Nice, France. The painting depicts a reclining nude basking in the sunlight surrounded by lush flowers and fruit. The colors are radiant and the expression of the model  one of Matisse's favorites  is relaxed and happy.

Odalisque Lying with Magnolias by Henri Matisse Source: CHRISTIE'S IMAGES LTD. 2018

"This is the real favorite of mine," David Jr. tells CNBC. "It's sensuous, it has the wonderful color palette of Matisse and the decorative elements that ultimately came into his cut-outs." While David Jr. says he didn't grow up with the piece, which was acquired after he had gone away to school, "I loved that these pieces were always in rooms that I would visit." He says "Odaslique" shared the living room of Hudson Pines with a Renoir and a Pissarro.

David Rockefeller Jr. and Susan Rockefeller Getty Images | Monica SchipperLast month, McDonald's made headlines for flipping the golden arches upside down in honor of International Women's Day. Now, McDonald's is catching the attention of workers by promising to revamp its college assistance program. Since 2015, McDonald's has provided college tuition assistance to over 16,400 employees through its Archways to Opportunity education program. Last week, the fast food behemoth announced plans to increase the program by allocating $150 million over five years and lowering eligibility requirements from nine months to 90 days of employment and weekly shift minimums from 20 hours to 15 hours. "This will provide almost 400,000 U.S. restaurant employees with accessibility to the program," says McDonald's spokesperson Andrea Abate to CNBC Make It. Previously, eligible crew members could receive $700 a year to cover tuition costs at a trade school, community college or traditional four-year college. As of May 1st, eligible restaurant employees will have access to $2,500 a year and managers will have access to $3,000 a year.

Golden arches mark the entrance to a McDonald's restaurant in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesSpecial counsel Robert Mueller told President Donald Trump's lawyers last month that the U.S. leader is a subject of the investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election, but he is not a criminal target at this point, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The Post, citing three sources, said the discussion took place during private negotiations early last month about a possible interview with Trump.

Additionally, the newspaper reported that Mueller told the president's lawyers he is readying "a report about the president's actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice."

The Post also cited legal experts who said that the president still could become a target of the investigation  particularly if investigators get the necessary information from Trump during a potential interview.

Here's how the Justice Department defines the difference between a "subject" and a "target" of an investigation:

A "target" is a person as to whom the prosecutor or the grand jury has substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime and who, in the judgment of the prosecutor, is a putative defendant. An officer or employee of an organization which is a target is not automatically considered a target even if such officer's or employee's conduct contributed to the commission of the crime by the target organization. The same lack of automatic target status holds true for organizations which employ, or employed, an officer or employee who is a target. A "subject" of an investigation is a person whose conduct is within the scope of the grand jury's investigation.

Trump has said publicly that he would talk to Mueller for the probe. According to various media reports, however, the potential for Mueller's team interviewing the president created friction within Trump's legal team. Last month, lead counsel John Dowd resigned from the team. Reportedly, he was opposed the idea of Trump talking to Mueller's team.

Mueller took over the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin in May 2017. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller, a former FBI director, as special counsel after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. In an interview with NBC News, Trump said Russia was one of the things on his mind when he decided to fire Comey.

White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment to CNBC. A representative for the special counsel's office also declined to comment.

For more on this story, see the full report in The Washington Post.The tech community is already sending out public messages of support for YouTube in the wake of a tragic shooting that left at least three people injured and the suspected shooter dead.



In a memo to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai called the incident that unfolded on YouTube's campus Tuesday afternoon an "unimaginable tragedy" and called for all employees to support that team as well as CEO Susan Wojcicki.

Tweet

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella responded to Pichai on Twitter:

Tweet

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Twitter executive chairman and former chief business officer at Google, Omid Kordestani, were among the first to tweet out messages of support.

Tweet

Tweet

Tweet

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also reacted to the scandal, and addressed the fact that people were using Twitter to post hoaxes and disinformation related to the shooting:

Tweet

After the recent shooting in Parkland, Florida, Facebook and YouTube came under fire for spreading conspiracy theories as well. Activists also pressured Amazon, Apple, and YouTube to stop streaming content from the National Rifle Association through the organization's NRAtv channel.

In late March, YouTube rolled out new policies banning content that promoted websites selling guns and gun accessories, as well as videos that teach viewers how to make their own firearms.Greek students gather during a protest against reforms in the education sector on March 30, 2018 near Prime Minister's office, in Athens.

Markets are not preparing for an election in Greece this year, but this is a risk that cannot be ruled out. The mandate of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ends in September of 2019. But with key austerity reforms starting in January, and a bailout program expected to end this summer, some analysts fear the government will call a new general election earlier than expected. "This is indeed one of the risks in our scenario, but most likely after the program ends," Yvan Mamalet, senior euro economist at Societe Generale, told CNBC. Greece is expected to finish its third bailout program in August. However, some key reforms agreed with international creditors, including cuts to pensions, will only come into effect in January. Some analysts argue that between August and the start of 2019 there is a window of opportunity for early elections. "There's a distinct possibility that the elections will take place in the second half of 2018," Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the leader of the opposition party New Democracy, said in an interview to Bloomberg last month.

Vangelis Evangeliou | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

It wouldn't be the first time that Tsipras called for an early election. Back in 2015, after signing the country's third bailout program, Tsipras called a snap election after receiving criticism from the more radical members of his Syriza party  a left-wing populist party that investors used to perceive as a risk for the Greek economy. Syriza had an outspoken anti-austerity stance, but Tsipras and his government have nonetheless put in place the policies that creditors asked for and have vowed to continue reforming the economy. In 2015, the main stock index in Greece dropped 18 percent during the three trading days following the announcement of the snap election. Overall, since the start of 2010  the year when Greece signed its first bailout program  the stock market has lost about 83 percent of its value until now. In comparison, Portugal, who also asked for financial assistance in 2011, saw a contraction of about 36 percent in the same period.

The reality is that Greece has a very high debt level. Zsolt Darvas Senior fellow at Bruegel

Nonetheless, a snap election later this year could actually prove positive for Greek stocks, analysts told CNBC. The latest opinion polls show the center-right party, New Democracy, would get the highest number of votes if there was an election today  a tally of 28.9 percent which is a 10.3 percent lead from the ruling Syriza. "Syriza has trailed in the polls behind the opposition center-right New Democracy (ND) since the election in January 2016 of Kyriakos Mitsotakis as ND leader," Joan Hoey, director for Europe at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC. However, "the polls are likely to narrow ahead of the next election," she said. "Tsipras is an effective political campaigner, and Syriza has a natural support base in the public sector." Analysts are positive that both leaders could actually boost share prices. According to Zsolt Darvas, a senior fellow at the think tank Bruegel, even if an election is called in earlier than expected, there shouldn't be many policy differences. "The reality is that Greece has a very high debt level," he told CNBC, adding that as a result the next government will always have little room to increase spending. Greece's public debt is about 180 percent of its growth domestic product.

Greek students gather during a protest against reforms in the education sector on March 30, 2018 near Prime Minister's office, in Athens. Angelos Tzortzinis | AFP | Getty ImagesTesla buyers in China, on the other hand, import their Teslas, which means those buyers may have to pay a 50 percent tariff on those vehicles if China keeps its promise to retaliate against currently proposed U.S. tariffs. Currently, imported vehicles in China are subject to a 25 percent tariff.

While China is a huge market for Ford , General Motors and Chrysler , all of Detroit's Big 3 have joint ventures with Chinese companies that, for the most part, shield them from tariffs. GM, for example, assembles in China the vast majority of vehicles it sells there.

And the other U.S.-built brands likely to suffer most after that are not American but German, said Barclays analyst Brian Johnson in a note sent Wednesday.

Tesla could be the U.S. automaker most hurt by a trade war with China, says one analyst.

"The tariff will add an extra premium on top of a vehicle price that was already ahead of the base U.S. price, related to transport costs and duties," Johnson noted. For instance, he said, a base Model S 100D in the U.S. costs $94,000; the same vehicle in China today costs CNY 931,000 (or ~$148,000. The tariff comes into play on top of those prices.

"And while these steep import tariffs are part of the upper-end luxury market (and in some respects add to the prestige factor for luxury cars), for lower-luxury vehicles than the Model 3 a 50 percent premium would be significant," the Barclays analyst noted.

Tesla was not immediately available for comment.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has complained that the current trade rules between the U.S. and China are lopsided and unfair to American companies.

elon

Tesla does have a pretty significant presence in China, and the country is important to Tesla's balance sheet. The carmaker currently operates an 83,000-square-foot delivery hub in Beijing, with a lease set to expire in April 2020.

An SEC filing also shows China was the second-largest market for Tesla cars by revenue in 2017, after the U.S. And Tesla nearly doubled its revenues in China last year, pulling in $2 billion, compared with $6 billion in the United States and less than $1 billion in Norway. Musk has also talked about building production facilities in China.

For now, Teslas sold in China are potentially at a disadvantage, Johnson said.

Oddly, it's German automakers that are the next most vulnerable to a U.S.-China trade war. Mercedes-Benz exports some cars to China from its Alabama plant, and BMW sends some cars from its Spartanburg, South Carolina, factory to China. But their exposure is still far lower than Tesla's, Johnson said. Whereas about 12 to 13 percent of Tesla Model S and X vehicles go to China, only about 2 to 4 percent of Mercedes and BMW cars do.Prices for big-screen televisions and some household appliances could go up significantly if the Trump administration's proposed tariffs on Chinese imports are enacted.

"On a $4,000 TV ... the tariffs might have a several-hundred-dollar price impact," said David French, senior vice president for government relations at the National Retail Federation, an advocacy group.

"We're still assessing the list," French said. "There is machinery involved in consumer goods. ... There are chemicals listed that we believe are components of cosmetics and toiletries."

US imports from China of goods subject to proposed tariffs ($ billions, 2017)

Source: Capital Economics. Note: Numbers in brackets are for HS4 international classification codes.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative proposed late Tuesday an additional 25 percent tariff on an extensive list of Chinese imports, valued at $50 billion for the year and ranging from aircraft parts to vaccines. A public hearing on the list is scheduled for May 15, and filing requests to appear and comment are due April 23.

Here are some of the consumer-related goods that appeared on the list:

LEDs for backlighting of LCDs

Touch screens without display capabilities for incorporation in apparatus having a display

Dishwashers

Parts and accessories of printers

Snowplows and snowblowers

Copying machines

Fire extinguishers

Vaccines for human medicine

Vaccines for veterinary medicine

Phonograph records

"Some goods won't be imported at all with a 25 percent tariff, but prices of domestic goods will go up the full amount of the tariff," said Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

But he and other analysts pointed out that for a U.S. economy roughly $18 trillion in size, 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports will have a relatively small effect overall on consumer prices.

For example, it is not clear the extent to which tariffs would affect imports of dishwashers.

Chinese manufacturer Haier, which acquired GE Appliances in 2016, "only imports a very small number of niche dishwashers designed for small spaces," spokesperson Kim Freeman said in an email to CNBC. "We make about 95 percent of our dishwashers in the U.S. in Louisville, Kentucky."

"At this point we are not sure what the impact on consumers will be," Freeman said.

The National Retail Federation estimates that access to imported goods through free trade agreements boosts the purchasing power of the average American family by $18,000 a year.

"It's going to be very difficult for the retailer to manage their supply chain in order to handle these tariffs," French said. "Consumers may be price sensitive enough that they may slow their holiday purchases. These may be 'Grinch' tariffs."Today marks the 43rd anniversary of Microsoft. On April 4, 1975, billionaire Bill Gates co-founded the tech company with Paul Allen.

Before starting the company, Gates was a tech-obsessed teen at the Lakeside School. As the billionaire recalled in a 2005 speech, his school helped foster his love of computers. "Years before other schools recognized the importance of computers, the Lakeside Mothers Club came up with the money to buy a teletype that connected over the phone lines with a GE time-sharing computer," he said.

That machine changed the course of Gates' life and he spent much of his time at school fiddling with computers, hacking and coding. There, he also met Allen and the two bonded over their love of technology.

Although Gates helped turn Microsoft into a multi-billion dollar tech company, which analysts say could reach a $1 trillion valuation by 2020, he had to overcome some bad personal habits.

In a 2005 Q&A session with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Gates told students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Business Administration that he used to be a heavy procrastinator.

Gates developed this "very bad habit" as an undergraduate student at Harvard University (he dropped out after two years). "I liked to show people that I didn't do any work, and that I didn't go to classes and I didn't care," he told students.

But at the last minute, sometimes just two days before a test, Gates would get serious about his studies and quickly prepare. "People thought that was funny," he said. "That was my positioning: the guy who did nothing until the last minute."

However, these antics didn't fly when he entered the business world. "When I went into business that was a really bad habit and it took me a couple years to get over that," Gates said, causing the audience to laugh.

The Microsoft co-founder again discussed his past fondness for procrastinating in a 2016 Ask Me Anything Reddit post. When asked about his best memory at Harvard, Gates said, "I decided that I would be different and never attend any class I was signed up for but always attend a class I wasn't signed up for."Across the United States, people are remembering Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. today on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. On April 4, 1968, a 39-year-old King was leading a protest against the low pay of sanitation workers when he was shot in Memphis, Tennessee. Among King's supporters in the midst of the civil rights movement was billionaire Warren Buffett, who considered the late activist to be a source of inspiration. In fact, Buffett and his late wife Susie saw King give a speech in Iowa just one day before beginning his 19th jail sentence for involvement in the civil rights movement and exactly six months before his assassination in 1968. In October 1967, King visited Grinnell College to deliver a convocation address for a fundraising event linked with other well-known names of the time, including musician Louis Armstrong and author Ralph Ellison, as detailed in Alice Schroeder's book, "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life."

Martin Luther King, Jr. taken at Grinnell College in 1967. Robert Hodierne | Courtesy of Grinnell College

Before a crowd of 5,000 people, the Nobel Peace prize-winner shared a speech titled, "Remaining Awake During a Revolution." "I remember that speech that Martin Luther King gave. That was one of the most inspiring speeches I've ever heard. Took me right out of my seat," Buffett said in the HBO documentary "Becoming Warren Buffett." "In that speech, he talked about 'truth forever on the scaffold, long forever on the throne, but that scaffold sways the future.' Well, he was going to be dead in six months, but that scaffold did sway the future," Buffett added. In that portion of the speech, King was quoting 19th-century American poet James Russell Lowell's poem "The Present Crisis," which suggests that truth and righteousness always prevail. In their 30s during the 1950s and 1960s, Buffett and Susie were supporters of Omaha's nonviolent activists in the midst of the civil rights movement. Buffett attended local events around the city with Susie. As Time reported in 2012, Buffett's interest in King and the civil rights movement "was the first time there had been space in Warren's life for anything outside of moneymaking and it was Susie's doing." "When the children were growing up, I was very involved in civil rights. I was immersed in it and I think that's what made Warren a democrat. He would go with me to hear speakers," Susie said in "Becoming Warren Buffett." Although Buffett grew up with a Republican congressman for a father and even served as the University of Pennsylvania's Young Republicans Club president, Susie helped shift his perspective.

That was one of the most inspiring speeches I've ever heard. Took me right out of my seat. Warren Buffett CEO of Berkshire Hathway

Carol Loomis, a renowned financial reporter and one of Buffett's friends, also said in "Becoming Warren Buffett" that "Susie led Warren toward changing his political views," adding that "she was the catalyst." "He believed the way she [Susie] believed in social justice and civil rights," Buffett's daughter Susan Buffett told USA Today.

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, with wife Susan and daughter Susan at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in 1997. Mark Peterson | Getty Images

In the midst of what Schroeder said was the "greatest wave of riots, lootings and burnings since the Civil War," Susie worked with local organizations and friends to aid the fight for equality. For example, she pressured the YMCA and the boards of other organizations to equally distribute among their branches in poorer areas. She helped send black kids to summer camp through the United Methodist Community Center, which was run by an African-American friend of hers and set up an interracial dialogue group for high school students in the area. She also reportedly helped numerous black community members buy houses in white neighborhoods.

Civil rights changed my views. Warren Buffett CEO of Berkshire Hathway

"My wife was more active than I was, but I was 100 percent with her mentally, I was just working a little more on my own investments," Buffett said in "Becoming Warren Buffett." Buffett and Susie attended the Grinnell convocation by invitation of Joe Rosenfield, an alumnus of the private school who developed a special relationship with the Buffetts. While Rosenfield sought to grow the college's endowment fund, he became friends with the couple after sitting together and learning more about each other's shared political views and interests. There, another part of King's speech resonated with Buffett, according to Schroeder: "It may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless," King said.

Martin Luther King, Jr. taken at Grinnell College in 1967. Robert Hodierne | Courtesy of Grinnell CollegeThe British political consulting firm at the center of Facebook's data scandal announced on Wednesday the data leak only affected 30 million users  a lower threshold than the "up to 87 million" claimed by Facebook.

"Cambridge Analytica licensed data for no more than 30 million people from GSR [Global Science Research], as is clearly stated in our contract with the research company. We did not receive more data than this," Cambridge Analytica wrote in an email.

Both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have blamed GSR, the company that harvested Facebook data using a personality app, for duping them. But Facebook estimated the maximum impact of the data misuse could be much higher.

Just hours prior, Facebook said up to 87 million users might be affected  higher than estimates of 50 million previously reported by The New York Times and other outlets.

During a call with press, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company had come to this estimate by assuming each user who had downloaded GSR's app had the maximum amount of possible friends at the time the data was harvested.

"We're sure it is not more than 87 million. It is probably less," Zuckerberg said during the call.

Reports and whistleblowers have accused Cambridge Analytica - a firm that worked on President Donald Trump's digital campaign - of purchasing data that was improperly collected by an app made by GSR. Facebook said it knew about the data leak back in 2015, banned the app and asked GSR and Cambridge Analytica to prove they had deleted the data. But reports broke in March in the New York Times and Observer that Cambridge Analytica may not have deleted the data, exposing the leak to the public.

But Cambridge Analytica insists the data was used according to the terms of its contract. Furthermore, the firm said the data was deleted per Facebook's request and none was used in its work in the 2016 election.

"We did not use any GSR data in the work we did in the 2016 US presidential election," the statement said.

Cambridge Analytica has maintained throughout this scandal that its use of Facebook user data was completely lawful. It also insists that Facebook always knew it had deleted the data when requested in 2015.

In its statement, Cambridge Analytica said their contract with GSR insisted all data be collected legally and that they pursued legal action "when we found out they had breached this contract."

Global Science Research former co-director Aleksandr Kogan has said Facebook was fully aware it changed its terms and services to reflect its intent to use the data commercially. And that he, too, deleted the data when requested.

Cambridge Analytica will undergo an independent third-party audit to demonstrate that no GSR data remains in its system.If you think you might end up caring for Mom or Dad in their twilight years, be aware of an issue that catches many caregivers off-guard: The big hit to your own pocketbook. More than two-thirds of caregivers (68 percent) report providing financial support related to their role, according to Northwestern Mutual's 2018 C.A.R.E. Study. A third spend at least 20 percent of their own monthly budget on caregiving-related expenses such as medicine and medical supplies ($273), food ($159) and personal-care items ($151). "There's an alarming financial impact from being a caregiver," said Kamilah Williams-Kemp, vice president of long-term care at Northwestern Mutual. "For some people, those costs can take up a lot of their financial budget."

Tomas Rodriguez | Picture Press | Getty Images

About 41.3 million people age 15 or older provided unpaid eldercare during 2015 and 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As it stands, about a third of adults have taken on the role of caregiver, while 22 percent expect to in the future, the Northwestern Mutual study shows. Of the respondents who already have stepped into that position, nearly half (47 percent) say their new role was unexpected. "If caregivers haven't planned ahead of time, they end up make some rash decisions about how to absorb their caregiving costs  like withdrawing from savings or working more," Williams-Kemp said. "Those can have long-term repercussions for the caregiver." The element of surprise involved shows the importance of families taking time to discuss how an aging parent envisions fulfilling their future care needs, Williams-Kemp said.

Where the care-giving dollars go Item Ave. monthly cost Medicine/medical supplies $273 Food $159 Personal care $151 Medical care $107 Clothes $67 Transportation $54 Profession advisors (lawyers, accountants, etc.) $32

For instance, many people want to age in place, yet they have not had a conversation with family about how to make that work. "So often, individuals make assumptions about their [future care], but they aren't necessarily sharing that with their children," Williams-Kemp said. "Before you're in the situation of needing care, talk with your family members about it." For adult children  many of who might already be caring for their own children  it's worth the conversation, too. While it can be a tricky conversation to have if your parents aren't the ones to start it, the more information you're armed with, the better prepared you can be. For example, depending on your parent's financial resources, insurance could minimize certain costs that caregivers might otherwise bear in terms of money or time. While Medicare is typically available to everyone once they reach age 65, it generally does not pay for long-term care. That is, if someone needs help with daily living activities such as bathing or getting dressed, those costs are not covered. Long-term care insurance can be an option. As with many types of insurance, the younger you are, the less expensive the policy typically is. For instance, a 55-year-old man would pay an average annual premium of $1,870 while a 65-year-old pays $2,460, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. Women pay more: $2,965 for age 55 and $4,270 for age 65. Married couples usually get a discount. You also run the risk of not qualifying once you're older because you've developed health problems. About 23 percent of long-term care insurance applicants in their 60s are rejected coverage due to health issues. Another type of insurance that's growing in popularity is a hybrid insurance policy that combines a traditional death benefit with a long-term care feature. In simple terms, you can use the money from the policy to pay for long-term care.

Before you're in the situation of needing care, talk with your family members about it. Kamilah Williams-Kemp Vice president of long-term care at Northwestern MutualMilitary personnel wearing protective suits remove a police car and other vehicles from a public car park as they continue investigations into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal on March 11, 2018 in Salisbury, England.

Russia's foreign intelligence agency chief has said it feels like a return to the Cold War era as frosty relations between Russia and the West continue after accusations that Moscow was behind the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England.

"Washington has become fixated with the fight against a non-existent, so-called Russian threat. This has reached such proportions and acquired such absurd characteristics that it's possible to speak of a return to the dark times of the Cold War," Sergei Naryshkin said according to Reuters, speaking at a security conference in Moscow.

Naryshkin's comments come as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the world's chemical weapons watchdog, holds a meeting at Russia's request to discuss Britain's allegations that Moscow was behind the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter with a military-grade nerve agent.

The British delegation to the OPCW tweeted on Wednesday morning that Russia's proposal for a joint probe into the attack was "perverse."

Tweet

The attack took place in early March and the U.K. quickly accused Russia of being behind the attack. Former spy Serge Skripal remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital whereas his daughter Yulia's condition has improved.

The agent used was part of the Russian-made Novichok family of deadly chemical weapons but Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement.Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

China's list of more than 100 American products under threat of tariffs targets the U.S. chemicals and plastics sectors at a time when parts of the industry are investing heavily in new production.



About 40 percent of the goods on the list are plastics, petrochemicals, petroleum products and specialty chemicals. To be sure, the proposed tariffs amount to a response to President Donald Trump's threat to slap taxes on 1,300 Chinese goods and may never come to fruition. But analysts say the prospect of a trade war increases uncertainty about demand in a major foreign market for American companies that are planning to invest billions of dollars at home in large-scale chemicals projects.

The biggest concern is how does this escalate? And then does it ultimately impact the global economy? If we go into another 2009 environment, it would really pause investments. Steve Lewandowski vice president of global olefins, IHS Markit

"Nearly $185 billion in new chemical factories, expansions and restarts of facilities around the country are predicated on current tariff schedules, and market shifts caused by tariff increases may convince investors to do business elsewhere," the American Chemistry Council warned Wednesday. "We strongly urge the U.S. and China to reach a productive and meaningful agreement before any of the proposed tariff schedules go into effect," the industry group said. China is the third-biggest export market for U.S. chemicals behind Canada and Mexico, according to an analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce data performed by the council. Those shipments were worth $10.6 billion in 2016, the latest year included in the council's analysis. For comparison, shipments to Canada drummed up nearly twice that amount that year, while Mexico spent about $19 billion on American chemicals.

Demand in China has helped North American and European chemical companies grow while consumption at home has stagnated, according to a briefing by McKinsey & Co. Rapid economic growth in China means the country has not been able to develop its own feedstocks fast enough to fuel its massive industrial sector. "China tries to be self sufficient with any product that they can. Some are easier than others," said Alex Lidback, vice president for chemicals at energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. "Depending on the feedstock availability, the technology availability  all those things have an impact on how quickly they can add capacity." It's difficult to make a blanket statement about the potential impact of tariffs on the roughly 40 products China targeted across the chemicals, energy and plastics universe. But analysts say the effects could be meaningful for some slices of the U.S. chemical industry. In Lidback's view, one of the targeted items that stands out is polyethylene, one of the most widely used plastics. U.S. oil majors and chemical companies have announced major investments in the petrochemical plants that produce polyethylene. The building boom is being driven by a surge in U.S. natural gas output, which has yielded a cheap and abundant source of byproducts that go into American polyethylene.

"It's a concern without a doubt because the U.S. has a good cost position, they're adding capacity and the Chinese market is very short of polyethylene as a whole, so they need the imports to meet their demand growth," Lidback said. Another U.S. export that caught Lidback's eye is propane. China has been investing in plants that turn propane into propylene, and those facilities have been counting on a steady supply of pure U.S. propane. A big wave is set to come online in 2019 and 2020, Lidback said. U.S. propane exports have been have been on the rise over the last few years, according to Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. Last year, China was the third-largest buyer of propane, behind Japan and Mexico, accounting for about 13.6 percent of U.S. exports, according to his analysis. Some of the companies involved in the U.S. propane export business include Enterprise Products, Targa and Phillips 66. If the tariffs were enforced, one scenario could see a reshuffling of global trade flows, said Steve Lewandowski, vice president of global olefins at IHS Markit. Since there is currently enough capacity of key plastics to meet global demand, China could potentially source the products from elsewhere, and the United States would then step in to supply other markets. In his view, the impact of tariffs are likely not enough to cancel planned projects. But the effects of a worsening trade war could slow global economic growth and crimp demand for plastics, making some project economics questionable.Beijing has a few messages for Washington, D.C. On Wednesday, China unveiled additional tariffs on 106 U.S. products  a move that initially sent U.S. stocks to session lows in the morning. Equities recovered throughout the day while the White House tried to push back on the idea that a trade war was looming. These tariffs came less than 24 hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a list of Chinese imports that will face greater scrutiny as part of a crackdown on what he described as unfair trade practices. In an exclusive interview with CNBC, China's Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao laid out Beijing's mindset behind the trade actions. The ministry said the new tariffs were designed to target up to $50 billion of American products annually. Zhu, who oversees working group on economic issues for President Xi Jinping, explained that there are four things that he wanted to tell American businesses and investors.

#1: China will not be bullied by outsiders

For Beijing, Trump's actions have to be interpreted through the lens of China's domestic politics. "You must understand in Chinese culture  and since the People's Republic's founding  China never yields to outside pressure," Zhu said. The Communist Party portrays itself as a defender of the nation's interest. The party and Xi aim to increase China's influence and power on the world stage. As a result, the party isn't in a position to back down. External pressure, Zhu argued, only emboldens China to retaliate.

#2: China sees itself as the victim

China sees itself as the victim in the growing trade tensions with the U.S. The vice minister argued that China has been a leader in globalization. Zhu said that the country has opened its economy over time and been able to successfully negotiate a lot of issues. But there's a question of how much responsibility China should bear over the rise in protectionism globally. Besides the U.S., many countries in Europe and Asia had already voiced frustrations with China's business practices. In what Trump said was the "first of many" trade actions, the White House said it would impose tariffs on up to $60 billion in Chinese imports. The administration said these measures were designed to penalize China for alleged intellectual property theft. Zhu argued, however, that China has been making progress on this front. He explained that Beijing sees Trump's approach as a confrontational policy. "I think there is not any reason to blame China," he said.

#3: China will respond with equal action

Because Beijing views itself as the victim  not the aggressor  in this situation, it sees its tariffs as an equal response to U.S. actions. The vice minister explained that's how China decided to include aircraft on its list of targeted products. The country was simply reciprocating because the Trump administration put Chinese aircraft on its list.

#4: China's door is still ajarFollowing is the transcript of an exclusive CNBC interview with Cui Tiankai, China Ambassador to the United States. The interview was broadcast on CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on 4 April 2018.

Interviewed by CNBC's Seema Mody.

Seema Mody (SM): You saw the list of new tariffs that were announced by the Trump administration, what is China's reaction?

Cui Tiankai: Good evening, you see we are against the so-called 301 investigation from the very beginning and today's announcement is another step in the wrong direction. We will certainly respond accordingly. We will resort to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and we will in accordance with Chinese laws take measures to fight back. Maybe with the same intensity, the same scale.

SM: How exactly will China fight back? I mean the question of retaliation, we have already seen a new list of tariff's from China's side. Will we see more tariffs in the coming days?

Cui Tiankai: Well it will be announced in Beijing, very soon.

SM: Can you expand on what types of tariffs or sectors this could potentially impact here in the U.S.?

Cui Tiankai: We will see how much the U.S. measures will hurt our economy and we will fight back accordingly.

SM: What do you make of the list? The new list we got from the Trump administration, it's quite expansive, really focused on high tech, the semi-conductors. What kind of impact could this have on the Chinese tech industry?

Cui Tiankai: I think it will have negative impact clearly on Chinese economy, but it will also have a negative impact on the U.S. economy. Such protectionism would not protect anybody. It will not protect American workers or American farmers. It will not protect American business or American consumers. Actually it will hurt everybody, including the U.S. economy itself.

SM: What is the Chinese government's response to these allegations that Beijing is forcing U.S. companies to transfer valuable technology as a condition of doing business there?

Cui Tiankai: I think that these accusations are groundless. They never gave us specific cases of such accusations. But still, we are ready to have consultation with the U.S. side on any possible between us. But any measures of this nature of protectionism or unilateralism... You see that is the problem, people do not seem willing to have such consultations to address the issues in a constructive way, in a mutual and beneficial way. So if their choice is to have protectionist moves or even unilateral moves then we have to fight back.

SM: After the last round of tariffs, it were announced by the Trump administration on steel, what have the conversations been like between Washington and Beijing?

Cui Tiankai: We are always to continue and intensify our dialogue and communication with the U.S. side on any possible economic or trade issues. But, we need reciprocity. Our good-will has to be met by the same degree of good-will.

SM: Though it doesn't seem like you're getting that reciprocity right now, Ambassador. You realize if China does respond with stronger tariffs, this could really intensify this trade conflict between the U.S. and China. Is China ready for that, for a potential trade war?

Cui Tiankai: We certainly don't want to have any trade war with anybody. But people have to understand who started all this.

SM: And the treasury market, China is the biggest buyer of U.S. bonds. Is that a place that we could see retaliation? Will China reduce the number of U.S. bonds that it buys?

Cui Tiankai: You see our two economies, the Chinese economy and the U.S. economy, we're so closely interconnected so actually we do have a great deal of common interest. Any unilateralist measures will hurt the other side. But, the end result will be probably, it will hurt itself. So we have done our utmost to avoid this kind of situation. But, if the other side makes the wrong choice then we have no alternative but to fight back.

SM: But, Ambassador just lastly can you get specific on what type of retaliation we could see? Will it be soybeans, more agricultural tariffs or will it in fact be in the treasury market or the currency market?

Cui Tiankai: I think all this will be announced in Beijing very soon.

SM: And how serious is the Beijing government on this topic of showing the U.S. that it is willing and ready to participate in this trade war?

Cui Tiankai: You see the primary responsibility of the Chinese government is to preserve, protect and promote the interests of the Chinese people. So if anybody tries to hurt the interests of the Chinese people, it's a very serious matter for us, we will certainly fight back.

SM: Ambassador, there was one note from an analyst today that said watch the currency market, the USD-CNY pair. Is a yuan devaluation, is that something you've been hearing from your colleagues at the embassy or at the Beijing government as something that they're considering doing?

Cui Tiankai: You see in today's global economy almost everything is interconnected. So when people take some wrong measures, when people take some protectionist measures it will hurt people's confidence in the overall prospects for the economy and it may hurt finance, will hurt trade, will hurt economic performance, will hurt consumer confidence, everything.

SM: Well, we'll be certainly watching all those different factors as we await the specific around China's response and the retaliation that you just referenced. Ambassador, we will leave the conversation there. Thank you for joining us in this CNBC Exclusive interview.

ENDS

For more information contact Jonathan Millman, EMEA Communications Executive: Jonathan.Millman@cnbc.com

About CNBC International:

CNBC is the number one business and financial news network on the planet. Our mission is to help the influential and aspirational to make astute decisions to get ahead. CNBC International ensures no matter where you are you can keep up to date with the latest breaking business and financial news. With international headquarters in London and Singapore, we provide you with the perfect 24-hour global business briefing. In addition to our global TV channel, available in more than 410 million homes worldwide, CNBC is also available on mobile, tablet and desktop. CNBC.com is the preeminent financial news source on the web, featuring an unprecedented amount of video, real-time market analysis, web-exclusive live video and analytical financial tools.The head of a small company that has attracted controversy over its ties to cryptocurrency said that he is not going to sell his shares while he is fighting $1.4 billion in bets against the stock.

"I'm not going to sell [for] the next three years," Longfin CEO and Chairman Venkat Meenavalli said Wednesday on CNBC's "Fast Money." "I'm standing on [sic] my statement."

Shares of Longfin (Ticker: LFIN) briefly fell more than 5 percent in extended trading Wednesday following Meenavalli's comments. The stock has fallen more than 90 percent from an all-time high hit in December, and volatility has picked up in the last two weeks following several negative headlines, including a tweet from noted short-seller Andrew Left's Citron Research.

"I don't deserve a $5 billion valuation, a $10 billion valuation. Let the Street decide its valuation," the CEO also said. Longfin's market value was $865 million as of the close Wednesday.

Short sellers look to profit on a decline in prices by borrowing and then selling shares in expectation they can buy them back cheaper later. About 14.6 percent of Longfin's shares available for trading are sold short, according to FactSet.

"I'm going to write to SEC and FINRA because of the shorts," Meenavalli said, referring to two major U.S. financial regulators.

"We got information, we have a special investigation. ... According to us there are 28 billion shares shorted of $1.4 billion dollars bet against me," he said. "The guys are going to destroy us. I'm fighting here."

The company's investor relations representative later said Meenavalli meant to say "28 million."

Ahead of the show, Longfin shares had closed nearly 17.4 percent higher at $11.61 a share. Trading was briefly halted for a volatility circuit-breaker in the afternoon following CNBC's announcement that Meenavalli was set to appear on "Fast Money" later that day.

The stock is still down more than 30 percent this week. The company disclosed late Monday in an 10-K filing the SEC's Division of Enforcement is investigating trading in the Longfin's shares and has requested documents related to its IPO and acquisition of Ziddu.com, which says it's a microlending company using the same blockchain technology as bitcoin.

The tiny, little known stock first caught Wall Street's attention in mid-December. Shares soared well over 1,000 percent in two days after Longfin announced it was buying Ziddu. A filing showed the microlending company was purchased from a private Singapore firm called Meridian Enterprises that is 95 percent owned by Longfin CEO Meenavalli.

Shares at one point in December had a market value north of $3 billion. That "market cap is not justified" and "is not a reality," Meenavalli said the day it hit that valuation in December on CNBC's "Fast Money."

Last week, shares dropped 75.7 percent after the Citron tweet and news that FTSE Russell was removing Longfin from its benchmark Russell indexes due to insufficient free-floating shares. Meenavalli told CNBC in a phone interview last week the company is "reapplying" for inclusion in the indexes and it would "take legal action" against Citron after filing its 10-K.It's the most confusing parts of earnings season  complicated more by tech volatility, Apple adoration and trade tensions  and CNBC's knows investors have a lot to process. "But we have to stick to our knitting here, and that's why every Friday I give you my game plan where I help you figure out what could happen next week to individual stocks and some macro news," the "Mad Money" host said. Without further ado, he turned to next week's slate, which will include earnings reports from Dropbox and The Walt Disney Company, as well as some economic data that could mean trouble. Get Cramer's game plan here.

Investing for kids

Leonard Mc Lane | Getty Images

Suitability may be all-important in investing, but the concept can be lost on children, who probably have little to no interest in what stocks are or how to invest, Cramer said. "Let's be honest. You couldn't explain to a kid what a stock is to save his or her life," he said. Cramer grew up differently. His dad taught him about stocks, giving Cramer the business section of the Philadelphia Bulletin each day so he could look at stocks' closing prices. "I liked the stock-picking process so much I got the whole fifth grade class at Penn Manor involved. We would all pick stocks and keep track of the closing prices for a week to see who could make the most money," the "Mad Money" host said. But there are ways to learn about stocks even for kids who play with toys, Cramer said. While they may not know what it means to own shares of companies, they know they love their Hasbro Star Wars Lightsabers or their Mattel Barbie dolls. "I bet you they'd pick Hasbro over Mattel," Cramer added. Kids also know Disney theme parks, McDonald's Happy Meals, and General Mills' Cheerios. The rougher tykes may even be familiar with Johnson & Johnson's Band-Aids. "If you want to get your kids into investing, buy a brand name," Cramer said. "Something they can see and hear and tough and even like. Yeah, just own it. The stock won't always work. But think of what you liked when you were little, and remember that you may have a long term winner on your hands."

Buying for babies

Simon Ritzmann | Getty Images

Investing for children can be tricky, but Cramer says that if you do it right, it can leave your loved ones much better off by the time they grow up than if you avoid it altogether. "Parents, grandparents, listen up. You can give all sorts of things to families that had just had babies. I want you to open up accounts for them. Or at least give them some shares of stock so that from the earliest moment you can start the process of saving that you have to do," Cramer said. His first suggestion was taking several hundred dollars and buying shares in an index fund like the S&P 500, then pairing that with some kind of total return fund, which provides a wider array of stocks. And for investors who are more interested in buying individual stocks for newborns, Cramer suggests picking two  a stock with a dividend that could be increased each year and then reinvested, and a stock with some more growth.

Teen habits: Not so destructive?

Ricardo DeAratanha | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Over the years, Cramer found that when it comes to investing, some of the best advisors have been none other than his two teenage daughters. "We all know that teenagers are incorrigible. The last thing they want to hear about is stocks. They have bigger fish to fry. To which I say, so what? I'm not going to tell them what to buy. I'm going to let them tell me," he said. Cramer started with the stock of Domino's. The "Mad Money" host thought it was a good speculative stock after CEO Patrick Doyle took up reforming the quality of the ingredients. "But that's not what made this stock a 'Mad Money' crown jewel. Nope, it was the technology behind DPZ," Cramer said, adding that until his kids discovered the Domino's ordering app, they preferred local pizza restaurants to the national chain. Cramer's daughters, like so many other millennials, hate talking on the phone, especially given the risk of the person on the other end getting their orders wrong or giving them an incorrect estimate for when their food would be delivered. "All of this technology was totally lost on me," Cramer said. "I never minded the phone, was always patient about when the pizza would arrive, never cared about the interchange with the delivery person. I kind of liked it. In short, I was not like the target audience. That's why I always call Domino's a tech company that sells pizza."

Investing through college and beyond

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesShares of energy giant Chevron are down over 14 percent from their recent high, but one strategist sees the potential for a bounce.

Matt Maley, equity strategist at Miller Tabak, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" that although Chevron has fallen into correction territory, the stock may be poised for a comeback so long as its underlying commodity, crude oil, holds some of its recent gains. Here are his reasons why.

 Chevron, down over 14 percent from its January highs, has diverged over the last two months from crude oil, to which it is typically closely tied. Crude is only barely negative in the same time.

 In the near term, should crude oil hold onto its recent bounce near the $60 per barrel level, Chevron should be poised to see a similar rebound.

 Chevron may be one name for investors to consider as uncertainties like tech regulation, the Federal Reserve's tightening path and widening credit spreads mount in the marketplace.

 The energy giant is a relatively high dividend-yielding stock, with a yield of nearly 4 percent, which may benefit investors as they wait for market uncertainties to dissipate.

Bottom line: Chevron shares, though they've fallen into correction territory, may be setting up for a buying opportunity so long as crude oil holds onto some of its recent gains.Thousands of Google employees, including dozens of senior engineers, have signed a letter protesting the company's involvement in a Pentagon program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video imagery and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes.

The letter, which is circulating inside Google and has garnered more than 3,100 signatures, reflects a culture clash between Silicon Valley and the federal government that is likely to intensify as cutting-edge artificial intelligence is increasingly employed for military purposes.

(Read the text of the letter.)

"We believe that Google should not be in the business of war," says the letter, addressed to Sundar Pichai, the company's chief executive. It asks that Google pull out of Project Maven, a Pentagon pilot program, and announce a policy that it will not "ever build warfare technology."

That kind of idealistic stance, while certainly not shared by all Google employees, comes naturally to a company whose motto is "Don't be evil," a phrase invoked in the protest letter. But it is distinctly foreign to Washington's massive defense industry and certainly to the Pentagon, where the Defense secretary, Jim Mattis, has often said a central goal is to increase the "lethality" of the United States military.

From its early days, Google has encouraged employees to speak out on issues involving the company. It provides internal message boards and social networks where workers challenge management and one another about the company's products and policies. Recently, the heated debate around Google's efforts to create a more diverse workforce spilled out into the open.

Google employees have circulated protest petitions on a range of issues, including Google Plus, the company's lagging competitor to Facebook, and Google's sponsorship of the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Read more from The New York Times:

Pentagon wants Silicon Valley's help on A.I.

Building a connected city from the ground up

Grindr sets off privacy firestorm after sharing users' H.I.V.-status data

Employees raised questions about Google's involvement in Project Maven at a recent companywide meeting. At the time, Diane Greene, who leads Google's cloud infrastructure business, defended the deal and sought to reassure concerned employees. A company spokesman said most of the signatures on the protest letter had been collected before the company had an opportunity to explain the situation.

The company subsequently described its work on Project Maven as "non-offensive" in nature, though the Pentagon's video analysis is routinely used in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, and Defense Department publications make clear that the project supports those operations. Both Google and the Pentagon said the company's products would not create an autonomous weapons system that could fire without a human operator, a much-debated possibility using artificial intelligence.

But improved analysis of drone video could be used to pick out human targets for strikes, while also better identifying civilians to reduce the accidental killing of innocent people.

Without referring directly to the letter to Pichai, Google said in a statement on Tuesday that "any military use of machine learning naturally raises valid concerns." It added, "We're actively engaged across the company in a comprehensive discussion of this important topic." The company called such exchanges "hugely important and beneficial," though several Google employees familiar with the letter would speak of it only on the condition of anonymity, saying they were concerned about retaliation.

The statement said the company's part of Project Maven was "specifically scoped to be for non-offensive purposes," though officials declined to make available the relevant contract language. The Defense Department said that because Google is a subcontractor on Project Maven to the prime contractor, ECS Federal, it could not provide either the amount or the language of Google's contract. ECS Federal did not respond to inquiries.

Google said the Pentagon was using "open-source object recognition software available to any Google Cloud customer" and based on unclassified data. "The technology is used to flag images for human review and is intended to save lives and save people from having to do highly tedious work," the company said.

Some of Google's top executives have significant Pentagon connections. Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman of Google and still a member of the executive board of Alphabet, Google's parent company, serves on a Pentagon advisory body, the Defense Innovation Board, as does a Google vice president, Milo Medin.

In an interview in November, Schmidt acknowledged "a general concern in the tech community of somehow the military-industrial complex using their stuff to kill people incorrectly, if you will." He said he served on the board in part "to at least allow for communications to occur" and suggested that the military would "use this technology to help keep the country safe."

An uneasiness about military contracts among a small fraction of Google's more than 70,000 employees may not pose a major obstacle to the company's growth. But in the rarefied area of artificial intelligence research, Google is engaged in intense competition with other tech companies for the most talented people, so recruiters could be hampered if some candidates are put off by Google's defense connections.

As Google defends its contracts from internal dissent, its competitors have not been shy about publicizing their own work on defense projects. Amazon touts its image recognition work with the Department of Defense, and Microsoft has promoted the fact that its cloud technology won a contract to handle classified information for every branch of the military and defense agencies.

The current dispute, first reported by Gizmodo, is focused on Project Maven, which began last year as a pilot program to find ways to speed up the military application of the latest A.I. technology. It is expected to cost less than $70 million in its first year, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman. But the signers of the letter at Google clearly hope to discourage the company from entering into far larger Pentagon contracts as the defense applications of artificial intelligence grow.

Google is widely expected to compete with other tech giants, including Amazon and Microsoft, for a multiyear, multibillion-dollar contract to provide cloud services to the Defense Department. John Gibson, the department's chief management officer, said last month that the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud procurement program was in part designed to "increase lethality and readiness," underscoring the difficulty of separating software, cloud and related services from the actual business of war.

The employees' protest letter to Pichai, which has been circulated on an internal communications system for several weeks, argues that embracing military work could backfire by alienating customers and potential recruits.

"This plan will irreparably damage Google's brand and its ability to compete for talent," the letter says. "Amid growing fears of biased and weaponized AI, Google is already struggling to keep the public's trust." It suggests that Google risks being viewed as joining the ranks of big defense contractors like Raytheon, General Dynamics and the big-data firm Palantir.

"The argument that other firms, like Microsoft and Amazon, are also participating doesn't make this any less risky for Google," the letter says. "Google's unique history, its motto Don't Be Evil, and its direct reach into the lives of billions of users set it apart."

Like other onetime upstarts turned powerful Silicon Valley behemoths, Google is being forced to confront the idealism that guided the company in its early years. Facebook started with the lofty mission of connecting people all over the world, but it has recently come under fire for becoming a conduit for fake news and being used by Russia to influence the 2016 election and sow dissent among American voters.

Paul Scharre, a former Pentagon official and author of "Army of None," a forthcoming book on the use of artificial intelligence to build autonomous weapons, said the clash inside Google was inevitable, given the company's history and the booming demand for A.I. in the military.

"There's a strong libertarian ethos among tech folks and a wariness about the government's use of technology," said Scharre, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. "Now A.I. is suddenly and quite quickly moving out of the research lab and into real life."IBM has been breaking new ground in the technology sector for more than a century.



In the last 20 years or so, it has developed technology that would not look out of place in a science fiction novel.



In 1997, for instance, its supercomputer Deep Blue took on and defeated chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. In 2011 another supercomputer, Watson, beat two "Jeopardy!" champions, correctly answering questions on topics as varied as literature, music, and sport.



The company has not stood still in the years since that historic, and slightly surreal, game show win. "After that we broke the Watson capability into lots of little pieces called services, and we put them in the IBM cloud so that people can now access the part of it that they want," Andy Stanford-Clark, the chief technology officer for IBM in the U.K. and Ireland, told CNBC.



Stanford-Clark describes Watson  named after Thomas J. Watson, the company's former chairman and CEO  as being a platform that allows users to have access to image recognition, voice recognition, language translation, pattern matching and "all the different types of analytics you might want to use."



The applications of Watson are varied, and Stanford-Clark says that IBM is working with "quite a lot" of businesses that make machinery. One such company is German-based Schaeffler which, among other things, helps make big industrial assemblies such as train carriages.



The business is developing what Stanford-Clark describes as a digital twin. "It's a digital model, inside Watson, of the physical system," he said. "They feed the digital model with data from  sensors on the real system and then they can then prod about on the digital model and ask 'what if?' questions."



Stanford-Clark adds that these questions could include asking: "What if we run it for twice as many miles before we service it? What if we change the tension on this bearing?" These "what ifs" could be run first on the digital model rather than risking anything on a physical system.



The ability to spot a problem before it happens is becoming a useful tool. "That's one of the areas where (the) internet of things has really helped in the industrial space, is to be able to predict what's going to happen, what's going to fail based on past history," Stanford-Clark said.



IBM is also doing work related to what Stanford-Clark describes as acoustic monitoring. "You actually dangle a microphone down a lift shaft and  listen to those creaks and groans and grumbles which, when we get in the lift we go, 'there's something wrong with this lift'."



Watson, according to Stanford-Clark, would be able to say if there was something wrong with the lift and call an engineer out before anything broke.



Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.John Bolton Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

John Bolton, who is days away from becoming President Donald Trump's national security advisor, has been meeting with White House attorneys about possible conflicts of interest, CNBC has learned. The exact sticking points for Bolton are unclear, but ethics experts say the appearance of a possible future role for Bolton with an entity such as a political action committee could be a cause for concern for White House officials. Bolton's PAC and super PAC, which are no longer receiving or spending capital, have been financial players in the early going of the midterm election cycle. White House lawyers and Bolton continue to discuss and review any potential conflicts of interests for the former U.N. ambassador, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told CNBC on the condition of anonymity. A spokesman for Bolton, however, said that there haven't been any issues.

"The ambassador's transition to national security advisor is going very smoothly and the ambassador will start on Monday," the spokesman, Garrett Marquis, told CNBC. Bolton will succeed H.R. McMaster in the role. So far, Bolton has done everything that he's been advised to do, according to people familiar with the matter. When the White House suggested his PACs cease all political activity, including his super PAC, Bolton agreed. There were also questions about his role as chairman of his nonprofit group, the Foundation for American Security and Freedom. Bolton internally announced in March that he will be stepping down from his foundation with the plan to take his name off the website on April 8, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Another representative for Bolton confirmed that he is continuing to meet with White House lawyers, but declined to comment further about the details of those conversations. "The ambassador's conversations with White House attorneys are off-the-record conversations," the spokeswoman said. Bolton and the White House did not return repeated requests for comment.

Bolton's PACs aren't officially shutting down

Ethics attorneys outside the administration are skeptical about Bolton's two PACs, the John Bolton PAC and Super PAC, not officially shutting down. A PAC is a committee that collects contributions to spend for or against certain campaigns. A super PAC, meanwhile, cannot spend on a particular candidate, but it is allowed to spend and raise unlimited amounts of money on independent entities that could sway elections, such as partisan television and digital advertisements.

The Hatch Act doesn't require the PACs to dissolve. The law, which was first enacted in 1939 and is monitored by the government watchdog known as the Office of Special Counsel, or OSC, says federal employees "may not campaign for or against candidates or otherwise engage in political activity," but does not explicitly demand that political operations be entirely eliminated if they were previously run by White House personnel. A representative for the OSC told CNBC that as long as Bolton's PAC wasn't raising or spending any money while he worked in the White House, it could still keep his name and would not be violating the Hatch Act. "A federal employee whose name is also the name of a political action committee would be in violation of the solicitation provisions of the Hatch Act, if the PAC is soliciting or accepting donations," the representative said.

Paul Seamus Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at the nonprofit money in politics watchdog group Common Cause, said there could still be a conflict of interest because Bolton looks to be holding onto some authority within his two political fundraising assemblages. "He should shut it down because the general gist of the Hatch Act is that they shouldn't be maintaining a super PAC," Ryan said. "That's what we're talking about here. It goes against our ethics laws for someone to be maintaining a super PAC at any level when they are high-level officials within the White House." The Trump White House is no stranger to Hatch Act violations. In March, the OSC said senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway committed two violations during last year's Alabama special Senate election. The report claimed Conway "impermissibly mixed official government business with political views about candidates" during two media interviews in the run-up to the election, but left it up to the president to move ahead with disciplinary action against her. The White House has yet to bring down any form of punishment against Conway, one of the president's key advisors.

What could happen to the money

Another issue that could pose a problem for Bolton is what happens to the millions of dollars being held by the PACs. People familiar with the groups' work said that they plan to hold onto the funds in the immediate future and do not intend to wind down their finances, at least for now. Republican finance experts said that PACs sometimes hold onto their financial reserves as their leaders take jobs in the White House or any federal position as part of a larger deal with their new employer. Charles Spies, leader of the political practice at law firm Clark Hill and chief financial officer of Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign, said there may have been an agreement between the Trump administration and Bolton to transfer fundraising power to a new leader while they maintain their financial apparatus. "There would usually be an ethics agreement whereby the public official relinquishes all control over the political entity (in this case, the PAC), but it can either give the money away, or in theory could keep it with someone else having control over the accounts," Spies said.

Big money donors

The John Bolton Super PAC has been a big player during the early stages of the 2018 midterm elections. The group has raised $3.8 million in the most recent election cycle, including receiving the financial backing of this year's top Republican donor, Richard Uihlein, founder of the shipping supplies company Uline. Robert Mercer, former chairman of hedge fund giant Renaissance Technologies and a key Trump supporter, also contributed, according to Federal Election Commission filings. So far, the group has spent $1.2 million with the majority of their funds going toward various advertisements and polls. However, watchdogs such as Common Cause have brought the PAC's past spending efforts to light with a number of legal complaints filed to the FEC. All of the complaints relate to the Bolton groups' work with political data firm Cambridge Analytica, a company under scrutiny for gaining access to 50 million Facebook accounts and allegedly distributing user data to the Trump campaign in 2016. Bolton's super PAC in 2014 spent $340,000 on what it described as research and then more than $800,000 the following year. While it's unclear what was obtained through Cambridge Analytica's research, The New York Times reported in March that Bolton was purchasing services for "behavioral microtargeting with psychographic messaging." The groups' decision not to close could reflect an ongoing legal inquiry. According to the FEC's rules and regulations, a PAC cannot shut down if they are involved with any type of official litigation or enforcement action. The FEC declined to acknowledge whether it is investigating Bolton's super PAC.

WATCH: What you need to know about Trump's new security advisorMorgan Stanley cut its price target on Facebook shares to $200 from $230 on Wednesday, citing concerns about the social media company's ad sales because of its data scandal.

"Following FB's recent data/privacy issues and its announcement that it will end partnerships with third party data providers, we sense growing investor concern about near-term ad revenue," analyst Brian Nowak wrote in a note.

"While we think FB's high advertising performance speaks to the value users get out of the ads served, general consumer dislike towards advertising and increased data scrutiny could cause more users to opt-out of sharing data with FB," he said.

Nowak also said he expects Facebook's capital spending to increase by 2 percent as the company invests more in data safety. He also sees advertising revenue growing at a slower rate in 2018 and 2019. Facebook shares declined 0.7 percent on Wednesday to $155.10. Morgan Stanley's new price target implies a 29 percent upside from Facebook's closing price on Wednesday.

Facebook was one of the best-performing stocks during the past year before the scandal broke last month that political research firm Cambridge Analytica had gathered data from 50 million Facebook profiles without permission.

That resulted in a stock decline of more than 10 percent as investors grew concerned that Facebook's handling of personal data could lead to government regulation and a decrease in daily active users, a key metric for the company.

Still, the Morgan Stanley analyst remains bullish on the stock long term. "We have spoken with 8 agencies/advertisers now and don't sense any material reduction in ad spend," he said. "In fact, over the long-term, we think the elimination of third parties is smart strategically as it will highlight FB's leading reach and first party data advantage."Nike "has failed to gain traction" in hiring and promoting more women and minorities to senior-level positions, according to a memo Nike's HR Chief sent to employees on Wednesday.

The announcement came just a couple weeks after allegations of inappropriate workplace behavior led to changes in the executive ranks at Nike.

"While we've spoken about this many times, and tried different ways to achieve change, we have failed to gain traction  and our hiring and promotion decisions are not changing senior-level representation as quickly as we have wanted," Nike HR Chief Monique Matheson wrote in the memo reviewed by CNBC.

Nike's efforts to increase representation of women and minorities will start at the vice president level in order to spur a trickle-down effect, the memo said. Twenty-nine percent of Nike vice presidents are women, and in the US 16 percent are people of color. Nike only tracks race and ethnicity information in the US.It looks like President Donald Trump is gearing up for a trade war. But in this kind of fight, history seems to indicate there are very few winners.

Economists are warning about hypothetical scenarios where Trump takes it too far, and other countries strike back, inevitably sending the global trade community down a spiraling path of retaliation. Roughly a month after Trump's initial announcement, we're starting to see the first signs.

On Tuesday, Trump released a list of Chinese imports he plans to target with his proposed tariffs. Less than 24 hours later, Beijing announced new tariffs on 106 U.S. products.

No one knows exactly what will unfold once the new tariffs go into effect. But if history is any indicator, we can make a pretty good guess.

There have been a number of trade battles in the last 80 years.

Reagan imposed some pretty significant tariffs on Japan in the 1980s. And in the '90s, countries were agreeing to stricter rules under the World Trade Organization.

More recently, former President George W. Bush imposed steel tariffs in 2002. He was met with threats of retaliation from European trading partners. And soon after, he ended the tariffs.Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will meet with Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson and tour the defense giant's complex in the heart of Silicon Valley this week.

The 32-year-old prince is slated to meet with executives representing various programs in the company's portfolio and participate in facility tours in Sunnyvale, California, a senior Lockheed Martin official said on the condition of anonymity.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the top clients of the Bethesda, Maryland-based defense contractor. Last year, the Saudis expressed intent to procure more than $28 billion worth of Lockheed Martin combat ships, aircraft and missile defense systems over the next 10 years.

"This week, we will continue our dialogue on the procurement opportunities and discuss how Lockheed Martin is helping the Saudi government realize His Majesty's Vision 2030 objective of building its domestic technology capabilities and skilled workforce," the senior Lockheed Martin official said, without confirming the exact date of the prince's visit.

What's more, the upcoming visit will be the third time in the past two weeks that the crown prince has met with Hewson.

During his time at Lockheed Martin's Sunnyvale complex, the young Saudi prince will be given a briefing on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile defense system.

THAAD is one of the key elements in the U.S. military's layered ballistic missile defense. It is one of most advanced missile systems on the planet and can hunt and blast incoming missiles right out of the sky from its truck-based launcher.

The interceptors fired from THAAD's launcher do not carry warheads and instead use pure kinetic energy to deliver "hit to kill" strikes to ballistic threats.Thirty-five-year-old Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek is the tech industry's newest billionaire after the popular music streaming service went public on Tuesday in a massive direct listing, which valued the company at over $26 billion at the close of its first day of trading. Ek's roughly 9 percent stake is worth nearly $2.5 billion. But Ek is no stranger to making large sums of money at an early age. In fact, the Swedish-born founder became a self-made millionaire at only 23 years old, two years before he'd even launched the first Spotify application. The enterprising Swede, who taught himself to write code in his early teens, actually started his first business at the age of 14. Riding the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, Ek had a side business designing and hosting websites for companies, often working out of his high school's computer lab or his family's home in the suburbs of Stockholm, according to Forbes. Ek told Sarah Lacy in a 2013 interview that he started out designing website home pages for friends, but he was soon charging up to $5,000 to local companies, and he eventually made nearly $50,000 in just a month. The Spotify CEO says even his parents didn't know about his lucrative business until they noticed all of the video games and expensive guitars their son was collecting. "I don't think there was many 13yearolds that had a 1957 Fender Stratocaster in original condition and things like that, but I did," he told Lacy. It was also around this time that Ek first began chatting online with future Napster founder and eventual Spotify investor Sean Parker. (Neither actually knew who the other was then  when they finally met in 2009, after Parker sent Ek a gushing email praising Spotify, the tech entrepreneurs realized that they'd spent hours talking under aliases in online chat rooms as teens.)

Sean Parker (left) with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek in 2011. Kevin Mazur | WireImageThe Best Little Floorhouse in Texas Your choice for flooring in Central Texas! Your flooring is more than just the surface you walk on  it's an integral part of your home. With over 35 years of flooring experience, The Best Little Floorhouse in Texas has the resources and knowledhere are more options to successfully run a decentralized or distributed workforce than ever before and reach workers where they want to live.

Jaap Arriens | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Amazon's much publicized search for a second headquarters has earned a great deal of media attention for not only the e-comerce giant but for the cities offering bold concessions and pandering in their desperate attempt to house HQ2. Wherever Amazon chooses to build, the company claims it will contribute $5 billion and create 50,000 jobs to the local economy. Mayors' bids to attract HQ2 were so common that they populated a whole YouTube subgenre last fall, back before the 230 applicant cities had been whittled down to 20 cities in January. All of this has served the company's marketing strategy very well: Everyone is talking about Amazon. Yet the days of creating a massive, centralized campus in a major city are almost over. And that's not only okay, it's wonderful  if we approach it the right way. These days there are more options to successfully run a decentralized or distributed workforce than ever before and reach workers where they want to live. Enterprise companies posted more than 30,000 jobs for freelancers on Upwork's platform last year. They didn't care where the freelancers were. They just wanted people with the skills to get the work done.

Job seekers line up to apply during "Amazon Jobs Day," a job fair being held at 10 fulfillment centers across the United States aimed at filling more than 50,000 jobs, at the Amazon.com Fulfillment Center in Fall River, Massachusetts, August 2, 2017. Brian Snyder | Reuters

'Welcome to the new world of work'

It's highly likely Amazon will choose a city that's already prospering, like D.C. or Toronto or Los Angeles. My bet's on D.C. Who knows. At the end of the day, we do know that Amazon is going to choose one of only 20 predictable North American cities: an area where a large enough pool of skilled workers already lives and where that talent wants to stay. Thanks to technology untethering skilled workers, people today have an increasing amount of say in where they choose to live versus where they need to go to find a job. What do I mean by this? Meet Brad Martin. After studying architecture at the University of Missouri and then moving to St. Louis, Missouri, Martin got into virtual reality and augmented reality design and development. It's a coveted skill set, just not one that's in demand in his own backyard. With few job options in Missouri, Martin's job search ended up generating four job offers  all in big cities on the coasts. Problem was, Martin didn't want to move. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to. A New York-based company made him a deal, allowing him to work remotely, and he took it. At the same time, his flexibility permitted him to do some freelance jobs on the side. Boosted by good reviews from his clients, Martin's work snowballed, giving him enough work to leave his job and freelance full-time, ultimately launching Another Reality Studio, a virtual reality development agency.

We've been talking about [telecommuting] since the first dot-com boom, if not the first rotary phone. But the knowledge economy's growth and the rise of mobile technology has sharply accelerated the trend. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of full-time telecommuters increased 115 percent.

Martin's only one example, but his experience speaks to the bigger picture. He didn't have to move away from the Midwest to earn a living  technology gave him options. Martin chose where he wanted to live and then shaped his work around that choice. Welcome to the new world of work. To be sure, telecommuting is not new. We've been talking about it since the first dot-com boom, if not the first rotary phone. But the knowledge economy's growth and the rise of mobile technology has sharply accelerated the trend. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of full-time telecommuters increased 115 percent, according to Global Workplace Analytics' 2017 study. Another trend in work increasing location-independence is freelancing. The freelance workforce grew three times faster than the overall U.S. labor force between 2014 through 2016, a rate of growth suggesting the majority of American workers will freelance within a decade, according to Freelancing in America 2017. Looking ahead, there is good reason to believe that workers will have more freedom to work where they want to live, instead of living where they have to work. For starters, the people doing the hiring predict it. Five times as many hiring managers expect that more of their team will work remotely over the next decade than the number expecting less, according to the 2018 Future Workforce Report. Of course, the shifting nature of our economy away from an industrial one and toward a cognitive, creative one has greased the wheels of all of this.

Increasingly, workers will have more freedom to work where they want to live, instead of living where they have to work. EyesWideOpen | Getty Images

Flexibility is key

More flexibility is also the preference of workers  particularly highly skilled technical professionals and in-demand younger generation workers, who are accustomed to doing everything more online than in person. For these younger generations, there will be no need for terms like "digital nomads"; location independence will be the norm. In fact, data from Freelancing in America revealed that 81 percent of millennial freelancers agree that they freelance to be able to work where they want, topping the list of reasons millennials freelance. And there's another main reason: America's biggest, mostly coastal cities are bursting at the seams. They're choking on their own "success." The growth of the tech industry has brought new wealth and prosperity to a few of our cities, but those same places have also seen their ways of life disrupted. More traffic isn't the half of it; it's the spike in the cost of living, particularly housing, which has become unaffordable to greater and greater shares of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and New York.

It's why some big city leaders, like San Jose's mayor, hope Amazon doesn't come to their towns. In fact, in March the New York Times reported that in the last three months of 2017, San Francisco lost more residents to other cities than any other in the country. And the Times wrote, "In recent months, a growing number of tech leaders have been flirting with the idea of leaving Silicon Valley," citing, in large part, the cost of living there. More from @Work:

Facebook data scandal makes it more likely Zuckerberg wants to hire you

The suddenly hot job market for workers over 50

AT&T's retraining nearly half its workforce for jobs of the future The hype will fade long before the construction dust settles on HQ2. And for the city that "wins" the project, buyer's remorse will follow. But we aren't predestined to repeat the bursting-at-its-seams cycle of Silicon Valley-led development. Savvy cities and leaders already are realizing that pursuing HQ2 or projects like it is an increasingly misguided approach. As more come to that realization, they will reshape their cities around creating sustainable and livable communities  think more affordable housing, less traffic, fewer big city towers and more working options, like co-working spaces closer to homes. The cities that get it and plan accordingly will ultimately win the real battle  the fight for talent, not headquarters.The U.S.-China trade conflict is now in the "escalation phase," yet there is not a White House team that has practical experience in China, warned John Rutledge, a former advisor to President George W. Bush.

"We don't have a team here of people who have spent any time in China. When I want to know if a guy knows something about China I look in his passport and count the stamps," Rutledge said Wednesday on "Closing Bell."

"We've got too much rhetoric, too much ideology and not enough practical. Trade's very complicated," he added.

Earlier Wednesday, China announced additional tariffs on 106 U.S. products, such as soybeans, cars and whiskey. They are designed to target up to $50 billion of U.S. products annually, although no effective start date has been announced.

The move came less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump unveiled a list of Chinese imports that he aims to target as part of a crackdown on what he deems to be unfair trade practices.

The Trump administration alleges that China has improperly taken U.S. intellectual property.

While there is increased concern over the possibility of a trade war between the two countries, the president said in a tweet Wednesday that the U.S. already lost that war many years ago.

trump tweet 1

He also doubled down on the trade deficit in a later tweet.

trump tweet 2

However, Rutledge, who has advised government leaders in China and was one of the principal architects of the Reagan economic plan, said focusing on the deficit simplifies the issue.

"What we should do is take a more complex view on trade than just talking about this deficit. This deficit just measures stuff on boats," said Rutledge, now chief investment officer at Safanad and a CNBC economics contributor.

He also said that right now for a CEO or investor it doesn't make sense to approve spending projects.

"I have $10 billion of assets in our portfolio, and we can't do capital spending with this kind of uncertainty around," he said.

Ambassador Robert Holleyman, who served as deputy U.S. trade representative from 2014 to 2017, said the latest tariffs on China have little to do with intellectual property. He thinks it is mostly about China's plan to build a technology economy.

"This is not a broad attack on China for the trade deficit, although there is a substantial trade deficit. This is quite precise," he said on "Closing Bell."

"But the U.S. hasn't said what China will and needs to do for us to avoid these tariffs going into place and becoming the new norm. And that I think is the worry for the U.S. long term."



 CNBC's Sam Meredith contributed to this report.US troops along are seen loading into a C-130 Hercules cargo plane at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Khost province, Afghanistan.

After teasing that the U.S. would be withdrawing from the war in Syria, President Donald Trump has reluctantly agreed to keep American troops in the war-torn nation a little while longer, NBC News reported Wednesday, citing a senior administration official.

"He wasn't thrilled about it, to say the least," the official said.

Defense Secretary James Mattis and other top officials made the case to Trump that the fight against ISIS was almost finished but a complete withdrawal of American forces at this time would risk losing gains the U.S. has made in the ISIS fight, the official said, according to NBC.

Meanwhile, Trump has instructed military leaders to get ready for a withdrawal but supplied no further details or timetable for the imminent removal of U.S. forces.

The White House issued a statement on Syria later Wednesday morning:

The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed. The United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated. We will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans. We expect countries in the region and beyond, plus the United Nations, to work toward peace and ensure that ISIS never re-emerges.

Earlier Wednesday, the top U.S. intelligence chief said that the White House would release its decision on the future of American troops in Syria "relatively soon."

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said the decision on what to do in Syria came Tuesday during a meeting of the National Security Council.Border patrol agents apprehend immigrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. in the Rio Grande Valley sector, near McAllen, Texas, April 2, 2018.

President Donald Trump's plan to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S. border with Mexico is in motion, with deployments coming as soon as Wednesday night, but otherwise, the administration has few details about the action.

A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reiterated much of what the administration had already announced about the plan but did not disclose how much it would cost or how long the mission would last.

When asked if there was a plan in place, a senior administration official said the discussion was by no means new.

"There have been ongoing conversations between DHS, DoD and the border states in regard to the mission that we will be supporting," the official said. "We are not going to DoD and saying we need X number of people; we are going to DoD and saying we need to fulfill this mission requirement, and DoD is working to identify and task that out."Rather than force the countries most directly threatened by ISIS to defend their own territory while using our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets to guard against any threat to U.S. personnel or interests, Washington expended precious resources that could have otherwise been spent on improved readiness, modernization, or other higher-valued purposes.



Billions of dollars and the lives of numerous American service members could have been saved had we never deployed there without risking the safety of Americans.

The question today, however, is what about U.S. policy going forward? Should the U.S. embark on an endless nation-building campaign in Syriato prevent various factions in the Middle East from fighting each otheror should we instead focus on eliminating direct threats to America?



My experience, and the outcomes of our post-9/11 foreign policy, overwhelmingly confirms the president's instincts.



First, we must disabuse ourselves of the notion that a handful of U.S. troops in the vast domain of the fragmented Syriastill racked by a multi-sided civil war with regional and major powers backing various groupshas even the theoretical possibility of preventing any faction, from doing anything, over any time frame.

I observed firsthand in 2011 how 140,000 US and NATO troops, backed up by 300,000 Afghan security forces, proved incapable of denying the Taliban access to vast tracts of the country.



Aside from the fact it is militarily impossible to accomplish the laundry-list of goals in Syria"countering" Iran (which can't even be defined), opposing Assad (which isn't necessary for U.S. security), and stopping Turkey from attacking Syrian Kurds (risking confrontation with our NATO ally).

It is not in America's interests to stay in Syria for objectives so disconnected from our security and prosperity. Contrary to conventional wisdom in Washington, the strategic benefit doesn't come anywhere close to justifying the cost.



Syria remains embroiled in a civil war with scores of groups and militias trying to attain various and competing objectives. The remaining fight there belongs to them, not the United States.

Many fear that a U.S. withdrawal from Syria would hand a victory to Russia. That concern is also misplaced. Russia has an enduring interest in Syria in holding on to their sole Middle East warm water port at Tartus.

So long as Assad stays in power, they will continue to hold it, quite irrespective of whether the U.S. remains or withdraws. What Russia "wins" by the departure of U.S. troops, however, is becoming the primary owner of the Syrian disaster and all the strategic costs that come with it. American power throughout the Middle East remains robust and undiminished, and will continue to dwarf that of Russia even after the small contingent of U.S. troops has returned home.

American security is neither enhanced nor placed at increased risk regardless of how the Syrian war is eventually resolved. Our government's obligation to defend U.S. interests and citizens remains the same either way, and we will continue to successfully protect our vital national interests.

Leaving a residual military force indefinitely on the ground in Syria will not accomplish even partial success, and that's okay, as long as we get out and stop risking precious blood and treasure. President Trump is right to order the withdrawal of American troops from Syria.



Commentary by Daniel L. Davis, a senior fellow for Defense Priorities and a former Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army who retired in 2015 after 21 years, including four combat deployments. Follow him on Twitter @DanielLDavis1.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. would be "taking strong action today" on border security.

"The Democrats stand in our way  they want people to pour into our country unchecked....CRIME! We will be taking strong action today," Trump tweeted minutes before 7:30 a.m. ET.

It wasn't immediately clear what sort of action the president was referring to. CNBC reached out to a White House representative for clarification and did not get an immediate response.

Later Wednesday, however, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that her department, along with the Pentagon and border states' governors, would work together to deploy National Guard forces at the border.

TRUMP TWEET

Trump has ramped up his rhetoric in recent weeks as he pushes for more stringent border security and immigration laws. On Tuesday, Trump said he wanted to send U.S. military forces to the southern border with Mexico while he awaits construction on a border wall  which was a key pledge in campaign for president.

Trump has discussed the possibility of the Defense Department using funds to pay for the wall, although lawmakers have pushed back against that suggestion. The Pentagon, meanwhile, has said that it is already backing up the Department of Homeland Security on protecting the border, although Defense's role could expand.

"There are a number of ways the Department of Defense is already supporting the DHS border security mission," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said late Tuesday. "We are still in consultation with the White House about ways we can expand that support."

Nielsen, the Homeland Security secretary, said Wednesday that the White House has put together legislation to address border security.

"The administration has drafted legislation and we will be asking Congress again for the legal authority and resources to address this crisis," she said. "Based on conversations with congressional leadership, I am optimistic."

The president was irritated by a massive omnibus spending bill he signed late last month to keep the government funded. He had been pushing for about $25 billion to fund the wall, but the bill included $1.6 billion for border security  including restrictions on how the funds could be used.

Trump has characterized the amount as a down payment on the barrier. During the campaign he had repeatedly said Mexico would pay for the wall.

CNBC's Amanda Macias and Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.President Donald J. Trump speaks during a meeting with members of his Cabinet, in the Cabinet Room of the White House March 8, 2018 in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump is "not involved" in the process of choosing whether Amazon receives a multibillion-dollar Defense Department cloud computing contract, the White House said Wednesday.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters the president has not taken a role in choosing whether the internet retail titan will get the massive contract. Amazon is competing with rivals such as Oracle and Microsoft for the deal, and other companies argue the bidding process favors Amazon.

Trump has attacked Amazon in Twitter tirades, prompting questions about what he would do to hamstring the company. In recent days, the president has repeatedly made the unsubstantiated claim that Amazon costs the U.S. Postal Service "billions of dollars" to act as its "Delivery Boy."A woman injured at least three people and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a shooting at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California on Monday. Last December, a shooting at a California law office left two dead. That same month, a gunman killed two, plus himself, in a Houston workplace shooting. While office shootings are rare, they are increasing. According to a 2018 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workplace shootings went up by 83 cases to 394 total from 2015 to 2016 and they comprised 79 percent of all workplace homicides in 2016. In light of this, criminal response experts are urging employers and employees alike to prepare for the worst. "It's helpful to recap sort of the three best practices in an incident like this," says Chad Sweet, a former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff. "The three things that we emphasize over and over is either get out, hide out or, if necessary, take the shooter out." The DHS defines an active shooter as an individual who is "actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area." According to the agency, these shooting situations quickly evolve and are highly unpredictable, so it's vital that you determine the best and most reasonable way to protect your life. Most businesses have a security team that runs active shooting drills and alerts employees about unsafe situations. Although there is no set number on how often these drills should take place, they should occur as often as fire drills, says Diego Redondo, former FBI special agent and director of public safety and risk management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. You may want to ask your HR leader if the company has a plan in place. When you receive an alert about an active shooter on company premises, Redondo tells CNBC Make It that your first thought should be, "I need to get out of here." Here are three steps you should take if there's an active shooter in your workplace:

1. Evacuate

Your best bet is to leave the premises, say both Sweet and Redondo, which is why it's crucial that you have an escape route and a plan in place before this type of incident occurs. "You want to get away from wherever the shooter is," says Redondo. "Familiarize yourself with the closest exits so you can get away as soon as possible." This requires prior planning and preparation by looking at your company's floor plan and finding all of the closest emergency exits. "Put in your head, 'what would I do if I had to escape right now?'" says Redondo. According to the DHS active shooter response guide, you should help those around you, if possible. But evacuate regardless of whether your co-workers agree to follow you. "As sad as it may sound, you just need to get out of there," says Redondo.

2. Hide

If you can't find an exit or "avenue of egress," you need to hide out and secure yourself in a safer space like an office, says Sweet. However, Redondo notes that hiding is simply avoiding being seen. This means that hiding out won't necessarily protect you from a stray bullet. For example, if you're hiding behind a row of cubicles and there's a partition, a bullet can come through that opening and hit you. When hiding, Redondo advises that you look for a place that will also offer you coverage, such as a metal door, which is just as important as concealment. Again, he says that choosing the perfect hiding spot requires prior planning. "Look at your particular office and determine how to barricade yourself or at least make it challenging for [the shooter]." If you have an office with a door that swings inward, you can buy cheap $2 doorstops to stop someone from entering. If you have a door that swings outward, Redondo says that you will have to come up with other means of barricading yourself or find an office where you can lock the door from the inside. Once you've found a place to hide, get behind large furniture such as a cabinet or desk. Additionally, make sure to have your phone completely silenced or turned off. Redondo explains that much in the same way a ringing phone alerts your attention, any sound will also grab the attention of the shooter. In most cases, shooters are looking to kill as many people as possible, unless they have a specific target, so they work quickly and move on. The last thing you want is an incoming text revealing your location, he says.

3. FightA persistent complaint about the government's response to the financial crisis has been that the executives who helped push the economy to the brink were not charged with crimes.

Prosecutors have not been able to prosecute managers with the usual tools for pursuing white-collar cases, like wire fraud or false statements, because defenses of ignorance or good faith could not be overcome.

One way to remedy that problem would be to lower the level of intent needed to establish a violation. Doing so might make it easier to hold an executive who is not part of day-to-day decisions responsible for wrongdoing.



More from The New York Times:

What the Wells Fargo Crackdown Signals to Corporate America

Defendants Like Shkreli Find Saying Sorry Is No Longer Enough

Should Congress Create a Crypto-Cop?

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, is the latest official to try to change the calculus for holding executives accountable for misconduct at financial institutions. She introduced the "Ending Too Big To Jail Act" last month. The name comes from the notion, bolstered in 2013 by the then-attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., that some banks were so large that it was "difficult for us to prosecute them."

The legislation requires officers of any bank with more than $10 billion in assets to certify each year that they have not uncovered any criminal conduct or civil fraud to the Justice Department.

Even if it did pass  which seems unlikely in the current anti-regulation environment  the proposed certification requirement is unlikely to result in a wave of prosecutions. The criminal law is a blunt instrument for pursuing corporate misconduct, and executives are experts at keeping problems at arms-length, or at least maintaining the kind of plausible deniability that makes it difficult to prosecute them.

Prosecuting a bank is easier than proving an individual committed a crime. The intent of all employees is attributed to the organization, which is vicariously liable for what individuals do on its behalf. But prosecuting executives means showing they had knowledge of a violation. That can be difficult.

Ms. Warren's bill tries to remedy that by forcing management to make the necessary inquiries to determine that the organization is not violating the law.

The bill would add a new offense for an executive who "willfully" files a false certification, including violations that are "part of a pattern of any illegal activity involving more than $100,000" in a year. The maximum penalty would be up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

The challenge for prosecuting such violations would be showing the requisite intent. The Supreme Court noted in Bryan v. United States that "willfully" is "a word of many meanings whose construction is often dependent on the context in which it appears." That means a court could interpret the provision as requiring proof a defendant purposely sought to mislead the government in filing a false certification. Such an interpretation would be a substantial hurdle to proving a violation.

Another possibility is having to show merely that executives knew they were engaged in wrongful activity. That is much easier to prove and something that prosecutors would no doubt prefer.

Congress adopted a similar certification requirement in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 in response to the accounting frauds at Enron and WorldCom. Under the law, the chief executives and chief financial officers of publicly traded companies must certify that any report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission "fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operation" of the company, with a knowing or willful violation subject to criminal prosecution.

The first high-profile prosecution under the statute involved Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth. But the case resulted in an acquittal, a black eye for the Justice Department.

The Sarbanes-Oxley certification statute has been used in only a few cases since. In each instance, prosecutors had evidence that the executive had direct knowledge of the fraudulent activity.

Absent proof of an executive's involvement, or at least knowledge, of the fraud, a willful violation of the certification requirement in Ms. Warren's legislation would be difficult to prove. We can expect executives to put in new procedures to show that they tried to comply with the law, which can provide a basis for claiming there was not an intentional violation of the certification requirement.

For those reasons, I doubt the Too Big to Jail Act would result in increased criminal liability for executives. There is no simple cure to the challenge of holding senior managers responsible for what takes place within their organizations.High-profile technology executives have called for increased gun control in the wake of the shooting at YouTube's headquarters that left at least three people injured and the suspect shooter dead.



The attack at the Google-owned video service's headquarters in San Bruno, California Tuesday was allegedly carried out by Nasim Najafi Aghdam, who killed herself after the shooting, according to law enforcement officials.

Technology CEOs including Apple's Tim Cook and Microsoft's Satya Nadella sent out messages of support, but some went further and called for stricter gun control.

Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey tweeted a link to the March For Our Lives page, a movement that is supporting stricter gun control, in response to a tweet from President Donald Trump.

TWEET

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi also tweeted following the incident, sending his support to YouTube and Google using the hashtag #EndGunViolence.

TWEET

Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, also sent a tweet with the hashtag #NeverAgain, which arose after the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February.

TWEET

The YouTube shooting has added fuel to the fire surrounding the debate around gun control in the U.S., one that technology companies have been drawn into. Apple and Amazon were pressured by activists to stop streaming content from the National Rifle Association through the organization's NRAtv channel.

In March, YouTube introduced rules that banned videos promoting the sale of firearms and accessories, as well as tutorials on how to assemble guns.

- CNBC's Jillian D'Onfro contributed to this report.I'm currently on the graphics desk. I've also been an assistant city editor and a reporter on the community and education beats. You can reach me by email at oliviagarrett@mail.missouri.edu or on Twitter @_oliviagarrett.

Follow this search 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Types of obituaries

The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries  family obituaries and life stories.

A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries

A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories.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Simon Clarke is MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland

The City of London has long been the envy of our European partners. For years, they have sought to undermine its global strength, weaken its grip on emerging markets and snatch trade from our shores. As our departure from the EU draws near, Brussels has its eyes set on hobbling London  and promoting Paris and Frankfurt as Europes new finance powerhouses.

Youd be bold to bet against the City. Its an attractive place to do business: a trade surplus of $68 billion in 2016 speaks for itself. Thats more than the combined surpluses of the US and Switzerland. Its packed with world class expertise, capital and products that drive the global economy and attract investors from China, India and Latin America. Its health is also critical to the Government, contributing 11 per cent of tax receipts in 2016-2017. Thats why we should use Brexit as an opportunity to protect one of our greatest treasures  and ensure it remains a world leader long into the future.

Theres a race on. Emerging economies are growing fast, and will account for a significant proportion of global GDP and trade flows in the future. In China alone, it has been estimated the transition to an ecological civilisation will require annual green investments equal to $474  633 billion in the period 2015-2020, with at least 85 per cent of which needs to come from the private sector. This is a sector where the UK and London have a clear competitive advantage. Brazil and China are among countries to have set up green finance teams in the city to tap into our skills.

In 2017, 27 green bonds were listed in London, raising $10.09 billion, nearly double that of 2016. A report just published by the Green Finance Taskforce (GFT), set up by the Government last year, reveals that 13 renewable infrastructure funds valued over $6 billion are listed on London Stock Exchange. Yet as Sir Alex Ferguson demonstrated while manager of Manchester United  leaders must continually innovate and evolve or lose their Midas touch.

The UK is a green leader, but were in danger of being caught by the likes of Paris and Frankfurt, who recognise that the most capital-intensive transition in human history will benefit the owners and organisers of capital. Earlier this year, the EU published a new green finance plan to support the blocs climate and sustainable development agenda. Now Brussels may argue its a leader  but as with the UKs emissions, which are falling faster than any other G7 country, we can do so much better.

The Government has an opportunity to green finance globally in a way that no other government can. London is the most international financial centre on the planet: what happens in the City resonates across the globe and sets standards for others to follow. And thats why Im calling on the government to embrace the findings of the GFT, which is made up of some of the worlds brightest financial talent.

Its proposals are fairly simple. Back the fastest growing sector of the economy, demand transparency and send clear policy signals, which the Government has already started to do with its Clean Growth Strategy. This means promoting green borrowing, launching an ambitious green infrastructure project pipeline and playing to our strengths by requiring companies to disclose their climate risks.

All this will allow investors in the UK to differentiate between companies and assets that are aligned with the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UKs Clean Growth Strategy. It will allow companies that implement sustainability practices gain access to a lower cost of capital, higher productivity and better stock market performance. And it will allow London to retain its leadership at the top of the global financial pile  keeping it out of reach from our neighbours across the channel.

If youre wondering why this matters to you, consider this. According to a 2017 report from the UK Committee on Climate Change, low carbon services generated a turnover of 4 billion in 2015, and grew 8.5 per cent from 2013-2015. Making the UK and City of London the global hub for green finance is p art of protecting those future jobs, and the wider benefits they will deliver. This is how the UK can drive the sustainability transition, in the same way we are already leading the world with our research and development sector.But being best in class globally on green finance needs to start at home. The time is right for the Government to seize the moment and back London.Five years ago, the TaxPayers Alliance reported that in the last year, five times more Labour people were appointed to public bodies than Tories.

Since then, the figures have varied, and some Conservative members or supporters have been selected to fill important posts.

Nonetheless, it remains the case that, since it took office in 2010, our Party has punched beneath its weight when it comes to public appointments. One of the reasons seems to be that Tories simply dont apply in the same number as Labour supporters.

To help remedy this, every week we put up links to some of the main public appointments vacancies, so that qualified Conservatives might be aware of the opportunities presented.

         

UK Atomic Energy Authority  Chair

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is one of the worlds leading research organisations supporting the development of fusion energy. Its primary mission is to lead the commercial development of fusion power and related technology and position the UK as a leader in sustainable nuclear energy. Fusion research is managed at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) UKAEA has 1180 staff and agency supplied workers, including world-leading scientists and engineers, fostering close links with international partners, industry and academic institutions; it also supports the development of the Culham Science Centre and Harwell science, innovation, technology and business campus. It is a Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Time: 25 days per annum.

Remuneration: 25,000 per annum.

Closes: 06 April

         

HS2 Ltd  Chair

The Chair of the HS2 Ltd Board will be responsible for shaping, challenging and directing the strategy for HS2 Ltd in delivering the requirement, and ensure that the Board, the executive and the organisation operate effectively and responsibly. He/she will lead the Board in holding the executive to account for the effective and efficient delivery of the programme, for building the organisation, and for the overall performance of HS2 Ltd, including: ensuring the Company has robust risk management, internal controls and assurance processes; ensuring efficient and effective use of staff and other resources

Time: 3 days per week.

Remuneration: 230-250,000 per annum.

Closes: 06 April

         

NHS Counter-Fraud Authority  Chair

On 1 November 2017 the NHSCFA, a new special health authority, took over responsibility for tackling fraud and corruption in the NHS in England. The NHSCFA replaced NHS Protect and has been created as a standalone body to provide the independence required to counter fraud and protect resources intended for patient care. The DHSCAFU has overall responsibility for the scope, strategy and direction of all counter fraud activity across the health service. It is also the DHSC sponsor for the NHSCFA. Aligned with the DHSC Health Group Counter Fraud strategy, the NHSCFA acts as the principal lead for the NHS and wider health group in counter fraud intelligence work.

Time: 2-3 days per month.

Remuneration: 230-250,000 per annum.

Closes: 11 April

         

Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research  Chair

The Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR) was established in order to: bring alignment on the MRC, NIHR and other government funders of health research in Scotland & Wales; bring about effective cross-working arrangements whilst maintaining some clarity of the funding landscape; eliminate unnecessary duplication; bring about increased capacity and capability for translational research; and drive stronger partnerships with industry & medical research charity funders. Since 2007, the OSCHR Board has demonstrated a powerful capacity to work across government through collaboration, addressing many of the issues required to ensure a comprehensive health research environment and leading to improved health outcomes and economic growth.

Time: Up to 20 days per annum.

Remuneration: 7,000 per annum.

Closes: 20 April

         

National Citizen Service Trust  Chair

Government is committed to the continued development of the NCS programme, with around 1 billion of funding available between 2016/17 and 2019/20. The management of NCS is moving from the existing Community Interest Company to a new Royal Chartered public sector body, with an expected launch date later in 2018. This new organisation will be overseen by a new Board. We are seeking a Chair and non-executive directors to join this new Board. This is an extraordinary opportunity. The successful individual will have the chance to lead NCS through a period of organisational change and beyond, to advocate and communicate with energy and commitment, to achieve great value for money for the taxpayer, and to be responsible for transforming the lives of future generations.

Time: One or two days per week.

Remuneration: 400 per diem, up to 40,000 per annum.

Closes: 25 April

         

Single Financial Guidance Body  Chief Executive

As Chief Executive and Accounting Officer you will be responsible for the overall efficiency and effectiveness of a large, new and significant guidance body responsible for merging the services of three respected organisations. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the exceptional leadership and management skills required throughout the design and development phase of the new organisation, and for the successful and seamless delivery of key services to consumers during the transitional period. As Chief Executive you will be responsible for working closely with the SFGB Board to provide the vision, direction and leadership in the formulation and achievement of SFGBs strategies and objectives.

Time: Full time.

Remuneration: 175,000 per annum.

Closes: 13 MaySome on the Right may admire Putin  but Tory members are not among them, our survey suggests

There was never any doubt that Conservative members would back a UK Prime Minister against a foreign power complicit in murder on British soil. That was not the point of the question.

It was, rather, to dig deeper, and seek to discover if a substantial underbelly of Tory member opinion believes that Russia isnt a threat to our security and interests. The question isnt academic. There has been a vogue on parts of the Right to regard the EU as a bigger menace to Britain than Russia. Nigel Farage, for example, expressed this view early last year (well before the attempted murders in Salisbury, for the record).

We have our answer. There is almost no backing at all for that take, at least at the moment. If you are hunting for a pro-Putin fifth column in the UK, you will have to search elsewhere.Industrial companies are taking Industrie 4.0 concepts from the drawing board to the production floor to bring new value to their operations. Rockwell Automation will demonstrate how it can help companies accelerate this digital transformation and use Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies to be even more competitive at Hannover Messe 2018, April 23-27 in Hannover, Germany.

"Industrial companies are reimagining production and rewriting business goals to achieve a connected enterprise, and thats only made them more eager to do more with digital technologies," said Tom OReilly, vice president, global business development, Rockwell Automation. Rockwell Automation will demonstrate a range of Industrie 4.0 technologies in the Cisco, Microsoft, and ODVA booths.

Rockwell Automation and Cisco are working to help companies connect and secure their operations by bridging cultural and technological gaps in their organizations. Security, in particular, is top of mind for many companies today and will be a major focus in the Cisco booth.

"Cisco and Rockwell Automation have worked together for years to address the complexities of securely converging IT and OT operations in a Connected Enterprise," said Todd Gurela, senior director, Industry Solutions Group, Cisco.

Rockwell Automation continues to collaborate with Microsoft on information solutions that can help industrial companies predict performance, boost productivity and maximize asset availability.

Caglayan Arkan, general manager, manufacturing at Microsoft Corporation said, "The scalable analytics and compute solutions that Rockwell Automation is demonstrating can turn a machines structured and unstructured data into advanced analytics. They can also empower an end user, OEM or automation vendor to remotely monitor a machine and improve its performance over time."

Rockwell Automation will display EtherNet/IP-based control, drive and security solutions in the ODVA booth. The company will also show attendees how they can secure and simplify their networks by using the common industrial protocol (CIP).

A CIP Security demo will show how companies can prevent a "man in the middle" attack from impacting a machine or facility. Attendees will also see how devices running CIP security continue to operate normally, while identical devices that lack CIP security are compromised.

Rockwell Automation

www.rockwellautomation.com

 Edited from a Rockwell Automation press release by CFE Media. See more Control Engineering IIoT and Industrie 4.0 stories here.CORNWALL, Ontario  The Cornwall Community Police Service (CCPS) have charged one individual with violating the Highway Traffic Act and Cornwalls taxi by-law for operating a ride sharing service.

The Police Board heard an update on the ride sharing issue at their meeting on Wednesday, April 4.

The individual, who was not identified at the meeting, was charged roughly two weeks ago, and Police Chief Dan Parkinson said that charges could be expected for two more drivers.

Parkinson said that violators could be fined $375 per-offense.

He explained that the ride sharing service in question is known as R&B Delivery Soul-utions and they were first brought to the attention of the CCPS by Cornwalls existing taxi services. The Chief said that members of the CCPS then rode with the ride sharing service, which resulted in the charge against one individual.

In fairness, it is a situation where there is a high level or sensitivity on the part of the taxi operators, said Parkinson.

The CCPS had released a public notice last month in regards to Cornwalls Taxi By-Law, By-Law#01, 2008, prohibits anyone from transporting individuals within the city limits and charging a fee for it unless otherwise authorized to do so.

The Cornwall Community Police Service would like to remind members of the public that Choice Taxi and Tip Top Taxi are the only two licensed transportation service companies in Cornwall, said CCPS in their public statement. Any other unlicensed transportation service(s) that have not undergone these regulations may pose a risk to the safety of passengers.

The statement went on to say that the fine could be much steeper than $375.

In addition, unlicensed transportation services are subject to a penalty not exceeding $2000.00 as indicated in the By-Law and may also be found to commit an offence under Section 39.1(1)(b) of the Highway Traffic Act (HTA), the statement read. This offence can result in a fine of up to $20,000 and these offences will be enforced by police.UNITED COUNTIES of SD&G, Ontario  The Hydro One power outage map is showing that over 5,000 residents in parts of South Stormont and South Glengarry are currently without power.

The map currently shows that Ingleside, Lunenburg, Newington, St. Andrews, Long Sault, Apple Hill and Martintown are among the communities without power.

Hydro One currently is estimating that power will be restored to these areas by 5:30 p.m. this afternoon.

Hydro One states that the cause of the outages is still being determined, but there have been high winds up-to 90 km/h throughout the day.

Environment Canada continues to have a Severe Wind Warning in effect for Cornwall and SD&G.

Tagwi Secondary School issued a statement that they too were without power, but thanks to back-up generators that classes were continuing.It has been more than three decades since Erland Raastad, former president of Kloster Cruise and Royal Viking Line, started planning a new small-ship cruise line with support from Norwegian investor Atle Brynestad.

What followed was Signet Cruise Lines in 1988, which was quickly rebranded as Seabourn, which today is among the leading luxury cruise brands and is about to take delivery of a new 604-guest ship.

Seabourn's impressive 30 year history is now available for download from Cruise Industry News as a PDF infographic.

The infographic was designed and developed by Cruise Industry News, and first published in the 2018 Cruise Industry News Spring Quarterly Magazine.

Click here to download.The Nature Island was poised to show off its pristine natural wonders in an unprecedented way this season. Dominica was set to host more than 250 cruise calls, 44 percent than last year.

Then, on Sept. 18, 2017, Hurricane Maria, the worst natural disaster in Dominicas recorded history, slammed into the Lesser Antilles. The storm killed at least 31 people in Dominica, flooded Roseau, and damaged an estimated 98 percent of the buildings. Some cruise lines canceled calls through the end of the year while other lines decided not to return until next season.

But the islands resiliency prevailed. Dominica quickly went into repair mode and the Mein Schiff 3 became the first ship back in town in late January. Just prior to that, an inspection team from Carnival Cruise Line spent three days on the island.

We are hopeful that the number of calls will increase, said Benoit Bardouille, CEO, Dominica Air and Sea Ports Authority and chairman of the Discover Dominica Authority, adding he had been to Miami to meet with the lines recently to provide updates on the islands readiness to host ships.

The 2019 forecast looks promising, he said, but wasnt able to divulge any details.

Sometime next year the island plans to unveil plans to construct a new cruise pier.

---

Learn more about the Caribbean as the region is seeing a record year of cruise traffic. Download the free Caribbean Cruise Trends Report today.Victory Cruise Lines has announced a series of 13- and 14-night circumnavigations of Cuba on Victory I between January and April 2019 with a special spring weekend three-day cruise to close the winter cruise season.

Victory Cruise Lines key advantages are that we circumnavigate Cuba and we visit every one of the countrys main harbors, said Bruce Nierenberg, chairman of Victory Cruise Lines. Our exclusive offer is to show our guests the real Cuba over two days and one night in each port at a relaxed and immersive pace.

All Cuba circumnavigation sailings are roundtrip from Miami, the company said, including five 13- or 14-night cruises departing Jan. 29, 2019; Feb 15; and March 1, 15 and 29. A special three-night all-inclusive weekend round-trip cruise from Miami to Havana departs April 15.HARTFORD  As President Donald Trump hardens his stance against immigration, Connecticut welcomed 15 immigrants to take their oath of allegiance and become U.S. citizens in its very Capitol.

We all came here to build a better life, said Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman at the Wednesday afternoon ceremony. Weve built a beautiful but imperfect country, but its still the best country in the world today  one that has grown stronger with the arrival of new people, cultures and languages.

A belief in the value of immigration should unite the melting pot nation, not divide it, said Chris George, executive director of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services.

With mixed messages and a lack of compassion out of Washington, we are losing hope that a fair and comprehensive immigration reform law will ever be passed any time soon, he said.

In the states annual Immigrant Day ceremony, immigrants from Brazil, Canada, Equador, Guatemala, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Russia and Syria were naturalized. In addition, eight immigrants from across the state were recognized for their contributions to their state.

Among those honored was Indian immigrant Vani Nidadavolu of Trumbull who has been a leading teacher and choreographer of Bharatanatyam, Indian classical dance for two decades and opened a school of dance in Trumbull in 2005.

Monroes Irena Dzierzbinski, who came to America as a child in the 1950s, was also recognized. She has been active teaching Polish culture to children in the girl scouts of the Polish Scouting Organization and was a language teacher in Darien Public Schools for 34 years.

The joy of the Immigrant Day celebration was juxtaposed with Trumps disappointing anti-immigrant rhetoric, Dzierzbinski said.

To me, its such a shame, she said.

Trump moved Wednesday to send National Guard troops to the Southern U.S. border to help Border Patrol block immigrants crossing into the country illegally.

On Sunday and Monday, he unleashed a series of tweets spearing a dangerous caravan of migrants intending to cross the border, calling U.S. immigration laws an Obama joke and declaring dead the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows some undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children to apply for deportation reprieves.BRIDGEPORT  Mayor Joe Ganim took credit for a lot during Tuesdays state of the city address, so why not claim responsibility for bringing spring to town, too.

Ganim told the business crowd gathered at the Holiday Inn downtown that his administration has planted 20,000 flower bulbs. He reminded them he similarly improved the citys appearance for outsiders while first mayor in the 1990s.

It lit up the esplanades, parks and neighborhoods, the mayor, a Democrat, said.

Ganims beautification initiatives also were part of the federal corruption probe that sent him to prison in 2003 for seven years.

Now Ganim, re-elected mayor two and a half years ago, is prettying himself up to present to voters statewide as their next governor. So, for example, he tends to merge his time in office  this is my 15th state of the city spanning a quarter century  to contrast his experience with other gubernatorial candidates, glossing over those years in the slammer.

The mayor also, as was the case Tuesday, touts numerous economic development projects under way citywide without noting that many were begun during predecessor Bill Finchs eight years running Bridgeport.

So the impression left is that Bridgeport is buzzing, Ganim is the guy currently in charge, and he will do the same for Connecticuts stubborn economy.

And, for now, it seems to be a viable campaign strategy.

Denied state public financing because of his criminal record, Ganim on Monday claimed that since launching his candidacy in early January, he has raised $325,000. That is in addition to $200,537 in contributions received last year during his exploratory phase.

Anything in that range becomes instant credibility around the state, Ganim insisted in a pre-speech interview Tuesday.

He is also happy to talk about the feature article the New York Times published about him last Friday under the headline: In Connecticut, the Mayor of Second Chances.

Ganim is keenly aware of the power of a good redemption narrative starring an underdog. After all, when critics were dismissing his campaign in 2015, the ex-mayor allowed himself to be trailed by an independent filmmaker. Call it self-important, but it is hard not to look back and think Ganim knew something about Bridgeport voters  and his own electability  that many people missed.

And expect Ganim to re-embrace his underdog role ahead of Mays Democratic nominating convention. While he hopes to obtain the 15 percent of delegates to mount a primary against the nominee, the mayor said he would be okay if he instead had to gather petitions to qualify: Theres a real grassroots level of our campaign that would benefit from contact with thousands of voters.

Setting aside what statewide voters will make of his criminal past, the returned mayors current stewardship of Connecticuts largest city has been mixed, and opponents  Democrats and Republicans  will pounce if Ganim gains traction.

While Ganim patted himself on the back in Tuesdays speech for proposing his second municipal budget with no new taxes, he hiked the tax or mill rate in 2016 from 42 mills to 54 mills  something he blames on Finch.

Ganim has also in his three budgets since returning to City Hall flat-funded Bridgeport struggling schools  something he blames on underfunding from the state: In one of the largest school districts in the state, heroic work is being done every day to teach some 22,000 students without the equal opportunity guaranteed to them as a matter of law.

The mayor kept a campaign promise to hire around 100 new cops. But homicides last year more than doubled to 23, including the death of 15-year-old Jayson Negron, shot by a rookie cop.

And there are the controversies: Ganims finding jobs for his allies; his use of a taxpayer funded cop while campaigning for governor; his being allowed to pick up his employment benefits where he left off when convicted of corruption; last years botched rollout of high-tech, camera-equipped downtown parking meters; an ongoing dispute with the operators of the citys sports arena.

One longtime business leader and Democrat who watched Ganims speech Tuesday said in the current crowded field for governor, the returned mayor has proven he is aggressive, knows the issues and can raise cash: I think he has a shot to get there."

Anyone who dismisses Ganim should recall that, just three years ago, he attended what wound up being Finchs final state-of-the-city address, exiled to a back corner table by the door, many in the room convinced Ganim would never again be mayor.

As he began his address Tuesday, Ganim, acknowledging his parents in the crowd, joked how his father recently lamented having attended several state-of-the-city events, but no gubernatorial state-of-the-state speeches.

Were working on that one, dad, the mayor said.In the face of ongoing legal threats, credit unions are spending money to make adjustments to their websites so as to make them more accessible to those with disabilities and to also stay out of attorneys crosshairs.

Yet thats not a guarantee CUs wont end up as defendants in such lawsuits, anyway.

As CUToday.infohas extensively reported, credit unions across the nation have been hit with a rash of lawsuits over alleged violations by their websites of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The CU cases are now in the hundreds, and some experts have estimated that ADA cases are being filed at a rate of three- to four-dozen per day nationally. Yet despite a number of recent wins by credit unions in courtrooms, the industry is prepared for a long, drawn-out battle, sources indicate.

As CUToday.info reported here, one attorney recently offered a group of credit unions an update on the litigation and the steps she said it would be wise to take.Staying One Step Ahead Of The Cyber Spies

If you want a job that rides the wave of the future, get hired by a firm that combats cyber-threats. Criminal and malicious hackers are endlessly inventive and every day dispatch novel viruses and other digital threats into cyber-space to wreak havoc. Getting paid to tackle these is about as cutting edge as you can get.

One emerging discipline in this field of cyber-incident response tackles the most skilled and serious of these hackers - those who work for nation-states.

The UK's GCHQ now estimates that 34 separate nations have serious, well-funded cyber-espionage teams targeting friends and foes alike.

The threat from these state-sponsored digital spies has been deemed so serious that the intelligence agency has designated five firms that victims can call on if they are caught out by these attackers.

"We get called when people have a big fire and we come along with our hoses and try to put it out," says James Allman-Talbot, head of incident response in the cybersecurity division of BAE Systems.

That captures the fact that, more often than not, the fire brigade arrives to find a building still in flames. When it comes to cyber-fires, that means the hackers are still embedded in a victim's network and are still trying to steal data or burrow more deeply. Unlike the fire service, the BAE team do not arrive in a blaze of lights and sirens. They have to be more, stealthy.

"If the attackers have access to the victim's email servers the last thing you want to do is discuss it on there," says Robin Oldham, head of the cyber-security consulting practice at BAE, who is also part of the incident response team.

Tipping off the bad guys could prompt them to delete evidence or, if they have more malicious motives, shut down key systems and destroy data, he says. Instead, responders first gather evidence to see how bad the incident is and how far the hackers have penetrated a network. It's at this point that the team use the skills picked up during earlier careers. All of the team have solid technical computer skills to which they have added particular specialities.

Prior to working at BAE, Mr Allman-Talbot did digital forensics for the Metropolitan Police and Mr Oldham has significant experience running large complex networks. The good news about most organisations is that they typically gather lots of information about their network and often it is anomalies in the logs that expose suspicious activity. But that extensive logging has a down side, says Mr Oldham.

"It can mean we have a large amount of data to work with and analyse. In some cases, that means a few hundred million lines of log files."

Once incident response teams get their hands on data from a victim they start analysing it to see what has happened. It's at this point that the allied discipline of threat intelligence comes into play. This involves knowing the typical attack tools and techniques of different hacking groups.

Good threat intelligence can mean responders hit the ground running, says Jason Hill, a researcher at security firm CyberInt.

"If you understand how they operate and deploy these tools and use them to attack the infrastructure you know what to look and how to spot the tell-tale signs."

In the past, nation state hackers have tried to bury themselves in a target network and siphon off data slowly.

"Criminal hackers have a more smash and grab mentality. They do it once and do it big," he says.

More recently, he adds, it has got harder to separate the spies from the cyber-thieves. One example was the attack on Bangladesh's central bank - widely believed to have been carried out by North Korea. It netted the rogue state about 58m ($81m).

Russian groups also span both sides of the divide. Some criminal groups have been seen working for the state and often they use the tools gained in spying for other jobs.

"The motivations of the groups have really become blurry of late," says Mr Hill.

Attribution - working out which group was behind a breach - can be difficult, says Mr Allman-Talbot, but spotting that one attack shares characteristics with several others can guide the investigators.

One widespread attack, dubbed Cloud Hopper, sought to compromise companies selling web-based services to large businesses. Getting access to a service provider could mean that the attackers then got at all its customers.

Thoroughly investigated by BAE and others, Cloud Hopper has been blamed on one of China's state-backed hacking groups known as APT10 and Stone Panda. Knowing how they got at a victim can help free the hackers' hold on a network and reveal all the places that need cleaning up.

Even with up-to-date intelligence on attack groups and their chosen methods, there will still be unanswered questions thrown up by an investigation, says Mr Allman-Talbot. The joy of the job comes from during investigations as the team figures out how the bad guys got in, what they did and what data they got away with, he adds. He likens it to solving complex puzzles and problems using experience, good hunches, deep analysis and coding skills. It's a challenging profession that regularly bestows solid intellectual rewards.

"There are lots of eureka moments," he says.

The deep knowledge built up by the responders as they investigate and clean up a breach can also help others that might not even know they have been penetrated, says Mr Oldham.

"There are people that see the smoke alarm go off and pick up the phone and tell us that something is wrong. There's others that we go to and tell them that their house is on fire," he adds.

Mr Allman-Talbot says some of the satisfaction with the job comes from helping people and making life online safer.

"Just as with criminal cases, there's a real sense of doing good. We are investigating incidents that have badly affected these organisations."

There's little doubt that the job is only going to more important as time goes on. The cyber-spies will not stop and are only going to get better at what they do.

"It's just going to get more and more complex," says Mr Allman-Talbot. "It's the next form of warfare."

BBC: Image: Nick Youngson

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Spy vs Spy - Cozy Bear Hackers Hacked:

Dutch Intelligence Agency Pinpoints Cyberattacks:The violence that engulfed India on Mondays Bharat bandh - called by the socially marginalised groups to protest against the alleged dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act - is deplorable and must be condemned by all right-thinking citizens, irrespective of our political preferences.

Causes, however noble, are blemished when there is bloodshed and loss of lives. No civilised society can condone such protests and the culprits must be brought to justice by the government, albeit the current government has been extremely lax in brining to justice anti-social elements since it assumed office in 2014.

However, we must not allow the unfortunate violence to blind us to the grave injustice being meted out to the socially disadvantaged groups. As with any law that seek to protect the vulnerable sections of the society, there is indeed scope for it to be misused to settle personal scores by those with a vindictive bent of mind. What is required is to seek checks and balances to such laws, which evolve over time. For such checks and balances to evolve, what is needed is an atmosphere of trust and belief that the government has no ill intent against any group.

Image: PTI photo

Even though the BJP government occasionally voices its intent to ensure justice for all and inclusiveness in its approach to administration, its actions (and inaction against perpetrators of hate crimes), are devoid of integrity. Although the government says that it is concerned about the welfare of all, especially the socially disadvantaged, its actions reek of a deep-rooted vindictiveness against the vulnerable sections of the society.

Over the past four years since this government came to power, it has had one failure after another with reference to protecting the vulnerable sections of society. From how it handled the Rohit Vemula case to the Una flogging incident, from the Bhima-Koregaon conflict to a Dalit boy being stabbed for sporting a moustache, this governments criminal incompetence in handling anti-social elements repeats with alarming regularity.

Adding to the anxieties of the socially disadvantaged people is the fact that the supporters of the government, mock, taunt and threaten them with impunity. The political discourse on social media is rife with prejudice, and sometimes hatred towards certain communities is worn as a badge of honour. While debate is welcome in any civilised society, those with opposing views are often derided and mocked. Discussions about affirmative action for certain sections of people, are rife with slurs and hatred, which further diminishes trust in the ruling elite.

It is in this backdrop of oppression, both overtly and covertly, that the Dalits are protesting, and their anger goes far beyond the perceived dilution of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. The PMs silence has been conspicuous over the matter, despite violence being reported across the country, which has resulted in many fatalities. Despite ruling at the Centre and at many states, the BJP has not been able to provide answers or even engage with people in an atmosphere of trust and candidness.

Far from looking for solutions and alleviating the anxieties of the socially disadvantaged people, the government has provoked them on many occasions and it now finds itself unable to deal with rising anger among various sections of the society. BJP president Amit Shah got a glimpse of the seething anger among people last month in poll-bound Karnataka. When livid Dalit leaders pinned him down at a meeting and asked him what action would be taken against Union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde, who in December had compared protesting Dalits to street dogs, Shah meekly said that those statements dont reflect the views of the BJP. Yet, the BJP is reluctant to take action against the errant Union minister or at the very least reprimand him and make him apologise for his slurs.

This brazen attitude of the BJP emboldens social elements who continue to rip apart the peaceful social fabric of our country. It is this insolence that is construed to mean that the BJP gives tacit support to those who muddy the waters of social harmony.

As a party that harps on nationalism, it is high time the BJP introspects and asks itself whether its policies and actions are in alignment with its own slogan of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas.

Also read: What Yogi Adityanath wants to erase by adding 'Ramji' to Ambedkars nameThe conspiracy - and conspiracy it is - to impeach chief justice of India Dipak Misra isn't meant to actually impeach him. The Congress, Left, NCP and other Opposition parties leading the move for impeachment know they don't have the two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha necessary to impeach CJI Misra.

There is a conspiracy to impeach chief justice of India Dipak Misra.

The conspiracy is intended to delay and subvert verdicts in two key cases being heard by a Supreme Court bench headed by the CJI. The first is about building a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The second is about the death of CBI judge BH Loya.

Why do these two cases worry Opposition leaders to an extent that they are prepared to go through the pretence of an impeachment motion against the CJI even though they know it will fall at the first hurdle? If, for example, the impeachment motion gathers the minimum required signatures of MPs in the Rajya Sabha (50) and the Lok Sabha (100), the chairperson of the upper house, vice-president Venkaiah Naidu, and the Speaker in the lower house, Sumitra Mahajan, can reject the motion at their discretion.

In the improbable event they don't, a three-member committee has to be formed to probe the charges against the CJI, prove those charges beyond doubt and present its findings to the two houses. A two-thirds majority in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is necessary for the impeachment process to be successful. Since the motion is pre-ordained to fail, turn to the real reason why the Congress, Left, NCP and other Opposition parties want to go through this theatre of the absurd.

Ever since CJI Misra indicated a few months ago that he would like to fast-track the Ram Mandir-Ayodhya hearings, alarm bells began ringing in 10 Janpath and 12 Tughlak Lane. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi know that a Supreme Court verdict in favour of building a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya would set off a majoritarian Hindu wave in favour of the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll.

The alarm bells rang even louder when CJI Misra dismissed all intervention PILs - and there were dozens - in the Ayodhya case. Had those PILs been impleaded, the Ayodhya verdict would have been inevitably delayed.

Enraged at the CJI's moves, the Congress has deployed its political ammunition built up over 55 years in power. Sonia and Rahul realise that the 2019 Lok Sabha election is the Congress' best opportunity to make a comeback.

That comeback could be stillborn if the Supreme Court rules in favour of building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The impeachment motion is aimed at unnerving Misra into delaying his verdict till after the 2019 general election. Activists and friendly media have been co-opted to further this objective.

The NCP's lawyer-member Majeed Memon said grimly: "Several Opposition MPs, including me, have signed the petition to remove the chief justice." Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was more cautious: "I can say that Trinamool Congress will go with whatever decision the other parties take on the impeachment of the CJI. After all, one cannot ignore what the four judges had to say."

What the other four Supreme Court judges said at their unprecedented press conference in January 2018 dovetailed nicely into the Congress-led Opposition strategy. They complained about the roster system and the assignment of key cases. But the hidden message was a statement of no-confidence in the CJI.

The second sub-text in the impeachment motion is the Opposition's decision to target BJP president Amit Shah.

The chief justice was quick to disappoint the quartet. A month later he put up for the first time on the Supreme Court website the new roster. To their shock, the four dissenting senior justices were assigned land and civil cases. CJI Misra, in a clinical show of authority, confined all PILs and sensitive political cases to his own bench.

The second sub-text in the impeachment motion is the Opposition's decision to target BJP president Amit Shah. The Congress despises Shah. Rahul Gandhi and Shah do not even acknowledge each other, much less exchange courtesies, in Parliament. The Congress believes that if it can discredit Shah before the 2019 Lok Sabha election, it will slow the BJP's electoral momentum. This is why the Judge Loya incident is being fervidly played up by the Congress.

Judge Loya's death in December 2014 in Nagpur forms part of a key PIL being heard by a bench headed by CJI Misra. Judge Loya died following a heart attack. Nearly three years later, in September 2017, Caravan magazine carried a story linking Judge Loya's "mysterious" death to a case he was in the midst of hearing. The case involved the death in 2005 in an encounter with police in Gujarat of the notorious smuggler and criminal Sohrabuddin. Amit Shah was then Gujarat's home minister.

The allegations: one, that Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter by the Gujarat anti-terror squad on Shah's watch; two, that Judge Loya's death during the trial of the Sohrabuddin case in which Shah was an accused and Loya the presiding judge seemed suspicious and unnatural; and three, that CJI Misra should assign the PIL questioning Judge Loya's death (and Shah's rapid acquittal by a judge who succeeded Judge Loya in the trial court) to another Supreme Court bench.

Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi.

The chief justice did nothing of the kind. Instead he transferred all cases pertaining to Judge Loya's death pending in the Bombay High Court to a Supreme Court bench headed by himself. Dushyant Dave is the senior advocate at the forefront of the allegation that Judge Loya's death was suspicious and unnatural. CJI Misra told a livid Dave that his bench would examine the matter carefully and order an investigation into the case only if it was merited.

At every juncture, the Opposition fumes, the chief justice has acted arbitrarily. A close examination of the facts reveals it is the Opposition and its senior lawyers that have acted capriciously. For example, Judge Loya's death was certified as natural by two judges of the Bombay High Court (justices Sunil Shukre and Bhushan Gavai) as well as two district judges who were with Judge Loya in the hours just before and after his death. Caravan magazine in its latest issue has however continued to call Judge Loya's death suspicious, alleging that the post-mortem report was manipulated.

The Congress-led Opposition fears that both its pre-2019 electoral objectives - delaying the Ram Mandir verdict and tarnishing Shah over the Loya/Sohrabuddin case - could be negated by chief justice Misra. Hence the unrelenting attack on him through legal and media proxies.

CJI Misra retires on October 2, 2018. He could well deliver the Ayodhya and Loya verdicts before that. The process to impeach him is meant to derail both.

Also read: PMO withdraws fake news circular: Questions we need to ask Smriti Irani and the govtNepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is arriving in New Delhi on Friday on a three-day state visit where a grand welcome awaits him, as India strives to repair damaged ties with the Himalayan nation. This will be Olis first visit abroad since taking office in February 15.

Considering the close economic and cultural ties between the two neighbours, New Delhi has always been the first stop for Nepal PMs. But this time around, India has already realised Oli is on a politically strong wicket and has to be handled with kid gloves. Having won the national elections with an overwhelming majority, Oli is brimming with confidence and is committed to ensure that Nepal stands its ground on all bilateral matters.

The Communists believe that the election mandate is to ensure that tiny Nepal, sandwiched between Asian giants India and China, is not dictated by either side. A confident Nepal now feels that foreign powers, big or small, should not interfere in its domestic affairs.

It is not just India which is seen as poking its nose into Nepals internal issues, but western diplomats too have been cautioned against constantly raising internal issues. "We do not want animosity with any country. But we want to tell the world that we are capable of sorting out our own domestic issues, and all we want from them is goodwill and support, Nepals articulate foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali said in an interview to Kathmandus English weekly Nepali Times.

During Olis first term as prime minister, India-Nepal ties had reached its lowest point with New Delhi batting for the Indian-origin Madhesis who it said had been given short shrift in the new Republican Constitution, and imposed a blockcade to put pressure on Oli. New Delhi, however, denies it, saying truckers refused to ply because of the Madhesi protests. Whatever India may say now, the fact is that it did not help the cause of the Madhesis. It was a foolish move that made people angry. "The blockade instilled confidence in us that we can overcome any challenge," the foreign minister said in the same interview.

The economic blockade led to untold sufferings for the people of Nepal both in the hills and the Terai region. Anti-India sentiments were high and when Oli turned to China for help, the nation backed him. Oli played the China card and signed a landmark trade and transit agreement in an attempt to dilute its dependence on India. The terrain between China and Nepal is tough and building road and railtracks there is not easy. Although China has the expertise to do build both road and rail links connecting western parts of Tibet to Kathmandu, not much has moved.

"It was mainly symbolic," Swarnim Wagle, vice-chairman of Nepals planning commission, said recently. He is a member of the pro-India Nepali Congress. However, those projects will now again be taken up with renewed vigour by the Oli government. Nepal has also joined President Xi Jinpings ambitious Belt and Road Initiative and is expected to formalise projects under the scheme in the coming months. Apart from rail tracks, hydel projects and transmission lines are also on the agenda for Nepal.

Soon after the economic blockade, Oli was replaced as the prime minister. Here too the people of Nepal suspected India's hand. But during the elections, India kept a lowprofile, having realised that Nepalese sentiments were turning against India in what people perceived as high-handed interference by New Delhi.

Now, however, the equation seems to be gradually changing. The Modi government has realised its mistake and is pushing back against Chinas growing clout in Nepal. Soon after the elections results were out, Prime Minister Modi spoke to Oli twice on phone. The invitation to visit India was made by the PM during a phone conversation.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj travelled to Nepal in the beginning of February and met not just Oli, but Prachanda and other leaders as well. All this happened much before Oli took office.

During Olis visit, not many agreements are likely to be signed according to the foreign minister, but India is expected to announce a handsome financial package for Nepal. Ongoing projects like earthquake reconstruction, which was part of the development assistance to Nepal, will be reviewed and possibly expanded.

Reconvening of the SAARC Summit is also likely to be raised by Oli. Pakistans Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who was in Kathmandu in March, had asked Nepal to convince New Delhi not to allow bilateral differences to hold up the summit. This was the first bilateral visit of a Pakistani prime minister to Kathmandu in over two decades.The 2016 SAARC meet was scrapped following Indias decision to boycott the event following the terror attacks in Uri and Pathankot airforce station.

Pakistan is trying to persuade SAARC member states to get New Delhi to relent. When Sri Lankas President Maithripala Sirisena was in Islamabad, he was also asked by Abbasi to take up the matter with Prime Minister Modi.

Much will depend on how India-Pakistan bilateral ties pan out. It is time for Prime Minister Modi to re-focus on his neighbourhood policy, especially when China is clearly spreading its wings in Indias neighbourhod. Pakistan, Chinas close friend is also activating its neighbourhood diplomacy. Prime Minister Abbasi was in Nepal while his army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was in Male recently, emphasising friendship between the two brotherly Muslim neighbouring nations.

India needs to reclaim lost ground in the neighbourhood and PM Oli's visit may prove to be the perfect start to that.

Also read: How Nepal moved from absolute monarchy to democratic republicBy now it is pretty clear that Opposition unity is a farce and is borne out of utter desperation. The Opposition is so desperate to make its presence felt that the self-proclaimed secular-socialist brigade is trying every trick in the book to discredit the government. And it is not difficult to find opportunities to do take on incumbent powers when one is hell bent on finding them. You can literally make issues out of anything even when none exist.

Having spent years in the newsroom covering stories ever day, we often stop to feel awe, shock, horror or empathy for stories. However, the way the protest over a Supreme Court judgment, which allegedly dilutes the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, played out was tragic. It is evident that professional goons and lumpens were made to slyly join the protesting Dalits to fan tempers and increase the turmoil.

One doesn't have to go too far to understand why this happened. Divide and rule seems to be the unstated policy of the Opposition. Separate Lingayats from Hindus and then Veerashaivas from Lingayats, ensure that the social fabric of the country is shredded beyond repair seems to be the strategy of the Opposition. After all, there is nothing more important than winning elections.

Nobody in the Opposition ranks is talking about fiscal deficit or the faltering economy. Those who were vocal about the grim unemployment situation know that they themselves are not capable of generating employment opportunities if they somehow manage to grab power.

A strong Opposition is crucial to a healthy democracy. So if regional parties can bury their differences and form a joint front, it helps to keep the incumbent powers in check. This should indeed be welcomed. Since the Congress is losing its foothold in state after state, coming together of regional parties is an encouraging development. They can work together and replace the grand old party. However, only time will tell as who would lead this joint front and if such a consensus candidate can indeed emerge.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is making a strong pitch for the position and there is no doubt that she is widely popular in her state. However, whether her popularity can have a pan-India appeal is suspect.

The visuals of Trinamool supporters chasing and thrashing people, who were reportedly BJP nominees for the upcoming panchayat elections does not augur well for her image as a leader who respects and upholds democratic principles.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who recently parted ways with the BJP, too can be a strong contender for the role to lead the Opposition. But the same question haunts him too - will he be acceptable to the other parties?

Then there are Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav. To cut the long story short, there is no dearth of leaders to lead the Opposition but their acceptability is under question.

So would the people choose Trinamool goons over right wing lumpens? Will they elect parties with no clear vision or ideology? The wait is not going to be too long because 2019 general elections are just round the corner.

Also read: This is not fake news. Smriti Irani made fastest U-turn by a minister in Indias historyAs the issue of the Bharat bandh and the resultant deaths and violence continues to simmer and a political slugfest over it rages on, a worrying fact has come to light  Union ministers seem to be mistaken about the governments role in the March 20 Supreme Court judgement that diluted the SC/ST atrocities Act, triggering the protests.

While both home minister Rajnath Singh and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad have gone on record to state that the government was not a party to the SC judgment and did not agree with it, the courts records say otherwise.

The Congress has latched on to this, and has been stridently accusing the government of lying. No one from the government has responded to the allegations, though a lot of statements have been made from the BJP reaffirming the party's concern for the Dalit community, and accusing the Opposition of orchestrating the bandh violence.

The prime minister finally broke his silence on the issue  which saw life paralysed in large parts of the country for two days  on April 4, by saying that no government had honoured Ambedkar as we have.

What the ministers have said

Rajnath Singh, speaking in Parliament on the violence and vandalism the protests saw, categorically stated: I fully appreciate that there is widespread anger amongst the people, following the Supreme Court order. I wish to inform the house that Government of India was not party in that case.

On April 2, law minister Prasad had said: With great respect, the government differs from the SC judgment virtually changing the entire structure of SC/ST Act.

Modi government is firmly committed to the protection, safety, security, and dignity of SC/ST, he said.

He added: It is also important to note that the government was not a party in the proceedings at all.

What the judgment says

The changes that the SC made to the Atrocities Act on March 20 include putting in the need for written permission from appointing authorities for action against public servants, allowing the arrest of private citizens only after the Senior Superintendent of Polices nod, and no blanket ban on bail to an accused.

The March 20 order of the SC clearly states: In view of decisions in Vilas Pandurang Pawar (supra) and Shakuntla Devi (supra), learned ASG has rightly stated that there is no absolute bar to grant anticipatory bail if no prima facie case is made out inspite of validity of Section 18 of the Atrocities Act being upheld.

The order, in fact, has an entire section titled Submissions of learned Additional Solicitor General, who is a representative of the central government.

During the review hearing on April 3, the court again said that it had passed its order on the basis of the data provided by the government, and also wondered why the Centre had now changed its stand.

The Union itself had said there was abuse, Justice AK Goel stated. Amrendra Sharan, amicus curiae in the case, too, said: It was the government which gave the data, made the submissions and now they are challenging the judgment.

Justice Goel also said that it was the government that brought the Sixth Report of the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment (2014-15) on the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014, on record. The report had rejected the stand of the ministry that there was no need to act against false or malafide implications under the Atrocities Act.

What the Congress says

The Congress has, predictably, gone to town on the issue. They (the government) were very much a party. The government was represented, it did not argue the case. The government opened the window for anticipatory bail. The government endorsed by default by not telling the court that it cannot dilute the law, it cannot reinterpret the law, it cannot change the law. So, the government is a willing party to what has happened," party leader Anand Sharma said.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Supreme Court had issued a notice to Maharashtra government and the Union government in November 2017. Maharashtra is also ruled by the BJP.

He said the order had said issue notice to Attorney General of India also as the issue involves interpretation of a central statute". But the Modi government did not send the Attorney General to the court. The Solicitor General was also not sent. They, in turn, sent an additional solicitor general."

There are more inconsistencies in the governments statements. Rajnath Singh said in the Parliament: Immediately after the judgement of Supreme Court, a decision was taken by my Government to file a review petition in the Supreme Court This shows the prompt action by Government and does not leave any doubt regarding the intention of the Government to protect the interest of the SC/ST.

However, the Centre waited to file the review petition till the protests snowballed into a major issue, even though the BJPs own MPs had been urging the government to act.

The Supreme Courts order is to all assumptions not malafide, but only wishes to prevent misuse of the law.

On its part, the BJP ministers must explain why they are claiming they are not a party to the judgement. Instead of turning the protests into a competition of who loves Ambedkar more, the government should address the doubts the row has cast on its efficiency and integrity.

Also read: Bharat bandh: How discussions over violence eclipsed protests causeIndia's transition to democracy has a long history. Even before the coming of the European powers to India, there were various instances in history when the people exercised power directly.

But the general elections of independent India in 1951 is the first milestone towards the building of this democracy, which has been shaped by people's power, wherein people reposed their trust in Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajendra Prasad.

Post-Second World War was a time when the birth of a number of new nation states and democracies took place. The formation of nation states and their nature have been much debated by modern philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Samuel Bentham and others on the results and products of various peoples revolutions (French and Russian) in history.

There was a continued effort from 18th century to 19 century to develop the idea of democracy so that the ultimate power of governance could be kept in the hands of people.

Now after the coming of social media and the new age of internet communication, the idea of democracy has come under serious threat. On the basis of latest technological developments and its participation and legitimisation by government appendages, the capitalist mode of production and power is overtaking democracy from people's hand to personnels hand.

There is no doubt that the advent of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter has helped us a lot on various fronts of life, but in the age of globalisation and event management, these things are becoming the weapons through which the consent of society are being manipulated or restructured.

The processes of globalisation have affected the world in the true sense of market-oriented society wherein the whole world is nothing, but a place of business. In this new economy, money is controlled neither by the government nor the people, but the capitalists. And this become a ground for the shift in the nature of democracy. Earlier, democracy was known to be representative, where an elected member was supposed to represent people of the respective areas. However, with globalisation and enhancement of communication technologies democracy has become participatory where each and every voice is audible (Twitter, Facebook) and this is the goodness about this technological evolution.

Notwithstanding that one positive aspect of this virtual participatory form of democracy, there are some serious threats which can be called the technical pathogens. It means they will eat up the very source from where they evolved. For example, the voice which is audible on the virtual space have no authenticity - it could be real or fake, but what will happen when this voice tries to muzzle the actual voice, or if it associates its own interest to make it appear like the people's voice.

We can also take the example of Arab Spring, which was also a result of democratic participation of people in digital form, but now the same boon has become a curse.

India is world's largest democracy and it is always going through a continuous chain of elections - municipal, Assembly or general, just like the saying goes that democracy is a continues process. Technology is slowly raising its ugly head in the Indian democracy too.

For example, the kind of legitimacy that has been given to private players like Facebook and Twitter by the present NDA government is unprecedented. And in the wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, it has come to the fore how private information of more than 50 million Facebook users have been harvested for election campaigns by various nations and political parties.

Indian Facebook users are also suspected to be a victim of the data breach. That mainstream political parties are going more and more digital in their election management instead of going directly to the people, also says a lot about the dangers, not to mention the vulnerability of the EVM machines.

Voters can no longer be sure if their mandate has been manipulated or not. They can no longer be sure that technological intervention in the process of election and democracy is safe.

But one thing is sure politics in the digital age has turned democracy upside down.

Also read: 'Congress-mukt Bharat isn't Sangh's language': Why Mohan Bhagwat's latest remark should worry ModiThe following companies are subsidiares of TransUnion: Accupost Corporation, AppLock Limited, Auditz, Autolocator (Pty) Ltd., Beheer en Beleggingsmaatchapij Stivaco B.V., CIFIN S.A.S, [email protected] plc, Callcredit Data Solutions Limited, Callcredit Information, Callcredit Lead Generation Limited, Callcredit Marketing Ltd., Callcredit Public Sector Limited, Callcredit Spain S.L.U, Centro de Informacion y Estudios Estrategicos Empresariales S.A., Centro de Operaciones Servicios de Informacion Estrategica S.A., CheckMend Ltd., Coactiva Limited, Collection Africa Ltd., Confirma Sistemas de Informacion S.L., Credit Bureau of Carmel & Pebble Beach Inc., Credit Information Services Limited, Credit Information Systems Company Limited, Credit Reference Bureau (Holdings) Limited, Credit Reference Bureau Africa (Pty) Ltd., Credit Reference Bureau Africa Ltd., Credit Reporting Services Limited, Credit Retriever LLC, Crivo, Crown Acquisition BidCo Ltd., Crown Acquisition Consumer Ltd., Crown Acquisition MidCo Ltd., Crown Acquisition MidCo. 2 Ltd., Crown Acquisition TopCo. Ltd., DMWSL 617 Ltd., DMWSL 618 Ltd., DMWSL 619 Ltd., DMWSL 620 Ltd., DataLink Services, Datalink Services Inc., Decision Systems Inc., DecisionMetrics Limited, Diversified Data Development Corporation, Drivers History Inc., Drivers History Information Sales LLC, FT Holdings Inc., FactorTrust, FactorTrust Inc., GMAP Japan KK, GMAP Marketing Consulting Shangahi Co. Ltd, Healthcare Payment Specialists, INSDEC LLC, IS Resources Inc., Immobilise.com Limited, L2C Inc., L2C Inc., Link Marketing Inc., Link2credit Inc., Moussoro Participacoes Ltda., RTech, RTech Healthcare Revenue Technologies Inc., Recipero, Recipero Inc., Recipero Limited, Regional Data Systems Limited, RentPort, Rubixis, Rubixis Inc., Rubixis Technologies Private Limited, STS Vail Beheeren Administracion S. DE. R.L. DE C.V., Servicios y Asesoria S CO BC SA de CV, Signal, Soluciones de Informatica de Centroamerica (SICE) S.A., Source USA Insurance Agency Inc., Tenant ID Limited, Title Insurance Services Corporation, Trans Union Central America S.A., Trans Union Chile S.A., Trans Union Content Solutions LLC, Trans Union Costa Rica S.A., Trans Union Guatemala S.A., Trans Union Honduras-Buro de Credito S.A., Trans Union International Inc., Trans Union LLC, Trans Union Nicaragua S.A., Trans Union Real Estate Services Inc., Trans Union Software Services Private Limited, Trans Union de Puerto Rico Inc., Trans Union of Canada Inc., TransUnion (Mauritius) Limited, TransUnion (Proprietary) Ltd., TransUnion Africa (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Analytic and Decision Services (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Asia Ltd., TransUnion Auto Information Solutions (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Baltics UAB, TransUnion Brasil Sistemas em Informatica Ltda., TransUnion CIBIL Limited, TransUnion Colombia Ltda., TransUnion Consumer Solutions LLC, TransUnion Credit Bureau (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Credit Bureau Namibia (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Data Solutions LLC, TransUnion Digital LLC, TransUnion El Salvador S.A. de C.V., TransUnion Exchange LLC, TransUnion Financing Corporation, TransUnion Global Holdings LLC, TransUnion Global Holdings LP, TransUnion Global Technology Center LLP, TransUnion Healthcare Inc., TransUnion Holding Cyprus Ltd., TransUnion ITC (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Information Group Limited, TransUnion Information Services Limited, TransUnion Information Solutions Inc., TransUnion Information Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., TransUnion Intelligence LLC, TransUnion Interactive Inc., TransUnion Intermediate Holdings Inc., TransUnion International Holdings LLC, TransUnion International UK Limited, TransUnion Kenya Limited, TransUnion Limited, TransUnion Ltd., TransUnion Marketing Solutions Inc., TransUnion Netherlands I B.V., TransUnion Netherlands II B.V., TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions Inc., TransUnion Reverse Exchange S de R.L. de C.V., TransUnion Risk Advisory Inc., TransUnion Risk and Alternative Data Solutions Inc., TransUnion Rwanda Limited, TransUnion S.A., TransUnion Soluciones de Informacion Chile SA, TransUnion Soluciones de Informacion S de R.L de C.V., TransUnion Teledata LLC, TransUnion UK Holdings Ltd., Tru Optik, TruSignal, TruSignal Inc., TrueLink, Trustev, Trustev Limited, Vail Holdings UK Ltd., Vail Systemen Groep B.V., Verifacts LLC, Visionary Systems Inc., Worthknowing Inc., eBureau, eBureau LLC, iovation Inc., iovation Ltd., and process benchmarking limited.American Water Works Co., Inc. engages in the provision of complementary water and wastewater services. It operates through the following segments: Regulated Businesses; Market-Based Businesses; and Other. The Regulated Businesses segment provides water and wastewater services to customers. The Market-Based Businesses segment is responsible for Military Services Group, Contract Operations Group, Homeowner Services Group, and Keystone Operations. The Other segment includes corporate costs that are not allocated to the Company's operating segments, eliminations of inter-segment transactions, fair value adjustments and associated income and deductions related to the acquisitions that have not been allocated to the operating segments for evaluation of performance and allocation of resource purposes. The company was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Camden, NJ.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Barnes Group: AS Monterrey S. de R.L. de C.V., Adval Tech - Foboha Mold Making Business, Associated Spring (Tianjin) Company Ltd., Associated Spring (UK) Ltd., Associated Spring Asia Pte. Ltd., Associated Spring Corporation, Associated Spring Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Associated Spring Raymond (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Associated Spring Raymond GmbH, Associated Spring do Brasil Ltda., Barnes Airmotive Malaysia SND. BHD., Barnes Financing Delaware LLC, Barnes Group (Bermuda) Limited, Barnes Group (Delaware) LLC, Barnes Group (Germany) GmbH, Barnes Group (Scotland) Limited, Barnes Group (Thailand) Ltd., Barnes Group (U.K.) 2 Limited, Barnes Group (U.K.) Limited, Barnes Group Acquisition GmbH, Barnes Group Canada Corp., Barnes Group Finance Company (Bermuda) Limited, Barnes Group Finance Company (Delaware), Barnes Group Holding LLC, Barnes Group Luxembourg (No. 1) S.a r.l., Barnes Group Luxembourg (No. 2) S.a r.l., Barnes Group Spain S.R.L., Barnes Group Suisse Industries GmbH, Barnes Group Switzerland GmbH, Barnes Industrial Group India Private Limited, Barnes Korea Ltd., Barnes Molding Solutions (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., Blitz F16-34 GmbH, Curtis Industries, Curtiss Industries (U.K.) Limited, Di-Dro Manifold System Product Line, Euro Stock Springs & Components, Foboha (Germany) GmbH, Foboha Holding GmbH, Forward Industries LLC, GF Controls GmbH, Gammaflux, Gammaflux Controls Inc., Gimatic, Gimatic Automation Engineering (Changshu) Co. Ltd., Gimatic Automation India Pvt Ltd. , Gimatic Automation Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Gimatic Balkan d.o.o. Beograd  Savski Venac, Gimatic Czech Republic s.r.o., Gimatic France S.a.r.l., Gimatic Japan Limited, Gimatic Korea Limited, Gimatic Nordic A.B., Gimatic Otomasyon Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Gimatic Polska sp. z o.o, Gimatic S.r.l., Gimatic Sisteme RO SRL, Gimatic Sistemi industrijska avtomatizacija d.o.o., Gimatic Spain S.L., Gimatic Vertrieb GmbH, Gimatrade S.r.l., Heinz Haenggi Gmbh Stanztechnik, Industrial Gas Springs, Industrial Gas Springs Group Holdings Limited, Industrial Gas Springs Inc., Industrial Gas Springs Limited, Kar Products, Kratz-Wilde Machine Co, MTM S.r.l., Manner Hong Kong Limited, Manner USA Inc., Orflam - Nitropush Product Line, Otto Manner, Otto Manner GmbH, Otto Manner Immobilien GmbH, Otto Manner Innovation GmbH, Premier Farnell - KENT Division, Priamus System Technologies, Priamus System Technologies GmbH, Priamus System Technologies LLC, Raymond Distribution-Mexico S.A. de C.V., Resortes Argentina S.A., Ressorts SPEC SAS, Seeger-Orbis GmbH & Co. OHG, Service Plus Distributors, Sign Holdings Limited, Spectrum Plastics Molding Resources, Stromsholmen AB, Synventive Acquisition B.V., Synventive Acquisition GmbH, Synventive Acquisition Inc., Synventive Acquisition UK Ltd., Synventive Acquisition Unlimited, Synventive B.V., Synventive Fertigungstechnik GmbH, Synventive Holding B.V., Synventive Holding Limited, Synventive Holding SAS, Synventive Molding Solutions, Synventive Molding Solutions (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Synventive Molding Solutions B.V., Synventive Molding Solutions Canada Inc., Synventive Molding Solutions Co. Ltd., Synventive Molding Solutions GmbH, Synventive Molding Solutions Inc., Synventive Molding Solutions JBJ Private Limited, Synventive Molding Solutions K.K., Synventive Molding Solutions LDA, Synventive Molding Solutions LLC, Synventive Molding Solutions LTDA., Synventive Molding Solutions Limited, Synventive Molding Solutions Pte Ltd., Synventive Molding Solutions SAS, Synventive Molding Solutions SL, Synventive Molding Solutions s.r.o., Synventive Parent Inc., Teledyne Fluid Systems, The Wallace Barnes Company, Thermoplay, Thermoplay Brasil Sistemas de Injecao Ltda, Thermoplay Deutschland GmbH, Thermoplay France S.a.r.l., Thermoplay Hot Runner Systems (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Thermoplay India Private Limited, Thermoplay Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Thermoplay S.p.A., Thermoplay U.K. Ltd., Toolcom Supplie, Windsor Airmotive Asia Pte. Ltd., and manner Japan Co. Ltd..Resolute Energy Corporation, an independent oil and gas company, engages in the acquisition, exploitation, exploration for, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States. Its principal project area is located in the Delaware Basin portion of the Permian Basin, Reeves County. As of December 31, 2017, it had interests in approximately 27,100 gross acres located in the Permian Basin of Texas; and its estimated net proved reserves were approximately 53.4 million barrels of oil equivalent. Resolute Energy Corporation was founded in 2004 and is based in Denver, Colorado.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Whirlpool: 1900 Holdings Corporation, ADC, Aeradriatica S.p.A., Airdun Limited, B. Blend Maquinas e Bebidas S.A., BUD Comercio de Eletrodomesticos Ltda., BWI Products Limited, Bauknecht AG, Bauknecht Hausgerate GmbH, Bauknecht Limited, Beijing Embraco Snowflake Compressor Company Limited, Bill Page Orchestra, Bill Page Orchestra Inc., Brasmotor S.A., Brunson Place Properties, Brunson Place Properties LLC, CNB Consultoria Ltda, Cannon Industries Ltd., Centro de Desarrollo Tecnologico e Innovacion WHM S. de R.L de C.V., Comercial Acros Whirlpool, Comercial Acros Whirlpool S. de R.L. de C.V., Consumer Appliances Service Limited, Ealing Compania de Gestiones y Participaciones S.A., Elera Delaware, Elera Delaware Inc., Elera Holdings Corporation, Embraco Europe S.r.l., Embraco Eurosales S.r.l., Embraco Industria de Compressores e Solucoes em Refrigeracao Ltda., Embraco Luxembourg S.a r.l., Embraco Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Embraco Mexico Servicios, Embraco Mexico Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Embraco North America, Embraco North America Inc., Embraco RUS LLC, Embraco Slovakia S.r.o., Everest Campus, Everest Campus LLC., General Domestic Appliances Holdings Ltd, General Domestic Appliances International Ltd., Guangdong Whirlpool Electrical Appliances Co., Guangdong Whirlpool Electrical Appliances Co. Ltd., Haceb Whirlpool Industrias S.A.S., Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric, Hefei Whirlpool Enterprise Management Service Co. Ltd., Hoover Comercial Limitada, IRE Beteiligungs GmbH, Indesit Argentina S.A., Indesit Company, Indesit Company Beyaz Esya Pazarlama A.S., Indesit Company Beyaz Esya Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Indesit Company Ceska S.r.o., Indesit Company Domestic Appliances Hellas Mepe, Indesit Company International Business S.A., Indesit Company Luxembourg S.A., Indesit Company Magyarorszag Kft, Indesit Company Nordics AB, Indesit Company Polska Sp. zo.o., Indesit Company Singapore Pte. Ltd., Indesit Company UK Holdings Ltd., Indesit IP S.r.l., Indesit International ZAO, Indesit Ireland Ltd., Indesit Middle East FZE, Indesit Ukraine LLC, Industrias Acros Whirlpool S. de R.L. de C.V., Industrias Acros Whirlpool S.A. de C.V, Jackson Appliances Ltd., Joint-Stock Company Indesit International, KitchenAid, KitchenAid Australia Pty Ltd, KitchenAid Australia Pty Ltd., KitchenAid Delaware Inc., KitchenAid Europa Inc., KitchenAid Global, KitchenAid Global Inc., KitchenAid Inc., KitchenAid Korea Limited, KitchenAid Promotions, KitchenAid Promotions LLC, KitchenAid Trading Co., KitchenAid Trading Co. Ltd., LAWSA S.A., MLOG Armazem Geral Ltda., Maytag Corporation, Maytag Limited, Maytag Properties, Maytag Properties LLC, Maytag Sales, Maytag Sales Inc., Maytag Worldwide N.V., Merloni Domestic Appliances Ltd., Nineteen Hundred Corporation, Polar S.A., Qingdao EECON Electronic Controls and Appliances Co., Qingdao EECON Electronic Controls and Appliances Co. Ltd., South American Sales Partnership, THC Assets Corporation, Up Points Servicos Empresariais S.A., Vitromatic S.A. de C.V., WCGP Nova Scotia Co., WHirlpool EMEA Finanace S.a r.l., Whirlpool (Australia) Pty. Limited, Whirlpool (B.V.I.) Limited, Whirlpool (China) Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (China) Investment Co., Whirlpool (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (Hefei) Trading Co., Whirlpool (Hefei) Trading Co. Ltd, Whirlpool (Hong Kong) Limited, Whirlpool (Japan) Co. Ltd., Whirlpool (Thailand) Limited, Whirlpool ASEAN Co., Whirlpool America Holdings Corp., Whirlpool Argentina S.r.l., Whirlpool Asia B.V., Whirlpool Asia Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Asia Inc., Whirlpool Asia LLP, Whirlpool Belux N.V./S.A., Whirlpool Bermuda Euro Ltd., Whirlpool Beyaz Esya Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S., Whirlpool Bulgaria Ltd., Whirlpool CIS Ltd., Whirlpool CR, Whirlpool CR spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool CSA Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Canada Co., Whirlpool Canada Co. (post 9/1/05 amalgamation company), Whirlpool Canada Holding Co, Whirlpool Canada Holding Co. (post 4/18/06 amalgamation company), Whirlpool Canada Investments S.a r.l., Whirlpool Canada LP, Whirlpool Canada Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Chile Limitada, Whirlpool Colombia S.A.S., Whirlpool Comercial Ltda., Whirlpool Company Polska Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Company Ukraine LLC, Whirlpool Croatia Ltd., Whirlpool EMEA S.p.A., Whirlpool Ecuador S.A., Whirlpool Eesti OU, Whirlpool El Salvador, Whirlpool El Salvador S.A. de C.V., Whirlpool Electrodomesticos S.A., Whirlpool Eletrodomesticos AM S.A., Whirlpool Enterprises, Whirlpool Enterprises LLC, Whirlpool Europe B.V., Whirlpool Europe Coordination Center, Whirlpool Europe Holdings Limited, Whirlpool Ev Aletleri Pazarlama Ve Ticaret A.S., Whirlpool Finance B.V., Whirlpool Finance Center Corp., Whirlpool Finance Luxembourg S.a r.l., Whirlpool Finance Overseas Ltd., Whirlpool Financial Corporation, Whirlpool Financial Corporation International, Whirlpool Floor Care Corp., Whirlpool France Holdings SAS, Whirlpool France SAS, Whirlpool Germany GmbH, Whirlpool Global B.V., Whirlpool Global Investments B.V., Whirlpool Greater China Inc., Whirlpool Guatemala, Whirlpool Guatemala S.A., Whirlpool Hellas S.A., Whirlpool Holdings Corporation, Whirlpool Home Appliances B.V., Whirlpool Home Appliances Limited Liability Company, Whirlpool Hungarian Trading Limited Liability Company, Whirlpool India Holdings Limited, Whirlpool Insurance Company, Whirlpool Insurance Company Ltd., Whirlpool Internacional S. de R.L. de C.V., Whirlpool International GmbH, Whirlpool International Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool International Manufacturing S.a r.l., Whirlpool Ireland Appliances Limited, Whirlpool Ireland Limited, Whirlpool Italia Holdings S.r.l., Whirlpool Italia S.r.l., Whirlpool Japan Co. Ltd., Whirlpool Japan Inc., Whirlpool Kazakhstan LLP, Whirlpool Latin America Corporation, Whirlpool Latvia S.I.A., Whirlpool Lietuva UAB, Whirlpool Ltd Belgrade, Whirlpool Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg Investments S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg S.a r.l., Whirlpool Luxembourg Ventures S.a r.l., Whirlpool MEEA DMCC, Whirlpool Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Whirlpool Management Services S.a.g.l., Whirlpool Maroc S. a r.l., Whirlpool Mauritius Limited, Whirlpool Mexico Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Whirlpool Mexico S.A. de C.V., Whirlpool Mexico Ventures LLC, Whirlpool Microwave Products Development Limited, Whirlpool NAAG Holdings Corporation, Whirlpool NAR Holdings, Whirlpool NAR Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Nederland B.V., Whirlpool Nordic, Whirlpool Nordic A/S, Whirlpool Nordic AB, Whirlpool Nordic AS, Whirlpool Nordic OY, Whirlpool Oceania Inc., Whirlpool Overseas Holdings, Whirlpool Overseas Holdings LLC, Whirlpool Overseas Hong Kong Limited, Whirlpool Overseas Manufacturing S.ar.l., Whirlpool Peru S.R.L., Whirlpool Polska Appliances Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Polska Sp. z o.o., Whirlpool Portugal, Whirlpool Portugal S.A., Whirlpool Product Development (Shenzhen) Company Limited, Whirlpool Properties, Whirlpool Properties Inc., Whirlpool Puntana S.A., Whirlpool R&D S.r.l., Whirlpool RUS LLC, Whirlpool Realty Corporation, Whirlpool Romania S.r.l., Whirlpool S.A., Whirlpool SSC Limited, Whirlpool Slovakia Home Appliances spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool Slovakia spol. s.r.o., Whirlpool South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Whirlpool Southeast Asia Pte, Whirlpool Sweden Aktiebolag, Whirlpool Taiwan Co. Ltd., Whirlpool Technologies LLC, Whirlpool UK Appliances Limited, Whirlpool UK Pension Scheme Trustee Limited, Whirlpool Ukraine LLC, Whirlpool WW Holdings B.V., Whirlpool do Brasil Investements B.V., Whirlpool do Brasil Ltda., Whirlpool of India Limited, Whirlpool Osterreich GmbH, Whirlpool Osterreich GmbH, Xpelair, Xpelair Ltd., Yummly, Yummly Canada Ltd., and Yummly Inc..Hannover RAck SE, together with its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance products and services worldwide. It operates through Property & Casualty Reinsurance, and Life & Health Reinsurance segments. The Property & Casualty Reinsurance segment offers specialty lines comprising marine, aviation, facultative and direct business, credit, surety, and political risks reinsurance products; and treaty, catastrophe XL, and structured reinsurance, as well as insurance-linked securities. This segment also provides risk solutions for agricultural, livestock, and bloodstock businesses; aviation and space business; and marine and offshore energy business. The Life & Health Reinsurance segment offers group and individual credit life, enhanced annuities, group life and health, and Sharia-compliant Takaful reinsurance products. This segment also provides risk solutions in the areas of critical illness, disability, health, longevity, long term care, and mortality and morbidity, as well as underwriting services. In addition, it offers various financial solutions, including new-business financing; monetization of embedded value; reserve and solvency relief; and divestiture of non-core businesses. The company was formerly known as Hannover RAckversicherung AG and changed its name to Hannover RAck SE in March 2013. The company was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Hanover, Germany. Hannover RAck SE is a subsidiary of Talanx AG.

Read MoreThe Williams Cos., Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company, which explores, produces, transports, sells and processes natural gas and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Transmission and Gulf of Mexico; Northeast G&P; and West. The Transmission and Gulf of Mexico segment comprises of interstate natural gas pipelines, Transco and Northwest Pipeline, as well as natural gas gathering and processing and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region. The Northeast G&P segment includes midstream gathering, processing, and fractionation businesses in the Marcellus Shale region primarily in Pennsylvania and New York, and the Utica Shale region of eastern Ohio. The West segment consists of gas gathering, processing, and treating operations in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming, the Barnett Shale region of north-central Texas, the Eagle Ford Shale region of south Texas, the Haynesville Shale region of northwest Louisiana, and the Mid-Continent region which includes the Anadarko, Arkoma, and Permian basins. The company was founded by David Williams and Miller Williams in 1908 and is headquartered in Tulsa,

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Barclays: Adler Toy Holding Sarl, Aequor Investments Limited, Alymere Investments Limited, Alynore Investments Limited Partnership, Analog Analytics, Analog Analytics Inc, Analytical Trade Holdings LLC, Analytical Trade Investments LLC, Analytical Trade UK Limited, Archstone Equity Holdings Inc, Ardencroft Investments Limited, B D & B Investments Limited, B.P.B. (Holdings) Limited, BB Client Nominees Limited, BBAIL SAS, BCAP LLC, BIFML PTC Limited, BMBF (No.24) Limited, BMI (No.9) Limited, BNC Brazil Consultoria Empresarial Ltda, BNRI ENG 2013 Limited Partnership, BNRI ENG 2014 Limited Partnership, BNRI ENG GP LLP, BNRI England 2010 Limited Partnership, BNRI England 2011 Limited Partnership, BNRI England 2012 Limited Partnership, BNRI Limehouse No.1 Sarl, BNRI PIA Scot GP Limited, BNRI Scots GP LLP, BPB Holdings SA, BVP Galvani Global S.A.U., Barafor Limited, Barclay Leasing Limited, Barclaycard Funding PLC, Barclaycard International Payments Limited, Barclays (Barley) Limited, Barclays Aldersgate Investments Limited, Barclays Alzin Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Asia Limited, Barclays Asset Management Limited, Barclays BR Investments S.a r.l., Barclays BWA Inc., Barclays Bank (Suisse) S.A., Barclays Bank Delaware, Barclays Bank Ireland PLC, Barclays Bank Ireland Public Limited Company, Barclays Bank Mexico S.A., Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays Bank UK PLC, Barclays Bayard Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Bedivere Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Bordang Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Brasil Assessoria Financeira Ltda., Barclays CCP Funding LLC, Barclays Cantal Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Capital (Cayman) Limited, Barclays Capital Asia Holdings Limited, Barclays Capital Asia Limited, Barclays Capital Canada Inc., Barclays Capital Casa de Bolsa S.A. de C.V., Barclays Capital Derivatives Funding LLC, Barclays Capital Effekten GmbH, Barclays Capital Energy Inc., Barclays Capital Equities Trading GP, Barclays Capital Finance Limited, Barclays Capital Futures (Singapore) Private Limited, Barclays Capital Holdings (Singapore) Private Limited, Barclays Capital Holdings Inc., Barclays Capital Inc., Barclays Capital Japan Securities Holdings Limited, Barclays Capital Luxembourg S.a r.l., Barclays Capital Mauritius Limited, Barclays Capital Nominees (No.2) Limited, Barclays Capital Nominees (No.3) Limited, Barclays Capital Nominees Limited, Barclays Capital Principal Investments Limited, Barclays Capital Real Estate Finance Inc., Barclays Capital Real Estate Holdings Inc., Barclays Capital Real Estate Inc., Barclays Capital Securities Client Nominee Limited, Barclays Capital Securities Limited, Barclays Capital Securities Mauritius Limited, Barclays Capital Trading Luxembourg S.a r.l., Barclays Claudas Investments Partnership, Barclays Claudas Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Barclays Converted Investments (No.2) Limited, Barclays Corporation Limited, Barclays Direct Investing Nominees Limited, Barclays Directors Limited, Barclays Dryrock Funding LLC, Barclays Electronic Commerce Holdings Inc., Barclays Equity Holdings Limited, Barclays Equity Index Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Europe Client Nominees Designated Activity Company, Barclays Europe Firm Nominees Designated Activity Company, Barclays Europe Nominees Designated Activity Company, Barclays Executive Schemes Trustees Limited, Barclays Financial LLC, Barclays Financial Planning Nominee Company Limited, Barclays Funds Investments Limited, Barclays Funds and Advisory Japan Limited, Barclays Global Service Centre Private Limited, Barclays Global Shareplans Nominee Limited, Barclays Group Holdings Limited, Barclays Group Operations Limited, Barclays Group US Inc., Barclays Index Finance Trust, Barclays Industrial Development Limited, Barclays Industrial Investments Limited, Barclays Insurance Guernsey PCC Limited, Barclays Insurance Services Company Limited, Barclays Insurance U.S. Inc., Barclays International Luxembourg Dollar Holdings S.a r.l., Barclays Investment Management Limited, Barclays Investment Solutions Limited, Barclays Investments & Loans (India) Limited, Barclays Korea GP Limited, Barclays Lamorak Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Leasing (No.9) Limited, Barclays Leto Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Long Island Limited, Barclays Luxembourg EUR Holdings S.a r.l, Barclays Luxembourg Finance S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg GBP Holdings S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg Global Funding S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Barclays Luxembourg Holdings SSC B, Barclays Marlist Limited, Barclays Mauritius Overseas Holdings Limited, Barclays Mercantile Business Finance Limited, Barclays Merchant Bank (Singapore) Ltd., Barclays Nominees (George Yard) Limited, Barclays Nominees (Guernsey) Limited, Barclays Nominees (Jersey) Limited, Barclays Nominees (Manx) Limited, Barclays Oversight Management Inc., Barclays Payment Solutions Inc., Barclays Pelleas Investments Limited Partnership, Barclays Pelleas Investments S.a r.l., Barclays Pension Funds Trustees Limited, Barclays Principal Investments Limited, Barclays Private Asset Management (Monaco) S.A.M, Barclays Private Bank, Barclays Private Clients International Limited, Barclays Receivables LLC, Barclays SAMS Limited, Barclays Securities (India) Private Limited, Barclays Securities Japan Limited, Barclays Security Trustee Limited, Barclays Services (Japan) Limited, Barclays Services Corporation, Barclays Services Jersey Limited, Barclays Services LLC, Barclays Services Limited, Barclays Shea Limited, Barclays Singapore Global Shareplans Nominee Limited, Barclays Switzerland Services SA, Barclays Tenedora De Immuebles SL., Barclays Term Funding Limited Liability Partnership, Barclays UK Investments Limited, Barclays US CCP Funding LLC, Barclays US Funding LLC, Barclays US GPF Inc., Barclays US Investments Inc., Barclays US LLC, Barclays Unquoted Investments Limited, Barclays Unquoted Property Investments Limited, Barclays Wealth Management Jersey Limited, Barclays Wealth Nominees Limited, Barclays Wealth Services Limited, Barclays Wealth Trustees (India) Private Limited, Barclayshare Nominees Limited, Barclaytrust Channel Islands Limited, Barcosec Limited, Barsec Nominees Limited, Blossom Finance General Partnership, Branchcall Computers (Pvt) Limited, Braven Investments No.1 Limited, CP Flower Guaranteeco (UK) 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Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (China-HK) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (DE) Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Ecublens) SARL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance II) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Fuji) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Holding II) B.V. & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Johannesburg) (Proprietary) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mexico City) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Milwaukee) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mississauga) Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Monterrey) S. De R.L. De C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (NK) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) Austria Holding GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-I) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-II) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN1) UK Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) Dutch LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Praha) s.r.o., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) GmbH & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Schweiz) AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Instruments Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Suzhou) Instruments Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific AL-1 LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific AU II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Africa Proprietary Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Aquasensors LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Australia Pty Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific B.V.B.A., Thermo Fisher Scientific BHK (I) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific BHK (II) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics UAB, Thermo Fisher Scientific Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Biosciences Corp., Thermo Fisher Scientific Brahms LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Brasil Instrumentos de Processo Ltda., Thermo Fisher Scientific Brasil Servicos de Logistica Ltda, Thermo Fisher Scientific C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cayman Investments LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Chemicals Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific China (C-I) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific China (S) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings I B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings III B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings IV B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Chromatography Holdings Aps, Thermo Fisher Scientific Chromatography Holdings S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus I Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus II Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus III C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus III Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus IV C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus V C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Denmark Senior Holdings ApS, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie 1 Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie Financing S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Europe GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC Finance C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSIR Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSIR Financing S.a.r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSUKHCO Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Falcon Senior Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Finance Company BV, Thermo Fisher Scientific GENEART GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Germany BV & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific HR Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings (Cayman) I, Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings (Cayman) II , Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings Europe Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific IT Services GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific India Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific India Pvt Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Malta) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Sweden) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Sweden) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments Malta (Sweden Financing) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Invitrogen Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings I B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings III B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific K.K., Thermo Fisher Scientific Korea Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific LSI Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life CV GP Holdings II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life CV GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Enterprises C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Enterprises GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing (Cayman), Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings III C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International Holdings I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments I S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments III S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments IV S.a.r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta Holding I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta Holding II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments US Financing I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments US Financing II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life NL Holdings GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Netherlands Holding C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior GP Holdings II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Switzerland Holdings GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Tech Korea Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Enterprise Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment UK I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment UK II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investments Holding LP, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Israel Investment I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Israel Investment II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Luxembourg Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Enterprise Holdings S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg German Holdings S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Life Technologies UK Holding S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Sweden Holdings I S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Sweden Holdings II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Venture Holdings I S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Venture Holdings II S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Malta Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Messtechnik GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Mexico City S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Middle East Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Milano Srl, Thermo Fisher Scientific NHK Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific New Zealand Holdings, Thermo Fisher Scientific New Zealand Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Norway Holdings AS, Thermo Fisher Scientific Norway US Investments LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Odyssey Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Odyssey Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Operating Company LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Oy, Thermo Fisher Scientific PN2 C.V, Thermo Fisher Scientific PN2 LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Panama I Cayman Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Peru S.R.L., Thermo Fisher Scientific Pte. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Re Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific SL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Senior Financing LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Senior Holdings Australia LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific South Africa Proprietary Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific SpA, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Holdings Luxembourg I S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Holdings Luxembourg II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Investments Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Switzerland Holdings C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific TR Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Taiwan Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific West Palm Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Wissenschaftliche Gerate GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Worldwide Investments (Cayman), Thermo Fisher Scientific eCommerce Solutions LLC , Thermo Fisher Senior Canada Holdings LLC, Thermo Foundation Inc., Thermo Gamma-Metrics Holdings Pty Ltd., Thermo Gamma-Metrics LLC, Thermo Gamma-Metrics Pty Ltd, Thermo Holding European Operations LLC, Thermo Hypersil Ltd, Thermo Hypersil-Keystone LLC, Thermo Informatics Asia Pacific Pty Ltd., Thermo Instrument Controls de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Thermo Kevex X-Ray LLC, Thermo Keytek LLC, Thermo LabSystems Inc., Thermo LabSystems S.A., Thermo Life Science International Trading (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Thermo Life Sciences AB, Thermo Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Thermo MF Physics LLC, Thermo Measurement Ltd, Thermo Measuretech Canada Inc., Thermo Neslab LLC, Thermo Nicolet Limited, Thermo Onix Limited, Thermo Optek (Australia) Pty Ltd., Thermo Optek Limited, Thermo Optek S.A., Thermo Orion Inc., Thermo Portable Holdings LLC, Thermo Power Corporation, Thermo Process Instruments GP LLC, Thermo Process Instruments L.P., Thermo Projects Limited, Thermo Quest S.A., Thermo Radiometrie Limited, Thermo Ramsey Italia S.r.l., Thermo Ramsey LLC, Thermo Ramsey S.A., Thermo Re Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Pte Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Sdn Bhd, Thermo Scientific Portable Analytical Instruments Inc., Thermo Scientific Services Inc., Thermo Securities Corporation, Thermo Sentron Canada Inc., Thermo Sentron Limited, Thermo Shandon Inc., Thermo Shandon Limited, Thermo Suomi Holding B.V., Thermo TLH (UK) Limited, Thermo TLH L.P., Thermo Trace Pty Ltd., Thermo-Fisher Biochemical Product (Beijing) Co. Ltd., ThermoLase LLC, ThermoSpectra Limited, Trek Diagnostic Systems LLC, Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd., Trek Holding Company II Ltd., Trek Holding Company Ltd., Trex Medical Corporation, USB Corporation, Union Lab Supplies Limited, United Diagnostics Inc., VG Systems Limited, Westover Scientific Inc., ZAO PE Biosystems, eBioscience GmbH, eBioscience Ltd, eBioscience SAS, and picoSpin LLC.The following companies are subsidiares of UnitedHealth Group: 1031387 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, 1070715 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, 1st Avenue Pharmacy Inc., 310 Canyon Medical, 310 Canyon Medical LLC, 4C MSO LLC, 4C Medical Group PLC, 5995 Minnetonka LLC, ABCO International Holdings LLC, ACN Group IPA of New York, ACN Group IPA of New York Inc., ACN Group of California, ACN Group of California Inc., AHJV, AHJV MSO, AHN Accontable Care Organization LLC, AHN Central Services LLC, AHN Target Holdings LLC, AMIL International, AMIL International S.a.r.l., APS  Assistencia Personalizada a Saude Ltda., ARC Infusion, ASC Holdings of New Jersey LLC, ASC Network LLC, ASI Global, ASI Global LLC, Access Administrators Inc., Access HealthSource Administrators Inc., Access HealthSource Inc., Access I.V., Administradora Clinica La Colina S.A.S., Administradora Country S.A., Administradora Medica Centromed S.A., Advanced Care, Advanced Care Pharmacy, Advanced Pharma Inc., Advanced Surgery Center of Clifton LLC, Advanced Surgical Hospital LLC, Advantage Care Network Inc., Advocate Condell Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Advocate Sherman Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Advocate Southwest Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Advocate-SCA Partners LLC, Alere Health, Alere Health Improvement Company, Alere Healthcare of Illinois, Alere Wellbeing, Alere Wellology, Alere of New York, Aliansalud Entidad Promotora de Salud S.A., All Savers Insurance Company, All Savers Life Insurance Company of California, Alliance Surgical Center LLC, Aloha Surgical Center LLC, Ambient Healthcare, Ambient Healthcare Inc., Ambient Healthcare of Central Florida, Ambient Healthcare of Georgia, Ambient Healthcare of Northeast Florida, Ambient Healthcare of S. Florida, Ambient Healthcare of West Florida, Ambient Holdings, Ambient Holdings Inc., Ambient Nursing Services, AmeriChoice, AmeriChoice Corporation, AmeriChoice Health Services, AmeriChoice of Connecticut, AmeriChoice of New Jersey, AmeriChoice of New Jersey Inc., American Health Network of Indiana Care Organization LLC, American Health Network of Indiana II LLC, American Health Network of Indiana LLC, American Health Network of Ohio Care Organization LLC, American Health Network of Ohio II LLC, American Health Network of Ohio LLC, Amico Saude Ltda., Amil, Amil Assistencia Medica Internacional S.A., Amil Lifesciences Participacoes Ltda., Antelope Valley Surgery Center L.P., Analisis Clinicos ML S.A.C., Apothecary Holdings Inc., Apothecary Shop of Phoenix Inc., AppleCare Medical Management, AppleCare Medical Management LLC, Aquitania Chilean Holding SpA, Arise Physician Group, Arizona Physicians IPA, Arizona Physicians IPA Inc., AssuranceRx, AssuranceRx LLC, Athens ASC Holdings LLC, Audax Health Solutions, Audax Health Solutions LLC, Austin Center for Outpatient Surgery L.P., Avella Patient Access Program Inc., Avella Specialty Pharmacy, Avella of Austin Inc., Avella of Columbus Inc., Avella of Deer Valley Inc., Avella of Denver Inc., Avella of Gilbert Inc., Avella of Las Vegas II Inc., Avella of Orlando Inc., Avella of Phoenix III Inc., Avella of Sacramento Inc., Avella of Scottsdale Inc., Avella of St. Louis Inc., Avella of Tampa LLC, Avella of Tucson II Inc., Avella of Tucson Inc., Aveta Arizona, Aveta Health Solutions Inc., Aveta Inc., Aveta Kansas City, Aveta Tennessee, AxelaCare Health Solutions, AxelaCare Intermediate Holdings, AxelaCare Intermediate Holdings LLC, AxelaCare LLC, B.R.A.S.S. Partnership in Commendam, Banmedica Colombia SpA, Banmedica Internacional SpA, Banmedica S.A., Beach Surgical Holdings III LLC, Behavioral Healthcare Options, Behavioral Healthcare Options Inc., Belleville Surgical Center Ltd. an Illinois Limited Partnership, Benefit Administration for the Self Employed L.L.C., Benefitter Insurance Solutions Inc., Birmingham Outpatient Surgical Center LLC, Blackstone Valley Surgicare GP LLC, Blue Ridge GP LLC, Bordeaux (Barbados) Holdings I SRL, Bordeaux (Barbados) Holdings II SRL, Bordeaux (Barbados) Holdings III SRL, Bordeaux Holding SpA, Bordeaux International Holdings Inc., Bordeaux UK Holdings I Limited, Bordeaux UK Holdings II Limited, Bordeaux UK Holdings III Limited, Bosque Medical Center Ltda., Brandon Ambulatory Surgery Center LC, BriovaRx, BriovaRx, BriovaRx Infusion Services, BriovaRx Infusion Services 102 LLC, BriovaRx Infusion Services 200 Inc., BriovaRx Infusion Services 204 Inc., BriovaRx Infusion Services 209 Inc., BriovaRx Infusion Services 305 LLC, BriovaRx Infusion Services 402 LLC, BriovaRx Infusion Services Inc., BriovaRx Specialty LLC, BriovaRx of California, BriovaRx of California Inc., BriovaRx of Florida, BriovaRx of Florida Inc., BriovaRx of Georgia, BriovaRx of Georgia LLC, BriovaRx of Hawaii, BriovaRx of Indiana, BriovaRx of Louisiana, BriovaRx of Louisiana L.L.C., BriovaRx of Maine, BriovaRx of Maine Inc., BriovaRx of Massachusetts, BriovaRx of Massachusetts LLC, BriovaRx of Nevada, BriovaRx of New York, BriovaRx of New York Inc., BriovaRx of Texas, BriovaRx of Texas Inc., CDC Holdings Colombia S.A.S., CLISA  Clinica de Santo Antonio S.A., CMO  Centro Medico de Oftalmologia S/S Ltda., CMS  Central de Manipulacao e Servicos Farmaceuticos S.A., CNIC Health Solutions Inc., COI Participacoes S.A., COI  Clinicas Oncologicas Integradas S.A., Cabin Enterprises LLC, Cabin Holdings LLC, California MedTrans Network IPA LLC, California MedTrans Network MSO LLC, California Medical Group Insurance Company Risk Retention Group, Camp Hill-SCA Centers LLC, Capital City Medical Group L.L.C., Cardio Management, Cardio Management Inc., Care Improvement Plus Group Management, Care Improvement Plus Group Management LLC, Care Improvement Plus South Central Insurance Company, Care Improvement Plus Wisconsin Insurance Company, Care Improvement Plus of Texas Insurance Company, Casa de Saude Santa Therezinha Ltda., Casa de Saude Santa Therezinha S.A., Castle Rock SurgiCenter LLC, Catalyst360, Catalyst360 LLC, Catamaran Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Catamaran Health Solutions, Catamaran Holdings I, Catamaran IPA III, Catamaran Mail, Catamaran PBM of Illinois II, Catamaran PBM of Puerto Rico, Catamaran PD of Pennsylvania, Catamaran PD of Puerto Rico, Catamaran Rebate Management, Catamaran S.a.r.l., Catamaran Senior Services, Catamaran of Pennsylvania, Cedar Park Surgery Center LLC, Cemed Care - Empressa de Atendimento Clinico Geral Ltda., Cemed Care  Empresa de Atendimento Clinico Geral Ltda., Central Indiana Care Organization LLC, Central Ohio Care Organization LLC, Central de Compras SpA, CentriHealth Corporation, CentriHealth UK Limited, CentrifyHealth LLC, Centro Medico Hospitalar Pitangueiras Ltda., Centro Medico Odontologico Americano S.A.C., Centro Medico PJ Ltda., Centro de Entrenamiento en Reanimacion y Prevencion Limitada (CERP), Centro de Servicios Compartidos Banmedica S.A., Centromed Quilpue S.A., Centros Medicos y Dentales Multimed Ltda., Centurion Casualty Company, Channel Islands Surgicenter L.P., Channel Islands Surgicenter Properties LLC, Charleston Surgery Properties LLC, Charlotte-SC LLC, Childrens Surgery Center LLC, ChinaGate (Hong Kong) Limited, ChinaGate Company Limited, Citrus Regional Surgery Center L.P., Clinica Oftalmologica Danilo de Castro Sociedade Simples, Clinical Partners of Colorado Springs LLC, Clinica Alameda S.A., Clinica Bio Bio S.A., Clinica Ciudad del Mar S.A., Clinica Davila y Servicios Medicos S.A., Clinica Medico Cirurgica de Santa Tecla S.A., Clinica San Borja (La Esperanza del Peru S.A.), Clinica San Felipe S.A., Clinica Santa Maria S.A., Clinica Sanchez Ferrer S.A., Clinica Vespucio S.A., Clinica del Country S.A., Coachella Valley Physicians of PrimeCare, Coachella Valley Physicians of PrimeCare Inc., Coalition For Advanced Pharmacy Services, Coalition for Advanced Pharmacy Services Inc., Coastal Physicians Management Inc., Collaborative Care Holdings, Collaborative Care Holdings LLC, Collaborative Care Services, Collaborative Care Services Inc., Collaborative Care Solutions, Collaborative Realty, Collaborative Realty LLC, Colmedica Medicina Prepagada, Colonial Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Colorado Innovative Physician Solutions Inc., Colorado Springs Surgery Center Ltd., Comfort Care Transportation, Comfort Care Transportation LLC, Commonwealth Administrators, Connecticut Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Connecticut Surgery Properties LLC, Connecticut Surgical Center LLC, Connextions, Connextions HCI, Constructora e Inmobiliaria Magapoq S.A., Consumer Wellness Solutions Inc., Country Scan Ltda., Crescent Drug Corp., Cypress Care, Cypress Care Inc., DBP Services of New York IPA, DBP Services of New York IPA Inc., DTC Surgery Center LLC, DWIC of Tampa Bay, DWIC of Tampa Bay Inc., DaVita Magan Management Inc., Danbury Surgical Center L.P., Day-Op Surgery Consulting Company, Day-Op Surgery Consulting Company LLC, Definity Health, Dental Benefit Providers, Dental Benefit Providers Inc., Dental Benefit Providers of California, Dental Benefit Providers of California Inc., Dental Benefit Providers of Illinois, Dental Benefit Providers of Illinois Inc., Derry Surgical Center LLC, Diagnostico Ecotomografico Centromed Ltda., Diasnostico por Imagenes Centromed Ltda., Dilab Medicina Nuclear Ltda., Diplomat Pharmacy, Distance Learning Network, Distance Learning Network Inc., Doctor + S.A.C., Dry Creek Surgery Center LLC, Dublin Surgery Center LLC, Duncan Printing Services, Duncan Printing Services LLC, E Street Endoscopy LLC, ELG FZE, EP Campus I, EP Campus I LLC, East Brunswick Surgery Center LLC, Electronic Network Systems, Electronic Network Systems Inc., Elual Participacoes S.A., Empire Physician Management Company, Empire Physician Management Company LLC, Employers Health Choice PPO Inc., Empremedica S. A., Endoscopy Center Affiliates Inc., Enterprise Life Insurance Company, Equian, Equian LLC, Equian Parent Corp., Esho  Empresa de Servicos Hospitalares S.A., Etho  Empresa de Tecnologia Hospitalar Ltda., Evercare Collaborative Solutions, Evercare Collaborative Solutions Inc., Everett MSO Inc., Excellion Servicos Biomedicos Ltda., Excellion Servicos Biomedicos S.A., Excelsior Insurance Brokerage Inc., Executive Health Resources, Executive Health Resources Inc., Executive Surgery Center LLC, Eye Clinic Oftalmologia Clinico Cirurgica e Diagnostico Ltda., FMG Holdings, FMG Holdings LLC, FOR HEALTH OF ARIZONA, Family Health Care Services, Family Home Hospice, Family Home Hospice Inc., First Rx Specialty & Mail Services, Florida MedTrans Network LLC, Florida MedTrans Network MSO LLC, For Health, For Health Inc., For Health of Arizona Inc., Fortified Provider Network Inc., Fortify Technologies Asia LLC, Fortify Technologies LLC, Foundation Financial Services Inc., Franklin Surgical Center LLC, Freedom Life Insurance Company of America, Freeway Surgicenter of Houston LLC, Frontier MEDEX Limited, Frontier Medex Tanzania Limited, FrontierMEDEX, FrontierMEDEX (RMS), FrontierMEDEX (RMS) Inc., FrontierMEDEX Government Services, FrontierMEDEX Government Services LLC, FrontierMEDEX Inc., FrontierMEDEX Kenya Limited, FrontierMEDEX US, FrontierMEDEX US Inc., Fundacion Banmedica, GRANTS PASS SURGERY CENTER LLC, Gadsden Surgery Center LLC, Gadsden Surgery Center Ltd., Gainesville Surgery Center L.P., Gainesville Surgery Properties LLC, Genoa, Genoa Healthcare Inc., Genoa Healthcare LLC, Genoa QoL Wholesale LLC, Genoa Technology (Canada) Inc., Genoa Technology Inc., Genoa Telepsychiatry Inc., Genoa of Arkansas LLC, Glenwood Surgical Center L.P., Glenwood-SC Inc., Golden Outlook, Golden Outlook Inc., Golden Rule Financial Corporation, Golden Rule Insurance Company, Golden Triangle Surgicenter L.P., Grapevine Finance LLC, Greater Hartford ASC LLC, Grove Place Surgery Center L.L.C., Guardian Health Systems Limited Partnership, H&W Indemnity (SPC), H&W Indemnity (SPC) Ltd., H.I. Investments Holding Company LLC, HCP ACO California LLC, HCP ACO Nevada LLC, HCentive Technology India Private Limited, HMI NewCo LLC, Harken Health Insurance Company, Hayes-Strub LLC, Health Business Systems, Health Care-ONE Insurance Agency Inc., Health Inventures Employment Solutions LLC, Health Inventures LLC, Health Net Insurance of New York, Health Net Services (Bermuda) Ltd., Health Plan of Nevada, Health Plan of Nevada Inc., Health Technology Analysts Pty Limited, HealthAllies, HealthAllies Inc., HealthCare Partners ASC-LB LLC, HealthCare Partners Management Services California LLC, HealthCare Partners RE LLC, HealthFirst IPA Inc., HealthMarkets Group Inc., HealthMarkets Inc., HealthMarkets Insurance Agency Inc., HealthMarkets LLC, HealthMarkets NewCo Inc., HealthMarkets Services Inc., HealthSCOPE Holdings Inc., HealthScope Benefits Inc., Healthcare Partners Plan of Nevada Inc., Healthcare Solutions Inc., Heartland Heart and Vascular LLC, Help S.A., Help Service S.A., Highlands Ranch Healthcare, Highlands Ranch Healthcare LLC, Home Care I.V. of Bend, Home Infusion With Heart, Home Medical S.A., Hospice Inspiris Holdings, Hospice Inspiris Holdings Inc., Hospitais Associados de Pernambuco Ltda., Hospital Alvorada de Taguatinga Ltda., Hospital Ana Costa S.A., Hospital Maternidade Promater Ltda., Hospital Samaritano de Sao Paulo Ltda., Hospital Santa Helena S.A., Hospital de Clinicas de Jacarepagua Ltda., Humedica, Humedica Inc., Hygeia Corporation, Hygeia Corporation (Canada), Hygeia Corporation (DE), Hygeia Corporation (Ontario), INOV8 Surgical at Memorial City LLC, INSPIRIS of New York IPA, INSPIRIS of New York Management, INSPIRIS of New York Management Inc., INSPIRIS of Texas Physician Group, IRX Financing I LLC, Illinois Independent Care Network, Imed Star  Servicos de Desempenho Organizacional Ltda., Impel Consulting Experts, Impel Consulting Experts L.L.C., Impel Management Services L.L.C., Indian River Surgery Center Ltd., Indian River Surgery Properties LLC, Indiana Care Organization LLC, Infusource, Ingram & Associates, Ingram & Associates LLC, Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3001 S.A., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3600 Ltda., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo S.A., Inmobiliaria Clinica Santa Maria S.A., Inmobiliaria Vinamed Ltda., Inmobiliaria e Inversiones Alameda S.A., Inspiris, Inspiris Inc., Inspiris Services Company, Inspiris of Tennessee, Instituto do Radium de Cammpinas Ltda, International Psychological Services Pty Limited, Inversiones Clinicas Santa Maria S.A., Isapre Banmedica S.A., Isapre Vida Tres S.A., Johnston Surgicare L.P., Joliet Surgery Center Limited Partnership, LHI, Laboratorio ROE S.A., Laboratorios Medicos Amed Quilpue S.A., LifePrint Health, LifePrint Health Inc., LifeStyles Marketing Group Inc., LifeWell Ltd. Co., Lifeprint Accountable Care Organization, Lifeprint Accountable Care Organization LLC, Lifeprint East, Lifeprint East Inc., Logistics Health Inc., Lotten-Eyes Oftalmologia Clinica e Cirurgica Ltda., Louisville S.C. Ltd., Louisville-SC Properties Inc., Loyola Ambulatory Surgery Center at Oakbrook Inc., Lusiadas - Parcerias Cascais S.A., Lusiadas A.C.E., Lusiadas S.A., Lusiadas SGPS S.A., MAMSI Insurance Resources, MAMSI Life and Health Insurance Company, MD Ops, MD Ops Inc., MD-Individual Practice Association, MD-Individual Practice Association Inc., ME AHS UC LLC, MEDEX Insurance Services, MEDEX Insurance Services Inc., MGH/SCA LLC, MHC Real Estate Holdings, MHC Real Estate Holdings LLC, MIAMI SURGERY CENTER LLC, MSLA Management LLC, MXMD Centros De Cancer, Mamoeco  Mamografia e Ecografia Centro de Diagnostico, Managed Physical Network, Managed Physical Network Inc., March Holdings, March Holdings Inc., March Vision Care, March Vision Care Inc., Marin Surgery Holdings Inc., Maryland Ambulatory Centers, Maryland-SCA Centers LLC, Massachusetts Assurance Company Ltd. PIC, Massachusetts Avenue Surgery Center LLC, Mat-Rx Development, Mat-Rx Fort Worth GP, MedExpress Development, MedExpress Development LLC, MedExpress Urgent Care Alabama LLC, MedExpress Urgent Care Inc. - Ohio, MedExpress Urgent Care Maine Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care New Hampshire Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care of Boynton Beach, MedExpress Urgent Care of Boynton Beach LLC, MedSynergies, MedSynergies LLC, MedSynergies North Texas, Medalliance Net Ltda, Medalliance Net Ltda., Medica Health Plans of Florida, Medica Health Plans of Florida Inc., Medica HealthCare Plans, Medica HealthCare Plans Inc., Medical Clinic of North Texas PLLC, Medical Hilfe S.A., Medical Preparatory School of Allied Health, Medical Support Los Angeles Inc., Medical Surgical Centers of America Inc., Medical Transportation Services, Medical Transportation Services LLC, Medication Management Systems Inc., Melbourne Surgery Center LLC, Memorial City Holdings LLC, Memorial City Partners LLC, Memphis-SC LLC, Memphis-SP LLC, Mesquite Liberty LLC, Metro I Stone Management, Metropolitan Medical Partners LLC, Metropolitan Medical Transportation IPA LLC, Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, Midwest Center for Day Surgery LLC, Mile High SurgiCenter LLC, Mississippi Surgery Holdings LLC, Mississippi Surgical Center Limited Partnership, Mobile Medical Professionals, Modern Medical Inc., Monarch Management Services, Monarch Management Services Inc., Montgomery Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Mountain View Medical Group LLC, Mt. Pleasant Surgery Center L.P., Multiangio Ltda., Muskogee Surgical Investors LLC, Mustang Razorback Holdings, Mustang Razorback Holdings Inc., My Wellness Solutions LLC, NAMM Holdings, NAMM Holdings Inc., NSC Fayetteville LLC, NSC Greensboro LLC, NSC Lancaster LLC, NSC Seattle Inc., NSC Upland LLC, Nashville-SCA Surgery Centers Inc., National Foundation Life Insurance Company, National MedTrans LLC, National Pacific Dental, National Pacific Dental Inc., National Surgery Centers LLC, Neighborhood Health Partnership, Neighborhood Health Partnership Inc., Netwerkes, Netwerkes LLC, Nevada Medical Services LLC, Nevada Pacific Dental, New Orleans Regional Physician Hospital Organization L.L.C., New West Physicians Inc., Newton Holdings LLC, North American Medical Management - Illinois, North American Medical Management California, North American Medical Management California Inc., North Puget Sound Center for Sleep Disorders LLC, North Puget Sound Oncology Equipment Leasing Company LLC, Northern Nevada Health Network, Northern Nevada Health Network Inc., Northern Rockies Surgicenter Inc., Northwest Surgicare LLC, Northwest Surgicare Ltd., Nutritional/Parenteral Home Care, Nutritional/Parenteral Home Care of Huntsville, OC Cardiology Practice Partners LLC, OSB  Tecnologia e Servicos de Suporte Ltda., Omesa S.A., OmniClaim LLC, Oncocare S.A.C., OneNet PPO, OneNet PPO LLC, Optimum Choice, Optimum Choice Inc., Optum, Optum Bank, Optum Bank Inc., Optum Biometrics, Optum Biometrics Inc., Optum Care Inc., Optum Care Services Company, Optum Clinical Services, Optum Clinics Holdings, Optum Clinics Holdings Inc., Optum Clinics Intermediate Holdings, Optum Clinics Intermediate Holdings Inc., Optum Digital Health Holdings LLC, Optum Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Global Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Global Solutions (India) Private Limited, Optum Global Solutions (Philippines), Optum Global Solutions (Philippines) Inc., Optum Global Solutions International B.V., Optum Government Solutions, Optum Government Solutions Inc., Optum Growth Partners LLC, Optum Health & Technology (Australia) Pty Ltd, Optum Health & Technology (Hong Kong) Limited, Optum Health & Technology (India) Private Limited, Optum Health & Technology (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Optum Health & Technology (UK) Limited, Optum Health & Technology (US), Optum Health & Technology (US) LLC, Optum Health & Technology FZ-LLC, Optum Health & Technology Holdings (US), Optum Health & Technology Holdings (US) Inc., Optum Health & Technology Servicos do Brasil Ltda., Optum Health Services (Canada) Ltd., Optum Health Solutions (Australia) Pty Ltd, Optum Health Solutions (UK) Limited, Optum Health and Technology FZ-LLC, Optum Healthcare of Illinois, Optum Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Optum Hospice Pharmacy Services, Optum Hospice Pharmacy Services LLC, Optum Inc., Optum Infusion Services 100 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 101 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 103 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 201 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 202 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 203 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 205 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 206 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 207 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 208 Inc., Optum Infusion Services 301 LP, Optum Infusion Services 302 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 308 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 401 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 403 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 404 LLC, Optum Infusion Services 501 Inc., Optum Insurance of Ohio, Optum Insurance of Ohio Inc., Optum Labs, Optum Labs Dimensions, Optum Labs Dimensions Inc., Optum Labs Inc., Optum Labs International (UK) Ltd., Optum Life Sciences (Canada) Inc., Optum Management Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Optum Management Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Optum Networks of New Jersey Inc., Optum Nevada Accountable Care Organization LLC, Optum Operations (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care Inc., Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Pennsylvania, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Pennsylvania Inc., Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Texas, Optum Palliative and Hospice Care of Texas Inc., Optum Perks LLC, Optum Pharmacy 701 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 702 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 703 LLC, Optum Pharmacy 705 LLC, Optum Public Sector Solutions, Optum Public Sector Solutions Inc., Optum Rocket, Optum Rocket Inc., Optum Senior Services LLC, Optum Services, Optum Services (Ireland) Limited, Optum Services (Puerto Rico) LLC, Optum Services Inc., Optum Solutions UK Holdings Limited, Optum Solutions do Brasil  Tecnologia e Servicos de Suporte Ltda., Optum Technology, Optum Technology LLC, Optum UK Solutions Group Limited, Optum Women's and Children's Health, Optum Women's and Children's Health LLC, Optum of New York Inc., Optum360, Optum360 LLC, Optum360 Services, Optum360 Services Inc., Optum360 Solutions LLC, OptumCare ACO Florida LLC, OptumCare ACO Holdings LLC, OptumCare ACO New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Clinical Trials LLC, OptumCare Colorado ASC LLC, OptumCare Colorado LLC, OptumCare Colorado Springs LLC, OptumCare Endoscopy Center New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Florida CI LLC, OptumCare Florida LLC, OptumCare Health Plan of California Inc., OptumCare Holdings Colorado LLC, OptumCare Holdings LLC, OptumCare Holdings New Mexico LLC, OptumCare Management LLC, OptumCare New Mexico LLC, OptumCare New York IPA Inc., OptumCare South Florida LLC, OptumHealth Care Solutions, OptumHealth Care Solutions LLC, OptumHealth Financial Services, OptumHealth Financial Services Inc., OptumHealth Holdings, OptumHealth Holdings LLC, OptumHealth International B.V., OptumInsight, OptumInsight Holdings, OptumInsight Holdings LLC, OptumInsight Inc., OptumInsight India Private Limited, OptumInsight Life Sciences, OptumInsight Life Sciences Inc., OptumRx, OptumRx Administrative Services, OptumRx Administrative Services LLC, OptumRx Discount Card Services, OptumRx Discount Card Services LLC, OptumRx Group Holdings, OptumRx Group Holdings Inc., OptumRx Health Solutions LLC, OptumRx Holdings, OptumRx Holdings I LLC, OptumRx Holdings LLC, OptumRx Home Delivery of Illinois, OptumRx Home Delivery of Ohio, OptumRx Home Delivery of Ohio LLC, OptumRx IPA III Inc., OptumRx Inc., OptumRx NY IPA, OptumRx NY IPA Inc., OptumRx PBM of Illinois, OptumRx PBM of Illinois Inc., OptumRx PBM of Maryland, OptumRx PBM of Maryland LLC, OptumRx PBM of Pennsylvania, OptumRx PBM of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumRx PBM of Puerto Rico LLC, OptumRx PBM of Wisconsin, OptumRx PBM of Wisconsin LLC, OptumRx PD of Maryland, OptumRx PD of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumRx Pharmacy, OptumRx Pharmacy Inc., OptumRx Pharmacy of Nevada, OptumRx Pharmacy of Nevada Inc., OptumRx of Pennsylvania LLC, OptumServe Technology Services Inc., Orlando Center for Outpatient Surgery L.P., OrthoNet Holdings, OrthoNet Holdings Inc., OrthoNet LLC, OrthoNet New York IPA, OrthoNet New York IPA Inc., OrthoNet Services, OrthoNet Services Inc., OrthoNet West, OrthoNet West Inc., OrthoNet of the Mid-Atlantic, OrthoNet of the South, OrthoNet of the South Inc., Ovations, Ovations Inc., Oxford Benefit Management, Oxford Benefit Management Inc., Oxford Health Insurance, Oxford Health Insurance Inc., Oxford Health Plans (CT), Oxford Health Plans (CT) Inc., Oxford Health Plans (NJ), Oxford Health Plans (NJ) Inc., Oxford Health Plans (NY), Oxford Health Plans (NY) Inc., Oxford Health Plans LLC, P2 Lower Acquisition, P2P Link LLC, PCCCV, PCCCV Inc., PCN DE Corp., PHC Subsidiary Holdings, PHC Subsidiary Holdings LLC, PHYS Holding Corp., PHYSICIANS DAY SURGERY CENTER LLC, PMI Acquisition, PMI Acquisition LLC, PMSI, PMSI Holdco II, PMSI Holdings, PMSI Holdings LLC, PMSI LLC, PMSI Settlement Solutions, PMSI Settlement Solutions LLC, POMCO Inc., POMCO Network Inc., PPH Holdings LLC, PacifiCare Health Systems, PacifiCare Life Assurance Company, PacifiCare Life and Health Insurance Company, PacifiCare of Arizona, PacifiCare of Arizona Inc., PacifiCare of Colorado, PacifiCare of Colorado Inc., PacifiCare of Nevada, PacifiCare of Nevada Inc., Pacific Casualty Company Inc., Pacifico S.A. Entidad Prestadora de Salud, Paoli Ambulatory Surgery Center, Paoli Surgery Center L.P., Parkway Surgery Center LLC, Pasteur Plaza Surgery Center GP Inc., PatientsLikeMe, PatientsLikeMe LLC, Patrimonio Autonomo Nueva Clinica - PANC., Payment Resolution Services, Payment Resolution Services LLC, Peoples Health, Peoples Health Inc., Pharmaceutical Care Network, Pharmacy Review Services, Pharmacy Software Holdco Inc., PhyServe Holdings, Physician Alliance of the Rockies LLC, Physician Care Partners, Physicians Health Choice of Texas, Physicians Health Choice of Texas LLC, Physicians Health Plan of Maryland, Physicians Health Plan of Maryland Inc., Physicians Plaza Holdings LLC, Plano de Saude Ana Costa Ltda., Plus One Health Management Puerto Rico, Plus One Health Management Puerto Rico Inc., Plus One Holdings, Plus One Holdings Inc., Polar II Fundo de Investimento em Participacoes, Polar II Fundo de Investimento em Participacoes Multiestrategia, Polo Holdco, Polo Holdco LLC, Pomerado Outpatient Surgical Center Inc., Pomerado Outpatient Surgical Center L.P., Precision Dialing Services Inc., Preferred Care Partners, Preferred Care Partners Holding, Preferred Care Partners Holding Corp., Preferred Care Partners Inc., Preferred Care Partners Medical Group, Preferred Care Partners Medical Group Inc., Premier Choice ACO, Premier Choice ACO Inc., Premier Surgery Center of Louisville L.P., Prime Health, Prime Health Inc., PrimeCare Medical Network, PrimeCare Medical Network Inc., PrimeCare of Citrus Valley, PrimeCare of Citrus Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Corona, PrimeCare of Corona Inc., PrimeCare of Hemet Valley, PrimeCare of Hemet Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Inland Valley, PrimeCare of Inland Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Moreno Valley, PrimeCare of Moreno Valley Inc., PrimeCare of Redlands, PrimeCare of Redlands Inc., PrimeCare of Riverside, PrimeCare of Riverside Inc., PrimeCare of San Bernardino, PrimeCare of San Bernardino Inc., PrimeCare of Sun City, PrimeCare of Sun City Inc., PrimeCare of Temecula, PrimeCare of Temecula Inc., ProHEALTH Fitness of Lake Success, ProHEALTH Fitness of Lake Success LLC, ProHEALTH Medical Management LLC, ProHealth Medical Management, ProHealth Physicians, ProHealth Physicians ACO, ProHealth Physicians ACO LLC, ProHealth Physicians Inc., ProHealth Proton Center Management, ProHealth Proton Center Management LLC, Procura Management, Procura Management Inc., Progressive Enterprises Holdings, Progressive Enterprises Holdings Inc., Progressive Medical, Progressive Medical LLC, Progressive Solutions, Promotora Country S.A., Pronetics Health Care Group, Pronounced Health Solutions Inc., Prosemedic S.A.C., Prospero Management Services LLC, Pueblo-SCA Surgery Center LLC, Pulse Platform LLC, QoL Acquisition Holdings Corp., Quality Software Services, QuarterMaster Newco LLC, R&H Family Fitness Unlimited LLC, Rally Health, Rally Health Inc., Real Appeal Inc., Recaudacion y Cobranzas Honodav Ltda., Redlands Ambulatory Surgery Center, Redlands-SCA Surgery Centers Inc., Reliant MSO LLC, Research Surgical Center LLC, River Valley ASC LLC, Riverside Electronic Healthcare Resources Inc., Riverside Medical Management, Riverside Medical Management LLC, Riverside Surgical Center of Meadowlands LLC, Riverside Surgical Center of Newark LLC, Rocky Mountain Health Maintenance Organization Incorporated, Rocky Mountain HealthCare Options Inc., SC Affiliates LLC, SCA Alaska Surgery Center inc., SCA Athens LLC, SCA Austin Holdings LLC, SCA BOSC Holdings LLC, SCA California Surgical Holdings LLC, SCA Capital LLC, SCA Cedar Park Holdings LLC, SCA Clifton LLC, SCA Danbury Surgical Center LLC, SCA Development LLC, SCA EHSC Holdings LLC, SCA EWASC Holdings LLC, SCA Hays Holdings LLC, SCA Heartland Holdings LLC, SCA HoldCo Inc., SCA Holding Company Inc., SCA Holdings Inc., SCA IEC Holdings LLC, SCA Indiana Holdings LLC, SCA Nashville ASC LLC, SCA Pacific Holdings Inc., SCA Pennsylvania Holdings LLC, SCA Premier Surgery Center of Louisville LLC, SCA ROCS Holdings LLC, SCA Rockledge JV LLC, SCA SSC Holdings LLC, SCA SSSC Holdings LLC, SCA Sage Medical LLC, SCA Sage Medical MSO LLC, SCA Southwestern PA LLC, SCA Specialists of Florida LLC, SCA Stonegate Holdings LLC, SCA Surgery Center of Cullman LLC, SCA Surgery Holdings LLC, SCA Surgery Partners LLC, SCA Surgicare of Laguna Hills LLC, SCA Teammate Support Network, SCA eCode Solutions Private Limited, SCA of Clarksville Inc., SCA-Albuquerque Surgery Properties Inc., SCA-Alliance LLC, SCA-Anne Arundel LLC, SCA-Applecare Partners LLC, SCA-Bethesda LLC, SCA-Blue Ridge LLC, SCA-Bonita Springs LLC, SCA-Brandon LLC, SCA-Castle Rock LLC, SCA-Central Florida LLC, SCA-Charleston LLC, SCA-Chatham LLC, SCA-Chevy Chase LLC, SCA-Citrus Inc., SCA-Colorado Springs LLC, SCA-Connecticut Partners LLC, SCA-DRY CREEK LLC, SCA-Davenport LLC, SCA-Denver LLC, SCA-Denver Physicians Holdings LLC, SCA-Derry LLC, SCA-Doral LLC, SCA-Downey LLC, SCA-Dublin LLC, SCA-Encinitas Inc., SCA-Eugene Inc., SCA-First Coast LLC, SCA-Florence LLC, SCA-Fort Collins Inc., SCA-Fort Walton Inc., SCA-Franklin LLC, SCA-Frederick LLC, SCA-Freeway Holdings LLC, SCA-Ft. Myers LLC, SCA-GRANTS PASS LLC, SCA-Gainesville LLC, SCA-Gladiolus LLC, SCA-Grove Place LLC, SCA-Hagerstown LLC, SCA-Hamden LLC, SCA-Hilton Head LLC, SCA-Honolulu LLC, SCA-Houston Executive LLC, SCA-IT Holdings LLC, SCA-Illinois LLC, SCA-JPM Holdings LLC, SCA-Kissing Camels Holdings LLC, SCA-MC VBP Inc., SCA-Main Street LLC, SCA-Marina del Rey LLC, SCA-Mecklenburg Development Corp., SCA-Memorial City LLC, SCA-Merritt LLC, SCA-Midlands LLC, SCA-Midway Management LLC, SCA-Mobile LLC, SCA-Mokena LLC, SCA-Mokena Properties LLC, SCA-Morris County LLC, SCA-Mt. Pleasant LLC, SCA-ND VBP Inc., SCA-Naperville LLC, SCA-Naples LLC, SCA-New Jersey LLC, SCA-Newport Beach LLC, SCA-Northeast Georgia Health LLC, SCA-PORTLAND LLC, SCA-Palm Beach LLC, SCA-Palm Beach MSO Holdings LLC, SCA-Paoli LLC, SCA-Phoenix LLC, SCA-Pocono LLC, SCA-Practice Partners Holdings LLC, SCA-River Valley LLC, SCA-Riverside LLC, SCA-Riverside Partners LLC, SCA-Rockville LLC, SCA-Sacred Heart Holdings LLC, SCA-San Diego Inc., SCA-San Luis Obispo LLC, SCA-Sand Lake LLC, SCA-Santa Rosa Inc., SCA-Shelby Development Corp., SCA-Somerset LLC, SCA-South Jersey LLC, SCA-Sparta LLC, SCA-Spartanburg Holdings LLC, SCA-St. Louis LLC, SCA-St. Lucie LLC, SCA-SurgiCare LLC, SCA-Swiftpath LLC, SCA-VERTA LLC, SCA-Wake Forest LLC, SCA-Western Connecticut LLC, SCA-Westover Hills LLC, SCA-Wilmington LLC, SCA-Wilson LLC, SCA-Winchester LLC, SCA-Winter Park Inc., SCA-Woodlands Holdings LLC, SCAI Holdings LLC, SCP Specialty Infusion, SCP Specialty Infusion LLC, SHC Atlanta LLC, SHC Austin Inc., SHC Hawthorn Inc., SHC Melbourne Inc., SPINETRACK 20/20 Inc., SRPS LLC, SXC Comet, Sacred Heart ASC LLC, Saden S.A., Salem Surgery Center LLC, Salveo Specialty Pharmacy, Salveo Specialty Pharmacy Inc., Sand Lake SurgiCenter LLC, Santa Cruz Endoscopy Center LLC, Santa Helena Assistencia Medica S.A., Santos Administracao e Participacoes S.A., Savvysherpa Administrative Services LLC, Savvysherpa Asia Inc., Savvysherpa LLC, Scanner Centromed S.A., ScripNet, ScriptSwitch Limited, Seisa Servicos Integrados de Saude Ltda., Senate Street Surgery Center LLC, Senior Benefits L.L.C., Senior Care Partners, Serquinox Holdings LLC, Serquinox LLC, Servicios Integrados de Salud Ltda., Servicios Medicos Amed Quilpue S.A., Servicios Medicos Bio Bio Limitada, Servicios Medicos Ciudad del Mar Ltda., Servicios Medicos Santa Maria Limitada, Servicios Medicos Vespucio Ltda., Servicios de Entrenamiento en Competencias Clinicas Ltda., SharedClarity LLC, Shelby Surgery Properties Inc., Sierra Health Services, Sierra Health Services Inc, Sierra Health Services Inc., Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company, Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company Inc., Sierra Health-Care Options, Sierra Health-Care Options Inc., Sierra Home Medical Products, Sierra Home Medical Products Inc., Sierra Nevada Administrators, Sierra Nevada Administrators Inc., Sirona Infusion, Sistema de Administracion Hospitalaria S.A.C., Small Business Insurance Advisors Inc., Sobam  Centro Medico Hospitalar S.A., Sociedad Editorial para la Ciencia Limitada., Sociedad de Inversiones Santa Maria S.A., Somerset Outpatient Surgery L.L.C., Southwest Medical Associates, Southwest Medical Associates Inc., Southwest Michigan Health Network Inc., Southwest Surgery Center LLC, Southwest Surgical Center of Bakersfield L.P., Space Coast Surgical Center Ltd., Specialists in Urology Surgery Center LLC, Specialized Pharmaceuticals Inc., Specialty Benefits, Specialty Benefits LLC, Spectera, Spectera Inc., Spectera of New York IPA, Spectera of New York IPA Inc., Spotlite, Spotlite Inc., St. Cloud Surgical Center LLC, StoneRiver P2P Link, StoneRiver Pharmacy Solutions, Stonegate Surgery Center L.P., Streamlines Health LLC, Summit Home Infusion, SunSurgery LLC, Surgery Center Holding LLC, Surgery Center at Cherry Creek LLC, Surgery Center at Kissing Camels LLC, Surgery Center of Boca Raton Inc., Surgery Center of Clarksville L.P., Surgery Center of Colorado Springs LLC, Surgery Center of Des Moines LLC, Surgery Center of Easton LLC, Surgery Center of Ellicott City Inc., Surgery Center of Louisville LLC, Surgery Center of Maui LLC, Surgery Center of Muskogee LLC, Surgery Center of Rockville L.L.C., Surgery Center of Southern Pines LLC, Surgery Center of Spokane LLC, Surgery Center of Summerlin LLC, Surgery Center of The Woodlands LLC, Surgery Center of Vero Beach Inc., Surgery Center of Wilmington LLC, Surgery Center of Wilmington Properties LLC, Surgery Centers of Des Moines Ltd. an Iowa Limited Partnership, Surgery Centers-West Holdings LLC, Surgical Care Affiliates, Surgical Care Affiliates LLC, Surgical Care Affiliates Political Action Committee, Surgical Care Partners of Melbourne LLC, Surgical Center of South Jersey Limited Partnership, Surgical Center of Tuscaloosa Holdings LLC, Surgical Health LLC, Surgical Health of Orlando LLC, Surgical Hospital Holdings of Oklahoma LLC, Surgicare LLC, Surgicare of Belleville LLC, Surgicare of Jackson LLC, Surgicare of Joliet Inc., Surgicare of La Veta Inc., Surgicare of Minneapolis LLC, Surgicare of Mobile LLC, Surgicare of Oceanside Inc., Surgicare of Owensboro LLC, Surgicare of Salem LLC, Surgicenters of Southern California Inc., Symphonix Health Holdings, Symphonix Health Holdings LLC, Symphonix Health Insurance, Symphonix Health Insurance Inc., THE SURGICAL CENTER OF THE TREASURE COAST L.L.C., TeamMD Holdings Inc., TeamMD Iowa Inc., TeamMD Physicians of Texas Inc., TeamUP Insurance Services Inc., Tecnologias de Informacion en Salud S.A., The Advisory Board (Chile) SpA, The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company, The Lewin Group, The Lewin Group Inc., The Magan Medical Group, The Outpatient Surgery Center of Hilton Head LLC, The Polyclinic MSO LLC, Thomas Johnson Surgery Center LLC, Thousand Oaks Endoscopy Center LLC, Three Rivers Holdings, Three Rivers Holdings Inc., Three Rivers Surgical Care L.P., Tmesys, Tmesys LLC, Topimagem Diagnostico por Imagem Ltda., Touchpoint Health Plan, Trails Edge Surgery Center LLC, Travel Express Incorporated, TriMed LLC, Trinity Infusion, Trio Motion LLC, Tucson Arizona Surgical Center LLC, U.S. Behavioral Health Plan, U.S. Behavioral Health Plan California, UHC Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, UHC Global Health Services BC Ltd., UHC International Services, UHC International Services Inc., UHC of California, UHCG Holdings (Ireland) Limited, UHCG Services (Ireland) Limited, UHCG  FZE, UHG Brasil Participacoes S.A., UHIC Holdings, UHIC Holdings Inc., UICI Funding Corp. 2, UMR, UMR Inc., USHEALTH Academy Inc., USHEALTH Administrators LLC, USHEALTH Advisors L.L.C., USHEALTH Career Agency Inc., USHEALTH Funding Inc., USHEALTH Group Inc., USMD Administrative Services, USMD Administrative Services L.L.C., USMD Affiliated Services, USMD CT (Mo), USMD Cancer Treatment Centers, USMD Cancer Treatment Centers GP, USMD Diagnostic Services, USMD Holdings, USMD Holdings Inc., USMD Inc., USMD PPM, USMD PPM LLC, USMD of Arlington GP, Ultima Rx, Unidad Medica Diagnostico S.A., Unimerica Insurance Company, Unimerica Life Insurance Company of New York, Unison Administrative Services, Unison Health Plan of Delaware, Unison Health Plan of Delaware Inc., United Behavioral Health, United Behavioral Health of New York I.P.A., United Behavioral Health of New York I.P.A. Inc., United Group Reinsurance Inc., United Health Foundation, United HealthCare, United HealthCare Services Inc., United Management Services Inc., United Resource Networks IPA of New York, United Resource Networks IPA of New York Inc., UnitedHealth Advisors, UnitedHealth Advisors LLC, UnitedHealth Group Finance Inc., UnitedHealth Group Global Healthcare Services Limited, UnitedHealth Group Global Services, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated, UnitedHealth Group Information Services Private Limited, UnitedHealth Group International Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, UnitedHealth Group International GP, UnitedHealth Group International L.P., UnitedHealth International, UnitedHealth International Inc., UnitedHealth Military & Veterans Services, UnitedHealth Military & Veterans Services LLC, UnitedHealth UK Limited, UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealthcare Benefits Plan of California, UnitedHealthcare Benefits of Texas, UnitedHealthcare Benefits of Texas Inc., UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of California, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of California Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Georgia, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Georgia Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas L.L.C., UnitedHealthcare Consulting & Assistance Service (Beijing) Co., UnitedHealthcare Consulting & Assistance Service (Beijing) Co. Ltd., UnitedHealthcare Europe S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare Europe S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare Global Canada Limited, UnitedHealthcare Global Medical (UK) Limited, UnitedHealthcare Inc., UnitedHealthcare India Private Limited, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of Illinois, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of New York, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of the River Valley, UnitedHealthcare Insurance Designated Activity Company, UnitedHealthcare Integrated Services, UnitedHealthcare Integrated Services Inc., UnitedHealthcare International Asia, UnitedHealthcare International Asia LLC, UnitedHealthcare International I B.V., UnitedHealthcare International I S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International II B.V., UnitedHealthcare International II S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International II S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International III B.V., UnitedHealthcare International III S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International III S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International IV S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International IV S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International V S.a.r.l., UnitedHealthcare International VI S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International VII S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International VIII S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare International X S.a r.l., UnitedHealthcare Life Insurance Company, UnitedHealthcare Plan of the River Valley, UnitedHealthcare Plan of the River Valley Inc., UnitedHealthcare Service LLC, UnitedHealthcare Services Company of the River Valley, UnitedHealthcare Specialty Benefits, UnitedHealthcare Specialty Benefits LLC, UnitedHealthcare of Alabama, UnitedHealthcare of Alabama Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Arizona, UnitedHealthcare of Arizona Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Arkansas, UnitedHealthcare of Arkansas Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Colorado, UnitedHealthcare of Colorado Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Florida, UnitedHealthcare of Florida Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Georgia, UnitedHealthcare of Georgia Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Illinois, UnitedHealthcare of Illinois Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Kentucky, UnitedHealthcare of Kentucky Ltd., UnitedHealthcare of Louisiana, UnitedHealthcare of Louisiana Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Mississippi, UnitedHealthcare of Mississippi Inc., UnitedHealthcare of New England, UnitedHealthcare of New England Inc., UnitedHealthcare of New Mexico, UnitedHealthcare of New Mexico Inc., UnitedHealthcare of New York, UnitedHealthcare of New York Inc., UnitedHealthcare of North Carolina, UnitedHealthcare of North Carolina Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Ohio, UnitedHealthcare of Ohio Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Oklahoma, UnitedHealthcare of Oklahoma Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Oregon, UnitedHealthcare of Oregon Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Pennsylvania, UnitedHealthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., UnitedHealthcare of South Carolina Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Texas, UnitedHealthcare of Texas Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Utah, UnitedHealthcare of Utah Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Washington, UnitedHealthcare of Washington Inc., UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin, UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin Inc., UnitedHealthcare of the Mid-Atlantic, UnitedHealthcare of the Mid-Atlantic Inc., UnitedHealthcare of the Midlands, UnitedHealthcare of the Midlands Inc., UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest, UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest Inc., UpFront Insurance Agency LLC, Upland Holdings LLC, Upland Outpatient Surgical Center L.P., Urgent Care Holdings, Urgent Care Holdings Inc., Urgent Care MSO, Urgent Care MSO LLC, Urology Associates of North Texas, Urology Associates of North Texas P.L.L.C., VERTA MANAGEMENT SERVICES LLC, Valley Hospital L.L.C., Valley Physicians Network, Valley Physicians Network Inc., Vida Tres Internacional S.A., Vidaintegra S.A., Vivify Health Canada Inc., Vivify Health Inc., WESTMED Practice Partners LLC, Wauwatosa Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Wauwatosa Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Wayland Square Surgicare Acquisition L.P., Wayland Square Surgicare GP Inc., WebInsure Benefits LLC, WellMed Medical Management, WellMed Medical Management Inc., WellMed Medical Management of Florida, WellMed Medical Management of Florida Inc., WellMed Networks  DFW, West Coast Endoscopy Holdings LLC, Western Connecticut Orthopedic Surgical Center LLC, WillowB Labs LLC, Wilmington ASC LLC, Winchester Endoscopy LLC, Winter Park LLC, XLHealth Corporation, XLHealth Corporation India Private Limited, Your Health Options Insurance Services, Your Health Options Insurance Services Inc., Your Partner in Health Services, divvyDOSE, eCode Solutions LLC, gethealthinsurance.com Agency Inc., hCentive Inc., inPharmative, inPharmative Inc., and ppoONE.William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH) announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November, 6th. The construction company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.07. The construction company had revenue of $466.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $487.15 million. William Lyon Homes had a net margin of 3.04% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 6.98%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS.

View William Lyon Homes' earnings history.Bank of America Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and nonbank financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth and Investment Management, Global Banking, Global Markets, and All Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses. The Global Wealth and Investment Management provides client experience through a network of financial advisors focused on to meet their needs through a full set of investment management, brokerage, banking, and retirement products. The Global Banking segment deals with lending-related products and services, integrated working capital management and treasury solutions to clients, and underwriting and advisory services. The Global Markets segment includes sales and trading services, as well as research, to institutional clients across fixed-income, credit, currency, commodity, and equity businesses. The All Other segment consists of asset and liability management activities, equity investments, non-core mortgage loans and servicing activities, the net impact of periodic revisions

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 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research.Aviva plc provides various insurance, retirement, and savings products in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, France, Italy, Poland, and internationally. The company offers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pension, and annuity products, as well as pension fund business and lifetime mortgage products. It also provides insurance cover to individuals, small and medium-sized businesses for risks associated with motor vehicles and medical expenses, as well as property and liability, such as employers' and professional indemnity liabilities, and medical expenses. In addition, the company offers personal and commercial lines insurance products; long-term insurance and savings products, primarily for individuals. Further, it provides investment management services for institutional pension fund mandates; and manages various retail investment products, including investment funds, unit trusts, open-ended investment companies, and individual savings accounts for third-party financial institutions, pension funds, public sector organizations, investment professionals, and private investors. Additionally, the company offers asset management and protection insurance products. Aviva plc markets its products through a network of insurance brokers, as well as MyAviva platform. The company was formerly known as CGNU plc and changed its name to Aviva plc in July 2002. Aviva plc was founded in 1696 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given BlackRock Municipal Income Investment Trust a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but BlackRock Municipal Income Investment Trust wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.The following companies are subsidiares of DaVita: Aberdeen Dialysis LLC, Accountable Kidney Care LLC, Adair Dialysis LLC, American Fork Dialysis LLC, American Medical Insurance Inc., Animas Dialysis LLC, Arcadia Gardens Dialysis LLC, Ashdow Dialysis LLC, Atlantic Dialysis LLC, Austin Dialysis Centers L.P., Barnell Dialysis LLC, Barrons Dialysis LLC, Barton Dialysis LLC, Bastrop Dialysis LLC, Beachside Dialysis LLC, Beck Dialysis LLC, Bellevue Dialysis LLC, Bemity Dialysis LLC, Beverly Hills Dialysis Partnership, Birch Dialysis LLC, Bladon Dialysis LLC, Bliss Dialysis LLC, Bohama Dialysis LLC, Bowan Dialysis LLC, Braddock Dialysis LLC, Bridges Dialysis LLC, Brimfield Dialysis LLC, Brook Dialysis LLC, Brownsville Kidney Center Ltd., Brownwood Dialysis LLC, Bruno Dialysis LLC, Buckhorn Dialysis LLC, Buford Dialysis LLC, Bullards Dialysis LLC, Bullock Dialysis LLC, Calante Dialysis LLC, Campton Dialysis LLC, Canyon Springs Dialysis LLC, Capes Dialysis LLC, Capital Dialysis Partnership, Capron Dialysis LLC, Carlton Dialysis LLC, Carroll County Dialysis Facility Inc., Carroll County Dialysis Facility Limited Partnership, Cascades Dialysis LLC, Caverns Dialysis LLC, Cedar Dialysis LLC, Centennial LV LLC, Central Carolina Dialysis Centers LLC, Central Georgia Dialysis LLC, Central Iowa Dialysis Partners LLC, Central Kentucky Dialysis Centers LLC, Channel Dialysis LLC, Cheraw Dialysis LLC, Chicago Heights Dialysis LLC, Chipeta Dialysis LLC, Churchill Dialysis LLC, Cinco Rios Dialysis LLC, Clark Dialysis LLC, Clayton Dialysis LLC, Cleburne Dialysis LLC, Clinica Central do Bonfim S.A., Clinton Township Dialysis LLC, Clyfee Dialysis LLC, Columbus-RNA-DaVita LLC, Conconully Dialysis LLC, Continental Dialysis Center Inc., Couer Dialysis LLC, Court Dialysis LLC, Cowell Dialysis LLC, Cowesett Dialysis LLC, Crossings Dialysis LLC, Crystals Dialysis LLC, Cuivre Dialysis LLC, Culbert Dialysis LLC, DC Healthcare International Inc., DNP Management Company LLC, DPS CKD LLC, DV Care Netherlands B.V., DV Care Netherlands C.V., DVA Healthcare - Southwest Ohio LLC, DVA Healthcare Renal Care Inc., DVA Healthcare of Maryland LLC, DVA Healthcare of Massachusetts Inc., DVA Healthcare of New London LLC, DVA Healthcare of Norwich LLC, DVA Healthcare of Pennsylvania LLC, DVA Healthcare of Tuscaloosa LLC, DVA Holdings Pte. Ltd., DVA Laboratory Services Inc., DVA Renal Healthcare Inc., DVA of New York Inc., DaVita - Riverside II LLC, DaVita - Riverside LLC, DaVita - West LLC, DaVita APAC Holding B.V., DaVita Brasil Participacoes e Servicos de Nefrologia Ltda., DaVita Care (Saudi Arabia), DaVita Dakota Dialysis Center LLC, DaVita Deutschland AG, DaVita Deutschland Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, DaVita El Paso East L.P., DaVita Germany GmbH, DaVita HK Holdings Limited, DaVita HealthCare Brasil Servicos Medicos Ltda., DaVita International Limited, DaVita Nefromed Servicos de Nefrologia Ltda., DaVita Nephron Care Servicos de Nefrologia Ltda., DaVita Rien Servicos de Nefrologia Ltda., DaVita S.A.S., DaVita Servicos de Nefrologia Asa Sul Ltda., DaVita Servicos de Nefrologia Distrito Federal Ltda., DaVita Servicos de Nefrologia Guarulhos Ltda., DaVita Servicos de Nefrologia Jardim das Imbuias Ltda., DaVita Servicos de Nefrologia Taubate Ltda., DaVita Servicos de Nefrologia de Araraquara Ltda., DaVita Sp. z o.o., DaVita Sud-Niedersachsen GmbH, DaVita Transrim Servicos de Nefrologia Ltda., DaVita UTR Servicos de Nefrologia Ltda., DaVita VillageHealth Inc., DaVita of New York Inc., Dallas-Fort Worth Nephrology L.P., Damon Dialysis LLC, Dialysis Holdings Inc., Dialysis of Des Moines LLC, Dialysis of Northern Illinois LLC, Dierks Dialysis LLC, Dolores Dialysis LLC, Dome Dialysis LLC, Doves Dialysis LLC, Downriver Centers Inc., EURODIAL - Centro de Nefrologia e Dialise de Leiria S.A., East End Dialysis Center Inc., East Ft. Lauderdale LLC, Ebrea Dialysis LLC, Edisto Dialysis LLC, Eldrist Dialysis LLC, Elgin Dialysis LLC, Elk Grove Dialysis Center LLC, Empire State DC Inc., Etowah Dialysis LLC, Ettleton Dialysis LLC, Eufaula Dialysis LLC, Falcon LLC, Family Health Care of Central Florida, Fanthorp Dialysis LLC, Federal Way Assurance Inc., Fields Dialysis LLC, Five Star Dialysis LLC, Fjords Dialysis LLC, Flagler Dialysis LLC, Flamingo Park Kidney Center Inc., Forester Dialysis LLC, Freehold Artificial Kidney Center L.L.C., Fremont Dialysis LLC, Frontier Dialysis LLC, Fullerton Dialysis Center LLC, GDC International LLC, Gambro Healthcare, Ganois Dialysis LLC, Garner Dialysis LLC, Garrett Dialysis LLC, Gaviota Dialysis LLC, Gebhard Dialysis LLC, Genesis KC Development LLC, GiveLife Dialysis LLC, Glassland Dialysis LLC, Glosser Dialysis LLC, Goliad Dialysis LLC, Grand Home Dialysis LLC, Greater Las Vegas Dialysis LLC, Greater Los Angeles Dialysis Centers LLC, Green Country Dialysis LLC, Green Desert Dialysis LLC, Griffin Dialysis LLC, Groten Dialysis LLC, Harmony Dialysis LLC, Hart Dialysis LLC, Hawn Dialysis LLC, Healthcare Partners, Helmer Dialysis LLC, Hennepin Dialysis LLC, Hewett Dialysis LLC, Hilgards Dialysis LLC, Hochatown Dialysis LLC, Home Kidney Care LLC, Honeyman Dialysis LLC, Houston Kidney Center/Total Renal Care Integrated Service Network Limited Partnership, Hummer Dialysis LLC, Hunter Dialysis LLC, Huntington Artificial Kidney Center Ltd., Hyde Dialysis LLC, IDC -International Dialysis Centers Lda, ISD Bartlett LLC, ISD Corpus Christi LLC, ISD I Holding Company Inc., ISD II Holding Company Inc., ISD Las Vegas LLC, ISD Lees Summit LLC, ISD Renal Inc., ISD Schaumburg LLC, ISD Spring Valley LLC, ISD Summit Renal Care LLC, Iroquois Dialysis LLC, Jacinto Dialysis LLC, Jenness Dialysis LLC, Kamiah Dialysis LLC, Kanika Dialysis LLC, Kavett Dialysis LLC, Kenai Dialysis LLC, Kershaw Dialysis LLC, Kidney Home Center LLC, Kimball Dialysis LLC, Kingston Dialysis LLC, Kinnick Dialysis LLC, Kinter Dialysis LLC, Kiowa Dialysis LLC, Knickerbocker Dialysis Inc., Lakeshore Dialysis LLC, Landing Dialysis LLC, Landor Dialysis LLC, Lassen Dialysis LLC, Leasburg Dialysis LLC, Leawood Dialysis LLC, Lees Dialysis LLC, Legare Development LLC, Liberty RC Inc., Lifeline Pensacola LLC, Lifeline Vascular Center-Albany LLC, Lincoln Park Dialysis Services Inc., Livingston Dialysis LLC, Llano Dialysis LLC, Lofield Dialysis LLC, Logoley Dialysis LLC, Lone Dialysis LLC, Long Beach Dialysis Center LLC, Lord Baltimore Dialysis LLC, Lory Dialysis LLC, Lourdes Dialysis LLC, Lyndale Dialysis LLC, MVZ DaVita Alzey GmbH, MVZ DaVita Aurich GmbH, MVZ DaVita Bad Aibling GmbH, MVZ DaVita Bad Duben GmbH, MVZ DaVita Cardio Centrum Dusseldorf GmbH, MVZ DaVita Dillenburg GmbH, MVZ DaVita Dinkelsbuhl GmbH, MVZ DaVita Dormagen GmbH, MVZ DaVita Duisburg GmbH, MVZ DaVita Elsterland GmbH, MVZ DaVita Emden GmbH, MVZ DaVita Falkensee GmbH, MVZ DaVita Geilenkirchen GmbH, MVZ DaVita Gera GmbH, MVZ DaVita Iserlohn GmbH, MVZ DaVita Monchengladbach GmbH, MVZ DaVita Neuss GmbH, MVZ DaVita Niederrhein GmbH, MVZ DaVita Nierenzentrum Aachen Alsdorf GmbH, MVZ DaVita Nierenzentrum Berlin-Britz GmbH, MVZ DaVita Nierenzentrum Hamm-Ahlen GmbH, MVZ DaVita Prenzlau-Pasewalk GmbH, MVZ DaVita Rhein-Ahr GmbH, MVZ DaVita Rhein-Ruhr GmbH, MVZ DaVita Schwalm-Eder GmbH, MVZ DaVita Viersen GmbH, Madigan Dialysis LLC, Magney Dialysis LLC, Magoffin Dialysis LLC, Makonee Dialysis LLC, Marlton Dialysis Center LLC, Marseille Dialysis LLC, Mason-Dixon Dialysis Facilities Inc., Mazonia Dialysis LLC, Mellen Dialysis LLC, Melnea Dialysis LLC, Memorial Dialysis Center L.P., Meridian Dialysis LLC, Mermet Dialysis LLC, Milltown Dialysis LLC, Minam Dialysis LLC, Minneopa Dialysis LLC, Mountain West Dialysis Services LLC, Mulgee Dialysis LLC, Nansen Dialysis LLC, Natomas Dialysis LLC, Nauvue Dialysis LLC, Navarro Dialysis LLC, Nephrology Medical Associates of Georgia LLC, Nephrology Practice Solutions LLC, New Bay Dialysis LLC, Nicona Dialysis LLC, Norbert Dialysis LLC, Norte Dialysis LLC, North Austin Dialysis LLC, Northwest Physicians Network, Oasis Dialysis LLC, Ohio River Dialysis LLC, Okanogan Dialysis LLC, Olive Dialysis LLC, Ordust Dialysis LLC, Owyhee Dialysis LLC, Palo Dialysis LLC, Palomar Dialysis LLC, Panther Dialysis LLC, Parkside Dialysis LLC, Pattison Dialysis LLC, Patuk Dialysis LLC, Pearl Dialysis LLC, Pendster Dialysis LLC, Percha Dialysis LLC, Pershing Dialysis LLC, Pfeiffer Dialysis LLC, Philadelphia-Camden Integrated Kidney Care LLC, Physicians Choice Dialysis LLC, Physicians Choice Dialysis Of Alabama LLC, Physicians Dialysis Acquisitions Inc., Physicians Dialysis Ventures LLC, Physicians Dialysis of Lancaster LLC, Physicians Management LLC, Pible Dialysis LLC, Pinson Dialysis LLC, Pittsburgh Dialysis Partners LLC, Piute Dialysis LLC, Plaine Dialysis LLC, Platte Dialysis LLC, Pluribus Dialise - Benfica S.A., Pluribus Dialise - Cascais S.A., Pluribus Dialise S.A., Prairie Dialysis LLC, Prineville Dialysis LLC, Purity Dialysis, RMS Lifeline Inc., RNA - DaVita Dialysis LLC, RV Academy LLC, Ramsey Dialysis LLC, Rayburn Dialysis LLC, Red Willow Dialysis LLC, Redcliff Dialysis LLC, Refuge Dialysis LLC, Renal Center of Beaumont LLC, Renal Center of Fort Dodge LLC, Renal Center of Lewisville LLC, Renal Center of Morristown LLC, Renal Center of Newton LLC, Renal Center of Port Arthur LLC, Renal Center of Tyler L.P.L.L.L.P., Renal Center of West Beaumont LLC, Renal Center of the Hills LLC, Renal Life Link Inc., Renal Treatment Centers - California Inc., Renal Treatment Centers - Illinois Inc., Renal Treatment Centers - Mid-Atlantic Inc., Renal Treatment Centers - Northeast Inc., Renal Treatment Centers - Southeast LP, Renal Treatment Centers - West Inc., Renal Treatment Centers Inc., Renal Ventures Management LLC, RenalServ LLC, Riddle Dialysis LLC, River Valley Dialysis LLC, Rocky Mountain Dialysis Services LLC, Rollins Dialysis LLC, Roose Dialysis LLC, Rophets Dialysis LLC, Roushe Dialysis LLC, Routt Dialysis LLC, Royale Dialysis LLC, Rusk Dialysis LLC, Rutland Dialysis LLC, SAKDC-DaVita Dialysis Partners L.P., Saddleback Dialysis LLC, Sahara Dialysis LLC, San Marcos Dialysis LLC, Santiam Dialysis LLC, Sapelo Dialysis LLC, Saunders Dialysis LLC, Seabay Dialysis LLC, Secour Dialysis LLC, Sensiba Dialysis LLC, Shadow Dialysis LLC, Shayano Dialysis LLC, Shelling Dialysis LLC, Sherman Dialysis LLC, Shetek Dialysis LLC, Shining Star Dialysis Inc., Siena Dialysis Center LLC, Simeon Dialysis LLC, Skagit Dialysis LLC, Soledad Dialysis Center LLC, Somerville Dialysis Center LLC, South Central Florida Dialysis Partners LLC, South Fork Dialysis LLC, Southern Hills Dialysis Center LLC, Southlake Dialysis LLC, Southwest Atlanta Dialysis Centers LLC, Sprague Dialysis LLC, Springpond Dialysis LLC, Star Dialysis LLC, Stevenson Dialysis LLC, Stewart Dialysis LLC, Stines Dialysis LLC, Storrie Dialysis LLC, Sugarloaf Dialysis LLC, Sun City Dialysis Center L.L.C., Sunapee Dialysis LLC, Sunset Dialysis LLC, TRC - Indiana LLC, TRC El Paso Limited Partnership, TRC West Inc., TRC of New York Inc., TRC-Georgetown Regional Dialysis LLC, Talimena Dialysis LLC, Terre Dialysis LLC, The Woodlands Dialysis Center LP, Tortugas Dialysis LLC, Total Renal Care Inc., Total Renal Care Texas Limited Partnership, Total Renal Care of North Carolina LLC, Total Renal Laboratories Inc., Total Renal Research Inc., Toulouse Dialysis LLC, Transmountain Dialysis L.P., Tross Dialysis LLC, Tugman Dialysis LLC, Tunnel Dialysis LLC, Turlock Dialysis Center LLC, Tustin Dialysis Center LLC, Twain Dialysis LLC, Tyler Dialysis LLC, USC-DaVita Dialysis Center LLC, Unicoi Dialysis LLC, University Dialysis Center LLC, Upper Valley Dialysis L.P., Valley Springs Dialysis LLC, Victory Dialysis LLC, VillageHealth DM LLC, Villanueva Dialysis LLC, Vively Health LLC, Vogel Dialysis LLC, Volo Dialysis LLC, Waddell Dialysis LLC, Wakoni Dialysis LLC, Walker Dialysis LLC, Walton Dialysis LLC, Watkins Dialysis LLC, Weldon Dialysis LLC, West Elk Grove Dialysis LLC, West Sacramento Dialysis LLC, Weston Dialysis Center LLC, Whitney Dialysis LLC, Willowbrook Dialysis Center L.P., Winds Dialysis LLC, Wood Dialysis LLC, Woodford Dialysis LLC, Wyandotte Central Dialysis LLC, Yards Dialysis LLC, Ybor City Dialysis LLC, Yucaipa Dialysis LLC, and Zephyrhills Dialysis Center LLC.Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA engages in the traditional banking businesses of retail banking, asset management, private banking, and wholesale banking. It operates through the following segments: Spain, the United States, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and Rest of Eurasia. The Spain segment includes mainly the banking and insurance business that the group carries out in Spain. The United States segment consists of the financial business activity of BBVA USA in the country and the activity of the branch of BBVA SA in New York. The Mexico segment refers to banking and insurance businesses in this country as well as the activity of its branch in Houston. The Turkey segment reports the activity of Garanti BBVA group that is mainly carried out in this country and, to a lesser extent, in Romania and the Netherlands. The South America segment comprises of operations in n Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The Rest of Eurasia segment includes the banking business activity carried out by the group in Europe and Asia, excluding Spain. The company was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.

Read MoreChina Mobile Limited provides mobile telecommunications and related services in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The company offers local calls; domestic and international long distance calls and roaming services; and value-added services, such as caller identity display, call waiting, conference calls, and others. It also provides wireless Internet service, as well as digital applications comprising music, video, reading, gaming, and animation; wireline broadband services; and wireline voice services. In addition, it offers dedicated line and IDC services to corporate customers in a range of industry sectors; and basic corporate communication products comprising corporate VPMN and SMS, and tailor made solutions. Further, the company provides international telecommunications services, which includes IDD, roaming, Internet, MNC, and value added business services. Additionally, it offers telecommunications network planning, design, and consulting services; roaming clearance, IT system operation, and technology support services; value-added platform development and maintenance services; mobile data, and system integration and development services; network construction and maintenance, network planning and optimizing, and training services; electronic communication products design and sale of related products; and non-banking financial services. It also provides mobile cloud research and development services; call center services; e-payment, e-commerce, and Internet finance services; and mobile Internet digital content services, as well as operates a network and business coordination center. The company serves 950 million mobile customers and 187 million wireline broadband customers. The company was formerly known as China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited and changed its name to China Mobile Limited in May 2006. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Central, Hong Kong. China Mobile Limited is a subsidiary of China Mobile Hong Kong (BVI) Limited.

Read MoreNorsk Hydro ASA engages in producing and supplying alumina and primary aluminum. It operates through the following segments: Bauxite & Alumina; Primary Metal; Metal Markets; Rolled Products; Extruded Solutions; Energy; and Other Eliminations. The Bauxite & Alumina segment include bauxite mining activities, sourcing arrangements, and alumina commercial operations. The Primary Metal segment focuses on the production, remelting and casting activities of aluminum. The Metal Markets segment involves all sales and distribution activities relating to products from its primary metal plants and operational responsibility. The Rolled Products segment consists of rolling mills located in Europe. The Energy segment manages captive hydropower production, external power sourcing arrangements to the aluminum business and identifying and developing energy solutions. The Extruded Products segment relates to extrusion based business, located mainly in Europe and the Americas, which is focused on delivering solutions to the building and construction, transportation, and engineered products industries. The company was founded on December 2, 1905 and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway.

Read MorePlains GP Holdings LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and provides logistics services primarily for crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas through its indirect investment in Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. The firm operates through the following segments: Transportation, Facilities and Supply and Logistics. The Transportation segment consists of fee-based activities associated with transporting crude oil and NGL on pipelines, gathering systems, trucks and barges. The Facilities segment consists of fee-based activities associated with providing storage, terminalling and throughput services primarily for crude oil, NGL and natural gas, as well as NGL fractionation and isomerization services and natural gas and condensate processing services. The Supply and Logistics segment consists of storage of inventory during contango market conditions and the seasonal storage of NGL, purchase of NGL from producers, refiners, processors and other marketers, extraction of NGL from gas processed at the facilities. Plains GP Holdings LP was founded in July 2013 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

Read MoreCelanese Corp. engages in the provision of technology and specialty materials businesses. It operates through the following segments: Engineered Materials, Acetate Tow, Acetyl Chain and Other Activities .The Engineered Materials segment includes the engineered materials business, food ingredients business and certain strategic affiliates. The Acetate Tow segment serves consumer-driven applications and is a global producer and supplier of acetate tow and acetate flake used in filter products applications. The Acetyl Chain segment includes the integrated chain of intermediate chemistry, emulsion polymers and ethylene vinyl acetate (""EVA"") polymers businesses, based on similar products, production processes, classes of customers and selling and distribution practices as well as economic similarities over a normal business cycle. The Other Activities segment consists of corporate center costs, including administrative activities such as finance, information technology and human resource functions, interest income and expense associated with financing activities. The company was founded by Camille Dreyfus and Henri Dreyfus in 1918 and is headquartered in Irving, TX.

Read MoreIntesa Sanpaolo SpA engages in the provision of financial products and banking services. It operates through the following segments: Banca dei Territori, IMI Corporate and Investment Banking, International Subsidiary Banks, Private Banking, Asset Management, Insurance, and Corporate Centre. The Banca dei Territori segment oversees the traditional lending and deposit collection activities in Italy. The IMI Corporate and Investment Banking segment deals with corporate and investment banking; and acts as a partner for corporates, public administration, and financial institutions. The International Subsidiary Banks segment operates on international markets through subsidiary and associated banks. The Private Banking segment specializes in the asset management of private and high net worth individuals. The Asset Management segment develops solutions targeted at the firm's customers, commercial networks, and institutional clientele. The Insurance segment includes Intesa Sanpaolo Vita, Fideuram Vita, Intesa Sanpaolo Assicura, and Intesa Sanpaolo Assicura. The Corporate Centre segment comprises of the group's treasury and the Capital Light Bank. The company was founded in 1931 and is headq

Read MoreDTE Energy Co. operates as a diversified energy company, which engages in the provision of electricity and natural gas sales, distribution and storage services. It operates through the following segments: Electric, Gas, Non-Utility Operations, and Corporate & Other. The Electric segment engages in the generation, purchase, distribution and sale of electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers in south-eastern Michigan. The Gas segment engages in the purchase, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers throughout Michigan and the sale of storage and transportation capacity. The Non-Utility Operations segment engages in gas storage and pipelines, power and industrial projects, and energy trading. The Corporate & Other includes various holding company activities, holds certain non-utility debt, and holds energy-related investments. The company was founded in January 1995 and is headquartered in Detroit, MI.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of General Motors: 2140879 Ontario Inc., ACAR Leasing, ACAR Leasing Ltd., ACF Investment, ACF Investment Corp., AFS SenSub, APGO Trust, Adam Opel, Adam Opel GmbH, Aftermarket (UK), AmeriCredit, AmeriCredit Consumer Loan, AmeriCredit Consumer Loan Company Inc., AmeriCredit Financial Services, AmeriCredit Financial Services Inc., AmeriCredit Funding, AmeriCredit Syndicated Warehouse Trust, Annunciata Corporation, Argonaut Holdings, Argonaut Holdings LLC, BOCO (Proprietary), BOCO (Proprietary) Limited, Banco GMAC, Banco GMAC S.A., Baylis (Gloucester), Boco Trust, Boden Brussels, CHEVYPLAN, CHEVYPLAN S.A. Sociedad Administradora de Planes de Autofinanciamiento Comercial, Cadillac, Cadillac Europe, Cadillac Europe GmbH, Carve-Out Ownership, Carve-Out Ownership Cooperative LLC, Chevrolet Deutschland GmbH, Chevrolet Sales (Thailand), Chevrolet Sales (Thailand) Limited, Chevrolet Sales India, Chevrolet Sales India Private Ltd., Chevrolet Sociedad Anonima de Ahorro para Fines Determinados, Controladora General Motors, Controladora General Motors S.A. de C.V., Cruise, DCJ1, DCJ1 LLC, DMAX, DMAX Ltd., Dealership Liquidations, Dealership Liquidations Inc., Delphi Energy and Engine Management Systems UK, Delphi Energy and Engine Management Systems UK Overseas Corporation, EDS (Electronic Data Systems), FAW-GM, Fundacion Chevrolet, G.M.A.C., GCAR Titling Ltd., GM (UK) Pension, GM (UK) Pension Trustees Limited, GM APO Holdings, GM Administradora de Bens, GM Administradora de Bens Ltda., GM Asia Pacific Regional Headquarters Ltd., GM Auslandsprojekte, GM Automotive, GM Automotive Services Belgium, GM CME, GM Canada Holdings, GM Canada Limited, GM Components Holdings, GM Components Holdings LLC, GM Cruise, GM Cruise Holdings LLC, GM Cruise LLC, GM Defense LLC, GM Eurometals, GM Eurometals Inc., GM Europe Treasury, GM Finance, GM Finance Co. Holdings LLC, GM Financial, GM Financial AB, GM Financial Canada, GM Financial Canada Leasing, GM Financial Canada Leasing Ltd., GM Financial Colombia Holdings LLC, GM Financial Colombia S.A. Compania de Financiamiento, GM Financial Consumer, GM Financial Consumer Discount, GM Financial Consumer Discount Company, GM Financial Del Peru, GM Financial GmbH, GM Financial Holdings LLC, GM Financial Insurance Services, GM Financial Mexico Holdings, GM Financial Mexico Holdings LLC, GM Financial Real Estate, GM Financial de Mexico, GM Financial de Mexico S.A. de C.V. SOFOM E.R., GM Financial del Peru S.A.C, GM Global Business Services, GM Global Propulsion Systems -Torino S.r.l., GM Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, GM Global Technology Operations, GM Global Technology Operations LLC, GM Global Tooling, GM Global Tooling Company LLC, GM Global Treasury Centre Limited, GM Holden, GM Holden Pty Ltd., GM Holdings U.K. No.1 Limited, GM Inversiones Santiago Limitada, GM Investment Trustees Limited, GM Korea, GM Korea Company, GM LAAM Holdings, GM LAAM Holdings LLC, GM Mexico Holdings, GM Mobility Europe GmbH, GM PSA Purchasing Services, GM Personnel Services, GM Personnel Services Inc., GM Philippines Inc., GM Plats (Proprietary), GM Regional Holdings, GM Regional Holdings LLC, GM Retirees Pension Trustees, GM Retirees Pension Trustees Limited, GM Subsystems Manufacturing, GM Subsystems Manufacturing LLC, GM Technical Center Korea Ltd., GM Viet Nam Motor Company, GM-DI Leasing, GM-DI Leasing LLC, GMAC - Instituicao Financeira de Credito, GMAC Administradora de Consorcios, GMAC Administradora de Consorcios Ltda., GMAC Banque, GMAC Continental, GMAC Espana de Financiacion, GMAC Holdings (U.K.), GMAC Lease B.V. (aka Masterlease Europe), GMAC Nederland N.V., GMAC Prestadora de Servicios de Mao de Obra Ltda., GMAC Servicios, GMAC UK, GMAC de Venezuela, GMAC-Prestadora de Servios de Mo-de-Obra, GMACI Corretora de Seguros, GMACI Corretora de Seguros Ltda, GMAM Real Estate I, GMCH&SP Private Equity II, GMCH&SP Private Equity II L.P., GMF Australia Pty Ltd, GMF Europe, GMF Europe Holdco, GMF Europe LLP, GMF Floorplan Owner Revolving Trust, GMF Funding, GMF Germany Holdings, GMF Global Assignment, GMF Global Assignment LLC, GMF International, GMF International LLC, GMF Leasing LLC, GMF Leasing Warehousing Trust, GMF Wholesale Receivables, GMGP Holdings, General Motors (China) Investment Company, General Motors (China) Investment Company Limited, General Motors (Thailand), General Motors (Thailand) Limited, General Motors - Colmotores, General Motors - Colmotores S.A., General Motors Advisory Services LLC, General Motors Africa and Middle East, General Motors Africa and Middle East FZE, General Motors Asia, General Motors Asia LLC, General Motors Asia Pacific Holdings, General Motors Asia Pacific Holdings LLC, General Motors Asset Management, General Motors Asset Management Corporation, General Motors Australia, General Motors Australia Pty Ltd., General Motors Austria, General Motors Austria, General Motors Auto, General Motors Auto LLC, General Motors Automobiles Philippines, General Motors Automobiles Philippines Inc., General Motors Automotive Holdings, General Motors Automotive Holdings S.L., General Motors Belgique Automobile NV, General Motors Belgium, General Motors Chile, General Motors Chile Industria Automotriz Limitada, General Motors China LLC, General Motors Daewoo Auto and Technology, General Motors Daewoo Auto and Technology CIS LLC, General Motors East Africa, General Motors Egypt, General Motors Egypt S.A.E., General Motors Espana, General Motors Europe Holdings, General Motors Europe Limited, General Motors Financial Chile, General Motors Financial Chile Limitada, General Motors Financial Chile S.A., General Motors Financial Company, General Motors Financial Company Inc., General Motors Financial International, General Motors Financial Italia, General Motors Financial Suisse, General Motors Financial UK, General Motors Financial of Canada, General Motors Financial of Canada Ltd., General Motors Finland, General Motors France, General Motors GBS Hungary, General Motors Global Service Operations, General Motors Global Service Operations Inc., General Motors Hellas, General Motors Holden Australia, General Motors Holden Australia NSC, General Motors Holden Australia NSC Pty Ltd., General Motors Holden Australia Pty Ltd., General Motors Holdings LLC, General Motors IT Services (Ireland) Limited, General Motors India Private, General Motors India Private Limited, General Motors International Holdings, General Motors International Holdings LLC, General Motors International Operations, General Motors International Operations Pte. Ltd., General Motors International Services Company, General Motors International Services Company SAS, General Motors International Services LLC, General Motors Investment Limited, General Motors Investment Management, General Motors Investment Management Corporation, General Motors Investment Participacoes, General Motors Investment Participacoes Ltda., General Motors Investments, General Motors Investments Pty. Ltd., General Motors Ireland, General Motors Israel, General Motors Israel Ltd., General Motors Italia, General Motors Japan, General Motors Japan Limited, General Motors LLC, General Motors Limited, General Motors Manufacturing Poland, General Motors Nederland, General Motors New Zealand Pensions, General Motors New Zealand Pensions Limited, General Motors Overseas, General Motors Overseas Commercial Vehicle, General Motors Overseas Commercial Vehicle Corporation, General Motors Overseas Corporation, General Motors Overseas Distribution, General Motors Overseas Distribution LLC, General Motors Peru, General Motors Peru S.A., General Motors Poland Spolka, General Motors Portugal, General Motors Powertrain (Thailand), General Motors Powertrain (Thailand) Limited, General Motors Research Corporation, General Motors South Africa, General Motors South Africa (Pty) Limited, General Motors Suisse, General Motors Taiwan, General Motors Taiwan Ltd., General Motors Technical Centre India, General Motors Technical Centre India Private Limited, General Motors Treasury Center, General Motors Treasury Center LLC, General Motors Turkiye, General Motors UK, General Motors Uruguay, General Motors Uruguay S.A., General Motors Venezolana, General Motors Ventures, General Motors Ventures LLC, General Motors Warehousing and Trading (Shanghai), General Motors Warehousing and Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., General Motors de Argentina, General Motors de Argentina S.r.l., General Motors de Mexico, General Motors de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., General Motors del Ecuador, General Motors del Ecuador S.A., General Motors do Brasil, General Motors do Brasil Ltda., General Motors of Canada, General Motors of Canada Company, General Motors-Holden's Sales, General Motors-Holden's Sales Pty. Limited, GigaPower LLC, Global Services Detroit, Global Services Detroit LLC, Global Tooling Service Company Europe, Global Tooling Service Company Europe Limited, Go Motor Retailing, Go Trade Parts, Grand Pointe Holdings, Grand Pointe Holdings Inc., Grand Pointe Park Condominium, Grand Pointe Park Condominium Association, H.S.H., Haines & Strange, Holden New Zealand, Holden New Zealand Limited, IBC Pension Trustees, IBC Pension Trustees Limited, IBC Vehicles, Lease Ownership Cooperative, Lease Ownership Cooperative LLC, Lidlington Engineering Company, Lidlington Engineering Company Ltd., Limited Liability Company "General Motors CIS", Master Lease Germany, Maven Drive, Maven Drive LLC, Millbrook Pension Management, Millbrook Pension Management Limited, Monetization of Carve-Out, Monetization of Carve-Out LLC, Motor Repris Automocio, Motors Holding, Motors Holding LLC, Motors Properties, Motors Properties (Trading), Multi-Use Lease Entity Trust, North American New Cars, North American New Cars LLC, Omnibus BB Transportes, Omnibus BB Transportes S. A., OnStar Connected Services Srl, OnStar Egypt Limited LLC, OnStar Europe, OnStar Europe Ltd., OnStar Global Services, OnStar Global Services Corporation, OnStar LLC, OnStar de Mexico, OnStar de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Opel Bank, Opel Danmark, Opel Group, Opel Group Warehousing, Opel Leasing, Opel Norge, Opel Sonderdienste, Opel Southeast Europe, Opel Sverige, Opel Szentgotthard Automotive Manufacturing, Opel Wien, P.T. G M AutoWorld Indonesia, P.T. General Motors Indonesia, PIMS, PIMS Co., PT. General Motors Indonesia Manufacturing, Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center Company Ltd., Prestadora de Servicios GMF Colombia S.A.S., Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, Reliance Motor Car Company, Riverfront Holdings III Inc., Riverfront Holdings Inc., Riverfront Holdings Phase II Inc., SAIC GM (Shenyang) Norsom Motors Co. Ltd., SAIC GM Dong Yue Motors Company Limited, SAIC GM Dong Yue Powertrain Company Limited, SAIC GM Wuling Automobile Company Limited, SAIC General Motors Corporation Limited, SAIC General Motors Investment Limited, SAIC General Motors Sales Company Limited, SAIC-GMAC Automotive Finance Company Limited, SAIC-GMF Leasing Co. Ltd., Servicios GMAC S.A. de C.V., Shanghai Chengxin Used Car Operation and Management Company Limited, Shanghai OnStar Telematics Co. Ltd., Sherwoods (Darlington) Limited, Sidecar Technologies, Skurrays Limited, Stam-Terberg Autobedrijven B. V., Strobe Inc., VHC Sub-Holdings (UK), Vauxhall Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Vehicle Asset Universal Leasing Trust, Vickers (Lakeside) Limited, Vision Motors Limited, WRE, WRE Inc., and Zona Franca Industrial Colmotores SAS.Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. is an international offshore energy company. It focuses on subsea construction, maintenance and salvage services to the offshore natural gas and oil industry. The firm also provides specialty services to the offshore energy industry, with a focus on well intervention and robotics operations. The company operates through three segments: Well Intervention, Robotics and Production Facilities. The Well Intervention segment offers vessels and related equipment that are used to perform well intervention services primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and North Sea regions. The Robotics segment involves four chartered vessels and also includes ROVs, trenchers and ROVDrills designed to complement offshore construction and well intervention services. The Production Facilities segment includes its investment in the Helix Producer I and Kommandor LLC. Helix Energy Solutions Group was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

Read MoreMAXIMUS, Inc. engages in the operation of government and human services programs. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Services; U.S. Federal Services; and Outside the U.S. The U.S. Services segment offers a variety of business process services, and appeals and assessments for state, provincial and national government programs. The U.S. Federal Services segment includes process solutions, program management, as well as system and software development, and maintenance services for various United States federal civilian programs. The Outside the U.S segment comprises of national, state, and county human services agencies with a variety of business process services, and related consulting services for welfare-to-work, child support, higher education institutions, and other human services programs. The company was founded by David V. Mastran in 1975 and is headquartered in Reston, VA.

Read MoreKoninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V., formerly Koninklijke Ahold N.V., is engaged in the operation of retail stores in Europe and the United States. The Company's segments are Ahold USA, Delhaize America, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Central and Southeastern Europe (CSE). In addition, Other retail, consists of Ahold Delhaize's unconsolidated joint ventures JMR - Gestao de Empresas de Retalho, SGPS, S.A. (JMR) and P.T. Lion Super Indo, LLC (Super Indo), and Ahold Delhaize's Global Support Office. JMR operates food retail stores in Portugal under the brand name Pingo Doce. The Company's Ahold USA segment includes Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Landover, Giant Carlisle and Peapod. The Company's Delhaize America segment includes brands, such as Food Lion and Hannaford. The Food Lion brand's market areas include Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Read MoreValvoline, Inc. is engaged in producing, marketing and supplying of engine & automotive maintenance products and services. The company operates through three segments: Quick Lubes, Core North America and International. The Quick Lubes segment provides services to passenger car and light truck quick lube market through company-owned and independent franchised retail quick lube service center stores and independent express care stores that service vehicles with valvoline products. The Core North America segment sells engine and automotive maintenance products in the United States and Canada to retailers, installers, and heavy-duty customers to service vehicles and equipment. The International segment sells engine and automotive products in more than 140 countries outside of the United States and Canada for the maintenance of consumer and commercial vehicles and equipment. Its products include motor oil, gear oil, pro-v racing and antifreeze and radiator. Valvoline was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Lexington, KY.

Read MoreTailored Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TLRD) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March, 18th. The company reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of ($0.54) by $0.08. The company earned $690.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.46 million. Tailored Brands had a negative trailing twelve-month return on equity of 138.49% and a negative net margin of 14.39%. The firm's revenue was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.28) earnings per share.

View Tailored Brands' earnings history.The Bank of New York Mellon pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.64%. The Bank of New York Mellon does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio of The Bank of New York Mellon is 33.92%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, The Bank of New York Mellon will have a dividend payout ratio of 29.44% next year. This indicates that The Bank of New York Mellon will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

View The Bank of New York Mellon's dividend history.logo_ddn_tag_Site JN with Tagline logo-sns_tag_Site

Our apologies, unfortunately our website is currently unavailable in most European countries due to GDPR rules.Mumbai: The Election Commission (EC) was dragged into a fresh controversy recently when the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) IT cell chief, the Karnataka Congress IT cell chief and an English news channel declared the election date for the state before the official announcement. Social media was flooded with messages not only slamming the political leaders but also questioning the EC over the crucial information leak.

In the recent past, the EC has found itself dragged into many controversies like the disqualification of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members, who were later reinstated by the Supreme Court or delaying the announcement of dates for the Gujarat polls. The Karnataka poll date is not the only case where the ECs impartiality has been questioned. In fact, experts and political observers are divided over the ECs credibility and the influence of the ruling party on its functioning.

The mammoth task of conducting elections in a diverse country like India has always remained a challenge for the EC for years. Last years Bollywood film Newton also highlighted the efforts by EC officials to conduct free and fair elections in the remote, naxal-infested area of Chhattisgarh. There are many such stories of the efforts taken by the EC to reach out to voters against all odds, including difficult terrain, lack of infrastructure and inadequate manpower. However, off late, a debate has started in political circles on whether the EC has become a political tool in the hands of the ruling party.

Political commentator and retired head of the department of politics, Mumbai University, Prof. Surendra Jondhale has criticised the ECs style of functioning. The recent cases of violation of the ECs own norms indicate that the institution is eroding its constitutional credibility and morality. In the case of the disqualification of AAP MLAs, no primary inquiry was conducted by the EC. The SC pointed out the same thing while reinstating them. It is not the first time that the ECs stand has been questioned. But now its functioning has become openly questionable, he said.

Commenting on whether the EC is under the influence of the ruling party, he said, Any ruling party will have its influence on the EC. But it was not visible so far or made so obvious. But now doubts have been raised by people as things are happening repeatedly, he said.

However, Sharad Kumar from the Association for Democratic Reforms has lauded the EC for being the only impartial institution in the country. Foreign countries give the example of the Election Commission of India for being credible and impartial. This institution has been nurtured in this way for years. The allegations that we see today against it, are merely political. So far, only one party had been ruling the country and now another has taken over. Hence, all other Opposition parties have come together to question the credibility of the EC.

But one or two instances do not belittle its credibility, he said. Mr Kumar, who closely follows the general as well as the local election process and engages in analysis of candidates, said the EC is an institution that is open to reforms to make the election process better and transparent. The EC has brought many reforms since its inception. But parties oppose these reforms, as they are not in their favour. The Supreme Court however, has been supportive of these reforms for free and fair elections, he said.

As per the EC website, the institution does not allow any interference in the election process. In the performance of its functions, the EC is insulated from executive interference. It is the commission which deci-des the election sche-dules for the conduct of elections, whether general elections or byelections. Again, it is the EC which decides on the location of polling stations, assignment of voters to the polling stations, location of counting centres, arrangements to be made in and around polling stations, counting centres and all other allied matters, the site reads.

Not withstanding the criticism about its credibility, the EC in June last year wrote to the law ministry seeking powers for contempt and to act against defamation. The ministry has not replied as yet, but legal experts are sceptical about any such possibility. A similar demand had been raised by the EC some 30 years ago but the law ministry did not accede to it. The existing law does not give the EC any power to exercise contempt. The only power for contempt is with the court of this country and that also contempt of the court order. If a person is committing contempt of a court order then only contempt action will follow, which involves civil and criminal imprisonment or fine. The EC has no power of contempt. The EC under the power of law is a mute spectator. These issues ultimately will have to be decided by the court, said Sujay Kantawala, senior lawyer practicing at the Bombay high court.

There is no doubt that the EC is facing one of the worst phases of the perception battle. For a healthy democracy, it is of paramount importance that the EC remains independent. Shutting down people from criticising the EC cannot be the solution. There are examples from the past such as former CECs R.V.S. Peri Sastri, T.N. Seshan and J.M. Lyngdoh, who took decisions against the whims and fancies of ruling parties. Once again, the need of the hour is to uphold the ECs integrity by remaining vigilant and autonomous for the sake of democracy.

Run-ins with CEC

1989: The Congress government led by Rajiv Gandhi appointed two election commissioners on the eve of the 1989 general election.

The Congress government led by Rajiv Gandhi appointed two election commissioners on the eve of the 1989 general election. It was seen as an attempt to peg back then-chief EC R.V.S. Peri Sastri, who had resisted the governments attempts to dictate terms to the EC.

1990: The National Front government came to power and removed the two commissioners appointed by the Congress government.

The National Front government came to power and removed the two commissioners appointed by the Congress government. 1993: The then-Narasimha Rao government once again appointed two ECs. The move was aimed at clipping the wings of T.N. Seshan.

The then-Narasimha Rao government once again appointed two ECs. The move was aimed at clipping the wings of T.N. Seshan. 2002: Then-Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi dissolved the Gujarat Assembly to force early elections and capitalise on the sentiments stirred up by the 2002 riots. However, then-CEC J.M. Lyngdoh ruled out early elections on the grounds that the situation was not conducive for free and fair elections.

Political playersThe term office of profit is used in Article 102 (1)(A) of the Indian Constitution and bars any member of the Indian Parliament from holding an office that would give its occupant the opportunity to gain a financial advantage or benefit. It refers to a post under the Central/state government which yields salaries, perks and other benefits.

The origin of the concept of Office of Profit dates back to Britain where from 1701 till 1919, even legislators who were appointed ministers lost the right to sit as members in the House of Commons as they were entitled to salaries and perks. India adopted this concept through Articles 102 and 191 to ensure the independence of

MPs and MLAs, respectively, from the government. To bypass the effect of these Articles, Parliament enacted The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act in 1959 exempting several posts from the purview of the Articles.

Coming to the case in question, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government appointed as many as 21 MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries on 13 March 2015 and attached them to various ministers. Prashant Patel petitioned the President on June 22, 2015, questioning the appointment as violative of article 191A of the Constitution. The very next day, the Delhi Assembly passed the Removal of Disqualification Bill 2015 with retrospective effect, and forwarded it to the President for post facto approval. After nearly a year, the President declined assent on June 7, 2016 and forwarded the petition to EC for its opinion as mandated by the Constitution. While the petition was pending with the President, Rashtriya Mukti Morcha petitioned the Delhi high court (HC) that the appointments were illegal as the LGs prior approval, which is mandatory for such appointments, was not taken. The high court upheld this contention holding the appointments void ab initio.

On January 19, 2018, the day before CEC A.K. Joti was to retire, the EC forwarded its opinion to the President, saying that the MLAs in question had indeed held an office of profit and hence should be disqualified. The President promptly accepted the ECs opinion within a day.

The ECs recommendation garnered a lot of controversy. With the accused MLAs saying they were not given a fair chance to present their side of the story, to questions being raised about the credibility of the process through which the decision was taken. The case left in its wake a number of questions unanswered which AAP challenged in the Delhi high court. Some of the questions raised were  Did the EC give sufficient opportunity to the defendants to be heard as per the law of natural justice? Is the stand of EC justifiable that the petitioner is like a whistle-blower who cannot be cross-examined? Was there undue haste in giving the order by the chief election commissioner on his last working day? Was the action of EC Rawat who had recused himself to rejoin the proceedings without informing the parties legally correct? Was the act of the newly appointed commissioner who had not heard the case at any stage to join in the verdict valid?

The AAP, questioning the ECs judgement, moved the Delhi high court where its plea was accepted on March 23. The HC held that the disqualified AAP MLAs had not been given a fair hearing before the EC came to its decision. It also found fault with O.P. Rawats quiet return from recusal and Sunil Arora signing the EC order without being a participant in the hearing. This is what the high court ordered: Opinion of the ECI dated 19th January, 2018 is vitiated and bad in law for failure to comply with the principles of natural justice.

Accordingly, Writ of Certiorari is issued quashing the said opinion dated 19th January, 2018 and the consequent order/notification dated 20th January, 2018 for violation of principles of natural justice, namely, failure to give oral hearing and opportunity to address arguments on merits of the issue

whether the petitioners had incurred disqualification and also on account of failure to inform that Mr. O.P. Rawat had expressed his intention to rejoin proceedings after his recusal and lastly because Mr Sunil Arora had not participated and no hearings were held before him.

The Delhi high court judgment has brought some respite to the AAP government. The AAP government has further gone on to claim that the EC seems to be acting on the whims and fancies of the central government. While the HC judgment is being seen by some as an embarrassment for the EC, it would be unfair to raise questions regarding the credibility of the EC. The disqualified MLAs like all other citizens exercised their right and moved court for justice. I would like to point out that the AAP MLAs celebration seems to be premature.

The court has only remanded the case and not given a verdict on the merits of the case. Any loose talk about the EC is unwarranted and must be avoided as those indulging in it would be appearing before the same commission and would find it embarrassing to face the commissioners.

Electoral reformsMumbai: The Election Commission of India (EC) has been in the eye of a storm of late with several netas and tech gurus questioning the veracity of the much-touted electronic voting machines (EVM). No sooner were the BMC polls results announced on February 23, 2017 than independent candidate Shrikant Shirsat claimed that the EVMs in his polling booth was tampered since he did not get a single vote  not even his own vote. However, the EC verified the issue and termed his claims as baseless. Mr Shirsat is not the sole EVM basher or hackathon claimer. There are scores like him from different political parties.

EVMs manufactured in 1989-90 were used on experimental basis for the first time in 16 Assembly constituencies in the states of Madhya Pradesh (five), Rajasthan (five) and NCT of Delhi (six) at the General Elections to the respective Legislative Assemblies held in November 1998. However, their credibility has always been at stake.

Terming the whole controversy hollow, former Maharashtra election commissioner Nand Lal endorsed the use of the EVMs. No allegations have been proved so far against the EVMs. The EC had posed an open challenge to all political parties to prove hacking or tampering of the machines, but no party could prove it. The EVM is not connected to outside instruments hence hacking is impossible, Mr Nand Lal said.

He added that the machines were introduced to prevent booth capturing, bogus and forceful voting. The machine can be captured only if presiding officer and all polling agents are in connivance. But its highly impossible as the agents belong to different parties, Mr Lal said.

Some strongly support the good ol ballot paper system. Professor Hemantkumar Shah from the Gujarat University said, The mismatch between votes polled as per the information given by EC on election day and votes counted in the EVMs at the time of vote counting was quite evident at many constituencies in Gujarat during the recent polls.

Mr Shah added that when the BJP was in the Opposition, it had raised the issue of EVM hacking. G.V.L. Narasimha Rao has even written a book opposing EVMs. BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy had filed a petition challenging the use of EVMs in the Supreme Court in October 2013. Now, the Congress too wants to have ballot paper system back. The BSP and SP to made EVM hacking claims after the UP Assembly elections results. Former bureaucrat Nand Kumar said the EVMs will continue. So what if other countries are still going with paper ballot, there are many countries which have adopted EVMs. In fact, the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was introduced to dispel any doubt about EVMs. They are excellent machines that help in saving time and prevent manipulation, he said.

The issue is pending before the Supreme Court, which recently observed, Technically, we agree that any technology can be tampered with... the EVM itself was introduced to stop larger evils like booth capturing. This is a work in progress.

Sure, EVM is a work in progress and the way forward may not be to junk it, but the EC will definitely have to take few measures to ensure that any attempt to tamper with the machines is prevented or detected on time.

The EVM storyCBI has also questioned few ICICI Bank officials as part of a preliminary enquiry to find if any quid pro quo was involved in the bank's issuance of Rs. 3,250-crore loan. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing controversy regarding a Rs.3,250 loan sanctioned by ICICI Bank to Videocon Group, the Income Tax (IT) Department on Tuesday sent a notice to NuPower Renewables, owned by the private lender's CEO Chanda Kochhar's husband Deepak.

Sources from the department told ANI that the notice was sent to Deepak Kochhar's firm after week-long investigation, as per provisions of Section 131 of the Income Tax Act, which empowers IT authorities to conduct inquiries, summon persons / witnesses, examine them under oath, compel production of books of account and documents, and issue commissions.

For the unversed, media reports earlier this month highlighted an alleged involvement of Chanda Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group on quid pro quo basis.

Indian Investors Protection Council Trustee Arvind Gupta said the evidence in the case pointed out that Chanda Kochhar was herself a beneficiary of the loan, and said her husband Deepak Kochhar is an indirect beneficiary of the loan granted to Videocon.

"Venugopal Dhoot transferred money from Videocon Group to Supreme Energy, in which he had 90 per cent shares. He promoted it and later transferred it to Deepak Kochhar. Deepak Kochhar then transferred his shareholdings to Pinnacle Energy. Pinnacle Energy was a trust formed by Kochhar family. Now they are saying they sold their shares of Nupower Renewables much before. NuPower Renewables was special purpose vehicle made to revert allegations in future. ICICI never gave it loan, but company was benefited," Gupta told ANI.

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also questioned few ICICI Bank officials as part of a preliminary enquiry to find if any quid pro quo was involved in the bank's issuance of Rs. 3,250-crore loan to the Videocon Group in 2012.Over 17 lakh e-way bills for inter-state movement of goods have been generated by businesses and transporters since the launch of the GST anti-evasion measure on April 1.

New Delhi: Over 17 lakh e-way bills for inter-state movement of goods have been generated by businesses and transporters since the launch of the GST anti-evasion measure on April 1, an official said on Wednesday.

The number of e-way bills generated on its platform has been steadily rising with 2.59 lakh bills on April 1, followed by about 6.5 lakh and 8.15 lakh bills in the subsequent two days.

Among states, Gujarat tops the list of e-way bill generation with 3.6 lakh bills generated during April 1-3, followed by Karnataka at 2.65 lakh bills.

Karnataka is the only state which has also launch e-way bill for intra-state movement of goods, along with inter-state.

"Going by the trend, the total number of e-way bills generation is likely to touch 9 lakh today. On a daily basis, we are expecting a 5-10 per cent increase in the generation of bills," an official told PTI.

From April 1, transporters of goods worth over Rs 50,000 have been mandated to generate an e-way bill, which would be required to be presented to a GST inspector, if asked.

This is being touted as an anti-evasion measure and would help boost tax collections by clamping down on trade that currently happens on cash basis.

The GST Council, last month, decided on a staggered roll out of the e-way bill starting with inter-state from April 1 and intra-state from April 15.

The official said a decision on which states should be in the first phase of intra-state roll out would be decided after stabilisation of the current e-way bill system for movement of goods from one state to another.

"We are seeing an uptrend in e-way bill generation. Once the number of such bill generation plateaus, a decision on intra-state launch would be taken," the official added.

Abhishek Jain, Partner at EY, said the e-way bill roll out has been smooth, in line with the government's promise of setting in motion a stabilised system.

"The strategy of the government to introduce inter-state e-way bills in phase 1 and intra-state in later phases has worked out pretty well," Jain said.

The e-way bill provision of the goods and services tax (GST) was first introduced on February 1. However, its implementation was put on hold after the system developed glitches in generating permits.

With several states also starting to generate intra-state e-way bills on the portal, the system developed a snag.

Since then, the platform has been made more robust so that it can handle as many as 75 lakh inter-state e-way bills daily without any glitch.

"Second innings of e-way bills is having a smooth run, and overall response from trade and industry is encouraging. In the last couple of days, not even a single grievance has come in on the technology front," AMRG & Associates Partner, Rajat Mohan, said.

Data retrieved from e-way bills would also support the government build analytics around tax collections on a real-time basis, Mohan added.

The implementation of the nationwide e-way bill mechanism under GST regime is being done by GST Network in association with the National Informatics Centre (NIC).New Delhi: A fresh crisis seems to be brewing for coal-fired power stations in the country as a sharp increase in the price of the dry fuel in prime import market of Indonesia is fast making projects run on overseas coal redundant.

Imported coal based projects of Adani and Essar on the western coast have already stopped generation, while Tata Powers Mundra has increased its losses by keeping its 4,000 MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) running.

The fresh development has come at a time when coal-fired projects are struggling with lower offtake for the power they generate, resulting in plants being run at almost half their rated capacity.

Moreover, imported coal-based Mundra ultra mega projects of Adani Power and Tata Power are in for more financial trouble. Both these entities signed up for a lower tariff agreement for power sold from their Mundra units, which does not cover up for the rise in the Indonesian coal prices.

Indonesian coal prices have shot up substantially with higher grades now commanding a price of $100 a tonne since the government has capped the price of its coal for domestic use. This is almost an increase of over 50 per cent over last years prices, said an analyst tracking the price of the fuel in international markets.

Even the price of coal grades popular with Indian power companies has shot up by around 40 per cent. In the absence of tariff support to cover for rising fuel cost, running imported coal based projects would be impossible, the analyst added.

Adani Power, Essar Power, Tata Power and JSW Energy are some of the companies, which run power generation capacities on imported coal. Most of these entities are running into huge losses for some time now.

In fact, Essar Power Gujarat has discontinued supply of 1000 MW to Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam (GUVNL) from December 15 while Adani Power has stopped supply of 2000 MW to the SEB from January 20 without any prior notice pushing the state to face scorcher of a summer this year with huge power deficit.

The cost of coal has been going up for last few months but has risen sharply by more than 10 per cent lately. This has pushed up sourcing cost for coal from $55 per tonne to $60 per tonne, said an official from a private sector power producer, asking not to be named.

To put the rise in perspective, the official stated, ballpark for every one dollar rise in coal prices, there is 20 to 25 paise addition to the cost of power generated.

If this is reflected in tariff, then electricity charges could increase by more than Rs 1-1.5 per unit. Lower generation ahead of peak demand season has also increased tariff on the exchanges that shot up to close to Rs 8 a unit late last month.

Though the tariff has come down now, the fuel situation could have a bearing how prices behave in coming months.

The rising cost of coal is also bad news for steel sector that largely sources its requirement of coking coal through imports. Higher prices of fuel would mean lower margins for steel in a market where demand remains low.

Apart from developments in the international markets, power producers are also grappling with a coal shortage from Coal India, a charge, which the state-run miner denies.

However, this situation would push even domestic linked consumers to resort to imports to fulfil any rise in power demand this summer. This would expand problems for the entire power sector.Number of CNG stations and PNG connections to be released command 70 per cent of the bidding weightage.

New Delhi: After 'one paisa' bids spoilt the initial auction rounds, oil regulator PNGRB has radically changed the bidding parameters for obtaining a licence to retail CNG and piped cooking gas in cities.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), in the new regulations released today, said future auctions would be conducted by asking companies to quote the number of CNG stations to be set up and number of domestic cooking gas connections to be given in the first eight years of operation.

Companies quoting higher number of CNG outlets and piped natural gas (PNG) connections would get more marks, it said.

The tariff they will charge for transportation of CNG and piped gas or PNG within the city, which previously was the deciding criteria for winning a licence, has been given just 10 per cent weightage.

Number of CNG stations and PNG connections to be released command 70 per cent of the bidding weightage, the PNGRB said in an amendment to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (authorising entities to lay, build, operate or expand city or local natural gas distribution networks) Regulations, 2008.

Besides, bidders will also have to quote how much pipeline they would lay on winning the licence. PNGRB has so far held eight rounds of bidding where companies were asked to quote the tariff for pipeline that carries gas within the city limits.

This bidding criteria did not include the rate at which an entity would sell CNG to automobiles or piped natural gas to households using the same pipeline network, leading to companies offering one paisa as tariff to win licences.

Entities having experience of at least one year in operation and maintenance of a city gas distribution (CGD) network and having "adequate" number of technically qualified personnel would be eligible for bidding, it said.

Companies having a net worth of no less than Rs 150 crore can bid for cities with population of 50 lakh and more while the same for cities with population of 20 lakh to 50 lakh has been proposed at Rs 100 crore.

The net worth eligibility goes down with population, with a Rs 5 crore net worth firm being eligible to bid for cities that have less than 10 lakh population.

PNGRB said any entity security CGD licence would have to enter into a firm natural gas supply agreement with a natural gas producer or marketer in a transparent manner on the principle of 'at an arm's length' within 180 days of winning a license.

The authorised entity has to achieve financial closure within 270 days from date of grant of licence. The winning company would have 8 years of marketing exclusivity in the given city.

Current licences provide for 5 years of exclusivity. Earlier this year, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had stated that PNGRB would offer 100 CGD licences for bidding on a new model within months.

Last few rounds of CGD have evoked lukewarm response. The fourth round was altogether cancelled, while the fifth saw sparse response. The sixth round of bidding for 34 cities in 2015 got bids for only 20.

The seventh round of bidding done to set up CGD infrastructure in 11 smart cities under smart city mission received only 1 bid. Seven cities were offered in the 8th round last year but not all cities have been awarded so far.Of this $178 billion debt mountain, banks have the largest at 53 per cent of the total loans, followed by NBFCs at 35 per cent and the balance from the states.

Mumbai: The banking sector, which is already reeling under a mammoth pile of bad loans, is looking at potential dud assets of $38 billion from the power sector, as $53 billion of the $178 billion bank loans to the sector are already stressed, said a report.

Of the $178 billion (around Rs 11.7 lakh crore) of debt of the power sector, $53 billion (around Rs 3.5 lakh crore) are already under stress (primarily to the generation sector) and of this, as much as $38 billion (around Rs 2.5 lakh crore) have the potential of being written-off as bad loans, the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch report said on Wednesday.

The report is based on the fact that as much as 71 gigawatt (gw) of private sector coal-based projects are facing bankruptcy filings at various NCLTs, implying probable resolution from June 2019 and it expects an average 75 per cent write-off in these loans.

Of the $178 billion loan, the distribution companies have $65 billion, generation companies have $77 billion, and transmission firms have a debt burden of $36 billion, says the report penned by BofA-ML research analysts Amish Shah and Sriharsh Singh.

Of the $53 billion of stressed loans, as much as $50 billion are to the generation sector alone, says the report, adding loans to the distribution sector, which were earlier stressed, are now better off given quasi-state guarantees and restructuring under the governments Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (Uday) scheme.

Of this $178 billion debt mountain, banks have the largest at 53 per cent of the total loans, followed by NBFCs at 35 per cent and the balance from the states. About 43 per cent of loans are extended to the power generation sector, followed by distribution at 37 per cent and transmission at 20 per cent, the report said.

It can be noted that the power, steel, roads, mining and telecom sectors are the most stressed ac-counts for banks whose bad loan burden has cro-ssed `11 trillion or 10.5 per cent of the system as of December 2017. It further notes that the $116-billion power utilities lose $9 billion annually but can turnaround without hiking consumer tariffs.Mumbai: Akshay Kumar is one actor who has not only worked on films like Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Padman, but also brought about changes by installing both of these for hygiene purposes along with politician Aaditya Thackerey.

Thanking him for the same, Aaditya tweeted, Im very very thankful to @akshaykumar ji for being such an ever inspiring friend & a real life hero in contributing to the society. Free self defence classes for women (more than 15k girls trained till date), our mission of fitting 100 sanitary pad machines & now this!

Im very very thankful to @akshaykumar ji for being such an ever inspiring friend & a real life hero in contributing to the society. Free self defence classes for women (more than 15k girls trained till date), our mission of fitting 100 sanitary pad machines & now this! pic.twitter.com/tBbvUR2ds1  Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) April 3, 2018

Replying to Aaditya, Akki wrote, Thank you @AUThackeray for being a constant support in all our endeavours together We do make a good team :)

Thank you @AUThackeray for being a constant support in all our endeavours together  We do make a good team :) https://t.co/taaH5GaLht  Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) April 3, 2018

This installation of toilet comes months after Akshays Mrs. Funny Bones Twinkle Khanna said people use Juhu beach for open defecation.

She wrote, I dont know if we are a perfect match but his big heart does match my big mouth Thank you @AUThackeray for making this possible!

I dont know if we are a perfect match but his big heart does match my big mouth :) Thank you @AUThackeray for making this possible! #WalkTheWalk https://t.co/gejfpv9NGQ  Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) April 3, 2018

Twinkle was the co-producer of Akshay Kumar's last release 'Padman', which was based on the works of Arunachalam Mangalam.Mumbai: Many movies like Bandit Queen or Gulaab Gang saw the stereotypical portrayal of female dacoits.

While most have been inspired by the daring Phoolan Devi, it appears that the makers of Son Chiriya wanted to give their woman dacoit a different flavour.

Bhumi Pednekars look as the female dacoit is not only brave but she also looks shy in the first look as she can be seen waving her dupatta to her face. See the look here:

Bhumi Pednekar in 'Son Chiriya' first look.

Directed by Udta Punjab helmer Abhishek Chaubey, Son Chiriya also stars Sushant Singh Rajput in the lead role.While the audience decide the fate of a movie, it is undoubtedly the die-hard fans who determine the fate of a movie star. It is hence, the legendary actor late Dr. Rajkumar referred to all his fans as abhimani devarugalu which literally means equating him to the Almighty. In turn, fans have always propelled the career of stars, taking them to greater heights. The unconditional love and support of fans is admired by all actors across the globe. However, with the new age of technology pegged with various social media platforms which allows fans to stay closely connected with their favourite stars has resulted both in pros and cons, sometimes making things complicated for the filmmakers. Bengaluru Chronicle reports on the campaign, displeasure and more expressed by some fans.

While filmmakers respect every such view, they strictly want the entire movie-aking process including casting to be left to the decision of the director. If the movie is not good, the audience will respond accordingly but as producers one should not poke their pose into the art of filmmaking and neither should fans. The director is the captain as it is his brain child. He knows best on who is perfect to play his characters, says Naveen, a film producer.

Recently, actress Rachitha Ram was trending on social media for a different reason. A section of the fans claiming themselves to be fans of Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar, had in fact started an online campaign with the hashtag #RachitaBeda. Even as the campaign started making news, none other than Puneeth reportedly stepped in and the issue came to be settled with Rachitha remaining the heroine in Natasarvabhouma directed by Pawan Wadeyar.

Actress Priyanka Jawalkar who was the first choice was soon replaced by Rachitha Ram, and this led to the campaign. It is learnt that a section of the fans were irked by a comment of actress Rachitha in the past. However, the actress has always maintained saying,  I am a great fan of Appu sir and it is always a great pleasure to with work with such great actor.

Even Puneeths fans feel that it was the work of a few who claimed that his fans had started this campaign. In fact, most of us are happy that the actress is back with our power star after Chakrayuha. No real fan would indulge in such acts, says Prashanth, a fan of Power Star.

It may recalled that Nisha Yogeshwar who was to make her debut alongside Challenging Star Darshan in Ambareesha was later replaced by Rachitha Ram. However it is not clear whether this decision had to do with date issues. In many cases it is always unclear why these changes take place. Mostly, filmmakers tend to take the view of fans and other aspects into consideration.

In the past too, similar such incidents have surfaced with fans expressing displeasure with even directors.

The cold star wars in the industry is one of the reasons why some directors who work with a particular star hero rarely direct another star actor involved in the cold war. Even fans create ruckus and many a times it turn ugly in social media, wraps up Vishnu, an associate director.BENGALURU: Kannada TV actor Kiran Raj was arrested by the Rajarajeshwari Nagar police on Tuesday after a Mumbai-based model filed a complaint against him alleging that he cheated her after getting into a physical relationship. Kiran, 25, a resident of Chinnasandra, plays the lead role in Kannada TV series Kinnari.

The police said that Kiran met the model, Yasmeen Pathan, during one of his shoots in Mumbai and the two became good friends. Later when she came to the city, the two started dating and were in a live-in relationship for the past five years after he promised to marry her.

Recently, she had gone to Mumbai for work and returned to the city on March 28. Kiran took her to his house and he allegedly forced her to get into a physical relationship. On the night of March 29, while the two were travelling in a car, she asked him to marry her, but Kiran refused. The two got into a fight and he started physically assaulting her inside the car. Reportedly, right after the assault, Kiran and his friends did not allow her to contact the police and kept her under house arrest. Yasmeen with the help of her friend managed to escape and returned to Mumbai where she tried to lodge the complaint.

When she went to the Oshiwara police station in Mumbai, she was told to file the complaint in Bengaluru, where the incident took place. She filed the complaint with the Rajarajeshwari Nagar police station on Monday.Having wealth and losing it suddenly carries almost the same risk for premature mortality as never having wealth. (Photo: Pixabay)

Middle-aged adults who lose most of their net worth over a brief period of time are more likely to die prematurely than individuals who hold on to their nest eggs, a US study suggests.

Researchers studied 8,714 people over two decades, starting when they were 55 years old, on average. Overall, 749 participants, or 9 percent, were in debt or had no net worth at the start of the study. Another 2,430, or 28 percent, experienced so-called negative wealth shock and lost at least 75 percent of their net worth over a two-year period at some point during follow-up.

During the study, 2,823 people died.

Compared with people who continuously maintained a comfortable level of wealth, participants who experienced negative wealth shock were 50 percent more likely to die during the study, researchers report in JAMA. People who started out in poverty or in debt were 67 percent more likely to die.

Having wealth and losing it suddenly carries almost the same risk for premature mortality as never having wealth, said lead study author Lindsay Pool, a researcher at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Poverty has long been linked to an increased risk of an early death, Pool said by email. Previous research also suggests that a sudden reversal of fortune may contribute to chronic stress, depression, anxiety and high blood pressure, all of which are independently associated with a greater risk of dying young.

Unfortunately, there is not a simple take-home message for patients, like stop smoking or eat more fruits and vegetables, Pool added. And even things that we think might help, like keep going to the doctor or find ways to manage stress are easier said than done when your financial situation has just radically changed.

Among participants who maintained a comfortable level of wealth throughout the study, the death rate was roughly 31 fatalities per year for every 1,000 people.

In the group that suffered negative wealth shock, the death rate was about 65 fatalities per year for every 1,000 participants.

And among those who started out in poverty or in debt, the death rate was approximately 73 fatalities per year for every 1,000 people.

The study wasnt a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how shifts in net worth might directly influence health or the likelihood of premature death. Researchers also lacked data on participants wealth before they joined the study, including any years in poverty or any sudden losses of net worth earlier in life.

This study does not prove that loss of wealth directly causes illness and death, said Dr. Alan Garber, provost at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and author of an accompanying editorial.

It shows that they go hand-in-hand, Garber said by email. In middle age and later in life, people who suffer wealth shocks dont live as long.

Economists have long debated the causal relationship between wealth and health, noted Michael Marmot, director of the Institute of Health Equity at the University College of London in the UK.

While the study offers fresh evidence that losing money and assets may hasten death, people may still be better off living at least part of their life with these financial resources than never having them at all, Marmot, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.

This study, by showing that loss of wealth leads to an increased risk of death over a twenty year period, after taking ill-health into account, supports the causal connection between low wealth and poor health, Marmot added. Indeed, the worst off group in this study was the group that had low wealth to begin with.Vodafone's advertisements have popularised the breed in India, and breeders and pet stores have cashed in on the demand. (Photo: Pixabay)

Mumbai: Vodafone India's latest ad campaign features 30 pugs running through a village  and in a letter sent to the telecom company, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has called for an end to the use of these and other animals in Vodafone's campaigns.

In the letter, PETA India points out that pugs have been deliberately bred to have features so severely exaggerated that they cause physical suffering  just to suit a concept of "cuteness" marketed by breeders to potential buyers. Pugs' flat faces make them prone to brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome, causing them commonly to snort and snore as they struggle to breathe, and they are especially susceptible to heatstroke and thus suffer greatly in India's humid climate.

Their protruding eyes are prone to injury, chronic irritation, and pain. Their folded skin is susceptible to painful, itchy skin infections, and they're prone to dental disease, spinal deformities, and exercise intolerance.

Vodafone's advertisements have popularised the breed in India, and breeders and pet stores have cashed in on the demand, forcing mother dogs to produce litter after litter until their bodies wear out.

Pugs are commonly bred with close relatives to ensure that their offspring inherit unnatural, freakish features. The puppies are sold to buyers who are unprepared to deal with the breed's numerous physical ailments, and the dogs face physical deterioration, neglect, or death when their guardians fail to recognise medical issues, can't afford to pay their veterinary bills, or simply opt not to deal with their health concerns.

Many end up dumped on the streets or on animal-protection groups' doorsteps: One Delhi group found four abandoned pugs in a span of just 10 days.

"No animal should be subjected to the chaos, loud noises, bright lights, and countless retakes on a commercial set just to sell a product, but in this case, Vodafone's advertisements have encouraged people in India to purchase pugs, contributing to their suffering," says PETA India CEO and veterinarian Dr Manilal Valliyate.

He further adds, "Pugs are genetically compromised, typically inbred, and commonly sick dogs who gasp and wheeze in India's hot climate. PETA India is calling on Vodafone to institute a responsible animal-welfare policy that keeps all live animals, including vulnerable pugs, out of its advertisements."Bengaluru: A 27-year-old woman was allegedly burnt alive by her husband for not bearing a baby boy. The couple married seven years ago and have two daughters.

The deceased has been identified as Veena, a resident of Koppa Gate in Anekal and the accused in Shashikumar. According to the police, Shashikumar was upset with his wife for bearing two daughters as he wanted a son.

Over the last few years, after the birth of their second daughter, Shashikumar began harassing Veena. "Our daughter was complaining of harassment by Shashikumar over the last few years. But we ignored thinking that it was common between a husband and wife. We never thought it would take such an ugly turn," said Veena's parents.

On the night of March 28, Shashikumar again had a fight with Veena over a male child. Following the fight, Shashikumar poured petrol on Veena and burnt her alive. Later, he concocted a story saying Veena was burnt in an accidental fire, the police said.

The next day, Veena's parents lodged a complaint at the Jigani police station, accusing Shashikumar of murdering their daughter.

The police, who registered the case under Section 302 of IPC, arrested Shashikumar for questioning. During the interrogation, Shashikumar confessed to killing his wife for failing to bear a male child.Bengaluru: A doctor's wife has lodged a complaint against her husband for forcing her to watch porn and harassing her for not getting pregnant.

The victim had filed a complaint with the Vidyaranyapura police which has been transferred to the Davangere Women police station where the incident occurred.

The accused, Dr Manjuanath, 38, a resident of Davangere, was married to the 24-year-old woman about three years ago.

The victim couldn't contact the local police and she returned to her parents' house in Vidyaranyapura and then filed the complaint against her husband.

The police said that on March 7, a dowry harassment case was filed against Dr Manjunath which was later handed over to the Davangere Women police station, who are currently investigating the case.

The victim has alleged that her husband forced her to watch porn and asked her to enact the same as even after three years of their marriage, she couldn't conceive.

She also alleged that he was threatening to upload her obscene photos and videos on social media platforms if she failed to obey him.

She along with her parents filed the complaint, which also names her brother-in-law Ranganath and her in-laws for dowry harassment.Rashmi Rana, resident of Delhis Kavi Nagar, and her partner Nisha Gautama attacked the woman with an iron rod leading to severe head injuries. (Representational Image)

Ghaziabad: After days of manhunt, Delhi police has arrested a girl and her female teacher who had brutally beaten the formers mother to death after she objected to their same-sex relationship.

The duo has been arrested from Ghaziabad Railway Station and after being interrogated the girl has confessed to the crime of killing her mother.

Rashmi Rana, resident of Delhis Kavi Nagar, and her partner Nisha Gautama attacked the woman with an iron rod leading to severe head injuries.

The police also said Rashmi Rana had been living with her partner for a while.

"But she (Rashmi) did not want to leave her teacher. So in a fit of anger, she hit her due to which she (mother) died," Superintendent of Police Akash Tomar said.

The police also confirmed that Pushpa Devi's husband was not at home when the incident took place.

After confessing to the crime, Rashmi Rana told the police that her mother frequently tortured her due to her relationship.

Both Rashmi and her partner Nisha have been sent to jail.

The girl's father Satish Kumar had filed FIR (First Information Report) at Kavi Nagar police station on March 9 against his daughter and the teacher. He had accused them of battering his wife, Pushpa Devi, with an iron rod which later caused her death.

Also Read: 18-yr-old fatally hits mum with rod, father blames girl's affair with female teacher

The police since then, had been on the lookout for the accused.

(With inputs from ANI)Kochi: The cops on Tuesday booked conductor of a private bus with negligence charge after a commuter who fell unconscious during a ride in the bus plying in Fort Kochi-Aluva route died after being allegedly denied timely medical help by the crew fearing trip cancellation. "A case under IPC section 304 (A) (causing death by negligence) was taken against conductor Bijoy Antony (36), a resident of Tukilath House, Keezmadu, Aluva. This is after our initial probe found he had failed to ensure timely medical help to the unconscious man," said Prajeesh Sasi, Elamakkara SI.

The incident happened on Saturday last when 40-year old T.K. Lakshmanan, a native of Sulthan Bathery and an employee of a hotel here, fell unconscious soon after he boarded the bus from MG Road near Maharajas College Ground stop while travelling to Palarivattom. However, the bus continued to proceed from Shenoys Junction despite request of a co-passenger to rush the patient to the nearest hospital.

"As per the statement of a co-passenger, the bus crew didn't heed to his request and continued the trip upto Edapally. Finally when the commuters began to make a hue and cry, the crew asked the co-passenger to take the affected to the hospital and dropped them at Edapally, nearly eight kms away. The complainant with the help of traffic warden at Edapally rushed him to a hospital there. However, he died later," police said.

The hospital authorities too gave a statement to police that the victim could have been saved had he been administered treatment in the nick of time. However, nearly 45 minutes had passed when he was finally admitted to a hospital. "We'll also seize the bus in consultation with the MVD which cancelled the conductor's license for six months. The driver said he came to know about the passenger falling unconscious after much time. However, further probe is on," he said.Sadayam Shoot & Edit, a studio in Vadakara town in Kozhikode was sealed after several documents were recovered. (Representational Image)

Thiruvananthapuram: Getting clicked at marriage ceremony is no longer safe for women in Kerala after a studio in Kozhikode district that specialised in wedding photography and other family functions allegedly morphed photographs of women, taken during weddings, and used them for pornographic purposes.

The complaint against Sadayam Shoot & Edit, a studio in Vadakara town in Kozhikode was reportedly made after several women spotted morphed images of them at weddings, circulating on social media.

The studio was sealed by police after they recovered several documents and the two owners of the studio - Dineshan and Satheeshan were arrested along with the co-owners.

A special investigation team was set up to probe the case, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

In a reply in the Kerala Assembly, the Chief Minister also said that police was looking for Bibeesh, another person involved in the crime.

Kerala State Women's Commission had also initiated a case in the matter, directing the Superintendent of Police to form a special investigation team to probe the issue their supervision.

The news about the studio created a stir in the locality as the families who had hired these photographers were anxious after the morphing incident came to light.

The Kerala Chief Minister was replying to a submission by CK Nanu of JD-S on the need for a detailed probe into the complaints against the owner and staff of Sadayam studio.

CK Nanu pointed out that that the incident had serious implications and that people wanted the government to ensure the criminals were punished severely.

Meanwhile, sources say there are images of more than 40,000 women, clicked during functions like weddings and copied as well as stored in a hard disc from the studio.

Also Read: Kozhikode: More complaints against studio in morphing controversy

Women's Cell circle inspector Bhanumathi, who is investigating the case, said the accused have undergone a preliminary interrogation and have confessed to the crime.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo Chandrababu Naidu met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday at the Andhra Bhawan. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Days after severing ties with the NDA, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo Chandrababu Naidu, who is in the national capital, met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday at the Andhra Bhawan.

The meeting between the two chief ministers began around 9 am.

Chandrababu Naidu, who is on his first visit to Delhi after breaking ties with NDA, is meeting opposition leaders to drum up support on pressuring the Centre to give a special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

In his meeting with Arvind Kejriwal, Chandrababu Naidu is likely to have explained the injustice being meted out to Andhra Pradesh despite assurances of a special status in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

The TDP chief, who is on a two-day visit to Delhi, will also like to garner as much opposition support as possible for the no-confidence motion that is pending before Lok Sabha. The motion is supported by 80-odd MPs, Opposition has claimed, but has not been taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, citing repeated disruptions and sloganeering.

Chandrababu Naidus visit comes a week after his West Bengal counterpart and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee spent a day in Parliament holding parleys with Opposition parties to forge a possible federal front against the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Andhra Pradesh, however, has made it clear that his visit is focused only on securing states interests and there was nothing political about the visit.

Among those he met on Tuesday were Congresss chief whip in Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Senas Anant Geete, Trinamool leaders Derek OBrien and Sudip Bandopadhyay, Ram Gopal Yadav of SP, AIADMK leader V Maitreyan and SC Mishra of BSP. However, it was Chandrababu Naidus long chat with sidelined BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi that set tongues wagging. Both leaders had a chat for more than 15 minutes. As both remained tight-lipped about what they discussed, speculation was rife in BJP circles.

He also met some BJP MPs, including Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha and Hema Malini.

At the end of the day, Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday tweeted, Interacted with NCP President Sri Sharad Pawar @PawarSpeaks, JKNC President Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mr @derekobrienmp, Mr Sudip Bandyopadhyay from TMC & Congress Leader Sri @JM_Scindia, regarding no-confidence motion, highlighting the injustice done to AP for its Special Status.

What has further united the opposition parties is the change of reference population from the 1971 Census to the 2001 Census under the 15th Finance Commission, due to which big states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal would each loose approximately Rs 20,000 crore each year. This issue was also discussed during Chandrababu Naidus meeting with the opposition leaders.

Meanwhile, the TDP MPs continued to protest outside the Parliament building, demanding Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh.

Chandrababu Naidu had in March asked his partys MPs to continue their fight against injustice in Parliament.

In March, the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP pulled itself out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the special status issue.

They followed the exit with tabling a no-confidence motion against the Modi-government to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh and directed its MPs to attend Parliament till the end of the Budget session.Actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan said, 'We were hopeful that the Supreme Court order would be implemented in toto and the Centre will constitute the CMB within the deadline of six weeks.' (Photo: File)

Chennai: Actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan has intensified his campaign against E Palanisamy-led Tamil Nadu government and the Centre for sitting tight on the Supreme Courts verdict on the Cauvery water sharing.

Criticising the Central government for not constituting a Cauvery management board (CMB), Kamal Haasan on Wednesday said the Tamil Nadu government is functioning like a subservient government to the Centre rather than upholding the states rights, which is the essence of Indias federalism.

While the responsibility of constituting the water management board is with the Centre, the Tamil Nadu government cannot imagine that it has fulfilled its duty towards the people, who elected them, by just filing a contempt petition in the Supreme Court or by holding a farcical one day hunger strike, Kamal told the media in Trichy.

Stating that the primary focus of the public meeting would be the Cauvery issue, Makkal Needhi Maiam president Kamal Haasan said, We would bring to the notice of the public the key issues surrounding this Cauvery water dispute as also the possible solutions that we all need to work on. We will also be stating some of the key policy guidelines of our party. This would be a precursor to the overall policy document that we would publish in the next five months.

Kamal Haasan said, "We were hopeful that the Supreme Court order would be implemented in toto and the Centre will constitute the CMB within the deadline of six weeks."

He further added, The court had unequivocally said that no extension will be granted under any grounds. But today, to our dismay we are witnessing a repeat of what happened in 2016.

The actor-politician cited a September 2016 Supreme Court order 2016 directing the constitution of the CMB within a period of four weeks and the Centres failure to do so then under the pretext of legal technicalities.

Talking to NDTV, Haasan said that the BJP-led national coalition's last-minute move to seek a clarification from the Supreme Court was motivated by electoral politics; the elections in Karnataka.

"It is a political game. It is obvious," Haasan said on his way to Tiruchirapalli where he will address a huge public meeting later on Wednesday evening. But then, he said, this was something that people of Tamil Nadu were aware of. "But as a new party's founder, I will have to reiterate it," he added.

The superstar, who forayed into politics recently, said Tamil Nadu had been denied its rights and "somebody" was blocking the state from receiving justice just when it was so close to. "It (Justice) is at our door step, and now it is being delayed. Just when we were all set to celebrate," he said.

In February, the Supreme Court reduced Tamil Nadu's share of water from the river Cauvery and said Karnataka would receive a bigger share, which would benefit cities like its capital Bengaluru.

Over the past few days, Kamal Haasan has been reaching out to people who he believes are suffering due to the government's policies or inaction. This week, he had also travelled to the port city of Thoothukudi, also known as Tuticorin, where villagers have been protesting to demand closure of the copper smelting plant complaining that it had accentuated air and water pollution.

The 765-km-long Cauvery river, originates in Kodagu district in southern Karnataka and flows into Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. Called the Ganga of the south, it is considered a lifeline for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Kamal Haasan said consecutive governments had been playing with the lives of delta farmers on either side of border, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

"And they have been playing ruthlessly without regard for livelihood. So much so, Tamil Nadu has almost come to the point of depleting all its groundwater sources," Haasan told NDTV.

Kamal Haasan had initially planned to make his train journey to Trichy a mega event along the way and was expected to meet fans at railway stations along the way. But the railways reportedly disapproved of the initiative, pointing that it would inconvenience other passengers.MoS Computer Baba on Wednesday said they have cancelled the campaign because the state government has fulfilled their demand to form a committee of saints and seers for protection of the Narmada river. (Photo: Twitter | ANI)

Indore: A day after being accorded the 'Minister of State' (MoS) status, two religious leaders have cancelled their proposed campaign against the alleged 'scam' in the Madhya Pradesh government's Narmada conservation programme.

Ahead of Assembly elections due later this year, the BJP government in MP on Tuesday accorded the MoS status to five Hindu religious leaders - Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant.

On March 31, the five religious leaders were appointed to a committee set up for the Narmada river conservation.

Also Read: Pre-poll perks? Computer Baba, 4 other Hindu religious leaders get MoS status in MP

As members of the committee, they have been given the MoS status, an official of the General Administration Department said on Tuesday.

Computer Baba had earlier announced to take out the 'Narmada Ghotala Rath Yatra' along with Yogendra Mahant in every district of MP from April 1 to May 15, to expose the alleged scam in planting saplings on the banks of the Narmada river and to demand a ban on illegal sand mining.

The publicity material of the campaign was also circulated widely on the social media.

However, MoS Computer Baba on Wednesday said they have cancelled the campaign because the state government has fulfilled their demand to form a committee of saints and seers for protection of the Narmada river.

"Now why would we take out the yatra?" he said.

On accepting the government facilities meant for an MoS despite being a saint, he said, "If we do not get the post and other government facilities, how can we work for the protection of the Narmada."

"As a member of the committee, we have to talk to the district collectors and look after other necessary arrangements for the river's conservation. A government status is required for these things," he pointed out.

Yogendra Mahant, who was the convener of the proposed campaign, also said that they cancelled the yatra as the state government fulfilled their demand to set up a panel for the river conservation.

On March 31, these five religious leaders were appointed members of the 'Janjagrukta Abhiyan Samiti' (Public Awareness Campaign Committee)- set up for conservation of the Narmada river.

The opposition Congress on Tuesday dubbed the decision to appoint them as MoS as the BJP's attempt to exploit the respect these religious leaders enjoy in the society.

However, the BJP hit back saying the opposition party disliked anything related to saints.Hyderabad: Detention of Spirit of Telangana Facebook page admin Prashanth by Hyderabad Police on Monday had sparked a debate across various circles claiming that the incident is a clear violation of freedom of speech and opinion. Prashanth was detained by the Task Force wing for Facebook posts about an alleged land scam unearthed by his team at Suryapet district. Prashanths arrest drew flak on social media, forcing the police to withdraw their decision to question him on Tuesday.

Experts said that even the Supreme Court had made it clear that the criticism on social media cannot be treated as a crime unless it is provocative. Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Police had kicked up a controversy by arresting Inturi Kiran the admin of a Facebook page Political Punches from Hyderabad at a midnight in 2017.

M. Padmanabha Reddy from Forum for Good Governance said that this is clear intolerance and curtailing the freedom of speech and opinion. High Court Senior Advocate Chandrasen Reddy said that the police cannot pick up or detain any person without any proof or charges but it has become a routine practice for them.

After the Supreme Court struck down Section 66-A of the IT Act terming it as draconian law, police have no other option. However, there are other sections to book people under the IT Act, but they need strong evidence and charges to be made against them, he said. No one can be summoned for questioning or to record his statement as a witness, without a notice. Even in the pre-investigation stage also, a notice is mandatory as per law, but it is rarely followed and the public are put to trouble, Chandrasen Reddy said.

Cops drop plan to quiz Prashanth

Prashanth Jayala who was questioned for more than seven hours on Monday was called for inquiry on Tuesday also. But on Tuesday he received a communication from Task Force officials that he need not come for any questioning and the matter is closed. When asked officials from Task force said that they have actually picked him up for questioning based on the facebook posts, but no violations were found on his part.

Speaking to DC Prashanth said that he was on Tuesday that the issue was closed. Prashanth said that the CM Chandrashekar Rao had become an inspiration for various changes in governance, but that was not seen in respect of freedom of speech and opinion on social media.

Questions raised on political meddling

The incident had also put cops in question. Cops opined that such incidents damage the image of the police department and had once again exposed how ruling parties can influence police department and exploit the power of Police. Senior cops say that such incidents may likely attract judicial action as well. According to sources, the City Police had instructions from a top official in the Government, who told them to act on the admins of three facebook pages, which are critical on governments irregularities.

According to Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, the freedom is speech is guaranteed to speeches at public meetings, media and is even extended to social media as well. Criticising the government is not at all an offence. It is just an expression of their anguish on some incidents. If that is not allowed, the basic human rights of a citizen are at stake, a senior cop said. On one side, the department is publicising its friendly attitude towards the public and on the other hand, such incidents dampen that spirit and create a distance between police and public.HYDERABAD: The High Court on Tuesday made it clear that if the TS government failed to file the counter-affidavit in the case of expelled Congress MLAs by April 6 it will proceed further in the case without the counter-affidavit.

Justice B. Siva Sankar Rao was hearing the petition of expelled MLAs of Congress Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and A. Sampath Kumar questioning the action of the Telan-gana Speaker in expelling them from the Assembly.

J. Ramachandra Rao, Additional Advocate-General appea-ring in the case sought to adjourn the case stating that the House was adjourned without taking any decision with re-gard to submission of the video footage of the Gover-nors address to the court.

He made it clear that without resolution of the House it would not be possible for them to furnish the video footage to the court.

At this juncture the judge questioned the AAG whether he was appearing for the Asse-mbly or the state government. When AAG said he was appearing for the government, the judge asked why was he making a submission on behalf of secretary of the Assembly.

When the judge asked for the counter-affidavit, the AAG said that the counter was prepared but they required some more time for the signatures of authorities concerned to file it before the court.

The judge said that he would grant time till April 6 for the counter and if they failed to file it the hearing will continue without the counter.

The judge asked the counsel for the petitioner to file the reply before April 9 if the state government served the copy of the counter on April 6.

When the judge spoke about the Advocate Generals assurance to the court about the submission of video footage, the AAG replied that it was on his instruction only that the AG assured the court.

The judge said if the video footage was not furnished before the court, it would be compelled to draw an adverse inference in the case and would then pass orders.On February 28, Karti Chidambaram was arrested at the Chennai airport on his return from the UK, in connection with a money laundering case registered. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday granted bail to former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram's chartered accountant S Bhaskararaman in connection with the INX media case.

He had approached the court seeking the bail fearing arrest by the CBI in the said case.

On March 26, the CBI filed a reply in the Special Court and opposed the anticipatory bail plea of S Bhaskararaman in connection with the case.

Bhaskararaman was arrested from a hotel in Delhi on February 16 and was later sent to sent judicial custody.

On February 28, Karti Chidambaram was arrested at the Chennai airport on his return from the UK, in connection with a money laundering case registered against him in May 2017 for his alleged role in facilitating FIPB clearance for INX Media Ltd and its directors, Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.

Karti allegedly took service charges for getting the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving funds from abroad worth Rs 305 crore in 2007 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union finance minister.MALAPPURAM: The simmering protests against the acquisition of 28 acres of paddy fields for NH 66 bypass near Kottakkal here could well turn into a 'Vayalkilikal' moment. As the Thottungal Padashekhara Samithi which is spearheading the agitation intensified it on Tuesday, the police arrested Shibina Churapulakkal who is on an indefinite hunger strike for the past three days. The police faced stiff resistance from protesters who blocked them raising slogans. But they managed to remove the protesters by 4 pm using force. The residents of Edarikode and Marakara panchayats are against the survey for the proposed 4.4 km bypass from Swagathamadu to Palachiramad through 28 acres of paddy fields and displacing many.

The revenue authorities began the survey along the proposed stretch last week amidst strong protest including stoning the police in Cherushola. An estimated 86 families could get displaced for the bypass filling the fields. The UDF-ruled Edarikode and Marakara panchayats had earlier passed resolutions against evicting 86 families for the project. "The indefinite strike will continue until our demands are met," Edarikode panchayat vice-president V.T. Subair Thangal said. Indian Union Muslim League also backs the agitation.

Though the leadership distanced themselves from the local protests, the party state general secretary K.P.A. Majeed visited the agitation venue on Monday and demanded that the government should talk to the local community and take them into confidence. On Tuesday, the IUML district committee issued a statement demanding government to hear them. "The government move using massive police force has caused unease among the public. The government should avoid the densely populated area while acquiring the land for the NH," it stated.In a written response to a question, VK Singh, a minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs, said the sentences of another 119 Indians have been reduced by an 'Amiri Decree'. (Photo: File | Representational)

New Delhi: The Emir of Kuwait has commuted the death sentence of 15 Indians to life imprisonment, the government on Wednesday informed Lok Sabha.

In a written response to a question, VK Singh, a minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs, said the sentences of another 119 Indians have been reduced by an "Amiri Decree".

His statement did not give details about the time when the sentences were commuted, or about the convicts.

Of the 119, the sentences of 53 Indian convicts were reduced from life to 20 years. Twenty two were immediately released, while the sentences of 18 were reduced by three-quarter.

The sentences of 25 Indian convicts were reduced by half, while one convict's sentence was reduced by a quarter.

"The Government of India, through its missions abroad and through bilateral mechanism regularly takes up cases of Indian nationals lodged in foreign jails with the concerned authorities for taking a sympathetic view of all such cases, including in the Middle East countries," Singh said.

In response to another question on whether the government has any proposal to give subsidy to pilgrims to visit Jerusalem, MJ Akbar, another minister of state in the External Affairs Ministry, replied in negative.

Jerusalem is a holy city not only for Jews, but also for Muslims and Christians.The demonetization decision was aimed at flushing out unaccounted wealth and hit the finances of terrorists suspected of using fake currency to fund operations. But it also caught countries such as Nepal and Bhutan, where the Indian currency is widely used, off-guard. (Photo: PTI)

Kathmandu/New Delhi: Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will press India to exchange millions of dollars held in Nepal in demonetized Indian bank notes during a visit this week to improve ties between the two nations.

Nepal and India have yet to agree on how to exchange old Indian bank notes estimated to be worth Rs. 950 crore ($146 million) held by individuals and informal sectors after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's shock announcement in 2016 to ban 500 and 1,000 rupee notes.

The demonetization decision was aimed at flushing out unaccounted wealth and hit the finances of terrorists suspected of using fake currency to fund operations. But it also caught countries such as Nepal and Bhutan, where the Indian currency is widely used, off-guard.

"The Indian demonetisation has hurt Nepali nationals. I will raise this in my meetings with Indian leaders and request them to resolve the issue," PM Oli told Nepali parliament late on Tuesday.

India is Nepal's largest trade partner and the supplier of the bulk of consumer goods. Indian currency is widely used by businesses and individuals who keep their savings at homes in Indian bank notes.

PM Oli will meet PM Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind and other officials during the visit starting on Friday.

Central Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) officials say the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) verbally agreed to allow every Nepali national to exchange up to 4,500 rupees worth of scrapped Indian bank notes in a meeting in March last year.

"But nothing has been communicated to us formally so far," NRB Deputy Governor Chinta Mani Shivakoti told Reuters.

A senior government official, with direct knowledge of the RBI's views, said the central bank was unable to exchange the old currency notes in Nepal or any other country because there was no such provision made in the rules that the government issued at the time of demonetisation.

"Only the government can take a decision in this regard now," the official said.Bengaluru: The state government continues to get brickbats for its lackadaisical approach towards environment. After Kushal Stone Crushers declared that it will exit the area near Bannerghatta Biological Park as it falls under the eco-sensitive zone, amendments to the Karnataka Regulation of Stone Crushers (Amendment) Act, 2013 are once again being discussed by environmentalists.

On the recent controversy that stone quarrying and stone crushing units are functioning in the eco-sensitive zone near Bannerghatta National Park illegally, environmentalists said that the damage these units doing to the wildlife and human life is unimaginable.

In October 1998, the Karnataka High Court directed the state government to shift all crushing units to safe zones. The Quarry Owners Association approached the Supreme Court, but the plea was dismissed. In 2011, the state government too knocked on the doors of the apex court, but its appeal too was turned down with the court saying, In our view, there is no valid ground much less justification to entering the prayers made in the applications, which would allow the state government to wriggle out of its obligation to take action in accordance with the High Courts order October 10, 1998.

The Karnataka Regulation of Stone Crushers Ordinance passed in 2011 states that all the stone crushers should be outside the safe zone, which should be at least 2 km away from national highways, animal habitats, temples, schools and rivers and 1 km away from the limits of an inhabited village or any private land shown as cultivable in the revenue records.

The Siddaramaiah-led government that came to power in 2013, however, brought amendments to the 2011 Act and reduced the location of safe zones from national highway to 200 metres from 2 kilometres and brought down the distance between safe zone and link roads to 100 metres from 500 metres.

Sridhar Pabbisetty, CEO, Namma Bengaluru Foundation, said, To avoid human-animal conflict, the safe zone is mandatory. The amendment appears to be a pacifier to the crushers lobby.

To minimise the effect of dust, the 2013 amendment also stated that a cluster of stone crushers shall provide 15-20 feet wall/GI sheet and adopt necessary dust containment system, like building enclosures.

The lead scientist at Indian Institute of Science, Dr T.V. Ramachandra said, No measures to contain dust are being taken. Innocent animals and children are the worst victims. These crushing units are in the eco-sensitive zone and wildlife cannot afford to have such high levels of vibration from these units.

Dr Ramachandra said that the wildlife area is the catchment for Cauvery River and a part of an animal corridor.

On Trial

The Supreme Court in MC Mehta and Another vs Union of India and others stated that an enterprise engaging in hazardous industry owes an absolute obligation to the community to ensure that no harm results to anyone on account of such hazardous activity. No person, therefore, can claim to have a right of carrying commercial activity which admittedly affects the health of others.

In 2011, the Karnataka High Court directed all crushing unit in the unsafe zone to be closed. In 1998, in a petition filed by Obayya Poojari, the court issued guidelines to identify safe zones for stone crushing units. The SC upheld the high courts decision when quarry owners association appealed before the court.The full fledged team of the commission will visit Bengaluru for three days starting Wednesday to review preparations for the polls.

Bengaluru: The Election Commmission of India is likely to reshuffle a few bureaucrats after its visit to Karnataka later this week.

The full fledged team of the commission will visit Bengaluru for three days starting Wednesday to review preparations for the polls.

Highly placed sources in the state government told Deccan Chronicle that ahead of the pronouncement of the poll calendar, the state government had reshuffled the officials at the district level besides effecting many transfers of IPS officers.

For instance, Bengaluru urban deputy commissioner V Shankar was transferred and a senior minister's relative, K. Dayanand was brought in his place. The government reportedly posted officials loyal to very senior ministers and chief minister to key positions.

"The ECI got the feedback through various channels about such officials. These officials will be transferred once the ECI team returns to Delhi," sources said. Meanwhile, after meeting governor Vajubhai Vala, DG and IG Neelmani Raju had on Monday sent out a clear signal that action would be taken against police officials found to be involved in malpractices or biased action.Bhopal: Ahead of assembly elections due later this year, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday accorded the Minister of State' (MoS) status to five Hindu religious leaders, a move which was slammed by opposition Congress.

As per the order of General Administration Department's Additional Secretary KK Katiya, the MoS status has been accorded to Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant.

On March 31, these five religious leaders were appointed to a committee set up for the conservation of the Narmada river. As members of the committee, they have been given the MoS status, a GAD official said on Tuesday.

Assembly elections are due in the state this year, and main opposition Congress dubbed the decision as an attempt by the BJP to exploit the respect these religious leaders enjoy in the society.

"It's a gimmick to score political points. This is also an effort by the chief minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) to wash off his sins. He ignored conservation of the Narmada. These saints should inspect where the state government has planted six crore saplings (along the river banks) as claimed by the CM," said Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi.

State BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal said the opposition party dislikes anything related to saints.

"Saints and seers were accorded the MoS status to make their work of environment and river conservation easy. The saints were roped in for the Narmada conservation work to ensure public participation," Agrawal said.West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Government on disclosure of Rs 2.41 lakh-crore loans written off by PSU banks. (Photo: PTI | File)

Mumbai: Public sector banks (PSBs) wrote off Rs 2.41 lakh crore worth of loans in over three years, between April 2014 and September 2017. The revelation was made by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla in a written reply in Parliament on Tuesday.

The disclosure came under strong criticism from Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee. "I am shocked to see that at a time, when the farmers in the country are crying and committing suicide for their loan burden and asking for waiver of farmers' loan, the Government of India have not even considered that," the Banerjee wrote on her Facebook.

In his reply to the Rajya Sabha, the Union Finance Minister of State said that writing off non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans is a regular exercise conducted by banks to clean up their balance sheet and to achieve taxation efficiency.

"As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on global operations, public sector banks have written-off (including compromise) an amount of Rs 2,41,911 crore from financial year 2014-15 till September 2017," the minister said.

Borrowers, however, continue to be liable for repayment despite the write-off, the minister added.

The Union Minister said the recovery of dues takes place on an ongoing basis under a legal mechanism so write-offs do not benefit borrowers.

Shiv Pratap Shukla also informed the Rajya Sabha that according to the RBI, borrower-wise credit information is not available for disclosure. The RBI Act provides that credit information submitted by a bank should be treated as confidential, he added.

Read: PSBs wrote off Rs 2.41 lakh crore loans in over 3 years

The non-disclosure of the borrower information was also criticised by the West Bengal Chief Minister.

"Even in Parliament reply, the Government of India says that the details of credit information by a public sector bank cannot be disclosed," Mamata Banerjee said.

The stressed-loan pile in the Indian banking system has more than doubled in the five years as a prolonged economic slowdown pressured companies' ability to service their loans, while in some cases profligate lending practices and fraudulent transactions have aggravated the problem.

A Rs 13,000-crore fraud in the country's second-biggest state-run lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) that was first disclosed in early February has stunned the financial sector of India and has triggered a crackdown by regulators to unearth more such fraudulent deals.

The latest RBI data says that 21 state-run banks which account for more than two-thirds of the countrys banking assets had stressed loans of Rs 8.26 lakh crore as of December 31. This is 15.8 per cent of their total loans.

(With inputs from agencies)AG quoting a catena of judgments across the world said collection of fingerprints would not constitute invasion of right to privacy.

New Delhi: Collection of biometric and demographic data including fingerprints under the Aadhaar identity programme does not violate the right to privacy of an individual, the Centre asserted in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal made this assertion before a five judge Constitution bench hearing a batch of petitions challenging the legal validity of Aadhaar law.

Justice Chandrachud drew AGs attention to the fact that unbridled power has been vested with the Unique Identity Authority of India to decide what biometric information should be collected and the method in which it should be collected.

Development will slow down if there is judicial review of every administrative action and courts should not interfere if legislation is in national interest, the A-G said. He said Aadhaar is an enabler for millions of residents and added that it enabled their right to food, livelihood and pensions. He said the Aadhaar is a serious attempt on the part of the government for insulating people from poverty as several countries have adopted similar systems of identification. The UN and the World Bank has praised it as a means of people's empowerment. The failure to establish identity of an individual has proved to be a major hindrance for successful implementation of social security benefits.

AG quoting a catena of judgments across the world said collection of fingerprints would not constitute invasion of right to privacy.New Delhi: The Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Wednesday asked the people of Tamil Nadu to maintain peace and calm assuring them that the States interests in Cauvery water row would be addressed The CJI heading a bench, which includes Justces A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, told Tamil Nadu counsel G. Umapathy (who was mentioning a different matter for early listing) ask people of your State to maintain peace and calm. We understand your problems. We will take care of your interests.

In an apparent reference to the on-going protests and agitations across the state to press for setting up of the Cauvery Management Board, the CJI pointing his finger to Justice Chandrachud said my brother judge also shares the same concern. We will hear the matter on April 9.

Tamil Nadu has filed an application seeking initiation of contempt against the Centre for not implementing the February 16 judgment on Cauvery dispute by setting up the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee within the time limit of six weeks. According to the State the Centre had deliberately and willfully disobeyed the court orders.

The Centre in its application while seeking three months extension for implementing the direction has asserted that notifying the constitution of CauveryManagement Board during the time when Assembly elections in Karnataka has been announced by the Election Commission would lead to massive public outrage, create serious law and order problem and may vitiate the election process.Tiruchy: Makkal Needhi Maiam leader Kamal Haasan on Wednesday night warned if the Central government did not form Cauvery Management Board (CMB), Tamil Nadu will launch non-cooperation movement in a peaceful manner. The Centre should not expect cooperation and there would be peaceful non-cooperation from people if the CMB was not formed, Kamal said.

The actor, who issued this veiled warning while addressing a mammoth public meeting here, also pointed out that the Central Government has every right to form the CMB.

He also pointed out that the MNM is holding discussions with experts from various walks of life, especially water and legal experts and engineers on how to solve the Cauvery water dispute. Tamil Nadu government also knows how to solve the issue, but is hiding behind the Union government, he added.

Popular actor and MNM founder-leader Kamal Haasan said that the AIADMK government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami was functioning like a subservient government to the Centre instead of upholding the states rights, even though this is the essence of Indias federalism. He was here to address his partys public meeting on Wednesday where he told newsmen that the main focus of the meeting would be the Cauvery water issue.

He said that they had been hopeful that the judgement of the Supreme Court would be implemented in total and the Central Government would constitute the Cauvery Management Board (Board) within the deadline of six weeks as provided in the order. However, to our dismay, we are now witnessing a repeat of what happened in 2016.

It may be recalled that the Supreme Court in its order in September 2016 had directed the Central Government to constitute the CMB as per the verdict of the Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal within a period of four weeks from the date of the order. It was not constituted then under the pretext of legal technicalities. We are seeing a repeat of this again now, he added.

While the responsibility of constituting the CMB is with the Centre, the Tamil Nadu state government cannot think that it has fulfilled its duty towards the people who elected them by simply filing a contempt petition after the deadline or by holding a farcical one-day hunger strike, he added. He charged the Tamil Nadu Government of being subservient to the Centre instead of upholding the states rights, We will also be stating some key policy guidelines of our party on important areas. This will be a precursor to the overall policy document that we will publish in the next 5 months, he added.

Asked to comment on the Supreme Courts recent remarks that the SC & ST acts are being misused, Kamal Haasan said it cannot be altered now.

When a reporter drew to his attention to the fact that his train travel between Chennai and Tiruchy on Tuesday had caused hindrance to other passengers, Kamal Hasan denied it. In fact, he had wanted to visit passengers in other compartments, but since this would disturb others, he had given up the idea, he added.

MNM Founder Kamal Haasan offers his condolence to Lourdhu Mary, mother of Usha, who was killed in Tiruverumbur recently.

Earlier, Kamal Haasan and mediapersons paid homage to the memory of Tiruchy Dinakaran reporter Narayanan by observing silence for a minute. Narayanan had died this morning after a road accident. Kamal Hasan also met family members of the late Usha, who died due to the forcible action of a police inspector at Tiruverumbur near here recently. He gave Rs 5 lakh to her mother S.Lourdhu Mary and brother Robert and Rs 5 lakh to her husband Raja as promised.New Delhi: With Dalit anger hurting the BJPs electoral prospects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to reach out to the community on Wednesday and, playing the Ambedkar card, said no previous government had honoured the legacy of dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar as much as his.

Mr Modis remarks came soon after widespread violent protests erupted in different parts of the country over a Supreme Court ruling that put in place safeguards to prevent the misuse of a law meant to prevent atrocities of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Trying to connect with the Dalit community, the Prime Minister said at a function that no government has, perhaps, given respect to Babasaheb the way our government has. Instead of dragging him into politics, we should all try to walk on the path he has shown us.

Later, on Wednesday evening, Mr Modi held a meeting with dalit MPs belonging to the NDA to discuss the recent turn of events.

The PM expressed these views while speaking at the inauguration of an annexe building at Western Court that acts as a transit accommodation for new MPs. Lamenting that everyone had used Dr Ambedkars name for political gain, Mr Modi said it was his government that completed the Ambedkar International Centre though the idea was mooted when Atal Behari Vajpayee was Prime Minister.

The 26 Alipur Road House where the Dalit icon had died will be dedicated to the nation on April 13, on the eve of his birth anniversary, Mr Modi said.

Speaking further on the Western Court project, the PM appreciated the efforts of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to get it completed. He said Ms Mahajan always had MPs well-being in mind, and said her compassion was visible in the attention to detail given in this project. The Prime Minister said the project was completed well within the stipulated time and cost, and congratulated all those involved in its construction.Hyderabad: Southern states fear they will each lose Rs 20,000 crore on an average in five years to northern states if the NDA governments terms of reference for the 15th Finance Commission come into force from 2020-21 to 2024-25 financial year.

In a recent meeting, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said, The weightage for population in tax devolution should be reduced. More weightage should be given for other performance indicators in various sectors such as infrastr-ucture, irrigation, housing, tax collections etc.

Mr Rao said, TS is playing a major role in nation building by contribution more funds to the Centre. We pay around Rs 54,000 crore per year in the form of various taxes but we get less than Rs 25,000 crore in return. The Centres policy should help backward states to develop on par with progressive states but should not make pr-ogressive states become backward states.New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed at the admission stage petitions seeking a CBI probe in the question paper leak of Class 12 Examinations conducted by the CBSE this year and its decision to conduct re-examination in Economics paper.

A bench observed that since it is the discretion of the CBSE to conduct re-examination, the court has no jurisdiction to go into the issue of leak. We will not interfere.

Counsel said the impact of leak has to be evaluated through a probe. When students are supposed to be in classrooms, they are now on the streets against the CBSEs decision. They also wanted a direction to the CBSE to conduct the re-examination across India and not in two states.

The Bench, however, said it would not interfere. As far as Class X was concerned, the court was informed that the CBSE on Tuesday decided not to hold re-examination and it permitted these petitions to be withdrawn.

The petitioners said the agencies have collectively not only failed the young kids but have also shaken their faith over the system, law and order.New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine an important issue as to whether a candidate can be barred from contesting in two Assembly/parliamentary constituencies during elections.

A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud was hearing a PIL filed by BJP spokes person and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya seeking a ban to this effect. The Attorney General K.K. Venugopal that he would assist the court in deciding this important question of law and file a counter affidavit. The Bench agreed and granted time for filing reply.

The petitioner said one Person One Vote and One Candidate One Constituency is the dictum of democracy. However, as per the law, as it stands today, a person can contest the election for the same office from two constituencies simultaneously. He said when a candidate contests from two seats, it is imperative that he/she has to vacate one of the seats if he/she wins both.Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami met Governor Banwarilal Purohit and apprised him of the situation in the state amidst widespread protests over the Cauvery issue and the anti-Sterlite struggle. Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and minister for fisheries D. Jayakumar were also present in the meeting.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the Governor, the CM said, We informed the Governor about the current situation and efforts made by government on the law and order issue. We also informed him about governments stand on the Cauvery water issue. The Governor is satisfied with our reply.

Earlier, the CM held a meeting with chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, DGP T.K.Rajendran and commissioner A.K Viswanathan at his residence in the evening. Officials appraised him of the situation.Snake sightings have also increased because empty plots across the city are being cleared for construction of buildings, destroying their habitats. (Representational image)

Bengaluru: Recently, an untrained snake catcher succumbed to a snake bite in Hessaraghatta, bringing to the fore the problem of illegal snake catchers trying to rescue snakes, which are increasingly being sighted because of the onset of summer.

The BBMP is being flooded with animal rescue calls, most of which are for the rescue of snakes and birds. On an average, the Palike gets about 30 calls a day from all the eight zones. Of them, nearly 10 are for rescue of snakes, while the least are for dogs and cows, a BBMP officer said.

Snakes come out of underground holes and bushes during summer as heat is unbearable. They look for cooler places and enter homes through sanitary pipes and other openings, he said.

Snake sightings have also increased because empty plots across the city are being cleared for construction of buildings, destroying their habitats.

A snake rescuer from BBMP said, Their habitat is being taken away. After we rescue snakes, we release them in a forested area within 1 km of the rescued spot or at the Bannerghatta forest. Injured snakes are treated at the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (WRRC) in Bannerghatta.

Another BBMP officer said, We are discussing about training snake rescuers across the city to make them understand the behaviour of these reptiles and their relationship with the city. We also discussed about setting up a snake shelter in the city in the coming year, as injured snakes can be kept at the shelter and taken care of before being released into forests.

The recent death of a man while trying to rescue a snake shows that people are ignorant about the behaviour of the animal. People should alert the BBMP control room or any trained snake catcher immediately after sighting a snake. No one should try to rescue a wild animal without proper safety equipment or training. All the BBMP zones in the city have animal rescue departments and they work round the clock, the officer said.

Labourer caught snake but died

Maharaja, 48, a construction labourer, rescued a snake from a house in Hessaraghatta on Sunday. He caught the snake, but was bitten on his right hand. He managed to put it in a bag and took it home where it bit his hand again. He complained of uneasiness in the evening and went to sleep. Later , his neighbours found him frothing and rushed him to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

The BBMP wild life rescue team learnt about the incident when they reached the house in Hessaraghatta. An official said that they received a call from a resident to rescue the snake. By the time they arrived they found the snake had been taken away. We learned that the person was untrained, he said.The minor, a resident of Berasia town near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, 'left her home on Sunday night aiming to meet the Bollywood actor,' senior police inspector Pandit Thackeray said. (Photo: AP)

Mumbai: A star-struck teen ran away from her home in Madhya Pradesh, came to Mumbai and tried to scale the wall of the posh Galaxy Apartment in Bandra, just so she could meet her favourite actor - Salman Khan.

The 15-year-old girl was detained by the police after they received a complaint about a young woman trying to scale the wall of the apartment. The police have sent her to a children's home.

The minor, a resident of Berasia town near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, "left her home on Sunday night aiming to meet the Bollywood actor," senior police inspector Pandit Thackeray said.

She first took a train to reach Mumbai, and arrived at the Bandra Terminus on Tuesday morning. The teen, who knew Salman Khan's residential address, then headed straight to Galaxy Apartment, located at Bandstand in suburban Bandra, the police inspector said.

She first tried to enter the premises through a gate but was stopped by security guards present there. They refused to let her enter without providing details of who she had come to meet.

After a while, the girl was seen trying to scale the boundary wall of the housing society, but was caught by the security guards, who then informed the Bandra police, another police official said.

The police arrived at Galaxy Apartment shortly after the call and detained the girl who was trying to trespass. They took her to the Bandra police station.

Upon questioning, the teen said she was carrying an Aadhaar card to prove her identity. Based on the Aadhaar card, the police informed their colleagues in Madhya Pradesh. They also contacted her parents, Thackeray said.

After a preliminary enquiry, the girl was sent to the Dongri Children's Home, the police official said, adding that her parents were on way to Mumbai to take her custody.Chennai: If we could do it in Haryana, J&K, Goa, Nagaland and Tripura, why not in Tamil Nadu? We can, asserted BJP state secretary K. T. Raghavan, dismissing the suggestion that with mere two per cent vote share, his saffron party would never be able to win elections in the Dravidian Tamil Nadu.

Yes, we have only two per cent vote share in Tamil Nadu now but that will not remain the same for long. If we are not relevant, why should the opposition parties here blame the BJP for everything? he asked in a candid interview to DC.

1.5 vote share in the previous election became 35% in Tripura within a span of four years. In Nagaland, with a Christian population of 88 per cent, we won and formed our NDA government. What makes you think that the voter in TN is less mature and knowledgeable than those in the NE states who could judge where their development would come from and voted for the BJP?

Our government is ruling in Muslim-dominated Jammu Kashmir; it's the BJP government in Goa having 28 per cent Catholic Christian population. We had only four per cent vote share in Haryana in the previous election and within four years, we were able to secure 36 per cent and form the government. Why can't we do it in TN?

People in TN are sick of this high corruption and tired of poor administration. We will promise better days for them, nalla ethirkalam. I am sure they will understand, they will accept, said Raghavan.

Denying any deliberate delaying on the part of Centre in implementing the Supreme Court's Feb. 16 order on Cauver, the DMK and Congress spoilt the case for 40 years. Now the Central government has sought three months' time to implement the SC order, which shows the Centre is keen on implementing the SC order.

The DMK is only trying to mislead the people. I would say, like the Jallikattu which was restored, the Narendra Modi government will ensure that Tamil Nadu's hopes on Cauvery will not go in vain, he says in an interview to DC.

Excerpts:



Q: After Jallikattu sir, you are facing opposition on issues like Cauvery, Neutrino and Sterlite. You are talking about political vacuum post-Jayalalithaa, is there is any chance for BJP to make inroads?

Jallikattu was banned by Supreme Court on the basis of notification issued by UPA-2, when Jairam Ramesh was Environment Minister, when the bull was included in the list of performing animals. So, they were responsible for the ban on Jallikattu. The DMK was part of the UPA then. We told that if the State government comes out with some ordinance, it may sustain. Later, when they promulgated the ordinance, within 24 hours all the Central government Ministries gave their assent But the fringe groups in Tamil Nadu started pouring venom, as if Central government is against jallikattu. .But it was Centre's initiative which gave it legal sanctity.



Q: Do you agree that BJP hasn't done anything to explain to the people and continues to sit in the stands, not really participating?

No. Central minister Pon Radhakrishnan and we too explained many times the Central government's role in the jallikattu issue. People like Shivasenapathi and Rajeswaran, leaders of jallikattu movement, appreciated openly in the media the Centre's efforts.



Q: What about Cauvery now- are you not facing intense pressure?

Yes. There is pressure. But who is responsible for this mess TN is facing on the Cauvery issue. The DMK was in the Central Government for 17 years and Congress ruled at the Centre for 55 years. Both did nothing. TN claims that Supreme Court directed the Centre to constitute the CMB; on the other hand, Karnataka pointed out it was not Board but only Scheme. The Centre now wants to get clarity and has approached the Supreme court with a clarificatory petition..The Centre has also sought three months time for implementing the SC order. So, it is clear the Centre will implement the SC order after SC's clarification.



Q: Do you think it is being protracted due to Karnataka State elections?

In fact, the Centre has mentioned the Karnataka election in its petition filed in the SC and it also apprehends that law and order problem could affect the elections.



Q: But why the delay as SC gave its order on February 16?

There has not been any deliberate delaying. All along, these people spoilt the case for 40 years. Now we have sought three months' time to implement the SC order, which shows the Centre is keen on implementing the SC order. The DMK is only trying to mislead the people. I would like to ask Mr. M.K. Stalin whether the DMK will come out of UPA condemning the Congress' stand.



Q: How do you look at the Neutrino project?

Earlier the Neutrino laboratory was functioning at the Kolar Golar Fieldsafter its closure, research slackened. Initially, Ooty hills were identified but the Environment Ministry said no to it and Jairam Ramesh had suggested Theni-Bodi hills for setting up of the neutrino laboratory. The environment clearance was given during the UPA-II in 2010. Though UPA gave clearance for the approval of this project, the NDA welcomes the project, as it is the need of the hour.



Q: TN is witnessing angry agitations now for one reason or the other, which were not seen in Jayalalithaa's days. How do you see these?

Admittedly it is a weak government here. It is high time the State Government firms up grip and deal with this rise in lawlessness with iron hand.



Q: There is a general perception that PM Modi is propping up this government?

Keeping good relations with a State government does not mean that we are aligning with the ruling party in that state. We have no truck with the AIADMK.



Q: There is much opposition to Governor's review meetings. Your comment?

There is nothing unconstitutional with whatever the Governor is doing, visiting districts to review government projects. He is not giving any directions to the officials. When the State government is not objecting, why are others worried?

(TO BE CONCLUDED)Vijayawada: Manipulation in online voting might be easy, but TD was caught on the wrong foot on Tuesday. A party Facebook fan page that trolled Opposition Leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his party activities was quick to delete a poll of Who is next CM of AP where Jagan garnered more votes than Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

The poll, created on TD fan page, asked people who they supported in the upcoming elections. A total 14,300 people cast their votes and Jagan defeated Naidu. Later on, it was deleted from the page even when it was to end two days later. Jagan polled 51 per cent votes.

TD leaders felt the poll was not genuine. Party politburo member and Agriculture minister Somireddy Chandra Mohan Reddy ruled out the poll and said many factors influenced the poll and in fact, none cared for Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy as they had no confidence in him.

Jagan has spent all his time falling at the feet of Modi and the BJP to escape from cases filed against him. If the poll is conducted genuinely, TD would definitely get 80 per cent, Mr Chandra-mohan told Deccan Chronicle.

YSRC was quick to say the poll reflected the gr-ound situation. All these years, people believed that Chandrababu Naidu is a visionary and an experienced man. With that belief people voted him in 2014. Of course he could win with a wafer thin majority. But now things have changed. People have realised that Naidu is an outdated man and was only best at packaging himself rather than working for the people and delivering good governance. Thats the reason for groundswell support to Jagan wherever he goes. These kind of polls will only reflect such gr-ound situation, Public Accounts Committee cha-irman and YSRC leader Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, MLA, told this newspaper.

YSRC official spokesperson Vasireddy Padma added, Public came to a conclusion that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is unable to save the interests of Telugus and Andhra Pradesh

Hardcore TD fans too are now feeling that it's not the same TD that was founded by NTR based on Telugu pride. Naidu visited Delhi 29 times only asking the Centre to send Jagan to jail and increase the number of Assembly seats and nothing about Andhra Pradeshs interests. The online poll result only reflects the ground situation.VIJAYAWADA: An interesting appeal is making the rounds on various social media platforms asking Telugus in Karnataka not to vote for BJP and also Deve Gowdas JDS which is said to have an understanding with the saffron party in the upcoming polls.

Polls to 225 seats in the Karnataka Assembly are slated to be held on May 12 and the results will be out by May 18. Invoking the Telugu pride and self-respect the appeal says that BJP had denied Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh and a befitting lesson needed to be taught to the party in the Karnataka polls.

Both BJP and JDS seem to be worried as Telugus are a sizeable part of Karnatakas population with leads in around 20 assembly constituencies. 1/3rd population in Bengaluru are Telugus. In a neck to neck fight, a few seats may decide the fate of a party.

While the ruling Congress has been going all out to ensure to retain the power, BJP has been playing all tricks possible to bounce back. Karna-taka polls are crucial for both Congress and BJP, but especially to BJP which is trying to have a strong foothold in the south. BJP considers Karnataka as its gateway to the southern states.

BJP had shamed Andhra like none did before. If BJP wins in Karnataka it will be the first stone of Andhra's tomb. Every vote of yours will be the respect you give to your self-respect. Keeping aside all the other interests for this time work for the defeat of BJP in these elections. All of you please spread this message among your known people and associates,read the appeal in Telugu.

The appeal further asked Telugu voters not to vote for JDS which had an understanding with the saffron party.

Any vote to JDS means indirectly voting for BJP. If we vote for BJP and JDS means we are cooperating with them for the destruction of Andhra Pradesh. We should teach a lesson to BJPs false north Indian pride by working for its defeat in Karnataka polls. Telugus are the deciding factor in at least 40 Assembly constituencies in Karna-taka, said the appeal.

BJP MLA and former minister Pydikondala Ma-nikyala Rao had said that TD had sent some special teams to Karnataka to work against the BJP and for its defeat. However, Rao said BJP will win the Karnataka polls with thumping majority.

BJP Floor leader in AP Assembly Mr. P Vishnu Kumar Raju too echoed a similar opinion.New Delhi: On a mission mode to expose what he called the hidden agenda the BJP government has against him, Telugu Desam supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said he will soon talk to regional political parties to seek their support on the issue of injustice meted out to his state.

He (the Prime Minister) has hurt the sentiments of the people, Mr Naidu said.

Though Mr Naidu skirted a question on a larger federal or regional front against the BJP, he said, Whenever there is a failure of the Central government on various fronts, naturally peoples aspirations have to be fulfilled. You have to fight or take it to a logical conclusion.

Claiming that the behaviour of the BJP towards his party was unethical, he said: They (BJP) want to grow in Andhra Pradesh because of that they broke their alliance with us in Telengana. That is very bad. You want to grow at the cost of Andhra Pradesh?... You grow I dont mind, but not by not doing anything for Andhra Pradesh Because if they do (anything for Andhra) then my image will increase. So they want to have alliance with tainted parties and control me, which is not ethical.

Mr Naidu, who was a part of the NDA during Atal Bihari Vajpayees term, also said that even in those days, when he had 29 MPs, he never asked for anything. I am not fond of power.

They are openly saying that they want to grow in Andhra Pradesh. When you will grow? When I fail? You want me to fail and you (the Central government) are doing that by tightening resources.

The TDP withdrew from the NDA last month over the issue of Andhra Pradesh not being granted Special Category Status as promised when the state was being bifurcated. Following this, BJP president Amit Shah had in a letter accused the TDP of being driven by political considerations and not concern for the state.

The Andhra chief minister said the Centre is indulging in mud-slinging since he had demanded Special Category Status.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu holds talks with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal at AP Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday. The AP Chief Minister understood to have discussed state issues with the AAP chief and sought his support.

Hyderabad: In a strongly worded reply to BJP national president Amit Shahs letter to him, AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu has exposed the blatant lies in it.

In his reply, Mr Naidu said that in the last four years not a single assurance was implemented fully by the central government. BJP has not shown any special favour to AP, and the funds were released as per 14th Finance Commissions recommendations, Mr Naidu wrote.

He accused the BJP of being partial to states the party ruled. The central go-vernment funded the Delhi-Mumbai corridor whereas Andhra Pradesh has been asked to borrow funds from the ADB for the Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor.

Mr Naidu wrote that the present weak finances of the state are due to unscien-tific and arbitrary division of the state for which the BJP is equally responsible.

He replied to every point made in Mr Shahs letter. He debunked Mr Shahs cla-im that massive resource allocations were made to AP over the last four years, and that already most of the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act are poised for fulfilment.

Mr Naidu said none of the 31 assurances made in the AP Reorganisation Act or the Prime Minister's assurances have been fully implemented. Of the 31 assurances, 20 have been implemented partly and all are only in initial stages.

Regarding resources, Mr Naidu said 42 per cent devolution of finances to the state is based on the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission and no special favour in allocating funds has been done to AP beyond the recommendations.

Regarding establishment of educational institutions, Mr Shah in his letter had said that the central government had established these institutions and made them functional in three years, much before the targeted year 2022, and questioned if this was not being sensitive to the needs of AP?

To this, Mr Naidu said that Rs 576 crore out of Rs 11,673 crore, or only 4.03 per cent of funds required to establish 11 educational institutions, were released in 2014-18.

Regarding infrastructure projects, out of eight only three projects have been partially implemented. In the case of the Vijayawada and Vizag metro rail project, Mr Naidu wrote that it was not proper to return the Detail Project Reports (DPRs) for examination under the new metro policy as the two metros in AP are governed by the AP Reorganisation Act.

Coming to the special category status issue, Mr Naidu wrote that a number of representations were made to the central government. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that based on the 14th Finance Commission recommendations, special category status could not be given to AP, but former chairman and members of the 14th Finance Commission had stated that they did not make any such recommendation, Mr Naidu wrote.New Delhi: On a mission mode to expose what he called the hidden agenda the BJP government has against him, Telugu Desam supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said that he will soon talk to regional political parties to seek their support on the issue of injustice meted out to his state.

Speaking exclusively to this newspaper, Mr Naidu, who was on a two-day visit to the national capital, said that the BJPs only agenda is to grow in Andhra Pradesh and for that they wanted to control him, which was not ethical.

As on today, I have started talking to all parties and floor leaders of all are supporting... Out of regional leaders and state chief ministers, I have only spoken to Mamata Banerjee since she called to express her support. I will speak with other political parties in the course of time to seek their support. I have to take this to the logical conclusion. We will fight, we will go on putting pressure. We want justice. The sentiments of the people are very important, he said.The petitioner, Ram Bahadur Verma, said the governments order flouted the law and pleaded the court to annul it.

Bhopal: A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Indore circuit bench of MP high court on Wednesday challenging the state governments decision to accord minister of state status to five sadhus.

The petitioner, Ram Bahadur Verma, said the governments order flouted the law and pleaded the court to annul it.

Meanwhile, one of the sadhus Computer Baba defended the state government saying that, there was nothing wrong in the move.

What is wrong in giving sadhus status of a minister when we are working for the cause of the people, he said.

Bhayyu Maharaj, the other beneficiary of government generosity, also saw nothing wrong in it, saying, I will accept the offer but I will not accept the perks entitled for a minister.

The decision sparked a controversy as it came in the wake of a threat by Computer Baba and Pt. Yogendra Mahant to launch a 45-day campaign across the state on April 1 to expose corruption in planting six crore trees along the banks of Narmada as claimed to have been carried out during last year's Narmada Seva Yatra" by chief minister S.S. Chouhan.Hyderabad: Southern states are uniting against Centres attempts to fund northern states at the expense of the south. The Kerala government has already called for a meeting of the southern states on April 10 for which AP and Karnataka have extended their support. There has been no official communication from Telangana and Tamil Nadu so far on attending this conference.

The Telangana government continues to flip- flop on this issue ever since it had received invitation from the Kerala government to attend the meeting. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is learnt to have asked finance minister Etela Rajender to attend the conference first. But Mr Rao changed the stand all of a sudden while he was speaking in the Legisla-tive Assembly last week.

Already, reports of north-south divide are coming to the fore regar-ding devolution of taxes by the Centre. This is not good for the country or for national integration. I dont support such arg-uments. But the Centre should think twice before formulating such policies, Mr Rao said.

However, Mr Rao rema-ined non-committal on Telangana attending the meeting called by Kerala. Finance department sou-rces said that the Tel-angana CM might take a final call by April 8 or 9 on whether to attend the meet or not.

Mr Rajender has been asked to be available in the city till April 10 to fly to Kerala immediately in case the CM wants Telan-gana state government to attend the meeting.

AP finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnu-du has already confirmed his participation in the meeting.

The southern states would stand to lose substantial percentage of their revenues, and at the same time the revenue share of the Centre increases if 2011 Census is taken as basis. Why the Centre didnt discuss the issue with the state governments before finalising the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission?Mr Ramakrishnudu asked.

Taking unilateral decisions on such important issues is not proper on the part of the Central government. Going by the Central governments attitude, it appears that it wants to bring pressure on the Finance Commission, which is an autonomous body, to help north Indian states. The Terms of Reference of the latest Finance Comm-ission proves this point, Mr Ramakrishnudu said.In May 2014, the plates of history were shifting before our eyes. The aggregation of the Hindu vote behind BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi brought him a mandate unprecedented in recent Indian history. The policy of appeasing minorities, practised for years by the Congress, was replaced by a spanking new era of faux nationalism and brute majoritarianism. This flinty germ passed into new carriers over the next few years to see massive wins in Assam and more recently in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Modi, through the power of his demagoguery, exploited the gap between rising expectations and declining opportunities. It was a calculus that an emerging cult plugged and played into.

All this destroyed and brutalised the psyche of the Congress, battling a raft of corruption scandals. The rout led to its abnegation from the political scene, till it began to regroup slowly and steadily, though the tyranny of 44 (now 46) members in the Lok Sabha, consistently derailed legislation. Hope, development and jobs has given way to optics and mindless rhetoric and a frenzy to win elections. Unkept promises have resulted in many more promises being made, leading to a quixotic situation to the utter befuddlement of the hoi polloi. Despite all this, what needs to be considered is that the BJP election machine continues to run seamlessly, crushing all imponderables strewn in its path.

But politics can never be monochromatic. Indias democracy certainly cant be. Today the BJP, set to fight the next general election as the first among equals, stands at an apogee, distantly removed from all its tall promises, shorn of its epic claims, while the Congress and regional chieftains who had become relics from a deleted timeline have stormed back to centrestage, sensing and sniffing opportunity. Now is the time to dig deep, and if you find you dont have a big enough shovel, you have to get out and make way. The two strongest suits of a right-wing political formation are the economy and defence/internal security. On reform, the process has been gradual and incremental with a lot of time wasted, initially on pushing legislation and being beaten back by the Oppositions dominance in the Rajya Sabha. All this led to the dialogue between the two sides malfunctioning.

The government made a few attempts to resume the dialogue with the Opposition by repackaging UPA schemes, but it all came to naught. DeMo was an unmitigated disaster and while it may have successfully neutralised Mayawatis cash economy in the runup to the UP elections, it threw India out of gear and disrupted lives. One can argue it will ultimately bring about a formalisation of the economy, where the black and white will converge. But the chrysallis is still not visible. Haste turned GST into an imperiled reform, again derailing the lives of exporters and wreaking havoc in the informal economy. Tweaking and rationalising FDI didnt amount to anything, nor did record disinvestment receipts raised in the last financial year, for it meant shifting government receipts from one pocket to the other while strategic sale of privatisation remained a stillborn child. The insolvency and bankruptcy code is a flawed process, headed for failure, leaving a banking system in death throes.

In the PSU public offers, construed as disinvestment as minority shareholding is offered to institutions and the public, as much as 50 per cent on offer was lapped up by the governments white-knight LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) in some cases. The LIC bailed out at least four initial public offerings (IPOs) from the Government of India in 2017-18. The government-owned companies raised nearly Rs 29,126 crores from the primary market, of which at least 49.3 per cent was provided by LIC, according to stock exchange data compiled by BloombergQuint.

Of seven companies from the governments stable that hit the primary markets this year, the LIC invested in four. All this convinced me that the Narendra Modi government will not sell anything. Air India remains a test case, and one has to watch whether the ongoing optics will fructify in a sale.

The Kashmir Valley is like a war zone, and it is thanks to the bravery of the Indian Army that we are still holding south Kashmir. Local home-grown militancy, which was stamped out during the chief ministership of Omar Abdullah by then police chief S.M.. Sahai, has returned to bleed India. China openly bullies us, our only articulation comes from the Army Chief, who talks more and acts less, indulging in cheap theatrics. The cold start to front theatre doctrine is a reality even as we prune our defence spending with weapons and armaments at a premium.

Cow vigilantism has entered our lexicon, the jobs sector is debilitated, farm distress is acute, corruption is rampant and the entry of foreign funding for political parties (achieved by subverting and stampeding the Finance Bill in a bipartisan show of brute strength) poleaxes the very concept of a clean polity. This can only be described as a morally hazardous event, something that all of us should be ashamed of.

Repackaging of UPA schemes, revision of modern Indian history and a total collapse of Parliament due to the visceral hatred that the treasury benches and the Opposition have for each other has left an emasculated India, where institutions and individuals have been systematically targeted and their body of work emaciated and eroded.

Perhaps the most grievous blow is on the employment front. CMIE, that does data-crunching, said the unemployment rate reached a 71-week high in the week ended February 25. It is possible that February 2018 will end with the highest unemployment rate in the last 15-16 months. The unemployment rate has been rising steadily since July 2017. Last July, it reached its lowest level of 3.4 per cent. The unemployment rate has fallen steeply and almost steadily since the demonetisation in November 2016. The rate rose in August 2017, and continued to rise till it stabilised around five per cent between October 2017 and January 2018. In February, the rate has been rising steadily, well beyond this five per cent level. It was 5.5 per cent during the week ended February 4. In the next week, it rose to 6.8 per cent and then 6.7 per cent. During the week ending February 25, the unemployment rate was at 7.1 per cent. At 7.1 per cent, the weekly unemployment rate is the highest compared to any week since October 16, 2016. Given that the recent three weeks have consistently shown unemployment rates close to 7 per cent, it is possible to infer now that unemployment is back to the levels just before demonetisation. However, they remain low compared to the 8.5 per cent rate prevalent in February 2016.

February 2018 could end with an unemployment rate of around 6.5 per cent. While the average weekly trends indicate 6.5 per cent, the 30-day moving average indicates 6 per cent. On February 25, the 30-day moving average was 5.98 per cent. A 6 per cent or higher unemployment rate in February would be a huge increase compared to the recent monthly levels of around 5 per cent.

And while a 6 per cent unemployment rate doesnt appear alarmingly high, the rising trend is alarming. There are signs of a pickup in the labour participation rate (LPR) during February 2018. It is likely that LPR, which was hovering below 44 per cent, may just about breach that level by the end of the month. However, the increase in labour participation seen in the weekly estimates shows up in higher unemployment. The estimated number of persons unemployed who are actively looking for a job almost touched 31 million in the week ended February 25. This is the highest count since October 2016, and seems to suggest that labour that is entering the markets in search of jobs is not finding them in sufficient numbers.

All this translates into two narratives running in the country. The decisive and overwhelming one is associated with the BJP and Prime Minister Modi, while the Opposition picks up the pieces to provide a united front against what it sees as polarising and divisive forces. Sadly, communal forces are making a strong comeback, as evident in the bloodletting in West Bengal and Bihar and now the growing flashpoints over the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Act in different parts of the country.

The alarming decline in law and order and mishandling of anarchic situations, be it in Panchkula or Hisar in Haryana, or incendiary clashes in western UP has exposed a weak leadership. India, in 2018, needs to retrofit rapidly for its challenges outnumber positives. Hope versus fear will dominate the next general

election.Autonomous cars should be required to meet standards on their ability to detect potential hazards and better ways are needed to keep their human drivers ready to assume control, US auto safety and technology experts said after fatal crashes involving Uber Technologies and Tesla vehicles.

Automakers and tech companies rely on human drivers to step in when necessary with self-driving technology. But in the two recent crashes, which involved vehicles using different kinds of technologies, neither of the human drivers took any action before the accidents.

Driverless cars rely on lidar, which uses laser light pulses to detect road hazards, as well as sensors such as radar and cameras. There are not, however, any standards on the systems, nor do all companies use the same combination of sensors, and some vehicles may have blind spots. Queue the music for the human driver - music that drivers often find difficult to hear.

Humans dont have the ability to take over the vehicle as quickly as may be expected in those situations, said self-driving expert and investor Evangelos Simoudis.

In the Uber crash last month, the ride services company was testing a fully driverless system intended for commercial use when the prototype vehicle struck and killed a woman walking across an Arizona road. Video of the crash, taken from inside the vehicle, shows the driver at the wheel, who appears to be looking down and not at the road. Just before the video stops, the driver looks upwards toward the road and suddenly looks shocked.

In the Tesla incident last month, which involved a car that any consumer can buy, a Model X vehicle was in semi-autonomous Autopilot mode when it crashed, killing its driver. The driver had received earlier warnings to put his hands on the wheel, Tesla said.

Some semi-automated cars, like the Tesla, employ different technologies to help drivers stay in their lane or maintain a certain distance behind the vehicle in front. Those systems rely on alerts - beeping noises or a vibrating steering wheel - to get drivers attention.

IMMATURE TECHNOLOGY

Duke University mechanical engineering professor Missy Cummings said the recent Uber and Tesla crashes show the technology they are using is immature.

Tesla says its technology is statistically proven to save lives through better driving. In a response to Reuters, Tesla said drivers have a responsibility to maintain control of the car whenever they enable Autopilot and need to be ready to respond to audible and visual cues.

An Uber spokesperson said, safety is our primary concern every step of the way.

A consumer group, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, says a bill on self-driving cars now stalled in the US Senate is an opportunity to improve safety, quite different from the bills original intent to quickly allow testing of self-driving cars without human controls on public roads. The group has proposed amending the bill, the AV START Act, to set standards for those vehicles, for instance, requiring a vision test for automated vehicles to test what their different sensors actually see.

The group believes the bill should also cover semi-automated systems like Teslas Autopilot - a lower level of technology than what is included in the current proposed legislation.

Other groups have also put forth proposals on self-driving cars, including requiring the vehicles and even semi-automated systems to meet performance targets, greater transparency and data from makers and operators of the vehicles, increased regulatory oversight, and better monitoring of and engagement with human drivers.

Others want to focus on the human driver. In November, Consumer Reports magazine called on automakers for responsible labelling to help consumers fully understand their vehicles autonomous functions.

Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports head of automotive testing, said human drivers are bad at paying attention to automation and this technology is not capable of reacting to all types of emergencies.

Its like being a passenger with a toddler driving the car, he said.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is doing tests using semi-automated vehicles including models from Tesla, Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover and General Motors Co. The aim is to see how drivers use semi-autonomous technology - some watch the road with their hands above the wheel, others do not - and which warnings get their attention.

We just dont know enough about how drivers use any of these systems in the wild, said MIT research scientist Bryan Reimer.

Timothy Carone, an autonomous systems expert and professor at Notre Dame Universitys Mendoza College of Business, said autonomous technologys proponents must find the right balance so the technology is tested right, but it isnt hampered or halted.

Because in the long run, it will save lives, he said.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook was working on a version of the law that would work globally, bringing some European privacy guarantees worldwide. (Photo: File)

San Francisco: Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that he agreed in spirit with a strict new European Union law on data privacy but stopped short of committing to it as the standard for the social network across the world.

As Facebook reels from a scandal over the mishandling of personal information belonging to millions of users, the company is facing demands to improve privacy and learn lessons from the landmark EU law scheduled to take effect next month.

Zuckerberg said that Facebook was working on a version of the law that would work globally, bringing some European privacy guarantees worldwide, but the 33-year-old billionaire demurred when asked what parts of the law he would not extend worldwide.

Were still nailing down details on this, but it should directionally be, in spirit, the whole thing, Zuckerberg said. He did not elaborate.

The European law, called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is the biggest overhaul of online privacy since the birth of the internet, giving Europeans the right to know what data is stored on them and the right to have it deleted.

His comments signal that US Facebook users, many of them still angry over the companys admission that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica got hold of Facebook data on 50 million members, could find themselves in a worse position than Europeans.

Apple and some other tech firms have said they do plan to give people in the United States and elsewhere the same protections and rights that Europeans will gain.

Push for data privacy

Privacy advocacy groups have been urging Facebook and its Silicon Valley competitors such as Alphabet Incs Google to apply EU data laws worldwide, largely without success.

We want Facebook and Google and all the other companies to immediately adopt in the United States and worldwide any new protections that they implement in Europe, said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, in Washington.

Zuckerberg said many of the tools that are part of the law, such as the ability of users to delete all their data, are already available for people on Facebook.

We think that this is a good opportunity to take that moment across the rest of the world, he said. The vast majority of what is required here are things that weve already had for years across the world for everyone.

Google and Facebook are the global leaders in internet ad revenue. Both based in California, they possess enormous amounts of data on billions of people.

Google has declined to comment on its plans.

When GDPR takes effect on May 25, people in EU countries will gain the right to transfer their data to other social networks, for example. Facebook and its competitors will also need to be much more specific about how they plan to use peoples data, and they will need to get explicit consent.

GDPR is likely to hurt profit at Facebook because it could reduce the value of ads if the company cannot use personal information as freely and the added expense of hiring lawyers to ensure compliance with the new law.

Data is central to Facebooks advertising business, and it has not yet sketched out a satisfying plan for how it plans to comply, said Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser.

I havent heard any solutions from Facebook to get ahead of the problem yet, Wieser said.39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam from San Diego was behind Tuesdays shooting at YouTubes offices in Silicon Valley. (Photo: Nasimesabz.com)

San Francisco: The woman identified by police as the attacker who wounded three people at YouTubes headquarters in California was a vegan blogger who accused the video-sharing service of discriminating against her, according to her online profile.

Police said 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam from San Diego was behind Tuesdays shooting at YouTubes offices in Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco, where the company owned by Alphabet Incs Google employs nearly 2,000 people. A man was in critical condition and two women were seriously wounded in the attack, which ended when Aghdam shot and killed herself.

Aghdams online profile shows she was a vegan activist who ran a website called NasimeSabz.com, meaning Green Breeze in Persian, where she posted about Persian culture and veganism, as well as long passages critical of YouTube.

A screenshot of a video posted on Aghnams YouTube channel before it was taken down on Tuesday, showed her complaining that YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!

Also read: Woman opens fire at YouTube headquarters, injures 3 before killing self

The San Bruno Police Department is investigating a motive for this shooting. At this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted, police said in a statement.

YouTube spokeswoman Jessica Mason could not immediately be reached for comment.

There are hundreds of mass shootings every year in the United States. A national debate around tighter curbs on gun ownership has intensified since the massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school in February shocked the public.Around 1,000 people will be eligible to apply to have their records cleared when the scheme takes effect next year. (Photo: File/AFP)

Wellington: New Zealand's parliament has passed legislation to erase historic convictions for engaging in gay sex, saying the bill would help right past injustices.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in New Zealand in 1986, but men who were convicted before then still had the offence listed on their official records.

Lawmakers unanimously passed a bill late Tuesday allowing those convicted of consensual homosexual sex to have their records expunged.

"I would like to apologise again to all the men and members of the rainbow community who have been affected by the prejudice, stigma and other negative effects caused by convictions for historical homosexual offences," Justice Minister Andrew Little said.

"This bill sends a clear signal that discrimination against gay people is no longer acceptable, and that we are committed to putting right wrongs from the past."

The justice department said the convictions related to three offences that were dropped in 1986 -- sodomy, indecency between males and keeping a place of resort for homosexual acts.

It estimates about 1,000 people will be eligible to apply to have their records cleared when the scheme takes effect next year. To qualify, the sex that led to the conviction must have been consensual and taken place between those aged 16 years or older. The repealed laws were first introduced in 1908.

Under the new scheme, family members can also apply to have the records of a deceased relative cleared. The scheme refers to men because the old laws specifically banned sex between males. Lesbianism was not illegal, although gay women also suffered social discrimination.

New Zealand passed laws banning discrimination against gays in 1993, and in 2013 became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalise same-sex marriage.

Britain last year enacted "Turing's Law", giving a blanket posthumous pardon to almost 50,000 men convicted under old laws in England and Wales.

Named after the World War II code-breaker and mathematician Alan Turing, it also allows living people to have their convictions erased, although they must apply individually.

Turing received a posthumous pardon from Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 over a conviction in 1952 for gross indecency with a 19-year-old man, triggering calls for a blanket pardon for other men.

Turing did not go to prison but was chemically castrated, and died of cyanide poisoning in an apparent suicide two years later.

A number of Australian states, including New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, have also quashed historical convictions for homosexuality.

Germany went a step further last year when it not only erased the convictions of 50,000 gay men sentenced under a Nazi-era law, but also offered compensation to some survivors.PROVO  Prosecutors consider the crimes "heinous and depraved murders."

Not only did Jerrod William Baum make Riley Powell suffer by beating him and stabbing him multiple times, he forced Powell's girlfriend to watch the torture before throwing the man down a mine shaft, according to charging documents filed Tuesday.

Then, even though Baum thought Brelynne Otteson was pregnant, he proceeded to slit the 17-year-old's throat  allegedly so she wouldn't "suffer" as much  and threw her body down the same mine, the charges say.

"This is a potential capital case. Mr Baum could die for what he allegedly did, deputy Utah County attorney Chad Grunander said Tuesday in announcing criminal charges against the Mammoth, Juab County, man.

Baum, 41, is charged in 4th District Court with two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping, first-degree felonies; two counts of abuse or desecration of a dead body plus possession of a weapon by a restricted person, third-degree felonies; and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.

Whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty will be decided at a later date. Grunander said a number of factors go into deciding whether to seek the ultimate punishment, including the strength of the evidence, input from the victims' families, the defendant's criminal history and the heinousness of the crime.

The families of Powell, 18, and Otteson both said they support the death penalty for this case.

"We want justice and we want him to pay for what he did, said Powell's father, Bill Powell.

"Id love it," he said of the death penalty. "And Im not saying 5, 6, 20 years down the road. Take him out back and do it as soon as the judge says, Youre guilty. Do it. These kids have no life. He doesnt deserve a life. We, as taxpayers, dont need to support him or give him a life, because he took life. So I think do away with him as soon as possible, as fast as possible.

"We want justice for these kids. And if the death penalty is what it is, then were going to stand for it, concurred Amanda Hunt, Otteson's aunt.

Powell and Otteson were last seen near Mammoth on Dec. 29. The couple planned to stop in Spanish Fork before going home to Eureka, where both lived with Powell's grandfather.

They ended up going to visit Morgan Lewis Henderson, 34, that night in Mammoth. Henderson is Baum's girlfriend and they lived together.

Henderson told police that Baum did not allow her to have male friends at the house.

"Jerrod Baum arrived home upset that the teens had visited her. Jerrod Baum then bound the victims hands and feet, duct taped their mouths, and placed them in the back of Rileys Jeep. He then drove them to a remote location near Eureka and killed them in Morgans presence, using a knife to stab and/or cut their throats.

"Baum then dumped their bodies into an open mine shaft," according to charging documents.

"Morgan described that Brelynne was forced to kneel near the open mine pit and witness the beating of her boyfriend, Riley Powell, and his stabbing, before she had her throat cut and was also thrown into the open mine," the charges state.

"Morgan related to police that prior to the killings, (Baum) was operating under the belief that Brelynne was pregnant, having offered to Brelynne and Riley his congratulations as they walked from the car to the open mine shaft."

Grunander said Tuesday that authorities do not believe Otteson was actually pregnant.

After the killings, Baum said "that he had made Riley suffer, but that he felt bad about Brelynne, so he made her death quick and painless," the charges state. "In other statements to Morgan, (Baum) admitted subsequent consternation of the fact that Brelynne was 'innocent.'"

The disappearance of the young couple led to a three-month search by authorities and family members in Tooele County and Juab County.

On Jan. 11, Powell's missing Jeep was found partially hidden in trees, about a mile south of Cherry Creek Reservoir. The Jeep had two flat tires, leading investigators to suspect foul play.

On Jan. 25, Henderson was interviewed by police. She claimed there was a rumor that Powell and Otteson had been involved in a drug deal gone bad, court documents say. She also claimed the couple never showed up at her house that night, Dec. 29, until the detective pressed her further with questions.

Police say Henderson eventually admitted that the couple had been at their house that night, but didn't know where they went or what happened to them.

Two months later, on March 24, Henderson was pulled over in Sanpete County and arrested for investigation of drug and weapons charges. While she was being interviewed at the Sanpete County Sheriff's Office, she told investigators a different story that night and in the early morning hours of Dec. 30.

That interview led investigators to the Tintic Standard Mine outside Eureka on March 27. A camera was lowered into the mine, which is more than 1,500 feet deep. The bodies of the young couple were found on a ledge 100 feet down.

Henderson was booked into the Utah County jail on March 30 for obstruction of justice.

On Tuesday, Grunander said his office is still considering what to charge Henderson with, but noted that prosecutors are leaning toward obstruction of justice as opposed to being an accomplice to the killings. An accomplice certification would allow prosecutors to charge Henderson with the same crimes as Baum.

But for that to happen, Grunander said he would have to prove that Henderson was a proactive participant in the crime and that she also had the same mental state as Baum, meaning she acted with the intention of killing Riley and Otteson.

Grunander also noted that Henderson "was threatened at one point by Baum.

Baum made an initial appearance in court Tuesday. He was led into the courtroom separately from the other defendants who were also on the docket that day. Standing over 6 feet tall and weighing 300 pounds, the heavily tattooed Baum, wearing a yellow jail jump suit, said, "Yes sir" when the judge asked for confirmation of his name. He responded with a much quieter "Yes sir" when asked if he understood the charges against him.

Baum looked around the courtroom briefly and seemed to look in the direction of the victims' families. His next hearing is scheduled for April 26.

Both Bill Powell and Hunt said it was the first time they had ever seen Baum in person. Hunt said it was emotional to put a face with the crimes. The family members say they still don't understand why the killings occurred.

Breezy and Rileys families embrace outside courtroom following Jerrod Baums initial court hearing. pic.twitter.com/jjXx6XtqFx  DNews Crime Team (@DNewsCrimeTeam) April 3, 2018

"They did nothing. They had no reason to be touched in any way, shape or form. They were just kids, Powell said. "I dont understand why. I mean, theres no reason. They didnt do anything to deserve something like that. And to torture Riley 

"Heinous crime," Hunt inserted.

"Those kids get pain relief or anything? No. They got tortured. They suffered. And he needs to suffer, Powell added. "They didnt go there thinking something was going to happen to them. I mean, they went there to have fun. Well, that didnt happen. We dont know why."

"My brother didnt deserve this and neither did she. They had a whole life to live. She was only 17, he was 18.  Its just hard to realize theyre actually gone now  really gone, a tearful Nikka Powell, Riley Powell's younger sister, said.

The couple's bodies were cremated Tuesday morning after family members said their goodbyes. Two memorial services are scheduled. The first will be Saturday in Eureka at the Tintic School District located next to Tintic High School. The second will be Saturday, April 14, in Tooele at the LDS Church meetinghouse located at 180 S. Coleman St.

Grunander said he believes the last death penalty case in Utah County was Ron Lafferty. He is on Utah's death row for the 1984 murders of his sister-in-law, Brenda Lafferty, and her baby daughter after she resisted her husband's entry into a polygamous group.The U.S. Senate is becoming an echo chamber for the majority party. Thats not the type of representative government the Founders envisioned.

They crafted a Constitution through rigorous and difficult debate, setting up a government that carefully balanced tensions among states, local districts and three coequal branches of government. They enthroned representative government and intended the kind of robust argument, amendment and compromise that typified American lawmaking until recent years.

Now, lawmakers, perhaps representing Americans attitudes, seem to be retreating to their own corners of the Senate, unwilling to engage.

That needs to change.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, apparently has had enough. Politico.com reported this week that he took umbrage before the start of a two-week recess, noting he has yet to receive a roll call vote on any of his legislative amendments. The Senate has voted on just six amendments all year.

All I hear is, Well, its not done that way, he said.

But it ought to be. The U.S. Senate should be one of the greatest deliberating bodies in the world, but its currently mired in a bog that allows few conversations, let alone meaningful debate. The idea that whichever party controls the majority ought to ram through whatever it can makes for poor legislation.

Both sides are to blame. Democrats pushed through Obamacare without a single Republican vote. Republicans have done much the same with recent tax cuts and other legislation.

Politico reports the Senate has had only 25 roll call votes on binding amendments more than a year into its current two-year session. Compare that with 154 amendments by this point for the last Congress.

Senate President Mitch McConnell promised more freewheeling debate when Republicans took power in 2015. That lasted a while, but then the Senate became more partisan, with Republicans less concerned about gaining the support of Democrats for key legislation.

Now, McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., can only blame each other for the lack of debate. Were sure there is plenty of blame to go around. The public, however, is left with little more than a surety that the same will continue regardless of which party controls the Senate.

The Senate has the added responsibility of having to confirm executive branch appointees, including judges and members of the presidents cabinet. This is a time-consuming process, made more so by the presidents recent firings. But it is no excuse.

The Senate ought to be holding freewheeling and difficult debates on immigration reform, hashing out the details of a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, bill that each side professes to support. It ought to be debating a federal budget, with all the necessary, honest give-and-take around worries about deficits and a mounting national debt.

Instead, it does little.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Politico, Theres a lot of weeks Im not sure why I show up.

And the public may be wondering why it pays the salaries and attendant costs for this.

Sen. McConnell should return to regular order, follow the budget process and open the Senate floor for rigorous debates and real amendment process. Citizens should call and write the majority leader to encourage the Senate function as the Founders designed it, and individual senators should voice their support for regular order. The country should expect more, not less, from what once was and what can become the worlds greatest deliberative body.WASHINGTON  As an exercise in both empathy and grand strategy, try to imagine being a pro-American Syrian.

Perhaps you saw two of your children killed when a tank attacked your home. Perhaps your street was leveled by barrel bombs. Perhaps your neighborhood was surrounded and slowly starved into submission. Perhaps you watched your daughter being lined up by soldiers who were choosing their rape victims for the day.

While visiting the Middle East over the last few years, I met Syrian refugees who told me all these stories. Many of them expressed their intention to go back home and fight the regime of Bashar Assad. I imagine that some of them did. In June 2013, the Obama administration announced it would give direct military support to American-aligned opposition forces. A United Nations official dealing with refugees showed me a chart indicating a spike in returns to Syria  people expecting to be armed for the fight against Assad.

It was a cruel illusion. American efforts to arm the rebels were generally a joke. But support from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States for jihadist forces in Syria was deadly serious. As was Iran's support for its proxies, which kept Assad's regime from collapse.

American policy in Syria since the outbreak of civil war in 2011 has been a story of confusion, hesitation and betrayal. President Obama's special adviser for transition in Syria, Frederic Hof, recently provided an important part of the historical record. In a blog post on the Atlantic Council's website, he described Obama-era policy on Syria as a series of commitments broken and red lines ignored. "[Obama] would deal with internal dissent," says Hof, "by taking officials through multistep, worst-case, hypothetical scenarios of what might happen in the wake of any American attempt, no matter how modest, to complicate regime mass murder." Eventually it became clear to Hof that the real reason for this reluctance was an overriding desire to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, even if this meant sacrificing "Syrian children and their parents."

The Syrian conflict, in Obama's description, was "someone else's civil war." This is one area of disturbing foreign policy continuity between Obama and Donald Trump. In July 2017, the Trump administration ended the covert CIA operation to arm anti-Assad rebels. "This is a momentous decision," observed one official on background. "Putin won in Syria." Now the president has frozen more than $200 million intended for Syrian reconstruction and announced  apparently against the advice of his military  "We'll be coming out of Syria very soon." This would involve the withdrawal of about 2,000 American troops. "Let the other people take care of it now," says Trump.

Just to be clear, "the other people" are Russians, Iranians, Hezbollah terrorists and members of the Assad regime. The victory of Assad might eventually bring what John F. Kennedy called "the peace of the grave [and] the security of the slave." But the immediate result of an American withdrawal would be a major escalation of the conflict in eastern Syria. It would also remove protection from our few remaining allies on the ground  rewarding their faith with one more parting slap.

Years of poor decisions  and no decisions  have left a wicked problem in Syria. But American forces are making a difference. And their withdrawal at this point would be an act of strategic imbecility. It would leave Russia as the undisputed power broker at the heart of the Middle East. It would cede oil fields under the control of American-allied forces. And it would reward Iran's search for regional hegemony. Does Trump even realize the incoherence of objecting to the softness of the Iran nuclear agreement while proposing to surrender Syria to Iran?

And then there is the radiating humanitarian nightmare. There are perhaps 3 million Syrian refugee children in camps and communities  some traumatized by violence, some bullied and harassed as outsiders, some forced into labor, some subject to radicalization, some 40 percent out of school. Our indifference is storing up generations of resentment and rage.

The final victory of Iran, Russia and Assad would send a number of clear messages: That mass murder works. That the use of chemical weapons works. That the forced starvation of civilians works. That the rules of war and condemnations by America can be ignored with impunity.

And the slow-motion betrayal of Syria has sent a message to every refugee I met and to every potential friend of our country: It can be dangerous to trust in America.SALT LAKE CITY  Andeavor Salt Lake City Refinery officially broke ground Tuesday on the significant expansion of a piece of equipment that will result in cleaner burning fuels in vehicles by the end of 2019.

The lower-sulfur gas is expected to be in pumps at outlets like Shell and Exxon late next year in a move that, coupled with the latest model vehicles, equals taking 4 out of every 5 cars off the road.

Greg Goff, president and CEO of Andeavor, formerly known as Tesoro, said the company is committed to being a good neighbor.

"At the end of the day, I just say one thing: It is the right thing to do for our community and our company," Goff said.

Because Andeavor is a small-sized refinery company, it did not have to meet the new regulatory standard imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It also could have chosen to bypass the production of Tier 3 fuels by purchasing credits or "averaging" emissions reductions across its refinery inventory.

Goff, however, said Utah Gov. Gary Herbert had meetings with refineries multiple years ago to push local adoption of the standard.

He added he still remembers the tenor of the meeting with the governor, who was pushing for all local refineries to move to the Tier 3 standard. Chevron, too, will move toward Tier 3 fuels at its Salt Lake refinery.

Alan Matheson, director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, said that when the EPA rolled out the new standard, the federal agency said no other state would benefit more from its adoption than Utah.

"This is a big deal," he said. "Air quality is fundamental to our health, our economy and our quality of life."

An array of regulations, advanced technology deployed by industry, research and other efforts resulted in a reduction of emissions by 30 percent from 2002 to 2014, Matheson said. That reduction, equivalent to a 46 percent decrease per capita in emissions, happened even though Utah added 600,000 people, he added.

With the state's population on track to nearly double by 2050, regulators and advocates agree more should happen to decrease pollutants that compromise air quality.

Herbert said the switch to Tier 3 fuels is the most signficant step on the immediate horizon to help bring about that reduction since about 50 percent of area pollutants come from a tailpipe.

If consumers purchase the latest model cars and combine that with low-sulfur fuel, it amounts to an 81 percent reduction in pollution, research shows.

The Tier 3 fuel standard is not part of the Obama-era regulation EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced on Tuesday was "inappropriate" and in need of revision.

That standard deals with a requirement that cars and light-duty vehicles achieve greenhouse gas reductions by moving to a 54.5 miles per gallon fuel efficiency by 2025.

In addition to expanding its equipment to reduce sulfur from gasoline, Andeavor has invested $300 million on emissions-related upgrades, including installing a wet gas scrubber. That machinery reduces sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide by 95 percent and 60 percent, respectively.SALT LAKE CITY  Utah might be famous for its local culture and scenery, but food produced in the Beehive State finds its way out of the area and into the bellies of people around the world.

Utah exported nearly $140 million in food and agriculture products to China last year  $20 million of which was comprised of pork, according to Jack Wilbur, public information specialist for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.

That's why some farmers and ranchers in the state are concerned over the future stability of their industry after China announced a tariff increase affecting $3 billion in American products Monday.

China increased the tariff on pork to 25 percent. Several other crops exported from Utah to China  including fruit, alfalfa, oilseed and grain  are impacted as well.

The increased tariff is believed to be in retaliation to President Donald Trump approving higher duties on up to $50 billion in Chinese goods.

"We are concerned any time a foreign country puts a 15 to 25 percent tariff. Typically ag products don't have a very large markup anyway," Wilbur said.

"When you cross-reference the amount of money in exports with the size of the tariffs that are being placed on those particular segments of ag industry, it could really have quite an impact," he added.

This new concern comes to an industry that has already seen an income decrease of about 50 percent nationwide over the past four years, according to LuAnn Adams, Utah Agriculture and Food commissioner.

"A lot of that (decrease) just has to do with supply and demand. Commodities are influenced a lot by crop yields and demand, so if you have some really good years, tart cherries ... you have an increase in product. But if you don't have increase in demand in product, you can see decrease," Wilbur said.

Falling prices cause people to get out of business, which leads to less supply until demand again "catches up with supply," he said, adding that there are "varied reasons" for the income decrease across commodities.

For Todd Ballard, the topic is personal.

"We're a family-owned pork operation.  That's our livelihood," he said. His family has owned Ballard Hog Farm in Smithfield since the 1970s, he said.

Although a very low percentage of Ballard Hog Farm's produce is shipped overseas, he is concerned about how the tariff will impact the industry for both producers and consumers, Ballard explained.

About 25 percent of the United States' pork is exported. And though not all of it goes to China, a large share of it does, he said.

With less product shipped to China, more will stay in the states, which will cause prices to go down and could hurt producers, Ballard added.

The Utah Agriculture and Food commissioner is also worried about farmers and ranchers potentially being put out of business in that scenario.

"For the benefit of Utah agriculture, I hope this trade dispute is resolved quickly," Adams said.

Ballard also says he hopes it's "just short term."

And he has reason to believe it could be. A third of the pork production in the country belongs to Smithfield Foods, which owns pigs in Utah and "across the country," he said.

Smithfield Foods was purchased by a Chinese firm, Henan Luohe Shuanghui Industry Group, in 2013.

"(China is) hurting their own people a little bit as far as ownership goes," Ballard said.

"If it's short-lived, it probably will not have very much impact. If it goes on for several months or a year or longer, it could have a bit more of an impact," Wilbur said.

However, "what you'll probably see is things will stabilize in the long term."Elders John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt led a large company of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from eastern Nebraska to Utah in 1848. He settled in Salt Lake and was actively engaged in countless church activities and projects for several decades.

When President Brigham Young died in 1877, John Taylor began leading the LDS Church as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. President Taylor led the church in this capacity for three years and then as president of the church for the next seven.

In 1879-80, President Taylor issued a call for the Saints to move and settle in the region of the San Juan River in southeastern Utah. This led to the creation of the famous Hole-in-the-Rock trail, ending at what is now Bluff, Utah.

He also reissued the call for Saints to settle in the region of the Little Colorado River in northeastern Arizona. There the Honeymoon Trail was utilized so that the Saints could journey to the St. George Temple to participate in ordinances that were otherwise not available.

In spite of great financial hardships, President Taylor authorized church support for Brigham Young Academy, which later became BYU. Under his leadership the Assembly Hall, iron works, a paper mill and Deseret Hospital were either continued or completed. The Logan Temple was also completed and dedicated by President Taylor. Because of anti-plural marriage laws, he spent time in hiding.

In late November 1886, President Taylor made his final move to the farmhouse of Thomas F. Roueche in Kaysville, Davis County. From that home, which is no longer extant, he continued to lead the church the best he could considering the circumstances. President Taylor quietly passed away in the Roueche home on July 25, 1887.SALT LAKE CITY  Utah's abortion rate fell to an historic low in 2016, continuing a downward trend that reflects a national decline, according to a new state report Tuesday.

The rate of 4.2 abortions performed for every 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 is the lowest since Utah began keeping records in 1975, said Richard Oborn of the Utah Department of Health.

The news was cheered by groups on both sides of the abortion debate.

Karrie Galloway, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Utah, cited its work helping families get access to contraceptive methods such as intrauterine devices. While conservative Utah does impose restrictions on abortion, including a 72-hour waiting period, she doesn't see that a primary contributor to the decline.

Meanwhile, Pro-Life Utah president Mary Taylor pointed to a nationwide drop in adolescent sex and pregnancies, among other factors. She supports abortion laws passed in the last few years, but said that information that comes along with the measures likely has a bigger effect on the overall rate.

Utah's abortion rate has been on the decline for the last several years. The new data reversed a small uptick from the year before and brought the rate below the previous low of 4.3 abortions per 1,000 women in 2014.

Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the abortion rate at its lowest level in decades. There were 12.1 abortions per 1,000 women in 2014, according to the CDC.

Additional findings from Utah's report:

 Of the 2,808 abortions performed in 2016, nearly 89 percent were classified as therapeutic.

About 65 percent of women were in their 20s, and the rate was highest among women in that age group.

 Nearly seven in 10 abortions were performed within the first eight weeks of gestation. Less than 1 percent were performed after 21 weeks. Many anti-abortion activists want a federal abortion ban to be imposed after 20 weeks.

Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously reported that 89 percent of Utah abortions are performed due to a serious health risk to the mother. While 89 percent of abortions were termed "therapeutic," that classification does not always correlate with a health risk.SALT LAKE CITY  Utah women have caught up to Utah men in bachelor college degree attainment in recent years, but far fewer Utah women earn graduate degrees compared to their male counterparts, a new report shows.

Utah is making progress, but "we don't look so great when different organizations make national rankings. We tend to be toward the bottom on those lists that have to do with women's education and economic opportunities and conditions," said Catherine Jeppsen, author of Utah Women in Higher Education 2018.

Jeppsen, a research fellow for the Utah Women and Leadership Project, reported her findings Tuesday to the Women in the Economy Commission, a group created by the Utah Legislature in 2014.

The report, which analyzed data from the Utah System of Higher Education, American Community Survey and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, explores changes between 2000 and 2017 and the "unique barriers" Utah women face that lead to "discrepancy between their enrollment and completion of a degree."

Researchers found that educational attainment for Utah men and women 25 and older matched or exceeded national postsecondary attainment up through a bachelor's degree, and more than 60 percent of this group completed at least some college.

Compared to women nationwide, women in Utah have lower cumulative attainment in the general population and lower enrollment in the student population.

"This gap is narrowing over time, but it is part of why Utah gets national attention for being ranked lower on measures of women's educational well-being," the report states.

Another area of concern is a smaller proportion of women in Utah pursue degrees in STEM-oriented fields compared to their peers nationwide.

"Concentration of women in lower-paying fields of study likely influences future wages, further influencing Utah women's economic well-being relative to the rest of the nation," the report states.

More Utah women complete associate degrees or certificate programs than Utah men and their peers nationally, but it takes them longer to do so, the report said.

The report notes that in recent years Utah women's completion of bachelor's degrees within 150 percent of normal time has lagged, "perhaps due in part to the change in the LDS mission age for women."

On average, women are at an older age in their first term of college compared to men, and a smaller proportion of women experience gaps of three or more terms as they progress toward a degree compared to men, the report states.

While commission members said the data reflects some progress, it also means Utah has more work to do to improve rates of degree completion for women, particularly at the graduate level.

The commission plans to send the report to the presidents of all public and private colleges and universities statewide, as well as lawmakers, the executive branch and business interests such as the Salt Lake Chamber.

Two women also addressed the commission sharing personal stories of barriers they have encountered in higher education.

Amber Bird, "a student, and a mom" of a 1-year-old daughter, told the commission she plans to enroll in a graduate program in September to continue working toward her goal of becoming an English professor. She and her husband are expecting their second child in August.

Bird said she has always loved school but when she was pregnant her senior year in college, "I felt for the first time in my life that I did not belong at school anymore. It was something that was really hard to admit to myself, but becoming a mom in some way made me feel I was disqualified for going to school."

As she has discussed her feelings with friends, they shared similar perceptions.

"For women, life and your pursuits and who you want to become almost end once you get married. If you have a desire to have children then education has to stop," she said.

But Bird pushed past the naysayers, she said. She and her husband struggled to find child care but eventually found an in-home provider who provides loving care for their daughter Lydia.

Still, "when I'd be in class or in a situation I was teaching or I was trying to pursue my degree, the question would always be, 'Well, who's watching your kid?'"

As her brothers pursued their degrees, "they've never had that question," she said.

Mostly, Bird said she wants people to know that "kids in tow doesn't make a woman any less able to accomplish something."

Kathy Bounous, a commission member and general counsel for the Department of Workforce Services, told her life story, which she said she had never before shared in public.

She grew up in Idaho in a very low-income household. Her father was disabled, addicted to pain pills and had only a disability income. Her mother worked two low-wage jobs to put food on the table and she was seldom home.

"We were hungry and we were dirty and we were poor," she said.

At 17, she got pregnant. She left her neighborhood high school to attend an alternative school because it offered child care. She somehow managed to juggle school, a job at McDonald's and caring for her infant daughter to graduate on time.

She attended one semester of college but left because "I couldn't handle all of that pressure," she said.

When her brother offered her a room in his home in Provo rent free, she jumped at the chance and got a job as a computer tech.

A while later, she married a young man who didn't have a high school diploma. By 22, she had three children. Shortly after her youngest child's first birthday she decided she would return to college because "it would be good for me and my children."

She applied to the University of Utah, which did not admit her, "which crushed my little spirits."

But Salt Lake Community College granted admission and "I can't say enough good things about that establishment," Bounous said.

There was on-campus child care and the class schedules were flexible because of its extensive offerings of day, night and online classes. After two years, she had a 4.0 GPA and "I said to the U. 'Will you take me now?'"

After earning her undergraduate degree, which was more difficult at the university because there were fewer class sections as she advanced in her majors and minors, Bounous decided to attend law school at Brigham Young University.

"I think it's the most inflexible institution of all," Bounous said.

She was in class from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., had no say about her class schedule and had 80 hours of homework each week. There was no child care, which further complicated matters.

"I can't describe to you how hard that was," she said.

After enduring a stagnant job market after the last recession, Bounous is on a solid career track, now general counsel for a state government agency. Her eldest daughter is a junior at the U.

Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City and co-chairwoman of the commission, thanked Bounous for sharing her journey.

"There is light at the end of the tunnel. You can achieve what you want," she said.

Bounous added, "If my story helps, great because I hate sharing it. Go, women!"SALT LAKE CITY  With cities in seven countries now officially in the running for the 2026 Winter Games, backers of another Olympics for Salt Lake City are continuing to participate in the bid process in the hopes of hosting again in 2030.

Tuesday's announcement by the International Olympic Committee listing the cities that have signed up to be considered candidates for 2026, a decision that will be made in October, also refers to the U.S. Olympic Committee's interest in 2030.

In the running for 2026 are Graz, Austria; Calgary, Canada; Cortina d'Ampezzo, Milan and Turin, Italy; Sapporo, Japan; Stockholm, Sweden; Sion, Switzerland; and Erzurum, Turkey.

But the IOC did not mention Salt Lake City or the other two American cities looking at bidding for the 2030 Winter Games, Denver and the Reno-Tahoe area, by name during the announcement.

That's not stopping Fraser Bullock, former chief operating officer of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City and a leader of the effort to land another Olympics, from making the rounds.

"It's informal," Bullock said of his volunteer lobbying efforts, which include a five-day trip to Bangkok, Thailand, later this month to attend the annual SportAccord Convention that brings together Olympic sport officials from around the world.

Bullock said until it's clear when the IOC will choose the host city for the 2030 Winter Games, he and other supporters of another Olympics in Salt Lake City will keep up the campaign.

Earlier this year, Utah officials including Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and Gov. Gary Herbert backed another bid after a report by the state's Olympic Exploratory Committee found hosting again could cost less than it did in 2002.

The USOC made it clear in February there would not be a bid for 2026, because Los Angeles was awarded the 2028 Summer Games last year and has locked up domestic sponsorships through then.

When the IOC picked Los Angeles, it was part of an unusual dual award, made at the same time Paris was given the 2024 Summer Games. That's prompted speculation a dual award could happen again with the Winter Games.

The USOC met the March 31 deadline set by the IOC for joining the race for the 2026 Winter Games, but reportedly referred only to a possible 2030 bid in a letter that has not been made public.

The issue may be discussed at the USOC's next quarterly board meeting on April 18.

Bullock said he expects the IOC to treat the 2030 cities the same as those vying for 2026 for now. "It's only once they close the door to a dual award that they would change that position," he said.

The IOC is set to narrow the field for 2026 in October and name the final choice in September 2019. Through the fall, the Switzerland-based organization will engage in a new "dialogue stage" with contenders to determine their readiness.

IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi said during a telephone conference call Tuesday with news media from around the world that "the great thing about the new procedure is that the dialogue can already start" with cities looking at 2030.

"We will talk to anyone," Dubi said.

Without naming cities outside the United States, Dubi told reporters that while the IOC has only heard from the United States about 2030, "What I can definitely tell you is that there is a tremendous interest for 2030 and beyond."

Lillehammer, Norway, host of the 1994 Winter Olympics, ruled out a 2026 bid just days ago and is among the cities eyeing 2030. Some of the 2026 contenders may also end up going for the next Winter Games if they are eliminated by the IOC.

Dubi said IOC's focus is 2026 when asked whether there could be a dual award.

"Whether there is a discussion regarding a double allocation, it is not the case," he said. "However, it is interesting that already at this stage we have cities saying, 'OK, we are not in for '26, but 2030, we are really interested in.'"

The IOC plans some meetings with the American cities looking at 2030, Dubi said.

"What we expect from the USOC is to open the door to discuss between the IOC and those cities interested because what is really important for them will be at some point to make a choice," he said, through a bid process.

Bullock said he hopes that a decision is made by the USOC no later than Sept. 1 so that Salt Lake City can get going on a more formal bid.

"If a city is a serious candidate for the next step in the candidature process, then there's a lot of work that has to be done," he said. "We would rather know we are the city before we invest the time and effort in those preparations."WEST JORDAN  A West Jordan man has been charged with shooting another driver during a road rage incident.

Arlo Rey Beltran, 31, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with aggravated assault and felony discharge of a firearm with injury, second-degree felonies.

On March 30, Beltran and a 28-year-old driver in another vehicle got into a dispute starting somewhere on I-15, and kept swerving at each other, according to West Jordan police.

The two men exited I-15 at 9000 South and drove west. The victim said Beltran "kept cutting him off," according to charging documents. Just before 4000 West, Beltran pulled up next to the other car and shot the driver, who received an injury to his chest.

Police believe the victim may have actually been hit by shrapnel.

The victim drove himself to the hospital. Another man, who was behind the two vehicles, saw what happened, followed Beltran's vehicle and called police to give them a partial license plate number, the charges state.

Using that information, police were able to determine that the car belonged to Beltran and called him on his cellphone. "Beltran gave conflicting stories about where he had been and refused to say where he was currently," the charges state.

Investigators pinged Beltran's phone and were able to locate and arrest him.SALT LAKE CITY  Both Utah and Idaho are seeking 400,000 acre-feet of water from Bear Lake, filing claims on rights that authorities say will bolster water supplies into the future.

A release by the Utah Division of Water Resources said the March action will accomplish a variety of goals, including:

 More flexibility for a variety of supply, environmental and potential future mitigation needs

 Helping both states work collaboratively to meet environmental, tourism and property owner demands

 Providing flexibility on potential water releases from Bear Lake in the future if they are necessary

Both states are equal, co-applicants for the water, which, if approved, will serve municipal providers in Bear Lake, Caribou, Oneida and Franklin counties, Idaho, and in Cache, Box Elder, Weber, Davis and Salt Lake counties in Utah, according to the application. The water stored under the right could also be used to augment irrigation supplies, according to the application.

The document identifies the water as a resource that previously was released from Bear Lake for flood control purposes or Bear River water that bypasses the lake for flood control reasons.

State water officials say the application before the Utah Division of Water Rights for unclaimed water rights at Bear Lake are independent of the Bear River Development Project, which has drawn criticism and concern from multiple groups that include the Utah Rivers Council and the Friends of the Great Salt Lake.

The Bear River Development Act, adopted by the Utah Legislature in 1991, allows state water officials to move forward with the potential diversion of up to 220,000 acre-feet of water from Bear Lake for future water supplies along the Wasatch Front. The lake contains approximately 1.4 million acre-feet of water.

Eric Millis, director of the state Division of Water Resources, said it already acquired the rights for that project about 40 years ago, which has been delayed due to water savings achieved through conservation.

The $1.3 billion project is now deemed unnecessary until 2045, pushed back from a previous date of 2040.

Environmental critics of any further diversions from the Bear Lake say drawing down its levels will jeopardize wetlands and the Great Salt Lake, with the Bear River being its largest tributary.

Zach Frankel, executive director of Utah Rivers Council, said the application, if successful, means greater depletion of water out of Bear Lake for municipal use  something his organization is opposed to.

"This raises questions about how they can advance this paper water right without it being Bear River Development."

Millis said the application was written to include all uses, including culinary and secondary water, as well as to better manage Bear Lake levels.

Correction: An earlier version of this article said the Bear River Development Project would not be needed until 2065. The story should have said 2045. Eric Millis' last name was incorrectly spelled as Milles.OGDEN  Weber State University President Charles Wight, who is stepping down effective May 1, has been appointed president of Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland.

Wight, who has led Weber State since 2013, will succeed Janet Dudley-Eshbach, who announced last fall her plans to step down from the position after 18 years.

The University System of Maryland board of regents announced Wight's selection Tuesday, effective July 1.

Regents Chairman James Brady, in a statement, said Wight's accomplishments at Weber State University "reflects a visionary style that helped his institution attain the kinds of successes that align with current priorities at Salisbury. We look forward to having Dr. Wight become a part of the USM family.

A former chemistry professor at the University of Utah, Wight is known as WSUs scientist president and taught throughout his presidency at Weber State.

Last week, the Utah board of regents named WSU administrator Norm Tarbox as interim president of WSU, effective May 1.

Tarbox has served as Weber State's vice president of administrative services since 2002. He will return to his current role once the presidential search and the new president is in place.

Weber State University presidential search committee will conduct two public meetings on Wednesday to obtain input about what the committee should look for in a future president.

The meetings are:

 4-5 p.m. in the Hurst Center for Lifelong Learning in Dumke Legacy Hall on Weber State University's Ogden campus, 1265 Village Drive.

 7-8 p.m. in the Davis Building 3 Ballroom, on the Davis campus of Weber State University, University Park Blvd. in Layton.

People unable to attend the meetings may submit a comment online through the presidential search page, weber.edu/presidentialsearch.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Salisbury University is in Adelphi, Maryland. It is in Salisbury, Maryland.Cookie banner

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By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.AMERICAN FORK  Police say a 16-year-old girl who thought an app created to help protect Utah students was "stupid" attempted to shut it down by submitting numerous false reports.

On March 15, police were called to American Fork High School by school administrators because they had been receiving "multiple tips from the same person" on the SafeUT app, which is designed to allow students anonymously report concerns or threats, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in 4th District Court.

"Those tips have included multiple different topics, including  students who are 'going to bring a bomb to school,' a student who is going to 'bring a gun to school,' and a mass stabbing which will occur at the school," the warrant states. "On each of these tips, names of real students who attend the school are mentioned."

Tips submitted to the app are anonymous, but investigators were able to determine the tips were all coming from the same address, where a 16-year-old student at the school, whom school resource officers "have had multiple encounters with," lives, according to the affidavit.

When the officer interviewed the girl, she "informed me she thought the app was stupid and so (she) and her friends were trying to shut it down by 'spamming' it. I asked (the girl) what this meant and (she) informed me that they thought if they sent enough spam to the app it would have to be shut down," the warrant states.

The reason the girl allegedly thought the app was stupid was because she had been sent to the principal's office because someone had submitted her name on the app, said American Fork Police Lt. Cameron Paul.

The names the girl submitted with her fake threats "were students that she had recently had a falling out with," the warrant states.

"Her plan was to try and get it to crash. So she was going to try and overload it with tips. She started sending random tips that were of different threats that were going to occur at the high school, Paul said.

But the girl only got four fake tips submitted before police caught up with her, he said.

To ensure the safety of the school, police said they served a search warrant on the girl's phone to make sure none of the threats were legitimate.

Police will work with the Utah County Attorney's Office to determine if charges should be filed. The Alpine School District is on spring break this week, and a spokeswoman said the district would be unable to comment until Monday.

But Paul said making false reports like this is taken very serious today.

"Obviously with the climate in society right now, we are becoming less tolerant and less willing to be sympathetic to anyone that submits a false report of something like a shooting or a bombing or something along those lines. Were simply not going got tolerate that any more. Where this case goes from here, I dont know, he said.

The SafeUT Crisis Text and Tip Line is a statewide service that provides real-time crisis intervention to youth through texting and a confidential tip program. In addition to reporting threats, the app can also be used by students looking for help with bullying, mental health or suicide-related issues.

Contributing: Paul NelsonCARACAS, Venezuela  A powerful U.S. senator traveled to Venezuela on Wednesday as pressure mounted on President Nicolas Maduro to hand over a Utah man jailed in the turbulent South American country for nearly two years.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois was to meet with members of the government and opposition, a spokesman for his office said. He didn't provide further details.

The Senate's No. 2 Democrat is also expected to meet with Maduro to discuss the imprisonment of Joshua Holt, a Riverton man who is being held in a Caracas prison along with several top government opponents awaiting a trial on what the U.S. has called trumped-up weapons charges.

The rare visit comes as the Trump administration weighs an embargo on Venezuela's oil shipments on top of sanctions it already has imposed on dozens of top officials, including Maduro himself, for what the U.S. considers Venezuela's slide into a dictatorship.

"The Venezuelan people continue to suffer immensely under the Maduro regime's repressive actions," Durbin recently tweeted, supporting sanctions while condemning Maduro's "criminal regime and its complete disregard for democracy."

Durbin's visit follows weeks of backchannel talks over Holt between representatives of the two countries in both Caracas and Washington.

Last week, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also spoke to Maduro by phone to press for Holt's release, according to a Venezuelan official with knowledge of the conversation but who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. Hatch's office refused to comment on the Senator's efforts to secure Holt's release but said they are unrelated to Durbin's travel plans.

A former LDS Church missionary, Holt, 25, travelled to Venezuela in June 2016 to marry a fellow Mormon he met online practicing his Spanish. The couple was arrested during a police raid on the housing complex where she had lived.

Venezuelan authorities alleged Holt was stockpiling "weapons of war."

U.S. officials have repeatedly demanded Holt's release on humanitarian grounds, considering the charges against him and his wife, Thamara Caleno Candelo, to be politically motivated.

Maduro is expected to win a second term as president in a May 20 election that the U.S. and Venezuela's largest opposition parties have rejected as being rigged in Maduro's favor, leaving the South American leader few if any allies in Washington from either political party.

Durbin played a key role in Cuba's 2014 release of American Alan Gross, who was held in prison for five years on the communist island.

Holt's parents, Laurie and Jason Holt, have been lobbying American political leaders to to help gain his release, pleading last December for help on humanitarian grounds because he is "in a delicate state." They urged "our leaders in the U.S. government double their efforts in bringing him home before it is too late."

The Associated Press first reported behind-the-scenes dialogue to win Holt's freedom. Caleb McCarry, a top Republican congressional staffer who has known Maduro for 15 years, travelled to Caracas in February to meet with the Venezuelan leader and first lady Cilia Flores to press for Holt's release.

That dialogue prompted a visit to Washington by a trusted ally of Maduro, Gov. Rafael Lacava of Carabobo state, to discuss Holt with lawmakers.

___

Associated Press writer Scott Smith reported this story in Caracas and AP writer Joshua Goodman reported from Bogota, ColombiaHMD Global today announced the availability of four Nokia branded smartphones in India. The Nokia 1, an upgraded Nokia 6, the Nokia 7 Plus and the Nokia 8 Sirocco were announced just a month ago by the company at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, making todays announcement the fastest launch of Nokia phones in India following a global announcement. We were present at the MWC launch of the Nokia phones, so we have for you a quick look in videos for all that they announced.

Nokia 1

The Nokia 1 is the cheapest smartphone in HMD Globals portfolio and is aimed to cater to the 1.3 million people who are currently using feature phones. It is powered by a MediaTek MT6737M quad-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM. Theres 8GB of internal storage which can be expanded to 128GB using a microSD card. Perhaps the best thing about the Nokia 1 is the fact that not only is it a dual SIM phone that supports 4G LTE, but it also runs Android Oreo (Go Edition). Having used the device, it feels like a significant step up from any feature phone. The display may not be fancy, but it is definitely a nicer way of consuming video content than a regular feature phone. HMD Globals Nokia 1 is a cute little smartphone with replaceable cover shells. The Nokia 1 offers solid value for money, especially in its price segment.

Nokia 6

Last years Nokia 6 was a runaway hit, with retailers having a hard time maintaining inventory in China. The phone in India was received to equally rabid fanfare, although some did express disappointment on the choice of processor used and the lack of a USB-C port. Nokia has heard the feedback and launched the new Nokia 6 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SoC (some say this could have been better), but thats not the only improvement. We finally have Zeiss return to its partnership with the Finnish phone maker, with the Nokia 6s Zeiss branded optics. The design of the phone is bold and holding it feels like youre holding something extremely sturdy and durable. The design of the phone has also been tweaked with more refined edged and a dual-anodized finish. The Nokia 6 not only feels as bold as its predecessor, but also looks the part.

Nokia 7 Plus

Nokia has finally forayed into the dual camera trend with the Nokia 7 Plus. Zeiss optics are seen here as well, on both the wide and telephoto lenses for the primary camera. The front facing camera has Zeiss lenses too, because Nokia understands the importance of selfies. However, dual cameras isnt the only trend youll notice on the Nokia 7 Plus. This smartphone has a massive 6-inch display with FHD+ resolution, but with an 18:9 aspect ratio. It will come in two stunning colours that have been finished in a way so that they feel like ceramic. Of all the phones we saw at MWC, the Nokia 7 Plus definitely felt the nicest against the skin.

Nokia 8 Sirocco

The crown jewel of Nokias portfolio from its MWC announcements, the Nokia 8 Sirocco has also been made official in India. Honestly, given how premium the smartphone is, we had a feeling that HMD Global might shy away from launching this phone in India, but we are glad that is not the case. The Nokia 8 Sirocco is all glass, with a curved OLED display. Its a flat, bold smartphone with a broad profile, but it will stand out from the crowd. Unlike the Nokia 6 and the Nokia 7 Plus, the Nokia 8 Sirocco is built from a single block of stainless steel, sandwiched between Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back. Again, we get a dual camera setup with all lenses carrying the Zeiss branding.

The Nokia portfolio is strong for this year, catering to a rather wide gamut of price ranges. How well they sell will depend on how the devices perform in reviews and of course, their availability. Last year, the phones were released into the market significantly later than their originally announced dates, and even then, inventory was hard to come by. Hopefully, this is one area that the company would have sorted out for the coming year. If you'd like a more detailed look at each of the phones, you can head over to our image galleries hereReader asks: I am wondering, is it worth it to fly to Quito and then take a bus to Cuenca? There are 3 of us so that saves us around $900. What are the logistics of getting from Quito to Cuenca? Too complicated? Thanks for your help.

Frank and Angie Respond: There are three ways you can travel from Quito to Cuenca; choosing which one best fits your needs is totally up to you and your circumstances. Below the video we will explain the three ways to Cuenca and by clicking on the links within this article you will find more detail as well as our personal experiences.



Fly from Quito to Cuenca



which is now AVIANCA. Avianca is based out of Colombia and they can have some super deals! And then there is LAN ECUADOR. We always check all three airlines with our itinerary because you never know who is going to have the best deals on the days we want to fly. Quito to Cuenca flights is going to be the most expensive but by far the quickest, easiest way to go! You can get the best deals reserving 7 to 10 days in advance. Surprisingly, TAME does not always have the cheapest flights. We have always used AEROGAL,which is nowAnd then there is. We always check all three airlines with our itinerary because you never know who is going to have the best deals on the days we want to fly.

Quito Ecuador International Airp ort

Cuenca, sometimes less, and then there is taxes of about $25 on top of that, and this is per person. As you can see flights within Ecuador are more expensive now with the added 25% tax surcharge. But if you can fly on the weekdays, preferably Tuesdays and Wednesdays and reserve well in advance, flights can be cheaper. Weve even gotten super deals of like $33 per ticket, flying with AEROGAL. Generally, you can usually get a flight for around $60 from Quito tosometimes less, and then there is taxes of about $25 on top of that, and this is per person. As you can see flights within Ecuador are more expensive now with the added 25% tax surcharge. But if you can fly on the weekdays, preferably Tuesdays and Wednesdays and reserve well in advance, flights can be cheaper. Weve even gotten super deals of like $33 per ticket, flying with AEROGAL.

Quito to Cuenca is about 50-minutes.

If you are looking for the most amount of comfort and the quickest route, flying is your best option. Air time from

Note: Many people prefer flying into Guayaquil because it is only a 3-hour van ride or a 3.5-hour bus ride from Guayaquil to Cuenca, which is much easier on the passenger than 9 long hours!

From Quito to Cuenca Bus



Busing it is not recommended for everyone, especially older folks and those who cannot or should not sit for long periods of time.

Quito to Cuenca bus time can be anywhere from 8.5hrs to 10 hrs and that is a long time to be sitting in one spot. However, Ecuador has made some improvements with their fleet of buses, adding more leg room between your seat and the one in front of you but they still have in operation some of the older buses with smaller leg room for people, like when we took a bus from Guayaquil to Cuenca in 201 5.

2 per ticket but sometimes cheapest is not the best option depending on personal needs and circumstances. This is

It is the cheapest way to travel to Cuenca; the bus fare from Quito to Cuenca is around $10 to $1per ticket but sometimes cheapest is not the best option depending on personal needs and circumstances. This is our experience in detail taking the bus from Cuenca to Quito, which would also apply to taking the bus from Quito to Cuenca, no difference.

For instance, the buses rarely stop between Quito and Cuenca for a bathroom break, so it is a hit or miss thereand when they do stop for a bathroom break, it is not necessarily up to western standards. Sometimes the drivers do not even stop for a bathroom break.

Heres a VERY detailed report of our bus trip from Guayaquil to Cuenca in video!



We recommend if taking longer bus trips to only take small sips of water and to not eat much so you will not have to use the one small port-a-potty that is located on the back of the bus, which is designated for urination only. Just letting you know ahead of time what you can expect if taking the bus.



Also forum posts like to talk about how there are 2 bathroom breaks...not sure what bus they took, but we've taken the bus four different times from Cuenca to Quito and the bus only stopped one time out of those four at a restroom break and the bathroom looked like it was out of a scary movie.





There are a couple Quito to Cuenca bus companies; perhaps we're just not taking the right one. There is an overnight bus Quito to Cuenca but we don't recommend traveling at night because of pirates that hijack the buses at night and rob everyone blind.

Also forum posts talk about how vendors bring homemade food onto the bus for people to buy... but we think it is a bad idea to eat anything from street vendors, especially when you are stuck on a long bus ride....you know what I mean? Really bad idea...why? who knows where the food came from, how clean the cook was that prepared it, if it was actually covered from the outside elements, and how old it is...wow for gringos to be telling people about the vendors that hop onto the bus with food is ridiculous! We don't recommend.

For those people who shouldn't sit for long periods of time, we highly recommend they book their flights into the Guayaquil airport from Quito and then take a van or bus the short distance to Cuenca. Much easier, less expensive, and the bus ride through the Andes is really pleasant on the eyes.



Busetta from Cuenca to Quito



From Quito to Cuenca busetas: A busseta or "buseta" in Spanish costs about $15 per ticket sharing a van with other people. There are six to seven available seats so you will be sitting next to other people. You may be thinking, whats wrong with sitting next to other people? Well, the second time we took a van from Guayaquil to Cuenca we sat next to an overly sized man, whose breath smelled, and who snored loudly the whole way to Cuenca! Of course, thats just our experience one time, other folks may have had a wonderful experience.



here is what it looks like. bus) from Guayaquil to Cuenca an When we first moved here we took a busetta (min You can also rent the whole busetta for $200 and not share the van with anyone.

No matter how you travel, better do it in comfort like millions of other smart travelers!

Until we write again, you might like these articles about traveling within Ecuador too!Buy Frank and Angie coffee and Almuerzo $10

Buy Frank and Angie a night out in a cheap country $60

Buy Frank and Angie a night out in Panama or other $120

Personal Consultation

1. Direct Line to Frank and Angie on Skype $150

2. Heavy Duty Consultation: money, finances, property, bugging out; what problem are you having or concerned about? $600

HOW IT WORKS: you pay half up front and the other half if you decide you received value.

Note: Email me your questions first so I can let you know if I can help you. DiscoverCuencaEcaudor(at)Yahoo.(com)

Contact us for payment options: Let us know if you want to pay by Cryptocurrency.





DiscoverCuencaEcaudor(at)Yahoo.(com)



TESTIMONIAL It was such a pleasure meeting with Frank and Angie on video Skype. I want to be totally honest and say that I was a bit scared traveling to Ecuador. I did not know what to expect, the steps I needed to take and how it would be when I got there. I felt like I was going there with my eyes blind folded. Thank you Frank and Angie for the time you took to take those blind folds off. I feel so confident about this trip to Ecuador. I have absolutely no fear anymore, and I know that would have not happened if it wasn't for Angie and Frank's guidance. If you really want to take advantage of the best there is in Ecuador, it is without a doubt a no brainer to consult with Angie and Frank. May God bless them for their dedication in helping others in need.

Best Regards,

Kerlyn Orellana

-----------------------------------------



***And remember that 100% of your money goes to a ministry that supports missionaries spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thanks for your support!***



There's no such thing; all of Cuenca is the same; there are only a couple of areas that are iffy in Cuenca.

There's no such thing; all of Cuenca is the same; there are only a couple of areas that are iffy in Cuenca.

Are There Snakes and Poisonous Spiders in Cuenca?

Are There Snakes and Poisonous Spiders in Cuenca?

I've listed budget, medium and upper-end costs of setting up house in Cuenca, Ecuador

I've listed budget, medium and upper-end costs of setting up house in Cuenca, Ecuador

What is the COST of Setting Up a House?

What is the COST of Setting Up a House?

Absolutely NOT! this is not Mexico! Updates: YES! Wash EVERYTHING WELL!

Absolutely NOT! this is not Mexico! Updates: YES! Wash EVERYTHING WELL!

In 2015 Expats are still having their home invaded by armed men, there are still pick-pockets and thieves. Be careful that's all.

In 2015 Expats are still having their home invaded by armed men, there are still pick-pockets and thieves. Be careful that's all.

When folks first move here they are having so much fun they are not as guarded as they should be. You have to be careful from shysters because they take advantage of newbies. The pick-pockets do too.

When folks first move here they are having so much fun they are not as guarded as they should be. You have to be careful from shysters because they take advantage of newbies. The pick-pockets do too.

Sure you can, but if it's a real good deal and in a desirable area, you better act fast. You are competing with the locals for the fixer deals.

Sure you can, but if it's a real good deal and in a desirable area, you better act fast. You are competing with the locals for the fixer deals.

Living here for awhile and you will learn what the going rates are for everything.

Living here for awhile and you will learn what the going rates are for everything.

How Can I Keep from Being Gringo Gouged Everywhere I Go?!

How Can I Keep from Being Gringo Gouged Everywhere I Go?!

There are 4 farmer's markets in Cuenca and we list them and how to get to them in this article.

There are 4 farmer's markets in Cuenca and we list them and how to get to them in this article.

never been checked for parasites beforemoved to Ecuador, and now, well

...learn more about the prevelence of these bad little bugs in th e article.

There are multitude of reasons why people move back home but does it really matter? Everyone has different situations and circumstances so comparing to others who have left Cuenca might not be encouraging for you.

There are multitude of reasons why people move back home but does it really matter? Everyone has different situations and circumstances so comparing to others who have left Cuenca might not be encouraging for you.

We have learned to adapt to some things; after all, when you set your mind to realizing this is S.America and so it is not going to be like N. America, it's much easier to adjust to the changes. Click the title and find out.

We have learned to adapt to some things; after all, when you set your mind to realizing this is S.America and so it is not going to be like N. America, it's much easier to adjust to the changes. Click the title and find out.

Dress casual and comfortable. No flashy clothing or jewelry and you'll be fine. Read the details in the article.

Dress casual and comfortable. No flashy clothing or jewelry and you'll be fine. Read the details in the article.

Ecuadorians as a whole are pleasant, kind folks, but it wouldn't be reality if they ALL were, would it?

Ecuadorians as a whole are pleasant, kind folks, but it wouldn't be reality if they ALL were, would it?

We list a whole slew of things to do in Cuenca during your visit.

We list a whole slew of things to do in Cuenca during your visit.

What Are Some Fun Things To Do When We Get To Cuenca?

What Are Some Fun Things To Do When We Get To Cuenca?

Most casual clothes will blend in just fine. Flashy and bright colors, big floppy hats and designer sunglasses and purses might get some added attention.

Most casual clothes will blend in just fine. Flashy and bright colors, big floppy hats and designer sunglasses and purses might get some added attention.

ey do have faster than this. Both Puntonet and Etapa now have fi ber-opt ics.

Th ey do have faster than this. Both Puntonet and Etapa now have fi ber-opt ics.

Th ey do have faster than this. Both Puntonet and Etapa now have fi ber-opt ics.

Th ey do have faster than this. Both Puntonet and Etapa now have fi ber-opt ics.

Th ey do have faster than this. Both Puntonet and Etapa now have fi ber-opt ics.

Th ey do have faster than this. Both Puntonet and Etapa now have fi ber-opt ics.

Th ey do have faster than this. Both Puntonet and Etapa now have fi ber-opt ics.

Should I Bring My Elderly Parents with Me to Cuenca?

Should I Bring My Elderly Parents with Me to Cuenca?

wants to be in the same neighborhood? High prices.

everyone wants to be in the same neighborhood? High prices.

When we first moved to Cuenca everyone wanted to be downtown in "El Centro" and many readers had concerns about safety living not in the tourist areas. But you know what happens when everyone wants to be in the same neighborhood? High prices.

When we first moved to Cuenca everyone wanted to be downtown in "El Centro" and many readers had concerns about safety living not in the tourist areas. But you know what happens when everyone wants to be in the same neighborhood? High prices.

class neighborhoods in Cuenca to live and be comfortable.

e are several Ecuadorian middle class neighborhoods in Cuenca to live and be comfortable.

Ther e are several Ecuadorian middle class neighborhoods in Cuenca to live and be comfortable.

Ther e are several Ecuadorian middle class neighborhoods in Cuenca to live and be comfortable.

. It's best to live in an Ecuadorian neighborhood rather than next to a bunch of gringos. It is becoming well-known rather quickly that gringo enclaves have lots of home invasions.

all the other homes in the neighborhood it is pretty safe to live in a house . It's best to live in an Ecuadorian neighborhood rather than next to a bunch of gringos. It is becoming well-known rather quickly that gringo enclaves have lots of home invasions.

encing and looks like all the other homes in the neighborhood it is pretty safe to live in a house . It's best to live in an Ecuadorian neighborhood rather than next to a bunch of gringos. It is becoming well-known rather quickly that gringo enclaves have lots of home invasions.

has electric f encing and looks like all the other homes in the neighborhood it is pretty safe to live in a house . It's best to live in an Ecuadorian neighborhood rather than next to a bunch of gringos. It is becoming well-known rather quickly that gringo enclaves have lots of home invasions.

Yes, if the house has electric f encing and looks like all the other homes in the neighborhood it is pretty safe to live in a house . It's best to live in an Ecuadorian neighborhood rather than next to a bunch of gringos. It is becoming well-known rather quickly that gringo enclaves have lots of home invasions.

Yes, if the house has electric f encing and looks like all the other homes in the neighborhood it is pretty safe to live in a house . It's best to live in an Ecuadorian neighborhood rather than next to a bunch of gringos. It is becoming well-known rather quickly that gringo enclaves have lots of home invasions.

is not a requirement to move abroad but it is a benefit to you though.

Knowing Spanish is not a requirement to move abroad but it is a benefit to you though.

Knowing Spanish is not a requirement to move abroad but it is a benefit to you though.

ome folks won't and don't learn Spanish and wondering if they should move into gringolandia. We don't think so.

We just updated our readers with part 3 where s ome folks won't and don't learn Spanish and wondering if they should move into gringolandia. We don't think so.

We just updated our readers with part 3 where s ome folks won't and don't learn Spanish and wondering if they should move into gringolandia. We don't think so.

Quito or the smaller and more quaint, Cuenca. Only you can know for sure.

, Quito or the smaller and more quaint, Cuenca. Only you can know for sure.

and more cosmopolitan , Quito or the smaller and more quaint, Cuenca. Only you can know for sure.

We Can't answer that for you but what we can do is give you a nuts and bolts break down of each city and then you can go visit them and decide which is better. The bigger and more cosmopolitan , Quito or the smaller and more quaint, Cuenca. Only you can know for sure.

We Can't answer that for you but what we can do is give you a nuts and bolts break down of each city and then you can go visit them and decide which is better. The bigger and more cosmopolitan , Quito or the smaller and more quaint, Cuenca. Only you can know for sure.

Which City is Best for My Retirement Situation? Cuenca or Quito?

Which City is Best for My Retirement Situation? Cuenca or Quito?

no days where you need AC. Many folks find the temp s in Cuenca an d Quito ideal weather!

with no freezing days and no days where you need AC. Many folks find the temp s in Cuenca an d Quito ideal weather!

with no freezing days and no days where you need AC. Many folks find the temp s in Cuenca an d Quito ideal weather!

t it was going to be. In fact, Cuenca is quite mild with no freezing days and no days where you need AC. Many folks find the temp s in Cuenca an d Quito ideal weather!

in the Andes is not as cold as I though t it was going to be. In fact, Cuenca is quite mild with no freezing days and no days where you need AC. Many folks find the temp s in Cuenca an d Quito ideal weather!

Living in the Andes is not as cold as I though t it was going to be. In fact, Cuenca is quite mild with no freezing days and no days where you need AC. Many folks find the temp s in Cuenca an d Quito ideal weather!

Living in the Andes is not as cold as I though t it was going to be. In fact, Cuenca is quite mild with no freezing days and no days where you need AC. Many folks find the temp s in Cuenca an d Quito ideal weather!

That depends on what you think a bargain is. R ents have doubled in the 4 plus years we have been here.





I went shopping for jeans and was surprised to find that my size looked like they'd fit a 4 year old. The jeans are stretchy material and ver y narrow at the ankles too...not my style. Bring clothes with you.





Does Ecuador have planes in the sky? All planes stream chemtrails.





Ecuador has much cleaner food than the U.S. Genetically M odified Organisms and Foods are not allowe d in Ecuador, for now... but they might be trying to change that.





We usually tip a very small amount when eating out. Just to say thank you, we ' ll be back.

That depends on you and h ow you shop and how you want to live.

E veryone's budget is different according to that persons wants and needs .

The article explains more a bout that in detail.





It's rather humorous , several years ago virtually everyone was saying how friendly the Ecuadorians were...and now, virtually everyone is talking disparaging about them.

Not really, the rents are going up so fast that now the once $250 to $300 houses are now $500 to $600. ..s ame house, same yard, same amount of rooms , etc, etc...but a fatter pocket for the owner. In the $700 to $ 1,500 range is considered luxury but wait t ill you see it and then you be the judge.

3 or 4 bedroom (newer) House with yard, no. 2 or 3 bedroom apartment, yes! Read the rest of the article to find out more.

All taxis have meters now, just make sure it is running before getting in. Never yet heard of anything negative happening to a gringo hailing a cab off the street in C uenca. Quito and Guayaqui different story.

You'll just have to read the article to find out.

It's NOTHING like what you're used to .

For most people, its ok. Few others high-tail it out of here and go back to dodge.

We did an 8-part series about the weather/climate/humidity of Cuenca . Click the title to watch the videos.

Probably not...read this article to find out how to be safer if eating from street vendors.

Who really knows and does it really mat ter anyway. There is a sizable expat community in Cuenca.





Yes, read the details in the article to find out why.





Is the Produce Grown in Cuenca Organic or Sprayed with Pesticides? Good question...you tell us! LOL Good question...you tell us! LOL





Dep ends on you. Some people have a difficult time giving up their stuff and so they ship it over, not good if they go back home. We recommend buying most things for living here and bringing only your must have items in your suitcases . If you decide to leave you can sell your stuff to newcomers to Cuenca.

Whatever...

Is Cuenca Loud with Boom Boxes? Does it Smell

Like Urine in Certain Areas? Well, you'll just have to read t he article to find out . Well, you'll just have to read tFacebook deletes hundreds of Russian accounts linked to 'troll factory'

Facebook has deleted hundreds of Russian accounts and pages associated with a troll factory that has tried to deceive and manipulate people around the globe.

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO, told a news agency that he does not want them on Facebook anywhere. According to him, many of the deleted articles and pages were sourced to Federal News Agency of Russia, which was closely linked to the Internet Research Agency (IRA).

The accounts and pages that have been deleted were mostly Russian. The evidence collected by Facebook indicated that many of the organisations were controlled and operated by the IRA, which was among the three firms indicted by the US for trying to tamper the presidential campaign last year.

Facebook has been in the eye of a storm after it revealed that information relating to 50 million users landed up with Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy, which was hired by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign.

The companys chief security officer noted that uncovering the activity of the IRA took months of work by its team.

Facebook was built for conversation and human connection, said Alex Stamos, the CSO. Its why we ask that people using our service be themselves  whether its an individual, a business or a nonprofit.

According to him, the IRA has repeatedly used complex networks of inauthentic accounts to deceive and manipulate people who use Facebook, including before, during and after the 2016 US presidential elections.

The IRA has consistently used inauthentic accounts to deceive and manipulate people. Its why we remove every account we find that is linked to the organisation  whether linked to activity in the US, Russia or elsewhere, said Stamos. We know that the IRA  and other bad actors seeking to abuse Facebook  are always changing their tactics to hide from our security team.Nasa picks Lockheed Martin to build low-noise supersonic plane

Lockheed Martin Corp has won a $247.5-million contract from Nasa to build a quieter supersonic jet, a move that would lead to developing planes that can whisk passengers around the globe much more quickly.

Nasa on Tuesday awarded Lockheed Martin Skunk Works a contract to design, build and flight test the low-boom flight demonstrator, an X-plane designed to make supersonic passenger air travel a reality. Nasa on Tuesday awarded Lockheed Martin Skunk Works a contract to design, build and flight test the low-boom flight demonstrator, an X-plane designed to make supersonic passenger air travel a reality.

The experimental aircraft is expected to take to the skies in 2021 and will have a top velocity of 1.5 times the speed of sound, or about 990 miles per hour (1,600 kilometers) at an altitude of 55,000 feet, Lockheed said in a statement.

While the jet will only have room for a pilot, it will test design principles that soften the sonic boom

"It is super exciting to be back designing and flying X-planes at this scale," said Jaiwon Shin, Nasa's associate administrator for aeronautics. "Our long tradition of solving the technical barriers of supersonic flight to benefit everyone continues."

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works will build a full-scale experimental aircraft, known as an X-plane, of its preliminary design developed under Nasa's Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) effort.

The X-plane will help NASA establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard to overturn current regulations banning commercial supersonic travel over land.

Peter Iosifidis, Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator programme manager, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, said, "We look forward to applying the extensive work completed under QueSST to the design, build and flight test of the X-plane, providing NASA with a demonstrator to make supersonic commercial travel possible for passengers around the globe."

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and Nasa have partnered for more than a decade to enable the next generation of commercial supersonic aircraft. Nasa awarded Lockheed Martin Skunk Works a contract in February 2016 for the preliminary design of the supersonic X-plane flight demonstrator.

The aircraft will be built at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, and will conduct its first flight in 2021.

Nasa and Lockheed Martin are seeking to foster technology that can overcome noise restrictions on supersonic flight, which has been banned overland for civil aircraft since 1973. The aim is opening the skies to faster jet travel and spurring manufacturers to build speedier aircraft.

The first supersonic commercial airline Concorde that began service in 1976, built by a French-British coalition and flown by Air France and British Airways, was discontinued in 2003 in part because noise complaints limited its flights.

Lockheeds experimental plane will use existing parts, such as the landing gear from an F-16 Fighting Falcon and the pilot seat from a T-38 Talon, and will measure 94 feet long with a wing span of 29.5 feet.

Its about the data that will be collected. Its that data that is used then to shape the future, Richardson said. Were very confident as we go forward from here in the design that we have, and being able to achieve that low-boom signature.

Nasa expects private business jets to be the first type of supersonic aircraft to have commercial success if the ban on overland flight is lifted. Large passenger airliners that break the sound barrier probably wont show up until after 2035, according to NASAs vision.

Meanwhile, Aerion Corp, a business jet startup backed by Texas billionaire Robert Bass, is working on a design that would fly overland just under the speed of sound and then speed up to Mach 1.4 over the ocean.

Gulfstream, a unit of General Dynamics Corp, has said it wont attempt to build a supersonic aircraft until its cleared to fly open-throttle over land and sea.

Boom Technology Inc, a Colorado startup, is developing a supersonic passenger jet with 45 to 55 seats, and attracted a $10 million investment from Japan Airlines Co. in December.

Lockheed had helped Nasa build a small prototype of the quieter new supersonic plane that was tested in a wind tunnel. Lockheed in December also agreed to help Aerion build its supersonic jet.Jio Payments Bank commences operations

Jio Payments Bank Ltd, promoted by Reliance Jio Infocomm, commenced operations on 3 April 2018, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated in a press release on Tuesday.

The Reserve Bank has issued a licence to the bank under Section 22 (1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to carry on the business of payments bank in India, RBI stated in its release.

Reliance Industries Limited was one of the 11 applicants which were issued in-principle approval for setting up a payments bank.

Payments bank has been conceptualised by RBI to further financial inclusion by providing small savings accounts and payments or remittance services.

The Reserve Bank of India had, on 19 August 2015, granted in-principle approval to 11 applicants, including Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited, Airtel M Commerce Services Limited, Cholamandalam Distribution Services Limited, Department of Posts, Fino PayTech Limited, National Securities Depository Limited, Reliance Industries Limited, Shri Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi, Shri Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Tech Mahindra Limited and Vodafone m-pesa Limited, to set up payments banks under the Guidelines for Licensing of Payments Banks issued on November 27, 2014 (Guidelines).

The selection was done after a detailed scrutiny by an external advisory committee (EAC) headed by Nachiket Mor, director, Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India. Following this the RBIs internal screening committee prepared a final list of recommendations for the Committee of the Central Board (CCB), after independently scrutinising all the applications.Supreme Court dumps all petitions related to CBSE exam paper leaks

The Supreme Court today dismissed a batch of petitions related to the CBSE's question paper leaks, saying it won't interfere with any of the board's decision on a re-exam.

The apex court also turned down a plea for a CBI inquiry into the leaks of the Class 10 mathematics paper and the Class 12 economics paper.

The petitions were filed by students and parents against the CBSE announced that the Class 12 economics exam would be held again, on 25 April. It, however, decided not to hold a retest for the Class 10 math paper, although the question paper for the earlier test was leaked.

CBSE said the decision was made after a thorough analysis and evaluation of the answer sheets which showed no specific trend that the leak had impacted the exam outcome.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud had earlier said since many petitions have been filed on the same issue, it would list them all for hearing on 4 April.

The ministry of human resource development had last week said a re-examination of CBSE Class XII paper would be held on 25 April while for the Class X mathematics paper a re-test, if required, will be carried out for the Delhi-NCR region and Haryana in July.

"Class X examination is essentially a gateway for Class XI and thus remains largely an internal segment of school education," it said in a statement.

"On the other hand, Class XII exams are a gateway to higher education and various professional competitive exams which have limited seats...therefore, giving undue advantage of to a handful of beneficiaries of the alleged leak of the economics paper would not be in larger interest of the students," it said.

The board said that it did not find any trend that would indicate to any impact on the examination due to the paper leak.

The examinations for the Class X mathematics and Class XII economic papers had been held on 28 March and 26 March respectively.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police have arrested three people, including two teachers of a private school, on Sunday for their suspected roles in leakage of the Class 12 economics paper.

The CBSE now proposes to send encrypted copies of question papers to the examination centres henceforth by e-mail, which would have to be downloaded and printed by the exam centres.Government will not buckle to striking rail workers, says French PM

The French government will not back down on rail reforms despite the unions launching a series of strikes that caused major disruptions in the network on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said while he respected the strikers, as the right to strike is guaranteed by the constitution, he wanted the voice of millions of French opposed to the strike to also be heard.

I must say that as much as I hear strikers, who sometimes speak forcefully, I hear those who do not accept this strike, he said. More precisely, I hear those who want to go to work, want to continue to benefit from their constitutional freedom to come and go.

The four main rail unions are organising the strike, which will see partial disruption of services on two out of five days over the next three months.

The strike, spread over 36 days, is in protest against the governments plans to overhaul SNCF, the state-run rail operator, and to scrap the special status granted to workers, which guarantees a job for life and early retirement.

Union leaders say they do not want a conflict with the authorities, but the government has refused to reconsider its plans for the rail service.

Their action will be called off only after President Emmanuel Macron drops his bid to bring about a major overhaul in SNCFs functioning.Amazon may make rival bid to buy Flipkart: report

Online retail giant Amazon is likely to make a rival bid for Flipkart, which is currently in talks with US retail giant Walmart to sell stake of over 40 per cent, as Walmarts entry could pose a direct challenge to Amazon in Asia's third-largest economy, say reports.

A Mint newspaper report citing sources said Amazon.com Inc may submit an offer to buy Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, which is currently in talks with Walmart Inc for a stake sale. A Mint newspaper report citing sources said Amazon.com Inc may submit an offer to buy Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, which is currently in talks with Walmart Inc for a stake sale.

The US retailer plans to buy a majority stake through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases in a deal that could value Flipkart at $21 billion, the report said.

Walmart, the worlds largest retailer, is in talks to buy 55 per cent of Flipkart through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases in a deal that could value Flipkart at $21 billion, the report said.

Tiger Global Management, Accel Partners, Naspers, IDG Ventures and others are expected to sell much or all of their shares Flipkart if the Flipkart-Walmart deal goes through.

A deal with Walmart will aid Flipkart in its fight against Amazon, which is planning an aggressive expansion in India, with investments of up to $5 billion, including into online grocery deliveries.

Analysts expect Flipkart to push through the deal with Walmart rather than accept a possible Amazon offer, which could only help to create an online monopoly in India.

Flipkart, founded by former Amazon employees Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007, controls nearly 40 per cent of India`s online retail and is ahead of Amazon, according to estimates by research firm Forrester.

In August 2017, Flipkart received a commitment of $1.4 billion in fresh capital from Japans SoftBank Group, valuing the online retailer at about $14 billion.

Flipkart, which is seen as one of the most attractive assets in the global internet economy, has, so far, raised more than $6 billion.

Flipkart also owns fashion businesses Myntra and Jabong, eBay India and mobile payments firm PhonePe.

Besides Amazon and Walmart, Flipkart has also attracted other investors like Google, say reports.

A valuation of over $20 billion is a big turnaround for a company that was fighting a losing battle with Amazons Indian arm less than 18 months ago. But the return Kalyan Krishnamurthy changes its fortunes. Starting with the flagship Big Billion Day sale in October 2016, Krishnamurthy has managed to set Flipkart on a recovery path.

Since it launched here in June 2013, Amazon has invested more than $2 billion in India and is planning to invest $3 billion more. However, Flipkart continues to lead the $18-billion online retail market in India by a slender margin.Facebook, Google are getting too big to be governed, warns French President

Facebook and Google today are like the oil barons of the early 20th century and have become too big to be governed, said French President Emmanuel Macron in an interview.



Emmanuel Macron

At a point of time, your government, your people, may say: Wake up. They are too big,  Macron told Wired, an American monthly. Not just too big to fail, but too big to be governed.

The president said the fact that these two companies were getting too big was a wake-up sign to the US government, which may have to consider dismantling the firms, as happened with the oil majors in the early part of the 20th century.

He was also concerned about new issues that are cropping up in the era of artificial intelligence (AI), which could open a Pandoras Box as far as privacy is concerned. AI will raise a lot of issues in ethics, in politics, it will question our democracy and our collective preferences, said the French President.

For instance, medical care can be totally transformed, making it much more predictive and personalised if one gets access to a lot of data. We will open our data in France, said the president. But the day you start dealing with privacy issues, the day you open this data and unveil personal information, you open a Pandora's Box, with potential use cases that will not be increasing the common good and improving the way to treat you.

Referring to the perceived hostility to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs in Europe, Macron said France would welcome investments from them, especially those with AI research centres in the country.

Last week, he had announced a 1.5-billion plan to transform France into a world leader for AI research and innovation. Addressing the AI for Humanity conference in Paris, he had said turning France into an AI leader would allow the country to use it for public good and ensure that a Promethean promise doesnt become a dystopia.The High Court has ordered an inquiry into the legality of the detention of a Chinese take-away owner who has lived and worked openly in Ireland for the last 16 years.

According to the Irish Independent, the application has been brought on behalf of Chinese native Mr Yuntao Yu, 36, who has been detained at Castlerea Prison in County Roscommon since March 25th last on foot a deportation order issued in 2009.

Mr Yu, represented by barrister Gavin Keogh Bl instructed by solicitor Donal Quigley, claims his detention is unlawful on grounds including that there is no realistic prospect he will be removed from the state within the requisite time-frame.

Mr Yu, who has been based in Letterkenny for several years, argues it is unlawful for persons subject to deportation orders to spend any more than 56 days in detention.

Mr Keogh told Mr Justice Charles Meenan at Tuesday's sitting of the High Court that Mr Yu had previously spent 44 days in prison on foot of the same 2009 deportation order.

In addition Mr Yu does not have any travel documents which he needs to be provided with before any deportation order can be effected.

When the total amount of time was taken into account there seemed to be no possibility of Mr Yu being removed form the State within the required 56 days.

On that basis Mr Yu's continued detention is unlawful, and he should be released, counsel said.

Counsel said Mr Yu's detention was unnecessary and entirely disproportionate personal circumstances have changed considerably since the deportation order was made.

Mr Yu had been residing in Letterkenny with his wife, and family where he had been living openly and never sought to evade the authorities in any way, counsel said.

Since 2015 Mr Yu has run a take away food business located beside Letterkenny Garda Station under his own PPS, counsel said.

Through his business, which counsel said is registered with Revenue and the Companies Office he frequently interacts with many members of the gardai and is known to them by name.

Counsel said it would be unjust to enforce the deportation order in light of these facts, and Mr Yu will seek to have the deportation order revoked.

Mr Justice Meenan granted Mr Yu's lawyers an inquiry into the lawfulness of his detention under Article 40.4.2 of the Irish Constitution.

The Judge adjourned the matter until later today to allow lawyers for the State to respond to the application.RTE star Daithi O Se has said that there are 1,929 good reasons to put the kettle on on Donegal for the Alzheimer Society of Ireland.

Alzheimers Tea Day, which is held on Thursday May 3rd, is the Alzheimer Society of Irelands (ASI) largest annual fundraising campaign, supported for the third year by Medtronic, a global leader in medical technology.

Daithi O Se said: "I'm delighted to support Alzheimers Tea Day again this year, for the third year running. There's 1,929 people living with dementia in Donegal today so that's 1,929 good reasons to get the kettle on. What alarms me is that this number is set to double in the next 20 years. By taking part in this campaign you are helping to raise vital funds and awareness of a condition that is affecting so many of our family, friends and neighbours. Whats important to remember is that money raised locally stays locally, so by getting involved youll be supporting your own community."

Since the very first Alzheimers Tea Day in 1994 approximately 8M has been raised to provide essential support to the 34,650 Women and 19,800 Men living with dementia in Ireland at present. Every year thousands of people host tea parties in their homes, offices and schools. This year you are being asked to join them, all funds raised locally stay locally.

The ASI is the national leader in advocating for and providing dementia-specific supports and services. Each year it provides more than one million hours of community-based dementia-specific care throughout Ireland.

One in 2 people in Ireland know someone who has been diagnosed with dementia.

Operations Manager for North West Region, Mary Callanan said: "Our annual Tea Day is the biggest fundraising event in our calendar and we need your support. Remember that all the money raised locally stays locally which helps to fund all the vital services and supports in our communities, so we'd encourage everyone to get involved by putting the kettle on or you can check to see what events are taking place locally, the important thing is to get involved and who doesn't like a good cuppa."

For more information or to register for Alzheimers Tea Day fundraising pack, visit www.teaday.ie or call (01) 207 3800 #timeforteaRegistration for the second-ever Dundalk Darkness Into Light charity walk will take place this weekend at the Marshes Shopping Centre.

You can sign up to take part in the walk on Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 6pm. Pieta House will send on your official t-shirt before the event.

Only cards will be accepted at the event.

Darkness Into Light is a global movement against suicide which saw over 150,000 people across Ireland walk until dawn to raise money for Pieta House in 2017.

The charity event sees participants walk or run a 5km route in order to raise awareness of issues such as suicide, self-harm, and stigma surrounding mental health issues.

The early dawn represents hope and is symbolic of the work of Pieta House; bringing people from darkness back into the light.

Last year, Dundalk IT hosted the walk for the first time and raised over 60,000.

The 2018 event will take place on May 12th at 4.15am at Dundalk Institute of Technology.

For more information see: www.facebook.com/DarknessIntoLightDLK/

On World Earth Day, 22 April, Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) will open a call for action for innovative solutions to meet the water challenges in Chennai (India), Khulna (Bangladesh) and Semarang (Indonesia).

The call is part of the Water as Leverage for Asian cities programme that aims to develop excellent, innovative, integrated and bankable projects, including committed local support by active stakeholder coalitions.

Internationally operating multidisciplinary teams comprising urban planners and water and climate experts as well as other key players, are invited to react on the call.

Severe flooding in Chennia, India, after a cloudburst in 2008. Preventive flood measaures are very complex and involve traffic systems, housing and spatial planning. When addressing water issues, it can be very effective to incorporate solutions that address other issues, like traffic and housing, at the same time.

Addressing complex urban issues

The challenge of the programme is to match long-term comprehensive urban planning with short term innovative transformations.

As well as combining ambitious climate adaptation plans with bankable projects; the development of more knowledge on water systems with the construction of more resilient cities; research, design and implementation with inclusive urban alliances.

Result-driven collaboration is essential  across all sectors, all layers of government, and all stakeholders  from activists and vulnerable communities to private and public institutions.

Water quality is also an important issue in many Asian cities, often to do with poor sewage treatment.

Tackling water issues to improve city as a whole

According to Dutch water envoy Henk Ovink, Asia is at a critical juncture. Its role on the world stage is increasing, but the region now faces new and complex challenges. By using water as leverage we can build a sustainable tomorrow and make their cities resilient.

Ovink points out that Water as Leverage wants to be different. It aims to involve the international financial world, development banks and governments in the advancement of this innovative approach.

Research by design

In each of the three cities, the call for action will focus on project strategies and design. Teams will test, refine, question or expand the opportunities that are traced and develop scenarios to prompt action.

Through research by design, each team will concentrate on real implementation, and thereby nurture action to induce vision.

Tackling urban water issues provides an opportunity to revitalize old industrial areas. Here seen are the fish smoking factories in Semarang, Indonesia.

From problems to solutions

The teams who respond to the call are challenged to develop innovative, bankable and implementable design proposals.

The programme will provide support and help connect the interdependencies or networks and foster a transformative approach-methodology to evolve from a landscape of problems to a landscape of solutions.

The Water as Leverage programme is carried out by Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch Water Envoy. Its partners are the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation, 100ResilientCities and the cities of Chennai, Khulna and Semarang.

This news item was originally published on the website of Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).

Read also on this website

 World Water Forum 8: A call on the world to fully value water, not just prizing, 21 March 2018

 Winners of Resilient by Design allocated to project sites around San Francisco Bay, USA, 16 January 2018

 WCDRR 2015: Disaster risk reduction makes a perfect blend with water management, 16 March 2015

 Rebuild by design: Teams present ten final proposals for super storm Sandy-affected region, 4 April 2014

 Expertise: Resilient cities



More information

Water as Leverage programme

c/o Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)

The Hague, the Netherlands

+31 70 379 80 00

www.english.rvo.nl

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Facebook on Sunday confirmed that its Messenger and Lite apps for Android smartphones routinely collect call and text histories.

The call and text history logging are opt-in features for people using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android devices, the company said in a post.

The feature is designed to help users stay connected, and it improves the Facebook experience, according to the company.

The Messenger feature can be turned off at any time through the app's settings. In Facebook Lite, the feature can be deactivated by turning off the Continuous Contacts Upload setting.

When those adjustments are made to the programs, all previously shared call and text history is deleted, Facebook said.

The feature does not collect the content of calls or text messages, Facebook addes, assuring users that their information is stored securely and that it is not sold to third parties.

Surprised Users

While the collecting of call and text information has been going on for years -- it was introduced into Messenger in 2015 -- discovery of the feature surprised some users and raised many hackles.

Downloaded my facebook data as a ZIP file



Somehow it has my entire call history with my partner's mum pic.twitter.com/CIRUguf4vD  Dylan McKay (@dylanmckaynz) March 21, 2018

A Twitter user with the handle "Learn Somali" noticed tracking only in connection with a visit to Somalia.

Thanks for sharing the info, I have looked at mine, and my calls/messages were "tracked" only when I visited Somalia for a month, it started and ended that specific period. Did you travel to a place were FB knows no one will catch them snooping. :). Shocking is the new Normal.  Learn Somali (@learnsomali_com) March 25, 2018

McKay responded that he'd never left New Zealand.

Facebook recorded all of her phone's contacts, calls and texts from 2015 to 2016, tweeted Natalie Schluter, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen.

I downloaded my data and FB has a record of ALL contacts/calls/texts ON ANY MEDIUM from my phone 2015-2016.

NB. I've never imported any contacts to FB. No FB app on my phone. I do have Messenger (but the upload contacts option is and always has been DESELECTED). https://t.co/hUKDG7pr7F  Natalie Schluter (@natschluter) March 25, 2018

Author Emma Kennedy also was surprised by what she found when she downloaded the trove of data Facebook had on her.

I've just looked at the data files I requested from Facebook and they had every single phone number in my contacts. They had every single social event I went to, a list of all my friends (and their birthdays) and a list of every text I've sent.  Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) March 25, 2018

Opaque Transparency

While it appears that Facebook believes it has been up front with what its Messenger and Lite apps do, not everyone agrees.

Facebook wasn't sufficiently transparent about what it was doing with its apps if even developers and tech-oriented users were surprised, observed Joseph W. Jerome, policy counsel for the Center for Democracy & Technology.

"Part of the challenge is that well-designed transparency is really hard," he told TechNewsWorld. "As the law understands it, Facebook did get users to opt in to this feature," he said, "but 'Turn On' is bolded and the default choice for users."

The "Not Now" choice for turning off the feature is grayed out, so it looks like it's not an available option.

Thin Excuse

"Technically, Facebook is accurate that users opted in to this, but in the age of Russian meddling and Cambridge Analytica, it's no excuse in users' minds," said Karen North, director of the digital social media program at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

"Even the opt-in excuse is a thin one, given how the opt-in was phrased," she told TechNewsWorld. "It was misleading."

However, it's likely that Facebook's intentions were not sinister, North added.

"They do it to curate an experience that will engage us," she said, "and to target us, sell ads and make money."

Facebook offers controls for users concerned about their privacy, but using them can be an adventure.

"You might as well quit your job and spend all your time trying to stay on top of the privacy changes that Mark Zuckerberg makes," quipped John Carroll, a mass communications professor at Boston University.

"Facebook is notorious for turning their privacy settings into a moving target," he told TechNewsWorld. "It's a monumental task to constantly monitor your privacy settings, not only on Facebook, but all over the Web."

FTC Opens Probe

The phone-scraping revelations broke as full-page Facebook ads ran in several Sunday papers in the United Kingdom and United States, apologizing for having allowed Cambridge Analytica to use the personal data of some 50 million users for political purposes.

"This was a breach of trust, and I'm sorry we didn't do more at the time," CEO Zuckerberg says in the ad. "We're now taking steps to ensure this doesn't happen again."

Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission added more pressure on Monday.

"The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook," said Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "Today, the FTC is confirming that it has an open non-public investigation into these practices."

Facebook ran afoul of the FTC in 2011 over sharing and publicizing members' information after assuring them they could keep it private. It settled that case with the commission.

"This is more evidence that the FTC should have enforced its consent orders," Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told TechNewsWorld. "Users can't be expected to monitor every change in a company's business practices."

John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.



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Facebook has millions of users in the European Union, and a German court recently ruled against the company in a case involving its Privacy Policy. Few ever read privacy policies except judges, who must examine them when challenges arise.

The new EU General Data Protection Regulations, which go into effect on May 25, will make things even more complicated.

If you have any customers who are EU residents, the new GDPR will impact you.

What Happened to Facebook?

The GDPR, an overhaul of the 1995 European Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC), extends extraterritorial jurisdictions and unambiguously affirms certain decisions asserted by European case law.

However, the language of the GDPR does not mean there are not still outstanding questions. A German court earlier this year ruled that Facebook's terms of use did not comply with informed consent.

Informed consent is specific under EU rules. Article 4(11) of the GDPR defines consent as

"any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her."

freely given

specific

informed

unambiguous

affirmative

Five criteria must be met to constitute consent:

Unambiguous consent must include a statement or a clear affirmative action indicating agreement, which is primarily where Facebook ran afoul.

Facebook and many U.S. websites use default privacy settings. The German court found several of those settings were difficult for the user to find and change. By implementing default settings, Facebook had failed to get informed consent.

What Did Facebook Do?

The intent of this article is not to attack Facebook. In fact, Facebook has made several changes to the way it handles privacy protections since the German case was filed. It is meant to be a wake-up call to other companies that may have a similar approach to pushing privacy settings by default and assuming that privacy declarations buried in their terms-of-service will suffice.

"If consent is bundled up as a non-negotiable part of terms and conditions it is presumed not to have been freely given," states Article 29 of the Data Protection Working Party Guidelines on Consent under Regulation 2016/679.

Said another way, if a party cannot make use of a good or service without accepting terms of service that contain privacy declarations, the consent is not freely given and violates the elements of informed consent. This approach to security is contrary to the way many U.S. companies operate.

U.S. companies commonly include their data handling and protection terms within a long, legalese-heavy terms of service policy. These "click-through" terms, while commonly upheld in U.S. courts, likely would not pass muster in the EU.

"Blanket acceptance of general terms and conditions cannot be seen as a clear affirmative action to consent to the use of personal data," states Article 29 of the Data Protection Working Party Guidelines on Consent. "The GDPR does not allow controllers to offer pre-ticked boxes or opt-out constructions that require an intervention from the data subject to prevent agreement (for example 'opt-out boxes')."

A U.S.-based company may use an alert box full of legalese and an "OK" box, but this is not considered an affirmative action under the EU rules.

Achieving Compliance

So, what must an entity do to comply with the EU rules? This may be the most difficult part of compliance. The Article 29 guidelines propose a methodology that would impact most U.S. businesses:

"The term explicit refers to the way consent is expressed by the data subject. It means that the data subject must give an express statement of consent. An obvious way to make sure consent is explicit would be to expressly confirm consent in a written statement. Where appropriate, the controller could make sure the written statement is signed by the data subject, in order to remove all possible doubt and potential lack of evidence in the future."

Clearly, requesting a written statement from the data subject is well outside the normal business practices of U.S. companies and likely would be impractical for many online activities.

Online businesses, instead, likely would need to implement a multi-step approach to gaining consent. As an example, a data subject could be asked to fill out a form online, which would generate an email, which in turn would require the data subject to reply with specific text. That would allow the business to show -- and maintain a record of -- explicit consent.

Of course there would be shortcomings with this approach as well. How long would the consent be valid? How would a company update privacy terms? What if there were multiple components of personal information involved? Would a business need to develop multiple steps for each data value?

As court cases like the Facebook decision evolve and interpret the GDPR, businesses will have to stay nimble and responsive in their data gathering processes and procedures.

Edward Block has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2017. His focus is on information security and data privacy. Block is a senior attorney at Gardere Wynne Sewell. Before practicing law, he spent 20 years as an information security professional in a variety of roles, from network security management to chief information security officer for the State of Texas. His blog covers information security and data privacy topics.

Peter Vogel has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2010. His focus is on technology and the law. Vogel is a partner at Gardere Wynne Sewell, and Chair of its Internet, eCommerce & Technology Team. He tries lawsuits and negotiates contracts dealing with IT and the Internet. Before practicing law, he received a master's in computer science and was a mainframe programmer. His blog covers IT and Internet topics. Email Peter.

Eric Levy has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2017. His focus is on compliance, privacy and data security. Levy is a senior attorney at Gardere Wynne Sewell, where he assists clients with HIPAA, FERPA and Gramm-Leach-Bliley compliance, and with responses to data intrusions and breaches.

MAUI  In line with its ongoing campaign to minimise oceanic plastic pollution, Hawaiian swimwear brand Manakai has launched its new Women of the Wild Collection, manufactured from recycled and repurposed nylon-derived materials, some of which are sourced from oceanic waste including discarded fishing nets.

To mark Earth Day on April 22nd, Manakai and other community partners will be taking part in the first of what it expects to become a quarterly beach clean-up event on the coastline of Maui.Carlos Alvarado Quesada, the president-elect of Costa Rica, plans to continue the country's extraordinary stewardship of the environment with a pledge to decarbonize its transportation sector.

On Sunday, he promised that one day Costa Rica will "celebrate its emancipation from petrol and diesel in the transportation system, replacing them with clean energy," Climate Change News quoted him saying.

"That transformation would be the 'abolition of the army' of our generation," said Alvarado Quesada, 38, comparing the task to the country's disbanding of military forces in 1948, a point of national pride.

In recent years, Costa Rica has become a global green leader for deriving most of its electricity without using fossil fuels. Last year, the nation of 4.8 million people ran for 300 consecutive days on its renewable energy mix of hydropower, wind and geothermal. That impressive feat bested its 2015 record of 299 days of 100 percent renewable production. It also went 271 days using only renewable energy production in 2016.

Despite a 98 percent renewable power grid, its "Achilles heel" is its gasoline-dependent transportation sector. About half of its climate-changing emissions come from transport.

But the Costa Rican government has been working hard to green its fleet. Earlier this year, President Luis Guillermo Solis signed a law that eliminates sales, customs and circulation taxes for electric vehicles and allows them to use municipal parking facilities free of charge.

"This law will make it possible to transform Costa Rica's vehicle fleet in just a few years, from cars, cargo vehicles, trains and buses, replacing them with 100 percent electric vehicles," the outgoing president said then.

Alvarado Quesada from the ruling Citizen Action Party won more than 60 percent of the vote and will take office on May 8. According to Climate Change News, he campaigned on modernizing and electrifying an old diesel train, promoting research and development in hydrogen and biofuels by transforming the state-owned oil refinery, and banning oil and gas exploration in the country.Attorneys general and mayors from more than 25 states have banded together to oppose the easing of auto efficiency standards proposed by Scott Pruitt, the scandal-plagued administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"All Americansnot only the residents of the states, cities and counties signing this manifestodeserve to enjoy fuel-efficient, low-emission cars and light trucks that save money on gas, improve our health and support American jobs. We strongly urge the auto industry to join us, and to use its influence with the Administration to ensure that these standards remain in place," the declaration states.

The document was signed by attorneys general from 11 states including New York, Iowa and Massachusetts, and mayors of more than 50 cities.

The lawmakers promised to legally defend current Obama-era fuel economy standards calling for new cars and light trucks to average 50 miles per gallon by 2025.

"Given our responsibilities to our citizens, we also strongly oppose and will vigorously resist any effort by the Administration to prevent states from enforcing reasonable, commonsense emissions performance standards for vehicle fleets sold in their jurisdictions," they state.

"Such standards are particularly appropriate given the serious public health impacts of air pollution in our cities and states and the severe impacts posed by climate change, including recent storms, droughts, floods and fires that have hit multiple regions of the U.S. in just the past few years. If the Administration attempts to deny states and cities the basic right to protect their citizens, we will strongly challenge such an effort in court."

They conclude, "If federal officials obstruct progress on this front, states and cities will pick up the leadership mantle to protect our constituents' health, support our local economies, and maintain the international competitiveness of the U.S. automotive industry. With the support of the American people, which we already strongly enjoy, we are confident we will prevail."

They anticipates more state and local elected leaders will "soon be added" to the declaration.

The industry-friendly EPA head announced Monday his intention to weaken the emissions standardslargely at the request of automakers.

Pruitt defended his decision at the EPA headquarters on Tuesday. He said that revising the standards is "another step" in President Donald Trump's "deregulatory agenda."

"This president has shown tremendous courage to say to the American people that America is going to be put first, and I think this mid-term evaluation, the auto sector, the importance of auto manufacturing in this country, the president is again saying, America is going to be put first, and we have nothing to be apologetic about with respect to the progress we've made in reducing emissions as a country," he said.What Is Climate Change? Is It Different From Global Warming?



Climate change is actually not a new phenomenon. Scientists have been studying the connection between human activity and the effect on the climate since the 1800s, although it took until the 1950s to find evidence suggesting a link.

Since then, the amount of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases) in the atmosphere have steadily increased, taking a sharp jump in the late 1980s when the summer of 1988 became the warmest on record. (There have been many records broken since then.) But climate change is not a synonym for global warming.

The term global warming entered the lexicon in the 1950s, but didn't become a common buzzword until a few decades later when more people started taking notice of a warming climate. Except climate change encompasses a greater realm than just rising temperatures. Trapped gases also affect sea-level rise, animal habitats, biodiversity and weather patterns. For example, Texas' severe winter storms in February 2021 demonstrate how the climate isn't merely warming.

Why Is Climate Change Important? Why Does It Matter?

Marc Guitard / Moment / Getty Images

Despite efforts from forward thinkers such as SpaceX Founder Elon Musk to colonize Mars, Earth remains our home for the foreseeable future, and the more human activity negatively impacts the climate, the less habitable it will become. It's estimated that Earth has already warmed about one degree Celsius, or two degrees Fahrenheit, since the start of the Industrial Revolution around the 1750s, although climate change tracking didn't start until the late 1800s. That warming number may not sound like much, but this increase has already resulted in more frequent and severe wildfires, hurricanes, floods, droughts and winter storms, to name some examples.



Environmental Impacts

Then there's biodiversity loss, another fallout of climate change that's threatening rainforests and coral reefs and accelerating species extinction. Take rainforests, which act as natural carbon sinks by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But as rampant deforestation is occurring everywhere from Brazil's Amazon to Borneo, fewer trees mean that rainforests are becoming carbon sources, emitting more carbon than they're absorbing. Meanwhile, coral reefs are dying as warming ocean temperatures trigger bleaching events, which cause corals to reject algae, their main food and life source. Fewer trees, coral reefs and other habitats also equate to fewer species. Known as the sixth mass extinction, a 2019 UN report revealed that up to a million plant and animal species could become extinct within decades.

Human Impact

It can be easy to overlook climate change in day-to-day life, or even realize that climate change is behind it. Notice there's yet another romaine lettuce recall due to E. Coli? Research suggests that E. Coli bacteria are becoming more common in our food sources as it adapts to climate change. Can't find your favorite brand of coffee beans anymore? Or that the price has doubled? Climate change is affecting that too. Climate change is also worsening air quality and seasonal allergies, along with polluting tap water. Not least, many preliminary studies have also drawn a line between climate change and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that is still gripping much of the world. Future pandemics are likely to happen more frequently until the root causes, such as deforestation, are addressed.

Speaking of larger-scale issues, global water scarcity is already happening more frequently. The Caribbean is facing water shortages due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall; Australia's dams may run dry by 2022 as severe wildfires increase and Cape Town, South Africa has already faced running out of water.

As touched upon earlier, it's one thing to be inconvenienced by a lack of romaine lettuce for a couple of weeks or higher coffee bean prices, but reports warn how climate change will continue to threaten global food security, to the point of triggering a worldwide food crisis if temperatures surpass two degrees Celsius.

Many of these factors are already contributing to climate migration, forcing large numbers of people to relocate to other parts of the world in search of better living conditions.

Unless more immediate, drastic action is taken to combat climate change, future generations will have to contend with worst-case scenario projections by the end of the 21st century, not limited to coastal cities going underwater, including Miami; lethal heat levels from South Asia to Central Africa; and more frequent extreme weather events involving hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis, droughts, floods, blizzards and more.

What's Happening and Why?

Fiddlers Ferry power station in Warrington, UK. Chris Conway / Moment / Getty Images

The Earth's temperature has largely remained stable until industrial times and the introduction of greenhouse gases. These gases have forced the atmosphere to retain heat, as evidenced by rising global temperatures. As the planet grows warmer, glaciers melt faster, sea levels rise, severe flooding increases and droughts and extreme weather events become more deadly.



The Greenhouse Effect

In the late 1800s, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius studied the connection between the amount of atmospheric carbon and its ability to warm and cool the Earth, and while his initial calculations suggested extreme warming as carbon increased, researchers didn't start to take human-induced climate change seriously until the late 20th century.

But proof of human-led climate change can be traced to the 1850s, and satellites are among the ways that scientists have been tracking increased greenhouse gases and their climate impact in more recent years. Climate researchers have also documented warmer oceans, ocean acidification, shrinking ice sheets, decreased snow amounts and extreme weather as among the events resulting from greenhouse gases heating the planet.

Numerous factors contribute to the production of greenhouse gases, known as the greenhouse effect. One of the biggest causes involve burning fossil fuels, including coal, oil and natural gas, to power everything from cars to daily energy needs (electricity, heat). From 1970-2011, fossil fuels have comprised 78 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

Big Ag is another greenhouse contributor, particularly beef production, with the industry adding 10 percent in 2019. This is attributed to clearing land for crops and grazing and growing feed, along with methane produced by cows themselves. In the U.S. alone, Americans consumed 27.3 billion pounds of beef in 2019.

Then there's rampant deforestation occurring everywhere from the Amazon to Borneo. A 2021 study from Rainforest Foundation Norway found that two-thirds of the world's rainforests have already been destroyed or degraded. In Brazil, deforestation reached a 12-year-high in 2020 under right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. As it stands, reports predict that the Amazon rainforest will collapse by 2064. Rainforests are important carbon sinks, meaning the trees capture and remove carbon from the atmosphere. As rainforests collapse, the remaining trees will begin emitting more greenhouse gases than they're absorbing.

Meanwhile, a recent study revealed that abandoned oil and gas wells are leaking more methane than previously believed, with U.S. wells contributing up to 20 percent of annual methane emissions.

Not least is the cement industry. Cement is heavily used throughout the global construction industry, and accounts for around eight percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

Natural Climate Change

Granted, natural climate change exists as well, and can be traced throughout history, from solar radiation triggering the Ice Ages to the asteroid strike that rapidly raised global temperatures and eliminated dinosaurs and many other species in the process. Other sources of natural climate change impacts include volcano eruptions, ocean currents and orbital changes, but these sources generally have smaller and shorter-term environmental impacts.

How We Can Combat Climate Change

Participant holding a sign at the climate march on Sept. 20, 2020, in Manhattan. A coalition of climate, Indigenous and racial justice groups gathered at Columbus Circle to kick off Climate Week with the Climate Justice Through Racial Justice march. Erik McGregor / LightRocket / Getty Images

While the latest studies and numbers can often feel discouraging about society's ability to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening, there's still time to take action.



As a Society

In 2015 at COP 21 in Paris, 197 countries came together to sign the Paris Agreement, an international climate change treaty agreeing to limit global warming in this century to two degrees Celsius, and ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels; it's believed that the planet has warmed one degree Celsius since 1750. Studies show that staying within the two-degree range will prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening. Achieving this goal requires participating parties to drastically slash greenhouse gas emissions sooner rather than later. However, there have already been numerous setbacks since then, from former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement in 2020 to world leaders, such as China, the world's biggest polluter, failing to enact aggressive climate action plans. Yet many of the treaty participants have been slow to implement changes, putting the world on track to hit 3.2 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century even if the initial goals are met. However, it's worth noting that U.S. President Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement in 2021, and pledged to cut greenhouse gases in half by 2030.

Then there's the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 global agreement to phase out ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons, chemicals that were commonly used in air-conditioning, refrigeration and aerosols. Recent studies show that parts of the ozone are recovering, proving that a unified commitment to combatting climate change issues does make a difference.

On a smaller scale, carbon offset initiatives allow companies and individuals to invest in environmental programs that offset the amount of carbon that's produced through work or lifestyle. For example, major companies (and carbon emitters) such as United Airlines and Shell have pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in part by participating in carbon offset programs that remove carbon from the atmosphere. The problem is that these companies are still producing high levels of fossil fuel emissions.

While individuals can make a small impact through carbon offsets, the greater responsibility lies with carbon-emitting corporations to find and implement greener energy alternatives. This translates to car companies producing electric instead of gas vehicles or airlines exploring alternative fuel sources. It also requires major companies to rely more on solar and wind energy for their energy needs.

In Our Own Lives

While it's up to corporations to do the heavy lifting of carbon reduction, that doesn't mean individuals can't make a difference. Adopting a vegan lifestyle, using public transportation, switching to an electric car and becoming a more conscious consumer are all ways to help combat climate change.

Veganism

Consuming meat relies on clearing land for crops and animals, while raising and killing livestock contributes to about 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization. By comparison, choosing a plant-based diet could reduce greenhouse gas footprints by as much as 70 percent, especially when choosing local produce and products.

Public Transportation

Riding public trains, subways, buses, trams, ferries and other types of public transportation is another easy way to lower your carbon footprint, considering that gas-powered vehicles contribute 95 percent of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Electric Vehicles

Electric cars and trucks have come down in price as more manufacturers enter the field, and these produce far lower emissions than their gas counterparts. Hybrid vehicles are another good alternative for lowering individual emission contributions.

Conscious Consumption

Buying locally produced food and items is another way to maintain a lower carbon footprint, as the products aren't shipped or driven long distances. Supporting small companies that are committed to sustainability is another option, especially when it comes to clothes. Fast fashion has become a popular option thanks to its price point, but often comes at the expense of the environment and can involve unethical overseas labor practices. Not least, plastic saturates every corner of the consumer market, but it's possible to find non-plastic alternatives with a little research, from reusable produce bags to baby bottles.

Climate Activism

Those interested in becoming even more involved can join local climate action organizations. Popular groups include the Sunrise Movement, Fridays for Future, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, to name a few. Voting, volunteering, calling local representatives and participating in climate marches are additional ways to raise your voice.

Takeaway

It's taken centuries to reach a climate tipping point, with just a matter of decades left to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening. But there's still hope of controlling a warming climate as long as individuals, companies and nations make an immediate concerted effort to lower greenhouse gas emissions. As the world already experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic, a rapid unified response can make all the difference.

Meredith Rosenberg is a senior editor at EcoWatch. She holds a Master's from the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in NYC and a B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia.By Jake Johnson

As U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief and reigning number one seed in the "worst Trump cabinet member" bracket Scott Pruitt attempts to beat back accusations that he violated ethics rules by renting a room from the wife of powerful energy lobbyist J. Steven Hart, the New York Times revealed late Monday that Pruitt approved a massive pipeline project supported by Hart's firm at the same time he had access to what critics argue was an unusually low-priced rental.

"A giant pipeline that rips up a vast swath of America and wrecks the climate in exchange for a cheap condo," 350.org founder Bill McKibben tweeted in response to the new report. "Seems the perfect emblem of the Trump years."

While EPA officials immediately pushed back against the notion that Pruitt approved the project as a favor in exchange for the cheap condo, government ethics experts argued that the pipeline approval at the very least gives off the appearance of a conflict of interest.

"Entering into this arrangement causes a reasonable person to question the integrity of the EPA decision," Don Fox, who served as general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics during the Obama and George W. Bush administrations, told the Times.

During an appearance on MSNBC on Monday, former White House ethics official and vice-chairman at Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington Richard Painter called Pruitt's room rental "disgusting" and argued it is a clear "violation of the gift rule."

Pruitt's decision to sign off on the projectan expansion of Enbridge's Alberta Clipper pipeline, which runs from Alberta, Canada to Wisconsincame in March of last year, when his lease with the Washington, DC condo was still in effect.



"The signoff by the EPA came even though the agency, at the end of the Obama administration, had moved to fine Enbridge $61 million in connection with a 2010 pipeline episode that sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan and other waterways," the Times reported. "The fine was the second-largest in the history of the Clean Water Act, behind the penalty imposed after the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico."

In response to the new revelations, government watchdogs immediately demanded a probe into the project's approval process.

The Times report comes as Pruitt is currently under investigation by the White House over what critics have denounced as a "sweetheart" living arrangement. Pruitt, like other members of President Donald Trump's cabinet, has also come under fire for his expensive first-class flying habits.



According to a Politico report late Monday, White House chief of staff John Kelly has floated the possibility of firing Pruitt in the coming months.

One possible reason Kelly hasn't followed through, some White House officials and lobbyists told Politico, is because Pruitt has been extremely effective in carrying out Trump's aggressive anti-environment agenda.

"I think he's an A student ... He's always working. He's always focused on the agenda. He's always trying to figure out ways to make the boss look good," energy lobbyist Mike McKenna said in an interview with Politico on Monday.

An example of Pruitt's dedication to dismantling even the most basic planetary protections came Monday afternoon, when the EPA chief officially announced that he is rolling back Obama-era fuel efficiency standards.

"This is what happens when you put an oil industry shill in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency," CREDO Action co-director Josh Nelson said in a statement on Monday. "No one should be surprised that Scott Pruitt, who literally rented his condo from an energy industry lobbyist, habitually puts corporate polluters ahead of the American people."

Reposted with permission from our media associate MintPress News.

Friends of the Earth Netherlands announced Wednesday that it will take Shell to court if it does not act on demands to stop its destruction of the climate.

"Shell is among the ten biggest climate polluters worldwide," said Donald Pols, director of Friends of the Earth Netherlands. "It has known for over 30 years that it is causing dangerous climate change, but continues to extract oil and gas and invests billions in the search and development of new fossil fuels."

The case is supported by Friends of the Earth International, which campaigns for climate justice for people across the world impacted by dirty energy and climate change. Friends of the Earth International has 75 member groups globally, many of them working to stop Shell extracting fossil fuels in their country.

"This case matters for people everywhere," said Karin Nansen, chair of Friends of the Earth International. "Shell is doing enormous damage worldwideclimate change and dirty energy have devastating impacts around the world, but especially in the global South. With this lawsuit we have a chance to hold Shell to account."

Friends of the Earth Netherlands' case is part of a growing global movement to hold companies to account for their contribution to dangerous climate change. In January, the city of New York went to court to claim compensation from the five largest oil companies, including Shell, for the consequences of climate change.

The cities of San Francisco and Oakland as well as several other counties in California are doing the same. A Peruvian farmer is suing the German energy company RWE for its contribution to glaciers melting above his village caused by climate change. The Friends of the Earth Netherlands case is unique because it is the first climate lawsuit demanding that a fossil fuel company acts on climate change, rather than seeking compensation.



This ground-breaking case, if successful, would significantly limit Shell's investments in oil and gas globally by requiring them to comply with climate-targets.

Nansen added, "If we win this case, it has major consequences for other fossil companies, and opens the door for further legal action against other climate polluters. Friends of the Earth International wants to see binding rules for corporations like Shell who so often regard themselves as being above the law, including when it comes to climate goals."By Sam Schipani

The federal government is moving forward with a plan to halt new mining claims in the Absaroka Mountains north of Yellowstone National Park. The plan would withdraw 30,370 acres of public lands in Montana's Paradise Valley from new claims for gold, silver and other mineral extraction for a period of 20 years.

The mining withdrawal has been in the works since 2016. After proposals for a pair of gold mines popped up in the Emigrant and Crevice mining districts, residents and local businesses in the Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition requested that the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management withdraw the area's public lands from mining. In response, the Interior Department announced exploration in the area would be halted pending a two-year review.

After releasing its draft environmental assessment for the mineral withdrawal last Thursday, the U.S. Forest Service announced its support for the 20-year ban on new mining claims in the area in order to protect scenic views, wildlife corridors and recreational opportunities.

The 20-year period is the longest that the Department of the Interior is able to block new mining without congressional action. Montana's Democratic Senator Jon Tester and Republican Representative Greg Gianforte have both introduced legislation to withdraw the lands from mining permanently.

Local residents and businesses intend to continue fighting for permanent protections. A rally hosted by Tester days before the the release of the draft analysis drew 200 people in support of permanently closing off the area to mining.

"The 20-year ban will give us a lot of time to get the permanent legislation passed," said Bryan Wells, owner of Emigrant Creek Cabins and member of the Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition. "Gold mines are historically short-lived, and Yellowstone tourism has been on the increase for 71 years straight without hardly a hiccup. You can't beat that kind of dependability for a local economy."

Because the withdrawal only covers public lands, however, it would not impact existing mining claims on private lands in the area. Even with the plan, an estimated 81 acres would be disturbed by existing claims and 4.5 miles of roads built, compared to 130 acres of land and seven miles of roads without the withdrawal.

Mining groups oppose the plan on the grounds that Emigrant Gulch and Crevice Mountain areas are historic mining districts.

"A mineral withdrawal of the magnitude under analysis appears to be a solution in search of a problem," wrote Tammy Johnson, executive director of the Montana Mining Association, in an email to Sierra. "At a time when the United States is becoming more dependent on foreign sources of strategic and critical minerals from countries like China, the U.S. should be opening more lands to mineral entry, not closing them."

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has the final say on whether the ban plan moves forward. Zinke, who has derailed protections for public lands throughout the course of his first year in office, has come out in favor of the plan, which protects land in his home state of Montana.

"I've been fighting to protect the Paradise Valley and Yellowstone since I represented Montana in Congress," Zinke said in a statement Thursday. "I look forward to hearing from the community and seeing how we can work together to protect this area."

The Forest Service will release a final report and recommendation after a public comment period that ends April 29.

Reposted with permission from our media associate SIERRA magazine.(Photo: Episcopal News Service / Mary Frances Schjonberg)The Rt. Rev. Charles vonRosenberg addresses members of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina at Grace Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on January 26, 2013.

Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines penned his signature to others from his group to a letter requesting that a Memphis statue of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest be moved from a public park "to a more historically appropriate site."

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Gaines, senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, joined more than 150 Memphis-area clergy in a letter requesting the state historical commission relocate a statue of Memphis native Nathan Bedford Forrest.

The Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader is buried in a city park that bore his name until 2013, Christian Today reported.

Gaines also came out in support of removing Confederate president Jefferson Davis's statue from another downtown location, formerly called Confederate Park.

Protests against the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee in Charlottesville had turned violent on Aug. 12, when white supremacists clashed with counter protesters leading to the death of one person and nearly 20 injuries.

The Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy, was a group of 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union in 1860.

Because the Confederate states wanted the institution of slavery was their primary motivation for secession and the main cause of the subsequent American Civil War from 1861 to 1865 in which more than 600,000 lives were lost.

Since In 2016, following the massacre of nine black church-goers by white supremacist Dylann Roof, civil rights groups have identified 1,503 Confederate place names and symbols across the country, to change.

They include monuments, memorials, statues, public schools, highways and county and city names among other things.

The campaign has been divisive among white American Christians with some of them viewing the removal of monuments to Confederate heroes as an insult to their traditions.

Groups opposing removal of the monuments assert that removing the monuments effectively erases history.

Leaders of R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church in Lexington on Sept. 18 voted to change the parish's name to Grace Episcopal Church. That was it name from the time when the Confederate general moved to town after the Civil War and joined the congregation.

"It's been a very divisive issue for two years," said Rev. Tom Crittenden, the church's rector, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

"But Charlottesville seems to have moved us to this point. Not that we have a different view of Lee historically in our church, but we have appreciation for our need to move on."

Discussion was difficult, dividing congregants and prompting a vestry member and the church's treasurer to resign their leadership posts in protest of initial inaction.

"People have left the church," said vestry member Doug Cumming after the body's 7-5 vote, which followed a parish meeting where members on both sides of the issue spoke. "People have felt exhausted by it. And many people have felt hurt."When the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial debuted on the National Mall in the District of Columbia, it was beset by a controversy: a quote from King inscribed on one side had been edited and taken out of context.

As the nation marks the 50th anniversary of Kings death, the incident is nevertheless a good metaphor for how his life and legacy are often taught in public schools: truncated and tidied up.

Kings beliefs were contested within his own circle, he was hounded by the U.S. government for his activism, and after his death, his legacy was far from assured. It was not until later in the century that he became the face of the civil rights movementeclipsing all others except perhaps Rosa Parks.

By the time he was murdered on April 4, 1968, King had become both more impatient and more broadly focused on poverty and social conditions rather than exclusively legal remedies for segregation. Yet he is still too often reduced in school curricula to just one speech, if not four words: I have a dream.

In a sense, thats what you do when you want to make someone a national hero. You boil it down: Washington didnt tell a lie, Lincoln freed the enslaved, and King said youd be judged by the content of your character. Its aspirational, said Maureen Costello, the director of Teaching Tolerance, a curriculum project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights advocacy group.

Lynda Lowery, who was injured when state troopers attacked demonstrators on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala., and, at 15, was the youngest to make the march from Selma to Montgomery two weeks later, recalls how King sometimes sat in front of her in church. She remembers how he brought peppermints for the choir and his mesmerizing voice.

But what she particularly cherishes is the complexity of Kings message, which was peaceful but unyielding.

He said, You can get anybody to be anything with steady, loving confrontation,  she said.

Creating a Hero

How did that last partconfrontationget so lost? To some degree, historians say, the depiction of an idealized, milquetoast King was one of the results of the push to secure the federal holiday to bear Kings name, signed into law in 1983.

One factor was some of the immediate desire to resurrect his legacy because he was so attacked and tarnished in his lifetime, said Marcia Chatelain, an associate professor of history and African-American studies at Georgetown University. Especially in the build-up to creating the King holiday, there was the desire to make him only heroic.

Another factor has been the invidious trend of treating the push for civil rights as a fixed, finite movement rather than something that continues to spur people to action.

Many aspects of the civil rights movement were flattened to focus on sort of color-blind multiculturalism, which was out of line with the civil rights movement, but made its legacies feel complete and distant in the lives of most people, she said.

Studies of school curricula suggest that students are also getting a less-than-comprehensive picture of the movement. In a 2014 review of states academic-content standards on the civil rights movement, Teaching Tolerance found that King was referenced in 37 state standards, but other key figures, facts, and eventsespecially the extent of white resistance to integrationwere absent from most.

And the sanitized, anodyne King still tends to dominate school curricula, probably because I Have a Dream is taught beginning at very young ages, Costello said.

I wish I could banish this stuff before 4th grade. It hardwires it into peoples brains and then teachers later, if theyre good, are un-teaching what kids learned in 1st and 2nd grade, she said. No other subject is like that.

In fact, she surmises, only students in high school AP courses are likely to encounter Letter From a Birmingham Jail, the essay in which King forcefully calls for direct, nonviolent protest to end segregation.

Teaching Dream

Its not that the I Have a Dream speech, which King delivered as part of the 1963 March on Washington, is unworthy of teaching, educators say. Its that its almost never taught in its entirety, with an eye to its specific rhetoric, craft, and audience, noted Rashid Darden, an English/language arts and social studies teacher at YouthBuild public charter school in the District of Columbia.

The opening of Dream is undeniably angry, listing the indignities faced by the nations black citizens, who live on an island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity, and of the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Yet what always gets cited is Kings inspiring vision of a future without racial divisions.

Thats for several reasons, including some intrinsic to the speech, which echoes the structure of the black gospel tradition, Darden said.

The beginning of the sermon is always the driest part. Thats less remembered than the call and response, the homiletics, the improvisation, which is the part that people remember in every sermon, he said. I think we dont look at I Have A Dream in its totality because the part that was most moving, and the part that moved everyone, about little black and white children holding hands, is accessible.

But, he argues, that accessibility cuts in different ways. It was also the most palatable section to white listeners, and to the power brokers who were at that time debating civil rights legislation at the other end of the National Mall, in the U.S. Capitol.

In 1963, what was a white middle-class person going to be able to relate to but the part that was about equality? he said. There is this liberal paternalism that makes Martin Luther King Jr.s complex and increasingly radical vision reduced to and justice for allwithout understanding how we get to the justice part.

It is not lost on advocates that the K-12 teaching force continues to be made up overwhelmingly of middle-class white women, who often struggle to make lessons on the civil rights movement and on King feel authentic to a student population that is now more than half nonwhite.

Students generally weak preparation on civil rights also means that they often balk when confronted with some of the movements different approaches, philosophies (such as the comparatively more aggressive points of view voiced by Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael, among others), and internal contradictions. For example, one of the major architects of the March on Washington, Bayard Rustin, played a less public-facing role in the movement because of his sexual orientationand he has also been all but lost to the K-12 curriculum for the same reason.

Students dont typically have a great understanding of the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow South, the racist North. There is really not much after Harriet Tubman until we get to the civil rights movement, Darden said. Their body of knowledge is focused on those couple of things rather than the interconnectedness, the intersections.

A Deeper Look

Some of the challenges of teaching about King also reflect logistics. History and social studies classes tend to proceed chronologically, and with competing demands on their plates, teachers race before the school year wraps up to cover everything after the second World War.

And sometimes the topic doesnt easily lend itself to larger schoolwide priorities. Dardens high school is an alternative school focused on getting students to pass the GED exam and secure construction jobs.

But, he argues, good teachers can find clever ways to include these crucial topics in their curricula.

The GED requires students to evaluate paired texts for the strength of their arguments. So, if he were teaching such a lesson, Darden said hed juxtapose one of Kings speeches with one given by his contemporary and sometime antagonist Malcolm X. Or, to illuminate the important role that women and family played in the civil rights movement, the teacher might choose a selection of the memoir that Kings wife, Coretta Scott King, dictated to a journalist.

There are more resources available to teachers, thanks to the last few decades of scholarship, said Chatelain, the Georgetown professor.

With the evolution of African-American history and more voices at the table of analysis, we have the opportunity to have a rich and nuanced understanding of King, including the things that made him so exceptional as well as his limitations, and to understand why making change in the world is so complicated and difficult, she said.

In advance of the 50th anniversary of Kings death, for example, the nonprofit education group Facing History and Ourselves released a curriculum focused on the Memphis sanitation workers strike, whose plight King had come to the city to support just before his death.

The botched quote on the King memorial in Washington has since been removed. It will take longer for K-12 educators to deepen their teaching of King. But a good place to start is by accessing and making sense of the primary source documents that paint a more nuanced picture, the educators said.

There are so many lessons to be learned about his death and legacy, and the best teachers in this moment are the teachers who are willing to help students access accurate information and then let that information guide the conversation, Chatelain said. Not just on April 4, but through the course of our education. It is a conversation to have every day.

Lowery sees it that way, too. Fifty years later, although she still mourns Kings death, she is among those who believe that a focus on him alone risks losing sight of the totality of the civil rights movement.

I felt like I lost a family member, and still do. I still think of him, and still hear in the back of my head his wordsa steady, loving confrontation is a nonviolent principle, she said. But I also want to highlight the people that worked as foot soldiers. And I want to get the history straight.The Every Student Succeeds Act becomes a working reality in district central offices and schools this fall. But its unclear if the law, which passed in a haze of rare bipartisanship more than two years ago, will live up to its promise.

ESSA allows statesrather than the federal governmentto ride herd on accountability, school improvement, and teacher quality, while requiring them to maintain key protections for vulnerable groups of students, such as minorities, English-learners, and those with disabilities.

But already, clashes are occurring at the state and federal levels over the right balance between those two priorities, on issues such as calculating school grades.

And although state leaders have hailed the flexibility in ESSA when it comes to setting their own course on key aspects of accountability, some critics argue they arent doing enough to take advantage of it.

So what are the big questions facing ESSA as it moves out of the realm of congressional language and into the world of day-to-day schooling? Heres a quick rundown from our progress report on the nations main federal education law:

First things first: Whats the state of play on the law?

Every state has submitted a plan to the U.S. Department of Education for turning issues from theory to practice. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has approved 37 state plans, plus those for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Her team has given feedback critiques to every state.

States are scheduled to begin identifying their lowest-performing schools and those in which less than two-thirds of students graduate at the end of this school year. Those schools will be subject to intensive, evidence-based interventions designed by their district to turn them around. States are slated to begin flagging schools where vulnerable groups of students are struggling for so-called targeted support beginning in 2019-20. Schools themselves will come up with evidence-based plans to fix their problems, monitored by the district.

The school identifications will bring the reality of ESSA home to districts, said Chad Aldeman, a principal at the consulting organization Bellwether Education Partners, which helped lead a review of all 50 state plans, plus the District of Columbias.

Most people still dont know what ESSA is, Aldeman said. Whats going to happen later this summer is that states will release lists, and all of the fights weve seen in Washington will start being salient for the rest of the country.

How has the process of ESSA plan approval played out politically?

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The bipartisan warmth that enveloped ESSAs passage is long gone. Last year, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., an ESSA architect, led the effort to scrap the Obama administrations accountability regulations for the law. Alexander argued that the rules amounted to federal overreach. But Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., who worked with Alexander to write the law, vehemently objected to the move.

DeVos team, meanwhile, intially got pushback from Alexander for going overboard in its approach to state plan review.

Since then, DeVos and company appear to have gone in the other direction, approving some plans even if states didnt make changes the department specifically sought. In fact, Murray and Scott have said that DeVos is rubber-stamping plans that dont embrace ESSAs protections for vulnerable groups of students. DeVos, though, says she is only approving plans that comport with the law.

But that doesnt mean that DeVos thinks that all the ESSA plans are of high quality.

Let me be clear: Just because a plan complies with the law doesnt mean it does whats best for students, DeVos told the Council of Chief State School Officers last month.

How do vulnerable groups of students fare under the ESSA plans?

This is a big area of debate. Advocates for state leaders say they understand the need to look out for all students. But civil rights organizations worry that states arent holding schools accountable for the progress of subgroups of students, such as English-language learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students in special education, and children living in poverty.

Some states are basing school ratingssuch as A-F grades or numeric scoreson a schools overall performance, instead of considering the achievement of individual subgroups of students, said Natasha Ushomirsky, the director of P-12 Policy Development at the Education Trust, a research and advocacy organization. That might mean a school could get an A even if, say, English-learners are falling behind their peers.

To be sure, ESSA requires states to flag schools with iffy subgroup performance for so-called targeted support. But Ushomirsky isnt sure thats going to be a clear enough signal for parents and the public.

Once you have given a school an A, the school doesnt care very much about being identified for targeted support, she said.

Carissa Miller, the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, said states are working to make sure the performance of all students matters.

Subgroup performance is critical and important, and we believe that it should be in there, she said. States will continue to evaluate and improve their plans, she added.

How much policy change has ESSA brought?

ESSA gives states and districts new room to maneuver on teacher quality, school turnarounds, testing, and accountability. Some have used the flexibility to make big policy changes; others are moving cautiously.

For example, under the Obama administrations waivers for the No Child Left Behind Act, ESSAs predecessor, states had to embrace teacher evaluation through test scores. But ESSA prohibits the federal government from telling states how to handle educator-performance reviews. Six states have used the flexibility to ditch the requirement for basing evaluations on student-test scores, including Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.

By contrast, only Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Puerto Rico submitted applications by the April 2 deadline for ESSAs Innovative Assessment pilot, which allows states to try out new forms of testing in select districts before taking them statewide. And only two statesNorth Dakota and Oklahomaare ready to move on the chance to offer districts the option of using a nationally recognized college-entrance exam, such as the ACT or SAT, in lieu of the state test.

ESSA also tries to give districts increased flexibility over their federal funding. But only two statesLouisiana and New Mexicoare planning to take advantage of the new opportunity to set aside up to 3 percent of their Title I funding, which generally targets disadvantaged students, for direct student services, such as tutoring and dual enrollment.

In her speech at the CCSSO last month, DeVos chided states for failing to take advantage of new flexibilities in the law, including the testing pilot.

Dont you think its time to do something different? To try something new that enhances student achievement? she said.

But Reg Leichty, a founding partner at Foresight Law + Policy, a law firm that works on ESSA implementation, said it could be easier for states to think through those opportunities without the pressure of putting together a plan with significant input from the education community.

Are states using the new law to try out new approaches to learning and accountability?

Two years after ESSAs passage, experts who have reviewed state plans dont see much outside-the-box thinking.

I thought more states would run with the flexibility [in the law] to embed their priorities in ESSA, said Aldeman of Bellwether, suggesting states might have wanted to go big on STEMshort for science, technology, engineering, and mathearly-childhood education, school choice, literacy, or improving school and district leadership. Theres no theory of action in most of these plans.

But Miller of the CCSSO said states are coming up with smart ways to meet challenges theyve identified. Oklahoma, she said, wants to consider child nutrition in intervening in low-performing schools. Connecticut will be judging schools performance in part on access to arts classes. Still, some district superintendents say they dont see as much of a difference as theyd like between ESSA and the previous version of the federal K-12 law, the NCLB Act.

Todd English, the superintendent of the Booneville school district in northeast Mississippi, said that ESSA continues to force a one-size-fits-all regimen because states must come up with one accountability system for all districts, instead of accommodating for the differences between a big urban district and a small, rural one.

Its really false flexibility if the whole state has to do the same thing, English said.

Shari Camhi, the superintendent of the 4,700-student Baldwin school district on New York states Long Island, said state officials did a good job reaching out to district leaders in developing the ESSA plan. But shes not sure the new law will allow for truly new forms of instruction.

ESSA, she noted, still requires districts to test students in reading and math annually, Those tests, she said, dont make the connection between content knowledge and real-world problems.

Do we evaluate employee performance in a separate location and with an isolated measure?, Camhi said. No, we are given projects that need to be completed and we complete them with all the skills necessary to finalize the job. Why wouldnt we evaluate student performance the same way? Yes, its hard, but anything worth doing is hard, isnt it?There is no bigger event on the infosec calendar than the RSA Conference held annually in San Francisco. The 2018 event is set to run across the cavernous halls of the Moscone Center, with speakers, vendors and educational sessions spread across the North, South and West buildings, and spilling over into the adjacent Marriott Marquis hotel.

To say that the RSA Conference can be a bit overwhelming is an understatement.

It takes a lot of advance planning to get the most out of the conference, so we hope this eSecurity Planet preview saves you some time.

Keynotes

RSA Conference USA keynotes have long included a mix of government leaders, well-known public figures and CEOs of large technology vendors.

At the 2018 event, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, is set to take the stage to talk about cyber security at the federal level.

As it is the RSA Conference, it should come as no surprise that RSA Security President Rohit Ghai will also be on the keynote stage. Ghais talk is titled Cybersecurity Silver Linings, where hell touch on themes of business risk while encouraging organizations to think of IT security as as a series of rational economic decisions.

Other CEOs that have keynotes this year include McAfee CEO Christopher Young and Rami Rahim CEO of Juniper Networks. John Stewart, Chief Security and Trust Officer at Cisco, Samir Kapuria, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Symantecs Cyber Security Services business, and Marc van Zadelhoff, General Manager for IBM Security, help round out vendors giving keynotes at this years show.

Among the most anticipated keynotes in any given year at the RSA Conference is the annual cryptographer panel. At the RSA 2017 event, cryptographers came to the conclusion that much of modern security is done incorrectly.

Innovation awards

The show turns the spotlight on innovation in the RSA Innovation Sandbox contest.

For 2018, there are 10 vendors that are finalists in the competition, and are set to showcase their wares in a series of three-minute pitches on April 16 before a panel of judges between 2 and 3:30 p.m.

Judges are expected to announce the winner at 4:30 p.m.

Check out eSecurityPlanets overview of the 10 finalists to find out more about the companies that will be onstage at the Innovation Sandbox contest.

Early Stage Expo

The Innovation Sandbox contest isnt the only place where innovation will be on display. The 2018 event also has an Early Stage Expo, running from April 17 to April 19 in the Marriott Marquis hotels Yerba Buena 9 conference area.

Several of the same vendors from the Innovation sandbox contest  including Awake Security, Hysolate and ReFirm Labs  will be at the expo.

The floor plan for the expo currently lists 43 vendors that will be exhibiting.

Looking for more cybersecurity startup information? Check out eSecurityPlanets guide to 20 Cyber Security startups to watch in 2018.

Vendors

While keynotes, sessions and startups are a large part of the RSA Conference, the single biggest part, by square footage at least, is the massive expo halls (thats right  plural) chock full of every cybersecurity vendor that wants to see and be seen at the worlds largest infosec event.

Navigating the expo halls is no trivial feat, but it can be done.

The North expo hall is often considered to be the primary, as it is home to RSA Security itself, which commands a massive 70-by-60 foot booth that is the first thing attendees will see when entering the hall.

The North Hall is also home to other big vendors, including Mircosoft, McAfee, Cisco, Symantec, IBM, Intel, Qualys, and Juniper Networks, among many others.

Check out the full floor plan for the North Hall here.

The South Hall is also a very busy area and is where the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have their exhibits. South Hall is also home to F5 Networks, Gemalto, Digicert, CrowdStrike, Endgame, Cofense, Synopys, Duo Security and many others.

Check out the full floor plan for the South Hall here.

There are an overwhelming number of vendors in both halls, and its not easy to visit all of them in a short period of time. To help determine which vendors are of interest, check out eSecurity Planets guides to different product areas, including EDR, CASB, EMM, Firewall, UEBA and SIEM as a starting point.

Key sessions

There are hundreds of sessions at the RSA 2018 conference across multiple topic areas, including: Analytics, Intelligence & Response, Application Security, C-Suite View, Cloud security, Cryptography, DevOps, Compliance, Hackers, Human Element, Identity, Law, IoT, Machine Learning and Privacy.

So which ones should you go to?

Be sure to check back for eSecurity Planets upcoming guide to RSA Conference sessions that shouldnt be missed. Youll find all our RSA 2018 coverage at the eSecurity Planet Guide to RSA Conference 2018.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eSecurityPlanet and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.CHICAGO (April 4, 2018): Civilian trauma medicine has adopted many methods and techniques that have been developed and tested on the battlefield. One such technique, the use of tourniquets to stanch early bleeding in arms and legs, has been shown to improve a trauma victim's chance of survival. Although the use of tourniquets in civilians had been previously studied, its survival benefit had remained unclear. However, new study results published as an "article in press" on the website of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons demonstrate that the use of tourniquets improves survival in civilian trauma victims. These findings are very timely as the first ever National Stop the Bleed Day was just observed across the U.S. on March 31.

"This is the first time that we were actually able to prove the survival benefit of using the tourniquet in the civilian population," said lead study author and trauma surgeon Pedro G. R. Teixeira, MD, FACS, of the University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School.

While tourniquets may seem like a simple way to stop serious bleeding, their use had fallen out of favor in both civilian and military medicine in the 20th Century. "During the Korean and the World Wars, there was a lot of concern about tourniquet use and they got a bad reputation, but much of the problem was that tourniquets were left in place too long, cutting circulation to the extremity for many, many hours," Dr. Teixeira said. Since then, trauma surgeons have become more sophisticated about tourniquet use.

"What we learned from more recent conflicts in the Middle East is that when tourniquets are applied early and removed in a timely fashion and the definitive repair is performed, also in a timely fashion, they actually have a significant role in preventing death from severe blood loss from an extremity injury," Dr. Teixeira said.

For the study, the Texas Tourniquet Study Group evaluated 1,026 patients with vascular injuries of the arms or legs admitted to 11 urban Level I trauma centers--the highest level for trauma centers--in Texas from 2011 to 2016. A prehospital tourniquet was used in 17.6 percent of the cases, although tourniquet use varied widely among individual centers, ranging from 62 percent to 1.4 percent.

Overall, 9.6 percent of the study patients had amputations, but more than one-third of them--35.7 percent--had received a tourniquet. Among the amputation patients, those who received a tourniquet had significantly lower mortality rates than those who did not--2.9 percent vs. 7.9 percent (adjusted p=0.015). The non-tourniquet group had almost six times greater odds of death (odds ratio 5.86, 95 percent confidence interval, range 1.41 to 24.47).

Dr. Teixeira explained that the types of civilian settings in which tourniquets can be used are automobile and motorcycle accidents, pedestrian struck by a vehicle, stab wounds, and gunshot wounds. "All these types of mechanisms that have a major hemorrhage coming from either an arm or a leg are amendable to having a tourniquet placed to stop that bleeding and allow that patient to survive long enough to reach a trauma center and get taken care of," Dr. Teixeira said.

Tourniquets work best when they are applied as early as possible at the site of the injury. "The ideal person to apply that tourniquet is the person who can do it the quickest immediately after the wound is identified," said Dr. Teixeira. "That scenario is the highest chance for the patient to survive."

The study noted efforts to increase the use of tourniquets in the civilian population, most notably the American College of Surgeons forming the Joint Committee to Create a National Policy to Enhance Survivability From Mass Casualty Shooting Events as a response to recent mass shootings. Their recommendations became known as the "Hartford Consensus." In 2015, the White House issued a call to action called the Stop the Bleed campaign to train bystanders to help in a bleeding emergency. Tourniquet use is a key component of that call to action.

"The idea is that the same way that we have defibrillators in public spaces for patients that have a cardiac arrest, we would have bleeding control kits in public spaces too, allowing for tourniquet application by someone who has had minimal training for a patient that has an injury resulting in bleeding from a limb," Dr. Teixeira said.

He acknowledged that there is a cost involved in having tourniquets available for general use, but the study may help justify that cost. "Being able to demonstrate that tourniquets actually do the job they're supposed to do is important and supports the recommendations by the Stop the Bleed campaign, contributing to reducing mortality from bleeding on the streets of America and elsewhere," Dr. Teixeira said.

The study results were first presented in September 2017 at the 76th annual meeting of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Clinical Congress of Acute Care Surgery in Baltimore.

###

The study involved 18 coauthors comprising the Texas Tourniquet Study Group.

Citation: Civilian Prehospital Tourniquet Use is Associated with Improved Survival in Patients with Peripheral Vascular Injuries. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Available at: http://www.journalacs.org/article/S1072-7515(18)30101-7/abstract.

About the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 80,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit http://www.facs.org.ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, announced today that Dina Katabi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) is the recipient of the 2017 ACM Prize in Computing for creative contributions to wireless systems. Recognized as one of the most innovative researchers in the field of networking, Katabi applies methods from communication theory, signal processing and machine learning to solve problems in wireless networking. Among her contributions, she is cited for co-authoring several highly influential papers on overcoming interference in wireless networks to improve the flow of data traffic. And in inventing a device that seems to be lifted out of the pages of science fiction, she and her team pioneered the use of the wireless signals in the environment to sense humans behind walls, determine their movements and even surmise their emotional states. These trailblazing human-sensing technologies hold out promise for use in several applications of daily life including helping the house-bound elderly, and-perhaps determining survivors within buildings during search and rescue operations.

The ACM Prize in Computing recognizes early-to-mid-career contributions that have fundamental impact and broad implications. The award carries a prize of $250,000. Financial support is provided by an endowment from Infosys Ltd. Katabi will formally receive the ACM Prize at ACM's annual awards banquet on June 23, 2018 in San Francisco.

"Innovations which help facilitate communications across mobile networks certainly address an important need," explained ACM President Vicki L. Hanson. "One recent report estimated that worldwide mobile data traffic grew 18-fold between 2011 and 2016. Dina Katabi's work has contributed to a seamless increase in traffic, as well as the ever-increasing volumes of data that are shared over mobile systems. The official citation for the ACM Prize in Computing cites Katabi's creative contributions because she is known for reimagining longstanding challenges in original ways."

"Infosys is proud to support the ACM Prize in Computing, which this year honors Dina Katabi for her groundbreaking achievements in mobile systems," said Salil S. Parekh, CEO of Infosys. "By 2020, experts predict that there will be 11.6 billion mobile-connected devices in the world. Our use of these devices, and the underlying networks that they rely upon, will play an increasingly important role in every aspect of life--from the way we communicate with friends and family, to our jobs, to the health of the world economy. By recognizing Katabi's contributions, we educate the public about the technologies they use every day but may take for granted. Hopefully, we might also inspire the next generation to work in this exciting and very impactful area of computing science and practice."

Wireless Network Coding

Wired networks simply route (or forward) signals from one point to another, and early wireless networks were based on this blueprint. Wireless networks, however, are fundamentally different from wired networks and at times face challenges including inadequate mobile support, dead spots, and low throughput--or the amount of data that can be moved from one point to another in a given time. As wireless technology developed, many proposed a new unifying design paradigm called network coding in which each node in a network would perform some computation. At each node, the transmission could be mixed (encoded), or re-mixed (re-encoded), in order to be unmixed (decoded) at its final destination. Katabi was a leader in presenting ideas to make the theory of network coding practical as a way to improve network performance. The papers in which she introduced concrete methods to make network coding practical received awards at major conferences and remain staples of the reading lists in wireless classes.

Interference Mitigation

Following up on her work in network coding, Katabi and her collaborators have written several research papers on the fundamental problem of interference in wireless networks, which occurs when multiple nodes transmit concurrently. In these papers, she modeled how wireless signals mix in the air as code, and then outlined algorithms that allow the receiver to decode these interference-based codes. Katabi's methods were not only shown to overcome interference in wireless transmissions, but in some instances can be exploited to increase the amount of data that can move over the network.

Sensing and Wireless Signals

At ACM SIGCOMM 2013, Katabi presented a highly influential paper, "See through Walls with Wi-Fi!" She demonstrated how Wi-Fi-based devices and their variants can be used to detect people behind walls, their movements, and even their emotional states. The device works by transmitting wireless radio signals that traverse a wall and reflect off a person's body back to the device. While the data that comes back from these reflections is very minimal, Katabi and her team developed a series of algorithms that separate the meaningful signals from the random noise produced by the walls and other reflections. The technology can identify a person's silhouette and detect gestures as subtle as the rise and fall of a person's chest from the other side of a house. Her lab has recently advanced the technology to remotely monitor a person's heart rate and other vital signs, to infer, among other indicators, their emotional states. The work has generated a huge amount of interest and was one of the invited demonstrations at President Obama's White House Demo Day.

Sparse Fast Fourier Transform

In computing, the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) is a mathematical technique that is used for processing streams of data in a range of computational tasks including audio/image processing, biochemistry, astronomy, and even GPS. Traditionally, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was the algorithm that was used to process data for a wide range of computational tasks. Katabi, along with MIT colleague Piotr Indyk and students, developed a new algorithm, the Sparse Fast Fourier Transform (SFFT) that processes data 10 to 100 times faster than the FFT. Among its many other benefits, Katabi's faster transform means that computers need less power to process the same amount of data.

Background

A native of Damascus, Syria, Dina Katabi is the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She received a PhD and MS in Computer Science from MIT, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Damascus University, Syria.

Katabi is the author or co-author of over 100 scholarly publications covering a wide range of topics in networks and data communications. Her papers have been cited more than 20,000 times by researchers. She has been recognized with several honors including a MacArthur Fellowship, the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, several ACM SIGCOMM Best Paper Awards, an ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Award and a National Science Foundation Career Award. Katabi is an ACM Fellow and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

###

About the ACM Prize in Computing

The ACM Prize in Computing recognizes an early to mid-career fundamental innovative contribution in computing that, through its depth, impact and broad implications, exemplifies the greatest achievements in the discipline. The award carries a prize of $250,000. Financial support is provided by an endowment from Infosys Ltd. The ACM Prize in Computing was previously known as the ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in the Computing Sciences from 2007 through 2015. ACM Prize recipients are invited to participate in the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, an annual networking event that brings together young researchers from around the world with recipients of the ACM A.M. Turing Award (computer science), the Abel Prize (mathematics), the Fields Medal (mathematics), and the Nevanlinna Prize (mathematics).

About ACM

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in technology services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to create and execute strategies for their digital transformation. From engineering to application development, knowledge management and business process management, we help our clients find the right problems to solve, and to solve these effectively. Our team of 199,000+ innovators, across the globe, is differentiated by the imagination, knowledge and experience, across industries and technologies that we bring to every project we undertake. Visit http://www.infosys.com/ to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise thrive in the digital age.Anticholinergics are a class of medications that are often prescribed for allergies, lung disease, and urinary incontinence. They also often can increase health risks for older adults. These medicines can affect your memory and ability to think, and they can even lead to increases in the risk for falls , dementia, and death. Additionally, older adults often have a difficult time tolerating anticholinergics because of age-related physical changes, such as reduced liver and kidney function, and because medications can impact our brain chemistry more strongly as we age.

Experts use tools to help older adults and healthcare professionals understand the risks associated with medications like anticholinergics. One of these tools is the AGS Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults. The AGS Beers Criteria details medications with risks that may outweigh their benefits for older adults. The AGS Beers Criteria identifies 52 "high-risk" anticholinergics. Thirty-five of these are included on a list of medications worth avoiding altogether for older people, unless a healthcare professional has a compelling reason for prescribing them on a case-by-case basis.

Recently, a team of researchers decided to study how frequently healthcare providers prescribe potentially inappropriate medications like anticholinergics in light of recommendations like those from the AGS Beers Criteria. Their study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The researchers used information from the 2006-2015 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), an annual survey of office-based physician visits. The researchers looked only at visits for people aged 65 or older.

The researchers focused on the 35 anticholinergics that healthcare professionals are advised to avoid for older adults. Among them were antidepressants, medications used to treat overactive bladder and Parkinson's disease , antihistamines, muscle relaxants, and treatments for people who live with muscle spasms.

The researchers learned that between 2006 and 2015, 6.2 percent of older adult visits to a physician resulted in a prescription for a "high-risk" anticholinergic. Older women who had more than two chronic conditions were also the most likely to be prescribed potentially inappropriate anticholinergics. They were most often diagnosed with overactive bladder or urinary incontinence , nerve pain, dizziness, or motion sickness.

Interestingly, the researchers noted that the trend for prescribing these high-risk treatments had fallen by about 2 percent between 2008/2009 and 2014/2015.

The researchers concluded that their findings suggest that future research should be conducted to help create better care practices aimed at reducing the use of high-risk anticholinergic prescriptions for older adults.

###

Remember: Even if you're currently taking an anticholinergic, never stop using a medication before speaking with a healthcare professional. For more information on medication management, click here.

This summary is from "National Prescribing Trends of High-risk Anticholinergic Medications in Older Adults." It appears online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study authors are Taeho Greg Rhee, PhD, MSW; Yookyung Christy Choi, PharmD; Gregory M. Ouellet, MD; and Joseph S. Ross, MD, MHS.

About the Health in Aging Foundation

This research summary was developed as a public education tool by the Health in Aging Foundation. The Foundation is a national non-profit established in 1999 by the American Geriatrics Society to bring the knowledge and expertise of geriatrics healthcare professionals to the public. We are committed to ensuring that people are empowered to advocate for high-quality care by providing them with trustworthy information and reliable resources. Last year, we reached nearly 1 million people with our resources through HealthinAging.org. We also help nurture current and future geriatrics leaders by supporting opportunities to attend educational events and increase exposure to principles of excellence on caring for older adults. For more information or to support the Foundation's work, visit http://www.HealthinAgingFoundation.org.

About the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

Included in more than 9,000 library collections around the world, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) highlights emerging insights on principles of aging, approaches to older patients, geriatric syndromes, geriatric psychiatry, and geriatric diseases and disorders. First published in 1953, JAGS is now one of the oldest and most impactful publications on gerontology and geriatrics, according to ISI Journal Citation Reports. Visit wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/JGS for more details.

About the American Geriatrics Society

Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has--for 75 years--worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org.Over the past 10 years, the number of plant species on European mountain tops has increased by five-times more than during the period 1957-66. Data on 302 European peaks covering 145 years shows that the acceleration in the number of mountain-top species is unequivocally linked to global warming.

It is not as lonely at the top as it used to be.

At least not for plants which, due to global warming, are increasingly finding habitats on mountain tops that were formerly reserved for only the toughest and most hardy species.

A large international research team has not only ascertained a considerable increase in the number of plant species on 302 European mountain peaks over the past 150 years; they have also found that this increase is accelerating. Moreover, it is certain that this development is linked to rises in temperatures; changes in precipitation and nitrogen input could not explain the increase.

Therefore, the researchers have demonstrated that the flora is trying to keep pace with the consequences of accelerating anthropogenic impacts on all the Earth's system.

During the decade from 1957-66, the number of species on each of the 302 mountain tops increased by 1.1 species on average. Since then, the trend has accelerated: From 2007-16, on average 5.5 new species moved up to the 302 summits.

The researchers have only been able to count the plant species that have already responded to the temperature rise and actually have moved upwards. They have not studied the number of species that might be on the way upwards.

Competitive immigrants

However, the results of the new study, which has recently been published in the journal Nature, has not prompted researchers to sound the alarm. Yet.

The study does not show how much the increase in new plant species on summits has displaced existing species that have been growing at these heights for centuries. However, the figures do indicate that this might be happening or will happen in the future.

"Some of the species which have adapted to the cold and rocky conditions on mountain summits will probably disappear in the long term. They have nowhere else to go, and they can't develop rapidly enough to be able to compete with the new arrivals, which are taller and more competitive under warmer climates," explained the main author of the study, Manuel Steinbauer.

Even though it is likely that highly specialised species on mountain summits will be out-competed in the future, this is not absolutely certain. As Manuel Steinbauer puts it:

"The species that move upwards, often come from grassland above the tree line. But they can't survive everywhere on the mountain top, so it's not certain that they will be a threat to all the existing species up there. The local soil conditions and micro-climates also play a role."

Manuel Steinbauer analysed the huge volumes of data while he was working at the Department of Bioscience at Aarhus University, funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. He is now a professor at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU).

"Even though the existing species on mountain tops are not acutely endangered, the strong acceleration in the effects of global warming on plant communities on the peaks does give cause for concern, as we expect far stronger climate change toward 2100," explained professor and VILLUM Investigator Jens-Christian Svenning from the Department of Bioscience at Aarhus University, who has also been involved in the research project.

A unique study

The new study was conducted by researchers from 11 European countries, and it could not have been completed anywhere, other than in Europe.

Not because the plants were afraid of heights in the other parts of the world, but because only in Europe is there data on how plant species have moved since the 1870s.

Therefore, the researchers have not only climbed up the mountains many times to register flora meticulously: some of them have also delved into the 150 years of records fastidiously kept by hundreds of botanists around Europe, while they botanised on the same mountains.

"Mountain peaks have the great advantage that they don't move. Therefore, we can be sure that we have investigated precisely in the same places as the botanists of the past. We wouldn't be able to compare the old records from mountainsides or valleys with our own investigations if we couldn't be sure that we had looked at the same places. Of course, at that time there was no GPS," said Dr. Sonja Wipf from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, WSL in Davos, Switzerland.

Future-proof data from the past

One of the many botanists was the Swiss professor, Josias Braun-Blanquet (1884-1980), who more than a century ago predicted that this type of study may be necessary:

"In order to create a solid foundation for the future, I investigated numerous mountain peaks in detail. [...] On the basis of a comprehensive description of locations, it will not be difficult to verify my species lists, and an increase or decrease of species richness in the future will be possible to detect with high certainty," he wrote (in German) in one of his major works, Die Vegetationsverhaltnisse der Schneestufe in den Ratisch-Lepontischen Alpen. Ein Bild des Pflanzenlebens an seinen auersten Grenzen in 1913.

"We're confident that this old data is of high quality. And to make sure that our own new data is also good, on several of the summits we've had two people climb up to gather data independently of each other," said Sonja Wipf, who has been responsible for collecting much of the new data.

"Braun-Blanquet's foresight has given us food for thought. Without his fascination for understanding the distribution of plant species on mountain peaks, we wouldn't have been able to ascertain that the effects of global warming are accelerating. This is a really good example of the importance of non-targeted research and fascination for understanding complexity in nature," said Associate Professor Signe Normand from the Department of Bioscience at Aarhus University, who also participated in the research project.

###March 28, 2018, London, UK - The Biochemical Society has announced the winners of the Society's annual awards today.

The annual awards recognize established researchers as well as scientists in the early stages of their career.

Each winner exemplifies the very best of the bioscience community in fields ranging from cell and developmental biology to endocrinology.

Dr Melina Schuh from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Germany has been awarded The Colworth Medal, which is one of the Society's oldest continuously awarded scientific prizes for outstanding research by a young biochemist. Dr Schuh previously won the Biochemical Society's Cells Early Career Research Award in 2014. Dr Schuh is a molecular cell biologist whose research focuses on unravelling the molecular workings of meiosis and chromosome segregation in mammalian oocytes. Her innovative and creative approach has led to the development of new tools to study meiosis, in particular at the interface between chromosomes and cytoskeletal structures, and her laboratory has been one of the first to study the causes of chromosome segregation errors directly in live human oocytes.

Also among the winners is Professor Dame Caroline Dean, FRS, from the John Innes Centre who has been awarded The Novartis Medal and Prize. Professor Dean's research has received many accolades, including the Royal Society's Darwin Medal in 2016 and an award for Excellence in Bioscience from the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council. Professor Dean's research focuses on understanding the molecular controls used by plants to judge when to flower. She is specifically interested in vernalization -- the acceleration of flowering by exposure to periods of prolonged cold.

On winning the The Novartis Medal and Prize Professor Dean said: "I am really delighted to have been selected for this award. This honour recognizes the excellent work of many post-doctoral scientists and research students who have been in the lab over the last 30 years - an ever expanding Dean lab 'family', and a very fruitful collaboration with Professor Martin Howard. I am also exceedingly grateful to the European Research Council and the BBSRC for funding."

Other winners include Professor R. John Ellis, FRS, who has been awarded the Centenary Award. Professor Ellis has won a number of Awards including the Croonian Medal and Lecture of the Royal Society in 2011 for "pioneering contributions to biochemistry, molecular biology, and also plant sciences".

During a long and distinguished career, Professor Ellis made fundamental discoveries in biochemistry on topics including chaperone-assisted protein folding. He studied the mechanism of folding of a protein essential for light harvesting and photosynthesis, and opened the possibility of major improvements in agricultural productivity. Professor Ellis's work led to a great increase in research by other laboratories using in vitro methods to investigate the chloroplast genetic system, and his discovery of the role of molecular chaperones in protein folding and protein assembly is now well recognized in a variety of processes in all types of cells.

Professor Colin D Bingle, Chair of the Awards Committee, said: "The Biochemical Society Awards are the perfect way to honour exceptional scientists within the bioscience community every stage of their careers. As ever the standard of the nominees was exceptionally high and our winners can be justifiably proud of their achievements. The awards are a real tribute to the talent within the bioscience community. On behalf of the Society, I'd like to congratulate all of the winners, every one of whom has made outstanding contributions in their respective fields. Well done."

2019 Biochemical Society Award Winners

AstraZeneca Award: Professor Ervin Fodor, Sir William

Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, UK

Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, UK Biochemical Society Award: Professor Paul Bieniasz,

The Rockefeller University, USA

The Rockefeller University, USA Centenary Award: Professor R. John Ellis,

University of Warwick, UK

University of Warwick, UK Colworth Medal: Dr Melina Schuh

Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Germany

Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Germany Industry and Academic Collaboration Award:

Professor Maddy Parsons

King's College London, UK

Professor Maddy Parsons King's College London, UK The Novartis Medal and Prize: Professor Dame Caroline Dean

John Innes Centre, UK

John Innes Centre, UK Sir Philip Randle Lecture: Professor Antonio Vidal-Puig,

Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge, UK

Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge, UK Teaching Excellence Award: Dr Luciane Vieira de Mello Rigden

University of Liverpool, UK

University of Liverpool, UK Early Career Research Award: Biotechnology: Dr Michael Booth

University of Oxford, UK

University of Oxford, UK Early Career Research Award: Genes: Dr Ana Casanal

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB),

University of Cambridge, UK

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), University of Cambridge, UK Early Career Research Award: Signalling: Dr Qian Wu,

University of Cambridge, UK

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For more information on the Biochemical Society Awards, please visit: http://www.biochemistry.org/Awards

All of the award and medal lectures will take place in 2019 and award winners will be invited to submit an article to a Society-owned publication.PITTSBURGH -- (April 4, 2018) Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) today announced the release of the 2018 Carnegie Mellon Power Sector Carbon Index, at CMU Energy Week, hosted by the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. The Index tracks the environmental performance of U.S. power producers and compares current emissions to more than two decades of historical data collected nationwide. This release marks the one-year anniversary of the Index, developed as a new metric to track power sector carbon emissions performance trends.

"The Carnegie Mellon Power Sector Carbon Index provides a snapshot of critical data regarding energy production and environmental performance," said Costa Samaras, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering CMU. "We've found this index to provide significant insight into trends in power generation and emissions. In particular, the data have shown that emissions intensity has fallen to the lowest level on record, as a combination of natural gas and renewable power have displaced more carbon intensive coal-fired power generation."

The latest data revealed the following findings: U.S. power plant emissions averaged 967 lb. CO2 per megawatt-hour (MWh) in 2017, which was down 3.1 percent from the prior year and down 26.8 percent from the annual value of 1,321 lb CO2 per MWh in 2005. The result for 2016 was initially reported as 1,001 lb/MWh, but was later revised downward to 998 lb/MWh. For the complete findings of the Index, please visit emissionsindex.org.

"The power industry has made significant progress in reducing emissions for over a decade, as new technology, state and federal policies and market forces have increased power generation from natural gas and renewables, and decreased power generation from coal. As this Change in Power continues, the Carnegie Mellon Power Sector Carbon Index will not only report the results but also provide analysis of the underlying reasons for the changes we're seeing," said Paul Browning, President and CEO of MHPS Americas. "Our team at MHPS is proud to support this important work by Carnegie Mellon researchers."

This year, CMU announced enhancements to the Index. New regional information from within the US will be reported, allowing for greater insight into the impact of regional trends on fuel types, usage, and emissions. In addition, the index will begin to incorporate emissions data from other countries across North and South America. As the Index continues to expand, it will serve as a source of objective insight regarding emissions trends across the Americas for policy makers, regulators, utilities, industry analysts and the public.

"We are excited to regionalize and internationalize our work on the Power Sector Carbon Index," said Ines Azevedo, Professor of Engineering and Public Policy, and co-Director of the Climate and Energy Decision Making Center, "and to help educate and support the decision making process regarding emissions reductions."

###

About the College of Engineering: The College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is a top-ranked engineering college that is known for our intentional focus on cross-disciplinary collaboration in research. The College is well-known for working on problems of both scientific and practical importance. Our "maker" culture is ingrained in all that we do, leading to novel approaches and transformative results. Our acclaimed faculty have a focus on innovation management and engineering to yield transformative results that will drive the intellectual and economic vitality of our community, nation and world.

About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon is a private, internationally ranked university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 13,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small faculty-to-student ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real world problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.

About Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas, Inc.

Headquartered in Lake Mary, FL, MHPS Americas employs more than 2,000 people who design, build, install, monitor and service aero-derivative and heavy-duty natural gas, steam and geothermal turbines, generators, and environmental control systems throughout North and South America. MHPS Americas also collaborates with customers to deploy artificial intelligence and low carbon technologies to take the cost and carbon out of the electric power value chain. MHPS Americas is subsidiary of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Hitachi, Ltd. PW Power Systems (PWPS) and Mechanical Dynamics & Analysis (MD&A) are wholly owned subsidiaries of MHPS Americas.

Learn more about the Revolutionary Energy of MHPS Americas by visiting http://www.changeinpower.com.

MHPS is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. (7011:JP)Immigrant youth from specific racial-ethnic groups in the USA tend to have lower rates of certain mental disorders compared to their non-immigrant peers,reports a study published in the April 2018 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP).

The study was conducted by a team of epidemiologists from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health in the US and the Offord Center for Child Studies at McMaster University in Canada. They examined the lifetime prevalence of mood, anxiety, and behavior disorders (attention deficit, oppositional defiant, conduct, and substance use disorders), as well as mental health service use in 6,250 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years who were part of a national database. Youth were classified by both self-identified race-ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, Asian) and immigrant generation (first, second, third, or greater).

The authors found that prevalence rates of mental disorders among immigrant youth differed by immigrant generation and by racial-ethnic group. Consistent with the immigrant paradox in earlier studies, foreign-born Asian youth had lower rates of both emotional and behavior disorders, but by the second generation, they had significantly higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders compared to non-immigrant white youth. The authors also report a general trend for lower rates of behavior disorders among foreign-born Asian and Hispanic youth, and among both immigrant and non-immigrant black youth compared to non-immigrant white youth.

Many of these differences were not apparent when immigrant generation and race-ethnicity were considered separately, said lead author Dr. Katholiki Georgiades, an Associate Professor and the David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at McMaster University and the Offord Centre for Child Studies. This underscores the importance of joint consideration of these characteristics in studies of disparities in adolescent mental disorders and service use.

One of the most concerning findings was that most immigrant youth with mental disorders were significantly less likely to receive mental health services than their non-immigrant peers said senior author Dr. Kathleen Merikangas, Senior Investigator and Chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch in the NIMH Division of Intramural Research Programs. This finding highlights the need to address cultural and economic barriers to mental health service use for youth with mental disorders from immigrant families, particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds.

These findings could have major public health implications because children living in families with at least one foreign-born parent represent the fastest growing segment of the US population and are projected to represent up to one-third of the child population in the next few decades, according to the US Census Bureau. Identifying barriers to recognition of mental disorders and access to treatment for these youth will therefore be of increasing importance.

###

Notes for editors

The article is "Prevalence of Mental Disorder and Service Use by Immigrant Generation and Race/Ethnicity Among U.S. Adolescents," by Katholiki Georgiades, PhD, Diana Paksarian, PhD, Kara E. Rudolph, PhD, Kathleen R. Merikangas, PhD, (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2018.01.020). It appears in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, volume 57, issue 4 (April 2018), published by Elsevier.

Dr. Katholiki Georgiades is with the Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Kara Rudolph is with the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Drs. Diana Paksarian and Kathleen Merikangas are with the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch of the Division of Intramural Research Programs of the National Institute of Mental Health, part of the National Institutes of Health.

This work was supported by the David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies, a CHIR New Investigator Award, and the Division of Intramural Research Programs of the National Institute of Mental Health (ZIAMH002808). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent the views of any of the sponsoring organizations, agencies, or US Government. The NCS-A and the larger program of related NCS surveys were supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (UOI-MH60220) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (ROI DAO 16558).

Copies of this paper are available to credentialed journalists upon request; please contact Mary Billingsley at mbillingsley@aacap.org or +1 202 587 9672.

Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Kathleen R. Merikangas, PhD, Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, 35A Convent Drive MSC#3720, Bethesda, MD 20892; email: kathleen.merikangas@nih.gov.

About JAACAP

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) is the official publication of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. JAACAP is the leading journal focusing exclusively on today's psychiatric research and treatment of the child and adolescent. Published twelve times per year, each issue is committed to its mission of advancing the science of pediatric mental health and promoting the care of youth and their families.

The Journal's purpose is to advance research, clinical practice, and theory in child and adolescent psychiatry. It is interested in manuscripts from diverse viewpoints, including genetic, epidemiological, neurobiological, cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic, social, cultural, and economic. Studies of diagnostic reliability and validity, psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatment efficacy, and mental health services effectiveness are encouraged. The Journal also seeks to promote the well-being of children and families by publishing scholarly papers on such subjects as health policy, legislation, advocacy, culture and society, and service provision as they pertain to the mental health of children and families. http://www.jaacap.org

About Elsevier Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals advance healthcare, open science and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support and professional education, including ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 38,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.comGlenview, IL, April 4, 2018 - Finding ways to help patients with COPD improve their functional status is an area of interest for pulmonary healthcare providers. Currently, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is used where available to improve exercise capacity and quality of life, but the treatment requires access to trained staff and specialized facilities. A new study in the journal CHEST looked at Tai Chi as a lower cost, more easily accessed treatment option. Investigators found that this slow, methodical form of exercise is equivalent to PR for improving respiratory function in patients with COPD.

Tai Chi, an ancient martial art that involves significant levels of physical exertion, is gaining popularity, especially among older people, across the globe. Originating in China, Tai Chi incorporates stretching, breathing, and coordinated movement and requires no special equipment. "Knowing the potential benefits of Tai Chi, we hypothesized that, in patients being treated with medication to manage their COPD symptoms, it could help improve the quality of life when compared to a course of classical western style PR," noted Professor Nan-Shan Zhong, MD, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou, China.

The study tracked 120 patients with COPD in rural China who had never used a bronchodilator. After beginning daily treatment with indacaterol, subjects were randomly assigned to groups receiving traditional PR or Tai Chi. Both the Tai Chi and PR groups showed similar improvements in Saint Georges Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores, a standard measure of health status in patients with diseases causing airway obstruction. However, after twelve weeks, a clinically significant difference in SGRQ scores emerged favoring Tai Chi. Similar trends were noted in performance of a six-minute walk test.

"Tai Chi is an appropriate substitute for PR," explained lead investigator Professor Yuan-Ming Luo, PhD, also of the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease. "While neither training approach differed from the other by more than the minimal clinically important difference of four SGRQ points at the end of this 12-week study, an additional 12 weeks after discontinuation of formal training, improvements emerged in favor of Tai Chi in SGRQ score, six-minute walk distance, modified Medical Research Council dyspnea score, and quadriceps strength. We conclude that Tai Chi is equivalent to PR and may confer more sustained benefit."

Subjects in the Tai Chi group met for formal instruction five hours per week for 12 weeks and were taught the 24 form Yang style. The results of the Tai Chi group were compared to that of another group of subjects who received PR three times a week for 12 weeks. After the initial 12 weeks, participants were encouraged to continue their Tai Chi either alone or with a group in their community; however, no formal assistance was provided to patients during this period. Those in the PR group received verbal encouragement to remain as physically active as possible. Final analysis of all data was conducted 12 weeks after the formal training had concluded.

For many patients, reducing the symptoms of COPD can greatly improve their quality of life. While medication continues to play an important role in treating COPD, the cost of those medicines can be a barrier for some patients, especially for treating a chronic illness like COPD.

"This study demonstrates that a low-cost exercise intervention is equivalent to formal pulmonary rehabilitation, and this may enable a greater number of patients to be treated," concluded lead author of the study Michael I. Polkey, PhD, NIHR Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit, The Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College, London, United Kingdom. "Physical activity is key to reducing symptoms in COPD. We do recommend PR, but our study shows that Tai Chi is a viable alternative when there is no local PR service. We encourage pulmonary rehabilitation providers to consider offering Tai Chi as an alternative therapy that patients would then be able to continue unsupervised in their own home."

###Dopamine, a signaling chemical in the brain, has the lofty job of controlling emotions, moods, movements as well as sensations of pleasure and pain. Dysfunction of this critical neurotransmitter is the cause of a number of diseases, most notably, Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is caused by the death of dopamine-producing cells and most theories of disease risk involve the selective vulnerability of ageing dopamine neurons to genetic mutations or to environmental toxins, or both.

By visualizing the dopamine neurons in the "brain" of a tiny worm called C. elegans, neuroscientists in the lab of Randy Blakely, Ph.D., professor of biomedical science in Florida Atlantic University's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and executive director of the FAU Brain Institute, have identified a novel pathway that sustains the health of these cells.

In a study published in PLOS Genetics, Blakely's team provides evidence that the normal actions of swip-10 to protect dopamine neurons are indirect, derived from the gene's action in support cells called glia that lie adjacent to the dopamine neurons. Although glial cells have been recognized for years in worms and humans to play a critical role in shaping neuronal development, structure, and function, the new studies offer a clear demonstration that glial cells also keep dopamine cells alive.

In 2015, while at Vanderbilt University, graduate student Andrew Hardaway and Blakely, reported the discovery of the gene swip-10 in a screen for genes that modify dopamine signaling. They found that when swip-10 is mutated, dopamine neurons become more excitable, releasing excessive amounts of dopamine. Additionally, Blakely's team found that the changes in dopamine release were a result of overstimulation of dopamine neurons by the amino acid glutamate. When not serving as an energy source, or as a building block of proteins, glutamate acts to communicate excitation between nerve cells at nerve cell synapses.

"When we found that the dopamine neurons were being overly excited by glutamate we figured that they were healthy, just overstimulated, like a person with one too many cups of coffee," said Blakely. "However, work has shown that if the excitatory actions of glutamate are not tightly controlled, the neurotransmitter can turn toxic, stressing neurons to the point of death."

Indeed, when Blakely and current graduate student Chelsea Gibson, lead author on the new study, studied the swip-10 mutant worms whose dopamine neurons had been made to fluoresce so that their full shape could be visualized, they saw that many of these cells had what appeared to be swollen, misshapen or fragmented processes, as well as shrunken cell bodies, clear signs of unhealthy neurons. Follow-up studies by David Hall, Ph.D., at Einstein University, using an electron microscope, confirmed Blakely's suspicions - the dopamine neurons in the swip-10 mutants were definitely not normal.

In Blakely's prior studies showing that the dopamine neurons were overstimulated by glutamate, they were able to restore normal dopamine neuron activity by placing a working copy of the swip-10 gene back into glial cells.

"Putting the gene back into the dopamine neurons really did nothing to impede their degeneration," said Gibson. "But restoration of swip-10 gene in glial cells did the trick. Moreover, when we took away specific genes needed for response to glutamate, the dopamine neurons also got healthier."

The researchers believe that improper control of glutamate by glia, while not the only factor, is an important reason why the dopamine neurons die.

More than 15 years ago, Blakely's team reported that an exogenous toxin known to kill dopamine neurons in rats and mice also could selectively kill the worm's complement of dopamine neurons. Although this was an exciting finding, and encouraged other groups to consider use of the worm to study mechanisms of Parkinson's disease, Blakely moved away from research on neural degeneration because he wanted to identify genes more relevant to dopamine-linked disorders where dopamine neurons can malfunction, but do not die, such as ADHD, addiction and schizophrenia.

"It looks like we have come full circle," said Blakely.

Ongoing research in the Blakely lab is oriented toward understanding what the protein made by the swip-10 gene does in normal cells and how the loss of swip-10 in the glial cell neighbors leads to dopamine neuron degeneration.

"Swip-10 has the molecular structure of an enzyme, but as of yet, we don't know what molecule this enzyme is targeting. Once we can determine this we should have important clues as to how glial cells keep dopamine neurons healthy, findings that may provide us with a path to Parkinson's disease medications," said Blakely.

Blakely's group has identified mouse and human forms of swip-10, and recently eliminated this gene from mice. Now they are working to determine whether dopamine neurons malfunction or die in these animals. Strikingly, a former Blakely graduate student, Cassie Retzlaff, recently reported that a neuroprotective drug, ceftriaxone, binds to the protein made by the human form of the swip-10 gene.

"This finding really got our attention, particularly as work to date in rodents with ceftriaxone suggests that the drug's neuroprotection involves an action on glia that results in a suppression of glutamate signaling between neurons," said Blakely. "The idea that worms lacking swip-10 may provide important insights into Parkinson's disease and its treatment now seems much less far-fetched."

According to the Parkinson's Foundation, more than 10 million people worldwide are living with the disease.

###

The research was funded by grant MH095044 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

About the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine:

FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is one of approximately 151 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America. With more than 70 full and part-time faculty and more than 1,300 affiliate faculty, the college matriculates 64 medical students each year and has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. To further FAU's commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in fall 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. In June 2014, FAU's College of Medicine welcomed its inaugural class of 36 residents in its first University-sponsored residency in internal medicine and graduated its first class of internal medicine residents in 2017.

About the FAU Brain Institute:

Inaugurated in 2016 on the John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter, Fla., the FAU Brain Institute supports research, education and community outreach among more than 100 faculty level researchers at FAU and its affiliate research centers. One of FAU's four pillars that guide the University's goals and strategic actions, the Institute seeks to unlock the secrets of brain development, function and plasticity and how the mechanisms uncovered can be compromised to drive devastating brain disorders. From the study of neuronal development and signaling to investigations of brain diseases including addiction, autism, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, researchers from FAU's Brain Institute seek to generate knowledge that benefits society. For more information about the Institute and its members, visit http://www.ibrain.fau.edu.

About Florida Atlantic University:

Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU's world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU's existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit http://www.fau.edu.A new genetic directory launched today will enable researchers and breeders to scan the genomes of wild relatives of modern wheat to find disease-fighting properties lost to domestication.

The time-travelling trawl is possible following the launch of the Open Wild Wheat, a directory which includes the genetic sequences of 150 wild wheats belonging to a goat grass species called Aegilops tauschii ssp. strangulata. This wild relative, found in the fertile crescent round the Caspian sea, has contributed the D genome pillar, one of the three genomes found in bread wheat.

The directory is the crowd-funded outcome of an international consortium led by wheat researchers at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK, and Kansas State University. Contributors from academic institutions and industry spanning 15 countries raised $150,000 to fund the sequencing.

Dr Brande Wulff, from the John Innes Centre, explained the motivation behind the project: "If you sequence a single individual you just get a snapshot. So, to understand the whole genetic diversity that comes with a species we decided to sequence not one but 150."

Wild wheats come with plenty of feral characteristics including seed-shatter, long generation times and off-putting spikes which can lead to choking in dogs and other animals.

"At a time when our hunter-gatherer forefathers were transitioning to farming, they would have come across a field of plants and wild wheats. Our ancestors would have starved to death if they'd relied upon these for their daily bread," says Dr Wulff.

Ten thousand years of domestication and intensive breeding has turned wheat into the highly nutritious, high-yielding, iconic crop that feeds much of the world population today.

But this has come at a cost. The hardy relatives have something their elite wheat cultivar cousins do not have: genetic diversity within which lies protective traits such as disease resistance as well as variation in flowering time and micronutrients.

Dr Jesse Poland of Kansas State University, who co-leads the project, explained: "Over the last 100 years, breeders and farmers have been trying to recruit some of that genetic diversity back into the elites, but it's an uphill struggle. It takes many years of breeding to produce a wheat strain which combines high-yielding, bread-making properties with just one resistance gene from the wild relative."

The Open Wild Wheat directory offers a "diversity" panel which allows researchers and breeders to search for candidate disease resistance genes and other useful variation.

The resource has emerged alongside two complementary technologies: speed cloning, a resource which allows breeders to clone candidate genes recovered from the directory; and speed breeding, the intensive wheat growing platform developed by Dr Wulff alongside colleagues from the University of Queensland. Speed breeding allows traits from wild relatives to be moved rapidly into elite varieties, prior to field trials.

Dr Carolina Paola Sansaloni one of the collaborators from CIMMYT said: "We are going back to the wild relatives of wheat to identify and incorporate into modern cultivars the hardy genes lost during evolution and domestication of wheat."

The directory assembled by the consortium contains enough data, if printed on A4 paper, to stretch almost to the moon.

Searching for the needle in this statistical haystack involves scanning genetic variation for small sequence signatures - candidate genes - associated with resistance or susceptibility to diseases such as wheat stem rust or powdery mildew.

And the technology works, says Dr Wulff: "We have cloned four resistance genes using this technology, so we know it's effective. We can really speed up the discovery of resistance genes. We can recover the very best from the past to make a great crop even greater. "

To find out more about the Open Wild Wheat directory go to: http://www.openwildwheat.org/

###

Link to photographs:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=138FeWtYWLmgSknWQ6WPYZmsF11R9GTfW

Notes for Editors

Contacts

Press Contact: Adrian Galvin - Adrian.Galvin@jic.ac.uk

Tel: 01603 450238 Out of Hours Tel: 07881 255193

About the John Innes Centre

The John Innes Centre is an independent, international centre of excellence in plant science and microbiology.

Our mission is to generate knowledge of plants and microbes through innovative research, to train scientists for the future, to apply our knowledge of nature's diversity to benefit agriculture, the environment, human health, and wellbeing, and engage with policy makers and the public.

To achieve these goals we establish pioneering long-term research objectives in plant and microbial science, with a focus on genetics. These objectives include promoting the translation of research through partnerships to develop improved crops and to make new products from microbes and plants for human health and other applications. We also create new approaches, technologies and resources that enable research advances and help industry to make new products. The knowledge, resources and trained researchers we generate help global societies address important challenges including providing sufficient and affordable food, making new products for human health and industrial applications, and developing sustainable bio-based manufacturing.

This provides a fertile environment for training the next generation of plant and microbial scientists, many of whom go on to careers in industry and academia, around the world.

The John Innes Centre is strategically funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). In 2015-2016 the John Innes Centre received a total of 30.1 million from the BBSRC.

The John Innes Centre is also supported by the John Innes Foundation through provision of research accommodation and long-term support of the Rotation PhD programme.

The John Innes Centre is the winner of the BBSRC's 2013 - 2016 Excellence with Impact award. For more information about the John Innes Centre visit our website http://www.jic.ac.uk

About BBSRC

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government.

BBSRC invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to further scientific knowledge, to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond.

Funded by government, BBSRC invested 469 million in world-class bioscience in 2016-17. We support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals

For more information about BBSRC, our science and our impact see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk

For more information about BBSRC strategically funded institutes see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/institutesMADISON-- Bioinformatics professors Anthony Gitter and Casey Greene set out in summer 2016 to write a paper about biomedical applications for deep learning, a hot new artificial intelligence field striving to mimic the neural networks of the human brain.

They completed the paper, but also triggered an intriguing case of academic crowdsourcing. Today, the paper has been massively written and revised with the help of more than 40 online collaborators, most of whom contributed enough to become co-authors.

The updated study, "Opportunities and obstacles for deep learning in biology and medicine," was published April 4, 2018 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Gitter, of the Morgridge Institute for Research and University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Greene, of the University of Pennsylvania; both work in the application of computational tools to solve big challenges in health and biology. They wanted to see where deep learning was making a difference and where the untapped potential lies in the biomedical world.

Gitter likened the process to how the open source software community works.

"We are basically taking a software engineering approach to writing a scholarly paper," he says. "We're using the GitHub website as our primary writing platform, which is the most popular place online for people to collaborate on writing code."

Adds Gitter: "We also adopted the software engineering mentality of getting a big team of people to work together on one product, and coordinating what needs to be done next."

The new authors frequently provided examples of how deep learning is impacting their corner of science. For example, Gitter says one scientist contributed a section on cryo-electron microscopy, a new must-have tool for biology imaging, that is using deep learning techniques. Others rewrote portions to make it more accessible to non-biologists or provided ethical background on medical data privacy.

Deep learning is part of a broader family of machine learning tools that has made breakthrough gains in recent years. It uses the structure of neural networks to feed inputs into multiple layers to train the algorithm. It can build ways to identify and describe recurring features in data, while also being able to predict some outputs. Deep learning also can work in "unsupervised" mode, where it can explain or identify interesting patterns in data without being directed.

One famous example of unsupervised deep learning is when a Google-produced neural network identified that the three most important components of online videos were faces, pedestrians and cats -- without being told to look for them.

Deep learning has transformed programs like face recognition, speech patterns and language translation. Among the scores of clever applications is a program that learns the signature artistic traits of famous painters, and then transforms everyday pictures into a Van Gogh, Picasso or Monet.

Greene says deep learning has not yet revealed the "hidden cats" in healthcare data, but there are some promising developments. Several studies are using deep learning to better categorize breast cancer patients by disease subtype and most beneficial treatment option. Another program is training deep learning on huge natural image databases to be able to diagnose diabetic retinopathy and melanoma. These applications surpassed some of the state of the art tools.

Deep learning also is contributing to better clinical decision-making, improving the success rates of clinical trials, and tools that can better predict the toxicity of new drug candidates.

"Deep learning tries to integrate things and make predictions about who might be at risk to develop certain diseases, and how we can try to circumvent them early on," Gitter says. "We could identify who needs more screening or testing. We could do this in a preventative, forward thinking manner. That's where my co-authors and I are excited. We feel like the potential payoff is so great, even if the current technology cannot meet these lofty goals."

###BOZEMAN -- For years, researchers have known that it is hard to attract and keep women and some minorities in science, technology, engineering and math - or STEM - fields. Now, a Montana State University researcher has found that the same problem applies to sexual minorities.

Many have suspected the findings, but MSU professor Bryce Hughes' study, "Coming Out in STEM: factors affecting retention of sexual minority STEM students," published in the March 14 issue of Science Advances, was the first to provide quantitative evidence, he said. Hughes, an assistant professor of adult and higher education in the College of Education, Health and Human Development, found students who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer were 7 percent less likely than their heterosexual peers to complete their STEM degree.

Hughes analyzed data from a national survey given to university students in their first and fourth years in school to see whether first-year students who identified as LGBQ and planned to pursue a STEM major were still enrolled in a STEM major by their fourth year. The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA collected the data in 2011 and 2015 from more than 4,000 students at 78 institutions across the U.S. Hughes said because of statistical limitations with the data collected, he did not specifically look at experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming students, but plans to in future work.

Overall, Hughes found that 71 percent of heterosexual students and 64 percent of LGBQ students persisted in STEM. After Hughes controlled for variables such as academic performance in high school and participation in undergraduate research, which are known to contribute to academic persistence in STEM, he found that heterosexual men were 17 percent more likely to stay in STEM than LGBQ males. However, LGBQ women were 18 percent more likely than heterosexual women to stay in STEM, which he attributed to gender stereotyping of sexual minority women as masculine and sexual minority men as feminine. Overall, though, Hughes noted that the probabilities for both groups of men staying in STEM were still higher than for both groups of women.

Interestingly, Hughes also found that nearly 50 percent of LGBQ undergraduates reported working in a lab or doing fieldwork, compared with 41 percent of heterosexual students. Previous research suggests that participating in research programs increases students' chances of completing their STEM studies. Hughes attributes the higher percentage of LGBQ undergraduates working in a lab or doing fieldwork to both their expectation of adversity and commitment to the field. Had lab and fieldwork participation not been so high for LGBQ students, the retention gap could have been even wider, he noted.

"We kind of assumed that if you go into a field anticipating that it might not be the most welcoming climate, you're probably more committed and likely to seek out experiences that you know will make a positive difference," he said.

Hughes' study did not determine the reasons for the disparity in retention, although he is interested in conducting qualitative research that investigates that question in the future. Some have speculated that the cultural climate surrounding the STEM fields may reinforce traditional gender role stereotypes and be less welcoming to sexual minority students, he said.

A colleague of Hughes' who is familiar with his work said his research is evidence that challenges do exist. It also helps broaden the view of underrepresentation, she said.

"We can easily see that a classroom has only a few women or is mostly white students," said Jessi L. Smith, MSU psychology professor. "Dr. Hughes' study is so important because it shines a light on an invisible minority group who are at risk for leaving STEM fields."

Alison Harmon, dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Development, said Hughes' research provides valuable insights for higher education administrators working to improve the college experience. She noted that providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students is a priority of the College of Education, Health and Human Development, as evidenced by a recent diversity and inclusion plan it adopted.

"Our plan states that our college is committed to an environment that fosters diversity and inclusion of all individuals in our college and the MSU community," Harmon said. "We believe that each student, staff and faculty member should feel welcomed and valued for their contributions to the educational process in all areas of teaching and learning, research and service in the MSU community and beyond."

Hughes said one of the biggest takeaways from the research is the importance of expanding the conversation around diversity.

"What we're seeing is broader patterns of exclusion in STEM fields," he said. "When we think about diversity within the STEM context, there's this perception that science is science no matter who is doing the science. What we've learned from work addressing racial and gender gaps and as we expand this conversation to sexual minority students is that there is some kind of subjectivity at play here. There is some way that different people are being pushed out of these fields."

And, he said, there is tremendous value to diversity in science.

"It's important to recognize that a wider, more diverse array of experiences in the field will only improve the outcomes," Hughes said. "People from different backgrounds may have a different way of approaching problems - which will often result in better solutions."

###

Hughes' paper is available online at advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/3/eaao6373.R. Damian Nance, who first proposed the now-accepted supercontinent cycle theory in the 1980s, has rallied to the cause of one of those supercontinents, Pannotia

ATHENS, Ohio (April 4, 2018) - An Ohio University geologist who first proposed the now-accepted supercontinent cycle theory in the 1980s has rallied to the cause of one of those supercontinents, Pannotia, that is in danger of being overlooked.

Dr. Damian Nance, Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences, said the supercontinent cycle is known to have had a profound influence on the course of Earth history and the evolution of its oceans, atmosphere and biosphere, and is now thought to be, in addition, the dominant influence on the circulation of the Earth's mantle, even fundamentally affecting the behavior of Earth's magnetic field.

"We now know a whole lot more about what's going on between the surface and the Earth's core," Nance said. "It seems quite clear now that the supercontinent cycle plays an enormous role in the circulation of the material in the earth's mantle, and that has an impact on the Earth's magnetic field. It's taken the implications of the cycle to a whole new level. That's really pretty fundamental stuff."

Nance and Ohio University colleague Tom Worsley proposed the supercontinent cycle in the early 1980s. Based on data available at the time, they proposed the existence of five supercontinents that pre-dated the well-known Pangaea supercontinent. Some of them have been accepted, such as the supercontinent Rodinia, which came together about 1,100 million years ago, and Columbia, which broke up some 400 million years before that. However, the most recent pre-Pangaean supercontinent, Pannotia, is still subject to disagreement. Nance and Worsley argued that it came into existence about 600 million years ago.

"When we first put forward this supercontinent cycle idea, this was one of the supercontinents we had identified from the data we had at that time, and we weren't the only ones who have done so," Nance said. "In the intervening 20 or 30 years, an awfully lot has been made of some of the earlier supercontinents we had proposed, but this one has been shortchanged, largely because the database which has allowed these things to be identified has not been able to nail this one down very successfully."

The understanding of much of that data has changed since the 1980s, he added. Another group had published a paper in the 1980s that documented the breakup of a supercontinent, later called Pannotia. But later dating suggested this breakup occurred at around the same time it would have formed, leading some to question whether it ever actually existed. However, subsequent changes to the geologic time scale indicates a broader gap for Pannotia to have existed, he said.

The new paper, published by Nance and colleague Brendan Murphy of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada, is titled "Supercontinents and the case for Pannotia." It was published by the Geological Society of London. Nance and Murphy argue that the recognition of past supercontinents need not rely solely on continental reconstructions, but can also exploit a variety of phenomena that accompany their assembly and breakup.

For example, supercontinent assembly is accompanied by worldwide mountain building as the continents collide, just as evidence of continental rifting will accompany supercontinent breakup. Similarly, supercontinent assembly fosters extinctions as surface conditions change and habitats are destroyed, whereas breakup fosters radiations as new habitats are created.

Supercontinents also affect the world's sea level, ocean chemistry and climate in predictable ways and produce an array of isotopic signals that can be identified in rocks. When the geologic record is examined for evidence of these accompanying phenomena, the case for Pannotia is unmistakable, they argue. The time interval encompassed by the assembly and breakup of Pannotia was accompanied by some of the most profound changes in Earth history, changes that were heralded by widespread mountain building, followed by global evidence of continental breakup, and affected the Earth's oceans, atmosphere, biosphere and climate just as predicted.

These signals, Nance and Murphy caution, argue strongly for the existence of Pannotia, and to ignore them and dismiss this supercontinent is to potentially overlook the profound changes in mantle circulation that likewise accompany the assembly and breakup stages of the supercontinent cycle.

###WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University-affiliated startup is seeking to open up access to space for microsatellite companies by modernizing a launch technique first used in the 1950s.

Leo Aerospace LLC plans to use "rockoons," or high-altitude balloons, that launch rockets into suborbital and orbital flights. Suborbital launches are frequently used by researchers who need access to zero gravity or vacuums for experiment, while orbital flights are used by satellites.

Officials of Leo Aerospace, which took its name from Low Earth Orbit, say the company will revolutionize the space industry by giving priority service to microsatellite developers that now are secondary payloads for large rocket companies. Currently, developers have to wait to see if there is room left on large rockets carrying government payloads and often have to wait six months or more to find space on a rocket, a delay that can be quite costly. Those microsatellite developers also have limited options on which orbit their satellites are delivered to and when they are launched.

"We're targeting the microsatellites by saying, 'You don't have to ride-share with anyone. We can guarantee you will be our only payload and we will be focused on you,'" said Drew Sherman, Leo Aerospace's head of vehicle development. "'We will work with you exclusively to get you into orbit. You won't have to worry about other payloads or getting dropped off in the wrong spot.'"

Abishek Murali, head of mission engineering, said a selling point for Leo Aerospace will be its flexibility and ability to meet customers' needs.

The company can tailor its launch vehicles and its operational capabilities to the exact needs of its clients.

"Our goal is to give people access to space. The only way to do that right now is to help people get their satellite into orbit. That's where we want to leave our mark," he said.

Leo Aerospace plans to harness physics to cut costs and expand mission capabilities.

The cost of sending a satellite into space can be up to $60,000 a kilogram. Leo Aerospace is confident it can lower that cost to launch microsatellites, which can weigh 1 to 50 kilograms. The rockoon, a hybrid of a rocket and high-altitude balloon, is less expensive to deploy than a traditional rocket since there is less drag because the rocket isn't launched until the balloon is 11 miles above Earth, where there is 95 percent less atmosphere to cause drag.

"By doing that you can scale your rocket down much more efficiently," said Sherman, who is pursuing a master's degree at Purdue in engineering management with an emphasis on propulsion.

Leo Aerospace conducted a customer discovery and market validation study through the National Science Foundation I-Corps program and found a large demand to deploy microsatellites.

The rockoon was first used by the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s. Leo Aerospace can precisely launch the rocket by controlling the pitch and angle using core integration technology, for which it has filed patents.

The company's goal is to launch its first suborbital flight by 2020 and use these funds combined with a series B funding round, to launch its first satellite into orbit in 2022. Its long-term goal is to increase launch frequency as operations develop. The company has done some preliminary analysis work and some hardware testing.

Leo Aerospace plans to initially launch the rockoons from existing spaceports licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The spaceports stretch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Kodiak Island in Alaska.

Leo Aerospace plans to reuse the balloons for future launches, but the rockets will be used only once, said Murali, who is pursuing a graduate degree at Purdue in engineering management with an emphasis on dynamics and control systems.

Leo Aerospace is now looking for funding to get off the ground. The company won $15,000 in March through the Burton D. Morgan Business Model Competition. Leo Aerospace already has raised more than $130,000 of its $250,000 goal through Netcapital, a private equity and venture capital firm.

People interested in investing can get more information here. The company plans to seek Series A funding in the next two years.

The company was started by five then-Purdue students as a club that they then decided to turn into a business, receiving guidance from the Purdue Foundry, an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship at Purdue. The rocket scientists developed their business plan and learned what they needed to do to move forward.

"We want to be part of the space market," Murali said. "People are interested in space and creating technologies that not only can operate in space but also help people back on Earth. What we're trying to do is help them get there."

###

About Purdue Foundry

The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. Managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue Foundry was co-named a top recipient at the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Designation and Awards Program by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org.

Purdue Research Foundation contact: Tom Coyne, 765-588-1044, tjcoyne@prf.org

Sources: Drew Sherman, drew@leoaerospace.com

Abishek Murali, abishek@leoaerospace.comAbu Dhabi, UAE (April 4, 2018)  In a new study published today in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers from New York University Abu Dhabi and NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, share new findings about how the presence of giant planets (between 10 and 1000 times as large as the Earth) affects potentially habitable neighbors that would be discovered with the next generation of ground-based and space-borne telescopes.

The researchers, led by Research Associate Nikolaos Georgakarakos of the department of physics at NYU Abu Dhabi, report in Giant Planets: Good Neighbors for Habitable Worlds that even after planets have formed with enough water on their surface to potentially support life, giant planets can continue to change their orbits and impact their continued habitability in positive or negative ways.

The habitable zone is the region around a star where a planet with an Earth-like atmosphere on a circular orbit can support liquid water on its surface.

Studying 147 extrasolar planetary systems with giant planets (with the parameters of these systems taken from NASAs exoplanet archive), Georgakarakos and colleagues found that, in most cases, the presence of giant neighbors would reduce a terrestrial planet's chances to remain habitable, even when the terrestrial planet is on a stable orbit. A stable orbit means that the terrestrial planet is not ejected from the system, or pushed to the outskirts. It is important that the complex gravitational interactions between the star, the terrestrial planet, and its giant neighbor result in a stable orbit for the Earth-like planet as the development and evolution of life on a planet requires long timescales.

While in the majority of investigated systems the presence of the gas giants shrank the habitable zone, they still left sufficient room for habitable Earth-like planets to be there, said Georgakarakos. This is an important insight to inform follow-up investigations. It would not make sense to search for Earth 2.0 in a system where a giant planet stirs the orbit of any neighboring terrestrial planet in the habitable zone so much that its climate collapses.

Added Siegfried Eggl, associate researcher at JPL: Perhaps most surprisingly, our findings suggest that, under certain conditions, the presence of a giant planet can actually increase the size of the habitable zone, which is the area where your terrestrial planet receives the right amount of light in order to support liquid water on its surface. This is quite remarkable since the continuous gravitational pull of giant planets on their terrestrial neighbors mostly spells trouble for habitability.

By providing specific constraints on when precisely giant planets become bad neighbors, Georgakarakos, Eggl, and Ian Dobbs-Dixon, NYUAD assistant professor of physics, were able to identify prime targets in the ongoing search for a second Earth. The general idea is the farther away the giant planet is from the habitable zone, the better. For planets that are similar to our Earth that is actually true. What we showed, however, is that this may not necessarily be the case for Earth-like planets with a climate less sensitive to changes in the incoming radiation, Georgakarakos said. About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and science campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly-selective liberal arts, engineering and science curriculum with a world center for advanced research and scholarship enabling its students to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanitys shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabis high-achieving students have come from 115 nations and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents. About JPL

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a unique national research facility that carries out robotic space and Earth science missions. JPL helped open the Space Age by developing America's first Earth-orbiting science satellite, creating the first successful interplanetary spacecraft, and sending robotic missions to study all the planets in the solar system as well as asteroids, comets and Earth's moon. In addition to its missions, JPL developed and manages NASA's Deep Space Network, a worldwide system of antennas that communicates with interplanetary spacecraft.

Media Contact

Adam Pockriss

Rubenstein (for NYU Abu Dhabi)

apockriss@rubenstein.com

212-843-8286

Calla Cofield

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov

818-393-1821The Beatles are one of the greatest cultural phenomena to come from the 20th Century, yet many people are unaware of their impact on science.

In 'Here, There and Everywhere', inspired by the book 'La scienza dei Beatles' ('The science of the Beatles'), Viviana Ambrosi shows how the Fab Four can bring the study of celestial objects and the exploration of the universe closer to a large public audience. This is set out in a presentation on 3rd April at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Liverpool.

The Beatles formed at the start of the space race, and have always inspired scientists, whether they knew it or not. The Beatles' record company (EMI) used money from the sale of the White Album to fund scientific research. Some of which went towards Godfrey Hounsfield's research into X-rays, which led to the invention of the CT scanner, for which he shared a Nobel Prize.

'Across the Universe' was transmitted into deep space in 2008, and numerous songs have been played as the wakeup call for astronauts on the International Space Station, including a live musical wake up by Paul McCartney in 2005.

There are five asteroids named: Beatles, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr. There is also a crater on Mercury named 'Lennon', and when a diamond star (a white dwarf covered in crystallised carbon) was discovered in 2004, it was nicknamed 'Lucy' after 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'.

This was also the inspiration for 'Lucy', the fossil that rewrote the story of humanity, and this in turn has inspired NASA to name their first mission to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids 'Lucy'.

This mission is due to launch in 2021 and will take 12 years to complete its journey. It is safe to say that the Beatles will be an inspiration for many years to come.

###

Media contacts

Dr Robert Massey

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44-0-7802-877-699

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Ms Anita Heward

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44-0-7756-034-243

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Dr Morgan Hollis

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44-0-7802-877-700

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Dr Helen Klus

Royal Astronomical Society

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Ms Marieke Baan

European Astronomical Society

Mob: +31-0-6-14-322-627

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Science contacts

Ms Viviana Ambrosi

SISSA, International School for Advanced Studies

Mob: +39-0-3481-027-200

vivianaambrosi@gmail.com

Images and captions

https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/EWASS2018/Ambrosi/immagine%20libri.jpg

'La scienza dei Beatles' ('The science of the Beatles') by Viviana Ambrosi.

Credit: Valentina Ambrosi

https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/EWASS2018/Ambrosi/Lucy-NASA.png

NASA's patch for the Lucy mission. The diamond shape references "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by The Beatles, while the skeleton on the left represents the Lucy hominin fossil, whose name was inspired by the song. Credit: NASA/SwRI.

Notes for editors

The European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS 2018) will take place at the Arena and Conference Centre (ACC) in Liverpool from 3 - 6 April 2018. Bringing together around 1500 astronomers and space scientists, the conference is the largest professional astronomy and space science event in the UK for a decade and will see leading researchers from around the world presenting their latest work.

EWASS 2018 is a joint meeting of the European Astronomical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society. It incorporates the RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM), and includes the annual meeting of the UK Solar Physics (UKSP) group. The conference is principally sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU).

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) is one of the largest, most dynamic and forward-thinking universities in the UK, with a vibrant community of 25,000 students from over 100 countries world-wide, 2,500 staff and 250 degree courses. LJMU celebrated its 25th anniversary of becoming a university in 2017 and has launched a new five-year vision built around four key 'pillars' to deliver excellence in education; impactful research and scholarship; enhanced civic and global engagement; and an outstanding student experience.

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 4000 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

The RAS accepts papers for its journals based on the principle of peer review, in which fellow experts on the editorial boards accept the paper as worth considering. The Society issues press releases based on a similar principle, but the organisations and scientists concerned have overall responsibility for their content.

Follow the RAS on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

The European Astronomical Society (EAS) promotes and advances astronomy in Europe. As an independent body, the EAS is able to act on matters that need to be handled at a European level on behalf of the European astronomical community. In its endeavours the EAS collaborates with affiliated national astronomical societies and also with pan-European research organisations and networks. Founded in 1990, the EAS is a society of individual members. All astronomers may join the society, irrespective of their field of research, or their country of work or origin. In addition, corporations, publishers and non-profit organisations can become organizational members of the EAS. The EAS, together with one of its affiliated societies, organises the annual European Week of Astronomy & Space Science (formerly known as JENAM) to enhance its links with national communities, to broaden connections between individual members and to promote European networks.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is keeping the UK at the forefront of international science and has a broad science portfolio and works with the academic and industrial communities to share its expertise in materials science, space and ground-based astronomy technologies, laser science, microelectronics, wafer scale manufacturing, particle and nuclear physics, alternative energy production, radio communications and radar. STFC's Astronomy and Space Science programme provides support for a wide range of facilities, research groups and individuals in order to investigate some of the highest priority questions in astrophysics, cosmology and solar system science. STFC's astronomy and space science programme is delivered through grant funding for research activities, and also through support of technical activities at STFC's UK Astronomy Technology Centre and RAL Space at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. STFC also supports UK astronomy through the international European Southern Observatory.

Follow STFC on Twitter

STFC is part of UK Research and InnovationA study of the evolution of magnetic fields inside neutron stars shows that instabilities can create intense magnetic hot spots that survive for millions of years, even after the star's overall magnetic field has decayed significantly. The results will be presented by Dr Konstantinos Gourgouliatos of Durham University at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) in Liverpool on Wednesday, 4th April.

When a massive star consumes its nuclear fuel and collapses under its own gravity in a supernova explosion, it can result in a neutron star. These very dense objects have a radius of about 10 kilometres and yet are 1.5 times more massive than the Sun. They have very strong magnetic fields and are rapid rotators, with some neutron stars spinning more than 100 times per second round their axis. Neutron stars are typically modelled with a magnetic field that has a north and south magnetic pole, like the Earth's. However, a simple 'dipole' model does not explain puzzling aspects of neutron stars, such as why some parts of their surface are much hotter than their average temperature.

Gourgouliatos and Rainer Hollerbach, of the University of Leeds, used the ARC supercomputer at the University of Leeds to run numerical simulations to understand how complex structures form as the magnetic field evolves inside a neutron star.

Gourgouliatos explains: "A newborn neutron star does not rotate uniformly - various parts of it spin with different speeds. This winds up and stretches the magnetic field inside the star in a way that resembles a tight ball of yarn. Through the computer simulations, we found that a highly wound magnetic field is unstable. It spontaneously generates knots, which emerge from the surface of the neutron star and form spots where the magnetic field is much stronger than the large-scale field. These magnetic spots produce strong electric currents, which eventually release heat, in the same way heat is produced when an electric current flows in a resistor."

The simulations show that it is possible to generate a magnetic spot with a radius of a few kilometres and a magnetic field strength in excess of 10 billion Tesla. The spot can last several million years, even if the total magnetic field of the neutron star has decayed.

The study may have wide implications for our understanding of neutron stars. Even neutron stars with weaker overall magnetic fields could still form very intense magnetic hot spots. This could explain the strange behaviour of some magnetars, for example the exotic SGR 0418+5729, which has an unusually low spin rate and a relatively weak large-scale magnetic field but erupts sporadically with high-energy radiation.

###

Further information

Magnetic axis drift and magnetic spot formation in neutron stars with toroidal fields, Gourgouliatos K. and Hollerbach, R., The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 852, Number 1, published 28 December 2017. https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.01338

Media contacts

Dr Robert Massey

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44 (0)7802 877 699

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Ms Anita Heward

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44 (0)7756 034 243

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Dr Morgan Hollis

Royal Astronomical Society

Mob: +44 (0)7802 877 700

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Dr Helen Klus

Royal Astronomical Society

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Ms Marieke Baan

European Astronomical Society

Mob: +31 6 14 32 26 27

ewass-press@ras.ac.uk

Durham University Marketing and Communications Office

Tel: +44 (0)191 334 6075

communications.team@durham.ac.uk

Images and captions

Fig. 1. A tightly wound-up magnetic field used as initial state in the simulation.

https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/EWASS2018/Gourgouliatos/Gourgouliatos_1.jpg

Fig. 2. The magnetic field structure after it has become unstable leading to the formation of knots and magnetic spots.

https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/EWASS2018/Gourgouliatos/Gourgouliatos_2.jpg

Notes for editors

The European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS 2018) will take place at the Arena and Conference Centre (ACC) in Liverpool from 3 - 6 April 2018. Bringing together around 1500 astronomers and space scientists, the conference is the largest professional astronomy and space science event in the UK for a decade and will see leading researchers from around the world presenting their latest work.

EWASS 2018 is a joint meeting of the European Astronomical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society. It incorporates the RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM), and includes the annual meeting of the UK Solar Physics (UKSP) group. The conference is principally sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU).

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) is one of the largest, most dynamic and forward-thinking universities in the UK, with a vibrant community of 25,000 students from over 100 countries world-wide, 2,500 staff and 250 degree courses. LJMU celebrated its 25th anniversary of becoming a university in 2017 and has launched a new five-year vision built around four key 'pillars' to deliver excellence in education; impactful research and scholarship; enhanced civic and global engagement; and an outstanding student experience.

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 4000 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.

The RAS accepts papers for its journals based on the principle of peer review, in which fellow experts on the editorial boards accept the paper as worth considering. The Society issues press releases based on a similar principle, but the organisations and scientists concerned have overall responsibility for their content.

Follow the RAS on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

The European Astronomical Society (EAS) promotes and advances astronomy in Europe. As an independent body, the EAS is able to act on matters that need to be handled at a European level on behalf of the European astronomical community. In its endeavours the EAS collaborates with affiliated national astronomical societies and also with pan-European research organisations and networks. Founded in 1990, the EAS is a society of individual members. All astronomers may join the society, irrespective of their field of research, or their country of work or origin. In addition, corporations, publishers and non-profit organisations can become organizational members of the EAS. The EAS, together with one of its affiliated societies, organises the annual European Week of Astronomy & Space Science (formerly known as JENAM) to enhance its links with national communities, to broaden connections between individual members and to promote European networks.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is keeping the UK at the forefront of international science and has a broad science portfolio and works with the academic and industrial communities to share its expertise in materials science, space and ground-based astronomy technologies, laser science, microelectronics, wafer scale manufacturing, particle and nuclear physics, alternative energy production, radio communications and radar.

STFC's Astronomy and Space Science programme provides support for a wide range of facilities, research groups and individuals in order to investigate some of the highest priority questions in astrophysics, cosmology and solar system science. STFC's astronomy and space science programme is delivered through grant funding for research activities, and also through support of technical activities at STFC's UK Astronomy Technology Centre and RAL Space at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. STFC also supports UK astronomy through the international European Southern Observatory.

Follow STFC on Twitter

STFC is part of UK Research and Innovation

About Durham UniversityLa Jolla, Calif., April 4, 2018 - Evan Y. Snyder, M.D., Ph.D., professor and founding director, Center for Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) and professor at the University of California San Diego, has been elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians (AAP). AAP is a prestigious national society of physician-scientists who are elected based on their important scientific contributions that have ultimately impacted human health. Snyder will be inducted at the AAP annual meeting on April 21, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.

"Evan is highly deserving of this honor," says Kristiina Vuori, M.D., Ph.D., president of SBP. "His pioneering research on the properties of stem cells has led to applications in a broad range of neurologic conditions, many in clinical trials today."

Snyder studies the basic and translational biology of stem cells (particularly neural) with the goal of understanding normal and aberrant development, tissue homeostasis and plasticity, inter-cellular communication, oncogenesis, and recovery of function. His lab uses stem cells to model disease pathogenesis and pathophysiology (for pathway mapping, therapeutic target identification, and drug discovery). He is a practicing clinician, a leader in regional ethics programs, and engaged in graduate and medical school education. He served two terms as Chairman of the FDA's Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee.

Snyder earned his M.D. and Ph.D. (in neuroscience) from the University of Pennsylvania and received training in Philosophy, Psychology, and Linguistics at Oxford University. He began his career as a physician-scientist at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital where, in addition to running a lab and multidisciplinary research program, he remained clinically active in pediatrics, pediatric neurology, and newborn intensive care. In 2003, after 23 years at Harvard, he was recruited to SBP.

###

About SBP

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) is an independent nonprofit medical research organization that conducts world-class, collaborative, biological research and translates its discoveries for the benefit of patients. SBP focuses its research on cancer, immunity, neurodegeneration, metabolic disorders and rare children's diseases. The Institute invests in talent, technology and partnerships to accelerate the translation of laboratory discoveries that will have the greatest impact on patients. Recognized for its world-class NCI-designated Cancer Center and the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics, SBP employs about 1,000 scientists and staff in San Diego (La Jolla), Calif., and Orlando (Lake Nona), Fla. For more information, visit us at SBPdiscovery.org or on Facebook at facebook.com/SBPdiscovery and on Twitter @SBPdiscovery.A new study by Swansea University has suggested that children with intellectual difficulty or autism are more likely to be given antipsychotic medication from a younger age than those without intellectual disability and have higher rates of hospitalisation for depression and for injury and also are at risk of other medical side effects.

Antipsychotic medication can be prescribed for young people with serious mental conditions such as schizophrenia. Some antipsychotic medications have also been used to reduce aggression in children with disruptive behaviour. They are also sometimes used for short term management of young people with explosive anger.

The study, led by Professor Sinead Brophy of the University's Medical School published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology , examined how antipsychotics are used in the NHS, by linking hospital, general practitioner and educational records for 3028 young people who had been prescribed an antipsychotic.

Study Findings

It was found that children with intellectual difficulty or autism were more likely to be given an antipsychotic. The study found:

2.8% had been prescribed antipsychotics

75% of these children had autism

This compares with 0.15% of those without intellectual disability.

Those with intellectual disability or autism were prescribed them younger and for a longer period than those without intellectual disability or autism. The research found that 50% of those with intellectual disability or autism had more than 12 prescriptions compared to 25% of those without intellectual disability or autism.

For young people who did not have intellectual disability or autism, there were lower rates of depression and injury after the antipsychotic, but for those with autism or intellectual disability there were higher rates of being hospitalized for depression and for injury. This is possibly because it has a sedative effect and makes children more injury prone and if the child did not have a manic or agitated type mental health condition beforehand, it can lead to depression.

Side Effects

Antipsychotics are known to be associated with increasing seizures in those with epilepsy. In some people certain antipsychotics can cause weight gain and potential diabetes and reducing swallowing and so leaving people open to respiratory infections. The study found evidence of higher rates of epilepsy, diabetes and respiratory infection requiring hospital admission in all young people, with and without autism or intellectual disability, who are on antipsychotics, compared to rates before being prescribed antipsychotics and compared to those not on antipsychotics.

Professor Brophy said: "Our research suggests that young people with intellectual difficulty or autism are more like to be prescribed antipsychotic medication than those with a psychotic diagnosis, and are prescribed this medication at a younger age and for a longer period of time.

"Treating behavioural problems in this way can lead to increased costs to the NHS in terms of higher epilepsy, respiratory infection, diabetes, depression and injury all requiring more visits to the GP and hospital. In addition, treating behavioural problems in this way can have long term health implications for the individual and for those who care for them."

###

Notes

When reporting this story, please use Swansea University hyperlinks.

Swansea University Medical School is a UK top-ten Medical School offering a comprehensive portfolio of undergraduate and postgraduate courses spanning medicine, physician associate studies, health and life sciences to meet tomorrow's science and healthcare challenges. Since its beginnings as a newly established Medical School in 2004, it has seen exceptional development from the growth of its Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) programme to building Wales' premier health and life sciences research facilities in the Institute of Life Science (ILS), Centre for NanoHealth and Data Science Building.

2014 saw the Research Excellence Framework place Swansea University Medical School equal first in the UK for the quality of its research environment and second for overall research quality. In 2016, it became the first department in Swansea University to win Athena SWAN Silver recognition for its work to promote women in science careers. These developments together with significant investment from external funding organisations have led to the Medical School rising to third in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2018 and UK top ten rankings in a range of other independent guides.

Swansea University is a world-class, research-led, dual campus university. The University was established in 1920 and was the first campus university in the UK. It currently offers around 350 undergraduate courses and 350 postgraduate courses to circa 20,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The University's 46-acre Singleton Park Campus is located in beautiful parkland with views across Swansea Bay. The University's 65-acre science and innovation Bay Campus, which opened in September 2015, is located a few miles away on the eastern approach to the city. It has the distinction of having direct access to a beach and its own seafront promenade. Both campuses are close to the Gower Peninsula, the UK's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

In 2017, Swansea University became the top university in Wales in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide league table, and also won the inaugural Welsh University of the Year title.

It is also ranked within the top 300 best universities in the world in the Times Higher Education World University rankings.

The results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 showed the University has achieved its ambition to be a top 30 research University, soaring up the league table to 26th in the UK, with the 'biggest leap among research-intensive institutions' (Times Higher Education, December 2014) in the UK.

The University has ambitious expansion plans as it moves towards its centenary in 2020, as it continues to extend its global reach and realising its domestic and international ambitions.

Swansea University is a registered charity. No.1138342. Visit http://www.swansea.ac.uk

For more information, please contact the Press Office, Swansea University Tel: 01792 295050, or email: press@swansea.ac.uk Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SwanseaUni Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/swanseauniversityWriting in Nature today, a group of 12 scholars from across the developing world made an unprecedented call for developing countries to lead on the research and evaluation of solar radiation management (SRM) geoengineering.

Solar radiation management is a controversial idea for reducing some of the impacts of climate change. The leading proposal would involve spraying tiny reflective particles into the upper atmosphere, filtering the sun's energy to mimic the cooling effect of volcanoes.

The consequences of solar geoengineering are still uncertain and developing countries could be most affected by its use. SRM would lower global temperatures and so could reduce some of the harmful effects of climate change that affect poor countries, such as higher temperatures, changes to rainfall patterns and stronger tropical cyclones. But it could have unexpected and damaging side effects, could cause international tensions and could distract policymakers from cutting carbon emissions. Without leadership from the Global South, Northern voices will set the policy agenda and developing countries will be left behind.

Most research to date has taken place in Europe and North America. The Comment in Nature argues that developing countries have the most to gain or lose from SRM and should be central to international efforts to understand the technology.

The Comment's co-signatories are a diverse group of distinguished scientists and NGO leaders, all of whom ran pioneering workshops to expand discussion of SRM in their countries or regions: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Pakistan, the Pacific, the Philippines and Thailand.

Dr Atiq Rahman, Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and the Comment's lead author, said: "Clearly SRM could be dangerous but we need to know whether, for countries like Bangladesh, it would be more or less risky than passing the 1.5C warming goal agreed by the UNFCCC. This matters greatly to people from developing countries and our voices need to be heard".

Prof Paulo Artaxo, a Brazilian physicist and IPCC lead author, who helped organise the first major workshop on SRM in Brazil, agreed: "I support aggressive mitigation and am dubious that SRM will ever be safe enough to use, but developing countries have to lead on research to better understand what it might mean for them".

The Comment is linked to the launch of a new SRM modelling fund for scientists in the South. The DECIMALS fund (Developing Country Impact Modelling Analysis for SRM) will provide grants to scientists who want to understand how SRM might affect their regions. It is being administered by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the SRM Governance Initiative, with funding support from the Open Philanthropy Project. The call for proposals is open until 29 May 2018 and scientists from across the Global South are encouraged to apply if they would like to better understand the impacts of SRM while stimulating a wider conversation about its risks and benefits.

###

The Comment's authors and co-signatories:

Dr. A Atiq Rahman

Executive Director, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS)

Prof Paulo Artaxo

Professor of Environmental Physics, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Dr Asfawossen Asrat

Professor of Geology, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Andy Parker

Project Director of the SRM Governance Initiative (http://www.srmgi.org)

Prof Tara Dasgupta

President, Caribbean Academy of Sciences - Jamaica

Dr Arunabha Ghosh,

CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, India

Dr Aphiya Hathayatham

Vice President, National Science Museum of Thailand

Dr Rodel Lasco

Senior Scientist, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Philippines

Mr Penehuro Lefale

Director, LeA International, New Zealand

Prof John Moore

Chief Scientist, College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, China

Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri

Executive Director, The Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan

Prof Nelson Torto

Executive Director, The African Academy of Sciences, Kenya

For interviews

Dr Atiq Rahman: atiq.rahman@bcas.net +8801711591066

Dr Rahman will be in Egypt on 2, 3 and 4 April (UTC +2). If you are unable to get hold of Dr Rahman or have questions about SRMGI or the DECIMALS fund, please contact Andy Parker: aparker@srmgi.org, +491747617863

Details of publication

Atiq Rahman, P Artaxo, A Asrat and A Parker (2018) "Developing countries must lead on solar geoengineering research"

Published in Nature

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03917-8 (link will go live at 0001 UTC on 4 April)A novel approach to treating fluid build-up around the lungs of cancer patients could deliver a more effective home-based treatment for thousands of people who might be approaching the end of their lives, according to a new study led by the University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust.

In patients with all types of cancer excess fluid can start to collect between the thin layers of tissue lining the outside of the lung and the wall of the chest cavity. This phenomenon, called a "malignant pleural effusion" and which is particularly prevalent in lung and breast cancer patients, is estimated to affect at least 50,000 people in the UK each year with numbers increasing as both cancer survival and number of cancer diagnoses increases year-on-year.

As the lung becomes compressed by the surrounding fluid, patients will usually experience breathlessness and a dramatic reduction in quality of life. The commonest treatment for malignant effusions involves inserting a temporary tube between the ribs to drain the fluid, which allows the lung to expand. Before it is removed, medical talcum powder can be inserted down the tube to try to "glue" the lung to the inside of the chest wall to prevent further build-up of fluid.

However, while this treatment is relatively effective, the fact that it must be delivered in hospital over a number of days means that patients can experience additional distress because they unable to be at home or with family.

The alternative "indwelling pleural catheter", or IPC method, has become increasingly popular in the last two decades and is now offered by many hospitals in the UK. This approach involves patients only being in hospital for a few hours to have a long-term drainage tube tunnelled under a short section of skin in the chest. After this, their fluid can be drained at home as often as needed, rather than in the hospital environment. The main downside to this method, however, is that the tube may need to stay in place for many months or longer because, unlike talc, the method is not designed to prevent fluid formation.

In a recent study, published today [Wednesday 4 April] in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust spent four years working with patients in 18 UK hospitals to assess whether an alternative treatment approach, which combined talc with an IPC, could be delivered to patients who preferred to remain at home rather than be admitted to hospital for their malignant pleural effusion.

One hundred and fifty four patients were randomly treated as outpatients with either an IPC alone, or with an IPC in combination with talc. The study showed that those patients given talc through their IPC were more than twice as likely to have their fluid dry up than those who were just treated as standard, with an IPC alone.

Dr Rahul Bhatnagar, Clinical Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine, who co-ordinated the trial, and Nick Maskell, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, who led the study, from the Bristol Medical School (THS) at the University of Bristol, said: "This could change how malignant effusions are treated around the world.

"Our study shows that by combining two common but previously separate treatments, those with cancer-related fluid around the lung can be more effectively managed at home than previously thought.

"For those who would prefer not to spend any time in hospital, this combination is at least twice as good as any previous option. Most patients who are having an IPC should now be considered for talc treatment as well."

The researchers plan to continue to find ways to minimise the impact of malignant effusions on cancer patients, particularly focusing on what patients feel is most important to them. The cost implications to the NHS of such a new treatment are also being investigated.

###

Paper:

'Outpatient Talc Administration by Indwelling Pleural Catheter for Malignant Effusion' by Rahul Bhatnagar et al in New England Journal of Medicine [NEJM].Study shows that immune cells actually cause dangerous blood vessel blockage, in their rush to contain deadly fungal sepsis

Researchers at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) have for the first time been able to observe -- live and in real-time -- how the human body responds to often lethal fungal blood infections in the lung.

In the study, the fungal infection Candida albicans was introduced to mice or human models of the lung vasculature and as blood was pumped over that system, researchers recorded what happened using highly sophisticated microscopes. And what they saw surprised them.

Immune cells rushed to the scene of the infection, which was expected. But then those cells swarmed, clustered and jammed up the blood vessels causing a potentially dangerous blockage, and that was a revelation, one that could lead to new treatment options for the usually deadly incursions.

This clumping of immune cells was captured in high resolution.

The research study which was led by Dr. Bryan Yipp, assistant professor in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Pulmonary Immunology, Inflammation and Host Defence, was recently published in CELL Host & Microbe.

Seeking a greater understanding of lung immune response

Candida albicans is a leading cause of bloodstream infection and fungal sepsis, with a high mortality rate. People with weakened immune systems, such as transplant recipients and patients with genetic deficiencies, are often susceptible to developing the condition. Additionally, those with critical illness requiring intensive care unit (ICU) support are at risk for acquiring a fungal blood infection.

Yipp and his team were interested in understanding how the lung in particular is involved in protecting the body from infections. "For some reason the lung itself has a lot of the main type of immune cell, the neutrophil. We knew this, but the reasons why they are in the lung has remained mysterious," Yipp says.

As well, he says, most research has been on bacterial sepsis but they wanted to focus on fungal sepsis because it is less well understood and fungal infections are growing in number and severity. "Our initial thought was that neutrophils would capture fungi the same as they capture bacteria," Yipp says. "But they became so activated they started to clump and cluster together and actually block the bloodstream."

Advancing diseases-on-chips technology

The research team used sophisticated imaging techniques and novel "disease-on-chips" technology to observe the body's response to fungal blood infections. The chips are about the size of a penny and are intended to mimic an organ system - in this case, lung vasculature.

Cumming School of Medicine researcher Mark Gillrie, now doing postdoc work at MIT, developed the study's high-resolution organs-on-chips.

"We generate a pattern of an organ that we want, creating a 3D hollowed-out structure, stick it on a piece of glass, then we can introduce a lot of different cell types," Gillrie says. Astonishingly, Gillrie says those cells types then have the intrinsic ability to self-organize to a certain degree, into an alveolus in the lung for example, or the blood-brain barrier in the brain.

Seeing is believing

"Our real focus is to visualize how everything actually works," Yipp says, emphasizing the imaging is everything. "These are results we never would have been able to guess at without seeing it."

With a clearer understanding of the disease -- and pictures to prove how the human body reacts to a fungal blood infection in the lung -- the researchers say they are looking next to new therapeutic targets.

Yipp says the goal is to find a way to block the clumping of cells without inhibiting the immune cells from capturing bugs. And the team has already had some success with anti-inflammatory drugs already on the market for asthma. "We were able to repurpose a drug that has already been approved in humans that could reduce negative consequences of infection and improve clinical outcomes," Gillrie says.

###

The University of Calgary's multidisciplinary Engineering Solutions for Health: Biomedical Engineering research strategy drives solutions to our most pressing health challenges in disease and injury prevention, diagnosis and treatments. Our biomedical engineering researchers make a significant impact in our communities by extending lives, improving quality of life, promoting independence, and continuously improving the health system.Improved care for street dogs is the goal of a new smartphone app devised by an international team of animal welfare experts.

Vets say the free app will support vital work in clinics across the world that provide care for stray dogs - an estimated 200 million worldwide.

It will enable clinic staff to track the wellbeing of dogs as they go through so-called catch-neuter-return - a common public health strategy in countries with high numbers of strays.

During the process - which is key to stabilising the street dog numbers - stray dogs are taken in by local animal clinics and sterilised before being released. Vets say, however, that the welfare of individual dogs can be overlooked during capture, transport or surgery.

The new app - developed at the University of Edinburgh and piloted across Asia and Africa - will support staff to monitor welfare, spot signs of distress and develop strategies to improve care.

It will be launched on Friday (6th April) at the British Small Animal Veterinary Association Annual Congress in Birmingham and will be available online from April. It is based on research funded by Dogs Trust.

Project leader Heather Bacon of the University of Edinburgh's Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies said, "Humane street dog management is key to both animal and human health. However, in any situation involving capture, transport and surgery, there is the potential for welfare problems to arise. This innovative app will support handlers to recognise potential problems and improve care."

Manish Nepal of the Manumitra in Kathmandu, who piloted the smartphone tool, said, "The app is very user-friendly and will have a big impact on our ability to care for these dogs."

###Holding a newborn baby - and, at the same time, dealing with a blood sugar level that is fluctuating like never before. For some women with type-1 diabetes, the situation right after giving birth is overwhelming, and they need more support, according to research at Sahlgrenska Academy, Sweden. "Of course, it's incredibly frightening if you're holding a newborn and at the same time get so dizzy that you're forced to sit down. It naturally creates fear," says Karolina Linden, PhD in health and care sciences, also working as a nurse-midwife. A pregnancy entails higher risks to both the fetus and the mother when the mother has type-1 diabetes. In her thesis, Karolina Linden shows that despite highly specialized care and multiple actors involved during the pregnancy, additional support may be needed after the child is born and the family has come home from the maternity ward. In general, the women in the studied group (168 individuals) were doing pretty well, but two thirds of them said that they experienced problems with instable blood sugar levels after returning home from the maternity ward, of whom one fourth spoke of more difficult to manage problems. What the strong fluctuations are due to, breast-feeding or hormonal adjustments, is unclear. "They are supposed to have been given information that this can happen, but when you're pregnant and are going to give birth, focus is mainly on the delivery. It's hard to take in information about what will happen afterwards, and I believe this is true of all expectant parents," says Karolina Linden. In the work on her thesis, she studied well-being and diabetes management in women with type-1 diabetes during pregnancy and up to six months after the child's birth. One third of the women studied expressed a need for more professional support after the delivery. And she believes more in solutions where the women themselves do not need to take the initiative. Follow-up over the phone, and digital appointments for the parent with a diabetes team, are variants that may work when it is difficult to get to the hospital's diabetes clinic. "What's important is that a follow-up is done, and under the best of circumstances, it should be possible to identify which women need more professional support after coming home from the hospital already during the pregnancy," says Karolina Linden. She emphasizes that the group of expectant mothers with type-1 diabetes should not be pathologized. Basically, they are accustomed of managing their condition, and life does not circulate around it. At the same time, they are a group that rarely receives attention. "Unfortunately, they are not always seen. But it's a question of their right to receive support based on their circumstances even after the child has been born when the intensive care during the pregnancy has ended," says Karolina Linden. Titel: Women with type 1 diabetes during pregnancy and postpartum Well-being and diabetes management; http://hdl.handle.net/2077/54536

###CHAPEL HILL, NC - The bacterium that causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea is resistant to multiple standard antibiotics and now threatens to develop resistance against ceftriaxone, which is on the World Health Organization List of Essential Medicines and is the last effective antibiotic against the organism. UNC School of Medicine researchers have identified mutations to the bacterium Neisseria gonnorrhoeae that enable resistance to ceftriaxone that could lead to the global spread of ceftriaxone-resistant "superbug" strains.

The findings, published in the journal mBio, provide unique insights into the evolution of drug-resistant gonorrhea that should be useful in monitoring the disease and perhaps in defending against it.

"The first step in stopping a drug-resistant bacterium is figuring out how it becomes resistant to antibiotics that once were able to kill it," said study co-senior author Robert Nicholas, PhD, professor and vice chair of UNC's Department of Pharmacology. "Our results give us clues to how ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhea is emerging, why this is such a looming problem, and what to focus on to limit it."

Gonorrhea has been a public health problem for hundreds if not thousands of years. In the United States, the number of cases per capita per year rose sharply in the 1960s, then fell just as sharply when the HIV pandemic began. For the past few years the rates of gonorrhea have been rising steeply again. There are more than 800,000 cases per year in the U.S., and worldwide cases are estimated at 80 million annually. About 20,000 people in North Carolina have gonorrhea, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the state has the fifth highest rate of infection in the country - about 200 individuals out of 100,000.

If untreatable, complications include infertility, prostate inflammation, scarred and narrowed urethra, testicular and scrotal pain, miscarriage, pelvic inflammatory disease, and inflammation of the bladder.

There is no vaccine for gonorrhea, so antibiotic therapy is the only option for treating infections. However, N. gonorrhoeae has shown a seemingly limitless capacity for evolving resistance to antibiotics. Doctors since the 1980s have had to abandon one first-line therapy after another - penicillin, then tetracycline, then ciprofloxacin, and most recently cefixime. The current standard therapy is a combination of two drugs - the injectable ceftriaxone and oral azithromycin.

N. gonorrhoeae isn't yet widely resistant to ceftriaxone, but two isolates - H041 and F89 - have been shown to be fully resistant to the drug. These cases have raised concerns that ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhea might soon spread globally, which would make gonorrhea much more difficult to treat and possibly untreatable.

In the study, Nicholas and colleagues, collaborating with the laboratory of Ann E. Jerse, PhD, at the Pentagon's Uniformed Services University in Maryland, showed first that the ceftriaxone-resisting mutations in HO41 and F89 come with a "fitness cost" for the bacterium. In other words, the mutations dramatically impair the bacteria's growth rate.

That was expected. The ceftriaxone-resistance mutations alter the bacterial enzyme that is the target of ceftriaxone, making it harder for the drug to bind to the enzyme but at the same time making it less able for the enzyme to build and repair bacterial cell walls. This fitness cost would be expected to prevent resistant strains from spreading much. The scientists then conducted lab experiments to show that resistant-mutation strains were vastly outcompeted by a standard, non-resistant strain of N. gonorrhoeae, so that the amount of resistant bacteria dwindled rapidly in comparison to the standard strain.

But then the scientists infected mice with an equal mixture of the non-resistant reference strain and the ceftriaxone-resistant, growth-impaired strain. Here's the bad news: Nicholas and colleagues found that some resistant strains quickly developed much higher growth rates and even began to out-compete the fast-growing reference strain.

"That made us suspect that these bacteria had acquired 'compensatory' mutations that improved their growth rate despite the growth-slowing effect of the resistance mutations," Nicholas said.

Scientists will have to sift through the genomes of these lab-evolved superbug strains to identify all the mutations that restore growth and how they do it. This will be the work of multiple studies to come.

But in an initial set of experiments, Nicholas and colleagues zeroed in on one of these mutations that affects a bacterial enzyme called AcnB, known to play an important role in the bacterial energy-production that fuels bacterial growth. The scientists found that the mutant form of the enzyme not only alters N. gonorrhoeae's energy metabolism but also causes extensive changes in the expression of bacterial genes, effectively switching many off and many others on.

"AcnB may have yet-undiscovered functions - beyond its role in energy metabolism - that explain the fitness advantage the enzyme confers when mutated," Nicholas said.

He and his colleagues are working to understand better how mutant AcnB boosts growth of N. gonorrhoeae and what other growth-restoring mutations exist in the lab-evolved superbug strains. At the same time, the researchers are on the lookout for reports of similar dangerous mutations in strains recovered from patients around the world.

###

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Uniformed Services University funded this work.Research published today in Nature has found that many of the viruses infecting us today have ancient evolutionary histories that date back to the first vertebrates and perhaps the first animals in existence.

The study, a collaboration between the University of Sydney, the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, looked for RNA viruses in 186 vertebrate species previously ignored when it came to viral infections.

The researchers discovered 214 novel RNA viruses (where the genomic material is RNA rather than DNA) in apparently healthy reptiles, amphibians, lungfish, ray-finned fish, cartilaginous fish and jawless fish.

"This study reveals some groups of virus have been in existence for the entire evolutionary history of the vertebrates - it transforms our understanding of virus evolution," said Professor Eddie Holmes, of the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases & Biosecurity at the University of Sydney.

"For the first time we can definitely show that RNA viruses are many millions of years old, and have been in existence since the first vertebrates existed.

"Fish, in particular, carry an amazing diversity of viruses, and virtually every type of virus family detected in mammals is now found in fish. We even found relatives of both Ebola and influenza viruses in fish."

However, Professor Holmes was also quick to emphasise that these fish viruses do not pose a risk to human health and should be viewed as a natural part of virus biodiversity.

"This study emphasises just how big the universe of viruses - the virosphere - really is. Viruses are everywhere.

"It is clear that there are still many millions more viruses still to be discovered," he said.

The newly discovered viruses appeared in every family or genus of RNA virus associated with vertebrate infection, including those containing human pathogens such as influenza virus.

Because the evolutionary histories of the viruses generally matched those of their vertebrates, the researchers were able to conclude that these viruses had long evolutionary histories.

###VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences together with the industrial partners are investigating opportunities to extend integration of visually attractive solar modules into architecture of building facades. Also, the commercialization routes based on the circular economy are being explored.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd has developed a mass production method based on printing technologies to manufacture patterned organic solar modules. The method enables freely customised solar modules to meet the architectural requirements of buildings and to add value to their visual appearance in addition to energy production. Organic solar modules can form even visually attractive multicolor graphical images. Thinness and flexibility allows the solar modules to be integrated in glasses or to be adjusted to conform on a freeform surface in building facades. The solar modules can also serve as intelligent interior surfaces that collect energy from indoor lighting, for devices such as sensors that gather information from the surrounding environment as part of internet of things applications.

"In future, all visually attractive surfaces of the buildings can also harvest energy. The design, even multicolour images, can be implemented with solar modules. This enables the wide exploitation of solar modules as a natural part of the buildings and opens up significant new business opportunities," says Senior Scientist, Palvi Apilo of VTT, the coordinator of the LIWE facades project.

The LIWE facades project is one of the winners of the Challenge Finland programme financed by Business Finland.

PES Architects, one of the project partners, designed innovative building facade concept in which solar modules symbolising ice crystals through Chinese calligraphy are brought into glass facades. This concept was winning proposal in the design competition of the Sino-Finnish Congress Centre in Nanjing, China. It also received the Special Award for Innovation of the Architectural Review MIPIM Future Project.

"The aim is to execute an architecturally interesting pilot location for a graphical solar module facade, as part of the Sino-Finnish Centre," says Jarkko Salminen, CEO of PES Architects. "The product is expected to have an attractive cost-benefit ratio in the future, and its freely visually modifiable features will provide the solar module facade with huge international potential," continues Professor, Architect Pekka Salminen of PES Architects.

The functionality of the glass facade concept will be demonstrated in LIWE facades project. In addition, a flexible intelligent solar shade system with Artic Kaihdin Oy will be developed.

"Due to energy efficiency requirements, solar shading solutions will be an essential element of building in the future. Combined with the possibility of collecting energy from sunlight, this will take us very far along the road to energy-efficient construction," says Jarno Ahtonen, CEO of Artic Kaihdin Oy.

In addition, in the project the use of coating materials on flexible and rigid surfaces are explored together with Optitune Oy to improve the usability and to maximise the performance of solar modules.

"Optical performance, protection against abrasion and impurities are essential properties to guarantee the long term efficiency of the solar modules," says Ari Karkkainen, CTO of Optitune Oy.

In LIWE facades project, new business opportunities and commercialization routes are being explored.

"For these new types of printed, designed solar modules, it is possible to create a completely new circular economy business models. The new products' value chain may be very different to that of traditional solar modules, which will enable the market entry of new players," says Senior Scientist Marja Valimaki of VTT.

###

PES Architect's competition entry: http://pesark.com/sino_finnish.html

For more information, please contact:

VTT

Dr. Palvi Apilo, Senior Scientist

Tel. +358 40 767 0429

palvi.apilo@vtt.fiA new study has revealed for the first time the last 500-year flood history of the Mississippi River. It shows a dramatic rise in the size and frequency of extreme floods in the past century--mostly due to projects to straighten, channelize, and bound the river with artificial levees.

The new research, led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), also uncovered a clear pattern over the centuries linking flooding on the Mississippi with natural fluctuations of Pacific and Atlantic Ocean water temperatures. This newly recovered long-term record provides a historical context that spotlights how more recent river engineering has intensified flooding to unprecedented levels.

"The floods that we've had over the last century are bigger than anything we've seen in the last 500 years," said Sam Munoz, a former postdoctoral scholar at WHOI and the lead author of the study, published April 5, 2018, in the journal Nature. The research shows that in the past 150 years, the magnitude of the 100-year flood--a flood that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year--has increased by about 20 percent. The research team found that about three-quarters of that elevated flood hazard can be attributed to human modifications of the river and its basin.

"There's been a longstanding question about the extent to which all the changes we have made to the Mississippi River--one of the most engineered rivers in the world--have altered the probability of really large floods," said Munoz, now an assistant professor at Northeastern University.

To answer that question, the scientists used a technique that WHOI paleoclimatologist Jeff Donnelly pioneered in the coastal ocean to track the history of hurricanes: extracting long cores of bottom sediment from lakes and marshes.

"It's sort of the equivalent of sticking a straw in a milkshake, putting your thumb over the top, and pulling it out," said Donnelly, a co-lead on the study. In this case, the "straw" was a 30-foot-long aluminum tube deployed from a small pontoon boat, and the "milkshake" was the mud, sand, and silt at the bottom of three oxbow lakes adjacent to the Mississippi River.

During large floods, faster moving water from the river channel stirs up larger-grained sediments and flows into the usually disconnected lakes, carrying sediments and debris along with it. The material from the river is caught in the lakes and eventually sinks. It forms a layer on the bottom that is subsequently buried over time. The layers are telltale clues of past floods. The deeper the cores, the further back in time the scientists can reach.

The grain size in the layers provides clues to the size of the floods. The larger the flood, the more energy is generated by the river water, and the larger the grains that get deposited in the lakes, said WHOI geoscientist Liviu Giosan, another lead member of the research team. By analyzing grain size and flood size for known flood events--for example, the Great Mississippi River flood of 1927--Munoz could estimate the sizes of previously unknown floods represented in the sediment cores.

To find out when those floods had occurred, the team used isotopes of lead, cesium, and carbon to date the coarse sediment layers. Zhixiong Shen of Coastal Carolina University used a technique called optically-stimulated luminescence--which determines a material's age by analyzing when it was last exposed to sunlight. Matthew Therrell of the University of Alabama used annual tree rings to reconstruct a detailed record of more recent regional flooding. Combining these methods, the team traced the history of floods back over 500 years--about 350 years further back in time than the oldest written flood records.

Next, they compared what they found to records of naturally oscillating climate cycles that affect sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic and Pacific, such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). They found that the Mississippi's flood cycles corresponded with ocean and climate cycles.

In particular, El Nino events bring more storms and rainfall to central North America, which saturates the ground around the Mississippi. One phase of the Atlantic Ocean oscillation brings extreme rainfall over the Mississippi basin. When the two coincide, flooding is more likely.

"We're able for the first time to really parse out how the natural variability of the climate system influences flooding, and then how people have modified that," Munoz said.

The sediment data also showed that the natural rhythm of flooding caused by ocean changes was greatly amplified by major federally-funded river engineering projects that began after 1928 to facilitate commercial navigation on the river and to protect communities and cropland from floods. The societal benefits of river engineering should be weighed against the risks that more large floods pose to agriculture, infrastructure, and communities, the scientists said. In addition, big floods sweep more pollutants and fertilizers into the Gulf of Mexico, causing oxygen-depleted "dead zones."

Giosan says restoring more natural flood patterns to the river and allowing sediments to flow onto the floodplain during floods would help rebuild the drowning Mississippi delta, whose planned restoration is projected to cost tens of billions of dollars.

According to the team, the next steps will be to dig deeper into the river sediments to extend the flood record even further back in time and to apply this new method to understand what drives flooding on other major rivers systems around the world.

###

Funding for this project was provided by WHOI's Coastal Ocean Institute, Postdoctoral Scholar Program, and Ocean and Climate Change Institute. Support for collaborators at the University of Alabama and Southern Illinois University was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation Geography and Spatial Science Program.April 4, 2018 - For children with severe cerebral palsy (CP), surgery for scoliosis (sideways curvature of the spine) significantly improves the quality of life (QoL) for them and their caregivers, reports a study in the April 4, 2018, issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in partnership with Wolters Kluwer.

"Scoliosis surgery in patients with CP leads to a significant improvement in health-related QoL, which is maintained five years following surgery," write Firoz Miyanji, MD, of British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, and colleagues from seven other North American medical centers. Their study provides evidence that surgery for scoliosis improves outcomes important to severely disabled children with CP and their parents/caregivers--outweighing the substantial rate of complications during the first year after surgery.

Scoliosis Surgery Improves Quality of Life for Kids with Severe CP The study included 69 children with CP who underwent spinal fusion surgery for scoliosis between 2008 and 2011, identified from an international database. The children all had at least five years' follow-up up data; average age at the time of scoliosis surgery was about 13 years.

All of the children were severely disabled due to CP: most were in level V of the standard five-level Gross Motor Function Classification System. Up to 35 percent of children in levels IV and V will develop progressive scoliosis that cannot be controlled by wearing a brace. The abnormal spinal curvature causes a wide range of problems, including inability to balance in a seated position, pain, and possibly long-term adverse effects on lung, heart, and gastrointestinal function.

Surgery may be performed to stop scoliosis progression. However, the true benefits of surgery in improving QoL are difficult to quantify in these complex cases. Dr. Miyanji and colleagues used a validated questionnaire specifically designed for evaluation of children with severe CP--the Caregiver Priorities and Child Health Index of Life with Disabilities, or "CPCHILD"--to assess the impact of scoliosis surgery at one, two, and five years postoperatively.

Scoliosis surgery significantly reduced the spinal curvature. On a standard x-ray measurement (Cobb angle), the curve was reduced from the severe to the mild-to-moderate range, on average. The improvement remained stable through two and five years after surgery.

Analysis of the CPCHILD scores showed improvements QoL for the patients with CP and their caregivers. In addition to improvement in the total CPCHILD score, there were improvements in the areas of personal care, positioning, and comfort. Overall, 92 percent of caregivers reported that their child's QoL was better one year after scoliosis surgery. Like the x-ray improvements, the gains in QoL persisted throughout follow-up.

As in previous studies of scoliosis surgery in children with CP, complications were common. This was especially so during the first year after surgery, when 46 percent of patients experienced a complication, most commonly pneumonia and surgical site infections. However, the first-year complications had little or no impact on QoL outcomes.

Surgery has been regarded as the standard of care for children with severe CP and scoliosis that cannot be controlled by bracing or seating modifications. However, the true benefits of scoliosis surgery--especially in terms of "patient-centered outcomes" important to the children and their caregivers--have been debated.

Some researchers have questioned the long-term benefits of scoliosis surgery in this group of patients--especially considering the substantial risk of complications. "We are encouraged that the results of this multi-center study will provide patients, caregivers, and treating surgeons some guidance when faced with the decision of moving ahead with surgery," says Dr. Miyanji.

"I am pleased to see that the data could provide useful information which helps patients with CP and their parents make good decisions," comments Dr. Paul Sponseller, a coauthor of the study. "These families place an enormous amount of trust in our recommendations and this helps to give the advice a more solid basis, which they deserve."

###

Click here to read "Assessing the Risk-Benefit Ratio of Scoliosis Surgery in Cerebral Palsy Surgery: Is Worth It."

DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.17.00621

About The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery

has been the most valued source of information for orthopaedic surgeons and researchers for over 125 years and is the gold standard in peer-reviewed scientific information in the field. A core journal and essential reading for general as well as specialist orthopaedic surgeons worldwide, The Journal publishes evidence-based research to enhance the quality of care for orthopaedic patients. Standards of excellence and high quality are maintained in everything we do, from the science of the content published to the customer service we provide.is an independent, non-profit journal.

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Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the health, tax & accounting, finance, risk & compliance, and legal sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer, headquartered in the Netherlands, reported 2017 annual revenues of 4.4 billion. The company serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide.

Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students with advanced clinical decision support, learning and research and clinical intelligence. For more information about our solutions, visit http://healthclarity.wolterskluwer.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.Bitcoin Price Outlook Today - $6000 support holds in BTC/USD

Cryptocurrency markets bounced on Tuesday as some relief was seen in the major digital coins which had all been looking very oversold on a purely technical basis. Bitcoin as ever lead the market direction, and by posting around 6% gains on some exchanges, the major crypto enjoyed far more positive trading conditions as the bounce in the price erased some of the overextended long positions from the market. Smaller coins also benefited from the green day for Bitcoin as it was winners all round in the top 5 as Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin all surged higher. The SECs crackdown on ICOs might have been making investors nervous, but it was never really about Bitcoin, and if the credibility of cryptocurrency has been hurt by the scam coins, hopefully, this is good news for prices as the legitimate projects should survive any scrutiny and it will boost their legitimacy.

Bitcoin arbitrage opportunity fade with appetite

It only takes a quick look at trading volumes, or even google searches to see that the speculative interest bubble has popped in Cryptocurrency. The huge demand for cryptocurrencies saw huge price differentials around the world, and thus arbitrage opportunities from buying low and selling in another market for a higher price. In a report from Reuters, John DeCleene, from Overseas Chinese Investment Management, indicates how the downturn in the market has probably squashed at least the easy money in Bitcoin arbitrage,

"The market's kind of taken a downturn; there is less general appetite in this space. It is too many players entering this market, but also less of the hype we saw in December-January when people were paying a 30 percent premium because they expected ten times gains overnight."

It remains to be seen if the rally can continue for Bitcoin, it certainly looks like a great entry point for short sellers to get in on the pullback. The Death Cross has a few times actually indicated just a few days before the bottom in a few Bitcoin bear markets, and perhaps this will be another case of this. With rumours on Twitter of huge off-chain buying appetite, it remains to be seen if this will translate into a rally back to anywhere near the highs seen last year.Bitcoin, and by extension the cryptocurrency industry, started the year on a rather low note, thanks to the unprecedented price dips. With this being dubbed the worst first quarter of bitcoin in its history, so much was said about its stability and whether it still had what it takes to bounce back. While so much pessimism abounds regarding its rebound, one cryptocurrency analyst sees all indications of better times ahead despite this setback. In fact, believes that bitcoin has the potential to bounce back to the all-time highs that were witnessed by the end of last year.

The Tail-winds doing the magic

According to Brian Kelly, a Fast Money contributor and founder of Brian Kelly Capital, Q2 is ideal for bitcoin always. In an interview with CNBCs Future Now Kelly said, "There will be a significant rally here if seasonality brings tail-winds."

Based on historical data, cryptocurrency normally does well in the second quarter of the year. This is usually inspired by seasonal tail-winds like the upcoming annual development cycle as well as other notable conferences including Consensus that happens in May. According to Kelly, these are known to inspire positive sentiments that will see the cryptocurrency market gain its boom.

All pressure points at ease

Kelly says that a shift in sentiments coupled with seasonality should form part of the drivers for bitcoin gain in the second quarter. He puts the main reasons for bitcoins bounce in twofold: The pressure synonymous with the tax-selling season at the end of the first quarter is now cooling down and secondly, the fear associated with recent measures by governments to regulate the market seem to be fading away.

Kelly Says:

"We've gone to the extreme of the regulation which is South Korea thinking they're going to ban it, the U.S. talking about everything being a security, to walking it back," Kelly said. "You're seeing a shift again in that type of thing. I think most of that's behind us."

The threats to regulate the crypto market became rife at the beginning of the year and this may have been part of the reason for price dips. This saw countries like China and South Korea tighten the noose with plans to draft policies specifically targeting the cryptocurrencies. With such fears now easing up, there should be no reason for bitcoins price to dwindle further.

Kelly gives an example of a potential deal that involves Coincheck, a crypto exchange and Monex, a Japanese brokerage firm as a test prove for this shift in sentiment. According to the Nikkel Asian Review, Monex is expected to take up a majority stake bid for Coincheck.

A blessing in disguise

Kelly believes, contrary to popular opinion that the regulatory axe proposed by several countries could potentially hurt bitcoin; this could pose the best chance for the crypto markets to boom. He says as long as the regulation doesnt interfere with any other market and is done without stifling innovation, then all should be well as regulation may actually increase adoption.

What do you think about Brian Kellys projections? IS he justified in his analysis? Let us know your views via Twitter or Facebook.Greece's central bank governor on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against two witnesses who reportedly claimed he was among several senior politicians who received illicit perks from embattled Swiss pharma giant Novartis.

Yannis Stournaras office said in a statement the two protected witnesses, known only under their aliases, should be punished for perjury and defamation.

He also called on the Greek Supreme Court to examine whether a decision to withhold the witnesses identities was lawful.

Stournaras is one of several senior politicians, including former prime minister Antonis Samaras and EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, who were allegedly involved in helping Novartis to build a commanding position in the Greek health market.

The Swiss giant is suspected of having bribed decision-makers and doctors between 2006 and 2015 to secure inflated prices for its products even though cheaper alternatives were available.

The kickbacks were usually hidden in overpriced company invoices for medical congresses and trips, but money is suspected to have also occasionally been given directly, witnesses said.

On Tuesday, a Greek anti-corruption prosecutor requested bank and other asset information for bribery checks on the ten politicians.

The case is also under examination by a parliamentary commission of inquiry, as well as by the US authorities.

Stournaras, a former finance minister under Samaras, was named because his wifes PR company organised congresses sponsored by Novartis.

An economics professor, Stournaras has said he had also received payment from Novartis to give two or three presentations on the economy  but only before becoming minister.

Avramopoulos, who was Greek health minister in 2006-2009, has also sued the witnesses.

The alleged witness testimony, parts of which have been leaked to the press, faults Avramopoulos handling of a blood screening contract and a large order of avian flu vaccine.

Novartis has said it is cooperating with US and Greek authorities whilst conducting an internal audit of its own.

The Swiss giant has already paid multi-million dollar fines in the United States, China and South Korea to settle corruption cases.

jph/serThe United Nations sounded an alarm Wednesday over Australia's decision to stop providing services to migrants detained on the island of Nauru, saying the move would put vulnerable people at heightened risk.

Nauru is among the island nations involved in Canberras policy of offshore processing for refugees and asylum seekers that try to reach Australia.

Australia had previously taken responsibility for providing basic care for migrants held on the island but has decided to let Naurus authorities take over, with some financial support from Canberra.

The UN refugee agencys chief for Asia and the Pacific, Indrika Ratwatte, told reporters that he had deep concern over the transfer of services.

He said it was vital that adequate services are provided by trained, qualified individuals, particularly in mental health.

Ratwatte, who recently visited the island, reported that 80 percent of migrants detained there have been clinically diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, trauma and depression.

While they are already lacking adequate care, Ratwatte said their plight could worsen if Naurus authorities take charge without being properly supported.

Meanwhile, Nauru has also abolished links with Australias highest court, which for four decades had been the final venue for migrants looking to appeal against adverse rulings on asylum claims.

Nauru has pledged to set up its own local court of appeals, but activists warn that in the interim asylum-seekers will be deprived of basic legal rights.

Ratwatte said any legal gap was worrying.

Until such time that Nauru has established a process where appeal can be effectively heard, I think Australia should continue to have that facility open, he said.

More than 300 men, women and children are being held in a camp on Nauru, according to recent Australian immigration detention figures.

The group includes nationals of multiple countries, including Afghanistan, Iran and Myanmar.The United States on Wednesday approved $4.7 billion in deals for American firms to sell jet fighters to Slovakia, military helicopters to Spain and armed drones to Britain.

All three countries are NATO members, and the sale of F-16 fighters to Slovakia will enable it to retire its Russian-built MiG-29s and build a fleet to work with its Western allies.

US President Donald Trump has called on all NATO members to increase their defense spending and thus better distribute the burden of paying for the alliances collective security.

The total coast of Slovakias package  14 jets plus spare parts, air-to-air missiles, guided bombs and US contractors to train local crews  will come to $2.91 billion.

Slovakias current fighters are not interoperable with US forces or regional allies, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said, in a statement.

Purchase of the F-16V will provide Slovakia with fourth-generation fighter aircraft capability that is interoperable with the United States and NATO, it added.

US defense contractor Lockheed Martin and its suppliers and sub-contractors will receive the bulk of the spending.

Meanwhile, longstanding NATO member Spain has been approved to spend $1.3 billion to buy seventeen CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters from US aerospace giant Boeing.

And Britain plans to spend $500 million with General Dynamics on the firms MQ-9 Reaper, an unmanned plane that allows remote operators to carry out reconnaissance or fire missiles.

British forces adopted the Reaper in order to work alongside their US allies in Afghanistan and the contract covers support and maintenance as it becomes part of their standard fleet.

dc/wdTelecom Italia (TIM) called Wednesday for regulators to look into a tie-up between Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset TV group and Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia in order to prevent further concentration in the Italian media.

The deal could complicate efforts for Telecom Italias main shareholder, Vivendi, to revive the fortunes of the Italys former monopoly telecoms provider as broadcasters scramble to acquire content to keep subscribers from defecting to services such as Netflix.

Under the deal announced over the holiday weekend by the Italian TV heavyweights nine of Mediasets Premium pay-TV channels will be made available to Sky Italia subscribers.

I believe that the authorities will have to examine the alliance carefully so that it does not give rise to a (media) concentration even greater than that existing today, Telecom Italias chief executive Amos Genish said in the interview with Italian daily La Stampa.

The surprise deal with Sky Italia has given a boost to Mediasets shares, which have risen by over six percent since the announcement.

For the Berlusconi family group, the accord is a lifeline that should help the struggling Premium unit increase its audience and advertising revenues, after a series of setbacks for the platform.

One of those setbacks was Vivendi pulling out of a deal to buy the service in 2016. It suffered further hardships after its sizeable investment for exclusive rights to the 2015-18 Champions League seasons in Italy failed to pay off.

The new deal also leaves the door open for Sky to acquire a newly-founded company which will hold Premiums assets in the future.

While Telecom Italia has exclusive content from Vivendis Canal+, the deal thwarts the effort by Vivendis owner, French billionaire Vincent Bollore, to create a preeminent provider of content that capable of keeping at bay Netflix and other streaming services.

Vivendi is also fighting off an activist investor who has challenged its management strategy for Telecom Italia.

cco/la/rlTen international rights groups called on French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over his country's bombing campaign in Yemen.

Macron is set to host Prince Mohammed for a three-day trip to France starting Sunday, the latest stop in an international tour by the 32-year-old son of King Salman who is considered the de facto Saudi leader.

A civil war in Yemen, which Saudi Arabia has been bombing since 2015, is considered the worlds worse humanitarian crisis by the United Nations with 22.5 million people in need of aid.

Emmanuel Macron should put Yemen at the centre of his discussions with Mohammed bin Salman as he hosts him in France, said a statement from the rights group including Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch.

They called for the end of bombing targeting civilians and respect for international humanitarian law as well as the unconditional and permanent lifting on restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid and commercial goods to Yemen.

In November, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies including the United Arab Emirates tightened a pre-existing blockade on Yemeni ports and airports, severely restricting deliveries of food aid and other humanitarian supplies.

The Saudi-led coalition says it has since lifted the restrictions, but a recent visitor to the main port of Hodeida, humanitarian worker Suze van Meegen, described it as a wasteland in an interview with AFP in late March.

The UN Security Council warned last month that conditions in Yemen were deteriorating and having a devastating impact on civilians.

The Saudi-led military intervention began in March 2015 with the goal of rolling back Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels and restoring Yemens internationally-recognised government to power.

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it (France) must do its utmost to demand that Saudi Arabia respects its international obligations, the rights groups said.

France is a major arms vendor to Saudi Arabia and separate rights groups have accused the country of doing too little to ensure that its weapons are not used in the Saudi military campaign.

Amnesty International says it has documented dozens of Saudi-led coalition military operations that could amount to war crimes due to the deaths of more than 500 civilians.

We try as much as we can to solve the problems of the Middle East politically and if things get out of control, we try as hard as we can to avoid all the other impacts, Prince Mohammed said at the UN in New York last week.

We will continue to comply, as we always have, with international law, he told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after presenting him with a cheque for $930 million (757 million euros) for humanitarian aid in Yemen.Ten international rights groups called on French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over his country's bombing campaign in Yemen.

Macron is expected to host Prince Mohammed for a three-day trip to France starting Sunday, the latest stop in an international tour by the 32-year-old son of King Salman who is considered the de facto Saudi leader.

A civil war in Yemen, which Saudi Arabia has been bombing since 2015, is considered the worlds worse humanitarian crisis by the United Nations with 22.5 million people in need of aid.

Emmanuel Macron should put Yemen at the centre of his discussions with Mohammed bin Salman as he hosts him in France, said a statement from the rights groups including Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch.

They called for the end of bombing targeting civilians and respect for international humanitarian law as well as the unconditional and permanent lifting on restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid and commercial goods to Yemen.

In November, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies including the United Arab Emirates tightened a pre-existing blockade on Yemeni ports and airports, severely restricting deliveries of food aid and other humanitarian supplies.

The Saudi-led coalition says it has since lifted the restrictions, but a recent visitor to the main port of Hodeida, humanitarian worker Suze van Meegen, described it as a wasteland in an interview with AFP in late March.

The UN Security Council warned last month that conditions in Yemen were deteriorating and having a devastating impact on civilians.

Jonathan Cunliffe, from the Action Against Hunger rights group, said Wednesday that after a devastating outbreak of cholera last year that saw a million people affected, the country faced new risks from disease.

This week were already seeing another disease that has disappeared from most of the world: diphtheria is emerging in the country as well, he told a joint press conference on Wednesday.

The Saudi-led military intervention began in March 2015 with the goal of rolling back Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels and restoring Yemens internationally-recognised government to power.

France, the US, Britain are all implicated in this conflict due to their technical, military, financial support to the coalition, Jean-Francois Corty from the Medecins du Monde group told a joint press conference on Wednesday.

 Macron, rights defender? 

France is a major arms vendor to Saudi Arabia and separate rights groups have accused the country of doing too little to ensure that its weapons are not used in the Saudi military campaign.

Amnesty International says it has documented dozens of Saudi-led coalition military operations that could amount to war crimes due to the deaths of more than 500 civilians.

Seeing this wave of crimes, its amazing to see there hasnt been an immediate suspension of all weapon and missile sales to the Arab coalition, Antoine Madelin from the International Federation for Human rights (FIDH) told the press conference.

Three out of four French people believe it is unacceptable to sell military weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to a poll by the YouGov group published at the end of March.

Macron has made clear he is unwilling to lecture countries about their human rights records, however, declining to raise the topic publicly with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi or Chinese leader Xi Jinping during meetings.

Prince Mohammed defended his countrys actions in Yemen at the UN in New York last week.

We try as much as we can to solve the problems of the Middle East politically and if things get out of control, we try as hard as we can to avoid all the other impacts, he told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

We will continue to comply, as we always have, with international law, he added after presenting him with a cheque for $930 million (757 million euros) for humanitarian aid in Yemen.Privacy Settings

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NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.The diplomatic fallout between Russia and Britain over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal took another bizarre turn on Wednesday as Moscow complained of a lack of information about the former double agent's pets.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested the state and the whereabouts of the animals could provide clues about the poisoning of the ex-spy and his daughter in England a month ago.

We have credible information that the Skripals had pets in their home, she said during a briefing.

This has a direct relation to the case, if we are talking about the use of chemical weapons and since several versions (of the poisoning) link it to the house where the Skripals lived, she added.

Where are the animals, what state are they in? Why has the British sidenot mentioned this fact? We are talking about living organisms, and if toxic agents were used then living organisms must have suffered.

The previous day, Skripals niece was quoted in the Russian press as saying her uncle had cats and guinea pigs in the house.

She rejected the idea the former spy and his daughter could have been poisoned in their Salisbury home, saying the animals would also have been affected.

London has accused Moscow of being behind the attempted murder, but Russia has angrily rejected the claims and on Wednesday said British and US secret services orchestrated the attack.

More than 150 Russian diplomats have been ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations as punishment for the attack on March 4, prompting reciprocal measures from Moscow.Russia failed Wednesday in its bid to take part in an investigation by the global chemical watchdog into last month's poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter.

Unfortunately, we havent been able to have two-thirds of the votes in support of that decision. A qualified majority was needed, Russian ambassador Alexander Shulgin told reporters.

The proposal was about a double investigation led by Russia and the UK. The general director of the OPCW should be the mediator, he elaborated.

Britain and the United States were among those who voted against Moscows proposal along with others who followed suit, tightened by the EU and NATO discipline.

But Shulgin highlighted that Russia had won the support of Iran, as well as China and some African nations.

He stressed that out of the 41-member executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) a total of 23 countries had either voted in favour of the joint Russian-Iranian motion, or had abstained.

The masks have been thrown off, he told a press conference at the Russian embassy in The Hague, after a day of tense talks.

Diplomatic sources told AFP that six countries voted in favour of the Russian draft motion, 15 were against with 17 abstentions, mainly countries from the Non-Aligned Movement(NAM).

The UK and US have showed complete violation of international law, Shulgin said, adding they simply fear the truth.

At the start of the OPCW meeting called at Russias request, London slammed as perverse Moscows proposal for a joint probe into the poisoning with a nerve agent of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 4.

Britain is carrying out its own probe, with independent technical assistance from OPCW experts.Since the start of Syria's war in 2011, numerous efforts to halt the conflict through diplomacy have failed.

As the leaders of Iran, Russia and Turkey  which have become powerbrokers in the conflict  meet on Syria on Wednesday, here is an overview of previous peace efforts.

 Arab solutions rejected 

In January 2012 leading Arab diplomats adopt a plan that would transfer power from Syrias President Bashar al-Assad to a coalition cabinet.

But the Damascus government rejects the proposal, declaring an end of Arab solutions, and vows to crush the rebels.

 Geneva I and II 

In June 2012 global powers meeting in Geneva draw up a plan that would install a transition government but does not spell out what would happen to Assad.

Among those involved are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council  Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States  plus the Arab League, Turkey and the European Union.

They differ over what the plan really means, however, with the United States saying it paves the way to a post-Assad period.

China and Russia, allies of Assad, insist it is up to Syrians to decide their future.

In January 2014 the first talks between Syrian opposition groups and the government are held in Geneva under the auspices of Russia and the United States.

On February 15, after a second fruitless session, UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi calls an end to the talks and resigns.

 Vienna plan 

In September 2015 Russia lends its military backing to Assads forces, which have been struggling against Gulf- and Western-backed rebels. It is a game-changer for the regime.

In November 2015 the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) is set up in Vienna, grouping 17 world or regional powers and multilateral organisations, including for the first time Iran.

It draws up a transition outline but the question of Assads future is still not resolved.

In December the UN Security Council unanimously endorses the Vienna peace process.

 Nine rounds at UN 

In early 2016 three rounds of UN-supervised indirect negotiations are held in Geneva between regime and opposition groups. The parties do not talk face to face.

The negotiations stall over arrangements for a transition and run up against violations of a ceasefire.

In March, May and July 2017 there are four more rounds of indirect talks without result.

An eighth round of talks in Geneva in December fails to get the different parties even to talk to each other. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura blames in particular the government delegations apparent lack of interest.

In January 2018 a ninth round is wrapped up without result in Vienna, having been relocated from Geneva for logistical reasons.

 Russia takes control 

In late 2016 regime-allies Russia and Iran and rebel-backer Turkey take over the peace process, sidelining the United States. They impose a ceasefire between army and rebels.

In January 2017 they organise talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, between representatives of the regime and a rebel delegation.

They then hold seven rounds of negotiations, reaching an accord on the setting up of four de-escalation zones in Syria, leading to a decrease in violence only in certain areas.

In late January 2018 a peace congress is called by Russia in its Black Sea resort of Sochi, backed by Ankara and Tehran. It fails due to the absence of the main opposition groups and Kurds.Turkey and Russia have agreed to bring forward to July 2019 the delivery of S-400 air defence missile systems to Ankara, a Turkish official said, in a purchase that has raised eyebrows among NATO allies.

We brought forward the delivery date in the contract signed with Russia for the acquisition of S-400 systems and got an earlier date of July 2019, Ismail Demir, Turkish Defence Industries undersecretary, wrote on Twitter late on Tuesday.

His announcement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin held several hours of meeting with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

At the press conference, Putin said he and Erdogan had decided to speed up the delivery of the S-400 air defence missile systems to Ankara, without providing a precise date.

Russian officials had said in December that the first deliveries in the $2 billion deal were likely to begin at the end of 2019 or beginning of 2020.

Putin and Erdogan have forged an increasingly close alliance in recent months, from burgeoning energy ties to holding talks to end the Syria crisis.

In a sign of the importance of the partnership, Putins visit to Turkey is his first trip abroad since he won a historic fourth presidential mandate in March 18 polls.

Erdogan said Tuesday that Turkey was in no mood to listen to criticism from the West over the purchase of the S-400 systems, saying this issue is now closed.

According to Russian press reports, Turkey has been interested in a technology transfer and even joint production of the S-400 with Russia, a prospect that has been resisted by some in the Moscow security services.

Putin refused to discuss the issue saying these are exclusively commercial questions rather than political ones.British police arrested a pensioner on suspicion of murder Wednesday after a suspected burglar at his home in southeast London was fatally stabbed to death.

Officers detained the 78-year-old homeowner after responding to his call reporting a burglary in progress in the early hours of Wednesday and finding a man, aged 38, with a stab wound nearby, police said.

The 78-year-old resident found two males inside the address, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

One suspect, armed with a screwdriver, forced the elderly man into his kitchen when he discovered them inside his home in the Hither Green area, while the other suspect went upstairs, the force added.

A struggle ensued between the homeowner and one of the men.

The man, aged 38, sustained a stab wound to the upper body, the statement said.

The stabbing victim was found collapsed in a nearby road by paramedics, who took him to a central London hospital where he later died, police said.

The pensioner suffered bruising to his arms, while the second suspected burglar fled the scene prior to officers arriving and remains at large, the statement added.

The dead mans next of kin have been informed, and a post-mortem examination will be carried out in due course, according to police, who appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

Neighbours said the area had seen a recent spate of burglaries, and the homeowner had been retired for many years.

Adam Lake, who lives near the scene, said: When I heard it was a burglary I wasnt surprised, theres been a noticeable increase in crime in the area.

Weve even had to put up CCTV at home because we didnt feel safe.

Lake added he felt sympathy for the homeowner.

He doesnt deserve to be punished for defending himself, and the neighbours that Ive spoken to all agree that the priority needs to be to support him after everything that hes been through.

He was just protecting himself after all.Britain Wednesday slammed as "perverse" Moscow's call for a joint investigation into the poisoning of a former Russian double agent as the world's chemical watchdog met on the scandal.

Russias proposal for a joint, UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury incident is perverse. It is a diversionary tactic, the British delegation to the OPCW said in a tweet.

Moscow was seeking to evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer, it added.

The British delegation to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), led by top chemical weapons expert John Foggo, was attending a meeting of the bodys governing executive council in The Hague.

The talks were called by Moscow, after London blamed Russia for the March 4 poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent, called Novichok.

Russias ambassador to the Netherlands and deputy minister for industry and trade Georgy Kalamanov also attended, along with Foggo.

The Russians hit back on Twitter, saying they had won backing from 14 countries for their joint statement to the council.

We consider this is necessary to ensure that this problem is solved within the (international) legal framework, the Russian embassy to the Netherlands said in a Tweet.

It added that its statement to the council was supported by solid facts by experts in this field and insisted that Russia was ready to cooperate both with @OPCW and within @OPCW.Moscow on Wednesday said it would expel a Hungarian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move after Budapest kicked out a Russian representative over the poisoning of a former double agent in the UK.

Hungary has unusually warm ties with Russia for a European Union country, but last month became one of 18 bloc members to expel Russian diplomats in solidarity with Britain.

In response to the unfriendly and unreasonable demand from Hungary to expel a Russian diplomatic worker on the basis of Britains unproven accusation regarding Russia in the so-called Skripal affair, Russia is declaring a worker in the Hungarian embassy persona non grata, the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.

The Hungarian ambassador had been called into the ministry, the statement added.

The move came days ahead of an election in Hungary that will likely extend the term of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The rightwing premier was one of just a few EU leaders to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his own re-election last month.

Orban has repeatedly clashed with Brussels over the rule of law and immigration, and he and Putin visit each other regularly.

The Hungarian leader has said that rather than liberal democracy he favoured building an illiberal state and praised Russia as a model.AUSTIN  Weighing in on contentious NAFTA negotiations as President Donald Trump wants a deal to be hammered out by mid-April, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is warning U.S. trade negotiators not to dump investor protections.

Hes also urging them to avoid changing rules that could disrupt supply chains in the Lone Star State.

In a two-page letter Wednesday to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Abbott said the two provisions in the current agreement that are critical to the economic growth and stability of both Texas and the entire nation should be safeguarded and not changed.

One of those provisions establishes binding arbitration procedures that allow private investors to pursue claims against U.S., Mexican and Canadian governments for alleged violations of investor protections contained in the agreement.

Investments like those in the Mexican energy industry make it possible for U.S. exports to enter more foreign markets and to be more effectively tailored, marketed and distributed to foreign consumers, the letter states. This is crucial for the rapidly increasing volume of U.S. crude oil, natural gas and petroleum product exports, more than half of which come from Texas.

Abbott notes that a significant portion of current U.S. energy exports are bound for Mexico and Canada, with Mexico purchasing about half of all gasoline exported by U.S. refiners and Canada importing more U.S. crude oil than any other country.

In order for American companies to continue to invest in Mexican and Canadian infrastructure and natural resource development and for our country to fully realize the associated benefits for U.S. exports, those companies must be assured of fair and equitable treatment by our NAFTA trading partners, Abbott states in the letter.

So-called rules of origin provisions of NAFTA also should be retained because they ensure that the benefits of the agreement extend only to good produced by the parties to the agreement and not to goods produced wholly or in large part in other countries, Abbott writes.

Negotiators working on changes to NAFTA are said to be considering changing those provisions concerning certain goods, including motor vehicles.

Such changes could radically disrupt the vast network of supply chains throughout North America, drive up costs and create inefficiencies for American companies, Abbott warned, noting that Texas would be particularly hard hit.

Texas annually imports 40 percent of its goods used in manufacturing under NAFTA, including $11.5 billion in petroleum products from Canada and Mexico and $6 billion in auto parts from Mexico.

Stricter rules of origin will force Texas businesses and businesses throughout the country to produce greater numbers of goods without NAFTA benefits, which will lead to increased production costs, higher consumer prices and job loss, the letter states.

Texas exports

Noting that NAFTA has helped diversify Texas economy and fostered a robust, yet stable labor market, Abbott cautions against changes in the agreement that could undo its benefits to Texas and other states.

For more than 20 years, NAFTA has been an important agreement for Texas, Abbott said. The stability and predictability of the agreement have enabled investment decisions that have led to a substantial increase in exports between Texas and our NAFTA trading partners.

I hope you will champion the preservation of the provisions that have contributed to the economic prosperity of our state and the nation as a whole, he writes.

Over the past 23 years, the trilateral free-trade treaty has tripled U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico to $1.2 trillion of goods and services last year, from about $350 billion when the treaty was first signed.

No state has won more from this growth in trade than Texas, which exported more than $110 billion worth of goods to NAFTA nations last year, according to statistical reports.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported that the Trump administration is pushing for a preliminary NAFTA deal to announce at a summit in Peru next week, and will host cabinet ministers in Washington to try to achieve a breakthrough.

The White House wants leaders from Canada and Mexico to join in unveiling the broad outlines of an updated pact at the Summit of the Americas that begins on April 13, as technical talks continue to work out the details, according to the report.San Antonio-based iHeartMedia Inc., which is currently mired in bankrutpcy, said its delaying releasing its financial statements after discovering that employees apparently stole funds at a Hong Kong subsidiary, the company disclosed Tuesday.

Forensic accountants and lawyers hired by subsidiary Clear Media discovered various transactions in three bank accounts that were opened in its name without its authorization. Other unspecified matters also were discovered during the investigation. Several employees are under investigation by local police, the company said.

The findings were turned over to police, iHeart and Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings reported in separate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

iHeart, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month in Houston, and Clear Channel said theyre unable to file their latest annual reports with the SEC by the required filing date because Clear Medias financial statements have not been completed. Clear Channel Outdoor is a billboard subsidiary which is 90 percent owned by iHeart.

In addition, both iHeart and Clear Channel said they were not able to complete an assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting as of Dec. 31.

iHeart owns more than 850 radio stations in 150 U.S. markets. Clear Channel has more than 580,000 displays in 31 countries. Clear Channel is not in bankruptcy.

Clear Media is an outdoor media company in China. Its described as an indirect, non-wholly owned subsidiary of both iHeart and Clear Channel. Clear Media trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange but the companys shares are currently suspended from trading.

Clear Channel said as a result of the delayed filing of its annual report, it has received notice from the New York Stock Exchange that it is not in compliance with listing requirements. Under NYSE rules, it has six months to file the annual report. The company can regain compliance with listing standards before then, however.The caravan of bikers wearing black vests with red and gold patches was about 70 deep when it pulled into a party site outside Roswell, New Mexico, for what was supposed to be a regional meeting of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

Soon, dust kicked up at the front of the pack, and David Lombino  from his motorcycle near the middle of that caravan  could see men clad in black clubbing, punching and kicking the bikers at the front.

Such was the scene of a March 2011 ambush of members and supporters of the Bandidos El Paso chapters, Lombino testified Tuesday during the San Antonio racketeering trial of the Bandidos former top leaders, then-national President Jeffrey Fay Pike and ex-national Vice President John Xavier Portillo.

Lombino, who was a member of the Bandidos Las Cruces, New Mexico, chapter at the time, said the assailants were not rivals but members of the same motorcycle club. At least one of the attackers went down the line of bikers, shoved a shotgun in their faces and posed the question: Who is your boss?

They were pummeled if they answered Ernie, said Lombino, referring to Ernest Morgas, who was president of the El Paso chapters and led the Bandidos members in New Mexico, which borders Texas.

With the 12-gauge in his face, Lombino answered Jeff and Portillo, Lombino testified, adding that he mixed up last names.

Asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gibson what Jeff he was referring to, Lombino answered Jeff Pike, the president at the time. Lombino added that hed never met Pike.

Federal prosecutors put Lombino on the stand in support of their theory that Pike ordered the beatings to quell a coup from members who opposed Pikes plans to split the Bandidos chapters in the United States and Western Hemisphere from its European and Australian chapters.

According to prosecutors, Pike also ordered a change in the clubs patch to reflect the split of the Bandidos, which had grown to be a worldwide organization under his predecessors.

The Roswell incident is among a series of acts alleged in a federal indictment that accuses Pike and Portillo of ordering or sanctioning violence on rivals to protect the Bandidos territory and to discipline its own members to maintain order.

Lombino testified that Morgas was bloodied and appeared to have head, face and rib injuries. Lombino said Charles Boogeyman Anderson, another member of the El Paso Bandidos, was knocked unconscious. Lombino said the assailants used clubs, sticks, locks wrapped in bandannas, gloves partly filled with BBs and the butt of a shotgun to beat their targets.

Hospital records that prosecutor Gibson showed the jury said Morgas and Anderson told medical personnel they suffered their injuries in motorcycle accidents, but Lombino disputed that.

After the beatings, a meeting took place in which reasons for the attack were somewhat explained, Lombino said, adding that members had a cookout and continued with the party after the dust settled.

Lombino said he left the Bandidos in 2013 under bad terms and was accused by other members of being a police officer or working with them. Lombino also said Bandidos went to his house to beat him and take any property denoting his membership in the Bandidos. He also said hes been threatened and accused of being a snitch for the past five years.

Under cross-examination, Pikes lead lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, contended that Lombino implicated Pike only after federal agents suggested his name.

DeGuerin also asked if Lombino was eager to unload on his former motorcycle club.

Yes sir, Lombino replied.

Lombino is the second eyewitness in the trial to detail the Roswell matter.

Justin Cole Forster, a former national sergeant-at-arms, testified March 1 that he and Portillo  who was a national sergeant-at-arms until he became vice president in 2013  were summoned to Houston in 2011, where Pike dispatched Forster and others to take care of Morgas.

Forster said he was given money to buy burner cellphones, and the crew took a truck instead of motorcycles and joined with other Pike-supporting nationally ranked Bandidos to kick Morgas and 15 others out of the Bandidos.

We asked them if they knew who their president was, Forster said. If they didnt answer right, we took their patches, and they got beat. If they answered Jeff (Pike), they didnt get beat.

The trial continues through April, with breaks on some days because the judge or Pikes lawyers are out of town on unrelated cases.REYNOSA, Mexico  Presidential candidate Ricardo Anaya, leading a left-right coalition, said during a campaign stop here Tuesday that this nation wont pay for President Donald Trump's border wall.

Meanwhile, populist leftist frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a rally that his supporters would form a big human chain of Mexicans for peace if the U.S. government sent troops to the border, according to a Reuters report.

Trump lately has railed against illegal immigration, threatened to end NAFTA and on Tuesday said he would use the military to guard the border until his proposed wall is built. His remarks have galvanized the Mexican presidential campaign and raised the specter of an anti-American candidate winning the election.

Mexico is not going to pay 1 cent for the wall they want to build, Anaya told a raucous crowd of several thousand inside a university gymnasium, and thousands more watching his speech on large screens outside. I'm going to tell (Trump) in English so that he has no doubt.

In the week since the presidential campaign season kicked off, Anaya toured the Tamaulipas border with Texas.

The race pits establishment candidates against Lopez Obrador, who launched his campaign in Ciudad Juarez, and will campaign in Tamaulipas later this week.

Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, has been making stops in cities along the border with the United States, a region that has been the target of Trumps ire over the past week.

Lopez Obrador earlier had said Mexico no longer would be the pinata of foreign governments. Hes currently polling around 38 percent, nearly double that of Anaya, who is in second place with 20 percent.

Meanwhile, the Mexican ambassador to the United States said Mexico has formally requested a clarification of Trumps statement about using the military to guard the border.

It's certainly not something that the Mexican government welcomes, Ambassador Geronimo Gutierrez told CNN on Tuesday.

The ambassador told the network he talked with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen about his countrys concerns. He also indicated Trumps talk of using the military on the border isnt a new idea.

The National Guard has been called before in different instances in past years in a supportive role, Gutierrez said. I would assume that that's what we're looking at.

At his event Tuesday, Anaya touched briefly on Trumps threats.

Trump is very good at demanding, but let this be clear, just as immigration worries him, the trafficking of weapons from the United States to Mexico worries us, Anaya said. More than 200,000 guns are entering Mexico every year from the United States.

Anaya pledged to tackle corruption, a critical issue for voters in the wake of scandals that have plagued the current government of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Last year, Italian police captured fugitive Tamaulipas ex-Gov. Tomas Yarrington on charges of money laundering, racketeering and taking bribes from drug cartels.

Mexican authorities in October arrested another former governor, Eugenio Hernandez Flores, on charges he laundered tens of millions of dollars worth of bribes. As governors, both men belonged to the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Anaya also swiped at the ruling PRI for its record on public safety, which has dramatically worsened under Pena Nieto.

Tamaulipas has been one of the states most affected by rising drug-fueled violence, with homicides in 2017 reaching the highest level since 2012, and deadly clashes on the streets of Reynosa mere hours before Anayas arrival. As his campaign rally ended, gunbattles again broke out a few miles from Anayas rally.

The PRI has abandoned Tamaulipas, Anaya said. When I am president  you will see what it is to have the federal, state and municipal government working together. We will return security to Reynosa.

Anaya, 38, has been a figure in national politics for six years. A keen strategist who got his start in politics at just 21 years of age, he helped the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, win seven governors races in 2016.

Though Anaya has broad support, to win he will have to win over left-leaning voters and the youth vote. Analysts see Lopez Obrador benefiting most from Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric. And yet, Anaya offered a balanced response in the face of Trumps aggression.

We are going to reconsider our relationship with the United States, Anaya said. It's going to be a relationship of respect  because Mexico needs the United States, but the United States also needs Mexico.When teenager Esequiel Hernandez was shot dead by U.S. Marines two decades ago in the Big Bend, the shocked public reaction forced an immediate halt to the use of armed military personnel in border patrols.

Hernandez, 18, of Redford, was herding goats near the Rio Grande when a hidden four-man Marine unit from Camp Pendleton, California, stalked him and killed him.

According to the Marines, who had been sent there to intercept drug smugglers, the youth had shot twice in their direction with an old .22-caliber rifle he carried on his daily jaunts.

But the Texas Rangers who investigated and the prosecutor who sought indictments of Cpl. Clemente Banuelos were convinced Hernandez never saw the heavily camouflaged Marines.

The kid was totally minding his own business and they killed him because they were a little trigger-happy, retired Texas Ranger Capt. Barry Caver said.

In my opinion, some criminal violations occurred, but the grand jurors chose not to indict, he added.

In the wake of the Hernandez killing, the subtle militarization of the border, in which active duty Marines and soldiers had worked alongside Border Patrol agents since the late 1980s, came under harsh review.

Multiple investigations ensued, and then-Defense Secretary William Cohen suspended the use of the military in antidrug patrols on the border.

Eventually, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the memory of Hernandezs death faded and military patrols resumed with additional safeguards and protocols.

By 2006, President George W. Bush was sending thousands of National Guard troops to the Southern border.

In spring 2017, according to a draft internal document obtained by the Associated Press, the Trump administration considered mobilizing 100,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, an idea that was quickly disavowed.

Over the past two decades, the military has adopted measures to avoid violent encounters between civilians and troops on the border, said Marine Col. Ladaniel Dayzie, deputy commanding officer of Joint Task Force North, based in El Paso.

The task force provides volunteer military personnel to assist the Border Patrol and other federal agencies in conducting counter drug and counter transnational organized crime operations, according to Dayzie, in remarks made last year on the 20th anniversary of Hernandezs death.

As a safeguard, he said, military units assigned to the border now are required to work with a local law enforcement agency while in the field, and are ordered to avoid confrontations, even if threatened.

If a situation like Redford were arise, in which the military believed they were being fired upon, they would take cover instead of confronting the target, he said.

I cant see how it could happen again, he said of the Hernandez shooting.

But others who have studied the subject are less sanguine.

The essence of militarization is the military acting like police and the police acting like the military, either of which implies treating social issues inherent in law enforcement as though they were military problems or threats, said Timothy Dunn, a professor at Salisbury University in Maryland, and author of a book on border militarization.SEGUIN  Float Fest  the annual summer revelry along the San Marcos River  will be back again this summer, despite efforts to douse the festivities.

A lawsuit settlement has cleared the way for the fifth annual event to take place July 20-22 with up to 20,000 people, fewer than organizers wanted but a level that won approval from Guadalupe County commissioners.

We spent over four months working with the county to ensure a safe event, said Marcus Federman of Current Events LLC. We do believe we are entitled to 30,000 attendance and followed the statute to the letter of the law. However, in the spirit of being a good partner with the county we decided to settle the lawsuit.

The event has been growing since it started at the riverside venue just outside Martindale. This years permit request was denied Feb. 27 by the Guadalupe commissioners.

The 3-2 vote to deny the permit at that time was cheered by protectors of the river and residents living near the concert and tubing venue, who have complained after each Float Fest about loud and raunchy music, traffic congestion, trespassers and pollution.

But Current Events, represented by attorney Joseph Stallone, filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the permit denial, calling it an arbitrary and capricious decision that constituted an abuse of discretion by commissioners. It said the plaintiff stood to lose $2.29 million in potential profits from cancellation of the event, based on an attendance forecast of 30,000, twice the number of guests last year.

The suit cited the states occupation code provisions on outdoor music festivals, which say commissioners shall grant permits for such events unless a majority finds from the preponderance of the evidence presented at the permit hearing that the proposed time and location create a substantial danger of congestion and disruption of other lawful activities in the immediate vicinity.

Commissioner Jim Wolverton had cited the codes compulsory language in explaining why he joined Commissioner Greg Seidenberger in backing the permit issuance at the Feb. 27 meeting.

The statute clearly states that if he has filed his paper work timely and properly, we shall issue the permit, Wolverton said.

The settlement was authorized thanks to a reversal by County Judge Kyle Kutscher at a March 15 special meeting, where the matter was discussed in executive session for 90 minutes.

Commissioners voted 3-2 without discussion to authorize Assistant County Attorney Robert Etlinger to execute a settlement with the terms discussed behind closed doors.

Commissioners Judy Cope and Jack Shanafelt, whod opposed issuing the permit in February and dissented on the settlement vote in March, said Tuesday that they instead preferred to let the state district court rule on the merits of Current Events lawsuit.

The settlement, finalized March 18 when signed by Etlinger and Federman, says it functions as the permit for Float Fest to be held.

A copy of the settlement obtained Tuesday shows Current Events agreed to reduce the paid attendance limit to 20,000 at the event.

The lawsuits resolution came as an unpleasant surprise to Tom Goynes, who owns a campground business on the river near Martindale and is president of the Texas River Protection Association.

Its a real shame, he said. I thought they had a good case. I would have thought that any reasonable judge would have supported them, but they buckled.

Kutscher, however, said there was uncertainty over how a visiting judge would see the dispute. The offer to reduce attendance also fueled his change of heart, he said.

State District Judge Margaret Mirabal of Houston was assigned to the case after three local judges recused themselves.

Our attorney felt there was a decent possibility that a visiting judge, not knowing the history of the event, could overturn that decision (to deny the permit), Kutscher said Tuesday.Around this time of year, attorney Carmen Dusek finds herself thinking about a woman named Merrianne.

Ten years ago, law enforcement officers and Child Protective Services investigators, acting on a tip, raided what was known as the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, a small West Texas town, and found a scene that shocked the country.

The ranch was home to the most devout members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamist group led by Warren Jeffs that was distrusting of the outside world. Among them were a dozen girls dressed in prairie dresses who had been married between the ages of 12 and 15, including Merrianne, who had been married to Jeffs.

The FLDS church swiftly built infrastructure for a community on its sprawling, 1,700-acre former exotic-game ranch in West Texas, which it purchased in 2004. Amid the desert landscape, there were orchards, log-cabin homes and a massive, shining white temple.

The April 3, 2008 raid resulted in one of the largest child welfare cases in Texas history, sparking controversy over whether and how the state could remove hundreds of children from their families without individual investigation.

In an affidavit in support of removing the children, a CPS investigator said there was a pervasive pattern and practice of indoctrinating and grooming minor female children to accept spiritual marriages to adult male members of the YFZ Ranch resulting in them being sexually abused.

In the days following the raid, state Child Protective Services officials removed 463 people they believed were minors from the ranch. Seven of the girls married under 15 had children of their own.

In all, 439 confirmed minors, including two born after the raid, eventually were placed in foster care until the Texas Supreme Court ruled May 29, 2008, that the state had overstepped its bounds and ordered the children be returned to their parents.

I dont think any of us were prepared for the magnitude, said Dusek, the attorney who organized the legal representation for the children.

For some in the FLDS church, what they saw and learned during the raid and subsequent criminal trials prompted them to break with the sect. But for an unknown number of others, some of whom are in hiding, their beliefs a decade later remain strong.

The state stopped tracking nearly all of the children that year. Only Merrianne remained in foster care longer than June, but Dusek does not know where she is now.

To protect the children

Before the raid, little was known about the large complex that was being constructed outside Eldorado by members of an offshoot of the Arizona-based FLDS, which split from the Mormon Church decades ago after it renounced polygamy. Members sometimes were spotted in town, the women in their prairie dresses, but they largely kept to themselves.

Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran had built a relationship with some FLDS members. When he got the CPS call, based on a tip to a shelter from a teenager who never was located, the sheriff felt the situation was urgent, but he knew they had a good line of communication. He predicted they would resolve the situation quickly.

It didnt turn out that way, said Doran, who still goes to the now state-owned property daily. This has been a major part of my career.

When the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services finalized its report in December, 2008, it determined 263 children had been subject to neglect. Of the parents, 124 were deemed perpetrators. To help resolve the problems, 29 safety plans were signed, 170 parents attended eight hours of parenting classes and 50 girls took four hours of education sessions on underage marriage and sexual abuse.

In these cases, DFPSs sole purpose was to protect the children, reunite them with their families when the childrens safety could be reasonably assured, and give those families better tools to protect their children from abuse or neglect in the future, the report stated.

Separately, law enforcement saw 12 grand jury indictments of men that year, according to the report. The prophet, Jeffs, was sentenced to life in prison following his 2011 conviction on child sexual assault charges. He declined a request for an interview, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman said, but former members say he continues dispensing orders from a lockup in Palestine.

The details of the life he created at the ranch were  and remain  shocking. But not even all FLDS members knew exactly what was going on there, including one of Warrens half-brothers, Wallace Jeffs.

Texas was described by the prophet as the place for elite and loyal people, said Wallace Jeffs, 57. To be invited was viewed as a great honor, even if it meant separating from family.

It also was a matter of salvation: If we werent called to Texas, Jeffs said, we were going to be destroyed with the wicked that year.

Wallace Jeffs was exiled from the church  an experience that devastated him  then brought back before the raid. But he felt strange about the ranch. He was relieved when three invitations to go there fell through.

Only when Jeffs was cast out again in 2010, and he began to investigate what had happened at the ranch, did he find his suspicions confirmed.

As far as my point of view of the raid, it was really the beginning of the end of Warren, and really of the whole church, Jeffs said. It was really what opened my eyes to what was really going on in the church

He now calls the Texas property Warrens brothel.

Leaving the ranch

Rachel Jeffs, a daughter of Warren Jeffs, first went to the ranch because her mother was there, dying. She, too, found it strange.

Rachel Jeffs alleged her father sexually abused her between the ages of 8 and 16. Though they were taught the prophet could do no wrong, she knew he wasnt a good person.

Her husband lived in South Dakota, but she stayed intermittently in her fathers house at the ranch. She remembers seeing him kiss the young girls he married. And still she didnt know about everything going on. He stayed in his room for weeks at a time.

It just made me sick, Rachel Jeffs said. I hated Texas.

By the time of the raid, Rachel Jeffs had left the ranch. But some of her 52 siblings called her. They were sad to be apart from their children. They were unaccustomed to what they ate.

For the children in foster care, so much was unfamiliar. They startled officials when they awoke early, got dressed and tied on their shoes, as if getting ready to work. They had never been given toys. When asked about Iraq, one said, Whos Iraq?

But they also had planned for this, in a way. They had been taught about the raid in Waco, where a siege on a Branch Davidian compound in April 1993 had ended in a fire and the deaths of about 80 sect members, including two dozen children. They expected to be persecuted.

Working behind the scenes was Rebecca Musser, who had broken with the church in 2002 at age 26. She had been in touch with law enforcement prior to the raid because she was trying to find a sibling. She agreed to help officials with the raid. She feared it might trigger a mass suicide.

I wanted things to change, she said. I was concerned for how they would respond to it.

Some stayed still at the ranch, and life there became increasingly constrained by orders issued by Warren Jeffs from his prison cell. No sex. No hugging. No potatoes. No milk. They had to write Jeffs a letter every week. Rachel Jeffs was ordered to live alone  and she later decided she had tolerated enough.

Musser believes the raid has saved lives, and credited the state for how it was handled.

Texas had the guts to do what other states did not, she says.

The evidence admitted into the record to her was the most powerful, allowing people to see for themselves what happened. All three former members quoted in this article have written books on their experiences.

At the Sheriffs Office, people who broke with the church after the raid occasionally stop by. The raid was controversial at the time. They tell the sheriff they are glad it happened.

But 10 years on, every April, Dusek wonders what became of Merrianne.AUSTIN  This has never happened before.

When Democrat Beto ORourke announced Tuesday morning he had raised $6.7 million over the first three months of the year, it shattered campaign fundraising records in Texas. Combined with the nearly $7 million ORourke raised in 2017, the El Paso congressman now has nearly $14 million to spend on his campaign for the U.S. Senate against Republican Ted Cruz.

ORourke has raised the money despite pledging to take no money from political action committees. His campaign notes that his money came from 141,000 different small donors in the first three months.

ORourke has been setting fundraising records, but he now has more money than even Democrats in the past who primarily self-funded. The previous record for most money spent by a Democrat was in 2014 when David Alameel spent more than $10 million, but almost all of that came from self-financing. Still, Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, easily won re-election.

Similarly Ron Kirk spent $9.8 million in his failed 2002 campaign, but more than $7 million came from Kirk himself. Only two other Democrats have ever had more than $8 million to spend on a U.S. Senate campaign in Texas. In 2008, attorney Mikal Watts amassed $9.4 million in his campaign to challenge Cornyn, but then opted not to run. And in 1988, then-U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen spent $8.8 million to win his re-election.

ORourke said, Campaigning in a grass-roots fashion while raising more than $6.7 million from 141,000 contributions, we are the story of a campaign powered by people who are standing up to special interests, proving that we are more than a match and making it clear that Texans are willing to do exactly what our state and country need of us at this critical time.

Despite emphasizing his campaign is a grass-roots one that relies on traveling the entire state, ORourke acknowledged the money will allow him to get on the airwaves and build up his name recognition.

It helps us reach the 28 million people in Texas, ORourke said.

While Cruz is almost universally known in Texas, early polling shows most Texans know little about ORourke.

Campaign finance reports are not due out until later this month, but ORourke put his numbers out early.

The Cruz campaign had not released their latest reports. However, in his last report released in February he had raised $7.3 million in the since the start of 2017 and had $6 million in his main campaign account  slightly more than ORourke.As he travels across Texas, U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke often tells his town hall guests that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spent much of his first term campaigning for president.

ORourke, an El Paso Democrat, has underscored the point by contrasting his visit to more than 200 Texas counties with Cruzs tour of all 99 counties in Iowa, the site of the first presidential caucus.

So when Cruz dropped by San Antonio on Tuesday for his third stop on the second day of a 12-city campaign kickoff tour, his message centered on populism and his connection to ordinary people around Texas  a direct contrast to the picture of Cruz that ORourke has sought to paint for the last year.

Cruzs 25-minute speech began with the story of his father, Rafael, reading him bedtime stories of adventurers and and people doing remarkable things. He recalled dreaming of heroes like Davy Crockett; then he transitioned.

Ive got to tell you, in the last five years serving in the Senate, I have been blessed to get to know real-life heroes all across Texas, just like those heroes we learned about as little kids, Cruz told a packed room of supporters at a Northwest Side Tex-Mex restaurant.

He went through the list of people he sees as heroes: members of the military, small business owners, farmers and ranchers that toil the ground in the hot, blazing Texas sun and oil miners that drill underground to find black gold.

Then Cruz turned to the two devastating events  Hurricane Harvey and the Sutherland Springs massacre  that he has mentioned at each of his early campaign stops. A recent TV ad for his "Tough as Texas" campaign theme also centered on the two events.

From Corpus Christi to Louisiana, 250 miles of devastation, Cruz said, before dropping his voice. But you know the story of Harvey, the legacy of Harvey, wasn't the loss, and it wasn't the devastation. The story of Harvey, the long-lasting legacy of Harvey, is the incredible bravery, the unity, as Texans came together in the face of that struggle.

Cruz on Tuesday often repeated the words, Thats Texas. Thats who we are as a people. And he used detailed imagery to recall horrific events, describing the shattered glass and blood on the floor of the sanctuary in Sutherland Springs. He brought up seeing an alligator swimming in the flooded street of the baptist church he grew up attending in Houston.

Since Cruz has recently begun acknowledging ORourkes presence, hes rebutted claims that hes spent his Senate term campaigning for president by labeling ORourke as unaligned with the values of the majority of Texans. He repeated that message Tuesday, too.

There are some in Washington, D.C., that believe the answer is higher taxes, higher regulation, more government, more debt and less freedom. Who believe the constitution and bill of rights are just the rough draft, Cruz said. But I'll tell you, that's not Texas. That's not who we are as a people.

Cruzs reference to "some in Washington D.C." was the closest he got to mentioning ORourke.

On Monday, as Cruz launched his campaign, ORourke put up a Snapchat filter in Beaumont that read: Ted Cruz visited 99 of Iowas 99 counties. Whens the last time he listened to Texans in Beaumont? On Tuesday, ORourke also reported raising $6.7 million during the first three months of 2018.

Cruz responded to the Snapchat filter on Twitter: Gosh @BetoORourke  Ive been to Beaumont 4 times in the past year, including 3 times in the days following Hurricane Harvey. As best I can tell, youve been there once for a drive-by campaign event on Feb 9. Maybe thats why you lost Jefferson County in the Dem primary.WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump said Tuesday hes preparing to send the military to guard parts of the border with Mexico, escalating his campaign against illegal immigration and his fight with Congress over funding the border wall.

The president, who has closely monitored conservative media accounts of a caravan of Central American migrants in Mexico, offered no details on what sort of military presence he wants or when troops might be deployed.

But seated next to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the White House, Trump said he had spoken with the retired Marine Corps general about doing things militarily.

Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military. Thats a big step. We really havent done that before, or certainly not very much before, he said.

At a news conference later alongside Baltic leaders, the president referred again to the Central Americans that were moving north and to horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States on immigration, an offensive he has stepped up on his Twitter account since the weekend.

It was unclear from the remarks if the president had issued a firm policy directive to the Pentagon or whether sending troops to the border was something he simply was mulling while taking heat recently on immigration from elements of his base.

National Guard troops have periodically been deployed to the border by the federal and state governments, and serve only in support roles to immigration and law enforcement officers.

Today, the Texas National Guard maintains only a light footprint on the border, with 100 soldiers and airmen serving there at a cost of just under $1 million a month, said Lt. Col. Travis Walters, a spokesman based at Camp Mabry in Austin.

The presidents demand for troops on the border drew immediate reactions from across the political landscape.

Its just a really, bad, dangerous idea, said U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke, an El Paso Democrat running against incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who was endorsed Tuesday by the national Border Patrol union.

We do not want the military in our communities patrolling the border. We want the military being able to serve our country overseas, or at military installations like Fort Bliss or Fort Hood in Texas, ORourke added.

But Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick applauded the decision.

Texas has added 500 additional troopers on the border and the Border Patrol has also increased manpower. Military troops can make an immediate difference in securing the border and help protect Texas communities and the rest of America, he said.

State Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, said Trumps position further cements my frustration at the $800 million that the state of Texas is wasting on the border that instead could be spent on education or infrastructure.

How about the families of the men and women who are serving, who are spread so thin across the globe, and then ask them to go guard a border with not only one of our allies, but one of our strongest trading partners? It just seems so ignorant, said Menendez, the son of immigrants  his mother from Mexico, and his late father from Cuba.

Its another example of the fact that we have a showman, a celebrity, a reality star in the White House who is playing a role that he just doesnt know how to play. He lacks the skills to be a statesman or even a politician, he said.

The president has embraced the conservative media portrayal of the migration north of Hondurans and others from Central Americans as an effort to flout American immigration laws. The annual protest, which drew more participants this year, is led by Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which translates to People Without Borders.

Mexican immigration officials this week began registering the migrants, many fleeing turbulent political and economic conditions. Some may qualify for humanitarian visas and or temporary permits to remain in Mexico, Mexican officials said, and some were deported.

The president has stewed over immigration matters since Congress last month approved just $1.6 billion of the $25 billion he wants for the border wall, stipulating that much of the money was for fencing and imposing restrictions.

But his repeated assertions of a border out of control conflict with a long trend of declining immigration. Apprehensions of unauthorized immigrants on the Southern border have declined from a peak of 1.6 million in 2000, to about 304,000 last year.

The presidents intentions are unclear, and perhaps in their infancy, but the use of National Guard troops on the border is not new and generates debate over legalities.

The Posse Comitatus Act bars the military from civilian policing, including search, seizure, arrest or other similar activity while supporting civilian law enforcement.

In 2006, President George W. Bush announced the deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard troops to support the Border Patrol, and between 2006 and summer 2008, some 30,000 Guard members took part in what was called Operation Jump Start.

The Guard units, under control of border state governors, took part in engineering, aviation, border entry identification teams and support activities other than what is deemed law enforcement.

In 2007, Gov. Rick Perry ordered 604 Texas Guard troops working in security platoons to patrol the Rio Grande as part of what was described by state officials at the time as a rolling surge. More than 6,800 people in all were involved in that operation, with personnel coming from the Texas Guard, police departments, sheriffs officers, the Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Coast Guard

In 2010, President Barack Obama, although referring to immigration as inherently the job of the federal government, announced 1,200 National Guard troops would be deployed to assist the Border Patrol. Then last year, the Trump administration considered mobilizing 100,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, an idea that was quickly disavowed, according to a draft internal document obtained by the Associated Press.

The presidents declaration is certain to roil Congress. Texas reaction to the idea was either muted or split along party lines, with the most strenuous objections coming from some border district Democrats.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, remarked: What the president fails to understand is that deploying troops to secure a border and constructing a 14th-century concrete wall, are outdated and inadequate answers to protecting our nations borders.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio and a leading member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, asserted that we shouldnt turn border communities into militarized zones. In fact, using military troops for that purpose may violate the Posse Comitatus Act. President Trump should let Border Patrol do its job and let our military service members focus on the important duties they signed up for.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-San Antonio, said that, like holding a military parade in Washington, sending troops to the border diverts the military from its missions.

Ignoring the law, the cost to taxpayers, and umpteen campaign promises, Trumps effort to militarize our border is just another of his bad border ideas, Doggett said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, a Brownsville Democrat, had harsher words for the president.

Trump is a racist and an idiot, Vela said. Mexico is an ally, not an enemy.

In Houston, U.S. Rep. Gene Green, a Democrat, also spoke out against the idea.

President Trumps plan to deploy troops along the Rio Grande will likely harm our states border communities and turn immigrants seeking safety and a better life into the enemy, he said.

Many Republicans in Congress, taken by surprise, remained silent on the presidents comments, noting they fell short of a fully-developed plan.

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, a Houston-area Republican, who gave partial support to Trumps idea, called instead for the National Guard to be deployed to the border upon the request of state governors.

Protecting American sovereignty and the American people is a constitutional requirement of the federal government, Poe said.Joseph Kopser wanted to make sense of a disappointing primary result.

After all, a few months ago, Kopser, an Army veteran and Austin tech entrepreneur, looked to have everything going his way in the Democratic race for U.S. District 21, a seat  covering parts of San Antonio, Austin and the Hill Country  thats being vacated by Republican Lamar Smith.

Kopser raised more than $700,000, earned the endorsements of several prominent Democrats (including Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff) and papered the district with one slick mailer after another. On election day, however, he found himself in second place to Mary Street Wilson, a political newcomer operating on a no-frills budget.

Chalk it up to frustration or bewilderment, but when the Kopser campaign recently launched its runoff campaign by polling District 21 Democrats, it seemed to go out of its way to marginalize Wilson.

Poll respondents were presented with a glittering narrative about Kopser. They were asked if they agreed that it would be important for Democrats to have a candidate who is a 20-year military veteran and has been described by former President Barack Obama as a champion of change.

When it came to Wilson, the poll profiled her as a lesbian minister and asked if Democrats should vote for her in the runoff whether they think she can win in November.

It didnt take long before poll respondents  including some local Kopser supporters  began to cry foul over what they perceived as a push poll in disguise; an effort to twist public opinion while pretending to measure it.

By the strictest definition, the Kopser poll was not a push poll. Push polls tend to throw out one or two outrageous accusations about an opposition candidate and frame them as questions: Such as, Would it change your opinion of Candidate X if you found out he was a serial killer?

Kopsers poll did, however, come across as skewed, and it suggested to some District 21 voters that, at the very least, he was using the poll to do a cost/benefit analysis on the politics of making Wilsons sexuality an issue during the runoff campaign.

Wilson, a former Austin Community College math teacher and an ordained minister with the progressive United Church of Christ, doesnt rile easily.

But her annoyance was evident when I spoke with her Monday.

I think its a negative poll in two ways, Wilson said. My sexuality is used as a wedge issue and quite frankly my vocation as a minister is part of it as well. Because in block-walking on Saturday I heard that somebody got a comment back, saying, Oh, shes a minister. I dont want a theocracy.

Wilson also felt the poll  with its reference to the Obama White House recognizing Kopser as a champion of change  falsely implied that Obama had endorsed Kopser in the District 21 race.

One of the reasons I got into this is that Im just so sick of politics as usual, she said. And what Im finding is that Im right up against it, right in my own runoff. And quite frankly, Im just disgusted.

That disgust was shared by Derrick Crowe, who finished a close third in the four-candidate Democratic race for District 21.

If I didnt know that Joseph was behind it, I would have assumed that it came from a Republican Super PAC, said Crowe, who endorsed Wilson the day after the March 6 primary. I think its divisive, its ugly and, even if were being very generous, a demonstration of very poor judgment.

Steven Kling, the Democratic nominee in Texas Senate District 25 (the seat currently held by Republican Donna Campbell), said the poll merely solidified his resolve to support Wilson and added, I did think it was in poor taste.

From the beginning of the primary race, Kopser has cast himself as a results-oriented pragmatist who might not excite the party base, but offered Dems their best hope for stealing a consistently Republican seat.

In a statement to the San Antonio Express-News, Kopser insisted his poll was testing messages, not delivering attacks.

In a recent poll, he said, we tested the positive profiles and message that both candidates offer about themselves on their written collateral and out on the campaign trail to understand whether or not voters find that message compelling. We did not, and would not, offer anything in a negative context or to give a negative implication.

We have great respect for Mary and wanted to understand the extent to which the electorate finds her profile and message compelling.The day before HemisFair opened in 1968, the front page of the San Antonio Express carried this big headline: Negro Leader Assassinated with smaller headlines around it: Rifle Bullet Kills Dr. King, Saddened LBJ Postpones Trip, and Violence Erupts In Several Cities.

A smaller headline was placed above those on the front page: First Lady Officially Opens HemisFair Tomorrow.

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, just two days before San Antonios Worlds Fair opened, directed attention to a much more serious matter than planners of the big events opening ever could have imagined.

So when the HemisFair Religion Expression Committee organized a dedication procession for April 5, 1968, the purpose became twofold: to dedicate the HemisFair to God and pay tribute to Dr. King.

This is a tribute to a great American, Martin Luther King, Bishop Everett H. Jones of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, told a crowd of 10,000 people crammed into the Alamo Street area surrounding HemisFairs Gate 1.

Bishop Jones was master of ceremonies for the program, which followed a silent solemn procession beginning at Auditorium Circle, all sponsored by the fairs Religious Expression Committee.

The story named the major religious leaders who participated and said the Rev. Buckner Fanning of Trinity Baptist Church would lead a memorial service for Rev. King on Sunday, April 7, in front of the Alamo. Prayers also would be offered, the story said, by Catholic, Protestant and Jewish leaders.

In the April 5 procession, people represented more than 100 churches, schools and Boy Scouts. They carried banners, stone tablets depicting the 10 Commandments and a large white cross, the story said.

The memory of King was present in the procession as Providence High School students carried signs, one with portraits of King and the late President John F. Kennedy with the words, They died for Peace Among Men.

Another Providence sign said, It really doesnt matter now, Ive been to the mountaintop,

Archbishop Robert E. Lucey declared that the religious event was the opening of the worlds fair for God and that Saturday the fair will be opened for man.

In Mondays San Antonio Express, a headline above the fold on the front page said, Dr. King Mourned In S.A. with another headline about GIs being rushed to cities in the east due to violence and looting breaking out.

The bullet that assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King didnt kill his beliefs, the Rev. S.H. James told the mixed San Antonio crowd of about 500 mourners Sunday. It was part of a national day of mourning for the slain civil rights leader.

It will take more than a bullet to stop the truth of what Dr. King believed, said James, pastor of the Second Baptist Church and a personal friend of King.

If we accept the tenets of science and religion then we must accept that the lives of all men are equal, James added.

We must walk as he walked, led by a distant drummer that beats out a beat of love and fellowship, James said.

David Jacobson, rabbi at Temple Bethel, gave the invocation, praying the life of King would revive our faith in freedom and civil rights.

Fanning of Trinity Baptist said, King cared about man because he loved God and said the answer to the racial problem wasnt more racism.

Its either non-violence or non-existence, Fanning said. Were brothers in this boat together and some of us brothers have been in a far country, but were coming home.GREENWICH  In a talk before the Retired Mens Association of Greenwich on Wednesday morning on the current state of foreign affairs, Tom Niles, a 36-year diplomat and former ambassador, said it boils down to a single question.

Do we have a foreign policy today? Niles put forth to his audience.

And his answer, he said, was a definitive no.

A national security policy was issued several months ago, but Niles said there was little or no indication that the strategy was being followed. And for that, Niles put the blame at the top with President Donald Trump.

Our foreign policy depends, at the top level at least, on what the president sees on Fox News in the morning and what gets his attention and obsession, which causes him to send out one of those familiar messages he sends out, Niles said of Trumps steady use of Twitter. What we have really is chaos and incoherence in the national security policy area.

The White House did not return a message requesting comment from Greenwich Time on the speech.

A Stamford resident, Niles served as a diplomat under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He was ambassador to Canada from 1985 to 1989, assistant secretary of state for Europe and Canada from 1991 to 1993 and ambassador to Greece from 1993 to 1997. He then served as president and vice chairman of the United States Council for International Business, which promotes the global interests of American companies at home and abroad.

Niles credentials were well known to his audience of nearly 100 attendees at the RMA. Wednesdays appearance was his fifth before the organization.

In his talk, Niles said that the work of the U.S. Department of State and the governments foreign service was being gradually destroyed. The department has been understaffed  with some positions not staffed at all  even though it is 15 months into the Trump administration, he said. The U.S. does not have an ambassador in South Korea, Niles said, because one has not been nominated.

For him, this is the end of a needed structure that was put in place with America and its allies after World War II to keep from repeating the mistakes made after World War I. Niles offered his strong personal support for NATO and criticized Trumps statements that other countries were not paying enough to the overall cost of the alliance.

Niles said the system remains a good one but said the presidents comments put the strength of NATO at risk.

I would argue it is one of the most successful efforts the United States has ever undertaken, Niles said of NATO. It is true that the United States, and I would say appropriately but other people might disagree, has borne the larger part of the burden of NATO in terms of defense spending. But it is a bargain at twice the price let me tell you. It has worked for us. We have NATO units fighting alongside us in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. They wouldnt have been there without the alliance relationship.

Niles remarks came at a time of flux at the State Department. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired at the end of March after months of dismantling institutions that Niles said will take a long time to rebuild.

Niles called Tillersons tenure a disappointment but wasnt sure whether that reflected on Tillersons abilities. Tillerson was never given a chance to do his job, Niles said, which was the bigger problem.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo has been nominated by Trump to succeed Tillerson, and Niles did not offer much optimism about that choice. Niles, a native of Kentucky, noted one of that states Republican senators, Rand Paul, has already said he would not support Pompeo.

In this case he might very well be on the right track, Niles said of Pauls decision.

Niles offered even harsher criticism of John Bolton, whom Trump has selected as the new national security adviser. Bolton is controversial due to his reported bellicose nature and advocacy for military action. Niles recalled working with Bolton under Bush, and although Bolton did a fine job, Niles called his appointment to the Trump administration a frightening prospect.

At that time John Bolton had adult supervision, and he doesnt have that now, Niles said. And it certainly, certainly worries me.

Niles also spoke about economic issues, specifically the recent tariffs Trump has imposed. The president has boasted the tariffs would allow the U.S. to win trade wars with countries such as China.

But Niles said the president, whom he never mentioned by name in his prepared remarks, was wrong. He called Trumps obsession with the trade deficit really weird. The merchandise trade deficit is due to a very low personal savings rate combined with a high consumption rate in the country, Niles said, pointing out that other countries that save more have a surplus.

The way to do it is simply enough to find ways to encourage saving and encourage investment, Niles said, offering the possibility the new tax reform laws might have that effect.

Now we have the president saying, most irrationally, that he welcomes a trade war and trade wars are good and its easy to win, Niles said. Trade wars arent good. Theyre bad and everyone loses in them. Only someone totally ignorant in history would make that comment.

A full video of the speech will be available online at www.greenwichrma.org.by Craig Rosenkrantz | Yankees Correspondent | Wed, Apr 4th 10:42am EDT

Jordan Montgomery pitched five innings, gave up two hits, one run, walked four, and had four strikeouts in a 11-4 win over the Rays.

Fantasy Impact:

After an admirable rookie season, Montgomery was solid in his 2018 debut. In fact, considering the final score, he was a little unlucky to settle for a no-decision. The 24-year-old lefty has the potential to pitch his way into being a reliable option against most opponents, and fantasy owners shouldn't fret Tuesday's four walks. He posted a 3.0 BB/9 last year, so it probably won't be an ongoing concern. Montgomery lines up to face the Orioles on Sunday in his second start of the week.WASHINGTON  U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue is encouraging dairy producers to consider enrolling in the new and improved Margin Protection Program for Dairy, MPP-Dairy, which will provide better protections for dairy producers from shifting milk and feed prices.

With changes authorized under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, the U.S. Department of Agricultures Farm Service Agency has set the enrollment period to run from April 9 to June 1.

We recognize the financial hardships many of our nations dairy producers are experiencing right now. Folks are losing their contracts and they are getting anxious about getting their bills paid while they watch their milk check come in lower and lower each month.

The Bipartisan Budget Act provided some much-needed incentives for dairy producers to make cost-effective decisions to strengthen their farms, mitigate risk, and conserve their natural resources, said Perdue.

This includes our support of Americas dairy farms. We encourage dairy producers to review the provisions of the updated program, which Congress shaped with their feedback. Those changes are now in effect, and Id ask any producers who are interested to contact their local USDA service centers.

About the program

The program protects dairy producers by paying them when the difference between the national all-milk price and the national average feed cost (the margin) falls below a certain dollar amount elected by the producer.

Changes

Calculations of the margin period is monthly rather than bi-monthly. Covered production is increased to 5 million pounds on the Tier 1 premium schedule, and premium rates for Tier 1 are substantially lowered.

An exemption from paying an administrative fee for limited resource, beginning, veteran, and disadvantaged producers.

Dairy operators enrolled in the previous 2018 enrollment period that qualify for this exemption under the new provisions may request a refund.

Dairy operations must make a new coverage election for 2018, even if you enrolled during the previous 2018 sign-up period. Coverage elections made for 2018 will be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2018.

All dairy operations desiring coverage must sign up during the enrollment period and submit an appropriate form (CCC-782) and dairy operations may still opt out by not submitting a form.

All outstanding balances for 2017 and prior years must be paid in full before 2018 coverage is approved. Dairy producers can participate in FSAs MPP-Dairy or the Risk Management Agencys Livestock Gross Margin Insurance Plan for Dairy Cattle (LGM-Dairy), but not both.

During the 2018 enrollment period, only producers with an active LGM-Dairy policy who have targeted marketings insured in 2018 months will be allowed to enroll in MPP-Dairy by June 1; however, their coverage will start only after active target marketings conclude under LGM-Dairy.

USDA has a web tool to help producers determine the level of coverage under the MPP-Dairy which will provide them with the strongest safety net under a variety of conditions.

The online resource, which will be updated and available by April 9 at www.fsa.usda.gov/mpptool, allows dairy farmers to quickly and easily combine unique operation data and other key variables to calculate their coverage needs based on price projections.

Producers can also review historical data or estimate future coverage based on data projections.

The secure site can be accessed via computer, smartphone, tablet or any other platform. USDA is mailing postcards advising dairy producers of the changes.

For more information, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/dairy or contact your local USDA service center.An agricultural charity has held out a helping hand for farmers who have suffered losses due to recent severe weather.

Sheep farmers in the parts of the UK have been hit hard by the harsh winter.

Tom Armstrong, regional welfare officer for the north of England for farming charity RABI, spoke to a number of worried farmers at a recent farmhouse breakfast event in Northumberland.

People werent prepared for the snow and many farmers lost sheep in snow drifts, he said.

They are dreading lambing. The numbers will be down, which will have a knock on effect for farmers later in the year when they come to sell their stock.

On top of that, this has been a long, wet winter. The grass hasnt started to grow yet, so farmers are paying for extra feed for the surviving sheep  an expense they normally wouldnt have at this time of year. That can put a strain on finances so many on low incomes are struggling to pay domestic bills.

Tom added: It does affect your mental wellbeing when these things happen, but its important for farmers to know that theyre not alone. R.A.B.I is here to help.

'Huge difficulties'

Rural insurer NFU Mutual said farmers across the UK are facing "huge difficulties" to look after livestock in the worst UK-wide winter weather in over a decade.

Tim Price, Rural Affairs Specialist at NFU Mutual said: "In the areas which have had heavy snow and temperatures falling below -10c, farmers are facing a massive challenge to get fodder to sheep and cattle which are out in the fields or housed in remote buildings.

"Scotland and the north east of England are currently the worst affected regions with deep snow still falling and drifting in high winds. Unusually, there has also been very heavy snow in Devon and Cornwall - including low lying areas which rarely see snow."

The amount of livestock killed due the recent severe weather is said to be the "worst in living memory" in some parts of the UK.

The Cumbria MP, who represents the Penrith and the Border constituency, said local farmers have lost hundreds of dead animals.

He said they have lost stock in lamb - during the most critical time for farmers.

During a crisis RABI can help those in financial hardship by providing grants for immediate domestic and household expenses. While we cannot help specifically with business costs, if the harsh winter has left you or someone you know who works in farming unable to pay household bills please call our Freephone Helpline: 0808 281 9490.Over 2,500 native trees now dot the banks of the Burntollet River in County Londonderry thanks to local farmers and landowners.

The riverside planting comes from a partnership between the Loughs Agency and the Woodland Trust, with support from Northern Ireland Water and the backing of local farmers.

The new additions  a mix of oak, alder and willow  already cover some 3 hectares (7 acres) of land. And according to the partners, this is just the beginning of a large landscape venture.

Planting by the banks of the Burntollet River will ultimately stretch over a 10-mile strip and it is hoped that, with collective efforts, the project will be replicated elsewhere in the Valley.

Farmers are planting for a variety of reasons. The stabilisation of riverbanks, improved drainage and shelter for livestock are high on the list; with wildlife and water quality also set to benefit.

Dave Scott is the Woodland Trusts Treescape Development Lead and said: As well as helping river quality, trees can help stop money from, literally, going down the drain.

As the trees mature, their roots will help to bind and strengthen the sides of the river preventing erosion. In the Faughan Valley, landowners have seen parts of their fields essentially wash away, and while trees cant solve everything, they certainly could have reduced the damage.

Trees planted in the right place also help to prevent the run-off of resources such as fertilisers  soil erosion and nutrient loss are a real cost to the farming business.

Studies at Pontbren in mid-Wales, according to a Woodland Trust, found that water absorption into the ground increased by 60 times within five metres of tree shelterbelts, and after just three years of planting.

Roy Taylor, Catchment Manager for Northern Ireland Water, commented: Trees planted along river banks can provide many water management benefits, acting as a buffer zone to prevent pesticide drift from reaching watercourses and tree roots help stabilise river banks.

The resultant improvement in water quality coming into water treatment works reduces chemical and power usage, thereby reducing both treatment costs and the carbon footprint.A Ukrainian farming operation has expanded its machinery fleet with a $11 million deal for new Case IH agricultural equipment.

In one of the largest recent sales of tractors and agricultural equipment in the country, farming business Epicenter K has expanded its fleet of machines in an $11m deal that will help it to handle an expanding land area.

The tractors, sprayers and tillage equipment were supplied by Case IH importer Titan Machinery Ukraine, part of a corporation which is one of the worlds largest market operators for Case IH equipment.

The agreement involved the purchase of 50 separate items of equipment, comprising two Quadtrac 600 articulated tracked tractors, 19 Magnum 340 tractors, 17 Patriot 4430 sprayers and 12 True-Tandem 335VT vertical tillage tools.

Epicenter K manages land assets of over 110,000 hectares, and has operated in Ukraine since 2015.

The company has significantly increased its land assets in recent years, with a land fund concentrated mainly in the Cherkasy, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions, and has plans to grow its land area further.

Cropping is concentrated on winter wheat, sunflowers, corn and winter oilseed rape.

Negotiations around the deal began in summer 2017, and were supported by a local hands-on demonstration of the equipment involved.

Epicenter K announced a tender for the purchase of equipment and invited offers from various manufacturers that operate in Ukraine.

The decision in favour of Case IH was said to be based on the ratio of price to quality, a complete dealer network and the unique advantages of selected products.

The final terms of purchase, delivery, service and specification of the equipment fleet were discussed at the 2017 Agritechnica exhibition in Hannover, where senior management from Case IH, Titan and Epicenter K shook hands on the deal.The development of a new Livestock Information Service to give farmers accurate information about animals and their movements has been announced by the government.

The new service, set to be operational from 2019, hopes to provide the foundation for some of the best farm-to-fork traceability in the world when the UK leaves the EU.

It seeks to demonstrate the UKs credentials as a world leader in food production.

The service will be instrumental in improving traceability and providing guarantees to consumers about the origin of their food.

Identifying and tracking animal movements via electronic IDs, initially dairy cows, cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, also means that the industry will be better-placed to respond in the event of a disease outbreak.

The announcement follows contributions from industry stakeholders over the last year through a partnership called the Traceability Design User Group (TDUG), which will help create and develop the new service.

Defra says the development of the service will help drive a progressive and vibrant livestock industry once the UK leaves the EU.

'Transformational'

Defra Secretary Michael Gove said: Working hand-in-hand with industry, we will design and implement a service that puts food safety, animal health and welfare and environmental enhancement at its core.

NFU President Minette Batters said the service will be transformational. Its essential that government and industry work together and this a great example of what we can achieve when we do.

I feel that this is totally transformational, underpinning our reputation in producing some of the best meat and livestock products in the world. Its a win for government, a win for team agriculture and, most of all, its a win for the consumer.

Mrs Batters added: The use of modern technology will make it simple for farmers, food chain companies and government to use the service and reap the benefits of shared data that will put the UK livestock industry on the front foot as a global trading partner.

Organisations such as the NFU, Red Tractor, AHDB and National Sheep Association helped create the service.20m boost for Welsh farmers as US lifts lamb ban

US to accept Welsh lamb for first time since 80sA post shared by Goa Tours Planner (@goatoursplanner) on Oct 30, 2017 at 11:55am PDT

Johns Boat Tours in North Goa runs the Crocodile Dundee boat ride through the Cumbarjua Canal, to bring you up close and personal with crocodiles. These majestic creatures hide in the mangrove-dotted banks or glide through the water but as long as you sit quietly on the boat and dont make sudden movements and unnecessary noises, you will be able to get as close as is safely possible. The boat captains turn off the engines too, if needed. And the bonus is that you also get the opportunity to do some bird watching on the boat trip.Pick-ups for the tour are at Baga, Candolim and Calangute.Main photo: imagecom/123RFSandeep Toshniwal's Divorce Story!

Sandeep Toshniwal was first married to Arshita and the couple filed for divorce after staying together for fourteen years.

What Does Sandeep Toshniwal Do?

Sandeep Toshniwal is the CEO of a big pharmaceutical company and regularly travels all around the world to clinch business deals.

Sandeep's Expensive Divorce Battle!

Sandeep Toshniwal and Arshita's divorce case is still in courts and in 2017, the court ordered Sandeep to give Rs 3 Crores each to his two daughters, aged 9 and 12.

Sandeep To Pay Alimony & Give The Apartment To Arshita!

The court also stated that Sandeep should pay Arshita Rs 2 Crores and also transfer his luxurious apartment that his wife and daughters are currently staying to her name, for which Sandeep has agreed.

Who Takes Custody Of Sandeep & Arshita's Daughters?

The court ordered in 2017 that Arshita will have custody of both their daughters and the couple mutually agreed on it.

What Does Arshita Do For A Living?

Arshita is an orthodontist by profession who runs her own clinic and also works for a few hospitals in Mumbai.

Karisma Kapoor's Divorce Story!

Karisma Kapoor and Sunjay Kapoor's divorce went through and he is now married to Priya Sachdev, who was previously married to hotelier Vikram Chatwal.

New Beginnings For Karisma & Sandeep!

Well, we hope Karisma Kapoor and Sandeep Toshniwal will have ahappy life together!Ajay Is Seen Smoking Next To Yug

The moment Ajay shared this picture, comments like "But sir it's bad habit to smoke in front of kids", and "sir I can see a cigarette in your hand. Sir you're role model for so many young ppl please avoid cigarettes in front of kids." started pouring in.

Uh Oh!

One commented saying, "Don't let your child be a passive smoker...plzzz" Another user said, "its sad to see you smoke, I think you can do much better than that."

On A Related Note..

Newlyweds, Vatsal Seth and his wifey dear Ishita Dutta also accompanied Ajay Devgn and his family for the birthday celebrations in Paris.

Before You Judge Ajay, Let Us Tell You That His Kids Mean The World To Him..

Earlier in an interview to DNA, Ajay Devgn had revealed how his life revolves only around his kids and had said, "I love my children (Nysa and Yug) to distraction. But that is the case with every parent. If you ask any parent in the world, he/she will tell you the same."

Ajay Understands That His Actions Will Leave An Impact On His Kids

"When children come into your life, the attitude towards your career changes.You start getting more insecure. When you're younger, that's not the case. However, once your kids are in the picture, you analyse every step because you keep wondering if any of your actions will affect them."

Ajay Also Chooses Film Keeping His Kids In Mind

"You want them to be protected at any cost. Even the choice of a film is weighed on the basis of what they will think. You become very conscious and start getting scared."

Ajay On Yug

Speaking particularly about Yug, Ajay was quoted as saying, "I love spending time with Yug, irrespective of whether Kajol is shooting or not shooting for a film."

"That's what I anyway do when I pack up for the day. I go home and spend my time with Yug. Now that my daughter Nysa is in Singapore, most of my time is spent with him, and that's all I do."Amazon.com Inc may make a rival offer to buy Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, which is in tie-up talks with Walmart Inc

Amazon.com Inc may make a rival offer to buy Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, which is in tie-up talks with Walmart Inc, media reported, as the two US retail giants jostle for dominance in Indias booming online industry.

Amazon held early exploratory talks to buy control of Indian rival Flipkart but a deal with Walmart is more likely, daily newspaper Mint said on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

One person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the probability of a deal with Amazon was low, and that any such deal could spark monopoly concerns as Flipkart and Amazon dominate Indias e-commerce market. The person declined to be identified as discussions were private.

Amazon declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Flipkart and Walmart did not respond to requests for comment.

Walmart is in talks to buy over 40 percent of Flipkart in potentially one of its biggest overseas deals, Reuters reported in February. A deal would give the worlds largest brick-and-mortar retailer access to an e-commerce market that Morgan Stanley estimated to be worth $200 billion in a decades time.

The deal would also represent a direct challenge to Amazon in Asias third-largest economy. Amazon has committed to investing $5 billion in India as it expands into online grocery delivery.

Walmart will buy a majority stake in Flipkart through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases in a deal that could value the Indian firm at $21 billion, Mint reported.

Flipkart, founded by former Amazon employees Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007, controls nearly 40 percent of Indias online retail market, ahead of Amazon, showed estimates by researcher Forrester.

Like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the pair began by selling books and diversified rapidly, including by selling smartphones through exclusive flash sales. Flipkart now competes with Amazon on almost all product categories.

Flipkarts success has attracted a bevy of deep-pocketed and tech-savvy investors including US hedge fund Tiger Global Management LLC, online marketplace eBay Inc and software maker Microsoft Corp, as well as Chinese technology firm Tencent Holdings Ltd.

It was valued at around $12 billion when Japans SoftBank Group Corps Vision Fund bought roughly a fifth of the firm last year for $2.5 billionOf the $178 billion (around Rs 11.7 trillion) of debt of the power sector, $53 billion (around Rs 3.5 trillion) are already under stress (primarily to the generation sector)

Mumbai: The banking sector, which is already reeling under a mammoth pile of bad loans, is looking at potential dud assets of $38 billion from the power sector, as $53 billion of the $178 billion bank loans to the sector are already stressed, said a report.

"Of the $178 billion (around Rs 11.7 trillion) of debt of the power sector, $53 billion (around Rs 3.5 trillion) are already under stress (primarily to the

generation sector) and of this, as much as $38 billion (around Rs 2.5 trillion) have the potential of being written-off as bad loans," the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch report said on Wednesday.

The report is based on the fact that as much as 71 gigawatt (gw) of private sector coal-based projects are facing bankruptcy filings at various NCLTs, implying probable

resolution from June 2019 and it expects an average 75 percent write-off in these loans.

Of the $178 billion loan, the distribution companies have $65 billion, generation companies have $77 billion, and transmission firms have a debt burden of $36 billion, says the report penned by BofA-ML research analysts Amish Shah and Sriharsh Singh.

Of the $53 billion of stressed loans, as much as $50 billion are to the generation sector alone, says the report, adding loans to the distribution sector, which were earlier stressed, are now better off given quasi-state guarantees and restructuring under the government's Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (Uday) scheme.

Of this $178 billion debt mountain, banks have the largest at 53 percent of the total loans, followed by non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) at 35 percent and the balance from the states.

About 43 percent of loans are extended to the power generation sector, followed by distribution at 37 percent and transmission at 20 percent, the report said.

It can be noted that the power, steel, roads, mining and telecom sectors are the most stressed accounts for banks whose bad loan burden has crossed Rs 11 trillion or 10.5 percent of the system as of December 2017.

The report further notes that the $116-billion national power utilities lose around $9 billion annually but can turnaround without hiking consumer tariffs and also continue to offer the present average subsidy of 2 percent if the many of its cost-inefficiencies are resolved.

It also states that tariff hikes are not the way forward for the sector to turnaround as already tariffs for industrial and commercial consumers, who constitute 37 percent of demand, are very high compared to its regional peers.

But the report is critical of the reforms introduced to address inefficiencies saying they expect limited progress.

As per the report, of the $116 billion expenditure incurred by power distributors annually (as of March 2016 - the latest available data for national distributors), 54 percent is related to operations and maintenance/other expenses across the value chain (administration costs, employee expenses, taxes, marginal profits etc), fuel comprises only 20 percent of the cost, borrowing cost is only 19 percent and freight charges are at a low 7 percent.

And surprisingly subsidies to farmers constitute only 2 percent of the cost of the states on a national level barring for Punjab and Haryana where its 7-8 percent.

Farmers are the second biggest consumer segment for the discoms with 22 percent of total power consumption as agricultural power tariff is only Rs 1.7 per kilowatt hour (kWh) against the cost of Rs 6.3 per kwh.

Though some states provide free power to farmers, the expenses are paid by the respective states to distributors from their annual budgets.

"Our analysis suggests, while at the national level, power subsidy comprises 2 percent of all states' annual expenditure, but for Punjab and Haryana, it 7-8 percent,"

says the report.

The sector has a $5 billion import bill as one-sixth of the fuel needs are met by imports. For power generation companies, this comprises $24 billion in annual

costs, while coal accounts for 87 percent of this cost.

Besides,$4 billion of such fuel is imported which is around 5 percent the country's non-oil and non-gold imports), comprising $3 billion of coal and $1 billion of LNG.With a high-level panel suggesting a slew of changes to insolvency law, Corporate Affairs Secretary said that amendments would be prospective in nature

New Delhi: With a high-level panel suggesting a slew of changes to the insolvency law, Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas said on Wednesday that the amendments, as and when implemented, would be prospective in nature.

However, he indicated that revised bids which are submitted under the insolvency resolution process after the amendments are in force will have to follow the new requirements.

The 14-member panel, headed by Srinivas, has recommended various changes to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Responding to a question on whether the amendments would come into force retrospectively, he said that typically the changes are "prospective".

"If the format has changed, it is not the same bid," he said. His response came to a query related to applicability of amended norms on revised bids.

Citing the panel's report, Srinivas said where resolution plans have been submitted, those should not be affected by the changes even if they were to come into place.

Against the backdrop of various ongoing insolvency cases, he said, "we are observing the developments" and asserted that the sanctity of the framework would have to be respected.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a conference organised by industry body CII.

Regarding the Binani Cements matter where the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has asked the parties in dispute to amicably settle the conflict, Srinivas said it is not the intention of the government to interfere with an ongoing process where a quasi judicial body and an empowered body are looking at a live case.

"But we have to respond to emerging challenges... the ultimate objective is to rescue the company," he added.

To a query on whether the government might opt for ordinance to amend the Code in the wake of the panel's suggestions, Srinivas said the competent body has to take the decision.

He said the government would take a call on the panel's recommendations on "how many are essential, (how many) are not necessary and (how many) are desirable but (there is) no urgency".

Noting that there are more than five crore Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs), Srinivas said there cannot be a "one-size fits all" system as he pitched for a special dispensation.

"There can be a special dispensation for a class of companies like MSMEs," he said.

Relaxations for MSMEs and treating home buyers as financial creditors are among the recommendations made by the panelMarket investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has reportedly questioned the recent deal between Fortis Healthcare Ltd. (FHL) and TPG Capital-backed Manipal Hospitals

'Big bull' Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has reportedly questioned a recent deal between Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) and TPG Capital-backed Manipal Hospitals, which will see the former sell its hospitals and a diagnostic business to the latter, according to a report. Jhunjhunwala, a minority shareholder who, along with his associates, holds around one percent of Fortis, said the hospital chain should be sold via a 'fair' process that allows all interested parties to bid.

Speaking to The Economic Times, the ace investor said he has no plan to vote against the deal. First, let a stage come when the deal needs to be opposed. Today, its just an announcement. The board doesnt have the power to do the dealI think the stage where the deal will need to be voted upon will not come at all" he told the newspaper.

Furthermore, Jhunjhunwala also questioned the 'sanctity' of the deal, approved by a board appointed by a group of former shareholders. "The deal on behalf of Fortis hospitals has been approved by a board directors of which have been elected under the auspices of Shivinder Singh and (his family). They are no longer the shareholders of this company.

Minority shareholders could form a group to oppose the deal. "In case, there is stiff resistance from the minority shareholders, TPG Capital-MHE may have to sweeten the deal," an unnamed source told the DNA.

Meanwhile, private equity firm East Bridge Capital, on Tuesday, picked up an additional 3.86 percent stake in Fortis Healthcare through an open market transaction, giving itself additional voting rights, MoneyControl reported. Prior to the purchase, East Bridge had a 5.87 percent stake in Fortis.

On 29 March, The Economic Times reported that Fortis' minority shareholders were unhappy with the sale of its hospital business to Manipal Hospitals. Shareholders reportedly felt the deal significantly undervalued the worth of the hospital business.

On 27 March, the FHL board approved the demerger of its hospitals business, to be sold to Manipal Hospitals and TPG Capital, and the sale of a 20 percent stake in diagnostics chain SRL Ltd, in a Rs 3,900-crore deal. A Fortis statement said: "The board has also approved sale of its 20 per cent stake in SRL Ltd. to Manipal Hospitals. The resultant entity Manipal Hospitals will be a publicly traded company listed on NSE and BSE. The remaining FHL will be an investment holding company with 36.6 per cent stake in SRL."

Deal math

As part of the proposed deal, Ranjan Pai and TPG will invest Rs 3,900 crore into Manipal Hospitals. The funds will be utilised by Manipal Hospitals to finance the acquisition of a 50.9 percent stake in SRL (20.0 percent from FHL and 30.9 percent from other investors for which discussions are currently underway). Fortis' erstwhile promoters, Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, will have a 0.3 percent stake, down from about 0.8 percent now.

When the demerger becomes effective, a FHL shareholder will receive 10.83 shares in Manipal Hospitals - the resultant combined hospitals business - for every 100 shares of FHL.

Manipal Hospitals, part of the Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), is owned by Ranjan Pai and has been backed by TPG, a global alternative asset firm and an experienced healthcare investor.

With inputs from agenciesAs many as 56 employees of IndiGo from its support staff at Varanasi Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport reportedly went on a strike over salary issues

IndiGo passengers who booked flights to and from Varanasi could expect inordinate delays at the airport on Wednesday, with as many as 56 IndiGo employees working at the Varanasi Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport reportedly going on strike earlier in the day.

The employees, all support staff, are on strike over salary issues, according to The Times of India. IndiaGo had not released any statement on the issue when this report was published.

Varanasi airport director told ANI that striking staff did not give any advance notice to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

We are facing problems at #Varanasi Airport in dealing with IndiGo passengers as the airline's support staff has suddenly called for a strike over salary issues. Indigo staff has not given notice to Airports Authority of India: Varanasi Airport Director pic.twitter.com/GmPgVcLOIj  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 4, 2018

On Tuesday, disinvestment-bound Air India (AI) too delayed payment of salaries for the month of March and is yet to intimate employees about reasons for the delay. The debt-laden carrier has over 21,000 employees, including more than 11,000 on permanent rolls.

Generally, salaries are paid at the very end of a month, and if there are bank holidays around those pay days, payments are made in advance.

Sources at Air India told PTI that March salaries remain unpaid and that employees have not received any communication from the management as to when the salaries would be disbursed.

On 28 March, Naresh Goyal-owned private carrier Jet Airways also deferred March salaries, for a section of its staffers, to 10 April, citing "circumstances beyond its control."

With inputs from agenciesCognizant had filed a plea in the court seeking stay of recovery proceedings as the I-T department had frozen some of its bank accounts.

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Tuesday granted interim stay on Income Tax department proceedings against Cognizant, subject to the firm depositing 15 percent of Rs 2,800 crore dividend distribution tax demanded by the department.

The company has filed a plea in the court seeking stay of recovery proceedings as the I-T department had frozen some of its bank accounts.

The US-based IT firm has said it paid all applicable taxes related to its buy-back transaction in 2016 and the Income Tax departments position is "contrary to law and without merit."

The tech giant's comments follow the department freezing its certain bank accounts in the country over a dispute on payment of dividend distribution tax (DDT) running into hundreds of crores.

The tax issue pertains to unpaid dues around share purchases done by its subsidiary, Cognizant Technology Solutions India, which had bought back shares from foreign owners -- Cognizant Mauritius and the US-based parent Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS).

Justice TS Sivagnanam, before whom the plea came up today, said, "There shall be an order of interim stay of impugned proceedings subject to the condition that the petitioner pays 15 percent of the tax demanded and furnishes a bank guarantee or security by way of fixed deposit for the remaining taxes demanded."

"For the proper compliance to the above condition, the attachment of (company) bank account with J.P Morgan Chase Bank, Mumbai shall stand lifted forthwith," the judge said.

However, the attachment in respect of other banks - SBI, Deutsche Bank, Corporation bank and HDFC bank - shall continue "till the compliance of the direction", the judge said.

"Similarly the attachment of nine bank deposits shall also continue subject to the lien being created for remaining amount of taxes."

"The remittance of 15 percent of the tax demanded shall be retained in a separate account and shall abide by the order to be passed in writ petition," the judge said and posted the case for further hearing to April 18.

The allegation against Cognizant is that it has remitted about Rs 19,415 crore to its non-resident shareholders in May 2016 without paying any DDT.

The issue of non-payment was identified and a notice sent by the I-T department last November calling for details of the tax paid on these remittances.While starting an online business is pretty simple, going the long haul requires patience and willpower.

The world of business that Saurabh Nanda was first introduced to was associated with books. His father ran a book store - Nanda Book Store -- from a rental premises located in New Delhi's Nehru Place and Saurabh would frequent the store. More than anything, it ensured that he developed a reading habit early on.

When he was in high school, a leading e-commerce platform approached his father, requesting him to start selling books on their platform. Subsequently, the Nandas started selling books on Amazon. Nanda recalls his early days, when owing to low margins they could not afford to hire support staff. So the bright and earnest Nanda would wake up early and pack some of the orders himself. Taking a breather, he would go to school and, after school, would rush to the market to source more books and pack them.

Since school hours were sandwiched between work, his grades began to slip. I found it very difficult to maintain a balance between work and school, he said. He currently pursues his studies at Delhi University while running a full time online business selling books.

Nanda said he always wanted to expand the family book business. But he was clear that going about it the traditional way i.e. looking at renting a larger store would not work because the family did not have the capital required for that. I realised that by selling online we could have a wider reach than from a physical store, as in a physical offline store the reach is limited to a particular area only."

Though starting an online business is pretty simple, going the long haul requires endurance, like Nanda experienced in the initial days. With reed-thin margins and very low revenues, survival was becoming difficult. But Nanda said what worked for him was his staying power. I wasnt willing to quit and realised these were the early days. Slowly and steadily, we started getting good orders and our revenues and margins also increased with time.

A curious thing happened. As online sales picked up, offline sales started dipping. Instead of paying rent for a business which was difficult to sustain, the Nandas shut down their offline business and decided to focus only on the online market. From being sold only in Delhi as an offline player, the business spread to rural pockets via an online store. My desire to expand the family business and for it to get recognition across the country became true thanks to the internet, he told Firstpost.

With time, Nanda grabbed the attention of several e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Shopclues. And then he won the Payoneer entrepreneurship award -- his business, Nanda Overseas, competed with entries from 128 countries, including hundreds from India. Entries included apparel makers, handicraft firms, web designers and developers who own a business or are solo entrepreneurs.

Payoneer is enabling entrepreneurs in India grow their business in multiple geographies and via marketplaces all over the world. Across India, Payoneer has partnered with many service providers that can help e-commerce businesses jump to the next level via knowledge and assistance on cataloguing, logistics, inventory management, among other things. The winner of the entrepreneurship award is given $1,000 to reinvest back into the business. The cash prize is just a token gesture, according to Rohit Kulkarni, Country Head, Payoneer.

What worked in Nanda's favour was his dedication, passion and modesty. We loved the family element at the heart of it, and it was clear how proud he and his father are of their success. Businesses, especially in India, are about the pride they give to their owners, but also to their family and community, Kulkarni told Firstpost.

Nanda said his business now has a pan-India presence, alongside a presence in the north American online market. From this financial year, books will be sold in Europe too. His dream for the business is soaring. I now look forward to importing books to sell them in the Indian market, he added.Is there an entrepreneur out there who has the money and the audacity to gamble on a new future? India could do with some audacious private entrepreneurs.

Editors note: As India stands at the cusp of a new era in economic growth, it is time to ask a big question: Can a nation of one billion people build a global tech giant as new frontiers of technology arrive? The answer involves understanding global economic dynamics, innovation, ownership, management, competition, regulation, finance and intellectual property rights. Firstpost is publishing a series of stories that will seek to address these issues in a manner that helps entrepreneurs, policymakers and ordinary citizens understand what it takes to reach new highs without losing one's ground in a world where threats are as real as opportunities. Here's the sixth piece in the series.

It was the legendary hotelier Conrad Hilton, who, when asked about what makes for a great property, said: location, location, location. If a question was asked about what makes for a great technology company, the answer might be: patents, patents, patents.

As Indians dream of a day when their country could produce a leader in technology in the league of a Pfizer, a Qualcomm or an SAP, the key point to remember is that any company that uses high-technology does not become a technology company. Tech has become so mainstream and across-the-board that real winners rely on life-changing or world-beating inventions, discoveries or intellectual property that sets them apart -- with the additional power of a head-start that truly original IP rights enjoy.

But it is important to remember that every country must pass through various stages of growth, and only when the risk of investing in research and development that produces truly original technology becomes affordable can things really move.

India, surprisingly and somewhat controversially, invested in higher education, in institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the 1950s and 1960s. It also set up a slew of laboratories under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). These are the kind of places that produce research that yields patent power. But the flip side of the government's ability and foolhardy courage to invest in such institutions is that public research and private investments are not properly harmonised in India. Long-term research orientation and large-scale investments must come together to produce world beaters in technology.

Patents, of course, need not be the only way out. The so-called reverse engineering of technologies perfected elsewhere by the clever use of loopholes and opportunities in patent laws can produce world leaders in what I call Tier 2 innovation. Or we can look at institutions that produce high-end technologies and also implement them in a cost-effective way to provide a global footprint.

In the former category, we have India's Cipla, the pharmaceutical giant that shook multinationals by offering 'copycat' versions of anti-AIDS drugs at a fraction of the price that global giants charged. In the latter category, we can look at Antrix Corporation, the commercial offshoot of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which has become a launchpad company for satellites thanks to a combination of modestly paid scientists, nationalist passions, and a huge amount of start-up investments by the government linked to defence and development needs. As a result, India launches satellites at a fraction of what it costs its global competitors.

Public-funded institutions like the Central Drug Research Institute and other bodies have helped in the emergence of globally competitive companies like Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories in India, though there is a long way to go. There are bold new-age private companies like Biocon, which while making money on export-quality cholestrol-busters like statins, has also invested in drug discovery, combining easy money with high research. Biocon says it has filed over 1,200 patents and holds nearly 1,000 patents.

In information technology (IT) or semi-conductors, we have not seen the kind of efforts that we have witnessed in the pharmaceuticals space. A study by chipmaker Intel and the Indian Semiconductor Association said a decade ago that the research potential of Indian institutes is not fully realised due to bottlenecks faced by the academia. These include limited industry support, lack of adequate infrastructure, and shortage of research scholars and faculty. To enhance the level of research, it is essential to create a win-win situation for all key stakeholders. The public-private partnership (PPP) model may yield some answers." As much as 85-90 percent of research support came from the government, it added.

ISRO, thanks to government efforts to launch satellites to serve national interests and defence-related activities like missile building, has enjoyed special support and has also delivered to a great extent. ISRO ranks among the top seven space agencies in the world. However, within that group, it is seen as a laggard in patent filing. India filed only 178 space patents between 2000 and 2014. Still there is no denying the fact that the combination of patents and low costs make Antrix a world-beater, with more potential for growth. India, as the legend goes, spent only $74 million on its Mangalyaan rocket that went to Mars, compared to the $670 million that America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spent on its Mars exploration programme christened MAVEN. ISROs Mars mission cost less than what it cost to make a space-age Hollywood film like Gravity.

However, as it can be seen from this week's troubles involving ISRO's loss of contact with a heavy-duty communication satellite, the Rs 270-crore GSAT-6A , satellite launch is a high-risk business that requires a whole lot of components and services to come together. The pride and profits may be high, but so are the risks.

For India to truly produce a global technology leader, there is a need to juggle patent-building research with high-risk investments that would likely involve a combination of state support and private enterprise. The former can provide tax breaks and infrastructure and the latter can bring the investments, inspiration and the energy. But, given the history of crony capitalism in India, any public-private venture that involves special state largesse is bound to be looked at with suspicion. A culture of transparency with a culture of research has to be combined properly, and this requires special efforts.

India has only now reached a stage where its global ambitions can move seriously from earning profits to building cutting-edge patents. The path is not easy, and needs careful steps. India could do with some audacious private entrepreneurs of the Elon Musk or Steve Jobs variety if it is to produce a patent-builder. Tesla boss Musk's bets on electric cars and space rockets and Apple-co founder Steve Jobs' passion for high-end gadgets went beyond the call of profits.

The current lot of Indian entrepreneurs seem to be happy getting rich with global money and in some cases, global footprints. Like a space hunter looking for alien life, it is time to ask: Is there an entrepreneur out there who has the money and the audacity to just gamble on a new future? And in which technological field can one possibly envisage such a future?

(The author is a senior journalist. He tweets as @madversity)

Read the previous parts of the series here:

Part 1: Right or Left? Home or away? The time has come for India to talk double-edged tech nationalism

Part 2: Facebook crisis holds lessons for India and Aadhaar: we need multi-pronged regulation to ensure fair play and innovation

Part 3: Visionaries or 'employeepreneurs'? India's tech unicorns hide weaknesses that deserve a hard look

Part 4: Tech nationalism is a complex game; a swadeshi index may support the right Indian startups

Part 5: Tech needs a MAD formula: It is time for India to make the transition from 'dukandar' to disruptor

Part 7: Engineered in India: Technology transformation must provide solutions for sustainable developmentAt least 30 youngsters in Kashmir have joined militant groups in the first three months of 2018, top police sources told Firstpost. Last year, around 124 youths had joined insurgent groups.

Shopian: Since the beginning of this year, almost every week a militant was killed by the security forces in the Kashmir Valley. This week, 13 militants were killed in three counter-insurgency operations. In the week before, seven militants were neutralised by forces. However, have these encounters put a brake on the turmoil in the Valley or have they helped in stopping youths from joining militant groups? The Indian Army and the police involved in these operations say no.

The Kashmir police, after the massive operation this week, said it was a special day for them, and that the process will help bring peace in the Valley. But on the ground, their own officers claim that those militants who surrender, compared to those being killed in these encounters, have a larger impact on stopping the inflow of new recruits into militant ranks.

At least 30 youngsters in Kashmir have joined militant groups in the first three months of 2018, top police sources told Firstpost. Last year, around 124 youths had joined insurgent groups. In 2017, as many as 213 militants were killed in massive counter-insurgency operations. The exercise was termed 'Operation All Out' by security forces. According to sources, there are at least 250 militants currently active in the Valley, foreign as well as locals.

Shopian, a southern district of Kashmir, witnessed encounter of close to 16 militants in the last three months. Around 20 local militants of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba are active in the district, the police said. There is no information available on how many foreign militants are seeking refuge in the district. Kashmir has become a fertile ground for new recruits.

"Even if we kill them all, I wonder if that will bring peace," senior superintendent of police in Shopian Sriram Dinkar told Firstpost. "The approach has to be multi-pronged to counter new boys from joining the outfits. That includes providing jobs, creating awareness on private sector employment and, most importantly, a fresh narrative." Dinkar said that the role of civil society, parents and educational institutions is very important because the government cant entirely be blamed for the ongoing crises.

For a few months now, whenever a local militant falls into an encounter trap, the Jammu and Kashmir police tries to motivate them to surrender. This was started in Sopore in November 2016 by Harmeet Singh Mehta, a police officer of the SP-rank, when he brought the father of a militant, Umar Khaliq Mir, to the house where he was surrounded by security forces, and after five hours the Mir's father motivated his son to surrender. "It was miracle but you need to have patience," Singh told Firstpost.

However, every case does not always get a happy ending. Last Saturday, when police chief of Anantnag Altaf Khan, a seasoned counter-insurgency cop, got the parents of a 22-year-old militant holed up in a safehouse. "It was heartbreaking to see their faces when they failed to get their son to surrender," Khan said.

Senior police officers on the ground in south Kashmir claim that rabble rousing and emotional speeches at the funeral of a militant becomes a take off point for fresh recruits. The process, however, which leads young boys to join these groups, remains a mystery.

Few kilometers from Shopian, in the neighboring district of Pulwama, the police said that more than 25 local militants of Hizbul, LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad are active. Muhammad Aslam, SSP of Pulwama district, said about six Pakistani militants are active in the region and their biggest support are the local boys. We are not just fighting militants, but their ideologies too. An ideologically-motivated and grounded person is more dangerous than the one who is holding a gun in his hands," Aslam said.

Top police officers in the states security grid have been arguing that alone killings is not the answer to stop the turmoil in Kashmir and it will not prevent others from joining militancy. A popular slogan that reverberates during anti-India and pro-freedom protests in Kashmir these days is: 'Tum kitne Burhan maaro gay, har ghar se Burhan niklega' (How many Burhans will you kill, every house will give birth to a new Burhan).

News of every encounter in the Valley spreads like wildfire through the region with young boys running towards the encounter sites  some on their motorbikes, some in cars, while others just walk dozens of kilometers to catch a glimpse of the action. They fight pitched battle with forces, after the gunfight is over, and once the forces retreat, the youths take over. They get their cell phones out and start taking pictures of destruction left behind. These pictures soon find themselves on Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media sites raising questions.

At the funeral of Zubair Ahmad Turay, a militant from Shopian which was led by his father, Turay's childhood friend offered funeral prayers, stood in front of the crowd, donned a combat dress, exhibited his gun publicly, and joined the militants.The issue of data breaches from points other than the CIDR was also raised. Also, the Bench refused to extend the deadline for Section 7 benefits.

On Day 22 of the Aadhaar hearing, the CEO of the UIDAI, Ajay Bhushan Pandey, completed his PowerPoint presentation before the Supreme Court and answered the questioned posed by the petitioners. The bench posed many questions on the security of Aadhaar at the authentication and enrolment stages. The issue of data breaches from points other than the CIDR was also raised. Also, the Bench refused to extend the deadline for Section 7 benefits.

Data breaches by enrollers

Pandey commenced his presentation by sharing details of blacklisted enrollers, along with reasons for the same. The Bench questioned if any had been blacklisted for data breaches. To this, the UIDAI CEO responded that that could only be possible if the enrollers possessed the qualifications to tamper with the enrolment software, indicating that they didnt. Such tampering, in any case, is punishable under the Aadhaar Act.

He further clarified that individual packets of data received during enrolment were checked by operators. The Bench questioned if it was possible for the enrollers to make copies of the biometric data before it was encrypted. Pandey asserted that the enrollers had no access to biometrics, and this was collected only by UIDAIs software. Such retention, moreover, is also a punishable offence.

Phasing out of private enrolment agencies

Further, private enrolment agencies are being phased out and will be available only in banks and post offices. The Bench, here, stated that this was being done because these agencies were no longer needed since the enrolment process was mostly complete. Pandey responded that these facilities were still required for updating purposes.

Aadhaar related data breaches denied

Describing the CIDR as fully secure, Pandey stated that this was not even connected to the internet. When asked by the Bench to clear the apprehensions of the petitioners on the security of Aadhaar software, Pandey stated that every data breach so far had been of databases other than the CIDR. He denied various reports including The Tribune report as well as the recent Indane report.

Further, it has been made a standard practice to display only the last four digits of the Aadhaar number. The Bench pointed out that unless there was protection against breaches from other ends of the spectrum, Aadhaar remained a problem.

SC points out lack of control over possible AuA data use

The bench then asked how many of the Authentication User Agencies (AuAs) were private, to which it was stated that a few dozens were. Next, it was asked whether the AuAs could record authentication data and monetise it. Pandey again states that such sharing was prohibited under Sections 29(3) and 38(g) of the Aadhaar Act. The Bench, however, pointed out that the UIDAI does not have control over such sharing.

Profiling based on authentication data

The Bench pointed out that service providers have a record of authentication requests, which could be misused to profile the individuals. When asked previously to clarify if such profiling and aggregation of data was not possible, Pandey cited Section 32(3) of the Aadhaar Act, which prevents the UIDAI from collecting data on the purpose of authentication.

Aadhaar is privacy by design

He then conducted a live demonstration, showing the use of biometric authentication to withdraw money from a bank account. Pandey then discussed the various forms of data that are captured during authentication. This excludes Geo Codes and IP addresses. Previously, GPS coordinates and PIN codes were collected, but this had been discontinued. Pandey described Aadhaar as privacy by design, and reiterated that Aadhaar data could not be shared except for national security purposes.

Security measures in Aadhaar infrastructure

Turning to security measures, he further discussed the STQC (Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification) and Aadhaar certified biometric devices, multiple factor authentication, biometric locking, etc. The 4-minute video on Aadhaar security measures was then shown. This video stated that Aadhaar was certified by the STQC and its data centres are certified as Tier-III by Uptime. It was shown that there are three layers of security, including vehicle check, ID verification, X-ray baggage scan, physical frisking, and biometric entry at the CIDR, in addition to CRPF personnel.

Pandey then discussed Aadhaar based privacy safeguards, including Virtual IDs, UID tokens, purpose and use limitation, strict confidentiality and online access to biometric authentication history.

Authentication of data is susceptible to misuse

The Bench, here, pointed out that it could not be ruled out that authentication history could not be shared under Section 33 of the Aadhaar Act. The petitioners also pointed to similar sharing under Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act.

The Bench questioned if authentication logs were kept with authenticating or requesting entities. Pandey answered in the affirmative, with the exception of biometric information, which is not stored. He stated that the AuAs and requesting entities were audited by the UIDAI or agencies appointed by them.

Virtual ID system

Pandey then turned to Virtual IDs. He explained how the use of Virtual IDs would prevent aggregation of databases. He said that entities which need real Aadhaar number, such as for income tax, and those which dont, such as telecom companies, would be distinguished between. The Bench asked for a note to be submitted on how the Virtual ID and UID token would function.

Pandey stated that these were random numbers from which the Aadhaar number could not be regenerated. The Bench questioned how illiterate people would be taught to use Virtual IDs. Pandey also stated that from 1 July, facial recognition would be used along with fingerprints.

Smart cards will not ensure uniqueness

Lastly, Pandey discussed the difference between Aadhaar and a smart card. He stated that a centralised database was necessary to ensure uniqueness. If smart cards were used, a single person could have multiple cards with different identities and same biometrics. Further, he argued that there could be no identity theft if Aadhaar is lost, unlike with a smart card. The smart ID card system in Singapore was also discussed, where Pandey stated that too much information on a single smart card was risky.

The hearings will resume on Tuesday. The petitioners submitted a list of questions, which the UIDAI is to answer when the hearings resume.

Sources of arguments include livetweeting of the case by SFLC.in, Prasanna S and Gautam Bhatia, and LiveLaw Reports

Read our past coverage of the on-going Aadhaar Supreme court hearing:

Aadhaar hearing: UIDAIs presentation discusses Aadhaar enrolment, updation and authentication processes in detail

Why SC needs to look into technical evidence of Aadhaars surveillance capabilities

Lack of governmental ownership of CIDRs source code can have serious consequences

Will State give citizens rights only if they agree to be tracked forever, asks lawyer Shyam Divan

Coalition for Aadhaar: A collective of private companies wants to ensure that Aadhaar ID and related services continue to be offered

Petitioners argue on centralisation of data and challenge Aadhaars claims on savings

Petitioners argue for a voluntary ID card system that does not collect user data

Petitioners argue that receipt of govt benefits cannot be at the cost of compromising fundamental rights

Aadhaar is architecturally unconstitutional, argue the petitioners

Petitioners argue that Aadhaar violates dignity by objectifying and depersonalizing an individual

Petitioners seek compensation for starvation deaths and extension of March 31st deadline

Section 7 exception in Supreme Courts interim order greatly affects peoples constitutional rights

Entire Aadhaar project is beyond the stated objectives of Aadhaar Act, argue petitioners

Petitioners conclude their arguments on 'the number of the beast' Aadhaar, highlighting various issues

Aadhaar hearing: Political liberties cannot be foregone for economic and social justice, states the Bench

The author is a lawyer and author specialising in technology laws. She is also a certified information privacy professional.Facing backlash over controversial directive on fake news, Union Minister Smriti Irani is set to ruffle some more feathers as media reports said that the Press Information Bureau is now mulling to track journalists' movements at government buildings and offices.

Facing backlash over controversial directive on fake news, Union minister Smriti Irani is set to ruffle some more feathers as media reports said that the Press Information Bureau is now planning to track journalists' movements inside government buildings and offices.

In a move ostensibly to improve security, the Press Information Bureau is considering to swap regular press accreditation cards it issues to journalists with radio-frequency identification (RFID) cards, The Print reported.

PIB, the media wing of the I&B ministry, has written to the Union home ministry in January asking if the move could be implemented. PIB currently issues these identification cards to journalists after a careful verification process but is said to have been looking at ways to enhance security after some documents leaked from the petroleum ministry.

Home ministry sources, however, told The Print that the move could be impractical to implement. RFID cards would use electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects which means that journalists who can enter government buildings and offices by merely showing there press accreditation cards will now have to punch in and out to gain access to the building.

Meanwhile, this was not the first controversial move by the I&B ministry. Irani courted controversy on Monday after she issued a notification to 'blacklist' journalist found generating or propagating fake news. The backlash on move prompted Irani to do a volte-face within 24 hours after the Prime Minister's direct intervention, whose office advised Irani to roll back the notification.

In fact The Indian Express reported that a "fuming prime minister" was caught "unaware" by the move and only came to know about it after the minister went public with the notification.

"A fuming prime minister told his office to direct the I&B Ministry to withdraw the directive with immediate effect," the newspaper quoted PMO sources as saying.

The I&B ministry on Monday had announced measures to contain fake news, saying the accreditation of a journalist could be permanently cancelled if the scribe is found generating or propagating fake news. The move drew media ire, especially as the minister's record in tackling fake news has been hazy. Irani's the former aide Shilpa Tiwari was accused of propogating fake videos showing JNU students shouting anti-India slogans, as a Hindustan Times report said.

Moreover, The Indian Express reported that at least 13 Union ministers, including Irani had tweeted out a link for allegedly combating fake news, which was found sharing a common landline number with another company BlueKraft Digital Foundation. BlueKraft is the "technology and knowledge" partner to Exam Warriors, the latest book authored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the newspaper report said.As many as 5,000 people have been booked for creating ruckus and damaging public and government properties in Ghaziabad during Bharat Bandh protests.

Ghaziabad: As many as 5,000 people have been booked for creating ruckus and damaging public and government properties in Ghaziabad during protests against "dilution" of the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the SSP said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said police have lodged reports against 5,000 unidentified and 285 named miscreants under various sections the IPC.

Till now, 32 agitators have been arrested and raids are being conducted to arrest others.

Furthermore, police have identified 43 places in urban and 17 places in rural areas of the district as highly sensitive where agitators may disturb peace again. Heavy police forces have been deployed on these points, the SSP said.

Nine policemen who were injured during the agitations on Monday are still undergoing treatment, Krishna said.

The Supreme Court had on 20 March banned automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Ruling that no arrest can be made under the Act without prior permission, the apex court had also held that a court can grant anticipatory bail if it, prima facie, finds the complaint is an abuse of the law, false, motivated and intended to blackmail or harass a person.

Monday's 'Bharat Bandh' was called by various Dalit groups and backed by political outfits to demand restoration of the Act to its original form.Even as the Delhi government remains mired in controversythe latest being the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) revealing several irregularities in the Public Distribution Systemthe ruling dispensation on Wednesday published an outcome report accusing the Lieutenant Governor's Office of undue delays, rejections and hindering development and welfare projects.

Even as the Delhi government remains mired in controversythe latest being the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report revealing several irregularities in the Public Distribution Systemthe ruling dispensation on Wednesday published an outcome report accusing the Lieutenant Governor's Office of undue delays, rejections and hindering development and welfare projects.

The outcome report, tabled by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the Delhi Assembly, escalated the rift between the Government of Delhi and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. The report, which comes at a time when the Delhi government is facing serious charges of non-deliverance, seeks to shift blame and points to 35 proposals which were either delayed, rejected or hindered by the Lieutenant Governor's Office.

According to the report, The Government of NCT of Delhi believes in accountability of all institutions, and has therefore presented the Outcome Budget Report Card and the Timeline Budget in this Budget session. In continuation we are now tabling Outcomes of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor before the Delhi Assembly, to ensure that this institution remains accountable to the people of Delhi.

The report classifies the response of the Lieutenant Governor's Office to various proposals of development laid by the Delhi government into two sections: The first gives department wise accounts of the major policy proposals or matters that have either been rejected or pending approval till date by the lieutenant governor or have been substantially delayed before giving approval.

The second section holds the Lieutenant Governor's Office responsible for not filling vacant posts in various departments and thus hindering the government's development and welfare works. The 89-page report also alleges that the lieutenant governor either delayed projects or hindered them through unnecessary suggestions, additions and rectifications.

According to the outcome report, the education department's proposal to ensure education loans for meritorious students was delayed by 402 days. Government of NCT of Delhi set up the Delhi Higher Education and Skill Development Credit Guarantee Trust that would be given a corpus from the government and would be the guarantor for a student loan. This would mean meritorious students from economically weaker sections would get access to loans up to Rs 10 lakh for pursuing higher education, according to the report.

It goes on to allege, The Honble lieutenant governor was sent the proposal on 30.08.2016 and could have cleared it then itself as he had the legal authority to overcome the issues raised by the law department. Yet, he chose to send it back for re-examination, which led to an avoidable delay of 402 days in the approval of the policy.

Similarly, the report accuses the Lieutenant Governor's Office of unreasonably delaying the proposals of 1,000 Mohalla Clinics and 500 Mohalla clinics in schools by 101 days and 146 days respectively.

The Honble lieutenant governor kept raising objections and asking for clarifications. No value was added and no improvement took place in the original proposal. Finally, he cleared exactly the same proposal after a delay of 146 days, and it was the children of the schools and the citizens of the area who suffered, the report alleges.

Significantly, one of the 35 allegations made against the Lieutenant Governor's Office across 14 departments, is of preventing an investigation into alleged corruption in outsourcing in Lok Nayak Jayprakash Narayan Hopital and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.

According to the report, in 2014, in the absence of an elected government, HLL Life Care Ltd. was allotted the job of housekeeping in the hospitals by the Lieutenant Governor's Office. But later, the contract was extended without due approval and sub-contractor violating the conditions of the contract.

In view of above glaring facts and apparent collusive actions between the officials and service provider, the matter was recommended by Honble health minister to be investigated by CBI, the report states. The file was recommended for CBI investigation to the Honble lieutenant governor by the Honble chief minister on 11.09.2017. No response has been received from the office of the Honble lieutenant governor. A reminder was again sent by the Honble health minister on 7.11.2017.

The report states that as a result, a message has been sent to the bureaucracy: That if they are close to the Honble lieutenant governor and hostile to the elected government, then the Honble lieutenant governor would protect them from any consequences even if they indulge in corruption or gross irregularities.To understand why Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has blamed Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for protecting the ration mafia in Delhi by halting the implementation of Delhi government's doorstep ration delivery scheme and other such progressive ideas citing purely procedural issues, one needs to carefully read Delhis doorstep delivery of ration story and the roadblocks it has faced along the way.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report that was tabled in Delhi Assembly on Tuesday highlighted lapses in the public distribution system (PDS): It found that eight vehicles which ferried 1,589.92 quintals of specified food articles to fair price shops had registration number of buses, scooters, motorcycles and three-wheelers. To understand why Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has blamed Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for protecting the ration mafia in Delhi by halting the implementation of Delhi government's doorstep ration delivery scheme and other such progressive ideas citing purely procedural issues, one needs to carefully read Delhis doorstep delivery of ration story and the roadblocks it has faced along the way.

The conceptualisation of Indias food security system was in the backdrop of the Bengal famine and depleted resources after World War II. A malnourished and underdeveloped population in India faced structural violence in the absence of food security. Over the decades, several measures in poverty alleviation were tried by a centralised government which never saw the efficiency gains from decentralising power or devolving finances. The ideas that have served other countries so well are thus stuck in a muddy swamp of disrepute pushed by aggressive propaganda in India. False binaries and nomenclature like subsidies and doles definitely dont help its cause.

However, the impact and reach of Indias PDS, with over 600,000 shops distributing food grains and other essentials could have been and can be immense.

There are numerous Planning Commission reports and working groups and activists working on the issue through the years, with some of the finest ideas of poverty alleviation and human development. And yet, the poor are poorer.

The Government of India procures, stocks and distributes essential food grain, sugar and edible oils through Fair Price Shops, with a tangential goal of providing minimum support prices that stabilise farm output and income. Over the years, our farmers have become the poorest of the poor, cities are subject to large-scale migration leading to increased inequality and the lack of multiple engines of growth means that economic violence is decentralised in nature but aggregates near cities.

Delhis tryst with public distribution hasnt been different to the rest of India with rapid changes in geographies and demographics with centralised governance and bad politics at the heart of the problem. In 1961, Delhi had 2.7 million citizens in 326 square kilometres. The next 50 years saw a ten-fold increase in population in the national capital region (NCR) and only a four-fold increase in area. The pressure on Delhis resources is immense. This is what led to the creation of an elected government in 1993, one that would protect Delhis citizens and their rights through democratic accountability.

https://twitter.com/ArvindKejriwal/status/981143047294644224

Within the Delhi government, the Department of Food and Civil Supplies implements the public distribution system (PDS) through a network of 2,254 Fair Price Shops catering to an active base of approximately 19.50 lakh ration card holders across all strata of the population. The National Food Security Act, 2013, implementation covers approximately 72.78 lakh people in Delhi. That is, in theory.

The reality on ground is that the food and essential item distribution has been limited and features of irregular periodicity, insufficient quantity and poor quality. The lack of rule of law by the Delhi Police means deceitful dealers replacing FCI supplies with inferior stock, bogus card ownership, political nexus of FPS ownership and black marketing which has killed the goals of price stabilisation and made nutritious food inaccessible to the common citizen. The private markets, de facto, provide the majority of Delhis food.

This is the reality that was inherited by the Aam Aadmi Party government that had the hopes of millions of common citizens attached to it.

It first attempted four major innovations to tackle the problem despite the sustained attacks from political rivals, which are documented here:

http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_publicity/Information+and+Publicity/Press+Release/Chief+Minister/

2. https://aapdelhidiary.wordpress.com/

3. https://indianpoliticsandpolicy.wordpress.com/

4. http://www.aaptracker.in/

First, it introduced transformation amendments to the Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Service which transferred the burden of proof from the citizen to the State. It gave clear timelines for services, mandatory and automatic compensation for delays and mandated the citizens charter on government offices. Food and civil supplies, which was a place where citizens are vulnerable to officers for their physiological needs, were policy areas where this would have been transformational.

Second, it had massive anti-corruption efforts which involved more than 150 arrests and FIRs into various corrupt officers and officials through its anti-corruption bureau, which showed that anti-corruption efforts of Hong Kong and Singapore were replicable with strong political will. FPS owners knew that despite not having the Delhi Police under its control, the Aam Aadmi Party would not stand for the infringement of rights and freedoms of citizens.

Third, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia emphasised on outcomes and outputs as governance measures by presenting outcome budgets for every line item that the government spent. Measurement of efficacy and effectiveness of the PDS as well as accountability of officers towards ensuring its philosophical outcome: Minimising human suffering through the provision of food security.

Fourth, process innovations utilising technology were piloted. Aadhaar-based point of sale services were tried but stopped temporarily after discrepancies in distribution and philosophical disagreements about it being mandatory given its weak architecture and privacy flaws.

In this political economy, Kejriwal didnt have control of land, police or law and order; had his constitutionally valid anti-corruption bureau taken away via an illegal order; his democratic powers curtailed through a high court order and given to a nominated head of the BJP central government which included the services department and several roadblocks from the corporate-politics-mafia nexus in policy innovations.

He was reduced to a CEO with no hire/fire powers attempting to shape an organisations priorities with the resources and processes in control of his political rivals.

And yet the innovative young team of technologists working in the Chief Minister's Office led by Gopal Mohan and Vijay Chandra Vupputuri, inputs from the Public Grievance Management System and Delhi Dialogue Commission and guidance from some committed bureaucrats in the Delhi government delivered a progressive governance model that disrupts the political economy of food. If Amazon and Pizza Hut can exist, why cant an Uber for Public Distribution of Food? By engaging in sustaining governance innovation which India lacks, the new gauntlet thrown by the central government had another solution: Doorstep delivery of ration and food grain.

Doorstep delivery reduces interface touch-points of governance, removes the stakeholders of the existing political economy from key decision-making on resource allocation and can bring in efficiency to a broken system. Making the system efficient first would allow it to bring additional capacity of augmented social welfare programs in the long run to delivered desired goals as opposed to dumping further money into a broken system.

The use of information technology in the Food and Civil Supplies department had been minimal. The Delhi government also attempted to fast-track the computerisation of services within its information technology architecture, which were long-promised goals of the IT revolution still unseen. The IT Department under the AAP government mapped 345 services from multiple departments and functions and mapped its front-end delivery, monitoring technology, back-end enablement and progress over multiple metrics.

As its E-District project matured, several key services including those in food distribution were brought to stage-1 for deployment. There were nine key functional services related to ration cards that were brought online to ensure that there was no need to depend on Aadhaar solely for identification.

The Aam Aadmi Partys doorstep delivery project in ration and food distribution seeks to learn from the best of business in logistics and supply chain management with clear demarcated checkpoints for accountable service delivery. This would also eliminate the political actors and their ration mafia associates at the lowest level from pilfering food and supplies that are necessary for minimum dignity of a citizen.

AAP's Delhi government pushed for the devolution of funds and decentralisation of power structures, both known to be clear governance wins, but has been stymied till now by the Lieutenant Governor's Office at the behest of the Ministry of Home Affairs controlled by the BJP.

However, by making the common citizen the pivot for governance, it has attempted to mark a cultural shift in attitude in a short period of time.

The writer works with the Aam Aadmi Party and the Delhi government on policy issues.Shanavi Ponnusamy identifies as a transwoman but was forced to apply as a woman for a job because Air India doesn't yet accommodate transgenders as a separate category

In 2014, India's apex court granted citizens the power to choose their gender identity irrespective of their sex. However, the government continues to struggle with the implementation of a mechanism that could protect rights of a person belonging to the third gender.

Shanavi Ponnusamy is a 26-year-old transwoman who accused Air India of denying her employment as a trainee female cabin crew because of her gender.

"I was good in studies. My gender never created any difficulties for me in my education. I have never faced discrimination as a transwoman prior to this," she said.

In November 2017, acting on a petition filed by Shanavi, the Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India to provide her with a response explaining why she was denied the job.

Air India's employment process includes a preliminary medical examination, including height and Body Mass Index (BMI), and a group dynamics and personality test (GD and PAT). Shanavi claimed she was refused the job after the GD and PAT, and the examiners were hostile towards her.

However, the company claimed that Shanavi was not discriminated based on her gender, but was given an equal opportunity as a woman as she applied in the female category. Air India also added that it only rejected her job application because she failed to secure the minimum of 55 percent needed to qualify the test.

The public sector aviation company called the petition a 'classic example of frivolous litigation,' where the petitioner's intent was to 'arm twist and gain forceful employment'.

"I applied for the female section as there was no option to apply as a transgender. I have all the necessary qualifications," Shanavi said. "I actually wanted to be a pilot but my family was not in a position to financially support me. Before applying to the company, I was working as an Air India cabin support executive at a private firm," she added.

Shanavis lawyer, Manoj Selva filed a rejoinder last week against Air India's counter affidavit with reference to the NALSA judgement of 2014. "While the respondent (Air India) claims that she (Shanavi) did not get the necessary marks, the job advertisement did not mention any such requirements... She was denied the job because of her gender," he said.

The rejoinder is scheduled to be heard on 9 April.

"The NALSA (National Legal Service Authority vs Union of India) judgement of 2014 is the parent law for trans-rights in India. It states that any person who identifies as trans or intersex has the option of choosing between existing identities, and can identify themselves as male, female or transgender," said Deeptha Rao, an advocate at Bengaluru-based Alternate Law Forum.

But for Shanavi, her professional dream seems to have curtailed her right to choose her own gender as a transwoman.

When she initially approached the Ministry of Civil Aviation through an online government portal, requesting to be considered as a transwoman for a cabin crew post at Air India, Shanavi was told that the aviation firm does not have a policy to employ transgender people.

"I identify myself as a woman and it is difficult for me to apply for a job in the same category," Shanavi said.

According to Deeptha, several companies still lack separate quotas for transgender people in their employment policies. "Employment schemes, as they stand post the NALSA judgement, ideally should be read as including male, female and transgender, irrespective of the gender identity they were given at birth," she said.

As Shanavi had to apply under the female category for the cabin crew position at Air India, she was considered as a female for the BMI test. Manoj and Shanavi feel that this also played a big part in her rejection.

Deeptha pointed out that if a person identifies themselves as trans, they will not have any avenue for employment if an employer is sticking to the male-female binary.

A Standing Committee suggestion prohibiting discrimination on grounds of "any matter relating to employment, including, but not limited to, recruitment, promotion and other related issues" was recently added to the Transgender (Protection of Rights) Bill of 2016.

However, most employers are yet to develop a job category for the third gender. Shanavi hopes that her petition would help in implementing existing mechanisms and formulating future policies to ensure her right to work as a transwoman.

Recalling how the NALSA judgement gave full autonomy to people who identified themselves as a transgender to decide which gender-identity they want their documents in Deeptha said, "There is no mandate for a medical procedure to be done. Gender is a social construct."

"In my case, my past is irrelevant," said Shanavi adding that she is only fighting for her right to be allowed to work as a transgender cabin crew in a non-discriminatory work environment. But her task isn't easy. "If a person's candidature is rejected after an interview, they are given a reason as to why their application was rejected. But in Shanavi's case, no reason was given," says Manoj.

"As per the NALSA judgement, the moment a person's gender identity has been recognised, they are to be included in all aspects of citizenship," Deeptha said. "Employment, health and education are all entitlements that are available to every citizen and the judgement also said that within six months, the government is supposed to implement (the recognition of transgender people)," she said.

But even after three years since the judgement, Shanavi's gender identity is limiting her employment opportunities.

Deeptha feels that there is a void in the implementation of policies to protect the rights of transgender people. She added that there is still a lack of clarity in determining how a transgender person will be recruited or how the third gender will recognised, not in comparison to but as being different from both male and female.

But Shanavi is positive of having the judgement in her favour. Recalling the Madras High Court order that allowed K Prithika Yashini to become the country's first transwoman sub-inspector, she said, "Even Yashini had to fight for her identity. I am also fighting for my right."

The author is a member of The NewsCart, a Bengaluru-based media startup.The NDA government has asked state and Central departments to avoid the nomenclature 'Dalit' when describing members belonging to Scheduled Castes for all official transactions.

Editor's note: This article was originally published as an exclusive on 4 April. It is being republished in light of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issuing an advisory to all private satellite TV channels, urging them to refrain from using the nomenclature 'Dalit' for people belonging to Scheduled Castes in compliance with a Bombay High Court directive.

New Delhi: The NDA government has asked state and Central departments to avoid the nomenclature 'Dalit' when describing members belonging to Scheduled Castes for all official transactions. The directive was issued just days before the matter related to certain provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes came up in the Supreme Court on 20 March. The apex court ruling had triggered massive protests across the country by Dalit organisations and Monday's Bharat Bandh ended in violent clashes that saw nine people killed. In a letter to the chief secretaries of state governments and Union Territories, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 15 March, 2018 said that they should use 'Scheduled Caste' and its translation in other languages.

The letter reviewed by Firstpost said: "All the state governments/UT administrations are requested that for all official transactions, matters, dealings, certificates etc, the constitutional term, 'Scheduled Caste' in English, and its appropriate translation in other national languages should alone be used for denoting the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes notified in the Presidential Orders issued under Article 341 of the Constitution of India."

The letter, that has been marked to Central ministries, the Union Public Service Commission, Election Commission of India, cited an order passed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Gwalior bench. The court, in its order dated 15 January, 2018 in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Mohanlal Mahor, had said that 'Dalit' is mentioned in the Constitution.

"that the Central government/state government and its functionaries would refrain from using the nomenclature 'Dalit' for the members belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as the same does not find mentioned in the Constitution of India or any statute."

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment also argued that Ministry of Home Affairs on 10 February, 1982 had shot off a missive to the states to issue instructions to the authorities empowered to issue Scheduled Castes certificates, not to insert the word 'Harijan', but to only mention the caste to which the person belonged and which had been recognised as a Scheduled Caste under the Presidential Orders. Two years later on 18 August, 1990, the Ministry of Welfare (now Social Justice and Empowerment) had requested the state governments to use 'Scheduled Caste' and its translation.

Article 341 of the Constitution says, (T)he President may with respect to any state or Union Territory, and where it is a state, after consultation with the governor thereof, by public notification, specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that state or Union Territory, as the case may be."

"Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Castes specified in a notification issued under clause (1) any caste, race or tribe or part of or group within any caste, race or tribe, but save as aforesaid a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification."

According to the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, "Dalit" refers to ones caste rather than class; it applies to members of those menial castes, which have born the stigma of "untouchability" because of the extreme impurity and pollution connected with their traditional occupations. The organisation also said that Dalits represent a community of 170 million in India, constituting 17 percent of the population.

Eminent Dalit thinker Chandra Bhan Prasad told Firstpost, "The word 'Dalit' triggers some kind of fear in the government. People don't want to call themselves Scheduled Castes, but 'Chamar' and 'Dalit'. The government argument that it does not find mentioned in the Constitution is misleading. The term 'Dalit' symbolises uprising against wrong policies. By erasing this nomenclature, the government is trying suppress the angry voices from depressed classes."The Narendra Modi government's ham-handed manouvre on 'fake news' undermines a serious threat posed by a global menace and weakens its own position on a sensitive topic

The Narendra Modi government's ham-handed manouvre on "fake news" undermines a serious threat posed by a global menace and weakens its own position on a sensitive topic. The prime minister may have swiftly rolled back Information and Broadcasting Ministry's proposed move to allay any fears but all that the charade managed to achieve was to fuel the very narrative it sought to dispel.

A section of journalists have expectedly latched on to the opportunity to raise the spectre of Emergency 2.0. Congress, author of Indian democracy's most inglorious moments, chimed in to virtue-signal on free speech. Fake news has been cleverly conflated with media freedom and the fight against fakery has been interpreted as a "hammer blow against journalistic rigour".

What has added to the amusement is that many media mavens who are right now busy shaking in righteous indignation had called for steps against fake news in the past.

Hey @Twitter you need to see the interview by @dhruv_rathee to see how vulnerable your platform is to massive political manipulation and fake news, and how easily political armies can use it to pound dissent and debate into the ground, or how govts can use it for propaganda  Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) March 11, 2018

Modi Sarkar's biggest most open most serious assault on the press so far. Until now outsourced to the trolls, now the government moves in to stamp out press freedom https://t.co/Z4bcDmdXvz  Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) April 2, 2018

This is hardly exceptional. Such hypocrisies dot our public discourse. Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, for instance, who is regularly feted as a "champion of free speech" in media had last year threatened two teenagers with jail and lodged a complaint with the police over a meme that she found "defamatory". One would have thought a "free speech champion" would show a little more tolerance to criticism.

Modi's move apparently divided the cabal. Some say the prime minister was forced to do it due to an "outpouring of public anger" while some find a more sinister motive of "testing the waters" before a full curb is eventually implemented on journalists in an election year.

Some commentators, in turn, called the now withdrawn guidelines an attempt to "place media organisations at the mercy of trolls, bureaucrats and politicians" There is no shortage of rhetoric.

We have travelled down this road before. In the past four years since Modi has moved from Ahmedabad to Delhi, the bogey of "assault on freedom of expression" has been raised once too often under different garbs. This latest outrage is as fake as fake news itself.

The BJP, however, continues to bungle in its communications strategy. It does a hell of a job to locate the buried mortal remains of Indians killed by Islamic State but loses the perception battle. It tightens legal procedures in the SC/ST Act but somehow gets painted as anti-Dalit.

On the fake news issue, too, the Modi government scored an own goal. The prime minister was constrained to withdraw guidelines that were ambiguous and open to maneuvering. Creating more gatekeepers (even if they are not government-controlled) adds to the problem of fake news which lies firmly in the grey areas of dissemination of information.

However, the 'good cop, bad cop' routine makes the party appear inconsistent and confused. This is not how policies are formulated. Citizens do not want activism from government. Their mandate is for policy-making that brings consistency and stability. If the government was convinced that fake news menace needs to be tackled, what stopped it from bringing out a draft seeking opinion from key stakeholders? The government did an admirable job on net neutrality. Why couldn't that model be followed here?

Fake news exploits the freedom allowed to media in democracies to spread disinformation that may have a deleterious impact on society. The danger is magnified in a melting pot of different races, faiths, ethnicities and cultures such as India. Consumers of news therefore cannot be allowed to remain vulnerable to exploitation and insidious maneuvering.

If news is a content aimed at consumers (wider public), then it must adhere to certain guidelines in providing that content. Adherence to guidelines will never be possible unless journalists are subjected to a modicum of accountability. While questioning those in power, journalists cannot claim to be beyond accountability because such a paradigm presents unfettered power in their hands which they have repeatedly misused.

The question is how to make media accountable in a democracy. Self-regulation is the automatic answer but had there been effective self-regulation, the menace of fake news wouldn't have reared its head. It is no use pretending that fake news is the exclusive preserve of digital platforms affiliated to the BJP, as some media mavens would have you believe.

Fake news has been frequently spread by the old media in the past. The fake news on church attacks may have helped AAP sweep the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections. As economist and commentator Rupa Subramanya argued in an article for Firstpost: "While its hard to quantify the impact, the church attacks also figured in the recently concluded Delhi Assembly election which swept the AAP and Arvind Kejriwal to a landslide victory. Minority communities, both Muslim and Christian, appear to have heavily favoured the AAP, and church leaders in the recent past have made no secret of the fact that their preferred party was indeed AAP".

She went into great detail to prove that the so-called "church attacks" was an attempt by a section of the media, activists and religious figureheads to join unconnected, random incidents into a spurious narrative against the BJP that was unsupported by facts. This was fake news at its best, and it had a huge impact. The New York Times ran an editorial accusing Modi of wilful silence.

Reuters quoted a Christian in India as saying: We have to raise our voice against the atrocities. Christians will not tolerate this humiliation.

Incidentally, the Reuters story also mentioned the rape of a 75-year-old nun in West Bengal which was initially presented as yet another despicable act by the emboldened Hindu fringe. A retired police officer, a follower of the Christian faith, wrote in a column in The Indian Express stating "suddenly I am a stranger in my own country".

Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, the president of an influential Christian organisation in India, referred to the rape of the elderly nun to say "We need to protect not only cows but also human beings" in an article published by The Telegraph.

Before the police could complete their investigation into the incident, journalist Rana Ayyub wrote in Daily O: "The attack on the nun is an attack on the entire community who refuses to be cowed down by the diktat of this bunch of terrorists. No, Mohan Bhagwat, these terrorists have not infiltrated from neighbouring Bangladesh. They are our very own demons indoctrinated by the hate for the haraamzadas".

A few months later, a court in Kolkata found a Bangladeshi national guilty of raping the 75-year-old nun. "Five accused, including Nazrul Islam, were found guilty of dacoity at the convent. A sixth person  Gopal Sarkar was found guilty of harbouring the five criminals at his residence", according to The Indian Express report.

And we are led to believe that fake news is peddled only by the likes of the editor of Postcard News, a crime for which Mahesh Hegde has been put in jail by the Congress government in Karnataka. The very Congress which has since accused the Modi government of trying to muzzle media.

Fake news exists because journalists who hide under the ruse of "self-regulation" at every attempt to bring accountability have done a shoddy job of self-regulating. Examples abound. Allegations of electronic voting machine tampering were widely reported and the Opposition jumped on to the bandwagon to create another fake narrative. It was later discovered that the entire controversy had erupted over a misreporting of facts.

How many reporters were hauled up by the Editors Guild of India, which wants to act as media's gatekeeper of conscience? Since Modi has called for the issue to be settled only in the Press Council of India, the Guild has insinuated that the government is trying to muzzle media in a roundabout way by undermining the "independence of the institution (PCI) and its ability to play neutral umpire".

The Guild must ask itself: Does it have the right to issue such statements of moral outrage when its own dealings are not transparent and truly representative of the fast changes sweeping across the media space?

As R Jagannathan pointed out in a piece for Swarajyamag, the Guild's "composition is largely a fossilised, old-school elite, as can be seen from the following names associated with it Starting from the bottom of the list provided by the Guild, as of early 2017 we had special invitees like Kuldip Nayar and Mrinal Pande. The former is a 94-year-old journalist whose best days ended in the 1970s during the Emergency. The latter is now a formal member of the Congress ecosystem, having recently been appointed group editor to National Herald, a party mouthpiece".

The writer also points out that the Guild "hardly ever meets" and "does not even meet the basic requirements of an institution". Having failed to live up to the standards it preaches, the Guild has taken recourse to bluster to maintain its relevance. It needs to do more.

The key question remains. Fake news is peddled by journalists of both old and new media for political or ideological reasons. Short of accountability, this menace can never be curbed. If that accountability is not forthcoming from within the institution, then it lowers own credibility and makes itself vulnerable to outside intervention.Forest officials, in connivance with smugglers operating across Champawat in Uttarakhand, logged and sold the precious forest produce in the last six years.

New Delhi: Forest officials, in connivance with smugglers operating across the sensitive Champawat range in Uttarakhand (bordering Nepal), logged and sold the precious forest produce in the last six years. The voluminous inquiry report submitted to the states Environment Minister Harak Singh Rawat on 5 March shows that forest officers, including the top brass, were involved in the racket that targeted pine and sal (Shorea robusta) trees, known for their immense commercial values and sold at a much higher price in the international market.

The report accessed by Firstpost revealed a well-networked gang operating under the garb of legitimate license provided to forest dwellers and villagers to extract and sell the limited quantity of forest produce from the trees on their own land. Misusing the license, a large number of trees were cut and smuggled out of the reserve forest areas with a bit of help from everyone in the system. Since the terrain is treacherous, the probe focused on random places for its findings. The corruption had gone so deep in the administration that Champawats District Forest Officer (DFO) AK Gupta wanted to remain on that lucrative position and had turned down his promotion. After the state government issued an order promoting him last year, Gupta fought against his own promotion in the court, arguing that he does not want to be promoted.

The report has recommended exemplary punishment for top forest officials including Gupta, arguing that in majority of corruption cases, the action is confined to the lower level, thus helping the senior corrupt lot to get away with mere transfer.

The report submitted to the environment minister's office said: While examining the documents, a shocking fact was noticed that DFO (AK Gupta), despite serving here for the last 6 years, wants to remain on the position and has filed a writ petition in the high court against his own promotion. This is unprecedented because normally, government servant (sic) goes to the court for promotion whereas for the first time in history, an officer has approached the court to keep working on the lower level, ignoring the position as well as increment in the salary."

The inquiry report suggested that Gupta was asked to record his statement before the inquiry officer, but he decided against it, despite repeated summons. The report has observed that a random check in certain areas of some districts revealed that around 200 precious trees were chopped off within a year. The scale of the entire scam involving huge sums could be gigantic.

Jai Raj, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Uttarakhand told Firstpost that he is not aware of the extent of illegal logging of trees in Champawat but there are many charges against Gupta and he has been attached (working without any portfolio). Jai Raj, who took over the office in February this year, said the state government is yet to take any action on the report.

The government wants stern action and we are awaiting the final direction from the higher ups. It is not possible to assess the damage due to difficult terrain of the region but the department will move with disciplinary proceedings against those involved soon, Jai Raj said.

Environment Minister Rawat could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.

Plundering the forest

The report pointed out that in the last six years, officers allegedly sold lakhs of plants from the nursery, and documented them in the official records as damaged.

It was not possible to inspect the entire forest areas and issues linked to it since the last six years but the two teams, with 11 members each, were able to carry out random inspections and could only examine the documents related to 2017. It is very clear from the inspection report that forest produce license and actual seizure shows huge difference, indicating the large-scale illegal logging, said the report. It appears that entire Champawats forest department machinery (is involved) as it is quite evident from the documents that were prepared by the officers...The biggest example is the truck that was caught in September which claimed to have been carrying 50 quintal precious produce of pine but in fact, it was carrying 132 quintal and had successfully crossed three check posts  Chalthi, Bastiya and Kakrali, the report stated.

Exposing the modus operandi, the report also revealed that more than one license was issued to legitimate forest dwellers to carry out illegitimate activities. For example, Prayag Singh of Talli Khatoli was issued twin licenses on 14 February, 2012 and 14 July, 2015. Similarly, Chetram of Taanmalla village was issued four licenses on 30 August, 2013, 4 February, 2015, 20 October, 2015 and 10 March, 2017. The inspection teams, which spoke to the villagers, indicated that smugglers are hand-in-glove with the forest officers to obtain illegal license and transportation permit. Huge produce is brought from reserve forest and sold in the market at a high price. A majority of forest produce is smuggled out to Nepal and some also find their way in local market at Tanakpur.

Kuber Singh Bisht, who recently took over as DFO Champawat, told Firstpost he has started a crackdown on smugglers but the understaffed unit is his biggest hurdle.

I have a huge forest area that is extended till Nepal border and just 100 staff for surveillance on illegal activities. It is impossible to keep a watch on the entire forest reserve area. Nevertheless, we are trying to put an end to illegal chopping of trees and smuggling, Bisht said.

The probe report also made a very scathing remark against officials involved in issuing license for legitimate logging and sale of produce by the villagers. It said: The entire forest department at Champawat cleared the application without due diligence and signed on the papers. They did not carry out inspection of villages to find out whether trees were available on their land for large quantity of forest produce as mentioned in the application. It is impossible that villagers have enough numbers of trees for such production and there is a huge difference detected during the inquiry. The difference was met by illegally chopping off the reserve forest trees.

Para 2.2, annexure A' of the report observed that during inspection, revenue officials were conspicuously absent, despite clear direction from the authorities to assist them in the probe. For example, page 8 of annexure A, table 3 suggests that in Madyoli village, eight trees were allowed to be cut by the owner through legitimate license. The inspection team subsequently visited the nearest Paalvilon reserve forest range where they found 47 tree stumps. Similarly in Balatadi, 13 trees were legally logged while in the nearest reserve area, the officials found remains of 128 trees that they suspected were illegally cut and smuggled. During the random inspection at Devidhura forest range, the inspection team found that eight trees were brought down after getting the license, but in the nearest reserve forest range, the officials discovered loss of 167 precious trees.

The team identified and marked dead trees during the random inspection and came out with a definite conclusion that a large-scale, well-oiled network was involved in various protected forest ranges. Para 2.4.2, page 16 of the report provides more details on modus operandi of the cartel.

The analysis of the reports suggests that tree stumps found at the villagers field and produce transported on paper show huge gaps (sic). It appears that this gap was met by logging trees from protected forest areas, it said.

Para 2.4.5 said concerned forest officer issued transport voucher in Devidhura and Bhigrada forest range but it was not verified and attested by any other staff member, clearly indicating the whole process was compromised to help the illegal smuggling. In annexure B, page 468 of the report, investigators examined the situation in several villages including Kukdauni, Need, Haram, Resang, Aamgoonth, Salli and Monpokhri. The large-scale illegal chopping of pine trees was recorded.

In the remote and inaccessible areas, a majority of population has migrated to the cities and remaining ones are dependent on cattle and forest produce. The innocent villagers collect these produce without realising whether it is from their own land or protected forest. The businessmen get the requisite transportation papers made in connivance with forest officers and thus precious commodities are smuggled out into the market. This process has been going on unabated, the report further said.The story of one Dalit professor in IIT Kanpur and what he faced shows how pernicious the problem of discrimination can be.

Its not as brutally dramatic as a headline about a Dalit youth killed for riding a horse. Or that story about Dalit men flayed for skinning a dead cow. Or a Dalit student, dubbed casteist, extremist and anti-national by a Union minister, killing himself and leaving behind a five-page suicide note. At a time when angry Dalit protests during a Bharat Bandh have erupted across many states in India, the back and forth debate in one university, couched in the carefully formal language of fact finding commissions and letters to the director, sounds almost innocuous, not the kind of stuff that leaves buses torched and people dead.

But the story of one Dalit professor and what he faced in one of the premier educational institutions of the country shows how pernicious the problem of discrimination can be.

On 1 January, 2018, Dr Subrahmanyam Saderla joined the aerospace department of IIT Kanpur. He had a job offer in South Korea but he chose Kanpur. I joined the institute with high spirit, wrote Saderla in a letter to the director.

However, it quickly turned sour. In his letter, Saderla complained that when he was called for a faculty seminar, some of the professors present, including Professor Ishan Sharma, kept on ridiculing me for the entire talk and no one present tried to intervene. He said he felt ridiculed, harassed and undignified.

He said he discovered that some senior faculty members had a three hour-long meeting to discuss lapses in the recruitment process, to make the case that he was not up to the mark as a faculty candidate. He alleged a rumour was spread that he was not mentally fit to take up the job. Emails were sent to various members of the IIT Kanpur community and senators questioning his academic credentials. At a department get together, he heard sarcastic comments about how the new faculty was lowering the standards of the department. He heard that at a dinner party at home, one of the professors dissed him.

An email sent to the senators of IIT Kanpur by Professor Rajiv Shekhar minced no words. It was headlined The Ten Year Curse Strikes Again and described Saderlas appointment as an incident which shakes the foundation of academics at IITK. He complained about the process followed, about Saderlas grades, about his seminar performance. How then did the candidate slip under the radar? he asked.

It's one thing to have concerns about a candidates qualifications or an appointment process before they are hired. But a newly-appointed faculty member facing something like this seems not too different from a high level version of ragging.

But is it about caste?

IIT Kanpur set up a fact-finding committee to probe the allegations chaired by Vinay Pathak, vice chancellor of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University in Lucknow.

The responses are striking. Professor Ishan Sharma denied he had tried to ridicule Saderla and said he had the right to go to any seminar and ask any question he wished. Professor PM Mohite in the department said he did not know the matter had anything to do with caste at all. His issues were about the process followed in the selection. Professor Sanjay Mittal, one of the professors named in the complaint as having told a departmental get-together that standards were going down after the new hire, denied even knowing that Saderla belonged to the SC/ST category.

Thats odd, because Saderla was in fact selected through a special drive for the reserved category and that seems to rankle with many in the first place. The fact-finding committee said explicitly that Dr Sharma, for instance, appeared to have ill feeling against special drive of recruitment and in particular against Dr Saderla.

Professor R Shekhar, who sent the curse email to all the senators of IIT Kanpur, denied he was against any special drive for recruitment. Shekhar has now been appointed director of IIT Dhanbad. Professor CS Upadhyay, who sent an email to the chairman of the board of governors, describing himself as a stalwart of IIT Kanpur, insisted Saderlas academic performance was poor. Saderla had a CPI of 7.25 and IITs own definition of first class CPI is 7.0.

Saderla is not without support. The head of the department, AK Ghosh told the committee that some professors had joined together to harass Saderla, who he said if given a chance, will be the best Flight Mechanics person in the country. Professor Ashish Tewari said the allegations of discrimination needed to be taken seriously. The committee which selected Saderla said there was no dissent in his selection and all procedures were followed correctly.

The fact-finding committee agreed and recommended the management take suitable action keeping in view of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, the very act in the eye of the current national storm. A charge sheet is being prepared and an enquiry committee is supposed to be formed after that.

But sources within IIT say an attempt is being made to paint this as a simple misunderstanding. An apology letter has been issued, claiming that some of our attempts to uphold the academic process of the institute have been misunderstood and misconstrued. It claims the whole incident caused those accused of harassment immense pain and distress as if they are equally the victims here. A signature campaign commenced, in the name of protecting the future of the Institute, to resolve the issue by dialogue between the two parties.

Well-meaning as it sounds, it completely fails to take into account the enormous power imbalance at play here. A newly-appointed assistant professor finds himself pitted against the reputation of an entire IIT, his allegation described as completely out of character with the way the Institute and its faculty has functioned in all its years of existence. The pressure to back down for the good of the university can only be imagined.

Moreover, caste is being swept under the carpet which leads to the question whether caste discrimination can only exist if anti-caste epithets are explicitly flung around.

Now, the SC Commission has taken note of this and summoned all parties to Delhi on 10 April. Whatever happens there, one thing is clear. Many of us live under the illusion that we are caste-blind now, especially in the professional world because that illusion suits us. Yet, as a recent survey of caste in the United States pointed out, one in three Dalits reported being discriminated against during their education and two out of three reported being treated unfairly in the workplace. The story of Dr Subrahmanyam Saderla reminds us how much more insidious and deep-rooted our caste problem is than most of us care to admit.

Saderla at least felt strong enough to protest formally. Many others would rather swallow the humiliation than take on the system. Perhaps thats what Saderla has in mind as he writes in his letter to the director, I kindly request you to take appropriate action such that no new faculty should ever face such embarrassing and humiliating situation in the future.In the backdrop of China's rising assertiveness in the region, India, the US and Japan on Wednesday held a trilateral meeting during which they agreed to bolster cooperation to ensure a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

New Delhi: In the backdrop of China's rising assertiveness in the region, India, the US and Japan on Wednesday held a trilateral meeting during which they agreed to bolster cooperation to ensure a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

The three countries, in their ninth trilateral, also explored practical steps to boost cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development and to effectively deal with challenge of terrorism, the external affairs ministry said.

At the meeting, the three strategic partners also resolved to deepen maritime cooperation and work together to deal with threats of nuclear proliferation. "All sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through the partnership with countries in the region," the ministry said.

At the trilateral, the three countries, represented by senior officials, also deliberated on regional and global issues of mutual interest. The MEA said the talks were held in accordance to the directions given by the foreign ministers of three nations who met in New York on 18 September, 2017 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session.

"The officials explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security," it said.The MEA said the officials reviewed the outcomes of the 'Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group' that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.

In November last year, India, the US, Australia and Japan had given shape to the long-pending Quadrilateral grouping to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of Chinese influence. The US has been favouring a greater role by India in the Indo-Pacific region.

US President Donald Trump, in his first prime-time televised address to the nation as commander-in-chief last year, had laid out his South Asia policy saying a "critical part" of it was to further develop the US's strategic partnership with India.Translating marital rape from a mere concept to an offence will increase reporting as well as make for a rights-based approach to marriage itself

The Gujarat High Court, earlier this week, questioned the concept of "implied consent" in a marriage, while adjudicating a case where the complainant was sexually and physically harassed by her husband. The court observed that non-consensual intercourse by the husband cannot be considered rape, because the law does not allow it; however, subjecting the married partner to have "unnatural sex" would be considered cruelty. In conclusion, the court did advocate for marital rape to be declared a punishable offence under law. The court stated that "the total statutory abolition of the marital rape exemption is the first necessary step in teaching societies that dehumanised treatment of women will not be tolerated and that the marital rape is not a husbands privilege, but rather a violent act and an injustice that must be criminalised".

"The law must uphold the bodily autonomy of all women, irrespective of their marital status," stated the high court judgment that was delivered by Justice JB Pardiwala. The court observed that because there is no law on marital rape, the FIR filed against the man by his wife, on charges of rape (section 376, Indian Penal Code) and unnatural sex (section 377, Indian Penal Code) among other charges, be quashed: "The husband cannot be prosecuted for the offence of rape at the instance of his wife in view of exception-II in section 375 of IPC, which provides that sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, who is not being under 18 years of age, is not rape."

The court also approached the charges of unnatural sex under the petition  it allowed the initiation of criminal proceedings for unnatural sex, but, in the order, it quashed the section against the man because "except sexual perversions of sodomy, buggery and beastiality, all other sexual perversions, would not fall within the sweep of section 377 of IPC." The high court also directed the police to add sections for sexual harassment and domestic violence under section 498A of the IPC, but it did so while recognising that the extant law does not provide equal protection against rape, and by making a public/private distinction, it perpetuates a barrier to justice that married women may already face in marriages.

We have had several public opinions on marital rape, without really understanding the core issue of womens rights in a matrimonial relationship. In 2016, Maneka Gandhi, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, put out that marital rape is a Western concept and does not fit into the cultural context of India. Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, stated that, "[T]he concept of marital rape as understood internationally cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors like level of education/illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs [and the] mindset of the society to treat the marriage as a sacrament. In 2013, when the anti-rape bill was being discussed in the Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan, a BJP MP, observed that, "Marital rape shouldnt be made into a criminal offenceThings like these should be sorted out within the family or by counselling. There is no need for a law."

The Justice Verma Committee, however, vehemently refused to recognise marriage as a valid defence against sexual crimes such as rape. The report of the committee, in fact, put out that the "relationship between the accused and the complainant is not relevant to the enquiry into whether the complainant consented to the sexual activity and the fact that the accused and the victim are married or in another intimate relationship may not be regarded as a mitigating factor justifying lower sentences for rape." The committee identified that the concept of "implied consent" within marriages is, in fact, not implied, and should not be considered as irrevocable. In doing this, the committee challenged the obsolete notions of marriage which regarded wives as the property of their husbands, and they were assumed to be without bodily autonomy, choice and agency.

Keeping this in mind, marital rape should cease to be a concept, and must be criminalised. The Gujarat High Court judgment could have been a path-breaking, progressive one, if the Bench had taken a stand. By advocating for marital rape while simultaneously quashing all charges against the husband on the basis of a technicality in archaic penal legislation, the high court does the bare minimum. It makes no attempt to change the status quo. The judgment delivers an opinion within an already prevailing framework that borrows from and thrives on the public/private dichotomy. It is not difficult to understand that the judgment does not create or inspire policy; at best, it could be a starting point on how marital rape may be viewed by the judiciary.

The Gujarat High Court's stand on marital rape is in itself disturbingly tactful  the judgment advocates for marital rape to be criminalised, and at the same time, quashes the charges of rape and unnatural sex against the husband. By doing this, it nudges women to resort to forms of redressal that are non-criminal in nature, such as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), which may not be effective always.

The judgment could have been more nuanced  it could have dealt with the concept of marital rape itself, where resorting to criminal laws to redress non-consensual sex in marriage is perceived as a threat to the integrity of the matrimonial bond, while invoking the PWDVA is considered a more holistic intervention. The judgment could have also deconstructed the concept of "implied consent", and pitted it against the human rights that women have, irrespective of their marital status. However, in the larger narrative of (marital) rape adjudication in this country, the judgment does nothing.

The Indian government records data on spousal violence, and according to the 2015-16 National Health and Family Survey (NFHS-4), around 5.4 percent of women have experienced sexual violence from their partners. Overall, 2.5 percent and 3.6 percent married women have answered affirmatively to categories of "forced her to perform any sexual acts that she did not want to" and "forced her with threats or in any other way to perform any sexual acts that she did not want to" respectively. It should be kept in mind that these numbers are nowhere near accurate because of underreporting as well as the lack of awareness around the right to autonomy and choice. Translating marital rape from a mere concept to an offence will increase reporting as well as make for a rights-based approach to marriage itself. This can only happen if there is a substantial, lucid judgment from a court of law in India that unequivocally advocates against the exception of spousal rape from the definition of rape.Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria on Tuesday met Pakistan's National Security Adviser Naseer Khan Janjua and raised India's concerns over cross border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, besides discussing ways to improve strained bilateral ties.

Islamabad/New Delhi: Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria on Tuesday met Pakistan's National Security Adviser Naseer Khan Janjua and raised India's concerns over cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, besides discussing ways to improve strained bilateral ties.

Diplomatic sources in the Indian High Commission told PTI that the meeting took place in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in Islamabad.

"It was a courtesy meeting held in the PMO," they said.

"The High Commissioner sensitised the Pakistan NSA on issues of India's concern. Constructive discussions took place on improving the bilateral relationship," they said.

They further said the envoys regularly call on dignitaries of the host country and this meeting was scheduled a week earlier.

Sources in New Delhi said the issue of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir was raised by the Indian envoy in the meeting.

The envoy is also understood to have mentioned the three encounters in Shopian and Anantnag districts of Kashmir earlier this week in which 13 militants were killed.

In a statement, the NSA Office in Islamabad said Bisaria made a courtesy call on Janjua and the two discussed matters pertaining to improving the bilateral relations, including the worsening situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

The NSA welcomed the envoy and said that Pakistan is pursuing the policy of friendly relations with all its neighbouring countries, including normalcy of relationship with India, adding that Pakistan is committed to resolving all outstanding issues through comprehensive dialogues.

Janjua expressed "serious concerns over the ongoing human rights violations" in Kashmir and said that "the use of force alone can lead us nowhere. It rather diminishes hope, injures the society and further worsens the fragile situation," it added.

"The process of dialogue is the only way forward to resolve our disputes. It is by way of peaceful resolution of our disputes that both the countries can belong to the future," Janjua said.

The Indian envoy acknowledged that Pakistan and India definitely need to improve their relations and said "both countries have immense potential to improve the relationship, and cater to each other's needs," the statement added.

He also suggested working on taking small steps to improve the bilateral relations, including exchange of prisoners, visits of medical teams and trade initiatives.

"We can build on these small steps between us and take the relationship towards normalcy to address the bigger issues," he added.

Both sides agreed to explore the possibilities of more cooperation and of improving bilateral relations to ultimately take it towards the comprehensive process of dialogue.Two CRPF jawans were mowed down by a para-military force vehicle when its driver lost control due to stone pelting at Hiller area in Kokernag of South Kashmir

Srinagar: Two CRPF jawans were mowed down by a para-military force vehicle when its driver lost control due to stone pelting at Hiller area in Kokernag of South Kashmir, police said on Wednesday.

The unfortunate incident took place on Wednesday evening when CRPF troops were withdrawing after a day-long law and order duty in the area.

According to the police, the driver of the CRPF armoured vehicle was pelted stones in the area, 85 kms from Srinagar, during the withdrawal operation in the evening.

The driver, identified as Roop Singh, lost control of the vehicle and hit a motorcycle on which two CRPF jawans  Riyaz Ahmed Wani and Nissar Ahmed Wani  were riding.

They were rushed to a hospital where they were declared brought dead.

The driver of the armoured vehicle has been hit in his head and has been rushed to an army hospital in Srinagar.

Reinforcement was rushed to the spot to maintain law and order, officials said.The Kerala State Police Complaints Authority is the only watchdog where citizens can approach with complaints against the police.

The Left government's home department in Kerala is having a tough time like never before. The states police force which comes under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has been caught misbehaving with the common man on the street at an alarming frequency over the last one month.

In the last few weeks alone more than half a dozen such cases where the men in uniform abuse, harass and even beat up unsuspecting citizens have been reported from across the state.

With the opposition led by the Congress party raising the issue in the state Assembly and even staging a walkout following a decline by the Speaker to move an adjournment motion on the issue last week, the government had to openly admit the error and call for corrective steps.

"We are acknowledging the situation and let me assure everyone that strict action will be taken against those found to be misbehaving with the general public. The department will be a calling a special meeting to address the issue at the earliest," Director General of Police (DGP) Lokanath Behera told media persons this week.

But not everyone is ready to buy the words of the DGP and there is a clear-cut reason for that. In the last two years alone many such situations have come about when the men in uniform have been found wanting when it comes to public behaviour and the state police chief and the department had hardly moved a finger to nip such attempts in the bud.

Watered-down policy of the Left

A year ago in April 2017, the state watched in shock as the mother of Jishnu Pranoy, a boy who had allegedly committed suicide in mysterious circumstances in a private engineering college in the state, was dragged on to the streets along with her relatives because they had dared to protest in front of the DGPs office against police inaction in the case.

The uproar was so big that even the Supreme Court citing the incident asked if the state actually had a DGP who could maintain law and order while hearing the former DGP TP Senkumars removal case.

Activists say that the Left governments inability to implement its policy in the home department is the real cause of trouble which has given rise to the feeling that the police have a free hand in the state, an issue that became a hot topic in the recently concluded state conference of the CPM.

"The Left has a policy of governance which is pro-poor, pro-people. It is when that gets diluted instead of getting implemented in the most important department which is the Home, the state moves towards a police raj. The government should show spine to take stringent action against erring policemen rather than shy away from with the excuse of it affecting the morale of the force. Only that will send out the message," said social activist NM Pearson.

Last week a retired railway station master was punched in the face by an assistant sub-inspector for allegedly obstructing the convoy of the governor. The bleeding face of the senior citizen with a ruptured nose took the social media by storm forcing the DGP to issue a circular asking all cops on traffic duty to attend a one-day training session in civility.

Another video that got wide circulation showed Manjudas, a sub-inspector at Erattupetta in central Kerala, showering expletives on bikers.

Again in March, two bikers lost their lives after they crashed while being forcibly stopped by cops checking for helmetless driving in Alappuzha.

CN Shareef, a photojournalist of a vernacular daily was beaten up in a police station at Malappuram in north Kerala. His crime was that he had dared to click the picture of a protest billboard kept at the Areekode police station.

The list of police excesses over the last few months is an uncomfortably long one. But in spite of the DGPs circular calling for training, it had little effect on the ground.

Even before the ink had dried another incident of police misbehaviour was reported on the same evening soon after the days training on behaviour was wound up.

Since the Left came to power in 2016, the states police force has often been on the wrong side of the law. The proof lies not just in the umpteen number of incidents of misbehaviour and unruly conduct but also in the steady rebuke that the department had been receiving from the judiciary during the same period.

There are political observers who feel that it is not the lack of a policy on the part of the government that is driving the police excesses but rather its a well-crafted agenda of the Left that is at the root of the issue.

"This Left government led by Pinarayi Vijayan seems to have adopted a line of resisting all dissenting voices using the state machinery. The police are a most important tool in implementing this agenda. When that happens obviously the police will also take the law into their hands and behave according to their whims and fancies. I think the present police misbehaviour is a fall out of this governments policy of gagging any form of democratic dissent," CR Neelakandan, an anti-corruption activist-turned-politician with the Aam Admi Party (AAP) told Firstpost.

Lack of leadership

Most of the top brass of the police whom Firstpost talked to were worried about the audacity with which the cops at the lower rung keep breaking the directions of the state police chief.

Despite bringing out circulars and verbal ultimatums that those found taking law into their hands would be dealt with an iron hand, there is hardly anyone who shies away from doing what they deem fit on the ground.

Retired officers say that this 'non-ownership attitude' of a few puts the entire force's reputation at stake and it is also the crux of the entire problem.

Subash Babu is a retired superintendent of police who had also spent considerable time at the Police Training College in Thrissur.

Babu says that the lack of strong leadership at the top is killing the force and that there is hardly any uniformity in the 'uniformed force' in the state at the moment.

"Police is a team work where ownership is very important. When you have a DGP at the top who hardly has a personal connect with the even the district police chiefs what else do you expect? See when a policeman does something which he very well knows will bring disrepute to his senior officer and the force, it should make him think twice before doing it. But he hardly cares because unlike our times when we used to have a personal connect with the top brass, there is hardly any such feeling nowadays. Its a failure of the leadership to inspire," Babu told Firstpost.

That the current DGP Lokanath Behera had come to the seat under controversial circumstances after the state government shunted out former DGP Senkumar also hardly helped Beheras cause in gaining the trust of his force.

Senkumar returned for a month with a Supreme Court order before retiring to pave way for Behera. But since then the new DGP has hardly been able to fit the bill of a Senkumar who was well known for his personal touch with senior and junior officers in the force.

Behera also earned the displeasure of the apex court when it openly criticised him for the way he dealt the protest of Jishnu Pranoy's mother. For over two years the DGP has hardly been a rallying point for the force is something which many see as a big drawback.

Political godfathers

Policemen having political godfathers are nothing new. But the system in Kerala is such that the nexus between the force and the political leadership runs very deep.

Most of it becomes much evident when a cadre-based party like the CPM takes control over the reins of power. The party decides where to put which officer and once it is a political appointment even the cop knows that the politician will watch his back.

Such is the nexus between the political class and men in uniform that any disciplinary action is also met with a high amount of resistance using the politicians. It is here that Kerala Police Association (KPA) comes into the picture. Formed for protecting the welfare of policemen and women, it is now a centre of misuse claims retried senior officers.

"It is very difficult to see that on the surface. But certainly the association is what bails out erring policemen. One suspension for a few days and soon the cop makes a re-entry through the back door and gets transferred for a new posting. All this is stage managed by the association by putting pressure on the politician who then puts pressure on the senior officer to ensure that any departmental enquiry is stalled. This is how they get away. So they have no fear at all," said former DGP Siby Mathews.

Babu also said that the present atmosphere in police stations across the state hardly make it a unified force.

"Almost every police station in Kerala is a divided house now. On one side you have two political groups, the CPM and the Congress right inside the station among the men. Then you have two other sets where one will be a super discipline group and the other an indifferent group. Its an eternal power struggle between these groups which runs a police station nowadays, leaving little room for control from the top officers," said Babu.

Stressed force?

The Kerala State Police Complaints Authority is the only watchdog where citizens can approach with complaints against the police. In 2015, the then chairperson of KSPCA, justice Narayana Kurup had openly said that young officers of the force need to reform themselves and not try to behave like super cops.

Kurup had even suggested to the government of the day that the 2014 batch of sub-inspectors need to be recalled for training since the authority had received innumerable complaints against them. But nothing had been done since then.

"They are not able to reconcile the newly experienced sense of authority to the reality of citizens' rights. That is the major problem. You can only change this by reinforcing on them the idea that citizens are not here to live by your command but you are here to help the citizens in need. The policemen need to understand authority in the context of protection and not power," said former DGP Jacob Punnose.

But psychologists said that stress plays a crucial role and it is easy to blame the policeman for his behaviour.

"Displaced aggression is a common phenomenon here. Take the instance of road rage shown by traffic policemen. Here is a man who is under pressure from his superiors, working under poor conditions, facing disparity in pay for the kind of work he does. It doesnt take much for him to lose his cool. What is needed is a scientific approach to recruitment as well as training. You need to equip him to meet the challenge," said psychologist KS David.Maldives has asked India to take back one of two naval helicopters New Delhi had gifted to Male.

Maldives has asked India to take back one of two naval helicopters New Delhi had gifted to Male, the latest incident in a series which clearly depicts the deteriorating ties between the two countries.

The Times of India quoted a top Maldives government source as saying that the country wanted a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft instead of the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) which India had gifted to Maldives.

Relations between India and Maldives have not been smooth for quite a while now.

A worrying fact for India has been the way Maldives has allowed China to make strategic inroads.

The arbitrary manner in which an airport project was handed over to the Chinese even though the contract had been won by an Indian company, the opening of a Chinese embassy, signing of a Free Trade Agreement and rumours that Beijing might be given the right to set up a naval base in one of the islands were all unsettling for India.

In the last week of March, Maldivian Ambassador to China Mohamed Faisal had said that India was like a brother to Maldives but China was like a long-lost cousin found.

"India is a brother. We are a family, we may quarrel and we may have arguments but in the end, we will sit down and resolve it," the diplomat had said.

He had claimed that the Maldives has taken a number of projects to India for finance "but we did not receive the necessary finance."

China, which looks at Maldives as a major participant in its 21st century Maritime Silk Road plan in the Indian Ocean, has made heavy investments in the nation of islands which has 26 tropical atolls and 1,000 small islands.

China has put up a staunch defence of Maldives president Abdulla Yameen, stonewalling international pressure and enabling him to stay in power during the current crisis.

The picturesque Indian Ocean archipelago was plunged into chaos early in February when the Supreme Court called for the release of nine imprisoned Opposition politicians, ruling that their trials were politically motivated and flawed.

The government refused to implement the ruling. Yameen imposed a state of emergency and arrested apex court judges and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. On 22 March, however, the state of emergency was lifted.

Earlier in March, Mohamed Shainee, a senior minister in President Yameen's government, had reportedly told a group of visiting Indian reporters, "Why haven't we gone into the Kashmir issue...and asked to be (an) intermediary? Because they are internal matters...India should stay away from our issue."

"We are independent and capable of dealing with the situation. If we need help, we will let India know."

Reacting sharply, Indian officials had termed the remarks as "unfortunate".

Asserting that the two situations were not comparable, a senior official had said, "While the situation in Kashmir is due to state(Pakistan)-sponsored terrorism, the other is due to subversion of democracy."

Seeking to minimise the damage caused by the remark, Maldives ambassador in New Delhi Ahmed Mohamed had said that even though there was an "environment of mistrust" between India and Maldives caused by a host of issues in recent years, the two countries should let "bygones be bygones".

In an interview to PTI, Mohamed had also maintained that while there has been a steady stream of high-level visits from the island nation, the same was not reciprocated, an issue which many in Male feel is one of the factors for the drifting away in the relations.

In the last week of February, Maldives declined India's invitation to participate in the biennial naval exercise. The Maldivian ambassador to India later said that the country declined the invitation because of the then emergency situation in the country.

Maldives had also earlier warned India against taking "any actions" that could hinder resolving the political crisis in the country. In a statement, Maldives' foreign ministry had said that Yameen's government takes note of the public statements issued by the Indian government that "ignore the facts and ground realities" with regard to the ongoing political developments in the Maldives.

On 10 February, two foreign AFP journalists  including an Indian national  were arrested by the Maldivian police for violating immigration rules and eventually ordered to leave the island nation.

The two journalists, Indian national Money Sharma and British national of Indian-origin Atish Ravi Patel, were handed over to immigration authorities by the police after it was found that they were working in violation of the country's immigration rules, the police had said in a statement.

Two days earlier, Maldives had sent out envoys to "friendly nations", including China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. India, geographically the nearest country from the islands, however, was not a part of this list.

With inputs from agenciesA woman hailing from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura was seen carrying her differently-abled husband on her shoulders to obtain a disability certificate for him.

In a heart-wrenching incident which throws light on the country's poor infrastructure for the specially challenged, a woman was seen carrying her differently-abled husband on her back to obtain a disability certificate for him from the chief medical officer's office in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura.

According to a report in The Times of India, the woman named Vimala was forced to carry Badan Singh, a former truck driver who had to get his leg amputated a few months ago due a nerve illness. But because of the lack of a tricycle, she was left with no option but to carry him to the office.

"What am I supposed to do? This is our compulsion. We went to many different offices but still have not got the certificate," she said. "I did not go to work because we had to come here today. I can't come another day. We have no access to a wheel-chair or a tricycle." Vimala told the media. Talking about the incident, Uttar Pradesh minister Bhupendra Chaudhary told ANI, "It is a sad incident to happen in a civilised world. We will inspect the case and help accordingly." As per ANI, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) on Wednesday issued a disability certificate Vimala's husband. The past few months have seen Vimala dedicatedly carrying her husband to a government health centre every day to see if she can procure a wheelchair or a tricycle. A free wheelchair from government hospital requires a disability certificate and Vimala had been trying to get one for her husband. After her husband became an amputee, the couple's medical expenses mounted and the entire financial burden fell on the shoulders of Vimala. "We are in deep trouble; our financial condition is very bad. We can't afford a cycle-rickshaw every day," she said, describing her struggle. However, what finally paid off for Vimala was the photograph of her carrying her husband which was widely shared online.

Updated Date:For the third consecutive year, The University of Mumbai failed to find a spot among the top 100 colleges of India. As in 2017, the varsity was ranked in the 151-200 band in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) list, released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Tuesday, this year as well.

For the third consecutive year, The University of Mumbai failed to find a spot among the top 100 colleges of India. As in 2017, the varsity was ranked in the 151-200 band in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) list, released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Tuesday, this year as well.

In 2016, the varsity was missing from the list of best universities and institutions across the country as the authorities had failed to send the required information to the MHRD.

In 2017, the university had successfully gathered and submitted the required data. However, the university performed poorly, ranking between 151 and 200.

Dr Radha Srinivasan, who was recently appointed as the Chairperson of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), cited the university's inability to submit complete data as the primary reason for the university not featuring in the list.

"With over 700 affiliated colleges within its ambit and some excellent post graduate departments, it definitely has the potential of making it to the top institutes. A lot of data regarding research and other achievements, however, was not shared by departments in time probably due to the whole onscreen assessment issue which might have led to the poor performance. We are now working to streamline the process and are hopeful that we would have the complete data soon," a DNA report quoted Srinivasan as saying.

AD Sawant, former pro vice-chancellor of the varsity said the university is lagging behind as "there are no efficient people to lead the university". "With every coming day, the current officials continue to work in a lax manner which has led to these results," Sawant was quoted as saying in the report.

The chaos in the administration last year over an unprecedented delay in declaration of results could have led to the fall in ranking, said officials, according to an Indian Express report.

The past year has been chaotic for the University of Mumbai as it faced sharp criticism for its unprepared and half-baked implementation of an online assessment system, which lead to a delay in results of over 4 lakh students. After several postponements and confusion that lasted nearly four months, the varsity finally declared results for April-May exams in September 2017. The results should have ideally been announced in June-July.

Amid widespread criticism and protest, Vice-Chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh, who was responsible for the introduction of the online system, was asked to step down until further notice, and projected scores and provisional certificates were provided to students who approached the university for assistance.

Later, it emerged that the university had ignored warnings from the office of university chancellor and Governor of Maharashtra, Ch Vidyasagar Rao that had anticipated a delay in results owing to the decision to switch to an online assessment system that would result in a time-consuming scanning of over 18 lakh answersheets.

At least a week before the varsity appointed the agency which implemented the online system, the chancellors office had written to Vice-Chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh, indicating the implementation of the ambitious new system could delay results.

Firstpost had accessed the minutes of the 28 April, 2017 meeting of the Management Council, which showed that three out of four representatives were against Deshmukh's idea of introducing online evaluation system for every stream at the same time. Instead, the representatives  Joint Secretary Siddharth Kharat, Director of Higher Education Rohidas Kale and Director of Technical Education Subhash Mahajan  while agreeing to the idea in spirit, had advised Deshmukh to implement the plan in a phased manner. However, Deshmukh had overruled the suggestion.

But, after the vice-chancellor missed the 31 July deadline set by Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, the knives were out for Deshmukh.

A senior official had told Firstpost, "We feel that enough time was given to Deshmukh. During a 28 April meeting too, we had opposed the move to implement in a hurry. We brought this issue to his notice in June too, yet no corrective measures were taken. We are serious about our students' future, but the vice-chancellor is enjoying his foreign tour without the Chancellor's permission."

After missing his 31 July deadline, Rao issued a show cause notice to Deshmukh over his failure to release the results of over 4.77 lakh students.

An analysis of the online process had revealed that the infrastructure required for such a major upheaval of the system was highly inadequate; that examiners were not equipped with sufficient training and information; and the abysmal coordination between various agencies responsible for different tasks had paralysed the whole process.The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed five petitions challenging CBSE's decision to conduct re-examination of Class XII economics paper.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed five petitions challenging Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) decision to conduct a re-examination of the Class XII economics paper after an alleged leak. The top court said it is the discretion of the Central Board of Secondary Education to conduct the re-examination and can't be challenged in the court. A bench of Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao asked the students who had challenged the CBSE's decision to appear in the re-examination on 25 April.

Several petitions were filed before the apex court after the CBSE said on 28 March that the Class X maths and Class XI economics paper had allegedly leaked. Besides seeking an independent probe into the leak, one of the petitioners, 15-year-old Rohan Mathew, also sought a direction to the CBSE to declare the results on the basis of the examinations already conducted.

Mathew and two others have moved the top court seeking quashing of the CBSE's decision to re-conduct the Class 10 mathematics examination on several grounds, including violation of their fundamental rights. Earlier, another plea was filed in the apex court by Reepak Kansal, a resident of Shakarpur, challenging the decision of the CBSE to cancel and re-conduct the two papers.

CBSE, on 30 March, announced that it would re-conduct the examination for economics for Class X throughout the country on 25 April. However, CBSE said on Tuesday that it has found after assessment that there was no impact of the alleged paper leak of Class X maths paper and hence, no re-examination would be held.

"It is to be noted that this year, 16,38,428 students are appearing for the Class X and 11,86,306 students for Class XII in CBSE examinations. And therefore, to penalise the student community for an incident which is under investigation and without completion of that investigation/enquiry and issuing a notice on 28 March, 2018, (for re-exams), affects the fundamental rights of students which is arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional," the plea said.Senior separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq tried to defy house arrest restrictions on Wednesday in a bid to march to Shopian town

Srinagar: Senior separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq tried to defy house arrest restrictions on Wednesday in a bid to march to Shopian town in Jammu and Kashmir but were detained by police.

Geelani tried to come out of his uptown Hyderpora residence but policemen posted outside prevented him from doing so.

Geelani was placed under house arrest on Monday after 20 people, including 13 militants, three soldiers and four civilians, were killed in three gun battles in south Kashmir.

Mirwaiz Farooq, however, came out of his Nigeen residence defying house arrest restrictions to move towards Shopian town.

Police immediately took him to a nearby police station.

Separatists have called for a march to Shopian town on Wednesday to show solidarity with the people of the district who allege high-handedness by security forces.A Trinamool Congress delegation on Wednesday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh to lodge a protest against West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi

New Delhi: A Trinamool Congress delegation on Wednesday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh to lodge a protest against West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi, alleging that the Raj Bhavan has turned into BJP headquarters.

The TMC delegation comprising 25 members of Parliament at its meeting with the home minister alleged that the attitude of the "Governor's House is not desirable".

"The Governor's House has become the BJP's headquarters. He should remember that he is a constitutional head. The attitude of the Governor's House is not desirable. It is not good for democracy and the federal structure," TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay told reporters after the meeting.

The TMC leaders also took umbrage at Tripathi calling the West Bengal Chief Secretary and the State Election Commissioner at the Governor's House for a meeting.

"Many Opposition leaders are holding press conferences at the Governor's House after meeting him. He calls the chief secretary and the state election commissioner whenever he wants. The State Election Commission is an autonomous body and is doing its job. It is not a good signal for democracy," Bandyopadhyay alleged.

The TMC delegation urged the home minister to speak to the governor in this regard.Father Lucian Thomas' office in Neerody witnesses a steady stream of the faithful seeking his counsel, and these days it invariably revolves around the aftermath of Ockhi. The cyclone left 203 people dead in Tamil Nadu, 162 in Kerala and tore through the lives of fishing communities in coastal villages between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari. A village of nearly 6,000 people, Neerody lost 34 men, one of the highest casualties among fishing villages on this coast.

Editor's note: Cyclone Ockhi, the first severe storm in almost 40 years to have travelled about 2,400 kilometres from the Bay of Bengal to as far as the Gujarat coast, cut a path of devastation and left in its wake shattered livelihoods and broken families. This, part one of a three-part series, examines the efforts of a Tamil Nadu clergyman to pressure the state government to recover the bodies of fishermen lost at sea.

Neerody, Tamil Nadu: Father Lucian Thomas' office in Neerody witnesses a steady stream of the faithful seeking his counsel, and these days it invariably revolves around the aftermath of Ockhi. The cyclone left 203 people dead in Tamil Nadu, 162 in Kerala and tore through the lives of fishing communities in coastal villages between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari. A village of nearly 6,000 people, Neerody lost 34 men, one of the highest casualties among fishing villages on this coast.

Thomas alleges gaps in the search and rescue operations and says the apathy shown by authorities towards his people is unconscionable. "Neerody would have been spared so many young widows and fatherless children if the rescue work had been efficient," he says. He knows because he has been in the thick of it all since 29 November, when he first got a call about the impending cyclone.

When it was realised that hundreds of their men were at sea and possibly shipwrecked, Thomas attempted to contact the office of the district collector, but was rudely rebuffed. He was finally able to meet Collector Sajjan Singh R Chavan on 3 December, when he accompanied Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her visit to the village. Till date, she remains the only elected official to have been to Neerody.

The minister met some families of the missing fisherfolk at a local school. At this point, locals were already frustrated that rescue operations were being conducted too close to the coast to be of help to any deep-sea fishing vessels. Thomas explained this to Sitharaman and handed over a list of coordinates obtained from the vessels that had returned: Among them, the last known GPS location of 13 men from the village.

She assured us they wont let a single fisherman die at the sea, and if even they are dead, they wont allow the bodies to just float. 'We will bring them all ashore', she said. And we believed her, Thomas says. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Tamil Nadu government now considers all 161 missing persons to be dead. We believed her and we even put on hold our own rescue boats.

Though not on this scale, community-led rescue missions were used to dealing with missing fisherfolk. They have seen success sailing on their catamarans when even helicopters have failed, Thomas says. And the men are often known to survive for days on a piece of driftwood. But in this case, the sea continued to be choppy until 7 December and there were reports of another cyclonic depression. Local rescue boats in Kerala met with limited success and Thomas was weary of losing more men.

However, when the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) at Thootukodi sent word for a list of men from the hamlet willing to accompany the coast guard during rescue operations, hope was rekindled. An inspector from Karungal came by to pick up a list of the 20 people chosen. We never heard from MRCC after that.

On 5 December, about 6 kilometres away in the fishing hamlet of Chinnathurai, five men were taken aboard ICGS Abhiraj to help with the rescue. This was one of the three occasions in which fisherfolk were embarked on coast guard ships to carry out joint search and rescue operations. John Britto, who was part of this group, calls the whole exercise a waste of diesel.

After the five of us reached Thootukodi, he remembers, they told us out of the blue that there wasnt space for all of us in the boat and asked some of us to stay behind. We convinced them to take all of us. Once on board, we realised that the search was being conducted too close to the coast. We told the captain that we had to go at least up to 100 nautical miles and then the radar could be used to scope out another 40 nautical miles. He said they didnt have permission to go beyond 60 nautical miles. Had they said this in the beginning, we wouldnt have bothered going along, Britto says.

The boat just sailed in a straight line up to Poovar and then returned along the same path. They wouldnt even let us see the position of the boat, he says. Thomas watched from his church as one of the rescue boats sailed past Neerody. It was just a formality, he says.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard extends from the baseline to the limits of the Exclusive Economic Zone, that is from zero to 200 nautical miles in the sea. The area beyond that falls within the jurisdiction of Indian Navy. When contacted, MRCC Chennai said extensive sea-air coordinated searches were carried out by Coast Guard ships along with Coast Guard aircraft for missing fishermen up to 3,400 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala, Karnataka, Lakshadweep and Minicoy, and information regarding the same was regularly shared with the government of Tamil Nadu.

"The allegations of restricting search up to 60 nautical miles are unfounded", MRCC Chennai said in a response to 101Reporters. "We had taken all possible efforts to save them. Sri Lankan and Maldives governments were also approached by Coast Guard to confirm about the missing fishermen in Sri Lanka and Maldives waters respectively. On 1 December, International Safety Network (ISN) was activated by MRCC for alerting all merchant ships operating in the area to render assistance to the missing fishermen and same was relayed by NAVTEX (navigational telex) also".

Desperate, the fishing community rallied together on 7 December and marched to Kuzhithurai railway station to conduct a rail roko. Around 4,000 people from Neerody accompanied Thomas on the 23-kilometre march. Not a single leaf along the path was destroyed. It was a peaceful protest from the start. Most of us were tired by the time we reached the station, so we just sat there, drinking water and porridge that some people donated, says Thomas.

The rail roko led to cancellation and partial termination of seven trains between Nagarcoil and Trivandrum. The protest was withdrawn after the district collector assured the protesters that search operations would be intensified in the deep sea.

But then close to 15,000 protesters were booked in the following days for unlawful assembly, blocking rail traffic and disobedience to public servants order. I am the first accused, Thomas says, amused. I knew they would file a case, because when we were leaving a sub-inspector politely noted down my name with the right spelling. In fact, they even arranged for buses to take our people home. And the next day we heard that cases were registered across four neighbouring police stations.

"We havent taken these criminal cases seriously. Well face this when the time comes. I will go when I am summoned, but I dont intend to beg for mercy for protesting peacefully," Thomas says. "We didnt have any demands from the government except to bring back our men who are abandoned at sea".

Ockhi timeline

21 November  Cyclone Ockhi originates in the Gulf of Thailand

29 November Ockhi makes landfall on the southern-most tip of mainland India

30 November  Numbers/locations of missing fishermen communicated to authorities; rescue efforts begin

3 December  Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visits Kanyakumari, promises to intensify rescue

7 December  Massive rail roko protests by over 15,000 fisherfolk alleging apathy shown in rescuing stranded men

13 December  Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy makes his first visit to affected districts

19 December  Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Kanyakumari; Pon Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping, arrives a day earlier at hometown Nagercoil to make arrangements for prime minister's visit

Read Part 2: During Cyclone Ockhi, lack of early warnings and at-sea communication devices left fisherfolk helpless

Read Part 3: Four months after Cyclone Ockhi, survivors and kin of deceased still counting losses, awaiting compensation

The author is a Chennai-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. She tweets @LuvnbeerBJP president Amit Shah today held a meeting with Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and other leaders of the state at the Raipur airport.

BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday held a meeting with Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and other leaders of the state at the Raipur airport, during a brief stopover before proceeding on a tour of Odisha.

Notably, the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh are due later this year. Shah was at the airport for about one-and-a-half hours before leaving for his Odisha tour, Singh told reporters after the meeting. During the meeting, there was a discussion on Shah's upcoming visit to the state, he added. Shah is likely to visit the Chhatishgarh by the end of this month when he will take a review of the tasks that he had assigned to the party office-bearers and the organisation during his visit in June last year.

The two leaders also discussed preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bijapur district on 14, Singh said. The prime minister would launch the 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme, government's mega healthcare initiative, from Bijapur on the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.

Under this scheme, the government plans to open of 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres in the country to provide people-centric comprehensive primary healthcare. Also, over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) in the country will be provided treatment coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

Meanwhile, Shah also took stock of Chhattisgarh government's recently concluded 'Lok Suraj' campaign, for redressal of public's grievances, and the 'Jansampark Abhiyan' (to connect with people across the state), Singh informed. The BJP chief was welcomed by party's state unit president Dharamlal Kaushik, general secretary (organisation) Pawan Sai, Rajya Sabha MP Saroj Pandey and other leaders at the airport.The government had listed a few crucial bills for consideration and passage in both Houses during the second leg of the Budget Session.

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies in Parliament decided not to take salary and allowances for the second phase of the Budget Session, which has been completely washed out.

BJP and NDA party MPs announced on Wednesday night that they will take a pay cut for the 23 days wasted in the second phase of the Budget Session as they accused the Congress party of playing negative politics.

The government had listed a few crucial bills for consideration and passage in both Houses during the second leg of the Budget Session.

Announcing the decision, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said it has been decided that the NDA MPs would be giving up their salary and other allowances for 23 days "for which parliament was not allowed to function by the Congress".

"The Congress is engaging in anti-democratic politics by stopping important bills from being passed, which is leading to criminal wastage of taxpayers money," he told reporters at a hurriedly-called briefing.

Interestingly, Ananth Kumar singled out Congress for the trouble in Parliament while there are other parties like AIADMK, TDP, YSR Congress and TRS who had disrupted Parliament on various days citing different issues.

"It is people's money. MPs have been elected to work for the people. Since no work is being done we have decided not to take money," he said, adding that Congress was indulging in negative politics.

"The Congress has become intolerant of the people's mandate given to Narendra Bhai Modi. We will take the issue to the people," he said.

Both the government and the Opposition have been blaming each other for the wash out of the session ever since it resumed on 5 March for the second part of the Budget session.

While for the first few days the opposition including Congress had disrupted the house seeking to rake up issues like banking fraud, the protests took a different turn after YSR Congress and TDP brought no-confidence motions on the issue of special category status for Andhra Pradesh. Several other parties including Congress, TMC, CPM tabled similar notices.

However, the AIADMK, considered friendly to BJP, took the protest to a new level with its members in both the houses of parliament raking up the Cauvery Management Board issue and disrupting the proceedings without any break for over a fortnight.

Earlier, BJP's Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari had demanded implementation of "no work, no pay" rule in Parliament, and pitched for reducing emoluments of MPs if they fail to engage in "constructive work.

Tiwari wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on 20 March expressing his "great anguish" at the stalemate in the Lower House over the "unprecedented chaos", and said it was equally disturbing to see public representatives, who are primarily responsible for making laws, running away from their responsibilities. "I, therefore, propose deducting the salaries of MPs for their failure to engage in any constructive work. Lets follow the fair practice of no work, no pay," he wrote.

According to a report in Financial Express, this turned out to be the worst Budget Session in a decade in terms of productivity as it bled the state exchequer of almost Rs 190 crore until 3 April, when the report was published. The report claimed that with 22 sittings having witnessed only 25 percent productivity in the Lok Sabha and 35 percent in the Rajya Sabha until 3 April, as it claimed that the overall expenditure of running Lok Sabha is estimated at Rs 656 crore in FY18, against Rs 570.4 crore a year earlier. The expenditure relating to the Rajya Sabha in FY18 is expected to have touched Rs 384.1 crore, against Rs 350.1 crore a year before.The BJP on Wednesday refuted allegations of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu that it had betrayed the people of the state

New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday refuted allegations of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu that it had betrayed the people of the state, saying the habit of betrayal was not in its DNA.

"In democracy, the parties are free to take their own call but the BJP is not in habbit of ditching friends. It's not in our DNA. We love people of Andhra Pradesh," Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, flanked by party MPs K Haribabu and GVL Narasimha Rao, said at a press conference in New Delhi.

He termed Naidu's allegations as politically motivated.

"The allegations labelled are false and we refute it. They (Naidu's Telugu Desam Party) will realise their mistake. For God's sack don't do politics on development. We do not do politics on issues of development. Our motto is 'sabka sath sabka vikas'," he said.

Addressing reporters immediately after Naidu accused the BJP-led NDA government of betraying the people on the Centre's promise of giving special status to the bifurcated state, Javadekar came with details of the projects being carried out in the state.

"Our commitment for Andhra Pradesh is firm. We will fast track these development projects," he said charting out details of various projects being carried out in the state.

He said that it pained him a lot when the Chief Minister said that the TDP suffered loss of atleast 15 seats due to its alliance with BJP.

"Those who are aware with Andhra politics, they know it better," he said adding that this was not the way to enter into political blame game.

On charges of aligning with YSR Congress, the BJP leader said that it was "ridiculous".

"You fought against Congress and now you are meeting with Congress leaders," he said and added that he was pained by the fallout.

The BJP's attack comes after Naidu met several Opposition leaders on Tuesday in Delhi and accused the ruling party at the centre of playing with emotions of five crore people of Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu, days after the TDP pulled out of the NDA over the government's failure to give the special status category to Andhra Pradesh, said the government kept telling him that that they were not going to give special status to the state because of the 14th Finance Commission.Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has held meetings with several personalities across the political spectrum; the latest being the one with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

In a bid to garner support for TDP's no-confidence motion against the NDA government, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has held meetings with several personalities across the political spectrum; the latest being the one with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday.

Naidu's visit to New Delhi  his first to the National Capital after TDP pulled out of the ruling NDA  comes a week after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee spent a day in Parliament holding parleys with Opposition parties to forge a possible federal front ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Although the Andhra Pradesh chief minister has reportedly denied having interest in being part of a federal front, his meetings with leaders of Opposition parties have not gone unnoticed.

Since the TDP snapped ties with the NDA over failure of the Centre to grant special category state status to Andhra Pradesh, Naidu has held talks with leaders of the TMC, NCP, DMK, AIADMK, SP and BSP. He has met leaders from the Congress and NDA allies. Though at political loggerheads with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), he has also met K Kavitha.

Naidu met leaders of several Opposition parties and allies of the BJP on Tuesday, including Veerappa Moily of the Congress, Sharad Pawar of the NCP and Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the SAD.

He also met Farooq Abdullah (NC), Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), D Raja (CPI), V Maitreyan (AIADMK), Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal) and Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party) among others.

The chief minister also had discussions with Hema Malini, Manohar Joshi and Jayant Sinha of the BJP and shared images of his meetings on his Twitter profile.

Met and discussed the present political scenario of Andhra Pradesh with actor turned politician Smt. @dreamgirlhema and Sri Murali Manohar Joshi, from BJP. Also exchanged thoughts on granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/JERrRWIAp3  N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) April 3, 2018

Interacted with NCP President Sri Sharad Pawar @PawarSpeaks, JKNC President Dr Farooq Abdullah, Mr @derekobrienmp, Mr Sudip Bandyopadhyay from TMC & Congress Leader Sri @JM_Scindia, regarding no-confidence motion, highlighting the injustice done to AP for it's 'Special Status'. pic.twitter.com/FW6olg5oOA  N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) April 3, 2018

After meeting several political leaders on Tuesday, Naidu had said that he was thankful to the regional and Left parties for shwoing support to TDP's efforts in Parliament to bring in a no-confidence motion. "We are thankful to them. We need their support to pressure the Centre so that states are not ignored." Naidu had said.

The no-confidence motion against the NDA government is yet to be taken up in the Lok Sabha. Whether Naidu's efforts really are "fruitful", as claimed by him, will only be known once the motion is discussed in the Lower House.

With inputs from PTIMakkal Neethi Mayyam president Kamal Haasan on Wednesday accused the Tamil Nadu government of being 'subservient' to the Centre rather than upholding the state's rights on the Cauvery issue.

Tiruchirappalli: Makkal Neethi Mayyam president Kamal Haasan on Wednesday accused the Tamil Nadu government of being "subservient" to the Centre rather than upholding the state's rights on the Cauvery issue.

The day-long fast observed by the AIADMK on urging the Centre to immediately constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) "was farcical", Haasan told reporters.

Later, in a statement, he alleged that the state government was being "subservient" to the Centre.

While it was the Centre's responsibility to constitute the CMB, the state government "cannot hallucinate that it has fulfilled its duty towards the people who elected them by just filing a contempt petition after the deadline or by holding a farcical one-day hunger strike", he said in the statement.

"This Tamil Nadu government is functioning like a subservient government to the Centre rather than upholding the state's rights, which is the essence of India's federalism," he said.

Haasan told the reporters that in 2016, when the Supreme Court wanted the Centre to constitute the CMB, the government came up with "lame excuses" and technicalities "to delay it".

"The same act is being replayed," he said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his party men observed a day-long fast in Chennai yesterday, "condemning the Centre" for not setting up the CMB in compliance with the Supreme Court order.

Ministers and senior leaders led the hunger strike in various districts.

In its 16 February judgment, the apex court had raised the 270 tmcft share of Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery water.

It gave six weeks to the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its judgement, which modified the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award.

Tamil Nadu has been urging the Centre to set up the CWMB and CWRC to ensure it received its due share of water from the inter-state river.

The six-week period ended on 29 March.BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday assured Other Backward Classes that the Narendra Modi government would ensure passage of the OBC Bill in Parliament despite Congress' opposition to it.

Kaginele (Karnataka): BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday assured Other Backward Classes (OBC) that the Narendra Modi government would ensure passage of the OBC bill in Parliament despite Congress' opposition to it.

"How much ever the Congress tries to oppose or create an obstacle, the Narendra Modi government at the Centre will pass the OBC Bill in both houses of Parliament. This is our decision and we will see to it that the community gets justice," he said addressing an OBC convention.

Shah said the Congress had created an obstacle in passing the bill in the Rajya Sabha, demanding induction of an OBC representative in the Commission.

He said the Modi government, which believes in the welfare of all communities, had done enough for OBCs.

"We have brought several schemes for all communities, including OBCs. Schemes such as Mudra Bank, Ujwal, Saubhagya and Pradhan Mantri Yojana, among others, have been implemented. These schemes have reached the beneficiaries," he said.

Under the Mudra scheme, about 50 lakh OBC youth had availed loans of the total of nearly one crore people who had availed of it, he said.

Also as many as one lakh poor OBC women have been provided gas connections, he added.

Apparently referring to the Siddaramaiah government's move on grant of religious minority tag for the Lingayat community, Shah alleged that Congress was adopting the divide and rule policy of the British and creating a wedge between communities.

On the other hand, the Modi government has been working for the welfare of all communities, including OBCs, with its development agenda of 'Sabka-Saath-Sabka-Vikas,' he said.

In a move weeks before the 12 May Assembly polls, the state Cabinet recently decided to recommend to the Centre to grant religious minority tag to the politically powerful Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats.

Shah also assured the people that the killers of RSS and BJP workers would be hunted down 'even from the abyss' and imprisoned.

"How much ever Congress makes an effort to protect the killers of RSS and BJP workers, the next government under Yeddyurappa's stewardship will hunt them down even from the abyss and send them to jail," he said.

Shah was on the fifth round of his campaign in Karnataka.

Kaginele in Haveri district in north Karnataka is the birth place of saint, philosopher, composer and social reformer Kanakadasa (1509-1609).The Janata Dal-Secular has submitted a memorandum to the chief election commissioner of India demanding free and fair Assembly elections in Karnataka.

The Janata Dal (Secular) has submitted a memorandum to the Chief Election Commissioner of India demanding free and fair Assembly elections in Karnataka. In the memorandum, JDS members sought to intimate the Election Commission about ways in which the Model Code of Conduct is being violated in Karnataka ahead of the elections.

The JD(S) memorandum alleged that the chief secretary was favouring the Congress-led state government. The party pointed out how the chief secretary's term ended on 31 March but she was served an extension of three months, which is in violation of the code of conduct. Furthermore, the party claimed that even though the code of conduct came into force at 11 am on 27 March, but Congress continued its campaigns on electronic media until midnight.

The Congress has filed another complaint with the poll panel against the BJP, alleging that names of many voters, especially those from the minority community, were missing from electoral rolls.

"This could be a ploy of the other party to take away what is seen as the Congress' conventional vote bank," a party spokesperson said. On Wednesday, the JD(S) announced that 20 Congress workers in the constituency, including block-level leaders like Kaling Naik, Angadi Manju, and MH Rajashekar were joining the party.

The party had also been targeting JD(S) for being a 'vote-cutter' while pretending to be an independent contender in Karnataka elections. Congress claims that JD(S) is in cahoots with the BJP to fool the voters of Karnataka.

Earlier on 21 March, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had termed Janata Dal (Secular) as "B team" of BJP and said his party would win the coming Assembly polls in Karnataka."JDS people, they have only one work do, (they are) BJP's B team. They have decided, let whatever happens, let whatever needs to be done...make BJP win," Rahul had said.

With inputs from PTIA week after Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah announced he will contest from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru, the Janata Dal (Secular) which holds the seat, is trying to dent his chances of victory by roping in Congress party workers.

Bangalore: A week after Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah announced he will contest from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru, the Janata Dal (Secular) which holds the seat, is trying to dent his chances of victory by roping in Congress party workers. On Wednesday, the JD(S) announced that 20 Congress workers in the constituency, including block-level leaders like Kaling Naik, Angadi Manju, and MH Rajashekar were joining the party.

G T Devegowda, the JD(S) MLA from Chamundeshwari constituency, said that Congress workers were not happy with Siddaramaiahs leadership and were defecting only because they intend to see HD Kumaraswamy as chief minister. JD(S)s claim may not prove to be a setback for the Congress, but it is bound to impact partys campaign strategy. The Congress, however, believes it to be part and parcel of a normal campaign season.

However, the JD(S) Seems to be sending a message to the Grand Old Party not to mess with the Vokkaliga vote bank in its stronghold in the south Karnataka region. Incidentally, it was the Chamundeshwari Assembly seat from where Siddaramaiah registered his first election victory way back in 1983. He has won the constituency five times and been defeated twice. It was only after the delimitation in 2008, when most of the villages that formed Siddaramaiahs support base fell under the neighbouring constituency of Varuna, that he had to switch constituencies. He consequently won the Assembly elections from Varuna in 2008 and 2013.

The last time Siddaramaiah contested from Chamundeswari was in the 2006 by-election that was necessitated after his split with JDS. He contested on a Congress ticket and won by a margin of 257 votes. The Congress seems confident that Siddaramaiah will win Chamundeshwari. His decision to contest comes after JD(S) party supremo HD Kumaraswamy challenged him, saying the chief minister he wouldnt stand a chance of winning if he contested from Chamundeswari.

Claiming to be secular, the chief minister has made some Vokkaliga leaders express support for him and accused us of being opportunists. The fact that these statements are coming from certain Vokkaliga leaders show they are not playing on secular lines. This shows Siddaramaiahs weakness. So, if they think they can win all Vokkaliga votes by such tactics, they are wrong, he said.

Commenting on the development, a KPCC spokesperson said the party is not bothered as none of the defectors are prominent leaders. One of them, Mahadevaswamy, until recently the Zilla Congress secretary, was a long-time associate of ex-finance minister of Karnataka M Rajasekhara Murthy. He left the party after Murthys death, but joined again later during Mallikarjunan Karges tenure as Union minister for railways. Even then, he did not hold any important position. So, these are not familiar faces and are far removed from the first and second line of leaders, he said.

Indeed, unlike former minister V Srinivas Prasads move to the BJP or Adagur H Vishwanaths surprise move to JD(S) last year, which came as a shock to the Congress, there seem to be no high-profile defectors. Both men were important Congress leaders in Mysuru. Incidents such as Wednesdays defection are usually seen as a fallout of big earlier shifts. Sometimes, their followers take a while before following their leaders to new parties, the Congress source said.

Professor Muzaffar Azadi from the department of Political Science, Mysore University, said Siddaramaiah won't have any problems in this constituency as it has always been a prestigious seat for him, and it prides itself on being his constituency. JD(S) only recently suffered a setback in the Mysuru region when seven of its rebel MLAs were inducted into the Congress in the presence of party chief Rahul Gandhi who had been campaigning there. However, the shift hadnt been a surprise as the intentions of these seven MLAs had been known for sometime.

The authors are Bengaluru-based journalists and members of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroot reporters.Congress president Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 'not uttering a word' on alleged atrocities on Dalits and tribals and 'dilution' of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Shivamogga: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "not uttering a word" on alleged atrocities on Dalits and tribals and "dilution" of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

His remarks at a public meeting on the fifth leg of his tour of poll-bound Karnataka came against the backdrop of violence in northern parts of the country during Monday's protests against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act.

The protests during 'Bharat Bandh' against the Supreme Court verdict on the issue claimed at least 11 lives and left hundreds of persons injured.

"Rohit Vemula is murdered. Dalits are beaten up in Una (Gujarat) but the prime minister does not speak a word on it. Atrocities on Dalits and tribals are increasing and the SC/ST Act has been diluted. Modi prefers not to speak a word," he said.

Rahul compared the status of SC/ST welfare in Karnataka with the Modi government's actions on the issue.

He claimed that more than half of the money released by the Modi government across the country for SC/ST welfare was being spent by Karnataka itself on the Dalits and tribals.

He also attacked Modi on the CBSE question papers leak and on the "leak" of Assembly election date for Karnataka, saying Modi was silent on these issues too.

Lacing his remarks with sarcasm, Rahul said the prime minister wrote a book (Exam Warriors) telling children how to face the exam and also gave a lecture for two hours on how to prepare for exams.

He said the children took the advice seriously and prepared for the exam with the help of their parents, but when they went to appear for the exam, they were told that the exams were cancelled as the question paper was leaked.

"Modi may have failed in plugging the question paper leak but he may again lecture children how to prepare for exams and will tell them about dos and don'ts during exam," said Rahul.

On the one side, question papers are leaked, while on the other election dates are also leaked, Rahul quipped.

"It seems RSS has taught Modi that he should stress more on giving lectures. The RSS has taught him to stand, hold stick, wear knickers and speak lies. I think the prime minister is now realising that the nation cannot be run with hatred, lathi, speeches and false promises", he said.

He took potshots at BJP state unit chief BS Yeddyurappa, who is being projected as the party's chief ministerial face. Shivamogga is the home district of Yeddyurappa.

"If he looks at the stage properly, on one side (of Modi) there is Yeddyurappa who spent time in jail (in a graft case), on the other side there are four ministers who had been to jail. Modi ji you speak about corruption, when there are corrupt sitting next to you on the stage," Rahul said.

He quipped that BJP has now started speaking the truth.

"First time the BJP spoke the truth. Whatever they had in their mind they spoke it. Amit Shah said (at Davangere) that Yeddyurappa government was the most corrupt. I am happy he spoke the truth for the first time in his life," he said.

Rahul was referring to Shah's gaffe at a press conference at Davangere on 27 March, where he said the Yeddyurappa government was the most corrupt government in the country. He was actually referring to the Siddaramaiah government. Shah had, however, corrected himself immediately.

The Congress president also reminded Modi that the nation cannot be run with hatred, anger, violence and partiality.

He said, "I have seen many prime ministers such as Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. One thing is clear. If you want to run the nation, you need to run it with love. You can take the nation to any heights with love. The more you connect people, the country will become stronger," he said.

Before addressing the public meeting, Rahul held a roadshow in Shivamogga city, with thousands of people standing on the sides of the road to greet him.

At a rally in Davangere, Rahul, while referring to the Punjab National Bank scam, asked the crowd, "Okay, do you know who is the lawyer of Nirav Modi? You do not know? Then let me tell you. (It is) Arun Jaitley ji's daughter."

He also alleged that Narendra Modi very well knew fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who are linked with Punjab National Bank fraud case.

Rahul asked Modi to check the letters written by people to his office, informing him about Nirav Modi's 'loot' from the bank.

"In the last six to seven months, people wrote letters to the Prime Minister's Office informing him about Nirav Modi's loot (from the bank). Modiji, please check," he said.

On the Karnataka polls, he said it was a fight between two ideologies  BJP and RSS on one side and Congress on the other.

"On the one side BJP-RSS ideology of dividing the country, spreading anger and hate; other side ideology of brotherhood, love and peace by Congress party. RSS and BJP's thinking is different.

They are told wear half pants, hold lathis and give speeches. Left right, left right," he said.

Rahul said Modi spoke of the history of the country, but never understood the culture of love, brotherhood and "ahimsa".

On the petrol and diesel price hike, Rahul said when UPA was in power, the oil price was $140 per barrel and today it is half in the international market.

"When in the international market petrol price was coming down, you are paying high. In whose pocket is the money going? Your money is being looted from you and is being given to 10/12 rich people," he said.Since the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for Karnataka assembly elections, BJP president Amit Shah, perhaps, was first among the saffron party top guns to feel the heat of homegrown identity politics played out in the state by Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah.

Since the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for Karnataka assembly elections, BJP president Amit Shah, perhaps, was first among the saffron party top guns to feel the heat of homegrown identity politics played out in the state by Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah.

Shah chose to launch his two-day election campaign in Karnataka from Siddaganga Mutt in Tumkur with blessings from Lingayats' spiritual icon Shivakumara Swami. He opened his campaign rhetoric with a high-pitched charge on Siddaramaiah for "engineering" a split in majority Hinduism in the name of according minority status to Lingayats. He was seen straining hard to ensure consolidation of BJPs Lingayat vote bank, key to his partys victory in the state, and thereby extending its footprints into the South.

While the Sangh Parivar is sparing no efforts in attempt to hoist the saffron flag in Karnataka, what they are dealing with in form of rival Siddaramaiah's politics draws a parallel with EV Ramasamy aka Periyar's self-respect movement against caste structures and imposition of Hindi in the Tamil Nadu of 1920s. This challenge to structures of Brahmanism by appeasing the non-upper caste population was a tough nut to crack back during Periyar's time, and remains so for the Sangh.

Siddaramaiah, on the other hand, has sent a request to the Centre to grant Karnataka its own flag, a move expected to peddle the Kannadiga pride in his favour.

A socialist by conviction, Siddaramaiah, in turn, is trying hard to counter BJP by playing up sub-nationalism to the hilt. He used the Lingayat faith, which has deep roots in the teachings of 12th Century reformer Basavanna, as an antithesis to BJPs Hindutva agenda founded on the Varnasrama dharma that seeks to place Brahmins at the highest order.

Periyar's life and vision were dedicated to eradication of Manuvaad by inspiring subaltern sections to assert their identity and self-respect against social oppression by upper castes based on the scriptures of Manusmriti, which treat Brahmins superior in the caste system by virtue of their birth. Periyar's social reform focused on community lunches involving people from the oppressed castes as an antithesis to caste system.

Siddharamaiah claims to be trying to essay Periyar by striving to accord a separate identity detached from Hindu religion for Lingayats, who trace their roots to a similar social reform movement spearheaded by Basavanna in 12th century AD. Hailing from the backward shepherd Kuruba community, Siddaramaiah has aroused Kannada pride by launching a Kannada flag and leading a campaign against use of Hindi signboards in metro stations of Bengaluru and at Central government offices in a conscious bid to counter BJPs Hindi-Hindu narrative.

Siddaramaiah aims to make way for assertion of identity by backward classes in his favour, just as Periyar did with his Dravidian movement, which happens to be the origin of DMK. A split resulted in AIADMK in the 1970s. By doing so, Siddu intends to kill two birds with one stone  rout out BJP from Karnataka and insulate his government from anti-incumbency.

With former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, a popular leader from the Lingayat community, back in its fold this time, BJP is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the abortive experiment of 2013 is not repeated. The party suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Congress ending with only 19.06 percent votes in 2013, 4 percent less than votes polled by Kumaraswamys Janata Dal (Secular).

It happened so as Yeddyurappa, the man who helped Karnataka be the gateway to South for BJP in 2008, deserted the party during 2013 elections.

Adinarayana, a Bangalore-based journalist, says that Lingayats are a decisive force in at least 100 assembly segments with around 17 percent electorate, mostly in the Mumbai-Karnataka region.

The extent of split Siddaramaiahs minority card causes in the community will be critical before one reads into the fortunes of major players, he adds.

Mutts run by almost each and every community and their heads hold sway over public life. By passing a resolution in the State Assembly favouring a minority religion status for Lingayats, Siddaramaiah has attempted to wean some sections away from the fold of BJPs CM candidate Yeddyurappa. This has become a point to ponder for BJPs top brass, it is known.

Political analyst S A Hemanthakumar takes a jibe at Siddaramaiah for stooping down to divide communities for his own political survival. Siddaramaiah projected himself as the mascot of Muslim minorities by celebrating Tipu Sultan jayanti as state festival, but he ignored unsung Kannadiga heroes like Rani Abbakka Devi of the erstwhile Ullal princely state, who was acclaimed as the countrys first freedom fighter against the Portuguese aggression. Field Marshal Kodandera M Cariappa, the first Indian commander-in-chief of the India Army, and General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya  both hailing from Kodagu districts Madikeri and heroes of Indo-Pak and Indo-Sino wars, respectively  were also ignored, he points out.

Karnataka is different in terms of languages spoken across the spectrum. Although Kannada was recognised as the official language, it sadly fails to have a pan-Karnataka presence. The state was carved out technically on linguistic basis in 1956 despite the assortment of regions with a mixed basket of languages. Urdu is a dominant language in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, which was part of the erstwhile Nizams Hyderabad state. Similarly, Urdu was the principal language in the old Mysore state under Tipu Sultan. Marathi is dominant in the Mumbai-Karnataka region, and Tamil and Malayalam are main languages in the areas bordering Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Tulu and Kodava languages are also two other prominent assets of the coastal Karnataka region and Kodagu region, respectively.

R Manivannan, former HoD of Political Science at Madras University, says Periyar is a matchless social reformer who cannot be compared with any politician, more so Siddharamaiah. While Periyar fought against the ruling establishment, the Congress CM is labeling himself as a "Periyar-like reformer" only to retain power. "Thats the difference," says Manivannan.

Kancha Ilaiah, a Hyderabad-based writer and scholar in Dravidian culture, sees a common thread that runs between the movement headed by Siddaramaiah and the identity struggles being waged elsewhere in the southern states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. BJP and the Parivar groups are foraying into the South with their agenda of aggressive Aryan hegemony over native cultures, beliefs and identities. So, there is a need for integrating the identity struggles across the south Indian spectrum so as to face the onslaught, Ilaiah argues. He advocates replacement of Hindi with English in all government schools in the South, as Hindi is not a native language, but imposed from the North.

On a lighter vein, Patibandla Srikanth, a Political Science scholar from Karnataka University, says Siddaramaiah's crusade for Kannada pride by capitalising on Kannada language seems insignificant in a scenario where anyone can get in and get out of Karnataka without having to know or speak Kannada.

The author is a Vijayawada-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reportersBJP's Karnataka unit hit out at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday for campaigning with a lemon in hand and challanged his atheist/ secular/ anti-superstition credentials

As the political campaign gathers steam in poll-bound Karnataka, the politi-speak is turning shriller by the day. Both Congress and the BJP are busy campaigning across the length and breadth of the state as their leaders take potshots at one another. Meanwhile, a Twitter war of sorts has escalated between the parties, each mocking the other with parodies, memes and GIFs, accompanied by barbed words.

BJP's Karnataka unit hit out at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday for campaigning with a lemon in hand and challenged his atheist/ secular/ anti-superstition credentials.

Campaigns with a lemon in hand, but brings in Anti Superstitions Bill to demean and criminalise Hindu traditions. Hypocrisy thy name is @siddaramaiah pic.twitter.com/AV9mGhD3Pt  BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 4, 2018

Siddaramaiah was quick to respond, and bash the BJP. He accused the party of spreading fake news on anti-superstition law and claimed that the lemon was handed to him as part of a welcome ritual. But the BJP was prepared with old visuals of Siddaramaiah holding a lemon while taking over as the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

And if you spread #FakeNews about our Anti-Superstition Law criminalising or demeaning Hindu traditions, I&B Minister Smriti Irani will hit you with her circular!  Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 4, 2018

Hahaha!  We are sure the same villager had presented you with a lemon at the time of your oath ceremony and before you sat for the first time on CM's chair. Mr. CM you have been an awesome liar over the last 5 years! Looks like age is now catching up! pic.twitter.com/97yLNXhayE  BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 4, 2018

And the saffron party had this to say on the fake news barb.

Does fake claims on development also qualify as #FakeNews? If it does, you'll be the worst hit! Press Council of India, there is bounty of work for you if you visit Karnataka and examine all fake claims of @siddaramaiah. The Chief #FakeNews peddler looks already scared. https://t.co/RoCil4BlVr  BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 4, 2018

The two parties also exchanged barbs on footfall at campaign rallies. While Siddaramaiah tweeted out a news article claiming repsonse to one of BJP president Amit Shah's rally was tepid, BJP claimed that the Karnataka chief minister had only learnt 'division' (of votes) in school.

After the grand success of the Dalit outreach in Mysuru the brilliant strategist of BJP Shri @AmitShah a.k.a. Chanakya does his OBC outreach in Haveri! https://t.co/dYgtgVxsfi  Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 3, 2018

It looks like @siddaramaiah has learnt only 'division' at his school. Had he learnt addition too, he would have counted the number of people right. Mr. CM, why don't you take classes from the brilliant Mathematician @priyankac19? pic.twitter.com/7JyW66qncl  BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 3, 2018

The BJP also took potshots at Congress president Rahul Gandhi who has been campaigning and had targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP repeatedly. The party used a visual from the movie Batman Begins to mock the Gandhi scion for his social media attacks on the party.

"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me" My speech writers and Twitter handlers can do whatever they want. But I am what I am. I am Rahul Gandhi. pic.twitter.com/1QgXo8PB0j  BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 4, 2018

Rahul tweeted a patched up video of sections of Modi's speech and some funny reactions as he called the prime minister the king of misinformation.

The poor & the middle class bear the brunt of rising fuel prices. In this video, our PM is quite obviously talking about some other country. #PeTrolled pic.twitter.com/J6PHC7UsJZ  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 4, 2018

Meanwhile, the Congress also tweeted out infographics slamming Narendra Modi while highlighting the development work undertaken by the Siddaramaiah government.Lashing out at the Congress for practising politics over BR Ambedkar's legacy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that no government has honoured the Dalit icon the way his government has.

Lashing out at the Congress for practising politics over BR Ambedkar's legacy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that no government has honoured the Dalit icon the way his government has.

Speaking at a programme to mark the inauguration of a building of Western Court Annexe in Parliament complex, Modi said it was the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government that decided to have two memorials installed at two places in the capital.

The 26, Alipur Road house where Ambedkar died would be dedicated to the nation on 13 April on the eve of his birth anniversary, PTI reported.

Without naming the Congress-led UPA, Modi said it could not happen as the governments that followed Vajpayee showed little interest and ignored Ambedkar and his contributions.

"After that, the governments ran like that... Everybody is always ready to do politics in the name of Babasaheb. But nobody gave him the kind of respect and paid tributes to him as much as this government did," IANS quoted prime minister as saying.

He said his government was walking the path shown by Ambedkar and asked every political group to try and do the same for the country's development.

"At the core of Ambedkar's ideals is harmony and togetherness. Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission," Modi said.

Modi's remarks come soon after widespread protests over a 20 March Supreme Court verdict putting in place safeguards to prevent misuse of a law to prevent atrocities of SCs and STs.

While campaigning in Karnataka, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had accused the Modi government of attacking Ambedkar's Constitution. "We will not allow the BJP to change the Constitution. How much ever BJP forces its way to change the Constitution, we will make sure that the Congress protects the work of Ambedkarji," he had said at a public rally on 24 March.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, BJP chief Amit Shah highlighted Congress' "negative politics" over Ambedkar and praised the NDA government for its "commitment" to Ambedkar's vision.

Congress, which is mocking the DNA of PM @narendramodi is the same party which:

Defeated Dr. Ambedkar not once but twice. Made flimsy excuses to ensure his portrait was not placed in Central Hall. Denied him a Bharat Ratna.

India has seen through their negative politics!  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 3, 2018

At every juncture and in all possible ways, @BJP4India stands shoulder to shoulder with the Dalit community. Modi Governments commitment to fulfilling Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkars vision is unwavering. All the efforts of the Government are aimed at transforming the lives of Dalits.  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 3, 2018

With inputs from agenciesThe variant response of two governments to communal riots during and after the Ram Navami festivities are revealing.

The variant response of two governments to communal riots during and after the Ram Navami festivities are revealing. In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress, governing unhindered by concerns of any major backlash within the legislative assembly or outside of it, has failed to contain the violence or act against the perpetrators and instigators. In Bihar, on the other hand, the Janata Dal (United, JD-U) governing in partnership with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has proved far more decisive.

A brief recapitulation would help. In West Bengal, the ruling party first declared a blanket ban on armed processions. The very next day, it announced that some traditional processions would be exempted. During the celebrations, many of those out in procession brandished weapons and deviated from the specified route, in many cases purposely passing through minority neighbourhoods, chanting provocative slogans. The police failed to act.

Riots broke out in the Asansol-Ranigunj area in West Burdwan district. The administrations response was weak, to be euphemistic. Life in these riot-scarred areas has still not returned to normal. Showing signs of having learnt some lessons, the government ordered a strict crackdown and banned Hanuman Jayanti processions from displaying arms. Though formally the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad desisted from marching in procession, armed processions were in evidence; nothing was done to prevent this. All that we have are post facto assurances that action will be taken.

Finally, though Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code still obtains in the area, the governments (and, by extension the Trinamools) resolve to enforce it has been, to say the least, inconsistent. Babul Supriyo, the BJP MP representing the area, was turned back when he tried to visit the area last Friday, but a BJP delegation was allowed to tour it even after the administration had indicated that it would meet the same fate as did Supriyo. A few arrests have been made, but substantial action has not been taken.

Let us leave to one side the question about whether prohibitory orders should have been imposed or whether it would have been appropriate to include in its ambit political opponents. The important issue is that the government issued orders and then stayed put when they were breached. It would have been better not to have issued the orders at all.

In Bihar, the government led by the JD-U was far more decisive. Within a couple of days, over a hundred people were arrested and orders issued for the arrest of a BJP leader, Arjit Shashwat, son of union minister of state for health and family welfare Ashwini Choubey. Having evaded arrest for a few days and his petition for anticipatory bail being turned down, Shashwat was arrested on Sunday. His party had, in fact, signalled that he should surrender if denied bail, though Choubey had rubbished all allegations against his son in language tantamount to mocking the government.

In addition, senior JD-U functionaries, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, made it clear to their coalition partner that Muslim-baiting and incitement to communal disharmony would not be tolerated. Kumar may be discovering in growing magnitude that having deserted the grand alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), in an unconscionable betrayal of his electoral mandate, and opting to ally once again with the BJP, he is somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place, but that did not prevent him from taking decisive administrative to maintain peace, which is his job (whether or not under pressure from the Opposition is not the main issue).

West Bengal chief minster Mamata Banerjee, facing panchayat elections in a short while, opted, on the other hand, to run with the hare and hunt with the hound. It is not a particularly clever strategy for various reasons. Engaging with the BJP on its own terrain is both politically and administratively fraught with danger. The latter has been demonstrated; quick, stringent action on the day of Ram Navami could have prevented blood-letting and loss of lives.

Strategically, the danger is not apparent in the immediate term, but logical thinking indicates that to compete on the BJPs terrain can only strengthen its hand. Banerjee should know, first, that the BJP has behind it a history of majoritarian politics and mobilisation that dates at least a hundred years; and, second, she should remember that this kind of politics is central to avowed right-wing Hindu politics and ideology, while she professes, on paper, a secular form of politics and ideology. It should also be apparent that outside urban or suburban agglomerations, people have by and large not bought the politics of majoritarianism.

Therefore, politically, Banerjees drift towards competitive communalism is unprincipled and almost unprecedented. She should bear in mind the fact that from the 1950s onwards, West Bengal has not witnessed much by way of communal tension despite being home to a large Muslim community  exceeding a quarter of the total population.The Rajya Sabha's proceedings were once again disrupted on Wednesday amid vociferous protests by opposition parties including the Congress, TDP and AIADMK over various issues forcing Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the House till 2 pm

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha's proceedings were once again disrupted on Wednesday amid vociferous protests by opposition parties including the Congress, TDP and AIADMK over various issues forcing Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the House till 2 pm.

As soon as the House met for the day, the newly-elected members from Rajasthan, Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh took the oath of office.

Soon after, members from the TDP, AIADMK and Congress, besides others, trooped near the Chairman's podium shouting slogans such as 'Save Andhra Pradesh', 'Narendra Modi Dalit Virodhi' and 'We demand Cauvery board'.

The TDP and AIADMK members displayed placards in support of their demand.

Naidu urged the agitating members to raise their issues after laying down of the paper on the table of the House. But, his appeal was in vain.

The Congress members were protesting against the government over a Supreme Court order diluting the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. They accused the government of being anti-Dalit.

The AIADMK and DMK members sought the immediate constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board for division of the river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Members of the TDP held placards demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.

As the members continued with their noisy protests, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel hit out at the Congress for labelling the Modi government anti-Dalit.

"Let's have a discussion in the House over who is anti-Dalit. You ruled the country for so long and deprived the Dalits of their basic needs. We brought many Acts in favour of Dalits. You did not even give Bharat Ratna to Bhimrao Ambedkar," Goel said.

Naidu expressed his anguish over the behavior of the protesting members and appealed them to maintain order in the House so that important bills could be passed.

"A number of bills are pending... People want development and legislation. It (protests) is not going to add anything. I am ready to allow you to discuss every issue. It is unfortunate that the chair is allowing a discussion but the members are not ready. You are testing the patience of the people. The country is watching you. You are murdering democracy," he said.

As the chaos continued, Naidu adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned on Tuesday as Opposition protests rocked both Houses of Parliament. This is the final week of the Budget session.

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Amid the outrage over the Nirav Modi scam and Karti Chidambaram's arrest in the INX Media case, the NDA government is possibly staring at a stormy second half of Budget Session which begins from Monday. The first part of the budget session was held from 29 January to 9 February, while second half of the session will come to a close on 9 April.

The Congress is also likely to denounce the government over the arrest of former Union finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti by the CBI in the INX Media alleged bribery case. The Congress has termed the CBI action "political vendetta".

The Opposition is also likely to corner the government over the tussle between Prasar Bharti and the Information and Broadcasting ministry. It is likely to raise issues concerning farmers, the Rafale deal, Staff Selection Commission "job scam", loss of life and property due to ceasefire violations on the LoC and increase in cost of petroleum products.

Meanwhile, YSRCP MPs from Andhra Pradesh are likely to hold a dharna against the Centre in the Parliament premises. The party is also expected to initiate a no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha on 21 March, reported Livemint.

BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe calls for suspension of today's session under rule 267 of the Parliament in order to discuss allegations of corruption indulged by family members of former ministers under the tacit protection of ministers.

D Raja of the CPI too has issued an adjournment notice in the Rajya Sabha in order to discuss the Punjab National Bank scam. This is the third adjournment motion on the issue.

CNN-News18 is reporting that the BJP president will be meeting a delegation from the TDP to discuss the issue of special status to the state of Andhra Pradesh. According to the report, TDP is currently adamant on the 19 demands for the state. On the other hand, the YSRCP is also pressurizing the government over the same issue.

The bill to target economic offenders was approved by the government following the escape of diamond merchant Nirav Modi and other accused in the over Rs 12,700-crore Punjab National Bank scam.

The passage of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, which seeks confiscation of assets of absconding fraudsters and loan defaulters, and the triple talaq bill will be high on the government's agenda.

The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill 2017 and The Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill 2017 will be tabled in the Lower House of the Parliament, reported PTI.

TDP MPs prtoest outside the Parliament over the issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh

Today has been the day of adjournment motions. A notice for an adjournment motion can be issued under rule 267 of the Parliament. It is generally utilised by an MP to discuss a matter of public importance. Three of the adjournment motions have been issued to discuss the Nirav Modi scam, while Pappu Yadav has issued an adjournment motion to discuss the alleged scam in the SSC exams. On the other hand, BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe has issued an adjournment notice to discuss the allegations of corruption by relatives of former ministers.

While the Opposition is expected to target the government over financial scams in the recent past, the BJP is likely to pin the blame on the Congress-led UPA regime. The BJP has already claimed that the PNB scam had begun when the UPA was in power and its government has acted with alacrity after the fraud came out in the open. The party, energised by the win in Tripura and impressive performance in Nagaland and Meghalaya elections, is likely to be aggressive in Parliament and rake up scams that happened on the Congress watch to pin it down, party sources said.

BJP may take the attack to the Opposition

However, Opposition created a ruckus in the House as soon as the session began.

Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Venkaiah Naidu is saying that everyone who issued an adjournment notices under rule 267 will get a chance once he holds a discussion with Arun Jaitley, the Leader of Rajya Sabha. He added that many of the members have to look at some other rule in the Parliament rule book to talk in the Parliament. On the issue of Cauvery water, Naidu said that the adjournment notice issued by AIADMK MP Navneethakrishnan will be discussed in Zero Hour.

According to Financial Express, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah are scheduled to meet a TDP delegation, and more importantly the Andhra Pradesh finance minister, over the issue of granting Andhra Pradesh with special category status.

"Don't create hungama," said Venkaiah Naidu as Opposition continued to create ruckus over PNB scam, 'Special Category Status' to Andhra Pradesh and other issues. This forced Naidu to adjourn the Upper House of the Parliament till 2 pm.

However, the Opposition continues to create ruckus. The Opposition has also walked into the Well of the House to protest against the government.

The resignation of Neiphiu Rio, who was elected to the Nagaland Assembly unopposed, and who is likely to be the next Chief Minister of Nagaland, has been accepted by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

The Rajya Sabha has resumed operations, with PJ Kurien seated at the Chair. However, MP's continued there agitation even as the Speaker took his seat. Slogans of "Nirav Modi vapas lao" raged in the Parliament while Kurien urged the MPs to maintain decorum of the House.

PJ Kuries, in an attempt to calm down the agitated members, acknowledged that the issues raised by them were important and agreed to allow discussion on them one by one. For today, he granted permission to conduct a debate on the frauds in public sector banks. However, Opposition MPs refused to vacate the Well and continued raising slogans. There demand was that the prime minister must explain why he could not keep his promise to bring back Nirav Modi and other people alleged scamsters.

In the Rajya Sabha, ministers are laying the papers on the table

Members of the Opposition come to the Well of the House to protest against Nirav Modi. Slogans of "Nirav Modi ko wapas lao" are being heard. Meanwhile, Venkaiah Naidu has adjourned Rajya Sabha till 11.30 am.

People will give befitting reply to deaths of our cadre, says BJP

Times Now is reporting that Lok Sabha will be holding a marathon four-hour-long discussion on the issue, starting at noon.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the much talked about Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Bill, 2018 which will be tabled in the remaining Budget session in Parliament. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that the government has also decided to set up an independent body NFRA (National Financial Reporting Authority) to crackdown on big scams and avoid Nirav Modi-like situation in future. For the purpose the government will amend Companies Act.

Economic Offenders Bill to be tabled in the Parliament today, say reports

While the ministers have tabled their papers, the Opposition continue raise slogans against the government. The Opposition is raising slogans like "Chota Modi, bada Modi Murdabad".

"The second half of the Budget Session is important for passing financial bills. I request the Congress, TDP, TRS and other parties to calm down and let the Hosue continue its work," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said.

While speaking in the Parliament, Union Minister Ananth Kumar said that Arun Jaitley will be making a statement on the issue. However, he also took the opportunity to target the Congress and the previous UPA government. "No one involved in the Congress-led UPA era corruption scandals will be spared," he said.

According to News18, MPs from four parties storming the Well to protest for different demands. While the Congress and the Trinamool Congress want debate on the PNB scam, the AIADMK is protesting over the Cauvery issue. The TRS wants the Constitution amended to skirt the 50% ceiling for reservation in jobs and education, while the TDP wants special status for Andhra Pradesh.

"We have to look at the importance of passing the women's reservation bill," Kanimozhi said.

"Families want to abort and kill the girl child. There are so many dowry deaths. Domestic violence is on the rise. When is all this going to stop?" she further said.

"Men are celebrating us today as mothers, sisters, daughter. I think it's time for women to say, 'enough of that'. We don't want to be celebrated for our sacrifices. We want to be celebrated for our identity," Kanimozhi said in the Rajya Sabha.

Women don't want to be celebrated for their sacrifices, they want to be celebrated for their identities: Kanimozhi

"I find it strange that we celebrate Women's Day. But men don't celebrate any particular day. I am not in favour of this tokenism. I request all the men to stop throwing crumbs at us and treat us with respect throughout the year," Anu Aga said in the Rajya Sabha.

Anu Aga says celebration of Women's Day is strange, calls for men to reject tokenism

"Earlier, people used to say, 'behing every successful man, there is a woman'. But now, the saying has become 'behind every successful man, there is a nationalised bank," said Derek O'Brien in the Rajya Sabha, clearly taking a dig at the Modi government over the PNB scam.

"Everyone should promise that the restrictions imposed on women by men will be abolished. On Valentine's Day, girls and couples should not be beaten up. In the name of anti-Romeo squad, women were beaten up in UP," AAP's Sanjay Singh said in the Rajya Sabha.

Girls should not be beaten up on Valentine's Day: AAP's Sanjay Singh

"On other hand, there are crimes against women which bring about shame to us. Which is why this day is one on which we should take a pledge to end such crimes," Swaraj said. "This should be a movement," she added.

"India is a country where a woman became president, prime minister, twice became the Speaker of a House," she said. "Today, women are doing combat duty in the army, flying planes in the air force," she added.

"International Women's Day gives us an opportunity to look at the requirements for gender equality," Sushma Swaraj said in the Rajya Sabha. "Women's reservation bill is important. But there are achievements by women even without reservation," she said.

We should take a pledge this day to end crimes against women: Sushma Swaraj

The Opposition parties protested against the passage of the budget without debate, as the session is slated to continue till 6 April.

The Finance Bill as well as the Appropriation Bill were passed in a matter of 25 minutes during which Opposition parties and ruling NDA ally TDP shouted slogans and created a din. The Lower House was adjourned for the day immediately thereafter.

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the crucial Finance Bill 2018 and a Rs 89.25 lakh crore spending plan for the next fiscal year without discussion amid ruckus, which led to the adjournment of both the Houses of Parliament for the eighth day.

The Rajya Sabha began Thursday's session with an obituary of former MP Hamida Habibullah. The members observed a minute of silence for the same.

Rajya Sabha is in session now; Chair begins with obituary to ex-MP Hamida Habibullah

Lok Sabha MPs could be heard protesting in the background even as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan tries to conduct the Thursday's session. Congress and other Opposition party members stormed the Well. Ministers speaking can hardly be heard over the din.

Even as Opposition party members stormed the Well in the Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the Centre is willing to discuss the Cauvery issue and special package to Andhra Pradesh but it cannot be done so with protests in the Well.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was forced to adjourn the Lower House till 12 pm on Thursday within less than 10 minutes of the session's beginning.

Former Union minister and TDP MP YS Chowdary speaks on why he resigned from the BJP-led Centre in Rajya Sabha

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, former Union MoS for Science and Technology YS Chowdary said that the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation was done unjustly and unscientifically. "The division could have been done after taking care of employment potential, development in both states. Both states must have been developed equally for 10 years by the government in power at the time," he said. Following his opening remarks, other members of the House began to clamour and protest, creating a din.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu was forced to adjourn the House due to loud protests over former Union minister and TDP MP YS Chowdary's remarks on why he resigned from the Council of Ministers of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

Opposition MPs continued to storm the Well of the House even as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan resumed the session.

The Rajya Sabha was earlier adjourned till 2 pm on Thursday amid sharp exchanges between former Union minister from the TDP, YS Chowdary, and the Congress members over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 under the UPA government.

If accepted, it will be the first no-confidence motion moved against the Modi-government.

The motion can be accepted only if it has the support of at least 50 members in the House. YSR Congress has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha.

The YSR Congress's MP YV Subba Reddy gave the notice to the Lok Sabha secretariat for including the motion in Friday's list of business, his office said.

The YSR Congress on Thursday gave a notice for moving a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led NDA government following the Centre's refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh and found unlikely support from its arch-rival Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

YSR Congress Party MP YV Subba Reddy submitted a notice to the Lok Sabha Secretary-General Snehalata Shrivastava for moving a motion on 'No-Confidence in the Council of Ministers' in the house.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has become the first BJP ally to break away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Follow LIVE updates on the same here.

After announcing the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) pulls out of the NDA, party MP Thota Narasimhan told ANI that the TDP will be moving a no-confidence motion on Friday. "We have decided... we are out of the NDA," he added.

"TDP withdrew support from the NDA, which did injustice to Andhra Pradesh. TDP president Chandrababu Naidu took this decision in an emergency teleconference with party politburo members and MPs, which was unanimously supported. TDP to also introduce no-confidence motion against NDA government," ANI quoted the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Office as saying.

"TDP's decision to quit was inevitable after its mischievous propaganda against Centre. People of Andhra Pradesh have now realised that TDP is resorting to lies to cover up its inert governance. TDP's exit is a timely opportunity for the BJP to grow in Andhra Pradesh," BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao tweeted.

Speaking to ANI , BJP MP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi commented on the TDP-NDA break up saying that every year before actual elections, there is always a rehearsal in Parliament. "We will see what happens in Parliament, which party chooses to go which way. In a way it is election year, and every state has demands and issues. It is not right for us to comment on it. It is a custom, before actual elections there is always a rehearsal in Parliament," he said.

'Before actual elections, there is always rehearsal in Parliament'

Sarfaraz Alam (Araria, Bihar), Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel (Phulpur, Uttar Pradesh), Pravin Kumar Nishad (Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh), who won the recent bypolls held in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, took their oath as Lok Sabha MPs on Friday.

Supporting the no-confidence motion against the NDA government, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted: "Its (BJP's) betrayal of the promise of special status for Andhra Pradesh is inexcuseable. Its all-round failure and evasion of parliamentary accountability needs to be highlighted."

After the obituary references were read out, Opposition parties' MPs created a ruckus over the no-confidence motion against the NDA government. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House till 12 pm.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi said his party will support the no-confidence motion against the NDA government in the Lok Sabha. "MIM party will support the no confidence motion in Lok Sabha, not only for failure of Modi government to implement State Reorganisation Act but their failure to fulfill their promise to provide employment to youth ans for injustice to Muslim women and minorities," CNN-News18 quoted him as saying.

"We have no confidence in their no-confidence motion, so we have decided to go on our own," he said. - PTI

TDP MP CM Ramesh added that YSR Congress MP Vijaysai Reddy was seen making attempts to meet the prime minister and this hinted at a nexus between both parties.

Andhra Pradesh's ruling party had on Thursday offered to back the YSR Congress' no-confidence motion but has now said it withdraws the support as it smells a nexus between it and the BJP.

TDP decided to move its own no-confidence motion after suspecting nexus between YSRCP and BJP

Speaking to ANI , BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao claimed that the Andhra Pradesh government and TDP are wary of the BJP's rise in the state. "The state government and TDP are feeling the pinch of the public opinion going against them and BJP will use this as an opportunity to grow as a political party and emerge as a dominant political force in Andhra Pradesh. For us it will prove to be the next Tripura," Rao said.

Even as Opposition MPs continued to chant slogans in the House, with TRS, TDP MPs storming the Well of the House, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan began with business for the day. She also said that she is duty-bound to introduce the two no-confidence motions but asked protesting MPs to sit in their places. As she said this, Opposition protests began to get louder.

The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day after Telagana Rashra Samithi (TRS) MPs stormed the Well. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she cannot introduce the two no confidence motions by YSRCP and TDP if House members continued to disrupt proceedings as she needed to check if there are 50 members to support each motion. Protesting MPs created more ruckus in response, forcing her to adjourn Lok Sabha till Monday.

The NDA had stormed to power with 336 seats in 2014, of which the BJP alone claimed 282 seats. However, a series of bypolls that went against the saffron party meant that its tally in the Lok Sabha currently stands at 273 seats. When one adds the allies the BJP does have by its side  Shiv Sena, JD(U), Apna Dal, LJP, SAD, RLSP, PDP  the tally rises to 312. If the TDP can be persuaded to come around once again, this could rise to 328, a comfortable majority.

The TDP has 16 MPs, and it said it would move a no-confidence motion against the Central government. In doing so, it would be following in the footsteps of rival Andhra Pradesh party, the YSR Congress, which has also said it would be moving a no-confidence motion against the Centre. The two Andhra parties have been miffed with the BJP following the latter's inability to grant special status for the state.

As some other Congress members were on their feet trying to join the issue simultaneously, Naidu adjourned the House till 2.30 PM.

"Do you want this sort of a thing to continue? ... Is that your suggestion. This is your party view," he said.

To this, Naidu asked if somebody committed a mistake in the past, does it mean that he should also do the same.

As he was making the appeal, Congress member Satyabrat Chaturvedi stood up and said he agreed with the Chair, but sought to know whether it was for the first time that he is witnessing such a scenario in Parliament.

"I am very much pained that the Upper House of Parliament is not able to transact its business for last two weeks. Dont't test my patience...We are meeting, greeting and not doing anything and adjourning," the Chairman said.

Before adjourning the House till 2.30 PM, Naidu said there were larger issues like banking scam, Cauvery river water sharing, demand for a special package to Andhra Pradesh and sealing in the national capital, which were agitating the minds of people and needed to be discussed.

After tabling of the listed papers, Naidu expressed his anguish saying the House has not functioned ever since it resumed on March 5 after recess during the Budget session.

The Rajya Sabha today witnessed an abrupt adjournment following a brief argument between Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and some Congress members soon after the House assembled for the day.

Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha told Chowsary to resume his speech from yesterday, which was interrupted due to the disruption of the House. He, however, added that Chowdary must stick to the speech approved by the Chairman and resist making any allegations.

Chowdary said that the former prime minister Manmohan Singh has promised that Centre's hand-holing to Andhra. He then added that both the national parties were responsible for the secession of Andhra Pradesh and a certain help was promised to us at the time. Chowdary further said that the new constitutional restriction being cited by the Centre should not be applicable retrospectively to what was promised to Andhra.

The deputy chairman, however, expunged those remarks as he said the Chairman had seen and vetted the speech but Chowdary had deviated from the approved version.

In the course of his speech, Chowdary quoted the Opposition MP Venkaiah Naidu requesting special status for Andhra for at least 10 years. This elicited an objection from Railway Minister Piyush Goyal who said that Chowdary was trying to cast aspersions on the Chair (Venkaiah Naidu). This was met with sharp opposition from the Congress members who requested the quotes to be repeated.

It is expected to be a stormy day in the Parliament on Monday, especially for the Lok Sabha where the two no-confidence motions against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress Party are likely to be taken up.

However, equations with the existing allies aren't particularly rosy. In particular with Shiv Sena, the largest non-BJP constituent of the NDA. If the Sena follows TDP by backing out, the figure of 314 will go down to 296, just 23 more than the magic figure of 273, and the BJP can no longer be certain of its future.

The NDA had stormed to power with 336 seats in 2014, of which the BJP alone claimed 282 seats. However, a series of bypolls that went against the saffron party meant that its tally in the Lok Sabha currently stands at 274 seats. When one adds the 11 allies the BJP still has by its side  Shiv Sena, JD(U), Apna Dal, LJP, SAD, RLSP, PDP, PMK, SWP, NPP and AINR Congress  the tally rises to 314 . If the TDP can be persuaded to come around once again, this could rise to 330, a comfortable majority.

RECAP: With TDP quitting NDA, Centre's strength comes down to 314 from 336 in Lok Sabha

RJD's JP Yadav gave an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha on Monday over the recent "communal incidents of violence in Araria, Bhagalpur and Darbhanga", reported ANI .

Speaking to ANI, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the party will "wait and watch" what happens in the Parliament on Monday. He said: "We will also have to see if the Speaker allows the no confidence motion or rejects it. TDP has its own state issues and we welcome them. As of now we have not decided yet on no confidence motion. Uddhav ji (Thackeray) will take a call."

The Parliament secretariat received three separate notices for a no-confidence motion against the BJP government on Monday, two of which were from TDP and one from the YSR Congress, reported ANI . Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan is likely to take up the notices after Question Hour if the House is in order.

CPI leader Duraisamy Raja said that the Left parties will be supporting the no-confidence motion in the Parliament on Monday. "People have started expressing their no confidence in the Modi government, it is time the Parliament does it too," ANI quoted him as saying.

He had earlier also said the BJP enjoys support "inside and outside" the Parliament, according to Business Standard . "I want to tell the Congress and other Opposition members that there is confidence inside and outside the House. That's why the BJP is ready to face the no-confidence motion," said Kumar.

Ahead of Monday's Parliament session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said that the saffron party was ready to face the no-confidence motion as it is sure it has the necessary support.

In less than two minutes of being in session, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 pm. As soon as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan entered the House, loud protests and sloganeering dominated the scene, making it impossible for any business to be conducted amid the din.

Slogans of "We want justice" could be heard as Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said, "This is not in the interest of the country, and Parliament. I am willing to allow also these discussions. How long should we continue like this?"

The Upper House of the Parliament was adjourned till tomorrow after TDP and AIADMK MPs began protesting in the Rajya Sabha.

He also said that the TDP also increased the state's budget by Rs 1100 crores. "We will strive to do the same in future. We are moving to work to move forward in skill development to help the people of Andhra Pradesh," he said.

He also claimed that the YSR Congress Party is only 'playing politics' and has no interest in the state's welfare. Trying to assuage people's sentiments, Naidu said that the "TDP government is undertaking multiple irrigation projects to ensure the state's development is not stalled amid all this."

Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said that the state is being cheated by the Central government. "We are being cheated by the government. The BJP is making false allegations against me," he said.

'We are being cheated by the government': Chandrababu Naidu

Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant told ANI that the party will abstain from the no-confidence motion. "We will neither support the government nor the Opposition. We will abstain," he said.

As soon as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan took up the Question Hour, members from these parties trooped into the Well holding placards. While members from the TDP, YSR Congress, TRS and AIADMK were in the Well raising slogans and holding placards, MPs from the TMC and Congress were seen standing at their seats. This forced the House to be adjourned till 12 pm.

The Lok Sabha proceedings were disrupted for the 11th day on Monday as the TDP, YSR Congress, TRS and AIADMK continued their noisy protests over various issues, including the banking scam and special status for Andhra Pradesh.

Even as the Lower House resumed its proceedings, sloganeering dominated the scene as TDP, AIADMK MPs could be heard shouting "We want justice". However, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan began with day's business, asking ministers to lay their papers on the table.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said: "We want discussion on the no-confidence motion. I request all MPs to maintain decorum so that we can discuss it. We are ready to discuss any issue with any member."

Following continuous uproar in the Lok Sabha, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House till Tuesday. TSR, YSRCP MPs trooped into the Well, while chanting slogans such as "We want justice". Mahajan tried to introduce the no-confidence motion notices but requested all MPs to sit at their designated spots so that a quorum could be established. Opposition members and other parties' MPs continued to create a ruckus, forcing the House to be adjourned for the day.

'Will do whatever the Opposition does': Farooq Abdullah

The Samajwadi Party on Monday accused the government of egging AIADMK to stage protests in the Lok Sabha to avoid a no-confidence motion even as Tamil Nadu's ruling party warned that it would not allow business in both the Houses of Parliament till the Centre gives an assurance on the constitution of the Cauvery River Management Board.

The 39 Indians who were kidnapped in Iraq are dead, Sushma Swaraj tells Rajya Sabha.

MoS Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said the government is ready discuss all issues. However protests cause Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the Rajya Sabha till 21 March.

Sushma Swaraj starts speaking about the Indians in Mosul. She had spoken about the issue in the Rajya Sabha earlier.

The Bills have already been passed in the Lok Sabha

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to move Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Bill gives the government power to confiscate the assets of such defaulters.

Bill to deal with economic offenders who leave the country in Lok Sabha today

"Let us all protest and, if required, sit on hunger strike at every place, sport black badges during working hours in offices. Let us awaken the people," party chief N Chandrababu Naidu said at a meeting of women self-help groups.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) held protests in Vijayawada on Thursday about the Andhra Pradesh special status row, reported CNN-News18. The TDP had decided to extend support to the National Highways blockade programme called by the Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh seeking special category status to the state.

As the deadlock in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha continued on Wednesday, here is a look at how both the Houses spent their time while in session ( as per PRS ):

What has the Parliament been spending its time on?

Protests and sloganeering marked the day's proceedings in the Lok Sabha as it began on Thursday. Opposition MPs could be heard chanting "We want justice" in the background, even as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan tried to conduct the day's business. As the protests grew louder, she said, "Nobody wants to listen, nobody wants to run the House." She then adjourned the Lok Sabha till 12 pm.

"At the time of passing the AP Reorganisation Act, they (government) gave some provisions under it. People are suffering in Andhra Pradesh," said TDP's CM Ramesh.

Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said that several leaders had approached him personally and let the the amendment Bill be passed.

MoS Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said, "The government wants to discuss everyone's issues. I request we discuss and pass other Bills."

Just as the House passed the Gratuity Bill, AIADMK and TDP MPs trooped into the Well of the House holding placards and created ruckus. To this, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said " People want to know why the Chairman is adjourning the House? I would like to tell the people that I don't want these ugly scenes to be seen by them. Each day, some or the other party troops into the Well." Nearly 20 MPs stood in the Well surrounding Naidu, and chanting loud slogans.

As the Opposition refused to back down, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu adjourned Rajya Sabha for the day.

"I would like to request all the MPs to go back to their places and let the House function. We are ready to talk about all issues, including the no-confidence motion notices that are being brought to the House," said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, even as AIADMK and TDP MPs continued their sloganeering near the Well of the House.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she cannot act upon the no-confidence motion notices until there is order in the House. "I can't see anybody. I need to count heads (to establish a quorum of 50 members)," she said.

After 14 days of low productivity in the second edition of the Budget Session of the Parliament, the Centre is likely to make a fresh push to pass pending bills even as the Opposition remain vehement to corner the government over issues like the Punjab National Bank scam, the murder of 39 Indians in Iraq by Islamic State among others.

The Congress has issued a three-line whip to all its MPs in the Rajya Sabha asking them to be present in the House at 11 am in full strength on Friday and support the party's stand, PTI reported.

The Parliament is lagging behind in terms of finishing scheduled tasks with productivity level really low. The Budget Session of Parliament, which reconvened after a brief break on 5 March, has been marred with protests, with the daily functioning in both Lok Sabha and Rajya well below 0.1 hours (six minutes), according to PRS data.

Daily functioning of Parliament during Question Hours less than six minutes, shows PRS data

With TDP's no-confidence motion notice still pending before the Lok Sabha, Chandrababu Naidu's party, which recently exited the NDA alliance, has appealed to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to hold an all-party meeting on special status to Andhra Pradesh as well, reports said.

"I request the leaders of the parties to come to the chamber of the chairman," Naidu also said.

"This is totally undemocratic, totally unbecoming of Members of Parliament. You are weaking your cause. Please, you are all members. You must uphold the dignity of the House," Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said before adjourning the House for 15 minutes.

"Madame Speaker, you have always asked the House to be conducted in order. The government is ready for a discussion...Congress has become a marginal party," said Union minister Ananth Kumar in response.

"There are more than 50 members here who want to move a no-confidence motion," said Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

As the ruckus in the Lower House continued, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House for the day.

According to News18, irate Opposition MPs are demanding discussion on the no-confidence motion.

Narendra Modi to retiring Rajya Sabha MPs: I am sorry Parliament failed you in this last session

Modi also said that the doors of Parliament and his Prime Minister's Office (PMO) will always remain open to them, and they are welcome to visit him whenever they like.

While bidding the departing MPs goodbye, Modi also took a sarcastic jibe at protesting Opposition MPs, saying they nearly ensured this Session didn't take place and nearly denied this vote of thanks.

Opposition ensured this Sesssion didn't take place and nearly denied this vote of thanks: Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi also added that it was unfortunate that they didn't get a chance to pass important legislations in their final session, but may look back at their tenure gladly given the passing of landmark bills like the Triple Talaq bill.

Unfortunate that you didn't get chance to pass important legislations in their final session: Narendra Modi

"People have been agitating for special status, for their water, for their poor farmers and labourers. The MPs have been fighting on their behalf. If the people get what is rightfully theirs, it's not their parliamentarians who will stand to benefit," Azad said.

He added that it's unfair to say MPs have been fighting and disrupting Parliament, because they are sent to Parliament to represent the needs of the people.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, meanwhile, said the Central Hall of Parliament is full of former MPs and he looks forward to seeing many of the retiring MPs at the same place in the future.

Unfair to say MPs have been disrupting Parliament, because they are sent to Parliament to represent needs of the people: Ghulam Nabi Azad

The second part of this session has 22 sittings, and is scheduled to conclude on 6 April. Five more sittings are slated.

This is the final week that the Houses are functioning in the Budget Session

Members from the Congress, the Left, the TDP and some other parties stood up holding the blue placards, apparently to show her that there were 80 members supporting the no-confidence motion

After a brief discussion on scams in public-sector banks, Bills such as the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill and the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill to be tabled in Rajya Sabha today

Arun Jaitley to move Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill in the Lok Sabha today, which is a Bill to deal with economic offenders who leave the country

"Most MPs are already seated. If everyone stops shouting and goes back to their seat, I can see how many support for the no-confidence motion. the House must be in order," Sumitra Mahajan said.

Day 19 of Parliament's Budget Session is likely to get underway shortly, but MPs from various Opposition parties have already begun protesting inside Parliament premises, drawing attention to various causes.

Punjab Congress MPs demand financial help for families of Indians killed in Mosul

With Opposition parties slamming the central government over atrocities being committed on Dalits, Union minister Ananth Kumar has said the government is "committed" towards protecting the rights of Dalits. "Whenever Congress is in power, they are responsible for inciting people and spreading violence," Ananth Kumar said.

Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon within six minutes of starting proceedings, with Tamil Nadu MPs launching their demand the formation of a Cauvery Management Board.

Congress MPs from Punjab have climbed on to the roof of Parliament

Political leaders elected as Rajya Sabha MPs last month, including Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, have taken oath of office.

When Lok Sabha reconvenes at noon, Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to address the House. Rajnath is expected to talk about the violence that singed large parts of the country of Monday.

As Opposition MPs kept up noisy protests, Home Minister Rajnath Singh addresses Lok Sabha over violence that singed large parts of the country on Monday. "The government has not diluted the provisions of the SC/ST Atrocities Act. In fact, we have strengthened the act. We have introduced provisions for the protection of victims, who are already suffered enough. Moreover, if officials are found lacking in their response to a complaint filed by anybody, we want action initiated against them as well," Rajnath Singh said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan tried to address Lok Sabha on Tuesday, but noisy protests kept her from speaking. She was responding to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's speech earlier in the day. Faced with unrelenting Opposition protests, Mahajan adjourned Lok Sabha for the day.

Within minutes of proceedings beginning, Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 pm after MPs raised slogans of 'We want justice, we want Cauvery board'

Amid loud protests, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien adjourned the Rajya Sabha for 30 minutes, after having pleaded with protesting MPs to go back to their seats.

New members who took oath on Wednesday, have not been given division: Anand Sharma

It is unfortunate that Rajya Sabha failed to carry out daily business: Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien

Announcing the decision, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said it has been decided that the NDA MPs would be giving up their salary and other allowances for 23 days "for which parliament was not allowed to function by the Congress".

BJP and NDA party MPs announced on Wednesday night that they will take a pay cut for the 23 days wasted in the second phase of the Budget Session as they accused the Congress party of playing negative politics.

Congress issues three-line whip to its Rajya Sabha MPs asking them to be present in Upper House, reports ANI

Over a dozen Opposition parties had appealed to Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday for holding discussion on key matters like the SC/ST Act, PNB bank fraud, CBSE paper leak and Cauvery issue. Opposition leaders, including from the Congress, BSP, SP, DMK, NCP, TMC and the Left parties, had met in Parliament to discuss the lack of debate.

Leaders of several Opposition parties are holding a demonstration inside the Parliament premises over various issues.

Congress had said on Wednesday that it would not mind if Parliament session was extended by a day or two, but a debate on key issues should take place. "We want to hold discussions on key issues of national importance and we also want to pass legislation. The government should take the lead in doing so. We are not averse even if the session is extended by a day or two," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad had told reporters.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi have joined the Opposition protest in New Delhi against the Centre.

Asserting that he attended the House proceedings daily, Subramanian Swamy said that it isn't his fault if the Parliament didn't function. "Anyhow, I'm the president's representative. Until he says so, how can I say I'll not take my salary?" ANI quoted him as saying.

Both the Houses of the Parliament were adjourned within minutes of reconvening on Thursday amid protests by the Opposition parties.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge urged Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to take up the no-confidence motion as the AIADMK continued protesting in the Lower House.

Kurien went on to read the rules of the Rajya Sabha. "You are all eligible for suspension," he said.

Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said that he has an alternative to deal with the protests in the Upper House. "As per rule. I will see that a motion is moved to expel all protesting members. Thereby, you will lose all your voting right," he told the protesting MPs.

PJ Kurien says he can move motion to expel members protesting in Rajya Sabha

LS Speaker reminded the MPs that today was the last day of the second leg of the Budget Session, even though the MPs continued shouting.

"This Sabha is for a platform the raise issues for the welfare of the people. I understand that MPs have several issues they want to raise but they should keep in mind that the country has a variety of issues which need to be focused on," said Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

"I make an appeal to all of you to appear here next time to do what we were given to do at the time of Independence," said Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

BJP works for connecting people, Congress works for dividing people. Congress indulges in divisive, negative politics. It didn't let the House function. We'll sit in protest against the negative attitude of Congress during last 23 days: Ananth Kumar,Parliamentary Affairs Minister pic.twitter.com/T710ENwveX

BJP MPs to observe fast on 12 April to protest the impasse in Parliament caused by Congress: Union minister Ananth Kumar | PTI

"Congress has become a marginal party, even in the Parliament," he said. "They don't have their own parliamentary strategy for both the Houses. They don't have parliamentary logic," he added.

"From 5 March to 27 March, why did the Congress not allow business to happen?" said Union minister Ananth Kumar. "On 15 and 16 March, the YSRCP and TDP motions of no-confidence were brought up. Congress brought it up on 27 March? Why did they bring it up so late?" he added.

Why did Congress not allow business to happen? asks Ananth Kumar

Parliament latest updates: The Rajya Sabha's proceedings were once again disrupted on Wednesday amid vociferous protests by Opposition parties including the Congress, TDP and AIADMK over various issues.

As soon as the House met for the day, the newly-elected members from Rajasthan, Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh took the oath of office.

Soon after, members from the TDP, AIADMK and Congress, besides others, trooped near the Chairman's podium shouting slogans such as 'Save Andhra Pradesh', 'Narendra Modi Dalit Virodhi' and 'We demand Cauvery board'.

Earlier, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned on Tuesday as Opposition protests rocked both Houses of Parliament. This is the final week of the Budget session, which is slated to conclude on 6 April.

The Lower House was adjourned within minutes after proceedings began on Monday amid protests from AIADMK MPs demanding the formation of a Cauvery Water Management Board.

In a bid to convey to the Speaker that 80 members were in support of the no-confidence motion, members of Congress, Left, TDP and some other parties stood up holding blue placards.

Seconds after the House reconvened at 12 pm and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan took her seat, Opposition MPs stormed the Well of the House holding placards and shouting slogans saying "We want justice" in a repeat of what had transpired last week.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day soon after new and re-elected members took oath as MPs from various parties, including Congress and TMC, trooped into the Well raising slogans in support of their demands.

The Upper House has not transacted substantial business ever since it met on 5 March after a recess to carry forward the Budget session due to disruptions by different parties on matters like bank frauds, Cauvery river water, special status for Andhra Pradesh and issues related to Dalits.

MPs belonging to the Congress, TMC, SP, BSP, TDP and those of Tamil parties  DMK and AIADMK, rushed into the Well as soon as 41 members took oath and Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked ministers to lay papers on the table of the House.

The Congress and the BSP accused the government of being "anti-Dalit". TMC was protesting against bank frauds, while TDP members were demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh. KVP Ramachandra Rao of the Congress was also holding a placard demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh. The two prominent Tamil parties were demanding constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board for the division of river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Amid sloganeering by protesting MPs, Naidu tried to bring order in the House.

As they did not yield, the Chairman adjourned the House for the day. The Upper House will meet again on Wednesday at 11 am.

With inputs from agenciesThe Rajya Sabha saw an unusual 11 adjournments on Wednesdayof which 10 came in the second half between 2 pm and 5:13 pmand failed to transact any business as the government tried to get a Bill passed but the AIADMK, TDP, YSR Congress and the opposition continued with their agitation in the House.

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha saw an unusual 11 adjournments on Wednesdayof which 10 came in the second half between 2 pm and 5:13 pmand failed to transact any business as the government tried to get a Bill passed but the AIADMK, TDP, YSR Congress and the opposition continued with their agitation in the House.

As the House met at 2 pm, the government moved the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2013. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, who was in the Chair, sought voice vote on the Bill on which the treasury benches shouted "aye". However, the agitating members continued with the slogan shouting.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad blamed the government for the disruptions and said that the government was running away from discussion on various issues including the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh, Cauvery water distribution between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, CBSE paper leak and the banking fraud.

"An impression is being created outside that the opposition parties are not allowing the House to function. But it is the ruling party which is running away from the discussion. The entire Opposition if for the passage of the pending bills. We also want these bills to get passed but we are also mandated to raise the issues concerning millions of people.

"I am sorry to say but it is the treasury benches which is not allowing the House to function. See who is disrupting the proceedings. Let the country see," he said amid noisy scenes created by the treasury benches.

As Azad was speaking the TDP and AIADMK members rushed towards Chairman's podium shouting slogans and holding placards. As the din continued Kurien adjourned the House for half an hour. As soon as the House reassembled at 2:43 pm, another adjournment till 3:15 pm was announced. At 3:15 pm, it was again adjourned for 15 minutes.

At 3.30 pm, as the House was reconvened, Kurien appealed to the members to pass the Bill which he said was "in national interest".

"Many government programmes would stall if the Bill is not passed. Let's discuss the Bill," he said.

Azad said that the government was "more interested in its Bill than the interests of the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes".

As members again trooped near the Chair's podium, Kurien adjourned the House for 15 minutes. The House was then successively adjourned at 3:55 pm, 4.10 pm, 4.30 pm, 4.45 pm, 4.55 pm before being adjourned for the day at 5.13 pm.

Earlier, in the morning the House was adjourned 20 minutes after it met for the day till 2 pm by Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu amid noisy protest by non-treasury members.

In the morning, the newly elected members from Rajasthan, Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh took oath of office.

Soon after, members from the TDP, AIADMK and Congress besides others trooped near the Chairman's podium shouting slogans such as 'Save Andhra Pradesh', 'Narendra Modi Dalit Virodhi' and 'We demand Cauvery board'.

Naidu urged the agitating members to raise their issues after laying down of the paper on the table of the House. But his appeal was in vain.

The Congress members were protesting against the government over a Supreme Court order diluting the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. They accused the government of being anti-Dalit.

The AIADMK and DMK members sought the immediate constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board for division of the river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Members of the TDP held placards demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.

As the members continued with their noisy protests, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel hit out at the Congress for labelling the Modi government anti-Dalit.

"Let's have a discussion in the House over who is anti-Dalit. You ruled the country for so long and deprived the Dalits of their basic needs. We brought many acts in favour of Dalits. You did not even give Bharat Ratna to Bhimrao Ambedkar," Goel said.AIADMK partymen were caught eating rice while on a hunger strike to demand for the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board.

AIADMK members were out in the open on Tuesday staging a hunger strike to demand the formation of the Cauvery <anagement Board for resolving the impending Cauvery water issue. But soon after the declaration of this strike, some party members were photographed gobbling up what looked like biryani. Although, it could have been a snazzy version of the humble tomato rice. And although there isn't any confirmation on the menu, a feast amidst a hunger strike was definitely not what the supporters must have expected from their 'outraged' leaders.

The images procured by The News Minute, were shot in Vellore and Pudukottai, and appear to expose the "sincerity" with which the AIADMK has been fighting for the setting-up of the Cauvery Management Board. There is much anger against the ruling party's reluctance to take on the Centre's delay in setting up the Board and several have pointed out that the strike was a mere eyewash.

The protest was launched in Chennai by Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswamy and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. It began at around 8 am and concluded at 5 pm (excluding the 'lunch-break'). Reportedly, the entire AIADMK cabinet also took part in the strike, while other leaders drove the protest in various districts of Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, DMK-led Opposition parties have also called for a state-wide shutdown on 5 April, seeking the Centre's intervention to form the board.

The Cauvery water dispute has been a matter of conflict between the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala since 1881. In 1990, the Centre formed the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) to help solve the dispute. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had pronounced its verdict on 16 February stating that of the total 740 tmcft; Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry would be annually entitled to 404.25 tmcft, 284.75 tmcft, 30 tmcft and 7 tmcft of Cauvery water respectively. The Central government has submitted a plea before the apex court seeking clarification on its verdict.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the Centre's plea and the next date of hearing in the case has been set for 9 April.The Bharatiya Janta Party on Wednesday said that it will file a petition in Supreme Court seeking protection for its panchayat election candidates in West Bengal, media reports said.

The Bharatiya Janta Party on Wednesday said that it will file a petition in Supreme Court seeking protection for its panchayat election candidates in West Bengal, media reports said.

#BREAKING -- BJP to move Supreme Court seeking security for Bengal Panchayat poll candidates in wake of violence in the state ahead of the elections | @Sougata_Mukh with more details pic.twitter.com/N2YofDWctf  News18 (@CNNnews18) April 4, 2018

The party has alleged that their candidates are being constantly threatened by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers and stopped them from filing their nomination papers, CNN-News18 reported.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, "We will move the Supreme court so that the panchayat polls can be held in a free, fair and peaceful manner. We want deployment of central forces as the State Election Commission is totally incapable of holding free and fair polls."

BJP workers on Wednesdya also held a demonstration outside the state election commission office in Kolkata demanding free and fair elections.

The panchayat polls in West Bengal will be held in three phases on 1, 3 and 5 May. The panchayat election assumes significance as it is the last major poll in the state before the 2019 general elections.

However, right from the beginning, the election process has been marked by violence.

According to India Today, on Tuesday, BJP Murshidabad district president Gourishankar Ghosh and his supporters were beaten up with sticks when they visited the government BDO office to collect their nomination forms.

In Birbhum, a BJP leader was stabbed when he visited the magistrate's office to complain about the lack of security for his party workers. Violence was also reported from Hoogly and Coochbehar, the report added.

In Malda, a 26-year-old youth was killed in a violent clash in Malda between the two factions of TMC over the nomination, The Economic Times reported.

Following a complaint by the Opposition parties, Governor Kesari Nath Tripathi on Tuesday summoned senior government officials. Chief Secretary Malay Kumar De and Home Secretary Atri Bhattacharya were also asked to attend a meeting at Raj Bhawan.

With inputs from PTIAditi Jain

Indian Scientists have developed a remote sensing technique that uses satellite data to delineate between various coastal landforms like beaches, mangroves and marshes. This method can help monitor and understand the impact of natural disasters as well as human activities on coastal ecosystem.

Coastal ecosystems that comprise of mangroves and other landforms protect the shores from natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes etc., prevent soil erosion and are hotspots of biodiversity. Over the years, excessive exploitation of coastal resources for fisheries and other commercial benefits has led to an ecological imbalance. Better surveillance systems are needed to keep a check on anthropogenic activities in such regions.

Although images from satellite data are commonly used to study various land-forms on earth, distinguishing different land-forms in coastal region remains a challenge due to their low lying nature, and absence of clear-cut boundaries between various land-forms.

Scientists from the National Remote Sensing Centre, Andhra University College of Engineering and Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya utilised an image analysis technique  Object-Based Image Analysis  to demarcate various land-forms such as ridges, marshes, mangroves etc. surrounding the Krishna delta present on East coast of India.

The new technique deploys parameters like tone, texture, shape, context, proximity to the sea and height derived from satellite images for classification of landforms. Combining the values of these parameters, a total of 11 land-forms such as beach, beach ridge, swale, tidal creek, marsh, spit, barrier bar, mangrove, natural levee, channel island and channel bar were given their peculiar characteristics and were differentiated.

The reduced inflow of water from Krishna river to the delta due to construction of dams and reservoirs together with over-exploitation of mangroves surrounding Krishna delta for agriculture, aquaculture and industrial is disturbing the ecosystem of this region. In such a scenario, a method that helps to keep a better check on this region could help environmental organisations.

The work is useful for identification of vulnerable zones so that mitigation measures can be planned. However, some more advanced remote sensing data and machine learning techniques can be additionally used for obtaining better results, commented Dr. Prafful Singh from Amity Institute of Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, who is not connected with the study, while talking to India Science Wire.

The results of the study have been published in journal Current Science. The research team included Tapas R. Martha and K. Vinod Kumar from National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad; A. Mohan Vamsee from Andhra University College of Engineering, Vishakhapatnam; and Vikas Tripathi from Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya, Madhya Pradesh.Ankit Vengurlekar

HMD Global, the company that is responsible for launching all the Nokia-branded smartphones in the market launched the updated version of its Nokia 6.

The 2018 version of the Nokia 6 seems to have fixed the most glaring issue of an underpowered 400-series Snapdragon SoC from Qualcomm to replace it with Qualcomms Snapdragon 630 SoC.

The original Nokia 6 that was launched during MWC 2017 came with Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset along with a price that matches smartphones packing a Snapdragon 600 series chipsets. This made things considerably difficult as it did not offer that value for money despite the presence of an impressive build quality. These changes come as no surprise as the company had already launched the device in the Chinese market.

Moving to the just launched device, the smartphone brings back the impressive build quality along with good design and nice display to the table. This also comes with a support for fast charge using wireless charging technology which is really commendable. HMD Global has added a Carl Zeiss-branded single lens camera on the back of the device. The new version will also come with Android Oreo 8.0 out of the box as part of Googles Android One initiative.

Other minor changes include a reversible Type-C connector and Bluetooth v5.0 in place of microUSB port and Bluetooth v4.1. The device looks good in hand along with impressive copper-accent edges along with the metal body.

Be sure to follow our MWC 2018 page, Twitter and Facebook channels for LIVE updates from the show floor.

Disclaimer: Tech2 was invited to MWC 2018 by Huawei, who was responsible for all expenses related to travel and accommodation.Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.

Latest Update: Nokia 6 (2018), Nokia 8 Sirocco launch LIVE: Nokia 6 (2018) at Rs 16,999, 7 Plus at Rs 25,999 and Nokia 8 Sirocco has been launched at Rs 49,999 in India.

HMD Global owned Nokia had introduced its latest line up of devices at MWC 2018 in February and all of them are part of Google's Android One program. Now it would seem that Nokia is going to launch the smartphones for the Indian market.

Tech2 was present at MWC 2018 and we managed to get our hands-on with all three devices. You can check out our first impression videos of the Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 (2018).

The Nokia 8 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The phone is inspired by the fancy Nokia 8800 Sirocco, which was released more than a decade ago in 2006.

The Nokia 7 Plus, is the plus-sized variant of the standard Nokia 7 model which was announced last year. Inside, you get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC paired with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of internal storage that is expandable up to 256 GB using a micro SD card.

The Nokia 6 (2018) replaces the underpowered 400-series Snapdragon SoC in the previous version of the Snapdragon 630 SoC. Other minor changes include a reversible Type-C connector and Bluetooth v5.0 in place of microUSB port and Bluetooth v4.1.

Since we know mostly everything about the hardware of the devices, the main reason for the event is to announce the pricing of the devices.

Ankit Vengurlekar

Nokia announced its all-new Sirocco branded smartphone at the Mobile World Congress 2018. Christened as the Nokia 8 Sirocco, the smartphone is a premium take on HMD's currently available flagship Nokia 8 smartphone.

The device is inspired by the fancy Nokia 8800 Sirocco, which was released more than a decade ago in 2006.

The new Nokia 8 Sirocco carries forward the main elements of the 8800 with a body that is now made of steel (instead of steel armour) and adds glass to deliver something unique only to an Apple iPhone X, which costs a lot more.

The design, while looking like a mix of Galaxy Note 8 and the older Note 5 edge, looks modern but kept reminding me of the Samsung's Galaxy S series thanks to its curved edge displays. It is however, the first smartphone from the new Nokia, that looks like it could take on similar priced offerings from Apple and Samsung.

Inside, the Nokia 8 Sirocco seems pretty much there, but unfortunately features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, which is a bit old in comparison to the rest of the flagships launched at the Mobile World Congress this year. You still get 6 GB RAM and 128 GB of storage inside that gorgeous steel and glass body, which should make you forget about the minor performance hit.

The Nokia 8 Sirocco now has a 12 MP (wide) + 13 MP (tele) camera accompanied by a dual tone flash. While the cameras gain their f/1.7 and f/2.6 apertures, they lose the OIS, which should hit hard when it comes to an already unimpressive low light performance of the Nokia 8. The front facing unit gets a downgrade with a 5 MP unit as opposed to the 13 MP PDAF unit on the older Nokia 8.

Connectivity options include the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and a single SIM slot for 4G LTE connectivity along with Qi wireless charging thanks to the glass back.

Powering it all is a 3,260 mAh battery that should charge quickly thanks to Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology built right in.

The software was quick and showcased no lag thanks to the presence of Android One, which is an almost stock and clean version of Android Oreo.

With all the bells and whistles of a flagship, it now remains to be seen whether the Nokia 8 Sirocco can really take on flagships from Samsung and Apple, from what I can tell it's only the camera's performance that seems worrisome at the moment. Even if Nokia gets the camera right, will smartphones buyers in India be willing to shell out close to 749 Euro for a Nokia smartphone?

Be sure to follow our MWC 2018 page, Twitter and Facebook channels for LIVE updates from the show floor.

Disclaimer: Tech2 was invited to MWC 2018 by Huawei, who were responsible for all expenses related to travel and accommodation.The attack led many tech CEOs such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Twitter's Jack Dorsey, Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi, and Apple's Tim Cook express their support.

As a response to the shooting at the YouTube headquarters in California, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki condemned the shooting and offered support to the YouTube employees and community.

The shooting took place at the Google-owned YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California. It led to injuring three people, while the suspected shooter, a woman identified as content creator Nasim Aghdam, allegedly killed herself on the premise.

According to Aghdam who is supposed to be in her late thirties, YouTube filtered her channels to prevent them from getting more views. According to a post on a website identified as hers by San Francisco Chronicle, Aghdam claimed that there was no equal growth opportunity on YouTube or any other video sharing site.

US President Donald Trump expressed condolences to the victims and thanked the law enforcement agencies as well as the first responders for their efforts.

The attack led many tech CEOs such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Twitter's Jack Dorsey, Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi, and Apple's Tim Cook extend their support to the tech community and employees of the video sharing platform.

There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support.  Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 3, 2018

There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.  Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) April 4, 2018

On behalf of all of Microsoft, our hearts are with everyone at YouTube and Google today and all those affected. https://t.co/dijMxGXGpD  Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) April 4, 2018

We cant keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it wont happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots. Its beyond time to evolve our policies. This is a simple and reasonable approach, and it wont solve all, but its a good start: https://t.co/ADYalbaO57 https://t.co/nbXpH9DDyT  jack (@jack) April 3, 2018

From everyone at Apple, we send our sympathy and support to the team at YouTube and Google, especially the victims and their families.  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 3, 2018

On behalf of the team at @Uber, sending support to everyone @YouTube and @Google, and gratitude to the heroic first responders. Another tragedy that should push us again to #EndGunViolence  dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) April 3, 2018

Over the years, US has faced the problem of gun possession. Recently, after a series of gun shooting in the US, high school students began a 'March For Our Lives' campaign against rampant gun violence in the US.

YouTube had also received criticism for allowing videos related to weapons to be allowed on its platform. These included videos related to setting up weapons or modifying them. However, recently the video sharing platform banned such videos.China vowed to impose measures of the 'same strength' in response to a proposed US tariff hike on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in a spiraling technology dispute

Beijing: China, on Wednesday, vowed to impose measures of the "same strength" in response to a proposed US tariff hike on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in a spiraling technology dispute that has fueled fears it might set back the global economic recovery.

The Commerce Ministry said it would immediately challenge the US move in the World Trade Organisation.

"At the same time, we are preparing to take measures of the same strength and same scope against US goods," said a ministry statement. "These measures will be announced shortly."

The latest clash reflects growing tension between President Donald Trump's promises to narrow the multibillion-dollar US trade deficit with China and Beijing's ambitious development plans. Those include using its vast market as leverage to induce foreign companies to help create local industry and technology.

Chinese officials have given no indication what US goods might be targeted, but businesspeople and economists have cited Boeing jetliners and soybeans as possible targets.

The dispute has fueled fears it might set back the global recovery if other governments are prompted to raise their own import barriers.

American companies have long chafed under Chinese regulations that require them to operate through local partners and share technology with potential competitors in exchange for market access. Business groups say companies feel increasingly unwelcome in China's state-dominated economy and are being squeezed out of promising industries.

The US Trade Representative's Office said it was responding to Chinese policies that "coerce American companies into transferring their technology and intellectual property to domestic Chinese enterprises."

A USTR report on Chinese industrial policy released Tuesday also cited complaints Beijing carries out or supports cyberspying to steal foreign business secrets, though it was unclear whether the latest tariff hike was in response to that.

Companies have warned Trump's action might hurt US companies and consumers.

"The administration is rightly focused on restoring equity and fairness in our trade relationship with China," said the executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Myron Brilliant, in a statement. "However, imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way to achieve those ends."

The USTR also launched a WTO case last month challenging Chinese policies it said unfairly limit foreign companies' ability to control their technology. U.S. authorities say Beijing denies foreign companies the right to block use of technology by a Chinese entity once a licensing period ends and imposes contract terms that are less favorable than for local technology.

Foreign companies are increasingly alarmed by initiatives such as Beijing's long-range industry development plan, dubbed "Made in China 2025," which calls for creating Chinese global leaders in electric cars, robots and other fields. Foreign companies complain that strategy appears to limit or outright block access to those industries.

China has accused Trump of damaging the global system of trade regulation by taking action under US law instead of through the WTO. The Commerce Ministry's statement Wednesday criticized the latest moves as "a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice."

In a separate dispute, Beijing raised tariffs Monday on a $3 billion list of US goods, including pork, apples and steel pipe in response a higher American import duties on steel and aluminum.

The US tariff hike on steel and aluminum has little impact on China but the latest round of duties will be far more sensitive for Beijing. It targets industries seen by Chinese leaders as their country's economic future including telecoms, medical, aerospace and information technology.

The USTR announcement said those products were targeted because they benefit from Chinese industry development policies Washington considers unfair.

The Chinese measures announced Monday raised tariffs on pork, aluminum scrap and some other products by 25 percent. A 15 percent tariff was imposed on apples, almonds and some other goods.China announced on Wednesday that it will impose additional tariffs of 25 percent on 106 US products including soybeans, autos and chemicals

In response to the US Trade Representative's (USTR) proposed list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs, Beijing on Wednesday announced that it will impose additional tariff of 25 percent on 106 US products, which includes soybeans, automobiles and chemicals.

The US list includes over 1,300 items, including high-definition colour video monitors, electromagnets used in MRI machines, aerospace products, and machinery used to make processed textiles, printed products and food. On the other hand, China's list reportedly includes corn, a few agri products, electric vehicles, SUVs, trucks, aircraft, propane and assorted plastic products.

The Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson Lu Kang on Wednesday said, "I must stress again that the US side released the proposed tariff list in disregard of China's stern representations and on the basis of no facts. China strongly condemns and firmly opposes such a move which is typical of unilateralism and trade protectionism... What the US did severely violates the basic principles and spirit of the WTO. The Chinese side will immediately refer this wrong move by the US side to the WTO dispute settlement system."

He added, "Meanwhile, in accordance with the relevant stipulations of the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China, we will take proportionate measures of the same intensity and scale on US products. These measures will be announced soon. We have the confidence and capability to counter any measure of trade protectionism taken by the United States."

According to state broadcaster CCTV, the effective date for implementation of the new tariffs will be announced at a later time.

With inputs from ReutersKhalfan may be a maverick but as the top security official he won't fly off the handle on issues that can affect Dubai's bilateral relations with Pakistan.

Senior Dubai Police official Dhahi Khalfan's tweets calling names to Pakistanis has brought out in the open, the simmering tensions between UAE and Pakistan.

Khalfan, head of Dubai's General Security, called Pakistanis living in the UAE smugglers, drug peddlers and criminals. In a series of tweets, Khalfan even called upon Dubai authorities to stop hiring Pakistanis.

          ...        .     (@Dhahi_Khalfan) April 1, 2018

(Pakistanis pose a serious threat to the Gulf societies for the drugs they bring with them... There must be very strict measures against them at the outlets..)

           (@Dhahi_Khalfan) April 1, 2018

(Stopping Pakistani labor recruitment has become a national necessity)

And then he compared Pakistanis with Indians.

                 (@Dhahi_Khalfan) April 1, 2018

(Why are the Indians disciplined? While idleness, criminality and smuggling in the Pakistani community are rampant)

Khalfan, who has a reputation for being tough and abrasive, took to the micro-blogging site after some Pakistani nationals were arrested by Dubai Police on charges of smuggling drugs. His comments prompted several Pakistanis to respond with regret and anger, while many others pleaded with Khalfan not to humiliate Pakistan.

The question is why did Khalfan hit out at Pakistanis, who form a large part of expatriate population in the UAE? Were his tweets merely an outburst in reaction to the arrest of Pakistani nationals or is there something more to it?

Khalfan may be a maverick but as the top security official he won't fly off the handle on issues that can affect Dubai's bilateral relations with Pakistan. His tweets reflect the mistrust that has crept into Pakistan's relation with Gulf countries, especially UAE and even Saudi Arabia. It is indicative of a subtle change in Pakistan's equations with its traditional allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

As far as Pakistan-UAE relations are concerned, two issues seem to be the main reasons behind the building mistrust and mutual suspicion. One is related to trade and business, the other is purely strategic.

Many strategic analysts attribute the increasing deterioration in relations between Dubai and Pakistan to development of Gwadar port with the aid and investments of China. UAE feel Gwadar can emerge as a serious rival to Dubai's Port Rashid and Port Jabel Ali.

Gwadar happens to be more strategically located than Dubai ports to attract international trade, as it will provide links to China as well as Central Asia. In the long run, after its full potential is realised through execution of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Gwadar is also being billed as a rival to Dubai ports in terms of becoming an international business hub.

Dubai's long-term apprehension is that Gwadar will replace it as the hub of international business and trade in Gulf and West Asia. Most of the container traffic to West and Central Asia is presently routed through Dubai ports. That will no longer be the case once Gwadar gets going.

Besides, the growing warmth in ties between India and the UAE with Narendra Modi's pivot to the Gulf is also understood to be in the backdrop of UAE-Pakistan rivalries besides other matters of strategic importance.

One of the strategic issues affecting Pakistan's relations with the UAE and Dubai is related to the rivalries within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The mutual mistrust between the two seems to have arisen following the rift between Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt on one side and Qatar on the other. In June 2017, the Saudis and the other three countries imposed air and land blockade on Qatar. They cut off all ties and withdrew their diplomats from Qatar accusing it of promoting terrorism among many other issues.

Pakistan finds itself caught between the rival Gulf blocs despite its traditional patron-client relations with Saudi Arabia and the fact that Saudi royals have bankrolled Pakistan for a long time.

Pakistan has also announced to send additional troops to Saudi Arabia on "training and advise" missions in a bid to assuage the ruffled feelings of Saudi Arabia.

The war in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia against the Iranian-backed Houthi insurgents brought immense pressure on Pakistan to send troops to join the Saudi forces. With a view to avoid getting caught between Saudi and Iranian rivalries, Pakistan managed to wriggle out of the situation but the issue still rankles in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

Despite Pakistan's placatory gestures, it finds itself on the horns of a dilemma in dealing with sensitive Gulf matters on many counts.

On the Saudi-Qatar dispute, it's a tougher call for Pakistan because Turkey has thrown its weight behind Qatar against Saudi-UAE combine. Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan wishes to emerge as Ottoman sultan in West Asia and become the leader of Sunni Muslims, an ambition that has riled Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Turkey and Pakistan have always had cozy bilateral relations but Erdogan has further strengthened them. Turkey's troops joined the Pakistan National Day parade in Islamabad in March 2017 along with Chinese troops. Erdogan has stood with Pakistan on issues on which even China abandoned it. Most recently, Turkey opposed the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)'s decision to put Pakistan on the watch list for terror financing even after Saudi Arabia backed down under US pressure and China stood aside.

It may also be recalled that Erdogan called for multilateral dialogue on Kashmir during his visit to India in April-May last year. Erdogan's position on Kashmir enhances Turkey's importance for Pakistan.

Turkey's proximity to Qatar, where it has stationed its troops, has upset both Saudi Arabia and UAE. But UAE has been more vocal against Turkey and its leaders have often traded barbs with Turkish leaders in media and on social media platforms. Turkey is also a factor in warming of Pakistans relations with Iran.

Therefore, there is more to Dubai's security chief's angry outburst on Twitter than the mere arrest of a few Pakistani nationals charged with smuggling drugs. Pakistan finds itself caught between rival GCC powers and the wider competing Islamic world politics.A Dutch attorney who lied to federal agents investigating former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced on Tuesday to 30 days in prison

Washington: A Dutch attorney who lied to federal agents investigating former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced on Tuesday to 30 days in prison in the first punishment handed down in the special counsel's Russia investigation. He was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

Alex van der Zwaan's sentence could set a guidepost for what other defendants charged with lying in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation may receive when their cases are resolved. Among them are a former White House national security adviser and a Trump campaign foreign policy aide.

Van der Zwaan, 33, had faced up to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, and his attorneys had pushed for him to pay a fine and leave the country.

But US district Judge Amy Berman Jackson, citing the need to deter others from lying in an investigation of international importance, said incarceration was necessary.

"These were not mistakes. These were lies," Jackson told van der Zwaan as he stood before her. Being able to "write a check and walk away," she added later, would not fit the seriousness of the crime or send the right message.

The criminal case against van der Zwaan is not directly related to Russian election interference, the main focus of Mueller's probe. But it has revealed new details about the government's case against Manafort and opened a window into the intersecting universes of international law, foreign consulting work and politics.

The case has also exposed connections between senior Trump campaign aides, including Rick Gates, and Russia. Just last week, the government disclosed that van der Zwaan and Gates spoke during the 2016 presidential campaign with a man Gates had previously described as having ties to the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency. Gates is now cooperating with Mueller.

During the hearing on Tuesday, van der Zwaan made only a brief statement, telling Jackson, "Your Honor, what I did was wrong. I apologise to the court. I apologise to my wife."

Van der Zwaan, who was fired in 2017 by the high-powered international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, admitted in February to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Gates and the person with ties to Russian intelligence.

Van der Zwaan had previously grown close to Manafort, Gates and the person, Konstantin Kilimnik, during his work on a 2012 report commissioned by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice. The report, written by the law firm, was about the corruption trial of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Kilimnik, who was born in Ukraine while it was a Soviet republic, has previously denied having any relation to Russian intelligence services.

Though prosecutors did not take a position on whether van der Zwaan should be locked up, they stressed that he had lied "repeatedly" to investigators. "This is not an isolated instance of bad judgment or criminal conduct," prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said.

Van der Zwaan's attorneys argued that he had suffered enough already. His life has been destroyed by his "terrible decision" to lie to federal authorities, they said. The attorneys pushed Jackson to allow van der Zwaan to return to London, where he lives with his wife, who is going through a difficult pregnancy.

"He has been here well over four months without a home, without his wife and without his family," his attorney, William Schwartz, said. "He is literally in limbo."

Schwartz stressed that his client had made the effort to return to the US to "correct the record" after he lied to the special counsel's office, though prosecutors took issue with the characterisation, noting that van der Zwaan was under a grand jury subpoena at the time.

Jackson said she recognised that van der Zwaan has been away from his family for months, but the defense's attempts to paint him as a tragic figure didn't ring true.

"This is not something that happened to him. He did not suffer unavoidable circumstances of tragedy. This is something he did," she said.

Jackson also said his signs of remorse were relatively "muted." He didn't write a letter to the judge, as his family and friends did, and hasn't used his time in the US to perform community service or other good deeds to make up for his actions, she said.

In addition to the prison time and fine, Jackson imposed two months of supervised released. She allowed him to voluntarily surrender to prison authorities.

The sentencing came just hours after another development in the special counsel's investigation.

In a court filing late Monday, prosecutors revealed that Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein had in August explicitly authorized the special counsel to investigate allegations that Manafort colluded with the Russian government.

Manafort has challenged Mueller's authority and asked a judge to dismiss charges against him that include acting as an unregistered foreign agent and conspiring to launder tens of millions of dollars he received from his Ukrainian political consulting. He said Mueller overstepped his bounds by charging him for conduct that occurred years before the 2016 presidential election.

But in their new filing , prosecutors revealed that Rosenstein  who appointed Mueller  specifically authorised the investigation of any crimes related to payments Manafort received from the Ukrainian government during the tenure of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. The description largely captures the charges against him.

Rosenstein also empowered Mueller to investigate allegations Manafort "committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials" to interfere with the presidential election.

None of the charges Manafort faces alleges coordination with the Kremlin. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing related to Russian election interference.Iran, Russia and Turkey have teamed up to forge a strong if brittle tripartite alliance aimed at holding ascendancy in Syria, taking advantage of the West's reluctance to engage militarily in the country

Ankara: Iran, Russia and Turkey have teamed up to forge a strong if brittle tripartite alliance aimed at holding ascendancy in Syria, taking advantage of the West's reluctance to engage militarily in the country.

The presidents of the three countries, long seen as regional rivals rather than strategic allies, will meet Wednesday in Ankara for their second three-way summit on Syria in a striking demonstration of unity.

This meeting, which follows the first tripartite summit between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Iran's Hassan Rouhani in Sochi last November, comes with Turkey seeking a louder voice after launching an offensive against Kurdish militia inside Syria.

US President Donald Trump has signalled that Washington will be withdrawing "very soon" from Syria, in a move that would cement the influence of Ankara, Moscow, and Tehran who have all committed military forces to the ground.

Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies think tank, said the three countries had now become the true masters on the ground in Syria.

Ulgen told AFP that the three have "been the regional powers that were willing to invest military resources to influence the outcome of the conflict."

'Built up leverage'

The three countries last year launched a parallel peace process to the UN-backed talks in Geneva. The talks, based in Astana, have convened multiple times albeit without any breakthrough.

"The Astana process is a vehicle through which Turkey, Russia, and Iran, are looking to manage the war and secure their various interests," said Elizabeth Teoman, a Turkey analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Russia has substantial air power in Syria while Iran has a strong presence on the ground, partly through militia groups which include foreign fighters.

But, Erdogan has increased Turkey's influence by launching in January an offensive to capture territory from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

The offensive has already succeeded in capturing the former YPG bastion of Afrin and Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to advance the push further east.

"Erdogan is a weaker partner in terms of ground forces and control over airspace. But, he has built up leverage and proven he can create facts on the ground," Teoman said.

'Stage management'

Yet analysts remain sceptical about the long term viability of an alliance between three powers who spent much of their imperial history at war and vying for influence in the Black Sea region.

In theory they also remain on different sides of the conflictwith Moscow and Tehran giving military support to the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad but Turkey repeatedly calling for Assad's ouster.

Turkey's focus now is to prevent the YPG from controlling an area that could form the base of a long autonomous region in postwar Syria from the Iraqi border to the Mediterranean.

Turkish officials say this would be a threat to national security.

Russia, meanwhile, wants to be able to extricate itself from Syria and not be bogged down in any quagmire reminiscent of the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

But, Iran's priority is to win major political influence so it can call the shots like in Iraq.

"Russia and Turkey have shared interests, but those interests are against Iran and the regime's, so you have Moscow trying to stage manage three partners that hate each other," said Aaron Stein, senior resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.

'Alignment of convenience'

Moscow and Ankara claim to have made up following the crisis that followed when Turkey shot down a Russian plane over Syria in 2015, and Putin met with Erdogan for a bilateral meeting on Tuesday.

Turkish officials acknowledge that Ankara could not have launched its operation against the YPG without a green light from Moscow.

"We wouldn't even have been able to put up a drone there!" Erdogan's advisor Ilnur Cevik told CNN Turk broadcaster.

Yet relations between Ankara and Moscow are never plain sailing and Turkey has been bitterly critical of the assault by Moscow's ally Assad on rebel-held Eastern Ghouta.

Turkish-Iranian relations have the potential to be even more tricky and Ankara has expressed uneasiness over Tehran's attitude towards Kurdish rebels.

Tehran angered Turkey by urging it to end its Syria offensive, while Cevik accused Iran of cooperating with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"Iran does not want Turkey to be strong," he said.

Jennifer Cafarella, a Syria expert at ISW, described Erdogan's relationship with Iran and Russia as an "alignment of convenience".

"He'll remain aligned with them as long as he deems it necessary to pursue his goals against the YPG," she saidFew generals anywhere can expect to receive the kind of media attention and analysis that General Qamar Javed Bajwa does when they go forth on their sojourns. The Pakistani Army chief therefore should be suitably pleased that his visit to the Maldives excited so much verbiage and analyses

Few generals anywhere can expect to receive the kind of media attention and analysis that General Qamar Javed Bajwa does when they go forth on their sojourns. The Pakistani Army chief therefore should be suitably pleased that his visit to the Maldives excited so much verbiage and analyses. Nobody cared very much that the visit was part of a larger one to South East Asia.

The visit would have generated speculation even in ordinary times. At a time when India and Maldives are at odds with each other and President Abdulla Yameen seems to be snug in the Chinese embrace, the visit has assumed added significance. Theres another appetiser. The visit also occurs at a time when discussion on a so-called Bajwa Doctrine is rife among analysts and Pakistani politicos alike, with the former willing to be convinced and the latter damning it at every forum.

The visit of the Pakistan Army chief occurred, very correctly, after the visit of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in July, when a rather anodyne joint communique committed both sides to cooperation between business councils, universities, and various training institutions including those of the civil services.

No bureaucrat in Pakistan is likely to refuse a quiet holiday in Male. Pakistan-Maldives relations improved significantly with the entry of President Yameen, who made a visit to Pakistan in May 2015, the first such visit in eleven years. Apart from commitment to increase tradechiefly in consumer goods from PakistanMaldivian nationals received scholarships for religious study in Pakistan.

When they returned home, they preached a highly puritanical version of Islam that was quite unknown in the archipelago. The end result has been the rise of the monster of radicalism in the tourist paradise. It also meant that Maldivian nationals joining the Islamic State were either training in Pakistan or travelling there to access extremist contacts. Thats a disease that many have contracted after increasing such educational ties with Pakistan.

Defence ties with Maldives were hardly of a scale to excite comment. Pakistan naval ships made regular port calls at Male from time to time. Maldives participated in the two yearly exercise Aman with Pakistan and other countries. That became an issue only when Maldives recently refused to take part in the Milan exercise with India in February 2018.

Meanwhile, talk of the extension of a credit line of $10 million, which had been apparent in 2016, does not seem to have gone forward, despite clearance by the Cabinet. Maldives wants aircraft. Pakistan probably can't provide any. Its all-weather friend certainly can. Expect the finances when the deal is properly incubated.

The deliverables for the visit of General Bajwa are therefore unclear. The defence ministry announced that teams from the National Counter Terrorism Centre will travel to Pakistan to further cooperation. Maldives is also part of the Saudi Arabia-led military alliance that is apparently focused on countering terrorism, and is headed by former military chief Raheel Sharif. Its rather ironic that the threat of radicalism in the archipelago arises from precisely these two countries.

There was also a reference during General Bajwas visit of joint patrolling of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Thats likely to catch New Delhis choleric eye. India shares maritime boundaries with its neighbours, and though the trilateral boundaries between India, Sri Lanka and India were demarcated in 1976, the fact remains that passage of Indian or other ships through the EEZ, which extends up to 200 nautical miles, is a hot issue at a time when the phrase free and fair navigation is at the heart of anti-China podiums.

Maldivian law states quite simply that no foreign vessel shall enter the exclusive economic zone of Maldives except with prior authorization from the Government of Maldives. This seems even stronger language than that of China, except that Maldives is in no position to enforce it. With Pakistani assistance, that may change to an extent. More assistance in this line will surely be with Chinese say so, with the idea of reducing reaction time for assistance of any kind.

More likely are disputes on the extent of the continental shelf, which is where the riches of the world are increasingly to be found. Maldives earlier submitted its claims to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. That claim overlaps with that of Sri Lanka, which is possibly why India reportedly backed off from providing a hydrological survey to Male, which would have helped it stake its claim.

India Maldives and Sri Lanka launched a Trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation at the level of the National Security Advisors in 2011, as a forum to allow quick decision making on all things maritime. The forum has had its share of successes in several areas. The problem, however, is that the Maldives leadership seems determined to make its anti-India position its chief Unique Selling Point.

In a situation where China is now extending its maritime activities into the Indian Ocean, there is potential for trouble. If China is using Pakistan as an extension counter, it gets even worse.Duterte has launched a foul-mouthed attack on the UN human rights chief, calling him 'empty-headed' in a row over international criticism of the drug war

Manila: President Rodrigo Duterte has launched a foul-mouthed attack on the UN human rights chief, calling him "empty-headed" in a row over international criticism of the Philippine leader's deadly drug war.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, had last month said Duterte needed "psychiatric evaluation" and that his verbal attacks on a United Nations rapporteur who condemned his anti-drug crackdown could not go unanswered.

"Hey son of a wh**e, you commissioner, I need to go to a psychiatrist?" asked Duterte in a speech late Tuesday.

"The psychiatrist told me: 'You are okay, mayor. You are just fond of cursing,'" Duterte said, referring to his former title.

The Philippine leader added he had been advised to refrain from commenting on the remarks of Zeid, a Jordanian prince, but he wanted to "seek revenge".

"Look, you have a big head but it's empty. There is no grey matter between your ears. It's hollow. It's empty. It cannot even sustain a nutrient for your hair to grow because his hair here is gone," Duterte said as he touched his head.

Duterte, 73, has launched curse-laden tirades on world leaders, including former US president Barack Obama and Pope Francis, as well as critics of his anti-crime crackdown.

Duterte won a presidential election in mid-2016 after promising to eradicate drugs in society within six months by killing tens of thousands of users and dealers.

Philippine police say they have killed roughly 4,100 suspects who fought back during arrest, but rights groups allege the actual number is three times higher and accuse the authorities of murder.

The International Criminal Court has launched a "preliminary examination" into killings in the anti-drug campaign.

Zeid, who has criticised alleged extrajudicial killings in the drug war, last month said Duterte's remarks about a UN rapporteur seeking to investigate the matter were "absolutely disgraceful".

Zeid in March also condemned Duterte's statement ordering troops to shoot female rebels in the vagina.

In Tuesday's speech, Duterte defended the comments along with his war on drugs.

"I am rude? I am really rude. There is nothing I can do about that," Duterte said.

"I kill people? Yes, I really kill people... go ahead and do drugs there. I already told you to stop."

Addressing human rights groups, Duterte said: "You are dreaming if you think you can jail me."Joining Dorsey were Uber Technologies Inc CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Box Inc CEO Aaron Levie, who respectively sent tweets on Tuesday saying #EndGunViolence and #NeverAgain

Several Silicon Valley leaders called for increased gun control on Tuesday afternoon after a woman at the headquarters of YouTube shot and wounded three people before taking her own life.

Tech companies have largely avoided the topic of gun control in the United States, but they have previously pushed for progressive stances on other hot-topic issues, ranging from climate change to same-sex marriage and comprehensive immigration reform. At least three major chief executives took up gun control after the shooting.

We cant keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it wont happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots, tweeted Twitter Inc and Square Inc CEO Jack Dorsey. Its beyond time to evolve our policies.

Joining Dorsey were Uber Technologies Inc CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Box Inc CEO Aaron Levie, who respectively sent tweets on Tuesday saying #EndGunViolence and #NeverAgain, two Twitter hashtags commonly used by proponents of gun control.

On behalf of the team at @Uber, sending support to everyone @YouTube and @Google, and gratitude to the heroic first responders, Khosrowshahi tweeted. Another tragedy that should push us again to #EndGunViolence

Emergency calls reporting gunfire in San Bruno, California, at the headquarters of Alphabet Incs YouTube began to pour in early Tuesday afternoon, according to the city of San Bruno. Authorities have not released the identities of the suspected shooter or the victims.

The tweets on Thursday could be an indication that Silicon Valley may soon weigh in on the epidemic of mass killings by firearms in the United States.

Incredibly sad to see the YouTube shooting today, Levie tweeted. Our thoughts are with our Google friends and their families. #NeverAgain

Sundar Pichai and Susan Wojcicki, the CEOs of Google and YouTube respectively, also issued statements on Tuesday while avoiding the topic of gun control.

There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today, Wojcicki said. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.

Other tech leaders expressed sympathy for the employees of YouTube on social media on Tuesday without referencing gun control. Those included Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook, Amazon.com Inc CEO Jeff Bezos, Salesforce.com Inc CEO Marc Benioff and Facebook Inc Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

From everyone at Apple, we send our sympathy and support to the team at YouTube and Google, especially the victims and their families, Cook said in a tweet.The head of the British military facility analysing the Novichok nerve agent used to poison Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter said on Wednesday it has 'not identified the precise source' of the substance.

London: The head of the British military facility analysing the Novichok nerve agent used to poison Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter said on Wednesday it has "not identified the precise source" of the substance.

Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Porton Down defence laboratory, told Britain's Sky News that analysts had identified it as military-grade Novichok, but they had not proved it was made in Russia.

"We have not identified the precise source, but we have provided the scientific info to government who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions," he said.

"It is our job to provide the scientific evidence of what this particular nerve agent is, we identified that it is from this particular family and that it is a military grade, but it is not our job to say where it was manufactured."

Aitkenhead added that "extremely sophisticated methods" were needed to create the nerve agent, and that was "something only in the capabilities of a state actor".

Sergei Skripal and his daughter have been in hospital since 4 March after the poisoning in Britain that London and its major Western allies have blamed on Russia.

The first use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II has chilled Moscow's relations with the West, as both sides have expelled scores of diplomats.

Moscow has denied any involvement in the incident, with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday suggesting that the British government may be behind the poisoning to distract attention from problems around Brexit.

Aitkenhead would not comment on whether Porton Down had developed or keeps stocks of Novichok, but he dismissed claims the agent used to poison the Skripals had come from the site.

"There is no way anything like that could have come from us or left the four walls of our facility," he said.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the world's chemical watchdog, will meet on Wednesday to discuss Britain's allegations that Russia was responsible for the poisoning, according to documents released on Tuesday.

It said Russia asked the OPCW, which has received samples of the Novichok used that it has been analysing, for the meeting.

The confidential gathering will start at 10 am (01.30 IST) at its headquarters in The Hague.The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has released a consolidated list of terrorist individuals and organisations on Wednesday, with 139 entries from Pakistan alone. The list includes prominent names such as Dawood Ibrahim and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has released a consolidated list of terrorist individuals and organisations, with 139 entries from Pakistan alone. The list includes prominent names such as Dawood Ibrahim and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed.

According to the Council, Dawood has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, CNN-News18 reported. The agency also claims that Dawood owns a palatial bungalow in Karachi.

Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed has been listed as a personnel wanted by the Interpol for involvement in terror activities.

According to Dawn, the list includes all those individuals who have either lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with organisations that used Pakistani territory to carry out their operations.

Osama bin Laden's heir apparent, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has also been named as a terrorist by the UNSC. The UN data claims that he is in hiding somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area. The UN list has also identified several of his aides, who the UN believe are hiding with him.

Ramzi Mohammad bin al-Sheibah, a Yemeni national and internationally well-known terrorist, has also been named in the UN list. He had been arrested in Karachi and handed over to the US authorities.

More than a dozen suspected terrorists are identified as arrested in Pakistan and handed over to the US authorities. Some of them had a Pakistani passport, issued by Pakistani missions in West Asia and renewed in Pakistan.

LeT is listed with its several aliases, such as al-Mansoorian, Paasban-i-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle Hadith, Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation.The shooter at the YouTube headquarters has been identified as Nasim Aghdam. California news outlets said she appeared to be a vegan-themed content creator.

The shooter who opened fire and injured three people at the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno on Wednesday has been identified as Nasim Aghdam. Californian news outlets said she appeared to be a vegan-themed content creator who has raged against YouTube on her personal website for what she saw as censorship of her videos.

"There is no free speech in real world and you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system," read a post on a website identified as hers by the San Francisco Chronicle. "There is no equal growth opportunity on YouTube or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to (sic)," she further said on her website.

Aghdam, in her late thirties, also said that "YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views".

CNET reported that she did not have any relationship with anyone at YouTube.

Amid a chaotic scene in the city of San Bruno, a woman believed to be the shooter was found dead at the scene of the Google-owned video sharing service, reported AFP.

"We have one subject who is deceased inside the building with a self-inflicted wound," San Bruno police chief Ed Barberini told reporters. "At this time, we believe it to be the shooter."

Officers arriving to numerous calls for help saw employees running from the building, and found a person out front who appeared to be shot in the leg, according to police.

Four people, three suffering from gunshot wounds, were taken to local hospitals, police said. The fourth person hurt suffered a sprained or broken ankle.

"I know a lot of you are in shock right now," Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a message to employees shared by the company on Twitter.

"I am grateful to everyone inside and outside the company for the outpouring of support and best wishes."

He thanked emergency workers for springing into action to help, and said that he and YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki were focused on supporting employees in the aftermath of the violence.

Shootings by women are a rare occurrence in the United States, where the overwhelming majority of gun violence is carried out by men.

According to an FBI study that looked at 160 incidents involving one or more shooters in public places between 2000 and 2013, just six of the people who opened fire were women, or 3.8 percent.

With inputs from AFPThose complaints included claims that YouTube was not sharing enough revenue with people who create videos for the platform.

A woman who had voiced complaints online about YouTube opened fire with a handgun at the tech companys headquarters near San Francisco on 3 April, wounding three people before shooting herself dead, authorities and media said.

It was the latest in a string of mass shootings in the United States in recent years. Most recently, the massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school has led to calls for tighter curbs on gun ownership. Police did not identify the suspect or say what might have motivated Tuesdays shooting at YouTube, a video-sharing service owned by Alphabet Incs Google which employs nearly 2,000 people at the San Bruno, California offices.

The woman approached an outdoor patio and dining courtyard on the campus around lunchtime and began to fire before entering the building, police said.

An affiliate of ABC and other local media, citing unnamed sources, identified the woman as Nasim Aghdam. San Bruno police officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the identity of the attacker.

YouTube spokeswoman Jessica Mason could not immediately be reached for comment on the identification by media.

The website NasimeSabz.com, which media said was linked to the attacker, had several posts about Persian culture and veganism, interspersed with screeds against YouTube. Those complaints included claims the company was not sharing enough revenue with people who create videos for the platform.

There is no equal growth opportunity on YouTube, or any other video-sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to, read one posting on the site. A YouTube account in the name of Nasime Sabz was deleted in the evening on 3 April.

A US government security official told Reuters there was no known connection to terrorism. ABC News, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said the suspect was 35 to 40 years old and lived in Southern California.

A YouTube product manager, Todd Sherman, described on Twitter hearing people running, first thinking it was an earthquake before he was told that a person had a gun. At that point, every new person I saw was a potential shooter. Someone else said that the person shot out the back doors and then shot themselves, Sherman said in a tweet.

I looked down and saw blood drips on the floor and stairs. Peeked around for threats and then we headed downstairs, and out the front, Sherman said.

In a recording of a 911 call posted online by the Los Angeles Times, a dispatcher can be heard saying: Shooter. Another party said they spotted someone with a gun. The suspect came from the back patio ... Again we have a report of a subject with a gun. They heard seven or eight shots being fired.

Dozens of emergency vehicles quickly converged on the YouTube campus, and police could be seen on televised aerial video systematically frisking several employees leaving the area with their hands raised.

One victim, a 36-year-old man, was listed in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A 32-year-old woman was listed in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. The authorities did not release names of the victims.

The three patients taken to San Francisco General Hospital were all awake, Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, told a news conference. All were victims of gunshot wounds, Campbell said, but none of them had undergone surgery.

A fourth person was taken to a local hospital with an ankle injury from fleeing the scene.

Its with great sadness that I tell you - based on the latest information - four people were injured in this horrific act of violence, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in letter to employees posted on Twitter.

There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support.  Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 3, 2018

I know a lot of you are in shock right now. Over the coming days, we will continue to provide support to help everyone in our Google family heal from this unimaginable tragedy. In a separate tweet, Pichai said he and YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki were focused on supporting our employees and the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he had been briefed on the shooting. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved, Trump tweeted. Thank you to our phenomenal law enforcement officers and first responders that are currently on the scene.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

In response, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey tweeted: We cant keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it wont happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots. Its beyond time to evolve our policies.

Last month, YouTube announced it would ban content promoting the sale of guns and gun accessories, as well as videos that teach how to make guns.

Female mass shooters are rare. A recent Washington Post analysis shows only three of 150 US shootings with more than four victims since 1966 were carried out by women. In 2015, a husband and wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.Encana (NYSE:OVV) has shifted its focus in recent years. Gone are the days of increasing production no matter the cost. Replacing that mind-set is an aim to grow cash flow and shareholder returns.

That shift is leading the company to take innovative approaches to not only drilling new wells but in building the infrastructure needed to support future production. That creativity was on full display with this latest deal.

Drilling down

Encana announced this week that it reached an innovative agreement with Keyera Corp. (TSX:KEY), a midstream company in Canada. Under the terms of the deal, Keyera would acquire and fund the remaining development of Encana's Pipestone Liquids Hub as well as the planned Pipestone Processing Facility. Encana will receive 39 million Canadian dollars ($30 million) at closing, while Keyera will spend the estimated CA$105 million ($81 million) needed to finish construction on these projects. Once they start up, Keyera will provide Encana with processing services in the Montney shale of Canada under a competitive fee-for-service agreement, which will increase its flexibility while reducing its financial obligations.

That agreement is worth noting because it's a departure from the traditional take-or-pay contract structure that producers typically sign for midstream services. Those agreements, which require that producers pay for a specified level of volumes on pipelines and processing plants, provide midstream companies with predictable cash flow. However, those fees have proven burdensome to drillers when commodity prices are in decline.

Chesapeake Energy (OTC:CHKA.Q) was one of the many drillers hamstrung by midstream contracts during the recent industry downturn. The company had secured several long-term service agreements with midstream companies to support future growth during the boom years. However, when oil and gas prices dropped, Chesapeake Energy couldn't increase its volumes to meet those minimum volume commitments. That negatively impacted margins, further hindering its ability to grow. Because of that, Chesapeake Energy restructured many of its midstream agreements in 2016 to gain some additional breathing room.

Focused on growing what matters most

Encana's transaction with Keyera shares many of the similarities to the company's groundbreaking midstream agreement in 2014 with Veresen, which is now part of Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA). Under that deal, Encana sold some of its natural gas gathering and compression assets to a joint venture between Veresen and a private equity fund. That entity pledged to invest upwards of CA$5 billion ($3.9 billion) in developing midstream assets for Encana. These included the Sunrise, Tower, and Saturn gas processing plants, which Pembina completed last year, as well as the Towerbirch pipeline that linked those plants to a large midstream system in the region.

Not only did that agreement offload the capital cost to construct those and future assets, but the deal structure reduced "Encana's commitments compared to the typical "take-or-pay" fee structure embedded in traditional midstream arrangements," according to the company. As a result, it increased "Encana's financial flexibility and mitigate[ed] its exposure to long-term unutilized demand charges." This most recent deal with Keyera features those same benefits.

These creative transactions allow Encana to focus on drilling wells that maximize its returns, not fulfill an obligation. That approach has it on pace to increase cash flow at a 25% compound annual rate through 2022, and that's assuming $50 oil. In fact, the company's current plan would see it generate more than $1.5 billion in excess cash over that timeframe since it doesn't need to plow every dollar into increasing production.

Focused on growing value

Encana has creatively pursued midstream agreements that keep it in control over its destiny. Consequently, it can drill wells that create value for investors as opposed to those needed to meet a commitment. That value-focused growth has the company on pace to generate significant cash flow in the coming years, which should boost shareholder value, especially as it uses a growing portion of that excess to buy back its beaten-down stock, including plans to repurchase $400 million this year alone.Whether you're in the early stages of your career or have spent three decades or more in the workforce, it's never the wrong time to be focusing on retirement. Here's what you need to know about retirement planning this year.

Finding a home for your savings

When it comes to retirement savings, most people are looking at two main options for stashing their money: IRAs and 401(k)s. The latter, however, generally relies on your employer offering such a plan, though it's estimated that 79% of Americans work for companies that sponsor 401(k)s.

IRAs and 401(k)s each have their own advantages and drawbacks. The problem with IRAs is that their annual contribution limits are considerably lower than what 401(k)s allow for. If you're under 50, you can put up to $5,500 away this year in your IRA. If you're 50 or older, you get a catch-up provision that raises this limit to $6,500.

Employer-sponsored 401(k)s, on the other hand, come with an annual contribution limit of $18,500 for workers under 50, and $24,500 for those 50 and older. This represents a $500 increase from last year. In addition, since many companies are willing to match employee contributions to a certain degree, you may get a chance to put even more money away in a 401(k) this year.

On the other hand, 401(k)s tend to offer fewer investment options than IRAs, and that could pose a problem on two levels. First, you might struggle to find investments that align with your risk tolerance and strategy, but secondly, you might lose more money to investment fees in a 401(k) than in an IRA -- though this isn't always the case, as it will depend on the specific investments you choose.

Both IRAs and 401(k)s come in the traditional and Roth variety. With the former, your money goes in tax-free, but withdrawals are taxable in retirement. With the latter, you don't get a write-off for the 2018 tax year for making contributions, but when the time comes to take distributions in retirement, that money is yours clear and free of taxes. Keep in mind, however, that there are income limits for contributing to a Roth IRA directly.

Saving for retirement when you're self-employed

One downside of working for yourself is not getting access to an employer-sponsored 401(k). But that doesn't mean you're out of options. In addition to the traditional or Roth IRA, you have two other choices: the SIMPLE IRA and the SEP IRA.

With a SIMPLE IRA, you can contribute up to $12,500 this year if you're under 50, or $15,500 if you're 50 or older. Keep in mind, however, that if you open a SIMPLE IRA and have employees, you're required to match contributions either by contributing a fixed rate of 2% of every employee's compensation up to a maximum of $5,500, or by matching employee contributions dollar for dollar up to a maximum of 3% of compensation. If you're self-employed, you're considered both the employer and employee for contribution purposes.

With a SEP IRA, you can contribute up to 25% of your earnings for a maximum of $55,000, which represents a $1,000 increase from the previous year. That 25%, however, applies to net earnings from your business, which are figured by taking your gross income and subtracting both your SEP IRA contribution as well as half of your self-employment tax. Furthermore, you should know that if you own a business with employees, you're required to make the same contribution percentage-wise to their accounts as you do to your own.

How should you save this year?

Given the number of savings options out there, choosing the right retirement plan may be easier said than done. To help guide your decision, ask yourself the following questions:

How much money am I looking to contribute this year?

Do I need a tax break this year?

Is it important to me to have tax-free income in retirement?

The following table will help you compare your retirement savings options to see which type of plan might be the best one for you:

Item Traditional IRA Roth IRA SEP IRA SIMPLE IRA 401(k) Roth 401(k) Annual contribution limit $5,500 if you're under 50; $6,500 if you're 50 or older $5,500 if you're under 50; $6,500 if you're 50 or older 25% of earnings, up to $55,000 $12,500 if you're under 50; $15,500 if you're 50 or older $18,500 if you're under 50; $24,500 if you're 50 or older $18,500 if you're under 50; $24,500 if you're 50 or older Taxes on contribution dollars Contributions are made with pre-tax dollars Contributions are made with after-tax dollars Contributions are made with pre-tax dollars Contributions are made with pre-tax dollars Contributions are made with pre-tax dollars Contributions are made with after-tax dollars Taxes on withdrawals Withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income Withdrawals are tax-free Withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income Withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income Withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income Withdrawals are tax-free

No matter which type of plan you opt for, let 2018 be the year in which you contribute as much as you can. The more money you set aside today, the more you stand to retire with -- and that's something you'll come to appreciate once the time comes to bring your career to a close.Red Roof Announces Expansion of The Red Collection with Addition of Springfield, Illinois Property

Demand for City-Center Affordable Hyper-Local Hotels Remains Strong

April 04, 2018 // Franchising.com // Springfield, IL - Following the successful launch of its first soft brand and the growing demand for affordable and accessible hotels, Red Roof is introducing a second property in The Red Collection in Springfield, Illinois. The State House Inn, located in the capital city of the state, is slated to open for business in September, as Red Roof expands its footprint with Packard Hospitality Management, LLC, a veteran franchisee in the industry. Based on comprehensive consumer research, Red Roof created The Red Collection to bring modern and affordable accommodations to the hearts of cities travelers love. The Red Collections flagship location, The St. Clair Hotel in Downtown Chicago, will open later this year.

The State House Inn is one of seven Red Roof properties franchised by Packard Hospitality Management, a true model partner for Red Roof since 2015. The group owns and operates properties across the Red Roof portfolio, including Red Roof Inn locations, Red Roof PLUS+ locations and now the latest property in The Red Collection.

The State House Inn will undergo a full renovation and feature 125 guest rooms. Located in the heart of the Downtown Springfield, guests will be just a short walk away from the Illinois State Capitol, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and the Illinois State Museum, offering an ideal location for guests traveling for government business and tourists visiting historic sites in the area. The State House Inn will provide Red Roof brand standards including Fast. Free. Verified. Wi-Fi., a pet-friendly policy at no additional cost and participation in RediCard.

Packard Hospitality Management is introducing the first franchised property of The Red Collection, a testament to the demand we see for unique and affordable hotels located in the centers of cities travelers love, says Phil Hugh, Chief Development Officer, Red Roof. The Red Collection is an attractive offering for franchisees as Red Roof continues the expansion of sub-brands in our portfolio to accommodate the diverse needs of travelers across the country.

The Red Collection is a portfolio of unique city-center hotels that are hyper-local, drawing inspiration from the local vibe and culture of the city centers in which they are located. Future growth of the soft brand includes a focus on locations in major cities, state capitals and resort destinations, providing modern, affordable and authentic experiences to guests.

The State House Inn in Springfield, Illinois is the perfect property for our first franchised venture as part of The Red Collection, added Michael Goldstein, President and CEO, Packard Hospitality Management. Based on the consumer research Red Roof conducted, we know that hyper-local and affordable city-center hotels are in demand, providing us with enhanced opportunities to continue our successful development track record in the industry.

The Red Collection is a proof point of the impressive growth of the brand. Over the past three years, Red Roof has grown more than 41 percent, reaching a total of 539 locations. There are more than 30 properties already scheduled to open later this year, including The St. Clair Hotel and The State House Inn. By the end of 2018, Red Roof expects to have a portfolio of 600 properties across all sub-brands.

About Red Roof

Red Roof is a leader in the economy lodging industry with franchised, corporate-managed, and corporate owned properties, serving millions of guests each year. With coast-to-coast locations, Red Roof has over 500 properties in the U.S. Red Roof is also expanding internationally to Brazil, Canada, Thailand and Japan. The primary goal at Red Roof is to provide customers savings without sacrificing comfort so they can Sleep Easy. Spend Less. The brand has been investing significantly to renovate and upgrade hotels nationwide with sleek and modern NextGen redesign elements. The Red Roof NextGen hotels feature updated, stylish and home-like interior and exterior designs that demonstrate the Red Roof dedication to providing customers with an affordable stay in a clean, comfortable and modern room. Next, the company rolled out Red Roof PLUS+, an enhanced Upscale Economy offering at a value price. The brand also launched The Red Collection, a city-center soft brand made up of unique hyper-local hotels that reside In the Hearts of Cities You Love. Red Roof offers franchisees Genuine Relationships. Real Results.. The Red Roof loyalty program, RediCard, is the richest in the industry rewarding members with free nights with only 7,000 points, advance notice of special offers, and complimentary bottled water each day of their stay. Guests receive the Best Price Always by booking directly on redroof.com thanks to RediPromise. Traveling with your pet? Dont forget that at Red Roof you stay happy, pets stay free as one well-behaved pet is welcome per room, nationwide. For more information or reservations, call 800.RED.ROOF (800.733.7663) or visit www.redroof.com.

Media Contact:

Harry Kroll

Hill + Knowlton Strategies

305.443.5454

harry.kroll@hkstrategies.com

SOURCE Red Roof

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DisqusRespected agricultural economist John Nix, best known as the originator of the Farm Management Pocketbook, has died aged 90.

Professor Nix, a fellow of Wye College, University of London, died on 14 March.

The first edition of his pocketbook was published in 1966  and has stood the test of time ever since, cementing his reputation as a pioneer of farm business benchmarking.

See also: Why you should use bench-marking on your farm

Now in its 48th edition, and known as the John Nix Farm Management Pocketbook, it remains a vital management tool for many farmers, consultants, academics and students.

During a lengthy career, Professor Nix was the recipient of many awards and accolades in recognition of his contribution to agricultural economics and farm management.

He was the first recipient of the Institute of Agricultural Management National Award (1982) and the recipient of the inaugural Agricultural Communicators Award (1999).

Early years

Born in 1927, the young John Nix was adopted by foster parents as a child and brought up on a council estate in south-east London.

He was the only child on the estate to pass the 11-plus at that time and showed his genius for numbers at an early age.

War interrupted his education but he won scholarships to attend London and Exeter universities to study economics.

He opted for Exeter and the then University College of the South West. The family had very little money, so he would cycle back home to London, stopping en-route in barns.

When Prof Nix left Exeter, he secured a three-year graduate position as an instructor lieutenant with the Royal Navy from 1948-51.

He had hoped to see the world  but never left the dry dock on HMS Ganges in Harwich.

During this time, he had stayed in touch with his university director of studies, who tipped him off about a job in the farm economics department of Cambridge Universitys School of Agriculture.

It was at Cambridge he turned his talent for numbers into a practical management tool.

Flourishing career

He gathered information from farmers across East Anglia, realising that farming techniques, in his words, were outstripping the quality and quantity of data available.

He then moved to Wye College in 1961 as farm management liaison officer and lecturer.

He flourished in the smaller academic environment, where he founded and published the first edition of the Pocketbook in 1966.

He was given his personal chair, the first in farm business management in the UK, in 1982, and in 1995 was made a fellow of Wye College.

In 2007, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society of England and four years later received the 2011 Agricultural Economics Society Award for Excellence.

Well-respected

A fellow of the Institute of Agricultural Management, Royal Agricultural Society of England and the Royal Society of Arts, he received at least two lifetime achievement awards.

These were awarded by the NFU (2006) and Farmers Weekly (2014).

In making Professor Nix the recipient of its lifetime achievement award, Farmers Weekly described him as the pioneer of benchmarking in British agriculture.

It added: He has helped to empower farmers, and those who advise them, to manage their businesses better and more profitably.

Placing Professor Nixs death announcement in the Daily Telegraph, his wife Sue described him as a treasured husband, very dear father, grandfather and friend.

She added: He was loved and deeply respected by generations of students, by fellow academics and throughout the agricultural industry, to which he contributed so much during his long and illustrious career.

A funeral service will be held at 2.30pm on Friday 20 April, at the Church of St Gregory and St Martin, Wye, Kent, with a memorial service due to take place in London at a later date.Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.President of Georgia pardons 64 prisoners regarding the Easter Holiday - GeorgianJournalConsenSys India launches its first blockchain training program in India News oi-Vishal Kawadkar A new blockchain training program.

Close on the heels of its MoU with the Government of Andhra Pradesh, ConsenSys India, the Indian cohort of the global blockchain specialist firm ConsenSys, has partnered with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to launch the first edition of its Indian educational initiative - the ConsenSys India Developer Program in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

The ConsenSys India Developer Program is a unique, end-to-end blockchain training program. For the first time, some of the leading developers on Ethereum will come together to teach this course, enabling participants to become proficient solidity coders. It will be held over the course of five weekends - beginning on June 9th, 2018 with an introduction to blockchain technology and deep dive into the Ethereum blockchain. On the 6th weekend, there will be a two-day hackathon where students will be divided into teams to build projects based on their learnings. The hackathon will be followed by a graduation ceremony where students will be issued a ConsenSys India Developer certification on the blockchain and be given a chance to join the ConsenSys India team.

The education program is part of a broader partnership between ConsenSys India and the Government of Andhra Pradesh and signals the government's firm resolve to make the state a hub for blockchain-based innovation. The fees for the course is USD 3000 but ConsenSys has decided to subsidize 30 percent of the total fee amount, making it available for just USD 2100. Additionally, the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh has graciously decided to facilitate a loan for USD 1500 for students who are accepted into the program. Individuals wishing to avail of this facility must acquire the loan amount beforehand and pay the entire fees of USD 2100 to ConsenSys India by June 4, 2018. Program participants who graduate successfully and are hired by ConsenSys India after the program will be reimbursed USD 600.

On the launch of the ConsenSys India Developer Program, Hon'ble IT Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Lokesh Nara said, "The Blockchain space in India is progressing so quickly, traditional education programs are finding it difficult to keep up with the pace. As blockchain takes off, there must be an adequate availability of talented developers adept at creating blockchain solutions. Therefore, the launch of the ConsenSys India Developer Program in Vizag is a huge step to create a blockchain development taskforce, as the coastal town continues to emerge as the hub of blockchain technology in India"

The highly selective Developer Program will start accepting applications on April 16th, 2018. Experts in the fields of data science, computer science, engineering, software programming, PhDs, students, and hackers are all welcome to enroll.

The rigorous selection process will involve a coding test, as well as consideration of applicants' backgrounds and experience through their resumes and githubs. The competitive process will narrow down the pool of candidates to a carefully curated class of 100- 130 enrollees.

In addition to end-to-end Ethereum centric coursework, students will be exposed to several unique topics covered during the program. They will learn how to program smart contracts and use Consensys' proprietary developer tools like MetaMask, Infura, Truffle, and uPort. Most significantly, many of the students will be given an opportunity to join ConsenSys India once the program is completed. Those who are interested in applying may visit ConsenSys India's website: https://www.consensysindia.com/

The course will culminate in a two-day hackathon followed by a graduation ceremony where blockchain-based course certificates will be issued to the students. The graduation ceremony will be felicitated by the Hon'ble IT Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Lokesh Nara and the founder of ConsenSys, Mr. Joseph Lubin.

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 Galaxy J7 (2018) aka Galaxy J7 Duo to offer Bixby support News oi-Chandrika The Samsung Galaxy J7 Duo could be the first mid-range device from the company to offer Bixby support.

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2018) had previously appeared in quite a few leaks with the model number SM-J720F. Interestingly, SamMobile has obtained a leaked manual of a smartphone called Galaxy J7 Duo which carries the same model number. This means, the Galaxy J7 (2018) will be launched as the Galaxy J7 Duo.

The leaked manual also reveals some of the key details of the Samsung Galaxy J7 Duo. The smartphone apparently flaunts a dual camera setup at its rear panel. It will also support Samsung's voice assistant, Bixby. If this leak is legit, then the Galaxy J7 Duo will be the first mid-range device from the company to offer Bixby support.

However, do note that the Galaxy J7 Duo will not feature a dedicated Bixby button; so users will only get access to Bixby Home and Bixby Reminder. Finally, the manual shows that the smartphone has a removable battery, but smartphones in the J-lineup has always packed non-removable battery.

When it comes to specifications, the Galaxy J7 Duo is expected to arrive with a 5.5-inch 720p display. Under its hood, the smartphone is likely to make use of an Exynos 7885 processor, clubbed with 3GB/4GB RAM depending on the variant.

The phone's dual rear camera setup is said to comprise of a 13MP primary sensor and a 5MP secondary sensor. At the front, there could be an 8MP selfie snapper with flash. On the software front, the Galaxy J7 Duo will reportedly run on Android 8.0 Oreo operating system right out of the box.

The Samsung Galaxy J7 Duo aka Galaxy J7 (2018) was spotted on Geekbench, where it scored almost 1199 points in the single-core test and 3803 points in the multi-core test. The smartphone also visited FCC certification site, and it was listed with connectivity features such as Bluetooth 5.0, FDD Band 5, Band 7, Band 38 and Band 41. The Galaxy J7 (2018) has also received its Wi-Fi certification with Android Oreo.

There are no details on the device's pricing and release date yet. We will provide with updates as soon as we get new information.

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 Galaxy S9 too costly? A cheaper variant is in the making News oi-Chandrika The last time that Samsung launched such a device was Galaxy S5 Mini in 2014.

Samsung seems to be working on a mini variant of its newly launched flagship Galaxy S9. A smartphone bearing the model number SM-G8750 has been spotted on Geekbench, along with some of its key specs. While the name of the phone is not mentioned, the device is speculated to be the mini variant of the Galaxy S9.

According to the Geekbench database, the alleged Samsung Galaxy S9 Mini is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, coupled with 4GB of RAM. The benchmark listing further reveals, the smartphone runs on Android 8.0 Oreo operating system. It managed to score 1619 points in the single-core test and 5955 in the multi-core test.

Looking at the specs, we can say that the Galaxy S9 Mini will be a mid-range smartphone. In any case, we can't draw any conclusions yet as more information is expected to emerged in the following days. However, we can make an educated guess about the phone's price. Since the mini variant is basically the watered-down version of the Galaxy S9, it would be not too costly.

Late last year, reports coming out of South Korea claimed that Samsung would launch the Galaxy S9 Mini alongside the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. However, this never happened. Do note that, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S7 were also rumored to have a mini variant, but the rumors didn't pan out.

In fact, the last time that the company launched such a device was the Galaxy S5 Mini in the year 2014. So we recommend you to take this information with a pinch of salt or two.

Some manufacturers including Sony (and HTC at one point of time) come up with 'mini' versions of their flagships. The mini versions usually come with similar hardware specs to their larger siblings, but a few differences in the display size, screen resolution, and battery capacity.

As mentioned, Samsung has not issued any statement on this regard. So we are not tossing out the possibility of the SM-G8750 being some other device.

Image source

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow NotificationsNews - NZ sales NZ sales: Holdens Commodore lifts Commodore gives Holden some joy by topping New Zealand passenger car sales



With 310 sales last month  its first full month of sales  the German-built large car outsold rivals such as the Mazda CX-5 (303 sales) and frequent NZ market leader Toyota Corolla (287) to lead the passenger segment.



However, all these passenger models trailed the dominant light truck leaders for outright sales honours, with no fewer than five one-tonne utes topping the NZ sales charts again last month.



Toyotas HiLux (915 sales) pushed the previous months top seller, the Ford Ranger (912), into second place in March, with the Holden Colorado (427), Mitsubishi Triton (382) and Nissan Navara (315) filling the next three slots.



The Commodore came in at sixth place overall, up from 10th place in February when the redesigned model started filtering out of showrooms in place of the Australian-built version that went out of production in October last year.



Despite the sales lift by the big Holden, combined passenger car and SUV sales declined 2.0 per cent or 180 vehicles, to 9050 units, and it was left to the booming commercial vehicle segment  up 7.3 per cent, to 4978 sales  to lift the NZ market into positive territory, up 1.1 per cent, to 14,028 vehicles.



After the first quarter, the NZ market is running 2.3 per cent ahead of last year, with 40,356 sales for the three months.



MIA chief executive officer David Crawford said the economic factors of the past two years were still largely present, with strong net immigration, affordable prices and a strong economy.



Perennial market leader Toyota topped both the passenger car and commercial vehicle sales segments in March to again take top spot on the overall sales ladder, with 2421 sales for a dominant 17.2 per cent market share.



Ford again came second on the strength of its Ranger ute, taking a 11.0 per cent share with 1151 sales.



Mitsubishi (1104 sales, 7.8 per cent share) pipped Holden for third place, with the latter scoring 1100 sales and 7.8 per cent share.



Mazda (1017 and 7.2 per cent), Nissan (686 and 4.9 per cent) and Honda (636 and 4.5 per cent) were up next, just ahead of the Korean duo Hyundai (631 and 4.4 per cent) and Kia (617 and 4.4 per cent).



The 4x4 and 4x2 pick-up segments combined accounted for more than a quarter of all NZ sales (26.5 per cent), but the medium SUV class was the strongest single segment, with 16.1 per cent of all sales.



The top-selling rental car in March was the Ford Ranger with 40 sales, ahead of the BMW X5 (20) and Mitsubishi ASX (12).



The Toyota Corolla (4) slipped to 10th place on the rental sales chart, but with 706 sales YTD, it still holds a huge first-quarter lead over its Toyota stablemates, the Highlander (314) and RAV4 (222).



NZ Top 10 Brands, February 2018 Brand Sales %Share Toyota 2421 17.2 Ford 1551 11.0 Mitsubishi 1104 7.8 Holden 1100 7.8 Mazda 1017 7.2 Nissan 686 4.9 Honda 636 4.5 Hyundai 631 4.4 Kia 617 4.4 Suzuki 609 4.3 *Excludes on-road costs

The Road to Recovery podcast series HOLDENS all-new ZB Commodore was the top-selling passenger car in New Zealand in March, according to data supplied by the Motor Industry Association (MIA).With 310 sales last month  its first full month of sales  the German-built large car outsold rivals such as the Mazda CX-5 (303 sales) and frequent NZ market leader Toyota Corolla (287) to lead the passenger segment.However, all these passenger models trailed the dominant light truck leaders for outright sales honours, with no fewer than five one-tonne utes topping the NZ sales charts again last month.Toyotas HiLux (915 sales) pushed the previous months top seller, the Ford Ranger (912), into second place in March, with the Holden Colorado (427), Mitsubishi Triton (382) and Nissan Navara (315) filling the next three slots.The Commodore came in at sixth place overall, up from 10th place in February when the redesigned model started filtering out of showrooms in place of the Australian-built version that went out of production in October last year.Despite the sales lift by the big Holden, combined passenger car and SUV sales declined 2.0 per cent or 180 vehicles, to 9050 units, and it was left to the booming commercial vehicle segment  up 7.3 per cent, to 4978 sales  to lift the NZ market into positive territory, up 1.1 per cent, to 14,028 vehicles.After the first quarter, the NZ market is running 2.3 per cent ahead of last year, with 40,356 sales for the three months.MIA chief executive officer David Crawford said the economic factors of the past two years were still largely present, with strong net immigration, affordable prices and a strong economy.Perennial market leader Toyota topped both the passenger car and commercial vehicle sales segments in March to again take top spot on the overall sales ladder, with 2421 sales for a dominant 17.2 per cent market share.Ford again came second on the strength of its Ranger ute, taking a 11.0 per cent share with 1151 sales.Mitsubishi (1104 sales, 7.8 per cent share) pipped Holden for third place, with the latter scoring 1100 sales and 7.8 per cent share.Mazda (1017 and 7.2 per cent), Nissan (686 and 4.9 per cent) and Honda (636 and 4.5 per cent) were up next, just ahead of the Korean duo Hyundai (631 and 4.4 per cent) and Kia (617 and 4.4 per cent).The 4x4 and 4x2 pick-up segments combined accounted for more than a quarter of all NZ sales (26.5 per cent), but the medium SUV class was the strongest single segment, with 16.1 per cent of all sales.The top-selling rental car in March was the Ford Ranger with 40 sales, ahead of the BMW X5 (20) and Mitsubishi ASX (12).The Toyota Corolla (4) slipped to 10th place on the rental sales chart, but with 706 sales YTD, it still holds a huge first-quarter lead over its Toyota stablemates, the Highlander (314) and RAV4 (222).*Excludes on-road costs

Eicher Motors Shares Rally 4.5% On Royal Enfield Capacity Expansion Plans Business oi-Roshni Agarwal

Shares of Eicher Motors jumped 4.5% in intra-day trade on Wednesday, the highest since February 1 on the back of Royal Field's announcement to increase its capacity output.

As per a filing with the exchange, the company announced capacity optimisation at its Oragadam facility near Chennai in Tamil Nadu in this financial year. The company will also incur an expenditure of Rs. 800 crore at the nearby Vallam Vadagal facility as part of the phase-2 expansion. The company also indicated plans to set up wholly-owned subsidiary units in Thailand and Indonesia.

In a statement Siddhartha Lal, managing director and chief executive officer at Eicher Motors Ltd said, "Our demand continues to exceed supply, and we continue to see strong growth from all our markets". He added, "Therefore, we have decided to expand our production capacity."

The company said the optimization plan at the company's Oragadam facility would increase its production capacity to 9.5 lakh units in comparison to 9 lakh units.

In the past decade, the stock returned a huge 11,000% return to its shareholders as the demand for the company's motorbike Royal Enfield increased.

At 3:20 pm, the stock quoted higher by 3.29% at Rs. 28,974 on the BSE.

Goodreturns.in

For investment related articles, business news and mutual fund advise Allow Notifications

Story first published: Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 15:29 [IST]3 1 of 3 Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Greenwich Avenue: U.K.-based retailer JoJo Maman Bebe has plans to open its Greenwich Avenue store around May, while its Westport shop will likely launch shortly before. The childrens clothing brand, which has gained much popularity abroad, runs nearly 90 stores in the U.K. Greenwich Avenue and the Westport Playhouse will host some of the retailers first American stores. A third is also planned for Hoboken, N.J.GREENWICH  A Cos Cob man is facing maximum of 30 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing nearly $900,000 from a Greenwich couple.

Georges Avridor, 42, of Valley Street, was working as a driver for the Greenwich residents from 2013 through 2016. According to an indictment, he entered their home, stole checks, forged signatures and made substantial withdrawals from their joint account at a local bank. On other occasions, he transferred funds to his own account, the indictment said.

The U.S. attorney for Connecticut determined that Avridor stole a total of $889,425 through these methods. He was arrested June 30, 2017, and he pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud this week in federal court in Bridgeport. He has been free on $50,000 bond.

Avridor, who was recently divorced, according to court records, previously lived in Stamford.

He was arrested in Greenwich on an earlier occasion, as well as in Stamford.

In Greenwich, he was charged with fourth-degree larceny, a misdemeanor, by town police in 2003. He did not show up for his court dates on that arrest, according to legal records, and he was additionally charged with failure to appear in 2011 when he was pulled over at a traffic stop. He later paid fines for those misdemeanor cases.

When Avridor was working at a Stamford photo shop in 1995, he was charged with 13 counts of illegal use of a credit card, and a felony count of larceny. Stamford police said at the time he was writing up dummy transactions on credit card accounts. Avridor has been required to turn in his passport as part of his bond conditions, and he is forbidden from leaving the state without special permission.

A sentencing date has not been scheduled.

The case was investigated by the Greenwich Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service and the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller.CAYEY, Puerto Rico - Norma Ramos and Helga Marrero stood outside, chatting, as a Thursday afternoon dusk diluted the last bits of blue sky and sunshine in La Merced.

Nearly every cement-block house along their meandering mountain road flickered to life as indoor lighting flashed on. A girl ran through the barrio and yelled, "Luz!" Power had returned. But the electrification only went as far as the bakery on the corner, where the linemen piled into bucket trucks and called it a day.

For Ramos and Marrero, one more long-suffering day. Who knew how much longer it would be until they, too, could rejoice at flipping a switch?

"Sunday," Ramos said, reaching for a flashlight. "They promised we'd have electricity by Sunday. I guess I can wait. I've waited this long."

The neighbors belong to a community along Puerto Rico's "last mile," the cluster of communities marking Hurricane Maria's destructive path across difficult and isolated terrain, from the island's southeast corner through the central mountains and out the northwest coast. They are among the last people on the island still without power, more than six months after the storm.

The hurricane knocked down the frail power grid that distributes wattage from generation plants in the south across transmission towers spread like dominoes along the peaks of the island's mountains. The local public utility, which struggled to maintain normalcy in good times, has been trying alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore electrical service since September.

It has been a wearisome operation tainted by allegations of corruption and coordination, meltdowns, and the cacophony of politics, experts say. Many residents report that having been without power for so long has led them to lose faith in the state-owned power company and, ultimately, the island's government.

"There has been no sense of urgency," said Josian Santiago, the mayor of Comerio, whose town still has outages in its more isolated sections; some might never have their municipal power restored and will have to resort to alternatives. "The problem is not that we don't have a lightbulb to turn on or a refrigerator to cool. . . . They are torturing the people."

While authorities report that more than 90 percent of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's customers have electricity in their homes and businesses - including, as of late March, much of Cayey, where Marrero and Ramos live - there remain hundreds of what residents call "pockets of darkness," where some of the island's most needy families in remote and poor areas might have to wait until late June for electricity.

Left out of those statistics: More than 1,200 FEMA-provided generators are still the primary source of power for most of the island's hospitals, more than two dozen police and fire stations, correctional facilities, and water pumps throughout Puerto Rico.

For every electric meter that fires back to life, there also is the fear - inevitable, at this point - that it will go dead again because of a substation fire, a transformer explosion or a snapped line. In mid-February, an explosion at a power plant plunged nearly 1 million people into darkness around San Juan, and rolling blackouts are common.

And another hurricane season looms just months away.

Crews are working against the clock to shore up a dilapidated system that took way longer to repair than anyone expected, and their work is largely returning the grid to its prior state, which everyone knows couldn't handle a big storm.

"It's going to fall again," said Anibal Diaz Collazo, a Puerto Rican politician representing Cayey, in the central mountains about 30 miles south of San Juan. "There will be new cables and new poles but no significant infrastructure improvements for a system that has already proven too weak to withstand."

PREPA's chief of technical operations, Carlos Alvarado, said the utility is working to improve construction standards and is making changes that will help the power grid be more resilient. It could take a decade to completely harden the system, he said.

"The way the authority's system was designed does not make it apt to withstand another Category 5 storm," Alvarado said. "But we are studying how we can improve it. We have been mitigating by installing metal poles, higher-quality cables and relocating certain lines and cutting down vegetation."

- - -

When Brian Bird and his workers headed out of their makeshift base camp on an old Air Force base in Aguadilla each day, they drove past an apartment complex just outside the gates. The residents would watch from darkened windows. Although the contracting chief and the crews were on their way to repair assigned lines - as instructed by the unified command - the apartment complex that sat just feet away was without power.

After looking on for months, one day in November, about two dozen residents yelled and protested, blocking the power brigades from leaving. The demonstration quickly dissolved and the trucks drove on by, but it didn't sit well with Bird, who was working for the engineering corps. He said he didn't understand how this community was not on his list of jobs despite being just next door.

"Me and some of my men went into the complex after work and spent five hours reconnecting those folks," Bird said. "We just decided to help them."

For many Puerto Ricans and their political leaders, the haphazard nature of the repairs has been puzzling at times and infuriating at others. They have demanded answers about the plan for power restoration and have been told they will have better information soon. PREPA just recently started giving mayors maps and timelines of their work schedule.

Federal officials asked the Army Corps of Engineers in late September to lead a temporary power-restoration mission - a job they previously had never done - and took control over contracting companies and ordering materials for work with which they had little experience.

In the early days of the island-wide blackout, PREPA did not activate the mutual-aid agreements that would have brought equipment and thousands of public-utility workers from the mainland United States onto the island quickly to begin the work. Instead, they sought help from a private contractor, Whitefish Energy, which promised to act quickly and efficiently, even if its going hourly rates were much higher than what linemen would normally receive.

The bulk of the workers from outside Puerto Rico did not start on the job until November - two months after the storm - according to contracting documents obtained by The Washington Post. Whitefish, a small Montana firm with little documented experience, was awarded a $300 million contract that drew scrutiny in part because of its size. The no-bid contract was canceled, and PREPA's executive director was removed.

To Puerto Ricans, it looked like chaos, a confusing hodgepodge of work that resulted in one neighborhood street getting its power back while the next block, a few hundred yards away, remained dark.

PREPA was officially in charge of setting the priorities for restoration. A unified command met in San Juan with Carlos Torres, the governor's appointee to coordinate the mission, along with the Department of Energy, engineering corps leaders and FEMA, which worked to assign specific lines to each crew. But power struggles, finger-pointing and a lack of trust hampered the pace and direction of the operation.

"Yes, it can be messy, and yes, partners can have arguments about a problem, but you needed this complement of forces," said Col. Jason Kirk, who is the leading the corps in Puerto Rico. He then cited Gen. Dwight Eisenhower: "Coalitions are not the most efficient, but in the long term it is the most effective."

Contractors and industry experts observing the power mission in Puerto Rico said in interviews that it was unclear who was in charge, leading to confusion and citizen reports of crews waiting around for assessments or for a line to be de-energized or for tools to show up.

Mayors grew increasingly frustrated as they saw protests develop in their communities, and they had no information to help ease tensions. Municipal leaders stormed out of a meeting with PREPA and government officials in late February when they didn't receive the detailed plan of action they were seeking.

Examples of the chaos were abundant. Jesus Colon Berlingeri, the mayor of Orocovis, said he once learned from PREPA's Twitter account that the public utility was sending four brigades to his town. When the mayor called the power company's main office to find out where they were, he was told that the real presence in town was just a driver and one worker, but they were nowhere to be found.

"We are the ones who have to answer to the people," said Colon, whose criticism earned him a rebuke by text message from Gov. Ricardo Rossello. "We don't believe them."

The governor has been critical of the corps from the start. As his administration was pummeled by the Whitefish scandal and calls from Congress to investigate other PREPA contracts, Rossello lashed out. Echoed by members of his administration, he accused the corps of moving too slowly.

"I don't see the urgency," Rossello said during a news conference on Feb. 28 following a meeting with island mayors, the corps and PREPA. "Today was the day the Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to give account for the work they've done. It was also supposed to be an opportunity for the mayors to express their concerns. I share those concerns and join in their demands for urgency so that the necessary materials and brigades can be assigned to restore the power grid."

Alvarado, PREPA's chief of technical operations, said the utility has improved its communication procedures, and days after Colon's comments, top officials met privately with community leaders to lay out when crews would be there. The corps is now providing mayors with maps of the house-level plans for line work.

"Let's see what happens," Colon said as he emerged from the meeting.

- - -

Out in the field, line workers needed conductors, wiring and concrete poles, but they were difficult to come by on the island. Many pieces, including customized transformers, had to be shipped in by barge from U.S. factories.

The Army corps took control of ordering the estimated 35 million pieces of material to avoid competition and duplication. Officials relied on PREPA and contractors to tell them what was needed, and the corps submitted orders through the Defense Department.

But a supply crunch among mainland manufacturers left crews in Puerto Rico waiting for weeks for barges to arrive with new wires, poles and custom parts.

The governor and his surrogates publicly blamed the corps for delays and material shortages that kept brigades from repairs. Contractors had to buy electrical tape from local hardware stores, cables strewn across the ground were recycled on the fly, and workers pieced together transformers with parts salvaged from broken ones.

Amid the shortage, the corps confiscated previously undisclosed equipment sitting in a PREPA warehouse, causing some locals to call it a raid. The utility declined to explain the unused materials, noting that a Puerto Rico Department of Justice investigation found no violations of law on the part of the public utility regarding its storage of materials.

Republican members on the House Committee on Natural Resources this month demanded records about the incident and have sought information about allegations that PREPA utility workers were bribed with thousands of dollars and free tickets to San Juan strip clubs to reconnect those businesses expeditiously.

PREPA placed three workers from the Ponce region on unpaid leave while investigating accusations that they demanded illicit payments from customers to reconnect their service. The company said in a statement that it has received no complaints about bribes; PREPA has denied all other corruption charges.

"Despite relentless public criticism, the vast majority of PREPA's employees have worked tirelessly to achieve the restoration of power under these very difficult circumstances," PREPA said, in response to the committee. "Those restoration efforts continue daily."

The corps' largest contractor, Fluor, is leaving the island while restoration efforts are still incomplete. Sources close to the Puerto Rican government and involved in power restoration on the island said Fluor's exit is tied to slow performance. Lines given to Fluor's contractors in the east and southeast of the island have been reassigned.

"There were expectations created that have not been completely fulfilled," Alvarado said about the corps and its contractors.

The Texas-based global contractor said the scarcity of needed materials was a "limiting factor" but noted that Fluor restored power to more than 232,000 customers since October. Demobilization is a "normal part of the life cycle" when reaching the end of a government contract, the company said in a statement.

Kirk declined to discuss Fluor's contract but said the company had reached its funding limit. He said that the mission is flowing more smoothly now and that more than 80 percent of the material ordered for repairs has been received. Kirk called criticism of the corps' efforts "unfortunate."

"The commitment that we have is very, very solid," he said. "Any statements that we are not urgently executing this mission are not correct."

Kirk added that the magnitude of the challenge has been far greater than anticipated.

Puerto Rico's geography made the restoration work daunting, contractors said. Road access to transmission towers often was nonexistent, overgrown with trees, or too narrow or rocky to support large work trucks. Workers were unaccustomed to the terrain, weather and topographical diversity.

"If we were working an ice storm in New England, we expect a certain type of terrain," said Aaron Strickland, an executive with another corps contractor, PowerSecure. "In Texas and Florida, you're in flat land. But in Puerto Rico, you had flat lands, mountains, hills, swamps and everything in between."

He noted one accident as emblematic of the issue: While contractors were working on power restoration, a road caved in, sending their truck down a steep embankment. While there were no injuries, the linemen were shaken - and knew they faced similar conditions elsewhere in the mountains.

"It pushes our limits just about every way you can look at pushing worker limits," Strickland said.

- - -

The conditions of PREPA's electrical grid before the storm hit magnified the difficulty afterward, said FEMA deputy regional administrator Ahsha Tribble. It was clear from the outset that to fix Puerto Rico's long-term energy problems, simply restoring what existed before the storm would not be good enough.

But the engineering corps and FEMA have little wiggle room within federal regulations - specifically the Stafford Act, which directs federal agencies to restore what existed to its pre-disaster condition - to harden PREPA's entire system to be more resilient. When possible, authorities have used steel or concrete poles to replace wooden ones. Lines that hadn't been serviced in years were reinforced. New towers in some cases replaced those brittle from decades of rust.

The restoration will not modernize the technology into a smart-grid system that could allow authorities to more easily monitor and distribute power, nor will it create microgrids that could power regions individually if one part of the system fails. PREPA's power grid uses few renewable energy sources, and outdated power plant machinery will not see design enhancements.

"I want to get Puerto Rico to the point where it says, 'Bring it on!' to future storms," FEMA's federal coordinating officer, Michael Byrne, told contractors in late February.

PREPA, which is bankrupt, had fallen behind in modernizing its grid, especially in terms of infrastructure. The system's reliance on fossil fuels and an outdated design gave Puerto Rico's system a reputation for poor efficiency, low reliability and high costs, according to Lisa Donahue, who was hired to restructure PREPA between 2014 and 2017 and testified about the issue before Congress.

Tribble said FEMA is working with a commission of industry experts and engineers to redesign the electrical grid from a 1950s centralized distribution system to one that includes regional microgrids and renewable energies. Changes to the law after Hurricane Sandy gave the agency some flexibility to fund projects that build more resilient infrastructure rather that just replace what was damaged.

But those funds are part of a fairly new program through the Department of Housing and Urban Development that are tied to fixed-cost estimates for each project; if costs are any higher than the estimates developed by the federal government, the jurisdiction must foot the bill - something Puerto Rico cannot afford.

Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, a Republican who as resident commissioner is the island's lone U.S. House representative, said she lobbied for legislation that would bring $16 billion in disaster relief to Puerto Rico, including $2 billion in federal disaster recovery grants for the power grid alone. But none of those dollars have yet reached Puerto Rico. HUD, through the disaster relief arm of its community development block grant formula, is waiting for a plan of action from the territorial government to redesign the system, but nothing has yet materialized.

"I hear a lot about a commission and work groups, but I see no product, no results," said Eduardo Bhatia, minority leader in the Puerto Rico Senate.

In an effort to move forward, Rossello is selling off some of PREPA's assets and is privatizing parts of its operation. It is a plan demonized by the governor's critics and union members who say there is no guarantee that a private company will run the system more efficiently. They also fear that customer rates would increase and that transparency would worsen. The governor's allies see PREPA as an outdated monopoly and bloated bureaucracy that offers poor service and is plagued by corruption; they view privatization as the best solution.

PREPA has a new executive director, industry veteran Walter Higgins, who came out of retirement after running a power company in Bermuda.

"We have a real opportunity here, not just to restore power but to eventually deliver lower-cost, reliable power for all the citizens of Puerto Rico," Higgins said in a statement.

There are still vast stretches of the island where there are no signs of improvement and the desperation is palpable.

During his daily radio program, host Luis Francisco Ojeda takes call after call from sobbing and angry residents reporting which barrios still have outages despite public pronouncements from PREPA that power has been restored.

"I don't know where they got 10 percent?" said Carlos Collazo, a resident of Yabucoa who regularly listens to Ojeda's show. "People from all over still don't have power. I'm an accountant, and I don't understand how they do their numbers."

In Collazo's community, the water pumps are powered by generators the mayor bought from a local businessman. A main road has power, but the surrounding neighborhoods don't. Residents have protested by candlelight.

One night after firing up his generator, Collazo had an idea while watching his daughter eat a cupcake. In the time it took to find a candle, the 49-year-old concocted an ode to his electricity meter, marking six months since it stopped running.

"Feliz, feliz en tu dia! Van seis meses de larga agonia," Collazo sang to the tune of a Spanish birthday melody while holding a cupcake with a lighted candle. "Happy, happy day! It's been six months of agony."

It was a moment of catharsis on March 20 meant for his friends and family, but his children convinced him to share the video publicly on social media. Collazo says that without a little levity, the situation would be unbearable.

"I blame the system of government, the bureaucracy that has kept us captive and at their mercy," he said. "It's sad and frustrating, but the worst part is feeling powerless."

---

Video Embed Code

Video: The Riveras have run a successful business for decades in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico but after Hurricane Maria keeping it going without power is a new challenge.(Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

Embed code:French tech company Archos just released a new rugged phone - the Saphir 50X. That sentence does, however, require some clarification. When we say "released", we really mean commissioned from Logos Instrument, since Archos doesn't really manufacture most of its products. That's not the odd bit here - curiously, the Saphir 50X is a new release, but it is actually a downgrade over last year's Archos 50 Saphir.

The two phones share the exact same rugged and rough body, measuring 146.6 x 76 x 13 mm. They have the same IP68 ingress certification rating and also share a 5-inch HD LCD, covered by a Gorilla Glass 4 protective layer. The camera setup is identical as well - an 8MP main snapper, interpolated up to 13MP and a 2MP selfie, interpolated to 5MP.

On the inside, the similarities continue - same Mediatek MT6737 chipset with quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. Same exact connectivity options, including Dual SIM support, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, Wi-Fi b/g/n, and FM radio and a microUSB 2.0 port.



Archos Saphir 50X

The sole difference between the two is that the Saphir 50X has a 4,000 mAh battery, downgraded from 5,000 mAh in the original Archos 50 Saphir. That also made the overall package a bit more manageable at 210 grams, but it's still far from what we would consider light.

The Android version has been bumped up from Marshmallow to 7.0 Nougat. The fact that the ROM would require next to no modifications to run on the old Saphir 50 might hint that Archos will upgrade that one as well. Or it might just be wishful thinking on our side.

The Saphir 50X also comes with a reduced price - 179.99, down from the 229.99 Archos was asking for the original. Pre-orders are open now and units should start shipping out in a few days.

Source (in French)These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.After officially launching the INR 5,499 ($85), Nokia 1, Android Oreo (Go Edition) in India, late last month, it was only logical for HMD to release the rest of its current lineup at today's event.

The Nokia 6 (2018) aluminum-clad, Snapdragon 630 mid-ranger will start selling on April 6 at the Nokia Mobile Shop and select mobile outlets for INR 16,999 ($260). You can read our initial first-hand impressions of the handset here.

Up next on the list is the Nokia 7 Plus. It can be picked up at the Nokia shop and select retailers as well, but will also be offered on a special Amazon deal. Pre-orders will start on April 20 and units should ship out as early as April 30. The price is INR 25,999 ($400). Hit up this link for more info on the 18:9, dual-camera phone.

Finally there is the premium Nokia 8 Sirocco. HMD will be offering it through the same main retail channels, as well as special Flipkart deals. Pre-orders for the Nokia flagship kick off on April 20 and availability is set for April 30, with a price of INR 49,999 ($770). For a more in-depth look into the p-OLED, Snapdragon 835 device, be sure to hit up our MWC 2018 hands-on review.Today, a launch invitation confirms that Black Shark will be launching a new gamer-centric smartphone to compete against the likes of the Razer phone. This invite mentions April 13 as the date that the company will announce such a device in Beijing, China.

The company is actually backed by Xiaomi, so the device will likely feature the Black Shark branding and not Xiaomis. It will definitely be easier to spell and pronounce than Xiaomi in western markets.





Qualcomms logo is also on the invite so we will likely see a Snapdragon 845 inside this device. Other expected specs include between 6GB and 8GB RAM and between 64GB and 256GB of storage. We are also expecting a 120Hz display for a smooth gaming experience.

If anyone is waiting to purchase a Razer phone, you may want to wait until more about the Black Shark phone is revealed. We can pretty much guarantee it will be cheaper than the Razer Phone as Xiaomi is usually aggressive with pricing its products.

Thanks for sending this tip!

Source | ViaBy Vasia Orion | Published on 2018/04/03

After some back and forth happening between premise and characters, we finally have our hero and heroine for "Partners for Justice", as well as their respective actors in Jung Jae-young and Jung Yoo-mi. Both artists have confirmed their leading roles, joining a cast of supporting characters we'll soon see expanding.

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Jung Jae-young stars as Baek Beom, a forensic examiner who has been with the National Forensic Service for 10 years. He is an eccentric genius with a temper, and he believes in the truth hidden behind evidence, not the truth that is immediately visible. He has conducted the most autopsies in Korea, but he doesn't care about living people.

Jung Jae-young has stated that he looks forward to the filming and that he hopes it is fun. Above all, he hopes to stay healthy and finish the series well. He wishes that viewers will anticipate the work.

Jung Yoo-mi plays Eun Sol, a senior prosecutor with the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor's Office. Eun Sol is a so-called "golden spoon", meaning she was born into riches and privilege, but she is a warm person with an excellent photographic memory and perception. Her heart and dedication to the truth make her a great prosecutor.

Jung Yoo-mi has commented "The script was so exciting, that I couldn't wait for the next one. Because I was cast in such a fun piece, I want to work harder and harder. I will work hard with my fellow actors, so please look forward to it".

So there you have it, folks. The main partners of "Partners for Justice" have been found, and the series will hopefully be the story-focused, purely investigative drama the production has been touting it as, because we could use some of those without a gimmick or forced romance in them.

The drama is written by Min Ji-eun ("Cinderella and the Four Knights", "Seol-ryeon's Story"), directed by Noh Do-cheol ("Ruler: Master of the Mask", "Mother's Garden"), and it will be following "The Great Seducer" in May, on MBC.

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

Sources (1)Published on 2018/04/03 | Source

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Actor Kang Ha-neul is calling South Korean citizens to participate at the upcoming discussions regarding the national defense budget.

On April 1st, the Ministry of National Defense released a promotional video featuring the actor and his fellow soldiers. Kang Ha-neul in his capacity as Private First Class Kim Ha Neul took part as a voice-over artist and actor in the advertisement.

In this initiative headed by the Ministry of National Defense, 100 citizens will be given the opportunity to join the discussions regarding the defense budget at the Townhall meeting scheduled to take place on May 11th.

South Korea's defense budget for 2018 amounts to 43.15 trillion won (approximately 39.7 billion US$). This is 7 percent higher compared to the 2017 budget, and is the highest increase since 2009. According to the Ministry, the large increase reflects the "grim security reality" of the growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

Meanwhile, Kang Ha-neul is currently serving his mandatory military duty as military police at the Republic of Korea Army Headquarters in Gyeryong City near Daejeon. He enlisted on September 11, 2017 and is expected to be discharged on June 9, 2019.

By: Chimmy AKA riverskyBy William Schwartz | Published on 2018/04/03

Right away we start out with a reckoning. Dong-goo rather sensibly demands an explanation for the elaborate web of lies Joon-ki and Seo-jin have devised to ineffectively avoid publicly acknowledging that they have a relationship. Even granting that the characters in question are all adults, and owe each other no explanations, what Joon-ki and Seo-jin did was very hurtful. But then Dong-goo chooses to have a temper tantrum and any ambiguity in that situation is lost.

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The obvious moral take is that Dong-goo is letting his pride over the situation rule his material needs. Unfortunately the escalation doesn't progress naturally. The first incident with the baby cage is resolved cleanly without any concessions, and the next mess Dong-goo gets into was his own stupid fault. Only dumb luck made it so that Joon-ki was even in a position to fix that problem. None of this addresses the core issues.

Which is a shame because the core issues are interesting. I liked the explanation Dong-goo gave for his defiance. The surprise joke afterward was also good, as was the natural progression to how Dong-goo's attitude has changed not entirely for the better. The overall set-up was just quite weak. The jokes in "Welcome to Waikiki" tend to flow entirely from the situation, rather than character actions, which hurts a lot of the impact.

The lack of follow-through is evident in a lot of the drama's writing. Observe how with the model Soo-ah and Joon-ki hire, at first the joke is Soo-ah's obvious personality change when they meet the guy, which is only obvious to us because we know what Soo-ah is like. Then we learn that the model is a bit of a jerk. Then we find out that he has smelly feet. So instead of personality conflict, we get a lot of effort being made to avoid the smelly feet.

That's really not much to go on. Once again, the humor relies entirely on self-sabotage and characters making fools of themselves rather than subtlety, layering, or porgression. There's little to no character development in "Welcome to Waikiki" even as we come into the last episodes- which is symptomatic of how the drama is more about gags than it is about story. If only the jokes were funny, that might be forgivable, but the laughs are too few and far between. Which I suppose is still better than there not being any laughs at all I guess.

Review by William Schwartz

"Welcome to Waikiki" is directed by Lee Chang-min-I, written by Kim Ki-ho, and features Kim Jung-hyun, Lee Yi-kyung, Son Seung-won, and Jung In-sun.

Note : Due to licensing, videos may not be available in your countryPublished on 2018/04/04 | Source

Added episodes 13 and 14 captures for the Korean drama "The Great Seducer" (2018)

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Directed by Kang In-I, Lee Dong-hyun-IV

Written by Kim Bo-yeon-I

Network : MBC

With Woo Do-hwan, Joy, Moon Ga-young, Kim Min-jae-I, Kim Seo-hyung, Shin Sung-woo,...

32 episodes - Mon, Tue 22:00 (2x35min)

Formerly know as "Love Game" and "Love Game: The Great Seduction" ( -  , leo-beu-ge-im - wi-dae-han yu-ok")

Synopsis

Based on the 2003 "Untold Scandal", this drama centers on an aristocratic man and woman engage in a bet. If the man can convince a virtuous widow to sleep with him, then he can finally have the aristocratic woman.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/03/12

MoreAfter more than a decade living in Japan, Kristen Takeuchi began her new job Tuesday as a news reporter with the Havre Daily News.

Takeuchi, 34, said she has always had a passion for writing and is excited about her job.

"I want to help to provide the news that people are reading, keep them informed and help build relationships," she said.

Takeuchi, the daughter of Havre High School Principal Mike Haugen, said that she and her son Len, 3, moved to Havre to be closer to family.

Takeuchi said she learned last month about the open reporter position when her mother, Denise, texted her a picture of an advertisement that ran in the Havre Daily News.

She said her mother encouraged her to apply for the job.

"She said 'this is your dream, you always wanted to work in writing, work for a newspaper, you should apply,'" Takeuchi said.

Havre Daily News publisher Stacy Mantle said Takeuchi will make a good addition to the paper.

"I am very pleased to welcome Kristen to our team," Mantle said. "With her family roots lying in Havre and her journalism background we are gaining a valuable employee."

Takeuchi said she was born in Havre but she and her family moved to Scobey when she was a baby and then to Spokane, Washington, where she grew up.

She graduated from Eastern Washington University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in communications and public relations with minors in journalism and French.

In college, she developed an interest in Japanese culture while working with Japanese exchange students, Takeuchi said, adding that a week after completing her classes, she moved to Japan and taught English at an eikawa, an English conversation school in Osaka.

Despite not having majored in education. Takeuchi said that given her father, mother and sister are all educators, the path was not a surprise.

"We called it the Haugen family curse, you got into education no matter what you studied," she said.

She became a teacher at an Early Learning Center, or ELC, in Osaka in 2010 and then became ELC lead teacher for Tokyo area schools.

Though Japan is a great country, she said, Havre is the type of small, friendly community she did not have in Tokyo.

Takeuchi said she looks forward to reporting on K-12 education, law enforcement and courts, and other areas she is less familiar with, such as agriculture.

"So I am very interested in doing stories where not only can I report but I can learn things," she said.This was closely followed by eating too much stinky food and having a strong fragrance, i.e. candles or flowers, on ones desk.

However, when it comes to actually confronting a smelly co-worker, the majority of us would simply keep quiet and try to ignore the pong. Just 15% of those asked claimed they would actually confront the person, with 14% saying theyd reach out to HR for help.

A rather smug 38% of employees said theyd never had to experience a smelly workplace situation.

So, how should HR respond to strong smells in the office?

An employee who has a strong odour or often creates them may seem like a minor offence, but things like this should be addressed before it causes a major disturbance to others, Shelley Passingham, branch manager for Robert Halfs OfficeTeam, told HRD Canada.Gracia Lulendos lawyer said he wanted to stay out of trouble

A motorist who mounted a footpath in front of a patrol car after he veered on to the wrong side of the road was driving under the influence of cannabis.

Gracia Lulendo (23) has a young child and did not want to be "the type of father in prison all of the time".

"His desire is to stay out of trouble," his solicitor said.

Judge Dermot Dempsey sentenced Lulendo to four months in prison and banned him from driving for six years.

Lulendo, of Park Boulevard, Tyrellstown, pleaded guilty before Swords District Court to drug-driving and two counts of dangerous driving at Nevinstown Lane and Airside Retail Park, Swords, on February 20, last year.

Sgt Terri Ferguson said Lul- endo drove a car on the embankment near McDonald's in the retail part and drove past the Ryanair building before veering on to the wrong side of the road.

Speed

"He then drove at speed through a car park and exited on the main Airside Road," said Sgt Ferguson.

She said she activated the blue light on the patrol car, and shortly after that Lulendo's car mounted the footpath in front of the patrol car.

He was arrested and taken to Swords Garda Station where it was discovered he was driving under the influence of cannabis.

He had previous convictions for careless driving and driving without insurance, the court heard.

"He apologises for his behaviour," the solicitor said, adding that the defendant was serving a sentence in Wheatfield and was due to be released in July.

Lulendo, who was originally from Angola, moved to Ireland at the age of four, the court heard.Flight passengers were left frustrated after a fault with an air traffic control system led to delays and cancellations.

Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) said seven flights were cancelled yesterday while 17 had delays of between 30 minutes to an hour.

Almost half of all flights across Europe were impacted by the failure in "enhanced tactical flow management system", according to Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency responsible for air traffic control across Europe. The system is used to compare traffic demand with the available capacity.

Contingency plans were put in place, which saw a reduction in the capacity of the European network of around 10pc. The issue was resolved by 7pm.

However, some passengers had to make alternative arr- angements, with flights to Manchester, Gatwick and Birmingham cancelled.

Caoimhe Hatch (30), a nurse working in Britain, had been on a flight back to Gatwick when passengers were told they had to get off the plane.

Funeral

"There were around 45 on the plane and we were told we had to disembark," she said.

"I decided to take a later flight on Wednesday."

Caoimhe said she was already going to miss the start of her shift.

One couple were going to Birmingham for a funeral when their flight was cancelled. However, they got a morning flight and believed they would make it on time for the service.Laura Kelly and Orla Curran teaching in Maynooth at the INTO annual congress in Killarney. Photo: Damien Eagers

The country's 70,000 teachers have joined forces for a united campaign on pay, with the threat of strike action and school closures in the autumn if there is no commitment to end two-tier pay rates.

In a show of unity not seen since 1985, all three teacher unions have voted for strike ballots next month if there is no acceptable progress on restoring equal pay for new entrants to the profession since 2010.

Delegates at the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) voted unanimously in favour of a common motion on the issue, which was debated at all three conferences simultaneously yesterday.

Heckled

Meanwhile, at the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) support for the motion was overwhelming.

Education Minister Richard Bruton was repeatedly heckled by protesters at the ASTI conference as he outlined the resources the Government had devoted to the education sector over recent years.

"We have found 1bn extra for education. I have developed the Action Plan for Education. That has set a bold ambition that by 2026 we will have the best education system in Europe," he said.

It was greeted with jeers, forcing repeated interruptions in his speech, with delegates shouting "equal pay", "pay up" and "better school resources".

Earlier at the INTO conference, the minister faced a silent protest, with delegates holding "equal pay" placards aloft, and some intermittent heckling.

Mr Bruton told the INTO conference that teachers had a "justifiable demand" but he would not go further to say if and when the Government was ready to end two-tier pay scales.

Negotiations on restoring pay equality in the public service, including to 16,000 teachers, will get under way on April 27.

A report has put the cost of granting pay equality to more than 60,000 public servants recruited since 2010 at 200m, including 59m for teachers.

Mr Bruton told INTO delegates that the Government was "committed to making progress on this issue" but later told reporters that the pay demand, while justifiable for unions, had to be balanced with other spending needs. Opposition support for teachers' demands, and all parties on an election footing, puts the Government under considerable pressure to settle the issue.

ASTI president Ger Curtin said pay inequality had dogged the profession for seven years and "we will not let this drag on into another school year".

The ASTI boss said it was misleading to refer to a starting salary of 36,000 for young teachers when many young entrants only get three or four hours' work each week.

"That is assuming they get full hours and a significant number of young teachers do not get full hours - some of them don't get full hours for a long, long time," he said. He said pay inequality was now "prompting young teachers to vote with their feet and leave Ireland for work overseas".

He also said that pay inequality was destroying morale within staff rooms at Irish schools.

"There have been a significant number of young teachers and new entrants to the profession impacted by this," he said.

The industrial action motion was seconded by Siobhan Peters, a young teacher who earns substantially less than her older colleagues because she entered the profession after 2011.

"I am now five increments behind a 2010 graduate [in pay]," she told ASTI delegates. "No one expected us to get pay parity overnight. I feel our engagement with this process needs to bear fruit before the start of the new school year."

TUI president Joanne Irwin said the "pay of teachers has been severely attacked for almost a decade", leaving many with commitments and debts they have been "very hard pressed to meet or, in many cases, unable to meet".

INTO president John Boyle said "every waking hour" of his year in office had been dominated by the issue of equal pay.

He said the motion was "designed to ensure our negotiators are fortified" when they meet the Government.1 / 5 Kieran Hardiman, center, performs with Riverdance. Courtesy of Eccles Theater 2 / 5 Kieran Hardiman performs as a member of Riverdance. Courtesy of Eccles Theater 3 / 5 Kieran Hardiman, a member of Riverdance. Courtesy of Eccles Theater 4 / 5 Gianna Petracic, lead dancer with Riverdance. Courtesy of Jack Hartin 5 / 5 Gianna Petracic, lead dancer with Riverdance. Courtesy of Jack Hartin  

Professional Irish dancer Kieran Hardiman of Galway, Ireland, had been touring with Riverdance and other shows for 10 years when the company had a Wasatch Front performance in 2011.

Little did he know the Beehive State would soon become his home.

While visiting Utahs capital, Hardiman became aware of a local Irish dance school in need of help to build its program.

Riverdance had a bit of a break, so we said we would have a change of occupation and go there and  help them build the school, Hardiman said. But when we went there, we realized that the school had lots of talent, and so we ended up taking over.

The school became known at that time as the Scariff Hardiman School of Irish Dance, and enrollment grew from about 30 to 150 students during the three and a half years Hardiman was there.

At that point, Hardiman realized he wasnt quite ready to give up performing and went back to Riverdance. But with the shows return to the Eccles Theater this week comes an opportunity for the dancer to see his students again.

Im excited to see all the kids and all the parents, the lead dancer said. I got to know lots of people there, so Im just really, really excited to go there and perform for them.

The Salt Lake City show is part of the troupes Riverdance  The 20th Anniversary World Tour, which has been touring internationally for several years. Since its 1994 Eurovision interval act beginning, Riverdance has gained a global reputation as the original, and what many consider the best, Irish dance show.

The climax of the shows trademark Riverdance number is when all of the cast members join together in one line and dance in unison. Lead dancer Gianna Petracic of Sydney, Australia, said performing this part of the dance is absolutely surreal.

When everybody comes on and everybodys holding hands, it kind of feels like a celebration and a unity between all of us, Petracic said. Its something I really cant describe. I think its magical.

Staying in sync with the other dancers takes a lot of practice, Hardiman said, but the shows music also helps the group stay together. The score for the dance, composed by Bill Whelan, won a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Musical Theater Album.

Its so iconic, Petracic said. Every single time you hear the score  I just get chills throughout my whole body.

In addition to this signature Riverdance number, the 20th anniversary show will feature new costumes, set design and lighting, as well as some new dances, including an all-female number that is a favorite for Petracic.

Its a percussion piece where the girls get to show how strong they are and how theyre feminine but also how us as women can carry ourselves strong and independent, and I really enjoy that, Petracic said.

Another highlight of the show is the non-Irish numbers, including a dance battle between two American tap dancers and three Irish dancers, Hardiman said.

The Riverdance cast is made up of dancers from all around the globe, including Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Russia and the U.S., according to Petracic.

One of the things I do love about being with Riverdance is its so multitalented, and theres so many talented people here, whether its dancers, musicians, even the crew, Petracic said. I think everyone here is so inspiring, and I learn something every single day.

Hardiman said its an amazing feeling to see audience members happy when they leave the theater after a Riverdance show and know he had a part in that.

I dont think Ive done a show yet where I havent seen the audience standing up at the end and practically dancing along to what were doing onstage, Hardiman said.

RIVERDANCE  THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY WORLD TOUR

What: International Irish dance group Riverdance performs traditional Irish dances and songs in a touring show.

Where: Delta Performance Hall, Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main St., Salt Lake City

When: Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m.

Cost: $25-$80

Info: (801) 355-ARTS, artsaltlake.orgUtah Valley University police arrested a Nephi man Wednesday after he reportedly fled from police in a stolen car.

Dallas Crook, 27, was arrested on suspicion of the second-degree felony of receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle, the class B misdemeanors of criminal trespass, theft by receiving stolen property, use of possession of drug paraphernalia and reckless driving. He was also arrested on suspicion of the class A misdemeanor of evading law enforcement while on school property, the class B misdemeanor of operating a vehicle without a license or registration and the infractions of not having a valid drivers license, stopping or sudden decrease in speed, improper usage of lanes and failing to yield the right of way.

Police attempted to stop a car on March 29 in Orem when the car accelerated rapidly, going more than 90 miles an hour on 400 West in Orem, which is a 25 mph speed zone, according to a police report. Crook reportedly didnt stop at a stop sign and went northbound in southbound lanes before coming to a stop.

Crook then reportedly ran from officers on foot through several yards.

The car had been stolen out of Springville, according to a police report. Police found items consistent with drug use, a car stereo with a cut power cord, three new phone cases for three separate phones, new Bluetooth speakers and headphones in the car. Police suspect the items were stolen, according to the report.Orem police arrested a Salt Lake City man Tuesday after the man reportedly stole a rental truck.

Joshua Sorensen, 25, was arrested on suspicion of the second-degree felony of receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle, the third-degree felony of criminal mischief and the class B misdemeanor of unlawful use of a financial transaction card.

Sorensen had agreed to rent a vehicle from an Orem car dealership. He had reportedly tried renting it for a month, but the dealership would only allow him to rent it for a week at a time.

The vehicle was supposed to be returned on March 28, but it wasnt, according to a police report. The dealership waited two days and attempted to call and text Sorensen multiple times.

The truck was towed to a Salt Lake City dealership on Tuesday and had a bent drive line and dented gas tank. The truck had sustained more than $1,700 in damages.

The card Sorensen used to rent the vehicle was declined because the account was closed, according to the report.

Sorensen was previously arrested for theft of a rental vehicle, according to the report.Her name is Nevaeh, heaven spelled backwards. At just 4 months old her short life ended violently March 21.

On Friday, family and friends will hold a candlelight vigil to remember her, the importance of life, and to send a message that children must be surrounded in the arms of love and safety.

The vigil will be held from 6 p.m. to dusk at the Paul Ream Wilderness Park, 1600 W. 500 North, Provo. A private funeral for the infant was held Tuesday. Those attending are asked to bring their own candles if possible.

Wed like to not see this happen to any other child, said Sabrina Sharp, friend and adoptive grandma to Neveah.

Sharp is anticipating about 50 people at the event, and she said anyone who cares even the slightest for a child to come.

I was the first one to hold her after she was born, Sharp said. Its been a very big challenge.

One of the concerns that will be addressed at the vigil is how to help the Division of Child and Family Services get involved more quickly in cases like Nevaehs.

Wed like to see DCFS step in a bit more, Sharp said. We tried to get her help and they didnt step in enough.

Sharp also wants the public to be more aware of mental illness. She also wants people to know that there are resources available for those who need help.

Cameron Willingham, 23, has been charged with child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony, in the death of Nevaeh King. He was also charged with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.

Police received a call March 19 reporting that Nevaeh King was not breathing. According to the Provo Police Department, when patrol officers arrived at the Provo residence, they found the baby unresponsive with serious injuries.

Nevaeh King was taken to Utah Valley Hospital before being flown to Primary Childrens Hospital in Salt Lake City.

She died of serious head and neck injuries, as well as abdominal hemorrhaging, according to police.

Willingham is the boyfriend of the babys mother, but not the parent of the child, according to the Provo Police Department.

Nevaeh King was under Willinghams care, but it was unknown how long he was at the house, according to police spokesperson Nisha King, who is not related to the family.

According to Sharp, because of incidents surrounding the facts of the case it is possible others could be charged in the crime.

Provo Police are conducting an ongoing investigation in the case, said Lt. Brian Taylor, police spokesman.1 / 3 Church President Spencer W. Kimball, seals the cornerstone prior to dedicating the Jordan River Utah Temple in 1981. Courtesy of the LDS Church 2 / 3 The Rome Italy Temple is scheduled to be open for public tours from Monday, January 28, to Saturday, February 16, 2019, excluding Sundays Courtesy LDS Church 3 / 3 President Thomas S. Monson announces 5 new temples, including one in Saratoga Springs, Utah during the morning session of the 187th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, April 2, 2017 at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald Dominic Valente, Daily Herald  

A ripple of excitement permeated the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Sunday when President Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced seven new temples.

Among them was one to be built in Layton.

For those living in Layton anxious for the building to begin, it will most likely be a hurry-up-and-wait situation, as past patterns show.

But compare to those living in Saratoga Springs, whove been eagerly awaiting any news on their citys temple for about a year.

President Thomas S. Monson announced the Saratoga Springs Temple one year ago during the April 2017 general conference. Since then, there has been little to no visual movement on a designated construction site, site plans or designs.

According to county mapping, the LDS Church owns approximately 3,000 acres of land in Saratoga Springs, most of which is in good positioning for a temple location.

However, the LDS Church Temple department is known for holding much of its temple building information close to the chest. There is the need for internal church approval, as well and external approvals from cities, planning commissions, city councils and neighbors.

And, just like any other building, it takes time. The church has to announce a location, break ground and often purchase land altogether.

In his Sunday general conference address, Bishop Gerald Causse, the LDS Presiding Bishop told of what he and the church experienced when planning the Paris France Temple.

In 2010, when property for the temple was found, the city mayor asked to meet with us to know more about our Church. This meeting was a critical step in obtaining a building permit. We meticulously prepared a presentation that included several impressive pictures of Latter-day Saint temples. My most fervent hope was that their architectural beauty would persuade the mayor to support our project, Causse said. To my surprise, the mayor indicated that rather than reviewing our presentation, he and his team preferred to conduct their own investigation to find out what kind of church we were.

He indicated the public officials went to a church meeting, spoke with members and with those who would be neighbors to the temple.

On July 15, 2011 the church announced the temple. It was dedicated May 21, 2017. It took six years, which is typical from announcing a location to dedication.

Senators Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy had to personally step in to get the Boston, Massachusetts temple off the ground. It was announced June 13, 1997, but the church faces an uphill court battle from residents not wanting the main steeple. It was dedicated three years late on Oct. 1 2000.

By Sept. 21, 2001, the statue of the Angel Moroni, as seen atop almost every church temple, and a steeple were added to the temple.

So for Saratoga Springs residents, one year of waiting isnt unusual. It is also not unusual to not know where it is going to be built. For example, the last temple announced in Sundays conference was to be built in a yet-to-be-determined major city in Russia.

Saratoga Springs residents arent alone in patiently pining for the temple.

Here is a list of temples, provided by the LDS Church temple website, showing the range from announcement date to groundbreaking date.

The Bountiful Temple was announced Feb. 2, 1990 with a groundbreaking held May 2, 1992. It took two years and three months for preparations.

The Monticello Temple was announced Oct. 4, 1997, construction began Nov. 17, 1997, and was dedicated July 26, 1998. It took nine months to overhaul the existing structure into a temple.

Utah temples average about two years from being announced to groundbreaking, and about four to six years from announcement to dedication.

Compare that to the Rome Italy Temple, which the church just announced its dedication date as March 10, 2019. It was announced Oct. 4, 2008, groundbreaking was Oct. 23 2010  in line with an average two years. However, it will be nine years from groundbreaking to dedication.

Church members waited 12 years for the Kyiv Ukraine temple from its announcement on July 20, 1998, to its dedication on Aug. 29, 2010.

Early church members may have had the greatest patience. The Salt Lake City Temple was announced July 24, 1847, ground was broken on Feb. 14, 1853, and it was dedicated April 6, 1893. It took 46 years from being announced to being dedicated.Maryland newspaper shooter sentenced to more than 5 life terms

The man who killed five people at Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis in 2018 was sentenced to more than five life terms without the possibility of parole.The death toll in the violence that ravaged Madhya Pradesh during a shutdown called by Dalit organisations climbed to eight after a body was found in Bhind on Tuesday, police said.

Madhya Pradesh saw the worst of clashes during a nationwide strike called against the alleged weakening of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on Monday. Four people were killed in Bhind, three in Gwalior and a man died in Morena.

While peace prevailed in these districts on Tuesday, police and ground reports indicate caste tensions were simmering and the bandh acted as a trigger for the differences to erupt.

Rumours that reservation would end and wild allegations on social media about violence added fuel to an already volatile situation, Gwalior superintendent of police Ashish said.

In Gwalior, the Thatipur area was the epicentre of the violence. It has a big Dalit settlement with upper castes living across the road.

On March 31, the Swarn Samaj Ekta Manch, a group of upper castes, complained to the collector that the members of Dalit organisations had misbehaved with girls during a peace procession on March 30.

They had expressed fear that the Dalits would resort to violence during the shutdown and had pleaded they be not permitted to take out rally, Gopal Upadhyay, a member of the Manch, said. But the administration did not listen, and when the Dalits resorted to violence and there was retaliation, he said.

Collector Rahul Jain said the protesters had promised that they wouldnt break peace.

We would have been killed on the day as police were not there, Ramautar Jatav, a scheduled caste leader, said, adding they didnt resort to violence.

He blamed Bajrang Dal and the people of nearby locality of targeting their neighbourhood. We werent involved in any agitation as we have been working for the BJP for years, Jatav said.

Bajrang Dal leader Lokendra Malviya denied the charge, saying: Just because someone is wearing a saffron scarf does not mean they are from Bajrang Dal.

Inspector Ravindra Singh, who was on duty when clashes broke out, said police were outnumbered. Mobs shouting Jai Bheem and Jai Shri Ram slogans opened fire at each other, leaving two people dead, Singh said.

It was difficult to say whose bullets proved fatal, as chaos prevailed for nearly three hours before reinforcements arrived.

In Bhind, family members of Mahavir Prasad Rajawat blamed police for his death.

They alleged that Rajawat was beaten up by protesters in the market and when they went to lodge a complaint, a group of protesters also reached the Machand chowki police station where he was shot dead.

A mob had surrounded the chowki and set things on fire, so police fired in self-defence, inspector general Chambal Santosh Singh said.A star-struck girl ran away from her home in Madhya Pradesh, came to Mumbai and tried to scale the wall of the posh Galaxy Apartment in Bandra here to meet her favourite actor Salman Khan, a police official said today.

The 15-year-old girl was later apprehended by the police and sent to a childrens home, he said.

The minor, a resident of Berasia town near Bhopal in MP, left her home on Sunday to meet the Bollywood actor, senior police inspector Pandit Thackeray said.

She later boarded a long distance train and arrived at the Bandra Terminus in Mumbai on Tuesday morning.

Read: Salman Khans action scene from Race 3 leaked and we cant take our eyes off guns, bikes and Bhai

The girl, who knew Khans residential address, then headed straight to the Galaxy Apartment, located at Bandstand in suburban Bandra, he said.

Initially, she tried to enter the premises through a gate but was stopped by security guards present there.

The girl then started scaling the wall of the building, but was again caught by the security guards, who then informed about the matter to the Bandra police, another official said.

Read: Salman Khan to recreate Oh Oh Jaane Jaana for Katrina Kaifs sister Isabelles debut film

The girl was later taken to the Bandra police station.

Based on the Aadhaar card that she was carrying, the police established the girls identity and informed the cops in her home town as well as her parents, Thackeray said.

After a preliminary enquiry, the girl was sent to the Dongri Childrens home, he said, adding that her parents were on way to Mumbai to take her custody.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreBollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, who will soon be seen in the epic period drama, Manikarnika The Queen of Jhansi, has found some time out from her busy shooting schedule for her family and was spotted enjoying with her four months old nephew, Prithvi.

Kanganas sister Rangoli Chandel took to Twitter to share the pictures with her fans. The baby was born in November last year. Both Kangana and Prithvi were seen twinning in dark blue shirts and made for the perfect picture.

Read: Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor to unite once again for Manish Malhotra at Mijwan fashion show

The photos also reflect the state of mind Kangana is in at present. Spending time in Manali where she has made her new home, she told Delhi Times in an interview, There comes a point when you crave engagement with your environment, you want people around you, you want to operate in a way that makes your environment absolutely pleasant, ecstatic. So thats what I crave. More than my ego, I crave pleasantness. There was a time when pleasantness did not matter to me.

When nobody wants a picture and you are the only one trying to make it happen  pic.twitter.com/gqAufLnUdx  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) April 3, 2018

Massi and kiddie !!!!  pic.twitter.com/wBSoop4rTw  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) March 12, 2018

Check out few more pics of the child:

Who all miss dadi ki lori? I wish I was Prithvi  #mountainboy #pahadilori #grannies are the best #lullaby in the night  pic.twitter.com/fJcbjxKpMd  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) January 12, 2018

My boys my life !!!  pic.twitter.com/p8ESXlWZSn  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) December 27, 2017

On the work front, Kangana has shot for a major part of Manikarnika - a film based on the nineteenth-century queen of Jhansi, Laxmibai. The film faced opposition few months ago when a Brahmin group from Rajasthan, Sarv Brahmin Mahasabha, alleged that the film features a romantic scene between Rani Laxmibai and a British East India company agent.

Read: Irrfan Khans Hindi Medium releases in China today. Could it repeat Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Dangals success?

Reacting to the allegations, Kangana had then said, It is very lowly (neech baat) to even think like that about Rani Laxmibai. We cannot even think like that, the kind of things they are saying. What they are saying is actually defaming. There is nothing like that. It is idle talk and I dont know why it is being said. The film is slated to release on August 3.

Apart from Manikarnika, Kangana will also be seen in Ekta Kapoors Mental Hai Kya opposite Rajkummar Rao. Written by Kanika Dhillon, Mental Hai Kya will be directed by Kovelamudi - a popular Telugu actor-filmmaker, who bagged a National Award for Bomelatta (2006 ).

Follow @htshowbiz for moreMadeleine McCann, four-year-old at that time, disappeared on the evening of May 3, 2007 from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, a resort in Portugal, sparking what is often termed as the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history. The child was never found. Only now, filmmaker Mukul Abhyankar, who is the director of Manoj Bajpayee-Tabu-starrer Missing, claims that his films story -- written eight years before Madeline went missing, written when he was studying in Germany -- is a lot like what happened eight years later in Portugal!

Mukul is making his Bollywood debut with the same story, in a film titled Missing.

Filmmaker Mukul Abhyankar

Talking about the spooky coincidence, Mukul says, I studied in Germany and in 1998 I had written this story as my final year project and the something very interesting happened. This British couple lost their daughter, Madeleine McCann. It really gave me goosebumps as the way the events unfolded were very similar to what I had written.

According to a report in The Telegraph, Madeleine McCann went missing from a holiday apartment in Portugal. Every possible theory has been explored since then: that Madeleine was abducted by a paedophile; that she was killed during a bungled burglary and her body dumped; that she was abducted by traffickers and sold to a childless couple; that she wandered out of the apartment and died in a tragic accident, and many more besides, the report said. The case is yet to be solved.

Missing will shock, stun audiences: Manoj Bajpayee

Talking about his experience of working with actors like Tabu and Manoj, Mukul says, I always wanted to work with best actors, these are two biggies I always wanted to work with. They are both powerhouses and share a wonderful chemistry offscreen. They havent worked together for 18 years but they have been phone buddies and much more. They share a sibling like relationship and their friendship goes beyond gender. When they perform in the front of the camera, they are completely different. I never felt like I was working with such big stars. The kind of layers they have brought to the film is amazing. It is like taking the films script and taking it a couple of notches higher.

Mukul also reveals legendary filmmaker Hitchcock is his idol. Hitchcock is my biggest idol and I love thrillers. Missing is my tribute to Hitchcock. I have completed three films - three kinds of thrillers. In todays times, we dont have the kind of thrillers where you have a certain thehraav, a calmness and yet it has the pace of today. However, the entire style of Missing is classic and traditional, he says.

He adds, The second film I have made has gone for the National Awards, is called Yaksh and the third film is Yellow Car, which I shot 9000m above the sea level.I dont think we have filmmakers who make on-the-edge, classy thrillers and I would really like to grab that place.

Sharing details of the films screening and business model, Mukul says, The film is releasing with 700 prints and some of these will run double shows. The good thing is that the film is releasing simultaneously in countries with major Indian population - like the UK, US, Middle East, Australia, South Africa and Singapore. In Pakistan, in fact, they are releasing it in every single screen. I think it is a great release.

Reacting to the clash with Irrfans Blackmail, he said, I am very happy because Irrfan is a common friend of all three of us (Manoj, Tabu and Mukul) and I think it is great that his film is releasing on the same day. According to me, he is the greatest actor at present and I am happy that three great actors will entertain the audience on the same Friday.

The filmmaker also revealed that actor Annu Kapoor, who plays an investigating officer in the film, learned French language for the film. Annu Kapoor is a perfectionist. After spending years in the industry, he still studies his role very minutely. When I offered him the role of a cop in Mauritius, he requested if he can travel with us a few days prior to the shoot. Normally, actors dont travel with the technical crew but he did. The five days he had on his hand, he used to regularly visit the police station to understand how police there handles a crime scene. For the role, he learnt some French lines to bring authenticity to the role.

Missing is scheduled to release on April 6.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreIn a new video, Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan can be seen looking worried after his car got mobbed by a crowd. Posted by ANI, the video shows Saif Ali Khan getting irritated with the swelling crowd around his car in Jodhpur where he had gone to appear in court in the black buck case of 1998. He says while looking at the driver of his car, Sheesha upar karo, reverse karo warna padegi ek.

#WATCH: Actor Saif Ali Khan outside Jodhpur Airport says 'sheehsa upar karo aur reverse kar lo warna padegi ek' to his driver when he was being asked questions by reporters. Jodhpur Court will deliver verdict in blackbuck poaching case tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/n6AYIcHgY8  ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2018

Final arguments of the black buck case were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment for April 5.

All actors involved, including Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, will be present in the court for the pronouncement of the verdict.

Salman Khan, 52, arrived from Mumbai in a chartered flight. He was earlier in Abu Dhabi for the shooting for Race 3. Bendre, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu and Neelam also reached Jodhpur from Mumbai.

Read: Baaghi 2 movie review: Goa bears Tiger Shroffs wrath and so do we

Salman Khan was accused of killing two black bucks in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the intervening night of 1-2 October, 1998, during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain.

He is facing charges under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the other actors have been charged under Section 51 read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. Maximum punishment under Section 51 is six years.It seems Shah Rukh Khan is leaving no stone unturned in making his next, Zero, a special film. The actor doesnt want to spend his precious time waiting for the infamous Mumbai traffic to move, so he has decided to take a chopper ride to the shooting spot in Vasai, near Mumbai.

As per a report in The Asian Age, Shah Rukh Khan reaches the films sets in the evening and shoots throughout the night. The report quotes a source saying, Shah Rukh has been commuting on a chopper to avoid the traffic. He shoots only by sundown.

Watch: Tiger Shroff has competition: Shilpa Shettys son dances to Baaghi 2 song, aces it. Watch video

The source further said, He usually arrives by 7 pm and shoots through the night. And leaves only by 6 in the morning. This schedule will go on till April 8.

In Zero, the 52-year-old actor, popular for portraying characters in love stories set abroad, plays a dwarf man who travels from Meerut to New York.

Zero will also mark the onscreen reunion of the trio - Shah Rukh, Anushka, and Katrina - after 2012s Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

Read: Baaghi 2 movie review: Goa bears Tiger Shroffs wrath and so do we

In an earlier interview with PTI, films director Aanand L Rai described Shah Rukh Khans character in the film. He said, I always felt he is a very basic Delhi boy. Whenever I saw him in those valleys of Switzerland, I felt Oh Delhi boy wahan tak pahuch gaya (the Delhi boy has achieved great heights). I never felt he didnt belong there. That is the reason why I think he has a great connect in our country because he represents a basic middle class boy who has achieved it.

Zero will hit the screens on December 21, this year.Unions of Air India (AI) met Pradeep Singh Kharola, the chairman and managing director of the national carrier on Wednesday, a week after government moved a step closer to privatising state-run Air India Ltd by releasing details of the proposed divestment.

The airlines multiple unions have expressed concern over the future of employees once the airline is privatised and said that, if needed, they would protest the move.

We were called by the CMD and a detailed discussion was held. We told them that we are completely against privatisation. He has promised that the concerns raised by us will be discussed with the ministry of civil aviation. There will be regular meetings in coming days and we are planning to come up with a joint memorandum of all the unions listing our demands, said JB Kadyan, secretary general, ACEU (Air Corporation Employees Union). The union represents around 8,000 AI employees, including the cabin crew.

The government plans to sell up to 76% of its stake in the airline, giving the buyer absolute control. The government will retain the rest, and share some of it with employees through stock option plans. The governments condition is that the control of the airline rests with Indian entities and that the brand name Air India be retained. The government will also sell 100% of low-cost international carrier Air India Express Ltd and a 50% stake in Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd, an airport ground-handling joint venture.

The government promised a lot at the time of the merger but those promises were not fulfilled, so how can we trust them this time? We havent decided on a protest as this will go against us but we have told the CMD that we are against the privatisation. We will wait for the governments direction, said MS Kukarni, general secretary of the Indian Aircraft Technicians Association (IATA), another of the airlines unions. His reference is to the ill-fated 2007 merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, both state-owned (the first flew overseas, and the second within India), a union that many hold responsible for the airlines subsequent troubles.

The civil aviation ministry has invited expressions of interest from interested parties by 5 pm on May 14.

The pilots union is yet to decide on the its stand.

Kharola said the airline would keep communication lines with the unions open.

Air India had 11,214 permanent employees as on December 1, 2017. These include 2,056 people on deputation to other companies and agencies. The airline also had 2,913 employees on contract and 2,661 people on deputation from other companies. Among the permanent staff, as many as 4,217 are set to retire in the next five years.Soybeans have finally entered the US-China trade war.

Chinas Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday said it plans to impose 25% duties on imports of the commodity in addition to other US agricultural produce including wheat, corn, cotton, sorghum, tobacco and beef. Theyre among 106 products ranging from aircraft to chemicals targeted by Beijing in retaliation against proposed American duties on its high-tech goods.

The announcement ended weeks of speculation over whether Xi Jinpings government would go as far as targeting a commodity that it buys in such huge volumes from the US.

Beijing finally pulled the trigger after Donald Trumps administration earlier in the day proposed $50 billion of levies on a slew of Chinese goods from gas turbines to lithium batteries.

Chinas response carries both economic and political weight as agricultural states are major supporting regions for Trump, said Monica Tu, an analyst at Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. The tariffs on US imports including soybeans is Chinas response that matches the scale of proposed US tariffs.

The prospect of Beijing targeting soybeans was the topic of so much speculation because theres so much at stake for both sides in a trade that was worth about $14 billion last year. The Asian nation is the worlds largest importer, and is Americas biggest buyer of the oilseed. Its purchases have climbed to a record as expansion in large-scale livestock farming and a shortage of protein-rich feed grains boost soymeal consumption.

US Ambassador Terry Branstad last month warned China against retaliatory measures aimed at imports of the oilseed and said any efforts to curb the trade would harm the Asian nations regular citizens more than American growers. In an email on Wednesday, Paul Burke, North Asia Regional Director of the US Soybean Export Council, said duties on soybeans will hurt both US farmers as well as Chinese soy processing, animal producers and consumers.

China is the worlds biggest pork producer and consumer and its industry relies on soybean meal, a product of soybean crushing, to feed its pigs. Rising costs for hog farmers risks increasing the price of pork, a component of Chinas consumer price index.

While about a third of US production goes to the Asian country annually, China last year bought more of the oilseed from Brazil. This will obviously benefit Brazilian exporters, said Warren Patterson, a commodity strategist at Dutch bank ING Groep NV. They will be licking their lips right now.

Soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade dropped as much as 5.3 percent, while wheat and corn futures also slid.

Sorghums another commodity thats been closely watched since China announced an investigation into imports from the US in February, just two weeks after US President Donald Trumps slapped tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines, his opening salvo in whats since become a fully-fledged trade war.

The Asian nation accounts for about 80 percent of American exports of the animal feed ingredient, in a trade worth about $957 million last year. The probe is to be completed by Feb. 4, 2019.

Cotton represents another significant flow of trade from the US: exports of fiber in its raw form fetched $5.8 billion last year, government data show. China was the top destination after Vietnam.

Chinas imports of US corn, wheat and tobacco totaled about $740 million in 2017, according to official customs data. Full-year data on purchases of US beef werent available because the China only resumed imports last year after lifting a ban put in place in 2003 in response to a case mad cow disease in Washington state.

The date on which Chinas tariffs will be implemented depends on the outcome of negotiations with the US, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told reporters after a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.

-- With assistance from Manisha JhaIndias key position in driving intra-Commonwealth trade and investment to over US$1.5 trillion by 2020 has been flagged by a new report ahead of the April 16-20 meeting of heads of government to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others.

Published by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the report titled Strengthening the Commonwealth Advantage: Trade, Technology, Governance says intra-Commonwealth investment has seen a dramatic rise driven by India in recent years.

Between 2005 and 2016, it says India was the top recipient of greenfield FDI (when a parent company established its operations in a foreign country from the ground up) not only from the Commonwealth but also from the world, more than doubling the amount it received over 10 years.

In 2015, India overtook China for the first time as the biggest destination for greenfield FDI, it says.

India has moved into the top five providers of intra-Commonwealth services trade, surpassing Canada, along with Australia, Singapore and the UK. The Commonwealth, the report says, has also been the net recipient of global FDI flows.

Commonwealth member countries held about one-fifth of global FDI stock in 201610 members received more than 90 per cent of inflows between 2010 and 2016. The top five recipients were the UK, Singapore, Canada, Australia and India, in that order, it says.

Commonwealth Asian members  Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka  accounted for 41.1 per cent of the combined total Commonwealth exports of goods and services in 2016.

This represents a significant increase from 31.4 per cent in 2005. India, Singapore and Malaysia are the dominant contributors, accounting for 38 per cent of total Commonwealth exports and 93 per cent of Commonwealth Asian exports, the report adds.

On greenfield investment, the report says that in 2017, cumulative intra-Commonwealth greenfield foreign direct investment was estimated at $700 billion, creating 1.4 million jobs through 10,000 projects.

The secretariat projects intra-Commonwealth greenfield investment could reach $870 billion by 2020, the report, to be officially launched on April 11, says.

This is a remarkable indication of the power of Commonwealth connection and of the benefits that accrue to member countries as a result of Commonwealth Advantage, particularly with world trade only now emerging from the unprecedented slowdown triggered by the financial crisis a decade ago, said Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland.

She added: With rising protectionist sentiments and a backlash against globalisation in many countries, the role of the Commonwealth becomes increasingly important as a positive influence for strengthening trade links across boundaries and building prosperity in which all can share.Oil fell after China said it would levy tariffs on $50 billion of US imports in retaliation against measures by US President Donald Trump, fanning concerns that economic growth and fuel demand could be hurt.

Futures in New York slipped as much as 1.4% to the lowest intraday price since March 20. Chinas Ministry of Commerce in Beijing said it would levy 25% tariffs on imports of 106 US products including automobiles and aircraft. That wiped out earlier support for prices from reduced output among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which dropped to the lowest in a year in March.

West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was at $62.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 81 cents, at 9:54 a.m. in London. The contract rose 50 cents to $63.51 on Tuesday. Total volume traded was about 13% below the 100-day average.

Brent for June settlement lost 86 cents to $67.26 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract added 48 cents to $68.12 on Tuesday. The global benchmark crude traded at a $4.58 premium to June WTI.

Chinas charges on US imports match the scale of proposed US tariffs announced earlier. The step ratchets up tension in a brewing trade war between the worlds two largest trading nations.

--With assistance from Tsuyoshi InajimaShares of Tata Motors defied the broader market trend on Wednesday, and ended the day with gains of more than 3%, following which the market capitalisation of the company improved by Rs 3,565.87 crore.

Shares of the company opened at Rs 349.85 and touched an intra-day high of Rs 363.45, up 5.85% over the previous closing price.

At the end of todays trading session, the stock was quoted at Rs 355.70 apiece, up 3.60%

Following the uptick in the counter, the market capitalisation of the company rose by Rs 3,565.87 crore to Rs 1,02,702.99 crore.

On the NSE, the stock opened at Rs 346.80 apiece and jumped to a high of Rs 362.90 intra-day. Its shares ended the day at Rs 354.80, higher by 3.41%

The companys new products such as the fifth-generation all-new Land Rover Discovery and the New Range Rover Velar have been received very well in the market.

Besides, other models like Jaguar XE, XF and F-PACE and Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque have also done well during the year, said Jaguar Land Rover India president & managing director Rohit Suri.Tesla Inc. needs to brace for another setback after China included electric cars among American products that its targeting with additional tariffs in its counter-punch to the US.

While other autos imported from the US were also on the list, including most types of SUVs, Tesla is at a particular risk because it relies on American-made vehicles for all its Chinese sales. Other US carmakers such as General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. manufacture in China.

Chinas announcement adds to a tough past few weeks for chief executive officer Elon Musk and Tesla investors, with a string of bad news hurting the companys shares. China is the carmakers biggest single market after the US, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and an additional tariff threatens to give local manufacturers further pricing edge.

The jump in tax levy hurts Tesla the most as it had not yet started local production in China, said Cui Dongshu, the secretary general of Chinas Passenger Car Association. For GM and Ford, they can always make up with China-produced ones.

A Tesla spokeswoman based in Beijing wasnt immediately available to comment.

Tesla has been working with Shanghais government since last year to explore assembling cars in China, but has yet to clinch a deal. An agreement hasnt been finalized because the two sides disagree on the ownership structure for a proposed factory, people with direct knowledge of the situation said in February.

The US carmaker is already hindered by Chinas current 25 percent import tax that catapults the sticker price beyond the means of most consumers. An additional duty would further relegate Tesla into a niche marque only afforded by the most wealthy.

Tesla sold 14,883 vehicles in China last year, accounting for just 3 percent of the nations battery-powered electric-vehicle sales and placing it as the No. 10 brand in that segment. China accounted for 17 percent of Teslas revenue for 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In the first two months of this year, 36,000 vehicles were imported from US, including Teslas, Lincolns and Mustangs, according to Chinas PCA. European carmakers such as Daimler AG and BMW AG also sell American made cars in China, according to PCAs Cui.

In February, China imported 2,323 vehicles with electric motors from the US, and 2,160 of those were Teslas.US President Donald Trump denied on Wednesday that the United States was in a trade war with China, hours after Beijing slapped tariffs on a list of US imports in retaliation for similar duties levied by the White House one day earlier.

We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018

We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S., Trump wrote in a post on Twitter.

Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue, he added.The US proposed imposing 25% tariffs on about $50 billion worth of Chinese-made products, focusing on high-tech items from semiconductors to lithium batteries. China condemned the move and said it will respond on an equal scale against US products.

This level is appropriate both in light of the estimated harm to the US economy, and to obtain elimination of Chinas harmful acts, policies, and practices, the US Trade Representatives office said in a report on Tuesday. The US is targeting the 1,300 product lines to try to force China to change its intellectual property practices, the office said.

In deciding which products to hit, US officials identified items that benefit from Chinese industrial policies, including Made in China 2025, USTR said, referring to Beijings plan to dominate key strategic technologies. The US also picked products based on the principle of trying to minimize the effect on the US economy and consumers, the office said.

In addition to advanced technologies such as communication satellites, the list includes products ranging from various types of steel to television components, medical devices, dishwashers, snow blowers and flame throwers. The proposed tariffs cover a number of sectors, from health care to aviation and auto parts.

Link to the full list from the USTR

Asian stocks were mixed at the open as traders awaited a more detailed response from China to the latest step in an escalation of trade tensions between the worlds two biggest economies.

Chinas Ministry of Commerce condemned the proposed US tariffs and said the nation is ready to take measures against US products with the same intensity and scale.

China plans to immediately bring relevant US practice to the dispute settlement body of the WTO, and is ready to take counter measures on US products with the same intensity and scale that will be published in the coming days, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Wednesday.

Strong response

The US duties will likely provoke a strong response from China, said Carlos Gutierrez, US commerce secretary under former President George W. Bush.

Wars start with battles, and the battles have started, Gutierrez, co-chair of the consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group, said in an interview in Mexico City. Chinese President Xi Jinping cant afford to look like hes getting pushed around.

The US list appears to be more bellicose than the range of tariffs China announced Monday in response to separate American duties on steel and aluminum imports, said Mark Muro, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. They included tariffs of as high as 25% on more than 120 items such as US-supplied pork and sparkling wine.

The US proposal on tariffs aims to hit Chinas industrial ambitions without hurting US consumers, said Tom Orlik, chief Asia economist at Bloomberg Economics in Beijing. On both objectives, it will likely fall short. In sum  we think the macro impact will be limited and the strategic objectives difficult to achieve.

The release of the list by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer leads into a roughly 60-day period when the public can provide feedback and the government holds hearings on the tariffs. The 25% tariffs comes on top of any existing levies.

Some business groups immediately denounced the proposed tariffs. The administration is rightly focused on restoring equity and fairness in our trade relationship with China. However, imposing taxes on products used daily by American consumers and job creators is not the way to achieve those ends, said Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce.

An organization representing US technology companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Intel Corp. urged the Trump administration to work with other countries to address systemic issues with China.

If history is any indication, these proposed tariffs will not work and will be entirely counterproductive, said Dean Garfield, chief executive officer of the Information Technology Industry Council. Tariffs penalize US consumers by increasing prices on technology products and will not change Chinas behavior.

The National Retail Foundation said it was pleased products such as shoes and clothing were excluded, but it expressed concern at proposed duties on consumer electronics and household appliances.

However, a group representing manufacturers and steelworkers applauded the move. The administrations proposed actions will help restore some balance with China, as well as recreate an environment where some of the millions of jobs weve lost to China will have a chance of being restored, said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

Penalizing Beijing

Trump said on March 22 the tariffs were aimed at penalizing Beijing for what the US alleges to be theft of American companies intellectual property. The presidents recent trade actions, which also include duties on steel and aluminum, have provoked concerns of a global trade war. China imposed tariffs of its own in response to Trumps actions on metal imports.

Chinas Made in China 2025 plan was announced in 2015, and highlighted 10 sectors for support on the way to China becoming an advanced manufacturing power, from information technology, to robotics and aerospace. In addition, China has a separate development strategy for artificial intelligence, published in 2017.

USTR said the public can submit written comments on the tariffs until May 11, and it will hold a public hearing on them on May 15 in Washington.The Uttarakhand election commission on Wednesday accused the ruling BJP government of not cooperating with its efforts to conduct the local body elections later this month.

State election commissioner (SEC) Subardhan told mediapersons that the state was slipping into a democratic logjam, with the tenure of 92 municipal bodies in the hill state ending on May 4. It is constitutionally binding to conduct the polls before the tenure of urban bodies comes to an end. But with just a month to go, neither the delimitation of local urban bodies nor reservation (for women, SC and ST candidates) have been completed, he said.

The SEC alleged that chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and urban development minister Madan Kaushik were not taking the elections seriously. I have been seeking time from the chief ministers office since July last year. Moreover, I have told the urban development minister that the manner in which the government was going for delimitation of several urban bodies will hamper the poll process, he said.

Subardhan, whose tenure will end in July, went on to say that conducting elections through VVPAT machines would require funds amounting to Rs 17 crore. But we did not even get 17 paise, he added.

The SECs accusations against Rawat and Kaushik come as a booster shot for the Congress, which has been accusing the government of rigging the poll process. It is now proved that the government has been trying to rig the elections. They (government) forcibly included villages in the local bodies, and now its evident that the BJP intends to conduct the polls as per its convenience said party spokesperson Mathura Dutta Joshi.

The opposition party also thanked Subardhan for listening to his inner voice.

Last month, the Uttarakhand high court had quashed an official notification for expansion of municipal areas ahead of the local body elections. The court on Wednesday sought a response from the government on the SECs petition by April 11.

State urban development minister Madan Kaushik denied the SECs allegations, and asserted that the government was in favour of conducting the polls on time. We have been meeting with the SEC. However, as the commission has now moved court, the government will submit its reply there, he said.

Trivendra Singh Rawats cabinet had approved the expansion of 35 local bodies, including the Dehradun, Haldwani and Roorkee municipal corporations, last June. The decision, seen as a move to give the ruling party an edge in the urban body polls, snowballed into a major political battle between the BJP and Congress.

The decision allowed the full inclusion of 355 villages and partial inclusion of 44 others into urban areas. Several village heads also moved court against the move.

The Congress has accused the government of trying to alter the demography of municipal areas by including select villages that suit the BJP. It further alleged that several OBC and Muslim-dominated rural settlements were excluded from Roorkee to make way for new entrants.With the terms of states various civic bodies coming to an end on May 3, the Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday asked the government to explain why it was yet to fix a poll schedule for them despite the state election commissions advise to expedite it.

A bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia sought the governments explanation within a week on a plea by the state election commission seeking its intervention for holding the civic body poll at the earliest as the new municipal boards have to be constituted by May 4.

The Commissions petition also cited Article 243 Y of the Constitution of India, pertaining to the Finance Commission mandate to examine and determine the finances of civic bodies and make requisite recommendations to the governor on allocation of funds and allied matters to them in time.

The bench directed the government to file its reply to the court latest by the next date of hearing on April 11, explaining the reasons behind the delay in preparing the municipal poll schedule.

Alleging that the issue was being treated indifferently by the state government, the Commission said in its petition that it had written to the chief secretary and the urban development secretary but the state government was yet to provide the schedule for the civic body polls.

After the high courts intervention, Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik who is also the official spokesman of the state government, said the state government will file its reply to the high court by April 11 besides preparing a poll schedule for the civil body elections and submitting it to the state election commission in a day or two.Delhis Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal on Wednesday described traffic management as the biggest problem ailing the national Capital and revealed that three key measures  congestion tax on busy roads, a network of one-way streets, and reducing the growth rate of vehicle registrations  were in the works to unclog the city.

Speaking at the inaugural session of ConnectKaro, a conclave on sustainable cities organised by the World Resources Institute, Baijal also sought other suggestions from urban planners and transport experts to intervene in decongesting Delhi.

Hindustan Times had reported on March 12 that Baijal, along with the three municipal corporations and the Union urban affairs ministry, had zeroed in on 21 stretches where congestion tax could be imposed in the coming months. The stretches included the corridors between Aurobindo Chowk and Andheria More, the Nehru Place and Modi Mills flyover, areas around Hauz Khas Metro station on the Outer Ring Road, the ITO intersection, and parts of Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, Mathura Road and Pusa Road.

Over the last one year or so, with great persuasive effort and pain, I have been able to identify 77 corridors that are congested and require specific engineering or technological intervention. Delhi police has recently partnered with Maruti for the implementation of an intelligent traffic management system. This is being done in one of the busiest corridors of Delhi, Baijal said on Wednesday.

We are contemplating to identify some roads which could be converted into one-way traffic. The other idea we have been toying with is to introduce in some form of congestion charges on selected roads, he added.

When contacted, special commissioner of police (traffic) Depender Pathak said that work had begun on creating a network of one-way streets. He said that a survey was being conducted by an expert committee headed by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) to assess stretches where one-way restrictions could be implemented.

We will take a call on the stretches where one-way circulation is possible once we get the report. It will mainly be worked out in areas where parallel connections are available. A methodology is also being worked out for the implementation of congestion charges, Pathak said.

Speaking at the conclave, Baijal said that the growth of vehicles in the capital was such in the last couple of decades that the there is now a private vehicle for every three people. As a result, management of traffic in the city has become a humongous challenge, he said.

Delhi has more than a 10 million registered vehicles, out of which nearly 6.8 million are two wheelers. The Centre had come up with a detailed decongestion plan for Delhi in 2016. But the plan remains in abeyance as the Delhi government is yet to appoint a high-level monitoring committee to finalise and implement various decongestion measures.

According to government data, the number of cars registered in the city as of May 2017 was 3.1 million  the highest in the country  with a density of 93 cars per km of road.

Experts welcomed the decongestion steps and said the it was important to promote public transport. We need to invest more in public transport which is a shared mode of commute. People who are now using cabs on shared basis should be made to feel safe while using public transport, said IIT-Delhi professor Geetam Tiwari. This way people will move to mass transport and traffic can be reduced.The United States has once again tightened the noose around the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), one of the most potent anti-India forces that operates from Pakistani soil, by designating the Milli Muslim League (MML) and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) as fronts for the terror group. Both MML and TAJK are political forces created by LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, the former with an eye on contesting Pakistans upcoming general election.

While announcing the designations, an American official said the US was targeting MML and its leaders because they were complicit in LeTs efforts to undermine Pakistans political process. In other words, the US was doing what rightly should have been done by Pakistans government and political leadership, had they really been intent on insulating the political arena from the venom of extremism and terrorism.

The US move against LeT is also proof that the world community hasnt bought into Pakistans half-hearted efforts earlier this year to crack down on the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, two more fronts of LeT, to counter an effort to put the country on the Financial Action Task Forces (FATFs) watch list. Pakistan is now set to enter the FATFs grey list and the US designations reflect that a close watch is being kept by the world community on Pakistans efforts to counter terrorism and terror financing.

To be fair, Pakistans election commission had refused to register MML as a political party, but the judiciary, which for some reason has always been seen as soft on Saeed and his myriad groups, has, through a recent order, kept the door open on the groups registration. Clearly, Saeed formed MML as part of the grand army-backed plan to mainstream and legitimise terror groups under the fig leaf of allowing them to form political entities that can contest elections. Retired and serving Pakistani military officials have spoken about this project, which apparently was opposed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Most of the jihadis chosen for this project are focused on Kashmir.

Pakistan has maintained a studied silence on the designation of MML, but it will be difficult for the government to allow, in any way, the registration of Saeeds henchmen as a political party at a time when terrorism, or Islamabads failure to comprehensively crack down on the menace, is a key source of the tensions with the US. As Pakistan prepares for what will be only its second peaceful transfer of power, its political leadership will do well to keep Saeed and his ilk out of the body politic.The new rules approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the higher education regulatory body, say that researchers will lose their registration and teachers their jobs if found guilty of plagiarising. There will be graded punishment for offenders. This essential move should have come much earlier to ensure that Indian academia is a wellspring of fresh ideas rather than a morass of regurgitated thoughts.

Plagiarism  the practice of taking someone elses work or ideas and passing them off as ones own (read cheating)  has been gnawing away at Indias academia for years; even top academicians have been caught at it. For example, Pondicherry University vice-chancellor Chandra Krishnamurthy quit in 2016 after a prolonged stand-off with the ministry of human resource development, following allegation that she plagiarised large parts of one of her books. BS Rajput, the vice-chancellor of Kuamon University, was found to be a serial plagiarist. Eventually, seven Stanford University professors wrote to the then President APJ Abdul Kalam about him. Appa Rao Podile, vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, was accused of plagiarising from not one, but three scientific papers.

In India, plagiarism flourishes for several reasons. First, it is almost ingrained in the system, starting from school where students are not taught to think, analyse or check on sources, but learn by rote from whatever notes they get their hands on. Generations of students grow up without any awareness of what plagiarism is. Few schools go out of their way to inculcate in students the moral integrity that treats plagiarism as a serious, scornful offence. Widespread access to the internet has made things worse. To many students (and teachers), the internet is a vast reservoir of knowledge and information into which they can dip at will. There are two flawed assumptions about the internet: that it is always free (and free to draw upon); that it is always accurate; and that there is no need to attribute sources to stuff taken from it. Second, there is no real action against people indulging in the malpractice. Third, guidelines on research misconduct dont have any time frames for the closure of such cases. And fourth, institutions of higher education, which should push students to strive for originality, actually dont want to rock the boat and punish those who indulge in plagiarism. The new rules should change that.As colleges begin to prepare for the summer, so must students. Most graduates take the nearly two months of leave to intern, which get them hands-on experience and can bring a degree of clarity to how they want their careers to unfold. Increasingly, students are opting to do these internships overseas.

Universities in countries such as France, Germany, Egypt and the US reach out to students because many of those who intern at an international university return there for further study, after graduation, says Arjun Krishna, co-founder of WeMakeScholars, a study-abroad portal.

Organisations such as the United Nations and Google also offer internships that are open to students around the world. The benefits are immense, from cross-cultural benefits to an extended global network to help jumpstart your career. With increased opportunities, student queries and interest in international internships on our portal have gone up by nearly 50% since 2015, says Krishna.

On offer

There are several portals that aggregate such internships  WeMakeScholars, InternShala, overseas education portal IES Abroad, global youth organisation AIESEC, Canadian non-profit organisation Mitacs. Together, they offer a wide range of options that cover communication design, sustainable development, engineering, primary education and youth organisation, science and the humanities.

How does one select the right internship? There are broadly three parameters  organisation, job description and financial implications, says Udit Bhatnagar, senior counselor at study abroad consultancy ReachIvy.

Even if it is paid, the stipend may not always cover all your costs. And not every foreign internship will add value to your career. Accounting internships are generally restricted to research. If you want a career as an analyst, this may not help much, says Bhatnagar.

For lawyers, consider going abroad only if you plan to specialise in universal areas such as human or animal rights, or international law. Pick an internship if you plan to study further in that country.

The US, Singapore are good destinations to pick for software engineering internships, Germany for mechanical or automobile, adds Hiren Rathod, business head at Imperial Overseas Education Consultants.

I am learning design strategy, in Paris

Prepare well Begin research and applications at least three months before the deadline After your application goes through, there is generally a written test followed by a Skype interview. Keep the environment of the interview formal, with respect to setting and clothing Read the law of the country and avoid putting yourself in a vulnerable position

Karanjit Narang, 24, a postgraduate student of branding and communication design at Ecole intuit lab, began a three-month internship at Seenk, a branding and design agency in Paris, in January. He reached out to the agency, which has a tie-up with his institute.

The internships I was getting in India were all related to graphic design, but I knew my end goal was to get into strategy, so I snapped it up, Narang says.

He is now part of a team that ideates and pitches branding strategies. I have interned as a designer before. Here, I am working with a team for clients that have a pan-French presence, so the scale is larger, which has given me a broader perspective, he says. The volume of projects is also high. There is something new to work on every two weeks, so it has been a process of constant learning.

Karanjit Narang chose to intern with a branding and design agency in Paris, to make a switch from graphic design to strategy.

The stipend is not enough to cover all Narangs expenses. But I think this will pay off, he says. In India, it would have taken me about three years to make a shift to strategy. I see this as an investment in my career.

One thing he wishes he could change is how little prep he did before he arrived. I didnt know much French, and I knew very little about the culture. At meetings in the beginning, I could not always follow all the details that were being discussed.

He picked up phrases as he went along, and his team members helped him with translation where he couldnt follow. Hes made some good friends. My favourite memory is making my French friends dance to Punjabi music, he says with a laugh.

I learnt discipline and conflict management

For 21-year-old Divya Jain, currently in her final year of an engineering degree in electronics and communication at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, a research internship in Dresden, Germany, was a stepping stone to her finalyear thesis.

I wanted to eventually do research in the area of electronics, in computer architecture and nanotechnology, she says. I wrote to professors at universities in Europe and Singapore, expressing my goals, my interest areas and why I wanted to research with them. The Technische Universitat Dresden responded positively.

Divya Jain took up a research internship at Technische Universitat Dresden to help with her final-year thesis.

The actual internship was rigorous and intensive, but the whole experience, from managing documentation to adjusting to a more disciplined work culture, managing conflict, fighting everyday sexism, was a huge learning curve, she says.

It also helped that she had done a few internships in India first, including a twomonth stint at the semi-conductor laboratory run by the union governments Department of Space, in Mohali.

I did that as part of our curriculum and it helped me narrow down my area of specialisation. Chances are I would not have even been selected for Germany, without this experience, she says.Scientists in developing nations plan to step up research into dimming sunshine to curb climate change, hoping to judge if a man-made chemical sunshade would be less risky than a harmful rise in global temperatures.

Research into solar geo-engineering, which would mimic big volcanic eruptions that can cool the Earth by masking the sun with a veil of ash, is now dominated by rich nations and universities such as Harvard and Oxford.

Twelve scholars, from countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Jamaica and Thailand, wrote in the journal Nature on Wednesday that the poor were most vulnerable to global warming and should be more involved.

Developing countries must lead on solar geo-engineering research, they wrote in a commentary.

The overall idea (of solar geo-engineering) is pretty crazy but it is gradually taking root in the world of research, lead author Atiq Rahman, head of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, told Reuters by telephone.

Houses on stilts are seen as the sun sets around the Manila bay in Manila, Philippines. (REUTERS File)

The solar geo-engineering studies may be helped by a new $400,000 research project, the Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative (SRMGI), which is issuing a first call for scientists to apply for finance this week.

The SRMGI is financed by the Open Philanthropy Project, a foundation backed by Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook, and his wife, Cari Tuna, the scientists wrote.

The fund could help scientists in developing nations study regional impacts of solar geo-engineering such as on droughts, floods or monsoons, said Andy Parker, a co-author and project director of the SRMGI.

Rahman said the academics were not taking sides about whether geo-engineering would work. Among proposed ideas, planes might spray clouds of reflective sulphur particles high in the Earths atmosphere.

The technique is controversial, and rightly so. It is too early to know what its effects would be: it could be very helpful or very harmful, they wrote.

A UN panel of climate experts, in a leaked draft of a report about global warming due for publication in October, is sceptical about solar geo-engineering, saying it may be economically, socially and institutionally infeasible.

A woman walking on the parched bed of Chandola Lake with a metal pot on her head to fetch water in Ahmedabad, during drought. (AFP File Photo)

Among risks, the draft obtained by Reuters says it might disrupt weather patterns, could be hard to stop once started, and might discourage countries from making a promised switch from fossil fuels to cleaner energies.

Still, Rahman said most developed nations had abysmally failed so far in their pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions, making radical options to limit warming more attractive.

The world is set for a warming of three degrees Celsius or more above pre-industrial times, he said, far above a goal of keeping a rise in temperatures well below 2C under the 2015 Paris Agreement among almost 200 nations.The Gurgaon wildlife department team rescued a two-year-old Asian civet cat from Gadoli village, approximately six kilometres from the city, on Sunday.

She was found injured and unable to move near a vehicle. She was taken to Sultanpur National Park, around 15 kilometers from the city, for treatment and later shifted to the Rohtak Zoo  the only animal facility in the state with a treatment room.

Her leg and lower side of the stomach were severely injured. We applied an antiseptic dressing, gave her glucose water for weakness and fed her antibiotics for two days. Now she is feeling better. On Tuesday, she ate a banana and two eggs, and showed some movement, said Dr Ashok Khasa, a veterinary surgeon in the forest department, Gurgaon.

The doctor said they were bringing her to Gurgaon on Wednesday and once she was perfectly fine, she would be released in the Aravalli hills.

The Asian civet cat is protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The species can survive on a wide range of habitats and can rarely be seen in urban environments as it is shy and wary of humans. It feeds on fruits, berries, coffee beans, insects and small mammals.

Its perineal gland secretes a waxy civet musk that is used in perfumes and medicines.

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, in its survey of 51 sites in the Aravalli hills last year in June, had revealed the presence of 10 mammalian species that also included the small Indian civet. However, Indian civet cats is rare.

On October 14 last year, two Indian palm civet cats were released back into the Aravalli hills after being rescued by the wildlife department from near Bhondsi Jail.Over 600 protesters belonging to the schedule caste (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) were booked by the Gurgaon police on Tuesday for allegedly blocking the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, among other arterial roads in the city, during a protest against the Supreme Court decision that allegedly dilutes act that safeguards the rights of these communities.

Police said two cases have been registered against protestersone at the Civil Lines police station in which four people have been identified and over 500 unidentified, and another at the Sector 40 police station where around 60 to 70 persons have been booked.

DCP (crime) Sumit Kuhar said that cases were registered on the complaint of duty magistrate at Civil Lines, and a police official in Sector 40 as protesters turned a deaf ear to the repeated requests by the district administration and police officials to not block the national highway.

At Sector 40, a complaint was filed by police official Inder Prasad after which a case was registered under sections 109/143/145/149/283 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). A case was registered against Amit, Suresh, Geetanand, Rinku, Trilok, Aniket, Rakesh and 60 other unidentified persons who blocked the road near Kanhai village that led to a jam, police said.

Another case was registered at the Civil Lines police station on the basis of a complaint filed by Gurgaon additional tehsildar and duty magistrate Prakash Veer. A case was registered against Satpal Tanwar, Anil Tanwar, Sonu, Shyam Lal, Dr Abhay, Jitender, Dharambir and Pradeep Dahiya, besides 500 other unnamed protesters under sections 147,149,188,283,341 of the IPC and Section 8B of the National Highway Act 1956.

The entire stretch from the HUDA City Centre to Subash Chowk was choked and there was a traffic gridlock in the adjacent areas because of this. Commuters suffered a lot as roads were jammed. As such action was initiated against the protestors, Kuhar said.

Key intersections in the city, including those on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway were choked on Monday after large number of protesters from blocked the roads to protest the Supreme Courts decision to amend the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Protests were held in Sohna, Basai, Kanhai, and villages along NH-48 where agitators blocked traffic at major intersections. The Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway was blocked at Rajiv Chowk for about half-an-hour.A new Chinese poster for Avengers: Infinity War, the hotly anticipated film Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, offers fans their clearest look at Spider-Mans new suit, given to him by Robert Downey Jrs Tony Stark. The new poster also presents a new design, yet retains Marvels biggest heroes while Josh Brolins villainous Thanos looms in the background.

The new Spidey suit is a huge leap forward from the one he wore in Spider-Man: Homecoming, although that one was also designed by Tony Stark. But since weve seen Spider-Man venture out into space in the trailers for Infinity War, perhaps he required something more sturdy.

Read: Happy Birthday Robert Downey Jr: How Iron Man saved his career and made him an Avenger

If you zoom in to the poster you will notice that it looks a lot like Iron Mans armour, complete with a metallic exterior and what look like thrusters and weapons. There are also new and improved web shooters.

Tony presented Peter Parker with an improved suit at the end of Homecoming - he even called a grand press conference to introduce the newest member of the Avengers - but Peter refused, choosing instead to remain a friendly neighbourhood superhero.

The events of Infinity War demand that he steps his game up. In a recently released TV spot from the film, Tony can be seen inducting Spidey into the Avengers, mid-battle.

Read: Avengers Infinity War: Every Marvel fan must read this letter shared by directors Joe & Anthony Russo

Robert Downey Jr returns as Tony Stark/Iron Man in Infinity War, while Tom Holland reprises his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, which he first played in Captain America: Civil War. Holland will return as the character in a sequel to Homecoming, which will be helmed by returning director Jon Watts.

Avengers: Infinity War is scheduled for an April 27 release.

You can check out our full coverage of the film here.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreStars Robert Downey Jr, Jeremy Renner and Tom Holland have responded to Avengers: Infinity War directors Joe & Anthony Russos letter to fans asking them to refrain from spoiling the film for others.

On Tuesday, the Russos shared the letter on Twitter in which they said that Marvel would not be screening the hugely anticipated superhero movie in its entirety to preserve key plot points. The full film will only be shown for the first time at the Los Angeles premiere a few days before the global release on April 27.

Here is the complete letter:

To the greatest fans in the world.

Were about to embark on the Avengers: Infinity War press tour. We will be visiting fans all over the world screening only a limited amount of selected footage from the film in order to avoid spoiling the story for future viewers.

We will not screen the film in its entirety until the Los Angeles premiere shortly before the films global release. Everyone involved with the film has worked incredibly hard for the past two years maintaining the highest level of secrecy., Only a handful of people know the films true plot.

Were asking that when you see Infinity War, in the coming months, that you maintain the same level of secrecy so that all fans can have an equal experience when they watch it for the first time. Dont spoil it for others, the same way you wouldnt want it spoiled for you.

Good luck and happy viewing.

The Russo Brothers

#ThanosDemandsYour Silence

Responding to the letter, Iron Man Robert Downey Jr, who turned 53 on Wednesday, wrote on Twitter, I trust you all can keep a secret...no spoilers please :) #ThanosDemandsYourSilence.

I trust you all can keep a secret...no spoilers please :) #ThanosDemandsYourSilence https://t.co/hWmoZMyioW  Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) April 3, 2018

Holland, who plays Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, wrote, This letter was originally addressed to me, joking about his tendency to reveal spoilers. Renner, meanwhile, poked fun at the ongoing speculation about his absence from the films marketing, and wrote, I say nothing...cause I know nothing...

This letter was originally addressed to me  https://t.co/qmVQUqH6Fd  Tom Holland (@TomHolland1996) April 3, 2018

All three of them included the hashtag #ThanosDemandsYourSilence, which the Russos had included in their original letter.

You can read our full coverage of Avengers: Infinity War here.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreEnglish actor Simon Pegg has a very unusual connection with India. The actor, who has featured in the Mission: Impossible films, was not present in the country when the entire team was shooting in India for Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol  the film had a scene set in Mumbai, featuring Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor. Yet, a visit to India is on Peggs wishlist and he is thrilled to learn that he has a lot of  fans in India.

Its really lovely to hear that [I have a lot of fans there]. India is a country that I havent been to, and honestly its the topmost in the must visit country list for me. We shot for Mission: Impossible 4 in India, but unfortunately, I wasnt a part of that shoot. Id love to come to India and interact with some of the fans there, Pegg tells us over the phone.

The 48-year-old actor reprises his role of Benjamin Benji Dunn, an Impossible Missions Force technician who later becomes a field agent, in the sixth instalment of the franchise  the film will release this summer. He reveals that parts of the movie will be based in India. There are a few scenes from Mission: Impossible six that are based in Kashmir. Obviously, we didnt shoot there, but some bits of the plot are from India, says Pegg.

The actors latest release, the virtual reality thriller Ready Player One, had him team up with filmmaker Steven Spielberg, something Pegg always dreamed of. Honestly, more than the film, it was mainly the idea of working with Steven. Im a big fan of him. I immediately said yes, when I was told that he wanted to sign me for a film. Later, obviously, I found out that it was this film (Ready Player One), which was based on the book that I had already read, and so it became even better for me, says the actor, whos also a cast regular in the sci-fi film series, Star Trek, as chief engineer Montgomery Scotty Scott.

Another reason why Pegg worked in Ready Player One was to avoid getting pigeonholed as a comic actor. I dont worry about getting pigeonholed, but that does not mean its not a concern. I never started out as a comic actor, or said that I will only do comedies. Acting is acting, and as an actor, I would like to do a wide range of characters and roles, says Pegg, known for films such as Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007).

Interact with the author on Twitter/@sammysamarthTo meet the severe shortage of specialist doctors in India, all existing medical colleges will have to start post-graduate (PG) courses from the 2020-21 academic year, and new ones within three years of receiving recognition to run undergraduate (UG) courses.

The move is expected to add around 10,000 post-graduate seats over the next four years.

Colleges that fail to do this will lose their recognition. The norms are part of the ministry of health and family welfares amendments to the Medical Council of Indias (MCI) post-graduate medical education regulations (PGMER) 2000 that will be notified on Thursday.

India has about 38,000 post- graduate seats for about 68,000 MBBS graduates who come out of medical college every year.

The regulations will apply to both private and government medical colleges.

There are several medical colleges running only undergraduate courses and wasting valuable resources. It is more prudent to make use of the existing infrastructure than invest in building expensive new colleges, said a senior health ministry official on condition of anonymity.

According to the health ministrys estimates, it costs up to ?4 crore to create a seat in a new medical college, while it costs just about Rs 1.2 crore to do so in an existing institute.

Colleges will have to apply to start offering post- graduate programmes, following which the MCI will inspect them. . The colleges need to pass the inspection within three attempts to retain recognition.

This is to ensure colleges start PG courses. People have a knack for circumventing rules so we have ensured they have no option but to start PG courses, the official added.

In an effort to increase seats, the ministry had revised the teacher-student ratio in government medical colleges in 2017, with the benefit now extending to private colleges also. The revised norms permit one professor to have three students under him and one associate professor to have two students, up from the 1:2 ratio for professors and their students, and 1:1 for associate professors.

This will also give us more PG seats but colleges will have to apply for new seats. There will be proper inspection and the seats will increase for 2019-20 academic session, the health ministry official said.

Experts welcomed the move but warned that monitoring the quality of doctors produced is equally imperative.

Increasing PG seats is necessary because many students dont take up medicine, thinking there is only a 50% chance of their doing PG. But the government must ensure that the quality of training is not compromised, said Dr KK Talwar, former chairperson, MCI, and former director, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.The Upper House of Parliament witnessed 11 adjournments on Wednesday, even as leaders of over a dozen opposition parties met Rajya Sabha chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan to demand discussions on key issues of national importance.

Both houses of Parliament witnessed disruptions for the 20th consecutive day since the second part of the budget session began on March 5. The session will conclude in another two days. The government moved the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill-2013 when the house met at 2 pm. Deputy chairman PJ Kurien, who was in the chair, sought a voice vote on the bill amid vociferous protests by legislators belonging to the AIADMK, Telugu Desam Party and the YSR Congress.

Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad blamed the ruling side for the disruptions, stating that the government was trying to evade discussions on various issues, such as special status to Andhra Pradesh, Cauvery water distribution, CBSE paper leak and the banking fraud.

An impression is being created outside that opposition parties are not allowing the house to function. But it is the ruling party thats running away from the discussion... Im sorry to say that the treasury benches are not allowing the house to function, he said amid an uproar by NDA members. Earlier in the day, Naidu had termed the oppositions protests as murder of democracy.BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday slammed the Congress and other opposition parties for backing the Bharat Bandh, alleging that false reports of the saffron party planning to end reservation were being circulated on the social media.

Shah, who has launched a two-day tour of Odisha, said at a public meeting in Kalahandi district that nobody has the audacity to change the provisions for reservation in the Constitution written by Babasaheb Ambedkar. The BJP will not allow this either. Our party will neither end reservation nor let anybody end it, he said.

The BJP chief wondered why the Congress and other parties called for the Bharat Bandh when the Centre had announced that it would file a review petition in the Supreme Court. The opposition parties are responsible for the death of 10 people during the protest, he said.

The Bharat Bandh was held on Monday to protest the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act by the Supreme Court.

Shah then went on to criticise the Naveen Patnaik government, alleging that it had failed to ensure development despite the Centre providing Rs 45,000 crore in funds to Odisha. At least 8.40 lakh children are suffering from malnutrition despite aid sent by the central government. Around 50 lakh people in Odisha are residing in kuccha (makeshift) houses. Those 50 lakh people are asking why they did not get pucca (sturdy) houses. Even today, 36% households in Odisha dont have electricity, he said, claiming that Odisha will witness all-round development if it votes the BJP to power.

Shah said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre will provide pucca houses to everybody in the state by 2022. Every household in Odisha will benefit from electricity connectivity under the Saubhagya Yojana before 2021, he said, adding that his party  if elected  will also ensure pure drinking water to all the villages in the state within five years.The Centre is yet to sanction funds for the proposed full-fledged foreigners detention center in Goalpara, officials in the Assam government say.

The states home and political department had given its nod for the construction of a new detention centre in early 2016 and asked the office of the chief of the border branch of the Assam Police to prepare a project report.

These are declared foreigners and not convicts, principal secretary, home and political department, Sweety Changsan says explaining why the state government wanted the detention centre.

There are over 90,000 declared illegal migrants in Assam out of which over 1500 are currently in detention in six already overcrowded jails across the state. These jails double up as detention centres.

The number of declared foreigners is expected to rise once the ongoing National Register of Citizens exercise gets completed in June this year.

The NRC is being updated to detect illegal foreigners settled in the state.

Several politicians, including senior state cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, have said that the state would urge the Centre to discuss deportation of declared foreigners with neighbouring Bangladesh once the NRC is completed. But if data is anything to go by, it is highly unlikely. The data with the Assam police shows only two declared foreigners have been deported to Bangladesh since 2013.

Meanwhile, a detailed project report of the proposed centre which is to be constructed in two phases was sent to the home ministry for approval.

There were some technical issues regarding the costs which were clarified, an Assam Police official said.

The total cost of the detention centre was pegged at over Rs 47.8 crore. The technical issues were clarified in November last year.

The proposed detention centre under Goalparas Matia police station is expected to house 3,000 detainees.

According to officials, 20 bighas of land has already been allotted for the project by the Goalpara district administration.

It has been under review for a couple of months. We hope it will be sanctioned soon, Changsan said.Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday accused the BJP-led NDA government of betraying the people on the Centres promise of giving special status to the bifurcated state.

Five crore people of Andhra Pradesh feel that the BJP government is playing with our emotions, Naidu said in New Delhi, days after the TDP pulled out of the NDA over the governments failure to give the special status category to Andhra Pradesh.

He said he waited till the last budget before withdrawing from the NDA government and breaking ties with the BJP which was part of a ruling coalition in Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu said the government kept telling him that they were not going to give special status to the state because of the 14th Finance Commission.

The chairman and member of the Finance Commission denied it, saying their mandate was only to accord funds to state and centre.

They (the government) are blaming me, saying we are prepared to give money, but you are not ready to take. They have given special status to 11 states in spite of the 14th Finance Commission. Then why not to Andhra Pradesh?

He said he even told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if he could sort out the issue we will continue in the NDA and it was only after that they decided to snap the ties.

He said he had his alliance with the BJP was because the state needed hand holding from the Centre.

Had they given us special status within first year, I would have saved Rs 3,000-5,000 crore. I want to place all this on record. I waited for four years. (But) they didnt mention any word in their budget about Andhra they did not even show concern.

Naidu said he had come to Delhi 29 times in the last four years, to meet the Prime Minister and his ministers.

And after 29 visits nothing happened. They did a few minor things, but major part of (Andhra Pradesh) bifurcation act was not implemented.Bollywood star Salman Khan and other actors arrived on Wednesday in Jodhpur where a court will pronounce its verdict in a 1998 poaching case in which he is the prime accused.

Final arguments of the case were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment for Thursday.

Salman is accused of killing two blackbucks, hunting of which is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act, at Kankani village in Jodhpur during the shooting of film Hum Saath Saath Hain. Actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam and a local resident, Dushyant Singh, are among the accused in the case.

Read: Salman Khan blackbuck case, other court cases: 10 things to know

Salman Khan, 52, arrived from Mumbai in a chartered flight. He was earlier in Abu Dhabi for the shooting for Race 3. Bendre, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu and Neelam also reached Jodhpur from Mumbai.

Later, a video went viral in which Saif, after arriving here, can be heard using rough language and asking his driver to roll up the cars window-panes and reverse as a crowd gathers around his vehicle.

Salman is facing charges under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the other actors have been charged under Section 51 read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. Maximum punishment under Section 51 is six years.

All of them were in a Gypsy car that night, with Salman Khan in the driving seat. He, on spotting a herd of black bucks, shot at and killed two of them, Public Prosecutor Bhawani Singh Bhati had said.

In pics:Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan and others reach Jodhpur to hear verdict in black buck case

But on being spotted and chased, they fled from the spot leaving the dead animals there, he said, adding that there was adequate evidence against them.

Denying these allegations, Salman Khans counsel H M Saraswat said there were several loopholes in the prosecutions story and it had failed to prove its case beyond any doubt.

Prosecution has failed to prove the allegations. It engaged in tampering and fabricating evidence and documents as well as roping in fake witnesses to prove its case, he said.

It even failed to prove that the black bucks were killed by gunshots. Hence, such investigation cannot be trusted, Saraswat said.

Read: Salman Khan convicted in blackbuck poaching case by Jodhpur court, Saif Ali Khan and other actors acquitted

The case also involved two more accused, Dushyant Singh, who was allegedly accompanying the actors when the poaching took place, and Dinesh Gawre, said to be Salman Khans assistant.

However, prosecutor Bhati says that Gawre never appeared in court and was made to disappear by Salman Khan. Had he been around, there could have been more information available in the case, he said.

(With agency inputs)Ahead of the verdict by a Jodhpur court in the blackbuck poaching case, Bollywood actors Sonali Bendre, Saif Ali Khan and Tabu left for the Rajasthan city from Mumbai this morning.

The three actors did not speak to mediapersons waiting outside the Mumbai airport while they left from here.

Superstar Salman Khan, meanwhile, arrived in Mumbai in the early hours from Abu Dhabi where he has been shooting for Race 3.

After arriving, he went to his house and is expected to leave for Jodhpur later on Wednesday.

A Jodhpur court will on Thursday announce the verdict in the 1998 black buck poaching case against Salman Khan.

Salman Khan was accused of killing two black bucks on October 2, 1998 in Kankani village in Jodhpur during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, and Tabu, who were also shooting for the film, are the co-accused in the case.

Salman Khan, 52, had earlier pleaded innocence in the case, claiming before the court that he had been framed.A draft bill for better protection and promotion of human rights as well as strengthening human rights institutions in the country was approved by the government on Wednesday.

A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave the nod to the Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018 for better protection and promotion of human rights in the country, according to an official statement.

The proposed amendment will strengthen human rights institutions for effective discharge of their mandates, roles and responsibilities.

Moreover, the amended Act will be in perfect sync with the agreed global standards and benchmarks towards ensuring the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual in the country, the statement said.

The salient features of the proposed amendments bill include making the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights as deemed member of the National Human Rights Commission, adding a woman member in the composition of the commission, enlarging the scope of eligibility and scope of selection of chairperson, NHRC as well as State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs).

It also proposes to incorporate a mechanism to look after the cases of human rights violation in Union Territories, to amend the term of office of chairperson and members of the NHRC and SHRCs to make them in consonance with the terms of chairperson and members of other commissions.

The amendment to the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 will make NHRC and state human rights commissions more compliant with the Paris Principle concerning its autonomy, independence, pluralism and wide-ranging functions in order to effectively protect and promote human rights, the statement said.Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar will soon be flying high in a state-owned aircraft. Khattar, who had turned down a proposal to get a new state-sponsored airplane for himself and other VVIPs soon after taking over the reins of the state in 2014, will now travel in a 10-seater Beechcraft King Air 250, soon to be purchased by the BJP government in state.

Civil aviation minister Rao Narbir Singh said on Tuesday that aircraft will be purchased at an estimated cost of $62,50,000 (around Rs 40 crore).

The matter is with a high-powered purchase committee that will negotiate and clinch the deal, said a civil aviation department official.

The state government had last year shortlisted this aircraft after holding technical consultations with aviation experts and US-based Textron Aviation, the manufacturer of Beechcraft, was called for price negotiation.

The state already has a twin-engine helicopter that was purchased during the Congress rule at a cost of 5.5 million euros (Rs 33 crore) in 2009. A Beechcraft King Air 200 aircraft, also bought during the Congress rule, had in 2014 crashed at the Chandigarh airport soon after taking off. The then governor, Jagannath Pahadia, his wife and other officials on board had a miraculous escape.

The first-time BJP chief minister, Khattar, had earlier tried to set an example in austerity by travelling in trains, commercial flights, luxury buses and metro rail, providing plenty of photo ops. But it gradually dawned upon the political and bureaucratic brass that the state government needed another flying machine to cater to the needs of the VVIPs, including the chief minister.

Why it is chosen

The civil aviation official said the Beechcraft King Air 250  an upgraded version of King Air 200  has been chosen as it was an ideal machine considering the length of runways at Chandigarh, Delhi and Hisar airports.

The King Air 250 needs a take-off distance of 2,111 feet that is just right, keeping in view the average length of these airstrips, he added.

Other purchases

The civil aviation minister said with a view to impart ultra-modern flying training facilities, the state government will also purchase three small Cessna-172 S JTA training aircrafts at a cost of Rs 3.16 crore.The Congress on Wednesday demanded that unconstitutional and undemocratic media accreditation guidelines issued by the Goa assembly secretariat be withdrawn.

Addressing a press conference in Panaji, All India Congress Committee secretary Girish Chodankar said the guidelines are unconstitutional, undemocratic and amount to an attack on the freedom of press.

The guidelines discriminate against media houses on basis of circulation, which is unjust, he said, demanding that Speaker Dr Pramod Sawant should withdraw them.

As per the guidelines, a journalist who wants the accreditation for covering an Assembly session must have an experience of at least five years, and the newspaper he or she belongs to must have a circulation of more than 15,000.

Referring to the guidelines issued by the information and broadcasting ministry on fake news, which were immediately withdrawn following widespread criticism, Chodankar alleged that the ruling BJP in Goa is following the mindset of party bosses in Delhi.No fresh incident of violence was reported on Wednesday from Hindaun in Rajasthans Karauli district after two consecutive days of clashes following a curfew that was clamped from Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

The districts additional superintendent of police Rajesh Yadav said that the situation was normal and additional forces have been deployed to ensure peace in the area.

We got three companies of the Border Security Force (BSF) last (Tuesday) night. At the moment we have eight companies in the district, Yadav added.

Karauli district collector Abhimanyu Kumar said the curfew, which was to remain in effect till 11am on Wednesday, has been extended till 1pm. Internet services will, however, remain suspended in the district throughout the day, Kumar added.

Dalit protesters went on a rampage in Hindaun on Monday while enforcing their nation-wide agitation against what they said was the dilution of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The Supreme Court on March 20 had banned automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the legislation meant to protect the historically discriminated communities from abuse.

Suspected non-Dalit groups, who were angered by the rampage, targeted Dalit slums in retaliation on Tuesday morning. The mob tried to enter the Jatav locality but were stopped and dispersed by the police using tear-gas, batons and by firing in the air.

The mob burnt the house of former Congress legislator Bharosi Lal Jatav and ransacked the home of Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Hindaun, Rajkumari Jatav. A curfew was imposed in Hindaun following the clash.

Additional superintendent of police Yadav said that some 45 people were arrested on Monday and about 40 were arrested for retaliatory violence on Tuesday.

We have also identified those who vandalised the houses of the legislators, Yadav said.

Dalit protests led to clashes and violence in several parts of the desert state. The police arrested over 1,000 people on charges of rioting, vandalism, breach of peace and other charges over the past two days.

A 27-year old protester was killed in Alwar in police firing and a sub-inspector of police suffered a heart attack in Jodhpur while managing the situation on Monday. He died on Tuesday afternoon while being taken to a hospital in Ahmedabad.

The all-India shutdown hit businesses across Rajasthan and an estimate by a traders organisation said it cost the industry Rs 2,500 crore.Fewer foreign exhibitors will take part in DefExpo-2018 and China has not responded to an invitation to the defence ministrys military systems exhibition that will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chennai on April 12, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

The count of foreign exhibitors is down by around 10% but the number of Indian firms showcasing their military wares has gone up at the biennial show last staged in Goa, said Ajay Kumar, secretary, defence production.

Briefing reporters, Kumar said 677 exhibitors, including 523 from India, had confirmed their participation in DefExpo-2018. The figure is far lower than the 1,055 Indian and foreign firms that took part in the exhibition in Goa in 2016. Delay in announcing the dates and shifting the venue from Goa to Chennai may have forced some exhibitors to change their plans, people from the industry said.

The exhibition seeks to project the country as an emerging defence manufacturing hub, with a special India pavilion to showcase the combined strength of the public and private sectors in defence production, Kumar said. The pavilion will exhibit 70 indigenously produced weapons and systems. India has been the worlds largest weapons importer for a decade.

He said India had produced defence equipment worth Rs 55,000 crore last year and several countries were interested in buying Indian products.

While we are welcoming big global companies, we aim to showcase the significant manufacturing capabilities we have achieved over the years, Kumar said.

As many as 47 official delegations from different countries, including 18 ministerial ones, are expected to attend the exhibition. Defence ministry officials said that China was invited to take part in DefExpo-2018 but we havent heard back from them.

One of the highlights of the exhibition will be the India-Russia military industry conference on April 13, expected to be attended by more than 300 industry leaders from the two countries.

The Indian Air Force is likely to start the process of inviting foreign military contractors to build fighter jets in the country under the governments Make in India plan before DefExpo-2018 starts, as reported by HT on March 12. Several global plane makers are taking part in the show and waiting for the IAF to put out a request for information for building 114 jets in the country.The Election Commission of India on Wednesday supported a petition in the Supreme Court that seeks a ban on a candidate contesting an election from more than one constituency, which often leads to a by-election after an aspirant wins both the seats.

The Representation of Peoples Act allows a candidate to contest the Lok Sabha or assembly election from two constituencies simultaneously. A public interests litigation (PIL) filed by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay wants this provision, section 33(7) of the poll law, to be scrapped.

The commission is of the view that the law should be amended to provide that a person cannot contest from more than one constituency at a time, the poll panel said in its affidavit, a copy of which is with the Hindustan Times.

If the legislature was in favour of the provision then an amendment should be made in the law asking the person who wins both the seats to foot the bill for the bypoll, which would be necessitated as the lawmaker would have to vacate one seat, the affidavit said.

The election commission had in 2004 pegged this amount at Rs 5 lakh for assembly election and Rs 10 lakh for a Lok Sabha bypoll. The figure could be proportionately enhanced in case the court were to accept the proposal, it said.

Read | Law should prevent netas from contesting more than one seat

The poll panel also cited the 255th report of the law commission to seek the change. The law commission said in view of the expenditure, time, election fatigue and harassment caused to the voters, section 33(7) should be changed to allow one candidate one constituency.

But the affidavit also said the suggestion, one of the 22 poll reforms proposed by it in 2004, was shot down by a parliamentary panel, which was in favour of allowing candidates to contest from two constituencies.

The countrys top law officer attorney general KK Venugopal has agreed to assist the Supreme Court in the case.Sudam Khandbahale, a 46-year-old farmer from Mahirawani village in Maharashtras Nasik district, 167 km from Mumbai, hacked down his one-acre grape vineyard this month, frustrated that the plantation hadnt borne fruit for the second year in a row.

Khandbahales vineyard was hit by cyclone Ockhi last year, turning his Rs 3 lakh investment to dust. He says he will harvest the last crop tomatoes planted over an acrein April and then quit farming. Year after year, we are struggling against falling market prices, vagaries of climate, an apathetic government and indebtedness. Farming is all that I know but it is no longer viable. I will put up a shop, sell tea or lease out my land, but I wont farm anymore, said Khandbahale, who owns three acres of land.

In June last year, Khandbahale was one of the thousands of farmers in Maharashtra who took to the streets to protest against the agrarian crisis the state is battling. One of the central demands of the protesters was a complete loan waiver.

As supply of vegetables and milk to the cities stopped, the two-day strike forced chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to announce a farm loan waiver worth Rs 34,000 crore, a demand he had resisted since 2014.

Less than a year after the strike and the waiver  up to Rs 1.50 lakh per family  farmers remain unimpressed. In Nasik and Ahmednagar districts, which bore the brunt of the protests, farmers say the waiver hasnt helped ease their struggle.

Bowing to pressure The Maharashtra govt announced a loan waiver last June. Farmers say it hasnt helped ease their struggle so far Rs 34,000 cr farm loan waiver was announced by the state government after protests by farmers in June 2017 Rs 1.5 lakh per family cap has been put on the loan waiver. This includes principal and interest amount, crop loans as well as mid-term loans from 2009 to June 2016 The scheme had three components  besides the Rs 1.5 lakh waiver, it offered a one-time settlement option for those whose loans were farm loan waiver was announced by the state government after protests by farmers in June 2017per family cap has been put on the loan waiver. This includes principal and interest amount, crop loans as well as mid-term loans from 2009 to June 2016had three components  besides the Rs 1.5 lakh waiver, it offered a one-time settlement option for those whose loans were The loan waiver was disbursed through an online system after seeking applications by farmers, and syncing their data with that of the banks, using Aadhar unique identity numbers as a primary parameter The system was hit by technical glitches and after it came to light that a majority of nationalised and cooperative banks had not seeded the data with Aadhaar accounts more than Rs 1.5 lakh and a cash incentive of Rs 25,000 for those who repaid loans on timewaiver was disbursed through an online system after seeking applications by farmers, and syncing their data with that of the banks, using Aadhar unique identity numbers as a primary parameterwas hit by technical glitches and after it came to light that a majority of nationalised and cooperative banks had not seeded the data with Aadhaar accounts So far, the government has disbursed Rs 13,580 crore to 3.532 million farmers accounts; 7.7 million farmers applied for the loan waiver and around 4.652 million were found eligible for the various components. Out of these, 3.038 million have applied for a full waiver and remaining for the incentive cash amount. Another Rs 10,000 crore has been budgeted for the waiver.

Khandbahale owes Rs 8.5 lakh to a bank in Nasik. He can benefit from the Rs 1.5 lakh waiver only after he pays the remaining amount he owes. I dont have Rs 7 lakh in hand, why would I keep incurring more debt if I had the money? I may have to sell off some of my land to make that last payment to the bank. We dont need waivers. We can repay our loans if we get assured prices for our produce, he said.

In Putamba village of Ahmednagar district, ground zero of the last years strike, farmers remain disaffected.

The loan waiver helps banks more than us. So, the government should stop pretending they have done something big for farmers. If they want to help, then they should increase minimum support prices (MSP), procure the produce from us, said Salim Shaikh, an onion farmer from the village, who may not be able to take advantage of the waiver. This year, his income from soyabean and onion has been minimal. He owes a nationalised bank Rs 3.5 lakh he borrowed as a mid-term loan and Rs 2 lakh as a crop loan

The governments list of beneficiaries shows Maharashtra has 1 million farmers like Khandbahale and Shaikh who owe more than Rs 1.50 lakh to banks. Such farmers have been offered a one-time settlement (OTS)pay off the remaining amount to the bank and get a Rs 1.50 lakh waiver. Not many farmers are in a position to take up this offer.

Shaikhs neighbour Rajendra Dhakchaule, a marginal farmer with just two acres of cultivable land, can repay most of his Rs 1.70 lakh debt with the waiver. But his worries dont end with this.

I had taken a loan of Rs 3.5 lakh for a tractor and under pressure collected money from a money lender to pay off this loan. I may get some respite due to the loan waiver but thats fleeting help. The ground situation for farmers like me is unsustainable, he says, breaking down.

This year, the Dhakchaules spent Rs 56,000 to cultivate onion over an acre of land, but the family of six may not recover even the cultivation costs as onion prices have dropped to Rs 700 per quintal from Rs 3000 per quintal this January. This is an eight-month low for onions.In neighbouring Pimpalgaon village, Vijay Waghchowre, a marginal farmer who owns four acres of land, is still waiting for confirmation of the waiver from his bank.

The waiver may help us marginally this year. But I still owe another Rs 2 lakh to a moneylender. If the government wants to help farmers, let it give us subsidies or offer assured prices for our produce.

The BJP-led state government is counting on the goodwill of marginal farmers like Dhakchaule to help it tide over the rural discontent.

The directives of the chief minister were to ensure a system whereby the loan waiver would be transparent, inclusive and swift. We were careful to learn from the mistakes of the past loan waiver, said Kaustubh Dhavse, officer on special duty at the chief ministers office, who was involved in devising the online system for the loan waiver. There had been connivance at the level of banks, government and farmers earlier to give benefits to ineligible farmers. In our case, there is no room for such connivance because the online system does not allow for it. The waiver has offered benefit to maximum genuine farmers.

Goodwill for the government isnt visible on the ground.

A section of farmers leaders is continuing protests for a complete loan waiver. This month, as nearly 30,000 largely tribal cultivators marched from Nasik to Mumbai, the leaders put the demand back on their agenda. This was despite a majority of the protestors demanding their rights over forest lands and not a waiver as they have no access to banks.

As a temporary relief to farmers to overcome the current distress, a complete loan waiver is essential. Thats why we continue to flag it whenever possible. A hike in MSP is one of our main demands and the state has failed to deliver on that too, said Ajit Navale, general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, involved in both the farmers protests.

The loan waiver has a limited scope. Consider this, the total crop loan debt on the states farmers is Rs 1.13 lakh crore; the government so far has spent only Rs 13,580 crore on the loan waiver, he said.With just two days left in the Budget session, the Centre may desperately push to pass a couple of bills in the Upper House in a bid to salvage its score sheet.

Senior leaders involved in the strategy indicated that they might even try to push the Prevention of Corruption Amendment Bill and the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) bill even amid din.

The government managers said in a meeting with Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu that these are the important bills pending before the House. At the meeting with floor leaders on Wednesday, the chairman and the deputy chairman urged them to ensure passage of some important bills to salvage the situation of no work so far, said a senior official. The session has become the most disruptive session since 2000, and in both Houses, there is a concern in the ruling benches.The University of Hyderabad on Tuesday rusticated a research scholar for six months and imposed a fine on two other students for allegedly misbehaving with a female assistant professor in November last year.

According to an order issued by the university authorities, Linga Swamy Baikini, doing his PhD in sustainable environment-friendly industrial production (SEIP) was suspended from the university for a period of six months with effect from April 2.

He was barred from accessing any facility including the hostel in the university for six months and was also fined Rs 30,000.

Linga Swamy is the university in-charge of the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI).

The other two students  Hakeem, who is pursuing M Phil in comparative literature, and Thahir Jamal, a PhD student of comparative literature  were also found guilty of misbehaving with the faculty and was asked to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 each.

The decision followed a report submitted by the universitys proctorial board, which enquired into the complaint lodged by the assistant professor of centre for health psychology on November 28. The enquiry report was submitted to university vice-chancellor Podile Appa Rao in the first week of March this year.

In the order, university registrar warned the students against involving in activities other than their studies.

Though the order nowhere mentions the nature of complaint against the accused students, independent inquiries revealed that Linga Swamy had entered into an argument with the assistant professor, when she refused to accept an OBC certificate of a girl student of the department.

A student leader of the university and a member of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), Sannaki Munna however claimed Linga Swamy was falsely implicated in the case as he was actively involved in the Justice for Rohith Vemula movement and even went to jail during the agitation in the university.

Vemula, an activist with the ASA committed suicide on 17 January 2016 over alleged caste-discrimination in the university.

The other two students, who were asked to pay fine, were no way involved in the incident and they were called as witnesses before the board, Munna added.

This is not the first incident of disciplinary action against the students by the university authorities. In November last, the authorities suspended three post-graduate students, including a female student, for a period of two years for allegedly manhandling and abusing faculty wardens during their surprise check of the mens hostel. They also suspended seven other students for a period of six weeks.

In February this year, the university authorities rusticated a research scholar associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for one year for allegedly posting a derogatory message in the social media against a Dalit professor. The suspension period was later reduced to six weeks following an appeal by the student.India, the US and Japan pushed for bolstering cooperation for an open, free and inclusive Indo-Pacific region at their ninth trilateral meeting here on Wednesday.

The meeting comes at a time when China is asserting itself aggressively in the neighbourhood and the three countries along with Australia are working to give shape to the Quadrilateral grouping, or the Quad, to keep critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of Chinese influence.

The officials explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security, a joint statement said.

Senior officials from the three countries held talks in accordance with the directions given by the foreign ministers, who met in New York on September 18, 2017.

The officials also reviewed the outcomes of the Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the region.

US President Donald Trump, in his first televised address to the nation as commander-in-chief last year, had laid out his South Asia policy, saying a critical part of it was to develop Americas strategic partnership with India.

The term Indo-Pacific has gained currency recently, with its usage growing across diplomatic and security circles in US, Australia, India and Japan.Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Wednesday said he would appeal to all Dalit groups in Karnataka to not vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the May 12 assembly elections in the state.

Mevani was participating in a protest against the deaths of Dalits during the Bharat Bandh on Monday. I am going to appeal to every Dalit group that not a single vote should go to BJP. I will do the same in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh because the BJP is completely casteist, communal and fascist, the legislator from Vadgam in Gujarat said.

Mevani said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to generate 20 million jobs every year but was now firing bullets at Dalits. The country will not forgive you, he said.

Citing health problems, Mevani said he would not be able to campaign extensively in the state. We will ensure that these fascist forces are thrown into the dustbin of history lock, stock and barrel, he said. However, he added, that he would not advise Dalits on which party they should vote for, but we must defeat this casteist and communal BJP.

Regarding the Supreme Court order perceived by some as diluting the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Mevani said this was a clear encroachment by the judiciary into the jurisdiction of Parliament.

In India, there is an atrocity every 15 minutes..., he said. Considering the fact that every dimension of life in India is brutally distorted by the phenomena of caste, the apex court should have refrained from such statements, and should have definitely refrained from rewriting the Act.

I do not justify violence. But to the best of my information out of the 11 who died, nine were Dalits. This is an indicator of the feudal system we live in, he added. Mevani was referring to the violence that accompanied the Bharat Bandh called by Dalit organisations against the Supreme Court order on the SC/ST Act.

Mevani said Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that no previous government had respected BR Ambedkar as much as the current one. I say that no other government has insulted Ambedkar more. We asked for jobs and you have given us bullets. This is the Gujarat model.

Responding to Mevanis statements, state BJP spokesperson S Prakash said the Dalit leader had made similar claims in Gujarat. Was he able to defeat the BJP there?

Prakash said it was a democracy and everybody was free to air their opinions. Everybody has the freedom to campaign against anybody. Let him campaign, we will see when the results are out, he said.Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday suspended a constable a day after it began an inquiry into the death of a 23-year-old youth who was injured in clashes in Ganderbal district earlier this week.

Selection grade constable Gulzar Ahmad was suspended pending inquiry into the death based on his prima facie involvement in the case. Senior Superintendent of Police, Ganderbal, Fayaz Ahmad Lone confirmed the development.

Gowhar Ahmad Rather succumbed to a firearm injury in his head at Srinagars Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences on Tuesday evening.

Police said in a press statement on Tuesday that they ordered a departmental inquiry into the sequence of events and actions related to the incident.

The deputy commissioner of Ganderbal ordered a magisterial inquiry into Rathers death. The inquiry report is expected in 20 days.

Meanwhile, authorities foiled a march to Shopian called by separatists in protest against the encounters on Sunday in south Kashmir that saw the killing of 13 militants, four civilians and three army soldiers. Rather was the fifth civilian to be killed in the ongoing spate of violence in Kashmir.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were detained by police as they tried to march from their residences to Shopian.

On Monday and Tuesday, Kashmir had observed a shutdown in response to the call by the separatists.

On Wednesday, fearing law and order problems due to the proposed march, authorities decided to close all educational institutions and scheduled exams got postponed. Local train services in the restive Valley have also been suspended for the third consecutive day.The Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court has acquitted a 27-year-old man of rape charges on the grounds that there was a deep love affair between him and the complainant.

The high court was hearing a petition filed by Yogesh Palkar who had challenged his conviction by a lower court.

The lower court had sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000, after pronouncing him guilty under Indian Penal Code section 376 (rape).

The high court judge, Justice CV Bhadang, in his order on February 17, 2018, acquitted Palkar in the case.

A 25-year-old woman had alleged that Palkar, who worked as a chef in an offshore casino, had sexual intercourse with her for the first time in November 2013 at his residence at Bambolim near Panaji, after promising to marry her.

They had intercourse several times after that till December 2013, she had said in her police complaint.

But, in February 2014 he started ignoring her and went back on his promise of marriage as she belonged to a lower caste, the woman charged.

A special court in Panaji then convicted the man on March 31, 2015.

However, during the trial, the woman also filed an affidavit before the special court saying she could not see Palkar behind bars who was then suffering from depression and undergoing treatment for it.

The woman said, in her affidavit, that she wished to withdraw the complaint due to personal reasons and emotions.

Justice Bhadang, while acquitting the man, said, It is evident that the woman not only continued the relationship with the appellant (convict) after the first incident (of sexual intercourse), but also went to the extent of withdrawing the complaint by filing an affidavit, due to her personal reasons and emotions.

This would clearly show that there was a deep love affair between the complainant and the convict. It cannot be said that the consent given by the complainant was on account of any promise of marriage made by the appellant (convict).A 21-year-old woman from Assams Karimganj has been arrested by Bangladesh police on charges on entering the country illegally after she eloped to marry her lover from the neighbouring country, officials said on Wednesday.

Karimganj police chief Gaurav Upadhyay said Mousumi Das was arrested by the authorities on Tuesday night.

Her parents had lodged a kidnapping case with the Karimganj police after their daughter went missing on March 12.

A fortnight later a video surfaced on social media platforms showing her in a burqa inside a police station in Dhaka Bangladeshs capital. In another video, she claimed she had not been kidnapped but had eloped with Numan Jafar Badshah, a saree salesman from Bangladesh she had met at a trade exhibition in Karimganj.

Technical surveillance shows Das and Badshah entered Bangladesh on March 13, a day after her disappearance, through the Akhaura border in Tripura. She soon reached Dhaka where she converted and married her lover.

Das, who changed her name to Fatima Jannat after converting, also hit the headlines in the neighbouring country.

The videos alerted the Karimganj Police who got in touch with the ministry of external affairs in a bid to trace the woman. The MEA took it up with the Indian high commission in Bangladesh.

Investigation has revealed that Mousumi had fallen in love with the boy after visiting the trade exhibition where Naman had come to sell sarees. Within days they decided to elope and marry, Upadhyay said.

We are exploring possibilities to see what can be done to bring her back, Upadhyay said.

According to sources, two likely scenarios might happen. First, she might be sentenced to prison in Bangladesh for entering without a valid visa, passport and other documents and sent back to India after serving her term.

The second possibility is of New Delhi and Dhaka settling the matter without the woman getting imprisoned and being pushed back to India soon.With a motive of remaining battle-ready and at the forefront of counter-terrorist (CT) operations, the elite National Security Guards (NSG) has approached the home ministry and top national security planners for permission to send its house intervention teams (HIT) in support of counter-terrorism operations conducted by the army and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

North Block officials confirmed this and said NSG is doing this in order to maintain its cutting edge as well as acquire much-needed on-field operational experience for its experts.

The NSG proposal comes in the wake of security forces losing troopers in high-risk house intervention operations, used to neutralise holed up terrorists or fidayeens (suicide attackers) in densely populated localities of the valley.

Normally, security forces try to tire out the terrorists by constantly firing at the adversary with high caliber weapons. The rate of firing is often such that the structure collapses or catches fire with the holed up terrorists being collateral damage.

The NSG HIT teams use state of the art Heckler and Koch MP5 sub-machine guns, gas guns, M 107 Barret sniper rifles, through-the-wall radars, corner shot rifles and C-4 explosives to neutralize holed-up terrorists with minimum casualties and damage to the structure. A typical NSG HIT team has six troopers led by a non-commissioned officer along with demolition experts and crack marksmen.

While the Modi government is considering NSGs proposal positively, the elite force has also offered to let its HIT teams serve under the command and control of the army in special counter terrorism operations in the Valley. A similar offer has been made by NSG to CRPF, a paramilitary force involved in counter-insurgency activities in the restive state.

Another reason why NSG wants to test its skills in live operations is for battle inoculation as the 10,000 strong force is only involved in simulated exercises.

The last time NSG was successfully used in live operations was when it neutralized four Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists in the Pathankot air base attack in January 2016. It was also used to tackle terrorists involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attack and the September 24, 2002 Akshardham temple attack in Gandhinagar in Gujarat.Leaders of 13 opposition parties met on Wednesday and urged the government and the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to allow discussion on issues being raised by them, saying they were willing to extend the Budget Session to pass the governments legislative agenda.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, accompanied by leaders of several other parties, said it was the duty of the opposition to raise concerns of people in Parliament and the government should allow debate.

Azad, who is leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said the 13 parties also had the support of the Telugu Desam Party and the AIADMK on the common issues but the two parties did not attend the meeting.

He said the opposition wanted a debate on issues pertaining to the Cauvery Management Board, promise of special category status to Andhra Pradesh, bank frauds of hundreds of crores, CBSE paper leak, dilution of The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the sealing drive in Delhi.

He said the issues were on the minds of the people and should be discussed in both the Houses.

We are fighting a battle of people. The government has miserably failed to find a solution to these issues. It is sitting like a silent spectator.

Let the discussion take place today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) and extend the session by two days to pass the bills. We are ready to sit extra days. Pass the bills but do not skip the issues agitating minds of the people.

He said the government should find a way out but no senior minister has approached me or any of my opposition colleagues. It should be a surprise for the entire country.

He said the parties that attended the meeting were the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Aam Aadmi Party, CPI, CPI-M, DMK, Jarkhand Mukti Morcha, Bahujan Samaj Party, IUML, Kerala Congress-M and Rashtriya Janata Dal.Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Narendra Modi government of disrespecting and demolishing various institutions by having RSS men sitting in every ministry and giving orders.

Interacting with the citys traders here as part of his Karnataka campaign ahead of the polls, Gandhi said if voted to power, the Congress would free these institutions from the RSS control.

I dont know if you all know that in every single ministers office, there is an RSS man sitting and giving orders. So what can you expect... nothing but disrespecting the institutions. The banking system of the country has been demolished by having this structure, he said.

Who is Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksey? These are the people who arise when you dont respect the financial institutions like the Reserve Bank of India.

We are also seeing Piyush Goyal (with scam tumbling out), he said.

Fugitive diamond merchant Modi and his uncle Choksey are at the centre of the Punjab National Bank fraud. Gandhi had on Tuesday targeted Union Minister Piyush Goyal for his alleged links to the promoter of a company in default of Rs 650 crore.

Gandhi said former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had advised against demonetisation. He claimed that the chief economic advisor, the Union finance minister and the entire Cabinet were unaware of the demonetisation plans of the Prime Minister.

The entire cabinet was locked up prior to the demonetisation. They (Cabinet ministers) were not let out of the room, he alleged.

Gandhi continued his scathing attack on the Modi government on social media, where he took a swipe at the rising prices of petrol and diesel, posting a video that dubbed the Prime Minister as king of misinformation on the issue.

The video shows a clip of Modi talking about reducing petrol and diesel prices at a rally interspersed with images of Bollywood actor Salman Khan bursting into peals of laughter. The poor and the middle class bear the brunt of rising fuel prices. In this video, our PM is quite obviously talking about some other country, Gandhi tweeted, using #PeTrolled as the hashtag.

While international crude oil prices have been on the decline, the rates of petrol and diesel have been rising due to heavy taxes by the government, Gandhi and the Congress have said in their attacks against the government and the prime minister.

Answering questions from the audience at his Davanagere event, Gandhi said Congress would solve the unemployment problem by encouraging small and medium scale businesses in construction, agriculture and other sectors.

He also said China is successful in creating jobs because its government imparts skill training to its workforce. In Modijis government, there is no talk on (imparting) skills, he said.

Gandhi said banks should give loans also to small and medium scale entrepreneurs, but this benefit is being usurped by 15 big names in Indian business. Anil Ambani has Rs 45,000 crore of loan and to help him, the Rafale (fighter jet) contract was given to him, he said.

In a letter to Congress leader Randeep Surjewala, Ambani, however, had refuted the allegation saying that Dassaults decision to choose Reliance as its joint venture partner was an independent agreement between the two corporate private sector entities and the two governments had nothing to do with it.The Rajya Sabha had to be adjourned on Wednesday as well due to ruckus created by Opposition members. It was the tenth time in a row that Chairman Venkaiah Naidu and deputy Chairman PJ Kurien adjourned proceedings in the Upper House during the day despite repeated appeals to Opposition members.

The Opposition was protesting the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, which was moved by minister Jitendra Singh. The anti-graft Bill has been pending in Parliament since 2013. Due to uproar by Opposition MPs, the Rajya Sabha could not pass the Bill on Wednesday.

It is unfortunate that Rajya Sabha failed to carry out its daily business, quipped deputy Chairman PJ Kurien.

If the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill is not passed, it will stall many programmes of the government. The Bill is not in the governments interest, it is in national interest. So it has to be passed, Kurien had earlier pleaded to Opposition members, after they rushed to the well of the House shouting slogans.

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu had earlier admonished members for not allowing transaction of any Bills. Naidu said Rajya Sabha members were testing the patience of the people of this country. We have not transacted any Bills. The country wants development and you are testing the patience of the people of this country. Please understand that the entire country is agitated with what is happening in the House, he had shot out.

Ruckus has prevailed in both Houses of Parliament during this Budget session over the CBSE paper leak, Cauvery issue, special status to Andhra Pradesh, which has led to a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government, and more recently the Dalit agitation on Monday, which has claimed 10 lives across the country over alleged dilution of the SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

In the afternoon, leaders of 13 Opposition parties met and urged the government and the presiding officers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to allow discussion on issues being raised by them, saying they were willing to extend the Budget session to pass the governments legislative agenda.

Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad said, Our party and the present ruling party decided on Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh. Why is it not being given? We want discussion on that, we want discussion on CBSE paper leak and, most importantly, on the SC/ST Atrocities Act.

The entire Opposition is for the passage of Bills. While it is our responsibility to do so, at the same time we have been mandated to raise issues affecting million of Indians, Azad added.The ruling AIADMKs day-long statewide hunger strike on Tuesday condemning the Centre for not setting up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) in compliance with a Supreme Court order turned farcical after photographs surfaced of party cadres gorging on biryani to beat hunger.

The debate that dominated the social media was whether the protesting AIADMK men had biryani or tomato rice.

Pictures of a group of AIADMK cadres stuffing biryani from paper plates with huge servings from containers placed on a pavement in Vellore were widely shared on social media even as party cadres in Coimbatore reportedly went on a celebratory spree with binge drinking.

The opposition DMK cashed in on its main rivals discomfiture, dubbing the entire hunger strike exercise of the AIADMK as a farce and said the Palaniswami government was nothing but a front of the central government in Tamil Nadu. As such, the government is non-serious in its approach to the Cauvery issue, which is why it staged a drama and people have seen through it, said DMK spokesperson A Sarvanan.

Another DMK leader TKS Elangovan said the AIADMK government was not serious about the issue and was acting on the instructions of the BJP government at the Centre. The hunger strike was just a show off by AIADMK to the people of Tamil Nadu. The state government has failed to impress upon the Centre to form the CMB as per SC order, Elangovan said.

But AIADMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP A Navaneethakrishnan dismissed the pictures as morphed ones. It was a mischievous prank played by someone, AIADMK cadres and leaders observed total hunger strike without taking even a drop of water, he told a local television channel.

The breakaway AIADMK grouping headed by TTV Dhinakaran was more scathing in its attack. Its spokesperson CR Saraswathi said AIADMK leaders are solely concerned with power. It is for this reason they were dancing to the BJP tunes and did nothing for the Tamil Nadu cause, she said.

OPS went to Delhi so many times and met the Prime Minister also. Why could he not get the Centre to set up the CMB? she asked.

It was Amma who got the tribunal order notified in a gazette and after that, EPS and OPS have done nothing to protect the interests of the farmers of the state, Saraswathi said.The proposed Suraj Vikas Yatra of chief minister Vasundhara Raje, which was tentatively scheduled to begin from April 15, has been postponed and will now take place in May or June, sources said.

Instead, Raje will now visit constituencies for three to four days and the first such visit will be to Sikar from April 6. During her visit, she will be interacting with the public, party workers, religious leaders and is likely to be felicitated by different communities. Raje will also be taking feedback on various welfare schemes. The CM is also likely to announce some developmental works in rural areas.

The chief minister will be visiting Neem Ka Thana, Khandela and Shree Madhopur in the first phase from April 6-9. The chief minister will then visit Dodh, Laxmangarh and Chomu constituencies from April 13-16, a BJP leader said.

Earlier, Raje had planned a 75-day Vikas Yatra covering all 200 assembly constituencies.

The yatra was to kick off from the tribal-dominated division of Udaipur to highlight the BJP governments achievements in the state. Local MLAs, MPs and minister-in-charge of the districts were supposed to accompany the chief minister during her tour that would have culminated in July.

As part of the ministers visit to different districts to take stock of problems plaguing Rajasthan, home minister Gulabchand Kataria was in Udaipur on Wednesday. A total of 29 senior leaders, including ministers, have been touring the state.

During their stay, the leaders met party office-bearers and workers to get feedback on the functioning of the government. The party leaders have been working on booth management and making people aware of the schemes launched by the state government.

Last week, the chief minister visited Sri Ganganagar and inaugurated the development work to be done in the region and also sanctioned works to the tune of Rs 860 crore for development in the area.

The visits are aimed at connecting with the people and the party workers, the BJP leader said.Two days after the state was rocked by Dalit agitation and a day after tension in Karaulis Hindaun, the situation remained largely peaceful in the state on Wednesday. However, a confrontation between members of two communities took place in Ajmers Pushkar while a statue of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalised in Rajsamands Nathdwara.

Ajmer superintendent of police Rajendra Singh said on Wednesday members of a non-Dalit group passed some remarks at a group of Dalits who were returning from Pushkar Sarovar. The latter had gone to take a dip in the holy Sarovar after performing the last rites of one of their community members, said Singh.

Police said there was a brawl between the two groups following which more persons from the non-Dalit groups amassed and tried to shut shops. The situation turned tense and markets were closed following the incident.

Besides the massive force deployment, the police also engaged leaders of the two communities to neutralise the tension. Leaders of both the communities agreed to work towards normalising the situation after talks, said Mahaveer Sharma, station house officer, Pushkar.

In another development, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Valmiki Colony in Nathdwara was vandalised by some miscreants late on Tuesday night. The statue was found with its head severed and stones placed near the statue were also vandalised.

The incident came to light after passers-by informed the police about the mishap on Wednesday morning. The police arrested three persons in connection with the crime later in the day. The arrests were made after father of one of the accused informed the police about his sons involvement in the act.

Besides, security forces carried out a flag march in Hindaun and Jalore on Wednesday to restore the confidence of the common people. Curfew was also lifted in Hindaun from 1 pm to 6 pm. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC, however, remained in place in some parts of the district and internet services also remained suspended in some parts.

About 185 cases were registered in the past three days for rioting, vandalism and arson across the state and over 1000 people were arrested on various charges.-The BJP will approach the Supreme Court on Thursday to seek deployment of central forces in West Bengal for free, fair and peaceful conduct of state panchayat polls in May, according to the partys state president, Dilip Ghosh.

We will file a petition tomorrow, Ghosh said on Wednesday, even as the BJP made a flurry of moves in the state to demand deployment of central forces.

Accusing chief minister Mamata Banerjees ruling Trinamool Congress of unleashing violence and using intimidatory tactics in the run-up to the rural polls, BJP leaders met governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and also held demonstrations outside the state election commissioners office.

Earlier in the day, Tripathi spoke to state election commissioner AK Singh and senior government officials. Singh told mediapersons he briefed the governor on the steps taken to ensure free and fair polls.

The Trinamool counter came in Delhi, where 20 party MPs met Union home minister Rajnath Singh and alleged that the governor was overstepping his constitutional jurisdiction by interfering with the functioning of the state government. We requested the Union home minister to ensure that he (governor) refrains from doing so, Trinamool MP Sudip Bandopadhyay told mediapersons.

Ghosh said the governor wanted central forces to be deployed for the polls, but the state government was opposed to the idea. We saw in Raniganj and Asansol that police could not protect the two towns. How can the same police offer protection to parties across the state? Raniganj was wracked by violence following clashes during Ram Navami processions. The violence later spread to Asansol.

State education minister and Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee dismissed Ghoshs allegations and claims. The violence in Raniganj was caused by outsiders who were brought in by the party of rioters, said Chatterjee without naming any party.

Meanwhile, stray incidents of violence continued in various districts. Reports of violence came in from South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Bankura, Birbhum, Murshidabad, Malda, Hooghly and North Dinajpur districts on the third day of filing of nominations.

The BJP said a party worker, Ajit Murmu, who was injured in a bomb attack a day ago in Ranibadh locality of Bankura district died on Wednesday. The BJP alleged that Trinamool supporters attacked Murmu, 35. He died this evening, said state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu.

On Monday, a 25-year-old man died after allegedly getting caught in crossfire between warring Trinamool factions at Kaliachak village in Malda district. Television channels also aired footage of people firing in the air at Raiganj in North Dinajpur district.

Police dismissed allegations that they were ill-equipped to ensure peaceful polls. The process of filing nominations has started. There are stray incidents of violence, but the overall situation is peaceful, said additional director general of police (law & order) Anuj Sharma.

BJP leader Mukul Roy, however, disagreed with the police officers assessment. We demand that the panchayat polls be conducted under the security cover of a central armed force, he said.

Incidentally, ahead of the 2013 rural elections, then state election commissioner Meera Pande had approached the Supreme Court seeking deployment of central forces. It was allowed and for the first time central forces were deployed for Bengal rural polls.

Meanwhile, Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury spoke in Tripathis defence, stating he had only done his duty to ensure free and fair polls. However, the Trinamool Congress is so shameless that it approached the Union home minister to ensure that the governor cannot discharge his constitutional responsibilities, he said.

State CPI(M) secretary Suryakanta Mishra alleged that Trinamool workers had wreaked havoc across the state. We have decided to support any candidate who is contesting against both Trinamool and the BJP in seats where the Left Front is unable to field its own nominee, he said.

The rural polls will be held in 20 districts on May 1, 3 and 5. The filing of the nominations started on April 2 and will continue till April 9.Relatives of the two construction workers who were killed by Islamic State militants in Iraq in 2014 staged agitation on Tuesday when the bodies reached the respective villages in Bengals Nadia district.

The agitated members of the two families and local people demanded jobs and compensation for the next of kin of the two dead villagers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh for each of the families of 39 workers killed by the Islamic State in Iraq.

The announcement came after Congress MPs from Punjab staged a protest in Parliament demanding compensation for the workers killed in Iraq. The villagers in Nadia were however did not come to know of this till Tuesday evening.

One of the deceased from Bengal, Khokan Sikdar, 52, was from Ilsamari Madhyapara village in Tehatta. His body reached the village at around 11 am.

Read: Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia announced for kin of Indians killed by IS in Mosul

Gouri Shankar Dutta, the Trinamool MLA of Tehatta, was present at the spot. The villagers started an agitation in front of him, demanding government and monetary compensation for relatives of the victims.

Dutta somehow managed to calm them down by saying that since the model code of conduct was in force because of the coming panchayat elections he was not in a position to make promises.

The villagers claimed that Dutta had earlier said jobs would be provided for members of the affected families. On Tuesday he said that the matter would be decided by the state and the Central government.

Read: PM Modi announces Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia payment for kin of Indians killed by IS in Mosul

On hearing this, the villagers ended the hour-long agitation. Subsequently, the remains of Sikdars body was buried outside his home and not cremated following Hindu norms.

Sikdars wife, Namita, last talked to him on phone on June 13, 2014. He left for Iraq in 2011 to work for a construction firm, Tariq Noor al-Huda, on a four-year contract, said members of this family. He had plans to return to his village permanently before Durga Puja in 2014.

The second victim, Samar Tikadar, 47, was from Mahokhula village in the Chapra police station area in Nadia. He went to Iraq in 2011 with the help of an agent operating in the district. His last rites were performed at the cremation ground in Nabadwip on Tuesday afternoon.After the injury, the emollient. Members of a Kali temple committee have repaired a mazar that was damaged in riot-hit Asansol town of West Bengal, setting up the second instance of one community reaching out to the other in times of hatred.

The committee repaired the mazar and put up a banner at the site that the job was undertaken by a temple committee. The objective was to prevent criminals indulge in similar vandalism in future.

Read: Wont name anyone as suspect, says imam whose son was killed in Asansol clashes

Last week, Moulana Imdadul Rashidi, an imam of a local mosque restrained a crowd from launching retaliatory attacks after his own 16-year-old son, Sibtulla Rashidi, was found killed after he disappeared on March 27. He also refused to name suspects to the police apprehending it might lead to harassment of innocents.

On the morning of March 28, locals of Depot Para of Railpar area found the mazar was damaged. Railpar area was rocked by clashes the day before.

We are old residents of this area. We have witnessed a situation like this. Some of us also pay our respect to the shrine when we cross it. After the damage, on behalf of the temple committee, we decided to repair the mazar, said Malay Majumder, 55, a trustee of the Dakhina Kali Temple.

Read: Muslim youth refurbishes Hanuman temple in Bengal

We also hope the banner declaring the association of the temple committee with the Muslim shrine would restrain vandals in future, added Majumder.

The committee also made a small financial help to members of two Muslim families whose houses were set ablaze on March 27, he added.

We welcomed the step of the Kali Temple committee. We have been living here for a long time in a climate of harmony, said Osman Gani, a local.

On Monday afternoon, after prohibitory orders under section 144 was withdrawn, thousands of residents of Asansol organised a peace rally.

Read: Nearly 300 killed in 2,276 communal violence incidents in 2015-17: Govt tells RS

Incidentally, in Purulia town, Mohammad Pappu, a small businessman refurbished a Hanuman temple with his savings and the renovated temple was inaugurated on March 31, the day of Hanuman Jayanti.

Ironically, the recent spate of communal flare-ups started in Purulia district on March 25 when 50-year-old Sheikh Sajahan, was killed in Beladi village of Purulia district. He was killed when he was caught in clash that broke out when a Ram Navami procession was passing a mosque.A student of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) suffered a head injury when he along with his friend was allegedly beaten up by four junior doctors in the department of general surgery at Sir Sundar Lal hospital on the campus here on Tuesday.

Akash Mishra, a BA student at the varsity had gone to the department of medicine for treatment of hernia. After examination, doctors referred him to the department of surgery, police said. He told the police that he was made to wait for a long duration and when he asked the doctors to treat him they allegedly began arguing and misbehaving with him.

According to the police, Mishra alleged that the doctors misbehaved with him and his friend and then beat them up. Mishra also suffered a head injury in the attack following which he lodged a complaint with the proctorial board of BHU. His friend Prasoon was also attacked but he sustained minor injuries.

Chief proctor Prof Royana Singh referred the matter to the police following which Akash lodged a complaint with the police.

Lanka station officer Sanjiv Mishra said, A case been registered against four unidentified doctors under relevant sections of the IPC following a complaint by the two students. Initial probe revealed that the students were assaulted, but a detailed investigation is on.

Superintendent of SSL Dr OP Upadhyay said, A three-member committee has been constituted to probe the matter. Strict action will be taken against the doctors, if found guilty in the probe.

The committee comprising Prof MK Singh, Prof Vibha Tripathi and Prof NP Singh has been told to submit its report at the earliest.The University of Lucknow will now produce trained purohits. From the academic session beginning July, students can pursue a six-month purohit course having components of karmakand (ritual services), computer knowledge and English, an official said on Tuesday.

University officials said the course is aimed at addressing the shortage of purohits who are well versed in karmkand. There is a dearth of trained purohits both in India and abroad, an official said.

There will be no age bar for admissions to this course. Anyone having passed Class 12 is eligible. The course will have two papers; each paper will have 30 hours of teaching, said NK Pandey, spokesperson, LU.

LU has also decided to start a course on Bal Sahitya Lekhan (childrens literature) with inputs of Indian culture, art, psychology so that when children read these books, they have a feel of the Indian culture and its ethos, he added.

Besides, three courses related to cultural aspects of Jainism, Buddhism and Bramhinism are also proposed by the university. There will be separate boards to govern these courses that will be run under the umbrella of Abhinav Gupt Sansthan of LU, said Pandey.

The university also proposed to set up a laboratory by Canon to train students in photography, film editing, special effects, cinematography, etc. A proposal for running these courses is being sent to the department of higher education, he said.

Later, these courses will be available online as well. The decisions to run new courses were taken at a meeting chaired by vice-chancellor SP Singh on Tuesday.A day after violence rocked several Uttar Pradesh districts during the Bharat Bandh by Dalit organisations, the state police began a hunt to identify conspirators and abettors of the violence, even as the state limped back to normalcy.

Addressing news persons on Tuesday, DIG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar said police arrested 650 persons and registered 125 cases in five districts -- Meerut, Agra, Muzaffarnagar, Hapur and Saharanpur -- after Mondays violence. Interrogation of the persons was continuing.

The police are trying to find out the conspirators and abettors who provoked the people to indulge in violence. The police are also trying to identify the masterminds, Kumar said.

In Deoria, chief minister Yogi Adityanath warned that his government would deal strictly with those taking law into their hands to spread anarchy.

There is no space for violence in a democracy, where problems are solved through dialogue. But some people resorted to violence after they were misguided. Nobody will be allowed to attack innocent people, CM said while addressing public meeting.

The arson and violence left two people dead and over a hundred injured in the state. A large number of vehicles and shops were set afire during the Dalit protests. The protestors also blocked movement of trains and vehicles. There were also reports of anti-social elements looting shops and harassing commuters.

The superintendents of police of all the districts have been directed to expedite the investigation and collect evidences of the violence. The police are also collecting video and CCTV footage to identify the miscreants involved in arson and loot. The officers have been told not to harass innocent people, Kumar said.

The DGP office is monitoring the situation regularly. The superintendents of police of all the districts have been told to remain on alert. The situation is under control in all the districts. The state government has deployed Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) in the violence-hit districts. If there is any untoward incident, action will be taken against the erring officers, he said.

Action will be taken against vandals under the Public Property Damage Act, Kumar said.Demand for more variety in Scotch whisky from fast-growing emerging markets and the request for lower alcohol varieties among health-conscious drinkers are challenging a closely guarded centuries-old tradition.

Drinks giant Diageo, producers of market leader Johnnie Walker, sent shock waves through the industry earlier this year when a highly confidential document, leaked to the Wall Street Journal, revealed potential innovations such as flavoured infusions, low-alcohol variants and whisky finished in tequila casks.

But it is operating within very tight restrictions as British law states Scotch must be at least 40% alcohol  which means distillers cannot reach out to health-conscious millennials or tap into the lucrative Middle Eastern market with lower or zero alcohol Scotch.

There is a lot of interest in lower alcohol spirit drinks across the spirit sector to do with things like the Dry January craze and minimum pricing of alcohol, said Matthew Pauley, an assistant professor at Heriot-Watt Universitys International Centre for Brewing and Distilling.

Varieties of barley are pictured at the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling which is based at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. (AFP PHOTO / ANDY BUCHANAN )

A few people have been experimenting throughout the sector with lower alcohol spirits, and no alcohol spirit variants. Not all of them have been well received.

Pauleys shelves are packed with herbs, spices and flavourings used in experiments with gin -- but they are kept well away from the whisky stills.

The law restricts Scotch ingredients to barley, water and yeast aged in oak casks, meaning flavoured infusions and tequila-cask finishes are also likely to attract the attention of the litigious Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).

Whisky with a hint of chocolate

Johnnie Walker cant suddenly make strawberry whisky and send it off to China, said Pauley.

The SWA spend a lot of money sending people around the world collecting samples of things like random bottles of brown liquid with tartan on it, and there is a whole legal team who go and shut that person down.

He also has bagfuls of an extra-roasted barley called chocolate malt which has proved controversial.

French-owned giant Glenmorangie markets a single malt Scotch called Signet which uses a hint of chocolate malt  but the Eden Mill craft distillery in St. Andrews abandoned its own chocolate malt product when the SWA warned it not to stray too far from the traditional Scotch flavour.

Its the extra flavours that the chocolate malt will add that the distillers are looking for and that the SWA have issue with, said Pauley.

The different roasts will potentially add different flavours so that is what is being investigated, researched and has come into some controversy.

An interior view of the 'Mash Tun', which is used in the first stage of whisky production. (AFP PHOTO / ANDY BUCHANAN)

Some of the easy wins have been won, so people naturally start to look at some of the more left-field suggestions and line extensions, and we get back to the issue of how you make a line extension without harming the core brand.

A spokesman for the SWA said there is no bar to producing new products based on Scotch whisky but the marketing of such products must not confuse consumers in any way -- in particular they must not suggest the product is Scotch whisky when it is not.

A beautiful drink

The SWA said flavoured whiskies are already marketed as liqueurs but must not be labelled Scotch, which has a similar geographical protection to Champagne.

One would not add flavouring to Champagne and expect to trade on the reputation of Champagne by selling it as such, the spokesman said.

Murdo Fraser, convener of the Scottish Parliaments cross-party group on Scotch whisky, also urged caution on innovation.

My own preference would be that we dont see any dilution of the Scotch whisky brand, and we therefore need to be careful about going down the route of innovating too quickly, he said.

Patrons in the Roseburn Bar, near Murrayfield rugby stadium in Edinburgh, were divided on the debate between tradition and innovation.

Sipping a dram of Aberlour, stonemason Alan McGuire, 53, warned that unpalatable innovations would contradict the whole thing that whisky is.

Emplyee Nigel Baker works in one of the distillery warehouses where the oak barrels of whisky can be stored for up to 25 years before bottling, at the Auchentoshan Distillery near Glasgow, Scotland. (AFP PHOTO / ANDY BUCHANAN)

Its a beautiful drink that has been laid down for years, and to add something like ginger, or lemon or raspberry or something to it would just kill the brand, he added.

But nurse Christopher Gauld, 35, said he is a big believer in change, as he sampled a trendy looking Islay malt called The Classic Laddie.

The whisky we have today wouldnt be the way it is if people didnt try things in the past so Im open to experiments, he said.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreNearly one lakh trees will have to be cut to make way for a part of the 701-km Mumbai-Nagpur super communication highway, which will pass through the Amravati division of Vidarbha.

This 258km alignment, which will run through three districts  Amravati, Washim and Buldhana  will also traverse through a 10-km eco-sensitive zone that includes two wildlife sanctuaries, Katepurna and Karanja Sohal Blackbuck wild life sanctuary, and cut through 166 hectares of forest land.

The central environment ministrys expert appraisal committee scrutinised this stretch of the project dubbed Part II, for an environment nod on March 26. The panel, in the meeting, raised 11 points and deferred the proposal for want of this information. The project requires cutting of more than one lakh trees. Project proponent should furnish a detailed list of trees species that need felling along with number of each species and detailed plan for afforestation with three times the number plus provision for replacement plantation, state the minutes of the meeting.

The committee also called for financial details for the afforestation, its maintenance for five years and third-party audit on an annual basis.

It further observed that more than 90% of the land under this stretch is productive agriculture or forest land.

Cumulative impact of the proposed project on movement of wildlife around Katepura Lake, Karanja-Sohal Blackbuck, and Lonar Lake wild life sanctuaries is required as per guidelines published by Wildlife Institute of India for linear projects, state the minutes.

The EAC has now asked the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), nodal agency implementing the project, to submit to it the status of land acquisition, forest and wild life clearances, additional information on issues raised during public hearings and proposed mitigation measures along with fund provision.

It has also called for examination of the impact of the road alignment on the ground water table.

MSRDC has divided the entire highway into five separate packages or stretches for which environment clearances have been sought separately. The package or stretch II of the project passes through 149 villages across three districts of Amravati, Washim and Buldhana. The cost of this stretch is estimated to be Rs13,017 crore.

The next link or Package III passing from Buldhana to Jalna and Aurangabad across 155 km got an environment clearance in February this year. This stretch requires diversion of 26.87 hectares of forest land and felling of 399 trees in the forest and another 21, 627 trees from the non-forest area.

While I dont recollect the exact number of trees impacted by every stretch of the project, the government is committed to complying with conditions laid down for the clearance like afforestation. The state wildlife board has already cleared our project and recommended it. We have agreed with their suggestion to set up a committee to monitor implementation of the mitigation measures, said managing director of MSRDC, Radheshyam Mopalwar.

He said once the department studies the minutes of the meeting, it will prepare a compliance report on all the issues raised by the committee. No project is cleared in the first go...but we hope to satisfy the committee with the mitigation measures we are planning.

The highway project, estimated to cost Rs46,000 crore, is considered to be a pet project of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. It is envisaged as a highway that can link the most backward districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada to Mumbai, cutting down travel time to just 8 hours. The ambitious project also includes building of 24 nodes along the highway as smart cities or agro based industrial hubs to boost development in these areas. However, post protests over land acquisition, this aspect of the project has been kept on the back burner for now.

MSRDC defending the project before the committee had pointed out that the highway will lead to employment during construction and operational phases of this project, lead to development in tourism, industrial parks, smart cities along the route.As part of the initiative to provide quality education to students from economically weaker sections, 14 schools in Chandivli were equipped with digital classrooms in the first phase of the project.

Of 60 schools, which are part of the project, 24 belong to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the rest are private schools that cater to children from slum areas.

A classroom in each of the schools has been painted and with visual elements, including solar system, pictures and quotes by famous leaders.

To impart lessons through e-learning, LED TV and sound system have been fitted in the classroom and each school has been provided with pendrives, which have lessons.

When the whole world is going digital, why should students who do not have the means to afford technology be neglected? There are international schools that charge higher fees and teach students using technology. Here, we are trying to bring the students of BMC school on par with these students, said Mohammed Arif (Naseem) Khan . Project Padega Chandivli, Badega Chandivli is his brainchild.

The schools include English, Hindi, Marathi and Urdu medium schools in the area, which conduct classes from standard one to 10.

The modules that have been converted to digital form have approval from the state government and are on lines with the approved syllabus for respective classes, Khan added.

Ravi Nair, chairperson of Eden High School and Junior College, Sakinaka, said technology has eased teachers job because they can now explain the concepts to students through audio-visual medium.

Controlling the class becomes easier as students are now taking keen interest in the lessons because they now find lectures interesting, Nair said.

Basanti Roy, former divisional secretary, Maharashtra state board, said technology should not substitute teachers, but should be used complement the lessons.

When the world is moving towards technology, education cant choose remain primitive, she added.After moving the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to cancel his extradition to India and transfer him back to Portugal, underworld gangster Abu Salem has written to the Portugal ambassador to India, stating that his conviction in the 1993 blasts case is yet another breach of the extradition treaty.

He has requested the Portugal ambassador to help him forward his petition to the Supreme Court of the European country. The three-page letter stated that he has been in prison for the past 15 years. The violation of extradition treaty by the Indian government has been observed by the high court of Lisbon, and its supreme court and constitutional court, according to the letter.

The constitution court of Lisbon, in its order dated July 5, 2012, observed that the criminal court of India is not empowered to judge offences mentioned in the extradition order.

Salem had first approached the ECHR in June last year, claiming the trial conducted in the 1993 blasts case was a violation of his extradition order.

Salem had raised questions on the verdict of the TADA court, which held him guilty on June 16, 2017 and September 7, 2017. He was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment.

Earlier in a four-page letter written to the ECHR, Salem claimed the Portugal government had authorised India to prosecute him only in nine cases.

Citing an example of his conviction in the 1993 blasts case, where he has been found guilty for transportation of arms and ammunitions along with other charges, Salem claimed the additional charges imposed later were not withdrawn.

The additional charges have not been withdrawn by the Indian authority because even if some charges were officially withdrawn, some other additional and major charges were added or not withdrawn. For example, how can the applicant have been held guilty for the charge of transportation of arms and ammunitions, while the charge of possession of arms and ammunitions have been withdrawn? Salem had claimed in his letter.

Salem has now pleaded that Portugal take action against India as the latter failed to respect its commitment.In a major setback for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the cost to run Indias first monorail is set to increase. Reason: the two bidders have quoted more than MMRDAs estimates for the operation and maintenance of the corridor for 10 years.

The 19.6-km corridor connects Chembur to Jacob Circle via Wadala.

On Wednesday, the planning authority opened financial bids to run the corridor. When MMRDA has floated the bids for the fourth time in March, it had estimated Rs1,000 crore for operation and maintenance of the entire corridor for a period of 10 years. ILFS, the lowest bidder, has quoted Rs2,000 crore and Reliance Infrastructure, the second bidder, has quoted Rs6,408 crore.

Initiated in 2014, Indias first monorail has also been marred by constant delays, disruptions, accidents and maintenance issues. The 8.8-km first phase between Chembur and Wadala has not been operational since November, when two rakes of a monorail were charred in a fire at the Mysore colony station.

Since early 2017, MMRDA has been struggling to find a contractor to run the monorail. Earlier, ILFS had submitted bids for the project, but since it was the only bidder, MMRDA had to float tenders again.

Owing to its low ridership, the monorail was already close to Rs3 lakh a day. The fire resulted in a loss of Rs33 crore for MMRDA.

MMRDA is likely to seek a justification on the high bids from ILFS and also negotiate the cost. UPS Madan, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said, The final decision rests with the executive committee of the authority.

Senior MMRDA officials said once the work orders are given to the new operator, the company will take a minimum of two-three months to stabilise.

MMRDA is also awaiting a nod from the commissioner of railway safety to begin operations for the second phase between Wadala and Jacob Circle. Once the commissioner gives his nod, MMRDA will have to seek an approval from the state government to start the services.In a bid to curb corruption, medical stores, blood banks and hospitals will be inspected online by the Food and Administration (FDA), the Maharashtra government said on Tuesday.

The FDAs drug inspectors will carry a tablet device when they visit such establishments and conduct inspections online in real-time, which will be recorded through a software.

FDA minister Girish Bapat said the move to file an inspection report online is aimed at ending complaints of corruption. On many occasions, chemists challenge the report filed by drug inspectors. Now, each and every entry made by a drug inspector will reflect online and this cannot be changed once the report is completed. Also, inspectors can take photos of the deficiencies to make their report foolproof, Bapat told reporters. The online report will be directly sent to the assistant commissioner or joint commissioner, FDA, and action will be taken accordingly, he said.

For this, the government has started distributing tablets to the FDA drug inspectors. The state government is spending around Rs62 lakh to buy 428 tablets for the project.

The state information technology (IT) department has designed an application for this process.

Each tablet costs around Rs9,500. Around 100 tablets

were distributed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday.

In Maharashtra, there are around seven lakh medical stores and blood banks governed by the FDA.

The authority regularly inspects their functioning to check if the guidelines being laid down in the larger public interest are followed or not.

Meanwhile, Bapat on Tuesday urged ration shop owners of the state to withdraw their strike else the state government would consider taking action against them. The government can bring public distribution system (PDS) through these ration shop owners in to essential services and impose Maharashtra Essential Maintenance Act (MESMA) on them. The owners have gone on strike from April 1. Bapat claimed that the majority of them have withdrawn their strike, but 4,300 shop owners are still left. The state government is ready to have talks only if they withdraw the strike. The state has around 52,000 ration shops. The ration shop owners have been demanding Rs 50,000 salary from the state government along with many other demands.Giving pet owners a reason to rejoice, Jet Airways will become the third airline in the country with a facility to transfer pets as cargo.

Jet Airways had the facility earlier but stopped the service in June 2017 owing to issues. Airline officials said that there is a lot of demand to transfer pets. Currently, Air India and SpiceJet offer pet transfers.

Jet Airways spokesperson said,The difference from earlier acceptance is that, we have restricted movement of pets if it involves transshipment. Therefore, to minimise and ensure that pets are not exposed to undue stress during transit, no pet transfer will take place from one flight to another flight.

Pet owners and relocation centres have welcomed the move. The number of pet transfers has been increasing by 30% annually over the last two years. Passengers wanting to relocate their pets will however be able to book them only on direct flights.

Devyani Jadhav, co- founder of PAWsome, the only registered domestic relocation agency in the country, said, Getting an additional airline to transfer pet is a blessing for all the pet owners and lovers. We typically transfer around 10 pets to and fro international destinations. The number increases to around 30 pets for domestic transfers.

While cost of a pet transfer varies and depends on the size of the animal, the space they occupy, the cost of a crate which is purchased by the owner and the travel distance. On an average, a small-sized pet transfer costs around Rs5,000 while the transfer of a large animal like a Labrador dog costs around Rs12, 000 to Rs14,000 that excludes the cost of a crate, which is not less than Rs12,000 for a large animal.

Taking care of your pets

- Carriage of pets require special arrangements from the time a booking is made by its owner/customer at origin station. The staff at these origins are trained to ensure that the crate which is used, documentation and general condition of the animal are in accordance with the rules and regulations stipulated in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Live Animal Regulations Manual.

- In addition, staff are also trained to monitor and manage movement from cargo warehouse to aircraft bay prior to loading into aircraft and arrival formalities. Controls on the operations are the most critical area where it is ensured that the pet is handled with care to avoid shocks to animals when they are at in an unfamiliar atmosphere.

- Passengers will be informed of the destination formalities specifically for international carriage into India.The state government has decided to set up one special investigation team (SIT) each in Amravati and Nagpur to probe the irrigation scam.

The move comes after the Nagpur bench of the Mumbai high court slammed the government over the slow pace of investigation and asked why an SIT could not be set up.

In an affidavit submitted to the court on Wednesday, the state government said two SITs would be set up headed by superintendent of police (SP) rank officers for Amravati and Nagpur. Each SIT will also include one additional SP, three deputy SPs and nine other officials.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis confirmed the decision.

Advocate Shridhar Purohit, who is representing petitioner Atul Jagtap, said: On the face of it, these SITs seem like an eyewash. This seems to be regrouping of officials currently conducting the probe under the anti-corruption bureau (ACB). While the states stance in the court was that these SITs would be dedicated to the irrigation scam, this has not been mentioned in the affidavit.

Jagtap has alleged that Raigad river project at Chandur Railway, Waghadi irrigation project in Daryapur, and Jigaon and Lower Pedhi works were awarded to a firm controlled by former legislator Sandip Bajoria on the basis of bogus documents. The contract was given at the behest of former water resources minister Ajit Pawar, claimed the petitioner.

The formation of two SITs could spell trouble for Pawar because of his role in handing out mobilisation advances and clearing cost escalations for a majority of the projects. The petitioners allegation is that investigating agencies are going slow, catching lower level officials and shielding the main culprits.

The ACB is investigating 40 tenders of the Gosikhurd project besides the Jigaon project, Lower Pendhi project and two minor projects in Vidarbha. In Konkan, the ACB is investigating 12 irrigation projects.

As many as 14 FIRs have been lodged in the Vidarbha scam and three in the Konkan scam. But, in none of these complaints or subsequent charge sheets, Pawar or his colleague and state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare have been indicted. After the BJP came to power in 2014, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced an open inquiry against Pawar, Tatkare and Chhagan Bhujbal (over Maharashtra Sadan case), following which an ongoing petition in the irrigation scam before the Nagpur bench against Pawar was closed.As a blow to the prosecutions case in gangster Farid Tanasha murder case, the sessions court on Wednesday refused to allow it to play tapes containing conversations between the accused after the murder.

The prosecution had approached the court to play the tapes in the court after defence lawyer Avinash Rasal pointed out that the prosecution has not played recordings of the intercepted calls in the court. He claimed that since the recordings were not played and verified, they cannot be used as evidence.

As per the prosecutions case, Tanasha was shot death at the behest of a builder Dattatrya Bhakare who wanted to eliminate him as he interfered in a project he was developing.

Bhakare took the help of absconding accused Bharat Nepali and Vijay Shetty for committing the murder, and for this purpose he spent Rs90 lakh.

After the murder, Mumbai Police had intercepted calls between Bhakare and Shetty. The prosecution had relied on around 30 such call recordings. However, they missed out on playing the same.

Hence, the prosecution had approached the court to allow it to play the tapes.The police on Wednesday restarted search operations to trace the mortal remains of murdered assistant inspector Ashwini Bidre-Gore at Vasai creek. This time round, they have taken the help of some private firms.

The private divers will study the seabed and go underwater to trace a trunk that allegedly contains the remains of the deceased, a senior official said, requesting anonymity.

The police have drawn up a 20-day schedule for the search operations.

Last month, on March 5 and 6, the police had conducted a search with help of the Indian Navy, but they did not find Gores remains.

After that, the police consulted oceanographers to trace the mortal remains, but they could not help much due to lack of required equipment. The oceanographers then referred the police to some private firms that have the capability to conduct this kind of a search operation.

Gore, 37, was allegedly murdered by senior inspector Abhay Kurundkar, 52, and his three accomplices on April 11, 2016. While some parts of her body were thrown into the creek on the day itself, some others were thrown the next day of the murder.The Maharashtra government is bringing a legislation that allows it to confiscate properties of any public servant accused of corruption and possessing disproportionate assets. The Maharashtra Confiscation of Disproportionate Property (of Public Servants) Act was introduced in the state assembly on March 27. It will come into effect once approved by both the Houses in July during the monsoon session of the state legislature.

The bills allows confiscating of the properties with prior approval from the court designated by the state government. Art present, the government has the right to attach the property, but physically, it remains in the possession of the accused officer.

Action can be taken based on a report from the director general, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), duly approved by a committee headed by the additional chief secretary, home and secretary of the department concerned having sufficient grounds to believe that the assets of a public servant are vastly disproportionate to his known sources of income.

If the report has reasonable grounds to believe that any public servant who has held or is holding public office committed the offence and has assets excess of 50% or Rs10 lakh over his known sources of income, whichever is more. The state government can authorise an officer of deputy superintendent of police rank for making an application to the designated court to confiscate the money and property of the public servant, states the bill.

However, if the accused (public servant) is ready to deposit the market value of the property attached or confiscated with the designated court, such money or property shall not be attached or confiscated, it adds.

The bill also mandates return of the confiscated money or property or both to such person is acquitted of the offences and in case, it is not possible to return the property, such person shall be paid the price of the property and money or both.Taxi unions that represent drivers of black-and-yellow cabs have strongly opposed the transport ministrys move to make it mandatory for all taxis to have a Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) and panic buttons. They have threatened an agitation, if the government attempts to force it on them.

In a letter to union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, the Mumbai Taximens Union has objected to the plan and claimed that there is no need to install VTS and panic buttons in black-and-yellow cabs as commuters are safe using those services.

The union sent the letter after it saw a news report in the April 3 edition of Hindustan Times about the implementation of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) notification, dated November 28, 2016, which makes the installation of VTS and panic buttons in all public service vehicles mandatory from April 1.

The taxi trade in Mumbai has completed 110 years, and not a single incident of rape or molestation has been reported by women in the city who travel in metered taxis, the letter said.

The union warned that if implementation of the regulation would put a huge financial burden on taxi owners, which it will not permit. For installing this system, the government should use the Nirbhaya Fund, which is lying idle, said AL Quadros, leader of Mumbai Taximens Union. The government should exempt black-and-yellow cabs from this rule, he added.

Another taxi union, Swabhiman Taxi Rickshaw Union, has also written to the Maharashtra transport commissioner welcoming the move to make journeys safer for commuters, but demanding that the government bear the expense of installing VTS and panic buttons, which will cost around Rs12,000 a taxi.

If the government tries to burden taxi drivers, we will be forced to launch an agitation, said KK Tiwari, leader of Swabhiman Taxi Rickshaw Union.

Meanwhile, private bus operators in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra have called a meeting on April 6 to determine their future course of action in the wake of the ministrys notification. The notification includes buses, too.A 47-year-old worker building a nulllah was killed after a crane allegedly mowed him down at Charkop in Kandivli (West) on Tuesday. The crane operator was arrested for causing death due to negligence.

According to the Charkop police, the incident took place when a huge iron pipe was being lifted by the crane operator behind Priyadarshini School in Sector 7 around 10.30am.

The deceased, Lalman Gautam, held the pipe from one end. The police said it was not clear what transpired afterwards, but he accidentally fell and came underneath the crane.

The operator managed to stop the crane. Gautam was taken to the nearby Karuna Hospital in Borivli where he was declared dead on admission. His wife Malti Gautam, 45, then lodged a complaint against the operator, following which the police registered a case under section 304 A (causing death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code

Gautam was one of the workers who were building a nullah. The civic body had given the contract of constructing the nullah to a private contractor. Gautam was employed by the contractor.

Senior inspector Pramod Dhaware of Charkop police station, said, The 36-year-old accused has been arrested. He was produced before a magistrate court and remanded in judicial custody. The deceaseds body was handed over to his family after conducting an autopsy.A day after the Noida police arrested 20 people and booked hundreds for sporadic violence during the Bharat Bandh on Monday, the district committee of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has demanded the immediate release of the accused.

On Tuesday, BSP supporters reached the office of senior superintendent of police (SSP) in Surajpur, Greater Noida and demanded the release of the arrested claiming that they have been framed by the police.

The protest was observed across India and it was peaceful in most places, including Gautam Budh Nagar. Then why have the police arrested peaceful protesters who had gathered to demand justice from the system? We have submitted a memorandum to the police demanding theimmediate release of the protesters and a fair probe in the matter, Lakhmi Singh, district president, BSP, said.

On Monday, lakhs of protesters belonging to several pro-Dalit organisations had blocked highways and roads in various states to protest against the recent amendments introduced by the Supreme Court in the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Atrocities Act.

Recently, a bench of the Supreme Court had ordered that cases under the SC/ST Atrocities Act will be registered by the police only after a probe by senior police officers in the rank of senior superintendent of police.

Calling the amendments a dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the pro-Dalit groups had declared Bharat Bandh on April 2, demanding roll back of the amendments. Sporadic violence was reported from various states during the bandh.

In Dadri, a UP roadways bus was attacked by the protesters on GT Road. Taking cognizance of the incident, the police arrested 14 persons and booked 200 unknown persons for violence and destruction of public property. Similarly, at the Sector 39 police station, a total of six persons were arrested and 70 unknown persons were booked. At Surajpur police station, nine persons were identified and booked and a case was registered against 400 unknown persons.

Police have booked the protesters under the Indian Penal Code sections 147, 341, 353, 186, 427, 504 and 506 for rioting, wrongful restraint, assault to deter public servant from duty, obstructing public servant from duty, mischief causing damage, intentional insult and criminal intimidation.

However, Singh said the police and the Uttar Pradesh government have acted with vendetta against his party supporters and sympathisers.

There was no violence in Surajpur and our volunteers were protesting peacefully. Why did the police book nine persons? In Dadri, only one bus was attacked and police ended up arresting 14 people. This act of the police and administration shows the mindset of the Yogi government, Singh said.

SSP Ajay Pal Sharma said the police will act according to the law. Investigation is on and due action will be taken, he said.The Ghaziabad police on Tuesday arrested a 29-year-old woman and took into custody a 17-year-old girl student who had allegedly attacked her mother with an iron rod on March 10. The 38-year-old woman died a day later.

According to the complaint filed by the teenaged girls father, his daughter and the teacher were in a relationship.

The duo had fled to Jalandhar in Punjab after the incident, the police said.

The police said they fled Ghaziabad with just Rs 1,500 and the teacher had started taking tuitions in Jalandhar to earn a living.

In Jalandhar, they first stayed in religious places and then the woman sought help from a friend whom she knew through a social networking site. The friend allegedly tried to push the two into prostitution but they somehow managed to escape. Later, they returned to Ghaziabad to collect more money and clothes and were arrested by the police, Beenu Singh, investigating officer, said.

The teacher, the police said, got married in May 2010 and divorced in 2018.

I am all alone in the world and i take strength from the girl who is with me. My mother stays in Delhi. I have no child from my marriage, she said.

The two were nabbed from Ghaziabad railway station while trying to board a train to Jalandhar. The girl said she developed affections for her teacher two years ago.

In 2016, I got rusticated from school and I ran away from home. I called up my teacher and she gave me shelter. Since that day, we have been together. A couple of months before my mothers death, we were staying together when the police were called on us. We decided to part ways. I returned to my house but my family remained suspicious that I will go away again, the girl said.

She expressed remorse for her mothers death and said her attack was not intentional but the result of events that happened a day before the incident.

A couple of days before the incident with my mother, someone sent a message to my sister that I will go away with my teacher again. My father got angry and threatened me. My mother rebuked me the next day while serving food and I hit her in a fit of rage. Then, I ran away and called my teacher. We met at Mohan Nagar and went away together, the girl, a class 12 student, said.

I dont know what the future has in store for us. I know my teacher loves me more than my family and I love her too, she said.

Her father said he would not forgive her.

Her mother loved her so much but our family fell apart after the teacher entered her life. We did not know about their relationship till they started staying together. We had to take the help of police to bring them back, her father said.It was fear of losing control over the family money that allegedly made 32-year-old Ajeet Singh bludgeon his mother and younger brother to death in Jarcha village on Tuesday morning, the police claimed, after they arrested Singh on Tuesday night from Jewar underpass in Greater Noida.

Singh, a bank agent, was arrested around 10.15pm from near Jewar underpass while trying to flee the district in his white Swift Dzire car. Nearly 16 hours before, he had allegedly attacked his 60-year-old mother Shakuntala Devi and 22-year-old brother Pushpender in Rasoolpur Dasna village of Jarcha in Greater Noida.

Shakuntala Devi died on Monday morning while being taken to a hospital in Ghaziabad, and Pushpender succumbed to injuries on Monday night at the Safdarjung Trauma Centre in New Delhi.

Singh is an MBA graduate from Galgotia University in Greater Noida. He used to manage the familys finances, including the pension of his partially paralysed father, the compensation amount received for his sisters death and 3.75 hectares of land in Rasoolpur Dasna village. However, after his younger brother Ratender got married last December, talks of division of property had arose. This was the one of the main reasons for Singh killing his mother and brother in a fit of rage, Shalendra Singh, station house officer, Jarcha police station, said.

This was also confirmed by advocate Hemant Raghav, who is representing the victim family in the case.

Prima facie, it appears that the family did not have a lot of money and it was a feeling of insecurity that made him commit the murders. When I questioned Ajeet regarding how much money he had in his bank account, he told me that he had 11,000, Raghav said.

Singh is the oldest of five children of Jagdish Singh and Shakuntala Devi.

Jagdish Singh took an early retirement from his job as a worker in the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) after a freak accident left him partially paralysed.

Singh used to work as an agent of a private bank in Greater Noida where he assisted people in opening accounts with the bank. He is married to Rachna Devi (28) and has a two-year-old son. Singh had two younger brothers  Ratender (27) and Pushpender (22)  and sisters Sangeeta (21) and Rani (23).

Ratender is employed as a worker in the NTPC and is married to Pooja while Pushpender was unemployed and unmarried.

Sangeeta had committed suicide a few years ago, allegedly over dowry harassment by her in-laws and the Singh family had received a compensation of

10 lakh from their daughters in-laws.

On Tuesday, around 6am, Singh assaulted his mother and younger brother with an iron rod in a fit of rage.

According to the police, Singh attacked his mother repeatedly when she was sleeping beside her husband and, hearing her cries for help, Ratender, Pooja

and Pushpender rushed to her help.

Singh then attacked Pushpender who was first to reach their mothers room. He was hit on the head several times. The accused then assaulted Ratender and Pooja and left the house in the car that belonged to the family. Pushpender was declared dead by the doctors at Safdarjung Trauma Centre in New Delhi late Monday, SHO Shalendra Singh said.

Singh was finally arrested when police got a tip-off about his movement near Jewar underpass in Greater Noida.

We have recovered the murder weapon from the accused

car along with three mobile phones. He has been booked for murder, attempt to murder, assault and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code, Suniti, superintendent of police (rural), said.The fire tragedy at Kanawani on Tuesday robbed 75 families of every single household itemclothes, utensils, appliances, even cash. Nothing survived the inferno that was triggered by a suspected leak in a cooking gas cylinder. But the community-driven effort from neighbouring localities give hope of a better future to the affected men, women and children, most of whom are migrant daily wage earners from Bihar and West Bengal.

We never thought we would get so much support. It will take a long time for us to rebuild our lives, but people came to help us within hours, said Vishnu, a native of West Champaran who ran a small tailoring shop in Kanawani near his tenement. Within two hours on Tuesday, Vishnu, had lost his home and the means to rebuild it.

After the tragedy struck Kanawani, dozens of residents from the towering high-rises in Indirapuram, the Ghaziabad police, and the municipal corporation came forward to help.

SK Jain, a retired officer from IEL, Kanpur, arrived from the Pinnacle Tower nearby with a group of 10 residents and set up a food stall by a burnt tree. We prepared food for nearly 1,000 people and will give them more help in coming time. We are collecting materials and money from residents in our high-rise, Jain said.

Members of the federation of association of apartment owners also distributed food packets, water and clothes.

From our federation fund, we are trying to get at least 100 durries (floor spreads) from Chandni Chowk. These can be used by families to sleep on as theyre sleeping on the floor, which is basically mud, Alok Kumar, president of the federation, said, adding that they are also collecting items of daily need and getting more aid, in cash and in kind, from residents.

The rising heat is also making it difficult for the destitute families who are completely exposed to the elements, and thus more vulnerable to diseases.

We used to pay 1,500 to 2,500 as rent for our tenements here. Now, the land owner is refusing to set up shelters again, said Saraswati, who is from Betia in Bihar.

Mamta Devi, who rescued her daughters despite being pregnant, pitched four sticks around the space where her house once was and spread a half-burnt saree to create shelter from the sun.

Most of the families are trying to cover them from heat this way. I lost my house and also my grocery shop. Luckily my family was saved. If the incident had happened during night, there would have been many casualties, said Subrata Saha, a resident and native of Farukkhabad.

Dr Renu Verma, a medical practitioner and social activist from Noida, is among the few who are providing medical aid. Dr Verma, who arrived with a group of volunteers, said, We have come here to assess the needs of the people. We will be sending a team of doctors for medical checkups and to provide medicines. The families have pregnant women. The victims will also need psychological therapy.

An ambulance from the nearby Shanti Gopal Hospital was also stationed at the spot as doctors distributed medicines.

Some people who suffered minor burn injuries are being treated. Those who have other complications will be treated for free at the hospital. We are trying to arrange for 100 tarpaulin sheets which will give families relief from the scorching heat, said Arun Agarwal, owner of the hospital.

Local residents of Kanawani village, too, have come forward to help the affected in their hour of need.

Class 10 students Sumit and Rohit skipped school on Tuesday to distribute cooked food and water packets.

We have organised a bhandara (community kitchen) and are distributing potatoes, pooris and rice to the affected families. Villagers have pooled in money and we will continue to give them food for a few more days, said Bijender Singh, a resident of Kanawani.

Bijenders sister Anita Verma also arrived from Niti Khand with her family and children to help.

I specially brought my teenage children to understand what is hardship and that children from well-off families should know their responsibility towards the poor and teach them the spirit of charity, she said.

Pradeep Kumar, who lead a group of volunteers from Sewa Bhati, an NGO, cleaned the area. Garbage needs to be cleared. The administration should also come out and help in rehabilitation of the affected people, he said.

While the Ghaziabad police pitched in with nearly 200 food packets on Tuesday, municipal commissioner CP Singh sent three teams to clean the area, and address the hygienic issues that may crop up. Kanawani does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation.

Stating that the district administration will do everything to help these families, district magistrate Ritu Maheshwari said, As an immediate option, they can be shifted to nearby shelter homes. We will discuss options through which shelter can be provided to the affected families. The administration will continue to help them on humanitarian basis, Maheshwari said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the impressive goal of eradicating tuberculosis (TB) in India by 2025. TB claims the lives of more than four lakh Indians every year. The prime minister has made it clear that now is not the time for the status quo to prevail.

New economic evidence commissioned by IndiaConsensus, a collaboration between Tata Trusts and the Copenhagen Consensus, shows that Prime Minister Modi is entirely right to focus on tuberculosis. In Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, Tata Trusts and the Copenhagen Consensus have worked with hundreds of stakeholders to identify the best policies in more than 40 areas. Top economists are generating tailor-made data on costs, benefits and impacts.

Nimalan Arinaminpathy from Imperial College, London, has analysed TB in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. TB management is especially important because each case treated saves others. Managing this killer disease means more money to tackle other priorities. This analysis indicates that increasing the quality of TB care in the private sector would increase the number of TB patients in Rajasthan receiving high-quality treatment by more than one lakh over three decades, saving 3,300 lives every year on an average, or more than 11% of deaths.

Initiatives in Mumbai, Patna and elsewhere have shown it possible to engage the private sector, supported by public funds and overseen by the national TB programme. As the National Surveillance Programme 2017-25 outlines, well over half of TB cases first go to private clinics. Poor compliance and use of inaccurate tests can delay diagnosis, meaning ongoing transmission, while a general lack of treatment support means many private patients do not complete the standard TB regimen.

Using pilot study costs, and with the conservative estimate that while the intervention will pay for all private providers, only half will succeed. The average public cost for Rajasthan would be about Rs 15.2 crore per year between now and 2050. According to India Priorities research papers, this study uses cost-benefit analysis. Every rupee borne by Rajasthan and its population will generate Rs 179 of benefits, representing saved lives, fewer people being disabled, and quicker treatment initiation. (Calculations differ for Andhra Pradesh, but the analysis still shows a spectacular return).

At present, TB services largely wait for symptomatic patients to show up at a clinic. Going into a vulnerable community can diagnose patients earlier and shorten the period over which they are infectious. The NSP 2017-25 indicates urban slums as a priority. If Andhra Pradesh can save about 2,000 lives each year with private sector engagement, the analysis shows that adding active case finding will save almost twice as many.

The costs for Andhra Pradesh will run to Rs 43 crore on average per year, but cut multi-drug resistant cases by up to 80%. This means much lower costs in later years, allowing more spending on other healthcare challenges. This equals a return of more than Rs 100 for every rupee invested.

While the evidence only shows the remarkable returns for Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, it points the way for strong and smart action against TB across India.

Bjorn Lomborg is president, Copenhagen Consensus Centre Manorama Bakshi is senior advisor to the India Consensus projectThe views expressed are personalEven though the state government had given a window of one month before action would be taken against plastic use, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has already started the drive to seize plastic bags from various vendors.

PMC solid waste management department head Suresh Jagtap said that the PMC had seized almost 12 tonnes of plastic bags. PMC has instructed all the regional ward offices to carry on the anti-plastic drive.

Jagtap said that as media took up the plastic ban issue, hawkers and shop owners have on their own stopped giving plastic bags to consumers.

PMC is also appealing people to avoid the use of plastic and thermacol in the city.

PMC is not imposing any action against the traders or residents, but are just seizing carry bags at the moment. The PMC is printing pamphlets to distribute. Sweepers will ensure that pamphlets get dropped in each home. These pamphlets will have detailed information about what items are banned, the state governments instructions and will also create awareness about environment.

Another PMC official said on the condition of anonymity that at some places, traders are fighting with PMC employees. They are claiming that the state government had given one months window to destroy the plastic. In those cases, PMC officials are handling it politely and just appealing to them not to use it.

Jagtap said,Though the state government and PMC are appealing to residents to handover existing stock of carry bags and banned items, they are not coming forward to hand it over.

Pune Municipal Corporation claimed that after the announcement of the plastic ban, there has been less plastic waste in the citys garbage collection. Solid waste department head Suresh Jagtap said that the ground level employees are giving feedback regarding the same. Once the system of fining people for plastic usage is in place, PMC is hoping that there would be very minimum plastic waste in the total garbage collection.Five Punjab institutes have made it to the top 100 institutions of India, as per the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)-2018, released by the Union ministry of human resource development (HRD) on Tuesday.

These are Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh; Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana; Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar; Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), Patiala; and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali.

Read: NIRF Rankings 2018: NIPER Mohali is best pharma institute, PGIMER Chandigarh ranks second in medical category

The rankings were released by HRD minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi.

Panjab University (PU) has been ranked 33rd in overall category and 20th among universities. Last year, it was ranked 54th in overall category and 33rd among universities.

TIET has bagged 50th slot in the overall category and 33rd in the university category and 20th in the engineering category.

Read: Take part in NIRF India rankings process or face fund cut: Javadekar to public institutions

TIET Director Prakash Gopalan said, A bright future awaits a Thapar graduate as the university has embarked on a programme to modernise itself in all aspects.

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, has been ranked at 55th slot in the overall category

Meanwhile, PAU has slipped by 20 positions. It has been ranked 60th in overall ranking as against 40th last year.

GNDU has not only made to the top 100 institutions for the first time, it got 86th position in overall ranking and 59 in the university category.

GNDU vice-chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh Sandhu said, Its delightful that after securing full autonomy from UGC by becoming Category-1 university, GNDU has now made it to the top 100 institutions of India.

Read: NIRF India Rankings 2018: Miranda House is the best, heres the list of top 10 colleges

Meawhile, Punjabi University, Patiala, has failed to make it even in the list of top 100 universities of the country.

The NIRF rankings focus on five prominent key parameters  teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practice; graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity; and perception.According to industry sources, the Telugu Film Producers Council on Wednesday has decided that it will not be screening any Telugu films in Tamil Nadu from Sunday (April 8) onwards.

This step has been taken in an effort to express solidarity with the Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) and the strike called by them in protest against the exorbitant Virtual Print Fee (VPF) charged by the digital service providers.

A step like this would mean that the Ram Charan and Samantha Akkineni starrer Rangasthalam, which is having a dream run in TN theatres, will also be removed from screens.

However, there has been no official statement yet from Telugu Film Producers Council to confirm these reports.

Its been over a month since theatres and film-related activities in Tamil Nadu were shutdown. A resolution is yet to be reached with regard to the ongoing strike. Despite market leader Qube agreeing for more concession in their rates for producers, the offer has been rejected. There are also rumours that discussions are underway with a Mumbai-based projection company who may enter the market very soon and is willing to offer VPF at one third the price of the existing players in the market.

Meanwhile, the shutdown has resulted in the loss of Rs 10-15 crore a day. This will affect the summer season and eventually dampen the prospect of Rajinikanths Kaala, which is slated to hit the screens on April 27. The industry grapevine is that once the strike is over, films will be released in the order they were certified by the censor board. This means films that have been cleared by CBFC and are waiting to release will hit the screens first. This move is most likely to affect the release of Kaala, which has been confirmed to hit the screens on April 27, a source from TFPC told Hindustan Times.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopShireen Mirza, who plays the villain in Star Plus popular soap opera, Yeh Hain Mohabbatein, is struggling to find a home in Mumbai. The actor has posted a long message on Facebook describing her situation.

She says she is being denied a home because the landlords do not want a Muslim, a bachelor or an actor as a tenant. Read her full post here:

I dont deserve to get a house in Mumbai because Im M B A

- MUSLIM, BACHELOR, ACTOR.

This pic was taken when I came here with a dream of living in Mumbai and now After spending almost 8 years in this city this is what I get to hear.. Firstly, Yes Im an Actor and I do not Smoke or drink and I have no criminal records. So, How can they judge my character on the basis of my profession??

Second, Im a bachelor and when I call brokers they ask me higher rents for the flats which are available saying Pay extra or u wont get it since ur a Bachelor. My question is nuisance can be created by families too??? Third, I called up another person and they ask me wether I am a Hindu or a Muslim and reverted back with an answer that Muslims are not preferred. They also mentioned that take the flat on ur friends name whos not a Muslim. I mean whats in a name??? Theres no difference in the blood.

Shireen plays Simmi on the show.

Renting or buying a property in the city that never sleeps. Mumbai which prides itself on its cosmopolitan character is divided on basis of religion, profession and marital status?? Im shocked to see that Mumbai which has given me so much that I dont stop praising about Mumbai by calling it Aamchi Mumbai still doesnt have a place for me and so many of us coming from out of town still struggling with identity crises.

With a heavy heart and after many refusals my question is

Do I belong to this city ??

#supportandshare

Shireen plays Simmi on the show and has lived in Mumbai for eight years. She also posted a picture from when she first arrived in the city.

A few years ago, Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi had also alleged he was refused a NOC by a housing society in a posh Bandra area to purchase a flat in the building, only because he was a Muslim, a charge denied by the society.

Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar had also claimed the same some time later. I wanted to buy a flat in Bombay and it wasnt given to me because I was a Muslim and I read the same about Saif (Ali Khan). Now, I mean, if Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi cannot get a flat in Bombay because they are Muslims, then what are we talking about? Shabana had said.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreThe number of Britons opting for e-visas to visit India has seen an exponential increase since it was first introduced in the United Kingdom, jumping from 82,751 in 2015 to 327,798 in 2017.

At the same time, the number of people applying for the traditional, in-person visa has correspondingly dwindled from 233,005 in 2015 to 103,233 in 2017.

The e-visa has been welcomed by tour operators and others who resented earlier rules that stipulated every visa applicant must appear at an appointment at one of the 13 visa application centres run by VFS Global, Indias private partner that collects and delivers the traditional visa.

An e-visa costs around 53 (excluding a 2.5% bank transaction charge), while the fee for the regular one is nearly 120.

A spokesperson of the Association of British Travel Agents told HT: India is a very important destination for the UK travel industry with almost a million visits in 2017, a combination of leisure, business trips and people visiting friends and family.

However, sources in Indias ministry of external affairs said there is a concern over some websites fraudulently offering the Indian e-visa to unsuspecting applicants. Indian missions face their ire when they have a bad experience and pay more while seeking the e-visa through such websites.

The Association of British Travel Agents spokesperson said: The introduction of the e-visa system has helped make the process of visiting India much more straight forward but it is important that applicants always use the official application channels to avoid unnecessary charges.

The traditional visa obtained through VFS is of a longer duration (six months) and multiple-entry, while e-visas are valid for 60 days and offer double-entry.

A VFS Global spokesperson said: (Many) applicants prefer applying for visas through the regular process as they tend last longer than e-visas and have multiple entry option. This is beneficial to those who visit a country more frequently, such as business travellers.

Even first time or less frequent travellers also prefer the more personal, hands-on service that VFS Global can provide in terms of the provision of staff to help customers complete the application correctly.Although the e-visa process may be faster online, biometric information is only obtained when the applicant arrives at their destination, which may result in the need to queue longer on arrival than those who arrive with regular visas.

However, tourism industry sources say most tourists and visitors are happy with the duration and number of visits offered under the e-visa.

The e-visas success raises the issue of reciprocity that is key to relations between two countries. It has made easier for British nationals to visit India, but there is no similar facility extended to Indian nationals visiting the UK, who need to jump through several hoops for a visa.President Donald Trump is reported to have instructed the US military to draw up plans for leaving Syria, according to a news report.

Trump has been hinting the same for days, and according to The Washington Post, he met with military commanders on Tuesday to discuss the future of the mission. However, the report said no dates have been set and the pull-out of the 2,000 troops in Syria will not be complete  some will stay back for anti-Islamic State operations and to train local forces for securing areas liberated from the terror group, the Post reported citing unidentified administration officials.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders followed up with a statement, saying the military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed, using another name for Islamic State.

However, she did not say if Trump had asked for a withdrawal plan. She added, instead, that the US remains committed to eliminating the small IS presence left and will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans.

She also added that the US expects countries in the region and beyond, plus the United Nations, to work toward peace and ensure that ISIS never re-emerges.

Trump has argued that the US has spent $7 trillion in the Middle East over the past 17 years but has not gained anything in return. That amount presumably includes expenses incurred on the war in Afghanistan.

While Trump has seemed keen to leave Syria, his military leaders and diplomats have stressed that the task is not over yet. A lot of very good military progress has been made over the last couple of years, but the hard part, I think, is in front of us, said Gen Joseph L Votel, head of US Central Command, at a think tank on Tuesday.The UN Security Councils updated list of terrorists and militant groups has 139 entries from Pakistan alone, including outfits like Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeeds Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according to a media report.

The list, headed by Osama bin Ladens heir apparent Ayman al-Zawahiri, identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with groups that used Pakistani territory for carrying out their operations, Dawn News reported.

Saeed is listed as a person also wanted by Interpol for his involvement in terrorist activities. The LeT is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The list also includes Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, an Indian national who, according to the UN Security Council, has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi, the report said.

The UN claims he owns a palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Noorabad, Karachi, it added.

Dawood, wanted in India as the mastermind of the Mumbai bomb blasts in 1993 and accused of crimes such as match-fixing and extortion, accrued a vast property portfolio across the Midlands and south-east in the UK as well as India, the UAE, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Cyprus and Australia

Haji Mohammed Yahya Mujahid, LeTs media contact, and Saeeds deputies, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal, are also listed. Like Saeed, they are all wanted by the Interpol.

The LeT is listed with its various aliases, such as al-Mansoorian, Paasban-i-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle Hadith, Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, the report said.

The UN data claims that the first person on the list, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is still hiding somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, the report said. Several of his lieutenants are also on the list who, the UN believes, are hiding with him.

The second person on the list is another internationally known terrorist, Ramzi Mohammad bin al-Sheibah, who is identified as a Yemeni national, arrested in Karachi and handed over to the US authorities.

More than a dozen suspected terrorists are listed in the same category, arrested in Pakistan and handed over to the US authorities. Some of them had Pakistani passport, issued by various Pakistani missions in the Middle East and renewed in Pakistan.

The report, however, did not give the total number of entries in the updated UNSC list.

The terrorist entities that were allegedly based in Pakistan, worked from there or had links to Pakistani individuals, include Jaish-e-Mohammed, Afghan Support Committee, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Al Akhtar Trust International, Harkatul Jihad Islami, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaatul Ahrar and Khatiba Imam Al-Bukhari.

Some of them are listed as based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, according to the report.The US will deploy military to secure its international border with Mexico, President Donald Trump has said, asserting that Americas existing laws were horrible and enabled caravans of illegal immigrants entry into the country.

Trump has been a great proponent of building a wall along the US-Mexico border. He is seeking billions of dollars from the Congress for this initiative, but has been unable to get the funding so far.

Trump believes that the wall along the Mexico border is a permanent solution to stop large influx of illegal immigrants smuggling of drugs into the US.

We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the United States, Trump told reporters at a joint White House news conference with Baltic leaders.

Soon thereafter, he held a meeting with his top officials including Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

During the meeting, they discussed the administrations strategy, which includes the mobilisation of the National Guard, the White House said.

Trump and senior officials also agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organisation, it said.

A week earlier, Trump received a briefing from senior administration officials on the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America.

At that time, he had directed a vigorous administrative strategy to confront this threat and protect Americas national security, the White House said.

Central American migrants taking part in a caravan called "Migrant Viacrucis" towards the United States march to protest against US President Donald Trump's policies as they remain stranded in Matias Romero, Oaxaca State, Mexico, on April 3, 2018. (AFP)

Earlier, Trump told reporters that the Mexican border was very unprotected by the US laws.

We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States, and were going to be able to do something about that hopefully soon. Hopefully Congress will get their act together and get in and create some very powerful laws, like Mexico has, and like Canada has, and like almost all countries have, he said.

We dont have laws. We have catch and release. You catch and then you immediately release, and people come back years later for a court case, except they virtually never come back, he said, justifying his move to use military to protect the international border.

Its something we have to do. Now, the caravan, which is over a thousand people coming in from Honduras, thought they were just going to walk right through Mexico and right through the border, he said.

Trump said that he had told the Mexicans that their caravan of illegal immigrants crossing into US needed to stop.

If you look at the caravan of thousands of people coming across, I told Mexico, look, you have a cash cow in NAFTA. NAFTAs been great for Mexico. Has not been good for the United States, he said.The White House on Tuesday said US President Donald Trump planned to deploy the National Guard, a reserve military force, to the guard the southern border with Mexico.

The statement came hours after Trump talked to reporters about guarding our border with the military to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country., a move that even took his aides by surprise.

We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States, Trump said. We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the United States. He added that he would be discussing it with his national security team later in the day.

After the meeting, the White House said in a statement that Trump received a follow up briefing to discuss his administrations strategy, which includes the mobilisation of the National Guard.

Trump has been under pressure from his core support base on border security, and some have been critical of his failure to get adequate funding for the wall he has promised to build along the southern border  he got a meagre $1.6 billion for it in the recently passed $1.3 trillion spending bill.

There has also been a growing concern among his supporters about a large group of Central Americans, largely Hondurans, marching through Mexico and headed for the border to cross into the United States. The group has been called a caravan.

Trump spoke about the caravan at a news briefing at the White House on Tuesday and said he wanted Mexico to prevent people in it from crossing into the US. The caravan makes me very sad that this can happen to the United States, where you have thousands of people that decide to just walk into our country, and we dont have any laws that can protect it, he said.The wife of a detained Chinese lawyer set off on Wednesday on a march of more than 100 km, from Beijing to Tianjin city, where she believes her husband is being held incommunicado, in a bid to force authorities to explain his arrest.

Lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who took on sensitive cases of complaints of police torture and defended practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, went missing in August 2015 during a sweeping crackdown on rights activists.

His wife, Li Wenzu, has since heard little about her husbands fate although authorities told her lawyer he had been detained. Neither Li nor the lawyer has been allowed to see him.

We are walking to seek an answer from the Chinese legal system. Is China really a country with rule of law? Li told reporters outside a Supreme Peoples Court complaints office.

Over the last 999 days, we have tried every possible legal means to find out what has happened to him, but there has been no result, she said.

Chinas public security bureau and justice department did not reply to faxed requests for comment.

On July 9, 2015, authorities launched what rights groups say was a coordinated attempt to quash Chinas rights movement, in what is known as the 709 crackdown, after the date.

At the time, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, the Peoples Daily, described some of the prominent detainees as a major criminal gang that has seriously damaged social order.

Nearly three years on, most of those detained have been sentenced and are in prison or under house arrest. Many of them made public confessions and were sentenced in what their families say were either secret or scripted trials.

Wangs case is unusual in that no word of his fate has been released.

Li has been an energetic activist on her husbands behalf. With support from other families effected by the crackdown, she regularly visits the courts to file missing person reports.

She said she expected it would take her 12 days to walks to Tianjin, over the 1,000-day anniversary of her husbands disappearance.

She is being accompanied by Wang Qiaoling, wife of another prominent rights lawyer, Li Heping. He was handed a three-year suspended sentence for subversion last April.

Li said the authorities kept her under surveillance and she had kept her plan for her walk secret.

I didnt send anything publicly, otherwise they would have known and stopped me, Li said.Women in ancient Peru, far from being marginalised and invisible, were political and economic decision-makers, according to a new study that challenges many traditional takes on the countrys history.

Historian Maritza Villavicencio sets out the findings that run counter to previous hypotheses that high-ranking pre-Columbian women in Peru were mere priestesses in Mujer, podery alimentacion en el antiguo Peru (Woman, power and food in ancient Peru).

Instead, she asserts, they were monarchs.

The book, published by San Martin de Porres University, is the result of ten years of research.

Women were invisible in history, and what my book does is propose restoring the memory of the real life of these women. Thats why this more than just a claim, Villavicencio told AFP.

In the book, Villavicencio argues that women exercised political power in their communities in different areas of pre-Hispanic Peru.

Women were categorised as priestesses to lower their status -- not as a person who had power to participate in their peoples political, economic and social activities, able to decide and make alliances with male rulers, she said.

There is a discriminatory interpretation by researchers regarding women in ancient Peru which obscures the power of these women, she says.

Shattering male-centric history

The first mummy of a high-status woman was discovered in northern Peru in 1992, in an archaeological site in San Jose del Moro, home to the people of the Late Sican period who lived there between the 12th and 14th centuries.

The figure had long been considered a high priestess, though she was buried wearing the clothes of a ruler, along with the remains of eight elite women and a headdress. From 2013, she started being called the Senora (Lady) of Chornancap, the historian said.

In 1987, archaeologists discovered what came to be known as the Lord of Sipan, near the modern day city of Trujillo.

Nobody called him a priest. Everybody called him a great lord, the Moche monarch, and a museum was built for him, Villavicencio said.

Another find, of the Lady of Cao, who governed in the 4th century during the Moche culture, was also originally labelled a priestess, despite being buried with a sceptre similar to that found at the Lord of Sipans tomb. After further study, the Lady of Cao was considered a ruler, and today she has a museum in her honour.

There is a biased view when it comes to women, a male-centric vision that puts men at the centre of everything in Perus history, Villavicencio said.

Traditional books of Peruvian history said that women were absent when governing decisions were made, but her research shows the opposite, she said.

Serpent tattoos

Villavicencio said lineage was a principal criterion for assuming power.

There were also four areas in which power was attributed to individuals: miracle-working, reproduction, textile-making, and supplying food.

Womens power to heal, to summon the weather through knowledge, to show the path of life and death made them leaders, she affirmed.

An important symbol was the tattoo. For example, the Lady of Cao had serpents tattooed on her arm, which signified she able to summon water from the rivers and possibly predict the weather.

There are also sanctuaries in which the remains of elite women have been discovered, such as at a site in the Lima neighbourhood of Miraflores called Pucllana, or a nearby site in San Isidro.

The San Isidro site, Huallamarca, in 1958 yielded funeral remains of around 100 people, 73 of whom were elite-level women, among the Lady of the Long Hair (la Dama de los Cabellos Largos). The buried remains of men were also found, but they were of lower rank.

Archaeologists have also dug up much evidence of textile making. Villavicencio said that cloth mantles were believed to confer power to women in ancient Peru.The woman identified by police as the attacker who wounded three people at YouTubes headquarters in California was a vegan blogger who accused the video-sharing service of discriminating against her, according to her online profile.

Police said 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam from San Diego was behind Tuesdays shooting at YouTubes offices in Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco, where the company owned by Alphabet Incs Google employs nearly 2,000 people.

The San Bruno Police Department is investigating a motive for this shooting. At this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted, police said in a statement.

Aghdams online profile shows she was a vegan activist who ran a website called NasimeSabz.com, meaning Green Breeze in Persian, where she posted about Persian culture and veganism, as well as long passages critical of YouTube.

Read | Nasim Aghdam hated YouTube, father says he warned police morning of shooting

A screenshot of a video posted on Aghnams YouTube channel before it was taken down on Tuesday, showed her complaining that YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!

There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, the post added, while in another, she said, There is no free speech in real world and you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system.

The site also complains about the small amount of money Aghdam said she got from a video that was viewed a few hundred thousand times. It also lists several YouTube videos, some devoted to vegan activism with graphic images of animal cruelty, along with channels in English, Farsi and Turkish. The domain name for the website was created in 2015, according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

As of Tuesday evening, the YouTube channels were terminated for violating policies against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content or other Terms of Service violations, according to YouTube. Facebook and Instagram pages featuring Aghdam, which Bloomberg viewed on Tuesday evening, were also removed shortly after reports identifying her as the shooter.

Read | Tech CEOs call for gun control following YouTube shooting

Over the past year, YouTube has restricted the number of ads running on millions of user-generated videos. The polices were made in response to complaints from major advertisers over inappropriate content on the service. YouTubes moves were criticized by some video creators who relied on the site for ad revenue.

Earlier on Tuesday, San Bruno police said a woman opened fire at YouTubes headquarters, wounding three and sending panicked employees fleeing before taking her own life.

Female mass shooters are rare. A recent Washington Post analysis shows only three of 150 U.S. shootings with more than four victims since 1966 were carried out by women. In 2015, a husband and wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.Appointment

4 April 2018

Hartmut Ott, general manager at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center,1360 W Mall Dr., announced today that Michael Howe has been named director of hotel operations. In this position, Howe will assist Ott in managing all aspects of the multi-million-dollar renovation currently underway at the hotel. The extensive renovation of the property's public spaces, including the front desk, lobby, meeting and event space, as well as the spa and restaurant is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2018. He also will oversee the entire room, food & beverage divisions, which represent the vast majority of the hotel's employees. These divisions include the front desk, housekeeping, new great room, new market/pantry, new M-Club, the banquet operation in the hotel's new meeting space, as well as the culinary team.

Prior to joining the leadership team at Cleveland Marriott Downtown, Howe served as director of catering and event management at the 752-room flagship Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago. In this position, he was routinely recognized for his outstanding contributions, which included being named manager of the quarter for his innovative cost-cutting initiatives.

He also served in a variety of food and beverage, catering and convention services leadership positions at a variety of high-end resorts including the The Modern Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii, The Royal Hawaiian, Honolulu, Hawaii, The Four Seasons Resorts Lanai and more. He began his hospitality career at Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.

A Chicago native, Howe was awarded his bachelor of arts degree in marketing/business administration from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. He looks forward to becoming involved in Cleveland civic and business organizations in his new hometown. While in Chicago, he was an active member of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association.Appointment

4 April 2018

Prior to joining the Hyatt, Lopez was part of the management team at Hilton San Jose, and before that, at the DoubleTree by Hilton San Jose.

Lopez started her hospitality career at the Westin Century Plaza Hotel & Tower in Los Angeles. In the 10 years she worked at the property she gained experience in the areas of Housekeeping, PBX, Reservations and Catering/Event Service. She also assisted and serviced gala events at the property.

To expand her career growth, Lopez relocated to Orlando, Fla., where she worked at the Swan and Dolphin Hotels in the Disney World area. She spent seven years in the Orlando area working for Westin, Starwood and independent hotel chains such as Adam's Mark and IHG.

She returned to Los Angeles to be closer to family and joined Hilton Hotels & Resorts in Burbank. Her career came full circle in 2008 when she returned to the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, by then part of the Hyatt Hotels & Resorts family. Lopez says it was great to see familiar faces and to go back to where it all had started for her.Press Release

4 April 2018

The newly rebranded Radisson Hotel Group announced its expansion plans at Hotel Investment Conference South Asia (HICSA) 2018. The company aims to expand its portfolio to more than 200 hotels in operation and under development by 2022 in South Asia, where it is already a dominant international player.

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The group has already signed Radisson Blu Resort Visakhapatnam, Radisson Panipat City Centre and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson Agra in the first quarter of 2018. Radisson Gwalior opened last month and the group is on track to open another eight more hotels in India this year.

"This is a most exciting period in our company's long history," said Katerina Giannouka, President, Asia Pacific, Radisson Hotel Group. "With the rebranding of our company and many other initiatives in the pipeline, we are positioning Radisson Hotel Group for a bright future. One of the new giants of the global economy, India has been a key market for us for many years. We look forward to working with hotel investors, owners, developers and other stakeholders across the country as we accelerate the expansion of our portfolio and introduce exciting brand concepts such as Radisson Collection to India," added Giannouka.

"We excitedly continue the momentum on our growth and signings in 2018. With a robust performance, ahead of industry average and continued investment in technology and revenue driving platforms, we are optimistic of meeting our five-year goals. I am delighted that India is leading the way in Asia Pacific with a total of seven global brand offerings which will further strengthen our business in the region," said Raj Rana, Chief Executive Officer, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group.

Anchored on growth and improvement plans for three main levers vis-a-vis business performance, people and owner relationships, Radisson Hotel Group has developed robust plans for each area whereby the operating structure has been realigned and investments are being made into strategic areas of marketing, revenue generation and procurement to drive desired outcomes. The group is focused on enhancing profitability, ensuring brand standard compliance and uplifting guest experience while aiming to open landmark hotels in strategic locations and growing its mid-scale brand footprint. It saw healthy occupancy and average rates ahead of industry performance in 2017 and has continued the momentum in the first quarter of 2018.

The group has also recently added Radisson Collection, a premium collection of exceptional hotels to its brand portfolio. Radisson Collection Agra, located on Taj East Gate Road, with 239 rooms and suites, will join a global list of 13 other hotels to be launched as Radisson Collection. This takes the group's brand portfolio to a total of seven brands in India where it already operates Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson brands.

There are 90 hotels operational under Radisson Hotel Group across the country which is expected to reach 100 hotels by the end of 2018.Performance

4 April 2018

The positive start to the year for hotels in the Middle East & Africa was short lived as profit per room fell by 7.8% in February, led by a significant year-on-year decline in achieved average room rate, according to the latest worldwide poll of full-service hotels from HotStats.

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Profit per room at hotels in the Middle East & Africa fell to $82.38 this month, which completely cancelled out the positive performance in January and led to hotels in the region recording a 1.2% decline in GOPPAR for year-to-date 2018, to $85.12.

The drop in profit at hotels in the Middle East & Africa was as a result of a decline in revenue as well as rising costs. In addition to a 6.8% decrease in revenue in the Rooms department, declines in Non-Rooms revenues, including Food and Beverage (-3.6%) and Conference & Banqueting (-4.2%), contributed to the 4.6% decline in TrevPAR, to $210.95.

Whilst hotels in the Middle East & Africa recorded a 1.4-percentage point year-on-year increase in room occupancy in February, to 70.7%, this was completely wiped out by an 8.7% drop in achieved average room rate, to $171.49.

The challenges in achieved average room rate for hotels in the region are clear, with a fall in rate recorded across all segments in February, with the greatest margin of decline recorded in the Best Available Rate (-13.4%), Residential Conference (-10.4%), Corporate (-11.2%) and Group Leisure (-7.8%) segments.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators - Middle East & Africa (in USD)

February 2018 v February 2017

RevPAR: -6.8% to $121.20

TrevPAR: -4.6% to $210.95

Payroll: +1.1 pts to 27.6%

GOPPAR: -7.8% to $82.38

In addition to the drop in TrevPAR, profit levels at hotels in the Middle East & Africa were hit by a further 1.1-percentage point increase in Payroll, to 27.6% of total revenue.

As a result of the movement in revenue and costs, profit conversion at hotels in the region was recorded at 39.1%, which, despite being 0.9 percentage points below the same period in 2017, was above the profit conversion for hotels in the Middle East & Africa in the 12 months to February 2018 at 37.4% of total revenue.

The Jeddah hotel market was amongst the poorest performing in February, recording a 39.7% decline in profit per room on the back of a drop in revenue and rising costs.

The 16.8% decline in TrevPAR at hotels in Jeddah was as a result of falling revenue levels across all departments, including Food and Beverage (-15.2%), Conference and Banqueting (-13.9%) and Leisure (-26.2%).

The 17.2% year-on-year decline in Rooms Revenue at hotels in the Saudi city was as a result of the ongoing decline in room occupancy levels, which were recorded at -4.9 percentage points this month, to 57.2%, as well as a 10.1% drop in achieved average room rate, to $214.54.

Room occupancy levels at hotels in Jeddah in particular are under pressure from additions to supply, which over the last 18 months have included the 304-bedroom Rocco Forte Assila Hotel, 224-bedroom Ritz Carlton, 252-bedroom Centro Shaheen by Rotana, 129-bedroom Citadines Al Salamah, 228-bedroom Movenpick City Star and 142-bedroom Radisson Blu Al Samalah.

As a result, room occupancy levels at hotels in Jeddah have plummeted by 12.1-percentage points over the last 36 months, to 66.8% in the 12 months to February 2018, from 78.9% in the 12 months to March 2015.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators - Jeddah (in USD)

February 2018 v February 2017

RevPAR: -17.2% to $122.68

TrevPAR: -16.8% to $212.15

Payroll: +8.1 pts to 40.8%

GOPPAR: -39.7% to $55.23

In addition to the drop in revenues, rising costs, which included an 8.1-percentage point increase in Payroll to 40.8% of total revenue, led to profit conversion at hotels in Jeddah falling to just 26% of total revenue.

"The Jeddah hotel market is facing several critical issues. In addition to plummeting room occupancy levels, additions to supply have increased the competitiveness of the market and put pressure on lesser quality assets. As a result, this has forced several hotels out of the market, which has included the Sofitel being downgraded to a Pullman and then debadged completely.

There is also a flight to value from the domestic corporate and leisure market, which is impacting top line performance.

Furthermore, changes to labour legislation, which has included an increase in the expat levy, has had a significant impact on payroll costs and subsequently profit levels at hotels in Jeddah. These are all issues which are unlikely to improve anytime soon," said Pablo Alonso, CEO of HotStats.

In contrast to the performance across the Middle East & Africa, hotels in Kuwait City recorded a 50.1% increase in profit per room in February to $160.04, which marked a fourth consecutive month of year-on-year profit growth for hotels in the Kuwait capital.

The growth in GOPPAR at hotels in Kuwait City was led by a 25.2% increase in TrevPAR, to $310.26, which was primarily due to a 29.7% increase in RevPAR, to $169.79.

Profit & Loss Key Performance Indicators - Kuwait City (in USD)

February 2018 v February 2017

RevPAR: +29.7% to $169.79

TrevPAR: +25.2% to $310.26

Payroll: -3.4 pts to 24.1%

GOPPAR: +50.1% to $160.04

For hotels in Kuwait, the 29.7% increase in RevPAR this month was driven by an 8.3-percentage point increase in room occupancy, to 67.3%, as well as a 13.8% increase in achieved average room rate, to $251.49.

The 38.9% year-to-date increase in profit per room at hotels in Kuwait City represents a change in fortunes since the beginning of 2018 and is further to GOPPAR declines in 2016 (-14.6%) and 2017 (-1.9%).New reports are beginning to emerge that reveal the jury selection for Bill Cosby's upcoming sexual assault retrial has been delayed after his lawyer overheard a prosecutor allegedly utter a racial slur.

The exact nature of the comment, which Cosby's defence attorney Kathleen Bliss described as "a racial animus that can't be undone," has not been elucidated.

Lawyers from both parties retreated into their chambers shortly before noon on Wednesday to discuss the alleged smear, which was expressed after the defence team denounced the prosecutor's decision to oust an African-American woman as a potential juror.

As of now, eight jurors have been appointed, with two of them being African-American, and the remaining six identifying as Caucasian. It is not exactly clear which member of the prosecution team has been charged with making the racially-insensitive comment.

Cosby's sexual assault case has been put on retrial after being charged with three new counts of aggravated indecent assault. Prosecutors are claiming that the former television star had drugged and molested Andrea Constand, an ex-Temple University employee, in his Pennsylvania home sometime in 2004.During a recent stand-up set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Christian Englander threw a banana peel at headlining act Dave Chappelle. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Englander is now suing the comedian after he alleges that his bodyguard had hit him twice while he was restrained following the incident.

During the first few minutes of the 2017 comedy special Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live at Austin City Limits, the former television star reminisced on the experience he has now coined "Bananagate." Chappelle alleges that the episode was racially charged and deliberately planned, according to how brown the peel was when it hit him.

Shortly afterwards, Englander was charged with battery and disturbing the peace, but the case was eventually dropped after Chappelle decided to opt out of participating in the prosecution.

The alleged assault was not mentioned in the police reports detailing the incident. Englander denies any racial motivation behind throwing the used fruit remnants at the comedian. He claims that the impetus for his actions was a result of some crude jokes Chappelle made about Englander's friend; however, this does not explain why he would have had a banana peel in a public venue in the first place.Opinions about the Kardashian family aside, Kris Jenner has been generally flawless in terms of her brand building and management skills. Acting as "momager" to Kim, Kylie, Khloe, Kendall, and Kourtney, the matriarch of the family has taken the Kardashian name from nothing to a worldwide brand. Both making significant changes to their management recently with Kanye parting ways with longtime manager Izzy Zivkovic and Travis Scottleaving the guidance of Mark Gillespie, there were rumors that Kris Jenner may have been in her son-in-laws' ears. It turns out that she likely has had a major part in the career changes of both rappers according to Page Six.

Kris Jenner is reportedly guiding the careers of both Kanye and Travis with sources revealing that she was behind their respective management splits. An insider told the publication that "[Kanye and Travis] are 100 percent part of that Kardashian-Jenner brand." While a connection to the family comes with absolute perks, the news will undoubtedly be received with heavy criticism by fans of both artists. The source added, "Kris is in [Wests] ears. Kanyes been making changes and [he and Zivkovic] have grown apart  but Kris definitely gives her opinion and Kanyes all ears. Shes about brand building and is gangster at it."

Travis and Ye have been spotted together in Wyoming, likely cooking up hits for Kanye's next album. While some were worried about the status of the album following Izzy's removal from a managerial role, Kris has grown to be successful in building empires for each of her children. She may not be picking up the microphone for a feature spot but the Kardashian mother is set to have a big role in the releases of La Flame's Astroworld and Kanye's next full-length. Read more about the alleged partnership here.The white and red "Katrina" Air Jordan 3s will be hitting retailers for the first time ever next month, and today new images of the white and red 3s have been revealed.

These special edition 3s were originally introduced through charity auctions as a means to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims in 2006, featuring a similar look as the beloved "White Cement" 3s with the addition of red on the mudguard instead of black. The Katrina 3s are now scheduled to arrive on May 12th, and will retail for the standard Air Jordan price of $190. Louisiana-based shop Sneaker Politics will release the kicks early on April 28th in a special event with Jordan Brand as a tribute to Hurricane Katrina.

In addition to this much anticipated release, it is being reported that the black and grey "Shadow" Air Jordan 1s will also be featured as part of Jordan Brand's 2018 lineup, marking the first time the beloved shoe has released since 2013.

Take a closer look at the "Katrina" 3s in the posts below and stay tuned for a list of retailers that will have the kicks in stock.Kylie Jenner's pregnancy was Hollywood's worst kept secret. The budding beauty mogul spent the last nine months in seclusion, nurturing her maternal status away from the limelight, and indulging in all the pregnancy quirks including ridiculous cravings and constantly sporting an array of comfortable maternity wear. However, now that Jenner has given birth to Stormi, she has returned to the public eye to reclaim her spot as social media's reigning queen.

Yesterday on Instagram, the Life of Kylie star posted two photos that flaunted one of her most enviable assets, her derriere. Dressed rather demurely in a sweatshirt and pair of Adidas tear-aways, Jenner turned her back to the cameras to emphasize her noticeably plumper back side.

Pregnancy has clearly added some newfound curves to the reality star's rather petite frame. As a result, the youngest Jenner sibling is sporting a fuller figure reminiscent of half-sister's Kim and Khloe Kardashian.

Over the weekend, the cosmetics queen spent her Easter holiday alongside boyfriend Travis Scott, mother Kris Kardashian, and baby Stormi. Jenner took to social media to post candid snippets of her newborn alongside her loved ones, enjoying a weekend full of Easter Bunnies, sunshine, and good company.Nike's #LeBronWatch Program continued last night in Cleveland as LeBron James paid tribute to one of the most popular athletes of all-time, Ken Griffey Jr.

LeBron took the court against the Toronto Raptors in a special black and teal version of the Nike LeBron 15, inspired by the "Fresh Water" colorway of Griffey's Nike Air Griffey Max 1. The Seattle Mariners themed LeBron 15s include a combination of the Swingman and Dunkman logos, as well as "1989" which is the year The Kid made his MLB debut. In fact, yesterday, April 3, marked the 29th anniversary of Griffey's first game with the Mariners.

Like all of the kicks that have released via Nike's #LeBronWatch Program, the limited edition "Griffey" LeBron 15s were made available via raffle on the Nike SNKRS app during last night's game for $200. Select Foot Locker locations will also release the kicks, as well as some other #LeBronWatch sneakers, on Saturday, April 7.Rae Sremmurd has been working extensively on the upcoming Sremmlife 3 which is set to be a triple album. Sr3mm along with the solo ventures Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi have been working on in Swaecation and Jxmtroduction have fans of the duo eager to hear more from the group. The releases of "Powerglide," "Hurt To Look," and "Brxnks Truck" were just a teaser as the album is reportedly set to include a total of 27 songs, which got DJ Akademiks up in arms critiquing them for choosing quantity over quality.

Ak praised the duo for their "Powerglide" single, which led Mike Will to his mentions, calling him out on switching sides. "Now he a believer, lol these trolls kill me," tweeted Mike Will to which Akademiks responded that he never claimed their music was trash, just that he was not interested in a 40+ song album. The point is fair enough although Mike's rebuttal makes clear that their decision to create so many songs is based on "timing" and "trendsetting ideas." The conversation went back and forth with the producer asking, "When the last time or anytime we seen a triple disc ? And who can really get enough Sremm ?"

At this point, it feels as if Rae Sremmurd can do no wrong when teamed up with Mike Will. The pair regularly makes magic together and if "Powerglide" is any indication of where this album is headed, it'll be an absolute banger.People are calling for a GoFundMe page to be shut down after the woman raising money, Faith Linthicum, is only doing so after she got fired for saying Stephon Clark "deserved" to be killed.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Faith commented on a Facebook post about Stephon's murder (a young Black man who was unarmed) saying: "Yeah but he was running from the police jumping over fences and breaking in peoples houses  why run??!!! He deserved it for being stupid.

Faith's GoFundMe page has since received over $22,000 from her $25,000 goal to pay rent, buy food," tend to her "two dogs and make her "car payments/insurance.

I was recently fired from my job as a nurse at Kaiser Permanente for exercising my First Amendment right to free speech, her page reads. I assure you, and for those that know me, I am not a hateful or discriminatory person. As a person of faith, and a nurse, I love all people and treat everyone equally.

Faith's employer, Kaiser Permanente, issued a statement saying she was no longer with the company and they do "not tolerate hate or discrimination and has a long history of embracing diversity and inclusion."When Lil Xan dismissed Tupac Shakuras music as aboringa in a Revolt TV aOn Clout 9a episode, the immediate response was disbelief. How could a 21-year-old rapper not comprehend the significance of Tupacas legacy? Disbelief quickly transformed into swift and merciless public outrage, as everyone from Charlamagne Tha God to Michael Rapaport took part in relentless bashing. And in the now infamous Revolt episode, the network quickly followed up Xanas controversial comments with a disclaimer, as if anticipating the overwhelming backlash that would stem from such an inflammatory response.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Opinions keep things moving, even if a decisive conclusion is never reached. Yet with the democratization of music criticism, everyone has become a critic. Yes, the flood of opinions that continually clog online forums and comment sections do help to disrupt consensus. But they also donat generate much substantive debate. Rather, people are content to grab onto the coattails of those around them and ride certain opinions into the ground. Opinions no longer function as intended, but are instead accepted as truths. You either hate something or love it; there is no in between. People have become so quick to judge that there is little room for much else, which explains why first-impressions have come to be valued so heavily.

Itas not difficult to see why so many members of the community would be unenthused about someone like Lil Xan making flippant remarks concerning a hip hop legend. His boyish appearance, various face tattoos, and name, which is inspired by his past addiction to Xanax, make him an easy target. The rising popularity of aSoundCloud rappersa such as Lil Xan is perceived by some to be the doomsday of hip hop. Members of the older generation believe that music has become superficial and that young artists stopped caring about the culture, instead only interested in their 15 minutes of fame.

Still, there has always been a rapper, or rappers, that fans and critics alike have deemed to be the beginning of the end. Waka Flocka was one of the first to vehemently call out Lil Xan, even going so far as to proclaim that the Los Angeles-based rapper was abanned from hip hop.a Yet during Wakaas own time in the spotlight, he was publicly lambasted for his music. Many believed that his brand of unrefined, bombastic crunk represented everything wrong with with the direction that hip hop was trending. And in truly ironic fashion, he was criticized for titling his debut studio album Flockaveli, which is an adaptation of Tupacas pseudonym aMakaveli.a

More to the point, a great deal of hip hop music currently being made isnat groundbreaking or worthwhile, but thatas been the case for every generation. aWacka rap is simply more accessible now than it ever has been because of how easy it is for anyone to create, upload, and discover music. The concept of aviralitya wouldnat emerge until the creation of YouTube in 2005, and even then, viral aSoundCloud rapa didnat enter the wider vernacular until the mid 2010s.

Before the advent of the internet, there was a very precise process of creating and putting out music. A prospective artist had to garner respect from their peers by investing in their sound and image, at which point they would then have to spend money to get studio time; there was no way to circumvent the system. Now, thereas no longer a method to the madness. Anyone with a computer can create an instrumental, record a song, and then proceed to put it out, all within the span of minutes. Gone are the days of buying physical copies of an artistas music, a holistic ritual that the older generation once held dear, which has now been simplified to a few clicks. Online forums and comment sections have become the new arenas in which fiery debates rage. The playing field is getting bigger, the rules are changing, and artists are having to make more noise than ever in order to get noticed.

The next generation is thriving under the conditions generated by the rise of the internet. Yet older artists donat see newfound opportunities so much as they see young artists tearing down what they worked so hard to create. To be fair, the threshold to enter hip hop has been lowered significantly over the years. Hip hop is no doubt more diverse than it was in the 80s and 90s, but itas also oversaturated. The overall ubiquity of rap has created an environment in which thereas zero quality control. As a result, it has become even more laborious to sift through the many layers of garbage to find quality music.

In addition, the perception that personality now trumps lyrical skill certainly has some truth to it. An overall lack of creativity and originality are no longer factors that severely hinder an artistas potential for success. Marketability and adherence to trends are now vastly more important, something that many young artists such as Lil Pump and Tekashi 6ix9ine are picking up on. Just as listenersa attention spans have become shorter, so too have the careers of the next generation: young artists have become passing attractions in the sense that many become obsolete as soon as they hit pay dirt. The revolving doors are moving so unbelievably fast that it has become virtually impossible to keep track of artists from one year to the next. For any rapper trying to make it in the world of hip hop, the mission is simple and straightforward: blow up overnight with as little effort as possible.

But hip hop has never entirely been about paving the way for future generations. Itas an unforgiving world into which many young artists are thrust without much guidance. The older generation has been quick to chastise newcomers for their lack of humility and respect for those who came before them and will in turn follow in their footsteps; they feel that the champions of music history are few and far between. This begs the question: why should a rapper care about those who will come after them? Now so more than ever, rappers are realizing that the teens in their bedrooms creating music are the ones who are coming for their spots at the top. This "survival of the fittest" mentality has been a mainstay of hip hop ever since its inception. The struggle and grit of the music of the older generation may no longer play as prominent a role in the music of the new generation, but that doesnat mean it isnat present; itas just taken on a different shape. Artists of the older generation remain deeply nostalgic and pine for sounds that are long past their heyday, whereas the artists of tomorrow are focused solely on the uncertainty of the future. Itas an increasingly bleak reality for the next generation: either keep up or get left behind.

Old school hip hop has always prided itself as a reckoning: it was coming from a generation of maligned, forgotten youngsters who were rebelling against a repressive system that wanted nothing more than to silence them. For Public Enemy, rap music was therapeutic. For others like 2 Live Crew, it was a protest against censorship. And for a group such as N.W.A., it was a blatant rejection of the establishment. Unique sounds and styles emerged on the streets, made their way into studios, and gradually worked their way up to mass appeal; it was an organic process. Now, those same sounds and styles can be replicated in a studio in mere minutes, something that the older generation has not been eager to embrace. Many feel that the use of kits and premade sounds has created a largely homogenous environment in which it is often difficult to differentiate one song from the next; the heart and soul of handmade music has largely been replaced by the work of computers. Artists rarely do adigginga anymore: the process of reimagining and revitalizing old music through the use of sampling, something that Kanye West mastered, is not as popular as it was in the past.

That being said, there are still plenty of artists who are making music that is pushing the boundaries of hip hop in remarkable new directions. Kendrick Lamaras ascension to superstardom with innovative albums like Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, To Pimp A Butterfly, and DAMN. signified that there is still plenty of room for socially conscious and politically charged rap music in the mainstream. A$AP Rockyas early use of the Houston chopped and screwed sound was reinvigorating. Artists like Future, Young Thug, and Migos commercialized drug-infused, trunk-rattling Atlanta trap music in a way that had never been seen or heard before. Even the combination of sounds and styles that Lil Peep was experimenting with prior to his tragic death were unique, and may yet prove to be revolutionary as his disciples continue to merge elements of emo, punk, and rock.

Thereas no denying the significant role that artists like Tupac played in the lives of a great many hip hop fans. Yet for some members of the younger generation, Tupac may not have had a direct impact on their musical upbringing. Many millennials grew up listening to Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, and Kanye West, artists who dominated the airwaves of the 2000s just like Tupac did in the 90s. These generational divides can form in as little as two to three years, which just goes to show how unrelenting the music industry has become. Chief Keef, who emerged with his debut album Finally Rich in 2012, is only 22-years-old, yet his nihilistic, abrasive sound from just five years ago feels dated. Similarly, Rae Sremmurd burst onto the scene in early 2014 with aNo Flex Zone,a the Mike-WiLL-Made-It-produced banger that hinted at big things to come for the brothers from Tupelo, Mississippi. And while the young rap duo continues to churn out Billboard hits, they are part of an entirely different generation than the teens and twenty-somethings emerging in hip hop in 2018.

For a genre that is still very much in its infancy, hip hop has never been kind to those who fall behind. Given the competitive nature of the genre and how fast-paced it has become in recent years, itas no wonder that many artists of the older generation have been unwilling to accept how the times have changed, and as a result, they have had difficulty aging gracefully. Hip hop has always been a young manas game; JAY-Z is the exception, not the rule. What the Lil Xan incident did reveal is that hip hopas generation gap is growing, and itas not going anywhere anytime soon. The older generation remains skeptical of and doesnat give much credence to the wide-ranging tools and avenues that are now available to the young artists of tomorrow. Artists from the older generation seem to forget that at one time, they were once young artists who faced similar criticisms for their lyrical content and musical direction. As for the new generation, some donat seem to care about their heritage, or simply canat be bothered to do the background research needed to acquire a respectable knowledge base. Itas a misunderstanding between cultures: standards have changed, and so has the discourse.

Still, there is hope of bridging the gap. Many artists of the older generation have embraced the new sounds and styles and have actually helped put on upcoming artists: Dr. Dre passed the torch to Kendrick Lamar and continues to steer the direction of West Coast hip hop; Kanye West has mentored and inspired innumerable artists including Kid Cudi, Travis Scott, and Chance the Rapper; Drake serves as perhaps the best contemporary example in terms of the impact that his melodic rap has had on the music of the next generation. Hip hop has progressed significantly and is now the most-consumed music in America, yet one thing remains true: people continue to get caught up in the sounds of the past.In what is likely the most important news of the day, we can now rest easy as Rick Ross has confirmed that he does not wear a wig. Several rumors broke out over the course of this year presuming that Rick Ross was wearing a lace-front fade as well as a lace-front beard. While the news is incredibly trivial and especially uninteresting to some, there are indeed people in the world that care about Rick Ross' ability to grow hair on his head. While many women opt for lace-front weaves or wigs for a variety of reasons, Rick Ross has not succumbed to the beauty standards just yet.

During a recorded video on his Snapchat story, Rozay noted that, despite the gossip, he does not wear a lace-front. "Time for all the h-es who thought this was a lace-front fade," says Ross while tussling his hair. He continued, "I know I got paper but if you b-tches think a n---a buying hair implants," before the video cut off. The clip cuts off right in the middle of Ross' sentence so it's unclear if Ross goes on to dispel the rumors or affirm them. We would be surprised if Ross admitted to wearing a wig and, judging from the tone of his voice in the video, it's safe to assume that he is rejecting the idea completely.

Rozay is right about having a lot of paper. As an icon in Miami, Rick Ross has built an empire that many may only dream of following. Check out the video below if you've been wondering whether or not his hair is legit or not.Yesterday, we reported that Charlie Kessler is suing the creators of the Netflix hit series Stranger Things. Kessler claims the Duffer brothers stole his idea after he allegedly met with them in 2014 to pitch a short film entitled The Montauk Project. The film centered around government experimentation, much like Stanger Things. Creators are sued every day by someone who thinks their ideas were stolen, so at first, the lawsuit seemed like another day in Hollywood. Now, it appears that the Duffer brothers stole the name "Montauk," and used it as the name for their series before changing it to Stranger Things.

TMZ obtained a copy of a casting call for the Netflix series, which clearly labels the show title as Montauk. "You have a self tape request for the Netflix series 'Montauk' starring Winona Ryder," reads the casting call. It goes on to describe the role of "Barbara," who is played by Shannon Purser on the series. The casting call was sent out in August of 2015, a little over a year after Kessler pitched the idea to the Duffer brothers. Netflix also announced that they were purchasing the series under the name of "Montauk" in 2015.

What looked like another money grab has matured into substantiated claims. Kessler, who claims his idea and script were fully stolen for the show, is suing for breach of contract and is seeking money and the cancelation of the series. According to CNN, The Montauk Project was available on Vimeo before it was removed from public viewing on Tuesday (April 3).We are certainly living in the heyday of the Mumble Rapper, evidenced by the growing popularity of acts such as Lil Yatchy, Trippie Redd, Lil Xan, and Lil Pump. Their genre-melding music and slurred lyrical delivery has caught the ear of the younger generation and since dominated the Billboard charts. Yet while the music of today's youth has become decidedly more carefree, current events aren't exactly following suit.

Following the infamous election of Donald Trump, the rise of the #BlackLivesMatters Movement and Colin Kapernicks National Anthem protest, America seemed to be in total socioeconomic chaos. This appeared to be the wake-up call to the genres more seasoned rappers. Beginning with the release of Jay-Zs critically acclaimed 4:44 album, we began to see a resurgence of the politically inclined, self-aware and mature rapper.

Unlike the conscious rappers of the past, todays mature rapper has resurfaced enlightenedcelebrating knowledge of self with a greater emphasis on building as a community and, empowering their listeners to improve their own conditions through honesty and guidance. Todays enlightened rapper not only has the clout, lived experience and platform to shed light on the human condition, but also the business acumen and financial power to spark actual change in marginalized communities.

There are definite similarities between the current state of hip hop and its origins in the early eighties, which followed the election of the most polarizing president, Ronald Regan. During the Reaganomics years, disenfranchised black and brown communities in New York and Los Angeles were rampant with crack cocaine, gang violence and police corruption. Conscious rappers used their music as a political tool to expose these injustices to the world by making listeners understand what it felt like to be poor, black and brutalized in America.

Consider The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Melle Mel rhymes about daily life in the projects when he raps, Broken glass everywhere People pissing on the stairs/You know they just don't care/I can't take the smell, can't take the noise/Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice.

In 2012, Rolling Stone Magazine rated "The Message" as the best hip hop song of all time, citing that it was also the first song to tell, with hip-hop's rhythmic and vocal force, the truth about modern inner-city life in America. This song garnered enormous commercial success as a result of Melle Mels smooth delivery and upbeat naturelisteners were encouraged to feel good about feeling bad. So much so that we often forget that this was a very politically charged song that exposed mainstream listeners to the raw emotions of an inner city black man trapped in an unjust system.

When Melle Mel rhymes on the hook, Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge/I'm trying not to lose my head/It's like a jungle sometimes/It makes me wonder how I keep from going under. He made it possible for disenfranchised men and women to take a step back, evaluate their surroundings and feel self-actualized. As put in a 2016 interview with The Guardian, They were asserting their identities at a time when it seemed the city didnt care if they lived or died." Hip-hops message, says Flash, was very simple and very powerful: We matter. We stand for something.

Reclaiming the African American identity and making it relatable to a mainstream audience was an admirable accomplishment for race relations in America. Nipsey Hussle seems to be continuing this tradition on his latest album, Victory Lap. He describes the plight of a young, black and ambitious man, frustrated by the lack of opportunities available to him in America over thirty years later.

From the Kendrick Lamar-assisted "Dedication," Hussle rhymes, Young black nigga trapped and he can't change it/Know he a genius, he just can't claim it." Hussle identifies that there is still a disconnect between the black mans ability to achieve success and the avenues available to him in America. As Nipsey puts it in an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1, "[Kendrick's] talking about me, Snoop Dogg, Top Dawg, and himself, we really had a conversation about just L.A. street shit and about how the time might be right for us right now to use our influence to evolve how we exist."

Nipsey's message continues, as he acknowledges the complexity of African American manhood and masculinity. Cause they left him no platforms to explain it/He frustrated so he get faded/But deep down inside he know you can't fade him/How long should I stay dedicated?," he raps, before giving listeners a glimpse into his frustration. "How long 'til opportunity meet preparation?/I need some real nigga reparations/'Fore I run up in your bank just for recreation.

While it may seem like hes giving into his lesser impulses, it can also be perceived as a call to action; it is no longer enough to simply be aware of injustice and merely hope for change. This is again reiterated on the hook hard work plus patience/ The sum of all my sacrifice, I'm done waitin'." Nipsey is in fact taking it a step further than his predecessors by insisting that his listeners recognize their value in spite of their circumstances and take the necessary steps to fulfill their dreams.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Nipsey reveals "growing up as a kid, [he] was looking for somebody  not to give [him] anything  but someone that was creating the potential for change and that had an agenda outside of their own self interests." Back in the early days of hip hop, it seemed like enough to simply assert the black identity in mainstream culture. Todays mature rapper understands the importance of seeing that identity represented in institutions and corporations.

Not only is Nipsey's music acknowledging the inner turmoil that an disenfranchised African American male may face, but he's also going beyond that, ensuring that there are avenues in place to bridge the gap between young talent from impoverished neighborhoods and opportunities in Palo Alto." To further help his cause, Nipsey invested in Vector 90, a combination co-working space and STEM center in the Crenshaw district. His goal is to call attention to "the lack of diversity in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and serves as a conduit between underrepresented groups and corporate partners in Silicon Valley."

When Public Enemy released the album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Chuck D vocalized the importance of highlighting African Americans and their contributions to American history. Many remember the iconic "Fight The Power," which marked the first time a rapper openly challenged mainstream American folklore. Elvis was a hero to most/But he never meant shit to me you see/Straight up racist that sucker was/Simple and plain/Mother fuck him and John Wayne/Cause I'm Black and I'm proud/I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped/Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps." Later, Chuck D reflected on the making of the song and its outspoken lyrics in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine.

Elvis and John Wayne were the icons of America. And they kind of got head-and-shoulder treatment over everybody else," he explained. "It's not that Elvis was not a talented dude and incredible in his way, but I didn't like the way that he was talked about all the time, and the pioneers [of rock & roll], especially at that time, weren't talked about at all. He continues, John Wayne is 'Mr. Kill All the Indians and Everybody Else Who's Not Full-Blooded American.' The lyric was assassinating their iconic status so everybody doesn't feel that way. Public Enemys expression of rage challenged their listeners to truly understand the effects that cultural oppression was having on the subconscious mind of the African American citizen.

Public Enemy as a movement really championed freedom from institutionalized racism and freedom of expression. There was a wall in the movie with people we respected as heroes on it," Chuck explains. "So I was saying, "You know what, we've got heroes on the wall, too."

On his DJ Premier-assistedPRhyme 2, Royce Da 59 provides his listeners with a social commentary on the current state of hip hop that only a veteran can provide. You gettin' interviewed by Vlad, you either tellin' a story that's incriminatin'/Or Lord Jamar, discriminatin'," he raps, on "Made Man. "But white privilege do exist, I agree though/Labels used to tell you what's popular, now it's VEVO." Hes challenging his audience to think critically about the information they consume on a daily basis from so-called hip hop gatekeepers simply because they have a platform, be it a blog or a podcast. The biggest threat to todays rapper and his craft is no longer the corporation controlling his finances and, in turn, his livelihood but the Social Media Personality controlling the message and, in turn, his credibility.

On the song "Everyday Struggle," Royce raps about a more unified movement within the genre. He moves away from the us vs. them or new school vs. old school dichotomies, calling for his peers to acknowledge the everyday struggles faced by all human beings. He raps, All they argue 'bout now is who is the hottest Migo/Pac and Biggie wasn't just artists, they were our heroes," he raps. "Cause I'm about the youth movin', not about "Them against us"/Instead of wantin' to change everything about me/How come you can't just be the change that you want to see?

As Royce himself puts it in an interview with FakeShore Drive, That old school vs. new school narrative. A lot of the older rappers are, for a lack of better words, sonning the younger rappers to a degree. You have some that drop jewels, and you have some that just complain. They complain about the state of everything. I just think its time for people of influence to be the change they want to see. I think that we should be reaching out to the younger MCs if not working with them, at least pointing them in the right direction. Consider the actions of a man like Nipsey Hussle, who is out there using his platform to actively make a change in his community. "Sonning" somebody is easy - actually stepping up and taking action is difficult.

Luckily, we have the hip-hop veterans to lead by example. The mature rapper with an enlightened outlook on the world and his place within provides a necessary break from the usual grinding, spending and celebrating that dominates the genres platform on a mainstream level. Overall, hip hops legacy continues to grow and change with each generation; even younger artists like 21 Savage have shifted toward the path of enlightenment. Rappers from various backgrounds are carving out a place for themselves and the culture in various political, technological and corporate spaces that seemed almost unreachable even a couple of years ago.Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the greatest men to have ever lived. His words have been quoted by millions with his "I Have A Dream" speech remaining as one of the most powerful statements to this day. 50 years ago to the date, the civil rights leader was fatally assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, marking one of the most tragic moments in American history. His memory lives on as, half a century later, he is remembered on the day of his passing. Members of the rap community have spoken out in support of Dr. King's message, with the latest being T.I. who reposted one of King's speeches on his Instagram page.

Noting the pertinence of the civil rights movement, Tip began, "My eyes have seen the glory..." He continued by noting that MLK's legacy still has more to provide in terms of the civil rights movement, remarking, "50yrs since Dr.King passed on to his next mission & still so much of his dream has yet to be fulfilled. But thanks to him & his many sacrifices weve come a long way. Rest in Power Dr.King!!! Thank You and Your Family for going hard for all of US!!!"

T.I.'s message is heartfelt and accurate on many levels. Dr. King's message has been broadcasted throughout the last 50 years to improve rights for people of color around the world. Yet, there remains much to be learned from his teachings. Check out the full post below to watch the repost of MLK's speech.Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller is reportedly being investigated by Wildlife officials in Florida over a hammerhead shark he caught during a recent fishing trip off the coast of Florida.

Miller shared posted photos and shared footage of himself reeling in a nine-and-a-half foot hammerhead shark last week, which prompted PETA to remind everyone that hammerhead sharks are prohibited from capture in Florida waters. According to the Denver Post, Miller and his crew released the shark after taking photos with it, but The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is still investigating the incident as a result of PETA's concerns.

The FWC has received the images and video and is looking into whether or not a violation occurred in this incident, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson Carol Lyn Parrish said in a statement, according to the Denver Post.

According to regulations posted on the commissions website, hammerhead sharks are classified as group 3 sharks and harvest in state waters is a second-degree misdemeanor. In Florida, such crimes are punishable by up to $500 fine and 60 days in jail, as determined by a judge, according to the Denver Post.

Check out the footage of Miller's recent fishing expedition below.Police are responding to 911 calls after employees have reported an active shooter at the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno.

Details are still unclear at this moment but tweets from workers suggest that the suspect has commited suicide. Todd Sherman said he thought he was being evacuated due to an earthquake but quickly realized someone was armed with a weapon.

Police and SWAT showed up to the scene seen patting down employees and evacuating the campus, CBS News reports. YouTube's parent company, Google, said they are "coordinating with authorities and will provide official information here from Google and YouTube as it becomes available."

As more and more reports come in, it seems as though the suspect may be an adult female.

This story is on going.Pipeline companies in Texas and other states have long had the power to take land under the eminent domain principle that projects to transport energy to heat homes, generate electricity and produce fuels are in the public interest.

But what if the public is in Europe, South America or Asia?

As natural gas and crude oil produced in Texas are increasingly exported, environmentalists, property rights advocates and legal specialists are promoting a novel legal argument to block pipelines, asserting that projects that help ship energy out of the country dont benefit the American public and should not be eligible for eminent domain takings. In fact, they note, exporting energy may hurt the publics interest by decreasing domestic supplies and raising costs. Australia, for example, exported so much liquefied natural gas, or LNG, that domestic supplies dwindled and prices doubled for Australian consumers.

Public use does not include shipping (gas) to China, said David Bookbinder, chief counsel for the Niskanen Center, a property rights advocacy in Washington. Were saying no.

The argument has not been tested in court, but the Niskanen Center is already preparing challenges against land takings for pipelines feeding LNG export terminals and considering intervening in existing cases to aid property owners fighting eminent domain actions. Analysts said the issue of whether energy exports are in the public interest also could provide a new line of attack for environmentalists, who have been largely unsuccessful in legal challenges based on the impact of pipelines on natural resources and climate change.

"I see an avenue," said Robert Ineson, executive director of LNG at the research firm IHS Markit.

RELATED: Protests, arrests pick up as environmentalists target pipelines

Advances in hydraulic fracturing and drilling technologies are driving a second shale boom that is producing record amounts of natural gas and crude oil, which in turn has spurred a surge in exports and billions of dollars in investments in pipelines and terminals to move fossil fuels from Texas shale plays to foreign markets. The Houston LNG company Tellurian, for example, has proposed a $7 billion pipeline network to transport natural gas from the Permian Basin in West Texas and Haynesville shale, which straddles East Texas and Louisiana, to pipelines servicing Tellurian's proposed Driftwood LNG export terminal south of Lake Charles in Louisiana.

Several companies are also building pipelines to move crude and natural gas from the Permian Basin in West Texas and Eagle Ford shale in South Texas to export facilities in Corpus Christi.

U.S. crude exports, which resumed at the end of 2015 after a 40-year ban, averaged more than 1 million barrels a days last year, double the exports in 2016, according to the Energy Department. The U.S. exports about 3 billion cubic feet of LNG per day from two terminals: the Sabine Pass complex owned by Houstons Cheniere Energy and Dominion Energys Cove Point in Maryland, according to the American Gas Association. Domestic consumption averages 70 billion cubic feet on natural gas each day.

But with the United States awash in low-priced natural gas, U.S. exports are poised to grow with new facilities expected to add another 9.6 billion cubic feet per day of capacity by the end of 2019, according to the Energy Department. Gov. Greg Abbott recently lobbied top energy officials in India to import more LNG from Texas.

Several companies are developing export terminals, including the Houston pipeline company Kinder Morgan in Georgia and Freeport LNG, also of Houston, along the Gulf Coast. Cheniere, meanwhile, is expanding its Sabine Pass complex in Louisiana and developing a new processing plant near Corpus Christi.

Pipeline companies said they dont expect overseas destinations of crude oil and fossil fuels to affect their eminent domain powers, which allows them to take property as long as they compensate landowners for the fair market value. Chris Stockton, spokesman for Williams Cos., which operates about 15,000 miles of interstate transmission pipelines nationwide, said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has already determined that pipelines can use eminent domain and the Energy Department ruled in the Cove Point LNG terminal application that authorization for export is not inconsistent with the public interest, citing economic benefits of the project.

The economic benefits of LNG projects can be substantial. Freeport LNG, for example, is investing $14 billion to develop its LNG complex in Quintana Island near Freeport, creating thousands of construction jobs and 200 permanent jobs when the project is completed next year. Unless FERC changes its policy, said Stockton, Williams is not worried about losing the power of eminent domain for pipelines moving natural gas destined for foreign markets.

RELATED: Pipelines growing with surge of Permian crude

But Luke Ellis, an Austin eminent domain lawyer who represents landowners, said the public interest question surrounding exports provides an opening to challenge land takings in court and is almost certainly on the minds of pipeline executives. He cited one company that was running a natural gas pipeline from West Texas to Mexico, but added a spur to bring natural gas service to the tiny Texas border town of Presidio for the first time  a move Ellis said appeared aimed to avoid the question of which public, Mexican or American, was served by the project.

"If we can show that gas that comes out of the Permian Basin and goes into the pipeline and is processed into LNG and then gets shipped out overseas with no use by the public and no intention to do it any differently, I think there is a legitimate public use challenge," Ellis said. "Id love to take it on."

The pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas, rejected Ellis contention. A spokeswoman, Lisa Dillinger, said the company often installs branches from its pipelines to enable local economic development opportunities. On the Trans-Pecos pipeline, she said, Energy Transfer paid to install six branches in the three counties the pipeline traverses, including three in Presidio County.

We do this not just because it is good business, but also because we recognize the importance of being a good neighbor and business partner in areas where we operate, Dillinger said in a statement.

Leslie Kinsel, who raises cattle on her familys 2,500-acre ranch south of San Antonio, was approached by Williams Cos. about two months ago about running a pipeline to carry gas across a three-mile stretch of her land. Kinsel is already embroiled in a lawsuit over the value of her land taken for transmission lines by a utility. But at least with that project, she knows that the energy will benefit people in Texas.

With the pipeline, Kinsel said, she has no idea whether the gas would be converted to LNG for export, nor does Williams, which said it could not know the final destination for the gas after the pipeline moved it to a storage facility. But if the gas was sold overseas, Kinsel said, it would make the eminent domain proceedings harder to take.

Its not our public, she said. Its Chinas public or Japans public, or whoever gets the shipment on the other end.Propagandists pigeonhole you and sway your opinion, hackers steal your identity and ruin your credit, and scammers steal your photos and rent your investment property from underneath you.

John and Terri Parmerlee have discovered firsthand that the internet is a lawless place. And worse, the authorities are incapable of reining in fraud, and major corporations refuse to try.

The Parmerlees moved to Texas last year to live near their daughter in Kingwood. They bought a rental property near their new home in Porter to help finance their retirement and posted an ad on Craigslist.

Weve sold houses, weve rented out houses, and we were landlords for three years in Orlando, John Parmerlee told me. We got a call a week ago from a woman who said: Youve got two different prices on your house, and two different sets of phone numbers.

RELATED: Be wary of who occupies your mind

Parmerlee checked Craigslist, and sure enough, someone had taken six of their 14 photos and created another post. Only this ad said the home was furnished, allowed pets, had more square feet and was available for a much lower rent.

Ive heard stories before of stuff with Craigslist, but weve never had any problems ourselves, he said.

Recognizing that the ad was fraudulent, he hit the Prohibited button at the top of the page. He mistakenly thought that would solve the problem.

When you hit prohibited, it hides the ad from you, but its still there for everyone else to look at. That doesnt solve anything, he said.

Surely an email to Craigslist customer support would solve the problem, he thought. All he got was a canned response, which explained that since it was a free ad, Craigslist would not do anything about it.

The Craigslist press office did not respond to my repeated emails over five business days requesting comment.

Meanwhile, more fake ads offering to rent Parmerlees house appeared. And prospective renters, answering the false ads, started showing up at the house.

They send people out to the house to look at it, said Parmerlee, who lives down the block from the rental.

One prospective renter said a man with a South Asian accent claimed to be a doctor working in North Carolina who needed to rent the house. If the man liked the house, a deposit sent via money transfer would get him the keys.

Since trying to rent something you dont own is a crime, Parmerlee called the Montgomery County Police.

RELATED: Fake news, bogus ads, will prove bad even for Facebook's business

They basically said they are not going to do something until somebody loses money, he said. They dont consider it a crime to run a fraudulent ad.

Thats when the Parmerlees called the North Carolina phone number listed on one of the ads. A man with a South Asian accent answered the phone.

He started interviewing me, with my wife right here, asking me questions about why did we want to move there, but he didnt ask about income or anything like that, he said. I heard people in the background, it sounded like what they call a boiler room.

A boiler room is an old term for an outbound call center where salespeople or fraudsters sit crowded together under intense pressure to make a sale or hook a victim. When Parmerlee commented on the background chatter and mentioned that he was on a speaker phone, the scammer hung up.

When Parmerlee looked to see if scammers were spoofing other rental ads, he found dozens of examples in dozens of cities.

These people have to be making money, otherwise they wouldnt be doing this, he said.

Parmerlee is right. There are enough people answering these online ads to finance a team of con artists and their internet-connected boiler rooms in distant countries. This trick is almost as old as Craigslist itself, yet still works.

On a scam warning page, Craigslist recommends only finalizing deals in face-to-face meetings. But the 71-year-old Parmerlee is worried about a victim showing up at his property with a moving van.

They do a get a few suckers in, and they are going to show up angry. There are going to be confrontations, he said.

Parmerlee has put signs in the windows of his property warning prospective renters about the scam. But hes disappointed no one will help him address the problem.

RELATED: Loss of internet data privacy should concern business, consumers

The moral of the story is that you get what you pay for. Use a free and open service like Craigslist, and you cant expect customer support. And you cant be surprised to discover that you are rubbing shoulders with cyberspace criminals, who run thousands of scams on the service.

Does this experience change Parmerlees mind about using Craigslist? No.

I think they could be more proactive, he told me. But there are scams with everything, no matter what it is.

Free, it seems, is too compelling a price. And that is why these services persist, and so do the criminals.At 1 p.m. today, the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination, Rothko Chapel will play audio of King's "I've been to the mountaintop" speech, the eerily prescient one that he delivered the day before he died.

You'll be able to hear it inside Rothko Chapel. But the best place to listen will be outside, on the plaza, looking at "Broken Obelisk"  the rusty, elegant sculpture in the chapel's reflecting pool that once again stands as a reminder of official Houston's attitude toward King while he was alive: that the man was more a dangerous rabble-rouser than a saint.

In 1969, the year following King's death, Houston art patrons John and Dominique de Menil offered to match a $45,000 federal grant to buy Barnett Newman's "Broken Obelisk" for the city of Houston. In effect, they'd be giving the much-praised sculpture to the city of Houston free of charge. But their offer came with a string attached: The de Menils insisted that the sculpture's base bear a dedication to Martin Luther King.

For Houston, in 1969, that was a radical proposition.

Hickey-Robertson

BARNETT NEWMAN, best known as an abstract painter, didn't conceive "Broken Obelisk" as an MLK memorial. In fact, he created it years before King's death. Versions of the sculpture received ecstatic reviews during temporary displays in New York and Washington, D.C.

The de Menils, art patrons and liberal, humanitarian activists, realized that the sculpture worked eerily well as a memorial. The sculpture seems to have started its life as an obelisk, a shape that evokes stately, orderly shows of respect for American history  like, say, the Washington Memorial. But this obelisk was made not of marble, but of rusty steel. The obelisk appears to have been broken off  like King's life. And it looks as though it's been turned upside-down, and is balancing precariously on its point -- which is exactly the way the world felt in 1968.

Through channels, the de Menils were told that city officials would reject a public memorial to King. So the couple offered the city a barbed compromise. They proposed that the sculpture be placed in front of Houston City Hall, opposite the reflecting pool, and that the base instead bear the words "Forgive Them, for They Know Not What They Do."

That quotation of Jesus' prayer on the cross neatly echoed King's preacherly use of the Bible to make revolutionary points. And just as neatly, it echoed Newman's habit of bestowing biblical titles on his abstract paintings.

Houston's power brokers, though, took the quote personally.

And that was what John de Menil intended, DeLoyd Parker told me in 2006. In the '60s, Parker was one of the young black activists whose work the de Menils supported.

Molly Glentzer/Houston Chronicle

"(Mayor) Louie Welch was supposed to take it personally," Parker said. "(Police Chief Herman) Short was supposed to take it personally."

"That was one of the great things about the Menils," said Gertrude Barnstone, a longtime friend of the de Menils. "They told it like it was."

But city council would have none of it. They turned down the de Menils' proposal to put Broken Obelisk outside City Hall, and asked that the couple pick another site. Council members claimed not to see the point of the Bible verse.

"People who come down here don't understand these arty objects," council member Lee McLemore told the Houston Chronicle in 1969. "We would be better off with a nice drinking fountain out there."

A drinking fountain: The very symbol of segregation.

The de Menils stuck to their guns. They reverted to their original intention, asking that the sculpture be plainly designated as a King memorial.

Led by the mayor, City Council rejected their offer. There would be no MLK memorial outside Houston City Hall.

ALL OF which brings us to Rothko Chapel today.

The de Menils bought "Broken Obelisk" for $90,000 and announced that they'd donate it, along with 14 Mark Rothko paintings, to the Institute of Religion and Human Development in the Texas Medical Center.

To house the art, they bankrolled an octagonal chapel and reflecting pool. Over time, the Institute of Religion evolved into the Rothko Chapel, a Houston landmark known for its Zen-like stillness.

But Broken Obelisk stands as a reminder that justice isn't only a matter of prayer and meditation.

"The truth," Parker said, "is noisy."

Lisa Gray founded Gray Matters, and still dabbles in it when she can. She adapted this article from one that she wrote in January 2006, "Broken Obelisk restored, returned to Rothko."

Sign up for Gray Matters' weekly newsletter. For Houston, in 1969, that was a radical proposition.

Kim Brent / Beaumont Enterprise

Thomas Gamelin, who was on parole when he was arrested for looting during Hurricane Harvey, was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for stealing thousands of dollars worth of electronics and tobacco from a Walmart store in the Memorial area.

Gamelin, 38, was arrested on Aug. 29 after a Houston police officer saw him carrying a television out of the Walmart on Silber to a Ford van, which had been used to enter the store by smashing into a metal doorway for shopping carts.Less than two months after Houston ISD charter school Victory Prep North abruptly closed after running out of money, the districts board of trustees voted to spend $300,000 to keep its sister campus open for the remainder of this school year.

The lifeline to the charter school, founded by embattled megachurch pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, will keep 235 high school students from having to find a new campus with only two months left in the school year.

Officials with the Victory Preparatory Academy South told Houston ISD last Thursday that the school had run out of money and would have to close unless the district could pay to keep it afloat. As part of the deal approved by HISD trustees Monday, the school will close permanently over the summer and the district will conduct a financial audit of the campus and its sister school, Victory Preparatory Academy North, which closed in February due to financial issues.

The announcement came as a shock to Victory Prep South Principal Winston Steele, who said he only learned Thursday that the school would close.

I have no news to give you about financials  that was centrally controlled at the north campus through a finance director, Steele said Tuesday. At our campus, if I had any needs at our campus, I would fill out a form, a materials request form, and send it to the finance office.

At the time of the north campus closing, the charter networks executive director, the Rev. Lisa Berry-Dockery, said the school lost money after dozens of students left in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Berry-Dockery is listed as a pastor for Windsor Village United Methodist Church, where Caldwell is the senior pastor.

Caldwell was listed as vice president of the charter school networks board as recently as 2014, and still is listed as vice president on the Victory Prep schools shared website.

Windsor Village Churchs website says Caldwell founded the Victory Prep Schools.

Last Thursday, Caldwell and a Louisiana-based financial planner were charged with 13 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering. Federal prosecutors accused Caldwell of using his position with the church to persuade investors to spend $3.5 million on historic Chinese bonds that are not recognized by the Chinese government. The indictment said that a $25,000 wire transfer was sent from the operating account of the Windsor Village United Methodist Church to one of the duped investors after Caldwell promised a refund. The indictment does not mention the charter school.

Caldwell has denied any wrongdoing, and messages left with his attorney were not returned Tuesday. Officials with Windsor Village United Methodist Church also did not respond to a voice message.

The two Victory Prep schools Caldwell founded were ordered shut down by the Texas Education Agency in 2016, after failing to meet the states academic standards for three years in a row. Instead of allowing the remaining two schools to close, HISDs board of trustees stepped in and offered them a lifeline.

The board brought the Victory Prep schools and its charter network, Management Accountability Company, into the district as in-district charter schools.

In-district charter schools differ from state charter schools in that they are at least somewhat accountable to the local public school district. Funds for the schools flow from the state through HISD, which takes a small cut, and into the charter school network, which paid the salaries of employees at both schools.

As part of their contract, the Management Accountability Company had to turn in an audit of its finances every year. Mark Smith, HISDs chief student support officer, said other than that, there is little oversight of how HISDs 13 other in-district charter schools operate.

We do not have a routine monitoring system for charters, because theyre expected to monitor themselves, Smith said. Everything they do is in their own purview. They have their own staff, methods for purchasing items.

That frustrated some HISD trustees, who said they should not have to bail out a charter school while the district is facing a $115 million budget deficit of its own.

I'm very surprised that, in this year, we haven't figured out checkpoints to monitor the financial insolvency, said Trustee Sergio Lira. We have to make sure we don't close schools at the last moment.

Steele, Victory Prep Souths principal, said he was equally surprised by the news, especially since central administrators offered him assurances after the Victory Prep North campus closed in February.

We were concerned, but we were told to make sure the kids are here at school. Thats the main thing, because the budget ran by the average daily attendance of students, Steele said. All I was focused on was to make sure kids were ready for graduation and end-of-course exams.

That was of little consolation to 15-year-old Jacqueline Cruz, who learned through teachers on Thursday that the school would close.

She and her mother, Faviola Cruz, chose the campus out of concern that her zoned school, Madison High, is too large. Neither daughter nor mother had heard of Victory Prep Souths financial issues until a reporter told them Tuesday. Faviola Cruz said she plans to attend a meeting at the school on Monday, where administrators will discuss next steps for students.

Jacqueline, however, does not want to leave.

I like it here because its not as crowded as other schools, she said. Next year is going to be difficult. I dont talk very much, but here Ive made a few good friends.WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has instructed military leaders to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria as soon as possible and told them he wants Arab allies to take over and pay for stabilizing and reconstructing areas liberated from the Islamic State, according to senior U.S. officials.

In a meeting with top national security aides Tuesday, Trump backtracked on his public insistence that the troop exit was imminent, now that the militants were "close to 100 percent" defeated. Pressed by the president to tell him how much more time they needed to finish the job, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford Jr. said it would probably be months, not years, officials said.

Trump agreed that the military, as they continued fighting against remaining militant pockets, could train local security forces.

But officials said he stressed that U.S. strategic goals in Syria do not include longer-term stability or reconstruction efforts. He said he did not want to be having the same conversation about withdrawal six months or more from now.

In the meantime, the administration is pressuring allies in the region to put what White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called "more skin in the game."

Sanders, speaking at a White House briefing, said there was no firm departure date for the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria. Trump, she said, was "not going to put an arbitrary timeline. He is measuring it in actually winning the battle, not just putting some random number out there."

"The goal, again, is to defeat ISIS," she said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. "And when there's no longer a need for troops to be there and we can transition to that local enforcement," withdrawal "certainly would be the objective."

Despite Trump's recent public statements saying it was time for the United States to "get out" of Syria, military commanders were caught off guard by his sharp narrowing of the task before them and push for an early withdrawal, according to officials who would discuss the planning only on the condition of anonymity.

One official familiar with the conversations said that some participants had interpreted Trump's remarks to mean he expected a withdrawal within six months. But another said that Trump - who has frequently criticized President Barack Obama's setting of a public deadline for the 2011 U.S. withdrawal from Iraq - "expressed frustration and impatience" while not setting a specific time limit.

The senior commanders told the president they had options prepared for a quick withdrawal if that was what he wanted. In the past, commanders have repeatedly stressed that a troop presence would be needed to prevent an Islamic State resurgence and increased territorial gains by Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian forces, as well as to give the United States leverage in political efforts to resolve Syria's civil war.

Asked in late November how long U.S. troops would stay, Mattis said that "we're not just going to walk away" before a political settlement is reached between the Syrian government and opposition forces that have been fighting for the past seven years.

That war, the military and regional experts have said, created the Syrian chaos that allowed the Islamic State to take over about a third of the country, beginning in 2014. "We're going to make sure we set the conditions for a diplomatic solution" to the civil conflict, Mattis said in November. ". . . Not just, you know, fight the military part of it and then say good luck on the rest of it."

Gen. Joseph Votel, head of the U.S. Central Command, echoed Mattis on Tuesday, telling an audience of regional experts and scholars that the military mission included "stabilizing, consolidating gains," and "addressing long-term issues of reconstruction," in tandem with U.S. diplomatic and nonmilitary aid efforts.

Even the beginning of a U.S. military withdrawal by the fall would allow Trump to claim fulfillment of a campaign pledge to stay out of foreign wars.

That pledge has proved hard to keep, and since becoming president he has increased the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Syria. In August, as he announced a troop surge in Afghanistan, Trump said that "conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on."

The "consequences of a rapid exit," he said, "are both predictable and unacceptable. . . . A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists - including ISIS and al-Qaida - would instantly fill."

As he has formulated his decision on Syria, Trump has approached regional leaders, particularly in the Persian Gulf, about contributing more to the effort in Syria. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were once among the most active participants in the U.S.-led coalition there, but their efforts have decreased since they began a separate war against rebels in Yemen.

In December, Trump came away from a phone conversation with Saudi Arabia's King Salman believing that he had an agreement for a $4 billion Saudi contribution to Syria stabilization, although the Saudis were said to have been privately taken aback by Trump's version of a solid offer.

Late last month, the Saudi and Emirati national security advisers traveled here to discuss Syria with H.R. McMaster, Trump's outgoing national security adviser, and Trump has spoken by telephone in recent days with gulf leaders. In a Tuesday call with Salman, the White House said, "the President and the King discussed joint efforts to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and counter Iranian efforts to exploit the Syrian conflict to pursue its destabilizing regional ambitions."

Arab allies, as well as Israel, have expressed concern that a U.S. military withdrawal from Syria would allow increased Iranian influence there. Trump has responded to their worries, officials said, by telling them they ought to be willing to help prevent that by paying for Syrian stabilization.

Much of Trump's concern about an ongoing military presence appears to revolve around money. The United States, he said Tuesday, had gotten "nothing out of $7 trillion [spent] in the Middle East over the last 17 years," a calculation that apparently included the Afghanistan war against the Taliban in South Asia. Most experts estimate the costs of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East, including the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, at significantly less.

According to Brett McGurk, the State Department's special envoy to the counter-Islamic State coalition in Iraq and Syria, the United States has spent about $100 million on stabilization of areas liberated from the militants, half of it on mine removal. Other members of the coalition, he said, have spent about the same amount.

Last week, Trump froze an additional $200 million for the effort, which had been announced in January by Rex Tillerson, his since-ousted secretary of state.

McGurk, speaking with Votel on Tuesday at the U.S. Institute of Peace, said that the funding is under review, with officials "looking at where it can be spent most effectively." He said the freezing of the money "has not hampered what we're doing in the field" in places such as the Syrian city of Raqqa and other liberated areas, where the goal is to de-mine, remove rubble and provide basic services such as water and electricity to allow residents who fled the fighting to return home.

"As we undertake this important review," he said, "it has required us to go to our coalition partners and remind them that the coalition has a very big role to play in this."

Votel and McGurk appeared alongside U.S. Agency for International Development Director Mark Green as the three sought to emphasize how their separate roles are interrelated.

"Most importantly, our success, USAID's success, depends upon the success of the State Department, in mobilizing international resources and their role," Green said, "but also, of course, DoD [the Defense Department], helping us to have access and security."

"Without their success, we can't possibly do what it is that we seek to do," he said.

- - -

The Washington Post's Paul Sonne, Missy Ryan and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.Hurricane Harvey was supposed to be a game-changer. Those who downplayed other recent deadly floods couldnt say much last August after every single one of the countys 22 bayous overflowed their banks and inundated hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.

Still, that trauma has not ensured Mayor Sylvester Turner an easy path to restricting development in the flood plains that run alongside those bayous.

What seemed like a stunned consensus that change was needed, seven months later looks like every other City Hall fight over new regulations.

Turner described his proposal in broad terms at a late January council meeting but did not provide draft language or supporting data. He drew immediate opposition from council members when he said he expected to vote on the item within a month.

EDITORIAL: Monty Python antics amok as City Hall debates flooding

Happy to fill that information void, lobbyists spent weeks huddled with city council members on behalf of home builders, land developers, engineers and real estate professionals  all of whom happen to be among the most reliable campaign donors at City Hall.

Their arguments, along with those of numerous individual homeowners, tap into a hostility toward regulation that runs deep in Houston.

Houston always has been known as a free-wheeling place where anyone could make a buck. The citys founding began with two New York real estate speculators gleefully misrepresenting the climate to lure settlers. Voters have rejected land use restrictions three times since World War II, and revered Bob Lanier, the deep-pocketed developer they elected as mayor three times in the 1990s.

And so, months after Hurricane Harvey dumped 50 inches of rain or more on much of Greater Houston, supporters of Turners proposals are back on defense ahead of Wednesdays scheduled vote.

Stricter regulations

The proposed regulations, opponents say, would undermine growth, hamstring Houstons competitive edge as an affordable big city and destroy the property values of thousands of homeowners, including many who did not flood in Harvey.

We have a development reputation of being very laissez-faire and saying you can kind of build where youre going to want to build and build what you want to build, said Kyle Shelton of Rice Universitys Kinder Institute for Urban Research, which has been convening panels on flood resilience since Harvey. This is one of the more recent really big attempts to say, Well, no, there are some places where heres what youre going to have to do. Naturally, thats going to get discussion and get pushback in Houston, because its not something that weve done a lot.

Turner is asking the city council to require all new construction in Houstons flood plains to be built 2 feet above the projected water level in a 500-year storm, which is deemed to have a 0.2 percent chance of happening in any given year.

Current rules mandate that buildings be constructed 1 foot above the flood level in a less severe 100-year storm and apply only within the 100-year flood plain, where properties are considered to have a 1 percent annual chance of being inundated. Minimum home elevations would be imposed within the 500-year flood plain for the first time.

Few of the details were clear to council members or others who heard Turner discuss the coming changes for the first time in late January, however.

In fact, Houston Public Works did not release a detailed analysis of Harvey data to justify the administrations recommended elevations until six weeks later.

That report, circulated after the designated window for public feedback had closed, showed 84 percent of homes Harvey flooded in Houstons flood plains would have been spared if they had been built at the height recommended in the mayors proposal.

Information gap

The policy rollout frustrated some council members, including Councilman Mike Laster, who represents a southwestern district where roughly 750 homes took on at least 18 inches of water during Harvey.

I believe that we have done ourselves, our community and this process an enormous disservice in the way in which weve proceeded to talk about this issue and present it to the public, Laster said at a recent committee hearing. Weve had virtually no public meetings. We virtually had no public deliberation or time for this to sink in in the publics mind. Because weve not done those two things, we have raised suspicions in neighborhoods.

Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said the familiar pattern of the debate is unsurprising. That, he said, is because Houstons strong-mayor form of government gives Turner control over the content of the council agenda and the city departments that draft and implement policies, and because of the knee-jerk culture in Houston, where any regulation is initially assumed to be bad regulation.

Theres a real tendency of the mayor and the rest of the executive branch to come up with the proposals and policies and then try to ram them through the council because theres a real information asymmetry between the mayors office and council, Jones said. Even if its optimal legislation, council often reacts very negatively about having been kept in the dark, and so many oppose something they otherwise would have supported, not because of the policy itself but because of the process.

That information gap also makes council members susceptible to lobbying, Jones said, in part because the council members have no more than a handful of staff and often split time between their nominally part-time council positions and regular careers.

In fact, industry representatives played a key role in drafting two of the three amendments council members offered to the flood plain proposal when it reached the council table last week.

Doing something different

Representatives of the Houston Association of Realtors crafted most of Councilman Jack Christies amendment to exempt some homes with no history of flooding from the new requirements, Christies chief of staff Matt Brollier said.

Brollier said it made sense to discuss the issue with industry experts because city officials had not responded to requests from Christies office for basic information.

Councilman Greg Travis said the Greater Houston Builders Association, with input from other groups, helped develop his proposal that seeks to loosen the citys proposed restrictions on adding fill dirt to a site when redeveloping small lots in the 500-year flood plain. The change, he added, aligns with his constituents concerns, not simply those of industry groups.

Skeptical council members also have made no secret of their preference for the arguments advanced by real estate industry representatives over Public Works own analysis.

One Realtor at a recent council hearing said her agents were horrified by the proposals threat to property values. Another said the citys data show that the current rules are working because more than 70 percent of structures in the flood plain were not damaged during Harvey.

I take your opinion very highly because youre a Realtor; youre out there where the rubber meets the road, Councilman Michael Kubosh told one. As much as I like these engineers, they havent been able to answer my questions about things.

Turner said he is confident he will have the support to adopt the flood plain proposal.

Any time youre talking about a policy shift, those ideas are going to be debated, discussed and vetted, Turner said. Now, it doesnt necessarily mean that its contentious. It simply means that were doing something different in the post-Harvey era, which I think most Houstonians expect.

Next, the city plans to take up the second half of Turners elevation proposal: requiring new homes to sit at least 2 feet off the ground citywide, including in areas with no established flood risk.

If the current debate is any indicator, that may be a hard sell.Montgomery County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested three suspects on Saturday allegedly involved in a cockfighting ring.

Police said they discovered 12 live roosters and 18 dead roosters along with "numerous pieces of cockfighting paraphernalia" at the scene. Two of the suspects were given citations for attending the cockfighting event while another suspect fled into the woods, authorities said.

DETAILS: Three arrested in connection with alleged cockfighting ring in Cleveland

Now Playing: An Indonesian zoo infamous for mistreatment of animals is being slammed again by activists after a video emerged of one of its orangutans smoking. Video: Time

Unfortunately, the disturbing case of animal cruelty is one of many around the Houston area. To keep track of incidents that made headlines, Chron.com put together an ongoing list.

Above: See incidents of animal abuse, cruelty around the Houston area.

Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93.When I started here, all there was was swamp, Michael Palins scheming king declares in the 1975 comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Against the advice of his peers, he recounts how he built a castle there anyway. It sank into the swamp. So did the second. Ditto for the third. Though by this point he had become an expert on his kingdoms topography, annual rainfall and susceptibility to flooding  not to mention the cost of rebuilding  the king commissioned a fourth castle. This one, he boasts without a hint of worry, has stayed up.

If City Council fails to pass Mayor Sylvester Turners new development rules, well have embraced the kind of absurdity the Pythons mined for laughs. And our castles will keep sinking into the swamp.

The new rules are only a first step, but absolutely must be taken. They would require new construction within the 500-year floodplain to be lifted two feet above the projected flood level during a 500-year storm.

EDITORIAL: Fight flooding now!

The mayors plan would protect 86,000 parcels, nearly doubling the amount of plots covered under Houstons existing rules, which only apply to homes in the 100-year floodplain. This is a big step, as dogged reporting by the Chronicles David Hunn, Matt Dempsey and Mihir Zaveri revealed last week that three-quarters of the homes flooded by Hurricane Harvey were outside the 100-year floodplain.

According to a city report, 84 percent of homes Harvey flooded in Houstons floodplains would have been spared if they had been built to the new standard.

Once this plan passes, the next step must involve writing rules to protect homes outside the floodplain.

Harris County, thanks to the leadership of County Judge Ed Emmett, rushed to pass tougher construction regulations in December. We hoped City Council would quickly follow. Hurricane season begins in less than 60 days, and yet Houston drags its feet.

No more hesitating. No more debate, we cajoled councilmembers in mid-March. But delay they did, declining to hold a vote March 28. We were as perplexed as Mayor Turner, who noted that the new rules enjoy widespread public support.

EDITORIAL: City Hall must approve anti-flood regulations for Houston

Developers point out that in a city that already lacks enough affordable housing, these rules will increase building costs. They make a fair point  but this eschew-regulation-to-keep-costs-down approach is what landed Houston in this problem in the first place.

The rules appear poised to pass, and we hope they do so unanimously. Houstonians deserve a strong endorsement of these rules by their elected leaders, as a weak mandate may only embolden officials down the road to loosen the regulations.

Voters should pay special attention to council members who oppose the new rules. In next years city elections, residents will undoubtedly have Harvey on their minds when deciding which politicians have Houstons best interests at heart.

EDITORIAL: Harvey exposed every point of weakness

With these rules on the books, city officials can focus on other steps necessary to mitigate future flooding, like creating new flood infrastructure; better equipping the Houston Fire Department to conduct water rescues; and reducing runoff, such as by eliminating minimum parking requirements. The city must also consider buying out hundreds or thousands of homes in flood zones and converting the land to green space.

Houston needs to finally start reversing the consequences of unrestrained, careless development.

If our leaders refuse to, we may well have to change City Halls name to Swamp Castle.I was told you look completely normal. Why do you need help I cried all the way home. I dont even know where to begin with a complaint.

EasyJet was quick to respond to the claims, adding that a member of their executive team would be in touch shortly.

In a statement, easyJet said: Were sorry to hear of Ms Warners experience.

The agent involved is employed by Airport Handling and both he and they have assured us that he was trying to ascertain what assistance was required to help Ms Warner.

However, this was clearly not handled as sensitively as we would have liked. We will investigate this with Airport Handling to ensure any lessons can be learned and changes are made to how they train their staff.Organisational change is very hard as it involves lots of people, often without a compelling personal why. We just expect people to get it or want to do it because its good for the business, she told HRD.

When you think of change in terms of many individuals change processes, overlaid with introduction of new technology/equipment you get some sense of why organisational change is hard to implement and sustain.

Considering project management vs change management, often it is people within the business, well removed from HR, who are doing the planning and project management, added Tansley.

HR are then allocated a few communication related tasks at the end of said project.

This can cause a real disconnect between how the project is sold to the business, and the reality of implementing the change.Whether it's for a podcast or a live event, knowing how to host a successful "fireside chat" will make all the difference between delighting your listeners and losing them.

To find out the top keys to a brilliant interview, I asked the best interviewer I could think of, Guy Raz, who is the host, co-creator, and editorial director of three NPR programs, including two of its most popular ones: TED Radio Hour and How I Built This (heard by more than 14 million people each month). Raz has interviewed more than 6,000 people, including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Eminem.

How I Built This, one of the top-20 most downloaded podcasts in the United States in 2017, dives deep into the stories of some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, including CEOs like Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines, Jim Koch, the originator of Samuel Adams, Sara Blakely, the creator and CEO of Spanx, and many others. So far, the show has published 84 episodes, many of which feature a personal behind-the-scenes look into the lives of successful billionaires.

Below, Raz shares openly about how to find great guests, how to create trust and go beyond surface-level answers, why failure is his favorite topic, and how he first found his voice.

Guy Raz's 7 Takeaways on How to Tell the Stories of Icons and Billionaires

1. Great interviews start with a "generous" guest.

"There are lots of very successful people in the United States and around the world, but we're really looking for people who can offer their generosity," said Raz. "And what I mean by that word is their generosity of spirit, their willingness to look at their failures, their setbacks, and to show vulnerability. If you have the ability to do those things, we're pretty confident we can pull a story out of you."

2. Create a safe place for your guest to do a "trust fall."

"In those cases [when a guest is hesitant], I really try to break the fourth wall and say, hey, our listeners will like you more, will identify with you more, and I promise will want to communicate with you and be moved by what you say if you can try and reach into your mind, soul, whatever, your past. And open up. And do kind of a trust fall," said Raz.

This secret to asking a potentially embarrassing question--like the one he asked Square's VP of Global Sales on a live stage at Dreamforce 2017, "What was one of the most humiliating sales calls you ever did?"--is how Guy Raz has built a reputation for being able to unearth details other hosts might shy away from.

"You know the trust fall side of it is hard," Raz said. "But I've been doing this for 20 years and many of the people I interview have been listening to me for a while so I'm lucky in that a lot of them know and can trust that I will treat their story with respect, fairness, and sensitivity."

3. A really good question comes from getting swept up in the story and embodying your guest.

It's common knowledge that open-ended questions are better for starting conversations than closed-ended questions, but Raz frequently asks binary questions, such as the questions he asked Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the co-founders of Instagram: "Were there moments, especially in the beginning, where you thought this could fail?" Or "So, very shortly after you launched this thing it's valued at, like, more than $20 million or something, right?"

His questions may seem limited, as in, a yes or no would answer the question, but what's really happening under the surface is Raz has embedded a bigger story in a seemingly simple question and it requires the guest(s) to unwrap the layers.

In other words, Raz leverages the entrepreneur's compulsive need to fix problems by presenting them with a problem--in the form of a question--to solve.

"It's less methodical and thought out [than you think]," he told me. "Look, all I do is I get swept up with the story. It's like going to see a horror movie and being like, AHH! Don't turn that corner, don't go in the kitchen. Because I'm in the moment with them and I'm asking them to take me on a journey and I'll guide them a little bit."

Researching your guest beforehand is the key to guiding and shaping the story. Raz frequently tees up an interesting anecdote--without giving it away--for his guests to knock out of the park.

"I'm good at guiding them but I also want to be surprised," he said. "And even when I kind of know the story I still find myself feeling surprised to hear them describe it in their own words. So it's really about me kind of embodying them while they're telling the story and trying to imagine what it felt like and that's really where my reactions come from. Like, oh my god, that happened?! That person--you saw them again in the bar with your new wife, that must have been terrifying!"

This genuine empathetic curiosity is what Raz is known for, and it often leads to powerful moments on the show, such as the time when media mogul Troy Carter broke down talking about how one of his deepest motivations in life was to make his mother proud.

4. Get past a canned answer by asking your question in a different way, and don't be afraid to be persistent.

If you regularly interview high-profile executives, at some point you'll receive a bland, vanilla answer, or a guarded one from your guest. When this happens, Raz circumvents the canned answer to get a deeper insight, by re-phrasing the question and not giving up.

"I'm sort of a--you can call it a master or an annoyance," said Raz. "I'm very persistent. I often say to people, I know you've been asked this question but I'm asking it in a slightly different way because I think there's a different answer here. I'm very straightforward with people. I'm not trying to trick them. I think that most people have pretty good stories to tell but I think a lot of people are cautious and want to protect themselves and that's natural."

When inquiring about someone's biggest life failures, it can be an intimidating thing to ask, especially if it's going to be broadcasted to millions of people.

"I'm asking somebody to open themselves up in a way that they probably wouldn't to anyone except maybe their priest or their therapist," said Raz. "It's a big deal. And there are times when I interview somebody and they do reveal a lot and it is powerful and then they'll call me later and say you know I have second thoughts about this. I don't know if I've told too much."

When this happens, it takes a delicate reassurance that vulnerability is worth it. And, so far, according to Raz, it always has been.

"What I'll usually say is look let me finish editing this, let me finish putting it together and take a listen. And I'll give you my honest feedback. Every single case where that's happened, where I've convinced the person to just trust us, it's been amazing. People have come out and said thank you for sharing your story of depression, thank you for sharing your story of vulnerability or failure, like, that has changed me, that has made me a stronger business person or stronger person. It's been amazing. And there are many examples with How I Built This where that's happened."

5. Don't over-script the conversation, instead, guide the flow. And edit later (if it's a podcast).

What listeners actually hear on How I Built This is only a third of the full conversation. It's usually a two-hour interview that gets cut down to about 45 minutes.

You might not have a robust production studio like NPR, but as you edit, keep in mind that the end result his team shoots for is a great narrative with interesting lessons learned along the way.

This clean narrative isn't always easy to facilitate. Even with the smoothest of hosts, the conversation can get off track or a guest can lose their train of thought. And sometimes the mic needs to be turned off.

"I'll try to wind back to something that we explored but hadn't fully explored. I'll stop the interview and say, hey, you know, I'm feeling like we're kind of going in different directions. Let me try to explain where I'm trying to go and see if we can go in that direction because I promise you in the end what will come out of it will be something really unique and different."

When it comes to structuring a talk, the storyteller said there are no rules and he tries a bunch of things, with lots of improvising, especially if he's interviewing someone live on-stage. Well-researched notes are the key. Raz refers to his notepad as a "dynamic document."

"I constantly shift around topics and questions in the back of my mind throughout the interview," he told me.

6. His favorite topic to bring up isn't success. It's failure, because he's seen firsthand in his own life the power of overcoming challenges.

If you've ever listened to an episode of How I Built This, recall how it starts out with an excerpt of the guest describing a crushing, hopeless moment in his or her life. It's a jarring depiction of situations where the founder ran out of money, ruined a dear relationship, or watched their company's stock plummet in value. By starting out with a dire "rock bottom", Raz creates a curiosity gap that immediately hooks the reader.

"Failure is really, really interesting," said Raz. "I think it also gives hope to people who may not yet have achieved the kind of success they're hoping to achieve."

"I'm really interested in vulnerability. I'm interested in crisis."

Raz is no stranger to crisis in his own life and shared about the struggles he's faced.

"I, myself, when I was a younger man, dealt with really severe depression," he said. "I was very embarrassed about that depression in my early and mid-twenties. And I secretly went and saw help and went on medication. Now I'm very open about it because I want younger people who think of me as a successful radio and podcast creator to feel like it's okay--that in your life you will have moments of difficulty, and vulnerability and sadness and other things--but that they may very well pass and you could very well get to the places you want to get to. So I'm always looking for those moments of vulnerability, humanity, or challenge. Those are the kinds of stories I'm always really trying to find."

7. Screw journalism codes. Use your own voice.

"There's no roadmap," he said, to find your unique voice. For him, there was a point in his career when he realized he didn't have to be like other radio personalities.

"When I started out at NPR twenty years ago, I thought I had to sound like other NPR men to be a radio personality or host. And I did that for the first two years. But over time, I found my own voice and my own approach for who I am. It was almost like I had to be something else to be who I am in order to get back to who I actually am."

That breakthrough moment came from one of his first interviews as a host with a woman named Ingrid Betancourt, who was a prisoner of the Colombian paramilitary group the FARC for seven years in the jungles of Colombia. She was eventually released, wrote a book about it, and when she came in for an interview, it was more powerful than he expected.

Is it possible to start with a bad business idea and turn it into a publicly-traded company worth $2.3 billion?

That's whatplaceholder two former Israeli army officers did between 2006 and 2018. It's a tale that combines world-class technical knowhow, two of the most talented leaders in Israel, and the ability to bounce back from mistakes that might have stopped most people in their tracks.

It's a story that should inspire any entrepreneur or city feeling that its back is up against the wall in its bid to create world-class startup success. It's typical of the stories I described in my recently published book, Startup Cities.

The company in question is Herziliya Petuach, Israel-based solar power electronics maker SolarEdge Technologies. Its revenues have risen at a 46% annual rate to $607 million in 2017, according to Morningstar -- and my interview last month with one of its founders convinced me that SolarEdge is being built to last.

SolarEdge's technologies make solar systems produce more electricity. Specifically, its "direct-current optimized inverter systems -- which consist of power optimizers, inverters, and cloud-based monitoring platforms -- maximize power generation at the individual solar module level."

SolarEdge, which went public in 2015 and has a market capitalization of $2.3 billion, sells into the residential, commercial and small-utility solar installation markets by partnering with "large installers and engineering, procurement and construction firms, and indirectly to a multitude of smaller solar installers through distributors and electrical equipment wholesalers."

Here are three of the key reasons for SolarEdge's success.

1. Founding a venture with world-class technical and entrepreneurial leaders

Where does Israel get its entrepreneurial talent? It's certainly not Harvard or MIT. As I wrote in Startup Cities, the answer is the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) -- more specifically, its elite units 8200 and 8100.

As Lior Handelsman, SolarEdge cofounder and VP Marketing & Product Strategy, said in a March 21 interview, "When you're in high school you come for medical, psychological, and mental testing. They ask you 'Can you do it?' and "Will you volunteer?' And they decide who goes where."

I had long heard that the 8200 was the place where the most talented people go. That is partially correct. As Handelsman said, "The 8200 is like the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) -- [which collects and analyzes intelligence]. But not everyone who works in the 8200 is top talent. It depends on which part of the 8200 you're working in -- those who listen to intelligence on headphones, may not be the best. Those who analyze the intelligence are the elite of the 8200. But there is an even more elite unit -- the 8100 -- which gets information to the 8200."

Handelsman joked he could tell me more about the 8100, but then he'd have to kill me.

What does this have to do with SolarEdge? Handelsman and CEO Guy Sella--who was Handelsman's boss in the 8100-- both worked in the 8100 before they started SolarEdge. In short, SolarEdge's leaders are the best of the best of the IDF's entrepreneurial talent machine.

2. Bouncing back from a bad business idea

While Sella and Handelsman were talented technologists and leaders, they had a ways to go when it came to being successful entrepreneurs. Their initial business idea was not very good.

Handelsman left the IDF after 12 years in 2006 and contacted Sella who was then a venture capitalist. "We wanted to start a company but had no idea what we were going to do. We considered many markets--imaging, cybersecurity, homeland security, and power electronics management. We went to Silicon Valley to raise capital," said Handelsman.

The Silicon Valley visit taught them a new idea--when a venture capitalist says your product is "very interesting" it means that the VC will never invest.

But they got one useful piece of feedback from the process. "A venture capitalist from Sevin Rosen told us, 'You have amazing technology but you're trying to sell to a terrible market.' We thought we were going to sell into consumer electronics but he told us that Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor would never let us into the major accounts. He said we should focus on solar which was number 20 on our list."

That turned out to be good advice. "While solar panels were very efficient, 25% of the power was lost due to the inverters which convert the Direct Current (DC) produced by the panels into Alternating Current (AC). We had an idea for a better inverter based on our Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). But we were not certain how to distribute it," he said.

They decided to go directly to end users rather than partnering with the eight big makers of solar energy power electronics such as Bosch, GE, and Siemens. As Handlesman said, "I present this decision as a case to business schools. Israel is good at R&D, not sales, service or manufacturing. If we OEM to those eight companies we can build on our strengths. The business risk for us was -- 'What if all eight companies say no?'"

Rather than OEM, SolarEdge decided to go directly to end users and today its inverters--which are 97% efficient--lead the industry. Why is the SolarEdge inverter so popular? "It is easier to install and service than competing products and it's a bigger system so it means more revenue for the installer. The installer can explain to the homeowner that it produces more energy and it's safer," he said.

3. Learning from mistakes how to globalize

Today SolarEdge has offices in 22 countries and its product is installed in 110 with over 1,000 employees. It is the market leader in Germany and ended up leading in the U.S. market because "everyone knew our product was less expensive than the competition's."

But SolarEdge made mistakes in its global strategy. As Handelsman explained, "We lost 18 months in the U.S. because we put the wrong person in charge -- someone from an established company who knew the technology. He was always waiting for us to tell him what to do. You have to hire someone who is from the country who can provide leadership and selling skills -- We say 'You are everything in this country, just do it.'"

SolarEdge's goal is to be an institution that leads in power electronics. To that end, the company is adding adjacent products -- it is introducing a "virtual power plant;" added less-expensive software talent from Bulgaria and acquired a company in Fremont, Calif. for R&D; and while it now outsources manufacturing to Jabil, Celestica, and Flextronics, it plans to take full control of its manufacturing," he said.Dr Maya Angelou (1928-2014) lived an extraordinary life and is remembered today on what would have been her 90th birthday.

Google's latest Doodle pays tribute to one of the foremost African-American creative voices of the 20th century on a poignant date, for 4 April 2018 also marks 50 years since civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Angelou knew Dr King and helped organise the Cabaret For Freedom concert in 1960 to raise funds for his Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She was a major figure in the movement in her own right as well as a champion of women's rights and gender equality.

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She is best remembered, however, for her autobiographical novel I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969, a year after Dr King's tragic murder.

Angelou's life was packed with incident.

Recommended Five things you may not know about Maya Angelou

Born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St Louis, Missouri, she was rendered mute for seven years after being sexually assaulted as a child by her mother's boyfriend, devoting herself to reading and falling in love with literature after it gave her the courage to rediscover her voice and overcome the trauma.

As a young woman she was a mother, a fry cook, a prostitute, a brothel madam, San Francisco's first black female streetcar conductor, a nightclub calypso dancer and toured Europe in George Gershwin's opera Porgy & Bess.

She lived in Ghana, befriended Billie Holiday, Malcolm X and James Baldwin, directed a feature film and was the first poet since Robert Frost in 1961 to recite at a US presidential inauguration when she read her verse "On the Pulse of Morning" as Bill Clinton was sworn in at the White House in 1992.

Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and Clinton all spoke at her memorial after she passed away in 2014.

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"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel," the lady herself once observed.

In that spirit, her ode to inner strength and defiance "Still I Rise" from 1978 remains one of her most popular and enduring works and provides a fitting epitaph.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, Ill rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

Cause I walk like Ive got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still Ill rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Dont you take it awful hard

Cause I laugh like Ive got gold mines

Diggin in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, Ill rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like Ive got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of historys shame

I rise

Up from a past thats rooted in pain

I rise

Im a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak thats wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.Dave Chappelle is being sued by the man who threw a banana peel at him during a 2015 performance.

Christian Englander was attending the comedians Sante Fe, New Mexico, show when he decided to throw the food item.

Englander has since decided to sue Chappelle and another man  presumed to be his bodyguard  claiming he was struck twice while being restrained, according to The Associated Press.

After initially throwing the banana peel, Englander faced charges of battery and disturbing the peace, although these were dropped as Chappelle refused to participate in the prosecution.

The audience member did not mention the assault during the police report, but his lawyers claim it would have come up at the trial.

Englander said throwing the peel was not a racially motivated move, claiming he was angered by something else.

Chappelle has joked about Bananagate on multiple occasions, most notably during the Netflix special Deep in the Heart of Texas.

The comedian has not responded to requests for comment.Following the critical success of Good Time, The Safdie Brothers have been busily capitalising on their moment, directing a music video for Jay Z and announcing that they will be remaking classic buddy cop movie 48 Hours.

Before that project gets underway, though, the directing duo are working away on their Martin Scorsese-produced movie Uncut Gems.

Adam Sandler has since joined the cast, according to Deadline. The movie will mark the actors next role following the Netflix released Murder Mystery, with Jennifer Anniston. Before then, Sandler will star alongside Chris Rock in The Week Of, another Netflix release.

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DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ready Player One Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch 1 JuneDavid Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Soldado Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson

Scott Rudin and Eli Bush will also produce the movie, which was set to star Jonah Hill  although it remains unclear whether The Wolf of Wall Street actor is still attached.

The Safdie Brothers have since confirmed the news that Sandler has joined the project, Tweeting a picture of the actor alongside Robert Pattinson (star of their film Good Time).

Uncut Gems is set to be released by A24.Filmmaking cinephile Christopher Nolan's passion for the works of Stanley Kubrick and war classics including All Quiet on the Western Front loom large in his films.

Now, the Dunkirk director has revealed yet another title which he believes to be one of the greatest films ever made.

Nolan - whose films include Memento and the Dark Knight trilogy - named Pather Panchali from Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray during a recent visit to Mumbai, India where he brought his fight to preserve celluloid usage in cinema to the country boasting the world's largest film industry.

Released in 1955, Pather Panchali - translated as 'Song of the Little Road' - depicts the childhood of young boy Apu (Subir Banerjee) and his elder sister Durga (Uma Dasgupta) and the harsh village life of their poor family.

He attended a series of events dedicated to a campaign titled 'Reframing the Future of Film' which saw 70mm and 35mm screenings of his films including Interstellar.

Speaking to press regarding the visit, Nolan said: We had a very productive session with the Indian industry, just like we have had in Hollywood and the UK. We are really trying to engage filmmakers in this discussion in how we can continue to enjoy a celluloid, photochemical, analogue infrastructure in filmmaking.

He continued: Its not about film versus digital - it's about preserving this medium for future generations.

Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Show all 23 1 /23 Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Citizen Kane (1941) Long revered as one of the greatest films ever made, Orson Welles' debut  a film following newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane  was just another nominee back in the day, losing out to How Green Was My Valley. RKO Radio Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture The Searchers (1956) The Searchers may be considered John Ford's greatest film, but it was not treated as such back in the 1950s. In fact, the western starring John Wayne failed to earn a single nomination. Around the World in 80 Days turned out to be more the Academy's cup of tea. RKO Radio Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Vertigo (1958) Not only did Alfred Hitchcock never win an Oscar (save for his memorial award in 1968), but neither did any of his films  one of which is Vertigo, a classic that won Sight & Sound's once-a-decade greatest films of all time poll in 2012. If it had been nominated, it would have faced stiff competition in the form of eventual winner All About Eve. Paramount Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture The Graduate (1967) One of the films that kickstarted the New Hollywood Cinema era, The Graduate may have won director Mike Nichols an Oscar, but it ultimately lost out to Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night. United Artists Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi classic remains one of the most influential pieces of cinema there is. The Academy didn't agree. The Academy nominated Kubrick for Best Director and awarded the visual effects in favour of considering 2001 for Best Picture (it didn't even get nominated). That year's winner was Oliver!, the musical by Carol Reed. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Taxi Driver (1976) Despite Taxi Driver's failure to win the main award, its nomination in four categories showed the Academy had good intentions. That All the President's Men and Network also lost out to eventual winner Rocky shows that, ultimately, it never really stood a chance. Columbia Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Apocalypse Now (1979) Francis Ford Coppola's ambitious Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now received a grand total of eight nominations, but only went home with two prizes (for cinematography and sound) losing out to drama Kramer vs. Kramer. United Artists Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Raging Bull (1980) Of all the Oscar blows dealt to Martin Scorsese over the decades, none landed harder than Raging Bull losing out to Robert Redford's weepie Ordinary People, an oversight many consider one of the Academy's most egregious. United Artists Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Blade Runner (1982) Another sci-fi classic overlooked by the Oscars was Blade Runner, which didn't even get nominated in the Best Picture category (Gandhi ended up winning). Ridley Scott's The Martian went on to receive seven nominations in 2017  evidence, perhaps, of the Academy taking responsibility for its past errors. United Artists Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Do the Right Thing (1989) Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing failing to win Best Picture at the 1990 Oscars is one thing  losing out to Driving Miss Daisy is another thing altogether. Universal Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Goodfellas (1990) Having awarded both The Godfather Part I and The Godfather Part II Best Picture in 1972 and 1974 respectively, the Academy seemed destined to appreciate Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. But no  Kevin Costner's directorial debut Dances with Wolves was the most appealing choice for voters. 2012 Getty Images Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Pulp Fiction (1994) New talent on the block Quentin Tarantino's second feature Pulp Fiction won him the coveted Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1994  a success he failed to match back on home turf. While he won an Original Screenplay Oscar, his film was beaten by Forrest Gump... Miramax Films Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture The Shawshank Redemption (1994) ...and it wasn't the only one. Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's prison-set novella The Shawshank Redemption also fell victim to Robert Zemeckis' Oscar-friendly Forrest Gump. We don't see that film sitting atop the IMDb top 250 though, do we? Getty Images Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Heat (1995) If Heat was released today, there's no way it wouldn't be a Best Picture frontrunner. That it was completely ignored in favour of Braveheart is a huge travesty. Warner Bros Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Fargo (1996) You may think it was remiss of the Academy to shun Fargo, but it did come pretty close to winning, its chances bolstered somewhat by seven nominations and two wins (Actress for Frances McDormand and Original Screenplay for the Coen Brothers). It lost out to The English Patient. Gramercy Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Saving Private Ryan (1998) Having won Best Director five years previous for Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg was strongly expected to take home the top prizes for his Second World War epic. Cue Shakespeare In Love upsetting everybody. Paramount Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture The Social Network (2010) David Fincher's Facebook drama got shunned in favour of British patriotism in an Oscar two-horse race for the ages that ultimately saw The King's Speech crowned winner. Columbia Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) Lynne Ramsay has directed two films that would have been deserving of Best Picture: You Were Never Really Here and this, We Need to Talk About Kevin. It's easy to see why Hollywood was temporarily more charmed by The Artist, but it's clear which film will stand the test of time. Oscilloscope Laboratories Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) It's almost unthinkable to recall that the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis only scored two Oscar nominations in the cinematography and sound mixing categories, respectively. In the ensuing years, the film has been hailed as one of the greatest of the 2010s, meaning that its no-show at the Oscars will go down as one of the Academy's biggest omissions. Still, it would have had a hard time winning over 12 Years a Slave. CBS Films Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Boyhood (2014) For the 2015 Oscars race, you were either team Birdman or team Boyhood. Richard Linklater's labour of love, shot intermittently over 12 years, ultimately failed to win. Universal Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture American Honey (2016) If there's any justice, Andrea Arnold will one day become an Oscar winner, but in a perfect world, she would have already won for American Honey, a drama deserving of Best Picture if there ever was one. Universal Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Get Out (2017) Horror rarely gets recognised at the Oscars, but Get Out is the closest the genre had come in years. Jordan Peele may have taken home the Best Original Screenplay award, but the stars aligned for Guillermo del Toro's fantasy The Shape of Water instead. Universal Pictures Oscars: 21 great films that never won Best Picture Roma (2018) Roma was strongly expected to become the first ever foreign language film to win Best Picture. It had everything going for it, including a standout festival run and universal acclaim. But then Green Book snatched its trophy away in a late stage awards season twist that still seems too ridiculous to be true. Netflix

Nolan vowed to watch more Indian films in future, stating: I have had the pleasure of watching [Satyajit] Rays Pather Panchali recently, which I hadnt seen before. I think it is one of the best films ever made. It is an extraordinary piece of work. I am interested in learning more about Indian film industry and that is the reason why I came.

The filmmaker earned his first Best Director nomination at the 2018 Oscars for Dunkirk, the WWII film which won a total of three. Ahead of the film's release in July 2017, Nolan curated a season of films that inspired it for the British Film Institute (BFI).

Follow Independent Culture on FacebookDwayne "The Rock" Johnson has finally addressed the conversation around him being a potential 2020 presidential candidate.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the Rampage actor talks about the public excitement surrounding the idea of him running for office.

Of the topic, he says, "People are very excited, and it's so flattering that they're excited. I think it's also a function of being very unsatisfied with our current president. But this is a skill set that requires years and years of experience. On a local level, on a state level and then on a national level."

Johnson continues, "I have the utmost respect for our country and that position, and I'm not delusioned in any way to think, 'Oh, absolutely, if Trump can do it, I can do it, and I'll see you in 20-whatever, get ready.' Not at all."

He reveals that having Donald Trump as president has revealed some uncomfortable truths.

"I think in a lot of people's minds, what Trump has proved is that anybody can run for president," Johnson says. "And in a lot of people's minds, what he's also proved is that not everybody should run for president."

Johnson advises we "pivot back to people who have a deep-rooted knowledge of American history and politics and experience in policy and how laws get made."

While Johnson doesn't see politics in his immediate future, he has been taking "under-the-radar" meetings with political experts including Republicans, Democrats, independents, mayors and strategists.

He maintains he still has a lot to learn saying he's "just soaking it in and listening,"

"I entertain the thought, and thank you, I'm so flattered by it," he says of the presidential run rumours. "But I feel like the best thing I can do now is, give me years. Let me go to work and learn."

Should the 45-year-old actor change his mind about running for president, a well-known political figure has asked him to text him a code word to let him know he's ready.

Recommended The Rock responds to rumours of 2020 presidential run

The unnamed individual told Johnson, "If and when you want to run for president, when you text me this word, I'll come running. Don't text any other word  not hi, not how you doing, not what's up. Just this word."

Johnson reveals it's "Freedom patriot. Two words."

We'll have to see where Johnson's career takes him.Soon after completing filming on Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Carrie Fisher sadly passed away, leaving an enormous hole in the galaxy far, far away.

As has been widely publicised, Fishers iconic Princess/General Leia was intended to have a major role in Episode IX, similar to how Han Solo had the majority of Force Awakens screen-time and Luke Skywalker was the primary original trio character in Last Jedi.

Mark Hamill  who plays Luke  has since commented on whether LucasFilm and Disney should recast the character for the upcoming movie.

Speaking to Collider, the actor acknowledged how Leia was supposed to be key to Episode IX  especially since the dynamic of having Kylo Ren as her son  adding: I think it would be tough recasting, only because shes so indelibly linked with that character.

Theyve already ruled out the idea of computer generating her performance like they did with Peter Cushing.

Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Show all 9 1 /9 Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher American actor and singer Debbie Reynolds smiles and holds her infant daughter, Carrie Fisher Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher American actress Debbie Reynolds with her daughter Carrie Fisher Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Actress Debbie Reynolds, poses with her children Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher arrive at the premiere of 'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith' Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Actress Carrie Fisher and her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Actress Debbie Reynolds accepts the Life Achievement Award from her daughter, actress Carrie Fisher onstage at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Actresses Carrie Fisher, Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award recipient Debbie Reynolds, and Billie Lourd pose in the press room during the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher A candle is seen on the star for Debbie Reynolds on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher A view of a temporary star made by fans in tribute to actress Carrie Fisher on Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California Getty

So, gee, thats really got to be not an insurmountable problem but I know the script had been developed enough so that when we lost her they had to go back to square one. But shes irreplaceable, as far as Im concerned.

Hamill has been promoting the DVD release of Last Jedi in recent weeks, revealing his preferred order for watching the many, many Star Wars movies.With Indiana Jones returning once again for another adventure, many are wondering whether the adventurer will hang around for multiple movies or just the one.

Steven Spielberg, who returns to direct the upcoming adventure, has remained pretty adamant that Indiana will stay on screens, but not who will be playing the hero.

Speaking to The Sun, the filmmaker was asked whether a woman could take over the role from Harrison Ford, to which Spielberg nodded in agreement and said the character could certainly take a different form.

Wed have to change the name from Jones to Joan, he added of Indiana being a female. And there would be nothing wrong with that.

Following the release of Ready Player One, Spielberg has been eyeing the fifth Indiana Jones movie as his next project. George Lucas  who helped create the character  will executive produce while John Williams will, once again, be on composing duties.

27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Show all 27 1 /27 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Black Panther Released: 12 February 12 February Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Greatest Showman Released: 1 January 1 January Director: Michael Gracey Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Darkest Hour Released: 12 January 12 January Director: Joe Wright Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Released: 12 January Director: Martin McDonagh 12 JanuaryMartin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones > Twentieth Century Fox 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Coco Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Lee Unkrich ,p>Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renee Victor 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Downsizing Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Jong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Early Man Released: 26 January 26 January Director: Nick Park Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Fifty Shades Freed Released: 9 February 9 February Director: James Foley Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Released: 9 February 9 February Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Shape of Water Released: 16 February 16 February Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Annihilation Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Dark River Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Clio Barnard Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Red Sparrow Released: 2 March 2 March Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Tomb Raider Released: 16 March 16 March Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 A Wrinkle in Time Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifianakis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ready Player One Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch 1 JuneDavid Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Soldado Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson

Spielberg has been busily promoting his new movie Ready Player One over the last few weeks, speaking out on subjects such as the MeToo movement and whether Oscars should go to Netflix productions.

The filmmaker also recently confirmed that Colin Trevorrow will return for Jurassic World 3, having directed the first Jurassic World.Austin Powers star Verne Troyer is "resting comfortably" after reports he was rushed to hospital on 2 April, a statement on his official Facebook page has said.

The Los Angeles City Fire Department confirmed to People that they were called to the actor's home in north Hollywood at around 8.34pm on Monday night, and one person was taken to hospital.

A law enforcement source told TMZ that Troyer was "extremely upset, drunk and suicidal", and also reported that he will remain in hospital for 72 hours for evaluation.

On Facebook, a statement on his page said: "Asking you to keep Verne in your thoughts and prayers. He's getting the best care possible and is resting comfortably. Appreciate the support from family, friends and fans around the world. We will keep you updated here."

Last year in April, Troyer spoke about his ongoing struggles with alcohol at the time, issuing a statement which said: "I've battled alcohol addiction in the past and while it's not always been an easy fight, I'm willing to continue my fight day by day."

Troyer is known for his portrayal of Mini-Me in the Austin Powers films, with his big break in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999. He has also made appearances in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and The Love Guru.

The Independent has contacted a representative for Troyer for additional comment

If you have been affected by this story, you can get confidential support from Samaritans on 116 123, or contact the following organisations for support:

https://www.mind.org.uk/

https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/

http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/To understand Cunk on Britain, its best to think of it as Simon Schamas History of Britain but with a strong Bolton accent, and minus the scholarship. Plus a simpleton female presenter, and some rather funny lines in her tour dhorizon of everything from ancient man to Ed Sheerhan and from the tranquil beauty of Roman bath to the golden wonder of Oxford motorway services.

Not that there was much wrong with Schamas lines in his classic series, you understand, but they didnt have that playful mix of filth and insight that fall so easily from the lips of Philomena Cunk, the televisual persona of the brilliant comedian Diane Morgan. So: Cunk on Britain then deploys all the usual tropes of the sweeping TV history documentary series, but sends them up nicely.

Thus we get the usual rostrum-camera work on some old engravings, Cunk/Morgan doing pieces to camera up mountains and in mediaeval yards, clips form bad Hollywood films about history and, most importantly, interviews with a variety talking head academics.

Ah, these poor talking heads, about to be decapitated just as surely as Charles I or Anne Boleyn or any leader of Ukip. Cunk hits these apparently unsuspecting brain boxes like a paramilitary version of Ali G or Louis Theroux, for she is the faux-est of the faux naive.

Robert Peston, clever clogs hack, came off worst when he took far too seriously Cunks question: Whats the most political thing thats ever happened in Britain?. The agony on his face was exquisite as he attempted to process this barmy query into any of the many intellectual frameworks at his disposal. The result? Historic levels of gurning, squirming and the most impressive collection of Peston noises even seen on British television, or leastways not since Northern Rock went down. Cunk took Peston down with much the same violence as he did to the former building society-turned-bad bank.

Tom Holland, historian of the Roman empire, was just visibly very annoyed by Cunks persistent attempts to find out where did the Romans actually came from and the fate of the dragon St George fought.

The female dons came off much better, for what its worth. Given just 10 seconds to explain the Wars of the Roses, of the Roses, Vanessa Harding, professor of history at the University of London, summarised it as a dynastic struggle for control of England the crown with times to spare. First-class honours, there. Laura Ashe, fellow of Worcester College Oxford, must be woman of the world to have been able to discuss Chaucers bum jokes with a comparatively straight face, and to maintain her composure when asked whether King Arthur came a lot.

Coolest of all was Dr Jessica Nelson of the National Archives, who had got the actual proper real Domesday Book out of the vaults specially and decided to treat Cunk like the idiot child she was obviously playing. (Is the Domesday Book like The Runaway by Martina Cole?).

Cunks main problem (like Ali G before her) is that as soon as she becomes a bit better known for her technique, anyone with letters after their name will be putting the phone down on the TV researchers trying to bid for an interview. Thanks to Morgans astonishing sharp delivery and the writing team of Charlie Brooker, Ben Caudill, Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris, this constituted the funniest take on British history since 1066 And All That (WC Sellar and RJ Yeatman, 1930), with that same subversive cheek on the trad myths and fables of the British island story (and a lot more swearing).

Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up

Here, then, are just a few of my favourite Cunk-bites:

* The Cerne Abbas Giant (chalk drawing with an erection: The second crudest Hill in England after Benny.

* The Norman Conquest: William winning was like Brexit in reverse.

* The Bayeux Tapestry: Like a Game of Thrones season finale drawn by an eight-year-old boy ... Just like being there, but in wool.

* Castles: Originally built by kings to protect land and to sit in, whereas today they are extortionate wedding venues.

* The Scots: A proud nation quick to complain if theyve not been given their own section in a landmark history programme ... To this day the words Stirling Bridge conjure pride in every Scotsmans heart, while to an Englishman those same words conjure up literally no feelings at all.

* Roman baths to an ancient Briton: Like Steve McFadden climbing on board Concord.

Scrutinising the end credits to give credit where credit is due, I found the name Wes Taster, who they claim was their sound recordist but, given the foregoing, could just have been some impenetrable, if youll pardon the expression, dirty joke on the part of the programme makers. With Philomena Cunk you can never quite tell, you see, if youre dead brainy. In any case, Im looking for the glossy coffee-table book version of Cunk on Britain to be out for Christmas. Close Carrie Gracie says BBC is 'defending the indefensible' on gender pay gap

Companies have rushed to release their gender pay gap data as the deadline to reveal the figures approached.

Public and private sector employers with 250 employees or more are obliged to reveal by midnight on Wednesday how much more - or less - male staff are paid compared with their female counterparts.

The government estimates this will apply to more than 9,000 organisations. Despite the fact firms have had a whole year to disclose their gender pay gap, thousands have left it to the final moment, with more than 1,200 companies reporting their statistics in the past 24 hours.

As deadline day drew to a close, more than 9720 companies had reported their gender pay discrepancy, with more than 200 of those publishing between 8am and 10.30am.

Companies that miss the deadline could face legal action including court orders and fines, but only after being given more than a month's grace period.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said companies will still be able to publish their data using the Government website after the deadline, but added that their entries will be time-stamped.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has said it will initially contact employers informally if they have not published by the deadline, but businesses could ultimately be faced with unlimited fines and convictions.

Many firms have already revealed large discrepancies between what they pay men and women. At many firms, gaps have been far higher than the UK average of 18.4 per cent, which is equal to women earning 81.6p for every 1 paid to a man.Almost 1,200 ex-Uber drivers have been told by Denmarks tax authorities that they must pay 11.3m Danish Kroner (1.3m) collectively in additional taxes dating back to 2014 and 2015, after tax avoidance had been found from almost all drivers.

Denmark made it mandatory for taxis and ride hailing vehicles to produce fare meters in February last year, a move which eventually led to Uber pulling out of the country.

An investigation by Denmarks tax ministry found that only three out of 1,195 Uber drivers in the country had paid the appropriate amounts.

Recommended Vauxhall making new investment in Luton despite Brexit uncertainty

"There must be room for new digital services to operate in Denmark, said Denmarks tax minister Karsten Lauritzen.

But one of the prerequisites is that, for example, drivers pay taxes like everyone else who earns money in this country.

Tax authorities in the Netherlands, where Ubers European hub is based, had tipped off their counterparts in Denmark on missing tax payments from Uber drivers.

Thousands of drivers in Denmark used the Uber app to get access to economic opportunities and we have always informed them of their fiscal duties, Uber said in an email to Reuters on Wednesday.

We support regulations that help self-employed people meet their tax obligations as has been rolled out by the Danish government, Uber said.

The ride hailing firm has had a tough time of late, settling a gender and race discrimination lawsuit in the US and suspending self-driving car experiments. The tech firm also recently sold its operations in south-east Asia to a rival.

Uber has also come under fire from regulators across European cities. In the UK, Birmingham demanded more clarity from the firm in March on its business model before deciding on whether it will renew Uber's license to operate on a permanent basis.

Transport for London declined to renew Uber's license in September last year, although a number of other UK cities, including Sheffield, Cambridge, Nottingham and Leicester, have granted operating licences to the firm.

Additional reporting from news wiresIn the decades since his assassination on 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr has been sanitised and sanctified; coopted and embraced by the American establishment as a bland, unthreatening saint of racial equality.

In truth, he was a radical dissenter who challenged the political, economic and military status quo at least as much as African American militants like Huey Newton of the Black Panthers and Malcolm X of the Nation of Islam. Hence the FBIs obsessive, relentless attempts to discredit King and those around him, including smears that he was a communist, traitor, adulterer and pervert.

Now, many people think of King solely as a black rights champion. But he was much more than that. He opposed the US war in Vietnam, supported striking workers and demanded economic justice for poor Americans, black and white. No wonder Washington insiders saw him as a dangerous radical and a threat to the social order.

Recommended Black Lives Matter say Kings legacy informs the movement

Kings civil rights campaign played a pivotal role in ending racial segregation and the denial of voting rights to African Americans in the southern states. It also created a cultural shift in attitudes on race issues in much, but not all, of the US.

In the Deep South, long after race equality was secured in law, statues commemorating pro-slavery Confederate leaders remained on their plinths and new ones were added. The Confederate flag continued to be flown from many public and private buildings. This was proof that changing the law to end racist discrimination and voter suppression was not enough.

A button featuring King with Rev Ralph David Abernathy, who helped to organise the Poor Peoples Campaign (Alex Jamison)

The focus of the black civil rights movement was legal equality. While this was understandable and the immediate priority, it also had a downside. Once official discrimination was ended and formal legal equality won, the movement dissipated. The direction, coherence, dynamism and coordination that were its great strengths, and powered its many successes, were lost. Moreover, racism was not vanquished. It continued to plague the lives of African Americans. Civil rights was not the panacea that many had assumed.

This illustrates the danger inherent in any struggle that is pivoted on the sole and limited goal of equal rights. King understood this limitation. Thats why, post legal equality, he wanted to push the movement into a new phase focussing on economic injustice, which he saw as the other major factor holding back African Americans. He also saw this agenda as a means to transcend the racial divide by uniting disenfranchised black and white people in a common struggle for economic emancipation.

Half a century after the end of racially discriminatory statutes in the US, we see the stark limitations of mere equality. The informal segregation of black and white communities in some parts of the US is almost as great as it was back in Dr Kings day. While the black middle class has gained hugely since the 1960s, millions of poor black people are just as locked out of economic upliftment as they were prior to the start of the civil rights era.

Too many black districts of major cities and rural communities remain blighted by slum housing, unemployment and sub-standard education and healthcare. The racist bias in the criminal justice system means that black people continue to account for 40 per cent of the prison population, despite being only 12 per cent of the population overall. All this is further evidence that the legal equality striven for, and won, by the heroic civil rights activists was, by itself, insufficient.

In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights 4510050.jpg AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights 4608656-low_res-martin-luther-king-and-the-march-on-washington.jpg BBC In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights martin-luther-king-6.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights martin-luther-king-7.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights georgiamlk.jpg In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights malcom-x-and-martin-luther-king.jpg Library of Congress/ Wiki Commons In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights martin-luther-king-8.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights 359983.bin AP In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights 4260367.jpg AP In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights MLKAFP.jpg AFP/Getty Images

Indeed, today, Kings legacy looks shaky and some fear it is being reversed. In a throwback to Jim Crow discrimination, recent US elections have been marred by voter registration and ballot rules that are biased against African Americans. Percentages of black people working in senior posts in federal agencies have recently declined. The repeated, ceaseless police killing of unarmed black people is, to some, another form of lynching. And, as in the pre-civil rights days, few officers have faced disciplinary action.

This has fuelled the Black Lives Matter movement, which many see as the civil rights movement mark 2. They cite the need to continue what King began but, cut short by an assassins bullet, never finished  the dream of a non-racial America.

My personal memories of Martin Luther King Jr stretch back to 1963, when I was 11 years old and at school in suburban Melbourne, Australia. I read a news report about the Ku Klux Klan bombing of a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, when four young girls about my own age were murdered. How could anyone kill another innocent human being, I thought, let alone four little girls in church on Sunday morning?

King at a press conference in London, September 1964 (Reg Lancaster/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty) (Reg Lancaster/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

It prompted my interest in, and support for, the freedom struggle of African Americans and, in particular, the work of Dr King. Given my then devout Christian upbringing, I readily related to him as a Baptist pastor. To me, he was fulfilling the love and compassion of the gospels.

When I began my first campaign, aged 15 in 1967, I looked to Martin Luther King and the black civil rights movement as a model for how to do effective activism. They became my template. I adapted their ideals and methods to my early campaigns for Aboriginal rights, repeal of the death penalty and conscription, Australian withdrawal from the Vietnam War, LGBT liberation  and all my subsequent human rights work.

I was 17 when I realised I was gay in 1969. There were no LGBT organisations, not even any helplines, in Melbourne. So I took my inspiration from the black civil rights movement. I reasoned that just as black people were an oppressed minority, so were LGBT people and that we had a similar claim to human rights. If people in power ignored our just claim, it was, I argued, morally justified and politically necessary to resort to non-violent direct action and civil disobedience, in the footsteps of Dr King.

King meets Malcolm X: the leaders of the two strands of African American protest in the 1960s did not always see eye to eye (Library of Congress/Wiki Commons)

I have applied this rationale in my 50-plus years of LGBT and human rights campaigning, involving more than 3,000 protests and over 100 arrests.

This I owe Martin Luther King. I learned from him how to make social change, as he learned from Mohandas Gandhi via his fellow civil rights activist, Bayard Rustin, who introduced King to Gandhis ideas and non-violent tactics of passive resistance. Indeed, Rustin was a key thinker, strategist and organiser of the black civil rights movement but selflessly chose to stay in the shadows because he feared that this homosexuality and left-wing views would be used by the media, politicians and the FBI to discredit the movement.

As we reflect on this 50th anniversary of Martin Luther Kings assassination, there is no doubt in my mind that his enduring legacy is the continued relevance of his ideals and methods to every movement for social change, worldwide. He fought a specific struggle with a universal applicability.

His model of non-violent resistance was echoed in the Greenham Common anti-nuclear protests, OutRage! direct action against anti-LGBT laws and, further afield, the Czech velvet revolution that ended communist tyranny and the people power demonstrations that bought down the Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Right now, Kings aspirations are being played out in the Black Lives Matter movement, which is a continuation of what he began. And all across every corner of the earth  from Russia to Iran, Ethiopia, West Papua, Balochistan and China  people yearning for freedom are challenging despotism using similar non-violent methods.

Martin Luther King Jr is 50 years dead. But his vision lives on and will remain a potent inspiration for global social activism for decades to come. Bravo!

Peter Tatchell is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation (PeterTatchellFoundation.org)A 16-year-old boy has died in hospital after being shot in north-east London, taking the number of murders in the capital this year to 48.

The teenager had been fighting for life after he was gunned down in Markhouse Road, Walthamstow, on Monday night.

He was attacked just 30 minutes after a 17-year-old girl was killed in an unconnected drive-by shooting about three miles away in Tottenham, north London.

The Walthamstow shooting victim died at 5.45pm on Tuesday with his family at his hospital bedside, the Metropolitan Police said.

He had been shot in the face in a horrific and distressing attack outside a leisure centre, according to local MP Stella Creasy.

Police who responded to the shooting also found a 15-year-old boy suffering stab injuries. He was taken to hospital but has seen been discharged.

Metropolitan Police murder and gang crime detectives have launched an investigation but no arrests have been made.

Acting detective chief inspector Glenn Butler said: I fully appreciate the alarm, shock and revulsion caused by this murder and other fatal shootings we have seen across London over the last few months.

We are doing everything we can to identify the culprits and bring them to justice. We cant do this alone. We need those within the community who have information about those involved to search their own conscience and call us with information.

Detail forensic testing including ballistic analysis and the recovery of local CCTV footage is in hand and my officers will be knocking on doors.

The boys death came as tributes were paid to 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne, who shot dead in Chalgrove Road, Tottenham, at 9.30pm on Monday.

Neighbours and friends described her as a good girl and lovely member of the community who is thought to have been caught by chance in the middle of a postcode war between rival gangs.

Schoolfriend Candice Hassan, 17, said Tanesha was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Everyone knows Tanesha, shes just a humble girl, she added. She didnt deserve any of that.

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This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. 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PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty

The two killings came amid growing concerns about knife and gun crime and youth violence in the capital.

So far this year, the Metropolitan Police have launched 48 murder investigations  eight in January, 15 in February, 22 in March, and three in April.

In the whole of last year, there were 130 murders in London.

Fatal stabbings have taken place almost every three days in the capital this year amid fears of the resurgence of gang warfare.Russia has called an extraordinary meeting of the worlds chemical weapons watchdog to protest the UK governments allegation it was behind the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury.

Britain blamed Russia for the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade nerve agent, plunging diplomatic relations between the East and West to their lowest levels since the Cold War.

Moscow fiercely denies any involvement and has demanded to take part in the British investigation.

The meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was called by Russia to address the situation around allegations of non-compliance with the chemical weapons convention made by the UK against Moscow.

Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Members of the emergency services in hazard suits fix the tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Sergei Skripal The retired Russian colonel and former double agent for MI6 was in a critical condition in hospital for more than two months after being exposed to novichok in Salisbury. He was given refuge in the UK after being jailed in Moscow for treason. Mr Skripal came to Britain as part of a high-profile spy swap in 2010 in which four men were exchanged for ten Russian "sleeper agents" in the US. In this image he is speaking to his lawyer from behind bars in Moscow in 2006. AP Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Yulia Skripal Yulia Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei. Facebook Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack A police officer stands guard outside a branch of the Italian chain restaurant Zizzi where the pair dined at before falling ill. It was boarded off whilst investigators worked on the building and later found traces of the chemical weapon within it. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Large areas of central Salisbury were cordoned off by police following the discovery of the Skripals. Traces of nerve agent were also found in The Mill pub. PA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Nick Bailey Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, rushed to the aid of the Russian ex-spy and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent. He was hospitalized after aiding them and didn't leave until three weeks after the attack. Wiltshire Police/Rex Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - Skripals home Police believe they were poisoned at home, and detectives found the highest concentration of novichok on the front door of Mr Skripals house. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Theresa May visits scene of attack Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spokes with Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Kier Pritchard near where the Skripal's were found. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning and suspended high-level contacts, including for the World Cup on March 14. Theresa May told parliament that Russia had failed to respond to her demand for an explanation on how a Soviet-designed chemical, Novichok, was used in Salisbury. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal days before attack Sergei Skripal days before he was exposed to Novichok, that has left him fighting for life. ITV News Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - military involvement British soldiers were deployed soon after the attack to help a counter-terrorism investigation into the nerve agent attack. One of the places they were asked to help out with was Skripal's home and it's surrounding. They were asked to remove a vehicle connected to the agent attack in Salisbury, from a residential street in Gillingham. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation Personnel in protective coveralls and breathing equipment cover an ambulance with a tarpaulin at the Salisbury District Hospital. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The investigation extended to the grave of Sergei Skripal's son Alexander in London Road cemetery. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The Counter Terrorism Policing Network requested assistance from the military to remove a number of vehicles and objects from Salisbury. EPA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Home Secretary visits scene of attack Home Secretary Amber Rudd visited the scene of the nerve agent attack at the Maltings shopping centre on 9 March. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time Yulia Skripal, speaking for the first time, said she felt lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life. Ms Skripal said her life had been turned upside down by the assassination attempt. But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack. Reuters

It came a day after the head of the Porton Down military research facility said his scientists could not trace the nerve agents precise source.

Recommended UK cannot prove Salisbury attack nerve agent came from Russia

Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the Governments Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), said the poison used in Salisbury had been identified as a military-grade novichok nerve agent which could probably be deployed only by a nation-state.

But he told Sky News it was not Porton Downs role to work out where the agent came from and suggested the governments conclusion it was highly likely to have come from Russia was based on a number of other sources.

Members of the emergency services in green biohazard suits work near the bench where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found in critical condition (BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images) (Getty)

Asked about his scientists findings, Mr Aitkenhead told Sky: We in terms of our role were able to identify it as novichok, to identify it was a military-grade nerve agent.

We have not verified the precise source, but we have provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions that they have come to.

Its our job to provide the scientific evidence that identifies what the particular nerve agent is. We identified that it was from this family and that its a military-grade nerve agent. Its not our job to say where that actually was manufactured.

The location of manufacture can be established through a number of different input sources which the Government has access to, he said, adding: From our perspective, scientific evidence is only one of those sources, and it requires a number of other things to verify that.

Its a military grade nerve agent which requires extremely sophisticated methods in order to create  something thats probably only within the capabilities of a state actor.

A police officer stands behind cordon tape in an alleyway which has been blocked off near the home of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury (Reuters)

Porton Downs identification of the substance as novichok was a key point in the evidence presented by the UK in Theresa Mays successful bid to recruit international support in the dispute with Moscow, resulting in the expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats from over 20 countries.

Citing Mr Aitkenhead, Russias president, Vladimir Putin, called for a thorough investigation into the poisoning during a visit to Turkey, where he said the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes bewilderment.

The DSTL stressed on Twitter its evidence was only part of the intelligence picture and said: It is not, and has never been, our responsibility to confirm the source of the agent.

Police offers at the crime scene of the nerve-agent attack in Sailsbury (Getty Images)

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW, which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack.

Of course, there is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator.

This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion.

A Downing Street spokesman said: As the Prime Minister has made clear, the UK would much rather have in Russia a constructive partner ready to play by the rules.

But this attack in Salisbury was part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive Russian behaviour, as well as a new and dangerous phase in Russian activity within the continent and beyond.

The meeting of the OPCW executive council on Wednesday will be held behind closed doors at The Hague.Brexit could be disastrous for disadvantaged groups, such as disabled people and young offenders, unless urgent action is taken to replace vital services, MPs have warned.

A report by the Work and Pensions Committee states that programmes providing support for some of the least advantaged communities risk being bankrupted due to the loss of the European Social Fund (ESF), which provides 500m per year of EU funding to these services.

The programmes it funds deliver employment and skills support to people who are poorly served or neglected by mainstream provision, including disabled people, offenders and prison leavers, the long-term unemployed and people with multiple barriers to work.

While the government has pledged to create a UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) serving a similar purpose to current EU funding, the future is uncertain beyond that.

The report states that Brexit provides a rare opportunity for the UK to create a truly world-leading successor to the ESF that is the envy of Europe, citing weaknesses that exist in the current model.

But it warns that the government must act fast, saying the consequences of a gap in provision  for providers, for local areas, and for individuals  would be disastrous.

Frank Field, chair of the committee, said: We now have an historic opportunity to create a truly fit-for-purpose successor to the ESF. The government must act quickly so that those excellent existing suppliers are not bankrupted.

Effective reform here offers the government an important new chance to begin to fill our skills gap from the community upwards, instead of having a top-down approach.

Frontline providers that receive funding from the ESF told The Independent it played a vital role in helping marginalised groups get the support they need to enjoy the same life chances as their peers.

One such project is Groundwork UK, which helps divert young people from gang culture, for which no resources have been identified to continue the programme once ESF comes to an end.

The projects experienced youth workers provide one-to-one mentoring and group activities in 17 pupil referral units across London to support more than 200 young people identified as being gang members or at risk of exploitation or violence.

Recommended Disadvantaged groups could see support slashed after Brexit

More than half have successfully made the transition back into mainstream education, which dramatically reduces their likelihood of offending.

Groundworks national chief executive, Graham Duxbury, said: ESF funds play a vital role in helping those who are most marginalised in our communities get the support they need to transform their prospects.

Without these kinds of programmes adding value to mainstream public provision, were storing up trouble  and expense  for the future, but more importantly denying thousands of people the opportunity to enjoy the same life chances as their peers.

Another ESF-funded project is the Shaw Trusts Aim4Work programme, worth 4m, which works with people aged over 25 who are out of work and experiencing common mental health conditions.

The charitys integrated services director, Richard Clifton, told The Independent: Without ESF funding, Shaw Trust would not have been able to support 70,000 disabled people, offenders and people with complex needs to gain new skills, improve their wellbeing and find work, over the past few years.

Many people with complex needs are usually overlooked by other mainstream funding programmes. ESF is also vitally important for many smaller voluntary and community based organisations in our supply chain, such as our Aim4Work partners.

It is therefore vital that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will replace ESF, ring-fences this funding for such social programmes in future.

Sam Windett, head of policy for the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA), a membership body for the employment support sector, urged the government to act urgently on the committees recommendations.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty

This is no small issue  each year the ESF provides 500m of resource in England and Wales alone, offering skills and employment support to people often neglected by mainstream services. The government has a historic opportunity to develop a world-leading UK initiative from 2020 that replaces the investment made in employment support, she said.

This can help more people than ever before engage with communities more effectively and get more money to the frontline. Todays recommendations are vital if the government is to tackle social injustices and build a more productive and inclusive economy.

A Government spokesperson said: Were committed to providing support for disadvantaged groups, which is clearly underlined by the commitment to launch the UK Shared Prosperity Fund after we leave the EU.

The new fund will seek to reduce inequalities between communities in the UK and promote sustainable, inclusive growth based on the Industrial Strategy, and we will consult on its design in 2018.We are now in the middle of one of the most serious confrontations between the West and Russia in recent times with little chance of relations improving and the likelihood that it could become even worse.

The situation has been described by Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, as being worse than during the Cold War. In the apocalyptic vision of Lieutenant General Evgeny Buzhinsky, formerly of the Soviet general staff, a real war, worse than a Cold War could be on the horizon. The two sides, between them, have expelled close to 300 of each others diplomats. There is talk of more severe punitive measures and channels of communication are being shut down.

The Wests robust reaction, it should be remembered, has been led by the British governments assertion that Russia had been responsible for the first nerve agent attack in Europe since the Second World War. Some ministers, Boris Johnson chief among them, have suggested that culpability lies at the top, with Vladimir Putin.

Recommended Johnson refuses to back down over Salisbury nerve agent claim

With 29 countries taking concerted action to kick out Russians working under diplomatic cover, Theresa May has been congratulated for organising an impressive diplomatic coup. But now with scientists at Porton Down unable to say where the agent, novichok, was produced, and Mr Johnsons contradictory statements, the governments stance is being held up to scrutiny.

The inability of Porton Down to ascribe blame to Russia means that intelligence is now the key factor in the accusation against the Kremlin. And such overwhelming dependence on intelligence, most of it unknown to the public, has inevitably led to comparison with the fake intelligence which was used to justify the Iraq invasion.

It is also perhaps inevitable that Mr Johnson would be in the centre of the controversy. In an interview two weeks ago he had stated that Porton Down scientists were absolutely categorical that the novichok came from Russia: I asked the guy myself, I said are you sure? And he said theres no doubt.

But the guy, Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the DSTL (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory) at Porton Down, was pretty clear that although the scientists had ascertained the agent was novichok, we havent identified the precise source.

The foreign secretarys aides are insisting that he was misunderstood and his words have been taken out of context. But at the same time, the Russian embassy gleefully pointed out, the Foreign Office deleted a tweet from last month saying that Porton Down had established that the novichok used in the attack definitely came from Russia.

The official British government position in blaming Russia is based on, it says: Our knowledge that within the past decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents probably for assassination and as part of the programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of novichoks, Russias record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations and our assessment that Russia views former intelligence officers as targets.

Taken in isolation, these words do not appear to provide a smoking gun that proves the Kremlin was definitely responsible for the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

But then there is secret intelligence about the matter, says the government, which cannot be disclosed. This may have come from agents inside the Russian security or political establishment. Or it may have come from intercepts of Russian communications. Revealing details of how this information was obtained would place the agents in danger and, or, reveal GCHQ technical capabilities to Moscow.

There is also secrecy around how Porton Down concluded that the substance used was novichok. The samples taken from Salisbury could have been put through scientific tests that would reveal its chemical or structure, which could be matched with whatever is known about novichok, which, by all accounts, is very little.

The surest way, however, would be for samples to be compared with another sample of the substance made in the same lab. That is the way, for example, it was ascertained that the Assad regime had used sarin in Syria. The official position in this case is that the UK does not have any samples of novichok. But could it be the case that a sample had been provided in the past by a defector: something which, again, cannot be publicly disclosed?

The problem with the secrecy is that as well as protecting sources it can be used to hide ineptitude and manipulation.

Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Members of the emergency services in hazard suits fix the tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Sergei Skripal The retired Russian colonel and former double agent for MI6 was in a critical condition in hospital for more than two months after being exposed to novichok in Salisbury. He was given refuge in the UK after being jailed in Moscow for treason. Mr Skripal came to Britain as part of a high-profile spy swap in 2010 in which four men were exchanged for ten Russian "sleeper agents" in the US. In this image he is speaking to his lawyer from behind bars in Moscow in 2006. AP Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Yulia Skripal Yulia Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei. Facebook Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack A police officer stands guard outside a branch of the Italian chain restaurant Zizzi where the pair dined at before falling ill. It was boarded off whilst investigators worked on the building and later found traces of the chemical weapon within it. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Large areas of central Salisbury were cordoned off by police following the discovery of the Skripals. Traces of nerve agent were also found in The Mill pub. PA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Nick Bailey Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, rushed to the aid of the Russian ex-spy and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent. He was hospitalized after aiding them and didn't leave until three weeks after the attack. Wiltshire Police/Rex Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - Skripals home Police believe they were poisoned at home, and detectives found the highest concentration of novichok on the front door of Mr Skripals house. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Theresa May visits scene of attack Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spokes with Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Kier Pritchard near where the Skripal's were found. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning and suspended high-level contacts, including for the World Cup on March 14. Theresa May told parliament that Russia had failed to respond to her demand for an explanation on how a Soviet-designed chemical, Novichok, was used in Salisbury. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal days before attack Sergei Skripal days before he was exposed to Novichok, that has left him fighting for life. ITV News Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - military involvement British soldiers were deployed soon after the attack to help a counter-terrorism investigation into the nerve agent attack. One of the places they were asked to help out with was Skripal's home and it's surrounding. They were asked to remove a vehicle connected to the agent attack in Salisbury, from a residential street in Gillingham. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation Personnel in protective coveralls and breathing equipment cover an ambulance with a tarpaulin at the Salisbury District Hospital. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The investigation extended to the grave of Sergei Skripal's son Alexander in London Road cemetery. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The Counter Terrorism Policing Network requested assistance from the military to remove a number of vehicles and objects from Salisbury. EPA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Home Secretary visits scene of attack Home Secretary Amber Rudd visited the scene of the nerve agent attack at the Maltings shopping centre on 9 March. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time Yulia Skripal, speaking for the first time, said she felt lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life. Ms Skripal said her life had been turned upside down by the assassination attempt. But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack. Reuters

In the case of Iraq, Tony Blairs Downing St sexed up what paltry intelligence there was for its false dossier on weapons of mass destruction. One of the main human intelligence (humint) sources on Iraqs supposed WMD arsenal was a defector called Rafid Ahmed Alwan, codenamed Curveball, who turned out to be a fantasist. Despite warnings from MI6 and German intelligence about his veracity, material provided by Mr Alwan was presented as authentic by the US and UK governments.

There is no evidence that the intelligence provided by the British government on the Salisbury attack has been falsified. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the former commander of the UKs Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) regiment has asked the government to release some of the intelligence which points to Russian responsibility.

Mr De Bretton Gordon says he has seen some of the material and finds it compelling. Russia, he wants to stress, is using the propaganda war, and this needed to be countered: I implore the government to get on the front foot and get the full story out.

Unprecedented levels of intelligence, were divulged, according to government officials, to other countries, and highly classified information, which is normally shared only between the Five Eyes countries  the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada  was supplied to close allies with the national security adviser, Sir Mark Sedwill, taking it to the European Union and the North Atlantic Council. Other countries were given differing levels of intelligence.

More than two dozen countries were, it seems, convinced by what was given to them by London and acted against Russia. It is, however, also the case that some of these countries took the opportunity to hit back at Moscow for their own reasons.

Emmanuel Macrons presidential campaign had been targeted by Russian hackers and propaganda outlets like Russia Today and Sputnik, with Vladimir Putin supposedly backing his admirer Marine Le Pen and Front National. Russian diplomats were thrown out of Paris. Across the Atlantic, the White House, under the circumstances, could not resist pressure from the security and intelligence agencies to take action against Russia, although Donald Trump  under investigation for his links to Moscow  took the less harsh of the expulsion options he was offered. The Baltic states and Ukraine, with their traditional antipathy to Russia, were only too happy to join in the retaliation. Of the UKs close allies, only New Zealand failed to act. The government said it could not find any Russian spies to throw out.

So, for the time being, the UKs allies are likely to show an outward united front in the standoff with Moscow. But that solidarity may fray if more discrepancies and misunderstandings arise about the UK governments case: especially if they involve Mr Johnson. The Brexit-bugling foreign secretary has not made many friends among European allies.The Environment Agency has issued flood warnings across the country after the wet Easter weather caused many rivers to burst their banks.

Rain and snow fell widely across the UK over the bank holiday weekend, sparking a rise in water levels.

By late on Tuesday afternoon, the Environment Agency has issued 177 flood alerts, with 26 of them urging immediate action.

Recommended Travel disruption as snow and rain bring cold and wet end to Easter

The West Midlands, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire and the North East were among the worst affected areas.

Residents in flooded areas, including Wiltshire, were among those who shared photos and videos.

On Tuesday morning, Yorks 16.5-tonne Foss Barrier was lowered in an attempt to stem the rising water level where the river joins the Ouse.

The Environment Agency issued a warning for properties along the Ouse, which burst its banks, stating that flooding was expected and that immediate action was required.

Pictures from Cambridge also showed the river Cam at a higher level than usual, with one Twitter user warning that the wooden Queens Colleges Mathematical Bridge could be at risk.

He said: Its not often you see the river Cam flowing so fast and thats the reason I made the videos today [Tuesday] (about 11am). It is normally so calm, lazy even, but today it looked moody.

In Wiltshire, the river Avon was higher than usual and blue flood barriers were put into place along the banks.

There were multiple flood warnings in place in the West Midlands along the River Severn.

Three people and a dog were rescued from a car stuck in flood water in Derbyshire, and firefighters were helping residents in North Yorkshire after overnight flooding.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA

There could be more problems in store as a fresh wave of snow sweeps into Britain.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning of snow in central and northern parts of Scotland from Tuesday afternoon to 3pm on Wednesday, especially on higher ground.

It warned that roads and rail lines were likely to be affected, resulting in longer journey times.

Drivers across Scotland were advised to travel with caution, with Police Scotland extending its warning for some areas north of Scotlands central belt for the same time period.

Outbreaks of snow, sleet and rain are forecast across Highland, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Angus, Perthshire, Stirlingshire and Argyll.Boris Johnson has refused to back down after wrongly claiming Porton Down experts had identified Russia as the source of the Salisbury nerve agent  instead accusing Jeremy Corbyn of siding with Moscow.

The Foreign Secretary came out fighting after Labour said he had misled the public, turning on its leader for playing Russias game and trying to discredit the UK, in a series of provocative tweets.

The Labour leader had warned Mr Johnson had some very serious questions to answer, following the defence laboratorys admission that it could not identify the origin of the novichok used.

But, in his tweets, Mr Johnson made no mention of his controversial interview with a German TV station, in which he had claimed Porton Down had been absolutely categorical in its verdict.

Instead, he launched a fierce attack, saying: It is lamentable that Jeremy Corbyn is now playing Russias game and trying to discredit the UK over Salisbury attack.

The Foreign Secretary insisted Russia had produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks and argued it had a motive for targeting Sergei Skripal.

28 other countries have been so convinced by UK case they have expelled Russians. In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn chooses to side with the Russian spin machine, Mr Johnson added.

 Jeremy Corbyn says Boris Johnson has 'questions to answer' over Porton Down Novichok claims

The controversy blew up after the broadcaster Deutsche Welle, two weeks ago, asked Mr Johnson how the UK had been able to determine so quickly that the novichok came from Russia.

He replied: When I look at the evidence, the people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical.

In fact, as the Porton Down chief executive acknowledged on Tuesday, the centre had been unable to determine if the novichok had been produced in Russia.

Diane Abbott, Labour's shadow home secretary, said the Foreign Secretary had misled the public, while Mr Corbyn said: Boris Johnson has some very serious questions to answer.

The Foreign Office was also embarrassed after admitting it had deleted an inaccurate tweet stating that scientists had concluded the novichok used in the attack had been produced in Russia.

It read: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

The Foreign Office blamed mistakes in tweeting a briefing given by the UKs Ambassador to Russia in real time for its blunder.

One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our Ambassadors words. We have removed this tweet, a spokeswoman said.

To add to the embarrassment, the deleted tweet was spotted by the Russian Embassy in London  handing it a publicity coup and further ammunition for its claim that the UK has been dishonest.

Meanwhile, the security minister Ben Wallace went further than previous comments by ministers  or by Porton Down  insisting Russia was the only producer of novichok.

Mr Wallace rejected claims that the contradictory statements about Salisbury amounted to a mess, telling the BBC: I dont think so at all.

And he added: Who did design novichok? That was the Russians, who have developed and stockpiled it. In fact, the cast of that is reduced to one.Labour says it deserves credit for questioning if Russia was to blame for the Salisbury nerve agent, after the Porton Down defence laboratory admitted it could not identify where it came from.

Diane Abbott seized on the comments to hit back at the fierce criticism of Jeremy Corbyn for refusing to join in the rapid condemnation of Vladimir Putin, when the poisonings took place last month.

The shadow home secretary said the security services had been very cautious in the briefings Labour had received, rather than pointing the finger directly at Moscow.

Recommended UK cannot prove Salisbury attack nerve agent came from Russia

She criticised those  including Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary  who rushed into the media to say it was unequivocally Putin, adding: Thats not necessarily what we were told.

We will hopefully get some credit for taking a more thoughtful approach and asking the right questions, Ms Abbott argued.

Mr Corbyn faced angry criticism from his own backbenchers when he refused to condemn Russia over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, in Commons clashes last month.

While he called the attack an appalling act of violence, his speech was met with cries of shame from Conservative MPs because the Labour leader stepped short of agreeing Moscow was responsible.

Two weeks ago, Mr Johnson was asked by an interviewer on Deutsche Welle, the German broadcaster, how the UK had been able to find out so quickly that the novichok used originated from Russia.

He replied: When I look at the evidence, the people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical.

I asked the guy myself. I said: 'Are you sure?' And he said: 'There's no doubt.' So we have very little alternative but to take the action that we have taken.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Ms Abbott criticised the foreign secretary for suggesting the UK was 101 per cent certain it was Putin, saying: I dont understand where he got that information from.

Gary Aitkenhead, the head of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, caused dismay in No 10 when he said he had not identified the precise source of the novichok used.

Porton Down had identified it as a military-grade novichok nerve agent which could probably be deployed only by a nation state, but could not prove it came from Russia, he said.

Downing Street was forced into a damage limitation exercise, arguing the Porton Down tests were only one part of the intelligence picture and insisting there was still no other plausible explanation than Russian culpability.

The episode threatened to fracture the international coalition Theresa May has successfully built against Moscow, with the expulsion of 150 diplomats from its embassies around the world.

An ally of Angela Merkel raised doubts over Britain's global push to isolate President Putin, by persuading its allies to act.

Armin Laschet, one of five deputy chairmen of the German chancellor's Christian Democratic Union, tweeted. If one forces nearly all Nato countries into solidarity, shouldn't one have certain evidence?Boris Johnson has been accused of misleading the public by wrongly claiming Porton Down experts had identified Russia as the source of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury poisoning.

The foreign secretary came under pressure as it emerged the Foreign Office also deleted a tweet stating that scientists had concluded the novichok used in the attack had been produced in Russia.

In fact, as the Porton Down chief executive acknowledged on Tuesday, the defence laboratory had been unable to pinpoint the precise source of the deadly agent.

The tweet  which the Foreign Office admitted did not accurately reflect the information it had received  was published on 22 March.

Around the same date, Mr Johnson gave an interview to Deutsche Welle, the German broadcaster, in which he was asked how the UK had been able to determine so quickly that the novichok came from Russia.

He replied: When I look at the evidence, the people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical.

I asked the guy myself. I said: Are you sure? And he said: Theres no doubt. So we have very little alternative but to take the action that we have taken.

Diane Abbott, Labours shadow home secretary, said: It seems Boris Johnson misled the public when he claimed that Porton Down officials confirmed to him that Russia was the source of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack.

Those officials have made it clear they cannot identify its source, and are not able to definitively say it came from Russia or elsewhere.

Boris Johnson is supposed to represent Britain on the world stage, but time and again he has shown he is unable to do so responsibly.

Meanwhile, an embarrassed Foreign Office blamed the mistake on it tweeting a briefing given by the UKs Ambassador to Russia in real time for the blunder.

The now-deleted tweet read: Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.

One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our ambassadors words. We have removed this tweet, a spokeswoman said.

She added that the Foreign Office had been attempting to reach as wide an audience as possible by tweeting excerpts from the briefing as quickly as possible.

Gary Aitkenhead, the head of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, caused dismay in No 10 when he said he had not identified the precise source of the novichok used.

Porton Down had identified it as a military-grade nerve agent, which could probably be deployed only by a nation state, but could not prove it came from Russia, he said.

Downing Street was forced into a damage limitation exercise, arguing the Porton Down tests were only one part of the intelligence picture and insisting there was still no other plausible explanation than Russian culpability.

 Jeremy Corbyn says Boris Johnson has 'questions to answer' over Porton Down Novichok claims

Jeremy Corbyn added to the criticism of the foreign secretary, telling Sky News: Boris Johnson has some very serious questions to answer.

He claimed on German television that this was a Russian-produced nerve agent and Porton Down then examined it and said all they could identify it was as novichok.

They couldnt say where it came from, and the chemical weapons organisation is meeting to continue that discussion about where it goes from here.South Africa is the most unequal country in the world and its poverty is the enduring legacy of apartheid, according to a report by the World Bank.

Inequality in the country has increased since the end of the apartheid with black South Africans at the highest risk of poverty, the report found.

It added that it was the most unequal of the 149 countries which the World Bank analysed using the Gini Index, an economic tool which looks at consumption and expenditure to measure inequality.

It was closely followed by its neighbours Namibia and Botswana.

Despite significant poverty reduction in South Africa between the end of apartheid in 1994 and 2011, at least 2.5 million more South Africans have fallen into poverty since 2011, the report found.

More than half of the population currently lives below the national poverty line. The group most at risk of poverty are black South Africans, the report found.

The chronically poor group is almost exclusively made up of black and coloured South Africans, the World Bank said.

In 2015, the University of South Africa found that the top one per cent of South Africans own 70.9 per cent of the countrys wealth while the bottom 60 percent only holds just seven per cent.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The World Bank found that in South Africa poverty has a strong spatial dimension, which demonstrates the enduring legacy of apartheid.

Poverty remains concentrated in previously disadvantaged areas, such as the former homelands, it said. The report was released days before the death of Winnie Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid activist and ex-wife of Nelson Mandela who died in 2013.

The former head of the African Union Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said that inequality has remained stubbornly high.

World Bank South African director Paul Noumba Um said that South Africa has made significant progress in reducing poverty.

But, he added, the triple challenge of high poverty, high inequality, and high unemployment persists.

Shortly after a gunman entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in February and killed 17 people, the conspiracy theory website Infowars claimed it had a photo of the attacker wearing communist garb. It showed a young man with a clenched fist in a red shirt emblazoned with a hammer and sickle and images of Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx.

But that man was not Nikolas Cruz, who was arrested two miles from the Parkland, Florida, school on February 14 and later confessed to the shooting, the police said. The man in the red shirt was Marcel Fontaine, who lives 1,200 miles away in Massachusetts and has never visited Florida.

Earlier this week Mr Fontaine filed a defamation lawsuit against Infowars, one of its reporters and its right-wing founder, Alex Jones, asserting that their story misidentified him as the gunman and caused his photo to spread across social media, message boards and other websites. In the lawsuit, a lawyer for Mr Fontaine said it appeared that Infowars published his photo simply because of his shirt.

Mr Jones and Infowars have long been consumed with paranoia over the prospect of communist infiltration and indoctrination, the lawsuit, filed in Travis County District Court in Austin, Texas, said. Over the past year alone, Infowars has featured hundreds of sensationalist articles and videos focusing on the threat of communist agitation and conspiracies.

Mr Fontaine declined a request for an interview, but his lawyer, Mark D Bankston, said it was obvious that Mr Fontaines shirt was not to be taken seriously. The shirt, which is called The Communist Party, shows Marx, the 19th century economist who wrote The Communist Manifesto, wearing a lampshade on his head and Stalin, Lenin, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro drinking from red plastic cups.

We believe that Mr Fontaine was targeted due to the T-shirt he was wearing, and that Infowars intentionally disregarded fundamental newsroom ethics due to its desire to politicize the tragedy, Mr Bankston said.

Infowars did not respond to a request for comment.

Florida shooting  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Florida shooting  in pictures Florida shooting  in pictures Police arrest a suspect in connection with the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida Reuters Florida shooting  in pictures Parents wait for news after reports of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida AP Florida shooting  in pictures Anxious family members wait for news of students AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee Florida shooting  in pictures Students being evacuated from the school AP Florida shooting  in pictures Students being evacuated from the school Getty Florida shooting  in pictures People gather waiting for word from students AP Florida shooting  in pictures Parents waiting for news on their children AP Florida shooting  in pictures People gather at a hotel where students were taken after the shooting Getty Florida shooting  in pictures Florida Governor Rick Scott speaks to the media as he visits Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School following the shooting AFP/Getty Florida shooting  in pictures Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, Medical Director Trauma, left, and Dr. Evan Boyer, Medical Director, Emergency Services, speak about treating victims and the suspect at a press conference outside Broward Health North hospital AP

Earlier this week the website appended an editors note atop the 14 February story that said it had previously showed a photograph of a young man that we had received and stated incorrectly that it was an alleged photo of the suspected shooter. It continued: We regret that this error occurred.

An archive of the Infowars story by the Wayback Machine shows that Fontaines photo was online for at least five hours.

In the editors note, Infowars said Mr Fontaine later asked for the photo to be removed, but by that time, it had already been taken down.

But the short time it did appear on the site caused lasting damage, according to the lawsuit. Fontaine continues to be harassed and receive threats, the lawsuit said, and is seeking more than $1m (700,000) in damages.

Led by Mr Jones, who has repeatedly asserted that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was completely fake and that the September 11 terror attacks were an inside job, Infowars attracts millions of visitors every month with stories often based on unsupported claims and conspiracy theories. With little evidence, Infowars and Jones, the host of a popular radio show, have propagated wild allegations that they have ended up having to retract.

In March 2017, Jones apologised for spreading the hoax known as Pizzagate, which claimed that top Democratic officials operated a satanic child pornography ring in the basement of Comet Ping Pong, a Washington pizza restaurant. His apology came three months after a man motivated by the conspiracy theory fired a rifle inside the restaurant. In May 2017, Jones retracted several stories and issued an apology to Chobani Yogurt to resolve a lawsuit filed by the company for asserting that its Idaho factory, which employs refugees, was connected to a 2016 sexual assault of a child.

The shooting at Stoneman Douglas High, along with the student survivors who have since led impassioned rallies for restrictions on guns, quickly attracted the attention of far-right provocateurs. A month after the shooting, YouTube cracked down on some fringe groups whose conspiracy-theory videos had climbed the sites trending list. YouTube issued a warning against Infowars, which had published a video that falsely claimed that a Stoneman Douglas student, David Hogg, was a crisis actor.

In the lawsuit, Mr Bankston said that the Infowars story about the school gunman fell in line with the sites overall strategy. These sorts of reckless lies are what caused a disturbed individual to enter a pizzeria and begin firing, he said.

Alex Jones is no longer a gimmick or sideshow. His audience rivals that of major cable networks, yet he refuses to exercise the most basic journalistic integrity, Mr Bankston added. What happened to Mr Fontaine is the predictable result of the reckless practices Mr Jones has fostered at Infowars.

The New York TimesBen, make sure you play Take My Hand, Precious Lord. Play it real pretty, are said to be the last words of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, just before he stepped out onto a balcony in Memphis, Tennessee where a gunman shot him a single time, ending his life half a century ago.

That gunshot 53 years ago put an end to the life of a man who is one of the most revered figures in American history  not to mention one of the most quotable individuals with a persistent relevance to the condition of the country and its people.

Before King made that plea for the sounds of beauty to Ben Branch, a musician scheduled to play at a planned event that evening in Memphis, he was known for using his words to inspire a generation to peaceful action in the fight for civil rights.

Here is the late reverend, in his own words.

I have decided to stick with love. hate is too great a burden to bear

Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty we are free at last.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights 4510050.jpg AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights 4608656-low_res-martin-luther-king-and-the-march-on-washington.jpg BBC In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights martin-luther-king-6.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights martin-luther-king-7.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights georgiamlk.jpg In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights malcom-x-and-martin-luther-king.jpg Library of Congress/ Wiki Commons In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights martin-luther-king-8.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights 359983.bin AP In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights 4260367.jpg AP In pictures: Martin Luther King Jr's campaign for civil rights MLKAFP.jpg AFP/Getty Images

If you cant fly then run, if you cant run then walk, if you cant walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

The time is always right to do what is right.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Lifes most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?

 Martin Luther King Jr's iconic I Have A Dream speech

Faith is taking the first step even when you dont see the whole staircase.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

Every man must decided whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

 March For Our Lives: Martin Luther King's grandaughter Yolanda's speech in Washington DC

There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breath.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think thats pretty important.

All labour that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

"It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of white society.

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me? But the good Samaritan reversed the question: If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?

If I wish to compose or write or pray or perch well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.

A right delayed is a right denied.Fifty years after civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr was gunned down on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Americans gathered at that same hotel, and around the country, to honour his legacy and reflect on how much further the nation still has to travel to meet his dream.

Thousands of people turned out to celebrate the life of the activist and preacher, who lead countless boycotts, walkouts, and marches in the fight to end racial segregation and discrimination in the US.



Hundreds flocked to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where King was shot and killed on 4 April 1968. Two of Kings children gathered at the hotel  now known as the National Civil Rights Museum  along with civil rights leaders Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend Al Sharpton.

Kings youngest daughter, Bernice, told supporters how difficult it was to remember her fathers assassination, which came one day after his famous Mountaintop speech to striking sanitation workers. Ms King was just five years old at the time.

Its important to see two of the children who lost their daddy 50 years ago to an assassins bullet, she said. But we kept going. Keep all of us in prayer as we continue the grieving process for a parent that weve had yet to bury.

Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King Martin Luther King during his famous 'I have a dream' speech in Washington in 1963 AP Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 AFP/Getty Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King American civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) arriving at London Airport. He is in England to be the chief speaker at a public meeting about colour prejudice and to appear on the BBC television programme 'Face To Face' Getty Images Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr. tells a Miami, Florida news conference, that he will go to Los Angeles to meet with black and white leaders and help create "a community of love" in the violence torn city in August 1965 AP Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr. and his civil rights marchers head for Montgomery, the state's capitol, March 21, 1965, during a five day, 50 mile walk to protest voting laws AP Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King An image from 1960 shows Martin Luther King at a meeting Getty Images Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King leading freedom marchers in Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 AP Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King Civil rights protestors marching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, where the March on Washington climaxed in Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech Getty Images Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King Martin Luther King and the March on Washington BBC Martin Luther King: Life in pictures Martin Luther King March on Washington  1963 Famous for Martin Luther King Jnrs I have a dream speech, the march on Washington saw 300,000 people gathering at the Lincoln Memorial calling for equal rights for African-Americans Getty

Ms King and her brother, Martin Luther King III, would later travel to Atlanta, where they would participate in a bell-ringing and wreath-laying ceremony at their fathers crypt to mark the moment when he was killed. Their brother, Dexter, and Martin IIIs daughter, Yolanda, were also scheduled to participate.

In an appearance on ABCs Good Morning America, Martin III said he thought his father would be proud of the non-violent movements happening in the US today  from the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, to the student-led protests for gun control.

He would know that we as a nation can, must, and will do better, Martin III said.

 Bobby Kennedy announces Martin Luther King's death: 'We can replace this stain across our land...with love'

Congressman John Lewis, a contemporary of Kings, marked an anniversary of his own on Wednesday. For the first time in 50 years, he returned to Martin Luther King Park in Indianapolis  the same place where he heard Senator Robert Kennedy announce Kings death back in 1968.

If it hadnt been for Martin Luther King Jr, I dont know what would have happened to our nation, Mr Lewis said. I dont know what would have happened to many of us that had been left out and left behind.

He added: I thank God that he lived. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to stand up  to be brave, courageous, and bold, and to never give up.

US race relations: The enduring legacy of Martin Luther King Show all 2 1 /2 US race relations: The enduring legacy of Martin Luther King US race relations: The enduring legacy of Martin Luther King 22391.bin Keystone/Getty US race relations: The enduring legacy of Martin Luther King 22307.bin DAVID SANDISON

Mr Lewis also appeared in a video with former president Barack Obama to commemorate the occasion. In the video, the pair visited students at the Ron Brown College Preparatory High School in Washington, DC.

As long as were still trying, Dr Kings soul is still rejoicing, Mr Obama told the students.

President Donald Trump acknowledged the anniversary in a tweet, linking to a video of his own, previous comments on Kings legacy. In a proclamation issued by the White House, Mr Trump said it was not up to the government to achieve Dr Kings ideals, but rather up to the people of this great country, who will see to it that our Nation represents all that is good and true, and embodies unity, peace, and justice.

 March For Our Lives: Martin Luther King's grandaughter Yolanda's speech in Washington DC

The celebration in Memphis on Wednesday highlighted Kings struggle against economic inequality  the same struggle that brought him to the city the night he died.

King had travelled to Tennessee that week to speak with sanitation workers, who were striking over low wages and unsafe working conditions. In the final speech of his life, King urged the workers to continue fighting to make America what it ought to be.

Weve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end, King said that night. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. Weve got to see it through.

Some of the same workers who participated in that strike sat in the front row at Wednesdays event. Hundreds of others gathered outside a union headquarters that morning before a march marking the occasion.

Meanwhile, the organisers of a new Poor Peoples Campaign  the same economic justice campaign King was organising at the time of his death  announced there would be a new wave of action in the coming days.

Additional reporting by APA school in Atlanta has apologised after children performed a poem for Black History Month in blackface masks.

Pupils at Kindezi Old Fourth Ward Charter School recited Paul Laurence Dunbars 1896 poem We Wear The Mask while wearing black masks with exaggerated red lips and white eyes.

A video of the recital, which was performed by seven and eight-year-olds, has been viewed millions of times since it was posted on Facebook by a concerned parent last week.

Semone Banks, who shared the footage, said many mothers were pissed and that the school has to do better.

Kindezi School is a great school and we are all like a big family, however this act was not acceptable, she said. I do understand that it is a poem, but the kids could have made up their own mask and used emojis or anything other than blackfaces.

There is a big lesson to be learned here.

The school subsequently apologised for the hurt, anger, frustration and disappointment caused by the performance.

It said an investigation was underway to ensure this never happens again and that teachers were being educated on cultural competency in race and racism in the US.

On Facebook, the teacher who organised the performance offered her sincerest apologies to all that have been offended".

Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London A young boy holds a placard reading 'migration is beautiful' during the march against racism demonstration in London. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Warsaw Protesters rally in Warsaw under the slogan 'Tired of racism and fascism'. AFP/Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London An anti-racism demostrators chants with chains around his neck during a march against racism. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Vienna People getting ready to march against racism in Vienna. Twitter/Wriseup Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Glasgow Anti-racism demonstrators take part in a rally through the city centre of Glasgow. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London An anti-racism demostrator holds a placard readin 'Laundry is the only thing that should be seperated by colour'. Getty Images Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Paris Thousand of protesters demonstrate against police brutality and in defense of migrants and those without papers in Paris. EPA Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London Anti-racism demostrators hold placards and chant during a march organised by the group Stand Up to Racism as an expression of unity against racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Athens A girl poses for a photo during a rally against the EU-Turkey deal blocking mass migration into Europe in Athens. AP Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Glasgow Aamer Anwar a prominent Scottish lawyer joins an Anti-racism rally through Glasgow city centre. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London Anti-racism demostrators hold placards and chant in London's march against racism. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Glasgow A man in Glasgow holds a banner reading 'refugees welcome'. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London Anti-racism demostrators let off flares during the march against racism in London. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Paris A protester in a grim reaper disguise holds a shield reading 'State racism, no impunity for police brutality against those without papers' in Paris. EPA Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Athens Migrants who live in Greece chant slogans during a rally against the EU-Turkey deal blocking mass migration into Europe, in Athens. AP

She said: I understand the pain behind the concept of blackface and in no way was it my intent to be offensive, but to shed light on a part of our history that was not pretty."

We Wear The Mask poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar in full:

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!Donald Trump has said only stupid people dont want to get along better with Russia.

If we got along with Russia, that would be a good thing not a bad thing, he said during a working lunch with Baltic leaders. And just about everybody agrees with that, except very stupid people.

While Mr Trump expelled 60 Russian diplomats last week, many still do not believe he is being tough enough on Vladimir Putin.

Recommended UK cannot prove Salisbury attack nerve agent came from Russia

On Tuesday, the president said that probably nobodys been tougher to Russia than Donald Trump.

This week, it was confirmed that Mr Trump in a recent phone call proposed a meeting with Mr Putin at the White House. Also during their conversation, Mr Trump congratulated Mr Putin on being re-elected, even though the Russian leaders victory was never in doubt.

An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections, said Republican Senator John McCain.

But preparations for any sit-down have reportedly stalled over the expulsions of diplomats, which Russia responded to with retaliation. Furious over what it says is an anti-Russia campaign by the West, the Kremlin said it would expel 60 US diplomats and close the American consulate in St Petersburg, Russias second-largest city.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. 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

Along with expelling dozens of Russian diplomats, Mr Trump also decided to close the Russian consulate in Seattle, Washington in his strongest action against the country since taking office. The move was part of a larger international response to Moscows alleged use of a nerve agent in the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter in the UK town of Salisbury.

The Kremlin has denied involvement in the attack.

Anatoly Antonov, the Russian Ambassador to the US, has called the expulsions unfortunate but said the two countries were destined to become friends again, in a video address last week.On the 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther Kings death, a new generation of activists and civil rights leaders is forming and attempting to change the country amid debates on race, xenophobia, police brutality, homophobia, and Islamophobia.

These leaders have taken their cues from King and his landmark speech I Have a Dream speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on 28 August 1963.

Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Cullors, a Los Angeles-based African-American artist and activist, is just one of many attempting to fulfil Kings dream.

Cullors describes herself as a freedom fighter and founded the group Dignity and Power Now in 2012 to call for police reform in California. She is also the person who established the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, which took hold when George Zimmerman, a Florida man accused of fatally shooting black teenager Trayvon Martin, was found not guilty.

She says the speech is such an American staple it is hard to remember when she first heard it, but does know it was nostalgia that I felt for a past I had never experienced but also was a type of grief I felt for a past that I never experienced.

As an adult, Cullors says it means much more to her given what she knows about King and his goal to relate to black people and white people and trying to relate to countries outside the US. Knowing that King was a radical and a revolutionary has made that speech and his work that much more impactful for her, she adds.

 Black Lives Matter storm London City airport runway

King said on that day in front of the Lincoln Memorial: When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of colour are concerned.

Fifty years later  as Black Lives Matter protests, the March for Our Lives campaigns for gun reforms, and the two Womens Marches since President Donald Trump arrived in office have been some of the largest events in social activism history  the question for many activists and observers is whether the country has actually made progress towards Kings vision.

Cullors says: [We have] progressed as a culture. More people are aware of the underbelly of society, more people are aware of racism. Have our policies changed? No, I think it is something of Kings dream of integration has been minimised. We integrated technically, but we still have more second-class citizens.

DeRay Mckesson and Johnetta Elzie

DeRay Mckesson is another in this new generation of civil rights leaders. Partnering with Johnetta Elzie, the pairs voices rose to prominence during the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Missouri, following the police-involved shooting death of resident Michael Brown. Using Twitter they documented the angst, fear and frustration of the predominantly African-American community in the heart of the American midwest outside of St Louis, Missouri.

Our demand is simple. Stop killing us, Ms Elzie told The New York Times.

The pair also helped launch a data collection on police killings called Mapping Police Violence. They won the PEN New England 2015 Howard Zinn Freedom to Write Award as well.

Black Lives Matter leader DeRay Mckesson, seen here in 2016, and four others are being sued by an unidentified Baton Rouge police officer for allegedly inciting and encouraging violence at demonstrations (AP)

McKesson, always wearing his now infamous blue Patagonia vest, is a former school administrator in Baltimore, Maryland, and believes the death of Mr Brown is what really pushed him into activism. I kept thinking, Kids cant learn if theyre dead, he told NYT..

What summed up Mckessons views of Kings vision best is a speech he gave in earlier this week at Princeton University. He told students: The work of justice is almost always the work of equity. Equality is the idea that everybody gets the same thing. Equity is the notion that people get what they need and deserve. Freedom is not only the absence of oppression, but the presence of justice and joy.

Brittany Packnett

Along with McKesson, Elzie and Samuel Sinyangwe, Brittany Packnett co-founded Campaign Zero, a charity committed to organising activists to work against police violence.

She was also a member of former president Barack Obamas Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The organisations set of 10 demands to reform policing in often-impoverished and/or predominantly African-African communities is based on the work of the task force.

Packnett says she first heard Kings I Have a Dream speech because it was part of a documentary that was required viewing in my house. I was raised in a household where the history of my people and our struggle for freedom was required knowledge, and we were raised to carry on, she says.

As a child, it was more than the words he spoke, but also the stage on which he spoke that was meaningful to me.

She adds that the 1963 march set a playbook for civil rights struggles to come, and taught me an early lesson in the collective power of community.

Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Show all 15 1 /15 Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Kandy Freeman participates in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower People participate in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Hawk Newsome, a Black Lives Matter activist, leads a protest outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Hawk Newsome (C) leads a chant during a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, US. January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower People participate in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower An NYPD officer speaks with a Black Lives Matter leaders during a protest in the snow outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Kandy Freeman participates in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower An NYPD officer speaks with a Black Lives Matter leaders during a protest in the snow outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Carol Garza, a Black Lives Matter supporter, protests outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower People participate in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. Stephanie Keith/Reuters Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower A Black Lives Matter supporter protests in the snow outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter activists march in front of Trump Tower on January 14, 2017 in New York City. Kevin Hagen/Getty Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter activists march in front of Trump Tower on January 14, 2017 in New York City. Kevin Hagen/Getty Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter supporters protest in the snow outside Trump Tower in New York City on January 14, 2017. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter organises march to Trump Tower Black Lives Matter Kandy Freeman marches in front of Trump Tower on January 14, 2017 in New York City. Kevin Hagen/Getty

When we show up, and raise our voices, we can change the world.

But Packnett says that though the speech was a landmark moment, what it really represented was the quiet, transformational work of thousands of people before and after the speech was given to promote equality and civil rights.

Though she feels Americans have made progress in some terms, she says: We still have a far way to go to make the systemic progress necessary to move away from individual stories of triumph to get to true equity and liberation.

Police violence, the violence of poverty, institutional racism and neo-Nazism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and transphobia all are still a reality of our current life, and thus, we have yet to reach Kings Beloved Community.

She adds that people must wrestle our country back from the grips of the xenophobic hate of Mr Trumps travel ban and building of a border wall with Mexico and the neo-Nazi and white supremacist violence that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. It was after that deadly protest that Trump claimed both sides of those opposing the removal of a Civil War-era generals statue and those wanting to remove the reminder of centuries of brutal slavery were to blame.

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an essayist, journalist, and author. I would like for people to be nonviolent, thats my desire, but Im not surprised when theyre not. You wonder how much CO2 you can pump in, Mr Coates told The New Yorker magazine. I am not calling for riots any more than I would call for global warming.

Coates has long argued that institutional racism, inherent to the American system, has been what has kept the country from reaching Kings vision. He argued passionately for reparations for descendants of slavery as well as a change to federal housing programmes, which are frequently used by African Americans.

Ta-Nehisi Coates appears at a discussion at the Musee Dapper in Paris (Rex)

He wrote in The Atlantic: Businesses discriminated against them, awarding them the worst jobs and the worst wages. Police brutalised them in the streets. And the notion that black lives, black bodies and black wealth were rightful targets remained deeply rooted in the broader society. Now we have half-stepped away from our long centuries of despoilment, promising, Never again. But still we are haunted.Donald Trump will deploy National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border as soon as tonight, the Secretary of Homeland Security has said.

Over the past few days, Mr Trump has been ramping up his rhetoric on immigration and border security, calling on Congress to change the USs very weak border laws.

He also said he wanted to send the military to guard the border until we can have a wall and proper security  plans that will now come to fruition.

The president has directed that the Department of Defence and the Department of Homeland Security work together with our governors to deploy the National Guard to our southwest border, said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, speaking at the White House. The president will be signing a proclamation to that effect today.

Ms Nielson added that the troops would be assisting the US Border Patrol, which currently guards the border, but would not be involved in enforcement.

She did not provide information on how many troops would be deployed, how long their deployment will last and how much it will cost.

Instead, echoing Mr Trump, she railed against the countrys current immigration laws, saying the current system rewards bad behaviour and its time to act.

The administration has drafted legislation and will ask Congress to provide the legal authority and resources to address this crisis at our borders, Ms Nielson said.

Prior to the announcement, the president met with Ms Nielson, Defence Secretary James Mattis and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to discuss border issues.

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 Sessions said he would soon be announcing additional Justice Department initiatives to restore legality to the southern border.

Both Barack Obama and George W Bush sent troops to the border during their presidencies. But it is unclear why Border Patrol agents would need help from the Defence Department right now, given that illegal border crossings are at the lowest level in decades, the Washington Post reported.

An adviser who speaks frequently with Mr Trump told the newspaper that the president is worried about losing support from his political base. He has not yet received enough funding from Congress to finance his border wall and immigration policies.

This week, Mr Trump demanded that a caravan of roughly 1,000 migrants, most of whom fled Honduras, be prevented from entering the US through Mexico. He claimed that Mexico had absolute power to keep them from entering the US illegally. Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a migrants rights group that organised the journey, said the caravans destination was not the US border.

Last month, Mr Trump grudgingly signed a massive budget bill that allocated $1.6bn for border security this year, even though the president at one point wanted $25bn to fully fund the construction of his border wall.

Mr Trump had originally said the wall would be paid for by Mexico. The president has now reportedly floated the idea of getting the Pentagon to pay for it since the department received a huge boost in funding under the budget measure.

The deployment of troops could lead to another standoff over immigration and border security between the US and Mexico.

Before the announcement, the Mexican government had formally asked for clarification on Mr Trumps statements saying he planned to deploy troops to the border.

Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray said in a tweet that the Mexican government will define its reaction on the basis of that clarification, and always in defence of our sovereignty and national interests.When Kelli Rowlette received the results from a DNA sample she had sent to a popular genealogy website, she assumed there had been a mistake.

The test showed that her DNA matched a sample from a doctor more than 500 miles away - and, although she had never heard of him, Ancestry.com predicted a parent-child relationship between the two.

At the time, Ms Rowlette was not aware that more than 36 years ago, her parents had struggled to conceive.

She did not know her mother had undergone artificial insemination, nor did she - or her parents - know her mother's fertility doctor had allegedly used his own sperm to get her pregnant with Rowlette.

The account comes from a lawsuit filed last week in US District Court in Idaho, which saw Ms Rowlette accuse Gerald E Mortimer, a now-retired obstetrician gynecologist in Idaho Falls, of fraud and medical negligence, among other things.

Dr Mortimer could not immediately be reached for comment, and it's not clear whether he has an attorney.

In the early 1980s, Ms Rowlette's parents, Howard Fowler and Sally Ashby, were married and living in Idaho Falls, not far from the Wyoming border.

The pair were having a hard time conceiving. Dr Mortimer, an OB/GYN, diagnosed Mr Fowler with a low sperm count and Ms Ashby with a tipped uterus, which see it tilt toward the spine, according to the lawsuit.

The doctor recommended that Ms Ashby undergo a procedure in which she would be inseminated with sperm from her husband and an anonymous donor who matched the couple's specifications, the lawsuit states. The couple requested a donor who was in college and taller than 6 feet with brown hair and blue eyes - and Dr Mortimer told them that he had found a donor matching their description, the suit says.

But the lawsuit claims that when he performed the procedure in summer 1980, he used his own sperm. He did not match the couple's specifications.

Ms Ashby became pregnant and, in May 1981, Dr Mortimer delivered his own child - never divulging the secret, according to the lawsuit.

He remained Ms Ashby's doctor for several years until the she and her husband moved to Washington state.

"Dr. Mortimer cried when Ms Ashby informed him they were moving," according to the lawsuit. "Dr Mortimer knew Kelli Rowlette was his biological daughter but did not disclose this to Ms Ashby or Mr Fowler."

It wasn't until last year that the decades-long secret started to unravel - when Ms Rowlette sent in a DNA sample and it told her something was off.

In July, Ms Rowlette, from Benton County, Washington, received the notification about the match from Ancestry.com. She told her mother, expressing her "disappointment in the unreliability of the service" -- and her mother recognised the doctor's name, according to the lawsuit.

"Ms Ashby contacted Mr Fowler, now her ex-husband, and relayed the information she obtained from Ancestry.com. Mr Fowler was also devastated by the news," the lawsuit states, explaining that the parents "painfully laboured" over whether they should tell their daughter.

But several months later, Ms Rowlette discovered the shocking truth on her own.

In August, she was helping to sort through her parents' old papers when she ran across her birth certificate. It had been signed by the doctor who delivered her - Gerald Mortimer, according to the lawsuit.

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 lawsuit states that she was "horrified" and contacted her parents "in a panic to relay what she had found."

Following news of the lawsuit, a spokeswoman for Ancestry.com said in a statement that DNA testing "helps people make new and powerful discoveries about their family history and identity."

"We are committed to delivering the most accurate results, however with this, people may learn of unexpected connections," it read. "With Ancestry, customers maintain ownership and control over their DNA data. Anyone who takes a test can change their DNA matching settings at any time, meaning that if they opt out, their profile and relationship will not be visible to other customers."

Since the situation came to light, Ms Rowlette and her parents have been "suffering immeasurably," the lawsuit states.

The family is suing Dr Mortimer, his wife and Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates of Idaho Falls for medical negligence, fraud, battery, negligent infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract.

The Washington PostThe YouTube shooting which left at least three injured and saw hundreds evacuate the California headquarters has sparked a slew of erroneous conspiracy theories, hoaxes and false stories on social media.

Police were called after a shooter opened fire and then fatally shot herself on the video sharing platforms Silicon Valley campus on Tuesday.

The woman suspected of carrying out the shooting in the heart of Americas leading tech hub has now been named by local police as 39-year-old San Diego resident Nasim Aghdam.

The alleged attacker was a prolific video blogger on Youtube and an animal rights activist. Ms Aghdam's father has since told the Bay Area News Group that she was angry with YouTube because the site had stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform.

YouTube posters can receive money from advertisements that accompany their videos, but the company de-monetises some channels for reasons including inappropriate material or having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

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

While the proliferation of misinformation and spurious reporting on social media has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, the response to the YouTube shooting has been deemed one of the most extreme and damaging yet.

Before police even managed to secure YouTubes headquarters, hoaxes were widely disseminated on Twitter. The social media site responded by saying it was "tracking" the accounts and "taking action on anything that violates our rules":

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said: Were also aware of the misinformation being spread on Twitter. Were tracking, learning, and taking action. Were working diligently on product solutions to help.

Here is a selection of wholly false and inaccurate information and accusations which gained traction on social media.

Images of the purported shooter included women wearing head scarves

This was one of the earliest details which was disseminated about what the alleged assailant looked like. Anti-Muslim website Jihad Watch used the "headscarf" claim to hypothesize about a possible "jihad attack" in spite of no official confirmation of the suspect's religion or attire.

Lucian B Wintrich, who writes for right-wing Gateway Pundit blog, appeared to suggest the shooter was a Muslim woman grounded on a local ABC station's report the suspect was a woman wearing a "headscarf."

Twitter users falsely claimed comedian Sam Hyde was the shooter

Hyde, who co-created sketch comedy group Million Dollar Extreme, is blamed by online trolls after many shootings. Some users on online forum 4chan sought to encourage others to "start memeing Sam Hyde" in an attempt to get the hoax on TV.

Conspiracy videos surfaced on Facebook

Far-fetched erroneous conspiracy videos claiming the shooting was "staged" emerged on Facebook.

A clip posted on Facebook said the shooting had been staged in a government false flag operation.

Several YouTubers were erroneously accused of being behind the shooting

Another 4Chan user claimed a YouTube food reviewer whose image has been used in a previous hoax was a photo of the shooter. German YouTuber DragonLord was also falsely identified as the shooter.

Brittany Venti, a YouTube video creator, reposted several tweets that accused her of being the assailant.

One of the first YouTube employees to report the attacks Twitter account was hacked

Vadim Lavrusik, a manager with over 40,000 Twitter followers whose tweets about the attack had garnered a wide audience, tweeted about being on lockdown with his colleagues and later that he had safely evacuated the campus soon after 1pm.

Among other things, the hacker wrote "PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY FRIEND I LOST HIM IN THE SHOOTING" according to the Verge. The tweet reportedly linked to a photo of another popular YouTube video creator.

The hack prompted Mr Dorsey to intervene and say he would look into it.

Misinformation flooded Reddit

Subreddits known for developing conspiracies that extend to other networks linked the shooting as a "false flag" to be "anti-gun". They also postulated the suspect was wearing a hijab and bore a resemblance to leading Women's March co-chair Linda Sarsour.Hours before YouTube employees were sent fleeing from a shooter on their campus, the suspected assailant practised her aim at a shooting range.

Shortly afterwards Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, strode into the video streaming giants headquarters and opened fire with a legally obtained Smith and Wesson semiautomatic handgun before fatally shooting herself, authorities said.

An emerging timeline suggests that Ms Aghdam travelled from southern California to Silicon Valley in the days before the shooting, propelled by a sense of grievance at YouTube.

It is believed the suspect was upset with policies and practices of YouTube, San Bruno police chief Ed Barberini told reporters. This appears to have been the motive for this incident.

Her family told San Diego authorities that she had disappeared at the end of March, Mr Barberini said. She resurfaced more than 725 km (450 miles) later in the Silicon Valley town of Mountain View, where police officers discovered her sleeping in the car early in the morning the day before the shooting.

With no reason to detain Ms Aghdam, Mountain View police officers moved on and contacted her family.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

In an initial conversation with authorities, Ms Aghdams father gave no indication that his daughter had any weapons or was nursing a grievance against YouTube, the Mountain View police department said. About an hour later, the father called back to say his daughter believed YouTube had done something to upset her but did not hint at looming violence.

The next day, she visited the gun range. She then parked her car behind a business near YouTube's headquarters, entered the campus through a garage and began firing, authorities said.

Mountain View authorities had not communicated with the San Bruno police about their interaction with Ms Aghdam or their conversation with her family, Mr Barberini said.

 YouTube HQ: Suspect Nasim Aghdam appears in video accusing YouTube of discrimination

As authorities executed search warrants on two southern California residences associated with Ms Aghdam, their investigation turned to her online life and her apparent belief that YouTube had worked to silence her.

Investigators reconstructing Ms Aghdams history have a long digital trail to follow. A website under her name featured angry diatribes about YouTube suppressing her content and impacting her traffic.

Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views! the site says, adding that There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!

Investigators were working to gain access to and comb through Ms Aghdam's social media postings in an effort to further elucidate her motives, Mr Barberini said. She is believed to have acted alone.

In response to a question about allegations that certain users and videos are downplayed, YouTube pointed The Independent to public statements in which Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki expressed grief and thanked first responders.

There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today, Ms Wojcicki said. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.

The website under Ms Aghdams name also features content promoting veganism and featuring animals, buttressing evidence that Ms Aghdam may have been involved in animal rights activism. A 2009 Los Angeles Times story quoted a woman by the same name at a demonstration saying animal rights equals human rights.

Two of the three people who sustained gunshot wounds had been released from the hospital, a spokesman told reporters, and a third is still being treated had seen his condition improve from critical to serious.Severe beatings, electric shock treatment and forced starvation continue to be perpetrated against the LGBT+ community in Chechnya, a leading Russian NGO has said.

At least 36 people have suffered abusive treatment in secret prisons over the past year according to the Russian LGBT Network, an NGO based in St Petersburg, which cited testimonies alleging the abuses were directed by the highest officials of Chechnya.

The victims were subjected to tortures, humiliations, and other measures that harm their physical and psychological well-being, the group said.

The claims are contained within a report prepared with Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which in April of last year exposed the arrest, torture and murder of members of the Chechen LGBT+ community.

The paper wrote that Chechen police had rounded up more than 100 gay men in a prophylactic sweep, killed three and subjected many to prison beatings and electro-shock torture.

Kheda Saratova, an activist on the humans rights council of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, responded at the time: I havent had a single request on this issue, but if I did, I wouldnt even consider it.

In our Chechen society, any person who respects our traditions and culture will hunt down this kind of person without any help from authorities, she added.

President Kadyrovs press secretary Alvi Karimov also previously denied the existence of homosexuals in Chechnya.

This publication is a complete lie, he said last year.

It is impossible to detain and oppress those who simply dont exist in the Republic.

If there were such people in Chechnya, the law-enforcement agencies wouldnt need to have anything to do with them, because their relatives would send them to a place of no return.

But several testimonies in the updated report describe abuse by Chechen police and military personnel.

They threw me to the floor and beat me, said a victim known as I.J.

They beat my chest and my face with their feet, and they hit my head against the floor. One of them said: Do not beat him until the shock stage, at that point he will stop feeling pain. We dont need that.

Another victim known as E.F. described their car being raided by police who on finding bracelets and a leather bag said to them: Are you a faggot? If you are, Ill shoot you right here.

The LGBT Network said that it continues to document reports of detentions in Chechnya with authorities visiting the houses of some previously detained survivors to learn if they stayed or left the region.

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

Many have fled the country over the past year to escape persecution according to the NGO.

The Networks activists evacuated 119 people from the region and accommodated the survivors in shelters located in the central part of Russia, it said.

In an interview with HBO last year, President Ramzan Kadyrov denied any sort of crackdown: This is gibberish. We dont have such people. If there are any  take them to Canada. For the sake of Allah. Then, they would be far away from us.The Estonian government is to collect the DNA of 100,000 citizens to provide them with personalised health and lifestyle advice.

Nearly eight per cent of the countrys 1.3 million population will supply blood samples for the unprecedented programme, which aims to minimise health problems by warning participants most at risk of conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

However, critics say the state-funded 5m (4.36m) scheme could cause unnecessary worry for people who discover they are more likely to suffer certain diseases.

Recommended Oldest DNA from Africa triggers rethink about ancient human migration

Estonias government is the first to run a personal genetic information service, although similar schemes are run by private companies such as Californias 23andMe.

The programme will analyse participants DNA for 600,000 variants linked to common diseases.

It is hoped that participants who are given early warnings will adopt healthier lifestyles or take preventative drugs.

The service will also be able to flag people who are likely to suffer adverse reactions to common medicines, such as codeine and anti-depressants.

"Today we have enough knowledge about both the genetic risk of complex diseases and the interindividual variability of the effects of medicines in order to start using this information systematically in everyday healthcare," said health minister Jevgeni Ossinovski.

Other countries such as the UK and Ireland also maintain DNA biobanks which store and analyse citizens genetic information. But the data is collected anonymously for medical research rather than personal feedback.

The Estonian scheme will likely allow people to specify which information they would like to receive, according to New Scientist. For instance, participants could chose to learn if they were predisposed to common diseases but not if they have increased risk of cancers.

But scientists warned the data was often difficult to draw conclusions from and health warnings could create unnecessary alarm among those who take part.

Hugh Whittall, director of the UK Nuffield Council on Bioethics, told New Scientist: An offer of free genetic profiling may seem tempting but the information is often difficult to interpret, particularly in relation to risk of serious conditions.

This may well create more questions than answers for those who take part, and in some cases great anxiety.

He added there were potential security and privacy issues.

The programme began collecting samples this week and more than 10,000 people have signed up since it launched on 20 March.Israeli authorities have refused to display adverts informing female airline passengers they are not obliged to change seats at the request of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who do not want to sit next to them.

The Israeli Religious Action Centre (IRAC) had hoped to run a billboard campaign at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv during the Jewish holiday Passover.

The campaign follows a court ruling last year in favour of Renee Rabinowitz, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor who was asked by El Al cabin crew to move after a strictly Orthodox Jewish male passenger refused to be seated next to her on one of the companys flights.

Recommended Pensioner who sued Israeli airline over sexism wins landmark case

Some ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, Jewish men say their religions modesty laws forbid them from sitting beside any woman who is not their wife.

Ms Rabinowitz complied with the request but later launched legal action against the airline with the support of the IRAC, which campaigns against gender discrimination and segregation.

A judge ruled in June that under absolutely no circumstances can a crew member ask a passenger to move from their designated seat because the adjacent passenger doesnt want to sit next to them due to their gender.

She ordered El Al, which is Israel's flag carrier, to clarify its policies, train staff, and pay Ms Rabinowitz compensation.

However, the IRAC said it believed female passengers were still being discriminated against since the ruling.

It wanted to display adverts that read: Ladies, please take your seat  and keep it!

The adverts reminded cabin crews that requiring a passenger to switch seats because of their gender is illegal and advised passengers that a flight attendant may not force you to switch seats to avoid mixed seating.

A still from a video released by the Israel Religious Action Centre urging women to refuse to give up their seats (Israel Religious Action Centre) (Israel Religion Action Centre)

The organisation also released a video earlier this month urging women to refuse to give up their seats.

It said it had reached an agreement with the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) on the price of running the billboard adverts during the busy travel season of Passover, which ends on Saturday.

But suddenly, they notify us that theyre not approving it, IRAC director Noa Sattath told Haaretz.

The IAA said it would not run any advertising that is political or divisive.

For the same reason, we would reject billboards by the Islamic Movement and Yad lAchim, said spokesman Ofer Leffler, referring to a Haredi anti-assimilation group.

The IRAC had also planned to display the adverts at New Jerseys Newark International Airport, which is used by high numbers of ultra-Orthodox Jewish passengers. But it decided to focus on Ben Gurion due to costs.

It makes much more sense to do this in Israel, which is where the main problem is, said Ms Sattath.All battles and bombardments share their secrets one by one. Eastern Ghouta is no different. Why the sudden, savage bombardment of these Syrian towns and villages more than three weeks ago? Why the wasteland of homes and streets  and how did so many of the civilians survive, along with hundreds of Islamist gunmen?

You can do no better that start your enquiry in a frontline dugout near Arbeen, on the old and now war-smashed international highway between Damascus and Aleppo. It is protected by oil barrels of solid concrete, an iron roof, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a couple of rifles and a rusting motorbike, presumably to carry messages when the lines were cut. Twenty mortars a day, one of the Syrian soldiers says, rolling his eyes.

And now it is over, he hopes. But  aside from the oil lamps and the cups of mutta tea (an outrageous non-alcoholic brew originating from Argentine plants, which the Syrian army drinks by the pint)  what catches your attention is the absence of a single trench.

The soldiers sport beards like the French poilu in the Great War a hundred years ago. But they dig no trenches. Not a single communications alleyway winds through the dirt and mud on either side of the dugout to give the running messenger cover from those mortars. Maybe the motorbike increased their chances. But no one has ever provided me with a serious explanation of why the lattice of frontline trenches and rear trenches and revetments dug so deeply a century ago  deeper by the Brits than by the French, deeper still by the Germans  has never caught on in Syria.

Thus many of these Syrian soldiers were shocked to find how safe their enemies were. Here is the account of an eyewitness who entered the ruins after the first Syrian assault units burst through the front lines towards Douma. I have never seen so many tunnels. They had built tunnels everywhere. They were deep and they ran beneath shops and mosques and hospitals and homes and apartment blocks and roads and fields. I went into one with full electric lighting, the lamps strung out for hundreds of yards. I walked half a mile through it. They were safe there. So were the civilians who hid in the same tunnels.

Buses entered the last rebel holdout of Syrias eastern Ghouta on 3 April in preparation for a possible second day of evacuations (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

These great stoneworks  for they were carved through the living rock, supposedly by Palestinians on loan from Hamas, men who had spent their years hacking tunnels between Gaza and the Egyptian desert to the south  have become a familiar part of the Syrian war. I have walked through them in Homs, where the makers carved their names on the walls like Victorian railway builders, and in eastern Aleppo. These tunnels somehow carry inside them the necrology of ideas, the ideological martyrs cemetery of their makers minds. They are deep and dank and glisten with moisture. But they are safe.

So here comes the latest little secret of the Ghouta war. The Syrian aircraft  so often blamed for the indiscriminate nature of a bombing campaign which, according to many reports, has killed 1,500 civilians in eastern Ghouta  were old. But the Russian aircraft were also old Sukhoi 24s, some of them upgraded but others inferior to the Sukhois currently sold by Moscow to the government of Belarus. And this from a Russian source  outside Syria, but all too familiar with Russian military operations inside the country  who knows about the trajectory of rockets: The bombs we used in Ghouta were not smart bombs with full computer guidance. Maybe some. But most had a variable of 50 metres off target. In other words, you can forget the old claim of pinpoint accuracy which Western armies also like to adopt. These Russian bombs launched against eastern Ghouta had a spread pattern of 150 feet each side of what the pilots were aiming at; which means a house instead of an anti-aircraft gun. Or one house rather than another house. And anyone inside.

Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta Show all 10 1 /10 Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta Newly arrived civilians from el-Ghouta packed onto a government refugee bus on the front line outside Damascus Nelofer Pazira Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta A small Syrian refugee girl ponders her future on the bus taking her from the eastern Ghouta front line Nelofer Pazira Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta A refugee woman from el-Ghouta who lost her husband and son in the early bombardment by the Syrian army Nelofer Pazira Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta Civilian refugees less than an hour after crossing the front line from their pulverised homes in el-Ghouta Nelofer Pazira Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta Happy to be seen, anxious to conceal their faces: Syrian men who have crossed the east Ghouta front line waiting to be interviewed by Syrian security officers in a nearby refugee camp Nelofer Pazira Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta 29-year old Ala'a Younis, paralysed after a neck wound in eastern Ghouta sits on his wheelchair beside his father Mohamed at a refugee camp near the front line Nelofer Pazira Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta A wheelchair-bound refugee from el-Ghouta describes how he was forced to live in tunnels along with families and Islamic fighters Nelofer Pazira Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta This young woman lost three members of her family in eastern Ghouta before the end of the siege Nelofer Pazira Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta Sana el-Boukeri in a Syrian refugee camp. She lost her civilian husband and son in the Syrian and Russian bombardment of eastern Ghouta while her other son was wounded fighting in the Syrian government army on the other side of the front line. Nelofer Pazira Faces from the Siege: Eastern Ghouta Both sides of history. Sana el-Boukeri's husband and son were killed in the Ghouta bombing by Syria, her other son wounded in the government army Nelofer Pazira

But these blockbusters, it seems, couldnt bust any blocks. The tunnels were never breached. Thats why they were built. They were bomb-proof. And thus the Russians and Syrians fired more and more bombs to break them. The Islamist groups in Ghouta did not have barracks or dugouts  not in the traditional sense, at least  for they lived in the tunnels, ate in the tunnels, fought, just briefly, in the daylight outside the tunnels, and then dragged their mortars back inside. A fighter wishes to pray: he can take the tunnel to the mosque. He needs surgery? He can be taken between those glistening walls to the hospital. He needs to move to a new battlefront, he takes a mile or two walk across town. Underground.

When the Syrian forces of the Nimr units  those soldiers commanded by Brigadier General Suheil al-Hassan, The Tiger  advanced, they came across civilians with their hands up. A man who watched the helmet camera videotapes of these soldiers spoke to me of what he saw. One man came out and they shouted at him to stop  and to raise his shirt to show he didnt have a suicide bomb. But he didnt stop. He kept on walking. They shouted again and started firing at the ground and the walls around him. Then he stopped and understood and raised his shirt. A woman came out of one house with her hands up, but the soldiers were then ambushed by armed men and shouted at her to return to her basement.

The Syrians paid for their advance. In one short battle, at least 20 of them were killed. During another, five men emerged from the ruins, all dressed in Syrian army uniform and carrying weapons, well shaved, saying they were coming across to the Syrian lines. Several Syrian soldiers captured years ago were still held hostage by Islamists in underground cells. But the Nimr units, while they knew the uniforms were real, looked closely at the faces of the men wearing them. They could see they were newly shaved, that they werent so tanned on their chins as on the rest of their faces, and they realised they were Jaish al-Islam men dressed in Syrian uniform who had just removed their beards, the eyewitness added bleakly. They killed them all.

So why the ferocity of the bombardment? That Russian source  no politician but certainly, I suspect, a Putin supporter  believes to this day that the Russian president wanted to end the Syrian war, especially the Ghouta conflict, before his election. But this proved impossible. Syria doesnt fit the familiar quagmire of Vietnam legend; it is a vast terrain of captured and recaptured and re-recaptured towns and villages, which moves with the power of the antagonists. The Russians can pick and choose their battles. This increases mobility. But it doesnt create the exit home.

There are streets in Ghouta, incredibly enough, whose buildings are still standing relatively unscathed. They were spared during the bombardment because their inhabitants said  by mobile phone -- they wanted to stay in their homes and would not resist the Syrian army. Thousands of Syrians in Ghouta have thus not joined the refugee buses nor  even if they were related to the Islamists  accompanied the women and children travelling with their jihadi menfolk to Idlib. They are still living at home.

You might not think this, staring over the miles of wreckage, grey, powdered, roof upon pancaked roof. But then you wouldnt imagine the tunnels either. The Syrians were amazed at them. So were the Moscow military men guarding the Russian Centre for Reconciliation inside Ghouta. Thats where the convoys are put together on paper and lists and buses numbered for evacuation, where the Islamist groups bargain for freedom with or without weapons, for reconciliation or for a temporary Russian presence in their streets  even for local authorities run by Islamist political groups instead of by armed men. The Syrians have spotted the trick in this one, of course. Try to take back the land from the local authorities and the Islamists will spring mushroom-like from the ground again, along with their weapons. And perhaps from undiscovered tunnels.Donald Trump has decided to keep US forces in Syria for a limited period, ending speculation about an immediate pull-out fuelled by the president himself. He agreed at a National Security Council meeting that the 2,000 US troops backed by massive airpower should stay in Syria where they support the Kurds in the east of the country.

Were not going to immediately withdraw, but neither is the president willing to back a long-term commitment, said a senior administration official. He added that Mr Trump wanted to ensure the final defeat of Isis and would like other countries to help stabilise Syria.

The White House said later that its military mission to eradicate Isis in Syria is coming to a rapid end.

In recent weeks Mr Trump has been at odds with the Pentagon in promising a swift US withdrawal, just as senior generals were reiterating their commitment to stand by the Syrian Kurdish forces, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG). These hold between 25 and 30 per cent of Syria and are the only US ally in the country. Isis has lost almost all its territory but is reverting to guerrilla warfare in parts of eastern Syria. Its fighters have been emboldened by the withdrawal of YPG forces, which have gone to confront the Turkish-led invasion of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria.

The leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran held a summit in Ankara on Wednesday to try to find common ground on the future of Syria where they all have military forces. Their agendas differ radically, with Russia and Iran supporting President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey wants him removed from power.

Rouhani, Erdogan and Putin have very different objectives in Syria, but are seeking common ground (Getty) (Getty Images)

The one big aim uniting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in their approach to the Syrian conflict is that they all want US forces out of Syria, though their motives differ. Mr Putin and Mr Rouhani want Mr Assads forces to extend their control to the east and north of the country, while Turkey wants to destroy the Kurdish quasi-state, which the Syrian Kurds call Rojava, which has grown up east of the Euphrates during the war against Isis.

If the limited number of US ground troops were pulled out of Syria, along with  most crucially  the YPGs ability to call in massive US airstrikes, then the YPG would be unable to stop a Turkish invasion across the long Syrian-Turkish border. The north Syrian plain is flat and could not be defended against Turkish tanks backed by airstrikes.

In a joint statement released at the end of their summit, Mr Putin, Mr Rouhani and Mr Erdogan said they rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism. This is a clear reference to the US. They said they were committed to Syrias unity, but this is not preventing them intervening by using local proxies and allies. No Syrian parties attended the Ankara summit, the second in a series of three with the next one to be held in Tehran.

Mr Rouhani called on Turkey to hand over Afrin to the Syrian army, something that is unlikely to happen. Russia is eager to cement its new alliance with Turkey, but at the same time is committed to Mr Assad whom it has just helped to retake almost all of Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus. It was Russias willingness to allow Turkey to use its airforce in Afrin, which had previously been defended by Russian aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles, that opened the door for the Turkish invasion on 20 January and the capture of Afrin city two months later.

The Russian-Turkish-Iranian alliance looks opportunistic and temporary, but it might have a longer life than some commentators expect. Iran badly needs diplomatic allies and commercial partners if Mr Trump effectively withdraws the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on 12 May when he once again has to certify Iranian compliance, something he has said he will not do.

Turkey needs Russian support or neutrality if it is to broaden its intervention against the Kurds in northern Syria. Mr Putin probably gave a green light to the Turkish invasion of Afrin in order to fuel the US-Turkish confrontation, as the US tries to protect its Kurdish allies and Turkey seeks to destroy them.

The three countries meeting in Ankara pledged to stabilise Syria, and this, to some extent, they can do because Isis has been eliminated as a territorial state, though not as a guerrilla force. Isis will be hoping that differences among its enemies will enable it to strengthen itself once again.

Mr Assad will soon control all of Damascus, Aleppo and the most highly populated areas in Syria. He will also draw hope from the fact that, while the Syrian Kurds do not like his government, they prefer it to the prospect of being overrun by the Turkish army and its Sunni Arab auxiliaries.The US has warned Yemens Houthi rebels to avoid seeking revenge and risking an escalation in the conflict after six children and 16 people overall were killed in a Saudi coalition air strike.

Mondays attack on the vital Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida was condemned by the United Nations as one of the deadliest attacks on children in the entire civil war, which has just entered its fourth year.

We take this report very seriously and it will be fully investigated as all reports of this nature are - using an internationally approved, independent process, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemens exiled government said.

 Devastation on the ground in Yemen displayed by International Rescue Committee in shocking video

Rebel factions retaliated with an attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea on Tuesday, causing minor damage to the ship, the Saudi coalition said. The attack occurred in international waters.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Wednesday that the US is very concerned about the Houthis' latest attempt to escalate the war in Yemen.

We call on the Houthis to cease further escalation and demonstrate their commitment to a peace process by engaging in constructive dialogue, she added.

The situation in Yemen Show all 14 1 /14 The situation in Yemen The situation in Yemen Houthi supporters trample on a US flag during a gathering mobilizing more fighters into several Yemeni battlefronts, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen People carry the coffins of men, who were killed in the recent Saudi-led airstrikes during their funeral, in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen AP The situation in Yemen Pro-government fighters give food to Yemeni children on the road leading to the southwestern port city of Mokha. Yemeni rebels are putting up fierce resistance in a key Red Sea port city where they are encircled by pro-government force Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni stands in front of a graffiti protesting US military operations in war-affected Yemen, in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen A Yemeni female fighter supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, takes part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen Yemeni female fighters supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, take part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A boy shouts slogans next to pro-Houthi fighters, who have been injured during recent fighting, during a rally held to honour those injured or maimed while fighting in Houthi ranks in Sanaa, Yemen Reuters The situation in Yemen Balls of fire and smoke rise from a Houthi-held military camp following alleged Saudi-led airstrikes, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy looks on as Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy sits amidst the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa AFP/Getty The situation in Yemen Marine One with US President Donald Trump flies with a decoy and support helicopters to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, for the dignified transfer of Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens who was killed in Yemen Getty Images The situation in Yemen US President Donald Trump aboard the Marine One to greet the remains of a US military commando killed during a raid on the al Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen on Sunday, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, US Reuters

Yemen slipped into full-blown civil war in March 2015 after neighbouring Riyadh led a coalition of Arab states in a bombing campaign designed to oust Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels from the capital of Sanaa.

It has since descended into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with two thirds of the 28-million-strong population dependent on aid, eight million living on the brink of famine and the worst outbreak of cholera in modern history.

The disaster has to a large degree been caused by Saudi blockades of Houthi controlled ports and airspace, strangling imports of food and medicine.

 Yemen: More than 50,000 children expected to die of starvation and disease by end of year

International donors promised more than $2bn (1.4bn) in humanitarian aid for Yemen at a pledging conference in Geneva on Tuesday.

The amount, however, fell well short of the appeal for $2.96bn (2.1bn) in emergency funding to stop the country collapsing completely in 2018.

Western governments, including the UK and US, have been heavily criticised for selling weapons export licences to Saudi Arabia, which rights groups say are destined for use in Yemens warOne of Asias top holiday islands faces closure by presidential decree. Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, has called for Boracay to be placed off-limits to tourists for six months while it is cleaned up.

An English-language news site, The Inquirer, said the president would declare a state of calamity in Boracay. Closure to tourists is expected from 26 April for rehabilitation of the tiny isle.

The island, four miles long and less than a mile wide, is about 200 miles south of the capital, Manila. One British long-term resident described Boracay as the jewel in the crown of Filipino tourism.

President Duterte made the decree after visiting the island. He is said to have been outraged by environmental violations that have left the island a cesspool, according to local reports.

The Lonely Planet travel guide says: With a postcard-perfect, 4km-long white beach and the countrys best island nightlife, its not hard to figure out why Boracay is the Philippines top tourist draw. But the guidebook adds: Waste management is a massive problem  and environmental regulations are poorly enforced.

The government is expected to impose strict environmental laws, which could involve demolishing parts of the tourism infrastructure particularly beachside hotels.

The UK resident of Boracay said: Along Bulabog Beach all the hotels have been given notice that they cannot be closer than 30 metres from the high water market.

One person will lose half their hotel.

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Other investors face having properties torn down because they were built on forest land, even though they were given planning permission at the time.

Boracay caters for hundreds of thousands of tourists each year, with accommodation ranging from five star resorts to backpacker hostels.

The Shangri-La resort publicity says: The resorts accommodations are thoughtfully designed with Shangri-Las hallmark elegance. Nature seems to be the only companion, her bounty fills all senses.

Mad Monkey Hotel describes itself as heaven on earth for backpackers, adding: Weve got nonstop fun lined up for you: our legendary Booze Cruise, epic go-karting tournaments, trips to Boracays gorgeous white sand beaches.

Many visitors are from China and Korea, with Western expatriates converging on the island for rest and relaxation.

The short-term economic damage of the closure is likely to be substantial. Something like 30,000 workers will have no jobs within three weeks, said the British resident. People are absolutely devastated.

A loss of income could potentially jeopardise the livelihoods of upwards of 100,000 people when family members are included.

Visitors with pre-paid bookings for hotels are likely to be able to claim refunds, but there are questions about whether air fares will be refundable.

The Foreign Office warns UK visitors to the Philippines that a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence is in place, adding: Expect random checkpoints, security patrols and a more visible routine security presence.Every so often, Jack Sheldon from Jacks Flight Club selects a flight deal from the UK for Independent readers that you cant afford to miss. This week: return flights to Canada from 305.

Fancy a quick trip to Canada? You might do now, with direct flights in the 300s for a return trip return from all over UK and Ireland on Air Transat.

There are some fantastic options here to visit your choice of Canadian city. Canada-bound flights will often show decent fares during the winter months, but are typically quite pricey during the warmer half of the year. At the moment, Air Transat  rated as North Americas best leisure airline  is showing some fantastic fares on its nonstop routes from London, Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow. Of course, no stops mean no headaches.

Calgary's Peace Bridge opened in 2012 (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

How to book

To search for the best dates on this one, I recommend going to Google Flights and selecting your chosen departure and destination airports.

Use a flight search filter to only select 'nonstop' flight options and then click on the calendar tool, which will highlight the best/cheapest travel dates in green.

Once youve identified your itinerary, these are best booked directly with Air Transat so there is no need to use an OTA (online travel agent) on this one.

Returns from London (LGW):

Vancouver (YVR) - 378

Toronto (YYZ) - 346

Calgary (YYC) - 384

Montreal (YUL) - 350

Returns from Manchester (MAN):

Vancouver (YVR) - 383

Toronto (YYZ) - 351

Returns from Glasgow (GLA):

Vancouver (YVR) - 378

Toronto (YYZ) - 346

Returns from Dublin (DUB):

Toronto (YYZ) - 305

When to fly:

The best dates are scattered between May  June and September  October

When to book:

These fares should last a few days at least.

Pro tip:

Air Transat makes it quite easy to fly into one city and out of another if youre planning a multi-city trip or are driving across the country.

Change the flight settings to Multi-City in Google Flights to research options.Disabled airline passengers have welcomed Government plans to make aviation more accessible. But the industry has questioned the feasibility of one of the proposals: to remove seats to allow space for a wheelchair, which the traveller could occupy throughout the flight.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is considering a raft of new measures to make flying a more enjoyable experience for disabled passengers and those with reduced mobility.

One key target is to improve and enforce standards on the time taken for a passenger to receive assistance boarding and leaving aircraft.

Last week the BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner launched a furious attack on Heathrow Airport after his wheelchair went missing following a flight from Addis Ababa. The journalist, who has depended on a wheelchair since he was shot in an Al Qaeda gun attack in Saudi Arabia in 2004, waited 100 minutes to disembark from an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

He tweeted from on board: Odd that I can travel round the Middle East and elsewhere without a hitch. Yet time and again @HeathrowAirport loses my wheelchair on arrival. Now been on an empty plane 1.5 hours after landing.

Just when is the UKs premier airport going to stop treating disabled passengers this way?

Heathrows chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, later met Mr Gardner to discuss improvements.

Speaking on Radio 4s Today programme, Mr Gardner said: Heathrow have reacted commendably swiftly on this. They have undertaken that by the summer they will bring wheelchairs up the door of the plane as a matter of policy.

He described the DfTs initiative as a step in the right direction but years later than it should have been.

The aviation minister, Baroness Sugg, said: As part of our Aviation Strategy, we will be working to understand more about the barriers that currently exist for passengers with reduced mobility and disabilities, and working with the industry to remove these obstacles.

The DfT is also looking at changing aircraft design to create a flexible space where it is possible to tether down a wheelchair.

But aviation insiders have questioned whether it is realistic that safety officials would ever allow passengers to bring their own wheelchairs on board.

Existing seating on aircraft must meet rigorous standards on withstanding a survivable crash. However strong the restraints are, the idea that any wheelchair could ever provide the same protection as a properly certified aircraft seat is far-fetched, said one airline executive.

The Government is also hoping to improve care for passengers needing special assistance with an accredited nationwide accessibility training scheme.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: UK airlines are committed to further improving aviation accessibility and are always considering innovative measures to provide the best possible service for passengers with reduced mobility.The first ever direct train from London to Amsterdam to be open to the public departs from London St Pancras on 3 April 2018 at 8.31am  and The Independent has a bagged a seat on the historic service.

In just three hours and 41 minutes, bar any hiccups, the Eurostar will make its way to Amsterdam station and arrive at 1.12pm (Amsterdam is one hour ahead of the UK).

The much-anticipated service has a limited number of seats left for its inaugural journey, with business class seats costing up to 260. However, there is still no direct return leg; a deal between the UK and the Netherlands on juxtaposed border controls, allowing British officials to check passports of passengers at Amsterdam and the intermediate step of Rotterdam, has not yet been finalised.

This means passengers have to take a Thalys high-speed train to Brussels and connect there for Eurostar for the foreseeable.

Follow all the latest from The Independent's journey belowAt 8.31am, the first commercial Eurostar train from London to Amsterdam departed from St Pancras station.

Passengers on the maiden journey had paid as little as 35 one way for the 3 hour, 41 minute journey via Brussels and Rotterdam, though late bookers had only the option of Business Premier at 260.

Unlike airline passengers, travellers on Eurostar face no onerous baggage restrictions; they can take two suitcases and a third smaller piece of luggage without additional charge. The security screening process is relatively gentle, with no ban on liquids above 100ml.

On board, passengers can access reasonable mobile-phone coverage, even in the Channel Tunnel, and better-than-average travelling wifi.

Eurostar believes these advantages will win market share from the airlines.

Mike Cooper, the train operators new chief executive, called it a historic milestone for Eurostar and the growth of international high speed rail".

With the Netherlands becoming increasingly popular as a business and tourism destination, the potential for our new route is significant and we look forward to offering our customers a fast, seamless connection between these key European cities, he said.

But initially the train has significant disadvantages relative to air. Between 6am and the train's departure at 8.31am, 13 flights had left for Amsterdam from six London airports. Eurostar has just 12 departures a week: 8.31am and 5.31pm on weekdays, but morning only on Saturdays and evening only on Sundays. Arrival at Amsterdam Central is at 1.12pm and 10.12pm respectively, not ideal business timings.

More seriously, until 2019, no trains will carry passengers all the way back from Amsterdam or Rotterdam to London.

The UK and the Netherlands have yet signed a deal on juxtaposed border controls, allowing British officials to check passports of passengers at Amsterdam and the intermediate stop of Rotterdam. So initially the journey will be far from seamless.

All passengers will take a Thalys high-speed train to Brussels. Here, they clear security and passport control, before boarding a Eurostar service  perhaps the very train which has run from Amsterdam to Brussels without them.

Fares are higher, too  a problem when Amsterdam-London is one of the busiest and most fiercely competitive air routes in Europe. A British Airways spokesperson said: We know our customers enjoy the choice of 17 flights from London a day, with airports to suit travellers starting their journey from all across the region.

Meanwhile easyJet flies from four London airports to Amsterdam, offering 21 daily flights each way. We carry 1.9m passengers a year and provide easy and affordable fares from 29.99 one way, said a spokesperson.

But Mark Smith, the rail guru known as The Man In Seat Sixty One, told The Independent: This is a massively important air route, and most importantly high-speed rail can get you there in under four hours. And these days, if you can go from the centre of one city to the centre of another city in under four hours, then you can start competing for both business and leisure travel on that route.

The train was set for a clear run through northern France, where the vast majority of rail services have been cancelled due to a rolling strike by employees of the state rail enterprise, SNCF.

Ten Eurostar trains between London and Paris have been cancelled as a result of the industrial action.The French finance minister predicts Paris will overtake London as Europe's most important financial centre in a few years (stock picture)

Is London's position as the largest international centre of finance slipping as a result of Brexit?

London has been a critical artery for the flow of money around the world for centuries. The financial services sector accounts for about 12pc of Britain's economic output, employs about 1.1 million people and pays more taxes than any other industry.

Its only rival, New York, is centred on US markets, while London has more banks than any other hub, dominates markets such as global foreign exchange and commercial insurance and is home to international bond trading and fund management.

But about a third of the transactions on its exchanges and in its trading rooms involve clients in the European Union. These may be jeopardised after Brexit unless Britain manages to maintain similar levels of access to the trading bloc.

The French finance minister predicts Paris will overtake London as Europe's most important financial centre in a few years, although supporters of leaving the EU say Britain will benefit over the long term by setting its own rules.

London remained top of the rankings in the annual Global Financial Centres Index released this week by commercial think-tank Z/Yen Partners and the China Development Institute, although the gap between it and New York closed to one point on a scale of 1,000 and its rating rose by less than the other four top centres.

Almost a year before Britain is due to leave the EU, Reuters' second Brexit tracker, which monitors six indicators to help assess the City's fortunes, taking a regular check on its pulse through public transport usage, bar and restaurant openings, commercial property prices and jobs, suggests London's financial districts have been held back, but there is no evidence of a mass exodus.

"London has not come close to taking a mortal blow or anything like it ... The increasing uncertainty though over London's future has led to a stall in its growth," Michael Mainelli, chairman of Z/Yen, said.

Firms employing the bulk of UK-based workers in international finance told Reuters that the number of finance jobs they plan to shift out of Britain or create overseas by March 2019 due to Brexit has dropped to 5,000, half the figure of six months ago.

This comes amid more conciliatory signals from British Prime Minister Theresa May, while progress in talks with the EU have prompted some companies to delay large staff moves.

The findings suggest that the first wave of job losses may be at the lower end of initial industry estimates, meaning London will keep its place as the continent's top finance centre in the short-term.

London's finance industry should emerge largely unscathed from Brexit even if thousands of jobs move, the City of London's political leader Catherine McGuinness says, adding that it could take years to feel the full impact of Brexit.

The number of available jobs in London's financial services industry fell the most in six years in 2017, said recruitment agency Morgan McKinley, which hires staff in finance.

It bases its number on the overall volume of mandates it receives to find jobs and applies a multiplier based on its market share of London's finance industry.

The recruiter found 82,147 new financial services jobs were created last year, a 12.45pc drop on a year earlier.

This is the lowest number of jobs available since 2011.

(Reuters)Developer Michael O'Flynn has been given the green light by An Bord Pleanala for the construction of 608 homes in Glanmire, Co Cork.

The approval, given under the Government's temporary 'fast-track' planning system, will see the delivery by O'Flynn Construction of 496 houses and 112 apartments at Ballinglanna. The scheme is set to include a creche, retail units, a community building and the provision of a school site.

An Bord Pleanala finalised its decision on Mr O'Flynn's application last Thursday - two-and-a-half weeks ahead of the April 19 deadline it had set for a determination on the proposal.

The development is the largest housing scheme to have been approved by the Board under the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process to date. It is also the first SHD application for a residential development to be granted outside of Dublin.

Under the 'fast track' scheme, developers seeking permission for 100 residential units or more are no longer required to apply to their respective local authorities, but can instead apply directly to An Bord Pleanala. With ordinary planning applications for large housing developments to local authorities typically appealed to An Bord Pleanala, ultimate approval can, in certain circumstances, take up to 18 months to secure. The fast-track regulation sees determinations reduced to a maximum of six months.

Michael O'Flynn said: "The solution to Ireland's housing crisis lies in large- scale developments such as Ballinglanna, built to the highest standards.

"We look forward to bringing this new scheme to the people of Cork as quickly as possible."

The company expects to start construction in Cork this summer with the first units going on sale from around February 2019.Dairygold has confirmed that is has organised for the importation of over 2,500 tonnes of fodder (haylage and hay) from the UK with the first loads due to arrive in Ireland tomorrow.

The Society said that the imported fodder was essential to alleviate the current shortage of fodder for Irish farmers who are struggling with a long winter followed by the unseasonably cold and wet spring which has significantly delayed grass growth.

Additional shipments are due daily right through the weekend and into next week.

The fodder will be distributed to Dairygolds farmers via the branch network across the Munster catchment region. Dairygold is advising Members who have fodder difficulties to contact their Dairygold Area Sales Manager or Milk Advisors so that the distribution of fodder can be effectively coordinated to support those in most urgent need of fodder.

It also said that the cost of fodder to its Members will be at cost price at source in the UK.

Dairygold had already been working with Members over the last 10 days to source fodder from locations around Ireland until it wasnt possible to source adequate supplies within Ireland.

The situation became more acute over the Easter weekend when an emergency contingency plan was put in place.

Dairygold Chairman John O'Gorman explained said there has been a definite tightening of fodder stocks especially in the last week.

"The heavy rain across the country over the Easter weekend compounded an already bad situation on the ground for dairy farmers following one of the worst winters on record. Instead of having animals out at grass our Members are still dealing with housed animals and all the feeding requirements that involves.

"We have no doubt that this imported fodder is essential. Unfortunately, ground temperatures and grass growth remain well below normal for this time of year so at this point in time its difficult to know when dairy farmers will be in a position to return to grazing. This period between the calving and the breeding season is a critical time for animal health and nutrition.

This is a very costly operation and we will be making this point to the Department and recommending that it initiates its haulage support programme that worked so well to assist in industry during the last fodder crisis in 2013.

The Irish dairy sector last experienced a fodder crisis five years ago in April 2013. Then Dairygold imported over 10,000 tonnes of fodder from the UK and France to alleviate a critical shortage on Members Farms.

LacPatrick Dairies has moved to help suppliers affected by the extended winter conditions.

Over the weekend, LacPatrick called a meeting of its emergency response team to put in place a robust plan to help suppliers in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The following actions have been put in place:

Silage matchmaking service  Although the fodder situation is critical on many farms, there may be other farms where there are ample fodder supplies. LacPatrick has contacted suppliers asking for those with silage reserves as well as those running low to get in contact. LacPatrick is compiling a database of those farmers and will put those with fodder in contact with those who do not. There has already been a strong uptake on this.

Fodder workshop  LacPatrick is holding a workshop to advise on options to address fodder shortages. This will be held in the Four Seasons Hotel, Monaghan on Thursday 5 April at 8pm.

Maize support  LacPatrick has secured a large volume (4,000t) of maize silage which is being offered to suppliers. A number of suppliers have already taken up this opportunity.

Meanwhile, almost 80pc more rain fell in some parts of the country over the first three months of the year compared with the corresponding period of 2017, Met Eireann data shows.

Just over 250mm of rain fell at Dublin Airport between January and April 2, up 77.8pc, with increases of more than 50pc recorded at stations in Johnstown, Co Wexford; Ballyhaise, Co Cavan; and Dunsany, in Meath.

The data comes as president of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) Joe Healy warned that the land was far too wet to graze, exacerbating fears of a major fodder shortage.

He said figures from weather stations on Teagasc land showed that in some areas, four times as much rain fell in January compared with the same month of 2017.

Weve had two very wet months since and it has been compounded by snowfall, he said, adding that rainfall in Athenry increased to 173mm in January, compared to 47mm in the same month last year.

It was similar at all the other stations, he said, warning it was causing major difficulties for farmers as they deal with sodden land and no grass growth.

Met Eireann records show that of the 25 weather stations across the State, rainfall levels rose by more than 5pc in 22 of them over the first three months of the year. In two  Mace Head and Valentia  rainfall remained largely the same, and it dropped in Moore Park by 13.6pc.

The Met Eireann weather report for the winter said rainfall was above average, while it was also the coldest winter since 2011 in many places. A spokesman for Teagasc said the increased rainfall and snow, coupled with low temperatures, meant that grass was not growing at the level necessary.

Met Eireann is predicting unsettled weather over the coming days. Today will see outbreaks of rain, with a wet and windy night forecast for tomorrow, with a risk of spot flooding in places from Friday, and rain forecast across the weekend.One farmer whose land the proposed Shannon Water Extraction Scheme would go through, says it would destroy his farm.

Dairy farmer Liam Minehan set up the Fight the Pipe Campaign in response to the Shannon Water Extraction Scheme proposal which aims to pump water from the River Shannon using a 170km pipe to supply water to Dublin.

He told FarmIreland.ie that if the pipeline gets the green light it would destroy the viability of his farm in Pucan, Co Tipperary.

Id grin and bear it if I thought it was necessary but it isnt. It would stop me from being able to milk my cows while its being built. It would finish the farm and destroy my legacy, he said.

Im in a basin here so I feel the whole lake would be on top of me. No farmer around here wants the pipe.

He also added that members of political parties have voiced their support to his campaign.

IFA North Tipperary Chair, Imelda Walsh said that she spoke at a family farm event in the area at the weekend where concerns surrounding the disruption the possible construction of a pipe could cause were discussed.

The scale of the project and its impact on the land is a worry for farmers. Permanent structures would remain after the build and farmers are worried they could affect the sale of the land or family members applying for planning permission in the future, she said.

Farmers are not satisfied that all avenues have been exhausted when it comes to dealing with leaks in Dublin. With the amount of farmers affected, it begs to question should that not be sorted first of all?

IFAs Environment chair Thomas Cooney also added that farmers have raised concerns that the installation of pipes could cause flooding and affect the natural drainage system of the land.

Theres still big concerns amongst farmers and landowners about the disruption installing these pipes could cause to their day-to-day farming. There are also worries that it could affect the natural drainage that is already there and lead to flooding.

Farmers are asking questions about leaks and different things like that, so all of it will have to be addressed, he said.

Emma Kennedy of Kennedy Analysis, who are in opposition to the opposed Shannon Extraction Scheme said that the only way to stop Dublin having outages is to replace its pipes rather than building a pipe from the Shannon to the capital.

You can spend 1.3billion on the Shannon pipeline and after a few more outages Dubliners will quite rightly say enough is enough, replace these pipes, at which point they will be replaced. Why ask the taxpayer to pay twice? The costs of the Shannon pipeline keep growing  on Irish Waters latest figures it is now set to cost over 1,000 for every family in Ireland, she said.Ireland could export 100,000 cattle a year to Turkey if the market was more aggressively targeted, the IFA has claimed.

Turkish cattle buyers took around 30,000 head from Ireland in 2017 but the IFAs livestock chairman, Angus Woods, said there was real potential to grow this figure significantly.

IFA and Bord Bia visited this market and there is no doubt there is major potential for Irish live exports. Turkish feeders, which we met, were very complementary of the quality of stock from Ireland, Mr Woods said.

While Bord Bia has suggested that export levels of 50,000 head were achievable this year, Mr Woods claimed that Ireland should be aiming to sell up to 100,000 head into the market in the future.

Mr Woods pointed out that Turkey imports 500,000 cattle each year, with around 200,000 supplied from Europe, and 300,000 head from South America.

He said Ireland had the potential to deliver far greater cattle numbers to Turkey, given the correct support and encouragement.

The tight specifications for the Turkish contracts  the cattle must be under 12 months of age and less than 300kg  seriously limited the number of suitable stock last year.

However, Mr Woods claimed the correct identification of stock for the market during the second half of the year could help overcome these drawbacks.

Heavier bulls

Mr Woods pointed out that Third Country live exports got off to a positive start this year with 4,492 cattle exported. He said two boat loads have been shipped to Turkey, and another to Libya.

In addition, Mr Woods said exporters were currently buying heavier bulls for a shipment in April.

Meanwhile, calf exports are on target to top 100,000 head this year, despite the disruption to the trade as a result of Storm Emma and the more recent cold snap.

Calf exports are currently exceeding 10,000 head per week, with the figures for the week ending March 18 and March 25 being 12,516 head and 12,159 head respectively.

Overall live exports are running 8pc ahead of 2017, with 67,951 head shipped up to the end of March.An invasive species of worm has arrived in Ireland and is feasting on a vitally important part of our ecosystem.

Earthworms are a favourite snack of the New Zealand flatworm which is already rampant in Northern Ireland and is slowly making its way south.

Experts have warned the Kiwi invader could potentially cause damage costing millions of euro to nutrient-rich soils.

During Invasive Species Week 2018, experts at Biodiversity Ireland asked members of the public to report any possible sightings of this invasive species.

"The New Zealand flatworm can be easily identified as it cannot burrow into soil like the earthworms and lives above ground," said Colette O'Flynn of Biodiversity Ireland.

"It has a slimy appearance with a very flat body, non-segmented and pointed at both ends. Its eggs are small and black and look like broken-up blackberries.

"Several hundred sightings have been reported in Northern Ireland, but we believe they are greatly under-reported south of the border," said Ms O'Flynn.

"They put pressure on our ecosystem and upset the balance of life," she explained.

"Earthworms eat organic matter like dead leaves, breaking it down and putting rich nutrients into the soil. They also burrow and mix the soil, bringing more air and health into fields."

It is believed the New Zealand flatworm was first introduced to Northern Ireland in 1963 as a result of contamination of plant potting soil imported from New Zealand.Stocking up on fodder outside the Drumshanbo Horse Fair, Co Leitrim. Photo Brian Farrell

Farmers face paying huge costs to import feed supplies from abroad for their animals amid an escalating fodder crisis.

The fodder crisis has emerged as farmers begin to run out of feed - such as silage - for their cattle. This has happened as the weather last summer, when farmers make silage, was not good enough to make as much silage as they would like, particularly in western areas.

Coupled with this, the winter has been very long for farmers and they have had to keep cattle indoors for longer than usual, and are therefore more reliant on silage stocks. So many farmers are now looking at having to buy extra feed for their cattle. But because there is a fodder shortage across most of the country now, Ireland is looking at importing fodder from abroad.

Grass not growing

Most years farmers would be able to let their cattle and sheep out to grass, but Teagasc has said the increased rainfall and snow, coupled with low temperatures, meant that grass was not growing at the level necessary.

Almost 80pc more rain fell in some parts of the country over the first three months of the year compared with the corresponding period of 2017, Met Eireann data shows.

Just over 250mm of rain fell at Dublin Airport between January and April 2, up 77.8pc, with increases of more than 50pc recorded at stations in Johnstown, Co Wexford; Ballyhaise, Co Cavan; and Dunsany, in Meath.

Figures from weather stations on Teagasc land showed that in some areas, four times as much rain fell in January compared with the same month of 2017.

Met Eireann records show that of the 25 weather stations across the State, rainfall levels rose by more than 5pc in 22 of them over the first three months of the year. In two  Mace Head and Valentia  rainfall remained largely the same, and it dropped in Moore Park by 13.6pc.

The Met Eireann weather report for the winter said rainfall was above average, while it was also the coldest winter since 2011 in many places.

Some farmers livestock indoors for 8 months

The situation which many are now dubbing a crisis similar to that seen in 2013 has seen prices for feed and fodder skyrocket in recent months.

The north west of the country has been particularly badly affected with the issue of poor spring weather compounded by the extremely we autumn in 2017 which has seen livestock hosed Im many parts for over eight months.

However experts have now warned that fodder shortages are now widespread in all regions with many large dairy farmers who would normally have cattle at grass at this point now facing acute fodder shortages.

What is the current fodder situation?

Farmers and feed traders report a definite tightening in fodder supplies across the east and south-east of the country.

The supply of silage, hay and straw for sale has totally dried up in Leinster and east Munster over the past 10 days, say fodder traders.

There are increasing concerns that the shutting down of fodder supplies in the east could worsen feed shortages being experienced in the west.

With poor grass growth pushing the winter-feeding period into April, there are fears that severe fodder shortages could now hit highly stocked dairy farmers across south Leinster and Munster as silage pits empty.

Many major operators have warned they have just two weeks left of sufficient fodder supplies.

Who is importing fodder?

Dairygold has confirmed that is has organised for the importation of over 2,500 tonnes of fodder (haylage and hay) from the UK with the first loads due to arrive in Ireland tomorrow.

The Society said that the imported fodder was essential to alleviate the current shortage of fodder for Irish farmers who are struggling with a long winter followed by the unseasonably cold and wet spring which has significantly delayed grass growth.

Additional shipments are due daily right through the weekend and into next week.

What are the authorities doing?

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said a meeting of key officials, farm body Teagasc and the main agri co-ops taking place today, would look at a co-ordinated approach including potentially importing fodder from abroad.

A forage register to connect feed buyers and sellers is being established by Teagasc.

The register will help farmers who have run out of fodder to source silage and other feed supplies from those with surplus stocks.Fodder arrives in Dowra from Tipperary. Eddie Fitzpatrick of Cavan IFA welcomes lorry driver Seamus Gleeson in McMorrow's Timber yard, Dowra with fodder from Tipperary. Photo Brian Farrell

The Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed has asked his officials to develop a scheme to support the import of fodder from outside the Island of Ireland.

The announcement came following a meeting with Teagasc and industry representatives on the current fodder situation.

Minister Creed said As fodder supplies are now tightening across the country, it is important that these are managed proactively.

We will unfortunately have to import fodder again as occurred in 2013 to supplement existing supplies as the prolonged bad weather conditions continue. I have.

The Minister added that as fodder tightened across the country there is no simple solution to the current shortages.

Instead, the Minister made clear that it will require a collaborative effort of all stakeholders to support affected farmers to ensure adequate feed supplies are available until livestock can be turned out to graze.

He welcomed the commitment by Teagasc and Co-ops to identify farmers at most risk of running short of feed and support them through individual advisory and fodder budgeting sessions.

This is a very difficult period for some famers around the country. Officials from my Department, in conjunction with Teagasc and the Co-ops have been actively monitoring the availability of fodder supplies for purchase by farmers.

I am also aware of challenges in the arable sector and have been in touch with Commissioner Hogan in this regard.

Minister Creed has directed Departmental officials to examine the current Fodder Transport Support measure in order to ensure it adequately addresses all areas experiencing fodder shortages.

This scheme provides support for transport of Hay, Silage and Straw being transported over 100 kilometres.

In addition, the Minister confirmed that his Department officials were actively developing a scheme supporting the importation of fodder from outside the country, the details of which will be worked on in the coming days.

The Minister made the announcement at a meeting between his Department officials, Teagasc (State body charged with providing Advisory Services to farmers) and the main Co-ops to review the current fodder supply situation. This meeting builds on the meeting that took place last week ensuring a coordinated approach to the issue.

The Minister called on farmers who still have supplies, to continue to make these available to neighbours through local groups, the Co-ops and Teagasc, by means of its recently developed fodder register.

Meetings are being arranged between the Minister and the main banks to discuss steps to alleviate the short-term financial pressures arising for farmers dealing with fodder shortages.

The Department will continue to operate its Early Warning System whereby emergency assistance may be provided to farmers whose animals are experiencing serious welfare issues and where the farmer him/herself is unable to cope.Dublin-headquartered aircraft lessor AerCap - one of the world's biggest - is being undervalued by investors because of concerns about its book values, but provides a "compelling mix of growth, value and optionality", according to Davy Stockbrokers.

In a research report published yesterday, Davy noted that shares in AerCap, which are listed in New York, have been trading at a 19pc discount to the company's diluted book value per share as at the end of 2017.

"Such a multiple implies concerns around book values but AerCap continues to achieve gains on sale," noted Davy, adding that excess capital of between $1.4bn and $1.8bn (1.1bn and 1.4bn) at AerCap by 2020 "drives optionality".

AerCap, headed by CEO Aengus Kelly, moved its corporate headquarters from Amsterdam to Dublin in 2016. With a portfolio of 1,093 owned and managed aircraft at the end of 2017, Aercap also has orders for 438 jets.

Its customers include airlines all over the world, and is the world's largest Boeing 787 Dreamliner lessor.

AerCap tussles with Gecas for the title of the world's biggest lessor.

Gecas has a fleet of about 1,700 fixed-wing aircraft in its portfolio, as well as more than 300 helicopters. AerCap generated net income of $1.07bn (872m) last year, while its revenue was $4.7bn (3.8bn).

Davy Stockbrokers said that its investment case for AerCap is partly premised on the fact that as one of the world's top lessors, the firm can attract keen pricing from jet makers, allowing it to place aircraft into a high-growth airline capacity market.

"Its scale provides valuable market intelligence and informs its purchasing decisions - the results of which are its record of consistent net spreads and double-digit book value gains," added the stockbroker.

Davy also said that the global aircraft order backlog remains broadly unchanged from a 2015 peak, but that production "remains disciplined".

"Industry demand remains robust, meanwhile, with global traffic growing 7.6pc in 2017," it added.Manufacturing output in Ireland slowed to a 12-month low in March as Storm Emma caused disruption to output and distribution.

The headline Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) stood at 54.1 last month, down from February's 56.2 reading, according to specialist bank Investec's Manufacturing PMI index.

Any reading over 50 is deemed growth.

The Output index was only marginally in positive territory last month, falling to its lowest since August 2016, with anecdotal evidence overwhelmingly linking the slowdown in output growth to snow disruption from Storm Emma.

"The timing of this was particularly unhelpful, given that it coincided with yet another sharp rise in new 0rders, extending the sequence of growth here to 20 months," Philip O'Sullivan, economist with Investec, said.

During the month panellists benefited from rising demand from both domestic and overseas markets, with particularly strong demand coming from the Eurozone, the Index found.

The mismatch between output growth and demand saw the rate of increase in backlogs of work at its highest since December 2016.

This mismatch occurred despite the utilisation of inventories by companies in an effort to fill customer orders, with stocks of finished goods depleting at its fastest rate in just over six years - and this pace would have been quicker were it not for the consistent build in stocks in the four preceding months, Investec said.

However, while the weather may have caused disruption to output, manufacturers continued to increase their staffing levels during the month. Roughly twice as many panellists increased employment than those shedding jobs. On the margin side, input prices recorded another sharp increase in March, led by rising raw materials costs, notably for steel.

Companies were able to pass some of this pressure on by hiking output prices once again, but it wasn't enough to prevent a second successive sub-50 reading for the Profitability Index, indicating a deterioration in this metric.

The Future Output Index of expectations was little changed, with around 11 times as many manufacturers anticipating growth over the coming 12 months than those who foresee a decline. "We wouldn't read too much into this month's data given the weather distortions and would expect a marked improvement [in] April's report," Mr O'Sullivan said.Last month Providence announced that it has signed a farm-out agreement with Chinese company APEC for the Standard Exploration Licence 1/11 that contains the potentially huge Barryroe offshore field (stock image)

Providence Resources has been granted a year's extension to its Frontier Exploration licence.

The first phase of FEL 6/14, which contains the Newgrange prospect, located roughly 260 km off the south-west coast of Ireland, has been extended to March 31 next year.

The licence is operated by Providence on behalf of its partner Sosina Exploration which has a 20pc share in the project.

The extension will allow for the acquisition of a new high-resolution 2D seismic survey over the crest of the Newgrange prospect, while also providing data suitable for input to an application for the permitting of an offshore exploration well.

Discussions in relation to a potential farm-out of equity in the licence are continuing, the company said yesterday.

Providence is also in discussions with nearby operators in the area with a view to rig-share operations given the expected short duration of work at the Newgrange well.

"We are very pleased to be granted this extension to the Newgrange licence, which will allow for the acquisition of a new high resolution 2D seismic survey together with seabed data, which may allow us to further de-risk the Newgrange prospect," said Providence technical director Dr John O'Sullivan.

"These data will also facilitate commencement of the detailed planning process for the Newgrange exploration well."

Last month Providence announced that it has signed a farm-out agreement with Chinese company APEC for the Standard Exploration Licence 1/11 that contains the potentially huge Barryroe offshore field.IHS Markit chief business economist Chris Williamson said that while March saw the biggest fall in the manufacturing PMI since June 2011, and the third successive slowing in the pace of expansion, "we should not be worried" by the declines (stock picture)

The Eurozone manufacturing boom has continued to slow from December's record high, but remains in "solid growth mode" across the region.

Fresh data confirmed the slowdown, with the growth rate during March the slowest in eight months, according to IHS Markit.

The pace of growth was hit as the fear of a global trade war permeated businesses.

Ireland's manufacturing performance last month was hit by the impact of Storm Emma.

The weakest manufacturing growth last month across the Eurozone was recorded in Ireland and France.

But the latest Eurozone figures showed that the manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) stood at 56.6 in March, still significantly ahead of a reading below 50 that would indicate contraction.

"The further easing in the headline PMI mainly reflected slower growth of manufacturing production and incoming new business, both of which rose to the lowest extents since November 2016," noted IHS Markit.

"Growth in new export business, which is not a component of the headline PMI, slipped to a 15-month low."

IHS Markit chief business economist Chris Williamson said that while March saw the biggest fall in the manufacturing PMI since June 2011, and the third successive slowing in the pace of expansion, "we should not be worried" by the declines.

"Some moderation in the pace of growth from the surge seen at the turn of the year was inevitable, not least because short-term capacity constraints limit the economy's ability to grow so quickly for long periods," he said.

"This has been clearly evident in the recent lengthening of supply delivery times. Some of the slowdown has also been attributable to temporary factors such as bad weather," he added.

But Mr Williamson conceded that with business optimism across the region having fallen to a 15-month low, there's a suggestion that there are other factors now hitting factory order books.

"Export growth has more than halved since late last year, linked in part to the appreciation of the euro, and in some cases demand is being stymied by higher prices," he said.

Mr Williamson added: "The overall pace of growth nevertheless remains robust by historical standards."Ryanair saw its passenger traffic increase to 10 million customers in March, a 6pc increase on the previous year.

The load factor increased by 1pc year-on-year to 95pc.

"Ryanair's March traffic grew by 6pc to 10 million customers, while our load factor rose 1pc to 95pc, on the back of lower fares," Ryanair's Kenny Jacobs, said.

Rolling annual traffic to March at the low fares airline grew 9pc to 130.3 million customers.

"Ryanair customers can look forward to more low fares and an improved customer experience in 2018 as we roll out more Always Getting Better improvements," Mr Jacobs said.

Earlier this month the Irish Independent revealed that a Ryanair boss warned Spanish cabin crew there would be "serious consequences" if they refused to operate flights during a strike by their Portuguese counterparts.

In a series of telephone conversations with anxious staff, head of human resources Darrell Hughes urged a group of flight attendants to ignore pressure "from other people" on social media and to "undertake" their duty.Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon confirmed last night she intends to undertake an investigation into the suspected data breach at media company Independent News and Media.

The company had already said it contacted the commissioner after being informed of new information by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement on March 23 last.

In a further revelation, the Irish Independent has learned that almost 40,000 emails of former INM Ireland chief executive Joe Webb may have been sourced during an alleged removal and interrogation of data from the companys premises in October 2014.

Mr Webb was one of 19 people named on a persons of interest list discovered by the corporate enforcement watchdog during its investigation into the suspected data breach at the company.

One of the reasons given for a data search by former chairman Leslie Buckley, the ODCE said, was that management could not find a contract with a services provider. It is understood the provider involved was for legal services.

Mr Buckley also said the company was doing a cost base exercise at the time.

Also on the list of 19 people were two distinguished journalists, Brendan OConnor, deputy editor of the Sunday Independent, editor of Life magazine and a successful television and radio broadcaster, and his colleague on the same newspaper, respected investigative journalist Maeve Sheehan.

It is unclear why they were on the list. The Excel spreadsheet containing the 19 names contains no context and gives no indication of the purpose of the list.

Meanwhile, the ODCE is now seeking the appointment of High Court inspectors to investigate a range of corporate governance issues at Irelands largest media company and claims it has been unable to access five password-protected documents, the file names of which suggest they could be highly relevant to its inquiries.

The States corporate watchdog also claims to have uncovered a series of text messages it says were sent to former INM chairman Leslie Buckley by John Henry, chief executive of Special Security Services Limited.

ODCE director Ian Drennan is claiming the data interrogation was directed by then INM chairman Leslie Buckley and he believes Mr Henry ran the interrogation of INMs IT back-up tapes, which may have been accessed by at least six companies external to INM.

Mr Buckley has previously told the High Court that Specialist Security Services provided certain security services to him and that Mr Henry was the person who initially introduced him to Derek Mizak, another IT expert, in order to assist with what Mr Buckley described as a cost-reduction exercise at INM.

Two invoices associated with the data interrogation, one for 46,260 to TDS UK and one for 14,944 to DMZ IT were paid by Blaydon Limited, an Isle of Man company whose beneficial owner is businessman Denis OBrien, INMs largest single shareholder and a long-term business associate of Mr Buckley.

Mr Drennan brings attention to a series of text messages to Mr Buckley sent by Mr Henry which he says appear to contradict Mr Buckleys assertion, to a special committee set up by INM, that nothing at all was found in the course of electronic searches of data.

Mr Buckley told the committee the searches were part of a review of one of INMs professional services contracts whose high cost and duration he had queried.

Just looking at JW archive mailbox with mails going back to 1999!!!! Yuppiee!!!, wrote Mr Henry in a text message sent to Mr Buckley on October 13, 2014, it is claimed.

Will have 39,354 jw emails, wrote Mr Henry, sending a later text on the same day which read: Making some progress. Have solution to get stuff out as well. Got tapes. Talk later.

The ODCE has also highlighted a further text message sent by Mr Henry to Mr Buckley on March 2, 2015. This text message stated: Hi Leslie. Could we discuss Webb. May have something. Talk face to face rather than phone.

In its affidavit in support of its application to have inspectors appointed to INM, Mr Drennan claims the email and text communications between Mr Buckley and Mr Henry make it clear that Mr Henry was, for all practical purposes, running the data interrogation.

Mr Drennan alleges it is also evident that there was regular contact between Mr Henry and the chairman for the purpose of keeping the latter apprised of the project progress and of any difficulties arising.

Last night, a spokesperson for Mr Buckley said: It is not appropriate to comment as a review process is ongoing.

As well as Mr OConnor and Ms Sheehan, the persons of interest list of names included two senior barristers who represented the Moriarty Tribunal.

They are Jerry Healy SC and Jacqueline OBrien SC.

The lawyers names appear on the list alongside four journalists, six former INM board and staff members and seven other people.

Sam Smyth, a journalist who left the company before the suspected data breach occurred, and Rory Godson, who was identified as a journalist but has worked in public relations for many years, were on the list.

The former INM board and staff members on the list are Mr Webb, Karl Brophy, Vincent Crowley, Donal Buggy, James Osborne and Mandy Scott.

In the affidavit, Mr Drennan listed seven additional persons whose names appeared on an Excel spreadsheet.

Four of these people either work, or have worked in the past, for an investor relations and strategic communications company called FTI Consulting. They are Mark Kenny, Jonathan Neilan, Jenny Kilroy and Harriet Mansergh.

This company did work for INM several years ago.

Another person named is Nick Cooper, an employee of Cable and Wireless, a British multinational telecommunications company with interests in the Caribbean.

Also named on the list is Ann Marie Healy, former head of group treasury at INM.

A seventh person is listed as Andrew Donoghue. It is unclear what this persons link, if any, is to INM.

There is some speculation this surname is incorrect and is likely to be corrected.Swedish streaming giant Spotify debuted on Wall Street with a bang, offering a bright spot amid dark times for technology stocks.

The companys shares surged more than 25 per cent above the Wall Street Stock Exchanges reference price of $132 (94) to $165.90 (118) a share. That translated into a $29.5bn (21bn) valuation for a company now trading under the ticker symbol SPOT.

Rather than opting for an initial public offering, Spotify engaged in whats known as a direct offering, which is not underwritten by banks. Founder Daniel Ek noted in a blog post ahead of the offering that existing shareholders have already been able to buy and sell stocks.

Normally, companies ring bells, Mr Ek said. Normally, companies spend their day doing interviews on the trading floor touting why their stock is a good investment. Normally, companies dont pursue a direct listing. While I appreciate that this path makes sense for most, Spotify has never been a normal kind of company.

In the months leading up to the offering, Spotify moved to strengthen its market position by signing licensing deals with a number of major music labels. Spotify executives believe a shift to streaming music can help revive the music industrys flagging fortunes.

Spotify was founded on the belief that music is universal and that streaming is a more robust and seamless access model that benefits both artists and music fans, the company said in a registration filing.

Spotifys robust showing contrasted with a tumultuous stretch for technology stocks, which have played a key role in dragging down the markets amid regulatory jitters.

A public outcry over the news that some 50 million Facebook users information ended up in the hands of political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica has spurred elected officials in the US and Europe to call for tighter rules.

Technology stocks have tumbled in recent weeks as investors became increasingly wary about the possibility of a government crackdown. Facebook officials have helped stoke those fears, with both CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg embracing the possibility of more regulation.

Amazon has also taken a hit after Donald Trump publicly slammed the online retail giant and repeatedly suggested it should pay more in taxes. The president renewed his assault on the same day as Spotifys offering.

But Spotifys big day was not all smooth. After a Swiss flag was hoisted in front of the New York Stock Exchange, astute observes noted that the company is Swedish.Outside the tech sector, food services group Sodexo slumped 4.5pc after Goldman Sachs cut the stock to "neutral"

European stocks retreated yesterday as investors began the second quarter in a fragile mood amid international trade tensions and mounting pressure on big technology companies.

The pan-European STOXX 600 ended the day down 0.5pc after falling more than 1pc earlier in the session. The index was supported in afternoon trading by a slight rebound on Wall Street.

Germany's DAX was a clear underperformer, losing about 0.8pc while industrials, financials and healthcare stocks weighed on European indexes.

The tech sector dropped 0.8pc, after an overnight report that Apple plans to replace Intel chips in Macs with its own.

The index has fallen about 7.5pc in the past three weeks as anxiety grew over big tech companies with the focus on Facebook's use of data, and regulation of Amazon. Reports of Apple increasingly going down the 'insourcing' route have dented shares in Apple suppliers around the world, most notably Europe's Dialog Semiconductor, down 3.5pc.

STMicro shed 2.9pc, while ams declined 2.3pc and Infineon fell 2.1pc.

Risk appetite was poor across the board, as European investors followed US and Asian investors to the exit after China retaliated against US tariffs.

"We believe that risk-reward for stocks has not turned medium-term negative, and would be adding at these levels," wrote JP Morgan strategists in a note.

Equities have again entered "oversold" territory, they said, adding, however, that headwinds for technology stocks were increasing.

Outside the tech sector, food services group Sodexo slumped 4.5pc after Goldman Sachs cut the stock to "neutral". Sodexo had already suffered a 15.7pc decline.Simon Harris with OPW chairwoman Clare McGrath and Damien Cassidy, Kilmainham Gaol Board of Visitors chairman, as they pay tribute to the gaols volunteer workers. Photo: Colm Mahady

Kilmainham Gaol hopes to attract over 500,000 visitors every year after recent renovations were finished to coincide with 1916 Rising commemorations.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) invested 5m refurbishing the gaol and the courthouse beside the building.

Visitors will now enter the gaol through the courthouse, instead of the original entrance the 1916 Rising leaders were brought through.

Visitors can now also book tickets online to avoid queues.

Junior Minister Simon Harris praised volunteer workers who initially helped save the historic building from ruin in the 1960s.

Mr Harris said it was important to "recognise the commitment of the workers who saved Kilmainham".

"They said 'not a hope in hell will we let this building go to rack and ruin,'" the minister said at a special event held last night to honour the volunteers who refurbished the prison.

"The achievement of restoring Kilmainham does not belong to this or any Government.

"I ask you not to see tonight as a one-off but as a thank you for all the volunteers restoring the building. The OPW hopes to attract over 500,000 visitors in a year and this most recent renovation can enhance those numbers," he added.

Chairman of the Kilmainham Gaol Board of Visitors Damien Cassidy said recent 1916 commemorations held at the Stonebreakers' Yard of the Gaol "had moved him to tears".

"The most moving moment I can remember was the wreath-laying ceremony with President Michael D Higgins," he said.

"Looking at the national flag, it moved me to tears.

"There was a great feeling of pride and of pride for Ireland."

Mr Cassidy was one of a number of volunteers who helped restore the building in the 1960s and remembered how the building was when he first walked inside.

"Everything we did was voluntary, we insisted on that.

"I remember going inside at first and there was weeds an ivy on the floor. I remember seeing there had been an equal number of future Fine Gael and Fianna Fail supporters in both cells [held after the Rising]," he told the Irish Independent.

"Simon (Harris) must go back after this event to see if he can help bridge that divide once more in forming a new government."

Volunteers said they were unhappy not to be introduced to President Higgins or acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the wreath-laying event at the Gaol on Easter Sunday.

However, Mr Cassidy said workers who saved the gaol were invited to the official ceremony.

The OPW has also appealed for families to donate items relating to Easter 1916 and other historic items relating to the gaol for the renovated museum.Russia's ambassador to Ireland insists the recent expulsions of diplomats is unlikely to harm future relations.

But Ambassador Yury Filatov warned common sense is needed as the fallout after the poisoning of a double-agent in the UK continues.

He defended Russia's decision to expel an Irish diplomat from Moscow last week as a reaction to Ireland revoking the diplomatic status of a Russian official based in Dublin.

He described the Irish decision as "unwarranted" and "unfortunate".

However, Mr Filatov is confident Russian and Irish authorities can continue to engage with each other positively.

Mr Filatov was speaking as Russia outlined three sets of questions it wants addressed by Britain, France and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) about the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal (66) and his daughter Yulia (33) in the UK last month. Investigators in the UK have concluded the poisoning involved a Russian nerve agent.

When asked what he wanted from the Irish Government, Mr Filatov said: "We all have to use our common sense as much as we can. What we have from London is political posturing."

He also defended Russia's expulsion of an Irish diplomat last week after 29 countries revoked the diplomatic status of Russian officials.A cache of firearms linked to an escalating north Dublin feud has been seized by gardai.

The weapons, including a sub-machine gun and five handguns, were recovered in Coolock after a Garda pursuit yesterday afternoon.

One line of inquiry is that the major firearms seizure is part of an escalating gang war between crime groupings in the area.

A low-level criminal was signalled to pull over by officers on the Greencastle Road, but instead drove away at speed. Following a brief chase, the vehicle crashed on the Priorswood Road and the criminal fled the scene on foot.

He later discarded a bag in Ferrycarrig Park, which was searched and found to contain the weapons and a quantity of ammunition.

Gardai were last night continuing their hunt for the low-level criminal as part of the investigation.

Detectives believe that the firearms belong to a north Dublin serial hitman, who has been feuding with a crime boss known as 'Mr Big'.

Specialist gardai have become increasingly concerned about the dispute following the murder of Ken Finn, an associate of 'Mr Big', in February.

Gardai last night said they were unaware of underworld reports that the 'serial hitman' had survived a number of attempts on his life in recent days.

"This is developing into a very nasty situation indeed, and it was always going to be after the murder of Ken Finn," a senior source said.

"This was not an intelligence-led operation but in fact eagle-eyed gardai recognised the man driving the car as a known criminal and became suspicious," the source added.

The vehicle, believed to be linked to the investigation, has been seized while the firearms have been sent to the Garda ballistic section in Garda HQ for forensic examination.

"No arrests have been made and investigations are continuing," a Garda spokesman said.Rory Harrison, Stuart Olding, Paddy Jackson and Blane McIlroy were cleared of the charges in a Belfast court

AN APPLICATION by various media outlets to lift reporting restrictions on the Belfast rape trial will come before the trial judge next Monday.

A preliminary application on the matter was made before the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan, this morning.

Sir Morgan said the trial judge, Judge Patricia Smyth, was aware of the application and was available next week to consider it.

The Lord Chief Justice said he was aware of the argument that news was perishable and it was on that basis that the application would be dealt with expeditiously.

Last Wednesday, Irish and Ulster rugby stars Paddy Jackson (26) and Stuart Olding (25) were acquitted by a jury of eight men and three women of raping a then 19-year-old student at Jacksons home in June 2016.

Mr Jackson was also cleared of a charge of sexually assaulting the same women.

Both men had also said that the sexual activity was consensual.

Their friends Blane McIlroy (26) was cleared of exposure and Rory Harrison (25) was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and withholding information. They too had also denied the charges.

The jury returned their verdict after three hours and 45 minutes of deliberations.

This morning, an application came before the High Court to lift reporting restrictions which were imposed during the course of the trial.

Sir Morgan said he was sitting in his capacity as a Crown Court judge. He said he was not making any determination on the application, and that it should properly be argued before the original trial judge, Judge Smyth.

He said Judge Smyth was available to hear the application on Monday.

Frank ODonoghue QC, who represented Stuart Olding during the nine-week trial, said the application was originally due to be heard at the end of April.

Mr ODonoghue said there were real practical difficulties with the application proceeding on Monday, as a number of the lawyers were out of the country.

He said he did want to object to the application by the media, but that he needed time to prepare his arguments.

He also said there was a need for absolute clarity on the effects on any orders.

Gerry Simpson QC, for the press, said he was conscious the application had come at an unusual time.

Its now a week since the trial ended. It will be another week before this application is heard. Im keen to keep pressing on with it, he said.

The Lord Chief Justice said he believed that skeleton arguments should be ready by the end of the week and he adjourned the application to Judge Smyth on Monday.Gardai at the scene in Coolock. Photo: Arthur Carron

A MANHUNT is continuing for a man who was caught with a cache of firearms following a garda pursuit.

The arsenal, including a sub-machine gun and four handguns, was seized in Coolock after a garda chase.

The low-level criminal fled after discarding the bag of firearms.

Gardai have established that he is linked to a gangland serial killer and the two criminals have been spotted together in recent weeks.

Shortly before 4pm yesterday, gardai conducting a routine patrol signalled for a vehicle to stop on the Greencastle Road.

However, the car sped away, which resulted in gardai taking up pursuit of the vehicle.

After a chase the car crashed on the Priorswood Road, and the driver fled the area. He was pursued through Ferrycarrig Park, where he discarded a bag before managing to escape.

A subsequent search of the bag led to five firearms and a significant quantity of ammunition being recovered.

The vehicle believed to be linked to the investigation has been seized, while the firearms have been removed to the ballistic section at garda HQ for forensic examination. Gardai later raided a house in the area.

A citywide trawl for the man is continuing today.Leaving Cert reform will be vehemently opposed by secondary school teachers if it involves any element of teachers assessing their own students for critical exam marks.

The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) warned Education Minister Richard Bruton they will not tolerate a repeat of controversial Junior Cert changes with Ireland's world-renowned Leaving Cert.

Four separate motions at the ASTI's 96th annual conference in Cork dealt with mounting concerns over the Junior and Leaving Cert exam changes and support resources.

A Mullingar branch motion was unanimously supported by the 400-plus delegates which warned that the ASTI now develop an opposition campaign "to any attempt to introduce assessment of students by their teachers for certificate or accreditation purposes at senior cycle."

Three other motions - from ASTI branches in Clare, Waterford and Dublin South - raised concerns over specific Junior and Leaving Cert changes.

The Dublin South County branch warned in one motion that educational standards had fallen as a direct result of the controversial new Junior Cert structure.

Joe Scally from Mullingar warned that such controversial changes could result in "the hideous erosion of the value and independence of our flagship exam."

"We must not be led by vested interests - we are supposed to be the experts. Let us direct the debate."

"The currency of the (Leaving Cert) exam would be devalued with Junior Cycle (style) changes."

Clare delegate Pauline Nagle warned that ASTI members predicted once the Department of Education got their way with the Junior Cert they would attempt to change the Leaving Cert.

"No one here wants to go through the nightmare that the Junior Cert turned out to be," she said.

Peter Keaney of Westmeath said there can be no question of teachers assessing or certifying their own students as part of a Leaving Cert exam.

"We need to stress the quality and fairness of the present Leaving Cert," he said.

One delegate challenged perceptions of rote learning.

"The problem is not with assessment - the problem is with cramming all the Leaving Cert exams into just one or two weeks," he said.

ASTI officials stressed they were not opposed to sensible Leaving Cert change - and welcomed the introduction of such subjects as Computer Science and Physical Education.

But ASTI general secretary, Kieran Christie, bluntly warned the Government not to repeat the mistakes over Junior Cert reform with changes now proposed for the Leaving Cert.

"ASTI is not opposed to reform per se - (but) we want quality reform which is in the best interests of the students we teach and the system we work within," he said.

"Complacency has no place in our education system."

The ASTI boss warned that teachers are vehemently opposed to assessing their own students for Leaving Cert exam purposes.

"That is something that is not going to change - ASTI supports externally assessed State examinations not for selfish reasons but because they meet the professional requirements of any national examination that is fair, transparent and objective."

Mr Christie said Ireland's Leaving Cert boasts a deservedly high international reputation.

"This is precisely because it is underpinned by the fact it is domestically and internationally perceived as meeting the criteria of fairness, transparency and objectivity."

The ASTI boss also warned the Government to learn from past mistakes and ensure any process of Leaving Cert reform is achieved through careful consultation with teachers.

"You cannot have radical curriculum change without a parallel process of engagement with the teaching profession," he said.

"If the bitter experience of recent years teaches us anything it is this."

Mr Christie warned that the last thing Ireland needed was another prolonged dispute between teacher unions and the Department of Education over exam reform such as that experienced with the Junior Cert.

"Teachers deserve to have their professional knowledge and experience respected and to have their concerns listened to."

"This is the way forward in ensuring that teachers have confidence in any curriculum model."

"I believe the ASTI can hold its head up high in all that it did and continues to do in protecting standards in Junior Cycle."

"We owe nobody an apology - we can legitimately take a bow."Emergency accommodation has been extended for former residents of the Metro Hotel in Ballymun following a large fire last month.

More than 60 firefighters from eight crews were needed to battle the major blaze at the complex in Ballymun near Dublin Airport which broke out on March 21.

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Independent Dublin Councillor Noeleen Reilly told Drivetime on RTE Radio 1 that emergency accommodation has been secured for the next week for the former residents of the 21 private apartments of the Metro Hotel and Apartment Complex.

"The families received emergency accommodation that the Metro would have paid for. There were also two payments, one payment was of 2,000 if all your belongings were gone out of the apartment or 1,000 if you were able to retrieve your belongings. That's all they received. "

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Cllr Reilly said that the families are still "in shock".

"They're still traumatised. They don't know where they'll be this day next week. In the last hour, we have secured emergency accommodation for the next week for them in the Travel Lodge in Ballymun, so that's something. Dublin City Council is supporting them there which is great.

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"They're living day-to-day at this stage. They don't know where they are going to be. They're actually relieved today to hear that they have somewhere to stay tomorrow night but this day next week we'll be having the same conversation about where are they going to go. The Travel Lodge is currently used as emergency accommodation for homeless families. I'm surprised they had this number of spare rooms but I welcome it."

The Ballymun representative said that Dublin City Council need to come up with a strategy and fast track the HAP payment for the families.

Families have been offered student accommodation next door to where they have been living, but Cllr Reilly claims that this is not suitable for families.

"I haven't come across one family that was dependant on social welfare. The families that I have been helping are all working. They weren't on DCC housing lists or anything. It has gone against them in this situation.

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"We've a complete lack of strategy in terms of aftermath of fires or emergencies like this. There has been nothing put in place for these families. They're just looking for a roof over their heads," she added.

In a statement to Drivetime, Dublin City Council said that they were working with the families affected by the Metro fire.

"A small number of calls were received in the placement service of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) the morning after the fire. They were advised to contact the community welfare officer for emergency needs and those seeking accommodation were advised to contact the DRHE. Since then, one family made contact with the DRHE and the family was advised to present to Park Gate Hall but they didn't give their names and subsequently didn't present themselves. One other family did present and were given emergency accommodation which they refused. Until today, they are the only interactions we've had in connection to the fire at the Metro Hotel.

"Today, a number of families presented to our homeless central placement centre at Park Gate Hall. Due to the extenuating and difficult circumstances that these families have found themselves in, we will in the interim be providing emergency accommodation for all of those who presented today, pending assessment of their homeless applications."

In response, Noeleen Reilly said that the statement was "nonsense".

"The very first phonecall that I made was to homeless services. I was standing there with a number of families outside their home that had been burnt to the ground.

"I was told that it had nothing to do with the city council and that it was up to the Metro Hotel and that they should go to the community welfare officer. Perhaps that's why families didn't present themselves."

On their website, the Metro Hotel says that a number of supports have been put in place for residents following the fire.

"Following a traumatic week for everyone impacted by last weeks fire Metro Hotel has sought to provide very significant supports, focused in particular on former tenants of 21 apartments attached to the hotel. The hotel continues to support and assist former residents ongoing search for longer term accommodation, mindful that the tenants themselves are best placed to assess their individual requirements," the statement reads.

The Metro also lists a number of procedures they have carried out such as returning deposits and pre-paid rent as well as "working around the clock to assist former tenants to source longer term accommodation".Alex Cooney is advising parents to talk to their children. Photo: Tony Gavin

Parents need to start broaching the subjects of relationships, sexuality and consent while their children are still in primary school to ensure they don't become misinformed about sex, according to a cyber expert.

This week, Education Minister Richard Bruton identified consent as a priority and said all second-level pupils are to get classes in the subject.

It is the biggest shake-up to the sexual education system in two decades.

Alex Cooney, CEO of CyberSafeIreland, says these discussions must start in the home before children begin secondary education and preferably before they have access to the internet.

Nowadays, children from the age of eight have access to smartphones, tablets, and smart watches. Some are even using their Holy Communion money to purchase these devices.

As a result, very young children can watch videos and read articles online that could cause them to become misinformed about sex.

Ms Cooney recommends discussing relationships, body awareness and consent in a staggered manner from early childhood.

"Parents must lead the way. You cannot rely on the education system alone, this must start at home," she said.

Ms Cooney advises adopting an "age and stage" approach to teaching children, using language they can easily process.

"These are sensitive issues and you can't freak kids out," she said. "It has to be discussed in a way they can connect and understand."

She cites the UK's NSPCC's introduction of cartoon character 'Pantosaurus' as an example of how to inform young children about complex issues in a non-frightening manner.

The colourful animation launched in 2016 with educational dinosaur Pantosaurus advising children on what constitutes sexual abuse and ways to tell their parents.

"It's better to gradually introduce complicated issues in a relaxed way, so your children know these lines of communication are open and feel comfortable talking to you," she said.

"It really is essential to start discussing these issues no matter how awkward it initially feels."

Withholding information about sex or restricting children's internet usage will not keep them safe, Ms Cooney said. It could increase the risk of them absorbing incorrect information from classmates whose parents may have a more lax attitude to internet access.

Speaking about the review of sexual education at a secondary school level, Ms Cooney said she welcomed it.

"It does surprise me that it has taken this long," she said. "The world has dramatically changed in the 20 years since the last curriculum review.

"It is essential that it is updated to reflect this changed reality and provide the tools children need to navigate through their online and offline lives in safe, smart and responsible way."General view of Dublin Fire Brigade at scene of fire off Mayor Street lower, IFSC, Dublin. Picture: Caroline Quinn

A man was rushed to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation this evening after a fire broke out in his kitchen at an apartment complex at Georges Dock in Dublins IFSC district.

The man was given oxygen at the scene by paramedics from the Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) and transferred to the Mater Hospital.

He was the sole occupant of the second floor apartment in the Spencer House complex and no one else was injured.

An incident commander with the DFB said the fire appeared to be sparked by a pan of chips the man was cooking when the fire broke out shortly before 9pm.

The fire was extinguished and did not spread to any other apartments.

Four fire engines, one turntable ladder, one command vehicle and one paramedic unit were dispatched to the scene.

A male tenant (28), who lives on the third floor, was among a number of residents of the building who were evacuated and stood outside the building watching the drama unfold.

The fire alarm went off once and we thought it was a false alarm because it happened before, he told Independent.ie.

But then it turned on and again and we saw that everyone was coming outside, he said.

We smelled something strange on the second floor coming down the stairs and then we came outside and saw smoke coming out the window, he said.

Fortunately the fire brigade was able to put the fire out and no one else was affected, he added.

Everything seems to be okay, he said, adding he was relieved it didnt happen in the middle of the night.

Its a bit worrying, he added.Gerry The Monk Hutch is one of Irelands most recognisable criminal figures. The exiled head of the Hutch clan, he is at the centre of the capitals savage gangland feud.

He came to public prominence via an extraordinary journey from counter-jumping child thief to the alleged mastermind suspected of being behind some of the biggest heists the country has ever seen.

But where did it all start?

Born into deep and grinding poverty in April 1963, in the capitals north inner city, he was the youngest in a family of eight children.

The north inner city that Hutch was born into was a grim and extremely poor place and he spent his first years being raised in a rundown tenement-style flat in an area that was hugely overpopulated and where housing conditions were deplorable by any standards.

His dad, Patrick Masher Hutch, did what hundreds of his north inner city neighbours did at the time, working as a labourer in Dublins docks.

Hutchs mother Julia was a housewife who did her best in the savagely difficult circumstances that the family found themselves in.

By 1971, with Hutch now eight years old, the family moved to Summerhill.

And even at this early stage, Hutch was starting to become involved in crime.

It started with petty theft but by the time he was a teenager, Hutch had become a key member of the notorious juvenile inner city gang nicknamed the Bugsy Malones. The young thugs would jump over bank tellers desks and steal money from drawers before dashing out of the bank.

It was not long before the teenage Hutch started to come to the attention of gardai.

According to leading crime journalist Paul Williams  who chronicled Hutchs criminal career in his book The Untouchables  he notched up more than 30 convictions as a teenager for burglary, assault, larceny, car theft, joyriding and malicious damage.

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He was sentenced to detention 11 times and served his sentences in industrial schools, later graduating to Mountjoy Prison.

It has been claimed that he was given his Monk nickname while in jail because of his quiet, highly secretive and serious manner.

His gang of young hoodlums developed such a reputation that Hutch was interviewed by RTE radio at the age of 16.

He said: I cant give up robbing. If I see money in a car Im taking it. I just cant leave it there. If I see a handbag on a seat Ill smash the window and be away before anyone knows whats going on.

I dont go near people walking down the street. Theyre not worth robbing.

When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said with a giggle: Id like to be serving behind the bank. Just fill up the bags and jump over the counter.

Years later in one of her last major crime stories before being shot dead, The Monk told tragic crime journalist Veronica Guerin:  We were kids then, doing jump-overs (jumping over counters in banks to steal cash), shoplifting, robberies, burglaries. Anything that was going, we did it. That was normal for any inner-city kid then.

A decade ago in The Monks last media interview, Hutch told RTE crime correspondent Paul Reynolds he came from a poor background and there was nothing around as a boy.

I mean first up, best dressed. Yeah, I had no choice. You had to get into crime to feed yourself, never mind dress yourself.

He was sent to prison at 15 and said it was like going to college for criminals.

I have a kid now of 15 and I look at the kid and I say My God, when I was 15, I was in prison. I mean, I was in prison with murderers, rapists, bank robbers, everything.

Ill agree I done wrong but I think the severity of being put into Mountjoy Prison, at that age, it was like going to college for criminals, he explained.

Hutch was aged 20 when he was last sent to prison in September 1983, when he was given a two-year jail stretch for a malicious damage offence.

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The then prolific criminal seems to have wised-up by the time he was released in May, 1985, and is suspected of turning his attention to far bigger and more serious criminal enterprises.

After all, unlike many of the criminals that The Monk had grown up with, he never succumbed to the scourge of drug addiction as a heroin epidemic destroyed his north inner city heartland throughout the 1980s.

Instead, he surrounded himself with loyal and trusted associates who are believed to have taken part in some of the most infamous heists in the history of the State.

This was a time when a number of armed robbers were shot dead by gardai. Former head of the Criminal Assets Bureau, Felix McKenna, gave an insight into Hutchs state of mind during this period.

He changed his MO (modus operandi) after that and became very secretive. He adopted a complete change of attitude and became one of those masterminds who plan robberies, Mr McKenna told the 2008 TV3 series Dirty Money.

As the years progressed, his inner circle built up intelligence and timings about when and where large cash deliveries would be made and where vans would be at particular times, Mr McKenna added.

In 1987, at a time when the mob led by slain Martin The General Cahill was the most high-profile gang in the country, Hutchs crew robbed 1.3m (1.6m) from a security van at Marino Mart on the capitals northside.

It was a truly spectacular heist at that time and Hutch, then aged 24, became a huge target for gardai, who had little success in stopping him.

In the years after that, The Monk was suspected of involvement in a number of major robberies, including a Brinks Allied heist in Clonshaugh, Dublin, in 1995, in which a gangs seizure of IR3m in cash was a record amount at the time.

The money was later laundered through construction projects at the beginning of the countrys building boom.

Despite being arrested in the cases, The Monk has always denied involvement in both of these heists and was never prosecuted in relation to them.

For years, gardai did everything in their power in an attempt to snare Hutch but the highly intelligent criminal was always one step ahead of the officers on his tail, managing to maintain his freedom despite their close attentions.

But that was to change with the setting up of the Criminal Assets Bureau, and tomorrow we will outline how The Monk even managed to get the better of this agency, despite having to pay out 1.5m.Brian Dooley has had his passport taken off him by officials in Bahrain

An Irish human rights campaigner who was refused entry to Bahrain today has had his passport taken off him by security officials there.

Brian Dooley has been held alongside Danish MP Lars Aslan Rasmussen for more than 12 hours in Bahrain International Airport after they travelled there to visit jailed Bahraini-Danish human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.

Al Khawaja was a prominent prodemocracy campaigner in Bahrain, who founded the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and was formerly a Middle East and North Africa Protection Co-Ordinator for the Dublin-based group Front Line Defenders.

He received a life sentence in April 2011 for charges of terrorism and attempting to overthrow the government.

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Mr Dooley, who is from Dingle in Co Kerry and is now based in the UK, told Independent.ie: "This week marks seven years since Al Khawaja was arrested.

"We came to show that Al Khawaja and the other human rights activists in prison are not forgotten, and to remind the Danish government that it should be pressing much harder for his release."

The pair arrived at 2am this morning local time and after four hours they were informed they would not be allowed into the country but officials have still not given them their passports back.

"We're still in the airport, we've been here for twelve hours now, it's a chicken and egg situation because they don't want us to come into the country but they won't give us our passports back so we can't leave.

"We haven't been told when we'll get our passports back and they're useless to them anyway," he said.

Mr Dooley is a member of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and a senior advisor with Human Rights First, he claims he has been banned from Bahrain for six years for documenting human rights abuses.

He said he thinks it's vital to continue this work, saying: "Bahrain needs to be constantly challenged about it torture, its targeting of human rights activists, its banning of the political opposition.

"Preventing members of parliament, human rights groups and journalists from entering the country shows how much the regime has to hide.

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"Formula One fans planning to arrive this week should know what theyre getting into. Bahrain has become an out and out police state."

He said that the pair are hoping to get a flight to Copenhagen soon but he is prepared for the possibility that they could be arrested.

He explained: "Anything can happen here, I've heard of other journalists and human rights campaigners being arrested, so we are prepared for all eventualities.

"We think that if we were going to be arrested then we would have been by now but who knows what will happen?"

Ireland does not have an embassy in Bahrain but Mr Dooley said he has been in touch with our embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs told Independent.ie: "The Department is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance."

The Bahrain Embassy in the UK has been contacted for comment but they had not responded at the time of publication.The scene of where Brendan Keogh was struck by a police vehicle Photo: Google Maps

An Irishman is fighting for his life in Canada after being struck by a police vehicle.

The man, who has been named locally as Brendan Keogh, is said to have been in a serious condition in hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia since the collision on March 13.

Mr Keogh, who is originally from the village of Mullinalaghta in Co Longford, was walking along the busy intersection of Highway 99 and Garibaldi Way in Squamish town at around 10.30pm local time when he was struck by an on-duty officer with the Lower Mainland Integrated Police Dog Services, who was driving an unmarked SUV.

Mr Keogh (29) was rushed to hospital and it's understood that his parents and two sisters have flown to Canada to be by his side.

Fianna Fail Councillor PJ Reilly told Independent.ie that Mr Keogh's friends and family are shocked by the incident.

He said: "I know his father Kevin quite well, the family is well-known in the area.

"I know Brendan is in quite a serious condition, I've heard there was a slight improvement but it's still said to be very serious, it's really tough on them.

"I want to wish Brendan and his family well, I wish them good luck in these tragic circumstances."

It is understood that Mr Keogh had been living in Canada for a year.

Canadian police watchdog The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) has confirmed that an investigation has been launched.

The IIO said in a statement: "The Independent Investigation Office of B.C. has deployed investigators to a motor vehicle incident in Squamish involving a pedestrian.

"Initial information provided to the IIO by the RCMP suggests that at approximately 10:30 pm on Tuesday March 13, 2018, an unmarked police vehicle was involved in a collision with the pedestrian at the intersection of Highway 99 and Garibaldi Way in Squamish.

"Emergency Health Services attended the scene and the male pedestrian was transported to hospital with serious injuries."

They said in an updated statement that they are hoping to speak to anyone who may have witnessed the crash.

"The IIO has identified a potential key witness (driver and or occupants) of a small white hatchback vehicle turning right from Garibaldi Way (as seen in the photos) to merge with the southbound lane of Highway 99 at the same time as the unmarked police vehicle struck the pedestrian.

"The IIO is asking for the driver of this vehicle and any potential occupants or other witnesses who may have seen, heard, or recorded the incident to contact the IIO Witness Line at 1-855-446-8477 or email info@iiobc.ca

"The IIO is an independent civilian oversight agency of the police in British Columbia. It investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death. It does not require any allegation of wrongdoing," the IIO spokesperson said.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed they are aware of the collision.

He said in a statement released to Independent.ie: "The Department is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance."Comedian Patrick Kielty has told how the IRA offered revenge for the UFF murder of his father.

Jack Kieltys was shot dead in 1988 in Dundrum, Co Down.

His son makes the claim in a new BBC One documentary to be broadcast tonight.

The comic said his family rejected the offer in no uncertain terms.

In My Dad, The Peace Deal And Me, Kielty reveals how his uncle was approached by the IRA in the graveyard.

He says an IRA man said to his uncle: We could properly use a couple of good, smart, strong, strapping lads like those Kielty lads if they are interested in revenge.

Kielty added: They were told in no uncertain terms where to go. My dad died for nothing  he wasnt a political figure, he wasnt taking a stand.

He had a building firm, he employed both sides.

That wouldnt be considered a stand anywhere else.

He was just doing the right thing.

Three men were convicted over the murder but were freed from prison after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

The documentary sees Kielty explore the legacy of the Agreement 20 years on. He reveals he voted in favour of it.

He also meets DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose police officer father was shot by the IRA but survived.

The former First Minister survived a bomb attack on her school bus when she was 16. She told Kielty that she did not vote in favour of the Agreement because of prisoner releases.

She said: How can you allow people who have committed some of the most hideous crimes to just walk free as if they had done nothing?

Kielty tells Mrs Foster that he voted yes despite knowing that it would lead to the release of the men who murdered his father. Thats true for you, but for others they want justice, she replied. Sadly, there are some people that still want retribution.

Thats why, 20 years later, were talking of the legacy of the Troubles and struggling with how to deal with it.

Around 500 prisoners were released under the terms of the Agreement.

Others featured in the documentary include PUP leader Billy Hutchinson, who is a UVF double murderer, and Richard Moore, who was blinded at the age of 10 after being shot at point-blank range with a plastic bullet by a British soldier and who later went on to found the charity Children in Crossfire.On the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Bertie Ahern never envisaged the threat that jeopardises it today.

The document is a world-class multi-layered blueprint for peace.

It addresses conflict, terrorism, state-sponsored attacks, political prisoners, victims, sectarianism, and hundreds of years of suspicion and tension between the governments of Ireland and the UK.

In its implementation, the Border separating the North and south was minimised and psychologically dissolved along with the presence of military guards enforcing the divisions. But now hard-line Brexiteers like Jacob Rees-Mogg, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson represent a bigger threat to stability in Northern Ireland than a return of paramilitaries, he says.

"They've found out that the Good Friday Agreement is a threat to Brexit, so I worry more about those guys, and what they're willing to do in the name of ideology, as opposed to a return to the armed groups and gangs," he tells the Irish Independent.

"These people don't know anything about Ireland and care less."

Mr Ahern "thinks they're wrong" to consider risking the agreement for the sake of having their hard-Brexit. "And I think it's dangerous."

The former Taoiseach sees the anniversary as an opportune time to recall the dark days of the past, and the painstaking risk and negotiation that came with writing the agreement.

He sees it as a "commemoration rather than a celebration", but it's a "clever" document, and he's all over the world discussing it. He spends most of his time in the Middle East, Colombia or Ukraine meeting with government representatives or Hamas, or the Farc and right-wing paramilitaries, and showing them how peace can be achieved when everyone's objectives are brought to the table.

But extremist Brexiteers would be willing to throw away a hard-fought peace, and even return to the time when Catholics were second-class citizens, and Ireland and Britain's relationship was characterised with a distrust bordering on disdain.

"By saying what they're saying, it means going back to 'majoritarianism'," says Mr Ahern. "They tried to get this thing going that the Good Friday Agreement is the problem. But in fairness Labour and some members in the Tory Party like Ken Clarke and Michael Heseltine put them in their box," he tells the Irish Independent from his stomping ground of Drumcondra.

He also says "in fairness", UK Prime Minister Theresa May "means what she says about a hard Border".

Back in mid-1995, through 1996 and early 1997, Bertie Ahern began privately meeting Tony Blair despite the fact that neither was in government.

They had a shared ambition to successfully deliver peace to Northern Ireland. They were both willing and determined to look beyond past betrayals and transgressions which influenced thinking on both sides, and committed to bring an end to state and paramilitary violence, and to build British-Irish relations. Primarily it was about saving lives, but Northern Ireland received a disproportionate amount of political capital from successive US administrations. Success would bring international recognition to the reputations of all involved.

"We met in the Gresham [hotel] and worked out what we would do and how we would handle it if we both got in to power.

"He was a certainty because he had an enormous lead in the polls at the time. His election was the first of May in 1997, ours was in June."

Straight away, the plan was to get the ceasefire back on and sign up to the Mitchell principles - basic principles of engagement prescribed by Senator George Mitchell in the peace process.

"We said we'll move straight in to talks in September. And from September to Good Friday we worked non-stop. Me and Tony would talk to (George) Mitchell, General John de Chastelain (the Canadian charged with overseeing disarmament in Northern Ireland), the Shinners (Sinn Fein) and the UUP, everyone.

"I was up to the North like a yo-yo, and over to Westminster."

There were several bumps in the road which threatened the thin line they were threading. "Loyalist Billy Wright was killed in December - the INLA got blamed, and were kicked out of the talks.

"Then UDP were involved in activities and they were thrown out of the talks, then some fellas that were involved with drugs were killed, and Sinn Fein was thrown out of the talks.

"So it was in-out, in-out, but it was almost March before we got back on track.

"We got to the Tuesday before Good Friday, and the Unionists had said 'they wouldn't touch the deal with a 40-foot pole'.

"Mitchell was panicking. Mitchell doesn't panic. Blair was getting frustrated. I was down here trying to organise my mam's funeral; listening to them on the phone. Then of course, the Shinners came in with 70 items and questions at 11 o'clock at night on the Thursday.

"Everything but the kitchen sink was on it. (Secretary of State for Northern Ireland) Mo Mowlam went ballistic. She went bananas. Rightly so."

But he adds: "In fairness to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness and the rest of Sinn Fein, they had to rein in the IRA; they had to fight the case for peace and decommissioning."

The transfer and licensed release of prisoners wasn't fully dealt with until 4am.

It was one thing dealing with it on the night but for 10 years afterwards, Mr Ahern said, he was dealing with relatives.

"I met them all, so many groups; nationalists, republicans; widows, RUC widows, IRA, British army widows. To our eternal gratitude to the families, they all went with it on the basis that if this was a lasting peace, they would take that sacrifice."Michael D Higgins is expected to run for the presidency again. Picture: Collins

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern says he would consider running for President - but he won't run against Michael D Higgins this year.

Instead, he would "maybe" run in seven years, and only as an Independent, not as a Fianna Fail candidate.

Mr Ahern is adamant President Higgins will seek a second term, but adds: "If he turned around and said he wasn't running that'd be a different thing; I'd have to see what I'd have to do then.

"You'd certainly have to think about it."

Asked about the affiliation of a candidacy, the former Fianna Fail leader says: "I wouldn't be running for Fianna Fail; I'd run as an Independent."

Mr Ahern says his potential run would be "maybe in seven years" in the 2025 election.

As part of his wide-ranging interview with the Irish Independent, Mr Ahern says the reason he's not running for the presidency is because nobody will beat President Higgins in the contest.

But if President Higgins were to decide not to run, then Mr Ahern would consider taking on the rest of the candidates.

He believes a second term for the president is a fait accompli, but that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be a competition. "I'm not going to say we shouldn't have an election because I'm a democrat, but if there's an election, ya know, we know the result, it's just a matter of... well, Michael D will win," he said.

"If he turned around and said he wasn't running that'd be a different thing; I'd have to see what I'd have to do then.

"You'd certainly have to think about it."

But as far as Mr Ahern is concerned, the discussion is academic.

"Just believe me, he's [Michael D Higgins] going to run. I've had lots of conversations with him. He's running."

He says: "I've said listen, Michael D is there, he's a good guy. I've worked close with him on all kinds of things. I was a good friend of his in the Dail."

Despite ruling out a tilt at the Aras this time, the former Taoiseach clearly believes the time is right to come out of the political wilderness.

In a monumental move for the three-term Taoiseach and former leader of the party, he was forced to resign from Fianna Fail.

He had been a member since the 1960s and had led it to unprecedented successes.

It all fell apart amid the Mahon Tribunal and collapse of the economy.

As he is no longer a member of Fianna Fail, he would seek to run as an Independent.

The next presidential election will take place at the end of this year. President Higgins has not confirmed that he is to run, although it is believed he will seek a second term.

Mr Ahern added: "It's a matter for Michael D to decide when he's going to announce; he's not stopping anyone else announcing."I know it is spring and the evenings are longer and all that, but you still need headlights for the dusk and dim times.

And from what I can see, there are an awful lot of cars with only some of their lights working.

So many drive with one just the one beam - on full mostly - it is unreal.

But I've come across a few with no rear lights whatsoever.

I tried signalling one of them, but I got a rather rude hand gesture for my troubles. Imagine, not a screed of a rear light.

My attention has been drawn to the poor level of light maintenance generally by several readers who say that in their part of the world every third or fourth car has a fault.

I'm not altogether sure that is the case overall but it is certainly an issue.

We should always check our lights, front and back, on a regular basis.

Just because the days are longer is not an excuse. We have to be able to see and be seen all the time. Visibility during the day can be poor too.

* Congratulations to Gillian Whittal (pictured) who has been appointed Opel Ireland general manager.

The former head of marketing and PR at the company has just taken up her new position.

As general manager, she is one of only a few women to hold such a senior managerial position in the Irish motoring industry.

Ms Whittal will report directly to Stephen Norman, group managing director of Vauxhall Motors and Opel Ireland, who is based at Vauxhall head office in Griffin House, Luton.

Gillian joined Opel Ireland in 2008 as head of marketing & PR.

She had previously worked with AIB, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Danone.

She says she is delighted to take on the role of managing Opel in Ireland with the brand "embarking on a new era". We wish her the best in her new role.

* Tesla have just opened a new Supercharger in Ireland at Applegreen Castlebellingham off the busy M1.

There are 16 Supercharger bays (eight each on north and southbound sites).

In the 10 minutes it takes to get a coffee or snack, your Tesla will be boosted by half a full charge, they say.

* So VW in Germany is promising to buy back diesel cars sold this year if they are banned by local councils within the next three years.

The catch is you have to buy a car that isn't banned. A lot of hot air I think.

The Volkswagen Group here says: "We are not aware of any proposal to ban diesel vehicles in Ireland in the foreseeable future, merely speculation that there might be such a ban from 2030.

"Accordingly, there is no correlation between this measure in Germany and the Irish market."Admirers of Martin Luther King have gathered for a celebration of his final speech in Memphis.

Dr King gave what is known as the Mountaintop speech the night before he died 50 years ago.

Lee Saunders, a national labour leader, recounted how that night in 1968, Dr King made an unplanned appearance to deliver the famous speech without notes after his aides saw how passionate the crowd was: There was one man they wanted to hear from.

But Mr Saunders stressed that the purpose of the weeks commemorations was not just to look to the past.

Dr Kings work  our work  isnt done. We must still struggle; we must still sacrifice. We must still educate and organise and mobilise. Thats why were here in Memphis. Not just to honour our history, but to seize our future, he said.

Mr Saunders was among the first speakers, taking the pulpit just after a video message from former president Barack Obama.

As long as were still trying, Dr Kings soul is still rejoicing, Mr Obama said on the video.

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Calling her oldest brother, Martin Luther King III, to join her in the pulpit, Bernice King discussed the difficulty of publicly mourning their father, a man hated during his lifetime and now beloved around the world.

Its important to see two of the children who lost their daddy 50 years ago to an assassins bullet, said Ms King, now 55. But we kept going. Keep all of us in prayer as we continue the grieving process for a parent that weve had yet to bury.

Some of the sanitation workers who participated with Dr King in a 1968 strike sat in the front row and were treated like celebrities, with audience members stopping to take photos with them before the event started. Contemporaries of Dr Kings including the Rev Jesse Jackson were also in attendance.

The commemoration of the Mountaintop speech followed an announcement earlier in the day by civil rights leaders who are reviving an economic justice campaign first planned by Dr King. The organisers of a new Poor Peoples Campaign are planning 40 days of marches, sit-ins and other peaceful protests.

This first 40 days is not the end; its the launch, said the Rev William Barber of North Carolina, one of the co-chairs of the revived campaign. You will see simultaneous moral direct action. You will see simultaneous training of people to prepare for a season of massive voter mobilisation.

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Starting on May 14, clergy, union members and other activists will take part in the events in about 30 states, targeting Congress and state legislatures. Then, on June 23, organisers plan a large rally in Washington  similar to what Dr King had envisioned. The original Poor Peoples Campaign was carried out in 1968 after Dr Kings death by other civil rights leaders.

Dr King had envisioned the Poor Peoples Campaign in Washington as a way to speak out against economic injustice, as he shifted his focus from civil rights to human rights. But before he could finish those plans, he came to Memphis in 1968 to support a strike by black sanitation workers who were tired of dealing with low pay and dangerous working conditions.

Dr King led a march in Memphis that turned violent on March 28, and he went back home to Atlanta. Seeking to prove that non-violent protests still worked, Dr King vowed to lead a peaceful march and returned to Memphis days later.

The civil rights leader was standing on the balcony of the old Lorraine Motel when he was shot on April 4 1968. He died at a hospital at age 39.The camera was found in Taiwan by schoolchildren at a beach clean-up event (Serina Tsubakihara/PA)

The internet has once again proven that the world is an amazing place, as a camera that was lost at sea for almost three years has been found working, and will be reunited with its owner.

Serina Tsubakihara, a 21-year-old student at Sophia University in Tokyo, lost her camera on a scuba diving trip in Japan in 2015.

After almost three years, the camera was found in Taiwan by schoolchildren at a beach clean-up event. Miraculously, the students and their teacher were able to track Tsubakihara down to return her camera.

Tsubakihara said she accidentally lost her camera underwater when she and her friends were diving in Ishigaki island in Okinawa, Japan.

Almost three years later, Park Lee, a primary school teacher in Taiwan, took his students out for a beach clean-up. While they were cleaning the beach, one of Lees students found a digital camera in a waterproof case that was covered in barnacles.

Miraculously, because of the waterproof case, the camera inside was still intact and working.

The class decided to look at the photos to see if they could reunite the camera with its owner. Based on the photos, of which some were taken underwater, they realised that the owner was probably Japanese or had spent time on Ishigaki Island.

Lee decided to share some of the photos on his Facebook page, asking people to help track down the cameras owner. The post now has over 13,000 shares.

The post found its way to Tsubakihara, who was surprised to be reunited with her camera after she had given it up as lost.

In a Facebook post, which Tsubakihara wrote in English and Japanese, she said: I cant still believe this is happening but the only thing I want to say is thank you so much for every single person who was involved with this!

I am so lucky and happy to have such a wonderful experience to feel the kindness of people.

Tsubakihara will be going to Taiwan in June to meet the teachers and students who traced her, and of course, to be reunited with her camera.China has raised tariffs on 50 billion dollars of US goods including soybeans, aircraft and cars in response to Washingtons increased duties on Chinese goods in a technology dispute.

The commerce ministry criticised the US move, describing it as a violation of global trade rules and said China was acting to protect its legitimate rights and interests.

It said a 25% tariff would be imposed and the date the charges will take effect would be announced later.

The dispute stems from US complaints that Beijing pressures foreign companies to hand over technology in return for market access.

Companies and investors worry the conflict could dampen worldwide commerce and set back the global economic recovery.

Earlier, the Trump administration escalated its aggressive actions on trade by proposing 25% tariffs on 50 billion dollars-worth (27 billion) of Chinese imports.

The Office of the US Trade Representative issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment. The suggested tariffs would not take effect right way: A public comment period will last until May 11, and a hearing on the tariffs is set for May 15.

NEWS: In response to Chinas unfair trade practices, USTR releases the proposed list of Chinese products that could be subject to tariffs. More here: https://t.co/WU4mqDYJIv  USTR (@USTradeRep45) April 3, 2018

Companies and consumers will have the opportunity to lobby to have some products taken off the list or have others added.

The latest US move heightened trade tensions with China, which on Monday had slapped taxes on three billion dollars-worth of US products in response to earlier US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

Chinas going to be compelled to lash back, warned Philip Levy, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and an economic adviser to President George W Bush.

The administration sought to draw up the list of targeted Chinese goods in a way that might limit the impact of the tariffs  a tax on imports  on American consumers while hitting Chinese imports that benefit from Beijings sharp-elbowed tech policies. But some critics say that Americans will end up being hurt.

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If youre hitting 50 billion dollars in trade, youre inevitably going to hurt somebody, and somebody is going to complain, said Rod Hunter, a former economic official at the National Security Council and now a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP.

Even representatives of American business, which have complained for years that China has pilfered US technology and discriminated against US companies, were critical of the administrations latest action.

Unilateral tariffs may do more harm than good and do little to address the problems in Chinas (intellectual property) and tech transfer policies, said John Frisbie, president of the US-China Business Council.

Even some technology groups contending directly with Chinese competition expressed misgivings.

The Trump administration is right to push back against Chinas abuse of economic and trade policy, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank. But imposing tariffs on producer goods will inadvertently hurt Americans through reduced capital investment and lower productivity growth.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his military wont stop efforts to oust Syrian Kurdish fighters from Syrias north, as the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran met for talks on the conflict.

The three countries, which have teamed up to work for a Syria settlement despite their differences, reaffirmed their commitment to Syrias territorial integrity and the continuation of local ceasefires.

They called on the international community to provide more aid for the war-ravaged country.

Mr Erdogan, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani were holding their second summit to discuss Syrias future since attending a similar meeting in Sochi, Russia, in November.

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Mr Erdogan said Turkish troops, which last month took control of the north-western enclave of Afrin, would move eastward into Manbij and other areas controlled by the US-backed Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey considers to be terrorists.

I say here once again that we will not stop until we have made safe all areas controlled by the (YPG), starting with Manbij, Mr Erdogan said.

He stressed that Turkeys fight against the YPG would not distract from efforts to eliminate the remnants of Islamic State group from the country.

Mr Erdogan said Turkish and Russian forces were discussing the possibility of establishing field hospitals in Tal Abyad to take care of people injured in attacks in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta. He also spoke of plans to establish bakeries to help feed those in need.

The summit meeting came as the US said its military mission to eradicate Islamic State in Syria was coming to a rapid end, but offered no timetable for withdrawal.

President Donald Trump had said earlier that the USs primary mission was to defeat IS and weve almost completed that task.

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Mr Trump said on Tuesday that he wants to bring troops home to start rebuilding the US.

But his comments conflict with views of his senior military advisers, some of who spoke at a separate event in Washington about the need to stay in Iraq and Syria to finish off the militant group, which once controlled large areas of territory in both countries.

Asked about the possible US pullout, Mr Rouhani said the US move from Syria is an excuse for soliciting money from countries that want them to remain there.

He said: One day they say they want to pull out of Syria  then it turns out that they are craving money. They have told Arab countries to give them money to remain in Syria.

Russia and Iran have provided crucial support to President Bashar Assads forces, while Turkey has backed the rebels seeking to overthrow him.

The three nations have sponsored several rounds of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition, and brokered local truces in four areas, helping to reduce hostilities.

Meanwhile, the Russian military said on Wednesday that it expects a rebel evacuation from the suburbs of the Syrian capital to be completed in the coming days.

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The Russian Defence Ministry and Syrian rebels struck a deal on Sunday for the Army of Islam, the biggest opposition group in the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta, to leave the area for the rebel-controlled north.

The rebels were still leaving the town of Douma, but the evacuation was expected to wrap up in the coming days, said Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff.

Earlier, Russias Defence Ministry said more than 3,000 rebels and their family members had left Douma since Sunday.

The evacuation comes after a five-week government offensive in February and March that killed hundreds of people and caused catastrophic damage in the besieged suburbs.An investigation has been launched

Police have arrested a pensioner after he fatally wounded an intruder during a suspected burglary at his home.

Two men entered the property in Further Green Road in Hither Green, south-east London, early on Wednesday morning.

One suspect, armed with a screwdriver, forced the 78-year-old into his kitchen after he discovered them, while his accomplice went upstairs, Scotland Yard said.

A struggle ensued, during which one of the males found inside the property sustained a stab wound to the upper body, according to the police.

Officers were called to reports of a burglary in progress around 12.45am and the London Ambulance Service took the wounded man to a central London hospital, where he died at 3.37am.

The police were unable to confirm whether the suspect had been stabbed with the screwdriver.

The pensioner suffered bruising to his arms and was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm, police said.

More to follow...German prosecutors yesterday lodged a formal application for the deposed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to be extradited to Spain.

Mr Puigdemont has been held in Germany since being arrested last week on an international warrant issued by Spain.

A German court must now rule on whether he will have to return to Spain to face charges of rebellion over last year's referendum and declaration of independence.

Prosecutors told the Schleswig-Holstein higher regional court they have determined Mr Puigdemont's extradition is "justified" after "intensive examination" of the Spanish arrest warrant.

It will be for the court to decide whether it agrees with their assessment. Under EU extradition procedures the German judge will not consider the question of Mr Puigdemont's guilt, which is for a Spanish court to decide.

Instead he will determine only whether the offences Mr Puigdemont is accused of would be a crime under German law.

The case is expected to hinge on the main charge of "rebellion".

There is no direct equivalent in German law, but prosecutors told the court yesterday they believed it equated to the German crime of treason.

Mr Puigdemont was previously held in Belgium but Spanish prosecutors withdrew the arrest warrant when it appeared a Belgian court might rule that "rebellion" was not a crime in Belgian law.

A second charge of misusing public funds is likely to prove uncontroversial, but Spanish prosecutors have been reluctant to allow his extradition on that charge alone.

Under EU extradition agreements, Mr Puigdemont can only be tried on the charges he is extradited for.

Mr Puigdemont, who has been held in Neumunster prison since his arrest, at the weekend released a statement calling on his supporters to continue the struggle for Catalan independence and to remain non-violent.

"We will continue to work to build a free country, to ensure we have a society with less injustice, more equality, more solidarity and more fraternity with all the peoples of the world, starting with the peoples of Spain with whom we want to remain connected through respect and mutual recognition," he said in an audio recording handed to a German MP who visited him in prison.

He called on supporters to campaign "without violence, without insults and in an inclusive way, respecting people".

If the German court decides to approve his extradition, Mr Puigdemont has the right to appeal. Any extradition will also have to be approved by the German government, which can block it on political grounds.France has flagged more than 78,000 people as security threats in a database

France has flagged more than 78,000 people as security threats in a database intended to let European police share information on the continents most dangerous residents.

The total is more than all other European countries put together, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.

The data has led to questions about whether the system is being misused, with different countries applying different criteria.

A German parliamentarian, Andrej Hunko, raised the alarm about the European database in a question to his countrys interior ministry.

In 2017, more than 134,000 people were flagged for the secret international checks on people considered security threats.

To put the French number in perspective, the countrys intelligence chief said late last year that 4,000 suspected extremists were being monitored as highly dangerous.

The increase in alerts cannot be explained by the threat of Islamist terrorism alone. Europol reports a four-digit number of confirmed foreign fighters, yet the increase of SIS alerts in 2017 is several times that, Mr Hunko said in a statement late last month when he released the interior ministry response to his query.

That response included a spreadsheet detailing for the first time how many discreet checks each European country had flagged up last year  more than 134,000 in all.

This could mean that families and contacts of these individuals are also being secretly monitored. It is also possible that the measure is being used on a large scale for combating other criminal activity, Mr Hunko said.

The number of French police entries indicates a misuse of the system intended to monitor dangerous criminals, he added.

The Schengen database  which is separate to the Europol database and far more widely used  forms the backbone of European security, allowing police, judicial authorities and other law enforcement to immediately check whether a person is wanted or missing, or a car is stolen, or a firearm is legal, for example.

The database was checked five billion times in 2017 alone, according to the director of the EU-LISA agency, Krum Garkov.Dr Martin Luther King Jr. makes his last public appearance at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee the day before his assassination (Charles Kelly/AP)

Martin Luther King was assassinated 50 years ago while on the balcony of a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.

He was the figurehead for the civil rights movement that fought against racial segregation in the US and inspired non-violent civil disobedience to effect change.

His powerful oratory, including his memorable I Have A Dream speech, put the issue of racial discrimination at the centre of debate.

The political landscape has changed in the US to the extent that Barack Obama was elected the first African-American president in 2008.

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Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani were holding their second summit to discuss Syrias future since attending a similar meeting in Sochi, Russia, in November.

The leaders meeting in the Turkish capital are expected to reaffirm their commitment to Syrias territorial integrity and the continuation of local ceasefires.

Talks are also expected to include the issues of border security, the distribution of humanitarian aid and drawing up a constitution for the country.

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Russia and Iran have provided crucial support to President Bashar Assads forces, while Turkey has backed the rebels seeking to overthrow him.

The three nations have sponsored several rounds of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition, and brokered local truces in four areas, helping to reduce hostilities.

The leaders locked hands while posing for photos at the start of the meeting, but did not make opening remarks. Earlier, Mr Rouhani held separate bilateral meetings with Mr Putin and Mr Erdogan.

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Meanwhile, the Russian military said it expects a rebel evacuation from the suburbs of the Syrian capital to be completed in the coming days.

The Russian Defence Ministry and Syrian rebels struck a deal on Sunday for the Army of Islam, the biggest opposition group in the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta, to leave the area for the rebel-controlled north.

The rebels were still leaving the town of Douma, but the evacuation was expected to wrap up in the coming days, said Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff.

Earlier, Russias Defence Ministry said more than 3,000 rebels and family members had evacuated Douma since Sunday.

The evacuation comes after a five-week government offensive in February and March that killed hundreds of people and caused catastrophic damage in the besieged suburbs.BAHRAINS highest court upheld prison sentences against 13 leaders of the 2011 uprising on Monday, a defence lawyer said, a ruling that could stir up further unrest in the US-allied Gulf Arab state.

The case has drawn international criticism from rights groups and come under scrutiny from U.S. officials keen for acquittals to help restore calm in a country it counts as a regional ally against Iran.

Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, has been in political turmoil since a protest movement led by majority Shi'ite Muslims erupted in February 2011 during a tide of revolts against governments across the Arab world. Bahrain accuses Shi'ite power Iran of encouraging the unrest.

The sentences, originally handed down by a military court in June 2011 and upheld by a civilian court in September last year, range from five years in prison to life sentences.

"This verdict is final, there are no more appeals possible, it is the last stage of litigation," lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi told Reuters by telephone from Manama.

Twenty uprising leaders had been sentenced but only 13 filed appeals. The remaining seven men had been tried in absentia because they were out of the country or in hiding, Jishi said.

Bahrain's main opposition Al Wefaq condemned the decision. "These judgments confirmed the rulings issued before by the military court which were condemned by the whole world. I think it is accurate to call these rulings political persecution," Wefaq leader Sheikh Ali Salman told Reuters.

"It confirms that the Bahrain regime is refusing to take its chances to reform and seems to be deepening its own human rights crisis," said Brian Dooley, director of the Human Rights Defenders Program at U.S.-based group Human Rights First.

The men who received life sentences - 25 years in Bahrain - included rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and opposition leader Hassan Mushaimaa, who has advocated turning the kingdom of Bahrain into a republic.

Ibrahim Sharif, leader of the opposition Waad party and the only Sunni among those convicted in the case, is serving a five-year sentence.

The hearing was attended by a number of foreign diplomats, Jishi said, highlighting fears that the outcome could have an impact on unrest in the island kingdom.

Several protesters gathered in front of the court in support of the uprising leaders, Wefaq said.

The Sunni Muslim ruling Al Khalifa family, backed by troops from Saudi Arabia and police from the United Arab Emirates, put down the uprising with martial law. Thousands were arrested and military trials were conducted during the martial law period.

Washington has called on its ally to talk to the opposition, but unrest has continued. Police and demonstrators clash almost daily and each side blames the other for the violence.

The main charges the convicted men faced were "forming a terrorist group with intent to overthrow the system of government", as well as collaboration with a foreign state.

The men deny all charges, saying they wanted only democratic reform in the Gulf Arab monarchy.

In September, a prosecution official said six of the men were guilty of having "intelligence contact" with Iran and its Lebanese Shi'ite militant ally Hezbollah.

The protest leaders are viewed by some Bahrainis as popular heroes whose release could reinvigorate the democracy movement, which demands parliamentary powers to legislate and form governments. Bahraini Shi'ites say they face discrimination, a charge the government denies.Palestinian protesters carry an injured comrade during clashes with Israeli forces following a protest along the border with Israel, east of Gaza City yesterday. Photo: Getty Images

Saudi Arabia's crown prince has said Israelis have a right to a homeland alongside Palestinians, in a sign the kingdom was open to the possibility of normalising ties.

Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old heir to the Saudi throne, said the Jewish people were entitled to live peacefully on their own land when asked if he believes they have a right to a nation-state.

"I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land," he said. "But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations."

Saudi Arabia - birthplace of Islam and home to its holiest shrines - does not recognise Israel. It has maintained for years that establishing any diplomatic relations hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war, territory Palestinians seek for a future state.

The crown prince also said that while the ultra-conservative country has "religious concerns" about the holy mosque in Jerusalem and the rights of Palestinians, it has no objection "against any other people".

"There are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries", Prince Mohammed told 'The Atlantic' magazine in an interview as he tours the US.

The countries have grown closer under the crown prince, bonding over their mutual distrust of Iran.

Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel last month, a hugely symbolic move that was greeted with much cheer in the Jewish state after a decades-long ban.

King Salman reiterated his support for the Palestinians in a phone conversation on Monday night with US President Donald Trump, in rare comments made by the ageing monarch.

The king also emphasised the need to advance the peace process, speaking after Israeli security forces killed 16 Palestinians last week during a demonstration along the Israel-Gaza border

The Trump administration has pinned its hopes on Saudi Arabia as a key figure in the peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

While Riyadh does not officially acknowledge Israel's existence, it has in the past talked about recognising Israel in the context of a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

But no such senior Saudi official is known to have previously accepted that Israel has a "right" to any land beyond the practical need to secure a lasting deal.

Saudi publicly condemned Mr Trump's move to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last year, but Arab officials said that the kingdom was privately pushing Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, to accept a less than favourable deal.

Reports suggested the deal would see the Palestinians lose their claim to east Jerusalem as its capital.

In a major Saudi shake-up last year, Prince Mohammed pushed aside his older and more experienced cousin to become first in line to his father's throne, setting himself up to control Saudi policy for decades to come.

The Saudis are working aggressively to change perceptions. They have cast themselves as essential partners against Islamist extremist groups and worked to improve women's rights in the kingdom.

Abroad, he has escalated a war of words with Tehran, describing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, in 'The Atlantic' interview as an "evil guy" who "makes Hitler look good".A woman has been arrested after she used a Taser to wake her teenage son up for mass on Easter Sunday.

Sharon Dobbins (40) was arrested by police in Phoenix, Arizona on suspicion of child abuse after her son alerted the authorities.

Her son (17) allegedly told police he had small bumps on his leg from where he was tasered.

Ms Dobbins said that she had tried several times to wake her son to go to mass with her on Sunday and she claims she did not actually shock him with the weapon but just used the noise to stir him.

She told KNXW: "I said, 'Get up! It's Jesus' Day!'.

"He was like, 'Mom, I'm calling the police.' I said, 'You can call the police, UPS, DPS, whoever you want to call.'

"Police were on the phone and I told the dispatcher, I told her, 'You need to be with Jesus right now.'"

The authorities have confirmed she did make contact with his leg, Ms Dobbins spent 12 hours in prison and is due to appear in court later this month.

She has defended her actions and said religion must come first.

"I don't think I did anything wrong because you're supposed to put God first and that's all I was trying to do is tell my kids to put God first," Ms Dobbins said.A half-century after Rev Martin Luther King Jr's death, visitors still flock to the Memphis, Tennessee, site where the civil rights leader was assassinated and say that while there has been progress in racial equality, more strides need to be made.

"We still look like there is a shadow over us, still seems like something is holding us back," Charles Wilson, a black man from Mississippi, said during a recent visit to the site.

On April 4, 1968, King (39) was shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The motel is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum, which includes Room 306, preserved as it was when King stayed there, and vintage cars parked out front.

A Baptist pastor and civil rights activist, King worked to end legal segregation of blacks in the United States. He gave his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech at the August 1963 march on Washington, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at the age of 35 - the youngest man to have received the award.

Despite King's advocacy of non-violent resistance, the days immediately following his death were marked by rioting in several American cities. Thousands of National Guard troops were deployed.

Mr Wilson, the recent National Civil Rights Museum visitor, and his son Charles Jr were among those who contemplated King's legacy and the status of civil rights in the United States.

"I think that the changes that people fought for as far as voting etcetera, a lot of people don't take advantage of it, and a lot of people gave their lives for that right, they fought for it and people now don't appreciate it," Mr Wilson Jr said.

Nancy Langfield, a white woman visiting from Missouri, said politicians in Washington do not reflect the racial makeup of the United States.

She deplored what she called the rhetoric coming out of Washington, calling it hateful and mean. "I look at the government and it looks very white to me, and then I think about the country and it doesn't seem overly white to me," Ms Langfield said.

For Hyungu Lee, of Tennessee, who visited the museum with his family, King's legacy is still alive.

"Even though he is not here, I feel that his spirit is with us now, and because of him, our human rights is getting better and better, so I feel really thankful," Mr Lee said.

King is also remembered across Africa. Streets. Schools. A bridge in Burkina Faso. The name of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr can be found across the continent. A measure of the global influence of the American civil rights leader who was shot dead 50 years ago after speaking out against injustices at home and abroad.

A school for poor children that is named after King in Uganda's capital, Kampala, took as its motto, 'Have a Dream', borrowing a line from one of King's most famous speeches.

"Martin Luther King stood for human rights and equality, so we wanted a way of inspiring and motivating our students," said Robert Mpala, the school's founder.

In rural Liberia, a West African nation founded by freed American slaves, one official spoke proudly of a privately owned Martin Luther King school.

"Martin Luther King was a great man. We still follow his dream," said J Maxime Bleetahn, director of communications at the Ministry of Education.

Africa's push for independence from colonialism, which mirrored King's own movement for racial equality in America, attracted the civil rights leader's attention and support.

King first set foot on the continent in March 1957 to attend celebrations marking the West African nation of Ghana's independence from Britain.

After he returned to Africa in November 1960 to attend the inauguration of Nigeria's first president, King said African leaders had told him "in no uncertain terms that racism and colonialism must go, for they see the two as based on the same principle".

The parallels between King's efforts and Africans' quest for independence were perhaps strongest in apartheid-era South Africa, where racist laws oppressed the majority black community for decades.

In December 1965 King delivered a speech in New York denouncing South Africa's white rulers as "spectacular savages and brutes" and called on the US and Europe to boycott the nation, a strategy the West eventually embraced and that helped end white rule.

King was unable to visit South Africa after being denied a visa. But years later a bust of King was slipped secretly - by diplomatic pouch - into a South Africa still in the grip of apartheid.

American sculptor Zenos Frudakis said the US government approached him about creating a bust of King that would be installed in South Africa for "political impact".

As it was barred by South Africa's government from being displayed in a public space, the sculpture was dedicated in 1989 at the US Embassy, visible to people outside the embassy fence.Pearson boss John Fallon has seen his annual bonus nearly double just a year after a shareholder revolt over his pay packet.

The company disclosed on Wednesday that it had increased the chief executives annual incentive payout from 343,000 to 624,000, helping bring his total remuneration to 1.7 million.

That is up from 1.5 million in 2016.

Pearsons annual report said that the 2017 annual bonus payout represented just 44% of what Mr Fallon could have earned had additional performance targets been met.

The remuneration committee also highlighted that there was no increase in Mr Fallons base salary, though it would rise by 2.5% in 2018 in line with the average increases for UK employees.

A Pearson spokesperson said: Pearson delivered results in line with the demanding plan set at the beginning of 2017, and made good strategic progress against this plan.

Given the level of performance achieved and the progress made during the year, the remuneration committee agreed on a limited increase in Johns overall remuneration.

It comes nearly a year after shareholders vented their anger over a 20% pay bump for the publishers boss, with more than 65.59% of votes cast against the companys remuneration report at its AGM last May.

The remuneration committee said it has listened to shareholder feedback and was rebalancing the performance measures for 2018 awards.

One third of any incentive pay will only be made available if targets are met for each of earnings per share, gross return on invested capital, and relative total shareholder returns  all measured over a three-year period.

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They will also be subject to a further two-year holding period, and the final value of the awards will depend on Pearsons share price performance and dividends paid to shareholders over a five-year period.

In February, Pearson reported a 1% drop in sales to 4.5 billion, but swung to a statutory profit of 408 million compared to a 2.3 billion loss a year earlier, having been impacted by restructuring costs and a goodwill impairment charge from its North American business in 2016.

The decline in revenues last year came despite a 126 million boost from currency movements linked to the weaker pound, though business disposals dragged on sales by 54 million.

It follows the sell-off of its Global Education division last year as well as its 22% stake in Penguin Random House, which Pearson said would also knock 2018 operating profit by 44 million.

The company said it will also complete the sale of its Wall Street English unit as well as its stake in Mexican joint venture Utel during the first half of 2018, and is now preparing to sell its US K12 courseware business.

The move is part of efforts to simplify the business, with its efficiency drive set to result in around 3,000 job cuts by 2020.

Pearson is expecting to report adjusted operating profit of between 520 million and 560 million  which would mark a decline from the 576 million booked in 2017.

The publisher is forecasting ongoing headwinds in its US higher education courseware, but said it would be offset by improving conditions in its other businesses.

Pearson shares were flat following the release of the annual report.Donald Trump has pledged strong action today on immigration, a day after he said he wants to use the military to secure the US-Mexico border until his big, beautiful wall is erected.

In an early-morning tweet, the president said Our Border Laws are very weak and claimed Democrats stand in our way of new laws. He added: We will be taking strong action today.

He did not offer further details and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mr Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he has been discussing the idea of using the military at the border with defence secretary Jim Mattis.

Were going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military, Mr Trump said, calling the move a big step.

It was not immediately clear exactly how the proposal would work or what kind of troops he wanted to deploy, but the White House later said he wanted to mobilise the National Guard.

Federal law prohibits the use of active-duty service members for law enforcement inside the US, unless specifically authorised by Congress.

But over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support.

The White House counsels office has been working on the idea for several weeks, according to a senior source.

Mr Trump has been frustrated by slow action on building a wall along the Mexican border.

He has previously suggested using the Pentagons budget to pay for the wall, arguing it is a national security priority, despite strict rules that prohibit spending that is not authorised by Congress.

At the Pentagon, officials struggled throughout the day on Tuesday to answer questions about the plan, including rudimentary details on whether it would involve National Guard members.

But the administration appeared to be considering a model similar to a 2006 operation in which George W Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border.

Under Operation Jump Start, 6,000 National Guard troops were sent to assist the border patrol with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained.

Over two years, about 29,000 National Guard forces participated as forces rotated in and out.

The Guard members were used for surveillance, communications, administrative support, intelligence, analysis and the installation of border security infrastructure.

In addition, Barack Obama sent about 1,200 National Guard troops to the Mexico border in 2010 to beef up efforts against drug smuggling and illegal immigration.

Texas also deployed military forces to its 800-mile border with Mexico.

Former Texas governor Rick Perry, now Mr Trumps energy secretary, sent 1,000 Texas National Guardsmen to the Rio Grande Valley in 2014 in response to a sharp increase in Central American children crossing the border alone.

On Tuesday Mr Trump met senior administration officials, including Mr Mattis, Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and attorney general Jeff Sessions, to discuss the administrations strategy to address what White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders described as the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America.

As well as mobilising the National Guard, Mr Trump and senior officials agreed on the need to pressure Congress to urgently pass legislation to close legal loopholes exploited by criminal trafficking, narco-terrorist and smuggling organisations, Ms Sanders said.The Trump administration has escalated its aggressive actions on trade by proposing 25% tariffs on 50 billion dollars-worth (27 billion) of Chinese imports to protest Beijings policies that require foreign companies to hand over their technology.

China immediately said it would retaliate against the new tariffs, which target high-tech industries that Beijing has been nurturing, from advanced manufacturing and aerospace to information technology and robotics.

The Office of the US Trade Representative issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment. The suggested tariffs would not take effect right way: A public comment period will last until May 11, and a hearing on the tariffs is set for May 15.

Companies and consumers will have the opportunity to lobby to have some products taken off the list or have others added.

The latest US move risks heightening trade tensions with China, which on Monday had slapped taxes on three billion dollars-worth of US products in response to earlier US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

Chinas going to be compelled to lash back, warned Philip Levy, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and an economic adviser to President George W Bush.

NEWS: In response to Chinas unfair trade practices, USTR releases the proposed list of Chinese products that could be subject to tariffs. More here: https://t.co/WU4mqDYJIv  USTR (@USTradeRep45) April 3, 2018

Early on Wednesday in Beijing, Chinas Commerce Ministry said it strongly condemns and firmly opposes the proposed US tariffs and warned of retaliatory action.

We will prepare equal measures for US products with the same scale according to regulations in Chinese trade law, a ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

The US sanctions are intended to punish China for using strong-arm tactics in its drive to become a global technology power. These include pressuring American companies to share technology to gain access to the Chinese market, forcing US firms to license their technology in China on unfavourable terms and even hacking into US companies computers to steal trade secrets.

The administration sought to draw up the list of targeted Chinese goods in a way that might limit the impact of the tariffs  a tax on imports  on American consumers while hitting Chinese imports that benefit from Beijings sharp-elbowed tech policies. But some critics that American will end up being hurt.

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If youre hitting 50 billion dollars in trade, youre inevitably going to hurt somebody, and somebody is going to complain, said Rod Hunter, a former economic official at the National Security Council and now a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP.

Even representatives of American business, which have complained for years that China has pilfered US technology and discriminated against US companies, were critical of the administrations latest action.

Unilateral tariffs may do more harm than good and do little to address the problems in Chinas (intellectual property) and tech transfer policies, said John Frisbie, president of the US-China Business Council.

Even some technology groups contending directly with Chinese competition expressed misgivings.

The Trump administration is right to push back against Chinas abuse of economic and trade policy, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank. But imposing tariffs on producer goods will inadvertently hurt Americans through reduced capital investment and lower productivity growth.A woman opened fire with a handgun in a courtyard at YouTube headquarters in California, wounding three people before fatally shooting herself in what is being investigated as a domestic dispute, authorities said.

Terrified employees huddled inside, calling 911, as officers and federal agents swarmed the companys suburban campus sandwiched between two interstates in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the buildings second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw the shooter on a patio outside.

She said the woman wore glasses and a scarf and was using a big huge pistol.

It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, Shooter, and everybody started running, Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called 911 for updates.

It was terrifying, she said.

There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support.  Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 3, 2018

There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.  Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) April 4, 2018

Authorities gave few details about the shooter and victims, except that the gunfire was being investigated as a domestic dispute, two law enforcement told The Associated Press.

A 36-year-old man was in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman was in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said.

Witnesses described terror before officers arrived and discovered a victim near a front door and then found the shooter several minutes later with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said.

He said two additional gunshot victims were found at an adjacent business minutes later. Mr Barberini initially said there were four people who had been shot but later clarified that a fourth person had suffered an ankle injury.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings when the fire alarm went off. He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the shooter yelling, Come at me, or come get me.

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He saw somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound. Mr Vorhies said he realised there was an active shooter when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door.

He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw the shooter during work hours.

We are responding to an active shooter. Please stay away from Cherry Ave & Bay Hill Drive.  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 3, 2018

Michael Finney, a 21-year-old supervisor at Carls Jr across from the campus, said he came out of the bathroom to see a woman in a booth bleeding from the calf. Two friends were trying to stop the bleeding, using the victims sweatshirt as a tourniquet, but it was not helping, he told the San Jose Mercury News.

Everyone was figuring out what to do, Mr Finney said. I was trying to stay calm and see what I could do. Everybody is shocked.

Google, which owns the worlds biggest online video website, said the companys security team worked with authorities to evacuate buildings and was doing whatever it could support the victims and their families.

Here is the note that @sundarpichai just sent to Googlers worldwide. pic.twitter.com/bdC6KeTl9c  Google Communications (@Google_Comms) April 3, 2018

YouTubes headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.

Inside, Google famously outfitted the office several years ago with a three-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.

Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime, said Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman. Our hearts go out to all those who suffered.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and that officials were monitoring developments.Nasim Aghdam has been named as the person who opened fire with a handgun at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California (San Bruno Police Department/PA)

A woman who believed she was being suppressed by YouTube and told her family she hated the company opened fire at its headquarters in California, wounding three people before taking her own life, police said.

Investigators do not believe Nasim Aghdam specifically targeted the three victims when she pulled out a handgun and fired off several rounds in a courtyard at the companys headquarters south of San Francisco on Tuesday, police said.

But a law enforcement official told the Associated Press that Aghdam had a longstanding dispute with the company. The official said Aghdam used the name Nasime Sabz online.

A website in that name criticised YouTubes policies and said the company was trying to suppress content creators.

Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views! one of the messages on the site said. There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!

Aghdam hated YouTube and was angry that the company stopped paying her for videos she posted on the platform, her father, Ismail Aghdam, told the Bay Area News Group.

On Monday, he called police to report his daughter missing after she did not answer the phone for two days and warned officers that she might go to YouTube, he said.

Officers in Mountain View  about 30 miles from YouTubes headquarters  found her sleeping in her vehicle in a car park around 2am on Tuesday but let her go after she refused to answer their questions.

Aghdam did not appear to be a threat to herself or others, police spokeswoman Katie Nelson said.

Ms Nelson would not say whether officers had been warned that Aghdam might have been headed to YouTubes headquarters.

Earlier Tuesday, police said the shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute but did not elaborate. It was not immediately clear why police later said the people shot were not specifically targeted.

One of the victims  a 36-year-old man  was in a critical condition, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital said. A 32-year-old woman was in a serious condition and a 27-year-old woman in a fair condition, the spokesman said.

The suspected shooter in todays YouTube incident has been identified. Please see press release for details - https://t.co/Xvr2l9bB9s pic.twitter.com/NEBoX3WWK5  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 4, 2018

YouTube employee Dianna Arnspiger said she was on the buildings second floor when she heard gunshots, ran to a window and saw a person with a gun on a patio outside.

It was a woman and she was firing her gun. And I just said, Shooter, and everybody started running, Ms Arnspiger said.

She and others hid in a conference room for an hour while another employee repeatedly called an emergency number for updates.

The worlds biggest online video website is owned by Silicon Valley giant Google, but company officials said it is a tight-knit community.

The headquarters has more than a thousand engineers and other employees in several buildings. Originally built in the late 1990s for the clothing retailer Gap, the campus south of San Francisco is known for its sloped green roof of native grasses.

Inside, Google several years ago famously outfitted the office with a three-lane red slide for workers to zoom from one story to another.

There are no words to describe how horrible it was to have an active shooter @YouTube today. Our deepest gratitude to law enforcement & first responders for their rapid response. Our hearts go out to all those injured & impacted today. We will come together to heal as a family.  Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) April 4, 2018

Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime, said Chris Dale, a spokesman for YouTube.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said in a tweet the company would come together to heal as a family.

Officers and federal agents responding to multiple 911 calls swarmed the companys campus in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno.

Zach Vorhies, 37, a senior software engineer at YouTube, said he was at his desk working on the second floor of one of the buildings on the campus when the fire alarm went off.

He got on his skateboard and approached a courtyard, where he saw the gunwoman yelling come get me. He said the public can access the courtyard where he saw her without any security check during working hours.

He said there was somebody lying nearby on his back with a red stain on his stomach that appeared to be from a bullet wound.

He said he realised it was an active shooting incident when a police officer with an assault rifle came through a security door. He jumped on his skateboard and took off.

Officers discovered one victim with a gunshot wound when they arrived and then found the gunwoman with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound several minutes later, San Bruno police chief Ed Barberini said.

He said two additional gunshot victims were later located at an adjacent business.In this edition of India Briefing Magazine, we make the case for why now is the right time for foreign firms t...Kolkata, Apr 4 (IBNS): The 10th edition of GRIHA Councils annual flagship event, 'The GRIHA Summit' will be co-hosted by University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia and GRIHA Council in December, 2018.

Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) Council is an independent, not- for -profit society jointly setup by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to promote and administer green buildings in India.



In the past, according to the organizers, the GRIHA Summit has played host to various technical sessions on sustainable building policies, tools & techniques and exhibitions showcasing sustainable building materials, construction practices and technologies.

The organizers also highlighted that GRIHA has been recognized as an effective tool to evaluate the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life-cycle based on quantitative and qualitative criteria.

It seeks to minimize resource consumption, waste generation and overall ecological/environmental impact of buildings and habitats.

GRIHA has been acknowledged as a tool to evaluate reduction in emission intensity through habitats, as part of mitigation strategy for combating climate change in India's 'Nationally Determined Contributions' (NDCs) submitted to UNFCCC.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Ian Jacobs,President and Vice Chancellor, UNSW said,Our partnership with TERI represents our commitment to jointly develop tangible applications of research that our teams work on in several areas, such as, clean energy and sustainable housing, including photo-voltaics, waste water treatment and intelligent transport systems."



He said, "UNSW is delighted to bring its partnership with TERI to life, through the co-creation of the GRIHA Summit 2018, which celebrates its 10th Anniversary this year and in demonstrating UNSWs commitment to a robust India Strategy that aligns with the developmental aspirations of the Indian government. We look forward to exploring several areas of collaboration with TERI.

Sharing his thoughts on the newly forged partnership, Dr. Ajay Mathur, President, GRIHA Council and Director General, TERI, said, I welcome the offer of UNSW to co-create the 10th GRIHA Summit together with the GRIHA Council. I am equally excited on the renewed partnership between TERI and UNSW in the collaborative efforts of knowledge transfer and identification of specific areas for research and development across various thematics concerning the Built Environment."

The upcoming 10th GRIHA Summit is poised to mark the contribution of the GRIHA Council towards advancing the Sustainable Development agenda globally, according to the organisers.Image: Wikimedia Commons

New Delhi, Apr 4 (IBNS): Cyber criminals are rapidly adding cryptojacking to their arsenal and creating a highly profitable new revenue stream, as the ransomware market becomes overpriced and overcrowded, according to Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), Volume 23, releasedon Wednesday.

Cryptojacking is a rising threat to cyber and personal security, said Tarun Kaura, Director, Enterprise Security Product Management, Asia Pacific and Japan, Symantec. The massive profit incentive puts people, devices and organizations at risk of unauthorized coinminers siphoning resources from their systems, further motivating criminals to infiltrate everything from home PCs to giant data centers.

Symantec's ISTR provides a comprehensive view of the threat landscape, including insights into global threat activity, cyber criminal trends and motivations for attackers. The report analyzes data from the Symantec Global Intelligence Network, the largest civilian threat collection network in the world, records events from 126.5 million attack sensors worldwide and monitors threat activities in over 157 countries and territories. Key highlights include:

Cryptojacking Attacks Explode by 8,500 Percent

During the past year, an astronomical rise in cryptocurrency values triggered a cryptojacking gold rush with cyber criminals attempting to cash in on a volatile market. Detections of coinminers on endpoint computers increased by 8,500 percent in 2017. India ranks second in Asia-Pacific Japan (APJ) region, ninth globally in terms of crypto mining activities.

With a low barrier of entry  only requiring a couple lines of code to operate  cyber criminals are harnessing stolen processing power and cloud CPU usage from consumers and enterprises to mine cryptocurrency. Coinminers can slow devices, overheat batteries, and in some cases, render devices unusable. For enterprise organizations, coinminers can put corporate networks at risk of shutdown and inflate cloud CPU usage, adding cost.

Now you could be fighting for resources on your phone, computer or IoT device as attackers use them for profit, added Tarun. People need to expand their defenses or they will pay for the price for someone else using their device.

IoT devices continue to be ripe targets for exploitation. Symantec found a 600 percent increase in overall IoT attacks in 2017, which means that cyber criminals could exploit the connected nature of these devices to mine en masse. Macs are not immune either with Symantec detecting an 80 percent increase in coin mining attacks against Mac OS. By leveraging browser-based attacks, criminals do not need to download malware to a victims Mac or PC to carry out cyber attacks. India ranks among the top five countries as source for IoT attacks.

Majority of Targeted Attackers Use Single Method to Infect Victims

The number of targeted attack groups is on the rise with Symantec now tracking 140 organized groups. Last year, 71 percent of all targeted attacks started with spear phishing  the oldest trick in the book  to infect their victims. As targeted attack groups continue to leverage tried and true tactics to infiltrate organizations, the use of zero-day threats is falling out of favor. Only 27 percent of targeted attack groups have been known to use zero-day vulnerabilities at any point in the past.

The security industry has long discussed what type of destruction might be possible with cyber attacks. This conversation has now moved beyond the theoretical, with one in ten targeted attack groups using malware designed to disrupt.

Implanted Malware Grows by 200 Percent, Compromising Software Supply Chain

Symantec identified a 200 percent increase in attackers injecting malware implants into the software supply chain in 2017. Thats equivalent to one attack every month as compared to four attacks the previous year. Hijacking software updates provides attackers with an entry point for compromising well-guarded networks. The Petya outbreak was the most notable example of a supply chain attack. After using Ukrainian accounting software as the point of entry, Petya used a variety of methods to spread laterally across corporate networks to deploy their malicious payload.

Mobile Malware Continues to Surge

Threats in the mobile space continue to grow year-over-year, including the number of new mobile malware variants which increased by 54 percent. Symantec blocked an average of 24,000 malicious mobile applications each day last year. India also featured amongst the top 10 list of countries where mobile malware was most frequently blocked in 2017. As older operating systems continue to be in use, this problem is exacerbated. For example, with the Android operating system, only 20 percent of devices are running the newest version and only 2.3 percent are on the latest minor release.

Mobile users also face privacy risks from grayware apps that arent completely malicious but can be troublesome. Symantec found that 63 percent of grayware apps leak the devices phone number. With grayware increasing by 20 percent in 2017, this isnt a problem thats going away.

Business-Savvy Cyber Criminals Price Ransomware for Profit

In 2016, the profitability of ransomware led to a crowded market. India ranks fourth globally with eight percent of global detections of ransomware. In 2017, the market made a correction, lowering the average ransom cost to $522 and signaling that ransomware has become a commodity. Many cyber criminals may have shifted their focus to coin mining as an alternative to cashing in while cryptocurrency values are high. Additionally, while the number of ransomware families decreased, the number of ransomware variants increased by 46 percent, indicating that criminal groups are innovating less but are still very productive.

From the Experts: Security Best Practices

As attackers evolve, there are many steps businesses can take to protect themselves. As a starting point, Symantec recommends the following best practices.



New Delhi, Apr 4 (IBNS): The World Health Organization ton Wednesday called upon countries in its South-East Asia Region to step-up efforts towards universal health coverage, to provide quality health services to all people when and where they need them, without having to suffer financial hardship.

Universal health coverage is central to improving health and well-being  a fundamental human right. It is also imperative for a countrys well-being as healthier populations create more productive economies, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia, on the occasion of the World Health Day celebrated on 7 April every year. The theme of this years World Health Day is Universal Health Coverage: everyone, everywhere.

Universal health coverage (UHC) is a flagship programme of WHO in the Region since 2014. In recent years, all Member States have taken several initiatives which have helped improve access to essential health services. However, challenges remain.

Nearly half of the WHO South-East Asia Regions population still lacks full coverage of essential health services. Significant inequalities persist. Poorer people, and those in rural areas, have lower access than richer people, and those living in urban areas.

Some 65 million are pushed into extreme poverty, mainly due to paying out-of-pocket for medicines, especially for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes etc, and other common ailments.

Dr Khetrapal Singh said more efforts are needed to increase human resources for health, enhance skills of health workers and aid staff retention in rural and hard-to-reach area, to ensure quality health services are available for everyone, everywhere.

Health services must be planned around the needs of the people, she said, highlighting that by 2020 more of the Regions population will be over 60 than under-five. Hence, ageing population, reversing the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, and early detection and timely treatment of infectious diseases, should be the focus of frontline services.

Increasing access to quality and affordable essential medicines is also fundamental. Paying out-of-pocket for medicines is the leading cause of financial hardship from health care spending in this region, the Regional Director said.

UHC includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.

Ensuring universal health coverage will help strengthen health security by making it easier to contain the spread of infectious diseases and respond effectively to natural disasters that the WHO South-East Asia Region is prone to.

Countries in the Region have committed to monitor who is not being covered by health services and why, and review annually progress on UHC and SDG3 health goal until 2030.

UHC is feasible and can be achieved progressively, sometimes with rapid, ground-breaking strides; sometimes via gradual though crucial reform, the Regional Director said.

On the World Health Day, we must reflect on and resolve to work towards achieving UHC, to change the lives of millions of people across the Region and beyond. We must continue to strive for health coverage that is for all people everywhere and which leaves no one behind, Dr Khetrapal Singh said.Bhopal, Apr 4 (IBNS): Creating a fresh controversy, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has appointed five religious leaders as the Minister of State (MoS), media reports said.

Five religious leaders- Narmadand, Hariharanand, Computer Baba, Bhayyuji Maharaj and Yogendra Mahant- were appointed to a committee which was set up for the conservation of Narmada river on Mar 31.

As the MoS, all five will enjoy the perks of a state minister.

With less than a year to go for the state polls, opposition Congress has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is trying to gain "political points" through the move.

Rubbishing the claims, the ruling BJP said the Congress dislikes anything related to the religious leaders.

Madhya Pradesh, which was embroiled in a controversy due to the Vyapam scam, will head towards the assembly polls at the end of this year.

The elections in MP will be crucial for both ruling BJP and opposition Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.



Image: facebook.com/ChouhanShivrajNew Delhi, Apr 4 (IBNS): India's Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, met Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Denis Manturov, and Russian Defence Minister, General Sergey Shoygu, according to a release by the Ministry of Defence on Wednesday.

The Indian Defence Minister is on a three-day visit to Russia to attend the VII Moscow Conference on International Security from April 3 to 5 April 2018.

The meetings took place on Tuesday.

Sitharaman and Denis Manturov reviewed ongoing military technical cooperation projects between the two countries, including measures to promote India-Russia joint industrial activities under the Make in India programme with respect to defense production, especially for after-sales support, the release said.

They also discussed participation of Russian in DefExpo India 2018 to be held in Chennai from April 11 to 14, 2018.

Later on Tuesday, Sitharaman met Russian Defence Minister General Sergey Shoygu and discussed issues of bilateral importance, especially Military-to-Military Cooperation and other regional issues in a delegation level talks, according to the release

These included a review of the roadmap of military cooperation involving exercises, training, exchange of visits, and Indias participation in International Army Games to be held in Russia later this year.

In the evening Sitharaman attended a concert by Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan to mark the closing of the year-long celebrations of the 70th Anniversary of India-Russia diplomatic relations.



Image: PIBNew Delhi, Apr 4 (IBNS) : External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday emplanced for Baku, capital city of Azerbaijan to attend the Mid-Term Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement from April four to six.

According to reports, Swaraj will be attending a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and hold discussions with top leadership of the country.

During her visit, Swaraj will hold extensive discussions with Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and also call on President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

She will also represent India at the mid-term ministerial meeting of the NAM, which will take place on April 5 and 6 in Baku.She is visiting the nation to attend the Mid-Term Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement from April 4 to 6.

According to reports, Swaraj will be attending a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and hold discussions with top leadership of the country.

Speaking on his arrival to Baku city, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted: " Welcome with flowers! EAM @SushmaSwaraj arrives in Baku to a warm welcome on her first visit to Azerbaijan. India and Azerbaijan share warm and friendly relations based on civilizational and cultural ties."

During her visit, Swaraj will hold extensive discussions with Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and also call on President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

She will also represent India at the mid-term ministerial meeting of the NAM, which will take place on April 5 and 6 in Baku.

Sushma Swaraj earlier in the day left Delhi for Baku.

Image: Raveesh Kumar Twitter pageAizawl, Apr 4 (IBNS): Students continue their protest at National Institute of Technology (NIT) campus in Mizoram over the alleged death of a student after consuming 'unhygienic food and water' provided in the hostel.

Devsharan Kumar, a student of 1st year of B.Tech in the NIT Mizoram, died on Mar 31 at Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH).

Devsharan Kumar, hailing from a poor Dalit family of Khagaria district in Bihar, had allegedly fallen ill after consuming unhygienic quality food and water served in the institutions hostel, students said.

Students of the institution alleged that Devsharan Kumar initially complained of a throat infection and his condition deteriorated later.

The students said the administration of the institute did not take any initiative.

Kumar was allowed to go on leave but was immediately admitted at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) on his way back home on Mar 30.

The GMCM doctors immediately admitted him to the ICU unit and he was said to suffer a heart infection.

Students of the institution alleged that the condition of food and water supply facility in the hostel is poor and they said that the institutions authorities were informed about it six months ago but the authorities did not take any measures to change the situation.

Students also alleged that about 15 days before the death, Devsharan appealed the warden of the institution's hostel for leave as he was not able to appear in his mid-semester examination as he was feeling extremely unwell.

The warden ignored it, students said.

The students also alleged that they were not permitted to meet Mizoram Governor to submit their demands.

Meanwhile, Mizo students organisation Mizo Zirlai Pawl has lodged an FIR to Zonuam police outpost, demanding a probe into the student death incident.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)Guwahati, Apr 4 (IBNS) : In a shocking incident, a ten-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging herself after a shopkeeper accused her of stealing a chocolate (Kinder Joy) from his shop at Pandu area in Guwahati on Tuesday evening.

According to reports, the shopkeeper also complained to the landlord of the house where the girl's family stayed. The landlord reportedly told the shopkeeper that he would inform the girl's mother once she was back home. The mother works as a maid in a nearby house.

Following this, the girl panicked and took the extreme step.

The family members of the deceased girl alleged that, the shopkeeper had slapped her.

The police have started an investigation into the incident.



(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)New Delhi, Apr 4 (IBNS): India, Japan and the United States held the 9th Trilateral Meeting at Joint Secretary, Director General,Assistant Secretary level in New Delhi on Wednesday to hold consultations on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

In accordance with the directions received from their Foreign Ministers, who met in New York on Sept 18, 2017 on the margins of UNGA, the officials explored practical steps to enhance cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development; counter-proliferation; counter-terrorism; maritime security, maritime domain awareness and HA-DR.

The officials reviewed the outcomes of the Trilateral Infrastructure Working Group that met in Washington in February and agreed to continue to collaborate to promote increased connectivity in the Indo-Pacific, read a statement issued by the US government.

All sides agreed to remain engaged and strengthen cooperation in support for a free, open, prosperous, peaceful and inclusive Indo-Pacific region through partnership with countries in the region, it said.

Image: Wikimedia commonsNew Delhi, Apr 4 (IBNS): Days after Dalit protest turned violent in several parts of north India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he was walking on the path shown by the architect of the county's constitution- BR Ambedkar.

Though he did not make any direct reference to the Bharat Bandh called by several Dalit Organisations on Monday, Modi, while speaking at the inauguration of the Western Annexe of Parliament House, said: "We are walking on the path shown by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. At the core of Dr. Ambedkar's ideals is harmony and togetherness."

He said his government is working for the welfare of the poor section of the society.

"Working for the poorest of the poor is our mission," Modi said.

Modi said that it was the previous former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government that had started identifying places of significance related to Ambedkars life. He said his government is paying tributes to Ambedkar.

"There are two places in Delhi, which are associated with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, on whom the Vajpayee Government had made crucial decisions. It was our Government that got the opportunity to work on them and pay tributes to Dr. Ambedkar," Modi said.

Prime Minister Modi also announced that the memorial to commemorate Babasaheb Ambedkar, at 26 Alipur Road in New Delhi, which was the last home of Dr. Ambedkar, will be inaugurated on Apr 13.

A day after massive protests in several parts of the country, fresh violence broke out in Rajasthan on Tuesday as nearly 5,000 people set ablaze the houses of a sitting and a former Dalit MLA, media reports said.

The death toll in the violence since Monday rose to 11.

On Tuesday, two more persons died in Madhya Pradesh.

In the fresh violence, houses of a sitting MLA and a former MLA  both Dalits  in Hindaun and in Karauli district, were set ablaze.

Soon after the incident, curfew was clamped in Jaipur's Hindaun.

The Supreme Court has earlier rejected a plea to put stay on its March 20 order diluting certain provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, reports said.

The top court, however, put the matter to be heard after 10 days and asked parties to file their written submissions within two days.

While hearing observations by attorney general K K Venugopal on a review petition filed by the Centre, the apex court said: "We are not against the Act. Innocent should not be punished."

The SC on Tuesday said the judgment in no way dilutes any provision of the SC/ST Act or rules and that the Act does not mandate immediate arrest on filing of complaint.

"We have not diluted any provision of SC/ST Act and only safeguarded interest of innocents from being arrested. Provisions of the Act cannot be used to terrorise the innocents," the court said.

The review petion was filed by the Centre on Monday amid a countrywide unrest after several Dalit organisations called a Bharat Bandh in protest against what they alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act.Mumbai, Apr 4 (IBNS): With a torch in her hand, Bollywood actress Sunny Leone has once again shared a funny image of herself on social media where she could be seen searching for her lost bag of 'chocolates'.

"I lost a bag of Chocolates ," Sunny tweeted.

She often posts funny images of herself on social media to entertain her fans.

The image has already gained 292,147 likes.

Sunny has been missing from the big screen for long time now.

She was last seen in 2017 released movie Tera Intezaar.

The movie also featured actor Arbaaz Khan.

Image: Sunny Leone Twitter pageMumbai, Apr 4 (IBNS): While looking forward to watch the unique love story of October, which filmmaker Shoojit Sircar has beautifully created, movie lovers have finally figured out a secret talent the director holds, which was revealed on the sets!

Shoojit Sircar is known to be a director whose key trademark is to extract the best out of his actors, morphing into real and relatable characters for the audiences to own. Each actor who has worked with him surrenders themselves completely to his vision, and rightly so!



During the shoot of October both Varun Dhawan and Banita Sandhu discovered the secret talent of their director which helps all his actors to give their best performance.



Shoojit Sircar gave a glimpse into his talent as an actor time and again on set while discussing scenes! The director is so impeccable with his acting skills, that Varun and Banita would not only understand what the scene required from them but also follow every emotion which Shoojit displayed.



October required a real and a natural way of dialogue performance and expression. A lot of times Shoojit would take the place of Varun and Banita in front of the camera to demonstrate the intensity or the smooth flow of conversation which was required in that particular scene.



Both the young actors were surprised at how adept Shoojit was at acting!

Produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar, October stars Varun Dhawan and Banita Sandhu. A Rising Sun Films and Kino Works Production directed by Shoojit Sircar the film is set to release on Apr 13.



Image: twitter.com/jetairways

Mumbai, Apr 04 (IBNS): Jet Airways along with its codeshare partners, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, announced new offers on its direct flights, facilitating passengers with substantial savings on bookings for travel to Amsterdam from Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai.

The fare sale allows passenegers to experience the best of Indian hospitality and dining experience at 35,000 feet.

Flyers travelling to Amsterdam can avail a flat discount of up to 30 percent on their bookings.

The seven-day fare sale, commencing on Apr 05 until Apr 11, will be applicable only for guests booking their return journey travel with the airline.

The travel validity for the discounted bookings is from Apr 26 to Dec 31, 2018.

Raj Sivakumar  Sr. VP - Network Planning & Revenue Management, Jet Airways, said, As Jet Airways enhances its cooperation with KLM Royal Dutch Airline, we will offer our guests a host of benefits like fare sales which will celebrate the cultures of India and Netherlands. We are sure the fare sale, will be received well by our guests and they take this opportunity to visit Netherlands and witness the spectacular Kings Day celebrations.

Jet Airways has recently entered into an Enhanced Commercial Agreement with the Air France / KLM combine aimed at providing guests benefits in the form of multiple travel options and seamless service throughout the partners networks spanning 45 cities in India and 90 destinations across Europe. This joint promotion with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is step in that direction.New York, Apr 4 (JEN): An appeal that raised some $2 billion to help millions of people in Yemen was a remarkable success of international solidarity for the countrys war-weary people, but aid alone will not provide a solution to the conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva after opening a pledging conference for Yemen, Guterres said that more than $2 billionhad been promised by Member States before the end of the event.

Above all, the UN chief said, we need a serious political process to lead to a political solution because there was never a humanitarian solution for any humanitarian crisis. The solution has always been political and in Yemen what we need is a political solution for these pledging conferences not to be repeated in the future.

Describing the situation in Yemen as catastrophic, where every 10 minutes, a child under five dies of preventable causes, the Secretary-General stressed that while humanitarian resources are very important, they are not enough; it is essential, he said, that they reach the people in need. And for that, we need unrestricted access into Yemen; we need unrestricted access everywhere inside [the country].

This call was also made by UN aid chief Mark Lowcock, who said during the event: We need better access across the country. We want to see Sanaa airport reopen to commercial flights, notably for humanitarian cases.

The event was co-chaired by the UN and the governments of Sweden and Switzerland. Pledges were made by 40 Member States and organizations, including the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), for humanitarian action in Yemen in 2018.

International pledges for nearly $2 billion represent almost double the amount raised in 2017 to fund humanitarian aid in the Arabian Peninsula country.

Yemen has been at war for more than three years.

Conflict is ongoing there between an international coalition forces supporting President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on the one side, and Houthi militias and allied units of the armed forces on the other, which seized control of the capital, Sanaa.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned about the toll this has had on non-combatants: forced and repeated displacement of families, massive food insecurity and the collapse of essential services including healthcare and education.

In 2017, the world's worst outbreak of cholera to date affected one million Yemenis, and diphtheria is now on the rise in what was already one of the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the region before fighting erupted.

Latest UN data indicates that a record 22.2 million people  some 75 per cent of the population  now need humanitarian assistance. The UN chief added that a horrifying 8.4 million of these do not know how they will obtain their next meal.

Lowcock, who is the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, stressed the dire situation faced by millions of families in Yemen.

The $3 billion appeal target represented a substantial sum of money, he said, but it was small in relation to the needs of Yemenis.

Many now face a 25 per cent rise in the cost of food, the UN official said, explaining that the country imported nearly all of its daily requirements and had been hit hard by the sharp devaluation of the countrys currency, the Yemeni Rial.

In total, some 190 organizations  150 of which are Yemeni  are involved in the UN-coordinated humanitarian response plan.

It has been responsible for scaling up food assistance to seven million people a month, and helped boost access to water, health services and sanitation.

Such support would not be possible without sufficient funding, Mr. Lowcock said, before listing other key conditions that needed to be met to enable an effective humanitarian response.

First among these is aid access.

All ports in Yemen needed to remain open without restrictions, the UN official said, a sentiment echoed by Ambassador Manuel Bessler, Head of Switzerlands Humanitarian Aid Department, who stressed that Yemenis needed help immediately:

We heard it again and again, Yemen needs urgent help, it needs access for people [] it needs access for the markets, for the sea ports and airports.

The end of last year saw severe delays in unloading basic foodstuffs caused by the enforced closure of much of the countrys air, sea and land ports by coalition forces.

Lowcock also called for public sector salaries to be paid across Yemen after months of non-payment; this would prevent another cholera outbreak by providing essential services, he said, and keep children in school, providing essential continuity for them.

Those comments were echoed by Isabella Lovin, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, who told journalists during a break in the pledging conference that every day the conflict drags on is one day too many for ordinary Yemenis.

There was the risk, she added, of an entire generation of children going without healthcare and education, while reports of children being recruited by armed groups were deeply disturbing.

In response to a question about the progress of UN-led efforts for peace, Guterres told reporters that his Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths had been very encouraged by his recent discussions with representatives of the warring parties in Sanaa and Riyadh.

The Special Envoy would also be going to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Aden for talks, Guterres added.

These had brought about positive perspectives for an inclusive Yemeni dialogue, the UN Secretary-General said, adding that the opportunity for peace should be seized [] and not missed.



Giles Clarke/OCHA

Keywords: Yemen,UN

Donors pledge $2 billion to scale up aid delivery in Yemen; UN chief urges unrestricted access to make sure it reaches people in need

New York, Apr 4 (JEN): An appeal that raised some $2 billion to help millions of people in Yemen was a remarkable success of international solidarity for the countrys war-weary people, but aid alone will not provide a solution to the conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva after opening a pledging conference for Yemen, Guterres said that more than $2 billionhad been promised by Member States before the end of the event.

Above all, the UN chief said, we need a serious political process to lead to a political solution because there was never a humanitarian solution for any humanitarian crisis. The solution has always been political and in Yemen what we need is a political solution for these pledging conferences not to be repeated in the future.

Describing the situation in Yemen as catastrophic, where every 10 minutes, a child under five dies of preventable causes, the Secretary-General stressed that while humanitarian resources are very important, they are not enough; it is essential, he said, that they reach the people in need. And for that, we need unrestricted access into Yemen; we need unrestricted access everywhere inside [the country].

This call was also made by UN aid chief Mark Lowcock, who said during the event: We need better access across the country. We want to see Sanaa airport reopen to commercial flights, notably for humanitarian cases.

The event was co-chaired by the UN and the governments of Sweden and Switzerland. Pledges were made by 40 Member States and organizations, including the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), for humanitarian action in Yemen in 2018.

International pledges for nearly $2 billion represent almost double the amount raised in 2017 to fund humanitarian aid in the Arabian Peninsula country.

Yemen has been at war for more than three years.

Conflict is ongoing there between an international coalition forces supporting President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on the one side, and Houthi militias and allied units of the armed forces on the other, which seized control of the capital, Sanaa.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned about the toll this has had on non-combatants: forced and repeated displacement of families, massive food insecurity and the collapse of essential services including healthcare and education.

In 2017, the world's worst outbreak of cholera to date affected one million Yemenis, and diphtheria is now on the rise in what was already one of the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the region before fighting erupted.

Latest UN data indicates that a record 22.2 million people  some 75 per cent of the population  now need humanitarian assistance. The UN chief added that a horrifying 8.4 million of these do not know how they will obtain their next meal.

Lowcock, who is the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, stressed the dire situation faced by millions of families in Yemen.

The $3 billion appeal target represented a substantial sum of money, he said, but it was small in relation to the needs of Yemenis.

Many now face a 25 per cent rise in the cost of food, the UN official said, explaining that the country imported nearly all of its daily requirements and had been hit hard by the sharp devaluation of the countrys currency, the Yemeni Rial.

In total, some 190 organizations  150 of which are Yemeni  are involved in the UN-coordinated humanitarian response plan.

It has been responsible for scaling up food assistance to seven million people a month, and helped boost access to water, health services and sanitation.

Such support would not be possible without sufficient funding, Mr. Lowcock said, before listing other key conditions that needed to be met to enable an effective humanitarian response.

First among these is aid access.

All ports in Yemen needed to remain open without restrictions, the UN official said, a sentiment echoed by Ambassador Manuel Bessler, Head of Switzerlands Humanitarian Aid Department, who stressed that Yemenis needed help immediately:

We heard it again and again, Yemen needs urgent help, it needs access for people [] it needs access for the markets, for the sea ports and airports.

The end of last year saw severe delays in unloading basic foodstuffs caused by the enforced closure of much of the countrys air, sea and land ports by coalition forces.

Lowcock also called for public sector salaries to be paid across Yemen after months of non-payment; this would prevent another cholera outbreak by providing essential services, he said, and keep children in school, providing essential continuity for them.

Those comments were echoed by Isabella Lovin, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, who told journalists during a break in the pledging conference that every day the conflict drags on is one day too many for ordinary Yemenis.

There was the risk, she added, of an entire generation of children going without healthcare and education, while reports of children being recruited by armed groups were deeply disturbing.

In response to a question about the progress of UN-led efforts for peace, Guterres told reporters that his Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths had been very encouraged by his recent discussions with representatives of the warring parties in Sanaa and Riyadh.

The Special Envoy would also be going to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Aden for talks, Guterres added.

These had brought about positive perspectives for an inclusive Yemeni dialogue, the UN Secretary-General said, adding that the opportunity for peace should be seized [] and not missed.



Giles Clarke/OCHA

Keywords: Yemen,UN

Donors pledge $2 billion to scale up aid delivery in Yemen; UN chief urges unrestricted access to make sure it reaches people in need

New York, Apr 4 (JEN): An appeal that raised some $2 billion to help millions of people in Yemen was a remarkable success of international solidarity for the countrys war-weary people, but aid alone will not provide a solution to the conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva after opening a pledging conference for Yemen, Guterres said that more than $2 billionhad been promised by Member States before the end of the event.

Above all, the UN chief said, we need a serious political process to lead to a political solution because there was never a humanitarian solution for any humanitarian crisis. The solution has always been political and in Yemen what we need is a political solution for these pledging conferences not to be repeated in the future.

Describing the situation in Yemen as catastrophic, where every 10 minutes, a child under five dies of preventable causes, the Secretary-General stressed that while humanitarian resources are very important, they are not enough; it is essential, he said, that they reach the people in need. And for that, we need unrestricted access into Yemen; we need unrestricted access everywhere inside [the country].

This call was also made by UN aid chief Mark Lowcock, who said during the event: We need better access across the country. We want to see Sanaa airport reopen to commercial flights, notably for humanitarian cases.

The event was co-chaired by the UN and the governments of Sweden and Switzerland. Pledges were made by 40 Member States and organizations, including the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), for humanitarian action in Yemen in 2018.

International pledges for nearly $2 billion represent almost double the amount raised in 2017 to fund humanitarian aid in the Arabian Peninsula country.

Yemen has been at war for more than three years.

Conflict is ongoing there between an international coalition forces supporting President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on the one side, and Houthi militias and allied units of the armed forces on the other, which seized control of the capital, Sanaa.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned about the toll this has had on non-combatants: forced and repeated displacement of families, massive food insecurity and the collapse of essential services including healthcare and education.

In 2017, the world's worst outbreak of cholera to date affected one million Yemenis, and diphtheria is now on the rise in what was already one of the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the region before fighting erupted.

Latest UN data indicates that a record 22.2 million people  some 75 per cent of the population  now need humanitarian assistance. The UN chief added that a horrifying 8.4 million of these do not know how they will obtain their next meal.

Lowcock, who is the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, stressed the dire situation faced by millions of families in Yemen.

The $3 billion appeal target represented a substantial sum of money, he said, but it was small in relation to the needs of Yemenis.

Many now face a 25 per cent rise in the cost of food, the UN official said, explaining that the country imported nearly all of its daily requirements and had been hit hard by the sharp devaluation of the countrys currency, the Yemeni Rial.

In total, some 190 organizations  150 of which are Yemeni  are involved in the UN-coordinated humanitarian response plan.

It has been responsible for scaling up food assistance to seven million people a month, and helped boost access to water, health services and sanitation.

Such support would not be possible without sufficient funding, Mr. Lowcock said, before listing other key conditions that needed to be met to enable an effective humanitarian response.

First among these is aid access.

All ports in Yemen needed to remain open without restrictions, the UN official said, a sentiment echoed by Ambassador Manuel Bessler, Head of Switzerlands Humanitarian Aid Department, who stressed that Yemenis needed help immediately:

We heard it again and again, Yemen needs urgent help, it needs access for people [] it needs access for the markets, for the sea ports and airports.

The end of last year saw severe delays in unloading basic foodstuffs caused by the enforced closure of much of the countrys air, sea and land ports by coalition forces.

Lowcock also called for public sector salaries to be paid across Yemen after months of non-payment; this would prevent another cholera outbreak by providing essential services, he said, and keep children in school, providing essential continuity for them.

Those comments were echoed by Isabella Lovin, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, who told journalists during a break in the pledging conference that every day the conflict drags on is one day too many for ordinary Yemenis.

There was the risk, she added, of an entire generation of children going without healthcare and education, while reports of children being recruited by armed groups were deeply disturbing.

In response to a question about the progress of UN-led efforts for peace, Guterres told reporters that his Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths had been very encouraged by his recent discussions with representatives of the warring parties in Sanaa and Riyadh.

The Special Envoy would also be going to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Aden for talks, Guterres added.

These had brought about positive perspectives for an inclusive Yemeni dialogue, the UN Secretary-General said, adding that the opportunity for peace should be seized [] and not missed.



Giles Clarke/OCHAUN Photo/Loey Felip

New York, Apr 4 (JEN): The United Nations has already started to prepare for a post-peacekeeping presence in Haiti, a senior UN official said Tuesday, stressing there are many reasons to be optimistic that the countrys progress towards stability is now irreversible.

While achieving results should remain our common priority, we have already started to prepare for a transition to a non-peacekeeping presence, based on lessons learned in Haiti and in other contexts, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, told the Security Council.

He said that in the coming months, his office will provide progress assessments to allow the 15-member body to take well-informed decisions for the drawdown and eventual withdrawal of the UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH).

Established in October last year, MINUJUSTH replaced UN Stabilization Mission, which operated in the tiny island nation for 13 years.

Much smaller than its predecessor, which had more than 4,000 military and police personnel, MINUJUSTH assists Haiti to further develop national police, strengthen rule of law institutions and promote and protect human rights.

While the Security Council is expected to renew MINUJUSTH, whose initial mandate expires on 15 April 2018, Mr. Lacroix said the UN is determined to ensure it be the last peacekeeping operation deployed to Haiti.

Last month, UN released a strategic assessment of MINUJUSTH, including 11 benchmarks for a smooth transition to a non-peacekeeping presence by the last quarter of 2019.

Haiti has come a long way to achieve the relative political and security stability it is now enjoying, but persistent economic uncertainties, which can result in social exclusion, particularly of youth and the most vulnerable, may undermine this progress, said Mr. Lacroix.

In mid March, he visited Haiti for the first time since taking office a year ago.

He said that MINUJUSTH is fully operational and actively implementing its mandate.

For instance, the Mission has co-located 135 individual police officers with the Haitian National Police (HNP) in each of Haitis 10 departments, and it is dedicated to helping curb prolonged pretrial detention and prison overcrowding through on-site monitoring.

The weaknesses of the rule of law institutions continue to generate multiple human rights challenges and encourage a culture of impunity, he said, noting that priorities in this domain include the need to strengthen national human rights institutions.

Acknowledging the relationship between the UN peacekeeping mission and the Government of Haiti could have been smoother, he welcomed the most recent announcement by the countrys President of his priorities on reform, including the strengthening of the justice system and national police, the fight against impunity and prolonged pre-trial detention, the fight against and prevention of corruption, the establishment of the Permanent Electoral Council, and the launching of a national dialogue.



Image: MINUSCA

New York, Apr 4 (JEN): One United Nations peacekeeper was killed and 11 others were wounded early Tuesday morning when the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) was attacked by rebel fighters.

The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the family of the fallen peacekeeper and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary-General, told reporters at the regular press briefing in New York.

The temporary MINUSCA base in Tagbara, a village 60km north-east of Bambari in Ouaka Prefecture, was violently attacked by anti-Balaka fighters. After several hours of exchanging gunfire, one blue helmet was killed and 11 others injured. More than 22 anti-Balaka attackers were killed, according to the UN.

In response to the attack, MINUSCA evacuated the wounded and the slain peacekeeper, and deployed reinforcements to Tagbara. Later that morning, they also discovered the bodies of 13 men, four women and four children near a church.

The evening before, MINUSCA peacefully recovered and sheltered 13 women, seven men and three children after the temporary Tagbara base was informed that ex-Seleka Unite pour la Centrafrique (UPC) had detained the 23 people.

The Mission also reported that in a joint operation with the Central African armed forces on Saturday, 15 people who had been taken hostage by the Lord's Resistance Army were rescued.

The UN Mission strongly condemns all of these events, MINUSCA said.

Clashes between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian, plunged the country of 4.5 million people into civil conflict in 2013.





Islamabad, Apr 4 (IBNS): A leader of a gang of hitmen belonging to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been arrested by law enforcement agencies in Quetta town of Pakistan, media reports said.

According to reports, the group was involved in the killing of 16 police officers in the past three months in Quetta.

Security forces are conducting raids to arrest more members of the group.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo was quoted as saying by Dawn News: "Fazal Haq Ghaibzai, the ring leader of the TTP target killers, was arrested during a joint operation by police, the Counter Terrorism Department and the Frontier Corps on Tuesday night on the basis of intelligence information."

Bizenjo said Fazal Haq Ghaibzai has confessed during interrogation that he and some of his gang members were associated with the killing of some senior police officers and FC personnel in different areas of Quetta.

Provincial Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti told the Dawn news paper: "Ghaibzai said Asim Muhammad Hasni, one of his accomplices, used his wife in different terrorist acts and for hiding weapons. He said Pir Ain-uz-Zaman is emir of the TTP Balochistan and the killers gang was formed on his order.Kabul, Apr 4 (IBNS) : Militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group suffered heavy casualties during the airstrikes conducted by the Afghan Air Force in northern Jawzjan province.

Local Khaama Press quoted Afghan military sources as saying that the the airstrikes were carried out in the vicinity of the restive Darzab district.

The sources further added that the militants were targeted in Qazal Qeshlaq, Darya Khana, and Pesta Bazar areas of the district.

They said least ten militants were killed and five others were wounded during the airstrikes.

This comes as the local officials said Tuesday that ISIS militants launched a coordinated attack on security posts in Darzab district late on Monday night.

According to the local security officials, the attack was launched late on Monday night which continued for several hours.

District police chief Mohammad Ismail confirmed the attack but added that the militants of the terror group faced a strong resistance from the security and defense forces.

He did not disclose further information regarding the possible casualties during the clash but he said the authorities have requested air support to eliminate the terrorists.Islamabad, Apr 4 (IBNS): In a significant development, the United Nations Security Councils consolidated list of terrorist individuals and entities has included 139 entries from Pakistan, including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, media reports said.

The list also included the name of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Ladens heir apparent, reports said.

"The list  updated and accessed on Tuesday  identifies all those individuals who have lived in Pakistan, operated from there or have been associated with groups that used Pakistani territory for carrying out their operations, from Al Qaedas Ayman al-Zawahiri to known Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) activists," reported Pakistan-based Dawn News.

Dawn News reported that the "list also includes Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, an Indian national who, according to the UN Security Council, has held several Pakistani passports issued in Rawalpindi and Karachi. The UN claims that he owns a 'palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Noorabad, Karachi'."

LeTs Hafiz Mohammad Saeed 's name has been included in the list.

"LeT is listed with its various aliases, such as al-Mansoorian, Paasban-i-Kashmir, Paasban-i-Ahle Hadith, Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation," reported Dawn News.

In a major move, the US Department of State has amended the designation of Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) to include the aliases MML and Tehreek-e- Azadi-e Kashmir (TAJK).

"The aliases have been added to LeTs designations as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order 13224," read an official statement issued by the department.

"These designations seek to deny LeT the resources it needs to plan and carry out further terrorist attacks," read the statement.

"Among other consequences of the designations, LeTs property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the group," it said.

Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, the Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the Department of State, noted: Todays amendments take aim at Lashkar e-Tayyibas efforts to circumvent sanctions and deceive the public about its true character. Make no mistake: whatever LeT chooses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group. The United States supports all efforts to ensure that LeT does not have a political voice until it gives up violence as a tool of influence.

Formed in the 1980s, LeT was responsible for the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India that killed 166 people, including six Americans, and has killed dozens of Indian security forces and civilians in recent years.

LeT continues to operate freely within Pakistan, holding public rallies, raising funds, and plotting and training for terrorist attacks.

The Department of State designated LeT as an FTO and SDGT on December 26, 2001. Its leader, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, is also designated as an SDGT.

To avoid sanctions, LeT has repeatedly changed its name over the years. In January 2017, LeT began operating under the name Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir. LeT has engaged in terrorist activities under this name, including inciting terrorism, as well as recruiting and fundraising. In August 2017, LeT chief Hafiz Saeed created the MML to serve as a political front for the group. LeT members make up MMLs leadership and the so-called party openly displays Saeeds likeness in its election banners and literature.

Concurrently with Mondays State Department actions, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated seven members of the MML central leadership body for acting for on behalf of LeT: Saifullah Khalid, Muzammil Iqbal Hashimi, Muhammad Harris Dar, Tabish Qayyuum, Fayyaz Ahmad, Faisal Nadeem, and Muhammad Ehsan.

The actions notify the U.S. public and the international community that TAJK and MML are aliases of LeT.

Terrorism designations expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and deny them access to the U.S. financial system.

"Moreover, designations can assist the law enforcement activities of U.S. agencies and other governments," read the official statement.

India on Tuesday welcomed the United States' decision to put Milli Muslim League (MML) and 7 of its functionaries to list of global terrorists.

In a statement, Spokesperson said: "India welcomes the action taken by the US for designating the Milli Muslim League as an alias of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan based terrorist group and its functionaries who are acting on behalf of LeT."

"It vindicates Indias position that Pakistan has not taken effective action against terrorist groups and individuals. It is also cognizance of the fact that terrorist individuals and entities are allowed to change names and continue to operate freely from territory under Pakistans control," it said.

"The designation is a rejection of the attempts being made in Pakistan to mainstream terrorist individuals and entities; and highlights Pakistans failure to fulfil its international obligation to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries, and disrupt terror financing," it said.

In January last year, the city council had proclaimed April 3 as Family Caregiver Day.

Toronto mayor John Tory, councillors James Pasternak and Josh Matlow were present at the event. They recognized the important roles caregivers play in caring for family and friends in need of support.

City residents were reportedly encouraged to recognize the contributions of caregivers and appreciation for their efforts on social media using #Careitforward.

Family caregivers provide an important service in our communities, said Pasternak. Its important that we support them and recognize the role they play in caring for some of our most vulnerable residents.

The event was kicked off by Carole Ann Alloway, author and co-founder of Family Caregivers Voice and two caregivers gave moving accounts of what its like to provide support for their loved ones.

ENRICHES Collaborative, Family Caregiver Voice and over 12 other partner organizations joined the event.

Family caregivers represent almost 30 per cent of Torontos population, providing unpaid care to family members and friends who need help due to a health condition, disability or challenges related to aging, Tory said. Caregiving is rewarding but it can also be emotionally, physically and financially stressful. This event allows us to give these everyday heroes some of the recognition that they deserve.

Dr Joel Sadavoy, chair of the ENRICHES Collaborative Steering Committee and director of Reitman Centre for Alzheimer's Support and Training at Sinai Health System, said, This event is a wonderful opportunity for Toronto to come together in support of this often invisible and vulnerable group of individuals who are such a crucial component to the well-being of our Toronto community.

Attendees had the opportunity to participate in a mentoring session with experts in the caregiver profession, visit the interactive technology booth and hear from a panel of speakers about caregiving support.

The event was live-streamed to allow caregivers in different locations to participate and they had a chance to enjoy magic and comedy acts by Broadway star Mark Correia.

Vanier Institute of the Family, a national, independent, charitable organization dedicated to understanding the diversity and complexity of family life in Canada, held the private premiere of the film The Caregivers' Club in Canadas capital Ottawa on the occasion.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Washington, Apr 4 (IBNS): A woman shot and injured three people and then apparently killed herself at video sharing website You Tube's headquarter in Northern California, officials said on Wednesday.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said the incident occurred on Tuesday.

Press Release regarding YouTube incident - https://t.co/4fZtzVQ3Aq

Additional press conference will take place at 4:30pm. pic.twitter.com/nHwZMuOfl3  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 3, 2018

He said the police arrived at the scene at 12: 48 local time.

"San Bruno Police arrived on scene at 12:48pm, two minutes after the first call, and immediately began searching for a possible suspect. Arriving officers encountered numerous employees fleeing the building. Officers encountered one victim with an apparent gunshot wound to a lower extremity at the front of the building," the police said in a statement.

"At 12:53 p.m., officers conducting a search located a deceased female inside with a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound. Two additional victims were located after fleeing to a next door business. A total of four people were transported to local hospitals, three of which had gunshot wounds. The extent of the victims injuries are unknown at this time," it said.

The police are still searching the building.

"A perimeter has been set up and SWAT Teams from San Mateo County are conducting an extensive search of the building," read the statement.

The identities of the attacker and the victims have not been disclosed by the police so far.

After Vadim Lavrusik, a YouTube product employee, got evacuated from the building, he tweeted: "Safe. Got evacuated it. Outside now."

Safe. Got evacuated it. Outside now.  Vadim Lavrusik (@Lavrusik) April 3, 2018

Google chief Sundar Pichai said he does not have words to describe the tragedy.

"There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support," Pichai tweeted.

There are no words to describe the tragedy that occurred today. @SusanWojcicki & I are focused on supporting our employees & the @YouTube community through this difficult time together. Thank you to the police & first responders for their efforts, and to all for msgs of support.  Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 3, 2018

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump appreciated the security force for their swift actions.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018

"Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene," Trump tweeted.

Image: SanBrunoPolice Twitter video GrabWashington, Apr 4 (IBNS): The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has published a proposed list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs.

Following USTRs Section 301 investigation, US President Donald Trump announced in March that the United States will impose tariffs on approximately $50 billion worth of Chinese imports and take other actions in response to Chinas policies that 'coerce American companies into transferring their technology and intellectual property to domestic Chinese enterprises'.

"These policies bolster Chinas stated intention of seizing economic leadership in advanced technology as set forth in its industrial plans, such as 'Made in China 2025'," said a statement issued by the Office of the U.S.Trade Representative.

The USTR said the proposed list of products is based on extensive interagency economic analysis and would target products that benefit from Chinas industrial plans while minimizing the impact on the U.S. economy.

Sectors subject to the proposed tariffs include industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics, and machinery.

The proposed list covers approximately 1,300 separate tariff lines and will undergo further review in a public notice and comment process, including a hearing. After completion of this process, USTR will issue a final determination on the products subject to the additional duties.

"The total value of imports subject to the tariff increase is commensurate with an economic analysis of the harm caused by Chinas unreasonable technology transfer policies to the U.S. economy, as covered by USTRs Section 301 investigation," the USTR said in its statement.

The latest announcement was made just days after the USTR filed a request for consultations with China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to address Chinas technology licensing requirements.

"Such consultations are the first step in the WTO dispute settlement process. If the United States and China are unable to reach a solution through consultations, the United States may request the establishment of a WTO dispute settlement panel to review the matter," said the statement.

In a major development that can further escalate trade war between the two nations, China on Monday suspended tariff concessions on 128 items of U.S. products including pork and fruits starting Monday, media reports said.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has decided to impose a tariff of 15 percent on 120 items of products imported from the United States including fruits and related products, and a tariff of 25 percent on eight items of imports including pork and related products from the country, Xinhua news agency of China reported quoting a statement posted on the country Ministry of Finance website.

"The statement said it was a countermeasure in response to a previous U.S. move to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports," read the Xinhua report.

Alleging years of intellectual property theft by China, the White House announced last month that it is planning to impose tariffs on Chinese imports.

The US said that it could impose tariffs up to $60bn on Chinese imports, stating that the action was an important measure to counter 'unfair competition' from China.Brussels, Apr 4 (IBNS): NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will visit the United States of America for a two-day visit, starting on Thursday, Apr 5, an official release stated.

On Thursday, he will participate in a Town Hall event at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, delivering remarks and taking questions from students.

Later in the day, he will also visit the Lockheed Martin F-35 production plant.

On Apr 6, the Secretary General will visit US Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

He will also visit the 80th Flying Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, meeting participants in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program.

In the afternoon, Stoltenberg will travel to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, where he will visit North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command (NORTHCOM), together with Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.A police officer who admitted he assaulted an elderly employee at the casino owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation has lost his job.

Michael Tousignant was at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut last April when he punched Agiim "Jimmy" Koci, a 73-year-old bathroom attendant over an alleged insult. A Providence Journal report from the time said Tousignant had been upset about cold water in the bathroom.

Koci, who emigrated to the United States from Albania, was left bloodied and shaken from the incident and has not gone back to work, the paper reported.

He entered Foxwoods a cop and he left Foxwoods a criminal, Vincent Ragosta Jr., an attorney for the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, said of Tousignant, WJAR reported.

Tousignant, who had been on administrative leave with pay since the incident, was terminated by Pawtucket on Tuesday following a decision by a review panel set up for police officers. He can appeal his firing through the Rhode Island courts, WJAR reported.

Tousignant was charged in Connecticut court with third-degree assault on an elderly person but his case has been "statutorily sealed," according to online records . Though he admitted to the offense, he won't be formally convicted as long as he completes a program for first-time offenders, The Journal reported.

Tousignant's case in Connecticut is K10K-CR17-0337107-S.

Read More on the Story: Pawtucket fires police officer accused of punching elderly man (The Providence Journal April 3, 2018) NBC 10 I-Team: Pawtucket cop fired after attack on elderly casino bathroom attendant (WJAR April 3, 2018)

Join the Conversation

Related StoriesIt doesn't take too much for someone to lose their sanity on Indian roads, thanks to the pointless, incessant and agonizing honking.

Tenor

Honking is almost a reflex for so many people. It's less the traffic and more the constant noise of vehicle horns blowing in our ears, that drives us crazy. However, there's one NGO that has chosen to address this problem before people go completely insane.

An NGO named 'Awaaz Foundation' has kick-started a unique campaign called 'HornVrat' in cooperation with state's transport department, Rickshawmen's Union and Mumbai Police.

According to ANI, an auto rickshaw is venturing out on Mumbai roads decorated with blow horns, urging people to refrain from honking.

ANI

The NGO began the campaign on January 27 this year from Mumbai's Gateway of India by flagging off the symbolic auto rickshaw. This three-wheeler is now travelling to every nook and corner of the city to create awareness.

The NGO claims that Mumbai honks around 18 million times in an hour. That's enough to drive someone up the wall!

Mumbai: Awaaz Foundation along with the Maharashtra transport department, Rickshawmen's Union and Mumbai Police started 'HornVrat' campaign urging people to refrain from honking. pic.twitter.com/4rqn1AtlhO  ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2018

The NGO is using this auto rickshaw as a medium to spread awareness as it is a common mode of transportation in the city. It has also roped in thousands of auto-rickshaw drivers to join the drive.

A Rickshawmen Union member also expressed concern saying that noise pollution by honking builds up stress and anger, adding that being exposed to it also impacts health severely.

Soon you're going to read 'Horn NOT ok please' on vehicles, fingers crossed.Helmets are a must for motorcycle riders all over the world. But, now, that's not true for the turban-clad Sikh community in Canada.

Facebook/Sikh Motorcycle Club BC Canada

In a new bill passed by the Canadian province Alberta, a traffic exemption has been specifically made for the Sikhs in the province and it will be in place from April 12, 2018.

Baltej Singh Dhillon, the first Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer with a turban, was elated with the decision, in an official statement he pointed out that, "the move demonstrates a deep respect for the traditions and customs of the Sikh community.

The exemption applies to riders and passengers over the age of 18 who are members of the Sikh religion. The rule makes it strict that a rider wearing a turban instead of a helmet, must at all cost identify himself as a Sikh.

Sikh Motorcycle Club BC Canada/Facebook

The decision was taken after years of lobbying and was granted at the request of the Sikh community in recognition of their civil and religious rights.

Alberta is the third province behind after Manitoba and British Columbia to make this legal exemption.

While Sikhs who have been riding without helmet vouch for the fact that there is no safety issue, doctors do not agree with this. Studies show that wearing helmets is essential, and that number of accidents significantly reduce with its use.

Sikh Motorcycle Club BC Canada/Facebook

Ranbir Singh Parmar, the president of the Dashmesh Culture Centre in northeast Calgary, told the Calgaryherald that hes thrilled that this issue, which has been fought since 1987, has finally come to pass.

It was wrong to deny someone the ability to ride a bike simply because of (his) religious belief, he explained. For us, the turban is sacred. We cant just take it off.Priyanka Das is reaching for the sky, quite literally. She is one of the few people who work on the development of the satellite navigation wing of Rafale fighter jets, which will be used for Indian Air Force in the year 2019.

Picture For representation/facebook

Das, who hails from Dhemaji, Assam found her love for the skies when she was just three-years-old. She's has followed her dreams since then and today is a PhD student at ISAE-SUPAERO and is working on satellite navigation systems in cooperation with Safran Electronics and Defense.

A report in North East Now, mentions that the engine and parts of the Rafale fighter plane are provided by Safran Electronics, and Priyanka and her team of engineers before joining Safran had already made a micro satellite in Paris.

According to this intreview, Das who is fascinated by all things that involve space, started her academic career with Bachelors Degree in Physics (Honors) from St. Stephens College, University of Delhi.

assamtimes

North East Now states that Das joined Ecole Polytechnique for its 4-year Ingenieur Polytechnicien program (promotion X2013), specializing her third year in Data Science. During her fourth year for a double degree masters in Aerospace Engineering, Das enrolled herself into ISAE-Supaero.

Apart from working on the satellite navigation system Das also hoped to contribute towards the self-driving vehicle technology.

She has brought laurels to the country, by being honoured by the French Govt for her immense contribution towards the navigation system of the Rafale aircraft.

Priyanka Das is the living proof of what determination and perseverance can do. We're so proud of her and we hope she continues to shoot for the stars.There are fans, and then there are Bollywood fans. While some idealise their favourite actors so such that they dont mind standing outside their homes for hours to just catch a glimpse, there are others, who can go to crazy extremes for the same. Like -- climb the wall of their house! Yeah, thats right!

india.com

Bollywood stars have a massive fan following in the country and sometimes, the crazy fan stories are ample. Remember how a girl had run away from her home to meet Varun Dhawan sometime ago?

Urgent help! My friends cousin is missing. Last seen in Mumbai. If any one spots her call +918779854966 pic.twitter.com/qA0sN1giHp  Preeti Sharma Menon (@PreetiSMenon) June 11, 2017

Well, this time, this girl who is studying in her ninth standard had shocked us all. This 15-year-old girl from Bhopal is one of the craziest Salman Khan fans. She not only ran away from her home, but also climbed a wall to meet her favourite star.

bollyworm.com

What exactly happened?

The girl, who is studying in ninth grade ran away from her home in Bhopal to meet Salman Khan. She went to his home at Galaxy Apartments. Of course, the guards didnt let her in. So, she climbed the wall to enter the building premises, reports Indian Express.

YouTube

The Mumbai police control room was informed about the incident, and the girl was brought to Bandra police station thereafter for inquiry. This all happened on Tuesday (April 3, 2018)!

stemjar.com

And that is when the police found out that her parents had lodged a case under section 363 (kidnapping) of IPC with Berasia police on Monday (April 2, 2018). It is said that she was missing since Sunday (April 1, 2018).

Twitter

The girl was sent to Dongri children's home and her parents are on their way to Mumbai. Crazy fandom, right?!

The girl was sent to Dongri children's home and her parents are on their way to Mumbai. Crazy fandom, right?!This was one hurdle Hanuman found insurmountable, though only for 15 hours. An extra-long vehicle carrying the 62-foot, 750-tonne half-done statue of Hanuman from Kolar to Kacharakanahalli in East Bengaluru, was stranded when police allegedly stopped it on NH-48 on Monday night, citing it as a potential violation of the model election code of conduct.

The 300-wheel vehicle carrying the monolith was forced to wait near Hoskote, 35km from the city, till the Election Commission intervened and gave it the goahead around Tuesday noon, according to trustee Muniraju of the Sri Rama Chaithanya Vardhini Trust, which is behind the project.

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The standoff resulted in a traffic jam lasting hours on NH-48 (Old Madras Road).

Official sources told TOI that members of the trust had applied for permission to transport the statue, and BBMP had agreed but with a rider: that they wouldnt damage the road and if they did, take responsibility to restore it.

On Monday evening, police might have stopped the vehicle to check whether the trust had got necessary permissions to transport the statue into the city. The vehicle was allowed to resume its journey on Tuesday, they added.

Bengaluru Traffic Police officers, however, said they were not in the loop as the incident happened beyond their jurisdiction.

'Biggest Hanuman statue in the world'

Trust members claimed the statue, which stands taller than the Gomateshwara statue (57ft) of Shravanabelagola in Hassan district, will be the biggest Hanuman statue in the world.

Muniraju said the statue is rough-hewn and the final sculpting will be done at the place where it will be installed. Work on Hanuman, carrying Lord Rama and Lakshmana on his shoulders, is expected to be completed by next year.

TOI

The monolith, out of which the statue was carved, was found in Byrapura. Weighing about 1450 tonnes, it had to be lifted 4 feet from under the ground to facilitate sculpting. "We searched for such a large stone for three months. About 30 sculptors from Shivarapatna, a village in Malur taluk of Kolar district, renowned for its traditional sculpture, were pressed into service to downsize the monolith to a 750-tonne statue.

At Kacharakanahalli, the sculptors will be joined by other world-class sculptors to complete the task. The statue is expected to be fully ready before next April, and be installed by Sri Rama Navami," said Muniraju.A 15-year-old intellectually disabled girl was gang raped by six men, including her neighbour, in a public park in east Delhis Madhu Vihar in January. A 29-year-old disabled woman was allegedly gang raped by four men and committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan, blaming police inaction in March. She had earlier attempted self-immolation at the SSP office in Bareilly protesting police apathy in lodging her FIR.

In yet another case, a 19-year-old disabled girl was raped by a cab driver in Chandigarh in March.

These are just a few examples how disabled rape victims are treated in India. Justice is an implausible idea.

A report published by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that women and girls with disabilities in India are at a higher risk of sexual violence. The report observed that the challenges faced by the survivors of sexual violence to get justice are even greater.

The report, titled Invisible Victims of Sexual Violence: Access to Justice for Women and Girls with Disabilities in India found that women and girls with disabilities, particularly intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, may not know that non-consensual sexual acts are a crime and should be reported because of the lack of accessible information.

The police asked me very nasty things like how it felt for me. I told them I was totally unconscious, so how would I know? The police said things like, Shes mental, why should I pay attention to her?

 Susmita, 26, a woman with a psychosocial disability from Kolkata, West Bengal, who reported being sedated and raped by four male neighbours in February 2014

Most women and girls with disabilities do not get the help they need if sexual violence happens to them. They find it hard to call for help because in most cases they are unaware of the fact that they have been raped or sexually exploited and are unable to communicate the ordeal to other people.

BCCL

Indian police and courts do little to identify the crimes committed against women and girls with disabilities, primarily because they find it hard to believe the version of the victim purely based on their disability.

The police may even laugh at them or say mean things to them. -- Invisible Victims of Sexual Violence: Access to Justice for Women and Girls with Disabilities in India.

The report found that police may not do anything about what happened even if they have information about the sexual violence. They may not write down about a woman or girls disability so they can get the right support.

In a November 2017 report on barriers to justice and support services for sexual assault survivors in India, Human Rights Watch found that women and girls who survive rape and other sexual violence often suffer humiliation at police stations and hospitals.

The report investigated 17 rape and gang rape cases of women and girls with various disabilities in eight states (Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal) across India. The report found that five years after the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, women and girls with disabilities continue to face significant barriers to justice.

One day, my teacher was finishing some work on the sewing machine in the veranda and asked me to wait inside the house. I was alone inside and that was when her brother forced himself on me. I did not know that if someone raped me, I could go to the police.

 Nafisa, 19, a woman with difficulties hearing and speaking, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, who reported rape in September 2016

The new law made several provisions to make it easier to report sexual violence. While registering a complaint, women and girls with disability are entitled to a special educator, someone who knows sign language.

We told the police she has a mental disability and she is physically handicapped You can see her disability but it was still not recorded in the FIR.

 Kanika, sister of Maneka, a 15-year-old girl with intellectual and physical disabilities, who reported being raped by two men from her Delhi neighbourhood in October 2015

Under the new law, they can file a complaint from a safe place of their choice. They have the right to get their statement videotaped and have the right to seek exemption from the need to repeat their statement during trial.

However, in reality, such steps are rarely implemented.

BCCL

The report cites the rape case of a 19-year-old woman with an intellectual disability from a village in West Bengal, who was raped several times in 2013 by a local man. Kanchana was not aware that she should report being raped, which was only discovered when she was five months pregnant. And her intellectual disability made it difficult to explain to the police what had happened.

Human Rights Watch found that few police officers have the training or expert support needed to handle these cases. While the 2013 amendment to the existing law gives more power and rights to women and girls with disabilities, these are rarely brought into practice.

Razia, a 13-year-old girl with an intellectual disability and difficulties speaking, found it challenging to recount her rape by her brothers 17-year-old tutor. A social worker from the Latika Roy Foundation introduced creative techniques, such as using a doll, that helped Razia give a clear and consistent account of the abuse she experienced, cites the HRW in its report.

Indian law and policies require state governments to facilitate compensation, including in cases where the offender cannot be traced or identified. However, the HRW found that even in cases of trauma, violence and financial hardship  including due to childbirth following rape  women and girls with disabilities had difficulties in securing compensation.

Increasing awareness on the issue is just a step toward making it a real issue as in most cases such victims are side-lined, given their disabilities. The society first needs to treat women and girls with disabilities as real people. Their disability does not make them any less of a person.The Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday denied a TOI report that tourists had been attacked by stone pelters on Sunday, but acknowledged that two tourists got minor injuries on April 1 ... because the vehicles came in the middle of an area where pelting was going on.

Awantipora superintendent of police Zahid Ahmad also confirmed to TOI that a vehicle in which tourists were travelling was attacked by stone-pelters, but said the incident took place near Khanabal in Anantnag, not in Awantipora police district.

Another tourist bus (no. UP17AT505) of Sehgal Tours, carrying 42 tourists from Mandya district, Karnataka, was attacked by stone-pelters in Kangan on Tuesday.

toiDriver Ramesh told TOI the bus was on its way from Sonmarg to Srinagar. Two tourists suffered injuries from the shards of the glass windows that were smashed by stone-pelters.

On Tuesday, TOI had published a report, " Stone pelters attack tourists in J&K, 4 hurt ". Responding to the report, the police issued a statement, saying that no incident of stone pelting took place near Dal Lake and Awantipora areas on Sunday.

"Police investigations have also shown that no injuries to anybody were reported from the area...two tourists got minor injuries on April 1. They were given first aid and discharged immediately. There has been no intended or designed attack on any tourist. It was because the vehicles came in the middle of an area where pelting was going on, the police said.

However, sources confirmed to TOI that stone-pelters did attack tourists on Sunday evening causing injuries to two women  Sandhya Kumari (25), wife of Manish Kumar, and Mandana Jaswal (35), wife of Ajay Jaswal, both from Uttar Pradesh.

toi

They were taken to SMHS hospital for treatment. Sandhya was hit in the abdomen and Mandana was hit on the head. Both were discharged after treatment, according to Dr Muneer Ahmad, deputy superintendent of SMHS hospital.

The incident, according to officials, occurred around 8pm at Awantipora on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway when a mob of around 100 pelted stones on the vehicle in which tourists were travelling towards Srinagar. The vehicle was partially damaged and two persons sustained injuries. The doctors at the hospital discharged the injured tourists after investigation, officials said.

Awantipora SP Zahid Ahmad confirmed the incident but not the location. It is ok (sic), but it didnt take place in Awantipora police district. It happened somewhere near Khanabal in Anantnag, he said.

In another incident, two women sustained head injuries when the cab they were travelling in was hit by stones at Humhama on the airport road on Sunday afternoon. The NRI tourists were staying at Taj Vivanta and remained confined to the hotel on Monday owing to a shutdown in the valley following a strike called by separatists.

Taj Vivanta refused access to the tourists. However, Muzaffar Baba, owner of Alka Salka restaurant, where the tourists had stopped for lunch after escaping stone-pelting, confirmed the incident to TOI. The tourists had narrated the incident to Baba.

toi

In another incident, two buses carrying a group of tourists from Indonesia were attacked with stones near Dalgate at the Dal Lake bank on Sunday evening. However, houseboat owners at the lake chased away the mob, eyewitnesses said. A senior district officer, who did not want to be named, confirmed the incident, and said, Some rowdies threw stones on the bus but they were chased away.

Vikram Kumar, general secretary of a local hotel association, told TOI that a group of youths threatened tourists in Royal Velvet hotel at Nai Sadak and asked them to leave Srinagar. The youths had an altercation with the hotel owner who tried to stop them, following which they smashed the glass of dining tables in the hotel. A few youths have been identified and detained in Kral Khud police station.

Former chief minister of J&K Omar Abdullah had tweeted on Tuesday, saying, In light of some people tweeting to tell me the Times of India story datelined from Srinagar was Fake News Im deleting the tweet.

He was referring to his earlier tweet in which he had tweeted a story from the front page of the Delhi edition of one of Indias most trusted newspapers, not some rag that makes a living from gossip & lies and if this is really fake news lets see an acceptance of the same & a retraction of the story on the front of tomorrows Times of India.A photography studio in Keralas Kozikhode district, specialising in wedding photography and videography, is morphing photos of women taken during wedding functions for pornographic uses. Getting clicked at wedding functions is turning out to be a nightmare for scores of women who end up finding their morphed images on social media.

The astonishing incident came to light after a woman spotted her morphed image, which was taken at weddings, being circulated on social media, following which she registered a complaint against Sadayam Shoot & Edit.

According to the complaint, a womans photographs were captured by the studio team during a wedding in her neighbourhood. Later, these images were morphed and used for pornographic purpose and circulated through the internet and social media. The woman came to know about the incident when some of her relatives informed about the circulation of her morphed image on the social media. Many other women have also come up with similar complaints against the studio owners and employers, says a Times of India report.

Representational Image

The police have sealed the studio and recovered several documents from the place. The two owners of the studio, Satheesan and Dinesh from Wayanad, have been arrested, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a reply in the state Assembly.

The prime accused Bibeesh, who morphed photographs of women, is still at large.

It is suspected that thousands of morphed photographs of women have been circulated on social media.

Over 40,000 photographs of women taken from various marriage functions in and around the region were found stored in a hard disk seized from the studio, reports the New Indian Express.

After the news about the incident spread, many women in the region filed complaints against the studio for misusing their photographs.It is not a secret that Pakistan does not have a good reputation internationally, thanks to a number of obvious reasons. It is so bad that Pakistanis traveling outside often introduce themselves as Indians, especially to co-passengers on flights to avoid unnecessary suspecicions.

While Pakistanis have made peace with their international reputation, they claim to have some repute, in the Islamic world.

Well, that may not be entirely true. If you go by what a top ranking security official in Dubai feels about Pakistanis, they are out of favour in middle east too!

Dhahi Khalfan, the Head of General Security for Dubai feels that Pakistanis pose a serious threat to the Gulf communities because they bring drugs to their countries.

Khalfan expressed his views on Twitter after Dubai police busted a gang of Pakistanis involved in smuggling drugs.

            ..      ... pic.twitter.com/LTCj5OW98m     (@Dhahi_Khalfan) April 1, 2018

Khalfan even went on to advise companies based in UAE to not employ Pakistani nationals, claiming it was a "national duty to stop hiring Pakistanis.

          ...        .     (@Dhahi_Khalfan) April 1, 2018

If that wasn't embarrassing enough for Pakistan, Khalfan then went on to compare Pakistanis working in the middle east with its arch-rival, Indians.

                 (@Dhahi_Khalfan) April 1, 2018

Why are the Indians disciplined while disruption, crime, and smuggling are prevalent in the Pakistani community? he wrote.

An estimated 1.2 million Pakistanis live and work in the UAE, whereas the Indian community is estimated to have a strength of 4 million.

According to the Pakistan Embassy, in 2017 there were 1,200 Pakistanis undergoing different jail terms in all UAE jails.After the shooting incident at the YouTube headquarters early this morning, many executives in the technology industry have declared their support for the victims and survivors, calling for increased gun control in the US.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki (R) near the YouTube headquarters after the shooting - Reuters

Three people were shot and injured in the incident, while a fourth hurt their ankle while fleeing the scene. The attacker, identified as Nasim Aghdam, eventually shot herself in the head as well.

ALSO READ: The YouTube Shooter Probably Hated The Video Sharing Website For Censoring Her Video Channel

Google CEO Sundar Pichai was quick to release a statement on behalf of the company, calling for support for the victims, and thanking YouTubes HQ security and first responders at the scene for their help.

Here is the note that @sundarpichai just sent to Googlers worldwide. pic.twitter.com/bdC6KeTl9c  Google Communications (@Google_Comms) April 3, 2018

While tech companies have previously expressed their views on other controversial topics like climate change, same-sex marriage, and immigration reforms, theyve largely stayed away from gun control. Not so anymore it seems.The systemic violence encountered throughout the migrant route in Mexico is exacerbated by anti-immigrant enforcement policies backed by the U.S. government, fueled by the Merida Initiative, and paid for by the people of the U.S. and Mexico.

[ Training in mutual protection. Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. Photo via @PuebloSF Pueblo Sin Fronteras Stands In Solidarity with Displaced People and Denounces Calls for Violence Against the Refugee CaravanApril 2nd, 2018Pueblo Sin Fronteras stands in solidarity with all refugees who exercise their right to seek a life free from violence. We accompany refugees in their journey as human rights observers and offer information about their legal rights, including those defined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and the domestic laws* intended to implement them. Refugees lead this movement.Both the United States and Mexico have signed international agreements that uphold the rights of refugees, including the right of non-refoulement. Their asylum processes are punitive and unjust. These governments refuse to honor their commitments to refugees rights and instead cruelly incarcerate and deport them, often to their deaths.The unprecedented number of Central Americans who have joined the current refugee caravan and the high percentage of people fleeing Honduras in the group are the result of multiple political crises in the region provoked in large part by the policies of the U.S. government. The U.S. support for the Honduran military coup of 2009 and the electoral coup of November 2017 have intensified military and political repression, insecurity, and physical and economic violence. Hundreds of Hondurans have fled their homes and joined the Refugee Caravan in order to seek refuge in Mexico or the U.S. They, along with their fellow caravan members, have organized and developed a network of mutual support within the caravan to protect themselves from dangers such as extortion, robbery, murder, sexual assault, torture and deportation without a right to seek asylum, which virtually all those who journey alone confront.The systemic violence encountered throughout the migrant route in Mexico is exacerbated by anti-immigrant enforcement policies backed by the U.S. government, fueled by the Merida Initiative, and paid for by the people of the U.S. and Mexico. Mexicos 2017 Internal Security Law criminalizes human rights defenders and further endangers refugees and asylum seekers fleeing for their lives.As word of the size and causes of the caravan has spread through networks of solidarity, right-wing white supremacists have responded by threatening and calling for violence against its participants and supporters publicly in the news and on social media and personally with hate-filled phone calls and emails. These threats have gone so far as to include calls for militias and Border Patrol agents to open fire and even carry out drone strikes on caravan members, among them children as young as one month old.On April 1st, the U.S. President opportunistically invoked refugee caravans as a pretext for threatening immigrants already in the country, specifically DACA recipients, with a so-called Nuclear Option to remove their protections from detention and deportation. Trump is trying to turn Central American refugees and other immigrant communities against each other, and use them as a bargaining chip with Mexico. In the face of this bullying and these threats of mass violence, we continue to stand in solidarity with displaced people of all races, ethnicities, creeds, abilities, and gender and sexual identities. We invite all those who envision a world where human rights are honored to join us.In Solidarity,Pueblo Sin Fronteras*Title 8 Section 1225 of the U.S. Federal Code establishes that any noncitizen who fears returning to their home country has a right to seek asylum in the United States in order to be protected from persecution and violence. Article 11 of the 2011 Law of Refuge, Complementary Protection, and Political Asylum of Mexico similarly establishes the right of foreigners fleeing persecution to request recognition as refugees.How much lower will we liquidate? TradeGuidance - 14 minutes ago Why we believe that the SPX could likely hold 4228 on this structured liquidation ESZ21 : 4,347.50 (-1.93%) SPY : 434.48 (-1.84%) $SPX : 4,355.28 (-1.98%)

Wheat Market Weaker for Tuesday Barchart - 42 minutes ago A mixed Monday led to a weaker Tuesday as midday wheat prices trade red. CBT SRW futures are down 9 1/4 to 13 cents so far. HRW prices are giving back 9 to 11 3/4 cents at midday. Turnaround Tuesday has... ZWZ21 : 710-2 (-1.66%) ZWPAES.CM : 6.5412 (-1.78%) KEZ21 : 712-0 (-1.21%) KEPAWS.CM : 6.8535 (-1.33%) MWZ21 : 912-4 (-0.98%)

Hogs Extending Gains through Midday Barchart - 42 minutes ago After hitting limit gains to start the week, lean hog futures are adding another 7 cents to $1 to the upside through Tuesdays midday. USDAs National Average Morning Base hog price for Tuesday was... HEV21 : 90.975 (+0.80%) HEG22 : 85.875 (+1.72%) KMV21 : 108.250 (+1.22%)

Bitcoin ( $BTCUSD ) Calling The Decline After 3 Waves Recovery ElliottWave-Forecast - 58 minutes ago Hello fellow traders. In this technical blog were going to take a quick look at the Elliott Wave charts of Bitcoin ($BTCUSD ) published in members area of the Elliottwave-Forecast . As our members know,... ^BTCUSD : 41,335.64 (-3.24%)

OPEC long-term outlook with crude at 3-year highs: rosy AP - 1 hour ago FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)  While acknowledging the inevitable advance of alternative energy sources and technology, OPEC said that oil would be the leading energy source for decades to come as crude prices... $SPX : 4,355.28 (-1.98%) $DOWI : 34,337.46 (-1.53%) $IUXX : 14,784.81 (-2.76%)

Coffee Prices Push Higher on Prospects for Tighter Global Supplies Barchart - 1 hour ago Dec arabica coffee (KCZ21 ) this morning is up +3.60 (+1.86%), and Nov ICE Robusta coffee (RMX21 ) is up +32 (+1.51%). Coffee prices this morning are moderately higher, with arabica climbing to a 3-1/2... KCZ21 : 198.50 (+2.50%) RMX21 : 2,160s (+1.84%)

Gauntlet to the Fed Monica Kingsley - 1 hour ago S&P 500 was unable to sustain intraday gains, and both VIX and volume show the bears want to move. Arguably, the key market to watch, are the Treasuries  the 10-year yield continues rising, knocking...Gerhard Lohmann, chief financial officer of reinsurance at Swiss Re, has been appointed company chairman; while Paul Meeusen, Fei Zhang, Sylvain De Crom, Markus Tradt, and Ken Marke  all experienced industry professionals who have held senior positions in global insurance groups  make up the company's executive team.

"The transition of B3i from consortium to independent company is a concrete step forward to realizing the enormous potential of blockchain for the insurance industry, Lohmann said. Personally, I am very excited to be at the forefront of this innovation that has the capability to transform the industry and help make insurance more affordable, accessible, and attractive for market segments that are currently disenfranchised, or underprivileged."

In mid-2017, B3i successfully completed its first product, a blockchain prototype for property cat XoL reinsurance contracts, which was proven to make transactions become quicker, more efficient, and more secure than with current methods. The first live trades on the platform are expected by the end of 2018, with several other products being developed concurrently.

In a statement, B3i Services said becoming an independent legal entity with its own capital and intellectual property has enabled it to streamline the development, testing, and commercialisation of blockchain solutions.

The incorporation of B3i Services AG is the starting point for the next stage of the initiative, it said in the press release. The company will be raising additional funds from a wide spectrum of insurance industry participants over the coming months. The ambition is to create an ecosystem of products and services developed by the market, for the market.

Related stories:The accused driver, who remains in hospital, has been charged with 13 offences, including manslaughter.

"Our hearts go out to the victim and his family," a spokeswoman told AAP in a statement. "We have reached out to the driver-partner and all his passengers to offer support."

Uber said all passengers in NSW, as well as drivers and third parties, are covered by the state's compulsory third-party scheme whenever there's an accident. All Uber drivers also have contingency coverage in case the driver's CTP insurance is exhausted or doesn't apply for some reason.

"We want to ensure that riders, as well as members of the community, are protected," the spokeswoman told AAP.

Related stories:This milestone is one we attribute to our clients, whose trust and support inspire us to keep improving and innovating, said Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) president Alex Narciso. We also have our advisors, employees and partners to thank, for it is through their hard work and passion that we are able to touch the lives of more Filipinos.

By the end of 2017, Sun Life had grown its Filipino client base to more than three million and its advisory force in the region is currently over 11,000, BusinessMirror reported.

We are on track to realizing our RI5E PH vision of having five million clients by 2020, Sun Life Philippines CEO and country head Rizalina G. Mantaring commented.

Related stories:As part of the acquisition, Rosenthal employees will move to Cook Marans Fair Lawn, NJ office. The deal also expands the offering of Prime Risk Partners  the insurance intermediary Cook Maran is serving as a platform in two states.

Under the leadership of Rick Rosenthal, Rosenthal Insurance has provided customized employee benefits and financial services to employers of all size in New Jersey, said Cook Maran chairman and CEO Len Scioscia. Their focus on innovative client services, directed at controlling employee benefits costs since 1977 makes them a perfect fit for us. We are proud to welcome Rick and his talented team to Cook Maran and PRP.

Scioscia added that the transaction bolsters Cook Marans employee benefits portfolio.

Given the rapidly changing employee benefits market, we are in a stronger position to help businesses stay in compliance, avoid fines and provide quality, cost-effective benefits for their employees, he explained.

We are excited to join the Cook Maran family and the Prime Risk platform, commented Rosenthal Insurance president Rick Rosenthal commented. We will be able to continue to provide our clients with the personal service they have come to expect and know, with the additional resources and enhanced services from Cook Maran, to help them remain in compliance.

Related stories:The mega-brokerage is strategically focused on expanding its retirement services division through M&A, explained Mike Barone, president of Hub Internationals Employee Benefits practice.

This is evident via Hubs acquisitions of Pointbreak Consulting Group, an employee-benefits and pension consulting firm headquartered in British Columbia, as well as Ontario-based GMS Insurance which focuses on retirement and employee benefit needs, and Utah-based employee group benefits firm Spectra Management.

Hubs list of newly acquired partners goes on. The organization has an appetite for growth and investment, and its always on the look-out for firms who would be a good cultural fit for the Hub family, Barone explained.

We have a wide appetite for high quality firms who are a good cultural fit and who want access to tools and resources to grow, he told Insurance Business. The cultural fit stems from why the company is selling. Does the existing management team want to stay on and grow the business? Are they committed to the mid-market, and are they looking for access and tools to aid growth? Those are the things Hubs looking for.

Hub is a very connected organization from desk level up through regional and national management. Communication flows readily throughout and we try to align incentives within the workforce. We have a shared resource model, where different offices have the same value proposition and ability to access talent regardless of geography.

As well as expanding its retirement services division, Hub is also interested in wholesale insurance markets like real estate, healthcare, transportation, construction, hospitality and financial institutions, according to Barone. Hubs consolidation intentions are quite clear, but what are the benefits for other firms in joining the big organization?

Barones own insurance company was acquired by Hub five years ago after growing to over $20 million in revenue and 110 employees. He commented: We felt we needed to align ourselves with a much larger organization who had broader depth and breadth of resources and capabilities to meet current and future client demands.

According to Barone, smaller firms need to assess the market, look at the amount of investment that firms like Hub are making, and ask:

Can we continue to be highly competitive without forming an alliance with a larger organization who is investing significantly?

Related stories:IAT Insurance Group (IAT) has reached a definitive agreement to acquire IFIC Surety Group Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition signals IATs entry into the surety market. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

IFIC Surety Group is headquartered in Newark, N.J., and operates in 24 locations throughout the U.S. The company consists of International Fidelity Insurance Company and its subsidiary, Allegheny Casualty Company. It writes contract, commercial, bail, customs, specialty and subdivision bonds. Writings in each of these areas are spread throughout the U.S. and produced through independent agencies specializing in surety.

IAT is a privately owned, specialty insurance company providing property and casualty products for businesses and individuals. With 700 employees and 13 offices across the country, it goes to market through six business units: Commercial Transportation, Specialty, Programs, Inland Marine, Surplus Lines Excess and Assumed Reinsurance.

IAT plans to maintain the IFIC brand following the acquisition.

Jones Day served as legal advisor and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., a Stifel Company, served as financial advisor to IFIC in the transaction. Poyner Spruill served as legal advisor to IAT in the transaction.

Source: IAT Insurance Group

Topics Mergers Excess Surplus New JerseyA Delaware judge says a paralegal injured while playing on his law firms softball team is not entitled to workers compensation.

The judge ruled late last week that Delawares Industrial Accident Board erred in concluding that William Weller ruptured his Achilles tendon during the course and scope of his work for Morris James, a Wilmington-based law firm.

Weller argued that Morris James employees were pressured into playing on the softball team. The judge said participation was voluntary and there was no evidence that playing softball was a job requirement.

The judge also said the board erred in concluding that Morris James received a substantial, direct benefit from its softball team in the way of increased productivity.

The firm said softball games were intended to boost employee health, morale and camaraderie.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Workers' CompensationChina is injecting 60.8 billion yuan ($9.7 billion) into Anbang Insurance Group Co. as it attempts to contain the fallout after the companys former chairman was accused of masterminding a multi-billion dollar fraud.

The move is aimed at ensuring Anbangs solvency and protecting policyholders interests, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said Wednesday. The government is trying to revamp and stabilize a company that burst onto the global scene in 2014 with the purchase of New Yorks Waldorf Astoria hotel, but was seized by regulators in February.

Anbangs former Chairman Wu Xiaohui is accused of masterminding a massive fraud, using unauthorized sales of investment-type policies to prop up the acquisitive companys capital. The case against him is one of the most striking illustrations of Chinas war against financial risk; in court last week prosecutors alleged that Wus actions had threatened national financial security. By injecting capital, the government is protecting the banks that funded Anbang and the public who invested in its products, said Brock Silvers, managing director at Kaiyuan Capital.

A bank failure could trigger economy-wide repercussions, while significant losses for a broad class of retail investors could impact the Communist Partys standing with the general public, Shanghai-based Silvers said in an email.

The money will come from the China Insurance Security Fund, an industry-funded body that bails out troubled insurers and which had a balance of 116 billion yuan as of January. It plans to hold its stake in Anbang only temporarily, the company said in a statement.

Much of Anbangs growth was powered by sales of short-term, high-yield products that the company used to fund purchases of long-term assets such as real estate  a duration mismatch that had long worried analysts and regulators.

The charges against Wu alleged wrongdoing going as far back as 2007. He had ordered up fraudulent financial statements and used money raised from fraud for investment, debt repayment and personal use, a Shanghai court said last week.

Wu disputed both the facts and the charges, saying that he didnt understand the law and didnt know if his behavior amounts to crime, according to the court. He was later quoted by the court as saying he realized the crimes and regrets the crimes, asking for leniency.

Anbangs registered capital will be kept at 61.9 billion yuan after the injection, the CIRC said, adding that the company will start to select strategic investors and aims to introduce private capital as soon as possible.

Chinas government in February seized control of Anbang for at least a year.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Fraud ChinaMedical marijuana laws could be a boon to those battling the opioid epidemic, according to researchers who have identified a link between increased access to medical marijuana and a reduction in opioid prescriptions.

The studies suggest medical marijuana laws (MMLs) have helped save and could continue to save thousands of lives and billions of dollars now being lost to opioid addiction.

There is a downside: The promise of MMLs in reducing opioid use shows up thus far in urban areas, but not in rural America.

The marijuana laws have an effect similar to when any replacement for a drug is introduced, say researchers. In this case, marijuana appears to be a substitute for opioids as a pain medication in many cases.

This week the JAMAs Journal of Internal Medicine published two studies that conclude that medical marijuana (or medical cannabis) laws have the potential to reduce opioid prescriptions. One study looked at Medicare Part D patient data and the other at Medicaid enrollee data.

The Medicare study (Association Between US State Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Prescribing in the Medicare Part D Population by Ashley C. Bradford, BA; W. David Bradford, PhD; Amanda Abraham, PhD; and Grace Bagwell Adams, PhD, at the University of Georgia) found that opioid prescriptions fell in states that permit medical marijuana. Prescriptions filled for all opioids decreased by 2.11 million daily doses per year from an average of 23.08 million daily doses per year when a state instituted any medical cannabis law. Prescriptions for all opioids decreased by 3.742 million daily doses per year when medical cannabis dispensaries opened.

A second JAMA Journal study (Association of Medical and Adult-Use Marijuana Laws With Opioid Prescribing for Medicaid Enrollees, by Hefei Wen, PhD, and Jason M. Hockenberry, PhD, Department of Health Management & Policy, University of Kentucky College of Public Health) found that medical and adult-use marijuana laws have the potential to reduce opioid prescribing for Medicaid enrollees, a segment of population with disproportionately high risk for chronic pain, opioid use disorder, and opioid overdose. Using Medicaid prescription data for 2011 to 2016, the researchers found lower opioid prescribing rates where there were medical marijuana laws (5.88 percent lower) and adult-use marijuana laws (6.38 percent lower).

One of the MML researchers, Dr. W. David Bradford, discussed his past and recent research into medical marijuana and opioid prescriptions as well as other research at the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) annual symposium last week in Boston.

Among Bradfords observations: the effect of MMLs on lowering opioid prescribing, while encouraging, is not fairly distributed.

All of this is happening in urban areas. We can find no benefit, in this or any of our studies in rural America. As is often the case, people in rural sections of the country are getting a little left out from innovations, Bradford said.

Bradford is the George D. Busbee Chair in Public Policy at the University of Georgia and former director and founder of the Center for Health Economic Policy Studies at the Medical University of South Carolina. He has been a visiting faculty member at Yale Medical School, and a tenured faculty member in the Department of Economics at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Bradford has over 70 publications.

Bradford and his fellow researchers, including his daughter who is also a professor, looked at whether medical marijuana is being used as a substitute for other pain medications including opioids, as well as the effect this usage has on spending and on opioid mortality.

We wanted to compare changes in pain medication use for people in states that dont have medical cannabis and how those changes compare to the changes for people in states with medical cannabis laws, he said of their first foray into the field.

They considered whether the state allows home cultivation or requires dispensaries. With dispensary-based distribution, its a lot easier to have surety of the supply, a lot easier to get very finely defined hybrids that have the particular mix of cannabinoids, according to Bradford.

They reviewed Medicare Part D enrollee data from 2010 to 2014 and then later updated this to include 2015 data. The number of states with an MML grew from 15 in 2010 to 24 over these years. They compared physician prescriptions in states with and without an MML for nine drug groupings: anxiety, depression, glaucoma, nausea, pain, psychosis, seizures, sleep disorders and spasticity.

In their analysis, they found that the use of prescription pain drugs fell significantly after a medical marijuana law went into effect. There were 1,230 fewer annual doses for all pain medications for these conditions per physician under all medical marijuana laws. They found 2,338 fewer daily doses per year for dispensary-based laws and 1,193 fewer daily doses per year for home-cultivation-only laws.

In their recent follow-up research, they focused specifically on opioid prescriptions. They found about a nine percent reduction in opioid prescriptions under any MML  but a higher 14 percent reduction in states with dispensaries. There was about a seven percent reduction in home cultivation states.

As Bradford puts it, when MMLs are implemented, use of prescription drugs falls just as would happen if any effective new drug were approved by the FDA [Federal Drug Administration].

Bradford and his colleagues did similar research using Medicaid data and came to the same conclusion that MMLs reduce use of prescriptions and opioids.

However, one troubling finding is that nearly all of the effect is happening in counties with more than 50,000 residents. There was no benefit for rural counties, he said.

They also calculated the financial impact. The combined 2014 savings to Medicare and Medicaid were $1.04 billion for states that had MMLs. Bradford said this could have been savings of $3.4 billion if all states had an MML.

So these are nontrivial savings to Medicaid and Medicare  about one and a half percent of prescription spending is possibly diverted away from the programs, he said, noting that the enrollees are the ones paying for the marijuana, not the payers.

Opioid-Related Deaths

They also have conducted research that is under review on the effect of MMLs on opioid-related deaths, using data on all non-heroin opiate related deaths for all 3,144 counties in the U.S. from 2000 to 2015. For all prescription opioid related deaths, they found: statistically significant reductions in mortality associated with any MML for all years from 2010 to 2015 in all counties together and no statistically significant effects in rural counties. For only non-synthetic opioid related deaths (i.e., no fentanyl) they found statistically significant reductions in mortality associated with any MML and with dispensary-based laws for all years from 2010 to 2015 in all counties together.

Were looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of a 20 to 30 percent reduction in mortality over what it would be, Bradford said.

Bradford referred to a 2014 study by researchers at Albert Einstein Medical School in New York that also found a connection between MML states and a reduction in opioid deaths. This study (Study on the relationship between medical cannabis laws and opioid analgesic overdose deaths) reviewed 1999-2010 data from 23 states with MMLs. The authors compared opioid overdose death rates in states with medical cannabis programs to overdose deaths rates in states with no cannabis laws. They found about a 25 percent reduction, which translated to an estimated 1,729 fewer deaths than expected. The authors excluded opioid deaths from suicide and included overdose deaths related to heroin, since heroin and prescription opioid use are interrelated for some individuals.

It looks like access to cannabis, when you design the policies appropriately, can save both lives and money, Bradford told the WCRI audience.

But again, in rural counties, there is zero estimated effect. Were not finding any benefit in terms of mortality for the rural counties, he reiterated.

Federal Marijuana Policy

Currently cannabis is listed in the Controlled Substances Act under Schedule 1, which means that it is a drug along with LSD, peyote heroin and others that have been deemed to have no medically recognized uses and a high potential for abuse and therefore completely illegal. Its the most restrictive category. Physicians cannot prescribe cannabis, people cannot possess it, no one can sell it under federal law.

The view that marijuana has no medically recognized uses was challenged in January of 2017, when the National Academy of Scientific Engineering and Medicine published what Bradford considers a landmark study. The NAS reviewed more than 10,000 peer-reviewed clinical publications to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to draw conclusions regarding the medical application of cannabis.

What they concluded is that there is indeed conclusive evidence that there are benefits to cannabis for chronic pain in adults, for nausea associated with chemotherapy and for spasticity and seizures. There is moderate evidence for many other conditions, Bradford said.

The 2017 NAS report is quite good evidence that cannabis is useful and, of course, what this implies is that a fine reading of the Controlled Substances Act would reschedule cannabis away from Schedule 1 and then to probably a 3 or a 4. That would be a level that physicians could prescribe it and could get involved.

The Trump Administration has taken a harder line against legalized marijuana than did the Obama Administration, thereby complicating how medical marijuana laws and usage may play out. Currently 29 states and D.C., representing two-thirds of the U.S. population, have some form of medical cannabis law that runs counter to federal policy.

Public opinion on the subject has largely been supportive of legalizing marijuana for medical use. A January Quinnipiac Poll found that 91 percent of Americans support allowing people with their doctors assistance to get access to cannabis. The same poll found voters oppose 70 to 23 percent enforcing federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana.

Workers Comp Reimbursement

The workers compensation industry has generally been focused on the impact of medical marijuana on employees and safety in the workplace. As Bradford noted, patients, not insurers, are typically the ones now paying for their medical marijuana, even where it is a replacement for an opioid prescription.

There have been several court decisions approving reimbursement by health insurers or self-insured employers but for the most part states have remained silent on the matter of if and when reimbursement by an insurer or workers compensation carrier is allowed or required.

However, even in this uncertain legal environment, medical marijuana is gaining traction as an accepted treatment paid for by workers compensation, at least anecdotally, according to experts in a recent Claims Journal interview.

Brian Allen, vice president of government affairs for Mitchell, and Mark Pew, senior vice president of PRIUM, a division of Genex Services, said there is some reimbursement for medical marijuana being done on a voluntary basis when it is deemed a reasonable and necessary treatment. The decision is really based on whether that patient is achieving benefit from it, Pew said.

Pew said that carriers paying for medical marijuana treatment are not necessarily making it public.

When such cases reach courts, Allen thinks judges will be reluctant to get in the middle of a doctor-patient relationship. I think the courts are going to defer to the doctors every time, said Allen.

Pew agrees. I think any court is probably going to lean towards the anecdotal story of the individual patient and if its helping with their pain and its reasonable and necessary based on the advice of doctors in that state, he told Claims Journal. I would assume that most states are going to come to that same conclusion.

While marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, the Trump Administration has indicated that marijuana enforcement will be at the discretion of local assistant U.S. attorneys. Allen believes its unlikely they will pursue a medical marijuana case, unless there is some egregious abuse.

Both agree that for marijuana to become a more widely accepted alternative to opioids, researchers will have to shed light on the drugs side effects. They talk about the pluses. We really dont hear a lot about the minuses, and we know there are some out there, Allen said.

Pew believes more research needs to be done into the many chemicals within marijuana. Just saying were going to reclassify marijuana or make it legal  its much more complicated, Pew said.

That cautious view appears consistent with what the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) concluded in a recent status update on medical marijuana and workers compensation by David Deitz, PhD:

The medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids presents both potential benefits as well as harms for injured workers. These need to be evaluated for each individual patient in the context of other medical and psychosocial issues, along with the possible impacts on safe return to work. Employer policies will need to evolve with changes in science, law, and regulation. With millions of Americans using cannabis daily and more studies in progress, we should not have to wait long for new data.

Related:

Topics USA Workers' Compensation Cannabis Education Universities DrugsThe Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from American victims of terrorist attacks in the Middle East more than a decade ago.

The justices did comment Monday in ending a lawsuit against the PLO and Palestinian Authority in connection with attacks in Israel in 2002 and 2004 that killed 33 people. A lower court tossed out a $654 million verdict against the Palestinians.

The Trump administration sided with the Palestinians in calling on the high court to leave the lower court ruling in place. The federal appeals court in New York said U.S. courts cant consider lawsuits against foreign-based groups over random attacks that were not aimed at the United States.

The victims sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act, passed to open U.S. courts to American victims of international terrorism.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits USATexas-based ITC, a provider of websites, agency marketing, comparative rating and management software and services, announced today that it has received a majority equity investment from Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity firm.

The new partnership will provide resources and capital to accelerate product innovation and allow ITC to expand its leadership position in the insurance industry.

Laird Rixford, former president of ITC, has been named as ITCs new CEO.

Scott Upfield, founder of ITC and former CEO, will remain with the business following the transaction.

The Accel-KKR funding marks the first outside investment in ITCs 35-year history, Rixford told Insurance Journal, adding that the new funds will help the organization expand current products for independent agents and their carriers.

We want to be able to bring agents and carriers the best technology that allows them to grow in this ever-changing, insurtech-heavy market, he said. This investment solidifies that direction  to really make sure that independent agents can compete with large direct [writers], insurtechs and lead aggregators and move their businesses forward in and through technology.

Rixford couldnt comment on the exact investment dollars put in place through the Accel-KKR partnership but noted that ITC leadership will retain a significant portion of the company. This is definitely an investment, he said. We are in this for the long-haul and absolutely will grow through both organic growth and through acquisitions.

Since its beginnings in 1983, ITC has grown from a firm that primarily sold computers to insurance agents with some rating software to a company focused primarily on software development for independent agents and the insurance industry.

Rixford joined the organization in 2008 when ITC acquired his company Evolution Designs and its product Insurance Website Builder

For 35 years, ITC has grown by focusing on making the best software for the insurance industry and providing great service, said Upfield. Today marks the next chapter in ITCs history, and we couldnt have a better partner for this new chapter than Accel-KKR.

Rixford said that going forward ITC will remain focused on the best technologies to help drive the industry forward and delivering it to agents nationwide.

Technology enables everybody to work and do their job better. From buying shoes to selling movie tickets, technology is bringing new ideas to market, said Rixford.

Finding ways in which technology can supplement and enhance but not replace the insurance agent is what ITC is looking to continue, Rixford said. We are always looking for new technology and new ways to help agents better acquire, sell and nurture prospects into long-term clients, but we are also looking for ways to improve our existing technologies. He says the support received from the Accel-KKR partnership will help ITC to strengthen that mission.

The recent growth in agency technology and insurtech overall has opened the eyes of technology investors at opportunities in independent agency channel, Rixford said. Thats good news in his view for the future of the agency system.

Technology is a critical piece in any growth strategy so by having technology that is enabled anywhere and everywhere, where you can do a quote or manage a policy directly on your cell phone, or where consumers can purchase a policy directly through an insurance agent using buy-now technology  that will create an environment that is consumer-friendly. Thats where ITC hopes to excel going forward.

We are agent focused, Rixford said, adding that ITC will remain so in the years to come. We have numerous agents that work for us and we really understand the agency market and how agents use our products.

Investment banking firm Morgan Partners represented ITC in the deal.

Headquartered in Carrollton, Texas, ITC serves more than 200 insurance companies and more than 6,000 agencies.

Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with $4.3 billion in capital commitments. The firm focuses on software and IT-enabled businesses. Accel-KKR is headquartered in Menlo Park with additional offices in Atlanta and London.

Source: ITC

Topics Agencies InsurTech Tech MarketEthan Couch, who as a 16-year-old driver drunkenly struck and killed four pedestrians but dodged prison after suggesting at trial that his irresponsibility was a result of his entitled upbringing, has walked free after serving almost two years in a Texas jail on a probation violation.

Couch, 20, was released from the Tarrant County jail near Dallas on Monday morning, according to Tarrant County sheriffs spokesman David McClelland, who provided no other details. It was not immediately clear where Couch went after leaving jail.

The group Mothers Against Drunk Driving issued a statement calling Couchs short stint in jail a grave injustice to the victims and their families who have been dealt life sentences because of one persons devastating decision to drink and drive.

Couch was found to have a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit for adult drivers after the crash in June 2013. He subsequently was charged with manslaughter.

A psychologist at trial blamed the teens irresponsibility on his familys wealth, dubbing it affluenza. A juvenile court sentenced him to 10 years of probation. That probation was revoked in 2016 after he attended a party where alcohol was served then fled to Mexico with his mother to avoid punishment.

Couchs attorneys, Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn, said in a statement that Couch has always been sorry for what he did.

From the beginning, Ethan has admitted his conduct, accepted responsibility for his actions, and felt true remorse for the terrible consequences of those actions, they said, adding that he will serve the remaining six years of his community supervision under the terms imposed by the court.

Those terms include wearing a tracking device, sticking to a 9 p.m. curfew and taking regular drug tests, a court filing shows. Couch, who turns 21 next week, is prohibited from drinking alcohol while he is on probation.

Couch lost control of his familys pickup truck in 2013 after he and his friends had played beer pong and drank beer stolen from a Wal-Mart. He veered into a crowd of people helping the driver of a disabled vehicle on the side of the road. Authorities later estimated that he was going 70 mph in a 40 mph zone.

The crash fatally injured the stranded motorist, a youth minister who stopped to help her and a mother and daughter who came out of their nearby home.

Couchs mother, Tonya Couch, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of hindering apprehension of a felon and money laundering arising from when she fled to Mexico with her son in 2015. Fred Couch, Ethans father, was sentenced in December 2016 to a years probation for falsely identifying himself as a peace officer. He has not commented publicly on his sons release.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.A contract worker has pleaded guilty to violating the federal Clean Water Act in connection with a deadly oil platform explosion off Louisianas coast.

Prosecutors said in court documents that Don Moss, of Groves. Texas, was among personnel who failed to ensure conditions were safe for welding on the platform owned by Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations.

A worker welding a pipe on Nov. 16, 2012, ignited oil vapors, causing an explosion and fire that killed three workers and led to a discharge of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Houston-based Black Elk was sentenced to pay a $4.2 million fine last year after pleading guilty to violating federal safety and pollution laws.

Moss sentencing is June 28.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Energy Pollution Oil GasInsurance regulators in the Southeast are notifying policyholders in their states of a Texas-domiciled/Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered property/casualty insurance company that is to be liquidated after being placed in receivership.

Access Insurance Co. is primarily a provider of non-standard auto insurance licensed in 22 states, including eight states in the Southeast region  Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The situation kicked off with an order of impairment dated March 14 by the Texas Department of Insurance that said Access is an impaired insurer with liabilities greater than its assets. Under the March 13 liquidation order, all policies not previously expired will be terminated as of April 12.

Access was founded in 1994 and distributed its policies through independent agents.

In early March, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones ordered Access to immediately stop transacting and soliciting insurance business there.

The California Department of Insurance said the action followed Accesss Statutory Income Statement 2017 Preliminary (unaudited), which showed its policyholder surplus was negative $27.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2017, and its Statutory Income Statement 2018 Preliminary (unaudited) report noted its policyholder surplus was a negative $29 million as of Jan. 31, 2018, and after the company also failed to file its required yearly statutory statement.

In a separate order from July 2017, California alleged Access and some of its affiliates had engaged in improper claims handling and rating and underwriting practices in violation of the California Insurance Code and the Fair Claims Settlement Regulations. These actions are still pending.

South Carolina Department of Insurance Director Ray Farmer said that the South Carolina Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association will work to cover valid claims filed by insureds in his state. Access had about 15,500 private passenger auto insurance policies in force there.

Kevin Walters, Communications director for the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance said in e-mail to Insurance Journal that as Access is in liquidation, it cannot write or renew any business in Tennessee. The company wrote approximately $6,306 in premium as of Sept. 30, 2017 in two lines of business in the state  other private passenger auto liability and private passenger auto physical damage. TDCI is currently reviewing its next steps.

In Georgia, Access has approximately 2,431 policies in force. The Georgia Department of Insurance said customers are being advised to contact the Georgia Insolvency Pool.

The Alabama Department of Insurance advised those in Alabama with Access policies to find a new insurance provider and said claims will be paid by the Alabama Guaranty Association.

A spokesperson for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said the companys certificate of authority would be suspended, but Access does not have any policies in force in the state.

The liquidation order stays all other lawsuits against Access. Cantilo & Bennett L.L.P. of Austin, Texas, appointed by Texas Insurance Commissioner Kent Sullivan as the special deputy receiver, will manage the liquidation process.

A statement agreeing to the liquidation order was signed by Access Holdco President Patrick McMenamin.

Stephanie K. Jones and Amy OConnor contributed to this story.

Topics Carriers California Texas Auto Georgia Alabama South Carolina TennesseeDemotech will not downgrade any of the 16 Florida homeowners insurers that it said earlier this year could face financial stability ratings (FSRs) adjustments because of hurricane losses and assignment of benefits litigation during 2017.

The announcement comes after the Ohio-based ratings agency affirmed the A ratings in February of 35 of the more than 50 Florida carriers it rates but said it would not affirm the A ratings of the remaining ones until it had analyzed their year-end financial information, revised business plans and operating agreements for 2018.

The company said March 28 that all but one insurer  Florida Specialty Insurance Co.  had taken the necessary actions to have their A FSRs affirmed.

On March 30 Demotech affirmed Florida Specialty based upon their development and implementation of a business plan that includes a loss portfolio transfer of the companys net losses to Sirius America Insurance Co., as well as reinsuring the balance of its net premium effective February 28, 2018, also with Sirius America. The plan is subject to approval by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

Florida Specialty Insurance Company has worked diligently to develop an action plan that addresses the concerns of regulators, consumers, producers, and Demotech, said Joseph L. Petrelli, president of Demotech. Given this action plan, regulators, policyholders, claimants, and producers currently associated with Florida Specialty Insurance Company can be comfortable knowing that the company has the capability to stand behind its commitments.

Demotech cited ongoing issues in Florida, including AOB litigation and the states judiciary climate, for not affirming the 16 insurers back in February.

Petrelli told Insurance Journal at the time that some of the 16 companies were more at risk than others and needed to do more to avoid a ratings downgrade, but noted Demotech expected all 16 would make some changes in an attempt to maintain their A rating.

There is a big difference between a company being financially stable and a company having an A rating. These sweet 16 need to do something to show us that their assertions [to us] have been met. As long as they do that they will be fine, Petrelli said. If they havent shown us their assertions  or proof of assertions  there could be revisions.

Petrelli said then that these companies had committed to taking steps such as cash infusions, changing of their business model or extra reinsurance to maintain their rating.

Demotech indicated in its most recent FSR update that it would be closely monitoring the Florida judiciary and that all ratings currently assigned are subject to revision at any point.

Related:

Topics Carriers FloridaA large Southern California hospitality company is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly violating federal law by denying a reasonable accommodation to an employee with asthma.

The EEOC filed the charges in the lawsuit against Merritt Hospitality, LLC and HEI Hotels and Resorts LLC, which together operate the Embassy Suites San Diego Bay, a San Diego hotel that has over 300 guest rooms.

According to the lawsuit, the employees workspace at the hotel was in a room with no windows and no ventilation, conditions that triggered severe respiratory problems and resulted in the employee being hospitalized overnight.

Instead of engaging in the legally required interactive process to determine whether a reasonable accommodation, such as an air conditioning unit or different work space, could be provided, the hotel fired the employee, the EEOC said.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Friday. The case is EEOC v. Merritt Hospitality, LLC, et al.

The suit seeks monetary damages for the employee, as well as injunctive relief intended to prevent and correct discrimination.

The suit was filed after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through a conciliation process, according to the EEOC.

The interactive process is at the heart of the ADA, Anna Park, regional attorney for the EEOCs Los Angeles District, whose jurisdiction includes San Diego County, said in a statement. A good-faith dialog with an employee enables an employer to identify possible reasonable accommodations and prevents the employer from violating the ADA.

Topics Lawsuits CaliforniaPasadena, Calif.-based Bolton & Co. is expanding its education practice group with the promotion of Nicholle Trugman to associate vice president.

Trugman has more than 10 years of employee benefits consulting experience.

She has been at Bolton for the past three years.

Bolton is a privately owned insurance broker. The firm has additional offices in Orange County and Santa Clara.

Topics CaliforniaThe woman identified by police as the attacker who wounded three people at YouTubes headquarters in California was a vegan blogger who accused the video-sharing service of discriminating against her, according to her online profile.

Police said 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam from San Diego was behind Tuesdays shooting atYouTubes offices in Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco, where the company owned by Alphabet Incs Google employs nearly 2,000 people.

A man was in critical condition and two women were seriously wounded in the attack, which ended when Aghdam shot and killed herself.

Californian media reported that Aghdams family had warned the authorities that she may target YouTube prior to the shooting. Her father Ismail Aghdam told The Mercury News that he had told police that she might be going to YouTubes headquarters because she hated the company.

Police said they were still investigating possible motives but Aghdams online activities show that she believed YouTube was deliberately obstructing her videos from being viewed.

YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views, she wrote on YouTube according to a screenshot of her account. Her channel was deleted on Tuesday.

Writing in Persian on her Instagram account, Aghdam said she was born in Iranian city of Urmiah but that she was not planning to return to Iran. I think I am doing a great job. I have never fallen in love and have never got married. I have no physical and psychological diseases, she wrote.

But I live on a planet that is full of injustice and diseases.

Her family in Southern California recently reported her missing because she had not been answering her phone for two days, police said.

At one point early Tuesday, Mountain View, California, police found her sleeping in her car and called her family to say everything was under control, hours before she walked onto the company grounds with a hand gun and opened fire.

The United States is in the grips of a fierce national debate around tighter curbs on gun ownership after the killing of 17 people in a mass shooting at a Florida high school in February. Authorities there failed to act on two warnings about the attacker prior to the shooting, prompting a public outcry.

Aghdam ran a website called NasimeSabz.com, which translates as Green Breeze from Persian, on which she posted about Persian culture, veganism and long, rambling passages railing against corporations and governments. BE AWARE! Dictatorships exist in all countries. But with different tactics, she wrote. They care only for short term profits & anything to to reach their goals even by fooling simple-minded people.

Complaints about alleged censorship on YouTube are not unique. The video service has long faced a challenge in balancing its mission of fostering free speech with the need to both promote an appropriate and lawful environment for users.

In some cases involving videos with sensitive content, YouTube has allowed the videos to stay online but cut off the ability for their publishers to share in advertising revenue.

Criticisms from video makers that YouTube is too restrictive about which users can participate in revenue sharing swelled last year as the company imposed new restrictions.

YouTube spokeswoman Jessica Mason could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Paresh Dave; additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in ANKARA Writing by Rich McKay Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Related:

Topics California Law EnforcementAlliant Insurance Services Inc. has acquired Dumortier Risk Management Inc., a Los Angeles, Calif.-based insurance brokerage firm that specializes in hospitality risk management.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Chris Chang, president of Dumortier, joins Alliant as an executive vice president. All of the agencys employees have joined Alliants real estate group in its Los Angeles office.

Dumortier represents more than 200 hotel owners and developers.

Newport Beach, Calif.-based Alliant provides property/casualty, workers compensation, employee benefits, surety, and financial products and services.

Topics Mergers California Risk ManagementUpdate 11.38am: A Bill to prevent schools from using their religious ethos to avoid teaching full objective and factual sex education is to be debated in the Dail.

Launching the Objective Sexual Education Bill, Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger said the school curriculum should cover contraception, sexuality, gender, LGBT+ issues and consent.

Her Bill would remove religious ethos from the relationships and sexuality education curriculum.

While Ms Coppinger welcomed the review of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools announced by Education Minister Richard Bruton this week, she said changing the curriculum will be pointless if schools can opt out of teaching it on the basis of ethos.

The Bill has the support of a number of groups including the Rape Crisis Network Ireland, National Women's Council of Ireland, USI and the Irish Family Planning Association,

Ms Coppinger said: "The way sex education is taught to young people in schools is not fit for purpose. It is hampered by the religious ethos of schools and is not factual and objective.

"Young people are told to abstain rather than being taught about important issues like consent."

Also attending the launch Cliona Saidlear from the Rape Crisis Network Ireland welcomed the Bill which would make consent a core part of sex education for every child.

"Consent and mutual respect are the fundamental building blocks for not only healthy sexual relationships but a good society.

"We believe these values and tools should be universally taught to children regardless of religious or school ethos," she said.

The Bill, which was moved in first stage last week will be debated in the Dail on April 18.

Update 11.38am: Calls for new approach to sex education in Irish schools

There are calls today for a different approach to teaching young people about sex in schools.

The Solidarity Party wants to remove religious ethos from the discussion, making it more factual and objective.

Sixth-year student Megan Brady said that sexual education in school can be very awkward and incomplete.

"Last year, due to a scheduling error, the one sex education class I did get from my school was more or less a half an hour on natural family planning," she said.

"A very uncomfortable teacher stood at the front of the classroom for half an hour, and told us to mark the days on the calendar that we got out period, and then told us what days of the month we could conceive.

"Lesson over - that was the conversation finished."

Earlier: New Bill proposes new sex education programme regardless of school's religious ethos

New legislation being proposed by the Solidarity party would force all schools to teach students about contraception and LGBT issues - regardless of the schools religious ethos.

The Objective Sexual Education Bill also proposes that issues like consent and sexuality are taught in all schools.

The Rape Crisis Network, the National Women's Council and the Irish Family Planning Association say they're in favour of the proposals.

It follows yesterday's announcement by Education Minister Richard Bruton of a review of sex education.

Ian Power from youth website SpunOut.ie says consent classes should begin in primary school.

"You can talk to children about this topic in an age-appropriate way by talking to them about the fact that they have bodily autonomy so that they have the right to not be touched or inappropriately," he said.

- Digital deskWhy do mothers feel pressure to aim for perfection? Instead of striving for an impossible ideal, how about we cut ourselves some slack? writes Jen Hogan.

I dont know how you do it  its a phrase I hear regularly, particularly once people get over the shock of hearing how many children I have. My family size might be more in keeping with 1950s expectations, but my life and commitments are very much those of a woman in 2018.

Jen Hogan and her family.

My grandad had some pretty old-fashioned and outdated views on a womans role in society. I was the first in our family to go to university and he had a copy of my graduation photo hanging on his wall.

Thats our Jennifer being canonised, hed say to everyone who came into the house whether they enquired or not, much to our amusement. Yet proud as he was of his eldest granddaughters achievement, (even if it wasnt quite saintly), he couldnt help but wonder why my mother bothered.

Sure theyll just get married and have babies, theres no point in girls being educated, he said, much to my mums disgust.

Thankfully she held very different views and so on we went believing the world was our oyster and that we could achieve anything we set our minds to.

And like many women of my generation, I went out into the workforce filled with enthusiasm, high hopes and ambitions for career progression and personal fulfilment and believing I could ultimately have it all.

In due course those gorgeous babies my grandad predicted began to arrive. With every fibre of my being I was in love, exhausted, overwhelmed, ecstatic and busy  so very busy.

As my first maternity leave drew to an end I wondered how I could best juggle work with being a mum to my daughter.

To a certain degree I looked forward to my return to the workforce - some adult company and the opportunity to be Jen again  but the guilt of leaving her in someone elses care was crippling.

Societal expectations of motherhood have changed. Our own expectations of ourselves have changed with them. Feminism has brought us to a place that generations before could only dream of  but sometimes it feels as though it has come at a price.

Now as mothers, we are expected to be all things to all people. We should excel in the workforce, maintain the home and be a nursemaid, teacher, taxi-driver, psychologist, cook, cleaner, personal assistant, homework supervisor, project creator, and pitch- side supporter to our children  all while looking fabulously chic of course and on little or no sleep.

The flip side of this is that we seem to have less support than ever before.

A little while back, while at work, a radio station phoned me to ask my opinion on an issue relating to stay-at- home mums. I explained that while I would be more than delighted to comment, I needed to flag that I wasnt actually a stay-at-home mum at that present time.

You mean you have seven children and a job! came the reply. You are Supermum!

I bumbled through my usual default response of just being a glutton for punishment because it was intended as a compliment  and us Irish of course, are not known for our ability to take a compliment.

I dont think Supermum fits who I am. I feel the pressure to do everything right and get everything right, especially when it comes to my children.

I worry about devoting enough time to each of them. I worry Ill miss something important because my mind can never fully be on the one job.

I worry about the upset I cause when a little one clings to me and asks why I cant stay with him that morning. I worry about calling in to work to take an unplanned days leave when one of the children falls ill, in spite of having a very sympathetic employer.

I worry that my house is never as tidy as my sister-in-laws. And I worry that someone will judge my perceived failings on my decision to have a large family.

I recently took a career break from my day job and started working from home. It has enabled me to spend more time with my children and has removed a degree of craziness from our lives.

It was the right decision to make  but it was still a wrench. Even though there are still seven children to look after and work of a different kind to be done, I felt I was failing. I couldnt manage it all, I wasnt Supermum after all.

And I realised that I, like many mothers, had become my biggest critic. I had taken the affirmations of others and felt a fraud into the bargain.

Supermum doesnt exist. Shes an unattainable ideal, probably fuelled by insecurities and sleep deprivation  and a fear that well get the most important of all jobs wrong.

As Alexander Pope famously pointed out to err is human. Maybe thats something us mums need to remind ourselves of in the pursuit of this impossible perfection.

A little slack, especially when cut to ourselves, goes a long way.

Feminism has brought us to a place that generations before could only dream of  but sometime it feels as though it has come at a price.By Colette Sheridan

SUPERFICIAL, flighty, witty and effervescent, is how director, Michael Cabot, of London Classic Theatre, always regarded the work of Noel Coward whose play, Private Lives, is at Corks Everyman.

Cabot admits that, at first, he didnt really credit Coward with a whole lot of depth. But through directing the 1930 comedy of manners, Cabot has revised his opinion of the stylish and hugely successful playwright. Private Lives is about a divorced couple honeymooning with their new spouses. They discover they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel and realise that they still have feelings for each other.

Coward was writing about the British upper class. But despite this seemingly narrow prism on the world, Cabot says that the playwright is very perceptive about what makes people tick.

The play is incredibly accessible. Good drama should connect with people in any era. This play is certainly still as funny as it always was. But its quite restrained because Coward wasnt able to write about the sexual mores of the time in terms of the nitty-gritty. So its all quite polite. But theres an undercurrent to it.

Whats great about Private Lives is that youre watching people being naughty. Basically, Elyot and Amanda, although divorced, cant live without each other. Theyre terrifically impulsive. They go on a tryst to Paris, leaving behind their new spouses without any explanation or apology.

Cabot says that Cowards entree to high society gave him a unique insight into the lives of the privileged. He had fairly inauspicious beginnings, born into a lower middle-class family in south west London. He moved in exalted company, thanks to his talent and fame. But he was never one of them. He used the social situations he encountered through his writing. A lot of the characters he created were very much inspired by people he met. He spent a lot of time with the aristocracy and the very well to-do. The sheer range of people he counted as friends is quite extraordinary. There was Winston Churchill, other politicians and stars of the screen. He was great mates with Harold Pinter. He watched and took notes of what happened around him and used it to his own advantage.

By the time the prolific Coward was 25, he had plays on in the West End and on Broadway. But Cabot says that Coward suffered a fall from grace when his work suddenly became passe after the Second World War. Coward understood how fickle opinion  and success  could be.

From having the world at his feet, it then turned on him. I think people felt differently after the war. They had a harder edge and a more realistic take on things. Cowards characters didnt fit anymore.

But he kept going. He took a side-step into the world of cabaret and had great success at that in Las Vegas. His later years before dying in 1973 were wonderful. Lawrence Olivier brought him into the National Theatre where Coward directed one of his own plays. He was knighted. On his 70th birthday (four years before he died) everyone rallied around him. He almost felt he had come full circle.

Coward, synonymous with a silk polka dot dressing gown and smoking cigarettes from a long holder, had relationships with various men, including, as Coward put it, a little dalliance with Prince George, Duke of Kent. He didnt go public about his homosexuality but encouraged his secretary, Cole Lesley, to write a frank biography once he was safely dead.

The playwright, John Osborne, said: Mr Coward is his own invention and contribution to this century. Anyone who cannot see that should keep well away from the theatre.

In 1964, the critic, Kenneth Tynan, wrote: Even the youngest of us will know, in 50 years time, exactly what we mean by a very Noel Coward sort of person.

The flamboyant legend lives on.

- Private Lives is at the Everyman, Cork, until SaturdayAs the new director of the Cork gallery, Mary McCarthy will oversee a 22m extension, and also hopes to rejuvenate public interest in the city-centre facility, writes Ellie OByrne.

MARY McCarthy sits in the wood-panelled library upstairs in the Crawford Art Gallery. The room is occasionally used for meetings and talks but is rarely open to the public. Art journals dating back to the 1870s, scientific display cabinets and a mahogany globe: the room is steeped in an Enlightenment-era atmosphere of learning. Its like stepping back in time.

I know, sometimes I pinch myself and say, wow, Im so lucky, says McCarthy, who took up her position as the gallerys director in February.

McCarthys appointment as the first female director of the Crawford is an important career progression, for which shes amply qualified. McCarthy, 47, is the former director of the National Sculpture Factory, a board member of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), and chair of Culture Irelands advisory committee.

Its also her opportunity to oversee an exciting and formative era at Corks most venerable arts institution.

As part of the Ireland 2040 plans for Cork, the Crawford has been allocated 22 million to invest by 2025, and onwards and upwards is the theme: McCarthy says plans for the building will include both the restoration of the original Custom House building on Emmet Square as frontage, and the addition of extra floors to the gallery.

We dont have a design team picked out yet, but yes, the plans would include expanding upwards, McCarthy says. We need to be sensitive to the historic significance of the building, but Cork is starting to see height, and I think thats a good thing.

The clock tower on the front of the building, did you know that the staff wind that up every day? The historic fabric of the building is amazing, and we need to unveil that too. But of course, any time you do something new, people are going to have strong opinions.

The Crawford is already comprised of buildings of three distinct periods: the red brick Custom House dating to the 1720s, William Horatio Crawfords 1884 extension to what was then the Government School of Design, and of course Dutch architect Erick van Egeraats 1,000 square metre expansion, completed in the year 2000.

With such a recent and large expansion, many may wonder why yet more space is necessary. But its not simply a matter of exhibition space: the gallerys permanent collection now amounts to over 4,000 pieces of art. Storage, archiving and access are all important functions for any gallery, although possibly overlooked in the public imagination in favour of exhibition spaces.

During the refurbishment, parts of the collection will be stored elsewhere, but were keen to keep our collection on site, McCarthy says. In museums worldwide, storage isnt out of sight, out of mind any more; storage is becoming accessible, and being used as a learning tool, and were looking for a mechanism for that.

Encouraging members of the public through the door to explore visual art is a huge part of McCarthys policy of increasing what she calls visitor focus.

This is a public institution, funded by the tax-payer, she says. We have artworks and incredible jewels here, and theres no charge. Its a non-commodified space in the middle of the city, in a world where a lot of things are commodified, and globally spaces for dialogue are shrinking.

From early April onwards, the gallery will open seven days a week and will have a free guided tour each Saturday and Sunday.

This is part of an approach that McCarthy hopes will encourage more visitors than the gallerys current 200,000 per year figure.

Although shes worked in visual arts management for more than two decades, McCarthy says shes still excited by the art that surrounds her.

Shows like the Phillip Toledano exhibition we have on at the moment are continuous reminders of why I do what I do, she says. They allow people to have a conversation wider than the day to day pressures of having to survive.

It creates a space in society to actually have discussion and for people from different backgrounds to meet.

McCarthy grew up in Whitehall near Skibbereen, overlooking Roaringwater Bay, and says her love of visual art was informed by her childhood in West Corks thriving arts community.

There were lots of other nationalities and lots of people interested in the arts, she says. From a very early age we were always encouraged to think differently, and artists were always in your environs. They werent something remote and abstract, they were very much a part of the economy: They lived, holidayed and had studios in West Cork.

The previous director of the Crawford, Peter Murray, held the position for 30 years.

New rules mean that McCarthy has a five-year tenure to achieve her ambitions.

I think thats really good: I cant spend too much time observing, she says. Five years goes by quickly. Its a very focused mission.

The capital programme wont be delivered within five years, but Id like it to be well on its way and Id like there to be a very clear artistic policy.

We want the Crawford to be a must-go-to destination in Cork City. I want people to be saying, my God, did you see that show in the Crawford? They were queuing up around the block for it.

Open for viewing: Upcoming exhibitions

PHILLIP TOLEDANO: Maybe: Life & Love, Until June 24

This impressive exhibition draws from two of the American artists main bodies of work, documenting his fathers slide in dementia, and also using prosthetics to confront his own fears about ageing.

STAMPA ORA / PRINT NOW: June 22 to August 18

As part of Corks Midsummer Festival, the Crawford will host a collaboration between the Italian National Association of Contemporary Engravers (IACE) and Cork Printmakers, and will features 24 artists.

BRIAN ODOHERTY: There is no thing here but much else, Screenings until July 1

One of Irelands most influential figures in contemporary art, the writer, painter, filmmaker and art critic previously known as Patrick Ireland, now Brian ODoherty, is celebrated in this collection of screenings of his films. The screenings are in partnership with One Here Now: The Brian ODoherty / Patrick Ireland Project, which is on at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh.

NAKED TRUTH: The Nude in Irish Art, July 13 to October 28

Featuring the work of Francis Bacon, Dorothy Cross and Robert Fagan, this is another themed show, curated by Dawn Williams. Naked Truth will explore depictions of the naked body by Irish artists dating right the way back to historic Sheela-na-gig carvings.Why is our idea of how a woman should look so inherently tied to the preferred feminine? asks the newly-shorn Geraldine Walsh.

I WAS 15 when I dyed my hair midnight blue, quickly followed by dashing purple. I looked more like a unicorn going through a semi goth phase than the sophisticated 18-year-old I was attempting to copy. Ive never been nervous or shy about experimenting with my hair. Having gone from a long mane that was routinely crimped on a Saturday night to a short pixie cut which looked more boyish than elfin, I dared to be different. I enjoyed the challenge of finding a style that suited my personality, whether it was a faux hawk or a lopsided bob.

Youd imagine finding my way into my 30 would slow down my hair experiments but after two children, and becoming far too accustomed to dry shampoo, I dared myself to what has become my most audacious style to date. I shaved off every strand of hair down to a barbers number one. I was, by choice, bald.

The reaction to my new androgynous look has been interesting. There has been a varying degree of amusement, some disgust, shock, and a handful of worried glances from strangers who clearly wonder if Im poorly. Some have been jealous that I took the bold step they are too nervous to take. And oddly, Ive been stopped in Lidl, midway through the weekly shop, by admirers who adore the look and almost applauded me for my fearless choice to abandon the ordinary feminine locks that society so clearly requires a woman to have.

But why? Why is our idea of how a woman should look so inherently tied to the preferred feminine?

Aisling Leonard-Curtin, a chartered counselling psychologist says, The vast majority of women learn from an early age, either directly or indirectly, that beauty and attractiveness is referred to far more commonly in girls and women than boys and men. Even though we have made massive strides towards more gender equality, we can still remember the various different comments made about us, or other women, in line with feminine beauty being superior.

The examples of women who have boldly taken to shaving their head is plentiful and Ive been compared to them all in recent months.

Sinead OConnors iconic head shave was initially linked to her poor mental health. Interestingly, OConnor recently explained her reasons in an interview with Dr Phil, for shaving her head by saying, I didnt want to be pretty. Noting that having a shaved head made her less appealing and closed to physical and sexual abuse, OConnor saw her hair as being particularly feminine which left her open to unwanted attack.

Britney Spears, whose head-shaving crisis in 2007 is still a breakout moment for pop culture, epitomised that a woman who shaves her head must be having a breakdown. This, most certainly, is not the case. I, for one, did not hit a car with an umbrella and was fairly in control when I made the decision to go bald.

Emma Gonzalez, a Parkland shooting survivor, has become a strong voice and advocate for the anti-gun movement in America. Her demeanour, strength, and courage in speaking bravely at a time when her voice needs to be heard is admirable.

When asked if her buzz cut is a symbol of feminism, her honest answer in an interview with the Sun Sentinel, was that Florida is hot and hair is just an extra sweater Im forced to wear. A perfect reason!

When I shaved my head, I felt more of a woman than ever. I no longer had a sweeping fringe to hide behind and instead let the graceful features and bone structure of my face speak for itself. There are days when I wear absolutely no makeup and feel like a modern day Audrey Hepburn, even if I am sashaying around the supermarket.

And with my two children, I can appear at the school gates having breezed out of bed with a perfectly coiffed head of stubble. The benefits are vast and outweigh the odd glance of disbelief.

As Leonard-Curtin says, It is more helpful when each woman gives herself a chance to choose what is authentic for her in any given context and be open to this changing in different contexts and at different times in her life.

We will not be able to escape our earlier life experiences and the many internalised comments we have heard. However, we can actively make choices in the present moment that can bring us closer towards more authentically living our lives.

So, can a woman take on a primarily masculine phenomenon such as a shaved head and make it refined, soft, and womanly while keeping its rugged intensity? Yes, she can. And she has.Update - 10.43pm: The Chief of Police at San Bruno, Ed Barberini, says they have found one dead person, said to be female, who appears to have shot themselves.

She is believed to be the shooter at YouTube's California headquarters, but it has not been confirmed as yet.

He said they also found four people with "gunshot-related injuries" at the scene.

We have four victims who have all been transported for gunshot-related injuries and we have one subject who is deceased inside the building with a self-inflicted wound who, at this time, we believe to be the shooter but we are still following up on that, he said.

Police activity at 901 Cherry Ave, please stay out of the area. pic.twitter.com/H6iAj0g7ra  San Bruno Police (@SanBrunoPolice) April 3, 2018

He went on to say that it is an active event and an active investigation.

Brent Andrews from the Stanford General Hospital has said that they have taken in three patients from the shooting, one of whom has been described as critical.

He said a 36-year-old man is in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman is in serious condition and a 27-year-old woman is in fair condition.

He said the hospital was expecting more patients but does not know their conditions.

YouTube product manager Todd Sherman said he was in a meeting when he heard people running for the exit.

He said it seemed serious and not like a drill.

10.23pm: Hospital takes in up to five patients as California police hunt 'active shooter' at YouTube campus

A spokeswoman for California's Stanford Hospital said it had received four to five patients from the shooting at YouTube but had no information about their condition.

San Bruno police said they could not provide more information about the incident.

The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting.

YouTube employee Vadim Lavrusik posted on Twitter that he heard gunshots and saw people running.

He said he was barricaded in a room with his co-workers before being safely evacuated.

Active shooter at YouTube HQ. Heard shots and saw people running while at my desk. Now barricaded inside a room with coworkers.  Vadim Lavrusik (@Lavrusik) April 3, 2018

Will Hudson said his friend who works for YouTube texted him about the assailant.

"I think there might be a shooter in my building," read one text.

"The fire alarm went off so we started to evacuate and then people (started) running saying there was a shooter."

Mr Hudson said his friend has made it safely back to San Francisco and is in contact with his family.

Mr Hudson said he had become accustomed to hearing about such violence but has never been so close to it before.

"It just feels strange. It feels like it could really be anyone. That's really the strangeness of it," he said.

9.50pm: California police hunting 'active shooter' at YouTube campus

Police in California are responding to reports of a shooting at YouTube headquarters in the city of San Bruno.

City manager Connie Jackson said there were multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting and that police and fire officials have responded.

Police tweeted to warn people to stay away from Cherry Avenue and Bay Hill Drive as the incident unfolded.

TV helicopter video shows officers searching people grouped outside a building and police vehicles surrounding the area.

San Bruno police said they could not provide more information.

The world's biggest online video website is located on a suburban campus.

Calls and emails to YouTube representatives were not immediately returned.

Google Communications tweeted in light of the YouTube shooting reports to say it was coordinating with authorities and will provide official information as it becomes available.Russia has said that a relative of Salisbury poisoning victims Sergei and Yulia Skripal is planning to visit them in hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow said that Viktoria Skripal had been in contact with the Russian Embassy in London and said she wanted to offer "moral and psychological support" to her relatives.

Ms Skripal is understood to be the niece of former spy Sergei, who remains in a critical condition at Salisbury District Hospital. His daughter was last week said to be improving and to have been able to speak.

Russia has so far been denied consular access to the Skripals, with the Foreign Office explaining that this was granted subject to "a number of considerations, including consent from the individual". Following the latest announcement, a spokesman confirmed that this remains the Foreign Office's position.

It is thought that Viktoria Skripal's proposed visit would also depend on the consent of her relatives.

In a series of tweets issued by the MFA, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "Russian Embassy contacted with Viktoria Skripal, relative of the Russian victims of the Salisbury incident, Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

"Our diplomats share with her the latest information available to the Russian side about the medical condition of her relatives.

"Viktoria Skripal plans to visit her relatives in the UK to provide moral and psychological support. We consider this an absolutely natural and sincere desire, and especially important now, as Yulia Skripal's condition has reportedly improved."

#Zakharova: @RussianEmbassy contacted with Viktoria Skripal, relative of the Russian victims of the Salisbury incident, Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Our diplomats share with her the latest information available to the Russian side about the medical condition of her relatives  MFA Russia  (@mfa_russia) April 4, 2018

Viktoria last week told the BBC that she had little hope of her relatives recovering from their poisoning.

"Out of 99% I have maybe 1% of hope," she said. "Whatever it was has given them a very small chance of survival. But they're going to be invalids for the rest of their lives."

She said Sergei's mother had not been told of the attack: "The first priority was to protect our granny so that she wouldn't hear or find out anything."

- PAChildrens charity Sensational Kids, which received 45,000 from the DAC, is to open the 10,000sq ft facility in Clonakilty.

The money is being used to fit out the state-of-the-art facility, which will provide a full range of child development services including occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, play therapy, and psychology.

One in four children in Ireland has a special educational need such as autism, dyspraxia, dyslexia, Down syndrome. and other developmental delays.

Unfortunately, children can wait as long as two years to access vital early intervention services through the public system.

The charity was founded in 2008 by Karen Leigh, who discovered first-hand a lack of affordable support services for children with special educational needs.

Over the past 10 years, Sensational Kids has worked with more than 4,700 children at its child development centres, providing subsidised therapy sessions (75 per hour) and aims to see each child within three weeks.

The charitys team of therapists is currently providing speech and language therapy at Clonakilty GAA Club.

To kickstart the initiative, it is now offering a free drop-in clinic on Wednesdays from 10am to noon.

Any parent who has a question or a concern about their childs speech and language development can call by and get free advice.

Ms Leigh said this year marks the charitys 10th anniversary, but regrettably its services are more vital now than ever.

We are delighted that the Dormant Accounts Fund has enabled us to expand and meet the demand for our services in Munster. Our team in Clonakilty is looking forward to making a real difference to the lives of children in the region, Ms Leigh said.Siobhan, who was speaking to a motion, overwhelmingly carried, at the ASTI annual convention in Cork yesterday, said she did not expect pay parity overnight, but she would like a timeline. She wants the campaign for equal pay to bear fruit before the end of the school year.

Siobhan was one of several delegates who spoke to the motion that effectively puts a May deadline on reaching a resolution on the issue of equal pay, in the absence of which ASTI will ballot members for strike action. Since 2011, new entrants to teaching are paid less than their pre-2010 colleagues, following the introduction of a two-tier pay scale.However, teachers have warned that any review must be accompanied by an overhaul of the way in which schools are funded and supported to provide the programme.

John Boyle, president of the Irish National Teacher Organisation, which represents primary school teachers, said a review of the programme was timely after 20 years.

It certainly needs a shake-up in the way its supported in terms of the lack of resources for it and the lack of teacher training, he said. Theres a significant dearth of official support for teacher training in the area.

Mr Boyle said one of the challenges facing schools was the variety of view among parents but he said it was not insurmountable.

Schools need time and space to be able to work through those issues so that they can arrive at a common position that everyone can support, he said. Its challenging but it can be done if the Department puts the resources and the time into it.

There is a lot of good practice out there already and some of those could be used as models of good practice to assist others.

The Teachers Union of Ireland also welcomed the review and echoed the call for greater resources for secondary schools.

Particularly in the need for continuing personal development for teachers, said David Duffy, education and research officer. Sometimes programmes like this throw up very sensitive matters and teachers need to be adequately trained.

However, he was not in favour of a system of dedicated sex education teachers.

Id be reluctant to move away from the model where the school can decide who they feel is the best person to deliver the programme, whether that be a small group of teachers who teach a large number of classes or a teacher who teaches just one class because they know that class particularly well, he said. There needs to be flexibility.

Mr Duffy also called for a review of the teaching materials available on the subject. They currently come from a variety of sources and he said quality control needed to be guaranteed.

The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland said the existing programme was robust, but added: It is also important that emerging issues  such as the issue of consent  can be addressed at school level.

Such a review must be accompanied by additional resources so that schools can offer appropriate levels of guidance counselling and can appoint year heads to support pastoral care. This will help to ensure that a whole-school approach can be taken to student wellbeing.

Internet safety charity CyberSafeIreland urged the review to pay particular attention to the issue of consent and the impact of social media.

The world has dramatically changed in the 20 years since the last curriculum review and it is essential that it be updated to reflect this changed reality and provide the tools children need to navigate through their online and offline lives in a safe, smart and responsible way, said CEO Alex Cooney.

Ian Power of youth organisation SpunOut.ie said: I very much welcome this review and commitment to ensure consistency in the provision of factual sex education in all schools.

Catholic think-tank the Iona Institute also welcomed the review but director David Quinn said that if it did not challenge what he called hook-up culture, it will have failed.

The bodies representing Catholic primary and secondary schools both said they hoped to contribute to the review but would rather not comment until details of how it would be carried out are available.Ms Hannigan, who was an ambassador for the charity, raised over 126,000 in the weeks before her death last month.

Breast Cancer Ireland chief executive, Aisling Hurley, described Ms Hannigan as an inspiring woman.

The authors tenacity and good humour in the face of repeated cancer diagnoses over the last 11 years touched many people.

Ms Hurley said Ms Hannigan had remained selfless until she passed away on March 3.

The writer and mother of two teenage children would offer to go to presentations and talks and supported many people who were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Ms Hurley said Ms Hannigan would often remark that her life had been extended because of developments in cancer treatment. Each time she was diagnosed there was a new drug or clinical trial that she could avail of, said Ms Hurley.

The Emma Hannigan Breast Cancer Research Fellowship will support pioneering research taking place in the Breast Cancer Research Centre in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

The recipient of the initial three-year award is Dr Damier Varislija, who is examining why a significant number of breast cancer patients have developed resistance to current hormone therapies.

Dr Varislija wants to better understand the mechanisms of disease recurrence so that effective strategies can be developed.

Ms Hurley said Ms Hannigans family are thrilled that the award will be made in perpetuity to remember her.

The naming of this fellowship in Emmas honour recognises her valuable contribution to our research efforts and it ensures her memory lives on in transforming the landscapes of breast cancer in Ireland into the future, said Ms Hurley.

Breast Cancer Ireland raises funding for breast cancer research and promotes education and awareness of breast health among women of all ages.

Money continues to be raised for the charity through the sales of Ms Hannigans latest novel, Letters to my Daughters.

Dubray Books is donating profits from the sale of the book to Breast Cancer Ireland and contacted Ms Hurley last week to arrange the handover of a cheque for 18,000.

The bookstores courier company also agreed to donate its costs to the charity.The Cork Business Association (CBA) is holding the meeting at the Imperial Hotel at 6pm. A city council official will be in attendance to discuss the plans and address any questions from CBA members.

Design experts behind the 6m revamp of Corks Morrisons Island, which integrates flood defences with public realm upgrades, have said the plan strikes the right balance between protecting the areas heritage and reducing flood risk.It follows a commercial review by low-fares giant Norwegian of its network and comes just weeks after the airline announced an expansion of its Irish operations.

Management at Cork Airport, who played a key role in helping the airline secure a permit to operate transatlantic flights out of Ireland almost two years ago, will lose the year-round link to Boston/Providence from October. The service will operate for the summer only next year  March to October.

Norwegians review has also resulted in the suspension of its Shannon and Edinburgh routes to Providence this winter. It is understood the decisions were made after a meeting of the airlines board last week. However, it was only confirmed yesterday on foot of inquiries from the Irish Examiner.

A spokesperson said the decision to suspend flights during the winter period was due to lower demand.

The services will continue through October and we will continue to assess our transatlantic route performance as we confirm the route schedule for next summer, it said.

In February, Norwegian doubled the flights on its Shannon to Providence route, added a third daily weekly flight from Shannon to Stewart Airport in New York, and doubled the daily frequency of its flights out of Dublin to Stewart.

But the decision to scale back these services, including Corks first transatlantic link in the airports 50-year history, now casts serious doubt on the airlines pledge to launch a Cork to New York service.

Last night, Cork Airport spokesman Kevin Cullinane said they had been made aware of the decision to suspend the Providence service this winter, but he stressed advance bookings for next summer are very strong.

The route is proving very popular in both directions for US visitors to the South of Ireland as well as those heading to the east coast of the USA, he said.

Norwegian insisted last month that it is fully committed to its Irish routes despite confirming it would post larger-than-expected losses for the first quarter, and that it raised 136.8m in a share sale to help fund its expansion and cope with higher fuel costs.

Davy analyst Ross Harvey said the low-cost long-haul model could only work if it is actually low-cost.

We believe Norwegian is targeting a potentially profitable niche, namely leisure oriented, high density, long-haul low-cost from major European cities, said Mr Harvey. However, for capital providers  debt, equity and leasing  to retain confidence in the Norwegian version of this, there needs to be an improving cost trajectory through the second half of 2018.The tracker mortgage controversy will also be raised with Mr Draghi when he appears before TDs and senators, following public outrage over borrowers being ripped off by lenders.

Finance committee chairman John McGuinness confirmed that final arrangements are being made for the ECB chief to come to Dublin. The visit has also been coordinated through interventions by Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes in Brussels. Mr McGuinness said: Mario Draghi has agreed to come. It will be an opportunity to speak about future engagement with member states and the ECBs oversight role. But we will ask him about the tracker mortgage issue.The approval for the development at Ballinglanna, Glanmire, for OFlynn Construction is the first grant of permission outside of Dublin under the SHD process, which was introduced last year. It is also the first grant of a SHD permission for a residential development anywhere in the country by An Bord Pleanala.

In Dublin, the board rejected an even more significant SHD application for 900 houses and apartments in Clay Farm, Leopardstown in January, while allowing over 2,000 new student beds in University College Dublin.

The SHD process allows developers building over 100 homes, or 200 student beds, to seek planning permission directly from the planning appeals board, after pre-planning consultations.

The Ballinglanna approval came just before Good Friday, more than two weeks ahead of a 16-week April 19 deadline by which An Bord Pleanala was obliged to give its ruling. Its success is likely to be keenly observed by the planning, construction, and development sectors.

Notably, the approval from An Bord Pleanala came despite a last-minute observation on density and transport from the adjoining local authority, Cork City Council, which is due to have jurisdiction over this Glanmire location once the city boundary is extended.

Michael OFlynn, managing director of OFlynn Construction, welcomed the grant of permission which, he said, will provide an additional 608 much-needed residential units.

It is particularly welcome that the board has given an early grant of permission and without any significant changes, he said.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr OFlynn said the company hoped to start work at Ballinglanna by June or July, and would have a range of house and apartment types, with two-bed townhouses likely to be priced in the mid-200,000s.

Acknowledging the speed with which An Bord Pleanala dealt with the application, he also paid tribute to Cork County Council, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, and Irish Water. He added that he was heartened that the city councils intervention had not impacted on the application and said anything else would have compromised the SHD process.

The land at Ballinglanna has been zoned since 2005, and the houses and apartments will be delivered on a phased basis.

The new SHD process which allows applicants and third parties make their submissions directly to An Bord Pleanala is a welcome change and certainly can help address the housing crisis in a more appropriate and timely manner, said Mr OFlynn. The fact that the board are making decisions well in advance of the mandatory 16-week timeframe is also testament to their commitment in making the new SHD process work.And so it was that Education Minister Richard Bruton had a taste of what can go on in the classroom as rumbustious ASTI delegates heckled and jeered throughout his speech.

In Cork to address the annual convention of the union representing secondary school teachers, Mr Bruton had to pause for water while those sitting at the top table repeatedly called for order in the hall.

Placard-wielding delegates lined either side of the sizeable convention centre, holding aloft posters demanding equal pay.

Since 2011, new entrants to the teaching profession are earning less than colleagues for doing the same job. ASTI president Ger Curtin said it meant post-2010 teachers had endured losses in income amounting to 6,000 and 7,000 per annum.

Pa Ceanna don Obair Cheanna, some of the posters read (same Pay for the same job) and delegates repeatedly called on the minister to pay up.

Any mention by Mr Bruton of progress made in education was largely met with jeers.

When he mentioned how the curriculum had expanded with the introduction of subjects such as Mandarin, one delegate yelled We can emigrate to China. This was against a backdrop of teachers claiming that graduates are emigrating because of unattractive pay scales and lack of full-time jobs.

Asked afterwards by the press if he felt he got a bad reception, Mr Bruton answered: I thought it was a very good reception, which could prompt one to ask What was in the water that he drank?.

Im a politician who is used to speaking off the back of a truck and maybe its a declining skill, but heckling has always been part of the political currency that I know and love. I didnt find it in any way disrespectful, he said.

No detention then for the errant ASTI delegates, who surely would have doled it out in the classroom, had they been at the receiving end.It comes as the Teachers Union of Irelands congress unanimously passed a motion calling for a conclusion of talks on bringing about pay equality for teachers by early next month, in line with motions passed by its sister unions. The congress heard from post-2011 recruits to teaching who discussed the impact the two-tier system has had on them.

Tom Dixon, 28, from Kildare, says he lives at home with his mother, and has worked jobs outside of school to supplement his income.

At this stage of my life, where I try to plan for a wedding or a mortgage, I find it hard even to plan to the end of the month, and I work just as hard as my colleagues. To put things into perspective for you, if I were to strike for three months solid without pay, but after those three months the Government saw sense and equalised the scale, I would be up money that year.

I have already lost out on 30,000, which would be a deposit for a mortgage for me.

Stephanie Hassett, who qualified in 2010, said she does not feel like a newly qualified teacher, and that her peers are looking to move on with their lives.

This is the first year Ive had a 22-hour CID [contract of indefinite duration], as close to permanency as Ill ever get, she said. Without full hours and the security of a CID, most new entrants are postponing moving out, buying homes, and starting families. Decisions that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

Paddy Travers said the two-tier pay structure has led some newly qualified teachers to question why they should join a union: If we dont take a stand now, will there be a union in the future? Talking to fellow lower-paid teachers, they question the validity of joining a union that stands by while inequality is hoisted on the back of its most vulnerable members.

We need to decide what being in a union actually means, and use any and all means at our disposal to ensure that this is the end of the road for inequality, not the start of another roadmap.Richard Bruton said there was a provision in the public service pay agreement that could lead to penalties if teachers breached the terms. He said this could mean financial penalties.

He was at the annual convention of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) in Cork yesterday where he received a somewhat hostile reception. Placards demanding equal pay for equal work heralded his arrival and were carried into the convention centre and held aloft. Mr Bruton was heckled throughout his speech as delegates made clear they wanted an end to a two-tier pay system that sees teachers who entered the profession since 2011 paid less than their colleagues.Fresh to market today is the long-anticipated launch of the former Ford Distribution depot on Corks Centre Park Road, in the south city docklands renewal quarter.

Comprising 11.35 acres, and used most recently to host the Live at the Marquee summer concerts, its guided at 8.5m by selling agents CBRE in Dublin and Cork, acting for Nama and receivers KPMG.

Heralding hopes of a Docklands Mark 2 expansion of Cork Citys population, it last sold back in the mid-2000s, when acquired by the now defunct Howard Holdings for a reported 35m.

Plans were then unveiled in 2009  as the Celtic Tiger high tide and high times evaporated  for the 1bn Atlantic Quarter project, to include three tall apartment towers of 10, 20, and 27 floors, as well as 350,000sq ft of offices, retail, and 5,000-seat event centre.

The Design was by Scott Tallon Walker, who had done the 100m City Quarter scheme for Howard Holdings along with leading world architectural practice Norman Foster + Partners and full planning was granted for a 10-year period, which is due to expire in 2019.

However, while those plans envisaged 560 apartments, mainly in the tall towers, such ambitious building heights are unlikely to be considered again for this location.

A new South Dock LAP is due from City Hall this summer, and the most recent zonings indicate preferred heights of seven to nine storeys, suitable for uses such as apartments, offices, technology, hotel, third-level educational, hospital, and cultural investments.

The Ford Distribution site is close to the revamped 45m Pairc Ui Chaoimh stadium and the new Marina Park, a public amenity next to the stadium and Monahan Road, currently being developed by Cork City Council.

The site for sale is close to the recently redeveloped Pairc Ui Chaoimh and a planned new Eastern Gateway Bridge. Picture: Dan Linehan

Its also close to where plans have been drawn up for a new Eastern Gateway Bridge linking the road network by Tivoli to the south docks at Centre Park Road/the Marina.

Even closer to the river Lee is the equally valuable Tedcastle site, which market rumours earlier this year linked to the Galway-born developers and investors the Comer brothers, but reliable sources indicate it has not yet been sold.

This open market offer of the Ford plot is one of two Dork south docks sites granted Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) approval under the Rebuilding Ireland programme with a 15.5m allocation to facilitate 700 residential units on the two approved sites.

A previous 2008 LAP assessed that the South Docks overall 300 acres was capable of supporting 20,000 workers and a 25,000-resident population, notes CBREs Denis ODonoghue.

The CBRE agent says they expect considerable domestic and international developer interest in the site as it represents an opportunity of scale in a city that is set to transform over the next 20 years under a Government-led agenda.

While Dublin represents a mature market Cork is just starting on its journey to becoming a true second city and now has all the ingredients required in terms of government support, new planning guidelines, occupier demand, capital and business confidence to deliver its docklands vision, the selling agents said.Union leaders at all three teacher conferences warned of the consequences for Government and opposition parties who do not support their campaign on equal pay for equal work.

The same motion passed by all three unions yesterday  unanimously by two of them  means ballots for strikes or other industrial action will issued to their 65,000 to 70,000 members if talks to consider the lower pay of new entrants to the job since 2010 are not concluded within weeks.

Education Minister Richard Bruton told teachers yesterday the Government is committed to seeing progress on the issue but remained unwilling to give a commitment on the equal work for equal pay being demanded by the unions. He also warned that there would be consequences associated with any strikes, as they would contravene the most recent public sector pay deal.

Talks with all public sector unions on new entrants pay are not set to begin until April 27. Crucially, the unions are also insisting on terms of reference that give scope for the Government to concede on equal pay, or at the very least a definite timeline for the thousands of teachers concerned.

But as well as disruption or even closures in schools, more likely in the autumn than before summer holidays, the unions are upping the ante with threats of a show of electoral strength.

After an hour-long stream of speakers, most of them lower-paid teachers who have missed out on at least 30,000 each in their short careers to date, Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) president John Boyle spoke about the consequences if talks do not bring the result that his members want.

If they decide to reject the package that emerges, he said, they would be going to war with the Government.

And we will topple this Government if we have to in order to make sure that 60,000 [sic] of their employees are treated fairly and that future governments never go next, nigh or near pay equality, he said.

Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) general secretary John MacGabhann urged members at their annual congress  and their families and friends  to use their electoral, practical and financial support for parties and candidates in the campaign.

Tell them that you will not organise, canvass or vote for them until they do the right thing, he said.

While all three unions are anxious to have the matter resolved through talks, they promised industrial action would be pursued if it is required. Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland president Ger Curtin said the unions make a powerful force with close to 70,000 members saying a collective no to discriminatory treatment of younger teachers.

The three unions rejected the Public Service Stability Agreement late last year, mainly because of the absence of any move on equal pay for newer entrants to public service in its lifetime up to 2020.

The cost of pay equality for teachers would be about 60m of the estimated 200m annual cost of pay restoration for post-2010 entrants to the public service.

While acknowledging at the INTO conference that the unions had what he described as a justifiable demand for more progress on the issue, Mr Bruton later said he meant theirs was one of many legitimate claims for extra funding that he must try to balance.

While he has helped close 75% of the gap between lower-paid and longer-serving teachers salary scales, INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan told him partial equality is not equality.Tusla paid 1.8m last year for out-of-state placements, down from 2.8m in 2016, according to freedom of information figures. In each year, 17 Irish children were facilitated.

Out-of-state placements, which can only be made by order of the High Court, have been criticised by child law experts, including by the special rapporteur on child protection, Geoffrey Shannon.

St Andrews Healthcare, which offers secure mental health services, received most money, being paid 1.9m by Tusla over 2016 and 2017. Seven other facilities were also used, with Cambian Childcare Ltd paid the next highest amount, or 1.7m over the two years.

Tusla has said it wishes to provide specialist services in Ireland, so as to limit the number of out-of-state placements, but its understood the fall in expenditure last year is down to natural fluctuations, in terms of the number of children placed with different facilities.

Families of some children placed overseas have outlined the difficulties of maintaining regular contact and have voiced concerns over the childrens later reintegration into Irish society.

Tusla said: There are a small number of children who require specialised care, as a result of their life experiences. On rare occasions, the level of specialised intervention required is not available in Ireland. In such cases, a child or young person may be placed in out-of-state care, at a facility abroad which offers a broader range of treatment options, support and/or interventions than those provided in Irish facilities. In such cases, priority is always given to the care a child or young person needs, rather than to jurisdictional boundaries.

Just over a year ago, Tusla said it had been in contact with management at St Andrews, after a Channel 4 documentary, Under Lock and Key, raised serious concerns about the centre.

St Andrews defended its standard of care.

A Tusla spokesperson said yesterday: Whilst St Andrews is highly regulated, these children remain in the care of Tusla and to ensure that they are as safe as possible, we receive regular, detailed reports on the child, they have regular visits from their allocated social worker, an up-to-date written care plan, access to their families /carers, where this is in their best interests, and aftercare planning with an allocated aftercare worker.In a statement, the DPC said it will examine if data was processed in accordance with data protection legislation. It said it was establishing the parameters of the investigation, including seeking additional information from INM on foot of the breach notification it filed with the office last week.

The intervention comes as current and former staff at INM are seeking legal advice after learning about a breach at the company involving their personal data.

It emerged yesterday that a number of high-profile journalists, including Sunday Independent deputy editor Brendan OConnor, ex-Independent journalist Sam Smyth, and Sunday Independent investigative journalist Maeve Sheehan, are among a group of 19 individuals whose data and information was accessed on INMs internal systems in 2014.

Also on the list, detailed in a High Court affidavit prepared by the Director of Corporate Enforcement, Ian Drennan, are INMs former director of corporate affairs Karl Brophy, former CEO Vincent Crowley, former finance director Donal Buggy, and former CEO of its Irish division Joe Webb.

Two barristers, Jacqueline OBrien and Jerry Healy, who worked on the Moriarty Tribunal, are also on the list.

Mr Drennan has asked the High Court to appoint inspectors to INM to investigate the breach. The case is due to be heard on April 16.

According to reports in the Irish Independent, the alleged data breach occurred in October 2014, when Mr Drennan alleges data was removed from the companys premises, taken out of the jurisdiction and interrogated by at least six companies external to the group.

In light of the revelations, INM has moved to reassure staff, telling them their welfare is the companys primary concern. Editor-in-chief Stephen Rae said individuals whose data had been breached had been informed.

However, Mr Brophy said he only learned his name was the list when he read about it in yesterdays Irish Independent. Mr Smyth also said he only became aware when he also read it in the newspaper.

Mr Brophy confirmed on Twitter that he is seeking legal advice and said he expected others to follow suit.

Mr Smyth accused the Government of ducking the controversy, saying its agencies have failed to do what they are meant to do and protect citizens.

He said he sees no difference between what had happened to him over his emails having been hacked while working as a journalist and the telephone hacking case that led to the Leveson Inquiry in the UK.

Speaking on RTEs News at One programme, National Union of Journalists secretary Seamus Dooley said the entire incident stinks to high heaven.

Its not an exaggeration to say that this is our Leveson moment, he said. Journalists are obliged to protect confidential sources of information and of course normally when we associate protecting sources, we identify the threat as being external. What is alleged here is that the threat came internally, and that makes it all the more serious.Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) president John Boyles threat was issued after more than a dozen of his members who started teaching after 2010 detailed lost mortgage deposits, lost wedding funds and other financial losses incurred because of the two-tier pay system imposed on them.

The 800 delegates at INTOs annual congress in Killarney unanimously passed the motion that was being simultaneously carried at the two other teacher conferences in Cork and Wexford, prompting Mr Boyles clear message to Education Minister Richard Bruton and his colleagues.

The move by the unions means they can ballot members to back industrial action up to strikes if talks on the pay of post-2010 entrants to the profession are not resolved by early May.

The INTO president told members he has every confidence in the unions officials and his successor Joe Killeen getting every cent they can from the Government in those talks, the outcome of which would be put to them in a full ballot.

If its not the right package, I sincerely hope that if you vote No that you know what you are doing, said Mr Boyle.

You are going to war with this Government and we will topple this Government if we have to in order to make sure that 60,000 of their employees are treated fairly and that future governments never go next, nigh or near pay equality.

Yesterday morning, Education Minister Richard Bruton was treated to a mostly silent protest, interrupted occasionally by some heckling on the pay equality issue, during a 30-minute address to the conference.

Slogans like 1 Job, 1 Employer, 1 Payscale and Ive worked the equivalent of >180 days for free were on placards held aloft for the duration of the address in a packed hall.

He received applause from INTO delegates when he said the union had a justifiable demand to see more progress on the pay of newer entrants to the job.

But asked later by reporters if this meant he now agrees with the concept of equal pay for equal work, he said he meant teachers demands were one of a series of legitimate demands from different spheres for a share of any extra funding from his department.

The trade unions have continued to press this issue which I recognised. And the Government has, under this pay round, set up a process under which this will be examined, he said.

From April 27, there will be... engagement on that with the trade unions. So I think this represents a response from Government, and clearly we want to make progress in this area, said Mr Bruton.

He said pay restoration he has negotiated to date has seen around 75% of the pay gap closed for lower-paid teachers (LPTs), the most recent part of which was paid last January.

But INTO Curragh branch delegate Peter OToole told the afternoon debate that the last increase brought some LPTs above the threshold that had been qualifying them for the family income supplement.

Some people are now earning less than what they were in January, so sometimes small gains amount to losses, said Mr OToole, who qualified to teach in 2012.

The Government has been kicking the can down the road for seven years now, they need to pick it up and do something about it, he said.

While many delegates pointed upward at Government, one LPT told colleagues that she and many counterparts would be watching carefully if positive words at conferences are not matched with positive action in any ballot. Dublin West delegate Komeera Pillay said she is one of the two-thirds of teachers at her school who are lower-paid after four others left for work in sunnier and better-paid countries.

Of the 20 LPTs left, collectively we have lost just over 300,000 and we have worked [the equivalent of] 10 years for free, simply because we graduated during a financial emergency that was not of our making and that we are no longer in, she said.

Tomas OReilly, a Roscommon delegate who qualified in 2013, said his fiancee is also an LPT and they have lost around 30,000 each in the last four or five years.

Take a bit of tax out of that and youd have some craic at a wedding with that 40,000, he said.

He and most of the 21 speakers on the motion were LPTs, many of them attending their first union conference.

Joe McKeown, a member of INTOs central executive committee, told delegates and the majority of the 21 other speakers who were LPTs that the issue will be resolved either by consultation or by confrontation.

Its our preference to end it by consultation but if industrial action is required, the CEC will recommend it and teachers around the country will support it, he said.The controversy arose when the former INM chief executive who resigned last year, Robert Pitt, and its former chairman, Leslie Buckley, who resigned in recent weeks, clashed over the value of a potential acquisition of Newstalk, the national radio station.

The full extent of the row was only laid bare when it emerged that Mr Pitt used whistleblowing legislation to complain as a dispute inside the media firm raged over the potential acquisition.

About then, INM referred to an issue between its CEO and chairman but did not identify the potential acquisition, saying Mr Pitt raised the issue with the companys senior independent director. INM then disclosed last year that the States corporate watchdog, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), asked it for documents involving plans INM had to acquire Newstalk.

The significance of the row lay in that Newstalk is owned by the privately-held Communicorp, which is controlled by billionaire businessman Denis OBrien.

With a stake of just under 30%, Mr OBrien is also a significant shareholder in INM.

The row involved the large difference between the highest and lowest valuations (from 10m to 35m) that INM should pay for a privately owned firm. INM is a stockmarket-listed firm whose owners include public shareholders.

The use of whistleblowing legislation by the CEO of any company to complain over a corporate governance issue is a significant event. It was all the more serious in INMs case as it is a stockmarket- listed company with external shareholders, including public pension funds.

It takes on a more serious hue again because the company is a major media firm which has other government regulatory obligations. INM has long been under the spotlight from opposition TDs because of the significant business activities of Mr OBrien in the State.

The latest allegations of unauthorised breaching of emails or data of 19 people who worked or were in the past connected with INM has raised the heat considerably.

The ODCE has applied to the High Court for an inspector to be appointed to investigate the matters. The hearing has been set for April 16.

In Ireland, such an application is a rare event. Only once before in its 15-year history has the ODCE applied for an inspector to be appointed to investigate a stockmarket-listed firm.

INM shares were little changed yesterday but have lost over 25% of their value in the past year. However, the company had over 91m in cash at the end of last year.

Philip OSullivan, chief economist at Investec Ireland, said the cash pile has helped support the company shares but that uncertainty over the final bill could weigh for some time.News ANP Repeats Call to Keep Rohingya Out of Southern Maungdaw

A camp for displaced Rohingya along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh near the town of Taungpyo Let Wei in northern Rakhine State on Saturday. / Moe Myint / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  Arakan National Party (ANP) lawmaker U Tun Aung Thein submitted a proposal to the Rakhine State legislature on Tuesday urging the union government not to resettle Rohingya refugees in southern Maungdaw Township.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army mounted a major attack on security posts across Maungdaw District and neighboring Rathedaung Township in late August. The Myanmar military launched a months-long clearance operation in response that has driven some 680,000 Muslim Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh.

Drawing on widespread reports of arson, rape and arbitrary killings by the military, the UN has called the its operation a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Rights activists have urged the UN Security Council to refer Myanmar and its military leaders to the International Criminal Court.

Although Myanmar and Bangladesh authorities agreed to repatriate the refugees back to Rakhine in November, not one has been brought to a reception camp set up along the border in Maungdaw as of Tuesday.

U Tun Aung Theins proposal was not new. His party, composed of Buddhist Arakanese, suggested segregating Maungdaw Township along religious lines in November to Social Welfare Minister U Win Myat Aye, who also chairs the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine.

The minister has said the returnees would be resettled near their original homes.

This proposal is not an objection to the repatriation project for those who fled to the neighboring country, but an encouragement to take them back systematically in a way that can meet the wishes of the public, who demand that they not be relocated in southern Maungdaw, U Tun Aung Thein said in Parliament.

He also said that establishing new ethnic Arakanese villages in southern Maungdaw would prove a more effective security measure than the barbed-wire fences along the border and the Navy patrols along the Naf River, which marks part of Myanmars border with Bangladesh. With the support of other Arakanese lawmakers, Parliament agreed to schedule debate on the segregation proposal during its next session in late April.

The proposal has the backing of some residents. In November, more than 30 Arakanese villages in southern Maungdaw Township issued a joint statement demanding that Rohingya returnees be resettled strictly in the north and warning that all ethnic Arakanese would leave Maungdaw if they were ignored.

In late 2017, the state Parliament approved a proposal calling on the Rakhine government to establish ethnic Arakanese villages in southern Maungdaw. On Tuesday, some Arakanese lawmakers rebuked the state cabinet, appointed by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), for failing to follow through.

Separately, US Ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel visited the Rakhine State capital, Sittwe, on Monday and held a one-hour meeting with the steering committee of the ANP. On Tuesday he met with Muslim community leaders at a local hotel, after authorities denied a trip to a camp on the citys outskirts for people displaced by the communal violence.

ANP Vice Chairwoman Daw Aye Nu Sein, who joined Mondays meeting, said the ambassador asked party leaders for their thoughts on repatriation. She said they told the ambassador that the NLD should listen to the ANPs concerns on the matter.

Its totally wrong that we are reporting our ideas to the union government via a foreigner even though we have many civilian elected lawmakers in both the regional and Union Parliament, Daw Aye Nu Sein said.News Landmine Campaigners Urge Action as Casualties Continue to Rise

Landmine victims from Karen State attend the Karen Martyrs Day event at the Karen National Union headquarters in August 2017. / Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy

CHIANG MAI, Thailand  The number of accidents caused by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) continues to rise, and all stakeholders need to scale up efforts to protect children and families, according to UNICEF, citing information provided by the Myanmar Mine Risk Working Group (MRWG), an inter-ministerial agency.

At an event held in Naypyitaw on Wednesday to mark International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Actions, the UN agency, the European Union and other stakeholders warned that nine of Myanmars 14 states and regions continue to be contaminated with landmines and ERW, posing an ongoing threat to the lives of children and families. International Day for Mine Awareness is observed every April 4.

Some 42 landmine casualties were reported in the first quarter of 2018, according to UNICEF. In 2017, 176 casualties (including 52 fatalities) were reported, mostly in Kachin and Shan states, up from 161 in 2016. In those two years, one in four of those injured was a child, and one in four accidents was fatal, according to the agency.

Even though data is still unreliable and many casualties occurring in the conflict areas go unrecorded, Myanmar has some of the worlds highest landmine incident rates, June Kunugi, UNICEF representative to Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy via email.

Women and children accounted for 43 percent of the casualties in 2017, she said.

In 2012 Myanmar initiated the MRWG, an inter-ministerial and inter-agency coordination platform under the co-leadership of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and UNICEF. Tasked with ensuring mine action intervention, it comprises representatives of 10 ministries, Myanmars military (the Tatmadaw), and 41 national and international organizations. Its has state-level platforms in Kachin, Shan, Kayah (Karenni) and Karen states.

With EU support, MRWG has conducted mine risk education sessions in nine states and regions: Kachin, Shan, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Chin states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions. The sessions take place in schools, communities and IDP camps. A number of organizations participating in the MRWG have opened support and rehabilitation centers for landmine victims and offered other forms of psychosocial assistance.

Despite the progress made over the past two years, Kunugi told The Irrawaddy, there are still areas out of reach for MRE [mine-risk education] partners, for instance Tanai and Phakant in Kachin State, and Namhsan and Kyaukme in Shan State, where communities live threatened by the dangers of landmines and ERW.

MRWG chairman U Myo Satt Aung told The Irrawaddy that additional mine awareness and victim support services would be implemented in other states and regions as soon as possible. He also serves as the deputy director general of the Rehabilitation Department under the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

UNICEF urged the government to improve data and information management systems in order to develop more effective victim support services, which it said would also be key for enabling survivors to have ongoing access to much-needed health and social services.

At an event in Naypyitaw on Wednesday, the participating organizations concluded that progress is possible if all parties work to enable mine risk education in hard-to-reach areas; invest more in assistance for survivors; and initiate landmine clearance wherever possible.

The EU, UK Aid, UNICEF and their mine action partners urged the government to join the Mine Ban Treaty. Some 164 states have formally signed the treaty.

In a speech at the event on Wednesday, EU Ambassador Kristian Schmidt said he had been made aware that Myanmar was making preparations to join the treaty, and hoped it would do so soon.

He said the EU stood ready to support mine risk education and demining activities.

Schmidt called on all stakeholders  the government, the Tatmadaw and the ethnic armed organizations  to do the right thing for the country, for unity, for peace and justice for the next generations: stop laying mines, ban them and lets start the cleanup for a peaceful and prosperous future.News Rakhine Field Investigation Delayed Months after Deadly Mrauk-U Incident

A pagoda in Mrauk-U. / Min Aung Khine / The Irrawaddy

SITTWE, Rakhine State  An investigation team formed by Rakhine State Parliament to investigate a deadly riot in Mrauk-U Township still cannot start the field investigation more than two months after the incident.

It is because members of the team are away on trips, said secretary of the team U Tun Tha Sein, who is also a lawmaker representing Mrauk-U Township in Rakhine State Parliament.

On Jan. 16, thousands of Mrauk-U residents staged a protest after officials banned a memorial event marking the 233rd anniversary of the end of the Arakan Dynasty. Local police opened fire on the crowd. Seven were killed and 12 were severely wounded in the crackdown.

U Aye Maung Thein, the father of one of eight detained protestors, has complained about the delay in the investigation.

The Rakhine State Parliament formed the investigation team with an official notice. But, the team has not started the investigation. Are they afraid of the government? If the team is of no avail, what a shame for the Rakhine State Parliament, U Aye Maung Thein told The Irrawaddy.

U Tun Tha Sein said the team plans to start the investigation after the ongoing session of the state parliament ends. The team has conducted an informal investigation so far.

We are not too late even though we have been unable to conduct a field investigation. Our team held informal interviews with voters, the parents of those who died in the riot, families of the eight detainees and eyewitnesses. We assume that we know about 75 perfect of what happened in regards to the incident, he told The Irrawaddy.

The investigation team was formed with nine lawmakers from Rakhine State Parliament on Jan. 29. In early February, the Rakhine State government issued an instruction to departments urging them not to cooperate with the investigation team because it does not comply with the 2008 Constitution.

On Feb. 7, the state government also sent a letter to the state Parliament dominated by the Arakan National Party, stating that the investigation went against the 2008 Constitution. However, the government and the Parliament later reached a consensus over the investigation.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.News Yangon Gov't Halts $500 M Tower Project Until Flooding Fears Settled

The Myayeik Nyo project in Yangon is seen in the foreground as it stood in late March. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  The developer of a $500-million tower project on military-owned land has been ordered to suspend work until the Yangon government approves its proposed safety measures for a 92-year-old reservoir nearby.

The Myayeik Nyo project, still in its early stages, is being developed on a 13-acre compound in Bahan Township home to the shuttered Myayeik Nyo Hotel. The developer, Zaykabar, ranks among Myanmars largest construction companies and is run by tycoon U Khin Shwe.

Twelve buildings ranging in height from 382 feet to 412 feet and another three-story structure are slated for construction on the compound, which lies near a reservoir that distributes water to Yangons 16 downtown townships.

Residents who live near the construction site are against the project because they fear that damage to the 20-million gallon reservoir could flood their neighborhood and cause water shortages across the city.

The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) told the developer to suspend work on the site in March and, seeing that the company had not complied, sent it a letter on Monday.

On Wednesday, U Khin Shwe told The Irrawaddy that he met with Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein and some cabinet members the day before to discuss his safety plans for the reservoir.

The chief minister told us to make sure the reservoir is safe. After the safety issue [is resolved], other things should go ahead, U Khin Shwe said.

The tycoon, who is related by marriage to U Shwe Mann  the third most influential person in the former military regime and now an important ally of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi  said his company would use bored piles and water seals to protect the reservoir.

Weve already consulted with technicians and will submit the proposal to the YCDC in one or two days, he said.

A YCDC member with knowledge of the project told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the committee had asked the developer to officially submit the proposal with signatures from relevant technicians or engineers before it is referred to the cabinet for approval.

We will allow them to go ahead [with safety measures] after the cabinet agrees to the proposal. At the moment they havent been allow to do anything yet, said the committee member, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the project.

Not a Joint Venture

Project director U Tun Win Han said Zaykabar won the militarys bid tender for the site in 2014.

Under the terms of the lease, we are allowed to operate for 50 years with two 10-year extensions, he said.

U Khin Shwe said the project, scheduled for completion in 2020, was a landmark investment for Yangon and would feature both hotel space and serviced apartments. He said the company building it all, the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, was a contractor and not a partner.

I want to make it a joint venture, but the MoU with the military forbids it. I will have to pay them from room sales, he said, adding that 60 percent of the profits will go to the Chinese company.

He also warned that frequent suspensions of the project could scare off potential foreign investment in Myanmar.

We used to think there would be investments for the US and EU. In reality they dont come, so we have to rely on China, even for the technology, he said.

Asked about local residents fears of flooding, he said the construction was taking place far from the reservoir.

But to lessen peoples worries, we will make bored piles and add water seals to enhance safety. So nothing bad will happen, he said.

Some residents are not convinced.

Thats not for him to say, only for technicians from a third party, said Kokkine Avenue resident U Win Bo, who heads the Yangon Kokkine Reservoir Salvation Team, a lobby group of residents opposed to the project. They fear that their relatively sparsely populated residential neighborhood will lose its character once the high-rises go up.

We need a solid guarantee from someone independent that the reservoir will be safe. It has to be revealed to the public, he said. So far, the project has no transparency.Dialup is one of the oldest forms of Internet access technology, which uses a simple adaptor known as a(modulating demodulator) to plug directly into a standard old copper telephone line (POTS).

The modem converts a computers digital data signal into a transmission that can be sent over the voice line for communication with a remote computer (ISP). Dialup connections incur the standard voice call charges of your existing telephone operator, which varies depending on the number dialled and or call bundle.

This form of Internet access is extremely slow (speed and latency) and highly susceptible to line interference, running at a theoretical maximum of up to just 56Kilobits per second (Kbps) downstream and 48Kbps upstream using the last v.92 standard (details).

Thankfully its ability to plug in to almost any phone line makes it very flexible and useful as a temporary backup solution for when your broadband service fails, though you cannot make separate voice calls while using it.

Dialup Standards and Headline Connection Speeds Modem 0.3Kbps (Bell 103 or V.21)

Modem 1.2Kbps (Bell 212A or V.22)

Modem 2.4Kbps (V.22/26 bis)

Modem 4.8Kbps (V.27ter)

Modem 9.6Kbps (V.32)

Modem 14.4Kbps (V.32bis)

Modem 28.8Kbps (V.34)

Modem 33.6Kbps (V.34)

Modem 56Kbps (V.90)

Modem 56Kbps (V.92)

Dialup's top speed of 56Kbps (0.05Mbps) could take anything up to one minute to load most modern web pages. Some UK ISPs enhance this by using server-side compression, which makes the connection appear to be several times faster, although it has no impact on pre-compressed images and files. Users can also make use of web browser cache or separate compression applications (e.g. Opera Turbo) to improve performance.

Today Dialup has been largely replaced by fibre and DSL (e.g. ADSL) technologies, which are two of the world's most popular forms of broadband connectivity and can also make use of existing telephone lines; albeit at considerably faster speeds of up to 8Mbps (ADSL), 24Mbps (ADSL2+) and 100Mbps+ (FTTC/H/P).When Bill Morrow took over as head of the NBN Co, the company tasked with building the national broadband network, he was fully aware with what he had to contend.

The Coalition Government had come to office with a changed policy, going from the all-fibre Labor model, to what was called a multi-technology mix with fibre-to-the-node taking pride of place.

The prime minister at the time, Tony Abbott, had handed the job to Malcolm Turnbull with the directive to "kill the NBN". Turnbull picked the technologies, with HFC being pushed as the saviour of the rollout.

Morrow was an experienced hand in the telco business, having been with Vodafone, and probably had an inkling of what he was taking on but the offer of a $3 million-plus salary would, no doubt, have been a powerful magnet. And so, he set out on what ultimately turned out to be a path that really went nowhere.

But then he can blame nobody, for he took it on, knowing full well that the government finally aimed to sell the network and that it would never be put on-budget as it would make the bottom line look really bad. As the years went by and the national deficit increased by leaps and bounds, the chances of the NBN being considered national infrastructure became less and less.

Until the first half of 2017, Morrow's policy was that of adopting the glass half-full attitude, probably in the hope that something would give. Spin, prodigious amounts of it, were spread far and wide in the hope that it would work.

Under Morrow, NBN Co cultivated its favourite media outlets (iTWire is not among that crowd) but in the end the raw truth had to be confronted: you cannot put lipstick on a pig.

The first time that Morrow said something which did not please his masters in Canberra was in October last year when he spoke about the indisputable fact that the network was never going to break even.

Pointing out that the company was making $43 per user per month and it needed $52 to break even, Morrow said: "We, NBN [Co] and the board, are betting that future applications are going to bring more value into homes, that they are going to need more bandwidth or more data and that the retail service providers will pay us more."

This was a gamble the company had taken, he said, and if it did not work out then it would have a problem.

A month or so later, problems with the HFC network ensured that things would go from bad to worse.

There were numerous interventions by government thereafter, with the RSPs also joining in the chorus that seemed to never veer from criticising NBN Co.

Once it became clear that monitoring of the network would not help his cause, Morrow had no option but to think of the next step in life.A Windows rootkit that dates back to 2009 has reappeared in the wild, according to researchers at security firm Check Point, but there is no indication whether it is being controlled by its original owner or whether someone else has taken control of it.

Festi served as a bot and was part of a large and successful botnet used for launching distributed denial of service attacks and also for distributing spam.

Its author and operator, Igor Artimovich, was arrested in 2012 by Russian authorities and since then the rootkit seemed to disappear. The arrest happened after a DDoS attack against the Aeroflot website. The security firm ESET wrote a detailed analysis of Festi at that time.

Artimovich was sentenced to 2 years in prison and released in August 2016.

Check Pointthe rootkit was now being distributed by the RIG exploit kit and the new variants had a new dropper that faked the appearance of an update for Adobe Flash Player so that it could gain elevated privileges.

The Adobe Flash Player update dialog box generated by Festi.

The new variant also had more than a few code changes, suggesting that whoever was behind it had access to the source code.

The Check Point researchers said they were uncertain whether Artimovich had resurrected Festi or whether the source code had been sold or stolen.

They said while the use of a dropper was not unusual, the Flash update pop-up was impressive as it resembled the original very closely.

"The fake installation window contains links such as 'See Details' and 'End User Licence Agreement' which point to the real Adobe website. Additionally, if the user clicks 'Remind Me Later', the dropper exists and deletes itself, implying the operators prefer caution over additional infections," they wrote.

"The return of the Festi rootkit, after being gone for so long, is quite surprising. The operation so far indicates the current operator is cautious and prefers to stay under the radar.

"Additionally, the technical analysis indicates the current operator probably has possession of the source code, whether he is the original author or not. Still, it is too early to tell if this is just someone playing around with an old malware, or the start of a whole new chapter for Festi."

Graphics: courtesy Check Point and ESETNBN Co chief executive Bill Morrow is leaving the company by the end of the year, according to a statement from the company.

In October last year, iTWire raised the question of whether Morrow would stay on at the company to see the rollout of the national broadband network through as his 457 visa runs out this year. The same month, network expert Mark Gregory, associate professor in network engineering at RMIT, told iTWire that Morrow appeared to be in trouble and was looking for a parachute.

Morrow was quoted in the company statement as saying: I believe that as the company prepares to confront the new challenges ahead, this is the right time to hand over the reins for the next phase of this incredible project and for me to plan for the next step in my career.

NBN Co chairman Dr Ziggy Switkowski said: "The country has been fortunate to have Bill lead this extraordinary project. While we will be sorry to see him leave, Bill has built a resilient, performance-driven organisation which will build on his legacy.

The NBN Co statement said a global search would be launched for his successor. It seems likely that in the wake of his exit, NBN Co will move away from HFC more and more.

By the time he leaves, Morrow would have been in the job for four years and nine months, by which time the NBN Co estimates that 80% of the rollout will be completed. The rollout is scheduled to be completed by 2020.

NBN Co has been at the receiving end of a multitude of complaints for years and it is rare to find a good word being said about the organisation.

Recent moves by the regulatory bodies like the ACCC to inquire into aspects of the rollout have made it harder for Morrow and his management team to continue with their policies.

In a joint statement, Finance Minister Matthias Cormann and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield thanked Morrow for what they called "his outstanding leadership" of the company since April 2014.

They said under his guidance, the NBN had "met all of its operational and financial targets".

Cormann and Fifield said when Morrow began his term, the NBN was available to around 300,000 premises.

"The network is now available to more than 6.4 million homes and businesses across the nation with more than 3.7 million already connected. More than 100,000 premises are being connected every month," they said.

"The project remains on track and on budget with the 2020 completion date firmly in sight."Data scientist is one of the hottest jobs in IT. Companies are increasingly reliant on data and are eager to hire data professionals who can make sense of the information the business collects. If you are looking to get into this lucrative field, or want to stand out against the competition, certification can be key.

Data science certifications are a great way to gain an edge because they allow you to develop skills that are hard to find in your desired industry. They're also a way to validate your skills, so recruiters and hiring managers know what theyre getting if they hire you.

Whether youre looking to earn a certification from an accredited university, gain experience as a new grad, hone vendor-specific skills or demonstrate your knowledge of data analytics, the following certifications (presented in alphabetical order) will work for you.

Top 15 data science certifications

Certified Analytics Professional (CAP)

Cloudera Certified Associate (CCA) Data Analyst

Cloudera Certified Professional (CCP) Data Engineer

Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Senior Data Scientist (SDS)

Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Principle Data Scientist (PDS)

Dell EMC Data Science Track (EMCDS)

Google Professional Data Engineer Certification

IBM Data Science Professional Certificate

Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals

Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate

Open Certified Data Scientist (Open CDS)

SAS Certified AI & Machine Learning Professional

SAS Certified Big Data Professional

SAS Certified Data Scientist

Tensorflow Developer Certificate

Certified Analytics Professional (CAP)

The Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) is a vendor-neutral certification that validates your ability to transform complex data into valuable insights and actions, which is exactly what businesses are looking for in a data scientist: someone who understands data, can draw logical conclusions and express to key stakeholders why those data points are significant. Youll need to apply and meet certain criteria before you can take the CAP or the associate level aCAP exams. To qualify for the CAP certification exam, youll need three years of related experience if you have an masters in a related field, five years of related experience if you hold a bachelors in a related field, and seven years of experience if you have any degree unrelated to analytics. To qualify for the aCAP exam you will need a masters degree and less than three years of related experience in data or analytics.

Cost: CAP exam: $495 for INFORMS members, $695 for non-members; aCAP exam: $200 for INFORMS members, $300 for non-members

Location: In person at designated test centers

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Valid for three years

Cloudera Certified Associate (CCA) Data Analyst

The Cloudera Certified Associate (CCA) Data Analyst certification demonstrates your ability as a SQL developer to pull and generate reports in Clouderas CDH environment using Impala and Hive. SQL developer skills will allow you to pull, model, manage, analyze and work with data right from the source as a data scientist. During the 120-minute exam, youll be given eight to 12 customer problems with a unique data set and a CDH cluster. Youll be tested on your ability to analyze each question and then decide how best to implement a technical solution with a high degree of precision.

Cost: $295 per exam specialty and per attempt

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Valid for two years

Cloudera Certified Professional (CCP) Data Engineer

Cloudera touts its Certified Professional (CCP) Data Engineer certification as one of the most rigorous and demanding performance-based certifications. Those looking to earn their CCP Data Engineer certification should have in-depth experience in data engineering and a high-level of mastery of common data science skills, according to Cloudera. The exam consists of five to 10 performance-based hands-on tasks on a pre-configured Cloudera Enterprise cluster. The exam lasts four hours and youll need to earn a 70 percent or higher to pass.

Cost: $400 per attempt  each attempt includes three exams

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Valid for three years

Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Senior Data Scientist (SDS)

The Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Senior Data Scientist (SDS) certification program is designed for professionals with five or more years of experience in research and analytics. Its recommended that students have knowledge of databases, spreadsheets, statistical analytics, SPSS/SAS, R, quantitative methods, and the fundamentals of object-oriented programming and RDBMS. The program includes five tracks that will appeal to different candidates  each track has different requirements in terms of degree-level, work experience and prerequisites to apply. Youll need at least a bachelors degree and more than five years of experience in data science to be eligible for each track, while other tracks require a masters degree or past certifications.

Cost: $650

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: 5 years

Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Principal Data Scientist (PDS)

The Data Science Council of America (DASCA) offers the Principal Data Scientist (PDS) certification, which includes three tracks for data science professionals with 10 or more years of experience in big data. The exam covers everything from fundamental to advanced data science concepts such as big data best practices, business strategies for data, building cross-organizational support, machine learning, natural language processing, scholastic modeling and more. The exam is designed for seasoned and high-achiever Data Science thought- and practice leaders.

Cost: $850, track 1; $850, track 2; $300, Track 3; $950, track 4

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Credentials do not expire

Dell EMC Data Science Track (EMCDS)

The Dell EMC Data Scientist Track (EMCDS) includes two programs  the Data Science Associate v2 (DCS-DS) certification and the Data Science Specialist (DCS-DS) certification. At the associate level, youll cover the foundations of data science and big data analytics  the courses can be completed in-person or online. Once you complete the associate-level program, you can move onto the specialist-level which covers topics such as natural language processing, advanced analytical methods, Hadoop, Pig, Hive, HBase and visualization methods.

Cost: $230 per exam

Location: In-person or online via Pearson VUE

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Does not expire

Google Professional Data Engineer Certification

The Google Professional Data Engineer certification is best suited for those with foundational knowledge of the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and experience designing and managing solutions using GCP. The exam will test your abilities with designing, building, securing and operationalizing machine learning models and data processing systems. Its recommended to have at least three years of industry experience, including one year or more of designing and managing solutions using GCP.

Cost: $200

Location: Online

Duration: Two hours

Expiration: Credentials do not expire

IBM Data Science Professional Certificate

The IBM Data Science Professional Certificate consists of nine courses in data science, open source tools, data science methodology, Python, Databases and SQL, data analysis, data visualization, machine learning and a final applied data science capstone. The course takes place online through Coursera with a flexible schedule and takes an average of three months to complete, but you are free to take more or less time. The course includes hands-on projects to help you build a portfolio to showcase your data science talents to potential employers.

Cost: Free

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Credentials do not expire

Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals

Microsofts Azure AI Fundamentals certification validates your knowledge of machine learning and artificial intelligence concepts and how they relate to Microsoft Azure services. Its a fundamentals exam, so you dont need extensive experience to pass the exam. Its a good place to start if you are new to AI or AI on Azure and want to demonstrate your skills and knowledge to employers.

Cost: $99

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Credentials do not expire

Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate

The Azure Data Scientist Associate certification from Microsoft focuses your ability to utilize machine learning to implement and run machine learning workloads on Azure. Candidates for the exam are tested on ML, AI solutions, NLP, computer vision and predictive analytics. You will need to be skilled in deploying and managing resources, managing identities and governance, implementing and managing storage, and configuring and managing virtual networks.

Cost: $165

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Credentials do not expire

Open Certified Data Scientist (Open CDS)

The Open Group Professional Certification Program for the Data Scientist Professional (Open CDS) is an experience-based certification without any traditional training courses or exams. Youll start at level one as a Certified Data Scientist, then you can move to level two where youll become a Master Certified Data Scientist and finally, you can pass the third level to become a Distinguished Certified Data Scientist. Certification requires a three-step process that includes applying for the certification, completing the experience application form and attending a board review.

Cost: Contact for pricing

Location: On-site

Duration: Varies by level

Expiration: Credentials do not expire

SAS Certified AI & Machine Learning Professional

The AI and Machine Learning Professional certification from SAS demonstrates your ability to use open source tools to gain insight from data using AI and analytics skills. The certification consists of several exams that cover topics such as machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision and model forecasting and optimization. Youll need to pass the SAS Certified Specialist exams in Machine Learning, Forecasting and Optimization and Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision to earn the AI & Machine Learning professional designation.

Cost: $180 per exam

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Credentials do not expire

SAS Certified Big Data Professional

The SAS Big Data Professional certification includes two modules with a total of nine courses. Youll need to pass two exams to earn the designation. The course covers SAS programming skills, working with data, improving data quality, communication skills, fundamentals of statistics and analytics, data visualization and popular data tools such as Hadoop, Hive, Pig and SAS. To qualify for the exam, youll need at least six months of programming experience in SAS or another language.

Cost: $180 per exam

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Credentials do not expire

SAS Certified Data Scientist

The SAS Certified Data Scientist certification is a combination of the other two data certifications offered through SAS. It covers programming skills, managing and improving data, transforming, accessing and manipulating data and how to work with popular data visualization tools. Once you earn both the Big Data Professional and Advance Analytics Professional certifications, you can qualify to earn your SAS Certified Data Scientist designation. Youll need to complete all 18 courses and pass the five exams between the two separate certifications.

Cost: $180 per exam

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Credentials do not expire

TensorFlow Developer Certificate

The TensorFlow Developer Certificate program is a foundational certificate for students, developers and data scientists who want to demonstrate practical machine learning skills through the building and training of models using TensorFlow. The exam tests your knowledge of and ability to integrate machine learning into various tools and applications. To pass the exam you will need to be experienced with the foundational principles of ML and deep learning, building ML models, image recognition algorithms, deep neural networks and natural language processing.

Cost: $100 per exam

Location: Online

Duration: Self-paced

Expiration: Credentials do not expireYilport, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mississippi State Port Authority in February, is promising to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the states Port of Gulfport, which it says has the potential to feed volume, particularly refrigerated goods, between Gulfport and Yilport terminals in Ecuador and Peru.Reddit Email 27 Shares

Breaking News added by Informed Comment: Egyptian Security Police have raided the website of the offices of Masr al-Arabia and arrested its editor, apparently over the newspapers reporting of Sisi vote-buying.  JC

By Brian Whitaker | (Al-Bab.com |  

Not content with securing 97% of the votes in Egypts presidential election, the Sisi regime is venting its wrath against local and foreign news media that ventured to criticise the process.

On Sunday it was reported that the Egyptian newspaper al-Masry al-Youm had been fined LE 150,000 (about $8,500) over a front-page headline which said: The state mobilises voters on the final day of the elections.

Al-Masry al-Youm: the front page headline that upset the authorities

The headline itself might sound innocuous but it was deemed an insult to the states institutions and to the Egyptian people.

The implication of the story was that Egyptians were less than enthusiastic about voting when the result was a foregone conclusion and that the authorities therefore had to provide inducements to get them to the polling stations.

Before the fine was announced, the managing director of al-Masry al-Youm had already apologised for what he said was inaccurate wording of the headline and one of its journalists had been dismissed.

The Reuters report  subsequently withdrawn

Disciplining the local media is par for the course in Sisis Egypt but this time, more unusually, the authorities have also directed their fire at two international media heavyweights: Reuters news agency and the New York Times.

A news report circulated last week by Reuters began:

The going rate for a vote in Egypts presidential election was 50 to 100 Egyptian pounds (US$3 to US$5), but heading down to a polling station could have also landed you a box of groceries or even half-price tickets to an amusement park. Authorities pressed for a high turnout in a vote set to give President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi a sweeping victory in the absence of real competition  Reuters correspondents have witnessed multiple cases of state institutions, lawmakers, private businesses, and pro-Sisi individuals seeking to reward voters or make it seem turnout is higher than it actually was.

The New York Times report  target of an official complaint

The New York Times had a similar story from its own reporters headed: For as little as $3 a vote, Egyptians trudge to election stations. It continued:

The woman in a long black shawl bustled up to a stall on a back street in the crowded Nile Delta city of Tanta, 50 miles north of Cairo. Wheres my subsidy box? she demanded. My brothers and sisters in Cairo have already received theirs. When do I get mine? The woman, Soad Abdel Hamid, a housewife, was referring to boxes of subsidised food  cooking oil, rice and sugar, mostly  promised to voters in many poor areas in return for casting their vote in Egypts presidential election.

The Egyptian authorities have since succeeded in getting Reuters to withdraw its report. A statement from the news agency said this was because it did not meet Reuters standards. It gave no further explanation.

Egypts State Information Service said it had contacted Reuters over the flawed report and the decision to withdraw it had been made by made by Reuters management in London and New York.

According to the State Information Service, the National Elections Authority has also filed a complaint against the New York Times for publishing false news and statements that aim at insulting the presidential elections and the [electoral] authority. It said the paper had claimed the electoral process witnessed violations without providing any evidence about such violations.

The official result of the election, declared on Monday, gave Sisi 21,835,378 votes (97.08% of the total). Spoiled ballot papers accounted for 7.27%  far ahead of the only other candidate, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, a Sisi supporter who got 2.92%. Sisis share of the vote was a fraction of one per cent higher than in the 2014 poll.

In the absence of any doubt about Sisis re-election, the authorities main concern appears to have been avoiding a low turnout. The official turnout figure  41.5%  was roughly the same as in 2014 but has been greeted with incredulity in some quarters. During the voting process several election-watchers had suggested a much lower figure  around 20%.

Following the official announcement of the results the US State Department issued this statement:

We look forward to continuing to work with President Abdelfattah al-Sisi to advance our strategic partnership and address our common challenges, while encouraging respect for and protection of basic rights and freedoms. The United States values its strong partnership with Egypt and will continue to work to advance our shared objectives. We have noted reports of constraints on freedoms of expression and association in the run-up to the elections. We will continue to encourage a broadening of opportunities for political participation for Egyptians, and emphasise the importance of the protection of human rights and the vital role of civil society in Egypt.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence.

Via Al-Bab.comReddit Email 28 Shares

( Tomdispatch.com ) |  

Think of it as the most momentous military planning on Earth right now. Whos even paying attention, given the eternal changing of the guard at the White House, as well as the latest in tweets, sexual revelations, and investigations of every sort? And yet it increasingly looks as if, thanks to current Pentagon planning, a twenty-first-century version of the Cold War (with dangerous new twists) has begun and hardly anyone has even noticed.

In 2006, when the Department of Defense spelled out its future security role, it saw only one overriding mission: its Long War against international terrorism. With its allies and partners, the United States must be prepared to wage this war in many locations simultaneously and for some years to come, the Pentagons Quadrennial Defense Review explained that year. Twelve years later, the Pentagon has officially announced that that long war is drawing to a close  even though at least seven counterinsurgency conflicts still rage across the Greater Middle East and Africa  and a new long war has begun, a permanent campaign to contain China and Russia in Eurasia.

Great power competition, not terrorism, has emerged as the central challenge to U.S. security and prosperity, claimed Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist while releasing the Pentagons $686 billion budget request in January. It is increasingly apparent that China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian values and, in the process, replace the free and open order that has enabled global security and prosperity since World War II.

Of course, just how committed President Trump is to the preservation of that free and open order remains questionable given his determination to scuttle international treaties and ignite a global trade war. Similarly, whether China and Russia truly seek to undermine the existing world order or simply make it less American-centric is a question that deserves close attention, just not today. The reason is simple enough. The screaming headline you should have seen in any paper (but havent) is this: the U.S. military has made up its mind about the future. It has committed itself and the nation to a three-front geopolitical struggle to resist Chinese and Russian advances in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Important as this strategic shift may be, you wont hear about it from the president, a man lacking the attention span necessary for such long-range strategic thinking and one who views Russias Vladimir Putin and Chinas Xi Jinping as frenemies rather than die-hard adversaries. To fully appreciate the momentous changes occurring in U.S. military planning, its necessary to take a deep dive into the world of Pentagon scripture: budget documents and the annual posture statements of regional commanders already overseeing the implementation of that just-born three-front strategy.

The New Geopolitical Chessboard

This renewed emphasis on China and Russia in U.S. military planning reflects the way top military officials are now reassessing the global strategic equation, a process that began long before Donald Trump entered the White House. Although after 9/11, senior commanders fully embraced the long war against terror approach to the world, their enthusiasm for endless counterterror operations leading essentially nowhere in remote and sometimes strategically unimportant places began to wane in recent years as they watched China and Russia modernizing their military forces and using them to intimidate neighbors.

While the long war against terror did fuel a vast, ongoing expansion of the Pentagons Special Operations Forces (SOF)  now a secretive army of 70,000 nestled inside the larger military establishment  it provided surprisingly little purpose or real work for the militarys heavy metal units: the Armys tank brigades, the Navys carrier battle groups, the Air Forces bomber squadrons, and so forth. Yes, the Air Force in particular has played a major supporting role in recent operations in Iraq and Syria, but the regular military has largely been sidelined there and elsewhere by lightly equipped SOF forces and drones. Planning for a real war against a peer competitor (one with forces and weaponry resembling our own) was until recently given far lower priority than the countrys never-ending conflicts across the Greater Middle East and Africa. This alarmed and even angered those in the regular military whose moment, it seems, has now finally arrived.

Today, we are emerging from a period of strategic atrophy, aware that our competitive military advantage has been eroding, the Pentagons new National Defense Strategy declares. We are facing increased global disorder, characterized by decline in the long-standing rules-based international order  a decline officially attributed for the first time not to al-Qaeda and ISIS, but to the aggressive behavior of China and Russia. Iran and North Korea are also identified as major threats, but of a distinctly secondary nature compared to the menace posed by the two great-power competitors.

Unsurprisingly enough, this shift will require not only greater spending on costly, high-tech military hardware but also a redrawing of the global strategic map to favor the regular military. During the long war on terror, geography and boundaries appeared less important, given that terrorist cells seemed capable of operating anyplace where order was breaking down. The U.S. military, convinced that it had to be equally agile, readied itself to deploy (often Special Operations forces) to remote battlefields across the planet, borders be damned.

On the new geopolitical map, however, America faces well-armed adversaries with every intention of protecting their borders, so U.S. forces are now being arrayed along an updated version of an older, more familiar three-front line of confrontation. In Asia, the U.S. and its key allies (South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Australia) are to face China across a line extending from the Korean peninsula to the waters of the East and South China Seas and the Indian Ocean. In Europe, the U.S. and its NATO allies will do the same for Russia on a front extending from Scandinavia and the Baltic Republics south to Romania and then east across the Black Sea to the Caucasus. Between these two theaters of contention lies the ever-turbulent Greater Middle East, with the United States and its two crucial allies there, Israel and Saudi Arabia, facing a Russian foothold in Syria and an increasingly assertive Iran, itself drawing closer to China and Russia. From the Pentagons perspective, this is to be the defining strategic global map for the foreseeable future. Expect most upcoming major military investments and initiatives to focus on bolstering U.S. naval, air, and ground strength on its side of these lines, as well as on targeting Sino-Russian vulnerabilities across them.

Theres no better way to appreciate the dynamics of this altered strategic outlook than to dip into the annual posture statements of the heads of the Pentagons unified combatant commands, or combined Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine Corps headquarters, covering the territories surrounding China and Russia: Pacific Command (PACOM), with responsibility for all U.S. forces in Asia; European Command (EUCOM), covering U.S. forces from Scandinavia to the Caucasus; and Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees the Middle East and Central Asia where so many of the countrys counterterror wars are still underway.

The senior commanders of these meta-organizations are the most powerful U.S. officials in their areas of responsibility (AORs), exercising far more clout than any American ambassador stationed in the region (and often local heads of state as well). That makes their statements and the shopping lists of weaponry that invariably go with them of real significance for anyone who wants to grasp the Pentagons vision of Americas global military future.

The Indo-Pacific Front

Commanding PACOM is Admiral Harry Harris Jr., a long-time naval aviator. In his annual posture statement, delivered to the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 15th, Harris painted a grim picture of Americas strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to the dangers posed by a nuclear-armed North Korea, he argued, China was emerging as a formidable threat to Americas vital interests. The Peoples Liberation Armys rapid evolution into a modern, high-tech fighting force continues to be both impressive and concerning, he asserted. PLA capabilities are progressing faster than any other nation in the world, benefitting from robust resourcing and prioritization.

Most threatening, in his view, is Chinese progress in developing intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and advanced warships. Such missiles, he explained, could strike U.S. bases in Japan or on the island of Guam, while the expanding Chinese navy could challenge the U.S. Navy in seas off Chinas coast and someday perhaps Americas command of the western Pacific. If this [shipbuilding] program continues, he said, China will surpass Russia as the worlds second largest navy by 2020, when measured in terms of submarines and frigate-class ships or larger.

Buy the Book

To counter such developments and contain Chinese influence requires, of course, spending yet more taxpayer dollars on advanced weapons systems, especially precision-guided missiles. Admiral Harris called for vastly increasing investment in such weaponry in order to overpower current and future Chinese capabilities and ensure U.S. military dominance of Chinas air and sea space. In order to deter potential adversaries in the Indo-Pacific, he declared, we must build a more lethal force by investing in critical capabilities and harnessing innovation.

His budgetary wish list was impressive. Above all, he spoke with great enthusiasm about new generations of aircraft and missiles  what are called, in Pentagonese, anti-access/area-denial systems  capable of striking Chinese IRBM batteries and other weapons systems intended to keep American forces safely away from Chinese territory. He also hinted that he wouldnt mind having new nuclear-armed missiles for this purpose  missiles, he suggested, that could be launched from ships and planes and so would skirt the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, to which the U.S. is a signatory and which bans land-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles. (To give you a feel for the arcane language of Pentagon nuclear cognoscenti, heres how he put it: We must continue to expand Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty-compliant theater strike capabilities to effectively counter adversary anti-access/area-denial [A2/AD] capabilities and force preservation tactics.)

Finally, to further strengthen the U.S. defense line in the region, Harris called for enhanced military ties with various allies and partners, including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia. PACOMs goal, he stated, is to maintain a network of like-minded allies and partners to cultivate principled security networks, which reinforce the free and open international order. Ideally, he added, this network will eventually encompass India, further extending the encirclement of China.

The European Theater

A similarly embattled future, even if populated by different actors in a different landscape, was offered by Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of EUCOM, in testimony before the Senate Committee on Armed Services on March 8th. For him, Russia is the other China. As he put it in a bone-chilling description, Russia seeks to change the international order, fracture NATO, and undermine U.S. leadership in order to protect its regime, reassert dominance over its neighbors, and achieve greater influence around the globe Russia has demonstrated its willingness and capability to intervene in countries along its periphery and to project power  especially in the Middle East.

This, needless to say, is not the outlook were hearing from President Trump, who has long appeared reluctant to criticize Vladimir Putin or paint Russia as a full-fledged adversary. For American military and intelligence officials, however, Russia unquestionably poses the preeminent threat to U.S. security interests in Europe. It is now being spoken of in a fashion that should bring back memories of the Cold War era. Our highest strategic priority, Scaparrotti insisted, is to deter Russia from engaging in further aggression and exercising malign influence over our allies and partners. [To this end,] we are updating our operational plans to provide military response options to defend our European allies against Russian aggression.

The cutting edge of EUCOMs anti-Russian drive is the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI), a project President Obama initiated in 2014 following the Russian seizure of Crimea. Originally known as the European Reassurance Initiative, the EDI is intended to bolster U.S. and NATO forces deployed in the front-line states  Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland  facing Russia on NATOs Eastern Front. According to the Pentagon wish list submitted in February, some $6.5 billion are to be allocated to the EDI in 2019. Most of those funds will be used to stockpile munitions in the front-line states, enhance Air Force basing infrastructure, conduct increased joint military exercises with allied forces, and rotate additional U.S.-based forces into the region. In addition, some $200 million will be devoted to a Pentagon advise, train, and equip mission in Ukraine.

Like his counterpart in the Pacific theater, General Scaparrotti also turns out to have an expensive wish list of future weaponry, including advanced planes, missiles, and other high-tech weapons that, he claims, will counter modernizing Russian forces. In addition, recognizing Russias proficiency in cyberwarfare, hes calling for a substantial investment in cyber technology and, like Admiral Harris, he cryptically hinted at the need for increased investment in nuclear forces of a sort that might be usable on a future European battlefield.

Between East and West: Central Command

Overseeing a startling range of war-on-terror conflicts in the vast, increasingly unstable region stretching from PACOMs western boundary to EUCOMs eastern one is the U.S. Central Command. For most of its modern history, CENTCOM has been focused on counterterrorism and the wars in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan in particular. Now, however, even as the previous long war continues, the Command is already beginning to position itself for a new Cold War-revisited version of perpetual struggle, a plan  to resurrect a dated term  to contain both China and Russia in the Greater Middle East.

In recent testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, CENTCOM commander Army General Joseph Votel concentrated on the status of U.S. operations against ISIS in Syria and against the Taliban in Afghanistan, but he also affirmed that the containment of China and Russia has become an integral part of CENTCOMs future strategic mission: The recently published National Defense Strategy rightly identifies the resurgence of great power competition as our principal national security challenge and we see the effects of that competition throughout the region.

Through its support of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and its efforts to gain influence with other key actors in the region, Russia, Votel claimed, is playing an increasingly conspicuous role in Centcoms AOR. China is also seeking to enhance its geopolitical clout both economically and through a small but growing military presence. Of particular concern, Votel asserted, is the Chinese-managed port at Gwadar in Pakistan on the Indian Ocean and a new Chinese base in Djibouti on the Red Sea, across from Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Such facilities, he claimed, contribute to Chinas military posture and force projection in CENTCOMs AOR and are signals of a challenging future for the U.S. military.

Under such circumstances, Votel testified, it is incumbent upon CENTCOM to join PACOM and EUCOM in resisting Chinese and Russian assertiveness. We have to be prepared to address these threats, not just in the areas in which they reside, but the areas in which they have influence. Without providing any details, he went on to say, We have developed very good plans and processes for how we will do that.

What that means is unclear at best, but despite Donald Trumps campaign talk about a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria once ISIS and the Taliban are defeated, it seems increasingly clear that the U.S. military is preparing to station its forces in those (and possibly other) countries across CENTCOMs region of responsibility indefinitely, fighting terrorism, of course, but also ensuring that there will be a permanent U.S. military presence in areas that could see intensifying geopolitical competition among the major powers.

An Invitation to Disaster

In relatively swift fashion, American military leaders have followed up their claim that the U.S. is in a new long war by sketching the outlines of a containment line that would stretch from the Korean Peninsula around Asia across the Middle East into parts of the former Soviet Union in Eastern Europe and finally to the Scandinavian countries. Under their plan, American military forces  reinforced by the armies of trusted allies  should garrison every segment of this line, a grandiose scheme to block hypothetical advances of Chinese and Russian influence that, in its global reach, should stagger the imagination. Much of future history could be shaped by such an outsized effort.

Questions for the future include whether this is either a sound strategic policy or truly sustainable. Attempting to contain China and Russia in such a manner will undoubtedly provoke countermoves, some undoubtedly difficult to resist, including cyber attacks and various kinds of economic warfare. And if you imagined that a war on terror across huge swaths of the planet represented a significant global overreach for a single power, just wait. Maintaining large and heavily-equipped forces on three extended fronts will also prove exceedingly costly and will certainly conflict with domestic spending priorities and possibly provoke a divisive debate over the reinstatement of the draft.

However, the real question  unasked in Washington at the moment  is: Why pursue such a policy in the first place? Are there not other ways to manage the rise of China and Russias provocative behavior? What appears particularly worrisome about this three-front strategy is its immense capacity for confrontation, miscalculation, escalation, and finally actual war rather than simply grandiose war planning.

At multiple points along this globe-spanning line  the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, Syria, the South China Sea, and the East China Sea, to name just a few  forces from the U.S. and China or Russia are already in significant contact, often jostling for position in a potentially hostile manner. At any moment, one of these encounters could provoke a firefight leading to unintended escalation and, in the end, possibly all-out combat. From there, almost anything could happen, even the use of nuclear weapons. Clearly, officials in Washington should be thinking hard before committing Americans to a strategy that will make this increasingly likely and could turn what is still long-war planning into an actual long war with deadly consequences.

Michael T. Klare, a TomDispatch regular, is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author, most recently, of The Race for Whats Left. A documentary movie version of his book Blood and Oil is available from the Media Education Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @mklare1.

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 2018 Michael T. Klare

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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

In that interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman violated Godwins law and compared Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans clerical leader, to Hitler. The comparison is monstrous. Here are a few reasons why.

1. Iran has not invaded Poland. In fact, Iran hasnt invaded another country, arguably, since 1785. Iran has supplied a small contingent of Revolutionary Guards to the governments of Iraq and Syria, at their request, to fight ISIL or other rebels against those governments, but US troops in Afghanistan play the same role for Kabul. I think the Iranian help to Iraq against ISIL was necessary and heroic. The Iranian role in Syria, in contrast, has often been counter-revolutionary and shameful. Were not in WW II territory here, however.

In contrast, in 2015 Saudi Arabia and its allies invaded Yemen and have been making war on it ever since. Saudi Arabia also intervened in Syria, backing the equally fascist Army of Islam jihadis and ordering bombings in Damascus.

2. Iran has a small Jewish community of some 9,000 persons and Iranian Jews have a representative in parliament. Although many Iranian Jews have felt that the Islamic Republic, with its Shiite fundamentalism, reduces them to second class citizens, and tens of thousands have emigrated, there have been no pogroms. The country is full of synagogues. The hoary lie that former Iranian president Ahmadinejad threatened to wipe Israel off the map is just, that, a lie.

In contrast, the Saudi Arabian government permits no synagogues and does not allow any organized Jewish community to live in the country.

3. Iran has a military budget of $15.9 billion a year, about the same as that menacing military powerhouse, Canada (which has less than half Irans population). (Israels military budget, for a population about 10% of that of Iran, is $17 bn.; in the same range is that of the United Arab Emirates, with 1.5 million citizens.)

4. Iran has no air force to speak of, with 130 old fighter jets, and has 1600 old tanks. It has no navy to speak of, either. Israel, with 8 million people to Irans 82 million, has 243 fighter jets of the latest models and 2600 sophisticated tanks. Saudi Arabia, with 20 mn citizens, is making $110 bn new arms purchases, and already has nearly as many as and much better weapons than Iran.

5. Iran is not a democracy, and carefully vets the candidates allowed to run. It is not, however, a one-party state. There are surprises in its elections and parliament has on occasion shown an independent streak.

Saudi Arabia is a dictatorship, with no parliament or national elections.



Bonus video:

Euronews: Saudi Arabian crown prince courts Israel in deepening rift with IranVancouver, British Columbia / TheNewswire / April 4, 2018 - Telson Mining Corporation ("Telson" or the "Company") (TSX Venture - TSN.V) is pleased to announce the positive result of an independent Preliminary Economic Assessment study ("PEA") prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") on the 100% owned Campo Morado Mine ("Campo Morado" or the "Project") located in Guerrero State, Mexico.

Campo Morado PEA Highlights1

Pre-tax Net Present Value ("NPV") at a 8% discount rate of US$81Mn

After-tax NPV at a discount rate of 8% of US$65Mn

Undiscounted cash flow before income and mining taxes of US$114Mn

Undiscounted cash flow after income and mining taxes of US$91Mn

Life of mine ("LOM") of 12 years, with 9.7 million tonnes of potential mill feed at an average grade of 4.33% zinc grade, 1.00% Lead grade, 0.78% copper grade, 131.9 grams per tonne ("g/t") of silver and 1.71 grams per tonne ("g/t") of gold

Mining rate of 2,500 tonnes per day ("tpd")

Jose Antonio Berlanga, Director and CEO, stated: "The positive Preliminary Economic Assessment marks another significant milestone for Telson. It validates the positive economic value of last year's acquisition of the Campo Morado mine. We expect to improve the Net Present Value of the mine in the short run by implementing several strategies summarized below and we will embark on a Pre-Feasibility Study designed to demonstrate the improvements in mining and milling that we are instituting. The PEA is based on historical operating costs incurred by the previous operator of the Campo Morado mine as Telson is still in the pre-production stage and it is too early to forecast any cost savings resulting from the changes we have implemented. Among the strategies we have identified as drivers of increasing the NPV are:

1. Cost reductions resulting from: i) a reduced local workforce. We are currently operating the mine and approaching similar output as the former operator with approximately 50% of the previous workforce. It should be noted that the former owner was focused only on zinc production and was mining three separate mineralized bodies at the same time which required additional personnel, services, equipment and infrastructure. We are focused on all metals and only mining one mineralized body at a time, such that we can operate with a smaller workforce; ii) a change from room and pillar mining to sub-level caving (see s. 16.3 of the PEA); and iii) a reduction in haulage distance as a result of new egress portal being developed;

2. conducting an aggressive exploration campaign designed to increase the mineral resources at Campo Morado;

3. analyzing leaching processes to increase recoveries of precious metals from concentrate and existing tailings.

While we look forward to optimizing the performance of the Campo Morado mine, we also wish to emphasize that our primary goal for 2018 is to build our new mine at our flagship Tahuehueto project in Durango, Mexico. We point out that we published a NI 43-101 Technical Report Preliminary Feasibility Study Telson Resources Project Durango, Mexico with an effective date of December 6, 2016 and a report date of January 20, 2017 (see Tahuehueto PFS). based on a 550tpd operation at Tahuehueto that assigned a pre-tax Net Present Value, using an 8% discount, of US$138Mn and a post-tax Net Present Value using an 8% discount, of US$77Mn to Tahuehueto, such that the base case scenario NPV of both projects of the Company, Tahuehueto and Campo Morado, adds to US$218Mn on a pre-tax basis and US$142Mn on a post-tax basis. We are building a mill capable of processing 1,000 tpd at Tahuehueto and are also working on an updated PFS to reflect the improved economics of such an operation. We believe this will validate the upside potential of the economics of the Company for our shareholders and look forward to a very exciting year ahead of us."

Description of Campo Morado Mine and PEA

The Campo Morado Project hosts several polymetallic massive sulphide deposits containing zinc, copper, silver, gold and lead mineralization. Five deposits have been extensively drilled: G9, El Largo, Reforma, Naranjo and El Rey. The Project is comprised of a previously mined underground multi-metal mine with infrastructure, installations and equipment capable of processing 2,500 tonnes of material per day. Farallon Resources Ltd. (Farallon) began mining operations at the G9 Mine at Campo Morado in April 2009. Nyrstar NV (Nyrstar) purchased Farallon and the Campo Morado Mine in December 2010 and continued mining operations at G9 mine with some production from the El Largo deposit until production was suspended in January 2015 and the mine was placed on care and maintenance.

Telson Mining Corporation purchased the Campo Morado Mine from Nyrstar Mining Ltd. and Nyrstar Mexico Resources Corp. (together the "Nyrstar Group") in June 2017 and restarted mining operations under a preproduction plan and initiated production of zinc concentrates in October 2017. Telson intends to advance preproduction towards full commercial production during 2018. The purchase price of the Nyrstar Group subsidiaries that own the Campo Morado Mine was US$20Mn of which US$3.5Mn has been paid and the balance of US$16.5Mn is due to be paid on or before June 13, 2018.

Mineral Resource Estimate

The current Campo Morado resources occur in five main mineralized zones, G9, El Largo, Naranjo, Reforma and El Rey. Within these main zones, 36 sub-zones of well defined, massive and semi-massive sulphide deposits modeled three dimensionally are used to constrain the resources. The boundaries of these sub-zones are delineated by geological and assay data from extensive drilling and underground excavation. The resource estimate is based on 1,541 surface and underground drill holes and the 33,523 assays obtained from them that intersect and occur within these mineralized zone models. The mined-out volumes of the underground excavations of previous mining operations in turn deplete the resources. Two contiguous 5-metre cube block models were used to cover this area. The overall combined resource of the five zones estimated by ordinary kriging is presented below. The tabulation is based on zinc equivalency (ZnEq) 2 that incorporates the contributions of zinc, copper, gold, silver and lead and metal recovery factors achieved at the processing facility on site. The base case at a 5.5% ZnEq cut-off is highlighted in bold typeface. The effective date for the mineral resource estimates3 for the five individual main mineralized zones is September 30, 2017.

Campo Morado Resource Estimate 2017

Cut-off ZnEq (%) ZnEq (%) Tonnes Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (%) Pb % Zn (%) Measured 3.0 6.94 17,004,000 1.34 91 0.73 0.67 3.17 4.0 7.87 13,412,000 1.49 104 0.76 0.78 3.71 5.5 9.27 9,292,000 1.70 124 0.82 0.94 4.56 7.0 10.71 6,318,000 1.88 143 0.87 1.11 5.44 Indicated

3.0 5.78 16,848,000 1.25 85 0.68 0.61 2.25 4.0 6.62 12,324,000 1.42 99 0.72 0.73 2.68 5.5 7.94 7,335,000 1.70 123 0.78 0.92 3.31 7.0 9.32 4,086,000 1.96 151 0.86 1.12 3.94 Measured + Indicated 3.0 6.36 33,852,000 1.29 88 0.70 0.64 2.71 4.0 7.27 25,736,000 1.46 102 0.74 0.76 3.22 5.5 8.68 16,627,000 1.70 123 0.80 0.93 4.01 7.0 10.16 10,404,000 1.91 146 0.87 1.11 4.85 Inferred 3.0 5.03 3,316,000 0.98 76 0.52 0.58 2.10 4.0 5.85 2,152,000 1.11 90 0.55 0.71 2.54 5.5 7.27 988,000 1.32 116 0.64 0.92 3.20 7.0 8.75 416,000 1.52 148 0.76 1.10 3.78

2 Zinc equivalent calculations used metal prices of USD 1.20/lb for zinc, USD 2.80/lb for copper, USD 17/oz for silver, USD 1150/oz for gold and USD 0.90/lb for lead and metallurgical recoveries of 70% for zinc, 68% for copper, 38% for silver, 25% for gold, and 60% for lead. The zinc equivalency calculation is as follows:

ZnEq General Equation = Zn% + ((Cu % *(Cu recovery / Zn recovery) * ((Cu $ per %) / Zn $ per %)) + ((Ag g/t * (Ag recovery / Zn recovery) * (Ag $ per gram / Zn $ per %)) + ((Au g/t * (Au recovery / Zn recovery) * (Au $ per gram / Zn $ per %)) + ((Pb % *(Pb recovery / Zn recovery) * ((Pb $ per %) / Zn $ per %))

ZnEq = Zn% + ((Cu % *(68/70) * (61.73/26.455)) + ((Ag g/t * (38/70) * (0.547/26.455)) + ((Au g/t * (25/70) * (36.97/26.455)) + ((Pb % *(60/70) * ((19.84/26.455))

Where:

Au price = $1150/oz Au metal recovery = 25% Ag price = $17/oz Ag metal recovery = 38% Cu price = $2.80/lb Cu metal recovery = 68% Pb price = $0.90/lb Pb metal recovery = 60% Zn price = $1.20/lb Zn metal recovery = 70%

3 Capping to reduce statistically anomalous high values was applied to the updated mineral estimate. All mineral resource estimates, cut-offs and metallurgical recoveries are subject to change as a consequence of more detailed economic analyses that would be required in pre-feasibility and feasibility studies.

Capital and Operating Cost Estimates

The Project is a previously operating mine that is being brought back into production. Consequently, this PEA treats the initial capital investment as a sunk cost, and all subsequent investment is considered as sustaining capital expenditure.

Over the LOM period, sustaining capital is provided for as shown in table below.

Sustaining Capital estimate for the Campo Morado Mine

Sustaining Capital LOM TOTAL (USD'000) Development 25,500 Mill/Concentrator 12,000 Tailings Storage 10,000 Infrastructure (Other) 10,000 Social Responsibilities 12,000 Rehabilitation & Closure Costs 3,200 Total 72,700

Operating cost estimates for the Project are forecast on the basis of previous operators operating experience at the Project, modified where appropriate to reflect increased throughput and proposed changes in the underground mining method.

Over the LOM period, operating costs are forecast as shown in table below.

Operating cost estimate for the Campo Morado Mine

Project Operating Costs LOM Average USD/t milled LOM TOTAL USD'000 Selling Costs 23.52 228,997 Royalties 2.97 28,896 Mining 32.78 319,190 Processing 24.72 240,745 G&A 14.76 143,744 TOTAL Operating Costs 98.74 961,571

The LOM capital and operating costs as discussed in the PEA will most likely be further refined as Telson continues to bring the Campo Morado Project back into production and continues to optimize the various costs at site.

Economic Analysis

Micon has prepared its assessment of the project based on a discounted cash flow model, from which Net Present Value (NPV) can be determined. A real discount rate of 8.0% is applied to the base case cash flow.

The prices used in the cash flow projection are rolling average prices for each metal for the 12 months ended January 2018, which Micon believes provide a reasonable estimate of project revenues for this PEA. The prices used are shown in table below.

Metal Price Forecast

Metal Unit Price (USD/unit) Unit Price (USD/unit) Zinc tonne 2,954.70 pound 1.340 Lead tonne 2,346.40 pound 1.064 Copper tonne 6,274.20 pound 2.846 Silver troy ounce 17.08 Gold troy ounce 1,269.00

Since the project has already been constructed, initial capital costs are treated as sunk. However, LOM sustaining capital is estimated at USD 72.7Mn, mainly for underground development and expansion of tailings storage capacity.

Total cash costs over the LOM period average USD 98.74/t milled. Costs incurred in Mexican pesos (MXN) have been converted at the rate of MXN 18.75/USD.

Pursuant to the share purchase agreement dated April 27, 2017 (the "Agreement") between Telson and the Nyrstar Group, Nyrstar retains the right to receive a variable purchase price royalty (the "Zinc Royalty") on future zinc production on the first 10 million tons of ore processed by Telson when the price of zinc is at or above US$2,100 per tonne (see Telson news release dated June 14, 2107 for further details). Telson maintains the right under the Agreement to purchase 100% of the Zinc Royalty at any time for US$4Mn. Buy-out of the Zinc Royalty to Nyrstar is assumed to take place prior to the cash flow period and is treated as a sunk cost. A 3% royalty payable to SGM on the NSR value of concentrate sales (before transport costs) has been provided for in the cash flow model.

This PEA is preliminary in nature; it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.

Annual base case cash flows and unit costs on a zinc equivalent basis are presented in the chart and table below.

Annual Cash Flow Forecast

Unit cost estimate on Zinc Equivalent Basis

LOM total

(USD'000) USD/t

milled Gross Rev.

(%) Margin

(%) USD/lb

ZnEq Mining 319,190 32.78 28% 0.35 Mill/Concentrator 240,745 24.72 21% 0.27 G&A 143,744 14.76 13% 0.16 Direct site costs 703,679 72.26 61% 39% 0.78 Transport, TC/RC 228,997 23.52 20% 0.25 Cash Operating Costs 932,676 95.78 81% 19% 1.03 Royalties 28,896 2.97 3% 0.03 Production Taxes - - 0% - Total Cash Costs 961,571 98.74 84% 16% 1.06 Capital Expenditure 72,700 7.47 6% 0.08 Total Production Costs 1,034,271 106.21 90% 10% 1.15

At an annual discount rate of 8.0%, the discounted cash flow evaluates to a net present value (NPV) of USD 65 million after tax. At an annual discount rate of 8.0%, the discounted cash flow evaluates to a net present value (NPV) of USD 81 million before tax.

Owing to the absence of pre-production capital expenditures in the forecast period, no internal rate of return (IRR) or payback period can be determined.

Risks and Opportunities

A summary of key risks and opportunities identified by the QPs is provided in the table below.

Risks and Opportunities

Discipline Opportunity Risk Geology and exploration There are a number of exploration targets on the Campo Morado property that represent an excellent upside opportunity. They have the potential to add to the resource base with further work. Mineral resources Several drill holes with missing assays have been assigned zero grade. If this information is found, it will likely have a positive impact on the grade in the local area of these drill holes. A number of the Mineral Resource assumptions for reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction at the Reforma, Naranjo, El Largo and El Rey deposits are based on analogues to G-9, including metallurgical recoveries and mining methods. Actual data collected from the deposits may vary from these assumptions. There is a risk some of the Measured Mineral Resources at Reforma, Naranjo and El Rey will not have the appropriate drill support until grade control drilling is completed. The tonnages and grade for the potentially recoverable pillars at G9 are based on the assumption that a practical, economically feasible method can be developed to mine them. Mine plan The mining sequence has been prepared on an area-by-area basis and so there may be an opportunity to improve the production grade profile in a more detailed plan. Evaluation is at a PEA level only. Mining engineering may reveal planning constraints not recognised in this study. Tailings Subject to further testwork, leach recovery of copper, gold and silver from reprocessing existing tailings may be possible. Expansion of storage capacity require d to accommodate material in the PEA plan. Process Equipment for finer grinding is on site but not yet installed. The Campo Morado tailings have a high precious metals content that may, in the future, be reprocessed if an economically viable method for precious metals recovery is developed Achieving planned plant throughput and recovery into concentrate may increase operating costs. Infrastructure Telson has all of the infrastructure currently necessary to operate the Campo Morado Project. Environmental, closure, permitting and social Telson has all the current environmental permits to operate. The communities and various groups in the area appear to support the resumption of mining activities. Security is good at the present time, with a small military component on site, and Telson has the support of all social groups or factions in the area. Security should continue to improve as Telson continues to demonstrate a longer term commitment to the area Environmental laws are tightened and become more stringent as a result of Mexico's involvement in the Paris Agreement, NAFTA and various other Free Trade agreements. Security becomes unstable within the state Economics Unit cost savings might be possible in some areas at the planned higher rates of plant throughput. Project returns are sensitive to metal prices and any change in NSR terms. Any significant changes to the fiscal regime would affect the cashflow forecast.

About Telson Mining Corporation

Telson Mining Corporation is a Canadian based junior resource mining company currently in pre-production at two Mexican gold, silver and base metal mining projects and is advancing both towards commercial production, Campo Morado in the coming months of 2018 and Tahuehueto in early 2019. At the Campo Morado Mine in Guerrero, Mexico, Telson has re-commenced mining and processing operations with pre-production from mine development on a trial basis that commenced at an average 1,400 tonnes per day and is currently at approximately 1,900 tonnes per day during the recommissioning stage and intends to advance towards commercial production at full capacity of approximately 2,500 tonnes per day during 2018. Telson's Tahuehueto Project, located in north-western Durango State, Mexico is currently in pre-production at approximately 150 tonnes per day utilizing a toll mill for processing and has entered a construction phase with a timeline to be producing on site in its own mineral processing plant capable of milling at least 1,000 tonnes per day in Q1, 2019. Regular metal concentrate delivery and sales are underway from both projects.

Visit: www.telsonmining.com

On behalf of the board of directors

(signed) "Ralph Shearing"

Ralph Shearing, P.Geol, President and Director

Qualified Persons

Mr. Eric Titley BSc, PGeo of Titley Consulting Ltd., independent Qualified Person ("QP") under the guidelines of NI 43-101 prepared the mineral resource estimates and reviewed the geology and exploration disclosed in this news release. Mr. Christopher Jacobs CEng, MIMMM, of Micon International Limited ("Micon"), an independent QP, reviewed the capital and operating estimates, and economic analysis. Mr. William Lewis, B.Sc, P.Geo, of Micon, an independent QP, reviewed the environmental, closure, permitting and social aspects. Mr. James W.G. Turner BSc(Hons) ACSM, MSc MCSM, MIMMM CEng of Micon, and independent QP, reviewed tailings, metallurgy, process and infrastructure section. Mr. Bruce Pilcher CEng, FIMMM, FAusIMM (CP) of Micon, an independent QP, reviewed the mine plan. Each of Mr. Titley, Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Turner and Mr. Pilcher have read and approved the contents of this news release. It should be noted that the above Qualified Persons are QPs for the Campo Morado Project but not the Tahuehueto PFS.

Cautionary Note Regarding Production Decisions and Forward-Looking Statements

It should be noted that Telson has commenced pre-production mining at both projects without the benefit of pre-feasibility or feasibility studies that outline mineral reserves. Furthermore, it is likely that Telson will declare commercial production at Campo Morado prior to completing a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability. Accordingly, readers should be cautioned that Telson's production decision will likely be made without a comprehensive feasibility study of established reserves such that there is greater risk and uncertainty as to future economic results from the Campo Morado mine and a higher technical risk of failure than would be the case if a feasibility study was completed and relied upon to make a production decision. Telson has completed a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") mining study on the Campo Morado mine that provides a conceptual life of mine plan and a preliminary economic analysis based on the previously identified mineral resources (see News Release dated November 8, 2017 and April 2,2018 ). This will soon be replaced by a pre-feasibility study ("PFS") that will allow the application of modifying factors to the mineral resources to allow a portion of them to be converted to mineral reserves; and will support the pre-production activities to bring the Campo Morado mine into commercial production.

Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or financial performance that is based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action; the timing and costs of future activities on the Company's properties, such as production rates and increases; success of exploration, development and bulk sample processing activities; timing for the restart of continuous mining operations at the Campo Morado Mine, and timing for processing at its own mineral processing facility on the Tahuehueto project site. In certain cases, Forward-Looking Information can be identified by the use of words and phrases such as "plans", "expects", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or variations of such words and phrases. In preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, that the current exploration, development, environmental and other objectives concerning the Campo Morado Mine and the Tahuehueto Project can be achieved, the continuity of the price of gold and other metals, economic and political conditions and operations. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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 about Telson Mining Corporation, please contact:

Glen Sandwell

Corporate Communications Manager

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: +1 (604) 684-8071

1 Cautionary statement NI 43-101: The PEA was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). Note: The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA based will be realized. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Calendar years used are for illustrative purposes. Some figures may not sum exactly due to rounding. Unless otherwise indicated the currency used is United States dollars.Alaska has an extensive mineral inventory and is one of the leading states in America for mineral exploration and development.

New Age Metals (NAM) objective is to acquire Platinum Group Metals (PGM), PGM Polymetallic, and Rare Metal Projects in Alaska and has signed a binding Letter of Intent (LOI) with Avalon Development Corp., a prominent Alaskan geological consulting firm.

Avalon Development Corp. is a private company and a leader in mineral exploration and development in Alaska.

Avalon has agreed to share its extensive geological, geochemical, and geophysical database with New Age Metals (NAM) for 2 years, with the focus being on PGM, PGM Polymetallic, and Rare Metal Projects in Alaska.

According to the Fraser Institute's 2017 survey of mining companies, Alaska ranks as the 10th best jurisdiction in the world for mining. In North America it stands as the 6th best mining jurisdiction behind only: Saskatchewan, Nevada, Quebec, Ontario and Arizona.

NAM has two green metals divisions and its major PGM focus is on the development of its 100% owned River Valley PGM Deposit, the largest undeveloped Primary PGM resource in North America, with 4.62Moz Pd Eq in Measured plus Indicated including an additional 2.7Moz Pd Eq in Inferred (see Mar. 21, 2018). River Valley is situated within 100 KMs of the world class Sudbury metallurgical complex.

April 4th, 2018 / TheNewswire / Rockport, ON, Canada - New Age Metals Inc. (TSX.V: NAM; OTCQB: NMTLF; FSE: P7J.F) is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") with Avalon Development Corp. ("Avalon"). The LOI calls for an agreement between the companies whereby Avalon will provide acquisition and geological services to New Age Metals ("NAM") in the state of Alaska. The LOI further defines the extent of the services as follows:

To provide NAM with its extensive geological, geochemical, and geophysical database on Platinum Group Metals (PGM's), PGM Polymetallic, and Rare Metals for a minimum 2 years. Avalon will provide field manager services to NAM in the event any new acquisitions are made as a result of the LOI agreement. Avalon and/or its associated companies will receive finder's fees and/or property option compensation for its services.

Mr. Harry Barr Chairman/CEO stated: "We are pleased to partner with Avalon Development Corp. and its President Mr. Curt Freeman in Alaska. The LOI accomplishes another milestone in 2018 for NAM which was to find a new mining jurisdiction and a qualified consulting group to help our company continue its search for green metals, PGM's, and Rare Metals. In the event the company acquires one or more projects in the state of Alaska, we will utilize our Prospector Generator Model, which has been successful in our Lithium Division, and will seek out partners to help us develop our newly acquired projects."

OPT-IN LIST

If you have not done so already, we encourage you to sign up on our website (www.newagemetals.com) to receive our updated news or click here.

About Avalon development Corp

Since its founding in 1985, Avalon Development has evolved along with the mineral industry and its clients. Avalon exploration teams participated in a number of discoveries in the state. Avalon was responsible for Alaska's newest gold discovery, the +1 million ounce Peak zone deposit, as well as the 6.5 million ounce intrusive-hosted Dolphin gold deposit, initial targeting of the 20 million ounce Livengood deposit, the southwestern extension of the 1.3 million ounce True North deposit, and deep high grade gold resources at the historic Cleary Hill mine. Avalon has also been responsible for platinum group element, copper-nickel and rare metal discoveries on several exploration projects across Alaska. Avalon continues to work with a number of major and junior mining companies involved in precious, base and strategic metal exploration in Alaska.

ABOUT NAM'S PGM DIVISION

NAM's flagship project is its 100% owned River Valley PGM Project (NAM Website - River Valley Project) in the Sudbury Mining District of Northern Ontario (100 km east of Sudbury, Ontario). Presently the River Valley Project is North America's largest undeveloped primary PGM deposit with Measured + Indicated resources of 160 million tones @ 0.44 g/t Palladium, 0.17 g/t Platinum, 0.03 g/t Gold, with a total metal grade of 0.64 g/t at a cut-off grade of 0.4 g/t equating to 3,297,173 ounces PGM plus Gold and 4,626,250 PdEq Ounces. This equates to 4,626,250 PdEq ounces M+I and 2,713,933 PdEq ounces in inferred (figure 1). Having completed a 2018 NI-43-101 resource update the company is finalizing its 2018 exploration programs which will include geophysics, and extensive drill programs, which are all working towards the completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). Our objective is to develop a series of open pits (bulk mining) over the 16 kilometers of mineralization, concentrate on site, and ship the concentrates to the long-established Sudbury Metallurgical Complex.

ABOUT NAM'S LITHIUM DIVISION

The Company has five pegmatite hosted Lithium Projects in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, located in SE Manitoba. Three of the projects are drill ready. This Pegmatite Field hosts the world class Tanco Pegmatite that has been mined for Tantalum, Cesium and Spodumene (one of the primary Lithium ore minerals) in varying capacities, since 1969. NAM's Lithium Projects are strategically situated in this prolific Pegmatite Field. Presently, NAM is one of the largest mineral claim holders for Lithium in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field. On January 15th 2018, NAM announced an agreement with Azincourt Energy Corporation (see Jan 15, 2018 and Feb 22nd, 2018 Press Releases) whereby Azincourt will commit up to $3.85 million dollars in exploration, up to 3 million shares of Azincourt stock to NAM, up to $210,000 in cash, and a 2% net smelter royalty on all 5 projects. Exploration plans for 2018 are currently in progress, whereby a minimum of $500,000 will be expended this year.

QUALIFIED PERSON

The contents contained herein that relate to Exploration Results or Mineral Resources is based on information compiled, reviewed or prepared by Carey Galeschuk, a consulting geoscientist for New Age Metals. Mr. Galeschuk is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Harry Barr"

Harry G. Barr

Chairman and CEO

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Should you have additional inquiries, please contact Paul Poggione, Corporate Development, Tel: 1-613-659-2773, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words such as "continue", "efforts", "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "confident", "intend", "strategy", "plan", "will", "estimate", "project", "goal", "target", "prospects", "optimistic" or similar expressions. These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the Company's ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make available adequate current public information, additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts' expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 4, 2018) - RosCan Minerals Corporation (TSXV: ROS) ("RosCan" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that RosCan has entered into an option agreement (the "Option Agreement") with K. L. Mining SARL and K.A Gold Mining SARL (collectively, the "Optionor") to acquire a 100% interest in the 65 sq. km. Segando-South and the 32 sq. km. Moussala-North permits (the "Permits"). Previously, RosCan entered into two Letter of Intents with Touba Mining SARL ("Touba") to acquire to acquire a 100% interest in each of the Kandiole-North and the Kandiole-West permits (previously announced on January 18, 2018 and March 2, 2018).

With the acquisition of these additional Permits, RosCan's Kandiole Project will consist of approximately 164 sq. km. of contiguous land located in the prolific gold prospective Birimian rocks of west Mali (see map below). The Kandiole Project is located east of B2Gold's Fekola mine and Iamgold's, Boto and Diakha deposits and north of the Siribaya deposit. RosCan's initial compilation of technical information for the Kandiole Project has identified several areas of immediate interest. RosCan is continuing its efforts to acquire further permits in this region and anticipates completing such transactions in the coming weeks.



To view a larger image of this map please click HERE

WORK PROGRAM AND EXPLORATION TEAM

The initial compilation of data for the area, acquired to date, has been assessed and areas of primary interest have been identified. An exploration program consisting of prospecting, mapping and sampling of the entire land position has been designed to identify areas for more detailed exploration, including drilling. Ground control for the mapping and field work will utilize updated satellite photographs. It is anticipated that Touba field crews will begin work in the coming days.

The exploration team is led by RosCan's CEO, Gregory Isenor, P.Geo, who has brought together his experienced West African exploration team consisting of: Jean-Marc Gagnon, P.Eng, MBA with 20 years of experience in West Africa; and, Touba Mining SARL. This team has worked together for almost 15 years and is highly experienced and successful in working in this area and the geological environment.

COMMENTARY

Greg Isenor, President and CEO of RosCan, stated, "We are building a land position in west Mali and we are extremely pleased to be back working in this area that we know well. This is an area where we have great relationships and where we have had great success in the past. These permits have impressive potential and are in an area of producing mines, new deposits and recent discoveries. In addition, we are presently negotiating to acquire additional permits in this area. The acquisition of these permits is in accordance with our stated objective of building a land position in an area having the potential for discovering large gold deposits. We are doing what we said we are going to do!"

OPTION AGREEMENT

Key terms of the Option Agreement are:

Pay the Optionor US$400,000, of which $40,000 was paid on signing and the balance of $360,000 is to be paid over a three (3) year period (the "Option Period");

Incur exploration expenditures of US$165,000 over a three (3) year period;

Optionor shall retain a 2% Net Smelter Return (the "NSR") on all ore mined from the property. RosCan has the right to purchase 50% of the NSR for US$1,200,000;

During the Option Period, RosCan shall be responsible for maintaining the Permits in good standing and performing any and all obligations required by law.

QUALIFIED PERSON

The technical content in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gregory P. Isenor, P. Geo, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

ABOUT ROSCAN

RosCan Minerals Corporation is a Canadian gold exploration company focussed on the acquisition of gold properties in West Africa. The Company is currently assembling a land position of 100% owned permits in an area of large gold deposits for its Kandiole Project in west Mali and, is also exploring the promising gold potential of the early exploration stage Dormaa Project in Ghana. RosCan is earning a 50% interest in the Dormaa Project from Pelangio Exploration Inc.

For further information, please contact:

Greg Isenor

President and Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (902) 832-5555 or (416) 293-8437

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in the Company's management's discussion and analysis as filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as 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.Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 4, 2018) - Darien Resource Development Corp. announces that its name change to "New Energy Metals Corp." ("New Energy Metals" or the "Company") and new trading symbol (TSXV: ENRG) are effective as of today.

The Company also announces that it has entered into option agreements (the "Agreements") to acquire a 100% interest in two cobalt exploration projects (the "Projects") located within Chile's past-producing San Juan cobalt district. The Projects are located in a readily accessible region that is noted for the occurrence of high grade cobalt mineralization. The Company is currently negotiating to secure several additional cobalt exploration properties in prospective regions of the San Juan Cobalt District.

New Energy Metal's President and Chief Executive Officer, Grant Ewing, said "These cobalt acquisitions are important additions to our asset base, which is now comprised of cobalt and copper exploration projects in Chile. Both commodities are consistent with our new focus on the growing 'energy metals' sector. Based on the historical records from the San Juan cobalt district and the fact that very limited exploration has been conducted in the region in more than 60 years, we view the potential for the discovery of primary cobalt deposits as very good."

Cobalt Project Highlights

In November 2017, Chile's Corporation for the Promotion of Production ("CORFO") and the Chilean National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) published a report that reviewed the cobalt mineral resources in Chile. Meaningful primary cobalt production has historically been developed in two districts in Chile, one of which is the San Juan cobalt district in the Atacama Region.

The Company reviewed available regional and district-scale datasets in the San Juan cobalt district and selected the Projects based on geological characteristics, abundance of historic workings, evidence of mineralization, and proximity to past production. The Company's initial exploration focus on the Projects will center on compilation of historical data, regional mapping and prospecting, and sampling to identify priority areas for follow up work.

The Projects occur on the same trend and in close proximity to the past producing Cobaltera mine, and are readily accessible on secondary roads approximately 25km south of the town of Freirina and port of Huasco, Chile. Infrastructure is good and the district is approximately 10km from tidewater.

About San Juan Cobalt District

The San Juan cobalt district includes several historical producing mines, which produced cobalt (and copper) for several decades at the turn of the 20th century. The past-producing Cobaltera Mine was the last to close in the mid-1940's at the end of the Second World War. At the peak of production there were three processing plants in the area and several small-scale operations.

Cobalt production and smelting in the district started in 1885 but no statistics are available prior to 1903. From 1903 to 1944 the district produced approximately 300,000 tonnes of cobalt ore grading up to 4% cobalt (plus copper) ("El Cobalto en Chile, Caja Credito Minero", H. Hornkohl,1944).

The known San Juan cobalt district measures approximately 4km by 10km. Numerous small-scale mines, historical shafts and adits exist in the region, indicating the existence of an extensive network of mineralized structures and past high-grade mining activity. Numerous ruins and slags from the past producing cobalt-copper smelters also exist in the district.

Mineralization occurs in high-grade veins and mantos, with average cobalt grades reportedly up to 1.6% cobalt for primary mineralization, and up to 6.4% cobalt in the enriched secondary oxidized zones. Vein thickness varies greatly from 0.5m to 20m. Shafts over 100m in depth exist on some of the vein structures. The cobalt mineralization is associated with copper mineralization and is noted to be structurally controlled and closely associated with the large regional northeast trending Atacama fault system. In the oxidized zone (up to 40m thick) cobalt occurs as erythrite, a cobalt arsenate. In the deeper primary zone the mineral Cobaltite, a cobalt sulfo-arsenide mineral, is the main cobalt mineral.

Option Agreement Details

Under the terms of the Agreements, the Company can earn a 100% interest in the Projects through the following payments:

La Sufrida Cobalt Project

Date US$ Cash On signing: $150,000 6 months: $150,000 12 months: $200,000 TOTAL $500,000

Pirula Cobalt Project

Date US$ Cash On signing: US$150,000 6 months: US$250,000 12 months: US$300,000 TOTAL US$700,000

Upon completion of the option payments, the Company will be deemed to have exercised the options and will have earned an undivided 100% legal and beneficial interest in and to the Projects. The Projects are not subject to underlying royalties. During the option period, the Company will be responsible for maintaining the concessions comprising the Project in good standing. There are no work commitments and all work carried out on the Projects will be at the sole discretion of the Company. Initially, the Company will focus on data review, and mapping and sampling to identify priority targets for follow-up.

The Company has established a wholly owned Chilean subsidiary, New Energy Metals SpA, which has entered into the Agreements with the property venders in accordance with Chilean law.

About The Company

The Company completed an IPO in January 2018 and closed a $4.37 million-dollar financing in February 2018. The Company has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Cristal copper project located in northern Chile, and is pursuing other attractive opportunities in strategic commodities, with a focus on opportunities in Chile. The Company's name change to "New Energy Metals Corp." more accurately reflects the new corporate strategy.

Qualified Person

Mr. Grant Ewing, P.Geo., is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Ewing and has reviewed the scientific and technical information that forms the basis of this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Ewing is not independent of the Company.

On behalf of New Energy Metals Corp.

Grant Ewing, President & CEO

T: 604.484.1232

E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". Other than statements of historical fact, all statements included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding future plans and objectives of New Energy Metals Corp., are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from New Energy Metal's expectations are the risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by New Energy Metals Corp. with securities regulators. Those filings can be found on the Internet at http://www.sedar.com.VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orca Gold Inc. (TSX.V:ORG) (Orca or the Company) is pleased to announce that since mid-February, its major shareholders have exercised approximately 7.9 million warrants from the July 2017 private placement (see News Release: July 7, 2017) at a price of $0.55, for proceeds to the Company of $4.35 million. These funds will be deployed towards completion of a Feasibility Study on the Companys Block 14 Gold Project in the Sudan, for continued exploration at Block 14 and in Cote dIvoire and for general working capital purposes.

Commenting on the exercise of the warrants, Richard P. Clark, CEO said, The early exercise of warrants by the major shareholders of Orca demonstrates the confidence that our shareholder base has in the direction and development of our Company. This cash injection will allow us to complete the Feasibility Study on Block 14 and continue to advance our exploration initiatives in Sudan and Cote dIvoire, without having to go back to the market at this time.

About Orca Gold Inc.

Orca Gold Inc. (TSX-V:ORG) is a Canadian resource company focused on exploration and development opportunities in Africa. Led by a board of directors made up of industry experts and a management team with a track record of discovering and building significant mines globally, Orca is developing one of the leading gold projects in Africa. The Company is currently focused on completing a Feasibility Study on its 70%-owned Block 14 gold project in the Republic of the Sudan and is actively conducting exploration on its strategic portfolio of highly prospective gold properties in Cote dIvoire.

For Further Information, Contact:

Elina Chow

Investor Relations

Catch Advisory Group Inc.

416.645.0935 x 226

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Richard P. Clark

Chief Executive Officer

Orca Gold Inc.

604.689.7842

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding Orcas (the Company, the Corporation, we or our) plans and expectations relating to the Block 14 project (Block 14) in northern Sudan and the Feasibility Study (FS) currently being conducted by the Corporation. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Statements concerning mineral resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent that they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered if the property is developed. The assumptions, risk and uncertainties outlined below are non-exhaustive. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements of the Corporation, or industry results, may vary materially from those described in this presentation.

Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as expects, anticipates, believes, plans, projects, estimates, assumes, intends, strategy, goals, objectives, potential, possible or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events, conditions or results may, could, would, should, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are not guarantees of future performance and are based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made including without limitation, assumptions about the following (the Forward-Looking Factors): future prices of gold and other metals; successful exploration, development, and production of Block 14; the timing and completion of the FS; performance of contractual obligations by counterparties; operating conditions; political stability; obtaining governmental approvals and financing on time; financial projections and budgets; obtaining licenses and permits; government regulation of the Corporations mining activities; environmental risks and expenses; market conditions; the securities market; price volatility of the Corporations securities; currency exchange rates; foreign mining tax regimes; insurance and uninsured risks; financial projections and results; competition; availability of sufficient capital, infrastructure, equipment and labour; dependence on key personnel; dependence on outside parties; conflicts of interest; litigation; land title issues; local community issues; estimation of mineral resources; realization of mineral resources; timing and amount of estimated future production; the life of Block 14; reclamation obligations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated; and anticipated costs and expenditures and our ability to achieve the Corporations goals. While we consider these assumptions to be reasonable, the assumptions are inherently subject to significant business, social, economic, political, regulatory, competitive and other risks and uncertainties, contingencies, many of which are based on factors and events that are not within the control of the Corporation and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to the Forward-Looking Factors above, and those factors disclosed under the heading Risk Factors in the Corporations documents filed from time to time with the securities regulators in the provinces of Canada.

In addition, a number of other factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Corporation to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, and there is no assurance that the actual results, performance or achievements of the Corporation will be consistent with them. For further details, reference is made to the risk factors discussed or referred to in the Corporations annual and interim managements discussion and analyses on file with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available electronically on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Although the Corporation has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events, results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Such forward-looking statements and information are made or given as at the date of this presentation and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or 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.THUNDER BAY, ON, April 4, 2018 /CNW/ - Wolfden Resources Corporation (WLF.V) is pleased to announce results for the next five drill holes completed on its wholly-owned Pickett Mountain base-metal project, in Northern Maine, U.S.A. Pickett Mountain is one of the highest-grade undeveloped VMS projects in North America.

Figure 1. Pickett Mountain Project - Longitudinal Section





The ongoing 10,000 metre drill program is intended to infill and confirm historical results from the 1980's that included approximately 90 drill holes. The program will soon focus on expanding the limits of the previously defined massive sulphide mineralization that consists of two lenses approximately 400 m in length, 4 to 10 m in width and up to 800 m in depth. Wolfden intends to complete a qualified mineral resource estimate by year end using the historical data in combination with its own data.

Drill holes PM-18-004, 005 and 006 tested the East Lens while PM-18-007 and 008 tested the West Lens. Holes PM-18-005 and 006A both intersected wide zones of massive sulphide comprised primarily of pyrite and as a result, returned lower values of base-metal mineralization in the upper most portion of the East Lens. The other holes returned high-grade base-metal mineralization over appreciable widths. Results for all of the drill holes are tabulated below.

Hole ID From (m) To

(m) Length

(m) True

Width(m) Zn% Pb% Cu% Ag (g/t) Au (g/t) Zn+Pb+Cu% PM-18-004 173.6 180.9 7.3 6.5 13.8 5.1 1.3 144.7 1.1 20.3 PM-18-005 278.1 323.9 45.8 30.0 1.3 0.5 0.6 24.0 0.4 2.4 PM-18-005 incl. 278.1 282.0 3.9 2.6 2.9 1.1 0.5 31.9 0.4 4.6 PM-18-006A 254.5 296.9 42.4 28.0 1.7 0.6 0.6 22.8 0.4 2.9 PM-18-006A incl. 290.7 294.9 4.2 2.8 3.4 1.2 1.0 40.9 0.6 5.6 PM-18-007 279.7 311.2 31.5 20.0 4.4 1.6 1.0 60.5 0.6 7.0 PM-18-007 incl. 279.7 287.6 7.9 5.1 14.8 5.7 2.4 187.3 1.3 22.9 PM-18-008 342.3 346.0 3.7 2.8 12.8 3.6 0.3 63.9 0.5 16.7

To date, fifteen drill holes have been completed and the program is expected to continue based on positive results. Laboratory results from the drilling have been slower than expected as result of the high level of activity in the area from other Companies. Wolfden will explore all possibilities to speed up the return of results.

Expansion Potential

Ground geophysical surveys have commenced over the main mineralization and potential extensions in order to generate the next round of drill targets. Surveys include, a recently completed induced polarization (IP) survey where preliminary results exhibit a very strong IP signature associated with the main zone as well as a similar and continuing signature along-strike to the northeast and southwest extensions. Once these results have been refined, they will be follow-up with ground trothing and drilling.

An upcoming large-loop ground electromagnetic (EM) survey (EM) as well as bore-hole EM surveys will further assist in identifying potential drill targets, particularly at depth. This survey is expected to be completed in April.

A regional airborne geophysical survey (VTEM) will follow the completion of the ground EM survey to explore approximately 20km of the favourable belt of volcanic rocks with the goal of identifying "look-a-like" signatures to the Pickett Mtn. main zone. Typically, massive sulphide districts in the North American Appalachians, including Bathurst and Buchans, are characterized by the presence of several deposits or clusters of lenses and mineralization. Ground trothing will follow-up any new targets identified by the regional survey that should be completed by early May.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Wolfden adheres to strict Quality Assurance and Quality Control protocols including routine insertion of blanks and certified reference standards in each sample batch of drill core that is sent to the lab for analyses. Drill core samples are split in half using a diamond saw with one half saved for reference and the other half shipped via secure transport to Activation Laboratories sample preparation facility in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Core samples are analyzed for zinc, lead and copper utilizing sodium peroxide fusion, acid dissolution followed by ICP-OES (Code 8). Gold is analyzed by fire assay (30 g) utilizing AA finish (Code 1A2) and samples with over 5 g/t are analyzed by fire assay with gravimetric finish (Code 1A3). Silver is analyzed by fire assay with gravimetric finish (Code 8-Ag).

About Wolfden

Wolfden is a Canadian exploration and development company focused on advancing its wholly owned high-grade (Zn, Pb, Cu, Ag) VMS Pickett Mountain Project in Maine, USA. Located close to excellent infrastructure, the company plans to complete sufficient exploration, definition drilling and various technical studies in order to demonstrate the economic potential for an underground mining scenario on the Project.

The information in this news release has been prepared and approved by Donald Hoy, M.Sc., P. Geo., President and CEO, who is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.

Cautionary Statement regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain information that may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking information"), including but not limited to information about future drilling activities at the Pickett Mountain Project; the timing and completion of an anticipated mineral resource estimate and technical studies at the Pickett Mountain Project; and the scope of and the anticipated effect of new mining legislation in Maine. This forward-looking information entails various risks and uncertainties that are based on current expectations and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such information. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the global economy; the price of base metals and minerals generally; operational, funding and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; the degree to which factors which would make an underground mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with mineral exploration and mining operations; and the ability of Wolfden to fund its substantial capital requirements and operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada available at www.sedar.com. Readers are urged to read these materials. Wolfden assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by law.

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.TORONTO, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eloro Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:ELO) (FSE:P2Q) (Eloro or the Corporation) is pleased to provide an update on planned diamond drilling and geological work at its 90% owned La Victoria Gold/Silver Project in Ancash Department, Peru. EHR Resources Limited of Perth, Australia, is earning up to a 25% interest in La Victoria and has earned a 10% interest with the successful completion of Phase I exploration (see News Release March 1, 2018).

Eloro completed 2,261m of reconnaissance diamond drilling in eight drill holes in autumn 2017 to test the Rufina Target at La Victoria. Drilling showed a major gold-bearing epithermal system approximately 350m wide.

Geological work completed by Eloro and by Dr. Neil Banerjee, Associate Professor and Industrial Research Chair in Advanced Mineral Exploration, Department of Earth Sciences at Western University, London, Ontario have conclusively demonstrated that there is an extensive multi-phase low sulphidation epithermal gold mineralizing system on the La Victoria Gold/Silver Project. Gold mineralization is found in several structural settings both parallel to the northeast-southwest Puca Fault, a major feature controlling mineralization at Rufina, Victoria, and Victoria South target zones, as well as on north-south tear faults, possibly related to the Shallca Fault, implicit in mineralization at Victoria and San Markito target zones. Mineralization has been identified over 1.5 km vertically, from 2700m elevation at Rufina to 4200m at San Markito and along strike over at least 3.0 km on La Victoria concessions.

Phase II Drilling

A total of 4,500m is planned for Phase II diamond drilling, which will test San Markito, Victoria/Victoria South, and further test Rufina mineralization in the Candelario Sector.

San Markito

At San Markito, gold and silver mineralization is found within breccias and veins both within dioritic intrusives and at contacts with and within Chimu Formation sediments. This Formation hosts the important gold deposits at La Arena Gold Mine, Virgen Gold Deposit, Shahuindo Gold Mine, and Comarsa Gold-Copper Mine. Gold is found principally within veins and silver within breccias.

The San Markito contact zone target is some 1,300m long and 400m wide. Eloro will test approximately 300m exposed at the northern end where some twelve veins have been identified at surface within the breccia. Six diamond drill holes totalling 1,785m are planned.

Victoria/Victoria South

The Victoria Gold/Silver Zone is located east of San Markito within Quartz Feldspar Porphyry and diorite intrusives near the contact with Chicama Formation sedimentary rocks. Mineralized structures show four principal orientations; the predominant orientations are northwest and north trending. Structures are exposed from between 10m to 100m each with widths of up to 1.0m where exposed.

Victoria South is characterized by structural vein sets between 5m and 30m wide. The principal vein set is the San Carlos vein set, which consists of hydrothermal quartz-breccias and sulphide veins with abundant iron alteration and drusy quartz in a shear zone. Six diamond drill holes totalling 1500m are planned to test these targets.

Rufina

Two additional drill holes are planned for the Candelario Sector at the Rufina Target, following up on the 2017 Phase I drilling (see press release January 16, 2018). The Candelario Sector shows three main North-South vein zones in a porphyritic diorite. Veins and stockworks are mineralized with arsenopyrite and pyrite, and this area has been a focus of artisanal mining in the past. Two holes totalling 600m are planned for the Candelario Target, one of which will test the Puca fault between Rufina East and Rufina West.

Petrographic and Geochemical Studies

Eloro is working with Dr. Neil Banerjee of Western University, London, Ontario on petrography and lithogeochemistry to better define the characteristics of alteration and mineralization at La Victoria as well as compare these to known deposits in the belt. Initial work by Western University was carried out on rock samples collected from the 2017 geological mapping at La Victoria with preliminary results presented at the PDAC Convention. This study is being expanded to include recent diamond drill core. Initial observations appear favourable and are consistent with field observations from Eloro geologists.

Dr. Banerjee, in his preliminary report, notes, Mineralogical associations with large known epithermal systems near the property (La Arena and Shahuindo) are consistent with those found at La Victoria indicating similar gold mineralizing systems were responsible. This further suggests that mineralization at La Victoria may be part of a very large district-wide system.

Eloro CEO Tom Larsen said, Our geologists have been working very hard to prepare for the Phase II drill program. We are especially excited about the work that shows the sedimentary deposit environment at San Markito is similar to La Arena and Shahuindo, and about the preliminary results from Western University confirming that mineralizing systems at La Victoria are similar to those at other gold/silver deposits in the Northern Peru Mineralized Belt, from the Pierina Gold Mine in the south to the Yanacocha Gold Mine in the north.

Permitting to move drill platforms to test Victoria, Victoria South and Rufina is underway, with approval expected in May, 2018. Eloro has also been very active with community relations in the villages of Huandoval, Huacaschuque, and Pallasca, including advising on a fish hatchery project in Pallasca.

Qualified Person

Dr. Bill Pearson, P.Geo., a Qualified Person in the context of National Instrument 43-101 has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

About Eloro Resources Ltd.

Eloro is an exploration and mine development company with a portfolio of gold and base-metal properties in Peru and Quebec. Eloro owns a 90% interest in the La Victoria Gold/Silver Project, located in the North-Central Mineral Belt of Peru some 50 km south of Barricks Lagunas Norte Gold Mine and Tahoes La Arena Gold Mine. The Property consists of eight mining concessions and eight mining claims encompassing approximately 89 square kilometres. The Property has good infrastructure with access to road, water and electricity and is located at an altitude that ranges from 3,100 m to 4,200 m above sea level.

For further information please contact Thomas G. Larsen, Chairman and C.E.O. of Eloro Resources Ltd., or Jorge Estepa, Vice-President of Eloro Resources Ltd. at (416) 868-9168.

Information in this news release may contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information express, as at the date of this news release, the Corporations plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations, or beliefs as to future events or results and are believed to be reasonable based on information currently available to the Corporation. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

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 release.April 4th, 2018 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, British Columbia - LiCo Energy Metals Inc. ("the Company" or LiCo") TSX-V: LIC, OTCQB: WCTXF announces its proposed Exploration Programs for both its Teledyne & Glencore Bucke Cobalt Properties located in Ontario Canada situated in Bucke & Lorraine Townships, 6 km east-northeast of Cobalt, Ontario.

Glencore Bucke Cobalt Property

A surface exploration work program including geological mapping and prospecting is recommended to further evaluate the geological potential of the Property. Management believes that potential remains on the Property for the discovery of parallel mineralized zones to that of the Northwest and Main zones.

A two-phase drilling program of up to 4,000 m of diamond drilling program has been planned by LiCo to continue to test the mineralization along strike of the Northwest and Main zones along strike to the south, with the intent of completing a 43-101 compliant resource estimate upon its completion, as well as testing any other targets that may be generated from the surface mapping and prospecting programs.

In 1981, Teledyne Canada Ltd., completed 36 diamond drill holes totaling 10,903 ft (3323.3 m) on the Property, and delineated two mineralized zones, named the Main Zone and Northwest Zone, measuring 500 ft (152.4 m) and 200 ft (70.0 m) in length respectively (Bresee, 1982). Based on the surface drill program completed by Teledyne, historical reserves of 60,000 tons in the geologically inferred category, and 15,000 tons in the probable category, at an average grade of 0.45% Co, 3.0 oz/t Ag was estimated (Linn, 1983). The reserve estimate is a historical estimate as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The historical reserve estimate contains categories that are not consistent with current CIM definitions. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. No attempt was made to reconcile the historical reserve calculations as reported by Teledyne Tungsten. LiCo is not treating the historical reserve estimate as a current mineral resource or mineral reserve.

Teledyne Cobalt Property

A surface exploration work program including geological mapping, prospecting, and mechanized stripping is recommended for the Property. Planned work will compile and evaluate historical showings and past exploration work to generate exploration targets on both the unpatented and patented mining claims. As at Glencore Bucke, management believes that potential remains the west of the Teledyne Main Zone for the discovery of parallel mineralized zones.

A two-phase drilling program of up to 1500 m has been planned to extend the known mineralization on the Main Zone and follow up on targets generated from the Phase 2 surface exploration program.

From 1979 through to 1980, Teledyne Canada Ltd., completed 6 surface diamond drill holes and 22 underground diamond drills for an aggregate of 3,160.8 m on the Teledyne Cobalt Property. Based on the surface and underground diamond drill programs, historical reserves of 60,000 tons in the geologically inferred category, and 40,000 tons in the probable category, at an average grade of 0.45% Co, 0.6 oz/t Ag was estimated (Linn, 1983). The reserve estimate is a historical estimate as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The historical reserve contains categories that are not consistent with current CIM definitions. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. No attempt was made to reconcile the historical reserve calculations as reported by Teledyne Tungsten. LiCo is not treating the historical reserve estimate as a current mineral resource or mineral reserve.

The proposed multi-phase diamond drilling programs follow up the successful completion of the Company's Teledyne & Glencore Bucke Phase 1 diamond drilling programs during the fall of 2017. Here, LiCo completed a combined 32 diamond drill holes totaling over 4,100 m of drilling with results published by the Company on January 26th, 2018 (Glencore Bucke Phase 1 Summary) and March 8th, 2018 (Teledyne Phase 1 Summary). The proposed diamond drilling programs are intended to satisfy LiCo's current flow-through financing obligations for 2018.

Mr. Tim Fernback, President & CEO of LiCo comments "Now that we have all the results tabulated from our successful Phase 1 exploration programs at Glencore Bucke and Teledyne Cobalt, LiCo has prepared additional drilling exploration programs on both Properties that assist LiCo in progressing towards completing a a 43-101 Compliant resource estimation on both Properties. LiCo's Phase 1 diamond drill programs were designed to confirm and extend the existing known mineralization along strike and up and down dip, and LiCo was successful in completing this objective. We are very excited about commencing our multi-phase phase diamond drilling on both the Teledyne and Glencore Bucke properties for 2018 and 2019."

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., an independent consulting geologist and a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101.

About LiCo Energy Metals: https://licoenergymetals.com/

LiCo Energy Metals Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's focus is directed towards exploration for high value metals integral to the manufacture of lithium ion batteries.

Glencore Bucke Cobalt Project (Cobalt, Ontario): The Company has purchased a 100% interest from Glencore Canada Corporation (subsidiary of Glencore plc) in the Glencore Bucke Property, situated in Bucke Township, 6 km east-northeast of Cobalt, Ontario, subject to a back-in provision, production royalty and off-take agreement. Strategically, the Glencore Bucke Property consists of 16.2 hectares and sits along the west boundary of LiCo's Teledyne Cobalt Project. The Property covers the southern extension of the #3 vein that was historically mined on the neighbouring Cobalt Contact Property located to the north of the Glencore Bucke Property. Diamond drilling in 1981 on the Glencore Bucke Property delineated two zones of mineralization measuring 150 m and 70 m in length.

Ontario Teledyne Cobalt Project (Cobalt, Ontario):

The Company has an option to earn 100% ownership, subject to a royalty, in the Teledyne Project located near Cobalt. Ontario. The Property adjoins the south and west boundaries of claims that hosted the Agaunico Mine. From 1905 through to 1961, the Agaunico Mine produced a total of 4,350,000 lbs. of cobalt and 980,000 oz. of silver. A significant portion of the cobalt that was produced at the Agaunico Mine located along structures that extended southward onto the Teledyne property. The Company completed a total of 11 diamond drill holes totaling 2,200 m in the fall of 2017. The drilling has confirmed cobalt mineralization present on the Property which is consistent with historical grades as reported historically by Cunningham-Dunlop (1979) and Bressee (1981), disclosed in earlier news releases. These reports are available in the public domain through MNDM's AFRI database.

NI 43-101 Reports for both the Teledyne and Glencore Bucke Properties, are publicly available on www.SEDAR.com as well as the Company's website. LiCo's recently completed diamond drilling program (September to December 2017) consisted of both twinning and infill drilling of the historical drill holes located on both the Teledyne Cobalt and Glencore Bucke Properties.

Purickuta Lithium Project (Chile):

The Purickuta Project is located within Salar de Atacama, a salt flat encompassing 3,000 km2, being about 100 km long, 80 km wide and home to approximately 37% of the worlds Lithium production and Chile itself holds 53% of the world's known lithium reserves (Source: Bloomberg Markets - June 23, 2017, "Lithium Squeeze Looms as Top Miner Front-Loads, Chile Says"). The property is 160 hectares large and is enveloped by a concession owned by Sociedad Quimica y Minera ("SQM") and lies within a few kilometers of a property owned by CORFO (the Chilean Economic Development Agency) where its leases land to both SQM and Albermarle's Rockwood Lithium Corp. ("Albermarle") for lithium extraction. Together these two companies, SQM and Albermarle, have a combined annual production of over 62,000 tonnes of LCE (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent) making up 100% of Chile's current lithium output. As reported in The Economist (June 15, 2017 - A battle for supremacy in the lithium triangle), the Salar de Atacama has the largest and highest quality proven reserves of lithium. The combination of the desert's hot sun, scarce rainfall, and the mineral-rich brines make Chile's production costs the world's lowest. This together with a favourable investment climate, low levels of corruption, and the quality of its bureaucracy and courts makes Chile a favourable place to conduct business.

Dixie Valley Lithium Project (Nevada, USA):

The Company has an option to acquire a 100% interest, subject to a 3% NSR, on a large lithium exploration project at the Humboldt Salt Marsh in Dixie Valley, Nevada. Some important geological similarities exist between various lithium brines, notably geothermal activity, a dry climate, a closed basin, an aquifer, and tectonically driven subsistence exist at Dixie Valley along with Clayton Valley and various lithium bearing salars in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.

Black Rock Desert Lithium Project (Nevada, USA):

The Company has entered into an option agreement whereby the Company may earn an undivided 100% interest, subject to a 3% NSR, in the Black Rock Desert Lithium Project in southwest Black Rock Desert, Washoe County, Nevada.

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., an independent consulting geologist and a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Tim Fernback, President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information:

This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 4, 2018) - Altamira Gold Corp. (TSXV: ALTA) (FSE: T6UP) (OTC Pink: EQTRF), ("Altamira" or the "Company") is pleased to report that the Company has claimed significant additional ground within the Juruena belt in Mato Grosso, Brazil. These new claims total 52,378 hectares and have increased the Company's strategic land positioning to over 200,000 hectares in the Juruena Belt.

During September 2017, two major mining companies, Anglo American & Nexa Resources acquired over 3M hectares of claims, largely surrounding Altamira's twelve projects (see press release dated 21st February 2018). The catalyst for this staking rush is a rumored porphyry copper discovery in the eastern part of the Juruena Belt.



Figure 1: Altamira Increases Land Positioning at Fazenda Mogno and Santa Helena in Mato Grosso, Brazil

The new claims are in areas where the Company already has small existing land positions, namely Fazenda Mogno and Santa Helena (see map). The largest of the two new areas was at Fazenda Mogno where the land position has increased to a total of 41,945 hectares. The Santa Helena project has also been expanded and now comprises a total of 21,039 Ha and is the Company's closest project to the newly discovered copper porphyry at the Jaca Target.

Altamira is also pleased to announce the commencement of a copper exploration program at the Santa Helena Project located in eastern part of the Juruena belt in central Brazil. The project is characterized by gold mineralization on surface which Altamira believes may be related to a concealed porphyry copper system.

Michael Bennett, President and CEO of Altamira stated "The discovery of the first ever copper porphyry in the Juruena belt is significant because porphyry copper deposits generally occur in clusters or belts. Where there is one, there are usually others. Gold deposits are frequently found peripheral to major porphyry copper systems and it may be that most of the gold occurrences in the belt are peripheral to yet unrecognized porphyry copper systems. We are excited to be the only junior with claims strategically situated in the heart of the belt and look forward to the results of our ongoing exploration program. We will continue to expand our gold project at Cajueiro whilst pursuing an aggressive exploration program aimed at identifying concealed copper porphyry mineralization."

About Altamira Gold Corp.

The Company is focused on the exploration and development of gold deposits within western central Brazil. The Company holds 12 projects comprising approximately 200,000 hectares, within the prolific Juruena gold belt which historically produced an estimated 7 to 10Moz of placer gold. The Company's advanced Cajueiro project has an NI 43-101 resources of 8.64Mt @ 0.78 g/t Au (for 214,000oz) in the Indicated Resource category and 9.53Mt @ 0.66 g/t Au (for 204,000oz) in the Inferred Resource category and an additional 1.37Mt @ 1.61 g/t Au in oxides (for 79,000oz in saprolite) in the Inferred Resource category (Gustavson Associates, 2016).

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

ALTAMIRA GOLD CORP.

"Michael Bennett"

Michael Bennett

President & CEO

Tel: 604.676.5660

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Guillermo Hughes, P. Geo., a consultant to the Company as well as a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor it Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. It is important to note that actual outcomes and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we do not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.TORONTO, April 4, 2018 /CNW/ - First Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V: FCC, ASX: FCC, OTCQB: FTSSF) (the "Company") today announces additional drill results from the Woods Extension Zone of Cobalt South in the Canadian Cobalt Camp. Cobalt mineralization has been identified in breccia zones as well as faults, reflecting a complex structural setting that warrants further drilling.

Highlights

Assay results from two holes confirm cobalt mineralization extends over a broader area, including: 0.47% Co and 0.50% Cu over 0.65m in FCC-18-0015 0.77% Co and 2.67% Ni over 0.30m in FCC-18-0020



Cobalt is found as two different styles of mineralization in each hole: breccia-style dominated by pyrite in drill widths up to 25m , and vein-style within an interpreted fault structure

, and vein-style within an interpreted fault structure Cobalt mineralization encountered over 250m north of the historic Frontier Mine workings in an area never previously drilled

Follow up work continues including downhole geophysical surveys and televiewer imaging to determine a possible orientation of the breccia zone and faults. Additional drilling is planned later in the year

Trent Mell, President & Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We remain encouraged by the cobalt potential of the Woods Extension Zone. Broad breccia areas have not been seen previously at either the Frontier or Keeley Mines and new fault zones continue to be found. We have confirmed cobalt occurs in two different structures at relatively shallow depths that may extend to surface. The key objective of the 2018 exploration program is to identify potential targets in the Cobalt Camp that could be amenable to open pit mining."

Assay results from the two most recent holes confirm that cobalt mineralization extends over a broader area than previously known within the Woods Extension Zone (Table 1). In FCC-18-0015, cobalt mineralization occurs within a breccia zone with pyrite, while in FCC-18-0020, cobalt veining is associated with an interpreted fault. Both intersections reflect a complex structural setting hosting cobalt as well as silver, nickel and copper which will require further work.

In early 2018, 1,436 metres of diamond drilling were completed across seven holes to explore cobalt mineralization found north of the Frontier Mine workings in the Woods Extension Zone. In 2017 several carbonate veins were intersected suggesting either a broad deformation zone had developed or that the Woods and Watson Veins are not linear as historical records indicated. The Woods and Watson Vein systems were historically the most prolific producers in Cobalt South, accounting for over 80% of the production in this area of the Cobalt Camp. Newly identified cobalt-rich veins have been associated with both the Woods and Watson Veins as well as a new vein found between these two structures. Surface mapping interpreted these structures to trend in a north-west orientation.

To follow up on these results, in 2018 an east-west fence of four holes was drilled more than 200m to the north of the 2017 holes (Figure 1). An additional three holes were also drilled near the 2017 drill holes to test for an interpreted east-west fault previously thought to terminate the Woods and Watson Veins. The new cobalt intersections reported here reflect the identification of mineralization over 250m north of the underground workings of the Frontier Mine. Copper and nickel associated with cobalt were previously intersected near Frontier Mine, suggesting a similar setting may exist in both areas.

Figure 1. Bedrock geology and location of drilling stations. Silver-cobalt veins are compiled from historic maps and locations should not be considered exact.





Drill hole FCC-18-0015 is the western-most hole of the fence, intersecting a 25m zone of chlorite-epidote altered and brecciated mafic volcanic rocks. Pyrite occurs as veins and within the matrix, infilling the brecciated rocks. Cobalt mineralization occurs in two intervals within the zone where chloritic alteration and shearing have developed. Discrete cobalt minerals and calcite veins are not visible and assumed to be finely disseminated. Throughout the breccia zone disseminated chalcopyrite occurs with pyrite and in the altered wallrocks. The orientation of this mineralization is not confirmed but may represent an offset version of the Woods Vein or may be part of another north trending structure, the Beaver Lake Vein, known to contain silver-rich mineralization.

Drill hole FCC-18-0020 was drilled northward to test for the presence of an east-west fault historically considered to terminate the Woods and Watson Veins. Overall the volcanic rocks within the drill hole are altered, specifically at 110m downhole where a 10m interval of sheared and chloritized rocks is considered to coincide with the east-west fault. Within this interval cobalt minerals occur within a discrete calcite vein. Pyrite and arsenopyrite occur over a three metre wide halo adjacent to the vein. Nickel with cobalt mineralization have been previously reported in a hole approximately 50m south of this intersection (January 10, 2018).

Table 1: Highlights of the 2018 Woods Extension Zone assay results

Hole-ID From (m) To (m) Width (m) Co % Ag g/t Cu % Ni % FCC-18-0015 32.41 32.95 0.54 0.23 3 < 0.01 0.05 FCC-18-0015 55.35 56.00 0.65 0.47 10 0.50 0.02 FCC-18-0020 114.10 114.40 0.30 0.77 3 < 0.01 2.67

Drilling lengths are as recorded downhole and do not necessarily represent true widths of mineralization as multiple vein orientations have been intersected.

Follow up work to this drill program has included downhole geophysical surveys and televiewer imaging of drill hole FCC-18-0015. Magnetic intensity, resistivity, natural gamma radiation and chargeability were measured to characterize the breccia zone and cobalt mineralization to determine if ground geophysical surveys can be effectively used. The televiewer images will be integrated with the existing geological log to determine a possible orientation of the breccia zone. Detailed mapping in outcrops is possible in the summer to determine if an expression of this zone can be found at surface.

Woods Extension Zone

The Woods Extension Zone was identified from assay results at the northern extent of the Frontier Mine. Early assay results from the Frontier Mine included an intersection of 0.83% Co and 30 g/t Ag over 0.48 metres (November 2, 2017), which was the first indication of a possible extension of the Woods Vein system.

Most cobalt-rich veins intersected demonstrate that mineralization extends outside of the silver-bearing veins. A new cobalt-nickel vein was found between the Woods and Watson Veins, grading 0.57% Co and 1.40% Ni over 0.40m (January 10, 2018), suggesting a network may exist where faults and folds converge. The highest grade cobalt veins occur at the north end of the Frontier Mine, specifically along the Watson Vein.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

First Cobalt has implemented a quality control program to comply with common industry best practices for sampling and analysis. Samples are collected from drill core from a range of 30 to 100cm length. Half-core samples are submitted for analysis. Standards and blanks are inserted every 20 samples. Duplicates are made from quarter core splits every 20 samples. Geochemical data were received from SGS Canada in Lakefield, Ontario, Canada. No QA/QC issues have been noted. SGS has used a sodium-peroxide fusion and ICP finish for analyses on all samples. Where applicable, over-range (>1%) Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb are determined by a separate fusion and ICP finish. High silver values (>1,000 g/t) are determined by gravimetric separation and fire assay finish.

Qualified and Competent Person Statement

Dr. Frank Santaguida, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release. Dr. Santaguida is also a Competent Person (as defined in the JORC Code, 2012 edition) who is a practicing member of the Association of Professional Geologists of Ontario (being a 'Recognised Professional Organisation' for the purposes of the ASX Listing Rules). Dr. Santaguida is employed on a full-time basis as Vice President, Exploration for First Cobalt. He has sufficient experience that is relevant to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code.

About First Cobalt

First Cobalt aims to create the largest pure-play cobalt exploration and development company in the world. The Company controls over 10,000 hectares of prospective land covering over 50 historic mines as well as mineral processing facilities in the Cobalt Camp in Ontario, Canada. The First Cobalt Refinery is the only permitted facility in North America capable of producing cobalt battery materials.

First Cobalt seeks to build shareholder value through new discovery, mineral processing and growth opportunities, with a focus on North America. On March 14, 2018, the Company proposed a friendly, all-share acquisition of US Cobalt Inc. for its Iron Creek Project in Idaho, U.S. The transaction remains subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. This transaction is intended to further enhance First Cobalt's position as a leading pure-play North American cobalt company.

On behalf of First Cobalt Corp.

Trent Mell

President & Chief Executive Officer

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects', "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". In particular, forward-looking information included in this release includes, without limitation, (i) assumptions and expectations with regard to the plan of arrangement transaction whereby First Cobalt will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of US Cobalt Inc. ("USCO"), (ii) the future prospects of the combined company, including the resource potential of the Iron Creek Cobalt Project, and (iii) the opportunity to leverage the First Cobalt refinery. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include the reliability of the historical data referenced in this press release and risks set out in First Cobalt's public documents, including in each management discussion and analysis, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although First Cobalt believes that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, First Cobalt disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.On the night before he was to travel to Kidal, Colonel Major Haidara Aboucarine awoke suddenly from a bad dream. It was May 2014, and Aboucarine was working as an officer for the government of Mali. At the time, the north of the country was contested by Touaregs belonging to the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and other groups fighting for independence in northern Mali. In the town of Kidal, a stronghold of these groups, the situation was tense in anticipation of a visit from Malis Prime Minister. Aboucarine had been summoned personally by the Governor of Kidal to lend his assistance. Aboucarines nightmare had been vivid, and given the ongoing violence in the north, others may have interpreted it as a bad omen. But Aboucarine  a devout Muslim and deeply spiritual man  was not one to be easily shaken. After praying for a short while, he returned to bed. I am an optimist, he later recalled. I never thought they would take Kidal. Days later, Aboucarine was on hand when Prime Minister Moussa Mara arrived in Kidal. It was then that several armed groups began an attempt to seize the town: men on trucks stormed the governors office, killing workers in their path. In the midst of the chaos, Aboucarine fled with a group of others into a house. He crouched his tall, lanky frame behind a wooden table, holding his breath as the house was searched. He listened as others who had hid were either taken away or shot. Hours later, Aboucarine too was discovered. The first man gave me water, but the second beat me, he said. They beat me on the head until I fell to the ground. Outside the house, his captors covered his head and shoved him into a truck with several others. The group was taken to a second location where they were packed into a small, hot room. With their hands bound, they were forced to lie on their stomach. In addition to the wounds aching on his head, Aboucarine broke his clavicle as a result of the rough treatment. They were held for nearly two days. They treated us really harshly, said Aboucarine. It was so hot in the room, it felt like there werent any windows. Some of us were ready to die. And some among us did. It was later revealed that the armed groups seized the Governors office, causing the Malian military forces to retreat, leaving the town under control of the militants. Haidara survived, but many did not: eight civilians, including six civil servants, were summarily executed by the armed groups. The May 2014 events in Kidal made headlines around the world, yet it was only one incident in a long history of conflict in Mali that has commanded international attention, including a major coup in 2012, and before that, decades of uprisings, tensions and violence involving several communities, and gross human rights violations. Today, nearly four years later, only a tenuous peace agreement prevents Mali from splitting wide open again. Several Islamic extremist groups have regained strength, and drug trafficking and transnational crime through the Sahel makes security unpredictable. Restaurants and hotels frequented by foreigners have been attacked repeatedly, as have military checkpoints and UN vehicles. Midst ever-increasing militarization, Malian human rights organizations remain concerned with the lack of security for civilians, where daily life continues to be disrupted by closure of schools and limited access to fields and jobs. A major UN peacekeeping force has been put in place, but near constant instability has made its mission in Mali the most deadly of all UN peacekeeping missions in the world. Citing the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation, the UN recently described the situation in Mali as a race against time. It is in this tense atmosphere that a group of Malians have set out to achieve the unthinkable: bring splintered communities of Mali together for a national effort of truth and reconciliation. The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Mali is tasked with establishing the truth about Malis ongoing relapses into conflict since it gained its independence in 1960. An outcome of a peace agreement, the Commission is led by commissioners who represent each of the numerous different political, ethnic, and religious groups in the country. For victims like Aboucarine who have grown tired of impunity for crimes such as those in Kidal, the Commission represents a new hope. But with ongoing violence in the country and significant challenges blocking the road to peace, the question remains: will the truth commission be able to heal the wounds of Mali?

PART I Mali is large, land-locked country in West Africa and central Sahel. Huge swaths of desert comprise most of its northern territories, which reach deep into the Sahara Desert and share long borders with Mauritania, Algeria and Niger. Majority Muslim, Mali has produced dozens of Afro-pop stars like Salif Keita, and is famous for signature sounds of kora masters like Toumani Diabate and Ali Farka Toure. Bamako, the capital city, is built along the southern banks of the Niger River, and has experienced a population surge in the past decade, including due to displacement by conflict in the region. The majority of Malians have seen multiple chapters of conflict throughout their lifetime, dating back to 1960, when the country gained its independence from France. A military-led regime ruled Mali from 1968 until a coup in 1990, leading to elections of three successive presidents. There have been deep-rooted tensions between communities in Mali, which have only intensified the many political and cultural differences in the population. The Touareg peoples reside mainly in the north of the country. Their grievances against the Government of Mali go back decades, as does their desire for independence. The most recent series of rebellions in the north began in 2011, when Touaregs who had been living in Libya returned to Mali; at the time, Islamic radical factions aligned with al-Qaeda were vying for control over territory and trade routes through the Sahel. In January 2012, armed groups launched an offensive against the Government, and the military coup that followed threw the country into crisis. Islamic militants seized cities in the north, controlling them for almost a year under strict Islamic law. Only after a military intervention by the French did the Malian Government regain control of the north. In 2013, the UN Security Council established the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) to help the Malian military maintain control of the central and northern territories. Yet these regions of Mali continued to be the battleground for various factions of Islamic extremists and other armed groups seeking to demonstrate their strength, including the siege of Kidal in 2014. New rounds of negotiations for a peace agreement successfully brought together the Government and organizations of armed groups (known as the Coordination of Azawad Movements and the Platform of Armed Groups). Provisions in the proposed agreement included a set of measures for justice and reconciliation. These were significant, because at the time of the negotiations, Mali had seen little progress to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of serious crimes, despite demands from victims organizations. The International Criminal Court (ICC) had also been active in Mali following the 2012 crisis, but its role has been limited (the ICC convicted Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi for his role in attacks against religious buildings and historic monuments). Through consultations in the peace negotiations, it was decided that Mali needed a process  a Malian-owned process  through which to address its legacy of violence. The Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali was signed in May and June 2015. On justice and reconciliation, the agreement aimed to prevent impunity and promote genuine national reconciliation and included the implementation of the truth commission. With a mission to promote lasting peace through the research of the truth, reconciliation and the consolidation of national unity and democratic values, the current Commission Verite, Justice et Reconciliation du Mali (CVJR) was born.    Since the 1980s, some 50 truth commissions have been created around the world with the intention of confronting widespread violence or societal trauma. The most recognizable of these is the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and today, truth commissions have been set up in countries as diverse as Canada, Peru, Tunisia, Cote dIvoire, and Nepal, with mixed results. Truth commissions are considered a cornerstone of transitional justice; part of a set of measures meant to address massive human rights violations of the past. For many post-conflict or post-authoritarian countries, the use of truth commissions sometimes has to do with the limited nature of criminal trials: after conflict violence, prosecuting every last person for their crimes can not only be daunting logistically, but can be perceived to risk efforts of social reconstruction  especially when a significant portion of the population has participated in hostilities. When conducted with a victim-centered approached, a truth commission can offer voice to survivors and acknowledgement from authorities about abuses of the past. The truth commission in Mali is ambitious. The mandate of the CVJR is to investigate and establish the truth about human rights violations or infringement on memory and cultural heritage spanning back to 1960. It is also expected to: propose remedies for crimes committed; create conditions to facilitate the return and reintegration of refugees and displaced persons; promote dialogue and peaceful coexistence between communities and with the Government; promote rule of law, and propose approaches to conflict prevention. The CVJR has no less than 25 commissioners, women and men representing the ten regions of the country and the full diversity of Malian ethnicities, religious groups, and political parties. Commissioners lead the work of five subcommittees: truth-seeking; victim support and reparation; studies, reports and documentation; awareness-raising and reconciliation; and gender. In addition to its headquarters in Bamako, the CVJR has expanded its presence by way of regional offices throughout the country, including in Mopti, Segou, Timbuktu, Gao and  when security allows it  an office will be opened in Kidal. As it set out to organize its approach, the CVJR had access to decades of existing human rights documentation conducted by the UN and others. With the help of additional mapping exercises, the CVJR soon had a litany of crimes to consider: summary executions and extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearances; torture and ill-treatment; violations of freedom of expression; sexual violence, and grave violations against children. To hear personal accounts of these incidents, one of the first things the CVJR set out to do was to begin gathering statements from victims. With help from its regional teams, a call was sent out to all Malians, inviting them to provide an official statement to the Commission. The response to their call was huge: by July 2017, 4,466 depositions (including 2,837 from women and 19 from children) had been collected by the CVJR. When the Commissions staff began to input the statements into its database, however, inconsistencies appeared, and it soon became clear that not all of the information that had been collected was accurate. Its speculated that this may have been due to victims expectations that their participation would secure financial compensation from the Government. The CVJR knew that the perception of falsified information threatened to undermine the legitimacy of its work. But with limited time or resources, going backwards was not an option. How was the CVJR going to successfully gather victims stories? With limited expertise in-country, the CVJR turned to its international supporters for advice, and Switzerland soon reached out to the operations arm of Justice Rapid Response (JRR) in Geneva. The organization manages a standing roster of experts, more than 650 individuals from around the world, who specialize in areas such as international investigations, prosecutions, and technical workings of transitional justice measures like truth commissions. After close consultations with the leadership of the CVJR, a transitional justice expert from the JRR roster was identified by the CVJR and invited to Mali. Weeks later, in May 2017, Hernando Caceres of Bogota, Colombia arrived in Bamako and got to work. A pedestrian walks along the road to Koulouba.

PART II The headquarters of the CVJR is in an area called Koulouba, which sits atop a lush hill overlooking Bamako. To reach it from Bamako city center requires travel through a maze of streets  some of which are paved, most of which are not. In Bamako, daily life unfolds outdoors. The city sits on earth that is a bold and burnt red, producing a dry dust that covers clothes and animals, and billows out behind the constant stream of motorcycles. From very early morning the air is already warm, the roads already thronged, and the markets abuzz with color and activity. Women in brightly patterned skirts sell eggplants, limes, and tomatoes displayed on plastic tarps. Men gather at makeshift barber stations, and goats cluster next to towering piles of green watermelons. Children walk together with colored backpacks, or play games of soccer under billboards advertising packaged, brand-name products. In the final ascent towards Koulouba, the paved winding roads and overgrown trees are a welcome respite from the city. Snaking switchbacks lead to a large complex of government buildings, guarded by a military checkpoint. Frequently in the past six months, Hernando Caceres has made this daily journey to reach his temporary office at the CVJR. Hernando, 41, is tan and slender, with a neatly trimmed beard. Alert and extroverted, he is quick to flash a wide grin when seeing someone he knows (which, even in his temporary home of Bamako, happens often). When he first arrived in Mali, Hernando examined the problem of the inconsistencies in the victim statements. Early on, through consultations with the Commissioners and their staff, it became clear that it would be impossible for the CVJR to investigate the validity of each deposition. Even if the CVJR had the time and resources (analysis of each deposition took staff nearly three hours per document), Hernando knew that the process of investigating each story could be potentially harmful  even re-traumatizing  to victims. The sensitivities around victimhood is something Hernando knows a lot about, and not only through his role as a technical expert. Growing up in Bogota, Colombia, Hernando and his family were victims of the Colombian conflict. His uncle had been kidnapped by the FARC rebel group and was never heard from again. I saw how families, friends were affected when the country was going from bad to worse, says Hernando. I knew I needed to be part of the answer. Hernando Caceres at the headquarters of the CVJR in Bamako (JRR)

After finishing university in Colombia, Hernando continued his education in France, and then went on to work on post-conflict dynamics in Cambodia. He worked on human rights issues in Burundi, and later returned to Colombia, where he joined the National Commission of Reparation and Reconciliation (Comision Nacional de Reparacion y Reconciliacion, or CNRR), a body he says is responsible for planting some of the first seeds of truth and reconciliation in Colombia. Hernando also worked with the UN Development Programme on projects to foster coexistence, reconciliation, and community-based reintegration of former combatants in over a dozen regions of Colombia. Later, he joined the UN Peacekeeping mission in DR Congo where he also worked on transitional justice issues. It was with the CNRR in Colombia, however, that Hernando saw the real value of knowing the truth about a painful past: through the work the truth commission, Hernando and his family finally learned for certain that his uncle had been killed in the conflict. It showed Hernando firsthand how simply knowing the truth about what happened can change everything. When a person is kidnapped or forcedly disappeared, life doesnt continue for his or her relatives, he explains. Normally when somebody dies, you go to the cemetery and you know they are there, and life continues somehow. But when you dont know what happened to your loved one, you expect them to come home any day, every day. Thats when I understood that truth is the best way to repair victims. Because the truth repaired us. As a skilled expert in transitional justice, Hernando was recruited by JRR and certified to its expert roster, becoming eligible for international deployment to bodies that come to JRR looking for specialized expertise. Later, when JRR called with an offer to deploy to Mali, he accepted at once, ready to share more comparative knowledge with a conflict-affected country. This is just one of the many ways Hernando feels a great sense of solidarity with Malians as they address their past, and here at the CVJR, he finds himself in good company: several of the commissioners and CVJR employees are victims of conflict themselves. Some are former combatants. But the mission of the CVJR has brought them under the same roof. Knowing Hernando is also from a conflict-affected country has made a difference in his day-to-day interactions with the Commission, and they have found they share more than they thought. For example, both multi-generational conflicts in Colombia and Mali are exacerbated by illegal drug trades. Whats more, Hernando explains, is that many drugs smuggled out of Colombia and shipped across the Atlantic are moved directly through the Sahel  including through Mali  in order to reach European and Asian markets. Being from a country that has suffered an internal conflict gave me a lot of credibility here in Mali, says Hernando. We speak the same language: the language of suffering. But also, of reconstruction. Hernando, in his office, looks through drawings created by victims of conflict (JRR)

A victim-centered approach, rather than investigative, was what Hernando eventually proposed to the CVJR: instead of asking for Malians to make individual statements, the CVJR would facilitate collective consultations, where a group of victims of a specific incident would reconstruct the truth together. A collective, representative methodology  which has been implemented in other transitional contexts  would allow victims to recreate their truth; not ask them to construct the truth or a truth, but multiple truths at the same time. Counter to what some may assume, Hernando says a truth commission is not about agreeing but rather presenting a multitude of perspectives back to society. Collective memory helps overcome the challenges that individual memory has, says Hernando. It helps re-create events in a more precise way than individual memory. For example: if I ask you, What did you wear last Monday? Do you remember? Of course not. But if I gathered your friends and co-workers and asked them, together we could probably figure it out. The CVJR agreed with the new approach. Hernando, acting as educator and mentor, first worked with staff members  some of them victims of conflict  to show how collective methodologies are facilitated. One of these is called Collective Scars. First, victims are asked to draw the outline of their body, or have it traced by laying down on a large piece of paper. Then, using the drawing, the facilitator starts asking questions about scars  both visible, and invisible. We first ask participants to tell us what happened to them early on in their life, before the conflict, says Hernando. We start with physical scars from the pastmaybe I broke my arm when I was young, or scraped my knee, so I would draw that. Then, using specific methodologies that do not re-victimize participants, I ask them to draw invisible scars: I ask, Was it hard growing up? Were you bullied at school? And then from there, we eventually go into events of the conflict. As a facilitator, I know that I want to arrive at the hardest thing to talk about  rape, for example. But in order for them to speak about rape, they first need to feel comfortable talking to the group about their scars. In total, Hernando offered five different collective methodologies to reconstruct truths and memories of victims and former combatants. As the CVJR staff learned the methodologies, they ran into some cultural challenges. For example, in Mali, when elders speak in a group, younger people do not contradict them. Gender dynamics were a challenge, too, where issues like sexual violence were too sensitive to discuss in a room with both men and women. Together, the group suggested solutions, and adjusted course. I was clear that I would teach what I knew, but then Malians would adapt it to make it work for them, says Hernando firmly. They have already started to Malian-ize the methodology. Its theirs now. Commissioner Mohamed El Moctar Ag Mohamedoun at the gate of the CVJR headquarters (JRR) PART III Its Monday morning and the CVJR commissioners and staff meet for their weekly plenary meeting. Outside, the sun is already hot, and the shades are drawn over all the windows of the conference room. Hernando is the first to arrive; its his last meeting with the full leadership of the CVJR. Men and women begin to filter in. Most are dressed in stately sky blue or white cotton garb that reaches down to their knees or ankles. Hernando greets everyone with a smile and a handshake. It is soon a buzz of greetings in French, Bambara, Tamasheq and Arabic. Daily salutations go on extensively here, where a simple Hello doesnt suffice. The room fills with earnest questions: How are you feeling today? How is your health? And your family? How are they? One elderly commissioner enters the room with a smile; upon seeing Hernando, he raises both arms joyfully and bellows out Buenos dias, Hernando! and laughter fills the room. Hernando blushes and grins from ear to ear. The 25 commissioners sit at a long wooden conference table, and Hernando sits along the wall with observers representing UN agencies and European donors of the Commission. As the meeting begins, the room transforms into a pantheon for the guardians of this process. In the collegial atmosphere, one might momentarily forget that some of the interests and agenda of these groups have been at odds for decades: nine of the commissioners represent armed groups. One commissioner at the table sits in stillness for most the meeting, watching and listening intently. When he does raise his hand to speak, the room falls into silence. Commissioner Mohamed El Moctar Ag Mohamedoun, a Touareg from the north of Mali, is the representative of the Coordination of Azawad Movements to the CVJR. He wears a traditional chech which wraps around his head and covers much of his face. Despite a serious demeanor, he is visibly one of the youngest amongst the commissioners. Like many around the table, Mohameds reasons for participating in the CVJR are deeply personal. Growing up in the Sahara, Mohamed and his family lived in refugee camps. Later, speaking from his office, he says his family had almost nothing. Mohameds voices is deep, steady and resolute; his eyes, dark and direct. As he speaks, his poise is not unlike that of a diplomat, keeping his hands folded carefully on his desk as he speaks. I know Mali from the north to the south, he says confidently. My family and I were victims our whole lives. I know what the victims in Mali are feeling because I was a victim too. Commissioner Mohamed El Moctar Ag Mohamedoun at CVJR headquarters (JRR)

The Touareg people have struggled for decades to gain political and territorial autonomy in Mali. Seeking jobs and better livelihoods, in 1963 and then during the 1970s and 1990s, thousands moved to Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Algeria as well as Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi welcomed them and integrated many into the Libyan army. After Gaddafis death, many in Libya left and returned to Mali, carrying with them weapons, military training, and new determination. After earning a scholarship and studying in Morocco, Mohamed returned to live and work in refugee camps in Mauritania, where he attended primary school, just in time to see the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA  French acronym) emerge. He joined the MNLA, and soon became a spokesperson for the Azawad cause. Later, when the CVJR came into being, Mohamed knew he wanted to be a part of it, even though relocating to Bamako would bring him far away from his friends, family, and community. In Mali, justice has never has been done, and neither has truth, he explains. Thats why conflicts are coming back. But we cannot do justice to things we dont know. Through the CVJRs sub-commission on truth-seeking, Mohamed has worked with Hernando on a daily basis. He is now among the staff members who has been entrusted with the new model of collective consultations, which he sees as a way for the CVJR to collect more stories and perspectives in a shorter amount of time, and the process is a collaboration between victims and the Commission. Hernando has helped us a lot. He has showed us the essential strategy of investigations, investigator profiles, and different techniques of collective consultation with victims, he says. Through Hernando we have begun to put this strategy in place. Colonel Major Haidara Aboucarine, Bamako.

PART IV With the methodologies adapted for the Mali context, it came time for the CVJR to bring it to the community. After careful deliberation over many potential cases, the CVJR announced that the first group of victims to be convened would be survivors of the May 2014 attack on Kidal. Victims were identified and 12 men came to the Bamako Regional office for the first official collective consultations. When Colonel Major Haidara Aboucarine received the invitation to join the consultation with the Commission, he accepted without hesitation. The years since surviving Kidal had challenged him a lot. His physical wounds had healed, but he says he struggled psychologically. Working together for three days, the group talked through the events of the Kidal attack. Just as Hernando expected, many new details came to light. The group that had been captured with Aboucarine reconstructed what had happened. One man, remembering being bound and blindfolded in the stifling heat, said he was certain that the room had no windows. Many agreed. But one man did not: he had overheard the guards speaking with one another in the Tamasheq language  which the man understood  and recalled that the guard had been instructed to open one of the windows in the room, to give the prisoners some air. Through conversations like this, victims helped each other bring the past into focus, no matter how small the details. The group slowly reconstructed every event of that day, even creating a large map of Kidal, with indications of where different incidents occurred. Recounting the emotions of the reunion, Aboucarine says there were many tears. But there was also laughter. It freed people, he said. The people have put their trust in the CVJR, and the CVJR will set us free. The detail-rich information of the Kidal attacks will be entered into the CVJR database, eventually to be published in a CVJR report alongside other accounts of major events since 1960. Soon after the initial consultation was successfully held, CVJR President announced that the Commission would adopt the collective methodologies for all of its future consultations with victims. The next task would be to bring the methodology to all the regions of Mali, including in Segou, Mopti, Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal. As the ones who had adapted the methodologies and completed the first collective consultation, it is the task of the staff of the Bamako regional office to help carry the knowledge forward. The Bamako office is in another part of the city, away from CVJR headquarters in Koulouba, so that it can be easily accessed by those who want to tell their story. The office is a sparse concrete building that feels more like a house than an office, room enough for the nine people who work there. Heading the team is Ms. Diop Djeneba Mariko a young Bambara woman who began working at the CVJR in August 2016. At the modest office premises, her petite frame is dressed in a long striped skirt and matching jacket, and her hair is neatly pinned back. She has a quiet, unassuming presence amongst the staff she manages, but when she speaks, its with a relaxed confidence, and everyone listens. Madame Diop Djeneba Mariko (JRR) A long-time human rights advocate in Mali, she sees the CVJR as a natural place for her to be. Over the years, she has also been a champion for the rights of women and children, and points to the differential impacts that the conflicts in Mali have had on women, such as widespread displacement, limited economic opportunity and sexual violence. Through the truth that the CVJR can reveal, she hopes Mali can offer remedies that respond to the situation of women who have lost everything. I saw how Bambara women were suffering, without any opportunity to speak, she says. This is why I began to work on these issues, for womens freedom to express themselves. Djeneba and her staff have steadily received victims who have come to tell their story. Some speak comfortably and can provide great detail. Others have a lot of psychological difficulty relaying what they can remember. She says the staff had worked a lot to make sure victims receive the support they need. Now, the staff is ready to take the methodology forward to an even wider group of victims.

We are thankful to JRR for sending Hernando to us, she says. We have learned many things, and it has helped us so much. Better than individual consultations, we can get more information, and that information is often even more detailed than what we get from only individual consultations. Because of what we have learned, our office can now offer training to others on truth-seeking techniques. In October 2017 as his mission came to end, one of Hernandos last stops was here to the Bamako office to say goodbye. With Djeneba, the group gathers in a sitting room with leather couches, where they review drawings that had been created as part of the consultations  each shaky outline representing the body a survivor, and no outline without indications of multiple scars. Hernando lets them do most of the talking, listening intently, and at times providing nods of encouragement. Like many others here, Djeneba is also supportive of the process being one that is nationally-owned, rather than international. Having all Malians participate  including women  will be how the CVJR will be a success. We have a saying in Mali, she says, smiling, and with careful emphasis. Which means, The prisoner is well-placed to speak of the prison where he is held. Later, Hernando is convinced to be in a group photo in front of the large metal sign for the regional office. There are handshakes and laughter, and insistent requests that Hernando return soon to Bamako. As the group says their goodbyes, directly across the road is a small lot of land, overgrown with weeds, and flanked by dilapidated concrete buildings. The lot is mostly empty save for one young tree that stands in the very center, its slender trunk growing straight and tall, its leaves a rich green against the washed-out buildings behind it. The tree almost seems like a mirage, new energy emerging from the red dust of Bamako, ready to grow. A tree grows across from the CVJR Regional Office in Bamako EPILOGUEThe evacuation of thousands of rebels and civilians from Syrias Eastern Ghouta, the last opposition bastion near Damascus, follows a string of similar operations in the seven-year war.

The regime has pushed such reconciliation deals to recapture swathes of territory, offering a halt to bombardment and siege in exchange for the evacuations, generally towards the northwestern province of Idlib.

Amnesty International, in a November 2017 report, labelled such forced displacements crimes against humanity.

Here are some of the major evacuations:

 2014 onwards: Homs 

In May 2014, rebels leave their fiefdom in the devastated Old City of Homs, previously known as the capital of the revolution, after a two-year siege.

This is the first regime-opposition deal on a rebel retreat since the war erupted in 2011, but takes years to fully implement.

Between March and May 2017, thousands are evacuated from Waer, Homss last rebel-held neighbourhood, allowing regime forces to fully retake control of Syrias third-largest city.

 2016: Daraya, Moadimayet al-Sham 

In August 2016, rebels quit Daraya in Damascus province following a deal that ended a brutal four-year regime siege and relentless bombardment.

The rebels and their families are taken to Idlib. The army retakes control of Daraya.

In September, the army evacuates some 300 Daraya inhabitants from neighbouring rebel-held Moadimayet al-Sham, where they had taken refuge three years earlier.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, criticises the strategy of forced displacement.

 2016: Aleppo 

Following a suffocating siege and blistering offensive with barrel bombs, rockets and air strikes, Syrias army in December 2016 retakes full control of second city Aleppo.

The announcement comes after tens of thousands of rebels and civilians are bussed out under a deal sponsored by Iran, Russia and Turkey.

In 2017, UN investigators say the Aleppo deal was a war crime of forced displacement of the civilian population.

 2017: Wadi Barada 

In January 2017, the army recaptures Wadi Barada, a flashpoint area supplying water to Damascus, after rebels and civilians accept safe passage to Idlib in exchange for lifting a siege.

The regime, supported by Lebanons Iran-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah, had been trying to retake the area, northwest of Damascus, since December 2016.

 2017: Four towns 

In April 2017, under a deal sponsored by regime ally Iran and rebel backer Qatar, nearly 11,000 people leave four besieged areas.

The evacuation involves Fuaa and Kafraya, two Shiite areas in Idlib province surrounded by rebels, and the rebel-held towns of Zabadani and Madaya.

The towns had previously seen medical evacuations and aid deliveries.

 2017: Barzeh, Qabun, Tishrin 

In May 2017, the regime secures a reconciliation deal for the rebel-held Damascus districts of Barzeh, Qabun and Tishrin.

Several thousand civilians and fighters leave for Idlib, allowing the regime to retake full control of the neighbourhoods.

 2018: Eastern Ghouta 

After a brutal month-old offensive, Syrias government and its ally Russia begin securing evacuation deals to clear out Eastern Ghouta.

Some 4,600 people, including 1,400 fighters from the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham rebel group, are evacuated to Idlib between March 22 and 23.

Since then more than 46,000 people, about a quarter of whom are fighters, have reached Idlib, according to Syrian authorities.

On April 2 a first wave of evacuations begins from Douma, with more than 1,100 people  Jaish al-Islam fighters and family members  setting off to northern rebel-held Jarabulus, according to state news agency SANA.

The assault on Eastern Ghouta since mid-February has killed more than 1,600 civilians and caused tens of thousands to flee into regime-held territory.Vaccine requirement makes its way to Highmark Stadium If youre 12 or older, youll now need at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to see the Buffalo Bills play in person. In a Sept. 14, press conference,...

Experience the Ghostlight Theatre like never before Engage with the spooky spirits of the Ghostlight Theatre for one weekend only from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday Sept. 24 through Sunday Sept. 26 at the Ghostlight Theatre...

Towns of Amherst, Tonawanda to experience Interstate 290 lane and road closures The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) advised motorists to expect continuing lane closures on Interstate 290 in the Town of Amherst, Erie County, weeknights from 7 p.m. to...

Voting open for proposal projects in Tonawanda The Town of Tonawanda is asking residents to cast in their votes for finalist projects funded by the Tonawanda Community Environmental Benefit Program. This program grants funds for proposal projects...

City of Tonawanda Fire Department to receive more than $106,000 in federal fire grant Congressman Brian Higgins and City of Tonawanda Mayor Rick Davis announced a federal fire grant totaling $106,145 awarded to the City of Tonawanda Fire Department through the Department of Homeland...67 Shares Share

Editors note: This story contains a racial slur crucial to the writers story.

Life has a funny tendency of unexpectedly throwing things your way. We, physicians, deal with this regularly. You never know whats lurking about to put a huge dent in your day. Particularly vexing are ugly circumstances that rock your core. And few strike such a nerve as bigotry.

When encountering a confrontational individual, our natural response  via human nature  is to counter-argue. This is doomed to fail, for an adversary who has told his opinion is wrong will never concede and understand your point. Instead, put yourself in his shoes first, respond from his perspective, and allow him to eventually see for himself the error of his ways. This is easier said than done. But doing so might win him to your way of thinking or at least save you a broken nose. I learned this early in my medical training.

I was a newbie, a first-year otolaryngology resident in 1991 when I met one unhappy patient in our clinic. I introduced myself and extended my hand. He would not take it. He just stared at me.

I used to shoot people like you, he finally said. I withdrew my hand and did something with it, perhaps straightening my tie or nervously biting my nails. I forget the details.

I shouldve been outraged by this remark, I suppose. Instead, I merely stood there, panic-stricken.

Its because of you people  I was wounded. He leaned forward. But I shot and killed a bunch of you!

Holy cow! cried in my head. I remained confounded, entirely at a loss for what to do or say.

What do you say about that? he eventually asked.

It dawned on me he was a Vietnam vet. Im not Vietnamese, but I figured arguing from that perspective wouldnt matter. He still saw an Asian guy. I knew Id encounter patients like this in one form or another as a doctor. But reality has a funny way of bringing to light the direness of frightful circumstances since it is so  real and far greater than once imagined. And this threw me for a loop.

I reckoned I should perhaps stand my ground, knowing he could knock me out cold. The one positive consequence was that if I were injured really bad, the senior resident wouldnt make me take call that night.

I dont understand, I finally muttered. You shot other Americans? This was the best response my brain could assemble on the spot. I surmised pointing out our similarities rather than our differences was the best approach.

No! I used to shoot people like YOU! He was one scary vet. People who came from where YOU came from! he pointed a gnarled finger at me. My eyes focused on that finger, a deformed appendage unable to extend itself completely, but just as ominous as the fellow possessing it. I figured he could whack me upside the head with that finger and send me flying through the window into the garbage dumpster below. With no other recourse, I stuck to my guns, so to speak.

You mean, you shot people from California? Provoking him was not my intention, and I honestly was not trying to be a wise-ass.

Are you being a wise-ass, boy? I held my ground not from courage, but instead from paralysis by fear.

No, sir. Im from California, I replied meekly. Then I stupidly added, Uh, arent Californians Americans as well?

No, no! he shouted. I mean, yeah! You know what I mean! I shot gooks like you in Vietnam!

I was stuck. Then a possible counter-strategy of sorts came upon me, one that might succeed or completely backfire and land me with a black eye and a bunch of missing teeth. I was already in pretty deep with this guy, so I took the risk.

I was born in California. Im half-Japanese, I added, I thought we are allies with the Japanese.

Half Jap? he inquired. Whats the other half?

Uh, Chinese. Werent we allies with the Chinese during World War II? I know theyre a bunch of Commies now, but thats not my fault. Both of my parents were born in California. My grandmother was born in Los Angeles of all places. And this is the farthest Ive been from home. Never been to any Asian countries, let alone Vietnam.

Oh yeah?

Yep. Never been outside the U.S. Well, I did go to Tijuana, Mexico once. Its just across the border, south of San Diego. You probably know that. The border patrol almost wouldnt let me come back  thought I was a Mexican or something. Or maybe they thought I was a Chinese Communist trying to sneak into the country through Mexico. I really dont know, never went back to ask. I was just glad to be back home. Never went to Tijuana again.

Oddly, his attitude slowly changed. He chuckled. We talked a little more, and he eventually allowed me to examine him. As it turned out, the poor guy had cancer.

We got along splendidly afterward. At his follow-up appointments, hed shout, Where the hell is Fong? Hes my doc! Now and then he talked a little about Vietnam, where he lost a friend during combat, blown to pieces by a grenade. I understood how his hatred for people who looked like me came to be, but this eventually softened. Looking back, I like to think we both were better people having met one another. My only regret is that Ive forgotten his name.

The lesson? I diffused a near-explosive engagement and created  with a bit of dumb luck  one that benefitted us both. Its easy to react by countering like with like, an approach that will not convince your adversary to see your point of view. You can choose how to respond to any conflict. The power lies in your hands. Its another application of empathy, that time-honored quality we doctors are supposed to possess.

Understanding anothers mindset and tailoring your approach from this perspective can make all the difference.

Randall S. Fong is an otolaryngologist.

Image credit: Shutterstock.comKilkenny is one of ten local authorities to have a migrant integration strategy in place, it has been revealed.

Fianna Fails Fiona OLoughlin asked the Minister for Justice for the local authorities that have an active migrant integration strategy in place.

A recent survey was undertaken of the 31 local authorities on week beginning March 12 of this year and all 31 responded. Ten local authorities confirmed that they have a migrant integration strategy.

These include: Carlow; Dublin City; Dun Laoghaire Rathdown; Galway; Kerry; Kildare; Limerick City and County; Mayo and South Dublin.

Around 25 to 30 Syrian families are being welcomed to Kilkenny as part of the Irish Governments commitment to The Irish Refugee Protection Programme.

The vision of the migrant integration strategy is that migrants are facilitated to play a full role in Irish society, that integration is a core principle of Irish life and that Irish society and institutions work together to promote integration.

It includes migrants being enabled to and expected to participate in economic life  in employment and self-employment.

NATIONWIDE

Minister of State David Stanton said: 21 local authorities have stated they do not have a migrant integration strategy, in addition local authorities are addressing migrant integration and wider social inclusion through their Local Economic and Community Plans (LECP).

The development of local authority integration strategies will be undertaken within the framework of the National Strategy.

Action 52 of the Migrant Integration Strategy - A Blueprint for the future, which was published on 7 February 2017, provides for the updating of integration strategies by local authorities over the lifetime of the Strategy i.e. from 2017 to 2020.

A Monitoring and Co-ordination Committee has been established to support the process of implementing the Migrant Integration Strategy.

REPORT

The Committee, which comprises representatives of relevant Government Departments, State Agencies and the NGO sector, met for the third time in January 2018 and are due to meet again in May 2018. Progress on the implementation of the actions in the Strategy will be reviewed at the end of 2018 and a report prepared for Government.

In a statement, Kilkenny County Council said: Nationally the government through the Irish Refugee Protection Programme has pledged to offer safety and protection to approximately 4000 asylum seekers/refugees.

The Programme commits Ireland to offering families and children, who have been compelled to leave their homes due to war and conflict, a place of safety.

Kilkenny forms part of that response and has agreed to resettle 140 Syrian Refugees as part of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme.

The Council chairs a Statutory Resettlement Committee who have been working together with the Department of Justice and Equality to resettle families in Kilkenny.

This process is supported by a Resettlement Worker and an Intercultural Interpreter, which is all funded through the Department of Justice and Equality, to support families in resettlement as well as to support wider, two way, integration for families and communities.A Kilkenny boy has seen his letter among the few chosen from thousands to be part of a book welcoming His Holiness Pope Francis to Ireland when he visits in August.

The concept of the book began when The Irish Catholic launched a Failte Pope Francis competition to celebrate the 9th World Meeting of Families, and the Popes visit. The competition saw children from all over Ireland, aged six to nine, draw a picture and write a letter of welcome to him.

Because there were so many letters sent in, Columba Press decided to pick their favourite ones and put them in a book.

Brandon Carroll, who is in second class at St Leonards National School in Dunnamaggin, was one of those whose letter was picked. He is the only child from Kilkenny to feature in the book. His letter asks for everyone to pray together for peace in the world, and he compliments the Pope on his 'Pope Mobile'.

Brandon is eight years old, and is making his Holy Communion later this month. His proud parents Gerry and Michelle Carroll, and brothers Dylan and Joshua, were delighted his letter was chosen.

Brandon, along with three other children, was also recently invited to the Today Show with Daithi and Maura, along with Mags Gargan from Columba Press, to discuss the book.

By Kim Jae-kyoung



People in South Korea are becoming unhappier.



This unhappiness is not isolated to any specific group but is pervasive throughout society.



The younger generation here sees limited opportunities to achieve success; newlyweds can't afford to buy houses; those in their 40s and 50s are worried about compulsory redundancies; and a large portion of the elderly segment cannot afford their own retirement.



Most importantly, many people in the middle class feel overworked with no corresponding reward. Raising a child in this environment is less and less of a joyful experience.



Korea has been admired by many developing countries for its remarkable economic success but the achievements have failed to deliver "true happiness" for Koreans.



The real concern is that more Koreans are feeling less happy over time. Simply put, few people feel their well-being is improving despite an increase in living standards, including per capita income.



This gloomy reality is well manifested in one of the latest surveys.



According to the 2018 World Happiness Report by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Korea ranked 57th among 156 countries on a global happiness index.



The ranking was based on various factors, including life expectancy, social support and corruption.





By Park Si-soo







A North Korean woman was recently executed for killing her friend with an ax over a small amount of money, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Wednesday.







The tragedy reflected the deepening economic trouble facing North Korean people amid international sanctions on the isolated country over its nuclear and missile programs, it said.







Citing sources in the North, RFA said the incident happened at a border village in Hoeryong, North Hamgyung Province. The date and exact location are unknown.







The woman, in her 20s, killed her friend in a fit of anger during an altercation over a small amount of money. She was caught, convicted of homicide and recently shot to death. Further details are unknown.







A source told RFA that many villagers sympathized with the woman, expressing their distress over the bad economy. Some vented frustration over the regime's poor management of the economy, RFA said.

By Ephraim Kasozi.

The stick-wielding man who reportedly attempted to attack Bishop Kityo Luwalira during Easter prayers at Namirembe Cathedral is to be arraigned in court today.

According to Luke Oweyesigire, the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, charges of disrupting a religious gathering have been preferred against Herbert Kaddu and the file sent to the Resident State Attorney for legal advice.

Kaddu was arrested on Easter Sunday while dressed in traditional bark cloth after he jerked in the direction of the alter where Bishop Luwalira and Diocesan Deacon Benon Kityo were preparing the holy communion, throwing the entire congregation into panic.

Earlier the police said Kaddu claimed he had gone to seek healing from evil spirits that have been harassing him for months.

Man attacks Bishop Luwalira during Easter serviceFive companies are lined up to investigate the Bank of Uganda operations and the sale of Crane Bank to dfcu bank.

These are all still under scrutiny and the successful company will later work with a team of forensic experts from the office of the Auditor General led by forensics director James Bantu.

The audit firms that have been shortlisted by the Auditor General are EY Uganda, Deloitte and Touch, Tomson& Company, KPMG and Pricewater-house Coopers.

Some members of the audit commit chaired by the Assistant Auditor General KetoNyapendi have queried some firms believed to have conflict of interest in the investigation.

Two of these are Pricewater-house Coopers and KPMG which were auditors for Crane Bank.

For more details and an in depth analysis of this story get yourself a copy of the Daily Monitor.By Amos Ngwomoya.

Kampala Capital City Authority council meeting on Wednesday resolved to halt the demolition of all illegal structures in the city until a probe is done on which structures must be demolished.

The resolution was made after the Rubaga male councilor, AbubakerKawalya challenged the manner in which operations are being made, arguing that KCCA enforcement does the work abruptly before informing people.

The demolitions have left people homeless Bse KCCA doesnt give notices to people before they carry out the exercise,  he said.

Mr Kawaalya noted that before demolitions are made, there must be a timetable with clear guidelines on which buildings must be demolished.

However, Mr Samuel Serunkuuma, the KCCA Acting executive director told council that the technical team will stop the demolitions for two weeks as they work with the committee of legal affairs and physical planning to come up with a full list of buildings that ought to be demolished, pending investigations of claims of those whose structures were demolished.

For now, the demolitions can stop as we look into the matter comprehensively with the responsible committees. I am sure we shall have finished this in the next two weeks so that we can have a full report on illegal structures, he said.

When the Lord Mayor asked Mr Serunkuuma why some illegal structures in the city keep cropping up, he said that some developers defy laws hence they construct at night. But he said that they have now moved to demolish them.

But for the old buildings which were built illegally, Mr Sserunkuuma said that this will require a court order to have them demolished, something he said, needs council resolution.Mumbai, April 4: A 65-year-old woman was arrested today for allegedly killing her 75-year-old husband who she suspected was having an "extra-marital affair with two women" from their neighbourhood in suburban Chembur, police said. The deceased, identified as Chotelal Mourya, was found lying injured in his home in Memon Nagar area in the eastern suburb, where he was residing with his wife Dhanu Devi, on Sunday, a police officer said.

A police team rushed to the house and shifted Mourya to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead before admission, he said. Initially, police registered a case of accidental death and launched a probe. "However, a case of murder was registered by Tilak Nagar police yesterday on the basis of the postmortem report which identified head injury as the cause of Mourya's death," said DCP, Zone VI, Sahaji Umap.

During an investigation it came to light that nobody had entered Mourya's house from outside as claimed by Devi and that she was the only person present inside the house at the time of the incident, he said. Based on suspicion, police began probing Devi's role. "The woman confessed to the crime today. She said she had killed her husband as he was having an illicit relationship with two women in the area," said the officer. He said Devi allegedly hit her husband with a paver block when he was sleeping after lunch on April 1. Police have booked a case against Devi and further investigation is underway.Mathura, April 4: In an appalling and disturbing case of medical apathy, a woman was seen carrying her differently-abled husband on her back as they had no access a wheel-chair or a tricycle. As per reports by ANI, the woman carried her husband on her back to the office of the chief medical officer in Mathura to obtain a disability certificate.

Describing her ordeal, the woman said that they had no access to a wheel-chair or a tricycle. She said they had visited many different offices but still have not got the disability certificate for her husband.

Mathura: A woman was seen carrying her differently-abled husband on her back to office of chief medical officer to obtain a disability certificate, says' we have no access to a wheel-chair or a tricycle. We went to many different offices but still have not got the certificate.' pic.twitter.com/nqtHetCOtZ  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 4, 2018

In March, what can be termed as medical apathy, two people, who got injured in a railway accident, were seen lying on the bed with their hands and legs tied in AMUs Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College. As per reports by ANI, the two patients were seen seeking help, while hospital staff remained missing from the emergency ward.

As per details, the Chief Medical Officer of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, SAH Zaidi clarified that the patients were tied to the bed as did not have side guards. They are being treated by senior doctors. Our beds don't have side guards. The patients don't have any relative with them and our staff can also not sit here all the time. So, we have tied them to the bed to stop them from falling.

In another similar incident, the amputated leg of a road accident victim was allegedly used as a pillow to prop him up on the stretcher at a large government hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi.

A cellphone footage of the stomach-churning scene got viral on social media while hospital authorities were forced to order an inquiry into the incident. As per details, four staff members of the hospital, including a doctor, a medical official, and two nurses have been suspended pending inquiry.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 04, 2018 10:02 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).London, April 4: As Bangladesh gears up for the general elections to be held in December this year experts are fearing that hardline forces in the country have started gaining ground in a bid to remove the current moderate Government in Dhaka. The Khalida Zia-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami and other Islamic fundamentalist groups, are making attempts to vote out the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League.

Experts believe that the Jamaat-e-Islami has committed war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War and killed three million people in the name of Islam. Around 500,000 women were reportedly violated by the Pakistan Army and their collaborators. Shahriar Kabir, a Dhaka-based journalist and human rights activist, said, "The rise of Islamic militancy, terrorism in the name of Islam that is being perpetrated by the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Hifazat-e-Islam, and backed by the BNP, one of the largest political parties of Bangladesh. Because of the BNP, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Hifazat-e-Islam as well as other fundamentalist and extremist groups have become so violent and we have see their violence starting from February 2013.

Experts sitting offshore are also concerned over the growing alliance of the BNP and Islamic fundamentalists as they believe the perpetrators of 1971 are still stronger than pro-liberation forces. Rohan Gunaratna, an international terrorism expert based in Singapore said, "The Jamaat-e-Islami ideology has formed the sea bed, the foundation for the emergence of extremist and terrorist groups in Bangladesh. If not for the Jamaat-e-Islami, so many people would not have been radicalised and we have seen the emergence of JMB (Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh), HuJI-B, the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh and a number of other groups."

The rise of Islamic forces in Bangladesh not only affects the common people in the country, but also raises concerns for the fragile neighbourhood. BNP-Jamaat-led coalition governments in the past had provided shelter, funds and training to secessionist insurgent groups of north eastern India. A BNP return to power would mean New Delhi facing a difficult government in Dhaka which in the past has permitted terror groups to operate freely from its soil.United States President Donald Trump raised eyebrows today after he announced at a press conference that he wants to deploy military forces at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump was speaking after a summit with leaders from three Baltic states on Tuesday.

Donald Trump said the U.S.-Mexico border is unprotected by laws and the U.S. has 'weak border laws', adding that he had spoken to Mexico to stop illegal migrants attempting to cross into the U.S. He said, "We don't have laws. We have catch and release and people come after many years for court cases except that they virtually never come back".

He further claimed to prepare its military forces to guard the borders after consulting Former Major General of U.S. Army (Ret.) General David Morris.

Trump's statement reportedly took many Pentagon officials by surprise, in that they knew of his desire to ratchet up border security, but are not sure what he meant exactly, according to multiple Defense Department and military officials.

The White House had to clarify later in the day the president meant the deployment of U.S. National Guards when he referred to deploying the military to the border as a U.S. law prohibits the enforcement of U.S. laws by the U.S. Armed Forces on American soil. If any branch of the armed forces in indeed deployed then they would be restricted to reconnaissance and intelligence gathering missions.

But, Trump's proclamation of sending troops to the border is not the first time the U.S.-Mexico border will see the presence of the U.S. National Guards. The CNN notes that under President George W. Bush, a border deployment of the National Guard known as Operation Jump Start started in 2006 and lasted two years. The operation sent more than 6,000 troops to California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to repair secondary border fence, construct nearly 1,000 metal barriers and fly border protection agents by helicopter to intercept immigrants trying to enter illegally.

In 2010, the Obama administration deployed National Guard troops as part of a border protection plan. Officials in 2010 said up to 1,200 National Guard troops would be in place along the US-Mexico border for up to a year to assist US Customs and Border Protection with surveillance and intelligence gathering while the agency worked to hire additional staff.

President Trump had earlier blamed the porous borders of U.S.-Mexico for unrestricted movement of migrants and drug peddlers in the United States. Trump also spoke Tuesday about the caravan of migrants from Central America currently moving through Mexico who plan to turn themselves in and request asylum once they make it to the US border. He has demanded a halt to the caravan in a series of tweets.

"The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our "Weak Laws" Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is a foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!" Trump tweeted.

Earlier, President Trump had vowed to keep pushing for the funding of an 'anti-migration' border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 04, 2018 09:13 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).A qualified nurse, who is the chief executive of the Mental Health Commission, is set to become the Inspector of Prisons in Portlaoise and elsewhere nearly a year an half after the post was vacated.

Patricia Gilheaney is the Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Commission, a post she has held since 2010. From 2003 to 2010, she was the first Director of Standards and Quality Assurance in the Commission.

The Office of the Inspector is a statutory independent body provided for in the Prisons Act, 2007. The Inspector is charged with carrying out regular inspections of prisons .

She may enter any prison unannounced and obtain any document she requires for her investigations. As well as providing an annual report to the Minister, the Inspector may produce themed reports on relevant aspects of the prison service.

The Inspector also provides reports on the deaths of prisoners.

Ms Gilheaney holds an MSc in Health Services Management and an MSc in Executive Leadership. She is a registered general nurse and a registered psychiatric nurse.

Her background may come into play in the assessment of the effectiveness of a new National Violent and Disruptive Prisoner (VDP) Unit to be set up at the Midlands Prison Portlaoise.

JAIL WITHIN A JAIL SET FOR MIDLANDS PRISON

The Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan, congratulated Ms Gilheaney on her appointment effective from 7 May 2018.

To have succeeded in a Public Appointments Service (PAS) competition featuring a very high standard of candidate is a testament to Ms. Gilheaneys undoubted ability. I look forward to Ms Gilheaney bringing her unique experience and skills to her new role as Inspector of Prisons and continuing the excellent work of her predecessor, the late Judge Michael Reilly.

"The Director General of the Irish Prison Service, Michael Donnellan, joins me in welcoming Ms. Gilheaney to the post. He and I look forward to cooperating with her in our joint aim of continuing to improve standards in the Irish prison system to the benefit of prisoners and staff alike, he said.

The Minister thanked Ms Helen Casey, Principal Officer in the Inspector of Prisons office who, since Judge Reillys untimely death on November 26, 2016 has continued to carry out the role of Inspector under a Ministerial warrant.

Ms Gilheaney will be only the third Inspector of Prisons.

The first was Mr. Justice Dermot Kinlen, who was appointed on a non-statutory basis for a period of five years with effect from April, 2002. Judge Kinlen was re-appointed to the post, but died in 2007.

The second Inspector was Judge Michael Reilly who was first appointed to the post on 1 January 2008 a position he held until his sudden death in 2016.

After his death a report he completed was published which recommended that money must not be an excuse for the HSE to take over responsibility for healthcare in prisons.

Another report he carried out also called for an overhaul of prisoner complaints system.The snails pace progress on Kolbe Special School in Portlaoise has been condemned by Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley, who has again raised this issue with the Minister for Education Richard Bruton TD.

I raised this matter again with the Minister due to the absence of any progress on this over the years. Kolbe Special School is in dire need of new accommodation and facilities. The school is operating in what is basically a cluster of prefabricated buildings some of which are well passed their best by date and are totally unsuitable, said Deputy Stanley.

He revealed that he received a reply from Minister Bruton, in which it was outlined that the building project for this school is included in the departments six-year construction programme.

The process of acquiring a suitable site to facilitate the proposed building project has been completed. The project brief is now being finalised. This is a part of the preparatory work required to facilitate the progression of the project into the architectural planning process and my department will be in further contact with the school in this regard, said Minister Bruton.

Deputy Stanley said this response was very disappointing as it is very similar to a reply that he received late last year from the Minister.

It really is snails pace progress, he said. The 39 special needs children and the staff are managing in very difficult circumstances and cannot be expected to continue like this indefinitely.

I am calling on the department to progress the new school building project with greater urgency, concluded Deputy Stanley.Laois TD and Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has paid tribute to the late Cllr Jerry Lodge who was a consensus builder who would not be out of place in the era of new politics.

The Fine Gael TD and former councillor praised his Fianna Fail counterpart's contribution to Portlaoise and Laois.

Both men contested many local elections before Minister Flanagan was forced to step away from local politics with the scrapping of local politics.

Minister Flanagan and Cllr Lodge were both candidates in 1987 General Election. It was the Minister's first tilt at the Dail and Cllr Lodge's final of four attempts to represent Laois Offaly as a TD in Leinster house.

"I've learned of the passing of Cllr Jerry Lodge with sadness," said the Minister.

"Jerrys public service for almost half a century was built on resilience. While staunchly Fianna Fail in outlook Jerry was a consensus politician.

"He had the great skill of gaining cross party consensus on many difficult decisions. Jerry was a consensus builder. I enjoyed working with Jerry. He could be trusted from across the floor. He made a great contribution to local politics particularly in local education through his membership and Chairmanship of the VEC (now ETB)," said the Minister.

The TD also praised the energy and leadership he showed for many years in Laois Tidy Towns.

He also extended his condolences to his wife Patricia & sons Damien and Padraig.Well-known Sinn Fein Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley has made the difficult decision to close her barber shop in Portlaoise after seven years in business.

Cllr Dwane Stanley said it was a sad decision to make but it has been on her mind since Christmas.

I was open for seven years and I have been a hairdresser for 25 years. I opened during one of the worst times economically and I noticed that things havent picked up in the economy locally here in the town, on this end of the town.

When I first opened I was only on the town council but that was abolished and I was elected as a councillor which is a busy role.

There is an awful lot of barbers in Portlaoise and there is competition in all of that. Given my role in Laois County Council I think I have done well to juggle both.

At Christmas I had to look seriously at the viability. I was working four or five days a week and if I had a council meeting I would have to hire someone in or close the shop for an hour and that doesnt work," she said.

Cllr Dwane Stanley said closing the doors to the barbers on Church Street in Portlaoise was a difficult decision to make.

It is sad to come to this decision but at the same time I will have more time to concentrate on my role as a councillor and I wont have to juggle as much as I did.

I will be focusing more on the council work, clearing out the shop now and selling the furniture.

I want to thank my very loyal customers for their support over the seven years. Some of them are very shocked that I am closing but I would like to keep my hand in the trade so I may still pick up work one day a week and I will be preparing for the local election in 2019, Cllr Dwane Stanley said.

SEE ALSO - Cllr Jerry Lodge was passionate and dedicated to education in Laois.

Well wishes flood in for Laois GAA player Daniel OReilly after Carlow assault.Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.

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Support our mission and join our community now.Kildare mother Jennie ORourke, who is seven months pregnant, is one of five participants who will appear on the National Lottery Winning Streak game show on RTE One this Saturday.

Jennie is already mother of five-year-old twin boys. The Rathangan native will soon be taking maternity leave from her job with data support company, Pimbrook, based in Tramore, Co. Waterford.

Jennie was putting her twins Niall and Christopher to bed so missed her name being pulled from the drum to appear on the show. Her aunt, who lives in London and who watches Winning Streak faithfully every week, called her with the good news.

Jennie has been married to Derry-man Seamus for the past four years. Twins run in her family as her mum, Tessie, was also a twin. Tessie and her twin sister Lily will be in the audience to cheer Jennie on this Saturday along with Seamus, her boys and other friends and family.

Her dad Paddy will watch the show from home. Also attending will be her three sisters: Margaret, Imelda and Claire and her brother Padraig.

Jennie said her Winning Streak appearance could not have come at a better time given the new addition to the family and the fact she needs to upgrade her car.

The show will be broadcast at 8:15pm on RTE One, where presenters Marty Whelan and Sinead Kennedy will guide five players through the iconic show, which gives them the chance to win cash, cars and luxury holidays. One will get the once-in-a-lifetime chance to spin the Grand Prize Wheel with a maximum prize of 500,000.

The other four players chosen to participate in next weeks Winning Streak are: Danny Walsh from Edenderry, Co. Offaly; Frank Kelly from Renmore, Co. Galway; Claire Whelan from Blackwater, Co. Wexford, and Martin McCaughey from Carrickroe, Co. Monaghan.Kildare farmers have been hit hard by the national fodder crisis brought about by the recent snow storms and cold wet weather.

Kildare and West Wicklow IFA chairman, Brian Rushe said its not clear how long fodder supplies will last in the county.

We had the snow at the end of February. It was a massive massive inconvenience for farmers;then we had the bad snow on St Patricks Day, and now we have this (the fodder crisis), explained the Carbury based farmer, Its been a really tough time for farmers.

He said that because of the cold weather, many farmers actually brought their livestock inside a month earlier than normal last winter. This meant that silage supplies were needed earlier, which had a knock on effect on supplies.

Farmers are tired and worn out and worried. Many farmers planned in advance and mixed the silage with concentrates such as citrus pulp, beat pulp or oats to make it last longer. My advice to farmers would be to use the concentrates to make the silage last as long as possible, he said.

There is help out there for any farmer who needs it. Dont be afraid to reach out and talk to someone. Ive seen groups of farmers coming together to try and organise and source silage and help each other.

Mr Rushe explained that because of the bad weather, and on going wet conditions, grass hasnt had a chance to grow. If livestock are put outside, there is a danger possible growth will be further damaged.

He said tillage farmers are also impacted by the weather, causing delays in Spring planting and ultimately hitting potential yields.

Meanwhile, speaking today after meeting with Teagasc and industry representatives, Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed said We will unfortunately have to import fodder again as occurred in 2013 to supplement existing supplies as the prolonged bad weather conditions continue. I have asked my officials to develop a scheme to support the import of fodder from outside the Island of Ireland.

The Minister said there is no simple solution and he made it clear it will require a collaborative effort of all stakeholders to support affected farmers to ensure adequate feed supplies are available until livestock can be turned out to graze.

He welcomed the commitment by Teagasc and Co-ops to identify farmers at most risk of running short of feed and support them through individual advisory and fodder budgeting sessions.

This is a very difficult period for some farmers around the country. Officials from my Department, in conjunction with Teagasc and the Co-ops have been actively monitoring the availability of fodder supplies for purchase by farmers. I am also aware of challenges in the arable sector and have been in touch with Commissioner Hogan in this regard.

Minister Creed has directed Departmental officials to examine the current Fodder Transport Support measure in order to ensure it adequately addresses all areas experiencing fodder shortages.

This scheme provides support for transport of hay, silage and straw being transported over 100 kilometres.

In addition, the Minister confirmed his officials were actively developing a scheme supporting the importation of fodder from outside the country, the details of which will be worked on in the coming days.

He called on farmers who still have supplies, to continue to make these available to neighbours through local groups, the Co-ops and Teagasc, by means of its recently developed fodder register.

Meetings are being arranged between the Minister and the main banks to discuss steps to alleviate the short-term financial pressures arising for farmers dealing with fodder shortages.

The Department will continue to operate its Early Warning System whereby emergency assistance may be provided to farmers whose animals are experiencing serious welfare issues and where the farmer him/herself is unable to cope.

The Minister also announced an extension to the deadline for submission of Derogation plans by farmers which can now be submitted until April 30.Cllr Finola Armstrong-McGuire visited the Leitrim Society in New York as Cathaoirleach of Leitrim County Council and attended their 123rd Annual dinner on March 9 in Antun's in Queens Village.



The camaraderie, friendship and encouragement to participate in all things Irish that is promoted by this Society is admirable, she said.



Today the Society is primarily a social one but they continue to work in fundraising for many causes both here in Leitrim and in New York.



 Whether it was the Annual Ball or the Society Dinner, whether in 1911 or in 2018 the events were greatly supported by those living in New York and sharing the love of their county of birth as an emigrant or the son or daughter of an emigrant.



Todays committee continues to work hard to ensure that the Society is a vibrant and meaningful organisation. It strives to give recognition to those who have given much in a voluntary capacity whether in time, commitment and/or financially to friends of the Society in Leitrim and beyond. It creates a space for those from Leitrim to meet fold from home and discuss all things Irish.



I also walked on 5th Avenue in the St Patricks Day parade with the Leitrim Society and with the United Irish Counties. St Patricks Day in New York is so much more than the march on 5th Avenue. It is a gathering, a meitheal on our national holiday.



There is a massive recognition by world powers of the heritage of our people.



It is a unique opportunity to connect with Leitrim people, many of them now being second generation holding dearly to the heritage of one of their parents. Many are half Irish, and the other half while equally important may not have the unique opportunity St Patricks Day holds.

The Leitrim Society of New York Dinner Dance in 1951 with the Sean Mac Diarmada banner in the background. The same banner is still being used today.



The Mass at 8.30 in St Patricks Cathedral focused greatly on the many cultures of New York and the many faiths of those cultures with the man Patrick spoken of as one who understood cultures and all those years ago understood the pagan cultures of the people of Ireland. I wondered how many of our family members sat and prayed for family members over the generations in that cathedral?



I would encourage all those who have emigrated and are spending time in New York or any other city elsewhere to look up the Leitrim Association, Society or Club and become involved. Personal connection is more important than ever in all communities.



I visited New York not knowing what to anticipate as a guest of Leitrim People abroad. I was welcomed as a friend and a supporter by many who are truly friends and supporters of all things Leitrim whether within our county boundary or abroad where being from Leitrim is a badge worn with pride.



While waiting on 47th Street for the Leitrim Society to join the march there were many conversations among those gathered.



Photographs were taken under the Leitrim Banner featuring Sean MacDiarmada. A gentleman seeing our pride in the banner opened his phone to show me the lovely photo taken at a Leitrim Society Dance in 1951. The banner is hanging in the background. The gentlemans, (Bill Lyons), mother, Elizabeth (Lizzy Peter) Gallagher from Cloonamurgal, Drumkeerin, is in the foreground beside the man wearing the sash. I wonder can any of our readers identify others.

Read Also:

Leitrim Cathaoirleach pays tribute to Frank MurrayLeitrim County Council have opened a Book of Condolence at Aras an Chontae for the late Frank Murray, former Secretary General to the Government and Commissioner on the Independent Commission for the Location of Victim's Remains which will remain open until Wednesday April 18.

Tributes from across the political divide have been paid to Carrick-on-Shannon native Frank Murray, who passed away on Saturday last, March 31 at his home in Dublin.



President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were among those who led the tributes to Mr Murray, who was described by the Taoiseach as, An exceptional public servant.

Mr Murray served at the Land Commission, the Houses of the Oireachtas and at the Department of the Taoiseach where he worked in a number of Divisions before becoming Secretary General to the Government from 1993 to 2000. He had also served as Private Secretary to then Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave.



On retiring he assumed a number of roles including as Commissioner on the Independent Commission for the Location of Victim's Remains.



Leading the tributes to Mr Murray, President Higgins said, As a public servant, in a distinguished career, he held the respect of members of the Government right across the political spectrum.

Statement by President Higgins on the death of Frank Murray, former Secretary General to the Government: https://t.co/eGPhRbbUSL  President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) April 1, 2018



"After his retirement, to his native Leitrim - for he was a proud Leitrim man  he went on to serve the State in a most valuable way, including in the search for the Disappeared.



Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also referenced Mr Murray's work with the search for the Disappeared acknowledging The professionalism and sensitivity he brought to his work over the past number of years at the Independent Commission."

Justice Minister, Charlie Flanagan, a personal friend of Mr Murray's added, In all of his work Frank was a consummate professional and a perfect gentleman. He has truly done this State some service.

Former President Mary McAleese also paid tribute saying, He was a very quite, soft-spoken man and exactly the kind of person for the type of job he undertook in retirement. His death is the end of a great, great Irish man.

Former president Mary McAleese says the death of the Victims' Commissioner, Frank Murray is the end of a 'great Irishman' pic.twitter.com/g9O88iC2Ky  RTE News (@rtenews) April 1, 2018



The Cathaoirleach of Leitrim County Council Finola Armstrong McGuire paid tribute to her former neighbour recalling, Frank grew up on Main Street, Carrick-on-Shannon and though his working life brought him to Dublin he kept a strong connection with his Carrick family, his neighbours and his friends. In Dublin he spoke of his home town with great pride and supported Leitrim in every way he could.

Leitrim County Council have opened a Book of Condolence at Aras an Chontae for the late Frank Murray Former Secretary General to the Government and Commissioner ICLVR which will remain open until Wednesday 18th April 2018. pic.twitter.com/vCrmM70PrP  Leitrim Co Council (@leitrimcoco) April 4, 2018



His work as a public servant is well documented and we in Leitrim are very proud that in his retirement he took on the role of co-commissioner of the Independent Commission for the Location of the Victims Remains.



Those sentiments were echoed by Senator Frank Feighan who described Mr Murray as, The ultimate diplomat and his intellect and grounded common sense was always helpful in sensitive situations.

Senator Feighan said: I was very sorry to hear of the death of Frank Murray from Carrick on Shannon County Leitrim.



He was the ultimate diplomat and his intellect and grounded common sense was always helpful in sensitive situations.  Frank Feighan Senate (@FrankFeighan) April 1, 2018



Former Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, also paid tribute saying, I am very sorry to hear of the death of Frank Murray. He was a decent courteous man, and an outstanding public servant.

I am sorry 2 hear of the death of Frank Murray, a Commissioner for the Location of Victims Remains. Frank was a decent courteous man & an outstanding public servant. I extend my sympathy to his family. Go ndeanfaidh Dia trocaire air.  Gerry Adams (@GerryAdamsSF) April 1, 2018



Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley also offered her sympathies saying, His work with the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains has brought closure for so many families of the Disappeared and they will be forever grateful for his tireless work on the Commission over many years.

SofS Bradley extends her condolences to family of Frank Murray pic.twitter.com/pyLdWzNQKI  Northern Ireland Office (@NIOgov) April 1, 2018



Tributes were also paid by Carrick-on-Shannon Historical Society, with Mr Murray having been a long-term member of the group.

Mr Murray's removal will take place tomorrow, Thursday, April 5 to The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Foxrock arriving at 5pm. Funeral Mass at 12 noon on Friday followed by burial in Deans Grange Cemetery.The Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton T.D. has announced that he will publish a circular requiring schools to consult with parents, teachers and students on the use of smart phones and tablet devices in schools.

The Minister also announced that the use of smart phones in schools will be included as an item requiring consultation under the Education (Parent and Student Charter) Bill 2016.

The Education (Parent and Student Charter) Bill 2016, which Minister Bruton secured approval from government to draft earlier this year, is a new law which will require every school to consult with parents and students on key issues and publish and operate a Parent and Student Charter in line with national statutory guidelines. This will ensure that there is always open, progressive communication between students, parents and schools.

The use of smart phones and tablet devices in schools is a good example of the type of issue which requires collaboration and consultation from parents and students and is ideal for testing this new approach. Pending the enactment of the Charter, a circular will be issued to all schools shortly, asking them to engage immediately with parents, students and teachers to get their views on whether they favour the use of smart phones in schools and if so, in what circumstances they should be used.

The Minister said that such parental and student engagement in this critical area in the coming months would be very valuable in ensuring that it can readily be included in the Charter when the legislation is enacted.

Schools will be requested to consult parents and students on the following:

- The appropriate use, if any, of tablet devices and smart phones in school

- If smart phones and tablet devices are to be allowed, in what circumstances e.g. recording videos, taking photos etc. and subject to what restrictions are they to be used

- The nature and scope of restrictions that might be applied by the school e.g. age grounds

- If smart phones should be allowed outside of class time i.e. during breaks, on school grounds after school

- Measures to ensure a shared approach on the appropriate use of digital technologies in the home and during students free time and possible awareness raising initiatives

Following the consultation, schools should update their policies, for example, Acceptable Usage Policy, policies on Bring your own Device/Technology.

Schools may include using Webwise, a programme of support and advice which is funded by the Department of Education and Skills, and provides information to parents, teachers and students on a range of issues including sexting, online blackmail, popular apps and social networks, making friends online and sharing personal information. Webwise supports students to access and use the internet in a safe and ethical way.

Improving the information and complaint procedures for parents and students relating to schools is a key commitment in the Action Plan for Education, which aims to make Irelands education and training service the best in Europe by 2026.LifeStyle

The best Lifestyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel Lifestyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Shaynna Blaze and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand.A LIMERICK man who embarked on a spree of offending a very short time after he was released from prison has been jailed for three years.

Clyde Keogh, aged 22, of Ballyclough Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston pleaded guilty to multiple charges relating to incidents in the early hours of June 21, 2017.

Garda Tim OConnor told Limerick Circuit Court the defendant was arrested at around 4.30am at Father Russel Road, Dooradoyle after gardai arrived at the scene of a car fire.

He said it was later established the car had been stolen earlier in the night and that it had been used during a number of burglaries in the Raheen and Dooradoyle areas.

Judge Tom ODonnell was told the stolen car was later identified on CCTV footage at Raheen Industrial Estate where a number of parked cars had been damaged by the defendant and another man during the night.

Garda OConnor said the owner of one house observed Keogh, who was armed with a screwdriver, attempting to break-in to her home after she was awoken in the early hours of the morning.

The screwdriver, he said, had been taken from a car which the defendant had broken into.

John OSullivan BL, instructed by state solicitor Padraig Mawe, said it was the State case that Keogh had set fire to the stolen car in an attempt to destroy any evidence linking him to the earlier incidents.

He added that the defendant was out of control on the night and that there was an element of wantonness to his behaviour.

He is a somewhat volatile and violent individual said Mr OSullivan.

Brian McInerney BL, said his client has a significant difficulty with substance abuse and that he is very reasonable when he is not under the influence of tablets or other substances.

He noted that nobody else had been prosecuted in relation to the offences and he submitted his client's submissions were very helpful in the case.

Mr McInerney said his client, who received a lengthy prison sentence in December 2016 for robbed a number of school-going children, hopes is making efforts to address his addiction issues and hopes to enter residential rehab when released.

Imposing sentence, Judge ODonnell said the defendants previous criminal behaviour was not helpful and he noted the offences were committed while a suspended sentence was still live.

He imposed sentences totalling four yearss imprisonment, suspending the final twelve months.

Keogh was disqualified for seven years.ALMOST 70 blood donors from across Limerick have been presented with awards having reached the milestone of donating either 100 or 50 units of blood.

The awards were presented by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) at a ceremony at the Greenhills Hotel.

More than 170 donors from across the region were honoured at the event which takes place every second year.

Among the recipients were farmer brothers Seamus and Thomas Laffan from Boher who both donated their 50th unit on the same day last June while Karen Coady from Ferndale, Ennis Road was the only woman to have donated 100 units.

My mum was a donor and it was just something I wanted to do. I started in the old Crescent Hall, Karen told the Limerick Leader.

Im O Negative so Im a universal donor so mostly my blood goes to neonatal and it just feels good, she added.

Another award recipient  Pat Sweeney from Broadford  donated the first of his 104 units of blood when he was aged 27.

I just decided if I could give it why not give it and the Blood Transfusion Board are a great group of people and they are looking for blood to save other peoples lives so you have to do it really, said Pat whose sons are also blood donors.

Liam ODonnell from Shanagolden, who has donated 53 units, said he decided to follow in his fathers footsteps.

My dad actually got me into it growing up. He used to always tell me about it and when I turned 18 years of age I just said why not and well see how it goes. Its only a small that you can do but it does a great thing for such a small effort, he said.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Mayor of the city and County of Limerick, Cllr Stephen Keary, praised all of the blood donors, who between them have donated more than 9,000 units.

Your acts of selflessness help to save the lives of others. You are doing something small that has a massive impact on other people so thank you most sincerly, he said.

Professor Anthony Staines, chairperson of IBTS, who presented the awards, said blood donors play a vital role in the health service.

What you are doing is something very special and maybe its something that you dont think about too often because for a lot of you  because you are very frequent donors  its a routine part of your life, you two up every few months  three times a year twice a year sometimes in lovely sunshine, sometimes in pelting rain or snow or storms but you turn up and for us and for many of the people to whom we provide a service, this is life and death, said Prof Staines who revealed he received 170 units of blood following surgery 18 years ago.TEACHERS representatives in Limerick have welcomed Minister Richard Brutons proposal to strengthen education on sexual consent in primary and secondary classrooms.

However, local ASTI and INTO spokespersons have urged the Minister to improve schools relationship and sexuality education (RSE) programme, which has been described as under-resourced.

Following the the conclusion of the Belfast rape trial last week, the Fine Gael minister has called for a review of the sex education curriculum and how it is delivered at both school levels.

Peter Quinn, representative of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI), said he hopes the Department of Education makes resources available to teachers to ensure they are more competent and confident to deliver on the issue.

Its easy to come out and make a statement: Were going to do X, Y, Z and not put something in place behind it, so it could can be delivered on a proper footing.

Mr Quinn added: You have to welcome anything that will improve students knowledge and understanding of sexual health and relationships. You have to remember that teachers are dealing with students, between the ages of 12 and 18, so there is quite a large range of age there. A6nd as they get older, they become sexually more active.

Joe Lyons, principal of Ballybrown national school and INTO spokesperson for Limerick, told the Leader: What we would say is that the RSE in schools is under-resourced. You need to make sure that the teachers are upskilled and properly trained, and that you do have the resources in school.

Former Minister for Education and Limerick City TD, Jan OSullivan welcomed the review because some of the curriculum goes back 20 years and obviously things have changed hugely.

She told Limerick Today on Live 95fm this Tuesday: Some schools do it [sex education] very, very well, others dont do it so well.

She added: I think part of the problem is that teachers just arent either upskilled in it or are uncomfortable with it, and thats really where the focus needs to be.AN elderly man in Limerick has fallen victim to a 2,000 phone scam and gardai are warning people to be vigilant about 'suspicious phone calls that come out of the blue'

Gardai are advising people about the nature of this particular scam, which saw a man in his 70s at a loss for the significant sum of money.

Gardai said the man received a phone call from another male alleging to be from his bank and reporting that there was unusual activity on his account.

The caller directed the elderly man to go to a post office and send cash to a particular account via telegram.

The gentleman did this and then realised that it was a scam and reported it to gardai at Mayorstone, (but) of course by the time the incident had been reported the money was well gone, said a garda spokesperson.

The advice here is to be very suspicious of phone calls that come out of the blue claiming to be from any financial institution.

There is nothing stopping you from hanging up on the caller and phoning your bank directly yourself. This at least means that you are definitely speaking to your bank. Even your bank wont ask for all of your details or passwords and they will never ask you to transfer cash via a post office.

"These criminals are targeting elderly people especially so if you do receive a call of this nature presume that it is a scam, hang up and if you want to be reassured contact your bank directly or get a member of your family to do it for you," added the spokesperson.UNTIL relatively recently in Limerick history the city centre was besieged by fires which gutted many well known business including OCallaghans tannery in 1950, Todds in 1959 and Newsoms in 1974.

Another of these fires struck on Thursday June 1, 1911 which began at Messrs James McMahon and Sons, Timber and Saw Mills, Alphonsus Street, causing extensive damage and the loss of over a hundred jobs.

The fire, which originated in the machine room, was rabid in its fierceness and all devouring. Overnight, it reduced a thriving industry to a huge black smouldering pile of debris.

McMahons timber merchants were founded in 1830. The fire did not put a damper on this local business McMahons has grown to become one of the largest independent builders providers in Ireland, with a network of 11 stores nationwide.

In 1892, Slater's Directory carried the following description of the business

Mr. McMahon's large and finely equipped establishment forms one of the chief industrial centres of Limerick, affording employment to about one hundred and turning out a variety of manufactures. The business has been carried on by the family for over a century, having been founded by the grandfather, and continued by the father of the present enterprising owner.

"The premises cover a large space of ground and include sawmills, turning shops, cooperage, wheel and carriage works, all furnished with the newest labour-saving machinery, together with very extensive timber yards well supplied with home and foreign logs and trees.

The Chronicle was on the scene to report on the catastrophe, which was published in the June 3, 1911 issue. Not long after the employees of McMahons yard had left for the day at 6 oclock, the first indication of fire on the premises was the plumes of smoke that billowed skyward.

Soon after the alarm was raised and immediate, assistance came from the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch, the Royal Engineers and the Corporation Fire Brigade.

Although the efforts by both the fire brigade and the army was heroic, they were confounded by an insufficient water supply and the fact that the yard unsurprisingly was littered with wood, which was quickly ignited. As the flames reached the opposite side of Clyde Road, where tons of timber the situation was considered desperate.

Once the flames reached the large piles of timber in the yard all hope was lost. These burned like tinder, and the flames reaching to the opposite side of Alphonsus street, where tons of timber were also deposited, the anxiety was considerably heightened.

After an hour, all hope of saving the building was abandoned. There was extra panic as there were gas points and an electric power station near to McMahons yard.

The attention soon turned to the houses in Clare View Terrace, Frederick Street and the St Vincent de Paul school on Henry Street, which were in imminent danger. The residents of these houses began to empty them and soon the streets were strewn with furniture.

Thankfully, through the efforts of all involved the houses were saved.

At 9 oclock the fire was at its greatest fury. The streets converging on the burning building were thronged with people. There was no other option than to let the fire run its own course through the remaining wood on both sides of the road.

The members of the Black Watch fought with such vigour that several of the non-commissioned officers and men were injured and one hundred and thirty pounds worth of their clothing was destroyed.

The daring fellows never relaxed their efforts for a single instant, and it must be said that were it not for their herculean labours the story of the damage done to property, serious as it was, would have been far blacker. They were the very saviours of the situation.

"Defiantly, and in face of the sea of flames that stretched over a considerable area, the soldiers carried on their work of saving the houses threatened in the conflagration, and finally succeeded in their task.

As morning broke the following day, the disastrous scene was revealed. Everything was burnt out save the boundary walls, which were blackened by the extreme heat. The houses on Clare View Terrace and Frederick Street were battered at the rear. There was so much damaged caused to the St Vincent de Paul Schools, Henry Street, that they remained closed.

The Limerick Leader estimated the damage at fifty thousand pounds.

In the weeks following the fire many groups came to support of those who found themselves suddenly unemployed. The roller rink on Wellesley Place, now Clontarf Place, put on a special concert.

This concert included Agness Treacy from Dublin, Mrs Whitehead, Kitty Ryan, Miss OGrady Delmege, John Cahill, Daniel J Lyons (last appearance, as he leaves for America on Saturday) and Archie Graham The Swell Comedian from London with Charles Kendal Irwin as musical conductor.

The Harbour Board met on June 12, 1911 to discuss the fire. The outcome of the meeting was published the following day in the Chronicle:

At the Harbour Board meeting yesterday, arising out of the recent fire at Messrs. McMahons timber yard, Mr Morley made the important and eminently practical suggestion that a committee should be appointed with a view to the purchase of a fire manual for the protection of the dock premises.

The fire showed the Board how unprepared they were for blaze in the area. It also showed how water pressure contributed to disastrous outcome and they quickly set to work to rectify this.

One of the former workers Michael OBrien, St Joseph Street would recall the fire in the 1966 bicentennial issue of the Chronicle:

The flames were so high that they could be seen from Ennis. The fire brigade might as well be throwing lolly-pops on it so great was the heat.A LIFE-SAVING defibrillator which was vandalised by heartless thugs has been fixed and reinstalled in the heart of a community - thanks to the Limerick Leader!

Chairman of the Limerick South City Residents Association Jerry OConnell has paid tribute to this newspaper for raising the issue of the vandalism in early January.

Off the back of the story, money came flooding into the residents group in an effort to have the crucial piece of equipment repaired and put back in its rightful place beside OSullivans pharmacy on OConnell Avenue.

They also dug into prize money received from the Going for Gold competition, a Limerick Leader-backed effort to keep communities clean.

Yeve been very good to us, lets be honest about it, Jerry added.

Mayor Stephen Keary was on hand to officially re-open the defibrillator - which provides immediate first aid to heart-attack victims - for business this week.

Its such a vital piece of equipment for both young and old. We know over the years, weve seen with young people playing sport, theyve had to use them. And theyve been key, he said.

It costs just 2,000 for one of these. If it saves just one person in ten years, it has done its job. It is invaluable, the mayor said.

Mr OConnell, who lives on nearby St Josephs Street, said there was never any question of having the device repaired and reinstalled.

Our attitude is we wanted it back as quickly as possible, he said. And we are absolutely delighted. Its such an important device. There are a lot of elderly people living around the area. I have been in contact with some of the local schools as well and theyre interested in going on a course with us so we can show them how to use it, the community leader said.

It's so important. Its there for lifesaving, and thats it - end of story, he added.

Senator Maria Byrne, who lives just a few doors away from where the defibrillator is located, praised the fundraising effort of the community, and pointed out 15 more people have now been trained in its use.

The community has really rallied behind this, she noted.

The front glass of the defibrillator had been smashed after the perpetrator had been unable to gain access to it.

It meant the whole box needed to be replaced, while the defibrillator underwent intensive repairs to bring it back to proper standard.

The residents association had held a variety of fundraising events including table quizzes and coffee mornings to pay for the defibrillator back in 2013. It is the only one in the area located on a public street.A WOMAN who stole around 50,000 from the dental clinic in Limerick where she worked will be sentenced next month.

Bridget O'Connell, aged 43, who has an address at Willowbrook, Kilknockan, Adare, has pleaded guilty multiple charges of theft relating to offences which took place between on dates betwen January 2013 and March 2014.

During a sentencing hearing, Limerick Circuit Court was told the defendant was a trusted employee at Bowe Dental Clinic, Roxboro when she committed the offences.

The owner of business  Robert Bowe  made a complaint to gardai during the summer of 2014 after he became aware of a discrepancy between the amount of money which had been logged on the clinic's lodgement system and the balance in the bank account.

After a staff meeting, Bridget O'Connell admitted stealing the money and following a further meeting, she pleaded with him not to report the matter to gardai.

The court heard the defendant, a family friend for over 20 years, was a trusted employee who had a key for the post box in which all cash, cheques and credit card slips were put into.

Judge Tom ODonnell was told she had diverted some of the cash before it was lodged for her own benefit.

The defendant said she took the money to repay a money lender as she felt under some type of threat.

Judge Tom ODonnell was told she and her husband were heavily in debt to money lending companies at the time.

In a victim impact statement, Robert Bowe said he and his family were very hurt by the defendant who has not made any meaningful effort to pay the money back.

Defence counsel Eimear Carey said her client "found herself in a black hole and that she she saw no way out.

She said the defendant has paid back just over 9,200 but that she doesn't have the financial wherewithal to come up with any more".

Judge ODonnell said he needed some time to consider the matter before imposing sentence. He remanded the defendant on continuing bail until May 16.A JUDGE in Limerick has refused an application to transfer the case of a pensioner accused of indecently assaulting a number of young children to Dublin.

The defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is facing trial before the circuit court in relation to several alleged offences which date back more than 30 years.

Seeking to have the trial, which is listed for later this year, heard in Dublin, Andrew Sexton SC said he did not believe his 74-year-old client can get a fair trial in Limerick.

He said previous matters involving the defendant received considerable publicity  both locally and nationally  and that he believed a tipping point had been reached that would prevent him from receiving a fair trial.

It is inevitable that any jury will be contaminated no matter what warnings are given, he submitted.

Copies of various media reports and a sworn affidavit were submitted to the court in support of the application.

While agreeing that courts need to be vigilant, John OSullivan BL, instructed by state solicitor Padraig Mawe, said he did not believe the media coverage of the previous matters was so significant that it justified transferring the mans trial to Dublin.

Having considered the submissions from both sides, Judge Tom ODonnell said every case has to be determined on its own facts.

Refusing the application, he said he was not satisfied it would be manifestly unjust not to transfer the case to Dublin.THE organisers of the Limerick Fringe are promising four days of mayhem and madness across nearly 80 performances in the city this week.

Returning for a second outing from this Wednesday to Saturday, the festival offers theatre, comedy, cabaret, dance, music, spoken word, family and street fringe on nine stages in six venues with 79 performances.

The team running it are daring the public to take a chance, try something new, do something daring and be part of Limerick Fringe 2018.

The award-winning, vibrant, multi-genre festival is a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers who are passionate about bringing new, vibrant and accessible arts to a wider audience, utilising non-traditional spaces, they say, with international artists and homegrown acts alike taking part.

And while homegrown creativity is supported at the festival, which will be held at multiple venues across the city, they are welcoming a diverse range of national and international acts with open arms.

Ahead of this weeks artistic festivities, organisers said: We look to support homegrown creativity and welcome national and international acts with open arms. This years performances include cabaret, comedy, dance, music, spoken word, theatre and of course Family FRiNGE. Our artists hail from as far away as USA, Brazil, Iran, Denmark, Catalonia, Belgium, Poland, UK, as well as Dublin, Galway, Tipperary, Clare and of course Limerick.

You are guaranteed to experience daring new work, some of which has never been performed in Ireland before. With over 30 performing companies taking part in eight venues across the city, this is a festival for everyone from one to 101 years.

The second annual Limerick Fringe, which kicks off in a number of city venues this Wednesday, is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Limerick City and County Council.

For full details on all the shows taking place and to book tickets, see www.limerickfringe.com.

Selected Fringe picks:

Beowulf lives on at Dolans show

Autojeu Theatre bring to life one of historys most famous tales as Beowulf comes to the aid of the King of the Danes. In Dolans from Thursday to Saturday.

Macabarets Dirty Circus

The Dirty Circus rolls into town and are joined on stage in Dolans by Limericks own Brad Pitt Light Orchestra for Macabaret, a unique, one off performance. Dolans Warehouse Saturday at 10pm.

Tanin Torabis Derive project

Iranian dance artist Tanin Torabi mixes dance film The Derive with live performance. Friday and Saturday at 8pm, St Johns Pavilion.

This is quite a show Innit?

Colette Fordes one woman tour-de-force show is about Kelly, a foul mouthed 15-year-old and shes not happy with her life on a Manchester council estate - innit? In Chez le Fab Thursday-Sunday.

Blanca agus Rua street theatre

Kadira Theatre take audiences on a journey to a magic world through the eyes of Blanca agus Rua. Bedford Row on Saturday and SundayApr 4, 2018, 7 AM

President Donald Trump posted this message via Twitter on March 29.

Washington Postal Scene  By Bill McAllister

President Donald Trump seems determined to undermine the United States Postal Services relationship with one of its biggest customers.

Not once, but five times in six days has the president renewed his complaints about Amazon, the Seattle-based online retailing giant and the nations postal system.

On Thursday, March 29, he again derided Amazons package delivery agreement with the Postal Service, saying that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has transformed USPS into their delivery boy.

Then he followed that March 29 tweet with two more on March 31 from his Mar-a-Lago estate charging that the Postal Service is losing $1.50 on each package it delivers for Amazon.

That amounts to Billions of Dollars, the president said.

He added in a second tweet that USPS should boost Amazons shipping rates so its costs would rise by $2.6 billion.

This Post Office scam must stop, he said, adding Amazon must pay real costs and more sales taxes.

Neither the Postal Service nor Amazon offered any comments on the Trump tweets.

But a number of media outlets challenged the presidents statements.

The Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos, noted that the president has previously tweeted about Amazon and the Postal Service even though officials have explained to him that Amazons contracts with the Postal Service are profitable for the agency.

Trumps distortions dont add up and are worthy of Three Pinocchios, said a Washington Post article, assessing the presidents latest statements.

Other publications noted that package volumes at the Postal Service have risen, while letter volume, once a mainstay of postal revenues, have continued to drop.

Several newspapers noted that White House officials were suggesting that the president had no plans for executive actions that might effect the Amazon-USPS deal.

The president suggested otherwise in an April 2 tweet.

Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money-losing Post Office makes money with Amazon, he said.

THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed, Trump said.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Brad Parscale, manager of the Trump 2020 presidential campaign, as suggesting the president might attempt to force Amazon to pay higher postage.

Once the market figures out that a single @usps rule change will crush @amazons bottom line, we will see, Parscale said in a tweet.

The Washington Times also noted that Amazon and the Washington Post have been regular punching bags for Trump.

The president has tweeted that the newspaper acts as a lobbyist weapon to keep Congress from investigating Amazon.

Trump said in his blast against Amazon that the newspaper should register as a lobbyist.

Trump repeated some of his complaints about Amazon in an April 3 tweet.

The president first attacked the Postal Service agreement in December, charging that Amazon was not paying enough postage for the parcels its sends via the USPS.

His tweets about Amazon also have criticized the company for paying little or no state and local taxes, putting thousands of retailers out of business and causing tremendous loss to the U.S.

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Postal officials have long wanted the White House to pay attention to its years of running multibillion dollar deficits, but the attacks that Trump had made on the agency are not the type of scrutiny that they had sought.

Details of the Amazon shipping agreement with Postal Service are secret.

The Postal Regulatory Commission, which examines such contracts, has held that they are profitable to Postal Service.Apr 28, 2021, 11 AM

Volumes 1A (United States, United Nations, countries of the world A through Australia) and 1B (countries Austria through B) of the 2019 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue are now available for purchase.

Editor's Insights  By Donna Houseman

This year celebrates another milestone in the 150-year history of the Scott catalogs. The 2019 volumes are the 175th edition of the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue. Vol. 1A includes listings for the United States, United Nations, and countries of the world Aden through Australia. Listings for Austria through B countries of the world can be found in Vol. 1B.

2019 Scott Standard Vol. 1A

More than 10,500 value changes were made among the United States listings in the 2018 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers. As a result, only scattered value changes are found among the U.S. listings in Vol. 1A of the 2019 Scott Standard catalog. This year, the editors focused on adding a few new U.S. listings and many editorial enhancements.

The 1908 2 scarlet booklet pane of six (Scott 319Fl) is valued for the first time, at $450 unused. Also valued for the first time is the 2005 Disney Celebration pane of 20 stamps with die cutting omitted (3915b), with an impressive value of $5,500 mint never-hinged.

The 1920 2 carmine, type V offset issue (Scott 533) jumps in value in used condition, from $125 to $150.

The 1858 5 Indian red (Scott 28A) drops from $175,000 unused to $160,000. The 1914 1 green Washington definitives, perforated gauge 12 by 10 and 10 by 12, Scott 423A and 423D, respectively, drop in value. Scott 423A decreases to $14,000 unused, from $15,000. Scott 423D falls to $9,000 used, from $10,000.

In the modern Postage section, the 1994 Recalled Legends of the West pane of 20 29 stamps (Scott 2870) dives to just $125 mint, from $190 last year. A bright spot among the modern postage listings is Scott 2593B, the 1992 29 Flag perforated gauge 11 by 10 booklet stamp, which jumps to $3 mint, from $2 last year, with the booklet pane of 10 also moving upward, to $35 mint from $25.

The discovery of a trunk of modern Official Mail envelopes has caused many values for used examples to drop for envelopes from Scott UO73 to UO93.

In Canal Zone, two unused air post Official stamps, Scott CO9 and CO12, are valued for the first time. Previously, only CO11 from this set was valued unused. The new values for unused examples are $1,100 each for CO9 and CO12.

Among the other countries listed in Vol. 1A, Afghanistan presented some challenges, primarily because of widely variable prices and rather thin dealer stocks. Even so, slightly more than 300 values were changed. Among these were values for imperforate varieties described in footnotes.

After several years of softening market prices, it should come as no surprise that the vast majority of the more than 1,800 value changes in Antigua recorded this year are declines of 10 percent to 20 percent. These drops are seen for stamps issued from the mid-1930s to the late 1990s. From about 2000 to the present, values are steady, with scattered increases seen for some of the more popular flora and fauna topical subjects.

More than 1,000 value changes are recorded for the small South Atlantic island of Ascension. A handful of increases for classic-period issues are followed by declines almost across the board. Some increases are seen for used stamps, particularly for souvenir sheets issued during the 1970s. The 1996 16-stamp set depicting birds and their young (Scott 640-655) advances from $37.10 used in the 2018 catalog to $45.25 this year

The classic period of Australia received a thorough review, resulting in almost 500 value changes with many declines. The 1908 10-shilling emerald and the 20sh emerald postage due stamps (Scott J37 and J38, respectively) are now valued used, with a value of $27,500 for the 10sh and $52,500 for the 20sh. The values are in italics to indicate that these stamps can be a challenge to value accurately.

Editorial enhancements for Vol. 1A

New listings for U.S. errors have been added. Scott 2492k is a booklet pane of 20 of the 1995 Pink Rose booklet stamp with the horizontal die cutting omitted. A pair with die cutting omitted has been added for the 1999 33 Flag and Chalkboard booklet stamp, now Scott 3283b.

Many clarifications and other enhancements have been made to the Computer Vended Postage section. The editors continue to work through the complexities of these computer-generated stamps.

In Confederate States of America, new listings appear for the postmasters provisionals of Patterson, N.C. Scott 149XU1 and 149XU2 are the rare 5 and 10 black provisionals with control mark, the former known only unused and the latter only used.

Collectors of Aden, a British colony and protectorate in southern Arabia, will be pleased to see the addition of values for several sets in hinged condition, where stamps in such sets are valued in mint never-hinged condition. These new hinged set totals will assist collectors who are seeking stamps on a more limited budget.

2019 Scott Standard Vol. 1B

The roughly 400 value changes for the Bahamas continues the pattern Scott editors have seen for other British Commonwealth countries for the past five years or so. A modest number of increases are seen in the classic period up to the 1935 Silver Jubilee issue. The biggest jumps are seen for used stamps. As an example, the 1-shilling 1898 Queen Victoria (Scott 23) jumps from $37.50 used in 2018 to $50 in 2019.

Market activity for stamps from the late 1960s through 2005 is quiet, with small decreases predominating. Scattered increases are seen beginning in 2006. The 2006 Flowers set of 14 (Scott 1182-1195) sees a robust jump  from $50.75 mint and used in 2018 to $61.25 both ways this year.

Almost 850 value changes are recorded for Bahrain. Declines are the norm for stamps issued from 1970 up to 2005, while values for stamps issued from 2005 to 2010 trend upward. Among the more robust increases is the 2005 sheet of six celebrating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Dilmon civilization artifacts, which advances from $7.50 mint and used in 2018 to $12 both ways this year.

For the stamps of Belize, the editors made more than 1,300 value changes. Values decline for many stamps issued up to 2005. Among the more recent issues, values are up or are provided for the first time for surcharged stamps. A notable example is the 1980 10-on-35 with round obliterator (Scott 424Ab), with an initial value of $300.

More than 700 value changes are recorded for Bermuda. Scattered upward adjustments characterize the classic issues through the mid-1930s. For stamps issued through the mid-1990s, numerous stamps show increases in used condition. Keep in mind that these values are for stamps with contemporaneous cancellations, not canceled-to-order stamps.

Values for unused stamps from the 1940s through about 2003 are down, albeit modestly. Decreases on the order of 10 percent or less are the norm. Stamps issued during the past decade or so are up about 10 percent to 20 percent. Larger jumps are typically seen for popular topical subjects. For example, the 2012 set of six Paintings stamps (Scott 1047-1052) advances from $12 mint and used last year to $13.50 both ways this year.

A thorough review of Brazil this year generated more than 4,500 value changes. Numerous value changes were made for stamps issued from 1900 to 1940, resulting in a mix of increases and decreases. Values slide downward from 1940 through the 1990s, but increases in value are the norm among the back-of-the-book listings.

If you collect the British Indian Ocean Territory, be sure to review the higher values for stamps issued during 2006-10. Decreases are seen across the board for the remaining 300 or so value changes.

As with many other countries, popular topicals see some gains. The 2004 Butterflies set of four with gauge 14 by 13 perforations (Scott 4291a-4294a) floats up to $30 mint and used, from $28 both ways last year. Be sure to look at items that are footnoted because many values have been added or updated.

Burkina Faso, formerly known as Upper Volta, tested the editors analysis because retail market prices often varied substantially. Of the more than 1,300 value changes, scattered declines outpaced gains for stamps issued during the 1960s to the mid-1980s, with sharper drops seen for stamps issued during 1984-87. Values are added for the first time for numerous stamps from the mid-1990s through 2008. The 1996-98 Handicrafts set of 10, with mint and used values dashed previously, is now valued at $60 mint and at $15 used. Be sure to review the semipostal and airmail listings, which also see myriad value changes.

A review of Burma yielded slightly more than 300 value changes. Stocks of issues from the 1950s to 1990 are scarce, which drove up values for many of these stamps.

Editorial Enhancements for Vol. 1B

Bahrains Flag, Map, and Sheik Isa definitive set (Scott 225-240) has been expanded, with new minor-number listings for perforation varieties. Some of these stamps are readily identifiable by the bold printers imprint in the bottom margin.

A new design type has been added to the 1991 set of eight and souvenir sheet honoring the 30th anniversary of the coronation of Sheik Isa (Scott 373-380 and 381).

It has been determined that two stamps previously listed as war tax stamps are in fact postal tax stamps. The relevant Scott numbers have been changed from MR1-MR2 to RA1-RA2.

Among the Bhutan listings, numerous editorial notes and footnotes have been added or updated. Two new 2005 surcharges on 1979 Antiques stamps appear for the first time as Scott 1409A-1409B. Both are valued at $35 in used condition.

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Four Botswana Gems and Minerals stamps showing the type I surcharge (thick numerals and t) at bottom right have been added as Scott 157b, 160b, 166b, and 167b. This quartet issued in 1977 joins the two sets showing the type I and type II (thin numerals and t) surcharges at top right.

To purchase the 2018 Scott catalogs, contact your favorite dealer, or call Amos Media at 1-800-572-6885. Also visit Amos Advantage. For Scott eCatalogues, visit Scott Online.Police officers are seen in front of the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, on April 3, 2018, where they were investigating a mass shooting.

Police rushed to YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, this afternoon (April 3), after reports of an active shooter there. Police said they arrived to a "very chaotic scene" as employees fled the building.

The shooter is reportedly dead from a self-inflicted wound, and four victims are being treated at a nearby hospital, according to news reports.

Though mass shootings seem less likely to evoke shock and awe these days  with 2018 having several such shootings logged already, according to an online tracker  there is one surprising aspect of the YouTube shooting: The shooter was a "she."

That's shocking, according to experts in human behavior, because women are violent at much lower rates than men. And mass killings, even more so than other types of violence, are overwhelmingly a male phenomenon.

Female mass killers are "so rare that it just hasn't been studied," said James Garbarino, a psychologist at Loyola University Chicago who has researched human development and violence. "There aren't enough cases," said Garbarino, who spoke to Live Science in 2015 after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, which involved a female shooter. [The History of Human Aggression]

Gender and violence

In general, women are far less homicidal than men. Women commit only about 10 percent to 13 percent of homicides in the United States, said Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor and author of "The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers" (St. Martin's Press, 2013).

When women do kill, they're less likely than men to choose firearms to do it, Lankford told Live Science. Only 8 percent of perpetrators of firearm homicides are female, he said. In comparison, 40 percent of poisonings and 20 percent of deaths by fire are linked to female perps. [10 Surprising Facts About the Male Mind]

Details are still fuzzy as to the YouTube's shooter's motive and exactly how the incident unfolded, though sources reportedly told the Bay Area news station KRON4 that the shooter killed her boyfriend.

In the case of the female shooter at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino on Dec. 2, 2015, she stood out for her sadism, as well, said Mary Ellen O'Toole, a retired FBI profiler and author of "Dangerous Instincts: How Gut Feelings Betray Us" (Plume; Reprint edition, 2012). In that incident, a man and woman opened fire on a holiday party, leaving 14 dead and 21 wounded. The duo died in a shootout with police.

Female suicide bombers aren't unheard of, O'Toole told Live Science, but blowing oneself up is a very passive form of violence. Shooting into a room full of innocent people as they cower in fear "is very sadistic," O'Toole said. "And sadistic violence like this is almost exclusively male."

Violence and sex

Most men, of course, go through life without killing anyone. And motives for crime are very individual; not all women and men who kill do so for the same reasons. Each case is unique, experts stress. But something in the combination of male biology and socialization makes men more prone to violence. Notably, the gender gap in violence is found in almost every culture around the world, Garbarino said.

There are no simple answers. The easiest theory to digest is probably an evolutionary one: Males, over hundreds of thousands of years of development, have historically been rewarded for aggression. A tendency toward violence is seen in chimpanzees, humans' closest living primate relative. (Bonobos, humanity's other close primate family member, are far more peaceful, though recent research has shown they are drawn to jerks.) Violence can beget status for males, both in chimps and in humans (just look at how many action heroes get the girl). And for males, a lack of status can mean missing out on the chance to mate.

Indeed, sexual frustration is a theme running through the writings of many male mass shooters, Lankford said. Many shooters leave manifestos explicitly detailing their hatred of women and of men who seemed to navigate relationships with women with ease.

"By contrast, I'm not aware of any female attackers, even though we have a small sample, I don't know that any of them complained about not being able to have sex," Lankford said.

Status plays a large role in school shootings, a particularly male phenomenon, said Katherine Newman, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Newman, author of "Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings" (Basic Books, 2005), argues that there has never been a typical school shooting with a female perpetrator. A case in San Diego in 1979 involved a teenage girl who lived across from an elementary school and started shooting children and staff from her home one morning. But in cases of random shootings on school grounds by a person who is part of that school's community, the perpetrators are all male, Newman told Live Science.

These boys and young men may be responding to a cultural script that equates violence with masculinity, Newman said. Most are not loners. Instead, they try to join social groups but struggle. Their experience is one of disappointment and humiliation. So, they decide to trade in their "loser" persona for something more appealing, according to Newman.

"Sadly for all of us, that something more appealing is the role of the antihero," Newman said.

Girls aren't similarly targeted with the notion that becoming a violent antihero is appealing, Newman said. Their reputational struggles play out in other ways, usually involving self-harm or nasty gossip.

The gap in aggression between girls and boys has narrowed, though, said Garbarino, author of "See Jane Hit: Why Girls Are Growing More Violent and What We Can Do About It" (The Penguin Press HC, 2006). More popular media show girls and women acting in violent ways, which provides role models for female aggression, he said.

Still, the gender gap in lethal violence hasn't shrunk like the gap in general violence, Garbarino said. It's a mystery as to why. Men may be biologically vulnerable: Variations in a gene called MAOA combined with early developmental stressors like abuse or drug use can raise a man's risk of criminality. Men are also more likely than women to base moral decisions on abstract principles rather than on empathy, Garbarino said.

"Whatever the culture offers in the way of justification of righteous violence, males are more likely to implement that," he said.

Unanswered questions

As more details came to light in the San Bernardino case, it became apparent that the two shooters, who were parents of a 6-month-old infant, probably thought their violence was righteous. The FBI investigated the case as an act of terrorism, making the shooting different from many mass shootings in the United States. A 55-page report on the shooting released last year revealed the couple shot about 80 rounds of ammunition, and were shot by police more than 40 times together, according to Fox News.

Rather than working in tandem like the San Bernardino couple, shootings like this tend to be carried out solo, as the YouTube mass shooting seems to have unfolded. In fact, the solo mass shooter is typically suicidal and wants to take others out with him, Lankford said. But when two attackers are involved, typically only one is conventionally suicidal, and the other "comes along," he said. [Understanding the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors]

Even so, there are some similarities to the self-destructive impulses of terrorists and rampage killers. Sexual frustration may play a role for many male terrorists as it does for male mass shooters, particularly those from strict religious traditions. Friends and family of the 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta recalled him as extremely shy and repressed around women, for example. The Internet posts of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the "Underwear Bomber," who attempted to blow up a flight on route to Detroit in 2009, revealed a young man who struggled to tamp down his sexual urges in favor of jihad.

In some cultures, including fundamentalist Islam, martyrdom may also act as a "loophole" in prohibitions against suicide, Lankford said. It's unclear if either San Bernardino shooter was conventionally suicidal, he said, but court filings from the divorce of the male shooter's parents claim that his father was abusive and threatened suicide in front of his children. A familial history of mental health problems and suicide attempts is a risk factor for suicidal urges.

"I wouldn't dismiss the idea that some sort of mental health problems or suicidal tendencies could be at play in this case," Lankford said.

Culture interacts with mental illness in surprising ways. For example, researchers reporting in a 2014 article in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that 70 percent of Americans with psychoses who heard voices reported that the voices urged them toward violence. In India, that number was 20 percent, and in Ghana, only 10 percent.

"People who we think of as being 'crazy,' how do they absorb the larger cultural messages and scripts that are out there?" Garbarino said.

Whether the woman had been planning this attack is unknown. But, O'Toole told Live Science previously that shooters don't "just snap." For instance, the San Bernardino killers had likely been planning their attack for years, investigators found. Chillingly, many people are very good at mimicking normalcy as they go about their deadly preparations, O'Toole said. The trappings of a happy family life  a marriage, a new baby  could have been, in part, props to maintain that illusion, she said.

"This is a cold-blooded woman, and I can't tell you how many cases I worked in the FBI where parents killed their own kids," O'Toole said in 2015. "We're not dealing with a typical woman full of compassion and undying love for her child."

Editor's Note: This article was first published on Dec. 10, 2015, and updated on April 3, 2018.

Original article on Live Science.Neanderthals' protruding faces are a unique feature that may be linked to their active lifestyle.

In the human family tree, Neanderthals are our closest extinct relatives, and they looked a lot like modern humans. But one defining difference was a distinctive skull shape, with the middle part of their faces pushed forward dramatically  far more so than in their human cousins.

Scientists have argued about what might have shaped Neanderthal skulls, with some suggesting that this adaptation meant greater biting power, and others proposing that it could have been due to an enhanced airway.

Now, thanks to digital 3D modeling, a new study has answers. And they point to the "enhanced airway" hypothesis. [In Photos: Neanderthal Burials Uncovered]

Humans and Neanderthals co-existed on Earth for about 5,000 years, until Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago. Both groups shared a number of physical features, including an oddball bone called the hyoid bone that's linked to speech; a pelvis built for upright walking; and larger skulls to accommodate bigger brains than their more distant primate relatives.

Neanderthals also had certain skull features that modern humans don't  a heavier brow and weaker chin  that recall earlier ancestors in the human lineage. But their protruding faces were unique, setting them apart "not just from us, but from their ancestors, too," the study's lead author, Stephen Wroe, director of the Function, Evolution and Anatomy Research (FEAR) Lab at the University of New England in Australia, said in a statement.

Researchers have advanced several explanations for this specialization. One hypothesis, partly based on evidence from Neanderthal tooth wear, hinted at unusually powerful biting that would have applied more force to the front teeth, the scientists wrote in the study.

However, other researchers argued that Neanderthal face shape was linked to a modified airway that helped them survive in the chilly, dry climate of the last Ice Age during the Pleistocene epoch (about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago).

Researchers used digital 3D models of Neanderthal skulls to re-create their airways and test their bite force. (Image credit: Will Parr/Justin Ledogar/Jason Bourke)

To test these ideas, scientists imaged Neanderthal skulls using X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans and created 3D digital models from those scans. By working with digital models, the scientists could "crash-test" the skulls without the risk of damaging them, Wroe told Live Science in an email.

First, they used the models to simulate Neanderthal bite force  the first study to do so. The researchers compared the performance of their Neanderthal biter to models of skulls from modern humans, and from an earlier extinct human species, Homo heidelbergensis, which lived about 700,000 to 200,000 years ago, and they discovered that when it came to biting, Neanderthal performance wasn't such a big deal.

"We found that the Neanderthal skulls showed just as much strain when biting at the front teeth as did many modern humans  suggesting that they were no better adapted to perform this behaviour than we are," Wroe said in the email.

Colorized models of Neanderthal, Homo heidelbergensis and modern human skulls showed force distribution in biting simulations. (Image credit: Will Parr/Justin Ledogar/Jason Bourke)

Next, the scientists re-created the soft tissue of the skulls' nasal passages, and modeled the movement of air through the different cavities, Wroe told Live Science. Tests indicated that Neanderthals' nasal passages could heat up and humidify the air they were breathing more effectively than H. heidelbergensis  definitely a plus in a cold, dry climate  but not as efficiently as modern humans, the study authors reported.

But Neanderthals vastly outperformed both H. heidelbergensis and modern humans with the sheer quantity of air they could move quickly in and out of their lungs; in fact, a Neanderthal's breathing was likely almost twice as effective as a human's at pulling in air, according to the study.

To survive and thrive in an Ice Age landscape, Neanderthals may have needed lots of energy to regularly chase after large animal prey or just to keep warm  "Or it could be some combination of both," Wroe said in the statement.

"The take-home message from this is that the distinctive, projecting Neanderthal face is an adaptation linked with an extreme, high-energy lifestyle," he added.

The findings were published online today (April 3) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Original article on Live Science.Nectome wants to back up your consciousness when you die. But now, after MIT cut ties with the company, its founders have emphasized to Live Science that they don't plan to actually attempt the feat anytime soon.

The startup came under criticism from a number of prominent neuroscientists, including two who spoke to Live Science, after a favorable article appeared in MIT Technology Review on March 13. At the center of the article was the company's promise of a "100-percent-fatal" service for backing up and (eventually) digitizing people's brains.

Nectome's founders told Technology Review that their goal is to figure out how to preserve the brains of dying people in incredible detail. To that end they had developed a process that could turn a brain into a shelf-stable version of itself, with all the links between its neurons visible under a scanning electron microscope. Those links, Nectome suggested, could one day be used to revive dead people's consciousnesses. [Top Ten Mysteries of the Mind]

The article revealed that Nectome had already consulted with lawyers about the legality, under California's physician-assisted suicide law, of using their methods on terminal patients. (Their preservation methods would kill anyone subjected to them.) Technology Review also touted Nectome's relationship with MIT Media Lab neuroscientist Ed Boyden, whose collaboration with the company appears to have ended according to an MIT announcement.

In an email to Live Science this morning (April 3), Nectome co-founder Robert McIntyre said the company had no plans to actually do this in the foreseeable future.

"We have not nor do we plan to administer embalming fluids on a living animal or human," he wrote.

A reference to being able to "back up" people's minds, along with other ambitious language, appears to have disappeared from Nectome's website. It has been replaced with more cautious wording and a statement emphasizing that Nectome's current research represents just a "promising first step" toward its eventual goals.

McIntyre also said that an earlier article from Live Science, stating that the "company wants to flood the arteries of living people who have terminal illnesses with embalming fluid to preserve their brain tissue" gave people the incorrect impression that Nectome is currently doing this.

"I want people to understand that we're currently in the research phase, and that rushing to apply ASC [aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation] today would be irresponsible," he wrote.

The extent of Nectome's research right now involves preserving the brains of donated cadavers, he emphasized.

Connectome Conflicts

Nectome, founded by MIT graduates and supported by the famous Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator, has received more than $915,000 in grant funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The company has worked with Boyden, under the now-cancelled subcontract agreement, to achieve something genuinely impressive: preserving a pig's brain well enough that every one of its neural links was intact and visible under a scanning electron microscope. The accomplishment won the company an $80,000 prize from The Brain Preservation Foundation.

The pig brain is a big deal because if you manage to preserve a creature's brain at that level of detail, you've preserved what neuroscientists call its "connectome." A connectome is a map of all the links between nerves in a brain; it describes, at the very least, the routes by which signals get around inside the skull, if not the content of the signals themselves.

The suggestion that the connectome offered enough information about the brain that it might be used to revive people was the core of what rankled many neuroscientists.

"Can I reconstruct all memories knowing only the connections between neurons? The answer is almost certainly no, given our knowledge about how memories are stored  itself a controversial topic," Sam Gershman, a Harvard neuroscientist, previously told Live Science.

"It's true that synapses are where all the action happens," Florida State University neuroscientist Jens Foell previously told Live Science. "But cell firing behavior is determined by other things, including processes within the cells that are determined by proteins that are much smaller than synapses  and some of them are short-lived."

Not every neuroscientist had such a negative take on the company and its claims. Sebastian Seung, a connectome expert and neuroscientist at Princeton University, has been a somewhat lonely public voice defending the company, both on Twitter and in emails to Live Science.

He has argued that while it may be unlikely that Nectome's technique could preserve enough information to revive memories and consciousness, other neuroscientists can't know for certain that it doesn't.

See more

(Seung does not have direct involvement in Nectome, but a video of his TED Talk on the connectome appears on Nectome's website, and he was part of the panel that awarded the company its prize for the preserved pig.)

McIntyre, in his email to Live Science, said it wasn't correct that Nectome expected to revive a whole consciousness from the connectome.

"We at Nectome are big fans of the connectome. Our name, Nectome, literally comes from the word connectome. But we don't mean to imply that electron microscope image data is the only thing we would need to reconstruct consciousness or even memories," he wrote, adding, "The connectome is not the only step, but it is the vital first step towards putting together biologically and informationally accurate models of brains."

Next steps

MIT's statement announcing it had ended its subcontract with Nectome explicitly criticized the company's scientific claims.

"Currently, we cannot directly measure or create consciousness," the MIT statement said. "Given that limitation, how can one say if, for example, a computer or a simulation is conscious?"

The statement also suggests it may be possible to one day simulate consciousness in a computer but that currently, the company does "not know how to determine what such a simulation, even if scaled up to the size of the human brain, would 'feel' like. To understand this will require new science that represents a nonlinear jump from the neuroscience occurring today, and some people regard this as an unsolvable problem (aka the 'hard problem' of consciousness)."

When asked to comment on MIT's statement, McIntyre wrote, "Neuroscience has historically progressed by a mixture of sustaining innovation (which I suspect is what is meant by 'occurring today') and disruptive innovation (nonlinear jumps). We believe that understanding what a simulation feels like is an achievable goal, and it's part of our vision, though clearly not what can be promised today."

Right now, Nectome has more immediate obstacles to overcome.

The company's active NIMH grant is "in transition" following MIT's announcement, McIntyre wrote.

"We cannot comment on precisely what that means, as that remains to be determined with MIT, NIMH, and Nectome," he said. However, he added, "Our high-level plans for Nectome are still the same: to continue developing tools like ASC [the preservation process], and to advance the field of neuroscience as best we can through our research."

As for the company's relationship with MIT, he made it clear that Nectome didn't see the end of the subcontract as a closed door.

"We understand their hesitance to continue working with us at this time, and we hope that they will choose to work with us again sometime in the future," he wrote.

Originally published on Live Science.This undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows the StingRay II, manufactured by Harris Corporation, of Melbourne, Fla., a cellular site simulator used for surveillance purposes. Federal law enforcement officials are routinely required to get a search warrant before using secretive and intrusive cellphone-tracking technology, but evidence suggests that spies and criminals may be using these rogue devices to intercept cellphone data.

Washington, D.C., may be home to spies and criminals using spying devices to intercept people's cellphone calls and text messages.

In a March 26 letter, the U.S Department of Homeland Security publicly acknowledged, for the first time, that these devices, known as cell-site simulators, were being used anonymously in the country's capital, the Associated Press reported. The devices, often known as Stingray devices, should be marketed and sold only to law enforcement agencies, but the new letter acknowledges that others are using the devices and that they pose a "real and growing risk."

But what exactly are cell-site simulators, and is there anything people can do to protect themselves against snooping?

"They are essentially a fake cell tower that tricks phones into connecting to it and can then obtain the phone's location and track the phone's location," said Cooper Quintin, a senior technologist and security researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital-rights group based in San Francisco. [Mind-Controlled Cats?! 6 Incredible Spy Technologies That Are Real]

How they work

In older, 2G networks (an earlier version of the cellular network), cellphones were required to verify themselves, or prove that the person using the cellphone had a valid service plan. But towers did not have to verify themselves. So, any device that sent out similar signals to the cellphone tower could "impersonate" that specific tower, Quintin said.

Though more-advanced cellphone networks, such as 3G and 4G, have patched that security bug, the makers of these spying devices still tout their ability to track people's phones, which means there are still security bugs in the cellular network being exploited, Quintin said. [10 Wild Tales of Famous Spies]

"They also claim they can intercept conversations [and] intercept text messages, and [they] sometimes even say they can plant malware in peoples' cellphones," Cooper told Live Science. "None of their claims have been proven."

The devices work by forcing phones to drop down to a lower, less secure 2G network, according to the AP.

Despite imitating cellphone towers, the devices can be small and incredibly inconspicuous, Quintin said. Some are set up in the backs of trucks that have a few antennas on them, but some are the size of a cellphone or are embedded in a vest.

Quintin built one that was the size of a small loaf of bread. (He placed it in a Faraday cage, so it could not connect to or disrupt other cellphone users.)

Little protection

Cell-site simulators don't just violate people's privacy; they can also be dangerous, Quintin said.

"From what we can tell, cell-site simulators disrupt cell service for everyone in the area, potentially even disrupting access to 911 for people in the area," he said.

People who want to protect their communications can use end-to-end encryption with apps like Signal or WhatsApp, but people can do little to protect themselves against the location tracking of cell-tower simulators, Quintin said.

While law enforcement agencies are the primary lawful users of these devices, embassies in Washington, D.C., which are on "sovereign soil," can also lawfully install a spying device.

Every embassy "worth their salt" has a cell-tower simulator installed, Aaron Turner, president of the mobile security consultancy IntegriCell, told the AP. The Russians have simulators that can track people from a mile (1.6 kilometers) away, Turner told the AP.

Originally published on Live Science.One of the biggest questions that keep physicists up at night is why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe.

Scientists have made the most precise measurement of antimatter yet, and the results only deepen the mystery of why life, the universe, and everything in it exists.

The new measurements show that, to an incredibly high degree of precision, antimatter and matter behave identically.

Yet those new measurements can't answer one of the biggest questions in physics: Why, if equal parts matter and antimatter were formed during the Big Bang, is our universe today made up of matter?

Universe in balance

Our universe is predicated on the balance of opposites. For every type of "normal" particle, made of matter, there is a conjugate antiparticle of the same mass that has the opposite electric charge produced at the same time. Electrons have opposing antielectrons, or positrons; protons have antiprotons; and so on. [The 18 Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics]

When matter and antimatter particles meet, however, they annihilate each other, leaving only leftover energy behind. Physicists posit that there should have been equal amounts of matter and antimatter created by the Big Bang, and each would have ensured the other's mutual destruction, leaving a baby universe bereft of life's building blocks (or anything, really). Yet here we are, in a universe made up almost wholly of matter.

But here's the kicker: We don't know of any primordial antimatter that made it out of the Big Bang. So why  if antimatter and matter behave the same way  did one type of matter survive the Big Bang and the other did not?

One of the best ways to answer that question is to measure the fundamental properties of matter and its antimatter conjugates as precisely as possible and compare those results, said Stefan Ulmer, a physicist at Riken in Wako, Japan, who was not involved in the new research. If there's a slight deviation between matter properties and correlated antimatter properties, that could be the first clue to solving physics' biggest whodunit. (In 2017, scientists found some slight differences in the way some matter antimatter partners behave, but the results weren't statistically strong enough to count as a discovery.)

But if scientists want to manipulate antimatter, they have to painstakingly make it. In recent years, some physicists have taken to studying antihydrogen, or hydrogen's antimatter counterpart, because hydrogen is "oneof the things we understand best in the universe," study co-author Jeffrey Hangst, a physicist at Aarhus University in Denmark, told Live Science. Making antihydrogen typically involves mixing 90,000 antiprotons with 3 million positrons to produce 50,000 antihydrogen atoms, only 20 of which are caught with magnets in an 11-inch-long (28 centimeters) cylindrical tube for further study.

Now, in a new study published today (April 4) in the journal Nature, Hangst's team has achieved an unprecedented standard: They've taken the most precise measurement of antihydrogen  or any type of antimatter at all  to date. In 15,000 atoms of antihydrogen (think doing that aforementioned mixing process some 750 times), they studied the frequency of light the atoms emit or absorb when they jump from a lower energy state to a higher one. [Beyond Higgs: 5 Elusive Particles That May Lurk in the Universe]

The researchers' measurements showed that antihydrogen atoms' energy levels, and the amount of light absorbed, agreed with their hydrogen counterparts, with a precision of 2 parts per trillion, dramatically improving upon the previous measurement precision on the order of parts per billion.

"It's very rare that experimentalists manage to increase precision by factor of 100," Ulmer told Live Science. He thinks that, if Hangst's team continues the work for an additional 10 to 20 years, they will be able to increase their level of hydrogen spectroscopy precision by a further factor of 1,000.

For Hangst  the spokesperson for the ALPHA collaboration at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which produced these results  this achievement was decades in the making.

Trapping and holding antimatter was a major feat, Hangst said.

"Twenty years ago, people thought this would never happen," he said. "It's an experimental tour de force to be able to do this at all."

The new results are very impressive, Michael Doser, a physicist at CERN who was not involved in the work, told Live Science in an email.

"The number of trapped atoms for this measurement (15,000) is a huge improvement on [Hangst's group's] own records of only a few years ago," Doser said.

So what does the most precise measurement of antimatter even tell us? Well, unfortunately, not much more than we already knew. As expected, hydrogen and antihydrogen  matter and antimatter  behave identically. Now, we just know that they're identical at a measurement of parts per trillion. However, Ulmer said the 2-parts-per-trillion measurement does not rule out the possibility that something is deviating between the two types of matter at an even greater level of precision that has thus far defied measurement.

As for Hangst, he's less concerned with answering the question of why our universe of matter exists as it does without antimatter  what he calls "the elephant in the room." Instead, he and his group want to focus on making even more precise measurements, and exploring how antimatter reacts with gravity  does it fall down like normal matter, or could it fall up?

And Hangst thinks that mystery could be solved before the end of 2018, when CERN will shut down for two years for upgrades. "We have other tricks up our sleeve," he said. "Stay tuned."

Original article on Live Science.WASHINGTON  Picture this: A team of space travelers blasts off from Earth in a fully automated shuttle that carries them to an outpost orbiting around the moon, where they will embark on a voyage to Mars.

Though it sounds like science fiction, this fantastic journey may be closer than you think: An automated spacecraft designed to transport people into low Earth orbit could be ready for its maiden (uncrewed) voyage as early as this summer.

The new spacecraft, called the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner, is being developed in partnership with NASA by a private company generally associated with commercial airplanes: Boeing. The Starliner is capable of carrying up to seven passengers as far as the International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth orbit.

But that milestone will be just the first step toward eventually flying travelers to the moon and then Mars, experts here at the Future Con panel "Intergalactic to Planetary: Science Fiction to Science Fact" told audience members on March 30. [How to Get to the Moon in 5 'Small' Steps]

Starliner is intended to be the world's first commercial space vehicle, a reusable capsule designed for land-based returns. It will also be fully autonomous, to reduce training time for its crews, according to the project website.

Next stop: Mars

Starliner will initially carry astronauts and science experiments to the ISS, panelist and Boeing representative Tony Castilleja Jr.told the audience. The spacecraft's automated flight system requires only one astronaut to fly it, using tablets and touch screens to interact with the mostly self-piloting vehicle, said panelist Jim May, a Boeing software engineer.

Starliner, scheduled to launch by the end of 2018, can carry up to seven passengers, or a mix of human passengers and cargo. (Image credit: Boeing)

Once Starliner has ferried people as far as the ISS, humans would be one step closer to establishing an orbiting base near the moon  the final outpost before the long journey to Mars, Castilleja said. That outpost could help launch missions that would first explore Mars from orbit and then eventually send researchers to the Red Planet's surface for the first stages of colonization, Castilleja said.

Starliner will also bring experiments to the ISS that aim to improve life in space, refining methods for growing fresh vegetables and 3D printing tools and equipment parts, Alexandra Deal, a materials and process engineer for Boeing, told the panel audience.

Fly me to the moon

Engineers are also developing plans to build that proposed orbiting moon base, known as the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOPG), or just "the Gateway," said panelist David Pederson, a Boeing systems engineer for LOPG.

"We want to take what we've learned from the ISS and apply it to living near the moon," he said.

Astronauts will use the Gateway as a testing ground for a more distant target: Mars. On the Gateway, scientists can develop techniques for insulating crews from intense radiation that does not reach low Earth orbit and the ISS. Working from the Gateway  about a five-day journey from Earth  will also be critical in learning to be "Earth independent," as Mars travelers would have to be, Pederson told the panel.

Eventually, the Gateway could serve as a hub for Mars missions  as a fueling station and depot for ferrying Mars travelers to and from Earth and the moon, and as the launch site for flights to the Red Planet, Pederson said.

Starliner's first mission  an uncrewed test flight, launched by the Atlas V rocket  is scheduled to take place as soon as August 2018, according to NASA.

Original article on Live Science.All three victims of the shooting at YouTube on Tuesday are improving, and two of them have been released to go home, officials at San Francisco General Hospital said Wednesday.

Two women, 32 and 27, were released last night after receiving treatment for their wounds. The third victim, a 36-year-old man, has been upgraded from critical to serious condition, hospital officials. The identities of the victims have not been released.Mass shootings are a routine occurrence for the trauma team at San Francisco General Hospital. One week its a deadly shootout in the Mission District, the next its people with life-threatening gunshot wounds coming in from Bayview or the South of Market neighborhood.

On Tuesday, three people at the YouTube campus in San Bruno were rushed to San Franciscos only trauma ward after a woman shot them before turning the gun on herself, officials said.

The reality is we have to deal with this all the time, said Dr. Andre Campbell, a 23-year trauma surgeon at San Francisco General. We have to deal with the families, the injuries. We have to deal with this constantly.

This is a terrible day in the United States, when once again we have a multiple casualty situation.

But its a terribly familiar day, too.

Speaking to a clutch of reporters outside the hospitals emergency department, Campbells frustration was evident as he ran through the limited information he could provide on the patients injuries: one man in critical condition, one woman in serious and another woman stable. All were struck by bullets.

Asked whether any of the victims had suffered multiple injuries, Campbell answered  with some exasperation  that they all had two bullet holes.

The reality is that last week we had a mass casualty situation here. The week before we had another. I didnt see all these cameras out here today last week when I was here, Campbell said to the gathered journalists.

His team has a procedure for mass casualties that is well tested. When a call comes in, he said, doctors, nurses, therapists and anyone else needed reports to the emergency room to prepare and triage patients.

It starts with the care that patients receive in the field from dedicated paramedics, Campbell said. Once they come to us, they get an assessment. We go through things from top to bottom.

Privacy laws prevented Campbell from giving more details about the patients treated on Tuesday, but he had pointed words about the latest tragedy: Mass shootings keep happening and no one seems able to make them stop.

Once again, we are confronted with a specter of a mass casualty situation here in the city and county, Campbell said. This is unfortunate and it continues. Youd think after weve seen Las Vegas, Parkland, the Pulse nightclub shooting, that we would see an end to this. But we have not.DALLAS  One of the designers of a massive Kansas water park slide that decapitated a 10-year-old boy has been arrested in Texas, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Trent Touchstone, chief deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Dallas, said 72-year-old John Timothy Schooley was met by agents at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he arrived Monday on a flight from China.

Schooley was being held without bond at the Dallas County jail after being arraigned on charges that include second-degree murder, according to Dallas County sheriffs spokesman Raul Reyna. An extradition hearing is scheduled for Wednesday and Schooley likely will be transported to Kansas next week, Reyna said. A Kansas conviction for second-degree murder carries a penalty of 9 to 41 years in prison.

A Houston attorney for Schooley, Kit Yam, didnt immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

A Kansas grand jury last week indicted Schooley and Jeffrey Henry , a co-owner of Texas-based Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts. The indictment accuses Henry of making a spur of the moment decision to build the Verruckt ride  touted as the worlds tallest water slide  and that he and Schooley lacked technical or engineering expertise in amusement park rides. A former operations director for Schlitterbahn also has been charged.

Caleb Schwab was killed on the 17-story Verruckt in 2016 when the raft he was riding went airborne and hit an overhead loop.

Schooley and Henry, 62, also were charged with 17 other felonies, including aggravated battery and aggravated endangerment of a child counts tied to injuries that other riders sustained on the giant slide.

Henry was arrested last week in South Texas and Cameron County sheriffs Chief Deputy Gus Reyna Jr. said he was extradited to Kansas on Tuesday. An attorney in Texas for Henry didnt immediately reply to phone messages seeking comment.

Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said in a statement last week that the indictment is filled with information that we fully dispute. She didnt immediately respond to a message seeking fresh comment early Tuesday.

The indictment alleges the ride violated nearly all aspects of longstanding standards established by the American Society for Testing and Materials.

In fact, the design and operation of the Verruckt complied with few, if any, of the industry safety standard, the indictment said.Heres what we know so far about Tuesdays shooting at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno:

What happened

Police said a woman, identified by sources as Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, of Riverside County, entered YouTubes headquarters at 901 Cherry Ave., in San Bruno and opened fire with a handgun, hitting a man and two women before turning the gun on herself. The attack unfolded in a matter of seconds Tuesday afternoon. Authorities believe Aghdam started shooting in the office courtyard.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said authorities received numerous 911 calls at 12:48 p.m., responded to the scene and immediately began a search for the shooter or suspect.

Officers arrived before 1 p.m. to find one of the victims near the front of the business, officials said. They then discovered Aghdams body, and after that found two more victims at an adjacent business.

The victims

Three gunshot victims were taken to San Francisco General Hospital  two women and a man. A 32-year-old woman was in serious condition, a 27-year-old woman was in fair condition, and a 36-year-old man was in critical condition. A fourth victim, who did not suffer a gunshot wound, was also taken to the hospital with what was believed to be an ankle injury. They were not identified.

Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at SFGH, said all three gunshot victims were awake, talking and aware of what had happened to them. None had gone to surgery.

The shooter

A vehicle registered to Aghdam was towed from the YouTube parking lot, and several of her social media accounts, including her YouTube channels, were shut down by Tuesday night.

Her father said he called police and reported her missing after she didn't answer her phone for two days, and that she might go to YouTube.

Officers in Mountain View found her sleeping in her car in a parking lot around 2 a.m. Tuesday but let her go after she refused to answer their questions. Aghdam didn't appear to be a threat to herself or others, police spokeswoman Katie Nelson said.

On a website, Aghdam railed against YouTube for taking down some of her videos and for skimping on revenues driven by the traffic to her YouTube page.

There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!! Aghdam wrote. Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!

Aghdam appears to have kept up an active presence online, including on YouTube, where she posted several videos, mostly about animal rights, some of which appear to be graphic, including one of a dog being boiled alive. Other videos extol the virtues of a vegan diet and feature Aghdam performing exercise routines.Giant: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Edna Ferber, and the Making of a Legendary American Film

By Don Graham

St. Martin's. 336 pp. $27.99

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Ostensibly a study of director George Stevens' classic American western "Giant," Don Graham's new book is also a chronicle of the 1950s. The film's stars, locations and production shenanigans reflect the ducktail, fender-fin decade, which means opening the pages of this book is like breaking into a time capsule.

Graham begins in May 1955, when Warner Bros. launched its film adaptation of Edna Ferber's best-seller with a press event at its commissary, renamed that day as the Chuck Wagon. His account then moves to location shooting outside Charlottesville for the picture's opening scenes: Texas cattle baron Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) arrives to buy a horse and ends up meeting his wife-to-be (Elizabeth Taylor).

From bucolic Virginia farmlands, the film crew journeyed to Marfa, Tex., for a grueling shoot on a desolate prairie cauldron that supporting actor Mercedes McCambridge described as "the ugliest landscape on the face of the earth."

Over a month later, on a chartered train bearing Texas-shaped signs emblazoned with the word "Giant," the weary company trudged back to the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif. During one of the final days of shooting, James Dean, who had played Jett Rink, the ranch hand who rises to oil tycoon, died in a car crash.

Before he died, Dean brought a classic '50s generational conflict to the production, with the young actor living out his eponymous role in "Rebel Without a Cause." Graham notes that Dean repeatedly and angrily confronted Stevens, an implacable father figure who had helmed classic studio-era films like "A Place in the Sun" and "Shane." Upset with a scene, Dean would urinate in front of the company. "He was 24 going on 12," Graham writes.

But Stevens saw beyond Dean's crude, obstreperous behavior. Daily rushes caught the Method actor bringing a startling naturalism to his scenes, along with three other supporting actors, Dennis Hopper, Carroll Baker and Earl Holliman. Together, they represented a sea change in acting style that percolated throughout the decade.

No one sensed this shift more than the film's star, Hudson, a classically handsome, studio-groomed actor who learned his lines, showed up on time and hit his camera marks. He fretted that Dean's emotionally centered acting was taking over the film. Hudson's apprehensions were justified. Dean steals every scene he's in.

More than acting styles, however, roiled the men's relationship. Rumors spread that Dean, who was bisexual, rebuffed advances from Hudson, who was a closeted gay. Hudson's agent, meanwhile, in a classic '50s ruse, maneuvered to marry Hudson to a woman who may have been a closeted lesbian.

Racism, the most volatile theme of the decade, became the film's powerful center. Devastated after filming the German concentration camps at the end of World War II, Stevens feared race relations at home portended a similar holocaust.

The resolution of the film thus centers on Benedict's son, who marries a Mexican woman. Although patriarch Benedict early on criticizes his wife for being too friendly with the Mexican servants, he ultimately ends up getting pulverized in a fistfight with a diner owner who refuses to serve his daughter-in-law and her family. Conflicting audience responses to this theme pointed up the decade's struggle with civil rights. Graham notes that on a preview response card, one viewer wrote, "Racial situation well presented and (BEGIN ITAL)true(END ITAL)," but another respondent advised, "Tone down the message. This is good stuff for the commies."

A professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of "State Fare: An Irreverent Guide to Texas Movies," Graham provides a solid historic context for "Giant." His account details a demanding, exhausting but ultimately rewarding production (the film garnered largely positive reviews and, to date, has earned $39 million). Any reader will have to agree that as a production "Giant" was, as the book's subtitle asserts, "legendary."

But is "Giant" legendary as (BEGIN ITAL)art(END ITAL)? Or is it now simply a 1950s artifact?

Graham answers this question less satisfactorily. Although he provides expert analyses of some sequences in the film, he struggles to evoke the overall sense of how "Giant" looks, sounds and affects a viewer. For instance, he devotes one general paragraph to Dimitri Tiomkin's score, overlooking the alternately silken and blaring themes that drive the film for three hours and 21 minutes.

Graham also stints on description of the look of the film. A reader (especially one unfamiliar with "Giant") needs to sense the film's dreamlike dissolves, the long shots rich with information that Stevens created with cinematographer Bill Mellor and then edited with his characteristically meticulous rhythms.

Had Graham considered in more detail what Stevens captured, he could have made even stronger his strong case for "Giant" as a "legendary" work.

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Bartell is an arts writer based in Manhattan.Emily Blunt's new movie "The Quiet Place" is about a family who tries to live silently, lest terrible things befall them. She won't be speaking much - which is a tad unusual for the British actress. More often, her roles display flawless vocal abilities, via her American accents ("The Girl on the Train," "Sicario") and singing ("Into the Woods," upcoming "Mary Poppins").

So it's difficult to believe that Blunt spent her childhood bullied for a nearly debilitating stutter. But that might be what helped launch her acting career.

On the cusp of her teenage years, Blunt was relentlessly mocked by her classmates. As a defense mechanism, she recently told People's Jess Cagle, she essentially hid herself in characters.

"I used to do a lot of funny voices and funny accents because I could speak more fluently if I didn't sound like me," Blunt said.

Her parents enrolled her in various therapies and relaxation classes, but nothing took - until she began acting.

A "fantastic teacher" overheard Blunt's impressions an funny voices, and asked the then 12-year-old to enroll in a school play despite her stutter, a suggestion she greeted with vigorous objections.

"This is kind of remarkable for someone who's not a stutterer, that he had this instinct. It was so special," Blunt recalled.

Blunt, bitten by the acting bug, eventually conquered her stutter, but it will never disappear completely.

"It still comes back and flares if I'm really tired, or when I was pregnant, it was really prominent again," Blunt said.

A stutter might seem to many like a minor affliction, but it can be anything but. For example: Annie Glenn, the wife of astronaut and former senator John Glenn, stuttered so badly that when her 7-year-old daughter stepped on a nail, she couldn't speak well enough to call an ambulance. She had to fetch a neighbor, as blood gushed out of her daughter's foot.

Others have trouble finding work.

"It's a real problem for a lot of people. It's not just kids. You have adults in the 40s and 50s who haven't been able to get the jobs that they deserve, because you're sort of misrepresented by how you speak," Blunt said.

Stuttering is a surprisingly common affliction in Hollywood - a place generally unkind to those living with disabilities - despite a main tenet of acting being flawless line-reading and enunciation. Several big-name actors managed to enjoy a lucrative career regardless. Here are a few.

- James Earl Jones

"The Great White Hope" actor became one of Hollywood's most famous voices, lending it to "The Lion King," "Star Wars" and CNN. But Jones stuttered so badly that he spent eight years of his childhood barely speaking to anyone - except his family and the animals on the Mississippi farm where he lived.

"Stuttering is painful. In Sunday school, I'd try to read my lessons and the children behind me were falling on the floor with laughter," Jones told the Daily Mail in 2010. "My stuttering was so bad that I gave up trying to speak properly."

But he loved words, specifically the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. One of his high school English teachers noticed this and had Jones read poetry in front of the class, forcing him to work on his stutter. He eventually learned to keep it enough at bay to make a living with his voice - though it never goes away entirely.

"I don't say I was 'cured,'" he told NPR. "I just work with it."

Jones's story inspired so many that in 1987 he became the first recipient of the Annie Glenn Award, which honors those who positively impact people suffering from communication disorders.

- Marilyn Monroe

From "The Seven Year Itch" to "Some Like it Hot," Monroe's breathy voice was as much a star as she was. But it didn't always roll off her tongue quite so easily. She stuttered from an early age, and a speech therapist suggested that she adopt the throaty tone to overcome her disability. That voice became her trademark, but she never fully stopped stuttering.

"It was terrible," she once said of it. "I don't know how it happened. I just stuttered."

It followed her throughout her career, even inciting the wrath of a director on at least one occasion when she stuttered a line-reading.

"The director was furious. He said, 'You don't stutter,'" she recalled. "I said, 'That's what you think!'"

"Oh, it's painful," she added. "Oh, God."

- Bruce Willis

Willis is the epitome of cool on-screen, but throughout his childhood, he battled a stutter that lead to such relentless bullying that, as he said, "I had to fight my way out."

His remedy, much like Blunt's, was to become someone else.

"It took me three minutes to complete a sentence," Willis once said. "It was crushing for anyone who wanted to express themselves, who wanted to be heard and couldn't. It was frightening. Yet, when I became another character, in a play, I lost the stutter. It was phenomenal."

He didn't see a speech therapist until an acting teacher in college encouraged him to do so. Now, he's an outspoken advocate for people who stutter.

"My advice to the people in this room is to never let anyone make you feel like an outcast, because you will never be an outcast," Willis said at the 2016 American Institute for Stuttering's annual gala. "I resent the laughter. Think about it, stuttering is the only thing people think they can laugh at. If I was up here talking about having a cleft palate and had it operated on, or had a withered arm or was partially paralyzed, no one would make fun of me at all."

- Samuel L. Jackson

That booming, often expletive-laden voice once cracked, stopped and started with regularity - and it still does from time to time.

"I stuttered really, really, really bad for a long time ... to the point that I stopped speaking for, like, almost a year in school," Jackson told Howard Stern in 2016.

As a young man, it even led to fistfights - "I won," Jackson assured Stern.

He would go to the library to read about stuttering, therapies, breathing activities, anything he could find. While it helped, the panacea to his stutter came in an usual manner - saying a word that is very much associated with Jackson, but that cannot be printed in a family newspaper. Let's just say it begins with the word "mother."

"I have no idea" why it helps, Jackson said. "But it just does. It clicks a switch that stops the d-d-d, b-b-b-b-b."WOAI anchorwoman Delaine Mathieu wrote on Facebook Tuesday that it was awful having to deliver promos mandated by parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group that seemed to echo the views of President Trump.

However, she and chief anchorman Randy Beamer had no choice, she added, if they wanted to keep their jobs.

Trust me, this was awful, Mathieu wrote in response to a critic on Facebook. We had several closed-door meetings and even had to re-record our version because we looked so mortified in the first cut.

RELATED: WOAI, KABB anchors read Sinclair-mandated anti-fake news script

But we gathered our composure and did our job knowing this would happen, she added. It sucks. It just does. You will make your judgment and I cant change that. But I wish you well!

Her reaction was prompted by a post Tuesday by San Antonio resident Lola Crane, in which she shared a story that ran in the San Antonio Express-News about an anti-fake news Sinclair script that dozens of anchors across the country - including those on WOAI and KABB here - were obliged to read on the air.

I used to think Randy Beamer was pretty cool, not anymore. Not an ounce of integrity, turns out hes just a puppet, Crane wrote. You too Delaine Mathieu. Shame on you News 4 San Antonio!

RELATED: Anchors share their vacation photos

Yeah, shame on us for wanting to keep our jobs so that we could continue to support our families, Mathieu fired back. This wasnt a choice nor a script that we wrote.

The script she referred to has been read on the air by anchors across the country  including Beamer and Mathieu on WOAI and Jessica Headley and Ryan Wolf on KABB  on stations owned by Sinclair, one of the nations biggest broadcasters.

In the promos, the newscasters decry the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country before warning that this is extremely dangerous to our democracy.

An outcry followed with media and academics denouncing the mandated promos. It intensified when the website Deadspin posted a supercut video that showed more than 30 anchors and anchor teams reciting the promo at the same time.

Texas State University professor Tim England, for instance, called it a dark day in broadcast journalism.

On the Facebook thread, posters seemed to agree, condemning the practice and Mathieu and Beamer along with it. .

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Crane wrote, made you all look like fools and propaganda tools.

My point exactly, Mathieu responded. Blame the ones who put us in this impossible situation.

More criticism followed  one poster, Beth Goethe, even called for the anchors resignations.

You always have a choice. It makes me wonder what else you would do to keep your job," Goethe wrote. I have 2 words for you and Randy: Get. Out.

Thats an unbelievable statement to make, Mathieu replied. Give me a break. Im not going anywhere.

The anchorwomans final words on the matter, however, werent a defense of her actions, but a compliment for her WOAI colleague: And for the record, Beamer is still pretty damn cool.

Contacted by text today about the Facebook exchange, Mathieu declined to comment except to underscore my assertion that it sounded like an awful situation for the anchors.

Yep, she replied.About three years ago, Mitch Landrieu approached legendary jazz musician Wynton Marsalis with a request. Landrieu, the two-term mayor of New Orleans, hoped that Marsalis  who hed known since their shared days as high-school students in the Crescent City  would be willing to participate in New Orleans Tricentennial celebration.

Marsalis agreed, on one condition: that Landrieu remove the Robert E. Lee statue from its perch in a traffic circle in the central part of the city.

In a sense, Landrieus new book, In the Shadows of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History, is a diary of the New Orleans mayors journey to understand the racial history underpinning Marsaliss request.

Landrieu focuses on four epochal periods from his lifetime: the mayoral tenure of his dad, Moon Landrieu, in the 1970s; the political rise of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke in the late 1980s; the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005; and, finally, Landrieus recent successful push to remove four Civil War monuments (including the Lee statue) from public settings in New Orleans.

Landrieu admits that he didnt understand Marsaliss vehemence on the Confederate memorials issue when they first spoke about it and primarily fretted about the political fallout such a move would produce.

Up to that point, Landrieu thought he was enlightened on the issue of race. After all, he had watched as his father took intense grief from bigoted whites for honoring campaign promises to provide African-Americans with access to municipal contracts and jobs. And he had seen the way Duke manipulated the fears of poor whites and the way African-Americans bore the brunt of Katrinas flood waters.

What Landrieu didnt know was how the Confederate monuments in New Orleans had been used for decades as symbols of segregation and institutional oppression.

More Information In the Shadows of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History By Mitch Landrieu Viking, $25 See More Collapse

Landrieu lays out his own education process in simple, effective prose and challenges his fellow white southerners to examine the blanket of hostility toward black people that shrouds the voting patterns of the white South.

Of course, its hard to separate Landrieus history lesson from his very real political ambitions. Landrieu will be term-limited out of the mayors office at the end of this year and his name has been dropped as a potential Democratic presidential contender. While he insists that he doesnt plan to seek the presidency, the timing of this books publication suggests that hes at least testing the waters.

Along those lines, he makes a point of connecting the dog-whistle racism of Duke with the current rhetoric of President Donald Trump and his apologists. Our nightmare (with Duke), writes Landrieu, was a precursor of where our country is today.

Landrieu also isnt shy about championing his own accomplishments as the lieutenant governor of Louisiana and mayor of New Orleans, and bashing Ray Nagin, the man who beat him in his first bid for mayor.

This book is most persuasive, however, as Landrieus sincere attempt to understand why Louis Armstrong left New Orleans and never wanted to return and why Wynton Marsalis couldnt bear to be a part of the Tricentennial until something was done about Lee Circle. After more than 50 years of living in New Orleans, Landrieu only recently learned to see it through new eyes. And he brings the reader along with him on his epiphany.After a failed attempt last go-around, City Council on Monday passed a resolution in support of a fifth international bridge, while emphasizing the City of Laredos commitment to the expansion and improvement of the World Trade Bridge as a priority.

Mexican customs broker and entrepreneur Glafiro Montemayor has promised $300 million toward the construction of a bridge that would cross into Webb County south of Laredo, between Rio Bravo and El Cenizo. And Mexican government officials have thrown their support behind this project location in light of this large investment.

READ ALSO: Man attempting to flee from Mexican officials jumps off International Bridge

However the City of Laredo is still set on protecting and growing the World Trade Bridge, a huge source of income for the city and the backbone of the local economy.

Mexico and U.S. officials came to an agreement in November to make both projects a priority: the expansion of the World Trade Bridge in the short term, and the construction of the fifth bridge in the long term.

But it is clear from the Mexican side that if the city doesnt start making plans for the fifth bridge, Mexico will not support the expansion of the World Trade Bridge, City Manager Horacio De Leon said Monday.

To be very transparent here, publicly, we havent gotten any support on the bridge 4 improvements as a result of this. Theyre basically set on building bridge 5 and not continuing to improve bridge 4, De Leon said.

This agreement between the two countries goes right up to the federal level. And since Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto will term out of office in December, the city has a small window of time to move these two bridge projects forward, De Leon said.

READ ALSO: Laredo veteran announces campaign for City Council seat

The resolution in support of bridge 5 and the World Trade Bridge was passed unanimously by council.

Council members Alex Perez Jr. and George Altgelt expressed that they would also like the resolution to include support of an outer loop, which would theoretically connect to the fifth bridge and efficiently carry traffic northward, running concentric to Loop 20. The goal is to avoid a situation like Mines Road where traffic gets backed up.

The bridge without an outer loop connecting to it is another Colombia Toll Bridge. Its another white elephant in the middle of nowhere. So the outer loop without the bridge doesnt work and the bridge without the outer loop doesnt work.  One independent of the other doesnt make any sense, Altgelt said.

But Councilman Charlie San Miguel did not allow the amendment of his original motion.

This resolution is, of course, just supporting the progress of bridge 5, making World Trade Bridge a priority. And so its already going to be in there. The discussions that are going to be happening in the future, its going to also encompass the infrastructure, San Miguel said.

It will be years before either the outer loop or bridge 5 project can even begin construction.

The Texas Department of Transportation projects that planning for the outer loop will take at least eight years. And just obtaining the presidential permit necessary to build bridge 5 could take that long as well.Razzoo's Cajun Cafe is opening its 20th location May 7 in Pasadena after identifying a market opportunity in the community for Lousiana-inspired dishes.

"Pasadena is a great place and is growing steadily, and that coupled with the lack of competition of more structured Cajun restaurants in the area make it a good fit," Pasadena General Manager Zach West said.

The restaurant at 3501 E. Sam Houston Parkway South in Pasadena has hired 100 staff members and is looking to hire more, he said.

"We are hiring for all positions such as hosts, bartenders, servers and chefs," he said.

Although items on their menu may sound odd and seem hard to pronounce - i.e., Tchoupitoulas (grilled chicken breast over potatoes ham and mushrooms, topped with a special sauce) and Rat Toes, (deep-fried shrimp and crawfish stuffed jalapenos served with our buttermilk) - it's all part of Razzoo's Louisiana feel.

"You get transported to New Orleans. The liveliness, energy and Southern hospitality that Razzoo's provides along with the traditional artifacts and decor really speak to the Louisiana feel," West said.

In 1999, Razzoo's opened its first location at Keystone Park in Dallas and has continued to open new throughout Texas and one in North Carolina. Pasadena will make its third location in the Houston area along with Stafford and Spring.

"We are a family restaurant and we set our standards very high on cleanliness, hospitality and customer service," West said. "Our food is made fresh in house every day."

The menu includes classics like crawfish etoufee and shrimp creole as well as items that showcase the restaurant's slogan, "Anything that grows in a swamp," like grilled gator tail.

Also offered are stuffed shrimp, Andouille red beans and rice, blackened "N'awlins" chicken breast, and shucked oysters.

Interested applicants should visit West at the restaurant, which is at Pasadena Pavilion, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information on the restaurant chain, visit www.razzoos.com.Fast-food chain Chick-fil-As history dates back to the 1940s, when its founder S. Truett Cathy opened the Dwarf House. Two decades after introducing one of the countrys first chicken sandwiches there, he used that recipe to open the first-ever Chick-fil-A in Atlanta in 1967.

Related: 5 Things You Need to Know Before Investing in a Chick-fil-A Franchise

It wasnt long before that Chick-fil-A skyrocketed in popularity. Today, the company generates more revenue per restaurant than any other fast-food chain. Its almost made its way into all 50 states, with only Hawaii, Alaska and Vermont without a location. Its also been reported that the company will likely become the third-largest fast-food chain within the next two years, surpassing Wendys, Burger King and Taco Bell.

Its a growing phenomenon and theres much to learn from the chicken chain and all its success. For more, here are 25 crazy facts about Chick-fil-A.

1. Before Chick-fil-A, there was the Dwarf House.

Chick-fil-A didnt get its catchy name right off the bat. Before Chick-fil-A, there was the Dwarf House, which founder S. Truett Cathy opened in 1946 in Hapeville, Ga. Ironically, the Dwarf Houses menu focused on hamburgers and steaks. There are still 12 Dwarf House restaurants across the U.S.

2. It was officially founded in 1967.

After much success with the Dwarf House, Cathy opened the first-ever Chick-fil-A in 1967 in Atlanta.

3. Chick-fil-A's founder popularized the chicken sandwich.

After the hamburger came the chicken sandwich, and Cathy might be to credit for its widespread popularity. In 1964, while at The Dwarf House, Cathy was approached by a local poultry supplier whod produced too many chicken breasts. Taking the extra supply, Cathy came up with a fast-food cooking method to offer his lunch patrons a new option: the chicken sandwich.

Related: 5 Cues on Brand Loyalty You Can Take From Chick-fil-A

4. The A in Chick-fil-A has a meaning.

The A at the end of Chick-fil-A isnt just a play on the word fillet. It also means Grade A.

5. All Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed on Sundays.

According to the Chick-fil-A website, after Cathys experience working in restaurants that were open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he understood the importance of time off. Thats why youll never see a Chick-fil-A restaurant open on Sundays. As the website explains, Cathy set aside one day of the week for himself and his employees to rest and worship if they choose.

6. The first 100 customers at a new Chick-fil-A restaurant get free Chick-fil-A for a year.

Dubbed the First 100 Campout, Chick-fil-A encourages fans to camp out in front of its new locations the day before they open and promises to reward the first 100 customers free Chick-fil-A for a year.

7. Only three states dont have a Chick-fil-A restaurant.

Chick-fil-A has made its way into nearly every U.S. state. There are locations in 47 states, plus Washington D.C. The only states it has yet to set up in are Alaska, Hawaii and Vermont.

8. It has one Hawaiian-themed restaurant.

For a tropical twist, one of Chick-fil-As largest restaurants is Hawaiian-inspired, called Truetts Luau and located in Fayetteville, Ga. The 8,000-square-foot dine-in restaurant offers an array of seafood, pork and chicken options.

9. Opening a Chick-fil-A franchise is cheap.

If youre interested in becoming a fast-food franchisee, but worried about what it might cost you, check out Chick-fil-A. There are little financial prerequisites needed to apply for a Chick-fil-A franchise, and opening a restaurant only costs $10,000. Not only that, but Chick-fil-A pays for all startup costs including real estate, construction and restaurant equipment.

10. Its extremely competitive to become a Chick-fil-A franchisee.

While opening a Chick-fil-A franchise might be cheap, the competition is high. The chain gets more than 20,000 franchisee applications a year and chooses only 75 to 80, according to Business Insider. That means you have less than a 1 percent chance of becoming a Chick-fil-A franchisee.

Related: Just How Much Does It Cost to Own a Fast-Food Franchise?

11. Its the largest buyer of Sunkist lemons in the world.

In 2014 alone, Chick-fil-A served 121 million cups of lemonade, using 250 million lemons, making it the largest purchaser of Sunkist lemons in the entire world. According to an earlier press release, in 2014, [it] purchased more lemons from Sunkist than the entire country of Japan.

12. Its the largest buyer of peanut oil in the country.

Its not only breaking records when it comes to lemons, but peanut oil too. The ingredient behind Chick-fil-As crispy chicken taste turns out to be peanut oil, and its the largest domestic buyer of it. Chick-fil-As culinary senior manager once explained in a press release: I dont know what youd call it -- serendipitous or magical -- but the peanut oil makes our chicken sandwich nearly impossible to replicate.

13. Chick-fil-A employees are extremely polite.

Please and thank you are common words youll hear around Chick-fil-A restaurants. According to a 2016 annual drive-thru report by QSR Magazine, Chick-fil-A was voted the most polite chain restaurant. Compared to 15 other fast-food chains in the survey, employees at the chicken chain were voted the most likely to say please and thank you to customers.

14. Its grilled nuggets took seven years and $50 million to create.

To get the recipe just right, it took Chick-fil-A lots of time and money to craft its Grilled Nuggets. In fact, it took a whopping seven years and $50 million. Much of that was spent by Chick-fil-A scientists creating a special grill just for the nuggets.

15. Its waffle fries are the most-ordered menu item.

While you might expect the chicken sandwich to be the most popular, it turns out the most-ordered menu item doesnt even have chicken in it. According to a Chick-fil-A press release, waffle fries are its most popular menu item.

16. The company will never go public.

Before Cathy passed away in 2014, he made his children sign a contract agreeing that Chick-fil-A will always remain a private company. However, he did agree that they could sell it if they wished.

17. Chick-fil-As chicken sandwich recipe is locked up.

To make sure no one ever gets a hold of Chick-fil-As secret chicken sandwich recipe, the company has locked it up in a vault at its headquarters in Atlanta.

Related: 7 Fast Food Restaurants That Feature Secret Menus

18. Chick-fil-A sauce is just a medley of other sauces.

Chick-fil-As famous sauce is no secret. In fact, in a tweet, the company revealed its simple formula: a blend of honey mustard, barbecue and ranch.

19. The restaurants make their pickles on-site.

Every Chick-fil-A restaurant is responsible for making its own pickles, a process that takes three days and involves cutting up cucumbers and soaking them in brine for three days.

20. Chick-fil-A helps its employees go to college.

Cathy was always a big believer in higher education. Since 1973, Chick-fil-A has given more than $35 million in college scholarships to Chick-fil-A employees.

21. It has a secret menu.

Like a number of other fast-food chains, Chick-fil-A offers its own secret menu. Some of the tasty items on this hidden list include a double decker sandwich, cheese fries, a chicken quesadilla, lettuce-wrapped sandwiches and a rootbeer float.

22. It makes more money per restaurant than any other fast-food chain.

Chick-fil-As popularity is sky-high. According to data from QSR Magazine, in 2017 alone its average sales per restaurant was about $4 million, compared to its competitor McDonald's, whose average was $2.6 million.

23. Its expected to become the third-largest fast-food chain.

By 2020, Chick-fil-A is expected to become the third-largest fast-food chain, surpassing Wendys, Taco Bell and Burger King, according to a recent report by Buzzfeed.

24. Franchisees can only one operate one location.

One reason why it's so cheap to start a Chick-fil-A restaurant -- it only costs $10,000 -- is because the private restaurant chain is very specific about who can run one of the sandwich shops. It's very difficult to become a Chick-fil-A franchisee, or operator, and if you do, the company expects you to devote your time and effort to that store. In fact, according to AOL, an operator can only run one Chick-fil-A store at a time.

25. Chick-fil-A has a location inside a football stadium.

This is odd, of course, because Chick-fil-A locations stay closed on Sundays, when most football games take place. But as the company points out in a blog post, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta hosts about 100 events per years, giving customers plenty of opportunities to chow down on chicken sandwiches and fries.

Related:

25 Interesting Facts You Should Know About Chick-fil-A

5 Things You Need to Know Before Investing in a Chick-fil-A Franchise

8 Success Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Chick-fil-A



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedWhat do you get when you cross a smartphone with the act of snubbing someone? Phubbing.

Thats not just a punchline -- the word is defined in multiple dictionaries, and close to 44 percent of people do it more than twice a day, according to research from the University of Kent. Phubbing negatively affects the way people perceive communication and their satisfaction with a relationship significantly, according to additional research from the university.

Although technology has had a positive impact on communication in many ways, it can also make in-person communication more challenging. The good news: Weve got tips for revamping your communication skills from the ground up.

Related: This Entrepreneur's Leadership Success Secret Is Simpler Than You Think

1. Be specific (but not over-specific).

Specificity is the key to unlock effective communication. The problem: Finding the right balance can be tricky. Too few specifics can mean sacrificing clarity, while too many can be seen as condescending. If you lean towards over-explaining, instead of assuming the other person doesnt know something, try going with, You probably already know this, so if you do, stop me.

To set the tone for your conversation, think about your audience and their history, experience and level of understanding. For example, if youre starting your own ice cream company, youll want to tailor your pitch differently to someone in Antarctica vs. someone in Ecuador.

When youre talking expectations, its especially important to make sure everyones on the same page, so ask for confirmation by way of a follow-up question. For example, managers can trade Repeat what I said back to me, for Based on what we talked about, can you tell me what your next steps might be? says Skip Weisman, a workplace communication expert.

2. Get body (language) conscious.

Crossing your arms, leaning back and avoiding eye contact can all make someone view an interaction in a negative light. Other communication no-nos include slouching, sighing, supporting your head with your hand and accidental glaring (known colloquially as resting bitch face). Its easy to be unaware of your own body language habits. How can you figure out where you can improve?

The best way to do it is also the hardest -- you have to ask other people for feedback, Weisman says. Theres no other way to know if youre doing something and the impact it has on other people.

Tell a few trusted friends or colleagues that youre looking to improve your communication skills, and ask them to be honest about what you could do better. Think of their feedback as an opportunity for growth, then make a conscious commitment to working on just one thing at a time (say, for 30 days) to avoid feeling overwhelmed. First thing in the morning, try setting an intention or goal for the day ahead, and picture yourself being successful at it.

Related: 15 Ways to Lead With Effective Communication

3. Choose to listen.

Listening is a choice -- its not a skill, Weisman says. We get to choose what to focus on any minute of the day.

Framing listening as a choice can help you discipline yourself and stay accountable, even if youre itching to check your phone or arent particularly interested in whats being discussed. Its possible to still hear what someone else is saying while scrolling through Instagram or replying to a quick text, but since you dont appear fully engaged, it sends the message that something else is equally or more important.

Theres no such thing as multitasking when youre communicating, Weisman says. Somethings got to give, and usually its the other person feeling devalued in the moment.

4. Talk with others rather than to others.

In the same vein, its important to make sure youre engaging with the person youre speaking to -- in other words, make sure its a conversation, not a speech. Recent findings from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggest its human nature -- even from a young age -- to favor an engaging conversation over a one-sided one. The research showed that increasing numbers of turns in back-and-forth conversations were critical to language development in children, even affecting brain physiology.

As for how to build the habit? Incorporate the other persons perspective by asking questions and making it clear how what youre saying is also relevant to them. If youre famously long-winded, try paring down your word count by planning out what youre going to say in your mind before you speak -- or give yourself an overall time limit by asking the other person if they can set aside a certain amount of time (say, 15 minutes) to focus on the conversation.

Related: Why Office Communication Is Highly Valued and Often Ignored

Related:

4 Ways to Be a Better Communicator and More Present in Conversations

Three Ways To Win New Customers On A Radio Interview

Going International: The Allure Of English For Entrepreneurs



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com

EDWARDSVILLE  Kennison Adams, a senior at Edwardsville High School, received a Certificate of Commendation from Edwardsville Mayor Hal Patton at Tuesdays City Council meeting.

Adams is currently the assistant chief for the Edwardsville Fire Departments Fire Explorer Post 1070 program and was recently recognized as one of Illinois top youth volunteers of 2018 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.

Adams alone has dedicated over 450 community service hours between 2014 and 2017.

Edwardsville Fire Chief Rick Welle took to the stand and said Adams was one of two high school youths that received the Prudential Spirit of Community Award.

Recently, one of our fire explorers Kennison Adams was awarded the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, representing Illinois. There are only two high school youths that are chosen for that across the state. Its a very prestigious award, Welle said.

The EFDs explorer program originated in the early 1980s and was once again kickstarted in 2006. Since then, Welle said the program has been popular with Edwardsville youths and is helping shape career paths.

Since then, weve had about 20 (participants) per year that have been through our program. Its changed a bit  originally, it was mostly just for the fire service. It started bending a little bit toward EMS with more and more involvement with EMS, Welle said.

Welle said the program can assist youths aspiring to go into several career fields, including medical and first responder careers. He said just participating in the program can make all the difference on resumes.

Many of (the explorers) are going on to college and through this program, were getting feedback from colleges because we do send our recommendations for our best explorers coming through and they say that on their resume really makes them stand out as theyre applying for these colleges and its an important part of what they do, he said.

As discussion came to a close, Patton commended Adams for her efforts and read aloud her certificate of Commendation.

Kennison Adams recently named as the Edwardsville High School state honoree in the 2018 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program exemplifies the values of community volunteer and service, is a role model to other youth as well as adults in our community. Kennison has shown commendable service as both a member and assistant chief of the Edwardsville Fire Department Explorer Post. As mayor of the city of Edwardsville, Illinois and on behalf of this city and city council, I commend Kennison Adams, our Prudential Spirit of Community Award honoree for outstanding achievement and volunteer contribution to our community, Patton said.

The PSCA is based solely on volunteer service and all public/private middle level and high schools in the county, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and affiliates of Points of Lights HandsOn Network were eligible to nominate a student or member for an award.

To learn more about the PSCA, visit its website at https://spirit.prudential.com.Uncertainty about Sen. John McCain's future has set off a flurry of hushed conversations and concern in the Republican Party about a possible vacancy that could make it harder for the GOP to hold its Senate majority.

As the Arizona Republican battles brain cancer, party leaders are contemplating the unusual prospect of defending two Senate seats in the state this year - something they are already doing in Mississippi as they seek to improve on their 51-49 advantage in the midterm elections.

McCain's health has been shrouded in secrecy, leading many Republicans to privately wonder whether he will remain in office beyond May 30. If he doesn't, there would probably be a special election for his seat in the fall.

Congress will return Monday from a two-week recess with no clear indication that McCain, 81, will be back. He has been absent since December, and his spokeswoman Julie Tarallo declined to comment on his condition or whether he plans to return.

In public, influential Republicans have been reluctant to speculate about McCain's future in the context of electoral politics out of respect to the Senate titan, who is beloved by many in the party. But privately, they have engaged in talks about who might replace him or run for his seat.

From those conversations, which have occurred among strategists, officials and donors in Arizona and Washington, a long list of names has emerged of possible interim or long-term successors, including McCain's wife, Cindy, and former senator Jon Kyl.

Interviews with nearly a dozen Republicans this week, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic, revealed a sense of nervousness over the lack of a clear road map. "The problem," as one prominent Arizona Republican said, is there is no "logical" or "obvious" successor.

"There's a lot of talk and speculation about where it goes," said another Republican, who has been in touch with McCain.

The decision to appoint a replacement would be up to Gov. Doug Ducey, R, who is up for reelection. According to Republicans close to him, Ducey has been determined not to entertain any hypotheticals.

"We aren't engaging in any speculation. The governor has made that clear. He wants to see Senator McCain return to the Senate," said Ducey's spokesman, Daniel Scarpinato.

Some have suggested Ducey consider appointing himself or running for the seat, according to Republicans familiar with the talks. But he has shut that down. "He has never and would never consider it, no matter the circumstances," Scarpinato said.

Arizona already has a marquee Senate matchup. The race for retiring Republican Sen. Jeff Flake's seat has triggered a divisive primary that has pitted mainstream Republican Rep. Martha McSally against a pair of hard-right conservatives: former sheriff Joe Arpaio and state Sen. Kelli Ward. Democrats have recruited Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, a well-funded candidate who Republicans privately acknowledge could be a formidable opponent.

Adding another race in a year in which Democratic energy is high unnerves Republicans and has sparked talk about how to protect the seat.

If there is another Senate race in Arizona, it would become the third state with two on the ballot this year. In addition to Mississippi, where Sen. Thad Cochran, R, recently stepped down, Minnesota is hosting two contests, both for seats held by Democrats.

If McCain vacates his seat by May 30, there would be primaries in August and a November special election to fill the remainder of his term, provided candidates submit enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, according to Eric Spencer, the election services director in Arizona.

While some close observers contend there is gray area in the way the election laws are written, most agree that if May 30 comes and goes without any vacancy, there would be no election this year and the Ducey appointment, should there eventually be one, would serve through 2020.

The timing of any vacancy will be key to determining who gets the appointment, Republicans predicted. Several Republicans said Cindy McCain's name has come up in private conversations as a potential noncontroversial interim replacement. The same is true of Kyl, they said.

A person familiar with the McCains' thinking said the family has not been thinking about or advocating for Cindy McCain joining the Senate.

Others who have been mentioned as possible successors in Republican circles include former congressman John Shadegg and Kirk Adams, who is Ducey's chief of staff.

"There is no Senate vacancy, and any speculation is unacceptable. Our full support is behind Senator McCain," Adams said. Shadegg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Republican who has spoken with McCain said the senator has left the impression that he is "not going anywhere" - meaning he has no plans to resign from the Senate. Last July, McCain's office said he was diagnosed with a brain tumor called a glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer, with a generally poor prognosis.

McCain cast a dramatic vote later that month against the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, dooming its chances and leaving the party short of achieving one of its signature campaign promises of the past few years.

More recently, McCain has kept a low profile as he has undergone treatment. Former vice president Joe Biden accepted an award for him at the Naval Academy last month. Cindy McCain accepted an award on his behalf at a conference in Munich in February.

Last month, McCain's daughter Meghan posted a photo on social media of her with her father, offering one of the few glimpses of the senator in his recent condition.

From afar, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman has continued to issue a steady stream of written statements on domestic and foreign affairs, including lambasting President Trump for congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection. McCain and Trump have clashed sharply since the 2016 campaign.

McCain has been working on a new memoir with his longtime adviser Mark Salter. It is due out May 22.WASHINGTON - Microsoft agreed with the federal government Tuesday that the Supreme Court should dismiss their high-profile fight over digital privacy as moot.

The case, argued in February, concerned whether U.S. tech firms must comply with a court order to produce emails even if they are stored abroad - in this instance, in a Dublin server. The Microsoft case involved a suspected drug trafficker.

A federal appeals court agreed with Microsoft that disclosure was not required under the Stored Communications Act, passed in 1986 long before email became a common way to communicate and before American firms began storing massive amounts of data outside the United States.

But since oral arguments in the Supreme Court, which seemed to favor the government, Congress has rewritten part of the act. It now says that a "provider of electronic communication service" shall comply with a court order for data "regardless of whether such communication, record or other information is located within or outside of the United States."

Microsoft supported the legislation, which also provides a way to facilitate - through bilateral agreements - foreign law enforcement agencies' access to data held inside the United States.

Microsoft said in a document filed with the court Tuesday that it had always advocated for Congress, rather than the courts, to deal with ambiguity in the law.

Since President Donald Trump signed the revision on March 23, the Justice Department has withdrawn the original warrant in the case, rendering the litigation moot, both parties said.

The government has obtained a warrant for the information under the new law.

"As with every warrant it receives, Microsoft will carefully review the new warrant, including the nature and scope of the warrant, the current facts of the account location and use, and any potential grounds for objection," the company told the court.

The case is U.S. v. Microsoft.BRUSSELS - Russia on Wednesday started a live-fire military exercise in the Baltic Sea, just outside of NATO territorial waters, in a move a top Latvian defense official called a "show of force" just a day after Baltic leaders met with President Donald Trump.

The three-day missile test forced a partial shutdown of Latvian civilian airspace and was the first time Russia has tested live munitions in Latvia's exclusive economic zone, a stretch of international waters just outside of Latvia's territory in the Baltic Sea. Latvian defense officials said they were carefully monitoring the situation.

"What concerns us is that it's the first time when they've actually exercised so close to our borders," said Janis Garisons, the state secretary of the Latvian Defense Ministry. "We regard it as a show of force, nothing else. There have not been any kinds of provocative actions, but there are still two days to come."

The presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia met Trump at the White House on Tuesday, a visit that came as the countries celebrated their 100th anniversaries of independence. During World War II, they were occupied by the Soviet Union and did not regain sovereignty until 1991, and they have long felt themselves on the front line of conflict with Russia.

Sweden and Poland also received notifications from the Russian Defense Ministry about live-fire exercises in the Baltic Sea, and Sweden has rerouted flights during the operation.

The notifications were sent Thursday, days after the countries joined dozens of others and NATO headquarters in expelling Russian diplomats to protest the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury, England. Britain, Germany, France and the United States have blamed the Kremlin for the nerve-agent attack.

"I've never seen anything like it," a top Swedish aviation official, Jorgen Andersson, told Swedish radio last week after the exercise was announced.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that at least eight ships were involved in the maneuvers, which were intended to practice "anti-ship and antiaircraft defense."

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu dismissed Western concerns Wednesday, telling a security conference that NATO allies "intimidate themselves with a nonexistent Russian threat and then systematically increase their military potential."

In September, Russia conducted large-scale military exercises in its western military district, close to the Baltics, Poland and Scandinavia, a weeks-long flurry of activity that also set off alarm bells in Western capitals and drew criticism for a lack of transparency.

The current exercise "does not reduce tension in the region but instead worsens the security situation," Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis wrote on Twitter last week.

Garisons said he was cautious about making a direct connection between the Russian exercises and the White House meeting.

"You can link it to many things," he said, including the Salisbury attack. NATO's top military commander, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, is scheduled to visit Latvia on Thursday. Scaparrotti is also the commander of U.S. military forces in Europe.

Past Russian naval activity in the Baltic Sea has also appeared intended to deliver a political message, as in the spring of 2015, when a spate of exercises disrupted the laying of a high-voltage undersea power line connecting Lithuania and Sweden. The link was intended to make Lithuania less dependent on Russia and Belarus for electricity. It was eventually completed.

Baltic leaders have expressed concern about Trump's reluctance to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for a laundry-list of violations of international norms, including most recently, the Skripal poisoning. But they have embraced Trump's robust military spending increases and say that U.S. policy toward Russia appears as hawkish as in previous presidential administrations.

Trump said Tuesday that he appreciated that the Baltic countries were all on track to meet, by the end of 2018, the NATO goal of spending at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense, something he has slammed other nations for failing to achieve.

"I especially want to commend the Baltic nations on meeting their defense spending obligations this year for NATO, unlike some of the other countries, frankly, that haven't met their obligations, but they will," he said ahead of the summit.

The White House meeting - a chance for the tiny Baltic nations that they typically receive only once during each U.S. presidency - drew top leaders of each country, meaning that they are unusually short-staffed at home during the Russian exercises. Alongside the president of each country, the foreign and defense ministers along with their top advisers went to Washington.A brash new leader takes over the Environmental Protection Agency, pushing sharp budget cuts and a massive rollback of environmental rules.

But before long, the administrator is mired in a wave of controversy and scandal.

That's the story of EPA chief Scott Pruitt - but it is also the story of the late Anne Gorsuch Burford, who was the first EPA administrator under President Ronald Reagan. (She's also mother to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.)

The parallels between Pruitt and Gorsuch have been noted from the beginning - and they're growing in ways Pruitt is unlikely to enjoy. Granted, crucial differences remain: The Gorsuch-era scandals were certainly more sweeping than anything we've seen so far. And although Gorsuch ultimately lost the support of Congress and the president who appointed her, Pruitt, for now, seems to mostly maintain both.

But Gorsuch and Pruitt are ideological outsiders who came to the agency looking to change it significantly, alienating career staff members and spurring controversy. Both were friends of industries angered by the EPA, and had opened doors to those industries once they were in office.

And as Pruitt's controversies have mounted - most recently involving a surprisingly cheap Washington condo rental from a lobbyist whose husband, also a lobbyist, works in part on energy issues - so, too, has attention to whether Pruitt's term will end as Gorsuch's did.

She offered her resignation less than two years after taking office. Reagan, who picked Gorsurch for her hard-line stance on deregulation, then took the agency in a more moderate direction, tapping William Ruckelshaus, a centrist Republican, to try to repair the damage.

"Gorsuch was gone within about two years of her appointment. Pruitt's career is in the balance after, what, 12 to 13 months," said Terry Yosie, a former chief executive of the World Environment Center, who directed the EPA's Science Advisory Board under Gorsuch. "And I think there was a phase each one of them went through. Both became a distraction, then they became a lightning rod, then they became a liability."

Yet observers of both the Reagan administration and the current one say there are several reasons to think Pruitt may not share Gorsuch's fate.

One key difference is that in the early Reagan era, Democrats controlled the House and could use their investigative powers, including subpoenas, to pry information from Gorsuch and the EPA. They did so liberally.

"It played out over months of congressional hearings and testimony," said Christopher Sellers, an environmental historian at Stony Brook University. "A lot of the agency came from Congress, really. She was held in contempt of Congress for not coming in and testifying. The White House only turned against her after all this congressional pressure building over a long while."

Sellers sees this as very different from what's happening now with Pruitt, in that the controversies have reached an apparent peak so suddenly, as a result of media exposes, rather than playing out over the long course of a congressional investigation. Pruitt has not faced such a challenge, in part because of the Republican control of Congress.

And indeed, the controversies at Gorsuch's EPA stretched well beyond any one individual and led to multiple resignations in the end. There's no charge of anything similarly extensive under Pruitt.

Then there's another potential difference: Trump's confidence. Reagan appears to have made a calculation that he needed to tack to the political center on the environment later in his first term, and so replaced Gorsuch. But Trump seems more inclined to double down on deregulation, said Bernard Goldstein, who headed the EPA's Office of Research and Development under Ruckelshaus, and is now a professor emeritus of environmental health at the University of Pittsburgh.

"Reagan did exactly the same thing that Trump did in hiring Gorsuch," Goldstein said. "But somewhere in the middle of his first term, Reagan was faced with the issue that the environment was a particular problem for him, and he had to decide what to do about it, and he decided [that] the way to go was to get rid of Gorsuch and to bring in a more moderate liberal person."

And then, finally, there's the matter of whether people across the country care. Those who remember the Gorsuch era also recall that the scandals were central to the news and seemed to really shape public opinion and concern about the environment. That, in turn, forced a response from the Reagan administration.

It's far from clear that in the Trump era, with a far more fragmented media and a new story line every few hours, environment-related scandals hold our attention in the same way.

Gorsuch was a former state legislator from Colorado and a lawyer when she entered the Reagan administration. She came in to office as the head of a far younger and less complex Environmental Protection Agency - and quickly sought to slash agency budgets and to deregulate. In response, damaged morale at the agency led to a culture of leaking.

Soon Gorsuch got into a conflict with Congress over potential corruption involving the $1.6 billion Superfund program, and with the backing of the White House, resisted a subpoena to provide information - leading to a contempt citation and a massive legal showdown between government branches once the White House invoked "executive privilege."

Congress, led by Democrats John Dingell of Michigan and Elliott Levitas of Georgia, fought back - and ultimately, as the saga dragged on, Gorsuch resigned, along with multiple EPA political appointees.

It's important to note that most of the scandals did not affect Gorsuch personally. Rather, her defiance of Congress was probably her most controversial act - but the controversy focused far more on her subordinates, and the Superfund program in particular.

"The only person who went to prison was Rita Lavelle, in charge of the Superfund program, but 21 people in the agency had to leave with the same brouhaha," Sellers said. "So we haven't really seen anything like the scale of turmoil and scandal within the agency."

Pruitt, also an outsider, comes from Oklahoma. One key difference, observers note, is that he's more politically and legally experienced, having served as the attorney general of a state, and far more targeted in how he has approached dismantling key programs at the EPA.

And indeed, Pruitt has reversed a large number of Obama-era regulations, although the ultimate fate of many of these moves will be determined in courts.

Meanwhile, Pruitt's controversies are growing so numerous that they're beginning to undermine that image of deftness.

First it was things such as installing a soundproof phone booth in his office and having a high level of personal security; then it was pricey first-class flights.

But the story took a turn when it was revealed that he had been renting a condo in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood for just $50 a night, and only on nights when he stayed there - and that this deal was courtesy of Vicki and J. Steven Hart, a lobbyist couple. J. Steven Hart, who knew Pruitt from Oklahoma, works on energy issues as part of a wide portfolio of topics on which he lobbies. Vicki Hart is a health-care lobbyist.

Pruitt defended himself Tuesday, saying that "if you look at the lease, it's very clear it's market value. . . . You know, I was living out of a suitcase for the first four or five months I was here."

His fate now remains to be seen, with the White House surely evaluating the balance between Pruitt's deregulatory effectiveness on the one hand and his inability to stay out of the news on the other.

But already, among heads of the EPA, he seems to fit a category.

"If you think about Democrats and Republicans over the years, coming to EPA, the ones who were successful essentially worked with the career staff, and treated them as constituents, and brought them into their considerations and used their technical knowledge," said Richard Morgenstern, a former career EPA employee who acted in political positions in both Democratic and Republican administrations, including in the Gorsuch era, and is now a senior fellow at Resources for the Future.

"And the two people who have led the agency who have not done that are Gorsuch and Pruitt."Lordy, there may be reports.

This week has brought several new clues that Bob Mueller views his charge as special counsel quite expansively.

The Post's Carol D. Leonnig and Robert Costa scooped Tuesday night that Mueller informed Donald Trump's attorneys in early March that he is continuing to investigate the president but does not consider him a criminal target at this point. (A "subject" can always become a "target" later on.) Here's an especially interesting passage from their piece that may foreshadow how the next few months might play out:

"The special counsel also told Trump's lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president's actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice . . . Mueller reiterated the need to interview Trump - both to understand whether he had any corrupt intent to thwart the Russia investigation and to complete this portion of his probe . . .

"Mueller's investigators have indicated to the president's legal team that they are considering writing reports on their findings in stages - with the first report focused on the obstruction issue," per Carol and Bob. "Under special counsel regulations, Mueller is required to report his conclusions confidentially to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who has the authority to decide whether to release the information publicly. 'They've said they want to write a report on this - to answer the public's questions - and they need the president's interview as the last step,' one person familiar with the discussions said of Mueller's team.

"The president's allies believe a second report detailing the special counsel's findings on Russia's interference would be issued later. . . . Some of Trump's advisers have warned White House aides that they fear Mueller could issue a blistering report about the president's actions."

-- It goes without saying that the Mueller Reports would be the most hotly anticipated legal documents since the Starr Report in 1998.

-- Several legal experts speculated that Mueller's plan to prepare reports might suggest that he does not believe he has the authority to indict a sitting president. It's not settled law, but that was the conclusion of an opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in 1973 that was reaffirmed in 2000.

"The most interesting part of this piece is the revelation that Mueller wants to write a report on this," tweeted Asha Rangappa, a former FBI special agent who now teaches national security law at Yale. "Let's say that his obstruction report details evidence he has gathered and he recommends that charges SHOULD be filed against the President. At that point, Rosenstein can either approve that request/recommendation, or decline it. It's likely that, since current DOJ policy is that a sitting President should not (or would not) be charged, Rosenstein would decline it. HOWEVER, here is the kicker: Under the special counsel [regulations], if Rosenstein *declines* a recommendation of [Mueller], he must then turn around and report this decision -- and his reasons why -- to the chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary committees and the ranking members of those committees. . . . It ensures that what the [special counsel] found, if it merits charges, will see sunlight. . . . And part of the reason for requiring it to go to the ranking members is to make sure the controlling party can't bury it either."

"Rosenstein can and surely will make the Mueller report public. It's inconceivable that he'd try to stifle it, whatever its conclusions might be," Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe tweeted.

Tribe tweeted "NOTE: If Mueller will issue a public REPORT on Trump and #ObstructionOfJustice, that suggests he WON'T seek a criminal indictment of @POTUS for #Obstruction. It would be highly irregular to do both. #Impeachment, however, is another matter altogether. . "

"Biggest news to me here is that Mueller is writing an obstruction report," added Matthew Miller, a Justice Department spokesman during Barack Obama's administration. "I'm not sure POTUS can actually be a target if Mueller doesn't believe a sitting president can be indicted."

"If Mueller believes he has sufficient evidence to indict Trump, but cannot indict a sitting President, expect the report he writes to be sufficiently politically damaging to make impeachment the only option," tweeted University of Alabama law professor Joyce Alene, who served as a U.S. attorney during the Obama years. "The GOP didn't turn on Nixon until his crimes were clear."

Alene tweeted "A Mueller report that details criminal conduct by Trump but declines to indict puts enormous political pressure on Congress to act responsibly. If that is how this plays out, there will also be a series of indictments of any number of people close to him & in his administration."

Here's what other smart lawyers are saying on social media:

David French tweeted "This seems right. Absent truly extraordinary circumstances, a report, delivered to Congress, is the best way to handle potential presidential misconduct (if any is found)..."

Bradley P. Moss tweeted "A politically damaging report like that would be a nightmare for Republicans in the midterms. They don't want that hanging around their necks in the final months of the campaign. It will dominate the news.

"Expect increased attacks on Mueller and Rosenstein to blunt impact."

-- The latest revelations offer a fresh reminder that the president's culpability for any alleged wrongdoing would almost certainly wind up being a political matter decided by the legislative branch. That heightens the significance of the November elections.

Eric Columbus, a former senior counsel to the deputy attorney general at DOJ, wrote a helpful primer about the special counsel regulations in January: "The regulations don't say what format that report must take or what happens next. If Mueller believes he has information that could warrant impeachment, he could weave it into a narrative like the Starr Report. But even if Rosenstein wanted to make the report public, he would be limited by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e), which imposes strict limits on the disclosure of grand jury materials. This rule, which has the force of law, is intended to preserve the integrity of grand jury investigations and encourage witnesses to testify fully and frankly.

"Rosenstein could, if he chose, issue a redacted report that conveys the gist of Mueller's findings. Of course, given the president's apparent displeasure with Rosenstein, it's possible that by then Trump will have replaced the deputy attorney general with a more compliant successor who would not affirmatively disclose the report. Or Trump could achieve the same result by replacing [Jeff] Sessions with a new attorney general who isn't recused from supervising Mueller.

"Congress could likely subpoena the report in its entirety pursuant to recognized exceptions to grand jury secrecy, including a Nixon-era precedent in which courts upheld a grand jury's decision to transmit evidence and a sealed report to the House Judiciary Committee. Indeed, Congress could procure not only Mueller's report, but all investigative files that relate to the president. It could then make the material public if it so chose, as it did with the Starr report. The catch? Only congressional committee chairmen can issue subpoenas. With both the House and Senate under GOP control, Republicans could simply decline to do so. The 2018 midterm elections, therefore . . . may be crucial to determining whether and when Mueller's Trump-related work sees the light of day."

-- Quinta Jurecic and Ben Wittes argued on the Lawfare blog two weeks ago that most observers do not appreciate the many reasons that Mueller's biggest findings might remain under wraps: "So far, Mueller has behaved like a traditional prosecutor. He has not made public statements beyond what he has argued in court. What the public has learned about his findings - at least what it has learned from Mueller's shop - it has learned when he indicted people or reached plea agreements and facts emerged in the context of their prosecutions. This is the orthodox approach to federal prosecution. Prosecutors, after all, are not reporters. And federal investigations are not truth commissions. Remember the anger among many current and former federal prosecutors directed at then-FBI Director James Comey for announcing and discussing the evidence following his decision not to pursue charges in the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Normally, when prosecutors finish an investigation and don't bring charges, they say nothing, and the evidence they have collected stays secret."

The Lawfare piece cited Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski as a possible model. He transmitted a referral of impeachment material related to Richard Nixon to the House Judiciary Committee in 1974: "Jaworski later characterized the document as a 'road map': 55 pages of bare-bones factual information intended to point committee members to the relevant evidence so they could draw their own conclusions," they note. "[It] has never become public, as it contained grand jury information."

-- The timing of the reports matters a great deal. The Mueller probe is still not top of mind for most voters. At least not yet. If everything is laid out before the fall elections in an authoritative and official report, perhaps with a lot of new details the public still does not know, it could increase the political saliency of the Russia affair.

For context, the independent prosecutor who investigated the Iran-Contra scandal took seven years to put out his final report. Lawrence Walsh found no credible evidence that Ronald Reagan had broken the law, but he argued that the former president had "knowingly participated or at least acquiesced" in the coverup. While Walsh also wrote that he found no evidence George H.W. Bush broke the law, he alleged that the then-vice president "was fully aware of the Iran arms sales." This was essentially a moot point when he released it to the public in 1994, a year after Bush's term as president ended.

-- Phil Mudd, who held senior jobs at the FBI and CIA, said the president should be much more worried than he appears to be about what Mueller told his lawyers. "If someone walked into my office and said I was the subject of a multi-year criminal investigation led by [Mueller], I'd wet my pants," he said on CNN Tuesday night in response to The Post's story.

-- Tightening the screws: The first prison sentence was handed down Tuesday as the result of Mueller's investigation. London-based lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, 33, will serve 30 days in prison after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts in September and October of 2016 with a business associate of onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and with Manafort's deputy, former Trump aide Rick Gates. "Prosecutors said van der Zwaan also destroyed emails the special counsel had requested," The Post's Spencer S. Hsu reports.

"Mueller's Men - there were 11 lawyers and investigators, none female, in court for the van der Zwaan sentencing - aren't a cuddly bunch," The Post's Dana Milbank observed in a colorful scene piece. "Van der Zwaan, with slicked hair, a tightly tailored blue blazer with brass buttons, French cuffs, a spread collar and a perfect half-inch of pocket square showing, offered a perfunctory presentencing statement ('I apologize to the court . . . I apologize to my wife and family'). The judge noted that she had received written statements from the defendant's parents, best friend, pregnant wife and wife's doctor - but nothing from the defendant himself. At this, van der Zwaan looked reproachfully at his lawyer. His remorse is 'somewhat muted, to say the least,' observed the judge, Amy Berman Jackson.

"He's the son-in-law of German Khan, who is worth more than $9 billion and is an owner of a Russian bank that figured prominently in the 'dossier' about alleged Russia-Trump collusion," Dana notes. "Van der Zwaan also knew that Gates had been in contact during Trump's presidential campaign with a person tied to Russian intelligence services."

-- Someone to watch: Rosenstein has tapped Ed O'Callaghan to serve as the acting principal associate deputy attorney general, a post from which he could help oversee the Russia probe at the Justice Department. "A long-time federal prosecutor and counterterrorism expert in New York, O'Callaghan most recently served as the acting head of the DOJ's National Security Division," CNN's Laura Jarrett reports. "He raised eyebrows of some former DOJ officials earlier this year when he took to the White House podium to defend the Trump administration's use of contested terrorism figures to encourage changes to immigration policies." Among those who previously held this powerful job, known internally as the Padag, are Chris Wray, Merrick Garland and Kathy Ruemmler.

---

With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve.Washington

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he expects to decide "very quickly" whether to remove U.S. troops from war-torn Syria, saying their primary mission was to defeat the Islamic State group and "we've almost completed that task."

A decision to withdraw from Syria would conflict with the views of his top advisers.

As Trump addressed reporters at the White House, high-ranking U.S. officials spoke elsewhere in Washington about the need to stay in Iraq and Syria to finish off the militant group, which once controlled large swaths of territory in both countries, and keep it from rising up again.

"I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation," he said during an appearance with his counterparts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.WASHINGTON - The occupation of Howard University's administration building continued Wednesday, amid calls for change at the iconic school in Northwest Washington.

"We're willing to see it through to till the very end," said Imani Bryant, a freshman with the student group HU Resist, which has organized the protest. "We're all very tired of the way the university has been running and the way it's been going. We're tired of being disrespected by administration, especially in terms of housing and financial aid."

The occupation of Howard's "A" Building began Thursday, with students camping inside as negotiations with the university's Board of Trustees continued. At times, students involved in the standoff have seemed optimistic, though they have also cautioned that demonstrators were willing to wait.

"I do not see this ending tonight," Bryant said Wednesday afternoon. "I do expect us to spend the night here again. But I do expect it to end soon. I believe that the Board of Trustees has been very receptive."

Those involved in the campus protest have issued demands, which include the resignation of Wayne Frederick, Howard's embattled president. The students also call for an overhaul of policies related to sexual assault, improvements in how the school handles mental-health concerns and a greater voice in university decision-making.

Negotiations have been progressing, said Bryant, who called the demand for Frederick's resignation "non-negotiable." Talks were expected to continue later Wednesday, she said.

"I am hoping that we will be able to leave soon because I don't want there to ever be another 'A' Building takeover again," she said. "I want the university to improve and to have increased student power, so we can make sure the university is taking care of its primary stakeholders."

Full-time faculty members at Howard started voting Wednesday on a "no confidence" measure aimed at Frederick and other Howard leaders. The voting was expected to continue until Friday afternoon, with results expected later that day.

"The faculty are quite motivated by the students," said Taft Broome Jr., who was chairman of Howard's Faculty Senate when it previously delivered a vote of no confidence in Frederick.

The occupation on Howard's campus comes amid a financial aid scandal, though those taking part in the demonstration have said their concerns transcend that matter. The university last week disclosed the alleged misdeeds, which prompted the firings of six employees. It became the latest in a string of incidents that have upset students, faculty and staff.

Frederick has received support from the university's Council of Deans, which represents leaders of Howard's schools and colleges, and from the school's alumni association.

"The Howard University Alumni Association is confident that the best interest of students and our University will be considered as decisions are made to meet the needs of our students," Nadia Pinto, president of the Howard University Alumni Association, said in a statement. "Howard University, our current students, President Frederick, our Board of Trustees and our powerful Alumni will rise stronger and in better service to our community."Float Fest drew a plethora of people to the San Marcos River in July 2017 - a record number, according to organizers.

But San Marcos River volunteers said it also left behind a plethora of marks on the ecosystem.

"They don't care about the river," Carina Boston Pinales, a Float Fest Active Clean-Up organizer told mySA.com.

Float Fest, the Central Texas event featuring live music, camping and tubing down the San Marcos River, drew a crowd of over 10,000 in 2017. And those people left a lot of trash.

MORE PHOTOS: Float Fest 2017 gets off to a hot start Saturday

"I'm guessing at least 5,000 cans. A few hundred plastic and glass bottles. Empty tubes, footwear, hats and shirts," Zach Halfin, host of the clean-up told mySA. "We know that from experience there is usually a pretty big mess left behind."

The Float Fest Active Clean-Up, an event created by The Eyes of the San Marcos River, a volunteer group helping to protect the river, included over 60 volunteers. It was their fourth year cleaning up after the festival.

Halfin said that Float Fest has been an event of controversy year after year for the small town of Martindale, where the festival takes places.

"They hate it. They are living out in the country and all the sudden they have a techno show going on," Halfin said. "It's high traffic. Loud noises. They feel like an invasion of privacy."

Surrounding areas and landmarks also feel the aftereffects of the party, particularly, the San Marcos River, according to the group.

"It's very damaging to the ecosystem down there," said Halfin.

RELATED: Instagram captures the wild, hot and loud weekend of Float Fest

Attendees of the festival who come from across the state are unaware of the need for receptacles when tubing, Halfin said. And he said many companies didn't provide tubers with mesh bags in which to deposit cans and other trash.

"People just don't think about it. A lot of trash is accidental, but the outfitters aren't doing them any service on telling (the tubers) what they need," Halfin said.

In order to combat the amount of trash that is left behind in the river, The Eyes' volunteers created a system in which people gather along and in the river and with long-handle fishing nets collect trash and throw it into a large bucket on a kayak.

Despite their efforts, Pinales said they expect another two to three weeks of clean up post the festival.

"It's just heartbreaking to begin that cleanup and see the river, see my feet, see straight through the waters, (and then) by the time we hit 45 minutes, it's already murky, stirred up and gross," Pinales said.

Halfin said that he feels the event's organizers did more to protect the river than in previous years, "but I still don't feel they did enough."

"When there are events like that and 10,000 people are there, your looking at 50,000-100,000 disposable cans going down the river," Halfin said. "By the end of the year, there are underwater landfills."

READ ALSO: Photos: New Central Texas company now offering guided river snorkel tours

The trash concern was noticed by a major performer of Float Fest.

MGMT responded to a comment Pinales made on Twitter when she asked the festival to address the importance of protecting the environment.

The band replied: ":( yes. this is news to me."

Pinales said this is the only performer who acknowledged the environmental concerns through social media, but the sentiment presents a silver lining.

"At least this year we had some attention from performers and audiences," she said, adding that it is her hope artists will use their platforms to educate more people of the festival's impact on the river.

For more information on The Eyes of the San Marcos River and how to get involved, visit their Facebook.

jthorpe@express-news.net

@jerilynnthorpeMark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle

Houston City Council authorized nine home elevation contracts on Wednesday, part of a federal flood mitigation initiative that local leaders have criticized as slow and expensive.

The nine houses -- most of them in Meyerland -- are in line to be elevated thanks to 2015 grant funding the Federal Emergency Management Agency allocated to elevate 42 city homes.President Trump tweeted his thoughts and prayers Tuesday for those shot at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, a go-to reaction to mass shootings that gun-control advocates have criticized as a substitute for action.

Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTubes HQ in San Bruno, California. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene, Trump tweeted.

Police said three people were wounded Tuesday when a woman opened fire with a handgun before she fatally shot herself. Law enforcement sources identified the woman late Tuesday as Nasim Aghdam, a disgruntled YouTube video maker.

Offering thoughts and prayers has been a common response among public officials to mass shootings in recent years. Trump offered thoughts and prayers after a Kentucky school shooting in January in which two children died. In February, he tweeted prayers and condolences to the 17 people killed in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Gun-control proponents have made the phrase an issue, saying it disguises officials failure to take measures to limit mass shootings. After the Florida shooting, a student at Stoneman Douglas High tweeted, Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers wont fix this.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon agreed, saying Tuesday that those with the authority to reduce gun violence in this country have once again offered nothing more than thoughts and prayers. Right-wing lawmakers crow about law and order while bending at the knee for the (National Rifle Association)  the industry flacks for the ultimate threat to public safety. The hypocrisy is lost on no one.

After the Florida shooting, Trump offered contradictory signals on gun control, at one point urging members of Congress to work on one terrific bill that could include a ban on assault weapons and expanded background checks to cover all commercial gun sales, both of which are opposed by the NRA. The president quickly abandoned the idea, and eventually proposed funding for providing rigorous gun training for some school employees and improving criminal checks for gun buyers.

Trump tweeted that arming school employees would be a big & very inexpensive deterrent.One of the passengers, Luke Sheridan, said he observed people sitting on the floor of the train for three hours because of the overcrowding.

There was a severe lack of carriages for the 6pm train out of Sligo leaving people standing and sitting on floors, he fumed.

Sitting on a floor for three hours - not including delays - is abysmal and people paying extortionate fares for travel is a joke.

A woman in a wheelchair couldnt get onto the train because it was packed.

Meanwhile, Longford/Westmeath TD and Fianna Fail spokesperson on Transport, Robert Troy said the Government needed to start investing in the countrys public transport service.

I will be raising the matter in Edgeworthstown directly with Irish Rail and with Minister (Shane) Ross, continued Deputy Troy.

Situations like this are happening because there is a lack of investment in our public transport system.

The local TD went on to say that Irish Rail had confirmed to him that it will not be ordering new carriages for trains, but would instead reconfigure existing services.

Neither the previous government nor Minister Ross have made the necessary funds available to provide additional carriages which is what is needed, he added.

Back in Edgeworthstown, another train user on Monday, Robert Conlon Tweeted; The woman in the wheelchair left on the platform at Edgeworthstown was an absolute disgrace; put enough carriages on trains to save this ridiculous overcrowding that happened this evening - four carriages on a bank holiday is not enough.

In a statement, Irish Rail apologised to its customers over what happened and pointed out that an alternative service was run some time later to accommodate those left on platforms.

We arranged an additional service to run after what happened in Edgeworthstown and that customer was accommodated, added a spokesperson.

We would like to apologise to our customers for what happened.

You may also like to read:

Irish Rail u-turn is not enough, say Longford councillors

Irish Rail chiefs in u-turn over Longford serviceLongford native Siona Cahill (25), currently Deputy President of USI and Vice President for Equality and Citizenship, has been elected to lead the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) for the 2018-2019 term at the annual Congress in Galway. The Union represents over 374,000 students across Ireland.

Cahill is a graduate of a BCL Law and Sociology of Maynooth University and served two terms as Maynooth University Students Union Vice President for Welfare and Equality before being elected to the national position with the USI.

Speaking after the election, Cahill said:

In 2018-2019, students will be a force to be reckoned with in the battle ongoing about the future and current funding of higher level education in Ireland. Its time the Oireachtas reveal which model they recommend before our entire educational landscape collapses. With the Technological Universities enshrined into law, we must protect Students Unions and their ethos by working closely with allies in other unions. At all levels of higher education, we must ensure students are at the centre of decision making, and we must resist absolutely the commodification of education in Ireland.

The housing crisis is now rumbling into a rental crisis - pricing students out of accommodation. Students are waiting up to 6 weeks to maybe see a counsellor on campus. It is the very basis of our movement that we create the space to criticise and improve the systems we interact with as students. This will be a core battle into next year, and I am committed to it.

Cahill went on to say, I look forward to working with the students of Ireland, and come July 1st I will be reaching out to organisations and policy makers who share our goals. More importantly, I want to reach out to those who do not share our vision, yet, for an accessible education system in a bid to bring people on side.Legan native Stacey Donohoe is currently embarking on a fundraising initiative to raise money for medical equipment in hospitals in Ghana.

The Midwifery student at University of Limerick (UL) is the daughter of Padraig and Annemarie and aims to spend four weeks volunteering in Takoradi this June.



My plan is to go there and work in midwifery clinics in the area, the former Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon student added.

For the first two weeks I will be working in a high risk clinic and the final two will be spent at a low risk facility.



Meanwhile, the Longford woman needs to raise the funds so that when she arrives at the hospital, money can be spent on obtaining the necessary medical equipment.



She will be part of a group of 32 students who will travel to the area in conjunction with Work the World.



The organisation aims to redefine the standards of overseas placement experiences and has created award winning placements for more students and healthcare professionals than ever before.



Work the World has also tailored more than 10,000 placements in low-resource healthcare settings all over the world including Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Nepal, Tanzania, Peru, Ghana, Zambia, Cambodia and Vietnam.



Work the World has been in Ghana for the past 10 years and has done amazing work there, added Stacey, who is very much looking forward to undertaking her four week volunteering programme.



Takoradi, where I will be based, is a high risk malaria area; it is based in south Ghana and there is huge poverty in the region.

The organisation also resolves to develop and sustain fair, ethical partnerships with overseas hospitals, clinics and surrounding communities as a basis for delivering the best healthcare placements in the world.



Meanwhile, the Legan woman will hold a fundraising table quiz in Mitchell's Bar on April 7 next with proceedings kicking off at 8pm.



Everyone is welcome to come along and join in the fun and at the same time raise some much needed funds for a very worthy cause.

You may also like to read:

Pictures: Ballinalee Fundraiser for MRI Scanner

Pictures: Charity cycle & headshave in NewtowncashelGovernor Cuomo Announces Launch Of "If You Can See It You Can Be It" A Day For Girls To See What Is Possible

Local News, Business & Finance, Community, Charity & Cause

By Long Island News & PR Published: April 04 2018

Initiative Pairs Girls from Low-Income Communities and the Foster Care System with Leaders in Government and Business On April 26th.

Albany, NY - April 4, 2018 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the launch of "If You Can See It You Can Be It"- a day for girls to see what is possible. On April 26, 2018, New York State will partner with companies across the state to show girls from lower-income communities and in the foster care system what roles are available outside of the "traditional" career paths for girls, and particularly women in leadership roles, for a day of mentoring and career-learning activities. The initiative is part of Governor Cuomo's 2018 Women's Agenda for New York: Equal Rights, Equal Opportunity.

"The New York philosophy is that if you work hard, you can be anything you want to be," Governor Cuomo said. "With our nation-leading policies that level the playing field and create opportunity for all, we will continue to raise the bar higher and higher for women in New York and show girls that they can do anything they set their minds to."

Marian Wright Edelman, renowned civil rights leader and founder of the Children's Defense Fund famously proclaimed, "It's hard to be what you can't see." Building on the 25-year legacy of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, the Governor's initiative will show girls a variety of opportunities available to them from science and technology organizations to construction to government to journalism to advertising.

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Chair of the New York Women's Suffrage Commission, said, "Young girls in underserved communities of New York need to be made aware of the unlimited opportunities available to them to succeed in life. The 'If You Can See It You Can Be It' initiative will pair girls with leaders in New York to expose them to what is possible in diverse workplaces and to encourage them to achieve their dreams. I'm looking forward to teaming up with a young woman who will see firsthand a day in the life of a State official with a very energetic schedule."

Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to the Governor and Chair of the New York State Council on Women and Girls, said, "A key goal for the Council on Women and Girls is to meet the needs of the next generation of New York women. With the first ever 'If You Can See It You Can Be It' day, we strive to meet this goal by providing girls with the opportunity to experience a day in the life of women working in a diverse range of jobs and careers. To close the gender and wage gap in all fields, girls must learn about potential career paths from a young age. I am thrilled that so many companies and businesses are participating in our inaugural program."

The following companies have already solidified their commitment to opening their doors for girls in the New York foster care system and low-income communities:

AT&T

CA Technologies

Emblem Health

Etsy

Gilbane Building Company

Mastercard

Oath

Turner Construction Company

Warby Parker

To showcase opportunities available to girls in government, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, and Commissioners from the Governor's cabinet will have girls shadow them on "See It Be It" Day. Additionally, the following State Agencies have solidified their commitment to having young girls shadow female leaders in government:

Department of Civil Service

Department of Environmental Conservation

Department of Labor

Department of Motor Vehicles

Department of State

Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services

Dormitory Authority of the State of New York

Environmental Facilities Corporation

Higher Education Services Corporation

Housing and Community Renewal

Metro Transportation Authority

New York State Energy and Research Development Authority

Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services

Office of General Services

Office of Mental Health

New York State Police

Karen Igagni, President & CEO of EmblemHealth, and Steering Committee Member for the Governor's Council on Women and Girls, said, "EmblemHealth is proud to participate in the Governor's Day for Girls initiative. We look forward to hosting a group of young, talented women, introducing them to our diverse and accomplished female leaders and lending a hand in their career development."

Marissa Shorenstein, President, Northeast Region, AT&T, said, "Showing girls the opportunities available to them in the workforce can empower them to realize their full potential. Women from all industries and communities have seen and experienced the effects of gender inequality - and this fuels our commitment to lift up women and girls. AT&T is proud to support 'If You Can See It, You Can Be It,' and we look forward to helping our future female leaders cultivate their passions."

Susan Warner, Senior Vice President for Internal Communications for Mastercard, said, "Mastercard is proud to partner with Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York State's 'If You Can See It, You Can Be It' campaign. For the past five years, we've reached more than 40,000 girls in 21 countries with our Girls4Tech program, and we're pleased to host our 145th program at our New York City Tech Hub on April 26 as part of this campaign to show girls that it takes all kinds of skills to pursue a STEM career."

Erica Christensen, Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility, CA Technologies, said, "We are excited to participate in Governor Cuomo's 'If You Can See It, You Can Be It' initiative, encouraging girls to consider educational opportunities and careers in STEM fields. CA Technologies is committed to promoting gender diversity and the advancement of women in technology. This is a long-term investment by our company - we are dedicated to supporting the next generation of IT leaders and helping to close the STEM skills gap."

Brennan Gilbane Koch, 5th Generation Family Member, Gilbane Building Company said, "At Gilbane, we've seen the positive impact of a diversified workforce with women in leadership. That's why we are focused on continuing to raise the benchmark in recruiting and promoting women throughout our ranks. As the future is female, we are thrilled to join the Governor in this effort to encourage young women and girls to consider our industry and the opportunities that come with it."

Lauren Tsuchuya, Community and Citizenship Manager, Turner Construction Company, said, "Turner believes that empowering young women is one of the best investments for growing the construction industry's talent, innovation and future."Local News, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: April 04 2018

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced new appointments to his administration.

Albany, NY - April 4, 2018 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced new appointments to his administration.

"From fighting for equal rights and opportunity to strengthening the economy and creating thousands of new jobs in the industries of tomorrow, this administration has fought and continues to fight to improve the lives of all New Yorkers," Governor Cuomo said. "I welcome these talented public servants to their new roles, where we will work together to build on the extraordinary progress we have made over the past eight years to create a stronger, fairer and more prosperous New York for all."

Lindsey Boylan has been appointed Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Special Advisor to the Governor. She previously served as Chief of Staff and Executive Vice President at Empire State Development. Prior to joining the agency, Lindsey spent several years in municipal finance, ultimately as Vice President, at RBC Capital Markets. Earlier, she served in an executive role steering operations and business development for three interconnected New York City business improvement districts, public-private partnerships best known for their restoration of Midtown's iconic Bryant Park. Lindsey also worked for noted urban planner Alexander Garvin, focusing on a master planning and management process for a 4,500-acre park in Memphis, Tennessee. She is a graduate of Columbia Business School and received her B.A. in Political Science from Wellesley College, where she was elected Student Body President.

Michael Schmidt has been appointed Senior Economic Advisor to the Governor. Mr. Schmidt most recently served as Deputy Secretary for Economic Development, where he oversaw policy and operations for twelve state agencies and authorities, including Empire State Development, the Department of Taxation and Finance, the Division of Homes and Community Renewal, and the Department of State. Previously, Mr. Schmidt served as economic policy advisor to Hillary Clinton during in her 2016 presidential campaign, where he led the development of Secretary Clinton's agenda on financial regulation, trade, infrastructure, housing, small business, and economic development. He has also served in the Office of Domestic Finance at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and as a Senior Financial Analyst at the Yale Investments Office. He holds a J.D. and a B.A from Yale.

Zackary Knaub has been appointed First Assistant Counsel to the Governor. Mr. Knaub most recently served as Assistant Counsel to the Governor, handling energy and environmental matters. Before joining the Executive Chamber, Mr. Knaub served as Regional Attorney for the Department of Environmental Conservation, managing the Department's legal affairs for the lower Hudson River Valley. Prior to his state service, he was a partner in the Shlansky Law Group, a boutique commercial and environmental litigation law firm, and an associate in the New York City office of Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. He began his legal career as a pro se and motions law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He graduated cum laude from Cardozo Law School, and holds a M.A. from Columbia University, and a B.A. with honors from the University of Iowa.

Carolyn Pokorny has been appointed Special Counsel for Public Integrity. She most recently served as Chief Special Counsel for Ethics, Risk and Compliance. Previously, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. Prior, she spent nearly fifteen years with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, where she held a number of leadership positions, including Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division. She received the U.S. Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service, and the Federal Prosecutor of the Year award from the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation. Ms. Pokorny began her career as a prosecutor in the Bronx District Attorney's Office and then clerked for federal judge Arthur D. Spatt on Long Island. She has a B.A. from New York University, and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Camille Joseph Varlack has been appointed Deputy Director of State Operations. In 2017, she was appointed New York State Chief Risk Officer and Special Counsel and will retain those titles. Ms. Varlack has served as deputy director for ethics, risk and compliance in the Executive Chamber and as a principal law clerk for the New York State Supreme Court. She has also served as Assistant Vice President and Counsel at AXA Financial, Inc. and as an Assistant District Attorney for the Kings County District Attorney's Office. Ms. Varlack holds a B.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Giancarlo Pellegrini has been appointed Assistant Counsel to the Governor. Mr. Pellegrini most recently practiced law at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, D.C., and he previously served as an Empire State Fellow in the Governor's Counsel's Office. Mr. Pellegrini holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Lehigh University.

Andrew Chan Wolinsky has been appointed Assistant Special Counsel for Public Integrity. Previously, he was an associate in the litigation departments of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, where his practice focused on white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and internal investigations. He clerked for the Honorable Jane R. Roth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Honorable Loretta A. Preska, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Wolinsky earned his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and his B.A. from Tufts University.

Abigail Belknap Seidner has been appointed Assistant Special Counsel for Public Integrity in the Executive Chamber. Prior to entering public service, Ms. Seidner began her legal career at Cooley LLP, where she represented numerous pro bono clients in addition to her private litigation practice. Ms. Seidner previously served as a legal intern in the U.S. Attorney's Offices for both the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and at the New York Civil Liberties Union. Ms. Seidner holds a B.A. from Pomona College and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Michael Donegan has been appointed General Counsel at the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs. Mr. Donegan has been with the Justice Center since August of 2013, where he was appointed as the first Director of the Employee Discipline Unit, supervising a staff of attorneys who represented state oversight agencies at disciplinary arbitrations. Prior to coming to the Justice Center, Mr. Donegan served 16 years as the General Counsel at the State Commission of Correction. He is a graduate of SUNY Albany and Hofstra University School of Law.

Mark Noordsy has been appointed General Counsel and Deputy Commissioner at the Office of Mental Health. He most recently served as Deputy Counsel for Litigation at OMH. Previously, he served at the New York State Department of Health, and Office of the Medicaid Inspector General, after twenty-eight years of private practice. Mr. Noordsy received a B.A., magna cum laude, from St. Lawrence University, and a J.D., with honors, from George Washington University.

Karen Mintzer has been appointed General Counsel at the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Ms. Mintzer joined Parks from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, where she served as Regional Attorney - General Counsel for Region 2 (New York City). Previously, she was in private practice, most recently as special counsel at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel. She holds a B.A. from Lafayette College and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.School & Education, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause

By Long Island News & PR Published: April 04 2018

The VetsSuccess on Campus program will help veterans, servicemembers, and their qualified dependents succeed and thrive.

Long Island, NY - April 4, 2018 - Reps. Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1) and Peter King (R, NY-2) were joined by Suffolk and Nassau County Community Colleges and local veterans to announce the expansion of the VetsSuccess on Campus (VSOC) program to Suffolk and Nassau County Community Colleges.

Suffolk County is home to the largest number of veterans in the State of New York, and Suffolk County Community College serves over 700 military connected students annually across three campuses. In partnership with Nassau Community College and the over 300 military connected students it serves each year, the VetsSuccess on Campus (VSOC) program, delivered through the Department of Veterans Affairs, will help veterans, servicemembers, and their qualified dependents succeed and thrive through a coordinated delivery of on-campus benefits assistance and counseling, leading to completion of their education and preparing them to enter the labor market in viable careers.

During the event, Reps. Zeldin and King presented Suffolk County Community College Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Christopher Adams, with an American flag flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the expansion of this important program and to honor to the veterans it serves.

Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1) said, Our nations servicemen and women put their lives on the line to protect us, and when they return home, they have earned nothing less than our unwavering support when transitioning back into civilian life. The expansion of the VetsSuccess on Campus Program means local veterans here at Suffolk and Nassau will have access to an even wider rage of tools at their disposal to help them transition into their new lives after military service.

Congressman Peter King (R, NY-2) said, The VetsSuccess on Campus (VSOC) program is a great program that provides a tremendous benefit to Long Islands student veteran population. The expansion of this project ensures more veterans will succeed in meeting their educational and employment goals.

Suffolk County Community College Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Christopher Adams said, The VetsSuccess on Campus Program will go a long way towards helping veterans, servicemembers, and their qualified dependents succeed and thrive through a coordinated delivery of on campus benefits assistance and counseling leading to their education and preparing them to enter the labor market in viable careers. Suffolk County Community College has a long history of assisting student veterans and maximizing their benefits and achieving their ed goals. They deserve it and we are honored to be able to recognize their service to our country in this way.

VetsSuccess on Campus Program Counselor Christopher Holder said, As a veteran, as a disabled veteran, I have made the transition these students are making now. I hope that my experience on both sides, as a veteran and as a Administrator, will help these veterans make theirs.by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, April 3, 2018

WPP confirmed late Tuesday that its board of directors has launched an investigation into the conduct of its long-time CEO, Martin Sorrell.

The company issued this short statement a little more than an hour after The Wall Street Journal posted a story on the development:

The Board of WPP has appointed independent counsel to conduct an investigation in response to an allegation of personal misconduct against Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive Officer of WPP. The investigation is ongoing. The allegations do not involve amounts which are material to WPP.

The Journalreport indicated the investigation was looking into Sorrells possible misuse of company assets as well as allegations of improper personal conduct.

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Details were scant, and the company -- at least for now -- is not revealing much, other than the fact that an investigation is ongoing.

Sorrell, 73, has led the UK-based WPP for more than 30 years, building what was initially a shopping basket maker into the worlds largest advertising agency holding company. Along the way, he orchestrated takeovers (hostile or otherwise) of numerous blue-chip American ad agencies, including J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam, Grey and others.

The company has struggled lately on the growth front, turning in its worst year in a decade in 2017 with financial guidance that does not foresee much improvement until at least 2019.

The companys American Depository Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange were up slightly today, but shortly after the Journal story hit, plunged nearly $4 to $75 in after-hours trading.

The company has been criticized in the past for not having a viable management succession plan in place. Roberto Quarta, who became chairman of the holding company in 2015 (succeeding Philip Lader) has said on several occasions that creating such a plan is a key priority for the company.



This story has been updated.by Tanya Gazdik , April 4, 2018

Its never too early to think about summer vacation and the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau is encouraging consumers to think outside the box in its largest-ever broadcast campaign.

Four 30-second voiceless spots have a simple but effective premise: The word Box is superimposed over images of every day stresses like commuting in traffic, a frustrating taxi ride, crowded city living or the endless staring at screens. As the image changes to idyllic North Carolina, the word Box switches up its letters to become OBX, which is the abbreviation for the Outer Banks.

The spots end with outerbanks.org. The Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, based in Manteo, Dare County, N.C., is tax-funded and is the official tourism authority for the Outer Banks.

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The spots broke in late March and run through early May. The target is urbanites of the Mid-Atlantic region who are shown how easily their crowded, hectic days can be realigned.

The tourism organization advertises annually.

Gone are the days when a destination could just sit back and wait for the visitors to arrive, Lee Nettles, executive director, Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, tells Marketing Daily.

The campaign also includes two cut-down 15-second spots and integrated transit on Washington, D.C.., bus tails, bus shelters, and subway car cards. It is Charlotte-based BooneOakleys first work for the new client.

BooneOakley recognized that what truly sets the Outer Banks apart is its ability to strip away the noise, Nettles says. This campaign is sort of like the traditional product demonstration, where you see the benefit happen in front of your eyes, but minus the shouting spokesperson. In our case, instead of the cleanser that removes grass and wine stains, or the knife so sharp it can cut a shoe, its the barrier islands that can cure the common city.

With over half of all Outer Banks visitors coming from the urban Northeast (Washington, D.C., is the largest single market), the decision was made to let the advertising focus as much on what you need to get away from as where you need to get away to.

The campaign airs on PBS in select markets in Virginia, Pennsylvania, D.C., plus statewide in North Carolina.

Media is handled by the client. Creative direction for the campaign is by David Oakley and Jim Mountjoy. Film and photography is client-supplied and stock.by Alex Weprin , April 4, 2018

The woman who shot four people at YouTubes San Bruno, California headquarters before taking her own life previously accused the company of censorship, and of using its algorithm to keep her videos from being viewed, according to local reports.

The suspect, Nasim Aghdam, had a YouTube channel with several videos. She also had a website where she had published rants about the company.

"YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!" she wrote last year, according to NBC Bay Area. "There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site.

Videos of targeted users are filtered and merely relegated, so that people can hardly see their videos, she added in a social media post.

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It remains unclear whether her anger with the company spurred on the shooting, but the San Bruno Police Department released a statement late Tuesday saying that she did not know the individuals who were shot.

"At this time there is no evidence that the shooter knew the victims of this shooting or that individuals were specifically targeted, the statement said.

NBC Bay Area also said that Aghdams father reported her missing earlier in the week. Police found her early Tuesday morning asleep in a parking lot in Mountain View, Calif., just a few hours before the shooting.

YouTube has in recent months tightened its rules about what channels are eligible to be monetized by the company. Smaller creators, in particular, were hit hard by the changes.

Aghdams online rants about the company censoring her predated these changes. In an interview with CBS Los Angeles, her father said she continued to harbor ill will toward the video platform, and that she had accused it of ruining her life.by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, April 4, 2018

Google's header-bidding platform, which it calls Exchange Bidding, become generally available Wednesday to all publishers using DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP).

The company also said it has been testing new ad formats like video and transaction types such as programmatic media-buying methods. The products in these closed, invitation-only tests have a release date scheduled for the coming months.

The platform aims to allow publishers to increase revenue overall by allowing multiple exchanges to compete with each other on bids for ad placement. The bids are collected from multiple partners simultaneously, rather than one after the other.

Exchange Bidding enables DFPs to communicate directly with third-party ad exchanges in a server-to-server connection, rather than communicating through custom header-bidding code in a publishers mobile app or webpage -- which is how Google explains the difference between the two.

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This direct method reduces page-load times and eliminates the complex publisher configuration requirements by header bidding.

Google says publishers were seeing double-digit percentage-point revenue gains when using the product.

With the latest release, Google also put a focus on reporting tools. Exchange Bidding provides publishers with a view of each ad partners performance and an easier billing and payment process through new reporting capabilities.

Publishers using Exchange Bidding now can generate reports across demand channels, exchange partners, yield groups or advertisers on a per-impression level basis.

There are 10 exchange partners through Google Exchange Bidding. They include AerServ, Index Exchange, OpenX, TripleLift, Smaato, and others. They accept requests from desktop web, mobile web, mobile apps running on iOS, Android and interstitial, but not yet native or in-stream video.

Some exchanges support requests from specific regions, such as MobFox, which supports requests from Americans and Europe only.

Google initially announced Exchange Bidding in DoubleClick for Publishers in April 2016 with the goal of helping them earn more money from advertising partners.by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, April 4, 2018

State Streets Fearless Girl and Sandy Hook Promises Evan keep raking in the international accolades, with both named as the best social responsibility campaigns of 2017 by the new Good Report. BBDO New York wins as the best agency for such efforts, and Amnesty International as the most socially responsible brand.

The report, a collaborative ranking between ACT Responsible and the Gunn Report, evaluated 1,045 campaigns produced by 680 agencies for this years list, with 850 different advertisers from some 80 countries. The two score campaigns by combining industry recognition with performance, measured by the Gunn Report, promotional effort behind the ads, and public voting organized by ACT Responsible. Forty campaigns made it to the final report, with 31 from nonprofits, and 9 from brands.

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Fearless Girl, created by McCann-Erickson for State Street Corp., came in first, followed by Switch it off, Ogilvy Germanys gut-wrenching effort for Amnesty International; Meet Graham, Clemenger BBDO Melbournes work for the Transport Accident Commission; Evan, created by BBDO for Sandy Hook Promise, and The First Braille Smartwatch, from Serviceplan Germany on behalf of Dot. Inc.

BBDO New York is named the most successful agency creating work for good causes, followed by McCann New York; Ogilvy Berlin; Clemenger BBDO Melbourne in Australia, and Serviceplan Munchen in Germany. The report also named the top agency networks for responsibility efforts, led by BBDO Worldwide, FCB Worldwide; McCann Worldgroup; Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and Young & Rubicam Group.

Amnesty International is named as the most effective brand, followed by WWF; UNICEF; Red Cross and Greenpeace.

This is the reports fifth year, but ACT Responsible has been collecting ads that most effectively communicate sustainability and social responsibility for 17 years. (The nonprofit group was formed in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.)

The winning campaigns are scheduled to be exhibited in Cannes Lions 65th international festival of creativity in June.by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 4, 2018

Siding with Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, a federal judge has denied the American Civil Liberties Union's request for an order prohibiting the governor from blocking critics on Facebook and Twitter.

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove in Frankfort rejected the ACLU's argument that the social media sites were "public forums" -- like city parks -- where the government isn't allowed to discriminate against speech based on viewpoint.

Instead, he ruled, Bevin's use of Facebook was "personal," and he has no obligation to allow members of the public to comment to him through the site.

Bevin "never intended his Facebook or Twitter accounts to be like a public park, where anyone is welcome to enter and say whatever they want," the judge said in an opinion issued Friday.

"He has a specific agenda of what he wants his pages to look like and what the discussion on those pages will be," the judge wrote. "If he wanted a truly open forum where everyone could post or comment, he could have set up his accounts to allow that, but he did not. And the First Amendment does not require him to do so."

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The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit brought on behalf of Kentucky residents Drew Morgan and Mary Hargis, who alleged that Bevin blocked them on Facebook after they made critical comments. Moran said his comments related to Bevin's property taxes, which were overdue, while Hargis criticized his right-to-work policies and a job apprenticeship program.

The judge said in his ruling that Bevin "is not suppressing speech, but is merely culling his Facebook and Twitter accounts to present a public image that he desires."

Bevin isn't the only public official to face legal action over his use of social media.

President Trump currently faces suit for blocking people on Twitter, and Maine Governor Paul LePage is being sued for blocking critics on Facebook.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, who was also sued over social media blocks, recently resolved the lawsuit by agreeing to refrain from deleting critical comments on Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms.

Hogan's office also is adopting a new social media policy that prohibits discrimination based on viewpoint, but allows for the removal of some comments, including ones that contain profanity, are "disruptively repetitive," or "clearly unrelated to governmental concerns."

The Maryland settlement, announced Monday, ends a lawsuit filed last summer on behalf of four Maryland citizens who said they were blocked from Hogan's Facebook page, or had their comments deleted from the page. They alleged that Hogan and other state officials violated the First Amendment by deleting comments and blocking users "because of political disagreement with the messages posted."

That complaint drew on a February 2017 Washington Post report that officials blocked around 450 people from Facebook since Hogan took office. Many of the bans came soon after the 2015 Baltimore protests over the killing of Freddie Gray, and in January of 2017, after President Trump issued a ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

The lawsuit against Trump is pending before U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan. She suggested at a recent hearing that Trump could resolve that case by "muting" critics instead of blocking them.One of the hallmarks of advanced prostate cancer is a faulty PTEN tumor suppressor gene. Now, after screening compounds for their effect on cells lacking PTEN, scientists have discovered that a natural insecticide called deguelin can kill such cells by disrupting their energy supply.

Share on Pinterest Researchers reveal how a natural insecticide can destroy advanced prostate cancer cells.

Deguelin belongs to a class of drugs known as mitochondrial inhibitors. The drugs block the action of mitochondria.

Mitochondria are the tiny compartments inside cells that convert glucose in the cell into molecules of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which serve as units of energy for fueling the various workings of the cell.

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York found that treating cells lacking PTEN with some types of mitochondrial inhibitor caused the cells to use glucose from their environment to make ATP and then transport it into their mitochondria to preserve them.

It is as though cells without PTEN, explains study leader Lloyd Trotman, a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, are driven to consume vast quantities of glucose to help their mitochondria survive. They do this to the point where they run out of fuel and die.

The researchers describe their work  which included the use of a genetic mouse model of metastatic prostate cancer that was developed by Prof. Trotmans group  in a paper now published in the journal Cell Reports.

They suggest that their findings show that, at the right dose, certain mitochondrial inhibitors such as deguelin  and another that they identified called rotenone  may be able to kill prostate cancer cells without harming healthy cells.

However, they also note that the timing and conditions have to be just right  for example, the drug would not work if glucose levels are high.

The hope is, Prof. Trotman explains, that carefully timed administration of these drugs can generate a much better window of selective killing.Advertisement

To their surprise, the study uncovered good and bad news. The good news was that scientists were able to demonstrate that training led to massive improvements in recollection. By the end of the program, the ability of older adults matched those of individuals in their 20s. These benefits were also shown to last when participants were retested three months later. The bad news was older adults did not improve on any of the tasks that should have benefitted from having better recollection, such as a memory test for remembering whether words were shown on a screen or heard through headphones. Participants also didn't report any improvements to their memory."These results reset what scientists understand about this memory process," says Dr. Anderson. "For a long time, memory scientists viewed recollection as a single mechanism, but our work suggests that this is not the case. Instead, it implies there may be many different types of recollection for different contexts connected to a memory, such as feelings felt at the time, the sounds in the area or what a person sees at the time."These findings raise interesting questions about how memory is organized and it identifies a need for better understanding of recollection, before training programs are created, adds Dr. Anderson. As next steps, Dr. Anderson and her team will explore how aging affects a person's recollection for different things and identify whether certain aspects of this memory process are more susceptible to dementia risk.Source: EurekalertAdvertisement

"It shows parents are really thinking about where these impacts are coming from."Mansfield and her team conducted crash tests with multiple rear-facing car seats, investigating the effects of various features like the carry handle position and anti-rebound bars.The study, which is published in SAE International, shows that when used correctly, all were effective because they absorbed crash forces while controlling the motion of the child, making rear-facing car seats a good choice in this scenario."Even though the child is facing the direction of the impact, it doesn't mean that a rear-facing car seat isn't going to do its job," said Mansfield. "It still has lots of different features and mechanisms to absorb that crash energy and protect the child."Mansfield says what they found aligns well with what is known from crash data in the real world, and it's important for parents to follow the recommended guidelines on the correct type of car seat for their child's height, weight and age."The rear-facing seat is able to support the child's head, neck and spine and keep those really vulnerable body regions well protected. These regions are especially vulnerable in the newborns and younger children whose spine and vertebrae haven't fused and fully developed yet," said Mansfield.Source: EurekalertWhen it comes to making a spectacular comeback, perhaps no other actor has had a glorious one as Robert Downey Jr. He is the perfect example of how one can meet their salvation after going through the darkest phase in their life and turn over a new leaf.

You might not know this, but Robert wasn't Marvel's first choice for Tony Stark in the first 'Iron Man' movie. When the movie was initially being chalked out, Robert was an actor who was not in the good books of many directors and producers. Turns out, he had developed a reputation of being a screw-up along with a history of drug abuse. Quite difficult to believe right? But sadly, it's true.

But it was director Jon Favreau who never once doubted Robert's talent and strongly believed in him. He stood his ground and convinced everyone that only Robert could play Iron Man and bring out the true essence of the superhero.

When we look through his career graph today, he is the example of a rising phoenix. He is one of the highest paid actors in the world and if reports are to be believed, he is actually getting paid $100 million for 'Avengers: Infinity War'. If that's not success, then what is?

Talking about Robert, and why Favreau wanted him to play Tony Stark, he said in an interview to Texas Radio station, Everybody knew he was talented. Certainly, by studying the Iron Man role and developing that script I realised that the character seemed to line-up with Robert in all the good and bad ways. And the story of Iron Man was really the story of Robert's career.

Tony Stark immediately became a global favourite, not only because of the Iron Man suit but mostly because of his wit and charm and the essence of awesomeness which was brought to life by Robert. So here are 11 of the best quotes by the man himself:

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But talk of famous guys like Saif Ali Khan, Shah Rukh Khan (who're not very keen on ripped jeans yet) and you'd notice how even today, plain light/dark wash jeans solve the purpose for most. They pair them with henleys, plain T-shirts, kurtas etc. These 'celebrated humans' rather play safe than make friends with Kanye West, you know. But once again, this is just another section of famous men.

Guys like Bobby Deol AKA still-a-relevant-name in Bollywood have their own theory of apparel play. If his recent airport outing is any indication, he's really been wearing some insane gear right now, contrary to what he's worn in the past.

 Viral Bhayani

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Moving on to the present, however, here's what the actor wore to the airport recently:

 Viral Bhayani

For starters, if looked closely, there's an acute absence of colour in the outfit here. While that's nothing to take him down for, we wish there was some on the footwear at least. Though, the tint on his sunnies is compensating for the colour-ignorance anyway, we're not very pleased.

Nevertheless, time to break the outfit down.

His black T-shirt (the star attraction here), might make you try and figure out what the hell's going on at the hem. Is it ripped, snipped with a scissor or shall we just call it an asymmetrical hemline? It's quite a confusing sight honestly but whatever it is, it looks insane.

Coming to his black breed of jeans now, that in all probability, have been treated with wax to appear borderline-shiny/matte, so that they possess their own stand in a rather, saturated world of denim in 2018. That said, even the fit of the pair is reaching the likes of glove-like fits and appearing like it was literally born for him. Bravo!

 Viral Bhayani

Is this a brand-new style phase for the actor? Is he headed for big revamp (or comeback)? Whatever it is, we're 100% down for it (just not in the form of DJ Bobby Deol).

Read More: Best Black t-shirts for menHunger strike literally means not eating or drinking while demonstrating a peaceful protest. That's simple enough, right?

Well, I had to explain it because it's apparently not and I hate saying this cliche but seems like 'common sense is not that common anymore', and hence the definition.

And, who is this explanation mainly directed towards? It's the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

AIADMK decided to go on a one-day hunger strike as a way of putting pressure on the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management board. Seems like a normal way to protest, and moreover one day protest is not even that hard.

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But, turns out none of the protestors actually tried to look up what a hunger strike entails. The fast was supposed to be from 8am to 5pm yesterday, which is such an easy task. People can have breakfast before 8 and then just have to last till 5 and then can even have dinner after.

But no, people don't have self-control; during the protest, the party cadres in districts like Vellore, Coimbatore and Salem were seen gorging on Biryani followed by consumption of liquor.

Lunch break during a hunger strike  the words that didn't belong together.

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Reportedly, the entire cabinet of AIADMK took part in this 'hunger strike', with ministers and other leaders driving the protest in districts across Tamil Nadu.

I don't know who captured these hilarious pictures, but we should be forever grateful to them. What an expose!

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Maybe they were trying their hardest, but just couldn't say no to biryani.

Moreover, they were having a whole party; along with biryani, they also had alcohol, now this is the kind of party I would like to be invited to.Thank you for subscribing!

By signing up to this free newsletter you agree to receive occasional emails from us informing you about our products and services. You can opt out of these emails at any time.Posted Thursday, March 1, 2018 11:00 am

Theres been a sea change in Washington when it comes to picking the Michigan congressional districts that are worth national attention.

For several cycles, literally millions of dollars poured into the Lansing media market and Eaton County for control of the 7 th Congressional District, which Democrats won in 2008 only to lose again in 2010 and every election thereafter.

But after U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, blew out a well-funded and well-organized Gretchen Driskell by 15 points during an election in which Democrat Hillary Clinton was supposed to carry Michigan, the national Dems arent trying to entice the Blue Dog Democrats in mostly rural farm districts  for now, anyway.

Instead, they are going after the suburban moms and dads who find nothing endearing about Trumps potty mouth and general improper behavior.

Thats leading D.C. to the 11 th Congressional in Southeast Michigan and, closer to home, the 8 th Congressional District. MI-8 is home to not only the increasingly liberal bastion of Ingham County, but a growing number of Rochester and Rochester Hills suburbanites who dont think the answer to school gun violence is arming teachers.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is super excited about a fresh face who has emerged in MI-8 and who checks all the boxes, so to speak.

Elissa Slotkin:

 was born and raised in northern Oakland County (where a plurality of the voters live)  is the offspring of the inventor of the Ball Park Frank hot dog (whats more American than that?) worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department as a Middle East analyst, which led her to be deployed to Baghdad, (OK, thats more American than a Tiger Stadium hot dog.)

 Has raised more money in the last couple campaign cycles than incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, and is close to matching him in cash on hand ($971,645 to $709,599).

 Is a female candidate with backing from pro-choice womens cash cow, EMILYs List. AFSCME, the carpenters, electrical workers, Michigan Education Association and a bunch of other progressive groups are backing her, too.

All this may spell trouble for Bishop in a 56 percent Republican-leaning district where Trump performed well but not great compared to the 7 th or the 1 st , another place the Republicans and Democrats once dropped a lot of money.

The National Republican Campaign Committee, Bishops folks and Republicans arent waiting around for Slotkin to catch fire.

They are hitting her where they feel shes more vulnerable  her Michigan residency. While a Holly native who graduated from a Bloomfield Hills private school, Slotkin has spent most of her adult life in Washington.

It wasnt until last May that Slotkin became an inhabitant of Michigan when she registered to vote. She announced her candidacy for office two months later. Still, shes kept her D.C. home and claimed a homestead exemption there last fall until the error was caught and she refunded the money.

Republicans are claiming the Democrats parachuted this resume-perfect carpetbagger into MI-8 to take out a public servant in Bishop, who has worked and raised a family in the district for years.

What the Democrats are doing across the country is implanting D.C. insiders like Slotkin, who are good fundraisers, in place like Michigan, said Sarah Anderson chief of staff of the Michigan Republican Party. They want this to increase their chances of winning, but its not going to work.

For her part, Slotkin makes no apologies for returning to the family farm to start her new consulting firm after years of serving her country in Iraq and the nations capital.

Every time you hear them use the carpetbagger label, especially for someone who grew up in Michigan, your ears should perk up that they literally have nothing to run on, Slotkin said. If a sitting representative needs a pat-on-the-back issue, they have nothing they are proud of.

Slotkin first needs to win the Democratic nomination in August. She has at least one announced opponent in Michigan State University criminal justice instructor Chris Smith, who grew up in East Lansing and returned to the area 24 years ago.

Hes a grassroots candidate who lines up with Bernie Sanders policy-wise  single payer healthcare and campaign finance reform, for example. The $40,500 he reported in the bank at the end of the 2017 is well short of what Bishop or Slotkin amassed, but hes working.

And Driskell is back. She believes that the political winds likely will be blowing in a different direction in 2018 so shes diving into Walberg rematch with another aggressive campaign thats raising as much money as the incumbent.

But for the first time in many years the national spotlight isnt shining brightest on her MI-7 race. Its moved north to MI-8.

(Melinn is editor of MIRS, a newsletter covering politics and state government.)CARO  A 36-year-old Otter Lake man was arraigned on 17 counts, including two murder charges, Tuesday in connection with a double homicide that happened over the weekend.

Adam Balcer is accused to killing 45-year-old Peter Brodick Jr. and 55-year-old Wendy Brodick. Both victims died from gunshot wounds.

"Along with the two counts of murder, he is charged with (possession of a) weapon by a felon, tampering with evidence, unlawful imprisonment ... overall 17 counts," said Tuscola County Sheriff Glen Skrent.

According to the preliminary police report, Peter Brodick, Jr. died from gunshot wounds afflicted Friday in the 9800 block of Boucher Road in Watertown Township.

As the investigation progressed, the body of Wendy Brodick, who was the step-mother of Brodick, was found Sunday near a silo in Millington Township.

If convicted of the murder charges, Balcer, who is listed as a parole absconder, could face life in prison.

Balcer was renting a house from the Brodicks, and reportedly owed back rent and was being evicted.

Balcer is lodged in the Tuscola County Jail on a $2 million bond, said Skrent.

According to offender tracking information through the state of Michigan, Balcer was convicted of larceny in a building  attempt, in 2013 in Genesee County. He was sentenced to three years in prison.After Sinclair Broadcast drew widespread criticism for having anchors read a statement taking aim at the integrity of other U.S. media outlets, many wondered why some of the company's journalists didn't just quit.

The short answer is the cost may be too steep. According to copies of two employment contracts reviewed by Bloomberg, some Sinclair employees were subject to a liquidated damages clause for leaving before the term of their agreement was up: one that requires they pay as much as 40 percent of their annual compensation to the company.

While they were also subject to a six-month non-compete clause and forced arbitration, three current and former Sinclair employees said it was the potential financial penalty that had the greatest impact on those thinking of quitting.

Under the clause, there is a specific window of time during which employees can give notice. One current employee who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly said the clause's limitations are the reason he hasn't quit. An ex-employee who also requested anonymity said both the non-compete and the damages clause dissuaded her at first from looking for work elsewhere.

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Multiple employment lawyers said the damages clause wouldn't turn up in most employment contracts. "They are pretty rare-for ordinary workers at least," said Peter Romer-Friedman, an attorney at Outten & Golden, a labor law firm. But they are more common in the broadcast industry, specifically when dealing with on-air talent. The clause serves to protect companies from costs associated with replacing an anchor who suddenly leaves, for example. Yet at Sinclair, at least some employees who never appeared on television were still required to sign such contracts, the former employees said.

Hunt Valley, Maryland-based Sinclair couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

The company owns or operates 193 TV stations in more than 80 markets across the country and reaches an estimated 38 percent of households. This weekend, it had anchors read a script about what the conservative broadcaster's owners characterize as "false news" at other media outlets. A video montage posted over the weekend by Deadspin showed dozens of Sinclair anchors saying such "false news" is "extremely dangerous to our democracy."

"The critics are now upset," Scott Livingston, the vice president of news at Sinclair, wrote in a memo to employees Monday provided to Bloomberg. "There is a lot of noise out there about our company right now, and what is lacking in that analysis is something we constantly preach; context and perspective."

The broadcaster is currently seeking approval from the Trump administration to buy Tribune Media Co., which would give it a presence in most U.S. households. Trump on Monday hailed Sinclair as "far superior" to NBC and CNN, which have been a constant target of the president's scorn. (The administration meanwhile has sued to stop AT&T Inc.'s purchase of CNN parent Time Warner.)

Whether the damages clause can stand up to legal scrutiny is an open question. It must have some connection to company expenditures, multiple employment lawyers said. "It would be reasonable if it had something to do with training costs or replacement costs or a particular investment that was made in this particular employee," said Kathleen Peratis, another partner at Outten & Golden. "If it's just a blanket calculation that applies to everyone no matter what, it's probably vulnerable."

A second woman now employed by Sinclair who also requested anonymity said she wasn't fully aware of the damages clause and its ramifications until someone pointed it out. She worried about needing a lawyer if she quit.

But even for employees who might have a solid case, the practical reality is daunting. Those who want to challenge such a clause would likely have to hire a lawyer, which isn't cheap-especially if the litigation drags on. Plus there's another complication: Those employment contracts which have a forced arbitration clause.

Like many employment contract clauses, the very existence of a damages clause could deter employees, said Beth Barrett Bloom, a Seattle based employment lawyer at Frank Freed Subit & Thomas. "If reporters aren't willing to test them, then they are effective."

Renato Mariotti, an Illinois based prosecutor who is running for state attorney general, said it's possible courts would view a financial penalty "as a way for the employer to create a non-compete in an improper way."NEW BRITAIN  Erin Stewart walked across the stage at New Britain High School in 2005 to receive her high school diploma. In 2014 she was sworn in as mayor on the same stage.

But on Wednesday, as Republican candidates for governor took that same stage, Stewart was outside with nearly 70 vocal supporters chanting Let her speak, let her speak.

Were going to keep working toward the goal to see if we can make it to the next debate, said Jodi Latina, Stewarts chief of staff.

Stewart spoke briefly with her supporters and left for a fundraising event  she was short nearly $70,000 from the required $175,000 to participate in the debate in her hometown.

Inside, nine candidates crowded the stage in front of about 400 people, sharing their outsider credentials, attacking the Democratic Party and boasting the strength of the GOP.

Only one candidate gave a nod to Stewarts absence.

Its great to be in a city with a Republican mayor, said former U.S. Comptroller Dave Walker of Bridgeport.

State Rep. Prasad Srinivasan, a Glastonbury physician, said hes not a stereotypical Republican. Of the nine candidates, only he and Mike Handler, Stamfords chief financial officer, said they did not favor a return to capital punishment, which was repealed in 2012 and expanded to include Death Row inmates by the state Supreme Court in 2015.

For those of us that look at our own state and look at the inmates that we have on death row, how many have finally got to that death row? Srinivasan said to scattered boos from the crowd. Yes we have great evidence, convincing evidence, but lets not go back. Lets be what the rest of the civilized society does. Put them behind bars for the rest of their lives, but lets not have the death penalty.

Handler stuck with his platform, reiterating his claim that he saved Stamford from a potential budget crisis.

"This election is about one thing: cleaning up (Gov.) Dan Malloys mess," Handler said. "I understand what our problems are. Ive seen them first hand."

Peter Lumaj, an Albanian-born lawyer from Fairfield, blamed the states "failed liberal policies in Hartford" for the states fiscal and infrastructure troubles.

"I love this country," he said. "I love this state. I believe as a complete outsider I am not beholden to anyone.

Ninth-term Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton added his voice to the litany.

"Past practice indicates future performance," Boughton said to the audience. "If we are going to win in the fall, its going to take all of us in this room."

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti claimed his city has the lowest office-vacancy rate in the state as an indication of his belief in a strong business base.

"My city is not on a major hub or corridor," said Lauretti, who is in his 27th year in office. "Were in the Naugatuck Valley with old industrial blue-collar roots."

David Stemerman, a hedge-fund millionaire from Greenwich, made his first appearance in a debate, saying hed been busy running his financial firm until December.

The type of leadership that we need in this state are the ones that we exhibited at my business, Stemerman said. The first is we were able to make tough decisions, the second is we were able to see opportunities other people could not, and the third was being able to bring great teams together.

"We are in this mess because for 40 years politicians in both parties have focused on the next election," said Tim Herbst, the former Trumbull first selectman. "If ever there was a time to elect a proven outsider to go to Hartford, the time is now. This election is about your future."

Westport businessman Steve Obsitnik warned that Democrats were going to make this a nasty, negative campaign because thats all they have on their side.

Your governor has to do two things, walk and chew gum, Obsitnik said. Politicians will talk about plans but I have the experience of building jobs.

Bob Stefanowski, a former chief financial officer of UBS Investment Bank, declined the invitation to participate in the debate. He plans to skip the convention and will petition his way onto the August primary ballot, he said.EAST HAMPTON  As the Board of Finance wrestles with completing action on the 2018-19 budget, members reached back to revive a process that has largely fallen by the wayside lately.

They invited the Board of Education members to sit down with them and discuss ways in which to control rising education costs. The conversation Tuesday night took place in a collegial atmosphere.

If the effort didnt provide answers to all the questions, it nevertheless underscored the advantages of working together toward a common goal.

Actually, the boards met in two back-to-back sessions. The first, an hour-long discussion of ways to reduce costs, was held before an audience of 27 residents, including six students on assignment to observe government in action. Then, the public was asked to leave the T-Bell conference room at the high school to allow the two sides to discuss in private issues related to negotiated contracts for school personnel.

As they emerged from the latter session, both Board of Education Chairman Christopher Goff and Board of Finance Chairman Michael Rose described the session as very positive.

The joint meeting grew out of an acrimonious finance board meeting last week. There, the five-member Republican majority on the board unveiled a presentation they said showed East Hampton paying certain levels of teacher salaries equal to or greater than those in some of the wealthiest districts in the state.

The meeting turned acrimonious as board members discussed pressing to reopen teacher contracts.

One education activist denounced Rose, saying she was embarrassed to have him serving as chairman. The tone cooled during a second meeting two nights later, during which Rose proposed sitting down with the school board for the discussions that took place Tuesday.

Finance board members cast about trying to find ways to offset a proposed 3.5 percent increase in education spending. Rose asked if school officials had thought about putting solar arrays on the school roofs to reduce energy costs.

Goff said the high school building committee had considered but rejected the idea of doing so during the recently completion renovation of the school. Schools business manager Karen Asetta said it was her understanding roofs at the three other schools in town could not support the weight of arrays.

Finance board member Alannah Coshow pressed for the school administration to charge the estimated 100 or so students who drive to school a parking fee. Coshow said when she and her family lived outside Washington, D.C., two decades ago, her children paid $50 to $75 per semester to park at their school.

Superintendent of Schools Paul K. Smith said there are districts in Connecticut that do charge a fee to park.

Coshow urged East Hampton to join that list. Given the time that has passed since her children were in school, she pressed for charging $100 a semester.

Board of Education Vice Chairwoman Joanne Barmasse lightly suggested students would look everywhere to find places to park for free.

Not after they start getting tickets for illegal parking, Cohsow said, adding the town would benefit from the revenues for parking fines.

School board member Marc Lambert said the imposing a parking fee could penalize student-athletes who stay after school to practice  and who are charged a pay-to-play fee.

Coshow suggested they take the bus home, but Lambert said there was no late bus. The older kids could drive the younger kids home, she suggested.

Lambert said the states driving license policies largely limit teen drivers from carrying passengers. He also raised concerns about the liability issues involved.

These questions dont address the $1 million increase, Board of Finance Vice Chairman Richard Brown said. A thousand dollars here, a thousand dollars there doesnt address the issues that need to be addressed.

What, other than salaries, are the major drivers in this increase, Brown asked.

Exclusive of salaries, special education is a major driver, said School Business Manager Karen Asetta, accounting for perhaps 40 percent of the projected increase.

Two children with special needs moved to town this past year, Barmasse said. Because of their particular needs, they had to be outplaced  at a cost of $120,000 each.

Smith said the school department is trying to find ways to reduce those costs, including educating a special needs student from Portland, which pays the students tuition.

Given the mounting number of unfunded mandates imposed by the state, finance board member Layne McLennan asked if there is any effort to get these mandates removed. Goff and Barmasse assured her that every year, school and town officials alike bash the legislature over the number of mandates.

Given that, Why do we keep putting the same people back in the General Assembly? McLennan asked.

Thats a whole discussion for another night! Goff said to general laughter.Col. Ethan Allen, later of the Continental Army and Vermont Militia, may have originated guerrilla warfare in the 13 colonies. When New York's British governor Tryon attempted to appropriate the land known as the New Hampshire Grants for the crown, Allen organized his Green Mountain Boys to protect the settlers' rights in the area. Elected the group's colonel commandant, Allen led his group in dispensing their vigilante justice, and was thus declared an outlaw.

Fortunately for Allen, many of his fellow colonists were soon to gain the same status. As one of the early patriots, he took the Green Mountain Boys to their most famous engagement at Fort Ticonderoga, N.Y., in 1777. Joining Col. Benedict Arnold, the force of 83 men captured the fort from its sleeping British inhabitants, sending its store of cannons and mortar to Boston Harbor in aid of Gen. George Washington. Despite Allen's combat experience in the French and Indian Wars, after this engagement his men saw fit to elect Allen's cousin, Seth Warner, as their leader.

Allen left to join the American campaign in Canada, and his Boys were assimilated into the Continental Army. Fighting with Montgomery's Army near Montreal, he was captured on Sept. 25, 1775, and put in chains. After his exchange in 1778, he published the popular "Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity," which strengthened the growing myth of this colorful man who that same year was promoted to colonel in the Continental Army and major general of militia.

Born on Jan. 21, 1738, in Litchfield, Conn., Allen had moved with his wife, Mary, to the region that is present-day Vermont in 1769. At the end of the Revolutionary War, he returned to his home there and devoted himself to obtaining statehood for Vermont. Frustrated by Congress's inaction, sometime between 1780 and 1783 Allen negotiated with Canada, perhaps angling to have Vermont denoted as a British province. He was charged with treason, but the charge was never substantiated; his action is widely seen as the flamboyant Allen's attempt to strong-arm the Continental Congress. Ethan Allen retired from politics in 1784.

Sadly, Allen did not live to celebrate Vermont's 1791 admittance as the fourteenth state in the Union. He died in 1789, having devoted his post-political years to writing treatises on his deist philosophy, including "Reason, the Only Oracle of Man." His statue stands in front of the Vermont statehouse, a proud reminder of the state's independence.The top commander of U.S. forces in Syria made the case Tuesday for American troops to remain in the country at the same time President Donald Trump doubled down on his argument for pulling them out.

"The hard part is in front of us" in Syria as the U.S. seeks to defeat the remnants of the Islamic State, aid in resettling refugees and encourage negotiations to end the seven-year-old civil war, said Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command. "Of course, there is a military role in this."

While Votel argued for staying in remarks at a U.S. Institute of Peace forum, Trump used a White House news conference to elaborate on his statement last week that U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Syria "very soon."

"As far as Syria is concerned, our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of ISIS. We've almost completed that task, and we'll be making a decision very quickly, in coordination with others in the area, as to what we'll do," Trump said at a joint news conference with leaders of the three Baltic states.

"We have nothing, nothing except death and destruction" to show for U.S. military efforts in the Middle East, he said.

"So it's time. It's time," Trump said. "We were very successful against ISIS. We'll be successful against anybody militarily. But sometimes it's time to come back home, and we're thinking about that very seriously.

"I want to get out," he said, echoing comments he made last week. "I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation."

Trump's stance could put him on a collision course with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who has lobbied for a continued U.S. military presence in Syria and Iraq.

The president was also at odds with Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford in the long deliberations over a new strategy for Afghanistan before Trump last August endorsed bolstering U.S. forces there.

He has since frequently acknowledged that his initial instinct was to order a withdrawal from Afghanistan.

At the U.S. Institute for Peace, Votel was joined by representatives of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development in stressing that U.S. troops are still needed in Syria to help stabilize the region and prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

"At this point in, we're probably six to eight months ahead of where we anticipated being" in the campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, Votel said. "The military success we've had is quite extraordinary," but much remains to be done.

In Iraq, the U.S. military needs to aid the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in consolidating their gains and in training new units to police borders and prevent new outbursts of sectarian infighting, he said.

In Syria, the task ahead is more daunting, Votel said. The presence of Russian, Iranian and Turkish forces add to the challenges faced by the estimated 2,000 U.S. troops on the ground.

In addition, the drive by Turkish forces and their Free Syrian Army proxies in northeastern Syria against Kurdish enclaves has drawn off elements of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to defend against Turkey's "Operation Olive Branch," he said.

"It's slowed down our operations against ISIS" in the southeastern desert areas near Syria's border with Iraq, Votel said.

The U.S. needs to address "the long-term issues of reconstruction, getting people back in their homes," which are often riddled with improvised explosive devices left behind by ISIS, he said.

Votel and Brett McGurk, the State Department's special envoy for Iraq and Syria, did not directly comment on Trump's withdrawal remarks, but Votel said, "Stabilizing these areas, consolidating those gains, getting people back in their homes -- there is a military role in all of this, certainly in the stabilization phase.

"I very much see us in that position right now," he said, but McGurk confirmed that Trump already had ordered a freeze of about $200 million in aid meant to fund recovery efforts in Syria.

McGurk said the aid cutoff is part of a broader effort by Trump to ensure taxpayer money is spent wisely. "As we undertake this review, it is not hindering our work in the field," he said.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, crashed on Wednesday. The condition of the pilot is unknown at this time, officials said.

The F-16 was participating in routine training at the Nevada Test and Training Range when it crashed at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time, Nellis said in a release.

Officials did not say whether the pilot was able to eject from the single-engine, multirole fighter. The accident is under investigation, the base said.

Nellis has a squadron of F-16C variants assigned to the 64th Aggressor Squadron, which provides combat and adversary air training. The Air Force Thunderbirds, the Air Forces premiere demonstration team, is also part of the 57th Wing at Nellis.

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The incident is the latest of several aviation mishaps in the last 48 hours.

On Tuesday, a Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed during a training mission in southern California, with all four on board presumed dead.

Also Tuesday, a Marine Harrier jet crashed during takeoff from an airport in Djibouti. The pilot was able to eject and was being treated for injuries, officials told Military.com. It's not clear what prompted the pilot's ejection.

Separately, another CH-53 "sustained minor structural damage" during a landing in Djibouti near of Arta Beach, a military spokesman told CNN on Wednesday.

Range Accidents

In September, a pilot was killed in a crash at the Nevada Test and Training Range.

Lt. Col. Eric Schultz, 44, died from injuries sustained in an accident in which an aircraft crashed at the range, located about 100 miles northwest of Nellis Air Force Base.

The aircraft was assigned to Air Force Materiel Command and was flying a training mission at the time of the mishap, according to a release at the time.

The Air Force has never identified the type of aircraft involved in September's crash. Air Force Chief of Staff. Gen David Goldfein would say only that it was not an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

"I can definitely say it was not an F-35," Goldfein told Military.com on a trip to the annual conference of the National Guard Association of the United States in Louisville, Ky.

The deadly crash occurred a day before a pair of A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft crashed at the same training range. Both pilots safely ejected in that incident.

This story will be updated.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.Last of 17 Retired B-1s Sent to Boneyard as Air Force Preps for B-21s

The final plane flew out of Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Thursday, to the "boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force...President Donald Trump has made a decision on whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria that will be disclosed in the coming days, the head of the U.S. intelligence community said Wednesday.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said the decision was reached in "all hands on deck" discussions at the White House on Tuesday.

He declined to say what the decision was, but said "a statement will be issued relatively soon."

Last week, Trump said that the estimated 2,000 U.S. troops now in Syria could be withdrawn "very soon" and he reiterated that position in a joint news conference Monday at the White House with leaders of the Baltic States.

At a U.S. Institute of Peace forum on Monday, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, made the case for a continued U.S. military presence in Syria to complete the defeat of ISIS and aid in stabilizing the region.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at richard.sisk@military.com.President Donald Trump has tentatively decided to withdraw the estimated 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria once the last remnants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been eliminated, the White House said Wednesday.

The White House statement gave no timeline for a pullout that has been opposed by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, but said, "We will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans."

"The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, with ISIS being almost completely destroyed," the statement said, adding the U.S.-led coalition remains "committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated."

However, once the mission to destroy ISIS is completed, the U.S. can focus on withdrawal, the statement said.

In the absence of the U.S. military, "We expect countries in the region and beyond, plus the United Nations, to work toward peace and ensure that ISIS never re-emerges," it continued.

The White House issued the statement after Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said Wednesday morning that Trump had reached a decision on whether to order Mattis to begin planning for withdrawal.

At a breakfast with defense reporters, Coats did not say what the decision was, but said it was reached after "all hands on deck" discussions between Trump and his national security team Tuesday at the White House.

Mattis, who has argued that the U.S. military needs to remain to provide security for recovery efforts and the return of refugees, attended the discussions on the potential withdrawal, Pentagon officials said.

The withdrawal of U.S. forces after the defeat of ISIS would leave the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces to an uncertain fate.

With the backing of U.S. airpower and artillery, the mostly Kurdish SDF has driven ISIS from most of its strongholds in Syria and last year claimed the so-called ISIS capital of Raqqa after a lengthy siege.

However, the dominant force in the SDF is the People's Protection Units, or YPG, a Kurdish militia that Turkey has labeled a terrorist group.

In January, Turkish forces and their Free Syrian Army proxies began "Operation Olive Branch" to drive the YPG from border areas. The Turkish offensive is now focused on the crossroads town of Manbij, where the U.S. maintains a military presence in support of the local Manbij Military Council.

Last week, Special Operations Master Sgt. Jonathan Dunbar, 36, of Texas, and British Sgt. Matt Tonroe, 33, were killed by an improvised explosive device in Manbij while reportedly on a mission to capture or kill an ISIS operative.

On Wednesday, as the White House pondered withdrawal, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani were meeting in Ankara to coordinate their next steps in Syria's seven-year-old civil war.

In a joint statement, the three presidents said they would oppose efforts to undermine the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose ouster had once been a key goal of U.S. policy.

The three presidents said they are against "separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria," a possible reference to U.S. opposition to Assad.

Last week, Trump said he had lost patience with the costs to the U.S. in blood and treasure of involvement in the Middle East and wanted to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria "very soon."

At a joint White House news conference Wednesday with the leaders of the Baltic states, Trump said, "I want to get out" of Syria.

"I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation," he said. "It's time. We were very successful against ISIS; we will be successful against anybody militarily. But sometimes it is time to come back home. And we are thinking about that very seriously."

However, Trump appeared to leave open the possibility that U.S. troops would remain in Syria if others picked up the costs of their presence.

"We'll be making a decision very quickly, in coordination with others in the area as to what we'll do," he said. "Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision, and I said, 'Well you know, you want us to stay, maybe you're gonna have to pay.' "

At the same time that Trump was speaking at the White House, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, was arguing for a continued U.S. military presence in Syria to defeat ISIS and provide security for recovery efforts.

"The hard part is in front of us, Votel said at a U.S. Institute of Peace Forum at which representatives of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development spoke of their ongoing efforts to stabilize areas liberated from ISIS.

Votel said U.S. troops in Syria had the mission of "consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, [and] addressing the long-term issues of reconstruction and other things that will have to be done. Of course, there is a military role in this, certainly in the stabilization phase."

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.WASHINGTON -- A large, national veterans organization is calling on President Donald Trump to remove new acting Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie amid confusion over who should be running the agency legally.

The group American Veterans, better known as AMVETS, sent a letter to Trump on Tuesday, urging him to send Wilkie back to the Defense Department and name VA Deputy Secretary Tom Bowman as the agency's interim leader.

"We need someone who can keep things moving forward," said Joe Chenelly, executive director of AMVETS. "This needs to happen now. Tom Bowman is clearly qualified in a lot of different ways to serve as interim."

Bowman taking the helm at the VA is "what the law calls for," Chenelly added.

Trump announced Wednesday in a tweet that he selected Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, to replace former VA Secretary David Shulkin.

Trump tapped Wilkie to lead the VA during Jackson's confirmation process, bypassing Bowman, who was next in succession. That decision has come under scrutiny in the last few days.

The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 gives a president broad authority to temporarily fill an agency job if the officeholder "dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of office." The law doesn't explicitly state whether it applies when someone is fired.

The White House and Shulkin have offered differing accounts of whether he was fired or resigned.

A White House spokeswoman told Politico that Shulkin resigned.

However, soon after Trump announced Shulkin's departure Wednesday, the former secretary began speaking out -- first with a commentary in the New York Times, and then on major news networks. He told CNN that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly called him Wednesday to let him know Trump would be sending a message on Twitter. Shulkin said he was then fired by tweet.

On NBC's Meet the Press, Shulkin said Sunday that he did not submit a letter of resignation, nor was one requested.

"I came to the VA to fight for our veterans, and I had no intention of giving up," Shulkin said. "I had no reason to resign. I made a commitment."

The back-and-forth could present legal challenges if Wilkie remains as acting secretary.

That aside, Chenelly said his group wants someone with experience at the VA to be in charge during the leadership transition at the agency.

Before being named as deputy secretary, Bowman worked as staff director for the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and held leadership positions across the VA, including chief of staff. Since August, he's been responsible for daily operations at the VA -- the second-largest agency in the federal government.

It was rumored earlier this year that Bowman could be fired, as a rift grew between White House insiders at the VA and Shulkin and his staff. Opponents of Shulkin saw Bowman as standing in the way of major reform.

Chenelly described Wilkie as a "big question mark." He previously worked as undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness and was once a senior adviser to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

"We're worried that you could end up having someone who's never gone before the Senate on veterans issues before running the VA for a long period of time, and no one really knows him," Chenelly said.

Disabled American Veterans has also questioned Wilkie's experience. In a statement following Trump's announcement Wednesday, DAV said he "has no background in health care and no apparent experience working in or with the department."

Wilkie could serve as acting secretary for an extended period, as Jackson is likely to face an arduous confirmation process.

Jackson's experience also has been the subject of concern among some lawmakers and leaders of veterans groups who worry he lacks the management experience to take on widespread challenges at the VA. The extent of his work on veterans issues is also unknown.

It was uncertain Tuesday when Jackson might go before the Senate for a confirmation hearing. The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee is waiting on paperwork from Jackson and the White House, which they need before moving forward, said Amanda Maddox, spokeswoman for Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., the chairman of the committee.

"We're not at a point that we can even begin to guess when a confirmation hearing might take place," Maddox said. "The timing of the confirmation hearing will be determined by how long it takes the nominee to get everything finalized and back to us."

Some veterans groups, including AMVETS, have expressed concerns over a "leadership vacuum" at the VA that worsened with Shulkin's departure.

The agency's vast health care system is being led by an acting undersecretary of health and the job of undersecretary of benefits has been without a permanent leader since October 2015. On Feb. 22, Trump nominated longtime management consultant Paul Lawrence to take over as undersecretary of benefits, but Lawrence has yet to face senators at a confirmation hearing.

"This vacuum makes it more important that the person at the helm right now is someone who knows the VA and what needs to be done," Chenelly said.Two nearly back-to-back Red Flag exercises at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, in recent months have helped prepare airmen taking part in the drills for warfighting scenarios across the globe.

But as the Air Force continues to talk about the next high-end fight with a near-peer adversary, its most advanced fighters, the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, did not train together in either exercise.

Red Flag, established in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War, is an integrated, multi-force training exercise within a simulated combat environment. There are three planned this year.

"We brought a notional force of F-35s into the [second] exercise, and it was really more about their sensors than it was about their stealth," said Col. Michael Mathes, commander of the 414th Combat Training Squadron. Military.com spoke with Mathes on March 23, the day Red Flag 18-2 concluded.

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F-22 Raptors participated in Red Flag 18-1 in January but, due to scheduling conflicts, weren't available for Red Flag 18-2, he said.

Even under the umbrella of tactical operations, the focus for each exercise varies, Mathes explained, adding there wasn't much concern that the Defense Department's mightiest fifth-generation fighters weren't flying side-by-side.

The F-35s practiced what Mathes called "a high-density, low threat" environment for Red Flag 18-2. The term could be applied to fighting forces in the Middle East or North Korea -- any adversary with more of a numbers advantage than a technology advantage.

"We don't do a linked campaign here in terms of a week of progressive scenario. We do a single-day operation, and then we change people out so they can get more repetitions and get some more missions" to achieve a larger "battle rhythm" sequence, he said.

"You have to have a building block approach  so that everyone's well prepared to integrate when they all come together," Mathes said. "Coordinating the forces, sharing the information, empowering tactical leadership were really our big challenges to enable our technology."

Red Flag has pilots gearing up for more than just the ability to strike, he said.

Both of this year's completed exercises saw a mix of F/A-18 Hornets, F-15 Eagles, F-16 Fighting Falcons, B-1B Lancers and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, Mathes said.

Red Flag typically has a joint variation of attack, fighter and bomber aircraft, alongside reconnaissance aircraft such as MQ-9 Reapers, RQ-4 Global Hawks and the U-2 Dragon Lady; electronic warfare aircraft such as EC-130 Compass Calls; airlift such as C-130 Hercules or C-17 Globemaster IIIs; search-and-rescue aircraft such as HH-60 Pave Hawks and HC-130 Kings; refueling aircraft like KC-130s and KC-10 Extenders; and command-and-control aircraft such as the E-3 Sentry AWACS.

Additionally, "red air threats" were simulated by contractors flying F-16s and Douglas A-4 Skyhawks, Mathes said.

When asked how space and cyber threats are incorporated, he said the drill has been rooted in practicing threats from everywhere and anywhere.

For example, jamming is not a new addition to Red Flag, though there were news reports in January warning commercial pilots that the Air Force's jamming signals could affect aircraft from Oregon to New Mexico.

"I saw the GPS jamming issue get picked up by second and third reporting  but this is not the

first time we've done GPS jamming," Mathes said. "It was definitely not the focus or something new or special."

Red Flag 18-1 took place between Jan. 26 and Feb. 16. During the exercises, Mathes was quoted as saying it was the largest Red Flag to date.

"We called it the largest flag ever, but that was only by numbers of people. But it was pretty average on numbers of airplanes," he said without disclosing official numbers. That exercise was about integration with partners and allies -- the U.S., United Kingdom and Australia -- and debriefing their training runs quicker and more efficiently.

The goal was to practice those "new guy type of skills, at the same time we're attempting to build tactical leadership -- mission and package commanders, and flight and team lead," Mathes said.

The 18-2 war drill, by comparison, "had a little bit more of the fighter types," he said. The exercise ran from March 9 to March 23, and incorporated "a little less [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and bomb types."

The exercise was a joint service effort, Mathes said.

"We balanced more toward training efficiency to get more repetitions  or trips across the range if you will," all while keeping in mind contested environments, he said.

"We do air-to-air, and we do surface-to-air defense suppression, and those are enablers along with command and control, and ISR, [which] are enablers of kinetic and non-kinetic strike ops," Mathes said.

This is about "focusing the force by bringing them [all] together. And it was really about our continued emphasis on readiness," he said.

Red Flag 18-3 is scheduled to begin July 13.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.The U.S. Navy plans to deploy its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter variant to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, in roughly the next three years amid reports the C-variant will achieve combat-ready status later than expected.

While the timeline is not set in stone, Carrier Air Wing 5 in the Pacific is expected to receive the F-35C sometime after 2021, Cmdr. Reann Mommsen told Military.com.

The Navy "places its most advanced and combat-capable units in the forward-deployed naval force," she said in an email. "CVW-5 has the Navy's most lethal aircraft, including the most combat-capable F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters."

Mommsen said the first F-35C squadron will replace an F/A-18 Super Hornet squadron, which will return to the U.S.

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When the transition is complete, CVW-5 will have a mix of fourth-generation Super Hornets and fifth-generation F-35Cs designed to take off and land on aircraft carriers.

"Like all fixed-wing squadrons in CVW-5, the F-35Cs will forward deploy to MCAS Iwakuni. This future upgrade will enhance the capabilities of the air wing and its mission to defend Japan and contribute to regional peace and security," Mommsen said.

The F-35C is not expected to reach initial operating capability until 2019, according to a report from Aviation Week.

Rear Adm. Dale E. Horan, commander of Carrier Strike Group 8, told the outlet last week that the Navy needs to see a successful demonstration of the F-35's software during its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation trials before it can declare the C-variant combat ready.

The Lockheed Martin Corp.-made F-35 was expected to be ready for IOC sometime between August 2018 and February 2019, according to a 2013 report submitted to lawmakers.

Meanwhile, the Navy is also gearing up to replace its aging C-2A Greyhound fleet aboard CVW-5 with new Navy CMV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, Mommsen said.

A "CMV-22B detachment is expected to replace the detachment of C-2A Greyhounds currently assigned to Carrier Air Wing 5 and USS Ronald Reagan," she said, adding that no decision has been made as to which base in Japan will receive the Ospreys.

The Air Force's version of the Osprey, the CV-22, will arrive this week in Japan two years ahead of schedule.

A squadron of 10 Ospreys was due to arrive at Yokota Air Base in 2020, but five aircraft will first be based at U.S. Forces Japan under the accelerated move.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.This article by MOAA Staff originally appeared on the Military Officers Association of America website.

Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is teaming up with researchers at Syracuse University to study absentee voting challenges that active duty servicemembers face each election cycle.

Your participation could have a positive impact on voter turnout and could lead to improvements to the absentee-voting process.

The nonpartisan survey, conducted by MOAA's charitable foundation, MOAA Military Family Initiative (MMFI), and the university's Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), will gather information from active duty servicemembers, Guard and Reserve members, veterans as well as their families in order to study this select group's perceptions of the voting and absentee voting processes. Participation in the survey is voluntary and will remain anonymous.

The wide-ranging survey topics cover voting challenges, outside influences on elections, and voter habits.

Take the Survey Here:

https://syracuseuniversity.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6Ex8TvAdWDNvDjT?RID=MLRP_ddtzXBI1MxB4d3D&Q_CHL=email

This educational report will complement MOAA's vital advocacy work on behalf of military families and reinforce an important theme: 'You, through your vote, are your most powerful advocate,' says Col. Mike Turner, USAF (Ret), vice president of development at MOAA. MOAA and the IVMF are highly respected voices within the military family community, and we believe this report will provide important insights, hopefully leading to greater military family participation in the voting process.

In 2016, through a project funded by the Democracy Fund, MMFI conducted an outreach campaign to inform and educate military families about absentee voting. Project outcomes suggested a need to better understand these families' perceptions and understanding of the absentee voting process and use those findings to help increase military family participation in the voting process.

By analyzing survey responses, the foundation and university hope to identify perceived obstacles, dispel myths, and - wherever possible - identify best practices for military family voters and state boards of elections.

MOAA will publish a report containing the university's and foundation's analysis and any suggested actions early this summer, allotting time for public review prior to many state's voter registration deadlines and well ahead of the November midterm congressional elections. MMFI representatives also regularly attend meetings of the National Association of Secretaries of State who are in charge of their state's voting process. The report will better inform state leaders as they administer their state absentee voting systems.

The study and report are made possible by a grant from the Democracy Fund, a bipartisan foundation that invests in organizations working to ensure every American's vote is counted. The Democracy Fund also helped MOAA launch its Absentee Voting Guide in 2016. MOAA previously has teamed with Syracuse University to study military spouse employment issues. The resulting 2014 report prompted the Trump administration to examine ways to improve military spouse employment.

Take the Survey Here:

https://syracuseuniversity.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6Ex8TvAdWDNvDjT?RID=MLRP_ddtzXBI1MxB4d3D&Q_CHL=email

This article Take This MOAA-Syracuse University Survey and Help Improve Military Absentee Voting originally appeared on the Military Officers Association of America website. MOAA is the nation's largest and most influential association of military officers.The Air Force is now offering deployed families more free kid care, officials announced this week, bumping the service up to the same level offered by the Army to its families since 2008.

Until April 1 the Air Force had given a max of 48 hours of free care per family for 30 days before, 30 days after and during deployments, according to a news release.

That gave some small families a lot of care per child, while larger families were left with less. The new policy instead gives 16 hours of free care for each child for those same periods, ensuring that families with more children have equal access.

Unlike the Army program, the free care is available at both on base child development centers with hourly care programs and at the in-home FCC providers. The Army's free hours can typically only be used at an on-base Child Development Center (CDC).

To use the program, Airmen need to be on active duty or active status with the National Guard or Reserve, assigned to or working on the installation where they plan to access the care, deployed in support of a contingency operation (i.e. not deployed stateside or activated for a school house assignment) and deployed for at least 30 consecutive days or at least 30 days in a six month period.

To apply Airmen will need a copy of their deployment or PCS orders and complete the request form, which they can get from their local child services office.

The Army program was rolled out in 2008 as a part of the Army Family Covenant, but how it is administered differs widely base to base. In the past at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, for example, parents could use the hours at any time the base CDC had available openings. But at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, however, the hours could only be used during one of the twice monthly "Super Saturday" events if a spot was available.

Air Force officials said last year they offered 4,400 hours of free care to families of deployed or remote members.If you're an Ellen DeGeneres Show fan like us, you should plan to tune in on April 9.

That's because male military spouse and the newest Armed Forces Insurance Navy Spouse of the Year, Brian Alvarado, and his husband Matthew are being featured as guests, and we just know it's going to be amazing.

Brian was first contacted about the potential appearance about a month ago, shortly after he found out that he'd been selected as the 2018 Navy Spouse of the Year.

"That was a surreal moment in my life," he said.

Over the next several weeks Brian and Matthew had conversations with a series of Ellen producers to make sure the couple was a good fit for the show. And this week they traveled from San Diego to Ellen's Burbank studio for the filming.

Like any good sons, Brian and Matthew took their moms to be guests in the audience. And when it came time for them to go out for their segment, he thought he would be fine.

"I'm like 'I've totally got this' -- and the music started to play and the stage manager said go ... and then there was Ellen and she was so beautiful and she smiled so big and I just lost everything I planned to say," he said. "Overall it was one of the absolutely coolest experiences."

Matthew and Brian Alvarado after filming on Ellen in April, 2018 (Courtesy of Brian Alvarado)

Brian said the highlight of appearing on the show was being able to share on a national stage some of the positive aspects of the military family experience.

"We hear all too often in the military community a sad story and we don't often hear the great stories, and the success and the uplifting and positive experiences that happen in the military family," he said. "And it was awesome to be able to share a positive experience with Ellen."

He said appearing on the show was also surreal as a gay male spouse. A handful of years ago, he said, they weren't even permitted to be married in the military. But this week he not only was able to be a military family member openly with his husband, he was able to talk about it on a truly national stage.

He said experiencing those rights and the military community has given him a sense of responsibility to give back -- and he takes it seriously.

"I believe with all of my heart with those rights come the responsibility to engage, to give back and to participate in the military community as a whole," he said.

Check your local TV schedule and make sure to catch Brian and Matthew on Ellen April 9!This article by James Clark originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.

Have you ever taken a poop while other people watched?

If you havent could you?

If youve served in the military, you understand this existential problem well.

Generally speaking, we poop in privacy. We also do our daily hygiene and face-pruning without an audience  except for that one dude in ninth grade phys ed class who always took a shower in the locker room before next period. For most of us growing up, our bodily functions were carried out behind closed doors.

At Marine Corps boot camp, recruits shower en masse. Grown men huddle three to a urinal. The toilet stalls have no doors.

You take your dumps in front of an audience.

For some, the experience can be overwhelming, perhaps even horrifying. But those who successfully move their bowels in front of battle buddies will be prepared for life downrange  where the enemy isnt going to give you a porta-john to answer natures call, according to every gunnery sergeant ever.

This is the story of how I crossed the threshold from self-conscious pooper to a man who could shit like a Marine.

+++

If you think self-conscious pooper isnt a thing, let me set your shit straight. A great many people seem to suffer from deep embarrassment when dropping a deuce in a public restroom. (Its a weird example of a first-world problem, sure, but hey, were talking about pre-military me here.)

If self-conscious pooping was an actual, recognized disorder, these would be some of the symptoms:

Frequent flushing to cover not just the smell of a bowel movement, but also the sound.

Abruptly pausing mid-poo when another person enters the restroom.

Avoiding eye contact with other bathroom visitors when exiting the stall.

Deciding to hold it till you get home to avoid any/all of the above.

Im not sure exactly when that self-consciousness set in for me, but it all evaporated once I arrived at Recruit Depot San Diego in 2008.

Marine recruit training was defined by three things: Instant obedience to orders, speed, and yelling  yours, and theirs. Mostly theirs. The drill instructors yell to wake you up, then yell to get you dressed, then yell to get you and 60 to 80 of your new buddies through your revolutions in the head.

A couple of precious minutes, thats what you and these five or six dozen other guys get to shave, brush your teeth, and excrete all your excretions. So that every time you sit down on the toilet for your morning glory, theres a dozen guys anxiously waiting just outside the stall  the one without a door  to use the john before the yelling starts again.

Its not the kind of environment that accommodates self-consciousness and embarrassment well. Everything is a mission. Theres always a timetable. Even when pooping. If you know fast pooping is not a strength of yours, you try to speed up the shaving and the brushing to buy some time. But you still need that crap to be a speedy one. You cant hold things up  and you cant, for the love of God, be the last guy the DIs see coming out of the head.

By the time I graduated recruit training, I could probably poop on command. You could scream at me to take a dump and start a countdown, and before you finished Id likely respond with a wipe, a flush, and a DONE, SIR, DONE. (This was never put to the test.)

+++

Boot camp, it turned out, was only a crash course in public crapping; now came the advanced courses and follow-on training. Barracks life as an enlisted Marine is defined by its 24/7 open door policy. Theres no semblance of privacy. NCOs drop in unannounced, like roid-raged Jehovahs Witnesses, for random inspections. And once you hit the fleet, nothings private. If youre lucky, you share a room and one toilet with just one or two other Marines, if youre not, then you share an adjoining bathroom with twice that number. Theres always someone outside the crapper door yelling at you to hurry the fuck up so I can shit and get to formation 15 minutes prior to being 15 minutes prior.

Then theres deployments to exotic locales. For me this meant Helmand province, Afghanistans Marjah and Kajaki districts, where flushing toilets and individual stalls were the stuff of dreams. A grown man could cry tears of joy just discovering an empty ammo can or a crate he could set underneath his wag bag. And a wooden outhouse erected by combat engineers would make any weary Marine or sailor feel like a king atop an ivory throne.

But when such amenities werent available, you had to make do.

+++

In 2011, I was attached to an infantry battalion in Afghanistan. We were early into a multi-day movement through the township of Kajaki Sofla when I made the mistake of eating some questionable chicken.

On the second day of our mission, I ran through my allotment of wagbags.

On the third day, I was out of empty MRE bags.

On the fourth, I grew steadily more competent at rapidly dropping my trousers, squatting, and doing my business on the side of whatever road, goat path, or wadi I was near.

I never stopped to feel embarrassed  just concerned that I might get shot while my pants were around my ankles. So Id ask a nearby Marine to keep his eyes out while I popped a squat, and I would take the security watch when it was his turn to clear out some inventory. Taking a tactical deuce like this can often be a point of pride, or a much-needed source of humor downrange.

By the time the food poisoning passed, I probably had the process down to a few minutes from start to finish. And that was it: I was a poop jedi.

Its been nearly a decade now since I enlisted, and six years since I left the Corps  along with many of the good habits it tried to instill. But theres one lesson that stays with me: Thanks to the Marines, I no longer shit in a public toilet with any embarrassment.

Now, in those moments, I can almost feel like that youthful Marine on the side of a goat path in Kajaki again, freed by his discovery that poop is a lot like shame: Sometimes, you just gotta let it go.

James Clark is a staff writer for Task & Purpose. He is a former Marine combat correspondent and a veteran of the War in Afghanistan. You can reach him via email at James@taskandpurpose.com. Follow James Clark on Twitter: @JamesWClark.

More articles from Task & Purpose:

War Taught Me How to Poop the Right Way

This Marine Has The Most Marine Tinder Profile Weve Ever Seen

The Air Forces New Sizzle Reel Looks Eerily Similar to One of the Worst Military Movies EverAir India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola today held a meeting with representatives of four employees' unions to discuss about the proposed strategic disinvestment and their concerns, sources said.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential bidders for a 76 percent stake sale in loss-making Air India as well as divestment of two of the carrier's subsidiaries.

Sources said the CMD met representatives from four unions for about 45 minutes to mainly understand apprehensions of employees about the proposed stake sale. The meeting was convened following directions from the ministry, they added.

Representatives from Indian Aircraft Technicians' Association (IATA), Air India Aircraft Engineering Association (AIAEA), Air Corporation Employees' Union (ACEU) and Air India Employees' Union (AIEU) attended the meeting. These unions, which together have thousands of members, mostly represent engineering and commercial staff, among others.

Sources said all the four unions are opposed to Air India disinvestment. The representatives were assured by the CMD that their concerns and apprehensions would be conveyed to the ministry, sources added.

In a letter addressed to the Chairman and Managing Director, the IATA said it strongly opposes the disinvestment of the airline and its subsidiaries. The union also raised concerns about salary arrears and other issues.

On March 28, the ministry came out with the preliminary information memorandum released on Air India's strategic disinvestment.

As per the memorandum, the government plans to offload 76 percent equity share capital of the national carrier as well as transfer the management control. The proposed transaction would involve Air India, its low-cost arm Air India Express and Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd, which is an equal joint venture between the national airline and Singapore-based SATS Ltd.The cabinet today cleared the transfer of administrative control of HPIL from the telecom ministry to the housing and urban development ministry after equity infusion of Rs 700 crore and Rs 51 crore secured loan into the company.

As a special purpose vehicle (SPV), HPIL is managing the transfer of surplus land from Tata Communications, formerly VSNL, to the government.

The decision brings about one-and-half decade old case in the final lap.

"The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the transfer of administrative control of Hemisphere Properties India Ltd (HPIL), PSU from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)," an official statement said.

The transfer will be executed after infusion of equity amounting to Rs 700 crore and Rs 51 crore secured loan from government into the company and implementation of scheme of arrangement for de-merger of surplus land, it said.

Government disinvested majority stake from Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), now Tata Communications, in February 2002 and passed on to the Strategic Partner, Panatone Finvest Ltd (PFL), a special purpose vehicle under the Tata Groups of Companies.

At the time of disinvestment, 773.13 acre surplus land in 4 cities -- Pune, Kolkata, New Delhi and Chennai (out of a total of 1,230.13 acres of land) -- was demarcated. It was decided that the surplus land will not be a part of the disinvestment bid.

As per the share holding agreement, PFL undertook an obligation to de-merge or hive off the surplus land into a realty company.

In 2005, the Cabinet had approved a SPV -- HPIL -- under the telecom ministry to execute the transaction related to the surplus VSNL land.

The Cabinet has authorised DoT "to undertake all steps incidental for transfer of equity stake in HPIL from Ministry of Communications to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) infusion of equity and implementation of Scheme of Arrangement."

The Cabinet granted an exemption to HPIL from the policy of government relating to Foreign Direct Investment in real estate business.Clearing corporations providing services for commodity derivatives will have to ensure guarantee for settlement of trades including goods delivery, markets regulator SEBI has said.

The new regulation will come into force on October 1, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has said in a notification.

"Every recognised clearing corporation providing clearing and settlement services for commodity derivatives shall ensure guarantee for settlement of trades including goods delivery," added the notification dated April 2.

The regulator had said last month that members of clearing corporations in the commodity derivatives segment will need to have a minimum liquid networth of Rs 50 lakh.

Liquid networth refers to a clearing member's liquid assets after adjusting for applicable margins.

The decision was aimed at aligning rules pertaining to base minimum capital requirement and liquid networth of clearing corporations in commodity derivatives with equity as well as currency derivatives.Cognizant Technology Solutions said its operations would not be affected by the ongoing income tax dispute with Indian authorities, a day after the Madras High Court's decision to lift a freeze on its bank accounts.

On Tuesday, the High Court asked the Income-Tax Department to release bank deposits of the Teaneck, New Jersey-based technology services firm.

The accounts had been frozen a couple of weeks ago as the I-T Department alleged that the US-based tech giant had evaded dividend distribution tax (DDT) to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore.

On Tuesday, the Court granted Cognizants application for a stay of the actions of the I-T Department and a lifting of the departments attachment of Cognizants bank accounts.

"As part of the stay order, Cognizant will deposit USD 75 million (Rs 4.9 billion), representing 15 percent of the disputed tax, to be kept in a suspense account by the ITD, with the remainder marked under lien. The Court further granted the request of Cognizant to address the ITDs collection actions and scheduled a hearing later in April 2018," the company said in a statement late Tuesday night.

Our operations remain unaffected, said Karen McLoughlin, Chief Financial Officer, Cognizant. This dispute is with respect to a lawful, fully reviewed and disclosed the transaction, and we are pleased with todays decision that restores appropriate due process. Cognizant is committed to complying with the law in all jurisdictions in which we operate, and we will continue our defence against the assertions of the Indian Income Tax Department in this and other tax disputes, she added.

Cognizant further said that in the said transaction, undertaken pursuant to a plan approved by the Madras High Court, it paid approximately USD 135 million (Rs 9 billion) in Indian income taxes, "which it believes are all applicable taxes owed according to Indian law."live bse live

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At a time when hotel companies in India are busy gearing up for a surge in room occupancy rates like never before the Tata Group-backed Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) may be faced with challenges. Yet another restructuring exercise at the company could mean limited supply of new properties.

The 115-year old Mumbai-based company has been facing the heat from the strong influx of dozens of new global hotel brands, that are opening one new property on average every week. IHCL is looking to sell shares in at least one company, and sell residential properties and land to raise funds.

Room occupancy, which closed last year at nearly 66 percent across the country, was the highest-ever for the industry. It is expected to further climb to 76 percent by 2021, as per the Howarth report.

For IHCL though, the inventory growth during this period will be just 13 percent compared to combined growth of nearly 31 percent for others, thereby putting severe pressure on its revenues.

US-based Radisson Hotels Group, the third largest hotel group in India, is doubling room inventory to 20,000 rooms by 2022 through 200 properties and seven brands.

The acquisition of Starwood Hotels by Marriott International has already resulted in the combined entity dethroning IHCL to become the single largest hotel group in the country. The duo, which has a 30-brand portfolio compared with just three of IHCL, plans to add another 50 hotels in the next few years taking its total room inventory to 30,000.

As per a report shared by IHCL with analysts recently, its room supply share in India will halve to 10 percent by 2021 with around 17,000 rooms from 20 percent in 2008 with 9,000 rooms. In 2017, its room count was 15,000 (across 122 properties) making up for 11 percent of the domestic industry.

This comes at a time when the hotel sector is showing strong signs of sustained demand for new rooms especially for midscale economy, upper midscale and upscale properties.

These segments are expected to grow by 34 percent by 2021 whereas the luxury and upper upscale segment, where IHCL operates the Taj brand will grow by only 20 percent as per data shared by research firm Howarth HTL.

This is the reason why the loss-making IHCL decided to withdraw its earlier decision of focusing only on the Taj brand while doing away with Vivanta by Taj and Gateway. The company had decided to rebrand all non-Taj properties and Taj within a period of one year.

However, with a change in the senior management it was decided to retain the Vivanta brand. Upscale brand Vivanta by Taj has now been recalled and will remain in IHCLs portfolio while Gateway brand has been dropped. Ginger will remain in the budget segment.

As a way to raise funds for the future, IHCL has identified sale and leaseback type mechanisms for unlocking value. The current net asset block of the company is Rs 6,500 crore.

Sale of shares in India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) valued at Rs 305 crore and sale of residential apartments are two identified ways to raise funds, IHCL said in the presentation. IHCL has an India-wide land bank of 760 acres of which 70 percent or 535 acres is freehold land while the balance is held via a license.

The company has further stated that 44 acres will be monetised while 236 acres could be used for development.Qatar-based Doha Bank has set up the first branch in the city taking the total number of branches in the country to three, a top official said.

Doha Bank currently has a branch in Mumbai, Kochi and Chennai, respectively. Top bank officials including the bank's CEO, R Seetharaman participated in the formal inauguration of the bank here today.

The Chennai branch will assist the bank's growing customer base in India offering a host of services including corporate, retail, treasury, trade, finance and foreign exchange services, Seetharaman said.

"The opening of our third branch (today in Chennai) highlights the importance we believe India holds in our expansion strategy," he said.

The new branch would help the bank reach out to a wider segment of customers in Chennai while enhancing synergies among Qatar, India and Doha Bank's global network, he said.The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which was introduced in 2016 to help financially-troubled corporates, is in fact giving banks a run for their money when it comes to subversion of processes.

In June 2017, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) identified 12 non-performing accounts or assets (NPAs), totaling 25 percent of India's gross NPAs, which could be immediately taken up under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Following this, companies like Essar Steel and Educomp Solutions had filed for insolvency resolution under provisions of the Code.

But the matter may not be as black and white as it looks. Senior officials from large accounting firms that Moneycontrol spoke to, said that a few companies have been trying to subvert the system subtly. They refused to be identified, citing conflict of interest, since they also happen to be official auditing partners for these firms.

For instance, an eligible bidder for a stressed asset could be kept waiting by companies, who would get their kin or close partners to participate in the bidding process.

"You can never legislate for human ingenuity. There are always ways to subvert the system. Courts can only legislate to an extent," said a senior legal expert specialising in debt resolution.

According to a report by The Wire, Educomp Solutions started transferring its core business to other companies having strong links with the original promoter, before taking the original corporate entity to bankruptcy court.

The report also stated that the flagship entity went to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking to start insolvency proceedings in May 2017. But here, only two companies finally submitted bids and both of them were old business partners of the original promoter.

Also read: Did Educomp IBC, questions report

"From the time that senior company executives are able to see a financial crisis in the foreseeable future, some entities have been found to be trying to create a co-dependent entity. The major assets are transferred which can act as a safety net for the promoter and promoter group," said a senior forensics official at one of the big four accounting firms.

In 2017, there were a few reported cases of alleged partisan behaviour. According to a report, Edelweiss ARC had approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in September, 2017, opposing the debt recast plan for Synergies Dooray Automotive on the grounds that the deal was fraudulent, void, and set a wrong precedent.

The report said that Edelweiss ARC has also complained to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India about what it termed as partisan actions by Mamta Binani, the resolution professional appointed for Synergies Dooray Automotive.

However, Binani refuted these allegations saying that the resolution had happened with the National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT) approval, which had heard and set aside Edelweisss objections.

Any creditor(s) can has the right to take a corporate entity to the NCLT for insolvency proceedings if there is a default on debt or interest payment. These cases are referred to the NCLT on priority under the IBC.

The insolvency professional (IP), who will then take over the running of the company, gets 180 days (six months) to come up with a viable solution to enable repayment of loans. The period can be extended by another 90 days.

No action can be taken against the company or its assets during these 270 days, or the 9-month period. If the company under the IP fails to come up with a solution within 270 days, a liquidator will be appointed and all assets will be liquidated to repay the debt.

Forensic experts also pointed out that while on one hand, companies may push the main entity in question to liquidation, the core assets may lie elsewhere. In these cases, the complex web of related party transactions are difficult to ascertain, especially since the time given is limited.

"Since the IP appointed may or may not have past experiences on such murky dealings, it could be used to a companys advantage to divert funds," said the official quoted above. He, however, added that this was primarily found in some firms in the engineering and manufacturing segments.

Another area where companies want relief once the case goes to NCLT is the penal interest accumulated on the unpaid debt. Officials with whom Moneycontrol spoke to, said that companies also try to evade payment of this interest amount, which often amount to a few hundred crore rupees.

In this space, the entire onus is on the IP to dig deeper into the process. Legal experts point out that if the professional is not able to do adequate due diligence before the resolution plan is approved, overruling this entire process could prove to be a challenge.

While loopholes in the IBC with respect to the insolvency professionals could be looked at by regulators in the near future, it is still not clear whether these will have a retrospective effect.Average phone call tariff dropped by more than 60 per cent to 19 paise per minute while data tariffs plunged by about 90 per cent to Rs 19 per 1 GB during June 2016 to December 2017 period, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha informed Parliament today.

"The tariff for mobile telephony services is under forbearance except for national roaming and rural fixed line services ... The average outgo for voice and data services in India have shown continuous downward trend, particularly in the recent past," Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

According to the data shared by Sinha, average outgoing call rate in June 2016 was 49 per minute which reduced to 19 paise per minute in December 2017.

The average data rate was Rs 205 per gigabyte (GB) in June 2016 which fell to Rs 19 per GB in December 2017.

The data shared by the minister showed that number of mobile connections in the country fell to 115.2 crore in January 2018 from 117 crore in March 2017.

Sinha in a separate reply said that the government was working on various projects, including BharatNet which aims to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in a phased manner with high speed broadband network, to increase connectivity.

"In December 2017, Phase-I of Bharat Net has been completed by connecting one lakh GPs...As part of this project, the last mile connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband technology is to be provided at all the GPs in the country. The project is targeted to be completed by March 2019," Sinha said.

As on March 25, 2018, by laying 2,68,963 km Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), a total of 1,13,964 gram panchayats (GPs) have been connected, of which 1,04,889 GPs have been made service ready, he said.

Under Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for North East Region, the government has signed an agreement with BSNL to install 2,817 mobile towers for providing mobile (including data) coverage in 4,119 uncovered villages at an estimated cost of Rs 2,258 crore.

"Agreement has also been signed with Bharti Airtel Limited and Bharti Hexacom Limited to install 2,004 mobile towers for providing mobile (including data) coverage in 2,128 villages and National Highways in NER," Sinha said.

He said that a proposal for providing mobile services (including data service) at 4,072 identified locations by Home Ministry in Left-extremist affected areas in Phase-II has been recommended by the Telecom Commission with an estimated cost for Rs 7,330 crore (excluding taxes).

"The proposal is being submitted to the Cabinet," Sinha said.A boy plays with a tyre in front of electric pylons installed at a power house in Kolkata February 21, 2013. India's Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram will present one of the most highly anticipated budgets of recent years, a blueprint for austerity that forms the centrepiece of India's efforts to stave off a ratings downgrade. Investors will watch closely to see whether he will fulfil his promise of fiscal prudence. Picture taken February 21, 2013. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri (INDIA - Tags: BUSINESS ENERGY POLITICS) - RTR3EDNJ

The government is working on amending the ultra mega power project (UMPP) policy to ensure that project developers get assured coal-linkage from Coal India, according to power secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla.

Bhalla told Moneycontrol in an interview that the government had not put the UMPP policy on the backburner and was instead preparing a policy to make it more stable and attractive for private developers to set up these projects.

We are preparing the final documents for linkage-based UMPPs. We are working with Coal India for assured coal linkage UMPP. Cheyyur (in Tamil Nadu) and Bedabahal (Odisha) will come under that, he told Moneycontrol.

UMPP policy, launched in 2006, was one of the most ambitious schemes of the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance government. It envisaged setting up five units of 800 MW each at a single location.

Most projects were based on domestic coal while a few were to be fed on imported fuel which at that time was cheaper than domestic coal. The projects had to be awarded to the company quoting the lowest tariff for 25 years. The plants then also had coal linkages but not from Coal India.

As the policy has remained since, the developer is allocated a mine for the captive use to fire the ultra mega plant. One would see no problem with this. But given the complexities surrounding mining in India  concerns over damage to environment, resistance to uprooting of local tribals and village population, unpredictable state laws that levied unforeseen cesses  it proved to be no easy task for private developers who got these projects, namely The Tata Power Company and Reliance Power.

The current government hasnt awarded a single tender for setting up a UMPP in its nearly four years of existence. It would be hoping to put all that behind by bringing in Coal India into play.

The Manmohan Singh government had selected 16 sites for such plants. It managed to award four projects -- one to Tata Power and three to Reliance Power  in the next five years. But as matters stand, only two such projects, one run by each of the two companies, are operating. Even the existing plants have had issues  all projects suffering from either lack of coal or overpriced coal that made cost recovery difficult.

Much of the focus of the current government has been on adding power capacity based on renewable sources  mostly solar. The government aims to have an installed renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022. Of this, 100 GW is aimed at via solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio energy and 5 GW from small hydro plans.

As part of its commitment to the Paris agreement on Climate Change, the Narendra Modi government has not targeted any fresh coal-based power capacity in its five years that end May next year. Not just UMPP but all coal-based power capacity that has come up in the last four years was planned under the previous UPA government.

2016-17 was the first time in Indias history that capacity additions in the renewable power sector exceeded that of conventional plants. Capacity addition from renewable energy sources came at 12.5 GW compared to 10.2 GW from conventional sources, reflecting the clear shift in the focus of the government towards renewable sources of power.

Significant coal- as well as gas-based capacity remains stranded even as the government completes four years in office in May. It has naturally led to assumptions that UMMPs -- not forgetting the fact that 4,000 MW capacity at a single plant is in itself huge and it is not easy to find buyers for that quantum of power -- may be relegated to history, an argument rebutted by Bhalla.

The government has been trying to bring the stranded power assets back into the system. At the end of December, there were 34 coal-based power projects that were stranded with a combined capacity of 40,130 MW, most of it in private sector.

Stranded projects are those where no power purchase agreements between the buyer and the generator has been signed nor is there any coal linkage and thus they havent been commercially commissioned. Some of these projects may be operational with the developing managing a little short-term supply of coal and selling some power in the market.

According to a Niti Aayog proposal, Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation along with other financial institutions should form a special purpose vehicle to take over these projects, something the two power sector lenders have been cold to.

The power ministry will only be a facilitator. If the assets have to be taken over, bankers will form a joint venture and take over the asset within the Reserve Bank of Indias norms on restructuring. If going to National Company Law Tribunal is the solution, the case will go to NCLT. It has to be decided by the bankers, the power secretary said.

On the much-delayed hydro power policy, Bhalla said there were a few issues that needed to be thrashed out. The draft note of the policy for consideration by the Cabinet has been ready for some time but elements like a 4 per cent interest subvention which need close scrutiny by the finance ministry are taking time, according to Bhalla.

Further issues are being refined. Whether 4 per cent interest subvention helps or not, we need to study, he said.

He said the hydro policy would also include norms on pump storage. Pump storage needs extra investment. It can generate power at peak time to balance the grid, Bhalla said.

Pump storage has hitherto been a neglected architecture for generating power. Experts believe India, currently generating negligible power from pump storage, has the capacity to generate 100,000 MW of such power. It is not a concept for generating power but storing power by moving water from a lower level to a higher level and thereby producing power from the static energy of the water stored at a height. It helps in maintaining grid stability.In what could be a major policy amendment, the defence ministry is considering bringing in state-run defence public sector undertakings for forging joint ventures with foreign companies under its ambitious strategic partnership model.

The government had unveiled the strategic partnership model last May under which select private firms were to be roped in to build key military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with global defence majors.

Sources said the government is seriously considering involving the defence PSUs under the framework of the strategic partnership model.

There was criticism of the strategic partnership model as it did not envisage any clear role for major defence PSUs like Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited and Bharat Earth Movers Ltd which are leading producers of key military platforms.

Though the policy was announced in May, nothing concrete has taken place on the ground for its implementation.

When asked about the issue, Additional Secretary of Defence Production Subhash Chandra said the government was committed to create a level-playing field for all the stakeholders.

"There are issues relating to our policy on defence manufacturing. We are considering how to involve the DPSUs. We are working on certain issues," he told reporters at a briefing on upcoming Defence Expo in Chennai.

India is a leading importer of arms and military platforms globally and the current government has been maintaining that indigenisation of defence manufacturing is a priority area.

The new policy was expected to attract billions of dollars of investment in defence manufacturing by private defence majors including leading foreign firms.IISc Bengaluru topped the list for 2018, replicating its 2017 performance. This institute has also featured in global rankings like QS Higher Education Rankings and Times Higher Education Rankings in the past few years.

IISc Bengaluru topped the list for 2018. This was similar to 2017. This institute has also featured in global rankings like QS Higher Education Rankings and Times Higher Education Rankings in the past few years

Among colleges, Delhi had the most number of institutes taking up the top ten positions in the NIRF Rankings. Chennai was a close second with three institutes making it to the list.

In engineering, IITs across the country took up most of the positions. Eight of the top ten engineering institutes were IITs.

It was no surprise that IIM Ahmedabad took the top spot in the list of management institutes. Except Xavier Labour Relations Institute and a few IITs, the list was dominated by the IIMs with IIM Kozhikode, a relatively newer institute than the ones at Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Bangalore also featured among the top ten.

Bengaluru's NLSIU topped the list among law schools. This category had representation from across regions in the country including Pune, Kolkata, New Delhi, Lucknow and Visakhapatnam.

As expected, AIIMS New Delhi topped the list in the area of medicine. There was a good mix of private and government medical colleges. Engineering and medicine are often considered the two most popular fields of education in the country.

In the area of pharmacy, a Chandigarh-based institute was on top of the list. Mumbai, surprisingly, had three representatives in the list. Usually, medicine and pharmacy are considered close counterparts.live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

So where are fund managers betting your money in FY18? Well, a close look at the funds which outperformed benchmark indices in the largecap space suggested that fund managers are in no mood for experiments.

They stuck to quality stocks despite volatility, according to data collated from Morningstar India database. Five funds which outperformed Nifty include names like Invesco India Growth which rose 18.9 percent, followed by BOI AXA Equity which gained 18.09 percent, BOI AXA Equity Regular rose 17.13 percent, and Edelweiss Equity Opportunities Fund rose 16.46 percent.

A close look at the stocks in which some of these funds have made their investments include names like HDFC Bank, RIL, Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Bank, Graphite India, L&T, IndusInd Bank, IIFL Holdings, HDFC, Avenue Supermarts, TCS, Sterlite Technologies, and Escorts etc. among others.

The rally was not as swift among the benchmark indices which rose 10-11 percent in the last 12 months. After a blockbuster 2017 and FY18, all eyes are on FY19 which according to most experts belong to largecaps.

Mid & smallcaps outperformed largecaps by a wide margin in the year 2017, but for FY19, most analysts suggest investors not to ignore this space. One possible reason is attractive valuations compared to mid & smallcaps.

Street expectations are for at least high-teens earnings growth in large-caps and about 20 percent earnings growth in mid-caps and small-caps. But, for investors, a healthy balance of large and midcap funds would make a strong portfolio.

Performance of stocks in FY19 will depend on the quality of companies, quality of managements, balance sheet performances and profitability. FY19 will not be as easy as FY18 when markets were at an all-time high, Jagannadham Thunuguntla, Sr. VP and Head of Research (Wealth), Centrum Broking Limited told Moneycontrol.

The year 2018 will differentiate men from boys. We recommend that 50-60% of capital should be parked in large caps, 20-40% in mid& small caps and 10-20% in thematic stocks, he said.

After the recent correction valuations of most of the mid & small caps as well as largecaps have come to more reasonable levels, but are still not in lucrative. The best strategy for investors is to use the mutual fund route to invest in quality largecaps as well as midcaps.

On a broader portfolio basis, for a person in the age bracket of 35-40 years, the exposure to direct equity should also ideally be around 50-60% while the rest could be spread across other avenues of investments, JK Jain, head of equity research at Karvy Stock Broking told Moneycontrol.

A mixture of flagship mutual funds schemes from different segments like Largecap, Midcap, Balanced and Multicap funds, which have delivered in the past must be a part of ones portfolio, he said.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.Maruti Suzuki | Production at 3,714 vehicles in May 2020 against 1,51,188 vehicles in May 2019. (Image: WIkimedia)

live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Maruti Suzuki, Indias largest car maker, secured a market share of 50 percent in the passenger vehicles segment as its utility vehicles performed better than their peers in the market, The Economic Times reported.

The automobiles major sold 1.65 million units in FY18, an increase of 14 percent from its sales in FY17, thereby crossing the 1.5 million mark for the first time since it started operations over three decades ago.

The company's market share increased by 5 percentage points in the passenger cars segment, reaching a new peak of 57 percent. Its share in the vans segment is a staggering 81 percent.

According to Chairman RC Bhargava, who has been at the company since 1981, Maruti Suzuki's decision to invest in diesel technology at a time when the fuel was cheaper than than petrol, as well as in new models and a beefed-up sales network, are the factors responsible for its success today.

"The 39 percent market share in FY13 was not normal at the time when the gap between petrol and diesel prices widened to around Rs 32 per litre," Bhargava told the financial daily.

Maruti Suzuki did not have enough diesel cars in its portfolio when the market was moving from petrol cars to diesel ones, the chairman said, adding that the automaker then augmented its capacity to manufacture diesel-powered vehicles.

"The market has normalised. Of course, we have added a lot of new models and have strengthened the distribution network. Nexa has taken off well; Suzuki investing in Gujarat has freed up resources. These decisions were initially met with hesitation, but we understand the market well and it has paid off, Bhargava was quoted as saying.

The company bested longstanding market leader Mahindra & Mahindra in the utility vehicles (UV) segment for the first time in FY18, with a lead of 25,000 units in terms of sales, and a 27 percent market share.

Having been Indias leader in passenger cars and vans for some time now, the company believes that its networking with customers, and listening to their issues and solving them is the key to its growing success and market penetration.

"The company has launched models like Baleno, Ignis, S-cross and Vitara Brezza in the past few years in new segments, and also introduced new technologies and platforms, and expanded the sales network. The outcome of these was reflected in the sales performance, with volume growing 29.6 percent in utility vehicles and 28 percent in compact cars, which he said were the best ever for the company," Senior Executive Director for Marketing and Sales, RS Kalsi, told ET.

Baleno and Brezza are continually driving volumes higher and Maruti Suzuki also has the launch of the new Ertiga lined up for this year. One of the companys strengths, along with its strong distribution network, is its brand loyalty, analysts at Elara Capital told the paper.Representative image

The construction work at Mayur Vihar's Dilli Haat incurred "infructuous" expenditure to the tune of Rs 39.66 lakh, a CAG report has said, alleging "lack of planning" by the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has also brought to the fore other such instances in which Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) has been accused of "lack of inadequate diligence and planning".

"Initiation of construction of Dilli Haat at Mayur Vihar in infringement of Supreme Court and Delhi Development Authority directions and despite refusal of change of land use by DDA in October 2013 and prohibition by UTTIPEC, resulted in infructuous expenditure of Rs 39.66 lakh," the report said.

"Without waiting for permission for change of land use, the DTTDC appointed three consultants for structural design, proof checking of structural design, and architectural consultancy in June, August and September 2013 respectively," the report said.

The DTTDC should not have financially committed itself by appointing the consultants without prior permission from the DDA, it said.

Citing another instance of lack of planning on part of DTTDC, the report said, "Inadequate due diligence and planning on the part of DTTDC resulted in avoidable delay of 12 years in developing 5.22 acres of land at Saidu-ul-Ajab village for stated use and wasteful expenditure of Rs 23.19 lakh.

"Besides, idling of investment in land means interest cost of Rs 1.27 crore to the DTTDC on blocked funds of Rs 1.79 crore with no corresponding revenue generation.The domestic mutual fund industry has added 32 lakh new investors in FY18 (Apr-Mar), A Balasubramaniam, Chairman, Association of Mutual Funds in India said at a press conference held to discuss review of its campaign Mutual Funds Sahi Hai.

According to Balasubramaniam, the addition in new investors was on the back of investor awareness campaign Mutual Funds Sahi Hai.

Given the rising households incomes and higher appetite towards financial savings coupled with long term India growth story, we are sure that mutual funds would become the investment option of choice of every household in the years to come, Balasubramaniam said.

The first leg of the campaign was launched in March last year.

Balasubramaniam also said that during the last one year mutual fund industry witnessed AUM growth of 25 percent or Rs 4.25 lakh crore.

During the same period, the total number of folios and SIP accounts saw a growth of 26 per cent or Rs 1.08 crore and 52 per cent (70 lakhs), respectively, while the monthly SIP contribution for the industry touched Rs 6,425 crore from 2.05 crore SIP accounts.

Recently, AMFI launched its second campaign Jan Nivesh and is also planning to launch its next leg of media campaign soon.That's all for today, readers. Thanks for staying on with our coverage of the day's action. Your enthusiasm encourages us to better our coverage every day. Do come back tomorrow for more news, views and insights.

21:40 NDA MPs to give up salary for disrupted part of budget session

In a bid to embarrass the Opposition, Union Minister Ananth Kumar today said MPs of

the ruling NDA would forego their salary for the 23 days of the ongoing budget session when Parliament did not function because of protests by the Congress and other political parties.

Kumar blamed the Congress for the logjam in both the Houses of Parliament, saying that it had engaged in "anti-democratic" politics.

21:27 Over 74 lakh foreign tourists arrived in India between July 2017 and Feb 2018: Govt

The number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India during July 2017 to February 2018 was 74.11 lakh compared to 65.75 lakh during the same period last year, the government informed Parliament today.

Union Minister of State for Tourism K J ALphons told the Rajya Sabha that foreign tourist arrivals have grown by 12.71 per cent from July 2016-February 2017 to July 2017-February 2018.

21:14 CBI detains Principal Commissioner of DDA for accepting Rs 4 lakh bribe

The CBI today detained Principal Commissioner of Delhi Development Authority J P Aggarwal and two others for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs four lakh, the probe agency said.

The CBI said that during investigations, Aggarwal was detained along with two other persons -- Sunil Gupta and Anil Gupta -- for allegedly accepting the bribe of Rs 4 lakh.

The money was handed over inside a file related to an allotment of a flat to an individual named J P Sharma, who too was subsequently detained by the police.

21:02 Air India disinvestment: CMD holds meeting with employee unions

Air India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola today held a meeting with representatives of four employees' unions to discuss about the proposed strategic disinvestment and their concerns, sources said.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential bidders for a 76 per cent stake sale in loss-making Air India as well as divestment of two of the carrier's subsidiaries.

Sources said the CMD met representatives from four unions for about 45 minutes to mainly understand apprehensions of employees about the proposed stake sale. The meeting was convened following directions from the ministry, they added.

Representatives from Indian Aircraft Technicians' Association (IATA), Air India Aircraft Engineering Association (AIAEA), Air Corporation Employees' Union (ACEU) and Air India Employees' Union (AIEU) attended the meeting.

20:30 Aadhaar scheme approved by experts: Centre tells SC

The Centre today told the Supreme Court that its Aadhaar scheme has been approved by experts and was not open to judicial review as it was a policy decision.

The government told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which is examining the validity of Aadhaar scheme and its enabling 2016 law that in a digital era, Aadhaar is the best way to prevent "money laundering and deliver subsidies and benefits".

"The policy decisions of the government approved by experts are not subject to judicial review," Attorney General K K Venugopal told the bench which also comprised justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan.

20:24 Govt clears India-Iran MoU for expert group on trade remedy measures

The government today gave an ex-post facto approval to an agreement with Iran to set up an expert group on trade remedy measures and promote cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

The decision to grant ex post facto approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The MoU is aimed at establishing a framework of cooperation in the area of trade remedial measures, like anti-dumping and countervailing duty.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has listed its Rs 25,000-crore medium-term notes issue on BSE's India International Exchange (India INX) global debt listing platform.This is the first rupee-denominated medium-term notes (MTN) programme of its kind globally by an Indian statutory body planning to raise funds through masala bonds, India INX said in a statement.The MTN programme is an instrument to raise money through debt securities that typically mature in 5-10 years.

The Cabinet has approved the righsizing of the Competition Comission of India, in a bid to ensure the faster turnaorund of hearings and get quicker nods, according to CNBC-TV18. The right sizing of CCI is seen as an effort towards "minimum government and maximum governance". The CCI will now consist of 1 chairperson and 3 members. The Cabinet also approves the closure of loss making state-run company Burn Standard Company Limited. The Centre will provide a grant of Rs 417.1 crore as a severance package, and for the clearing of liabilities.

The Supreme Court today came down heavily on the Centre saying it was changing the Master Plan of Delhi-2021 at "the drop of a hat" to protect those who have committed illegalities by making unauthorised constructions.The apex court made it clear that commercial establishments like restaurants and big showrooms cannot continue in residential areas in violation of the law as the authorities cannot put the life of citizens of Delhi in danger.A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta also told Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, who was appearing for the Centre, that the groundwater level in Delhi has depleted to such an extent that if there was no rainfall in the national capital even for a year, there would be "chaos for water".

Rahul

Congress president Rahul Gandhi today accused the Narndra Modi government of "disrespecting" and "demolishing" various institutions by having RSS men "sitting in every ministry and giving orders."Interacting with the city's traders here, Gandhi said if voted to power, the Congress would free these institutions from the RSS control."I don't know if you all know that in every single minister's office, there is an RSS man sitting and giving orders. So what can you expect... nothing but disrespecting the institutions. The banking system of the country has been demolished by having this structure," he said.

18:01

Global pharma major Roche today said it has launched monoclonal antibody atezolizumab under the brand name Tecentriq in India for treatment of lung and bladder cancer.Tecentriq has shown to extend survival and improve the quality of life in the approved indications, Roche said in a statement.

In what could be a major policy amendment, the defence ministry is considering bringing in state-run defence public sector undertakings for forging joint ventures with foreign companies under its ambitious strategic partnership model.The government had unveiled the strategic partnership model last May under which select private firms were to be roped in to build key military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with global defence majors.

16:39

In what could be a major policy amendment, the defence ministry is considering bringing in state-run defence public sector undertakings for forging joint ventures with foreign companies under its ambitious strategic partnership model.The government had unveiled the strategic partnership model last May under which select private firms were to be roped in to build key military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with global defence majors.

16:50 Crisil

bizmen

NAPs

Despite a surge in delinquencies, lenders are increasingly focusing on the self-employed segment to fuel home loan growth but there is a need to tread cautiously in this risky segment given the massive spike in the bad loans in the segment, warns a report by rating agency Crisil.

Over 17 lakh e-way bills for inter-state movement of goods have been generated by businesses and transporters since the launch of the GST anti-evasion measure on April 1, an official told PTI. The number of e-way bills generated on its platform has been steadily rising with 2.59 lakh bills on April 1, followed by about 6.5 lakh and 8.15 lakh bills in the subsequent two days. Among states, Gujarat tops the list of e-way bill generation with 3.6 lakh bills generated during April 1-3, followed by Karnataka at 2.65 lakh bills.

16:12 Mphasis

topline

FY19

IT services company Mphasis has seen its global deal pipeline double to $435 million from $276 million last year on the back of new technologies that the firm has been promoting, reports Moneycontrol News Durba Ghosh.

The market closes sharply lower after the China unveiled new tariffs to counter US tariffs. The Sensex ended down 352 points, Nifty Bank lost 381 points and Nifty Midcap fell 225 points. All sectoral indices ended in the red barring auto. In new listings, ICICI Securities closed at Rs 445.10 per share, down 14.4% from its issue price of Rs 520 per share. Mishra Dhatu Nigam manages to close higher at Rs 90.05 per share, a tad above its issue price of Rs 90 per share.

Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said Pakistan has violated ceasefire along the Line of Control and the International Border 633 times in just two months of this year.

Noting that the cost of food and water inside multiplexes was exorbitant, the Bombay High Court said it should be sold at regular prices, reports PTI. The Maharashtra government told the court that it would soon frame a policy on the issue.

15:28 Glenmark

Helsinn

CINV

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has signed a licencing agreement with Swiss pharma player Helsinn Group to introduce 'Akynzeo' in India and Nepal, a drug that helps prevent chemo-related nausea and vomiting.

There are over 37,000 railway bridges which are 100 years old with almost 32% of them being in the Northern Zone, the government informed Parliament today.

GLS

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz launched Grand Edition of its flagship SUV GLS in India with both petrol and diesel powertrains priced at Rs 86.90 lakh, reports PTI. The GLS 350 d comes with a 3-litre V6 diesel engine producing 258 horsepower while GLS 400 features a V6 petrol engine that delivers 333 horsepower.

With a high-level panel suggesting a slew of changes to the insolvency law, Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas said the amendments, as and when implemented, would be prospective in nature. However, he indicated that revised bids which are submitted under the insolvency resolution process after the amendments are in force will have to follow the new requirements.

Hafeez

Saeed's

Lashkar-e-Taiba

The UN Security Council's updated list of terrorists and militant groups has 139 entries from Pakistan alone, including outfits like Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafeez Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba and Osama bin Laden's heir apparent Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Dawn News reported.

The woman identified by police as the attacker who wounded three people at YouTubes headquarters in California was a vegan blogger who accused the video-sharing service of discriminating against her, according to her online profile. Police said 39-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam from San Diego was behind Tuesdays shooting at YouTubes offices in Silicon Valley, where the company owned by Alphabets Google employs nearly 2,000 people, reports Reuters.

Top technology CEOs including Twitter's Jack Dorsey and Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi have called for stricter gun control in the wake of the shooting at YouTube's headquarters that left at least three people injured and the suspect shooter dead, reports CNBC.

European markets were slightly lower on Wednesday morning, as elevated concerns of a tit-for-tat trade war between the world's biggest economies overshadowed a bounce on Wall Street, reports CNBC.

Jio

Bharti

6bn

Companies owned by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal may raise as much as Rs 365 billion ($5.6 billion) selling bonds as the telecom titans build a war chest in what investors hope will be the home stretch in Indias bruising tariff war, reports Bloomberg.

Mittal-controlled Bharti Airtel, which sold its first-ever rupee bond of Rs 30 billion last month, has approval to raise Rs 165 billion, according to a March 12 filing. Reliance Jio Infocomm announced days later that it plans to sell as much as Rs 200 billion of notes, marking the disruptive upstarts return to the onshore bond market after 20 months.

The fundraising amount - about 78% of the total outstanding bonds of Indias top four telecom firms - signal that the largest carrier and its rival Jio are gearing to roll out next-generation services and manage about Rs 320 billion of debt due in the next five years.

China has announced new tariffs of 25% on 106 US products, including soy, cars, whisky and chemicals, impacting imports worth $50bn. China will announce the effective date for the new tariffs at a later time, state broadcaster CCTV said.

In breaking news, China has announced new tariffs on 106 US products, including soy, cars, whisky and chemicals, impacting imports worth $50bn. China will announce the effective date for the new tariffs at a later time, state broadcaster CCTV said.

13:19 BoJ

ETFs

The Bank of Japan bought the largest amount of exchange-traded funds on record at $7.8bn in March as the central bank supported a market hit by a rising yen and fears of a global trade war, reports Reuters. It was the largest monthly purchase since the central bank started buying ETFs in the end of 2010 as part of its quantitative and qualitative easing program aimed at pulling the economy out of deflation.

Banned Steve Smith will not challenge the sanctions imposed on him by Cricket Australia for his role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, the former Australian captain said on twitter.

13:08 SFIO

ICICI

Bank-Videocon

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) is awaiting the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) nod to probe ICICI Banks Rs 3,250 crore loan to the Videocon Group in 2012. The agency wants to take up the investigation as the quantum involved is several thousand crores and it concerns public money, a source told Moneycontrol News Tarun Sharma.

Radisson Hotel Group, one of India's top three hotel groups, plans to have 200 properties under its fold by 2022, reports Moneycontrol News Swaraj Baggonkar. At least 130 hotels will be operational and a further 70 would be under construction in the next five years.

The market continues to trade in a tight range, with the Nifty hovering around 10,250 levels. Investors are awaiting cues from the two-day monetary policy committee meeting which ends on Thursday and March quarter earnings. Tata Motors remains the top bought stock among the Nifty50 constituents, rising nearly 6% after a positive showing by Jaguar-Land Rover in the US in March.

12:46 Vistara

20th

Vistara said it has received its 20th aircraft, and seventh Airbus A320neo, marking an important timeline in its ambition to begin global operations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Islamic State had been defeated in Syria, but it retains its destructive potential and can attack countries around the world, Interfax news agency cited him as saying.

Flipkart

Amazon.com may make a rival offer to buy Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, which is in tie-up talks with Walmart, reports Mint. Sources said Amazon held early exploratory talks to buy control of its Indian rival Flipkart but a deal with Walmart is more likely.

12:14

Proceedings of the Lok Sabha were disrupted for the 20th consecutive day today due to protests by AIADMK members seeking early constitution of the Cauvery water management board. The House will convene again on Thursday at 11 am.

12:00 The market is currently off the day's high in volatile trade. Investors are awaiting cues from the two-day monetary policy committee meeting which ends on Thursday and March quarter earnings.

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala questioned the 'sanctity' of recent merger deal struck between Fortis Healthcare and Manipal Hospitals and said the existing Fortis board is not fit to make the decision. "What is the sanctity of a deal approved by a board of directors appointed by a group of shareholders who are no longer shareholders of the company?" The Economic Times reported.

11:46 Capacit'e

Oberoi

Capacit'e Infraprojects has bagged construction contracts worth Rs 365.50 crore from Oberoi Realty Group entities. The order is for construction of proposed residential rehab and sale of tower worth Rs 145.50 crore and for construction of mixed use development project worth Rs 220 crore.

11:45 NBCC

State-owned construction firm NBCC said it has received sanction for the construction of 14,460 bunkers in villages along the Indo-Pak border in Jammu & Kashmir amounting to Rs 415.73 crore.

11:32 HRD

Weeks after announcing a new faculty reservation mechanism for universities, the Centre is preparing to file a special leave petition to undo the move that has sparked a controversy, reports PTI.

11:29 JLR

FY18

FY19

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover said it plans to unveil 10 new products in India in FY19, riding high on 83% jump in sales in the last fiscal. The company completed FY18 with a total sales of 4,609 units against 2,514 units in the previous fiscal.

Arun

Jaitley

Direct tax collection has grown by 18% YoY to cross Rs 10.02 lakh crore in the fiscal ended on March 31, 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

10:46 Bhushan

NCLT

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) adjourned the hearing to April 5 over sale of debt-ridden firm Bhushan Steel to Tata Steel by the Committee of Creditors (CoC).

Public sector banks (PSBs) wrote off Rs 2.41 lakh crore worth of loans between April 2014 and September 2017, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla told the Rajya Sabha.

The treasury of the 12th-century Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri will be opened for inspection between 2 pm to 5 pm today after 34 years amid strong security, a temple official told PTI.

ICICI Securities listed at Rs 453.80 per share, a discount of 12.7% from its issue price of Rs 520 per share. While Mishra Dhatu Nigam listed at Rs 90.50 per share, a premium of half a percent from its issue price of Rs 90 per share.

The Nifty remains in a tight range around 10,250 levels, following tepid global cues amid trade war concerns. The broader market outperformed front-liners, with the Nifty Midcap index rising half a percent. Tata Motors counter is the star of the day among Nifty50 stocks, rising more than 4% on strong Jaguar-Land Rover sales in the US for the month of March.

China's government has vowed to impose measures of the same strength in response to a US tariff hike in a dispute over its technology policy, reports PTI. The move comes after the United States proposed a list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs of 25% amounting to $50 billion.

B737

Jet Airways said it has entered into an agreement with Boeing for buying 75 B-737 Max aircraft, as it looks to strengthen presence in the fast growing domestic aviation market, reports PTI.

09:35 Skymet

Skymet Weather said monsoon in India is likely to remain normal this year at 100% of its long period average of 887 mm. It sees a 20% chance of a below normal monsoon and zero probability of a drought.

Cognizant Technology Solutions said its operations would not be affected by the ongoing income tax dispute with Indian authorities, a day after the Madras High Courts decision to lift a freeze on its bank accounts. The accounts had been frozen a couple of weeks ago as the Income Tax Department alleged that the US-based tech giant had evaded dividend distribution tax to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore.

At least three people were injured when a woman opened fire at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno near Silicon Valley before fatally shooting herself, reports PTI. One of the victims, a 36-year-old man, is said to be in a critical condition, police said. A law-enforcement source told the Bay Area News Group that the shooting appeared to have been fuelled by a domestic dispute and that the suspect was targeting her boyfriend.

President Donald Trumps strategy for the US-Mexico border includes mobilising the National Guard, the White House said, after Trump had spoken publicly about guarding our border with the military to stop illegal immigrants. The White House statement was released after Trump met with Defence Secretary James Mattis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other officials on border issues. It gave no details on whether or when Trumps strategy might be implemented, reports Reuters.

Activity in Japans service sector expanded at the slowest pace in 17 months in March as new business growth cooled, suggesting a slight moderation in overall economic growth, reports Reuters. The Markit/Nikkei Japan Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 50.9 in March on a seasonally adjusted basis from 51.7 in February.

US President Donald Trump, standing alongside presidents of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia most concerned about the potential for aggression from Moscow, said he thought he could have a good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, reports Reuters. Trump said, Its a real possibility that I could have a good relationship with Putin, but acknowledged it was not a certainty. He also said that nobody has been tougher on Russia than him but noted that getting along with the Kremlin would be beneficial for the US.

Market trivia: The correction in the BSE 500 index has been steeper than that in the BSE Sensex, which has corrected about 9%. The average mean correction of the BSE 500 index companies from their 52-week highs is over 24%. The median correction level is over 22%. 59% of the BSE 500 index companies have corrected more than 20%. Moreover, not a single company in the BSE 500 index was trading at its 52-week high.

The US proposed imposing 25% tariffs on about $50 billion worth of Chinese-made products, focusing on high-tech items from semiconductors to lithium batteries while seeking to minimise the impact on American consumers, reports Bloomberg . The US is targeting 1,300 product lines to try and force China to change its intellectual property practices, the US Trade Representatives office said.Trump says he thinks he could have a good relationship with Putin

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) adjourned the hearing to April 5 over sale of debt-ridden firm Bhushan Stee l to Tata Steel by the Committee of Creditors (CoC).

The UN Security Council's updated list of terrorists and militant groups has 139 entries from Pakistan alone, including outfits like Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafeez Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba and Osama bin Laden's heir apparent Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Dawn News reported.

April 04, 2018 / 10:06 PM IST That's all for today, readers. Thanks for staying on with our coverage of the day's action. Your enthusiasm encourages us to better our coverage every day. Do come back tomorrow for more news, views and insights.











April 04, 2018 / 09:40 PM IST NDA MPs to give up salary for disrupted part of budget session



In a bid to embarrass the Opposition, Union Minister Ananth Kumar today said MPs of the ruling NDA would forego their salary for the 23 days of the ongoing budget session when Parliament did not function because of protests by the Congress and other political parties. Kumar blamed the Congress for the logjam in both the Houses of Parliament, saying that it had engaged in "anti-democratic" politics.











April 04, 2018 / 09:27 PM IST Over 74 lakh foreign tourists arrived in India between July 2017 and Feb 2018: Govt



The number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India during July 2017 to February 2018 was 74.11 lakh compared to 65.75 lakh during the same period last year, the government informed Parliament today. Union Minister of State for Tourism K J ALphons told the Rajya Sabha that foreign tourist arrivals have grown by 12.71 per cent from July 2016-February 2017 to July 2017-February 2018.











April 04, 2018 / 09:18 PM IST











April 04, 2018 / 09:14 PM IST CBI detains Principal Commissioner of DDA for accepting Rs 4 lakh bribe



The CBI today detained Principal Commissioner of Delhi Development Authority J P Aggarwal and two others for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs four lakh, the probe agency said. The CBI said that during investigations, Aggarwal was detained along with two other persons -- Sunil Gupta and Anil Gupta -- for allegedly accepting the bribe of Rs 4 lakh. The money was handed over inside a file related to an allotment of a flat to an individual named J P Sharma, who too was subsequently detained by the police.











April 04, 2018 / 09:02 PM IST Air India disinvestment: CMD holds meeting with employee unions



Air India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola today held a meeting with representatives of four employees' unions to discuss about the proposed strategic disinvestment and their concerns, sources said. The Civil Aviation Ministry has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential bidders for a 76 per cent stake sale in loss-making Air India as well as divestment of two of the carrier's subsidiaries. Sources said the CMD met representatives from four unions for about 45 minutes to mainly understand apprehensions of employees about the proposed stake sale. The meeting was convened following directions from the ministry, they added. Representatives from Indian Aircraft Technicians' Association (IATA), Air India Aircraft Engineering Association (AIAEA), Air Corporation Employees' Union (ACEU) and Air India Employees' Union (AIEU) attended the meeting.











April 04, 2018 / 08:30 PM IST Aadhaar scheme approved by experts: Centre tells SC



The Centre today told the Supreme Court that its Aadhaar scheme has been approved by experts and was not open to judicial review as it was a policy decision. The government told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which is examining the validity of Aadhaar scheme and its enabling 2016 law that in a digital era, Aadhaar is the best way to prevent "money laundering and deliver subsidies and benefits". "The policy decisions of the government approved by experts are not subject to judicial review," Attorney General K K Venugopal told the bench which also comprised justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan.











April 04, 2018 / 08:24 PM IST Govt clears India-Iran MoU for expert group on trade remedy measures The government today gave an ex-post facto approval to an agreement with Iran to set up an expert group on trade remedy measures and promote cooperation in areas of mutual interest. The decision to grant ex post facto approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The MoU is aimed at establishing a framework of cooperation in the area of trade remedial measures, like anti-dumping and countervailing duty.











April 04, 2018 / 07:54 PM IST NHAI lists Rs 25,000-crore bond issue on India INX

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has listed its Rs 25,000-crore medium-term notes issue on BSE's India International Exchange (India INX) global debt listing platform.This is the first rupee-denominated medium-term notes (MTN) programme of its kind globally by an Indian statutory body planning to raise funds through masala bonds, India INX said in a statement.The MTN programme is an instrument to raise money through debt securities that typically mature in 5-10 years.











April 04, 2018 / 07:17 PM IST Cabinet approves rightsizing of CCI

The Cabinet has approved the righsizing of the Competition Comission of India, in a bid to ensure the faster turnaorund of hearings and get quicker nods, according to CNBC-TV18. The right sizing of CCI is seen as an effort towards "minimum government and maximum governance". The CCI will now consist of 1 chairperson and 3 members. The Cabinet also approves the closure of loss making state-run company Burn Standard Company Limited. The Centre will provide a grant of Rs 417.1 crore as a severance package, and for the clearing of liabilities.











April 04, 2018 / 06:55 PM IST Sealing: Delhi Master Plan changed at the 'drop of a hat', says SC

The Supreme Court today came down heavily on the Centre saying it was changing the Master Plan of Delhi-2021 at "the drop of a hat" to protect those who have committed illegalities by making unauthorised constructions.The apex court made it clear that commercial establishments like restaurants and big showrooms cannot continue in residential areas in violation of the law as the authorities cannot put the life of citizens of Delhi in danger.A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta also told Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, who was appearing for the Centre, that the groundwater level in Delhi has depleted to such an extent that if there was no rainfall in the national capital even for a year, there would be "chaos for water".









live bse live

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Stewart & Mackertich Wealth Management Ltd

The Nifty yesterday ended 0.33 percent up at 10,245. Negative opening found strong support around 10,170 towards ending the session with a bullish candle. Finishing off the session around critical resistance of 10,250 is a sign of strength.

Successive closing above 10,250 may unfold next leg of up-move towards 10,300 and 10,350. Nifty 30 EMA on daily chart is placed around 10,300 levels. Strong pullback from days low followed by closing near days high despite negative global market cues is encouraging for the bulls.

Further, a Falling-Wedge breakout, bullish reversal pattern, breakout around 10,170 is now clearly visible. Hence, needless to say we still prefer buy-on-dips around pivotal supports strategy for the coming sessions as well. Downside supports are placed around 10,210 and 10,170.

On the Nifty hourly chart; Inverse Head-and-Shoulder breakout, bullish reversal pattern, with neck line support placed around 10,210 is clearly visible. Hence, traders are advised to buy-on-dips for the immediate up-side target of 10,300 and 10,350. Also, RSI on daily chart is moving in tandem with current bullish reversal makes the bull case even stronger.

Nifty patterns on multiple time frames show, rebound from around 9950 levels followed by Falling-Wedge breakout on daily chart is revitalizing for the bulls. Traders and investors are advised to accumulate blue-chip stocks on dips for the next leg of up-move for the higher highs towards 10,300 and 10,350.

The Bank Nifty on the previous session ended 0.75 percent up at 24,510.60. It closed above the critical resistance placed around 24,470, 200 daily EMA, and heading towards 30 daily EMA placed around 24,700.

Based on thorough technical study, the research firm has recommended Voltas which can give up to 5% return in the near short term:

Voltas | Rating: Buy | Target: Rs 673, stop loss: Rs 625 | Return: 5%

Voltas ended the session with a triangle breakout, bullish continuation pattern, on midterm daily chart. Triangle pattern breakout while the primary trend is up is pointing towards continuation of uptrend. Rising RSI coupled with +DI DI bullish crossover on daily chart makes this breakout reliable.

Based on the above mentioned observations, the house has recommended Voltas as a buy on dips for the short-term upside target of Rs 673.International real estate firm Hines has announced the appointment of Amit Diwan as the new managing director and country head for the Hines India platform.

In his role, Diwan will be responsible for managing the expansion of the business by raising and deploying domestic and international capital into development projects and investment opportunities. His focus will be across both residential and commercial real estate projects across the major metro cities in India, says a company release.

Diwan previously served as Chief Investment Officer for Hines in India where he was responsible for end-to-end investment management and asset management. He has played a vital role in shaping the firms residential strategy in India, as well as in securing the first two residential projects in Gurgaon and Mumbai respectively.

Prior to joining Hines, he worked for a variety of real estate firms including Piramal Group, GE Real Estate and Jones Lang LaSalle, across India and Southeast Asia.

We are confident that Amit will build on our standards of excellence in India and continue to contribute to the strong global brand that Hines investors have come to expect, said Lee Timmins, CEO Hines Eurasia Region. We look forward to placing significantly more capital in this dynamic country.

Since entering India, Hines has developed award-winning properties such as One Horizon Center and Skyview Corporate Park in Gurgaon. Additionally, a residential platform formed in 2014 supports the development of upper-mid tier projects in India.Sporting a kurta imprinted with a demand for roll back of GST on the 'langar', a free community kitchen, at the famed Golden Temple, Congress MP from Amritsar Gurjeet Singh Aujla stood out in the Lok Sabha today.

Amid the din in the House with AIADMK members demanding immediate constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board, Aujla made many heads turn with the colourful message printed on his white Kurta.

The Golden Temple in Amritsar, which is the holiest of all Sikh shrines, runs one of the largest community kitchens in the world feeding freshly cooked food to 50,000 devotees on weekdays and over one lakh on weekends and festivals.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages all gurdwaras, has been urging the Centre to exempt the free kitchens at the Golden Temple and other Sikh shrines from the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Earlier, union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had also urged Jaitley to exempt all purchases made by the SGPC for the langar service from the GST.

After implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST), the Golden Temple reportedly shelled out over Rs two crore extra in 2017 as GST for purchasing ration for the 'langar'.

Under the new GST Act, there is a provision for exemption to institutions and businesses on the recommendation of the GST Council.As the Supreme Court is set to hear a public interest litigation seeking linking of Aadhaar numbers with electoral voter ID cards, the Election Commission of India may suggest the apex court to not make it mandatory.

The election authority is instead likely to plead SC to allow voluntary linking of Aadhaar with voter IDs. It is looking to offer several incentives like online voting rights or option of voting through postal ballots for such voters who would link their photo identity cards with Aadhaar, said a report of The Economic Times citing its sources.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Earlier, at the time of Chief Election Commissioner AK Joti, the EC had backed mandatory linking of Aadhaar with voter identity cards. It had said that the move would help prevent fraudulent practices in elections.

The authority is reportedly considering the fact that no voter can be denied from the right to caste a vote on the basis of refusal to link Aadhaar and therefore it cannot be made mandatory. On the other hand, it would also encourage the process of linking with incentivizing the voters who go through the process.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had also rejected the suggestion of linking Aadhaar with voter ID, saying he was personally not in favour of it. "Both of them (Aadhaar and voter ID) operate in different fields.You go to cast your vote...If you show your Aadhaar card, you will not be allowed to cast your vote unless you show your voter ID card."

As many as 32 crore Aadhaar numbers have been linked to voter ID cards till March 10. "So far, as many as 32 crore Aadhaar numbers have been linked to voter ID cards. Another 54.5 crore will be done as soon as we get a nod from the Supreme Court," Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat had said.

(With inputs from PTI)live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

he Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has slapped Rs 9 crore penalty on Bank of Baroda for "failing" to adhere to anti-money laundering norms, and not having an effective system to report suspicious transactions linked to the Rs 6,000 crore scam in its Delhi-based branch.

The FIU has levied the maximum penalty of Rs 1 lakh, as stipulated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), for each instance of "delayed" filing of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) by the state-owned bank in the case.

The central financial intelligence gathering and dissemination agency under the Ministry of Finance is empowered to investigate and levy penalities on banks and other financial intermediaries, under the PMLA, if they fail to comply with anti-money laundering procedures.

After about three years of investigation, the FIU has held that the bank failed on at least five counts in detecting wrongdoing and instances of money laundering at its branch in Ashok Vihar in Delhi, where a Rs 6,000 crore forex remittance scam had been reported in 2015.

"After taking into consideration all the facts and circumstances of the case, I, in exercise of the powers conferred upon me under the PMLA impose a total fine of Rs 9 crore on Bank of Baroda (BoB) which will commensurate the violations committed by the bank," the order issued by FIU Director Pankaj Kumar Mishra said.

The 48-page order, accessed by PTI, has been issued on March 27 and the bank has been asked to deposit the fine within 21 days.

Coming down heavily on BoB, the order said it had failed to discharge its responsibility as one of the largest public sector banks of the country.

"BoB is a public sector enterprise that has responsibility to the nation and as such its sole motive cannot be profit making. By permitting such unethical and illegal activities of some of its customers under its watch, as in the instant case, and not bringing it to the attention of the authorities at the relevant and material time, the bank has not only failed to comply with its statutory obligations, but also failed in its task as a public sector enterprise to act as a torchbearer of the anti-money laundering compliance in the country," it said.

The FIU said the bank failed to have effective internal system in place for disposal of 8,692 alerts, detecting and reporting suspicious transactions, failure in carrying out effective customer due diligence in respect of 73 accounts, delayed filing of 8,822 EFT (electronic funds transfer) reports and failure to file EFT reports in respect of transactions in two separate accounts.

Bank of Baroda was also held guilty by the FIU for failing to file 63 integrally connected cash transactions in seven accounts.

The FIU rued that despite large number of cash transaction reports in respect of four newly opened bank accounts belonging to one family, none of them were converted into STRs (suspicious transaction reports).

"As time is essence in such cases, delayed submission of reports or inaccurate reports is also a violation of law as much as non-submission," the order said.

It added that STRs were the "most effective mechanism" to prevent, detect and fight the scourge of money laundering.

The FIU also rejected the bank's submission that it acted as a "whistleblower" in the case and that its effective internal system detected unusual transactions and a spurt in foreign remittances by different clients at its Ashok Vihar branch, and this was reported to the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in 2015.

The central financial intelligence gathering agency said an earlier RBI fine of Rs 5 crore on the bank in the case only "reinforces findings of (FIU directors) enquiry that the bank had failed in its statutory obligations and that too absymally."

The probe agencies had termed this case to be an alleged incident of trade-based money laundering, where accused traders evaded duties and taxes to generate slush funds in connivance with bank officials. This order can be challenged by the bank before the Appellate Tribunal of the PMLA within 45 days.Plastic Bags

The Mumbai Plastic Manufacturers Association (MPMA) has decided to move Bombay High Court against the 'discriminatory' plastic ban imposed by the Maharashtra government, The Economic Times reported.

The state governments directive was to ban the use of plastics in polypropylene bags used in packaging of liquids, food items and food grains.

The order does not cover plastics in laminated multi-layered packaging material, which is used by manufacturers of chips and other food items.

Many found the decision strange since normal plastic bags are generally recycled and multi-layered plastic packaging material is not, as it has subtracts of various non-recyclable materials.

Chips and other snacks, shampoo sachets, and tobacco products are all packaged using multi-layered plastic.

According to the ET report, the government approved the plastic ban unilaterally, without having a discussion with the relevant stakeholders.

The MPMA had then petitioned the court that all the parties involved must be heard before the government comes to a decision on the ban, but that did not happen.

"Theres no rational thinking behind the ban. They had initially said that all plastics would be banned, but facing the heat from the MNCs which sell packaged drinking water and cold drinks, the state kept out PET bottles from the ambit of the ban, and thats why they had also kept out multi-layered packaging used in packing of snacks," Neemit Punamiya, General Secretary of Plastic Bag Manufacturers Association of India (PBMAI), told the paper.

The Maharashtra government is scheduled to meet with plastic manufacturers over the next few days to discuss the matter, and ways in which it could be taken forward.The National Green Tribunal today deferred till April 19 the hearing on a plea by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) seeking directions to the Haryana government to check the "dangerous level of ammonia" in the Yamuna and ensure availability of sufficient water in the river.

A bench headed by acting NGT chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim adjourned the matter after the tribunal was informed that the Supreme Court was also seized of a similar plea which would come for hearing on April 16.

"It is stated on behalf of the State of Haryana that the Delhi Jal Board has already approached the Supreme Court and the matter would come up for consideration on April 16. Let the outcome of the proceedings before the Supreme Court be informed to this tribunal," the bench said, listing the matter for April 19.

On April 2, the Delhi government had informed the apex court that it was negotiating with Haryana for the release of 450 cusecs of water of the Yamuna river per day for the national capital.

The tribunal had earlier slammed the DJB over its submission that Haryana was responsible for the high levels of ammonia in the Yamuna water being provided to the national capital and observed that the river has been reduced to a sewer line in the city.

Asking the DJB what it has done to clean the river water, the bench had made it clear to the body that it was only concerned with the pollution in the river and would not go into the issue of water sharing dispute between the two states.

Earlier, the tribunal had directed the Haryana government to submit an action plan to address the issue of ammonia and other pollutants in the Yamuna.

The green panel had asked it to file an affidavit stating short and long-term measures which it proposed to combat the pollution in the river.

The NGT had directed the Delhi and Haryana governments to identify and address the sources of pollution in the river.

It had also ordered the Delhi and Haryana governments to hold a meeting to resolve the issue of high ammonia content in the water being provided to the national capital.

The DJB had moved a plea in the tribunal plea alleging high ammonia in water being provided by the Haryana government to Delhi.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had submitted its analysis report of ammonia at Tajewala in Haryana, Wazirabad water treatment plant, Okhla and ITO barrage in Delhi. Acting on concerns over the health of the people of Delhi, the tribunal had directed the CPCB to analyse the samples of the river water at the four points on the s plea alleging high ammonia content in the water being provided by Haryana to Delhi.

While the DJB had alleged that Haryana was supplying "poisoned sewage water" to the national capital which had 2.6 parts per million of ammonia, the counsel for Haryana had refuted the contention and said there was no breach of any agreement. The DJB, which supplies water to the city, had approached the tribunal demanding that Haryana be asked to take urgent steps to check the "dangerous level of ammonia" in the Yamuna.

Claiming that the water being released by the state was so polluted that it cannot be treated for drinking, the DJB had said it may cause "a huge and irreparable loss to the citizens of Delhi and has a potential for a grave health crisis and water crisis in the National Capital Region (NCR)".BJP president Amit Shah today said the central government would neither scrap the policy of reservation for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in education and jobs nor allow anyone to do so.

Addressing a public meeting here, he said that "no one can dare to change" the reservation policy "as set by B R Ambedkar in the Constitution".

Shah also held the Congress and other opposition parties responsible for the deaths of nearly a dozen people in violence during a nationwide strike called by various Dalit outfits against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

"Why was the bandh call given when the prime minister assured the people that the Centre would submit a review petition on the Supreme Court judgement... Ten people died during the bandh. The Congress and other opposition parties are responsible for the deaths of these 10 people," he said.

The Centre yesterday moved a plea in the Supreme Court seeking to review the March 20 verdict putting safeguards on arrest under the stringent SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The apex court, however, asserted that "no provisions of the SC/ST Act have been diluted" and refused to keep in abeyance the verdict.

Alleging that a "misinformation campaign" had been launched in the media and on social media that the BJP would withdraw reservations, Shah said, "I want to make it clear in this public meeting in the presence of so many people that the BJP will not withdraw reservations at all, nor will it allow anyone to do so.